Latest / The Craig Way Show / Craig Way from Las Vegas
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Andrews im Will
- 0:03Speaker 1: filling in for the legendary Craig Way on the access line.
- 0:08Speaker 1: Right now is our friend Craig Way and Cameron Dee
- 0:10Speaker 1: Parker from the City that Never sleeps, right, guys is
- 0:13Speaker 1: Las Vegas, Nevada. How you guys doing out there?
- 0:16Speaker 2: Well, I got my sleep last night. Oh good.
- 0:18Speaker 3: I don't know about the I don't know about Cam
- 0:20Speaker 3: here he said he saw Eddie Warren in the high
- 0:23Speaker 3: limit room.
- 0:24Speaker 4: You know, they were vacuuming underneath his feet when I
- 0:28Speaker 4: saw him.
- 0:30Speaker 2: So so you know, we got our sleep.
- 0:34Speaker 3: Team got in late yesterday afternoon, Andrew and had a
- 0:40Speaker 3: practice here last night. We were here for that, and
- 0:43Speaker 3: then there was a team dinner after that, and then
- 0:46Speaker 3: it was there was a film session.
- 0:49Speaker 2: A team was going through.
- 0:50Speaker 3: Some things and kind of the ball from the ballroom,
- 0:54Speaker 3: walked through stuff, the academic side of it. And right
- 0:59Speaker 3: now as we they're on the floor right now running
- 1:01Speaker 3: through their shoot around, running through some stuff. This is
- 1:06Speaker 3: I was in this arena four years ago when Texas
- 1:08Speaker 3: played here. The men and women were in it, involved
- 1:11Speaker 3: in a double header and Texas beat Stanford and the
- 1:14Speaker 3: women beat San Diego. The two most notable things and
- 1:17Speaker 3: were about that particular UH doubleheader four years ago UH
- 1:23Speaker 3: one uh. Not long after the plane landed on Friday,
- 1:28Speaker 3: Eddie Orrin felt poorly got tested on Saturday YEP tested
- 1:32Speaker 3: positive for COVID.
- 1:34Speaker 4: Uh.
- 1:34Speaker 3: I was flying in Sunday morning after calling state high
- 1:37Speaker 3: school football championships Saturday night in Arlington and Jerry World.
- 1:42Speaker 2: So I flew in Sunday morning.
- 1:43Speaker 3: Eddie was already gone, and of course you know this
- 1:46Speaker 3: was uh, you know, nine months into it, I guess
- 1:49Speaker 3: you would say. And he obviously was not going to
- 1:53Speaker 3: be able to fly home with the team on the charter,
- 1:55Speaker 3: and he couldn't get a plane ticket. He had to
- 1:57Speaker 3: rent a car and drive home home feeling awful COVID pos.
- 2:02Speaker 2: That took him two days to get home, but he did.
- 2:05Speaker 3: And then the other noteworthy thing is is that both
- 2:09Speaker 3: the Texas men and women's teams were to have played Stanford.
- 2:12Speaker 3: It was a big twelve PAC twelve showdown series, and
- 2:16Speaker 3: the Stanford women had to bail out on contact tracing issues,
- 2:20Speaker 3: and Vic Schaefer and his staff just scrambled and scoured
- 2:26Speaker 3: to come up with an opponent on about twelve hours
- 2:29Speaker 3: notice or fourteen hours note.
- 2:30Speaker 2: They got San Diego and the San Diego women came
- 2:32Speaker 2: in and.
- 2:33Speaker 3: Actually played Texas pretty tough in that, but both the
- 2:35Speaker 3: men and women won here. But this is a nice building.
- 2:37Speaker 3: It's Cameron Parker's first time in this building.
- 2:39Speaker 2: You like this, You liked this building.
- 2:41Speaker 4: It's nice and as you mentioned to me yesterday, it's
- 2:44Speaker 4: eerily similar to the Team Mobile Arena in Kansas City,
- 2:47Speaker 4: where Texas men's and women's basketball team played last year
- 2:51Speaker 4: in the Big Twelve. Actually technically it was this year
- 2:54Speaker 4: in mo was of March of the Big Twelve Conference tournament.
- 2:57Speaker 4: It's a beautiful facility. It's where the lot Vegas Golden
- 3:00Speaker 4: Knights play their hockey games.
- 3:02Speaker 3: They won a Stanley Cuppen here Andrew the Vegas Golden
- 3:05Speaker 3: Knights did so. Yes, this is Temobile Arena T Mobile
- 3:07Speaker 3: Center in Kansas City.
- 3:09Speaker 2: They're almost identical. They're very very similar.
- 3:12Speaker 3: A lot of you know, T Mobile pink all over
- 3:14Speaker 3: the lace as well as they and the black.
- 3:17Speaker 2: But the team's going through practice right now.
- 3:19Speaker 1: Well, first off, I'm glad that we're not dealing with
- 3:21Speaker 1: contact tracing and COVID as much anymore. That's the first
- 3:24Speaker 1: big thing. The second thing I have to say is, Guys,
- 3:28Speaker 1: this Texas men's basketball team this year is like a
- 3:31Speaker 1: breadth of fresh air. Feels like this is like a
- 3:33Speaker 1: new meats, old type of thing. What can you tell
- 3:36Speaker 1: me about just the newness of this you know, newness
- 3:39Speaker 1: of the season, newness of this team.
- 3:42Speaker 3: I think new is the operative phrase here, Andrew, because yes,
- 3:45Speaker 3: it is a breath of fresh air. And by the
- 3:47Speaker 3: same token, you could say it's a bit of a
- 3:49Speaker 3: box of chocolates. They've they've got so many new faces, betweenty.
- 3:53Speaker 3: I think it's what is it cam six returneys, six six.
- 3:58Speaker 2: Portal guys and four freshmen.
- 4:01Speaker 3: I believe it is uh so they've got They've got
- 4:04Speaker 3: a lot of new guys. He have two transfers UH
- 4:07Speaker 3: from Indiana State in Julian Larry and Uh also Jason
- 4:12Speaker 3: Kent Uh. They have Tremon Mark who's transferring in from Arkansas.
- 4:18Speaker 3: You have Arthur Kluoma Gosh who played against Texas when
- 4:21Speaker 3: he was playing for Creighton UH three years ago and
- 4:26Speaker 3: and now UH and then on to Kansas State, played
- 4:29Speaker 3: against Texas for k State last year and now was
- 4:31Speaker 3: suited up as a Longhorn and Malik Presley transferred in
- 4:36Speaker 3: from Vanderbilt. He's originally out of San Marcus High UH,
- 4:39Speaker 3: and so you have those guys, and then you've got
- 4:43Speaker 3: you gotta UH and Jordan Pope, who is pretty much
- 4:46Speaker 3: gonna be the point guard at least a lot of
- 4:48Speaker 3: the time, you know, from UH transfer from Oregon State.
- 4:50Speaker 3: So there's a lot of that, but UH, Andrew's a
- 4:53Speaker 3: lot of excitement obviously about the freshman Tray Johnson from
- 4:56Speaker 3: Garland and UH started off at Lake Highlands in the
- 4:59Speaker 3: Dalla fourth area as high school.
- 5:02Speaker 2: Career, finished at Link Academy in Missouri, and.
- 5:04Speaker 3: There's there's a there's a palpable buzz around what Trey
- 5:08Speaker 3: Johnson has shown so far.
- 5:09Speaker 2: And they're two scrimmages against TCU and Colorado.
- 5:12Speaker 4: And the fun thing about Trey Johnson is Craig is
- 5:14Speaker 4: he we hear Rodny Terry compare him a lot to
- 5:17Speaker 4: Kevin Durant and hey, that's a big comparison. It's like
- 5:20Speaker 4: when kids coming out and they're saying it reminds me
- 5:22Speaker 4: of Aaron Donald, reminds me of Lebron James.
- 5:25Speaker 2: Let's calm down there. But his ability to shoot so far.
- 5:28Speaker 4: I mean, we've seen it in the two practices and
- 5:30Speaker 4: it appears, you know, RT under Rick Barnes, Rick Barnes
- 5:34Speaker 4: kid Kevin Durant that green light, Craig as you well known,
- 5:37Speaker 4: and it seems like RT is going to give Trey
- 5:40Speaker 4: Johnson that same green light.
- 5:42Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 5:42Speaker 3: Yeah, And he showed some of that in the two scrimmages.
- 5:46Speaker 2: You know, he went through what freshmen.
- 5:48Speaker 3: Do, some some hot, some cold, some nice stuff, and
- 5:52Speaker 3: some slump stuff. So we'll see with regarding to him.
- 5:55Speaker 3: But but you're right, Andrew, there is it is kind
- 5:58Speaker 3: of a breath of fresh air and there's a lot
- 6:00Speaker 3: of excitements around in this team.
- 6:01Speaker 1: Well, we talked about it on Friday a little bit.
- 6:03Speaker 1: We were playing a little of Rodney Terry's preseason last
- 6:07Speaker 1: media availability talking about the green light. Well, you guys
- 6:10Speaker 1: have seen the practices. Do you see the green light?
- 6:12Speaker 1: Do you see the guys who are already knocking it
- 6:14Speaker 1: down from twenty thirty feet down?
- 6:17Speaker 3: I do, But let me tell you, you know, it
- 6:23Speaker 3: is correct. It's absolutely correct what Cameron said about Rick
- 6:27Speaker 3: Barnes giving Kevin Durant the green light, But that came
- 6:31Speaker 3: within the context of him wanting him to play defense.
- 6:33Speaker 3: You know, Rick Barnes tells this story is a great story.
- 6:37Speaker 3: When Aj Abrams played for Texas and in the mid
- 6:40Speaker 3: two thousands left as the all time three point shooter
- 6:43Speaker 3: and was outstanding shooter. Rick used to tell Aj at first,
- 6:50Speaker 3: because you were the worst defender I have ever seen.
- 6:53Speaker 3: You're a terrible defender. He told him that Aj was
- 6:57Speaker 3: a junior. I think when Kevin Durant came in and
- 7:02Speaker 3: Rick stop practiced relatively early in the practice and said, Aj,
- 7:06Speaker 3: you remember when I told you you were the worst
- 7:08Speaker 3: defender I had ever seen in AJ said, yet, he goes, well,
- 7:10Speaker 3: I apologize he is, and he pointed to Durant and
- 7:14Speaker 3: uh so, you know, Trey Johnson is a better defender
- 7:19Speaker 3: coming in and has the want to The two scrimmages
- 7:23Speaker 3: demonstrated that sometimes the aggression can get you into trouble.
- 7:26Speaker 3: He got into foul trouble in both of those games,
- 7:28Speaker 3: both of those full on scrimmages. So that's one area
- 7:31Speaker 3: they're trying to get in and be aggressive, but understand
- 7:34Speaker 3: your limits, don't you know. Don't get too aggressive and
- 7:37Speaker 3: get yourself in the foul difficulty because they do need
- 7:40Speaker 3: him on the floor.
- 7:41Speaker 2: So uh. And then you know, in terms of some
- 7:44Speaker 2: of the other guys, Arthur Kaluma.
- 7:45Speaker 3: Could always shoot the three, uh if you know when
- 7:47Speaker 3: he was, you know, out there on the floor. And
- 7:50Speaker 3: then Jordan Pope can shoot the three. Kenda Weaver has
- 7:53Speaker 3: worked on his shot, so he's gotten better in that respect.
- 7:56Speaker 3: But we know of him as a defensive stopper and
- 7:58Speaker 3: a guy who can run the floor. And I think
- 8:01Speaker 3: Tremont Mark can can fire up a three. Now he's
- 8:03Speaker 3: been a bit hobbled of late. We'll see how well
- 8:06Speaker 3: he does. But you know, there's the green light exists
- 8:10Speaker 3: if you're running it correctly within the offense. And that's
- 8:13Speaker 3: one thing that Rodney wants to see. He wants to
- 8:14Speaker 3: see the guys run the offense. That doesn't mean slow
- 8:18Speaker 3: it down to a half court drag and do fourteen passes.
- 8:22Speaker 3: Run the offense, and he wants them to be an
- 8:24Speaker 3: elevated tempo, but he wants them to play under control.
- 8:27Speaker 4: Yeah, and this year's team, Craig, compared to last year,
- 8:29Speaker 4: there's so many different guys who can score, who can shoot,
- 8:32Speaker 4: who can create with the ball in their hands.
- 8:34Speaker 2: It's going to take some time.
- 8:35Speaker 4: I think for them to be able to get comfortable
- 8:37Speaker 4: with sharing the ball and how the offense matches. So
- 8:40Speaker 4: I think for the first couple of games, first couple
- 8:42Speaker 4: of months, we're going to see how this offense works together.
- 8:45Speaker 4: Because you know, you mentioned all the newcomers, Craig. They
- 8:48Speaker 4: come from schools where a lot of the times they
- 8:50Speaker 4: were the number one or number two option.
- 8:52Speaker 2: Now they've got to come in.
- 8:53Speaker 4: They got developed that chemistry and learn how to play
- 8:56Speaker 4: with each other. But hey, that's the problem we're seeing
- 8:59Speaker 4: not just but Texas, but every other school. Hiose State,
- 9:01Speaker 4: the team they're playing the night, has nine newcomers on
- 9:04Speaker 4: this roster.
- 9:05Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a Andrew.
- 9:07Speaker 3: This will be a quite a unique looking Ohio State team.
- 9:10Speaker 3: They do return their outstanding point guard, Bruce Thornton, but
- 9:14Speaker 3: they've got other guys who did excel at other places,
- 9:18Speaker 3: like Michie Johnson at South Carolina and my comparish at
- 9:21Speaker 3: San Diego State, and Shaun Stewart at Duke and Aaron
- 9:23Speaker 3: Bradshaw Kentucky.
- 9:24Speaker 2: I could go on and on.
- 9:25Speaker 3: If I'm a halfe from Penn State, there's several different
- 9:27Speaker 3: guys who did it, but that was within a completely
- 9:31Speaker 3: different you know, role and a completely different group.
- 9:37Speaker 2: So they have to learn to play together.
- 9:39Speaker 3: And not only that, in Jake Diebler, you got a
- 9:42Speaker 3: guy who was an interim head coach who took over
- 9:46Speaker 3: last year and coached the final eleven games last year
- 9:49Speaker 3: and coached the Buckeyes to an eight and three mark
- 9:51Speaker 3: over those final eleven games. So they're getting to know
- 9:54Speaker 3: each other pretty well. It's it's it's the typical things
- 9:57Speaker 3: you see, Andrew for a first game of a brand
- 10:00Speaker 3: new college basketball season, a lot of new and unknown
- 10:04Speaker 3: on the floor.
- 10:05Speaker 1: I was gonna say, Buck, guys were one of the
- 10:06Speaker 1: streakiest teams in the Big Ten last year, finished twenty
- 10:09Speaker 1: two and fourteen with three ni T teams or games.
- 10:12Speaker 1: All Right, guys, I'm excited for this one. And do
- 10:15Speaker 1: you have any predictions? I know that Craig, you're not
- 10:17Speaker 1: going to put anything out there, but Cam, what do
- 10:19Speaker 1: you think of this game?
- 10:22Speaker 2: It's up in the air.
- 10:23Speaker 4: I mean, like we said, we don't really know what
- 10:24Speaker 4: these two teams will look like on the floor. I mean,
- 10:27Speaker 4: we know what they have, but I think both teams
- 10:30Speaker 4: are going to learn a lot from what they see
- 10:33Speaker 4: tonight and as they get deeper and deeper into the season.
- 10:35Speaker 4: So I would tell Texas fans this, don't get caught
- 10:39Speaker 4: up too much in the win or last night, no
- 10:42Speaker 4: matter what happens, because again, it's going to take a
- 10:44Speaker 4: few months for this team to kind of figure themselves out,
- 10:47Speaker 4: find who their identity is, and hopefully make it deep
- 10:50Speaker 4: run later in the season.
- 10:51Speaker 3: Andrew, I will tell you this, they feel pretty good
- 10:54Speaker 3: about but what they've seen so far with the coaches
- 10:57Speaker 3: will also tell you that, you know, the home openers
- 11:01Speaker 3: Friday night against Houston Christian, they Steve McClain was telling
- 11:06Speaker 3: Eddie Orn and me yesterday a long.
- 11:07Speaker 2: Warts you know, Associate head coach Steve is telling us.
- 11:10Speaker 3: He goes, Yeah, it's one of those deals where you
- 11:14Speaker 3: wish the Houston Christian game was first, in the Ohio
- 11:17Speaker 3: State game second.
- 11:17Speaker 2: He goes, but that's not the way it is.
- 11:19Speaker 3: So, you know, you hope that that they've picked up
- 11:22Speaker 3: well from the two scrimmage They looked good in the
- 11:24Speaker 3: two scrimmages against Botisu and Colorado. We'll see how much
- 11:28Speaker 3: of that translates into the game tonight against Ohio State.
- 11:32Speaker 1: That pre game begins here at eight thirty, tip off
- 11:35Speaker 1: nine pm on Cavett and ninety eight to one FM
- 11:38Speaker 1: Keevet as well. Guys, I want to talk about a
- 11:41Speaker 1: little college football. Do you get to see any of
- 11:42Speaker 1: the games over the weekend?
- 11:44Speaker 2: Oh?
- 11:44Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean Saturday was the first Saturday I've you know,
- 11:48Speaker 3: had off while there was the first buy but I
- 11:50Speaker 3: was kind of driving back and forth to Dallas and
- 11:52Speaker 3: stuff like that, so absolutely, I I kind of parked
- 11:56Speaker 3: myself in the chair and watched the early games and
- 11:59Speaker 3: then obviously watch Texas A and M and South Carolina
- 12:01Speaker 3: and SMU PID and you know, so yeah, I got
- 12:05Speaker 3: I got a chance to watch quite a.
- 12:06Speaker 2: Bit of a how about you, Kim.
- 12:08Speaker 4: Yeah, likewise, I was glued to my TV on Saturdays,
- 12:10Speaker 4: some great football. That A and M South Carolina game
- 12:13Speaker 4: was so much fun. I've been able to go to
- 12:15Speaker 4: William Bryce Stadium before. It's a fantastic environment. And the
- 12:19Speaker 4: big thing from it, Craig, I think, is now we
- 12:22Speaker 4: kind of have a clearer picture of what the SEC
- 12:25Speaker 4: Championship could look like. And I believe, from what I understand,
- 12:29Speaker 4: the only way Texas can make it to Atlanta is
- 12:31Speaker 4: if they went out and Georgia and LSU loses one game,
- 12:36Speaker 4: either one can lose. But with LSU having that one
- 12:39Speaker 4: loss in SEC play, Georgia having that win loss and
- 12:42Speaker 4: SEC play they do not play each other, but LSU
- 12:45Speaker 4: does play Alabama. Georgia still has ole miss in Tennessee
- 12:50Speaker 4: on the schedule, so a lot can still happen.
- 12:53Speaker 2: You know, they're with this.
- 12:55Speaker 4: The three thousand teams in the SEC, there's a good
- 12:58Speaker 4: chance there are four or five or six teams will
- 13:00Speaker 4: be tied with two losses or more, and that can
- 13:03Speaker 4: kind of create a headache.
- 13:04Speaker 2: I mean, Sark talked about it. He was asked about
- 13:06Speaker 2: the SEC.
- 13:07Speaker 4: Tiebreaker a few weeks ago and he said, I gave
- 13:10Speaker 4: up after reading the first couple of things because I
- 13:13Speaker 4: couldn't wrap my head around it.
- 13:14Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say this for the moment here on
- 13:19Speaker 3: November fourth. What Cam just said is correct about the
- 13:22Speaker 3: tie break. However, it could change even if Georgia and
- 13:27Speaker 3: LSU and Texas all went out. And here's how it
- 13:29Speaker 3: could change. The next tiebreaker will go into the common
- 13:34Speaker 3: opponent's strength of schedule. Okay, whatever common opponents they have,
- 13:37Speaker 3: and they go to the strength of schedule, Well, that
- 13:40Speaker 3: could change based on how those opponents do down the.
- 13:44Speaker 2: Stretch of their SEC schedules.
- 13:46Speaker 3: So while it would certainly be most advantageous to Texas
- 13:52Speaker 3: if either LSU or Georgia were to lose a game,
- 13:58Speaker 3: if either of those schools were to lose.
- 14:00Speaker 2: One, then.
- 14:03Speaker 3: It would and Texas went out and that would definitely
- 14:07Speaker 3: get them in. Even if that doesn't happen, it doesn't
- 14:10Speaker 3: necessarily mathematically keep them out of the SEC Championship. And
- 14:15Speaker 3: by the way, let me just say one other thing,
- 14:17Speaker 3: because I know there's been a lot of talk about this.
- 14:18Speaker 3: I've been seeing this on the television programs and in
- 14:21Speaker 3: social media.
- 14:23Speaker 2: There's this growing let's just say, there's this.
- 14:28Speaker 3: Growing feeling among a lot of people that you might
- 14:32Speaker 3: be better off not making the SEC Championship and still
- 14:36Speaker 3: winding up getting into the playoff because in their work,
- 14:41Speaker 3: in their words, if you get into the SEC Championship
- 14:46Speaker 3: and then you lose the game, there's a data point loss,
- 14:48Speaker 3: and then the team sitting back at home that didn't play,
- 14:52Speaker 3: that finished in third.
- 14:53Speaker 2: Might have a better angle to get in.
- 14:54Speaker 3: Well. Rich Clark, the executive director of the College Football Playoff.
- 14:58Speaker 3: Like I said, I was in on that webin last Wednesday.
- 15:01Speaker 3: Then we had him on the show Thursday, and he echoed,
- 15:05Speaker 3: he echoed what he said in the webinar, and he said,
- 15:08Speaker 3: teams will not will not be unduly punished for losing
- 15:14Speaker 3: in a conference championship game. All things get merited and waited.
- 15:19Speaker 3: But just because you get to the conference championship, say
- 15:23Speaker 3: lose your second game of the year, doesn't mean you're
- 15:26Speaker 3: going to be completely knocked out. When a team that
- 15:29Speaker 3: has one loss but didn't make the conference championship did
- 15:32Speaker 3: not play in that game and therefore did not have
- 15:34Speaker 3: a loss, he said, that's not a slam dunk by
- 15:37Speaker 3: any stretch, and it's not even a sure thing.
- 15:40Speaker 2: It depends on the teams.
- 15:41Speaker 3: That depends on their strength to schedule, depends on several things.
- 15:44Speaker 3: So for folks are saying, well, they're better off not
- 15:46Speaker 3: making the SEC Championship, you're start today in the press
- 15:49Speaker 3: that you were down there for that. We heard live
- 15:51Speaker 3: here on Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone.
- 15:53Speaker 2: He said, not us.
- 15:55Speaker 3: When somebody asked him about that, he goes, we're talking
- 15:57Speaker 3: about go one winning the SEC championship.
- 16:00Speaker 1: No, that that has to be goal number one.
- 16:02Speaker 2: Craig Way Cameron D.
- 16:03Speaker 1: Parker from Las Vegas tip off tonight nine pm right
- 16:07Speaker 1: here on AM thirteen hunder of the Zone and on
- 16:09Speaker 1: Cavet FM ninety eight one. Gentlemen, have a safe and
- 16:13Speaker 1: great call tonight.
- 16:14Speaker 3: You know when you say d as in Cameron d
- 16:16Speaker 3: Park at the D stands for Dallas, Dak got whack.
- 16:19Speaker 3: So he's out now with a hamstring and so yeah,
- 16:23Speaker 3: that's just one other thing. Not that that makes Dak,
- 16:26Speaker 3: not that that makes Cameron that unhappy.
- 16:28Speaker 2: He doesn't. You're not that down on Dak, right.
- 16:30Speaker 4: No, No, The D also may stand yes, Eddie or
- 16:32Speaker 4: in the D stands for double down, because that's what
- 16:34Speaker 4: he was doing.
- 16:34Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, all right, thanks Andrew, Thanks guys. We'll be
- 16:39Speaker 1: back with more in a moment right here on sports
- 16:41Speaker 1: Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. It's a Monday, it
- 16:43Speaker 1: is an inconceivable Monday. We'll go over some of the
- 16:46Speaker 1: biggest headlines from the weekend next on the Craigway Show
- 16:50Speaker 1: on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone