Latest / OneLegUpAlex Sports / Terminello's Take With Dave Popkin , Lou Terminello and Alex Garrett on Seton Hall's NIT Championship and UCONN's Repeat 4-13-24

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Terminello's Take With Dave Popkin , Lou Terminello and Alex Garrett on Seton Hall's NIT Championship and UCONN's Repeat 4-13-24 · OneLegUpAlex Sports

0:02
Here's your host, Alex Garrett here on the Alex Garrett Sports Network. You
0:08
know, we're monitoring the Masters, and I would say, if Tiger advances
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squared Social. That's right. They didn't pay me to say this, but
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sell tickets, but I'm jumping ahead and saying join Fanatics at Fanatics Fest in
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NYC this August. Dates and times and guests in the link below at fanaspa
1:04
dot com. Today, we're going to talk to Dave Popkin about Seaton Hall's
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magical n I T Championship run with lou Terminello. Look, we've been hitting
1:15
home runs here lately to begin the baseball season on our podcast, haven't we.
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Yes, we have. We've had a lot of good guests on lately,
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and we have a great one today, the voice of Seaton Hall Basketball,
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who was at the play by play mic for that thrilling victory in the
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final and in the semi final. But the thrilling victory in the in the
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final at Butler against Indiana State. Wonderful, wonderful call by a wonderful broadcaster,
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and uh it was. That was great redemption for Seaton Hall and for
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Indiana State, both who should have been in the NCAAs. But Dave,
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what were your thoughts about that whole n I T run. You know,
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Uh, it's good to be with you guys as always, And I think
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it was a lot better than losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
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I thought the school and the team, and the coach and the fans
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all enjoyed it, got a lot out of it. The games at Walsh
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were exciting. The games at Hinkle were just as exciting, if not more
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so. You referenced the final, which was, you know, one of
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the most exciting games I ever called, and I've been doing this for about
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thirty something years. Two point game obviously, two good teams could have gone
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either way, and I think Seaton Hall made the right decision by playing in
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the tournament. And after they got through that first game against Saint Joe's in
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overtime, they started the steamroll people and they played really well out in Indianapolis,
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and that was a very fun week for everybody. Yeah. I was
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talking to some people who were who are Seaton Hall alums, my brother,
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and a lot of them said I'm happier than I thought I would be the
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winning the championship. So so that was a source of pride obviously, and
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I think it was important for coach Holloway. I really do moving forward.
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Yeah, yeah, I mean it's hard to win five straight games against good
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teams. And the n T field was strong this year because of various reasons.
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There were big Steelers in the NCAA tournament, leaving teams like Seaton Hall
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and Providence and Oklahoma and Indiana State Saint John's out and thereby, you know,
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the ones that said yes and wanted to go into the NIT even at
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Princeton and a UNLV. These are good teams. So you know, I
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think that college basketball is deep. There's a lot of talent and to be
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able to win a tournament like that, even though it wasn't the big one,
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and it gave them some momentum, I hope. And there was a
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nice celebration with maybe a thousand people on the quad on campus afterwards, and
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as we were riding in with the police escort down South Orange Avenue and people
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were standing and cheering and waiting, I just thought, good for these kids,
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you know, they they stuck with it. They they gave it all.
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I mean, they really showed a lot of heart. And this is
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what hard work equals. You know, the team that didn't play in the
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NIT or lost in the second round of the n T didn't get a semi
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parade onto campus and all of different family cheering for them. So it was
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good. Yeah, right through the end, I really did. I really
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thought they played their guts out. Yep, Dame, I want to ask
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you about the evolution of the tournament because you started at Walsh Gym and ended
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up in Hino field House. I mean, tell us about what it was
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like each atmosphere per round. Yeah, I mean, I think Panic was
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the first game because because they needed Ot and Saint Jose was really good their
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center who can do a lot Asandako has just transferred to Providence, so that's
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the level of player that he is, and you know, they had problems
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with him and some of the guards on that team, and I think just
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you know, recovering from not making the tournament in the first place, and
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you know, just getting into that right gear of Seaton Hall basketball. And
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once they did that, and al Dawes kind of save their bacon and Dylan
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and dey Wusu was playing hard and had some big games there early in the
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tournament. You know, once they got it going a little bit, I
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think they started to realize, hey, we're one of the best teams left,
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and let's just keep winning and do what we do. And those next
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couple of games were pure domination. And if you're in a small gym like
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that with thirteen hundred people and you get it going with threes and dunks and
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steals and momentum plays, kind of takes the other team's hard away. No.
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Absolutely, And they got some contributions from an unknown you know, no
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known source really in in young Sanders UH with the UH with his what he
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score eleven points in the semifinal game, and he had played well in that
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quarter final game. Now Sanders or Isaiah Coleman, who I think has a
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lot of talent, I you know when I watch him play, and I
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know he only played that fifteen to sixteen minutes a game. Notes right to
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transfer portal With these two guys, do you think I have no idea?
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I mean the portal is a mystery right now. I have more more guys
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being added every day. I'm sure almost every player on every team is being
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contacted. You know, it's the wild West. It's crazy. Like I
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hope that a good core of players from this team stays. And these are
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guys that would obviously step up into UH starter or six man kind of roles
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for Seaton Hall next year. Coleman, especially Sanders can shoot the ball,
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and if he can, you know, continue to improve the other parts of
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his game, he could be an even bigger part of the rotation. As
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it was, they were not a deep team and he was basically like the
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seventh man on this year's team. But yeah, I mean those two would
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be good to keep yeah. I gotta ask you this. I want to
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ask you about Dre Davis because we heard your call on crashing the boards and
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you had the chance to talk with him. Tell about it. His progression
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through the year and leading up to that shot that really put him over the
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top for the n IT Championship. I think Seaton Hall fans fell in love
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with him because he did everything well. He could score at all three levels.
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He is a nice kid. He worked really hard, he played hurt,
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He played big, big minutes whenever they needed him to. He was
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usually you know, thirty five plus minutes in any game that mattered. This
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year, he could guard multiple passitions. They made him guard fours and five
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sometimes even though he's really a three I think, and he became a better
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three point shooter, great post moves. The game winning basket was fantastic.
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It was you know, spin in the lane and able to finish and you
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know, dire circumstances there. So, I mean, he is in the
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transfer portal. It's been reported, so we don't know. You know,
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if he stays or goes, guys can go in the portal and come back.
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They could go in the portal and go pro like you just you don't
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know. The portal closes May first. I think a lot of decisions will
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be made on a lot of players, you know, over the next few
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weeks here and then maybe you know June you have an idea on a roster.
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But in terms of what Dray Davis gave to Seaton Hall the last two
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years, they couldn't have asked anymore. Oh, I totally agree. I
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mean he was fantastic stick and he was he was a pro. I mean
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he played played up to a professional level. And I don't mean professional going
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into the NBA, but he handled his job with professionalism and he did a
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great job and he deserved that. He deserved that winning basket. Before we
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get to uh yukon, how's Rutgers? I know they have the two great
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recruits and number two and number three recruits coming in. Anything else that you
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see? What else do we need to know about Rutgers moving forward? It's
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a great recruiting class overall. I think it's four or five freshmen. They
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also have Laithan Somerville, a big guy, in addition to Ace Balley and
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Dylan Harper who were top three or top five recruits. Harper was the co
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MVP of the McDonald's All Star Game. I was surprised to see so many
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of their players in the portal, considering the fact that they're probably going to
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be really good next year. But everybody seems like they're out for themselves right
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now. So they have added some transfers already. They have Zach Martini from
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Princeton, which is a perfect ad for them because he can play inside or
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outside. Good shooter, a little bit of an undersized big man that can
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pass, smart obviously, and it would be a good senior, like fifty
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year leader for all these young guys coming in. I thought that was a
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brilliant pickup by Steve Pikel. They also have a scorer. I think he's
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from Eastern Michigan, Tyson Acuff, like a twenty point a game guy.
10:41
Not sure how he fits if those freshmen are going to want to score a
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lot, but it brings them another, you know, quality rotation player that
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has proven it in Division one basketball. Clefimori's in the portal. It seems
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like he's going to be moving on, so they could maybe use some help
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inside. But they have length, you know, I don't know if they
11:05
have beef, but I think they're gonna be good. You know, I've
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seen a couple of those way too early top twenty five polls, and Rutgers
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in a couple of them. Yeah, I hate to talk about the portal.
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Alex and I talk about the portal all the time. I mean,
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Dave, how are they going to get their hands on? Is that?
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It's not like you just said, the wild Wild West. You know,
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it's watching the semi final game, and franfurt Cello was pretty adamant and critical
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of college the state of college basketball with the portal, you know, with
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with nil, I mean, what's gonna happen? What are we going to
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look like in three years or five years? I don't think anybody knows the
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answer to that. I think the one common sense thing they can do is
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move the start of the portal back until maybe Final four weekend or just after
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that, until basically everybody is unplaying. Because it was like Mayhem, because
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you have, you know, two hundred and some odd teams that are done,
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but you have over one hundred teams that are still playing in the four
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tournaments, like the c I T came back this year to a small extent.
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Plus you have the CBI, you have the n T you have the
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NCAAs, and it's you know, it's it's well over one hundred teams,
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so that's a lot of players. And some of those teams opted out of
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some of those tournaments that they could have been in because they knew that their
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players are going to be leaving. Like its just it's mayhem. I don't
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think it's good for anybody. So hopefully they can at least start the clock
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later and play through these postseason tournaments. But beyond that, I don't know
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in terms of the nil and the money, I don't know how long that's
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sustainable. I'm not sure it's it's really it's not. And then it's almost
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as nuts as he's coaching changes. You know, Danny Sprinkle is getting rave
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reviews Utah State. Look what he did in his first year at Utah State
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at twenty eight and seven that you know, and they get knocked out on
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a Saturday night by three o'clock or two o'clock on Sunday. He's the head
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coach of Washington, you know, the same thing the coach of Indiana State
13:28
Shirts Josh Shirtz becomes the head coach at Saint Louis University. Dusty May loses
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on a Friday in like eighteen hours, ladies, the coach of Michigan.
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First of all, how do they get that done so quickly? How is
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everything hammered out so quickly? You lose at ten o'clock on a Friday night,
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and at four o'clock or three o'clock the next day, you're being announced
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as coach of another team. I don't know how they can get all the
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x's and o's, dot the eyes, cross the t's of a contract and
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make an announcement like that. Yeah, the only the only thing I could
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say is that they were working on it in advance. You know. That's
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well, that's the thing I would have to say. Isn't that against the
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rules? I think if you're still under contract to somebody, at least ethically,
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yes, I mean, if you haven't figned the deal with the next
14:24
school yet and your agent is talking to their agent about you know, possible
14:30
future employment and buyouts and stuff like that, I don't know how you can
14:33
get around that. And I think that it's going to continue to happen.
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I think that any time that you get one of these big programs failing like
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a Michigan or a Louisville and they're going to be on the make right away.
14:48
You know, they're going to be thinking and planning during the season,
14:50
and you've got to have a plan B. So they're going to go after
14:56
whatever the hot young coaches or whatever the hot coaches that they feel like overachieved
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at, you know, a certain level, like a Josh SHIRTZ. I
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mean, that was the worst kept secret in basketball. It seemed like within
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hours, you know, of them losing to Seaton Hall in the niit he
15:11
was headed to Saint Louis and there's rumors that he's you know, taken some
15:15
of his players with him. So it's it's crazy, but the business side
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of it, but the actual basketball side of it, the Big Dance this
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year, the NIT as we talked about, the basketball is still good.
15:31
It's really watchable men's and women's. You know, I enjoyed all of the
15:35
tournaments this year. I thought it was a really high level of play.
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There's more more good shooters than I remembered in recent years, which makes the
15:48
games more palatable. You know, if you get the games in the seventies
15:50
and eighties and nineties instead of some of these games like Virginia plays in the
15:54
forties. Yeah, you know, I think the game itself on the court
16:00
is in good shape. But it's going to be hard for these schools that,
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you know, only have a player for one or two years, and
16:07
you know, the fans get attached and then that player leaves. It's it's
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not greatly for the sport, Dave. That was intact because we had the
16:15
great coaches that still sit on the sidelines. But I've been noticing in college
16:18
football that disturbing trend of players sitting out and coaches even leaving before their bowlgain.
16:23
You don't ever think that these coaches would ever skip town before an NCAA
16:27
tournament game, right, I mean, that will never be the future of
16:30
the college basketball world, Willy, I don't think before an NCAA tournament game.
16:34
But Louie will remember Michigan back in eighty nine when Seaton Hall went to
16:41
the Final four. Michigan fired Bill Frieder before the tournament and Steve Fisher was
16:45
the interim and he took them all the way to the championship. You just
16:49
saw one of the guys in the tournament, right, the guy at a
16:52
Long Beach State, Right, Dan Munson, right, yes, yeah,
16:56
he got fired before the tournament and he them to the NCAA, So you
17:00
see weird stuff. So you know, could have could a coach leave Maybe?
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I don't know. I mean low has lived through Larry Brown, so
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that's right, I did. And well, yeah, it's crazy, it's
17:18
crazy. Well, let's talk about the big headline of the week, which
17:19
was obviously Cali Perry. He's he's a local guy in the sense of worked
17:23
on the nets and I'm sure you got to know him, Dave and Lou,
17:26
what's your thoughts about that. I mean, when the season ended for
17:30
Kentucky, I thought maybe he won't be there much longer, and sure enough
17:33
he's with Arkansas. I mean, does that surprise you, Dave, Yeah,
17:37
a little bit. But it's it's a unique job, it's a unique
17:41
place. You're really in the fish Bowl there. It's their pro team.
17:44
It's all they care about, and they expect to win the national championship every
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year and he hasn't done it in like twelve years. So he was under
17:53
fire. He's had some early losses despite the fact that he's had great recruiting
17:59
classes. And I think that it seemed like a mutual parting of the ways.
18:04
I don't know. I'm not on the inside of Kentucky Basketball, but
18:07
it didn't seem like they were giving him a strong vote of confidence. They
18:11
did give him a vote of confidence from the ad, but you know,
18:15
he landed on his feet, is making almost as much money. He's making
18:18
like seven million dollars a year, and he's going to get kids. I
18:22
thought his comment was very telling yesterday at the press conference. He said the
18:27
first thing he did was I met with the team, and there is no
18:30
team, right because you know, half the guys are graduating or transferring,
18:37
or you know, maybe it's guys that he doesn't want to keep. I
18:40
mean, it's it's it's Mayhem. So, as the mad Dog would say,
18:44
they're not going to hold the benefit for him, all right, that's
18:47
for sure. Well, obviously I know coach cal a little bit from the
18:52
next stage. And of course I think being at Kentucky for fifteen years,
18:56
which is the second longest brain of any coach at Kentucky after Atol Frump,
19:03
which was totally different times. Obviously, Kentucky has unrealistic expectations. It's a
19:08
pressure cooker of a job every single day it's probably still the toughest job at
19:14
college basketball, but still probably the number one job in college basketball. But
19:18
a couple of guys have already turned it down. Billy Donovan has turned it
19:23
down, I guess, and Scott Drew f turned it down. But like,
19:29
who knows. Billy Donovan you think would have been a natural, but
19:32
he's with the bulls. But from what I heard, Billy Donovan hated recruiting
19:36
before an I l So I don't know if he would if he would,
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Like, somebody will get the job, and somebody will do a good job,
19:45
and of course Cali Parry will now be re energized because he's such a
19:48
good coach, and he'll do a good job at Arkansas. But that that
19:52
Kentucky job can wear you down, there's no doubt about it. But let's
19:57
talk about something that was just to me, absolutely tremendous. The greatness of
20:06
this Yukon championship team. I think, and I might be in the minority
20:11
here, I think it's the best Yukon team ever. And I think Curly
20:15
is by far and away the best coach in college basketball. Yeah, he's
20:18
a little you know, he's on court demeanor is a little shaky, but
20:22
it's better than it was a couple of years ago. But he could flat
20:26
out coach And I think this was a great team. I know they had
20:30
some twenty three twenty four year old guys and played five or six years,
20:36
but they could be anyway. They can beat your half court, they can
20:41
beat your physical They're a tremendous team. And it's a shame that in a
20:48
way that this team's not coming back next year. But they'll still be good
20:52
with their five new guys. I'm sure Klingon's going to go into the into
20:56
the draft, you know it's and other guys will. But what's your take
21:03
on Yukon a team that Seaton Hall beat by fifteen points in the Big East
21:07
opener. Yeah, I think that was their last loss or second to last
21:12
loss of the year back on January eighteenth. Well, I think that it
21:18
proves that Seaton Hall belongs. But in terms of Yukon, I think it's
21:22
the best team that I can remember in a long time. You know,
21:26
maybe going back to those early nineties Duke and UNLV teams. Maybe it's just
21:33
you know, being nostalgic on my part that that's what I really started getting
21:37
into college basketball, and I remember those teams being really tough, you know,
21:41
with Danny Ferry and Laytoner and Grant Hill Duke and of course the Larry
21:47
Johnson Stacy Augman teams. This Yukon team had everything. They had two good
21:53
centers. Klingon is a lottery pick. Castle is a lottery pick. Newton
21:57
will play in the NBA, probably be like a late first second round pick
22:02
something like that. Caravan is underrated. He wasn't super consistent this year,
22:07
but he'll play in the NBA probably. Yeah. You know, he's a
22:11
big guy that can shoot. Spencer was the heart of the team. They
22:15
bring him in from Rutgers and he was the key. I felt like a
22:18
lot of times, you know, with making a big three, loose ball,
22:22
rebound, clutch free throws, just his attitude out there. He was
22:26
talking about somebody being rejuvenated. He was a perfect fit for them, and
22:33
I thought he was the MVP of the team. I mean, Klingon.
22:37
Without him, they might still win it. But he was a dominating center
22:44
that continued to get better. I think the big difference for them this year
22:48
is that even though they lost a few NBA players off last year's team.
22:52
They became a smoother and more dynamic offensive team. Danny admitted that he didn't
23:00
work on defense a lot this summer. He just put a lot of new
23:03
stuff in on offense, and he made them really hard to guard, and
23:10
they ran beautiful stuff on offense, and most teams just, you know,
23:14
especially on short notice in a tournament setting, can't do it. You know,
23:18
they just they just run too much good stuff. And the guys are
23:22
so well well drilled, so obviously excellent coach. It's great for the Big
23:26
East. You know that they get four championships in the last eight years and
23:30
back to back for Yukon. So it was when when Seaton Hall wasn't playing
23:36
them, it was a pleasure to watch them. So I was gonna say,
23:38
what was it like watching early on the sideline as you're announcing with Gary
23:42
or you're announcing in Connecticut or Hall watching him coach? What was that like
23:47
for you seeing him on the on the road to repeating yeah, he's uh.
23:52
I think he's gonna be a Hall of Fame coach. I think he's
23:55
great. Obviously a Seaton Hall guy, so we want him to do well.
24:00
Is he a little crazy on the sidelines. Yes, our college basketball
24:03
coach is crazy on the sidelines sometimes, yes, most of the time.
24:07
Yes, So I think he fits right in. You know, he's a
24:11
remarkable coach, and really I actually already think he's a Hall of Famer,
24:18
And I agree with you on Cam Spencer, and I think he has a
24:22
shot to play in the NBA. I think he had. I mean,
24:25
maybe he'll be a G League guy first, but I agree with you.
24:27
He really wants the heart and soul and he does those things you hate to
24:32
use this whole term. He does those things that don't show up in the
24:36
box score. Yeah. I mean the Knicks have a team full of those
24:38
guys and the bluems in the East top six team, you know, David
24:45
lou I gotta say, I feel like these two teams, Connecticut and seen
24:48
Hall really took their roads personally, meaning that the Yukon took being ranked third
24:56
in the Biggiest personally and that led him to the championship sinhaw not being the
24:59
term, and they took that personally and they went on and win the NIT.
25:02
So what's that say about these two teams? Drives these any parallels in
25:07
that regard that maybe they did have a bit of a chip on his shoulder
25:08
and they're going to work to prove, yeah, we are, we belong.
25:11
The type of thing, yeah could be. Whatever you can use for
25:15
motivation is useful, and yeah, I think Seaton Hall definitely they felt slighted
25:22
and the five seniors got together, they unanimously decided they wanted to play.
25:26
And once they really started to play, they were tough out. I mean
25:33
I went back and looked at the schedule, and they didn't have any bad
25:37
losses. Like you could say that Rutgers because of where they ended up.
25:41
That was a bad loss for them, but it was a seven point loss.
25:44
It was early in the season. After that, a couple of the
25:48
margins were big, like at Yukon, but who's not losing big at Yukon,
25:52
you know at Marquette, who's not losing big at Maru, Cataract,
25:57
Creighton. But in terms of like taking care of business with their home games,
26:00
stealing some road games like Providence beating Yukon at home, beating Marquette at
26:07
home. I thought they did all they could, you know, with this
26:10
team, and they won twenty five games. You couldn't really ask much more
26:15
out of this group. And I think their motivations were varied, but that
26:18
was certainly one of them. And you got to remember they played a couple
26:21
of games that they probably would have won if Kadari Richmond wasn't wasn't injured,
26:26
they would have won the Providence game at home total he didn't play, yep.
26:30
And then there was another game that they I think was also at home
26:34
and I can't remember it right now where Richmond when he missed those back to
26:37
back game. Yeah, it was that Marquette and the game. They played
26:41
well in the first half of that game, but it kind of got away
26:42
from them because they didn't have him and they didn't have the depth. But
26:45
when they had him the first time, they beat Marquette. So yeah,
26:49
I mean your point is well taken. Dave. Anybody that that's already committed
26:55
to Seating Hall that you think can make an impact next year. Yes,
27:00
they have two high school players committed. They don't have any transfers committed yet
27:06
as of this recording. J just seem Felton is a big ish guard,
27:11
like a combo guard that would probably take some of al Dawes's minutes and they
27:15
can likely count on him to score. He seems pretty dynamic. Four star
27:21
player plays at one of the big prep schools and then Combine Prep or Combine
27:25
Academy, so they like him. And then they have a kidnamed God's Will
27:30
and I don't know how to pronounce his last name yet because it's very long,
27:33
but I think it's er Harrian from Long Island Lutheran who's a big guy
27:41
and who they think and play defense right away and hopefully offense soon. He
27:48
seems like an exciting player that would probably step into the big man rotation right
27:55
away on this team. And they lose Jayden Bettiaco, so they need,
27:59
you know, somebody to play some minutes. If you assume, which you
28:02
can't even assume anything anymore, but if you assume that Elijah hutchins ever,
28:04
it stays, this kid probably plays in a rotation with him up front,
28:11
and then you know, perhaps they go shopping for you know, some other
28:15
guys in high school and transfers. But they've technically only lost two players so
28:22
far in Dawes and Bettioco because their fifty years and their eligibility is done.
28:27
And then they have the two freshmen coming in, and other than that,
28:30
we don't know anything about the roster right. Well, you know, one
28:33
last thing on Beniaco. I haven't seen a player improve from opening day in
28:40
the in the pre conference schedule to where he ended up at the end of
28:42
the season. I mean, the guy worked hard and his improvement was stunning.
28:49
It really was, you know, Lou. I think that is really
28:55
the hallmark of Seaton Hall basketball over the last ten to fifteen years, Willard
29:03
and Holloway era is that they'll bring in a three star and making him a
29:07
four or five star player like a moles Pal. They'll improve guys like when
29:12
Romarro Gill came into Seaton Hall. He was not a big player, you
29:18
know, but by the time he left, he was a legit shot blocker
29:22
that could go play pro somewhere. And you know Desi Rodriguez, he was
29:27
not a highly recruited player. He was kind of a you know, third
29:32
or fourth guy in your class kind of player. And he continues to make
29:36
a lot of money overseas because he got a lot better each year and became
29:40
a dynamics scorer and a tough kid. And you saw that with this year's
29:45
team for sure. We talked about Dre Davis Bettiaca was right in that class.
29:49
First couple games of the year, he just you weren't sure if he
29:52
was going to be able to do it. But then he became a double
29:55
double machine. I think in his entire four year career at Santa Clara he
30:00
had eighteen double figure games, and at Seaton Hall he had seventeen double figure
30:04
games in thirty seven games. So and against higher level competition. Right,
30:10
the guy that generally at great hands stayed out of foul trouble most games.
30:15
It was a good teammate, didn't demand the ball, but when he got
30:18
it, he shot it at a very high percentage. His field goal percentage
30:22
after look but was well over sixty percent this year. So he was perfect.
30:26
No, he was absolutely and kudos to him, he really he really
30:30
did a nice shoving. Kudos to the coaches. Okay, well, speaking
30:34
of Bediaco. The last eight seconds of that game, the nit, I
30:40
mean you were you were at all levels in your voice there as the misses
30:45
kept happening. Were you nervous when of those were going to go in?
30:48
Or were you confident? Okay, so you know he's got this. No,
30:51
very nervous because they're such a good offensive team and a good three point
30:55
shooting team, and there we could talk about those last eight point four seconds
31:00
for a whole separate show because I had to explain it to somebody that didn't
31:06
see it, and it took me three or four minutes just to go through
31:11
what happened on that sequence of plays. And they said, wait, how
31:15
much time was on the clock. I said eight point four seconds. So
31:19
that's how condensed and crazy it was with the ball bouncing around for the people
31:25
that didn't see it, or you know, just to get my perspective on
31:27
it, I'll just give you a brief snippet of what I thought. Indiana
31:33
State is down two. They don't need three, but they're going for three
31:37
on their first three attempts and the only three that would have counted. It
31:42
turns out, you know, with the clock, so they were going for
31:45
the wind the first play when Swape got the ball for them and kind of
31:52
bounced into DAWs, DAWs went flying. The officials did not make a call.
31:59
I felt like that was ju justice for nineteen eighty nine, for when
32:02
the ghost call in the you know, final moments, you know, with
32:06
Rameil Robinson going to the line and John Clockerty blowing the whistle against Seaton Hall
32:09
when there was no foul, I felt like maybe they they got, you
32:15
know, some karma there on that in that moment, But I still don't
32:21
know if that was a foul. Either way, I'm glad they didn't blow
32:22
the whistle and they let the players decide it. But the one thing that
32:25
I haven't heard from anybody else is that after the shooter collides with DAWs the
32:32
defender, the ball pops straight up into the air. It wasn't really a
32:36
shot and he catches it, so that's a travel and they didn't call it,
32:42
so they let all right. So that's two play ons within the first
32:44
like three seconds. Then he tries a second shot, Betty Aco comes in
32:49
and blocks it cleanly. Does he get a little bit of the body maybe,
32:52
but that wasn't That wasn't a foul. And then the ball pops out
32:58
deep on the wing, like thirty feet away. He's one of their best
33:00
players conwell, and he had a pretty good look and it hit the front
33:05
of the rim and it would have counted to win the game. And then
33:07
the subsequent tip didn't go and it looked like it wouldn't have counted anyway.
33:13
But I mean multiple opportunities, and Seaton Hall dodged a bullet there, but
33:17
they played good defense and I think they deserved to win the game, and
33:22
the basketball gods look kindly on them. Dave. You talk about the phantom
33:29
call in eighty nine, it was I was. It was rappened right in
33:32
front of me. I was twelve rowers up on the first level and I
33:37
could still see that that terrible call. But when Indiana State called a time
33:44
out with they penting four seconds ago, the score was seat seventy nine and
33:46
seventy seven, and the first thing that popped into my head was Indiana State,
33:52
it's going to hit a three, and Seaton Hall was going to lose
33:53
eighty to seventy nine, which was the same score as the NCAA Tournament final
34:00
game against. That would have been cruel. I didn't think of that,
34:04
but yeah, that would have been cruel. So but it all worked out
34:07
for the best, and was it was exciting and I'm glad. I was
34:10
so happy for you that you were able to call the game. I mean
34:13
that that's train out. I definitely played it your favor. Yeah, yeah,
34:19
I mean Gary planned to come out Thursday for the final, but it
34:22
rained all week and they ended up playing two games that day, and and
34:27
Dave, it was also like a home game for Indiana State because of you
34:30
know, Hinkle Fieldhouse in Annapolis. I mean, they seen how it was
34:34
against that as well, weren't they. Yeah, that was one of the
34:37
loudest gyms I've ever been in. I can remember several over the course of
34:45
my career. Seaton Hall against Kansas in Wichita in the second round of the
34:52
NCAA Tournament. Great game, like in the high eighties, I think,
34:58
a slam bang kind of game with the aforementioned Desi Rodriguez coming off an ankle
35:02
injury toughing it out and Angel del Gato I think he grabbed like eighteen rebounds
35:07
in that game or something, and Seaton Hall eventually lost a close game.
35:10
But that was really loud. LOUI, You'll remember this. Alex was a
35:15
little kid but Monmouth at Marist in nineteen ninety six, when Monmouth went to
35:22
the NCAA Tournament for the first time, they had to win on the road
35:25
in the semis to make it back home for the final against Ryder, and
35:31
the semi final at Marist is one of the loudest buildings I've ever been in
35:37
in my life. And Monmouth ended up quieting the crowd with a four point
35:40
play from Mustafa Barksdale to win the game, and it went silent, but
35:47
during the game it was super super loud. But anyway, Hinkle was like
35:52
that, it was like, you know, deafening. And the day before
35:54
that too, or two days before in their semi final, in their game
36:00
in Indiana State semi that was really loud that night. But in the final
36:06
against Seaton Hall, yeah, it was you know, ninety eight percent Indiana
36:08
State people, So it made the victory even sweeter for the Pirates. Now,
36:12
Alex, that that mom is that Maris game that mister Popkin was alluding
36:17
to. I think I got this right. Who do you think was the
36:22
Mommath radio play by play announcer at the time, And I guess there was
36:25
one David Hopkin. An't I right on that? Yeah? It was my
36:30
first year with them. It was their first year going to the tournament.
36:34
Wayne Zok was the coach and Dave Callaway was his assistant. He would go
36:39
on to become the head coach obviously and take them to the tournament three more
36:44
times. But that was like home for me because I grew up down the
36:49
shore and my parents went to mom myth So it was cool for me to
36:52
get that job at a young age. I was like twenty five and spent
36:57
a couple of years doing that before you know, moving on to a couple
37:00
other things. When they lost their radio deal. It was a lot of
37:04
fun, man. It was a great experience. And when they finally wanted
37:07
at home the next game, the fans stormed the court and they literally came
37:10
like jumping over the media table and over us to get onto the floor to
37:15
mob the players. So that was my indoctrination into college basketball. That's a
37:21
core memory. I have to imagine, you know, Blue and Dave.
37:23
Dave, can I share what you texted me after the after the last you
37:29
know week in the last Sea last game of the year. The statue gave
37:32
me in that text message about how this was the longest season. Tell us
37:36
exactly how long of a season this was for you, Dave? Oh,
37:39
I mean it was certainly the latest into the year that I've gone. I
37:44
think I did fifty six games this year, which is, you know,
37:49
it's not an NBA season, which I would like to eventually do. But
37:52
it was. It was a lot of basketball and a short amount of months,
37:57
but it was enjoyable and I got to do all kinds the different stuff
38:00
this year. I did some NJ I T, some Saint Peter's obviously,
38:04
the Seaton Hall, and I've done the NYC games on TV for a long
38:07
time, and some other odds and ends. So it was a great year,
38:13
you know, one of my favorites. Hey, thank you for for
38:17
your knowledge and this was this was great your your you were great, and
38:22
congratulations on your career and the Seaton Hall n I T championship and we hope
38:29
in a couple of years it'll be a Seat Hall and C double a championship
38:34
and that would be great. Yeah. No, thanks guys. I appreciate
38:37
all you continue to do for me and for your friendship and for inviting me
38:40
on. And I'm grateful for a terrific season. I enjoyed it. Thank
38:47
you, Dave. We enjoyed having you. Thank you so much. Dave
38:51
Popkins, Seating Hall announcer, host of Crashing the Boards with a Austin Johnson
38:54
so much more. Dave, I know you're gonna do some summer ball as
38:58
well, right Summer baseball. We got baseball, we got the NEC Tournament
39:01
coming up. We've got some Buffalo Bison's Triple A games, so it'll keep
39:06
me busy, all right. Go to dat Popkin Guy on Instagram. He'll
39:09
he'll probably update you where he's at there. But Dave, thanks so much
39:13
for joining Terminello's take on the Alex Garrett podcast Network. You got it.