Latest / The Craig Way Show / Vic Schaefer Talks Madison Booker, Roster Reload, and tough SEC conference schedule in 2025

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Vic Schaefer Talks Madison Booker, Roster Reload, and tough SEC conference schedule in 2025 · The Craig Way Show

0:00
Speaker 1: When you have a season like the Texas women's basketball
0:04
Speaker 1: program had last year thirty five and four and going
0:06
Speaker 1: to the Final four, winning a share of the SEC Championship,
0:10
Speaker 1: you can expect that there will be a positive response,
0:15
Speaker 1: certainly from the fan base. But this has been going
0:18
Speaker 1: on ever since Vic Schafer's been a year and now
0:21
Speaker 1: there are over five thousand total season tickets sole It's
0:25
Speaker 1: most I can ever remember, and closing in on two
0:27
Speaker 1: thousand new season ticket holders. This is about to be
0:32
Speaker 1: my twenty seventh year coming up on calling Texas women's basketball,
0:35
Speaker 1: and I can tell you the excitement around the program
0:38
Speaker 1: has probably never been higher. We're very pleased to have
0:41
Speaker 1: the head coach join us here for a few minutes
0:43
Speaker 1: on the hotline. Vick, I appreciate it. How's your summer
0:45
Speaker 1: gone so far?
0:47
Speaker 2: And good to hear for Imy Craig's great day to
0:49
Speaker 2: be a long horn not doing good.
0:52
Speaker 3: Summer's been busy, you know, You've had lots going on, and.
1:00
Speaker 2: It's you know, with us going to Toronto next week
1:03
Speaker 2: to play you know, Canada and Brazil and Puerto Rico,
1:10
Speaker 2: and then you're going to play one more game against
1:12
Speaker 2: one of those teams. Again, our kids have have really
1:18
Speaker 2: had a good summer.
1:19
Speaker 3: We're in the middle of.
1:22
Speaker 2: Ten days of practice to get ready to go over there,
1:25
Speaker 2: so it's been been a good summer.
1:28
Speaker 1: I That's where I wanted to start with, because I
1:31
Speaker 1: know some people might have heard about this trip to
1:33
Speaker 1: Canada for this Global Jam coming up, but others might
1:37
Speaker 1: not be familiar with it. I'm I'm curious to get
1:39
Speaker 1: your thoughts not only on what you're going to encounter,
1:43
Speaker 1: what your program is going to deal with when you're
1:45
Speaker 1: up there and playing these games against these national teams.
1:48
Speaker 4: But also.
1:50
Speaker 1: How you know the good that it does, if there's
1:53
Speaker 1: if there's any downside to playing real, heavy duty competitive
1:57
Speaker 1: basketball games as the Texas Longhorn in August before you
2:01
Speaker 1: really get into the practices that will lead up to
2:04
Speaker 1: your season opener coming up in November.
2:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's yeah, I think you have to.
2:11
Speaker 2: You know, again, my team, our program, our players, my staff,
2:17
Speaker 2: our philosophy has always been if we're keeping score and
2:21
Speaker 2: the clocks weren't running.
2:23
Speaker 3: We're going to try to win. And so you know,
2:27
Speaker 3: we we take that.
2:28
Speaker 2: Approach in practice, in preparation, and you know, this group,
2:37
Speaker 2: we do have so many we have you know, four
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Speaker 2: new players that all are projected to be, you know,
2:45
Speaker 2: impact our program and our team this year and so
2:49
Speaker 2: and potentially two more in Lavisa who's not here, she's
2:53
Speaker 2: playing for her country.
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Speaker 3: Right now at U twenties.
3:00
Speaker 2: And then Grace who's playing for Ireland.
3:05
Speaker 3: She had twenty seven before last. So you know, it's
3:10
Speaker 3: a great time.
3:12
Speaker 2: But our kids have worked really hard this summer because
3:16
Speaker 2: our idea to go to Toronto is to.
3:17
Speaker 3: Go for and try to win.
3:19
Speaker 1: How challenging is it for you and the staffick with
3:24
Speaker 1: I remember a couple of weeks ago when we were
3:25
Speaker 1: over there when we were obviously visiting with Madison Booker,
3:28
Speaker 1: were visiting with Jordan Lee coming off their national team experiences.
3:31
Speaker 1: And then when when we got a chance to visit
3:34
Speaker 1: with you, you mentioned about just then starting to get
3:39
Speaker 1: close to the full collection of your roster together to
3:42
Speaker 1: start working. So for folks that don't understand, you know,
3:47
Speaker 1: how do you and the staff go about getting the
3:49
Speaker 1: other guys prepared, getting your other ladies prepared for this
3:54
Speaker 1: international competition, even when you don't have your full compliment
3:58
Speaker 1: players together in the world. Work that goes on to
4:01
Speaker 1: individually get these players ready to go before you can
4:04
Speaker 1: even get them together collectively to get ready to go.
4:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the rule is we get ten practices before
4:12
Speaker 2: we go over there. The other rule is in the summer,
4:16
Speaker 2: each week, you're limited to four hours on the court
4:21
Speaker 2: with the basketball with me in the gym, and four
4:25
Speaker 2: hours in the weight room with us in the weight room.
4:30
Speaker 3: So we're very limited.
4:31
Speaker 2: In how much we can do and what we can
4:34
Speaker 2: do with our with our players, and so we have
4:37
Speaker 2: a lot of individual work going on, especially when you
4:40
Speaker 2: got Jordan Lee and Leah Krump at you nineteen Trials,
4:47
Speaker 2: you got Booker at the America's Cup, and so you're
4:52
Speaker 2: not having team workouts, per say, you're.
4:54
Speaker 3: Doing a lot of individual work and things of that
4:59
Speaker 3: name nature.
5:00
Speaker 2: And so then when we start trying to get prepared
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Speaker 2: to go to Canada, these ten practices, we've got eleven
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Speaker 2: players right now here minus Grace from Ireland and Levisa
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Speaker 2: from Sweden. So you know, we're That's how a summer
5:21
Speaker 2: looks for a basketball player, a men's or a women's
5:25
Speaker 2: basketball player. It's not like we're having full fledged practices
5:30
Speaker 2: every week because you can't.
5:32
Speaker 3: But you can have them in the gym.
5:35
Speaker 2: Four hours with a ball with coaches and you can
5:38
Speaker 2: have them in a weight room four hours, So we
5:41
Speaker 2: take full advantage of that. Our kids are in summer
5:44
Speaker 2: school as well, and.
5:46
Speaker 3: So you know, we.
5:51
Speaker 2: Really feel like, you know, the summer is important. My
5:55
Speaker 2: staff does an incredible job, and I tell you, the
5:59
Speaker 2: culture of our program and our.
6:01
Speaker 3: Kids is really really special.
6:06
Speaker 2: And our kids want to be in the gym, they
6:11
Speaker 2: want to be getting shots at, they want to work
6:13
Speaker 2: on their game, and it's really really cool to have
6:18
Speaker 2: kids that want to do that, and then they want
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Speaker 2: coaches in the gym with them.
6:24
Speaker 1: Visiting with Vic Shaffer, Texas women's basketball coach here on
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Speaker 1: thirteen hunder the Zone, I want to give you a
6:29
Speaker 1: chance to tell folks a little bit about these newer
6:32
Speaker 1: faces that you come in. Let's start with your two internationals,
6:34
Speaker 1: because it's the end of the yang, isn't it. You
6:36
Speaker 1: have a five eight garden, a six six post, so
6:40
Speaker 1: let me get your thoughts. Starting with Lavisa asbrink Jose,
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Speaker 1: who is, as you mentioned, playing for her national team
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Speaker 1: in Sweden right now, tell folks about Levisa and what
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Speaker 1: she brings to the party for you.
6:54
Speaker 2: Has played one year over here in college at Florida
7:00
Speaker 2: Atlantic and you know, she's a we look at her
7:03
Speaker 2: as a project.
7:06
Speaker 3: You know, we're hopeful to red shirt her this year.
7:08
Speaker 2: If we can get Kyla and Brea to really embrace
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Speaker 2: their role and and and be able to handle it,
7:16
Speaker 2: it'd be nice to red shirt her. And and that's
7:19
Speaker 2: kind of the plans when we recruited her. And I
7:23
Speaker 2: think she's you know, obviously she's accepting, uh and open
7:28
Speaker 2: to that, but you never know, and she does have
7:32
Speaker 2: some college experience, but that's our plan with her. And
7:37
Speaker 2: then Grace is a little more problematic, and that she's
7:41
Speaker 2: trying to graduate from high school in a it's just different.
7:47
Speaker 2: She has a lot of it's almost like taking a
7:50
Speaker 2: lot of oh, it's like taking a test to try
7:55
Speaker 2: to place out of a class in college. She's trying
7:59
Speaker 2: to take some tests to place out and graduate, you know,
8:04
Speaker 2: from high school so she can get here.
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Speaker 3: You know, we had the issue with the.
8:10
Speaker 2: I twenties and the and and the such that that
8:14
Speaker 2: our US government had imposed some restrictions on that since
8:19
Speaker 2: been lifted just here recently. So we're trying to get
8:23
Speaker 2: her here, you know, for the start of school and
8:27
Speaker 2: get her eligible right away. But we still have some
8:30
Speaker 2: work to do.
8:31
Speaker 3: In that area.
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Speaker 1: I think folks who heard what was the situation last
8:38
Speaker 1: year and saw what Aliah Crump was doing at the
8:41
Speaker 1: high school level and the McDonald's all American and all
8:44
Speaker 1: the stuff that she brings in. How about her game
8:47
Speaker 1: and the excitement that you were expecting her to be
8:51
Speaker 1: able to provide to your roster.
8:53
Speaker 2: Yes, like Booker, you know, a big two guard three
9:01
Speaker 2: player that can really shoot it, plays the game extremely hard,
9:07
Speaker 2: and you know, I'm hopeful that she's gonna you know,
9:12
Speaker 2: it's really hard as a pressureman. You know, it's just
9:16
Speaker 2: it's you know, it's a different game, different speed. You're
9:20
Speaker 2: you're going against people four and five years older than
9:22
Speaker 2: you sometimes, so it's a big challenge. But uh, this
9:27
Speaker 2: is a kid that works extremely hard. I need her
9:31
Speaker 2: to be able to help us. Uh, just like with.
9:34
Speaker 3: Any young player.
9:36
Speaker 2: You know, you're you're teaching the same things. You got
9:38
Speaker 2: to take care of the ball, You've got to be
9:40
Speaker 2: able to guard somebody, and uh, you know, it ain't
9:43
Speaker 2: about shots, it's about mates, and so you know, just
9:48
Speaker 2: uh and realizing you're you're not you know, you're playing
9:53
Speaker 2: with a lot of really good players now and and
9:56
Speaker 2: we've got some you know, we've got some really good players.
10:00
Speaker 2: We've got all Americans on our team. And those kids,
10:05
Speaker 2: you know, they need they need shots, they need looks
10:09
Speaker 2: before anybody else on the.
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Speaker 3: Team does, right.
10:12
Speaker 2: And and so you know, we've got great inside players
10:16
Speaker 2: and you know they need they need looks as well.
10:21
Speaker 2: So I think that's the learning curve, right for any
10:24
Speaker 2: new new player that comes in to play here at Texas,
10:29
Speaker 2: they have to realize, even our portal kids, they have
10:34
Speaker 2: to realize, man, we've got some really good players. They've
10:37
Speaker 2: got some really good teammates, and they don't have to
10:40
Speaker 2: carry the load, you know, we've got we've got people
10:44
Speaker 2: that can do that.
10:45
Speaker 3: They just need to take.
10:46
Speaker 2: Care of the ball, you know, and not turn it over.
10:49
Speaker 2: Got a garden, defend a little bit, play really hard,
10:53
Speaker 2: and you know it'd be nice if you make a
10:57
Speaker 2: shot when nobody's guarding.
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Speaker 4: You, no doubt about it.
11:00
Speaker 1: As a visit with Vic Shator, Okay, the portal was
11:02
Speaker 1: where I was going to go next with you, Vic,
11:04
Speaker 1: because I was reminded of a quote from the great
11:08
Speaker 1: baseball coach we had here, the late Augie Garrido, talked
11:11
Speaker 1: about when he got junior college transfers, and he said
11:13
Speaker 1: sometimes sometimes, and.
11:15
Speaker 4: This was junior college players, but he.
11:16
Speaker 1: Said sometimes it was a little more difficult transition for
11:19
Speaker 1: them because they had been leaders and big producers when
11:22
Speaker 1: all we need them to do is settle into a
11:25
Speaker 1: role and not try to be everything to the team.
11:30
Speaker 1: And while it's different certainly with a portal with players
11:35
Speaker 1: who've had experience playing in Power four leagues or Power
11:39
Speaker 1: five leagues, that sometimes I know that that goes in there.
11:41
Speaker 1: With that in mind, I will want to ask you
11:43
Speaker 1: about your portal transfers. Let me start with with Ashton Judd,
11:47
Speaker 1: the guard coming in from Missouri, and what you like
11:50
Speaker 1: about her game?
11:52
Speaker 3: Well?
11:52
Speaker 2: Thanks, First of all, just a common denominator with all
11:58
Speaker 2: three they all came from Power four schools. So our
12:03
Speaker 2: transfer kids they weren't good, you know, men, major players,
12:09
Speaker 2: They were really good Power four players. Ashton was really
12:15
Speaker 2: good at Missouri, played the three and the four.
12:21
Speaker 3: What a great kid.
12:22
Speaker 2: Has an incredible motor, beautiful shot, She's a physical kid.
12:27
Speaker 3: She's tough.
12:30
Speaker 2: So and played for a coach that I have a
12:32
Speaker 2: great deal of respect for, so I'm just really excited
12:38
Speaker 2: about her. She again can play the three, and the
12:40
Speaker 2: four and give me some minutes. You know, where Madison
12:46
Speaker 2: needs a break, we can we can play her at
12:49
Speaker 2: the three.
12:49
Speaker 3: A little bit. And so really excited about her. Then
12:54
Speaker 3: you go to Taya Uh.
12:58
Speaker 2: Taya is the all time leading scorer in the history
13:01
Speaker 2: of Utah high school basketball and you know started at Utah,
13:06
Speaker 2: then went to Boston College two years.
13:09
Speaker 3: But man, what a motor.
13:12
Speaker 2: Rebounds the ball extremely hard, plays the game hard, and
13:16
Speaker 2: both her and Ashton can both stretch the floor, shoot
13:20
Speaker 2: the three. Both of them are probably four players first
13:25
Speaker 2: Ashton can move to the three, but both of them
13:29
Speaker 2: wanted to come to Texas.
13:31
Speaker 3: Knowing both of them were coming.
13:32
Speaker 2: I think that speaks volumes to who they are and.
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Speaker 3: What's important to them.
13:38
Speaker 2: And so both those young ladies, man, they bring a
13:43
Speaker 2: lot to the table, and super excited about them. And
13:48
Speaker 2: then the third one was bray At Cunningham, the kid
13:51
Speaker 2: that I finished second on. She was the number two
13:53
Speaker 2: player in the country coming out of high school. Ended
13:56
Speaker 2: up going to Arizona was there two years, three, six,
14:00
Speaker 2: four or five player that you know, again had a
14:05
Speaker 2: great and on visit with the family. Really felt good
14:08
Speaker 2: about her, thought we were gonna get her we didn't,
14:12
Speaker 2: but that's okay. Sometimes those things happen. And when I
14:15
Speaker 2: saw she went into portal, man, I couldn't wait to
14:17
Speaker 2: call her mother. And her mother answered the phone, Coach Schaeffer,
14:22
Speaker 2: And so I said, well, you say my number? She said, absolutely,
14:26
Speaker 2: I saved your number. You never know when things might happen.
14:30
Speaker 2: And so I really felt like her. You know, they
14:32
Speaker 2: wanted her here, and so you know, Brea averaged I
14:38
Speaker 2: think eleven and nine and the big twelve as a
14:40
Speaker 2: sophomore for Arizona, and we're gonna need her to to
14:46
Speaker 2: really come in here along with Kai and continue the
14:50
Speaker 2: two headed monster that we've always had and give us
14:55
Speaker 2: that inside presence that we really need. So those three kids, man,
14:59
Speaker 2: are really special out of the portal Yeah, and veterans, no,
15:06
Speaker 2: you know, I think they all have a you know,
15:09
Speaker 2: I love I love Taya and Ashton's motor like it
15:14
Speaker 2: runs full go every day. I call Taya smiling. The
15:20
Speaker 2: kid's never not got a smile on our face.
15:23
Speaker 4: That's always good to have.
15:25
Speaker 3: Oh man.
15:26
Speaker 2: Just a wonderful, wonderful thing. And so anyway, those kids.
15:32
Speaker 4: Are all going to help us win well, no doubt.
15:35
Speaker 1: And I didn't even get to ask you yet about
15:39
Speaker 1: your returning veterans, and you look at at a kid
15:42
Speaker 1: like and it was so impressive to hear Brianna Preston
15:44
Speaker 1: when she was there a couple of weeks ago, talking
15:45
Speaker 1: about how she's been working on her game.
15:48
Speaker 4: And this is a kid who's a sophomore.
15:50
Speaker 1: So you think of veterans, you think of the grizzled
15:53
Speaker 1: old veterans, the upper class, and the four maybe five
15:56
Speaker 1: year seniors. But I know brie is somebody that you're
15:58
Speaker 1: really going to be counting on this year. In addition,
16:01
Speaker 1: what everybody is looking forward to seeing from Rory back
16:04
Speaker 1: on the floor this.
16:04
Speaker 2: Year, Well, yeah, and we're gonna play those two together,
16:09
Speaker 2: and I think that'll really give us a unique one
16:14
Speaker 2: two punch to go along with Madison. But I think
16:20
Speaker 2: both of them will be be really fun to watch
16:23
Speaker 2: defensively hopefully and then in transition.
16:26
Speaker 3: So but yeah, Bray.
16:28
Speaker 2: Brie Iss, she looks like she should in my opinion,
16:34
Speaker 2: and that she's improved. The most you improved in your
16:38
Speaker 2: college basketball.
16:39
Speaker 3: Career is between your freshman.
16:40
Speaker 2: And sophomore year, in my opinion, and she's certainly improved,
16:45
Speaker 2: gotten better. I think she's worked hard on her game,
16:49
Speaker 2: has to continue to take care of the ball good,
16:51
Speaker 2: you know, and not turn the ball over and be
16:55
Speaker 2: somebody that's accountable in that area.
16:57
Speaker 3: But man, love love having her again.
17:04
Speaker 2: I've got fast and Rory, and I've got electric and
17:07
Speaker 2: breathe and the boy, the kid is just all that
17:12
Speaker 2: and then something. So looking forward to her being able
17:17
Speaker 2: to play, you know, quite a bit more and play
17:19
Speaker 2: multiple positions well.
17:22
Speaker 1: And continuing along that theme what you've said about the
17:25
Speaker 1: most improvement coming between the freshmen and sophomore seasons, I
17:28
Speaker 1: know you're expecting more out of Justice this year. Who
17:31
Speaker 1: folks may have forgot about Justice Carlton and what she's
17:33
Speaker 1: capable of producing for you well.
17:36
Speaker 2: And the thing is is, I think this, if we
17:40
Speaker 2: had to say something this summer, Justice might be the
17:44
Speaker 2: most you know, improved kid coming back from last year.
17:50
Speaker 3: She's made big strides in my opinion, and looks good,
17:57
Speaker 3: looks like the kid that we were recruiting her year
18:00
Speaker 3: before she got hurt.
18:02
Speaker 2: And h So I'm really, really again excited about her
18:09
Speaker 2: and what I think she can bring to the table
18:12
Speaker 2: for us.
18:14
Speaker 3: At four.
18:15
Speaker 1: I'm remiss if I don't. If I don't at least
18:18
Speaker 1: ask you coming off the national team work that Madison had,
18:23
Speaker 1: how how she feels. I know, that's a lot of
18:26
Speaker 1: work for a young lady. She's done it back to
18:28
Speaker 1: back years now and then coming back here for the
18:31
Speaker 1: junior year as well, and how she's held up even
18:35
Speaker 1: even going through the grind to playing on a national
18:38
Speaker 1: team the past couple of years.
18:41
Speaker 3: She looks great.
18:43
Speaker 2: And you know, the kids won four medals, four gold medals,
18:49
Speaker 2: and she's nineteen, and just that's a special She's a
18:56
Speaker 2: great kid. She's a special talent, special young lady, special player.
19:02
Speaker 2: I know they've had some great ones here at Texas.
19:05
Speaker 2: I think she's she's going to be when she's done,
19:10
Speaker 2: going to be the all time greatest to ever play here.
19:14
Speaker 2: And I think she's going to go on and have
19:16
Speaker 2: obviously a great career in the w But the kid
19:20
Speaker 2: is just again, she's a great example of the game
19:26
Speaker 2: is real fair. You get out of it what you
19:29
Speaker 2: put into it, and she has poured into her game
19:34
Speaker 2: and she's you know, obviously benefited from that. But the
19:39
Speaker 2: kid works extremely hard and you know, just like today,
19:44
Speaker 2: got done with practice and then comes over here wants
19:47
Speaker 2: to get up more shots. And so it's it's I
19:53
Speaker 2: want our fans to understand. You know, we we think
19:57
Speaker 2: we're always going to recruit great eight and get great players,
20:01
Speaker 2: and we will to an extent. We always will have
20:05
Speaker 2: great players. But every once in a while you get
20:10
Speaker 2: that great, great one and you know, Rory Harmon, you
20:15
Speaker 2: can throw her in there with with Madison in that
20:18
Speaker 2: Rory's already set the record for what twelve hundred points
20:23
Speaker 2: and seven hundred assists, and any other.
20:26
Speaker 3: Player ever done that.
20:28
Speaker 2: Booker is going to have a chance to be the
20:31
Speaker 2: all time leading scorer, all time you know, score in
20:36
Speaker 2: the history of the University of Texas. Get she brings
20:40
Speaker 2: so much more to the table. So you're talking about
20:43
Speaker 2: two great guards that when you look across the country
20:47
Speaker 2: not to you know, I don't know of anybody that
20:49
Speaker 2: can say they've got a Madison Booker and a Rory
20:53
Speaker 2: Harmon on their team. And I want our fans to
20:57
Speaker 2: understand that and embrace that and realize when they come
21:01
Speaker 2: out and watch our team play, they're looking at two
21:04
Speaker 2: of the greatest to ever play here, no doubt, no doubt. Again,
21:08
Speaker 2: not taking anything away from you know, the players that
21:13
Speaker 2: have been here before.
21:15
Speaker 3: But in the modern era of what we you.
21:19
Speaker 2: Know women's basketball today. Man, it is really a special time.
21:27
Speaker 2: And you know, we had Shay Holly who set the
21:30
Speaker 2: record for most games played in in the history of
21:35
Speaker 2: the university. And so it's it's really cool right now
21:41
Speaker 2: to have the team we have, the young ladies that
21:45
Speaker 2: we have and realize, Man, when you come to watch
21:48
Speaker 2: us play, you're you're looking at some of the best
21:51
Speaker 2: to ever play here. And again, I really, I really
21:56
Speaker 2: feel like when it's all said and done, you know,
22:00
Speaker 2: those two in particular, will have etched their names in
22:04
Speaker 2: the history books here.
22:07
Speaker 3: In several areas. Then we're lucky that we've had them.
22:11
Speaker 1: The last thing I want to ask you about, Vick,
22:13
Speaker 1: is the SEC released the conference schedule game. Now, this
22:17
Speaker 1: is following on the heels of a pretty unique non
22:21
Speaker 1: conference schedule.
22:21
Speaker 4: You have, if I if I.
22:23
Speaker 1: May suggest that, I mean, you have obviously every basketball program,
22:27
Speaker 1: certainly every successful one, has what are called the bye games.
22:30
Speaker 1: And you've got that in Incarnate Ward, in Louisiana LAFAAD,
22:34
Speaker 1: and in Texas, Southern and Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana.
22:37
Speaker 4: But you've got these.
22:39
Speaker 1: You have the home at home on the back end
22:42
Speaker 1: at home when you had to go on the road
22:43
Speaker 1: to play Richmond and James Madison last year, and you've
22:45
Speaker 1: got both of them at home this year, and you
22:47
Speaker 1: have been at home. But then you've got some other
22:50
Speaker 1: unique things you've got. You've got Penn at home. You
22:54
Speaker 1: have the acc SEC Challenge.
22:56
Speaker 4: Game at home against North Carolina.
22:58
Speaker 1: You have a trip back to the Rio Grand Valley
23:00
Speaker 1: to play UTRGV. You have Baylor in Fort Worth at
23:05
Speaker 1: Dickey's Arena.
23:06
Speaker 4: And then and you've got a trip to.
23:08
Speaker 1: Brooking, South Dakota to play South Dakota State. That's before
23:11
Speaker 1: you even get in the conference play on New Year's
23:13
Speaker 1: Day against Missouri. You've got a road trip to South
23:17
Speaker 1: Carolina home and home with LSU. You've got a road
23:21
Speaker 1: trip to Tennessee, a road trip to Vanderbilt. You've got
23:24
Speaker 1: some pretty interesting challenges on your schedule, both non conference
23:28
Speaker 1: and overall.
23:28
Speaker 2: Would you think, Craig, you just and you missed the
23:33
Speaker 2: two other games in November out in Vegas. Oh yeah,
23:36
Speaker 2: we're going to UCLA and Duke or or South Carolina.
23:42
Speaker 2: We're gonna play UCLA and then we're gonna either play
23:45
Speaker 2: the winner or the loser of duke South Carolina, so
23:50
Speaker 2: we could potentially play South Carolina again twice for a
23:55
Speaker 2: duke team that was in the either Sweet sixteen or
23:58
Speaker 2: Elite eight. So we've got plenty of schedule. Of course,
24:04
Speaker 2: the SEC doesn't do us any favors. We've had to
24:07
Speaker 2: open now back to back years twy. You know, we
24:11
Speaker 2: have home and home with South Carolina.
24:13
Speaker 3: A year ago.
24:14
Speaker 2: Now I've got a home and home with LSU. The
24:17
Speaker 2: only difference is last year, at least, when I had
24:20
Speaker 2: South Carolina home and home.
24:22
Speaker 3: I got LSU at home. This year, I got a
24:25
Speaker 3: home at home with LSU.
24:26
Speaker 2: And I'm at South Carolina, I'm at Tennessee, I'm at Vanderbilt,
24:33
Speaker 2: I'm at Alabama. I mean, all those schools are picked
24:37
Speaker 2: top six in our conference. So I don't know, I
24:42
Speaker 2: don't quite understand it. I don't think it's fair because
24:47
Speaker 2: this is how it will be every year. Now, every
24:51
Speaker 2: other year we're gonna we're gonna end up. Every other
24:55
Speaker 2: year we will have this schedule.
24:59
Speaker 3: Good gree at.
25:00
Speaker 2: Vanderbilt, at Tennessee, at South Carolina.
25:04
Speaker 3: At LSU. That is a lot.
25:09
Speaker 5: Nobody else in our league has that. Nobody I've been
25:13
Speaker 5: through it, but it is what it is, you know,
25:18
Speaker 5: so we'll just have to do.
25:19
Speaker 3: The best we can.
25:20
Speaker 2: We navigated last year pretty hard, pretty well, you know,
25:24
Speaker 2: and what I felt like was a very difficult schedule,
25:28
Speaker 2: and you know, we'll have to do it again this year.
25:30
Speaker 3: I know.
25:31
Speaker 1: Also, Florida had a solid team last year. You got
25:33
Speaker 1: to go to Gainesville. You would expect that eventually, Arkansas
25:37
Speaker 1: is going to get back in a good rhythm. You
25:40
Speaker 1: got to go to Fayetteville, and like I said, you
25:41
Speaker 1: open on New Year's Day in Columbia against.
25:44
Speaker 4: The solid Missouri program.
25:46
Speaker 1: I guess, you know, all of all of those things
25:48
Speaker 1: had up to to what makes this thing as challenging
25:50
Speaker 1: as it does.
25:52
Speaker 2: It's the SEC there's no off days, there's no off games.
25:58
Speaker 2: You don't play well on given night, you won't get beat,
26:01
Speaker 2: you'll get embarrassed.
26:03
Speaker 3: And that's just the nature of the Beast. So we've
26:07
Speaker 3: got to try to navigate the best we can. Again,
26:12
Speaker 3: it's it's the hand we're dealt with. And I think too,
26:19
Speaker 3: you know what we've done with our non conference schedule.
26:23
Speaker 3: I mean, you're gonna open with two top.
26:28
Speaker 2: You know, potentially two top ten teams, top twelve teams,
26:33
Speaker 2: got to go to a top twenty five South Dakota State.
26:35
Speaker 3: They're always in the nca Tournament. I'm gonna have to
26:39
Speaker 3: play Baylor. They'll be in the top twenty five up
26:42
Speaker 3: in Dickie's.
26:42
Speaker 2: They've got a hell of a team coming back and
26:47
Speaker 2: got some new transfer kids, some new portal kids.
26:51
Speaker 3: Obviously gonna have to play North Carolina at home. They're
26:54
Speaker 3: always in the top fifteen. So it's it's it's not
27:00
Speaker 3: a very friendly schedule in my mind.
27:02
Speaker 1: Well, and that's why I mentioned at the top. You
27:05
Speaker 1: have over five thousand total season tickets sold. You're closing
27:09
Speaker 1: in on two thousand new season ticket older. That's what
27:12
Speaker 1: you want, that's what you envision. I've heard you say
27:14
Speaker 1: this before when you came here, and in the going
27:17
Speaker 1: on twenty seven years of calling the games, I can
27:20
Speaker 1: scarcely remember too many crowds until you got here, of
27:25
Speaker 1: even five thousand fans total, and sometimes that was visiting
27:29
Speaker 1: fans like for Baylor or Tech or whatever. I know,
27:32
Speaker 1: you've got to be pleased with what you have, even
27:35
Speaker 1: as you're wanting even more to get season tickets and
27:38
Speaker 1: show up this year.
27:41
Speaker 2: For sure, I mean, part of building your programs building
27:43
Speaker 2: your fan base, and that's been the part that's been
27:48
Speaker 2: really you know challenging here. You know, Mississippi State we
27:54
Speaker 2: averaged ninety five hundred to night in a twenty.
27:56
Speaker 3: Five thousand person community.
27:58
Speaker 2: I felt like, coming here, two million people right here
28:01
Speaker 2: close by, you know, we could do the same thing.
28:05
Speaker 2: And we've certainly had some great crowds, no question about it.
28:08
Speaker 2: We've had some you know, big crowds over ten thousand,
28:13
Speaker 2: you know, four or five, six times a year, but
28:16
Speaker 2: just trying to build that consistency. It's not about who
28:20
Speaker 2: I'm playing. You're not coming to see North Carolina play.
28:23
Speaker 2: You're coming to see Texas play. And that's I think
28:27
Speaker 2: the philosophy that's kind.
28:28
Speaker 3: Of hard to get through to our fan base.
28:31
Speaker 2: You're not buying season tickets because I've got Connecticut on
28:35
Speaker 2: my schedule. You're buying season tickets because the University of
28:39
Speaker 2: Texas is a top ten team, a top ten program,
28:42
Speaker 2: and you want to come support them. It doesn't matter
28:45
Speaker 2: if we're playing Connecticut or some three named directional school.
28:49
Speaker 2: And that's that's the mindset that sometimes is a challenge
28:55
Speaker 2: to change. But you know, I think we're getting that again.
29:01
Speaker 2: To me, it all has to do with the product
29:04
Speaker 2: you put on the floor. And the better, the better
29:07
Speaker 2: your team you have, the more accessful they are, the
29:11
Speaker 2: better kids that they are, the better support you'll have.
29:16
Speaker 2: And I think that's where we've we've really been good.
29:19
Speaker 2: We've we've got great kids. They work extremely hard, they
29:23
Speaker 2: played the game the right way, and they're.
29:27
Speaker 3: Fun to watch and and so I think that's that's
29:32
Speaker 3: how you do it.
29:33
Speaker 2: You can have all the promotions on, you know, whatever
29:38
Speaker 2: you want, but at the end of the day, those things.
29:42
Speaker 3: Aren't worth more than three, four or five hundred people.
29:45
Speaker 2: It's it's the kids themselves. It's their style of play,
29:49
Speaker 2: it's how hard they play. That's what truly builds your
29:53
Speaker 2: fan base, builds your season ticket foundation, and then builds
29:58
Speaker 2: your walk up. And so I'm proud of our kids.
30:03
Speaker 2: I'm proud of my staff for what we've been able
30:06
Speaker 2: to do in five short years.
30:08
Speaker 4: No doubt about it. Hey, I appreciate you taking the
30:10
Speaker 4: time to do this.
30:11
Speaker 1: I know things are really really busy right now as
30:13
Speaker 1: you get ready for this Canadian trip, but I thank
30:16
Speaker 1: you for taking a few minutes to let everybody know
30:19
Speaker 1: what's coming down the road and how to continue to
30:22
Speaker 1: jump on board and be a part.
30:23
Speaker 4: Of this thing, and I'm thankful to you. Thanks so
30:26
Speaker 4: much for doing this todayvic.
30:28
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you having us on and your love and
30:33
Speaker 2: support of our program. We appreciate you more than you know,
30:36
Speaker 2: so thanks again.
30:38
Speaker 3: Everybody, have a great day. Praise the Lord and Hook
30:40
Speaker 3: of Morns.