Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Ari Temkin a huge weekend for Big 12 men's hoops, Houston vs Kansas tonight, Team USA hockey winning gold + more

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Ari Temkin a huge weekend for Big 12 men's hoops, Houston vs Kansas tonight, Team USA hockey winning gold + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:08
Speaker 1: You tuned to the Sean O'Connell show for the Murdoch
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Speaker 1: Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred and ninety two to
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Speaker 1: one a.
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Speaker 2: Half am, February nineteen eighty the number one saw on
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Speaker 2: the charts, Blondie.
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Speaker 3: We told Ari Tempkin, hey call me, let's talk some sports,
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Speaker 3: and he obliges. Our good friend Ari Temkin Big twelve
0:37
Speaker 3: today on tune in radio and other places.
0:41
Speaker 4: All right, welcome, how are you, sir?
0:43
Speaker 1: I'm great man, and I'm super happy that you have
0:46
Speaker 1: really embraced this incredible gold medal that the US won
0:49
Speaker 1: because I don't know, I mean, I feel like there's
0:52
Speaker 1: a tension on it, but maybe not as much as
0:53
Speaker 1: there should be, given you know, it's just the third
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Speaker 1: gold medal in hockey in US history. Of course, first
0:59
Speaker 1: the same nineteen eighty. But I mean, I watched Miracle
1:01
Speaker 1: with my kids Sunday night was explaining the Cold War.
1:05
Speaker 1: I know there's no Cold War implications here, but beating
1:07
Speaker 1: Canada and hockey is a huge deal. So I'm glad
1:09
Speaker 1: you're leaning into it.
1:10
Speaker 3: Oc incredible and showcasing the brotherhood and showcasing the unity,
1:16
Speaker 3: and showcasing how much it means to these players that
1:19
Speaker 3: are professional athletes, but they're interrupting their pro season right now,
1:24
Speaker 3: putting it all on the line to represent their country,
1:27
Speaker 3: not because it brings them fame, not because it brings
1:30
Speaker 3: them fortune, but because it matters to them to wear
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Speaker 3: the red, white and blue and to bring a gold
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Speaker 3: medal home. I think it's something we get so jaded
1:37
Speaker 3: in sports now, Ari and we talk about money so
1:40
Speaker 3: often in sports right now. It's a joy to be
1:43
Speaker 3: able to say, look, how much these guys care, not
1:45
Speaker 3: because it's for their contract, not because it's for their
1:49
Speaker 3: pro team, but because it's for their country. I was
1:52
Speaker 3: just I mean, I was drinking all the patriotic kool
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Speaker 3: aid on Sunday morning, and I still am.
1:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, well side, buddy, I mean, you're exactly right, you know,
2:00
Speaker 1: with all the money and all of the lack of
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Speaker 1: loyalty in sports, you know, I mean, if you were
2:06
Speaker 1: to look at the top five players in the NHL
2:09
Speaker 1: right now, maybe one of them, Austin Matthews, would be
2:12
Speaker 1: on that list in terms of Americans, but everybody else
2:15
Speaker 1: is Canadian on that list, I mean for the most part.
2:18
Speaker 1: So you know, it was you know, a huge upset
2:21
Speaker 1: from that standpoint. Look, there's really good players in that team,
2:23
Speaker 1: but I just mean, like, overall, the five ten best
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Speaker 1: players in hockey in the world are you know, there's
2:28
Speaker 1: only a handful of them that are American, and the
2:30
Speaker 1: top five maybe Austin Matthews. So yeah, I mean, and
2:34
Speaker 1: there's the World Cup in soccer. Yeah, we have the
2:37
Speaker 1: Olympics in basketball, but even that feels like the you know,
2:40
Speaker 1: care ebs and flows. There's just nothing like that that
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Speaker 1: country pride and you know, I'm sure you were watching.
2:45
Speaker 1: I was actually in Park City last year in February
2:48
Speaker 1: when we had the Four Nations Cup and I was
2:50
Speaker 1: sitting at a bar in Park City with some friends
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Speaker 1: watching is in the US and Canada had three had
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Speaker 1: three brawls and nine seconds of that that match, so
3:01
Speaker 1: you know, it was just it was exciting in every
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Speaker 1: in every way, and I think you, you know, very
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Speaker 1: well pointed out just the pride and country that it
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Speaker 1: feels like is lost in sports, and just loyalty and
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Speaker 1: pride in your team and you know, competing for something
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Speaker 1: larger than the name of the back of the jersey.
3:17
Speaker 4: I'm very excited.
3:18
Speaker 3: We'll move on to Big twelve stuff in college hoops,
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Speaker 3: I promise. But I'm very excited to see how the
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Speaker 3: lore of this kind of grows in our country because
3:27
Speaker 3: the last time we have something like this is that
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Speaker 3: miracle on ice game.
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Speaker 4: It was forty six years ago.
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Speaker 3: We weren't alive during that time, and yet it's part
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Speaker 3: of our awareness of American sports history. And I'm curious
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Speaker 3: to see how this particular accomplishment grows in that regard
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Speaker 3: for the generation of kids now, the generation of adults
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Speaker 3: like you and I and beyond, because hopefully it's not
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Speaker 3: another forty six years before we win another one. But
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Speaker 3: the fact that it was forty six years and we
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Speaker 3: still reference that game, that story and the speech and
4:02
Speaker 3: all that stuff. I wonder what we'll get out of
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Speaker 3: this team in this game that matches it right.
4:09
Speaker 1: And look, I mean, obviously, you know the difference with
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Speaker 1: the amateur players in eighty against you know, that great
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Speaker 1: Russian hockey team that was all professionals and some of
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Speaker 1: the all the best players in the world, and the
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Speaker 1: Cold War and the fact that Russia, you know that
4:22
Speaker 1: they won gold in every Olympic before then. I mean,
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Speaker 1: it's hard to sort of draw the parallel, but I
4:28
Speaker 1: think that there are some parallels there, and yeah, I mean,
4:31
Speaker 1: you know, look, anytime you're competing in sports country to
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Speaker 1: country and you're an underdog, is the US. I think
4:38
Speaker 1: it resonates in a way. You know that maybe because
4:42
Speaker 1: we're so used to being the favorites and so many
4:44
Speaker 1: sports that we play, so to kind of embrace and
4:47
Speaker 1: take on an underdog role. And look, any time we
4:49
Speaker 1: could be Canada and anything, especially something that they love,
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Speaker 1: you know, like Americans, hockey is like way down the
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Speaker 1: list of things that Americans care about. But in Canada,
4:57
Speaker 1: I mean, there were forty million Canadians watching that, you
5:00
Speaker 1: know more, ninety percent of Canada was watching that. I
5:03
Speaker 1: was up at seven o'clock in the morning. I know it's
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Speaker 1: six o'clock your time. I don't know if you were up,
5:07
Speaker 1: but like, and I'm assuming you were, but I don't
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Speaker 1: know how much your audience was up. But it's I
5:12
Speaker 1: do wonder like, as we go further further away from this,
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Speaker 1: how big of a deal this will be, because it
5:16
Speaker 1: does doesn't seem on a Monday, you know, where there
5:18
Speaker 1: wasn't that big of a deal in sports this weekend
5:20
Speaker 1: where that was such a big thing to happen on
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Speaker 1: Sunday morning. It just doesn't feel like it's being embraced
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Speaker 1: enough as much as I would have liked it to.
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Speaker 1: I mean, we didn't have a show this morning, which
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Speaker 1: was it was a joke, it was whatever. It was
5:32
Speaker 1: a mistake, But I mean I would have been in red,
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Speaker 1: white and blue. I would have my face painting open
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Speaker 1: and going nuts this morning, and I had it. You know,
5:37
Speaker 1: in a hypotetical world, anything's possible.
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Speaker 3: Ow see, all right, let's talk a little big twelve basketball.
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Speaker 3: I want to start with BYU big win against Iowa State,
5:47
Speaker 3: And you know, I've been kind of hard on BYU
5:50
Speaker 3: because it's not working this experiment. I'm like, man, I'm
5:52
Speaker 3: not I don't have a lot of confidence that you're
5:54
Speaker 3: going to be able to drive far in this tournament
5:57
Speaker 3: after the Richie Saunders injury, and then aj To is like,
6:00
Speaker 3: you know what, I'm playing all forty minutes of this game,
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Speaker 3: and I'm going to carry my team against one of
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Speaker 3: the best squads in this conference and maybe in the country.
6:08
Speaker 3: And obviously he was successful in that regard. How sustainable
6:12
Speaker 3: is that for BYU. There's not a ton of season left,
6:15
Speaker 3: but there's enough that I'm questioning, can he do it
6:18
Speaker 3: for twelve more games?
6:21
Speaker 1: Yeah? This this was a hell of a win for
6:23
Speaker 1: BYU and very much, you know, in your face, for
6:27
Speaker 1: the doubters like myself. And there's multiple layers to this.
6:30
Speaker 1: So let's just put the DJ de Bonce of stuff
6:32
Speaker 1: to the side for a second. We'll get back to that, okay.
6:35
Speaker 1: So number one, BYU was three hundred and fifty first
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Speaker 1: in bench scoring out of three hundred and sixty three teams.
6:42
Speaker 1: You know, when Richie Saunders went down with his injury,
6:44
Speaker 1: so I think number one you point to that and
6:46
Speaker 1: be like, wow, yeah, this is the reason there season
6:49
Speaker 1: is over. What I think we maybe didn't realize. What
6:52
Speaker 1: I didn't realize is maybe just maybe because all three
6:57
Speaker 1: of those guys were so good and commanded the ball
7:01
Speaker 1: and so much attention and so much offense, that that
7:04
Speaker 1: created the environment where those other guys couldn't contribute. And
7:08
Speaker 1: so now that they need those guys to contribute and
7:10
Speaker 1: they're being asked to contribute in a meaningful way, they
7:13
Speaker 1: stepped up. I mean, Kadar Davis was the second leading
7:15
Speaker 1: scorer for BYU, Like that is huge. If that is
7:19
Speaker 1: any semblance of sustainability. You know, I know I've mentioned
7:22
Speaker 1: in your show sort of that Byu has just had
7:24
Speaker 1: this lack of physicality, and you know that that at
7:28
Speaker 1: the end of the day is something I think that
7:29
Speaker 1: Kevin Young needs to reevaluate. Well, Kabakaida is not I
7:33
Speaker 1: mean he is physical, he is he does bring a
7:35
Speaker 1: defensive presence that's huge, and I think they also saw
7:38
Speaker 1: that from Kadeem Boop in a way that's like, man
7:40
Speaker 1: if that's sustainable. So like just the bench scoring, the
7:44
Speaker 1: contributions from guys not named Rob Wright and aj Debatsa,
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Speaker 1: I think we're huge, especially because of that season long
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Speaker 1: trend that kind of showed they really couldn't score aside
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Speaker 1: from their big three. Now all of a sudden, you know,
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Speaker 1: when when guys are needed, maybe that's going to be
7:58
Speaker 1: a huge development for this team moving forward. Okay, now
8:01
Speaker 1: to the Debanta stuff. Devanta was phenomenal. I mean he
8:05
Speaker 1: basically had a triple double what twenty nine to ten
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Speaker 1: and nine, and then I mean defensively, he was as
8:09
Speaker 1: good as we've seen him all year. You know, I'm
8:11
Speaker 1: a Kayu well, I'm a Kayu fan, and all this
8:14
Speaker 1: year we were talking so much about Darren Peterson. What
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Speaker 1: we saw from Debanta is what we've been waiting to
8:19
Speaker 1: see from Darren Peterson all year. If I'm an NBAGM,
8:23
Speaker 1: I'm watching what Debantsa is doing right now, and that
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Speaker 1: is so much more meaningful to me than what Peterson's
8:28
Speaker 1: done all year, because forget about the minute stuff. But
8:32
Speaker 1: like Debansa was supposed to be a guy that could
8:35
Speaker 1: score from anywhere, it could get to the rim at will,
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Speaker 1: was a great distributor and a very plus defender, and
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Speaker 1: the numbers in a season long trend. What we've seen
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Speaker 1: from Peterson is he's a microwave scorer and that's about it.
8:45
Speaker 1: He's not really getting to the rim. The majority of
8:47
Speaker 1: his shots this season are from three, so he's not
8:50
Speaker 1: shooting up to he's not shooting close. He has eleven
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Speaker 1: assists in twelve Big Twelve games, eleven, so he is
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Speaker 1: not distributing to basketball. He is not defending at a
9:00
Speaker 1: high level. So all he's doing right now is being
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Speaker 1: a microwave scorer. Meanwhile, Debantsa did exactly what we've been
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Speaker 1: told Peterson is good at doing. He was a true
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Speaker 1: three level scorer, a true distributor, and a true defender.
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Speaker 1: So I think, big picture, is it sustainable for DEBANSA.
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Speaker 1: I mean, maybe not near triple doubles in forty minutes,
9:20
Speaker 1: but when you're doing that against elite competition and you
9:23
Speaker 1: get you know this big time, you know quad one
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Speaker 1: a win, I don't care if it's sustainable. I know
9:29
Speaker 1: that at its core, at its peak, we've seen what
9:33
Speaker 1: could possibly be. And I think both Texas Tech and
9:35
Speaker 1: BYU needed to reinvent themselves this weekend, and Texas Tech
9:38
Speaker 1: got k State reinvented themselves, but BYU did against the
9:41
Speaker 1: Siwa State team, and I think carries a lot more
9:43
Speaker 1: credibility because it was against Sywa State, albeit at home,
9:46
Speaker 1: but still there's a lot of credibility. I lend to
9:49
Speaker 1: the bench scoring debots are basically doing everything needed for
9:52
Speaker 1: his team to win, and you know, look, for me,
9:54
Speaker 1: it definitely raises their ceiling in terms of their potential
9:57
Speaker 1: this season because we've seen it now before we hadn't
9:59
Speaker 1: seen it.
10:01
Speaker 3: And that for me, juxtaposed against another Kansas weekend where
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Speaker 3: I fully admit I'm not fair to Darren Peterson anymore
10:09
Speaker 3: because I question everything based on his lack of availability.
10:13
Speaker 3: But AJ does that in forty minutes. Peterson actually played
10:17
Speaker 3: against Cincinnati. He played thirty plus minutes, but he was bad.
10:20
Speaker 3: He was minus twenty on the game. He was one
10:23
Speaker 3: of seven from three to some of the points that
10:25
Speaker 3: you just made. And these things don't happen in a vacuum,
10:29
Speaker 3: especially with respect to that NBA drafting process that's coming
10:33
Speaker 3: sooner than later. Like if you're making those decisions and
10:37
Speaker 3: you're evaluating, I'm sure at some point they're like, I'm
10:41
Speaker 3: in person watching aj debounts to today, let me see
10:44
Speaker 3: what Darren Peterson's doing today. Oh, that doesn't look great,
10:46
Speaker 3: or vice versa. So I don't know how big of
10:49
Speaker 3: a problem it is for Kansas. I think that they've
10:52
Speaker 3: got a good team around him. I still think that
10:54
Speaker 3: they've got the capability to win, and it maybe makes
10:57
Speaker 3: some noise in both the Big twelve and NTLA tournaments,
11:00
Speaker 3: but I think it's becoming a big problem for Darren himself.
11:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it'll be really interesting to see with Big
11:05
Speaker 1: Monday tonight and Houston and Kansas, you know, with Peterson
11:09
Speaker 1: playing those quote unquote heavy minutes, you know, will will
11:13
Speaker 1: he play you know, heavy minutes tonight because last time
11:15
Speaker 1: we saw this he did not play on a big
11:17
Speaker 1: Monday following a Saturday where he played thirty two plus minutes.
11:21
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean I think there's there's multiple things
11:23
Speaker 1: to play here, you know, from an NBA evaluation standpoint,
11:27
Speaker 1: Like you get to this part of the season and
11:29
Speaker 1: nobody's healthy, right Like you ask Ad debonsa Manda man,
11:32
Speaker 1: Like he's not healthy right now. You know, he's got
11:35
Speaker 1: tons of lingering maladies and soreness, and like this is
11:39
Speaker 1: what happens when you get to the end of a
11:40
Speaker 1: season any sport. All of the knicks and scrapes and bruises,
11:45
Speaker 1: they all add up over time. You don't get to
11:47
Speaker 1: this part of the season and any sport and not
11:48
Speaker 1: have anybody that's fighting for adversity just to play. Nobody's
11:51
Speaker 1: one hundred percent. And I think like that's where the
11:54
Speaker 1: rubber meets the road here on Peterson, like he needs
11:56
Speaker 1: this perfect you know this this porridge is too hot
12:00
Speaker 1: or just too cold, this one's just right kind of
12:02
Speaker 1: situation in order for him to be you know, right on,
12:06
Speaker 1: you know, in playing time. And if I'm an NBA team,
12:08
Speaker 1: like I know that if he's right, he's good, But
12:11
Speaker 1: is he able to fight through adversity. Is he to
12:13
Speaker 1: fight through some of these things, because I know that
12:15
Speaker 1: it's not as important for him to do that this
12:17
Speaker 1: year at Kansas or previously in high school because he
12:20
Speaker 1: wasn't and he wasn't asked to. But if I'm evaluating
12:22
Speaker 1: him in his totality, then I'm evaluating like, I don't
12:26
Speaker 1: know his willingness to fight through and play through adversity
12:29
Speaker 1: because he hasn't shown a willingness to do so. Like
12:33
Speaker 1: if I'm going to buy and believe that these injuries
12:35
Speaker 1: that he've had over the course of the season, are
12:37
Speaker 1: you know, haf Forge's ability to play, Either he should
12:39
Speaker 1: one completely shut it down or stop talking about how
12:42
Speaker 1: the injuries are lingering and just and just play through
12:44
Speaker 1: it like everybody else, because it's either one or the other.
12:46
Speaker 1: Either you should shut it down or not play, or
12:49
Speaker 1: you know, you're just like everybody else at this part
12:51
Speaker 1: of the year. That's all dealing with different scrapes and
12:53
Speaker 1: nicks and bruises and everything else that they deal with
12:55
Speaker 1: over the course of a demanding season that's very physical.
12:58
Speaker 1: So look, I think Cincinnati was the more desperate team.
13:01
Speaker 1: They've been playing pretty good basketball and then when you
13:03
Speaker 1: think about, you know, a month ago and Cincinnati fan
13:06
Speaker 1: showing up to games with bags in their head, and
13:08
Speaker 1: now they go into Allen Fieldhouse and do something that
13:10
Speaker 1: very few teams have done before get a win at KU.
13:13
Speaker 1: I mean, that's as impressive as he guess as a
13:15
Speaker 1: turnar on for Wes Miller, and they're now very much
13:17
Speaker 1: in the thick of the bubble race. So good on them.
13:20
Speaker 1: They were the more desperate team. They played like it.
13:22
Speaker 1: But I do think that there is a hangover with
13:25
Speaker 1: this team in terms of the WILLI or won't he?
13:28
Speaker 1: I just can't imagine this has a zero impact about
13:30
Speaker 1: the psyche and the effect of the psyche of that
13:32
Speaker 1: locker room, you know, knowing is he going to be available,
13:35
Speaker 1: is he gonna play? Is he gonna play both? Has?
13:37
Speaker 1: Is he gonna sit out in the end of the game?
13:39
Speaker 1: This will he or won't? We won't he has got
13:43
Speaker 1: to hang over the heads of these players and his teammates.
13:46
Speaker 1: So you know, I've been saying them all year. I
13:48
Speaker 1: said back in December that he needs to shut it down.
13:51
Speaker 1: He's doing far more damage to the team psyche than
13:53
Speaker 1: he's helping. And I know he's really skillful and extremely talented,
13:56
Speaker 1: But I'm just I'm a firm believer in the team
13:59
Speaker 1: and the chemistry and the camaraderie matters way more than
14:02
Speaker 1: anything else. And at the end of the day, as
14:03
Speaker 1: a Kansas fan an alum who knows that this is
14:06
Speaker 1: a program built on the heels of the inventor of
14:09
Speaker 1: the game and fog Allen and Wilt Chamberlain and some
14:12
Speaker 1: of the graces that we play, this program is so
14:15
Speaker 1: much bigger than Darren Peterson, and that's not the way
14:17
Speaker 1: that he's treating it. And it's like we talked about
14:19
Speaker 1: with those you know, nineteen eighty Olympic teams, like who
14:23
Speaker 1: do you play for? What's the name of the front
14:25
Speaker 1: of the jersey? Peterson's playing for the name of the
14:27
Speaker 1: back of the jersey, and that's fine because that's his prerogative.
14:30
Speaker 1: But you know, for me, as a Kansas fan and alum,
14:33
Speaker 1: I'd rather go down with the guys that are playing
14:34
Speaker 1: for the name of the front of the jersey than
14:36
Speaker 1: the one that's playing for the name of the back.
14:38
Speaker 3: Arizona's back on top with a big win of the
14:41
Speaker 3: standings for now in the conference. You know, there's been
14:44
Speaker 3: plenty of movement, not a ton of season left. Do
14:47
Speaker 3: you think the Wildcats can stay there the rest of
14:49
Speaker 3: the way.
14:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think they all but wrapped it up. Now, Look,
14:53
Speaker 1: anything can happen, but you know, going to Houston and
14:57
Speaker 1: getting a win. So now they're basically a game and
14:59
Speaker 1: a half in front of Houston, you know, because Houston
15:02
Speaker 1: has three conference losses, Arizona with two. And remember Houston
15:05
Speaker 1: is going to try to avoid three straight losses tonight
15:08
Speaker 1: at all in field House on Big Monday, where Bill
15:10
Speaker 1: self is forty and oh all time, So something's got
15:13
Speaker 1: to give in that one. So I mean, I guess,
15:16
Speaker 1: you know, any team with at least four losses is
15:18
Speaker 1: still in it, so Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech, Houston.
15:22
Speaker 1: But it's just a really, really tough road to climb.
15:25
Speaker 1: And I don't believe that their Arizona's gonna have more
15:29
Speaker 1: many more than two losses. If they do, it'll be three.
15:31
Speaker 1: To think that Arizona will lose twice again seems impossible
15:35
Speaker 1: for me. So you know, I do think that they
15:37
Speaker 1: pretty much wrapped it up in terms of their win
15:39
Speaker 1: at Houston on Saturday.
15:43
Speaker 3: Ari always appreciate your time the USA Hawker sweater is
15:46
Speaker 3: in the mail.
15:47
Speaker 4: On the way. Let's go, Let's drive this thing forward.
15:50
Speaker 1: You're the best I see. Take care of better, Be
15:52
Speaker 1: well
15:53
Speaker 3: Ari Tempkin, Friend of the program, Big twelve Today on
15:57
Speaker 3: tune In Radio