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Auburn HC Steven Pearl - SEC Tournament Preview · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

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  Let's go for
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  >> I mean obviously the first time y'all
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  played state Hubard goes nuts in that
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  first half is just as simple as all
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  right don't don't let him do that again
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  and and maybe more like the second half
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  the way y'all got it going on defense
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  >> maybe not let him make nine threes in
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  the first half that's first thing first
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  priority is not let Hubard have 35 in
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  the first half but no I mean of the nine
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  threes he made in the first half like I
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  would say five of them were just really
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  bad coverage mistakes and uh four of
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  them were really tough good contested
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  shots but when you make mistakes early
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  in games against players like that to
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  see the ball go in. Um the rim just
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  looks a lot bigger. So, we got to do a
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  better job early um in this one of just
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  kind of limiting our mistakes and not
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  letting him get anything clean.
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  Everything he's makes, he's got to earn
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  and uh you know, we made some
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  adjustments to the game plan and uh we
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  got to execute him.
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  >> Yeah. You talked about fast starts. I
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  mean, you guys in the second half
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  against B had a you know, beat him in
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  the second half. Just how much is it
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  like you said, don't let them get that
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  confidence. Don't let them get going,
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  get off to a good start and and see see
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  where it goes from there. Yeah, I mean
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  early at Mississippi State, you know, we
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  actually had some really good defensive
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  possessions, but in the first five
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  minutes, they had four offensive
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  rebounds. And, you know, when you give a
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  team like that second chance
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  opportunities, they're going to convert
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  them. Just like Alabama, you know, if
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  you looked at that game in 70
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  possessions on the first shot, they
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  scored 70 points. That's really good.
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  One point per possession. On the 13
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  possessions where they had an offensive
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  rebound or multiple, they had they
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  scored like two points per possession.
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  So, they scored on every second chance
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  opportunity. So, you can't allow teams
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  like that, you know, to to get second
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  chances because they do a great job of
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  converting them. And that was a lot of
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  the Mississippi State game early. They
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  got confidence because they got second
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  chance opportunities. And it's it's as
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  easy as just going and checking a guy
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  out and diving on the floor for a loose
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  ball. Like controllable things are
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  things that have gotten us beat a lot
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  this year. So, you know, the guys
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  understand that the guys were
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  accountable, but they understand that,
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  you know, if we don't make that mistake,
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  you know, um we're going to be going
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  home.
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  >> What worked better in the second half
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  against against Hover when you guys play
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  there? I know you kind of doubled him
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  every time he caught it. Do you do you
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  expect to maybe do sort of the same
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  thing? It's probably not as easy as as
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  just trying to get the ball out of his
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  hands.
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  >> They'll be ready for it. So, I'm not
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  sure how effective it'll be this game.
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  Um, you know, but even when we didn't do
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  that, we did that probably 10 times in
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  the second half. So, I mean, there was
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  another 20 possessions. And so I thought
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  we just did a better job of, you know,
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  being at the level of his screens um in
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  the second half whereas in the first
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  half we were just kind of caught in
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  between and, you know, he made some
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  really good shots and we gapped a few of
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  his pin downs and, you know, when you do
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  that, he's going to make shots. So we
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  got to, you know, try and run him off
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  the three-point line as best we can and
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  do a better job executing our coverages.
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  >> You think of the mentality team's kind
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  of been, you know, you guys have had a
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  tough last last couple months, but you
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  still have an opportunity. You still
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  have an opportunity to maybe get on a
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  roll here and see what happens from
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  there. How are they how are they
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  approaching? Yeah, I mean the last
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  month's been, you know, last four weeks
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  been tough. Um but, you know, they we
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  lose to Alabama and we're still in
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  Lonard's, you know, tournament. So, it's
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  like, you know, his brackology deal. So,
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  it's like, you know, um we're we're
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  still in position and we just got to
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  come out here and you know, we got to
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  win a couple games and uh you know, kind
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  of just take it out of uh you know, we
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  there's going to be big Steelers. We
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  just you know, we got we got to control
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  what we control. We got to win we got to
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  win some games. our our mindset is to
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  come out here and try and win five
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  games, but obviously you got to get the
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  first one in order to do that. So,
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  they've been good. They they still
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  recognize through all the difficult
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  defeats that, you know, we're still
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  firmly on the bubble and we still have
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  an opportunity to play in this
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  tournament. So, um you know, that's not
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  always been the case here at Auburn. And
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  um you know, our our guys understand
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  that they have a tremendous opportunity
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  and a tremendous responsibility and we
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  got to try and finish the job. It's, you
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  know, it's I think it's kind of gotten
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  overlooked a little bit because of the
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  records, but like KO the way he is
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  scoring and the way he's shooting for
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  y'all down the stretch. Just how big has
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  that been, especially when y'all have,
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  you know, had opportunities to stay in
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  these games, hanging hanging these games
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  with the way he's been shooting?
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  >> Yeah, I mean, Oklahoma in the first
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  half, um, obviously keeps in the game
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  when they're going crazy. um you know,
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  he played well at Mississippi State,
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  played well at Alabama. Um you know, so
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  I mean, he's had some really big games
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  um when we've needed him to, you know,
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  played well, I think, against LSU and um
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  Kentucky. So, he's got to continue to do
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  that. Um all the while though, like our
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  offense has never been an issue. We got
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  to guard, man. It's just we got to
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  defend better. And KO's one of our best
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  defenders and uh he's got to do a better
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  job of uh you know, continuing to lead
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  on that on that area. you know, he had
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  two early fouls against Mississippi
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  State and was out the whole first half
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  basically and uh you know, we need him
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  to be in the game in order for us to
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  defend Hubard
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  >> and Murf getting a second shot at state
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  and you've talked about how he wants to
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  win an NCA tournament to get this
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  opportunity again after the first one
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  didn't go the way way he wanted to. Just
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  how how big do you think it's going to
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  be for him?
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  >> Yeah, I mean it's you know he can't let
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  them like the moment be too big or just
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  bigger than what it needs to be. He
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  needs to just be focused on what makes
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  Murf be so effective and he's just got
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  to play his game. You know, I thought
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  obviously anyone going back into that
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  environment is going to get caught up in
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  those emotions because he graduated from
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  there. He had a lot of memories there.
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  Um, you know, his friends were there.
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  Like it was just, you know, I I've
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  experienced that when I went back to
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  Tennessee the first time. Like it's it's
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  a lot. And, uh, you know, it affected
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  his performance a little bit. So, he's
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  got to just kind of be even keeled
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  tomorrow and just kind of lock into what
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  he does well. And, um, if he does that,
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  you know, he'll he'll be able to go out
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  there and have a good game.
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  >> Yeah.
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  >> You you've been a part of a couple
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  different Auburn teams that won a few
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  games here. when it surprised people
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  that first year, that 2019 team was
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  catching fire. What's what's kind of the
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  traits of a team that's able to win a
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  few games in a few days? Cuz obviously
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  it's it's even more of a load than the
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  NCAA tournament cuz you don't have any
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  days off.
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  >> Yeah, I mean it's about matchups. Um
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  obviously the first one's always is
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  always the hardest one. You know, if you
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  remember back to our first year, we
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  played Mississippi State and it was like
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  a one or two point game. In 2019 it was
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  Missouri and it was like a really close
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  game. And then um in 2024,
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  >> who did we play in the first game?
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  >> State.
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  >> I know. There State in that run. I
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  remember that really tough game.
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  >> That That was a tough one. Yeah.
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  >> South Carolina.
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  >> Okay. And that Yeah, actually we were
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  blew out. So that that that one
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  >> that was a really bad match up.
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  >> That Yeah, that was a good match up for
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  us.
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  >> Um yeah, it's about matchups and you
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  know, just you got to see a couple go in
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  early and you know, it's crazy when you
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  get a little bit of confidence in this
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  tournament what what it can do for you.
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  So yeah, this is a team that can, you
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  know, get confident quick and uh, you
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  know, we just if we if we have a little
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  success early, you know, this team can
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  uh is capable of making a run.
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  >> Cool. flexes.