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Maty Wilke on Senior Night tomorrow at the Huntsman Center, Chance for Utah to make their 5th straight NCAA tournament appearance + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

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  Speaker 1: Another one. You were listening to the Sean O'Connell Show,
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  Speaker 1: your source for the best youth football coverage.
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  Speaker 2: Here's oc from the.
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  Speaker 1: Murdoch Hyundai Studio of ESPN seven hundred at ninety two
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  Speaker 1: one a m. Welcome back to the Shawn o'cle Show.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome Matty Wilkee. Utah Women's basketball Star Senior Night is
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow at the Huntsman Center against Arizona. Maddie has had
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  Speaker 1: an incredible career up on the Hill and we're lucky
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  Speaker 1: enough to talk to her for a couple of minutes here, MADDI,
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  Speaker 1: welcome to the show. How are you?
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  Speaker 2: I'm good, Thank you for having me.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, before we get TEDNY basketball, you have to help
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  Speaker 1: us solve a very serious sports debate here. We were
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  Speaker 1: just talking about Jack Hughes, who scored the game winning
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  Speaker 1: goal for Team USA in the Olympic hockey. Did you
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  Speaker 1: guys get a chance to see that? By the way,
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  Speaker 1: were you like doing basketball stuff?
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  Speaker 2: I don't even where were we. I feel like I
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  Speaker 2: was doing something pastball, but I got to see it
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  Speaker 2: all over our social media.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so yeah, he scores this gold medal and there's
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  Speaker 1: all these iconic images of him after the game, American
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  Speaker 1: flag wrapped around his shoulders. Right, but he's got his
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  Speaker 1: busted teeth from the game. He lost teeth in that game. Right,
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  Speaker 1: You've seen the pictures. Now, if this is you, do
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  Speaker 1: you fix the teeth or do you keep that? Because
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  Speaker 1: that's now your signature. Look like, he's probably never going
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  Speaker 1: to have a more iconic photo of him taken for
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  Speaker 1: the rest of his life, and it's his most recognizable moment.
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  Speaker 1: So do you fix the teeth to restore them to
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  Speaker 1: traditional beauty or do you have it be your trademark
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  Speaker 1: look moving forward.
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  Speaker 2: Oh wow, that's a great question. You know, I would
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  Speaker 2: probably keep it for a while. You know, I think
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  Speaker 2: getting it fixed would be the last thing on my mind,
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  Speaker 2: just because every time I look at myself or smile,
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  Speaker 2: I'm just thinking about that game, because you know, and
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  Speaker 2: I don't know, I guess that's part of hockey, is
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  Speaker 2: like the physicality of it. You know, I wouldn't fix it. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: it's not a bad thing, and like, just in case
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  Speaker 2: people forget, just smile at him and be like, oh
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  Speaker 2: my gosh.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly, yes, that's where Okay, that's where I came out
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  Speaker 1: on it too. Like people are always going to remember
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  Speaker 1: that moment when you smile. So yeah, okay, we're Jack Hughes.
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  Speaker 1: Don't fix your teeth. Maddy Wilkie says, you're not allowed. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: all right now, Now two more important things Basketball Senior night.
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  Speaker 1: When you're an athlete, it comes up on you fast, right.
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  Speaker 1: It feels like the days are long and the years
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  Speaker 1: are short, kind of like being a parent. I can
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  Speaker 1: tell you, but you know, did you ever think about
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  Speaker 1: this before today, before this week, that oh wow, this
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  Speaker 1: is gonna be my last one at the Huntsman Center.
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  Speaker 2: Oh no, I this year. I mean, there's been a
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  Speaker 2: lot of you know, last being being my last year.
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  Speaker 2: But I think the biggest thing for me was just
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  Speaker 2: trying to stay present in the moment. I mean there's
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  Speaker 2: so many times, you know, we play like back to
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  Speaker 2: back and I would never know who we played next,
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  Speaker 2: which obviously some people are like, wait, how do you
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  Speaker 2: not know who you play next? But I was just
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  Speaker 2: so locked in on being present and trying to have
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  Speaker 2: fun at practice. That obviously in the back of my mind,
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  Speaker 2: But I think of it more as like a celebration
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  Speaker 2: of you know, everything I've been through and everything the
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  Speaker 2: other seniors have been through to this point, and then
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  Speaker 2: it obviously helps that you know, we need we need
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  Speaker 2: to win this game, you know, just for the programs
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  Speaker 2: and like having the rest of the season. So yeah,
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  Speaker 2: obviously I'm like more excited. But it is really weird
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  Speaker 2: to think about it being my last game in Huntman.
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  Speaker 2: I haven't really processed that part of it, but I
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  Speaker 2: think after the game, you know, it'll start to hit
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  Speaker 2: me more when the competitive side kind of wears down.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, it's always interesting because like, you're not supposed
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  Speaker 1: to be pensive and reflective right now you got basketball
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  Speaker 1: left to play. But it's not like you could just
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  Speaker 1: ignore the fact. I mean, we all have this great
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  Speaker 1: memory of Maddie Wilkie hitting a buzzer beater against b YU. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: we have not gone through the locker room stuff, the
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  Speaker 1: you know, travel on the buses, the planes, whatever, So
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  Speaker 1: the fan base will probably I can confidently say that
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  Speaker 1: will be the most Maddie Wilky moment in a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people's minds. But yeah, but what's what are the
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  Speaker 1: moments that are going to stick out most for you?
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  Speaker 2: Do you think? Yeah, I think just spending time with
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  Speaker 2: my teammates and the coaching staff, Like you said, on
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  Speaker 2: the road traveling, even like before practice we put on
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  Speaker 2: music and while we're waiting for everyone to get taped
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  Speaker 2: and you know, like get everything ready, there's just moments
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  Speaker 2: where are like dancing, having fun. I think those are
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  Speaker 2: things that stick out the most, obviously. I mean, the
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  Speaker 2: half court SHOT's kind of hard forget, but no one's
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  Speaker 2: gonna remember like the points and if you want to
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  Speaker 2: lost that game. I think it's it's really just like
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  Speaker 2: how people treat one another. And for me, it's all
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  Speaker 2: the relationships that I've created. So I'm definitely gonna remember
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  Speaker 2: all my all my teammates and friends, and then off
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  Speaker 2: the court, just all the wonderful people I've been able
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  Speaker 2: to meet out here.
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  Speaker 1: You guys are right on the tournament bubble right now,
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  Speaker 1: so these games are incredibly important. The tournament is going
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  Speaker 1: to be the big twelve tournament, I should say, is
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  Speaker 1: going to be incredibly important. Yeah, but you have an
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to make the NCAA tournament for the entirety of
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  Speaker 1: your career. That's that's a luxury that not a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people have experienced. On the hill. That's not a
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  Speaker 1: lot like most programs you don't get to guarantee that,
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  Speaker 1: So what does that mean to you?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's so grateful just to be here
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  Speaker 2: in this opportunity. Obviously I transferred in coming from a
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  Speaker 2: completely different program, and so I kind of was just
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  Speaker 2: I didn't really know what to expect coming in. I
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  Speaker 2: was just, you know, knew I was around great people
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  Speaker 2: and great athletes and then kind of just let everything
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  Speaker 2: play out to how it's supposed to. But yeah, I
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  Speaker 2: think it's awesome. I mean, you grow up watching March
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  Speaker 2: Madness and you're just hoping to be able to play
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  Speaker 2: there on that stage. And my first two years at Wisconsin,
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  Speaker 2: actually I didn't. We had losing seasons. So coming here
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  Speaker 2: and winning with the expectation making the tournament was what
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  Speaker 2: was expected. Like that was just that was so cool
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  Speaker 2: to be a part of that kind of culture of
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  Speaker 2: just like we're going to give everything we have and
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  Speaker 2: we never really thought about it, We never talked about it.
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  Speaker 2: It was just like, you do things the right way.
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  Speaker 2: This is how we do it here, and whatever is
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  Speaker 2: meant to be is going to be. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: if you work hard, you're a good person behind it,
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  Speaker 2: and obviously you have to win some games. But I
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  Speaker 2: think I'm just so blessed to be at a program
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  Speaker 2: where they continue to recruit those kinds of kids that
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  Speaker 2: do things similar to me, because that's what makes it
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  Speaker 2: more fun. Like we do things the right way, and
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  Speaker 2: sometimes we might not get the result we want, but
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  Speaker 2: a lot of times it does work out in our favor.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm just so blessed to have had the opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: Here in the new era of college sports. As you
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  Speaker 1: are more aware than I am, right, there's always possibilities
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  Speaker 1: like transfer your teammates, change you came into this program.
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  Speaker 1: Was there ever a thought to transfer out?
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  Speaker 2: No, I mean even transferring the first time was a
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  Speaker 2: lot for me, Like I was never my plan to
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  Speaker 2: do that. And then no, I think there's always ups
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  Speaker 2: and downs in everyone's career. Like obviously there's games. I
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  Speaker 2: didn't play much my first year, and I never came
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  Speaker 2: in expecting to. You know, they never promised me anything,
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  Speaker 2: and I really respected that, like I wanted to earn
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  Speaker 2: every thing I got here, and then's exactly what happened.
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  Speaker 2: But no, I think there's days where dang like coaches
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  Speaker 2: really on me. You know, I'm not playing very well,
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  Speaker 2: But I think that's part of you know, the growth
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  Speaker 2: that you have not only on the basketball court, but
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  Speaker 2: like me as an individual as well. I've really seen
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  Speaker 2: myself grow grow up and mature and just be able
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  Speaker 2: to handle different adversities that have come my way. But No,
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  Speaker 2: I love obviously the basketbll is great, But for me,
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  Speaker 2: it's more about the relationships I've created and I've never
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  Speaker 2: thought about, you know, leaving, just because I've also came
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  Speaker 2: from a place where I didn't have that, I didn't
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  Speaker 2: have the like relationships, and I wasn't, as you know,
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  Speaker 2: grateful and blessed the opportunities here and so coming in
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  Speaker 2: I was so grateful for everything because I'm like, you know,
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  Speaker 2: not every place has this, and it truly is so
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  Speaker 2: special here.
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  Speaker 1: Do you have aspirations for the W or playing overseas
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  Speaker 1: or are you gonna let college basketball be the thing?
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  Speaker 2: No, I definitely want to play as long as I can.
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  Speaker 2: I think this year and just all the injuries and
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  Speaker 2: adversities I've faced has really shown me like I really
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  Speaker 2: do love the game. I love learning about it, I
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  Speaker 2: love everything about it, and so I just want to
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  Speaker 2: play as long as I can. I might have to
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  Speaker 2: take a year off just to kind of, you know,
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  Speaker 2: get some stuff in my body fixed. But yeah, that's
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  Speaker 2: the goal, is just to continue to playing just as
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  Speaker 2: long as I can. And I love traveling meeting new people,
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  Speaker 2: So if I have the opportunity, I would love to
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  Speaker 2: take it.
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  Speaker 1: What are you studying in school, Maddie.
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  Speaker 2: I got my degree in psychology, and then I have
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  Speaker 2: two minors. One of them is in disability studies and
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  Speaker 2: then another one that I'm doing right now is positive psychology.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, I am also a psych major from the University.
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  Speaker 2: Of Utah, so no way, that's awesome.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, and somehow I ended up in professional broadcasting. So
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  Speaker 1: when your basket.
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  Speaker 2: Makes sense, I guess people all the time. You got
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  Speaker 2: to know people, I suppose yah. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: What you know outside of basketball? What are career aspirations?
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  Speaker 1: What do you envision yourself doing when you grow up?
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  Speaker 1: And I encourage you to wait as long as you
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  Speaker 1: can to really grow up.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, I think the first thing I want to do,
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  Speaker 2: which is funny you said outside of basketball, but I
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  Speaker 2: do want to coach in college as of right now
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  Speaker 2: and then, but obviously there's so many things that like
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  Speaker 2: jobs that I probably would like that I have no
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  Speaker 2: idea even exists yet, so I'm obviously like definitely open minded.
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  Speaker 2: But then at some point in my life, I do
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  Speaker 2: want to start a nonprofit for inner city kids, just
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  Speaker 2: to give them opportunities, you know, to play sports, not
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  Speaker 2: even just basketball, but any sport that they're interested in
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  Speaker 2: or anything that they want to pursue outside of school,
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  Speaker 2: and then just kind of equip them with different skills
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  Speaker 2: and just things that I learned at a later age
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  Speaker 2: that you know, if I would have learned earlier in
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  Speaker 2: my life, like maybe it would have helped me, you know,
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  Speaker 2: get through things a little easier. So that's kind of
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  Speaker 2: my I guess dream is to coach and then start
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  Speaker 2: my own nonprofit.
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  Speaker 1: But well, I always say that if you want to
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  Speaker 1: get into coaching, there's usually two reasons. You had incredible
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  Speaker 1: experiences with your coaches or the direct opposite, where you're like,
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  Speaker 1: I know I can do just better than those people did,
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  Speaker 1: and knowing coach Rob and knowing coach Pete. I think
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  Speaker 1: you're probably from the former rather than the latter, where
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  Speaker 1: you're like, I had great coaches and I want to continue,
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  Speaker 1: but just if you can give me some thoughts on
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  Speaker 1: the coaches you got to play for at the University
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  Speaker 1: of Utah.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I have so many great things to
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  Speaker 2: say about them. Like I said before I transferred into Utah,
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  Speaker 2: and so coach rob was a huge reason why she
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  Speaker 2: was just a great I mean, she is still a
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  Speaker 2: great person. She's not my coach anymore, but at the
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  Speaker 2: time she was recruiting me, she was just so genuine
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  Speaker 2: and I loved how, you know, she just kind of
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  Speaker 2: has that swag to her that you can't really explain,
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  Speaker 2: and she's just so humble, but how she carries herself.
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  Speaker 2: I love that. And then just how she cared for
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  Speaker 2: her players. When I came on my visit, I could
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  Speaker 2: tell it was genuine and it was like a family.
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  Speaker 2: And then she knew the game so well. She knew
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  Speaker 2: how to coach different people and build the player's confidence.
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  Speaker 2: And I think if a coach can like have a
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  Speaker 2: player reach their full potential, that's kind of like their
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  Speaker 2: main job is how can I get my players to
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  Speaker 2: play at their best? And I think she did a
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  Speaker 2: really good job of that. And then coach gav you know,
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  Speaker 2: he was my position coach when I first got here,
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  Speaker 2: So I'm not gonna lie. He was a little scary,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he was kind of a bad cop. But no,
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  Speaker 2: we've really grown our relationship a lot. You know, We've
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  Speaker 2: had a lot of heart's heart conversations, just me being
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  Speaker 2: the leader this year, so I've spent a lot of
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  Speaker 2: time with him, you know, creating that relationship, and then
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  Speaker 2: just seeing him go from the you know, guard position
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  Speaker 2: coach assistant coach, to last year getting thrown into the
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  Speaker 2: head coach position, and then this year his first full
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  Speaker 2: year as a head coach. I think being able to
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  Speaker 2: see that first hand play out for him and kind
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  Speaker 2: of him being vulnerable in that transition was really cool
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  Speaker 2: for me to see. And just seeing him grow as
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  Speaker 2: a coach. I think that's you know, I built a
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  Speaker 2: lot of trust within him and our relationship just because
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  Speaker 2: I've been able to see him grow through that process
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  Speaker 2: and still be so humble through that. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: he's never both the coaches, both of me. It was
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  Speaker 2: never about them. I mean so many programs that you
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  Speaker 2: see now it's kind of like the coach kind of
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  Speaker 2: overshines the players, and that's never been the case. I
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  Speaker 2: think just seeing how much they care for their players
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  Speaker 2: and the program and the culture It's truly inspiring, and
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  Speaker 2: I'm just so blessed to have been able to play under
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  Speaker 2: both of them.
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  Speaker 1: Maddy, appreciate your time, good luck tomorrow, good luck in
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  Speaker 1: Kansas City, and thank you again for joining us.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you so much.
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  Speaker 1: That is Matty Wilkie