Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / FSU Football's Spring Showcase (And Doak, Baseball, And Basketball)

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FSU Football's Spring Showcase (And Doak, Baseball, And Basketball) · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

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  All right, five minutes after the hour. It is the third hour of
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  the Morning Show with Preston Scott Show fifty one forty two East. Grant Allen,
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  I'm Preston, great to be with you. Let's get to it.
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  Joining us is the managing editor of war Chad dot Com. He is the
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  one the only Irish offel. Good morning, sir, how are you?
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  I'm great, Preston, how are you? I'm terrific. Now, for
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  those of us that were not at the FSU Spring showcase, tell us what
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  was this? What was the format for the event? It was basically like
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  a scrimmage, you know, they didn't keep score. It was some situational
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  things like they did a couple of series where may they're down inside the red
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  zone or backed up on their own side of the the field, or but
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  a lot of it was just basically one offense would take the ball, go
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  as far as they could, then punt if they didn't get you know,
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  if they couldn't score, then the other team would. The other side would
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  get the ball, and basically the two sides were led by Momba d j
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  uey Ungole, who's you know, should be the starting offense. But sometimes
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  he was out there with the twos. Trevor Jackson is the only other quarterback
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  available because the two young kids were dealing with minor injuries, so he would
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  take the other offense and he would sometimes with the twos, sometimes with the
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  threes, So it's kind of a mix and match. It was more like
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  a practice than a real game. Do you like that. I've not really
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  found a whole lot of reason to look at something like that. Yeah.
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  I mean it's really more of your diehard fans or somebody that's just, hey,
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  I want to be out there, I want to go see my friends.
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  We haven't tailgated in a few months, so this is the opportunity.
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  I'll get together and have a good time. Or the die hard fans who
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  just desperately want to see what this new Jalen Ucas looks like, or what
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  does Marvin Jones Junior look like. But in terms of yeah, competition and
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  a compelling sporting event, it's not that I don't love it. I miss
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  the old days. But I also understand coaches look at it like in this
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  process oriented coaching world where they've got, you know, the standards they've got
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  to hit. They want to take that advantage of that practice more so than
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  seeing you know, maybe you know what what fans want to see. You
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  know, It can be argued Mike Norvel has done the best job of any
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  college coach of navigating the the transfer portal and the recruiting wars, and you
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  know you're recruiting your own team every year. It would seem in to your
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  eye, test Ira, what did Saturday show you again? Because you know,
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  Mike Norvel does allow the media to cover practices. There weren't a lot
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  of surprises for us. But the challenge for us in the media is to
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  try to, you know, understand that you know, the fans haven't seen
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  all these practices, so he try to put some context into things. DJ
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  didn't look great on Saturday. He hasn't looked like all American this spring,
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  but I think he's looked better than he looked Saturday. At times. There
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  weren't a lot of things open. I thought the pass rush was pretty good,
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  the defensive secondary. I'll be honest with you, sometimes I wonder if
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  you know you hear about it in practice where the defense knows what plays are
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  coming because they've seen it so much. I felt like there was some of
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  that there were a couple of plays where maybe they were in a screen and
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  you would see a linebacker trigger or a safety go immediately to that spot before
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  the before the ball was even snapped. In cases where maybe a defensive end
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  keels off and goes gets into a zone, you know. And again,
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  maybe that's just good coaching and great playing and great recognition, but I feel
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  like there was some of that also where the defense kind of felt It felt
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  like the defense knew what was coming. So DJ definitely didn't blow anybody away
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  by his performance, but I would say that over the last two weeks,
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  I thought he's looked very, very good in practice. He's been accurate,
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  he's made really good throws. They made a lot of big plays in the
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  passing game. So that that was disappointing that fans didn't get to see that,
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  because this is the only time they've really seen him until you know,
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  we go to Dublin in four months. So defensively was what I expected.
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  I mean, this is a this is going to be a big, strong,
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  athletic defense. I think they're gonna that's going to be the strength of
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  this team. And truthfully, in the second half of last season, that
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  was the strength of this team and now a lot of new faces. They
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  brought in some new portal guys. But I really like this defense, and
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  I think the offense is may be better than it looked on Saturday. Before
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  we take a break, Ira, the second portal is open. Any expectations,
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  any needs that you think that the coaches are going to go after.
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  I think there's definitely a couple of needs, and then after that it'll be
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  basically if a great player is available and is interested and they can make it
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  happen, I think they will. I think an obvious need is a defensive
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  on the defensive line. They and it's not a need where they don't have
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  good players. They just need a little bit more depth on the defensive line.
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  So I could definitely see them going maybe at defensive tackle or an end,
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  and then you move one of them. They have a big defensive end
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  that they can move inside the defensive tackle, so I think a really good
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  defensive lineman would help them. I also think a receiver. Going into the
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  spring game, I thought they a spring showcase. I thought they probably needed
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  another receiver. A Malik Benson, who was their best receiver, got injured
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  in that game. We don't know the extent of it, so I think,
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  yeah, there's definitely a need to probably go get a receiver, and
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  then after that, I think it's you know, if they found a great
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  linebacker, if they found a great safety, I think those are or maybe
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  even a tight end. I think those are positions they would consider. But
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  to me, the big needs are defensive line and receiver. It's funny how
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  all of a sudden, with the transfer portal, we're talking about college football
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  teams like they're in NFL franchise. It's crazy. The Morning Show with Preston
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  Scott I got Bentha on News Radio one hundred point seven. Double USLA back
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  with Irishafel of war chand dot com IRA. I have heard from some FSU
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  season ticket holders they love the perspective of the improvements coming to Dot Campbell's stadium.
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  I've heard from others that are really really unhappy that they in essence,
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  had their seats ripped out from under them. What is your sense on the
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  stadium improvements? Certainly some things were needed, but your thoughts, Yeah,
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  No, I think it's you summed up perfectly. I think there are definitely
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  some people who are furious, even you know, the people that have had
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  the same tickets in their family for decades, and they don't want to move,
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  and they don't want to be separated from their friends, and they don't
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  want to be forced to move because the price has gotten higher for their location.
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  But then I also talk to plenty of people who are like, thank
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  goodness, I'm tired of sitting on a middle bleacher, I'm tired of not
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  having Wi Fi, I'm tired of not being able to get decent concessions,
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  or what ever it is. They want to be more comfortable, So I
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  think it's definitely what experience you're looking for. And then I think Florida State,
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  like you said, they had to make some improvements. The stadium was
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  not ADA compliant. They had a lot of structural issues. They had to
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  do something about some of those things. And I think the way to pay
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  for it is to kind of go with this more modern approach where they're more
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  comfortable seats, people have a better experience. At the same time, you
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  know, I look at it from a pragmatic standpoint of they're taking out a
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  two hundred and fifty million dollars bond to pay this off, and I wonder,
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  you know what if the team doesn't do well over three or four years.
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  Now, those are big ticket seats that are sitting open and unsold.
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  That's my bigger concern. But you know, I'm not sitting in the stands
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  or you know, I'm blessed I sit in the press box. Us to
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  tell me about what is going to be ready come fall. What seating is
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  going to be available. Yeah, it's going to be so that one half
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  of the stadium, basically the student side, which is the sunny side,
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  is basically going untouched. So you know, those all be there, and
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  then they're gonna put I heard I think the number seven thousand. There's a
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  number of temporary seats, several thousand temporary seats that are going to be on
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  the old shady side, the alumni side, and so the capacity of the
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  stadium is going to be somewhere in the fifty thousands. I heard fifty five
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  thousands the number I heard most recently. So as opposed to eighty thousand seats
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  or seventy eight thousand, you're gonna be down to fifty five thousand this season,
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  and then in twenty twenty five they'll be back to a bigger, full
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  stadium. It will be totally renovated, but even then it's going to be
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  around seventy thousand. I believe it's it's never going to go back to the
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  eighty thousand seats of yesteryear. So they hope to have the entire renovation project
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  done by the Sea the twenty twenty five start of the season. That's correct,
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  And a lot of amateur contractors that I've talked to saw the stadium on
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  Saturday and wonder if that's going to happen. But we'll see. That's the
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  play of you is before we take a break here real quickly, just because
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  I want to take a little time talking FSU basketball with you. What are
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  your impressions on baseball? It looks like link Jarrett has turned a significant corner
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  in a very short period of time. Now, if you can just find
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  a bullpen, well, yeah, unfortunately you can't do free agency during the
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  season in college baseball yet because yeah, that's been a problem. Look,
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  they had two huge road series so far. They've want the bullpens come through
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  in some games in certain situations, particularly at home, even though it's a
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  good competition. But you know, they went to Clemson, the bullpen collapsed
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  in a couple of games they lost all three. Then at Wake Forest they
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  had a chance they could have, you know, easily won that series,
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  and the bullpen betrayed him again. And I just think it is what it
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  is, you know. Now. One thing that really hurt them more than
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  usual this past weekend, well that I think could get better is they do
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  think Cam Lighter, who was their opening day starter, has missed the last
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  few weeks with maybe some tenderness in his arm. He's supposed to be getting
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  back really soon. They also might get another pitcher, Ben Barrett back soon,
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  So that would lengthen out your arms, you know, in earlier the
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  series, and so that could definitely help them once you get into regionals and
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  things like that. Yeah, it's clear to me that in a three game
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  series we need six starters. But they can really hit Preston, They can
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  really hit. Yeah, there you go. Hang on a second, Ira,
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  We're gonna talk FSU basketball. We come back, Irishfellowarchan dot Com WSLA
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  on your phone with the iHeartRadio app and on hundreds of devices like Alexa,
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  Google Home, Xbox, and Sonos. So here we go and Iheart's radio
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  station. Final segment with Irishaffel of war chan dot com talked a little bit
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  about FSU baseball there link Jared's done a wonderful job in turning that program around,
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  But now that's a task facing Leonard Hamilton with the basketball program. He
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  had it going on and then Covid hit Ira and then the real landscape of
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  college athletics changed. Is it that coach Hamilton and the staff just haven't quite
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  gotten their footing yet on the new landscape or what's gone south? I know
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  they're not the only team that has lost everybody. I mean, Duke has
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  turned into a turnstile program all of a sudden. What should our expectations be
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  as fans? Who I mean, honestly, I love coach Hamilton. He's
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  a delightful man. Yeah, you know, it's it's impossible to know what
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  the roster is going to look like. They are gonna it's going to look
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  completely different. When Jalen Worley went in the transfer portal last week, their
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  point guard. That's the sixth player that's gone in the transfer portal, and
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  they had four other guys who we think exhausted their eligibility. Maybe one of
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  them could could still come back for another year, but you're looking at least
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  ten new players for next season, and it wasn't a very good team last
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  season. So on the one hand, you can say, well, at
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  least at least we're not going to watch those guys again. But I think
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  from a big picture standpoint, but from a big from a big picture standpoint,
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  you don't know how well positioned they are to go get another talent and
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  roster. And that's the problem. You know, there's so much that goes
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  into that nowadays beyond just coaching relationships. The strength for Leonard and Hamilton throughout
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  his career, especially the last twenty years, was his relationships. He had
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  been in the business for fifty years. If there was a player that he
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  heard about in Topeka, Kansas or Shyenne, Wyoming, it didn't matter where.
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  I guarantee Leonard Hamilton knew somebody that knew that kid, and he could
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  get on the phone with them within three minutes and build a relationship. And
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  he was so good at that. But now in the nil landscape where these
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  kids, so much of these conversations start with how much am I gonna make
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  there? Well, I mean, it's just a different world. Does Florida
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  State have that kind of financial support for basketball. I don't think they do.
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  They have some support, I don't know if they have that level of
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  support. So it's going to be interesting to see what he can pull together.
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  I mean, it's clear Leonard Hamilton's got one more year on his contract.
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  They haven't made any move there. He's going to be coaching this team
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  next season. But it's anybody's going what this team is going to look like.
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  They did have a transfer commit this past weekend, a nice forward from
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  Hampton who had a nice season last year. Ten points, ten eleven points,
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  four or five rebounds, and he looks like a player, a Leonard
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  Hamilton type player. They've got some junior college kids coming in, so they're
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  rebuilding this roster. But if you were a betting man, it's hard to
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  say, yeah, I think this team's going to be good this year,
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  just because you know, it seems like a lot of things are stacked against
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  them right now. Leonard Hamilton's blind spot to me has always been point guard.
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  Why why do they struggle finding a point guard? I can't think of
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  the last pure point guard they've had. Yeah, I mean, Trent Force
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  is probably close to it, but he's not necessarily a true point right he
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  convert it? Yeah. Yeah. I think it's a combination of two things.
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  I think one is he really loves the idea of having big, long,
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  strong athletic kids can they can guard several positions, and uh, you
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  know, and so if you have six foot point guard, you know he's
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  gonna have a tough time sometimes in some of those situations. And then it
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  becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. You're sitting in there wondering the last time they
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  had a good point guard. Don't you think every college recruiter is telling every
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  point guard that, yes, he doesn't want to point guard. He's not,
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  you know. So I think at some point it's got to be difficult
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  to sign a point guard when everybody else can use that against you. So
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  I think it's just been one of those things. He has not put a
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  value on it the way you feel like he should. I think his argument
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  would be he likes what they do on the defensive end, and he and
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  he's not so worried about somebody setting up plays. He wants to play a
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  motion offense anyway. So it's just a philosophical thing. But I also think
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  it's certainly a fair criticism. Well, I mean the bottom line is,
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  I just I don't think college basketball has changed that much. I think it's
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  a college guard game, and I think you have to have a point guard.
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  Yeah, And you know they've had windows where they were so skilled athletically
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  and so skilled basketball wise, like that run you know three or four years
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  go, like you said during COVID, when you know that that team may
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  have won the national title. Agreed, you know where they were. They
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  had a good enough point guard, Trent Forrest, who could handle that role,
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  but you were so good everywhere else that you have so many other guys
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  that could get shots for themselves. What they don't have, what they haven't
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  had as much of. And you know is when you don't have somebody who
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  can create for everybody else, and then you don't have those other worldly players
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  you know that are going to be first round picks or lottery picks, which
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  they had Patrick Williams and Terrence Well, Terrence Man was a lottery pick for
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  his first round pick, and then Devin Bessell and those guys who can make
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  their own shot. That's when the point guard becomes more important and it exposes
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  it. Some last question related deaf as you basketball. Has Leonard Hamilton earned
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  the right to leave on his own terms or does he get one more year
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  to current turn the thing? Well, he gets this year. I think
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  they don't have an appetite to make a change right now. Really hard to
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  hire a coach when you don't know what conference you're going to be in.
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  But listen, man, Bobby Bodden didn't get to name his own terms,
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  So no, Leonard Hamilton doesn't get the name of his own terms. But
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  I do think they're going to go with it because it makes sense of the
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  situation right now, with the fight with the conference and all that. It
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  would be a weird time to try to go hire a basketball pre ira,
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  unless something weird happens. I'll talk to you in the fall when we got
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  a new football season to discuss. Thanks for the time, brother, Thanks
• 16:15
  Preston taker Iraschafell, Managing Editor Warchant dot Com. My guest on The Morning
• 16:19
  Show with Preston Scott