Latest / Spiders Sound Off / Richmond Women IN the NCAA Tournament! + Kenny Wood on what it takes to win in the NCAA tournament.

Transcript

Richmond Women IN the NCAA Tournament! + Kenny Wood on what it takes to win in the NCAA tournament. · Spiders Sound Off

• 0:05
  Hey, Spider fans, welcome back to Spider.
• 0:07
  Sound off. This is Tom.
• 0:09
  Yeah. This is Porter.
• 0:10
  And we are back in the Henrico studios and it's an interesting
• 0:15
  Sunday. So it's Selection Sunday.
• 0:16
  So the men we can ignore VCU just won.
• 0:20
  So that's, you know, yippee for VCU women.
• 0:23
  It's kind of a big night tonight, but we do have an
• 0:26
  interview today. You want to?
• 0:28
  Yeah, talk a. Little about that Let's take you
• 0:29
  back to episode 1 where we got this whole thing started.
• 0:32
  That was the this is the 35th anniversary of the team that
• 0:36
  beat the beat Syracuse in the NCAA tournament, the 1st 15 to
• 0:40
  ever beat A2. That is the Richmond men's team
• 0:42
  in 1991. And today, March 15th, which
• 0:46
  we're we're recording for release on the 16th is 35 years
• 0:49
  in one day from from that win. And so we have a member of that
• 0:53
  team to talk a little bit about the game and then we'll talk
• 0:57
  about the game. We'll also talk about this
• 0:59
  historic Hall of Farmers achievements as well.
• 1:02
  And that player is. Kenny.
• 1:05
  Wood Kenny wood folks Kenny wood here on spider sound off super
• 1:09
  excited to have him so. So we'll interview Kenny in a
• 1:13
  second and come back and exit this thing out and talk a little
• 1:18
  bit about what's going on tonight with the women.
• 1:22
  So welcome Spider fans, to Richmond basketball legend.
• 1:26
  Let me tell you a little bit about this legend, Kenny Wood,
• 1:28
  who graduated in the same year that both Tom and I did of 1993.
• 1:32
  Before coming into Richmond, Kenny had already made quite a
• 1:35
  name for himself. He was the New York High School
• 1:38
  public school scoring leader for the entire state like he was #1
• 1:43
  He's since been named to the East Hampton High School Hall of
• 1:45
  Fame, the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame, and of course the Richmond
• 1:49
  Hall of Fame. He was a first, first team all
• 1:52
  CAA player and he was a key part of that, that key win against
• 1:56
  Syracuse, the 1st 15 ever to beat A2, if you guys remember
• 1:59
  that. So please join and join us in
• 2:02
  welcoming Kenny to the show. Welcome, Kenny.
• 2:04
  Thank you. Thank you guys for having me.
• 2:06
  Yeah, it's exciting to have your Kenny.
• 2:08
  We're going to talk a lot about your U of R career.
• 2:10
  Maybe I just starting off kind of you're, you're from New York.
• 2:13
  How did you? I'm from Connecticut, so you can
• 2:15
  ask me the same question, I guess, But how from New York, a
• 2:18
  basketball star, did Richmond kind of get on your radar as a
• 2:21
  potential place to play? When I grew in in the 80s and
• 2:28
  early 90s, New York had a thing called the Empire State Games,
• 2:32
  which was like the Olympics for every sport except for football.
• 2:36
  So you're separated by your region, so I'm Long Island, so
• 2:41
  it's New York City, Adirondack Western, and you go up to
• 2:43
  Syracuse or somewhere upstate at some big college campus.
• 2:46
  I think it was mostly in Syracuse and you played
• 2:49
  basically like the Olympics. So and gearing up for that being
• 2:53
  from Long Island. And it's also scholastic in
• 2:55
  college. So you got to make the
• 2:57
  scholastic team. And then part of the prep is
• 3:00
  when I was in high school, we were playing against the college
• 3:02
  group and Kenny Atkinson was one of the guys on the college team.
• 3:06
  So I ended up playing, you know, we would play them maybe once a
• 3:09
  week or we played it several times and I would always play
• 3:12
  really well against the college guys as a scholastic guy.
• 3:16
  So Atkinson put the call into Richmond and said basically, you
• 3:20
  guys may want to recruit this guy out here on on the end of
• 3:22
  Long Island. So that's kind of how it
• 3:24
  started. That's interesting.
• 3:26
  Like a player recruiting a player I like.
• 3:28
  Yeah, yeah. Did you ever have, like Dick
• 3:30
  Tarrant come and visit the house and talk to you?
• 3:33
  Yeah. I mean, back then it was
• 3:34
  different than it is now is as you know, the high school guys
• 3:37
  was a big, you know, recruiting thing.
• 3:39
  So Bill, so Coach Dooley, Bill Dooley was the main recruiter
• 3:43
  for me during that time. And then Coach Tarrant would
• 3:45
  come out as well. But it was really Dooley was the
• 3:50
  one that, you know, I've kind of formed a good relationship.
• 3:53
  He was out at the, you know, in the Long Island watching we play
• 3:56
  quite often. So we got to know Dooley really
• 3:58
  well. Nice.
• 4:00
  Yep. Now, did you know, I guess when
• 4:03
  that whole started about, you know, the 80s or how much did
• 4:06
  they pitch? Kind of, hey, we've been to the
• 4:07
  Sweet 16, we're kind of a Cinderella.
• 4:10
  Was that something you were aware of is just kind of
• 4:12
  watching the tournament as a kid?
• 4:13
  Yeah, it was a little bit. I mean, I was familiar with it
• 4:16
  because my sister went to VCU. So.
• 4:19
  So. So I was going to hold that
• 4:21
  against her. Yeah, yeah.
• 4:25
  We were familiar with being down in Richmond and then you know,
• 4:28
  getting in high school once year, recruiting and different
• 4:32
  colleges are telling you different things.
• 4:34
  I had a great high school coach that kind of helped me with the
• 4:36
  process. It was before AAU, any of that
• 4:38
  stuff. So it was really with that with
• 4:40
  my high school coach. So we kind of went over all of
• 4:43
  that where Richmond has the size of the school, chances of
• 4:46
  playing early compared to some of the bigger schools.
• 4:49
  So we kind of went with a thorough background and and
• 4:53
  everything and then, you know, the coaches are telling you that
• 4:55
  throughout the recruiting process.
• 4:58
  What? What was the second choice?
• 4:59
  What? What did you not choose instead
• 5:01
  of Richard? Where else was was Kenny
• 5:02
  thinking about? Pittsburgh was up there.
• 5:06
  I know I wanted to get the warmer weather.
• 5:10
  So some of the UMass and I guess probably the only one down South
• 5:16
  that I'd started to think about a little bit was NC State.
• 5:20
  But you know, I kind of Richmond kind of checked all the boxes
• 5:24
  that I wanted it to at the time. So coming down, I don't say what
• 5:30
  made it, it made it much easier to to make the decision.
• 5:33
  Nice. What was your transition like?
• 5:35
  So now you're kind of enrolled, you're starting to practice.
• 5:39
  Did you feel like, hey, this is a whole nother level or it's
• 5:42
  like, hey, I'm prepared for this.
• 5:43
  I'm I'm ready to go. You know, I think you always
• 5:47
  think you're prepared, but you never really prepared.
• 5:49
  And it's a difference between preseason and the season and all
• 5:53
  that stuff. I mean, when we were there was
• 5:55
  really the, the, the play was pre season stuff was really
• 6:01
  captain ran and you know, so the pick up and all that stuff was
• 6:06
  kind of run by the players. The coaches couldn't have that
• 6:08
  much. It's just totally different than
• 6:10
  it is now. They really couldn't start until
• 6:13
  October 15th. So everything was run by what
• 6:16
  was Atkinson and Scotty Stapleton with the two guys, the
• 6:19
  two main seniors who we kind of had to, you know, any of the
• 6:25
  things that Mill Heights or Jim they put together.
• 6:27
  We had the strength coach to do the weight room and they did the
• 6:29
  running and stuff like that. So it was really you're with
• 6:33
  those guys a lot, you're playing pick up a lot, you know, So as a
• 6:36
  freshman, you know, you knew you could handle the the play, but
• 6:40
  once the season started was a lot different because you're not
• 6:42
  just playing pick up. You're, you know, we ran a
• 6:46
  really intense kind of structure back then.
• 6:50
  That again is stuff that teams don't do like anymore.
• 6:55
  I mean, we probably had 40 or 50 set plays that we had to
• 6:59
  memorize and run. So you can memorize them, but
• 7:02
  then are you able to do it under the gun?
• 7:05
  You know, and then if you play different positions, you had to
• 7:08
  learn different, different. I mean, each position was kind
• 7:11
  of different. So it was a definitely a
• 7:14
  learning experience that way more than just the actual play.
• 7:19
  You know, it was, it was, do you know what you're doing?
• 7:22
  You know where you're supposed to be?
• 7:23
  Can you get there on time? And then you have to be like,
• 7:26
  you know, you couldn't be a robot basically, so.
• 7:29
  Was that kind of like first day of practice?
• 7:31
  You got the playbook? I think of like football, they
• 7:33
  have the playbook or no they just introduced.
• 7:35
  One play, it was overtime. It was overtime.
• 7:38
  And yeah, it's just, you know, it's just something that's kind
• 7:42
  of ingrained in your head back then where I could.
• 7:45
  I still remember them all now with 30 some odd years later.
• 7:48
  It's kind of crazy, but you do something everyday time after
• 7:52
  time. You kind of, you know, if you
• 7:54
  follow basketball, you, you can. I mean, I I just still remember.
• 7:58
  It's just became a part of like my, my basketball history, I
• 8:02
  guess you saying knowing all of our, our set plays that we had.
• 8:06
  Yeah, so you'd coached. You had played for a legendary
• 8:09
  coach in high school, Coach Petrie, if I.
• 8:11
  If I read that correctly. Who I think was one of the
• 8:14
  leaders in all time wins in New York State.
• 8:15
  And then you have Coach Tarrant, who's a legend in Richmond.
• 8:19
  So kind of compare and contrast what each coach brought to the
• 8:22
  table, what you learn from each of those guys.
• 8:25
  Both were huge fundamentals on fundamentals.
• 8:28
  That's probably the biggest thing that both of them were
• 8:32
  were, you know, yeah, just just just fundamental, fundamental is
• 8:38
  was a key part of both of them, which was kind of one of the
• 8:42
  reasons I liked Richmond, just because it was almost like a
• 8:45
  continuation of high school for me and had a successful high
• 8:48
  school career. So that was a big, you know,
• 8:54
  and, and Coach Dooley formed a really good relationship with my
• 8:58
  high school coach, which was very important.
• 9:02
  He had a he had two sons and guys that have been coaching
• 9:07
  with him for a while. So Coach Dooley formed a great
• 9:10
  relationship with them. So it was that part of it was
• 9:13
  kind of seamless like as far as like the fundamentals and all
• 9:16
  that stuff. But then you know, you get into
• 9:18
  college, you have everybody focused on, you know, it's No2
• 9:22
  sport athletes, it's practice everyday is pre season, It's all
• 9:25
  that. So the intensity definitely
• 9:27
  picked up. So that was the biggest thing
• 9:28
  with the intensity. And then, you know, high school,
• 9:30
  you got a head coach and assistant coach Rich when you
• 9:32
  got the head coach and four or five assistant coaches.
• 9:35
  So every it's it's more detailed.
• 9:38
  So you're able to you know, so the coaches are, you know, you
• 9:41
  can't cheat as much. You can't, you know, take a
• 9:43
  break as much you kind of get called out for it.
• 9:45
  So, you know, so but yeah, but coach Feature was a tough coach
• 9:50
  as well as Coach Tarrant was a tough coach to play for.
• 9:53
  They held you to a certain standard that you had to follow,
• 9:56
  otherwise you wouldn't play. I mean, I kind of would have
• 9:58
  played in high school, but I would have got chewed out a lot.
• 10:01
  But when you get to college, you got to do these little things in
• 10:04
  order to to be able to get time on the court.
• 10:07
  Now you were a four year starter at U of R, so you must have
• 10:11
  followed those rules well as a freshman or well enough was that
• 10:16
  was that kind of part of the game plan when you went in like,
• 10:18
  hey, I'm going to find a way to start as a.
• 10:20
  Freshman, No, I wasn't. It was something I was thinking.
• 10:23
  I was just, I didn't start off starting.
• 10:25
  I ended up not starting till like the second-half of the
• 10:28
  year. Once I got more comfortable, I
• 10:29
  was would have not been ready to start early.
• 10:33
  I'm trying to think my freshman year, yeah, we ended up using a
• 10:38
  small lineup, I think, and it was Terry Conley and myself
• 10:42
  playing the four and five and we were kind of interchangeable.
• 10:48
  And we, Scott, Stapleton, Curtis and Kenny, I think we're who
• 10:52
  ended up starting until we got to like the tournament and we
• 10:56
  faced Duke and they were, you know, they had two 611 guys.
• 10:58
  So we had to make some changes there.
• 11:00
  But, you know, I think it wasn't a plan kind of going in.
• 11:06
  It just kind of happened. You know, the more I got
• 11:08
  comfortable, I knew my talent would be enough, that I was good
• 11:11
  enough to do it. It's just a matter of think you
• 11:14
  can be good enough, talented enough, but you got to be able
• 11:16
  to perform, you know, basically so that so that's kind of a
• 11:22
  progress. You know, it's hard for for
• 11:24
  especially then coming in and and just playing shoot, it's
• 11:28
  hard for freshmen now coming and playing too, but then it was a
• 11:32
  for a different reason. You're playing against, you
• 11:34
  know, competing against three or four year starters who have been
• 11:38
  in the system and we're doing it now.
• 11:39
  You're doing it freshman was coming and playing against a
• 11:42
  2324 year old guy. So it's it's different.
• 11:45
  But you know, it, it wasn't a plan of mine.
• 11:48
  It just kind of happened. Are there any, are there any of
• 11:52
  the players that took you kind of under their wing and were
• 11:54
  kind of a mentor to you when you first got to campus or did you
• 11:57
  just? It was pretty interesting
• 11:58
  because because Atkinson was very prideful guy and you know,
• 12:03
  we're down in Richmond now Virginia and being a a New
• 12:08
  Yorker on the team, he wanted to make sure that and a Long Island
• 12:12
  and a Suffolk County guy. So he was probably the one at
• 12:15
  first that kind of showed me how to like work out and train.
• 12:18
  So he would get me in the gym a lot and I would watch him work
• 12:21
  out, work out with him and pick up some of the stuff that he
• 12:24
  did. So initially he was the first
• 12:25
  one to kind of just said, all right, it's whatever.
• 12:28
  You know, you get a call and he's like, meet me in the gym.
• 12:31
  So you go to the gym and you got to work out with Kenny.
• 12:33
  You got to so that was good because it kind of taught me how
• 12:37
  to work out really again, it's it's a different level and and
• 12:41
  he was really intense and deliberate about what he did.
• 12:45
  So it kind of helped me to figure out what I needed to do.
• 12:49
  I mean his he was a point guard. I was a forward or center,
• 12:51
  whatever. So it was different, but it was
• 12:54
  helpful just seeing the intensity and the level of
• 12:57
  detail that it that he used. And that was helpful for me to
• 13:03
  kind of create my own way of, of of working out.
• 13:08
  Was it was there a low point that first year?
• 13:10
  I mean, it's sometimes college transitions are hard.
• 13:12
  You're not only coming to go a long way away to college, but
• 13:14
  you're also having to play a full time sport.
• 13:16
  Is there any any times where you said wow this this stinks?
• 13:20
  Yeah. I have one too I'll share with
• 13:23
  you and it involves Richmond basketball and JMU, by the way,
• 13:26
  on a Midnight Madness. Game Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
• 13:29
  that's a that's a universal one there that yeah I.
• 13:33
  Drove up for that game and and was at the Convocation Center
• 13:36
  for that midnight game, so. It was yeah, yeah, that was
• 13:39
  yeah, that was that. Yeah, that was a yeah, that was.
• 13:44
  I don't even know if it was an eye opener.
• 13:48
  Yeah, I would say that one. And then my first game just we
• 13:52
  played NC State in the preseason NIT and just going from
• 13:57
  practicing and having some exhibition games to go on out
• 13:59
  and playing then and not knowing if you're going to get in.
• 14:03
  And I don't think we had any Subs in the first half.
• 14:05
  And because that was the first sub coming off the bench.
• 14:09
  So I knew it were unless it was a point guard.
• 14:12
  How were you? How were we did it?
• 14:14
  So I got called in and got the ball and it was on national TV
• 14:18
  and caught it in the corner and I was open and didn't shoot it.
• 14:22
  And then I passed and we came down the other and I got taken
• 14:25
  out and I was like, he's like, you're not going to you're in
• 14:28
  the game to shoot the ball if you're not going to shoot it
• 14:30
  then. And I was kind of happy to come
• 14:32
  out. I was so nervous just getting
• 14:34
  in. So so that was the first one and
• 14:38
  then I think that one then you had there, then you had the J MU
• 14:40
  one. I think each one of them helped
• 14:43
  us. The JMU game helped us because I
• 14:45
  think we went on a run after that and never wanted to have
• 14:48
  that happen again. And then?
• 14:52
  We talked about that game on an earlier episode and I was trying
• 14:54
  to remember somebody on the team hit like 1/2 court shot right
• 14:57
  before halftime. I mean, we were down like they
• 15:01
  were more than doubling our score, but somebody hit a half
• 15:03
  court shot right before the buzzer.
• 15:04
  And I remember turning to the guy next to me and said, well,
• 15:05
  at least we have that. Yeah, I can't.
• 15:08
  I do remember. I do remember that.
• 15:11
  Maybe it's Scotty Stapleton. I remember someone.
• 15:14
  Yeah, I kind of remember that game was such a blur because the
• 15:17
  atmosphere was crazy. It was midnight.
• 15:19
  It was on the ESPN. It smelled like a frat house in
• 15:23
  the gym. Because.
• 15:25
  It was. It was.
• 15:26
  Fraternities had been getting ready for that game.
• 15:27
  For all hours and how their gym was set up, it was it was it was
• 15:33
  kind of a it was a bunch of I think they dropped us off at the
• 15:37
  bus, dropped us off at the wrong door so we had to go in through
• 15:40
  the band. It was, it was a bunch of stuff
• 15:42
  leading up to that and then that loss and driving back from JMU
• 15:47
  to Richmond without anyone saying anything on the bus was,
• 15:50
  was, was a thing. But I think it did help us, you
• 15:54
  know, any any things like that, you can either fold or you can,
• 15:59
  you know, bounce back. And, you know, we took that loss
• 16:02
  pretty, you know, hard that day, then came back and I think we
• 16:05
  went on at some good runs after that.
• 16:07
  So they carried us through that. I don't know if we lost again
• 16:10
  that we may have lost like William and Mary or someone like
• 16:13
  a weird one, but it kind of took us all the way through to the
• 16:17
  tournament and we went and then, you know, I guess the eye
• 16:20
  opening one there again to was the loss of Duke in the
• 16:22
  tournament that. Was a pretty good Duke team.
• 16:26
  Yeah, yeah, it was pretty good. They went to the finals.
• 16:28
  Yeah, they lost to the finals. So but losing to them that first
• 16:32
  12 O clock game on the first day was not, it was just tough there
• 16:36
  with not a lot of people in the arena and playing, dude, I think
• 16:39
  Duke, Duke had just lost in that ACC tournament.
• 16:43
  So they came out and and was it was definitely was a different
• 16:47
  level. But then that kind of helped us
• 16:51
  to prepare for that my sophomore year, you know, I think we lost
• 16:55
  out. You realize you have to get
• 16:56
  bigger and stronger. So, you know, we took that loss
• 16:59
  and then that next Monday, we're all in the weight room lifting
• 17:02
  and and getting ready for that next year.
• 17:04
  So I think that kind of propelled us too.
• 17:06
  So, yeah, we had some tough, tough things, but I think we use
• 17:09
  them. We had such a group of good guys
• 17:12
  and good coaches that we kind of use that to kind of fuel us for
• 17:15
  the next for the next level. Yeah.
• 17:18
  And Speaking of your sophomore year, I mean, so you had Curtis
• 17:21
  coming back, obviously Terry came back, you had Springer and
• 17:24
  Shields were kind of from the bench now kind of more part of
• 17:28
  the rotation. And when I think back to my, you
• 17:32
  know, four years at U of R, my favorite moment on campus at
• 17:35
  games was that Georgia Tech game.
• 17:37
  Yeah, sophomore year they bring in Kenny Anderson, who kind of,
• 17:41
  if you will, follow sports you knew was kind of a phenom.
• 17:44
  And that game went to that kind of last second tip in by Jim
• 17:50
  Springer. Like take us back to the head of
• 17:52
  that game. Maybe the prep of, you know,
• 17:54
  having a, you know, a powerhouse come in a team that you have our
• 17:57
  seem to have something going against Georgia Tech.
• 18:00
  The few years before we had beaten them a couple times.
• 18:03
  But like, what was that moment like for you kind of knowing
• 18:05
  Kenny Anderson's coming to town and kind of a big game against a
• 18:08
  great Bobby Crimmin's team? Yeah, I mean, because I knew
• 18:11
  him. I knew Kenny from we were the
• 18:13
  same year in New York. So we had played against each
• 18:15
  other and done different. Our high school coaches were
• 18:18
  really close like our high school coach was, they were one
• 18:25
  and two and like when's in New York State, like they played,
• 18:28
  may have played college basket. I mean, they've known, they knew
• 18:32
  each other for 40 years prior. So we were kind of familiar
• 18:38
  with, and then of course we were familiar with Kenny Anderson,
• 18:42
  you know, from the Empire State games.
• 18:44
  I mean, I, you know, we played against him in the summer.
• 18:46
  So, but then they had the rest of their guys and we played
• 18:49
  Georgia Tech our freshman year and I think they had Dennis
• 18:52
  Scott's and some of these other guys that I would see on TV.
• 18:56
  So it was interesting getting these guys coming into the Robin
• 18:58
  Center and playing and we battled them and hung in there.
• 19:02
  And I mean, we were never really, you know, intimidated of
• 19:07
  it's kind of like now you, you know, the guys play against each
• 19:10
  other. And I think for the fans and
• 19:12
  people out there, it's a bigger thing to play against Power 5 or
• 19:16
  a bigger team. But the guys out there, I think,
• 19:18
  you know, you're just out there playing.
• 19:20
  So ended up being a good game. We hung in there, we battled and
• 19:23
  and we're forcing at the end where Springer got the tip in to
• 19:26
  win it. So it was.
• 19:27
  It was a lot of fun. Question.
• 19:30
  You know, we've talked about Dick Taring, you know, obviously
• 19:31
  kind of a Hall of Fame guy, Hall of Fame coach for us.
• 19:34
  He always seemed really serious. Now, I think when we beat
• 19:37
  Syracuse, we'll get to that in a bit.
• 19:38
  You could tell he was having a little bit of fun.
• 19:40
  But like, so we beat Georgia Tech.
• 19:42
  Like, you know, the crowd charges the court like when the
• 19:45
  game's over, does did Coach Tarrant smile and like feel good
• 19:51
  about it? Or it was like, hey, we got
• 19:52
  another game and whatever, two days, three days.
• 19:54
  He was kind of all business. I.
• 19:57
  Don't know if you say smile, I just think that it's it's like.
• 20:03
  Kind of this, I don't want to say mission accomplished, but
• 20:07
  it's like, you know, all right, make a check mark here.
• 20:09
  You got that one. You know, you showed you could
• 20:12
  do it. Let's not get too full of
• 20:14
  yourself because you got to come back and keep it going, right?
• 20:17
  So it was one of those things where where you can't, you know,
• 20:20
  you stay grounded, you know, realize it was huge, it was big.
• 20:23
  You celebrate it and you go, then you come to practice the
• 20:26
  next day and you're, you know, getting shown what you did
• 20:30
  wrong, right? It's no real celebration to it.
• 20:32
  So, so that's kind of how it was because you, you know, your goal
• 20:36
  isn't just to beat A-Team like that.
• 20:38
  Your goal is to back then you had to win your conference
• 20:41
  tournament to get in. So you're just trying to do all
• 20:43
  these things to build your conference, to get to win your
• 20:46
  conference tournament so you can, you know, make it to the to
• 20:49
  the big dance. 35 years ago today, or sorry, 35 years ago
• 20:55
  yesterday was probably up until maybe just recently, the
• 21:00
  greatest upset in the history of the NCA Blade Tournament.
• 21:03
  A 15 takes down A2. Tell us about what it felt like
• 21:09
  when the bracket came out and you guys see yourselves on the
• 21:12
  line against Syracuse. What was your reaction amongst
• 21:14
  the team? What was the thought process,
• 21:16
  the preparation like? Thought processes, we can score
• 21:20
  against them. I mean, because we had Duke the
• 21:22
  year before and we knew that was going to be tough, but Syracuse,
• 21:25
  you're like, oh, we can play Duke last year.
• 21:28
  We can score against Syracuse. So we knew they weren't going to
• 21:31
  come out. And, you know, with Duke, they
• 21:34
  knew every one of our plays. They knew every one of our sets
• 21:36
  and we had a whole lot of stuff. So they were, you know, you're
• 21:40
  on this, you're on the court and we call out a play and they're
• 21:43
  calling out the play. So it was a, it was a different
• 21:48
  level of preparedness that we knew that Syracuse wouldn't.
• 21:53
  They may have had more talent, but we knew we could kind of do
• 21:55
  our stuff against them. Just a matter of taking care of
• 21:58
  the ball and, you know, playing our game, which, you know, so,
• 22:03
  yeah, we felt good. We were excited about it.
• 22:05
  And again, I knew a lot of those guys from New York as well.
• 22:08
  So it it made it, you know, then a year of experience, you come
• 22:12
  in and thinking, you know, year of experience thinking, you
• 22:17
  know, you can come in and, and, and do more things and we'll be
• 22:22
  able to move a little bit more. Duke, it was like he couldn't
• 22:24
  move. They were, they were just at a
• 22:26
  different level at that time. Yeah, that was in Maryland,
• 22:30
  right? That's.
• 22:30
  A yeah, that was at that was at College Park at Coalfield House,
• 22:33
  yeah. What was the atmosphere like?
• 22:35
  Did it feel like is? Did it feel very pro Richmond?
• 22:38
  Did Syracuse? Probably.
• 22:40
  That was one good thing. Coach Tarrant knew.
• 22:42
  The coaches knew that since we were close geographically, that
• 22:46
  we would get a good contingent of Richmond people coming up.
• 22:52
  And for Syracuse, it was probably like they were going to
• 22:57
  advance and go and play in the Meadowlands and the Sweet 16
• 23:00
  round. So we knew that as the underdog,
• 23:05
  you're going to eventually have, if it's a neutral crowd, the
• 23:09
  underdog is eventually going to get all those neutral people to
• 23:12
  join their side. So we knew if we kept it close
• 23:14
  and kept it there, that that's something that we would have to
• 23:17
  our advantage that they would get behind us, which they ended
• 23:19
  up doing. So it ended up being a great,
• 23:22
  you know, great situation for us.
• 23:26
  So there's a moment in that game or a point in time of that game
• 23:30
  where you're like, we can do this.
• 23:31
  I mean, you have all the confidence, I'm sure going in,
• 23:35
  but was there any point where like you could tell the team was
• 23:39
  like ready to take it? I mean, I think we knew all that
• 23:43
  all along that, you know, we start off the game-winning the
• 23:46
  game and I think we want we're never, we're behind the the
• 23:50
  entire game. So again, I just think of how we
• 23:54
  played that, what we may have scored what against Duke the
• 23:58
  year before, did we score 45 points, something like that.
• 24:02
  Yeah. So and I think Syracuse, we
• 24:06
  were, it was just much, it was just a much easier flow.
• 24:09
  So we knew that we could score. And you know, I think we are the
• 24:14
  one that got Syracuse going to a 2-3 zone.
• 24:17
  Like that's where because they really couldn't guard us.
• 24:20
  They're as good as they were, as talented as they were, as big as
• 24:23
  they they like couldn't guard us man to man because we our sets
• 24:26
  were so good and our prep, our coaches had prepped us so well
• 24:30
  on what we could do and what we couldn't do.
• 24:32
  So it was never like a faint the time where we're like, oh,
• 24:35
  shoot, we can win this. I think we always thought we
• 24:37
  could win the game. Have you have you played the
• 24:41
  game for the kids yet to show them the.
• 24:44
  Yeah, I think they've seen it. They've seen it.
• 24:46
  I mean, they heard about it enough because we're from here.
• 24:50
  So. So I don't, my kids have seen
• 24:52
  it. Yeah.
• 24:53
  So I don't need to show. I'm sure when they were younger,
• 24:56
  we watched it. But but they they kind of heard
• 24:59
  about it, you know, once they were playing and it seems around
• 25:02
  here, everybody seems like everybody was at the game.
• 25:07
  Like you meet people and they talk about they're like, oh, I
• 25:09
  was at that game and I'm like, it can only hold.
• 25:11
  What? And I don't even want Coalfield
• 25:14
  House held, but so, yeah. So no, I don't, I, I, I'm sure
• 25:18
  they did a while ago. I can't remember but I'm I'm
• 25:20
  sure we we sat down and watched it.
• 25:23
  What was that locker room like after after the win?
• 25:26
  I was pretty good, you know, I mean, it was funny.
• 25:30
  I had AI was at A, at an event and she was in the fall and the
• 25:41
  equipment manager from Maryland was there who I, I knew when I
• 25:45
  worked for Adidas. So he was a, he was equipment
• 25:47
  manager from Maryland, but he had to wash at that time.
• 25:51
  The host team, they washed the uniforms and the big thing at
• 25:54
  that game is we had to get drug tested.
• 25:56
  So you had to do a urine test. So I think you really couldn't
• 26:01
  celebrate. I couldn't because it probably,
• 26:03
  I think it took like over 2 hours for me to be able to take
• 26:08
  a, my urine test. So I was in a room for like
• 26:13
  hours afterwards. So by the time I'd left or
• 26:16
  anything, it was like midnight or so.
• 26:19
  So it was not much celebrating. Everybody had gone.
• 26:23
  So we were kind of, it's kind of a weird thing there.
• 26:25
  So it wasn't a lot of celebrating from my standpoint.
• 26:27
  I don't know what other guys did, but I was kind of stuck.
• 26:30
  Yeah, that stinks. Yeah.
• 26:32
  Was there any any motivational speech from Tarrant during the
• 26:35
  pre game or during halftime? Anything that kind of stuck with
• 26:38
  you? No, I mean, it was almost like,
• 26:40
  you know, we, we've been there before in that situation and
• 26:45
  just the atmosphere was totally different that second year, just
• 26:48
  a smaller venue. We were in the Omni my freshman
• 26:51
  year and it was may have been 5000 people at a 25 seat seat
• 26:56
  stadium. And here it was more like a
• 26:59
  college atmosphere, right? So it was, we liked that we
• 27:04
  appealed. It appealed to us.
• 27:05
  And yeah, no, it was no real motivation.
• 27:08
  Just like, you know, they're bigger, they're better, but you
• 27:12
  know, we play better. I mean, our big thing was we
• 27:14
  play better basketball than they do.
• 27:16
  And that was always our big thing is playing better
• 27:18
  basketball. So if we knew, if we played our
• 27:21
  think, we had like 5 things we had to do, you know, our five
• 27:24
  pillars or whatever, free throws, less than 10 turnovers a
• 27:28
  game and defensive rebounds, certain certain key points we
• 27:32
  had to do. And we know if we did that, that
• 27:34
  we would make it a game. And you know, we felt confident
• 27:38
  in us, our preparation that if it's a close game that we could
• 27:41
  execute better than probably any other team in the country when
• 27:45
  it came down to possession by possession.
• 27:48
  Yeah, I think when when you see the highlights of that game now,
• 27:51
  there's always like the Terry Connelly behind the back pass is
• 27:55
  one of those, which is, you know, that's probably not a play
• 28:00
  Coach Tarrant ever instructed you to do.
• 28:03
  But when it works, it's. Beautiful.
• 28:05
  Yeah. No, it's yeah.
• 28:07
  I mean, you go by possession, by possession is definitely, you
• 28:10
  know, we were precise on what we wanted to do and they had some
• 28:15
  great plays at the end. The ball bounced their way a few
• 28:17
  times and and, you know, we just were fortunate to make some
• 28:21
  plays when when we need to hit some big free throws as well.
• 28:24
  Yeah. So maybe a Fast forward a bit to
• 28:28
  kind of, I guess all of our senior year, it was the kind of
• 28:32
  ended up being the last season of Dick Tarrant.
• 28:34
  Kind of we retired at the end of that year.
• 28:36
  Like, was there a point in that season where like, he told the
• 28:39
  team like, hey, I think this is my last year or that that was
• 28:43
  just, you know, another year for you?
• 28:44
  And it wasn't until kind of, you know, before the next season
• 28:47
  that you heard that, you know, he was retiring.
• 28:49
  Yeah, no, it was nothing. I mean, maybe it was talk about
• 28:53
  it, but with no social media and I didn't read the newspaper so
• 28:58
  or the sports section back then to know I, I, we wouldn't have,
• 29:02
  I didn't hear about it. I didn't kind of just focused
• 29:05
  and we had lost a bunch of close games that year, which was
• 29:08
  frustrating. So yeah, I didn't really, it
• 29:13
  wasn't like a thing where we thought about this maybe is last
• 29:15
  year or anything like that. Do you look back and like have
• 29:19
  some, you know, pride that you know, your your last your four
• 29:22
  years were his last four years. You got to kind of experience
• 29:25
  kind of that the, the, you know, the last four years of a legend
• 29:29
  like Coach Tarrant. Yeah, it was good.
• 29:30
  I mean, you just wish we could have for both his sake and our
• 29:33
  sake finished a little bit better that last year and and
• 29:38
  and made it and made it to the tournament.
• 29:41
  But yeah, those we just had some tough losses during that year
• 29:45
  that kind of hurt us that that just didn't put us into
• 29:49
  position. But yeah, you always wish you
• 29:50
  could have won more games that year and finished it on a on a
• 29:54
  higher note than we did. Think we lost to NC Wilmington
• 29:57
  in the tournament. We had beaten them twice and it
• 30:00
  was just not a not not the way you wanted it to end.
• 30:05
  After graduation, what? Where did your path take you
• 30:08
  after Richmond? After I left Richmond, I played
• 30:12
  for about 5 1/2 or close to six years professionally in six
• 30:19
  different countries, mostly in Spain, But took me around, got
• 30:24
  to see the world, got to meet a lot of new people, continue to
• 30:27
  play basketball. So it was good.
• 30:29
  It was, it was definitely good to continue it on and and you
• 30:34
  know, keep playing. Do you still stay connected with
• 30:38
  any of your Richmond teammates from that class?
• 30:40
  Yeah. I mean, I think I'd do a good
• 30:42
  job at trying to stay in touch with a lot of guys from that
• 30:46
  class, my class and the classes around me, guys that I went to
• 30:49
  the four years I'm, you know, there with.
• 30:52
  I think, I think I'd try to do a good job of staying in touch
• 30:56
  with as many of them as possible.
• 30:58
  Nice. Was there a funniest guy amongst
• 31:00
  the crew? Anybody in your that was like
• 31:01
  just the funniest guy on the team during those those four
• 31:03
  years? Well, funniest I have no who
• 31:06
  would be that I have. No idea it was, and if it if it
• 31:09
  was a team that wasn't focused on humor, that's OK too.
• 31:11
  Yeah, it was just, yeah, I don't think we had any like,
• 31:16
  jokesters, right? It was all just just good guys
• 31:19
  who just got along and had fun together, you know, just.
• 31:22
  Yeah, I remember a moment freshman year, I think it was
• 31:25
  the only year of our four years, we had a big snowstorm on
• 31:28
  campus. And I remember we were both in.
• 31:31
  We weren't roommates, but we were both in Woodhall and there
• 31:33
  was like the giant snowball fight, like in that little
• 31:35
  triangle. In Flewood Hall and I remember.
• 31:37
  At some point, Scott Stapleton, like, charged a group of us and,
• 31:42
  like, slipped and fell and he was like, face down in the snow.
• 31:46
  And I'm a freshman, just like pummelling snowballs at Scott
• 31:48
  Stapleton. And he's like has this giggle
• 31:51
  kind of scream coming out. That's as funniest that would
• 31:54
  probably. Yeah.
• 31:55
  That's the Yeah. No, that's a good one there.
• 31:57
  He definitely was. Yeah, Yeah.
• 32:01
  We we, we definitely have to talk about just for a moment,
• 32:04
  your son James Wood. It seems like the athletics gene
• 32:09
  is in the Wood family because you had an older brother who was
• 32:12
  a, a, a, a great college player, made the NBA.
• 32:15
  Kenny Wood was a great player, Hall of Fame everywhere.
• 32:18
  And then you have this, this remarkable son James, who's one
• 32:22
  of the best baseball players in the world.
• 32:24
  So tell us a little bit about, you know, when you kind of
• 32:27
  realized that you had kind of a prodigy on your hands.
• 32:32
  Well, I'd say what we had three have two daughters and a son.
• 32:35
  So he James's youngest and the girls play basketball as well.
• 32:39
  So it was, you know, got to experience the basketball side
• 32:43
  with them as well. He played basketball also, but
• 32:48
  just focus later on with in in in baseball.
• 32:51
  So I would say maybe junior year maybe because he went down to
• 33:00
  IMG in Florida and was playing down there and you could always
• 33:04
  tell that he was kind of different on the baseball, more
• 33:07
  of a basketball player on the baseball field just because of
• 33:11
  size and how you moved and different things like that.
• 33:14
  So I always kind of knew that he had some potential, had good
• 33:18
  athletic ability, good size, I can move well.
• 33:20
  So you know, I had pretty good good hand eye coordination.
• 33:23
  So you always thought that it was opportunity.
• 33:25
  I just didn't know a ton about I played baseball, but I didn't
• 33:28
  know about that next level of baseball.
• 33:31
  So but you know, looking back, thinking about it's it's it's,
• 33:38
  you know, I think it's it's you can look at a player and see how
• 33:43
  easy they do certain things where other people, other
• 33:46
  players. It's a more of a it looks more
• 33:50
  difficult and it is more difficult.
• 33:51
  So I think all along you kind of had that with him and baseball
• 33:57
  such a sport on like they want you to do it a certain way.
• 34:05
  And it's good that he didn't do it.
• 34:08
  You know, he did it his way, right?
• 34:10
  He wasn't, you know, because it's, you know, the average MLB
• 34:14
  player is 511 1/2, right? So the taller you are, the
• 34:18
  harder it is. So, you know, what baseball also
• 34:21
  does is like, they think that like everything has to be the
• 34:25
  same for everyone and it's not right.
• 34:27
  So we were fortunately he was with coaches who allowed him to
• 34:31
  kind of do things his way, not necessarily his way.
• 34:35
  That's a bad way of saying it. But, you know, didn't try to
• 34:39
  make him like every other player that was out there.
• 34:41
  So I think that gave him. Some freedom of.
• 34:43
  Expression to be who he was, I mean, and not express, but like
• 34:47
  play, how you play, how you throw, how you run, how you do
• 34:50
  all these things like person's 511, their swing isn't the same
• 34:54
  as someone that's 6364 at the time.
• 34:57
  So it was good. So I would say probably junior
• 35:02
  year, probably the biggest time was during COVID.
• 35:09
  We went to a workout because he was at IMG Academy and they left
• 35:12
  for COVID, came home. So he was, he was at IMG.
• 35:18
  My oldest daughter, Kayla, was a manager of the Notre Dame
• 35:21
  women's basketball team. Then my the middle child, our
• 35:27
  youngest daughter, Sydney, was playing basketball at
• 35:30
  Northwestern. So they ended up all coming
• 35:33
  home, But so we were home for a while, then we went to get his
• 35:37
  stuff. They just literally had to pack
• 35:38
  up and leave IMG. So him and I think we drove down
• 35:43
  to IMG and then we went to an event that was run by a Richmond
• 35:47
  alum, Steve Bernard, who ran the baseball factory at the time.
• 35:52
  And and he was going to have, it was, you know, everyone was with
• 35:56
  mass and it was they were doing tryouts for their All American,
• 35:59
  the first tryouts for All American team that Steve picks.
• 36:03
  And we had a workout with a guy that was his year, but he was
• 36:09
  like a top five player in the country.
• 36:11
  And then a guy that was a year younger that was like the number
• 36:15
  one or two player in the country.
• 36:16
  And it was a workout with a trainer and all this stuff.
• 36:19
  And we went and watching him after the work, he worked out
• 36:23
  with these guys and I'm watching that and I'm like, wait a
• 36:27
  second, if these guys are ranked this high, like what the heck is
• 36:30
  he? Because they were like amazed by
• 36:32
  him. So we get in the car and we kind
• 36:34
  of like didn't say anything, but it kind of like hit us.
• 36:37
  They're like, you could be pretty good, you know, so that
• 36:41
  so that summary end up playing travel ball and for a team down
• 36:45
  to Carolina. So we traveled a lot.
• 36:47
  So it ended up that's where you kind of took off really.
• 36:50
  And then you kind of realize the the buzz from pro ball started
• 36:57
  happening more and more. So so that's probably the real
• 37:01
  time. Like it's all these other times
• 37:03
  people want to say, Oh, we knew this time that you really don't
• 37:06
  know, at least we didn't. But you know, that's probably
• 37:11
  the one time. So I would say going into senior
• 37:14
  year, we realize that, all right, he may not, he may not go
• 37:17
  to college now. So so it was good.
• 37:20
  When he got because he originally was with the Padres,
• 37:23
  is that right? It was drafted with San Diego.
• 37:24
  When he got traded to the East Coast to the Nats, was family
• 37:29
  happy about that? We were kind of mixed, honestly,
• 37:31
  because we like San Diego as well.
• 37:33
  And, and yeah, so and yeah, so we were, we were kind of mixed.
• 37:43
  And then, you know, it, it grew. Then you realize you could see
• 37:46
  him more, he's around more. And you're really thinking of
• 37:49
  like the, the, the kid, right? Is he going to be comfortable?
• 37:53
  It's a big change at 19 years old to get traded.
• 37:58
  So it was fortunate, you know, it ended up being a fortunate
• 38:00
  thing that it was here local so we could be around and we could
• 38:05
  go to Fredericksburg and then kind of be around and he was
• 38:08
  home with us. It was it was of all the places
• 38:11
  end up being a a good a good all around spot.
• 38:16
  That's great. I don't want to shortchange
• 38:18
  Kayla and Sydney, so tell us about their journey.
• 38:21
  They sounds like Sydney played for Northwestern.
• 38:22
  Did Kayla play college ball too? Yeah, so Kayla was a played high
• 38:27
  school basketball here and we she liked basketball, didn't
• 38:34
  love it. Sydney more or less loved it.
• 38:36
  But Kayla wanted to be around sports and everything.
• 38:39
  And when she got she probably would have been AD three play.
• 38:43
  She could have definitely played at AD three level.
• 38:46
  And it's something we talked about.
• 38:47
  And once she got accepted in Notre Dame, we're like, all
• 38:51
  right, let's let's look at that. And we had some family history
• 38:55
  there. Where what is my wife's great
• 39:01
  uncle, Right. Her grandfather's brother was
• 39:03
  the first African American to graduate from Notre Dame.
• 39:07
  So, yeah. So you had some some family
• 39:11
  history going there too, as well.
• 39:13
  So that made it even a little bit more special.
• 39:15
  So she ended up going to Notre Dame for freshman year.
• 39:18
  She kind of learned a way, you know, learned a way around and
• 39:21
  figure things out. Then her sophomore through
• 39:23
  senior year, she was a manager. So she was there with Muffet
• 39:27
  Mcgraw's last year and then the start in the L Ivy's 10 year at
• 39:32
  Notre Dame. So, so it was good.
• 39:34
  So she got to be I mean, she worked honestly, she worked
• 39:37
  harder and spent more time than Sydney did playing basketball at
• 39:41
  Northwestern and Kayla did than James did playing baseball just
• 39:45
  because it's it's it's I mean, we have friends who's whose kids
• 39:50
  are mad have managed at schools, but like it was different there
• 39:54
  at Notre Dame. Like she's you're the first
• 39:58
  person on the bench. So you're right next to the
• 40:00
  scores table. So you are you got to be locked
• 40:04
  in on the game. You got to be in top of timeouts
• 40:06
  and all of these things. So you're really like a part of
• 40:09
  the game. So it's not just doing laundry
• 40:12
  and doing all those stuff. You did that.
• 40:14
  But when it came to game time when you're on the.
• 40:17
  When you're on, you're on. When you're the head manager,
• 40:19
  you're on. So you're there like locked in.
• 40:23
  You're basically like a coach. So for her it was good.
• 40:26
  It was intense. She loved it.
• 40:27
  It gave her great experience. It helped her with job
• 40:30
  opportunities when she left because she had to give examples
• 40:33
  of what she did. And so it was, it was great for
• 40:36
  her. So I kind of gave her a jump
• 40:38
  start into her career. So she lives around in DC now.
• 40:41
  She's environmental scientist, so it's great.
• 40:43
  So we get to see her a lot. So it's, so it's good.
• 40:47
  I was going to say, I mean, I mean, you went to Richmond,
• 40:50
  which is an excellent academic school.
• 40:51
  You have a daughter at Northwestern, which is an
• 40:54
  excellent academic school, and a daughter at Notre Dame.
• 40:56
  Again. Another truly excellent academic
• 40:58
  school. So, I mean, forget the athletics
• 41:01
  for a second. Just the brain power to get
• 41:02
  through those three colleges is is pretty impressive.
• 41:05
  So you did something right. Yeah, I, I gave my wife credit
• 41:08
  for that. She was.
• 41:11
  So it was good. And then Sydney played here,
• 41:16
  high school basketball at St. John's in DC and which is at,
• 41:22
  you know, one of the higher levels in the country playing
• 41:24
  the WCAC on the girls side here, especially then when she played.
• 41:27
  But I think, you know, I it's just kind of like a factory They
• 41:33
  have, whether it's AZ Flood who's at UConn now or I mean,
• 41:38
  you had every school, every, you know, it was just day in, day
• 41:42
  out. You're playing against other
• 41:44
  Division One players. So she went to Northwestern, had
• 41:48
  a great career, hurt her back her senior year.
• 41:51
  So she end up this with the COVID year, take an extra year
• 41:55
  and ended up getting her masters from Northwestern, which was
• 41:59
  great. So she was a four year starter
• 42:02
  five years to however you want to say it there as well.
• 42:04
  So yeah, so it was good for her. She was all academic, all
• 42:09
  defensive. I think three of the five years
• 42:12
  she was there, so it was good. So she now works for, she
• 42:18
  coaches with the San Antonio Spurs G League team.
• 42:22
  So she's probably the youngest coach in the G League.
• 42:25
  I think she's she's 2025 now. So yeah.
• 42:30
  So she's there on the bench with the Spurs G League.
• 42:33
  So she's, you know, loves basketball.
• 42:35
  So it's it's right up her alley coaching and being involved with
• 42:38
  with them, with the team there. Wow, that's amazing.
• 42:42
  Well, Kenny, this is, it's awesome.
• 42:44
  Talking to you today takes us back to when we felt young.
• 42:49
  Yeah, right, right. We're all old now, but really
• 42:53
  appreciate you spending time with us today.
• 42:55
  It's been great talking about the the good old days, but also
• 42:58
  learning about kind of what's what you're up to, kind of
• 43:01
  where, how, how, what a successful parent you've been,
• 43:05
  you and and your wife. Who's also a You are alone too.
• 43:08
  She's oh, that's a 94. So, yeah, so.
• 43:13
  Our research department did not find that, Yeah.
• 43:15
  We're looking at this guy. Were you of our marriages too?
• 43:19
  Nice married. Yeah, my wifes 94, his porters
• 43:23
  is 90. Three.
• 43:23
  Okay, Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so we're just like Kenny
• 43:26
  Wood. There you go, without the
• 43:28
  athletic. Yeah, without any athletic
• 43:29
  ability. No good stuff.
• 43:32
  Well, well, Kenny, thank you very much.
• 43:33
  It's been it's been an honor talking to you and and learning
• 43:36
  more about everything you've. Accomplished no good.
• 43:38
  Thank you guys for having me. For coming on, we really
• 43:41
  appreciate you and thanks for being a spider I If you pull
• 43:43
  your camera down for one second just to end this thing so people
• 43:45
  can see your shirt because you are wearing a.
• 43:47
  Richmond shirt. Oh, yeah, it's a, it's a you're
• 43:49
  not going to guess what. It's a, It's a football shirt.
• 43:51
  Oh. Yeah, that's OK.
• 43:54
  That's OK. The branding.
• 43:55
  Works. I mean we got, I mean this is a
• 43:58
  Greg Beg. This is when I work for Adidas
• 44:01
  and when I worked for Adidas. When do we have when I worked
• 44:05
  for Adidas, we got Richmond football was in Nike, everybody
• 44:10
  was in the Nike. We got him to switch.
• 44:12
  Beckwith helped me out getting him to switch.
• 44:16
  Wait, I'm I'm getting confused. Yes, Richmond did switch to
• 44:19
  Adidas. So this is Adidas hoodie here
• 44:23
  back when they were. They're back in Adidas now, so
• 44:26
  which is good. All right, well.
• 44:27
  Thanks again, Kenny. We appreciate you and.
• 44:30
  We'll we'll be looking out for you at any spider event in the
• 44:33
  future and good luck to James this year and on the Nats and
• 44:36
  look forward to watching him on TV.
• 44:37
  All right, thanks a lot. So that was a great.
• 44:40
  Interview with Kenny Wood. Legend in spider circles.
• 44:43
  That gets us ready for tonight, Tom.
• 44:44
  And where are we heading next? Yeah, so tonight we've been.
• 44:48
  Lucky enough, some of the privileges, I guess, of media to
• 44:51
  be invited to the women's selection show party or
• 44:57
  hopefully a party. It's not a it's not a big open
• 44:59
  door policy party. It's.
• 45:00
  Kind of a private affair, but we're going to get to go and and
• 45:03
  sit and watch the selections unfold in real time with the
• 45:07
  players and the coaches. And like we've been talking
• 45:09
  about, it's a 5050 kind of thing.
• 45:11
  I mean, we should be in the tournament, we believe, but you
• 45:13
  never know. Yeah, that's why I was looking
• 45:15
  today like CBS. Sports was the one like bracket
• 45:19
  that have been updated in the last 24 hours that had us out.
• 45:22
  I think the three others I looked at had us in the the last
• 45:26
  four. OK, so, but it's, you know, it's
• 45:28
  tight. We're definitely, you know, we
• 45:29
  are in a if we're in, we're going to be in one of those
• 45:32
  first four games playing games. They're not playing games.
• 45:36
  They're first 4-4 games not playing games but anyway so.
• 45:39
  What we're going to do, well respected first.
• 45:41
  Round games to fans. Still lead you to another first.
• 45:44
  Round Hold on. Yeah, to the fans.
• 45:45
  That are still listening. What we're going to do is that
• 45:48
  if we or when we make the NCAA tournament tonight, we will post
• 45:52
  an attached to this kind of a little video from just our
• 45:56
  phones in celebration. If you don't see that video
• 46:00
  after this, that's because we'll be playing in the WBIT at some
• 46:07
  point this week in the Robin Center, but we're not going to
• 46:10
  be celebrating that today. We can talk more about that
• 46:12
  later, but hopefully this is followed by us being a bunch of
• 46:16
  morons screaming and hooting and hollering because the women's
• 46:20
  team is in the the big tournament.
• 46:23
  But until then, or until next time, this is Tom and this is
• 46:26
  Porter, and this is Spiders. Sounding up.
• 46:29
  See ya. So, Spider fans, we are here
• 46:33
  with Coach Aaron Cell moments after the announcement that
• 46:36
  Richmond has gotten the second consecutive at large bid to the
• 46:39
  Instantly tournament, the third in three years.
• 46:42
  It's in Durham, NC Coach, tell us a little bit about what the
• 46:45
  Spider fans can do to help support you guys know on this
• 46:48
  journey. Oh, we're gonna get on the road,
• 46:49
  man. We got to get on the road.
• 46:51
  Road trip you know obviously one of the most historic arenas at
• 46:54
  any sport in the country if you've not been to camera indoor
• 46:57
  this is your chance if you've been to camera indoor you know
• 47:00
  it's really cool and we got to get you all down there so it'll
• 47:02
  be Wednesday night we'll get logistics we'll get information
• 47:05
  out there Big 10 opponent Nebraska so scouting airport has
• 47:09
  already started close to being done this was a team that we
• 47:11
  kind of I that we might might happen so I know I will see you
• 47:15
  guys down there yeah definitely because we're a lot of spider
• 47:17
  faithful to to. Join us so.
• 47:19
  Go, spiders, and let's celebrate this.
• 47:21
  Yeah, see you Wednesday.