Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
NCAA Tournament Preview with Fletcher Proctor
222 Plays10 days ago
Jim and John are joined by Fletcher Proctor to preview the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
Need help with your online presence? Check out Working Web Media!
Save 15% off your first order from Homefield Apparel with code: HUNKERDOWN
Subscribe!
Apple | Amazon | Google | iHeart | Spotify | TuneIn
Social:
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Merch:
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
I guess because I was, I got so used to the, to the, uh, Tom pream era of, Hey, we're going to get 13 new guys again next year.
00:00:12
Speaker
Welcome to my got a podcast. I'm Jim Wood. In this episode, John Powell and I are joined by Fletcher Proctor to preview Georgia's first NCAA tournament appearance since 2015.
Introduction & Georgia's NCAA Tournament History
00:00:22
Speaker
And of course we get Fletcher's Georgia story.
00:00:25
Speaker
As always, remember to check out the newly redesigned MyGottaPodcast.com to see our latest merch. And you can follow us on social media at MyGottaPodcast. Finally, if you need help with your website or your online presence, head over to WorkingWebMedia.com slash dogs.
00:00:41
Speaker
Now, let's join the conversation in progress.
00:00:47
Speaker
Both of you deserve pinches. no No green whatsoever. No, I had green on all day.
00:00:55
Speaker
I changed for this.
00:00:58
Speaker
I had to go with the ah the Miracle Workers shirt. Miracle Workers is a solid shirt. ah Shout out Home Field Apparel.
00:01:07
Speaker
All right. You'll have to pick that one up.
NCAA Tournament Preview with Fletcher Proctor
00:01:09
Speaker
The first ever NCAA tournament preview episode of My Got a Podcast. ah Had to have a special guest.
00:01:19
Speaker
John and I had talked about this. We had we'd had this set up, knew this was, ah had had agreed to do this should a tournament berth happen. No other way to preview the NCAA tournament game for the dogs than with special guest Fletcher Proctor. Fletcher, we're thrilled to have you on My Got a Podcast.
00:01:37
Speaker
Thanks, man. It is an honor to be here. Dogs are dancing. My got a podcast called. Got to take that call. Have to do it. Have to do it. You got to step up. So good. So good. Welcome to the show.
00:01:50
Speaker
Thanks, man. Long time listener. First time.
00:01:56
Speaker
ah Too good. um i The first ever basketball episode. but but We're extending the basketball minute by chunk.
00:02:07
Speaker
this This is how this is how ah dynasties are made right here. This is where they start right here. The spinoff episode. I can't wait. Uh, so good. Yeah. I don't know that we've ever done like a truly basketball centric episode either.
00:02:22
Speaker
So, uh, this will be but when, when Tom Creen was there, there was no need for it. So, ah yeah, yeah, I know. But Hey, three guys here that were in school, uh, for the Herrick years.
00:02:35
Speaker
So I feel like we have like a unique perspective of, you You hear all this like, oh, well, Georgia's never been good. Georgia's never
Memorable Georgia Basketball Moments
00:02:42
Speaker
been good. And I'll always be like, man, you don't understand. Like when we were in college, like we were good.
00:02:49
Speaker
it's like i know it's hard to believe, but yeah. Football players dunking on people. but industry We did. We did. And what's so weird is is is you go on Twitter and they're like, man, i've never seen the stag like this. And it's like, go back to 2001, go back to 2002. Like I literally saw somebody steal of a headband off of Ron Slay of Tennessee.
00:03:09
Speaker
I was there when somebody punched Matt Walsh in the face when we rushed the court against Florida. It's like, don't tell me that the stag has never been like this. It has been like that. They used to open up the the doors two hours before game time, and we would get there an hour and a half to line up outside.
00:03:27
Speaker
So literally for the seven o'clock game, we're there at three thirty. Don't tell me that stuff has never happened before. I was there. Dude, I can't believe the things you just rattled off because I like vividly remember both of those.
00:03:38
Speaker
That guy. Did you know the guy that put the Ron Slay headband on? Because I remember I remember that. i I only knew him because he I sat to the, if you're looking at the court front row to the left on the on the first row ah behind the basket, and he sat on the front row to the right of the basket.
00:03:56
Speaker
So I didn't know him, but it's one of those like, what's up, man? How you doing? Yeah, i like I remember that guy. I remember that guy he was in He was a Herrick's Hound. Yes. Shout out Herrick's Hounds. Shout out John Bateman for founding that for us back in the day.
00:04:08
Speaker
Yeah, I totally remember when that guy to that did that. Sorry. I just can't believe you brought that up. and That's amazing. And then ah I was also there the day that Udonis Haslam flung the ball into the crowd. um i don't know if he broke a kid's nose or what, but he had to apologize.
00:04:23
Speaker
um These days, Haslam would have been you know suspended or thrown in jail or something. um But back then, it was just like he said, I'm i'm very sorry. And that was it It's assault, brother.
00:04:35
Speaker
but that's Yeah, it was. Oh, man. Yeah, those were, I don't know. I guess like for me, those were, I guess you would, those were kind of the glory days, I guess. Although some of it was redacted, but whatever. I i still say it happened. I was there.
00:04:47
Speaker
Yeah, it happened. We were there. counts. I remember you storming the court for Tennessee. oh I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. yeah I remember getting there so early because I wanted to the first row seat.
00:05:00
Speaker
ah We were playing Kentucky. I think it was 2000. Keith Bogans was still there. So I guess it was 2002. And he and Tayshaun Prince were warming up. And I remember screaming at Tayshaun Prince as he's like trying to spin the... Your twin sister's ugly.
00:05:16
Speaker
And it actually got to the point that he... Took the ball down. Bogan's like, what did he say? And I said, I said his twin sister's ugly. And he looked at me and was like, i thought he was, you know, Tayshaun Prince at six foot.
00:05:28
Speaker
He's an alien, six foot nine. He was like, that was good. well Thank you. And then he proceeded to drop like 30 points, you know. Right, right. Kentucky went 16-0 that year or whatever.
00:05:39
Speaker
It was still fun. had to get some. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, you're down there. Basketball is unique in that being able to actually have that interaction with those guys can happen, pre especially pre-game back in college, for sure.
00:05:53
Speaker
I think I remember the same game. I think Keith Bogans yelled something back at one of my friends. So... Well, he was an angry dude. Tayshaun had a little bit better ah a sense of humor about it. Keith Bogans was just angry. He didn't like it when I yelled that you can't spell NBDL.
00:06:09
Speaker
um He didn't think that was very funny. um Yeah. I guess he showed me with those six games with the Bulls.
00:06:18
Speaker
uh man too good so yeah so i i i do think it's funny how we were all like there at the same time somehow somehow we didn't all cross pass uh but man we were definitely sitting uh right right by close to each other in those games uh with some of those things you dropped it's too funny yeah and that was that's that's crazy to think about that that time like You remember all the football games, but like the i will say that I remember when Herrick got kicked out. it was like I just remember being like, oh man, this sucks.
00:06:51
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, up until that point, it was like, ah for me, yeah when I see had Donnan to Rick, I also had Jerza to Harris while i was in school. But like early on, like there were probably bigger basketball moments that I experienced than football until we got to 2002 SEC Championship. But up until that, the biggest sports moments I had experienced at Georgia were basketball.
00:07:20
Speaker
Well, what was the Jim Donnellan? It's like, I've waited 40 years to coach these guys. And then they went eight and four. Quincy threw five interceptions against South Carolina. yeah And it's like, with the exception of that, a couple months later, Herrick takes them to the playoffs or to the tournament.
00:07:33
Speaker
The next year, they go back to the tournament. And then in 2002, 2003 season, I will, until I die, say that that was in at least an Elite Eight squad that they pulled out.
00:07:45
Speaker
Never work with the NCAA. that was That's just bad news. Never do it. Just go as far as you can, and then they'll take the wins away later. doesn't matter, though. I think with Jarvis, with Jonas, with Ezra, with Damian, with Rashad Wright, with Chris Daniels, with Steve Thomas, all those guys, I mean, they could have made a run. Carmelo Anthony won the title that year. know what I mean? Jarvis Hayes couldn't have won the title that year. Yeah, man.
00:08:10
Speaker
Yeah. that that was That was a stacked roster. And that that is the team, like, that's my... That's my benchmark for me. Is that? yeah is Oh yeah. Whenever I'm like, Oh, could this team beat that team or whatever, you know?
00:08:23
Speaker
Um, so I'm always comparing it
Recruiting Georgia Talent
00:08:25
Speaker
back to that. And what I loved about that team so much too, was the fact that like everybody was from Georgia. Like you had your, your seven man rotation,
00:08:34
Speaker
All guys that grew up in Georgia um really love that. And you that that's always been my thing is like, you why can't we recruit Georgia better? You don't even have to get like the best guy in Georgia.
00:08:44
Speaker
Oh, we've gotten that guy. You know, it's like we can get an Anthony Edwards. We can do that. But you got to you got to have more than just just the one. And that's what I love so much about that team was how many guys we we were able to do that at that like similar layer. You know, like Rashad, right.
00:09:00
Speaker
Perfect example. Right. Like he wasn't like a five star guy. Well, I mean, you have Jim Herrick's opening press conference when he's hired and in 99, right after Rhode Island, I think was still in the NCAA tournament with Lamar Odom, but they hired him in Georgia.
00:09:15
Speaker
And he literally said, I can build a fence around the state of Georgia. We're going to be in the tournament for years to come. And they would have been. And it's one of those, why don't we just do that? Dennis Stelton pulled my hair out. He's like, well, we can get this guy from Texas. And it's like,
00:09:31
Speaker
Or can get the guy from Atlanta. Or you can get the guy from Brookwood. You can get the guy that plays at Miller Grove. How about we get those guys? Yeah. yeah Yeah, seriously, man. like that's it's It's always been mind-boggling to me. that I mean, remember, Georgia Tech used to be good, too, back in in the day. and like neck Now, it's not I feel like it's not really a ah thing anymore.
00:09:50
Speaker
The ACC has kind of fallen off completely. But the... it's It is kind of mind-boggling. I always tell people, like you know when you're talking about kids' sports and stuff like that, like there's no reason to drive more than like three hours outside of the city of Atlanta because there's just so much talent top to bottom in every single sport around the metro Atlanta area. Yeah, you're starting to see that baseball now, too. Wes Johnson, you know number one, he's doing well high school recruiting, but number two, all these guys that have left the state, all of a sudden they're coming back for their NIL and their your transfer portal.
00:10:21
Speaker
If we can do that with basketball too, we got RJ Godfrey. He did it. Tyron Lawrence, he did it. Keep bringing those guys back. You can stack a roster and go to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament with Georgia guys.
00:10:36
Speaker
You can do it with Georgia guys. Yeah. Yeah, totally agree. Totally agree. but it's it's It's good that we're finally you know starting to do a little bit of that. Dylan James, ah Tyron Lawrence, those guys, Asa Newell, even though, you know is he from Florida? Is he from you know Jefferson? Who knows? But know those guys can do you show you the talent is there. Contavious Caldwell-Pope, the talent is there. like We can keep it in the state.
00:11:03
Speaker
you know not so much georgia tech but like if we can get them to athens i mean athens is a great city i spent four years there it's fantastic wish i could spend more um what how do we not just have a winter sleeping giant heck yeah yeah yeah yeah it it does it does feel like a sleeping giant you just gotta find find all the pieces and then just like with football you know they it feels like it feels like recently they've they've made some made some changes to be financially committed to winning, which has kind of been, you know, I feel like for the longest time, that was like the the persona of the basketball program is that we weren't really serious about it.
00:11:41
Speaker
Yeah, and it does feel like this year in particular, they ponied up to keep Silas. They ponied up to keep Blue. You know, there was some some rumors out there that Silas was maybe looking at NC State, especially after they made their run last year.
00:11:55
Speaker
And then Blue, I mean, I hope Blue stays all four years. That dude could go down. They already have the Blue Canes, if you will. That guy could go down seriously as one of the most popular, most popular athletes of all time at at UGA.
00:12:07
Speaker
He's like high broad level. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, like you keep those two. I know that Ace is not going to come back, but if you keep Samto around, they really ponied up for those four guys.
00:12:17
Speaker
They brought in Lawrence. He wasn't cheap. They brought in Absin. That was six figures. I mean, they're spending some money on this current team. Obviously, it worked out. They got a number nine seed and went back to the tournament.
00:12:28
Speaker
And next year, they're bringing some guys in, too. Jacob Wilkins, you may recognize that last name. A couple other guys. Kareem Stagg, I believe, is also coming in. He's a high-priced, I want to call ah a rookie, a freshman.
00:12:42
Speaker
um But I bet they hit the transfer portal pretty hard, and is they're going to have to stroke a pretty big check to keep Silas Demery Jr. in the fold as well. Yeah. and i And I know there we've started to see like how plans are, how schools are planning to allocate their funds coming from because going to have the whole revenue share revenue available. And so, you know, kind of as as you would expect, like most teams, it's going, you know football and basketball are getting the the bulk of the money.
00:13:12
Speaker
um And obviously football will get more, but feels like enough is being contributed from that pool ah to men's basketball to to keep us and um to keep us competitive with these guys.
00:13:24
Speaker
I mean, if if we can get Silas to come back, If Santo returns and and takes a step, because defensively he's pretty good right now. Sometimes he can get into foul trouble, um but he's he's a freak of an athlete. If they can just get him going with with Jacob Wilkins in there, with Blue taking that next step as well, and maybe get a point guard so Silas has some help in there. I know Silas wants to control the ball. He can.
00:13:49
Speaker
But if you put him in off guard, I mean, the dude's 6'5", 210 pounds, He could be a monster in there. um excuse me He's like 195. But it's like he could be a monster at off guard combo guard who can handle the ball with a true point guard.
00:14:06
Speaker
This team could be scary again next year. We could be talking about another nine or eight seed. Yeah. Yeah. I know, um, like John, I know for you, like you don't watch Georgia basketball a ton, but I know this team kind of caught your eye early on just in that they were fun, fun to watch. Yeah.
00:14:24
Speaker
Yeah. I think that that, that was like, as we talk about the season, the season review, ah the beginning of the season, I felt like was like a, like an absolute blast.
00:14:35
Speaker
Like it was so fun to watch basketball, watch basketball again. like I don't know. I know that it's ridiculous and absolutely just asinine to say this out loud, but like it was like watching the Bulls for me. was like watching the 90s Bulls for me. and the It was just fun. i was like, hey, I know these guys.
00:14:50
Speaker
Oh my gosh, who's this Samto guy? Oh my gosh, he's really good. This is really fun. And then and then all of a sudden, like we got into the SEC play, and I was like, ah this is suboptimal.
00:15:01
Speaker
It was like this lull in the season. And then we kind of picked things back up. We figured out how to beat Florida. And, you know, I think that there is there was definitely some munsoning points throughout the season, right, where you're like, I give up, you did too. Like, I didn't think we had a shot for a while there. But then all of a sudden we just kind of snuck in almost like our football team, right? It was kind of snuck into the tournament, snuck into the SEC championship.
00:15:26
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I can't remember which you game it was. I want to say, was it like the Arkansas game where we lost? and it was like, oh man, the vibes are low. Oh, yeah well, Arkansas was a game that they hadn't won a single game in conference play. We had a 15-point lead in the second half.
00:15:40
Speaker
And then it's like, we blew that? Oh, man. I think that was that's one of those classic, you lose that one, and then you lose it for the next three games because – You're so worried about that. That wasn't it like we knew the beginning first seven games was going to be a hard stretch.
00:15:55
Speaker
But that was one of those. It's like if we could steal that one and all of a sudden go four and three instead of three and four. And man, it was right there. it was right there.
00:16:06
Speaker
That one, Mississippi State. There's like so many that it's like, oh, right there. Even the Auburn game at home. Yeah. I mean, that was one. Just, Asa just laid the ball in, man. But, you know, I can't fault him. We had, I feel like we had so many chances at the end of that game that Rothstein even tweeted out the welcome the jungle. And it's like, not yet, friend.
00:16:27
Speaker
<unk>re yeah They're putting time back on the clock. Yeah. And I will say whoever is working the clock for for the Stegman Coliseum, great job because there is no chance at all that in 0.4 seconds, Asa managed to catch the ball, come to the ground, go back up and try to do a finger roll. And so great job trying to help us out. He just, oh, he just missed it, you know.
00:16:48
Speaker
Uh, what, what is your take on like the way rosters turn over? Like, again, I'll go back to like when we were in college, like the team we were talking about, right? Like those guys were there for, well, I guess Jarvis was only there for two technically played for two, but.
00:17:04
Speaker
you know like We got to see those guys for multiple years. Now we're we we've got Demery back. We've got Blue back. um But just the kind of the way college basketball kind of works now, lot of turnover in the roster. How have you, I guess, like adapted to that as a fan?
00:17:22
Speaker
um You never get it too attached to a player, unfortunately. um Even last year when Silas decided he was going to come back, I was like, well, I wasn't expecting that. I guess because i was I got so used to the Tom Preen era of Hey, we're going to get 13 new guys again next year.
00:17:41
Speaker
And that wasn't that was to borrow your expression. That was suboptimal as well. But if you can get any sort of continuity and and like build your team around two, maybe three guys um and and and use the transfer portal to peace, as long as you have this.
00:17:57
Speaker
ah at core And the core is obviously Silas and Blue um this year coming back and and Dylan James as well. But if you could add the pieces to that core, if those three come back again next year, like I would say that we're probably a ah top six, top eight team in the SEC, you know, to start next year if Silas and Blue come back.
00:18:19
Speaker
And Dylan. And probably RJ. I know everybody's given ah RJ some some grief because of his foul troubles the last few games. But like if he can come back, if we get Samto back, you've got you've got yourself quite a squat.
00:18:31
Speaker
How do I feel about it? Again, I never get too attached to him because... I think they might leave. But this at the same time, that means I'm also getting eight new guys coming in. So that could be good. and And the eight guys that came in this year, so disrespect to last year's squad, are better than the eight guys we had you know last year.
00:18:51
Speaker
uh rj melendez okay uh you matthew alexander moncrieff who had a pretty good year at seattle but okay whatever justin hill okay bye you know good luck at wichita state um i'll take tyron lawrence over those guys you know i'll take rj godfrey over some of those guys it's like i think i think mike white did a great job replacing what he lost last year yeah i agree So you talk about all these different players and how their seasons went. and i think that the everything I've heard is the foregone conclusion is that Asa Newell is going to be gone after this after this season.
00:19:26
Speaker
but That seems ah seems to be it seems to be what everyone everyone thinks. But like I also am hearing in the same breath and those same conversations... you You hear we never really saw him just completely take over a game like you did with Ant-Man or yeah KCP. like do you think that had that's hurt him?
00:19:48
Speaker
Is that something that you think that is... Is going to impact his his ability to make money in the in the draft or is that something that we can offset with NIL? Does that make sense? like is is it Is it truly like a just zero sum that he's gone? you know what i mean?
00:20:05
Speaker
Yes, I think he's gone. um i think that he is is a late lottery pick. He's definitely a first round pick. You know, at at worst, he's going to drop, you know, to number 20, whatever. um But he's a guy actually 220 pounds, ah averaging and and And um this year and those numbers aren't ipopping But if you look at the type of player he is, he was never going to be KCP. He was never going to be Anthony Edwards because that's not the player he is. Like, when he came in, I thought his numbers would be about 15 and 8, 15 and 9.
00:20:40
Speaker
Because what he was going to do was, number one, get his points, you know, cleaning up the trash, which is... Thanks, Mike White. Kind of, we don't run any plays for him. Maybe we should, but that's how he gets his points.
00:20:50
Speaker
But like defensively, he's going to be a guy that is going to, you know, swap the ball away. He can play a five. He can play a four. He can play a three. He can jump out there and guard those guys out on the perimeter.
00:21:02
Speaker
But one of the things that's he'll grab the rebound and start the outlet pass. He reminds me a lot of of Kevin Love um back when Kevin Love played at UCLA. You know, it's a guy he's he's not going to score 28 points a game. I think everybody wanted him to because he's the second highest recruit in Georgia history.
00:21:20
Speaker
Right. That's not the player he was like even in his high school squad. You know, Cooper Flagg was the one scoring all the points like Asa is the one who's who's. the glue guy for all intents and purposes. He's the one that's getting it, throwing the outlet pass, doing the assist, the pass that leads to the pass, which is the role he was going to play. You know, I thought that he was going to be more ready made than some of these other true freshmen, SEC freshman of the year guys, because he was going to come in.
00:21:48
Speaker
He was at his cap of like, I'm only going to get 12, 15 points a game, but my key is I'm going to be eight rebounds, and I'm going to be six assists a game. And I don't think the assists have quite been there the way I was hoping they would be, but he also went for 21 and 17 against Oklahoma the other day. Like the flashes are there if you want them to get points, if Mike White would run a play for to get some points, but like his more valuable with like, oh,
00:22:11
Speaker
being sporadic on ah offense, cleaning up the mess, but on defense. That's where his value is. And that's where like a team like the Spurs, if they somehow you know fall in the lottery and get to number 13, you put this guy on the Spurs, good Lord. he is like Greg Popovich is going to be a kid in a candy shop. but I mean, this guy, i also saw him recently mocked to the Brooklyn Nets um You put him alongside Nick Claxton and goodness gracious. I mean, you've got two guys who have the ah huge basketball IQ who are liatory, if you will, can grab that ball, shoot it out in transition and get things going. That's his game.
00:22:49
Speaker
That's literally Ace's game. It's not scoring 25 points like it is for Ant. You're never going to see Ace toss up 25 shots a game. He's going to be the eight shots a game getting his points off the rebounds and getting defensive rebounds.
00:23:05
Speaker
Got it. Okay. Sorry, if you're on YouTube and saw me roll away, I had to go grab my Nick Klaxon bobblehead when there was a Klaxon shout out. Heck yeah. Shout out Frip Dog for picking that up for me and whenever that was a giveaway.
00:23:21
Speaker
Nice work. Yeah. and Maybe talk about your thoughts on and Mike White. know we had Korean joking moment ah and a minute ago, but just on the on the transition from from Korean ah to White and what have been your thoughts so far?
00:23:37
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, like it came out of left field. I tried to get the whole hashtag bring Jonas home, you know, going on Twitter and and it caught a little bit of traction, you know, but i did i was a whole lot I was there with you. I do.
00:23:49
Speaker
I mean, I don't know how much of that is nostalgia because we went to school with him, you know, but anyways, didn't happen. All good. But yeah. oh But Mike White was definitely came out of left field.
00:24:02
Speaker
And, you know, all the Florida people were like, sadly, I know a couple of Florida fans, um friends with them. I don't know why. We're going to pray for you. Yeah, I know. Right. These guys are here.
00:24:13
Speaker
But so ah they were like, yeah, way to take our trash. And I said to him, look, maybe the expectations right now are different. And one day, hopefully I will be where the Florida basketball program is.
00:24:25
Speaker
But if if Mike White comes in and over the next eight years, because I think he was at Florida for eight years, if he had. It's the same success at Georgia that got him fired from Florida. They will build a statue right over your right shoulder, John, like right there. That's where the statue is going to Because what he did for Florida, number one in Elite Eight, which, oh, it was Billy Donovan's players. Okay, it still took them there, right?
00:24:50
Speaker
Yeah. You've got the Elite Eight. We've got um four tournaments and seven tournament years. If you do four and seven at Georgia, like I said, they'll build a statute for you. Like they they literally will. um Now, is this the most talented team since that 2002-2003 squad, Jim, that you and i you know so fondly recall? It absolutely is.
00:25:13
Speaker
So should they have made the tournament? They absolutely should have. Am I super excited they ended the year on a four-game winning h streak? I definitely am because they were going to miss the tournament.
00:25:23
Speaker
And that is awful with literally the most talented roster you've had in 20 plus years. So like, I'm glad they rallied. I'm glad they got a nine seat. They needed to.
00:25:34
Speaker
If Mike White had missed the tournament this year, would he have on the hot seat? Absolutely. Would he have gotten a fourth year? Yes. Let's not be ridiculous. Everybody that was saying fire Mike White, they weren't going to fire him. He was going to get his fourth year.
00:25:46
Speaker
But would he have been on the hot seat? Yes. Now he's made the tournament. And if it can bring, excuse me, Silas and Blue back, maybe Sompto back or Justin Absenbach, either one of the two.
00:25:58
Speaker
Will they be favorites to make a tournament again next year? Yes, they will. Does he probably need to make the tournament again next year? Probably so. But if he does, guess what? He's made it two years in a row. Jim Herrick had that success. Did Mark Fox? No. Did Dennis Felton? No.
00:26:13
Speaker
Did Tom Crean? Absolutely not. So will he be a little bit more comfortable? Yes. Going to give him a contract extension? I do not. Are the rumors out there that NC State and possibly Ole Miss, if they lose beard, might come after him?
00:26:26
Speaker
ah If they do, they better pay all that $5.7 million dollars buyout. Somebody said we might reduce it. Why would we reduce it? I don't think we should. Yeah. um but like If they want to take them away and pay us that 5.7 million.
00:26:40
Speaker
Excellent. Let's go hire a coach and use the rest of that money um to throw at Asa Newell to probably get him to come back and say, you could be number 20 overall, or you could come back and maybe be number eight overall. That's what I, that's what i was saying. Like, is is there like a big difference between like being ah late first round versus an early first round, just like there is in the NFL? Like,
00:26:59
Speaker
I don't know. To me, it just seems like if you've got people that are saying that he's not taking taking over games, like it would just be in his best interest to come back and develop a little bit more. I don't know. no The only thing I worry about, John, is to get him back, to get him to turn down first-round money, which he would be turning down first-round money.
00:27:18
Speaker
You are taking up the entire budget. to get a point guard, to get another three-point shooter um out of the transfer portal. And yeah is Asa Newell worth it?
00:27:28
Speaker
Maybe. But at the same time, like, if we run back the team that we have this year, you know, I think we could go from a nine to a seven seed. And if we lose Asa, I'd hate to lose them. But if we get a true point guard, we get a three-point shooter, and we get maybe another big with that money that would have gone to Asa, um we might be a six seed next year.
00:27:46
Speaker
and Yeah. We could definitely make a Missouri jump. Yeah, I would. When's the last time we had like a true like sharpshooter that like you were you were confident when it left his hand?
00:27:58
Speaker
It was going ah Ezra Williams. Amazing answer. 2003 Ezra Williams I wasn't and I wouldn't say DA Lane I'd say Ezra over DA or DA Lane as we called him back in the day DA's a good guy yeah d I don't know I mean I don't really want to call anybody else a quote sharpshooter yeah I don't know all right maybe maybe Stooks got close towards the end Okay, so 2004. Okay. We're talking one year difference. Okay, there we go.
00:28:33
Speaker
But so I don't know. When he got cooking, Jarvis um was amazing. And could you imagine Jarvis on one side, Ezra on the other? I mean, those guys, they were insane.
00:28:44
Speaker
Zach Swansea?
00:28:47
Speaker
Bill Humphrey? Oh, Lou Williams, how about him? Oh wait, he never showed up, my bad Well played, well played Always say, if he if he hit if he had come, ah things might have worked with Felton But, never know yeah Well we wouldn't have gotten Dollar Bill Humphrey in that case And then who knows if we make that magical Oh wait, run That's true, that's true Were you in the dome that night?
00:29:12
Speaker
I was not. No, I was i was at my house um or the house I was renting, whatever. And that was that was wild because I remember the first night we won and it's like, well, you know, obviously I'm going to wear the exact same socks and underwear the next day. um And then, you know, the game was was was called off and it's like,
00:29:34
Speaker
Well, I'm just going to go to sleep in the same socks and underwear. Woke up Saturday morning and we won. And it's like, well, I guess I've got to wear the same socks and underwear Saturday night. Ended up going to a ah to a wedding shower for some for some friends of my wife at the time.
00:29:49
Speaker
And she's like, are you going to change your socks? And I said, like, no, I can't change the socks. I can't. She's like, are you going to change your underwear? And i was like, does it smell? And she goes, a little bit. Oh. But you know what? I took it for the team and and we won that game.
00:30:04
Speaker
And, you know, I didn't change the socks or underwear the next day on Saturday when we'd be Arkansas. And I was like, hey, cool. You know, here's the thing. I washed them and then we blew that lead against x Xavier. So that's probably my fault.
00:30:16
Speaker
It's your fault. It's your fault. I should have kept going. Axe Mottyspring. and just All over. So you just went through, maybe this is a nice little segue into something that I was going to ask you about. the just the rattling off the the games and the gauntlet that you have to go through in the NCAA tournament.
00:30:36
Speaker
This bracket is insane, guys. Like, this this is getting a little... We're getting a little ah little ridiculous right now, I feel like, looking at the bracket. I was i was just pulling it up just to see, like, the full bracket.
00:30:49
Speaker
And, man, like... He can't even fit some of these things on these lines. Like, what is going on? Oh, like what they wait with the the plan games and everything?
00:31:00
Speaker
Yeah, like the full bracket. The 2025 men's bracket. It's just crazy. There's too many teams. There's too many teams. like we we were joking about it We were joking about it with the dog stats. The SEC tournament like didn't even matter like at all.
00:31:17
Speaker
I don't think it's it did. i don't think it's it I think we always knew Alabama was going to be a 2. They would have had to win the whole tournament to get a 1. But I think we knew Florida. I think we knew Auburn. We're going to be ones with with Auburn, or excuse me, with Alabama and Tennessee at two.
00:31:31
Speaker
So you're probably right. It's just just a sad state of affairs when the conference championship and the two revenue generating sports basically means nothing.
00:31:42
Speaker
but take a look at the big 10 to Michigan beat Wisconsin. And if anything, um what Purdue who lost to Michigan on like two days right in the, in the quarter finals, they were a four Michigan who won the whole thing as a five. And then Wisconsin is a three seed. It's like,
00:32:02
Speaker
what is the, what is the math? What is the NCAA math and involved for that decision to be made? I will say it would be no math. Yeah. I was told there would no man Generally the ah Generally the regular season Does matter more For your seating in the NCAA tournament Except for these one bid Leagues where you've got to win Your tournament to make it um But otherwise It's not as, and I would say it's been Like that, I mean like Jim Herrick did not care about the SEC tournament He never cared to win it Roy Williams at UNC He hated it too
00:32:39
Speaker
Yeah. um I think Calipari was talking about that the other day, even like with Arkansas. mean, like they probably needed to to do decently.
00:32:50
Speaker
um But he was talking that talking that way heading in. So, i don't know. A lot of coaches, they would rather get more get the time off and get rested for the NCAA tournament than... go deep in a conference game. Save the legs, for sure.
00:33:04
Speaker
Yeah. and And kind of rest on the laurels of the what the resume you've built up during the during the regular season. Again, unless you need some kind of run, like North Carolina or something. Well, I mean, if we don't play in the SEC Championship in football, Carson Beck doesn't get hurt.
00:33:18
Speaker
Maybe Gunnar Stockton's not a thing. I don't know. Yeah. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm was like let's the as for kids who for flake he got hurt too that's what i was gonna say i was like there's just too many games because Then you saw that other kid get hurt. like down but you know get off is This is where a Jim says, get off my lawn. who that it This is the JP's get off my lawn segment.
00:33:40
Speaker
it's It is. i mean Just look at this bracket, man. This is insane. This is worse than this is worst in watching a child's baseball bracket tournament ah on the weekend. This is this is crazy.
00:33:51
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it changed when there was some form of conference realignment and some conferences realigned and made multiple conferences. And that's how we ended up with the whole first four thing because they didn't want to change the number of automatic.
00:34:08
Speaker
They had to increase the number of automatic qualifiers because there were more yeah conferences, but then they didn't want to reduce the number of at-large bids. So that's how we ended with first four. The first monstrosity.
00:34:20
Speaker
I will say I was that, that was my whole thing heading into like the last weekend of the season. um So hey like heading into that Vanderbilt game, was like, felt comfortable. We were in the tournament, but wanted to win one more game somewhere, either that Vanderbilt game or, ah you know, first game of SEC tournament to basically skip Dayton, you know, try to not have to go to Dayton.
00:34:44
Speaker
So yeah, because a missioning apple if you make the first four, but lose, you know, you don't even make the dance. You don't make it to Thursday. Like, do you even get to count that? I mean, we would have counted.
00:34:55
Speaker
Oh, yeah. It's been 10 years. Do you even get to count that? I mean, I doubt UNC if they lose to who do they play tomorrow, San Diego State. I doubt they're going to count it if they lose, but they may not even put it up on the screen. They may be like, we only start counting things when it's the sweet 16. Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:13
Speaker
yeah ah yeah Who Who knows? They're one of those. Um, all right. What, I guess like I do, I just, just want to talk a little bit more about this team and kind of like on on the fun aspect of it a bit.
00:35:27
Speaker
bit Um, just thinking like, and again, like for the, with the turnover and everything, like how quickly, or maybe even like, what do you do like heading into a season? Like, were you already all in on like, so I'll say like, compare of like myself.
00:35:41
Speaker
like first game or I had seen some of the social media stuff or whatever, but then it was like first game. i was like, Ooh, this Samto guy, like I like him, but like, yeah honestly, it wasn't even really until like the first game, like, or are you like in there and you'd know about these guys ahead of time or or are you somewhat kind of like that?
00:35:58
Speaker
Even, I mean, like you always wonder how it's going to be. It's, it's, it's almost like fantasy football in a way. Like you, you, I don't know how they're going to be together. yeah um But like, do I, when I see that we signed Dakota LaFue and Deshaun Montgomery, it's like, I remember them from last year, Mount St. Mary's when, especially when LaFue scored like 30 points on us. And it's like, Ooh.
00:36:21
Speaker
I'm glad he's on our side now. But it's like, i remember Tyron Lawrence. oh I think it's more just like, am I a sicko that that goes and like watches tape of them at their previous school?
00:36:32
Speaker
Yes, I am. um But I also am a sicko and I, you know, I watched the high school, you know, football stuff, which I'm sure those highlight tapes on huddle are, ah you know, really indicative of how they're going to play ah for Kirby Smart.
00:36:46
Speaker
But um yeah, like, Justin Absinthe. I absolutely was watching App State tape and I'm i'm not ashamed to admit that. um What else am I going to do Like when my daughter's at dance practice and I'm like waiting for hip hop, fourth graders hip hop class to end. Like ah i'm watching Justin Absinthe tape at App State. Yeah.
00:37:06
Speaker
Heck yeah. That's amazing. I love that. All right. But no, I'm not like, I'm not a complete sicko. I've been a couple of like the Twitter groups, whatever they're called. and And those guys get way more into it than I do. They actually make it pretty easy to watch the stuff because they're like, hey, check this out. And it's like, oh, okay. I don't have to you know go Googling and and mess up my algorithm, um you know, looking for all that stuff.
00:37:29
Speaker
But yeah, you know, I watched a little bit of like Tyron Lawrence. He's to be pretty good, man. you know it's like I remember from Bandy, that dude hit some clutch shots, especially against Tennessee. I'm ready to go.
00:37:39
Speaker
yeah so a little bit that um i guess like bit. I know you said it's the most talented roster, but I guess since we were in school, um but i guess where where does this season stack up for you?
00:37:56
Speaker
I know it's not over yet, but so today... It's not. Six more wins. That's right. But so where, I guess, where does this, where does this team kind of stack up for you? Not necessarily even in like the best team or whatever, or you could go that way too, but I'm more of kind of like a, okay.
00:38:12
Speaker
In the fields guy. Yeah. Yeah. I like, I mean, that one team, um, when Trey and Travis announced they were coming back for their sophomore year and Mark Fox, you know, got up on the podium and it's like, God bless you, Trey. Um,
00:38:27
Speaker
That team was so much fun. um I liked the Trey Tompkins. I liked the Travis Leslie. That was right before Contavious Caldwell-Poke. Oh, I wish he had been there.
00:38:38
Speaker
yeah i think Dustin Ware was on that team. Gerald Robinson Jr. was on that team. That was a fun squad. I really liked that one. Travis Leslie baptizing. Was it Willie Cauley-Stein? I don't remember. Somebody.
00:38:50
Speaker
Somebody. um and it just was like just dumped right over or was it uh no it's boogie cousins yes yes yeah okay boogie cousins um that was fun i love the uh the jj frazier yontay maiden squad um jj's senior year yontay's uh junior year that was such a fun fun team um you know Charles Mann, I think after he left, I was more appreciative than than before, but I liked that Charles Mann squad.
00:39:20
Speaker
And honestly, Dennis Delton's first team, just because it was like, those are my guys right there. It's like, I'm i'm still angry at Dennis Delton for not just rolling the ball out and saying Rashad Wright, Damian Wilkins, Jonas, Chris Daniels, take me to ah take me to a ah ah tournament.
00:39:41
Speaker
which he could have done, but he had to impose his will and completely change the style of play. You could see, even though they beat Kentucky twice that year, maybe a top three Georgia tech team that year that those guys, they weren't having fun wow the way they were under Herrick.
00:39:57
Speaker
But it's like, those were my guys right there. And it's like, I remember cheering. Like I went to a couple of those games and, You I was up in Raven County, fresh, you know, fresh out of college. So I was like driving down 441, stopping at the stag, you know, a couple times a week.
00:40:13
Speaker
Um, no one, I had to be back to be on the air at like 5.00 AM the next morning, but it's like, it's worth it. I watched be Arkansas one time, uh, That was a fun squad. I like that 2003, 2004 team just because of what they what they ultimately did. So those are those are probably my favorite teams.
00:40:30
Speaker
Okay. Okay, cool cool. Sadly, it's just moments. You know what I mean? it's it's yeah It's not full teams just because we haven't had a lot of success. So it's moments. It's when Travis Leslie went over Boogie Cousins. It's when, you know, Rashad Wright in double overtime was like holding up the jersey because he just beat Georgia Tech number three, who actually went on to to lose in the national championship game that year. But it's like, but we beat y'all.
00:40:53
Speaker
Take that. Suck it. Suck it, nerds. Yeah, but it's like though it's it's moments. um Hopefully we'll have more moments over the next couple of weeks, but you know just moments that are like, yes, that's it right there.
00:41:07
Speaker
Blue Cane shot against Florida a couple weeks back. That moment right there. i was just about to say, we we we killed we killed their their hopes of the regular season title. Yeah, we did. Mike White, once again, keeping Florida out of a an SEC title.
00:41:20
Speaker
Yeah. That's right. that's right ah we were um We were down in Athens last weekend. um made it Made it to that Vanderbilt game.
00:41:32
Speaker
ah That was my first time back at the Stag in long time. Also for Kim, even longer. ah Lily had never been to a Georgia basketball game. and Sorry, there.
00:41:43
Speaker
we said we We had seen them play away. We had seen them up here. She actually saw Anthony Edwards. uh, play ah like when they they played an exhibition against Charlotte. So anyways, um, but Lily was on a mission.
00:41:56
Speaker
She wanted to secure a blue cane. she did not secure one of the blue canes, uh, while we were there. So came away a little empty handed from that, but, uh, we did get to see a a dog's win in this dig. So that was fun.
00:42:07
Speaker
Hey, yeah. The, um, did she get a picture of spike though? Oh no. Like, um, the funny thing about it was like, they were kind of like two, seats or like sets of seats that I got kind of like gotten down to when we were looking.
00:42:22
Speaker
exactly And like, basically if we had chosen the other seats, we would have had like spike by us like the whole time. That's amazing. Yeah. So kind like you got do not make gonna get a pick I know. I know.
00:42:36
Speaker
i know yeah we went We went to a game last year and ah both my girls got a picture with Spike. I don't think they really wanted it, but like I wanted it. And I was like, I want to picture a picture with Spike. because then And that picture that I have is the one that I i i make all the the memes with or whatnot. But I was like, it would be weird if a 42-year-old, you know, just took a picture with the inflatable mascot. So was like, I'm here for the kids, you know what I mean? Yeah.
00:43:02
Speaker
um Are they like screaming and crying like the Santa pictures? like No, they love Spike. The kids love Spike. Okay, okay. Amazing.
00:43:13
Speaker
Hey, man we're I got a podcast. when When we go attend a game, a basketball game, 100% hit rate on NCAA tournaments. I know, that's right. we but You got to go more often. You got to go next year.
00:43:26
Speaker
It'll be on the list for next year to go. Yeah, i I miss going. that Mike White will pay for that ticket, I'm sure. That's right. That is one of the tougher things of um for me, just making it down for North Carolina.
00:43:39
Speaker
Not as easy as it used to be, although not that I went to like every game when I got on college or anything. but Harder to make it back, but man,
Stegman Coliseum: Charm & Renovations
00:43:46
Speaker
it's fun. It's fun. And I love i love the renovations. yeah i Actually, what's your take on what's your take on the whole arena thing? like People are like, oh, we need a new arena.
00:43:53
Speaker
No, absolutely not. I mean, this goes back to to when we were students there. Did you think that Stegman was a powerful home court advantage? I do. Yeah. Yeah. It was awesome.
00:44:04
Speaker
Like it's old. It's falling down. That's fantastic, you know, because it works for us. We're used to it. I mean, if if you take a step back. Go back and look at Maryland. Like, was it Cole Fieldhouse where the Terps used to play back in the day with like Juan Dixon and and all those guys, Lonnie Baxter and Steve Blake? It was like Cole Fieldhouse is dumb, but they were winning.
00:44:27
Speaker
And so Cole Fieldhouse was one of the greatest home court advantages Have you ever been Cameron Indoor? Talk about dump. That place is so dark. You can barely see the person sitting next to you. But, oh, yeah, the team's really good.
00:44:40
Speaker
The students who are future doctors and senators and and lawyers, you know, are are covered in body paint screaming, you know, all... in uh in synchronized cheer which is kind of creepy if you think about it but it's like that place is a dump but because the team plays well the students get into it oh cameron indoors the greatest home court advantage in all of of college basketball it's not the place is is awful if you go on like a tour and just walk through it you're just like really like this place right here stegman is the same way people think it's a dump but if we are winning
00:45:15
Speaker
ah Just go back and look at some of the games with the fans holding up those blue canes. The fans are into it. That place is amazing. And everything that they've done as far as renovations, they've really brightened it.
00:45:26
Speaker
It's not dark like it used to be. The glass on the outside is actually quite pretty. They've done great stuff with the video boards. People are making fun of the court. I think the court's great. Standing Bulldog, like, come on now. The coloring, whatever.
00:45:40
Speaker
I've gotten used to it, though. Get used to it. you're only there watching it one game a year. The people who care about it are the fans. And if we like it, kick rocks, Auburn. Sorry you don't like it. Yeah. i don't I only don't like it when it interacts with the TV broadcast, making it look like it's a sepia.
00:45:56
Speaker
old Old Western style or something like that. I think that's more in the broadcast. Broadcast lighting or something. maybe I blame the SEC network. and i'm with you I'm with you. I and i'll i'll i want to double down on the the exterior glass.
00:46:12
Speaker
which we can see in in John's background. I mean, what a great... Oh, I thought he was there right now. is he not there? Live. we We're going to do you live. You're outside, like in Athens. He's camping out. That hasn't moved.
00:46:27
Speaker
He's camping out for tickets to the tournament. ah um But yeah, ah that that's something that I was like being like lame old person um at the game last weekend, like explaining to my daughter, like, you see, we were still outside when out back in my day. Like the this was still outside. Like the door was over there.
00:46:46
Speaker
You know, like it opens up the concourse so much more. um It's made a huge difference. don't know. The new seats are great. um They're new-ish seats. It's not like the old wooden ones yeah they had when we were in school.
00:46:59
Speaker
ah So, yeah. I mean, like it's it's it's a good it's a good coliseum. Now, you know... If you build one downtown where the where the classic center is like, I don't think it would hold as many people. Maybe it's new or whatever. But it's like if you can build a practice facility and the practice facility is not that old.
00:47:16
Speaker
That's what they you know care about. um If you make the amenities, that's what these student athletes care about. Oh, look how new the court is. They they don't believe care about that. They want all the stuff that they do on a regular basis, the practice facility, the locker rooms, all that stuff is new.
00:47:33
Speaker
It's fine. It's not a recruiting disadvantage. Anybody that says that, shut up. I mean, especially in this day and age, like, shut up, kid. Here's your $5,000 check. Right. You know, I mean, it's like they're they're good, man. For everything I've seen, all those behind the scenes videos they're shooting in their locker rooms.
00:47:49
Speaker
Their locker rooms are fantastic. Yeah. I mean, like they're great. Their practice facility top notch. Like that stuff is almost brand new. Like, you know, oh, oh, the seats that I'm not going to sit in are kind of old. Kirby Smart doesn't seem to mind it when he's sitting courtside.
00:48:05
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very true. Very true. And also, can we talk for a second about like when you and I went, you know, they used to give us these like T-shirts right here.
00:48:15
Speaker
Like this one right here. Like this is from 2002. Heck yeah. This shirt. um It's basically just says Georgia of basketball. on it that's the That's the giveaway. These days, like they're getting ah spike slippers. They're getting like the the mini inflatable things. It's like.
00:48:29
Speaker
Can i do that? Like, i've I've literally sent, you know, tweets where it's like, ah can I buy that somewhere, please? Oh, yeah. I've asked. the the The giveaways they give away now to the students.
00:48:40
Speaker
Yeah. Like, they're insane. How come they didn't like we just got like a piece of Papa John's pizza when I was there. Yeah. and like ah And then like that t-shirt is probably like double X or triple X or large or something. um I'm pretty sure. You got it because sometimes like they put them over the seats and it's like yeah some of the place folks would come in and be like, I'm going to take these seven shirts. And it's like, that's my shirt, man. Right, right. I'm pretty sure now, like if the shirt that's sitting out, like doesn't fit you, you can go and like exchange it for your size or something. I saw one time I was at a game and I saw like so students going back to a table, like exchanging their shirts. I was like, what is going on here? How are we exchanging shirts? Yeah.
00:49:20
Speaker
was like, you don't just have to wear the double XL like I do for the rest of my life. like ah Like, like, cause I still like, i i actually, I have a couple that I do like to, to pull out for, you know, certain games or whatever. although I will say this year I didn't. So maybe I need to just keep not doing this.
00:49:37
Speaker
I will often ah go and rummage through my Herrick's Hounds stack of shirts. I've got one that says, ah it just says, beat Florida. Yeah. And I'll wear that when we play Florida. And I didn't this year and we beat them.
00:49:52
Speaker
So maybe he's not wearing that t-shirt. Yeah. Oh, interesting. Yeah. I used to wear the ah I used to wear the beat Florida shirt that I got from the Georgia women's soccer game.
00:50:04
Speaker
um But I wore that to the Georgia, Florida basketball game and we won. And I was like, well, I got to wear this forever. Yeah. And I don't know whatever happened to that shirt. it's It's no longer with us.
00:50:17
Speaker
And I also remember they used to do. The the the jersey giveaways, but they were for kids 12 and under. And for some reason, I thought, like, and as a 21 year old, I can put this jersey on. And I think I just remember having to like, cut it off.
00:50:32
Speaker
But that's OK. You know, it was fun. We wore that thing and it was it was a good time. I remember that. Was it the number? Did you have the one? It was it was like Mike Dean's jersey. Well, there was a two. It was the number was two. two And the next year there was a three.
00:50:47
Speaker
And then you would think the next year would be a four. Oh, no. We jumped to number 50. Okay. I don't know how that happened. But, yeah, I had to cut the two off me. Thankfully, the 50 fit a little bit better.
00:51:00
Speaker
Okay. But, again, I don't know where they've gone. I mean, yeah, we had to honor ah Chris Daniels with a number 50. Albany, legend of Albany. So were you were you always a big basketball fan just in general of the sport?
00:51:15
Speaker
I would say that growing up, ah you know, I liked football. um you I was, ah like I said, a big UVA fan. My whole family went there.
00:51:26
Speaker
um But UVA football wasn't great. It was UVA basketball. And so I probably followed basketball better, having to go to all of my older brother's basketball games.
00:51:36
Speaker
um If you look at us, we're not exactly football standouts. But, you know, my brother was one of those coaches on the floor. He's the first one in. He's the last one out. He's a gym rat type guy.
00:51:48
Speaker
um So I was able to watch him um a lot. And I started to pick up like, oh, that's cool. So, yeah, I think I probably liked basketball and baseball, probably more so than football from the jump. And even it's like you alluded to earlier. um my freshman and sophomore year, Jim Donnan's last two years there. And then Mark Rick, it was a slow, yeah. My senior year, we won the sec championship, but it's like basketball was the sport when I was there.
00:52:15
Speaker
Um, everybody loved Donnan's dogs, but it's like, i like basketball. I was a Herrick's hounds, man. Um, I was a Herrick town and it's like, that's, that's what I enjoyed going to like those basketball games. They were fun.
00:52:28
Speaker
Uh, it's It's not a lot of fun losing to to South Carolina Lou Holtz, um but it is when Jim Herrick is averaging 80 points a game. like That is a good time.
00:52:39
Speaker
and so um yeah I would say that I've sort of always been locked in on basketball, maybe so a little bit more so than football. Okay. okay Got it.
00:52:49
Speaker
That tracks. I was about to ask the Georgia story question, or do you want to just ask that? Because I feel like we kind of naturally started to evolve into that question. We did. When he started talking, I was like, what?
00:53:03
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, man. Just ah what's your Georgia story, man? Like, we just we just want to know. All right, yeah. Well, I guess I attended two Georgia football games, even though grew up in Virginia. They just so happened to be the Peach Bowl against UVA in 1995 and 1998.
00:53:19
Speaker
And I remember that was obviously in December of 98, being really upset, you you know, walking out of the Georgia Dome that Todd Braverman at UVA missed that kick because, man, Georgia beat us.
00:53:34
Speaker
And then like three months later, when I got my acceptance letter, it's like, oh, never mind. I am excited that Todd Braverman sucks and misses that kick. um That gives us some momentum. Georgia going into next season. Quincy Carter for Heisman.com was a real website, by the way. Quincy Heisman.com. But that was like my first taste of Sanford Stadium.
00:53:57
Speaker
No, ah I think growing up in the 90s, every kid you know wanted to be... Kenny Main, Craig Kilborn, Dan Patrick, maybe not Keith Olbermann. Political views, let's not get political on here.
00:54:10
Speaker
But, you know, everybody wanted to be on SportsCenter. And so that meant I wanted to be on SportsCenter. So um I applied to three schools. I applied to to Syracuse. I applied to in-state James Madison.
00:54:23
Speaker
And I applied to the University of Georgia. And the only reason I was allowed to apply there was because, and by the way those are all like top 15 schools in the country for journalism. um The reason I was a allowed to apply for Georgia was my older brother went to grad school at Georgia and said it was okay.
00:54:38
Speaker
And my sister lived in Atlanta. And, you know, so as long as I was close, my mom was like, I'll allow him to go. um So I got into Syracuse and it was like, that's a wrap. I'm going there until all of a sudden they sent the, ah the first bill for the first ah semester's tuition. It was like 40 grand.
00:54:57
Speaker
And we're like, are you sure you don't want to go to like, somewhere else, anywhere else that's that's less expensive. And so we settled on Georgia and great journalism school, Grady College.
00:55:09
Speaker
Got my um journalism degree from there. um Spent 10 years doing broadcasting, um working for Georgia Public Broadcasting, working for a small radio station up in Raven County.
00:55:21
Speaker
um Doing some work for the AJC, score Atlanta, um working a little bit for the 790 The Zone, um doing Braves postgame stuff. um And then just realized I was having more fun um helping the interns.
00:55:36
Speaker
And decided to, after 10 years of broadcasting, leave the business and become a teacher so I could ah help shape America's future. But yeah, that's that's that's kind of my story.
Fletcher's Journey to UGA
00:55:47
Speaker
i like you know didn't really know much about Georgia growing up and until I came down here.
00:55:54
Speaker
And I absolutely love it. Would never leave. And it's the best decision of my life. That's really cool. Yeah, it is. Every yeah also cool that every time that question is asked, the story is always different.
00:56:07
Speaker
um Definitely have not heard one like that. That's awesome. Yeah. and And like and now it's like I've had three nieces um go to Georgia because of, you know, my experience. I got married um to my college you know girlfriend. Now she's my wife, who I met at Hill Hall.
00:56:25
Speaker
um, and 2021 or excuse me, 2001. Um, my nieces came to the wedding, which we had in Athens and they were like, this place is pretty cool. I should, I should go to school here. And, uh, yeah, man, like Athens, it's, it's like the most amazing town um in America.
00:56:41
Speaker
Yeah. You're recruiting for Georgia too. It's amazing. it's It's an amazing place. If you can play basketball. If you can play basketball, give me a shout.
00:56:52
Speaker
I love it. I love it. by So georgia Georgia fan by way of Syracuse. I like it. Yeah, you know, like looking back, it's one of those, like, it's it's ironic that I almost went to Syracuse and it's like they win the title, which would have been my senior year.
00:57:07
Speaker
But if I think if if Jarvis is allowed to play in the tournament, I think that, you know, maybe we have something to say about that. But we'll see. But no regrets. sir Kirby Smart winning a couple of titles.
00:57:18
Speaker
ah It's fun watching David Pernod back in the day, you know the Diamond Dogs, now hopefully Wes Johnson. um you know, doing some good things. And, and Georgia, it's just such an amazing, amazing state city, you know, Athens. And yeah, why wouldn't you want to go there?
00:57:34
Speaker
What was what was all the connections to Virginia, though? Like you said, I'm from Virginia. Yeah, you're you're you're from Virginia. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. um that Like my whole family went to went to UVA.
00:57:45
Speaker
So four brothers and sisters. i don't want to call myself the black sheep because I went to Georgia. But, you know, they're all like, don't you want to be a UVA you know guy? And I was like, they don't have a good journalism school. You know, I was pretty locked in, you know, at 17 years old. I knew what I wanted to do, which obviously now i'm no longer doing.
00:58:02
Speaker
So clearly i made the right choice. What brought everybody down to Raven? um No, that was just my first job out of college. okay and and And so I started working at Raven County and it was kind of cool. my I did the play-by-play for the Raven County Wildcats and my play-by-play partner was John Miller.
00:58:24
Speaker
His nickname was the Iron Wrinkle. And it was pretty cool. John and I were doing the coaches show. I'd been down there for maybe like two months, three months. And I pull in and and we go to interview the high school football coach. And he's like, you just graduated from Georgia. and i was like, i I did. He's like, you might know my son.
00:58:42
Speaker
And I was like, okay, you know, there's only 30,000 undergrads. What's your son's name? And he's like, my son, Kirby. And I was like, Kirby Smart. And he's like, yeah, he's like, and I never met him personally, but that was kind of cool. You know Sonny Smart was the head coach of Raven County when I was there.
00:59:00
Speaker
And the and the the quarterbacks coach was George Bobo. you know So we were yelling, like, run the ball, Bobo, you know back to the high school days of Raven County.
00:59:12
Speaker
But um yeah they were they were pretty cool. And then ah I used to also do a Pick'em show on the radio. And on the show were Scott and Kent Warner. Kent, of course, is the dad of Charlie Warner. And so I literally knew Charlie Warner when he was like,
00:59:28
Speaker
this tall before he you know became six foot seven is now in the Falcons so that was pretty cool too that is crazy if Kids time, good times. Sonny, smart ass TV news.
00:59:40
Speaker
i was like I was like, I mean, there's only like 36,000 people that go to school there. Like, what's his name? Maybe we went to the dining hall together. And he's like, Kirby. I was like, no, I never knew a guy named Kirby. Sorry. Yeah. didn't We didn't run in the same circles.
00:59:52
Speaker
That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. but see. He was. was over there. i was over here. as za yeah he It's only because he left right before you got there. yeah Oh, that's exactly what, exactly. I guess they have been best buds.
01:00:05
Speaker
Yeah. We, we clearly would have been friends. Absolutely. I overlapped with him for one semester. I don't remember ever seeing him anywhere, but to see champ. don't remember ever seeing him. had a class with, uh, with boss Bailey and that was kind of cool. Um, and then Tim Wansley was in another one of my class. I remember Tim Wansley used to just literally like look up highlights of himself.
01:00:24
Speaker
I was like, hey, man, I know we're doing this project together. Are you feeling like doing anything? No, you're not. You're just going to look at your highlights. Okay, that's cool. And then ah I remember Boss Bailey was there, and we had a professor, and he, I guess it was ah Boss had missed a big tackle against Tennessee, and the professor was, like, giving him crap about it.
01:00:46
Speaker
And it's like, but you know you realize Boss Bailey's, like, 6'5", like, you know, 260. Like, he could destroy you. And he's like, oh, he's not going to do or anything. And I was like, ah, I wouldn't risk it. He could definitely block a field goal. That's a gamble. Like, uh.
01:01:03
Speaker
I don't think I'd want to risk that. It's a bold strategy, with Cotton. Yeah. See if that works out for you. Oh, man. um I guess we could – let's – we talked to the about the bracket or JP. We had JP's get off my lawn bracket moment. but Yeah, yeah.
01:01:20
Speaker
Fletcher, how do you feel about where, where we sit? So the bracket let's, let's go back to selection Sunday yesterday. Oh, back on track. All right. Yeah. yeah Back bret bracket comes out. Bracket comes out. How are you feeling when you see, when you see the dog's name taking into account, like where, where we fell?
01:01:38
Speaker
I sort of figured we would be playing in the Houston bracket, just based on all the the mocks that were out there, the bracketology, whatever you want to call them, the mock brackets. yeah um Gonzaga was a bit of a shock.
01:01:51
Speaker
um I was thinking they would be more like a six or a seven seed. um People are calling them like literally the greatest eight seed in the history of the tournament. Yeah. Cool for us. It's been 10 years. Now here's the hardest number eight seed ever.
01:02:04
Speaker
um They're 25 and eight champions of the West Coast Conference, like haven't missed the Sweet 16 since Obama was president. So all that bodes well for us.
01:02:15
Speaker
um But in all seriousness, it's like – I don't want to say I'm just happy to be here because I definitely want to win. I wish we had kind of dropped to a 10 seed because I think a two is easier to beat than a one, obviously.
01:02:28
Speaker
ah Do I think we can beat Gonzaga? I absolutely do. They score most of their points ah in the paint, in the in the interior. um They're not great shooting from the outside.
01:02:41
Speaker
um And what do we do well defensively? We have bodies, okay? Whether it's Samto, Cyril, who, you know, can block up to five shots a game like he did against ah like Oklahoma a couple weeks ago. We have Asa Newell, who's good defensively. We've got Justin Absinthe. We've got R.J. Godfrey, who seems to just be willing to commit five fouls before he he checks out.
01:03:02
Speaker
um But it's like we have bodies on the inside that could conceivably go against these guys. Who's their tallest player? um Graham Ike. He's only six foot nine you know We've got guys that are 6'11". I think that could match up well for us. Graham Ike's going to get you know about 17 points a game.
01:03:20
Speaker
um But if we can if we can just force them to take difficult shots on the inside, knowing that they're not going to do well shooting from the outside, what's our Achilles heel? Perimeter defense. yeah um Do we have a chance? We absolutely have a chance. And then we will absolutely lose to Houston.
01:03:36
Speaker
But... I'm very excited about the fact that we could make the second round. And I do think that that is a like real chance of us winning against Gonzaga. I mean, if you take a look at, they are, you know with the exception of Auburn, you know the oldest team in the history of college basketball.
01:03:54
Speaker
Khalif Battle, I think, was in school um when we were there. He's been at Butler. He's been at Temple. He's been at Arkansas. He's been at Gonzaga. He's at Temple. flight This is his sixth year. Dude was born in the year 2000. So literally when we were in college, he was born.
01:04:09
Speaker
oh like it just He's been playing forever. He's 24 years old, 22, 22, 21, 22. Their whole lineup is in their mid-20s. So it's like, what are we doing here? We're the youngest team in the SEC, but I still think we're athletic. I still think we can take it to them.
01:04:25
Speaker
And they can't shoot from the outside. That's our weakness. I think we a good shot at him. Yeah. I wasn't thrilled, though, to be honest, because as soon as I saw Gonzaga, was like, oh, crap. That's usually the team when I'm filling out brackets. was like, well, they always win. So let's move them
Gonzaga Team Analysis
01:04:42
Speaker
to the next round. Yeah.
01:04:44
Speaker
yeah Well, and it's like, I know, shoot, our last, the last time we made a tournament, we played a criminally underceded Michigan State. There was, but that wasn't we were in like the 7-10 game, and i think they made the final four.
01:04:57
Speaker
um But I don't, I'm not to say that this Gonzaga team is like that Michigan State team, ah but but that's good to hear. This isn't a great Gonzaga team. It's definitely not, but like...
01:05:07
Speaker
They are still dangerous. It's not the weirdo with the like weird mustache the long hair. like Adam Morrison? Yeah, Morrison. yeah Last seen crying on the floor as his team blew a lead against UCLA. yeah yeah Busting my bracket back in 06. Yeah, I remember that.
01:05:26
Speaker
I had to go double check the the the history of playing these guys because I knew I remembered playing them before. I've seen us play them twice. Apparently we lost.
01:05:37
Speaker
know why Why it's not counting? as Oh, I bet this game must have been vacated. It's not counting it because we beat them twice, but I guess we're not counting it. ah So we beat them ah neutral site in 2002 in Atlanta.
01:05:51
Speaker
And then we beat him again 2006. yeah in two thousand and six We played him in Duluth i like the Gwinnett Arena. i went to that I was at that game. i was that thank I went to both of those.
01:06:02
Speaker
I think I remember that game. I think Yunus Adresi had like a bunch of points in that game. I know ah no he could have been. The block in Moroccan? Yeah. Yeah. ah dude was That dude was great.
01:06:13
Speaker
And that if I remember that game, it was like so quiet. And I would like literally shout for him and he would just shake his head like, stop it. Stop it. Do not cheer for me. The main thing i remember was ah Mike Mercer had like a crazy dunk in that game.
01:06:29
Speaker
Oh, Mike Mercer. And I remember like Rick Majerus actually was the play was the color commentator on the broadcast for the game. i remember he had a nice call of that. He like compared him to Dominique. Yeah. Well, you know, Mike Mercer, I, that's about where the the comparisons to Dominique stop, hopefully for Dominique's sake. But, um, you know, that dude, he was, he was scary athletic. Could you imagine it if he had, if, if Lou Williams had actually shown up like that team, that AAU team they used to have, oh yeah Lou Williams, Mike Mercer and Bill Humphrey, like that must've been an insane squad.
01:07:01
Speaker
Yeah. you know Yeah. I don't think they all went to the same. and I know that Lou went to South. point I don't think that's where Bill Humphrey went, but it's like that AAU team that they had was at the Atlantic Celtics or whatever. I bet they were insane. Yeah.
01:07:14
Speaker
Yeah. I'm i'm sure. I'm sure. um No, that's good. I, i you know, For football games, I've usually got my stuff where I just like pull all the, here's the stuff for the opponent, et cetera.
01:07:25
Speaker
Didn't have that. So honestly, that that helps me because that that has you're right in the perimeter shooting. like That has been our that's been our issue lately is defending that. um So if that's not their main strength, that does make feel better.
01:07:40
Speaker
I mean, like their their best three-point shooter is Nolan Hickman, 21 years old, by the way. he's that He's the spring chicken of the bunch. um But he's he's averaging like 43%, but he's only made like, you know, a handful, ah maybe like one per game.
01:07:55
Speaker
So it's not like he's a huge threat. Averaging maybe 9.5. um nine point Yeah, nine points a game, a little less than 10 points a game. So it's not like he's going to go crazy from the outside.
01:08:06
Speaker
um Nolan Hickman, their best chance at a three-point shooter. Ryan Nimbhard, again, he's goingnna he's six foot tall. He's going to go to the basket, though. And these guards that they have, they're undersized compared to our guys. Like Blue Kane and Silas Demery are both like six foot four, six foot five.
01:08:24
Speaker
We've got size. We can D these guys up. You know, we can make life difficult for them, especially if they can't hit from the outside. i think, I hope, they're going to try to get us into foul trouble. Hopefully we have enough bodies that we can keep rotating them in and out.
01:08:40
Speaker
And maybe Samtos, maybe this is the game where actually kill somebody, you know, when they go inside, because I'm just waiting for him, you know, to just, you know, Thor, hammer of Thor, drop it down on somebody because it's coming eventually.
01:08:56
Speaker
Um, and maybe it's this game. Who knows? Could be. I w I will say, should we get past Gonzaga?
Georgia's Tournament Record & Traditions
01:09:03
Speaker
Georgia has never lost to a number one seed in the NCAA tournament.
01:09:07
Speaker
Fun fact. Let's see. Hold on. Purdue 95 and John's 83. and st john's and eighty three Was it, was it, uh, am I thinking somebody? No, I think you're right. Or what in, in 83 or was it Carolina? Was Carolina not a one?
01:09:24
Speaker
Maybe was St. John's. don't know. I know we beat a one seat in both those tournaments. I thought it was St. John's. I thought Carolina was the two. i thought we were, i thought we were a four and beat the one and then beat the two. That could be wrong.
01:09:35
Speaker
No, that that's probably right. That's probably right. Cause it was like, that was like Mullen and all them. Right. Chris Mullen. Yeah. Yeah. I think he was, I think they were the one. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. but Yeah. So that's, that's, that's my little fun fact, even though I didn't have all the background facts of it, but yeah. And like, and we we just still owe Houston for that 83. That should have been us.
01:09:53
Speaker
Darn it. Could have been us. um But yeah, no, Houston, i I think they're good. And because I can't pick Duke and I can't pick Florida just because I can't, I have to pick Houston to to win it all.
01:10:09
Speaker
We know Tennessee is not going to make the final four history. And all Auburn just, I can't i can't do Auburn. I think Tom Izzo gets them. But, ah yeah, so if i if Florida can't win and I can't have Florida win, and please heavens no, Duke can't have them. Well, i I'm rooting against Duke, you know, for all those Georgia football, Duke basketball fans.
01:10:32
Speaker
i'll Take that. Join the Georgia Bulldog squad. We're taking over. um I have to go with Houston. so yeah That's who I'm going to pick. Okay. Okay. Assuming they can get by a very cagey George Bulldogs in the second round.
01:10:45
Speaker
That's right. That's right. I haven't. Yeah, I haven't. Have you guys filled out your brackets yet? i haven't. I have not even filled one yet, personally. hi No. i' part Part of the bracket question was me pulling up the bracket so that i could print so I could try to print one out. But there's there's very clearly no size, but no's not not enough space.
01:11:04
Speaker
This bracket is too big. But you guys still print them out, right? like you know' That's what I'm saying. i was going to print it out. Yeah, like you have to print it out and then carry it around in your back pocket with with a highlighter and a red pen because the highlighter is if you get it right and the red pen is if you get it wrong.
01:11:17
Speaker
How else does one do that? Some people are like, oh, let's do it all on the computer. and It's like then I've got to pull up my phone and it's like, I don't know. Whereas I always carry my back pocket. It's right there. It's right there. These people look like sad. I don't know. Let me look. True, true.
01:11:33
Speaker
like origami. It's like, it's fine. There it is. I made a duck. Now it's my bracket. There it is. Amazing. Amazing. All right. I think I'm aligned with your thoughts there. You can't pick Florida. You can't pick them. I think they're the best team. You can't pick them, though.
01:11:53
Speaker
You can't do it. Yeah. Who? huh Oh, yeah. Exactly. You can't pick those guys, those stinking gators. All right. JP, what else do you got? You got anything else for Fletcher?
01:12:05
Speaker
Man, I don't. It's been it's been a nurturing, learning learning so much about the basketball stuff. yeah jim Jim and Fletcher are going to go and start to buy a basketball podcast.
01:12:19
Speaker
I'll be sitting in the cold Pablo Escobar. Well, you're actually out there right now. You're in front of the Stegman, you know, as we speak. So you're you're the real one here. I'm channeling. I'm channeling.
01:12:32
Speaker
Yeah. ah Too good. Awesome. ah Let's see. I always forget to do this. Fletcher, where can people find you if they want to follow your work? Oh, man. I love dropping the the GIFs or GIFs, whatever it's called, the memes, F Proctor on on the X, the Twitter, whatever it's called, F
Nostalgia & Fan Engagement
01:12:53
Speaker
Proctor.
01:12:53
Speaker
Awesome. yeah There's my name right there. but yeah You can see it. ah Perfect. um I will say i do. I have, um we were in school the same time. so developed the love.
01:13:09
Speaker
We had had the the shared experience of Georgia basketball actually being the better, more successful sport early in our college careers. Absolutely. We kind of grew up through that. um And so that really kind of shaped my basketball fandom. And it has been fun on an app like Twitter to find people like,
01:13:27
Speaker
you and and who's who's mafia and the whole, there's a whole crew of Georgia basketball. There are dozens of us. Yes.
01:13:37
Speaker
Uh, but it's a, it's a, it's a great group, uh, to get out there and, and interact with, uh, and, and very passionate about Georgia basketball. Um, so I appreciate it. So I, I enjoy all that, um, content and, uh, have even gotten in on some, uh, pestering of Rothstein.
01:13:57
Speaker
Rothstein is going to give us the tweet. I know it is. he's It's coming. We're going to get a tweet from Rothstein. I guarantee it. He quote tweeted. Did he quote tweet?
01:14:07
Speaker
He quote tweeted you the other day, right? He quote tweeted mafia. was mafia. Okay. Just because ah I think he hate he might have me blocked just because – After every game, I let him have it with about 17 memes um with Spike doing various things to him.
01:14:23
Speaker
But he quote tweeted Mafia saying that can't you can't force some, but there is a chance um that next year we get one. So that's right. Hopefully so. Let's make a run. If we beat Gonzaga.
01:14:36
Speaker
Which, by the way, they want it to be called Gonzaga, so i I'm going to call them Gonzaga, just as a screw you. Gonzaga. It's not Gonzaga. Gonzaga.
01:14:47
Speaker
Take that. If we beat Gonzaga, bet we get one. Fingers crossed. I like it. I like it. Sweet.
Future of Georgia Basketball & Conclusion
01:14:54
Speaker
All right. Well, the the first ever basketball-centric episode of My God Podcast.
01:14:59
Speaker
it's It's been a blast. ah It's been a pleasure. Thank you for having me, guys. Yeah, man. Like I said earlier, when when we saw this coming and like we were going to make the tournament, we were like, we've got to do this with Fletcher. Fletcher, this is the only way this this can happen.
01:15:12
Speaker
ah So we were excited that you graciously accepted to come on. oh Thanks, man. Thanks for that invite. Love it. Georgia basketball on the up. let Put the word out. We're back. Love it. Love it. Love it.
01:15:23
Speaker
Yeah, man. Good times. It's good to get to connect face-to-face. Absolutely. Yeah. Sure. Instead of through your avatar.
01:15:33
Speaker
a Awesome. all right. Well. Cool, guys. Go dogs. Go dogs. Go dogs.