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A Tale of 2 Games at the Final 4
135 Plays1 month ago
Welcome to Episode #51 of the No Conference for Old Men Podcast.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" as our Houston Cougars ended the season 35-5. After an epic comeback win to beat Duke 70-67 in the semis (inflicting a bit of revenge for last season), it all came crashing down in a last minute 65-63 loss to Florida in the championship game where our Cougars had led by 12 early in the 2nd half. We were all hoping for a deserving "storybook" ending that would result in our 1st National Championship, but this is the beauty & cruelty of sport. It cannot be scripted like a movie. So the 3 old men provide summaries of the 2 final games in what was a historic season for our Cougars. And then look forward to what could be another Championship run next season, with 3 5 star freshmen joining the team to pair with Emmanuel Sharp & Jojo Tugler.
Please have a listen as the 3 Old Men summarize the wonderful season & look forward to next year.
- No Conference for Old Men is available for free via Spotify / Apple Podcast / SoundCloud & the GoCoogs.com website; we're also available via the Republic of Football Podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's Texas Football as their only basketball-centric offering
- Intro / Exit music: Ground Zero provided by FreeBeats.io
- Please follow us on gocoogs.com/old-men/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Episode 51
00:00:07
@NoConfForOldMen
Welcome folks to episode number 51 of the No Conference for Old Men podcast, a podcast where three old guys are talking Houston Cougars basketball with bit of Big 12 coverage added in as well, and proud members of the gocougs.com network, the undisputed number one Houston Cougars content provider.
00:00:23
@NoConfForOldMen
We're here today again with all three of the old men, Tom Blidiak, former coach, Bill Walker, former player, and myself, Steve Chang, analytics guy for this episode. Well,
Houston vs. Duke - Epic Comeback
00:00:32
@NoConfForOldMen
guys, it was the best of times.
00:00:34
@NoConfForOldMen
It was the worst of times, as Charles Dickens wrote, for our final two games in the final four. We started with an epic comeback to inflict a bit of revenge for last year on Duke in Saturday's semi-game.
00:00:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Coming back from 14 down to end on a run, 9-0 to end the game to close out an epic 70-67 win that was reminiscent of our road win over KU and Lawrence.
Heartbreaking Loss to Florida
00:00:57
@NoConfForOldMen
But that was followed by a heartbreaking loss in the finals to Florida, where we had 12-point second half lead, chipped away to lose by two, 65-63 at the very end.
00:00:58
Bill Walker
Thank you.
00:01:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Truly the tale of two games to end the season. But it does not take away from the epic year that these kids and this team deliver this season. Clearly the best team of this incredible Samson run so far. And for those fans that have been derisive of the team or any of the kids in the aftermath online, I'd say shame on you and shut the F up.
00:01:29
@NoConfForOldMen
These kids gave everything they had. And this is the nature of sport, guys. You never know how things are going to end. And there's always only one winner. So we'll
Season Analysis and Future Outlook
00:01:39
@NoConfForOldMen
obviously focus on summarizing the two big games, maybe focusing a bit more time on the Duke semi win and then close out on looking out into next season where we've already had a couple of signings out of the portal and I think one addition leaving the program today.
00:01:55
@NoConfForOldMen
So let's get into it, guys, in dissecting our two games versus Duke and Florida, two great defensive games by our team with completely different results, unfortunately. Both games were determined in the margins with us wearing down Duke in the first game towards the end and pulling through with a feverish end of the game.
00:02:13
@NoConfForOldMen
And then in the finals, where we had a 12-point lead early in the second, that got whittled away until Florida took the lead at the very, very end. Let's start with you first, Tom. What were some of the things you saw from a coach's perspective in our semi-win over the Blue Devils?
00:02:28
Tom
Well, first off, let's talk about the final four teams. All four teams were more than capable of winning a national championship.
00:02:36
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:02:36
Tom
you know You can't say that every year. you look at Auburn's season, they were number one. I don't know how many weeks of but of the season.
00:02:41
@NoConfForOldMen
I know. Yeah.
00:02:43
Tom
I thought with a couple of weeks left in the regular season, I thought U of H, I thought
Experiencing the Duke Game
00:02:48
Tom
Duke, and I thought Florida were the three best teams. And then you could throw Auburn in there too.
00:02:57
Tom
So you have four teams and they're fighting for one bone and only one team is going to come out on top. so But that's the nature of sports. It's not for the faint of heart.
00:03:07
Tom
All these guys work hard, all four teams. i mean They come in there in the summer and they're working their guts off and You know, it was it's it's tough to see, that their seasons in when you know how much sacrifice they put in.
00:03:33
Tom
bit.
00:03:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, Yeah, I agree.
00:03:35
Tom
saw him interviewed, he's nothing but class, uh, saw the interview when they got off the bus, when they got back to Durham and he was talking to some students and, you know, he doesn't make excuses.
00:03:43
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, saw that.
00:03:57
Tom
so, you know, just some powerhouse teams, uh, but let's get back to the game. I thought we were missing some open shots in the first half, uh, that usually some of those usually go down, Emmanuel LJ, you know, they're usually money on the free throw line.
00:04:11
Tom
They both missed the free throw.
00:04:12
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:04:13
Tom
we had Juwan on that fast break, miss that, miss that, bunny on that, We had Duke missing a couple of free throws, and then they get the offensive rebound, and then eventually they get a layup. So we weren't finishing all possessions. And then Milo's got two fouls at the 11-minute mark, and we know how that's been during the season. Anytime Milo's has to sit, you know, it's not good for us. We got down 18-9. And then we just kind of clawed our way back in. I thought we were kind of playing a little bit tight.
00:04:48
Tom
It looked like LJ was keeping us in the game, hitting some shots. But I thought the overall theme in the first half was our failure to finish all possessions with a defensive rebound that ended up costing us.
00:05:01
Tom
And having said all that, we're only down six at halftime. So I'm sure our staff and Coach Sampson went into the locker room feeling pretty good. Then the second half starts, we were scoring, but we couldn't get any stops. You know we were just basically trading baskets. we were down at six at halftime.
00:05:21
Tom
we're scoring and it kind of
Reflecting on the Finals Loss
00:05:22
Tom
looks like, we're getting back in this game, but you look up there and we're down by eight or nine just because we couldn't get any stops. Get down 49, 59, 45. We're down by and it's, it's looking bleak.
00:05:34
Tom
I don't know how he came back and how he won this game because people are saying, if you look at all these statistics, nothing makes sense, you know, but that's why you play the game.
00:05:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:05:42
Tom
That's why the games aren't played on paper. You know, they're not played with computer data or whatever. it comes down to the players. We made a fabulous comeback.
00:05:52
Tom
A lot of key plays by different Cougars. We went to the press, and Duke had problems getting the ball in Kind of like like you said, Steve, the Kansas game.
00:06:03
Tom
And just an incredible game that if you're a passionate Houston Cougar fan, you know that's one of those games you'll never you'll never forget.
00:06:15
Tom
you'll never forget where you were, who you were with. In my case, Bill, I wasn't with, I wasn't in a sea of red. I was down in my basement by myself watching the game. So, that's good way. I kind of like watch games. if I'm going to watch a game, I'm more watch it by myself so I can concentrate on it. But, uh, yeah. What, what, what more can you say? these guys will go down and, Houston Cougar lore with that incredible comeback. Uh,
00:06:42
Tom
People all over the country are talking about that game.
00:06:45
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, completely agree. Bill, how about your views of the semi win from a player's perspective?
00:06:51
Bill Walker
First of all, I've never attended anything remotely close to this in my entire life. This was my fifth Final Four.
00:06:57
@NoConfForOldMen
I'll bet.
00:07:00
Bill Walker
I've attended three college football national championship games, all where I had a school in the game, Dog and the Hunt. and NBA, NHL finals, World Series, Super Bowls, but nothing has come even remotely close to what I experienced Saturday through Monday.
00:07:17
Bill Walker
Secondly, Some important mentions. Kevin McAlpin, who after I suffered a or went through a late ticket travel and accommodations snafu, took care of items two and three for me. So thank you very much, Kevin.
00:07:34
Bill Walker
And for item number one, Ronnie Bradshaw. longtime Cougars athletic supporter, fraternity brother, stepped up, worked his network, worked his magic, and got me tickets at cost in great seats in the Cougs sections for both games.
00:07:54
Bill Walker
Ronnie, I owe you big. And lastly, to address some idiots, Wally Zerbiak, who insisted that Duke, who is bigger and more talented, would easily win by double digits.
00:08:08
Bill Walker
Adam Rittenberg, a complete dolt from yeah ESPN, who wrote, there are three teams in San Antonio that play a beautiful brand of basketball.
00:08:18
Bill Walker
And then there's Houston. Great team, great coach, but just a brutal watch. I've tried, but I can't.
00:08:24
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I saw that.
00:08:25
Bill Walker
And lastly, John Fanta, and I guess I'll give John some credit because I heard afterwards that he did predict us to beat Florida, but when predicting us versus Duke, said, Duke has Cooper flag, enough said.
00:08:40
Bill Walker
Thank you all for your unchallenged, your uncompromised idiocy. In terms of the game, What an emotional roller coaster.
00:08:49
Bill Walker
And it was, for a lot of it, it was painful. Down nine with two minutes left. And then the euphoric ride began.
Finals Breakdown with Advanced Stats
00:08:58
Bill Walker
Sharp, Wilson, Roberts, Tugler, Duke Fowl, Duke Turnover.
00:09:03
Bill Walker
and the elation was nothing, and sorry, Stephen and Tom, that you could possibly imagine not having been there.
00:09:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, bet.
00:09:11
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah a but
00:09:12
Bill Walker
Everyone locked arms. Both men and women were crying passionately, screaming and cheering like like nothing I've ever experienced.
00:09:23
Bill Walker
As you mentioned, Steve, this was Kansas City. the Kansas comeback, but it was the Kansas comeback on mega steroids. Roberts hit two huge free throws.
00:09:34
Bill Walker
Tuggler following his tee blocked Knipple's layup, rebounded Wilson's three with a dunk. Wilson deflected the Seon James inbound pass that led to the aforementioned dunk.
00:09:47
Bill Walker
And Sharp hit, hit that monster three-pointer after getting the ball from Yuzan, faking flag off the court practically, and drilling the three to cut Duke's lead to three.
00:10:01
Bill Walker
Considering the circumstances, the opponent, the fact that we're the underdog going into the game, this was absolutely the greatest game I've ever witnessed, and thank you so much for that.
00:10:13
Bill Walker
Cougs. And thank you also Cougs for holding Duke to 67 points, holding them to under 40% from the field, out-rebounding them 42-31, including 18-10 on the offensive boards.
00:10:28
Bill Walker
And finally, thank you to the officials for letting both teams play, which as you might imagine will lead me into the the next game.
00:10:37
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, no kidding. When looking at the game from an advanced analytics perspective, obviously we all had great respect for Duke coming in. But I actually went in pretty calm given how we'd been playing up to that point.
00:10:50
@NoConfForOldMen
But with a week to prepare, I thought Shire came in with a great game plan and had his team really well prepared early at least for the defensive onslaught we were about to unleash.
00:11:00
@NoConfForOldMen
Duke actually led and controlled much of the game, as you guys had both mentioned. But as has been the case all season, the game never got out of reach and we just continued to just hang around. This ended up being a great defensive game on both sides with us just slowly figuring things out on the offensive side in the final, let's say, quartile of the game, final 10 minutes or so.
00:11:21
@NoConfForOldMen
while also slowly sucking the air out of Duke's offense as the game wore on. Both teams actually shot under 47% effective field goal percentage for the game, Duke ending up under 40% from two-point range, and that's incredibly low for such a great shooting team.
00:11:37
@NoConfForOldMen
But they paid close attention to not turning the ball over, and they ended up at under 12% for the game, which made it really tough for us to catch up for much of the game. We made our big run in the final 10 minutes, as I mentioned, outscoring Duke 25 to nine at that point.
00:11:52
@NoConfForOldMen
and it was that final push with 1.14 left where we finished with an 11-1 run, last nine points of the game that won the game. And though Cryer and Roberts made critical free throws at the end, I felt the big difference makers in the final stretch were Sharp and Tugler.
00:12:06
@NoConfForOldMen
Sharp with two free throws and a monster three, and then Tugler with a huge block on Knipple, and then an offensive rebound and follow-up dunk off a Wilson miss that got it to one with under 25 seconds left.
00:12:18
@NoConfForOldMen
Key stat of the game that made the difference for us in the end. Almost 17% block rate on their 36 two-point attempts and over 42% offensive rebounds, again, similar to what we did against Tennessee.
00:12:31
@NoConfForOldMen
It resulted in eight more field goal attempts than Duke, and we crossed over that magical 23-point attempts for the game, again, that I highlighted as key for us during the tourney. It appeared we were destined to win it all at that point.
00:12:45
@NoConfForOldMen
But again, that's kind of the beauty and the cruelty of the sport. You can't script it like a movie.
Emotional Impact of the Season
00:12:51
@NoConfForOldMen
And we just came up short 65-63 in the championship game versus Florida when we led for the vast majority of the game.
00:12:59
@NoConfForOldMen
Bill, don't you go first with your players perspective on the championship game versus Florida?
00:13:04
Bill Walker
As exhilarating, ecstatic, and euphoric as I felt following the Duke game, a little more than 48 hours later, my disposition took a total 180-degree turn.
00:13:17
Bill Walker
I actually felt a little uneasy after we were up fifty two forty in the second yeah the The first six fouls of the second half within three minutes were all called on Florida, which was just shocking to me.
00:13:35
Bill Walker
And just because of the nature of the way we play, we were aggressive.
00:13:35
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:13:38
Bill Walker
We rebound on both ends. We get in your face and we're the ones typically called for the fouls. And it's based on the way we play. But the first six fouls right off the bat were called on Florida.
00:13:51
Bill Walker
And then they receive a technical foul as well. And like i said, I was a little concerned. In fact, I turned to the gentleman on my left and I said, I'm worried that the makeup calls are about to rear their ugly heads.
00:14:05
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:06
Bill Walker
yeah Imposter referees, Ron Gruver, Terry Oglesby, and Doug Simmons did not disappoint. NCAA, if that's the best you can put on the floor of an NCAA title game, maybe you should perhaps figure out a way to funnel some NIL money to incentivizing refs to at least do an adequate job.
00:14:28
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:14:29
Bill Walker
Clearly, these three clowns felt an overwhelming desire to upstage what was a great game, two great teams,
00:14:37
Bill Walker
and get themselves as much airtime as possible. mean, first half, first half, they called four total fouls.
00:14:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:14:46
Bill Walker
And of course, one blatantly missed a goaltending, a second half, Florida was, was called for the six fouls in less than three minutes. Then the insanity began. We were called for 11 the next 12 fouls, uh,
00:15:04
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:15:05
Bill Walker
It was unreal. Three in one single possession. And they ended up calling 26 fouls in the second half, which just for an NCAA championship game is is just unreal.
00:15:22
@NoConfForOldMen
Thank
00:15:23
Bill Walker
with Adam Rittenberg, that this game, because of all the, all the stoppages, all the, the whistles, this game was almost unwatchable.
00:15:34
Bill Walker
But, but when referees have no intention of letting the players play in a game of this magnitude, Grover, Oglesby and Simmons should have been benched and replacements should have been put in.
00:15:48
Bill Walker
Period. In terms of the game, Calvin put it best. He said we couldn't make a shot the second half. We held Florida to under 40% from the field, under from three.
00:15:59
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:16:01
Bill Walker
ah ah clayton they're best player, best scorer, shot three of 10 and one of seven from three. Martin, their second leading scorer, shot two of 10 from the field, one of six from three.
00:16:14
Bill Walker
Florida's third option, Richard, was the only reason, aside from the non-goaltending call, that UF was even in the game at halftime.
00:16:26
Bill Walker
And By the way, the final two minutes of games can take two hours so that every play can be reviewed and every tenth of a second can be accounted for.
00:16:40
Bill Walker
But unless goaltending is actually called, that can't be reviewed.
00:16:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:16:46
Bill Walker
And you know that was a five-point swing at the end of the first half. And it makes no sense that you could spend so much time in the final two minutes of a game playing going over every minute just second or 10th of a second of everything. But, but somehow that, that, that can't be looked at, uh,
00:17:08
Bill Walker
You know, I don't know. Unreal. As Kelvin said, just as bad a shooting game, 35% from the field, 24% from three, 64% from the line.
00:17:22
Bill Walker
Cryer led us with 19, despite going 6 of 18 from the field. But I would say our star, when the refs allowed him on the court, because they... they called two fouls against him in one possession.
00:17:37
Bill Walker
And it was clearly Francis. I mean, he he had eight points, six boards, two blocks and, and,
00:17:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, agree. Yeah.
00:17:45
Bill Walker
one just indescribably athletic dunk. I would say the dunk of the tournament, uh, he had played a great game. And as much as I wish sharp would have, let Clayton, you know fly by like he did with flag or go up into, Clayton and get fouled at the end of the game. Time was running down and sharp did what he thought he needed to do.
00:18:10
Bill Walker
Clayton made a good play defensively. And unfortunately that was it. you know, people, people like complete idiots and Steve, you referred to it.
00:18:19
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:18:19
Bill Walker
they're going to come down on sharp and on that final play, but it it never should have come to that.
00:18:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Ridiculous.
00:18:25
Bill Walker
it, you know, it, we, we should have won that game and not had to, to attempt a final shot to, to either tie or to win.
00:18:36
Bill Walker
Uh,
00:18:38
Bill Walker
Negatively, Sharp was only 3 of 11 from the field, 1 of 7 from 3, and that didn't help. But neither did Yuzan shooting.
00:18:47
@NoConfForOldMen
All right.
00:18:47
Bill Walker
And Yuzan, by the way, didn't shoot well for the entire tournament.
00:18:52
@NoConfForOldMen
Or final four.
00:18:52
Bill Walker
2 of 9 in the championship game, 0 of 4 from 3.
00:18:53
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Okay.
00:18:56
Bill Walker
Roberts was 3 of 13. And Cryer missed 12 shots. I mean, it was a Brutal night, and like Calvin attested to and stated, we just couldn't hit a shot in the second half. Just a miserable offensive night, and just absolutely painful.
Looking Ahead to Next Season
00:19:13
Bill Walker
Post-game, to see how badly this hurt-sharp Crier-Roberts, and to know this was the final game for Crier-Roberts, Wilson-Francis,
00:19:25
Bill Walker
and now as it turns out, likely use Anne and, and Arsenault, really painful for Calvin and the staff as well in what should have been Calvin's 800th win. And it's just, just utterly excruciating,
00:19:41
Bill Walker
In the end, though, it was a phenomenal season. I think eventually I may feel better, but to see that happen after seeing the Duke win and really knowing and feeling that it was our time and Calvin's time just kind of makes me hate even talking about this.
00:20:01
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, completely agree. Hey, Tom, how about you from a coach's perspective on the Florida game?
00:20:08
Tom
Yeah, before I talk about the Florida game, just something I missed out about the Duke game, talking about it. You know, Duke hadn't been in hardly any close games all year long. And, they had a really young team as far as you look at Cooper Flagg and you look at Concanipple and Malawatch. Yeah.
00:20:25
Tom
And every one of their games, they either miss some shots or turn the ball over in crunch time.
00:20:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:20:30
Tom
And that's kind of what happened to us when we played them is, you know, Cooper missed that last shot. Really good defense by Juwan. anyway, enough about the Duke game.
00:20:41
Tom
That one's... that one's over too, but, heading into the final game, you had, kind of, uh, interesting coaching matchup.
00:20:52
Tom
You have Todd golden, who's, uh, 39 years old and you have Kelvin who's, who's 69 years old. So there's a 30 year difference there.
00:20:59
@NoConfForOldMen
69 now.
00:21:02
Tom
me being an old coach, I'm, I'm going to turn 63 here in about a week and a half. there, there's kind of a, uh, and it happens with every generation.
00:21:11
Tom
It's, The young generation, they just crap on the old coaches. I heard Tom Izzo called up Kelvin and said, for me and for Rick Barnes, for Tubby Smith, he says, Kelvin, go out there and win one for the old guys.
00:21:26
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:39
Tom
I mean, you look at what Kelvin's done at U of H, I don't care how old he is, whether he's 69 years old or whether he's 29 years old. but I just kind of get sick and tired of that with, some of these young guys.
00:21:51
Tom
So I was really hoping for, Kelvin's sake that he, he would win it, and that'd be the crowning achievement in his long career. But enough of that, too.
00:22:01
Tom
Going on to the game, we were up by 12.
00:22:09
Tom
I just kept coming back to this. We're Houston Cougars. Are we really going to win this? And there's a word called the fuckening. It's where everything is going great, but in the back of your mind, you know something bad is going to happen. And I just kind of had...
00:22:27
Tom
I had that feeling the minute, you know, the minute I got to thinking visualizing Kelvin and staff hugging each other, and hugging his wife, hugging his daughter, hugging Kelvin, you know, and the staff just maybe in a big circle, hugging and confetti coming down, then and I thought, okay, let's, let's see what happens. But anyway, you guys talked about fouls, but boy, the game was officiated. And, and I say this kind of jokingly, but,
00:22:54
Tom
You know, if you want to get a foul called, do one of two things. Either fall down, like Galen Robinson says, just fall down.
00:23:02
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
00:23:03
Tom
They'll call a foul. We saw that in the Texas Tech game where I think it was Malik was, I can't remember who he was guarding, but the dribbler just fell down.
00:23:11
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
00:23:11
Tom
uh, he didn't even touch him. They call a foul and that was two free throws. And then the next possession, they hit a three and they tied it up. And, you know, that was only, only lost in conference play. And then the next thing is, probably within the first three or four minutes, just go batshit crazy and get a T because you're guaranteed to get the next, uh, 10 fouls called against the opponent.
00:23:31
Tom
I was, uh, Texting back with Randy Randell in the game, and I told Randy, I said, expect the next 10 fouls to go against us. I mean, it wasn't 10. Was it six?
00:23:41
@NoConfForOldMen
It's close.
00:23:41
Tom
that
00:23:42
Tom
Was it six or seven?
00:23:42
@NoConfForOldMen
thought it was a 9-0 run, I think, of fouls called on us.
00:23:46
Bill Walker
It was 10 out of 11.
00:23:48
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:23:48
Tom
Yeah, yeah. And, it was the same thing that happened to the Tech game when, McCaslin, threw his little tiny fist in the air and, you know, and,
00:23:58
Tom
did all his antics when, when Toppin was ejected. But anyway, yeah, that game was so close. You know, it was like Charlie Brown about to kick the football and, Lucy picks the football up and Charlie Brown falls flat on his ass. so close to the Wiley Coyote, almost getting the road runner, and he's about that close to getting the road runner. And then something, something bad happened. So, yeah,
00:24:25
Tom
Kelvin mentioned something early in the game when they interviewed him about nerves on both teams while the shooting was so bad. Emmanuel had some wide-open looks and shots that he normally makes, and they weren't even close.
00:24:39
Tom
I mean, they were like –
00:24:40
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:24:42
Tom
Wide left, wide right. Milo's had some shots where he missed everything, missed the whole basket, air ball, but it wasn't just short. It was like off to the left, and he had a couple of shots blocked that I hadn't seen happen all year long.
00:24:58
Tom
But give credit to Florida. you know
00:25:00
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:25:00
Tom
Florida played really, really good defense. You got to give credit to them because one thing I said about the SEC all year long was that there wasn't whole lot of defense played in that league.
00:25:13
Tom
But, Florida stepped up and, they made the stops one day when they had to.
00:25:19
Bill Walker
Excuse me, Tom.
00:25:19
Tom
And then you get to the end of the game. Yep.
00:25:21
Bill Walker
Oh, I don't mean to interrupt you, but in terms of the missed shots, and like I said, it was both teams missing them, it's hard as hell to be hitting shots and really to get into a rhythm when the game is stopped every 20 seconds.
00:25:38
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
00:25:39
Tom
Yep.
00:25:39
Bill Walker
And this isn't to say that the officials were, you know,
00:25:45
Bill Walker
coming after U of H or or making horrible calls against U of H. They were just blowing the whistle left and right. It was nonstop. It was everything. I mean, 26,000 in one half.
00:25:57
Bill Walker
it's hard to get into a rhythm and it's hard to shoot well and do anything offensively when the game is consistently stopped.
00:25:59
Tom
Yeah, you can't. Yeah. Yeah, you can't get there's no float. There's no flow to the game. Yeah, there's no flow.
00:26:06
Bill Walker
Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:07
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:26:09
Tom
And, for all the idiots out there that were dogpiling on Emmanuel, first off, Emmanuel, he's a great guy, super, super human being.
00:26:17
@NoConfForOldMen
Yes.
00:26:20
Tom
I'm sure, you know, I'm sure he would love to have that situation over again. But, that's... You know, that's, that's sports, sometimes you're the hero and sometimes you aren't, but you just can't place it all on a manual either.
00:26:28
@NoConfForOldMen
exactly.
00:26:35
Tom
think we talked about this the other day is he does, he doesn't have to go up in there and travel or whatever he did. If John sets a good pick, it kind of looked like it might've been an elevator play because I heard Kelvin say,
00:26:45
@NoConfForOldMen
And
00:26:52
Tom
He said something about the gate, which is an elevator play where you have a shooter go in between two bigs and it's like going through the elevator and then the two bigs, you know, close up the elevator doors and And so it kind of looked like Jawan and JVA were supposed to set an elevator screen, but it but it didn't happen.
00:27:09
Tom
So, but you can't blame Emmanuel. We had four turnovers on our last four possessions.
00:27:13
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, exactly.
00:27:14
Tom
So we didn't get a shot off, you know, in those last four possessions. And then, then of course you get people on the internet, you know, these grifters or whatever, they make a living, you know, breaking down basketball plays and all that.
00:27:24
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:27:28
Tom
And they, they don't coach, they just go out there and they put clips on there and they're ripping Kelvin about his play calling, whatever.
00:27:37
Tom
So that kind of stuck in my stuck in my crawl. But when you look at the whole picture, we went 35-5, made it to the national championship game, gave us great moments during the season.
00:27:45
@NoConfForOldMen
I know.
00:27:58
@NoConfForOldMen
Exactly.
00:28:00
Tom
You got to look at the games as a fan that start in November. and Every time these kids, these guys hit the floor, we have to enjoy it because pretty soon the season's over with and and this collection of players we'll never get to see again. Some of them will go on to have professional careers or whatever, but there's nothing like being on a team that's close-knit as a college basketball team and as a fan.
00:28:29
Tom
owe it all to the to the coaching staff and the players for having this tremendous season. It's just too bad we fell a little bit little bit short.
00:28:39
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I couldn't say it any better, Tom. mean, we had such a great year. And you just can't let the last game ruin a spectacular season, right?
00:28:53
@NoConfForOldMen
And so for me, I'm not going to go into the advanced analytics for this game. It'd be too painful. I'm not going to subject anyone to it. I mean, going in, we all predicted a tight one here. But we all felt pretty confident coming in with Coach Sampson at the helm versus Florida on only two days prep.
00:29:08
@NoConfForOldMen
It's like, come on, no team can be remotely ready for our level of intensity and physicality on D with that kind of a turnaround. And this proved to be the point at the start, as well as in the second half, where Florida was pressured and turned the ball over nine times.
00:29:23
@NoConfForOldMen
in the first half. But unfortunately, we just weren't able to capitalize, leading only by three at the half, 31.28, after having issues getting points on the board. Now, we turned things up a notch to start the second, as you guys highlighted. We were up by 12 with 16.24 left, but that's where Florida just started to chip away at our lead the rest of the way. And they actually ended up taking the lead at, was really only 46 seconds left on the clock.
00:29:51
@NoConfForOldMen
What I'll leave folks with is, hey, the key stats of the game that really eliminated our chances to pull this one out is you guys highlighted four turnovers in our last four possessions with no shots off while only turning the ball over five other times for the other 38 plus minutes of the game.
00:30:10
@NoConfForOldMen
So close for our first championship that I'm sure the kids could actually taste it, but the cruelty of it all is that we end up losing by two. But you know for me, in my old age, I could actually deal with it a bit better than I could when I was much younger. What really ache for are the kids on the team, especially the ones that are graduating.
00:30:31
@NoConfForOldMen
But you know what?
Recruitment and Strategy for the Future
00:30:33
@NoConfForOldMen
We now turn the page to next season, where hope springs eternal, like with all the other teams. So i know it's early, guys, and we'll do a more thorough, kind of full-fledged analysis once the Portal season ends.
00:30:47
@NoConfForOldMen
But let's maybe pivot to something a bit more positive and let's start looking at the outlook for next season. Tom, you can go first. What's your coach's perspective on what you expect to see going into next season?
00:31:03
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:31:05
Tom
You know, I'm not an insider. I can't jump in into Coach Sampson's head and see what he's thinking. But, it's going to be interesting.
00:31:13
Tom
We know when Jairus came in he started right off the bat. Well, we've got three Jairuses now, you know.
00:31:19
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I know
00:31:19
Tom
And, you know, that's going to be interesting to see how these three are are utilized.
00:31:28
Tom
Yeah. we don't know yet whether what the roster is going to look like because we haven't heard yet what Milo's is going to do. so, you know, that's going to be whether, whether he goes to the NBA or whether he stays for another year, that's going to change kind of the, makeup of the team. So, um, then we had Terrence leave today, which I think is a, is a win-win for, both parties. Um, parties.
00:31:55
Tom
And then we picked up the big kid from Sam Houston State. I'm not sure what what his role on the team is going to be, whether he's coming in as like maybe a third or or fourth big is insurance in case of injury or in case, CNAC doesn't pick up things, you know, quickly.
00:32:14
Tom
So for me, it's kind of a wait and see, you know, and see what happens with the portal and see if we have more movement on the roster, with a Qantas going to, to Louisiana, we might have, a player, maybe two, you never know that maybe you want to go with, with him because they're familiar with the system and then be a chance for them to get more playing time. That it would be if they're here at U of H, we don't know Ramon status yet, whether, he's going to get that, they're going to grant him that extra year.
00:32:45
Tom
So just kind of, kind of bunch of unknowns here so far. And, the portal's open till what, like April 26th, I believe it is. We picked up Pop Isaacs.
00:32:58
Tom
We'll see, and Kelvin, we trust. We talked about that, I think the other day.
00:33:02
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:33:06
Tom
So we'll see. You know, a lot of fans weren't crazy about Milos and look what, look what, look what he did.
00:33:11
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:33:14
Tom
So,
00:33:14
@NoConfForOldMen
Exactly.
00:33:15
Tom
and Kelvin's been pretty good with his transfer guys so far. Damian Dunn probably being the one that's the most agreed to as far as not working out. But Dunn did contribute to a little bit.
00:33:26
Tom
It's not like he was just – I'd say he had probably more of an impact than A.J.
00:33:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:33:31
Tom
Stor did at Kansas.
00:33:33
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I mean, Tom, we kind of chuckled a little bit as you talked about the portal ad there. But you know quite honestly, if you do a comparison, we used to goof on Pop Isaacs when he was still at Tech, given his lack of D and maybe taking some questionable shots. But if you look at...
00:33:54
@NoConfForOldMen
player box score plus minus, and especially on the defensive end where we focus so much for our program, you know, his numbers are eerily similar to Cryer's numbers before joining our program, right? Cryer was a...
00:34:09
@NoConfForOldMen
negative 0.4 defensive player box score the year before he joined. And then if you look at the last year for Pop Isaacs at Tech, he was a negative 0.3. So both of them were negatives right on the defensive side, but look at Cryard and how far he came.
00:34:25
@NoConfForOldMen
And so I think if anyone's going to turn to around, right, you know this staff is going to turn around the defensive ten intensity, right, with Pop Isaacs.
00:34:32
Tom
And I'm not sure, you know, I don't know Pop Isaac's like whole game, but probably one thing that hurt us in the Florida game is we didn't have a Jamal Shedd where you could just give it in ball and tell everybody else, just get the hell out of the way and don't get in the way.
00:34:45
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yep.
00:34:47
Tom
And, I mean, the type of players we had that they need a ball screen, you know, they need a pin down, you got to set a flare for them and and all those actions, you know, can be guarded.
00:34:53
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Agreed.
00:34:59
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:34:59
Tom
But it's very, very tough to to just spread the floor and go like a 1-4 and 4 on the baseline and give it to a shed and say, hey, go get a basket. Go get a bucket.
00:35:09
Tom
Maybe Kingston Fleming's just that guy.
00:35:11
@NoConfForOldMen
Most definitely. I expect them
00:35:12
Tom
Maybe it's Pop Isaacs. you know But no no knock on LJ or Emmanuel, but they they just aren't those they just aren't those type of you know players.
00:35:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Agree. Bill, how about you from a player's perspective on next year?
00:35:28
Bill Walker
Well, first of all, i've I like Isaacs. I've liked him for a long time. didn't like him as much at Tech because he he was a threat. I mean, he's a definite threat.
00:35:42
@NoConfForOldMen
That's right.
00:35:42
Bill Walker
And, you know, he's a shoot first. He's more of a shoot first point guard, but when he was playing at tech, they had a small backcourt.
00:35:52
Bill Walker
It was him. And it, it was, if you recall, Joe Toussaint who had come from West Virginia, you know, it's kind of, it was kind of like starting two point guards.
00:35:56
@NoConfForOldMen
that's right
00:36:03
Bill Walker
So yeah know Isaac's,
00:36:04
Tom
Thank you.
00:36:06
Bill Walker
Isaacs was a big time scorer and I love the fact that a he's great from the outside he could shoot from deep but he could also put the ball on the floor and get to the hoop and he is absolutely what's referred to as a three-level scorer and I love that about him and I love that he'll be bringing that, that offense, uh, to U of H and obviously Calvin seen something in him, from the defensive side of the ball or else he wouldn't have brought him in. And I have complete faith and trusted Calvin. If Calvin wants him, then that, you know, there, there's absolutely no reason to, to doubt that.
00:36:45
Bill Walker
In terms of three Jairuses, I'm not so sure that that's the case. Obviously, we've got three five-stars, but I've got to imagine, and I could be wrong, but I've got to imagine that Isaacs is going to start, especially due to his experience.
00:37:04
Bill Walker
Sharp's obviously going to start, and that means that our third backcourt player is either going to be Harwell or Flemings, and I'm guessing it's probably going to be Harwell, which means you know we won't have the three freshmen starting.
00:37:20
Bill Walker
It'll probably be, I would think, Flemings coming off the bench, which is fine with me because we're going to have a lot of depth in the backcourt
00:37:26
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. The point guard.
00:37:30
Bill Walker
uh, yeah, the, the, at small forward, we obviously lost Terrence today and, you know, it's, it's tough. I've been down on Terrence probably more so than most this year. And I, and I, part of it's because I expected a lot out of him, from the time he, came here out of Beaumont, but, uh,
00:37:53
Bill Walker
But at small forward, someone that plays that position in the 6'5 to range, I don't know. We've got Jackson coming in. He's the one non-five star that's coming in. But I heard that he – and I didn't see –
00:38:14
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, he needs time.
00:38:15
Bill Walker
much of him in terms of highlights this year, but I heard he had just a great senior year.
00:38:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:38:19
Bill Walker
And I think that he could, from what I understand, from what I've heard, I think that he could very likely contribute in year one.
00:38:20
@NoConfForOldMen
ye
00:38:29
Bill Walker
And then we have McCarty as well, who would be a small forward, and we'll see what he brings to the table. But there is some depth for sure. The front court, the one thing that concerns me is that we may not have – an inside scorer, consistent inside scorer like we had with Juwan, who could get the ball, use his big body, get inside and score down low, draw fouls.
00:39:04
Bill Walker
i I hope and I have no doubt that Tuggler can step up and become more of an inside scorer, and I expect that out of him.
00:39:14
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:17
Bill Walker
I also... have only seen highlights of Senac. Uh, but I, I get the impression that he's not quite as physical a player down low as, as Roberts was.
00:39:28
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:39:31
Bill Walker
So we'll see. if Senac can provide some inside scoring that would be enormous. And then, we've also got, McFarlane coming back off the injury. he's not an inside scorer. he's more of a shot blocker and, hopefully he could continue putting on some weight over the summer and and become more of a physical presence inside. But, he's a kind of a thin, lanky, tall, you know, uh, long reach kind of like, uh, Javier and,
00:39:59
Bill Walker
come in block shots and, develop his game offensively. and like I said, stronger and become a force inside. But, you know, know, I, I certainly like what we've got coming back next year.
00:40:13
Bill Walker
And I'm assuming that use on has to be gone. Otherwise i don't think Isaacs would have been coming in.
00:40:22
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:40:22
Bill Walker
I think,
00:40:22
@NoConfForOldMen
We don't know. We don't know. Still hope until it actually occurs, right? We got assume he's still here,
00:40:28
Bill Walker
well Well, yes, you can hope, but I mean, is Fleming's going to be your third point guard? I just, I don't see it.
00:40:40
Bill Walker
I don't see it
00:40:41
@NoConfForOldMen
So if we play out a scenario where, let's say Because I think you're right. We all believe Uzan will likely go pro, right? If his stock hasn't dropped too much. But if he comes back, I don't think...
00:40:55
@NoConfForOldMen
Pop Isaacs will play like point.
00:40:57
Tom
Combo combo guard.
00:40:57
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, he'll he'll be strictly scoring. He'll be strictly scoring. You'll have two point guards between Uzan and Flemings. I think if Uzan goes, then yeah, you might have, Pop Isaacs start for a little bit just to get things rolling.
00:41:11
@NoConfForOldMen
And you're still going to see, Flemings is not a guy that's going to be sitting much. I mean, there's no chance he comes here to sit, know, more than half the game.
00:41:18
Tom
You know, I haven't heard every I haven't heard every interview, the Kelvin.
00:41:19
Bill Walker
but I don't think Papa Isaacs comes here to sit either.
00:41:22
@NoConfForOldMen
No, no, but he'll start on the wing then, right?
00:41:26
Tom
But, hey, guys...
00:41:26
@NoConfForOldMen
One of the wing positions.
00:41:26
Bill Walker
Okay, but we've also got Sharp and we've got Harwell.
00:41:30
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I...
00:41:32
Bill Walker
I mean, who are you expecting to... Which of, I'm assuming, Harwell or Flemings are you expecting to come off the bench? Because if you've got Sharp...
00:41:44
Bill Walker
you've got hot look well you've got Sharp and you've got Isaacs starting, then the third wing player or guard has got to be either Flemings or Harwell.
00:41:56
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're right.
00:41:58
Bill Walker
And one of them comes off the bench.
00:41:58
@NoConfForOldMen
the
00:42:00
Bill Walker
And if Uzan's back, then maybe both freshmen are coming off the bench.
00:42:07
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. I would expect them to come off the bench.
00:42:10
Bill Walker
Yeah.
00:42:10
@NoConfForOldMen
They'll still get plenty of minutes, though.
00:42:10
Bill Walker
Yeah.
00:42:12
@NoConfForOldMen
I think they'll get plenty.
Season Reflection and Conclusion
00:42:14
@NoConfForOldMen
and They'll be, big time in the rotation, at least half the game, they'll be on the court, right?
00:42:17
Bill Walker
Yeah, i well, in my mind, I'm virtually positive that Milos is going to the NBA.
00:42:22
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:42:25
Bill Walker
I've got to imagine that he's heard from his agent, his agent. is people around him, whoever that, and ESPN, I know is, is, has projected him to go right around 40, which is, the top third of the top quarter of the second round of the draft. and, you shed shed went toward the bottom of the second round and signed for three years for 2 million a year. So, uh,
00:42:56
Bill Walker
I think if Yuzan knows that he's going in the top third to top quarter the second round, that he's on his way out.
00:43:04
Bill Walker
And yeah, I'd love it for him to stay, but I just don't think he's going to.
00:43:06
@NoConfForOldMen
If that happens. so
00:43:10
Tom
Hey, fellas, when you listen to Kelvin talk, I haven't heard him in every single interview. I really haven't heard him say much about Harwell or Senac, but there's like a little twinkle in his eye when he talks about Flemings.
00:43:22
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah, no doubt.
00:43:24
Bill Walker
Oh, I agree.
00:43:24
Tom
and a cal but And Kelvin loves point guards.
00:43:24
Bill Walker
he He talked about him.
00:43:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:43:27
Bill Walker
Yeah, he was like, Flemings is a pure point guard. I love the way he plays. Yeah, I heard Kelvin speak about him. And yes, I completely agree with you, Tom. He is very high on Flemings. And I think we all are.
00:43:41
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:43:42
Bill Walker
I know Steve and I have had conversations about him. And we're both little more fired up about him than we are anyone else. Although I really like Harwell also, but, uh, but yeah.
00:43:49
@NoConfForOldMen
yep yeah
00:43:54
Bill Walker
And I think that's another reason why it's probably okay on both sides, both Uzan and u of H that, uh,
00:44:14
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:44:18
Bill Walker
and Isaac's, Isaacs has dished the ball enough with Tack and actually I don't know what he did at Kansas before he redshirted other than, other not Kansas, I'm sorry, Creighton, other than the big game against Kansas where he where he scored 27 against them.
00:44:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Uh, Creighton, Creighton. Yeah.
00:44:36
@NoConfForOldMen
No, his numbers were, were all up.
00:44:38
Bill Walker
But
00:44:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:44:41
Bill Walker
but i think that Calvin's got to feel pretty good with our entire backcourt, the point, the point, the two guard and the three or the third guard.
00:44:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay.
00:44:54
Bill Walker
Yeah, for me, it's production out of the small forward when the small forward comes in and what we do with in terms of inside scoring.
00:45:05
Tom
i got I got a question for you guys.
00:45:05
@NoConfForOldMen
okay
00:45:06
Bill Walker
but,
00:45:07
Tom
Okay. You know, this past season when we went small, Terrence played the four.
00:45:13
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:45:15
Tom
Next year, when we go small, or if we go small.
00:45:21
@NoConfForOldMen
I don't think we will. We'll have enough bigs where we're and we're not going to have to go small.
00:45:25
Tom
But sometimes it's matchups, though, you know, when we we need a quicker four.
00:45:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, but I don't think we have that guy. and we'll find out after the portal season's over, right, if we add any more.
00:45:36
Tom
Oh.
00:45:37
@NoConfForOldMen
But if you look at the makeup and the size, of the kids, it's all like six, five, six, six wings, and then four bigs, right? We don't have anyone that kind of fits that mold to be a stretch for, you're right, so to speak. And maybe that gets added on. We'll see.
00:45:55
@NoConfForOldMen
I mean, what I'll say here is, come on, guys, I expected a bit more energy. I know we just lost, but, you know, going into next season, if you look from a player's analytics perspective, before we know everyone and who's coming back, we're going to be loaded next year.
00:46:03
Tom
oh
00:46:10
@NoConfForOldMen
know, we've got three of our top six player box score plus minus players back. Well, potentially unknown around Uzan, right? You got Sharp. Tuggler, Uzan, but I would argue as long as we get can get Sharp and Tuggler back, man, I am a happy camper.
00:46:25
@NoConfForOldMen
Then we've got Walker, Miller, Jefferson, McFarlane, McCarty, Lopp, potentially back from the bench. Then you add in our best recruiting class ever coming in. Three five-stars, Cinec, Flemings, Harwell, plus you'd say a three-slash-four-star in Jackson coming in.
00:46:42
@NoConfForOldMen
And top things off, we've got two additions from the portal with Sacco at... yeah center and Isaacs at kind of a combo guard. Obviously some of these kids are likely going to still be leaving because we usually only carry like 13 kids on the roster. Plus our numbers moving forward need to be capped at 15 with a house settlement forthcoming.
00:47:04
@NoConfForOldMen
But this would be the most talented though youngest team ever under Samson based on historical star ratings combined with experienced talent. Now, not going to speculate on potential departures and stuff, even though we kind of did a little bit on Uzan and we'll know really shortly where we stand.
00:47:25
@NoConfForOldMen
But, you know, I think Uzan, Tugler, Sharp, they're all going to go through the NBA evaluation process in the next month. But even with some potential departures there to the transfer portal or going pro, I think the balanced makeup of the roster will allow us to handle any of those departures.
00:47:44
@NoConfForOldMen
In fact, the consensus way too early, Preece is in top 25. that are out there has us as an overwhelming number one preseason in the country at this point. That's eight out of 10 rankings have us number one, followed by Duke, Purdue, UConn, and then Louisville. So come on, man.
00:48:02
@NoConfForOldMen
I'm fired up about next year. I mean, granted, I'll be honest. I agree. It's young and that's not typical of what we've had before. And I would argue that I'd be shocked if it ends up being a better team than this year, because this year was a special team.
00:48:18
@NoConfForOldMen
But I've called next year's team the most intriguing team of the Samson era because of the
00:48:25
Tom
It'll have a higher ceiling.
00:48:26
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh, yeah. The ceiling is like limitless. I mean, you're talking about a Duke-like freshman class coming in. And so I can't wait to see what, you know, Coach Sampson is able to mold, that kind of talent into and yeah over the course of the year. So...
00:48:44
@NoConfForOldMen
I'm fired up. I mean, I'll tell you what, I'll be going to even more games. I'll be flying in from California for even more games to see what Coach Sampson and staff have in mind for these kids, because it's going to be outrageous. It'll be fun. And with some of the other big time freshmen that are coming in at BYU and Kansas, it's going to be a fun ride next year.
00:49:04
Tom
Oh, I'm fired up too. I just kind of, kind of i'm I'm waiting for the dust to settle, you know, with, with the roster,
00:49:11
@NoConfForOldMen
I'm just kidding. I know. I know. It's it's tough. It's tough. I'm just trying to fire up our fans right after a really devastating loss.
00:49:18
Tom
uh, and, and, you know it was less than 24 hours after our loss to Florida, that the news came out that we got, uh, Papa Isaacs.
00:49:18
@NoConfForOldMen
And so let's do it, man.
00:49:24
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:49:27
@NoConfForOldMen
I know. Crazy, right?
00:49:28
Tom
And yeah, that, uh,
00:49:31
Tom
that That got me over the hump of losing a little bit, knowing that, you know, hey, Kelvin's starting to put some pieces together for the for the team next year.
00:49:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:49:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, agreed.
00:49:41
Tom
Bill, you mentioned that you would like for us to get
00:49:41
Bill Walker
also That also led me to absolutely be convinced that Milos is going to the NBA, that that happened that quickly.
00:49:52
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, we'll see. see. Yeah, he hasn't had his assessment yet. So we'll see. We'll go over the details once the portal closes, I think towards the, I think it's like around the 25th of May or something like that.
00:50:05
@NoConfForOldMen
or Oh, no, it's actually later this month. It's actually just two weeks away, I think, is when the portal closes. So we'll do a full-fledged summary and outlook for next year at that point.
00:50:15
Bill Walker
You know, Steve, I was having a conversation with Rob James earlier, and he brought up an interesting point, and it may not happen this year,
00:50:20
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:50:25
Bill Walker
At least, hopefully, it doesn't happen this year, but we could be heading toward it. Who's to say that before the season starts that someone like BYU, who's paying $7 million to $10 million player,
00:50:41
Bill Walker
doesn't come in at the last minute and offer CNAC $10 million to leave at the last second, and all of sudden he's playing for BYU next year.
00:50:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:50:51
Bill Walker
I mean, chances are, well, chances are.
00:50:52
@NoConfForOldMen
Hey, hey, hey. Shut your mouth. We're trying to end on a positive note in this.
00:50:56
Bill Walker
well chip chance Chances i mean chances are are utterly remote that something like that happens.
00:50:59
@NoConfForOldMen
BP's thrown out. Yeah.
00:51:03
Bill Walker
but That's more to a commentary on the state of college basketball.
00:51:03
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:51:07
Bill Walker
and We can get into more of that when we talk in in the postseason this summer when we're talking about NIL and some of the other stuff.
00:51:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:51:18
Bill Walker
don't know.
00:51:18
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:51:19
Bill Walker
but it's it's yeah i don't know
00:51:22
@NoConfForOldMen
No, I'm excited about next year. So it's going to be a fun ride.
00:51:25
Bill Walker
I am too. am too.
00:51:27
@NoConfForOldMen
So enjoy it, guys.
00:51:29
Bill Walker
i am too. It's just going to take, it's still going to take a little while to to get over this. And I know you, Steve, you had talked about, you know, you felt badly for the players and the graduating players. And this was, you know, the end for them and everything. I still feel the most badly for Calvin.
00:51:50
Bill Walker
Uh, I mean, Calvin, Calvin could have easily won a title in, uh, 21 where we lost in San Antonio to Villanova on the game, where ironically, another game where we just couldn't hit a shot.
00:52:04
Bill Walker
And then last year, if Shed doesn't go down, i i will never not be 100% convinced that we're not in the title game against UConn.
00:52:15
Bill Walker
And UConn had a great team last year, but but you know who knows? I just think that Calvin could have won titles by now, e absolutely.
00:52:24
Bill Walker
absolutely deserved and coached as well as you can coach and had the team that should have won on Monday night. and Unfortunately, it didn't happen, but I just feel badly for him.
00:52:38
Bill Walker
and so i'm i'm still I'm still a little, yeah, I'm not quite on to next season yet.
00:52:44
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:52:45
Bill Walker
I will be, but I'm not quite there yet.
00:52:48
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay. Well, we'll see how you feel in a couple of weeks. So when we do our next episode. So that's it for our 51st episode of the No Conference for Old Bend podcast. We hope you all enjoyed it. And again, we'd really appreciate it if folks would follow, subscribe, or collect our podcast, depending on your podcast platform of choice.
00:53:08
@NoConfForOldMen
We are also available via the Republican Football podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's Texas Football. and It's the only basketball-centric podcast or at the gocooks.com website for those that prefer to digest the content that way.
00:53:20
@NoConfForOldMen
We appreciate the continued support from all. And please give us follow on our Twitter account, No Conference for Old Men. Thank you all again for listening and be on the lookout for our first off-season episode in the coming weeks after the portal season has ended to download and listen.
00:53:36
@NoConfForOldMen
Take care, everyone.
00:53:48
Tom
Thank you.