SPEAKER_01: 0:13

Hey guys, it's John Macaman, our host of Ron of Vegas. We're talking local sports business real staff. If you guys would like to see, subscribe, follow us on Rona Vegas podcasts. Today I got my co-host, Mr. Ryan Polyman, in the house. We got a big week. Big week. This is the ULV Mountain West Championship Preview show. It's a big one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 0:43

So tell me your thoughts. Like obviously I'm kind of surprised to get in. A little bit. Some things had to happen to make sure that we were able to get in. Some dominoes fell, and then there's some, you know, kind of some things that are a little bit controversial, I guess, in some people's minds to get us in. But uh at the for the most part, I mean, you know, when we talked at the beginning of the season, this is the matchup that we thought was going to happen. State versus UNLV in the Mountain West Championship game. And I'm I'm stoked that we're there, especially the last year that the conference is the way it's been for, you know, since since the WAC kind of dissolved. Um, so it would be great to win this game and go out on top.

SPEAKER_01: 1:21

Yeah, I think you called it. I don't think I had UNLV in the Mountain West Championship game. So good call by you. Um, a lot of things went well this year, which was awesome. Uh, just really cool. The third Mountain West Championship game in a row. So I just I hope we don't turn into the Buffalo Bills and uh just keep losing these. Uh but pretty impressive. Gamel, great first year. Um some of those lots, or some of those wins in the beginning, like Miami, Ohio, Miami, Ohio actually looks like a good team now. UCLA has uh is definitely gotten better as the season progressed. Uh but yeah, it's just exciting that they got in at the last minute, so to speak. Right. You know, it came down to the metrics that nobody understood. So yeah, I'm I'm uh I'm fired up for Friday night against Boise. And uh, you know, I there couldn't be a better team. Like, if there's any team I want Unil V as a homer to win, it would be against Boise because we're 0-3 or 0-4 the last uh two years, right? Or 48 months, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_00: 2:24

So this is to me, this is a big game. Absolutely it is. And you know, it's on their turf, and I just I just checked the weather. It looks like it's gonna be snowing like 85% chance of snow. So one way to cover that smurf turf up is by by painting it white. So hopefully that'll be a little bit a little bit better. But yeah, this would be this would be a good kind of feather in the cap to to end the Mountain West conference as we know it, and to send them sailing to the pack, whatever it's gonna be, um, with the loss to UNLV. All right, well, hopefully we wear the white jerseys.

SPEAKER_01: 2:51

There we go. There we go. Uh all right, so first question. Uh should UNL it's a lot of controversy, like you said. Yeah. Should UNLV and Boise um even have made this game? Because there is, I mean, you could give New Mexico and San Diego State the same statement, right? Of the Metal West championship game. What are your thoughts? Did the best two teams get into the championship game, or do you think one got left out or both got left left out?

SPEAKER_00: 3:18

It was tough. And obviously, I feel for San Diego State and New New Mexico, because both of them probably had a decent claim for it. Um Boise hasn't been the best team as as of late, although they've been playing with their second-string quarterback, so you kind of got to give them a little bit of uh a little bit of grace there. But I do believe that the best two teams in the conference are playing for the championship, and at the end of the day, that's what the viewers want, that's what the fans want, and that's what the media wants.

SPEAKER_01: 3:46

Yeah, I think so too. I think I would have them both in as well. I and I I think anybody could make that claim that they should be in. I wish we had more time. Uh we had like a four-game playoff or something. That'd be awesome. That'll never work as TV and all that, right? But um, yeah, and I can I wish we had played San Diego State too, because I feel like I feel like Unilville would have won that game. But yeah, it's uh I think the best two teams were in, and yeah, the big thing was the head-to-head, Unilev 0 and 2. But since it went to a four-game tie, it went to the metrics. What are your thoughts? Should you know should Malin West go back to the head-to-head or uh keep using the metrics or another system in place?

SPEAKER_00: 4:30

Well, you know, I think this is better than the way they had in the past was the you know, they had two divisions, and the the winner of each division advanced on to the Mountain West Conference Championship. And I think that really didn't I don't think believe that was fair because if you're in a division that, you know, maybe Boise dominates, you're never gonna get the opportunity. So now them opening it up to the best, the best record in conference, um, I think is the best way to do it. Now, the head-to-head, I do believe, is the best way to do it if all the teams played one another. And if that doesn't happen, you and I were out a couple weeks ago and we talked about scoreboarding, right? You gotta kinda have to sometimes go to some metrics and some scoreboards to try to figure out who is the best out of the out of the four if you don't have the head-to-head matchup. And you know, I think New Mexico's loss to San Jose State and barely beating um UNR probably kicked them out. And San Diego State's lost to Hawaii, um, but they beat Boise State, so that's that's kind of tough. So I do believe that head-to-head at the end of the day is the best because hey, I beat you, I should be in. When all the teams don't play one another, I think you have to have a fallback system, and I believe the metrics. I mean, sitting here as we're in the game, I think, yeah, yeah, it's great. Uh if I was if I was down in the 6-1-9 or the burke, I don't know if I'd be saying the same thing.

SPEAKER_01: 5:42

Head-to-head, exactly. Uh yeah, I like the metrics. I think it's smart, especially in G5. Right. Because I know there's a lot of complaining about it, but the the thought process behind it is get the best two teams to play each other because that gives the best opportunity. Because even let's let's use an example in Unile V gets uh a different year, but Unile V's out. I know we're homers, but we still want the best Mountain West team to always get in the playoffs because that money trickles down to the conference. 100%. So it makes all the difference in the world to put the best tuned metric team because that's the same metrics that the college football community uses to add teams. So I'm a hundred percent a component of the metrics. Um and maybe you can tweak it here and there. Um, it's unbiased, um, but it it it does. I think it I think it's the smartest play. Because you're great example, the ACC. Right with Duke in Miami. Makes no sense. Right?

SPEAKER_00: 6:38

And they may, if Duke wins this game, the ACC may not have a team in the college football playoffs, which would set the whole thing just you know, kablooey, because they have the whole reason this thing was brought up is to make sure that all the major conferences were able to have a representation. But yeah, how do you count uh if UNLV wins, how do you count uh an 11-and-2 team versus uh what are they six, seven and two or whatever they would be? I think it's tough. And and going back to you know, should we be here? I do believe also when we're talking about metrics, we had the best overall record of any of the any of the teams, so we that obviously accounted for something with the metrics. So um it's tough. I mean, these are the things that in a perfect world it'd be maybe 16 teams and go from there, but it's so I have a bonus question for you.

SPEAKER_01: 7:22

I thought about this on the way over. Because there's a lot of controversy, because I'm a Notre Dame fan too. I don't know if I've break in this too. I'm not just Unal V. So okay. Grew up watching Notre Dame, and now there's controversy. They may not make the playoffs of things. I think they ran because it's Notre Dame, they bring in a lot of money. 100%.

SPEAKER_02: 7:41

Okay, you're taking it. I saw your face. I knew that.

SPEAKER_01: 7:44

Absolutely. Well, let's say, well, they don't make it, right? And it's not even Notre Dame, it's it's BYU, it's Miami. There's some really good teams that I feel like deserve a shot at the national championship that are getting left out. So I'm kind of giving them my way answer right now. But do you think that the after this year with with all what has been going on? Do you think college football should expand to 16, 24 teams that's been like pretty big in the news late lately?

SPEAKER_00: 8:10

What are your thoughts? I mean, I think 24 would be a lot. I think you'd get some diluted play. Those the first weekend of games would be probably pretty diluted of the the talent level. But with these power conferences that are, you know, 20 teams deep, they're all just beating up on each other, and it's tough to find out who actually is the bet is the better team. So when you're thinking about the SEC, which has had has been the perennial powerhouse in college football, I mean, how many teams do they get in versus uh uh you know the ACC or um you know uh maybe a little bit of a lesser commerce? So I I just don't know if 24 would be good. I think 16, adding four more teams because this year is a perfect example while there's so many on the bubble that could be in if there was uh an additional four teams. I think 16 would probably be the sweet spot, and um that would be ideally, in my opinion, the best way to go. Best way?

SPEAKER_01: 9:02

I like I like expansion. I I would like 16. I actually like 24. I like the idea. I kind of well, I also love college basketball. Yeah. But they have 68 teams out of 300 that go to the tournament, and I think there's 130 give or take football teams. So I I think the 24 is kind of cool. That's how the FCS does it. I I low-key love FCS playoff football.

SPEAKER_00: 9:26

Oh, for sure. And that was that's been the model. I mean, that's kind of the model that everybody wanted to go to when the FPS was having it.

SPEAKER_01: 9:33

It's cool football. It's and you get you get a true national champion through that, I think, as well, right? There's no um but I like the component of the the top 24 because you basically get what top 25 teams. It's also opportunities for more G5 schools to get in, potentially two or three years could get in using that system. What I would not be a fan of, and I think this is and you kind of alluded to this, there is potential of SEC says, hey, we want six teams in, Big Ten gets 16 teams. These automatics, right? Get rid of the automatics unless you win your championship. Um conference championship, excuse me. And top 24, maybe it doesn't matter anymore. But I'm not a fan of the automatic. I just want the like the top 24 best teams. Com the best G5 gets in, sure. Keep that in, because I like the underdog. But in college football, it's it's tough. College football versus basketball is a different animal, even though we have seen that kind of shift in basketball lately.

SPEAKER_00: 10:27

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 10:28

These SEC and Big Ten teams, they almost have like NBA teams now. It's it's crazy. They just shoot threes the whole time.

SPEAKER_00: 10:33

It's like and you see now that we're we're playing when we go to play bigger schools, you know, when we went to Notre Dame a few years ago, those athletes are just bigger athletes. I mean, when you're playing SEC athletes, and even a few of the kids that we brought in from those power conferences, they're big. And so, yeah, you get a a smaller, smaller school, they're just gonna out physical and outpower. I mean, football is that, like you said, in the in the terms of the difference between basketball where anybody can kind of get hot, anybody can you know, hot hand, make some baskets and go. Football is if you dominate one side or the other of the line, it's it's it can it's almost over.

SPEAKER_01: 11:09

It's very tough. The line, I always and you and I talk about this week. As soon as the game starts, any game I watch in football, I watch the offensive defensive line. And 80% of the time I can predict who the winner's gonna be, like in the first quarter, first five, ten minutes of the game, unless turnovers happen or something like that. But it's just by who's dominating it. Who's that? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Because it wear it just wears the other team down at the end of the day. So what are your thoughts? This UNV finishes finish the season. I had you on, I think like five, six weeks ago. Right. What's your thoughts of how they finished? And w what would you say are your like surprises under the year here?

SPEAKER_00: 11:46

So I mean, I thought they finished strong. We got the football gods were kind to us for the Utah State game with the kid missing so many kicks. Um and you know, the the even the New Mexico loss, uh, you know, AC apparently had the flu, so it was like it wasn't Jordan's flu game. He still played well, but he wasn't he wasn't Anthony. And so I think that could have probably been a win for us had he been full fully healthy. But my b the biggest surprise to me was how well we played on the defensive side of the ball. I mean, when we talked about at the beginning of the season, that was our biggest concern. When we spoke in the middle of the season, we saw some evidence that that should have been our biggest concern. And how they kept uh Hawaii to 10 points. I mean, I think that was my biggest surprise of the season was them keeping uh University of Hawaii, Timmy Chang, and his his error raid uh offense to 10 points. So um kudos to either the offensive game plan for running those plays to extend the drives and making sure that the defense wasn't on the field as much. And if Gunther was has maybe made some adjustments and is doing a little bit better, the defense looks like they're still giving up one or two big plays a game, but they're not giving up like the eight or ten, which they were before, and she's getting gashed on the defensive end.

SPEAKER_01: 12:55

Yeah. Um yeah, I know last time we spoke, I I thought they were gonna have a loss. I I thought it was gonna be Hawaii. Uh-huh. The Dark Host team was New Mexico, it ended up flipped. Um but yeah, I I the surprise too, they dominated the Hawaii game. That was that was really impressive. And it and as much as the New Mexico game, it it sucks that we lost a game. I think we're seeing that New Mexico is actually a really good team. And after that game, there seemed seemed like there was a switch. Defense got way better, started getting better after a game. It seems like they were playing more assignment football. Um, it seems like the pro style defense is more complicated. And that was my concern. You and I were talking like, let's just play a simple defense and like get the we have great athletes, and just I was worried we're gonna get like some silly losses. We ended up not. Right. It actually ended up working well with our schedule in the beginning of the year. Uh, but yeah, the biggest surprise for me was dominating Hawaii and the defense. I mean, I was literally on this show, I think I did one on my on my own one time, and like fire pump. So the show's what I know. Yeah. Because they they they've done a great turnaround this last month. It's been really impressive. I'm glad they were able to figure it out. Uh, but yeah, it's a good uh end of the year. Okay. Big question of the day. Oh man. Who do you got? Do you got Boise State or UNLV winning this game?

SPEAKER_00: 14:28

So I'm obviously a homer, but I have UNLV Go Fight win. I just think that it's Dub averages say it's it's due. I mean, we've we've lost, haven't been Boise State, I think, since the 70s. Um That's about that long. Yeah, I mean I think so. So I just think, you know, the way that uh again, making making the adjustments on defense, uh, if we play that well on defense, give up one or two, but if we can kind of extend those drives, uh it's been really cool seeing, you know, Jet really take off during that UNR game. Got a look at the little little bit of the Wildcat with Jojo Earl. I've been loving the Wildcat with Jojo. Get him the ball. That's it, he's a play. He's a playmaker. And that was one of the he's one of the guys we talked about at the beginning of the year, and he just really hadn't been featured a whole lot uh in the offense. So I'm glad that they're using his athletic ability and his playmaking ability to move the ball. Um, but I do believe that the only thing I'm a little concerned about is just is the weather. Last year, same thing, Mountain West Conference Championship. It was cold, it was snowy and boisey, and it messed up with our game a little bit. I do think that if the weather is tough, we keep it on the ground, and with that running back by committee, led by Jet uh, you know, but by Jaden Thomas, um, we're gonna win the game. Cass up the Jet. Let's go.

SPEAKER_01: 15:45

Hey, I don't know. We play pretty well in Wyoming. I was, you know. That's a that's a pretty good thing. Maybe we can uh maybe that's our secret weapon. We'll see. All right, so obviously, love UNLV. Um I am I'm going Boise State by three, win by three. All right. Um I agree. Uh the defense isn't playing better. Uh I would give Jet a ton of carries and touches. He's just explosive. I love the take on JoJo Earl. Have some plays crave for him. AC's uh just always clutch. Right. The difference now is I I feel like we do we do have a chance in this game. Um where before going into the first game of the season, I I felt like we were gonna lose that because the defense just looked so bad. But with defense going, their quarterback, Boise's quarterback, Maddox, he is banged up. They're saying he's playing, he's gonna play. I kind of feel like he's he's still hurt. I think he's going, they're going for a championship here, and that's why he's playing. So um typically we have not been good against a run this year. They're a great running team, do the best of their ability, stop the run, play man, get Maddox moving. We've we've had it, we've done a pretty good job with pressure. We've got to get Maddox moving around, especially since he's injured or hurt. Um, so I'm I'm picking Boys and Win. With that said, though, I think this is the biggest game, and I know they're downplaying it. This is literally like the biggest game in history for UNLV football. Um the the pack teams are leaving. They're this opportunity is gone forever, right? After Friday. So it's either Boise and the pack have the rights to the Mountain West forever, or in terms of you know, talking shit, you know, so to speak. Um, or Mountain West gets it done through Unal V, you know, we win a championship, we have in the pack, and and we have the rights moving forward of we beat you guys, you know, good luck in the new pack. So I think it's a big game. And I think they're downplaying it um a little bit from what I'm hearing. Then that's probably just good coach speak. So right, right. Awesome. Um, so what are your thoughts? Uh so the Reno game, and I'm surprised you didn't show up usually in your blue. Uh what were your thoughts on uh uh Mr. Jeff Chote, the Unal V excuse me, Reno head coach about uh Lamborghinis versus trucks and uh Las Vegas versus Reno?

SPEAKER_00: 18:10

That was you know since you've been giving me a lot of grief because I I come from I come from work a lot of times, but we had to turn the tactic. We had to turn the tackle blue into uh into Rebel Red today. And uh thanks for uh Vegasfarcy.com for the running running um quitter chip. So, you know, I thought it was weird. Um you know, there's there's certain things you know, bulletin board material and trying to get your team fired up, but uh apparently Jeff Cho, since he's been in the backwoods of Idaho or wherever he grew up, doesn't realize what we have evolved from. I mean, Sam Boyd was uh it was a joke um the last few years. I mean it's it's shocking with the facilities that we had, the locker rooms out there, playing on a dirt, uh pretty much a dirt lot, that we got John Robinson out there at at all um when he came out. So it was just it was a weird thing. And if you have Little Brother syndrome already, it's not a good look when you're complaining about other things as well. I mean, obviously, Las Vegas is a a brand, it's a national brand. We've embraced it and we're going with it. I'm sorry that you know the biggest little shithole in the in the world is not as exciting as Las Vegas and it doesn't draw the attention. So I thought it was just weird. It was it was one thing to kind of compare the cities and and the culture of the cities, but when he got to Dan Mullen, that was I thought that was a little weird. I really hadn't heard coaches talk about other coaches like that. It was very questionable.

SPEAKER_01: 19:31

Yeah, it was it felt very victim mentality. And I actually I like I like the Jeff Joe hire. I want Reno to be good. I like the rivalry. I think when both teams uh basketball and football, when they're both playing well, I think it's great. So I'm um but yeah, I kind of came off uh victim mentality and it didn't make a lot of sense. Definitely does not understand the history of these programs because Reno has had it all until about five years ago. Right. So The ties of churn, and he just became a coach. He hasn't been at Reno for 15 years. So he knows exactly what he was getting himself into. And then the whole Lamborghini versus Shucks thing. I'm like, if you switch the cities and we're in the cold, nobody's driving a Lamborghini. We're a lot of the UNLV fans are the people that show up, most of them are blue-collared people.

SPEAKER_00: 20:21

We're like a three-shift town, we're a hardworking town of service industry employees. I mean, yeah, you have a little bit of some people have money here, but for the most part, you're absolutely right. You look at the tailgates at UNLV at Allegiant, they're trucks, they're people grilling hot dogs out there tossing a football around. This isn't some elitist um institution like Stanford or Harvard or anything along those lines. We're a blue-collar city, and we and the team has embraced that mentality, and it's unfortunate that that city up north just couldn't realize that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 20:50

My favorite part of the whole thing, and I think what he was really trying to do is like get an IL sponsorship, you know, to get money, which I totally understand.

SPEAKER_00: 20:58

Yeah, I get that too.

SPEAKER_01: 20:58

But he was going on a rant. I don't know if you noticed this. He was going on a rant how he drives like a Ford 150 and the Dodge and trucks. Then behind him. And behind him, it said Chevy. Bro, no who are giving you money. You better be driving Chevy's all there. At least pretend you're driving one. I'm sure that NIL might be a good one. Oh my god. Hey, you know, V, we'll drive Chevy. Absolutely. We'll take that Chevy money.

SPEAKER_00: 21:24

We're calling off. Thanks, Cliff Finley. Uh, you know, make sure we'll drive the toad.

SPEAKER_01: 21:29

Yeah. But uh, yeah, so what do you think about uh the like there's no reporting about the recruiting class because obviously the Mountain West championship game, but let's dive a little into it. So National Signing Day was yesterday, Notre Dame had the number two class, and Unal V had the number two G5 recruiting class and the number one for Mountain West next year. Right. Um 2026.

SPEAKER_00: 21:55

I like the way they played, I like the way they framed that. Yeah, yeah, that was that was clever. Uh but what you think of the class? Uh you know, I'm I'm stoked about it. Best class in in in school history. I think we were ranked 57th, I think, nationally. So for for us, it's it's awesome. And I love that the the kids are wanting to come here. It's amazing what winning does to a culture and an institution. People know that, hey, we're not coming here to rebuild, we're coming here to win championships. And when you can sell that to a kid, I think it's a lot easier, especially when they come to the bright light city of Las Vegas, walk into Allegiant Stadium. Uh I I love that we are recruiting at a high level right now because that was one of the digs on Dan Mullen was he couldn't couldn't recruit, you know, to the SEC when he was at Florida. So I love that we're doing this. Um, I'm stoked for the coaches, I'm stoked for the players, and I'm excited to see a couple of these kids come on board.

SPEAKER_01: 22:42

Yeah, for sure. And to give you guys context too, um, I love recruiting. So 57th in the nation probably doesn't sound good. But that is like if you're top 60, that's considered like power four recruiting class. So it's it's a big haul. Uh and you know, then I'll just go over a couple names because there were 24 signees. We're not gonna go through them. That could be a whole show in itself. But the highest ranked quarterback that is signed with UNLV ever, uh, Derek Garcia, uh, two wide receivers, Harden and Bell, that were top of the class that look super athletic, uh, excited about them. And then on defense, it was Prince Fox, defensive tackle, and linebacker Jordan Njoku. Um, those were our top high-rated guys. Uh, and there's plenty more that are really good. My favorite part of this class, which will not be talked about probably anywhere, they signed six offensive linemen and they're all monsters. I love it.

SPEAKER_00: 23:38

Well, it's funny, I only pick skills players because I figured you were gonna talk about the lines. I was like, okay, well, if I want to chime in on any side, too much of a line guy.

SPEAKER_01: 23:46

But uh, I mean, these guys, it reminded me when Sanchez first got here, and Sanchez did the best of his ability to recruit big linemen, not as highly recruited as the the guys are coming in. And they brought in, I won't mention the name because somebody's gonna know they are, but they but he brought in like three, four big guys like right off the first two recruiting classes, and we could just run power, football, like we could run on anybody. I mean, I remember going to SC and they're running on them. Um, and I am loving the vision of Dan Mullen that he's gonna probably be doing the exact same thing because I just the running game has never been the same since Sanchez left. And um, and we're having a good year now with Jed Tom. I'm not trying to take that away from them, but I feel like it could get a whole nother gear if we can just because you can see it when you see the Boise State offensive line, they just move us. He's and that's another good sign where I don't think Dan's leaving anytime soon because you don't go get six offensive linemen. They they these guys aren't playing for two to three years.

SPEAKER_00: 24:44

Right, exactly. You have to build that program up and build those guys up because they're gonna be behind bigger, bigger kids. But um, you know, you mentioned Derek Archie. I'll just I'll touch on him because I was actually, I don't know if it was a recruiting trip or what. He was he was out allegiate, um, saw him kind of on the field before the game. I mean, this kid's straight out of central casting, tall, way through the ball was just money. You could kind of running around on the field just messing around, and it was uh it was exciting to see. So I'm looking forward to kind of seeing what he can do and Dan Mullen's history of really developing quality quarterbacks. Yeah, it'll be really exciting what this kid can can do in the future under uh under Mullen's leadership.

SPEAKER_01: 25:21

Yeah, it was higher ranked than uh Maya in ranking stone necessarily matter, right? But he was more highly ranked than Mayave, who's the who's the QB at uh SC right now. And he's more athletic than him, too. So um a lot of upside with him. I'm excited. Um I don't think he probably plays next year, but the following year I could see him being in the competition to be the in 2027 and be in competition uh for the job. So excited about that. And uh let's move to basketball. Okay, let's go. Running reps. I think we need a whole we're we got no time to all.

SPEAKER_00: 25:56

All right, what do you think about the uh beginning of the season? You know, I think it's kind of like a preview for a blockbuster movie that you can't wait to see. The preview keeps getting longer. They keep releasing the previews. We just haven't ever been able to see the film yet, just with uh with the limited roster. So I'm I'm still excited. I'm I'm I'm cautiously optimistic about conference play, but um it it just it's tough not being able to have that full full team together.

SPEAKER_01: 26:20

Yeah, and the schedule's been really hard. And some people that are homers here, and I I watch their um their shows are going off about you know the like terrible start, you know. This is easily the most impressive roster I've seen since Dave Rice. Like I am so hyped. It it's night and day, and this is one of the hardest schedules. I mean, all the teams that the well, not all teams, UT Martin and Montana should have won, right? Absolutely. But those are the beginning of the year. It's a brand new team. And I was not, and you we've had this conversation. I was not attached to the beginning of this year. I'm like, if they go 500 in non-con, fine. But that's that's not gonna get you in the NCAA tournament. So that's it. It doesn't really matter. You know, they just need to they need to grow chemistry, build big win in Memphis. They were dominant in that game. And like you said, they're out, they're starting point guard and center, and they don't have great size.

SPEAKER_00: 27:09

So I mean you gotta think, you know, in those games, especially the the Maryland game, we we should have won. Um Bama, well, obviously, it's just it's a much better team. But it's like an NBA team. When you're when you're playing, you know, I mean, Tark was able to play the hard way eight back in the in the in the late 70s, but those were all quality dudes. Like the the Kiwi, you know, Walter Jones probably wouldn't be seeing the floor if we had a healthy roster. Um, you got guys that probably wouldn't be playing a whole lot playing. So you it's seven or eight dudes, you can't rely on those guys, and they play hard. Every shot is contested, they play well on defense. That's gonna break down towards the end of the game. They're gonna kind of lose their legs, they're gonna get tuckered out, and that's when the teams have been kind of able to put us away on the losses that we've had.

SPEAKER_01: 27:48

It's been so much to fun, uh, fun to watch, because even as fun as Dave Rice teams were back in the day, they were not running the way this team is running. I wasn't around for Tark. So this is, and you would know better than I am, so I'm not, but like it's been even these losses have been like, that was fun to watch. Well, in fact, we put up 90 points. We were putting up 100 points. Like, I have never seen this in UNLV basketball, and people are complaining. And I'm like, this is the potential of this is insane.

SPEAKER_00: 28:14

I mean, Memphis was the perfect, the the the perfect like picture of what UNLV basketball is. And every single coach since Tark has come in saying, hey, we're gonna play run and rubble basketball. I mean, if it was Otzelberger, if it was Rice, if it was Krueger, and you saw DJ Thomas dribbling on the dribbling on the top of the key for 25 seconds with the shot clock the last two years. So it is exciting to watch these guys play. There's a couple guys who are really studs, and uh, I'm excited to see how their growth um continues uh throughout the remainder of the season. So who's your favorite player to watch and what's your surprise player? So my favorite player, I I call him, uh, I'm Gumby Slam It, and that is Tyron Jones. I love Tyron Jones. He's just I saw him in a football game on the concourse. I'm like, oh, this kid just lanky. Next year he'll be a stud. And his his ball handling, his rebounding, his shot blocking, his his ability to finish at the rim um has been awesome. I like Ike Williamson popping in and being able to play um point guard while Miles Che is out. And then um, you know, Gibby has been a real surprise for me. Two surprises that are on the opposite side. Howie Fleming Jr. got a step up, Amari Hamilton. Uh, you need to kind of get out of your own head. We need those guys to play big, and they're just not doing it.

SPEAKER_01: 29:20

Yeah, Hamilton needs to not foul, please. Exactly. You're the best guy in the court, please stop fouling. Um, yeah, my my favorite player is Gabe Slaughter, super explosive. Tyron Jones, same thing. Um, that guy's got NBA potential. He keeps moving. I mean, he's just bouncy. He he reminds me of uh Jones, the other Jones back in the day that you play what? Derek Jones. Yeah, Derek Jones. Airplay mode. He is Tyron Jones is explosive. So hopefully we get him next year. Um but with that when his game comes together, I I'm glad that uh Pasner is playing him. Uh surprise, obviously, Wilmers. You know, I have a funny surprise, Barnaby. But I was great, thank you for mentioning him. Just the guy just put puts the back, I mean, he's the least athletic, no offense, Barnaby, but it's he's probably the least athletic guy on this team, one of them, anyways, and he just puts him back up, gets rebounds. It is, I think as much as we have all these injuries, Williamson Barnaby probably would not have played, and we are we are totally seeing that they deserve minutes in this on this team going into conference play, which I think long term is gonna help us because Che and uh Stevens will be back um hopefully by the first game per the reports. So I think we got a lot to look forward to in conference play. Absolutely, I'm looking forward to it as well. We ran out of time. We did. All right, thanks for being on, brother. Hey, my pleasure. I appreciate you guys from makes the game stuff to go.