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RUNNIN' VEGAS - The John McNamara Sports Podcast
Talking all things Las Vegas sports-from UNLV to the pros, and everything in between.
RUNNIN' VEGAS - The John McNamara Sports Podcast
UNLV at a Breaking Point | John McNamara & Ryan Pulliam React
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Welcome And What We Cover
SPEAKER_01Hey guys, the John MacLeod host Run and Vegas. We're talking local sports business real series like you see. Subscribe and follow us on Running Vegas podcast today. I got my co-host mister Running pulling out.
SPEAKER_00What's happening? I know it's been a minute. It has been a minute. I was thinking like I missed this. It's kind of gotta knock the rust off a little bit for me.
SPEAKER_02We usually have our monthly pod. I know. But you've been doing great though. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Gotta keep it going. I like it. It's not the same without you, though. I appreciate that. All right, so let's get in today. We're gonna be talking Unal V basketball, transfer portal. Let's get into a little bit of Raiders, NFL draft. So let's kick it off.
UNLV Season Finish And NIT
SPEAKER_02Unal V basketball. So we haven't actually talked in two months. It's been a bit, it's been a minute. So what was your thoughts? End of the season, you know, before we go into transfer portal, you know, what was your your thoughts about the Univ basketball season?
SPEAKER_00Towards the end of the year, we kind of figured, hey man, we're we're playing some of the best basketball towards the end of the season. Maybe things are finally starting to glue, and who knows we could possibly make a run in the Mount West tournament. Neither of us were really confident we would, but it was it was a more of a possibility at the end of the season than it was probably mid-season. You know, the team was for the most part competitive, but it's just consistently inconsistent, what we talked about. And um, you know, I think that you can kind of see what Josh Pastner wants to do with the program, you know, play tough defense because he really tightened up that rotation at the end of the year, and it was only kids that were really playing tough defense that were getting any minutes. But they just struggled closing games and couldn't couldn't hit some shots, some some shots in the big ones. And when uh Gibby got shut down, those couple second halves, they just couldn't win a game. So that's that's how the season ended, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, what'd you think about the NIT?
SPEAKER_00I was impressed. I didn't think we were gonna go. Um, it's funny, I don't use my phone on Sundays. So Monday morning I wake up to a bunch of texts that were in the NIT. And I think, heck, man, you know, that was that was the the peak of what Kevin Krueger got us to. And if Passenger can do that in his first season with a limited roster, which he had to work with, it kind of gave me a little bit of hope for the future.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, me too. As funny as it may sound, it I was a little in my head, I didn't tell you this, but it was like we were at 17 wins. I'm like, they couldn't get 18 wins, like, and then they got that 18th win in IT. And as funny as it may sound, it kind of made me feel good. You know, it wasn't a good season, but like, or a great season, I should say, but it was, I feel like that's the bare minimum to keep your job at UNLV. And I think Pastor would have kept the job for another year if he got that 17th or 18th win, to be very clear. But we definitely need to see progress, and uh yeah, so we're now we're officially in the transfer portal. So are most of the rebels, if not all of them, like the whole team, you know. Um, I had Austin Starr on a couple weeks ago, and we were talking about I'm like, hey, we're gonna have like four or five guys coming back. Thank God you came back in two weeks. Is none of that held true?
Gibbs Hits The Portal
SPEAKER_02Um so uh Gribs uh Gibbs Lawhorn, he's in the transfer portal.
SPEAKER_00What's your thoughts? I think everybody saw this coming in today's market. You know, buckets get bucks, and these guys are gonna go out and they're gonna make a name for themselves. I had heard that um our former UNLV running rebel and transfer, D Don Thomas Jr., I think he signed with Houston. Yeah, for not signing for a decent NIL deal, and they're saying that Gibbs may get a little bit more about the same for that. I don't know if UNLV can, because there's so many spots to fill, I don't know if they can really match that. So odds are he's gone, but again, like we talked about with Calandria, it's the nature of the beast right now, so you have to understand that these kids are gonna go out and they're gonna get paid, and they have to look out for themselves. So sad because he was such a prolific scorer. I've loved watching him play, loved his energy. Um, but that's what you get when you're in mid-major programs. You guys are probably gonna be a stepping stone for a couple of these kids that can uh can score the bucket.
SPEAKER_02So here's a question for you: how would he rank for you? Because I've only been watching Unal V basketball for, I don't know, 15-17 years. So he was the best scoring guard that I can remember shooting. In your time of watching ULV, how would he rack up in the history of Unloved for that that second half in the Mountain West?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I mean, I think you know, Trevor Diggs was a really good scorer. The kid was so fast, so it played a little bit a little bit different, but the way that he could create um uh Bryce, oh my gosh, what uh Hamilton, thank you. Bryce Hamilton was the same thing where he could just create his own shot, and Hamilton was pretty much all that team had. You know, Gibbs was good because he was playing out of position, he's playing point guard, he's typically a two-guard. He was still being able to create for his other players and score on his own. But I mean, again, J.R. Ryder, I think somebody that could just dominate the the scoring, and just every single time he gets the ball, you think, okay, it's gonna, it's gonna go in. So I, you know, different style of play, but at the same time, just the ability to score it is was was was pretty amazing. And and again, fun kid to watch. I wish him the best wherever he goes. I'll be a Gibby fan next year for sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I think it was a good move by him. Yeah, we all saw coming. Take the money. Last year, he probably wants to compete you know in the NCAA tournament. Um, he's a high scoring guard. It was just beautiful watching that guy taking those long threes and them going in. Yeah, just I can't remember. Hamilton, yeah, he's probably the second best scorer I can remember, but Hamilton was more of a mid-range shooter, you know. Uh thankfully he stayed at Unal V. I would those teams could have been even way worse without him. Like he was the really the only scoring option for about four years. Uh, but it it the for uh one half of a season of basketball, Gibbs was the best play I've seen from a shooting guard in the last 15 years.
SPEAKER_00So I think if the Rebels were in contention at the top of the conference, he would have been Mountain West Conference player of the year just because of the way he dominated the actual conference or tournament play. Yeah, I agree with that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and they're projecting him about two million. What I've heard is that that's basically how much money Passenger has to work with. So um it makes a lot of sense for her to move on. Okay.
Jones And Williamson Return
SPEAKER_02So uh we got two attorneys, Tyrene Jones and Isaac Williamson, both gonna be true sophomores, have re-signed with the Rebels. Thought Tyron Jones obviously was the key um uh to get him back. Um, I thought that was our best chance. They re-signed him. That was huge. And then the second guy, I mean, Gibbs, I just assumed, was gone. Right. My second guy was actually Williamson at two. So they're young, they're gonna be going from their freshman to sophomore year. That's typically where we see the biggest jump. Um, but what were your thoughts with them getting those re signed and those being the only folks that re-signed?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so far. You know, uh Tyron was, we talked about it, one of my favorite players to watch. I called him I'm I'm I'm Gumby Slam It just because of the way he kind of moved around. Uh, he was just such a raw talent. So you like you said, moving from that freshman to sophomore year, really excited to see his development. Um, and then Ike Williamson, man, I mean, you know, he came in, hit some really big shots as a freshman, um, kind of was getting lost on defense a little bit here and there, and maybe, you know, obviously needs to spend a little bit more time watching film and working on his footwork. But I think, as you said, they're freshman core group, love Passener's energy and can kind of build a foundation and a and and a um a program around kids that are staying around as opposed to just the constant roster turnover and you know, maybe getting retreads from some other uh other conferences that come in. These guys have been in the program for a year, they're hard-nosed players, and I was excited that if we were gonna sign two kids, I'm excited those are the two that we signed.
SPEAKER_02Me too. You know, Tyron Jones, I was thinking about, was going on my walk for my uh usual lunch walk in the afternoon. I'm like, who's Tyron Jones? He kind of reminds me of like like a hybrid of Chris Wood slash like Derek Jones, where he's it's not necessarily just a four, but he's kind of a wing. He's kind of like in that middle. I think maybe lean a little bit more, Chris Wood. Yeah. But yeah, I thought that was huge. And if he can just add a little weight, um, kind of like what we saw from the cough from his freshman, the sophomore, and Chris Wood, too. We saw such a big jump. So both and both of them, too, because they're they're not very big. They think if they add a little weight, it's definitely gonna help. And they're both, you know, one thing I noticed is both very good defensive players.
Cam Miles Joins The Rebuild
SPEAKER_02And to segue into our next, you know, uh thing, Cam Miles, uh uh four-star guard from Florida State, 6'2, 165 pounds, just signed with UNLV, uh, first guy out of the portal, also a defensive guard. What's your thoughts on the first signing?
SPEAKER_00I was excited. I mean, didn't get a ton of time to do a whole lot of research on him because he came in late last night or you know, kind of mid-afternoon yesterday. And but it seems to be that he fits Passner's mold. Athletic guard that can score, go downhill, play good defense, and can create on his own, which I think is exciting, especially that he is a sophomore and actually worked himself into the rotation for a few minutes. Not he didn't play a ton at Florida State, but towards the end of the season, he actually worked himself into the rotation, so that means that he's coachable and he can get better. So I'm excited to see what that kid can do with in Passenger's system, as well as coming alongside two uh additional sophomores, so these guys can all kind of grow up together and uh hopefully be a good core and foundation of a team for the next three years.
SPEAKER_02I agree, and I I like actually what Passener's doing is not necessarily going out after freshmen. It looks like he went after a couple, you know, top 150 freshmen, didn't get them, but I think in this day and age, it's really hard to go after freshmen because they just they always most of the time they need time to develop. Uh, I thought Miles was interesting. He kind of ranked similar to Williamson, a little bit higher, uh, you know, and had similar offers. He seems like a pretty good athletic Mountain West guard. Um it he played limit, you know, it was he played about, I think like 13 minutes a game. Interesting enough, he still scored 5.4 points a game, 1.7 assists. He's he he seems like he he wants the ball in his hand. He seems actually more like a point guard. Um and Williamson seems like he's more of a shooting guard to me. It's kind of interesting because Williamson is six foot, so it's not like ideal. But what are your thoughts? Because they're both in the bat. They seem I don't think either of them are starting next year, or if they are, I I have concerns with next year's roster. Uh, but what are your thoughts for that? I like them as backups, but what positions do you think they're gonna play and how they're gonna help the team? Are you talking about backup point guards possibly, or just backup guards? Backup, guys, shooting guard and point guard.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh, you know, I think it it's good when you can have two guys that can play both positions because if you want to play a run running style, it's all about getting the rebound and getting it somebody uh getting the ball into a ball handler's hand. So if you have both Williamson and Cam being able to run the point, not having you know somebody that possibly could be dedicated like a Che Miles, who unfortunately um is transferring, but they can just get out and run, and then you have a wing like Jones being able to run run down court, and you get that ball even close to him, you know, he can be at the three-point line, take two steps, and he's dunking the ball. So it will be interesting for the style of play if we want to push the ball, having those two on the court at the same time. I would love it if we got a little bit more of a senior guard play coming in from the transfer portal to because that's what I think you need to have to have deep runs in March, which is obviously the goal of any season. But having those two on the roster right now, I could see how they could kind of grow together. And again, either one of them can handle the ball and shoot the ball. We needed more scoring options this year. Well, it's just um when it was uh just uh Gibby, you know, um Jones kind of came in a little bit, and then Hamilton was if he could stay on the floor without the ball.
SPEAKER_02It was interesting because he was a senior, but yeah, he was um it was interesting.
SPEAKER_00So I think you know, if if if those guys can handle the ball and shoot the ball, I think we're in good shape. But I agree with you. Ideally, not them starting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I okay, so here's my thoughts. That's here. I think we literally need to bring in like two to three starters. And we I I hope these are not our starters. I I like them how they project, but I think if you go into the season, assuming both of them are gonna hit, like they seem both very promising, and I like both of them. Um, but I think you want to bring in uh some talent that is proven. I think you need a string point gun, shooting, and wing that are proven to shoot at minimum two. Because the reality is probably between, and we saw, I mean, Williamson, when he the first couple games, I'm like, oh my God, this gets unreal. And then it it, you know, it shifted a little bit. But like I can see the potential watching them both, but the reality is probably one of the two of them is actually gonna be good or stronger in the future. So I'm hoping for an overhaul. It hasn't been a good start to the transfer. Well, I shouldn't say that. So far, the big targets that it looks like it was Edwards from gosh, um, TCU, backup guard. He looked like he would have been the starting shooting guard. And Money Williams Montana, who went off on us this year. Doesn't look like either of them are coming to UNLV. Edwards officially actually committed to Creighton. I'm not necessarily worried about it because I'm sure Passener has that may have been one and then he has two, three, four, five, whatever it is. I'm sure the talent is similar, give or take. But either way, it's an interesting start. And I I think there's a long way to go to this. I don't believe this is like these are our two starting guards and Jones, and we're gonna run it out that way. Yeah, we're not holding open tryouts.
SPEAKER_00Uh in a Thomas McMack. But yeah, with Bug from um the the transfer that actually signed, uh the TCU guard that signed with with Creighton, Creighton had brought in some dudes that I thought got us in a pretty decent position. Like okay, maybe he thought he's gonna be possibly lost on the depth chart and we could do something, but uh, you know, that's that's what happens in the has the Monty kid from Montana has he signed with anybody?
SPEAKER_02But not official, but the rumblings are he's unofficially signed with not us. With not not used. Well, there you go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I mean I think I'm not we've we talked about I'm not super nervous yet just because this is just kind of seeming the way that it it it plays out, but you know, my my phone battery's dying every single day because I'm feverishly refreshing Twitter to see if we have any more signings coming in.
SPEAKER_02Same. All right, who do we sign? Who we sign? Okay, yeah, so those are my tag.
Who Could Still Come Back
SPEAKER_02And who would you because I I'm I'm gonna put some money too. We're gonna because most of the team has gone on the trans report, which I actually don't think is a bad thing. Go out, test the market. Your spot may or may not be there. I actually like what Passenger's doing. Defensive-minded, aggressive, athletic uh play, the three that we have right now, they fit his kind of style. So I like that. I like the base of it. But who could you see potentially coming back? Probably not Gibbs, that you think would make sense and you would actually like to see them back on the team.
SPEAKER_00Uh Jacob Bernarbi is would be my my vote for that. I think he um I you know I heard rumors that he decided just not to play that last game. Um and and so he was he was healthy, but I don't know if that's that's maybe unsubstantiated. I didn't that's just what I had heard. Uh but you know, he was he was he was a he was a good glue guy role player, could rebound the ball and could pass. He passed very well for a big man. So uh again with that motion offense and having some guys cut like a Tyron Jones being able to cut and these aggressive guards, I would love to see Barnaby back. One, he was the one sole remaining uh player from from last season or from the prior season from Kruger's final season to Passner's first season. So to have some kind of kind of consistency with a kid playing here for three straight years would be huge. I think he's a great glue guy, can rebound the ball and pass for a big man. Um, so that's who I would love to see come back in the Scarlet and Gray.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I like it. Barnby's cool, um, high IQ. I see him being like more of like an all big West type four, uh, because I think he ultimately be a reserve here. So it's more of does he want starter minutes or he's still does he love UNLV so much to be a backup to Jones? Um my guy is Diemble, which we're gonna we didn't hear a lot about him. So the reason behind this though is because Pasner came out, it was about two weeks ago. He had an interview and he said, Hey, we all heard about Che being out. The second guy, though, our starting center, which I did, I thought Stevens was going to be the starting center. Yeah, especially after that Stanford game. But yeah, boy were we wrong. The starting center was gonna be D'Mble. And he came out and he's like, if Diemble was healthy, he would have been the second best center in the Mountain West last year.
SPEAKER_01Interesting.
SPEAKER_02So what that tells me is he'd probably be the best center in the Mountain West this year. And he didn't play, so I can't imagine he would have all this market value. I'm assuming his market value is about the same. You know, I guess the big question though, and the only no only people are gonna really know this is UNLV, is are they fearful of his injury reoccurring? I think that was a big thing with Chez after it happened twice. I kind of was like, oh, maybe Che will come back, Gas will be gone, Che could play that role. But the more hearing about these injuries, Jay's a really bad one, and to do it twice, that is very scary. And I don't think Passener can risk another eight. I think if Passener has another 18-win season, he he he's not the UN V coach next year. So I don't think he can chance that. But D'Anblay is interesting to me if they believe he's gonna be fully healthy for this year, and if he wants to come back.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't even know if he wants to come back or not, but I think it's unfortunate when these they come in with like Shea Miles, they come in, I'm assuming they get to keep their NIL money. I don't know how the whole thing or the revenue share, whatever the case, however they're whatever semantics they're calling it nowadays. But Dembelli did have he had really good hands for a big I mean if you the limited games I think he played in like three or four games, um his footwork looked pretty good, and he has big hands. And sometimes you get kids coming over from Africa and they've been playing soccer for so long, they have kind of like brick hands for a little bit. But he seemed like he was uh you know, he had good hands and he had decent footwork and was what he came from Iowa, I think, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um big 6'8, 255. He wasn't really known for his rebounding, but you know, a scoring big, I think, would definitely help. Would be huge, absolutely. So yeah, I would love to see him back as well. All right, cool.
Pastner’s Grade And Must-Win Pressure
SPEAKER_02Um, I think that's it. What would you rate what would you rate uh Passeners or what would you give the grade for Passenger's first season as UNLV coach? And what what do you think needs to be accomplished in this program moving forward?
SPEAKER_00So I th I give him a solid B minus. Um coming in late in the game and coming from a broadcast booth, not on the recruiting trail, not you know, in kids' DMs, he had to kind of put that roster together for uh at the last minute, and you have one kid coming back, which is was Jacob Bernarbi. Yeah. Um but again, you know, his first season with all that being said, and then the injuries, we've kind of talked to ad nauseum about that. Uh his first season achieving what Kevin Kruger did after four gives me a little bit of hope. So yeah, B B minus this season. If we have another, if the season mimics last season, that B will definitely drop to a C minus, maybe a D plus.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I'm gonna give him a C plus. Um, yeah, or he could do it incomplete because I mean Shay, but injuries are always a part of every sport, right? That's tough for your starting point guard and starting center to be out. And like you said, I think he did a good job for coming in late. He doesn't have this grace this time around. I just don't believe he can have, I think he needs to have at least 22 wins this year to retain his job, or like worst case scenario, he's like the number one or two seed in the NIT. I hope their attorney team, but what I'm already seeing is with GCU, New Mexico, Nevada, they're getting a lot of their best players back. Right. Or they they've transferred over. GCU's having a good run right now. So it looks like it's still like and it's gonna be an uphill battle going into next year. Tyron Jones, I mean, depending on how he develops this year, he may be the best player in the Mountain West. So they he may have that, but he's gonna have to surround because he's not he's not an elite scorer at this time. I don't believe he'll be that next year. I don't think he'll get that figured out, but um he has to bring in some scores. And they did we just gotta win. Like there's just there's no excuse when you see New Mexico, GCU, Nevada winning every single year. Um, I don't think the formula is hard, it's just fine. I think we Unal V, what they do is they want to get these big star athletic players that are not actually really that great at basketball, right? And it's crazy to me because we just got to start winning Mountain West conferences like every other year. We got to create a little momentum. There's too much time has gone by. And even I think the fans would come, and it's hard right now because it's a hard sell for Yule and a V because nobody's going to games. Right.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. You can play in this, you know, 18,000 seat stadium when there's 3,000 folks there.
SPEAKER_02So it's, you know, soever comes in now. I mean, you got to be okay with like, hey, nobody's gonna be there for probably the at least the first half of the year unless we start winning. It may take like two years. And then you have the you know you have the New Mexico and GCUs that sell out every game. So yeah, I I my expectation of this program is they have to win no uh no matter what. There's no excuses next year. I really like Passer. I'm rooting for him. I think he I love his intangibles, I love his energy, I love his enthusiasm. So it's not a uh passer thing, it's just like the culture of Unileague basketball has to change and it has to
NBA Coming And Vegas Competition
SPEAKER_02change now. And we I didn't want to have this on the questions, but NBA is coming to. To Las Vegas.
SPEAKER_00How does that affect UNLV basketball? I think it's going to be uh this is gonna be the that these next two years for UNLV basketball is really gonna make or break the future of of the program because dollars entertainment dollars are being stretched mightily thin. With you got the A's, um NBA team coming, uh, knights are still here, everything else that our events, it's gonna be tough to get butts in the seats if there's not a winning program, there's no consistency.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I think it's interesting. Yeah, they gotta we at the minimum win Mountain West Championships. So we'll say, hey, Unile V football got good when the Raiders came. See number two.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02They just gotta be okay with being like the B show in town, you know, and uh they've kind of been like the C show in town for about 10 years, but all right, number
UNLV Football Spring Storylines
SPEAKER_02next. All right, we'll talk a little of Unil V football today, spring practices going on. What have you been hearing?
SPEAKER_00Uh you know, it seems the the general consensus, I think, when Mullen came out and said the offense and defense are gonna be a little bit more balanced here, it's to be to be seen. Uh our defense. I think we spent the last two years really kind of harping on the defense. Um the defensive side of the ball. So we'll see kind of how they have going on. I'm interested to see the because the quarterback battle is very similar to the one that we had before the beginning of last year's season. Yeah. Where um Arnold is kind of a you know a good passer and has those intangibles, but then Alex Orgy's just a beast. So it kind of did it was fun to watch that quarterback battle last season. It'll be very interesting to see what they do this offseason and who actually gets the starting nod to see what um what next year's offense looks like.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it'll be interesting. I think Arnold will get the nod. I think Orgy's gonna definitely have packages for him. And kind of like we talked, I think that was one of our first podcasts. Um, we were taught I was excited about Orgy because if if the offensive line um can really push the pile, that could be a really fun, dominating offense.
Offensive Line Changes And Playmakers
SPEAKER_02So I think I got some breaking news for you today. Do you want some fun stuff? Let's go. Okay. Perk Cofield, spring, the starting offensive line. Left tackle, Will Thomas, left guard, Colton Thomason, center, awesome boy. We love awesome boy. Right guard, Amari Taze, I'm not sure how to pronounce that, but he was projected as the center. They moved him right guard. Um, and right tackle right now is Jackson Brown. Well, I know you love those lines. Yeah, I know. That was more for me. That's awesome. Um, also, it is funny because the last pod we did too, I'm like, they need to bring in another offensive lineman. And it was like the next day. They brought in Griffin Strogs from Appalachian State. I texted you. And then they also, I don't know if you saw it, Joseph Metzger, uh, first offensive lineman, 6'5, 310 pounds from Holy Cross. So what I'm hearing is from everybody's, I have not gone on spring practice. I haven't either. The offensive line looks huge and more athletic. So I think we're gonna see a more dominant offensive line. And it sounds like the younger receivers, Bell and McNair, have been showing out. Um, they were both highly recruited this class and the last class. So it sounds like they're gonna be making plays. And I think the big thing on defense, it's funny that I think Gunther is still the defensive corner, but he doesn't speak at all. Shire's been the one that's gonna be coming out, and it's like so. I think he's technically not the defensive corner, but he's the defensive coordinator.
SPEAKER_00Right, like in name, the Gunter's in name only, pretty much. Right. Uh Dino and defensive coordinator in name only. Right. Uh yeah, it's it is it's it's it's it is interesting because yeah, every interview that I've seen is has been him. And which is awesome. Thank God.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Which is awesome. You know, he came back and and uh spent a little time with the rebels, or spent some time more time with the rebels, because I think having him on that side of the ball is only gonna help.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Interesting too. Chatter came out. He technically, I think there's uh a lot of us thought that he ran a 3-3-5. He technically does not run a 3-3-5, he runs a 4-2-5. Did not know that. So um, so I guess there's hybrids to it. So I thought that was interesting.
UNLV Favored And Expectations
SPEAKER_02So uh yes, so Unil V favored for every game this season. How do you feel about it?
SPEAKER_00Let's go. John, if you would have told me that when I was like 10, 11, 12 years old, I'd be like, you're this, what's what what dimension am I living in right now? Right. Um, you know, it's it's it's exciting and it's the way it should be. We should have the best team in the you know, the new mountain west. But it's also a little bit dangerous too. We've always kind of played with a little bit of a chip on our shoulders, being the underdog, having a fight. Um, I'm hoping that they don't start reading their clippings and think that they're better than they are because it's uh, you know, and I think Mullen runs a pretty tight ship, so that discipline hopefully will build the confidence, not the headlines and the lines.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Not your favorite lines. I'm talking about the betting lines.
SPEAKER_02I got it. Thank you. Um, yeah, it's it's exciting going into next year. It looks on paper, offense and defense should be upgraded. You're right, though. Until we start playing the games, you never know. They might completely fool themselves. But right off the bat, I'm thinking 10-11 wins. 11 wins may get them into the college football playoffs. We'll see. Mountain West is probably the third or fourth best football conference now, probably fourth, some about, I guess kind of might be a little bit higher.
Mountain West Schedule And NDSU Add
SPEAKER_02So another interesting note, North Dakota officially, North Dakota State officially joined the Mountain West. Um, it happened right after our pod too. What's your thoughts of the addition and the Mountain West football schedule? Yeah. You know, conference specifically.
SPEAKER_00So conference specifically, and speaking of it kind of early on, we play Hawaii really early in the season. So that's kind of something that I'm a little bit leery about. Uh Timmy Chang and and his offense is you know, their air rate offense. They looked really good last season. And so I'm just hoping that we kind of get those kinks moved uh worked out before we have to face Hawaii. So that's kind of an early season making me wince a little bit.
SPEAKER_02And their quarterbacks bad.
SPEAKER_00And the yeah, so this is gonna be great. And then um New Mexico towards the end of the season, you just never know with with how healthy it is. We had our our buys seemed very our bye weeks came in opportune times last week or last year. Doesn't seem like we have that. We're playing a lot of games towards the end of November, right in a row. So that New Mexico game, I'm struggling on the schedule just to see how we are health-wise. That city up north, we don't even have to worry about because we're gonna win that game. But I am excited to see how North Dakota State comes in and plays up a division. They are a perennial winner, so they have the culture of winning, and sometimes that's that's more, you know, that's more important than how many stars are behind a kid's name coming out of high school, is just that they know how to win games. So I'm very interested to see how they kind of play up a division and what that game looks like this season and seasons going forward.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm impressed with the Mountain West um and what they have done with everything because it seems like the pack, since they defected, really has struggled with expansion. And I'm really impressed with how the Mountain West is added in North Dakota State. GCU is obviously an amazing ad for basketball. Um, but I love the North Dakota State ad. They got a ton of money from them too to join. They were ready. Uh, a perennial program. I don't know how many national champions, it's like 10 or 11 in the last 15 years, something like that. Something insane. So I think they add a lot. I thought it was interesting that they I think they have no home games against uh Unovy, Hawaii, and New Mexico for the first year. I I actually thought that was gonna happen. Welcome to the Mountain West. Yeah, exactly. And I don't think it's a bad thing because it may take them about a year um to get, I think they're gonna be in the top five, but New Mexico is gonna be good, Hawaii's gonna be good. Air Force, I think a lot of people forget about Air Force because they've been bad maybe for the last year or two, but that's been a good football program the years. I think they can Air Force can compete for Mountain Lesh Championships from their past pedigree, and a lot of like the Army and the Navy's, they've done pretty well because the kids don't transfer out. Right. So they actually have a competitive advantage.
SPEAKER_00And so that that triple option option offense that they run is tough. If if kids come in, they have never played against it, they've only seen it on film. It's a totally different ballgame if we're on the defensive side of the ball.
SPEAKER_02So I'm excited for football.
Final Thoughts And Sign Off
SPEAKER_02We didn't get to Raiders today or NFL draft, so we're gonna have to do that later on. Ryan, thanks for being on, brother. I appreciate you. Guys from Vegas, take care of yourselves today.