Hour 1: Michigan/UConn Preview, UCLA Routs South Carolina, plus ESPN’s Seth Greenberg

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And the Michigan Wolverines are on their way this is the rich eyes and show

You pod will head to the national championship the rich eyes and show but you see a way bro

It's happened on the women's basketball national championship today's guests ESPN college basketball analyst Seth Greenberg

The ringer NFL draft analyst Todd McShay

comedian Jeff Ross and now rich eyes

Well, hey everybody welcome this edition of the rich eyes and show right here in Los Angeles

California city of champions congrats to our friends in

Westwood the UCLA Bruins just absolutely destroying South Carolina to take the women's

basketball championship and cut down the nets in Phoenix. We'll talk about it

Corey closest team one of our friends of the program is

Celebrating last night and today

Congratulations to the UCLA women for making history. We'll see you cuts down the nets tonight and I'm nervous as a cat

844204 rich is the number to dial on that front Seth Greenberg is gonna talk about what we saw

This weekend on the men's side of things. We're also gonna have as you know

Football is always on the brain here. It's getting ready for the NFL draft

It is draft month and our first full week here in April Todd McShay of the ringer is gonna join us to the latest of his thoughts on what we're

You're gonna see in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania later on this month. We're gonna do our show

From the great steel city for draft week later on this month and then we throw open our in studio doors for the roastmaster general himself

Jeffrey Ross will give us a few laughs. He has got a great

Show for you to see it is the television version or of I guess the live

Presentation that he had on Broadway of his incredible one-man show take a banana for the ride

It's available now on Netflix. He also announced late last month that in May the latest roast is going down here in

Los Angeles in May

Kevin Hart will be roasted and we'll talk about all that with Jeffrey Ross 844204 rich is the number to dial right here on this program

I'm gonna see a Christopher Brockman. How are you rich nervous Michigan's eight point favorites tonight?

That's why I'm nervous over reaction Monday you and I recorded that prior to the show

That's out there for everybody to take in on our YouTube channel whenever you wish the first one of the month of April with the draft coming up

Later on this month good to see you Mike. They'll too far remember you. Yes. How are you? How are you doing good to see you?

How are you TJ Jefferson? What's going on sir candles lit? You know candles lit. I'm not I'm just okay

Very good 844204 rich as I mentioned is the number to dial right here on the program. Okay, so

This past weekend

Susie took Taylor to the women's final four in Phoenix my two boys were out and about for

For their spring breaking hanging out with friends on the east coast. Oh, so I was all by myself watching

Michigan take on Arizona after Yukon made the national championship game again

Taking care of Illinois sitting there watching the game by myself

And Michigan tips it off with Arizona in one of the most anticipated matchups not just of the year

But you could say in the history of the final four. I don't know who this Ken Palm is

Ken Palm. I don't know who Ken Palm is. I don't know if it's short for anything. I have no idea

Who you are Ken Palm? I don't know what it is. I don't know who it is

But all I keep hearing is this is one of the biggest Ken Palm matchups in the history of analytics

These are two great Ken Palm teams Kenny P

It's all I kept hearing about this Kenny P fellow

am I okay?

good to know

Michigan

Tips it off and I began to get tipsy

10 one run to start the game bottles of red. Yeah, I looked down at my phone and some

Individual in my life text me

An invisible ink hot not you I texted the group an invisible ink also a warning rich. You shouldn't don't don't look at this

I told you what to do the cooler the coolest of the coolers

An invisible thing says this is over. Yeah, and his defense though. He did tell you not told you not to this is over

But you tell someone not to look makes you want to look I wouldn't have not and within seconds

Well that happening I know yeah, the big 10 player of the year yaks a lended board picks up two fouls and five seconds

And I'm like what do I do with this

Moron in my life. How many silly putting that out there? How many syllables was the curse word the cooler

And then he comes back into game because dusty doesn't just let the dust settle on a player who is in foul trouble

He trusts his players to do the right thing puts him back out on the floor and the whole he does

Is drive the lane and have his leg and foot find the biggest foot on the floor for Arizona is crevas fellow

Seven foot two and all I imagine his foot is proportionate 1617 though though

And

Yaxel's leg and ankle finds that foot and it turns and I'm thinking to myself are you kidding me

As he's now limping off the floor my fellow Wolverine although she probably she probably feels like

I do when I call jet games

Don't talk about that, but Tracy Wolfson's given reports. I almost texted her. I know I know you're busy Tracy

You know, are you saying it's the knee to

It's not the ankle. It's the knee on top of it

Yaxel's limping around he goes back to the

locker room

He comes back out for a couple minutes limping with a towel over his head

And then goes limping back to the locker room and I'm like what hell's happening as Arizona goes on a nine oh run

I wanted to call you Brockman

At that point in time

And then that's the closest the game ever was 2823. Yeah, Arizona makes a nine oh run and this is when

Michigan without Yaxel

a perfect pass

To Roddy Gale who comes in and throws one down on the aforementioned seven foot two crevas

For what should have been an ad one, but he jams it down to make it a 3023 game and Arizona

Wasn't even in their wildest dreams as close as five points the rest of the way as you know

I like sitting in a rocking chair if I can while rooting for my teams that actually affect my emotions

Which Michigan basketball is one of the few left in my life to do so

I had no idea

I'll say this I had no idea that the three letters

BTA would be applicable to this game

hmm

And I've been talking about this team since jump

Seeing how versatile

Michigan's basketball team is I was talking about this back in November and December

So I'm not just late to the party here. I was on this just when the rest of the country was watching them dominate teams like Gonzaga by 30 points in that Vegas tournament thingy

In December and we all know Tommy Young comes from Gonzaga and

Arizona playing that style of game and Michigan

beating up on Arizona by 18 points. It is tied for the biggest BTA

one seed to one seed in the history of the men's tournament

And it wasn't even that close this game was over with eight minutes to go and

Arizona was scoring to make it

as close as it appeared

This thing was a wrap and it was without the big 10 player of the year in the first half and somehow some I mean

Tray McKinney doing his thing and a dimara grown-ass man speaking of UCLA which again congrats to the women

the men's

team last year had a dimara

And Michigan takes him in the portal and has turned him into a seven foot three monster

with post-action

and

soft touches around the rim and big 10 the big 10 the big 10 player defensive player of the year

His stat line is something

To be hold 26 points nine rebounds and a couple of blocks

unbelievable

Performance by Michigan and Yaxel comes back in the game and nails two threes just when the crew was talking about how he's limping around and looks like the shadow of his former self

after the game

Dusty me was asked why'd you put him back in and his answer is classic

Well, apparently you guys missed the Yukon Duke game

The game was already decided and then we were playing Duke tomorrow

They were up 19 correct in the second half and who won

So these being out and you're playing Arizona one of the best team

I mean statistically the number one or two team all year in the country with in your up 20 with 10 minutes left with eight and a half minutes left

We didn't feel quite as confident as you guys did that we could just hang, you know, but it gets to bed

And he came in and just L.A. was in foul trouble and and so he just held it down

Um, so yeah, we obviously we felt like the game was still in hand. I mean, uh, there's few guys that

Represent what I love

That I I I can't love more than this guy

And how he holds himself and how much I trust him

There's so many other coaches or managers. I'm like really is he really doing that

Even when you're you're hitting him saying are we playing Duke tomorrow? You might be like well actually it's Monday

And this was Saturday night. No because of the chain smokers this thing didn't start till 920

But odds for another segment in this program and by the time he's talking it's after midnight

Another thing that missing him. I'm like can this game start that'll be later on when I get on the

The porch and yell at those on my front lawn. That's later on

But this team coming out as red hot as it did against Arizona and then not taking the pedal off the metal

You don't usually see this in a final four game for various reasons one of them is because these kids

Are playing inside basketball arena is the entire season and now they show up in a football stadium

And it's tough to shoot. I don't know if you saw this during the game

Did you see this report during the game? I have the photograph straight from Michigan basketball

Dusty may before getting on a plane to Indianapolis with the team took the team outside and put a

Basket on the field at Michigan Stadium. I saw this a temporary hoop put it on the field at Michigan Stadium

And had them shoot at it to try and get some sort of perspective of what it might be like to be shooting in a football stadium

And Michigan came out on fire and shot 48% from the field against Arizona 48% from the field

God bless this man

And what he has done for this team and school

And I can't tell you how happy I am

With what he's done with everybody at his disposal

And how he's composing himself in the process

Now then

This is why I'm nervous

Because who are they facing? It's not dude who they've already faced this year. It's not a big 10 team

Which was possible because of how many big 10 teams made it and Michigan

became the first team in the history of the big 10 to beat everybody else

This year they beat every other big 10 team in the conference

I don't know it's amazing how in this day and age they play everybody

Now that is expanded to what 25 teams in the big 10

But it's you come

And

Danny Hurley

Who is right now the modern day coach K

Yeah, the best tournament team in the last few years let me say this they have

Since they've gone on this streak since Danny Hurley's at 2020 sort of pulled a deon before deon did say get us now because

You're not going to be able to get us from here on out

They don't lose when they hit the sweet 16

If they hit the sweet 16 they hit the pedal of the metal and they cut down everybody's nets

and

This kid Alex Caravan. I don't know if did you see this

tonight

He will join four other

Individuals who have played and started in

Three men's national championship games in four years the other four are named Patrick Ewing

82 84 and 85

Christian Laitner

90 91 92

Grand Hill probably 91 92 94

And

Danny's brother Bobby who played alongside Laitner and started in 90 91 92

That's who they're taking on

Tonight terrorists redo played for Michigan

611

And solo ball he's heard himself, but he says he's playing with that midfoot spring

Yaxle supposed to be playing tonight too

And Danny Hurley knows

Danny Hurley knows

Doesn't matter

That Michigan just put BTA

To Arizona's wagon

Kaboos I guess I should say

Doesn't matter all you got to do is tip it off tonight and be better in the 40 minutes that the clock is ticking

You don't have to be the best team you don't have to have the best season

To win this tournament, you know these are

All one games game seven single game elimination has been plenty of times in

The history of this tournament where the best team hasn't won it, you know

You just got to be better for one night

And obviously

You know for us we need to play the game a certain type of way

You know, we obviously can't get into a certain type of game with with with Michigan. They're

You know incredibly dominant team

You know incredibly well-coached

Talent up and down the roster physically imposing, you know all those things so

You know the good thing for us. It's not a seven games series. Just got to play one game a Monday night

That's right and he's the perfect kind of crazy as you know

As you know

You think he's tight

The only thing that might be tight

Is his lucky suit that he keeps wearing

You're about this. He's wearing the same suit

He's not he doesn't get beaten to suit stench to it

Is what he had to say about his lucky suit falling apart

Suits in bad shape, you know i'm like a lie to you guys, uh, you know the pants

Pants are fine. Uh, it's the jacket that is really the lining is a problem. There's like

Three holes when I stick my arm in the right

It's like there's like three different places and if you can see it

It's like the lining is coming through. It's actually going past the dress shirt

I'd say my biggest problem is

The lining and the jacket is a complete mess

So I'm gonna have to get a tailor in the offseason

Yeah

First-class problems sounds worried. I love this guy

Sounds like a guy is 199 and 74 in his record at Yukon. That's

Well, here's the thing though

Dusty May's record at Michigan

He's now 50 games above 500 since taking over 63 and 13 and

As you saw last

Saturday night who was sitting court side scouting Yukon and Illinois. Oh my goodness

Everybody getting ready to just heap abuse on Dusty May prior to taking on Arizona

Oh, you're scouting your next opponent

You got to beat Arizona first and you're spending your time before the game

It's because everything the cake was baked people

The only thing you had to overcome was the chain smoker's concert

because tip

Took 15 minutes longer than expected

And and he's also pretty chill himself. Do you see this moment? He and Danny Hurley had

When they sat down, I believe for cbs and Turner

Okay

Robin heads with him too. Let's go

Some crazy ass Jersey guy who's

Impossible to beat this time of year

In Yukon taking on the kid from Indiana

Two totally different guys like the odd couple right there. That's like Felix and Oscar of coaches

Let's go

And all I'm saying is this

In advance as I'm getting ready for this game tonight

Can we not have a rock concert for 15 minutes? We don't want it

Nobody wants it

Nobody

Tip it before

Nine o'clock eastern. Can we do that?

All right

There's a front lawn and I want you off it

About who's up. I'm trying to find out if there's a concert tonight

I don't want it. I'm going in the end. I don't want it

Nobody wants it rich. What if it's I couldn't believe that tip is supposed to be

850 oh no, it's 20 after nine why

And I like to change smokers. I almost took up change smoking. Yeah

There you go

Let's take a break Seth Greenberg coming up right here on the rich eyes and John fired up

Let's talk about this talk about UCLA

Cutting down a net and Phoenix let's do it

The rich eyes and show podcast

You

Seth Greenberg here on the rich eyes and show our friend from ESPN kicking off of this segment right here live on the rich eyes and show on

ESPN radio and ESPN and Disney plus good to see you Seth. How are you sir?

I'm great to interview. It was incredible with Cory close. Absolutely incredible

I'm going to give your coach wooden story real quickly

My wife went to UCLA my brother will play golf there, but I

I guess when when coach

Eric won his national championship. We're at the airport

I go to the game and I'm I come back at the arrow and my wife comes to pick me up

And there's this Emily gentleman sitting on a

On a bench outside the airport waiting to get picked up to coach wooden. All right, so my wife gets out of car and

She had met coach wooden like when she was a student doing some community service type things

And she introduced herself and he said to her. Oh, yes, I remember Karen

He remembered her name

He remembered her name

And then we saw him again another time in the airport and at that point we had we had a child

And he was didn't you just have a child a year ago?

It was the most incredible thing in the world so that interview was

Christless. It's the little thing she did no doubt and her her players were

Dynamite uh, and and you you could see

When when you go to a final four. This is what you have to do you have to dominate you have to succeed

But you also have to just take off and you saw UCLA take off um and and beat Texas and then beat up South Carolina

Which really uh

To to to Yukon. So they are they're the true champs. There's no question about it

Seth incredible and absolutely absolutely incredible and uh

Lauren bets their best player or dad actually went and played at Long Beach State after I was there

Who's a very very good player at Long Beach State, which is just a small world

Right, and now Cory's got Lauren's sister sienna to maybe try and build another team with as all of these

Seniors move on um and i'll talk about this later on

Um here in this hour

Let's just jump to the men's side of things your impressions of the weekend were what

Seth

You know, I mean one game was

Overwhelming the other game was what we expected to be the Illinois Yukon game was a grind

I thought daddy's team did enough things to find a way to win taking care of the basketball was at the

The top of the list and then Michigan did what they've done most of the season

Let's be honest. I know drum, but I mean they've treated the NCAA term like a bunch of guaranteed games

I mean the teams that have got beat should get like a thousand dollar checks and move on because I mean that's pretty much how they treated

The NCAA tournament uh

Just dominating with the axles you without gaxle they know difference

Uh the size the length of physicality uh the ability to protect the airspace. I call it whether it means

Whether it's lob dunks tomorrow or whether it's protecting the firm. They're in and then the ground game

Uh, the me was LA kendo and the forcing the confidence that he played with

They were absolutely spectacular, but you know, Yukon did some spectacular things as well

Starting the game to get into ball and paris read

Mones getting off to that great start and then mones, you know

He made another pretty big shot. Dan Hurley made two great decisions

Coming out of time out. So he got got the ball to taris on the block when they were struggling

And then mones makes that big shot. So uh

I'm excited about tonight. It's gonna be a big fat game

Yeah, I mean you were talking about how Michigan's treating the NCAA tournament reminds me of Yukon a couple of years ago

As a matter of fact the Michigan does have you know, does have to come up with a big win tonight to even

Match or surpass Yukon's

margin of victory in

Cutting down the nets a couple of years ago as uh Danny started this

Ascension to make the final game three times in four years. So

Uh, I'll give you the floor on how Yukon can can cut down a net again tonight

Seth

Well, first it starts with how you gonna go early? You know

And it sounds silly, but you got to make him a scorer. You got to take the assist out of his hands

What I mean by that is because you you don't take the assist out of his hands and you over help

It's a lob tomorrow. It's a kick out and spray out the three

It's an angle because you're in rotation because you're helping on say the ball screen of the drive and now they're on the offense

So I think the first thing is you've got to you've got to make him a scorer

Take you can't let him score and make plays for other people and and and that's gonna be interesting

The second thing is yaks on how healthy is he and how much does he play now he plays and he's 80 to 100 percent

Yukon doesn't have a matchup through them the way they start the game

So I expect early in the game jaden Ross and jelon stupid to come in because they need to defend him with size

They need to defend him with length. They need to keep him off the glass

The third thing they got to do I think is they got Yukon's gonna have to make nine threes

I think they think they got they've got to make nine threes. You know, Wisconsin made 15

I think they got to make nine because they have to play this game in the sixties

This has got to be a possession game. So you've got multiple actions. I call actions over actions

Move the Michigan defense and part of moving the Michigan defense is inverting it and when I mean by that is you got to bring those bigs

From Michigan away from the basket to create some driving lanes and then

Post them up. So, you know, you can bring them away and make them too way

So they got to come out and help on the dribble handoffs to spread ball streets all those type of things

And then bring tires read into the block after you've moved them

That will be really

Possessions with a rebound and that if I was drawing on my on on a whiteboard before the game

Those are the things that I would remind our gods

Hey Kelly, you can go out of the game, which is so so important multiple bodies

We got to see they've got to see multiple bodies in the paint

Limit them to one shot

Take away the air game, which is the lobby to stay at home so we can block out and read down the basketball and

Let's control the temple of this game keep it in the sixties. What's Dusty may think and

To cut down the nets. What is he got it? Dusty man

I'm supposed our identity on the game. Use our left. Use our activity have discipline defensively

Because you got is going to make the us defend

So like we can't bite on that. We've got to state this one defensively. All right

Basically forcing the shooter to pass the shop limited one shot play ahead in defense as much as we can

But if we don't have anything then let's dictate the shot. Let's not let

They you can't pack it it in or not overheld. Let's not then dictate the shot we take

Let's not then dictate our element. You're gonna come off the times. You know what you can might have to back to room

That's to swing it one more time

Move on one more time again. Let's dominate the glass dominate the paint and dominate the air

The dominate the air by when the ball goes up. I would make Tarris Reed guard early try to get him in foul trouble

Could the back up the Tarris Reed is limited?

Well for sure the one question I have for them is

Dusty may as defensive game plans are personnel driven which means

You're going to decide what you're going to give what you're going to take away and I have a tape that I used to have a day

You know like they play you know Iowa. Well Josh starts. You're not catching the ball

I mean Ben is starts. You're not catching the ball

We're denying you the basketball. We're making you work to get the ball where against Michigan State

Would they do against your affairs they pack it in the lane?

You know, they forced everything to make him a jump shooter team

The thing with Yukon is hard is because he got to guard the caravan

I think they're gonna gonna really make it hard for him to catch the ball

Would that's gonna be Mars Johnson? I'm gonna just see how they match up because they play

Caravan all over the court

Which is it is an interesting thing and then like Mullins you're gonna probably the same thing

You're gonna probably deny him or force him to catch in a step further out

So I'm interested to see how

Dusty matches up with the shop makers because

At the start of the game

Yukon's got three big time shop makers on the floor caravan solo ball

And and Mullins so to me that's going to be a really interesting thing to watch

Yeah, I mean if ball is

Not healthy. It might be difficult to

Body up cadet, right? Like that's that's gonna be an issue his health will be an issue about what what they can do potentially to

To guard or

Silas them right. I think south-stemmer is gonna be on cadet and he's well

He's heard too. He's he's a little banged up to and he's banged up to but he's he's got good size

He's got strength. He's got length

The question is and this is like solo

This might be a game solo doesn't play as many men even though you need a shopmaking because

If solo plays that solo

Is gonna have to guard Burnett, which means Mullins is gonna have to guard

Yaxle and that's a bad matchup

Unless he's not unless he's not a hundred percent in his own right, you know

He was even talking about how he might be a corner three guy

Um, you know and then then he's guardable

Like he's just like the 38-year-old guy in the YMC playing to pick up that could you

What Dusty said that was that that was a great line

Unfortunately, I was that guy got about 24 years. No, so I mean, I can understand that. I mean

Not a lot of wiggle to my game back then

But of either a business spot of guy he becomes a little easier to defend what you make of Dusty

Being out there for Illinois, Yukon

Scouting charting the first half of that game Seth what you make it on a suit? I would have been out there

I agree you haven't seen him up close. There's one thing to watch in film

There's one thing eyeball him. He's not only a ball and him. He's by a ball and Danny how it you know

What Danny's doing you trying to get a feel for you know the chess game that yeah?

What can you pick up? Tell me what you can pick up for something like that watching Danny early Seth what you picked up

what

situations he reacts to

What situation what makes him make a sub what what what situations

He overreacts to even to be honest wasn't that all of them

No, you know what he's a complex dude

He's a complot, but you know

I think I said to see the damn show

He is a lot of ways

misunderstood because down deep as competitive he is and how he creates these causes

We always culture create causes. He goes to an extreme. You know, he calls them wars

You know, yeah, but in your in that moment in time for you

That's his approach

But away from all that the human being he is away from all that in terms of to his players off the court

To the community that he's working in

To the work he does the children's hospital

He's a very different guy, but

He's his circle of life and his experiences

He's seen the highest size. He's seen the lowest lows. He's come out on the other side

That's his motivated of whether it's the fear of failure or whatever

But away from that like he if people get to know him. He's an incredibly

Genuinely genuine human being that that is really considered. He just gets back

blank and crazy

That's what happens, you know, that's what happens in in in a heat of the competition

Sometimes you can catch yourself and come and comport in other times you can't

As his

I just did well no as his compatriot as his compatriot on the women's side of things could not

Um over the weekend to be quite honest with you Seth

But that's for again for for another day at the end of the day

Am I uh crime myself to sleep or am I just having a nice little glass of red to

Toast it off. I think you're I think you're gonna

I suggest you get and I know you do it because I know you don't you dream cheap wine

So I know you got a good bottle of wine somewhere in the house. Yeah, so that about it

Okay, I would think you'd probably be cracking open a pretty nice bottle of wine and uh, you know, maybe a blend or something

You know toast toast thing that helped a bit of victory, so okay

I just think they're better. I

As Danny is a Savon and what I want one last thing is Alex Karabin if they do win

Alex Karabin be the last of the last

Four years at the same school no transferring three national championships

stayed the course

I don't think they'll ever be another Alex Karabin because we've got it's going to play any a base state to save school

You know since you have he wins since you see a lay there's not been another guy with three national championships

Although I do think that you will end up opening a bottle of wine because I just think that Michigan just that good is good as

Dan is and as hard as they'll play and as much as they'll compete and prepare

I think Michigan when Michigan's at their very best taking you to that next level

A lot of things would have to work for Connecticut to beat them

Seth thanks for the time thanks for the last two weeks and I look forward to

You're on again real soon thanks again, so you're really I really enjoy our chats. Thanks again

Thank you Seth on hoop Seth Greenberg right here on the rich eyes and showing again

That's hearing that is when you hear that. Hey, you're supposed to win. You're gonna win

Gets me nervous again

I even even against your seat and hall team Mikey in 89. We were not we were the six seed. We were Cinderella

We had a new head coach. We had an interim head coach. We're not supposed to win

And every single time Michigan's been back even with Belon we were we were the team that was not supposed to win

It's the first time you were the first time hopefully this first time for everything and it's

The way I'll be comfortable in the future

Draft season is here and everybody's talking about franchise players blockbuster trades and the moves that can reshape a team

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Life is brighter in less wood california. We'll hit

On the UCLA women cutting down the nets in Phoenix next on the rich eyes and show

The rich eyes and show the podcast

Back here on the rich eyes and show

So Cory close was the first ever guest in the history of women sports now a show about women sports that we launched last year here

hosted by women for women and men talking about women sports all the time and

Season two news is coming up on that front very shortly. I don't want to jump the gun

But the reason I bring this up is after Cory appeared on women sports now she came here

On this program and last year after her team

Got bounced out of the final four by Yukon as a they just rampaged their way to the national championship last year

Had this to say about winning it all potentially

What would winning a title mean to your kids? What would it mean? Well, I think you know

One of the biggest gifts coach wouldn't gave me is that

When you have the kind of success he had

It validated the way in which you but it went about his process and it encouraged me that you can be at the highest levels of excellence

And you don't have to be demeaning you don't have to be like when it all costs you don't have to be transactional with your kids and

You know push all the right buttons to listen to this you know response or against each other and I was like

Okay, it is possible to win at the highest levels and to treat people well and hold high standards and not doing it in a demeaning way for me

To me it with for me personally

It would mean it validates the process and I would get to pay that forward to somebody else that you don't have to

You know, you can you can do things the right way you can do things with integrity. You can be

fiercely competitive and still care about people and invest in their hearts

And so for me personally, that's the way. I think our players

It would maybe mean something a little bit different and the fact of like they they walk down those hallways every day

And there's a trophy case in the Hall of Fame and that has a hundred and twenty four national championships

And I laugh because that's an insane number. Yeah

And none of those are women's basketball

So the chance to put that like when I first got here

I took a picture there was an empty space in that trophy case and I took a picture of it

And I put it right next to my desk that

We were going to create we were going to have uncommon women willing to make uncommon choices yielding an uncommon result

Which is filling that empty space and so that would be really meaningful to them

Well guess what's going to be in that space now

And guess who's going to have their own banner

Hanging from Paulie Pavilion next to John Woodens

Corey Close and the 2025-2026 UCLA Bruins

first

Championship won by UCLA on the women's side of things ever

Well, there was one in the mid-70s, but that was before

For some reason the NCAA acknowledged women's basketball

But um

She got it done as did the rest of her team who are just all

Coming together at the right time this year

They beat Texas on Friday night

Texas the only team to beat UCLA this year

And they did it

In dismantled

Texas which dismantled my Wolverines

Um in the elite eight and then took on South Carolina which

Took a part Yukon in the final four and that

Other final four game on Friday night and then UCLA just destroyed

South Carolina destroyed the way and took a half-time lead

Uh and expanded on it in a 25-7 master class of a third quarter and all the seniors that

Corey close has had in her locker room and in her program

She played them all and they scored all but four points of the 79

In winning it all and family all around family all around whether it is on the screen

You could see Gabriela Hakez who is just unbelievable. She does everything. She scores

She runs the floor she defends

She does all the dirty work and she had a stat line of 2110

and

five

Her brother Jaime scored dropped 32 on the heat and then flew out to see her in Phoenix and we all know Jaime

Made the uh Jaime made the uh final four on the men's side of things

So that's the UCLA family and then the bet's family Lauren

Big 10 player of the year big 10 defensive player of the year and CN of bets her younger sister

They won together

As a a family and Lauren bets

Unbelievable

these storylines are

Remarkable and this was coach close

I believe is this the one where she's got the net and the goggles the champagne goggles on her championship had had this to say after

Not about me. It's about watching uh these incredible young women be dream chasers

To watch them grow in ways that they will remember and it will stick with them for the rest of their lives and it's about

Their work and their habits

Yielding and we we say this so we want to recruit courageous and kiss me choked up

Because there's a lot of times where we wonder if it could be true

I said I wanted to find uncommon courageous women that we're willing to make uncommon choices

That maybe possibly could yield an uncommon result and today it did it's like coach Dale waving the um

the

leather

Satchel that has his game plan in it. That's what Cory close has been at 15 years long as tenured coach at a single school to win

A first NCAA title and she did it with a team that won by 28 third largest margin of victory in a title game ever

29% they were suffocating defense 29% that's what South Carolina shot from the floor

And in terms of you know uncommon

um

something all too common that

Young people in our day and age deal with it certainly young women as well

Depression Lauren Betts wrote this remarkable players tribune story

um i believe march 19th is the date

She a remarkable story called i want to be here

Because when she was a freshman in stanford transferring a UCLA

Um, she was battling depression. She checked herself into UCLA's hospital

Because she had a bad

bout and knew she had to do something about it

And that title means so much. I want to be here meaning UCLA

I want to be here meaning being present and being positive and I want to be here meaning

Not the nightmare alternative

Being so open about it Madison Booker who is a remarkable player for Texas shot three for 23

In that semifinal loss to UCLA and afterwards Lauren Betts talked about how

Madison should be given grace that she's a human

This is what she had to say and winning a championship with her

Sisters on the court and her sister literally

I think it's just buying into the process, you know

You have we have everybody you could possibly one on a team and you were so skilled at every single position

But I think you know the maturity to come in and you know sacrifice yourself and your ego

And be able to put that aside for moments like these like it makes it so worth it

Because at the end of the day like no one's gonna really care how much you average this season

Like when you have a freaking ring around your finger like no one cares

Needs to all look at that picture right there pretty cool of Lauren Betts holding the championship trophy

Well deserve what she has become and what she stands for and the rest Kiki rice as well

The game she had

31 minutes

10 points and

The others neepkins leisure walker doogly chews just everywhere. I'm Cory close put them together

Put them together and they bonded together and then they took off

They crushed Texas held on at the end. It got a little tight

As Texas was defending off 94 feet

um, and then

Took out South Carolina after they took out Yukon

So well deserved and I you know

String and well deserved just great human Cory close is going to get to look up in that pavilion

See all of John Wooden's banners and look up and go

That's my team

The young lady who is a 22-year-old assistant met John Wooden

And visited with him every other week in his apartment in the valley

Is carrying on his and UCLA's traditions

Congratulations to her and everybody part of that program just inspiring and awesome and

Truly ones to root for the rich eyes and show podcast