Season 2, Episode 13 feat. Jonathan House and Sam Doughton

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[00:00:34] Thanks for tuning in to the Blue Raider Podcast. I'm your host, Jake Bolden. In today's episode, we are covering the home football loss to Liberty this last weekend with the SSN curator of the ex-Twitter account and reporter Jonathan House. Today's the big face reveal for Jonathan and then stick around for Sam Doughton to join us once again where we will be touching base on all things fall sports as those seasons are coming to an end and we start to move into basketball season.

[00:01:09] So lots of hoops talk as well as your miscellaneous MTSU athletic talks with Sam. Always good to have both of these guests on today. Before we roll into the episode, I want to take just a second to thank our sponsors and we will start things off with Mighty Dog Roofing.

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[00:02:33] That's C-O-N-S-E-C-O-Group.com. Again, thanks to Mighty Dog Roofing Nashville East and the Conseco Group for sponsoring today's episode.

[00:02:42] Now, without further ado, we will get into our first guest. As I tease at the very beginning, we will be talking everything about the home game this last Saturday against the Liberty Flames where the team ultimately fell 37-17.

[00:02:54] But joining us from Sideline Sports, it is Jonathan House. Jonathan, how's it going?

[00:02:59] Hey, it's going well, man. I really appreciate you letting me on.

[00:03:04] Absolutely. I'm excited to talk so many things with you about the football game as well as we might talk a little hoops there at the end.

[00:03:09] But before we go into what we're going to be talking about, I want to take just a second to highlight what Coach Mason said at the opening of his presser this last week

[00:03:16] because I think there's a lot of good tidbits in there. So we'll roll that clip for us.

[00:03:19] Yeah. I mean, our football team, I mean, today, man, just for us, I thought we had some momentum early, you know,

[00:03:28] with some turnovers and had some opportunities. But, you know, man, for us, the ability to capitalize just slipped through our fingers.

[00:03:37] So, you know, I told our guys afterwards, you know, we have to continue to not be about the peaks and valleys, you know,

[00:03:45] of how football is played. Hey, man, you're going to have mistakes. Hey, we can work through the mistakes.

[00:03:49] I just think for us, just the ability of, you know, our guys to put it away and continue to keep playing and focus because way too many penalties in this ballgame.

[00:04:03] You know, penalties kill drives. And I think for us, there were times where I thought we thwarted momentum,

[00:04:13] but gave it right back, you know, due to penalties. And then there were other times like in this ballgame where we couldn't get off the field.

[00:04:21] And I think the important thing is, you know, I mean, defensively, man, you've got to find a way to stop the run.

[00:04:25] I knew that was going to come at us. We knew it was going to come at us and just didn't do it well enough today to get the ball back to our offense

[00:04:35] and didn't execute well enough on offense. So the end result is, you know, what you saw today.

[00:04:42] So Blue Rays got to be better.

[00:04:47] Well, he said it there at the top or at the very end there about they just got to be better.

[00:04:51] And I think the sentiment has been the same all season long about not executing on both ends of the ball as well as the penalties becoming an issue.

[00:04:58] We saw there in the middle of the game where you had an opportunity to even get some momentum back.

[00:05:01] And you had a procedural penalty on special teams followed up by another penalty off sides on a quarterback sneak,

[00:05:08] which they ultimately ended up scoring, taking a lead. And that was the end of that.

[00:05:11] But so, Jonathan, I mean, I've talked about this ad nauseum all season thus far.

[00:05:16] But again, this kind of being your first time on the show, you know, what's kind of your thoughts,

[00:05:20] not only on this game on Saturday, but collectively for this entire season?

[00:05:26] So on the season, you know, we at SSN at Sidelines, you know, Sports Network, we always, you know, we on occasion,

[00:05:33] we'll do like a we'll do we'll do like our preview magazine or one.

[00:05:37] It's an online article or whatnot. This year we didn't get around to doing it.

[00:05:41] But, you know, in my preseason article, I had said, you know, for Mason's first year having 60 plus or new faces on the team,

[00:05:50] I was like, you know, maybe three to four wins is it's not generous, but it's it's where I feel that we were as a program.

[00:05:58] You know, you're coming from you're coming from what was it, 18 years with the former or with the former coach, you know,

[00:06:08] and a lot of your key players transferred out, whether they graduated or they just went somewhere else, you know,

[00:06:14] greener pastures, whatever.

[00:06:17] You know, like I said, three, three wins, four wins, kind of where I saw us this year.

[00:06:23] You know, Mason has to have time to get his guys in.

[00:06:26] He has to have time to instill his defensive minded, his defensive mind.

[00:06:30] Like, that's just how it is.

[00:06:32] You know, his track record at Vanderbilt, it was what it was.

[00:06:36] But I mean, aside from James Franklin and now Clark Lee this season alone, who's won at Vanderbilt?

[00:06:42] You know, you can't really use that as as material to throw at a head coach and a head coaching search, in my opinion.

[00:06:54] Mason's brilliant whenever it comes to football mindset wise.

[00:06:59] I think that him recruiting in the mid state, absolutely phenomenal.

[00:07:02] You know, stock kind of steered away from that over the years.

[00:07:06] And I know that a lot of Middle Tennessee fans are excited.

[00:07:09] You know, the attendance for the Vets games was around 13,000 plus.

[00:07:14] I believe it was around that for the for the last game as well.

[00:07:17] This time, the last few years, you know, you average eight, nine thousand, whether that's just inflated, you know, tickets or whatever, inflated numbers.

[00:07:27] But, you know, I think that it's obvious that him recruiting in the state of Tennessee in the mid state is definite has definitely turned some heads, you know, despite the record.

[00:07:39] Talking about the game against Liberty, we allowed three hundred and forty rushing yards, which is yards, which is insane.

[00:07:47] But that's kind of been our problem all season.

[00:07:49] You know, we haven't really been able to stop the run.

[00:07:53] That's come from really good running backs to mobile quarterbacks like Jackson Dart at Ole Miss, Caden Salter, you know, Salter and Cooley, their liberties running back.

[00:08:05] They had they have, I believe I did some stat breakdown.

[00:08:10] They have over almost thirteen hundred yards out of Liberty's almost two thousand rushing yards on the season.

[00:08:17] That's absolutely insane for a quarterback running back duo.

[00:08:23] And you saw it the you saw it the other day.

[00:08:27] Liberty's offense is very run heavy and it's very much like, hey, let's just toss it off to the side.

[00:08:33] One of our guys are going to go.

[00:08:34] You know, we saw some pretty cool reverses.

[00:08:37] We saw reversals.

[00:08:38] We saw some trick plays.

[00:08:39] It was, you know, if I were an unbiased from an unbiased media standpoint, that game would have had everything I wanted from Liberty's offense from the second quarter on.

[00:08:48] It was just entertaining.

[00:08:50] It was exciting, you know.

[00:08:54] But, you know, if you add that deadly rushing attack that they have and our defense, you know, the Blue Raider defense allowing over two hundred and seven yards a game and that's just rushing.

[00:09:05] You know, that's pretty much a recipe for disaster.

[00:09:09] In my opinion, especially coming against an offensively loaded Liberty team.

[00:09:16] Right. Yeah.

[00:09:17] And that was kind of the whole point of preparing for a game like this was because of that factor that their wide receiving room was was diminished due to injuries.

[00:09:26] Like I spoke with Fan the Flames podcast last week is you got to stop the run.

[00:09:30] We know Quentin Cooley's good.

[00:09:32] We know that Caden Salter has been a dual threat.

[00:09:34] And as you already touched on, the amount of yards of those two alone amass has been impressive.

[00:09:39] Very similar to that of like Tyler Huff and Trey Stewart at Jacksonville State.

[00:09:42] And we see the run that they're currently going on as well in conference undefeated at five and oh.

[00:09:46] So, but yeah, I think defensively that's been the struggle.

[00:09:50] I don't know how much credit I was going to give them after a game like that because Liberty had been playing to their competition all season long.

[00:09:56] But the offense is kind of an area that I was I was disappointed with because of the way that they started the game.

[00:10:02] They didn't score the first drive, but they got quickly got a turnover and then capitalized on that drive to get a 7-0 lead.

[00:10:08] And then in the second half, your first drive out, you drive down the field and you put up points as well.

[00:10:13] So obviously the ability is there for this offense to run whatever it is that Bodie Reeder is trying to run.

[00:10:19] And we saw some adjustments there.

[00:10:21] And I, you know, I addressed that with Coach Mason in the postgame presser was it looked like you are making adjustments.

[00:10:26] They ran 21 personnel, something we haven't seen them run very much this year.

[00:10:30] But those first two drives were almost exclusively out of the 21 personnel package.

[00:10:34] And finding ways to get Ja'Kill Middlebrooks the ball in open space worked tremendously for them.

[00:10:40] Terry Wilkins had a few catches out of the out of the 21 personnel as well.

[00:10:44] So there's some promising signs.

[00:10:45] And I know a lot of fans may be upset with the results on the field, but just know that Bodie Reeder generally is pretty much handcuffed with the way the offensive line is.

[00:10:54] With the amount of injuries that they're having to sustain, the vertical passing threat that he that we've seen from him at his previous stops like North Texas and Oklahoma State.

[00:11:01] It's just not capable of doing that right now with with the amount of injuries that are piled up on the offensive line.

[00:11:07] So one of that was one of my big takeaways was the offense looks like they're making some changes.

[00:11:13] And they and obviously we saw some promise there because Liberty does have a pretty solid defensive front.

[00:11:17] So they were able to get to two drives that went the distance.

[00:11:21] You found your way to the end zone.

[00:11:23] But then my other takeaway is special teams.

[00:11:25] And when we listen to Sam later, you know, he probably is more on the side of they're just it.

[00:11:32] They just happenstance.

[00:11:33] And in fact, of like the game earlier this year, I believe it was Kennesaw State.

[00:11:36] We had three procedural penalty penalties on a punt formation.

[00:11:40] That situation, all that happened at one time.

[00:11:42] And it clearly it was just that the officiating crew had a different interpretation of that rule.

[00:11:46] And we were not we were disadvantaged by it.

[00:11:48] And then this one in particular was just a young guy who just made a poor decision lined up over center when you can't just that's just you can't do that.

[00:11:54] You can't line up over center in a punt formation.

[00:11:56] But the special teams in general, though, when you look at who's in great Zeke, how Zeke Rakin has performed this year.

[00:12:01] Obviously, Grant Chadwick is one of the best punters in the country.

[00:12:04] And Brody Butler, who's an all conference long snapper.

[00:12:07] Those those three in particular in the special teams have been spectacular.

[00:12:10] So I don't want to don't want to put them down.

[00:12:12] But there's some procedural stuff that comes with discipline, as Mason already touched on in his postgame.

[00:12:17] But all that to be said, I want to turn the attention to the end of the year now.

[00:12:21] We got two games left.

[00:12:22] The bowl picture is entirely out of the out of the question now that you the best you could do is five wins going into the year to kind of to bring it back up that topic.

[00:12:32] As you said, you were looking at three to four wins.

[00:12:34] I was on the more optimistic side.

[00:12:35] I said five.

[00:12:36] I said they'd get to four to five.

[00:12:37] I said they could even find a way to six because I thought they would they would win the Louisiana Tech game.

[00:12:42] And you look back at that, man, if they were able to pull off the Louisiana Tech win in that situation, then you you are at six wins.

[00:12:50] So New Mexico State coming up in two weeks, got a bye coming up.

[00:12:54] And then you end the year at FIU, who it doesn't look like they'll be playing for a bowl game either.

[00:12:58] So now you're in a situation where you can get to five wins.

[00:13:00] And in my opinion, if you can get to five wins one year removed from a four win stock still team.

[00:13:04] And I think everyone here in this interview, as well as anyone that's listening to this would agree.

[00:13:09] Stock still team last year was far more talented than this team that Mason has now.

[00:13:14] So I think it says a lot about what Mason and the staff have been able to do to just get to five wins, albeit an even easier non-conference schedule than what stocks still had to deal with last year.

[00:13:23] So all that to say, moving forward, Jonathan, what are some things that you are looking forward to seeing in these last two ballgames?

[00:13:33] Yeah, so I think that this is a chance, you know, two games left in the season.

[00:13:39] I think this is a chance that you're going to give some young guys a start, you know, or at least you're going to let them get playing time.

[00:13:43] You know, they haven't used their red shirt. Guess what?

[00:13:46] You're not going to lose it, you know, going playing now.

[00:13:50] You know, Lance Peoples, I would absolutely the freshman from Cascade.

[00:13:54] I would absolutely love to see him get some minutes on the O-line.

[00:13:58] I mean, he's a big he's a big dude. He was at Coach Mason's introductory press conference.

[00:14:04] Like I watched him play a couple of different high school games over the years and the kid's phenomenal.

[00:14:09] Like and he's just a good dude. Like I would love to see him get some time.

[00:14:14] But, you know, the way I look at it is what's the worst that can happen?

[00:14:18] Bowl season's out of reach. But, you know, you're going to give your young guys, you know,

[00:14:22] a lot of valuable experience playing against two programs that are in similar boats to you.

[00:14:28] You know, like you said, New Mexico State, they're two and seven on the season.

[00:14:31] Well, guess what? They play Texas A&M at Texas A&M this upcoming Saturday.

[00:14:37] That's an insanely wild trip to make, you know, this late in the season.

[00:14:41] And honestly, I think it could bang up their team just a little bit.

[00:14:44] But just SEC ball is different. As we know, playing Ole Miss, playing Alabama last year, like guys get beat up, they get hurt.

[00:14:52] Their quarterback play, it hasn't been very good.

[00:14:56] They've swapped between two different quarterbacks. I believe their names are Parker.

[00:14:59] I don't want to say it wrong, but we'll say Parker Awad, I want to say.

[00:15:02] And Santino Marucci. You know, they each have 93 attempts, but they haven't hit a thousand yards yet on the season.

[00:15:10] Passing wise. And they only have seven touchdowns. Like, I think that you have to capitalize on that.

[00:15:18] But then the problem comes up. Their run game, which I have a couple of little stats I topped up here.

[00:15:23] And that's why I keep looking up. Their run game is it's scary.

[00:15:27] And as you know, we're not the best at stopping the run.

[00:15:30] But, you know, they're starting back. His name is Seth McGowan.

[00:15:35] I've seen him play a couple of times this year on TV.

[00:15:37] He has 120 attempts on 636 yards, I believe. He has three touchdowns on the year.

[00:15:44] And Mike Washington has 107 attempts for almost 550 yards.

[00:15:51] As we talked about earlier, we've struggled at stopping the run this year.

[00:15:54] That's been all season.

[00:15:57] The defense is going to the defensive line is going to have to play lights out.

[00:16:00] Your linebackers are going to have to play lights out.

[00:16:03] If they want to stop the run against the Aggies.

[00:16:10] The game is going to come down, in my opinion, to whichever team's going to whichever team holds the others offense to less points.

[00:16:18] That's just how I look at New Mexico State.

[00:16:20] I think it's winnable.

[00:16:23] However, we have to stop the run.

[00:16:25] You're going to have to throw some crazy plays out there.

[00:16:27] Something innovative.

[00:16:28] Something fun.

[00:16:29] Like, you're going to have to...

[00:16:31] One, you're going to have to get the ball down the field and score.

[00:16:35] Which, we don't have a problem getting the ball down the field.

[00:16:38] You know, as long as Omari's there, you have Holden.

[00:16:41] Don't have a problem getting the ball down the field.

[00:16:42] You know?

[00:16:43] But, when you get to the end zone, or when you get to the red zone, sorry, you have to be more efficient in the red zone.

[00:16:49] Which we've struggled with at times this season.

[00:16:54] But, honestly, that's the only glaring takeaway for New Mexico State is just their run game.

[00:16:58] Like, they're good.

[00:16:59] I think that, like I said, defensive line is going to have to play lights out if you want to win that game.

[00:17:06] FIU?

[00:17:07] Exact opposite.

[00:17:08] Keon Jenkins, their starting quarterback, has 14 touchdowns on the year and 1,776 passing yards.

[00:17:16] That's a tell of two completely different teams.

[00:17:20] You know, in the ways that they like to do it.

[00:17:22] His go-to receiver?

[00:17:23] Eric Rivers.

[00:17:23] Eight touchdowns on 876 yards.

[00:17:27] That's crazy.

[00:17:28] Crazy.

[00:17:28] You know?

[00:17:29] Even at the G6 level, whatever you want to call it, it's...

[00:17:33] The secondary is going to have their work cut out for them.

[00:17:35] Xavier Williams is going to have to continue to be the guy he is.

[00:17:40] You know?

[00:17:41] I can imagine it's hard switching from quarterback to safety.

[00:17:46] Excuse me.

[00:17:47] Midway through the season.

[00:17:48] I can imagine it's difficult.

[00:17:51] I luckily never had to do it.

[00:17:53] I wasn't fast enough or skinny enough to be any kind of skill player like that.

[00:17:57] So, congrats to him for doing that.

[00:18:00] But also, you know, John House IV, by the way, favorite name ever.

[00:18:05] He...

[00:18:06] Every time they call his name, I just...

[00:18:08] I smile.

[00:18:08] But yeah, so like...

[00:18:10] They're both going to have to play really, really well.

[00:18:12] Like I said, lights out.

[00:18:17] And another thing that they're going to...

[00:18:19] That we'll have to work on, the offensive line.

[00:18:20] I said I wanted to get young players in.

[00:18:22] I still want that to happen.

[00:18:24] However, you're still going to have to find that balance between your vets and your red shirts.

[00:18:29] Your new guys.

[00:18:29] Is because the Panther defense has 13 sacks on the year and nine interceptions.

[00:18:35] Believe we gave up five sacks against Liberty.

[00:18:37] You know, our offensive lines constantly had to change this year due to injury and whatnot.

[00:18:42] And I think that at that point, I think...

[00:18:46] I think it's going to be a struggle.

[00:18:48] They're going to have to work harder than they have in the last few weeks to keep Nick upright.

[00:18:53] You know, thank God he hasn't gotten hurt yet.

[00:18:55] He hasn't had to sit out yet.

[00:18:56] You know, but you're...

[00:18:59] You just...

[00:19:00] You have to step up and something has to change.

[00:19:02] I understand the...

[00:19:03] Personally, I understand the youth.

[00:19:05] I understand the injuries.

[00:19:06] But, you know, at some point you have to look at it as...

[00:19:12] Why are so many guys getting injured at the level they are?

[00:19:16] Amari Kelly being out for Liberty.

[00:19:17] What happened?

[00:19:18] You know, you find out 10 minutes before the game starts, 30 minutes before the game starts, that he's out.

[00:19:23] You know, what happened?

[00:19:25] Is it the training regime?

[00:19:25] Is it something that they're just not used to, that they're getting their bodies used to this style of play?

[00:19:31] You know?

[00:19:33] Barring some unforeseen circumstances, I think we can win both games.

[00:19:38] Like I said, against New Mexico State, you just have to stop the run.

[00:19:41] And then on the exact opposite, you're going to have to be able to stop the pass against FIU.

[00:19:50] Yeah, I couldn't agree more when it comes to the diagnosis of those two teams.

[00:19:54] NMSU, for one thing in particular, they're just really young, dealing with the same situation that we kind of dealt with where Jerry Keal decided to call off his career and took everyone, including Diego Pavia, to Vanderbilt.

[00:20:04] And so they're having to JUCO build their entire roster this season, and they've definitely had their struggles.

[00:20:10] But yeah, I agree.

[00:20:11] Stopping the run to them will be paramount to getting a win there.

[00:20:14] Nothing really about NMSU necessarily scares me.

[00:20:16] I do think from a front standpoint that we could be okay against the run.

[00:20:20] But New Mexico State has had their games where they have shootouts, and then they also have their games where they can't score a single point.

[00:20:26] And we've seen both sides of that for New Mexico State.

[00:20:28] But one thing has been ultimately true, them being so inexperienced at this level, they haven't been necessarily able to finish those games.

[00:20:34] And I do think you give us the edge being at home with veterans that have won some games recently.

[00:20:39] All things to be considered where you have won two of the last four, something that New Mexico State has not done.

[00:20:45] So that's something that I think points promising there.

[00:20:47] And then FIU, as you said, Keon Jenkins is probably one of the best sophomore quarterbacks in the entire country, definitely in Conference USA this year.

[00:20:55] And he is the mobile archetype that we've described all year.

[00:20:58] It's been the biggest problem for MTSU.

[00:21:00] Like we talked about Tyler Huff at Jacksonville State.

[00:21:03] We talked about TJ Finley who went down, but Cadenville Camp is just mobile enough.

[00:21:07] You got Caden Salter this last week who's just mobile enough.

[00:21:11] That gives us problems.

[00:21:12] Keon Jenkins is quite the improviser, which is what has made him such a great quarterback this year.

[00:21:17] And Eric Rivers, who leads Conference USA in receiving, took that title from Omari Kelly with him being pretty much limited these last two weeks.

[00:21:24] That's a good duo there in Miami.

[00:21:28] But it's all about what team decides to show up when we go down to Miami at the end of the year.

[00:21:32] And again, it may be fortunately or unfortunately, neither team will be playing for a bowl game.

[00:21:37] So you're kind of battling for a team that's trying to get to five wins.

[00:21:41] Coach McIntyre's in his third season didn't have the season that they were expecting to have.

[00:21:44] So I'm almost certain he's feeling that he needs to win this game in order to just kind of feel a little bit more confident

[00:21:49] or more confident in his job security moving forward as I'm sure he's going into a contract year in year four.

[00:21:54] But Mason probably doesn't have that same level of an administration staring down his neck like Coach McIntyre is.

[00:22:02] However, I still know that he would like to get to five wins.

[00:22:05] That's something that, again, would be an improvement from where this program was a season ago.

[00:22:09] So I look forward to those two games.

[00:22:12] Again, that's in two weeks where they play New Mexico State at home.

[00:22:14] It's a 1-30 kickoff.

[00:22:16] But before we finish up here, basketball real quickly.

[00:22:20] Hoops started this last week.

[00:22:21] Men's basketball looked very impressive in their road win on Saturday against Abilene Christian.

[00:22:27] And then obviously the women, you were there at the Grand Canyon game on Friday night.

[00:22:31] What a grinded out win for the Lady Raiders.

[00:22:34] But more importantly, it's a Knights matchup.

[00:22:36] They play Tennessee.

[00:22:37] Tennessee, Jonathan, what are you expecting from the ladies tonight?

[00:22:41] As we all know, Rick, Enzel, and Matt, they have a history of coaching really tough teams.

[00:22:47] They've beaten multiple powerful opponents over the years, whether that's at home, away, neutral sites, whatever.

[00:22:53] You know, Louisville, TCU, I believe.

[00:22:57] They've beaten Kentucky, beaten Vanderbilt, beat Tennessee last year.

[00:23:01] Nearly beat LSU last year in the tournament, by the way.

[00:23:03] Really fun atmosphere that LSU puts out, especially for women's basketball.

[00:23:08] Like, you absolutely love to see it.

[00:23:11] But, you know, Grand Canyon, they came in and they gave middle a really good fight.

[00:23:16] Like, they came in, they played tough.

[00:23:18] They were, I mean, Jalen was on the ground more times than I can count.

[00:23:23] You know, to me, Scott was getting roughed up constantly.

[00:23:26] Courtney Blakely had somebody on her at all times.

[00:23:29] It's just Grand Canyon put up the fight that middle needs, especially going into this style of non-conference play they have playing Tennessee tonight, of course.

[00:23:39] Who, Tennessee, they're really well coached.

[00:23:42] Coach Caldwell, phenomenal hire, I think, I believe.

[00:23:45] She brought in a really, really, really good transfer class.

[00:23:49] And her recruiting class was pretty solid, too, given the short time frame that she had.

[00:23:56] Albeit, their two wins this season are over teams that they were supposed to beat pretty handily.

[00:24:02] I think middle's going to be one of the better defensive teams they play all season.

[00:24:09] I think that, I know they had, I know they had, I believe it was yesterday off to go watch the football game, but they were back in the gym today.

[00:24:18] Then they'll be back in the gym tomorrow.

[00:24:20] They either travel up tomorrow or Tuesday, tomorrow night or Tuesday.

[00:24:24] And honestly, I think that, I think middle Tennessee comes out with a win.

[00:24:29] And, you know, Food City Arena, I believe is what it's called now, but the old Thompson Boiling, you know, it's, it's a really tough place to play.

[00:24:39] I've seen plenty of games there growing up a Tennessee fan, but, you know, it's, it's just exciting, you know, and I think it's going to be good game.

[00:24:52] I think it's going to be whichever team scores more points in the end, basically.

[00:24:56] You know, Tennessee is going to come to play because, well, little middle doesn't need to beat them two years in a row, but also middle Tennessee is going to go in with that chip on their shoulder of, hey, we get this win.

[00:25:07] You know, that's a better chance that we're ranked going into next week.

[00:25:12] So honestly, if I were the, if I were the Lady Raiders, I would have that little bit of a chip on my shoulder for only receiving three votes in the AP poll yesterday.

[00:25:22] Yeah. Well, we heard it from Rick in his post game after the Grand Canyon game.

[00:25:26] He thinks that Tennessee is going to, is already overlooking MTSU this early in the year.

[00:25:31] And I think it plays to our benefit to play them this early because Kim Caldwell in her first season in Knoxville, having to kind of figure some things out, but they've steamrolled their first two opponents as they should.

[00:25:41] But I don't know how true what Rick says is, is that Tennessee is not watching any film on MTSU.

[00:25:47] I think that would be silly to do that considering they did lose at a neutral floor last year.

[00:25:51] But I assure you that they have plenty of bulletin board material that he has given, that he has given his team.

[00:25:58] And they know the importance of winning a game like this and all, and hats off to Tennessee for not for canceling this contract because with the coaching change, they very easily could have bought themselves out of this.

[00:26:07] So I'm very thankful that they didn't. And with that, you know, they come back to the Murphy Center next year, which will be a great atmosphere.

[00:26:13] But of course the game is tonight. It tips off at 6 30 PM Eastern. That's 5 30 central time.

[00:26:19] So don't miss that. If you're not making the trip up there to Knoxville this evening, shame on you.

[00:26:24] But if you're going to watch tune in on the SEC network as again, that tips off at 5 30 local central time tonight, Jonathan house from sideline sports MTSU's affiliate.

[00:26:35] I appreciate you taking the time to join us today. Give the people a little shout out about your social media, the handles, you know, kind of the stuff you and I'll of course,

[00:26:45] shout out Drake Williams, your writer that we've got to know this, this fall.

[00:26:49] Yeah. So, uh, Drake, Drake and I've been friends for a long time. Uh, he,

[00:26:54] he worked with the sidelines account when he lived in Carbondale for Southern Illinois for a bit, but you know,

[00:27:00] over the summer he moved back down here. Thank God I have some help last couple of years.

[00:27:04] It's been just me, but, uh, you know, super excited to have it going and super excited that Drake's back,

[00:27:10] you know, give him a follow. I retweet all of his stuff on football game days, uh,

[00:27:14] and try to add videos to it from the sidelines. Um, but you know, speaking of the social media accounts,

[00:27:20] if you want guys go to Twitter, follow SSN underscore MTSU. Uh, that's going to be the best way,

[00:27:27] you know, to get to, to follow us as well as follow Drake's personal profile too. I don't have my own

[00:27:33] personal profile anymore. Uh, I'm in the current stages of rebuilding one, um, from scratch, but Jake,

[00:27:41] thanks so much for having me on, but appreciate it. Did you know the blue Raider podcast has an

[00:27:48] online store? You can now support your favorite podcast by checking out our selection at our website,

[00:27:54] blue Raider podcast.com and stay tuned for new merchandise releases as we collaborate with

[00:27:58] athletes and NIL partnerships. We are joined now by our favorite beats and only beat writer that is

[00:28:06] within the go blue Raiders.com and MTSU athletic communications base. That is Sam Doughton. Sam,

[00:28:11] welcome back. Thanks Jake. Thanks for having me on. Always a pleasure to be here.

[00:28:16] Absolutely. And the reason I always bring you on is because of your plethora of knowledge within the

[00:28:20] MTSU athletic department and so many topics that I like to discuss at this episode in particular,

[00:28:25] because we're making that turn from the fall season coming to a close, you got football and

[00:28:30] volleyball that are still playing. Um, and then you got your, your fall seasons for your spring sports

[00:28:35] just wrapped up and we're moving into winter and basketball. So we'll be able to touch

[00:28:38] based on all those things in today's episode. But first, um, kind of the topic at hand,

[00:28:43] we just discussed with Jonathan house was about football. Um, a disappointing showing as you had

[00:28:47] the opportunity to keep your play or your, your bowl game hopes alive with a win against Liberty

[00:28:52] this week. Um, you came out strong, um, but ultimately you faltered there late in the first

[00:28:57] quarter. It was still a game in the second half, but, um, albeit it is still a 20 point loss. So

[00:29:01] there's so much to really to talk about. And really, I think we'd be echoing the same sentiment

[00:29:07] that you and I have been sharing all season long. Um, that this team just isn't quite ready for that.

[00:29:12] And of course you had the opportunity to kind of maybe write that ship, but I'll, albeit they're

[00:29:16] just not there. This is still potentially a five win team as I had predicted early in the year.

[00:29:20] Um, and when you were, you were able to get some comments from these guys, uh, players and coaches

[00:29:25] alike there at the press conference, what are, what is the emotion like, um, within the locker room after

[00:29:31] Saturday's loss? Well, yeah, I think it was very forward looking, you know,

[00:29:35] the two guys we talked to, Hayes Sutton and Brandon Buckner, you know, talked about finishing strong

[00:29:40] and going out on a good note. And, you know, you and I both agree that they have an opportunity

[00:29:44] to win these last two games, you know, uh, come up here in a couple of weeks at home against

[00:29:48] New Mexico state on senior day, the end of the season, Thanksgiving weekend in Miami at FIU,

[00:29:53] um, two winnable games for the teams, uh, given the track record of the two teams that are playing.

[00:29:58] Um, but you know, like, like as Derek Mason likes to say, your tape is your resume.

[00:30:02] And, you know, we, we've got 10 games of, of resume tape for this team right now.

[00:30:06] And it just shows that they're not quite there yet. Um, Derek Mason said the blue Raiders have to

[00:30:10] be better. And, uh, I think there's, there's, you know, outside of Grant Chadwick's punting,

[00:30:14] I'm not sure there's an area where that they couldn't have been better, um, necessarily on,

[00:30:18] on Saturday, obviously, you know, Liberty had a lot of success running the ball. It's been a

[00:30:22] consistent theme, a little bit different when you got that triple option look a little bit trickier.

[00:30:26] Um, but you know, that's something that they knew was coming. Um, you know, it's, it's what

[00:30:30] coach Chadwell at Liberty is probably known best for, uh, across his college career as well. So,

[00:30:34] um, obviously disappointing, particularly the way that just sort of that game worked out. You had

[00:30:38] a couple of breaks didn't go your way in critical spots that could have made it a little bit tighter

[00:30:42] game at different points in time. Um, but you know, it's a young team that played a lot of young

[00:30:47] players and, um, I'm super curious, you know, sort of what lessons they've learned from,

[00:30:51] from year one. Um, and you know, what, what they're going to look to maybe change in the

[00:30:56] off season, looking forward, um, you know, from after they've had sort of one year under

[00:31:00] their belts here in Murfreesboro. Right. And, and, and there's so much, I think that,

[00:31:04] that we'll learn about this team and these last two games, especially when you talk about the

[00:31:08] whole red shirt thing, I thought we'd see a few more bodies on Saturday because, um, as we've

[00:31:12] already talked about, um, you, when you, when you, you get four games that you can remain

[00:31:17] your red shirt post-season included. Um, and so we thought maybe we'd see some of

[00:31:21] these new fresh faces, you'd get that, that rotating offensive line, maybe some new guys

[00:31:25] roll in there. Um, but as far as bodies or players that we haven't necessarily seen,

[00:31:29] we know we saw Brody Binky get in, we saw Drew Francis get in on Saturday, which I thought

[00:31:33] was interesting. Um, cause I don't know that he has another year of eligibility regardless,

[00:31:37] but, um, any, anyone in particular that maybe you have some insight for us about, we could

[00:31:41] expect to maybe see, get a few more snaps in these last couple of games.

[00:31:45] Well, I think a lot of the freshmen that, you know, would get chances in a more normal

[00:31:49] year has probably already been playing, particularly on the offensive line. You know, a guy like

[00:31:53] Zach Clayton, you know, at the start of the year, I think they probably didn't think was

[00:31:56] going to play more than four games. Um, but sort of injuries have forced him to step up

[00:32:00] and, uh, you know, he's done some good things, you know, with that opportunity and has grown

[00:32:04] with each week at the position that they've rotated through a couple of different spots

[00:32:08] on the offensive line, trying to find the best spot for him. Um, so, you know, it's

[00:32:12] unfortunate, but, but a lot of, you know, Marion Bailey's another guy they talk a lot

[00:32:15] about. Um, Aiden Butts has been a defensive lineman that I've been impressed with.

[00:32:18] That's, that's coming in as a true freshman. Um, so, you know, it's all about managing

[00:32:23] the numbers if they want to keep the red shirt on them right now. But I think you see most

[00:32:27] of the guys they think are going to be, you know, potential major contributors going forward,

[00:32:31] at least right now, obviously guys can make jumps in the off season weight program. And,

[00:32:34] you know, you did see a couple younger guys sort of get in towards the end of the game,

[00:32:39] um, you know, sort of as rotational pieces. Um, but I think they, they're, they're evaluating

[00:32:44] what they currently have with guys that they think can make an impact next year. And a lot

[00:32:48] of those guys have already seen the field at least a little bit already this season.

[00:32:53] All right. Well, let's, let's turn our attention now to, to the big first opening week for basketball,

[00:32:58] both men's and women. They're winners two and O, um, coming into this week, the ladies play tonight

[00:33:02] in Knoxville against Tennessee. A lot of eyes and attention are turned there. So let's go ahead

[00:33:07] and talk about the lady Raiders. I said all preseason, um, they're going to have a tough schedule

[00:33:12] and Northern Kentucky. I think for the most part, they made that game look relatively easy,

[00:33:16] as easy as it should winning a road game nonetheless. And we've seen in years past

[00:33:20] that insult teams have always found one road game that is that they should win,

[00:33:24] giving them trouble. If you look two years ago, they lost at Mercer in their opening game

[00:33:27] last year. It was a road contest at SIU Edwardsville that I'll be it. They came out victorious,

[00:33:33] but it was a close one for three quarters there, but the Northern Kentucky game that

[00:33:36] was not the game this year, thankfully. So they looked good all around. And then on Thursday

[00:33:41] night against, or excuse me, Friday night against Grand Canyon. Um, what a game that was. I think

[00:33:46] if you were in the Murphy center, I know that it was the opening weekend for high school playoffs.

[00:33:50] So some might've missed that game, but what a matchup that was. I said all year long, Grand Canyon

[00:33:54] is going to be a good team. That's a very good net win to have 10 points on, on at home against what I

[00:34:01] believe to be the whack champion at the end of the year. So in my opinion, a tournament team,

[00:34:05] um, they, they threw a lot at us. And I think when we're going to tie this into the game tonight

[00:34:09] against Tennessee, I put, um, over at, um, go middle.com over on our rivals affiliate site

[00:34:15] that I think the Grand Canyon game was almost like a diet Tennessee. If you will, they run kind of this

[00:34:20] mayhem defense, a suffocating, uh, man-to-man defense that created a lot of problems for us.

[00:34:25] Um, we had a lot of turnovers, um, but ultimately our defense is what prevailed us, not the offense

[00:34:29] to me. It's got turned it on in the second half, very impressed with her and who is, she's

[00:34:32] been for this team so far, but Sam, I'm, I was impressed with the way they grinded that

[00:34:37] one out on Friday night. And I feel pretty good about what, what could come to fruition

[00:34:41] tonight. All right. No question, Jake, you know, it's a game that gives you a lot of confidence.

[00:34:45] Grand Canyon was, was one of the five losses that Memphis he had a season ago. And, you

[00:34:50] know, it was a game that the coach staff, you know, told me that was very physical last

[00:34:53] year in Phoenix. And maybe that was not something that they saw on tape, um, when, when they

[00:34:58] went out to Arizona to play Grand Canyon a year ago, but they knew it was going to happen

[00:35:02] now. And so they had the team prep for it. As you mentioned, you know, they, they sort

[00:35:06] of, at least in the first half, try to do what we think Tennessee is going to do, which

[00:35:10] is play a ton of players, get fresh bodies out there, give them different looks, press

[00:35:14] a lot. Um, you know, get, try to get into middle's legs, which I've seen, you know, a

[00:35:19] team that runs a little bit of a shorter bench and, you know, didn't really work for

[00:35:23] Grand Canyon because everybody seemed to get in foul trouble. It seems like they weren't

[00:35:26] able to play as physical as maybe they were expecting to without getting, you know, punished

[00:35:31] for it on the foul sheet, you know, sending middle Tennessee to the line. Um, but, you

[00:35:35] know, still had some success early. I think that, you know, Green Canyon was very strong

[00:35:37] defensively, particularly in that first half. And it took sort of a, you know, a little

[00:35:41] mini run right there, the right before halftime for middle of the claw their way back into

[00:35:45] the game. And then the second half, it was all middle Tennessee, you know, they found

[00:35:48] the formula that worked on offense, which was basically, Hey, give to me a scout, the

[00:35:52] ball and screen her to go right. And usually good things will happen somewhere on

[00:35:56] the court, uh, had some success with that gotten transition a lot. Um, you know, cleaned

[00:36:00] up on the glass, got Anastasia bowl Drava involved, um, and came out with a very clean

[00:36:05] win, um, against a really good opponent. And, you know, you mentioned the defense, you

[00:36:09] know, sort of the sidebar road after the game was about Jalen Gregory guarding Trinity

[00:36:13] San Antonio, who, you know, I didn't know this going into the game, but played a lot

[00:36:17] for Puerto Rico, uh, in the Olympics this summer. Um, you know, average seven points a game

[00:36:22] for the national team and, and Puerto Rico, you know, they lost all three of their games

[00:36:25] in Paris, but, uh, only lost, lost two of those games by one point. So very competitive

[00:36:30] team on the international scene. Um, and Trinity was a big part of that as sort of that team's

[00:36:35] point guard off the bench. And, and she, uh, was completely shut down by Jalen all night,

[00:36:40] two points, seven turnovers. Um, you know, that, that was a big key to, to why this team

[00:36:45] was successful. And, uh, it's good that level of defense, that level of intensity, but

[00:36:49] particularly the starting five, uh, is going to be key this, this week in Tennessee.

[00:36:53] You know, you, you, you sat in the room with me, Jake, when Rick sort of gave his postgame

[00:36:56] comments, well, he's not even sure that Tennessee is going to bother scouting middle

[00:36:59] Tennessee. You know, they seem pretty confident and, you know, Tennessee is, you know, boat

[00:37:03] raced two teams, you know, to start the year, two teams that are not near middle's level

[00:37:07] to be fair, but, but still, uh, when you're beating teams by 40 and 50, like Tennessee

[00:37:11] has hard not to be confident in what you've got going. Um, their team that waves subs a

[00:37:15] lot, they press all game. Uh, coach Kim Caldwell system, uh, it's very unique

[00:37:20] and, uh, you know, it's a challenge to deal with, but, um, it's something I know

[00:37:24] that Milton's he's been prepping for, you know, as far back as September, uh, working

[00:37:28] on breaking the press and doing that. They spend time with almost every practice

[00:37:31] doing that. Um, so not a matchup that they're going to be unprepared for even

[00:37:36] with the quick turnaround. Um, but I'm excited for tonight's game in Knoxville. I

[00:37:40] think it'll be a really great environment and, you know, hopefully middle Tennessee

[00:37:43] can continue the momentum that they got last year with the win over the lady balls.

[00:37:47] And I thought going into the midway through the grand Canyon game, we were down. Well,

[00:37:53] we were up and then we were, we were down because they counted the three point shot

[00:37:56] before halftime. We were down at halftime. And I thought to myself, I said, maybe this

[00:37:59] isn't the wind that we need, but it might be the loss that we need going into Tennessee.

[00:38:03] Because if you look at the stat line in particular for the grand Canyon game, um, you touched

[00:38:08] on the Jalen. I mean, we'll maybe talk about her here in just a second, but the three

[00:38:13] point shooting one of 10 and the one you hit was a corner three at the buzzer before halftime

[00:38:18] with, with Anastasia. So an unlikely candidate to hit the one three, um, you're out rebounded

[00:38:22] 39 to 32, um, against a team that again, on paper is smaller than you are. Now I will

[00:38:27] give my hats off, um, to, um, their post, but I've already blanked on her name from grand

[00:38:31] Canyon, but she did a great job with, with Boulder, Rava and Arike alike. So, um, again,

[00:38:36] a lot of those things you've got to shore up for a game like Tennessee. So again, maybe

[00:38:38] that was the game that we needed with grand Canyon to be able to fix some of those things

[00:38:43] that you need to be fixing. Talk about the Tennessee and Kim Caldwell system. Um, I I'm

[00:38:47] very skeptical of, of this, of the, or I should say, I'm very suspicious of, of her system and

[00:38:52] how it's going to work at the sec level because her time at Marshall, for those that don't

[00:38:55] know, um, it's very similar to the Grinnell offense, which is go down, shoot the ball as

[00:39:00] quickly as you possibly can. Ideally, it's going to be a three pointer. And then you're going

[00:39:04] to run a full court press after every single make, um, you're going to run the platoon method,

[00:39:09] which is a five in five out system. You're just consistently subbing, keeping legs fresh all the

[00:39:12] time. And it's very hard to kind of pinpoint a star. And I say that that might struggle at the

[00:39:17] sec level because where that system fails, or I say fails, but where that system does have its issues

[00:39:22] is the rebounding. You, you limit the second chance opportunities. Um, and of course, if you're

[00:39:27] not, if you're not getting turnovers, that team can't get into transition offense, which creates

[00:39:31] easy buckets, which as I said, again, on go middle was that system in general, they thrive on, on,

[00:39:38] on chaos, on mayhem. And that's what they're trying to do with the speed that they play with.

[00:39:42] And I obviously, I don't want to, I'm not going to spend time talking about how that, how that'll

[00:39:46] translate to the sec. Cause they're going to have their own battles playing teams like

[00:39:49] South Carolina this year. Um, but how does that fare against teams like MTSU? Well at Marshall,

[00:39:54] it, it fared very well. Um, she was, uh, won the Sunbelt, uh, conference championship last year.

[00:39:59] So when you play teams like us or play teams that are, are smaller than say like South Carolina,

[00:40:04] it tends to work pretty well because your, your bench is a lot deeper. You talk about winning

[00:40:08] the rebounding battle, getting the second chance opportunities. It tends to fare very well. So,

[00:40:11] um, to throw this back on MTSU and where, and where I think that this team will be successful

[00:40:15] is as you already said, Grand Canyon tried to run us to death on Friday night and it still didn't

[00:40:19] work. You know, we were able to keep our legs fresh players like Jalen, when the shots aren't

[00:40:23] falling, she's going to continue to defend hard because she knows, um, she still has to play two ways

[00:40:28] and then she's excellent at that eight, eight fouls drawn. Same for Tamia. She had eight fouls drawn

[00:40:32] on Friday night. So it's stuff like that, that I think makes this team so much different than

[00:40:36] any other mid-major that she may have played against at Marshall. I know how successful she

[00:40:40] was at division two level, but how does that system fare well? Well, the only team that she,

[00:40:44] she played two games inside the top and quad one, as we like to call it for the NCAA tournament

[00:40:48] last year at Marshall, her opening game against George Mason in which she lost, um, at home.

[00:40:53] And then she also lost, um, her first round game of the NCAA tournament against Virginia

[00:40:58] tech, which was a blowout. So again, I'm not saying that obviously that's going to be translate

[00:41:02] to this year directly. She's going to lose every quad one game. I'm sure. Cause her talent

[00:41:06] is increased from what she had at Marshall, but it's, I'm going to be interested to see how

[00:41:11] that system works at the sec level. And I'm going to be interested to see how it works

[00:41:14] against MTSU because we haven't faced a team one that's probably this athletic, that's this

[00:41:19] talented and running that same high powered, high octane offense slash a full court pressing

[00:41:24] defense. So a lot to, a lot to be seen, um, this evening, but, but Sam, I I'll throw this

[00:41:29] back to you as we, as we wrap up the women's basketball talk, I know it was a long winded

[00:41:32] rant by myself. I've been excited to really talk about this game for so many reasons, but what

[00:41:36] are you hoping to see out of this other, other than a win? What are you hoping to see from

[00:41:41] this team tonight? Well, you know, Rick's a coach that, as we know, likes to keep the

[00:41:45] bench short as, you know, much as he can, you know, we know Rika in particular, you

[00:41:50] know, is a player that played 25 to 27 minutes at UTEP and, you know, a little bit less than

[00:41:55] that at Texas tech, you know, she's already played careers highs and minutes, you know,

[00:42:00] for her first two games that have counted here at middle Tennessee, you know, broke it both

[00:42:04] times. And, you know, if Rick has his way, I'm sure she'll play all 40, um, tonight

[00:42:08] in Knoxville. So, uh, you know, I want to see the team keep some players out of foul trouble.

[00:42:14] They did a pretty good job of that against Grand Canyon. Boldreva was really the only

[00:42:18] one that they got in trouble. Obviously she found out eventually. Um, but if you can keep

[00:42:22] Boldreva, you know, out of the foul count, you can run with the starting five, you know,

[00:42:27] as much as you can. And I still like our starting five, even against those wave subs, because

[00:42:31] Courtney Blake, who's going to be able to break the press, she was able to break the

[00:42:34] press a lot, um, against Grand Canyon when they did press. And, you know, she, she has

[00:42:39] some other help and to me, it's gotten Joe and Gregory to get the ball at the court, um,

[00:42:43] in those situations. So, I mean, I'm sure they'll get a few, you know, cheap turnovers

[00:42:47] that presses tease at press as much as they do always get a couple every game. You just

[00:42:51] sort of got to, you know, recognize that and live with it as best you can. Um, but if

[00:42:56] they're able to consistently break the press, I'm confident that we'll have the advantage

[00:42:59] in the half court, at least for a little bit until, until they sort of get adjusted

[00:43:02] to it. So you got to make your hay early and, you know, they hit some outside shots

[00:43:07] and are able to defend at the level they did on, on Friday night, um, should be a

[00:43:12] very exciting game, uh, on the road in Thompson Bowls arena.

[00:43:16] Yeah. And if you haven't already, you got to get tickets, get up there. The, the lady

[00:43:20] Raiders always have a great contingency, but you know, TBA is going to be its own

[00:43:23] atmosphere that you're going to have to contend with as well. So, um, if you haven't

[00:43:27] already make plans to get up there, be up there, be loud, be blue as always. So, um,

[00:43:32] let's turn it over to the men's side. Um, what a week it was for them as

[00:43:35] well. You have the education day, which, uh, I, I want to send my condolences to you, Sam,

[00:43:41] and those that were there for that game on Monday amidst the thousands of screaming kids.

[00:43:45] Um, but for good reason, big win for the men, very exciting about that. But really the game

[00:43:49] I really want to talk about was the Saturday game in Abilene, Texas against, um, Abilene

[00:43:55] Christian, um, 79 56 win there. Um, you know, I've, I've, I've, I've said my piece all

[00:44:01] off season about what this team can be. And I want to say it came to fruition.

[00:44:05] On Friday or on Saturday, but don't let me, don't let me sway it too much. It is just one

[00:44:10] game. And that was a team that they should be beating. Um, but to win by 20, by 23 points,

[00:44:15] a team that is notoriously bad on the road, that was a lot of promising signs. And I thought

[00:44:20] to myself when the game started, the first four possessions were the worst possessions

[00:44:24] you possibly could have had. Um, they very quickly went down eight, nothing. And I thought,

[00:44:28] here we go again. It just doesn't matter. But the one thing that I want to commend this

[00:44:32] team for, as well as, um, what, what we've seen in years past is that the teams in the

[00:44:37] past, I felt like would have folded in that situation. They got down quickly, could have

[00:44:41] very easily shifted in and that would have been a long 39 minutes for the rest of the

[00:44:44] night, but they kept to it. They quickly flipped the scoreboard on Abilene and then practically

[00:44:49] ran away from it from about the eight minute mark in the first half. Didn't really get,

[00:44:53] see it go back under single digits. Well, it did very, very shortly there after halftime,

[00:44:57] but, um, again, one another short run, um, and put them away pretty soundly, very impressed

[00:45:01] with them. Justin Porter, 20, 24 points. Um, but there's so much I could talk about all

[00:45:06] these guys, but the one piece that I really took away from this game was early on the turnovers.

[00:45:10] Cam got a little lazy. Cam had a few defensive breakdowns himself. And immediately we see Jalen

[00:45:15] counter go in the game and it's like a flip switched and what a shot in the arm Jalen

[00:45:19] counter is to that offense. Um, and, and really that's kind of what you needed. And we

[00:45:23] talked about what happened last year. Like you didn't have the Jalen counter on the bench

[00:45:27] to do just that. And I love that there's someone there now to really challenge Cam

[00:45:30] Wesson. So Sam, what's what, what, what were kind of your, your takeaways from that game

[00:45:34] on Saturday? Well, you know, one thing that's always been true about Nick McDevitt ever since

[00:45:38] I've been here is that he is quick with that timeout. If he thinks there needs to be a momentum

[00:45:42] stopper. And he called that timeout as quick as I've ever seen him called after, you know,

[00:45:47] ACU got, you know, six points and, you know, not even two minutes to take a six Oh lead.

[00:45:51] But he coupled that with, as you said, bringing in Jalen counter who actually subbed in for

[00:45:55] Kamari. And then he also brought in, uh, Chris Lou for, for Issa Mustafa. And one thing we were,

[00:46:00] we were talking about sort of before we started recording was that, you know, they have a change

[00:46:04] up off the bench now, you know, that they can offer a different look lineup wise than they were

[00:46:09] able to offer, you know, when they're starting lineup, obviously, you know, the three guard

[00:46:14] lineup with Weston Porter and counter all on the floor is very tough to guard. Um, it is,

[00:46:20] most teams have one really good, you know, sort of ball dominant defensive stopper. Maybe you've

[00:46:26] got two, if you're really talented defensively, almost nobody has three that can keep in front

[00:46:31] of three guys that can get down to the rim the way that Jalen and Justin and Cam can, as well as,

[00:46:36] you know, keep with them on the perimeter for, because they're all good shooters from the outside

[00:46:40] as well. Um, that's just really tough to deal with. And obviously you give up a little size

[00:46:45] rebounding wise when you do that, but you know, depending on who else is in with them,

[00:46:49] it might not be that big a deal. If Torrey Alston, Issa Mustafa are in with that group of three.

[00:46:54] Um, that's a lot of size and length. I can get the boards and get the ball back out to them again,

[00:46:58] to run something else on the offensive glass. Um, and you know, so they started making that

[00:47:03] comeback with Buford sort of in the four instead of Alston in that situation, who's another guy that's

[00:47:08] got some size and some rebounding ability. Um, but you know, they just have options,

[00:47:13] you know, if they can go to the hot hand each and every night, it doesn't all have to be on one

[00:47:17] person. Like it was on Justin Porter a lot of last year. Um, and you know, it's just, they have

[00:47:23] a lot of offensive talent in a lot of different places. Esam sort of ate the, you know, the ACU

[00:47:28] centers lunch a couple of times. You know, I think he had 14 points and, you know, seven rebounds,

[00:47:33] five of which were offensive rebounds. Um, so that tells you how active he was on the offensive end.

[00:47:38] Um, they just looked really dominant in that game. And, you know, I don't think ACU is maybe a team

[00:47:42] that's going to finish the year, particularly strongly given what we saw, you know, as often

[00:47:46] as they turn the ball over last night, but you know, it gives you some good encouragement,

[00:47:51] you know, culture wise, how they were able to respond, which is what you should expect

[00:47:54] from a team of as many veterans as this group has, um, this season, uh, that they should be able to

[00:48:00] respond. They've been there before they've been down before and they know that they can come back

[00:48:03] and boy, did they hit the gas pedal last night. And, you know, it was really fun evening for me

[00:48:07] watching that. Um, you know, record this on Sunday night, fun fact, but watching that Saturday night

[00:48:13] was, uh, really, really fun and very exciting. You know, I'm, I'm encouraged to see, and, you know,

[00:48:19] I get a chance to see him twice this week at home. And so I think that that's going to be fun on

[00:48:23] Wednesday against Evansville and then Saturday against Murray state.

[00:48:28] Yeah. This week is going to be another good week of basketball, the Evansville game on Wednesday

[00:48:32] night, again, another opponent that I think I feel comfortable that they should be pretty soundly.

[00:48:36] Um, and my understanding is they're going to do some sort of an or not necessarily an anniversary,

[00:48:39] but commemoration for the Evansville flight. Um, I believe it was in the seventies that the

[00:48:44] crash on its way to Murfreesboro, um, where the entire Evansville team was on board of that plane.

[00:48:49] Um, and then Saturday is another matchup that I think, uh, when you circle the dates, as far as

[00:48:54] big games, this non-conference schedule, the Murray state game, always a good competition

[00:48:57] between Murray state. Um, they're expected to be a good opponent in the Missouri Valley this year.

[00:49:02] Um, but you get them at home at 3 PM on Saturday. Um,

[00:49:06] that's a game again, I look forward to see how they look there against a team that is historically

[00:49:10] very good, but also that's your last game before you go into the Myrtle beach invitational

[00:49:13] where you play, uh, uh, Ohio in your first matchup that following week.

[00:49:17] So there's a lot to still see what this team can do. There was a lot of, um, I want to say

[00:49:24] interchangeable lineups that we're here. We're still, we're still seeing him roll out on a nightly

[00:49:28] basis, which I still think is good. It feels like there's no one's position is necessarily

[00:49:31] comfortable. No one's locked into their spot because again, when, when things went South there early,

[00:49:35] you saw Chris Loof go right in immediately. You saw Jalen counter go in right immediately.

[00:49:39] So again, to, to echo your sentiment on the, the ability to have a change up off the bench,

[00:49:43] we're still going to see a lot of that through these, this early going. And right now I feel

[00:49:47] so good about this team, but, um, a lot to look forward to, but again, um, if I can't

[00:49:51] encourage anyone enough, be there on Saturday for that Murray state game, because again,

[00:49:55] this team looks good and I hope I hate for you to miss it anticipating that this is the

[00:49:59] same old team that you've been experiencing the last year. This is a very new team.

[00:50:05] I'm excited about it. So this week in particular, Sam, and throw it back on you about the, the

[00:50:09] Myrtle beach invitational, um, cause they're going to play a lot of good teams down there

[00:50:13] in Myrtle beach, especially if they beat Ohio in that first one, which might even be

[00:50:15] one of the tougher teams down there. Um, but when you talk about what you're looking to

[00:50:20] see in these next coming weeks for this basketball team, are there areas of improvement that you

[00:50:24] still think that they need to shore up as they start to face stiffer competition?

[00:50:28] Well, you always, you know, this has been a recurring theme of the new McDevitt era at

[00:50:32] Middle Tennessee, but they're still a little too turnover prone for my lightning. Uh, certainly

[00:50:37] we're better with that, you know, than they have been won the turnover battle, like we mentioned

[00:50:41] on Saturday, but you would like to see a little more ball care, a little more ball security,

[00:50:46] always a good thing to emphasize and get them extra possessions. Um, but I mean, really they're doing

[00:50:51] a lot of things well right now. They're, they're really defending as a team. I think you're

[00:50:57] a lot of people in the field, but they're not going to be able to do that. Um, and I think

[00:51:01] that's a great thing. Um, and that's partially because like you said, you know, every nobody's

[00:51:03] position secured. So I'm sure that they, they, you know, internally feel like they got to go

[00:51:07] all out all the time, every single minute they're in. And when you have guys on the bench that can

[00:51:12] spell you too, you know, that encouraged you to use that extra energy, um, as well. Um, I'm curious

[00:51:17] if they press as much as they did, that was a big part of the program. Like my first year here,

[00:51:20] which was that 21 22 season was how often they press. I think it'd be interesting to see them press a little

[00:51:26] more might be something that they start to bring in against maybe some teams that are a little bit

[00:51:31] better on their schedule as sort of, you know, an equalizer, a way to get some, some easy buckets

[00:51:35] in transition if they're able to get a couple of those turnovers. Um, and you know, I think one

[00:51:41] player I would like to see, you know, step up and always Kamari lands who we haven't seen his sort of

[00:51:45] offensive production, you know, just through two games, not a huge deal. He's doing some other good

[00:51:50] things on the court when he's out there. Um, but if, if he gets a game where he gets hot from

[00:51:54] outside and shows some of that outside shooting ability that we know he has, um, I think you can

[00:51:59] feel pretty confident about this teams, you know, going forward. Yeah. Lance, I'm glad you bring him

[00:52:04] up. He's kind of the one piece that I think that hasn't quite found it yet, but we know he's capable

[00:52:08] of scoring in bunches as I've seen at practice before. So I'm excited to see him kind of find

[00:52:13] his stroke. Cause again, it would just bring another level to this offense and really stretch the floor

[00:52:16] and same with Justin Buford. He's a guy that was, I was very critical of last year. Cause he kind

[00:52:19] of lost his three point shot compared to a sophomore season. So, um, another guy that

[00:52:24] over two on Saturday, but as he's obviously a starter, he's a part of this lineup. You'd like

[00:52:29] to see that production kind of reenter, um, into his, um, tool belt, but let's, um, let's

[00:52:36] move things over back to our fall sports is that as those seasons are starting to wind down.

[00:52:41] The one in particular right now that just wrapped up was soccer this last weekend. They went to the

[00:52:44] conference USA, uh, tournament for the first time. I believe it's in three seasons that

[00:52:49] they've done so. Um, but they make it all the way to the semifinals with a penalty kick

[00:52:53] win against Sam Houston. Um, and then they lost to the host and then eventual conference

[00:52:57] USA champions, FIU lady golden Panthers, um, by a score of two to nothing on Friday night.

[00:53:02] So, um, I think going there, first of all, making it there this year was impressive, albeit

[00:53:08] with, with the roster that he had, he had some injuries early on in the year with Emma

[00:53:12] Patterson. Um, but making it there was accomplishment number one. And then winning a game there

[00:53:16] against Sam Houston, who had some pretty good wins on their resume as well was promising.

[00:53:20] And then FIU, um, you drop a two, nothing one better than the four one loss you had early

[00:53:25] at the very beginning of the season against them in conference play. But I think there's

[00:53:29] some promising things with this team. I think you're going to return a lot of these

[00:53:32] key pieces like Lexi Dendis, like, uh, men and Labargi. Um, there's, and there's plenty

[00:53:37] more to name that, that I'm maybe not thinking of at the top right now, but those two in

[00:53:40] particular, I would be excited about returning next year. So as you turn the page into next

[00:53:44] year and we look back at what this season was, I think, um, it was a successful year,

[00:53:49] but they're just, just short. Like I, like I made the joke the other night, if games were

[00:53:53] just 80 minutes, they might be one of the best teams in conference USA, but to those

[00:53:56] last 10, they just seem to kind of fold. So I look forward to again, to what this team

[00:54:00] can bring next year as they bring back that experience because continuity, just like any

[00:54:03] sport at college is going to be a prime for their success next year.

[00:54:08] Yeah. You know, six players made the all, all, and all CUSA team. You had two players

[00:54:12] make, you know, all freshmen, like C Dendis, one freshman of the year. And, and

[00:54:16] Lamont Labargi was the, uh, uh, also the CUSA midfielder of the year as well. So, I

[00:54:22] mean, that shows you the, the level of player that they brought in and the level of

[00:54:25] production that they've gotten from certain spots as well. But, you know, this, this

[00:54:30] team is a pretty young team. You know, they only honored two players on senior night

[00:54:34] and had one other player that that's graduate player that, that's exhausted her

[00:54:37] eligibility, Lauren Spanster, who was one of those all conference players, you know,

[00:54:41] at left back. So, um, they're bringing a lot of players back, um, that, that, that

[00:54:47] gives them a good core to build around. You know, one thing I mentioned to Aston

[00:54:51] Roden is I really thought that like, this is one of the better coaching jobs I've seen

[00:54:55] a coach do in season. Um, you know, when, when, when Patterson went down, you know,

[00:54:59] having the type of player she was for, for the, the tactics that, that Aston likes to

[00:55:04] run. Um, it's, it's a very challenging player to replace when you sort of have, you

[00:55:08] know, a holdup player at, at the nine at a striker, uh, that can set up the wings like

[00:55:13] Cavale and Dendis that have had good years for him. Um, and moving Manon up front and

[00:55:19] having the midfield depth behind her, um, to sort of be able to play Manon as a bit

[00:55:23] of a false nine, um, showed a lot of creativity, you know, showed some good depth on the roster

[00:55:29] side. Um, and really was the big key for the run. They sort of went in the middle of conference

[00:55:33] play that set them up to make the tournament where I think they won, you know, three or four

[00:55:37] home games in a row, um, in conference play, which, you know, was the key thing getting

[00:55:41] those three points on those weekends at a big weekend where they, you know, beat Jack

[00:55:45] State and Kennesaw back to back, got six points from there. And that sort of set them on a,

[00:55:49] on a good trajectory the rest of the way. Um, so a lot of work to do in the off season.

[00:55:54] You know, I think, you know, watching the conference tournament a little bit, um, you can

[00:55:59] see where they, you know, could be a little more athletic at times, um, in different areas.

[00:56:04] And so I, I'm curious, you know, what was sort of what they're, you know, looking for this

[00:56:08] off season, who they're looking to bring in, who they have already started recruiting,

[00:56:12] um, and sort of, you know, what they feel there. Cause it seems like they've got the

[00:56:16] system back in place that they think is going to be successful. Um, and so how can you build

[00:56:20] on it from now? I think it's going to be the key for this program going forward.

[00:56:25] All right. Another, another program that has their season coming to a close here recently

[00:56:28] is going to be, is volleyball. They've got one more, uh, matchup at home this weekend

[00:56:32] on Friday and Saturday against New Mexico state at the alumni Memorial gymnasium Fridays

[00:56:36] at six Saturday is at one. So don't miss that for fan appreciation night, Friday night.

[00:56:41] And then of course, senior day is going to be there on Saturday at 1 PM. Um, for the ladies

[00:56:46] there will, my understanding is they have, they are a lock for the conference tournament

[00:56:50] that's coming up. So again, a step forward for them. Um, they're in the middle right

[00:56:55] now at eight and eight in conference play. They need, you know, two more wins. They're

[00:56:58] going to put them over. Um, I had, I had the standings in front of me over Sam Houston,

[00:57:02] right now who they're unfortunately losing a tiebreaker to because they were swept by

[00:57:06] them earlier in the year, but they play New Mexico state, um, a team who is 10 and six

[00:57:10] in conference. So even a potential matchup for the tournament coming ahead. So for them,

[00:57:15] you know, the support would be tremendous for them to pick up two wins, finished 10 and

[00:57:18] eight, a winning record in conference. Um, since our talk at the midway point of their season,

[00:57:22] things have kind of turned again for them. They've, they've won quite a bit. They had

[00:57:25] a little bit of a streak there before they went to El Paso. They split with Kennesaw

[00:57:29] state this last weekend. So again, another program relatively.

[00:57:32] Young. Um, we know, we know what Andy Spies is and how special she has been to that team.

[00:57:37] Um, Audrey Rhoda has been another spectacular player. And then, uh, allow, uh, Jansen has

[00:57:43] been who we all thought she was going to be an all around good player for them in the

[00:57:47] kills, in the kills department, the digs department as a defensive specialist. And of course, um,

[00:57:51] her aces this year. So, um, Sam quickly on, on the volleyball with their season coming

[00:57:56] to a close and then their opportunity there, um, in El Paso at the conference USA championships.

[00:58:01] Well, you know, I think the key for this volleyball team is that they've done a good

[00:58:03] job at home. You know, I don't think that they have not lost a conference game at home

[00:58:07] on the whole year. Let me double check you on that. Let me go to the schedule on the tab. I have,

[00:58:12] yeah, they, they beat FI swept FIU at home, swept Jack state, swept La Tech. And, you know,

[00:58:18] they're going to play New Mexico state this weekend, who was by far the toughest team

[00:58:21] of the four post series. And, you know, as you notice that they're, they're missing one,

[00:58:26] they sort of got the short on the stick and went on the road for four series instead of five series

[00:58:31] instead of hosting five series this year. Um, and, but we're able to get some splits on the road,

[00:58:35] particularly against Liberty, who I think is a team that, you know, most people expect to be

[00:58:38] towards the top of the conference standings and is up there at this point in time. Um, so they've done

[00:58:45] some good things. As we sort of mentioned at the halfway point, they're playing some younger players,

[00:58:49] um, and in certain spots, they've had some injuries, particularly at, at middle blocker,

[00:58:53] um, that have forced some lineup changes at different points in time. Um, but they,

[00:58:58] they're continuing to grow. And I'm curious what they might do in the conference standings.

[00:59:02] Obviously, like there's a lot that can move sort of this last week here. If they're able to sweep

[00:59:06] New Mexico state, like get them to 10 wins in conference play, that would tie them,

[00:59:10] I believe New Mexico state in the standings. So then they would have a tiebreaker over them.

[00:59:15] And then you, you, you should be above Sam Houston as well. And, you know,

[00:59:19] depending on how Kennesaw does these last, this last week is in addition could,

[00:59:22] could jump up quite a bit in the standings, get yourself a favorable matchup in that first

[00:59:27] round, potentially move on to the semifinals. Um, so that's going to be a key for that program.

[00:59:31] See if they can get these last two wins at home this week against New Mexico city team.

[00:59:36] That's certainly very solid. Um, and, and I think that'll, that'll tell you a lot about

[00:59:40] how this program has grown throughout the season is can they defend the AMG home court,

[00:59:43] you know, against a quality team here at the end of the season.

[00:59:47] Yeah. We look forward to that. Um, and as we continue our discussion here on all of our fall

[00:59:52] sports, another one that had their conference USA championship just two weekends ago, um,

[00:59:57] was the cross country team. The curse of even number of years continues, um, for coach for Roman.

[01:00:02] Unfortunately, they fall just short of Liberty who swept the men's and women's cross country

[01:00:06] championships, but we did have freshmen, um, Alan Kip Lagat, and then Odelia Jepchamba,

[01:00:11] who both were individual champions for the men and women respectively there. So, um, a lot of

[01:00:16] promising things for them, but I think again, you turn that attention towards the regional coming

[01:00:19] up for those two in particular. Um, and of course you look forward to the indoor season coming ahead

[01:00:24] for these distance runners. Cause of course their season doesn't stop, but I'll be at an impressive

[01:00:27] year. Um, especially for Kip Lagat and Jep Jepchamba. Well, you know, Kip Lagat was, was somebody

[01:00:33] who's in the university of Alabama program last year and, and, you know, talking to Keith Roman

[01:00:37] about, um, you know, it was somebody that Alabama, you know, didn't think, you know, a whole lot of,

[01:00:43] you know, sort of when, when, when he left, uh, that was one way that the middle was able to get in

[01:00:46] the conversation for him when he entered the portal. And now, you know, when's conference USA,

[01:00:51] his first season out, um, you know, shows you the level that, that coach Roman is coaching at at this

[01:00:56] point, you know, he's got a system down to maximize what he's got and came up just two points short

[01:01:01] on the men's side. You know, I heard from, from people on the ground there, that there was a moment

[01:01:05] where it looked like one Liberty runner might've been DQ'd. And so there was a brief second where

[01:01:09] like middle had jumped Liberty in the standings and, but, uh, eventually that were there, the,

[01:01:14] there was just a glitch in the software and the points got restored. Um, you know, so heartbreaking

[01:01:19] moment there, but, um, really impressive run for, from Kip Lagat and Jep Chumba, as you said,

[01:01:24] um, young runners doing that, setting those times early on in their careers, um, only growth to go up

[01:01:29] from here. And, and I know that there's Romans excited about the distance runners he has coming in.

[01:01:35] Um, you know, in the years to come and how, you know, the players in the program will continue

[01:01:39] to develop. Um, so excited for the indoor season. I know a lot of our sprinters and jumpers have been

[01:01:45] anxious to, to get their competition underway, get their, um, you know, highlights on our social

[01:01:50] channels. So excited to learn more about them and in the weeks to come, but, uh, good luck to our

[01:01:56] conference title winners as they go into individual competition, uh, in CBA regionals, big honor for them.

[01:02:02] Yeah, that, that is coming up. I believe it's this weekend, the 15th, um, and they will be in

[01:02:07] Tallahassee, Florida. So again, check back on next week's radar wrap up portion where we'll be able to

[01:02:11] highlight a lot of that. Um, but let's move it back over now to, uh, women's and men's tennis.

[01:02:15] They actually just wrapped up, um, their fall schedules with the women did for that matter.

[01:02:19] They had their, um, MTSU invite a very impressive, um, um, weekend for the lady Raiders in that regard

[01:02:25] where they hosted Eastern Kentucky, Western Kentucky, North Alabama, a lot of individual wins this,

[01:02:30] this fall. Um, pretty impressive for this team in general. I know that their newest addition is

[01:02:35] still coming off of an injury. So we didn't get to see her much, especially performing doubles,

[01:02:39] which is where they're hoping that she will perform the best for that team. Um, but I thought

[01:02:43] things looked good for them. And then on the men's side, again, the, uh, especially particularly

[01:02:47] on the regionals, they've got their master's conference championships coming up or conference

[01:02:52] master's championships for ITA coming up in Rome, Georgia. Um, that's coming up this weekend

[01:02:56] or currently taking place. Um, so, uh, I'm not, I'm excited about really the individual championships

[01:03:03] that are coming up later, um, this month. Um, because now that NCAA has switched up how they're

[01:03:08] going to run their individual championships this year. So I know we've got a few that are,

[01:03:12] that will be competing in that. Um, but altogether collectively, I thought it was a successful

[01:03:16] tennis fall, but I think we all had, I had more attention on the women's to see how that team would

[01:03:21] perform this year, returning a lot of talent. And again, hoping to kind of improve upon,

[01:03:25] um, their season last year. Yeah, Jake, you know, it's always good to see these players get

[01:03:30] individual wins and, and, and doubles teams wins, you know, sort of in the, in these team

[01:03:34] competitions, you know, uh, that are, they're, they're not unserious. Let me say like there's

[01:03:40] still serious competition, but it's a little bit different environment than you have when you're

[01:03:43] having these sort of dual meets, these dual matches, um, you know, in the winter and spring.

[01:03:49] Um, so it's a lot more focused on personal development, you know, you know, teams are trying

[01:03:53] different players in different situations. Um, you're not running your full lineup of six,

[01:03:57] most weekends. A lot of your players might be playing as an individual in different tournaments,

[01:04:01] particularly if they're international. Um, so for, for me at least it's a little tricky to follow at

[01:04:06] times, but there has been some good results as you mentioned just now. Um, if you look really

[01:04:11] tightly, I think, you know, particularly on the men's side with what they did at the ITA regionals,

[01:04:15] you know, for the Ohio Valley region, uh, some really strong individual performances in that

[01:04:19] group as well. Um, but I'm excited to see them, you know, come out on the court soon. Um, I got a

[01:04:24] sneak peek of, uh, Jimmy Borendame's schedule for the men and it is loaded. Uh, y'all will be very

[01:04:32] excited to see the teams he's got coming to campus and the ATC, uh, this winter and this spring. Um,

[01:04:39] going to be a lot of really fun nights out there under the lights on those courts. And I know he likes

[01:04:42] to have a really rowdy environment and, um, college tennis is the best spectator sport that nobody knows

[01:04:47] about. Um, this is something I've claimed on this podcast before, but it's a, it's a really fun

[01:04:52] environment and, you know, I can't wait till we get to experience that again. Um, you know, once we

[01:04:56] get back, you know, next semester. Yeah. And to wrap up that ITA masters conference that I was talking

[01:05:02] about, um, Kareem Alman was actually the only one that competed, um, there, um, and lost in his first

[01:05:08] round draw. Um, but all eyes will be turned to the, uh, the individual championships that are coming up,

[01:05:14] um, in Waco, Texas on the 21st of this month. So, um, yeah, a lot, a lot of good stuff from the

[01:05:20] tennis programs as usual. I'm always excited to see what that schedule looks like because, uh, much

[01:05:24] like our women's basketball team, again, men's tennis, they do not disappoint with the level of

[01:05:29] competition that they bring on a nightly basis. Um, so excited to see that. And of course,

[01:05:32] there's always a great atmosphere at the Adams tennis complex and now the new outdoor complex,

[01:05:36] very beautiful. So if you haven't been, if you haven't made the plans to go out there,

[01:05:39] you should do so. Um, obviously a great facility as well as you're going to see great competition,

[01:05:44] um, and you're going to see tennis played at a very high level out there with born Dame and,

[01:05:48] um, the Raiders alike. So lastly, wrap things up golf season. Um, we've got new coach Wamsley

[01:05:54] Gusecki and her first year there, uh, here in Murfreesboro for the ladies program. They got a

[01:05:58] win at the Cardinals cup, impressive year for them. They actually had a strong finish and then the men

[01:06:02] had a great year or a great fall as well. JJ Zimmer in particular is who I look at that had a great fall,

[01:06:08] but, um, and they, they mixed up a lot of their, their, their lineups this fall. So I look forward to

[01:06:12] what the men's team does, but really the women's team too, for the same reason as tennis, um, having

[01:06:17] a lot of change up this year. So we're hoping to see, um, that success they had in the fall carry

[01:06:21] over to their spring season. Well, yeah, I think that that went in the Cardinals cup for women's

[01:06:26] golf is going to be big going forward under a new coach. I think it gave, you know, the players

[01:06:30] returning confidence that, that they could succeed, you know, under a new regime and in a new coaching

[01:06:35] staff. And, you know, probably gave, you know, coach Wamsley some confidence in who she had in the

[01:06:39] program as well, uh, and showed them the level that they could perform at, um, as they look to

[01:06:44] get this program back into the top of conference USA. Um, so very excited to see what they do in

[01:06:49] the spring as they get a little bit closer to the conference tournament season. Um, hopefully I'll

[01:06:53] get a chance to talk to coach Wamsley on my airwaves soon. We'll plan in a little, um, sort of, you know,

[01:06:58] fall and review, you know, coach's corner with her, um, you know, before she goes on maternity leave

[01:07:03] a little bit later, um, you know, this winter. Um, so, you know, best luck to her and her family with that,

[01:07:08] but, you know, hopefully we get a chance to talk to her a little bit, uh, and get her thoughts on

[01:07:11] everything. And I'll be sure to keep y'all posted on goblowraiders.com if, and when that comes out.

[01:07:17] And then on the men's golf side, very young team for coach McIntyre, a lot of new faces that he is

[01:07:22] trying to figure out who his five is going to be. And like you said, there, there's been players like

[01:07:27] JJ Zimmer who have stepped up and then there've been players who have been a little bit more

[01:07:31] inconsistent. So I think finding that five, uh, is going to be the key sort of through this,

[01:07:36] you know, late fall into winter period as these guys are, you know, working on their games to,

[01:07:40] to stick in the lineup and be a little more consistent. And I think if you look at the,

[01:07:44] you sort of the scores round around, um, they haven't been able to avoid having like sort of

[01:07:49] two, you know, bad rounds in the thing. Like you play five, you score four, hopefully you can have,

[01:07:55] you know, one guy's off and then hopefully the other four aren't. And I think that they've just

[01:07:59] had, you know, too many rounds where two guys have had, had off days, um, you know,

[01:08:04] to consistently, you know, be at the level that they're expecting. Um, and so finding,

[01:08:09] you know, having more rounds, like they did the last round of their last tournament,

[01:08:12] where JJ Zimmer's the score that you're dropping, I think at one over, um, is going to be key for

[01:08:17] this program going forward is where you're having all five of those guys pushing and, you know,

[01:08:21] their best performances in recent years under, under coach McIntyre have been rounds like that.

[01:08:25] Um, so, so finding those guys and getting them more consistent,

[01:08:28] I think it's going to be key going forward. Absolutely good and exciting stuff for them

[01:08:33] as they come towards the spring season. Um, Sam, I appreciate you coming on as always with

[01:08:39] all the information that you got for us. You teased a little bit there with your coach's corner,

[01:08:42] uh, fall in review, anything else that we can look forward to seeing, um, from you as well as anything

[01:08:46] from the athletic department communications department coming up? Well, what I'm really excited about this

[01:08:50] year with our basketball season is we sort of changed content flow on my end for, for what I do.

[01:08:55] So normally I'm the one, like in the years past I was writing, you know, sort of our, our recap after

[01:08:59] each game, which is a little bit more formulaic and, you know, there's a little more flair that

[01:09:03] I would put into it maybe than an SID would when I was putting it together. Uh, but it still took

[01:09:08] out a lot of my time on game night. So we, we, we've changed the workflow and now we, we have other

[01:09:13] people in our office doing the, the more, you know, hard facts recap and I get to write a sidebar

[01:09:18] after every game that comes out the next morning of it. So you've already seen two of those come out,

[01:09:21] uh, one for the men's game against Oglethorpe and then one for the women's game against

[01:09:25] Grand Canyon on Friday. Those came out the next morning. Um, and so hopefully be a little

[01:09:30] bit more creative writing, a little bit more, you know, insight into sort of what's going on.

[01:09:34] And so you get more regular updates, uh, you know, about, you know, the ins and outs of those programs

[01:09:39] from me as the season goes on, something that, you know, we targeted is something that people

[01:09:43] clearly wanted. And, uh, hopefully you guys enjoy that going forward because I've enjoyed at least,

[01:09:48] you know, through two games, you know, putting that stuff in.

[01:09:52] Yeah, absolutely. Lots of good stuff from Sam as always over at go blue Raiders.com and of

[01:09:56] course his X slash Twitter accounts, uh, SJ Doughton, um, Sam, I appreciate you taking the time to

[01:10:02] join us today and we look forward to having you on again sometime in December. I'm sure.

[01:10:06] Thanks so much, Jake. Y'all have a great one.

[01:10:09] All right. And again, thanks for you listening to today's episode. We look forward to, um,

[01:10:14] next week where we will actually have on a lady Raiders guest basketball player, as well as we'll

[01:10:19] wrap up all things with the lady Raiders and men's basketball games this last week. Um,

[01:10:23] don't forget to follow us on all of our social media accounts at blue Raider pod.

[01:10:26] And until next time go blue.