From Player to Coach: Ricky Harris's Journey

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to another episode of the NIL podcast. Name, image and Legends. I am your host for this evening, Nick Rivers. Join with me fellow pit legends Jermaine Dixon from Baltimore, Gary McGee from Anderson, Indiana, and Levance Fields from Brooklyn. However, we have a special guest today. We're adding another Baltimore legend coming from Calvert hall. Legend at UMass. 2000 point scorer, took his talents over the pond. Long, illustrious, decade long career overseas. Now you can see that V on his chest representing Villanova on the coaching staff there. Giving back to the next generation of basketball. Hoopers, everybody. Give it up for Ricky Harris. [00:00:40] Speaker B: Yeah, Ricky. [00:00:42] Speaker C: My God, my boy, Ricky Cheesy. [00:00:45] Speaker D: He likes that. [00:00:45] Speaker C: Ricky. [00:00:46] Speaker D: I love that. [00:00:47] Speaker A: Love it. Ricky, welcome to the podcast. You know, I know you're close to Jermaine Dixon, a lot of my other teammates. I've heard a lot about you. Back when I was on the team playing and even watching you, we never got a chance to match up with you guys, but we'd always have you on the TV watching you play. Just want to hear your story today. But first, I mean, you're coaching at Villanova. How you guys looking this year right now? What's going on in your world right now? [00:01:12] Speaker D: First off, I want to say thank you guys for having me on the pod. It's truly an honor to be here with you guys today. Like you said earlier, Nick, Jermaine Lee, Gary, a lot of pit guys, Brad, Gil are all considered brothers. Trey. And even though I didn't go to pit, I feel like I did go to Pitt. Every TBT that we had, I was playing with them guys, you know what I mean? So I'm definitely a long lost brother away from that, chose a different school. But I appreciate you guys for having me. As far as Villanova goes, man, is it's Biggie's basketball, man. You guys were in the biggies, the real biggies. So you guys know how it is. But I think we have a tough, gritty team. We have some guys from Brooklyn, Chris Jeffries, who's extremely tough. Caden Lewis, who's probably one of the better point guards in this freshman class. We're deep, we have a lot of depth at the guard position. We have some good big men who haven't been able to really showcase what they're capable of doing, but they'll get a chance this year. We have some veteran bigs who've been to the tournament a few years at different schools. I like what you have. We put together a pretty solid team. We put together a team of guys that we'll be able to keep. We'll be able to retain after this year because I think that's what the basketball landscape is going back into now with the revenue sharing model. You want to keep as many players as possible on your team. So we got a roster full of guys of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, couple seniors that have some leadership, but we got a good nucleus. [00:02:41] Speaker C: Hold on before we fast forward. You wasn't on that team when we played you, Max? [00:02:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I was going to say that. I was going to say that. He was on that team. [00:02:51] Speaker D: I was on that team. I was afraid, freshman. I didn't get in the game, so. [00:03:02] Speaker A: I was cutting up the orange slices. That game. [00:03:03] Speaker D: They all got it. [00:03:04] Speaker A: I was cutting up the orange slices. [00:03:05] Speaker C: You all got it. I just wanted we not going to hop over that like. No, no, we matched up. [00:03:10] Speaker D: Yeah, I was on. I was on that team. I was definitely on that team. I thought we was actually going to beat y', all because the first play of the game, Tiki Maven threw Gary Forbes a half court live, and he dunked it. Y' all was yelling, and we was getting hyped. Crazy hype. And then after that, it just went downhill from there. The Oakland Zoo got involved. Lee got going. Antonio Graves might Cook. Mike Cook actually lives out here. I just saw my Cook the other day, matter of fact, at the bowling alley. [00:03:37] Speaker B: At the bowling alley, yeah. [00:03:38] Speaker D: Yeah. Ash Howard, Ash Howard's son had a. A little birthday party. So Mike Cook, his. His daughters go to his son's school. So he was at the birthday party. But, yeah, y' all got it going, man. Oakland Zoo got the jumping. One of the best places, one of the best college environments that I've been at in my playing time in college. [00:03:55] Speaker B: Hey, Rick, I wonder, since we are talking coaching and, you know, we're talking about your career, you know, I definitely want to get into that, especially, you know, how we started together. But you came in when you was done Hoover. You went to UMass, from UMass to Maryland. Now you at Villanova. How was that transition, man? [00:04:14] Speaker D: It happened so fast, bro. I think, you know, it all started with me just sending a Twitter DM to the ad @umass. Ron Bamford expressing my interest in wanting to come back and get into college coaching because, like, we all. We all been there, man. Like, we all we know is basketball, you know what I mean? And when the ball stopped bouncing and the air runs out of the ball, we trying to figure out what our next move is going to be, you know what I mean? And I was in scramble mode, you know what I mean? And I knew that that time was coming to an end, so I was in scramble mode. I was just going to use my resour sources and reach out to as many people as possible. And honestly, Kim English was going to bring me on at George Mason as a volunteer assistant. I wasn't going to make any money. I was just going to be volunteering for the most part, but it was just going to be a way to get in, you know what I mean? Because during that time, if you remember, man, I was doing the real estate in Baltimore, so I could still go back and forth, you know what I'm saying? Baltimore to Mason wasn't that crazy of a drive. But when he told me he was going to bring me on, I had randomly reached out to Ron Bamford maybe like a few weeks before that in a Twitter dm and he got back to me right away. And literally as Ken was telling me he was bringing me to Mason as a volunteer, Matt McCall called me and was like, hey man, listen, let's get you down here to Amherst and let's have a phone, let's have a one on one face to face conversation. So I flew down to Amherst and we talked. We chopped it up. I was just myself, bro. I was just being who I was, you know what I'm saying? I ain't going there as a know it all or trying to, you know, use my status as a former player and out talk him. I just listened and said what I had to say and he liked what I had to say and he brought me on. In all honesty, bro, at the time, it could have been, they could have been doing it for any reason. You never know. I mean, at the time he was on the hot seat. It could have been a publicity stunt to get the fans engaged because Ricky Harris is coming back. Oh yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? It could have been a way to save his job. You never know, man. But after I got to the school, it was, it was actually a genuine relationship and him and I are still good, good friends to this day. I was there for a year, sorry, two years. But that year he ended up getting fired. And so now I'm back in scramble mode, right? And Frank Martin comes on staff. Frank's bringing his whole staff from South Carolina with him, right? So I'm like, dang, like, what the, what I'm gonna do now again, ryan Bamford, the ADL UMass, he set it up for where, you know, I had, I had to go pick Frank up from the airport. So as I picked Frank up from the airport. Yeah, I pick him up from the airport. It's just him and I in the car. And, you know, Hartford to UMass is probably like, 45 minutes to an hour drive, right? So it's just him and I in the car. When you with Frank, you don't get no words in. Like, he going. He talks, right? And when he talk, you just listen, right? And I'm a talker, right? I can. I can talk, too. So Frank was just like, yo, man, listen, I'm. I'm gonna keep you on staff. I just don't know in what role, right? Because, you know, he was bringing his guys that he'd been in the mud, where he'd been fighting with. He had to. He had to keep his loyalty to them. Just so happened, his dobo that he was with for, I don't even know, 20, 30 years decided not to come, right? So he was like, all right, yo, I'm gonna. I'm gonna make you the video coordinator. I ain't gonna make you the dobo because I like things ran a certain way. I'll make you the video coordinator. So he was gonna give the job, the dobo job, to Adam Ginsberg, who had actually coached me at UMass when I was a player. Adam gets to the office, and he ends up turning the job down. So Frank was like, yo, you gotta stay as dobo. So I'm like, shit, cool. That's cool with me. You know what I'm saying? Like. Cause I ain't know much about video and being a video coordinator, you know what I'm saying? So I stay in that role for that year, and then, boom, that season happens. We had some really good players. We had RJ Louise, Matt Cross, a few good guys, man. Tafar Gapari, who's. Who's now here at Villanova with me as well. We had some good pieces. And then Merlin had one of the Baltimore gone staff, right? David Cox had reached out, like, I don't know, late in the process, at some point was like, yo, would you be interested in coming back home? So I was kind of in a pickle at the time, you know what I'm saying? Because it's like, Frank gave me this opportunity. He big on loyalty. I was fine with a. You know what I'm saying? I was comfortable at UMass. Blase, blase, blah. And then I was like, you know, Cox was like, yo, we want to know something, let me know. Blah, blah. And then a couple other guys back Home, like Chief Stevens and all those guys, they reached out like, yo, you got to take. You got to take it. So I'm like, all right, cool. So I was in that situation, so I took that job right there with them for two years, and then. [00:08:50] Speaker C: We. [00:08:51] Speaker D: Go to C16 this year. Next thing you know, we at Villanova. That's. So that's pretty much how that. Like, that. It happens so fast. You know, I've been. You know, I've been kind of fortunate and blessed to be put in these positions. You know what I'm saying? And luckily for me, I got a head coach right now who is a basketball junkie, who's a basketball guru. And winning is, like, all he wants to do. You know what I mean? So it ain't just one of those guys that will. It probably makes six or seven million dollars a year, but he not complacent. He's not happy with that. You know what I'm saying? He always wants more. So he's challenged me to become a better person, a better coach. He's put me in positions to. To. To. To, you know, lead and show that I can lead. You know what I mean? [00:09:29] Speaker B: So that's what I was gonna ask do here. Do he allow y' all to express your voice like a. Y'? [00:09:33] Speaker D: All? [00:09:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:34] Speaker D: Yeah. So like you said, man, you know, you've known me for years, bro. Like, I've. I'm constantly talking. I'm constantly giving my input. You know what I mean? I'm constantly young, being, sharing my thoughts, you know, and without overstepping my boundaries. Right. You know what I mean? I can't. I don't. I don't ever cross any lines where I can rub elbows with the. You know, I'm saying the wrong people make him feel a certain way. [00:09:58] Speaker A: But. [00:09:59] Speaker D: But, yeah, he does. He gives us the floor, especially if it's one of our scouts. If it's our scouts. He basically makes us, you know, be the head coach for that game or the scout or that. You know what I'm saying? You guys seen how it's done? But he definitely gives you that floor. He definitely allows your voice to be heard. He. He's from the Rick Patino tree, so he's extremely tough. He's hard. He expects us as coaches to be on top of our stuff. We. You know, with that being said, he gives us a lot of responsibility, you know? [00:10:30] Speaker A: Yeah, there's a lot of media. [00:10:32] Speaker C: Go ahead. [00:10:33] Speaker A: Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of media speculation with his decision to go from Maryland, you know, Power 5, you know, Big 10 school to go to Villanova. You know, I think some people may have seen it, maybe going to step back, going to the, back to the Biggies. What do you think went into that decision for him to actually decide? [00:10:50] Speaker D: Well, I mean, honestly, Nick, man, it wasn't an easy decision for him. You know what I mean? It wasn't. It definitely wasn't easy. We saw it in the tournament. We was going into the Florida game and we understood the pressure of that game one, but we also understood what he had going on outside of that. Our AD at Maryland ended up leaving, right? So we, we were in the F. We were in a NCAA tournament. And Damon Evans ended up taking a job at SMU during that same time. So coach was like, mind you, at selection Sunday, before we started watching the selection show, coach was actually negotiating a new contract to extend that Maryland. [00:11:30] Speaker B: So we get that AD with that. [00:11:31] Speaker D: Ad with the AD that left. So they went outside, they were talking, they were, you know, ready to put pen to paper, all the things. And literally we get to Seattle, Washington and we find out that he's taking a job in smu. He was a big football guy. SMU football had just came back off of a college football playoff run. So I mean, he, that was the best decision for him, him and his family at the time. So he did it. And coach more so had the relationship with Damon. So he had no idea who was coming in to replace Damon. But also, Maryland is Big Ten, right? It's a big time football program. Big Ten football anywhere is big time. I think Maryland, for me, Maryland is a basketball school for sure. But when it comes to money, revenue sharing and money and things of that nature, the landscape of college basketball, majority of the money is going to go to the football team, right? So with us going into a revenue sharing model next year and everybody getting, what is it, 20 million, 22 million, something like that, 15 or 16 million was going to football, 4 was going to men's basketball, and then 2 million was going to women's basketball, right? So he's like, yo, bro, one, two players is $4 million. You know what I'm saying? You get a really good point guard at 2, you get a really good big at 2 was like, what else you want me to do? You know what I'm saying? So his thought process was more so long term. He also knew he was losing dirt, right? He knew that he could try his best to get Jacoby and Rod to follow us here to Nova. That didn't End up panning out, but he took a chance. He gave them really good nil deals. But Jacoby basically just wanted to go back to Tennessee ways from. And Rodney, you know, Rodney had other plans. I think Rodney might have been the highest paid player in the porter at almost $4 million. At USC, 3.5 million or something like that. [00:13:25] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:13:26] Speaker D: US at USC run. Yeah. So. But yeah, I think his, his decision was more so long term, bro. Like, Nova has a football team, but it's not really football. [00:13:35] Speaker B: Right, right, right. [00:13:36] Speaker D: You know what I'm saying? So revenue sharing, we might get 10 million, 12 million, you know what I'm saying? So now we're making a legitimate chance and we're, we're giving ourselves a legitimate chance to go deep in the NCAA tournament or, you know, be in position where we can have success. [00:13:52] Speaker C: Yeah. I was going to say, like, when you first got to UMass, how was that, that adjustment going from, you know, being a player to now you're coaching and it's not about you anymore, you know what I'm saying? Now it's just on the players. [00:14:02] Speaker D: So, man, so, so that, that adjustment was kind of. It was challenging in a sense, G. Because freshly removed from retirement, you know what I mean, you still got the competitive juices, right? And you run into these, these kids, these players, I don't want to call them kids. They men, these young men. Some of them know it all, some of them got all the an. Right? When you get in certain situations with these kids, your competitive juices start to flow, right? So sometimes you might, it might lead you down a rabbit hole. You get to arguing with a kid about something that you can easily avoid, you start to put yourself in their shoes. From a competitive standpoint, when they're complaining about a boo boo or a little injury, like, man, you suck, man. Suck that shit up, man. You know what I mean? Like, all of that stuff for me, I had to adjust, right? I had to, I had to adjust to the new landscape. My approach, my, my tone, how I spoke to them. I couldn't approach them the same way that we was approached or the way we was coached, you know what I'm saying? Like, you got to show them a different type of love. You got to stroke the ego, make them feel good, tell them how good they are. Because a lot of these kids, man, they mental midgets, man, and I hate to say that, but they not mentally tough. They need the, the, the, the, the confidence boost or the telling them how, you know what they want to hear sometime. You Know, I mean, and I struggle with that at first. You struggle with that a lot. But now I've gotten better. I've found a happy medium to where I can be hard, but I can also pull back a little bit. You know what I mean? [00:15:31] Speaker C: Finding it just found your voice communication, especially now with the landscape and how they can just leave the next year. [00:15:38] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:15:39] Speaker C: I mean, goes into it also. [00:15:41] Speaker D: Yeah. And even. And even with that, man, you know, we gotta protect ourselves as coaches, as adults, because the power is with the kid. You know what I'm saying? Like, the kid can always say mental health or coach made me, you know, boom, boom, boom. And now my. My mental health is not great. You know, I mean, it's all type of man, like, that's. That works in the favor of these kids, bro. [00:16:04] Speaker C: I had two things I wanted to ask you. Rick, you said he allows you to do scout. What's your record? I was getting some word. [00:16:14] Speaker A: You know it too. [00:16:15] Speaker D: Nah, nah, nah. In all honesty, bro, Lap, last year at Maryland, we lost seven games and I helped stink with the majority of his scouts. We lost stink and I lost one game and we lost the Michigan at the buzzer in the Big Ten championship. I mean, the Big Ten tournament. [00:16:31] Speaker C: That's good. Six and one. Yeah. [00:16:32] Speaker D: Yeah, six and one. I'm solid. [00:16:34] Speaker C: Yeah, pretty. Pretty solid, like you said, because we play it. So I remember when a coacho or Mike Rice or one of them get the scout and they writing on the board and. [00:16:45] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:16:45] Speaker C: Nervous. They wanted. They want things to go well. Because if it don't, you kind of get like you said you had coach for the day. It's your scout. [00:16:52] Speaker D: You get blamed looking right at you. Yo, what's up? [00:16:55] Speaker C: Yeah, right? So, and then my second thing was so early on in your career, and as you already explained that you went from UMass to Maryland, Maryland, Villanova, a lot of situations like that, coaches don't always take everybody or sometimes they do. But in that situation, were you nervous at all? Once again, like, just thinking, was he going to take you to Villanova for sure? Or what was you going to do? [00:17:19] Speaker D: No. Yeah, I definitely was nervous, man. It was def. It definitely was a point in there where it was like, okay, where is my value with this guy? You know what I'm saying? Like, and I think that after us getting to the tournament, after us, you know, the relationships that we build at Maryland, the way we recruited the DMV area, the people that we know, like. And now he understands that recruiting is not as much where you're from like, it used to be, like, for example, I'm at Nova now. You want to have at least a Philly guy, maybe a New York guy on staff. It's not really that. Like, it used to be, because everything is pretty much transactional, how much you can pay a kid, you know what I'm saying? So. And, bro, it was. It was like, man, listen, man, I just got. I just came off of a 316 run with these guys, man. Like, I would be a fool not to take them. I would be. That would be up on my part not to. To take him in. He. He expressed that in. At the NCAA tournament. He was like, yo, listen, man, if I take this job, you. You think I'm not bringing y' all with me? So when he got the job, he text us all. We got like a staff group chat. He text us. And he was. He basically said, hey, guys, listen, man, I'm taking a Villanova job. I want you guys to come with me. If you guys have any questions or concerns or. [00:18:33] Speaker B: Or. [00:18:33] Speaker D: Or. Or don't, you know, different thoughts, just give me a call. So I called him immediately, and he was like, rick, what the you calling me for? I was like, coach, I'm just calling. Taking me with you, right? So. So he, like, I said, call me if you have any questions or concerns. He was like, I saw your phone call. I'm thinking you wasn't coming with me. Like, yeah, you coming with me. So that's how that conversation went. And I was just like, all right, Coach, I'mma holler at you later. It was like 11 o' clock at night. You know what I mean? So I was just like, all right, Coach, I'mma holl at you later. He was like, all right, cool. Holl at me. That was it. And, yeah. And then like, literally, like two or three days later, HR people from Nova hit me up for, like, my information. And like that. So it was cool. [00:19:20] Speaker B: One more thing in coaching before we transition, DC didn't. DC's not at Nova, right. He got a head coaching job, right? [00:19:26] Speaker D: No. So dc, okay. It's crazy. DC is here at Nova with us. [00:19:31] Speaker B: Oh, he is? [00:19:32] Speaker D: Yeah. D.C. is here at Nova with us. But D.C. was supposed to become the interim at Maryland, which he should have got. Right? They should have definitely given him that role, that job, because they didn't know who they AD was going to be. And the lady who hired Buzz ended up leaving and going to SMU with Damon, who left to go to smu. So I think that what happened was the lady who hired Buzz, I think she had aspirations of becoming an AD at Maryland, and, you know, she wanted to make a splash or have a hire or something like that, so she hired BU. But I thought they were going to give DC at least a year trial run, you know what I'm saying? Like. Like, kind of like how they did the coach from Texas that one year, give D.C. a year trial run. If he did, well, extend them. If not. The new AD is coming in, and he can hire whoever it is that he want to hire. That's what I thought was going to happen. That's what everybody thought was going to happen, but it didn't. They actually interviewed dt. Interviewed DC twice, I think, for that. For the. For the Merlin job. [00:20:36] Speaker B: Oh, wow. Well, so he's there with y' all now, so that's good. [00:20:39] Speaker D: So is he here with us? [00:20:40] Speaker A: No. [00:20:40] Speaker B: The whole staff is there. [00:20:42] Speaker D: The whole staff here? Yep. [00:20:43] Speaker B: All right. And one more thing I gotta ask. One more thing I gotta ask. How you like working with Stink, Kevin? [00:20:48] Speaker D: Stink is my guy. Stink is my guy. You know. One thing about Stink, man, he ain't gonna change. He ain't gonna change for nobody, bro. Like, he ain't gonna. He going. He gonna be who he is all the time. He's super, super funny. But, I mean, all in all, I like working for Stinking. You know what I'm saying? Sometimes think, you know, he. He tried to put me in the little bro category, but I. You know what I'm saying? I'll keep yo chill out with. You know what I mean? But that's my. I mean, that's my guy. I got nothing but love and respectful stuff. Okay. [00:21:16] Speaker A: Baltimore. [00:21:17] Speaker C: This guy, man. [00:21:18] Speaker B: Yeah, I gotta ask that. That was my. That was my juco coach. [00:21:22] Speaker C: Oh, all right, all right. I think I know who y' all talking about, too. [00:21:27] Speaker D: You know who we talking about? Kevin Norris, Miami. [00:21:31] Speaker C: I know y' all talking about Chill G, too, young man. [00:21:35] Speaker A: All right, so let's get a little bit more about Ricky Harris, the basketball journey. [00:21:39] Speaker D: Yo, hold up. Not. Not gonna lie, though, bro. The. The Name Nil podcast is definitely dope. Name, image and legends. That's. That's fire. [00:21:49] Speaker C: Appreciate you, dog. We got consultants do their job, man. [00:21:53] Speaker A: We got consult. [00:21:56] Speaker C: We got questions for you. Chatty Patty. We go. [00:22:03] Speaker A: So if you think of three cities, you know, that are. You could consider the mecca of basketball in America. The DMV is definitely one of them. Baltimore is definitely one of them. Jermaine Dixon would tell us every single day, how you know if you can Survive in Baltimore. You can survive anywhere. So take us back to what it actually is, like, kind of starting your basketball journey from, you know, the grassroots level, you know, in high school, what's it like coming up in Baltimore playing who were the type of players you played against? And, like, at what point did you realize, like, man, I can. I can really do this and, you know, be a great basketball player? [00:22:42] Speaker D: So you want me to give you three cities? [00:22:44] Speaker A: Give me. Give me what is. [00:22:45] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:22:49] Speaker D: In order. Baltimore, not even, like, dc. New York. [00:22:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:53] Speaker C: You better put New York in there. [00:22:58] Speaker D: Yeah. For me. I mean, because Baltimore, we not considered dmv. [00:23:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:04] Speaker A: Oh, really? [00:23:05] Speaker B: No. [00:23:06] Speaker A: Really? [00:23:06] Speaker B: No. [00:23:07] Speaker A: Baltimore separate. [00:23:08] Speaker D: Yeah. We our own entity. [00:23:12] Speaker A: I didn't know that. I thought Maryland. Because the M. I thought the M. [00:23:16] Speaker C: Don't start these guys up, man. This is. Sam is not considered dumb. [00:23:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Sam is not us. Love standing there. Sam, not us. Same with DC Guy. [00:23:26] Speaker C: Learn about that. [00:23:28] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:23:29] Speaker B: And. [00:23:29] Speaker D: And honestly, as far as, like, my. My basketball journey, man, I felt like Maine was on the journey with me. We was on the same journey. You know what I mean? We. We. [00:23:41] Speaker A: We. [00:23:41] Speaker D: We. We played with the same teams coming up. And then, you know, to be quite honest, I think Bino, Ranson and main brother Phil is the ones who really, like, saw something in Maine and I and. And. And helped us bring it and brought it out of us, you know what I mean? Like, if they didn't start Team Baltimore, I don't. Are we. Are we Jermaine Dixon and Ricky Harris right now? You know what I mean? So I think they're the reasons why we became the players that we became, because they put us up against the best. Lee, Eric, Gordon, who else we played, man, O.J. mill, all those guys. Like, we. We was. We was going up against some of the best guys. Curtis, Gerald, Lou, Will. And it was just him and I. Tyrese Rice. Tyrese Rice? Yeah. Like, we played Tyrese Rice in every tournament we played in, like, every single tour. And I ain't gonna hold you. Tyrese Rice fried us every single time. [00:24:33] Speaker B: Every time. Every time. [00:24:35] Speaker D: Tyrese Rice fried us every single time, bro. So, like, cooking, man. Well, we was going against Riverside Gauchos, all y'. All. We was going up. We was playing y'. All. You know what I'm saying? [00:24:45] Speaker B: We went up to New York and played Lee. [00:24:48] Speaker D: So, like, we. We was like. And. And, you know, I think that's what really gave us our confidence, bro. Like, when we saw that we could compete with those guys, that was considered some of the best in the country. That gave us our confidence and we kept going. [00:25:01] Speaker A: Yes. At what point did you realize, like, man, I'm. I'm really that guy? Like, I can compete with the best of them. Like, I'm. [00:25:07] Speaker D: Yo, you know what's crazy? Like, for me, I was like. I was a bucket getter. You know what I'm saying? Like, so when I was going, whoever we was going up against, like, we. We really. And mind you, man, you. We ain't really know was like that. So, like, we was going against Byron Eaton or. Or Curtis Gerald or Lee or T or Ty and not really knowing that we was going up against a dude and was just going out there getting buckets. Like, the only one we really knew was Lou Wills. [00:25:44] Speaker B: Was Lou Will. Was Lou Will. [00:25:46] Speaker A: Lou Willville. [00:25:48] Speaker D: Lou Will was the only one we knew. Lou Will, Mike Mercer and. And. And that other Billy. Billy something on their team. That was the only thing we knew. Everybody else, we didn't know. We went against Earthborn and Dirk Rose. We didn't know that was them. [00:26:01] Speaker B: No. [00:26:01] Speaker C: That's crazy. [00:26:03] Speaker B: And they. They beat us about 30. [00:26:08] Speaker A: That's peace. [00:26:08] Speaker D: Indie heat. [00:26:10] Speaker C: Mean Streets. [00:26:11] Speaker D: Mean Streets, bro. Gee, when I tell you, hey, I. [00:26:16] Speaker C: Know from firsthand, first of all, they walk. [00:26:17] Speaker D: They got to the game late. They got to the game late. So it could have been a forfeit. We would have won. We saw them walking, we was like, yeah, we want to play, bro. They us, man. Remember that? [00:26:34] Speaker B: Oh, I remember. We was done. [00:26:36] Speaker C: We was trying. [00:26:36] Speaker B: We was trying to dunk before. I mean, we was trying to dunk in a warm up line, yo. [00:26:40] Speaker D: Hey. [00:26:42] Speaker C: Oh, y' all thought they were sweet. [00:26:44] Speaker B: Because they was little, bro. They was little as we like. Oh, yeah. We about them. We about to cook now. [00:26:49] Speaker C: Running right past y'. [00:26:50] Speaker D: All. [00:26:50] Speaker A: Did y' all go to the same high school? [00:26:52] Speaker B: No, no, no, no, no. [00:26:54] Speaker D: We should, Ricky. [00:26:55] Speaker B: So that's. [00:26:55] Speaker D: That. [00:26:56] Speaker B: That's. And a lot of people don't know. How was your decision to go to Calva? Hard. And going in as a shooting guard, as a two guy. Like you said, he was a bucket getter. And Ricky definitely was about a bucket. But going into Cava hall, you going behind guys. [00:27:11] Speaker A: Jack. [00:27:11] Speaker B: Jack Mcclinton was there when you went in. Oh, Garden. Actually, Gardiner was there first. [00:27:17] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:27:18] Speaker B: And Gary and Jack was there. Wong Juan was a former player. How was it the decision to go into Keva Hall? [00:27:29] Speaker D: So, so, so first we went, you know, man went to middle school right across the street from Cavall. Right. And so we used to have to Take the plate. We had to take the exam to get into Calvin hall, but I kept failing the exam, right? And so I was about to go to Archbishop Curly, which was like some B conference school, like. But I'm like, man, I ain't going to Curly, bro. So, so anyway, long story short, end up getting into Calva hall somehow, right? Get into Calva hall. You got Jack McClinton, you got Gary Neal. I think Kim English was coming at next year. [00:28:07] Speaker B: So we had Vincent Delaney. [00:28:08] Speaker A: Who? [00:28:09] Speaker D: Malcolm Brothers Delaney was there. Yeah. So we had like, we had guys like. And I knew that for me, I wanted to be challenged, but I didn't know that it was going to be like that. But my first year, I played fresh off, you know what I'm saying? And I'm thinking that I'm about to be on the team with Gary and Jack. I mean, yeah, Gary and Jack and them. Nah, I played fresh off. Then my sophomore year, I make the varsity team. I get to talking back to Tooch in practice one day. Like, man, most time the legal screen sent me down to jv. I was on JV the whole sophomore year, right? And then by the time I got to varsity, all them guys was gone. So it was kind of like my show, like. So that's how that worked out. I ended up being a good decision, but at the time, when you look at it, it was like, damn, why the am I going to Calva hall when he. When he got all these dudes there, you know what I mean? [00:29:01] Speaker B: But before you got to your junior scene yet with being there with Jack. [00:29:05] Speaker D: Because. [00:29:08] Speaker B: Gary was the man y' all first year, but Jack was the man the next year. Did you learn from them guys? [00:29:12] Speaker D: Yeah. So Jack, Jack, so. So back in the day, like, we ain't had no kava, I ain't had school busing and stuff like that. So Reese or my mother would pick up me and Brandon from school. And most times when my mother picked us up, she would be there. She would be mad late to get me, so she wouldn't get there till like 5, 6 o' clock in the evening. So we'd just be at Cowboy hall all day chilling. And Jack used to stay in school on purpose and just work out. So, like, I played one on one. Me, Jack and Brandon played one on one every single day after school. And yo, Jack McClanton might be the best one on one player I've ever played in my life. Like, I ain't even gonna hold you with that. Like. And Jermaine and Jermaine Is too. But Jack McClintock had hella fucking. [00:29:53] Speaker B: Throw that in there. [00:29:56] Speaker D: Hella. Jack had hella fucking moves. Like, you know what I'm saying? But I just learned, like, how to. How he approached the game, his work ethic, like, all of that stuff. He instilled that into me. He helped. He helped instill that into me, and it made me better. [00:30:13] Speaker C: I was gonna say. [00:30:14] Speaker B: No, no, go ahead, G. Go ahead. [00:30:15] Speaker C: I was gonna say, what came into the decision when you decided to go to UMass, what was like your top school after you finished up your senior year? [00:30:23] Speaker D: I went to prep school. I went to prep school for a year. I went to winching. Winching and prep, which is like 40, like 35 minutes from UMass. So I. I would go up to UMass every weekend. Because you. At the prep school, we couldn't have no cell phones. We couldn't have no. It was like. [00:30:36] Speaker B: It was. [00:30:37] Speaker D: It was like they used to send, like, little bad kids who needed, like, juvenile halfway house type joints to that prep school, right? So we couldn't have cell phones. We couldn't. It was in the middle of nowhere. And on the weekends you can go home or you can go somewhere. So I would go to UMass every weekend on a break. And I just got real cool with all them guys, and I was like, just. I was like, it. I'm going here. But my other schools were George Mason. St. John's came in. St. John's was trash, though. They was like Norm Robertson. They was like ass. And it was like George Mason. And it was somebody. I think Beano was at Mars. That's how that. That's how that panned out. So UMass is kind of like my highest joint. [00:31:16] Speaker B: St. John's was your highest. [00:31:18] Speaker D: Well, St. John's was my highest joint. But they was like bad biggies. Like, they weren't like. That was like the easy win. [00:31:24] Speaker C: It's St. John's man. If you win there. [00:31:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:26] Speaker C: You good? Yeah. [00:31:28] Speaker A: Hey, Ricky, did you go. Did you go to prep school because you didn't get looks like you wanted to fresh out of school or. [00:31:34] Speaker D: Yeah, Yeah. I went to prep school because I ain't getting no looks like I wanted to. And my SAT score wasn't. I wasn't eligible yet even if I did. You know what I'm saying? My SAT scoring match up, I took that. [00:31:54] Speaker B: You took the act? [00:31:55] Speaker D: Yeah, that's. [00:31:57] Speaker C: That's how I got in. SAT is tough. [00:32:01] Speaker D: My sat. Yo, my sat, bro, I took that joint like six times, bro. I had to take the Highest score from one test and the high score from the other test and combine them joints and be like, all right, I'm good. [00:32:13] Speaker A: That's how cerebral. [00:32:15] Speaker D: Combined with my highest math. I was in there. [00:32:17] Speaker C: I think they was putting so much pressure because we knew, like, man, we want to be. We want to clear clearing house, like, so much. [00:32:22] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:32:23] Speaker C: Basically, like, you're right now. [00:32:24] Speaker D: You don't even need them tests no more. [00:32:28] Speaker B: They don't do no test no more. [00:32:29] Speaker D: No. [00:32:30] Speaker C: Look at that. [00:32:31] Speaker D: Nope. [00:32:32] Speaker C: It's all kinds of freelancers. [00:32:33] Speaker D: They get millions of dollars and they don't need no test. [00:32:37] Speaker A: And they got to go to class. [00:32:38] Speaker C: And they ain't getting tested. [00:32:40] Speaker D: And they ain't getting tested. [00:32:43] Speaker B: When you got the UMass, who was the head coach? [00:32:45] Speaker D: Don't say Travis Ford. [00:32:46] Speaker B: Travis Ford was the head coach when you first got in. [00:32:48] Speaker C: Yeah. Tight. That's why we beat them about it. They coaches from the sixth man, bro. [00:32:54] Speaker D: Yeah, he was. He played in the movie. Oh, dang. [00:32:58] Speaker C: I remember, son. Yeah, the coach, not the team, but the opposite team that was playing like that was supposed to. Wayne's coach, the little one, man. Remember some was popping joint with trash. [00:33:11] Speaker D: He played at Kentucky. He was a point guard at Kentucky. I remember. [00:33:15] Speaker B: I know he. I know what you're talking about. [00:33:17] Speaker C: But, yeah, I was hyped because I said something to him, too. Matter of fact, doing the game. Yeah. He was smirking. I was hyped. That was one of my favorite movies. [00:33:26] Speaker D: You was hyped. You was hyped for that game. Because wasn't a lot of hype behind you and Tiki Maven going at it. [00:33:31] Speaker C: Of course, Tiki, my class, you know, we matched up on AAU circuit. Then you got Gary a book to do. It's like, nah, gotta get this win. [00:33:40] Speaker B: Gary Ford's from Brooklyn. Yeah. [00:33:43] Speaker C: Foolishness, man. [00:33:44] Speaker B: I didn't know that. No, no, listen, because I was about to ask. I was about to ask Ricky about playing with guards. I didn't know he was from Brooklyn. [00:33:52] Speaker C: Get into that. I like Ricky. Give him a slot. Benjamin Banneker. [00:33:57] Speaker B: Come on, man. [00:33:58] Speaker D: Benjamin Banneker? Yep. [00:33:59] Speaker B: So how was it playing with Gary Forbes? Because you played behind Guy, right? [00:34:03] Speaker C: Me? [00:34:04] Speaker D: Oh, my freshman year. G. Forbes. I didn't. You know, my freshman year, I ain't really do nothing. [00:34:09] Speaker C: He was a junior during your freshman year, right? [00:34:12] Speaker D: He was a junior then his senior year, I was on the other wing. He was on the other wing. And I think, honestly, bro, I ain't gonna hold you like everybody, you know, I made that jump from averaging 4 to 18 that sophomore year. But it wasn't because. It was because G. Forbes was getting double teamed. Yo Was just kicking it to me, and I was not in the heck. He, like, the scout report was basically, everybody was keyed on G. Forbes. G. Forbes won a 10 player of the year that year. Like, he was. He was. G. Force was like, G. Forbes is the man, bro. G. Forbes nice as. I don't know what, bro. He like, one of the best players I've ever played with, bro. Like, six, seven handle bars. Can shoot it, can post, can pass, rebound. He do everything. Everything. [00:34:55] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:34:56] Speaker B: Y' all had a good squad. [00:34:57] Speaker D: Got the silky hair y' all had. [00:35:00] Speaker B: Y' all had a lot of good God play, but you never made it to the NCAA Tournament. [00:35:04] Speaker C: I'm lying. [00:35:06] Speaker B: Yeah. How does that feel? Like. Because I felt like y' all had. I felt. Yeah. Your sophomore year. [00:35:13] Speaker D: My freshman. My freshman year, we won the A10 regular season. [00:35:18] Speaker B: Always your freshman. [00:35:20] Speaker D: My sophomore year, we tied for the A10 regular season with Xavier. And every time we got to the A10 tournament, we just need a one win. And we always lost. We went into the tournament. We went into my freshman summer. The number one seed. Both times. Yep. [00:35:40] Speaker C: Like, there's no way I ain't make the tournament. [00:35:42] Speaker D: I'm like, bump this up. Bump this out. The tournament both times, bro. [00:35:46] Speaker B: And at Those times, the A10 was only getting one team in the tournament. No. [00:35:49] Speaker D: Hell no. The A10 was different. Like, five teams in. [00:35:54] Speaker C: That's tough. Y' all was finishing. [00:35:55] Speaker D: Losing, like, four or five team, bro. [00:35:58] Speaker A: A bad loss. You lose first round. [00:36:00] Speaker D: Yeah. And because we would lose to, like, Charlotte Ducane. Yeah. Duquesne. Like. And they'd be like, oh, shrimp of schedule, dead zero. You know what I'm saying? Like, oh, my God. Net ranking. [00:36:14] Speaker C: You ain't never given. Try to go for the shining moment. [00:36:16] Speaker D: That's. [00:36:20] Speaker B: But, hey, hey, listen, we. But you wanna. You want to. Didn't y' all win the nit? [00:36:26] Speaker D: We lost in the championship. [00:36:27] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Lost in the championship. My bad. [00:36:30] Speaker D: Ohio State. [00:36:31] Speaker B: But you got there. [00:36:33] Speaker C: It's your research department. [00:36:36] Speaker D: No, no, no. [00:36:37] Speaker B: I did. I didn't get on. I remember. I remember him being in the championship game. I just couldn't remember if they won. I should have did my research. I remembered it. [00:36:43] Speaker C: That's why I ain't see it. Go see. We went to go see Rick play again when they played du K. I remember that. [00:36:47] Speaker B: We did. Yes, we did. [00:36:50] Speaker D: 29. Didn't they get a dub? [00:36:51] Speaker C: Y' all got a dub. Yeah. [00:36:52] Speaker D: 29. [00:36:53] Speaker B: Point guard. [00:36:53] Speaker D: Ricky. [00:36:54] Speaker B: Ricky. [00:36:54] Speaker D: 29. [00:36:55] Speaker B: How was it playing point guard your senior year? Something you never did? [00:36:59] Speaker D: I hated it. [00:37:00] Speaker B: And me saying, you get nine assist, I think you hit nine or 10 assists that game. I never. [00:37:04] Speaker D: 29. 9. 5 rebounds. [00:37:07] Speaker C: Almost. [00:37:08] Speaker D: Almost a triple dub. I was showing. I was showing Ashton Gibbs how to pass and score at the same time. [00:37:18] Speaker A: I felt happened. [00:37:21] Speaker B: Never learned the passing part. [00:37:23] Speaker D: Lee. Honestly, Lee. Shout out to the point guys, bro. Y' all got a tough job, bro. I hated playing point guard, bro. [00:37:28] Speaker C: Thank you, bro. Think about all the egos you got to manage all these guys. [00:37:31] Speaker D: Yeah, I. I hated playing point guard, bro. [00:37:34] Speaker C: Then when you know you can score better than most of them, but you gotta help, that goes into it, man. [00:37:40] Speaker D: It's a lot, man. [00:37:41] Speaker C: It's a lot. Yo, you gotta laugh from crying, man. That's why jokes with these guys, boy. [00:37:50] Speaker D: Who. Who. [00:37:51] Speaker B: Who's the toughest? Who was your toughest opponent at. When you was at UMass Temple? Who? [00:37:56] Speaker D: They had Deontay Christmas. [00:37:58] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:59] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, it was tough. [00:38:01] Speaker A: He was a bucket. [00:38:02] Speaker D: Deontay Chris was nice. [00:38:04] Speaker C: Yeah. So Deontay Chris, who had to go. [00:38:06] Speaker B: Played against him in. In Israel. [00:38:08] Speaker D: Overseas too. Yeah, overseas. I played. No, in Argentina. [00:38:11] Speaker B: Argentina, okay. Yeah. DeAndre Christmas was tough. He definitely was tough. [00:38:16] Speaker C: I worked out with him. He was. He was good. And. [00:38:21] Speaker B: Yeah, you drag. [00:38:22] Speaker C: Yeah, Sacramento. [00:38:23] Speaker D: Yo got on when he had the. Yo got. Yo really got on when he had that 35 against Tennessee. [00:38:28] Speaker C: He was. [00:38:28] Speaker D: Remember that? [00:38:29] Speaker C: Crazy. [00:38:29] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:38:31] Speaker D: When he started going crazy, he was. [00:38:32] Speaker C: Just pulling up on fast breaks and all kind of. Yeah, he was going nuts. Damn. [00:38:40] Speaker B: Rick, how. How was it. How was it going to your junior and senior, going into a leadership role? How was that for you? [00:38:49] Speaker D: That was. That was tough because I had always played with other guys. Like, I. I had always played with G. I had always played with Steph Lasman, Rayshawn Freeman, guys that had already been there doing it, you know, I mean. And then my junior year, we had CeeLo. CeeLo's my guy. I love him to death, but CeeLo ain't no leader. You had. You had Tony Gaffney, you know what I'm saying? Guys that never really did it, you know what I'm saying? And myself who hadn't done it, you know what I mean? So it was an adjustment then my senior year, me being the only freshman that came in that year because Tiki ended up getting. Leaving and going to Binghamton. I had all freshmen in my senior year, so, like, I was the only Guy with experience. That really did it. But I think I did a good job because that. That class, they ended up making an NCAA tournament, which was good. [00:39:37] Speaker B: So, yeah, that freshman class, that freshman. [00:39:39] Speaker D: Class that came in with me. Well, not with me, but, like, my last year, they ended up making it to the tournament, so I think I did a pretty solid job with them. [00:39:47] Speaker C: That's what's up. That's what's up. I forgot CeeLo played with you. He went to New York, Mount Vernon. [00:39:54] Speaker B: CeeLo's a good dude. I like. I like CeeLo. [00:39:56] Speaker C: And he's still coaching or not? He ain't coaching no more. [00:39:58] Speaker D: ELO at St. Barney's yeah. [00:40:00] Speaker B: Oh, he's still at St. Bonnie's he ain't. [00:40:01] Speaker D: He. [00:40:04] Speaker C: Noticed the name. Image and Legends podcast. Nil deals. You know, we talk about it a lot, so, you know, going after you, you know. So you said your sophomore year you went from 4 points to 18. What you think the nil bag would have looked like after that? [00:40:19] Speaker D: I'm going for two. You got to give me two million or more. Like, I'm not playing no games with y people right now. You know what I mean? I'm in the. I'm in the office talking about, well, Kansas offering this lying. Whole time I'm making it up. Kansas probably only off at 750. Well, Kansas just offered me one and a half, so if y' all could come up to one and a half, then we good. That's what they doing. Because we don't even know. [00:40:45] Speaker A: You got. Yeah, you got to call her bluff. [00:40:47] Speaker D: Yeah, we don't even know. So at that point when you. You got to start calling their bluff, like, yo, all right, we'll go to Kansas. See you later then. I'm not gonna come back around. No, no, no. You know what? [00:40:55] Speaker C: What y' all was talking about, TC Being, like, considered the best conference is crazy to me. I can't wrap my head around that. [00:41:03] Speaker D: Still, like, what that's gonna change? That's. That probably end up changing, though. Just off with, like, the landscape now with not having as much money. The biggies might end up being. Come coming back to being the best conference in college basketball. Maybe. [00:41:20] Speaker A: All the money goes to basketball. [00:41:21] Speaker D: Just because you got all the money going to basketball. None of these big east schools got football or anything like that. [00:41:25] Speaker A: That's a good point. [00:41:26] Speaker B: Hey, Ricky. [00:41:27] Speaker C: So this month. Hold on. Let me give. My bad. [00:41:29] Speaker B: Go ahead, Go ahead. [00:41:30] Speaker C: So when you go in and recruit a period, Ricky. Right. Since the landscape has changed, you write, yo. You write the business, you know, how you doing, I really like your game, etc. Etc. I got 1.5 for you. Are you just throwing the money there or. [00:41:46] Speaker D: No. [00:41:46] Speaker C: You at least trying to have a rapport, you having a. A real conversation. [00:41:50] Speaker D: So, honestly, for me, I. We build a relationship, right? We still build a relationship with the kid. We come together, the whole. Like, we sit at the round table, whatever you want to call it. We all discuss the kid or whatever. Then we all lay eyes on the kid, right? Then we get. Will it Coach Willard out there to lay eyes on the kids. See, let him see the kid if he like him. If you don't. If he likes the kid, cool. But as far as numbers go, I'll try to get a feeling of what it is that they're looking for before we throw out our number. So. And then we have a GM as well. So we don't really talk offers to kids, like, as coaches. Like, I'm not gonna say, Lee, I'm offering you $750,000. We don't talk that with you, but we'll try to get a ballpark figure from you of. Of what you've been hearing from other schools, what your market value is from what's other schools saying your market value is. And then I'll have that conversation with our gm, like, hey, listen, man, how bad do we want this kid? How bad do we want Levance Fields? Coach would be like, man, I think that's somebody that we need to add to our team. Blah, blah, blah. Well, Pitt has offered levance 600,000. Where can we be at? Coach will talk to the GM. Yo, how we comfortable giving him 650? We come and give him 700, GM will call you. Hey, Lee, this is where we are. We think we want to offer you 700,000. How you feel about that? You know what I mean? Now, a lot of these kids, when they get. When they hit them numbers, they just taking in the shopping and around the other places, you know what I'm saying? Like, they just shopping it like a kid ain't gonna be like, oh, yeah, I'll take that right off the rip. They. Because they. They all. They all think that they're. They can get more smarter than everybody, and that people think that they're smarter than everybody. So they're like, oh, we ain't gonna take the first offer. So they're gonna try to act like they shopping that around whoever, and they gonna come back and be like, well, hey, thank you for your offer at 700. But crazy, man, this Game, man, this is so insane. Like, Kansas just called last night and offered 800. Like, can you guys do anything with that? And we'd be like, yeah, give him a million. You know, I mean, that's how that going, bro. [00:43:58] Speaker C: For example, are usually. Hold up real quick. I know you was making an example, but I played the Jordan All American game, so it's not gonna be 600. I start with a million coming in, Rick, right? This is the landscape. I'm coming in with him. [00:44:14] Speaker A: My peers. Look what my peers are making. [00:44:16] Speaker C: We're not doing that. [00:44:20] Speaker B: Last thing. [00:44:21] Speaker C: Very low me. [00:44:23] Speaker D: I'm not. [00:44:24] Speaker C: I'm getting right to it. Now, listen, bro, what you really trying to do? Because I already heard they offering you only 500, 000. We're giving you seven. You don't want it. I'm going up the road. I'm not doing all the. [00:44:37] Speaker D: That's a Lee and that. And that's going out. And that's. That's the new. That's the approach that we're in now. Like, but as of. As of late, not. Sorry as of as before. Now, that's how the word I just said was what we was doing. But now what you just said is what every coach is like, yo, get the number. Figure it out. Go. Like, we don't got time to play with these kids. [00:45:02] Speaker A: Yeah. Courting them and taking Red Lobster. [00:45:05] Speaker D: Yo, because you gotta think, bro. You need. You need your money, bro. Because if I'm. If I'm gonna have an official visit, official visit. I gotta pay for mom flight, dad flight, little brother flight, little sister flight, kid. Then we gonna go to the steakhouse, right? Some steakhouse where it be Eddie V's, Ruth, Chris, whoever, Maestros, whatever. We're gonna go to the steakhouse. We gotta pay for the. The five members of their family. Everybody on our staff, right? Then everybody on the whole in the family guy get their own hotel room. That's five hotel rooms. So you spending 15 to 20 grand on a visit just for a kid to be like, all right, I'm about to go visit La Salema. So coach is like, yo, stop. We're not doing these official visits unless we know that the kids coming. Because I need that 20 grand to go to a kid that I want to keep for next year. You know what I'm saying? [00:46:09] Speaker C: A lot of sense. Yeah. [00:46:12] Speaker B: So now they've been a lot smarter with the money. Nowadays. [00:46:15] Speaker D: They penny pinching, babe. You got to. [00:46:18] Speaker C: You gotta find a way to. You got to find a way to move, like overseas teams now moving, like, overseas things. [00:46:24] Speaker D: And. And. And after a while, bro, to be honest, is no longer. Is no longer a collective anymore. But like, if collectives and stuff was still in play, the collectives are starting to. It's. It's called donor fatigue. Like, they give and giving, giving and not getting anything in return. [00:46:42] Speaker A: Get no wins, nothing. [00:46:44] Speaker B: Well, well, hold up, Ricky. I thought. Because I know they. I know they went to this. I don't know what it's called, but everyone's getting a certain amount of money. You talked about it. [00:46:51] Speaker A: The 25, 20.5 million. [00:46:56] Speaker B: Right. So. But I thought also they can still. I thought they also donors are still giving extra money on top of that. [00:47:04] Speaker D: There's no more collectives at all. At all. [00:47:08] Speaker B: You can do it or people can't. [00:47:10] Speaker C: You can't do it no more. [00:47:12] Speaker D: You can't. You can't do it. So there's no more collectives. And to be quite honest. Come on, bro. Like, Lee, how much you get paid to go to pit? They. I know they paid you something, right? Like, you ain't got to say it on camera. [00:47:29] Speaker C: Look around. I'm like, yo, it's a statue. Hey, so you good, man? [00:47:41] Speaker D: That's not really. No. But. [00:47:42] Speaker C: But I want to double back to. To the business real quick, like, because we. We had a lot of coaches, man. Great coaches. Right? I won't. I won't say no names. Now that you're a coach, do you be extra excited to go? Even though you say I spend that money so you could go order that expensive meal? Because we got some coaches, man. They was looking forward to them visits. That's what they was looking forward to. Whether the kid committed or not. [00:48:07] Speaker A: Say one word in the top center, yo. So. [00:48:10] Speaker D: So to be. So. To be. Honestly, a few years ago, yes, I used to be excited for the visit. No, boy, like, it was a free meal. It was a good food. It was a nice place. I used to be super excited. Now not as much because I'm sick of all the fake smiling and nodding, bro. Like, I can't keep. I can't keep faking this conversation with you when I know your kid won't be a freshman next year. He can't help me win no games. When the. When the. When the. When the landscape is win now. [00:48:44] Speaker C: Yep. [00:48:45] Speaker D: And I'm gonna go get this out the portal. That's average 17 at UMass to come up here and help me win. Like so. Yeah, we can't. We whining and dying in these freshmen and these and these handlers. And these people with these over exaggerated unrealistic expectations of that, of that kid, you know what I'm saying? Now if you, now if we dealing with a top five player in the country, someone that's gonna be there for a year, go to the league, cool. I'm a smile, I'm a nod, I'm gonna shake hands, I'm had a con, all that. But if I'm dealing with a just a top 100, bro, you ain't helping me win no games right now. [00:49:25] Speaker A: So Ricky, how would you advise, let's say you're not a top 100, you know, you know, a three star, you know, not as heralded, four star. How would you advise them to approach the college recruitment process? Because a lot of them, or getting overlooked and may have to go to a lower major. How would you advise them? [00:49:41] Speaker D: Just what you just said. If you're a good player and you think you're a good player, go mid major, bro, go low major and show it and move up. What's the point in trying to go high major? Going to a school with these expectations of playing and doing this and the dreams that you have or the vision that you have for yourself, going there, sitting on the bench, not playing and then transferring down, right? As opposed to me going to, I don't know, Loyola, Maryland, Duquesne, wherever, UMass, whatever. Playing well, averaging 11, 12, 13 points a game. They seeing that up here and moving up. How major basketball become a feeder system, bro, it's farm league. [00:50:28] Speaker C: Like you said, especially now is when we play that we had to sit out. I say that's definitely a pro now with the kids as far as, like you said, why risk going high major, might not play the expectation, etc, you know, some kids still gonna challenge themselves like that. But you could just go to a mid major, perform, hit the portal, get paid now, process and go to a higher major. [00:50:53] Speaker D: Yeah, like if you, if you really as good as you think you are, bet on yourself and do that. But like when we was coming up, Jamie Dixon career shirt you for a. [00:51:05] Speaker C: Year in a heartbeat. [00:51:07] Speaker D: You know what I'm saying? Jamie Dixon career search you for a year. Why, but why could he, but why, but why could he do that though? Because he wasn't. [00:51:16] Speaker B: You couldn't, you couldn't go nowhere because. [00:51:18] Speaker D: He wasn't paying you, he wasn't paying you nothing. I'm not about to have you, I'm not about to commit you to pay you 500,000 and say, oh, you gonna come in red shirt. Some people that's giving the money gonna be like, yo, you made me pay this kid $500,000 for a year for him just to sit out and then next year be a freshman again. You want me to pay him another 500,000? 600. No, can't do that. [00:51:46] Speaker C: Y' all don't register it at all. [00:51:51] Speaker B: Unless it's. [00:51:52] Speaker D: Unless. Unless. Unless. Unless you making 70 grand. 60 grand. 50 grand. All right, cool. That's 50 grand. We can. We can eat that. Go ahead, rear shirt for a year, Chat get better. [00:52:04] Speaker B: How many freshmen y' all got this year? [00:52:07] Speaker A: Huh? [00:52:07] Speaker B: How many freshmen y' all got this year? [00:52:10] Speaker D: We got Kaden Lewis, Chris Jeffries. Matt Hodge is a freshman. Braden Pierce is a freshman. Nico, we got five. But. So no. So here we took three freshmen, A Caden, Chris and Nico are three freshmen coming from high school. But Matt Hodge had to sit out last year because of academic shit. So he basically got like a red shirt year, I guess you could say, because he was academically ineligible, right? So he was. He got to practice all with them last year. He got developed with them last year. And then Braden Pierce had been with us at Maryland for two years. His actual freshman year at Maryland, he red shirted because we wasn't paying him any money. So he red shirted his first year, M.D. last year at Maryland, he got poked in the eye by Jew. So he got a medical red shirt. This year is his third year in college, but he's a freshman all over again. So he's a three year freshman. [00:53:15] Speaker B: So the three. So is it, Is the three freshmen, is that like considered a max for y', all? [00:53:22] Speaker D: Or was it so coach does? So Chris was committed to us at Maryland. Chris Jefferson was committed to us at Maryland. So he ended up following us here. A Kaden Lewis, we got late because he decommitted from Kentucky because y' all man went there. Jalen Lowe, he decommitted from Kentucky. And we ended up getting him late because we struck out on Rodney Rice and Jacoby Gillespie. So we, we needed a dynamic guard. And he was like one of the best dynamic guards in a portal. I mean, not in a portal, but it was no dynamic guards in the portal. So we was like, all right, we're gonna take this kid. And he's a pretty good player, right? [00:54:08] Speaker B: So. So y' all was only gonna bring in two freshmen. [00:54:10] Speaker D: He's only gonna bring in two freshmen? Initially, yes. And then Nico, big. Nico is like a seven foot one developmental piece big. He's like a third. He's like a third or fourth Big We. We just pretty much needed a guy for practice and he's been. But he's been doing. I don't want to downplay him. He's been doing a great job in the role that he's been given. You know what I'm saying? [00:54:30] Speaker C: You ought to love 60 my freshman year. Having a car to water every day for 60. Yeah. [00:54:37] Speaker B: I got you. [00:54:40] Speaker C: After Gary. [00:54:41] Speaker B: Huh? [00:54:42] Speaker C: They stopped Red Shirt after Gary. How long they stop Red Shirt? You said they don't do it no more. I'm saying like, Gary was the last red shirt in college basketball. [00:54:50] Speaker D: Oh, G. McGee. Yeah. [00:54:51] Speaker C: What other Gary I think I'm talking about. [00:54:53] Speaker D: Oh, I thought you was asking Gary. [00:54:55] Speaker C: No, no. [00:55:05] Speaker B: That's why you me up. [00:55:16] Speaker A: We wouldn't have went to the CBI if you red shirted G. This why. [00:55:20] Speaker C: I was laughing, man. I'm like, when did G red shirt, man? I was like, damn. Yeah. That's crazy, bro. Yeah. [00:55:32] Speaker B: Hey, Ricky. Hey. I know you had. You ended up with what was in 1960 at UMass, right? You ended up in 1960. Is Marcus can't be all time number one. Oh, he's number two. [00:55:47] Speaker D: Marcus can be probably like eight. He was only there for like, he was you. [00:55:52] Speaker B: You finished third, right? [00:55:53] Speaker D: Yeah. Wasn't that long he was on. Yeah, he only did like two or three years. [00:55:58] Speaker B: Were you. Were you. Was you trying to get that top spot all time leading score? [00:56:02] Speaker D: Yeah, but I couldn't get it, though. It was 2300 points. [00:56:04] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Would you jacking for the 2000? [00:56:09] Speaker D: Jim McCoy. I could have got the 2000. I missed a couple games your senior year. Nah, I missed a game my junior year. I sprained my ankle. And then obviously I probably. I don't miss probably 40 free throws. Over 40 free throws. So that could have that me up right there. [00:56:27] Speaker B: But going into your senior year, was you like, I wanna. What would you like? I want to get to 2000. Did you see it in range you felt like you can get it? [00:56:33] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, I saw it in range. I saw it in range. I knew I could get to it, but shouldn't happen. [00:56:39] Speaker B: It was you to make some tournaments. You'd have got there. [00:56:42] Speaker D: I know, I know. [00:56:43] Speaker C: Yo, so I want to piggyback off, man, because that. He's saying that right now. Right? So you. You knew that like senior year, even junior year, like condo or. No. When you start tracking like. Or knowing like, oh, I might got a chance at this or like, how did you know? [00:56:57] Speaker D: Definitely senior because senior year I knew it was gonna be some So I was just like, yo, it. I'm just gonna get buckets. [00:57:03] Speaker C: All right? And the reason I asked you that is because obviously we play. So as a senior before that, I wouldn't say I really was like, on it like that. [00:57:13] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:57:13] Speaker C: But seeing. [00:57:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:14] Speaker C: I remember during subs, I'm hitting stashy. Like, I'm looking to see, like. [00:57:19] Speaker D: Well, yeah. And also saying, yeah, you noticed the end of the road? Like, yeah, like the mind. [00:57:24] Speaker C: Like, I was never doing. I'm like, yo, how many I got, my son? Yeah, we more. [00:57:31] Speaker A: Three. [00:57:32] Speaker C: Two more. [00:57:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:34] Speaker D: @ the end of the road. [00:57:36] Speaker B: I was gonna say that earlier when we was talking about kids couldn't play with Levance nowadays like they. They could. [00:57:43] Speaker D: That shot, son. [00:57:47] Speaker B: Levance would pass you the ball. Like, you better make that. [00:57:50] Speaker C: Ricky would have loved it. [00:57:52] Speaker D: Right, Ricky? [00:57:52] Speaker C: As long as you get in the ball, right, Rick? Once they gas me on the assist, man, that's all I was thinking, bro. If I'm passing this, I need to be rewarded with you making it. So we all eat. If you. [00:58:06] Speaker D: Where you finish at, Lee? All the time, I'm third. [00:58:11] Speaker C: Chills, words, Sean Miller, B Night, and then me. [00:58:16] Speaker D: Yeah, they gotta retire. Retire joint, don't they? [00:58:18] Speaker B: That's the top three. [00:58:22] Speaker A: You got the degree now, Lee. [00:58:24] Speaker C: I mean, I don't think that was. I don't know if that was a real. [00:58:28] Speaker D: They gotta retire jointly. Where you at? Points. [00:58:31] Speaker C: Points. Now, I ain't. I don't know where I'm at. I'm over band, though. But I'm. I think I got my. I might got like 1100, 1200. Actually. It might snuck. [00:58:39] Speaker D: I mean, how many rebounds? [00:58:41] Speaker C: I don't know. I give myself about 300, 400. [00:58:45] Speaker D: They got. [00:58:46] Speaker C: They gotta hang you up, though, because Brad and them. Brad and Carl only ones with. [00:58:50] Speaker D: As a girl, yo, I was just about to say, yo, I feel like my favorite point got one of my favorite programs that come from pit called Krauser. Yo. [00:58:59] Speaker C: That's a fact. [00:59:00] Speaker D: You know, I'll be telling Chris Jefferson he gotta be called Krauser. People know he don't even know who Carl Krauser is. [00:59:08] Speaker A: That's crazy. [00:59:10] Speaker D: I'd be like, c. Jeff. You gotta be like, carl Krauser. He like, who? I would like, Google them. I would, like, Google them. [00:59:20] Speaker C: Really? Probably know like a. Like, G. Irv is like a little bit younger than Carl, but he. That era. I would feel like. But G ear around coaching, like, yeah, unless you do your homework, these kids don't be knowing that. That's what I'm saying, like, even when we came out, I would know stuff like that. Yeah, Mel Tinsley. And, yo, they telling me, yo, he ain't going. You're the nicest one. He don't go to high school. And I'm like, what? They like, yo, Mel Timsley. I'm like, no way you could be nice and you don't go to school. How you nicely went to the league. It's crazy, son. Like, but you gotta know stuff like that. Like, some kids to this day won't know Mel Timsley in New York. Like, he'd be like, yo, bro, you don't know about Mel Timsley. [00:59:59] Speaker D: Crazy. [00:59:59] Speaker C: That's just how it is, you know? [01:00:01] Speaker A: What's it like coaching Derek Queen and going through the whole lottery process of, like, a player blowing up like that? [01:00:05] Speaker D: Yeah, Derek was. Derek was probably one of the best. Like, as far as, like, not even just basketball, but, like, person. Like, he was one of the best people to be around every day. You know what I mean? Like, he was just full of life, full of energy, contagious personality, full of jokes. His person, his. His relationship with Coach Willard was elite. They got each other, you know what I mean? And then the basketball just spoke for itself, you know what I'm saying? Like, he was one of those kids. Like, he. It wasn't nothing that we did, nothing that Coach Willett did. Shorty just got it, you know what I mean? And. And he made it look easy out there every single night. He's a gamer, so in practice, you wouldn't. Like, you'll be. We'll all be yelling, dirk, you gotta run. You gotta do. That's why I say, as soon as the game come, bro, it'll just be like, sit back and watch. You know what I mean? Like, he's. That. He was that good. And I think he. I mean, if he ain't get this injury, I think he would. He. He. He had. He. He's going to have a really, really long, prosperous NBA career. [01:01:03] Speaker C: That's your recruit, Rick. [01:01:05] Speaker D: Yeah, I had a big part to do with D. Queen, bro. [01:01:07] Speaker A: A huge part, bro, on the resume. [01:01:10] Speaker C: I ain't even gonna hold you that talk, dog. Put that on your jacket. Remember how the All Star Game put the. Yeah, man, you gotta put that on you. That symbol on your joint, man. That's a big one. [01:01:21] Speaker B: How was it? [01:01:22] Speaker C: He. He. [01:01:23] Speaker B: He invited you to the. The draft? [01:01:25] Speaker D: Yeah, he invited me to the draft. Got me in the green room with him. You know what I'm saying? I spent the whole situation. It Was cool. It was dope, bro. It was. It was. I was there when he was, you know, invited me to the room as he was getting dressed with the cameras. All that. They interviewed me, all that I was on. They got, like, this little documentary that they was doing with. Might be overtime with one of them. One of them. One of them joints. They called me, interviewed me, you know what I'm saying? It was fire. It was a good experience. Real good experience. Introduced me to all this Mount Ver boys, Cooper flair, all them guys, you know what I'm saying? It was fire. Dope. [01:02:01] Speaker C: Being that so early on in your career, like, as a coach, that being an indoor, every player you coach ain't gonna be able to, you know, get to that. That mountaintop. For you to see that experience that. Does that make you even want to go harder and, you know, just be. Continue to grow in what you're doing now as a coach? [01:02:22] Speaker D: Yeah, I think that that's definitely like, motivating to want to, you know, help players reach their wildest dream and make it to that level. But again, bro, and I keep harping on this, everything always come back to pit. Y' all got some great history to be Knight. B. Knight was in the green room sitting right beside me with Ace and Dylan, you know what I mean? So another guy like Kimani Young at UConn, you know what I'm saying? Like, guys like that are motivating. Motivating people like that help. That help motivate me to, you know, wanna reach the level that they're at in this business, you know what I mean? They both very successful. They both have. Should have already probably been head coaches by now, but they both on a trajectory to become head coaches, you know what I'm saying? So that they excel in the recruiting world, you know what I mean? And those are. Those are people that I aspire to be, like, in this business. So, you know, that's part of it, too. [01:03:23] Speaker C: Yeah, you set it off for the coaches. Big bro gonna be on here soon. So, you know, I mean, and Commander Young, Brooklyn. I mean, what can I say? Can't escape us. [01:03:37] Speaker B: Do. Do you aspire to be a head coach, Ricky? [01:03:40] Speaker D: Yeah, that's the goal. That's definitely the goal, man. You know, man, I ain't gonna hold you, man. Like, if you give me a chance to get in that seat to become a head coach, man, I'm gonna put all my loved ones in position to do. Do something as well, you know what I'm saying? I'm gonna run it with my guys, you know what I mean? Guys that I can trust, guys that I. That I know I can be around every day. You know what I'm saying? So if you give me the opportunity to become a head coach, I'm gonna put some good people in around me that's gonna help me win, help me excel, be successful, and I'm gonna do the same for them, you know, I mean, that's how Frank Martin do it. Frank Martin put his people on. [01:04:15] Speaker C: Hall of Famer coaches tree. You heard what Ricky said. Don't get me started. [01:04:23] Speaker B: Hey. What, Nick? You look like you're ready to go somewhere with it. [01:04:28] Speaker A: Oh, no, I was gonna. I was gonna wrap up soon. [01:04:30] Speaker B: Oh, hold on, hold on, hold up. Before we wrap up. [01:04:36] Speaker A: You say you want to keep them. Hey, you want to keep a minute? Hour 15? [01:04:39] Speaker D: No, I'm. [01:04:39] Speaker B: Yeah, no, no, we good, we good. We good. Hey, I gotta ask this because you kind of brought it up earlier. We played TBT together. [01:04:47] Speaker C: Oh, I was thinking about it. [01:04:50] Speaker A: And. [01:04:51] Speaker B: And we lost an elite eight game. And it's been a lot of controversy around that game against. Who was that? Who was that team? What was they called? City of God, City of Gods. With. [01:05:06] Speaker D: With R. Johnson. [01:05:11] Speaker B: We getting right to advance coming out the game. Ricky, how do you feel? What do you feel about that game? Because a lot of. A lot of people say, I'll tell you, I'm be honest with you. A lot of people feel like you should have been in that game. At the end and I took myself out the game, people felt like Levant should have been. What. What is your take on that game? What do you feel about that game? [01:05:31] Speaker D: Well, okay, so we had a young, inexperienced coach at the time, right? And Brandon Driver, right? He was looking over at Juan and Juan was giving him. I don't know what Juan was giving him, but he was giving him something, right? If you remember correctly, main G, Lee, I kept saying, trap Omar Little ass off of them pick and rolls. We was playing drop. He coming off spraying our ass. He hit like four or five threes. [01:06:10] Speaker C: Yes, he did. [01:06:11] Speaker D: I'm like, yo, we gotta adjust, right? We didn't make that adjustment, right? I knew we had the game in the bag when Lee had the ball and he threw that off the court again and that got stolen. And he was like, he was in disbelief that that happened. [01:06:32] Speaker C: Why would I throw it together. [01:06:36] Speaker A: In the crunch time? Come on. [01:06:39] Speaker C: Gil helped off strong side corner on the drive. Never was that. [01:06:42] Speaker D: Gil helped strong side corner on the drive. [01:06:46] Speaker A: That was big. [01:06:46] Speaker C: That was down the Stretch right after that. [01:06:50] Speaker D: And personally, Jermaine, I'm mad at you. [01:06:54] Speaker B: You mad at me? [01:06:55] Speaker D: I'm mad at you, Jermaine, because you was trying to be like, Ultimate Team Guy. Like. Like you was playing good, man. You was killing, and you was, like, hooping. Like, just get me. Just get me. I'm like, yo. [01:07:10] Speaker B: Well, this. Okay, so this. This is why I brought it up, because. Okay, Ricky, how do you feel like you was playing good. [01:07:21] Speaker C: Find the stat sheet. [01:07:27] Speaker D: Up, man. I think I might have had, like, 17. [01:07:31] Speaker C: I don't know. I don't know how much I had. [01:07:37] Speaker D: I don't know. I missed. I missed some big free throws, too. [01:07:47] Speaker C: I can't even remember that part. I just remember the turnover I had. That's what I'm saying, that I don't. I don't remember all that. [01:07:54] Speaker B: I'm gonna keep it all the way real. You wasn't having the best, Ricky. You had better games. You wasn't having a great game, but you bullied Brandon into staying in the game. [01:08:07] Speaker D: And that's what I'm saying. Inexperienced coach. Inexperienced coach can't read the situation. [01:08:16] Speaker B: And I was playing good, but I felt like Levance needed to be in the game because. So I took myself off of the Vance. Now, when you. Hold up, Lee, hold up, Lee, hold up, hold up. Now when you say you mad at me, I'm mad at Levance for turning that ball over because I took myself out because I felt like he should have been in the game. But in actuality, Ricky, you probably should have said so. [01:08:38] Speaker D: So if. If we being honest right now. Right. Which I love the game. It should have been in the game. It should have been lee, Book Bag, Maine, Cam&G, Maybe. No, maybe we could take G out and go with, like, Gil or somebody's at the five, four, you know what I mean? For athleticism and switching everything. [01:09:03] Speaker B: Well, Guy found out. [01:09:04] Speaker C: Didn't you, G? [01:09:04] Speaker B: You found out. [01:09:06] Speaker C: I might have. [01:09:07] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:09:07] Speaker B: You found out. G found using 5. [01:09:08] Speaker D: He might have found out. So we could have. We could have went with Guy. I mean, we could have went with Gil and. And. And Cam and switched everything. But we wasn't thinking like that back then. [01:09:19] Speaker B: No, no, no, no. We was thinking like that. Listen, you wanted to. Ricky, you wanted to be in the game. You bullied Brandon into standing the game. [01:09:29] Speaker C: It hurts, too, because that was the only year it was worth 2 million, not 1. [01:09:33] Speaker B: The only year worth 2 million, bro. [01:09:35] Speaker D: We had. Yo. Oh. [01:09:44] Speaker C: After two, three games, Brandon, it has to stop. It's obvious. I am A threat off the bench. He's still trying to act like he don't get what's going on, son. He was like, what are you doing? I'm killing every game, bro. Stop the non. [01:09:59] Speaker D: Yeah, we had. We had a Cleveland David Blatt over there. [01:10:04] Speaker C: I'm looking like, bro. Everybody's waiting for me to come in, bro. Stop. Like, what are you doing? [01:10:09] Speaker D: Yo, we honestly. That honestly was our year to win that, bro. [01:10:14] Speaker C: That was the only year. That was the only one, because that next year. Break it back. None of you came back. That tried to run strip. [01:10:26] Speaker B: I just didn't play well. [01:10:32] Speaker D: Couldn'T play because he went to the league, though, right? [01:10:35] Speaker C: No, no, no. I don't got nothing to do with. I mean, no, we all talked. We understood. Brad was a big piece. All right, we all back. No, you and Tone. You take tone. Gil, you. [01:10:47] Speaker B: You. [01:10:47] Speaker C: You sweet talk them guys to leave with. You leave me now. I gotta call John to grow it up. Ron Remar. I gotta call my. [01:10:54] Speaker B: No, no, no, no, no, no. Lee, that was Gil. Gil did that. [01:11:00] Speaker C: Yo, listen. Gil did it because of Ricky, okay? You ain't leaving. You're not letting Ricky off the hook. That was Ricky. [01:11:06] Speaker D: Yo, I thought we still had the untouchable. [01:11:09] Speaker C: Listen, listen. I'm trying to win this money. [01:11:15] Speaker D: So where I go at. [01:11:21] Speaker C: The big man at the time. [01:11:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:11:23] Speaker D: Cal Hines. That's right. [01:11:25] Speaker C: You tried to go get the money. [01:11:34] Speaker D: Hold up. [01:11:34] Speaker C: I want to bring TV to you. And this one, that was in Brooklyn. I pulls up on them. [01:11:42] Speaker B: Oh, you did come. [01:11:43] Speaker C: Yes, I did. And they on the bench. No Bird cheerleading. I'm like, y' all left me to do this. Like, I could not believe y', all, bro. I left to go cheerlead. [01:11:53] Speaker D: Yeah, that was the. [01:11:54] Speaker C: That was. [01:11:55] Speaker D: That was honestly the worst decision I've ever made in my life. [01:11:57] Speaker A: Come on. [01:11:58] Speaker C: We supposed to ran that back. So I missed Brad, too, but damn. What the. [01:12:01] Speaker D: And that was my last TBT after that, too. [01:12:03] Speaker C: I don't know why I ain't play that here. [01:12:07] Speaker B: I didn't play. But I think Brad. Brad was. The fact that why dudes didn't play Pittsburgh. [01:12:14] Speaker C: And then we went to. [01:12:15] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, we did go to Pittsburgh. [01:12:16] Speaker C: That team was. That team was awful. That was just. [01:12:19] Speaker B: That was. [01:12:19] Speaker C: That was just. [01:12:19] Speaker D: We lost to Jacksonville. [01:12:24] Speaker C: That's when I knew Ricky was done, man. [01:12:27] Speaker D: I knew it. [01:12:28] Speaker C: I was like, we're not winning the game. [01:12:30] Speaker A: Hold on. [01:12:31] Speaker D: Wait. What. What team move was this? Hey, yo, who the was? Our coaches, bro. Some random Pittsburgh. [01:12:42] Speaker C: Ricky was on his farewell too. Look at the flip Monster had the flip knops. He was coming to the shoot arounds. Like, man, this is it right here. This final dick. I see Ricky after that. [01:13:05] Speaker D: Hey, yo, so they put us in some Airbnb out there in Pittsburgh. Gil was orchestrating everything, bro. Yo, Gil had these random ass dudes as our coaches, bro. Two white elementary school teachers, bro. Like, I'm like, gil, where you find these people at? They some of the best coaches you ever seen in Pittsburgh. These, these. I'm like, who are these guys, bro? I would never forget. We played. We scrimmage Pittsburgh team. [01:13:37] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:13:38] Speaker B: And. [01:13:39] Speaker D: And what's my man that went to Indiana last year? [01:13:44] Speaker A: Xavier. [01:13:45] Speaker D: Xavier. Xavier was given Tom Graves whatever he wanted that day. And you know, Tone Gray swear he defense stopper, bro. Hey, Tom retired right after they say. [01:14:05] Speaker A: Tonight. [01:14:06] Speaker C: I remember now. I remember because this with Ricky again. Ricky like, yo, man, Xavier, he fast as. I'm like, yo. [01:14:13] Speaker D: Huh? Ricky was. [01:14:19] Speaker C: Oh, my God. Yeah, that make it more funny, Rick. [01:14:22] Speaker B: Yo, wait, so this was two years after our year? [01:14:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:14:27] Speaker D: We had the fire. [01:14:28] Speaker C: Airbnb, though. [01:14:29] Speaker D: I think we played Ohio. [01:14:33] Speaker B: Yeah, I just played the one year. Hey, Nick, we can. We can end it. [01:14:37] Speaker A: Nick. Well, that concludes another episode of the Nil podcast. Name, image and legends. Ricky Harris. Thank you, Baltimore legend. Thanks for sharing your basketball history. Not just that, but you got a bright future in the game. It's clear to see you got a bright future in coaching. Can't wait to watch you blossom and hope we need to have you back. This is one of my favorite episodes. A lot of laughs. You are a pit brother, so you're always invited back to the podcast. Yeah. But good luck in everything you do. I just. We're gonna have a special edition episode when Pitt plays Villanova this year. We're gonna have a special edition episode and we're gonna have to recap it. [01:15:17] Speaker B: All right. [01:15:17] Speaker D: Love that. [01:15:19] Speaker B: You ain't go on here. You don't get. [01:15:20] Speaker D: That'd be hilarious. That's gonna be fire. [01:15:23] Speaker C: Yeah, that's gonna be awesome. [01:15:25] Speaker D: You gotta do it before. You gotta. You gotta do a before game, post game joint. Yeah, let's do it. [01:15:31] Speaker A: We'll do a little five minutes. [01:15:32] Speaker D: Let's go get the ratings up. [01:15:34] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah, we gotta do that. [01:15:38] Speaker A: Yeah. Speaking of ratings, like and subscribe, we got a lot coming at you. Especially with college basketball season around the corner, A lot's gonna be coming at you. So like and subscribe. Peace. [01:15:49] Speaker B: Peace. Appreciate you, Rick. [01:15:51] Speaker C: Good looking, Rick. Thanks, Rick.