2023 Quarterback Pressure (Hour 3)

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Auto Trader. We continue it as a SEC Yelp show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. The NCAA tournament is here. 8th seat Iowa up against 9th seat Auburn in Birmingham for the first round of the NCAA tournament Thursday at 6 50 PM Eastern. And now joining us is the head coach at Auburn and Bruce Pearl, who by the way, is a member of the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and the home of the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame is the Suffolk YJCC on Long Island in Comac and that was actually my gym growing up when I was in high school.

So I would see coach pearls face each and every day on the wall. Coach appreciate the time. How you been? Yeah, I tell you what, that's that's about as good an introduction as I've had it in a long time. I've been I've been on a lot of Wall of Shames.

There aren't many, you know, Walla Hall of Fames that I've been I've been on. So yeah, I remember that was very, very special time to be inducted. Well, it's great to have you back on the show. We were talking a lot about your team last year with Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler. Now both those guys are off in the pros. Your team is back in the NCAA tournament. They hit the 20 win mark once again. What does it say about this group with what they lost that they were still able to get back to the big dance? It says a lot about our program.

It really does. It says a lot about the guys that returned. It said a lot about the newcomers, a lot about the staff. But that gets in life and in basketball, it's easier to get there than it is to stay there. And so getting there this year wasn't easy. We played a really tough schedule. Only three teams in college basketball had more appearances against the field than Auburn did. And we took some tough losses and some last second defeats, but the body of work was good enough to get us a nine seed, get us 20 wins, get us back in and a lot of teams aren't playing for anything and we're still playing for national championship. When you got to Auburn, you knew the task at hand. They wanted to have some consistency. They didn't see an NCAA tournament since 2003.

The program has only been to the tournament now 12 times 4 since 2018. Just how do you kind of describe where the state of your program is and what you guys have built? Well, it's good.

It's great. You make history not once, but you make it over a period of time. And so I would like to see us continue to make history. It's what we ask our players to do when they come here. I got to tell you Zach, so often when former athletes come back to their old coaches or to the old universities, 100% of them say, you know, I wish I would have, and then you fill in the blank. And sometimes it was just life lessons that they didn't realize they were learning when they were going through it and they might've done something differently. Sometimes it might've been the way they trained or realizing that this was an incredibly special time. So take advantage of the opportunity and can you have one shining moment?

And, you know, because here's what happens. At the end of a season in March, we're tired. It's been a grind. We've been at this since this team got together right after Memorial day.

And you got to find a way in spite of the competition, the challenges to elevate your game and to play your best basketball at the end because to the victory go the spoils and the spoils are so incredible at this time of the year. Bruce Pearl, you guys got off to a great start at 16 and three. I know things haven't gone your way down the stretch, four and nine down the stretch. Where's the confidence of this group as they head into the NCAA tournament on Thursday? You know, Zach, part, I didn't actually even really know those numbers.

And so thank you for ruining my morning. But you know what, it all had to do with the competition. You know, we played a good time. We played six teams in the field at an on conference. We played three true road game against power five teams and on coverage, the only power five club to do that. I think if you look at those nine losses, most of it had to do with the competition and being on the road and everything, but it does affect your confidence.

That's a great question. And so my message to this team and look, the work's done and we are prepared. Let's take advantage of the opportunity. What are the positives that you could take still like with the way that the team has played the last month or two?

Like, what are you seeing from your view? Well, look, we played Alabama for 85 minutes. We lost to them, you know, at Alabama in overtime.

They're like housing people there. Their average margin of victory for Alabama at home this year was 2025, something like that. And we took them to overtime. I think we led Alabama for maybe 67 of the 85 minutes and right now they're number one seed in the tournament. So if we're good enough to be able to be able to play with them or, you know, lose to Tennessee in a last possession and beat Tennessee at our place or, you know, things like that, I can point you some games and go, guys, we are prepared.

And there's no better way of building confidence than feeling like you're prepared. Well, I'm glad you brought up the Alabama games because you guys did an exceptional job on Brandon Miller. We know how great of a player he is. Only hit one three-pointer in the two games he played.

You had 17 and 13. And like you mentioned, Coach Bruce Pearl, one of those games went to overtime. I guess you guys have a little bit of the secret sauce up against them.

What was the keys in kind of containing him? You know, they're big games and I don't know that we got any secret sauce against them. You got to be competitive against your rivalry.

They swept us this year. So I don't feel like I got anything secret. But, you know, look, he's better from three than two and so you got to make a put the ball down the floor and then take your chances from there.

You give him space and time and he's going to make you pay. For you, Bruce Pearl, why was Jenai Broom such a good fit for you guys transferring over from Morehead State? Well, what a great feeling. You know, my son Steven did a great job recruiting Jenai and his family. When you lose Walker Kessler, who was the National Defensive Player of the Year, an All-American, first team All-Conference performer, and obviously having his game as translated to the NBA a lot better than most people thought it would. Not me.

Not our program. You talk about big shoes to fill now. Holy cow. And I think Jenai has done a great job, you know, filling those shoes. He's probably scored it better than Walker scored it for us. You know, Walker was one of the greatest shot blockers in the history of college basketball.

But Jenai does a good job protecting the rim. He's a really good overall player. He understands how to pass. He can shoot the ball. He communicates well. He's kind of an old-school, you know, big kind of a dinosaur, if you will.

But that old-fashioned stuff, you know, still really works. And then Jaylen Williams, who played behind Jabari last year. A lot of guys in that situation would have transferred when you bring in somebody like Jabari. He stayed the course. He competed with Jabari, challenged him every day in practice, and we went to the bench with Jaylen Williams.

We didn't drop off that much. And then Jaylen's taken advantage of the opportunity this year and been one of the better power forward to the SEC. When you look at someone like Jenai, I was talking to John Becker yesterday at Vermont, and he was like, the transfer portal's kind of like speed dating. I guess you don't really know if a guy's going to mesh, but what do you kind of see him? What do you kind of talk about with your staff to know if the guy will be a good fit for Auburn and what you guys are trying to do? Well, you know what?

You study the film, Zach. You know, while it is a transfer portal, there's film out on all these guys, and we spent a lot of time evaluating talent. You know, one of the things that you don't do with transfers, you can't make mistakes with transfers. Not that you can make mistakes with freshmen, but freshmen are young. They've got time to develop, and they still have that one-time transfer exception if things don't work out. Now, I don't have many guys transferred from Auburn.

That's just not been our DNA. That could change the transfer portal, but that's just not been who we've been. People come here, tend to want to stay here. But on a transfer, you better make certain that you've got playing time, you've got the right style of play, and the right opportunity. And so we studied Morehead State and studied to the credit of their coaches.

When we were recruiting Jedi, while they were disappointed he was leaving, they did a wonderful job explaining to us who he was and who he wasn't so that we knew, had a pretty good idea of what we were getting and whether or not it would be a fit. And I do think it's really important that coaches only take transfers if they can help them because this is it for them. On the way out with Bruce Pearl, so you got Iowa 8-9 matchup coming up on Thursday.

Good draw for you guys since the fact that it's in Birmingham, but a heck of a team in Iowa. It all starts with Chris Murray. I know you know the family very well. Going back to your day's coach at Iowa, just what jumps off to the page at McCaffrey squad for you? Well, like you said, Chris Murray jumps off the page for sure. You know, I recruited his dad.

I helped recruit his dad. Kenyon Murray was the all-time greatest players in Iowa basketball history. You know, such a versatile player. Three-way scorer, did it on both ends of the floor. Tough kid and unbelievable teammate. Loved Iowa and Iowa loved him and so not surprising, his sons get to go there and obviously Kenyon married well and they had big beautiful children who, you know, are taking the Hawkeyes to a completely different level. He could do it inside and out.

He could do it off the bounce and with his shot. He's got great, great length and he's going to be a pro like his brother and, you know, the other Serbian frontline player and I pronounce his name wrong sometimes, but he's just a great player and I think Rabacha, he's a force down in there. So the matchup, we talked about Jalen Williams and Jenai Broom and Dylan Carwell and Chris Moore, how we match up in four and five I think is going to be extremely important.

You know, Perkis and Ulyss are tough. McCaffrey's a phenomenal playmaker and passer and Fran's got this team, you know, they're the number three ranked offense as far as offensive efficiency. They don't turn the ball over, they shoot the crap out of it. They're a dangerous, dangerous team in March because the way they run their offense with great freedom and they go on runs.

They can score points and punches and they got great length. Coach, before we let you run, you've been at this for a long time in many different stops, southern Indiana, Milwaukee, Tennessee and Auburn. Do you get nostalgic? I know you're focused on the task at hand, but do you all get nostalgic when you look back how many times you've been in postseason play? You know what, you don't get nostalgic, but you do take note of it and I'll tell you though, when you hear your name called on Selection Sunday, it is emotional, it is special for these players.

Some, this will be their only chance to have that one shining moment. For others, you know, they'll have an opportunity over three or four year career, but there's nothing like March Madness, there's nothing like the big dance and there's nothing like the opportunity to win two games and get to the Sweet Sixteen and that's what we're trying to do. Last thing I'll ask you, Bruce Pearl, before we let you run, just the SEC, I'm always interested in the narratives heading into the tournament.

You've seen it, you've coached up against it all throughout the year. To get eight teams in, what does that mean for the SEC? Well, it means that it now runs sort of parallel with every other sport in the SEC. I mean, we dominate college football, baseball, gymnastics, tennis and golf and softball and swimming and golf. It's crazy how good this league is. Men's basketball has been behind in many regards, but now I think that we are right there with whoever could be the best Power Five conference in men's basketball.

The SEC is in the discussion and that just wasn't the case 10, 15, 20 years ago. Coach, always appreciate our conversations. Thanks so much and good luck coming up on Thursday in Birmingham.

Okay, thanks Zach. There you go. Great stuff for Bruce Pearl, the head coach of the Auburn Tigers back in the NCAA tournament where they've just done a really good job under his watch and he's a tremendous coach and has success everywhere he does go.

Alrighty, we will take a break. When we come on back, we know Jalen Ramsey is getting traded to the Miami Dolphins. What does that mean for the expectations of the Dolphins this upcoming season and also still to come at 8 40 p.m. Eastern, 5 40 p.m. Pacific. Jim Larranaga dancing once again in the NCAA tournament.

They were in the Elite Eight last year. We'll see how far they could take it this year with Miami, so Coach L will stop by later on in this hour. Let's get the break right here and we'll come on back in five minutes. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Alrighty, Zach Gelb show, CBS Sports Radio. So we didn't really spend much time on this yesterday, but we know that Jalen Ramsey is getting traded to the Miami Dolphins from the LA Rams. We knew this divorce was coming in LA as the Rams are just in such a bizarre spot where like Sean McVay is there, but we don't know how much longer he wants to be the coach. Matthew Stafford is there, but we don't know how much longer they want him and it's not feasible to move his contract yet. It would make sense if they start to you know take trade and field trade calls on Cooper Cupp and Aaron Donald, because what Aaron Donald plays maybe two more years at most from some of the retirement conversation. It just shows you in this league how quickly you think you have a window and how long you think you could have a window, but then how quickly you could lose it and they went all in. They won a championship.

It's worth it. So if the end or if the next few years are really ugly, they will always be known as world champions and it's fine, but I just don't get the direction of the Rams and you look at a team like Miami on the other hand, they're going for it now and you look at the team that Miami has put together, you bring back Rahim Mostert, you have Tyreke Hill, you have Jalen Waddle. On defense at the deadline, you go get Bradley Chubb.

We'll see if he could ascend to the player that we think he could be if he could stay healthy. You go get Jalen Ramsey. You have some other pieces on that defensive side of the ball. It's like I look at the Dolphins this year and are they a perfect roster? No. They're not perfect by any stretch, but they are a good roster and the Dolphins are a good team and are there some concerns on the offensive line?

Sure. They got better the last year bringing in Teron Armstead. You look at the defense inside the ball. Christian Wilkins is really good. I like Jalen Phillips a lot. He was a tremendous player for them. In the secondary, they are good with Xavi and Howard and you look at now Adam Jalen Ramsey, but the biggest concern, Hickey, continues to be the health of the quarterback. And for Tua Tonga-Wailoa, it's not a question of if he could play.

He showed you last year when healthy, he could play and he could be a guy that looks like a top 10 quarterback in this league and a guy that you could win with. But it's going to be how long will he be able to play? Because we talked about two concussions that we know of and some people thought it was three last year. Like I think it was three. I know they say the one against Buffalo was a back.

I don't buy that for a second. But if this guy gets a concussion this year, I don't think it's your typical recovery time for a concussion because there's a lot more public pressure and there's a lot more public attention when it comes to Tua Tonga-Wailoa because of all what we saw last year with the concussions that he suffered going from that Bills game to that Bengals game and how that was in a four-day span. So like if a player may only miss a week or two weeks because of concussion, usually I think it's doubled that bare minimum for Tua Tonga-Wailoa and I know he wants to play, I know his family wants to play, but eventually like if he suffers another concussion, depending on the severity of it, you almost like don't want him to play football anymore because you care about the human being as well. So I look at the Dolphins, we thought there was a lot of pressure on Tua last year, Hickey. There's even more pressure this year because this team keeps on getting better and better. Like last year, they made the playoffs. They almost beat the Bills in Buffalo with Skyler Thompson at the quarterback position. And for them to go where they want to go, there's not many flaws on this team.

Like it's not perfect, but there's not many flaws. They need their quarterback to be healthy and if Tua is hurt, I'm sorry, Mike White and Skyler Thompson or whoever it is doesn't really move the needle for me. You're not beating Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes or Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence in a playoff game if you have to start Mike White or Skyler Thompson. You get close because you have a good team, but you're not going to walk out with the victory and there's a ton of pressure on Tua once again this year. Pressure obviously different last year as to perform this year to stay healthy.

Yeah, and it sucks to say it that way, but it's the truth. Oh no, 100% and you know me, I've been advocating them to upgrade and move off of Tua even though I'd like to, but you can't trust his health. The one thing I'll give the Dolphins credit though is that if you're going to stick with Tua, then at least they are doing what the 49ers have done and you are going to then build the best possible team you can to almost minimize the impact of the quarterback. And we see part of the reason why the 49ers are able to go with a third string quarterback all the way to the NFC title game is because outside of quarterback they had no weakness. Now you're right, this Dolphins roster is not what they have in San Francisco, but they're trying. You get Jalen Ramsey, you obviously have a great one-two punch at receiver, maybe go get Austin Eclard running back. You got to get now pieces around two and around just this entire team to if you're going to have a quarterback that's injury prone, you then have to minimize as much as you possibly can the impact of the quarterback when he's not there and that means basically getting all-star level players or I guess in this case pro bowl level players at almost every position.

It's hard to do. That's why a lot of teams rather get the quarterback and worry about everything else instead of worry about everyone else and then forget about the quarterback, but that's what you got to do for your man because that's the bed you're making now by extending Tua's fifth year option and by all season long standing confident saying that Tua is your guy. So we look around other destinations in the NFL or other quarterback situations. Who are other quarterbacks under pressure? I've come up with four quarterbacks and then one situation because I just can't narrow it down to one quarterback.

So take Tua out of it because that's what started this conversation. Going into this year, I think there's an enormous amount of pressure on Dak Prescott. Now he may already get an extension by week one and we talked about pressure in many different ways.

Is it pressure on meeting the expectations and if you don't, do you lose your job or are you still the guy next year? I don't think Dak is in any danger of losing his job or the Cowboys moving on from him because they've already doubled and tripled down that he is their guy and I still do question and I don't believe Dak could win a Super Bowl, but the last two years we've seen Dak and this team have really good regular seasons. Now Dak did not have a good regular season as a player this past year, but the team the last two years have had good enough regular seasons where you look at them and maybe it could be part of it being a lack of depth in the conference, but either way you want to spin it. We viewed the Cowboys as a top three team in the NFC the last two years and come playoff time two years ago wildcard round Jimmy G tried to give them the game and Dak couldn't take advantage of it and this past year whoopty damn do I know you beat Brady, but that Bucks team was horrible they were below 500 and then you go up against the 49ers everyone tells you how great this 49ers roster is they were able to keep the 49ers in check and Dak in that offense once losing Tony Pollard couldn't do Jack in that game. So I look at Dak this year I you don't get the excuse anymore of Kellen Moore who everyone said was this great offensive coordinator I have never been a huge fan of Kellen Moore but he's now out McCarthy's taking over the full reins of the offense I know Schottenheimer is there but there's no more excuses like for me if Dak and McCarthy don't get bare minimum to an NFC title game this year I don't get why there's any reason to ever believe that they're going to get it right because that defense you never know how long the window exists that defense Ryan is ready to go but the offense hasn't been on par with the defense Pollard's back good Zeke is declining but could still be a productive player in this league you got CeeDee Lamb we'll see what happens at the tight end situation because it looks like they're gonna lose Dalton Schultz like they gotta find a way to get to an NFC title game next year someplace they haven't been since 1995 and I don't expect it to happen until they get the job done in the playoffs I would agree they've lost the benefit of the doubt and honestly I'm not sure if Jerry cares at this point because it doesn't matter what the results are on the field every offseason it feels like all he talks about is extending Dak keeping Dak they love Dak so he there's pressure on him but it's different pressure we're looking at compared to the owner of the Cowboys looking at another quarterback that's under a tremendous amount of pressure you have gone through this drama song and dance all offseason Aaron Rodgers I think we're getting the decision tomorrow that he's going to go to the Jets when he makes an appearance at 1 p.m eastern on the Pat McAfee show Aaron Rodgers I know he had a thumb injury last year he can't look like the Aaron Rodgers he did last year he's he's got a bare minimum when he's starting for the Jets next year get the Jets to the playoffs there's an enormous amount of pressure on Aaron Rodgers after winning back-to-back MVPs he didn't make the playoffs and if you get what you want and that's to go to the Jets I don't want to hear any ifs ands or buts if you don't get to the postseason what's reasonable expectations from next year if he's on the Jets yes make the playoffs that's it and then from there it's mission accomplished maybe win a playoff game like that that's the highest I could go all right do you think they're better than Kansas City do you think they're better than Cincinnati just for starters no and you said it before they're not a Super Bowl contender they're not gonna win a Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers I would agree with you I'm just kind of curious all this song and dance going on feel like like what are like there's a lot of pressure on Rodgers but it's like what would actually is it a Super Bowl like I think a super success next year would be winning a playoff game like you go first year with the young team they have a killer defense you get some of your guys on offense you incorporate what you have there as well and offense work of the year and Garrett Wilson maybe Breece Hall was on his way to winning offense work of the year stays healthy you know they should be able to get into the playoffs and be a team that you don't want to face I'm not saying they're gonna go win multiple playoff games I don't think they're gonna go to Super Bowl because Rodgers has his own problems in the postseason but Rodgers has to play well in the postseason and get them to the postseason that's what needs to happen next year another quarterback Lamar Jackson I I don't think he is gonna get a deal done I I would think he's gonna be on the Ravens but I don't know that with 110 certainty because all it takes is one team to make the offer the Ravens don't want to match it but for Lamar Jackson you got to get back to looking like an MVP and most importantly you got to stay healthy because if you don't stay healthy then it's back to back to back years where the season has ended and you are on the bench and not being able to help your team so I do think there's pressure on Lamar and especially if he goes into this year without a contract you got to go ball out and really make the Ravens pay for not paying you and really make your point known on the football field I'll give you two more Josh Allen now Josh Allen's not going anywhere in Buffalo we know that but you saw last year there be a lot asked of Josh Allen and you saw some of the old Josh Allen pop up with the turnovers now he's still a remarkable player still a player that you want to build your team around but I don't know where that relationship is that with Stefan Diggs I would think Gabe Davis would be on the roster but you never know we'll see if they add anyone into that running back room Von Miller can you get him back and can he be the Von Miller of old I would have no reason to believe otherwise because we asked that when he left Denver and we saw what he did with the LA Rams but we talked about windows and you never know how long the window was left open for the Bills this is the first year that the Bills really disappointed like when they lost that game 13 seconds and the game got to overtime up against Kansas City yeah it was bad but last year was the first year where it was like Super Bowl or bust and they failed to even get out of the second round and you barely beat a team in Miami that was starting Skylar Thompson and then you just got absolutely embarrassed by the Cincinnati Bengals in your building so Josh Allen you got to find a way to take advantage and capitalize on this window that your team has and one more it's a 49ers quarterback situation I don't know if it's going to be Purdy I don't know if it's going to be Trey Lance but you just see them add Hargrave you know how great of a defense that they have they got Christian McCaffrey you have Deebo Samuel you got Brandon Ayuk like you got a lot of pieces there and whether it's Purdy or whether it's Trey Lance there is an opportunity to not only be the guy now but be the guy for the foreseeable future and win a Super Bowl like this has been a team that got to a Super Bowl with Jimmy Garoppolo they got to another NFC title game with Jimmy Garoppolo they got to an NFC title game with Brock Purdy it's got to be go time for someone and I don't know who that's going to be if it's Purdy or Lance but someone has to step up and really take that baton and show me that you could be the guy for the foreseeable future any other quarterbacks you look at Hickey and you say okay they're really under a lot of pressure for this year when I give you two of Dak Rogers Lamar whoever's playing for the 49ers and then Josh Allen. None more than the five you mentioned I think there's pressure on Derek Carr play well especially considering the division that you're in where the Panthers are going to draft number one overall assuming let's just say that Lamar Jackson is not going to the Falcons you know the Falcons with Desmond Ritter and you have the Buccaneers of maybe Baker Mayfield you got to look you don't have to play that well in order to win the division we got to play well. I'll give you two more now he's a stud but Justin Herbert is definitely someone that has to have a playoff win this year and the other one whenever Kyler Murray gets back the way they could get out of that deal by 2025 even though he's coming off an ACL injury and who knows when he's going to come back the clock does start to tick all right we'll take a break Miami went to the Elite Eight last year they're back in the NCAA tournament once again we'll see how far they can go this time around Jim Lara Nega who's no stranger to the big dance will join us on the Zach Gelb show when we return. 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sports radio we all remember the great run the hurricanes of miami had last year the ncaa tournament making it to the elite eight the hurricanes are back in the big dance and they will do battle coming up on friday at 7 25 p.m eastern this go around as a fifth seed as they'll play 12 seed drake and now joining us is the head coach of the miami hurricanes in jim lyrenaga coach congrats another trip to the ncaa tournament appreciate you doing this uh it's my pleasure and we are also very excited representing the acc as the regular season co-champion coach i love the videos that i saw of you on sunday the game just looks like it never gets old to you it seems like you enjoy this more than ever uh would you agree with that statement yeah you know at my age you appreciate every opportunity i coached in the mid majors for 25 years and getting to the ncaa tournament was extremely difficult now coaching in the acc i really appreciate the opportunity to go there and back-to-back years and five years since i've been at at miami why are you still able to connect with your players because you wonder when you get a little bit older and you're dealing with kids that are in their their teenage years if you are going to be able to connect with them why do you think that that part of the game has always been able to keep you fresh well i would say this i'm a teacher at heart i love working with the players i love practice i love seeing guys improve and i think the players appreciate it because they appreciate when i'm helping them you know they don't always listen to what i have to say but i i i demonstrate my knowledge and experience by showing them videos of players they like so i i might send the player a highlight tape of someone like hakeem elijah won uh i might send them a tape of rip hamilton you know and they'll they'll they'll often text me back and say oh i really like that say who is that guy so they enjoy it and i enjoy hanging out with them now as we're talking about uh on the sideline obviously this is so exciting for you i know you just signed a new contract through 2026 how much longer do you plan on coaching well honestly you know you never know when you're done until you're done and right now i'm just enjoying coaching too much i'm just going to keep doing it as long as i can when the day comes when when i feel like you know i've had enough i'm going to retire but i don't have any other um hobbies you know so basketball has been my life and it's also been my hobby and i try to get better every year and i try to help my coaches and players uh achieve their goals and and realize their dreams so i'm just going to keep doing it as long as i can jim bay i'm 77 years old he's a lot older than me and he kept doing it we've seen some coaches jim lyrenaga though retire because maybe they don't want to deal with nil and the transfer portal how have you adapted to those changes in the game well i always said that you know just tell me what the rules are and i'll follow the rules you know transfer portal well we've had transfers during the course of my career that have transferred set out a year and did great for us and most recently with the portal they didn't have to sit out the year but guys like charlie moore and jordan miller this year northshad o'mere and nigel pack they fit into our program beautifully and have helped us stay very relevant in nil i'm not involved in that at all you know so i tell our players get yourself an agent and negotiate find people who want to sponsor you and that's what our guys have done jim lyrenaga here with us what is the player transferring into miami or joining miami as a freshman need to understand about your culture and what you expect out of them yeah very simply we have a philosophy that we greatly believe and number one we want players who have a positive attitude we say life is 10 what happens to you and 90 how you're accurate second we want them to make a total commitment to be the best that they could be on the court and in the classroom and third we always want them to behave in a first-class manner to be role models in our community and the players who come in you just look at george miller who transferred in from george mason he's a perfect role model uh if you listen to his interviews he's smart he's articulate he's friendly he's engaging and that goes that goes doubly for northshad o'mere nigel pac isaiah wong so you know we've got great kids and they represent our program very well talking to jim lyrenaga they will go up against drake in miami a fifth seed back in the ncaa tournament coach we know last year you guys that went on a great run as a 10 seed all the way to the elite eight what did that experience mean for your kids and could it be a benefit when the ball goes up in the air and you start a new chapter the ncaa tournament coming up on friday well we have seven returning players who remember very well the run but we also have six newcomers two transfers and four freshmen so the kind of the balance has been very helpful to us uh we've got a good blend of experience with youthful enthusiasm and hopefully that will uh be beneficial to us friday night but we also know drake is a real veteran team now their guys are our fourth year seniors fifth year seniors they got the player of the year in devries they're an excellent uh team an excellent program coach devries have done a great job they're winning 20 games or more every year so it should be a great matchup you you talked about tucker and then also his dad you know you have the the coach and player relationship and that being father son you've gone through that in your life coaching your kids before how do you kind of reflect on that experience because i i've had some coaches coach jim lyren they could tell me they love it and then other coaches say it gets a little bit difficult when you have to coach your own kid well here's here's what i would tell you and it's something that dick bennett who coached his son tony bennett told me when my sons were thinking about coming to play for me he said when you win and your son plays really well there's no better feeling he said if you win but your son doesn't play so well well at least you're one so you feel pretty good if you lose but your son plays really well you say well at least my son played really good and then if you lose and your son plays bad there's no worse feeling so you know with with coach debris they've done a lot of winning and his son has played great so he doesn't have too many worries coach uh jim lyrenaga for the players that have returned to your program they have the experience of going to an elite eight but how is it tricky to kind of make that kind of make this a new season because a lot of times you have guys that have been a part of that run their goal the entire year is to not only get back to that spot but improve on it and that's really the the vision that we have we have a lot of guys who love the experience last year of getting to the elite eight and this year they they want to do it again and and if they possibly can go even further and the newcomers are you know all into that they love the idea that we've made the ncaa that we're the regular season acc champs and they're just excited about playing friday for the first time representing the university of miami in the big dance there's always going to be people that associate you with the legendary run that you did go on with george mason to the final four you've now been at miami since 2011 how do you kind of look back at this chapter of you being the head coach of the hurricanes and what do you want people to know about it well i spent 14 years at george mason and loved every minute of it we had some some great runs uh but i've been at miami 12 years and i'm hoping to surpass my run uh at george mason with my run at at the university of miami and every year is such a different year we've got different players different teams uh but i look at our championship team in 1213 with shane lark and duran scott and those guys is kind of a a great life experience that there'd be nothing better than to repeat that and we were able to to win another regular season title 10 years later but it'd be great to go on another great run like we did last year do you feel like this is maybe the best team you've ever coached well when we're 100 healthy we're awfully hard to beat but when we lost to florida state we didn't have nigel pack when we lost to duke we didn't have northshad o'mere so we got to hope that we can get a hundred percent healthy and play our best basketball during march madness so we're excited uh we got our fingers crossed but hopefully everybody can stay healthy or get healthy you mentioned the injury to northshad o'mere what are the chances that we see him on the court friday with that ankle injury well i've got my fingers crossed he's working very very hard we got a great trainer in sam johnson he's spending a ton of time with northshad northshad is very very focused on rehabbing the ankle and hopefully you know he didn't practice yesterday or today so he's still got a ways to go but but hopefully by friday you know we'll get the thumbs up if you guys don't get the good news that you're looking for how do you plan to kind of replace them well it's it's really in the hands of uh anthony walker and aj kc those are the guys who backed up northshad all season but we match up pretty well at most positions they're big guy brodie we just don't have anybody with that size of bulk he weighs 275 so it's hard to match up with him but we got a number of guys that will chip in and we can score the ball pretty well even against duke without northshad we scored 78 points so hopefully we can have a very good offensive day and and do a great job defensively coach before we let you run last year i got a chance to spend a few minutes with isaiah wong was really impressed with him and we all know he's been in your program for four years at a monster season and really came on to the scene in 2020 um how have you seen him get better from that great sophomore season that he had a few years ago yeah when when uh isaiah came in as a freshman he was about six to 162 pounds he's now like six three and change 185 he's strong as can be his offensive game as good as it was as a freshman sophomore he's just expanded it he's a terrific three-point shooter he's really finding the open man and facilitating his defense is better so he's just improved this there's a really good reason why he's the acc player of the year and an all-american so i i love isaiah he's just so much fun to be around and to coach coach good luck coming up on friday we're looking forward to another run for the hurricanes we appreciate the time thank you my pleasure there you go jim larranaga always enjoy when we get to catch up with him on the zack gilb show on cbs sports radio we will take a time out when we return in five minutes we get back into the aaron rogers conversation as we're waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting all we know rogers will chat with pat back a feed tomorrow at 1 p.m eastern and oh yeah by the way alan lizard is going to be a member of the new york chat so you could line them up figure it all out where raj is going to go just based off that info