Nuggets Advance To First Ever NBA Finals (Hour 1)

Live from the play show yet not overly ostentatious studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City sitting on top of the 10th floor 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Tuesday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates Sirius XM, Channel 158 and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS number to jump on in. 855-212-4227. You could always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old sass pool of Twitter at Zach Gelb.

That's z-a-c-h-g-e-l-b. Coming up 40 minutes from now we will debut the college football fix for the 2023 college football season. Sonny Dykes will join us, the head football coach at TCU. Lakers reporter Trevor Lane gonna swing on by at 7 20 p.m Eastern, 4 20 p.m Pacific and former NBA player won two championships with Miami Heat.

Joel Anthony will stop by at 8 p.m Eastern, 5 p.m Pacific. LeBron may or may not be retiring. Denver is also off to the NBA finals after seeing a little sweep go down last night in Los Angeles where they sweep the Lakers out of the postseason. We'll also see tonight if the Miami Heat can do the same as they're up 3-0 trying to close things out on their home court in game four up against a pathetic and I mean a really pathetic and weak and lethargic Boston Celtics team. But first up producing this extravaganza for the next four hours is no other than Hot Take Kiki. I'm actually really livid at Hot Take Kiki today and this probably may be the most mad I've ever been at a good friend of mine in Hot Take Kiki. Now Hot Take Kiki bust his ass for this show we have a fun back and forth but the hickey hex is a real thing and I've never met someone that is more of a mush than Hot Take Kiki and about a week ago when we were getting ready for Lakers and Nuggets I told Hot Take Kiki on the air I'm actually going to be out of town next week because I'm going to game five with my brother-in-law in Denver they live out in Centennial Colorado about 20-25 minutes from the stadium gonna go visit my sister my brother-in-law and my niece and we're going to make a little sports trip out of it. So I was really looking forward to that trip I'm still going because I'm going to be a good uncle here but I really wanted to go to game five and Hot Take Kiki guaranteed me when I was looking for him to say oh I guarantee you there's going to be a sweep so the opposite would happen he guaranteed me that there would be a game five and folks as we sit here today you know it and I know it there is no game five because the Denver Nuggets swept the Lakers out of the postseason so Hickey let's have a little audio right out of the gate and revisit that memory and look back at another unfortunate Hickey Hex.

It's the Hickey Hex. Really do not think this would be a sweep. Oh boy the TikTok music is playing oh no we're flirting with I guess a little danger here based on a small sample size of track records previously but I think you should be good for game five no no you know what's gonna happen you will be good for game five LeBron's gonna get hurt in game one Anthony Davis gonna get hurt as well Darvin Ham's gonna get suspended and then there will be a nugget sweep that's exactly what's gonna happen after Hickey tells me I'm gonna be good for game five. I truly do not think this will be a sweep. I truly do not think this will be a sweep. I truly do not think this will be a sweep. And the Denver Nuggets for the first time in franchise history will go to the NBA finals. Oh my god they swept the Lakers wow. Anything you have to say for yourself because I am fuming right now.

I am about as red as a tomato and I am just ready to erupt. I am so mad at you right now. I would have to say for myself I guess nothing I mean shame on Anthony Davis for not showing up yesterday. Take some account of that. Like this is I don't I take no responsibility for the sweep. Are you serious?

Dead serious. You're a terrible friend. I'm sorry.

Terrible friends. I thought you were in. The Lakers undefeated at home you can't win one game at crypto.com arena. You say things and then the unthinkable happens. It was unthinkable before this series even though I was pro Denver and I guaranteed that Denver was going to win this series. It was inconceivable that this would be a sweep and then out of nowhere Denver's off to their first NBA finals. They do it in dominant fashion in four games. Anthony Davis didn't show up in the first half of the game last night.

LeBron runs out of gas. Those are all things that shouldn't have happened but they happen because of you. Because you say things and then bad things happen to people. I can't believe this. I'm actually shocked. I really thought you were going to come on in today and say hey this one's on me. I was in the wrong. I guaranteed a sweep and or I guarantee that there would be a game five and now it's a sweep. This most obvious apology of your life. All you got to say is I'm sorry.

That's it. But you can't even do that and I really do believe that you put the intentional jinx on me. That you went out there and you intentionally mushed it. You said I guaranteed a five because game five because you didn't want to see me happy going to game five and you knew a sweep was coming. You have a lot of power.

You got to be careful with your words. I love the fact that you think I have this power over sports where I may be the most powerful man in the sports universe then. More than Roger Goodell. More than Adam Silver where I am just right now just in control of the NBA playoffs. I should really be betting a lot of money on this.

Well that's what I'm gonna start doing. I'm gonna start asking you who you like in the games on the point spread and I'm just gonna take the opposite and I'll be able to quit my job in about five months because I'll be so filthy rich. It'll be ridiculous. Your track record it is crazy. You're kind of like the the 18 and 0 Patriots where you win all those games and then occasionally all right one will go the other way like that giant Super Bowl.

But that's what you are. It is really unbelievable this two and a half three year run that we've had together. How many times you have jinxed the team but this one it just takes the the cake. It really does. It puts the crown on your head as the as the mush and just as the leader of the hickey hacks because this one was personal because I had the tickets on my phone.

Section 112. They got to refund me now and I'm going out to Denver to do two lousy shows in Denver and I'm not even going to see a game. This is bad.

This is really friendship altering defining in our relationship where you really put the intentional mush on me. I feel terrible. Was it too late to transfer that to game one of the NBA Finals next Thursday? No that's not how that works. That's not how that works. I'm just saying. Let me tell you what you can guarantee that there's gonna be a game one then somehow there won't be a game one then somehow there won't be a game one of another pandemic.

He'll be in Boston. There you go. Stop. Stop.

I'm so mad at you. By the way congratulations to Denver. Nicole Jokic is sensational. He's phenomenal. I'm glad today people finally start to give this guy the credit he deserves because it's weird. Guys won two MVPs and people try to take away from him. You have like dopey Mark Jackson.

I didn't put him in his top five for the MVP. The ridiculousness of Kendrick Perkins who I like and what he said about that MVP award and how everyone's silent because Nicole Jokic made a great three-point shot last night. Another triple-double.

He's a triple-double machine and then you look at Jamal Murray. I've been saying this. I've really been saying this since August of 2020. That's when I bought into what Denver was doing and a big part of that was Jamal Murray having this killer instinct and being a closer and in a league now of dynamic duos with really no super team existing. You look at the last four NBA Finals and the one that's going to be upcoming will be Denver and Miami.

All four of these have been really fun storylines. Like you look at the winner Los Angeles in 2020. A lot of people don't think LeBron and AD were going to be able to be healthy. In 2021 I thought that was a very fun team with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Chris Middleton. I think there's a lot of similarities between the Nuggets this year with the Bucks of 2021 and last year I don't even think Golden State even played their best brand to basketball and they still found a way and now we'll see if Denver could get the job done. Four wins away. I think they're winning the NBA Finals. There's no disrespect to Miami. I know it's tough to bet against Jimmy Butler but that series is over. Miami up against the Boston Celtics but until someone takes down Denver. I said this going into the postseason.

I'll say it now. I will pick Denver to win the title and I just felt that way because Murray's back. He's playing at a dominant level and then you look at Nikola Jokic. There's not a better player on the planet right now that's actively playing than the Joker, Nikola Jokic.

All right that's the Denver side of it. Now let's get into LeBron. So after the game LeBron James talks about how he has a lot to contemplate in regards to his future and this is the first time we've really heard LeBron mention or even think about retirement because for so many years he's been putting out this idea and this dream that he's going to play with his son Bronny whenever Bronny gets into the NBA.

Bronny's off to USC this upcoming year and that'll be draft eligible in 2024. So that's been the dream for LeBron James and really the retirement conversation has not been there but when he concludes year 20 at the age of 38 he is starting really to become an attention-seeking whore. Like that's what last night was if we're being fully transparent.

This is let's forget about the sweep. It's definitely believable because of the fact that he's 38. Naturally you start to think about retirement around this time when you're an athlete especially when you've been the standard of the sport for the last 20 years and every time Dick and Harry today is going to be talking about LeBron James even though he played well last night didn't like the last two possessions but people are going to be talking more so is LeBron going to be retiring rather than his team losing in four games to the Denver Nuggets getting swept out of the NBA playoffs. I don't believe for a single second LeBron James is retiring. I know afterwards Dave McMenamin Dave said when you say you got to think about stuff what thread should we be pulling on and he said if I want to continue to play McMenamin said as in next year LeBron says yes and then McMenamin said would you walk away he goes I got to think about that. I don't think he's retiring. This is similar to Brady.

This is similar to Rogers. Whenever these guys throw out retirement it then takes a few years for them to follow through on the retirement. You know LeBron is going to love the drama. He's going to love the day in and day out. Is LeBron going to be coming on back next year? Is he going to be playing in the NBA or one of the games? Great legends be walking away and that's another thing.

It doesn't pass the the smell test. If LeBron is going to retire he's going to want this big send-off. He's going to want the year show that basically like coach K Mike Krzyzewski received or a Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera if you want to use baseball into that. This would not be LeBron with no fanfare. You just say oh I'm retiring over the summer and he's still playing at a really damn good level even said himself he's still better than 90 95 percent of the players in the league. Don't get me wrong he wasn't able to dominate even in a 40-point performance like the way that we're used to because the injuries have been piling up the last three four years.

So maybe there is a part of it where the body breaking down on him it's starting to creep into his mind. Maybe we are closer to the finish line than you once thought but coming up for this upcoming basketball season in 2023 when you roll around to the fall and you get towards the winner and the season's about to get underway. LeBron James will be back and LeBron James will also be a Los Angeles Laker.

Hickey there's no doubt about that in my mind. Where do you lean on this one? LeBron James retiring, LeBron James coming on back with the Lakers or maybe playing somewhere else next year? I think he's going to seriously consider more than your I guess giving credit I don't have credits for our word but I think he will actually seriously consider for a little bit. I do think though he will be back next year. I don't think though he will be back with the Lakers. I think part of him talking about he's got a lot to think about was retirement but also his future in the sense that he's chasing championships and he said yesterday make it to the Western Conference Finals is not a successful season.

Anything short of a ring for him is a failure. I think he's also looking at the fact that he just literally laid it all on the line shortly after the Western Conference Finals but even in the game when he dropped 40 points was not good enough to win the game and prevent a sweep to the hands of the Nuggets and that's a team that's not going anywhere anytime soon. I think LeBron's also kind of look at the landscape of- So where's he going? Can he win in LA?

I think the answer is no. My guess would be Dallas. He's talked about his affinity with Luka Doncic. Mark Cuban is a guy that wants to make big time moves. I think you'd absolutely be okay with bringing in at that point a 39 year old LeBron James to Dallas for what would be a year maybe two with Luka. That'd be my guess right now or my I guess prediction. LeBron to the Mavs.

In theory makes sense. If he's going to go anywhere it's either going to be with Luka Doncic or Steph Curry, the two players that he talks about the most, how much he would love to play with them. The only problem is how do you find a way to get a deal done? The Mavericks have Luka Doncic.

That's it. You're not trading Luka clearly for LeBron. What are you giving the Lakers with one year left in that LeBron James contract to get LeBron to Dallas and also you're gonna have to match salaries too? Well you have the number 10 overall pick in this year's draft the Mavericks to have you can include. You have Kyrie Irving who's out there and if you're the Mavericks you don't want to lose him so even if you don't plan on re-signing him a sign and trade option it's definitely available. You expect Kyrie Irving to cooperate when he wants to play with LeBron to then help you facilitate a trade where he wouldn't be playing with LeBron. Well I think Kyrie wants money more than anything else and the Mavericks can offer him big-time money. He signs it, trades the Lakers. If you're the Lakers you're getting now a younger player compared to LeBron James. You pair Kyrie up with AD.

Is that gonna work? I don't think so but plenty of people have continued to give Kyrie Irving the benefit of that out. There's already rumors about Kyrie and the Lakers anyway so it's not like it's out of nowhere. With LeBron though.

But why can't you play with AD? I don't know if he wants to. And if LeBron's there take less salary if you're Kyrie because you can't make that salary work so if Kyrie's truly a max or is saying I want the most money possible well then LeBron's not gonna have to be there. The only way I see Kyrie Irving being a Laker is if LeBron James is there and that's actually why I also think another part of this why LeBron's doing this because I do believe there's going to be some pushback from the Lakers brass at first about bringing Kyrie and LeBron's going to use this as leverage to find a way to facilitate that deal to get Kyrie to Los Angeles. I don't think for a second right now especially if he still wants to play basketball with his son a year away from hitting free agency that LeBron's gonna walk away. I don't think he's walking away from Los Angeles. I think he's gonna finish out this deal and then they'll go from there and they'll take it year by year but I really do believe this move by LeBron it's not him really contemplating retirement it's like a large fella when they're trying to contemplate going to the gym it usually doesn't happen right when you make the new year's resolution that's how seriously he's going to contemplate retirement he's going to go back to his old habits he's going to go back to his old ways staying in Los Angeles and he's going to use this as leverage to kind of dangle that carrot in front of Rob Polinko I'm going to retire I'm not going to retire all that stuff so then Rob says okay all it's going to take is to get Kyrie Irving you're going to come back and he's going to say yes and then it'll be Kyrie Anthony Davis and LeBron next year in LA for one more chance for LeBron to win a championship and I don't like Kyrie I don't trust Kyrie but if you're telling me Hickey that Kyrie is going to go there and LeBron's not going to be there that's something that I just can't even envision for a single second. It is the Zach Yelp show on CBS Sports Radio let's take a time out when we come on back will the Celtics show any heart tonight and what's the future of the Celtics going to look like as their series is coming to a close up against the Miami Heat.

You're listening to the Zach Gelb show poll question today will LeBron James be playing basketball next year yes year 21 is coming or no he will retire 86.7 percent believe that year 21 is coming in the NBA 13.3 percent believe that he will retire I think LeBron is returning and playing for the Lakers next year Hickey thinks he's going to go somewhere like Dallas and force his way out I don't really think there's much of a chance that he's going to retire Hickey does think there is some chance let me ask it to you this way though Hickey if you had to rank them one two and three most likely to least likely LeBron playing for Lakers next year LeBron playing somewhere else or LeBron retiring how would you rank those because for me it's one LeBron playing in Los Angeles two LeBron playing somewhere else and three LeBron James retiring most likely to least likely I would say LeBron elsewhere one LeBron with the Lakers two LeBron retiring three okay so I guess then we're even though it's semantics a little bit you think there's a chance he's going to retire I think there's no chance it's still the retirement is least likely on your list well I think he's like taking seriously I don't think that's just a flippant comment he just threw out there just to you know get attention I do think he's like he's I think he's truly exhausted you don't think that's a comment to try to distract everybody from the sweep and also maybe use that as leverage to improve his situation currently you you actually really do believe that there's a legit like out of a hundred percent how much of a chance you think that he is that he's going to retire before I move further 15 20 percent like it's still small but like I don't think he's saying that like I don't think he's using it as a way to talk about him and his future compared to not talk about the sweep like it's not really an embarrassing sweep it's not like they played like they played well the daggers were just a better team oh you brian winhorse so no just it's the best sweep you've ever seen it's not embarrassing for the Lakers I don't think so it's not like he has to well he showed up in in game four so he has to distract I don't think he needs to distract from this big conversation of oh my god Lebron's legacy is tarnished because he was swept by the nuggets in the western conference finals like you said he dropped 40 points yesterday played solid for the entire series in the first half he was great and it's not like it's the Lakers embarrassed themselves were blown out like they were they played well it's just the nuggets are a better team nothing wrong with that I think this is as close as the percentage chance that he's going to retire just like Aaron Rodgers was contemplating retirement and he was at 90 before he entered that dark cave and that darkness retreat and all that craziness as well I never thought there was a chance he was going to actually retire Rodgers and everything there's going to be a chance of Lebron's going to retire at least for this upcoming season all righty the celtics tonight an abysmal effort in game three if you even want to call it that um it's actually an embarrassing to even say there was any effort by the boston celtics this team is shot this team has no chance of even putting up a fight I would be stunned if this series goes back to boston for a game five it is really I'm incredulous that Jason Tatum has not made a single field goal in three games here that's inconceivable to me how he did go from 51 points cooking up the Sixers in game seven being one of the hottest uh shooters on the planet and now all of a sudden he can't do anything in the fourth quarter but that team quit in game three you thought they would actually show some heart because they're the kings of backing themselves up into a corner and then finding a way to get on out of it as you just saw the round prior but Tatum stinks in this series Jaylen Brown stinks in this series Joe Mazzola is in over his head and after game three he's talking about how there's a disconnect with him and the players you have Woge today talking about the team never got off the Emayodoka dismissal and we still really don't know the full truth of what happened you could speculate who do you sleep with in the organization whose wife whose girlfriend all that stuff we've been through that game before but Mazzola just does not have the respect of this locker room he's not ready for the moment maybe he'll be a good coach one day but the time is not right now for Joe Mazzola and these players they don't have a killer instinct they don't want it they have been laughable this postseason outside of a good game seven by Jason Tatum the first round should have never gone on as long as it did up against the Atlanta Hawks the second round and the fact that Philadelphia with the way their team's constructed at a 3-2 lead is embarrassing if you're a Celtics fan and now you're getting what you deserve a team that just wants it more in Miami and I think a fascinating question is what's the future of the Celtics like Tatum's not going anywhere Jalen Brown he can make a whole lot more money by staying in Boston because of the second all NBA team and how it incentivized the player to stay in their current situation but I don't know if Jalen Brown wants to stay and that's the number one thing for Brad Stevens this offseason you have to figure out with one year left in that contract if Jalen Brown wants to stay because if he does you want to bring him back because outside of bringing in Dame Lillard there's nothing out there that I've heard that I'm like okay that could maybe make the Celtics better and I know they just gave a deal to Missoula and they ripped off the interim tag he probably will be back next year just because of the way the financials work but he should not be back as the head coach of this team there need to be changes you could question I think it's fair to bring up maybe Brad Stevens when you had the Idoka firing I know it was a unique circumstance maybe he should have just went on in and and been the head coach of this team because at least he's been able to get that team to a bunch of conference finals even though it may have been a little bit of an ugly ending but this team has an identity problem right now and this team does not have a killer instinct and it's up to Brad Stevens this offseason to find that killer instinct and also figure out what the heck they're going to do with Jaylen Brown but I expect nothing absolutely nothing tonight from the Boston Celtics because they showed me what they're made out of this year with that horrific and just embarrassing game three performance and I hope I hope Boston gets put out of their misery tonight and Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo are celebrating at home the college football fix is back we'll do that on the other side he's welcome in the head coach of the TCU Horned Frogs in Sonny Dykes you're listening to the Zach Gelb show we miss college football Bennett takes the snap and the shotgun throws for the corner Brock Bowers one-on-one caught touchdown he ate him alive falls down into the end zone six more for Georgia we can't wait for the 2023 season Caleb Williams throws the fade in the corner touchdown Trojans and we're counting down the days to kick off are we there yet oh we said no are we there yet what's wrong with your ears here is your college football fix only on the Zach Gelb show all righty the debut of the college football fix as we are counting down the days to the start of the 2023 season we're 102 days away from TCU kicking off their season up against Deion Sanders in Colorado last year we all remember what the Horned Frogs did they made it all the way to the national championship game so let's check in with TCU and their head football coach is entering his second season with the program and that of course is Sonny Dykes coach appreciate the time as always how are you I'm doing well I'm doing well thanks for having me well thanks so much for coming on always great to have you on the show uh last year was a remarkable season in year one for you at TCU how do you look back when you when you think back to all those great memories of getting to the national championship game you know what it was it was a lot of fun it was one of those years where you know truthfully we had no expectations um you know I believe we were picked seventh or eighth in the preseason uh with you know big 12 media and coaches that type of stuff and you know we've had um we only had five or six players on our roster that had ever played in a bowl game and so you know it was one of those years that we got off to a decent start and the team kept getting better and better and you know all of a sudden you kind of you know you win some games early and you think well how can we play when we have some adversity and we answer answered some of those questions and then it became you know can we win on the road and then it was can we win when we have some guys banged up and you know the team just found ways to win games and was really proud of them and um it made it a lot of fun as I said just when you don't know what kind of team you're going to have and you look up and all of a sudden you're 12-0 and playing for a big 12 championship and then you end up with the college football playoff and win the semi-final game and it was just a lot of fun a lot of things that that went our way uh but it really boiled down to a group of players that you know just decided they were going to do everything they could do to become great and we had tremendous leadership and a bunch of good players and it was a lot of fun to be a part of. I always appreciate your honesty because I remember when you joined us last year when you guys were 5-0 and you've been around the block a long time and you said hey this isn't my first rodeo you never know what to expect in a year one and you were a bit surprised that the team was off to that 5-0 starting just said that basically once again when was it in the season was there a certain moment when you said okay we're a whole lot better than what you guys thought you could be? Yeah I mean I think so I think for us you know as you said we got off to a good start and then all of a sudden you know we were playing Oklahoma State we found ourselves down 17 points in the in the second half of the game and you kind of go okay you know we're going to find out what we're made of now and the guys came back and we rallied and won that game in overtime and so I think at that point you started to say you know there's some maturity with this group they're tough-minded guys you know that we won a couple of tough road games you know going to Kansas and playing up there you know they were it was college game day and they were undefeated having a lot of success and and they're a team that you know is very well coached and plays hard that was a tough place to win going to West Virginia and winning you know going to Texas and winning I think everybody kind of had that game circled and so that's when you know we're going to get that reality check and our players played outstanding and you know it was such a strange game it was a game that I think everybody going in thought was going to be a high scoring game and it was a game that was three nothing us at halftime and so that was we had to win a little bit differently in that game maybe than we thought we were going to and then you know kind of the rally against Baylor and the walk-off field goal I think was pretty special and at that point you kind of started to say well maybe this is a team of destiny and and maybe we can keep this going. How did you build that trust Sonny Dykes going in there first year as a head coach at TCU where it seemed like you guys were clicking on all cylinders your staff and the players? Well I think the biggest thing is what you said it is it is truly about about building trust and you know just making sure that that you have a plan I think our our coaches did a really good job of coming in and we had a plan I mean look you know our strength and conditioning coach Kaz Khazadi is one of the best in the business we'd worked together four years at SMU you know we came in and we said okay look here's exactly what we need to do we think to give ourselves a chance to be successful and it's going to start you know with strength and conditioning because that's the first thing we're going to do and it's also going to start with nutrition and recovery and rest and making sure that we're doing things off the field to allow us to continue to get better and better when we get on the field and have a chance to practice and and then coaches did a great job I think teaching scheme and and through the spring and you know we were able to find a couple of really important players in the transfer portal I think that answered some depth issues that we had and and all of a sudden we got into fall camp and I remember two or three weeks into camp thinking you know what this is a pretty good football team and it's going to have a chance to be competitive in all these games and let's see how it goes. And your quarterback was marvelous last year Max Duggan made it all to the way to New York as a Heisman finalist and he wasn't even your starter before the season did commence how did you look back on coaching Max Duggan? Well Max was was like a lot of guys on our team I mean he was he was a great leader incredibly competitive tough guy Max had what you want quarterbacks to have and that's the ability to make everybody around them better you know he just brought out the best in people you know just had tremendous leadership and was unselfish and that was what was fun about the team last year is that nobody cared about personal accolades you know we had eight players drafted I never heard anybody talk about the draft we had a you know we had a Jim Thorpe award winner a Davey O'Brien award winner a Johnny Unitas award winner uh Darius Davis won the kick returner of the year award I mean just all these different awards that these guys won individually they never talked about it I mean that didn't mean anything to them it was all about the team and uh and that made it fun to be around this group and you know I think people asked me well did you have success because you had eight players drafted I think eight players got drafted because we had success and I think we had success because eight players got drafted and I think all of it works well together I mean our guys they were incredibly unselfish and they believed in each other they cared about each other and the most important objective every single week for everybody in our program was to win the game and and that made it a lot of fun to be a part of when you're on the road recruiting and we know TCU has been a good football program for a while but after the year you guys just had what are kids now saying when you walk into a high school about the TCU football program well I think look the reason I took this job the reason I came over from SMU is I felt like TCU was a program that could play for championships and you know I when I talked to our coaching staff and I said here's why we're going to do this that's what we talked about the very first time we met with the players that's what we talked about look this is a team that you know this is the kind of place where we think we can play for championships so we played for a big 12 championship and a national championship uh both this year and we lost both of them we got to figure out a way to win those but but that's that's the kind of place this is and now when you sit down with the recruits and you talk to them you say hey look we can win a national championship here it's not that far-fetched it's not that big of a of a dream you know it's it's more of something that they just saw play out in front of them um you know certainly uh we didn't play our best against Georgia ran into a very very good football team and and you know they did a better job getting their team ready to play than we did uh but at the same time I mean we were there and those recruits can see that their families can see that the high school coaches in Texas and across the country can see that and now those are the expectations for our program is to you know to consistently be a championship level program well that's what annoyed me sunny dykes after the national championship game some said uh TCU showed they didn't belong in the college football playoff and I'm like hold on wait a second did we forget that they just beat Michigan a few weeks prior I never got that convo how about yourself yeah I mean you know people say all kinds of things um and so you know you have to just worry about about yourself and not not everybody's got opinions and and most of the time they're not particularly good and so it's it is what it is and you just go look we if I turn that game on as a casual fan you know I would sit there and say well there's a huge difference between these two teams and there certainly was that day you know the day that we played Georgia played a lot better than we did and Georgia had a better football team and Georgia's coaching staff did a better job than we did getting them ready to play and all those things you know played out you know if you go back and you look at our game against Michigan you know you're gonna look at our team and go man that's a really good football team you know that beat another really good football team and so you know you you just have to do the best you can you don't worry about what people say um you know because like I said they you know you know they say a lot of things I always wonder when a team has success especially success that people didn't see coming like your program had a year ago how they respond the next season I know there's so much changeover and turnover with the roster from year to year especially now with the transfer portal and NL and all that but how do you try as a coach not to have your kids get complacent and be even hungrier now this upcoming season well I think the big thing that that we try to do all the time is make sure the guys understand look just because some of you had success last year it doesn't mean it's going to happen this year you know it's a different team it's a different chemistry different leadership you know it's key people that have moved on and that aren't here anymore and now it's an opportunity for everybody else to to show what they can do and our guys understand that I mean you know what happened last year has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on what's going to happen this year I mean none you know the good thing is I do think our players do bring some confidence with us but they also know that you know what they're capable of and they also remember what happened against Georgia and how bad that game was and so we're a work in progress we're certainly not a finished product we're going to be a team that you know has talent the key for us is going to be how do we how do we perform in those games that are going to be tight games you know there's going to be probably five six seven games that we play this year that could end up being one score games and and how well we handle those those opportunities and how well we handle those challenges will really determine what kind of season we had and we handled them very well last year for the most part and we got to handle them that way this year how do you describe what type of quarterback coach sunny dykes chandler morris can be for you guys well he's a lot different than max um he's um you know I think this what we're doing offensively is really truly kind of made for for his skill set he's a guy that uh you know has a very quick release gets rid of the ball very fast uh he's a really good decision maker um you know has a bigger arm than you think he does kind of sneaky big arm um you know really anticipates throws well throws the ball to spots you know is good in the pocket just all the stuff that good quarterbacks do he does um he just doesn't have a ton of in-game experience you know i think that's the that's the only thing that you worry about is is you know how's it how's it going to perform in games because you know he played against colorado the first half of the game last year started started that game as a starting quarterback got injured in the third quarter so we didn't get to see him a whole lot last year um you know saw him a little bit the year before before i got here you know performed very well against baylor and had some good games and so you know it's different when you're the starter than it is when you're coming off the bench and and uh so he's got some challenges in front of him but he's very talented uh he's very very smart uh as i said earlier he's got a lot of the important attributes that great quarterbacks have so we're we think he's got a chance to be certainly one of the better quarterbacks in the big 12 and maybe one of the better ones in the country first game up against dion sanders i know there's going to be a lot of hype around that one especially with dion trying to build at colorado um how do you kind of view i know you're 102 days away going up against and coaching up against dion sanders yeah it'll be interesting you know i think none of us are going to know exactly who's playing and and uh what the depth chart's going to look like i'm sure they'll try to to um you know keep that as quiet as they possibly can as they get through fall camp and all that i mean typically what happens when when you play a team and they've got a an important player or two from a different school you go back and you watch that tape and you see what those kids are capable of and what their skills are and all that type of thing and they're going to have so many new starters i mean it's you're going to have to go back and watch probably you know 30 different schools where these kids have come from that are going to you know be significant contributors so it's going to be a little bit of going into that game a little blind probably just from a personnel standpoint now we'll be able to have a good idea i think on what they're going to do scheme wise and all that and so it'll be fun i mean it's going to be a big challenge for us i'm sure you know that team will be very excited it's a new era in colorado football and i'm sure those guys are going to roll in here with a ton of confidence and they're going to have a lot of good players and it'll be a big challenge for us you mentioned it earlier coach sunny dykes for the tcu horn frogs getting ready for your number two of his uh program at tcu you had eight players drafted three actually by the chargers one of them being quitting johnston in the first round what type of wide receiver are the chargers in justin herbert again well they're getting a big play guy i mean i think that's the great thing about quentin is quentin's one of those one of those really special wide receivers that can turn a five or six yard slam into a 60 or 70 yard touchdown and you know he's uh he runs good routes and uh but quentin's really the magic happens when he gets his hand on the ball and people have to tackle him because he's a big strong guy and he can run through tackles and um and he's got a really uh impressive way of accelerating for a big guy you for a big guy you know he can get going fast really quickly and and uh you know eats up the cushion on people and takes angles away from guys who are trying to tackle him and and so he's going to be a fun guy to watch i mean he's got tremendous upside uh like i said earlier great size great strength great explosive athlete best thing about quentin is he loves the game of football and he's a hard worker um he's going to be the first guy on the field every day and the last guy off of it and and i think at the end of the day uh it has an opportunity to develop into a really special player last thing i'll ask you i know earlier you mentioned how you lost to the big 12 championship game and then also the national championship game coach i only had one problem with your program last year and i'm a Heisman voter i had max on as a finalist but when you're down at the one yard line why did max get the ball i'm in that overtime yeah you know that's a good question i think part of it was i think max was so worn out and beat up warrior uh yeah that we we i think looking back we we probably wish he would have um you know because he would have probably more than likely found a way to get us in the end zone and he always did but i think that was probably the thinking was like this guy's pretty beat up and pretty worn out and let's give it to somebody who's a little bit more fresh well heck of a season last year we look forward to what's going to be in store this year for the tcu horn frogs i really appreciate you doing this coach sunny dyke yeah no problem thanks for having me and always good to talk to you guys