this show are recorded strap in and be prepared
room for error is much slimmer in basketball
one player and it changes your entire team it's
not like that in football it's just not it's
not interesting guests kelly graves mike parker
coach mark waskowski noah eagle melissa lombardi
kenyon barnard jonathan stewart sharp opinions
dana altman probably earned a pass for a down
year after almost 20 years of what he's done
for Oregon basketball. And some smiles. Guys,
I was stuck in a car wash. Sounds like an R.
Kelly song. It's not an R. Kelly song. It's Danny
Havel. I can't remember, and I've been doing
this for longer than you've been alive. which
is really horrible that I have to say that, but
it's the truth. Justin Grossweiner. It's like
the saying in Alaska that you don't have to be
faster than the bear. You just have to be faster
than your friend. Danny and Justin starts now
on Fox Sports Eugene and Fox Sports Newport.
Sitting in for Danny today, it's Goose, Steve
Mims. Welcome in to the Danny and Justin show.
This is Steve Mims filling in for Danny. who
is on an East Coast trip and will be back in
tomorrow. But we had Justin and Dom there yesterday.
And, Justin, thanks for finding the day for me
to come in and fill in. I appreciate it. It's
always a pleasure, Steve. Well, that's good to
hear. It's always a pleasure. It's good to hear.
Blaze is with us here spinning the discs, as
they like to say, and is the magic behind the
moment. So thanks, everybody, for tuning in.
And we are going to... Have a guest today that
will be Travis Demers. Travis, who is the voice
of your Portland Trail Blazers. You can hear
here on Fox Sports Eugene and Fox Sports Newport.
Yes. Some things are on one channel, but not
the other. I'm like, the Blazers are on both,
right? I don't have my shirt on today. I can't
just point at my shirt. I don't think they're
on then. Anyway, I'm just going to say, Travis
Demers will be on with us, and he will be talking
Blazer basketball as the Blazers come out of
the break, and they will be playing tomorrow
night. And so we'll catch up on both the All
-Star weekend when Damian Millard had the kind
of dramatic three -point victory and then Denny
Avdia played. I think Klingin and Hanson Young
were playing in the Rising Stars game. And we
will look forward to the final 30 or so games,
which... It's not a tank season for the Blazers.
We are actually going to be paying attention
because so many teams are tanking that even if
the Blazers wanted to tank, they couldn't tank
enough to tank. So then you can't try to tank.
And so they're almost certainly going to be in
a play -in game, which will give Travis a little
bit of extra work. So we will get into that with
Travis Demers in section number two. All right,
let's start off with another dud at Matthew Knight
Arena. You were there last night, Justin, the
Oregon Ducks. Men's basketball scored 17 points
in the first half, and it didn't get a whole
lot better as they lost 61 -44 to Minnesota.
This is not a Big Ten power, Minnesota. This
is a Minnesota that improved to 5 -10 after that
win. It's also a Minnesota team that plays six
players and had five guys play at least 33 minutes
last night. For Oregon, it was just really ugly.
Like I say, from the field, they were 20 of 53.
Two of 20 on three -pointers, which when the
team's playing a matchup zone against you, seems
like maybe you don't want to put up 23 -pointers
if you're only making two of them. But Oregon
kept trying, kept shooting threes, missed them.
Dane Altman was frustrated afterwards. I was
listening to his press conference where he was
talking about how they just were standing up,
not doing anything against that defense. There's
been a lot of... Rock bottom moments for this
men's basketball team this year. You were there
last night, so you might be able to speak to
it more than me watching it on TV. Me watching
it on TV, at least that first half for me was
sort of the point where I said, man, maybe this
is rock bottom. It certainly feels like that
Penn State game was an inevitable win. And then
after that, I think that it's fair to say that
this is rock bottom. Even just in terms of the
atmosphere. going with the game what is it like
at matthew arena man it is like baron i'm telling
you it just feels weird because i could basically
almost hear uh like i'm not like all the way
up on the top or anything like that but pretty
far up there and i could basically hear what
was going on on the court yeah i could hear dane
altman yelling at waylon every single time he
turned it over it was rough honestly the atmosphere
wasn't very good obviously the Dean Ullman talked
in that press conference as well about the energy
of the team. It didn't give the crowd anything
to get excited about. There was one amazing dunk
in the second half by Dedrick Lindsey, which—
Literally made me exclaim out of surprise. But
literally other than that, there was about a
couple moments there where I think Nate Biddle
got a dunk right afterwards or something like
that. So there was about 30 seconds where there
was some excitement. But other than that, it
was a hard basketball game to watch. And I think
it's hard to convince your fans to come in and
watch that type of game. And there were some
diehards. The diehards were there. There were
definitely some Duck fans that were there. They
were ready to cheer on their team. And they were
all in still, even despite what's going on. Man,
it just feels wrong being there this late in
the season with no juice at all. No, I agree.
And was it a 7 .30 tip last night? 7 .30 tip.
So you're talking Tuesday night, 7 .30 against
a mediocre Minnesota team. Right. And then we've
got to get into the usual terrible parking. Tickets
cost money. There's an issue there that, again,
when you're winning, fans will show up. But Oregon
has to win at this point. You're not going to
be one of these places like Kansas and them who
are just going to draw based on the name of the
team. And we've seen, and I don't even know what
the announced crowd was last night, but I'm guessing.
I talked to somebody who went to the Penn State
game. They told me there was probably 5 ,000
people there, but half of them were there for
Red Panda. Did it feel like there were 4 ,000
people there last night? Intern Blaze, you were
also there last night. What do you think? Were
there 5 ,000 people there? I'm not sure if there
were. There were no Minnesota fans, is the thing?
Like two of them. They were just sitting behind
the bench. Okay. Even the Michigan State game
had a lot of Michigan State fans. Michigan did,
Purdue last year. That's one of the things is
it's like as they've lost these games, you've
had like the opposing team has been louder at
the end. But it sounds like maybe if the two
Minnesota old people behind the bench were talking,
it was so quiet that even you up high could have
maybe heard them talking as well. No, but I don't
even think there was that, to be honest with
you. It just felt like there were a bunch of
Duck fans. There were a few Minnesota. I'm sure
like, you know. It's a hard sell right now. Look,
it's a hard sell. And quite honestly, Oregon
hasn't been great at marketing basketball, even
when they're good. Part of that is Dane Altman.
He's never been a promoter. That's not who he
is. Hey, that's who you hired. You hired a guy
who's a great X's and O's coach and taking you
to Final Four and NCAA tournaments. But Oregon's
had issues in terms of being able to fill Matthew
Knight Arena, even in good times. I can't imagine
what, you know, the worst job in the town right
now might be the marketing director trying to
fill. They got Red Panda. That was a great move
to get some. It was. Next Wednesday is Wisconsin,
which will probably be a 15 -point favorite over
Oregon. And that's an 8 o 'clock tip. You know
what? I actually might go to that one. Really?
Yeah, honestly, just to go see Wisconsin. You
are all in, man. I mean. Well, that's right.
You're a Wisconsin guy. Yeah, I'm a Wisconsin
guy. Absolutely. You should go to that. I absolutely
should. And you should be sitting behind the
bench with the old people wearing the Wisconsin
shirts. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going
to do that. T .K. Simpkins last night, 0 for
10 from the field. 0 for 5 from threes. Like
I say, the Ducks as a whole, 2 for 20 on threes
in the first half. Two free throws. Two free
throws. But as we talked about, and Dana pointed
out, you can't really complain about two free
throws when you're sitting around just passing
the ball around a matchup zone the whole time.
And they got inside a little bit to Biddle and
Evans. But for the most part, Dana's lines was,
you know, we were just standing straight up.
We weren't moving. We weren't trying to do anything.
Minnesota is not going to foul you if you just
pass the ball around the perimeter. And like
I say, when they got it into Biddle and Evans,
those are more kind of guys who can kind of be
creative around the hoop than anybody who's going
to kind of bully over and draw a bunch of fouls.
So I listened to Danny. He didn't mention anything
about that. It certainly wasn't some of these
coach rants we've seen about free throws. And,
I mean, Minnesota shot 8 of 10. So, I guess congrats
to the refs for just banging on to the whistles
and deciding that they didn't need to do any
of that. What I heard Dana say was he was most
frustrated with the rebounds. They had 28. Minnesota
had 38. Listening to his postgame, he seemed
to think that they had the edge on the boards
going in, particularly at home where a lot of
times rebounding is an effort thing and you tend
to show better effort at home. That sounded like
the thing he was most angry about was the fact
they got out rebounded by 10. But, again, when
you score 17 – I mean, it's just hard to score
17 points in a half. It's not like this was –
Oh, it felt like it, too. It's not like this
was old -school pre -shot clock where teams were
just hanging on to the ball. I thought the end
of the first half, there was when Simpkins goes
down and basically misses a bunny, and then Minnesota
comes down, and their guy hit the side of the
backboard. And I thought that's just the perfect
way to sum up this half because it was that bad.
So now Oregon falls to in -conference play, just
the two wins. So they're 2 -13 in Big Ten play,
which is incredible to say. And again, everybody
goes through ups and downs. We just haven't seen
it before with this team, 9 -17 overall. I was
looking at this last night. They were showing,
and it's been probably shown on every Duck game
on national TV for the last eight years, is the
stat that most consecutive winning seasons by
a coach. And it's Bill Self with like 31. It's
Tom Izzo with, like, 28, and it's Dana with,
like, 26. And that's over. That's not happening.
So that one's going away. I was also looking.
They were showing Dana. Dana's got, coming into
this year, he had 780 career wins. I looked it
up. He's never lost. He's never not won 20 games
at Oregon. Now, some of those years were some
funky CBI -type things where they picked off
a couple extra wins there. But even that first
year when he rebuilt everything, he got to 20.
So you come into this year thinking 780 wins.
All I need is 20 to get to 800. I've done it
15 years in a row at this place. And the one
year that he's not going to get there is the
year that would have gotten him to 800, and he's
going to have to wait until 800 for next year.
Now, as I talk to next year. And I know there
are people out there sitting there thinking,
is Oregon going to bring Dan Altman back to get
that 800th win next year? I think that's going
to become a discussion. I've heard it bubbling
already. Here's what I'm going to tell you. And
as somebody who covered Dan Altman for eight
years, covered some of his best years. Dana Altman
has earned every right to coach this basketball
team. And one thing I always hear from people
is like, well, it's been kind of going downhill
for the last couple of years. It hasn't. You're
not looking at the past if you're saying that.
They went to the NCAA tournament each of the
last two years and got to the second round each
of the last two years. Lost to Arizona last year,
lost to Creighton the year before. Neutral site
losses. Dana Altman always gets to the second
round. What he's done certainly deserves to come
back. I don't think there's any question there.
My question is, are they going to ask him in
some way to modernize his, recruiting because
he hasn't brought in a general manager, hasn't
brought in sort of like a recruiting director
type thing. He's brought back his staff features
a lot of people who've been very loyal to him,
which is great. Coaches like Josh Jamison, Tony
Stubblefield, Brian Fish, Yasir Roseman, who've
all been at Oregon, went somewhere else, were
let go at the other place, either as the head
coach or the assistant, and came back. And Dana's
brought them all back. So he's got a bench full
of people. And then you add in Mike Menega and
Kevin McKenna, who've been with him forever.
He's got a bench full of really loyal guys. But
we've seen now the last two years the recruiting
has fallen off a cliff. Jamari Phillips was the
only freshman they brought in two years ago,
and this year the only guy they brought in is
redshirting and can't even get on the court and
isn't even going to play this year. So that's
a problem to where you can bring in transfers.
That's great. But when you're freshman classes,
the last freshman class that hit for them was
the Shellstad K .J. Evans. No, Biddle was the
year before that. was K .J. Evans and Shelstead,
and that was a five -star, four -star. Biddle
was here before that. Biddle was a five -star.
But an Oregon guy, though. Yeah, well, senior
year, he went to that prolific prep down there.
So anyway, he's getting those guys. The last
two, it's falling off a cliff. And this year,
and Dana's even said, you know, hey, I screwed
up. I should have gotten some more depth. You
know, I didn't realize, you know. Because you
come into a season with Dana Altman and three
returning players. who are one of the best centers
in the country in Biddle, a three -year starting
point guard in Jackson -Shellstead, and a former
five -star K .J. Evans who had been on a bit
of a rise. You sit there and think, man, we start
with those three. Now, if we could bring in a
freshman or two, maybe a couple of transfers,
and maybe a couple guys who were backups last
year's taken on, suddenly this should be a team.
That should be the makings of a top 25 team that's
8, 10 people deep. This team is... Four deep,
five deep. I talked to a coach. I know he's listening.
A friend of mine who's a longtime former high
school and college coach in the area. I just
had lunch with him today and was talking. And
he said, man, they're still playing really hard.
They're just not talented. He said, this team
isn't talented enough to compete against the
teams they're playing. And this is the first
time with a Dane Altman team that we've had that.
And again, going back to the first year, he had
some guys that he brought in, some that were
holdovers. It was a pretty talented team. God,
they had a year when. Three guys get suspended,
and he had to kind of throw together a roster,
and he gets Dylan Brooks and Casey Benson out
of that. I mean, he's always been able to put
together a full roster, and this is the first
time, again, as somebody who covered Dana Altman
for eight years, has watched his whole 15 years,
this is the first time where I turn it on, and
they just look like they're drawn dead out there.
I mean, they just look like a team that is playing
hard and probably looking at each other like,
man, we are just not good enough to beat these
teams, and I'd see Dana. And again, watching
him at the games I've been at, covering for AP
and the games on TV, and he just looks like he's,
again, I've never seen him as frustrated on the
sideline just acting like, I can't believe that
we can't make some simple plays, some basic plays,
can't get on a run, basically can't beat a Minnesota
team that's not very good and is only six deep.
So that's my Dana Altman thought. I want to hear
yours, but my thought is just sort of he comes
back. I do think there will be some questions
at the end of the year when he meets with Rob
Mullins to discuss the future that says, hey,
is there maybe a way we need to modernize? Whether
that's shake up the staff or add some people
in personnel because we've got to find a way
to recruit a little bit more. Well, the body
language is awful. That ain't good. I mean, talking
about every coach, assistant coaches, Dana is
just throwing his hands up. I mean, he yells
at Waylon. The entire game. And Waylon basically
doesn't even look at him at this point. We were
talking about this. I find it hard to believe
that almost any of these players will be back
next year. It's an interesting one to go through.
You're right. I mean, Biddle has to go. KJ Evans,
I think, will have some problems. I think last
year he probably was on the fence of going. He
maybe comes back. He maybe goes. Shelstad, he
also was kind of on the fence towards going.
Does he do that? Evans and Shelstad may also
have some pretty big money opportunities to transfer.
I mean, if there's a team that's kind of ready
-made to compete, just loses its point guard
this year, and there's a lot of good point guards
going in the draft this year, there's a lot of
teams that are going to be losing their point
guard. Somebody may come in and make Jackson
Shelstad an offer and say, hey, instead of sticking
with some rebuilding team there. You know, what
are you going to do with that? And like you say,
I mean, Dwayne Landon, it would be hard to see
him after, you know, kind of what this year's
been like. You know, so then you start Jamari
Phillips, the guy who was suspended or, you know,
suspended a game for things. Yeah, it's, you
know, Sean Stewart, maybe the kind of guy who
would come back and he's already transferred
a few times. Devin Pryor hasn't really gone his
way, which is another important thing as I talk
about, because next year, if Oregon goes 4 -16
in the Big Ten, I think Dane Altman, there's
no question he's coming back. The question would
be if that happens a second year in a row, then
they're trouble. So now your question is how
do you get next year's roster to be a lot better?
I don't know that the way they're building these
rosters now with one freshman who's not really
ready to play and trying to do a bunch of transfers,
if like you talk about it, somehow they have
two or three guys coming back and you've got
to rebuild all around that. I don't know that
with no GM and sort of the way that they're building
teams right now, you can bring in enough players
to be competitive enough next year to put you
back in that top half and not have people starting
to wonder, hmm, is this a trend now of two years
in a row? Well, and the way that you're talking
about building rosters is like that's almost
like even the way that's not the crazy way that
exists now. Like there's teams that are going
to like. The NBA players. Amari Harper. I think
it was that guy's name. Amari Harper, I think
it's his name. Bailey. Amari Bailey. Yeah, yeah.
Who, you know, played NBA. I mean, so that's
the extreme, obviously. You don't have to do
that. The concern is this. You do have a freshman
class next year. That's a decent player in Taj
Ariza that I think people have some excitement
about. And then Kendra Harrison, who's a football
player. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Sorry.
He's going to be playing football until January.
Dana Altman's not going to put him in the lineup
on January 23rd with one practice. Oregon fans
learned this with Eric Armstead. And I covered
the Eric Armstead here. Eric Armstead played
basketball. I actually didn't even know he played
basketball. You know why? Because he played football
up until January every year. And then when he
showed up and the media would ask Dana, they'd
say, hey, Armstead, you know, is there any chance?
And Dana's line was always. You know, we've been
doing this since like September, October. He
comes in here in January. You know, we love having
him and he's been great. But there's a reason
that we start practicing in September, October.
There's no way that Kendra Harrison next year
is going to, as a true freshman, come in and
contribute to a basketball team unless. The football
team is so bad that they missed the playoff,
and they're done at the Sun Bowl. Let's not speak
that into existence. The Sun Bowl on December
24th. Then Kendra Harrison may help the team
next year. But I don't want to hear Kendra Harrison.
I don't want to hear talk about him helping the
team if he doesn't arrive until then. He's not
going to be a 25 -point big -game scorer or anything
like that. Certainly a lot to rebuild, though,
around whatever this is going to be going into
this offseason. And Ariza's a great piece. I'm
just curious why. There's no other recruits in
this class right now. I mean, Dana's put together
classes that had Lou King and Bol Bol, Shelstad
and K .J. Evans. I mean, go back through. There
are five -star, four -stars that were lining
up. I don't know. And maybe it's an NIL thing,
and they're underfunded. I don't know that part.
So maybe that's, you know, somebody told me they
estimated this year's team was in the 6 to 7
million. Maybe in the Big Ten you've got to be
10 to 12 to get there. I don't know. All I know
is that right now the way they're building this
roster has come up, you know, again. with a team
this year that is just not very good. And you're
right with the fear that next year there may
be some attrition on this team, which there is
on every team every year. And if they're not
able to get up and build this thing right away,
I just don't think you want to go through another
year like this. And like I say, the fans are
going to have a hard time. coming out to support
a team when if it's, if it's another year like
this, and then that's when the questions of the
future. So you think that it's pretty safe that
he's going to come back next year? I would say
that he absolutely has earned the right to come
back. Now, if they say, Hey, we'd like you to
make some changes. And he says, no, I'm going
to do things my way. We've seen in the past where
coaches take a, you know, then they say, well,
you know, we want you back, but here's what you
got to do this. And, you know, maybe, hey, we
want you to pay for it. Bring in a general manager.
Hey, we'd like you to maybe shake up your staff,
bring in a little bit somebody fresh who's a
bit more of a recruiter right now. And if he
were to say no, then I think those discussions
could get interesting. But I think the discussion
starts with, hey, we want you to come back. You
know, you tell us what you need, and we'll tell
you kind of what we think we can do to help you.
And as long as those things kind of are congruent
and work similar, I think he's back. I think
the only way it wouldn't be is if he said, hey,
I want to keep doing things with my same people.
You know, we saw it with Mark Helfrich, quite
honestly, to where he was great and then won
four and eight season. And Rob Mullins looked
and said, hey, this is on a downhill. Football,
we can't afford another year or two of this.
And he got rid of them, I thought, a year sooner
than he should have. Turned out Rob knew what
he was doing. They got the thing going right
back up. I don't think if you're Rob Mullins,
you can risk another 2 -18 season. And again,
looking at Dana's history, there's nothing in
telling you that that would be what happens.
But I think that if this roster isn't rebuilt
in a Big Ten now, this isn't the Pac -10 anymore.
You don't have a down ASU, a down Washington
State. When your schedule, look, first off, if
you're not in beating Minnesota, What are you
going to do when Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan
State, Michigan, and the rest of those come around?
Yeah, it's not going to be easy in that conference.
No, and it's going to be, like I say, in the
Pac -12, you worry about Arizona, and it felt
like normally UCLA was maybe kind of there, and
Dana could put together some things, and it was
like, hey, if we put together a resemblance of
a decent roster, we're kind of back at least
in the mix for this thing. Right now, if you
put together a decent roster in the Big Ten,
you're in the mix for 12th, 13th place. I guess
the scary thing right now is thinking about where
this is going to come from. Like, where are these
players going to come from? I think even if you
say, hey, you want Dane Altman back? Like who's
going to be your number one priority score next
year? Well, there's your NIL budget too. Exactly.
You've got to have the budget to go out and do
it. And also I was telling you before this, and
we're going to break in a minute, but I was listening
to a college basketball expert who made a good
point that said, hey, if you're thinking at the
end of the year. You're going to wait and see
who comes back or not and then start recruiting
your transfer portal. Said you're toast because
the agents are already calling the teams and
saying, hey, my guy's going to the portal. The
guys who are going to the portal, most of them
probably know by mid -February, there's only
a month left, and those agents are getting the
jump on it and calling. And so if they're calling
general managers and Oregon doesn't have one
and they're calling all these others, even if
Oregon brings in a general manager on April 1st,
a lot of those guys may be gone in terms of putting
together for one year. It's going to be an interesting
conversation. It's not one that's going to go
away. Like I say, it's going to be a conversation
that goes through a couple more weeks and, quite
honestly, most likely a few more losses. You
know, they got at USC coming up this weekend.
Like I say, Wisconsin at home next week. There
is a Northwestern game on the schedule, but they
still got Washington, who they lost two up there.
So we'll see. But certainly a rough night last
night for the Ducks. All right, when we come
back, we are going to have Travis Demers joining
us. He is the voice of your Portland Trailblazers.
We will recap the Blazers' success at the All
-Star Game. Look ahead to, I'd say, the second
half of the season, but we're way past the half
point of the season, and see what to look for
for these last 30 games or so. This is Steve
Mims. I'm filling in for Danny. You're listening
to The Danny and Justin Show on Fox Sports Eugene
and Fox Sports Newport. Steve Mims filling in
for... Danny, and we are welcoming now our guest
who is in a all -star break, taking a couple
days off before the Blazers come back here on
Friday night. And we'll get the NBA schedule
going back in an exciting final 30 games of the
season. Could be coming up as the Blazers chase
a play -in, play -off spot. But for the first
time in a couple years, there is a lot on the
line heading in. And joined now by Travis Demers.
Travis, how are we today? Good. What's going
on, guys? How are you? We're doing well. You've
just been laying on the couch for a week, not
doing much? Not quite. I mean, I've had my kids
for most of the time, you know, doing a little
prep here and there, cleaning my house, got my
shower and bathroom all sparkly. Wow. You know,
all that fun stuff. I like it. Well, now it's
back to work tomorrow night. When we get the
Blazers are back home, it's against – Friday
night. Friday night. I'm sorry. Hey, don't end
my breakthrough. That is my bad. It's the Denver
Nuggets who come to town, right? Yes, sir. All
right. Friday night, 7 o 'clock. You can hear
it here on Fox Sports, Eugene. Hey, I would just
mention Blazers are 27 -29. The last few years,
there have been times where people thought, oh,
they're going to take the foot off here and tank.
But so many teams are tanking now that even if
they wanted to tank, they couldn't really officially
tank. So the tank is off. And for the radio announcer,
this has got to be pretty fun looking at the
final 25 -30 games and thinking pretty much every
one of them has an impact on their playoff race.
Yeah, I mean, look, tanking is still going to
happen for some teams. Just maybe don't pull
guys when you're up 17 heading into the fourth
quarter and you pull your best players. That's
maybe not quite the way to do it. It draws a
little too much attention. But, yeah, to your
point, I mean, really, you know, going into the
last 26 games of the season and knowing that
the best players on the team are going to be
available when healthy, they are trying to win
games. Unless something crazy happens, at the
least they'll be in the play -in. Knowing that
these games are going to matter and they're going
to be competitive. Hasn't been that way in a
bit. So, yeah, it's going to be fun. It's something
to look forward to for sure. Yeah, Blazers currently
tied with the Clippers 15 games out behind Oklahoma
City. But they're two and a half back at Golden
State for the eight. And like you say, it seems
like Phoenix has probably wrapped up the seven,
Golden State maybe the eight. But if it goes
that way, then Portland gets to host a play -in
game against the Clippers if it went the way
it is now. And then if you win that, you get
to take on Phoenix or Golden State and see if
you can get the eight seed. Like you say, who
knows where these playoffs are going with injuries.
I mean, you get into something, and if the Blazers
are healthy at the end there, maybe see if they
could take a run at Oklahoma City or San Antonio.
But if nothing else, it certainly has been fun
to not only see the success here, but All -Star
weekend, as we flash back, for the last few years
has been kind of a ghost town for the Blazers.
The Dame -Lillard three -point contest was, I
thought, almost, I mean, certainly the highlight
of All -Star Saturday, maybe the highlight of
All -Star weekend. Denny gets in and plays. We
see Young Hanson and Klingin in there. It's kind
of fun to see kind of the Blazers populating
an All -Star weekend. Yeah, it was. I mean, look,
what Dame did was awesome, right? And we know
that Dame can shoot. He's always been able to
shoot. He's, what, nine, ten months removed from
his Achilles injury. For him, being able to shoot
and move from side to side a little bit didn't
really put that much strain on him. It was awesome.
And really, it was great to see him in a Blazers
uniform, too, because the two times that he won
it previously, once he did it with the Bucs,
and the other time was with the Blazers, but
he was wearing a Weber State uniform. So it was
really cool to see that. And, you know, Denny
being in the all -star game was great. I actually
thought the all -star game format was really
entertaining this year because the games were
shorter and it was, you know, kind of easier
for the players to go in kind of short spurts.
They seemed to care a little bit more, which
was great. And then, yeah, seeing, you know,
D .C. and Hansen, having those guys be a part
of it, it was something to pay attention to.
And, well, I was probably going to pay attention
anyway. it was a little more interesting knowing
that some of our guys were in it. And it was
probably a little bit of a... Players not wanting
to get embarrassed by Victor Wim and Yama as
well. Some blocks that I think, you know, guys
started to play a little bit harder once they
saw what was going on. But just thinking about
those two of the guys, not necessarily everybody
was there. But Dame and Denny, because obviously
we got to see Dame competing as a Blazer for
the first time in a while. Denny was able to
play in the All -Star game. So it has me thinking
about those two guys. And we obviously don't
know exactly what Dame is going to be next year.
But I think we know that he's going to be able
to shoot. I've heard Dame talk about the ability
of LeBron and Chris Paul to be able to manipulate
an offense, to be able to continue to have a
career later into his post -athletic days. So
I think there's still a chance that he can be
a really good player. But what do you think about
the connection between those two guys? Obviously,
we don't know what's going to happen with Dame.
But do you see some potential there with a guy
in Denny that isn't necessarily the best shooter
and a guy like Dame, who obviously is one of
the greatest shooters of all time? Yeah, I mean,
look, Danny's not a bad shooter. He's struggled
since he's come back from injury. And he's still
shooting 35 % from three. He was up around, you
know, 37 % for chunks of the season. And that's
a good three -point shooter, right? And you look
around the team at, you know, some of the other
guys, Tumana Kamara's up to 37 % after a really
rough start to the year. You know, I think they're
going to be fine in the big picture. But to your
point, you know, two things there with Dame.
I have maintained, even before he signed with
the Blazers, that I think he is still going to
play at an all -star level when he comes back.
Superstar level, no, but I don't think he would
have anyway because, you know, he's going to
be 36 years old when the season starts next year.
But there's no reason. with the things that he
does well, why he can't still play at an all
-star level. The speed burst won't be there.
Again, with his age, I don't think it would have
been anyway. So I still think Dame is going to
be a really, really good player. Not the guy
he was at 30, 31 years old, but I still think
he's going to be very effective and a really
good player for this team. To have Denny and
Dame together. it just opens everything up. And
it's not just the effect of those two guys together.
I think they're going to have great rapport on
the floor. But having a guy who is an elite,
one of the best three -point shooters of all
time, will obviously open the floor up. But I
think it will also make Denny and Scoot and Drew
Holiday's assist numbers jump. So to see all
those things with those guys together, I'm really
excited for it. And I think there's going to
be a big jump from this team next year for a
number of reasons. Travis Demers, voice of the
Portland Trailblazers. You can hear him back
on the air Friday night. The Blazers host the
Denver Nuggets at 7 o 'clock. Travis, I was listening
to Zach Lowe's podcast today, and he said that
for him, the most intriguing player in the NBA
in the second half of the schedule is Scoot Henderson.
He said that he thought the first four games
back he's looked pretty good, minus the turnovers,
which have been a problem, but he's kind of showing
some of the signs that people thought is the
number three pick, and maybe he never lives up
to the number three pick, but he really thought
he wanted to see kind of what he can do the final
20 -some -odd games. Do you look at this time
for him as sort of... Is this a key time for
him to come back and show kind of what he can
be? Because obviously this team next year, they
bring back Damian Lillard. As far as we know,
they bring back Drew Holiday. They bring back
Scoot Henderson. So that's, you know, Scoot going
into year four or five and not being guaranteed
a starting spot. Do you think that they were
interested to see kind of a lot of him during
these last few games to see how he will figure
into next year's mix? Yeah. And I mean, when
you say a key time, yes, I agree with you. And
to show what he can do. What I would ask is show
it to who because I think the team strongly believes
what they have in Scoot Henderson. So I don't
think there's a need for him to prove it to anyone
in the organization. I don't know how things
will be affected with the new owner coming in,
what his role is going to be in terms of personnel
or anything like that. If the people that are
in charge now are continuing to make personnel
decisions, I don't think he has to prove anything
at all. And I've been very, very high on Scoot.
The second half of last year, he was very good.
By all accounts, he had a great summer and was
looking really good and was ready to take off
this year, and then he got hurt. And what we've
seen from Scoot in his first few games back,
I think it's a really strong indication. of who
he is you you mentioned the turnovers and it
has been a problem for Scoot but I also think
part of that is trying to just get back into
a flow of things and I'm I'm not overly concerned
about the turnovers that we've seen this year
um I I think there are a lot of things that he
has shown that he can do and will do really well
his vision has been terrific his ability to get
to the rim and get to the free throw line um
you know the passing and he's He's a good shooter.
It didn't look like it early in his career, but
he's really improved there. I don't know that
he's ever, to your point, going to show that
he's the number three pick, live up to that,
whatever. But I see him having a very strong
career. I don't know that he'll be a superstar.
I don't know that he'll be an all -star. But
as he matures, I really see him as kind of the
backbone of a franchise -type guy. And being
able to sit and learn with Drew Holiday when
Scoot has been hurt and Drew missed 30 -plus
games and Dame has missed the entire season,
I think there's been a lot of really important
things that he's been able to pick up in that
stretch. So I'm very intrigued by what we're
going to see from Scoot in the last 26 games.
I do think it is very important. But also, I
don't think that there's a lot of pressure on
him. And I don't think there's... really this
need for him to prove anything because the people
that he needs to prove something to believe in
him. In terms of the timing of the break, obviously
the Blazers won four out of the last five games,
but there was some injury stuff going on as well.
Shaden Sharp suffered a calf injury. Obviously,
Denny had the back injury that he's been in and
out of the lineup. You did have a couple guys
come back, a la Scoot. But do you think the break
actually kind of came at a good time, despite
the fact, just because of the injuries, that
the Blazers were playing pretty well? Well, look,
I will never say there is a bad time for the
All -Star break, right? You know, every team
needs it, Blazers especially. No team has lost
more, you know, man games to injury than the
Blazers have this year. So, yeah, Denny did play
in the All -Star game, but he didn't play a ton
of minutes. He was also looking a lot more like
himself, you know, when the break started. To
see him have another few days off is great. I
don't know what Shaden Sharp's status is. I don't
know if he's going to be out another week, another
month, the rest of the year, or if he's going
to play on Friday night. I really don't have
any idea on that. What's that? It's a wide range
of outcomes. Yeah, totally. I have no knowledge
of that. Whatever it is, having another week
for him to get healthy is great. Having Scoot
to have... another week after playing a few games
and rest. Same thing with Chris Murray or Matisse
Seibel. I don't know what their injury statuses
are. So, you know, for this team to have the
break now 56 games in and head into the final
26, the home stretch of the year with the easiest
schedule in the league in terms of opponents,
yeah, I think it came at a great time. And I
am really optimistic on what the last stretch
of the season is going to look like. He is Travis
Demers, the voice of the Portland Trail Blazers.
As he mentioned, you got at least 26 more games
to hear him this year, but I'm betting a couple
more, maybe a couple of play -in games and even
more than that as the Blazers are in the mix
for the postseason as they head down the stretch.
Travis, we appreciate it. I think this is the
second time that I didn't bother you the first
time, second time that at least Justin's bothered
you during the All -Star break. So we really
appreciate you coming on twice during what should
have been a blackout time. for you, but we always
appreciate you coming on, and we'll be listening
on Friday night when you get back at it. Yeah,
thanks, guys. I don't have a blackout time right
now. I'm getting some bills done and watching
Olympic overtime hockey, so I'm just hanging
out. Sounds good. Always appreciate you. Yeah,
we appreciate it, man. We'll chat with you soon.
Thanks, guys. All right, that's Travis Demers
of your Portland Trailblazers, who you can hear
here on Fox Sports. Eugene, Friday night at 7
o 'clock against the Nuggets. All right, when
we come back, let's chat some Oregon softball.
The Ducks are coming off a weekend, and I know
we didn't get a chance to chat about that yesterday.
And if we have time, we'll get into crazy Mick
Cronin and actually crazy coaches everywhere.
Coaches getting fired, coaches getting fined,
coaches getting ridiculed for their post -game
antics. We'll get into that and some softball.
This is Steve Mims. I'm filling in for Danny.
You're listening to The Danny and Justin Show
on Fox Sports Eugene and Fox Sports Newport.
Welcome back into the Danny and Justin show as
we wrap up a Wednesday episode. Danny will be
back in tomorrow, and you guys have Stitch Head.
Stitch Head, Eric Sorensen. Talk some college
baseball tomorrow. Yeah, excited about it. Yes,
Oregon baseball is excited as well as they came
off a four -game sweep of George Mason. It's
been a little bit of a rockier start for Oregon
softball. Started the year ranked number five.
I think I saw they're down to 15. Five and four,
played a tough schedule early on and had a nice
weekend last weekend that take three out of four.
What's been kind of your early impressions of
this team? Well, I'm a little concerned. I think
that I'm not overall down on this team. You look
at the roster, and I still really, really like
what I see. But I guess it's concerning when
you have a team that they've been playing really,
really well against the teams who aren't very
good. And against the teams that are the ranked
teams, they lost to No. 13 Clemson. They did
beat No. 21 Liberty. But then they lost 2 -0
to Tennessee. And then Southeastern Louisiana.
I feel like that one was losing twice to Tennessee,
to be honest with you. Just a long weekend for
them. And then Stanford. That was the game that
coming into the Cardinal Classic, you knew that
it was going to come up. And they hadn't had
success against the top -tier ranked teams. It's
a harder schedule than last year. It was a much
more... ramped up schedule last season and they
didn't lose two games in a row all of last season
so i was really looking at that game against
the cardinal uh and it was also they had a bunch
of changes and where the site was going to be
whatever um but they had their opportunities
in this game they had bases loaded uh first three
players on in the second inning down two to nothing
they did get a run but they haven't been able
to put together that beginning And there's two
players that I look at that I think that they
would tell you themselves that, you know, it's
only been 20 at -bats, 17 at -bats, but you need
to see a little more production out of Stephanie
Minake and Riley McCoy. Stephanie is, let's see
here, she is 2 for 17, and Riley is 1 for 20.
And those are two players that last year, absolute
studs. And every single time they came up, it
felt like they were going to get a home run.
and not saying that they can't get back into
it. It's a timing sport. I've been saying that
for the first couple weeks. I think that you
need to get into the rhythm of the season. I
think that any diamond sport is going to be like
that. But that has been really hurting them so
far this season. You have a few players that
are playing really well, Yana Shaw, Kaylin Jones,
Emma Cox is still playing really well. So some
of the players, the freshmen from last year,
continuing what they were able to do. But it's
a new season, and you can't just assume. I think
we get in the same trap. In every single sport,
every single year, where you think you have it
all figured out, and you know how good each player
is going to be coming into the next year, and
it's always a little different. And so between
the lineup and then the pitching has been pretty
good, but not maybe quite as elite. Like Lindsey,
it seemed like she maybe wasn't, you know, she
started off the season with a no -hitter her
first ever career, and it seemed like, hey, maybe
this is going to be a year where she'll have
an 0 -50 ERA, and that just hasn't quite happened
yet. Yep, yep. This week, the always difficult
Mary Nutter. And it is a weekend of chance. You're
going to love this, Justin. It's a chance for
Oregon to take on SEC teams and change some SEC
narratives. Yes. They start with Auburn, Texas,
A &M, South Carolina. If they can win all three
of those, Justin will be proclaiming the overrated
SEC is back. Then they wrap it up with Cal State
Fullerton, who you mentioned they beat twice
last week, and Duke, an ACC team. So it'll be
interesting to see. There's a tough one there
this weekend as the softball team heads down
to the Mary Nutter. And not just tough because
you're playing good teams, but you're also playing
a doubleheader on Thursday, you're playing a
doubleheader on Friday, and then another ranked
team on Saturday. Yeah. Yeah, no doubt. No doubt.
So we'll see. Like I say, maybe this is the week
where Stephanie and the rest of them get it going.
It could be. It could be. Sometimes it just clicks.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like you say, it's baseball.
And somebody goes one for 20 in the middle of
the season, they never notice it. When they go
one for 20 to start and suddenly you see a batting
average that says 0 -5 -0, you think, oh, what
the heck's going on here? 100%. That's a great
point. All right. There has been some college
basketball news today. Steve Lavin, longtime
UCLA coach, who was about... Beloved around here
has been let go by San Diego. And big news, I
would say it would impact Oregon in the NCAA
tournament, but Oregon won't be in the NCAA tournament.
JT Toppin, who's I believe the highest paid player
in college basketball this year, I think he was
getting like $6 million to stay at A &M, is out
for the season with a torn ACL. So rough news
right there. Arizona's without Koa Peet, one
of their best players, as they take on BYU tonight.
Meanwhile, coaches are going crazy, and one of
those coaches that's going nuts is Mick Cronin.
If you missed it last night, this was his response
after a loss to Michigan State. What was your
thoughts on the student section chanting Booker's
name? I could give a rat's s*** about the other
team's student section. I just meant overall
the way that you answered it. I would like to
give you a kudos for the worst question I've
ever been asked. Did you like the preparation?
You really think I care about the other team?
No, I don't think you care about the other team.
Are you raising your voice at me? No, I'm just
talking. Yeah, you are. Come on, dude. Yes, you
are. Everybody's standing here listening to you.
This is on camera. They can hear you. I answered
the question. I could give a rat's ass about
the other team's student section. I coach UCLA.
I don't care about Michigan State's students.
Who cares? Come on, dude, Mick. Come on, dude.
And by the way, the irony of saying, do you realize
how embarrassing this is for you because the
cameras are catching it? When Mick is now the
one being embarrassed is a lack of awareness
is bizarre. I'll put myself into the former reporter
spot. And I've interviewed Mick Cronin a few
times. He's pretty fun sometimes because he can
be pretty sharp and this and that. And if you
want to be funny about, you know, the worst question
I've ever been asked, that's fine. But to do
it in a serious way, you know, if you say, you
know, come on, that's the worst question I've
ever asked. But to be in a serious way is dumb
because it wasn't that dumb of a question. It
was a former Michigan State player who was playing
at UCLA who got cheered by Michigan State fans
when he came back. So that was what the question
was. It wasn't like just a dumb, hey, what do
you think about the crowd tonight one? So that
one, he was wrong on there. The guy did not raise
his voice at him. The guy got, you know, and
I've been in that too, where if somebody kind
of comes back at you, you might be like, well,
wait a minute. Now I'm kind of coming. And that's
not raising your voice. No, it wasn't. Fight
you back or anything like that. So he completely
misread that. Again, then further humiliated
himself. And Mick Cronin, I mean, this goes back
to last year. It's like every game they lose,
he complains about the travel. He complains about
what conference they're in. He's been complaining
just constantly. And even worse than that is
his team's underachieving. They probably lost
last night, and the last couple they've had has
probably knocked them off the bubble. I think
Mick Cronin. Was safe to come back. We'll get
back to the Dana Altman talk. I think he was
safe to come back next year, even if they just
kind of missed the bubble. But what he's doing
now, look, Kansas State fired their guy last
week and based it on his postgame comments saying
he embarrassed the school with that. What Mick
Cronin did last night certainly embarrassed UCLA.
And that might be what ends up running him out
as if, A, he's kind of a. We bleeped out the
A word, so he's kind of a bleep in the first
part. And, you know, I can't imagine the crowds
love him. I think it's going to be tough for
a guy like that to recruit really well because
people want to go play for him. So I wouldn't
be surprised. It just feels like it's a meltdown
for McCronum right now. And I wouldn't be surprised
if this was his last year, in part due to the
results, but also just maybe UCLA saying, you
know, we don't really need this kind of an act
around much longer. It just feels like if you're
a head coach, you've got to be the most mature
person in the room. And there's Dane Altman.
Dane Altman has never snapped, and he's been
asked, including for me, I'm sure I've probably
asked Dane Altman the dumbest question he's ever
been asked, and he never snapped at me in eight
years. People would come in and give you some
gotcha moments or this and that. You've got to
be that Dane Altman type and just know, hey,
I'm being paid pretty good money here. Part of
that is to handle the 10 minutes after a game
I have to speak with these people. I may not
like the guy who's asking the question. I may
not like the question. But it goes viral, and
it's even worse than if you just kind of handle
it in that way. It could have been a nothing.
Absolutely. It could have been nothing. He could
have said, I didn't really care. But once you
get into the personal part, again, and now you've
got to realize, as he realized that we're on
camera, you've got to realize that you're looking
dumb on that. Yeah, exactly. And that was after
that bizarre situation where he sent his center,
Stephenson. Embarrassed this guy, basically.
Yeah, exactly. So it's not coming across as a
coach who. is being cerebral yeah and and just
going back to dane altman i mean he's never had
a problem with that and i'd much rather have
a coach that is like that than one that is trying
to make a point and that's what it seemed like
he was doing and it just it seemed like it was
out of insecurity as much as anything. If you're
an AD, the last thing you want to worry about
is the post -game press conference. It's like,
you got to worry about the games. Those are important
enough. And I think that's been one of the great
things about it. It's never got a technical foul.
I believe that streak is still intact. I looked
it up. I think that's true. Yep. That might be
threatened this year. The way the season's going,
there may be one that comes. But he has always
handled the media really well. And some of you
covered him graciously. Wasn't always, and he
even told me, when I told him I was leaving the
paper, we had kind of a private conversation.
And he was like, sorry, Steve, I probably wasn't
always that interested. for you. That's true.
He wasn't always the most interesting quote in
the world, but he showed up after every game
and, like I say, handled himself as the university,
is what I can say. Think what you want of the
Kansas State thing. I thought it was overreaction
by Kansas State, but they fired the guy based
on what he said in that press conference. Mick
Cronin is now, I think, maybe running to the
end of his time at UCLA based on the way he's
handling some of these press conferences. Doug
Gottlieb, who used to be able to hear on this
station, got suspended for one game today based
on his post -game press conference and ranting
on the refs. So it feels like... College basketball,
just these coaches are just losing it. The ones
who are not winning games are losing it, except
for Dan Altman, who's not winning games but not
losing it in that way. I think there's an argument
that college basketball is in as bad of a place
as it has ever been. It's certainly in the time
I can remember. I mean, the tournament last year,
in my opinion. No upsets. That's not very interesting
to me. Obviously, there were some good games
in there, but I think that wasn't super exciting.
You have all this stuff with the transfers and
players coming from the pros, all the NIL stuff.
The product on the court a lot of time isn't
as good as what's going on in the NBA. To me,
it just feels like this is a low point. Yeah,
I would somewhat fight back just a sense. I like
watching like Arizona this year. I think we're
seeing that teams are able to keep some of their
guys and some of these teams are a little bit
more well gelled. And that's fair. We didn't
see that for like 10 years. JT Toppin would be
one who's out now. But, you know, that's the
guy who would have gone pro under a pre -NIL
world. Hey, I can get paid a little bit more
doing the NIL. So I've enjoyed actually kind
of the top end of college basketball. I've liked
watching Michigan, Arizona, Duke, some of those
teams. But that's why there's no upsets. Yeah.
Well, I think this year there's kind of a clear
10 to 12. I think we'll get back to seeing some
of those 5, 12 type things. But I wouldn't be
surprised if it was another year where the final
four was one and two seeds only. I don't think
we're going to see an eight. I think we've lost
the day of the nine seed and below getting to
the final four. I think we'll have a few of the
knockoffs there. That was the fun of it, though.
That was for the tournament part. But in terms
of the six months of the regular season, I'll
look forward to watching BYU versus Arizona.
DeBonsa against Braden Burries. Count me in for
that one. I'll watch that. I watched Oregon -Minnesota
last night. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I did.
I can't promise you I will stay up and watch
them against Wisconsin next Wednesday, but that
will be the next one on there. All right, well,
this hour has come to a close. Enjoyed chatting
some Oregon men's basketball, getting your up
-close and in -person view from the Minnesota
game last night. Well, I appreciate that. As
I said earlier, always a pleasure having you
on. I appreciate it. I'm looking forward to Friday.
I'll be in for big bets, and we can talk all
about my 4 -1 week. Did you guys talk yesterday
about my 4 -1 week? I didn't get time for it,
so maybe we should have done it today. I should
have carved out more time in this one today to
talk about. 4 -1 was only a—I took that dang
Gonzaga or Santa Clara over Gonzaga upset. It
didn't happen. Blaze won the week? Did he? I
think Blaze won the week. Yeah, he's not on his
head there. Did he win 4 -1 or 5 -0? Yeah, he
went 4 -1. Oh, wow. Well, I'm proud. Okay, but
hey, I've got 5 -0, 4 -1, 3 -2. I'm like 12 -3
over the last few weeks. All right, I'll be back
Friday for Big Bets. Danny's back in tomorrow
with Justin and Stitch Head. This is Steve Mammoth
filling in for Danny. You're listening to The
Danny and Justin Show on Fox Sports Eugene and
Fox Sports Newport.