Portions of this show are recorded. Strap in
and be prepared. Room for error is much slimmer
in basketball. You lose 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 Havill.
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. Hello, neighbors,
and welcome. High top the Delta Tri and the Crystal
Palace. The Bigfoot Beverages Studios for Fox
Sports Eugene, Fox Sports Newport. You are locked
into the fastest 60 minutes in sports. Why do
we call it that? because we do more with an hour
than most do with three. This is the Danny and
Justin Radio Program. Thanks, friends, wherever
and however you're listening to us, either on
the air in the Valley on 102 .9, 1050 a .m.,
or on the coast at 92 .7 FM, KNCU in the beautiful,
beautiful Berg of Newport. Thanks for tuning
in. You can follow us on Twitter and Blue Sky,
Danny and Justin, also on the podcast, wherever
you platform. Danny and Justin or the fastest
60 minutes. We will upload the program right
after we're done, man. Another packed Monday,
man. I have so many pieces of pay. I should probably
take a picture of all of the papers. I have lined
out in front of me. My prep that I did starting
at six 30 this morning. It started in the weekend,
but we have a lot to go over. So Oregon men's
and women's basketball. Oregon baseball, Oregon
softball, Oregon State men's and women's basketball,
track and field, big bets, which is important
to me. The Combine, good, bad, and the ugly.
Eric Skopel, the great Skopel Damas from 24 -7
is going to be right here to talk Oregon women's
basketball and duck territory right around 220.
But let's get the introductions done. The producer's
chair is occupied by... Intern Blaze, who's smarting
after this weekend. We'll talk about that in
a moment. I am Doc, right over there to my right,
is your good friend. You welcome him into your
living rooms every single day. Justin Grossweiner,
we call him Baby J. Well, we do have a lot to
talk about today, but I'm going to start with
an interesting question for you, Danny. We passed
each other before the show, just moments before
we got on the air, and you gave me a little ope,
which you know what it reminded me of? We're
both from the Midwest. That being said, we both
have been a lot of other places. Yeah. Do you
feel like you identify with your Midwest roots
more than you do with your West Coast roots?
Okay. Absolutely. Because I was totally Midwest
of you. Well, thanks. That's a Midwest thing.
We're coming around the corner, just like you
call it pop instead of soda. Yeah, exactly. That's
what you do. And I have my water. I don't have
pop right now. But we do have a lot to go over
today. Yeah, Blaze, make sure your microphone's
ready to go, dude. You've got to be ready. Athletic
position. Okay. Blaze, what did you do this weekend?
Well, Justin and I actually grabbed a beer along
with other interns. We call it beverage on this.
We call it beverage on the show. Sorry, beverage.
I'm sorry. I'm just busting on you a little bit.
I'm glad you know what that is. I'm glad you're
ready with that. You guys hung out for a little
bit. We did. We had a good time. I was invited,
did not attend. You were invited. You did not
attend. We watched the blowout of Michigan, Illinois.
So I heard that you brought a friend along as
well. He was part of watching the game, yes.
Okay. Who is a huge Dodger fan? Huge L .A. fan,
yes. All L .A. So did Baby J contain himself,
or was he cracking on him a little bit? No, I
mean. He contained himself to an extent. He was
cracking a little bit. No, but the thing is,
the Dodgers fan, Lakers fan, Rams fan has heard
a lot worse from me. Oh, so Baby J was timid.
or tame concern to you i definitely live in comparison
when he said i'm a dodger fan i said i'm sorry
he's like why sorry i'm like i'm sorry i just
hate the dodgers were you wearing any cubs gear
like you are you have got your cubs hat on what
was i wearing this no i was wearing my emerald
hat yeah i was wearing my emerald hat so no no
cubs gear i didn't make it clear there were exploding
whales hat yeah yeah my favorite hat right now
but in comparison he was he was tamed okay I'm
glad you think so. I legitimately afterwards
felt bad. I was like, man, I really gave it to
him. Justin was a little concerned. It was one
of the first things he said to me when we had
our pre -production meeting, the pre -pre -production
meeting. No, no, no, no. Trust me. He's heard
worse. Yeah, shout out to Drew. He's heard worse
from me. He's heard worse from others. All right,
so shout out to Drew. He was pretty good. He
was good about it. We put a name to him as well.
That's awesome. Yeah. All right, kids, we got
to run through a lot of stuff here. So I'm going
to take care of a couple of things. Nothing more
important than big bets. Oh, yeah. From Coke.
Hey, listen. Hey, you didn't hear me doing this
last week when I came in 4 -1. Did I prop you
up when you went 4 -1? You did. I'm just joking.
I'm going to let you have your moment now. Well,
thank you. You know, I almost feel like we need
some celebratory music, although I know we don't
have any. So, Cokewell Casino and Resort sponsors
our Big Bet segments, which you guys love. on
Fridays where we pick games, you guys pick games
against us. If you beat us, you win a two -night
stay with $100 on your player's card at Cokewell,
get entered in a drawing for the big March Madness
championship game suite, the Cokewell suite.
But then if one of the hosts wins, and we've
got pretty good odds because there's normally
four of us that are, you know, you, me, Goose,
and then either Blaze or Dom, and sometimes both
of them are doing it. So the odds are in our
favor a little bit, but, you know. The hosts
have been pretty good in the basketball thing.
There's some sort of Hunger Games reference here,
but go on. You'll find it. I have belief in you.
So for the first time in the second half of the
season, because I won the first half by a game.
It was only by a game. I eked it out over Baby
J, who made a rocket, a miraculous, rising like
a phoenix, a Lazarus rise at the end of the season.
to get himself out of the last place. But see,
now you punched down on me because you trapped
the badger in the corner. And so now I went 3
-2 this week. Baby J, you went 2 -3. Goose went
1 -4. So much for that good start. Blaze, dude,
what happened? Don't follow Goose into the—don't
trust him that much. You went 1 -4. The best
the fans went were 2 -3. So the hosts win, which
means $100 to South Coast Special Olympics, courtesy
of Coquille Casino Resort. We love that. So there
we go. Put that to bed. We'll do it again on
Friday. I will not be here live on Friday. I
will be up in Pendleton, but I will Memorex my
picks in. Okay? You good with that? Yeah, always.
It'll be just like with Goose. So I am still,
though— I think this would be our first Big Bets
without you. This segment, this side of it, yeah.
So, by the way, I say all that, I'm still eight
games behind Goose. There's the other side of
that. What's his record now? He is 22 -13. That's
still pretty good. It is. I'm 11 -21. You are
16 -19. So I only picked up a game on you. I
picked up two games on Goose. which is good.
I'm going to chip away at it. I'm just going
to be that wave crashing against the rocks. I'm
going to make you guys into sand. All right,
so here we go. Indianapolis, Indiana, for the
second consecutive year, Oregon track and field
swept the team titles at the Big Ten Indoor Championships.
The men of Oregon scored in 12 of the 18 events
on the way to 114 points. Way ahead of Penn State,
who finished in second, 96 points. On the women's
side, Ducks tallied 101 points to hold off Illinois,
who had 93. USC had 81. With this result, Oregon
has won eight of the ten available titles in
cross country and track and field since joining
the conference two years ago. Each team has won
four Big Ten team titles, including three sweeps.
Good on you. And that's why we wanted to lead
off the program with it. Yeah. Great job. Champions.
I mean, it's honestly just mark them in every
year. The trophies. That's why it's Tractown
USA. And by the way, Thursday, you and Goose,
while I'm gone, are going to be down at the Tractown
USA offices. You're going to have big interviews
on media day. I'm fired up about it. It'll be
on YouTube as well. So we'll preview that more
as we get down there. So good on them. Good on
them. Good on them. So. You want to talk baseball?
Softball? Actually, we'll talk baseball, and
then we'll get into basketball. Okay? Yes. Baseball
first? Yeah. Actually, or do you want to do good,
bad, and ugly? Yeah, we need to do that. Yeah,
we need to do that. Let's do good, bad, and ugly
first. Sorry? It's one of our segments. The good,
the bad, the ugly from the weekend. So this is
our little deal where we kind of take stories
that happen from over the weekend or, you know,
from like Friday midday until, you know. 1 o
'clock. So let's start with the good. And for
me, it's tie at the top. We'll be talking about
it in the first segment, which we're doing right
now, and the last segment. Oregon baseball went
2 -1 at the Live Like Lou baseball tournament
down in Vegas. They win the tournament. They
have 8 of 11 players on the all -tournament team.
They literally could have fielded an entire team
with the all -tournament team. And they beat...
They beat Vandy. That was a great win. Yeah.
And softball came back and swept the Oregon Classic.
They've won now six in a row. So that's my good
for the weekend. Baby Chase. A lot of good on
the diamond for Oregon sports. My good from the
weekend, we can't forget, it's the World Baseball
Classic this year. We have the Olympics, but
we're also going to have the World Cup. So I'm
going to talk about one of the main fixtures
of the World Cup. He was last year, or last time,
I guess. Lionel Messi, who played in his second
MLS game of the season yesterday. And, of course,
he's 38 years old. Doesn't matter. He has two
goals, incredible goals. I mean, he's still unbelievable.
So we can't forget about this guy. World Cup
coming up this summer. I'm stoked about that.
So my good friend this weekend was Lionel Messi
coming in again and still being the best. All
right. See, we can't have the same good, bad,
and the ugly, just so you know. So it's not that,
you know, Baby J is not. including Oregon sports.
I'm the senior member of this program, so I get
to steal some of the headlines that I want. So
why don't you jump into your bad? I'll do my
bad. My bad from over the weekend, and my bad
and the ugly are going to be both USC -themed.
Oh, I didn't know the other one. Okay, go. So,
Makai Lemon did not have a great combine, didn't
do any of the testing, and had a viral video
of him. Talking to the media, which people just
were like, what is this guy? This is your bad.
This is my bad. And there's something uglier
than this for sure. But not only that, apparently,
and this is word for word, he bombed his interviews.
Absolutely bombed his interviews with these NFL
teams. I think he's still going to be a first
-round pick. Ultimately, I'm not sure how much
this will affect him. It'll cost him a few million
dollars, exactly. The talent's still there. But
it was not a great combine for Makai Lemon. It
was good for Oregon, though. Great. All right.
The Danny and Justin Radio Program for a Monday.
Thanks for tuning in. Fox Sports, Eugene. Fox
Sports, Newport. Eric Skopel, the great Skopel
Namas, will join us from 24 -7 sports and duck
territory at about 20 after the hour. My bad.
And it's sad. 23 years old, 23 years forever,
Dominique Ponder, who was a quarterback for University
of Colorado, or Colorado University, I guess
is the way we should say that, the Buffaloes,
unfortunately lost his life this weekend. And
the reason I say bad is, kids, take care of yourselves.
Speed kills. He was in a 2023 Tesla, lost control.
Not going to have anything else to say about,
you know, whether there was anything else involved
except it's just, it's bad. It's tragic. Somebody
who could have had an impact on other people's
lives passes away. So, hate to see it, but that's
the bad from the weekend. All right, so my ugly
is social media. Surprise, surprise, surprise.
So I've been on this rant about posts for people
who have passed away, right? Jerrion, John Consano,
death outs. Huh? Fake deaths. Fake deaths. Jim
Herrick was a victim of it this past weekend,
and a lot of people bought in. Folks, I'm just
telling you on social media, do not click. Just
do not click, because that's all they're looking
for. Check your sources. They're looking for
traffic to their websites. Jim Herrick alive
and well, thank goodness. Social media. Boo.
That's the ugly. All right. My ugly from the
weekend is Chad Baker Mazzara, who may be the
poster child for everything that is wrong with
college basketball at this point. You might remember
him from being on that great Auburn team last
year, but he was a member of USC's basketball
program this season until very recently when
he said that he's done. So he's going to be gone.
The school actually did not announce a reason
for his departure. But he just said that he couldn't
go, and he's done. So I guess he's going to still
try to go to another school after this. Like,
he's not going to the draft. He'll be 27 years
old next year. I mean, who's going to take a
chance on him? He's a talented college player
who, you know, seems like he—my mom was telling
me about this. She thinks it's hilarious, all
these college players at this point who just
want to stay in college for, like, 10 years.
And he seems to be one of those guys. Because
now they're getting paid. I mean, seriously,
if he went to school at 18 years old and he will
leave at 27, that's almost 10 years. And I did
that, but I'm not an athlete. That's a third
grader. That's a third grader. All right. The
Danny and Justin Radio Program, that's your good,
bad, and the ugly for this past weekend. All
right. So Oregon baseball, really nice weekend,
as we talked about, down in the Live Like Lou
baseball classic that they were awarded tournament
champions going 2 -1. They beat Arizona. Bullpen
kind of fell apart a little bit against UC Irvine.
The Blaze. And Teeters. Attaboy. I could have
done that to Justin. Would you have remembered
that, Justin? I would have never remembered it,
no. Okay, see? I would have turned to Blaze.
That's why I went to you. And then came back
with a gutty win against Vanderbilt. They had
four home runs against Vanderbilt. We're up 4
-0. And then we're up 6 -2, and then they kind
of let the bullpen get in, another little issue,
but then closed it out. And so they go 2 -1.
They got Oregon State tomorrow in the first of
three games against the Beavs that are spread
out. There are no back -to -back games against
Oregon State. 3 p .m. at PK Park. Fill the place
up. It's going to be loud. It's going to be raucous.
The weather's going to be pretty good. for Mark
Waszkowski's team, who are now 10 -1 on the season.
Yeah, and Cal Scolari, six innings pitched against
Vandy, eight strikeouts, only two walks. And
Coach Waszkowski talks about his performance
against Vanderbilt. I just felt like Cal really
answered the bell. I mean, he was dominant. He
threw, you know. He had four pitches for strikes
today. The loss, he was really good. You know,
basically sat in the mid -90s, you know, touched
a little bit higher, a little bit lower from
time to time. But, I mean, basically low to mid
-90s the entire time and with command of the
ball. I thought he was a real competitor today,
and he looked good. Cal Sclari, he's a guy that
I talked to Berkeley Mabeus at the Diamond Dinner,
or was it the first pitch dinner? I don't remember
the names. Yeah, first pitch. The first pitch
dinner, and he was the guy that he said to me,
hey. This is the most talented pitcher we have
on the staff. So a great performance from him.
Interesting that he did pitch on the Sunday with
the Beavers coming up on Tuesday. So don't think
he's going to get a look there. Also, Dominic
Hellman, two home runs this weekend. Mayo. Yeah,
or Hellboy, either one. The other one. We're
going to see which one sticks. We're going to
ask him. Okay. Well, you know, he's a guy that
last year. The power, it's always been there.
It's funny, he was more of a hitter last year.
He hit .320, but didn't have that raw power to
translate. Got it this year, baby. Starting this
year, and he's a guy that just reminds me physically
of a Jayden Carlos stand. That guy, something
that Mark Walsh can talk about. Great comparison.
Both of these teams, Vanderbilt and Oregon, and
we saw this when we saw them, was that last weekend
against Youngstown State? Yeah. physically look
like a mature ball club. I mean, they don't look
like high schoolers at all. This is a team that
certainly has the bodies to be a team that gets
to the College World Series. By the way, Maddox
Maloney, after this weekend, moved into sole
possession of fourth. Get this. The kid's just
a sophomore. He's fourth on Oregon's career home
run list. 28. He needs just two more to tie Tom
Dodd for third. Oregon's last back -to -back
home runs came at Texas A &M on June 3, 2024.
And by the way, you mentioned Mayo or Hellboy.
Helm is homers in consecutive games. Marked the
first time a Ducks hitter homered in consecutive
games since Anson Arrows did it in 2014 at Texas
A &M. You think Maddox might be a first -run
pick? Definitely. I mean, why not? Let's be real
about this. He probably turned down a ton of
money. from somebody from the SEC to stay here
at Oregon. He's got his family here. But good
on Coach Woz and his staff to keep players like
that here. You know, Drew Smith is torching it,
5 '15", 17 hits, four home runs, 20 RBIs. You
got Ryan Cooney, six stolen bases. Toby Twist,
who's starting it, pitching and out of the bullpen.
And you mentioned Cal Scolari. And then we haven't
even talked about Angel Lyon. I was about to
say, he's still playing really well. Angel Laya,
who's a National Player of the Week and Freshman
Player of the Week in the Big Ten. So all of
that. It's a deep lineup. It's going to be fun
to watch this year. It is. It's a lineup that
not only is it deep, it has what I like in a
lineup. It has a lot of different parts. It has
a lot of different pieces that can do a lot of
different things, and that's what I like about
it. All right, so tough weekend on the hardwoods
for Oregon men's and women's. So let's start
with the men on the road in Evanston, Illinois.
They built a double -digit lead in the second
half but couldn't hold off a late surge. and
a ball that just laid on the rim forever and
finally fell through. Ducks lose to Northwestern
63 -62. They drop to 11 -18, 4 -14 overall. They
had a 12 -point lead early in the second half,
but Northwestern shoots 61 % from the field after
the break. Nate Biddle led the Ducks with 19
points, 8 of 13. Kwame Evans, 15 points, 15 rebounds.
He went 15 -15. His fourth double -double of
the season. Takai Simpkins added 11 points. Oregon
shot 48 % of the field. That's going to win you
a lot of ballgames. And they shot 57 % from three
before cooling to 31 % shooting after halftime.
So you got Illinois tomorrow, 6 p .m., and then
you come back against Washington to finish out
the season. The regular season. And then you
go to the Big Ten tournament. It was tough. And
they had a big lead. in this game as well. They
were up 36 -29 at the break, but then they get
outscored, and that one was just heart -breaking.
Yeah, they had a 12 -point lead in the second
half. It was just gut -wrenching is what it was.
It sucks. It's a bit surprising as well. I mean,
you feel like they're finally getting some momentum,
and then all of a sudden you have a loss like
this on a buzzer beater, basically. It's really
bad. All right, so let's take our break. When
we come back, we'll have Eric Skopel, the great
Skopel Donis, is going to join us. He was at...
for the Sunday senior afternoon game, which was,
you want to talk about disappointment and getting
your heart ripped out against the dreaded Huskies.
Talk from Eric Skopel with his viewpoint. We'll
also hear from Kelly Graves in the last part
of the program as well. We still have a lot to
talk about with softball, with Oregon State men's
and women's basketball, baseball, all of that
on the Danny and Justin radio program. We're
going to hear from Women's basketball coach Kelly
Graves and Oregon women's softball coach Melissa
Lombardi after the weekend events. One a little
bit more positive than the other. But, you know,
Coach Graves is always going to spin it positive,
which is why we love him. We'll talk about that
in the last part of the program. But we're going
to talk a lot of Oregon women's basketball right
now as we welcome in our good friend, our dear
friend, Eric Skopel. You can follow him, Eric
underscore Skopel, on the Twitter. Do you have
a Blue Sky account, Eric? I do, and I was hoping
you wouldn't ask because I couldn't tell you
exactly what I do, but my name is involved in
some way. I do. I do have both. Do that research,
and you can promote it at the end of the broadcast,
but you can follow him, DuckTerritory247Sports.
He joins us, the great Scopal Damas, who covers
football and women's basketball very well, and
we're always happy to have him on. The cathartic
kids or the cardiac kids, whatever you want to
call them, Oregon women's basketball, they just
had it right there in their grasp and they just
let it slip away against Washington, losing 70
-69 in the regular season finale at MKA. Katie
Fiso has 27 points. Ahisa Tute has 21. As Oregon
women drop to 20 -11, 8 -10 the Big Ten, so now
they know they're seeding. They're going to be
taking on Purdue in the last game of day one,
unfortunately. in the Big Ten basketball tournament
in Indianapolis. So your immediate takeaways
from this, Eric, because from my viewpoint is
that sometimes Oregon does not stay as patient
as they should, especially when they're turning
over their opponents. So can we start there?
Am I seeing this correctly? Yeah, well, I think.
So much of this is matchup related for them.
It's funny. I know it was a slip of the tongue,
but they're definitely not the cathartic kids
because I think anybody watching this team regularly
very rarely feels a sense of catharsis because
they're in every game and it just goes one way
or the other. And to your point, oftentimes it
comes down to, you know, getting sped up a little
bit. And I think because they get down by. They
dig holes. They dig holes. They have to fight
all the way back, and they expend a bunch of
energy. This was such a weird one on Sunday where
I don't know how many times out of 100 you're
going to lose a game in regulation when you have
possession with 12 seconds to go in a tie game.
It's hard to do. The circumstances were a bummer.
I think Coach Graves called it a fluke postgame
when we spoke with him, and I think that's what
it was. She's trying to drive to the rim to win
the game with the go -ahead basket. Ball gets
kind of knocked out of her arms. Katie Fiso,
right. Katie Fiso, correct. Ball gets knocked
out of her arms. I know some people suggest foul,
foul or not. Ball pops out. She's just trying
to track the thing down and runs into a Washington
player who's just standing in the corner and
plows her over. You have to call something. Unfortunately,
that's her fifth foul. She goes to the line and
hits one of two free throws to ice the game.
another way to lose a really close basketball
game. And, you know, I think you can kind of
look at it a variety of different ways. And I
do agree with your overall point about just like
in these clutch situations, it seems like the
pace or the tempo that they're playing at is
either, you know, I've seen Fiso at times where
she doesn't get the game winning shot attempt
off. I think that was the case against Wisconsin
in one of those overtimes where. she just kind
of mistimed it this time. She kind of maybe goes
a little too fast. That was what her explanation
was. And this is the ball bounces out and Washington
kind of gets, I would say kind of fortunate that
they went in regulation, maybe not fortunate
that they win the game. Cause it was a very well
played game. I thought by both teams and the
Huskies were deserving victors, but at the end
of the day, it's hard not to get frustrated,
but it's also, you had to put in perspective.
These are, they're two best players by a country
mile or sophomores in their first year starting.
And they're only competitive. Unfortunately,
you get into crunch time, and the execution is
just kind of up and down. And sometimes it works,
and sometimes it doesn't. And unfortunately,
for their resume, it hasn't more times than not
recently in conference play. Now, fortunately,
they're also 8 -10 in conference, 20 -11 overall.
That doesn't scream NCAA tournament berth for
sure, but when you dive deeper into the numbers,
I think they're pretty safely in. Even if they
lost to Purdue on Wednesday, they'd be in, I
think. And obviously they'd be pretty clear if
they win that game, kind of locking that up.
So it's going to be a tournament team, but it's
going to be a tournament team that you look back
and go, gosh, they won 20 regular season games,
but I think we could even sit here. And if you
wanted to pick it through and say, gosh, 24 or
25 regular season games pretty easily with just.
a ball bouncing here better or a little better
execution when it mattered most yeah totally
and i would say that one of the biggest things
has been those slow starts which we talked about
and it was funny you tweeted out during the game
that it was a very similar start to the previous
washington game which you were i think absolutely
correct oregon only scores nine points in the
first quarter washington scores 15 it just sort
of feels like one of those games where oregon
just like doesn't have it together all of a sudden
in the beginning and then they figure it out
the second half completely feels differently
so you know you've watched this team as much
as anybody what have you seen in these starts
of games that have led to the slow starts? Because
clearly they've got the punch at times, but it's
just those first quarters at times. It's just
that they don't have it. Well, and Sunday was
a weird case too, where they did start three
seniors, two of which had not started the game
all season to do the whole senior day thing,
which I'm on board with, you know, like celebrate
your seniors. But they played them for four minutes,
and they were down one after those four minutes,
and they only scored three points in that four
-minute span. So, you know, some of that is just
you didn't have – I mean, Atute didn't play the
first four minutes of the game. She plays 34
minutes total. So I'm not arguing, like, play
her those four minutes and they win the game
because then you're asking her to play basically
marathon basketball. That's unfair on her. But
that contributed there. But in general, the execution
offensively just doesn't seem like it's quite
firing the way it needs to. And I think – it's
unfair probably, but Fiso is the one initiating
the offense. And I think she's, she's so deliberate
at times early, but when she's at her best, and
this is what I think we observed really clearly,
I think Sunday might've been her best overall
game. There's a career high in scoring and kind
of considering the circumstances, but that second
half and really kind of midway through that second
quarter, she just decided I'm going to get to
the rim whenever I want. And when she's aggressive,
this offense is so much better. And I think that's
the difficulty for Graves and the staff because
she also has a tendency to force it, and that
has hurt them at times too. it's kind of this
unique balance of, like, you want her to be aggressive
getting to the rim, but you also want her to
be looking for everybody else and initiating
offense. And at times, I think she resorts maybe
a little bit too much to, hey, I'm going to kind
of be the facilitator here when maybe to start
the games, they kind of need that punch from
her, that aggression, to kind of get the momentum
rolling and put the other team on their heels
because I think you see over the course of games
when... I mean, a ton of credit to this group
because they are resilient and they fight to
the end of every game. And that's why they're
in all these games. And they're usually down
10 to 12 points at some point in the third or
fourth quarter. And then you look up and they're
in a position to win late. And again, whether
or not they do comes down to a couple of bounces
here and there. But I would rather see Katie
look for her shot early in the game and look
to be a little more facilitator as opposed to
the opposite, where I think you see her come
into a lot of games being kind of like, hey,
let's get everybody else involved a little bit.
She's the one who can really take over a game
creating her own shot at least unlike everybody
else and I think you kind of need to lean into
that and especially this part of the season and
she certainly is playing her best basketball,
but maybe kind of just nudging her a little bit
and saying, hey, let's get you going a little
bit here on this first quarter to get some momentum.
Yeah, and you can maybe make the argument that
by getting herself going, then there's going
to be more attention on her. That's going to
be able to open up other players, kick outs,
stuff like that. But totally agree. I think that,
you know, at some point in this game, she just
decided, like, I'm just going to get to the rim.
And Washington couldn't really stop her for a
long time. I think maybe by the end of the game,
they started packing the paint a little bit more.
I just want to do a little projection here real
quick. Okay, so say Oregon gets to the NCAA tournament.
They get to that 8 -9 spot. It seems like that's
likely what they're going to do unless they maybe
get to the semifinals or the final of the Big
Ten tournament. That's pretty much what they
did last year. They get to the second round.
They lose against the number one seed. If that's
what happens this season, and again, that's a
lot of projecting here, is that reaching the
expectation of this season? Because they're young.
Because they're young, you know, and it sort
of feels like this is a totally different team
almost than last year, and it's sort of the beginning
of it rather than last year was almost kind of
the peak of whatever last year's squad was. But
how would you feel, I guess, if that's what happened,
if they get to the second round of the NCAA tournament
and they lose to that number one seed, which
kind of seems like that's the track that we're
going on right now? That's a good question. I
think a lot of it comes down to perspective and
expectation and patience almost. I think I'm
pretty comfortable saying, and one of you said
a second ago they're young. That's kind of what
I was going to say, which is after they had the
disaster three seasons ago where they win two
conference games, I think they lost their last
14 or 15 games of the season. It was a mess.
And people were calling for Kelly's head, by
the way. Absolutely right. Yep. They needed a
year like last year to solidify everything. They
brought in a bunch of veterans. Their four leading
scorers were seniors last year. They brought
in a senior -laden team, and they won a lot of
these kind of close games, by the way, if you
go back and look at it last year. They finished
with a similar record, but the difference was
the games that they were in late, they primarily
won those games. This year, much younger team,
maybe they're at the same record, but... this
year's team isn't winning those close games and
i don't have the splits in front of me i apologize
and that's something i'll probably kind of parse
out this week as we get into the big 10 tournament
but you know they're they're you know they're
in just as many games if not more games this
year there's not final you know finishing them
and so um You know, it's one thing, I think,
to take again, to take us back to say, hey, two
years ago, this was a mess. Last year's team
goes to the tournament. They're all veteran.
This year's team is pretty much all homegrown
in terms of they're building around sophomores
and juniors and players that have been here two
to three multiple seasons. Now they put themselves
in a spot where maybe it is not a step above
last season, but it's a different group and it
lays the foundation. And you can argue that foundation
really could pay off next season and the season
after where. Again, you kind of got to knock
on wood and you have to speak in hypotheticals
at this point because of the transfer portal
and just kind of the nature of college sports.
But if, again, now we're doing more projecting
into this projection, I guess, but if we're to
project that next year's team has Ahis and Katie
and Sophia and Ari and at least Amoebius comes
back and they keep all the key pieces here, that's
where it would be a disappointment to me. where
they don't take that step and they can't get
out of that first weekend. Because next year's
team should be a team that is winning these close
games, that is taking a step up. So I think that's
where I'm at. I'm also understanding of the fan
that says, I'm used to Oregon women's basketball
being in competition for conference championships
and to make deep runs into tournaments. They
were a disaster two years ago. Now they're going
to make the tournament and be a first weekend
exit back -to -back years. I'm kind of disappointed.
I wanted more results. I'm used to this program
delivering a little bit more. I think that's
a reasonable expectation or a reasonable point
of view to have. It's not the one I have, but
I can see where someone can say, hey, they're
going to be 2021 -2022 win team back -to -back
years. This program should aspire for more. And
obviously no one's suggesting Kelly Graves is
going to get fired. He'll have his job, I think,
as long as he wants. But I think I would be more
open to agreeing with that sentiment next year
when these core players are in their third and
fourth season as opposed to being kind of – this
is the first run through for KD and Ahis who
are clearly the two best players on the team.
And it makes sense when those players are kind
of having some growing pains. And frankly, a
lot of the losses they've had have been because
of plays that they have or haven't made at the
end of games. And I don't think that makes them
bad players by any means, but it's just the reality
of kind of going through those growing pains.
And you hope in 2026, 2027 that those aren't
the same mistakes they're making. Give them a
follow at DuckTerritory, at 247Sports, at Eric
underscore Skopel with a S -K -O -P -I -L. The
Danny Justin Radio Program, always happy to talk
to the great Skopel Damas, Eric Skopel, on a
Monday as we look back towards the weekend. And
I'll take a couple of your comments, and this
will be the last one for you, Eric, as we'll
send you off in that good afternoon. We talk
about the youth, and we talk about how this program
is upward -pointing and now back -to -back, and
I think they're already into the NCAA tournament.
I think the Big Ten tournament for them is going
to be about seeding, whether they're going to
be on the 10 line, whether they're going to be
on the 8 line. If they get to the semifinals,
I think they could be on the 7 line because that
would be 23 wins. So I think there's a way you
can parse that. But, I mean, next year, what
you've got coming, although there are no zeros
on the clock yet for this season. I'll put this
season aside yet. But you've got Brooklyn Haywood
coming in. You've got a couple of freshmen coming
in. And that's not even saying what you're going
to maybe get in the portal for Kelly Graves.
And I think there's help coming for this program
as well. And with the core that's coming back,
because again, I'll just emphasize, this is a
very young team. People don't realize how young
this team is. Yes, you're going to lose Mia Jacobs.
Yes, you're going to lose a couple of other players
that have played some interesting roles this
season. However, what you've got coming back,
this is almost a Sabs type of feel to a season.
next season when they're still not done. So what
I want to ask you is this. What is the ceiling
for this team in 2025 -26? For next season? No,
for this season still. I said all that. Yeah,
I want to know what you're – I mean, you said
you kind of walked around it, but if they get
to the semifinals and get into a seven slot,
I mean, is there an opportunity for this team
to learn from what they've done this season and
take that into the tournament and do better?
Rather than next year. Rather than next year.
I see what you're saying. Yeah, no, I think that's
– I mean, here's how I would just kind of approach
this Oregon team against tournament teams. Okay.
They've been in the game in the final minutes
against everybody besides UCLA, besides Ohio
State, and besides Iowa. And those are all teams
that are going to be – UCLA is going to be a
one seed. I think Iowa is a two seed right now
on the ESPN projection. Ohio State, I think,
is a three or a four. So I think those one through
four kind of range teams, and they played Michigan,
by the way, who's going to be a two seed. They
lost that game in double overtime, and they were
in that thing. Michigan State, another team that's
kind of around that range. Mitt Merriman, they
beat, who I think is a projected four seed right
now. So I don't feel super confident seven seed.
through 10 seed that they're going to beat a
one or a two seed just because those teams have
so far, at least this season, it's all matchup
related, right? Maybe they find a team that's
a little smaller. They frankly need it to be
a smaller team. They're lacking interior size
to compete with a Lauren Betts at center and
a bunch of other players that are, not that there
are many Lauren Betts' six foot seven freakazoids
running around. Thank goodness. Yeah. Thank goodness
for Oregon and the rest of the country, or maybe
it would make the sport more interesting if there
were a dozen of them. But my point is like, My
point is that basically you look around and you
go, like, those matchups I think are really tough.
But they've been, again, they can beat anybody
else that's on that 7, 8, 9, 10 line. I think
they'll be certainly competitive. I don't think
they're going to get blown off the court against
any of those teams. And so maybe you get some
momentum and get to that first game. I don't
think it's unreasonable at all to expect that
they can beat a 7, 8, 9, 10 team. I'm a little
wary of beating a 1 or a 2 seed. I just don't
know if I've seen that from them yet. If they
get to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament,
that's going to be a huge story. And I think
it would be a really, really exciting way to
kind of, I hate to bring it back to next year
again, but nobody's expecting this year's team
to compete for a real national, like to be an
actual championship contender, I don't think.
So, you know, it can get some momentum to close
the season. Maybe they pull an upset and they
beat one of those teams. And the hard thing with
women's basketball, unfortunately, is... These
one and two seeds are playing in their home court.
It's ridiculous. Go to Columbia, South Carolina
and beat the Gamecocks. Didn't even think that's
that realistic. And that's one of the projections.
At least ESPN this morning had that as kind of
the setup for the opening round. So I don't know.
I think winning a game feels very doable. I would
be really surprised if they get through a one
or a two. And if they get through a one or a
two, now you just kind of open the door to like,
oh, maybe they get really hot. shoot this that
kind of that seed line is where that Sabrina
team was her freshman season where they did get
hot and made a bit of a run but um I I would
be really surprised and I think if we're talking
ceiling for this year it would be win a game
maybe two or three in the Big Ten and the fortunate
thing with losing to Washington which of course
you didn't really want to do is you do end up
on the other side of the bracket from from UCLA
and otherwise you would have had to run into
them pretty quickly and that probably ends the
the run there, but maybe you win a game or two
there and you win a game in the, in the, in the
NCAAs. And I think if you look up and you say,
Hey, you went 23 and 13 on the season or something
like that, I think you'd feel pretty decent going
into next year. That would feel maybe if they
didn't, even if they don't go further in the
NCAAs, there'd feel like some growth there, especially
because as we've established your, you're relying
on your two best players are first year starters
who really should only get better and better
as, as the years go on. You heading to Indy?
I am not. Okay. Well, you can watch it on the
couch with us. That's all right. We love their
reporting anyway. You don't need to necessarily
be there on purpose. You know what? Eating breakfast
buffets and stuff like that in hotels is way
overrated. I'm just saying that right now. It's
called not found for a reason. Absolutely. All
right, buddy. Well, we'll look forward to your
insights and your comments on as this team moves
forward Big Ten tournament -wise and then into
the NCAA tournament. Thanks for all the coverage,
man. We appreciate you. Yeah, anytime. Talk to
you later, guys. Have a great day. There he goes,
the great Eric Skopel, Skopel Damas, joining
us live on the old teleophone, the Oregon Man
Clinics Hotline at 541 -343 -5673. Hey, let's
listen to Coach Lombardi as Version 8 has now
won six in a row. And they swept through the
Oregon Classic. They've got their... Civil War
game on Wednesday against the Beavs. We'll talk
about that. We'll hear from the coach when we
return on the Danny and Justin Radio program.
Thanks again to the great Scopal Damas, Eric
Scopal, for joining us to talk Oregon women's
basketball as they get ready for the Big Ten
tournament, which begins on Wednesday. Oregon
State men's baseball comes down to PK Park. Bob
Kilkenny field. Tomorrow, 305 first pitch. It's
an early game, but you need to flood the stadium.
as this is the first of three between these two
teams in the Civil War on the diamond, as Oregon
State set down the Hawkeyes of Iowa at Riders
Field in Frisco, Texas, 4 -3. And they are now,
I think they improved to 6 -4 on the season,
as Iowa drops to 7 -4. Oregon State men's and
women's basketball have concluded the WCC regular
season. Oregon State men dropped a game to Santa
Clara, 73. Pardon me, 93 -72. They will start
in the WCC tournament Sunday at 5 .30. They're
already into the quarterfinals as the number
four seed. The WCC tournament, by the way, for
the men, starts on Thursday. It ends on Tuesday.
It is literally almost a week -long tournament.
And you get down the top 12 go, and it's Portland
taking on Pepperdine, the Waves. At 6 p .m. on
Thursday, they're down at Vegas. Gonzaga got
the number one seed in the men's side. So the
women's side, LMU beat Oregon State in overtime.
Tough loss, but Oregon State is now the number
four seed. They will start March the 8th on Sunday
at 11 .30 a .m. as the number four seed. They
are automatically into quarterfinals. They'll
play either Seattle U, Washington State, Pacific,
or Portland. They went 6 -1 against those teams.
Pretty easy to say. Oregon State women probably
into the semifinals. Oregon State men under lame
duck head coach Wayne Tinkle. Who knows? They
have been Jekyll and Hyde all season long. All
right, let's talk about something more positive.
After falling behind 2 -0, number 20 Oregon scored
18 straight runs, pulling away from Sanford 18
-2 Sunday in the final game of the Oregon Classic
at the Jane. We'll talk about Riley McCoy in
just a second. We'll hear from Coach. Lombardi
about that we'll hear from Nails in a moment.
But Oregon's now won six in a row. They're 13
-6 overall as they go undefeated at the Jane.
They started out on the 27th with a couple of
wins over Stetson 10 -1, Idaho State 4 -3. Come
back on Saturday, 4 -1 win over Stetson, 8 -0
win over Samford, and then the 18 -2 win over
Samford to end the tournament. They've got Oregon
State on Wednesday, 6 p .m., up in Corvallis.
Things are starting to come together. And I want
to say come together, but at the same time, Oregon
has played a murderer's row of competition in
the first 10 games of the season. Actually, you
could probably go in the first 12 games of the
season. Right? Oh, no, absolutely. I think that
they're... I don't even think this is just a
local. I think they're one of the more confusing
teams that people are looking at. They don't
really, looking at them, know how good they are.
Because you're playing these teams early on in
the season. They're playing so competitive with
good teams. They didn't win them, though. And
then they have the weekend where they beat all
the ranked teams and they lose to the unranked
teams. So it was really nice, I have to say,
to have a weekend, first of all. Back of the
Jane. And then just to clean up a couple days.
I mean, Idaho State was a little bit closer,
but Stetson and then the Sanford game. Yeah,
I mean, you wanted to see those games. And they've
got Oregon State as well, and Oregon State's
been pretty competitive. They have been. We heard
from Coach Lombardi in the postgame, right, Justin?
Yeah, we did. And talking about Elon Butler,
she's had a really, really nice season so far.
Ten -game hitting streak. One shy of her career
best. And she talked about how... her leadership
it wasn't just on the field and the offense but
also things that us and we we can't see that
i what i would say first and foremost is just
i'm really really proud of her leadership like
the leadership that she is providing us offensively
i love what she's doing that's the things that
you all don't get to see her do you just get
to see the outcomes at the plate but From there
at the plate, she just knows and expects that
she's going to get a hit, and I love that mindset.
This is a tough game, and I just love the mindset.
I love how aggressive she is. Again, she's very
calculated, and I appreciate what she's doing.
11 of 17 at the dish, five doubles, two home
runs, 12 RBIs, had a slugging percentage of 1
.294 and a .684 on -base percentage. By the way,
our girl K -Dub, Kaylin Jones. 3 -64, 4 of 11,
got a home run, second home run of her career,
six RBIs over the five -game Oregon Classic,
meaning she hit .350 or better in all four tournaments
this season. that they've played to open the
season. Taryn Ho, 5 for 10, two doubles and a
triple. Riley McCoy. You want to talk about Riley
McCoy? Because you and I have been talking about
this on the air in the upstart of this season.
All right, so now Riley is 4 for 36, but she
was 2 for 3 in that last game. She hit a big
home run in that first inning. She was a monster.
She pulled one to the left before the previous
pitch, and then she just cranks one out. And
so, man. Huge, huge, huge for this team. And
Coach Lombardi says, how good did it feel to
see Riley hit one over the fence? Riley's so
talented, really good. You know, sometimes you
just have to work through some things. Each year
it's going to be a little different. And I think
she's been great at just being patient and know
that it's going to come and just give it time
to come. So just loved it. I mean, the ball that
she hit before that, she, like, hooked over the
dugout. And, I mean. You know, like she hooked
it. It's not about the hook, but it was the power
that came behind it that I'm like, wow, this
next pitch is going to be scary. So I just love
it. Like she's just so good at what she does.
And I just really like how she's just continued
to stay patient and go after it. This is a player
that was all Big Ten first team last year, not
just all Big Ten freshman first team, all Big
Ten first team as a freshman. And it's been a
really slow start. And coming into the year.
I thought she might be their best hitter this
season, and it just hasn't been going that way.
But it's so good to see her turn it around, and
it's kind of the exact type of series you want
to see it. But it just lengthens the lineup.
You get to see how much more variety and versatility
this lineup has with her hitting well. So I just
can't understate how big I think it is that she's
starting to hit again. Ayanna Shaw also went
6 of 16, 375 for the tournament, two triples.
And by the way, our girl, Remington Hewitt. Got
our first two RBIs of 2026 with a double as well.
Very nice. You've got players, and I love the
way you said that, is the contributions. And
this is what's going to take if you want to build
a potential national championship team. You can't
just rely on two or three people, two or three
stars, or Lindsey Grind taking a majority of
the innings in the circle. You need to have Elise
Sokolski. You need to have Taylor Spencer and
Rowan Thompson and Maddie Millhorn in the middle
doing that work. And you need to have Taryn Ho
and Kalen Jones up the middle playing tough defense.
You need contributions from a lot of people in
a lot of ways. Stephanie Mahake, we haven't really
talked about her that much. I know, and she's
had a slow start too. Bracey Rosa is another
player that, it's tough. You have these two catchers.
It's not going to last all season. Well, and
injuries are a thing. You know, there's so many
things that can happen throughout a season, and
this team, top to bottom, is incredibly talented.
They can fill a nine -person lineup every single
day that you feel confident that every player
can contribute. Absolutely. So we'll talk a little
bit more about this team tomorrow because we'll
look and dissect the matchup between Oregon and
Oregon State, and also tomorrow on the program,
obviously, we're going to talk about Oregon and
Oregon State men's baseball, which is going to
be... On the diamond at PK Park tomorrow at 3
.05. All right, let's do dad joke. Oh, a joke.
I got fired from the bank today. A woman asked
me to check her balance, so I pushed her. Dad
jokes. What did one hat say to the other? What
did one hat say to the other? Stay right here.
I don't know. I'm going on ahead. All right.
All right. All right. That's awesome. Yeah. All
right, so Monday night. What are you boys doing
tonight? Tonight? I'm going to play basketball,
actually. Don't strain anything. I'm going to
try my best. I'm going to try my best. But I'm
excited. Yeah, I don't know. I have an intramural
game, actually. Intramural basketball. Third
round of the playoffs. For our listeners, Blaze
is 6 '4", so he's going to be doing much better
than I will. Yeah, we're going to try to win
today. I'm going to go home. Very nice. You're
not going to go hoop? I'm not hooping unless
I can shoot from three. Be back tomorrow with
the program. Thanks for tuning in for Blaze for
Baby J. I'm Doc. God bless. Be well. Put a smile
on your face. Someone else says they deserve
it. So do you. Peace.