John McKenney Sets the Record Straight on Michigan Basketball

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The Breakdown — John McKenney II Interview Cleaned transcript (timestamps removed; names and basketball terminology standardized) What’s going on, Michigan fans?

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Go Blue.

What’s going on, Michigan fans?

Welcome back to another episode of the breakdown. I’m happy to have this guy on, Trey McKinney’s father, John McKenney II, uh or as I like to call him, Nostradamus, because uh on our first podcast, man, you predicted a lot of this stuff. I I want to say like like 98% you predicted a lot of this stuff.

And you know, the podcast has grown a lot since then.

So, I want to give people an opportunity to kind of, you know, get to know um you and Trey.

But what an incredible season this has been for not just University of Michigan, but for you and your family.

When you look back on it, talk to me a little bit about the progression of where you guys started and and how you got here.

The ride was like none other. I’m going start with, you know, when Trey committed to Michigan, what we thought was was, you know, wasn’t, you know, we didn’t know Nimari was coming back for a sixth year.

We didn’t know Roddy was coming back and um but it all worked out fine.

Roddy and Yaxel kind of put their arms around Trey and he was allowed to kind of be the little brother cuz he doesn’t have any brothers.

He has two sisters and um it allowed him to grow up.

It was the first time in life he ever was in a position where he wasn’t the guy.

So, he had to adjust to playing a role.

And as as the year went by, his role got bigger and bigger as everyone saw. and by the end of the year, you know, it you counted on him like you would count on one of the starters.

Um, I saw a lot of personal growth as him as a father on and off the court.

The run, I think we’ll be talking about this run 40 years from now when we’re all old and on our walkers.

We’ll be talking about the 2025 2026 season of how Michigan went 37 and3 and won the Big 10 championship by four games and went 10 and0 on the road.

Only thing I can really compare it to would probably be you guys’ 1997 national championship run and the 1989 secondchampionship run by the um basketball team.

Yeah, man.

It it’s it’s been incredible, man. I um you know for me you know obviously you know my my roots is obviously in football but you know I’ve been following basketball for I don’t want to say for a very long time. I got into following really Michigan basketball probably when uh Trey Burke years. I’ll say that because it was some dark years before then where Michigan basketball was just completely unwatchable.

And uh so I want to see I started following the the Michigan team back in Trey Burke years with John Beilein and those were some some really great teams.

Um don’t want to take anything from them, but from what I saw from this team from day one was and I think what makes this even more incredible is the fact that he were able they were able to do this with transfers, right?

Mhm.

You know, it’s very hard to get guys to play together, be unselfish, buy in, um, and just, you know, really put the team ahead of everything else.

When you saw Trey, as you said, like Trey was trying to fit into a role because he’s always been the guy.

When you saw the guys that Dusty had assembled, how comfortable did that make you feel as far as like, okay, Trey is going to flourish in this system, irregardless of who’s already in front of him?

Well, I know how hard my son works.

So, for me, I figured it’s going to make him work even harder because now you’re not the best guy in the gym.

You were grown men. I mean, you got think Yaxel was 20, 23.

Roddy 22 23.

Nimari 23 K 24der 22 23.

So it’s iron sharpens iron. I my thought was my thought process was for you to walk in the gym day one and be the best player that’s the wrong gym to go to. I feel like if he’d have went to some of the other places on his um list that were recruiting, he’d have walked in day one the best player.

Yeah, he’d have secondprobably got drafted yesterday or the day before, but I don’t feel like it would have helped him mature as a young man on the court and off the court.

Yeah, you know, and and that’s a that’s a good point, John, because that’s not necessarily um the typical thinking of today’s athletes and their parents, right?

Because they want their kid to be the guy.

They want their kid to kind of go in and be that one year one and done type of type of player.

Whereas you guys took a totally different approach.

It’s like, yeah, they’re bringing Roddy back.

Yeah, they’re bringing all these other guys back, but you’re going to have to find your spot.

And I remember us talking to talking earlier in the year, and I was asking, well, how’s Trey, you know, making that transition?

And you say he’s like, “Dad, I can still get to my spot. I can still make my spot. I could still do all the things that I that I wanted to do, but and still he still had to wait kind of wait his turn and as the year progressed, so did his role. I I feel like that’s more of a what you’ve instilled in him because again, like I said, most parents, they be ready to take their kid out if their kid ain’t starting right away.

Well, I think a lot of it is this generation of parents don’t allow their kids to fail, which I believe hits them in the mouth when they get to the NBA. I’d rather it hit you now at 18, young, 19 versus 21 to 26, and then all of a sudden, you’re now having mental health issues because you’ve never struggled.

You’ve never dropped the ball.

You’ve never failed at something.

It’s okay to fail.

Me and you grew up in a generation where it was normal to fail because that’s how you knew whether the kid wanted it or not. by getting back up and fighting the next day, right?

And I think that’s missing in my son’s generation.

So, I always I tried to raise him and his two younger sisters with more traditional older school values because we both know that’s what works.

Whether it’s sports related or life related, you got to be able to fall secondand you got to be able to have a hand to help them back up and tell them it’s okay.

Go fight another day.

Go fight again.

It’s okay.

These kids nowadays when they see failure or being told no, they go crying and pout in the corner and someone tells them it’s okay.

The adult was wrong, right? I look at basketball, I look at sports as life lessons and if the, you know, basically if life ain’t lifeing, then what are we doing, seconds right?

So that’s like that’s pretty much my spin on it.

And and let let’s talk about this a little bit more about this season.

What was a game where you like, “Okay, Trey, Trey is settling in and he’s being a player that I know he can be.” What was What game was that for you?

Nebraska the shot.

Mhm.

The steal and the shot. I thought that was kind of like him saying, “I’m here.” Yeah.

And walk me through that.

Walk me through that play.

What did you see? I saw a guy get the ball stole. I saw the guy going down the court.

He thought he was by himself.

He had Elliot trailing to his right.

He had Trey yelling, you mean trailing to his left.

He was about to go into his move in order to make a layup to go up to go up three, I believe.

Mhm.

And Trey Trey went under him and swiped it, came back, passed the ball.

They went into their sets.

Yaxel hit him with a no look in the um on the baseline.

Um Hoiberg fouled him, but they didn’t call.

It should have been and one.

He goes up straight cuz V went up with any kind of using his shoulder been offensive foul, right?

He goes up and he scores the bucket. A lot of people don’t talk about it. I don’t know if most people even noticed, but when the guy fell, Trey stepped on him and sprained his ankle.

Oh, okay.

But he didn’t even know it till the next day because his adrenaline was so high.

Right.

And that Friday we played state seconds secondat at Little Brother Arena in East Landfield.

Let me tell you, I I I I love the fact that any chance you get you taking at Michigan State. I I love it. I love it.

Um, you know, let’s let’s talk about again talking about Trey’s trans transition, but you know, Trey has has always had kind of a more mature game, right?

And that turnaround uh jumper that he has a turnaround fade. I mean, he’s already a physical was already a physical guard.

What do you think is the next step for for Trey? like what what what what takes his game to the next level? I believe for him just showing people how athletic he really is. I don’t I think people have questions about his athleticism, but I think him being such a cerebral player first nature to him to just go up and dunk on somebody unless he’s in that frame of mind. I think for him it’s just to show people that you’re very athletic. I think once he shows that consistently, he’s fine.

He’ll be ready for the next level.

Yeah, that’s a good point. I think one of the things that I noticed in Trey is again he’s a a physical player but what to your point what he didn’t show was that burst of athleticism that that you’re talking about and I think to your point he’s a very cerebral and savvy player that he it’s almost like he doesn’t need to do that right not that it’s not in his game it’s just that doesn’t really need to do that he’s going to make the smart play right yeah I might go dunk it.

But the layup might be the more the easier play, the right play to make.

Um, and that’s just a level of maturity you don’t really see in in in a lot of freshman.

But I think you’re right. I think that’s the part of his game that I think maybe people have more questions about because everywhere else, you know, defensively, he’s solid.

And that’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.

Trey’s defense, man.

Like again, most guys his age are not that advanced in being in playing defense.

Everybody wants to score the ball.

It looked like Trey took a lot of pride in playing defense.

He was never, in my opinion, a liability out there on the court.

Um, who do you credit with that on the staff as far as helping him get there?

Coach Bon.

Coach Boynton.

Coach Boynton beyond the boys about defense is never good enough.

So, I think when you keep it like that, guys are always trying, you know, players are always trying to win their coaches approval.

So I think long as you saying, “Hey, you did nine things right and one thing wrong.” You’ll be trying to fix that one thing wrong. I think really I think that’s all it is.

You know, I remember people used to question his lateral quickness.

And it for him it never was that.

It was just really just defense I believe is desire, right?

Either you want to do it or you don’t because you can compete and be a good helpside defender at worst, right?

Trey has always taken pride in his defense from being like fifth, sixth grade playing on the circuit and the coaches would say, “Hey, if you want to be the best player, you got to guard the best player on the opposing end.” Yeah, that’s right.

So, he always took pride in that.

It always was like I used to tell him things like, “Look, don’t tell me you’re a guard.

Guard guard.

You are what you can guard.” I And then another thing I always point out to him, we’d watch 80s games, 90s games, and I’d be like, “Look, son.” Uh, I’d be like, “Look, son.

Look, a point forward is a sexy is a is a sexy word for he he has point guard skills, but he can’t guard a guard.

Right.

Right.

So, what you want to be?

Let’s talk about the championship game, man. I mean, Michigan makes it to the to the championship game.

Talk to me about the the family experience.

What did that feel like for you guys as a family to be in that situation?

Felt great.

Both families were there.

Um, mom’s side, dad’s side, you know. I mean, my side is mom’s side.

It was It was surreal.

If I could use one lively.

It was surreal, man.

You know, you think of these things, you dream of these things.

But when I got when we got there, I kept telling everyone like, “We’re going to blow Arizona out.” Parents like, “Why are you so arrogant about it?” I said, “Just because I I know how these West Coast teams are late. if you get to playing physical with them and the refs don’t call anything.

They mentally check out whether it’s 10U, 17U, college, like it’s just how it is because they refer different out west than they do in the Midwest.

We allow guys to move, you know, we bump guys a little bit out in the Midwest.

And um sure enough, that’s what happened.

So we got to the final and my thought was we there’s no way we can lose this.

There’s no way we can lose this.

We have to beat ourselves in order for UConn to win.

And I mean, they played their best game and we played one our worst and we still won.

The one thing I thought that was going to come back and bite us in the butt was turnovers.

Right.

At one point in the season, I mean, I don’t know, it seemed like we were turning the ball over every other possession.

What I found out with this team is they could beat you in a lot of different ways, right?

If one person was off, you probably had two other guys that you weren’t counting on that was going to light it up.

Whether it was Will Tschetter, whether it was Trey, whether it was Deri, whether it was Roddy coming up with some some big buckets. I mean, the bench was just absolutely crucial to this team’s um success, and they were just able to beat you in multiple different ways.

What was your what was your biggest takeaway for really the strength of the team? I always thought the turnover thing was overrated because if anybody ever noticed, most of the turnovers stop possession versus it’s being a steal and somebody’s going for a uncontested dunk or an uncontested layup.

So, I just felt the layup thing was overrated.

And then if you looked at the stats, we got usually as many offensive rebounds as we did turnovers.

So, those are second and third opportunities.

Yeah.

So, I always felt like they kind of evened themselves out.

Yeah.

You might have had 18 turnover turnovers, but you have 14 offensive rebounds.

And majority of those turnovers were were stopped play.

They wasn’t in the flow of play to where, like I said, they were able to get uncontested fast breaks, right?

So that was kind of my thought process about the turnovers, you know, about the turnovers.

There were it wasn’t live turnovers, right?

That’s the word I was looking for.

Well, John, let’s let’s talk about postseason.

Obviously, some big news.

Dusty May leaves and goes for the the job in Dallas.

Um, I was shocked.

Um, I think everybody else in in in in Michigan world was shocked, but at the same time, I feel like, you know, you got a guy like Dusty May who probably saw this job as a, you know, we’re going to we’re going to build this Michigan program back to where we we believe it should be.

We’re going to win some some championships in the process.

Maybe it’s a three, four year, you know, four, five year plan that they they have that mapped out, but it happens in two years and now Dusty May is now the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks.

Uh, how surprised were you that Dusty took the job or not surprised at all?

Man, knocked the win out of my selves to be honest with you. I was sitting here watching first take. I try to watch like the first 10 s of first take just to get a feel for what’s going on in the sports world.

And I remember like it was yesterday Shams says breaking NBA news and then it says Dusty Mo Dusty May is taking the job for the Mavs.

And I just remember looking at the screen for like four or five s gumfounding. I was and then I pushed pause. I took a picture of it and I sent it to my son and I waited for about 30 s and then he replied back because he was lifting weights at the time.

And um he said, “Yeah, um Dusty resigned.

They’re going to have a team meeting at 11:30 and basically I got to meet with um Warde after the meeting.” Mhm.

And um before then I had five six schools reach out to me like look if y’all interested let me know.

And I know my kid my kid is a loyal person to his core.

Like if he want if he picks something that’s what he going to stick to it till he can’t anymore.

That’s just how he’s wired.

And um I just remember being dumbfounded.

Mad at Dusty.

Not at all.

Cuz I mean at the end of the day you got to do what’s best for you and your family.

So I understand that from being a you know from being a man you know.

Right.

Right. I wish it could have been a scenario to where he told the kids before the media told us.

Right. I’d rather hear from the horse’s mouth.

Um, but mad?

No.

Proud of him?

Yeah.

Because I’m assuming the NBA is probably every coach’s dream goal, right?

It’s like every player’s dream dream is to make it to the NBA.

So, I can’t knock him for that.

Shocked completely.

Like I was blown out the water, you know?

Yeah.

Then to hear then to hear him tell Trey.

Yeah. I can see myself drafting you. seconds So, you know, I’m like I said, I’m proud of him.

Yeah.

Father to father, man to man. I’m proud of him. I’m not I’m not I didn’t say anything on social media to us because like I said, I’ve never had anything but pleasant conversations and stuff around Dusty and his family. I wish them well.

Like I said, you know, I see I see the why.

The why is you get to coach Cooper Flagg.

You get to coach pros.

You ain’t got to do all the NIL space stuff.

You can just go and be a coach and get paid more to just coach.

No recruiting none other stuff. I just got to coach. I ain’t got to have two hour, two and a half hour practices. I ain’t got to have the NCAA changing their minds and their opinions every July about this, that, and the fourth.

So, I mean, like I said, for him, I mean, kudos, man. I mean, like I said, you do you do things like win championships and turn programs around ultimately to have your dream job.

Yeah, man. I I try to tell people that, you know, at the end of the day, this is a business and um no matter how how much, you know, you want to talk about, you know, uh loyalty and stuff like that, this is still this is a business and um and it’s a hard business, right? like you just mentioned, like, you know, I got to recruit.

Um, I got to worry about NIL. I got to worry about uh other teams going and getting international players.

Uh, because the minute you start losing, um, nobody gives a about you losing to international players who are 23 and seconds24 years old, they only care about what, you know, what you’re doing for me today.

And you know, when you look at the landscape of of just college sports in general, it’s essentially a professional organization with the amount of turnover that you have to deal deal with.

That’s what separates it from the pros because once I sign once you sign a contract of the pros, you here, right? I ain’t got to keep going out every year, re-recruit you, re-recruit you, re-recruit you, you know, and do all the other stuff and travel.

And and I think it was a a bit of foreshadow when they talked to Dusty after the season where he was like, “Yeah, I haven’t really had a chance to enjoy it because as soon as the championship was over with, the next day we on on the phone talking to the transfer portal opens, right?

We got to get in the portal and start having conversations.” So it ain’t just it it ain’t the typical normal coaching grind anymore.

Now you got to be general manager, you got to be the recruiter, you got to be father figure, you got to be literally everything.

And uh and at that point it starts to take away the passion of coaching, I believe.

And I think if you listen to past Dusty’s um interviews, it it kind of foreshadowed that that was if there was going to be any one thing it was going to be that and the opportunity presented itself and he jumped on it.

So I I can’t be mad at him.

And not only that, the thing is he doesn’t he’s in a situation to where they they can be in the playoffs next year, right?

So and not only that, you can coach and spend more time with your family. I mean this money.

Yeah.

Yeah.

For more money.

Yeah.

It’s a win-win.

Yeah.

It’s definitely a win-win.

So, let me ask you, did you guys did you guys have a conversation with with Warde at all?

Did you have to have a conversation with him?

How did the how did the process of, you know, because Trey made the announcement that he’s coming back?

How did the the process work with um come back or how did that even play out?

Trey told Warde, no uncertain terms, I need I want Mike Boynton. I’m not trying to hear them other dudes second because what a lot of people don’t realize is on the outside Boynton was a lot of these guys main recruiter outside of Cadeau.

Cadeau was u Dusty’s recruit because Dusty and his prep school coach were best friends and he ended up taking a job at MCN State.

So that’s how we played McNeese State this year.

Mhm.

So, I say all that to say like people are expecting all this huge turnover.

No, I don’t see it.

You guys have one guy that might maybe two, but I don’t see it being a huge and I see that possibly being the freshman. I don’t see that being the upper classman or the or the um the portal guys.

Mhm.

Because like I said, Boynton was their guy was most of these people may recruit.

Well, I guess that’s the that’s the stuff that people don’t know about.

They just think, well, hey, the head coach recruited everybody.

That’s not true, right?

And it’s not true in most cases.

Yeah. I mean, I think you know that from, you know, playing football is that, you know, some guys are head coach recruits.

Most guys are associate culture recruits.

Yep.

Yeah. I I didn’t know uh in case was Yeah.

Right.

In in Trey In Trey’s case, he was recruited heavily by both.

And I say this, not even air. I say this humbly.

Most five stars and high four stars are recruited differently than everybody else. I think you probably know that.

Mhm.

They’re recruited differently.

So in those cases, you do get the head coach, but if you like a mid four, low four, you know, three, two, whatever, typically this is an assistant coach.

But in that in this case, Boynton is a great recruiter.

So I say again, if you’d have brought in the Billy Donovan, the Josh Schwarzes and all them guys, the team would have fractured, man.

Listen, I I I think people underestimate what and to your point, you know, they see Dusty May is the is kind of like the face of of the program, but that’s why you have staff, right?

Because Dusty can’t be in every all places at the same time and he can’t deal with everything and he can’t coach every position. secondEverybody has a role and like we were talking earlier like Fred Jackson was my recruiter, was my position coach.

That was the guy who I had the relationship with. I didn’t have a relationship with Gary Moeller. I didn’t have a relationship with Lloyd Carr.

Those relationships didn’t happen until really my junior and senior years.

But the person who I interacted with the most was position coach.

So just like in basketball, if you have a guy who’s, you know, the the post player coach or whatever, you’re dealing with him more than you are with anybody else.

That’s the guy who’s probably going to know you more than everybody else.

Uh, you know, talk I know and I know you guys have a a good relationship with co with Coach Boynton because he did didn’t he speak at uh at trade day?

Yeah.

At you guys have a relationship.

Talk to me a little bit about him his who he is as a person as a coach.

Man, where do I start?

Um, I love that man and and his family off the court as well as on the court.

He’ll give you the shirt off his back.

He, like I said, his kids are down to earth and sweet.

His wife is down to earth and nice.

Like, they’re just great people, man.

Um, he’s very humble.

He’s very he’s one of the guys, but he’s also he also commands respect. I even watch from a distance and how his relationship is with with Kade and his entire family, and it’s like you can tell there’s a lot of love. there between them.

Like Mike, Mike is probably, in my experience, Dude’s just a great dude.

Like, it’s hard to even come up with words.

He’s just, like I said, he’s just, you know, it’s gotten to the point him and Trey being so close.

He just started training Trey.

Like, literally before practice, after practice, he’s teaching him how to take a day off, a week off his body.

Cuz my kid is one of them kids, he’ll do two or three a days every day if you let him.

Like, he got through to him like, you need to take a day off and stuff like that.

And you know, he’s kind of taught Trey some things.

He’s like, Trey is the hardest working kid I’ve ever had in any in any school or any and like I said, he’s got through to Trey like, “Hey, you got to do better, you know, by your body.

You got to get your body sometimes a day or two off prime.” Case in point, I’m give you this story real quick.

Thursday after he won a national championship, Treasy’s lifted guys like, “What are you doing?” He was like, “Y’all want to win back to back, right?” He was like, “I’mma be the leader here. I got to be in the gym.” So then Matt kicks him out.

So he goes downstairs, gets to shooting, and Boynton like, “What are you doing in here? Y’all want to win back to back, right?” They’re like, “Yeah, but Trey, you got to give yourself a week or two off.” He was like, “I don’t know how to give myself a week or two off.” That’s I’ve never done that in my life.

Like if you love something and you want to be great stuff, you got to work at it, right?

So long story short, they kind of like had to cut his key to get him out the gym. like he like but again most people not being Boynton for his coach to tell him that he’ll probably just blow him off right but he actually did take the two weeks offc you know what I’m saying because of they got through to him about protecting you know protect them they’re pretty much trying to protect him from himself um what about what about coach as a coach like talk to me because I know he was a head coach at Oklahoma State um I don’t know if he got a a raw deal at Oklahoma State it wasn’t to me it wasn’t the greatest situation. I don’t think it’s indicative of his abilities, but I also know that, you know, if you going to work for Dusty May, you have to be good at your job.

Um, I’ll put it like this.

He was there for seven years.

When he got there, the pro the program was on probation.

He worked there through most of his tenure with reduced scholarships and got them to the NCAA tournament on a couple different occasions.

He was able to recruit and get Cade Cunningham for a year.

Um, they, like I said, that’s a hard place to recruit.

No one’s trying to go to Stillwater, Oklahoma.

That’s a hard place to sell. secondYeah.

So, you, like I said, you take all that into it and he did well and then you talk to Kade and his brother about Boynton, they face kind of bright light up like Mines does about him. I’ll say that to say honestly, I think he’s going to be great. I think it’s almost going to be like Lloyd when he replaced Gary Moeller, right?

People were screaming up and down, we need so and such and such and so and so.

And it was like what you need, what you had and what you needed was already in house.

Yeah.

Nobody wanted uh Lloyd.

Like literally the seniors, Rod Payne and all those guys. I can’t remember who was the uh athletic director right now uh with back then.

But Rod who was it Bo?

No.

No.

Bo wasn’t the athletic director.

Who was the athletic director back then?

Um, I can see his face, but I can’t um I can’t think of the name.

But they went to him.

They were like, “If Lloyd, was it Dave Brandon?” No, definitely wasn’t Dave Brandon.

Whoever was before Dave Brandon.

Like, I can see his face clear as day.

Um, wasn’t Dave Brandon.

God, man, it’s going to drive me crazy.

Um, but they went to him and they said, “Listen, if it ain’t if it ain’t Lloyd, man, we we gonna transfer.” And it was like, so you had a a group of seniors that went to the athletic director, wanted Lloyd.

Nobody wanted Lloyd.

Everybody wanted uh the head football coach at Colorado, Bill McCartney.

Bill McCartney.

Yeah, they wanted Bill McCartney.

That’s cuz he was a Michigan guy.

And um and if they would have went and got Bill McCartney, I’m not saying we wouldn’t have won with with Bill McCartney, but that 97 team was built off of the struggle of 94, 95, and 96.

And those years not only helped shaped us as players, but also helped shape Lloyd Carr as a head coach.

So, I think you’re right as far as like how this is kind of matching up, but to have the ability to come back to bring back Trey and Elliot Cadeau.

Um, this team looks like they still can make a run for the national championship.

What’s your outlook for for next year back to back?

There you go. I mean, that pretty much sums it up because I’m not going to doubt you because you predicted it last year.

Um, and I agree, man. I think if if everything stays the way it is and um you know you you’re still able to bring in the the transfer portal guys, you’re still able to keep pretty much all the guys are already there on campus.

This team is still dangerous, man. I don’t think anything changes.

Do you think any Do you think anything changes or do they just keep the dusty system the way it’s in in place? I think they keep the dusty system but then Boynton puts put some of his own little touches on it too.

Yeah, I I really do.

Like I said, if they’re able to keep the big F, I believe we really don’t we don’t lose much. secondYeah.

If he can keep him, man, that kid got I was watching his highlights the other day, man, and I love his game.

He’s got a face up game, turnaround.

Uh he got that Dirk Nowitzki step back that he he has uh run he’s and he’s more athletic than Mara. uh runs the floor even better than Mar and um and and so there there’s no drop off.

Now he might not be the passer that Mara is, but yes, you know, but he’s good at everywhere else that you need him to be good at.

Yes, I totally agree.

That’s why honestly I believe we won’t be we won’t lose too much.

And I I think another kid to watch out for is Costello, Quinn Costello and Brandon McCoy.

Yeah, I I ain’t going to lie. I was shocked Brandon McCoy committed.

We just don’t usually get I was I was those type of players that that the the the tie is his AAU program director is from Detroit.

Oh, really?

Oh, Boswell.

He’s the coach for the family.

So, knowing that and knowing how Cali kids love the Flint and Detroit culture and the and the hip hop and all that, it’s a draw.

It’s a draw.

Yeah.

You go out there, that’s all you hear is our music.

Oh, really?

Yes.

They everybody like uh what’s my man Tee Grizzley?

Everybody like Tee Grizzley.

Babyface E.

Uh all that stuff.

Yeah.

That’s all you hear out there.

That’s what’s up.

And let me ask the last question, John.

How confident are you that they do keep everything together?

Confident? I I think some I mean law averages it’s 10 kids.

Someone’s going to leave.

Mhm. I just don’t believe it’ll be an upper classman. I think it’ll be one of the freshman.

Someone throws a little bit more money or entices it and that’s it. I don’t really think none of the I don’t think any of the upper classman leave.

Mhm.

If they do, I’ll be shocked because they have all the what’s they can go probably renegotiate NIL and stuff like that.

Yeah.

And and there there’s money there.

You got Dusty’s buyout money back.

So, there’s definitely money to to renegotiate to make everybody happy and feel whole.

So yeah, I don’t see especially now that you have what it’s like it it was 15 days and now it’s 30 days right before anybody can can hit the portal.

So that kind of works in in in favor.

But yeah, I just don’t see again understanding how sports works and how coaching um staffs work. I don’t see much movement either or change because you build relationships with these guys.

Um, but man, John, I appreciate you coming on, man.

Looking forward to uh this year.

Now, we got to bring you back on again before the season start.

Please do.

And we’ll do uh we’ll we’ll do a breakdown again and see where we at then.

All right.

Anytime.

All right, brother. I appreciate it.

Appreciate you.

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