Hosts Mike Guidone and Chris Caputo begin the show by welcoming James Forrest, former member of the men’s basketball team at Georgia Tech. He hit a game winning shot in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 1992 against USC. He had not made a 3-point shot all year and wound up hitting a 3 at the buzzer to win the game. An unlikely hero who became a tournament legend. 

Then, Scott Cross, the head men’s basketball coach at Troy University in Alabama joined the show to discuss their upcoming NCAA tournament game against Kentucky and despite being the underdog, they are very confident in their chances based on the tough schedule they played this year in order to be prepared for this moment

To close out the show the guys welcome Charlie Ward, the Heisman Trophy winner and former New York Knicks player, who reflects on his dual-sport career and his current endeavors in coaching and community service.

Takeaways:

• The show featured a discussion about the significance of NCAA March Madness and the excitement surrounding the tournament.
• James Forrest recounted his experience hitting a buzzer-beater shot in 1992, a pivotal moment in NCAA history.
• Coach Scott Cross shared insights on his team's preparation for the NCAA tournament, reflecting on their season and achievements.
• The conversation highlighted the importance of teamwork and resilience in achieving success in college basketball.
• Charlie Ward discussed his transition from football to basketball, illustrating the challenges and decisions faced by dual-sport athletes.
• The show emphasized the value of mentorship in sports, particularly through the experiences of the guests as they guide young athletes.

The views expressed in the following program do not necessarily represent those of the staff, management or owners of WGBB.

Live from the WGBB studios in Merritt, New York, this is Sports Talk.

Savage95.9.

12:40Am this is Sports Talk New York.

And that music can only mean one thing.

The madness has begun.

I'm your host, Mike Coydone, along with the man we call Cappy, Chris Caputo.

We have two full hours tonight, folks, of basketball, just madness.

Scott Cross, head coach at Troy University, who will be playing in the tournament.

Then at 8:30, we're joined by New York former great Charlie Ward, Heisman Trophy winner, New York Knicks Player, 9:00, Chris Jenkins from Villanova Fame, who hit the buzzer beater.

Then we'll be joined by Will Brown, former coach at University of Albany.

9:30, Lenny Acuff, head coach, Lipscomb University.

They're in the big dance as well.

And then we're hoping to wrap it all up with James Jones, our friend from Y.

I'm out of breath right now.

Crap, you haven't even started yet.

This is going to be exciting.

I'm glad we got this all lined up.

Brian Graves, on the other side of the glass is going to have a lot to do tonight, but this should be fun and hopefully for some of you it's going to relive some memories.

Absolutely.

And you know, that one shiny moment is going to happen for a lot of teams and I think this is going to be a good tournament.

Bracket has come out and we'll talk to a couple of coaches, as you said tonight.

But we're also going to relive some history and I hope we have some fun.

Absolutely.

And our first guest is Mr.

James, this is Mike and Chris up in New York.

How are you doing tonight?

I'm doing good, guys.

Thanks for having me.

How are you guys doing?

We're doing great.

I appreciate you coming on.

And Mike and I are going to try and relive some stuff for you.

So you were a freshman in 91 92, and you're playing on a team with a decent bunch of players for Bobby Kremens and you guys make the NCAA tournament, win your first round matchup, correct?

Correct.

All right, so now we're in a game with usc.

It's going back and forth.

We're going to play a couple of clips from this and you can kind of run us through what's going through your head as each of these things happen.

All right, so your team was leading by one at this point.

Go ahead.

So we had, we had the ball.

I think we about to dribble the ball out of bounds.

Yeah, we're getting there.

So yeah, we're starting out.

Yeah.

Rodney Chapman hits a shot for USC.

2.2 seconds.

You call timeout.

And we're curious what before, before that you're in the huddle with coach Kremens.

Is he telling you to get the ball to half court and then do something from there?

Do you remember?

Or was it a.

Well, he was trying to get us to get the ball to half court and call a timeout right quick.

So we were supposed to run, I believe it was a stack and get the ball at half court and try to call a timeout.

Okay.

I think the ball, as we tried to, as we got it in bounds, it might have went off someone leg.

He might have went off someone with about 0.8 seconds left.

All right, we're going to play that part right now too.

It has to be all the way down.

I had to put Guy go all.

The way down here.

It goes down to Travis.

No, no, not today.

There's no way.

And it's off the leg of Chapman.

Eight, ten of a second.

Okay, so now there's eight.

Now there's eight tenths of a second.

And you're option number one, right, James?

No, I'm option number three.

I'm not even an option.

The play is designed for either John Barry or Travis Best.

So they were supposed to come out.

John was supposed to come off a screen, pop out if he was defended, then Travis was supposed to pop off.

What they did is I believe they switched on both of them and Matt Geiger was inbounding the ball.

And I just saw Matt almost getting a five second count and he just started like almost panicking.

And I was at the bottom of the base on the box.

So when I saw that happening, I just ran from the box screaming his name and pop out because we.

Bobby had already told us it's a catch and shoot.

We can't really nothing.

Whatever we do, we got to catch and shoot it.

That's why it was for John O'Sley, because those were our best three point shooters at the time.

Of course.

All right, we're going to run through the last point.

Eight seconds.

Here we go.

Holy Max.

Before you started laughing, James, I was Going to say we could hear you smiling through the radio.

No, that would, that, that gives me chills, man.

Every, every time I see that or hear about this during March, it's just.

It'S an awesome feeling to be a.

Part of the NCAA March Madness time.

Talk about 30 some years later.

35 years.

It'll be 35 years on the 21st of this week.

So James, tell us what's going on through your head after you make the shot.

Because the crazy thing is I've watched this thing over and over and, and when you hit the basket, Matt Geiger, who was the inbounder is actually under the basket catching the ball.

So he obviously was trying to go.

I don't know if he thought there was going to be a rebound, but what are you going through after you hit a shot like that?

So after I hit the shot I was just, I mean it was just, you know, an exhilarating feeling and I just remember running down the middle of the court, pumping my hands and my, all my teammates were just jumping on me.

Yes, yes.

And then we had a couple guys that were walk ons that were just congratulating me like Pod Harleycut, James Gaddy and those guys, they were just, you know, three, four.

That's awesome.

And say it all kind of explicit, but it was just a unreal feeling.

And what happened when I got, by the time I got to coach Clemons, he was like, holy shit.

I'm so excited because I think early in that day they announced the, the Rookie of the Year award and it went to Bob Sir.

Even though I led all rookies in scoring, like I averaged 13 and a half points and sir averaged like 11 and a half points that they gave the rookie the year to.

Sir.

So he's like, that's how we stick it to him.

That's how you stick it to it.

I was like, I wasn't even thinking about it.

I was like, Coach, we, we, we beat Surly Cow, man.

We're going, we're going, we're advancing, man.

We going to the sweet team.

We're advancing because Southern Cal, that was one of the best teams that they had in a while and Coach Ravine had done such a great job with those guys all year, you know.

So it was.

They had Harold Miner who they considered Baby Jordan and you know, they had aspirations of possibly getting a Final four that year.

But before Mike asks you a question, I just got to tell you, James, I was up in my bedroom, I lived in the attic of my parents house and I had Three of my friends around me and I will throw it to them all the time.

We love that situation.

We took my mattress and flipped it upside down.

When you made that shot, it was probably the same celebration that you guys had on the court, but we almost broke a few things.

It was absolutely insane.

That was incredible, man.

Every time I see that, you know, it really puts a smile on my face and just glad to be a part of history, you know.

Just really glad to be a part of history.

Well, James, yeah, you really, you really are truly part of, of the tournament's history and the folklore.

So we were going through some stats and things, and if, correct me if I'm wrong, you had only taken three threes up to that point the entire season.

You catch the ball, you turn, you literally, you hit it nothing but net.

I mean, it was literally like you were, you know, a typical three point shooter, right?

Oh, I mean, I'm speechless just thinking about it.

I mean, it was nothing but net and the holy mackerel.

But as Chris said to you before, I mean, obviously jubilation and you're running onto the court and your teammates and Coach Clemens at that moment, he's all about you.

He's talking about, you know, that you stuck it to him and not winning that award.

That's a great story.

Yeah.

No, it was crazy.

And the funny thing, when I look at the, when I, when I look at the highlights, he was actually on his way walking down to go see a coach wrestling.

He had to turn around.

He just stopped halfway and looked back and just ran back the other way, jumping up and Coach Dillon, Coach Hebron and Cameron, those guys were all on the court just running.

It was crazy.

It was crazy, man.

It was snowing in Milwaukee.

It was so much snow there.

I mean, we were stuck in the hotel anyway.

We couldn't go anywhere.

And it was just a great celebration afterwards, man.

It was just great.

So every time I saw Coach Ravlin after that, he just always say something, you so and so.

You talk you.

That was the end of my career right there.

That was my best team.

I had you so and so.

He was with Nike.

When I went overseas and played overseas, he used to always send me gear and stuff.

But it was great, man.

It was great.

Yeah.

And they had mentioned before you hit the shot that Coach Ratling and all, he had never been, I believe to the second round, they always had some tough upsets.

So it was almost like a foregone conclusion that they were going to win the game.

And then boom.

You Come out.

So no wonder coach was kind of walking down to shake hands.

I just wanted to ask you real quick.

I was very lucky.

One time I sat next to Coach Kremens on a flight.

I was going to a Nike coaches clinic and he was the first speaker.

It's early in the morning and I'm sitting next to him.

And he could not have been more gracious in answering my questions.

I mean, I'm a young coach.

He doesn't know me from Adam.

Was he that good of a guy?

You know, just as coach, I mean, if you could just tell us for a minute, you know, what it was like playing for us in general.

Coach Crimmings is, I mean, even to this day, he's just a special human being.

There's only one Bobby Crimmings.

You know, that's the one thing about him.

He's a selfless person and he's going to be.

Listen, we've seen him stop.

People have stopped him on when we're walking through the airport, people have stopped him when we're at dinner.

He would stop his meal to take pictures and speak to people.

He's literally the people's person, you know, and that's, that's literally what you would want in someone.

But he, his time, that matter is never too valuable for something to speak to someone, to sign an autograph, to give, you know, to give you information.

And that's who he is to this day.

You know, that's the one thing, like I kept telling everyone that even when Coach Stoudemire got the job at Texas.

So listen, you know, it's going to be hard to try to be replace Bobby.

But the one thing about him, like his time, he gave everybody the time of day.

It was, it doesn't matter who it was.

He would sit down, give you his time to speak to you, sign autographs, whatever.

We still talk all the time to the day.

He's still my like my big pops again.

Now James, you hit a shot back in February to beat Maryland.

So it wasn't your first game winner.

But then the next year in December, you're playing at the Georgia Dome and your team's losing and you hit another 24 footer to win that game.

Talk a little bit about that shot too.

Now the crazy thing about that shot, that play was designed for me, okay?

Believe it or not?

Well, he knew you were the man then.

Well, what happened was.

So we played in the Dome against Louisville, Denny Plum's team, and I had the first dunk in the Dome when we played him.

And then we were, like you said, the game was close.

So what coach did is he called a timeout and he designed the play and he said, james, I want you to flash up, catch the ball at the top of the key, and just turn around and shoot.

If you guys go back and look at it, I believe it was Rozier or someone, Clifford Rosier, who may have been at the top of the key.

But what ended up happening, he stuck his hand up and I had to catch and double pump that shot and then shot it in.

Yeah, so that was.

That was probably a little.

Couple of a shot.

I had a little more time to do it on, redesign that play.

And the same thing happened at Virginia.

I think I had a baseline shot against Virginia for a game winner as well.

Those plays were kind of calling for me at that point.

Yep.

It said, it said that that one came from Brian Hill, pass it to you, and you had to go around Greg Miner, he tried to block you.

I know we don't have that much time, but before we get to one question about your team now, can you talk a little bit about the next year you went in and you played Southern University and you guys had a 14 point lead at one point.

You're up five at the half.

And then kind of tell me the story about what happened at halftime.

So we.

So we're up halftime, we're walking off the floor, and Malcolm Mackey says to Javon Scales, he said, hey, man, are you guys a Division 1 or a Division 2 team?

And Javon Scales looked at him with this look, this crazy look.

And all I remember we went in the locker room and it's almost like we were literally walking past their band because their band was up in the sand.

So we're walking past their band and we get in the locker room and we just hear the loudest noise.

They were just playing so loud at halftime.

Then Ivano Travis was stretching, and then Ivano Newbill kind of sat on his back a little bit, pulled a muscle in Travis's back.

So now we're like, Travis may not be able to play the second half.

They're still kicking our butts.

We got out the second half and those guys that turned it around on us big time.

And Javon Scales got drafted off of that game.

I think he had.

He had 30 and something it was a double double he had against them.

Yeah, he had 17 just after halftime.

So Malcolm definitely said something to spark him.

Oh, to get it fuel the fire.

Yeah, he threw gasoline on that fire.

It was over with, man.

Those guys jumped on us the second half.

That's the.

That's the basketball gods, unfortunately, that paid you guys back.

Stay humble.

Stay humble till the game.

00 on the clock.

We'll finish up.

One more thing.

Tell us a little bit about what's going on at Georgia Tech and how, you know, you being the right hand man.

So.

Yeah, so we're, you know, we've won.

10 games this year, which is the.

Most that we've won.

It's only happened three times, you know, with coach Hewitt and then Josh Cassman did it.

Now the Dame's done it.

We've been dealing with a lot of injuries, but you know, the guys that never gave up, they just fought.

We've been playing with seven guys, man, since Christmas.

We're down a couple starters, but the guys have fought hard and you know, our job is just to try to bring the right kids in, quality kids.

You know, we're not getting caught up in the nil space.

For me, it's like AAU.

I ran an AAU program for 15 years, so I look at it, you know, as grassroots, as Aaurus.

And it's just all about finding the right kids and being able to coach them up.

You know, we've been very, very fortunate in bringing the right group of kids together, you know, so we still got.

Work to do, man.

But hey, it's been a successful season.

You know, we hopefully we're just waiting around later on to get an nip bid and you know, keep the postseason going.

James, we appreciate the time you gave us tonight.

We wish you the best and hopefully we'll have you back on to talk some good stuff about Georgia Tech in the future.

Absolutely.

Appreciate the combo, guys.

Okay, thanks.

That's our first buzzer beater of the night.

And now we're going to be going to current day and we're very pleased and lucky to be joined by the coach of Troy University, Coach Scott Gross.

Scott Cross.

Coach Cross, how are you tonight and congratulations on making the tournament.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Doing great.

It's a great day to be a Trojan.

The streamers come down from the championship.

I'm sure that was a great day for you guys.

What's it been like from then up until Tonight?

Yeah.

I was a young hotshot coach that had all the answers and thought it was going to happen every year.

And here it is, 17 years later, you finally get back and so you definitely appreciate it more the second time around.

And yeah, after it happened, about 2:00 in the morning, we finally get back to the hotel.

My wife and I go on the balcony overlooking Pensacola beach and you just want to sit there and you don't want the night to end because it was a magical game and a magical moment and you dream about it.

You work so hard, there are so many heartbreaks, so many tears, and then finally get back.

It definitely is a blessing from above and we're super, super thankful for it and we're excited about the opportunity to play Kentucky.

We know it's not going to be an easy game, but the Troy Trojans are ready to go and I believe our guys can be extremely competitive and if they don't bring their best basketball, then it could be a long night for them.

Well, Coach Cross, you certainly played a tough non conference schedule this year.

Arkansas, Oregon, Houston, I mean, surreal big time schools.

And then in your conference tournament you certainly got hot and really, I mean everything was double digits.

If I'm right, you split your season series, regular season with Arkansas State, a couple close games and then in the final 94, 81 victory.

What was the difference between your team a little earlier in the year as opposed to your conference tournament?

Yeah, honestly, I think in those earlier games we were a seller of the team that we are right now.

And you know, we're at our highest net and highest Ken Palm right now, so we're definitely playing our best basketball.

But what happened is we had, you know, preseason first team all conference, Miles Rigsby, and then we had 13 all conference Tayton Conaway and you know, you got all kinds of different guys.

You know, they're coming back and probably putting a lot of pressure on themselves and you know, trying to meet expectations and it's just so much pressure on them.

And I think, you know, about three weeks left in the season, I had a conversation with Miles Rigsby and I was like, hey man, I get like how much pressure you have?

I was like, man, just go out there and have fun playing the game.

Just you need to be joyful.

Like there's, you know, just live in the moment, go out there, have fun, lay it all on the line.

You know, the Reason you're great is because you're a tough guy.

You're a street dog, you know, so just don't worry about tomorrow.

Don't worry about, you know, expectations, any of that.

Just go out and play.

And I think, you know, he's just kind of.

He's kind of found himself, and I think we really, really feed off of him.

He's our identity in terms of our toughness.

He sets the tone.

You know, a lot of times, we'll put him on the opposing team's point guard, our best player.

And, you know, that first win on the road against Arkansas State, leading up to it, you know, we were going to put him on.

Kobe Julian, who was a player of the year in the conference the year before, that's their power forward.

But then right before the game, I honestly started watching and I was like, man, Terrence Hyde's the guy that makes him go like, man, we need Miles on him.

And, you know, we didn't know how it would fit if we made the change that late.

And he's walking down for pregame.

I was like, hey, Miles, what do you think about, you know, changing your matchup?

He's like, what, Gordon?

Terrence Hyde?

I was like, yeah, I think you need to go with Taren Todd.

He's like, oh, yeah, for sure.

I'm ready, coach.

I'm up for it.

And I was like, man, what a breadth of fresh air.

Like, he doesn't back down from any challenge.

I mean, Taron, Todd, Kobe, Julian's good, too, but, like, tarant.

Todd has the ball in his hands.

He's getting 80% of the pick and rolls.

You know, he can score inside and outside, and just for a guy to just not worry about anything and do whatever it takes to win basketball games, and he set the tone.

And once he went out there and let Arkansas State know that we were going to be tough and physical, it just transcended our team.

And obviously we went on to win that game on the road.

But I think that's the biggest difference is just getting him back playing his best basketball.

And I think he establishes our toughness identity.

Again, we're talking with Scott Cross from Troy University in Troy, Alabama.

Coach, you guys are up there as far as offensive rebounding is probably top 15 in the nation at times, top 10.

And also your field goal percentage defense is pretty good.

I know you're up against maybe a taller Kentucky team than maybe what you face during the regular season, but talk about a couple of those things and how they might help you in the tournament.

Yeah, there's a couple stats that stick out where I think we're fifth in offensive rebounding percentage on Ken Palm and I think we're 15th maybe in steals and you know, top 30 or 40 and field goal percentage, defense, all things that we pride ourselves on.

I mean, we do have our own flaws in terms of turning the ball over and at times defensive rebound has been an issue for us.

But you know, when you can get extra possessions by turning the opposing team over and then also getting extra possessions with offensive rebounds, I think that's a great recipe to go in there and upset somebody.

And so our guys, it doesn't matter who we play.

Like, you know, we've played Arkansas, if I'm not mistaken, we may have out rebounded them even though we lost that game.

You know, our guys are really, really tough minded.

We rebound a lot with five guys, you know, and that's been our formula for success.

When we get, you know, 10 more field goal attempts than opposing team, you give yourself a really good chance of winning.

We know Kentucky is an elite offensive team.

It's not going to be an easy task.

But you know, I think our guys know that the only thing that matters right now is winning a basketball game and they'll be willing to do whatever it takes to win that game.

And I definitely expect us to play our hardest, toughest game we've played all year long.

One more X's and O's things.

You, you kind of go from what I see, a 9 to 11 man rotation.

Do you think that you're going to try to stick with that in the, in the postseason or are you going to try and cut that down?

I know you got a couple of Rigby's on the team, a couple of Campbells on the team.

So I know you try and get them all in.

But do you change that philosophy in the postseason?

No, I would imagine that we would play at least 10 guys, possibly 11.

I mean, I think that's part of our success is, you know, wearing teams down.

Shot goes up, you know, we're rebound at 5, we're going to pick them up full court.

We're going to, you know, try and just grind them and get those extra possessions.

So I don't think that'll change.

You know, our 11th man typically is a third five man.

So you know how those big guys are.

They tend to get, you know, two fouls early on and you know, you have to be a little bit careful in the rest of the first half.

So then, you know, it becomes easier to play in the 11th, man.

So that's definitely one of our advantages and part of our DNA.

We believe in all our guys and you know, every single one of our guys that has been on the floor during critical moments has been important to us in winning some of those games that we've won.

Coach, I wanted to ask you a question.

On the way in tonight, I was listening to an interview real quick with Grant McCaslin, the coach at Texas Tech, and he was talking about his preparation for the week and that he really was trying to figure out a way, obviously he's going to prepare for his opponent, but really looking at a couple things where his team could improve going into the NCAA tournament.

Is this something you feel in your time here, getting ready for your next game, that you'll be able to fine tune a couple of things to where you're really feeling comfortable and confident with those things, or is it really.

Did you have a lot of time just devoted to Kentucky and what you're doing there?

Are you able to mix the two?

Yeah, great question.

I mean, that's one great thing about the Sunbelt Tournament.

As we finished up last Monday, so we gave our guys Tuesday and Wednesday off because we played three games in three days and let them kind of get their bodies recovered.

And then Thursday and Friday was more just skill work, dummy offense, you know, running over our sets and making sure they're good with all that.

And then yesterday we had a full practice.

But I felt like, you know, those three days were great days just to work on ourselves, fine tune some of our execution offensively, you know, work on some of our skill work areas that needed to be better, work on finishing, work on shooting, those types of things.

Tomorrow will be a regular practice.

I mean, we don't spend an inordinate amount of time on the opponent.

I mean, typically we probably spend, you know, 15 minutes on the court guarding their stuff live.

And then we'll like their half court sets and stuff.

And then we'll typically maybe 10 to 15 minutes garden or baseline out of bound.

Then of course, we'll watch film for three days of them, but that's typically what we do the rest of the time and practice is devoted to us and getting better.

You know, there may be segments where we'll have our scout team maybe defend a little bit, like Kentucky defense, or maybe we'll break down one aspect of how they make art us, but the majority of the time is about us getting better.

Coach, I gotta tell you, you got two guys here who Chris and I coached together, we coached on the Division 2 level and we're just basketball junkies.

And hearing how you're going to prepare for Kentucky, I mean, I'm just kind of like geeking out right now, loving what you're talking about with your team and getting prepared and I mean, I had these ideas before.

Talking to yourself and some other coaches about.

You would spend so much time worrying about your opponent, but it's really about, you know, respecting and giving your team credit at this time not to, not to worry about your opponent so much, no matter who they are.

Yeah, I mean, the things that have made us good are our offensive rebounding.

So I mean, we're going to spend 10 to 15 minutes, you know, working on that.

The way we defend one on one.

I mean, every day we're working on wall offs, we're working on our one on one defense, scoring the ball.

We're always going to do some type of full court shell drill to work on our rotations.

So I mean, if we're not good at what we do, we have no chance.

I mean, we'll game plan, scheme a little bit, but the bottom line is we have to be really, really good at what we do.

Yeah, coach.

I coach at a high school in New York called Troy High School, so I'm rooting for you guys.

I got my Troy basketball on.

We won a state championship at one point.

One guy I'm really impressed with is Tayton Conaway, Conference player of the year.

Since January 25th, he's averaging like 14.2 or 16.2 points a game.

What, what happened at the end of January until now to make him into the best player in your conference?

I think he's definitely been the most talented guy.

I think, you know, like what separates him from the rest of the guys.

He's so fast, north and south, like there's nobody faster in the country.

North and South.

I mean, Kentucky's going to have a tough time.

They can't just defend him one on one.

They'll have to bring extra guys.

But what makes makes him special is like he never gets sped up.

And then if they do bring an extra defender, you know, he's, he's just, he has that sixth sense to pass the ball and find open guys.

It's really incredible.

You know, he gets shot attempts for, you know, guys that maybe can't create on their own.

And so he's a matchup nightmare.

But he's a stat stuffer.

You know, at the end of the night he's going to have five rebounds.

He's going to have three steals.

He's probably going to shoot, you know, 50 plus percent from the field, you know, 70% from the free throw line.

He's going to have, you know, two to one assist to turnovers.

And it's just amazing.

Every game and then every metric you look at, he's just, he's good at it and he's a special talent.

One of the best, most talented guys that I've ever coached.

And I told him about maybe two and a half weeks ago, I called him aside because when we were doing our one on one defense, we call it one on one guard, your yard, he was not guarding your yard the way that I would want him to guard his yard.

And so I called him over and instead of yelling at him, I put my hands on his shoulders and I was like, hey, Tate, like, you realize if we win these next three games and we get a share of the conference championship, you're going to be player of the year in the league.

Like, I mean, you can look at the stats, but like, they're not going to give him player of the year if we finish fourth.

Like, that's not going to happen.

And you know, we were fortunate to win out and we got a little help from Texas State beating James Madison last game of the year.

And you know, I thought it was going to happen, but you know, the coaches, they made the right choice.

I mean, if you look at the stats and the numbers, he definitely deserves it.

And you know, that's where him just being a little bit better and some of those areas that he can control, like all the stuff that I cannot.

Coach Hayden's the best I've ever coached at it.

Like he, he is phenomenal.

The passes, the reads, the way he can split the defense, read, the pick and roll, the way he finishes plays, it's.

He's a fun player.

You'll enjoy watching him in the, in the tournament and yeah, I mean, he'll be a tough matchup for whoever Kentucky puts on him.

Did they give you a tying it?

I believe it's the 7:10 or whatever game and.

Yep.

So we'll be the first game and then there's the second one after us.

Gotcha.

Yeah, that'll be the winner of Texas Xavier playing Illinois.

We appreciate your time tonight, coach.

This has been a lot of fun.

So for those of you who want to spend your Friday night getting ready for a big game, you can watch Kentucky play against Troy University.

As tonight, Scott Cross joined us to talk a little bit about his team and the road that you guys did to get there.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Coach, good luck to you.

And you got a lot of people rooting for you up here in New York.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Have a great day.

Thanks so much.

All right, we'll be back in a couple of minutes.

Be joined by Charlie Ward, Heisman Trophy winner, former New York Knick point guard here on wgb.

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And now back to the show.

Welcome back to the second half hour of our two hour extravag.

Tonight here on Selection Sunday, Mike Codone joined by my co host Chris Caputo.

We just spoke with two kind of legends of the NCAA tournament, James Forrest, a player who had one of the great buzzer beaters in NCAA history from Georgia Tech, and coach Scott Cross from Troy University as they're getting ready for Kentucky.

And we're just waiting hopefully on Charlie Ward here in a couple of minutes, former New York Knick and Heisman Trophy winner down to Florida State.

You could see the passion, though.

It's amazing.

Here's a guy in coach Scott Cross from Troy down in Alabama.

He's just excited about his team, excited about that.

He probably would have spoken to us for an hour.

Chris and I were like, oh, you know, is it okay to keep this guy past 15 minutes?

And he just loved talking about his team and that's what it's all about.

So at this point in the season, again, you know, whether you're in New York, California, Florida, wherever you might be, college basketball is king.

And we're going to take a minute right now just kind of talk a little bit about St.

John's camp, which you know, when we said earlier in the year when they're relevant and we've spoken to Matt Brust, former St.

John's player, and some other guys throughout this year.

The story of St.

John's they really are, and I hate to paraphrase coach Rick Pitino, but they are.

New York's team got a second seed, not in the east, but they're number two, played tremendous Big east tournament shooting.

Seems to be their little bugaboo that everybody's worried about defensively, you can't find much fault with them at all.

And most people will tell you that if you're going to pick them in your bracket, that's great.

But they could come up against a tough shooting night sometime and that might ultimately be their undoing.

But I'll tell you what, if you're a three point shooting or shooting team that's not having a good day, if you have good solid defense, at least you have that to fall back on.

If they didn't have that, I'd be a little worried.

But boy, they play hard.

Yeah, they're a tough team too.

They just, it doesn't matter if they're down 7 because they can't shoot early, they're always going to come back.

They find a way to make things happen.

I think if you can get guys like Wiltshire to shoot the ball and RJ Lewis to take over, you know, with, you know, having Zubi inside, like they're going to wind up beating the teams they're supposed to beat.

It's just a matter of their four losses have come by a combined seven points.

But you know, teams in the tournament, they haven't played that many outside of the Big east.

So we'll see what happens.

You know, they're going to have a matchup against Omaha and then if they win, they get to play either Kansas or Arkansas.

So I want to talk a little bit about the NCAA and their matchup.

So you know where Zubi went to college before he went to St.

John's.

I'm drawing a blank on that one.

Kansas.

You don't think they put this stuff together?

They certainly do.

And the second one that I'll come up with is Yale plays in the first round.

If they happen to win against Texas A and M, they play the winner of Michigan.

San Diego.

You know something, when we had Coach Jones on you actually, you had.

I don't know if you mentioned it.

To him, but you said it off the air.

Yeah, because they lost their best player last year to Michigan.

Yep.

And I'm so, I'm so proud of you for calling that one.

Because that, I mean, they're looking like.

Let'S, let's make them a 13 instead of a 12.

So they're not against each other in the first round.

But if they happen to get by, like we're not going to put them up against each other in the first round.

But the other thing that kind of came up is there's 14 SEC teams, so they had a lot of moving parts to make sure, number one, they didn't meet in the first round, but only a couple of them meet in the second round to make sure that, you know, you don't have SEC against SEC in the first round, but, you know, they took 14 teams, Mike.

That's a lot.

That is a lot.

And we can get into even some other things with North Carolina, which maybe we'll finish up with tonight.

You know, the seating, the teams and everything else.

Charlie, Mike and Chris up in New York.

Welcome to the program.

Thanks for joining us.

Hi, Mike and Chris.

My pleasure.

Appreciate you guys having me on.

Oh, absolutely.

And I'm sure you're a little bit excited this time of the year.

You yourself got to play in March Madness down in Florida State.

At the time, you were playing for Coach Kennedy and playing with guys like Bobby Sura, and I'm sure you had some, you know, Sam Cassell.

I'm sure you have some memories of playing in the tournament yourself.

Yes, I mean, I was blessed to be able to play in three NCAA tournaments, and each year we were able to advance.

But, you know, more importantly is moments like this where you get to reminisce about the opportunity of being able to play any March Madness.

And so it's always a great time of the year, especially when the tournaments, your conference tournaments are finishing up and you're preparing for, you know, the NCAA tournament.

So it's, you know, it's always a great time and very exciting, as you've seen these last couple of weeks.

So, Charlie, we're going to ask some of the obligatory questions here and then get a little bit more into your charity work and different things.

But obviously, here in New York, you're so highly thought of as a former New York Knick player.

Your speed, your athleticism, your grit kind of just ingratiated you to the public.

Talk a little bit, if you don't mind, just on the thought process.

I know you've answered this question a lot of times, but for our listeners about when you came out of Florida State and your decision to really focus on basketball, was it really kind of out there that if you were not going to be drafted high in the NFL, that it was known that you were going to go strictly basketball?

Well, it was known that if I didn't get drafted in the first round of the NFL draft, that I was going to be considering our other option.

So with that, not being drafted gave me more time to be able to focus on preparing for the NBA draft, which I did.

And God saw fit for me to be able to be drafted to the New York Knicks, which, you know, I was drafted just like most players that get drafted.

Where I got drafted is based on upside.

And people, I mean, they felt like if I could devote more time to it, that I would be able to be an asset to the team.

And you know, like I tell my, my players all the time, whenever you have a opportunity, you know, it's a chance to make your way or do the best you can with it.

And so I was grateful, you know, when I got drafted by the New York Knicks and I had to make the most of it because they gave me an opportunity.

What, what were the NFL scouts saying was the reason why you weren't being looked at as the number one pick?

I mean, first rounder, I mean, right now in current day, you'd be a lock.

Well, of course, times have changed over the years.

It's been like 30, 30 plus years now.

And so the mindset of the NFL staff have changed, the position criteria has changed.

When I was coming out, guys like myself weren't getting drafted in the first round or number one picks like they are today.

And you had to be a certain height and size to be able to be a first round pick in the NFL during my time.

And so it just wasn't meant to be.

You know, God had other things planned for me and it just wasn't meant to be for me to be in the NFL.

But you know, I put myself in a position to where I have options and so I was grateful that the NBA gave me an opportunity.

So Charlie, when you were at Florida State, you were recruited to play football your freshman year.

You thought you were going to redshirt, and eventually they made you into a punter, but it seemed like you were always a team player.

You were able to do all that stuff, maybe talk a little bit about that.

And then your transition the next year to be able to play basketball coach allowed you to transition over to the basketball team as well too?

Yes, as a true freshman, they asked me to compete for the puntin job because our scholarship punter was coming off a 20 ACL and so he wasn't ready.

So I Ended up competing for the job and ended up winning the job.

But I wasn't happy because I felt like I was losing a year of eligibility to be something that I didn't come, I wasn't recruited for, even though I planted in high school.

But lo and behold, I didn't understand God's plan.

That was my plan.

But I understand God's plan because if I didn't, if I didn't punt that year or play that year, then I wouldn't have had an opportunity to probably play my senior year of basketball, which was my fifth year in school, right?

And so I was just grateful when it was all said and done that I did punt that year.

But more importantly, you know, I was, I played and was able to travel and got some valuable experience and Coach Bowden didn't allow me to go out and play my first year, my true freshman year.

I was a little frustrated with that.

But like I said, that was part of my plan.

But God had a different plan then.

The next year I got red shirted in my second year.

And then Coach Bowden allowed me to go out and play basketball full time.

And so the crazy part about all that was I was still going to football practice during that year and going to basketball practice that evening after football practice.

And, you know, I was playing, getting an opportunity to play basketball full time.

And so that was one of my better years, you know, statistically.

But I was just blessed that I had that because that gave me an opportunity to be able to state my ground as far as what I was capable to do as a football player playing basketball.

And then when I, once the years passed, I didn't really have to prove myself.

I was already proven and I knew I was capable of doing so.

I was able to just come back and be a part of the team.

God has a plan.

Absolutely.

So we're speaking with Charlie Warden once again.

Charlie, I wanted to ask you, your final year playing football, you win the national championship against Nebraska and then you go right into basketball.

How much time did you take in between seasons and how were you able to just with the pounding in football to flip the switch and have your body be ready for basketball?

The years vary because the first year I just talked about I wasn't playing.

Then the next year I wasn't playing again.

I was still like the third or fourth string quarterback.

But the years that I started playing quarterback, after the first Nebraska game my junior year, I took like a week off because I had to recover.

It wasn't a big recovery, but my Senior year, they took a toll on me in that game.

It hit me late and hit me early and hit me during that time.

And it had a shoulder injury as well.

And so it took me about two weeks to recover from the championship game before I started playing basketball.

But that's part of playing two sports.

And when you love something enough, you're.

You'll wait or you do whatever it takes to make it happen.

And so that was, you know, how long it took me to get back from playing basketball, playing football and basketball.

So, Charlie, you come to the Knicks and the people up here loved you.

You spent about nine years here.

Your time with the Knicks.

Do you have a best teammate, somebody that you latched onto the most?

I had quite a few great teammates.

Of course, I was there for nine years, so there were quite a few people that came through.

But the one that, of course, latched on to the most was Alan Houston, mainly because we're brothers in Christ and we did a lot of Bible study studies together.

Our families were good, good friends and close friends, and so I've had quite a few lasting friends.

Bonnie Williams, we got drafted together, and so we roomed together as rookies on the road.

So we developed a strong bond that's still going strong today.

And those guys were very instrumental in just being there, doing life together, and that still happens today.

Charlie, when you started out with the Knicks, if I'm right, initially Pat Riley was the coach, but you really kind of hit your stride and found a lot of minutes under Coach Jeff Van Gundy.

Can you talk a little bit about Coach Van Gundy and just, you know, what he meant to you as an NBA player and the kind of attitude that he brought, as opposed to Coach Riley, to the New York Knicks?

Yes.

Well, I was blessed to be able to have Coach Ben Gundy as my first.

My first year I was there as my skill development coach, he was asked to help me in my skill development.

I wanted to play, but it was just not the time because I had veteran guys in front of me.

And I learned a lot from Derek Harper, mainly in practice and how to be a.

And Coach Van Gundy, you know, he took the time to work his job each and every day before practice.

And, you know, my second year, because I didn't play a lot my first.

My first year, yeah.

But my second year, you know, Coach Nelson was.

Came through and Coach Riley left to go to Miami, and Coach Nelson told me that I wasn't essentially good enough.

So he went out and got Derrick Grant to be his Point guard, his backup point guard behind Derek Hopper, and then give me an opportunity to compete for the job.

But I continued to work Coach Van Gundy and then as we know, Coach Nelson got released after All Star break and they gave Coach Van Gundy the job.

And he gave me an opportunity mainly because I showed up each and every day and I worked and improved.

He gave me an opportunity to get into rotation and just like the NBA, New York knees gave me an opportunity, he gave me an opportunity to prove myself and I had to go out and show that I belonged.

And so just grateful for him, you know, giving me that opportunity.

But more importantly, he helped, he helped my NBA career because after he left here and he went to Houston, he brought us to Houston for three years, played one year, and then I was able to start coaching two years.

And so that was something that I.

I won't forget at all because he definitely helped me stay in the NBA for quite some time.

Again, we're talking with Charlie Ward, Heisman winner, played nine years for the Knicks, also played for the spurs and Houston Rockets.

Charlie, can you talk a little bit about the stories of Spike Lee coming down to Florida State and celebrating with you after a couple of different things.

I mean, eventually you became a Knick, so that kind of was a good thing, right?

Yes.

You know, it was definitely an oh moment because, you know, we used to watch Spike Lee and his movies, Doing the Right Thing and all the other movies that he made.

And then for him to come down and, you know, support and he was in the agency business at the time, and so he was trying to get me to be a part of his group.

And of course I went a different direction.

But the experience was always great.

I got an opportunity to come to Thomasville, which was a big thing for us and Tallahassee.

I know he's at a few games, my basketball career as well in Tallahassee, it was actually in Atlanta, but that was always a great moment.

And then lo and behold, I ended up in New York where he sits on the front row of our games.

And so that was just a 180 degree moment where he was here.

And then I ended up getting drafted in New York and I get to see them all the time.

So that was always a great moment for not just myself, but all my family and friends that I got opportunity to meet him.

Charlie, you and your wife Tanya have the Charlie and Tanya Ward Family foundation, if I'm correct, down still in Tallahassee and you're developing something called the Champions Ranch.

We did A little research and reading on that and it seemed really fascinating.

Could you tell us a little bit about that and what your vision is for the Champions Ranch?

Our family foundation is rooted in Christian principles.

And we focus mainly on education, wellness and sports.

And we've done some programming over the years through basketball camps, Christian events and those types of things.

And we've done them all over the country.

And so now we're looking to have a vehicle for our mission, our own place to where we can do basketball camps, events, health, educational programming.

And it's essentially, it's a collaboration project that we're.

We're bringing in 30 other nonprofits or for profit businesses together to be in a community hub where we can support all the youth that attend the Champions Ranch and also the adults that come as well.

So it's a one stop shop model that we're looking to do.

We have a Kausman center there, physical therapy and some sports and education, STEAM programming.

So it's overall programming and services for the community.

It's a tremendous opportunity you're providing for the community down there.

I've never seen anything, or at least to my knowledge a model such as that.

Is there anything did you're patterning this after or is this just something that you kind of came up with because it's a tremendous idea.

Yes, we have quite a few mentors and our consultants run two campuses very similar to what we're looking to do here in Tallahassee and Fort Worth.

And then there's some other sports ministries across the country in Texas, North Carolina, here in Florida that are doing very similar things.

We're just looking to have a campus and bring all their, all the things that they have to.

What we're doing here at Champions ranch, we have 112 acres that we're looking to develop course in phases.

But it's something that we're, you know, we're partnering with not just local, but regional and national partners as well.

And you know, we're looking to do some work partnership with some basketball academies and New York as well because they have some programming, the Earl Monroe Academy and New Heights Basketball Academy.

So we've been in talks with them about seeing how we can partner fashion.

And you know, for us, like I said, it's not really.

It's a community draw here.

But just like anything else, you go to the garden, not everyone there in the garden is from New York.

So you know, people come from all around the place because of relationships and who they like.

And so that's what we're looking to do as well.

The Champions Ranch is to bring all of our relationships to the Champions Ranch here in Tallahassee.

So, coach, you're the head basketball coach at Florida State University schools, which I guess some people like to call Florida High.

Can you talk a little bit about that experience?

Because people now know you as coach.

We know you as the Heisman winner and the point guard of the New York Knicks, but now you're known as the coach.

So talk about how you're able to affect some young people's lives.

Well, I, you know, I've been blessed.

My dad was a coach, and so the fruit doesn't fall too far from the tree.

And I ended up getting into coaching and starting in the pros in NBA.

And then I made a switch to go to high school coaching because I wanted to spend a little bit more time with family or have a flexible schedule.

And high school did that for me.

And I just want my players to respect me and see me as a coach, their coach, not a Heisman Trophy winner or NBA player, but someone that treats them like their father or their uncles or someone they respect in their home and also just provide opportunities for them.

And, you know, we've been blessed to be able to have some guys going to college.

Actually, one just won the Big 12, I mean, Big 10 championship today.

Trey Donaldson is one of our guys.

And we have a couple other guys, Division 1 playing at one guard is playing at Missouri.

One big is playing at Louisiana, Monroe.

And we have a couple of D2 players, Bear University and Augusta Cox from Augusta University.

And Nai, a player who's, I think he's a newcomer of the year this year.

And so we've been blessed to be able to have some quality players.

And then we have a pro, Jalen Martin, I think, is with the Washington Wizards now as well.

And so, you know, the goal is for guys to go to college and have a great experience, not just playing basketball, but also be good citizens through the things that we look to provide for them on a daily basis, which is challenging them in the classroom, challenging them about being great teammates, challenging them about work ethic, challenging them about being a servant leader, being accountable to yourself and then your team and learning how to be a great teammate.

And so all those things are very, very valuable in what we're trying to do through our basketball program.

Well, Charlie, on your website it says building futures together, one champion at a time.

You're a great player, a great leader, but you're a better man.

And we thank you so much for joining us tonight.

Wish you all the best with the Charlie Ward Champions Ranch, and I'm sure it'll be a huge success and all the best moving forward and hopefully we get to speak to you again when it's really up and rolling.

And thanks for everything.

I appreciate you guys having me on and look forward to hopefully having you down here.

Bring some people with you.

It would be our pleasure.

I mean, it just looks tremendous.

And thanks again for joining us and giving us your time and look forward to talking to you again.

All right.

Thank you.

All right.

Thanks, Charlie.

The great Charlie Ward.

Wow.

I mean, I think one hour would be enough.

We already got a college coach, we got a game winner and we got a Heisman Award winner slash New York Nick.

Absolutely.

We're going to take a very quick break and then on the second hour, we're going to be joined by national champion Chris Jenkins.

Villanova.