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The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

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Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of sports prep live. Sports prep live, where we unbox the bike and talk excellent in athletics.

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Welcome back to sports prep live. I'm your host, great and Prescott

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91.5k

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U, N, V, H, d2, radio. Now, a lot has been going on centered around UNLV football team. So I had to bring in my man. KB, and we're gonna have a long discussion about UNLV football. How you doing? KB, yes, sir, I am ready. All right, so I'm gonna start laying down some background information. UNLV started off the year three and Oh, Matthew sluka at quarterback, but then something popped off.

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Slooka claimed that offensive coordinator Brandon Marion made a verbal $100,000 promise to sluca and nil. Sluka only received $3,000 out of those 100,000 promised. So in turn, he left the team. Yes, Matthew suka is no longer with the UNLV football team.

Unknown Speaker 1:30
In place of him, Haj Malik Williams is their new starting quarterback. So we will get to that a little bit later. We're going to start off with the Matthew seluca drama. I know you have a lot of information on it right now, so I'm going to give you the floor for a minute here. And what's your what's your take? Who's to blame? What's what's going on? Yeah, this was a really interesting news story, and it has gone viral. It is a national news story now. Yep, I've seen it on CNN. I've seen it on ESPN. First take. Stephen A Smith, Paul feinbaum, we're talking about it. I've seen it on bleacher. Reports, this really struck a chord, and so for a host of reasons, yeah, first, let's get to the the offer, right? What Mr. Seleucka says? Matthew saluka,

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as you alluded to, they offered him $100,000

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in n i l money while he was playing for UNLV as their starting Division One quarterback, right? And came time to to pay up. And he's three games in. He was three and Oh, they got off to the one of the best starts that they've had in a generation, if not ever at least three and oh, when he left, they're now four and Oh. And when he asked about the money, he was told in no uncertain terms by the coach,

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who is Mr. Odom, right? Yep,

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he was told by coach Odom. Well, he didn't make the offer, and so he did not feel like he needed to honor the deal. Yeah, I'm paraphrasing,

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but that's, that's what's out there in the press, yep. And so Matthew decided, all right, well, if they're not going to honor the agreement I'm going to leave the program.

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Now, let's separate these out. I have an issue, obviously, if what Matthew says transpired, transpired, I do have an issue with the fact that that agreement wasn't honored. And if Mr. Marion was not authorized to make the offer, he shouldn't have,

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but he did.

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And I think the point that a lot of sports analysts are getting to is it does not matter who made the offer. If that person is in the UNLV program, right? This guy is the offensive coordinator, so there is no reason that Matthews Luca and his family should not have taken that offer to heart. No reason whatsoever.

Unknown Speaker 4:10
Now, on Matthew's side, the issue that I have is, when you're on a football field, when you're on a team, you're a warrior, and you are a warrior in concert with other warriors. And so to walk out on this team for what ostensibly is I get, what I'm about to say here is going to rub some people the wrong way, but as a division one quarterback, $100,000 is not a lot of money.

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And to walk out on a team for $100,000

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and walk out on a potential future in this sport, you're a division one quarterback, you could potentially become an NFL candidate, right?

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And what does that say to where 100

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$1,000 is no money, no money at all. No one will understand you walking out of a division one program for $100,000

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now, I get that you took umbrage with the fact that this, this deal, wasn't honored, but that goes back to your agent. Yeah? Marcus Cromartie. Marcus Cromartie of equity sports, blue equity Yeah, equity sports, if you have an agent, and I don't know if he had the agent when the deal was offered, but if you have an agent, that is literally their job, dot the i's, cross the T's and make sure that this deal is what it's made out to be. But even further than that, if you see the deal going sideways as an agent, and you've got a division one quarterback as your client, there is no reason in the world that you shouldn't be able to go out and get your client another deal, or some subsequent deals to which fast forward to

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the walkout. There was a gentleman by the name of Mike palm at Circle sports, who is the vice president of operations over there, who said, came in and said, Hey, we don't want him to leave. We will offer $100,000

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in an n, i l deal. But at that point, for whatever reason, Coach Odom had said no, he took on Bridget the fact that that Matthew walked out, and there are a lot of people that have a serious issue with the way that the head coach has handled this program has handled this, this ordeal, what does it say about recruiting? What does it say to other athletes about the integrity of the the the officials here at UNLV football, if they make an offer to you, can you take that offer to the bank? This is really a cluster F I have not seen anything like this in sports, but under the table, I'm hearing that this has gone on before. Oh yeah. And so he's getting some praise from some athletes for standing up and not just sitting down and shut up, which is ostensibly what his father said that he was told to do.

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It is worth noting that

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Marcus Cromartie of equity sports, who was Matthews Lucas agent, he was aware of this verbal promise of $100,000 okay, he did not have anything to put into writing.

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That's insane. That's that's a that's a fireable offense. That's a problem, that that's a fireable offense. Rob sign of blueprint sports, that's the company who manages unlvs and il collect collective. Yes, he stated that there was no deal in writing and that the collective was not made aware of any promises to pace Luca $100,000

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so the coach never went to the collective according to rob sign. And we know that there was no deal in writing.

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Does that make UNLV or Barry Odom accountable for the $100,000 promise? Because the way I see it, if there's no deal in writing, right?

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I mean, okay, somebody made a promise of $100,000

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maybe it was before the season. Was it an incentive for performance? Sure, I don't know what went into that verbal promise of $100,000

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but if it would have been in writing, we would have known exactly what's going, what's going. That is true. That is true, and that's why I say, you know, even if he weren't in the room,

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and I don't know that he wasn't, excuse me, I don't know that he wasn't this was Mr. Cromartie responsibility to make sure that what was communicated to his client was what was meant to be communicated to his client. Now, after he walked out Bob sluka, who was Matthew's father, they put out a statement, which I'm going to read here for the listeners. And in his statement, he said, and I quote, we don't even really care that much about the money, but there is a principle to it. He's not the first athlete to have this happen. We've heard it from a million kids that they don't get their money. So Maybe Matt has to be the poster boy, but we don't want him to be, but we're not going to have Barry Odom just stand up and say, Fu, I'm not paying you. Get out on the field now. UNLV, and I think it was from

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at the urging of Mr. Odom, also put out a statement. And in their statement, they say, and again, a quote, UNLV athletics interpreted these demands as a violation of the NCAA pay for play rules as well as Nevada state law. UNLV does not engage in such activities, nor does it respond to implied threats. UNLV has honored all previously agreed upon scholarships for Matthew sluka. UNLV has conducted its due diligence and will continue to operate its programs.

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Than the framework of NCAA rules and regulations, as well as Nevada state laws. Unquote. Now, a lot of sports analysts

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view that as a little bit of behind covering your this is cya.

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I think if Matthew slucko was being dishonest about anything that transpired here, he would have been called on it. So I do believe his version of events.

Unknown Speaker 10:27
I do believe that if an offensive coordinator or anyone else that reports to a head coach is going to make an offer to a recruit, that the head coach should know about it. But that's not Matthew's problem, nor is it his job. If the offer was made for no other reason than the integrity of the program, the offer should have been honored, and it's not money that's coming out of coach Odom's pocket. This deal could have gotten done. I've been in this business before. This wouldn't this wouldn't have taken that long.

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In fact, as we mentioned moments ago, there was a person who heard about the story as a fan of UNLV football, Mr. Mike palm. Shout out to Mr. Palm, we really love what you did. Wish they could have taken advantage of it. Circa sports, Vice President of Operations again, who came in and said, hey, you know, let's squash all this. We want them to stay in the program. We will find a way to get you the $100,000

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but at that point,

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Coach Odom was beyond it, and said no, but he also may have said something to potential recruits who may have thought UNLV might be a place that I want to go. That's the long lasting danger, that's the unknowable part about this whole ordeal is that you you weren't just dealing with Matthew sluka, you were dealing with other recruits, and they're going to look at this and question the integrity of this program. And I don't know if that's a fair assessment for them to make, but that's what that's the assessment that's going to be made, especially if Mr. Brennan Marion is involved, I can't trust anything that you say. So this is really a sad situation all the way around. There is blame to go around for everyone. The only issue, again, that I have with Mr. Slooka is that he's going to find out that $100,000

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in terms of a digital division one quarterback, it's not a lot of money. Now, he did it to preserve his eligibility. But the next program that you go into, they're going to kind of look at you sideways and have you, you're not guaranteed to go into a program and get this same sort of start, which moves us on to the gentleman that replaced him in this past weekend's game they played against Fresno State,

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and their backup quarterback came in and did his thing. Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah. So after their three and on start, the rebels were tied for 25th on the AP poll, yes. And then moving forward, they had two options for quarterback. It was either Cameron Friel or has Malik Williams. They ended up choosing Williams. He was at Campbell for five seasons. In those seasons, he passed for 8236

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yards, impressive touchdown, yes.

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And in his first game as the starter, starter at UNLV, he did all right. He went 13 for 16, 162

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passing yards, with three touchdowns and 119 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. And the 59 to 14 victory against Fresno State, okay, for the listeners, when he said he did all right, he was that was a little bit of sarcasm. The same Fresno State that only lost to Michigan by 20. UNLV plays against Syracuse on Friday, they open up a six and a half point favorite. It's given a 79% chance to win

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with their four no start. This is the first time in program history, since becoming a division one team that UNLV has started foreign Oh, it's the first time it's ever happened, right? They are currently number 25 in the AP polls as well.

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So I read a lot of articles, stories on Hajj, Malik Williams. I also read some nationwide quarterback rankings. Sure, they already have him ranked as the fifth best quarterback in the country. He bawled out. Yeah, he bawled out. I actually think that for UNLV as a program, losing slooka was a good thing for them, not because of the situation. I mean, you could say it's a bad look for sluca to leave, walk out on his team. Should look for UNLV, but

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Haj Malik Williams, his debut game against a tougher team than most of the teams that suka had played. You could argue Kansas.

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He really showed out. He was clearly the best player on the field he's been.

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Credible athlete the entire game.

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And this week, coming up against Syracuse, I expect more of the same from him. This is a three in one Syracuse team. They're a good football team. They've only lost to Stanford that was by three points, right?

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And you know, they're coming to UNLV this Friday. It's gonna be a good game, but I expect UNLV to take care of business. I expect Williams to perform once again, and I'm really looking forward to that game. It's great impressed out here on Sports prep live, and we are discussing UNLV, football, sports and more. Make sure y'all stay tuned in. So as I said, you know, UNLV is doing great this year.

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You know, four, no now, six and a half point favorites, but they have a chance to win their conference championship. They're the favorites to win the conference. It's either them or Boise State. That's kind of a toss up between those two right now, and whoever wins that will have a bid to the college football playoff. So un bowl game, yes, UNLV could be one of the 12 teams competing for a national championship if they keep up on the pace that they're on right now. Sure. Do you think that this is sustainable, or do you think that they're going to I think from what I've seen, this looks very sustainable. I agree, and they have a somewhat favorable schedule. The Boise State game is going to be good. That's the number 21 team in the country.

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And, you know, like I said, UNLV is 25 but that's gonna be a good game. And the rest of their opponents are unranked. And what you're getting to, what you're kind of backing into, in terms of, you know, connecting these dots is, this is why so many people question what Matthew did here. This was a bad decision in terms of his career, and Coach Nick Saban talked about it this past weekend on ESPN, with, with, with Pat what's Pat's McAfee. Pat McAfee, so he was on his show and talked about from the vantage point of a coach. He would never want to see a young athlete put himself in jeopardy, career Jeopardy over $100,000

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and he fears that this isn't going to play out the way that Mr. Sluka and his family might anticipate it will right? And I think there's some credence to that. So again, it's not about the money, it's about your career, that you have an opportunity to play in the NFL, and you are going to jeopardize that for $100,000

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when that $100,000 could have been made up in some other form of fashion, right? Especially if your agent was on top of of his job. And again, I know he his family seems like they want to blame UNLV. They want to blame coach Odom. They want to blame Brennan Marion. And there is some credence to that blame, but you have to think about your own career, and as a division one quarterback, I'm here to tell you, and a division one basketball player who's starting as a division one athlete,

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and the quarterback is really a unique position in all of sports. Probably the most important position in sports, as a division one quarterback to walk away from your craft for $100,000 is utterly shocking.

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Having said that, yes, you hit the nail on the head with with Hodge Malik Williams. He is a fantastic athlete. He has a chance to take this program to some heights that they hadn't seen before. They do have a really good opportunity to do a lot of damage this year in college football. So my hat is off to him. I think that they will be successful. They do have a really good team. Yeah, they do. I expect them to do a lot more this year and that. Again, that's why it's so puzzling that that Mr. Sluka would leave, because you're not guaranteed another shot at this or another team that has the opportunity to play a bowl game. So that's why it's a bit confounding to me, and I think you know, Coach Nick Saban and some others who have spoken on it, and that is not to excuse any of behavior or the actions taken by, you know, the staff at for UNLV football, yeah. But as an athlete myself, you know, I've been in athletics for the majority of my life, yes,

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over two thirds.

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But as an athlete myself,

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in a state championship basketball program. I don't play football, but I can under I've spoken to a lot of foot you know, I've had keatron Harris on the program, yeah, one of the top football players in the country, spoken a lot of football coaches. So I know kind of what goes on in being an elite football program, sure. So just speaking from the vantage point of an athlete, what Matthew seluca did as an athlete, not, not the.

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Referring to, you know, the coaches or his family, however they felt, but just walking out on your team, that's a cardinal sin for an I agree. I agree that's you don't do that, especially if you know your team is rolling. But even if your team isn't doing well, you're the quarterback, you're the leader. We've spoken about that being the most important, important position in all of sports, not just football.

Unknown Speaker 20:24
So walking out on your team, when you are the leader of the team, like there's no question about it, the quarterback is the leader. Walking out on your team, it's a really bad look. So I really don't think he's going to be able to get the opportunities that he anticipated. That is a stain that he will not be able to move, and I think he will rue the day that he did it. Now I do want to say

Unknown Speaker 20:47
I do not blame him for the feelings that he has about this whole situation. I think his feelings about this situation are absolutely on point. This is, this is an ugly situation, and he is, he is a young man, and this should not have happened to him, and the adults that were in the room should have stood up and made this right. So I agree with his frustration with this whole ordeal, but just in terms of being an athlete, I think he's going to live to regret having walked out on this football program, or any football program for that matter. Yeah, and he may not get the same opportunity. I know he's protected his his eligibility. He's going to take a redshirt year because he did not go beyond three games, which was smart on his part. But again, you just don't know life. Life throws you curveballs. You just don't know if you're going to get that same opportunity? Yeah? And if you do, people are gonna have some questions. Yeah, it's reputation. Yeah, programs are gonna have some questions. Whether those questions are fair or not. He's gonna be asked about this. And I also think it's a bad look. And this isn't entirely his fault, but it's not at all, but it's a bad look to leave your program, and you know, you're the starting quarterback and for the backup to come in. And immediately people are like, he's better than this dude. Yes, that's not a good look. And I'm sure he knew, like, you know, you practice together every day.

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This dude was a legend for five years at Campbell, not a big school. You know, Matthew sluka. He came from Holy Cross. Two guys, not huge schools. Sluca gets the starting nod. They get off to a three and zero start. They're going to keep starting him. But then he walks out, Hodge comes in, and immediately it's like, this dude could be a top five quarterback in the country. Who right? That's how it felt after he started playing. Williams could be a top five quarterback in the country. I read NBC list top five quarterbacks in the country, or top 10 and Haj Malik Williams, you know, I'm expecting to see him maybe honorable mention after his first week before first game, right as a no five. Immediately. That is number five in the credible and you know, the four guys ahead of them are the quarterbacks at LSU football powerhouse, yes, Miami football powerhouse, chador Sanders, right, and Jaden milro at Alabama football power, wow, those are the only guys in the country that were ranked above this dude, and he's played one game. So Luca sluka might become a forgotten piece of a legendary UNLV team. Yeah, yeah, this team is rolling. It's never happened in program history. Since 1978 they have not started off four and, oh, as a division one program. And now they got Hodge, Malik Williams at the helm. This team is looking good, yeah. And, you know, in basketball, you know, getting getting off to a foreign start is not a big deal. It happens all the time. Football is a different order altogether. Yeah, to get off to a four and zero start in college football and beyond, you know, professionally, to get off to a four and Oh, start in the NFL, that's a big deal. Yeah, it's a really big deal. And Matthew had a lot to do with the work that was put in in doing that, and that's why I just again, I can't, for the life of me, understand why he would take that step $400,000 I know his family says it was the principal, but this feels like something that could have been worked out. I'd love to get Mike poem from circa sports on the show at some time and just yeah, get his thoughts on this. But it does feel like something that could have been worked out. It's unfortunate, but like you said, Haj, Malik Williams has stepped in here. He looks like an outstanding young quarterback. We're excited about the prospect of him finishing out this season, and I expect that UNLV is going to do some special things. Yep, it's Graham Prescott here on Sports prep live, we discussed UNLV football, and now we're going to make a sharp transition to the Las Vegas aces. Yes, we made a prediction on this show that said, the Las Vegas aces, we're going to win the championship. If no, you said they were going to win the championship outright. I said if Chelsea gray plays up to expectations, they win the championship. Game one against the Liberty, she did not. She had four points and one assist. Yeah. Then Game Two, no real standout.

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Performances from anybody you know. 17 from Jackie young, okay, 24 from Asia. And I was critical of Asia, especially after game one, but I'm going to be critical again after game two. Asia needs to do it's not enough. You can't average 27 in the regular season and come out here in the playoffs against the number one seed and go 2124 Yes, yeah, you can't do that. I need 35 out of her. Like, every game, yeah, yeah, every single game. I agree about her. I agree. I need more than than four out of Chelsea Gray, I need 12 and eight assists out of her. I need 20 from Jackie young and Kelsey Plum. She had six points in game two, six, yes, like Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, six, seis, she had six points. I am not a fair weather fan, so I am going to stay down with the Las Vegas aces, like four flat tires, but I am concerned they're one loss away, yes, from being eliminated against the number one team, I believe that they can get this game. But you are absolutely right. Brianna Stewart has pushed her

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scoring average up in the postseason. Nafisa Collier, well, who was ballin the first round, she pushed her scoring average up. They are one and one, but she had nine points last night. I'm talking about this series, Nafisa, she had nine No, no, I'm on Brianna Stewart, right now. Okay, um, yeah. But Nafisa did get a start with what, 42 438, 42 yes in her first two years. So she's, she's doing her thing. Did they win the game where she had nine points? Yes, okay, so shocking the W matters. Yeah, right. I don't even know that we would be making that big an issue out of Asia's points, if they want, if they had two W's, that's why Nafisa isn't an issue, right? It's not an issue at all. And Nafisa has been balling, so they've pushed their scoring average up in the postseason.

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Brianna, as I said, has pushed hers up in the postseason. Asia has got to know, yeah, 21 points is not enough. 24 points is not enough. You gotta go. You gotta go north of 30. Yeah, every night I need mid 30s. Yes. Like, you gotta be between for a good game. Phrase for if I'm comfortable and I see the ACES lose a game in the playoffs and they lose by, I don't know, six or less, right? I'm comfortable if I see next to that a Wilson, 21 I'm comfortable if I see or 22 I'm comfortable if I see 34 to 40, right? And you know, if she gets the 34 to 40, they're probably not losing. I know she had to cancel out Brianna Stewart. They had the one been doing that. They had the one game in the regular season against the wings. She had 43 and they lost. But since then, they've been rolling, at least at the end of regular season. Now in the playoff they're down, oh two, one loss away from being eliminated.

Unknown Speaker 27:50
You know, she got her unanimous MVP. You know, hats off to her. Please do not be happy with that. It comes up Friday. I will be in the building. Yeah, I'll be there. We are looking for a W here. We need it. Like I said, I am going to stay down with him, but I am concerned. Yeah, very, very concerned.

Unknown Speaker 28:09
Thank you guys for tuning into this episode of sports prep live. We will be back next week with more on the WNBA on UNLV football, and I'll see you all next week. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of sports prep live. I'm Graydon Prescott, and don't forget to catch all of our episodes on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcast, and be sure to follow us on Instagram or Twitter at sports prep live. Thank you.

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