00:00spending your midday in LA with us whether you're tuning in on the radio the Odyssey app or watching
00:04us live on YouTube we appreciate you being here this is one of the more busy days I would say
00:12yeah in sports even in LA sports you guys we got Monday night football you got Lakers in action
00:20tonight and then college basketball is back UCLA and USC seasons everyone opens tonight everyone
00:29we even got a game going on right now we got UCLA women playing Lehigh at Pauley Pavilion
00:35they are currently up 32 27 at the half that tip off was at 11 30 a.m then you
00:45got USC at UNLV
00:47in Las Vegas at 1 p.m that's number three ranked USC number 11 ranked UCLA women and is that
00:57because
00:58I'm guessing most of their so the preseason how much of it goes off of returning and kind of the
01:05the preseason schedule basketball is unique in that it truly is a reset every single year right when
01:13you look at the college football preseason rankings a lot of it is based off of how you did last
01:17year
01:18regardless of transfers because basketball has so much transfer activity there's really no legacy
01:23there really is a clean slate every single year UCLA being the reigning champs but losing
01:30almost every one of their key contributors that's why they are they are as low as 11 okay that makes
01:37sense and then uh tonight you guys number 22 ranked UCLA men's face number five Arizona in Vegas around
01:477 p.m and then USC take on Milwaukee at the Galen Center at 7 30 p.m tonight so
01:55so much action going on
01:57and a lot of uh a lot of high expectations for all of these teams now obviously UCLA women won
02:05the
02:05natty last year USC was without Juju and now that Juju is back I think that's a reason why they
02:12are
02:13number three and going to be one of the bigger draws in LA college sports scene this season but what
02:22are
02:22you most looking forward to I'm I'm looking forward to that star power yeah I'm looking forward to
02:29the stage that that women's college basketball is going to be on for USC and UCLA and for UCLA and
02:38USC you know they're kind of the opposite of one another last year obviously UCLA goes on to win
02:44the championship and they lose everyone the only notable name and I I say notable meaning they they
02:52were a contributor a year ago is Sienna Betts the younger sister of Lori Betts the the one of the
03:00most
03:00dominant forces that women's college basketball has ever seen she is now off to the WNBA and Sienna
03:06played sparingly last year and look look like a freshman which was expected she also spent the
03:11first chunk of the season injured but it's her time to shine and she she is going to have to
03:16be the
03:16person that everyone rallies around with the transfer portal era for the first month of basketball all of
03:22these girls are just learning each other because you know you have your training camps your offseason
03:27but at the end of the day you don't know who you have yeah until you're out there actually playing
03:30so UCLA there's going to be growing pains I don't see it as being a dominant of a season as
03:35a year ago
03:36but that does not mean they cannot enter the championship conversation USC the exact that is
03:41championship conversation star power yeah star driven guard driven it's going to be the juju and
03:47jazzy show and it is going to be a must-see event every single time they step on the court
03:50that's
03:51exciting like that feels like the the USC women's basketball games feels similar to like USC kind of in
04:01the the liner and Reggie Bush days where it's like you're gonna go you're like is this a professional
04:07game like you're showing up you're like who's here on the sidelines like it's such a fun time but let's
04:13let's move over to the men UCLA get an immediate test play in Arizona so we've been talking a lot
04:23about
04:23Cronin's team and what's expected now this year and it's it's making a deep run right it's getting
04:32to the madness and making a deep run yes so Mick Cronin's hired in 2019 they reached the final four
04:40in his second year they haven't been past the sweet 16 since past two seasons they have been bounced out
04:46of the second round UCLA is a blue blood program UCLA can recruit as well as anyone John Wooden
04:54when when you wear the jersey that that John Wooden cemented his legacy coaching there is an expectation
05:01and I think Mick Cronin will be the first one to tell you they have not lived up to that
05:04expectation
05:04recently the move to the Big Ten is a huge part of it the Pac-12 was not known as
05:11a basketball conference
05:12Washington had a couple years Oregon had kind of a run but by all means when you enter a conference
05:17with Illinois Purdue Michigan Michigan State Wisconsin it's just it's just tougher sledding so
05:23UCLA has been given some grace I feel this is the year where you gotta make it to the sweet
05:2916 that that
05:30is that is the the barrier to entry on what will be considered a successful season for UCLA a couple
05:37names
05:38of note as as they take the court tonight against Arizona as you mentioned Trent Perry he's the guard
05:44who is on all the preseason award watch list Eric Daly Jr. old school power forward love his game he's
05:49not a stretch for he's a bruiser for he's he's a throwback if you liked 90s basketball Eric Daly's
05:55the guy for you Xavier Booker Jalen Petty and the player that people are most interested to see
06:02probably is Nikola Kusterica still working on my pronunciation he is the Serbian who is a freshman
06:10and people are projecting some lottery talent he's too young to go to the draft this upcoming draft but
06:18people are expecting him to shoot his way he's a sharpshooter guy shoot his way into being a lottery
06:23pick two seasons from now so that those are the Bruins to look out for okay that's exciting so just
06:29to
06:30recap UCLA the goal is to get to the sweet 16 I mean they went in what number they were
06:38a seven
06:38seed I think last season got eliminated in the second round so that when you come in with those
06:44kind of high expectations like it's you got to make it deep you got to make it deep if you
06:50want
06:50to improve as you said they've kind of gotten through the the grace period of okay you moved
06:55conferences it's a completely different ball game now but but now you settled and you got to figure
07:00it out kind of a different story for USC who didn't qualify so what we're looking for from USC
07:07is making the tournament USC had as disastrous a season a year ago as you could have not only do
07:14they go 17 and 18 the Chad Baker Mazzara situation for those who don't know he was expected to be
07:22a key
07:22contributor and basically got kicked off of the team and then he tried to sue USC and head coach
07:30Eric Musselman the whole thing is weird I don't even know if that lawsuit is still standing but last
07:35year was just a cursed year for the Trojans this year quite honestly I would compare it to football
07:41USC UCLA but flipped because USC is the team that has no expectation but I feel can do a lot
07:50of damage
07:51so Eric Musselman is in his third year the last time USC made it to the sweet 16 was 2021
07:58they made
07:59it to the elite eight that year but it has been a while since USC men has been playing meaningful
08:04basketball of course they also transitioned over to the big 10 and historically not being as consistent
08:10of a program as UCLA you understand if UCLA is going to struggle USC is going to struggle but they
08:15have
08:16had a complete turnover of their roster so they have a top 10 class in transfer portal and freshman
08:24five McDonald's all Americans are on this current USC roster that leads the nation so for anyone who
08:31watched USC last year Rodney Rice is back he's a guard he's a senior he has all of the experience
08:36Jacob Kofi is also back he's the junior and Elijah Arenas if that name sounds familiar it's Gilbert
08:42Arenas his son he's a sophomore last year had some growing pains like freshmen do but by the end of
08:47the year you realized okay this guy's gonna be a dude even if he spent a lot of time injured
08:52so
08:53there's excitement there about that trio the next two are going to be guard KJ Lewis who transferred
08:59from Georgetown everyone is excited about him and Eric Ryba who also transferred in these two were two of
09:07the most sought after players in the portal they both decided to go to USC and while initially everyone
09:12was kind of scratching their head thinking why would they go to USC the fact is they're there and it
09:16immediately catapults USC into big winning the big 10 and Illinois is gonna have something to say
09:24but USC by all means should be sitting here saying it's our turn to shock the world so there is
09:29almost
09:30like more expectations than for USC because of all the moves they made I mean they're ranked at number
09:3621 one ahead of UCLA at 22 so they're both in the top 25 but having USC above it's it's
09:44interesting
09:44you explain it that way it's like UCLA you've been there and you fell short USC like as you mentioned
09:52last season just a disastrous end to the season on and off the court yeah just what was going on
09:58so
09:58kind of a fresh start for USC with don't worry about us we're just gonna be minding our own
10:04business yes kind of like how UCLA football was and then exactly shot to the top five last last thing
10:10for for SC yep as far as the the freshmen to look out for Adonis and Darius Ratliff they are
10:17twins
10:18and if that name sounds familiar they are the twin sons of Theo Ratliff who finished his NBA career as
10:24an
10:24LA Laker so we love Los Angeles ties really excited to watch USC men's basketball oh that's fun yeah so
10:31we've had how I wonder how many former Lakers kids went to USC because Bronny Bronny James is one of
10:39them
10:39oh it's gonna be fun all right you guys we gotta step away for a quick break
10:42when we come back the good the bad the NFL don't go anywhere you're listening to Brock and Alex
