All-Access at the West Regional in Los Angeles: Arizona open practice

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Jon Teitel

The NCAA tournament is about basketball but also so much more: the parents, fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The Sweet 16/Elite 8 are taking place in 4 cities around the country and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is covering all the angles so you can look forward to an abundance of access in the days ahead. Jon Teitel commences our coverage from Los Angeles with the Arizona open practice.

There were plenty of people to see at the Arizona open practice on Wednesday afternoon:

Director of player relations Jason Gardner (who played PG for the Wildcats the last time that they made it to the Final 4 in 2001):

Head coach Tommy Lloyd (who will have a LOT of questions to answer if he ends up facing his former boss Mark Few in an Arizona-Gonzaga title game in 2 weeks!):

SR G Pelle Larsson (the 2022 conference 6th Man of the Year who has become 1 of the best 3-PT shooters in the conference):

SO G Kylan Boswell (who will enjoy a homecoming of sorts as his parents moved to California a couple of years ago):

SR C Oumar Ballo (shown shooting a FT as he has only missed 1 in the entire NCAA tourney…after going 8-19 from the line in the Pac-12 tourney):

SR G Caleb Love (the 2024 conference POY is trying to take things 1 game at a time with his former school possibly lurking in the Elite 8):

SR F Keshad Johnson (who scored 14 PTS for San Diego State in last spring’s title game loss to UConn):

Check back for a lot more access all weekend long!

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All-Access at the West Regional in Los Angeles: Alabama locker room

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Jon Teitel

The NCAA tournament is about basketball but also so much more: the parents, fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The Sweet 16/Elite 8 are taking place in 4 cities around the country and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is covering all the angles so you can look forward to an abundance of access in the days ahead. Jon Teitel continues our coverage from Los Angeles with an Alabama locker room interview.

SR G Aaron Estrada

In 2020 at St. Peter’s you were named conference ROY: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? I was just finding myself and did not try to force anything.

Alabama is the 4th college of your career: has it been exhausting to keep moving around or worth it because now you are in the Sweet 16? It is worth it to me. Everyone wants to be somewhere they will thrive: I could have stayed at St. Peter’s but wanted to try something different. Oregon was the worst move I made as I did not get a lot of playing time, but things worked out well at Hofstra.

Do you think that you and Mark Sears have combined to be the best backcourt in the country? We are the best: you do not see many backcourt that feature 2 lefties, and we have a lot of versatility.

You gave up 102 PTS to Florida in a loss in the SEC tourney quarterfinals: what was working so well for your team in the 1st/2nd rounds of the NCAA tourney last week? Our defense. Our offense was not that great vs. GCU but we stuck together on defense.

What do you know about North Carolina? They are a 1-seed for a reason and certainly not a push-over so we just need to be locked in on defense.

Check back for a lot more access all week long!

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All-Access at the West Regional in Los Angeles: Clemson locker room

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Jon Teitel

The NCAA tournament is about basketball but also so much more: the parents, fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The Sweet 16/Elite 8 are taking place in 4 cities around the country and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is covering all the angles so you can look forward to an abundance of access in the days ahead. Jon Teitel continues our coverage from Los Angeles with a Clemson locker room interview.

SR G Jack Clark

Your grandfather John Parker was 1 of the 1st African-American referees in the NBA: how close were you 2 before he passed away in 2018? We were very tight: he was my mom’s father and only lived about 30 minutes away from our house so I would often go watch TV with him at his home.

You transferred to Clemson from NC State last year: do you still talk to any of your former teammates who are also in the Sweet 16 this week? Those are still my guys and we talk all the time: the team they have this year is not exactly the same as last year but some of my old teammates are still there (DJ Burns/Casey Morsell/etc.).

You missed 10 games this year due to leg/groin injuries: how is your health? I feel good, certainly better than before, but am still not 100%.

You had a 24-PT loss to BC in the 2nd round of the ACC tourney: what was working so well for your team in the 1st/2nd rounds of the NCAA tourney last week? Everyone is playing together in an unselfish manner. We are all playing hard and scoring PTS whenever we can.

What do you know about Arizona? They are big/fast/can shoot/are physical. It is a Baylor-type of situation so we will use a similar game plan.

Check back for a lot more access all week long!

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All-Access at the West Regional in Los Angeles: Alabama open practice

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Jon Teitel

The NCAA tournament is about basketball but also so much more: the parents, fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The Sweet 16/Elite 8 are taking place in 4 cities around the country and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is covering all the angles so you can look forward to an abundance of access in the days ahead. Jon Teitel commences our coverage from Los Angeles with the Alabama open practice.

There were plenty of people to see at the Alabama open practice on Wednesday afternoon:

SR G Mark Sears (who is averaging 28 PPG through his 1st 2 NCAA tourney games this month):

SO G Rylan Griffen (who is now 4-1 during his NCAA tourney career):

SR G Aaron Estrada (who is averaging 7 APG through his 1st 2 NCAA tourney games this month):

SR F Grant Nelson (who struggled last week but is still a great FT shooter if the game comes down to the wire):

Head coach Nate Oats chatting with Brian Anderson/Jim Jackson before they call the game for CBS:

Check back for a lot more access all weekend long!

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All-Access at the West Regional in Los Angeles: Clemson open practice

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Jon Teitel

The NCAA tournament is about basketball but also so much more: the parents, fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The Sweet 16/Elite 8 are taking place in 4 cities around the country and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is covering all the angles so you can look forward to an abundance of access in the days ahead. Jon Teitel commences our coverage from Los Angeles with the Clemson open practice.

There were plenty of people to see at the Clemson open practice on Wednesday morning:

Head coach Brad Brownell (who was in the NIT last year but is making his 1st straight trip to the Sweet 16):

SR G Joseph Girard (transfer player who scored 12 PTS for Syracuse in a 2021 Sweet 16 loss to Houston):

SR G Chase Hunter (who scored a team-high 20 PTS in their 8-PT win over Baylor last Sunday):

SR F PJ Hall (who has not played more than 20 minutes in either of his 2 NCAA tourneys games last due to foul trouble):

JR F Ian Schieffelin (who is shooting an insane 50 3P% this season):

Check back for a lot more access all week long!

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The Hoops HD Report: Sweet Sixteen Edition

Posted on March 25, 2024 by David Griggs

Chad is joined by a full panel as they recap the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, and look ahead to the Sweet Sixteen and potential Elite Eight games coming up this week. The Round of 32 ended up being kind of chalky, but we did have some exciting upsets in the Round of 64 with Oakland knocking off Kentucky, Yale getting past Auburn in what was a great matchup, and Duquesne getting their first NCAA Tournament win in most people’s lifetime. We discuss all that, give our picks for the upcoming games, and more…

And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…

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