Chris:
Wait, can you repeat that? I remember, but I kind of don't.
Speaker 2:
For you personally, you obviously have been here for a long time and seeing all the students amped for a game like this, what does that mean to you personally, as you're trying to, obviously get a win and more importantly, just having that atmosphere back?
Chris:
This game's obviously really exciting. Just the whole Mizzou, KU thing. I've been a Kansas fan of forever and we really haven't had a big atmosphere game like this in what year and a half, two years, really? If you think about it. So I think this will be something that's going to be a lot of fun. Allen's going to be electric that day. I think everyone who's playing will finally start to get a feel of what playing in Allen Fieldhouse really, really means.
Speaker 2:
Does it get the juices flowing when you see all the camping groups, I believe there's close to a hundred of them. I mean, does that kind of get you guys fired up, that like students are here and they're real excited?
Chris:
Oh yeah, that definitely does. I remember coming out of practice, or weights, or something on Monday and seeing everyone out there and just being shocked they were out there in general. So we're really excited for it. We're honestly thankful that they're coming out to support us, and I know they'll be rowdy on Saturday.
Speaker 2:
Chris, since you grew up with it a little bit and know more than a lot of people, especially your age, what's been missing with Missouri gone? I mean, can you put that into words? Do you have a feel for that?
Chris:
I don't know if I could put that into words, cause I still was pretty young, but I still remember, I went to school pretty much on state line of Kansas and Missouri. So I had a lot of Missouri friends and a lot of Kansas friends and we would always butt heads and there was some hatred there in my younger years, for sure. So I don't know if there's the hatred is missing or anything, but it's definitely something that's good to have back, always having your rivals and having that one game on your schedule, where the energy gets flowing. It really shows who you are.
Speaker 3:
Following up on that, Chris, do you have a game that you remember watching as a kid and like playing like, "Oh, I can't wait to do this in a game against Mizzou?"
Chris:
Oh yeah. So that last year when we played Mizzou, we went to Mizzou and ended up losing. I was at that game and the whole time, I was sitting there in the bleachers, like, "I wish we had another opportunity to go back and win" and that would've been, obviously, something that would've been great to do, is go to Mizzou and get to experience a hostile environment instead of experiencing the crowd, which is obviously going to be great, but it would've been a lot of fun to go to Mizzou and get to do what we're doing on Saturday.
Speaker 2:
How much have you looked at just as a team, their personnel, how you feel they're doing at this point?
Chris:
I've looked at em a decent amount, I mean obviously I'm on the red team. So my job is to get people, get our players ready for the game on Saturday. So I've watched a little bit of film and whenever I had the opportunity and they were on TV or ESPN Plus or whatever, I would always tune in and watch them. So I think they have a good team out there. They got a lot of talent and it'll definitely be fun to go over and scout them a little bit more.
Speaker 2:
Is this the type of game where you don't have to worry about effort?
Chris:
That's what I would assume, but coach Self is always going to coach effort. He's going to make sure that we aren't lacking and it is going to mean a lot to these guys. We're obviously pushing the importance of what it is. Mizzou and Kansas, and trying to let them know, "Hey, this is one of those games, you leave it all out there, regardless of the score or whatever."
Speaker 2:
Are they getting it? The guys that aren't from here and didn't have any experience with it as kids? I mean, are they getting it?
Chris:
Yeah, they're starting. They understand. We really, honestly, hadn't really talked about it, because obviously this season is you always want to focus on the next game and sky reports and stuff like that. So like in the last week, coach Self's kind of brought it up a couple times and you can tell in the serious in his voice, that this is for real.
Chris:
And I think everyone kind of understood, is starting to understand that. And I've obviously hyped it up being like, "This is going to be the greatest game of the year, blah, blah, blah." So I think they're starting to understand it a little bit more.
Speaker 2:
You had a couple guys, Jeron and DeMari in there the other night. Have you had any more throughout the week?
Chris:
Not yet. We had a off day yesterday, so we've kind of stepped back, but yeah, Shron was in there and he said some stuff and I just remember him being in all the KU, Mizzou games. So he definitely has some skin in the game. So it was nice to hear him talk about it.
Speaker 2:
All right, Chris. Thank you.
Chris:
Yep. Thank you guys.
Speaker 4:
Thanks, Chris.
Wait, can you repeat that? I remember, but I kind of don't.
Speaker 2:
For you personally, you obviously have been here for a long time and seeing all the students amped for a game like this, what does that mean to you personally, as you're trying to, obviously get a win and more importantly, just having that atmosphere back?
Chris:
This game's obviously really exciting. Just the whole Mizzou, KU thing. I've been a Kansas fan of forever and we really haven't had a big atmosphere game like this in what year and a half, two years, really? If you think about it. So I think this will be something that's going to be a lot of fun. Allen's going to be electric that day. I think everyone who's playing will finally start to get a feel of what playing in Allen Fieldhouse really, really means.
Speaker 2:
Does it get the juices flowing when you see all the camping groups, I believe there's close to a hundred of them. I mean, does that kind of get you guys fired up, that like students are here and they're real excited?
Chris:
Oh yeah, that definitely does. I remember coming out of practice, or weights, or something on Monday and seeing everyone out there and just being shocked they were out there in general. So we're really excited for it. We're honestly thankful that they're coming out to support us, and I know they'll be rowdy on Saturday.
Speaker 2:
Chris, since you grew up with it a little bit and know more than a lot of people, especially your age, what's been missing with Missouri gone? I mean, can you put that into words? Do you have a feel for that?
Chris:
I don't know if I could put that into words, cause I still was pretty young, but I still remember, I went to school pretty much on state line of Kansas and Missouri. So I had a lot of Missouri friends and a lot of Kansas friends and we would always butt heads and there was some hatred there in my younger years, for sure. So I don't know if there's the hatred is missing or anything, but it's definitely something that's good to have back, always having your rivals and having that one game on your schedule, where the energy gets flowing. It really shows who you are.
Speaker 3:
Following up on that, Chris, do you have a game that you remember watching as a kid and like playing like, "Oh, I can't wait to do this in a game against Mizzou?"
Chris:
Oh yeah. So that last year when we played Mizzou, we went to Mizzou and ended up losing. I was at that game and the whole time, I was sitting there in the bleachers, like, "I wish we had another opportunity to go back and win" and that would've been, obviously, something that would've been great to do, is go to Mizzou and get to experience a hostile environment instead of experiencing the crowd, which is obviously going to be great, but it would've been a lot of fun to go to Mizzou and get to do what we're doing on Saturday.
Speaker 2:
How much have you looked at just as a team, their personnel, how you feel they're doing at this point?
Chris:
I've looked at em a decent amount, I mean obviously I'm on the red team. So my job is to get people, get our players ready for the game on Saturday. So I've watched a little bit of film and whenever I had the opportunity and they were on TV or ESPN Plus or whatever, I would always tune in and watch them. So I think they have a good team out there. They got a lot of talent and it'll definitely be fun to go over and scout them a little bit more.
Speaker 2:
Is this the type of game where you don't have to worry about effort?
Chris:
That's what I would assume, but coach Self is always going to coach effort. He's going to make sure that we aren't lacking and it is going to mean a lot to these guys. We're obviously pushing the importance of what it is. Mizzou and Kansas, and trying to let them know, "Hey, this is one of those games, you leave it all out there, regardless of the score or whatever."
Speaker 2:
Are they getting it? The guys that aren't from here and didn't have any experience with it as kids? I mean, are they getting it?
Chris:
Yeah, they're starting. They understand. We really, honestly, hadn't really talked about it, because obviously this season is you always want to focus on the next game and sky reports and stuff like that. So like in the last week, coach Self's kind of brought it up a couple times and you can tell in the serious in his voice, that this is for real.
Chris:
And I think everyone kind of understood, is starting to understand that. And I've obviously hyped it up being like, "This is going to be the greatest game of the year, blah, blah, blah." So I think they're starting to understand it a little bit more.
Speaker 2:
You had a couple guys, Jeron and DeMari in there the other night. Have you had any more throughout the week?
Chris:
Not yet. We had a off day yesterday, so we've kind of stepped back, but yeah, Shron was in there and he said some stuff and I just remember him being in all the KU, Mizzou games. So he definitely has some skin in the game. So it was nice to hear him talk about it.
Speaker 2:
All right, Chris. Thank you.
Chris:
Yep. Thank you guys.
Speaker 4:
Thanks, Chris.
