12-23-25 - Hour 2 - How big of an impact does LJ Martin’s absence have on BYU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl?

Ben Criddle talks BYU sports every weekday from 2 to 6 pm.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Is Cougar Sports with Ben Gretel at It's time for
the Cougar be getting the dish from the local reporters
that cover Cougar athletics. Welcome back to Cougar Sports here
on one of three nine to ninety eighty three ESPN,
The Fan Arounic, the three man weaver here.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Vote it down for Benkretit Whit takes a little bit
of time off to focus on that business. That business is.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
What this segment is going to be sponsored by. It's
gonna be authorprosoutah dot com. Guys at uthropros, we provide
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(00:40):
five through and eight. That's eight zero one, four hundred
five through and eight. Or visit us to schedule today
at Authorprosofutah dot com. Let's not hesitate, Let's get right
out to the esp and the fan the hotline and
welcome in one of my colleagues that I work with.
He is fantastic, does great work and I need to
get his thoughts, especially on this LJ. Martin not participating

(01:01):
in the Pop Tards Bowl matter.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Is this a big dealer? Not a big deal?

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Let's welcome in Jay Drew of the Desert News. Jay,
thanks for joining me today.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah, my pleasure. Happy Holidays to everybody out there.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Happy Holidays to you as well, I guess pre Christmas
Eve of the Eve anyway, Jay Klaudia announced it said
that LJ. Martin, the status of him had surgery on
his shoulder, will not play. He had to make a
decision between that small window and he still has a
decision to make if he comes back or if he
goes to the NFL Draft. But is this a big
deal for BYU already limited in the run game the

(01:34):
entire season now without the big twelve offensive player of
the year.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Absolutely, it's huge. It's maybe the one player that b
YU can't play without, aside from probably fair Bachmeyer. But yeah,
it's huge news. Also, they just came out with the
depth chart I'm sure you mentioned, and Moa is also noted.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yes, uh so.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
He's probably It sounds like he's out, So uh they
go back to Enich Nawaheeny and Jovessa de Mooney and
Preston Rex's probably the three guys. But this is huge.
Anytime you lose the offensive player of the year in
your conference, it's you just don't replace a talent like LJ. Martin.
And not only is he a great running back, he's

(02:19):
great out of the backfield catching passes. He's a good
pass blocker as far as pass pro walking, picking up blitzes.
Just a great player. And uh, it's uh, it's gonna
be tough for BYU. It's tough sledding to go without
your your top running back. So you know, I don't
know how to sugar quote this at all for BYU fans.

(02:41):
It's just it's a it's a tough blow. It's really
tough blow.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, we have it.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
We didn't sugarcoat it in in our second segment in
the last hour.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
I didn't sugarcoat in our question of the day. You
just you can't.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
I know somebody had pinged me and said, but Ron
the Iowa State game, It's like, yeah, but LJ started
in that game, and I think it's different when you
have to make a one time adjustment JA on the fly,
you can scrap a game plan, but when you've been
when you build your entire offense per Aaron roder By
the way, this is not us speaking around LJ. Martin,
and you've had three weeks to know if he's not
going to play. Maybe the game plan they have something

(03:13):
in there, but three weeks without your the main guy
that starts everything for you. And then Bear And you
asked us, right, Bart, maybe don't want to be declarative
of how healthy he was to give anything away to
the opposition, but you have to be concerned of what's
his health because he's dynamic in the run game too.
If no LG and then if Bear can't run, that
limits the entire movement of BYU's offense.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Yeah, sure does. And you know everybody's been calling for
BYU to open it up and and they're probably going
to have to win this game and utilize Parker Kingston,
Chase Roberts, Tiger Backmeyer, Cody Hagen, you go down the list, Carson, Ryan,
the tight End. All those guys are going to have

(03:56):
to come up big in this game for BYU to
to pull it out. Georgia Tech doesn't have the greatest
defense they've got to It's okay, it's good. It's I mean,
they held Georgia to to sixteen points, so that's that
start good. But you yeah, yeah, anything can happen in
those and teams get conservative and all that. But but no, BYU,

(04:21):
definitely this looks like the time to open it up
and let bear if he's healthy, and I'm assuming he'll
be able to play. I don't know about what about
his mobility, but open it up, throw it downfield. They've
shown the capability of doing that. And you go back
to games like West Virginia, Iowa State, other games where

(04:44):
they were able to open it up. TCU is another one.
So that's probably what BYU's offense is going to have
to do. I think Aaron Roderick is an excellent offensive coordinator.
He's had a few weeks probably now to know that
that he wouldn't have LJ and I expect him to
have a really good game plan and give BYU's best

(05:04):
chance of winning as possible.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, I mean, you go.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Back to that Iowa State game, you go to the
TCU game West Virginia, they can a rock can scheme
it up and let it rip, and you mentioned you
got Chase, You got Parker. Parker close to one hundred
one thousand yard season. He could actually honestly achieve that
here and do that. That'd be the first wide receiver
to do that, I think, correct me if I'm rol
Jas since Austin colleague. So that could be a phenomenal achievement,

(05:27):
which we all thought it would be Chase Roberts.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
We thought Parker would have a good year.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
When Keilyn Marrion went into the portable, he never thought
that it would it would be you know, Parker. We
never thought Chase would get hurt in the UC the
game before the UCF game. But all of it here
we are into fruition. But is there anybody else that
you would like to see step up? You know, this
is what Bowl games affords for the guys that haven't
had a moment to showcase themselves BYU Potentially J next

(05:51):
season could lose three of their top pass catchers. They're
gonna lose Chase out of eligibility, gonna lose Carson out
of eligibility, could also lose LJ. Depends what he decides
to do. And he left with Parker. You'd bring in
Jaron Poula bringing Terrence Sirion. Those are freshman though they
might have to go work the portal. Who on the
roster right now in the receiver room would you like
to see maybe make some plays going into next season?

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, I would say the number one candidate's got to
be Jojo Phillips. He's kind of just had a really
rough year. Of course, he was injured and missed the
big chunk of the year. He came back. He's had
a few costly drops he had, he has had a
few good catches. I mean, everyone's always talking about how
the sky's the limit for this guy, and you know,

(06:35):
converted basketball player and really athletic and fast, and you know,
now it's the time to shine. And I think this
is a huge game for Jojo Phillips, to be quite
honest with you. And I don't know what his plans are.
I've heard rumblings that, you know, he might be one
of the canonate to go into the portal or not.

(06:56):
But even if he is and he wants to put
some film out, he's really has to have a great
game to kind of to boost his value. And if
not at BYU, then wherever he ends up, So he
would be the guy that I would kind of point to,
is he's got the skills, he's got the talent. I

(07:19):
think he's the guy that could really help him if
if he gets it together and has a game that
a lot of people say he's capable of having.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
I hate to be the DeBie downer and go back
to this moment.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
You just go back to the loss of keel and Marion,
and you know what that could have added of this team.
You look at now Miami advancing in the playoffs, b
why you're not getting in could be why you have
been in that ten stop taking on A and M
Could they have won that game in advance?

Speaker 2 (07:43):
All the Shuda could have would is right, Jay?

Speaker 1 (07:45):
But looking back now, how would you evaluate And I
know that they got the Pop Tarts Bowl, but it's
the Pop Tarts Bowl game, It's not the season. How
would you evaluate that loss? Because I feel like it's
still a successful season. But I feel like in the
most critical moments, that is to beat teams like Texas
Tech to get to the college football playoffs, that's where
players like Keithan Marion I felt I could have made

(08:05):
a difference.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah, for sure, you need to have a guy that
can stand up to Texas Tech speed in the in
the secondary and on the linebacker cor well really even
the front seven. All the front seven are guys that
are faster than you know, their size would indicate that
they should be. So I mean, b why you just
did not have a counter for that, And a guy

(08:29):
like Keilan Marion would have been great get to the
edge on that Jet sweep. We didn't see a lot
of the Jets sweep as the season went on. Parker
ran it a few times, but a guy like Keilan
Marion was really good at that play. So yeah, I
mean he's been missed. I'm thinking, if you know by
you really didn't miss Harrison Taggert, another guy that went

(08:50):
into the portal as much. They were already really deep
at linebacker, but I think they missed Keelan Marion and
you know, and then there were a few injury is
I think along the way that kind of hurt him.
One was Max Alford going down he was really starting
to contribute, and then linebacker position, uh and him going

(09:11):
down with her, and then uh, it'll be interesting to see,
you know, which other defensive guys, if any opt out.
I mean as you probably know, Ronnie, there's rumors out
there about some other guys that or might last minute
decide not to play that, Yeah, to to Bowl Senior
Bowls and that sort of thing. So yeah, it's it's

(09:34):
gonna be really interesting to see what happens on the
field on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah, it's gonna be definitely interesting to see that. Jay
got to ask you about your plans. When do you
plan on leaving? When do you plan on arriving in Orlando?

Speaker 3 (09:46):
Yeah, I'm gonna leave Christmas Day or in the afternoon.
I think I get into Orlando quite late Thursday night,
and then hopefully catch the press conferences with the coaches
on Friday morning at the media hote hell there in Orlando,
and then obviously hit the game on Saturday and write
a couple of stories off of that and just watch.

(10:09):
This has been a pretty special group of Cooters, a
special season they put together, and you know, here's hoping
that they equit themselves well in this last game together.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
Give me the stat again, I care.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
I think it's been what be twenty years since the
last time they would have accomplished twelve wins in the season,
if I'm right.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, two thousand and one. Gary Croton was the coach.
I think it was the second year, maybe it was
his first. I can't remember when Lavelle retired. But yeah,
they won twelve games. I think they got beat in
the bowl game if I remember right, and I think
they lost their last season game at Hawaii, but so
kind of a tough ending for that group. But that yeah,

(10:50):
that was the last time a BYU team has won
twelve games in the season.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
It would be spectacular.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
Look, double digit win seasons in football hard to come by,
yet alone getting twelve wins really to complain about. So
I guess I'll ask you this not to necessarily defend
a rod, but give your pitch of a rod.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
Look this the team has gone what plus whether.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Twenty four I think now maybe twenty three, still at
the twenty two range, and five in the last season,
two of those losses coming this year to a top
four team in Texas Tech. There's a lot of criticism
that you know, a Rod, this, a Rod that, oh,
this particular play call. But I mean to have a
too freshman to throw over twenty seven hundred yards fourteen

(11:32):
touchdowns in the air and can get another eleven on
the ground and break the record. Jay, there's not really
a lot to complain about it. I feel like, and
maybe that's because we're in the media and we understand it.
But from a reactionary fan, it doesn't seem like people
are grateful for a guy that has this team eleven
and two and they got to the Big Talk title
game this year.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah, yeah, you're right, that's the sense I get. I
think the majority of BAYU fans understand and appreciate what
a Rod's done. I think there's a small, all maybe
vocal minority that have kind of expressed some displeasure. I
think everybody needs to step back and look where this
program was last July. Basically a three way competition for quarterback,

(12:14):
and with one of them was a freshman and basically
he had the guts, he had the courage to basically
say we're going to start this kid because he's the
best quarterback on the team, true freshmen. And the kid
didn't even go through spring ball. He got Aaron and
Matt Mitchell and others got him up to speed and
all that they by you did, I mean they're playing

(12:37):
in the Power for Conference. People, they're playing one of
the best defenses in the country twice and you're you know,
with a freshman quarterback. I banged up running back LJ.
You know clearly wasn't one hundred percent wait in the season,
So to do what they did is pretty phenomenal if
you ask me. And A Rod was up for the

(12:59):
broils of War. Is one of the top assistant coaches
in the country for a good reason, and so I'm
a big A Rod fan. I think he's great. I've
been covering BYA football for almost twenty seasons, and I
think he's the best coordinator they've had. And they've had
some good ones. They've had Robert and I and they
had Brandon Doman had it going for a couple of

(13:20):
years and others and I and Jeff Grimes is good,
don't forget about him. But I think A Rod's is
the best coordinator they've had, probably since Norm Chow. So,
you know, props to A Rod in my book, I
take from.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
Jay Drew love the declarat the statement.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
That's something that we've debated and pontificated on this show
a lot. And I've had people, you know, be mean
to me and rip and say you're wrong, Ron, and
it's just like I like that. You said this is
norm Chad. I mean, look at the quarterback development, Look
at the guys that have gotten to the league under
are I for crying out how you had a quarterback
come in from Juco do what he did and you
know what, probably a season in four games and then

(13:58):
goes to two LANEA leads that seem to call football playoffs.
I mean, for crying out loud. And Matt Mitchell is
now at Colorado State and is the quarterbacks coach and
past game coordinators. So this is all coming under a rod.
So I agree with you. I think he's the best
coordinator at by You's had has been phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
I look at the facts.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
I go facts over emotions, So thank you for being
declared of about that. Let's transition Jay to a little
bit of basketball. I know you're doing mainly on football,
but you still keep ties in the thirty point triple
double first ever in BYU program history thirty three, ten
and ten. The last guy to get that close was
Ganny and she at twenty seven, ten and thirteen. Just
your thoughts on aj debonce accomplishing that. I mean, we

(14:39):
all probably thought that he could do it, but we
saw it truly yesterday night.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
Yeah, yeah, we did. And he didn't have to go
hunting for it. I'm not saying that like Kyle Collinsworth
and some of the others that did had to hunt
forward either at Kyden natural. And you know, obviously we're
looking at a generational talent or more. We're we're probably,
when all of a said and done, the best single
season uh performance in BYU basketball history. I know, you know,

(15:10):
he's a one and done guy. Uh So others will
have you know, Jimmer and Danny Ainge and Crestomaerchukositch and
others will have bigger stats because they were here for
a while. But if you just look at one single season,
aj is on track to be to put in the
greatest single season for BYU basketball player ever. Uh you know,

(15:30):
knock on wood, he's on that track.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
It's just you know, you can think of all the
superlatives and they're probably not enough. And uh, I you know,
I think the word good is advertised is often overused,
or that phrases off overused. But really he's been better
than advertised. He's been and that was some pretty lofty
expectations that we're really unfair to the kid, but he's

(15:56):
even surpassed those. So it's been it's I hope everybody
he just takes a step back and just enjoys it
and just and just said, this is probably a once
in a lifetime thing for a lot of BYU basketball fans,
and so hopefully everybody enjoys it and sulks it all
in and uh and just realizes just really how fortunate

(16:16):
YU was to get this kid.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah, to get this kid is phenomenal. I mean, look,
it sounds like even you know, a better person.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
Jay.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
I don't know what deal he had, but to get
everybody a pair of shoes on the staff, the managers,
you got Greg Rebella a pair. I took a picture
of that last night. I mean, he was He just
doesn't deliver on the court, deliver off the court. I wish,
you know, you could take off the media cap for
a little bit and been a manager in that room
for a little bit.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
Those are some nice shoes. I don't know if you
saw that.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
I know you're a shoe guy, Ronnie.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Oh yeah, yeah, I'm a shoe guy.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
One of my friends is one of the managers, and
I was telling him, hey, congrats it and he told
me is like, I know you, I know you feel
the subte It was like I do, I like basketball
shoes lie to you. Nonetheless, I just think that's great, right.
And you've seen CJ. Stroud do this when he was
quarterback at Ohios that you see these big time athletes
give back to that teammates. So I just I look
in a world where a kid has every right to

(17:12):
be entitled, where maybe they're paying and I've added this
conversation Jah, I've taken this a step further where they're
maybe help paying the bills at home, the income has
relied on them. They have every right, I feel like
sometimes to act entitled because of you know, circumstance, maybe age,
and AJ has not been liked. I think the biggest
moments that I've noticed is when he's playing the game
and Kevin Young wants to tell him something or someone else.

(17:34):
He listens, he's locked in, he says it, then he
goes and does it. He doesn't argue, he doesn't bad
and I think that it speaks proudly to what's going
on in the new era because there are people that
can get their market rate Jay, that can perform at
the high level that are high level athletes that can
play at BYU. I know that's still a concern with
those maybe of the older generation that don't think that

(17:54):
kids getting paid and how much you're getting paid in
that that's all they care about. But I'm looking at
the number one in the twenty twenty five class, who
I think is the number one picking the twenty twenty
six NBA class, And I don't get a sniff of
that at all. And we've been around aj enough, you
and me. I don't feel like he's speaking that at all.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
Oh No, he's genuine. It's genuine, and I think we've
noticed that he's an authentically a good guy. You know,
credit to his parents raised him really well. With all
the opportunity for entitlement or everything, he remains really well
grounded from everything I've seen, And yeah, kudos kudos to

(18:34):
him and for taking care of his teammates. You know,
when all said and done, that's who you're gonna remember
is the guys that you played with. I mean, you
can ask Ben, and I know you played college sports too, Ronnie.
That's who you remember is the guys that you went
to battle with, the guys in gals and if it's
a winnen's sport obviously, but those are the people that

(18:55):
are going to be there your whole lives and you're
going to remember. So if you're a j why not
take care of the best you can and leave everybody
feeling really good about you and about themselves.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
One hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
And he's done that, So Sard shout out to Chelsea
and Ace de Bonds and making sure they keep it down.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
It's always about the home and where you come from.
The parents. Shout out to them, Jay, We'll get you
out of here.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
And a couple of last things concerns going in the
conference play. They added a Doulah Ahmed to the roster.
Hopefully he'll back up kPa Cata. I know he was sick,
Caba coming off of illness, So maybe not their best performances,
small portion size, maybe don't judge them off of that.
Off of that, but going in the conference play they
take on Kansas State in ten days from now, a
big time off but start the road on the road

(19:35):
in Manhattan. Your concerns though, going in the conference play
with this BAU basketball team that needs to shaping.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
Up, Yeah, I think I have two to kind of
standout one is the slow starts. They played January third
at Kansas State, who's pretty better, probably better than people
think it, and they get off to a slow start
in Manhattan, the rackas crowd. They could be in trouble.
So they gotta get They got to figure out this

(20:02):
and get off the better starts. To the defense, the
perimeter defense, Eastern Washington scored eighty points on them. If
they give up eighty points in most Big twelve games,
they're going to lose. And so and that's you know,
Eastern Washington was what I know, they probably better in
their record, but two and ten coming into the game,

(20:25):
So I think that's a concern. I know obviously Kevin
addressed it a little bit last night, and I know
he's working on some things and rotating some players, and
obviously they're down to two key backups with Dawson Baker
and and I don't know what was his name, Nate Pickens,

(20:47):
and so you know that that could be a concern.
But those are the two things. They just got to
figure out how to start quicker, and they got to
figure out a little perimeter defense. They got to just
play a little bit better defense. And I think they'll
be okay.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
Definitely will be Uh, definitely will be okay. Jay, don't
want to keep you for too long. I do need
to ask you this. Don't know how much downtime you'll
have because I know they want us to try some
pop tarts at the the Camping Ground stadium, and I
know they're gonna cook us a meal from what I've seen.
Are you gonna try to golf in Orlando? That's the
hard hitting question that I got to ask j. Drew

(21:23):
loves golf.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
I know he does.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
I'm gonna try to get out. Don't have anything solidified. Yeah,
I'm not sure if I'm gonna take my clubs. It's
a long way to pack some clubs for you know,
one round of golf rough country. But yeah, I'm trying
to get something worked out where I can hit the
links either before or after the Bowl game.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
Definitely, you might need to hit up Moose Bingham, who
lives in Tampa. Now, him and I were discussing trying
to make that happen. Maybe we might have to add you.
If I solidify that and go golf, I'm down to
definitely hit the courses in Florida. I've never done that.
Before and it's beautiful down there in or Lando for sure.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
Jay.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
What's the best way we can support you here at
ESPN the fan and our listeners.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
Yeah, I just go to desert at dot com, backslash,
backslash BYU Sports usually to see my work and that
with some of my colleagues Jackson, Paane, Dick Harmon, Dave McCann.
And then if you want to follow me in Twitter,
it's at Drew J on Twitter and I'll have a
lot of updates coming once i hit Orlando in a

(22:29):
couple of days, and that's where you can find me.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
Find him at those places, guys, Jay mayor Christmas to
you first of all, hopefully I can see you before
the new year starts, and if not, Happy New Year
to you and the rest of the Drew family as well.

Speaker 3 (22:44):
Same to you and all your listeners, and I appreciate
your support of course.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
K We'll let you go. Jay's Jdrew. Guys of the
Desert News, We'll let him go. Let Jay get out
of here. He'll be taking off and arrive in Orlando
on Thursday. You can follow all of his work at
Desert News Slash, Desertnews dot com, backslash slash Sports. You
can also follow him on Twitter at Drew Dre.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
I appreciate Jay.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
Joining us and the biggest thing and then he've been
social media. Gotta pull that quote a rod the Best
O Seasons, Norm Chow. He thinks that he's declared of
about that. Uh love that, love that from Jay. We'll
go to bray guys, don't go anywhere. Don't go anywhere again.
Don't make me Judo chop Ya. I don't want Judo
chop ya. Just two minutes, just two minutes and thirty
seven seconds. Take a quick bathroom break, grab grab a

(23:27):
little snack from the fridge. It's not that long. Come back.
If you're in the car, you just you know, don't
go anywhere. Don't touch the FM dow only a little
bit here on the one O, three, nine and ninety
eight three part of your Utah ESPN Radio network station.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
We'll be back in a moment right here.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Coming up next, let's get into some postgame sound from
Kevin Young, maybe some Richie Saunders and Rob Right as
well Bred Hammer. I'll welcome him back in on the flip.
You're listening to Cougar Sports, part of your Utah ESPN
Radio Network on one O, three, nine and ninety eight
three ESPN, the Fan Welcome back to Cougar Sports here
one of three, ninety ninety eight three esp and the
Fan Ronald the three Man.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
We hear Brett always bringing the hammer by my side.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
Gonna get into a little reading between the line segment
with Kevin Young, Gonna talk the postgame what happened yesterday
recapped this Billia men's basketball victory. Bou eclipsed one hundred
points for the second time this season. But Eastern Washington
Man they were putting it on them. Brett, they did
not disappoint. They made sure that they put up a
lot of points. I agree with Jay Drew, who just

(24:27):
joined us in the last segment. If you missed that,
you can get on the podcast here momentarily.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
It will be uploaded.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
But Jay said, if you give up eighty plus points
in conference play, you're not gonna win a lot of games.
And I do have to agree with them. The defense
was not locked in the last night the way it was.
Kevin Young discusses a little bit of h He just
believes it was an effort thing because of it being
the week of Christmas.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
We'll hear of their momentarily. I agree. This has happened before.
It happened in the Mark Pope.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
Air happened last year, I think, and as well when
it gets to around the holidays, after school is over,
even the human nature element were already bred. Even myself,
like right there, I did not hit the stop thing
in the merged thing. Sometimes you get in the mindset
of the holidays and you get a relaxed days ago.
But you gotta refocus though, So those things just happen

(25:13):
anyway without further ado. I'm gonna excuse me. I didn't
even do the read. This is what I mean exactly
that thinking about Christmas already because my wife just texted
me a picture of my daughter.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
Not focus.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
See when you get distracted, will you let distractions creep in?
Other things happen? You drop the ball, you fumbled the bag,
All of those things happen. This segment gonna be brought
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(26:06):
I are celebrating the anniversary tonight as well. Look I'm
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debonsa was phenomenal last night. If you live under a rock,

(26:28):
then it sucks to be you. But my goodness, what
can this kid not do? He's everything that's been advertised.
I don't know what else you want from AJ, And
I'm gonna to get caught up with Mark Durant tomorrow
to give you a little tease for.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
Our Christmas Eve edition.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
But this man has done it on us soil, He's
done it on international soil. I mean, he's done it
in different states, different cities. I mean, what else do
you want from this guy? I mean, he's accomplished so much.
And when I see AJ constantly work the way he's
working and be unselfish and look for his teammates first,

(27:03):
early and often and then go get his I just
don't know how you can be upset. I don't know
how you can say that this guy is not gonna
be the number one recruit. I really don't know how
you say that, But I think AJ is definitely gonna
be the number one excuse me, the number one pick,
not the number on recruit.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
I think A J.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
Debons is gonna be the number one picking the twenty
twenty six NBA draft. And then I think it's just
gonna propel by you even more in recruiting.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
I know that they didn't get the likes of Austin.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
Gooseby, but look, I believe that BA is gonna be
the home and will be the home for a lot
of people down the stretch. Well, I'm gonna stop talking
without for the dude. Let's get to Kevin Young. This
is the post game sound all of it from yesterday.
Will stop and discuss after Kay comments on a couple
of things, but this is Kevin Young reacting to BYU

(27:48):
defeating Eastern Washington last night.

Speaker 4 (27:51):
Glass not finally, but something we've talked about though, and
him doing that more and more, which he you know,
when he goes he gets them because he's so athletic.

Speaker 5 (27:59):
So just a great night all around for him.

Speaker 4 (28:01):
Obviously, Tyson was hitting me with some crazy historical stats
about what he just did, so it was pretty cool.

Speaker 5 (28:09):
I think it was like the first.

Speaker 4 (28:12):
I don't want to misquote the guy, so let me
just I'll let you guys look it up.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
But you know what, Okay, stop it right there.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
So the first triple double, first triple double since Kyle
collins Worth. I think it was March sixteenth if I'm correct,
twenty sixteen against you a B.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
It's the first thirty point triple double ever. Excuse me.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
In BYU history, Danny Ainge came close twenty seven, ten
and thirty, so miraculous thirty three, ten and ten is
what AJ had, thirty three points, ten rebounds, tennisist. I
we didn't ask Kevin this question or Robert Ritchie, and
we should have, but I would not have wanted to
be my high Loboskovich in that situation. That's probably the
biggest shot of his career to make, because if you

(28:52):
missed that, ooh, the Rock fans, everybody's gonna remember that
call for your name, tell you to get in the portal,
run you out of provo.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
Looking.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
I'm being tongue in cheek when I say it's but
I'm also being somewhat serious. You have the ball and
the shot on your hands to hit the tenth assist
for AJ Debonsa, and you were wide open. If you
don't knock that down, Oh my goodness.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
People are people.

Speaker 6 (29:15):
West Virginia last year for Mahilo or the AJ shot
last night?

Speaker 2 (29:20):
Oh it's a tough one.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
Uh, the conference wins, the conference win, it is and
it's and it was on the road, and it was
on the road and one that propelled the nine game
winning streak.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
I'm thinking, I'm thinking out loud right now.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
That's tough MAILO is in the look just what I mean,
Milo's in the most crucial moments because of his IQ
and because of the way he plays. Not a bad
basketball player, right, All the numbers might not always back
it up, but he's in the game for a reason.
I think I think I'm gonna have to go with
for AJ's career. Obviously it's it's what happened on Monday,
But I think overall, I'm still gonna go with last

(29:54):
year because you needed that win and that propelled be
what you dude, We're talking about Trey Stewart getting heavy minutes,
cann catchings, you know, started to you know, change himself.
It started to work himself out of the rotation because
of not hitting shots.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
Attitude right or is always joke.

Speaker 1 (30:10):
You know, if you watch Morgan forty coach thirty on Instagram,
he always has pissed down your leg. That started to happen, right,
And I'm trying to be funny, and some people might
take offense to that.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
I apologize.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
I'm not trying to offend anybody, but that happened, and
Trey and Mahilo got more minutes. But what mag did
Kevin made a serious, like NBA like change of Okay,
I'm gonna go this way.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
So I'm gonna go last year and say the West
Virginia game.

Speaker 1 (30:30):
I'll answer your question and say that last night was
good because it gave the triple double.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
But AJ could do that again.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
I think I think AJ could get another triple double,
maybe not a thirty point one. But I'm gonna take
what happened at West Virginia last year. Now, maybe once
this season plays out, I might change that, but right now,
take Mahilo West Virginia last year, because that was a
crucial moment.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yeah, I would go with the same one.

Speaker 6 (30:51):
And if I remember correctly, there was still a little
bit of time left on the clock last night, right Like,
if he had missed.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
That, it was yeah, yeah, he could undred percent and
he was gonna get subbed out. Kevin Young had the
whole hockey line change ready to go, but he could
have kept Agane and we never know if he'd subbed
him out, subbed them back in. So I'm with you,
let's rock with the Mihilo for now and then we'll
come back and address it. But if he gets another
triple double, it's like, all right, then at that point
it's obsolete.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
It doesn't matter. But AJ phenomenal player. Can't take anything away.

Speaker 1 (31:20):
Mihilo did get him that triple double with that make
we can't take that away. Both of those, as you say,
two things are always true, and both of those are
Let's get back to the post game. This is Kevin
Young addressing the media yesterday following ba's went over Eastern Washington.

Speaker 7 (31:35):
When he signed you you kind of remember you noted
when he signed out of high school that somebodys wanted
to see him his takeover games. So he challenged him
at all during this non compas kind of step it
up and just take take over games.

Speaker 4 (31:47):
At times, not so much in the non conference, but
like if you you know, are close games, he's he's
the guy who has the ball, you know, and he's
been able to walk games down, you know.

Speaker 5 (31:57):
Pretty much in every close game we fat, So you know,
I know he can go to another level. I do
know that, you know.

Speaker 4 (32:04):
I think he's uh, he's he's positioned himself well to
you know, be super aggressive. But that doesn't just mean scoring,
just making the right play. As we as we kind
of shift gears now into the conference.

Speaker 5 (32:16):
Schedule, coach would make your defense over first half, I
thought we were as disconnected as we've been all year.

Speaker 4 (32:23):
You know, I tried really hard to get ahead. I'm
very much like elephant in the room. Just address it, guy,
you know, I talked a lot about you know, there
was I think that I counted three high highest major
teams last night that lost to teams they probably should
have beaten.

Speaker 5 (32:37):
So I said that to the players.

Speaker 4 (32:39):
I thought Eastern Washington came in and played extremely free
and aggressive in the first half, you know, shot twenty threes,
which we don't really give up threes at that rate,
made eight of them, and we were just disconnected. We
were lazy, and it was just it was just poor effort, honestly,
which usually we don't do.

Speaker 5 (32:55):
So we called the.

Speaker 4 (32:56):
Guys out at halftime, showed up some clips and had
made them kind of hone up to it, and I.

Speaker 5 (33:00):
Thought we were now.

Speaker 4 (33:02):
We did switch the scheme a little bit in the
second half. That allowed us to be a little bit
more connected and less aggressive, which I thought allowed us
to regard the three point line better. You know, they
only went two to twelve in the second half and
that kind of changed it.

Speaker 5 (33:14):
So it was definitely a tail of two halfs on
the defensive end.

Speaker 8 (33:17):
Playing four games and nine days factored into the defense.

Speaker 5 (33:20):
At all or is that just no, not really.

Speaker 4 (33:23):
I just think it's Christmas is in four days and
everyone's excited about that. You either have family in town
or you have a trip on the horizon. So look,
it's some of it's human element. But again, I mean,
you know Eastern Washington. You have to give them credit.
They've played, They've played a lot of high major teams
down to the wire, so you know, coach Monson knows
what he's doing. He's been that of a long time,
and he had his guys ready.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
Before we get into my question, I asked Coach Young
about Abdullah's debut.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
Brett just got to comment there.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
I think this is a good point of emphasis, and
I like this that Kevin Young brought it up.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
You were just honest, Uh no, not necessarily.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
I think you know, with Christmas being there, people having
family holidays, everybody you knows just maybe ready to get
out of here. I like that Kevin Young mentioned that
because sometimes you try to mess up. Look, I forgot
them merge the change a break to a stop and
merged a little bit into the next spot block. I
stopped it. I brought that up because, look, we all
are ready for the holidays. Sometimes people get distracted. You

(34:20):
don't have your best day, but that's a part of it.
And it doesn't mean that you're not good at your job.
Doesn't mean it's not a good team. But sometimes you know,
the human nature element sneaks in, right, it sneaks in.

Speaker 6 (34:30):
Yeah, And wouldn't you rather them maybe not you up
on the defensive end, but show up massive on the
offensive end, because like, let's be real, Ron, they scored
one hundred and nine points. They were on pace to
score even more. A j I texted you at halftime.
I'm like this, you didn't gonna have it. I said,
this guy's gonna have a fifty point triple double. And
if he does, yeah, so it is. I guess a

(34:56):
little unfortunate. They gave up eighty one to Eastern Washington,
But I I don't know that. I felt like by
you played horrible on the defensive end. It certainly wasn't
up to par with what we're expecting. But like, let's
be real, they shot forty percent from three in the
first half. They shot forty six percent from the field

(35:16):
on the game. But BYU shot fifty four percent from
the field and thirty eight percent from three. So I
think I don't know that it's it's as simple as out.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
They're just not focused.

Speaker 6 (35:28):
I think part of it is Eastern Washington kind of
shot the lights out. Hue was just going to town
down there on the block, and in the post, I
think Eastern Washington man like, sometimes you just have one
of those games where you don't know what you don't know,
and I think Eastern Washington didn't know last night that
they were two to ten, and so they played like

(35:49):
they were better than it, and they shot the lights down.
You saw them especially in that first half, hitting threes
from deep from way downtown. So there are things by
you can clean up. But I also feel like Eastern
Washington just had kind of the game of their lives.
And if you think back to the last time bo
you played someone who had the game of their lives,

(36:11):
it was Alabama, and in that game, Boi, you couldn't
keep up offensively that different team, different scenario, different type
of game. But in this scenario, Eastern Washington I think
offensively kind of shot out of their minds and be
what you said, Okay, if you want to make this
a shootout, We'll match you with it.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
And they did, Yeah, one hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
And look, I said this in a pregame show, and
you can go back and you can listen to it.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
And I think you would agree, Brett.

Speaker 1 (36:35):
When you play a bad basketball game the first time
that you've been playing teams very closely and you as
a group, you know has continuity, you're very confident. The
shots that Eastern Washington was making last night, they took
in the Utah game, they just didn't make all of them.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
You know, they held some of their best players. They struggled.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
But when you get adapted elevation and you just literally
go forty five minutes north to forty five minutes south,
I think it's the same thing.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
And I think that's the tough.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
Part is they had already I feel like, had played
at elevation. They didn't play the well last time they
came to Utah. They misshots, and they were just confident.
They were just confident more. And then when you allow
Division one athletes at any level to hit shots like
Moses hit a shot over a JM, Like that's not
supposed to happen in the real world. You know, even
though it say, but they get balled out though, right,
Hughey was going to work, and I look at Moses

(37:22):
and Hughey and Hamilton of like, these dudes are not
gonna be at Eastern Washington and look that that's what
it's supposed to be. I know they're supposed to be
about Buyu. But those three guys, with the way they played,
you would hope that they can play, you know, and
not in the big sky. I think all those guys
that played can play in the mountain west of the Whack.
I think they can play, you know, maybe at the
pack towel. Maybe they're in a rotational role because of

(37:42):
the way they looked. So sometimes guys playing at other
teams and bowing out his opportunity for them to showcase.
Tyler Maruss, where did he come from? Where did Nay
Pickens come from? You know, right, there's guys on this
bo roster that are playing at other schools that are
now playing high Division one level basketball. So I expect
those three guys to go to somewhere else. Hugh we honestly, Brett,
and tell me if you agree. When he looked like,

(38:04):
what is Osaka down there from?

Speaker 2 (38:06):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (38:07):
What is it Arizona. My goodness, the way he was punishing.
He was giving Hadem the business, gave Keba the business,
Abdullah was getting some. It didn't matter. And I mean
Easter Washington to push BYU to the bring. But I
think this is good because, like Jay said, can't give
up eighty points like that. And again they corrected it
in the second half. In the first half they made
eight threes out of twenty, they shot forty percent or

(38:27):
somewhere around there.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
In the second half.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
They were two of twelve, two of twelve, shot sixteen
point seven percent. So that's the defensive efver you need.
But you got to do that from jump because if
you let big twelve teams get away with that, you
might not be able to come back. But let's get
back to the sound Kevin Young postgame from yesterday following
the BYU's one hundred point well not one hundred point win,
scoring one hundred points eclipsed in it for the second

(38:51):
time to defeat Eastern Washington.

Speaker 5 (38:56):
I liked it. You know, he's big.

Speaker 4 (38:57):
I think he's gonna help us on the glass for sure.
You know, the shot blocking right out of the gate.
You know, he's just a grown man. In there so
as he gets in shape. You know, he's been sick.
You know, he's been sick, So we thought about not
even playing them, but we want to get at least
some minutes under his belt. But and once he figures
out a little bit of how his teammates like to play,

(39:17):
I think he's going to be really really helpful. And
then the thing that stood out was the defensive and
offensive rebounding and the rent protection.

Speaker 5 (39:27):
Right now, just like what he knows scheme wise versus
uh not high. Yeah, he's practiced one and a half times.

Speaker 6 (39:35):
You get it.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
I stop it there because I want this. That's crazy.
There needs to be grace with this. Yeah, that's crazy, bro.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
He's practiced one and a half times.

Speaker 6 (39:47):
And in Rob's interview, he's like, yeah, we haven't even
had a full practice.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
With I know, saying I had a full practice. That's crazy.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
So he's just working out with Chris Burgs and k
But that's what's going on. Oh man, I laugh at that,
you know, because of I know they're gonna be b
au fans of we.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
Added Discard to the roster.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
First of all, we didn't add anything you did. And
you're a fan by you did just to correct you there.
Then number two to go to the most important thing
is I poke you a little bit. This guy is
gonna need He's gonna need a full month. So you
really can't jump up Judge Abdullah until February. I know
that that's gonna be like, well, Ron, he's out there. Yeah,
but Kevin Young just said it. He hasn't even been

(40:28):
in provo long enough to pass gas for crying out
loud like come on, like, so you have some.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
Grace with the kid. He also was sick, as Kevin
Young mentioned, so, man, everybody's getting sick. Man around.

Speaker 6 (40:40):
My wife and I we were both sick. It's going around,
but it's just crazy that it's making its way through
the team like that.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
Well, I could tell you this.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
Look, I'll go back to this, and you know, Jay
said in the last segment, I did play college sports.
If you live under rock, what you don't Some people
were tired of me always mentioned this.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
I played rugby.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
I remember when COVID first started and I hung out
with my friend Britton Hale. Brittain got it and within
like a week I had got it, and so forth
and so forth. My wife never got it, which is
crazy strong immunion system in our family, but no, like
I got sick because of it. And dude, look when
you're sweating around guys and you spend a lot of
the times. I talk to the information directors all the time.
They see the team more than they see their own family.

(41:16):
That becomes their family through the season. So I bring
all of that up to say, I'm not surprised Adula's
been here. He might have been in practice, but traveling,
being around with the team, we've seen him Bread, I've
seen him up at the Delta Center. He's been I
think around the team the last three weeks, but I
think he hasn't been able to practice because you have
to get certain things cleared. So I think finally once
he did. It doesn't take that long to get sick, Bread.
It takes one time, and you can honestly get it

(41:38):
from anywhere. My little one just got over a virus
that normal ones get between six months to two years.
So yeah, it's just that time of the year. You
get sick in the winter months around the holidays. But look,
I rather this, I told you, and this is not
possible because you never want to say four or fit games.
But let everybody get sick a little bit here there.
Hopefully they get sick over Christmas, and I'm not praying
for that. I bring it up of two year years

(42:00):
ago when b what you was sick on the road
in West Virginia and Noah Waterman was like dying because
they literally didn't have bodies and he had to play sick.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
Is you don't want that.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
So hopefully everybody gets over it within the next couple
of weeks and then you're good to go. The biggest
thing is if AJ got sick, what would happen? I mean,
AJ might just play it constantly. He might drink that
special herbal tea. You know, they got that special Parker
game this year. Somebody Parker Gangston had flu poison and play. Look,
the greats have to have the flu games, so they
have to drink that that nasty green shake that builds

(42:33):
the immune system back up. So I would love to
see an AJ fifty point flu game. I would love
for him to do it at the Delta Center. Shout
out Chicago Bulls, shout out they're still offended that Jordan
pushed off.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
Get over it.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
But no, look, sometimes you have to play sick and
go grow reform. But Abdullah was sick, has only played
what it's only practiced, Yeah, one and a half times, hey,
robbing them having he had a full practice. So it's
been stints. So give the kids some grace. That's what
I'm trying to really bring up this point. Give him grace,
don't get upset. Let it all come to fruition, and

(43:04):
then eventually, I think in a month, you know, maybe
even three weeks. I think he'll pick it up pretty
quickly because he is a pro. But let's get back
to the sound Brett. Let's finish up Kevin Young post
game from yesterday this tonight.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
That volume has been a little lower at times this year.
Was that a point of coming to get.

Speaker 4 (43:21):
The biggest point of emphsis was, I mean, that's the
team that changes their defenses up quite a bit. They
throw the kitchen sink at you, and they played man,
they played a two three three two one three one,
so they're throwing different things at you. So the big
point of emphasis was like what we call point five,
making quick decisions which usually leads to good ball movement,
oftentimes for a lot of threes. So we had twenty
three assists, uh fifteen of those were in.

Speaker 5 (43:43):
The second and a half.

Speaker 4 (43:46):
But I love I told Mu the other day that
I love the threes that he took when he went
oh for seven, I thought all of them were awesome,
And so tonight he took the same ones and goes
five for eleven. So if he can shoot him out
a high volume for us, I think it really opens
things up for for everybody else. But but again I
think teams sometimes with us, you're gonna have to kind
of pick your poison if you want to try to

(44:07):
reguard the paint. You know, you're gonna have guys that, uh,
you know, can knock down shots. And tonight hej was
finding them. So is so is Rob what she always
does now with.

Speaker 8 (44:17):
This four game home stand complete, you know, added to make.
How do you feel about that second Union?

Speaker 5 (44:24):
Just your role?

Speaker 8 (44:25):
You know, your depth that you have going into Big
twelve playdown?

Speaker 5 (44:27):
Yeah, I mean on the front line for sure, Peel
feel you know, just more.

Speaker 4 (44:34):
Equipped. I think for the Big twelve. You know it's
gonna impact other guys.

Speaker 5 (44:39):
It's not done this. It's a lot in the NBA
where you bring somebody in midyear. I think almost every
year I coach in the NBA.

Speaker 4 (44:45):
We had a midyear edition, so it's harder than people think.
You know, it impacts uh, you know everything, you know,
you just it's not just the on court stuff, right,
it's team chemistry. Now there's the bus seedings different, the
plane seating is different, the locker room seatings, different, scripts
are different, and I shooting right, I could just keep

(45:06):
going on and on, right. And so he's a great guy,
which I think helps. I think the guys will embrace him.
We have some really good guys on our team.

Speaker 5 (45:14):
But it will it will impact other guys.

Speaker 4 (45:17):
And you just hope guys stay ready and continue to
work on their game and already when their numbers called.
And you know, is that something that I'm super excited
about doing going into conference play?

Speaker 5 (45:26):
Not really, but we still feel like.

Speaker 4 (45:28):
In the big picture, it's gonna make us the best
version of ourselves.

Speaker 5 (45:31):
What they will?

Speaker 8 (45:31):
Everyone get bad from Christmas break? Now, I mean twelve days?

Speaker 5 (45:35):
I'm sure, yeah, no, it is.

Speaker 6 (45:38):
It is.

Speaker 5 (45:38):
Honestly, this you're gonna laugh at me. I'm not even sure.

Speaker 4 (45:42):
To be honest you, I was trying to really just
get through this game. My assistants gotta get me up
to speed.

Speaker 7 (45:47):
With that give twelve days off until the twelve starts
coming to the noncofs, where which you says the readiness of.

Speaker 4 (45:53):
This team in your opinion, Yeah, I mean, there's definitely
things we can get better at, but you know, I
think we're I don't know, B plus I would say,
you know, there's definitely things that we want to sharpen up.

Speaker 5 (46:05):
But you know, we've played some good teams. We've been
in a lot of different situations.

Speaker 4 (46:09):
I think we've played you know, stylistically, you know, for
the most part, big twelve ish styles.

Speaker 5 (46:16):
I think the a lot of teams that we've played against.

Speaker 4 (46:18):
So I think there'll be a lot of you know,
I'm big on reference points, you know, I think there's
a lot of things we can refer to from the
non conference that we can implement with our game plans
in the conference.

Speaker 8 (46:27):
From what you've seen around the conference, you had time
to check in on some of these other teams, which
what do you make up the whole kind of conference?
How they performed at non con. It just is just
a leak tougher this year, you.

Speaker 5 (46:38):
Think, but potentially.

Speaker 4 (46:41):
Hard to say if it's tougher. I think, you know,
big twelves had a great non conference. You know, Texas
Tech had a big one the other night against Duke.
And not to single them out, cause there's been a bunch,
but look, it's a great league. You know, it's a
great league, great coaches. I think the I think the
talent levels higher.

Speaker 5 (47:00):
You know.

Speaker 4 (47:01):
I don't know if that'll make the schedule any any
tough as hard as it is, you know what I mean.
So I know all the coaches in the league, you know,
when we're at the Big twelve media day where just
everyone's very complimentary of the how hard our league is.
For good reason. Yeah, so we got the we got
the in law in town. I got my mother in law,

(47:23):
father in law, a couple of brother in laws and
cousins at the house tearing up all kinds of stuff,
I'm sure. So it'll be nice to take a couple
of days off and get some family time.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
And that's Kevin young post game sound from yesterday. You
love the honesty from k from k Y gave all
of us media members cookies to bred I put it
on my Twitter. You can go look at I know. Yeah,
shout out to Samantha Younger. There's no relation there a
his assistant but mayor Christmas to media from ky so.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
Fat Fat cookie. Uh that was delici is.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
Luckily I got to bite before the hungry hooligans that
I call at my house decided. You can't eat food
in front of your kids and not expect something, especially
a kid that's one years old who would just look
at you go ah and like will demand it because
they can't speak cat So but no so cute. Gave
her some chocolate chip cookie and then decided that she

(48:20):
wanted to bite the entire cookie, and then after that
went to the bathroom. Told the wife watcher, I come back,
half the cookie's gone. I said, so who he'd have
the cookie because the baby can't eat after cookie, and
I said, I don't know. I'm like, well, if you
want to hide it, the chocolate chip cookie that's underneath
your lip would be better to hide next time. So
shout out to you, Kevin Young. My family enjoyed the
cookie more than I did, but at least I got

(48:42):
the first bite, which is what I always care about
in general. But yeah, I thought there was some pretty
good stuff from there, you know. Going into Big twelve
conference play Brett, I guess you know I'll ask you
what's your biggest concern that you have about this team?
And you know, I guess I be a basketball question
of the of the day as well. BAU basketball twelve

(49:04):
and one accomplished a lot in this non conference play,
But what do you feel like you need to improve
on outside of the slow starts?

Speaker 2 (49:11):
I mean, yeah, that's the big one, right, that's the
big one, and that's the big one.

Speaker 6 (49:16):
But they they kind of they dealt away with it
a little bit against Eastern Washington, but then they showed
up slow defensively, So I guess it goes both ways
on both ends of the floor.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
But at least they didn't start slow both ways, because.

Speaker 6 (49:33):
I feel like usually with this Boa basketball team, they
start slow, but they usually bring one thing, so they
either bring the offense or the defense in the first
half and then it takes them to the second half
to get up to speed on the other one, like
with Pacific, they were slow on the offensive end, but
they were solid on the defensive end of the first half.
So that's obviously, I think the obvious one. But still

(49:55):
the biggest one to me is who what's the identity
of this basketball team outside of a Jed demonsa, Richie
Saunders and Rob Wright.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
What's the identity who's.

Speaker 6 (50:11):
Scoring the basketball if it's not those three guys. And
I hope the answer to that is, you know what, Brett,
You'll never have to find out because no team will
ever be able to slow down all three of those
guys in a way that makes, boy, you lose. If
that's the answer, again, you know me, I'm happy to
eat cro breakfast, lunch, and dinner if that's the case. However,

(50:33):
I'm a man who lives in reality, and I'm a
little bit of a pessimist, and so I look at
it and I just say, I don't know that that's
sustainable every game. I certainly don't think it's sustainable when
you're playing teams like Texas.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
Tech, Iowa State, and Houston.

Speaker 6 (50:48):
When you're in those situations, you've got to find other people.
What I will say is, as a great nugget, a
little easter ripe, we've seen the last couple of games,
Tyler Moruss looks like he's in the words of Gus Johnson,
he's got his jayback, folks. He looks like he's bringing
it back in. We never questioned his hustle or defensive mentality,

(51:10):
but he was also brought in to be a three
and D guy, and the three didn't show up as
much as the D and So it seems like over
these last couple of games, small sample size, Tyler Moross
seems to have his jayback, which is a great sign.
But I also need to know, like, what's the consistency
with Kennard Davis. He looked great last night, but what

(51:31):
will he look like going forward? Because he's been a
little bit up and down. Maybe this Christmas break is
a good time for them to get rest, even though
I don't feel like their non con dictates them being
this out of place. So for me, I think it's
just what's the identity of the team outside of your
main three guys?

Speaker 2 (51:52):
And Frankly, can you keep Keba healthy?

Speaker 1 (51:55):
Yeah? Uh, keeping Kevan the rest of the team healthy,
all of that. So I guess we'll find out sooner
rather than later. But that was Kevin youngsound guys, And
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(52:18):
by layers. You don't have to settle for fake teeth
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Utah dot com. Let's go to break. Let's get into
some ward bou sports. We'll play the Rob Wright and
Richie Saunders sound coming next on the Flip before we
welcome in Blaine Anderson in our four to thirty segment,
Don't go anywhere. We still got two more hours of
Cougar Sports to get to your listening to Cougar Sports

(52:40):
right here on one oh three nine guys in ninety
eight three ESP and the Fan