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Speaker 1: What are we doing.
Speaker 4: We're breaking down the real life legal drama, intersecting with
your favorite athletes, your teams, your leagues, except with contract
disputes and iokaos, sideline scandals, court or in battles, rape allegations.
I hate talking about it, but we're diving deep with
Utah's most trusted injury attorneys. We got Garrett and Preston
Handy online. Gentlemen, how you guys doing today? Oh, I
guess they're not on the line yet. I apologize. I'm
sorry that they are not on the line yet. We
will get them on the line here shortly. But obviously
the topic du jour, the topic of the day is
the Parker Kingston situation. Okay, very controversial here, high profile
case here in the state of Utah that we've dealt
into in the earlier segments.
Speaker 1: Will continue to discuss it.
Speaker 4: The most recent reports, essentially the victim in rape allegations
against BAU football player reportedly set clear boundaries Okay, before
the two met up in February twenty twenty five. According
to recently unsealed documents, Parker Kingston, twenty one year old
bau Wide receiver, was charged in Washington County with one
count of first degree founding rape earlier this week. The
charges come after an investigation that started in February twenty
twenty five. According to court documents, the twenty year old
victim first reported of the sexual assault about four days
after the two met in February twenty twenty five, so
that's when she reported. In June of the same year,
she spoke with a forensic investigator. On February twenty third,
Kingston arrived at the victim's home. This is February twenty
February twenty third, twenty twenty five. Kingston arrived at the
victim's home, where the two watched a movie and began
to engage in some sexual activity which did not include sex.
I don't know what that means. So it's some sexual
activity that needs clarification, but it didn't include I guess
intercourse is what the proper terminology would be. The victim
told investigators that as Kingston began to fall asleep, she
went up to get ready for bed.
Speaker 1: When she returned.
Speaker 4: Fifteen minutes rater Kingston attempted a sexual activity again. According
to court documents, the alleged victim told Kingston to stop
several times and attempted to push him off of her.
Kingston later claimed all sexual activity was consensual according to investigators.
Speaker 1: Detectives later added, based.
Speaker 4: On communications obtained from Kingston's cell phone after the incident,
it can be inferred that he went to her apartment
with the intention of having.
Speaker 1: Sexual intercourse, so his expectation.
Speaker 4: Was one thing, even though that she had set clear boundaries.
Speaker 1: Her and her report.
Speaker 4: So Kingston was taken into custody earlier this week, and
he's being held in Washington County Jail without bail. He
is scheduled to appear in court on Friday for his arraignment.
In response to the allegations, bo You said it takes
any allegation very seriously and will continue to cooperate with
law enforcement. The university refused to comment further, citing federal
and university privacy laws and practices for students. So that's
one of some of the most recent news. You know,
I think a couple of things here. Obviously, we want
truth and we want justice. Uh, we want truth in
justice for the victim, for Parker, and for everybody involved.
And UH, that's what we want first and foremost.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: You have to let the judicial system, the judge and
jury play out. And obviously he's being held without bail
right now. The arrayment will occur on Friday, which means
the prosecution is confident, uh that they had enough to
take him into custody, to arrest him, and to hold
him without bail. They feel pretty confident in their case.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: And so UH there's a little bit of questions here
though as we delve into this.
Speaker 1: Uh four days it was you know, from.
Speaker 4: The the the from the alleged rape. It took four
days to report uh, the the the the the the
purported rape.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 4: Did that happen at Saint Saint George Regional Hospital. Uh
did the report come out to the police or did
you call the police?
Speaker 1: Uh? Four days afterwards?
Speaker 4: H and then go to the regional hospital and was
a you know, one of the things that that that
someone asked me was like, how do you prove consent?
How do you prove that in the heat of passion,
in the heat of love making, in the heat of
some sexual activity, that it was not consensual or consensual.
Was there bodily harm? What was evaluated at the hospital? Uh,
four days after the alleged incident. You know, I guess
there's UH. I guess there's some room for for some
maybe some latitude there and and there's still a lot
of these unknowns.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: I've reached out to a number of individuals, many of
them have commented at ben innocent until proven guilty. There
are plenty of high profile cases alleged rape cases in
which the the accused has been exonerated, has been found
not guilty in front of a jury of its, of
his his, his peers, and so we can go into
in some of those. But these these cases are very
difficult to I believe confirm consent or not having consent
from what I've been told. But our thoughts and praisure
with all those involved, and ultimately what I've said in
the in the first few segments of our show is
I want justice and truth as much as we can
get here, as many details as we can obtain for
all those involved. Okay, yesterday we we you know, we
were finishing up the show and it dropped and we
really didn't have time to go into it in detail.
We have more details now and hopefully we find out
more on Friday. We'll get our good friends Handy and
Handy here on the line here momentarily, but just as
a recap some of the topics that we've been broaching today,
how about some college football commentary.
Speaker 1: Even with the.
Speaker 4: Loss of Parker kings let's just talk football. Parker Kingston
was potentially the wide receiver one for this BA Cougar
football team. He was obviously putt return putt returner one.
I still think that BYU will be a favorite, you know,
top four to five team, maybe a top three, maybe
a top two team in the Big Twelve heading into
twenty twenty six. They have a robust talent group, I
think offensively and defensively. They return a ton of talent
as well, and they return their coaching staff that knows
how to extract the most out of that talent.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, Bay you.
Speaker 4: Will finish per Cody Angel of CBS Sports on his
way too early top twenty five both predictions. He states
by you will finish unbeaten in the Big twelve regular season.
That may very well be a hot take for some
Let's get out to the hot line. Let's talk a
little sports court with injury attorneys, the most trusted Utah
injury attorneys. We got Garrett and Preston Handy on the line. Gentlemen,
how you guys doing today?
Speaker 6: Hey, Ben doing well? How are you doing?
Speaker 1: Hey, I'm doing fantastic.
Speaker 4: Always a pleasure, always a blessing talking sports court with
you guys. Unfortunately, we have a BYU sports core topic we're.
Speaker 1: Gonna get into here.
Speaker 4: The Parker Kingston News rocked Profo and cougaration yesterday.
Speaker 1: What do you guys know about this situation?
Speaker 4: Let's break down some of the facts and then get
into the follow up questions.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I would say, Ben, We've given you a number
of stories today, but I think we will spend as
much time in the space here as we need to,
and we're.
Speaker 1: Gonna spend all the time on this guys. I hate
to say it, like we got a time.
Speaker 7: Maybe dive into the second story if we have time.
But yeah, so this hit like a bombshell, right, you know,
And you know in the first thought that people goes
to people's minds is are you kidding me? Jake Redsloff
last year, last summer, and now Parker Kingston, and you
see this headline and it just kind of rocks your world.
But you know, we we've got information on two levels.
It was first reported in the news that Parker Kingston
had been arrested and charged with felony rape and he
was being held in the Saint George Jail without bail,
and that this was based on allegations of an incident
that happened February of twenty twenty five, so a year ago.
It was reported in the newspaper that the detectives indicated
that they had been gathering evidence and had spoken to
many witnesses before these charges were filed. Well, we have Garrett,
in his resourcefulness, he has gained the file the documents
that have been filed with the court, so we have
some more detailed information on this. One of the things
that was filed is called the information and this is
where the prosecuting attorney sets forth to charge and it
just says count one rape a first degree felony in
that the defendant had sexual intercourse with another without hurricanes
in violation of blah blah blah lah. So that sets
forth the actual charge. Then another thing that's filed is
called an affidavit of probable cause, which sets forth facts
that kind of support they have to meet a burden
of probable cause, meaning and before we can issue charges,
there's got to be probable cause. And people hear that,
you know, whether they're on you know, one of the
TV programs. But what that does is sets forth facts
that the prosecutor is setting forth and saying, here is
why we believe. This justifies what we're doing. And I
won't go into all of them. Some of them are
detailed and a little salacious, but the important ones I
think to address on here ben are. It says that
on February twenty seven, twenty twenty five, and this is
four days after what the alleged incident when it took place,
it states that a twenty year old female am initials,
made contact with officers of Saint George Regional at Saint
George's Regional Hospital to report a sexual assault. Then it
goes through things that lead up to what happened and
end with a statement that says defendant, without her consent,
raped her. An important and important part I think of
this probable cause that I think is really important in it,
and it has a lot of questions remaining, but it
just does it say. In an interview with defendant Parker Kingston,
he claims that all sexual activity with Am was consensual.
He says based on communication in the self in his
cell phone after incident, it was it can be inferred,
meaning this is what he thought, that he went to
her apartment with the intention of having sexual intercourse.
Speaker 6: Now what we don't know, Ben.
Speaker 7: And I think this is really important, is when did
that interview take place? Yeah, you know, was that two
weeks after her allegations or was that a month ago?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 7: Did he hit this him? And he's like, what's going
on here? So we don't know that. I think that
would be important them for them to put that in there.
A couple of other things that are not in there,
and maybe because they don't exist. There's no evidence of
DNA findings, and there's no evidence of a rape kit
and findings of a rape kit. But these are part
of the problem because things going on. So you know,
right now, as we said, you know, he's being held
without Belle in the Saint George Jail, and so a
lot of questions come up, and I'll let you ask
your own questions, but you know, one of them. I
think that a lot of people are asking is why
did this take a year? I mean, this happened a
year ago. Now we're hearing about it now and he's
being arrested in charge. Now My position is, and again
for the listeners, this is just my guess is the
prosecuting office had this. They were doing their interviews, gathering
evidence over the last year. And that doesn't mean they're
doing it every single day, but they're gathering it, taking
their time, and before they file charges this serious, the
felony one of rape, they want to make sure they
have everything in place so that if this does go
to trial, they can meet their burden of proof and
that has to be beyond a reasonable doubt. And so
that's why I think it took this time. And that's
just a supposition. But some of the other questions I'll
let you dive into and Garrett can answer how this
is different from the Jake Redslock case. What happens now,
you know, so we can dig on that, dig in
on the and stay in the space.
Speaker 1: So you stated in the burden of proof segment.
Speaker 4: Of this report, right, this is the what the prosecution
is bringing forth for you know, this to justify a
warrant for his arrest?
Speaker 1: Correct?
Speaker 4: Is that is that the burden of proof segment of
this report is that what that.
Speaker 8: Is, Well, the burden of proof is overall, what what
the prosecution has to prove, you know, really to get
a conviction and that and that's that's.
Speaker 1: But that's not for the arrest.
Speaker 4: So like, what what what did it take in order
to go out and arrest and pro qualify this evidentiary
threshold that they needed to meet in order to go
out and arrest.
Speaker 8: Him, right, So that's that's the probable cause statement, right,
which is a lower lower standard of course, and so
that there's probable cause. And so what they've done is
they've outlined that in this statement from the detective and
Preston talked about some of these things, right, which is
kind of the timeline events. As you know, four days
later it was reported. You know, we've looked at the evidence,
we talked to him, and based on this information that
we have, we believe, right that there's that there's there's
been a crime here committed a felony rape, and that
we can prove that. And so now they've got to
go through and meet that larger burden right as the
case goes forward.
Speaker 4: Gotcha, So the there was a mention of no DNA
findings and no evidence of a rape kit.
Speaker 1: Could you go into that, like, so, did she.
Speaker 4: Not go into the hospital and and perform a rape
kit or have any sort of DNA evidence that that
proved that he, you know, engaged in sexual intercourse with
with this uh, with the with the acute or with
the the alleged victim.
Speaker 6: Well, we don't know.
Speaker 7: And that that was just me pointing out that there
was no in this probable cost statement. There wasn't something
that said we've obtained DNA that supports this and this
and this, and then didn't say when she was at
the hospital they performed a rape kit. That doesn't mean
it didn't happen, They just didn't report it. I mean
rape kits will show different things. For example, they'll show
signs of trauma. But you know, he's already admitted that
there was sexual yea, yeah, Yet you know his his
position is, hey, yeah, it happened, but it was totally
consensual and it doesn't rise to the level of what
you're saying happened that rape you know, and if you're reading,
if we can get into it. But this probable cost
statement talks a lot about how they communicated and I'm
guessing either a cell phone or through a dating app,
where she claims that she set for specific boundaries or
parameters of their encounter, you know, knowing what they were
going to get together and hang out, and that she
set forth numerous times definite boundaries and that I think
the probable cause statement makes it a point to set
that out so they can meet this burden of what
you know, there are elements of crimes, and what are
these elements of crimes. Well, one of the elements of
rape is non consent and you know in that it
says that he raped her without her consent and so
so we don't know about the DNA or the but
four days later, I don't know this. I doubt that
they have DNA that was supported.
Speaker 4: But she went to the hospital four days later. Is
that what happen? And then she went to the police
at the same time. Is that what the sequence was?
Speaker 8: But yeah, that's my understanding.
Speaker 6: They called the police to the hospital.
Speaker 1: Okay, so they called the police of the hospital.
Speaker 4: So she went to the hospital first, and then they
called the police to the hospital.
Speaker 6: Yeah, she went there and les rape.
Speaker 7: And again, let me just say this DNA is probably
not important because he's admitting it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he admitted And so how does that process occur?
Like so that she she accuses him, right, she tells
the police officers and then they're going to reach out
eventually and say, hey, we you know what what is that?
What does that look like? What does that process look like?
Is that in person? Is it over the phone when
they were interviewing him. We don't really have any details
on that.
Speaker 6: We we don't know.
Speaker 8: And that's that's something I think that we'd like to know,
right is how soon did that interview take place? Because
they apparently did talk to him again, whether it was
on the on the phone or in person, we don't know,
and we don't know when that happened. But you know,
something else I mean we've we've kind of wondered is
whether or not he had an attorney present with him
when he was interviewed by the police. I mean, it
would be of course smart to have one, you should
We just again, we don't know at this point. As
I've been trying to we've been trying to follow this
looking at the you know, the court's docket on this,
I don't see that an attorney yet has has filed
an appearance on Parker's behalf, But no doubt somebody's going
to show up. I mean, he's he's he's going to
appear in court tomorrow, tomorrow, early afternoon, one thirty.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 8: There's going to be an arrayment. He's gonna have a
chance to you know, to make a plea.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 8: And again I mean, if we're all looking in a
crystal ball here, he's going to plead not guilty. And
I think by then I'll have an attorney lined up.
If he doesn't already, Why.
Speaker 4: Why is he being held without bail? What's the justification
for that? And is it merited?
Speaker 6: Well?
Speaker 7: I think and this again in supposition, I my guess
is that a felony one rape charge, there is a
an automatic you be held without bail, and they have
a speedy arraignment. You know, it's two days later. He's
gonna to be appear before the judge. But one thing
that that's just my guess, and I have no doubt
at the arraignment they will discuss bell and I think
Belle will be granted. He won't be held over but
one of the things that apparently came out today and
I don't have any over information, that they viewed him
as a flight risk. And that's one of the things
that Bell Bell does. Bell says, hey, you pay this
amount and you're guaranteeing that when you need to be here,
you'll be here and we don't need to come chase
you down and find you in the Bahamas.
Speaker 6: I'm talking about any type of person.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: Interesting, how did they how do they justify justify flight risk?
I guess how to How is that evaluated and graded?
Speaker 1: You know, is there any parameter there?
Speaker 8: Well, yeah, they need to have. Again, we don't have
specifics on that, so we're speculating a little bit. That's
been something that's been floated around. There were a few
of the filings were under seal, and so we didn't
know on these charges, just that you know, the charges
had been filed. But so we don't have specific specifics
of that, you know, I mean, this is a case
by case thing. It's there's not just one standard for that.
But again I'm not sure what what uh you know.
Speaker 4: What's the We've had plenty of high profile case cases
like this recently, even going back twenty years. I want
to Duke Lacrosse rape case. Uh, there's there's been a
number of these that that these uh, these individuals that
are accused, they're exonerated. Uh. Why are these rape cases
so difficult to prove consent or not consent?
Speaker 7: Well, because if all you've got is her testimony and
his testimony, it's a high burden on the prosecution. And
I think Garrett pointed out, I think there's probably other
stuff out there that they have that, you know, they
don't want to go in blind and think, oh, we're
not going to be able to prove this. You know,
I think there's things out there, and I'm again, listeners,
I'm just.
Speaker 6: Thrown out possibilities. That's what lawyers do.
Speaker 7: You know, there might be a text or something that
supports her claim, you know, something that happened after you know,
and this type of thing. They might have put that
in a proble cause maybe they didn't. But you know,
I think, you know, you talk about these cases and
how they're exonerated, you know, I mean the Duke case
was classic where you know, someone claimed this, they got
caught up in this, and these guys were really you know,
railroaded and it came out later that it really didn't happen.
So the one thing Parker Kingston's done is he's admitted.
He's admitted one part of it, right, and that's and
he hasn't admitted the other. And listen, I think I
think it's important if you wanted to get into this,
let me know, Ben, how we juxtapose and compare the
rest left case to this.
Speaker 4: You want to do that, yeah, I mean, we have
a few more minutes left, so we may have to
postpone it. I would love to get you guys on
tomorrow again if you guys want to discuss this in
more depth because we're short on time. But you know,
just this final thing, there's real final thing before we
let you go, because I do want to go into
that juxtaposition between the civil case with Jake and this
much more serious case, this felony charge FAENIY rape case
with Parker Kingston.
Speaker 1: But last thing, what's the best case.
Speaker 4: Scenario for Parker and what would be the worst case
scenario here as far as I mean, if he's.
Speaker 1: Convicted, what does that look like for him?
Speaker 4: As I mean, obviously judge and jury's gonna make that
delineation and make that decision ultimately. But what are the
best and worst case scenarios for him?
Speaker 7: Well, the best case scenario is they get going down
the road towards the trial and things come out and
the prosecution decides to dismiss the charges, you know, and
basically what a lot of times when that happens, they're
not saying that this didn't happen. They're just saying, we
don't think we can meet the level of proving rape.
The worst case scenario is he he pushes it to
trial and he gets convicted, and then there's there's det
Stroy guidelines. A few convicted of this type of crime.
Every crime has destroy guidelines. It says, here's the maximum sentence,
here's the minimum sentence, and this is the type of thing,
you know, and the judge will decide that based on
the factors. And that's in any criminal case, not just his,
but that that's worst case. And in between that, you know,
there can be a plea bargain, you know, to something
far less than rape, or maybe something close to rape.
But you know, right now, if he's if he's taken
the stance it was consensual, I highly doubt he's gonna
you know, because a plea bargain means you have a
you have a criminal record, you know, and so it's
it's unfortunate. We need to remember that there is a
victim who feels her causes just there is a defendant
who has constitutional rights. And many times you have conflicting stories,
you know, and uh, it'll have to play its way out.
Speaker 6: Don't anyone jump to conclusions.
Speaker 7: And there's a prosecution that feels like they can meet
their burden. These are all these, you know, these competing.
Speaker 1: Interests, gentlemen. I always appreciate our time. Let's catch you.
Get you guys on again soon.
Speaker 4: Garrett and Pressed and handyhandylaw Youutah dot com.
Speaker 1: We talk about all these things on Sportscore.
Speaker 4: But what they do best is represents you when you've
been in an accident, when you've been injured. It could
be a workman's comp it could be an auto accident,
it could be just a random incident. Uh, just contact them,
give them a call. Eight oh one two six four
sixty six seven seven. That's eight one two six four
sixty six seven seven Handylawutah dot com.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, gentlemen.
Speaker 6: Thanks Ben, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Thank you Ben, Thank you guys. That's our segment.
Speaker 2: We'll go Utah and b Yu Football, Utah Valley Sports,
Utah Jazz, Utah Mammoth, RSL and Moore on one O three,
nine and ninety eight three ESPN The Fan. Get to
know the Cougar's opponents and rivals right now, you know
the faux segment on Cougar Sports with Ben Kreteler.
Speaker 4: Welcome back Cougar Sports one of three, nine ninety eight
point three ESPN The Fan. I've been criddal broadcasting from
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and sustainability to save your money on your taxes as
well at.
Speaker 1: Vanderwealthaterwellth dot com. But he's time to get to know
the Poe.
Speaker 4: You basketball again, Prepkint Ready for the Colorado Buffalo's. They
are heavy favorite in this game. Buffaloes. I've had their
ups and downs this season. They're fourteen eleven on the year.
Four and eight in the Big Twelve, and they're looking
to write the Ship versus a Formidable Foe and byub
Wa univer twenty two in the nation, eighteen and six overall,
six and five in Big twelve. Play finally got to
win on the road versus Baylor recently, and it'll be
a Valentine special, that's right, February fourteen, two pm tip
off on FS one to get to know the Foe,
We're gonna welcome in an insider and a voice of
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Speaker 1: All right, let's get out to the Let's get out
to the hotline.
Speaker 4: Let's talk to Colorado Buffalo basketball ladies and gentlemen, boys
and girls. Let's welcome in the voice of the Colorado Buffaloes.
Speaker 1: We got Mark Johnson on the line. Mark, Now, that
are you well?
Speaker 5: A fantastic and I hope the way that you guys
have been playing off seasonal and the way the Bubblos
are playing on the road that being at this Valentine's Day,
you'll be somewhat loving to us on Saturday when we get.
Speaker 4: Hey, man, you know, we always try to be kind
to everyone that comes into the friendly confines of the
Marriott Center, no doubt.
Speaker 1: But it'll be I'm sure a competitive one, no doubt.
Speaker 4: Look, the Buffs have had their ups and downs this season,
and recently your head coach went off on a bit
of a diatrode post game.
Speaker 1: They are fantastic quotes.
Speaker 4: Give us a little breakdown what happened over the last
twenty four to forty eight hours with the Buffalo basketball
team and your head.
Speaker 5: Coach well, what's going on is you've got a young
basketball team in the University of Colorado. There's one senior
and he doesn't play much at all, and so it's
it's mainly all freshmen and sophomores. BEng got Decket is
a junior and he'll start. And so this team's a
little bit immature. It's talented, but immature. And here's what
we're seeing with Colorado right now. Every team's going to
be a little different. Home of the way. This team
is really jackling Hyde home and away, you know, two
Wednesdays in a row. So you think of the last
four games, Busts have gone two and two, had two
nice wins at home, one over TCU, one over Arizona State,
and then sandwiched around those two where two lopsided losses,
one at Iowa State and the one at Texas Tech
last night. Now those are quality opponents. Make the mistake
about it, but this is same Texas Tech team they
launched two by thirty four last night that they launched
two by two at home just a few weeks ago.
And so it's really an extreme team in what is
getting Tad's at boils. You know, blood boiling is the
fact that they've been so different home and away from
a I think from an intensity standpoint, from a toughness standpoint.
So last night he comes out of the bustcame radio
Hill and then carried it into the postcamp press conference
and said he's not sure that the team is worthy
of taking the charter home. He thought maybe should book
them on a six am flight would have been this morning.
And I very quickly corrected him and said, you know,
I called him one over here, so I paid my dues.
I'm okay getting under charter. The rest of you can
stay back, but I want to go home with the
charter tonight. So he's a competitive guy. He rarely has
an unspoken thought, and he's very honest most of the time.
But he was frustrated, very honest last night.
Speaker 4: Well I can understand he's a little bit frustrated with
his team. Right now, what's been the trajection of this team?
I mean, overall, you're like, hey, fourteen and eleven team,
they are struggling in the Big twelve. We know the
Big twelve is a gauntlet, but they've been competitive in
many of these games, right, I mean, you look at
that Texas Tech matchup, it's like, hey, we were right
there knocking on the door. Cincinnati was a close one.
West Virginia had its back and forth. Kansas was a
close one. It was when you were within striking distance,
even UCF the Iowa State game got away. You beat TCU,
Baylor got away from you. That was a disappointing one.
Arizona State you bounce back. And then the Texas Tech
second go round was a flop.
Speaker 1: But noodle, what's happened.
Speaker 5: Well, it's kind of be interesting that this team is
early on he's and if you look at the offensive
numbers for Colorado, it's a very I mean the numbers
in price right, you know, they're able to score well.
They shoot well forty eight forty nine fifty percent. They've
had a go three point shooting team all year long.
Generally they took care of the ball well under ten.
The game of the last night was sixteen. And so
they've done a lot of things well on the offensive team.
But like a lot of young players, they gain their
identity and their energy for a game by what happens
on the offensive end. So last night, tax clamping down
defensively and instead of okay, let's pick up our intensity
in the defensive end, and okay, if you got to
win this game, you know, sixty to fifty seven, let's
do that. You know, they continued to fire, continue to
get their head down. Then head Town have intensity on
the defensive end. During Ted Boill's tenure here fifteen previous seasons,
this has been a program built on defensive rebounding, and
this team lacks in both of those areas, despite the
fact they're physically capable of doing that, and so that
in itself becomes the problem that they identify offensively instead
of living defensively in rebounding and then letting the offense come.
And that's why that's where the discrepancy who has been
on this team and and why he's gonna be so
frustrated right now.
Speaker 4: Well, it's it's always difficult to go through long losing streaks.
Speaker 1: Right there. There was a there was a tough stretch there.
It was a six game losing streak.
Speaker 4: You thought you got back into the swing of things
with a dominant victory over TCU, then you drop to Baylor,
you beat Arizona State, then you lose the Texas Tech.
Is this the bounce back? We've gone one win, lost
win lost. Are they looking confident enough to get a
win on the road at b YU.
Speaker 5: Well, I think they're certainly capable now, though obviously that'd
be a very steep hill to climb considering what BYU
isn't kind of the personnel that the Cougars have, and
so but with this team, uh, I think what's frustrating
about it? And we all know, like you mentioned just
a moment ago, the Big Twelve is an unforgiving league.
It's the best college basketball league in America. We all
understand that. So you're going to face a BYU or
a Tech or h Iowy State or can or you
know Houston or you know Arizona any given week, and
sometimes you stack them up three four in a row,
and it gets me very difficult. So when you are
a young squad like Colorado is, and then let let's
just be real honest about it, what college athletics is,
I'm pretty sure it's either fifteenth or sixteen. The Buffs
roster payroll is either dead last or next to dead last,
or the Big Twelve. And so you're bringing a knife
to a gunfight in some respects Now, is that an
excuse for losing?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 5: Is it a contributing factor. It can be. And so
this is a talented team. I mean right now, this
freshman class. You know, you've got so many guys like
you know de Baster where you're at another freshman around
the league that are so good. He kind of gets
lost in the mix. But Isaiah Johnson is a very
good freshman. He leads the Buffalo is a sixteen points
football game. He's got NBA ties. His godfather is is
Dwayne Wade. His dad works with Lebron James and you
know we're down to Tempe and Chris Paul shows up
to be So this kid has been around here NBA
basketball and against NBA players since he's on fourteen or
fifteen years old. So he's got a very high upside.
He's he kind of defies by what he looks like,
by how we plays. Looks like he's fourteen years old,
ways about one hundred and sixty five pounds, but a
very talented kid. There's Jayalen Holland, Josiah Sanders, ian Inman,
Takowe Follal and these are all really talented young guys,
but they don't know what they don't know at the
age of eighteen years old, and so there's going to
be some ups and downs with this team. And you
know last night they headed down and so they're hoping
to bounce back, but you got to do it on
the road against another very quality team, a top level team,
and so it's not going to be easy when they
take on the BYU.
Speaker 4: Let's get a scouting report on these bops from a
personnel standpoint.
Speaker 1: You named off a few of these players.
Speaker 4: I know Isaiah Johnson is the leading score of this team,
and there's some good big men on this team as well.
I think there's some talent. You mentioned that they're more
than capable of beating many of these big twelve teams,
and they've showcased that.
Speaker 1: Let's get a little personnel breakdown, if you could.
Speaker 5: Well, Aaron lies of the issue right there and you
saw it last night. I don't know this is the
box score in front of you. But the two guys
that were supposed to be even though they're only ones
in upperclassman Payne got Dak is just about seven feet
tall and he's a pogo stick and a real bouncy guy.
A little on the green side, but he was gonna
be one of the two guys that were going to
really build her out with all the freshmen coming in. Okay,
you're gonna be one of the guys. And then Sebastian Ronchik,
who's a sophomore from Slovaki sixty eleven, highly skilled guy.
I mean, he's got an NBA look about him. Now.
Is he mentally tough enough to move out of the
NBA that's a question mark because he's been very inconsistent.
He can shoot it, he could put it on the floor.
He's kind of a stretch forward type, but really has
got an NBA game about him. Those guys last night
were horrible in that game against Texas Tech. In fact,
one of the coaching staff I was driving home last
night after we Landa had shot me a quick text
about some of the numbers about what the three bigs
for Tech did, and it was, you know, phenomenal shooting,
fifty percent shooting and scored the you know, thirty two
points or something combined, and the two bigs for Colorado
only had I think it was three points between the
two of them at about five rebounds and in five
turnovers on top of it. So they've been inconsistent. That
is probably the major. If you're gonna kind of finger
one thing you point to that the two guys that
were supposed to elevate and be the cornerstone to the
team and allow the young guys to kind of come
in and grow a little bit haven't been as good
consistently as they should have been. Now do they have
great games? Just the game before Sebastian Rodgerson went out
and had seventeen points, eleven rebounds, and a win over
Arizona State, and was the best player on the court
that night, hit what three or four three pointers in
that ball game, grabbed the four or five offensive rebounds,
and so they're very capable, but they might lead the
parade and inconsistency home and away, and that that's probably
the most troubling about that. Outside of that. Barrington Hardress
is a transfer guard from UC Riverside average over twenty games,
one of the top scorers in the country a year ago.
He has been wonderful. Now He's six foot one, average
about four or five assists for ball game. Is it
is eternal oprations about three and a half to one.
He has been as solid as they come. So the
two guys in the backcourt Barrington Hargress and Isaiah Johnson
have been kind of the steadying force in this thing.
The other youngsters have come in and played well at
different times. Those two bigs, like I said, I got
to find themselves more consistency down the stretch before we
get to Kansas City.
Speaker 4: Well, I love the breakdown from I don't know if
you've chatted with the coaches or any of the players
about their scouting report on Byu, But what's the buzz
there amongst the Buffaloes regarding the formidable foe that he's
Byu at the Merriage Center on Valentine's Day?
Speaker 5: Yeah, there wasn't much talk about that. I'm supposed to
get together with the coaches got the scout later on
today and get a couple of comments from him on that.
But obviously, you know, you think about you know, we've
seen Byu last year. He had the band said he
is obviously maybe the number one pick in the upcoming draft,
and he's dynamic with what he does. And Richie Saunders,
of course, we saw him enough last year and know
that what he was able to do. And then the
you know, Robert writes a very quality player, So you
know there's what we understand what you're getting up against. Uh,
you know, when you when you start playing BYU. The
way they shoot the ball, the way they rebound the ball,
what they do, it's a quality of quality opponent like
you kind of get used to in this league, right,
And so there's no you know, thoughts that somehow you know,
we're walking into a situation where you've got you know,
an opportunity where where the bumps are sitting right now
if you look at this and say, okay, this is
the game, we're really going to come in and we
got a chance to win this one. We thought that
going down to the Baylor here, it's a true time
ago didn't work out that night. Now, this team BYU
is a lot better than what Baylor is. Baylor's talented.
BYU is a better team, and so I think it's
a great challenge for Colorado WINCENTA.
Speaker 1: No doubt about it.
Speaker 4: We've got Mark Johnson on the line, Cougar Sports, ESPN
the Fan, Mark Johnson, the voice of the Colorado Buffalo's
talking some buff ball here on your Utah ESPN Radio network.
It's uh, you know, obviously be always favored in this
one heavily favored. Uh, you've been watching Big twelve basketball now,
I guess reignite you, right, Compared contrast Big twelve basketball
of the prior I guesst Colorado era before jumping into
the PAC twelve and what the Big twelve looks.
Speaker 5: Like now, well, it's totally different. And you know, it's
interesting because you know, Colorado has got the phenomenal history
in the league Big seven, Big eight, Big twelve, what
are the original members of it? And so there was
always that great history. When Colorado made the jump in
Tad Boyle's second year to the PAC twelve, you understood
the reasoning behind it. There were a lot of fans
that weren't happy about, you know, kind of leaving behind
the old Big eight Big twelve, but you understood because
Colorado's fan base or alumni base, I should say, is
really East coast or West coast heavy, very heavy in California,
and so it made sense in that regard. And there
are other things. Now, let's be honest about it. The
expanded PAC twelve and the leadership of that league were
an unmitigated disaster in terms of how they handled things.
What they did, they ruined it. Larry Scott might be
go down as one of the worst commissioners in the
history of sports. I mean, a guy was a clown.
And so you see that thing fall apart, and and
so you come back now with this ever shifting ground.
We'reund in college athletics and you know nil and transfer
portals and all that, and kind of get reunited with
the old conference. But I mean, look how different it is.
I mean, know, I joke all the time during the
football season, I said, boy, nothing says Big twelve Conference,
you know, football like Colorado at West Virginia. I mean,
it just you know, doesn't doesn't seem to resonate with us. Now,
with that being said, it's a very good and fine
football league, but it is a spectacular basketball league. And
so when you've got you know, the Pac twelve leftovers
that moved on from Arizona, you know, Colorado, Arizona State,
Utah comes in there, b why you joins from the outside.
And then you add Central Florida has become kind of
an interesting program in terms of the money they're spending
down there. West Virginia's got great history, and in Cincinnati,
which has you know, got final fours in its history,
you've created this monster conference that that I think is
is better than virtually anything in the country right now
and can play with it. There's a reason, you know why,
there's what six seven teams rank in the top twenty
five and everyone I think still everyone but Utah. I
think the last I checked is in the top one
hundred of the net. And so it's such a monster
and that's why it's so grueling, you know, gaming and
game outs. You know, one of the coaches said the
other day to me that, you know, we wouldn't have
faced this kind of schedule in the whole Pac twelve now,
you wouldn't have because what this thing is now is
really special from a basketball standpoint, but it makes it
tough on everybody. And if you're having a year where
maybe you're a little bit young, or you suffer some injuries,
or guys don't pan out, you bet you better get
ready because you're gonna take you lumps.
Speaker 4: I can't wait to get your opinion after this particular game,
after watching aj to Bonds up close and personal.
Speaker 1: You've seen Darren Peterson recently.
Speaker 4: He played I think one of the few games thirty
two minutes, sixteen points. I think he was six and
fifteen versus the Buffs three or five from the three
point line and one for two from the charity stripe.
Speaker 1: Six rebounds. He had two turnovers in that game.
Speaker 4: I can't wait to get your opinion on who you
take number one overall the NBA draft.
Speaker 1: Mark.
Speaker 5: You know, it's interesting. My partner and Scott Wilke, who
was a great player for the Buffalo's back in the eighties,
went on and played professionally, sniffed around the NBA for
a while, was over in Europe for out of the
fourteen to fifteen years. And this is just a basketball
junkie we got being that we had time to talk
about such things. In the second half of that ball
game last night. We got into those kinds of conversations
because there are some great freshmen in this league, and
we kind of went back and forth. And you know
Peterson recently here with his decision not to play against Arizona,
He's had a ballgame earlier. We had been playing the
second half, and you're like, okay, you're talented, make no
mistake about that one we saw him. I was wildly
impressed with what he is as a player. But that
bothers you. I've been impressed with the Bonston and kind
of his commitments and the way he plays. I think
I would take him. That would be my pick there,
and I'd shild away a little bit way from Peterson
simply because of kind of the external things that are
going on around him that body a little bit. And
then again, we're going to deal more and more with
that in college athletics when we got a professional feel
and a professional approach and professional money. So that's going
to become part of what we're dealing with. But at
this level, you want to see guys that are hungry
and they're competing and they've got a little nasty to
them and uh and so you don't see that from
every one of the guys. And that's why I'm looking
forward to seeing demonsty in in you know, in person
this weekend, because I've seen enough highlights and I've watched
some of the games and got a good look at
having a great appreciation for what he is. But you know,
you never truly get that feel until you're sitting right
in front of him and kind of see him perform.
Speaker 4: I get the feeling mark that you're you're an anti
load management guy, right.
Speaker 5: I mean, yeah, yeah, Yeah, that's a dirty word. Well,
I'll tell you a great explanation here. You know, Marshall
Funk was onnother football staff here at Colorado last year. Yeah,
and I was doing an event with Marshall and we
were talking about this every thing, and I said, he said,
give me your opinions, and he said, what we've done,
and he used, you know, on that staff you have
Deon Sanders obviously, and Warren staff And he says, well,
Diana and Warren, when I were coming out, college was
our next step to get to the goal, and we
knew that we had to fight and work hard and
bleed and all that kind of stuff and sweat to
get there because then we'd get the reward. He says.
What we've done now, we've given the eighteen nineteen year
old the reward, and it's taken the motivation way. And
he said it from his standpoint, He says, I see
it in the eyes of the players that I'm coaching.
Some of them are hardworking kids, but there's not that
incredible hunger of this is how I get out. He said,
that's gone. I had it, Prime added Warrant added other great,
the players had it, and then you get that reward
once you get to the National Football League of the NBA.
And he says, we've taken that away from these guys.
And he said, I wonder long term how that's going
to affect our game. And I think it was an
interesting thought by him.
Speaker 4: Yeah, how do you teach competitive nature? How do you
teach a sense of urgency? How do you teach like
that hunger of like, you know, I don't want to
say fear, but you know, there is a bit of
a fear of like, oh my gosh, I could lose
this at any moment I got I gotta show up,
I gotta compete. It's a fight or flight type of deal.
How do you teach that.
Speaker 5: There is no doubt? You know, I once heard somebody
say that rock Bottom has created more success than privilege
ever has. And when you get a guy and you're
backed up against the wall, and you know that's your
only way out, you were going to do everything to
get there, And you know, very few guys are naturally
have that killer instinct. You know, when you get great
talents and great work ethic and great killer instinct, you
put it together, you get Michael Jordan, right, you get special.
You get Kobe Bryant. Those guys are unique. How many
times do we see in pro sports a guy that
you know, he's fighting along in his career and then
he hits the big contract and all of a sudden,
you see the level of intensity kind of kind of
tail off a little bit. I mean, that's human nature.
We all got to fight that. Some guys are better
at it than others. And I don't know how you
teach beyond that, you know, it seems to me in
my experience being an old guy. You know, I think
I think it's innate or it's not. It's either in
there or it's not. I don't know that you can
teach killer instinct, you know. And you think of the
greatest athletes we've ever seen, and go on down the
line with Bird and Jordan and Gretzky and Tiger Woods
and you know, pick all the great ones out. They
all had that I think of eightly, And I'm not
sure if you can teach it, but I do think
you can dampen it early on by getting too much
comfort and you know, kind of making things easy on guys.
And I do wonder if that's gonna affect our game.
Speaker 1: Love that perspective.
Speaker 4: Mark Johnson, the Voice of the Colorado Buffalo, is one
last thing before I let you go, Mark, because I
know this is you're in lockstep with me on this one.
Speaker 1: Arm and arm.
Speaker 4: I have found it refreshing. Okay, Well, let me take
a step back. Over the last like ten to fifteen,
maybe even twenty years, I've seen like kind of a God,
Deity and Christ take a back seat in the postgame interview, right,
you know, praising God, and like it's had a resurgence
over the last two to three years collegiately and professionally,
and I'm loving it.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 4: I've heard so many testimonies time and time again postgame
and and look, these athletes are not perfect. They fall
short in many ways personally, spiritually, morally, ethically, all those things.
Speaker 1: But like, I just love the fact that they're.
Speaker 4: They're putting their faith on their on their sleeve and
promoting faith in an era that has kind of ridiculed.
Speaker 1: It a bit.
Speaker 5: Well, we live in a world that is very hostile,
and we understand that from scripture, don't we. And for
your listeners that don't know what I was going to
be there, a sportscaster, a pastor, and I am actually
a pastor, a pastor a lot and preach a lot
and do a lot of that kind of stuff. And
so that's something that's near and dear to my heart.
And you know, in a role like mine, who a
guy that works for the institution not gonna be very
careful when I approach these athletes, sure about that, right.
I can't go up and start those conversations, but I
can respond to the conversations. And so over the course
of time, a lot of young men have come up
and started those conversations with me. Then I'm allowed to.
And so having those conversations, I love the fact. And
a lot of times with these young guys, it's it
might be immature, right, they're not fully understanding where it
comes from and what it's all about and how it works.
But there's an interest, there's an intrigue, and they're looking
for comfort in some respects, they're looking for dealing with
the stress. And I understand that, and I think it's
important then for those that are in those positions then
to encourage those young men to understand what it's all about. Right.
And I'll tell you a great story one time, what
young man that I was kind of talking to in
a regular basis. I walked to the locker room. He's
got a shirt off, and we've all seen this with Asley.
Try think got the tattoo. Only God can judge me,
And it was kind of funny. And I walk up
to it and I said, a nice tattoo. And he
goes great, and I said, what does that mean to you?
And he so he tells me. And then I said
to him, I said, you're right and he will according
to scripture, and that should terrify you, right, which is
why you need a savior. And so it prompted a
great conversation with him about what that means. And I
love the fact we're seeing it. Listen any time the
Gospels preach, man, I'm all for it. And you're seeing
that more and more and more. And then I think
supportant for all of us older guys to kind of
help them along and kind of take that walk down
their faith. And so you're never gonna hear me poo
poo that kind of idea.
Speaker 1: Love it, Mark.
Speaker 4: I knew you'd be in lockstep with me on that
one big Ugarota you man, enjoy the call here in
the marriage center and enjoy provo. If you get out
and about, get up to Sundance. Get up to Sundance.
The Foundry is the best place for anything. The Cowboy
Bar is pretty cool too. Some live music if you
can catch it. I know you guys are gonna be
calling the game, but if you're gonna stay a little
bit longer after the game, or we have some time
prior on Friday night, feel free to do that. We
salute you, we appreciate you, Mark, and we'll see you
in provo here shortly.
Speaker 5: I look forward to it.
Speaker 4: Take care, diego, Mark Johnson, the voice of the calling
out of Buffalo's. That was an the faux segment. It
was a great one. Fantastic interview. I love Chatt and
Ball with Mark Jarnson.
Speaker 1: Guys. So that's our show. We're sticking to it.
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