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Speaker 1: If you are listening to Utah's Home of the La

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rams Kovo probo k U d d H D two

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one O three, nine ninety eight three ESPN the Fan,

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this is Cougar Sports with Ben Kretel, and it's time

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for the Cougar Beat. Getting the dish from the local

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reporters that cover Cougar athletics.

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Speaker 2: Welcome back Cougar Sports one of three, nine ninety eight

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gonna get into little Cougar be going to welcome in

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uh those that cover the teams on the daily, on

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the weekly that we love to cover. It's going to

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Health dot com. Let's get out to the hotline. Welcome in.

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Kevin Reynolds of the Salt Lake Tribute. Kevin, how that

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are you?

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Speaker 3: I'm good man, how are you doing?

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Speaker 2: Fantastic? Appreciate you joining me. This is a bittersweet Kevin.

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I want to say congratulations on your call up to

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cover the Utah Jazz. But I'm angry. I'm not happy

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about it either that you're leaving the Cougars forwards the

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b YU beat brother, But give us a little breakdown

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what's going on.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, first of all, thank you, and I also

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won't be leaving the YU entirely. I'll still be covering

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the NCAA tournament and I'm sure I'm going to be

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around quite a bit in the football season two before

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the NBA and the jazz season ramps up kind of

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in October, so and I think I don't think there's

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a world where I don't cover at least parts of

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YU football and kind of BYU Utah for sure in

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the college space. But yeah, moving moving to cover the

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Jazz and completely going to be a new experience. I've

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never really been around the NBA, didn't really watch the

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NBA growing up, so I think it'll be fun to

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just learn something different, do something, do something a little

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bit new for me.

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Speaker 2: So you'll do some Utah football, b YU football, but

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the majority of your bandwidth will be allocated to the Jazz.

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Speaker 3: Yes, that is the plan.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, man, that's awesome. Well, congratulations on the next

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step and can't wait to read all your content there

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at the at the Salt Lake Tribune covering this jazz

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tamed out.

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Speaker 1: I mean, there's you.

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Speaker 2: You penned your first piece, right was it? You know,

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what was the title? What would what did you break down?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: I mean to get into it. I have a lot

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of room to grow in terms of understanding what's going

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on on the Jazz, obviously, but started out talking a

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little bit about Ace Bailey, the the rookie and kind

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of his development where he's at. Obviously came into the Jazz,

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and he had quite a chaotic draft process where people

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had him trying to be ESPN reported that he was

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trying to manipulate where he wanted to go in the

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draft and whether it was him or his his agent

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Omar Cooper at the time, and but the Jazz really

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didn't have any concerns. They didn't really they felt like

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they were drafting a guy who wanted to be in Utah.

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And so I kind of talked to him about that

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process of you know, working out for not working out

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for the seventy six ers, not working out for the Jazz,

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and then landing in Utah and what the first couple

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of months of his career have looked like and why

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he thinks that Utah and the Jazz are the right

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fit for him right now in his career, and she's

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kind of playing better ofly. I know he's had some

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nights where he's been really good, had some nights where

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he struggled, but averaging I think almost sixteen points of

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games since the early February kind of time caraing and

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went to the Right and Stars game. So yeah, I

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think it's just the guy trying to figure out who

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he is while everybody else also had their had their

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own opinions of who he was that weren't necessarily accurate.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's interesting what's going on with the Jazz

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right now? Should they tank? Should they not tank? They

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got fined. Now they have to play kind of this

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game of public relations and optics, this optics game. What

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route will they? Will they go down? In this? Uh,

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this NBA tanking game that everybody has participated in, And

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all of a sudden, Utah Jazz seemingly are participating in it.

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And they get cast gad, they get reprimanded, they get

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their hands lapped.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think that's a story that I'll

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definitely be working on over the next few weeks of

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reporting that out and what it looks like and what

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the Jazz's play ins are moving forward, of how they

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will approach the last two months of the season and

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what the pick is and trying to keep their top

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eight protected pick in this next draft. But I still

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have a lot to learn ontaf front, and you know

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this is this is an unknown territory for me. I

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can talk about college football, I can talk about college basketball,

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but the NBA is still something I really need to

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definitely need to ask questions on for me and and

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for our readers, but definitely for me too.

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Speaker 2: Love the breakdown, Kevin, Let's talk some BYU football here

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for a moment. We have Camp Killani right around the corner.

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I know it's basketball season. We'll get to that here momentarily,

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but Camp Killani right around the corner. What are you

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keeping an eye on during springball? Yeah?

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Speaker 3: I think the the development of where this offense goes

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with Bear under a year two is something I think

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that will definitely be center stage and where this offense

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can grow from last year where I thought they did

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take a step up from twenty twenty four. You know,

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in that season, I thought they took a step up

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in a lot of different areas, but I think there's

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still room to grow. I mean, we saw the Texas

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Texas Tech games. Both of those games, you kind of

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have to think that, you know, if you just have

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a little bit more offensive firepower in certain areas, then

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maybe the Big Twelve title race shakes out a little

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bit differently for BYU because I thought the defense was

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strong in both of those games for a large part

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of the game. You know, it's just they kind of

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wore them down both times that they played the best

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team in the conference. So where do you kind of

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make up that firepower? And the things I look for are,

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you know, receivers first of all, Like I thought they

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missed Darius, I thought they missed Kilan Marian. I thought

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they missed the ability to kind of just make big

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plays and make plays out of nothing. I thought they

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missed that a little bit last year. So where did

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they go this year? And also at the tight end

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position as well, like how do you replace Carson Ryan

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because that was such a security blanket for Bear Bachmeier

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and we haven't seen by You really utilized that tight

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end spot in the passing game very much Over the

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last few years, finally they had it. So ken Walker

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line step right in? Is it seamless? You certainly think

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it will be. It's definitely definitely a big transfer portal

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pickup to pick up a guy from USC who was

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very highly recruited, and he also had BYU ties before

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even going to USC because he was recruited there amongst that,

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you know, really highly touted recruiting visit right before they

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went to the Big twelve. So can he step in seamlessly?

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And then the last part for the offense, I'd say

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l J. Martin coming back is a huge deal, but

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how do they use him and how do they get

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him some help because he's been injured quite a bit.

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I don't think that's necessarily his fault, but I'm just saying,

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you know, his usage is extremely high in this offense.

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Can they get anybody to contribute to the run game

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so you don't have a situation where you're going into

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Lubbock where you know l J. Martin's a little hurt

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and it's just like what they had no answer for

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where the running game goes from there. So those are

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the big things. And then defensively, obviously to replacing J. Hill,

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Kelly popinga should be pretty similar defense. But what are

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the tweaks? What are the intricacies that Kelly Popinka brings

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that maybe J Hill did not bring? And what does

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that mean to this defense moving forward?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they're great storylines that we're going to definitely be

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keeping an eye on, no doubt about it. Give me

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your thoughts on this b what you're coming off of

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two very successful seasons the last time this happened, there's

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a little bit of a dip. Do you see a

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dip occurring in twenty twenty six? Yes? Or no? Why

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are why not?

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Speaker 3: I My answer says no, And the reason is because

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I think this team is far more talented and they

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have a lot more depths in the team that you know,

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last time tried to defend essentially you know, to back

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to back double digit win seasons, right like this, This

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team is more talented, it should have more depth as

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the Big twelve team, and they also have a lot

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of continuity on the coaching staff. I know J Hill left,

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but I mean you BYU did a really good job

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retaining pretty the offensive staff for sure, but also limiting

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the fallout after J.

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Speaker 1: Hill.

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Speaker 3: It's not like you saw a mass exodus in terms

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of the roster. First of all, I mean you bring

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back pretty much every single impactful player that did not

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graduate or ran out of eligibility is back on this defense,

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So you figure there's a lot of continuity there, and

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most of the coaching staff too. I mean, Kelly Papa

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is an in house guy. He learned under Jay Hill.

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He's he's been around this by U and kind of

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the BYU Utah, Kyle Whittingham, Jay Hills type of defensive

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scheme for a long time. So if there's anybody that

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is going to kind of pick up the mantle of

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pick up the place where Jay Hill left off, which

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I'm not saying is easy, but if there's one person,

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do I think Kelly Papinka definitely is. You know, Hashole

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has all the things on the resume that you would

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that would indicate to you that he's going to be

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able to do it. So that to me is why

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this team doesn't take a huge step back. Although you know,

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I will say I'll preface it or a little caveat

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to say, it's hard to win ten games three years

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in a row, well digit games, no matter who you are,

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So I don't think it's a shoeing, but I don't

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think it's going to be a huge step back now.

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Speaker 2: Well, and to that point, it's like, you know, the

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injury bug really hasn't crept in and bit BYU.

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Speaker 1: The last two years.

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Speaker 2: And I think that's it's always predicated on health, especially

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in your key.

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Speaker 1: Positions, right.

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Speaker 3: I mean we also said two years ago, I think

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before the Jake Reslaft and that twenty twenty four season,

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it was your quarterback is never healthy throughout the whole time.

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Keen Slovias didn't make it through the full season, Jaron

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Hall was significantly banged up for parts of that twenty

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twenty three or twenty twenty two year, I think it was.

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But the last two years, you know, Jake Reslaft played

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every single game and then Bachmeyer played every single game,

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and Bear Bachmeyer runs quite a bit. And I know,

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I'm not even talking about the other injuries. I'm just

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talking about quarterback. They've had a lot of successive quarterback

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and it's been you know, how long can you have

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this run. I'm not wishing injuries on anybody. I'm just

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saying it's very abnormal. If you look throughout college football,

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teams and even BYU teams in the past, have a

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quarterback play thirteen fourteen games, you know, I mean they're

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playing fourteen games now, So yeah, it's a lot.

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Speaker 2: It's a lot, no doubt about it. Kevin Randall Suggs reviewing.

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He we're on ESPN the Fan for a little Cougar

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bee Kevin Bau basketball. Have they righted the ship? Are

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they on the right track? After getting their best win

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of the of the basketball season over Iowas State, They've

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won three out of the last four, the only lost

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to U of A. They've had some close ones during

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that time. But are they on the right track or

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still to be determined?

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Speaker 3: I think I'm in the still to be determined camp.

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But I think the game on Saturday was a huge

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step in the right direction in terms of finding what

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the post Richie identity of this offense looks like. And

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and you know, I was talking to some people after

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that game and I thought, honestly, it's it's weird to say,

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but it does start to feel like a little bit

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like twenty twenty five and that twenty twenty four twenty

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five team and that run that they made where they

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kind of just hit their stride at the end of

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February early February. You remember they beat Iowa State last

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year on the road, and it kind of translated into

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them playing really good basketball for the last little bit

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of the regular season and then obviously come turning in time,

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they were the best version of themselves. And I think

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it's I still think they're reinventing themselves. But the offense

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was so much more like what it did a year

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ago in terms of a lot of guys contributing the

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bal movement. You know, it didn't look as static as

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sometimes I think it's looked throughout throughout the Big Twelve.

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You know, when they've had their struggles in the Big Twelve,

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how statific addicate looks. And also I have to say,

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I mean aj debonds. I know a lot of people

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have said it that was the best game I thought

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he's played since he's been at BYU against Iowa State,

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and I think, to me, it's how much can he

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also contribute on the defensive end. I mean, if he's

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giving you that effort on the defensive side, I think

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it definitely changes the feeling of this team. And we've

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also seen the number I look at is the assist

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number too, is can he get Cannard Davis going from

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you know, you have to make up eighteen nineteen points somehow,

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some way from what Richie Saunders gave you every night,

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and can Oar Davis gets you seventeen and he's driving

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the basket. Now he looks a lot more comfortable in

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this role instead of just being a strict three and

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D guy. He looks a lot more comfortable in this role.

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And then you can look down the bench. Finally again

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some bench scoring too, which has been a huge problem

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throughout the entire season. Is the bench just really didn't

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really contribute much offensively, and now all of a sudden

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you're seeing that. So I still need to see more

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in terms of can you replicate that for foremance, I

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think it starts to night, but I think it definitely

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is trending. I would say, for the first time in

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over a month, trending in the right direction.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I was looking at last year's final ten games, right,

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and so they went on a nine game winning street

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West Virginia, Kansas, Kansas State, Arizona, Arizona State, West Virginia,

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Iowa State, Utah, Iowa State, and then they lost their

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final game to Houston, and I was looking at you

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know what they what they've done so far in their

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final ten, right, and you gotta you gotta win versus Baylor.

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You know, they they very well could almost replicate what

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they did last year if they went out. They got

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a win versus Baylor, They got a win versus Colorado.

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They lost to U of A. They they beat Iowa State.

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Now they got what four games remaining, they they could

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end up, you know, eight and one in their last nine.

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Not too shabby to end the season.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying the end of season

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schedule is difficult, so I'm not saying they're gonna win

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out either, But I do think there are very similar

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parallels to what they did to last year. And I

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think the most important thing, too, is can you get

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Mihaila Boskovic going offensively or just really contributing, because I

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think a lot of the time we've seen from him

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last year. I thought he was really good down the

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stretch of last year. And it's not like, you know,

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he was a knockdown shooter last year, either, but he

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picked his spots and he was playing. I mean, he

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brings so much length on defense, but if you can

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get him going offensively just a little bit, then I

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think it changes the kind of the trajectory of the team.

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And last last game, I thought he did exactly that.

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I mean, it wasn't like he had an overly efficient

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shooting night. I think he was two of seven still

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from three. But you know, he does give you, you know,

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five plus points, and he can help you out defensively

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and and and if he can do that, I think

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he gives BYU a very different look on the defensive

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side that maybe they didn't have with Ritchie. And I'm

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not saying this is a better team without Ritchie Richie

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Richie Saunders I said after the Kansas team he might

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not be they's best, most talented player, but I think

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he might be be what be the team's best or

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most valuable player. But at the same time, you can

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you can find ways, you can kind of find silver

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linings in how you reinvent yourself and you become a

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lot a lot bigger on the front line with mihiele

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Boskovic out there, and maybe that just gives you something

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that the team did not have and it kind of

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lacked for the first two thirds of the year.

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Speaker 2: Love the breakdown Kevin Reynolds Ladies and gentlemen. Final thing

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before we let you go? Kevin, Uh, what's the ceiling

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and what's the floor of this BAU men's basketball team?

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Do you think this year ceiling?

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Speaker 3: To me sweet sixteen, I think that's I guess I'll

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go back to what it was last year. I think

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it's still a huge ask to to to think, Okay,

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the ceiling has to be an Elite eight or a

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Final four right now without Richie Saunders, I don't know

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if I've seen enough to say that at this point. Obviously,

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you're one really good aj Debonds the game away from

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beating anybody, as you've seened with Iowa State, but I

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don't know how good Iowa State is still. Like to me,

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it's I was going to say the ceiling was final

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four lead. I'd have to see this team really really

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compete against Houston, or really really compete and not be

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down twenty against Arizona. You know, like I'm I'm not

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taking away anything, but you know, I don't know how

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much I put into that. If you're making miracle comebacks

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to the last second of the Marriott Center, so that

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to me is that and the floor to me is,

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I think it's still possible first round exit just because

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there's no depth on this team right now and you

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still have to build that up. But I think you

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feel a little bit better about the depths than if

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we were having this conversation three weeks ago.

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Speaker 2: Kevin, always appreciate our time, great content, great insight. We

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appreciate you, brother. Don't be a stranger now. We'll still

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have you on for Cougar beats right every now and again.

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Speaker 3: With yeah, yeah, I still around. I'm still around, and

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we'll talk to them and I know it all right.

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Speaker 2: Brother guy, all right, I appreciate you support. Kevin Randolds

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there at the Celly Tribune. Great Cougar beat brought to you.

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sure there's one closest to