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Kevin Reynolds of the Salt Lake Tribute. Kevin, how that
are you?
Speaker 3: I'm good man, how are you doing?
Speaker 2: Fantastic? Appreciate you joining me. This is a bittersweet Kevin.
I want to say congratulations on your call up to
cover the Utah Jazz. But I'm angry. I'm not happy
about it either that you're leaving the Cougars forwards the
b YU beat brother, But give us a little breakdown
what's going on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, first of all, thank you, and I also
won't be leaving the YU entirely. I'll still be covering
the NCAA tournament and I'm sure I'm going to be
around quite a bit in the football season two before
the NBA and the jazz season ramps up kind of
in October, so and I think I don't think there's
a world where I don't cover at least parts of
YU football and kind of BYU Utah for sure in
the college space. But yeah, moving moving to cover the
Jazz and completely going to be a new experience. I've
never really been around the NBA, didn't really watch the
NBA growing up, so I think it'll be fun to
just learn something different, do something, do something a little
bit new for me.
Speaker 2: So you'll do some Utah football, b YU football, but
the majority of your bandwidth will be allocated to the Jazz.
Speaker 3: Yes, that is the plan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, man, that's awesome. Well, congratulations on the next
step and can't wait to read all your content there
at the at the Salt Lake Tribune covering this jazz
tamed out.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's you.
Speaker 2: You penned your first piece, right was it? You know,
what was the title? What would what did you break down?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I mean to get into it. I have a lot
of room to grow in terms of understanding what's going
on on the Jazz, obviously, but started out talking a
little bit about Ace Bailey, the the rookie and kind
of his development where he's at. Obviously came into the Jazz,
and he had quite a chaotic draft process where people
had him trying to be ESPN reported that he was
trying to manipulate where he wanted to go in the
draft and whether it was him or his his agent
Omar Cooper at the time, and but the Jazz really
didn't have any concerns. They didn't really they felt like
they were drafting a guy who wanted to be in Utah.
And so I kind of talked to him about that
process of you know, working out for not working out
for the seventy six ers, not working out for the Jazz,
and then landing in Utah and what the first couple
of months of his career have looked like and why
he thinks that Utah and the Jazz are the right
fit for him right now in his career, and she's
kind of playing better ofly. I know he's had some
nights where he's been really good, had some nights where
he struggled, but averaging I think almost sixteen points of
games since the early February kind of time caraing and
went to the Right and Stars game. So yeah, I
think it's just the guy trying to figure out who
he is while everybody else also had their had their
own opinions of who he was that weren't necessarily accurate.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's interesting what's going on with the Jazz
right now? Should they tank? Should they not tank? They
got fined. Now they have to play kind of this
game of public relations and optics, this optics game. What
route will they? Will they go down? In this? Uh,
this NBA tanking game that everybody has participated in, And
all of a sudden, Utah Jazz seemingly are participating in it.
And they get cast gad, they get reprimanded, they get
their hands lapped.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think that's a story that I'll
definitely be working on over the next few weeks of
reporting that out and what it looks like and what
the Jazz's play ins are moving forward, of how they
will approach the last two months of the season and
what the pick is and trying to keep their top
eight protected pick in this next draft. But I still
have a lot to learn ontaf front, and you know
this is this is an unknown territory for me. I
can talk about college football, I can talk about college basketball,
but the NBA is still something I really need to
definitely need to ask questions on for me and and
for our readers, but definitely for me too.
Speaker 2: Love the breakdown, Kevin, Let's talk some BYU football here
for a moment. We have Camp Killani right around the corner.
I know it's basketball season. We'll get to that here momentarily,
but Camp Killani right around the corner. What are you
keeping an eye on during springball? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think the the development of where this offense goes
with Bear under a year two is something I think
that will definitely be center stage and where this offense
can grow from last year where I thought they did
take a step up from twenty twenty four. You know,
in that season, I thought they took a step up
in a lot of different areas, but I think there's
still room to grow. I mean, we saw the Texas
Texas Tech games. Both of those games, you kind of
have to think that, you know, if you just have
a little bit more offensive firepower in certain areas, then
maybe the Big Twelve title race shakes out a little
bit differently for BYU because I thought the defense was
strong in both of those games for a large part
of the game. You know, it's just they kind of
wore them down both times that they played the best
team in the conference. So where do you kind of
make up that firepower? And the things I look for are,
you know, receivers first of all, Like I thought they
missed Darius, I thought they missed Kilan Marian. I thought
they missed the ability to kind of just make big
plays and make plays out of nothing. I thought they
missed that a little bit last year. So where did
they go this year? And also at the tight end
position as well, like how do you replace Carson Ryan
because that was such a security blanket for Bear Bachmeier
and we haven't seen by You really utilized that tight
end spot in the passing game very much Over the
last few years, finally they had it. So ken Walker
line step right in? Is it seamless? You certainly think
it will be. It's definitely definitely a big transfer portal
pickup to pick up a guy from USC who was
very highly recruited, and he also had BYU ties before
even going to USC because he was recruited there amongst that,
you know, really highly touted recruiting visit right before they
went to the Big twelve. So can he step in seamlessly?
And then the last part for the offense, I'd say
l J. Martin coming back is a huge deal, but
how do they use him and how do they get
him some help because he's been injured quite a bit.
I don't think that's necessarily his fault, but I'm just saying,
you know, his usage is extremely high in this offense.
Can they get anybody to contribute to the run game
so you don't have a situation where you're going into
Lubbock where you know l J. Martin's a little hurt
and it's just like what they had no answer for
where the running game goes from there. So those are
the big things. And then defensively, obviously to replacing J. Hill,
Kelly popinga should be pretty similar defense. But what are
the tweaks? What are the intricacies that Kelly Popinka brings
that maybe J Hill did not bring? And what does
that mean to this defense moving forward?
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're great storylines that we're going to definitely be
keeping an eye on, no doubt about it. Give me
your thoughts on this b what you're coming off of
two very successful seasons the last time this happened, there's
a little bit of a dip. Do you see a
dip occurring in twenty twenty six? Yes? Or no? Why
are why not?
Speaker 3: I My answer says no, And the reason is because
I think this team is far more talented and they
have a lot more depths in the team that you know,
last time tried to defend essentially you know, to back
to back double digit win seasons, right like this, This
team is more talented, it should have more depth as
the Big twelve team, and they also have a lot
of continuity on the coaching staff. I know J Hill left,
but I mean you BYU did a really good job
retaining pretty the offensive staff for sure, but also limiting
the fallout after J.
Speaker 1: Hill.
Speaker 3: It's not like you saw a mass exodus in terms
of the roster. First of all, I mean you bring
back pretty much every single impactful player that did not
graduate or ran out of eligibility is back on this defense,
So you figure there's a lot of continuity there, and
most of the coaching staff too. I mean, Kelly Papa
is an in house guy. He learned under Jay Hill.
He's he's been around this by U and kind of
the BYU Utah, Kyle Whittingham, Jay Hills type of defensive
scheme for a long time. So if there's anybody that
is going to kind of pick up the mantle of
pick up the place where Jay Hill left off, which
I'm not saying is easy, but if there's one person,
do I think Kelly Papinka definitely is. You know, Hashole
has all the things on the resume that you would
that would indicate to you that he's going to be
able to do it. So that to me is why
this team doesn't take a huge step back. Although you know,
I will say I'll preface it or a little caveat
to say, it's hard to win ten games three years
in a row, well digit games, no matter who you are,
So I don't think it's a shoeing, but I don't
think it's going to be a huge step back now.
Speaker 2: Well, and to that point, it's like, you know, the
injury bug really hasn't crept in and bit BYU.
Speaker 1: The last two years.
Speaker 2: And I think that's it's always predicated on health, especially
in your key.
Speaker 1: Positions, right.
Speaker 3: I mean we also said two years ago, I think
before the Jake Reslaft and that twenty twenty four season,
it was your quarterback is never healthy throughout the whole time.
Keen Slovias didn't make it through the full season, Jaron
Hall was significantly banged up for parts of that twenty
twenty three or twenty twenty two year, I think it was.
But the last two years, you know, Jake Reslaft played
every single game and then Bachmeyer played every single game,
and Bear Bachmeyer runs quite a bit. And I know,
I'm not even talking about the other injuries. I'm just
talking about quarterback. They've had a lot of successive quarterback
and it's been you know, how long can you have
this run. I'm not wishing injuries on anybody. I'm just
saying it's very abnormal. If you look throughout college football,
teams and even BYU teams in the past, have a
quarterback play thirteen fourteen games, you know, I mean they're
playing fourteen games now, So yeah, it's a lot.
Speaker 2: It's a lot, no doubt about it. Kevin Randall Suggs reviewing.
He we're on ESPN the Fan for a little Cougar
bee Kevin Bau basketball. Have they righted the ship? Are
they on the right track? After getting their best win
of the of the basketball season over Iowas State, They've
won three out of the last four, the only lost
to U of A. They've had some close ones during
that time. But are they on the right track or
still to be determined?
Speaker 3: I think I'm in the still to be determined camp.
But I think the game on Saturday was a huge
step in the right direction in terms of finding what
the post Richie identity of this offense looks like. And
and you know, I was talking to some people after
that game and I thought, honestly, it's it's weird to say,
but it does start to feel like a little bit
like twenty twenty five and that twenty twenty four twenty
five team and that run that they made where they
kind of just hit their stride at the end of
February early February. You remember they beat Iowa State last
year on the road, and it kind of translated into
them playing really good basketball for the last little bit
of the regular season and then obviously come turning in time,
they were the best version of themselves. And I think
it's I still think they're reinventing themselves. But the offense
was so much more like what it did a year
ago in terms of a lot of guys contributing the
bal movement. You know, it didn't look as static as
sometimes I think it's looked throughout throughout the Big Twelve.
You know, when they've had their struggles in the Big Twelve,
how statific addicate looks. And also I have to say,
I mean aj debonds. I know a lot of people
have said it that was the best game I thought
he's played since he's been at BYU against Iowa State,
and I think, to me, it's how much can he
also contribute on the defensive end. I mean, if he's
giving you that effort on the defensive side, I think
it definitely changes the feeling of this team. And we've
also seen the number I look at is the assist
number too, is can he get Cannard Davis going from
you know, you have to make up eighteen nineteen points somehow,
some way from what Richie Saunders gave you every night,
and can Oar Davis gets you seventeen and he's driving
the basket. Now he looks a lot more comfortable in
this role instead of just being a strict three and
D guy. He looks a lot more comfortable in this role.
And then you can look down the bench. Finally again
some bench scoring too, which has been a huge problem
throughout the entire season. Is the bench just really didn't
really contribute much offensively, and now all of a sudden
you're seeing that. So I still need to see more
in terms of can you replicate that for foremance, I
think it starts to night, but I think it definitely
is trending. I would say, for the first time in
over a month, trending in the right direction.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I was looking at last year's final ten games, right,
and so they went on a nine game winning street
West Virginia, Kansas, Kansas State, Arizona, Arizona State, West Virginia,
Iowa State, Utah, Iowa State, and then they lost their
final game to Houston, and I was looking at you
know what they what they've done so far in their
final ten, right, and you gotta you gotta win versus Baylor.
You know, they they very well could almost replicate what
they did last year if they went out. They got
a win versus Baylor, They got a win versus Colorado.
They lost to U of A. They they beat Iowa State.
Now they got what four games remaining, they they could
end up, you know, eight and one in their last nine.
Not too shabby to end the season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying the end of season
schedule is difficult, so I'm not saying they're gonna win
out either, But I do think there are very similar
parallels to what they did to last year. And I
think the most important thing, too, is can you get
Mihaila Boskovic going offensively or just really contributing, because I
think a lot of the time we've seen from him
last year. I thought he was really good down the
stretch of last year. And it's not like, you know,
he was a knockdown shooter last year, either, but he
picked his spots and he was playing. I mean, he
brings so much length on defense, but if you can
get him going offensively just a little bit, then I
think it changes the kind of the trajectory of the team.
And last last game, I thought he did exactly that.
I mean, it wasn't like he had an overly efficient
shooting night. I think he was two of seven still
from three. But you know, he does give you, you know,
five plus points, and he can help you out defensively
and and and if he can do that, I think
he gives BYU a very different look on the defensive
side that maybe they didn't have with Ritchie. And I'm
not saying this is a better team without Ritchie Richie
Richie Saunders I said after the Kansas team he might
not be they's best, most talented player, but I think
he might be be what be the team's best or
most valuable player. But at the same time, you can
you can find ways, you can kind of find silver
linings in how you reinvent yourself and you become a
lot a lot bigger on the front line with mihiele
Boskovic out there, and maybe that just gives you something
that the team did not have and it kind of
lacked for the first two thirds of the year.
Speaker 2: Love the breakdown Kevin Reynolds Ladies and gentlemen. Final thing
before we let you go? Kevin, Uh, what's the ceiling
and what's the floor of this BAU men's basketball team?
Do you think this year ceiling?
Speaker 3: To me sweet sixteen, I think that's I guess I'll
go back to what it was last year. I think
it's still a huge ask to to to think, Okay,
the ceiling has to be an Elite eight or a
Final four right now without Richie Saunders, I don't know
if I've seen enough to say that at this point. Obviously,
you're one really good aj Debonds the game away from
beating anybody, as you've seened with Iowa State, but I
don't know how good Iowa State is still. Like to me,
it's I was going to say the ceiling was final
four lead. I'd have to see this team really really
compete against Houston, or really really compete and not be
down twenty against Arizona. You know, like I'm I'm not
taking away anything, but you know, I don't know how
much I put into that. If you're making miracle comebacks
to the last second of the Marriott Center, so that
to me is that and the floor to me is,
I think it's still possible first round exit just because
there's no depth on this team right now and you
still have to build that up. But I think you
feel a little bit better about the depths than if
we were having this conversation three weeks ago.
Speaker 2: Kevin, always appreciate our time, great content, great insight. We
appreciate you, brother. Don't be a stranger now. We'll still
have you on for Cougar beats right every now and again.
Speaker 3: With yeah, yeah, I still around. I'm still around, and
we'll talk to them and I know it all right.
Speaker 2: Brother guy, all right, I appreciate you support. Kevin Randolds
there at the Celly Tribune. Great Cougar beat brought to you.
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