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It is talk for a little college college basketball segment.
I want to get in some college basketball here on
Cougar Sports and talk some by U versus U of
a basketball. These segment's going to be brought to you
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Speaker 2: Is all day, Earn.
Speaker 3: Let's get out to the hotline. Welcome in you of
a Wildcat inshider. We got Jason Sheer on the lie. Jason,
how are you living?
Speaker 2: Man? Thanks for joining.
Speaker 4: Us, Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Always a pleasure. Man.
Speaker 3: We got a big game around the corner BYU versus
U of A, my brother, the U of A fan
who is flying in from New Mexico to watch. This
game should be a big one. How give us a
little update on U of A right now? How are
they playing? What are they looking like? Obviously the top
team in the country, But.
Speaker 2: What have you seen?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think things in Big twelve play
of n cover as of late. I mean Cincinnati was
the last game, and they played Arizona close for a
half before Arizona blew them out. At UCF was close
for a half until that game kind of spread and
then you know, they have West Virginia tomorrow, which could
be a kind of a sneaky game with the short
turnaround between then and b YU and all that. But
they continue to roll I mean, they're just they're they're
playing really good basketball. They're beating teams and in different ways,
and they haven't really had that that really scary game.
I mean, I guess U c l A Was probably
the closest thing early in the year to that that
scary game that comes down to the last minute or
two minutes. But most games that they've played have kind
of been decided by then.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's the identity of the issue of a team?
Would you say?
Speaker 4: Uh, you know, it's unique because they don't shoot a
lot of threes at all. They're the in terms of
three point attempts, they're the lowest of any Power four team.
They beat you up physically, they rebound, they defend, and
and they score inside and and you know, it's just
they they kind of it comes in waves with with
Crebus at center. They have two starting quality power forwards.
The guards are solid. They just kind of beat you
up and and wear you down. And that's kind of
what we saw, for instance, the Cincinnati game. That game
was close and then all of a sudden, Cincinnati just
didn't have the horses and Arizona scored them thirty seven
to thirteen in the second half. And a lot of
teams have done that. You know, Arizona has done that
to a lot of teams. So they kind of just
wear them down with the size and the defense and
the rebounding and kind of pull away in the second half.
Speaker 3: What's the scouting report right now on the Cougars. Have
you been able to sit down with the coaches and
find out what they're seeing from byu uh?
Speaker 4: Not yet? You know, the focus on is on West Virginia,
But you know, for b YU is good. I think
everyone realizes they're they're really good. That you know, that
core three guys that they have will put that against
anybody in the nation. And going on the road, I
think they know, you know, Arizona has been in at
Connecticut and they played a couple of boutral court games
and like Burbingham whatever, but nothing's going to come close
to probably what they see on Monday. They know that's
going to be an insane environment and probably they're one
of their hardest games to date this season.
Speaker 3: The the b y u U of a rivalry I
think is gonna be a fun one to in the future.
Obviously BA football and you of A football. They've had
some good head to heads historically, not only in the
former conference.
Speaker 2: Now with the cur current conference, that was a nail bider. Uh.
Speaker 3: This last year in Tucson, a wild and wet one.
Uh that the storm they came through. But I feel
like basketball is going to be maybe even better.
Speaker 4: Your thoughts, Yeah, you know, it's interesting someone on I
was talking to someone the other day and no, Arizona's
rival in the PAC twelve was was was U c
l A?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 4: And and now it's UCLA is one game a season
and maybe that goes away in the next few years
or whatever, and then a SU isn't good at basketball?
So I think what's the next natural rival? And I
think b YU is probably the ends that makes the
most sense, you know, close in terms of location, relatively close,
and they're not one anywhere, you know, with with that
coaching staff and the NI and all that, that YU
basketball team is gonna you know, they're They're not kind
of a flash in the paan at least I don't
think they are. And it's fun, you know, it's it's
super talented teams. When you look at the conference in
terms of pure talent, you can make the case that
the UYU is up there with anyone even in the nation,
and so it's gonna be a fun one. They've already
had close games. I expect another exciting game on Monday.
So I think it's kind of, you know, natural, that
that these two teams kind of become a rivalry, similar
to what you said with with football, generally speaking, these
games are close and they tend to be fun football games,
and I think it's it's going to be the same
for basketball.
Speaker 3: Jason Sheer on the line, Wildcat Authority uh part of
the two four seven Sports Network here on your Utah
ESPN Radio network, getting into the phone a little bit,
getting prep, getting ready.
Speaker 2: What what weaknesses does.
Speaker 3: You you of A have, right, if you're going to
kind of poke holes into what you of A doesn't
do too well, what are the weaknesses you know?
Speaker 4: I guess it would be outside shooting. It's it's interesting because, well,
you know, I mentioned that, like they don't shoot threes.
When they do, they're fortieth in the country in percentage,
So it's not like they're bad when they shoot threes.
It's just that a team so far hasn't been able
to force Arizona to only shoot threes and eventually we're
gonna come across the opponent that says, let's put everyone
in the paint and Arizona to shoot threes and see
what happens, And that would probably be the weakness to me. Also,
you know their bench right now. Toby walk is fantastic,
but Anthony Delorso, who's kind of supposed to be their
offensive spark off the bench, has really struggled in being
twelve play He's not been good at all. So I
think that's probably a weakness right now. It's just their
overall wing depths, guard depths coming off the bench, and
then their ability to shoot threes. I don't know if
it's a weakness as much as it is a question
because we haven't seen a team that has been able
to force Arizona into shooting threes, and so when that happens.
If that happens, I think we'll have a better understanding.
But maybe just the different ways that Arizona could score
would be something that would be a concern down the road.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's uh, there's not much weakness in this U
of a podcast team. How did they compose this team?
You know, what was the transfer portal like this offseason?
What was the attrition and the additions.
Speaker 2: On the roster.
Speaker 4: Yeah, their biggest priority was retaining their point guard, Jaden Browley,
and and he's been absolutely fantastic. He's been one of
the best point guards in the country. That was their
number one priority. They were not gonna let him go.
They made that very clear that they wanted to keep him.
And then and then they they from there. You know,
the Brandon Burriez was a top ranked freshman, they got him.
CoA Pete was a top ranked freshman, they got him.
They went overseas to get Ivon Kharchenhov, who's has probably
been the biggest surprise. He started at the small forward position.
And then it was all about retaining guests. You know,
they retained Toby o Waka, they retained Mo Krebis at
the be the starting center. You know, they retained Anthony Door. So,
like I said, and so you know, it's always going
to be a mixture of development and kind of adding
the pieces in the portal. Next year they'll probably have
to add a little bit more in the portal because
guys are leaving. But they were able to kind of
mix and match, and you know, a lot of the
discussion around Arizona is how young they are. They have
freshman's at three of the you know, five starting positions.
But the thing is that the other positions they have veterans,
and so they rely on youth. But at the same
time they got guys like Bradley and Crevis and Awaka
who have been there, and so it's a good mixture
of talent. And I think that in terms of roster construction,
this is probably by far, in my opinion, at least
Tommy Lloyd's best job of putting the roster together and
making sure the piece is fit.
Speaker 3: The Big Twelve is the g league with university logos.
Speaker 2: It's a very talented, deep gauntlet league.
Speaker 3: I've made the statement that the SEC thinks that in
football they have a gauntlet. That is a farce, that
is fictitious, that is a lie. The true gauntlet resides
in the Big Twelve basketball gauntlet. This conference is ridiculous.
The strength of schedule for all these teams is robust.
Speaker 4: Your thoughts, It's insane, it really is. And like I mean,
I would say, it goes off to a hot start,
it looks like one of the best teams in the country,
and they lose two games and you look at it
and you're like, Okay, You're like, like, that's gonna happen
to a lot of teams in the Big twelve. And
you know, you look at you know, Houston and BYU
and in Arizona, and you know, even I was State,
I would say the beat the heck out of Purdue, right,
and you look at these teams kids, is when they're
healthy is awesome. I mean, the top of the conference
is so good. And even then, you know we focus
on the top, but like UCF is having a really
nice season, TCU is still you know in hard out there.
They're a hard team to play. And so you know,
to me, yeah, the SEC has some good teams at
the top, but I don't think the conference as a
whole is a strong Allen's the Big Twelve is there's
not an easy game in the Big Twelve. You might
see some bailouts because there's some really good teams, but
there's no games where you go, man, that's that's going
to be super easy. It's just it doesn't exist in
the Big Twelve, especially when you have to go on
the road and you know, Arizona schedule from here on out,
like starting out with the BYU game, and there's gonna
be some difficult games. I mean the stretch. They have
not faced that stretch yet where they've played, you know,
Iowa States and Houston's and Texas Texas and all that.
Like it is.
Speaker 2: It is a very.
Speaker 4: Difficult conference, and I think that's part of what makes
it so fun.
Speaker 3: It makes it, uh, it's a blash. Do you feel
like you've ays been overall the athletic department been happy
with the move from the PAC twelve to the Big twelve. Well,
what's been the assessment after being in the league now
for a couple of years.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I haven't heard any complaints at all. And I know,
and I think the one of the biggest reasons is
there's I feel like the competitive balance in the Big
twelve is better than it was. You know, it's just
it's it's easier financially, you know. I think there's more
support in the Big twelve than there was and PAC
ten or PAC twelve and and and so I think
that's one of the reasons. And you know, at first
maybe there's some concern with travel and things like that.
That the Big twelve has been really good with the
way they schedule things, you know, TV wise, I think
the ability to get out there nationally has been significantly better.
And I can honestly legitimately say I haven't heard one
coach since it's all started complaining about being in the
Big Twelve.
Speaker 2: Well there you go.
Speaker 3: I mean from an administrative standpoint, like the administration everything
all Rainbow, Sunshine and everything else.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think what they're finding out is
is and with the new the newer ad DEESI a
read frand squat Arizona. You know, football, I think it's
getting more focused, not necessarily in basketball. Arizona's always going
to be a basketball school, but I think also with
the Big Twelve, you know, you're able to kind of
you know, well, while football is a big focus, there's basketball.
It's just as important and and and so you know, financially,
football will always be kidding. But I think it's a
breath of fresh air when you look at the Big
Twelve and to realize that that basketball's you know, every
team seems to be involved in basketball, where as opposed
in the past, maybe there are teams like in Oregon
State or Washington State or whatever who maybe weren't all
in in basketball or weren't. You know, basketball wasn't as
important to them. When you look at the Big twelve.
Pretty much across the board, basketball is a sink, and
I think that's important for school like Arizona.
Speaker 2: I know we're talking hoop here, but give me an eve.
Speaker 3: Ou great on the twenty twenty five you of a
football season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean to me, it was just a or d.
You know, like I surprised me. I thought Arizona would
fight to make a bowl before the season, when I
saw them in spring and all that, and you know,
I think the biggest surprise was just the defense. The
defense was really really good dandigan Zalez did an excellent job.
They lost in the Holiday Bowl. Had they won, it
would have been a ten win season, which doesn't happen
with Arizona football, but a really fun season. Won the
won the Territorial Cup against a if you competed really
for pretty much every game this season. They weren't blown out.
Iowa State was the closest thing to a blowout, but
they competed in every game and just a fun watch
and Bret Brennan got some momentum after. You know, Arizona
wasn't good in the first year, and we'll see how
it carries on to his third year.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 3: How many double did you win seasons as you have
a football had, I don't know in the modern era.
Speaker 4: Oh man, not many. I think you probably counted on
one hand. It doesn't It does not happen, absolutely, I
think I'm trying to think off the top of my head,
but I think this would have been that like the eighth.
Speaker 2: Ever eighth ever.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I mean it's it's it would have been
a very big deal had they got them head to win.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I just pulled it up right here. So ninety
three ten wins, ninety eight.
Speaker 3: Twelve wins, twenty fourteen to ten wins, twenty twenty three
ten wins.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it would have been It would have been
a very very big deal.
Speaker 2: Huh crazy.
Speaker 3: And what's interesting is like nine wins doesn't even come
about all that often, you know, typically like the best
you get his eight and five in the last thirty years.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it just it just doesn't happen. But
there's other football in that. And I think the biggest
thing also is consistency. Like even when you look at
those teams at one, you know, the eight, nine, ten, games.
A few years later, they're back down to four or five,
and that'll be Bret Brettan's challenge too, and it'll be
interesting to see if he could keep it up because
a lot of times you look like coaches left or
they were, you know, they kind of ran their course.
Like rich Rod did well at Arizona, got them to
that point and then he fell off the same with Scoops,
and so it'll be interesting. It's about which coach, you know,
Brent hopefully can make this a consistent successful program. That's
been the challenge in Arizona.
Speaker 3: How was you of a football done in the transfer portal?
Since you know he's opened and closed, what have they acquired?
Speaker 2: What have they lost?
Speaker 4: So they're you know, Brett Bredman is very big on
retaining the roster. So it's similar to Jaden Bradley with basketball.
I said their number one priority was retaining No F
F quarterback and they were able to do that and
then from there, you know, it was retaining the younger guys.
They have younger guys that they really like on those
sides of the ball. They were able to do that.
The biggest priority was getting better on the offensive line,
and then Arizona lost all their safeties Genesis Smith Dalton
Johnson and traded Stukes, and so they had to replace that,
and so they went to the portal and they basically
rebuilt the whole secondary and there's gonna be competition there.
And they went with some guys from smaller schools and
some guys from bigger schools that maybe didn't pan out there.
And so that would be the biggest question heading into
spring ball is how those guys do in the secondary
and what kind of drop off there will be, if any,
and there's if the drop offs not big. They you know,
they nailed the transfer portal again, but it was mostly
about retaining and then filling needs. They took twenty guys.
A lot of teops take more than that, but they
took twenty and a lot of them are on the
defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 3: Which acquisition are you most excited about? And which attrition
were Where was you the U of a Wildcat Nation,
the Wildcat Authority Nation most sad about?
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know the one I'm most excited about. You know,
Traden Steeks was really good last year. They lost him.
I hope he gets drafted. If not, you know, he
had a great Arizona career, but they were placed on
Miss Nebraska Trands or Malcolm Hertzog who was injured this
past season. But really good player, I mean really good player.
He should be able to step in and play well
right away. They didn't really lose any one in the
portal that was on the too deep. The biggest issue
was just graduations, Like all these guys kind of graduated,
they they went, you know, they hit the transfer portal hard,
really hard last year and to some of their better players,
you know, that whole secondary. Those guys graduated. To Sean
McKnight on the defensive line, he graduated. So I think
in terms of low in the portal, there really weren't any.
It was just kind of matter of these guys college
careers ending and then having to replay him.
Speaker 3: What's the buzz around Jake Griffin? I know he's Arizona product.
I think he can't remember if he came out of
Mountain View or Mesa Red Mountain. He ended up at
by US a rotational tackle, saw some pt for byu
what's the buzz around Jake Griffin coming down to UVA.
Speaker 4: Yeah, his brother Jackson is also alignment on the team.
It'll be interesting guy. I think he's probably more of
a death guy right now. But they're gonna have an
open competition at one of the tackle spots. They were
able to get a six year for Tristan Bounds, who
was the starting tackle last year, so that's locked up.
But the other tackle position, it's gonna be wide open,
and so Griffin will be able to compete up that
and it'll be interesting to see. There's gonna be a
few positions on the O line that are kind of
up for grabs.
Speaker 3: I know we're trying not to look ahead, but how
do you think how do you say the or how
do you think the by u U of.
Speaker 2: A basketball game is gonna play out at the Merrit Center.
Speaker 4: You know, I would love for Arizona to go undefeated.
I am a firm believer, and I don't get like
college basketball is so different than college football. College basketball
there's so many more games college football. You lose one
game and your whole season can change. Arizona is not
going undefeated, I could say, at least I don't think
they are. I think b YU is a really tough game.
I just think going in that environment, you know, Arizona
is playing Saturday at twelve, and then they're flying at
Buyu and they were at UCF last week. Short turned
around like eventually, it still kind of catches up to you.
And I think b Yu is super talented. I actually
for a while have had Monday Petsula that Arizona's first lost.
I just think it's a tougher environment. B Uyu is
really good. They match up pretty well with Arizona. But
I think it's going to be a heck of a
game either way.
Speaker 2: Jason's your best way to support you.
Speaker 3: What you do, how you do it. Over at Wildcat Authority.
Speaker 4: Yeah, join Wildcat Authority, listen to us on the Wildcat
Scoop podcast with my wife Shelby, And we're actually running
a deal right now two months for a dollar. So
give us a shot at Wildcat Authority dot com and
check out all the air zone and the twelve covers
You've got.
Speaker 2: Love it, Jason, she here. Nobody does it better. Always
appreciate our time together, Always learn something.
Speaker 3: Appreciate you hopping on to talk from Wildcat Football and Basketball.
Speaker 4: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: There you go.
Speaker 3: It was a little bit of a nother faux segment
Slash College Basketball and Slash College Football. Great segment brought
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