Speaker 1: The very familiar voice, the voice of the Utes, joins
Speaker 1: us on a Tuesday bill. Happy Tuesday, sir.
Speaker 2: How are you Spence? I'm great. I thought maybe with
Speaker 2: you know, the football schedule being released, we might get
Speaker 2: a football highlight, but I get basketball highlights are good too,
Speaker 2: and just to highlight in general from porters even better.
Speaker 1: No, I'm proud of my guy. I just wanted to
Speaker 1: point out when my guy does a good job, and
Speaker 1: he ran a Ryle's highlight, which is a good way
Speaker 1: to welcome you into the show. Now we'll get to
Speaker 1: basketball at the moment, but of course we'll do the
Speaker 1: schedule release to start things off. And I just I'm
Speaker 1: gonna ask right off the top, why Utah BYU October eighteenth?
Speaker 1: The last time these two teams played football in October?
Speaker 1: I think you were twenty five. It was nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 2: Yeah, to be honest with you, I have no idea.
Speaker 2: I mean, I got the November thing, like early November,
Speaker 2: but the middle of October is an odd time for
Speaker 2: that to me. Yeah, I have no idea. Maybe they're
Speaker 2: downplaying it, maybe they don't have any other good games
Speaker 2: that day, But you would think I kind of I
Speaker 2: didn't mind November ninth last year. Sometimes you get buried
Speaker 2: on other rivalry Saturdays, but it just seems like an
Speaker 2: odd time to play it, right, smack dab in the
Speaker 2: middle of the season.
Speaker 1: Anything else really? I mean, look the difficult part about
Speaker 1: you know, a day like today where fans just want
Speaker 1: to know, like, Okay, is it a hard schedule or
Speaker 1: is an easy schedule? Arizona State was picked sixteenth last year.
Speaker 1: I have no idea if this is a hard or
Speaker 1: an easy schedule. But other than byu Utah October the
Speaker 1: eighteenth down in Provo, anything else really jump out at
Speaker 1: you when you saw the release?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's a good back to back right there.
Speaker 2: Here's the thing. I just until we know what these
Speaker 2: rosters are going to definitively look like. And I shoot,
Speaker 2: like you just said we knew what Arizona State's roster
Speaker 2: was going to definitively look like. They had sixty new
Speaker 2: faces and they'd go sixteenth and they finished first. I
Speaker 2: don't have a great feel for it. I mean, I
Speaker 2: think Utah is going to be better. I mean, if
Speaker 2: Devin damp Pier is anywhere close to the guy they
Speaker 2: think he is, I think they're going to be better
Speaker 2: this year. I just quote get competent quarterback play, We'll
Speaker 2: get him there. I'm looking at that stretch that there's
Speaker 2: two three game stretches. I'm looking at the Arizona State
Speaker 2: BYU Colorado stretch, and then I'm telling you that stretch
Speaker 2: to end the year is going to be difficult. Baylor
Speaker 2: got better last year. I mean, we saw a bad
Speaker 2: version of Baylor in salt Lake last year. They finished
Speaker 2: really strong, and that game's down at Waco. They bring
Speaker 2: back their quarterback. K State, who we didn't see a
Speaker 2: year ago, comes to Salt Lake, but they bring back
Speaker 2: their quarterback. They're a team that's built a lot like Utah.
Speaker 2: And then that final game of the year at Kansas.
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna say this, it could be possibly the
Speaker 2: two most dynamic quarterbacks in the Big Twelve squaring off again.
Speaker 2: If Devon dam Pierre continues to play how he did
Speaker 2: at New Mexico and Jalen Daniels is healthy. So those
Speaker 2: two three games Arizona State BYU Colorado and then Baylor,
Speaker 2: K State and Kansas, and two of those three to
Speaker 2: end the season, that's those could be two tough stretches.
Speaker 2: For Utah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that K State game here at home. Hopefully we'll
Speaker 1: have massive implications. Obviously there's a lot of football. Well, hell,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of time between the football and then
Speaker 1: there's a lot of football between you know, the start
Speaker 1: of the season and that game. But that that game
Speaker 1: when Case State rolls into town, that certainly could be
Speaker 1: a heavyweight fight. Ultimately, the non con you know, UCLA
Speaker 1: is the first game Pasadena will see. I mean, that
Speaker 1: program's been down for a while. And then cal Poly.
Speaker 1: You know, we all know the deal. At some point,
Speaker 1: games like this will probably go to go away. So
Speaker 1: BYU is going to East Carolina and I know that
Speaker 1: that is a contract that Tom has to honor. Is
Speaker 1: that the same thing with Wyoming? Like what's what's what's
Speaker 1: the motivation heading up to lare Me or just trying
Speaker 1: to fill a schedule?
Speaker 2: Well, now, that game was scheduled a long long time ago, Okay,
Speaker 2: got it? In fact, I think you was scheduled almost
Speaker 2: ten years ago. And I just know this in conversations
Speaker 2: with people. It's you know, people are like, well, just
Speaker 2: buy yourself out of that game. Well, you know that's
Speaker 2: I don't know the exact figure I'm gonna guess that
Speaker 2: would be if you tried to buy yourself out of
Speaker 2: a game like that. First of all, Wyoming wants that game.
Speaker 2: Second of all, it's expensive to buy yourself out of
Speaker 2: games with D one schools. Now, if you're playing a
Speaker 2: one double A or something like that's a little cheaper,
Speaker 2: but it's hard to do it that. It doesn't always
Speaker 2: make economic sense. So that that game has been on
Speaker 2: the schedule for a while, Wyoming will come back here.
Speaker 2: But yeah, that was that was done about. I think
Speaker 2: I think about ten years ago.
Speaker 1: UCLA has been down for a while. You know, their
Speaker 1: first year in the Big Ten they go three and
Speaker 1: six overall, or three and six in Conference five and
Speaker 1: seven overall. I'm not going to sit here and tell
Speaker 1: you I'm ready to give you an accurate preview of
Speaker 1: the UCLA Bruins next year, but I suppose starting things
Speaker 1: off an opponent that may not be that challenging yet
Speaker 1: is out of a P four conference is some thing
Speaker 1: that you can kind of look forward to. What's your
Speaker 1: thoughts on the opening game against UCLA?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. I mean they struggled a little
Speaker 2: bit last year. Deshaun Foster. I think was their first
Speaker 2: year quarterback or head coach, had never been a head
Speaker 2: coach before. I think they got a little bit better though,
Speaker 2: as the year went along. But if you're going to
Speaker 2: play a P four school, I think UCLA still kind
Speaker 2: of trying to figure out where it falls in the
Speaker 2: Big Ten and going down there it's familiar territory. I
Speaker 2: like that as an opener, especially with cal Pauly and
Speaker 2: Wyoming on the schedule. So I think again, based on
Speaker 2: what they did a year ago and not seeing a
Speaker 2: lot of hyper or vibe about them in the Big Ten,
Speaker 2: I think that's not a bad place to open.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they actually, to your point, went through a stretch.
Speaker 1: Now Ethan Garber's was a senior, so he's gone. But
Speaker 1: to finish off the year the second half of the year,
Speaker 1: they won at Rutgers, they won at Nebraska, then they
Speaker 1: want at home against Iowa, and they gave Washington and
Speaker 1: Southern Cali good game before winning at Fresno to finish
Speaker 1: things off. Just the start of the season was rough.
Speaker 1: They had a pretty rough schedule. They got smoked by LSU,
Speaker 1: Oregon and Penn State and then played a little bit better.
Speaker 1: So yeah, to your point, they didn't prove a little bit,
Speaker 1: all right. So when you look at the let's let's
Speaker 1: let's let's break this in two parts. So the home
Speaker 1: schedule is cal Poly, Texas Tech, Arizona State, Colorado, Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: Kansas State. And you know, I'm not gonna be the
Speaker 1: guy that says I missed the PAC twelve every single year,
Speaker 1: but I do and I continue to. But with the
Speaker 1: with the options bill at our disposal, that's not I mean, look,
Speaker 1: cal Poly, you know the deal. They're going to get
Speaker 1: a check, They're going to go fund their athletic department
Speaker 1: and then we'll see what most of these teams are about.
Speaker 1: But just on paper, first glance, Arizona State, Colorado, k State.
Speaker 1: Three good conference home games.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, those are three of the top six in
Speaker 2: the Big twelve coming to your place. That's Arizona State
Speaker 2: and Arizona State spans. You know, even going back to
Speaker 2: the PAC twelve days, everybody was looking for that rival
Speaker 2: of the PAC twelve, and oh it was never USC.
Speaker 2: Come on, they played good games, but that wasn't I
Speaker 2: always felt like Utah and ASU there was a little
Speaker 2: bit of an edge and some chippiness there, and there
Speaker 2: were good games played in Salt Lake and in temp
Speaker 2: b I like that and I think that you know,
Speaker 2: as they play in the Big twelve too, that could
Speaker 2: it's kind of reagion. Utah recruits a lot of kids
Speaker 2: out of Arizona. They go ahead to head and recruiting.
Speaker 2: I like that game Dion and the Road Show comes
Speaker 2: to Salt Lake City. I don't mind that in Kansas State, man,
Speaker 2: they're not glamorous, kind of like you know, people used
Speaker 2: to talk about Utah. They're not glamorous, they're not sexy,
Speaker 2: but what do they win a lot of football games?
Speaker 2: And that's what ky State does too. So those three
Speaker 2: games all falling kind of in the second half of
Speaker 2: the schedule. I think it's a good home schedule b Yu.
Speaker 1: I mean, look, we did this exercise last year, and
Speaker 1: as we've already outlined, it's just impossible to know who
Speaker 1: has the easier schedule, who has the harder schedule. But
Speaker 1: BYU does return a grip of talent. Where do you
Speaker 1: think preseason top twenty five? Where do you think Brigham
Speaker 1: Young lands next year?
Speaker 2: I've seen a lot of early polls that have them
Speaker 2: in that kind of nine to twelve thirteen range and
Speaker 2: based on what they did this past year. Okay, I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't value them quite that high. I think they're
Speaker 2: a top twenty five program for sure. I think they
Speaker 2: were one of those teams. You know, It's kind of funny.
Speaker 2: Utah was on the other side of the about ball
Speaker 2: bouncing their way, and I thought the ball bounced by
Speaker 2: US way quite a bit. I'm not saying that the
Speaker 2: disparage program. I think they're really good. I'm not sure
Speaker 2: they're a top ten program, but I think there's somewhere
Speaker 2: between fifteen and twenty five. Does that sound about right
Speaker 2: to you?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would guess fifteen sixteen. What about I'm assuming
Speaker 1: Arizona State also ranked? But which other Big twelve teams
Speaker 1: are you? Are you? Are you guessing as of now
Speaker 1: will be in the preseason top twenty five?
Speaker 2: Best guess I'm gonna say Arizona State, though I mean
Speaker 2: cam Scattaboo's a big loss. To look around at that
Speaker 2: a little bit. Kansas State's got a chance, Baylor might
Speaker 2: have a chance. Depending on the hype around Colorado, they
Speaker 2: might have a chance. I'm going to say in the
Speaker 2: preseason top twenty five that there's probably four, maybe five
Speaker 2: big twelve teams ranked, but probably not many more than that.
Speaker 2: Utah some people are going to I mean, Bill Connelly
Speaker 2: from ESPN picked them to win the league, and I
Speaker 2: don't think you could make a case for that, certainly.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people when they come to
Speaker 2: preseason and offseason polls are prisoners of the moment. They
Speaker 2: look back at the year before and see a down
Speaker 2: year for Utah. So it won't surprise me if the
Speaker 2: UTA are left out of the top twenty five at
Speaker 2: least to begin the season.
Speaker 1: One more football question. Then we'll move over to some
Speaker 1: hoops and obviously get a little Super Bowl talk with
Speaker 1: you as well as somebody who has now called games
Speaker 1: in the Big twelve, and as somebody who has experienced,
Speaker 1: you know, growing up and going to school in the Midwest.
Speaker 1: Road trip options Pasadena right out of the gates, Go
Speaker 1: ahead and do that in August, play some golf, and
Speaker 1: then Porters choose to head up to the the you know,
Speaker 1: to the Wyoming Gaming wants to go to Laramie. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna send Porter up to Laramie very early. Maybe
Speaker 1: stop at some Flying Jays and grab some chicken sandos.
Speaker 1: Not judging so Laramie, Morgantown, Provo, Waco, Lawrence, Kansas. Those
Speaker 1: are your road trip options. Give us the Bill Riley
Speaker 1: Zagat guide to trips in cities and restaurants. Where should
Speaker 1: you fans look to go?
Speaker 2: If we're taking well, we know what the Rose Bowl is.
Speaker 2: Most ute fans know what Laramie is, so we'll wipe
Speaker 2: those off the board. I've never been to Morgantown for
Speaker 2: a football game, so I am looking forward to. I
Speaker 2: hear it's a great college town, and I hear it's
Speaker 2: a great atmosphere, and rich Rod's back at West Virginia.
Speaker 2: I think that they've got a chance to be sneaky good.
Speaker 2: It's not easy to get to. You kind of have
Speaker 2: to fly to Pittsburgh and make an hour and a
Speaker 2: half drive south. But I would say Morgantown, Wacoh, not
Speaker 2: much in Waco, to be very fair, some BUCkies, you know,
Speaker 2: truck stops, they're okay. Kansas. It's going to be late November,
Speaker 2: so there's that. But the stadium, it's going to be
Speaker 2: a brand new football stadium, assuming they get it finished
Speaker 2: and they're not playing it Arrowhead again. Lawrence is a
Speaker 2: great college town, and Kay you's got a chance to
Speaker 2: be pretty good next year again if the Daniels kids
Speaker 2: stays healthy. So I would rank the trips for college
Speaker 2: town atmospheres, Lawrence, Morgantown, and then probably Waco is where
Speaker 2: I would go.
Speaker 1: All right, moving over to some hoops and I wanted
Speaker 1: to start here. And I know I can remember back
Speaker 1: in the day when we were working together every day,
Speaker 1: you had an old school picture of you interview and
Speaker 1: I think it was Roy Williams. Is that correct?
Speaker 2: That is correct?
Speaker 1: Have you ever called a Kansas basketball game? Like when
Speaker 1: you think about the fact that Kansas is rolling into
Speaker 1: saut Lake and you will be calling Utah Kansas basketball? Like,
Speaker 1: has that kind of landed where it needs to in
Speaker 1: that brain of yours, Because this is a pretty cool
Speaker 1: thing that you have on the horizon for your career.
Speaker 2: I think, Yeah, I got to win. And I was
Speaker 2: in college the student radio station. We had a seat
Speaker 2: court side, so I got to call some games my
Speaker 2: senior year at Allen Field House. Nice the Utes played
Speaker 2: the Jayhawks in that one off game in Kansas City,
Speaker 2: and like, I was it fourteen or fifteen, So I
Speaker 2: did call one in Kansas City. But this will be
Speaker 2: the first time they come here, So it'll be fun.
Speaker 2: It'll be fun.
Speaker 1: And you know, Kansas is good, they're talented. They've been
Speaker 1: a little bit up and down. But I don't know
Speaker 1: what's going on with Iowa State. They were top five.
Speaker 1: Now they've lost three straight. But let's get over there
Speaker 1: to the Utes now. And you know, ultimately, after winning
Speaker 1: three straight games in the Big twelve, including a win
Speaker 1: over Brigham Young, maybe some folks got a little bit
Speaker 1: over their skis with excitement. And of course since then
Speaker 1: it's you know, losing three or four. Since you and
Speaker 1: I last spoke though, a trip to Oklahoma State, where
Speaker 1: it was kind of like, all right, they're kind of
Speaker 1: in this, but I don't feel like they're gonna get
Speaker 1: over the hump. They couldn't get over that like seven
Speaker 1: or eight point deficit. Every time they would make a
Speaker 1: little bit of a charge, turnovers, they missed a shot,
Speaker 1: Oklahoma State would capitalize. So it felt like Oklahoma State
Speaker 1: was in control most of the game, although Utah did
Speaker 1: keep it competitive. Bill, if the Utes are going to
Speaker 1: try to compete for anything even semi special, you know,
Speaker 1: eight nine, you know, eight nine conference wins year one
Speaker 1: of the Big twelve. They're gonna have to find something
Speaker 1: on the road. That seemed like a good opportunity because
Speaker 1: Oklahoma State is not top shelf. But what did you
Speaker 1: make of that eighty one seventy two loss.
Speaker 2: It wasn't a good loss, Spence, Oklahoma State had just
Speaker 2: lost Kansas State by twenty eight, you know, Utah beating
Speaker 2: them by twenty one. It was really the start of
Speaker 2: the game that did them in. Craig and I talked
Speaker 2: about on the Coaches Show last night. They just they
Speaker 2: didn't come out on the defensive end with great energy,
Speaker 2: and they let Oklahoma State kind of dictate. And Oklahoma
Speaker 2: State's not a great offensive basketball team, but they let
Speaker 2: them dictated home, and they got down like twelve three
Speaker 2: and then fifteen to five. And they always, as you
Speaker 2: were just kind of alluding to, they were always kind
Speaker 2: of just playing from behind just a little bit, and
Speaker 2: they just you know, again, teams are going to play
Speaker 2: well at home. They were kind of a wounded animal.
Speaker 2: But you know, with a chance to kind of get
Speaker 2: a season sweep against a team, especially on the defensive end,
Speaker 2: they in Oklahoma State get to the line too many times.
Speaker 2: So it was a disappointing loss for sure. Tomorrow night's
Speaker 2: about the closest thing you have to a chance for
Speaker 2: a really easy bounce back. Colorado is really struggling right now.
Speaker 2: They've lost ten in a row, haven't won a big
Speaker 2: twelve game yet. You're back at home tomorrow night, so
Speaker 2: you got to circle. Tomorrow night is one of those
Speaker 2: get well games.
Speaker 1: Has Craig said anything to you about because we had
Speaker 1: Craig on the show on Friday and I asked him,
Speaker 1: and whenever you say tinkering to a coach, you kind
Speaker 1: of cringe because you know they take that as an insult.
Speaker 1: But the rotations and the lineups, like every night, it
Speaker 1: feels like it's different every night. There's a guy who
Speaker 1: didn't get run the game before who comes back and
Speaker 1: gets seventeen eighteen minutes. Is this kind of like he's
Speaker 1: going to bring whatever the night needs rotationally or do
Speaker 1: you think he's still trying to figure out sort of
Speaker 1: what hand he's been dealt now.
Speaker 2: I think he's trying to figure out who's going to
Speaker 2: bring it for him sometimes, if that makes sense. You know,
Speaker 2: it's really been up and down at the point guard spot.
Speaker 2: Miro Little had that great game against Baylor, and he
Speaker 2: struggled the last couple of games. Mike Sharp Johns had
Speaker 2: some struggles, but now he's playing a little bit better.
Speaker 2: And you know, boy, if you want to be consistent
Speaker 2: at any one position on the floor, you'd love for
Speaker 2: that point guard to be that spot where you're consistent.
Speaker 2: So I think Craig and his staff are just trying
Speaker 2: to search for those guys that are going to give
Speaker 2: him not one game of consistency, but several games of consistency.
Speaker 2: And I think that's why you've seen some of the
Speaker 2: some of the lineups.
Speaker 1: All Right, you already alluded to this, but let's just
Speaker 1: get a thought before we get over the super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Let's get a thought on the game tomorrow night. Say
Speaker 1: it is Colorado and Colorado is probably the worst team
Speaker 1: in the conference because you know, oh to ten. And
Speaker 1: then look at West Virginia at Cincinnati. I said this
Speaker 1: after the Cincinnati win. I'm like, look like I said
Speaker 1: to you, they have to find some road wins. And
Speaker 1: it felt like that a four game stretch with three
Speaker 1: on the road, with some winnable games. West Virginia solid
Speaker 1: and that's a tough place to get a win. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that that would be a cake walk, but
Speaker 1: ultimately they also have Cincinnati, who they already beat. So
Speaker 1: your thoughts on just a must win game tomorrow here
Speaker 1: in Salt Lake, then give me a quick thought on
Speaker 1: the two game Roady after that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Colorado game is one you've got to have. Again,
Speaker 2: as mentioned, they've lost ten in a row. They're just
Speaker 2: they've had some injuries. They don't have the same talent
Speaker 2: that they've had in recent years. He's had some NBA
Speaker 2: guys in recent years, including one that's playing for the Jazz.
Speaker 2: So it's they're they're lacking talent right now and being
Speaker 2: at home and coming off the game Saturday tomorrow night's
Speaker 2: one that I think that they should they should probably get.
Speaker 2: As far as the road games go, there's not an
Speaker 2: easy road game left. Spence West Virginia, not easy Cincinnati
Speaker 2: on the road. I know they beat them, but you
Speaker 2: know the Cincinnati team is pretty good at home. UCF
Speaker 2: it's on a UCF has beaten Kansas, they've taken Houston
Speaker 2: to the wire. They're tough. And then your other away
Speaker 2: team is going to be Arizona and BYU. So yeah,
Speaker 2: rote you know they're going to be tested on the
Speaker 2: road for sure, and then you're bringing Kansas here, West
Speaker 2: Virginia here too. So this second half of the first
Speaker 2: half of the schedule was difficult for you. Till the
Speaker 2: first ten, they had the fourth most difficult schedule in
Speaker 2: the Big Twelve. But it's the Big Twelve. It's not
Speaker 2: like the second half's going to ease up a bunch either.
Speaker 1: So all right, super Bowl fifty nine in the Big Easy.
Speaker 1: Hopefully somebody is going to go over to Danis Seafood
Speaker 1: and have a shrimp Poe boy in honor of Bill
Speaker 1: and Spence.
Speaker 2: How great was that?
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that was one of my favorite weeks
Speaker 1: that I've ever had in doing this for a living.
Speaker 1: That was so fun for our listeners that are wondering
Speaker 1: what you're talking about. Bill and I did a week
Speaker 1: worth of shows prior to the Sugar Bowl back in
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine, the Utah
Speaker 1: One of course, over Alabama, and we did every show
Speaker 1: at a restaurant called Deanis Seafood and they fed us
Speaker 1: for free and it was awesome. Bill over the loudspeaker
Speaker 1: called Nick Saban arrogant, and somebody told Bill to go
Speaker 1: back to his Mormon church, to which I responded, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure that means what do you think it means
Speaker 1: to that guy? But anyway, but that was such a
Speaker 1: fun week.
Speaker 2: That part of it, that is right. How did you
Speaker 2: forget that those arrogant Alabama fans that were in there
Speaker 2: almost they were just being so they were being so
Speaker 2: petty and just like they were patting us on all
Speaker 2: you guys are a cute little team. And then I
Speaker 2: said Saban was a little arrogant and that was really
Speaker 2: before he'd ever won anything at Alabama. And yeah, that
Speaker 2: one guy did not want to have that.
Speaker 1: Did he go back to your Mormon church? He says
Speaker 1: to Bill. I'm like, oh, all right, well, I guess
Speaker 1: that's the low hanging fruit because we're a Utah radio station. Anyway,
Speaker 1: that was an awesome week and the game, of course,
Speaker 1: I still think that's the best individual, single win in
Speaker 1: the history of the program. But that's just me. I
Speaker 1: am stunned Bill that the line has not moved at all.
Speaker 1: It opened up at one point five. The Chiefs are
Speaker 1: still a one point five point you know point favorite man.
Speaker 1: You know, the money line is now even. But the
Speaker 1: over runner forty eight point five. What's your gut tell you?
Speaker 1: Do you think you guys in trouble or are the
Speaker 1: refs just going to give you another Super Bowl?
Speaker 2: Well, okay, thank you for that. They I think it's
Speaker 2: gonna be a really good game. I like Kansas City's chances.
Speaker 2: By the way, stat of the day, I read this
Speaker 2: somewhere today. Patrick Mahomes is fifteen to zero in indoor games.
Speaker 2: He's never lost the game in a dome geese, So
Speaker 2: I think it's a good if. Here's what I'll say.
Speaker 2: If they can run the ball with any real success
Speaker 2: and they get kind of a lead, seven to ten
Speaker 2: point lead, I think the Eagles will win. I don't
Speaker 2: think the Chiefs can afford to let the Eagles get up,
Speaker 2: you know, even ten points on them, because I think
Speaker 2: if they're doing that, that means they're running the ball well,
Speaker 2: controlling the clock and keeping Mahomes off the field. If
Speaker 2: Kansas City can get off to a good start, you're
Speaker 2: not going to stop Sakuon. But if you can slow
Speaker 2: him down, hold him to seventy five, eighty five, maybe
Speaker 2: even just one hundred yards and no, none of those
Speaker 2: sixty yard runs he seems to be breaking every other game.
Speaker 2: I think they have a good chance to win that thing.
Speaker 1: I'm not betting again, so I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: What are your plans for the Super Bowl? What are
Speaker 1: your plans for the Big Game? Anything?
Speaker 2: Fun? I'm gonna be in Cincinnati watching the game because
Speaker 2: I'll be on the road with the Utes. Oh okay, man,
Speaker 2: all right, look, can I ask you a quick question?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Go ahead, please think about this.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Please.
Speaker 2: Because I'm kind of not doing the show day in
Speaker 2: and day out, I'm not really very plugged into the Jazz,
Speaker 2: and they're pretty terrible this year. But after all the
Speaker 2: Lucas stuff and reading all the Lucas stuff over the
Speaker 2: last couple of days, I've got to ask you, do
Speaker 2: the Jazz have a plan? Spence? I mean, if I
Speaker 2: asked you today, what do the Jazz have a plan
Speaker 2: for the next two to three years to be good?
Speaker 2: I'm not even saying great to be good again, because
Speaker 2: I'm looking. I've watched a couple of games, and I
Speaker 2: watch all the recaps. I listened to you. They feel
Speaker 2: like they don't have any plan whatsoever.
Speaker 1: Spence, Yeah, I mean it's the plan they have is
Speaker 1: predicated on a tremendous amount of luck going their way.
Speaker 1: That that's the issue I mean to have. No, No,
Speaker 1: it's not. And you know, if if you believe what
Speaker 1: they said as far as Xanax's media availability to start
Speaker 1: the year, he said, look, and I really believe when
Speaker 1: Danny Ains dropped a big game hunting, Xanik probably puked.
Speaker 1: He's like, what is he doing? I don't think he
Speaker 1: liked that Danny dropped that, because when Xanik did his
Speaker 1: preseason media you could tell he was a little bit grumpy.
Speaker 1: He said, look, we tried. We went out and we
Speaker 1: tried to get good players. And Ryan Smith has been
Speaker 1: vocal and front facing about his desire. He wanted Kristaps
Speaker 1: Porzingis before he landed in Boston. He wanted Drew Holliday
Speaker 1: before he landed in Boston. I don't know who told
Speaker 1: them that they had a chance to trade for Paul
Speaker 1: George and sign mckel bridges, but like that's that was
Speaker 1: the spin in the front office. And so I think
Speaker 1: they've simply and in my opinion, they should have done
Speaker 1: this three years ago when they broke that team down
Speaker 1: when a player named Victor Wembenyama was available. I think
Speaker 1: they have decided to do what the Spurs did when
Speaker 1: wem Minyama was available, in hopes that they can lock
Speaker 1: into a Cooper flag. And if they can do that
Speaker 1: bill next season, you're starting front court is Walker, Kestler,
Speaker 1: Lowry Market and Cooper Flag. First of all, congrats to
Speaker 1: the Market for that. Second of all, we actually then
Speaker 1: we have something right. And then we say, okay, now
Speaker 1: we can see this thing taking place. But if their
Speaker 1: lottery luck which nine straight times in the lottery they've
Speaker 1: never moved up, if they fall the six or seven
Speaker 1: or eight again, I mean I'm already in a space
Speaker 1: where I'm not expecting them to be really good for
Speaker 1: four to five years, and if that happens, we might
Speaker 1: reset the calculation once again. It's it's tough, man. It's
Speaker 1: a tough scene to cover the Jazz this year. There's
Speaker 1: no doubt.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I just say that because two or three
Speaker 2: years ago, would you deal Donovan and you deal Rudy
Speaker 2: and you're amassing all these draft picks. I get all
Speaker 2: that stuff. But even two or three years in with
Speaker 2: the Thunder, or even a couple of years now in
Speaker 2: with the Spurs, and I know they landed Wimby and
Speaker 2: all that stuff, but it felt like there. It just
Speaker 2: doesn't feel like three years into this thing we're seeing
Speaker 2: any real tangible progress. That's all. I mean.
Speaker 1: No, and you're not wrong. And they've got a really
Speaker 1: bright young coach. But I'm afraid if they can't give
Speaker 1: Will weapons in two years when his deal is up,
Speaker 1: he might be like, all right, well gave you five years.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go coach a team that actually has players.
Speaker 1: It's a tough scene, man. I feel for jazz fans,
Speaker 1: but they keep showing up.
Speaker 2: Hey, by the way, just on the way out. This
Speaker 2: will make you feel good today. I was in an
Speaker 2: uber the other day and this guy goes, oh my god,
Speaker 2: Bill Riley. I'm like, hey, he goes, I just got
Speaker 2: to say you, Spence and shep were the best show
Speaker 2: that was ever in Salt Lake City and I've lived
Speaker 2: here for twenty years. Oh yes, and he included and
Speaker 2: he he did. He goes, boy, you guys used to
Speaker 2: let shef have it.
Speaker 1: Well. I cannot deny that, man, I cannot deny that.
Speaker 1: Bill always a pleasure, my friend. Let's get together soon. Okay,
Speaker 1: Thanks Vince the Voice of the U. It's Bill Riley