Speaker 1: Is Cougar Sports with Ben Kretel, and it's time for
the Cougar Beat getting the dish from the local reporters
that cover Cougar athletics. Welcome back, Ugar Sports. What O
three nine ninety two point three ESPN the van I've
met fortal broadcasting from our Vanderwelt Studios Vanderwelt dot Com.
Get on that free Q and A, no obligation to
advest Q and A with our tax small Wealth Advisor
Certify Financial Planners NFLPA Certified Financial Planners. He's been aiding
and supporting Blaine Blaine Anderson's been aiding supporting the student
athletes for a long time. Now he wants to support
Cougar Nation. Hit him up, call him, set up a
Q and A today. It is top for a little
Cougar Beat. Gonna welcome into Cougar Sports Insider to delve
into what's going on on the beat all day, every day,
representing the desert Red News got to be brought to
you by Utah Protective Films Utah Protective Films dot Com. Guys,
if you're looking to get a nice face slip on
your vehicle, protect the paint of your vehicle get paint
Protector film at Utah Protective Films dot com. Contact Jared
Bledsoe today, former Bay Wide receiver. You get fifteen percent
off your product, your service when you mentioned myself or
ESP and the fan. Let a former Cougar earn your
business today. Eight oh one, eight hundred nine to seven
sixty seven. That's eight o one eight hundred nine seven
sixt seven U Top PROTECTI Films ut Top Protective Films
dot com. They also do Window ten as well as
chrome deletes. Let's get out to the hot line. Welcome
in Cougar Sports Insider representing the Desert News. We got
Jay Drew on the line. Jay, how you live it?
Speaker 2: I'm doing fantastic.
Speaker 1: It's a great day to talk some BYU football and
BYU basketball. Jay, where's your where's your bandwidth been allocated?
Over the last couple of weeks?
Speaker 2: I would say mostly the words basketball. I am working
on a football story right now, but a couple actually,
But yeah, basketball's taking up a lot of my time,
and and not to lubb it on Saturday morning for
the that game, so that'll even keep me more involved
with YU basketball. But then looking forward to next week
when YU has a kind of a mid week by
They don't play until Saturday against Utah, so that'll be
a little bit more time to get back into football
a little bit. So that's kind of where I am
right now.
Speaker 1: Basketball be a your ranks tenth in ESPN's latest men's
basketball Power rankings. The ap pole hasn't been so friendly
to BUYU. What gives J Drew?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the media voters, guys and gals that
vote on that probably looking at the game against Utah
where BYU was a double digit favorite and only one
by five, I think that might have nicked them a
little bit. And I think, let me, let's face it,
up until that point, a couple other teams kind of
elite frogged them. I think it was Nebraska and Villanova
if I'm not mistaken. So yeah, there's just so many
elite teams this year. There's so many teams with zero
or one law that it's just hard to break into
that top ten. There's it's just this is as many
good teams as I can remember in a long time
in college basketball.
Speaker 1: Great players, great teams. This by basketball team the best
in BYU basketball history. Do you think are you willing
to go.
Speaker 2: On record on that, I would say it's the most talented.
I don't think it's the most accomplished yet. So when
you say you know best, I you know, until they
get to the lead eight like that Danny h Steve Trumbull,
Fred Roberts team did and I was it nineteen eighty
eighty one, I think I'm not ready to go that far.
In fact, I'm not even sure. We were talking about
this last night Darnell and me. If this team is
better than last year's team, obviously with Rob and AJ,
they're probably more talented. But man, last year you had
Foos who was a really good low post scorer, Dallen
Hall was a valuable guy off the bench, Dawson Baker
was healthy, and obviously you had Yegor, who you know
is really turning ahead to the NBA right now. So
I think it's more talented this year than last. But
until this group does what last year's group did, which
was get to the sweet sixteen, I'm I'm gonna have
to say the jury is out on that one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what is missing do you think from this roster?
If you could put your finger on it, what's missing?
Is it a particular style, particular you know, you know,
type of player, What do you make of it?
Speaker 2: I think they're missing a sniper, a guy off the
bench that can come in like Trevin Nill did last year,
hit a bunch of threes in a row. I you know,
they were obviously counting on Tyler marss and to do that.
And then obviously with Dawson Baker and Nate Pickens getting
hurt and suffering season ending injuries, that's hurt him a lot.
But I would just say, I just don't know if
the Big three is sustainable moving forward of scoring. You know,
all ast what is it, seventy percent of their points.
They just need some other scoring from somewhere off the bench.
Just one of those guys that can just instant offense.
Type of guy. Maybe you substitute a little defense. I'm
not saying that Dawson Baker was not a great defender,
because he was adequate, but a guy that can just
come in like he did and give you some points
and or like Trevin Nell did. And I just don't
see that right now. Maybekennard Davis can pick up offensively
a little bit. He obviously averaged eighteen points a game
at Southern Illinois last year, So we're kind of still
waiting for that. And granted, you know, he's not gonna
get the ball, he's not going to be priority one
when he got three superstars on your team. But but yeah,
that's where I think they need just they need something
off the bench. They need I would I haven't looked
it up, but I bet they're one of the ten
least productive benches in the country or somewhere in that
range of maybe ten percent in that range of teams,
So that that's where they really need some help with.
Speaker 1: Yes, me, is there anyone that is on the roster
currently that you could that you think could step into
that role and become that bench bucket getter for by U?
Speaker 2: You know, I mentioned that Tyler Marrass had a good
career up in Idaho. I know the costitch is it
alexis Uh. He showed a few signs early in the
season preseasons on conference. I don't think we've seen him
on the court for quite a while. Uh So no,
I you know, I mean, I totally frank with you,
I don't I just don't see it. I just they're
just gonna have to ride or die with with uh.
They got one of the best starting fives in college basketball.
It's not the best with you know, especially when Keba
is going good and out of foul trouble. But there's
just a big drop off now and uh, you know,
obviously all Matt has come in and been a good
valuable back up to Cada, really valuable because Cada gets
some tout trouble a lot. But he's not a type
of guy that's going to fill up the you know,
the basket with points for you. So yeah, frankly, I
don't you know, I don't want to be a negative nelly.
I don't want to be an e or. I want
to be positive, as we've gone over in the past.
But I don't know what about you guys, who do
you see maybe is on that bench that could do that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I keep on leaning into Mihilo bucket Viitch.
I'm like, bro, like, you're better than this. Bro, Step up, bro,
get it get it straight. Like you have the skill set,
you have the ability to do so much defensively offensively,
got to be that stretch five. Obviously you can block shots.
You've seen that pretty consistently over the last couple of games.
He's got good length, He's never seen a shot he
doesn't like. He's just got to get that stroke back.
And also, you know, have a head on a swivel,
be a distributor when given the opportunity. When if he
does start hitting, you know, defenses will collapse. I'm at
my Hilo bucket, Viitch. I've been saying this from the beginning.
We need Mahilo to be my highlight bucket, Viitch. If
he's not, I agree with you, we're going to struggle
in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And to be fair, he did have a huge
bucket last night in that second half, a huge three
pointer that really got him going, like Kevin said, when
they were struggling a little bit to score. So I
agree with you, Ben, I think it's in him. If
you look at you know, his playover in Europe and
the Surbbian leagues, and that he could do that. He's
definitely got that ability. I had. I wrote a story
about him last week and had a good conversation with him,
and I think it's just with him. It's just a
confidence thing. I think he can he knows he can
do it. But I think he gets in there and
he gets a little bit worried about what happens if
I missed? Am I going to get pulled? And that's
just every college basketball player goes through that. It's just
something you have to work through. But I definitely think
he has the potential to be honest with you, When
I was just talking about guys, I kind of forgot
about him a little bit because I picture him more
of the as an inside player, although he does step
out and shoot threes quite often.
Speaker 1: Yeah, how devastating do you think now that we know
what we know? How devastating was that Dawson Baker injury?
Hate that one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's big. I hope it's not the
difference between you know, last year Sweet sixteen and their
their stated goal of Final four or beyond, but it
very melt very well might be. I mean, that could
be the difference. He's you know, Dawson was the what
do they call him? The bucket maker Dawson.
Speaker 1: Dawson the bucket the bucket Baker, the bucket getter Baker,
That's what I called. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just sad because that was a huge injury,
and uh it's probably the repercussions are going to be
felt for for quite some time.
Speaker 1: J Drew desrat News here on your Utah being Ready
Network discussing b WAU men's basketball and uh uh b
y U athletics and by you is trending in an
awesome direction right now in both football and basketball, and uh,
you know, I feel like football, their retention efforts were
pretty pivotal. Uh. Everyone was fearful what Jay Hill and
Gennaro with their departures. You did retain Gary Anderson, but
you lost two key cogs and in the wheel that
really made b Why you go over the last two seasons? Uh?
What how would you evaluate the retention efforts of this
coaching staff and the culture that Kloone's built.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that the retention rate it's been fabulous.
I mean, uh, you know, there are a few guys
that have left that maybe could have helped them. Max Alford, Uh,
somebody on X excuse me of being a Max Alford lover,
but I just think he you know, I thought it
was a valuable contributor when he got in there and
helped him out a lot until he got hurt. So, uh,
of course he's going to Michigan to be reunited with
his uncle, who's the running backs coach. There Tony Alford,
but I would give I would give him an A
A minus maybe B plus uh range for roster attention.
It's in fact, I got a good mone a. I mean,
I can't think of one, especially in the day and
age where everybody's losing guys. I mean we're talking about everybody.
Uh even Texas Tech. To only lose what they've lost
eleven so far and no starters, it's been pretty it's
been pretty great, no.
Speaker 1: Doubt about it. Uh. Which one are you most optimistic
about here in the next few years? Is it basketball?
Is it football? Which one has the better trajectory right
now in sustainability? Do you think? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I definitely think it's football. You know, you got beaar Bachnier,
you got some really good up and coming players. Thoughts Walla,
it's basketball, you know, it's the one and done. H.
You know, obviously Aj is probably not going to be
back here next year. Uh, he's a generational talent. I
just don't see by you getting a guy like that
every year. So Rob Wright, who knows what he's going
to do, but he's obviously a great talent, and they'll
they'll lose Richie. I don't really see anybody in the
pipeline coming up at least on the roster is now
constituted that can replace any of those big three guys.
So so yeah, I would have to lean towards football.
It's uh, you know, football, it seems like a really
solid foundation. They're developmental. They got not only bringing in
valuable transfer portal guys, kind of more plug in guys,
but the basis of this program is and the culture
of this program is still getting guys developing them. A
guy like Parker Kingston just gets better every year. Satuala,
It's got a lot better you go just down the list.
So I think football, I would say, has a better
trajectory right now because of the nature of the beast.
I mean basketball. All throughout college basketball, it's like the
Kentucky and the Dukes and by you kind of joining
those is using one and done players and that's kind
of hard to sustain from year to year to maintain
a high level of excellences. As football, I think you
can do once you get that foundations set like BYU have.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting. It feels like bou basketball is more
I don't even know if this is a word like mercenario,
like it's all, but it's based on more like acquisition
via the portal and maybe recruiting. I mean, AG is
a refreshman and football seemingly is more retention base. It's
more developmental based in a get old, stale manner. It
seems like a little bit different. I'm not to say
that there wasn't retention. There was with Richie and and
Dawson and Mihailo and others, but it does seem like
there's a little bit more mercenarial type of activity in basketball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. I often wonder, you know, Mark Polpe's
been a little heat down there at Kentucky in his
second year, and I always wonder if what if Richie
had and he was close to going to Kentucky, What
if Richie had gone to Kentucky, what would the trajectory
of these two programs are where they are right now?
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Think I just think that was a whoever convinced Richie
to stay, and I guess it was Kevin Young. I'm
not positive that was huge. That's absolutely huge and really
changed two programs pretty pretty pretty immensely.
Speaker 1: You wonder like the type of impact that Richie would
have had the last two years at Kentucky. Does it
get Kentucky last year to an elite eight because the
top Kings going off, does does that Kentucky team that
has struggled a little bit this year have a leader
to look towards, to be a stabilizing force, a creator,
a facilitator, a culture guy, a glue guy with playmaking
ability to get them into uh, you know, to keep them,
you know, in that elite status of college basketball. So
really point at commentary and obviously we know what he's
done for BYU over the last two seasons. He's been
a massive boon. I think you're right, man, that's like
a keystone. It would have been a keystone for either
one of the programs, and luckily BYU retained the top king.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, it's I mean you kind of look
at Colin Chandler and the height that he got out
of high school and coming and by you got him
and then he went on the mission and obviously he
went followed Pope to Kentucky. But the Richie Saunder story
is pretty amazing. I mean, you know, when he signed
with BYU out of watchach Anatomy and then obviously went
on a mission. But I'll bet very very few BYU
fans could have realized just how good this kid could get.
I know I did, and I watched him as freshman
year even at BYU, and you know that's a role
player for life. So the Richie Saunders story, it is
going to be a good movie someday, and obviously it'll
be sponsored by Tater.
Speaker 1: Talks, no doubt about it, Jay Drew, Ladies and gentlemen, Jay, Jesus,
what are you going to be writing about? You're surely
what's going to be dropping on the Desert News website.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mentioned I'm going to Lovevick, So I'll be
writing about that game. But then next week earlier, I'm
writing this thing kind kind of like a history of
historical perspective of that week where Kyle Whittingham signed with
Michigan and all that transpired. I'm kind of calling it
the week that shook the college football landscape in Utah
with all the repercussions. I mean, it touched every program
in the state. We were stayed so in Utah, Utah State,
just one man's decision and all that kind of weaving
that tale of and following those shock waves, trying to
trying to write about that and called a couple of
old buddies Kurk Kragthorpe from the old Salt Lake Tribute
columnists and Mike Sorenson and tapping into Dick Harmon's kind
of knowledge and trying to weave kind of kind of
like almost like a written history, oral history of a
week that will really reverberate for years and years in
Utah College football.
Speaker 1: No doubt about it. J Drew. Ladies and gentlemen, Jay,
we appreciate you, We salute you man. Thanks for hopping
on for Cougar Beat.
Speaker 2: My pleasure. Thanks for having me on having.
Speaker 1: That's J Drew. Make sure you're following the mix and
make sure you're reading them at the deseretnewsdezrat News dot com.
That segment was brought to you by our good friends
at Utah Protective Films Utah Protective Films dot com. If
you're looking for a paint protection film wrap to upgrade
and uplift your exterior finish of your vehicle, hit up
Jared Bledsoe at the Utah Protective Films Utapprotective Films dot com.
He's gonna take care of you, know. If stands or
butts about it VPPI products, the APY service. The EPI
discounts fifteen percent off any of his products, any of
his services. He also has chrome deletes and I believe
window tens too, So check it out today. Eight on one,
eight hundred nine seven six seven. That's EEL one, eight
hundred nine seven six seven. That is Utah Protective Films
Utah Protective Films dot com. Let's take a brief time out.
We'll be back. It's a Thursday, January fifteenth edition of
Cougar Sports. Here on you're one of three nine ninety
eight point three ESP