Speaker 1: Our next guest is definitely dangerous. He's definitely honest. The
Speaker 1: question is does he know what he wants? He is
Speaker 1: Richard Smith, He's live in the studio for the next hour.
Speaker 1: Smithy dangerous, honest. I know that about you. But do
Speaker 1: you know what you want?
Speaker 2: These these are all major questions that people have been
Speaker 2: asking about me for most of my life. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: this is this is nothing new.
Speaker 3: Where are we at today?
Speaker 2: You know? Hey, by the way, like I thought, I
Speaker 2: thought my so called intro song was wash where the
Speaker 2: streets have no name. And then I hear bill Bill
Speaker 2: Riley gets it, and then I hear, well, this is
Speaker 2: what we used to use or whatever. And so obviously
Speaker 2: Porter just elbows me right to the side, into the
Speaker 2: gutter and he goes with something else, and and I
Speaker 2: got you know, I see, I see what's going on here?
Speaker 3: Now, Porter, you want to stand up for yourself.
Speaker 2: I'm out of I'm out of town for a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks, and all of a sudden, it's just you know,
Speaker 2: bing bang boom.
Speaker 3: I don't think he gets the context, but I'll let
Speaker 3: you go first.
Speaker 4: Hey, I mean a man wants his walk up song.
Speaker 4: He wants his walk up song.
Speaker 1: That was That was the intro to Bill's show for
Speaker 1: like twelve years.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You know what, if you want, we got one more
Speaker 1: segment with you. We can bring a little streets out
Speaker 1: no name if you want. But my question remains still
Speaker 1: on this day. Do you know what you want? We
Speaker 1: know you're honest, we know you're dangerous, but do you
Speaker 1: know what you want?
Speaker 2: Yes? I always know what I want, Spencer. Right now,
Speaker 2: what I want I want to be able to spend
Speaker 2: a good solid hour getting educated by you all things
Speaker 2: ute basketball, ute football, b y U basketball, jazz. I
Speaker 2: know you have all the answers for the jazz. You
Speaker 2: know that's what we've been waiting for all year long.
Speaker 3: Matty, you're the one that educates. I just asked the questions.
Speaker 2: No, this is If this is the premise, then we're
Speaker 2: in a lot of trouble.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you well, I'll tell you what you're
Speaker 1: uniquely qualified to talk about the UH and we'll do
Speaker 1: mostly college hoops here and I don't know, maybe we'll
Speaker 1: do some jazz. Alex Jensen, it is official. Since you
Speaker 1: and I last spoke last Monday, we were up at
Speaker 1: the Huntsman Center doing the show, which was a lot
Speaker 1: of fun. You worked with Alex Jensen closely with the
Speaker 1: Utah Jazz for a number of years, and we have
Speaker 1: discussed this. But now that the news is official, Smitty,
Speaker 1: what should YOUT fans know about the seventeenth head coach
Speaker 1: in Utah men's basketball history.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, well, Alex is is obviously everybody. One of
Speaker 2: the one of the key things I think right right
Speaker 2: off the bat, Bence, is that for just for Utah fans,
Speaker 2: is that there's no getting acquainted period. There's no like, Okay,
Speaker 2: who's this guy, what's he about? What's what? What is
Speaker 2: this going to look like? Everybody in this community. Everybody
Speaker 2: who's a Utah fan knows Alex Jensen, knows who he is,
Speaker 2: knows what he's about. Uh, they know his lineage, they
Speaker 2: know his background, they know all the experience he's had
Speaker 2: as both a player collegiately and professionally overseas and then
Speaker 2: in his coaching career, and so so none of that
Speaker 2: is is is they get to know me, period. So
Speaker 2: so everybody's hitting the ground running in that regard. You know,
Speaker 2: he knows what he's doing. It's just you know, again,
Speaker 2: It's just going to be a question for the uthse
Speaker 2: of you know, how long it takes them on the
Speaker 2: recruiting trail to start getting guys that can compete, you know,
Speaker 2: the big twelve level and be able to go to
Speaker 2: war night in the night out. And I'll tell you what,
Speaker 2: they got two great people working with him right off
Speaker 2: the bat in Raphael Chilias and Wes Wilcox. Those are
Speaker 2: two guys I know, and two guys who are really
Speaker 2: big gets for Alex. And so I'm excited for them
Speaker 2: because that is a good start to building a great
Speaker 2: foundation in terms of your staff and your program.
Speaker 1: See this is good because I don't think there's anybody
Speaker 1: else in the market that knows Raphael Chilias and Wes Wilcox.
Speaker 1: I certainly don't. I know Wes's pedigree more than I
Speaker 1: know Coach chills pedigree. But let's start with Raphael Chilius,
Speaker 1: who is the first assistant that Alex has hired, and
Speaker 1: when you read through his background, he's done a lot
Speaker 1: of different jobs at a lot of different levels, high school, college,
Speaker 1: and pro very well known in circles that you run in.
Speaker 1: So what should you fans know about this new assistant coach.
Speaker 2: Well, he's uh, he's first and foremost. He's a top
Speaker 2: flight recruiter. And he's a guy who knows all the grassroots.
Speaker 2: He knows all the AAU people, he knows all the
Speaker 2: guys around the country, West Coast, East Coast, in the South.
Speaker 2: He knows how to get into into homes, into with
Speaker 2: with agents now that that that are working a lot
Speaker 2: for these high school kids and even the portal kids.
Speaker 2: And you know, he's a guy who knows the landscape.
Speaker 2: He knows all the levels. Spence, you're talking about the
Speaker 2: prep level, which is you know for people around here.
Speaker 2: I'm familiar with that and it's a big thing in
Speaker 2: the East Coast. But the prep level is the high
Speaker 2: school level. So you talk about the top of kids
Speaker 2: who want you know, Donovan Mitchell was a prep prep
Speaker 2: school kid, you know, from from New England. You know,
Speaker 2: all these these this level. He knows those guys. He
Speaker 2: knows everybody in college. He was a great recruiter Lorenzo
Speaker 2: Romar in two different stints when he was at the
Speaker 2: University of Washington and had it rolling up there for
Speaker 2: a while, and and of course he's been working in
Speaker 2: the n b A and in a couple of different
Speaker 2: stints with player development. So he's got the full scope
Speaker 2: of the landscape of what you need to do and
Speaker 2: who you need to get in with. So now he's
Speaker 2: the guy who can can get into doors, can get
Speaker 2: the ear of some kids, some agents, and then you know,
Speaker 2: from there, you know what the what's the U offering,
Speaker 2: what's their program, what's what's it gonna look like? Or
Speaker 2: how's Alex gonna coach him? All that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: But Chill will be a great a great resource for
Speaker 2: him in that regard. UH. And then Wes Wilcox, of
Speaker 2: course is uh, you know, is a proven veteran NBA
Speaker 2: guy who's worked his way up, you know, from a
Speaker 2: college and intern you know, to a video coordinator, through
Speaker 2: being an assistant coach on the staff, to being to
Speaker 2: being in the front office with player uh play a
Speaker 2: personnel UH and being a GM in Atlanta and now
Speaker 2: assistant gym and in Sacramento. So they've got they've got
Speaker 2: two main guys in key positions who are top flight
Speaker 2: guys that you would want when you're trying to retool
Speaker 2: in a situation like that, you is, so I'm not
Speaker 2: sure that you could have a better start to assembling
Speaker 2: a staff than getting guys like uh coach Chill and
Speaker 2: like Wes Wilcox.
Speaker 1: You know what, Porter, I've decided something. I need a
Speaker 1: cool nickname like everybody has. We just had bill On Ryles.
Speaker 1: We got Smitty coach Chill ll cool Tray ll cool
Speaker 1: Tray maybe the coolest nickname? Do you have a cool nickname?
Speaker 1: Because I think I need a cooler nickname than than
Speaker 1: what I have. I don't really all right, we need
Speaker 1: to work on that. You and I Coach Chill, Smitty Ryles.
Speaker 1: My grandpa did nickname me Doobie.
Speaker 3: When I was young. He called me Spencer Dooby.
Speaker 4: See that That's where we had our issue is the
Speaker 4: because that's literally what my family has called me since
Speaker 4: I was a baby.
Speaker 1: Well, okay, so Porter and I have the same nickname,
Speaker 1: but but Doobey has double meanings. My grandfather certainly had
Speaker 1: no context for what dooby meant.
Speaker 3: When I got into high school, my brother DearS.
Speaker 4: Did so my my family called my dad. No one
Speaker 4: knew his real name. It was Doobie because when he
Speaker 4: was a baby he was wrapped up in a little
Speaker 4: thing and his his aunt, who they loved, called him,
Speaker 4: made him said he looked like a little Doobey because
Speaker 4: he was wrapped up in a white blanket and he
Speaker 4: was Doobie forever.
Speaker 1: I still, Smitty, you knew my mother's father, my grandfather.
Speaker 1: There's no way he knew what Adobie was. I can
Speaker 1: promise you that I have no idea why he decided
Speaker 1: to call me Spencer Dooby. And then I get into
Speaker 1: high school, I'm like, you want me to smoke a
Speaker 1: what what are you talking about?
Speaker 3: So Smitty, we need to work on this. I need
Speaker 3: a cooler nickname than what Hey.
Speaker 2: I think you guys could could easily go around with
Speaker 2: matching t shirts that say doob one and Dooby two,
Speaker 2: Like I think I think that's something that you guys
Speaker 2: could roll with.
Speaker 3: But we could be sued because the Doobie brothers might
Speaker 3: take issue.
Speaker 2: Spell it. You spell it differently. You know you spell
Speaker 2: it do o B? Why you spell it do o B?
Speaker 2: I so you're an idea, Yeah, yeah, you do some
Speaker 2: trick thing with it, you know.
Speaker 1: Okay, let me, but let me ask you about coach
Speaker 1: Chill's personality, because you know, Alex is a little reserved
Speaker 1: and he's a little more introverted.
Speaker 3: And it's not a bad thing. I mean, it's just
Speaker 3: is a thing.
Speaker 1: So when it comes to kind of that yin and
Speaker 1: the yang, is he the type of person that's a
Speaker 1: little bit more front facing than Alex tends to be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and and and and uh, coach Chill is is.
Speaker 2: Uh he's a great gregarious person. He's an outgoing guy. Uh.
Speaker 2: That's how you get to be able to be sustained
Speaker 2: in this business, if that's what your niche is, Uh,
Speaker 2: being able to get into into homes relative to recruiting,
Speaker 2: being able to make get relationships and sustain them with agents,
Speaker 2: with coaches, you know, in the grassroots level. Uh, that's
Speaker 2: what he's been able to do. You know, for a
Speaker 2: long long time. He's well known, he's he is the
Speaker 2: kind of guy who will be outgoing more so than Alex.
Speaker 2: He'll be a kind of guy who, you know, maybe
Speaker 2: on the bench, you know, and Alex is more of
Speaker 2: a subtle, you know, quiet leader, and and Chill will
Speaker 2: be the kind of guy who's you know, uh, ranting
Speaker 2: and raving on the sideline, yelling at the kids or something.
Speaker 2: And Alex may just be there pointing to a spot
Speaker 2: or two or say, you know, get over here whatever
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, in the heat of the battle,
Speaker 2: so to speak. But uh, he'll serve as a great counterbalance,
Speaker 2: uh to Alex in that regard, you know, which is
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's planned, if that if that
Speaker 2: just happens to be, you know, part of the makeup.
Speaker 2: You know. I think I think coach Chill's uh track
Speaker 2: record and resume, you know, is what really got him
Speaker 2: in the in the his foot in the door in
Speaker 2: terms of being considered for a job like this and
Speaker 2: and in the conference like the Big Twelve where you
Speaker 2: have to go against you know, a lot of heavyweights
Speaker 2: in the recruiting battles, you know, and so so that's
Speaker 2: that's that's a big time get in my opinion, you know,
Speaker 2: for the you No.
Speaker 3: It's really good to know. It's really good context.
Speaker 1: You're the guy that knows a lot of people in
Speaker 1: this ecosystem that most do not, So that's good to know.
Speaker 1: And you know, Coach Wait has Shreef Shaw, who's more
Speaker 1: of like a front facing kind of outward funny dude.
Speaker 1: Anddn't I was trying to think of like the Jerry
Speaker 1: Phil dynamic. I mean, Jerry was the guy that was
Speaker 1: kind of firing and Phil is the one that trying
Speaker 1: to make sure he doesn't get ejected. But in coaching
Speaker 1: staffs it does help to have different types of personality.
Speaker 2: Of course, you know, in the early years of the
Speaker 2: Jazz you know, Frank Frank Layden was the gregarious, outgoing guy.
Speaker 2: Jerry Sloan, you know, was the hard nose you know,
Speaker 2: a teacher, former player guy, and and and that balanced off,
Speaker 2: you know, at that time Scott Layden was on the
Speaker 2: bench and Scott was a studious guy, you know, and
Speaker 2: and was really involved in the UH in the outing
Speaker 2: and the pro scouting, advanced scouting game planning that constants
Speaker 2: say had to balance around a lot of that. Now,
Speaker 2: one thing I was interested to hear from Mark Harlan
Speaker 2: in your interview earlier with him where I think he
Speaker 2: said it. I don't know if it was you. I
Speaker 2: think here's what who mentioned that they may be they
Speaker 2: may end up with a smaller staff.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought you would like that.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 2: I just think that that, you know, I think if
Speaker 2: they're looking at things, I think it's you know, you know,
Speaker 2: you can have in my opinion, you know, there is
Speaker 2: such a thing as too many cooks in the hun you.
Speaker 3: Know, totally agree with you.
Speaker 2: And and you know, staffs have grown over the years
Speaker 2: and people have different responsibilities. But but I do think
Speaker 2: there's been a wave and this is isn't new, you know,
Speaker 2: last ten, fifteen, even twenty years, and in both college
Speaker 2: and the NBA, where where organizations are afraid that they're
Speaker 2: missing something if they don't have somebody who fits the
Speaker 2: role that the other guys have, and if the other
Speaker 2: guys are having any success, then it's a copycat situation, right,
Speaker 2: So you get you get staffs where there's you know,
Speaker 2: seventeen guys in the in the in the pullovers and
Speaker 2: in the half zips, on the on the on the bench,
Speaker 2: and you're going, well, they have more coaches than they
Speaker 2: have players on the thing and whatever. Both yeah, both
Speaker 2: collegen and pro you know, and it's uh and and
Speaker 2: it's overkill, you know. I mean, Uh, Gary Briggs are
Speaker 2: great trainer for the jazz and the in the in
Speaker 2: the two thousands. You know, he used to do the
Speaker 2: job when he was in Cleveland. We were talking one
Speaker 2: night about this where uh he did the job uh
Speaker 2: in the early days where now there are literally six
Speaker 2: other full time people doing the different responsibilities that he
Speaker 2: used to do by himself.
Speaker 3: And Gary probably didn't get sixs of the money.
Speaker 2: No, that's exactly right. And so you know, these things
Speaker 2: can be done if you're smart, if you're efficient, if
Speaker 2: you know what you're doing, uh, you can do it.
Speaker 2: You know, more isn't always more to coin the phrase.
Speaker 2: You know, if you're smart about who you have on
Speaker 2: your staff and what they're about and what they're trying
Speaker 2: to do, you know, then sometimes that can be a
Speaker 2: benefit to you so that you don't have too many
Speaker 2: voices in the room and too many conflicts going on
Speaker 2: and you know, in terms of what you're trying to
Speaker 2: get across and and work with with your team.
Speaker 1: So let's move over to Wes Wilcox now. And when
Speaker 1: I first saw the Pete Tamill report, I went, man,
Speaker 1: that would be a be a really good hire.
Speaker 3: Leg Wes has been a GM. He ran the Hawks, he.
Speaker 1: Was the director of player development in Cleveland and then
Speaker 1: the g the GM and the G League team and
Speaker 1: Wes hired Alex to coach the Canton Charge where Alex
Speaker 1: won G League Coach of the Year D League back
Speaker 1: then and won the D League Championship thirty nine years old.
Speaker 1: From what I understand, very analytically driven, and Mark actually
Speaker 1: referenced that Wes most likely will.
Speaker 3: Report to Alex Now.
Speaker 1: In the NBA, the coach reports to the general manager,
Speaker 1: at least historically speaking, UH coach with Bleckin is the
Speaker 1: general manager who reports to Kyles. So maybe this is
Speaker 1: a new college model. But tell me what you make
Speaker 1: of this and also what should we know about West.
Speaker 2: WILLK coylein, Yeah, I think that I think that model
Speaker 2: Spence is what's taking place in college is that the
Speaker 2: head coach is really the guy who's who's the point
Speaker 2: person for the whole program. So he's gonna he's going
Speaker 2: to hire a person to serve in the GM role,
Speaker 2: the GM role, you know, maybe you know in the NBA,
Speaker 2: we're used to the coach reporting to the GM, the
Speaker 2: GM reporting to the owner kind of thing. In the college,
Speaker 2: they're kind of reversing that. They're having the head coaches
Speaker 2: the main guy, the GM reports to him, and then
Speaker 2: the head coach in turn reports to the athletic director.
Speaker 2: And so this won't be an unusual setup if that's
Speaker 2: what they're what they're doing, because most of the college
Speaker 2: setups are doing that now, so that so that this
Speaker 2: nom miss misperception about who's who's reporting to the athletic
Speaker 2: director or who's reporting to you know, the main booster
Speaker 2: group or whatever it is. UH, the general manager is
Speaker 2: going to be the person who comes in and keeps
Speaker 2: everything in in ther in the h within the program
Speaker 2: organized heads up, the people who are doing the recruiting
Speaker 2: heads up, the overseas, the n I l UH stuff
Speaker 2: or whatever it's going to be, the revenue sharing stuff
Speaker 2: going forward, however that falls out through the NCAA. UH,
Speaker 2: They're going to be like the guy who keeps everything
Speaker 2: organized so that the head coach can spend a good chunk,
Speaker 2: not all and maybe not even majority sometimes, but a
Speaker 2: good chunk of their time actually coaching basketball, actually trying
Speaker 2: to get their players better, to be more competitive on
Speaker 2: the floor, and to leave the so called day to
Speaker 2: day business stuff to the guy who's the GM. And
Speaker 2: so Wes Wilcox is perfectly situated for that great resume,
Speaker 2: a great experience, really UH, an organized guy and and
Speaker 2: will be really good for Alex. And again those guys
Speaker 2: know each other. Alex reported to Wes when they were
Speaker 2: in a part of the Cleveland Cavaliers organization, you know,
Speaker 2: almost twenty years ago now and then uh, and now
Speaker 2: it's come kind of full circle and Wes is going
Speaker 2: to be part of his staff and uh, you know,
Speaker 2: again a nice balance because while Alex can can concentrate
Speaker 2: on the basketball part, Wes will concentrate on organizing the
Speaker 2: office for the people who work there. How they're doing
Speaker 2: all their their stuff on a day to day basis, recruiting, nil,
Speaker 2: blah blah blah, all those kinds of things. And and
Speaker 2: Wes is very uh he's a very organized, very streamlined
Speaker 2: type of guy. And so that's uh, again another great
Speaker 2: get for them now they have they're getting a good
Speaker 2: staff in place. They're getting a good core of the
Speaker 2: guys that that that you like to see and what
Speaker 2: their what their skill sets are, and what they can do. Now,
Speaker 2: what's the bottom line, spets. You gotta get horses. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So so that's what it's gonna be. All these guys
Speaker 2: can do what they want to do. And uh, you know,
Speaker 2: the great lesson I learned way way way back when
Speaker 2: the Jazz were playing the Lakers and Lakers eighty eight,
Speaker 2: playing with Pat Riley and Pat Riley's in an interview
Speaker 2: with the press and they're talking about this new stuff
Speaker 2: they were doing at the time with video stuff and
Speaker 2: and uh, and the press was asking do you think
Speaker 2: that gives you advantage? And he said, I don't know. Well,
Speaker 2: you're using this technology, which at that time was new,
Speaker 2: using plays and watching video halftime, which teams didn't do
Speaker 2: at that time. And finally they were pressing them on it,
Speaker 2: and pat Riley finally said, well, I don't if it
Speaker 2: helps us that much or not. He said, I think
Speaker 2: I think the better advantage we have is that we
Speaker 2: have Kareem and Magic. And to me, you know, at
Speaker 2: that moment, I remember thinking, and I thought about that
Speaker 2: ever since. Spencers. Yeah, we can do all this other
Speaker 2: stuff behind the scenes, and we can dance around, and
Speaker 2: we can spend money, and we can have seventeen coaches
Speaker 2: and we can do whatever whatever we need magic and
Speaker 2: Kareem on the floor, and if that's what we have,
Speaker 2: then we're gonna be okay. And I was the recipient
Speaker 2: of that because you know, my basically my first eighteen
Speaker 2: twenty years in the NBA, you know, I was riding
Speaker 2: on the coattails with John and Carl and that's that's
Speaker 2: how that went. Everybody was and that's why everybody looked
Speaker 2: good and whatever it was they did because John and
Speaker 2: Carl were there and we're playing every night, and so okay,
Speaker 2: thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Nineteen eighty eight was I think probably my first real
Speaker 1: in doctrine in a playoff basketball right, And I just
Speaker 1: remember that Jazz Lakers series.
Speaker 3: Remember going every home game. I did a little.
Speaker 1: Project Wassatch Elementary mssus Farman shout out fifth grade. I
Speaker 1: did a little Jazz Lake and I remember when I'll
Speaker 1: say we lost Game seven, how gutted I was as
Speaker 1: a ten year old, and I think I was just
Speaker 1: hooked for life. I'm like, man, playoff basketball rules, because
Speaker 1: that was so fun and that was kind of like, okay,
Speaker 1: you know, the Jazz aren't not some little team out
Speaker 1: in Salt Lake anymore.
Speaker 3: Like the Jazz actually are building something.
Speaker 1: It felt like that was a And then was it
Speaker 1: the next year where the Warriors got It was pretty Yeah.
Speaker 2: That next year was it was the Kerry Tiegele. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the fame, the famous sweep you know, was you know,
Speaker 2: but but yeah, eighty eight was really the you know,
Speaker 2: from a historical perspective the way I see it. So
Speaker 2: then now even more so in my mind was the
Speaker 2: coming out party was that, well, these guys are for real, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, and uh and then you know, hey, during
Speaker 2: the nineties, what they what the jazz did. And then
Speaker 2: like ninety eight, you know, Lakers with Shaq and Kobe
Speaker 2: and oh oh those guys are pretty good. The Jazz
Speaker 2: going and whack them forth straight up, you know, to
Speaker 2: get back to the finals. And you know that was
Speaker 2: you know, that's you know, all all that's time in between.
Speaker 2: That's when you knew, you know that your team was
Speaker 2: competitive and was able to fight with anybody night in
Speaker 2: the night out, and that that's really what will be
Speaker 2: the test for you, you know going forward. As all
Speaker 2: this other stuff, well, we'll obviously play major roles in
Speaker 2: it behind the scenes, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: you know, they're gonna have to get players there and
Speaker 2: gonna have to figure out a way to be competitive
Speaker 2: on the floor in the Big twelve.
Speaker 3: You have to have talent.
Speaker 1: I mean, just while we're in the space, I can remember, man,
Speaker 1: you referenced Scotty my freshman year at the you professor
Speaker 1: gave us an assignment you need to go out and
Speaker 1: find somebody in the field you want to work in
Speaker 1: and go interview them. That was kind of the deal.
Speaker 1: And Scott was the GM of the Jazz. When I
Speaker 1: was at the You and So I sat down with Scott.
Speaker 1: One of my first questions was, and I thought he
Speaker 1: was gonna say Larry. Thought he was gonna say Larry Miller.
Speaker 1: I said, who is the most important person in the
Speaker 1: jazz organization? Scott didn't hesitate, says, there's two. It's John
Speaker 1: and Carl in the whole organization, including I thought he
Speaker 1: was gonna say ownership, and he said, John and Carl.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know there the most popular people, uh
Speaker 2: during the so called heyday was hot Rod and the Bear.
Speaker 2: Those are the two most popular, uh in the organization,
Speaker 2: Uh with the fans and then but the most important
Speaker 2: you're you're you know Scott's exactly right, is is because
Speaker 2: when you have players and they're driving, winning and you
Speaker 2: can do that, that's that's what trickles down to everything
Speaker 2: else in the organization. That's that's where it comes from.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: That's why you know the current iteration of the jazz
Speaker 2: where they're trying to you know, get some traction and
Speaker 2: and uh really you know, slipping and sliding so far
Speaker 2: you know in this uh, this new approach that that
Speaker 2: they've chosen to take. It's surprising that they chose to
Speaker 2: get rid of players who were main guys who were
Speaker 2: in their prime, you know, and under contract, you know,
Speaker 2: for whatever the reasons were, and to let them go
Speaker 2: because because those things are hard to find as they're
Speaker 2: as they're they're finding out and there in the middle
Speaker 2: of and when you have those you try and hold
Speaker 2: on to them as long as you can to make
Speaker 2: sure that you can you can sustain success and have
Speaker 2: everybody else do what they do to the best of
Speaker 2: their ability.
Speaker 1: I can't remember what year it was, but some at
Speaker 1: some point in the nineties, when Riley had gone in
Speaker 1: Miami and Jeff took over for Pat in New York
Speaker 1: Van Gutt he was the head coach of the Knicks
Speaker 1: in New York. It was after a game and I
Speaker 1: can't remember if they played the Bulls. It may have
Speaker 1: been the game where Jordan came back and dropped fifty
Speaker 1: five of the garden the double nickel, the famous game,
Speaker 1: and Jeff was getting ready to address the media and
Speaker 1: Phil Jackson had just released a book.
Speaker 3: I think they called it. I think it was Sacred.
Speaker 1: Hoops, that's right. And Frank I saw last Jeff. He said, Jeff,
Speaker 1: have you read Phil's new book? I may have told
Speaker 1: you this. And Jeff said, oh, I actually I have
Speaker 1: a copy of her right here. And he took a
Speaker 1: blank piece I think it was a statue, turned it
Speaker 1: over and he wrote number twenty three on it and
Speaker 1: handed it to Frank I sola because obviously Phil wrote
Speaker 1: Sacred Hoops after a great run coaching somebody named Michael George.
Speaker 2: That's right. And Phil Jackson a very smart guy and
Speaker 2: a good basketball guy. But what was even smarter at
Speaker 2: He knew that he had to run in the nineties
Speaker 2: with the Bulls, had a couple of years off, and
Speaker 2: then he had other opportunities, and then he looked around
Speaker 2: and go, maybe I'll go coach the Lakers. They got
Speaker 2: Shaq and Kobe, right, Yeah, maybe I'll do that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, yeah, I mean that's the smart park, because
Speaker 2: you know, if you got him in place, then you
Speaker 2: just you know, you do a little dressing around the
Speaker 2: edges and then you let those guys go to work.
Speaker 1: Richard Smith forty years in the NBA with Utah Jazz
Speaker 1: is Liveman Studio on a beautiful Thursday.
Speaker 3: Mischiet Bonnie this morning.
Speaker 2: I know, I know, I'm sorry about that, man. How'd
Speaker 2: you do?
Speaker 3: Forty one to thirty nine?
Speaker 2: Did you real?
Speaker 3: Eight?
Speaker 2: Really?
Speaker 1: And I didn't make any puts? I don't know why
Speaker 1: I was. My ball striking was both surprising and very pleasing. Really, yeah,
Speaker 1: I played well wow with no puts, Smitty, I gotta
Speaker 1: start making puts.
Speaker 3: Let's get out soon, huh?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: Coming up next BYU with a big one tonight at Alabama.
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll do some jazz. I don't know, but smittye
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Speaker 1: one Bottom of the Eighth more with Smitty coming up next.
Speaker 3: Right here on ESPN seven hundred, Richard Smith.
Speaker 1: Live in studio, We've hit our YouTube quota for the day.
Speaker 1: I will not knock on Porter for giving the people
Speaker 1: what they want.
Speaker 3: Little streets have no name with Ryles. Have you seen
Speaker 3: you two in person?
Speaker 2: And live in persons?
Speaker 3: And Bill?
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah and Bill.
Speaker 3: They put on quite a show.
Speaker 2: That's great, terrific. Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1: We got the madness of March resumes in one hour
Speaker 1: from now as Brigham Young will take on Alabama and
Speaker 1: the Sweet sixteen. We've got four If you're a college
Speaker 1: basketball fan, I cannot wait to go home and just
Speaker 1: I will marinate on.
Speaker 3: The couch tonight for hours.
Speaker 1: I've got all of them recorded, because if you've been
Speaker 1: paying attention between commercial breaks and video reviews, oh my gosh, man,
Speaker 1: can we please play basketball?
Speaker 2: This is this is this is what's driving and spends
Speaker 2: this whole thing, the whole thing. I think if you
Speaker 2: really go taking a thirty five thousand foot view of
Speaker 2: the whole thing, it's really kind of funny, like you
Speaker 2: know how much money they pull in and how much
Speaker 2: they market all this and and you know what used
Speaker 2: to be amateur sports, right, it's is a whole different thing.
Speaker 2: And and it doesn't it doesn't matter. All that stuff's
Speaker 2: out the window.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but spitty, like I'm a grown up.
Speaker 1: I know they're making money, play your ads, but the reviews, Like, dude,
Speaker 1: we can all see what is going on. We do
Speaker 1: not need a ten minute stoppage to decide whether or
Speaker 1: not the ball went off the player.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it's always it's always that that that that
Speaker 2: stuff in this sport and also in football, you know,
Speaker 2: in the NFL. It just it drives me crazy when
Speaker 2: they you know, I don't know, I always think you know,
Speaker 2: I don't know what they did in the old days.
Speaker 2: The old days. Uh spence, Spence check its was the line, judge.
Speaker 2: You just said it was this or that, and you
Speaker 2: went on like, well, you know, everybody's got a way in.
Speaker 2: They scrutinized. Of course they're afraid if they're wrong that,
Speaker 2: you know, millions of people are going to get on
Speaker 2: them because they saw the tape and everything. It's just
Speaker 2: it's awful.
Speaker 1: But before we get to the games tonight, you were
Speaker 1: good enough to remind me during the break commutual friend.
Speaker 3: Of ours and the man who was the original.
Speaker 1: Jazz Bear and the jazz Bear for two decades plus,
Speaker 1: I mean more than twenty years and just a sweet guy.
Speaker 1: His name is John Absey. We got some bad news
Speaker 1: about John, and we're all here to support him.
Speaker 3: So smody.
Speaker 1: For our listeners that are not familiar with the news
Speaker 1: that came down over the past week or so, why
Speaker 1: don't you fill us in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, John Abssey, the longtime bear for the Utah Jazz,
Speaker 2: has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer stage three. Talked with
Speaker 2: him last night. I asked him if if he was
Speaker 2: okay with me, just mentioning it on the air today,
Speaker 2: and he said, of course, his goal is more to
Speaker 2: educate the public and to try and help people who
Speaker 2: might find themselves in similar health situations, who feel, you know,
Speaker 2: when they get a shot to the to the gut
Speaker 2: like this, and and all of a sudden it comes
Speaker 2: out of the out of left field, Adam that that
Speaker 2: you not only get staggered, but you also sometimes your
Speaker 2: head is spinning about, Okay, how do I handle this?
Speaker 2: How do I uh systematically go about getting the proper care,
Speaker 2: getting my insurance stuff lined up, making sure I can
Speaker 2: try and and and deal with whatever my health issue is.
Speaker 2: And and and John really wanted to just get the
Speaker 2: word out that, you know, while he fights his own
Speaker 2: individual battle, that that he's trying to put together information
Speaker 2: that will help other people who get, you know, similar
Speaker 2: type diagnoses during their lives to maybe have a starting
Speaker 2: point of of a how to how to start looking
Speaker 2: for care, how to start doing this thing that that
Speaker 2: might that might help them. So he's, he said, along
Speaker 2: his journey that's still in front of him, he's going
Speaker 2: to be trying to put together a guide book of
Speaker 2: sorts or a blue book, so to speak, to try
Speaker 2: and help people. You know, these are the steps you
Speaker 2: should be taking. This is the stuff you should do,
Speaker 2: you know when if in one you or some loved
Speaker 2: ones find yourself in this kind of a situation, to
Speaker 2: try and help you be more organized. Because I can
Speaker 2: tell you, Spence, nobody has done more in this community,
Speaker 2: not only in their job, which was his job with
Speaker 2: the Jazz for over two decades in that regard in
Speaker 2: terms of charitable efforts, but John did so much stuff
Speaker 2: outside of the Jazz on his own, for groups, for kids,
Speaker 2: for disadvantage people that I can't even tell you, you know
Speaker 2: how many people you'll really owe a debt to him,
Speaker 2: just in terms of how he has lived his life
Speaker 2: to this point in service of others. And it's you
Speaker 2: know he wants, uh. He's not putting all this stuff
Speaker 2: out there, uh, to to get people to be feel
Speaker 2: sorry for him. He's trying to put it out there
Speaker 2: to get people to to rally around others and to
Speaker 2: help other people, you know, find their way through whatever
Speaker 2: their challenges are, to help them to to get to
Speaker 2: get better, to get the kind of care and support
Speaker 2: that they need, and whatever their their individual challenges are.
Speaker 2: So so we we love John, and and we hope
Speaker 2: the best for he and and Sean and their girls
Speaker 2: and and in this fight, and we're with him one.
Speaker 1: So John Absey, the original Jazz Bear, is fighting pancreatic cancer. Okay,
Speaker 1: so that's the diagnosis. There is a go fund me,
Speaker 1: and I would just encourage you to google John Abssey,
Speaker 1: which is spelled j O N then A B S E.
Speaker 1: Why you can include go fundme and your Google search
Speaker 1: and the link will come up. These types of things,
Speaker 1: you know, the cruel reality is they cost a lot
Speaker 1: of money, and even if you have insurance, oftentimes it
Speaker 1: only covers a portion of it. I will not give
Speaker 1: you a commentary on my take on the social you know,
Speaker 1: situation regarding medical care in America and how many I
Speaker 1: think it's twenty million plus Americans per year go bankrupt
Speaker 1: as a result of the inability to pay for medical care,
Speaker 1: which is pathetic in a lot of ways.
Speaker 3: But let's just leave that there because we won't get political.
Speaker 1: But John Apsey, original Jazz Bar, fighting pincreatic cancer. If
Speaker 1: you're able to donate to the go fundme, they are
Speaker 1: trying to raise money to help John fight this this
Speaker 1: horrible disease. So there you go, Smitty. I appreciate that reminder.
Speaker 1: I was going to bring that up, but I'm glad
Speaker 1: you brought it up. And to your point, the sweetest
Speaker 1: guy around, you know, and for so many years nobody
Speaker 1: knew who the jazz bear was, right because you weren't
Speaker 1: supposed to. And then you know, now we know that
Speaker 1: it was John who I thought among if not the
Speaker 1: best mascot. And I'm dead serious, I'm not just saying that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've been some of you, how many NBA arenas,
Speaker 1: probably all of them. When John was doing the John
Speaker 1: stuff at the top of his game. I don't know
Speaker 1: that there was anybody better.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 2: They they they have a thing that you know, most
Speaker 2: people don't know about. It's probably more of an internal
Speaker 2: organization anything, but the mascots community, you know, both on
Speaker 2: the collegiate level and the professional level across all sports.
Speaker 2: They they have their own community. And John, while he
Speaker 2: was doing it, he was he was the seven time
Speaker 2: mascot of the year. Whoever votes on that and however
Speaker 2: that's decided, you know, he's considered a pillar in that,
Speaker 2: in that community, and it's in the in the mascot
Speaker 2: hall of Fame again whatever however that's decided. But but
Speaker 2: you know, he's just he's been seeing over the years
Speaker 2: by those people who are inside of that that that
Speaker 2: business as one of the best to ever do it
Speaker 2: and one of the kindest guys to ever do it.
Speaker 2: And that's why he's so highly thought of by the
Speaker 2: people in the sporting community.
Speaker 1: Well said, all right, last segment, if you missed it,
Speaker 1: really good insight. Smitty is one of the very few
Speaker 1: people in the basketball ecosystem that is familiar with both
Speaker 1: Wes Wilcox and Raphael Chilis. So we did some Utah
Speaker 1: basketball talking about the Alex Jensen highly becoming official. If
Speaker 1: you missed any of that, go to the podcast page
Speaker 1: and hear what Smitty had to say about coach chill
Speaker 1: and Wes Wilcox hired by the You tell if Alex
Speaker 1: build this thing how much, Smitty before you give the
Speaker 1: games tonight? Kevin Young, former NBA coach, You guys can
Speaker 1: go look at his staff. They're all former NBA G
Speaker 1: League guys. There's a little bit of a BYU flavor,
Speaker 1: but not much. Charles Buo is on his staff, but
Speaker 1: it's mostly x NBA guys. Or x G League guys
Speaker 1: and Bringham Young is reported to have two seven figure
Speaker 1: players on the roster this year, and if the reports
Speaker 1: are true, they're paying aj De bants Is seven million
Speaker 1: dollars to play five months of basketball next year.
Speaker 3: Provo.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of people that are doing the
Speaker 1: narrative like Utah is just ripping off the BYU model
Speaker 1: to try to build their program. Certainly BYU is not
Speaker 1: the only only program in the country that as X
Speaker 1: NBA guys are a grip of NIL support. But things
Speaker 1: are happening down in Provo on the basketball side of
Speaker 1: things that are hard to ignore, right, I mean, as
Speaker 1: far as the money they have and the NBA model
Speaker 1: they put in place.
Speaker 2: Well, they have a lot. You know what BYU has
Speaker 2: to my understanding, I don't know this you know firsthand,
Speaker 2: but I believe that they with the new NIL influence
Speaker 2: in college athletics now BYU has been able to tap
Speaker 2: into their donor base and their support base, which involves
Speaker 2: a lot of people through this tech corridor. If you
Speaker 2: will spend between Salt Lake and Provo Silicon Slopes, the
Speaker 2: Silicon Slopes, and there's a lot of BYU people involved
Speaker 2: in that and my understanding is that there's a lot
Speaker 2: of them who have chosen to get involved on a
Speaker 2: financial level for the program. Uh. They don't want a
Speaker 2: lot of publicity, you know, a lot of them saying, hey,
Speaker 2: look i'll get involved, I'll donate, I'll do this or
Speaker 2: whatever it is. But I don't want to be that guy.
Speaker 2: I'm just you know, I just want to do my
Speaker 2: part and you know, slide in the side door and
Speaker 2: sit down in my seat, watch the game and go
Speaker 2: home whatever. So there's a lot of those people. I
Speaker 2: think Ryan Smith, the owner of the Jazz you know,
Speaker 2: is a big b YU booster. You know, he's right
Speaker 2: front and center. You know, he kind of gets a
Speaker 2: lot of the attention, you know, for what's going on.
Speaker 2: You know, whether that's accurate or not, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I do know he's a he's a terrific uh by
Speaker 2: U supporter, and he's at a lot of the games
Speaker 2: with his family and and and they're big boosters there.
Speaker 2: But there are a lot of other people involved also
Speaker 2: that have helped by you in that regard. And and
Speaker 2: we've mentioned before Spence on on this show, there's there's
Speaker 2: you don't normally get if your your if you're church
Speaker 2: related school located in Provo, Utah, you don't normally get
Speaker 2: into the living room of the top a national recruit
Speaker 2: who happens to be from Boston, Massachusetts, you know, without
Speaker 2: something going on, you know that that that attracts that
Speaker 2: individual to a to a program like BYU and so
Speaker 2: uh and and and look it's it's all. It's all
Speaker 2: above board, it's all. That's what it is. Now, that's
Speaker 2: what's going on. And so uh until that changes, uh,
Speaker 2: you know with the revenue sharing or how they're gonna
Speaker 2: how that's all gonna play out in college athletics. You know,
Speaker 2: the your b YU has uh has figured out how
Speaker 2: to do that. To this point, they're on a nice
Speaker 2: little run here. I love how people always, you know,
Speaker 2: these things get amplified this time of year, right or wrong, uh,
Speaker 2: based on how you you play one game or a
Speaker 2: particular game. You know. Colorado State, you know, maybe should
Speaker 2: have could have won their game last week against Maryland.
Speaker 2: They hit a game winning shot with six seconds left.
Speaker 2: Maryland comes down, the guy hits a floater, you know,
Speaker 2: fallaway shot at the buzzer, and they end up winning instead,
Speaker 2: and Colorado State goes home. But Colorado State would be
Speaker 2: a nice story if they had that shot hadn't gone
Speaker 2: in and and and they they're in the sweet sixteen.
Speaker 2: But b YU has played two good games, shot the
Speaker 2: ball well. UH played well against Wisconsin and was able
Speaker 2: to hold on at the end even though they tried
Speaker 2: to lose the game the last couple of minutes the
Speaker 2: way they played, but they had enough of a cushion
Speaker 2: to survive UH and then had to stop right at
Speaker 2: the end to win the game. So so they're in
Speaker 2: a great position tonight playing a tough Alabama team UH
Speaker 2: that is really athletic, and it's gonna test UH b
Speaker 2: yu's ability to match up UH to be able to
Speaker 2: defend them UH and to be able to UH be able.
Speaker 2: They're gonna have to be able to shoot the way
Speaker 2: that they capable of doing if they're going to have
Speaker 2: a chance to be in it at the end.
Speaker 1: So that brings us to tonight. And before we get
Speaker 1: to BYU Alabama, Smiddy, there are sixteen teams left in
Speaker 1: college basketball and zero Cinderellas. Don't tell me Arkansas of Cinderella.
Speaker 3: Cal has like.
Speaker 1: Three or four pros. They were just hurt to start
Speaker 1: the year and they didn't play well. And when I
Speaker 1: watched them play Kansas, you could tell that the talent
Speaker 1: on that roster did not actually reflect the ten seed.
Speaker 1: Only four conferences represented seven teams from one conference. Is
Speaker 1: this the new re I mean, I know, you don't
Speaker 1: thill out a bracket, and I fill one out and
Speaker 1: like an idiot, I picked Cinderellas because you know, I've
Speaker 1: watched the thing my entire life. Is it the new
Speaker 1: reality of college basketball where we're just going to see
Speaker 1: more separation from the top to the bottom.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think I think for two reasons, Spence.
Speaker 2: One is is it the nil stuff Until they get
Speaker 2: a handle on that, until there's some four of a
Speaker 2: so called salary cap like they have in the pros,
Speaker 2: programs are going to be able to get the top players.
Speaker 2: And no matter what you say, how you phrase it,
Speaker 2: how you approach it. You know, kids who are juniors
Speaker 2: and seniors in high school who have aspirations to, you know,
Speaker 2: maybe play someday as a professional, or even if they
Speaker 2: don't get there, you know, maybe their college experience will
Speaker 2: end up being their professional experience in terms of financial reward.
Speaker 2: So they're looking at schools that are going to give
Speaker 2: them an opportunity to earn some money right out of
Speaker 2: the gate. And then the other the other equation is
Speaker 2: the fact that you have this open transfer portal process.
Speaker 2: So you know Randy Ray, you know, the great Weaver
Speaker 2: State coach who retired a couple of years ago, and
Speaker 2: by his own admission, probably the three or four years
Speaker 2: earlier than he wanted to or had originally planned to.
Speaker 2: He got out because he said, I can see it coming.
Speaker 2: I don't want to have to deal with it because
Speaker 2: if I get fortunate enough in the recruiting process to
Speaker 2: get another Damian Lillard to come to Weaver State and
Speaker 2: play well my fresh his freshman year, he doesn't come
Speaker 2: back his sophomore year because he's going to Kansas. So
Speaker 2: he's going to Texas, So he's going to U C.
Speaker 2: L A or whoever has the money. And I and
Speaker 2: I would not want to stop them, because that's what
Speaker 2: it's all about, right yeah, I mean, so, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: so that's what's gonna happen. So you're you're seeing the
Speaker 2: so called cream rising to the top. All the big
Speaker 2: boys are going to continue to be the bigger boys
Speaker 2: because as long as they have those kind of financial
Speaker 2: resources and the situations that they're in, you know, to
Speaker 2: to attract collegiate players, that's what's gonna happen. And and
Speaker 2: you know this thing like you know, going up to
Speaker 2: the U this year, and I'm an U bo I
Speaker 2: like all the teams in the state. I go to
Speaker 2: the U Games because there are five is from my
Speaker 2: house and I and I support I've supported the program
Speaker 2: for a long time. But I go up there this
Speaker 2: year and you know, they were competitive. Craig Smith is
Speaker 2: a good coach. He knows what he's doing on x's
Speaker 2: and o's stuff. He just didn't have the horses. And
Speaker 2: and if you looked at that roster, all these guys
Speaker 2: who came from different schools from last year other than
Speaker 2: the Madson kid, you know, we're from different schools that
Speaker 2: they plucked from the transfer portal. And you don't have
Speaker 2: any connection to these guys. They're not the kids who
Speaker 2: are freshmen and sophomores. Now, they're you're juniors and seniors
Speaker 2: who you've been rooting for and that's my guy and whatever.
Speaker 2: You don't see him grow up. They're just passing through
Speaker 2: because as soon as they get a different thing. They're
Speaker 2: gone to the next thing, whatever that is. And that
Speaker 2: was born out last year when when Utah had the
Speaker 2: Devin Smith kid who came in Davon and and and
Speaker 2: uh and he played well enough and boom boom, he's
Speaker 2: off to Saint John's, you know, this year. And so
Speaker 2: that's just going to continue to happen. And unless you
Speaker 2: have you know, some unusual, you know, magic potion that
Speaker 2: gets your kids to want to play for good old
Speaker 2: you know, state to good old University and be part
Speaker 2: of that fabric for three or four years, like the
Speaker 2: old Alex Jensen days and Michael Doliacs and Andre Miller's
Speaker 2: and Keith van Horns and all these guys who stayed
Speaker 2: four years and we're part of the fabric of that
Speaker 2: that that's everything's just going to be a revolving door.
Speaker 2: And so how do you root for them? In fact,
Speaker 2: I asked I was on a trip last week with
Speaker 2: a bunch of BYU fans and and and as we
Speaker 2: were visiting, I just asked him casually, Hey, I'm just
Speaker 2: curious now that this whole landscape has changed, and we
Speaker 2: know kids are getting paid, and we know what's going on,
Speaker 2: you know, in that regard you as a fan. Do
Speaker 2: you find your fandom having changed at all in terms
Speaker 2: of how you think about the kids you're coming to
Speaker 2: root for every night. Has that changed your the way
Speaker 2: you look at it, or it just doesn't matter to
Speaker 2: you as long as they're winning that kind of thing.
Speaker 2: And everyone I asked, you know, individually, they said, nah,
Speaker 2: you know, I know it's changed and whatever. But you know,
Speaker 2: I go with my family because it's a good time,
Speaker 2: and you know, we can root to something we can
Speaker 2: do together as a family or as friends going to
Speaker 2: a game. But obviously if they're winning, that makes it
Speaker 2: much more fun, right And the other part how they're winning,
Speaker 2: Why they're winning. They're paying the guys the most money,
Speaker 2: so they got the better guys. Whatever. I really don't
Speaker 2: think about it, you know, I just think about they're wearing.
Speaker 2: You know, it's the old Jerry Seinfeld bit about laundry,
Speaker 2: you know, laundry. I'm not really rooting for my guys.
Speaker 2: I'm rooting for launde because whoever's wearing the shirt of
Speaker 2: my school, that's who I'm rooting for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, yeah, I wonder one more thing here
Speaker 1: that I do want to get your thoughts on what
Speaker 1: we could see tonight BYU getting going just about forty
Speaker 1: minutes from now.
Speaker 3: But my listeners are probably sick of hearing me say this.
Speaker 1: I just think it's the only solution, and I think
Speaker 1: it needs to happen sooner rather than later, which is
Speaker 1: simply leaning more into the pro model, allowing the players
Speaker 1: to unionize and collectively bargained.
Speaker 3: And therefore.
Speaker 1: Gabe Madson signs a three year contract with a fourth
Speaker 1: year option to play for the Utes, which means you're
Speaker 1: here for three years and then or whatever two years
Speaker 1: third year option. At least you've got the guy for
Speaker 1: two years, and if he's a pro after that, the
Speaker 1: third year options is and he leaves, or if he's
Speaker 1: not that good, the third year option is ours. So
Speaker 1: your ours for three years. I don't see any other
Speaker 1: way around it. Smitty to me, that's the only solution.
Speaker 2: Well, they have to have some kind of cap or
Speaker 2: ceiling on what they do. In other words, it's got
Speaker 2: to be some kind of stability. Right now, it's a
Speaker 2: it's a revolving door for both. Look look at the coaches.
Speaker 2: Look at just in the last week. It's the coaches
Speaker 2: who have moved on you know, whether it's and how
Speaker 2: about the guys who were involved in the NCAA scandal.
Speaker 1: And the Maryland coach took the Villanova job and is
Speaker 1: coaching tonight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, right right. I mean, you know, but
Speaker 2: I mean it seems like most people involved don't really
Speaker 2: care as long as you somehow have a formula that
Speaker 2: allows you to have some level of success. Okay, whether
Speaker 2: it's a Sean Miller who got run out of Arizona
Speaker 2: because and in part because of that that bribery scandal,
Speaker 2: or will Wade LSU who got run out because of
Speaker 2: the same thing, and they go to lesser schools. Do
Speaker 2: do do do they have a couple of good years?
Speaker 2: Here we are back in the line light at the
Speaker 2: big schools, you know, with with Sean Miller going uh
Speaker 2: going to Texas and and and and Will Way to
Speaker 2: going NC State. I mean, you know, like, to me
Speaker 2: my opinion, you're like, you got to be kidding me,
Speaker 2: Like this is it's so blatant about how schools are
Speaker 2: handling their business now. And but who's on the other
Speaker 2: end of the spectrum. Somebody like Saint Francis of Pennsylvania,
Speaker 2: scott Leyden's old school who decides. Last week, they get
Speaker 2: in the first four, right because they won their league tournament.
Speaker 2: They lose. A couple of days later, they announced that
Speaker 2: they're moving next year to Division III, that they're getting
Speaker 2: out of this scrum. They say, we can't do it.
Speaker 2: It's not going to work for us the way everybody
Speaker 2: else is doing it. We understand what's going on. We
Speaker 2: can't compete in that regard. So we're going back to
Speaker 2: what everybody was originally supposed to be forty fifty sixty
Speaker 2: years ago, right, which was which was a student activity
Speaker 2: and the process of being a program on campus where
Speaker 2: the students came and they got scholarships to go to
Speaker 2: school and then they played for good old U and uh.
Speaker 2: And now it's not that. Now it's a it's a
Speaker 2: it's a big time business, and it's really a professional
Speaker 2: sports business that colleges are running. And it's interesting that
Speaker 2: how many schools are just you know, just chasing that
Speaker 2: that dollar down that rabbit hole. And it's it's really
Speaker 2: interesting to me that that more presidents of of high schools,
Speaker 2: of hire institute higher learning aren't looking at that and going,
Speaker 2: wait a minute, do we do we need to have
Speaker 2: a meeting about this, like what what are we doing?
Speaker 2: You know? And uh, whether it's the Ivy League schools
Speaker 2: or whether it's other smaller schools who know they can't
Speaker 2: compete in and are getting out of it like that.
Speaker 2: So that's interesting to me. And that's but this whole
Speaker 2: march madness thing, this thing is like, this is some
Speaker 2: beast that's out of out of whack, and everybody, everybody
Speaker 2: goes along with it. Spence, It's interesting, Like Mark Cuban
Speaker 2: said years ago in an interview about copyright infringement and
Speaker 2: copyright laws, and the biggest copyright infringement company going is
Speaker 2: YouTube because YouTube uses everybody else's content. They have nothing
Speaker 2: that's the wrong. They they use everybody else's stuff and
Speaker 2: they don't pay them, and everybody acknowledges it, and everybody
Speaker 2: goes whatever, right and they shrug, right. I mean that's
Speaker 2: and and we all fall into it because we all
Speaker 2: use YouTube to look at something or whatever, and YouTube
Speaker 2: wouldn't have it if they had to pay copyright and
Speaker 2: image blah blah blah, and so we all fall into it.
Speaker 2: We're all part of it. We're all as guilty as
Speaker 2: the next guy for participating and being part of it,
Speaker 2: and it's it's just interesting that that's that's what we
Speaker 2: find in college athletics, and it's getting more so that way. Right,
Speaker 2: That's that's the direction that's going.
Speaker 1: As we currently have the conversation live on our YouTube
Speaker 1: streaming channel. You can subscribe to the ESPN seven hundred
Speaker 1: YouTube channel. All Right, somebody, before I say you loose
Speaker 1: BYU struggles this year, For the most part, they've had
Speaker 1: some outliers. They lost to the U, they got smoked
Speaker 1: by Cincinnati randomly. Their struggles this year have been when
Speaker 1: they ran up against a team that has elite physicality, athleticism,
Speaker 1: speed and strength.
Speaker 3: That's kind of who Bama is. Bama's not Houston.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, Bama's not Houston physical, but they're faster than Houston.
Speaker 1: They play with the best pace in college basketball. They're
Speaker 1: the fastest team in college basketball. I don't know you
Speaker 1: think about the Sears kid, but he's a really seasoned
Speaker 1: veteran college basketball point guard. They were in the final
Speaker 1: four year ago. They lost a great game to Yukon.
Speaker 1: When you look at the numbers, these two teams are similar.
Speaker 1: They want to get up and down, they want to
Speaker 1: score Alabama's a five point five point favorite. Where Alabama
Speaker 1: excels where BYU does not is Alabama guards the three
Speaker 1: a little bit.
Speaker 3: Better than BYU.
Speaker 1: BYU is one of the worst defensive teams of guarding
Speaker 1: the three in Bama lex to shoot the three. Bama
Speaker 1: a great offensive rebounding team. Okay, but Kenada Fus TREIORI,
Speaker 1: by You's got some athletic biggs might be able to hang.
Speaker 3: How do they get it done?
Speaker 1: And you think they can as b YU takes on
Speaker 1: Baman just about forty minutes, right, yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Think Well, if BYU is going to win and they're
Speaker 2: going to be in it at the end, they're going
Speaker 2: to have to They're gonna have to shoot the ball.
Speaker 2: That's that's what they rely on well the whole season.
Speaker 2: So they can't get away from that.
Speaker 4: That.
Speaker 2: You can't shy away and try and change your game plan. Now,
Speaker 2: this is what got you here, this is what you know.
Speaker 2: The girl you brought to the dance, that's who you're
Speaker 2: dancing with. So they've got to be able to shoot
Speaker 2: the three. They've got to be able to get good
Speaker 2: looks that they're comfortable with, and they've got to make
Speaker 2: their share they've got to make eleven, twelve, thirteen threes
Speaker 2: during the course of the game and get in a
Speaker 2: flow that they feel comfortable doing that with. The other
Speaker 2: thing for them is, you know, Alabama is is so
Speaker 2: athletic can attack them. They've got to have a better
Speaker 2: transition defense to slow it down, to get in some
Speaker 2: kind of a rhythm defensively for BYU. But then if
Speaker 2: they get into a into a clutch game, which is
Speaker 2: in the college three three points or less or two
Speaker 2: minutes to go, b YU has to handle it better
Speaker 2: than they did against Wisconsin. They did not do a
Speaker 2: good job at the end. Wisconsin. They had a big
Speaker 2: enough cushion they were able to survive it barely. But
Speaker 2: they have to be able to handle it better and
Speaker 2: they're gonna have to rely on their key guys Saunders
Speaker 2: and and Demon And then usually when you have a
Speaker 2: game like this, this deep in the tournament, Spence, someone
Speaker 2: else shows up and has the game of the year
Speaker 2: for them. Who is that? I don't know. Is it
Speaker 2: Trey Orri who comes in and gets twelve rebounds and
Speaker 2: it goes six for six from the field because he
Speaker 2: keeps getting duck ins and dunks or whatever. Or is
Speaker 2: it Trevinnell who gets free because Alabama doesn't respect him
Speaker 2: quite as much on the weak side and he's able
Speaker 2: to drill four threes in the second half or something
Speaker 2: like that that comes out of the woodwork that helps
Speaker 2: you to get over the hump. But I'm excited for
Speaker 2: the game. It's gonna be fun to watch a.
Speaker 1: Lot of good basketball tonight. Good night if you're a
Speaker 1: college basketball fan. Smitty, great to see my friend, and
Speaker 1: we'll see you next week.
Speaker 2: Thanks man, appreciate it.
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