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It is time for a little keep up with the
Cougar's going to welcome to a former BA rate Super
Bowl champion to talk some BAU football, little spring ball
camp Kalani conversation, what's going on with the Cougar football
team in spring ball and also discuss the NFL Combine
with this former UH.
Speaker 2: I would say Combine great too.
Speaker 4: I mean he was fantastic at his pro day and
Combine was one of the best athletically ever to come
through BYU from the football team.
Speaker 2: And so we'll devil into that as well.
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I said, mentioned Crittal fifteen Critle fifteen Crital fifteen for
that fifteen percent off. All right, let's get out to
the hotline. Welcome in the one the only Brady Papinka
to the show. Brady, how you living?
Speaker 5: Brother? Hey Ben? Always a pleasure to jump on.
Speaker 4: So you had the better combine h slash pro day.
Speaker 2: I know the pro DA is still coming up for
Jack Kelly.
Speaker 4: Brady Pepinga or Jack Kelly. This is pretty close. I mean,
you came in. I want to say, I'm gonna have
to pull this up here. Uh six foot three, you're
a little bit taller, right, little bit bigger, a little
over two fitty right, and I think, uh so, no.
Speaker 5: Two fifteen, a little over two thirty all.
Speaker 2: Right, you had two fifty nine, two fifty nine.
Speaker 5: Probably, say what probably two sixty me. Okay, there we
can round down to two fifty nine two.
Speaker 2: That's fine.
Speaker 5: There's a big difference between two forty and two fifty nine.
Speaker 2: No doubt about it. Yeah, there's there's twenty pounds.
Speaker 5: Twenty nineteen pounds of extra girth that you got to
carry it. Four five nines.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5: Not to I mean, I'm not trying to, you know,
dogg on anybody here. I'm not trying to talk any down.
Jack's phenomenal. He did everything he's supposed to do. He
checked all the boxes. Everything that he did there. All
the scouts said, oh, that's perfect, because this is what
we thought he'd do. Maybe I don't know if he
jumped up, because I think he was already pretty highly
sought after, but for surely it galvanized him with whoever's
going to pick him at the spot they're going to
pick him, which is probably gonna be in the second round,
would be my guest late second only third round really,
And so he love that, yeah, oh yeah, because he's
got the versatility, and that's this. This game is a
versatile game. And then BYU's defense is a pro style defense.
A lot of people don't realize that there are layers
to BYU's defense. There are different looks, we all see those,
but the layers is what makes it a pro style defense.
All that means, ladies and gentlemen is you'll call a call,
and I'm not going to use their terminology, but let's
say I'll use Dom Caper's terminal. Actually, no, I'll use
James Jim Bates's terminologies just because it's fun. Oh no, actually,
let's use broncle men in halls, just because you know,
we played with Bronco and he would say stuff tiger
flex double blast zero, right, that would be a call. Right.
So in our day, we wouldn't really have anything outside
of we're just running that play, you know, and it's
basically a blitz into the A gaps. The edge guys
are peeling and we have zero coverage. I mean, we
have zero deep safety. It's just manicman across the board
and we are just saying, hey, get the ball out
before we can get there. Let's play sack Grady Quinn
on in the Notre Dame game where they were disrespectfully
going on it going for fourth down and we made
them pay. And then they had a run off the
field with the tail between the licks, which is fine.
But my point is is in today's YU defense, it
would be that call tiger flex double blast zero. But
if they came out and let's say an empty formation,
you would check it to something else. Let's say they
came out in a let's say a bunch and you're
in man, and you're like, oh, we don't like to
be in man, especially zero man with a bunch of bunches. Okay,
we got to check out of that. Now. They a
lot of teams will check from a blitz to a coverage,
but BYU doesn't always do that. They could check from
a blitz to a coverage and stay with a specific blitz,
they can go to assimulated blitz, which in our day
then we didn't really have a lot of those. And
so my point is, yeah, you get one call, but
you could have, based off of the formation of the offense,
three or four different options of actual the actual call
that you end up running. And so that's huge because
that's how NFL defenses work. They always are cat and
mouse games with the offense. And that's the style of
defense that Jack has, and that should make it to
where his plane mental capacity is already adjusted to having
to have multi layer calls, which should in theory make
it more seamless transition than if you, for example, I
hate to say it, but you go down to Arizona State, Colorado,
their calls are pretty I don't know the termology, but
you could pretty much call their calls. It's over cover one,
over cover three. And guess what, ladies and gentlemen, it
does not matter what the formation is, they are running
that call, Okay. And that's just because I don't know
if the guy a Colorado or Arizona State. Maybe they
maybe they can, maybe they can't. I'm not sure they
can handle all that information, right, And so coaches like
to make it very simple because the key is you
got to play fast. Right. So Jack has proven that
he can go to a system that's multi layered pro
style and play fast. That's huge, right. And so having
said all that, another thing that people need to realize.
What time of day did Jack Kelly run US forty?
I'm just curious.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I don't know. Was it more afternoon when
he ran it?
Speaker 5: It probably was because you got to remember, and so
in our day the so the combine was not filmed.
I mean they would publicize the results obviously, and the results,
by the way, are not accurate. Okay, Like I see
results of myself, like running a four step of two
and I checked with not only multiple scouts, but guess
with the Green Bay Packers ended up drafting he had
me at four five nine, And that's, by the way,
the most important time because the team have their own
timing system. That's what people don't realize either. The official
one teams don't really care about that because everybody has
a different way. They stop it. Some let you run
through the clock. Some some it's like when you break it,
you know, but they keep it consistent because you know
why they want it so the good like the Packers,
they want to be able to take data and it
size the speed ratio for the most part. And by
the way, this isn't the end all be all. This
is a tiebreaker move here. This is not like, oh,
we're gonna draft this guy in the first round or not.
This is like, hey, we got two guys that are
very equal, Okay, now we'll break the tie. Is who
can who's the fastest, who's the biggest the fastest. Okay.
So that's that's really what this is for, right, Yeah.
And so what they'll do is they have compiled data
over you know, the Packers. When I was there, this
was twenty years of size the speed, and they just
and and they could predict based off of ratios who
could end up being at least the good special teams
player or you know, whatever kind of player for them.
And so they took it very serious. And it was
their timing system that they counted as the official one
because that's the one that they'd been using for however
many long, you know, because that's the late Ted Thompson,
you know, he was an understudy of Ron Wolf and
that's you know, Ron Wolf's style. Now we got you
know a bunch of unders. You know understudies of Ted Thompson,
ron Wolf all out. You got a son Elliott up
in New England. You have the assistant general manager when
I was there, John Schneyders. She's now the general manager.
Won the won the Executive of the YU Award, by
the way, with the Seattle Seahawks. So the point is
back to what I was saying is during my time,
teams would use it more as a let's see what
this player is made of things, So they would do
stuff to jerk with you man. For example, they would
have you do remember that quad hamstring test. They would
have you do that the night before you ran your
forty Oh wow, they wanted to see how you're gonna respond. Yeah,
And then on top of that, our forty yard dash
started at seven thirty sharp Eastern time. Now I was
not Mountaintop. I was West Coast time because I was
training down in Carson, California. I don't know what they
currently call it, but used to be called the Home
Depot Center then something else. That's where the LA Galaxy play.
And so yeah, my body clock was at four thirty
in the morning, running at forty So it's and obviously
what has happened is is they back to my original point,
these teams need the data. So what they've done is
they've tried to make the appeal of testing as appealing
as possible to alve prospects, because then they can get
this data and they can help them in their grading
process too. Again, like I said, kind of kind of
whittle out and form their boards. And so it was
a big thing amongst teams. And by the way, they
won't ever talk about it because time's not laster than
they ever have been. And guess why, it's by design,
and that's because all these prospects coming out, they're not like, oh,
that dude just ran the worst forty which we had.
I mean, if remember Francisco, he ran a four to nine.
I think, yeah, four nine, you know, and so guys
see like Francisco, they're like, oh, shoot, I'm not running
at forty, you know if I'm gonna four to nine, you know,
as a defensive back. And then obviously he goes to the
years on the Cardinals, ends up becoming a starter, signs it,
you know, almost leads into a Super Championship by the way,
and gets a nice deal from them. So it's not
like he wasn't a good pro player, but he just
got the raw into the stick of the four yard dash.
Now they've tried to control that to where you're getting
these record times, to where it's like, yeah, everybody wants
to run because they're gonna get like record times. So
it's a it's a fascinating thing, but again, it's about
getting data and it's about trying to fit that with history,
and ultimately they're trying to predict the success of a
player the best they can, although they're still going to
back thirty percent.
Speaker 4: So you stated Jack improved his stock possibly to a
second round pick. What what makes you believe that? I
was looking at a number of like these pre draft
kind of evaluation. Is that best he was a mid
round It looked like he was more trending towards like
the late rounds. But give you your your analysis of that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so it's a I wouldn't say his stock is
going to increase. A lot of people that are leaking
that or or claiming that are people that are doing
these mock drafts, and let's be honest, they don't know
what they're talking about. Okay, No, Kuiper does not know
what he's talking about. None of these guys run organizations,
None of these guys have their jobs hanging in the
balance based off of who they picked. So a lot
of it's gonna come down to their own biases. You know.
It's like I just remember, I mean, I was projected
to be a seventh rounder by ESPN Mel Kuyper and
then by the way he lied to me. Dude, it
was so hilarious. He had me on his radio show
and he's like, yeah, I totally guessed we're Brady at
the pink. It was going to go. I had him
at the bout, you know, the one twenty you know what,
twenty Mark. I'm thinking of my head. I was like,
do I want to just completely like disagree with this
guy because I have I have received from my I'm
just going to let him believe that he was right,
you know, I had just let it go. But yeah,
a lot of that is just smok amirs. You know,
we don't know, you know, And and the draft is funky,
you know what I mean. Literally, this could happen. Jack
could be a let's say, the second third round on
a team and lo and behold they're board. The way
they're bored at inside linebacker is is that that he's
probably like, let's say he's third on their board, and
then let's say the two guys above them, all of
a sudden, they're up at that second or third round
spot and one of the guys is available that's above them.
Guess what they're going to take the guy above them
if they're disciplined to they're board. Now Jack has to
depend on being on somebody's board in that round, which
not every team values players the same obviously, and then
you could drop, you know, based off of just you know,
one guy that was perceived to be higher ranked now
all of a sudden available. And that's why I always
look at the draft. It's fun to talk about, it's exciting,
but in reality, it's all about where you go, you know,
the opportunity to get this. And I'll keep bringing him
up with Fred Warner, you know, and you know, Fred
Warner Covin are are really good examples of where you
go dictates your career. You know, Fred goes to like
the ideal scenario where he can run and hit. It's
a very simple scheme relative to the NFL schemes he's
got big defensive linemen that are disruptive to where now
he can play what is to his strength, which is
he can route progress, read very well. He can be
physical when he needs to be physical, but overall he
doesn't have to take on a lot of blocks. He
can run sideline sideline and just make plays. And he's
been phenomenal. Now if all of a sudden, let's say
a team looked at him is like, oh, we liked
his film as an outside backer in the three four,
which that's what he went to b Yu asked, Remember
Kelly coached him. Then all of a sudden, let's say
he's with the Steelers trying to play outside linebacker. I
don't think he's very good, you know, in terms of
where he's at now, I'm not sure he blossoms into this.
You know, all pro Calber player that purely is arbitrary
based off of who ends up picking him right. And
they look at Kyle. He's a great example because he
goes to Detroit. They just wanted to play him off
the ball. You know, that's the one thing Kyle really has.
He doesn't know what to do when he's off the ball.
He needs to be on the ball. Things need to
be simple and he needs to be told just go right.
And so he struggled. He struggled to the until he
finally got to New England and they let him be
the player who he's meant to be, which is a
playmaking machine. And you don't combobulate him with a lot
of information, you don't make him read, You just let
him go and all of a sudden, you know, he
just explodes. And so where you go and it's it's
hard because you can't control it right. You can only
kind of get that. You can deal with a deck
of cards that you're going to be dealt. But that's
the that's the thing that you're most concerned about, is
where you go versus what slot in the draft you
get picked up.
Speaker 4: Love that breakdown only that Brady Papenka could give here
on your Utah ESPN Radio Network. A little keeping up
with the Cougars brought to you by Odion Menswear Odion
Menswear dot Com. Let's segue, let's transmach it over to
spring football Camp Kilani twenty twenty six. I'll say this much,
Kelly in his first uh uh kind of uh I
guess Springball interview. Man, he is excited about this defense.
His team is talented, they are tenured.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 2: They they definitely have one.
Speaker 4: Uh dominated Uh the first few team segments.
Speaker 2: Uh, and what what do you expect from this? Uh?
Speaker 4: What what do you expect to learn about this defense
in springball?
Speaker 2: Brady?
Speaker 4: What do you expect that you're gonna learn about maybe
indifdent players?
Speaker 2: Nothing?
Speaker 4: He just yeah, give me a kind of what do
you what do you what's your thought process going into
springball for this defense?
Speaker 5: All right, just just stay healthy, just run around a
little bit, get get your you know, get your you know,
your body lathered up, mind engaged, and then shut him down. Man,
wrap them bubble wrap. Let's go during fall camp. You know,
these guys are their season bets, I mean, the best.
The biggest thing that happened to the defense, the whole team,
is that effort the coach has made the moment the
season ended to retain everybody that they did. Yeah, because
that's where you keep I mean these year over year,
and that's and that's and this is why this is
why I love the caliber of guys that we're getting
is they're smart dudes. Man, These guys are realizing and
I'm happy with Yu's valuing them too, so they can
they can because the biggest asset as a player you
can have is do the same thing over and over
again so you can build the next year from the
previous year and so on and so forth, because that's
where exponential growth comes from. And that's so valuable now
more than ever. And I mean we're actually seeing the
other end of the spectrum with the BAU basketball team.
You know, these guys don't know how to play together,
which makes sense. They haven't really ever played together until
this season, and on the run, they're trying to figure
it out, right, And you can see a big difference
of teams that are far less talented, who have played
together longer and more comfortable with their schemes, environments with
each other, that are just performing better. And that's just
the nature team chemistry. And so the fact that they're
able to retain these guys and then give them that
opportunity to build on the previous year, that is huge,
you know, because I mean you just look out there,
and I mean it's like every position, I'm like, yeah,
that guy's been here before. You know, I can't tell you, you know,
last couple of years, especially the first year obviously, you know,
like when Bywater went down and you know, like off
the ball back and guys like Justin Ena was just
just trying to beat poor guys. You know, you got
taggered in there, and it's just you got these young
bucks that you know, they're just trying to figure it out,
you know. And and even last year, if to Sarah,
he had moments where he's just trying to figure it out,
you know, and you can see this year that that's
not going to be the case. We're not having We're
not going to have this learning curve. And that to
me was the only I would say problem with our
team last year is we at times broke did things
that and again this is learning learning process in our
schematics that teams exploited, especially good teams like Texas Tech
and and then if you you know, look on the
other side of what they did, they were like Texas Tech,
for example, they had all these guys like you know,
the the Rodriguez kid and these guys that have had
experience that were always in position. And what they make
you do is they make you to beat them. You
have to go the distance they give you nothing, and
that's the only like that was the last bit of
where we needed to go last year, like the next step,
and I believe this year we can put ourselves in
a position to do that because of the experience to
where guys are going to be in position. And then
after that, it's just okay, who can make plays? You know,
And like I said, it's it's play versus play. It's
not we're not giving them anything and you're making them
go the long way, you know. And that's what's exciting,
you know, because the scheme's there, Like I said, the
talent from tops to bottom in terms of death is there.
The experience is there, so it's like there's really nothing,
you know, to worry about. Let's just keep these guys healthy,
let's get the fall camp.
Speaker 4: I think that's uh, that's pretty wise. Do you think
they'll they'll do much?
Speaker 6: Uh?
Speaker 4: Do you think you had mentioned they're gonna maybe engage
in some sort of like kind of pro level o
t a type of spring ball. Do you think that
they'll be limited in some of the contact that they employ, uh,
in live tackling drills, et cetera.
Speaker 5: We'll see, because so far it has been like an
O t A you know so far, but we'll see, uh,
you know what they feel like. I hope they do.
Excuse me, I hope they do. I hope they just
you know, there's because there's no reason, there's nothing. You
don't win any games by hitting in March. Now, sure,
if you got young bucks guys coming off missions. I mean,
because let's be real, there's a handful of guys that
you don't know. There are the fringe guys that are
doing following off. So that's a great opportunity for them.
You know, it's too it's too too. It's a it's
a double benefit. There's two benefits for them. For one,
they get the benefit to go prove themselves with paths on.
And then the second benefit is if for some reason
they don't make with YU, they can take that film
and go shop their services to other teams. You can
show teams practice films, which you know you see guys
doing all the time now, So I could see them
doing that with like the fringe players, which I think
would be a fantastic idea. But yeah, your guys that
you know are going to be your contributors, and they've
been there and they know what's going on. There's really
no need to to really, you know, strap it up
and hit at this point in the game.
Speaker 4: Brady Pabinga here on your utah ESPN Ready note a
little keeping up at the Cougars brought to you by
Odion Menswear odeon minswear dot com. Offensively, there's a lot
of new faces. You got some you got a new
wide receiver and Kyler Casper, two tight ends coming in
Walker Lions and Roger Sally of PAGA. Three offensive linemen, Yeah,
coming in. They need some cohesion and chemistry there to
be developed. What do you think the storylines will be
this spring ball for the offense? What do you casting
your gaze towards.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I mean the biggest thing is the chemistry
between the receivers and the quarterback, including the tight ends.
You know, that's so huge. Last year we didn't have
that luxury at all. You know, we were reading on
the run and developing that on the run, and you
could see that. By the end of the season. It
finally caught up to us because we were having very
difficult time, especially with an elite defense like Texas Tech
that was manning us up to really you know, make
it them pay to be a Manda man, and a
lot of that's timing stuff. A lot of that's predetermined
based off of comfort level to the quarterback receiver, what
the defense is doing, and ultimately what you know you've
practiced so well that it's just instinctual. Now, obviously your
ankle was, like Bears was, I'm not sure how you know,
nice he's gonna fill this zip of the ball out
there like he looks right now. But but my point
is is that chemistry and that's why if you ever
if you've ever seen guys like Tom Brady and Aaron
and you know, Matthew Stafford, a lot of these quarterbacks,
they will have their own camps with the receivers. All
they do is they play on air actually, and they
go over all the different coverages, all the different scenarios,
all the different concepts against different schemes, and they basically
just say, hey, what's your favorite? Which one to you know,
which one jumps out of you here, which one you're
most comfortable with. Quarterback will say, hey, this is what
I like. The receiver will say, Look, most receivers will say, hey,
whatever you like, I'll do it, because they want the
ball you know, so a lot of times it's the
quarterback directing and say look, I want you to do this,
and then they do it, you know, and then by
the time you get the pads on and you're you're
doing it now, it just becomes instinctual. Because you've put
so much time in the off season. That's what's going
to be valuable for these guys, especially since we have
so many new receivers, you know, both tight ends and
uh and uh you know, white eyes, but you know,
watching them and practice so far, I've been impressed, you know.
I mean, I can't say how many times or I've
seen guys that you know, will shift from the man
and man covers all of a sudden to his own,
and these tight ends are boom sitting down into dead
spaces and bears reading it and zip it in there
and you know that stuff. Like I said, that stuff's
gonna get better and better. But that's the kind of
stuff that you want to be just locked in because
if you can react that fast. In theory of defense,
can't really defend that because we're always going to be
a step behind an offense. So yeah, that chemistry is
gonna be huge. But it's not springball that's going to
develop it. I mean it would be part of it,
but the biggest thing is them getting together from now
into fall camp and really developing that on a deep level.
Speaker 4: Couple last things, Brady Danny Sorenson's going to be coaching
up the safeties along with the Mario Warren, h Lewis
Walker and then Wes Johnson with the corners. H what
do you how would you evaluate the defensive secondary coaching
staff that had to be replaced. I mean, you know
most of the that that staff is gone, right, j Hill, Gennaro,
Gavin Fowler all gone, only one retained and then you
had three additional guys. How would you evaluate that group?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it's uh, it'll be interesting because everybody's
gonna have a different viewpoint in a different emphasis of
how they coach. But the most important thing is how
they adapt to the players, because, like I said, if
if you're able to capture the carryover from one year
to the next year as a coach, and so you
would so most times, And like I said, I'm not
sure what the personality these coaches are other than Daniel Soawrenson,
which I love Danny, Uh, what do they call him, Danny?
What's his nickname? Big dirty Dan, Dirty dirty Dan. I'm sorry,
that's right, Dirty Dan. That guy's he's great man, he's
gonna be I've just worked with him on other stuff
and he's he's phenomenal. But uh but yeah, so it's
it's for them. I would say the biggest challenge is
adapted to the players, so you can capture that carryover
from the previous year and not make them have to
kind of reset in terms of principles, terminology, even drills,
you know, and so, uh yeah, that'll be a good
challenge for him. But at the same time, I believe
they're going to lean right into that because you know,
these these these experienced kids, you know, like the Mooney
and all these guys, they're you know, they're they're trustworthy
guys that you're going to let them kind of drive
the ship. They're not these young little bucks that you
have to you know, kind of start to rear up,
you know, which there are some, but you got enough
vet there that can really drive it. And so, uh
so I think it'll be fine. I'm not I'm not
really concerned about it at all.
Speaker 4: Quite frankly, Brady last thing, give us the pitch, what
you do on the daily, your phone number to build
out the gym, the XPT dot com. Obviously you have
a number of uh a number of gym equipment. Uh
that jay you you distributed, give us a little detail
on that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, so uh so we just actually we're in
the process of finalizing the gym and start up in Nampa, Idaho.
It is a pickleball club called the Flying Pickle. They
just opened up. It's a phenomenal facility we have there.
We have the fitness center in there. They obviously have
pickleball courts, they have a restaurants, lockers, all sorts of immensities.
I mean, you go there, you can spend all day
playing pickleball, working out and enjoying yourself. I mean it's
something else. So, uh we're excited there. And then obviously
with truck Ranch, we did that with our teammate Jaden
there we build out his gym. So and it all
started with just the gym design. You know, we offer
free gym design at all different scales, all different levels,
all different sized budgets, whether it's a home gym you're
looking to build out versus like these two are places
I mentioned big commercial gyms, we can take care of
you both in terms of the design and also the
implementation of the equipment. And then we do custom branded
equipment to fit your business, your team, or whatever it is,
which we've done and a number of schools. And also
with both of these particular gyms that we've recently installed
to have custom logoing on the on their weight plates,
on their bumpers, on their dumbbells, that just magnifies their brand.
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That's aato won three six eight one one o two.
We can talk some BYU dog the football in addition
to talking about to enhance your space.
Speaker 7: Thanks Brady always three point nine and ninety eight point
three the fan, catch Bryce and b A. Noucci in
the morning seven to ten, me on the Herd ten
to one, and finally it's Cougar Sports from two to
six on one on three point nine and ninety eight
point three The Fan Get.
Speaker 1: To know the Cougar's opponents and rivals right now, I
need to know the faux segment on Cougar Sports with
Ben Kretel.
Speaker 4: Welcome Back Cougar Sports one of three nine ninety eight
point three ESBN The Fan. I've been critinal broadcasting from
our Vanderwelth Studios Banderwelth dot com. Get on that free
Q and A no obligation to invest Q and A
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to get to know the faux BYU basketball prepping, getting ready,
try to find a way get back on the right
track versus the Cincinnati bearcatch b YU is a slight
favorite in uh per ESPN Analytics, but a slight dog
per Vegas. We're gonna get to know the foe in
this segment and it's gonna be barant to you by
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out the hot deals button at Rubies nd rubies in
dot com. Let's get out to the hotline and welcome
in American Radio Intellivision sportscaster. The voice of this is
in Eddie Bearcats. We got Dan Horde on the line. Dan,
how the heck are you?
Speaker 2: Ben?
Speaker 5: I'm great, How are you?
Speaker 2: Hey?
Speaker 4: I'm doing fantastic. Appreciate you hopping on and talking some ball.
Speaker 2: With us today. How you feeling about them Bearcats? Right now?
Speaker 6: They're playing great. They really have since the beginning of February.
The worry in Cincinnati is.
Speaker 5: That it's too late.
Speaker 6: The resume before Big Twelve conference play started wasn't good.
It's dragging them down right now. But over the last
months this has looked like an NCAA tournament team and
moreover looked like one of the best teams in the
Big Twelve. It's been quite a turnaround over the last
four weeks or so.
Speaker 4: How did they turn it around? How did they get
on the right track? What happened?
Speaker 2: Was it a coaching staff, personnel change? What was it?
Speaker 5: The offense is playing well, and prior to February first,
it was one of the worst offensive teams in the league.
Some of that's coaching, some of that is players playing better.
Some of it is subtle tweaks in personnel. It's a
little bit of all of it. But if you want
something just kind of statistically to look at going into
the game, Tonight won five of their last six during
that stretch. Seven foot two sophomore Mustafa cham Is averaging
twenty and ten and Boba Miller, who's more or less
kind of a point forward. He's six eleven, but he
handles the ball a lot, has really good perimeter skills.
He's averaging almost six assists a game at six eleven.
So those two guys, more than anything else, have driven
this surge.
Speaker 4: It's incredible to watch kind of the Big Twelve have
these undulations right in football, it was anybody can beat anybody,
right in Big Twelve.
Speaker 2: I didn't think it would be that.
Speaker 4: Way, But now we're getting to the point late in
the regular season, and truly anybody can beat anybody, as
some of these teams that were struggling early on are
now hitting their stride leading up to March Madness.
Speaker 6: Well, I hope that's the case tonight, because Cincinnati could
really use Kansas State to beat West Virginia. So I'm
hoping one of those teams that hasn't been playing very
well over the course of the season rises up in
gets a big win tonight. But I'm not surprised by that.
This is the best conference in college basketball. Clearly, a
few teams have separated themselves at the top. I don't
think there's any question that. You know, Arizona and Houston
are the best, and Texas Tech is right there and
even having lost JT top and they're still playing like
one of their top teams in the league. But everybody
else is good. If you fiddle around on any given night,
you will lose, and unfortunately Cincinnati has a few of
those losses on his resume this year.
Speaker 4: Who do you feel like, how many teams rather will
the Big twelve get into the NCAA tournament? Have you
reviewed kind of the standings recently and looked at the
seeding and the bracketology? I know Joe puts out his
bracketology seems like every single day.
Speaker 2: Where do you stand in that debate? How many seeds
does the Big twelve deserve?
Speaker 4: Even you know, kind of projecting obviously what would happen
in the Big twelve tournament?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I look at it closely every because Cincinnati right
now is on the outside looking in. Their hopes are
kind of dangling by a thread. I think if the
tournament started today, eight Big twelve teams would be in,
seven would be locks, and TCU would be the eighth.
Right now, Joe Lonardi has TCUs a ten seed, so
they're not right on the cut line. They're a little
bit better than that. And then after that, West Virginia
and Cincinnati are probably the two teams next on the list.
Depending on which bracketologist you look at, one might be
a little bit higher than the other. If you look
at the net ranking, Cincinnati is better. Cincinnati is forty ninth,
West Virginia is fifty eighth. Unfortunately for Cincinnati. At least
West Virginia went two and oh against the Bearcats, So
you would think if those two are close and either
gets in by virtue of a two and zero record
against Cincinnati, West VIRGINI would have a pretty good argument
it should be them.
Speaker 4: What do you feel like needs to happen been tonight
in order for Cincinnati to come out on top and
try to secure that NCAA bid with a big time win.
I know bo he's out of the top twenty five
and they've lost eight of the last twelve. They're in
a bit of a downspiral, but it would still be
a big win for Cincinnati to finish out the season huge.
Speaker 6: It's a Quad one opportunity for Cincinnati. Their last two
regular season games are home tonight against BYU Rode on
Saturday against TCU. If Cincinnati wins both of those games
and adds two Quad one wins to the resume, now
their chances of being a bubble team are much much
better going to the Big Twelve tournament. So it's a
huge game for Cincinnati tonight. I think in order for
the Bearcats to win, it really comes down to their
offensive play. They've been a very good defensive team all
season long, and I think in the Ken Palm ratings
going into the game tonight, the thirteenth in the country
in defense. They're won twenty ninth in offense, which sounds terrible,
but since the start of February they're in the top
twenty five on offense. So they've gone from being a
horrifically bad offensive team really early in the season to
a really good one lately. And if that continues tonight,
because their defense has been reliable, they'll be tough to
beat at home.
Speaker 2: Let's get to know the personnel a little bit better.
Give us a scattering report on the.
Speaker 4: Bearcats best players and Kugarnation needs to keep their eye
on in this game.
Speaker 6: Let's start with Mustapha choms So. Mustafa played at UCF
last year as a eighteen year old freshman, led the
Big Twelve in block shots. He led the nation in
block shots for freshmen last year, and Cincinnati was able
to take him away from a division rival in the
transfer portal. He's kind of had an up and down season,
but lately he's been spectacular in his last three games
twenty eight against Kansas, twenty one against Texas Tech twenty
four against Oklahoma State. He had one twenty point game
in the first fifty eight games of his college career.
Now he's had three in a row. He's seven to two,
he's got a seven to six wingspan, he's got great touch.
He looks like a first round draft pick right now.
I don't know if that's going to be the case,
but he's playing great at the moment. Boba Miller is
a six'. ELEVEN i kind of described him as a
point forward. Earlier he Leads cincinnati in scoring at thirteen point.
Seven he Leads cincinnati in rebounding at nine point. Nine
he's averaging about six assista game over his last six,
games almost at a triple double On saturday Against Oklahoma.
State so he is an excellent all around player and
another guy who could play in THE. Nba their starting
guards are familiar names To big twelve fans because they've
been cincinnati starting backcourt for the last couple of. Years
Dayde thomas In Gisel. James they both average about eleven
points a. Game they're both really good three point. Shooters
dada is hitting forty percent for the. Year he made
seven in his last. Game Gigsel james is hitting forty
four percent this. Year he made six last year in
a win OVER. Byu so they can both light you
up from the. Outside and then the fifth, Starter Jalen,
celestine played with The Robert right At baylor last. Year
another good three point. Shooter he makes thirty eight percent
and that's pretty much his. Game nearly eighty percent of
his shots come from outside the. Ark so he's one
of those guys that if you leave him, open he
will make you.
Speaker 4: Pay what is it that the coaching staff and maybe the.
PLAYERS i don't know if you guys have had your
media availability as you prep for by you're going to
be doing that maybe prior to tip.
Speaker 2: Off but what have you been hearing ABOUT?
Speaker 4: Byu THIS bielu basketball, team where they're at right now
in the scouting board.
Speaker 5: On them one of the best teams in the.
Speaker 6: Country obviously one of the best offensive, TEAMS i should
clarify in the, country even you, know after Losing Richie, saunders.
Speaker 5: Which is a huge.
Speaker 6: Loss when you've got a duo Like debonsa And, right
you present headaches for any team's. Defense LIKE i, Said
cincinnati is a really good defensive. Team but there have
been nights where they have struggled in this. League they
had a tough game defensively Against Texas tech last. Week
they had a tough game on the road defensively At
utah earlier this year where they did not play on
the defensive. End so they know with that duo right
In debonsa that if they don't bring it, defensively they
could wind up giving up a bunch of.
Speaker 5: Points, tonight.
Speaker 4: Talking TO byu Versus cincinnati here on Your UTAH Espn
Radio network with the voice of The. Bearcats we've Got
Dan horde on the. Line brought to you by Rubies
in Rubies in Dot. COM i found it interesting THAT
Espn analytics slightly FAVORING, byu But vegas is favoring the
sixteen to Thirteen. Bearcats The bearcats have won what, SIX
i want to say six five out of the last
six or six out of the last. Seven where are
they at right now as far as their winning streak is, concerned.
Speaker 5: Five out of.
Speaker 6: Six but even beyond just the wins and, losses it's
how they're winning these. Games so during the six game
stretch they BEAT, UCF ucfs AND ncaa tournament team beat
them by twenty went on the road To Kansas state
one by twenty, nine went on the road To kansas
one by, Sixteen bill self's most lopsided home loss ever
in twenty three years At kansas Beat Oklahoma state in
their last game by twenty. Three so they're not only,
winning they're crushing, teams which is really hard to do
against anybody in The Big twelve unless You're houston Or.
Arizona so it's not just the fact that they've won
five out of. Six they're really playing.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah it seems like they've found their.
Speaker 4: Identity what's the culture like in that locker room when
there was adversity going? On what was the the culture
like then and as it stayed pretty consistent and where
does that culture really stem? From that baseline that kept
them consistent throughout The big twelve.
Speaker 6: SCHEDULE i think their, Coach Wes miller's done a nice
job of that as the team's radio. Announcer i'm around them,
REGULARLY i travel on the team, Playing i'm in the, hotel.
Speaker 5: ETC i haven't really seen.
Speaker 6: That change all. YEAR i Think wes did a nice
job of keeping them, focused keeping them together when things
weren't going. Well what has changed is the feeling in
the fan. BASE i, mean people were really down on the.
Coach they were really down on this. Team people started
talking about who the next coach is going to, be
thinking That wes wouldn't keep his. Job now people are
talking about can this team sneak into THE ncaa. Tournament
what the atmosphere is going to be like tonight for
their senior night when this team is playing so. Well
SO i would say the feeling among the fan base
has changed a lot more than the feeling inside the locker.
Speaker 4: Room what Is Fifth Third arena like for THOSE bwa
fans that are taking their families out there to watch this.
Speaker 6: Game historically, tremendous generally. Packed it seats about twelve. THOUSAND
i would expect it to be packed. Tonight the student
section is great behind both, baskets and it'll definitely be rocking.
Tonight you, know in this day and age where a
lot of teams don't have players that stick around for several,
Years Dayde thomas will be honored on Senior.
Speaker 5: Night he's been here for three.
Speaker 6: Years he's going to get a tremendous reception and you
know the fan base will be hoping he picks up
where he left off On, saturday because he had one
of his best games Against Oklahoma.
Speaker 4: State it's a nine Pm eastern tip, OFF i. Believe
and you, know how Is cincinnati played at home this year?
Speaker 6: GREAT i, mean they've had a couple of, slips but
by and, large they played really well at. Home it
was their play on the road that was really causing
problems for much of the. Season they did not have
a road win until about three weeks, ago a road
two road game or neutral court. Game then they finally
got to win At Kansas. State they followed it up
with another win At Kansas then they went To Texas,
tech jumped out to a nine point lead in the first.
Half the game was still close late in the game
And Texas tech played really well and pull it.
Speaker 5: Out pulled it. Out but for the most part at,
home they've been really good this. YEAR i.
Speaker 4: Believe this is the SEVENTH i want to, say all
time meeting between the two programs four since they've joined
The Big twelve prior to the twenty twenty three twenty
twenty four. Season the series is actually tied three all
and The cougars are one and one all time In
cincinnati with their lone win in The queen of The.
West come, BACK i guess On january, third nineteen thirty.
Speaker 2: One that's going way. Back that's that's. Crazy, anyway.
Speaker 4: What's interesting about these two teams is their eight and.
Eight both of these teams are eight and eight And
Big twelve, play so when it really, matters they're on
equal footing in The Big.
Speaker 6: Twelve, yeah and something very important to keep in mind,
now each team has two games left in the regular.
Season if you finish in the top eight in The Big,
twelve you don't have to play In round one of.
Speaker 5: The Big twelve.
Speaker 6: Tournament if you finish ninth and, below you do. So right,
now you've really got five teams fighting to avoid having
to play in round. One the two teams that are
tied for SIXTH ucf AND, tcu they're both nine and,
seven and then the three teams tied for, Eights West,
VIRGINIA byu And. Cincinnati two of those five teams are
going to get stuck playing in the first. Round and
let's face, it if you have any dream of trying
to win The Big twelve, tournament or at least make
it to the semifinals or the, finals having to win
extra game makes it a lot. Tougher SO i think
there's a lot of incentive for those five teams to
finish strong.
Speaker 5: And avoid having to play On tuesday night In Kansas.
Speaker 4: City how Has cincinnati faired in the first half of
these games During Big twelve? Play The cougars have trailed
in the teams consistently In Big twelve play and even
in non conference. PLAY i think they've trailed by fourteen
at half. Time Versus West, virginia they've trailed by sixteen
nineteen twenty.
Speaker 2: One sometimes they come.
Speaker 4: Back sometimes, WELL i think they always come back and
they make IT i guess the respectable loss more often than.
Speaker 2: Not but they struggle in the first. Half that's the.
Speaker 4: Way to get up on The kugs and keep them
down and make sure you win. Games how Was cincinnati
fair to the first?
Speaker 6: Half you, know it's kind of a split Before february
first Since february, First so and those games THAT i
described where they've won game after game by twenty, plus
they've been good from start to. Finish even The Texas tech,
game the one time they've lost in the last six
they started that game nine for nine and made four.
Speaker 5: Threes it was.
Speaker 6: Insane i've never seen A cincinnati team play like that
to begin a, game and that was on the road
against one of the best teams in the. Country so,
honestly in their last six they've played well in the
first half and the second. Half prior to, that it
varied from game to. Game there were games that they
played well in the first half and there were others
where you wondered where their minds.
Speaker 4: Were, yeah it's it's always intriguing to see how trends play.
Out we kind of know WHO byu is right, now
AND i don't know if they can they can really
change their. Stripes the zebra looks looks, like you, know
we know exactly what THIS byu basketball team. Is it'll
be intriguing to see how they fare out there In.
Cincinnati but AND i just CAN'T i can't put my
finger yet on who This cincinnati team. Is though it
seems like they've trended in this. Direction they found their, identity,
toughness their, grit but still some question marks maybe with
their identity and where they're going to get wins versus
maybe a team LIKE.
Speaker 6: Byu, well, SEE i Think cincinnati and as you, noted
earlier is a slight, favorite at least By vegas'. Measurements
going into the game. TONIGHT i think favored by a
point and a. Half to, me that feels about. Right
that's how they're playing right. Now home court is always
a big advantage in college. Hoops B yu obviously had
the talent to win, here and maybe they do, tonight
But cincinnati is going to be formidable on its home
court this.
Speaker 4: Evening, dan you also are the voice of The Cincinnati.
Bengals we got a Former cougar out there booting the
football doing some good, Work Ryan, Rico Rico suave as
we like to. See you guys need to implement this
if you can put it forth to the SI d
THE pr. Department every time he trots out onto the
football for the, punt you guys need to be playing
That Rico suave song from THE i believe it was the.
Speaker 5: Nineties can we get that?
Speaker 6: Jokes, yeah we could probably get that. Done there are
more Cousin rico references From Napoleon. DYNAMITE i think from
a fan, BASE i call him robo leg because of
the way that he crushes the. Football BUT i WANT
byu fans to know That Ryan rico has become a
fan favorite here In cincinnati for what he's. Done in
his first two years as A, bengal he averaged more
than fifty.
Speaker 5: Yards of punt this.
Speaker 6: Year he was one of four guys in THE nfl
to do that for his career so far forty nine point.
NINE i don't think there has ever been a punter
IN nfl history who's averaged more than fifty per punt
for his. Career So ryan is just under that after two.
Seasons his net punting wasn't quite as good as the raw.
Average he was knights in THE nfl in net. Punting
that's because he had a lot of. Touchbacks he had eleven,
touchbacks but he really cut down on that in the
second half of the. Season that's what he's going to
be working on going. Forward if he cuts that number in,
half he'll be a pro. Bowler and the other thing
THAT i admire About ryan is that prior to last,
season the dude went out and bought a jugs machine
to become a better. Holder his, Wife, hadley puts the
footballs into the jugs machine so he can practice his.
Holding because the best of The bengals Special teams Coordinator
Darren simmons, says in this day and, age as good
as field goal kickers have, become holding is sixty percent
of the punter's job between field goals and extra.
Speaker 5: Points So ryan.
Speaker 6: Made a concerted effort to become a better. Holder evan,
McPherson The bengals, kicker had a tremendous season And ryan
and the jugs machine that he PURCHASED i think were
a big reason. Why so kudos To Ryan rigo are
thrilled to have him here In.
Speaker 4: Cincinnati and shout out to his wonderful wife for participating.
Speaker 2: TOO i, mean that's a that's a great help meet right.
Speaker 6: There no doubt he married well and she's done an
excellent job of helping him become a very consistent. HOLDER
i asked the special teams, coordinator when somebody tries to
be to become a better, holder.
Speaker 5: What what is? It is he trying to become?
Speaker 6: Faster and he, said, no it is being able to
put the ball in the exact same spot. Consistently, yeah
and that's What Ryan ricau has improved.
Speaker 4: Upon it's impressive to become a fan favorite as a.
Punter you, KNOW i see have you heard The Rico
suave song.
Speaker 6: Before.
Speaker 5: Dan, Sure i'm old enough to remembering The rico.
Speaker 2: SWAT i mean, THIS i, mean can we make this a?
THING i, MEAN i.
Speaker 4: DON'T i Think ryan would be okay with this is
a great song to trot out to the field with.
Speaker 2: That, YEAH i get you don't want, to you, know
change the.
Speaker 4: Mojo he's been putting at a high, level maybe even
a pro bow. Level he had the longest punt of his,
career like eighty. YARDS i, mean he's he's doing great.
Work i'm just, saying like we should at least have the.
Speaker 6: Conversation the eighty yard tot was in His bengals, debut
so that helped him immediately put his name on the
map In. Cincinnati, now we're not talking about closers coming
out of the. BULLPEN i think THE nfl, has you,
know very specific rules for the use of music during.
PLAY i don't know if you can fire up the saw.
Speaker 5: When the punter takes the.
Speaker 6: Field this is not the closer trotting in from the,
pen So i'd have to double checked on, that but
that might make that hard to.
Speaker 4: Do all, Right, WELL i mean it's an old enough
song now and it's it was popular in his.
Speaker 2: Time it can't be that.
Speaker 4: That expensive to get distribution rights for that little.
Speaker 2: Excerpt at LEAST i have fingers.
Speaker 4: CROSSED i think there's a lot of people of my
generation that are also football fans that grew up with
The Rico. Suave, Anyway, dan we appreciate, you, man appreciate
you hopping. On how do you see this buo Of
cincinnati game playing out tonight At Fifth Third?
Speaker 5: Arena nail.
Speaker 6: Bider probably a fairly high scoring, game even Though cincinnati
is really good. Defensively that's WHAT i think OF byu,
Offensively So i'm thinking a three point game in the high.
Seventies we'll. See i'm the voice of The. Bearcats i'm
gonna have to predict That cincinnati, wins but we'll, see all, Right.
Speaker 2: Dan we.
Speaker 4: Salutcher we appreciate. You thanks for hopping. On let us
know if we can do anything for. You thanks for
spending some time with us.
Speaker 2: Today my.
Speaker 5: Pleasure thanks for having me On.
Speaker 4: Diego this Is Dan, horde the voice of The Cincinnati.
Bearcats on some key stats obviously there as we get
prep get ready for this Billis Cincinnati bearcat MATCHUP byu
twenty nine overall the, season The bearcat sixteen and. Thirteen
they're both eight and eight in conference play, though and
Ken plum HAS byu at twenty, third still in the
top twenty. Five we know they're outside the top twenty
five and the eight People cincinnati not too far off
here at forty. Four and Then blea's net is twenty
first And cincinnati's net is forty ninth right, Now so
this is this is a good basketball team that's trending
in the right. Direction cincinnati use B yu not trending
in the right.
Speaker 2: Direction they have two different.
Speaker 4: TRAJECTORIES ba is the better overall, record but they have
the same the same record In big twelve, play and
that's Why cincinnati is actually a slight favorite being on
their home. Court so MAYBE byu finds a way to
have a good first half and can finish out with great,
effort great. Rebounding we, hope we. Pray but, anyway, guys
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always bringing the, Hammer Vic cram and all of our
fantastic fans