Speaker 1: Strettitch working on Zach Keller. Zach really extending the pressure.
Speaker 1: They broke cross sport intercepted by Sharff Jons. You're Sharroff Jons.
Speaker 1: Get fast, wide open Gate. That's it. That's a bullseye.
Speaker 1: It's a triple for Gate. He won't be more wide
Speaker 1: open all year long than he was on that one.
Speaker 2: And that was the Voice of the Utes, Bill Riley
Speaker 2: on the call the UTES Sports Radio Network, and of course,
Speaker 2: right here on ESPN seven hundred and ninety two point
Speaker 2: one FM, you can hear Bill on the broadcast for
Speaker 2: each and every one of the Utah men's basketball games,
Speaker 2: of course, Utah football and more, joining us to preview
Speaker 2: the Thanksgiving weekend of football and more. It is the
Speaker 2: voice of the Utes one, Bill Riley. I presume live
Speaker 2: from somewhere in Salt Lake City, possibly on campus.
Speaker 1: Bill, how are you, friend, I'm at my office. Porter.
Speaker 1: I'm great.
Speaker 2: I haven't been to your office yet. What's up with that?
Speaker 2: Where are you at the Huntsman Center.
Speaker 1: I'm at the Huntsman Center. Have you been up to
Speaker 1: the Huntsman Center?
Speaker 2: I have, I just haven't been to the Bill Riley
Speaker 2: Grace Huntsman Center. Since obviously I've been there, just not
Speaker 2: to your your your digs. We'll make that happen. Appreciate
Speaker 2: you for joining us on this Wednesday. Happy early holiday
Speaker 2: to you, and uh give us a make get us
Speaker 2: excited for what is actually the only Big twelve game
Speaker 2: on Big twelve Finale weekend that doesn't have any conference
Speaker 2: championship or CFP implications, the only one between UCF and Utah,
Speaker 2: which if you would have asked us in August or September,
Speaker 2: both of these teams may have been on a short
Speaker 2: list of maybe contenders.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I don't know much that I can add
Speaker 1: much more to it than that it's a play for
Speaker 1: pride kind of exact out of a Saturday you taught
Speaker 1: trying to end its longest losing streak in thirty eight years,
Speaker 1: and UCF trying to send their seniors out on a
Speaker 1: senior night with a k the right way. So there
Speaker 1: are to be fair a ton of storylines inside this
Speaker 1: game outside of those, but you do have some guys
Speaker 1: that are playing for pride, and you do have some
Speaker 1: guys that are trying to impress, trying to show the
Speaker 1: coaching staff that they want to be part of this
Speaker 1: program moving forward, because I think we all know there's
Speaker 1: going to be some changes in rosters and things like that.
Speaker 1: There are every year now in college football, So I
Speaker 1: think there's a little bit of that for Saturday, or
Speaker 1: I should say for Friday night as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, Utah is that you know, underachieving team this
Speaker 3: year a rare situation where that has been the case.
Speaker 3: They've been right there to winning some games against some
Speaker 3: really good teams over the last few weeks. What have
Speaker 3: you liked most in terms of what you've seen with
Speaker 3: the strength of this team showing why they were considered
Speaker 3: to be among the favorites in that conference when the
Speaker 3: year got started.
Speaker 1: Well, they're still playing hard, Tony. Their defense is still
Speaker 1: very good. They're just asking the defense to do a
Speaker 1: lot right now. The offense has been very inefficient and inconsistent,
Speaker 1: and a lot of that's quarterback play. Clearly it's not
Speaker 1: all quarterback play, but some of it. But the defense
Speaker 1: has been really good, and last weekend we saw the
Speaker 1: special team show up and make some big plays, block punts,
Speaker 1: covered kicks and fumbles and things like that. So I
Speaker 1: don't think you can question the effort of this team.
Speaker 1: The results certainly haven't been there, but they've still been
Speaker 1: putting forth the effort.
Speaker 2: Gusmels On and UCF have lost I think six of seven.
Speaker 2: They started the season off three to zero and looked
Speaker 2: pretty good doing it. What challenges do they post to
Speaker 2: Utah specifically in what they do? I will say specifically
Speaker 2: on the offensive side of the ball, because although they
Speaker 2: haven't obviously been able to win many football games, they've
Speaker 2: been able to move the ball and put some points
Speaker 2: on the board fairly routinely and at least in their wins.
Speaker 2: What is it about their offense that might pose problems
Speaker 2: to a Utah defense that, again, although not winning football games,
Speaker 2: is still a top three or four defense in the
Speaker 2: Big twelve.
Speaker 1: They run the football better than anybody in Power five
Speaker 1: Football Power for Football. I mean it's not even close.
Speaker 1: They're averaging two hundred and fifty five yards a game rushing.
Speaker 1: They have ninety three runs this year of ten yards
Speaker 1: or more. They have more explosive run plays than anybody
Speaker 1: in Power for Football. They've got a running back in RJ.
Speaker 1: Harvey that's on the precipice of setting a rushing touchdowns record.
Speaker 1: He's got twenty one rushing touchdowns this year. He's got
Speaker 1: forty two in his career. They run the football and
Speaker 1: they've got two quarterbacks, a red shirt freshman and a
Speaker 1: transfer that both can run it as well. So Utah
Speaker 1: is going to have to load up and stop the run.
Speaker 1: They just said, I mean, I know that's cliche every week, guys,
Speaker 1: but this team, they they really run it. They can
Speaker 1: throw it a little bit too. I mean, they can
Speaker 1: throw it. They've got a couple of playmakers on the outside,
Speaker 1: but they want to run the football and it's R. J.
Speaker 1: Harvey and a couple of other guys. But when you're
Speaker 1: running for two hundred and fifty five yards a game
Speaker 1: and I think they're thirty yards better than the next
Speaker 1: closest team in power for football, that's what Youah has
Speaker 1: got to gear up for.
Speaker 3: When you're laying out the depth chart the way that
Speaker 3: you do, and you're you know, putting in information on
Speaker 3: each different individual and when you see the number and
Speaker 3: the name, and different thoughts are going through your mind.
Speaker 3: You mentioned there's some players that are trying to make
Speaker 3: a statement, trying to make that last impression and a
Speaker 3: lasting impression. Are there specific individuals you're really excited to
Speaker 3: see in this matchup and in this game with that
Speaker 3: opportunity to run through the finish line on what has
Speaker 3: been a tough season.
Speaker 1: Well, I think we saw some glimpses last week. You know,
Speaker 1: it's mostly the young players, you know, the older guys,
Speaker 1: they're the you know, twenty three seniors aren't going to
Speaker 1: play again. So Doriyan Singer is a really nice player,
Speaker 1: but he's not coming back to Utah. But the Zachariace
Speaker 1: Williams might be and Dadrin Zipper might be. Those two
Speaker 1: guys they flashed the last couple of weeks for Utah.
Speaker 1: I'm very curious to see if they can continue to
Speaker 1: do that. I want to see how some of the
Speaker 1: guys like John neu Hall on defense continue. He looks
Speaker 1: like he's got all the potential to be one of
Speaker 1: the next great linebackers at Utah. Does he continue to
Speaker 1: evolve in that linebacking core and that playmaking that kind
Speaker 1: of that playmaking form. Landon King got his first catch
Speaker 1: of the year a couple of weeks ago. Ken he
Speaker 1: continued to stay dialed in. I know it's not been
Speaker 1: the year he wanted to have. Carson Ryan, He's got
Speaker 1: some eligibility to tight end transfer the American FOURK kid
Speaker 1: from UCLA. These are some of the guys that could
Speaker 1: be cornerstone players in the years to come, next year
Speaker 1: and beyond for Utah. And I'm just very curious to
Speaker 1: see how they play in the final game of the year,
Speaker 1: because again the last couple of weeks we've seen some
Speaker 1: glimpses from him.
Speaker 2: Of course, Bill mentions the final game of the year,
Speaker 2: the final Big twelve game of the Utah first first
Speaker 2: run in the conference, and they visit Orlando, they visit
Speaker 2: Florida for the final conference game of the season. Bill, Obviously,
Speaker 2: you know you spend time in Florida. You have some
Speaker 2: experience down there before Central Florida really started to burst
Speaker 2: on the scene on the football side. But give us
Speaker 2: an idea, your knowledge, your perspective of what they call
Speaker 2: sometimes the bounce house down there in Central Florida, a
Speaker 2: place where they've won forty two of their last fifty
Speaker 2: one games. I believe, regardless of how good UCF is,
Speaker 2: they have a lot of success at home.
Speaker 1: He has sixty nine wins since twenty seventeen. Porter they're
Speaker 1: an emerging program. The school is the largest school in
Speaker 1: the state of Florida. From an enrollment state, it's bigger
Speaker 1: than Florida. It's bigger than Florida State. It's over fifty thousand.
Speaker 1: It's a big emerging school. And Malzon's had success. He
Speaker 1: hasn't had it there quite yet, but he had it
Speaker 1: at Auburn for a minute. So it feels like they're
Speaker 1: kind of getting close to a breakthrough. You don't have
Speaker 1: you don't have to hop on a plane to recruit
Speaker 1: at Central Florida. You can hop in your car and
Speaker 1: drive within about a three hour radius and there's just
Speaker 1: tons and tons of talent. I don't know what kind
Speaker 1: of a crowd they're going to have, honestly, again, much
Speaker 1: like Utah, they're not having the season that that they expected.
Speaker 1: But it's a good program in an emerging school and
Speaker 1: it's you know, again, it's not Florida or Florida State,
Speaker 1: but it's it's coming and when they're good. You know,
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, when Scott Frost was there,
Speaker 1: when they when they hung their banner as pseudo national champions,
Speaker 1: they were really drawn and so I'm I'm I've never
Speaker 1: been there for a game when I lived in Florida,
Speaker 1: they didn't have the bounce House, they had a uh
Speaker 1: they played at the old where they where they played
Speaker 1: the they played the New Year's Day Bowl game. It's
Speaker 1: now Camping World Stadium and stuff like that. So I'm
Speaker 1: curious to see what it looks like in what it
Speaker 1: might be like when we go back there again. But
Speaker 1: this is this is a program that it has the
Speaker 1: potential to be really good.
Speaker 3: When I watched Utah a couple of years ago, they
Speaker 3: go to the Rose Bowl with this massive amount of injuries,
Speaker 3: and I remember hosting this exact show with Porter saying like,
Speaker 3: this is not normal. This is the most abnormal thing ever.
Speaker 3: Last year, the injuries were just overwhelming, and they still,
Speaker 3: you know, put up a decent number of wins there.
Speaker 3: This year, injuries mixed in with you know, a flag here,
Speaker 3: a miss field goal there, you know, bizarre sequence of
Speaker 3: play here and there, and it all adds up to,
Speaker 3: you know what, this season has been. Out of all
Speaker 3: the years you've had a chance to be around teams,
Speaker 3: You've been around great teams, some teams of that uphill climbs.
Speaker 3: Did you ever just get the sense that if you
Speaker 3: shuffle the deck this many times, with this many challenges,
Speaker 3: something like this is just bound to happen, where you
Speaker 3: know you have a difficult season with very few wins.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm not sure anybody see for the program like
Speaker 1: Utah that's had so much sustained success, I'm not sure
Speaker 1: you necessarily saw this. Their last two losing seasons were
Speaker 1: twelve and thirteen when they were new in the Pac twelve.
Speaker 1: They had injuries then, but it was a lot of
Speaker 1: it was just they didn't have the overall talent level
Speaker 1: to compete. This is just a season, like you, I
Speaker 1: just for a program that was it was picked to
Speaker 1: be a college football playoff program. There's still a ton
Speaker 1: of talent in it. It's bad quarterback player, inconsistent quarterback play,
Speaker 1: and injuries at the quarterback position teamed up with just
Speaker 1: a gazillion injuries at attrition, and you know you mentioned
Speaker 1: the flags and calls. I'm a big believer that good teams,
Speaker 1: teams that play well, you kind of create your own fortune.
Speaker 1: Sometimes when you're just off it a little bit, sometimes
Speaker 1: those bounces don't go your way. But I don't think
Speaker 1: that this is something that you say, yeah, this happens
Speaker 1: every now and again. This is a historianly bad year
Speaker 1: for the University of Utah. They just haven't had this
Speaker 1: kind of a season in a long long time. So
Speaker 1: I don't think it was expected or you say this
Speaker 1: could happen every now and again. I hope that it's
Speaker 1: just one of those one off seasons, and you know,
Speaker 1: then you get that bounce back. You know, you make
Speaker 1: the adjustments you need to make this offseason, you bring
Speaker 1: it in, the players you need to bring in, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you're back in. I think if
Speaker 1: we've learned anything this year, it's that the Big Twelve
Speaker 1: is a really competitive league. But there's not a dominant
Speaker 1: program in this league. And I don't look forward into
Speaker 1: the future next year and see anybody emerging as a
Speaker 1: dominant program. Shoot, even if Utah was going to win
Speaker 1: the league this year, guys, I didn't think that they
Speaker 1: were going to run away and hide with it. I
Speaker 1: thought Kansas State would be very good, you know, I thought, oh, well,
Speaker 1: Oklahoma State's probably been as big a mystery and a
Speaker 1: disappointment this year's Utah has been because they were picked
Speaker 1: second or third of the league. But my point is,
Speaker 1: I don't see I see a lot of programs that
Speaker 1: are very good right now and some that could get
Speaker 1: a little bit better. But I don't see anybody just
Speaker 1: breaking away from the pack and becoming a dominant program.
Speaker 1: So the foundation is still there for Utah. They have
Speaker 1: to make some changes, certainly from a personnel standpoint on
Speaker 1: the roster, but I don't think if they have a
Speaker 1: good off season, they're very far away from being back
Speaker 1: if they make those right decisions, right calls. Does that
Speaker 1: make sense?
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And there's obviously a long term discussion we're
Speaker 2: talking about with Utah, obviously with with Wit and Scali
Speaker 2: in that conversation that'll be had when Kyle makes his
Speaker 2: decision and we know what that holds. But in the
Speaker 2: short term, Bill, you mentioned the things that they have
Speaker 2: to address in the off season. Well, the quickest thing
Speaker 2: that you can address and the quickest recipe to get
Speaker 2: back on track is on the quarterback room and in
Speaker 2: the quarterback room front, where do you see that as
Speaker 2: of today? And where do you see that going for
Speaker 2: the for the youths. Obviously, Cam rising and you know
Speaker 2: his decision on on a future is still TBD. And
Speaker 2: then when we talk about the new landscape of college football, Bill,
Speaker 2: this might be something that you have to start to
Speaker 2: address literally on Friday night, with how quickly things start
Speaker 2: to turn once once your season ends in this in
Speaker 2: this landscape of college football.
Speaker 1: Well, I think that you're putting out feelers right now,
Speaker 1: but I think the one thing that you have to
Speaker 1: address that was the offensive coordinator. Right It's gonna be
Speaker 1: hard to get a kid to commit to your program
Speaker 1: if he doesn't know what your offense is going to
Speaker 1: look like. Does that make sense? I mean, you just
Speaker 1: you just you have to figure and I think that
Speaker 1: they've been working on that, probably since the day that
Speaker 1: Andy Ludwigs stepped aside, that would be my guess. And
Speaker 1: so we'll see what happens. But obviously you're gonna put
Speaker 1: out feelers. You're gonna know who's gonna be in the
Speaker 1: portal you're doing that. You're seeing a bunch of names.
Speaker 1: But to me, you figure out your offensive coordinator spot,
Speaker 1: and then that offensive coordinator works in conjunction with the
Speaker 1: head coach to try to find a quarterback that fits
Speaker 1: his system. Well. Well, in the best of worlds, maybe
Speaker 1: you find yourself an offensive coordinator that's bringing a quarterback
Speaker 1: along with them. We've seen that happen before in college
Speaker 1: football or knows somebody that is you know that they
Speaker 1: want to bring along with them as well. But I
Speaker 1: think before you can figure out the quarterback position moving
Speaker 1: forward at Utah, you have to figure out the guy
Speaker 1: that's going to be coaching and developing that quarterback, that's
Speaker 1: your offensive coordinator.
Speaker 3: What has surprised you the most in your experience of
Speaker 3: having the broadcaster seat during this year, because as you
Speaker 3: go chapter to chapter, I mean you're really absorbed completely
Speaker 3: in each and every play and each and every day
Speaker 3: of preparation. As you kind of reflect on this, what
Speaker 3: surprised you the most during this experience.
Speaker 1: That they're in the same position they were a year
Speaker 1: ago when Cam Rising didn't play, that they that they
Speaker 1: are struggling again in back to back years at the
Speaker 1: quarterback spot. That's that's the part that's been so and
Speaker 1: the fact that they're down to maybe the most surprising
Speaker 1: thing of them all is that they're they're they're playing
Speaker 1: their fifth string quarterback in the final game of the
Speaker 1: season as they did a year ago. You know, you
Speaker 1: had last year was Cam Rising and it was Bryce
Speaker 1: and Barnes and it was Brandon Rose who got hurt.
Speaker 1: Really was never able to be there, and then you know,
Speaker 1: Luke Batari starts against Colorado and finds a way to win. Well,
Speaker 1: this year, it's Cam Rising, and then it's Isaac Wilson,
Speaker 1: then it's Brandon Rose and you know, we never got
Speaker 1: to see Sam Heward because he got you got hurt
Speaker 1: during practice, and so now your fifth quarterback is Luke Patari. Again,
Speaker 1: it's just I can't even imagine. And again I wish somebody,
Speaker 1: maybe ESPN or Elias or somebody's got it, but I
Speaker 1: can't imagine a program, a D one program, in back
Speaker 1: to back seasons, being down to their fifth string quarterback
Speaker 1: starting in their final game in back to back seasons.
Speaker 1: It's just it's it's just you couldn't You couldn't imagine it.
Speaker 1: But that's where we are, and injuries and attrition it kind.
Speaker 2: Of led to this well, And yeah, if you would
Speaker 2: have asked a Utah fan Bill in twenty twenty three, hey,
Speaker 2: we're going to be you know, next year, we're going
Speaker 2: to be down to Luke Pattari as a starter versus
Speaker 2: Colorado on Senior Night, again, you probably would have you know, recoiled.
Speaker 2: But then at the same time you fast forward to
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, you probably would have welcomed the side
Speaker 2: of Bryson Barnes in your locker room. The fact that
Speaker 2: you had had to flip that one point eighty so
Speaker 2: far back in the other direction is just a testament
Speaker 2: to how weird this two years has been for Utah.
Speaker 2: When we're talking about the quarterback room bill, you mentioned it,
Speaker 2: injuries have a huge part to doing this. Isaac Wilson,
Speaker 2: although he wasn't quite ready for a lot of the offense,
Speaker 2: it seems he also dealt with some injuries. But the
Speaker 2: other part of this bill is getting a quarterback in
Speaker 2: your room that is going to be willing to sit
Speaker 2: and not play when in today's college football he might
Speaker 2: be able to get paid to go play at a
Speaker 2: lower level, or he might get in an il deal
Speaker 2: to a bigger school where he's going to go and
Speaker 2: be the backup. There's there's more complications here, and I
Speaker 2: wonder how you think you Tah needs to address this
Speaker 2: going forward in what is again a different reality of
Speaker 2: the sport.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean they had that this year. Brandon Rose
Speaker 1: has been here for three years, right, I mean Brandon
Speaker 1: Rose probably could have gone somewhere else I think you
Speaker 1: can find that. You know, my hope is a guy.
Speaker 1: I think Isaac Wilson still has got a future. I do.
Speaker 1: I mean he I mean, to be fair, I know
Speaker 1: he's been a scapegoat for some of this stuff. He
Speaker 1: has been beat up this year and he's an eighteen
Speaker 1: year old freshman. He I mean how many I mean
Speaker 1: Dominic Ryola, the guy at the guy at the Nebraska
Speaker 1: who was supposed to be you know, Patrick Mahomes. He's
Speaker 1: wearing fifteen and he throws side arms these He's been
Speaker 1: average at best this year. Nebraska might miss going to
Speaker 1: a bowl game again, but they look gangbusters early. And
Speaker 1: this guy was the number one quarterback in the country,
Speaker 1: the cat and you know what he is, he's a
Speaker 1: true freshman. It's just really really hard. And remember it's
Speaker 1: one thing. I mean, Ryola was different because they knew
Speaker 1: he was going to be the guy all through fall camp.
Speaker 1: Isaac wasn't that guy. I mean, Isaac might have been
Speaker 1: better had he been the guy going all through fall camp.
Speaker 1: And that was Cam. So you know, sure he didn't
Speaker 1: make the improvement. I think a lot of people wanted
Speaker 1: to see him make. But yeah, he dealt with some injuries.
Speaker 1: He's a tough kid, but he's also a true freshman.
Speaker 1: So my hope is that Isaac chooses to come back
Speaker 1: and maybe he gets to sit for a year behind
Speaker 1: the quarterback. You know, we don't know in this day
Speaker 1: and age, or maybe Brandon Rose comes back, or maybe
Speaker 1: they both come back, because you know, there is some
Speaker 1: you know, there's some wisdom in being old like I
Speaker 1: am and look down through the years at great quarterback play.
Speaker 1: Most of those guys sat for a year or two
Speaker 1: or three before they got their chance, and then they
Speaker 1: were a starter for one or two years, and then
Speaker 1: they moved along. There was always that pecking order. We're
Speaker 1: in a different world today. I get it. I understand
Speaker 1: same thing in the NFL. They plug these rookies in immediately.
Speaker 1: But I think, you know, if it's possible, you'd like
Speaker 1: to get back to that, especially at the most important
Speaker 1: position on the field, because it's just so hard as
Speaker 1: a youngster without a lot of experience to come in
Speaker 1: and have a great deal of suggests right away.
Speaker 2: Bill, when Kyle Whittingham does hang it up, when he
Speaker 2: does retire, it'll be his news to break, and he'll
Speaker 2: probably do it in a very short and unremarkable press
Speaker 2: release sent out by the Utah football staff. We know this,
Speaker 2: but there is he's.
Speaker 1: Going to do it. You know that he's going to
Speaker 1: do a TikTok video order.
Speaker 2: I don't, I don't. I don't think he's going to
Speaker 2: do anything with this, Harley or any announcement there. We'll
Speaker 2: get a Sunday, Sunday afternoon, oddly timed email and that'll
Speaker 2: be the end of it. We'll get a press conference
Speaker 2: as well. But I want to ask how you are
Speaker 2: kind of following the head ball coach, or you know,
Speaker 2: maybe just how you're consuming this weekend knowing that whether
Speaker 2: it's this year or ne there is talk of Kyle
Speaker 2: Whittingham and possibly the swan song of his career, whether
Speaker 2: it is this year, next, or even you know, a
Speaker 2: few in the future.
Speaker 1: I tell you anything I told everybody else. He's given
Speaker 1: me no indication that he's going to hang it up.
Speaker 1: People ask me that all the time because I get
Speaker 1: to hang around him coaches, shows, pregame interview stuff like
Speaker 1: that he's giving. He's given me body language, verbal cues.
Speaker 1: He's given no indication that he's going to hang it up. Now,
Speaker 1: maybe he's a great poker player, and he is that
Speaker 1: Kyle is a very close to the best kind of
Speaker 1: a guy. But I haven't. I haven't seen or saw
Speaker 1: seen any indication. And I can't imagine on the charter
Speaker 1: or at the team hotel, or on the sideline Saturday
Speaker 1: or Friday, I should say that will see anything else.
Speaker 1: I have no doubt in my mind that he's probably
Speaker 1: examined it once or twice and probably has an idea
Speaker 1: of what he's going to do, because he's not just
Speaker 1: going to wake up on Sunday morning or whatever it
Speaker 1: is and decide. But I haven't got in any sense
Speaker 1: whatsoever that he's stepping aside. Doesn't mean he won't, but
Speaker 1: from my vantage points, I haven't seen anything.
Speaker 3: All Right, Bill, I wanted a hoops question with you
Speaker 3: because I love the college basketball is up and going.
Speaker 3: I remember covering the college basketball season in seventeen eighteen.
Speaker 3: Oklahoma looked amazing in the non conference, then stepped into
Speaker 3: the conference season, and you would never have known how
Speaker 3: great they were because they dropped a good number of
Speaker 3: close games in a stacked conference that is the Big Twelve.
Speaker 3: Now I know they're not in the Big Twelve. Now
Speaker 3: the Big twelve looks different than it used to, but
Speaker 3: there's still such a good number of quality programs there.
Speaker 3: I watch Utah basketball and I like so much of
Speaker 3: what I see, and I look at this saying they
Speaker 3: could be that much improved team from what I even
Speaker 3: saw a year ago and have the brutal challenge of
Speaker 3: going through what this conference is. What are your first
Speaker 3: impressions of this group with Utah basketball, where they've improved,
Speaker 3: and how challenge that could be when it comes to
Speaker 3: conference playing well.
Speaker 1: It's going to be really challenging. It's the best league
Speaker 1: in college basketball, so that that that goes without saying.
Speaker 1: But I've been impressed with what I've seen so far.
Speaker 1: Having nine new faces, they're very connected. In fact, they're
Speaker 1: they're they're as connected as just about any team I've
Speaker 1: seen in recent Utah memory, going back to maybe some
Speaker 1: of the Parker van Dijk and in Cedric Bearfield teams
Speaker 1: of the Larry Kerstoviac era. I just I like what
Speaker 1: I see. I think they've got good leadership, They're they're
Speaker 1: good at point guard with Miro Little at Mike Sharp Johns.
Speaker 1: They've got shooters all over the floor. You know, last
Speaker 1: night they finally got their big guys back and lost
Speaker 1: and lover and you know, he's just having a seven
Speaker 1: footer on the floor helps. But having a seven footer
Speaker 1: on the floor of communicates can play defense and rebound.
Speaker 1: It's been fantastic. So I think that that's going to
Speaker 1: help a ton. I don't know what the conference season
Speaker 1: is going to look like, but I've said this to
Speaker 1: a lot of people. I am, I am really, really,
Speaker 1: really confident they're gonna outperform their preseason pick. I just
Speaker 1: I just you know, I mean, it's not hard to
Speaker 1: do that. Finish fifteen and you're you've outperformed it. But
Speaker 1: that being said, I just I like what they have here.
Speaker 1: They've got a bench, they've got guys that can bring
Speaker 1: in off the bench, and again, there's something to be
Speaker 1: said in this day and age, especially where you've got
Speaker 1: so many new guys, and then I have this team.
Speaker 1: They're they're just they're they're they're very well connected, and
Speaker 1: they seem to like each other and they hang out
Speaker 1: together and all that stuff, and it's been fun watching them.
Speaker 1: I know the competition necessarily hasn't been great. Saturday will
Speaker 1: be a little bit better. Eastern Washington's not bad. They'll
Speaker 1: be in here on Saturday afternoon. But you know, they
Speaker 1: went toe to toe with with Mississippi State down in Mississippi,
Speaker 1: who's a middle of the pack SEC team has been
Speaker 1: to the NCAA's the last couple of years. But it's
Speaker 1: a fun brand of basketball because even with loss and
Speaker 1: lovering back, they're gonna play a lot of times. You're
Speaker 1: gonna see four guards and four shooters on the floor,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna get up and down, and they've got
Speaker 1: a little bit of bite and toughness, guys like Mattson
Speaker 1: and Ericson, and they get a little dog in them.
Speaker 1: So I think this team's a fun team. And I
Speaker 1: know when in recent years people have said that, well,
Speaker 1: you know, and they see the preseason picks, I would
Speaker 1: tell people come out watch them, yeah, because I think
Speaker 1: they're they're fun to watch and they're gonna continue to
Speaker 1: play that brand of basketball. It's you know, to quote
Speaker 1: Larry Krosoviac, he used to like to say, the price
Speaker 1: of poker goes up. Yeah, the price of poker is
Speaker 1: gonna go up quite a bit when the Big Twelve begins.
Speaker 1: But if you play hard on a night in a
Speaker 1: night at Basis, and you've got guys that can shoot,
Speaker 1: and Utah's get a bunch of them. You're gonna surprise
Speaker 1: some people. So I think it's gonna be fun. I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be a fun season for Utah basketball. Bill.
Speaker 2: As you mentioned it, they're Utah Basketball taking on Eastern Washington.
Speaker 2: That's a Saturday matchup two thirty pre game, three pm.
Speaker 2: The tip Utah Football on a Friday. Give the folks
Speaker 2: an idea of what to listen in for on the
Speaker 2: station and with the voice of the utes over the
Speaker 2: course of the next week. And what else is on
Speaker 2: your radar? Is Thanksgiving approaches?
Speaker 1: Well, I will be flying to Orlando at seven am tomorrow,
Speaker 1: which would be fun, spending the day somewhere in the
Speaker 1: Orlando Greater metropolitan area. It's hunting down some Thanksgiving dinner.
Speaker 1: Then we'll be on the airport, will be on the
Speaker 1: air at two. We'll be on the air at four
Speaker 1: from the bounce house, as they like to say for
Speaker 1: Utah and Central Florida. I'll hop on the charter fly home,
Speaker 1: get home very early Saturday morning, get a quick nap,
Speaker 1: and then be back up to call Utah and Eastern
Speaker 1: and then volleyball has their selection show on Sunday, which
Speaker 1: I'll be MCing. It's not on the air, but the
Speaker 1: selection show, and Utah's in a very good position to
Speaker 1: host the first and second round at NCAA. Volleyball Bethlyneers
Speaker 1: team has been fantastic this year, so they're likely to host.
Speaker 1: Then we've got coaches shows and basketball next week as well.
Speaker 2: Bell Riley, the always busy voice of the youths, but
Speaker 2: not too busy to make time for his former family
Speaker 2: here at ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 1: Thanksook, not former fan family. I'm still in the family.
Speaker 1: Don't don't you excommunicate me
Speaker 2: Larson, you're you're our step brother, Billy, all right, you later,
Speaker 2: Thanks Billy.