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one O three, nine ninety.
Speaker 2: Eight three ESPN the Fan, It's time to celebrate the
greatest team sport known to man, where modern day gladiators
collide for all the glorie on the grid. I let's
talk some college football on Cougar Sports with benkred.
Speaker 3: Welcome back Cougar Sports one of three, nine ninety eight
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Speaker 4: All Right let's tart some college football, shall we.
Speaker 3: Michigan defensive coordinator Jay Hill hopped onto a podcast recently.
He was in The Trenches podcast. He was on the
End the Trenches podcast and said some interesting things.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: He was asked the question why was Michigan? Why was
becoming a Michigan man for you? He stated this, The
decision to come to Michigan was not hard at all.
Coach Witch called me and said, hey, I think I
have this opportunity.
Speaker 1: What do you think?
Speaker 3: I said, Coach, I'm in because it's Michigan. I believe
we can win national championships here. I believe we can
win consistent Big Ten championships here. With the way coach
Wit coaches, his discipline and toughness, I just think it's
a perfect match for Michigan.
Speaker 1: I was in.
Speaker 3: Look, I think we all knew that, Jay Hill. We've
listened to SoundBite after SoundBite, okay, of Jay Hill being asked, hey,
you know, do you think you'd take a head coaching job.
Do you think you'd go you know, you know, to
to another place? Like we knew he had a grander
vision than being the associate head coach and defensive coordinator
at BYU.
Speaker 1: Okay, he's way.
Speaker 3: Too aggressive and way too I think ambitious to just say, hey,
you know what, I'm just gonna stick it out in Provo. Now,
there was a thought, there was a theory that hey,
because of the heart attack, you know, he's like, you
know what, I'm gonna I'm gonna set those ambitions aside.
I'm okay with being here in Provo and having my
family here close and not taking my talents anywhere else.
Speaker 4: Okay, you know that theory.
Speaker 3: I don't know if it really caught any credible traction,
but there was a hope in kugarnation that he felt
that way that his wife would would maybe convince him
to stay in Provo and you know, and and to
to continue to coach. The BYU Cougars, et cetera didn't happen. Obviously,
he's extremely excited for the challenge, and granted he has
a grander vision than himself than than than being the
defensive coordinator at Michigan. He doesn't want to just be
the defensive coordinator at in Ann Arbor. You know, he
wants to be a head coach, he believes. Okay, this
is me maybe putting words into his mouth maybe projecting
a little bit too much, But I've been around Jay
enough to know like he believes he's the best coach
in college football. Like he thinks he can win national
championships being the head coach. You give him the brand
of Michigan, you know, as a head coach. Eventually he's
going to bring you in Natty. He believes that he's
going to be a head coach at a power for school.
In my opinion, eventually, how quickly does he get to
that that precipice of his per professional career to be determined.
But I wouldn't sleep on Kyle, and I wouldn't sleep
on Jason Beck, and I wouldn't sleep on j Hill.
All three tremendous coaches. All three have a competitive fire
that it's as burning and fierce as any of the
high level coaches of college football. But when you read
into this ap, what do you see? What's your reaction
to the quote? Some people BA defense may take offense
to it, like, hey, wait a second, you know you
don't even think twice you just went with Kyle no hesitancy.
I don't think the money was that much more than
what b Way was offering. By the way, I will
say that much. I do think it was a raise,
but I don't think it was significantly bored. But the
platform obviously in the Big Ten, the prestige right now,
maybe the momentum of the Big Ten, I think prioritize
this move.
Speaker 1: For Jay Hill.
Speaker 5: Your thoughts, well, first off, I don't think this is
Jay Hill taking a shot at BYU at all. I
think it's pretty well known that Jay loved being at BYU.
Speaker 1: I think he did that.
Speaker 5: I don't think there's anything to suggest that j Hill
has any resentment towards BYU.
Speaker 1: I think he.
Speaker 5: I think he has a good relationship with BYU. Looking
at this objectively, if I was in J Hill's shoes,
I would have done the exact same thing.
Speaker 1: And here's why, and here's why. Look, being the defensive
coordinator at.
Speaker 5: BYU is a good position, and it was good for
him at the time he took the job.
Speaker 1: It's probably not a good.
Speaker 5: Position for him if he's wanting to move up, because
Kalani had made it clear he's going to be here
for a very long time. So the opportunity for him
to move up farther than he has is not really
available at BYU now. Let's take a look at Michigan.
Kyle Whittingham takes the head coaching up. Kyle Winningham is
an older man.
Speaker 6: He is.
Speaker 1: Six sixty sixty four.
Speaker 5: He's probably not got so he's probably not got that
much longer left in the coaching game. I know we've
been saying this three year six about Kyle, but let's
just say Kyle takes the head coach job at Michigan,
coaches for five years and retires. Who is one of
the front runners for the head coach at Michigan, Jay Hill.
Jay is putting himself in a position where he will
be either a front runner for the head coaching job
at Michigan or because he's the defensive coordinator at a
school like Michigan, which, let's be honest, has a much
bigger national brand than BYU. If they have good defenses.
When a power for school fires their head coach, a
ton of them did this year, Jay's phone will start
ringing because he's going to He has allowed himself to
build his brand. I don't think this is a shot
at BYU at all, but the defensive coordinator position at
Michigan right now is a better spot for j Hill
than the defensive coordinator position at BYU.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, of course it is right, we're not.
I don't think anyone's going to debate that. No one's
going to say it's not the right professional move. What
they're gonna say is, okay, if you want to you know,
if you want to have like a long career and
and and not have to worry about anything, you know,
getting fired, the bar is lower at BYU. The quote
is lower at b YU, and you can have balance
and you're still making good money and all those things, right.
I don't think anyone's going to debate like, oh, b
YU is a better job than not BYU's defensive coordinating
assistant head coaching job is better or just as good
as Michigan's. It's not there yet. No, of course it's not.
I don't know if anyone's really making that argument. I
don't think anyone's gonna I don't think anyone even criticized
j for leaving.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, I think and.
Speaker 3: They what they're saying, what they would say is like
if you're reading between the Lions series, like you didn't
even think about by you said, I'm all in on
going to Michigan yeah, maybe you're taking offense to that.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure.
Speaker 5: Well, all those reasons I laid out is why you're
all in immediately. By You can't offer what Michigan's offering
him right now.
Speaker 3: Facilities are fantastic. I personally wouldn't want to live in
ann Arbor, but that's me.
Speaker 1: That's fair. That is fair.
Speaker 5: But I mean his quote where he says, I believe
we can win national championships here and win big ten championships.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest.
Speaker 5: BYU hasn't won a national championship in over fifty or
forty years. Not fifty yet, over forty years. Michigan won
one two years ago, three years ago, it.
Speaker 4: Was three years ago. It's not too far away.
Speaker 5: That's a program that consistently competes, and they're in a
conference that allows you to have more teams into the
playoff where you have that opportunity.
Speaker 1: Whether we like it.
Speaker 5: Or not, everything he said here is true, and this
is not a shot at BYU. I think Jay Hill
loves BYU still, he loves Kilane. But it's just it's
a matter of reality.
Speaker 3: I have a conversation I could start up with you
guys real quick. Just the final thing here. Do you believe, okay,
that Jay Hill tried to get players from BYU two
an arbor or do you think out of respect to
Kilanie he didn't.
Speaker 1: Even try, so I bet you he tried. Do you
think he tried? Absolutely? Yeah. Why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't you.
Speaker 5: You have relationships with these players, you can build a
good defense, be successful.
Speaker 1: Why would you not? He got a backup. I don't know.
I don't know if he'd. I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't know if he did. I'm not cut one
hundred percent sold.
Speaker 7: That he doesn't that he did.
Speaker 3: I don't know if he would. I think out of
respect to Kilanie, I don't know if he did. Look,
I think it's an interesting debate, Like I don't know
the answer.
Speaker 1: I bet you he at least filled out the.
Speaker 3: Competitive side of Jay. I would say, Okay, he's gonna
go do it. He's gonna say, hey, if you want
to follow the tip, if you want to leave, I
got you.
Speaker 4: Evan Johnson, want to leave, I got you.
Speaker 3: Isaiah Glass, you want to leave, I got you, all right,
I got you.
Speaker 4: We're bringing you.
Speaker 3: In, right, Uh, any one of those guys. But I
do think the form and fashion in which the Penn
State deal and maybe.
Speaker 4: The possibility of j being kind of the head coach
in waiting.
Speaker 3: If Kilane head coach, he would be the candidate, the
number one priority candidate to become the next head coach
if he left, and there could have been a contingency
plan there from the the ath leftic department standpoint, I
almost wonder if, like, you know, Jay's like, look, I
don't want to cause any more drama.
Speaker 4: I I love my time at BAU.
Speaker 3: They paid me well, we won football games and allowed
me to be the DC at Michigan. I'm not going
to go steal any of those guys. But you know,
Max Alford, you got an a cl tear, all right,
I'll take it right to be determined.
Speaker 4: Shah, where's Shae Bryan Strather?
Speaker 3: Maybe he would take Shay He's he's still in the
portal because his eligibility is in question.
Speaker 5: Well, but I bet you he at least had a
conversation where he felt where players were at. Because look,
it's it's well documented he loves both Kilani and he
loves Kyle, but he still took Kyle's players from Kyle's
defense when Kyle was a head coat.
Speaker 1: It wasn't out of respect for Kyle that he didn't
touch Utah players.
Speaker 5: I don't and I understand it's a different situation, but
I don't think, like, look, this is a business, and I.
Speaker 4: Think you're saying.
Speaker 5: Yeah from Kyle, yeah, it's nothing to There was no
out of respect for Kyle. I'm not touching any Utah
players that go in the port road touching.
Speaker 7: It, I think.
Speaker 8: But I think Keana was ready to go to in
my opinion, So I think because there's two sides, because
you are right, but I do think things. I think
from the competitive standpoint. Jay thought about it, and I'm
gonna add a different perspective, and I love your both
depends on it. He thought about it, but I think
out of respect for Colonia and then can I really
go and this is not a shot, and please our
fans don't get mad at this.
Speaker 7: Jay's probably looking I don't.
Speaker 8: Need those guys, like I'm at like I got way,
but like, hey, I'm not even trying to be rude.
He's like, I don't got to deal with the onicle,
Like wait a second, Like oh wait, I can get
five star galore, Like I guarantee that also hit his brain,
so he's like, there's no point to burn that bridge.
I think that also went through his brain because that's
what I'm thinking about, right, Okay, yeah, maybe you talk
to filataw Schmev, But are they immediate starters? They two
deep guys, Like that's what you're thinking about if you're
Jay and you're like, look, I left it in a
great place. We ended on a win. What's the point
of taking those guys? No, let them finish out there?
Speaker 7: B what you guys?
Speaker 8: I love Kolani and now I'm gonna be able to
get every five star won.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's something there. I think it's an interesting debate.
Do you think Jay Hill tried to get you know,
Isaiah Keanu Evan, any one of these guys right the
best when they all declare and go for the draft
next year and when it's over and when they leave,
because you know, we get we get these guys to
talk to the agents.
Speaker 8: When we get them on, we can ask them oh yeah, yeah,
I guess like when we get them on like the
show when they joined, like we could ask hey, look
you get pinged?
Speaker 7: Did you get pinged? You're gone for by you?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 7: Did you get pinged?
Speaker 1: Did they ask you?
Speaker 7: We can ask Jack, did you get pinged? People try
to contact you, Jack, You don't have to look.
Speaker 8: And it's a valid question because I think that it
paints perspective and I think that would paint good perspective
of Jay, Like, look, we need to know, Like, I
think that's a valid question to ask in the field
of journalism.
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Let's go to break, don't go anywhere more to get
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Speaker 7: Fan Extra extra readout.
Speaker 2: A bad Let's get the latest news coming out of
BYU Athletics with a Cougar Sports press release.
Speaker 8: This is Ramo the three Man Weaver bring you the
Cougar Sports bresh release today.
Speaker 7: Powered by twenty plus points performances from Delaney Gibb and
Olivia Hamlin.
Speaker 8: BYU women's basketball roll pass Iowa State eighty three to
sixty nine on Tuesday night at the Marriott Tenner. The
first half was tightly contested, featured in twelve league changes over.
Speaker 7: The opening two quarters.
Speaker 8: Bay You found an offensive rythm early putting up a
season best forty three points before halftime.
Speaker 7: Hamlin spearheaded the search.
Speaker 8: With seventeen points explosion in the second quarter alone, helping
BYU take the momentum into the break. The Cougar sees
controlling the third, opening up the half on a ten
to two run and later strung together a fourteen to
three burst to stretch the lead in the twenty, their
largest advantage of the night. From there, the home team
maintained separation and secured to fourteen point victory. At the
end of the game, Hamma delivered her career best performance,
finishing with twenty three points on nine to eighteen shooting,
including three mikes from beyond the arc. The freshman guard
added three rebounds and still off the bench, with the
bulk of her production coming during Bou's dominant second quarter.
De Laney Gibb also rediscovered her shooting touch, pouring in
twenty one points on an efficient eight of twelve from
the field. The sophomore knocked down five of her seven
three point attempts, tying a career high on triples. She
sat implemented her scoring with four rebounds and three assists,
making her fifth twenty point out in of the season.
On the inside, Leo Roco anchored the defense and controlled
the glass.
Speaker 7: The Hanover, Germany native pulled.
Speaker 8: Down nine rebounds, recorded two skills in the block, and
played a key role in limiting Iowa state standout center
Autie Crooks. She also provided offensive production with fifteen points
on six to nine shooting from the field. Up next
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If you're listening to Cougar Sports and it's time for
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Nobody does it better than band or Wealth at each
time for little Cougar Byte, gonna get into a few
soundbites that you're gonna want to hear and evaluate. Give
your opinion on cougarnation ap by my side as well
as run up the three man. We were shout up
to my guy Vick Craam on the data aggregation and
newsletter at news.
Speaker 4: Time to talk about a little cougar beet.
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be disappointed. Let's get into some AJ to Boncer commentary
shows up every night. He's knocking at the door to
become one of the best in in not only college basketball.
Speaker 4: He very well could be the best in college basketball.
Speaker 1: But the number one.
Speaker 3: Overall for raft pick is is possibly here in provo.
Let's listen in what is this from exactly Ronald the
Freeman Weaver.
Speaker 7: This is from Seth Greenberg.
Speaker 8: I don't know what podcast he was on, but he
spoke about the between AJ and Kamboozer whin the Wooden Award.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get into it.
Speaker 3: Seth Greenberg talking AJ to Bonsa in the Wooden Award.
Speaker 9: The Wooden Award, the National Player of the Year, whatever
award you're giving out. AJ debots it has to be
in a conversation. This is not a foregone conclusion that
kem Bus is going to win this award. Chem's a
terrific player, bo, but the Monts is doing is absolutely ridiculous.
Shooting forty from the three, almost fifty from the two,
three assists a game, getting to the line nine times
a game in Big twelve play, everyone sets their defense
to minimize his impact on the game, but you just
can't because the defensive rebounding initiates the fast break. You
put him in a ball screen in the middle of
the floor, he looks over the defense or gets to
the front of the rim. He's in a back time down.
You've run a double at him, He's going to find
the open man. If you don't run a double at him,
he's going to get the shot he wants. He competes
every single play, takes no plays off, doesn't miss any games,
and plays through all the adversity teams. You look how
people are defending BYU. They are absolutely making him play
in a crowd, they're loading up to the basketball. Yet
he continues each and every night to make play after
play after play high basketball. IQ unselfish and I actually
like that He's starting to be a little bit more selfish,
especially at the starter games. He doesn't need to defer.
They need to play through him right from the very beginning.
And he needs to be aggressive, which he has been
a Jed Bonsa. He has to be right there in
the conversation for National Player of the Year.
Speaker 7: I don't care what award it is.
Speaker 9: What he's doing on a daily basis is absolutely incredible.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I love this commentator for Sath Greenberger. I think
it's on point.
Speaker 3: I think what people are seeing with aj is like
the upside of the potential. Obviously, the ceiling is very,
very high with AJH. What they're saying though, is his mentality.
He's competitive fire. The thing that I've brought up time
and time again is he's got that dog in him,
like he's a competitor, Like he's not.
Speaker 1: Just there just to to to stat seek.
Speaker 3: There's plenty of players out there stats seeking and and
I remember Dave Rose discussing the new recruit that they
were coming in contact with.
Speaker 1: This was, you know, in the.
Speaker 3: In the twilight right of his of his coaching career
at b YU.
Speaker 1: He's the goat. He's the goat.
Speaker 3: I remember Tim mccoone talking about it. What they found
was that these power brokers at the time, parents coaches,
they were like, hey, what is what's his utilization rate?
Speaker 1: Is?
Speaker 3: What is his utilization raking to be? You know, because
he's got to have these stats for him to be
a draft pick, for him to be where he needs
to be, He's gotta he's gotta have these stats.
Speaker 1: And so we need to see that utilization rate. And
it's just like what, like what are you talking about?
Like what are you? What are we? What are we
debating here?
Speaker 3: I don't think AJ's a utilization rate guy stat seeker.
Like he's not sitting there thinking like I need this
many touches, I need this many looks, I need this
many shots. I want to to to to be the
static crewer. No, no, no, no, Like he's just going out
and he's playing good ball. As he mentioned in the
post game with It after the Baylor win, he mentioned,
I wanted to get my he has seven assists. I
want to get my guy rob Right involved. I want
to get my guy Rob Right involved. That's selflessness, that's
that's being a good teammate. So not only is he
a competitor, he wants to win championships, but he wants
to make others better. And that's why, even though I
really liked what Seth had to say, A j may
not win the Wooden Award, and that's fine, but he
may end up being the first overall pick because of
who he is as a person and because of his
upside potential and because he's he's a he's a great
holistic human. But he's a well rounded basketball player that
can really do it all. He rebounds, he plays great defense.
He's getting better at defense. I think he probably needs
to work out a little bit on his lateral movement.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: He's shot blocking a little bit better too, and his
shots really come together in transit. There's been a couple
of pull up jays in transition where he hit. His
mechanics are becoming stronger, more efficient. Still needs to work
on the on the free throw line a little bit.
He's he's a little bit off there. He tends to
be a little bit long and strong, and so still
plenty of room to to become better. But you know
he's going to be putting in the lonely work. You
know that he's going to be coachable, is what I'm
getting at. You know, he's got a competitive fire, So
shout out to Seth for breaking it down.
Speaker 4: I think most people are seeing this at his current page.
Speaker 3: Aj will break Danny Aingels BA freshman scoring record next
Wednesday at Arizona. By the way, Devonsai isty four points
away from setting the record and is averaging twenty four
point five points per game. Ange had six hundred and
thirty two points. That was in the seventy seven to
seventy eight season. Currently, De Bonsads Bonsas are at five
hundred and eighty nine most thirty five plus point games
by a freshman in men's Division one history. Michael Believed
Beasley at five, Trey Young at five, Andrew Rousey at four,
Kevin Duran at four, A J. D. Bonsa the Sponsors
at four. The Sponsors has played eight fewer games than
anyone else on that list. By the way, AP your thoughts, well, I.
Speaker 5: Want to add one more qualifier to why he would
be the number one pick. From all the things he listed,
he actually shows up to play best abilities. You're availability right,
and I only say that, And yes, this is a
shot at Darren Peterson. I actually think Darren Peterson's a
better prospect if Darren Peterson actually shows up and.
Speaker 4: Plays, But why the I use a better score?
Speaker 5: Like when I was watching Kansas BYU, my iraction was, Yep,
Peterson's the number one pick. But then he sat out
the entire rest of the game, the entire second half,
and hardly played since. But but my takeaway from the quote.
Speaker 1: Is that.
Speaker 5: I don't know, we haven't seen a freshman do this
in fifty years.
Speaker 1: That's insane. It's pretty insane. Thats insan.
Speaker 5: The record, the freshman scoring record was set in nineteen
seventy eight.
Speaker 1: I do believe that. Isn't that before the three point line? Yeah? Yeah,
that's before the three point line?
Speaker 5: So that does make Danny Angel's record a little bit
more impressive in my mind. Sure, although Debonza does a
lot of his scoring inside, he isn't a three point merchant.
Yeah no, he's not one of those kids that's jacking
up ten threes a game. But it's it's a lot
of fun to be a b Way fan. Even though
we lost four in a row, you're still seeing something historic.
Speaker 4: It would be great if everyone would lift with the sand.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's a dem boom boom, Maybe it's it's somebody else,
Maybe Tyler Morriss can be great. Maybe I'll actually coach.
It can be great. Somebody's got to step up and
be great and booy up AJ. For the love of Pete.
It can't just be AJ and Rob. We got to
figure out somebody.
Speaker 1: To the you know that's my guy.
Speaker 3: Can't just a Richie Richie Rob Aj. There's gotta be
somebody else. Let's hope somebody steps up. Let's hope somebody
can lift where they and be a booie to the
big three, the brig three.
Speaker 1: By the way, A. J.
Speaker 3: De Bonsa is second on Jeremy was twenty twenty six
NBA Draft Big Board rankings.
Speaker 4: This is what he had to say about him to
six foot and nine baller shot collar.
Speaker 3: He's only nineteen, right, ag, He's only nineteen. His previous
ranking was number two. NBA execs widely viewed de Bonza
as Peterson's most direct competitor for the number one spot
because of the forwards combination of positional size, strength, and explosiveness,
coupled with strong production. Debonza His style of play isn't
always esthetic, and he's still developing as a jump shooter.
But he draws files and bunches and wields a greater
physical advantage than most players in the draft. He also
is beginning to show growth as a decision maker, improving
in recent weeks, finding teammates and being patient. His long
term potential has earned him the benefit of the doubt
from many evaluators while Big twelve teams continue to pack
the paint and throw defensive looks at him. He's in
the midst of one of his best stretches of the season,
with excellent showings against Oklahoma State, Houston and Baylor Debonts.
His offensive upside, in particular appears and thens, and the
strides he's made in season have kept him in the
conversation at number one. There are still plenty of improvement areas.
He needs to polish his handle, shoot from the three
with more consistency, and be more engaged defender. This will
require some patience and investment, but the ceiling has.
Speaker 1: Kept teams excited.
Speaker 3: His rates currently twenty four and a half points per game,
six point three rebounds, three point seven assists in.
Speaker 1: Twenty four games.
Speaker 3: I would agree with those assessments, but the potential of
AJ is very, very high, and that's why man he
very well could go number one. Overall, and as you mentioned,
his best ability is always whose availability. Shout out to
AJ for always showing up, showing out and competing. Let's
go to break, guys, Please don't go money. We're still
plenty to get to. On a beautiful Thursday, February twelfth
edition of Cougar Sports. That segment was brought to you
by Tental Pros of Utah Dentlprosovutah dot com.
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Speaker 2: Today you are listening to Cougar Sports with Benkrettle and
it's time for a Cougar Insider report. Now, let's get
that for a prietary inside scoop on Cougar Sports from Critle.
Speaker 1: Yeah, buddy, welcome back.
Speaker 3: Cougar Sports one of three nine ninety eight point three
ESPN the Fan I've been crital broadcasting from our Vanderilth
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at better. Well, it is time for a little Cougar
inside report. The midpoint of the high school season leads
to a twenty twenty six Rivals Top one hundred and
fifty rankings update. There's a BYU recruit a commit on
the high risers.
Speaker 4: Uh, the the guys that are leveling.
Speaker 3: Up their their their their I guess recruiting stock, and
we're gonna highlight that here in your inside of Ports
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Speaker 1: Check this out, guys.
Speaker 3: The midpoint of the high school season leads to a
twenty twenty six Rivals Top one hundred and fifty rankings update.
On Monday, Rivals updated his class of twenty twenty six
player rankings for the ten time. This is the eighth
update of the twenty twenty six Rivals Top one fifty,
with the full allotment of one hundred and fifty players.
The movement and additions are based on two key sources.
Number one in person player valuations through the mid part
of the high school season and number two film study
and intel gathered on prospects since the previous update. This
is our guy. This from our guy, Jamie Shaw. He
hops onto the show consistently subscribed on three in Rivals.
We advise you to do such support these guys. They
do a tremendous job evaluating the talent around the country,
both in football and basketball. Jamie is fantastic on the
basketball front, he states. Since this cycle's last update in November,
the Rivals national basketball team has attended preseason high school events,
high Power National tournaments, and showcases, along with practices and scrimmages,
with multiple.
Speaker 4: Events taking place every weekend.
Speaker 3: Rivals has also collected streams and film to comb through
for the maximum exposure of countless events and players. The
rankings process is a continual, continual, and often fluid one.
Speaker 1: Okay, these are all qualifiers here.
Speaker 3: Rivals starts ranking recruits after their freshman year, travel seasons
before their sophomore years of high school. Each recruit can
look a lot different for our final rankings after their
senior year championships and All Star games are played. Jamie
Shosts states, we have spent the last several weeks working
on this twenty twenty six update so that will reflect
the most accurate and current presentation of the recruiting cycle.
This work has resulted in fourteen players making their debuts
in the latest Rivals Top one fifty update. Interestingly enough,
this update also reflects four players that who have already
announced they are reclassifying from the twenty twenty seven class
into the twenty.
Speaker 1: Twenty six cycle.
Speaker 3: That's always interesting to me to see these reclassification players anyway,
they're positioning themselves maybe for a better draft stock eventual draft,
or a better recruiting stock. They have continually collected viewings
data on previously ranked players, keeping eyes on them since
the previous update. So all that being said, right, the
goal of rankings at rivals to assess a players long
term potential at players performance on the court, and the
continual growth will ultimately outweigh their earlier rankings. Again, every
player's arc is different and each ranking is a snapshot
in time. They have to go through this because otherwise
they get just all manner of vitriol and hate from fans, parents,
power brokers, et cetera. So take it for what it's worth, guys,
as we go through this, and don't don't.
Speaker 1: Hate on the rankings.
Speaker 3: Let's talk about the high riser though right now. The
high riser, the guy that's taking his talents to the
next level. Dean Ruker is the biggest riser in the rankings.
Speaker 1: The BYU commit.
Speaker 3: Dean Ruker, six foot seven wing at tim Fu Utah,
jumped one hundred spots to number four forty two in
the recent twenty twenty six Rivals Top one fifty their
rankings update. Previously at number one hundred and forty two,
just inside the one to fifty. In November's update, Rukert
has averaged twenty one point six points per game, five
point seven rebounds, two point nine er sis, and three
steals and blocks. So that's a combo of steals and blocks,
three steals and blocks, it's called stocks. They're at Rivals
for a seventeen to two team ranked by some among
the top twenty five in the country. He's shooting forty
two point three percent from the from three on the season.
That's a blazing that's in fuego right there. Rukert is
not the only player among the Rivals Top one fifty
to make a big jump into the four star status.
Speaker 1: There are others, but.
Speaker 3: Rukert is the highest riser, the most rapid riser. Ap
your thighser reaction to the Dean Ruker news that people
are recognizing the game and given a tip of the
cap to him.
Speaker 5: Well, I think he's a good player. He's he's obviously
been named to develop. But I think it speaks to
b YU Basketball's ability to identify talent in the state
of Utah because they.
Speaker 1: Are just down the street.
Speaker 5: Deans well, the players that are right down the street
that have been pretty good that that we've missed on.
But I mean, they identified a player that wasn't necessarily
top one hundred, but they obviously believed that he that
he was going to be something and and he's proving
them right. What I'm interested to see is is he
gonna play next year for b YU, because I think
you're going to open a lot of spots with the
players leaving in the.
Speaker 1: Program this year. Call to serve? Oh, is he he's
on a mission? Okay? But called to serve? Is he
going to go?
Speaker 3: I think Dean did Dean's mentioned is he going on
a mission?
Speaker 4: I think he's a mission first? Is he a mission first?
Speaker 1: Or first? Will open shows? But I don't I don't
know that Dean.
Speaker 7: I don't know if Dean is I don't think so
we'll have to double check that.
Speaker 4: We'll have to look at the uh, let's look it's
a transcript.
Speaker 5: But I'm really intrigued because I think Kevin Young's done
pretty well recruiting high school players, but none of the
players he's really recruited from high school have done much
on the team yet, Like Ken Kennon Catchings is the
one high school player he's that has seen the floor
to my knowledge, and he didn't really do much for
BYU outside of the Baylor game, which was phenomenal. But
I'm really intrigued as to when we're gonna see the
high school players develop at BYU because Jegor was a freshman,
but he was not a high school player. He was
he was an academy player, and I mean aj was
an academy player. I don't know if you like wash
that is it's an academy not necessarily a high school.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I will say this much. B what you could
use Cannon Catchings this year.
Speaker 1: He's doing well at Georgia, Yeah, we could.
Speaker 3: We could use that pret pretty ug So we could
use twenty three minutes to play, twenty three games started,
twenty three games played, forty two point five percent from
the field, thirty five percent from the three point line,
eleven point two points per game, UH five rebounds per
one point four sis.
Speaker 1: And correct to him. He's he's found a home. He's
doing well.
Speaker 3: The six foot nine, two hundred and twenty pounds sophomore
at the Brownsburg, Indiana.
Speaker 1: We miss your cannon.
Speaker 4: We'll sure be with you, Cougar, but we understand.
Speaker 5: You know what I you know what I feel like
was a missed opportunity. This is a weird tangent. We've
had two players named cannon at BYU in the last
ten years. He had McKay cannon if you remember, and
cannon catchings and there was not I feel like every
time those players hit a three, the student six section
should have been Unison said, boom. I feel like that
is a massive missed opportunity boom because the cannon goes boom.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I like that. Yeah, the George H. Cannon. You've
got any just bring George Q.
Speaker 3: Cannon to the Marriotte Center and just just just fired
off any George.
Speaker 5: You imagine that if any Georgia fans happened to be
listed thing. Please carry out my dream.
Speaker 3: And the George's You can reduce the amount of power
in George Q. Cannon, like like a smaller mortar, you
know what I mean? For the Merriot center, so you
could do such a thing just boom, you know, three
point shot anyway, missed opportunity, no doubt.
Speaker 1: Real quick.
Speaker 8: Gotta be careful because if you say boom and Tony
Pidia's ref and he'll get a technical foul.
Speaker 1: Remember that would have got some technical found.
Speaker 7: There's a certain guy got up and he wasn't even talking.
He was talking to what.
Speaker 1: Tony thought he said.
Speaker 7: And if I really want to.
Speaker 3: Do you think Trevan's do you think Trevn's lying to us?
Speaker 5: Not a lot on camera that he just said, bim
like it's it.
Speaker 1: You can says boom.
Speaker 8: You can go back and look at him.
Speaker 1: Tony Tony Tony, Tony, Tony is the Tony has interesting calls. Everybody.
Everyone loves him.
Speaker 3: I get the Ken Palm ratings love him, you know,
for his reffing accuracy or consistency.
Speaker 1: I don't know which one they are.
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get you