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It is time for a little college basketball segment prepping
you getting you ready for a BYU Wisconsin matchup here
on your Utah ESPN Radio Network. BYU, sitting at number
nine in the nation, returns to the Beehive State on
Friday to take on the Wisconsin Badgers really good basketball team,
number twenty three in the nation in a rematch of
last season's round to thirty two matchup. Tip for the
bad Boy or bad Boy Mower series is scheduled for
two pm out in time at the Delta Center in
Salt Lake City, So get a neutral court. Can't wait
to see what is in store with this matchup Formidable Foae,
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or esp of the fan to get that discount. All right,
let's get out to the hotline and welcome in former
basketball player and analyst for the Big Ten Network now
in Fox Sports.
Speaker 2: We got Brian Butch on the line. Brian, how are you?
Speaker 3: I'm doing good? How are you guys doing? Hey?
Speaker 2: Living the dream?
Speaker 4: Love talking ball of you know the the rematch here
b Yu gets a little vengeance game hopefully right They
get a neutral court that's a little bit nearer to
their home. It'll be not necessarily a home game, but
it'll be essentially a home game. Uh, what do you
remember about last year's game in this in this matchup?
Speaker 5: Well, first of all, this is one is going to
be a home game. Don't tell me that's not gonna be.
It's one percent a home game. As much as you're
advertising it that it's not going to be a home game.
Speaker 3: It was a home game.
Speaker 5: And what I remember from Denver is that was a
home game as well, for by you, even though that
was the NC.
Speaker 2: All right, all right, you're right, all right, I'm sorry,
you are right. This is a home game.
Speaker 4: And the Denver game was pretty much three fours BYU fans.
Speaker 5: It was, it was, But no, it was a great
college basketball game, is what I remember.
Speaker 3: D Yu.
Speaker 5: We knew how good they were last year, obviously a
lot of you know, great things that they're doing.
Speaker 3: But this year they're just as good and if not better.
Speaker 5: And I think you know what they've built, how they've
gone about it.
Speaker 3: They're a physical team.
Speaker 5: They readbound the ball well, they shoot it from three,
They play with great pace. You know, Kevin does a
great job of running that program. I actually know their
assistant coaches, Will Void. When I played in the G League,
he was my coach, and then Jordan Brady was I
was an assistant under Jordan Brady when he was the
head coach of the Wisconsin Hurt, So I know kind
of what Byu is doing. I know their assistance. They're
great guys. They understand the game really well.
Speaker 3: This season, you guys are gonna have success.
Speaker 5: Obviously there's a lot of talent on that squad, but
I think at some point you gonna have the coaching
to be able to get you.
Speaker 3: Through when what is a long college basketball season.
Speaker 5: So I love, like I said, the way that you
guys are built, how you're gonna guard, how you're gonna
play offensively. You know, when you look at your efficiency
so far, your top five in the nation as far
as ball movement, what you can do, how you can score.
So now it just kind of becomes what what is
gonna happen tomorrow night? And I think this Wisconsin team
they're really good as well. They've got a couple of
great transfers and Nick Boyd. They also bring back John Blackwell,
Nolan Winter and those guys have kind of, you know,
done a good job. The question I had with Wisconsin
for you guys, this is really their first big test.
They've played four mid majors, they've won big and all
of them. Now they need to be tested. This is
their first test. Then they head out to San Diego.
Wisconsin's on an eleven day road trip with this game.
So they're gonna play the YU, Then they're gonna go
out San Diego play Providence, and then they'll play.
Speaker 3: The winner of TCU and Florida.
Speaker 5: So they are gonna have a three game stretch here
that they're gonna find out about themselves and then we'll
you know, be able to really see what kind of
team this wiscons team is. But the first one is
against b YU, and it's a it's a tough test
for sure.
Speaker 4: What's changed personnel wise from last year's roster with the
Wisconsin Badgers to the year.
Speaker 5: Yeah, the biggest thing is the loss of john Tonjay,
who's actually playing drafted by the Utah Jazz playing for
the Salt Lake City Stars G League team right now.
That's the biggest change they bring, you know, get rid
of john Tonjay. They had a lot of seniors as well,
guys that were blue guys. They bring in a player
like Andrew Roady from Virginia who kind of helps fit
that glue mold guy that's not gonna get talked about
nearly enough, but I think he is the key to
Wisconsin because he keeps everybody together. But then, you know,
they bring in Nick Boyd from San Diego State played
in a Final four with Fyu and Dusty Maye, so
he's got the experience of big time games. That's kind
of the biggest, you know, change that they've had. They
bring back John Blackwell. They retain John Blackwell, They retained
Nolan Winner. That's important in college basketball. Not enough people
talk about the retention point of it. Wisconsin did a
good job of making sure they kept their players and
then they added a couple of pieces around to really
kind of hopefully increase the pace. When a lot of
people think of Wisconsin basketball right now and they think
of slow basketball, they think of back when I played.
This team is completely different. They've been out different for
about three four years. They want to get out, they
want to run, they want to push the ball, they
want to score and transition.
Speaker 3: They want to shoot a lot of threes. They want
to get to the paint.
Speaker 5: A lot of college teams have had kind of the
analytic approach. Wisconsin was ahead of that curve a little
bit as far as what they were trying to do. Now,
they just try to break the stigma of hey, we're slow.
Slow team grinds you out. That's not what this team
wants to do. They want to get out, they want
to run. There's one thing that's been a consistent and
that is they're going.
Speaker 3: To take care of the basketball. They're not going to
turn the ball over.
Speaker 5: That's what I'm very curious to see about Friday night
or Friday afternoon. How do they take care of the
basketball against a bigger, more physical team. They've done a
really good job of that this year's team. They're also
turning over teams at about seventeen turnovers a game, So
what do they do there? How are they able to
turn over you know, BYU? Again, this is their first
major test against a high major team, so are they
able to turn over BYU? Those are kind of the
two main things that I'm gonna watch as this game unfolds.
Speaker 4: What's your scattering report on the bau Cougars from a
personnel standpoint, have you been able to check tape on
these guys, talk to the coaching staff, what are they
seeing on tape? They will be without kipa Cata, They're
gonna probably be without Kennard Davis Junior. They are their
short staffed if you will, from a personnel standpoint, and uh,
you know arguably two of.
Speaker 2: Their two starters are out for b YU.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I think that's the question now is how
do you piece it together? If you're BYU and I
think if you're Wisconsin, you probably wanted keet it back
just because it helps the big rotation of what you
can do. But I mean this team is is a
team that you know attacks the offensive lass they get
out and transition their defense. Their interior defense is really good.
So now that becomes with with you know, the difference
in the interior.
Speaker 1: What is next?
Speaker 5: And I think that's the biggest thing that I look
at with this BYU team. Now you look at what
you know Rob Wright can do and how he can
handle the game, what he you know as far as
just being a for general, he's fantastic.
Speaker 3: You need to be able to control what he does.
You look at Davanta We all know how good he is.
We all know what he can do.
Speaker 5: We saw him turn that switch, you know, against Yukon
in the game in Boston. Now, how does Wisconsin handle him?
How does Wisconsin get out? I think the other thing
is too part of the Scott report wise, whether it's
Richie Sunis whoever, its limit the initial wave.
Speaker 3: I think Yukon got.
Speaker 5: Out to that early league which gave them enough breathing room.
Speaker 3: B Y, he is gonna want to try and do
the same thing against this Wiscon's team. So if you're Wisconsin,
you try to handle that wave.
Speaker 5: But I think overall, you know, with the injuries, with
the people that are out, you've got to really limit
Robert Wright. I think you know, everybody knows aj what
he's going to do, how he's gonna tench That's the
obvious thing to me.
Speaker 3: The key is how do you handle right? What do
you do?
Speaker 5: How do you handle them picking and rolls? How do
you handle the assists rate? How do you make sure
that she doesn't get to the free throw line?
Speaker 3: A lot? He's iveraging, you know, four files, drawing a
game like those are the little things that I think
he impacts this game so much.
Speaker 6: With That's what I was gonna ask Brian who's gonna
be tasked with guarding Rob right? Obviously Richie Saunders last
year had twenty five points in nine to sixteen shooting.
The WYU has other pieces now, an actual primary ball
handler that doesn't have to go through Richie. Who's gonna
be tas a small rob right now.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So this is this is the interesting thing about
Wisconsin is there they're averaging seventeen turnovers a game, but
John black will guard it. Everybody's best player last year
because he had to. Now you can remove John Blackwell
off of that a little bit, and I think, you
look at you know, Rob Right, it's gonna be.
Speaker 3: Nick Boyd in my opinion. Obviously, they've got practice to.
Speaker 5: Day and I'll sit on that so I'll have a
better clue after their practice.
Speaker 3: They don't practice later on today out here in Salt
Lake City.
Speaker 5: But one of those things that coach guard has enough
versatility to be able to put different guys on, you know,
Robert Wright and and kind of change the tempo.
Speaker 3: And I think that's the biggest thing.
Speaker 5: So I look at that initially and say, hey, I
think it's probably gonna be Nick Boyd as far as
how he handles that.
Speaker 3: Nick does a.
Speaker 5: Really good job of getting into players, forcing that contact,
and I think that's gonna be a real big, a
real big key to this game. The obviously we know
Saunders agent like they're they're huge in what they're doing.
Speaker 3: They're key, And.
Speaker 5: I'm not trying to overlook what they're doing at all
because those those are the first ones. I think that's
what you've got to control. But when I kind of
pull back, you know the layers there and look into it.
We know that how fast they want to play, and
I think that first initial wave is you gotta handle it.
Speaker 3: You can't.
Speaker 5: You can't give up easy baskets. If you're Wisconsin. They
want to get ahead. They do a great I've been
doing that with the pass as well. Boom catch, rebound,
one pass up the sideline. Now all of a sudden,
they're off. They're running in transition with their quick hits.
Speaker 3: That's a tough thing to do.
Speaker 6: Look, Nick Boyd has been as good as advertised. Right
you look at the tape. I'm an in San Diego State,
everything was console. It's one of he's given that so far.
In my opinion. But I mean John Blackwell, I mean
he was fantastic in the last meeting that they had.
What is his mindset going into this game? Obviously he's
the leader of the team. He's averaging nineteen and a half,
just around the twenty mark. But he rebounds at a
very high level, bigger guard, very physical, as he already mentioned.
Does he need to take over this game necessarily? You know, tomorrow,
you know, I'll say this about John.
Speaker 5: I think John is one of the most unselfish superstars
that you'll see in the game of college basketball.
Speaker 3: And that's not because I call Wisconsin games on the radio.
Speaker 5: Like I worked for the Big Ten Network, I see
a lot of different games I cover them on TV.
So this for me is one of those things that
when I say I think he's the most unselfish superstars
in this league, people don't know about John Blackwell well enough. Yeah,
I think this stage will give him an opportunity on
an opportunity to kind of showcase himself.
Speaker 3: So I look for him to be ultra aggressive. You know,
through the first.
Speaker 5: Four games all been men major games, But when it's
gotten tight, or when there's been a stretch where there's
been about a three minute stretch. Wisconsin offense has it clicked.
Who's been a guy to take the game over? It's
been John Blackwell, and he does in a variety of
away the way he shoots the ball from three, the
way he rejects, screens, rips and goes gets a free
throw line, He gets others involved. He's a huge offensive
rebounding guard, which to me, I think is just it's
an undervalued skill set for guards. If you've got a guard,
they can go get an extra possession. If you get
a guard, they can go get a rebound. Give you
two points there. Most guards on the defensive end aren't
going to block out other guards. It's just not in
their DNA. You just don't see that a lot. John
takes advantage of anytime that a guard is sleeping. Boom,
John Blackwell's gonna go to the front of him and
go get an offense about giving an extra possess. So
you add that on top of all the other things
that he does so well, he's a really tough guard.
Speaker 3: I think byu is gonna have their hands full with them.
Speaker 5: I know they've got yards that are gonna guard, whether
it's Saunders, whether it's aj like you look at how
they handle him, and they better not fall asleep because
if they fall asleep, John blackll was gonna make them pay.
Speaker 4: Bridy will be the fourth all time meeting between the
two schools. Is the Cougars are one and two now
against the Badgers, the only win coming in that NCAA tournament,
and it was only a two point win. It's not
like it was like this overly convincing.
Speaker 5: It was a great college basketball Here was nc tournament,
but it was a great college basketball game. I mean,
it comes down, Wisconsin's got the ball coming down with
a chance to tie it. You know, john tonjas in
the right corner, little faith Away doesn't go BYU cleans
out like it was a great college basketball I always
say this guy, college basketball always delivers.
Speaker 3: You just got to pay attention to it.
Speaker 5: I know that it's you know, we're sitting here, it's
November twentieth. I get it, NFL college football people want.
Speaker 3: I understand.
Speaker 5: But if you're not paying the test to college basketball
right now, you're missing out on great college basketball. I mean,
you had an awesome game between Illinois and Era, Illinois
and Alabama.
Speaker 3: You had Yukon Arizona. Like all those games delivered. This
game Friday night, sir, it's Friday afternoon. Now circle it.
Speaker 5: It's gonna be another one of those games that delivers
and puts college basketball out there.
Speaker 4: Do you think Tanjay wished she he would have took
a different shot rather than from the short corner.
Speaker 2: I felt like he was he was open.
Speaker 4: I thought, like when he was like coming up the court,
like I remember, like that final possession, I thought he
was gonna pull from like like you know, twenty plus
or whatever wherever he was on the floor, and then
he ended up kind of dribbled dry penetration to the
short corner. And you know, pump faked a few times
before falling away from the short corner. Do you think
he wants that one back? And where do you where
is she? Where did you want him to take the
shot from?
Speaker 3: Well, I'll say this, and it's the same thing I
sold Greg coach guard afterwards. I see, it's your best player.
You got the ball in his hand. You let him
make a decision.
Speaker 5: He got you this far, so I would I'm not
gonna second guess, dude, Maybe you know, does you know
John wish you would have done something.
Speaker 3: Differently, probably he didn't make the shots. So it's one
of those that you always think about as a player.
Speaker 5: You're like, man, I wish I would have done this differently,
or could have done this differently.
Speaker 3: But in the moment, you go with everything that got
you in that moment. I mean, the dude was ridiculous
to the NCAA Tournament game there.
Speaker 5: So you gave him the ball, you clear out, you
let him go to work. He got Wisconsin there last year.
Now Wisconsin was a great team, had a lot of
great pieces, but he was a guy that took over
games and in that moment, and he had done it
numerous times, you know, prior to the NCAA Tournament.
Speaker 3: You gotta you gotta trust your guys.
Speaker 5: The beautiful thing about college basketball is it still is
a players game, like you can draw it up. Coaches
are great, but players gotta go make plays at the
end of the game. And I thought Greg gave, you know,
believed in this guy, and I think that's a, you know,
a testament to what this Badger program is.
Speaker 3: It's like, hey, we're gonna set you up, We're.
Speaker 5: Gonna put in the positions to have success, and in
the end, go take advantage of them, and I think
that's what they did.
Speaker 3: It just didn't work out for him.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, then it didn't matter.
Speaker 4: He had thirty seven point cent of eighteen, three of
nine from the three point fourteen of sixteen from the
Charney stripe as well.
Speaker 2: He had a great game.
Speaker 6: Look, I mean when he had the ball, I was
scared the whole time. Look, I'll John.
Speaker 7: I was just like, I don't. I was like, look,
he's cooking. Look they scored thirty six in the first half.
He had thirty seven. He outscored what they scored. The
like that tells you that. So when he had the ball,
I was like, you know what, I just gotta wait
till this is over.
Speaker 2: Because he's just prayed.
Speaker 6: He's just praying. All I can do is pray because
he's a good player and he's been giving buckets.
Speaker 4: Yes, indeed, I'm intrigued by the matchup once again. Uh, Brian,
best way to support you what you do, how you
do it?
Speaker 2: For all of our listeners. I know you.
Speaker 4: We can follow you at Brian Underscore, butch on the
X machine, on the Twitter machine as well.
Speaker 5: Yeah, no, definitely give me a follow there. That's the
biggest thing to support, love, love all this stuff. Like
I said, I love your coach and Steff, we'll void
with my coach when I was in the G League,
so I know coach voted very well.
Speaker 3: And then obviously Jordan Brady I coached underneath when he
was the head coach. So it's been it's fun. I
love your group.
Speaker 5: I love the way that they're approaching it. It's gonna
be great to catch up with those guys again. And
you run a lot of youth basketball camps in Wisconsin.
Just stay busy with it all, so it's fun. I
appreciate you guys having on me. Yes said, this game
is gonna deliver. So make sure you got your subscription
to Peacock because that's what it's on, but or you
can listen on the radio either side. But make sure
you're all signed up ready to roll for it, because
this is gonna be a great college basketball game, and
this is what everybody wants. Test yourself early by you's
done that already with a great schedule. Wisconsin starting to
do that now with their stretch. You get to find
out what your team's built on. Since you can make
a run in March and that's ultimately is what what
these guys and these teams are trying to test their
guys early on in the season for. So it's great,
great for the game, great for these programs and looking
forward to to a really good game.
Speaker 4: No doubt about it. And you're gonna get your your
your eyes on first time. I think adri de Bonsa
gotta be uh, you know, exciting the first overall pick
in the next year's NBA draft.
Speaker 5: It's absolutely crazy how good this freshman class is.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 5: It is good for the game of basketball and agent
what he can do.
Speaker 3: I think everybody saw a glimpse. Everyone knew how good
he was.
Speaker 5: But that second half against Utah and Boss like he was,
he was the best player on the floor. He just
took over the game. He brought b YU back into
it even though they don't win. But like you can
see that part of it is like, Okay, you're gonna
have your hands full and you got to guard his
five and make said everyone's in And that's where b
Yu is gonna have some open looks. They're gonna have
some different things because I think Age is gonna be
able to create a lot and you know, Wiscott's skinning important.
Speaker 3: You gotta take care of Richie, you gotta take care of aging.
Speaker 5: But that's why I think when you look at just
what they do, you know White's gonna be such a
key part of it because that's the X.
Speaker 3: Factor in my opinion. So I'm really looking forward to
a great game. Guys.
Speaker 4: Brian Butch, lady and gentlemen, good look on the call,
and have a great time watching this game.
Speaker 2: Enjoy Salt Lake City.
Speaker 3: It'll be a blast, all right, guys, I appreciate it,
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2: All right, appreciate you.
Speaker 4: That's Brian Butch, analysts for the Badgers Radio network, and
a great segment from from him.
Speaker 2: And this is a good one.
Speaker 4: This is gonna be a fantastic matchup obviously at the
trio roberright the third A J.
Speaker 2: Debonsa and Richie Saunders.
Speaker 4: They've combined to score sixty eight percent of bilious points
this season, and we expect that once again the Wisconsin Badgers.
And but the Wisconsin Badgers also have plenty of firepowers.
You guys mentioned Ronald breaking down this team, Nick Boyd,
Nolan Winter are guys you got to get to know.
Speaker 2: Also, John Blackwell and Austin Rapp.
Speaker 4: They got a great starting five and they have a
pretty deep bench as well. The Badgers do all right
as far as the line is concerned. BYU is a
favorite in this game, I believe, and ESPN analytics giving
b yu was sixty three point three percent chance of
victory as a you know, on a neutral court, but
it'll be a home home court advantage. What are the
tickets going for right now? By the way, I know
Brian Santiago was discussing giving some discounted tickets to Cougarnation.
We're gonna have we gotta jam packed that Delta Center
with the ticket prices being sky high, and these are
games it's a little bit unfortunate. We'd like to get
all the fans out there, the loyal, strong and true
wearing the white and blue at the Delta Center.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I think when I was looking yesterday been to get
tickets for the game, and I think this was like,
you know, vivid seats. The upper bowl was not not cheap.
It was, you know, definitely expensive. You know ranging I
think one thirty now it's is skyrocketed. Yesterday I think
it was in the nineties. And then to set lower
ball sit all the way down there. You know, in
sections like twelve through fifteen, it goes from three hundred.
So crazy, that's how it is. I mean, all eye
is gonna be on AJ. But that's just the way
it is. And to your point, when I backchart just
a little bit, you mentioned a big three right now.
They're combining. You know, you said for a sixty sixty
two percent of you ease points fifty seven point six
points per game, AJ twenty point three, Richie nineteen point five,
and then Rob Wright seventeen point a just around that,
So combining for about fifty eight points a game. That's
what your big three is doing.
Speaker 2: Crazy times, guys. That's our segment. Brought to you by
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