Speaker 1: Get to know the Cougar's opponents and rivals. Right now,
I need to know the faux segment on Cougar Sports
with Ben Kreteler.
Speaker 2: Welcome Backguger Sports.
Speaker 3: One of three nine ninety eight point three ESPN The Fan.
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today it is time for a little know the foe.
That's right, b YU versus TCU. If you want to
get to know the foe via the eyes the voice
of some TCU insider, then you're not gonna want to
miss this segment. Okay, love me some insider reports. Know
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Speaker 2: This by U TCU matchup is an interesting one.
Speaker 3: The series is five and seven all time against against TCU.
BYU five wins, TCU seven wins, with a four and
five mark in conference games where they've been head to
head in conference games whack Mountain West Big twelve four
and five all time.
Speaker 2: The horn Frogs won the most recent.
Speaker 3: Matchup with a forty four to eleven victory and Fort
Worth in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: That's one that BYU fans want to forget.
Speaker 3: The horn Fogs last visited Provo in two thousand and
nine when the two schools were both members of the
Mountain West Conference and won a thirty eight to seven game.
So the last two outings have not been fortuitous for
Brigham Young University.
Speaker 2: That TCU team went on to finish.
Speaker 3: The regular season twelve to zero before losing in the
Fiesta and finishing the year number six overall on the
AP Top twenty five. So BYU and TCU are now
in the Big twelve together forever. Hopefully They've been conference
foes before in other leagues, as I've mentioned, and that
four and five mark rings true. So it's a kind
of a fifty to fifty game right now. Is BYU
is a three and a half point favorite? Sonny Dykes
in BYU. How about a little history here. TCU head
coach Sonny Diykes is familiar with BYU's football program. Before
the previous matchup in twenty twenty three, Dikes was the
head coach at Cal when BYU quarterback Christian Stewart outdueled
Jared Goff. This is one of my favorite games of
the independent era. In fact, Christian Stewart an underrated, underappreciated quarterback.
Why well, because we only got to see him on
the back half of that season. Why does the quarterback
take some hill the greatest, one of the greatest athletes
to have ever done on the Royal Blue and White
was the quarterback. Now, I made the like after watching
Christian and Taysum in fall camp that season, I said, look,
what I'm telling you is that Taysom Hill is the
better football player, but that Christian Stewart is the better
quarterback in a traditional sense. A quarterback, what does he do?
He distributes the football to playmakers. That's how you lead right.
You get people in the right positions. You call sometimes
the protection from from your shotgun, from your pistol from
under center, and then you distribute hand the ball off.
Swing it, get vertical, get horizontal. You're the quarterback. It
all starts with you. And Christian wasn't too bad at
running the ball either was. He kind of reminded me
a little bit of Zach Wilson in fact, with his
running ability and athleticism. He's a productent of Orum High School.
By the way, I'm going off on a diet tribe here.
But Christians was a good football point and I think
he was the better thrower. And he showcased that versus cow.
That dude could sling it, that dude had a cannon.
That dude connected with Mitch Matthews and Davon Blackman and
Jordan Leslie, those wide receivers were eating it up, eating
it up. They beat Jared goffin the Cal Bears at
Sonny Dikes forty two to thirty five in a shootout.
Speaker 2: It's like the Whack era. That's right, the BYU Whack
Area Mount West Conference era too.
Speaker 3: At times from two thousand and one to two thousand
and nine, we put up a lot of points and
sad some shootouts, but the Bronco defense was always willing
and ready more often than not to limit some of
those scores. Anyway, before he handed the reins over to
Nick Cal who's now his defensive coordinator at Utah State.
At any rate, I go off on this die tribe,
but just trying to tell you some of the histories
between BYU and TCU as well as BYU.
Speaker 2: Ain't Sonny Dykes okay.
Speaker 3: In addition, Dyke's father, Spi, he was the head coach
at Texas Tech, was a good friend of Lavell Edwards
that ran similar passing offenses.
Speaker 2: So took a little page at a Levell's book.
Speaker 3: No doubt when by is competing as a ranked team,
right and they are they.
Speaker 2: A solid record, Bloi.
Speaker 3: You dropped in both polls on Sunday, though, coming in
at number twelve in the AP Pole as well as
twelve in the AFCA Coaches Poll when they are ranked,
though in the top twenty five, BLIA is a thirty
four and ten team under Kilane Satak, not too shabby
when playing as an AP Top twenty five ranked team.
The appearance in the AP Pole is the three hundredth
overall by the Cougars in program history, which is now
good for thirty four among all teams overall. Four Big
twelve teams are currently ranked in the AP Top twenty five,
with Texas Tech being at eight, Byuit twelve, Utah at fifteen.
I believe in Cincinnati at twenty two. As the AP
Pole College Football Playoff has a little bit different, I
think Utah's at thirteen and Cincinnati I think it's at
twenty five. BYU made it to November eight before suffering
its first defeat of the season. Similar it's pretty much
akin to what we experienced last year. The biggest fear
for BYU Cougar football fans right now is that BYU
will lose two in a row like they did last season.
This is a fear that grips the hearts the minds
of all of Cougar Nation. Last year, they got their
first loss. Okay, not on the road, but at home
under the lights lavel with an eight fifteen pm kickoff
on the Mothership ESPN seventeen to thirteen to the Kansas Jayhawks,
one of the hotter teams in college football at that time.
Leading up to that game, they were playing really good football. Okay,
then they lost on the road versus Arizona State at
Mountain America Stadium, ten p Aerzona twenty eighth to twenty three.
This year, coming off of bye week, they lose on
the road. First, will they lose at home versus the
TCU Hornfrogs.
Speaker 2: I pray not right.
Speaker 3: That date of the loss this season was November eighth.
Last year, the loss was November sixteenth. On November ninth
last year, they actually beat Utah on the road. But
very similar to what's going on right now. Right they
had three remaining or leading up to the Kansas game,
they had three remaining games. Right leading up to the
Texas Tech game. They have four remaining games, so pretty
much similar, very similar to what we experienced last year.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: By the way, byuall inducted it's twenty twenty five Hall
of Fame class this weekend. The class includes Alexa Gray
Women's volleyball, Tyler Haws men's basketball, Michelle Stewart Mackie women's track,
Trevor Maddage football, Jack Morris baseball, Mark Philbrick BYU photographer,
and Roger Reid men's basketball. The seven inductees will also
be honored during a special presentation at halftime of the
BYU TCU football game on Saturday, November fifteenth. So make
sure you show up and show out to Lavelle Edwards
Stadium and stop by our ultimate tailgating scene. Nobody does
it better than our crew, our ESPN, the fan crew,
and the band or Wealth crew. They do a fantastic
job for all of Kugarnation. Royal Army Brant will be
in attendance to love Royal Army brand, the best BYU
licensed apparel in the business, the fine twine linnons of
Brigham that nobody compares to. We got some hats, We
got some apparel that nobody else has. Check it out
at our ultimate tailgater at the Swig from four to
kickoff fifteen. Kickoff, by the way, let me get to
know the foe a little bit better though, guys, TCU.
It is in its fourth season under the direction of
head coach Sunny Dykes.
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3: Sunday Dikes was the twenty twenty two National Coach of
the Year they led. He led TCU to more wins
in his first three seasons. That's twenty seven wins than
all but one head coach in program history. That was
dutch Meyer back in nineteen thirty four through thirty six,
with twenty nine so. Dykes has also led programs such
as SMU from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty one, CAL
from twy thirteen to twenty sixteen, as I mentioned, and
Louisiana Tech from twenty ten to twenty twelve. In all
four stops, Dykes has led the program to postseason games,
making him one of the just four active head coaches
to take four different schools to a bowl game he wins.
The others are Butch Jones, Lang Kiffin, and Rich Rodriguez.
By the way, who Bayer has already faced this season,
he is He also one of six active head coaches
to have appeared in the CFP National Championship Game, joining
Kirby spart Dabos Swinney, Ryan Day, Marcus Freeman, and Kaylee
de War. Directing the TCU offense for his third season
as this starting quarterback is redshirt junior Josh Hoover. Guy
can sling it. Okay, he does have a little bit
of a hand injury. He's been wearing a glove per reports,
so you're hoping he's a little bit more. He's a
little less efficient, little less accurate. In his redshirt sophomore campaign,
Hoover set a TCU single season passing record with three
ninety nine yards on on four hundred seventy one attempts
three hundred thirteen completions. He had twenty seven touchdowns to
eleven nine. Tis not a bad ratio. He has thrown
sixty five touchdown passes in twenty eight career starts as well.
Speaker 2: Guy can sling it. They're gonna want to throw the ball.
Speaker 3: Surrounding Hoover is at Newcastle Wide receivers seventy six combined
starts though and five four and sixty four careers receiving yards.
They have great receivers as well, and our defensive backs
are going.
Speaker 2: To be tested.
Speaker 3: Jack Beck, Saveon Williams and JP Richardson to the NFL.
Those were the departures. They were all good last year.
They had to replace them. They had to replace him
that they had to get a new cast of wide receivers,
replace all those starts, all those receiving yards, etc. So
some good receivers are still retained, but they're gonna have
a tough test. I think BILLU bounces back defensively in
the defensive pass game versus TCU at home. Defensively, the
Hornfrogs are led by Bud Clark, who led all safeties
in college football last season with a ninety point one
coverage grade I believe for PFF. After logging a career
high sixty eight tackles last season, Clark opted to return
to TCU rather than head to the NFL, and his
career fifteen career intercepts are tied for fourth most in
program history. The horn Frogs are bull eligible for the
ninth time in twelve seasons as a Big twelve member.
In fact, we interviewed Bud Clark at Big twelve Media Days. Ronald,
what were your takeaways? What were some of your takeaways
from the Bud Clark interview when we were able to
interact with him.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a very humble kid. I mean, he talked
about the reason why he picked TCU one of location
being from Louisiana. I mean it was tough because he
said that in Virginia, right. I think you talked about
the connection and the one of the coaches at Virginia
recruiting him at the time. A five hour drive compared
to what I guess it was an eleven or twelve
hour drive is completely different.
Speaker 2: Might have been fifteen.
Speaker 4: But no, I was really impressed with the young man.
Speaker 2: I mean, he played in a.
Speaker 4: Game Ben as a freshman I think, or maybe a
true sophomore. It's not often that you have that. He
had a fantastic sophomore season. Look, this is a guy
that's gonna get drafted. He's an NFL prospect, Ben, He's
going to get a Combine invite. So I was really
impressed with you know how a local kid in Louisiana
didn't go to any of the big time schools, went
to Texas, plays with the chip on his shoulder and
loves sunny Diyce loves the culture. Has been playing there
for the last what four or five seasons. So this
is the guy you got to look out for on
the scout on report. He's one of their veteran safeties.
Speaker 2: Back there.
Speaker 4: He can defend the pass, you can utilize them in
the run game. So you gotta watch out for number
twenty one but Clark. But yeah, I was really impressed
with how humble it reminded me kind of like of
Jaden Daniels. Excuse me, Jayalen Daniels for Kansas. A guy
that had been around a long time, knows Big twelve football,
knows exactly where he's supposed to be, and came back
to maximize that final year because I don't know if
he was recruited the year after COVID. I think he was,
but so utilize that final year to be able to
give himself more tape. So look, I've been able to
text Bud here and there throughout the season.
Speaker 2: Big fan of his.
Speaker 4: You know he got what he talked about, his kid,
his fiance, right, you know, he got engaged, you know,
a family man, honestly, like that's a kid. But if
I'm gonna be honest with Bud, Clark could have got it,
could have played for another program in the Big twelve.
I think b y d been a good fit. I
felt when I was talking to him, they hed to
fit into this bou culture very well. Very football oriented,
very faith had a cross on his neck, and very
family oriented. So when you look at the Big Twelve
Conference as a whole, there's a lot of players I
feel like that we interact with the Big Twelve media
Day that we get a chance to talk to that
if they were able to come to BAU they would
fit right in, and Buck Clark as one of those
guys for me.
Speaker 3: TCU heads to Provo on Saturday, where they take on
the number twelve BAU Cougar. Is their first matchup against
a ranked team since closing out the twenty twenty three
season at number thirteen Oklahoma. The Frogs are on a
three game winless stretch against ranked opponents, by the way,
dating back to the meeting with number one Georgia in
the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at the end
of the twenty twenty two season. TCU last their last
win over a ranked opponent and a true road game,
was also in that twenty twenty two season, when they
went to Austin and beat number eighteen Texas Number eighteen Texas.
Speaker 2: Seventeen to ten.
Speaker 3: It will be TCUs four trip to Levell Edward Sadium
since that two thousand and nine outing when Boll squads
were members of the Mountain West Conference and TCU has
won the last five meetings that are on a five
game winning street versus the Cougars, and hopefully that comes
to a stop on Saturday night. Is the Cougar's welcome
in the horn Frogs. That's a little no the faux segment. Uh,
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We'll take a brief time out, we'll be back. Don't
go anywhere more To get to a Friday edition of
Cougar Sports here one of the three ninety eight point three is.
Speaker 1: Just like the Cougar football team. Ben Criddle was built,
not born, and since two thousand and nineties built himself.
He's in the go to source on the radio and
online for all beings Cougars is Cougar Sports with Ben
Gretel one.
Speaker 5: O three nine ninety eight three.
Speaker 2: ESPN The Fan Welcome back Cougar Sports. One of three,
nine ninety eight point three ESPN.
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you save money on your taxes. It is time for
Little No the Foe as well as Little College Basketball
segment here on your Utah ESPN Radio network. We're gonna
get to know the Yukon Huskies ladies and gentlemen BAU basketball,
taking their talents UH across the country, UH and they're
going to be tested versus a very talented, well coached
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live choose Dental pros Dentalprosfutah dot com. Today, let's get
out to the hotline. Welcome in the voice of the
Yukon Huskies. We got Mike Crispino on the line. Mike,
how you live it?
Speaker 5: Looking good, feeling good?
Speaker 2: How about you doing fantastic.
Speaker 3: It's a beautiful day here along the Wasatch front, and
UH can't wait to delve into all the knicks and
crannies with this matchup BYU versus the Yukon Huskies. Let's
give a little foundational approach here. How do you see
this game?
Speaker 5: Well, I think both teams are off to really good starts.
I saw BYU played villain Nova. I was impressed. They've
got some major talent there. Their coach, Kevin Young is
NBA back. You can see some of his influences. Obviously,
had a great first year, twenty six wins, got to
the sweet sixteen. You know, very rare that a guy
that takes a program over rises to that heights. I mean,
we're seeing Richard Patino at Xavier, for instance, struggling to
get the Musketeers off the ground after Sean Miller left.
Stuff happens. I mean, when you change coaches, he can't
expect things to be bright. And Rosie Dan Hurley took
over for Kevin Ollie eight years ago, couldn't get the
five hundred in his first year. Second year he got
over five hundred. Took him a few years to get
it rolling, and then he won back to back championships
three years ago and two years ago. So I think
Dyu's got a great coach there now, and Yukon's had
a great coach here over the last eight years. So
I'm looking forward to it because this will be the
first test for Yukon. They played three non conference games
against mid majors and you know, score and played well,
but it didn't overwhelm people. You know, they've won by
twenty plus each time. You really want to see a
team and how they match up against a team like
BYU that's got major talent in so many positions. So
we're looking forward to it. I don't know how it's
going to come out. I think Yukon will be able
to score with anybody. The question for them is can
they defend well enough. BYU obviously has scored a bundle
of points in their first three games, so is Yukon,
But it comes down to how you can defend. Can
you stop another team when you need to, And Yukon's
averaging over ninety points a game, so teams have had
trouble stopping them. But it really comes down to a
Dan Hurley's been saying this, how good do we guard
the perimeter? How good do we guard the three point line?
So far they've done that, so we'll see can they
do it again. BYU is not a strong three point
FIO team, it looks like so far, I think they're
averaging under thirty from three, so that might be might
not be the major test. I think it's going to
be dealing with aj Debonsa and Robert Wright the third.
Both guys are prolific scorers already in Richie Saunders and
not another guy average at almost eighteen in their guard.
So those three are gonna be real matchup problems for
Yukon and we'll have to see how they handle that.
Speaker 3: Last year Yukon was twenty four to eleven. They lost
in the NCAA Tournament second round. What what has happened
since that loss? That makes you out to miss it
that they can get back to the air Elite winning
ways from twenty twenty three and twenty twenty three and
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 5: Well, they're deeper. They are much deeper. And we haven't
even seen Braylan Mullins, who was a McDonald All American.
He's a freshman guard from Greenfield, Indiana. He played in
one of the exhibition games against Boston College. He's six six,
two hundred pounds. He's a guy that can fill it
up from distance. But he had an ankle injury early
on in camp and after playing one exhibition game, hasn't
played now in the last four games. So and I
don't think we're going to see him until maybe December.
It might be another couple of weeks before. He's really
one hundred percent healthy to ready to play, so he
can't tell how good Yukon can be. And also they
got another freshman guard that comes from Australia, Jacob Furfey.
He's six six two oh five left handed, sweet sweet stroke,
can really fill it up. He's been unable to play
as well because he had an ankle injury, so Furfy's
getting close. He may play Saturday, he may play tomorrow.
I'd like to see that because I really haven't had
a good look at him except in practice a little bit.
But my point is they're deep. They go ten deep
with quality players. So if Alex Caravan has an off night,
a two time national champion, and he doesn't score his
seventeen a game or solo ball doesn't shoot lights out
from three averaging eighteen a game, they can overcome it
because now they have Terrace Reid back. They're big center,
and he's a double double waiting to happen pretty much
every night. He's averaged twenty one minutes in the two
games he's played, averaging the most twenty points and ten rebounds.
He's a senior and a big dude, six eleven two
sixty five. So Reid and Ball and Caravan they're the
lynch pins, but they've got a lot of other guys
that come off their bench that are really quality players,
Silas Demrie, guy that came from Georgia in the SEC
after two years. Raleigh, North Carolina guy is their point
guard and so far, so good with him. He's really
played well in terms of assisted turnovers. Scored about ten
a game, but had nine assists the other night in
a game against Columbia's so looks like he's going to
be able to fill the role as a point guard.
Malachi Smith is from Dayton. He's a transfer from Dayton,
the Bronx guy averaging eight points a game, but a
legitimate difficult guy to guard and a difficult guy to
play against when he defends you. He's kind of gritty.
You know, he's only six to one, but he's tough
as nails. So, I mean, you keep going down the roster,
and we haven't talked about Jalen Stewart as a junior
forward from Seattle in his third year with Yukon and
Jayden Ross, another junior who lit it up the other
night from distance. Those two guys are juniors in the
program and they're starting to get their most significant playing
time here this year. So and we haven't even got
to the two other guys that came in from other
schools that will help them on a given night. So
my point is they're deep, they have a lot of answers.
They can pick up the pace against you defensively and
turn you over. And one thing they're doing better this year,
much better than last year, is get out on the
fast break. If they can defend, turn you over or
rebound and run. If they do that, then they're gonna
be a dangerous team throughout the Sea, in the Big
East and maybe beyond.
Speaker 3: Number seven. Taken on, this is a top ten showdown, baby,
this is a big game. Saturday's game will be broadcast,
I believe on Fox. And what's your broadcast like for
those that are going to be at the at the
game and maybe want to tune into a little play
by play, how can they tune into you?
Speaker 5: We're on the Varsity Network app, Yukon Sports Network, every game,
every football game, every basketball game, and our baseball too.
So yeah, it's great people are on the country and
Yukon with the success they've had over the years, in
the last twenty five years particularly, has a lot of
folks around the country that root for them. So that's
what a lot of people tell me. They're in various
parts of the country. Could be Florida, could be California,
could be Texas, could be Utah, could be anywhere. Tune
in on the Yukon Sports Network and listen to our games.
So that's the beauty of that app. You can get
it on your phone. It's a free app, and you
can hear every single game, pregame, in the post game,
which you know, for fans who are really in tune
to what's going on with these schools and this college
basketball scene, that's what you want to do. You want
to be able to hear what the coaches have to say,
what the players have to say after the game, something
you don't always get, you know, with the TV side,
we were able to get into the locker rooms and
talk to the coaches well in advance of these games,
and it's always enlightening and it's always informative, and it's
always interesting. When Dan Hurley starts talking about the Yukon
basketball program.
Speaker 2: No doubt about it.
Speaker 3: What is the scouting report on b YU right Now,
what did Dan Hurley is coaching staff at the Players
tell you about this BAYU Cougar basketball team.
Speaker 5: Well, they've got talent and they've got a lot of
skilled players and they have a balanced team. We talked
about Aja Devonsa and Robert Wright, the third to stop
more guard transfer from Baylor. But they've also, you know,
got people like Kevakta. I think that TWG pronounced his
first name. He's a senior from Molly. He was a
Utah player last year University of Utah. And they have
people who can come up to the best like Cannard
Davis averaging nine points. He transferred from Southern Illinois. They
have let me kind of them up your six transfers
on this team. They lost Agor Damon who was drafted
eighth by Brooklyn and the NBA last year, so they
lost him. You got to replace people like that, and
looks like they're gonna they've been able to do it,
and you know, I don't know, I expect they're gonna
run and gun, they're gonna score. I don't know. You know,
I think it looks like they're good one on one
players too. They can isolate you and that would be
one way I think to attack Yukon because the Huskies
are still figuring out, you know, what their health defense
can do, who can come over on the weak side
and block shots and help on d because that's when
they became dominant two years ago and three years ago
and won national championships because people like Donovan Kling and
Adamas Sonogou Andre Jackson, people who were immense defensive players
step on castle and they were capable, you know, going
one on one and locking people down. So until they
have like a crew of lockdown type defenders playing together,
I think that's what teams will try to do. They'll
try to exploit them on Yukon's defensive end. Get to
the basket, get to the free throw line. That's what
teams did to them last year and put the Huskies
in some tough spots. But I think they're a little
better this year on the ball, I do, and they're
getting to the line more frequently than they did last year,
and that's always a big advantage. I know that this
team YU shoots at at seventy three percent from the
free throw line, and they had thirty seven free throws
in their first three games. But that's an area that
Ukon knows and Dan Hurley talks about it all the time.
Got to keep the other team off the line, can't
give them free points and let them control the game
from the free throw line. So I think that'll be
one of the keys in this game on Saturday.
Speaker 3: Saturday will be the second all time meeting between the
programs who only the only previous meeting took place in
the opening round of the NCAA tournament where I actually
attended that.
Speaker 2: When I was on my mission. I was out in Spokane, Washington.
Speaker 3: We actually brought this up twice now that I served
my mission as Spokane, Washington anyway, kind of an odd
stat of the day on our show, but I was
there my brother in law, Jake's show, The Late Jake
showf he bawled out in that game. Was trying to
d up Omecha Okafer and we're trying to slow down
Ben Gordon. They had a really nice outing fifty eight
to fifty three victory for the Huskies on March twenty
of two thousand and three at Spokane Veterans Memorial.
Speaker 2: Real Were you at that game? By chance? No?
Speaker 5: I was not. I was in New York working for
the Knicks at the time. I've been to Spokane. I
think that's a cool place. I've been there obviously for Gonzaga,
and we played Gonzaga in Seattle last year. It's a
great college town, I gotta say. But Yukon three to
four were pretty darn good. All four of the ended
up winning a championship with the back all performed Den Gordon.
So yeah, BYU great, great organization over the years and
always always plays great basketball. Danny Ainge of course comes
to mind. I work with him in Boston when I
was with the Celtics back in the eighties and early nineties,
so he would tell great stories about BYU and the
kind of hoop they played. So we're looking forward to
this because Yukon needs a challenge. They got to get
a big challenge, and they're going to get one on
Saturday night, that's for sure, no.
Speaker 2: Doubt about it.
Speaker 3: What are are there any weaknesses that you see in
this Yukon team?
Speaker 2: Really?
Speaker 3: I mean, they are personnel rich and they have a
great coaching staff obviously molding the clay.
Speaker 2: The culture there is very unique.
Speaker 3: I mean I've heard Dan Hurley discuss how he does
not bring in certain players that are not fits culturally because.
Speaker 2: He likes to coach them up hard.
Speaker 3: He likes to coach him up like grown men, and
you got to be willing and ready to align with
the culture that the you if your culture he's built.
Speaker 2: Are there really any weaknesses.
Speaker 5: Well, of course there's always a weakness with any team.
We won't. I think we're really going to find out
something Saturday night. Will BYU get to the rim? Will
they get to the free throw line? Will they give
you con trouble when they have the basketball? That's that's
the number one thing in my mind. Will YU can't
take care of the ball? Last year they had some
turnover issues. This year they seem to be tighter with
the basketball. They throw it into the bigs a lot
Terris Reid being the number one guy, the senior center,
but there's also a freshman center that I think people
are going to enjoy watching, especially as a season unfolds.
Eric Raiba comes from Hannover, Germany, and he's played about
sixteen minutes a game in the first three games, averaging
about seven and a half points. It gets to the
boards pretty well, ten to thirteen from the field. He's
a freshman, but he's seven to one and he's a
lefty and he can shoot from outside, not that he will,
that's not really part of what Yukon does. Play the
inside out game quite a bit when they're not running
fast breaks and running patterned offense. But Eric Riba is
a guy to keep your eye on because at seven one,
two sixty he's an unbelievable backup guy to Terris Reid,
who is six to eleven two sixty five. So yu
Khn's been feeding off this dual center thing now for
four or five years. Used to be a Domasnogo Donovan Klington,
and it was Donovan Klington Sampson Johnson and then last
year Sampson Johnson Terris Reid now is Terris Reid Eric Riba.
So both of the centers are can be trouble. If
they get in foul trouble, that's when yukonk and have
their issues. Then they'll have to go small and they
won't be able to control the boards as well, and
might probably won't be able to defend as well because
they won't have weak side help with the bigs like
Eric Riva and Terras Reid. So those are the things
I think they got to be aware of the Huskies
not getting fouled trouble. Don't put the other team on
the line. Take care of the basketball typical stuff. Sometimes
if you don't shoot it well, you can overcome things
with that kind of stuff, you know, the defensive mindset
which Dan Hurley constantly harps on with these guys. So
BYU gets off, they're a past start and they're filling
it up and you con falls behind, then anything can happen.
Then you don't know how your team's going to react.
I think that's what Dan Hurley is looking forward to
more than anything. What are we going to do when
we get in a hole? When this team does what
they're gonna do, they're gonna score it, and what if
they get a lead on us? How are we going
to handle that? So that's what we're looking forward to
seeing on Saturday night.
Speaker 3: Defensively, how do you think Dan Hurley approaches this game?
You mentioned Bay who has not shot the three ball
especially well. Although this last game versus Delaware maybe a
defunct Dela Delaware team.
Speaker 2: They did hit twelve three pointers.
Speaker 3: I believe under k Y when Blaus hitting over ten
three pointers, they're like twenty and three, So I mean
they win when they get into double digit threes.
Speaker 2: Do you think Dan close it out on the perimeter.
Speaker 3: Do you think they try to force maybe Byu to
hit threes early on?
Speaker 5: Well, I think they got to defend the perimeter. He
talks about it every game when they do. And again,
this is a young this is kind of a young team,
a team that hasn't played together very much. Are they
going to be able to guard the perimeter? Are they
going to be up on guys at that at that
line and force them into difficult shots? Are they going
to switch? Are they going to go underscreens? I think
you're going to find out as the game unfolds. But yeah,
if you know, I'm sure. Listen, when you scout a team,
you don't look at just basic stats. You see that
they scored twelve threes. You know they're better than what
their averages say they are in terms of shooting percentage.
So I'm sure that's he's got the huge chalkboard most
coaches do. But Dan sets goals up for his team
every game, you know, hold the other team under thirty
percent from three, whatever it may be. And so I
think that might be one of the keys because again,
the way basketball's played now, and if you watch NBA stuff,
you really realize it. I mean, they're shooting one hundred
threes in a game in the NBA now, So the
three point field goal is it's kind of money, right.
It's the way you score big points and bunches. And
if you let the other team get off off on
you from the three point line start filling it up,
that's a real issue. And so I'm sure that's one
of the things they've been discussing big time. And when
teams do shoot from three out there, guess what, that
opens up stuff in the inside for drives, more space
to hit intermediary shots, get to the rim. Perhaps. So
the three point field goal is always key. If you're
making them, that's a real problem for the defense and
for the overall opponent, whoever you may be playing.
Speaker 3: What do you think the environment's going to be like there?
I mean, is it going to be a Rocks one?
How many people show up to this game tomorrow?
Speaker 5: I think, and I talked to some folks a couple
days ago. They have sold over fourteen thousand seats. They're
expecting an other two thousand probably walk up. I think
the capacity a TD Garden is about seventeen to seven.
Whether they sell out the upper regions, I don't know,
but I think a good sixteen crowd of sixteen thousand
will make a lot of noise in that place. And
although Boston's not a crazy college town as far as
hoop goes, I do think there is a huge segment
of Yukon fans that will get in their cars and
drive seventy five miles up the highway to watch this game.
And again, AJ Demansa is a Brockton kid, the Massachusetts kid.
One of the reasons this game ended up here. I
got to feel like his crew and his neighborhood and
his folks from Brockton are going to show up in
droves right a great chance to see him in person.
And I think that's why these games are so cool,
because you're seeing two great top ten teams, You're seeing
them in a big time arena with a great crowd,
And if it turns out to be a fabulous competitive game,
I think the place will be rocking. I really do.
Speaker 3: The Big three Aj de Bonca, Richie Saunders, and Rob
Right the third they actually accounted for seventy of bas
eighty five points on Tuesday, this past Tuesday's game. I
think through three games, the big three has accounted for
almost seventy percent of the scoring for BYU. I imagine
the scouting reporties very heavily focused on these three players.
Speaker 2: AJ De Bonsa, Richie Sanders and Rob Right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, no doubt about it, because usually, you know, college
teams have two primary scorers. Only the really good ones
have three, maybe four people who can be dependent on
to put points up on the board every night. And
this team has three guys. And we talked about it.
Rob Wright is averaging almost fifteen a game, and De
Bonsa is averaging almost twenty, and then Richie Saunders almost eighteen.
So all three are major threats, let's face it. So
even though maybe the rest of the roster isn't a
big time offensive problem, but they got three guys besides them.
Dominique Diamonde I think he pronounced his name. Richard Freshman
the French, a kid from Paris, France, transferred from Washington.
He's averaging almost ten points and he's only playing thirteen
minutes a game, so he's obviously kind of a microwave
when he gets on the court and Dawson Baker, another guy,
senior guard. He transferred from UC Irvine. He's averaging eight
and a half a game, you know, in seventeen minutes.
So all those guys in Cannard Davis Junior is also
a guy in minimal minutes averaging almost double figures.
Speaker 3: Let me give you let me give you an update
on Canard. I don't know if he's gonna be playing.
He was he was sided for a d DUI yesterday,
so I don't know if. I don't know what his
eligibility status is going to be and whether or not
he made the trip out to the East coast.
Speaker 5: Okay, well yeah, but the point is they have depth,
right Cada twenty minutes averaging six points, but he he
can really throw his weight around six to eight. Dude
was at Utah last year, so it's not like you're
playing the team with three great players and a bunch
of supplementary guys. This looks like to me and what
I saw against Villanova a three man show, but seven
or eight can really hurt you, and that to me
is a sign of a good team. Right, he might
have a couple off nights from the right or maybe
by Saunders whatever it may be. But the other guys
can pick up the slack and that is a huge,
huge advantage for Kevin Young because he knows no matter
where they play, and they're in a tough conference. Now
remember that, no matter where they play on the road,
at least they have options, and you need options if
you're going to have success in a really good league
like they're in right now.
Speaker 2: I was pulling up the numbers here.
Speaker 3: Yukon's favored by I think five and a half in
this game. One point fifty four point five is the
is the point total. ESPN Matchup Predictor gives the Yukon
Huskies a sixty five percent chance of victory.
Speaker 2: How do you see this game playing out?
Speaker 3: It's at TD Guarden five pm November fifteenth, and I
think it's going to be broadcasting on Fox.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think this is going to be a great game.
I mean, Yukon, if they play to their potential, can
win the game. I mean, I'm not in the prediction business.
I don't like to do it, but I think there's
ways that certainly BYU could come in and walk away
to victory too. Right, if they play up to their potential,
it really comes down sometimes in these great matchups, who
is able to reach the level of excellence that they're
used to? Right If Aj Debonsa does his thing and
comes up with twenty five or a huge Nike, it's thirty.
I mean, anything could happen then. So Yukon's got to
be very aware as a team about guys like him.
He's legit. He looks like a pro right now to me,
and I've seen a lot of pro over the years
coming out of college, and he's got the skill set right.
So you CON's got to find a way to make
it hard for him. And if they can do that,
maybe they slow down Rob Wright or maybe that you're
able to get Richie Saunders off his game somehow. You've
got to be able to do that against these great teams.
Otherwise you're matched up, both teams are going to score eighty,
and who makes the last basket wins. I mean that's
the way these things go.
Speaker 3: Oftentimes, Love the breakdown, Love talking ball with you. Great segment,
Mike Chrispino, the voice of the Yukon Huskies, have a
great call.
Speaker 2: Brother. It's great getting to know you. Great getting to
know the Huskies through your your.
Speaker 3: Rising voice today in a college basketball know the faux.
Speaker 5: Segment, Yeah, no problem. Really appreciate you having me.
Speaker 2: Thanks Mike Crispino, Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 3: And if you want to download that app and you
can listen to Mike's call for the Yukon Huskies. As
I mentioned the way, you're not favored in this game.
And you know, I don't know if you're going to
see it as disrespect or what have you, but you
need a lot from the Big Three this game. AJ
Ritchie Rob You've been leading this team all season long.
You may not want these guys off the floor. He
may want to keep them on the floor of the
entire game. If you want to beat the Yukon Huskies,
throw out load management.
Speaker 2: Let's knock off them Huskies. Let's go to break. Guys.
Speaker 3: Don't go anywhere more than get to great segment. Fantastic
segment there with Mike Rispino. And it was brought to
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Speaker 3: At ESPN, the fan mentioned Ben Krittle, You're gonna be
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