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Speaker 2: Welcome back to Cougar's book Chair. One of three, nine

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ninety or three years to be in the family. Ronalds

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a three man weave here.

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Speaker 3: Gonna get right into it live from our Bandewill Studios

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Bandwolf's got off the line. I showed Blay Anderson and

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Kabakata who joined us our surprise guest for our last

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segment in the four o'clock hour. Appreciate them showing up

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I'm gonna get into a little keeping up with the

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Cougar is always like to know what's going on around

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the holidays with the basketball guys. This is a basketball

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segment too. It's gonna be brought to you by Bresa

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Speaker 2: Trust a by all the Cougar country.

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Speaker 3: Give me a call today at eight zero one three

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eight zero eight zero eight seven for a quote when

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you mentioned crit or ESPN, he gets seventy dollars off

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your first clean and the quickest way to a man's

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hardest through his stomach. That's what he does. I like

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to eat, kay Bakitta also likes to eat. You heard

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the last segment that he the foods that he likes

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to devour. He devoses into the chicken and the steak,

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not the pork, but everything else. And if you did

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miss that interview, download on the podcast here momentarily all.

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Speaker 2: A cart where we get your podcasts from.

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Speaker 3: Let's get out to the fan hotline and welcome in

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our second to last guest of the program, one of

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my favorite guys to interview. We got JT for three Mary,

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late Christmas to your brother and it'll be a happy

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New Year as well. The next time we speak.

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Speaker 4: How are you doing man, I'm phenomenal, I am doing great.

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I'm with both of my boys right now running errands.

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The quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

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The quickest way to missus Tavinari is by picking up

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the groceries for her. Ooh, I am running errands right now,

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my friend.

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Speaker 2: That is good.

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Speaker 3: Hey, you got the boys showing them the proper way

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to do things. I remember my dad taking me to

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the grocery store and helping me get the carl washing

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and he's like, look, just tell your mom's good.

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Speaker 2: Side and to her heart is this way. So you're

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not wrong about that.

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Speaker 3: But the way to Cougar Nations heart is Now that

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football season is I can't say officially over because I'm

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always gonna get pinged about suff but now that it's

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the games are over, it is now time to go

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all in on basketball. And the Big twelve opener on

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the road against Kansas.

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Speaker 2: State is Saturday.

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Speaker 3: JT give me a preview of breakdown of this game.

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I think this is pivotal to set the tone because

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you go Kansas State at home, the Arizona State next Wednesday,

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and then you go to Utah next Saturday. These are

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three big time games that b what you need to

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start off conference play the right way.

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Speaker 4: Well, listen, let's go from watching our top ten football

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team play to watch our top ten basketball team to

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have not a bad transition, my friend. And so you know,

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I think that BUYU had a fantastic non conference schedule

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right the way that that they played, and they overcame

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adversity obviously one loss to Yukon, which lets be realistic,

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you know, like you're not losing to know, Googoo State University,

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you know college, You're losing to you know, a premiere

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program that has expectations of going back to the Final

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four again that by you very much could have won.

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And so the way that they played the exhibition games

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against Wisconsin and against North Carolina Carolina game was interesting.

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And then you know the success that they had at

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you know, against Nebraska at the Delta Center, and so

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it just amazing games, right and and and as you said,

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you have three games to start a big twelve conference

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that you be able to go and say, okay, you

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have two games on the road, one of them against

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your arch nemesis, and you know, like it's the best

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way for you to get started and truly have a

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measure of this BYU team now you know, out of

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the eighteen games, I think BYU has to go thirteen

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and three to have a chance to win conference. I

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don't think fourteen and four is going to cut it

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this year. And so as I look at that games

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at Kansas State right in Manhattan and then going up

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the hill to Salt Lake, you have to take care

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of business at those times, right. And the fact that

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they're going to play at home against Arizona State, that

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is just a given that they're going to take care

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of things, right. And so when you win conference, when

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you are the the you know, not the runner up,

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the runner over secondar but when you're a the front

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runner to be one of the best teams in the

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Big twelve, you have to take care of things. You know.

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Recently I was looking at some of my your games.

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I was connecting with my former teammates, and it was

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rare that we didn't win, you know, twelve thirteen games

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in the Mountain West, fourteen games, fifteen games out of

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you know, out of a sixteen games schedule, And that's

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what you have to do. And so I think BYU

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is primed for a great situation. The players are as

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healthy as they can be. Everybody's ready to go. Obviously,

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you know, not having Nate, not having not having Dawson,

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those are big losses. But as you and I have

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talked about many times, Ron, it is time for some

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of these guys to step up and and I think

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these three games to get things started are the perfect

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way to do it.

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Speaker 2: Definitely are these three games? For sure?

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Speaker 3: How big of an impact is Kipa Cata going to

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be in conference? Players got off the line with with him.

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He's got the highest vertical on the team, per aj

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De Bonsa.

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Speaker 2: It's over forty. I'm pretty sure.

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Speaker 4: Well, you know, here's it. You know, I think we

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all got to see, you know how much they missed

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Keva and you know in one of those you know,

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gimme games that they played over the holidays. Uh, you know,

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ken is important. It's Keba going to be a difference

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maker by scoring twenty points. No, he's not, but he's

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a senior. He understands the game basketball IQ. You know,

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he altered shots and then you know, incredible rebounder and

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great pick and roller. You don't have to talk about

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this a lot. Keba picks and then rolls, but he

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does it in a way that a lot of times

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he almost seals the defender, opening the lane for players.

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Yegor had a bunch of dunks last year like this,

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you know as a j Robert rides finding his way

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into the paint. And so Keba is massive, right, I mean,

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obviously you have the Big four, you have the Big three,

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but you know just the way the by is playing,

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Keba and Canard are you know absolutely you know, bio

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pieces for the seam successful hoping that you know, Tyler

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coming off the bench, the bench, KaDee being off the bench,

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they can prove you know, even Electate can provide them

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a spark, a boost for them to be able to

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win you know a lot of these road games.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the bench is definitely gonna need to step up

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big time. That's gonna be the biggest piece that's going

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to be tested. Can aj you know, overcome it even

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if the bench isn't able to help alject and you

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don't want them to happen every game, But how many

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games is he going to be able to do that?

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Can he do it against maybe teams not as formidable

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as Kansas State, Utah and Arizona State, Because when you

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you look at what he just accomplished. He swept the

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awards this week with Newcomer and uh, you know, Player

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of the Week, and it's all because of that thirty

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point triple double. Like can he do that at moments

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in conference if the bench doesn't play well.

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Speaker 4: Well, you know, let me actually flip the question to

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you in a pastake way. Uh, you know, and this

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is a rhetorical question. Watch hints b I. If he

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doesn't played that way, yeah, right, And so it's not

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like by you can't afford for him not to play

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that way. He has to deliver. He has to you know,

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he has to be really good. And so you know,

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I think that the way the b YU team is

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playing right now and the way that he's performing, you know,

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it's you know, it's mission critical for him to stay healthy.

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And look, the dude is superhuman. I mean to the

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fact that he got done with the game on the

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twenty second hop on the plane, you know, Tuesday morning

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he was in Boston, you know, doing a PR appearance

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and you know, like this is a different level. This

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is this you know, we will never see another A J. D.

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Bonds at BUYU have a very hard time. You know,

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AJ might go down as you know. I mean, he

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has all the potential, you know, to be one of

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the all time greats in basketball, and so to be

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a part of his journey is fantastic. You know. I

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think key to keep Tie from AJ good. It's definitely

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by U's defense, which again is anchored by Keba. AJ

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is a big part of that. But Keba, you know,

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is what allowing this BYU team to be so good.

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I mean, if you look at the way that you

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know they're playing right now, it's leading to leading to

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easy baskets and and also turnovers. You know, if they're

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able to keep turnovers to a minimum, you know, like

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six seven turnovers, I think they're going to be really good.

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I'm doing the hands run, I'm doing the hand and so,

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you know, like if you're able to keep turnovers at

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a minimum, stemming from you know that, all that that

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defense and then going to offense and a j playing

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really well, and so you know, Rich is gonna do

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his thing. This team's gonna be really successful.

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Speaker 3: This team is gonna be successful. I got about two minutes, Lef,

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and then I gotta let you go. So I'm gonna

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get you out of here on this right here, does

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BYU open up Saturday on the road against Kansas State

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with the win. Or is it like last year where

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they start slow in conference play?

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Speaker 4: No, they have to start off. They have to start.

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They have to come out of the gate like you know,

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like you know, shooting flames out of their rear ends.

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It has to happen run otherwise everything else crembles. They

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can have a slow start, you know. And I gotta

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tell you Ron, you know, like I have a hard

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time believing that Kevin Young, with over a week to prepare,

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is not gonna have these guys ready, you know what

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I mean? And you know, the one thing that I

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will say is, you know, whatever halftime speech Kevin Young

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is doing, can we get those to happen before the

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game starts? You know what I mean? Like, is it

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possible for us to have those halftime speeches happened before

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the game. And it's going to be crucial, you know

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what I mean. And so you know, I'm waiting to

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see how I'm waiting to see how that's going to

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play out. How BYU is going to be able to

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have a really good first halves, come off the gates storming,

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you know, is Robbert Raygan the state, consistent, stay out

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of foul trouble. It's a huge thing. What about Keba,

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we haven't even talked about up Doula anymore, which I

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think is going to be a huge addition to b Yu.

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And uh, you know, Okay, in his first game, he's

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got five rebounds, a couple of blocks. I was impressed

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by Dad, and you know, And and AJ has to

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be Aj, right, Richie. Richie cannot be the Richie we

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saw at Madison Square Garden because if not, AJ has

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to be out of the worldly. And uh, you know.

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And I'm still waiting for Aj to catch a fast

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break and do a niche bay. You know what I mean.

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I'm waiting for something crazy to happen.

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Speaker 3: Man, I'm waiting for it to happen. Too well, it

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could happen against Kansas State. He's had a couple of highlights.

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But it's coming. JT, no doubt about it. This team

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definitely needs to start fast. I gotta let you go, brother,

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but we definitely will catch up next week, starting on

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money Days, not as basketball season.

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Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to it.

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Speaker 4: Brother, always in forever, my brother, Go Koogs and happy

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New Year to you and the family. Weaver, Hey, thank you.

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Speaker 3: Happy New Year to you and the Tavinaris as well. Guys,

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guys who got to go to Break? That segment was

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brought to you by Recent Cleaning Services. Reliable, affordable and

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detail oriented. That's who Recent Cleaning Services is. Gaby and

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her crew haveing the start and five Calm today eight

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zero one three at zero eight zero eight seven, We'll

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go to break. Don't go anywhere. Jared Bledsoe in studio.

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Next your listening to Cougar Sports one of three nine

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ninety eight three