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I'm gonna get into a little keeping up with the
Cougar is always like to know what's going on around
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Speaker 3: Let's get out to the fan hotline and welcome in
our second to last guest of the program, one of
my favorite guys to interview. We got JT for three Mary,
late Christmas to your brother and it'll be a happy
New Year as well. The next time we speak.
Speaker 4: How are you doing man, I'm phenomenal, I am doing great.
I'm with both of my boys right now running errands.
The quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
The quickest way to missus Tavinari is by picking up
the groceries for her. Ooh, I am running errands right now,
my friend.
Speaker 2: That is good.
Speaker 3: Hey, you got the boys showing them the proper way
to do things. I remember my dad taking me to
the grocery store and helping me get the carl washing
and he's like, look, just tell your mom's good.
Speaker 2: Side and to her heart is this way. So you're
not wrong about that.
Speaker 3: But the way to Cougar Nations heart is Now that
football season is I can't say officially over because I'm
always gonna get pinged about suff but now that it's
the games are over, it is now time to go
all in on basketball. And the Big twelve opener on
the road against Kansas.
Speaker 2: State is Saturday.
Speaker 3: JT give me a preview of breakdown of this game.
I think this is pivotal to set the tone because
you go Kansas State at home, the Arizona State next Wednesday,
and then you go to Utah next Saturday. These are
three big time games that b what you need to
start off conference play the right way.
Speaker 4: Well, listen, let's go from watching our top ten football
team play to watch our top ten basketball team to
have not a bad transition, my friend. And so you know,
I think that BUYU had a fantastic non conference schedule
right the way that that they played, and they overcame
adversity obviously one loss to Yukon, which lets be realistic,
you know, like you're not losing to know, Googoo State University,
you know college, You're losing to you know, a premiere
program that has expectations of going back to the Final
four again that by you very much could have won.
And so the way that they played the exhibition games
against Wisconsin and against North Carolina Carolina game was interesting.
And then you know the success that they had at
you know, against Nebraska at the Delta Center, and so
it just amazing games, right and and and as you said,
you have three games to start a big twelve conference
that you be able to go and say, okay, you
have two games on the road, one of them against
your arch nemesis, and you know, like it's the best
way for you to get started and truly have a
measure of this BYU team now you know, out of
the eighteen games, I think BYU has to go thirteen
and three to have a chance to win conference. I
don't think fourteen and four is going to cut it
this year. And so as I look at that games
at Kansas State right in Manhattan and then going up
the hill to Salt Lake, you have to take care
of business at those times, right. And the fact that
they're going to play at home against Arizona State, that
is just a given that they're going to take care
of things, right. And so when you win conference, when
you are the the you know, not the runner up,
the runner over secondar but when you're a the front
runner to be one of the best teams in the
Big twelve, you have to take care of things. You know.
Recently I was looking at some of my your games.
I was connecting with my former teammates, and it was
rare that we didn't win, you know, twelve thirteen games
in the Mountain West, fourteen games, fifteen games out of
you know, out of a sixteen games schedule, And that's
what you have to do. And so I think BYU
is primed for a great situation. The players are as
healthy as they can be. Everybody's ready to go. Obviously,
you know, not having Nate, not having not having Dawson,
those are big losses. But as you and I have
talked about many times, Ron, it is time for some
of these guys to step up and and I think
these three games to get things started are the perfect
way to do it.
Speaker 2: Definitely are these three games? For sure?
Speaker 3: How big of an impact is Kipa Cata going to
be in conference? Players got off the line with with him.
He's got the highest vertical on the team, per aj
De Bonsa.
Speaker 2: It's over forty. I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, here's it. You know, I think we
all got to see, you know how much they missed
Keva and you know in one of those you know,
gimme games that they played over the holidays. Uh, you know,
ken is important. It's Keba going to be a difference
maker by scoring twenty points. No, he's not, but he's
a senior. He understands the game basketball IQ. You know,
he altered shots and then you know, incredible rebounder and
great pick and roller. You don't have to talk about
this a lot. Keba picks and then rolls, but he
does it in a way that a lot of times
he almost seals the defender, opening the lane for players.
Yegor had a bunch of dunks last year like this,
you know as a j Robert rides finding his way
into the paint. And so Keba is massive, right, I mean,
obviously you have the Big four, you have the Big three,
but you know just the way the by is playing,
Keba and Canard are you know absolutely you know, bio
pieces for the seam successful hoping that you know, Tyler
coming off the bench, the bench, KaDee being off the bench,
they can prove you know, even Electate can provide them
a spark, a boost for them to be able to
win you know a lot of these road games.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the bench is definitely gonna need to step up
big time. That's gonna be the biggest piece that's going
to be tested. Can aj you know, overcome it even
if the bench isn't able to help alject and you
don't want them to happen every game, But how many
games is he going to be able to do that?
Can he do it against maybe teams not as formidable
as Kansas State, Utah and Arizona State, Because when you
you look at what he just accomplished. He swept the
awards this week with Newcomer and uh, you know, Player
of the Week, and it's all because of that thirty
point triple double. Like can he do that at moments
in conference if the bench doesn't play well.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, let me actually flip the question to
you in a pastake way. Uh, you know, and this
is a rhetorical question. Watch hints b I. If he
doesn't played that way, yeah, right, And so it's not
like by you can't afford for him not to play
that way. He has to deliver. He has to you know,
he has to be really good. And so you know,
I think that the way the b YU team is
playing right now and the way that he's performing, you know,
it's you know, it's mission critical for him to stay healthy.
And look, the dude is superhuman. I mean to the
fact that he got done with the game on the
twenty second hop on the plane, you know, Tuesday morning
he was in Boston, you know, doing a PR appearance
and you know, like this is a different level. This
is this you know, we will never see another A J. D.
Bonds at BUYU have a very hard time. You know,
AJ might go down as you know. I mean, he
has all the potential, you know, to be one of
the all time greats in basketball, and so to be
a part of his journey is fantastic. You know. I
think key to keep Tie from AJ good. It's definitely
by U's defense, which again is anchored by Keba. AJ
is a big part of that. But Keba, you know,
is what allowing this BYU team to be so good.
I mean, if you look at the way that you
know they're playing right now, it's leading to leading to
easy baskets and and also turnovers. You know, if they're
able to keep turnovers to a minimum, you know, like
six seven turnovers, I think they're going to be really good.
I'm doing the hands run, I'm doing the hand and so,
you know, like if you're able to keep turnovers at
a minimum, stemming from you know that, all that that
defense and then going to offense and a j playing
really well, and so you know, Rich is gonna do
his thing. This team's gonna be really successful.
Speaker 3: This team is gonna be successful. I got about two minutes, Lef,
and then I gotta let you go. So I'm gonna
get you out of here on this right here, does
BYU open up Saturday on the road against Kansas State
with the win. Or is it like last year where
they start slow in conference play?
Speaker 4: No, they have to start off. They have to start.
They have to come out of the gate like you know,
like you know, shooting flames out of their rear ends.
It has to happen run otherwise everything else crembles. They
can have a slow start, you know. And I gotta
tell you Ron, you know, like I have a hard
time believing that Kevin Young, with over a week to prepare,
is not gonna have these guys ready, you know what
I mean? And you know, the one thing that I
will say is, you know, whatever halftime speech Kevin Young
is doing, can we get those to happen before the
game starts? You know what I mean? Like, is it
possible for us to have those halftime speeches happened before
the game. And it's going to be crucial, you know
what I mean. And so you know, I'm waiting to
see how I'm waiting to see how that's going to
play out. How BYU is going to be able to
have a really good first halves, come off the gates storming,
you know, is Robbert Raygan the state, consistent, stay out
of foul trouble. It's a huge thing. What about Keba,
we haven't even talked about up Doula anymore, which I
think is going to be a huge addition to b Yu.
And uh, you know, Okay, in his first game, he's
got five rebounds, a couple of blocks. I was impressed
by Dad, and you know, And and AJ has to
be Aj, right, Richie. Richie cannot be the Richie we
saw at Madison Square Garden because if not, AJ has
to be out of the worldly. And uh, you know.
And I'm still waiting for Aj to catch a fast
break and do a niche bay. You know what I mean.
I'm waiting for something crazy to happen.
Speaker 3: Man, I'm waiting for it to happen. Too well, it
could happen against Kansas State. He's had a couple of highlights.
But it's coming. JT, no doubt about it. This team
definitely needs to start fast. I gotta let you go, brother,
but we definitely will catch up next week, starting on
money Days, not as basketball season.
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 4: Brother, always in forever, my brother, Go Koogs and happy
New Year to you and the family. Weaver, Hey, thank you.
Speaker 3: Happy New Year to you and the Tavinaris as well. Guys,
guys who got to go to Break? That segment was
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