Speaker 1: Richard Smith forty years with the Jazz front office, Smitty.
Speaker 1: As I sit here watching George Washington, Boise State, and
Speaker 1: the College Basketball Crown, there are more scouts than actual fans,
Speaker 1: and so I know, you know what it's like to
Speaker 1: sit in basically empty arenas and watch a lot of
Speaker 1: college basketball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll tell you what says. When you're in those
Speaker 2: kinds of environments, it seems like you're in a vacuum
Speaker 2: because it's really hard to feel any energy from the games.
Speaker 2: And I don't know how that translates to the coaches
Speaker 2: and players when they're actually in the middle of the action.
Speaker 2: But it's a tough get when you've got a place
Speaker 2: at seats twelve or fifteen thousand, and there's two hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty people scattered around and half of them are you know,
Speaker 2: a they after because they don't have anything else to do,
Speaker 2: you know, So that's a tough gat sometimes, Yeah.
Speaker 1: For sure, for sure, But you know, fun to be here,
Speaker 1: and I always enjoy being around the atmosphere of college basketball.
Speaker 1: And we'll start with the the game that took place today.
Speaker 1: You know, our plan was to be here as long
Speaker 1: as the utes were and that only lasted one afternoon
Speaker 1: and the Butler Bulldogs take care of Utah eighty six
Speaker 1: to eighty four. So I understand and respect the desire
Speaker 1: to continue to play. And as I reference Smittie, there's
Speaker 1: as I was walking past media row, I counted at
Speaker 1: least a dozen pro scouts. We've got guys in Knicks
Speaker 1: shirts and Sun shirts and there, and they're also a
Speaker 1: grip of college you know, assistant coaches and probably college scouts.
Speaker 1: Now that's probably a thing. So ultimately, you know, it
Speaker 1: gives these players a chance, you know, maybe a player
Speaker 1: like a Jake Wallen in a transfer portal situation, or
Speaker 1: Ezra Asar or lost and lovering to showcase their talents
Speaker 1: to other coaches if Alex Jensen isn't interested in bringing
Speaker 1: them back next year. So what are your thoughts on
Speaker 1: this many little postseason endeavor that Utah basketball just took,
Speaker 1: just under undertook.
Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting, you know, it's it's really something that's
Speaker 2: born out of the nil age that we're in the
Speaker 2: middle of right now. For for college athletics. It's really
Speaker 2: a tournament that's set up to try and buy promoters,
Speaker 2: to try and get get players some extra money. At
Speaker 2: the end of the year. You know, there's like a pool.
Speaker 2: I forget how much it is, but but that the
Speaker 2: winning team is going to get the school gets some
Speaker 2: of it, the players get some of it, and it's
Speaker 2: really just a money making venture for a promoter, you know,
Speaker 2: to get college teams who still want to play a
Speaker 2: game and and listen. It's great for the kids, the players.
Speaker 2: It's an opportunity for the coaches to have opportunities to
Speaker 2: have extra practices with their players, to maybe make final
Speaker 2: assessments on what their roster is going to be going forward.
Speaker 2: And then it gives it the school and opportunity to
Speaker 2: to showcase itself. I know this is all being broadcast
Speaker 2: on Fox Sports one network and they're involved in the
Speaker 2: in the promotion of it, and and and uh and
Speaker 2: and just giving everybody a one last chance to get
Speaker 2: some to get some money really out of it is
Speaker 2: what the end of the day is what it's all about.
Speaker 2: And give the players a chance to showcase themselves one
Speaker 2: more time, whether it's two NBA scouts or European scouts
Speaker 2: or some other college coaches that might be looking for
Speaker 2: and then il transfer portal kind of guy. So so
Speaker 2: it serves a lot of a lot of people, a
Speaker 2: lot on a lot of different levels.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the paycheck would have been three hundred j
Speaker 1: if they were able to go win the thing. And
Speaker 1: and you're right, a lot of this now, all of
Speaker 1: it quite frankly, I suppose in college basketball, maybe in
Speaker 1: life is driven by the almighty dollar.
Speaker 3: Maybe you just need to accept that.
Speaker 1: But I want to move over to the space now, Smitty,
Speaker 1: of what comes next for Utah basketball, now that this
Speaker 1: season has ended and Alex Jensen has already been on
Speaker 1: the job. You know Wes Wilcox to hire that We
Speaker 1: talked and you were great to give us some insight
Speaker 1: into who Wes is. Maybe one of the only guests
Speaker 1: we could have locally, it actually knows Wes. And of course,
Speaker 1: of course Raphael Chiles coach Chill as he's going by.
Speaker 1: So Alex has been busy, he'll continue to be busy.
Speaker 1: And Smitty, I want to be clear, I don't know
Speaker 1: this to be true. It's just what my gut is
Speaker 1: telling me. Because a lot of the conversations since Mark
Speaker 1: Carlin elected to move on from Craig was okay, you know,
Speaker 1: Josh Eiler moves his wife and children out to Salt
Speaker 1: Lake City, and he has twenty years of experience combined
Speaker 1: with playing and coaching in the Big twelve Conference, which
Speaker 1: is home for Utah. Now, a player like Ezra A Sar,
Speaker 1: a player like Keanu DAEs, a player like Jake Kalleen.
Speaker 1: You know, the conversation has been who will be back
Speaker 1: that is here right now? And I'm starting to feel
Speaker 1: like the answer might be nobody, coaches and players that
Speaker 1: Alex might want that blank canvas to paint his own
Speaker 1: picture and make.
Speaker 3: His own creation. What are your thoughts on that? Like
Speaker 3: I said, I don't know.
Speaker 1: That's not coming from any place of sourcing or inside information.
Speaker 3: That's just me talking out loud. Tell me what you think.
Speaker 2: Well, I would think that at least with the current
Speaker 2: coaching staff, that Alex and We'll take a look at
Speaker 2: that and see what makes sense to them. If there's
Speaker 2: anybody on the existing staff either that they have relationships
Speaker 2: with or that have a particular niche in the game
Speaker 2: that they think can serve the program going forward, if
Speaker 2: there's somebody on that staff that's really known as a
Speaker 2: defensive wizard and they feel can help them, you know,
Speaker 2: with that part of the growing the program. Then that
Speaker 2: would be someone that they would I would think they
Speaker 2: would lease it down and talk with. There'll be a
Speaker 2: lot of people coming at alex I'm sure there already
Speaker 2: has been guys who are either out of jobs or
Speaker 2: guys who are trying to transition from one job to
Speaker 2: the next, you know. Couge basketball nowadays, you know, withy
Speaker 2: with few exceptions, seems to be a very fluid situation
Speaker 2: on all levels, whether it's the coaching staff, whether it's
Speaker 2: the players, whether it's the people that you have and
Speaker 2: your support staff. And so they're gonna look to try
Speaker 2: and get the best people possible. I'm sure there's people
Speaker 2: on that staff now UH that that that are doing
Speaker 2: an excellent job. You know, look, I think Craig Smith
Speaker 2: and his group UH are were very good coaches. I
Speaker 2: think Craig Smith is a is an excellent coach. He's
Speaker 2: shown that before. You know, their their issue in the
Speaker 2: last few years has just been and not having enough
Speaker 2: horses to be able to run with the with the
Speaker 2: rest of the group when you're talking about getting into
Speaker 2: the uh UH the Big twelve, especially even the Pac twelve.
Speaker 2: The US has been a mediocre, you know, middling team
Speaker 2: in in a very good PAC twelve conference before that,
Speaker 2: So they're their real concern is going to be who
Speaker 2: can we get as players that can really help to
Speaker 2: elevate the program in that regard. That's what they're going
Speaker 2: to be looking at their current Utah players that could
Speaker 2: serve in that role. I think there are there are some,
Speaker 2: but it's gonna be something with it trying to piece
Speaker 2: together a team, a group that makes sense to them.
Speaker 2: They got to look at, you know, their backcourt and
Speaker 2: who their ball handlers are going to be. They got
Speaker 2: to look and see, if you know, if there are
Speaker 2: shooting wings that are available that that they can go after.
Speaker 2: I have no idea, haven't heard anything about, you know,
Speaker 2: what the current situation is relative to high school recruiting,
Speaker 2: if the U has any high school recruits that are
Speaker 2: already committed to coming in, or if they have, if
Speaker 2: they've if they've backed off commit So so, all that
Speaker 2: that thing is is a broad canvas for Alex and
Speaker 2: Wes and and the rest of the group as they
Speaker 2: try and formulate that and try and figure out where
Speaker 2: they're going to get players. It's going to be top
Speaker 2: at this stage of the game. I would think to
Speaker 2: put any kind of a group together going forward for
Speaker 2: at least next year. That's going to make any sense
Speaker 2: in terms of being highly competitive, you know, very quickly.
Speaker 2: So that's going to be the challenge for them is
Speaker 2: trying to identify guys that they think might be able
Speaker 2: to help them immediately.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting when you and all of this could
Speaker 1: change because of the landscape of this sport and players
Speaker 1: coming and going and changing their minds and decommitting.
Speaker 3: But Houston is loaded. Of course this year.
Speaker 1: They're a final four team, and when you look at
Speaker 1: who they could have coming back. We'll wait on some
Speaker 1: of their player decisions. In addition to what their recruiting
Speaker 1: class is thought to be per the ESPN one fifty,
Speaker 1: they're going to be stacked. Kansas has right now one
Speaker 1: of the top three recruiting classes in the country.
Speaker 3: Arizona, you know they'll lose Caleb Love.
Speaker 1: You look at the Big twelve landscape and we'll get
Speaker 1: to BYU in a moment. I don't know what to
Speaker 1: expect from Utah basketball next year for two reasons. One
Speaker 1: Nice outlined the difficulty of filling up a roster in
Speaker 1: time for next fall that actually looks like it can
Speaker 1: compete with the best teams of the Big Twelve. And
Speaker 1: the other is the best teams of the Big twelve
Speaker 1: are only going to get better or and a team
Speaker 1: like Kansas who had a down year will be back,
Speaker 1: So it is impossible to analyze who they will be
Speaker 1: year one under Alex. But I wanted to ask you, Smitty,
Speaker 1: and the course of your career. I think one of
Speaker 1: the coolest things, at least from my vantage point, that
Speaker 1: you experienced is watching great coaches put together great teams
Speaker 1: then lead those great teams to great heights Jerry Sloan,
Speaker 1: Quinn Snyder, among others. And you know I was talking
Speaker 1: about this with Seon Mooney, who stopped by last segment.
Speaker 1: As far as the staff that Alex will build and
Speaker 1: the type of communication structure he will encourage and inspire.
Speaker 1: And in a lot of rooms that I've been in
Speaker 1: in pro basketball, the best leaders that I've seen on
Speaker 1: the personnel side, like at Dennis Lindsay, encourages conversation, encourages debate,
Speaker 1: right Like you were in rooms with Dennis for years
Speaker 1: and he'll point to you and say, Smitty, I want
Speaker 1: to know what you think, Like, what's the deal?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: So what sort of communication structure.
Speaker 1: Knowing Alex the way that you do, would you think
Speaker 1: he'll put in place with you know, of course he's
Speaker 1: the head coach and Wes Wilcox, the general manager, reports
Speaker 1: to him. It's a different dynamic than it is in
Speaker 1: pro basketball, and then allow his assistant coaches. But Alex
Speaker 1: doesn't strike me as the type of guy that will
Speaker 1: say this is this is a monolith. Okay, like I'm
Speaker 1: the guy, you have to listen to my ideas. He
Speaker 1: he strikes me more of like a collaborator with his
Speaker 1: staff once he has that in place.
Speaker 3: Is that kind of driving with your understanding of who
Speaker 3: he is?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well that's that's who he is. He's a uh
Speaker 2: you know, Alex is a thinker and he's he's someone
Speaker 2: very thoughtful person, someone who's going to analyze the situation.
Speaker 2: You know, he's more of a studier if that if
Speaker 2: that's the right term to use of of what's going
Speaker 2: on and trying to analyze the situation and then trying
Speaker 2: to gather information from all different aspects, you know, before
Speaker 2: making a decision. Remember he was he worked for one
Speaker 2: of the best coaches ever and Rick Mjerriff. You know
Speaker 2: who and and and Rick was. Wash was very much,
Speaker 2: you know, the man on the top of the mountain,
Speaker 2: and he was he was the guy who directed everything
Speaker 2: and he demanded excellence. And that's what That's what alex
Speaker 2: Is has been used to now only as a player
Speaker 2: at Utah under at Rick Mgeris, but then working with
Speaker 2: them at Saint Louis University as an assistant coach, so
Speaker 2: he knows he knows what it takes in terms of
Speaker 2: the uh, the x's and o's, but also in relation
Speaker 2: to making sure that everybody who's involved understands that they
Speaker 2: have to have all of their bases covered and they
Speaker 2: have to have everything on the page so that they
Speaker 2: know that what they're trying to get get done going
Speaker 2: forward makes sense based on all of the circumstances that
Speaker 2: are at hand. And so to do that, you have
Speaker 2: to rely on the staff. You have to rely on
Speaker 2: people who have a different viewpoint and a different perspective.
Speaker 2: Ali you know, has that kind of personality where he's
Speaker 2: gonna listen and he's gonna take in what other guys
Speaker 2: are saying, and then he's gonna be able to he's
Speaker 2: gonna be able to transfer that onto the floor in
Speaker 2: terms of educating the players and training the players to
Speaker 2: play the way they want. So it's gonna he's gonna
Speaker 2: have a staff that's gonna have that kind of an
Speaker 2: approach and that kind of a mindset, and they're gonna
Speaker 2: need that right out of the shoot because again, they're
Speaker 2: gonna have players whoever they end up with come next
Speaker 2: October on the on the practice floor. They're gonna be
Speaker 2: guys from all over the place, and so coordinating them,
Speaker 2: getting them all on the same page and making sure
Speaker 2: everybody's headed in the same direction is really gonna be
Speaker 2: a major task for the group that they're gonna have there.
Speaker 1: So what is the what's the selling points, Maddy? Because
Speaker 1: this will be brick by brick, and if they return
Speaker 1: zero players and zero coaches, which I will continue to reiterate,
Speaker 1: I do not know if that's the deal, then this
Speaker 1: will be.
Speaker 3: There's not even a foundation. Lake.
Speaker 1: You have to lay the foundation, and you know, the
Speaker 1: Jazz oftentimes will talk about, you know, this whole idea
Speaker 1: that they're not rebuilding, they've actually been tearing down so
Speaker 1: they can rebuild, which I think is beyond silly. But
Speaker 1: you've got to put a foundation in place. So if
Speaker 1: you're Alex Jensen, if you're Rafael Chilius, if you're Wes Wilcox,
Speaker 1: and you're talking to talented players, because as you always
Speaker 1: remind us, there's no such thing, not Jerry Sloan, not
Speaker 1: pat Riley, not Phil Jackson, there's no such thing as
Speaker 1: a great head coach who simply didn't have great players.
Speaker 1: So as Alex and coach Chill and West and they're
Speaker 1: they're hitting the road, what do they say, What's what's
Speaker 1: the selling point to get these young men to consider
Speaker 1: playing for University of Utah program that has not been
Speaker 1: a destination in basketball, if we're frank for over a
Speaker 1: generation now.
Speaker 2: Well a couple of levels. One is they're going to
Speaker 2: lean on the history of the University of Utah a
Speaker 2: basketball program, and they're gonna lean on what it has
Speaker 2: been and how it's how it's been built up over
Speaker 2: the years, going back to Arnie Ferron in the forties
Speaker 2: and and UH coach Gardner in the in the fifties
Speaker 2: and sixties, and and with Jerry Pim in the eighties
Speaker 2: and and UH and Rick Jeers. They're gonna they're gonna
Speaker 2: lean on a lot of that to say this is
Speaker 2: what what we're capable of doing. We need to have
Speaker 2: the horses to come into the stable to help us
Speaker 2: do that. You're one of the guys we want to
Speaker 2: bring in to help, you know, resurrect that. Okay, So
Speaker 2: that's gonna be one approach and the other the other
Speaker 2: level is gonna be leaning on their own experience and
Speaker 2: what they've been through. Alex is gonna be able to
Speaker 2: talk about, this is how we did it when I
Speaker 2: was a player at Utah, This is how we did
Speaker 2: it when I was the D League Coach of the
Speaker 2: Year in Canton, uh uh when he started and in
Speaker 2: this NBA track of working in the G League for
Speaker 2: a couple of years. This is how we did it
Speaker 2: when I was with the Jazz and working with Donovan
Speaker 2: Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, and this is how we set
Speaker 2: things up. Wes Wilcox has all of that experience, having
Speaker 2: been in a lot of different levels, including being a
Speaker 2: GM of an NBA team for several years. So they'll
Speaker 2: be able to talk from the perspective and advantage point
Speaker 2: of having had that experience of knowing what it takes
Speaker 2: because they've been there, They've been on the battlefield. They've
Speaker 2: known what it takes to do it, and they've shown
Speaker 2: that they have the ability to do that as a
Speaker 2: head coach, as an administrator, and we want you to
Speaker 2: be part of what we're trying to put together here.
Speaker 2: And when we do that and we have that rolling,
Speaker 2: we're going to be on the same level as Kansas.
Speaker 2: We're going to be on the same level as Arizona.
Speaker 2: We're gonna be on the same level as a BYU,
Speaker 2: which has a very good program now and it's shown
Speaker 2: that they're that they're in it for the long haul
Speaker 2: in terms of competing in the upper level of the
Speaker 2: of the Big twelve, and so uh that's those are
Speaker 2: gonna be the selling points that they'll have to make
Speaker 2: with recruits. And then you're gonna find some players who
Speaker 2: are gonna say, hey, if I go to Utah, I
Speaker 2: can be one of the main guys right away. You know,
Speaker 2: I don't have to come in like maybe at a
Speaker 2: Kansas or maybe at an Arizona, where maybe I have
Speaker 2: to sit behind someone or have to battle someone for
Speaker 2: playing time or that kind of thing. They they can
Speaker 2: sell the idea that you're gonna come in and you're
Speaker 2: gonna be one of our guys right away. And and
Speaker 2: for some players that's a big deal because they feel like, Hey,
Speaker 2: I'm just as good as the other guys at those
Speaker 2: other schools, and so Utah is gonna give me a
Speaker 2: chance to get on the floor and play twenty five,
Speaker 2: twenty eight, thirty two minutes, whatever it is, and show
Speaker 2: what I can do and also show that I can
Speaker 2: compete for that program against these other schools. And so
Speaker 2: those are going to be the things that they're going
Speaker 2: to use as some of their main selling points when
Speaker 2: they get out on the road and start trying to
Speaker 2: trying to get in the homes of guys to see
Speaker 2: if they can get them to come to Salt Lake City.
Speaker 3: Let's move over now. Richard Smith is our guest.
Speaker 1: The show is live on the road in Las Vegas
Speaker 1: at the MGM Grand Arena. The MGM Garden Grand Arena.
Speaker 1: Shout out to the sponsor.
Speaker 3: Let's get it right.
Speaker 1: We got Boise State and George Washington Game two going
Speaker 1: on right now. The Utah men's basketball season came to
Speaker 1: a close at the hands of the Butler Bulldogs.
Speaker 3: Earlier today eighty six eighty four.
Speaker 1: So, Smitty, since you and I last spoke the BYU
Speaker 1: Cougars ran into a buzza namely Mark Mark Sears in
Speaker 1: the Alabama Crimson Tide, and you know, let's talk about.
Speaker 3: The game for a moment.
Speaker 1: Then we'll get to the news that you know, Cannon
Speaker 1: Catching's four star kid transfer portal, and you know the
Speaker 1: decision that Yegor Demon has to make. And you know,
Speaker 1: before the game, the one number that hit me right
Speaker 1: in the face as I was doing some prep and reading,
Speaker 1: you know, as far as what these teams do well
Speaker 1: and where they struggle. BYU two hundred and thirtieth in
Speaker 1: the country at Guardian the three and Alabama one of
Speaker 1: the better teams in the SEC.
Speaker 3: At Guardian the three. They were not a.
Speaker 1: Physical Houston type defensive basketball team. So you give Alabama
Speaker 1: a lot of credit for simply knocking down shots. And
Speaker 1: the Sears kids sat a personal best making ten threes,
Speaker 1: and they broke the NCAA record held for a number
Speaker 1: of years from that great loyal team that Los Hank
Speaker 1: Gathers and had Bo.
Speaker 3: Kimball former Nick so Yes.
Speaker 1: Alabama made a lot of shots, but I thought defensively
Speaker 1: BYU on the perimeter really showed why that three point
Speaker 1: percentage number is one of the worst in college basketball.
Speaker 1: So what did you make about BYU's run of the
Speaker 1: Sweet sixteen and the way they got trounced by Alabama.
Speaker 2: Well, they just they just ran enter the team. They
Speaker 2: had a historic night. I mean, there's that's the first
Speaker 2: thing that glad to me. They Alabama took fifty was
Speaker 2: a fifty two fifty two threes in that game, and
Speaker 2: they only took fifteen two point shots, So you know,
Speaker 2: it was it was such a disparity and where their
Speaker 2: shots were coming from. But you're taking the shots and
Speaker 2: when you're making them, you getting the flow. And when
Speaker 2: you're getting the flow like they were in you know
Speaker 2: that that's just that's just a big downhill slide that
Speaker 2: is hard for any defensive team to put a stop to.
Speaker 2: Alabama just had it going that night, and that's you know,
Speaker 2: you gotta tip your hat to them. Alabama's a better team.
Speaker 2: They're better team than BYU. So BYU was gonna have
Speaker 2: to have the kind of night that Alabama had shooting
Speaker 2: the ball if they were going to have a chance
Speaker 2: to in that game, in my opinion, and they didn't
Speaker 2: have that. Alabama at it and UH and so you know,
Speaker 2: b YU just showed you know that that they were
Speaker 2: they were just outclassed in that game, and they had
Speaker 2: a you know, you have to sometimes you just come
Speaker 2: back to the locker room. You just you just tip
Speaker 2: your hat to the other guy and said they were better.
Speaker 2: And that's that's the way it was. And then you
Speaker 2: try and figure out what you can do. But the
Speaker 2: one thing you don't want to do as a program
Speaker 2: is overreact to a singular game. Now, now, a week
Speaker 2: or so earlier, UH b YU had been manhandled in
Speaker 2: a different way by Houston, which is a terrific, suffocating
Speaker 2: defensive team, and they showed that that b YU has
Speaker 2: to be a more physical defensive team, UH for a
Speaker 2: physical team going forward. And so those are the things
Speaker 2: that that Kevin Young and his staff can take and
Speaker 2: then go, Okay, here's two games where we got manhandled
Speaker 2: pretty good. We were feeling pretty good about ourselves before
Speaker 2: those two games, but those two teams really showed us,
Speaker 2: UH some areas where we really need to concentrate, uh
Speaker 2: on on the the kind of basketball we're going to play,
Speaker 2: but also how we need to improve ourselves going forward
Speaker 2: to our program. So I thought it was a great
Speaker 2: learning point for them, and it's something they'll be able
Speaker 2: to look at over the summer and and try and
Speaker 2: figure out how to be able to address those kinds
Speaker 2: of games when they come upon them to make them
Speaker 2: a better team. And uh, and they will be a
Speaker 2: better team because they've got they've got good players, they've
Speaker 2: got a good core players, and obviously they've got the
Speaker 2: the the banter Kid coming in next year. And so
Speaker 2: they they're going to be a better team. And this
Speaker 2: is a good, a good first year for Kevin Young
Speaker 2: and his group. I thought they did a terrific job
Speaker 2: managing uh, the players they had and installing what they
Speaker 2: want to try and do. And now they take this
Speaker 2: and they move forward and look ahead to next year.
Speaker 1: Well, I agree that this year one under Kevin Young
Speaker 1: has manifested proof of concept. I also felt like when
Speaker 1: b YU more often than not this year, ran up
Speaker 1: against the elite teams in college basketball, there was a
Speaker 1: clear line of delineation.
Speaker 3: And that's not a knock on Brigham Young.
Speaker 1: That's a you know, that's the reality. And look, we've
Speaker 1: got four number one seeds in the final four. And
Speaker 1: Ken Pomeroy has pointed out all year that the gap
Speaker 1: between the best teams in college basketball and like the
Speaker 1: second tier is pretty big this year. But whether it
Speaker 1: was you know, getting run by Alabama or the two
Speaker 1: times they faced Houston.
Speaker 3: They had some great wins.
Speaker 1: They beat Arizona McHale, they trounce Kansas and Provo. But
Speaker 1: is the is you know, aj De Banta who appears
Speaker 1: from everything I can tell to be everything he's cracked
Speaker 1: up to be, and then another year of some of
Speaker 1: these other players, if the Demon kid comes back, do
Speaker 1: you think we'll see the gap between b y U
Speaker 1: as a very good team and the Houston's and the
Speaker 1: Alabamas of the world close a little bit? Because there
Speaker 1: are levels to this stuff, Smidia, as you know, Yeah.
Speaker 2: And I would think so because I think the talent
Speaker 2: just having the de bands kid again, I don't want
Speaker 2: to get ahead of ourselves and we don't want to
Speaker 2: make it more than it is. At the moment. He
Speaker 2: hasn't played a minute of college basketball, so we don't
Speaker 2: know how he's going to react, you know, when when
Speaker 2: he gets there on campus and and and gets with
Speaker 2: that group. But his physical abilities and what he's shown
Speaker 2: at the prep school level, uh is is really exciting.
Speaker 2: And if he comes with that kind of of athleticism
Speaker 2: and that kind of skill level and he can he
Speaker 2: can bring that onto the college floor into the Big
Speaker 2: twelve action. Now you're going to get a kid who
Speaker 2: could potentially and I underlying the word potentially, affect games
Speaker 2: like the Cooper Flag is doing with Duke. Now he
Speaker 2: has a different group of guys around him and he
Speaker 2: has other NBA players playing with him at Duke, but
Speaker 2: having a presence like that on the floor where where
Speaker 2: the other team is always looking to see what they
Speaker 2: have to do to take care of that individual player.
Speaker 2: And when you have someone who has that kind of
Speaker 2: presence on the floor, then that's going to be able
Speaker 2: to elevate the opportunities for his teammates to be able
Speaker 2: to uh to, to be able to show what they
Speaker 2: can do uh to to to use a BYU quote,
Speaker 2: to rise and shine. You know, when you have when
Speaker 2: you're on the floor with another player like that. So
Speaker 2: if if he comes and he's all that he's supposedly
Speaker 2: cracked up to be, and he can he can show
Speaker 2: that early in the season, that I think b Yu
Speaker 2: will take another step upward and be able to compete
Speaker 2: with those kinds into teams, you know, on a night in,
Speaker 2: night out basis. It's going to be interesting to see
Speaker 2: if what the what their team looks like uh in October,
Speaker 2: you know, with transferred portals and guys deciding where they're
Speaker 2: going to stay, go and you know whatever that's gonna be.
Speaker 2: But uh uh b YU certainly has a bright, bright
Speaker 2: future in front of them and and options that they're
Speaker 2: going to be able to choose from going forward.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about two b YU players
Speaker 1: before you get a quick jazz thought and I'll set
Speaker 1: you Looseimidty for a Monday ken and catchings and you
Speaker 1: could tell his body language after the game. He was
Speaker 1: interviewed on a couple of different occasions. The b YU
Speaker 1: Sports Nation guys interviewed him, and uh, he was very
Speaker 1: short with his answers.
Speaker 3: He looked like said, he looks sad.
Speaker 1: I mean he's a young kid, you know, and he
Speaker 1: didn't get a ton of run uh in the in
Speaker 1: the rotation and there were moments where he can really
Speaker 1: shoot it.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: He's so young and he's so raw that I'm sure
Speaker 1: the talent that people and him is still something that
Speaker 1: could that could come to the.
Speaker 3: Table, and you know, a lot of people think he's
Speaker 3: a pro.
Speaker 1: The reports are by you paid him a seven figure salary,
Speaker 1: just like they played paid the Demon kid to play
Speaker 1: for them this year. So Kennon catches in the transfer portal.
Speaker 1: And then do you know, I want your thoughts on him?
Speaker 1: And then from your eye as a guy that analyzed
Speaker 1: talent for years, do you think Jegor Demon did enough
Speaker 1: with a really good NCAA tournament run to convince NBA
Speaker 1: teams to look at him high enough where he's going
Speaker 1: to leave as well?
Speaker 2: Well, I think I think both those kids are potential
Speaker 2: pro prospects. I think the catching kids look look like
Speaker 2: to me during the year, and I went to I
Speaker 2: went to six or seven BYU games in person, watched them,
Speaker 2: paid a particular attention to him. He had such an
Speaker 2: uneven year and it was up and down. To me,
Speaker 2: it looked like as a year went on that he
Speaker 2: was losing confidence in what he was trying to do
Speaker 2: out on the floor. And then toward the last month
Speaker 2: or so, it seemed to me like, you know, maybe
Speaker 2: the B y U coaches had lost some confidence and
Speaker 2: in using him, and so his minutes started diminishing, and
Speaker 2: he wasn't in a key times during certain parts of games,
Speaker 2: and so I can see where he might put his
Speaker 2: name in the portal. But hey, I'm one of those
Speaker 2: guys who thinks that the you know, the portal first
Speaker 2: of all, is such a weird, goofy thing that that
Speaker 2: ruins college basketball to me. And it's a whole different discussion.
Speaker 2: But but the fact that it's in place and the
Speaker 2: fact that the student athletes can use that, I don't
Speaker 2: know why every every player doesn't put his name in
Speaker 2: the portal and just see who else is out there
Speaker 2: who might be interested in me, And then it gives
Speaker 2: it gives you a chance to assess what other people
Speaker 2: think of you, and then you know, you know the
Speaker 2: school you're at, you know they're going to start the
Speaker 2: re recruiting process on you if they still want you back,
Speaker 2: and and all that. So so just because the kid
Speaker 2: enters his name in the portal doesn't mean he's totally
Speaker 2: dissatisfied or he's out of here, or he's just had
Speaker 2: it with the school he's currently attending. So so that
Speaker 2: part of it will be interesting to see how that
Speaker 2: plays out. As far as the demon kid, I like
Speaker 2: his skill. I've always liked his ability. When he was
Speaker 2: at Real Madrid and the youth program, which is the
Speaker 2: same youth program that Luka Doncic went through in his
Speaker 2: high school years, demon showed that he has some skill
Speaker 2: and some innate ability to read the floor to make plays.
Speaker 2: Will he will he leave? You know, he's gonna leave
Speaker 2: if he gets feedback from NBA teams that he's going
Speaker 2: to be a lottery pick. If teams are telling him, hey,
Speaker 2: somebody's going to take you in the top ten, twelve,
Speaker 2: fourteen picks or something, it's going to be hard for
Speaker 2: him to come back to the YU because you're going
Speaker 2: to have to look at it from a practical standpoint
Speaker 2: and understand that how much higher can I get in
Speaker 2: the draft if I wait another year? And so you're
Speaker 2: going to have to play that game. He comes from
Speaker 2: a background where he's not He didn't come up in
Speaker 2: the traditional US high school system or AAU system where
Speaker 2: there was a stepping process and in college, have an
Speaker 2: affiliation for a school to stay to school. You know,
Speaker 2: look he you know, he comes from Russia. He was
Speaker 2: in early youth programs there was identified to be a
Speaker 2: top level prospect enough that he moved to Madrid Stain
Speaker 2: to play for one of the top youth programs in Europe.
Speaker 2: He did that for three years. Now he comes to
Speaker 2: the US to get a taste of what college is like,
Speaker 2: ends up at BYU. BYU. For him, it's not about
Speaker 2: going to college. It's not being a college student. It's
Speaker 2: just another stepping stone to eventually being a profession player
Speaker 2: for him. So here's his assessment is gonna be a
Speaker 2: little bit different. He he and his family and his agent,
Speaker 2: they're they're gonna look at it and see what makes
Speaker 2: sense from a business perspective. That's what we're here for.
Speaker 2: That's why we moved this young man halfway around the
Speaker 2: world to be able to position him uh to eventually,
Speaker 2: you know, embark on his professional career. So that's those
Speaker 2: are the things they're gonna weigh. And if they think
Speaker 2: staying at b YU another year makes sense developmentally for
Speaker 2: him and UH and the money makes sense, you know,
Speaker 2: and they're gonna work all the angles behind the scenes
Speaker 2: in terms of a dollars And if he stays, how
Speaker 2: much does he get from b YU. If he goes,
Speaker 2: how much is he gonna get from the NBA and
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff. It's uh, you know, nowadays
Speaker 2: it's all about it's all about the business part of it,
Speaker 2: which you like or you don't like, or what have you.
Speaker 2: But that's that's where the college is are right now.
Speaker 2: And somebody like Demon, he's using the b YU program
Speaker 2: just as much as BYU is using him to try
Speaker 2: and promote their program. So it's a you know, it's
Speaker 2: a symbiotic relationship and they're gonna awigh all the all
Speaker 2: the factors and then and then figure out what's best
Speaker 2: for him as an individual.
Speaker 1: So many that is our time, my friend. I appreciate
Speaker 1: you hopping on. And next time we come to Vegas,
Speaker 1: maybe you can come along for the ride, because I
Speaker 1: know how much you love the strip, but it feels
Speaker 1: like it's tried to and your alley.
Speaker 2: Sence you are. You are a Vegas guy, and I
Speaker 2: heard you earlier talking about moving the show there. You
Speaker 2: would you would be prime right to have one of
Speaker 2: those five o'clock Tuesday afternoon shows from the Miracle Mile
Speaker 2: shop from Hollywood. That would be right up your alley.
Speaker 3: We're looking into it, man, I'll keep you in the loops. Manie.
Speaker 3: Thanks have a great week with chat.
Speaker 1: Toon Okay alike bets man the Great Richard Smith forty
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