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Basketball Insider BYU Basketball Insider here momentarily to break down
this BYUU of a matchup. Don't go anywhere, Gonna break
it all down and give you a prognostication about what's
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In dot com. Let's get out to the hotline. Welcome man,
former by great, the Brazilian bomber. We got Jonathan Tabinari
j T four to three. What's happening, brother?
Speaker 1: It's basketball season. We don't hear much about football, and
you know it's happened to me.
Speaker 2: Ben No, it's uh, it is not the most wonderful
time of the year. I feel like the most wonderful
time of years when football and basketball come together. And
I know you're more of a proponent of March madness.
I mean, we're not too far away from March madness
right now, and this billion basketball team seems to be
trending in the right direction. It's it was fun to
watch AJ go off and we see his ceiling, we
see his potential. Let's break down his performance from your purview,
from your from your pulpit, if you will, What stood
out to you about that forty burger that AJ dropped
on the utes.
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, if you can see his ceiling,
you're a better person than I am, because I don't
see a ceiling yet. Yeah, I uh, you know, as
Michael Jordan eloquently said at North Carolina, the ceiling is
the roof to an open uh to an open stadium.
And I feel like that's the same way with a
J And uh, you know, I don't think he's even
scratching the surface of everything that he's capable of. I
think he has flashes flashes of greatness, which is beyond scary,
which means that he's still getting better, right And uh,
you know, he hasn't developed a great three point shot.
You know, first game in his career that he made three,
that's his personal record of you know, going four for
five in a game. And uh, you know, I don't
think that he is anywhere near being, you know, to
a situation where he's just head and shoulders consistent with
his dribbling, his playing to pick and roll, and so
if anything, right now, you know, it's scary because AJ
is only getting better, right and so, but that performance
was incredible. You know, it reminds me a lot when
Kobe dropped eighty one. And I don't know how much
you remember of that band. I know that Ron and
I have talked about it a lot, but like when
he comes to that game, like the Lakers needed every
single point of Kobe's eighty one because they were losing
to the Raptors. Raphael or Rougeo, our homeboy, was actually
at that game with the Raptors when Kobe was going off,
and so, you know, fun, fun little tidbit over there.
But like just like that, b why you needed AJ's
every single point to win that game. Now, they probably
could have subbed him out a little bit sooner, but
again with the way that Utah was just shooting the
lights out. I mean, Utah shot, you know, around sixty
percent from the three point line, and so you needed
every little bit of AJ that you could get. And
you know what an amazing player. You know, My favorite
thing about him is just how humble he is, and uh,
you know, I think he's going to accomplish a lot,
and uh, you know, it is amazing and a blessing
that that he is a cougar, no.
Speaker 2: Doubt about it. It's good to send the Utah with
another loss to and over season. What does it mean
to beat Utah this year on their court and on
our home court.
Speaker 1: Not much? And so, you know, I think aside from
the fact that you know, you beat Utah and you
beat your rival, there's not much that you can kind
of hang your head on right Maybe one thing that
I would hang our head on right now is the
fact that by U played Utah and was able to
win that game and win I don't want to say handily,
but one of the you know, one with a fair
amount of a fair amount of uh of success. They
were able to do it with Utah, you know, having
an incredible shooting night. He Usually when a team shoots
that well for the three point line, it's difficult to
beat them, and so but Buyu was able to do it. Uy,
you played well, played great, you know, uh. It was
incredible to see, you know, Hadem uh Hadem played the
way he did for him to be able to get
their reps the way he did. And you know, he
literally and essentially in essence locked down one through five
at that game. He was that good defensively, and so
you know, I there was a lot of positives from
that game. But I think Utah is one and six
in conference, and yes it is the Big twelve, the
best basketball conference in the country. But nonetheless, you know,
that's a team that that it's getting better if they're
able to retain some of the talent they have this year.
I think Utah, you know, has uh had the chance
to finish in the top top half of the league
next year. And so, you know, but onto bigger things,
and you know, let's reveal this this game of Arizona tonight.
Speaker 2: Look, by U basketball is talented, they are deep, Uh,
they are well coached. What has to happen denied in
order to beat the U of A Wildcats.
Speaker 1: I mean, Ben, I'm gonna disagree with you. They're not deep.
And so they are very very very very very talented.
And I would also say that they are extremely well coached.
This team is not deep, right, I mean we've talked
about at length with you know, Nate Dickens and Dustin
Baker going down. You know, Alexei Costitch has been very
much disappointing this year. You know, Mahilo just hasn't shown
up and progressed the way I think we all hoped
he would. And so you know, the the the you know,
the the burden is heavy on Robert Ray the third
and Richie Saunders and Ajd Bonsa and so you know,
I mean those guys probably gonna need to combine for
seventy five points or more for by U two wins
to night.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this, uh, this team is is facing Is this
gonna be their toughest challenge or do you think I
still think it's the Yukon game or the Texas Tech
game on the road.
Speaker 1: Uh? No, I would definitely say you just put me
on the spot. Well, because here's.
Speaker 2: The thing, right, I mean, the number one team in
the country, right, it's on your home court though.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing, right. I mean, you know, could
we really say that they lost of Texastack was a
fluke when Texas Tack played the way they played against Houston.
That's difficult, right, And I don't want to minimize Texas
Tech because again, you know, they they truly you know,
gave Houston the business. And so you know, it's definitely
a bigger game than Yukon on a neutral site, that's
for sure. Let's split the difference, Ben, And let's just
say that it's probably you know, the most important game
in BYU history at the Marriotte Center.
Speaker 2: It's massive, all lies on BYU US versus U of AID.
And I what was the biggest game in the regular
season that you played in and what was the crowd like? JT,
how do you get up for a game like this
when or how do you kind of stay composed rather
in a game like this when you know that like
all the pressure and all the eyeballs are on your
team to win.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, so I would say that the biggest game
in my career was probably you know, the round of
thirty two of the NCAA Tournament, right, I mean, we
had a chance to go to the sweet sixteen and
we weren't able to beat Kansas State. You know. Aside
from that, I'll probably say that the second biggest game
of my career was probably my senior night when we
lost to New Mexico by one or two points. You know,
almost twenty three thousand people were at that game, and uh,
you know, had we won that game, I would have
been the first player in BYU history to win four
consecutive conference championships and now I have to split that.
You know that that that title. We have a couple
of guys from the nineteen thirties who won you know,
the Mountain Conference back then and thirty thirty one and
thirty two, and so you know, that was probably the
big the second biggause gear of my career. But the
one that I remember the most, man, and I think
you you might as well, is the one we played
wake Forest at home. And you know, that game was surreal,
you know, twenty three like almost twenty three thousand people
at that game. It was deafening, and you know, we
had a chance. And the one thing that I that
I you know that I would say, you know that
I learned from because I think Wape Forest was like
number seven in the country and we were like seventeen
or nineteen or something like that. You know, the one
thing that I will say is, you know, we actually
had a seven point lead or a point It wasn't nine.
It was seven, eight or nine point lead, something similar
to what buy you had against Texas Tack. But it
was on the road. But we headed at the Marriott
Center and then we had four empty possessions in a
row with getting with us also getting a stop that
we could have pushed the lead to over ten, and
we just didn't capitalize on that. And then waite Forest
made their run and they tied the game, and literally
three possessions after that with us, you know, we hit
about five or six possessions without scoring. And so that's
the biggest thing, right, I mean, Arizona's good, Arizona's great,
Arizona's solid, Arizona's Buyu is going to have their runs.
And I think is if by you able to con
know to contain you know, are is b a you
able to contain Arizona's runs and then be able to
capitalize and maximize the runs that buy you go through? Right?
Tommy Lloyd is an incredible coach, and so you already
know that if Yu makes one three in a row
or have a couple of five points in a row
and Arizona's just having empty possessions, He's gonna call a
time out. And you know, the Merrick Center is like
a kicking bomb right now, right, it's just waiting to
explode and go off. You know, I think it is
probably the biggest basketball game in the world today. Big
Monday's back from France Sheila's in the house live game
on ESPN. You know you're probably gonna have about fifty
NBA scouts over there at that game today. You know
which kind of rivals, Uh, Jimmer senior year when Jimmer
played uh San Diego State at w U y U
and my junior year when we played wait Forest at home.
And so you know it is going to be one
for the ages. And uh, you know, I'm I'm happy
that I get to be a part of and watch
it live over there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's Uh, it's gonna be a special night at
the Mary Center. BAYU fans is gonna show up, show
out and be loud and proud and rise and shout,
no doubt about it. Jonathan Tebinar here on ESPN The
Fan a little college basketball segment, Uh and uh discussing
some of the keys to the game. You mentioned a
number of them. Rob Wright has been I think tremendous.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: He's been so consistent. The Todd King has had some
of his ups and downs too. As we've get gotten
into uh the Big twelve play as has a j
What role do you think Rob Wright plays tonight? You
have a so long athletic big Uh. They do have
a good guard line as well. It's not that don't.
Does Rob have another breakout performance versus this U of
a team tonight, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, like I here's the thing. I
personally think that you know, U B YU just needs
all three of them, right I you know, I don't
want to take anything away that just wob but I
feel like, I kids, you're not being I've been looking
at the numbers all day. I'm excited for the game,
got a little bit of a you know, a cold,
cold feeling in my tummy. I you know, just excited
to be there and just the crowd go wild. I
think DYU not only against not only would Robert Wright,
but I think they just by just needs the big
three to break three. You know, I think that if
if Rob scores less than twenty points tonight, then you know,
he needs to have at least ten to twelve assists
because that means that AJ and Richie are both getting
twenty five thirty plus between both of them, and so
you know, I think Rob is figuring out that he
can impact the game in different ways rather than scoring.
But nonetheless, I think he's scoring, especially on transition and
getting to the rim is going to be key. On
a half court I'll probably you know, be a little
bit more deferring to AJ and his ability to score
with Richie's ability to catch and shoot and attack off
the dribble. To your point, you know, like this team's
this Arizona team, it looks like a low level NBA team,
extremely high level euro League team right where they're along.
They're athletic, they played the right way. You know, they
just have some players that are in contention to be
Player of the Year. I mean, it's an incredible team, right,
number one in NET, number one. I don't know if
you guys have from the top of your head, but
it's number one in NET, number one in ranking. And
there's another stat that they are number one as well.
And so you know, when you look at that, it's
it's it's a scary team, right and and BUYU just
historically has never gotten those teams in the Marriott Center
into now. And then let's thing that I will share.
Before the season started, we were all talking about Houston
being the number one team in the country at that point,
you know, and it just goes to show how strong
the Big twelve is.
Speaker 2: B YU basketball. You mentioned I you corrected me. This
team is not deep. It has the potential to be deep.
I really like Mihailo Boskovik, I like, I really like
the potential of Abdullah Akhamedbidu.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: This team can find some depth. I think down the stretch,
I'm looking at those two bigs tonight and saying, Hey,
if you're gonna have a breakout night, now is the
time to do it. Mihailo or Abdulah. What do you
expect from those two guys tonight?
Speaker 1: Well, from Abdulah, think it's gonna be a big game, right,
I mean you're gonna have to fight fire with fire
and uh and then be able to you know, be
able to get get get Keba in a position where uh,
you know he is not the only one, you know,
just kind of being asked to do so much, right
because you know he's very athletic and very very physical,
but none of the last you know, height matters, right,
and that's kind of a big thing, right, Height really matters.
And so will you know beat O be a be
a factor? I definitely hope so, because I think Buyu
needs it a lot. Mahilo, I still keep wishing that
Mahilo would figure out how to be able to score
more right, And what I mean by that is I
wish Mohilo would be a little bit more consistent with
his catching and shooting, you know, as just an area
that BUIU is lacking. They are you know, they are
needing it like manna in the desert, like water in
the desert, and nobody has really stepped up to the plate.
You know. I would love for Tyler Maruss to kind
of have a breakout game today and be able to like,
you know, just have a lot of success against against
this you know, against this U of a team. I
just you know, it has been a while since either
of those two have had a three to four uh
you know, three point shots made game. Today would be
the perfect day to kind of break Collager slump. You know,
like Tyler marrass shotting around thirty percent on last ROM three.
That's just unacceptable. He was literally brought here to be
a shooter and not to do it. It's it's difficult
not to have that. And so Halo has been very
consistent on defense, which you know, it's again it's a
great thing. It's a it's an it's an incredible thing,
you know, but it's definitely one of those things that
b YU needs more of it, especially during the offensive end.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like they they misevaluated Tyler Morass a bit,
maybe missed on that particular acquisition.
Speaker 1: No, No, I don't think that they've done that. I
think this is I you know, as much as I
hope it's not a controversial thing for me to say,
I think this is more on Tyler than anything else.
You know, like you can see almost like the mental
blocker of it. When he getses the ball. It's not
a Hey, I'm gonna get my shot off. I'm gonna
shoot shoot, shoot shoot, you know. To me, it's more
of a you know, Tyler just hasn't found his groove,
which is you know, which is again, it's unfortunate because
this team needs exactly what he does.
Speaker 2: Jonathan Tabnari, Ladies and gentlemen talking BYU basketball, It'll be
a sold out crowd tonight, all eyes on b YU
versus U of A, and should be one for the ages.
Right now, ag De Bonsa is trending past Danny Ainge,
arguably the goat of BYU basketball as a as a freshman,
broke his record of a single game performance by a
freshman versus Utah and a rollery game. And I know
Danny's a competitor, but I'm sure he's happy to pass
the baton to AJ to Bonsa.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, I would argue and say, look,
there's a lot of things to consider, right you and
I talked about this last week. You know, I would say,
you know, jim Or could be considered a growth the goat.
I would say, Krashiman Chilsch as the only hall of
fame you know, could be considered to go. And so
I think, uh, you know, Aj is you know, AJ
is literally one in a one in a million. The
fact that he got to come to BUYU, I think
we should all just be excited that we got to
witness this, you know. And and it's one of those
things that flat that he's on our team.
Speaker 3: You know, he he rises to the occasion, and uh
interested to see how he's going to rise to the
occasion tonight, because buy U certainly needs him to be really,
really good and.
Speaker 1: To get to the level that they need to be.
Speaker 2: Jonathan Devenard, Ladies and gentlemen, see you down there at
the marriage Center. JT. Thanks for hopping on for another
b YU basketball segment, and you know what, let's get
a like.
Speaker 1: Let's see we can get together this game finally, you
know what I mean? Like you me and Raw Raw
like we you know, I know that I have my
duties on pre and post game. But you know it's
been a minute because I've seen you man.
Speaker 2: I you know, you never want to ever since COVID,
Ever since COVID, and we haven't been hanging out as
much in person. COVID ruined our relationship.
Speaker 1: Since Covids, we both got married, you know, like our
priority you know, you know, we gotta get a tag
team backs again.
Speaker 2: My guy, Yeah, buddy, no, I'm gonna I'm gonna try
to make it down my wife during My wife says,
you know, oh, football season, you yeah, go to all
the games because there's only six of them. Basketball season. Uh,
She's like, yeah, let Ronald go, let Ronnie. I'm like,
all right, you know, let let Ronnie go. Ronald loves hoop.
Uh go ahead.
Speaker 1: It sounds like it sounds like it sounds it sounds
like miss missus Criddle forgets that she comes from Vegas,
where it's a real basketball town.
Speaker 2: So it's true.
Speaker 1: She's got she's gotting doctor Nada with Yu with Yu football, So.
Speaker 2: No doubt about it, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: J T.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you, man, love you. Thanks for hopping on.
Speaker 1: Today as always go Kub's they go.
Speaker 2: That's j T for three. That segment was brought to
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Don't go anywhere. This is Cougar Sports on one of
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