Speaker 1: This is something special for you.
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Speaker 4: Guys, I have a great show for you.
Speaker 3: We're gonna get you updated on all the news and
notes coming out of Brigham and talk bou basketball, obviously
Boa football. We have some coaching official hires. Now we
have a new cornerbacks coach. You thought it was tomorrow,
warnon now, not so fast. I told you cougarnation. There
could be a situation where a cornerbacks coach comes in
trains up those corners and Tomrio moves over to the
safety's room, and that's what was what came about. So
we have a couple of new coaches that are either
coming to BYU or there's coaches that we're already at
BYU that are.
Speaker 4: Getting elevated internally.
Speaker 3: They're getting elevated to special teams coordinator, getting elevated to
outside edge coach. So all that and more, we're gonna
break it all down what it means for BYU football.
But we got to talk a lot of hoop today
coming off a disappointing loss on the road. Look, a
loss at five Allen is not a bad loss. They
were not favored. BLA is going to be favored in
I think nine out of the last ten games, and
most likely they're gonna win those games. You know, the
question to me is about seeding, and we'll discuss that.
But are you nervous? Are you at all concerned about
this BAU basketball team. It's February second. They have gone
down by twenty points in four or five of these games.
Sometimes they roar back and make it, you know, more
often not they make it respectable. Sometimes they win, more
often when they go down twenty they lose. Is this
enough data to tell you there's something amiss, there's something awry?
Speaker 4: Are you fretting?
Speaker 3: Are you a little bit concerned about Cougar basketball right now?
We'll delve into that here on your Utah ESPN Radio network.
But always, as always, keep us dialed in on that
one O three nine FM doll Utai County, the ninety
eight point three f N doll In Selke, Davison, Weaver Counties.
You can stream us on e espndfan dot Com, ESPN
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When you do.
Speaker 3: You can follow me on x at Cridele Benjamin, follow
us at ESPN the.
Speaker 4: Fan without further ado.
Speaker 3: Why don't we fired up the ESPN the fans starting lineup,
and I can introduce you to my co host and
the rest of the start set of cast. You want
to get us for this beautiful Monday, February second edition
of Cougar Sports. Let's welcome in Cougar Sports Insider. He's
taking a producer, our quarterback of the show. Let's welcome
in the one the Only Ronald, the three man Weaver.
Speaker 4: What's up, Ronnie?
Speaker 5: What's up?
Speaker 2: Ben?
Speaker 6: I'm just gonna get it out the way now. Not
a hot take at all. I think everybody, for the
most part, can agree with it. And this is at
this moment in time, February second, two oh three pm.
I don't want people thinking I'm saying this for the Sea.
This is not an elite A team. This is a
Sweet sixteen team. That's what it is. They got ten
games to figure it out. But at this point in time,
this team is not competing for a Final four with
what has occurred. And I think we have a lot
of data points. You say we need three, we have
more than three. And that's just what it is.
Speaker 7: Now.
Speaker 6: They can change it. I have faith that they can,
that they'll be able to do it. But as we
sit today, Ben, That's what it is.
Speaker 4: It is what it is.
Speaker 3: Ronald the three man Weaver will be with us throughout
the beautiful show. Let's also welcome in Brett always bringing
the hammer half of time show.
Speaker 4: What's up, Buddy?
Speaker 1: I wish I wasn't this fascinated by this story, but
I started doing some digging on the good old Pooka
and Nakua story because he's been like the biggest story
on the internet.
Speaker 4: Over the weekend. I don't know if you saw this, Ben.
Speaker 1: Shooting his shot with one of the biggest stars in
Hollywood right now in Sydney.
Speaker 4: Sweeney.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I did see this, which is funny because is
like two hours I guess prior. Again, I wish I
didn't know this, but I looked up Phokaakua and the
story came up two hours prior to see him sending
out this tweet. He's on a date with another girl
who also happens to be pretty famous, so clearly he
has he has no qualms about whether or not who.
He's not exclusive with no ring on it, so Pooker
can do whatever he wants. But you know what, shots
Pookinakua for shooting a shot.
Speaker 3: Hey, he's really into mountain climbing or hiking.
Speaker 4: He said, Scott skydive, skydiving. He's an athlete. What is
it that Sydney Swinney's looking for, By the way, yeah, she.
Speaker 1: Said she wants an outdoorsman type someone can go hiking,
do that stuff. And then yeah, he tweeted out love skydiving.
I don't know about you. I've never been skydiving. I'm
not sure if I could do it. Pooka's clearly not
afraid of anything. I don't know about where we're at
as far as like ESPN, the fan uh, temperature tests, like,
where's everybody out with skydiving.
Speaker 4: I don't know if I could. I don't know if
I could. I'm on the fence about it.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I'm like, you know, you know when you're on
a roller coaster and you get to the very top
and you're like, oh, shoot, I don't know if I
can do this, but you're like, well, I'm already here.
There's only one way and it's down. I kind of
feel like that's how i'd be with skydiving. It's like
I've got on a plane before, so I can do that.
It's like once I get up there. It's like the
only way I'm getting down is if I jump out
of the plane. So I don't know if I could
do it. I don't know if we have fans who
like if we have any listeners who like skydiving. I'm
curious though, Like, have either one of you guys jumped
out of a plane?
Speaker 4: I have not yet, Not yet. I would like to, though,
you think like that doesn't scare you at all, right,
Like you think you could do that pretty easily?
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I think I think I could. I like
the roller coaster.
Speaker 6: Yeah, my sister in law has jumped out of a planet.
Many of my other friends and people for my mission.
Oh yeah, I feel like I would.
Speaker 4: I like that rush.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a nice want to fill, fill alive, make
you make you get the all the biochemical responses.
Speaker 4: I'm like a fight or flight type of mechanism. Yeah,
getting basic with it. Yeah, what's that like? When that
wears off?
Speaker 1: When you've just jumped so many times that it's like
it's like going on an escalator for.
Speaker 4: You to just jump out of a plane.
Speaker 3: So what happens a lot of people are always looking
for the dopamine. It can be addictive and look, I'll
give you an anecdote. Now it's not skydiving, but like
running out in front of sixty thousand fans, being on
national television performing in a modern day gladiatorial arena.
Speaker 4: It's a high, bro, It's a high. Are you kidding me?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I mean you like and especially with this to a
point where it wasn't a high or like it was
always no, no, it's a high.
Speaker 3: But the problem is when you come off the high
and you no longer get to.
Speaker 4: Do the high. It's depressing. The transition from.
Speaker 3: Being a even at like even at a high school level.
Right if you were like a good high school football
player and you're like popular and your identity is intertwined
with it and there's validation, and all of a sudden
you don't play anymore. You're like, all right, now I'm
going to trade school or now I'm going to the
university and I'm gonna study advertising and marketing or social
you know whatever.
Speaker 4: Like whatever, Like there's gonna be a drop off. You're like, man,
I don't get to do that anymore. I don't get
that anyway.
Speaker 3: But it's a significant drop when you've especially now that
you're making money. The biggest concern is, like you're making
a ton of money, You're you're hyper focused on that
modern day gladiatorial entity that is yourself, right, and like
you know that platform in the high and then you
just have this steep drop and you don't have any
other skill set.
Speaker 4: But that's just so everybody knows.
Speaker 3: That's been an issue forever for college football players because
the amount of time you're spending in football was still
the same as it is now. You just weren't getting paid,
you were just getting a scholarship. Everyone's like, well, it's
ruining the sport. I'm like no, and it's gonna ruin
these players. I'm like, look, it's always been that way because,
like my name, I used to tell my teachers this
all the time, like, hey, I need to turn this
project late because I have this big game.
Speaker 4: It's gonna be on ESPN.
Speaker 3: I would rather take a C plus on this paper
and turn in it late and get a deduction of
twenty points than not allocate the time necessary. That he
is associated with my name, No one's gonna remember what
my grade was there in psych one oh one. Everyone's
gonna remember if I was able to d up the
wide receiver.
Speaker 4: Everyone's gonna know in Cougarnation and on ESPN that's true.
Speaker 3: So like when Bronco Menenhall when we was all said
and done and he like a bunch of former players
came back and he was introducing all these players to
the current team. And it came to me and he said,
this is Ben Krittle, former Boa defensive back. He never
got beat and always made the tackle.
Speaker 4: You know what I mean. So to me, if.
Speaker 3: That that was more important than getting a C plus,
and when you really think of it that way, it's like,
oh wow, Like yeah, that's a lot of freaking pressure.
Your legacy is intertwined with how you play. Does that
make sense?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 3: And and so there's a you know, going back to
like preparation and like the anxiety leading up to it,
and then you have the high you play well, you
win your top twenty five, eleven and two both your's
top ten in defense. It's like, you know, I I
remember when the drop happened. I'm like, now I gotta
go work the dm E world and sell durable medical equipment.
Speaker 4: I'm like this sucks, you know now I love it
right right? I love it now. But like it's like
oh you kidd me, Yeah, I mean no way.
Speaker 3: So anyway, it started off with skydiving Sydney Sweeney and
Puka Nakua. Pooka akup is at an all time high.
Now he's about to get his contract renewed. He can
date anybody he wants. He's dynamics and Pooka has always
been dynamic and fun.
Speaker 4: And but the rest of the world didn't know, and
it was just us that knew it, just us. It
was orm that news, Utah that nude.
Speaker 3: Now it's BYU fans that new And then now the
world knows, Yeah, Pooka, and he's he's willing to shoot
his shot.
Speaker 4: He's always been willing to shoot his shot.
Speaker 1: By the way, it's pretty incredible when you can, like
when you get to like I call it like Oprah
status or Share status, when like or Lebron's status, you
just need the one name.
Speaker 4: He doesn't go Nobody calls him Pooka Nakula. It's just Pooka.
Speaker 1: And I would be curious, like, I don't know how
you quantify this, but like in terms of like just
most famous NFL players on the planet right now, just
in terms of being a household name that everybody knows
whether it's for social media, whether it's four and if
like whatever it is.
Speaker 4: I'd be curious where.
Speaker 1: Pooka ranks on that list, because my guess is he
I don't know if he's top ten, especially because he's
not a quarterback, but like as far as non quarterbacks go,
I bet you he's got to be top five.
Speaker 3: He's mister popular that he wants to be popular. All right, guys,
got a great show for you, Brent I was bringing
the hammer Ronald the three man Weaver to check out
the rest of our star set of cash out to
Vic Graham on the data aggregation as well as the newsletter.
We got a star studied cast. No ifans or but
it's about it. Kevin Young sound postgame, Richie Saunders postgame,
Rob right that they we're gonna break down the BYU
Kansas game. What happened? Why did it happen? The pie
chart of accountability?
Speaker 4: What is it that we're seeing? How concerned are you,
Cougar Nation.
Speaker 3: We'll get into more in the three o'clock with some
college football news and notes, transfer portal news as well
as coaching staff news. So stay tuned. J Drew at
four oh five for a Cougar b don't want to
miss that John Beck former BYU Cougar keeping up with
the Cougar's at four thirty Jonathan Tavnari at five oh
five for little College hoopstock with the former BYU Great
the Brazilian Bomber. All that and more here on your
Utah ESPN. Ready to network, Let's get into the nitty
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Speaker 4: Utah dot com?
Speaker 3: All right, So before we get to the sound and
break this game down, BYU basketball fell to the Mighty
Jayhawks at.
Speaker 4: Fog Allen Arena.
Speaker 3: It was disappointing right BYU is the it seems like
BYU from a like a.
Speaker 4: You know from a.
Speaker 3: Conference affiliation standpoint, the elite college basketball conferences, they're the
worst first half team in that tier, your upper tier
basketball teams. Okay, across all of your power conferences. In
basketball BYU last week was like seventieth in the first half,
and they're probably right around there or worse than that.
Speaker 4: They're the number one.
Speaker 3: Team as far as efficiency metrics are concerned in college
basketball in the second half, and they showcased that once again.
That is what I've been complaining about since the beginning
of the season. I'm like, we are so bad in
the first half. Why are we bad in the first half? Obviously,
we want to highlight the good rather than just start
off with the ugly. Obviously, Saunders was remarkable. Todd King
was fantastic, as Kay Why said, and we'll listen to it.
He was the best player on the court.
Speaker 4: In his opinion.
Speaker 3: Now, we didn't see Darren Peterson in the second half, right,
We didn't get to see enough of them. They didn't
get a taste of the glory. We know what probably
would have happened. Darren Peterson was doing whatever he wanted.
The load management. The conversations around Darren Peterson on whether
or not he actually Ike's basketball, whether or not his
agent is telling him don't play this much, I don't know.
It is a controversy in in Kansas right now.
Speaker 4: They have so weird.
Speaker 3: They have no idea what's going on in Lawrence with
Darren Peterson. They'd like to see him more than eighteen
minutes a game, but they're only seeing him eighteen minutes game,
and they're only seeing half of that half of the
games with eighteen minutes. Anyway, Saunders that Todd King had
a career high thirty three points.
Speaker 4: Twenty four of those.
Speaker 3: Came in the second half BYU, once again trailing by
twenty at halftime, BYU ended up out scoring Kansas forty
nine to thirty seven in the second half, led by Saunders.
Speaker 4: Obviously.
Speaker 3: The senior went seven to eleven for the field, including
five to three pointers in the second half. Saunders earned
his fourth career double double with his career high thirty
three points and ten rebounds. He had to assist two
steals and one block right right at the third and
AJ Devonsa finished with eighteen and seventeen respectively. The duo
each made two shots from three and right the third
also quarter six rebounds. De Bonsa had seventeen points and
it marked the third longest street to to start a
career in Big twelve history.
Speaker 4: Shout up to him.
Speaker 3: Kebecata posts a nine rebounds or nine points, seven rebounds,
two blocks, and one steal. Uh, and that that was
pretty much it. I think we had three points coming
off the bench. We don't have a bench like we
just don't have any scores on the bench. No one
has any sort of proficiency off the bench. Cannard Davis
Junior went cold. Uh, and uh, you know you're missing
You're missing some productivity. And furthermore, the defense is an
issue as well. So the defensive scheme versus elite talent
right now is uh is porous. It is not good enough.
Many will point towards the defensive effort in the first
half closing out on shooters.
Speaker 4: And and and and and.
Speaker 3: Switching maybe rather than maybe fighting through your perimeter pimeter screens.
And so they got to figure out something. The defensive
coordinator right now for BYU is going to continue to
see some scrutiny with his his schematics employed. That's the
issue right now for BYU basketball. So let's get into it.
How about we get into a few sound bites and
read between the lines here on your Utah ESPN Radio
Network postgame commentary. Coach, can you put a finger on
your first half struggles?
Speaker 7: Most of our struggles in the first half it have
been execution related.
Speaker 8: I didn't think that was the case tonight. You know,
they were.
Speaker 7: It's hard to overcome nine to twelve from three. You know,
you have to get Bryson a lot of credit. I
think he hadn't made too many threes on the year,
and you know, we were going to make him prove it,
which he.
Speaker 8: Did and we adjusted. Excuse me, but it wasn't just him.
I mean, like I said, as a team.
Speaker 7: They go nine to twelve from three, so and we
were we were what were we like?
Speaker 8: Four sixteen? I think so.
Speaker 7: I mean I've examined it eight different ways to the
moon and back.
Speaker 8: And at the end of the day, is shot making.
Speaker 7: We were shooting a three at a much higher clip
in the second half than we are the first, and.
Speaker 8: That's something that you really can't necessarily fix.
Speaker 7: It's more about just trying to make sure you're executing,
which I thought tonight we did for the most part
in the first that but like I said, the shot
making out of them was remarkable, So.
Speaker 3: Yeah, buy in or selling the rhetoric that he just
dropped on you. Look, you said that it's been execution based.
The issues up to this point have been execution based.
Agreer disagree with that assessment. Brett I was bringing the hammer,
Ronald the three man weaver, you give up, you go
second here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's very similar to what he said.
I think media availability last week, he's like, the truth
is we're just not executing in the first half. He's
that we're making too many mistakes early in games and
that's why we go down early.
Speaker 4: I do buy it. I just think it almost feels
like I don't know if this.
Speaker 1: Is true or not, but I remember in high school
saying a lot that I felt like I just worked
on assignments better when they were due the next night.
Speaker 4: And again I don't know if that's true or not.
Speaker 1: Maybe it was just because I was a big procrastinator,
but like, I think a lot of us grew up
that way. Again, especially if you played sports and you
were busy, like I'll just do it the night before.
I kind of think that's how this bou basketball team
operates where like they don't have the firepower, they don't
have help from other guys. And so I think when
you play at Kansas or Utah, whoever, you play like
their defensive game plan is just effective in the first half.
So their game plan is we're gonna double AJ. We're
blitzing AJ every time. So if you want to let
Rob and Richie score, that's fine, but we're gonna blitz
AJ in that first half.
Speaker 4: So then they get down and then I think.
Speaker 1: What happens is and you've seen this now against Kansas
and against Arizona, it's like, all right, shoot, well, I
guess we just got to start shooting the lights out
in the second half and just play like our lives
depend on it and just go full adrenaline mode in
order to get.
Speaker 4: Back in the game. And that's how they operate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so I don't part of me is like, well,
can you find a way to find that adrenaline in
the first half.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean to me, day or night. What it comes
down to is you don't have any help. There were
three points that you mentioned scored off the bench, and
you know how that three points came. It was from
us finding out that Hadem Boop could apparently hit a
three point shot, which was not on my twenty twenty.
Speaker 4: Six Big Old can hit that wide open. I mean,
I'm not gonna lie. It didn't look bad.
Speaker 3: I like rebound, and I like his perimeter defense, and
he can actually his post defense is really strong too.
So he's a guy that can he can essentially cover
you know, two through four right right, like he can
cover two through four, which you like on some of
that switch ball screen action.
Speaker 4: His shot was not ugly.
Speaker 1: My guess is if he could shoot it at a
higher clip, we would see him shooting it at a
higher clip. But the point being exactly, but the point being,
you had three points off the bench, and it was
a haidem Boop three pointer.
Speaker 4: It was it was over.
Speaker 1: Four, I think from three for Kinnard, and I just think,
I don't know, You're You're putting a J. Robin Ritchie
in a really tight spot because I don't feel like
they have any help to go.
Speaker 4: To on any of these possessions.
Speaker 3: Ronald the three man we were buying or selling the
rhetoric post game and even you know the issues that
we've experienced in the first half over the season.
Speaker 6: Well, you have to buy it obviously because been I mean,
it's it's plagued him and there's facts.
Speaker 5: And his data.
Speaker 6: But what I'm not buying is the last part. What
do you mean you can't fix it? What are you
talking about?
Speaker 5: Coach?
Speaker 6: Like you fixed it last year when he went on
a nine game winnister like that. That's the comment that
I'm looking concerned of. What don't tell me you can't.
Speaker 4: He's saying that, He's said, we're just.
Speaker 5: It's like, well, and I mean, I'm gonna pull it back.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna put I'm gonna because I don't think he's
said we can't fix it right.
Speaker 6: Well, when he's talking about execution and just how it's
going to him threes, he's saying, oh, you know you
can't you know, not specifically the team can't fix the struggles,
but the shots not falling, And I disagree. I disagree
with the execution of how it's yes, you can, like
you know how it can? Did you everybody watched the
second half? Did we see number fifteen in blue or
you know or dark Navy or whatever is go for
twenty four points seven of eleven five and nine from three,
Like did you see that? Did you see him go
lay up? Did you see him go rebound?
Speaker 5: Block? And one three?
Speaker 6: So don't no, no, no, Like, I don't know what it takes, honestly,
but this is something has to get connected, Ben, But
I feel that they can because there's and Kevin is
gonna tease it of the second half numbers. I just
believe the guys plan aren't doing it. I just believe
that's what it comes down to it. And it's the
three headed you know, dragon that you have to give
them the most accountability to because they're taking the shots.
But something's not right between Aj, Rob and Richie. I
think for that part, you know, guys coming in. We
can't put this on Canard. Yeah, he misses the shot
he takes. But for the most part, what's going on
with the three bit, with the with the brick three,
they're not getting it done. And those are the guys
like Richie's a plus twelve in efficiency in the first
half and a plus twenty five, so you need better playing.
Richie didn't play bad in the first halve. He is
four of eight, one to five from three. But this
is where I say, okay, Aj didn't play the way
he should have in the first half. I think accountability
has to start coming towards the players because I feel
Kevin and staff is doing a good job. But when
Kevin's not out there playing Ben the defense, that's bad.
Cannar picking up two quick fouls is that on Kevin.
I'm pretty sure Kevin them are saying, don't get in
foul trouble. So what do you do at that point?
When he gets in foul trouble? You have to bench him,
you have to bring in a different body. So I mean,
I don't know what you need to do at that point.
We talked about maybe bringing Canard in as a six
man last week when.
Speaker 5: You were out. I don't think they're going to do that.
Speaker 6: But if if it's not working, then when do you
start having You know, like when Cannon wasn't playing well
last year, you made a switch. They have guys injured
that they didn't have last year. They had available guys,
and they're really missing with what mag and trevn Nill
and those type of guys and Trey Stewart's But where's
the accountability portion with the player's been Because at this point,
I'm not looking at the coaches. I'm looking at the
players like, you guys, aren't the ones getting done because
the coaches, I feel like are telling you this. I
feel like they're just not getting it done.
Speaker 4: Now, let's continue down. Did you want to chime in?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Ron and I had this conversation this morning and like,
we agree, but we also disagree because it's just hard.
I do agree there needs to be accountability, but I
don't think the Big three are the ones who are
owed accountability. I think the ones who we need accountability
from are guys like me, Hilo, our guys like Alexi,
our guys like Kennard, are guys like literally anyone else
on this team who could score a basket, and they're
not because I realized it's not a beautiful performance.
Speaker 4: It's not a forty piece.
Speaker 1: But Richie had thirty three, aj I had seventeen, and
Robert I had eighteen, all of which are very good
in college basketball. And I do think, like I heard
a lot of fans this week like what we need
more ball movement, we need no more distributing, and and
my pushback is, who's he distributing? Who's Rob Wright gonna
pass the ball to? I know a lot of people
don't like Rob Wright doing this bullyball. I'm just gonna
try and get to the rack. And we saw him
get up, get an offensive foul and yet swatted a
couple of times. I get that that's not pretty. Who's
he passing to? Canard goes zero for four from three?
Alexi can't hit the broadside of a barn either. It's like,
I don't know that it's Canar. I don't know that
it's Rob Ritchie or AJ's fault, because I don't feel
like they have a whole lot of options other than
just say, all right, well, I guess somebody's got to
go for forty tonight in order for us to win
this game.
Speaker 3: Let me chime in on a couple of things here.
I'm gonna give you. I'll give you a few multifactorial things.
What you're seeing right now as we've transitioned to the
Big twelve. The Big twelve reps do not give the
equivalency of calls to AJ that he was getting in
non conference.
Speaker 4: Therefore, he's not getting to the free throw line as much.
Speaker 3: And furthermore, he's not a he's a sixty. He's like
a sixty five percent free throw shooter, so like he's
not getting as many calls and he's just not and
he's not getting the hipchecks. He's not getting, you know,
when he gets in to the lane or he's on
the kind of the extended block when he's driving, he's
he these are fouls. They'll be fouls in the NCAA tournament,
just so everybody know. I think they're gonna be fouls,
especially early on in the tournament, before you get to
the sweet sixteen. I guarantee you that he's gonna get
to the line. So I look at that and like AJ,
a lot of these guys, I remember Jim Or getting
into a groove through getting to.
Speaker 4: The free throw line.
Speaker 3: I saw Steve Nash do it growing up all the
time in Phoenix, where he'd get fouled, he get to
the free throw line and then he just goes off
after he finds his stroke in rhythm and game. So anyways,
I had that thought in this game, and I'm like AJ,
when he goes off, he's typically getting to the free
throw line early and finding his stroke and then you'll
see him hit from outside.
Speaker 4: Anyway, that's a side my guy Keith paying me on this.
Speaker 3: It seems to me that in every second half we
make the adjustments at halftime. The problem might be the
game planning coming in. They're trying to do too many
cute things instead of just playing basketball. I do think
there's an element of self stick scout right now with BYU.
I think not only they're scouting and self scout. So
it's a combo of both. What is it that others
are seeing about us and what are we seeing with them?
What are they going to do in the first half?
And we seem to be a little bit off kilter there,
and some people will lean on the coaches because of
that scout, and some people just say, look, the players
just don't they're not invested in that first half. There's
a conversation there as well.
Speaker 4: They don't seem like they're closing out. They don't.
Speaker 3: There's not as much of a sense of urgent and
see And you know, I don't know when you ask
me this, are you worried?
Speaker 4: Ben? I'm not as worried.
Speaker 3: As the rest of Kugarnation right now because I think, Kate,
this is the same thing that happened last year. It
was a bit of a rope adope for me. I'm
like dude, I am concerned about X, Y, and Z.
I'm concerned about Yegor not being able to hit. I'm
worried about his supporting cast not hitting. Because even Trevin
had like a lull you know with his you know,
his catch and shoot, and there were other guys like
like there were times where mag was good and sometimes
he wasn't and you were looking for a role, We're like, hey,
who's going to be that guy? Remember what trended in
January into getting more pt because what who was the
guy who was the dude, the supremely talented young man
that is now at Uhia in the sect at Georgia
Cannon Ketchens. Remember it was Cannon that was the guy,
and then Mo what overtook him? So I don't know
if we're gonna have a similar situation like that where
someone's gonna figure it out. I don't know if AdeM's
gonna figure it out, you know what I mean, all
of a sudden, he's that three and D guy.
Speaker 4: His mechanics are off.
Speaker 3: Maybe not, But all I'm saying is I feel like
this coaching staff knows something that we don't. They know
load management. That's all they've been doing for all their
lives is load management and to know how to peak late.
Speaker 4: The story of BAU basketball.
Speaker 3: Many times over the years has been BYU has great
offseasons because they have great culture and guys put in
the work, and so they win early.
Speaker 4: They win often.
Speaker 3: You get into March and when everybody else is trending
and you're you've plateaued. This was the like, that was
one of the first years that I've ever seen in
BA basketball history, minus the Elite eight, because that Elite
eight team with Danny Age and Greg Kaid and Roberts, Like,
they weren't a great regular season team. They're okay, they
got a good seed. They got solity because they were talented.
Speaker 4: They were good.
Speaker 3: They had some good wins, but it's not like they
were like four lost team going in and a three seed.
Speaker 4: No, they like they won some games.
Speaker 3: They beat Notre Dame like they I mean, look, I
wasn't at those games, but I have box scores, I
have highlights.
Speaker 4: I could see like what they did and how they
did it.
Speaker 3: They were trending in the right direction late February and
early March.
Speaker 4: I'm not as worried.
Speaker 3: As everybody else right now because I think that this
coaching staff's going to figure out how to trend, how
to crescendo into the latter end of this season, this schedule.
Speaker 4: That's where I'm at. We'll continue to discussion.
Speaker 3: Let's go to break, guys, we'll get back to the
sound AJ Richie Saunders, Kevin Young postgame commentary by you
made it respectable?
Speaker 4: They got within four ninety to eighty two.
Speaker 3: Is the loss on the road versus Kansas half perspective.
Speaker 4: They were dogs here.
Speaker 3: They were dogs versus I think Tech, they were dogs
versus Yukon they were dogs versus u of A.
Speaker 4: They're favored. Ken Pom's pretty good, he's pretty studway.
Speaker 3: Maybe we'll get Ken palm On on the line this
week to give us a little bit of positivity. But
I think Bau's favorite in not out of the last
ten games, So I think we're gonna be okay.
Speaker 4: It would it be nice to be a three seed? Yes?
Will you get a three seed?
Speaker 3: Maybe not if you if you lose one more game,
we'll see you how it lays out. But if you,
if you trend in the right direction with that momentum,
Remember that momentum, along with the resume, could also determine
a better.
Speaker 4: Seed, especially with the Big twelve tournament too.
Speaker 3: If you if you go deep, you get to the
championship game, you could be sitting pretty in that three
seed as well. So not all is lost. Don't don't worry,
be happy. Let's go to break. That's your nitty gritty
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We'll get into UH some sound coming up next. K
y Aj and Richie postgame. This is Cougar Sports one
of three nine ninety eight point three.
Speaker 4: He is.
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on his beloved Cougar football team, he's talking Cougar Sports
and he's doing it right here on one O three
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gonna get back to the soundbites. B YU basketball fell to.
Speaker 4: Kansas's ninety to eighty two.
Speaker 3: It was unfortunate, uh but uh Villa continues to prove
that they are the best second half team at college basketball.
Like if you're gonna talk silver linings, like, look, they
are freaking amazing in the second half. They always bounce back,
they always find a way, and and you know, if
you're gonna retort that, you're saying, well, Darren Peterson didn't play.
I get it one hundred percent that they were still
getting buckets. Darren's a good defender. But I wouldn't think, like,
you know what I mean, like they were. They scored
at a high rate, forty nine points to the second half. Okay,
so they gave it fifty three.
Speaker 4: Though in the first they couldn't They couldn't guard anything,
and Kansas was hitting shots and there were some contested
shots there that they were hitting it. But they're at
their home court. They shot field. That's what I'm saying.
It's like so like it wasn't like they just bent over.
Speaker 1: They had three guys scoring double figures in the sound half,
none of whom were Darren Peterson.
Speaker 5: Pretty nine to twelve from three in the first half
is nuts, though.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was pretty nuts, pretty nuts. K Why let's
get into this. How do you feel? How did you
feel that aj played in this game with all the
outside noise leading up to it.
Speaker 7: I thought he was okay, you know, I thought he
thought he was holding the ball a little too much
in the first half.
Speaker 8: I thought it was a little bit better in the
second half.
Speaker 7: He was driving, getting into his spots either for some
of those turnarounds or I thought he did a good
job of kicking the basketball out. But you know, and
I'm not I'm not crying over spilled milk, but I mean,
the guy leads the country pretty much in foul's drone. Yeah,
got to the line four times, and I thought it
thought there was plenty of times where he could have been.
Speaker 8: Fouled that they missed and that's life. You gotta keep playing.
But you know, all in all, it was it was,
it was, it.
Speaker 7: Was I thought a game for him that he handled
well relative to like all the outside noise.
Speaker 1: Pe okay, I I feel like narratively connoitatively, it's like
man Aj didn't have a good game, but like if
you look at the stat sheet, he had seventeen points,
he shot fifty percent from the field, He went two
for four from three, like he again he had one rebound,
one assist. So in that department he wasn't necessarily great
on the extra spots on the floor. But like when
it came to him getting his job done and his
getting his points on the board, he did it and
he did it efficiently. It's just tough that he Again
we talked about slow starts. I think his first shot
attempt was I want to say, seven minutes into the game.
So that's probably where it hurts you. I don't know
if it was because Kennar got in foul trouble early
and so then he had to be on Darren and
instead of trying to get his own he was focused
on Peterson. I don't know what the issue was, but
I think it was a slow start that made it
look worse than it really was.
Speaker 4: Rodnie, your thought you were com Terry.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Look, I've looked at this this tape and I've gone
back and Canar got the two quick foulsy at three
in the first half, and look, been Kevin Young is
the foundation is NBA? Go watch the NBA now until
you get the playoff basketball.
Speaker 5: Pretty much you don't.
Speaker 6: Really want to put your best player on the other
player because of foul trouble. And with the struggles they're
having in the first half of AJ gets in foul trip,
maybe that's why he was a little bit more slower
with his defense.
Speaker 5: Don't know what the reason was.
Speaker 6: Sometimes I felt like the body language he wasn't engaged
in the first half, and it's like, I'm not buying
into this narrative of one versus two.
Speaker 5: I'm just gonna play ball.
Speaker 6: But anyway, the point that I'm bringing up is when
Canar got in foul trouble, that's when AJ had to
guard Darren because they had Richie, you know, on counsel
and white like so that that that that's where it made.
It's tough, and they hide Rob in the corner. I'm
getting to some schematic things, but I want to point
this out for people, for people to see that that
doesn't happen. If Canard's in foul trouble, maybe Garran still cooks,
you know, regardless of who it is, I still think
he would have scored if it was Aj or Canar.
But that's why AJ had to do that to guard,
you know, Darren that situation. Cannard put himself on the
bench and look, Cannard's gonna have to not get handsy
Ben or Brope, move his feet or not him check
because when you're on the road and you get in
foul trouble, that's gonna limit your your rotation. That's gonna
put AJ after guard the best guy.
Speaker 1: I do want us to be completely accurate here, though, Ron,
because I'm going through the first couple Kansas possessions and
on these I've got through the first four possessions so far,
and those first four to start the game right from
jump ball, AJ Devonsa is chasing Darren Peterson everywhere, so
they whether it was switches again, I'm not watching the
entire whatever it was but they found a way to
get Darren on or to get AJ on Darren before
Canard got into foul trouble, even though that did play
factor later in the game, Like they found a way
to get AJ on Darren Peterson and a lot of
these like he's following Darren early. It's not simply Cannard
switched and Darren just ended up on AJ, like AJ
was following Darren on a lot of these possessions early.
I wonder if there is just a little bit of
like there's just a rivalry here. And and I do
applaud AJ for saying, hey, I'm not ducking the smoke now.
Whether or not he needed to as a whole separate conversation,
I don't know that he needed to, but I do
applaud him for saying, hey, I'm going best on best
because I'm not afraid of you. Unfortunately, Darren Peterson is
that good and was able to score on just about anybody.
It was in an indictment on AJ. Darren Peterson just
is that good.
Speaker 3: Well, Darren is uh, you know, he's got quad cramping
issues and thank goodness for it.
Speaker 4: Well that's what they say, Yeah, that's what they're saying.
Speaker 5: I mean, I was gonna say this.
Speaker 1: Look this associate AD may have said something else to
him because apparently he's not on the athletic director down
there on the sideline of the game.
Speaker 5: I don't care about no AD has been out of this.
I care about the experts.
Speaker 6: When the experts who do this, the draft analysts, the
guys that are respected are because normally Ben, you know
how it is when a guy gets injured. I mean, look,
I'm gonna go Jake Cutler bears back in the day
when he had a little growing thing. What did he
get on He got on the bike right, he was
trying to ride it, figured it out. You didn't see
this man hydrate. You didn't see this man get on
the bike. He don't care, you know why. And this
is what I'm gonna say. And I would tell Darren
this to his face and his agents. Load managing college
basketball is embarrassing and it's pathetic, you know what.
Speaker 4: That's how they got there.
Speaker 5: But exactly.
Speaker 3: Yes to Kansas, yep, off load management pitches and they're
gonna make a run in the n C Double A Tournament.
Don't get a twisted They're gonna be one of the
Big twelve tournament.
Speaker 4: But like they're gonna load manage that dude.
Speaker 3: And it's funny, Like some people are like there's a
there's a quote from uh in a meme that that
that people have been circulating about this, but moneyball, it's
a Moneyball reference Billy and Bill Bean, if you guys
watched it.
Speaker 4: Billy, this is Darren Peterson.
Speaker 3: He's six y five, two hundred pound pier score and
is a matchup nightmare. Only problem is he hates playing basketball.
But he's talking about a baseball player and in the
Bill Beans story, right, and Uh, anyway, it's Moneyball.
Speaker 4: Great great great book, great film, et cetera. But uh,
it's just like you wonder if he if he likes basketball.
I think he does.
Speaker 3: I think this is an agent conversation. That's why you
had the associate ad down there.
Speaker 4: That's why. Yeah, it's an odd thing.
Speaker 3: To see your associated out there during a time out
talking with him because that spells to me, it's like
that's an agent, uh relationship. That's that's being communicated, Like
I taught you agent, you know what I mean that
And that's where we're getting at.
Speaker 4: I guess in this game, it's really unique.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the weirdest part is that usually when
you see guys cramping, like they're making some kind of
effort to get back on the court, and it just
maybe we didn't see it when it was worth the game,
but no one who was at the game had anything
to dispute it, Like it never really felt like Darren
was like doing things to try and get back on
the court. He looked like basically he was street closed
away from just sitting out of the game, Like he
didn't really even even when they got up for timeouts,
like he was not the first guy up there high
five and everybody, he didn't really look that engaged. And
look when again heavy is the head who wears the crown, Like,
when you're that good, you can get away with do
what you want when you pop into the words of
the future.
Speaker 4: But it's definitely a bad look. But can I just
say something though about Darren Peterson.
Speaker 3: I'm like that man yamed on our two best shop
blockers at the same time when he went up, I
was like, this is a bad choice. I don't know
why he's doing this. And it was an and one.
He got Mahilo's like tricep into his fame, but he
got like an arm pit like right into his mouth.
He probably you know what I mean, And I Kemba
like I don't know if Darren was just like going
so fast downhill that Keba, you don't see Keba like
miss you know, project like the launch point right the
high point, like you don't see Camba. What I'm saying
is though, like he's got pretty good ball awareness, He's
got pretty good peripheral vision. Darren was coming down fast hard,
and he like he came to the side.
Speaker 4: Of the rim.
Speaker 3: It wasn't a yam at an angle because if it
would have been a yam at An angle, you know
what I mean by that, Yeah, like abrupt angle where
he's coming straight at He went to the side and
was like floating, you know, all like and like almost
like the matrix and then yammed it around around him
with that seven foot like that seven foot like wingspan
is he got like he got go go gadget arms,
you guys know, inspector gadget.
Speaker 4: I wonder, I wonder.
Speaker 1: If Keba like in his head was like there's no
way this dude's coming to dunk over here. He's not
He's not gonna do it, and so when he did,
he's like, oh, shoot this guy for that.
Speaker 4: I don't know if Kevin's ever been yammed on like that.
I don't know Many.
Speaker 5: Twelve. Yeah, not at by U.
Speaker 4: Not at Brigham, not at Brigham. It hasn't happened. I
can't believe he had the balls to do that.
Speaker 1: Man, I cannot believe He's like, yeah, I got no
problem trying.
Speaker 4: To do this.
Speaker 6: I mean AJ trying to do in a Utah game.
He just got stuffed at the rim, I mean exact. So,
I mean I'm not surprised. I mean when you got
a poster, I mean when you ask these kids who
would you rather have, they all say baptism, Like I
can't remember and you have to recall it bread. But
if if AJ told us that at the you know,
the Redmen's farms. But these kids don't want a step
back break ankle. They want a poster like you remember
that for the rest of your life. Yeah, like that
that image, Ben, Like that picture, Like you don't have
a step back cross over picture. Ben, No one has,
you know, the NBA, but you know what you have
that dunk where Adidas can put on end debate like
that a picture like that, the only child's picture like that, Ben,
that speaks a thousand words. That's in the halls of
BYU athletics, Like that's that dunk is gonna be in
the halls of Kansas Jayhawks athletics forever.
Speaker 5: That dunk in that picture.
Speaker 6: So yeah, that post in college basketball, it was AJ's
until that point.
Speaker 5: Yeah, No, that's dunk of the year. When you baptize
two people like that.
Speaker 6: And look, AJ got caught on the other screen, you know,
in game, and then Mihilo doesn't rotate fast enough, k
doesn't drop them. Different guy tries to step up, and
Darren again smart play reads it very fast, Ben and
just just slams it. And look, I'm going back right
now watching the full game. I gotta give Bill self credit.
Speaker 4: Ben.
Speaker 6: When AJ was guarding Darren in the beginning, they did
a very good job of moving the ball and then
started Man and I don't want to pick on him,
but like they target Rob and transition very well, and
they got Rob and Canardo on that. And then when
Darren is doing that man and moving that fast and
he gets underneath the free throw line, if you're a
step behind her, get caught on the screen, it's over
for you. And if you're not, I don't even want
to say six to ten. I can't even say that
that much because it's over at that point, you know,
because he can elevate or he can go to the rim,
and if he can't block, I mean, he's just gonna
shoot right over you. So, I mean, Bill selfa did
a really good job with this with this scout of
like how they moved it. But the perimeter defense, it's
it's a struggle right now. If you go back and
watch this game, like laden rotations and they're knocking down
threes all day.
Speaker 3: Honestly, everyone's kind of been doing like player comps with
with Darren Peterson, between the talent that he has in
the load management that he constantly delves into and engages in.
To me, he's caught Kawhi Leonard, Like he's.
Speaker 1: What I think, he's kaw Leonard and with the little manager, Yeah,
and with a little man.
Speaker 3: He is he is Kawhi Leonard. That's who he is.
That's Darren Peterson. Like the best comfort for him.
Speaker 5: His hands size too.
Speaker 4: As I was saying, he's got go go gadget arms.
Speaker 3: He's got the biggest he's probably some of the biggest
ants coming in the NBAH raft. You can tell, like
the way that he handles, the way that he scores too.
I mean, he he looks like he's running at seventy
five percent. I mean, he just looks just so much
better than everybody, and it's impressive to watch, there's no doubt.
Let's get back to the sound b y us felt
to the Jayhawks. We're reading between the lines with k
y Aj and Richie Saunders to Kalk and Kevin, what
was the message at halftime that you gave to your
guys more offensively?
Speaker 8: I thought we were holding the ball way too much,
you know.
Speaker 7: I thought Rob did a great job in the second
half of you know, driving, kicking.
Speaker 8: Opening things up for Richie.
Speaker 7: And so that's the blueprint, right, I mean, if I
you know, if I see one more analytics about how
we're the best offensive second half team in the country,
I'm gonna throw up.
Speaker 8: So it's like, we got to make sure that.
Speaker 7: We're doing everything in our power individually and collectively to
you know, generate offensive second half team in the country.
Speaker 8: I'm gonna throw up.
Speaker 7: So it's like, we got to make sure that we're
doing everything in our power individually and collectively to you know,
generate good offense and first halves the ball games.
Speaker 8: It's just hard to dig yourself a hole.
Speaker 3: Apparently everyone's been telling them we're the best second half
team in college basketball.
Speaker 1: Don't worry coach your second half team. It's like, I
don't care give a rip of being a second half team.
How would we be a first half team? How about
we show up when the when the jump ball goes.
Speaker 4: How about we just start playing basketball? Then?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what would really help this be all
your basketball team if they all got Royal Army puffer coats.
Just stay warm. They need to warm up in the
puffer coat. Wouldn't that be good? Like, I mean, just
really stay warm in the puffer coat prior to tip off,
you know.
Speaker 4: Sweat out all the bad juju. Yes, right, Energy cleanse,
Energy cleanse, I like it. I like it.
Speaker 3: Go to Royal Army dot com, by the way, and
purchase that new puffer coach.
Speaker 1: The lining on that thing is so nice on the inside,
Like you don't you don't necessarily see it when you
look at the outside, but like, go scroll through the
pictures online because the lining on the inside of that thing.
Speaker 4: Is so sweet? Yeah, what is it? Is it very nice?
Speaker 6: Nice?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 3: Indeed, let's get back to the sound, which what say you,
How concerned are you about missing opportunities to get a
signature win? K?
Speaker 8: Why not worried?
Speaker 7: I mean that's the beauty, the big the blessing and
the curse of being in this league. You know, it
feels like every night, for the most part of the night,
where you have an opportunity to get a.
Speaker 8: Big win, you know, and look.
Speaker 7: And we just try to focus on what's in front
of us. That's kind of been my message to the
guys ever gotten here.
Speaker 8: But we're a battle test group.
Speaker 7: You know, we're a couple of shots away, you know,
from being able to have some of those, And for me,
that just gets more more fire in the belly to
get it right.
Speaker 3: Near the fire and the belly the blessing of the
curse of being in the Big twelve, being in the
true Gauntlet basketball conferences, there's signature wins wherever you roam.
Speaker 1: It just sucks because you've now had your four biggest
games of the season that you're oh for four and
I guess you do have opportunities to get other signature wins. However,
when you're zero for four in your other ones, it
makes it hard for me to like have faith that
you're gonna You've had enough opportunities to at least put
one on the board. I'm not necessarily feeling good to
just say, hey, there's more opportunities. It's like, yeah, but
what did you do with the opportunities that you already had?
Speaker 4: So I don't know. Also, college game Day has just
not been good to b YU this year.
Speaker 1: I think BOU should just decline invitations to college game
Day going forward because it's just it's not been good
to us.
Speaker 5: It is, yeah, yeah, can you decline it going on
the game day.
Speaker 3: There's been Betty bad to me, Betty Betty bad good.
Speaker 6: So they need a college game day at home being
I know that the stats are bad that, but they
just they got to stop getting pinned on the road.
These college game days on the road are just not it.
Speaker 4: We'll do Big Noon, We'll do Big Noon.
Speaker 1: You just won't do I know this is not big
new for basketball. I know, but we'll do big nude
because we're good at Big Noon. We're just not doing
college game ben.
Speaker 6: I'm not buying that though, and here's why. Look, and
again I know I'm being very critical, but at February second,
at two fifty five, here's why. At this point in time,
with this roster and with everything that went into the
offseason and what they did and the robust coaching staff
and resources, you would think that they would have one win. Okay,
you lose the Yukon, no problem, Okay, use theres On,
no problem.
Speaker 5: But Texas Tech Kansas.
Speaker 6: You're looking like if they would have one win out
of the four, I don't think people be like, look
at that, but you've come back in all of those games,
you know, except for Texas Tech. You were there, and
then you don't have any signature win. Like, yes, they
have ten games left, they have an opportunity to have
in a nine qua one games. I buy into that,
but the before, up until that moment, you haven't done it.
I do believe they'll beat Oklahoma State on Wednesday. There's
no way they lose it. In if they do, there's
a bunch of stuff wrong. But we gotta have some accountability, Like, dude,
this this team was we we said Elite eight. You
haven't been any of the Elite eight teams that we
think will be there.
Speaker 4: You haven't.
Speaker 6: You're oning four. So to me, I gotta I gotta
poke you. I gotta poke the bear and say no,
uh you know, no make Goosta.
Speaker 4: Right now, No, make gooster.
Speaker 3: He says a couple of last things here before we
go to break UH. This segment brought to by Royal
Army brand dot Com. The Way You Swag Uh created
by fans for fans stay lower to the Royal Report
by the right We purchasell your bway Lespaio Royal Army
dot Com. How has uh your How has the raucous
environment at home helped prepare you to play uh in
Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday?
Speaker 8: It does?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, and this is awesome, like great environment, fans,
credit and the community and so forth. My first time
being here, did you did you blow here last year?
Richie played here last year, so he's experienced it. But
it does actually give me a lot of just confidence
for our guys.
Speaker 8: You know, it's like it's the first time they've played
in a loud arena and uh.
Speaker 7: You know, I'd put ours venue and their venue up
there with any any venues in the country.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, I mean playing at home is
uh is a blessing for BYU and.
Speaker 4: It's unfortunate to me.
Speaker 3: Like I think, if you're going to look at the
missed opportunity, even though UVa's is the number one team
in the country, b YU could have beaten the U
of A Wildcats at home, Like you want to maximize
your your winning ways at home. I mean you of
A was they were in Fuego. I mean you look
at the best teams that you has played this year.
Would you say U of A is the best team
that they've played, or as Yukon.
Speaker 4: Or you know what I mean, Like I'd say you have.
It was tough.
Speaker 3: It was a tall task, right, it was difficult. But
if you could have got one, like a really crowning
jewel of those opportunities, it would have been awesome to
see bi play their best ball versus U of A
at home under your lights, because that's what you saw
from Kansas. You saw Kansas play their best ball on
their home court versus a very talented Bleau basketball team.
And I don't think Billy played its best ball versus UFA.
I just don't think they did a couple last things here, Kevin,
how do you feel aj and Darren Peterson handled being
on the floor together on Saturday.
Speaker 8: Well number one. I thought Richie Sonders was the best
player on the floor.
Speaker 7: If someone can find a tougher competitor in the country,
I'm all ears.
Speaker 8: I thought he played unbelievable.
Speaker 7: Now as it relates to those two players, very talented,
both of them.
Speaker 8: You know, you know, Darren is a.
Speaker 7: When it comes off his hand, you think it's going
in every time, which is obviously.
Speaker 8: A great you know, I think that's what makes him great.
And then obviously the athleticism and so forth. And they're
different players.
Speaker 7: I thought Aj you demonstrated things that he could do
as well at a high level. But you know, it's
kind of a flavor type deal.
Speaker 8: Which one do you want?
Speaker 7: You want chocolate ice cream or do you want cookies
and cream?
Speaker 8: You know, I think that when it's all said and done,
that's kind of where it will net out. But both
fantastic players.
Speaker 3: It was pretty obviously Darren looked to be the best
player on the court, but Richie in the second half
took over the top. King was the best shooter on
the FLOORID scene. I mean, he was impressed. If there's
no doubt AJ didn't have his best game. I think
everyone came away from that game though extremely impressed with
the potential NBA talent that he's Richie Saunders, but everybody
knows Darren Peterson is the most talent, maybe the most entitled,
loadvantaged Kawhi Leonard ash player in college basketball.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you did see.
Speaker 1: I saw a lot of social media about Richie Saunders
on a lot of videos being made about like who's
who's this screbby white guy at BYU, like you might
get drafted?
Speaker 4: So it was cool.
Speaker 1: It was very cool for Richie Saunders to put the
nation on notice like that and shout out to Kevin
Young because he said, Hey, I know you asked me this.
I'm gonna answer this question that I want to answer
instead of the one that you asked, which is which
is great media training for any coach. But yeah, Richie
Sunders is not gonna get talked enough about because the
hype coming into this game was number one on number one,
and for reasons on both ends, we didn't really get
the story that was promised to us. However, we did
get some pretty good icing on the cake with Richie
Saunders popping off for twenty four points in the second half,
shooting seven of eleven and just I mean shooting from
jim range on a couple of those just hand in
his face.
Speaker 4: He said, I'll hit it anyway, and he did.
Speaker 6: Ben As a basketball a fan, though, I'm disappointed though,
and I think Brett you could.
Speaker 4: Speak to that you like.
Speaker 6: And this is where I'm gonna get pushed back and
disagree with both of you. If you go this route,
you could say Darren is the best player, but he
did not play the best because he did not play
in the second half, Like we have to start having accountabillion.
Speaker 3: Year was the best player on that court, like and
it was.
Speaker 4: It was not close.
Speaker 5: And so like I'm not I'm not agree with that.
Speaker 6: You have to play like the game and you can't
just sit out the like the whole thing, like like
Richie Saunder's.
Speaker 1: Played speculating a little bit, like we don't know how
injured he was or wasn't.
Speaker 6: My opinion is I still think you know he's Look,
this is what this is what Jonathan Gravoni and some
other people said. We're gonna know what the combine. We're
gonna know when he goes through these physios and when
he does those things. We're gonna find out if it
really is something, and if it is, then I really
feel bad for the kid.
Speaker 5: Of not being able to play and to do that.
Speaker 6: You just think with everything going on, you would see
something to try to get back in the game. And
competitors like like AJ got shoulder thumbs up, fine, sick playing.
You see it from other people, and you don't necessarily
see that from him, and he's okay with it. And
That's what I'm concerned about as a as a fan
and competitor of the game. It's like people still pay
hard money to come watch you play, even in college,
because these tickets are not cheap their NBA level price,
like play level, and then you're not playing and it's
like okay, well, it's like you don't see him trying
it all and anything. And I'm just I'm worried that,
Like I don't want the kids career to be affected
because people saying, ohloh, manager should be the number one pick.
Because when you get to the next level, everybody's a
number one pick. Everybody's good, everybody's great, and in the
big league's ben you see it.
Speaker 5: They'll give you paychecks and tell you to leave and
don't come back.
Speaker 6: And I don't want to see that happen to who
I think could be a great player leading USA Basketball
with AJ with Wagger, with you know, Kenston Flame and
Cooper Flags, the guys at that league, Like I am
truly concerned of what is going on, and they're not
gonna tell us in college and we'll find out in April.
Speaker 5: But I'm just we're getting robbed.
Speaker 6: I feel like even his fans of basketball, like he
plays tonight against TeX's Tech, is he just not gonna
play the second half? Like I know, I'm getting passionate
about that, but like if you're in a close ball
game and you're like, oh, I'm gonna low managed or
like he does put it out like that's concerning, like
as just a fan and it's just as a person
of what is going on with Darren Peterson and none
of us know, but we're gonna find out in April.
Speaker 5: That's for sure.
Speaker 6: He won't be able run from that. And I really
want to know because I want it to be a
diagnosed so we all could be like, Okay, he's hurt,
or to be like, Okay, you're low managing like Kawhi
and I don't appreciate that, and I think that I
think that can hurt you and people can look at
your character differently. But I hope that's not I really
hope he's just hurt in sitting out because he can't play.
Speaker 4: I definitely think it's a bad attitude.
Speaker 1: But I also think we have to be unbiased here
and understand he is the better player. Like he he
is unreal when it comes to scoring the basketball. Now,
is it a bad attitude? Is it bad behavior if
he's deciding just to not play? But let me ask you, guys, this,
this is a this is a good question. What drops
your stock.
Speaker 4: More in the NBA? Your injury rate?
Speaker 3: Like how soft you are with oh your soft soft
tissue hammy uh, calf strain, uh rolled the ankle? Or
is it kind of the entitlement not being a team
player saying I'm gonna load manage until it really matters
like Robert or style where you're only going to show
up in the playoffs type of deal, Kawhi Leonard only
going to show up when in a big game when
it matters and then all play twenty eight minutes?
Speaker 4: Like what drops your stock more in the NBA?
Speaker 3: Because I think the NBA doesn't give a rip, Like
I just think, like I don't know if they do.
Speaker 4: I think I don't think they care about attitude.
Speaker 3: I don't get it obviously don't care.
Speaker 5: I think they care more about injuries. I think that's.
Speaker 4: So that would drop. So I don't even that it's
actually injured.
Speaker 3: Like I don't know if all this stuff is actually
injury later or if it's just like his agent, his family,
he his power brokers are like, we don't want you
to like have anything you know wrong with you going
into this. You're gonna be so healthy, so strong, and
you're you're gonna peek and crescendo in the biggest game.
Speaker 4: I guess what I'm saying is we're gonna see.
Speaker 3: Who he is, Yeah, in March madness, and he could go,
he could there five minutes to just be killing it
and be the best player in college basketball in March.
Speaker 6: It's just a bad look for you because in college
it doesn't happen in the NBA with that many games
and those things. That's where like I do still think
it's a bad look and it can look different to people.
And yet the NBA doesn't care about the necessarily but
I mean you start to get in and look, they're
gonna put up with the attitude band for seven eight
years of organization is because you're a great player. But
for the future, this is what I mean, they're gonna
come up off you. I feel like eventually because guys
that do have bad attitudes, that do want to low manage,
they just I mean, you'll get traded for a lot
of money and again, but.
Speaker 4: Those guys are still doing it at the highest level
though Ron.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but they don't care and they don't but the
quote we're not.
Speaker 6: But to me, it's like it's not about at the
highest levels about being the best, right you know, and
to be the best, you have to play like Kawhi Leonard,
like he's in a category. But do we value Kawhi
better than he's I don't because, yeah, you know, you
haven't played it. You take days off, like you get
put in those conversations. But we're talking about Darren like
is he gonna be better than Caleb Wilson in the future.
And I'm getting into a different long, long, you know, debate,
but like, is he gonna be better than the Wagler?
Because if you're only playing forty games, and those guys
are playing more. You're not gonna qualify four awards. Therefore
you're not gonna qualify for all nbas. So you can't
be the best player in that, you know, And that's
so that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I think in a vacuum, you are one hundred percent correct.
The problem is that I don't think that reflects reality.
I think it should reflect reality, but it doesn't because again,
at the next level, guess what Kawhi Leonard plays once
every two years. Kawhi Leonard still commands a contract, and
he still commands respect in the NBA. I agree with you.
I think it's bad behavior. I think it's really just
bad ethics. I think it's disrespectful to watch and lovers.
Speaker 4: Of the game.
Speaker 1: But I do think I think it'll be really interesting
to your point when we find out when he gets
to the combine and he can't run from it, because honestly, Ron,
like I do want to give context, Like, let's also
remember that Paolo Bancaro was also missing games, and I
was also having issues and had a ton of injuries,
and then we came to find out, oh, yeah, this
dude can't hold water because he's literally losing like he's
drinking water during the game, and he's losing weight by
the end of the game because he just has a
medical condition. He can't hold anything down. He's a heavy sweater.
Yeah know what the issue is with Darren. I hope
it's that he's injured. I hope it's not that he
hates basketball or that he just has a bad attitude.
Speaker 6: Look, because here's the thing, you know what, I'm really upset.
I wanted to see him go for fifty.
Speaker 4: Because we.
Speaker 1: Were robbed of a great game. It is like we
were robbed of the that we were problem. You scored
eighteen points in twenty minutes. You were twenty two efficient
from the field. And this is no disrespect to Richard.
I don't want them to get mad at me. But
you let the Tod King, who's a good player, but
and he raises draft stocks, so.
Speaker 5: It was good, let me finish.
Speaker 6: But you let this kid from Riverton who is a
second round pick. No, you know, you let him take
over in the second half, and I wanted to see
you take over. I wanted to see Darren Peter. I'm like,
this might go for fifty. I was gonna wait to
see if he could get twenty five. And then he
didn't play the second half, and I said, come on now,
like I want to see you, like, like I need
you to settle this, right, you already baptize somebody. You
dropped eighteen, Go for thirty, go for forty, and just
put it to bed, like that's what I like players
to do, Ben, and then just walk off with a
smirk and be like, yeah, I just did that. And
that's why I was upset of like as a basketball
fan of I didn't get a chance to see him
do that and like close it out because the game
got too close. And we all can agree with this,
it got too close because he didn't play. If he's
in the game, they don't. I don't even think they
get close to this even with Richie's performance. If I'm
gonna be honest.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and who knows what would have happened, right, what
had justin s would have been made? Could you stymy
Darren Peterson starting to know?
Speaker 8: Right?
Speaker 3: He looked unstoppable though in the first half, and Richie
looked like he could hit it from anywhere in the
second half, you know, even when.
Speaker 4: He had a hand in his face.
Speaker 3: So I do love like the mechanics of Richie Saunders
and that quick release. It's you know, Ray Allen has
the most pure shot that I've ever witnessed, and he's
one of the best, if not the best, three point shooter.
And I loved just how he would elevate, how crisp
his release was, how quick it was. Richie has a
little bit more of like Johnny from Karate Kid with
the headband and the floppy hair going on. He's a
little bit more Cobra Ka, yeah, cobra Kai. Actually he's
kind of gangly. He kind of has like this this
uh blippy kind of feels to him those that that
you watch blippy, you know, kind of doing this like
gumby thing going anyway, it kind of gets a little
bit wild, if you will, kind of like Cody Hagen's
running style when he's kind of throwing the arm out anyway.
But like, you know, when he elevates and releases, it
is pure, like unto Ray, Like he's what I'm saying,
watch Ray Allen mechanics.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, just pure pure and.
Speaker 3: Richie has He's not Ray, right, I'm just saying, but
like and he elevates, he gets to that peak and
he releases, man, it is silky smooth. Anyway, let's go
to break. We're gonna get to Richie sound and Rob
right the third sound coming up next, h don't miss it.
Also get jam All Nashburn's thoughts on how by you
did a disservice putting aj on Darren in the first half.
We'll discuss that as well coming up next.
Speaker 4: Guys.
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