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Speaker 3: For fifteen years, the Big Show dominated the Utah Sports
Speaker 3: talk airwaves. First it was Craig Bowler, Jack and Gordon Monson,
Speaker 3: followed by Spence Check It's in Monson now all three
Speaker 3: are reunited on the drive It's time for the Big
Speaker 3: Show Hour on the Drive it spends check its exclusively
Speaker 3: on ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 5: Where to start today with these two legends live in
Speaker 5: studio Craig Ball of Jack Ordon Monson Reunited.
Speaker 4: Guys, it's been a few weeks. How we doing.
Speaker 6: It's it's good.
Speaker 7: It's good to be here. See Gordo and you know,
Speaker 7: live in and got his hat on again. He dresses
Speaker 7: with you know, Goer Animals color coordinator.
Speaker 5: I would say this is an attempted match, an attempted
Speaker 5: match today with the Phillies hat and the Shark's shirt.
Speaker 5: But you're just a little off shoes with the what
Speaker 5: the tone?
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you know I actually did them.
Speaker 4: The shoes are they?
Speaker 8: Oh?
Speaker 6: Okay?
Speaker 5: Shoes match the hat, I would ask, But there's no
Speaker 5: way's getting his leg that high for me to be
Speaker 5: able to see.
Speaker 7: You don't want to see that anyway.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 6: I wasn't field goal kicker.
Speaker 5: You know that the tutorials that you've given our listeners
Speaker 5: over the years on kicking field goals.
Speaker 7: What was your longest that you hit? Were you a sidewinder?
Speaker 7: Did you go straight up with a square toe?
Speaker 9: Uh?
Speaker 6: I was sort of a mix because this old school.
Speaker 5: Okay, he literally said, to kick a field goal, you
Speaker 5: swing your leg back.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and a bunch of other things. Yeah, a bunch
Speaker 4: of It's like.
Speaker 6: Kind of like a golf swing.
Speaker 9: But you know you're going to concentrate, you keep your
Speaker 9: head down, yes, follow through.
Speaker 5: Yeah, all right, great to see you guys. Bowler's got
Speaker 5: his case State hat on. Gordo has his Phillies hat
Speaker 5: on at his baseball season. But let's let's start with
Speaker 5: jazz and then we'll end with college football because a
Speaker 5: lot of people want to do a little college football.
Speaker 5: So Bowler as the voice of the Utah Jazz, we'll start.
Speaker 4: With you and then Gordo will have you chime in.
Speaker 4: For sure.
Speaker 5: As we inch closer and closer to the season, I
Speaker 5: find myself more and more excited simply to have NBA
Speaker 5: basketball back. And you hear talk and you know, we
Speaker 5: had some media availability with Justin and Danny and Ryan
Speaker 5: last week. What's the feeling like in the building is
Speaker 5: it are we close enough that the excitement is kind
Speaker 5: of spilling in? Do you still feel like there's a
Speaker 5: little bit of an ambiguity feel around the Community's what's
Speaker 5: the buzz right now.
Speaker 7: I was at the ZBBC. Will invited us in yesterday
Speaker 7: for the two hours and it was a lively practice.
Speaker 7: There's a lot of youth as we know, a lot
Speaker 7: of athletes as we know, and there's more speed on
Speaker 7: the floor that I've seen in quite a while. I
Speaker 7: thought it was competitive. I thought it was positive. But
Speaker 7: what else is new before you hit the FLOORID tomorrow
Speaker 7: night against the New Zealand Breakers. So preseason game one
Speaker 7: is about twenty seven hours or so away, Gordo, and
Speaker 7: you know what you'll see. My guess the five that
Speaker 7: we'll see on the floor to start is Kyante, Colin, Sexton, Kessler,
Speaker 7: Hendricks and Market and who's got the five year deal
Speaker 7: in his pocket. You know, we talked to all the
Speaker 7: players on content day on Monday, and you know there
Speaker 7: were some great questions asked, and you know, I didn't
Speaker 7: see much rebellion. I think the vets understand Spence what's
Speaker 7: going on, and I don't think I know. And that's
Speaker 7: important because Will does have a I think a really
Speaker 7: great sense of personality and who needs to know what
Speaker 7: and when and be upfront and I think this is
Speaker 7: the time to be upfront with Jordan Clarkson, John Collins,
Speaker 7: Colin Sexton, and we know marketing is sealed in a
Speaker 7: deal for five years and he's going to be well paid.
Speaker 7: But you know what, he also made a very clear point.
Speaker 7: He was pressed and I asked him again too, why
Speaker 7: you know he likes it here? And that's something we
Speaker 7: don't hear much from a vet that says I like
Speaker 7: it here.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 7: The money's great two hundred and let me double check
Speaker 7: my number two thirty.
Speaker 4: Eight, the largest deal in jazz history.
Speaker 7: By far, and so yeah, by far. And so with
Speaker 7: that in mind, you know, does he get complacent? I
Speaker 7: just don't get that feeling. I know he's thankful for
Speaker 7: the opportunity.
Speaker 6: He wants to lead.
Speaker 7: Let's see if he does.
Speaker 5: You don't have to worry about that guy, Craig. He's
Speaker 5: gonna he's gonna.
Speaker 7: I think he's gonna bring you. Yeah, And I you know,
Speaker 7: he's a guy can shoot the hell out of the three,
Speaker 7: can step in the corner, he can hit the wing,
Speaker 7: he can do a trailer three above the break. I mean,
Speaker 7: he's a he's a really dynamic young player and the
Speaker 7: jazz can build around him. But the question for me.
Speaker 7: You know, does anybody pop and what I mean by that?
Speaker 7: In year two, does Kyante say it's I'm really gonna
Speaker 7: play this position and I'm gonna be the guy. I
Speaker 7: want to be a leader. He told us that I
Speaker 7: want to be you know, have my voice heard? Okay,
Speaker 7: but you're you're The way you play will also dictate
Speaker 7: the responsibility that you have to be as a leader
Speaker 7: on this team and in the locker room.
Speaker 5: Oh no, we said last week that. And this is
Speaker 5: just my vantage point, my echo chamber. It just feels
Speaker 5: like there's a general, uh, I don't know, malaise or
Speaker 5: just there's not the typical buzz for Jazz basketball as
Speaker 5: there is now. You know me, I'm an NBA guy,
Speaker 5: so as the Jazz get closed, so I'm just pumped
Speaker 5: for basketball. You still feel that way a week later
Speaker 5: that there's just not necessarily the community excitement there.
Speaker 4: Typically is for Jazz hoops.
Speaker 9: Well, now that they have had the media day and
Speaker 9: all that sort of thing, camp is opening up, maybe
Speaker 9: I'll Smidgemore, but not a whole lot more. And that's
Speaker 9: not really that uncommon. Remember back to the Stockton Malone years,
Speaker 9: it would take through football season before people started filling
Speaker 9: the building.
Speaker 4: And it's still well, they still fill the building.
Speaker 5: But your point, I think it still takes through football
Speaker 5: season for most people to really dial in sort of.
Speaker 9: And in a situation like this where there are questions,
Speaker 9: we all have questions. Spence, I've heard you talk about
Speaker 9: this and I agree with you. One, what's the direction
Speaker 9: of the team. Well, it seems as though so now
Speaker 9: the direction of the team is development.
Speaker 6: That's it.
Speaker 9: Well, when I hear the word development, I see the
Speaker 9: word defeat. That's kind of what I see. But I'm
Speaker 9: not sure it matters to him anymore. Yeah, they want
Speaker 9: competitive integrity, so they don't want to say the T word.
Speaker 6: Yeah we're going to tank and all that. No, they're
Speaker 6: not going to talk like that.
Speaker 9: But when they talk about development, Bowler, we're going to
Speaker 9: see these young guys on the floor and we're going
Speaker 9: to see what they can do. And you mentioned Keante George.
Speaker 9: He's a great example. Now, if he's trying to prove
Speaker 9: to everybody how good he is, how does he do that.
Speaker 9: Does he do it by trying to dominate the ball?
Speaker 9: Does he do it by shooting too much? Or does
Speaker 9: he do it by setting up the entire team to
Speaker 9: make the whole team.
Speaker 7: Your third point is where he has to be. He
Speaker 7: has to be a distributor, a facilitator, and then the
Speaker 7: shot comes. So what will one simply is a guy
Speaker 7: that can get his teammates involved, run the floor, back
Speaker 7: off the turnovers from two and a half a game
Speaker 7: last year. And I talked to Will about that pacifically.
Speaker 7: And remember the second half of the season Spence, after
Speaker 7: the All Star break and the movement of the youth
Speaker 7: movement began there. They basically threw Kyante in the fire
Speaker 7: and said, go play. Understand what it's like to be
Speaker 7: a point guard in the NBA. It wasn't pretty most
Speaker 7: of the time. We know he can shoot free throws,
Speaker 7: but it's about growth, it's about distributing the ball. It's
Speaker 7: about because they packed the paint defenses made a very
Speaker 7: clear look, who's going to beat us on this team,
Speaker 7: and we're just going to put pressure on the ball.
Speaker 7: And they did that a lot in Kyante when you're
Speaker 7: never played the position, and now he's learning how to
Speaker 7: be a point guard and the mentality it takes to
Speaker 7: actually share the ball and understand where your teammates are.
Speaker 7: He told us the other day that you know, he
Speaker 7: feels like he's come a long way. But practice is
Speaker 7: different than a game, and we'll get a taste of
Speaker 7: it against New Zealand tomorrow night. Not NBA so called talent,
Speaker 7: but guys that have been around the international game. What
Speaker 7: ros will That's what I want to see for sure,
Speaker 7: is want to see second unit. Does JC see the floor?
Speaker 7: Does Colin see the floor? I think there'll be some minutes,
Speaker 7: but any minutes taken away from the youth of this team,
Speaker 7: including the rookies that came in and the second rounder
Speaker 7: in Philipowski, I mean, it's it's it's it's minutes that
Speaker 7: they won't get back. But I'm anxious to see again.
Speaker 7: They say we're gonna play to win. Now again that
Speaker 7: means youth on the floor. And can that youth, can
Speaker 7: that package that will use as in the first and
Speaker 7: second rotations? What does that mean against really good teams
Speaker 7: in the NBA. It's gonna be tough.
Speaker 9: It's not play to win like our lives depend on it.
Speaker 9: Because if they were doing that, some of the more
Speaker 9: veteran guys, we'll get.
Speaker 6: More time, no doubt. If that runs counter to what
Speaker 6: they want to do right.
Speaker 9: Spence is a former point guard yourself, I gotta ask you,
Speaker 9: you know, how will that play out?
Speaker 6: Especially?
Speaker 9: I mean, how much does Patty Mills play? And how
Speaker 9: much does Keante if he's distributing the ball? Not just
Speaker 9: a mark and then but a bunch of other sort
Speaker 9: of question marks are guys who are still developing. What
Speaker 9: kind of effect does that have on the point guard
Speaker 9: and his mentality.
Speaker 5: I'm the wrong guy to asked this because you are
Speaker 5: shooting point guard well, but my tendency to shoot every
Speaker 5: time I touched it. Notwithstanding, I'm the wrong guy asked
Speaker 5: this because I don't want Patty Mills to play one minute, okay,
Speaker 5: and I don't want Drew Eubanks to play one minute,
Speaker 5: you know I honestly I don't want Lowry to play
Speaker 5: a bunch. I'm the wrong guy asked this because I
Speaker 5: want all the kids to play, so you win eight
Speaker 5: games and maybe draft Cooper Flag Like I have a
Speaker 5: long term vision and play that doesn't include hearing David
Speaker 5: Locke talk about Patty Mills and Drew you Banks pick
Speaker 5: and roll in the second quarter.
Speaker 4: I don't give a rip.
Speaker 5: I just don't like congrat and look I don't want
Speaker 5: to be disrespectful. Patty Mills has had a hell of
Speaker 5: a career as an NBA champ. Watching him play with
Speaker 5: the Australian national team, he played like he was Lebron.
Speaker 5: I mean, he oftentimes balled out for the national team.
Speaker 4: But I don't none of the vets they brought in
Speaker 4: moved the.
Speaker 5: Needle at all. I get why you bring Lowry back
Speaker 5: because he's awesome. But if we're sitting here in April
Speaker 5: and May and we're like, hey, congrats on the thirty
Speaker 5: one wins, guys, and they draft eleventh next year, I'm
Speaker 5: gonna lose it.
Speaker 6: I've already done it twice.
Speaker 4: I'm just like over it.
Speaker 5: And so to Craig's point, what I'm excited about, Let's
Speaker 5: see what Kante is in year two. Let's see who
Speaker 5: Walker Kessler is in year three. Your three is a
Speaker 5: big deal for NBA rookies. It's why the NBA rookie scale.
Speaker 5: You have three years to figure it out.
Speaker 4: This is the pop year. Yes, and I heard you.
Speaker 5: And if you don't figure out after year three, guess
Speaker 5: what happened? You get for debted the Kings don't pick
Speaker 5: up your option. Then suddenly you're in China. Yeah, right,
Speaker 5: that's a good point. Taylor Hendricks has put on some pounds,
Speaker 5: which he needed.
Speaker 4: We are in weight gain season. We are, so is it?
Speaker 9: Is it?
Speaker 4: Because every look I said, twenty one?
Speaker 6: How do you do twenty one?
Speaker 9: I heard?
Speaker 7: I'm sorry, he corrected that. He said about nineteen.
Speaker 5: I was listening to a bunch of coaching availability on
Speaker 5: NBA TV just to kind of see, and every single one, Oh,
Speaker 5: my man's gained twenty five pounds. Yeah, when you gain
Speaker 5: twenty pounds, Gordon, nobody celebrates.
Speaker 4: So Craig, Craig, you've seen them.
Speaker 9: In I have.
Speaker 4: I tell you, he looks, he looks bold. What about Walker?
Speaker 4: Walker claims he's two seventy two.
Speaker 7: Walk Walker looks look healthy today. Okay, good marketing, the
Speaker 7: Mountain marketing. I'd tell you had some guns showing.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 7: But then big t steps in, who knows what it's
Speaker 7: like to play in this league and burn calories. He says, Look,
Speaker 7: let's talk again at game fifty and see if you
Speaker 7: can maintain the weight thorough still today nearly a seven footer,
Speaker 7: slim trim.
Speaker 4: I'm but he keeps himself.
Speaker 7: But the metabolism that he ran you know, he told
Speaker 7: me he had to put down ten thousand calories a
Speaker 7: day during the season just to maintain weight. He would
Speaker 7: come in and gain twenty in the offseason, but it
Speaker 7: burned off quickly. And so can Taylor Hendrix with the
Speaker 7: riggers of eighty two games and thirty plus minutes survive
Speaker 7: and or is he just going to stay in and
Speaker 7: stand at the chuck a Rama buffet and consume.
Speaker 9: I have I have a question for you, Bawler, and
Speaker 9: it relates to what Spencer was talking about.
Speaker 6: As the voice of the Jazz. How do you feel
Speaker 6: about what he just said?
Speaker 7: No, I think he's got good points. I mean, I
Speaker 7: I you know, I'll say that, you know because I
Speaker 7: agree with you see on Twitter all the time that
Speaker 7: you know, because I work for the Jazz. You know
Speaker 7: you have to say the right thing. Look, I've always
Speaker 7: tried to be fair and you are and I and
Speaker 7: I call a game, I see it. I still get criticized, Oh,
Speaker 7: you're tough on Kiante tonight, or I keep track of
Speaker 7: turnovers tell the freak trol. No, they're seeing the same
Speaker 7: thing I am. I did it, and you know at CBS.
Speaker 7: You know when I had when I had two teams
Speaker 7: on the field, you're calling it. I can't help that.
Speaker 7: A team's up forty to nothing at halftime and the
Speaker 7: Bengals fans are upset because the Patriots have run them
Speaker 7: over and they feel like we're one sided. I understand that.
Speaker 7: Believe me, I did it for twenty five years and
Speaker 7: I get it. But look the jazz. I'm not gonna
Speaker 7: sit there and just play pay pay play Patty Cake,
Speaker 7: you know all the time? Uh, And you know Big
Speaker 7: T and I have a job to do. You see
Speaker 7: what I see the fan does.
Speaker 6: But I'm not so much talking about that. I know
Speaker 6: you will do that.
Speaker 9: But the part I'm asking about, what is it like
Speaker 9: to call games for a team that might win nine games?
Speaker 7: It's not easy, you know what. You're trying to do
Speaker 7: the best you can to look at the positive. Look.
Speaker 7: I can sit there all night and just dig a grave,
Speaker 7: But in reality, let's see what this kid can do.
Speaker 7: What is Kiante about? What's uh? How how does Patty Mills?
Speaker 7: Why did they bring him here to Well? We know
Speaker 7: why because Will coached him in San Antonio, believes in
Speaker 7: him and thinks he can be a voice in the
Speaker 7: locker room that a pup right now needs. And these
Speaker 7: guys are pups, so Will said a great thing the
Speaker 7: other day. A pup can't really coach a pup or
Speaker 7: mentor a pup. They need a bulldog, they need a
Speaker 7: they needed they need someone who's been there, and Mills
Speaker 7: has done it all.
Speaker 6: There a song about pups growing up.
Speaker 9: It is yeah, yeah, good pl But I just you know, okay,
Speaker 9: so this is let me make an analogy here.
Speaker 7: I don't think to spend this point. I don't think
Speaker 7: they win seven games.
Speaker 6: I think that.
Speaker 7: I think again, the DNA of this franchise is different
Speaker 7: than that. Now, if something would occur that they just
Speaker 7: continue to get minutes but don't don't produce justin Xanak
Speaker 7: and Danny will accept that. And then again, in the
Speaker 7: positive sense, they would find themselves in a in a
Speaker 7: better uh draft picks selection selection. They have picks to
Speaker 7: use as well. If they want to move up, we'll see.
Speaker 7: But it's going to be intriguing. I think they feel
Speaker 7: that there's some talent here, but they also I think
Speaker 7: the Jazz made it very clear that this is a
Speaker 7: year more than last year, where they are going to
Speaker 7: evaluate hard and there are data points that they get
Speaker 7: every day that will decide who goes and who stays.
Speaker 7: It's not easy to play in this league.
Speaker 6: Yeah, this is what they're going to do.
Speaker 7: And so that that this year, I think more or
Speaker 7: less you're going to see guys who want to be
Speaker 7: in this league not going to be here for the
Speaker 7: jazz at the end, right, Yeah, because it should be. Yeah,
Speaker 7: I mean, you just can't say, okay, let's give him
Speaker 7: another year. Let's give him another year. No, this is
Speaker 7: a win now league. And even though Danny has this
Speaker 7: persona around the league about being you know, a hellish
Speaker 7: trade guy and put you on the you know, put
Speaker 7: your take away, everything you got to get whatever. And
Speaker 7: of course he has a championship as a player and
Speaker 7: as a general manager, and so that's a lot of
Speaker 7: pressure to bring here.
Speaker 9: Here's my predictions, my analogy. All right, Thurle is going
Speaker 9: to be well, okay, let me say it this way.
Speaker 6: You've heard of Lennon and McCartney.
Speaker 9: Of course, Bowler's going to be Lenin and Thurrell is
Speaker 9: going to be McCarthy.
Speaker 4: In other words, I see what you're laying down.
Speaker 9: Yeah, Thurle is going to say everything is getting better better,
Speaker 9: all the time, and Bowler's going to say it can't
Speaker 9: get no worse.
Speaker 4: It's actually not.
Speaker 5: And look, doing this with you for almost a decade,
Speaker 5: it's not near your worst.
Speaker 4: I'll tell you that much right now.
Speaker 5: Let me ask you this though, because during the Ryan,
Speaker 5: Danny and Zanik roundtable, and I love Justin, he gets it,
Speaker 5: you know, but when asked about the and I'm sure
Speaker 5: Danny really wishes he never said big game hunting because
Speaker 5: that's been thrown at him a million times. If you
Speaker 5: go listen to the entire sound clip, he also said,
Speaker 5: you know, there's a chance we're gonna have to do
Speaker 5: other He didn't just say we're going big fishing, big
Speaker 5: game hunting, but that was the message. So Xanik during
Speaker 5: the roundtable just says there were no opportunities.
Speaker 7: No big game to hunt.
Speaker 5: Well, Clark Thompson, Paul George mckelbridge, is Karl antitiing?
Speaker 4: Yes, there was. The point is there was.
Speaker 6: Movement.
Speaker 5: But here's what I want to ask you, So did
Speaker 5: he mean that ultimately when the oppert Because there was
Speaker 5: also a chance to trademarket into Golden State and there
Speaker 5: were several big name players who moved this year, So
Speaker 5: there were opportunities to get involved in treeansactions. Do you
Speaker 5: think he meant it simply just wasn't worth the price
Speaker 5: they were asked to pay to make a trade for
Speaker 5: cal Bridges or sign a Paul George Because that confused
Speaker 5: me a little bit.
Speaker 4: Most people just ate it like, oh, they didn't have
Speaker 4: a chance. Yes they did.
Speaker 5: There were several really good players that moved. So just
Speaker 5: was your interpretation? Nothing made sense at times.
Speaker 7: But at the same time, I think that market it
Speaker 7: was always going to stay Spence. And you know, we
Speaker 7: talked about why did that name pop up? Maybe they
Speaker 7: just again went out to fish and see how much
Speaker 7: actually they they that marketing was worth. And a lot
Speaker 7: of teams were enamored with are enamored with Laurie. He
Speaker 7: brings a great skill set for his size and to
Speaker 7: spread the floors we know, and runs the floor well.
Speaker 7: And I think that again, anyone that had over ten
Speaker 7: years or nine years of NBA experience wouldn't fit what
Speaker 7: the Jazz want to do. Look, you could bring a
Speaker 7: clay in here on a bad knee and achilles, but
Speaker 7: for what price and how much is that alter the
Speaker 7: development of the of the six guys they've drafted in
Speaker 7: the last summer and.
Speaker 4: A half and Paul George wasn't signing here.
Speaker 7: No, let's just call it how no no. And I
Speaker 7: think a lot of times, you know, you throw it
Speaker 7: out to a veteran player, they're all looking for one thing.
Speaker 7: They want to ring. They want the best opportunity because
Speaker 7: that will solidify their, you know, their career. If I
Speaker 7: get a ring, man, that's it. Malone stock that don't
Speaker 7: have one. And Carl told me, you know what, I'm
Speaker 7: I'm I'm okay with that. And that's hard to do,
Speaker 7: to settle yourself in. Because in the world of the
Speaker 7: NBA or the NFL, Brady's got seven rings on his fingers, right,
Speaker 7: some guys are terrific Hall of famers or you know,
Speaker 7: leading rushers, whatever it may be, but never catch the ring.
Speaker 7: But they still feel comfortable with what or what they accomplished.
Speaker 7: And I think the jazz they want to ring. You know,
Speaker 7: Ryan said that multiple times. How you get there is
Speaker 7: not an easy road. Ask Oklahoma City, Look what Orlando
Speaker 7: try to do, Phoenix, Portland. I mean, gosh, man, it
Speaker 7: is a long tough road to win a title.
Speaker 9: Ohler, But they contradict themselves and this is getting back
Speaker 9: to Spence's point, because the only reason to re sign
Speaker 9: market In for that kind of money is if you're
Speaker 9: going to hurry up the process.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 9: Well because if you're not, he's getting in the way
Speaker 9: by helping your team win more games. Right Yeah, So
Speaker 9: what's the message, Well, it seems contradictory.
Speaker 7: The message that I have listened to is that he
Speaker 7: is a centerpiece for the young guys to understand how
Speaker 7: to win. Someone has to teach someone how to win
Speaker 7: and how to hold yourself as a pro. And that's
Speaker 7: about That's the explanation. I mean, he wanted to be here.
Speaker 7: He's a super talent that a lot of teams are
Speaker 7: always looking for. And the Jazz would let go a
Speaker 7: twenty seven year old. Now, if he's thirty one, there's
Speaker 7: a no brainer they move in. But at twenty seven
Speaker 7: he still has at least five in his pocket to
Speaker 7: thirty one, thirty two where he can be productive and
Speaker 7: be a part of this rebuild. And the youth around him.
Speaker 9: Are they work years? Are they two years? Within contention?
Speaker 9: No attention to twenty nine? So we're getting there in
Speaker 9: that thirty and.
Speaker 7: Again here here, I think is what fans come to
Speaker 7: games for and listen to talk radio and have their
Speaker 7: own anger or you know, hopes. Is the fact that
Speaker 7: who actually does pop you know, I keep using that word,
Speaker 7: but do you Is there a nugget here? Is is
Speaker 7: is Philipowski of Steele at thirty two from Duke Can.
Speaker 7: I've watched him play. He's an athlete, guys, but at
Speaker 7: what level? See, I don't know, And that's that's what
Speaker 7: you know. Justin said in this roundtable was that this
Speaker 7: is going to be a data point driven year on
Speaker 7: who they are and what they can't become, and if
Speaker 7: they don't see it, then they have to move on.
Speaker 7: It's a tough league, as as many of the coaches
Speaker 7: have spoken that, you know, they've got to make some
Speaker 7: quick decisions on if they stick or they.
Speaker 4: Got to move them.
Speaker 5: And ultimately I understand Gordon's point about marketing. I don't
Speaker 5: think he can let him go. I just don't. He's
Speaker 5: just he's too good. Now, He's not so good that
Speaker 5: he takes you out of the ability to potentially position
Speaker 5: yourself for draft capital this year. So I'm curious and
Speaker 5: we'll finish on this so he can do college football
Speaker 5: coming up next because the way the market and signing
Speaker 5: makes sense is if you're able to position yourself to
Speaker 5: draft a player like a Cooper Flag, or you're able
Speaker 5: to position yourself to bring in a couple of really
Speaker 5: not spe Mikayla Chuck right like, you're able to position
Speaker 5: yourself to bring in some really good players around him.
Speaker 5: Now John carl were thirty three thirty four before they
Speaker 5: went to the finals, right, and players are playing a lot.
Speaker 4: Longer than they used to.
Speaker 5: It's conceivable to believe that Lowry will still be here
Speaker 5: when he's thirty two to thirty three. That's five six
Speaker 5: years down the road. Guess what, guys, it's gonna take
Speaker 5: that long. So if they can incrementally surround him with
Speaker 5: better pieces than what they've done so far, then the
Speaker 5: signing makes sense because I don't know how you let
Speaker 5: go unless you've decided to go all in on being
Speaker 5: bad and you make the tray with the Warriors. But
Speaker 5: they decided to bring him back, and now the Jazz
Speaker 5: have a really good player at the age of twenty six.
Speaker 7: Right, Yeah, it's it's intriguing. It's an ongoing conversation. We're
Speaker 7: gonna see it each and every night over the eighty
Speaker 7: two games, five preseason games. I want to see rotations.
Speaker 7: I want to see Keante run the show. I want
Speaker 7: to see the attitude he has when he throws a
Speaker 7: ball away and does he just picked himself back up
Speaker 7: and get back into his head, like, let's go play
Speaker 7: and not pout. Look to the look to the sideline.
Speaker 7: Walker has to do the same thing. This is a
Speaker 7: huge year. Spencer just said, year three is when decisions
Speaker 7: are made, and I think Walker obviously knows that. How
Speaker 7: tough can he be? Can he face the basket? Probably not?
Speaker 7: Can they feed him the ball more at the rim? Probably?
Speaker 7: If Kiante's making the right reads, we'll see. Gordia will
Speaker 7: give you the final word, no catch up.
Speaker 9: I guess my final word would be a question to you, Spence,
Speaker 9: as an analytics guy, guy who studies that stuff. You
Speaker 9: know these data points point Bowler's talking about and I
Speaker 9: heard Justin talk a lot about that. Yeah, how do
Speaker 9: you differentiate data points that are sort of okay, that
Speaker 9: was a nice move, advantageous move for individual player, But
Speaker 9: how do you guy find out or determine which of
Speaker 9: those data points really lead to real wins?
Speaker 5: I think it's a good point, how you impact winning.
Speaker 5: I mean that was kind of the thing when Gobert
Speaker 5: manifested himself as a defensive stalwart. I mean, you looked
Speaker 5: like a baby giraffe, but you're like, man, he's affecting
Speaker 5: everything at the rim. And then you see the data
Speaker 5: about rim protection, field goal percentage at the rim, against
Speaker 5: efficiency against Rudy. Right, so whenever you hear anybody say
Speaker 5: Rudy sucks at basketball, you're like, you're not paying attention
Speaker 5: because Rudy impacts winning so incrementally, step by step. And also,
Speaker 5: how do they respond to what Will's asking them to do?
Speaker 4: They love Will.
Speaker 5: They picked up his fifth year option, which means you're
Speaker 5: with us for the long haul because next year's is fourth.
Speaker 5: So how does Will want to play? How do they
Speaker 5: fit in with the guys we know are going to
Speaker 5: be And right now we only know that that's Lowry, Honestly, Like,
Speaker 5: if you think about it, the only guy we know
Speaker 5: is gonna be here for a long time is Lowry Marketing.
Speaker 4: We have questions about everybody else.
Speaker 9: And one point on him is what a great attitude
Speaker 9: that guy has.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's a lot to love about that.
Speaker 6: I mean, really is you know what he's finished.
Speaker 7: He loves the mountains, he told us, Look, I love
Speaker 7: the ondoors. It reminds me of home. And he's comfortable here,
Speaker 7: family's here. And you know what, the Jazz fan base
Speaker 7: has been looking for a veteran All Star and the
Speaker 7: most improved player two years ago that want to be here.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 7: And now there's sometimes questioning why he wants to be
Speaker 7: here or why the Jazz kept him so that that
Speaker 7: one is You know what, Spence, you make a great point.
Speaker 7: He is a focal point. How does it spread out
Speaker 7: from there? And who do they surround him by? And
Speaker 7: by the time his contracts up, is there another player
Speaker 7: that takes that that mantle? Or two or three?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 6: R does he want to want to want to be here?
Speaker 5: People around here? Man, it means so much to us
Speaker 5: if you love us.
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Sometimes so weird.
Speaker 5: All right, we'll catch a break coming up next more well,
Speaker 5: we'll do college football only actually for the second half
Speaker 5: of the hour, both BYU and UTAH on a BUYE.
Speaker 5: This week Craig Bulerjack and Gordon Monter live in studio.
Speaker 5: It's the Big Show, Big Hour here on the Drive,
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Speaker 5: All right, Craig Bowler, Jack Gordon Montson live in studio, gentlemen,
Speaker 5: is a sign?
Speaker 4: Is it a sign that I'm getting older?
Speaker 5: During the break, I ask you for advice on kolonoscopies.
Speaker 9: Maybe that's it's kind of a cooperty head all over
Speaker 9: between the group here, well said one.
Speaker 4: I provided my first this morning.
Speaker 7: Let's see, I'm heading up on two three. I've had two,
Speaker 7: so three's coming like in five four years.
Speaker 6: All right, let's feel okay, I feel fine.
Speaker 5: I'm a little tired. It was the anesthesia more than
Speaker 5: anything else. But let's move off the colonoscopy topic. I'm
Speaker 5: not sure our listeners, you just didn't you just wake
Speaker 5: right up? Well, the procedure was fine, but the anesthesia
Speaker 5: when they put you under, you wake I took like
Speaker 5: a two hour nap.
Speaker 6: Wow. So yeah, but the worst part is the prep.
Speaker 6: You gotta drink.
Speaker 5: Yesterday was the worst part. I was interviewing Chris Camaraddie.
Speaker 5: I had three more questions on my checklist. I'm like, dude,
Speaker 5: I'm out, I gotta go, and just sprinted to take
Speaker 5: care of the business. But ultimately glad I got it done,
Speaker 5: gotta clean colon, good to go. And let me just
Speaker 5: add this for all of our listeners out there, if
Speaker 5: you're have a certain age, just do it.
Speaker 4: Just get it done.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's not a fun process, it's a little
Speaker 5: bit pricey. If you have insurance, it's it's definitely doable.
Speaker 5: But talking to my doctor today, I'm forty six, He's like,
Speaker 5: you're probably six years too late for this, but let's
Speaker 5: do it now.
Speaker 4: It's good.
Speaker 5: You gotta And then after the clean scan, he said,
Speaker 5: I'll see you inten So if you have a certain age,
Speaker 5: get a quolonoscopy.
Speaker 4: It could save your life.
Speaker 6: Yes, sure can.
Speaker 7: I know of people that have walked in thinking everything
Speaker 7: is great and they find it out differently, and they
Speaker 7: found it just in time, and everything's good.
Speaker 5: And as somebody who's had bad news from a doctor.
Speaker 5: It's always good to get good news, right, So it's
Speaker 5: good day to day. All right, gentlemen, what an exciting
Speaker 5: start of the season for college football. So every year
Speaker 5: on the show, I do like a lesson learned in September. Right,
Speaker 5: So as we turn the calendars from September to October,
Speaker 5: I kind of moved from observation to now it's time
Speaker 5: for conclusion.
Speaker 4: What do we know? Right?
Speaker 5: So Gordon, I'll start with you. Let's start with Utah,
Speaker 5: then we'll move to BUYU. Five games in the books,
Speaker 5: one month down, September behind us.
Speaker 4: What do you feel like you know about the youths?
Speaker 6: This is what I know about Utah football. They need
Speaker 6: their quarterback back it.
Speaker 9: Cam Rising is a guy who is the tie that
Speaker 9: raises all boats, both on offense obviously for obvious reasons,
Speaker 9: but even on defense because they have they play with
Speaker 9: a certain swagger in confidence because they know the guy.
Speaker 9: The guys on the other side are going to move
Speaker 9: the ball. And right now they're not certain of that.
Speaker 9: That lost Arizona was that was that was not good?
Speaker 9: And so how long is it going to take for
Speaker 9: Cam to get back? I wrote a column about this
Speaker 9: and I don't know how you feel about it, Spence,
Speaker 9: but it seems to me that Kyle Whittingham has made
Speaker 9: him he's done, he's done, came rising no favors by
Speaker 9: keeping this shrouded because people are wondering what the heck's
Speaker 9: going on with Cam.
Speaker 7: Well, I think the NIL shrouds or wants the shroud
Speaker 7: to be lifted, because Spence, well, you and I talked
Speaker 7: about this the last two weeks. The NIL when when
Speaker 7: a guy's playing boy everything, you know, it's it's what
Speaker 7: it's supposed to be in college football now. But if
Speaker 7: he doesn't and the fan base starts to hear or
Speaker 7: turn or get ugly or doubt, starts to kind of
Speaker 7: filter in, which is what's happened with really no conversation
Speaker 7: of his status. Guardo, It's like, man, what is this
Speaker 7: about here.
Speaker 6: Especially when Kyle says stuff.
Speaker 7: Like he's close, Yeah, he's close.
Speaker 6: Remember last year he was saying that, and it backfires
Speaker 6: on the player because the heat comes to the player.
Speaker 7: I'm really close about running down this street, but I'm
Speaker 7: not there yet, you know what I mean by the
Speaker 7: way you go yeah, yeah, the knees I mean for
Speaker 7: whatever you whatever. Two new knees are good for but
Speaker 7: you know I can kind of job you don't. The
Speaker 7: only great part about this is I can actually now
Speaker 7: beat the light when I have to run or jog
Speaker 7: across the walk that's not nothing on the road. And
Speaker 7: you're going, oh my god, these guys already blasting off
Speaker 7: and I'm out here going, hey, guys, wait, please stop.
Speaker 7: But now I can kind of get a little jog in, which.
Speaker 9: Well, I mean, well, you can relate to this at
Speaker 9: some level. I mean, you play Division one athlete football player,
Speaker 9: and Cam Rising has had to deal with all these
Speaker 9: freaking injuries again and again and the mental toll that
Speaker 9: that takes on a player. And then if you have
Speaker 9: people around you going, what's the matter with Cam?
Speaker 6: Come on?
Speaker 9: Don't you want to play? Yeah, you're picking up your paycheck,
Speaker 9: but you're not playing, so there must be something wrong
Speaker 9: with you. That adds a burden, that is, and I
Speaker 9: get the one and a half million, but understanding the frustration.
Speaker 7: What the nil does, Man? It brings more pressure, honey,
Speaker 7: changes money does I think, as we talked last week, Gordo,
Speaker 7: I really believe that the NC double A's got to
Speaker 7: jump in because there's gambling involved here now where players
Speaker 7: have to be up on a list by a Thursday
Speaker 7: night or whatever it may be, noon on Friday when
Speaker 7: they play Saturday, just to know the condition of the player,
Speaker 7: is he a go or no?
Speaker 2: Ed?
Speaker 5: Abandoned file is lawsuit in two thousand and eight, the
Speaker 5: NC double A should have stepped in sixteen years ago.
Speaker 5: But to your point, you know the best time to
Speaker 5: do something with sixteen years ago. The second best time
Speaker 5: is today. Let's get something done. But I want to
Speaker 5: hone in on Gordon's point and Craig get your take
Speaker 5: on this too, because I do think the messaging surrounding
Speaker 5: the situation quite frankly, it's pissing people off, right fans,
Speaker 5: people in the community. I think there's some misguided anger
Speaker 5: at Cameron that I don't agree with.
Speaker 4: And here's why. Two things.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 5: Chris Camaraddi released a piece on September the nineteenth for
Speaker 5: The Athletic where he got access to Cam, access to
Speaker 5: Cam's family, and Cam spoke very candidly about what last
Speaker 5: year was like for him, and Chris talked to doctor
Speaker 5: Neila Trosh, who really outlined for the first time exactly
Speaker 5: how bad that knee was This was not a sprained MCL.
Speaker 5: This was an explosion of the knee for a twenty
Speaker 5: four year old, which, by the way, was why I
Speaker 5: never thought he was going to play last year. Okay,
Speaker 5: And I'm the only one that was saying that. People
Speaker 5: were giving me crap for it. But you do the math.
Speaker 5: He's not ready for Florida after a couple of weeks.
Speaker 5: You know, you hear that it's worse than you thought.
Speaker 5: So I just didn't think he was going to play.
Speaker 5: But he was hurt last year, so he couldn't play,
Speaker 5: and he's hurt this year, so he can't play. But
Speaker 5: your point about the way that the program has decided
Speaker 5: to disseminate the information is where I want to hone
Speaker 5: in because that's where I think the issue lies. At
Speaker 5: some point, the Big twelve, like the Big Ten, has
Speaker 5: in the sec as, We'll send an email to all
Speaker 5: the coaches say guys, we report now, okay, and so
Speaker 5: that will kill any of the ambiguity. But Dennis Dodds
Speaker 5: CBS wrote a piece today about this thing with Cam
Speaker 5: and he quoted a gentleman whose name is Matt Holt.
Speaker 5: So Matt Holt is the founder of the US integrity
Speaker 5: in Las Vegas gambling, which sounds like an oxymoron, but
Speaker 5: that's what this dude does. All four power conferences have
Speaker 5: hired Matt Holt to help them understand as college football
Speaker 5: member institutions, how to deal with the new reality of
Speaker 5: gambling and because it's new to all of us.
Speaker 4: And so here's what Matt Holt said about coaches who
Speaker 4: don't report injuries.
Speaker 5: He said, quote, we constantly tell coaches, if you continue
Speaker 5: to hide information for gamesmanship or competitive advantage purposes, you
Speaker 5: are putting your student athletes, your trainers, your equipment managers,
Speaker 5: and assistant coaches in a heightened risk category. When betting
Speaker 5: groups start to figure out, hey, this coach want disclose
Speaker 5: injury information. Now, there's real value to getting that inside information.
Speaker 5: So the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 4: We have examples of this.
Speaker 5: Against Oklahoma State, the line moved four and a half
Speaker 5: points over two hours.
Speaker 4: Guess what that means. Somebody who knew Cameron wasn't playing
Speaker 4: got a phone call and was like, you're going to
Speaker 4: take a dirt napp in the desert if you don't
Speaker 4: tell me what the deal is with your quarterback. Boom
Speaker 4: Cam's not playing. The line moves.
Speaker 5: Last week Arizona, the line moved two and a half
Speaker 5: points over the course of an hour and a half.
Speaker 4: Guess what that means.
Speaker 5: Somebody is speaking because they're being leaned on by the
Speaker 5: people in the desert who control lines. This is now
Speaker 5: beyond an issue that Cam is getting heat on social
Speaker 5: media right because Kyle can say, guess what I'm not
Speaker 5: on social media? Guess what Kyle, your twenty five year
Speaker 5: old quarterback is because we raised them as phone on
Speaker 5: phones as they're best friends and babysitters, so he sees
Speaker 5: the heat that you're bringing on him as a result
Speaker 5: of your lack of information. This is now spilling over
Speaker 5: to potential Kyle staffers because people in the desert. No,
Speaker 5: Kyle doesn't report, so guess what information is the most valuable?
Speaker 4: Who is your starting quarterback? Because your coach won't tell us.
Speaker 5: So this is more of a problem, I think than
Speaker 5: most people understand. In a vacuum, if you spread it out,
Speaker 5: I think it's a misguided way to handle the information,
Speaker 5: and it is bringing heat on your quarterback, so it
Speaker 5: might be bringing heat on your staff.
Speaker 7: It's a simple fix, in my opinion, is just have
Speaker 7: an injury report right, just be up front. No, Cam's
Speaker 7: not playing. In fact, if you really want to be honest,
Speaker 7: he's on most likely out four weeks.
Speaker 4: Say three.
Speaker 7: And I think it also helps Isaac understand his role better.
Speaker 7: And doesn't you know, like God, sure, I go again,
Speaker 7: and he knows he's because he's taking reps in practice.
Speaker 7: But you know, I'll be honest. I hadn't been to
Speaker 7: a Utah game for a while. I went to homecoming
Speaker 7: last week and.
Speaker 4: Go to the dance.
Speaker 7: I didn't go to the dance, no invite, Bull and Sharon,
Speaker 7: just walking in. But I had more fun. I love
Speaker 7: the feel. I love it. But I'll tell you what.
Speaker 7: That balloon was deflated on the two fourth down attempts
Speaker 7: on the first two drives. The entire stadium just went
Speaker 7: silent because it's so rare you can't punch it in right.
Speaker 7: And they only had eighty four some are yard rushing
Speaker 7: last week and another two picks by Isaac. But he's eighteen.
Speaker 7: You know what do you expect He's learning on the
Speaker 7: fly in the shadow of an injured Cam Cam rising.
Speaker 7: So I had some guys behind me who had been
Speaker 7: to tailgate. I know that for a fact, But there
Speaker 7: was a mix emotion of we need Cam, we need camp,
Speaker 7: we need camp, and then uh, he'll you know, he'd
Speaker 7: make us better, he'd make us better than you know, Isaac,
Speaker 7: He'll get it done. No, I don't think the young
Speaker 7: kids ready. So that that's the kind of conversation that
Speaker 7: I hear through. You know, I heard that everybody's talking
Speaker 7: about that.
Speaker 9: This is what makes it worse, Bowler, is that Utah
Speaker 9: is really good. Yeah, it's a really good team. If
Speaker 9: Cam Rising is playing on that team, I still think
Speaker 9: they go to a college football player.
Speaker 7: You're a believer too, though. You just said that the
Speaker 7: defense reacts to Cam on the offensive every which makes
Speaker 7: you know they didn't have a sack in that game,
Speaker 7: didn't have a sack and that.
Speaker 4: Beat him the trenches. That the audist.
Speaker 7: That's who they are, right, So that I think, you know.
Speaker 6: You know how it is.
Speaker 9: Bowler is a former football player yourself, how emotional that
Speaker 9: sport is. And if guys are feeling a drag man,
Speaker 9: it's not. And once you start dragging that way, then
Speaker 9: it's hard to recapture it is. And Kyle's over there
Speaker 9: walking up and down the sideline going what am I
Speaker 9: gonna do with my team here, Well, you need your
Speaker 9: quarterback back, and if you don't have your quarterback back,
Speaker 9: then make it clear to everybody.
Speaker 6: The problem is that the youths are good there. That's
Speaker 6: a great team.
Speaker 9: It can plays and so that's just all this pressure
Speaker 9: you were talking about, Spence, it just lays this this, this.
Speaker 6: This heavy blanket over everything.
Speaker 7: Yeah. I just felt the energy, which is so rare
Speaker 7: at Rice Ecles just deflates in the first quarter and
Speaker 7: on and on it win and you go, well, they're
Speaker 7: gonna sooner or later find their way, but they never could.
Speaker 7: And you and to your point, I was impressed with Arizona.
Speaker 7: They were they were coming off a bye week, and
Speaker 7: they were fresh, and they were hungry and they were
Speaker 7: ready and any opportunity they came, I thought, Wow, they're
Speaker 7: not intimidated here all. And the crowd just had never
Speaker 7: had really had a chance after the first two opening
Speaker 7: drives to really get back on their feet.
Speaker 4: Yeah. No, it's a spot on point.
Speaker 5: I was there with my son, and you know, as
Speaker 5: a student, then as a season ticket holder, now as
Speaker 5: a media member, I've been going to games of Rice
Speaker 5: eCos since the mid nineties. I don't remember a night
Speaker 5: where it was just like people felt anxious, they felt
Speaker 5: on edge, and then the team didn't give them anything
Speaker 5: to cheer for. I mean, the moment of loudness was
Speaker 5: a moment of some sound. It's usually like deafening.
Speaker 6: Here's another point.
Speaker 7: I wonder if this is fair too, And I mean
Speaker 7: you always want to suit up, you always want to
Speaker 7: be in pads, and you want to be with your
Speaker 7: team with a helmet in hand. But Cam is dressed
Speaker 7: the last two weeks out for the coin flip, and
Speaker 7: so you get the anticipation again that this big reveal
Speaker 7: is going to happen, and then the disappointment. I could
Speaker 7: feel it settle in again. But he's on the sideline,
Speaker 7: looks good. But it's amazing that an injury of that
Speaker 7: nature a finger, whether it's a dislocation or or both
Speaker 7: of a stitches or whatever, it's the oddest injury. Of course,
Speaker 7: it had to be on his passing hand and he's
Speaker 7: you know, learning to regrit the ball. But man, you
Speaker 7: talk about bad luck. I mean that's just you know, Cam,
Speaker 7: It's almost like Taysom Hill at Eyu years ago. Every
Speaker 7: time he got on the football field. Another injury. You know,
Speaker 7: jumped up and took him down, and you know, you know,
Speaker 7: didn't you hear fans say Cam's you know, made a glass.
Speaker 7: I mean, odd injuries happened. Look at Rice in Kansas City,
Speaker 7: Mahomes runs him over after a pick, you know, last week.
Speaker 7: And so you never know on a field who's going
Speaker 7: to knock you out of a game. Maybe your own
Speaker 7: teammate or you run into gatorade buckets.
Speaker 6: I mean, I agree.
Speaker 9: I want to stress the point that Spence made about
Speaker 9: about don't blame Cam this. This is a matter of
Speaker 9: being a human being, for sure. This isn't I don't know.
Speaker 9: I think back to infamous injuries through the years. There
Speaker 9: was a fellow who played for the Jazz Boozer who
Speaker 9: had that hamstring on that will. But you know these
Speaker 9: it's injuries, an injury, and he's not dogging it, and
Speaker 9: people need to know that and need to back off
Speaker 9: the dude a little bit.
Speaker 6: He made a dumb decision.
Speaker 9: He should have sprinted straight out of bounds, and that's
Speaker 9: another issue. But that's not getting injured, not his fault.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's simply hurt and when he's healthy he'll play,
Speaker 5: So lay off the kid.
Speaker 4: That's my thing.
Speaker 5: But it's funny your reference Booze because I've talked about
Speaker 5: this as an example. I can remember during the height
Speaker 5: of the frustration, I was down at the at the
Speaker 5: arena and a saw Scotty Laden, who's the assistant for
Speaker 5: Jerry at the time. I said, Scott, what's the deal
Speaker 5: with Booze man? And he's like Spence, he's hurt, he's hurt.
Speaker 4: What do you want?
Speaker 7: Right?
Speaker 5: So it could have been that simple. Now in retrospect,
Speaker 5: we got used to a guy who wore thirty two
Speaker 5: who played eighty two, and so the new power forward
Speaker 5: wasn't that and we were all in our feelings about it.
Speaker 5: But let's finish the hour with BYU because Kalani Plody
Speaker 5: got himself a squad down there. Now, I don't know
Speaker 5: how real it is entirely yet, because there are several
Speaker 5: things you can point at in every game where it's like, Okay,
Speaker 5: that was awesome. Then you kind of got away with
Speaker 5: this k State a little flukey, but they were opportunistic.
Speaker 5: But they were up twenty eight to seven against Baylor
Speaker 5: before you could make a sandwich, and then Baylor kind
Speaker 5: of came back and made it interesting. So what's your take,
Speaker 5: Gordon undefeated BYU A top the Big twelve.
Speaker 9: Well, we saw BYU b SMU on the road that
Speaker 9: was more important than we thought. Yes, that team's not bad.
Speaker 9: That SMU team has scored like one hundred points and
Speaker 9: in the subsequent games and BYU held them without a touchdown.
Speaker 9: And so that defense especially really has impressed. The offense
Speaker 9: is hit or miss, and we saw that in the
Speaker 9: Baylor game. First half You're looking at that team going, man,
Speaker 9: BYU looks like a freaking conference champ.
Speaker 6: Second half not so much.
Speaker 4: Three points.
Speaker 9: I mean, yeah, that's good. So they need to get
Speaker 9: airon Aaron a Rod needs to get that offense ironed out.
Speaker 9: And they've had injuries at the running back position and
Speaker 9: they had some injuries along the offensive line too, but
Speaker 9: everybody does, and so you just have to deal with that.
Speaker 9: B YU was so much better than most people thought
Speaker 9: they were going to be. It's just and Colonney told
Speaker 9: me this, Vince, we talked about it last week. We
Speaker 9: talked about it the week before that. Colonie told me,
Speaker 9: he said, hey man, they got us wrong. This team
Speaker 9: is really and there were good reasons to doubt it.
Speaker 9: But he said, this team is really good and folks
Speaker 9: are going to find that out. And I guess we
Speaker 9: are bit by bit.
Speaker 7: Offensive line, D line impressive and it's amazing to me.
Speaker 7: I mean, they're quick, they're athletic, they seal I mean,
Speaker 7: I mean, I'm just going wow. And the other part
Speaker 7: of it, you have to be our take advantage of opportunities,
Speaker 7: and you just said it opportunistic. And they have been
Speaker 7: probably the best team in college football through the first
Speaker 7: five weeks. Have taken advantage of miscues by their opponent
Speaker 7: KSU for sure. Last week they get the late pick
Speaker 7: to seal it, you know, despite the comeback after the
Speaker 7: early starts. So they get the big play when they
Speaker 7: have to, and they take advantage in the red zone,
Speaker 7: you know, when the ball jumps their way and give
Speaker 7: Kilanie all the credit.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 7: I'm not sure big YU fans they believe. I'm sure some,
Speaker 7: you know, I've talked to some.
Speaker 9: I think some do, but I think some are sitting
Speaker 9: waiting for the other shooting drop.
Speaker 7: That's I talked to a couple of guys that I
Speaker 7: know real well, and one's all in and the other
Speaker 7: one says, yeah, I'm still not convinced, and I said, okay, well,
Speaker 7: you know you've got another game. You know, Arizona, you're
Speaker 7: seventeenth in the country now, you know, I mean you
Speaker 7: this team cannot afford to get over confident. Let's just
Speaker 7: say that.
Speaker 4: And yeah, I don't think Colonie will let them.
Speaker 5: Because one thing I've appreciated the past couple of weeks
Speaker 5: is listening to the coaches because sometimes the blue goggles,
Speaker 5: you know, it's like, this is eighty four all over again.
Speaker 5: Cosmo did a double backflip. I got a little swigging by.
Speaker 4: The way Cosmo.
Speaker 7: Cosmo's an athlete.
Speaker 4: Cosmo rules.
Speaker 5: But sometimes tis the hype trained down there. You're like,
Speaker 5: all right, So listening to the coaches, though they've been
Speaker 5: very honest in their assessment, and Colonnie keeps saying, gotta
Speaker 5: stay humble, and we gotta stay hungry. We haven't done
Speaker 5: anything yet because there are bits. Look, bottom line is this,
Speaker 5: though you referenced it. They're so much better than anybody
Speaker 5: thought they were going to be. But for me, what's
Speaker 5: more important is there so much better than they were
Speaker 5: a year ago, because analyzing this coaching staff, it's year
Speaker 5: over year improvement. Their recruiting class was not highly thought of.
Speaker 5: The weird thing is they didn't hit the transfer portal hard.
Speaker 5: Now was that intentional or was that Colonnie doesn't have
Speaker 5: the support Kevin has. I don't know that's true, and
Speaker 5: they relied on internal improvement. And so this coaching staff
Speaker 5: deserves a ton of credit because not only are they
Speaker 5: better than most people thought, they're better than they were
Speaker 5: a year ago, which is a good sign.
Speaker 9: And Colonie said that, he said, he admitted, he said,
Speaker 9: we weren't necessarily prepared last year for what it was
Speaker 9: going to be like to play in the Big Twelve.
Speaker 9: They lost their last five games.
Speaker 6: So they learned their lessons.
Speaker 9: And again I'm not gonna sing the praises too loud
Speaker 9: because I have a feeling they're gonna drop some games.
Speaker 6: But I'm telling you, this is a team we were
Speaker 6: wondering whether they were going.
Speaker 4: To qualify for a bull I picked him to win
Speaker 4: six games.
Speaker 7: Well that was my one went away from a Bowl
Speaker 7: as they are for Bowl eligibility. And I think they
Speaker 7: found out too what it's like to play because it's
Speaker 7: it's in your chops. Its physical line play is so
Speaker 7: important and that's.
Speaker 4: Where they've excelled.
Speaker 5: It's a great point because both their fronts last year
Speaker 5: were horrific, which is UNBYU like.
Speaker 4: And both their fronts this year are awesome. Give me
Speaker 4: your thoughts on Jake Craig.
Speaker 5: Let's go to you with this, because last year four
Speaker 5: starts for Jake ratz lab and just way too many mistakes.
Speaker 5: It wasn't just the picks, it wasn't just the fumbles.
Speaker 5: It was weird decision making and honestly, it feels like
Speaker 5: the jury is still out on him a little bit
Speaker 5: in that department. I think it's safe to say he's
Speaker 5: been better on the year. As QB rating is one
Speaker 5: to fifty, which is fine. Twelve tds, five picks, four fumbles,
Speaker 5: he has completed about sixty one percent of his passes.
Speaker 5: Those are good, not great numbers if they want to
Speaker 5: contend for the Big twelve.
Speaker 4: I still think they need a little bit more from
Speaker 4: their quarterback.
Speaker 7: Yeah, no, I agree, and a healthy backfield, which it
Speaker 7: looks for sure are starting to get get there. Yeah,
Speaker 7: And I think Jake is more comfortable from what I
Speaker 7: saw last year. But you know, when you when you
Speaker 7: get an opportunity that your defense gives you a little
Speaker 7: bit of a lead makes life so much easier, and
Speaker 7: that opportunity to score, you know, and that's why Utah
Speaker 7: is held so high for such a long time. Special
Speaker 7: teams a punt return to kick or a pick for six,
Speaker 7: but why use getting those in these first five games?
Speaker 7: And I think it makes the quarterback position. You're more
Speaker 7: comfortable walking out there. A mistake may not kill you
Speaker 7: like it did last year, and I think Jake is
Speaker 7: taking advantage of that. I still think he can, you know,
Speaker 7: Denk and Dunk. I'm not sure about the deep deep ball,
Speaker 7: but I think again, with a good ground game healthy again,
Speaker 7: he may be able to get more comfortable. Let him
Speaker 7: roll out a little bit if he's comfortable with between
Speaker 7: the tackles or outside a little bit. And see what happened.
Speaker 4: Austin scrambling from him last week.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 9: He picked up some yardangs and that might be necessary
Speaker 9: for him to do that. But that that forty four
Speaker 9: yard touchdown pass he threw the Lesser was about as
Speaker 9: sweet as a quarterback.
Speaker 4: Those two have a little thing going, don't they.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean that, but the interception that was just
Speaker 9: a stupid throw on his part and so the I
Speaker 9: really believe the quarterbacks, unless you're just so gifted and
Speaker 9: you're so smart and you're so advanced, you got to
Speaker 9: go through a process here. And that's I think Jake
Speaker 9: is in the middle of it. And what his high
Speaker 9: end is that that's what we don't know. But can
Speaker 9: he continue to learn. I would imagine that he'll feel
Speaker 9: more and more comfortable with that offense. And so far
Speaker 9: it's been herky jerky, but that defense has been good enough.
Speaker 7: To say, one last thing, I think each quarterback who grows,
Speaker 7: and Isaac's going to go through this as well, is
Speaker 7: how quick you can read whether you bring safeties up,
Speaker 7: if you're going to drop, you're go read blitz, if
Speaker 7: you're going to see pressure off the edge, and you know,
Speaker 7: almost becomes automatic as a junior, and of course as
Speaker 7: a senior you've seen these teams before. A lot of
Speaker 7: this is new, a lot of this scheming is new
Speaker 7: that that you know, they that they haven't seen. And
Speaker 7: I think it's just a routine he has to go through.
Speaker 7: It's a growth period. But you know, I think for me,
Speaker 7: I mean, you're five and oh, you can only improve
Speaker 7: on that. And if you continue to get a little
Speaker 7: help from your d or some turnovers that that come
Speaker 7: your way. It should make him more comfortable and more
Speaker 7: confident in the pocket.
Speaker 5: Final question for both you, Gordon will start now, Utah
Speaker 5: b Yu play tomorrow neutral field.
Speaker 4: Who wins?
Speaker 6: Is Cam Rising playing?
Speaker 4: I'm gonna say no because it's tomorrow? Yes, oh yeah,
Speaker 4: that's right.
Speaker 6: African.
Speaker 9: I'll say it this way. I think if Utah has
Speaker 9: came Rising, they win. If they don't have came Rising,
Speaker 9: I think probably b Yu.
Speaker 7: I would agree. I think that a game like that
Speaker 7: without Cam comes down to opportunity. Does Isaac throw the pick?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 7: Is there a special team play that turns the tide
Speaker 7: of the game? You said neutral?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 7: Yep, that's important because that's three points. In my opinion,
Speaker 7: either whatever stadium you play in is three. Even though
Speaker 7: you may be a huge underdog, still your home field
Speaker 7: should be a huge advantage, at least a field goal.
Speaker 7: But I think if they played tomorrow, Isaac Jake, Yeah,
Speaker 7: I go b.
Speaker 6: Yu all right?
Speaker 4: And who would have thought we were saying that about
Speaker 4: four weeks ago.
Speaker 7: It's amazing crazy, But I'll tell you, when you're on
Speaker 7: a roll, boy, it's hard to get off of it
Speaker 7: unless someone really stings you and you may be your
Speaker 7: own worst enemy. This game this week will be intriguing.
Speaker 5: All right, boys, gentlemen, thank you for the kolonoscopy advice.
Speaker 5: Great to see you as always fun to have you
Speaker 5: in studio. It's always my preference, So have a good
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