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dot com. Let's get out to the hotline. Welcome in
College Basketball Insider, host of Fox Sports Radio and UH
his very own podcast is welcome in Aaron Torres to
the show. What's up? Aaron? How are you.
Speaker 2: Bet? I'm good man? Always a privilege, gender, a pleasure
to come on with you. How you guys do it today?
Speaker 3: Doing fantastic. It's a beautiful day here in the great
State of Utah. U Yu got got a dub. I
much need a dove, a marquee dub, A resume building dub.
It's been they didn't have a marquee win. How impactful
do you think that Iowaish State win was for this
BYU basketball resume?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, for the resume. I just think it's
for the psyche because listen, you know b Yu is
gonna make the tournament. It's not going to be necessarily
the seating that anybody hoped for when we talked about
this team, and you know, September, October, November coming into
the year. But I think more than anything, and by
the way, you know, there was nothing on the resume
outside of the Oklahoma State game that was really worrying.
But I I you know, you know the fan base
better than I do, Ben, and I think you're probably
around the team. I don't think I know you're around
the team more than I am, and so I think
you would have a better feel for if Emotionally, this
was a win that they needed to have, and I
think when you get that win over an Iowa State
team that, of course, when they released the mock bracket
on Saturday, was trending as a number one seed. What
that basically means is that on the right night, you
can beat just about anybody. And like I said, it's
obviously with the injuries and everything, been a little bit
of a disappointing season. But you know, in some ways,
the season is just now beginning, and you don't want to.
I always hate when people only kind of you know,
crystallized in college basketball season into four or five six
games in an NCAA tournament. But you know, you can
make up for some degree of disappointment by just doing
what you did on Saturday when you get into that
big bracket a few weeks from now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and when I say resume building, to me, this
Bay You basketball team is good there. I think they have.
They're a borderline great team. I think they may need
some help with seeding in order to make a run
in the NCAA to otherwise they could be they could
be on the outs early, earlier than expected. And at
that leading up to that Iowa stay game, I think
many boy fans started to they started feel a little incredulous.
They were like, man, this season is lost. We went
out and we got we acquired a lot of great talent,
but the ROI hasn't been there. We have too many
season ending injuries of the Dawson Baker injury, the Richie
Sondis injury, Berte Koslawski, you know, kJ Perry hasn't been
Availa's even Staten's out. It's just they've never experienced this
many injuries before, and they kind of felt a little deflated,
knowing that they would get to an NCAA tournament, but
that the seating may not be most beneficial and the
personnel may not be good enough to get them deeper
than expected.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, that's totally fair, and I do tend to agree.
And I don't know off the top of my head
what would be the advantageous draw and who you would
want to see and who you would not want to see,
But I do think there is something to you just
said about when you have a certain young man by
the name of aj De bos On your team, you're
gonna have a chance against anybody, And so, yes, would
you like to see this team at full strength? Of course?
Do you want an All American and Richie Saunders? Of course?
Do you want Dawson Baker one of the best six
men in college basketball? Of course? But the reality is
that's just not going to be possible. And you know,
I guess the only thing that I would really say
is you don't want to be drawing dead going into
the tournament either. There are teams that even good teams
that like it doesn't really matter what the draw it is,
they have no chance. And I do still think b
YU has a chance because of AJ. And you know,
we saw the best of what he's capable of. I
know Kevin Young said after the game he thought it
was the most complete game that AJ has had as
a BYU Cougar. And again, I just I know it's
the obvious point, but I think it's an important one.
If AJ can do that again Siowa State, that means
he can do it about just he can do that
against just about anybody in the country. And if you
can do it against Iowa State, that means you can
beat just about anybody in the country, So you're right,
I think the draw is gonna matter. And again, i'd
have to see who the draw is, who you're playing,
who you're matched up with, before I could say whether
I feel really good that you'll be able to make
a run or not. But like I said, despite all
the injuries, yeah, to quote dumb and dumber, you're saying
there's a chance, And I absolutely think there's a chance
because of the talent of the guys that are still
on the court.
Speaker 3: Aaron, what have you been covering on your podcast over
the weekend and leading up to today's show and maybe
tomorrow' show? What are you going to be covering?
Speaker 2: Well, there's a guy, nam Darren Peterson, who's certainly made
a lot of headlines. I'm one that I've been critical
and for people who just see a social media post
of mine or aren't familiar with me or whatever, I've
been critical. But I think I think it could all
be solved with with with Garrek Peterson releasing a statement.
You know, he kind of did a half hearted interview
with ESPN today where he had one quote that went viral,
but if you actually read the article, there's like four
or five quotes that actually don't make you feel good
about the situation. And all I'll say is, you know,
and I think it's this is a unique audience to
be talking to about this. But I've really tried to
give him the benefit of the doubt Darren Peterson for
literally months upon months to start the season. I do
think that YU game is where my opinion started to
change of if this is cramps. We all watch the game,
every person listening to you right now, Ben watch that
specific game. He did not treat the cramps like any
person that I have ever seen in sports history that
had cramps. You know, no, no work with the trainers,
you know, no, no, no stretch.
Speaker 3: Of pickle juice. You know what I mean, where's the
pickle juice?
Speaker 2: All of the above. Yeah, and it's just and oh,
by the way, then the videos come out of his
agent coming down and talking to the ad and so
you know, I do think that's the biggest topic right now.
And I do think at some point, I actually think
just for his own benefit to quiet the noise that listen.
You know, I think when people like me are critical,
it's like, oh, you just want them to say something
because you're in the media and like all I'll say,
is I think it would actually be doing himself a
huge service to just tell his side of the story
of what's really going on. But you know, when you
don't tell your side of the story, when you leave
it up to speculation, you know, you have the situation
like we find ourselves in now. And I don't go
along with this answer. But let me just say one
more thing is you know one thing that I've been
kind of disappointed in, and I did tweet about it today,
is this notion from other people in our business, if
you're not on the inside, you shouldn't be speculating. Well, actually,
that's our job as the media is to use the
information that we have to draw conclusions. And if nobody
from Kansas is going to tell us the truth, then
we have nothing to do but speculate. So obviously that's
been a big story, along with you know, two great
matchups this weekend, all that stuff. It's been It's actually
a really fun time of year, and I hate that
all of us, including me certainly, are spending so much
time talking about the Darren Peterson stuff.
Speaker 3: Do you think he was actually injured or do you
think he's he's bluffing you?
Speaker 2: Know, every every game, it feels a little bit different,
you know. And what I would say, and this was
the part that I said on the show today, is
that is that maybe he is injured. And I certainly
think you can look at film of him in high
school and say that he's injured. But what I would
also say is this Ben, is that I feel like,
as somebody who covers college sports on a day to
day basis, I'm not swooping in because the NFL is done.
You know, I'm not on first eight whatever. There were
three times that I felt like he really got criticized.
It was after the BYU gave. It was Arizona on
Big Monday when he didn't play, and it was obviously
Oklahoma State after you know, two games ago. And I
only bring it up because all I will say is
this two things is one is that he has played
essentially the most minutes he's played all year in games
directly after he has been criticized. And then what I
would also say is if you pay close attention, he
essentially only pulls himself out of games like BYU, like
Oklahoma State when he is both playing well and the
team is comfortably ahead, and so all I will say
is if it is not load management, there are a
lots of coincidences and when specifically he's coming out of
games and how he reacts to criticism. So you could
draw your conclusions on what I think based on what
I just said.
Speaker 3: So who is your takeover all next in this next
year's NBA draft, AJ, Darren or somebody else?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean listen one, I go aged one And
I would say this if I was on in Lawrence
right now. It's not just because I'm on in Provost. Available.
Best ability is availability. And then the guy that I
love is unfortunately out right now is Caleb Wilson. I
actually would would have Caleb Wilson above Darren Peterson right
now as well. And what I would say about DP
about Darren Peterson really quick is you know, this is
another thing that I keep saying is one of two
things is true, and neither of them is good for him,
because he's obviously going to be asked about this at
the combine and when he meets with teams, and you know,
realistically he's not going to fall past two, three, four
somewhere in that range. One of two things is going on,
and behind door number one and door number two. Neither
is good. Either he has some injury that the best
doctors at the University of Kansas or Kansas University have
spent six months unable to figure out, or he's thanking
an injury which might even be worse. And so either one,
I think puts him in a tough situation. By the way,
the thing that cracks me up, because I keep hearing
this a lot, is well, you know, none of it
matters if he just plays March madness, and it's like, well,
actually it does matter, because then that confirms that he
was just faking it the whole time. So, like I said,
I don't go along on all these answers that I apologize.
I just think he has dug himself a hole. And
I think the best thing that he can do, other
than just consistently playing game in and game out, is
to just do some sort of media availability where he
kind of explains this side of the story. I truly
believe that have.
Speaker 3: You ever heard him in front of the media. Is
he an introvert? Does he not artake well? He seems
already a little bit despondent, almost like in like his
body language. I mean, he's a basketball player that he
goes about doing his work, but like he's not overly
interacting with anybody, you know what I mean, Like it
doesn't seem like maybe it would do him. He thinks
he would do more of a disservice to himself if
he actually went in front of a microphone.
Speaker 2: So it's funny you say that. So my Fox Sports
radio partner Jason Martin, who I host on Saturday Nights with,
he's he's a college hoops guy, but he doesn't follow
it necessarily on a day to day basis like you
and I do, and a lot of the audience does.
Ben And he actually asked me on air, this would
have been Saturday night, he said, so, like, am I
missing something? Has he done a media availability? And from
what I remember, I could be wrong, and I may
be wrong. I don't remember him doing any postgame media availability,
even in games that he's finished, and even in games
that he's played well. He did, to his credit, go
to Big twelve Media Day. He did a few interviews there,
but we also know, you know, all the main TV
partners are a Big twelve media Day. I suspect a
lot of the stuff was taped for the season like,
I don't remember him doing a lot that specific day,
But it's to your point, I don't think that I'm
aware of he's done any postgame media availability. And one,
I give coach Young, I give aj De Bonds a
lot of credit ags out there, wins, losses, whatever, he's
going out there and facing the media and answering tough questions.
But two, I really think that in this world where
everybody works with an agency and everybody has a quote
unquote camp, I think that that his camp thinks that
this is the right approach, and I actually think it's
being one hundred percent wrong approach. And I know I've
said it four or five six times now, but I
think when you don't speak at all, it allows everybody
else to create a narrative that may be true and
may be false. And I think whoever is advising him,
he's only eighteen nine years old. Clearly he's being advised
by somebody. I think whoever's advising him is giving him
just bad information. Point play.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you're right. That's one of the things
that we discussed. It's like, look, whoever the power brokers are,
whoever his influencers are, parents agent, it seems like they
may be a little bit inexperience in the PR game
because they've gone into reactionary mode where they're like, Hey,
Myron Metcalf, do you want to do an interview? Hey
personal development coach? Can you put something out on Twitter
about how hard that? You know what I mean. It's like,
it just seems very manufactured. It's reactive, it's not proactive.
It seems like there's a lack of self awareness, right,
it's a lack of internal team awareness.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I think the other thing too that I
would say, one, I agree with all that. The other
thing that I would say too is one, it is
very reactive. Like I said a minute ago, it's amazing
how he always seems to play the most minutes immediately
after being criticized. And then the other thing that I've
been thinking about with him is, you know, I do
think there have been injuries at various points, but I
also think, you know, like as an example, like the
Knight that he missed the game against the number one
team in the country with the fluke, you know. And
again to your point, Ben, he did an interview with
Myra Metcalf today he sort of addressed that at whatever
but my biggest takeaway, because you asked me what my
takeaway was, and it has changed throughout the season. I
do think it's something where he's not he's just decided
that if he's not one hundred percent, he's basically not
playing until he's actually gotten pushed back, and that's fine.
And I don't think he's somebody who should be forcing
himself out there if he doesn't feel healthy. We understand
there's something bigger at stake here over the course of
the next ten, twelve, fifteen years of his career. But
I also do think that if you're an nbagm again,
I think you probably have to be a little bit
worried of, you know it, if he can't make it
through two weeks of a college season completely healthy without
something popping up. You know, forget eighty two games, are
you going to get seventy out of them? Are you
gonna get sixty five? That's concerning it nineteen twenty years old.
Speaker 3: It really is Aaron Torres, Ladies and gentlemen, Aaron, best
way to support you what you do, how you do
it for all of our listeners is where I guess
we're coming up on a break here. Shortly.
Speaker 2: Yeah. First of all, Ben, I didn't know you hosted
you know, Jayhawk ninety five to five the game in
probo here, So I appreciate us doing a you know,
I'm totally kidding, totally kidding, man, No college hoops, college football,
Aaron Torres podcast, you know where we stream every morning,
so you know I'll be on it, you know, eight Pacific,
nine Mountain Tomorrow morning, breaking down the games tonight whatever
the big stories pop up, and then yeah, I know
you got to get to a break. So just Aaron
underscore Torres on Twitter. We have our tours on BYU page,
which is a BYU student helps me run with all
my content, a lot of funs off and a lot
of kooks covered hopefully for several more weeks before this
basketball season ends.
Speaker 3: Real quick, how far do you think, b what you
can get in the NCAA tournament?
Speaker 2: Just off the top, what what you said was right
is that I do think it will be draw dependent.
But I think when you got agent at BOXI you
got a chance, and I really truly do believe that at.
Speaker 3: Least sweet sixteen or is that is that the seedling listen?
Speaker 2: Man? I know it was in provo, if you can
beat if you can beat Iowa State, Iowa State. It's
a really good team, NBA players, great defense, and AJ
just made them, you know, look silly. And that's not
an insult to them, it's a compliment to him. But yes,
I think Sweet sixteen is in play. I don't I
don't know how much time we have. I mean, what
are we looking at as a seed here? A five
to six seeds somewhere in that range. If there's nothing
catastrophic that happens the next.
Speaker 3: Week or the Unfortunately, we don't have enough time. My
producers already tell me, Ben, you got to get the break.
So I salute you. I appreciate you. Aaron Torres, follow him,
listen to him, subscribe to him. Eron, We salute you man.
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2: All right, Ben, have a great afternoon.
Speaker 3: Thank you much loved Aaron Tory. That's our segment and
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