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Speaker 3: John Kurtz taken to social media recently.
Speaker 2: He said, in my fifteen year broadcasting career, I've been
to games in Texas, I've been to games at Oklahoma.
Speaker 3: I've been to games in the SEC, the Big Ten,
the Fiesta Bowl, connon Bol.
Speaker 2: The best college sports road trip I've taken is hiding
in plain Sight in Provo and Utah Valley. I'm like,
all right, that's hey, strong words, strong commentary. Look the
bou fans, we want to put our pat ourselves on
the back if you will and say, yeah, we got
a great environment at Lavelle, we got a great environment
at the Marriott Center. We got great things to do
here in Utah and in Proving Utah Valley? Is it
the best environ I don't know, man, It's all subjective.
Everyone has different taste, every strokes for different folks, if
you know what I mean. But shout out to John
Kurtz or give them some love to brig them and provo.
Let's get out to the hotline. Welcome in Big twelve
Insider on the tune in app. That's right, Big twelve
Radio on tune in. We got Ari Tempkin on the light.
All right, how the heck are you?
Speaker 4: I'm great man? How are you? Buddy?
Speaker 3: Living the dream man?
Speaker 2: Just talking ball, solving the problems of the day, commenting
on all the problems of the day.
Speaker 3: What's keeping you busy today? How was your show?
Speaker 4: Yeah? No, I mean you know, and I saw you
were on Twitter talking a little bit about Darren Peterson
and that's obviously been a huge talking point kind of throughout.
But we're also we're going through the top newcomers at
each position across the Big twelve. So we've kind of
we concluded our series that there with specialists. So we've
gone through every position and the top five newcomers every position.
Interestingly enough BYU, not many newcomers on the defensive side
of the ball.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, true, So we learned.
Speaker 4: A lot, I think about the conference as we had
in the spring practice here. So look, football season never sleeps,
and even though basketball seasons heating up, you still always
have to keep one eye on football season, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so your band with you know, with with with,
let's talk about the newcomers here, like in the Big twelve?
Who who do you think I guess did the best
in the transfer portal this offseason from the Big twelve? Like,
who came out on top with the transfer portal additions?
Speaker 3: Would you say?
Speaker 4: Well, I mean Texas Tech, you know, I mean, and
it's obvious from a standpoint of the money that they've spent,
you know, they needed to improve on the defensive side.
And that's where I think like it's an interesting series
because you know, not all the best teams are going
to be active in the portal because a lot of
these teams that we're gonna be talking about as we
gear for the season, you know, are returning many of
their key players, and so Texas tack was not one
of them, especially on defense. You know, they were turning
key players at running back, they were turned key players
at different positions, but not on the defensive side of football.
So I mean they went out and spent the money.
I mean, they brought in Trey White, know, a defensive
end from San Diego State. They brought an Austin Remaine
from Kansas State. You know, they really beefed up their
linebacking corps and their defensive lines as the portal and
you know, look, I mean I don't I don't know
that they're going to be close to as good as
they were defensively last year, because they were historically great defensively.
But they started a ton of money on that side
of football, and we'll see what they look like. And
I think offensively they've also obviously improved there and you know,
and we'll see how sores B goes in that offense.
But I don't think they need to be as good
as they were defensively last year, but they need to
be dramatically improved offensively because you know, what we saw
against the Oregon just wasn't good enough. Other teams like
I think West Virginia made a lot of hay in
the portal. They you know, they invested a ton in
some younger prospects and and you know, I mean they
have a couple of five stars coming in, including a
kid named Matt Seeg who was kind of a small
small school warrior superstar who played quarterback and was, you know,
kind of a monster in Pennsylvania. He committed to penn State,
decommit and goes to West Virginia. The interesting thing about
what West Virginia has done though, is, you know, when
you look at what they've had from a talent perspective,
they've had a difficult time, certainly in O'Neil Brown and
retaining their best guys. You know, we just saw a
key messador at Miami Go turn himself into a first
round pick. I mean, that was a kid that was
initially at West Virginia one of the best defensive ends
of the Big twelve. But he leaves for more money
and we've seen that. So it's you know, it's an
interesting strategy. I think from a standpoint of West Virginia
has not done a good enough job entertaining their top players.
So you know, they're strategy in the portal. You'd think
maybe you go after some of the more known commodities
guys that have produced and have put up you know,
have had a lot of snaps and put up numbers.
But really what they've done is they brought in a
ton of guys that were either four or five star
prospects previously that are looking for a fresh start, or
four or five star prospects that they were able to
bring in that are going to be freshman this upcoming season.
But they have a lot of talent and I'm very intrigued,
especially by what they did at the quarterback position. I
also like what you see has done UCF kinds in
the opposite where they did go after guys that have produced,
they from smaller schools, and I love what they did
at the quarterback position too. So I think two programs
that need to improve in year two with their coaches,
and two that from a talent perspective have done that.
Speaker 2: Give me your thoughts on this, Like I've gotten back
and forth with friends with the coworkers, et cetera about
is it better to go out in an ac choir
or is it better to retain in this college football
Transfer Portal World, right, Like, especially if you've won, right
you're winning the BA for instance, it's it's it's the
it's the situation where they've got eleven and two and
twelve and two. You know, they weren't able to beat
Texas Tech. I mean they were and they were far
from beating them. They were at times competitive, but they're
far from beating them. It's like, Okay, well you should
go out and find better players, right b YU retained
their players and only strategically went out and got nine transfers.
I mean there's a few others too that were like
more like PWO walk Ons.
Speaker 3: I think they got.
Speaker 2: Noo Cy Tum will Pay's older brother out of Eastern Washington.
And they picked up Seth Schigg from Army, a converted
quarterback playing cornerback. But you know, is it better to
acquire is it better to retain, especially if you're.
Speaker 3: BUYU do thing.
Speaker 4: And don't forget about Rodger Lyons's older brother who's bringing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's one of the nine. He's one of
the nine guys. Right.
Speaker 2: Like, what I'm saying is those two that I mentioned
were just got kind of PWO transferal guys that came
from other schools.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, look, I think it's a great question, Ben,
and I think you know, it's different strokes for different
folks in many ways, because you know, look, Body Tataki
is really good retaining talent, and I think that is
honestly one of the most important components to being successful
long term in this sport right now, because you just
cannot be turning over rosters every single year.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 4: I know Texas Tech has done that to a degree here,
but at the same time, like they they brought in
guys that were one year guys that they expected to
kind of be out the door and be first round picks,
which is what we're about to see. I think. You know,
Lance light bulded Kansas Malma Mater. You know, before this
past year he had lost the fewest amount of players
in the portal collectively. So I think that's how you build.
And you want to you know, develop guys. You want
to have them in your system and develop multiple years.
You want them to play together, you know. I think
that is in many ways what the Big twelve is
is it development of league And there are a lot
of developmental programs. The problem is it's hard for a
lot of these programs to maintain and retain these guys.
You know, in some ways, I like get it to
the NFL. You know, when guys hit free agency, for
the most part, it's because their teams didn't want to
retain them, you know, they didn't see the value in
that for the for the most part, NFL teams are
going to retain the most important guys because they know
more than more than anybody else about those guys. And
I'm talking about you know, in the locker room, in
the weight room, off the field, and on the field.
I think the same is true you know in college
right now is you want to retain your own guys,
and it might cost money to do it, if you
have the funds to will to retain it and you
have the right cultra built internally, I think that's ideal.
With BYU last year, I mean, look, we know what
they were up against. They had a true freshman quarterback.
I'm much to make excuses, but like, you know, another
year for Bear and he should be a much better player.
I mean, he wasn't even we're about to hit spring practice.
He wasn't even in provo for spring practice last year.
So I think, like the success they had, especially on offense,
was so much a product of the system. It was
l J. Martin, it was an offensive line, it was
the right receivers right like it was. It was this
perfect storm that allowed him to be successful. But I
think Texas Tech showed the limitations that a true freshman
can have once things go off script, and so I
expect him to be dramatically better. So going back to
your point about find better players, I mean, I think,
you know, being better and more consistent at quarterback, especially
when you get to a game like Texas Tech, I
think will make a huge difference because it felt like
at times, especially in the Big Twelve Championship game, like
Bear was just overmatched and just did not know what
to do when his first read wasn't there what you
expect from a young quarterback. I think again, you get
now he's got full spring. Obviously they've got, you know,
the situation at wide receiver hanging over their heads in
terms of not having one of their top not having
one of their top targets. But I think despite that
just being another year with an Aaron Rodgers system, having LJ.
Martin back, you're having more continuity with some of these receivers.
I think that goes a long way. So I do
think they should be considerably better at the quarterback position.
And that's not a knock on on Bears, just the
reality of the situation.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Big the Big twelve, I feel like is
in a good spot, right. I think they're in a
good spot collectively across all these teams. They didn't show well,
maybe as well as we would have liked in Bowl
games and the CFP.
Speaker 3: But what's the state of the Big twelve? Ari?
Speaker 2: You caught up with Brett Yormark. You know, he's always monetizing,
he has always thinking outside the box.
Speaker 3: He's always trying.
Speaker 2: To celebritize and monetize all things, all all portions of
the Big Twelve.
Speaker 3: Where do we stand right now? Do you think of
the Big Twelve?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I mean I think overall, I mean there's so
much for momentum. You know, there's there is what's happening
coming up here in a few weeks at the Big
Twelve tournament in Kansas City with the asp glass floor
that I think is going to be really cool.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: DJ Khaled was just announced that he's going to be
performing outside of the Big twelve championship, you know, and
then like what's happening in the NBA is a disgrace
and it is front and center for all of the public.
And I think the corresponding year over year television ratings
within college basketball and specifically the Big Twelve our reflection
of you know, people are watching college basketball right now
at this point of the season and in ways they
never had before. And I think you've got at least
ten NBA teams right now that are trying to lose,
that are actively tanking and sinking the bottom. It's it's bad.
I mean, there's some really bad basketball. I think, Like
I'm from Chicago. I watched the Chicago Bulls. I think
there are probably two teams of the Big twelve that
could beat the Chicago Bulls right now. And that's that
is I mean, I know, that's like we talked about
that all the time. There's no way like that could
ever happen. But I mean, what the Bulls are putting
on the floor right now is not a passable NBA team,
that is a D is a G League team at best.
So like the play, the level of play right now
in the Big twelve level playing college basketball is far
superior to what we're seeing in the NBA and for
a lot of these games, and I think the ratings
reflect that. So I think like basketball is in a
good spot.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: Overall, overall sports I think are doing well. I mean
there's Utah gymnastics, there's you know, baseball has has some
really good teams by us on the come there. I
mean women's lacrosse is another, you know, sport that brett
Or Mark added last year, added Florida as a as
a member, and that's one of the top programs in
the country. So I think like overall, just the whole,
the whole picture is really good. For the Big Twelve,
there's a lot of momentum. And then football, I mean
football is obviously the key, that's really the the litmus
test for you are as a conference. And yeah, you know,
overall Big Twelve did not show out well. But I
think just comparatively, the SEC sent six teams and know
we've talked about this, sent six teams to the dance
and and didn't even end up playing for a championship.
I mean, that's a disgrace. All they all the SEC
keeps doing is talking about how great they are. And
all they keep doing is proving how bad they are comparatively,
and now they're canceled series. You know, Arizona State had
a series canceled with Texas Mississippi State had a series
canceled with Texas Tech. Like they only want to play
each other, they and they want to live in this
world where they're the best, and they're not proving it.
So you know, look, I hope that the Big Twelve
gets more than one bud at the Apple next year.
You know, we I know, Ben, you and I have
talked a ton about this, but like the fact that
it's one game that's basically the one judgment for the
Big Twelve is a disgrace. And you know, hopefully I
think the BYU and Texas Tech bolting at the front
of the class for the Big Twelve heading into this
next season, you know, there's an opportunity for two bids
for the Big Twelve, but we'll see how it plays
out and then like long term, you know, look, we're
starting to really see this thing play out, and like
with like Sacramento State joins the MAC, like everybody's trying
to position themselves for this this next round. And look,
the Big twelve is very solidified right now, way more
so than the ACC. And this is something like that
is very obvious. You know, last offseason, North Carolina, you know,
basically turn in some you know paper to knowledge that
they are in fact looking you know elsewhere at the SEC.
There's an invite with the SEC. Was widely reported, you
know that they were trying to actively talk to the SEC.
Clemson's upset for states, upset, like there is a lot
of upset unhappy people in the ACC. And the more
they change their rules, which they did again this offseason
to play k to the top, you know, a few
percentage points of the conference, the more it alienates the
rest of the conference. The Big Twelve knows. I mean,
this is exactly what happened with the Big Twelve before
BYU arrived, where Texas at Ou. Everybody play caated to
Texas at OU and they got whatever they wanted. It's
the reason they didn't bolt to the PAC twelve years ago.
We'll give you what you want, We'll give you what
you want. Ultimately that is going to fail. It's a
house of cards, and we know that it's already happened.
So the Big Twelve is in a much more, you know,
a much better position because there's a unification of the
conference and it's members that doesn't really exist at the
ACC level right now, and it's the a SEC in
the Big Twelve that are looking up at the SEC
and the Big Ten. So ultimately, I think we're looking
at twenty thirty as the year when the ACC officially
breaks apart. I think we'll see some of the big
brands go to the SEC in the Big Ten, and
then you know, the Big Twelve will be in a
good position to pounce on some of those other teams.
Now where does that put them relative to the SEC
in the Big Ten, I don't know. I mean I
think football and how good and consistent this league can
be at football over the next five years will go
a long way in that because football is driving the bus.
And when the Big Twelve goes back for its TV rights,
it can it can show just how good the conference
is from a football perspective at a championship level. You know,
now you're talking about money that could you know, get
close to where the SEC in the Big Ten are.
So look, I think the Big Twelve is as positioned
as good as positioned as any league in the country
right now in better position than the ACC which is
a direct competitor. And you know the a SEC is
going to break apart. It's an inevitability.
Speaker 3: Great insight, great knowledge.
Speaker 2: There love the commentary, Ari Tempkin, Big twelve Radio on
the tune in and app.
Speaker 3: What's the best way to sport you? What you do,
how you do it for all of our listeners are.
Speaker 4: Yeah, appreciate you, buddy, Thank you seven to ten am
Central each every weekday morning. It's Big twelve Today on
tune in and Big twelve Studios, and your audience can
search Big twelve Studios dot com to find all of
the platforms that the show is available. But appreciate you
very much, Ben, Take care man, couple.
Speaker 3: Actually I got one more thing for you, Ari. Ceiling.
We didn't talk basketball. We didn't talk basketball.
Speaker 2: Ceiling and floor for this Boa basketball team that's been
decimated by season ending injuries and still trying to find
themselves defensively, offensively, they're pretty sound, could be maybe slightly better.
But what's the ceiling and floor for this Boa basketball team?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I mean I think the ceiling is the getting out
of the first weekend that would be a huge success.
You know, Look, they were before the Richie Saunders injury
three hundred and fifty first out of three hundred and
sixty three basketball teams in bench scoring. So it was
not a secret that this team just did not have
enough scoring. The loss of Dawson Baker. You know, they
just didn't have depth. But they had the big three,
and that big three was gonna be good enough to
carry them if they got hot on offense. And without Saunders,
I mean, forget about it. I know that that Rob
Wright and aj De Bounce are just two NBA talents
and they're incredible, but that's just not gonna be enough,
especially because you know Richie obviously he brought the scoring
and the fact that his scoring didn't really take much
of a back seat this year, like he's still looking
your ear at numbers that were similar. In fact, I
think his numbers are actually up. It's pretty incredible to
think that they add Rob right, they add to BATSA,
and his numbers don't take a back seat to those guys.
So I think that should speak to NBA scouts. But
he was a great leader for this team. I think
Kevin Young obviously mentioned that, and the leadership is going
to be missed. And then the defense. I mean, I
think one of the most underrated part of Richie Saunders's
game the fact that he was averaging one point eight
steals per game. And this is not a good defense.
You just hit on it. I think, Well, guy love
Kevin Young. I think he's a great coach, and I
think he's gonna win big at BYU. But I think
this offseason he's got to take a long, hard look
in the mirror and figure out a way to become
more physical and better defensively and more consistently defensively. You
know they haven't.
Speaker 3: They have a.
Speaker 4: Culture of finesse, and they are really good offense, and
they run great sets, and they've got you know, just
I mean, incredible stuff, but they to be good to
win big, you need to be good defensively. And like
I go back to that Houston BYU game, and it
was I think it was tied late, and it's like
there was no doubt who was gonna win because one
team just culturally is physical and one team is culturally
finesse and fair or unfair, the physical team out physical
BYU down the stretch, Capatata. They need a team of
Cavatatas because that that dude is physical. He's you know,
he gets after, he gets some glass. He's good, he's
good at protecting the rim. Promise. He's only one guy.
So again, I think love what Kevin Young does. I
think this offseason he's got to figure out how to
be more physical. He's got to scour the transfer portal
and find you know, more physical, defensive minded guys because
they've got to be more consistent as a program defensively
some to win big. But look, I think with the
loss of Saunders, if they get out of the first weekend,
that'd be a huge success in terms of their floor.
I mean, they're gonna make the tournament. I mean, they
could lose out, which they won't and make the tournament,
I would think based on what they've done so far.
But and they won't obviously lose out because they've got
too much talent at least with those two guys to
lose out. But it's just it's tough to think that
they can win, you know, more than two games. So
I mean, I think their floor is probably a first
round loss, first round upset, and their ceiling is probably
get on the first weekend, winning two games.
Speaker 2: If you're an NBA GM, do you take Darren Peterson
number one overall or ag debonsa and next this year's
NBA draft.
Speaker 4: You know what's really interesting is coming into this season
and forgetting about the Peterson all the off the court
stuff and the you know, the the injury stuff, Like
forgetting about that for a moment. Coming into the season,
Peterson was looked at as a guy that was he
could not stop him from getting to the rim. He
was a great facilitator. He was a you know, a
great shooter and a great defensive player. So far, what
he's shown at Kansas is he could be a microwave scorer,
Like this is a dude that can come in and
score a lot of points quickly. He's not getting to
the ram a ton. Most of his shots are from three.
He's not getting to the rim. He's not defending. He
has eleven assists. Eleven assists in eleven Big Twelve games.
He's not facilitating. So he's not really doing anything that
he was expected to be doing to be a number
one overall pick. So if I'm an NBA GM, I'm
looking I'm taking a long, hard look at why did
your numbers look like this this year. Why are you
not a facilitator? Why aren't you driving to the bucket more?
Why aren't you defending at a higher rate. These are
all things that you were supposed to be doing, that
you did in high school. These are the things we're
known for. So yeah, I mean, if I'm a GM,
I'm still probably leaning towards Peterson. But I think beyond
the injury stuff, like, there's things on the court that
he was supposed to be able to do that he's not.
And you know, look, meanwhile, the bans is playing thirty
nine minutes. He's carrying the team. I think there's gon
be a hard decision to make for an NBAGM.
Speaker 3: There no doubt about it.
Speaker 4: Ari.
Speaker 3: We salute you, We appreciate you.
Speaker 2: We invite everyone to follow you on X and listen
to you every single day, every single week over on
Big twelve Radio on the tune and out.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much, brother, appreciate you, boy.
Speaker 4: Take care of a great weekend.
Speaker 3: There you go.
Speaker 2: That's Ari Tempkin and that segment was ronto by Big
Otires in an American fork. If you're looking for an honest,
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