Speaker 1: Sports on k O v O probo k U d
d H D two one O three nine at ninety
eight three ESPN, the band stream.
Speaker 2: Us live on ESPN theban dot com.
Speaker 1: This is Cougar Sports with Ben Kretel at its time
for the Cougar Beat, getting the dish from the local
reporters that cover Cougar athletics.
Speaker 3: And welcome back to Cougar Sports here on one O
three nine and ninety eight three esp and the fan
Ronald the three man Weaver here holding it down for
Ben Crittle on this Friday, February sixth edition of Cougar Sports,
taking you through the weekend, getting caught up on all
the news and notes, so happened today and tomorrow before
we come back next week. Then we'll be back. He
is taking care of some family businesses, some celebration matters.
We wish him well in those endeavors. Gonna get into
a little Cougar Beat to start off the third hour
Cougar Sports our interview portion as we'll live from our
Bandwell studios of band Wealth All. He asked, if you
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Apparel dot com. Without further ado, let's get out to
the ESPN the Fan Hotline and welcome in our first guest.
He should be honored first guest of today's program. We
got Sean Walkerkiss dot com. Seonathan, how we doing today?
Speaker 4: Ron? You know I'm doing great because today I just
want to wish a happy National holiday to you. Sin
You're one of the first people I've talked to today.
For those who don't know, I'm a big well you
probably know me. I'm a big college football guy. I
love you our football. I'm a big college basketball guy.
You know this about me. I love me some college basketball.
Speaker 3: You also love that too.
Speaker 4: Yes, my Twitter followers and the esteemed bank credill remind
me that I'm also a soccer guy apparently, but I
do love me the world's game of football, beautiful game. Uh.
But you know what sport officially starts today That is
the greatest sport on the planet or the greatest collection
of sports, I should say on the planet. That would
be none other that than Leilano Cortina Winter Olympics over.
Speaker 3: The Winter Olympics.
Speaker 4: So so happy to have the opening ceremonies to you
and and yours, I.
Speaker 3: Guess happy to open ceremony. Some people are tuned into
the Winter Olympics. I need to do better. I am
not a Winter Olympics guy. I did watch the hockey
growing up when I was a kid, but I've tuned
out to that because Team Canada just seems to kick
booty all the time. They're the it's the best hockey nation,
you know, in the in the world, so no doubt
about that. But yeah, the Winter Olympics here, I think
actually a group of b YU students, my former uh
you know, my my alma modern my the alumni. I
think they're actually over there covering the winter over there
covering the Winter Olympics. So yeah, it's crazy to think that,
you know, Utah will be hosting that sooner rather than later.
Speaker 4: Twenty thirty four. It comes back to local shores, to
the great state of Utah. And if you want to know,
just quick plug for you. Eighty two athletes in this
year's Winter Olympics currently have ties to Utah. That includes
ten international athletes. Some guy I know wrote all about him.
You can go find it a kissl dot com. I
from on to the fullest.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if you go to kisso dot com or kisso
dot com slash sports for some guy I can't remember
his name, you might have to remind me he wrote
about it. You can check it out there. He does
great work. Let's get it to it. The good, the bad,
and the ugly. Sean, is there any good with BYU basketball?
There's a lot of bad and a lot of ugly
right now.
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 4: No, I still think there's some good. I mean, this
is still a top twenty team. Like I know, everybody's down.
It's a three game losing free that's not good. Obviously,
and the way just be WHYU team is lost in
a row, I think is more disheartening. But I think
this is still a good team. It's still the top
twenty five teams. This is still probably a top twenty team. Realistically.
They've run into some trouble, but you also have to
consider some of the competition that they faced of these
three games, right I mean literally the number one team
of the country in Arizona, another team that I think
was probably underrated. That's definitely top fifteen, maybe even top
ten when Darren Peterson is playing at his best, and
he's playing at his best right now in Kansas. I
also think Ogahoma State is a little bit underrated right now.
I mean, this is a team that currently has a
home win over the at present, I'll say number one
team in the SEC in Texas A and M now
Taxas and then has a lot we won't go into it.
This is mostly the what you show. I don't expect
Texas A and M to wind up finishing atop the
SEC standings by the end of the year, but they're
there right now. And I think Bucky Ball is very
much working in college station. So it's a great story
we need to give them tons of props. And this
Okahoma State team beat them and still Water earlier this year,
back in November. So I mean, I think the stretch
that the Yu's in right now, like, yes, it's tough. Yes,
there are a lot of things that they need to
do better, particularly defensively, but this is still a team
with one of the best talents in the NCAA and
AJD Bronsa. It's still got one of the better senior
guards in the country and Richie Saunders. I think Rob
Wright the third has had moments both for good and
bad recently, but when Rob is at his best, he's
one of the best point guards in the country. So
the depth is starting to catch up up to them.
And look, Ron, We've talked about this both on air
and off there. This team is not very deep. It
hasn't been very deep, and I think a lot of
that is kind of starting to catch up to this
team that really needs a little bit more of a
spark from sort of the non big three at the moment.
So when you ask is there good is there bad?
Than is they're ugly? My answer is yes, there's all
of them. Like I think there's still a lot of
talent on this team. They're just they're in a really
tough stretch and I think the toughest part of their
stress probably starts with their death and then on the
defensive side of the wall.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you bring up a lot of valid points. The
good is, and I think a lot of people might
miss this, is that you're still gonna have a chance
to see aj being All American, Richie being All American.
Really like they're gonna be considerations all Big twelve still
mid season award watchless guys. But the record and the
games that they're supposed to win against these elite eight
teams hasn't necessarily been there. They got an opportunity tomorrow,
Sean to correct that. And I'll ask you that question
after we talk about this one. If all will be forgiven,
if they'll win, But tomorrow, can they get it done
against Houston? This two teams they haven't beat since they
gotten the conference into basketball, In particular, they haven't gotten
Texas Tech. They'll meet them one more time March eighth
to close out the season at home at the Marriott,
and they haven't gotten Houston. Can they turn it around
tomorrow against Kelvin Sampson squad. Mind you you thought the
turnovers were problem against Oklahoma State. Wait, you meet a
Houston team who's very well conditioned, who the average mile
last year was like what five forty seven sean, and
they'll take you ninety four feet for forty minutes.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's death taxes and Kevin Sampson right now, right,
I mean, this is a very good team. I know
Houston comes in a little bit worse for wear than
they were last year, at least if you look at
the rankings, they're only the number eight team in the
country and NBAP top twenty five. They're only the number
eighteen in the Coach's pull, right, but this is the
number sixteen in Camp Palm, number seven in the net.
Kelvin Sampson is going to Kelvin Sampson, and he's going
to Kevin Sampson. Particularly defensive. Defensively, I mean thirty seven
thirty eight rebounds per game, most of those are on
the defensive glass, so they really they really shut you
down there. And then turnovers I think is a big deal.
They only so they they they only give up about
eight and a half turnovers per game. They force about
twice as many of that, the US six in turnover margin,
which is one of the best in the NCAA. Like,
they've got guys that can score. Maybe we can look
at the guys that can score. But I think the
thing that really sends out to me about this USON
team is just that this that pressive, suffocating defense that
causes a lot of mistakes and capitalizes a lot of mistakes.
Where if you're a team going against these codes, the
red codes, if you will, that hasn't been perfect or
as close to it as you can, they're really going
to make you pay. Like, I think that's just kind
of what Houston does. Like are they as good as
last year? Probably not particularly offensively. They got some dudes,
They got some really good guys. They lack a little
bit of a killer edge that they had a year ago,
But what they don't lack is defense. And I think
as long as skill of chances there quite frankly, they're
probably not going to be lacking for defense. So can
be yu and tomorrow, absolutely absolutely they can. I think
there are things that they got to do, but it
starts with taking care of the ball. It starts with
limiting your mistakes and just not giving Houston what they
do best.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's gonna be super tough because this team, man
Calvin Sampson, they pride themselves on defense and that's why
they're able to stay in ballgames. This is one of
the teams that can score sixty to sixty five points
and still beat you like. That's how good they are defensively.
It got Kingston Fleming a part of that freshman class,
a lot of people, So we will see. We'll see
what comes down tomorrow. I'll ask you this, do they
need a starting lineup change something we debated yesterday dep
you mentioned his issue. Maybe they can't because of the depth.
We had Kyle collins Worth on the show. He said,
there's someone on this roster that hasn't played much that
could help be why you turn it around now. Last
year's team's different. But I said yesterday, Seawan, I apologize
to Cougar Nation. I said, Brandon Gurney and Sean Walker
are right. It might look like the way that the
ball needs to be moved at Dallen Hall might be missed.
Yegor's in the league, so we got to let that
one kind of go because he's been balling out. But
maybe you miss Dallen Hall. You know you missed the
depth that you have and defensively maybe with some people
it has n't been working. Do they need to starting
lineup change? What say you, Sean Walker?
Speaker 4: Yeah? And that's that I think is probably the biggest issue,
particularly a point guard. I know there's a lot of
talk about Rob right right now from fans and on
the hashtag internet about what he brings to this team.
But again, when Rob Wright is at his best, he's
one of the best point guards currently in the Power five,
Power Sick conferences, probably in all of the country. Consistency
has been a little bit of an issue lately. Ball
handling has at times been a little bit of an issue.
But I don't know if Yu has a guy that
can truly back him up, like who are you going
to start at the point? I think Kevin Young has
sort of admitted a little bit cheicily but also with
a little bit of truth, that Rob rides back up
point guard right now with aj De Bompson, you know,
he's kind of the primary ball handler when Rob goes
to the bench. That's why you see a lot of
the subsigon battings that Kevin Young has brought in this year.
It's because that's sort of the one two punch of
running that often. So I don't know if there's really
anything like Dalln Hall I think would be an excellent
choice on this team. Somebody in that role can who
can run the offense, who doesn't necessarily demand the ball,
because you got two players in Aj and Richie who
do probably demand a lot of the ball and who
can still kind of spread it around and then maybe
get to the rim when he needs to open up
the three, the three point line a little bit with
some well time threes as well. Like I don't know
if b why you had that on this team. You know,
maybe maybe kJ Perry. I know he's poticially with the team,
but he's also red shirting right now after his JUCO season,
So unless you want to burn that red shirt, I
don't know if there's an option there. The one that
I will the one option that I will see, and
I don't expect this to happen, mostly because Kevin Young
has said openly he doesn't expect any of this to happen.
But the one position where I think maybe you could
see some rotation, whether it's from the starting lineup, or
just more minutes from the bench is kind of on
that combo guards three line, if you will, and that's
Kennard Davis Junior. Maybe it's bringing in somebody like giving
a couple more minutes to dominate the amande, to give
you a little bit more defensively. Maybe it's going a
little bit bigger and putting me have a Bolskivic out
there a little bit more. Neither of those guys have
been super consistent. I'll throw a Lexikostitch in there as
well if you need a little bit of shooting. If
any of them more consistent, I think there'd be more
of an option for some additional rotations or even a
possible starting lineup change. The fact of the matter is
none of them have shown themselves to be consistent enough
to make that change to date. But maybe with a
three game losing streak, especially coming off with that lost
Adam gloom the state, that changes some things in Keny
Young's mind. I don't know, but I think those are
the guys. It's just a matter of can those guys
take advantage of more minutes, and that quite Wringley, is
a question that neither you me or Ben Krittle can answer.
That's one that only Kevin Young and his staff I
think can really attack.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the part that I think is so interesting, Seans.
Speaker 5: I hear a lot of fans say, well, why don't
they just change the starting lineup? Why don't they just
move things around? And the question that I have to
ask is are you smarter than Kevin Young? Because to me,
if there was a solution, Kevin Young would have gone
to it, because the only argument against that would be
if Kevin Young had a solution and he was so
adamantly against it because it.
Speaker 2: Was personal, which we know is not the case.
Speaker 5: So then you have to come to the conclusion of well,
why isn't he moving anybody in or out?
Speaker 3: It's because who is he going to put in that spot?
Speaker 5: I mean to me, Sean, the only argument that you
could legitimately make to me for a lineup change is
pure nominally randomness and just a jolt to everybody's system
as a wake up call. That's to me, the only
way you could make the argument for, hey, move somebody
in or out.
Speaker 2: Now, who that is?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 5: The only one that really makes sense to me is like,
maybe you swap Dominique in for Canard at the starting,
even though it would be really odd to go from
Dominique not playing to Dominique's starting. But I do think
something needs to change just to wake everybody up, because honestly, Sean,
I'm I'm with everybody else who's a little bit more pessimistic.
But I do think while there is some some shallow
depth in certain spots, I also think a lot of
this is just mental at this point, like when you
go on this three game losing streak and when you
play these many close games with this many good teams.
I mean, Sean, I think part of it is just mental.
I think you just have to snap out of that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think I think a lot of
it is. I think a lot of it is is
just there's so much pressure on Uh what are we
officially calling him now by us big three on on AJ,
Richie and Rob to really go off every night? The
uh what are we calling them out to? Break three?
I think that's the triple combination. The Proble Power Company,
I think was one shout out to our life.
Speaker 3: I like that.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, the smoke stacks kind of a nod to
the Proble Power Company. Uh, if you will like Uh,
I mean there's there's just there's so much. It just
feels it does feel like last several games, last several weeks.
Maybe you can even stand to do a couple of
months where there's been so much focus and so much
pressure even on AJ Richie and Rob to go off
night in and night out. Uh, that maybe some of
that is starting to get to uh, to get to
them a little bit. Like if you make a change
and you bring in, you know, Dominique Diamande, like you're
now to your point, right, You're bringing in a guy
who's only averaging about six or seven minutes per game, uh,
a guy who's scored warning at a two point per
game clip right now, and you're replacing him with Kennard
Davis Junior, who's playing almost thirty minutes a game, who's like, yeah,
she hasn't been great offensively, but again, nobody outside of
those those that big three have really been truly great offensively,
Like MoU Davis is still your number five score statistically
twenty two twenty three, twenty two games into the regular season.
By the way I bring this up, I think every
time I'm love with you guys, do you guys know
who's still number four and scoring. It's still Dawson Baker,
it's still does In Baker seven and a half points
per game. Will that ever change? I don't know. We'll see,
but yeah, so like I just I don't. I don't
feel like anybody's really like sees the opportunity and kind
of jumped out, like you know, ran into Kevin Young's
office and said, hey, you need to give me more minutes.
We could we could talk about how about whether this
team could use at Gallan Hall. I think those are
all valid points, Ron, and I agree with you a question. So,
I mean, this team maybe in a lot of ways
it needs a Trey Stewart and needs somebody to really
run in and say, give me more minutes. And here
is my play to prove that I deserve more minutes.
I don't know what.
Speaker 3: I wanted to ask you that tough question. That's Brett,
said Jerreed McGregor. Jmack is on this bench in Jamak
would be Jamaki. I mean, look, Kevin Young said everything's
on the table. That means everything.
Speaker 2: I don't believe that.
Speaker 5: By the way, I don't when he says everything, I
don't believe j is a Hooper.
Speaker 3: Hey that I do. Hey, Hey, Jamack is Hooper. I
want to ask you. I'm asking you a tough question.
You know you know this is coming to uh. I
told you that I might pink something like this at
you would Rob Wright with the way that again they
brought him. They brought him in here with a different
skill set. I don't like where down hall skill set
is past first That is Jegor Dimmis was past first Robe.
Speaker 2: You know what we complained about with the team.
Speaker 5: We're like, how come they don't have any dogs who
let me just go and get buckets? I know, like
it's the exact last year you wanted these guys and
now you're wanting those guys because you don't have nobody
who distributed.
Speaker 3: This is very true. Why Ron wait? And maybe it's
not Rob, maybe it could be Canar, But would Dallen Hall.
We know Dallaha would be to help this team to
experience the veteran leadership. But in moments like where the
Oklahoma State game particular, just that game sean not the
entire season, because people don't take that in totality. Someone's
gonna cut this and send it to send it to
Kevin Young citib I'm saying games like the Oklahoma State,
would Rob have taken a back seat being a younger
guard and Dallan being a veteran guard to slow the
game down and to get the offense running a little
bit more with that skill set, just that game when
things aren't working, Not the entire season, just the game.
Because we saw that last year with Diego, Who's better
than Rob right, way better, light years better. Yego even
took the back seat when things with the turnovers, when
they came to certain moments and the offense just couldn't
get moving, they brought Dallan in.
Speaker 4: I think that's a great question, and I honestly probably
can't answer that question. I think the only one who
could actually answer that question is Rob right third, it's
Rob himself. That's also why you have coaching them. You
have coaches can make these decisions. You have coaches with
autonomy over their own program. Hopefully they have enough trust
within their own players that they can make those kinds
of decisions. And you know, like in the Gain, you
bring up yege Or last year kind of doing that,
Like Yegor didn't want to take a backseat, he didn't
want to sit on the bench, which he was struggling
for a couple of games, but he had also built
up in us trusting Kevin Young and Chris birds Is
Brandon Dunson will void the rest of that staff to
know that, Okay, the coaches are very clearly seeing something
and I'm kind of feeling it, but they're definitely seeing it.
So let's trust with them and see if it works out.
And I think it worked out through a couple of
those rough stretches with him and made him a better player,
certainly as we're seeing in this rookie season in the NBA.
So I mean, that is why you have coaches. So like,
that's not really an answer to your question, Ron, But
I also don't think that's that's the question that any
of us outside of those who are involved in that
situation really can answer, you know, so you probably need
to ask that of Rob or at the very least,
you know, see if Kevin Young could give you an
answer outside of a closed door meeting with him, which
I have my doubts about, but I'll we'll leave it
at that, we won't go too far into that.
Speaker 5: I also feel like Sean I would like to push
back on Ron.
Speaker 2: I don't think it was a good question.
Speaker 5: You know why, because the grass is always greener with
down Hall.
Speaker 2: How many times did we complain about down Hall?
Speaker 3: I know people complain about them, but there are moments
a lot of times, I know, but but there are
times where the moment was maybe I don't want to
say too big, but you weren't playing well in that moment.
But that's just the moment.
Speaker 5: And I agree with you, like and there were I
like down Hall, but I also know that when down
Hall transferred, there were a lot of people, unjustifiably so,
who were happy that he was gone.
Speaker 3: I was not happy when it was gone. But yeah,
and I disagree with those fans, and I agree with you.
I have a problem with those fans because I did
not feel that way when Dalla left and I and
I shouldn't have any type of skin in the game,
but as someone that covered it again, like I said,
I talked to Dollan multiple times after games, his family.
Good kid, Plain City, Utah. Like, when this kid came
off of a mission, he was thrown into a situation
that he shouldn't have been thrown into. And I'm gonna
be honest, like to a degree. I don't like that
he was, you know, it was either come off the
bench and he was like, all right, I'm out to do.
I didn't like how that went. And I felt like,
right now, in this moment, you could have used the
six foot four, two hundred pounder that has a big body.
I bet they wish they have him now to a degree.
And they, again, like Sean just said, might not tell
you that in the closed door what is it a
closed door meeting elsewhere, you might not get that. But
I would have to believe depth wise they could use
number thirty for sure if he was still here. Anyway, Sean,
we got to let you go. Oh yeah, go ahead,
No I was.
Speaker 4: I was just gonna say, I think there are a
lot of teams in the country that could use the
Plain City Dealer and a guy like Dollen Hall and
and they, I mean, for this BYU team, maybe they
could use him in the same way that Dollon Hall
came in his freshman year off of his mission. Do
you guys remember when Dallen Hall first got to BYU.
He wasn't starting right away like he was. He wasn't
starting right away. He was very talented four star guard
out of Fremont High School serving a mission excite. You know,
Utah data is excited to be at BYU BYU. Kid
threw and through, but he wasn't starting right away because
he had a guy named Rudy Williams ahead of him,
and old Ruedell was great point guard Coastal Carolina transfer,
experienced new college basketball. He was starting right away. And
then eventually there came a point in that season where Rudy,
whether for whatever reason or another, whether it was turnovers,
whether it's those starts, whether it was just rolls in
the offense, he went into the coach's office and he said, Hey,
I think, uh, I think Dalen Hall needs those minutes,
and I'm perfectly fine coming off of the bench to
try to give a spark to that second unit. And
I as much as you know, maybe the conversation could
center around does this YU team need Dallan Hall? Maybe
this YU team really needs somebody like a Rudy Williams
who's not afraid to not be in the starting lineup
but to be in the closing lineup and to really
give this team a spark where they actually need to
give it to them.
Speaker 3: It's a very good point I really like that point
you do. The Rudy Williams, a guy like that that
was closing it out because coming off the bench lighting
up and we've seen by you have success with that,
Rudy Jackson Robinson. You're waiting for it. We'll see what
happens from the down stretch, Sewan. Before I'll let you go,
what's the best way we can support you what you
do and find all of your work and how you
do it.
Speaker 4: Hey, you already brought it up KISL dot com. Check
out KSL dot com sports where we are low did
in Olympics coverage over and from Milano, Cortina right now.
So yeah, just go give us a follow, give us
a club mark over there, and we'll try to keep you.
We'll also try to keep you up to date with
college basketball, the Super Bowl this weekend, uh here on
the local NBC affiliate on KSLP iPPV as well and
just anything else you need over there.
Speaker 3: You heard it from Sean, You can follow him on
x as well as actual ds w D that's actual
dsw on X Twitter, whatever the kids call.
Speaker 2: It these days.
Speaker 3: Sean, thanks so much. We'll catch up with you again.
Speaker 4: Next week and follow me on upscroll.
Speaker 3: You always got to get that louts and in that segment,
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The kids were no hit and at ten to nothing
run rule victory by the Lake Volves ten years. Willie
Owens and Hayle Tomorrow were the only cootiters who reached base.
Owens had a walk in the second inning and Tomorrow
also a walk in the fourth.
Speaker 3: Not one batted ball reached the outfield for the yu.
Speaker 6: Heuters had the opportunity to bounce back today as they
played a doubleheader when they face Michigan State at three
and Notre Dame at six. Men's tennis, the team meet
Bontana State last night four.
Speaker 3: To three to improve to a four and oh record
on the season.
Speaker 6: This is the first time the men's team has started
the season four and oh as twenty eighteen. The Cooters
of the pros Pukonikula play started in the NFL Offensive
Player the Year voding last night and Yeager Joeman had
a career high twenty six points and the Nets loss
to the Magic. Now let's take a look at the
weekend ahead for Tugar Sports. The women's tennis team competed
against Arkansas State this morning and will face Memphis tomorrow
at eleven am. Number eight members volleyball is in Boston
this weekend where they are currently playing number twenty ranks
Lincoln Memorial before they face off against Harvard tomorrow at five.
Has mentioned before, Softballs two games today at three and
six against Michigan State and Notre Dame. Then they will
finish off their games in the NFCA Leadoff Classic tomorrow
one and four against Penn State and Missouri and their
final homeing to the year. Swim and Dive will compete
against Utah Tharty tonight at five o'clock. At the twenty
three women's gymnastics finishes out today's action is there in
Cedar City placing off against the Flipping Birds of Southern Utah.
Final two teams running out this weekend's action is women's basketball.
Speaker 3: He squares off against.
Speaker 6: Kansas State Saturday at three, and then it's number sixteen
ranked men's basketball taking on number eight Red Houston. The
Battle of Computer is Saturday night at eight thirty. I'm
Cameron Clark and this has been your ESPN the Fan
Cooder Sports inter Update, brought to you by Royal Army
Brand dot com. If Royal Army Grand you.
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eight zero one six zero four two nine one nine
at Central Garage Utah dot com. Without further ado, let's
get out to the ESPN the Fan Hotline we've had
them on the show for and welcome back in. We
got Joseph Duarte, b writer for the Houston Chronicle. Joseph,
thanks Joseph, thank you for joining me today.
Speaker 7: Hey, thanks for having me on of course.
Speaker 3: Well look, I need you to break it down for me.
This is a Houston team that I feel like hasn't
been talked about enough this year. But when I look
at them on paper, it's the same as always. Uh
do you have taxes at Kelvin Sampson, Yeah, pretty much,
you know.
Speaker 7: Uh, you know, the two assos are too ranked teams
Tennessee and Texas Tech by I believe a combined seven points.
So uh, you know, they I believe they began the
year preseason two or three. So I mean, you look,
you look at what their body of work is has
been to date, and uh, yeah, I don't I don't
think a lot of people so far are talking about them,
but that's because there's a lot of other good teams
in the Big twelve alone that people are talking about.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 7: But you know, the formula and the recipe is still there.
You know. Sheldon Sampson's stresses the rebounding, the taking away turnovers,
and the and the defensive part, and that's sort of
has been what's kept them in games this year. New
cast of characters, but really same scripts as Houston's had
in the.
Speaker 3: Past number seven team in the net. Right now, they're
eight to one in conference play, twenty and two overall
losses only coming in QUA one games. Wanted a neutral
site against Tennessee by three, and then, like you mentioned,
Texas Tech on the road in a true road environment.
I love this Houston team. I love what I see
on paper, the physicality. You said a new cast. Who's
a new cast that fans should be aware of going
into the Marriott Center tomorrow night.
Speaker 7: Well, it's the two freshman starters. The point guard Kingston Swimmings,
he's the one who on that special Saturday a couple
of weeks ago had for forty two forty three against
Texas Tech in that road loss. And then Chris Sanak,
who is the fourth spot. He'll he'll be the one
that probably butts heads with aj most of the game
on Saturday. And those are two of the five stars
that they brought in. They were two of the best
at their positions in the last recruiting cycle. They have
a third member that was a five Stars, Isaiah Harwell,
he's more of a bench player. But you know they've
got the the returners around the Milos Susan, Emanuel Sharp,
Jojo Tugler. Those three were returners from the National Championship
Game team, but the two freshmen have carried their share
of the load this year and this will be an
interesting environment for them because they haven't played in many
places that will be rocking as much as the Marriott
Center is on Saturday night.
Speaker 3: How do you expect, you know, for them to do
You just mentioned that they haven't, but I mean Kingston
Fleming just dropped forty two to the night. I think
AJ had dropped forty the Waggler from Illinois's freshing classes. Ridiculous.
First of all, I'm excited to see where they all
go in the NBA draft, But how do you expect
them to handle this pressure tomorrow?
Speaker 7: Well, Flemings is sort of you know, I was looking
at the stats. I believe he's averaging like twenty five
twenty six points against ranked teams this year, so me
he They both have been in you know, on the
on the Nike circuit and all.
Speaker 3: The the aa US.
Speaker 7: I mean, they played against a lot of the top
talent before they even got to college. And you know,
the the Auburn game, I think non conference one of
the first couple of weeks of the season. They were
it was basically a road game because it was in Birmingham,
not too far from from Alburn's campus, and they both
just really took off.
Speaker 4: In that game.
Speaker 7: So Flemings has really stepped up a lot just to
throughout the season and Sanak has been more of a
work in progress. You know, he played five the five
in high school and he wanted to come in and
play the four. So you've got this bigger guy who
tends to have to go outside on the perimeter and
guard some of the the faster, quicker guards, and that's
been a little bit of a development for him. But
you know, both both of them have have shown flashes
uh this year mostly you know, Flemings throughout it and
Sinec the Sinat to the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: I like Sinac junior to six for eleven to two
hundred and forty pound freshman average of nine and a
half and grabbing just under eight boards and under an
assissot and fifty percent from the field. You said, he's
probably gonna get the assignment to start off on AJ.
When you look at AJ on film, what do you
see and what is his coaching staff. See that's the
guy that seemed to slow down for b YU right now.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, and and and Kelvin Kelvin when he
when he looks at teams, I mean, he looks at
the complete body of work, and you know he's he's
real complimentary of of of Richie Saunders, and he likes
the way that what he can do and how he
can beat you. And you know they're familiar with UH
Rob Wright from UH from his days at Baylor. And
then you look at AJ and and when Kelvin was
recruiting Sanak and Flemings, you know, he would be a
game where he would get a chance to see AJ playing.
Speaker 3: UH.
Speaker 7: You know, he he doesn't prop up freshman as much
as some coaches do, but he knows the talent that's there.
We know, we asked him maybe some of the freshmen
that he's coaching his career against that he's just thought
of been out of this world. He mentioned Gary Payton,
Jason Kidd, Paul Pierce, Carmelo, Anthony tj. Ford and then
he was like on AJ. You know, he said that
he was more of the score and abilities, more like
a Carmelo. So that's that's pretty high praise from Kelvin,
But you know, they know it's it's more than just
the Bans that they're gonna have to to go against.
But it certainly starts with him because you look at
this BYU roster. I mean, they average almost ninety points
a game, and those three alone account for about sixty
of them on most nights. So it's it's a tough challenge.
But Houston's number two defensively in scoring allowed, so it
should be a fun one. I don't know, you know,
Houston showed the ability that they can score. I don't
know if that's the type of game they want to
get into, but things generally always start and usually finished
with with how they.
Speaker 3: Do on defense one hundred percent. You just brought it up.
You said ninety points a game, and I'm sitting next
to two guys listening. They were shaking their head of
I don't think by you scored ninety points tomorrow against
this this Houston team. This is a team that, look,
I need you to give me some insight from last
year's team because you got still Emmanue Sharp, my little Suzan.
You still got Joseph Tugler, who were part of that
great team last year with LJ. Crime. Man, it was
beautiful watching you guys play basketball. Honestly, I know by
you suffered a couple of losses, but man, I think
the average mile was what five and a half minutes
by the team or something to waking up at five am.
I'm like, this team is gonna pick you up ninety
four feet for forty minutes and they're not gonna be
out of breath.
Speaker 7: Yeah, And that's what they do. They just they grind you.
You know, you hear a lot on the TV telecat
that there's there's not many teams out there that will
outwork Houston. And it all starts with, you know, the
hustle plays. I mean that you could count them up tomorrow.
There's probably more than a dozen plays where you're gonna
see their guys just diving on the floor, wrestling with you,
just fighting for that that extra inch if you got
to get your hand on the ball.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 7: And that's sort of what their DNA is. That's that's
how they beat you. And a lot of good teams
end up looking average when when they when they go
in and I've seen teams that scored ninety on average
score fifty against Houston or sixty, and you know, they
they bring you down to another level. And as far
as last year, I mean, help them tell you this
team isn't as good as last year right now? That
I mean last year when you look at what they had,
the differences in the front court. They had Juwan Roberts.
He was a six year guy, made a lot of
big plays. He was the winningest player in program history.
He could just you could run things through him and
he could score. They don't have that scoring consistency that
they had last year with him. They also lost a J.
Vi Or Francis who he had like a seven to
six wingspan. He could be a disruptor, especially when he
was on the court with Tug who you know was
the big twelve defensive player of the year. So you
had a bunch of different things going. And then, by
the way, you had a really consistent probably one through
three scoring. You know, they lost l. J. Cryer and
he could light you up on any minute from the three.
They they've got flashes of that. Flimmings and Sharper is
good a one to two scoring punch that they've had.
The third option that has just kind of fluctuated this year.
It's between u Zan maybe Sanak, but it's really that's
just not where it is for them. So there's been
games where when they get into lowells and they get
into these lapses on offense that they have to really
rely on their defense to keep things close other otherwise,
you know, they you know, they're a couple of times
this year they've fallen behind you know, ten or twelve
points and had to make up some grounds in the
second half.
Speaker 3: You don't want to loose go down ten to twelve
points in the mayor out center on itself as places
to play in the Big twelve. It's hard to play
in the Big twelve in general. But if there's a
team to get down and come back, I believe is
Houston and Kelvin Sampson. This is a program that Look,
he is a he's a guy that can really do it. Look,
he had a quote the other day, I'm gonna watch
you just shed some more light on it, you know
about hey or we have a very poor athletic department,
you know, with nil and everything. And I just speak
things that speaks more to him and his his his coaches,
his recruiting and everything that you're still living to get
this high level talent win in a high level play
in a national championship game, and you don't have the biggest,
you know, nil budget. I actually love that.
Speaker 7: Well, I'm disappointed it took you ten and a half
minutes to get to that, to get to this question. Yeah,
that that's all the that's all the news that was
going down here. I actually, you know, talked to Kelby yesterday.
He clarified some things. I wrote that he basically gave
himself a technical foul for what he said, uh, because
because what happened. You know, he started to get into
the ni L after the game. They have won the game,
by the way, and he's getting into NIL and he says, look,
we're very poor. We were poor when I got here.
We're still poor. And you know, Houston, it's very well
known down here that Houston has been a heavily subsidized
athletic department for many, many years with support from the university.
Speaker 3: And the latest.
Speaker 7: NCAA financials came out and you know, they ran a
deficit for the second year in a row. So you
got all that stuff, and you think that's where he
was going with it, but he actually meant to say, look,
we like maybe a Cincinnati or UCF or b Y,
you haven't gotten the full Big Twelve share yet that's
coming this spring. So all those years, at least in
Houston's case, where they weren't in a power conference, they've
lost out on hundreds of millions of dollars. Baylor and
TCU got those last two spots of the Big Twelve
among the Texas schools, and I'm sorry Baylor in Texas
Tech and then TCU later on. That's just money that
Houston never had. That if they would have had it,
this could have been a totally different story of where
they are. So he got into that and he was
talking about nil you know that they're in Ail's just
not where a lot of schools are. They've invested in
their you know, they've been able to get several five
star guys like Flemings and Sanaka. They have a couple
of other ones coming in uh next year, but it's
nowhere near you know, Kentucky and Duke in North Carolina
and all the other schools that are traditionally up at
the top. So yeah, I mean, he he got a
little bit of a called into the principal's office. I
guess so to speak, uh with those comments, but he
he kind of just he was talking to it as
a whole, mostly about nil and just needing to to
somehow start bridging that gap with the revenue distribution from
the conference that's coming here in the next few months.
Speaker 3: Thank you for shedding the light on that. Look, I
knew I was gonna ask the question. Probably that's not
gonna be the first one. I just had to get
the game thing and then transition.
Speaker 7: You had to slow us into it. I get you exactly.
Speaker 3: I was going like Houston, I wanted to, you know,
slow you down, and I wanted to speed you up,
you know, in transition a little bit the way I
went before.
Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 3: No, we're on the line with Joe Stuarts. He's a
beat writer for the Houston Chronicle. Here right now here
on ESPN the Fan. What way can by you win
this game? Tore on? Maybe from your perspective, Hey, look,
I'm not picking them. And one I'm gonna tell you
right now, I do a basketball pregame show. This is
one of the teams they haven't beaten in the Big Twelve.
I don't know if it gets done tomorrow, just with
how great of a coach Kelvin Simpson is and right
now BYU struggling man lost his last three games, four
of his last five. The defense is struggling. And I
just think, you know, you mentioned it. Even when Houston
gets down, they find a way to claw themselves back.
Speaker 7: I think you know there's maybe something from like the
Tech game Tech Tech control the boards, and that's one thing.
You know, Houston in the past has been traditionally one
of the top rebounding teams in the country, and in
fact and offensive rebounds. You know, they had been anywhere
from maybe third to tenth over the last few years
and I believe they're about twenty fifth right now. So
you know, they got killed on the board, especially the
offensive boards against Texas Tech. That's where some teams have
been able to uh to gain some ground, so to speak.
Speaker 4: UH.
Speaker 7: And and you know, if you have the home court
like you do UH at the Marriott Center, maybe you
got to force them into some stuff for you've got
to get them to uh to maybe beat some uncharacteristic
turnovers that kind of things, because they don't beat themselves
and that and that's what the discipline comes in. With
Kelvin teams. He uh, you know, they they they match,
they they scout and then they do their matchups and
they always find an edge that if if you have
two or three guys, they find a way to shut
down one or two of them, or at least take
a couple of them out of out of what their
normal game plan would be, uh, and how they do
against other teams. So you know, there there's it's certainly,
you know, there's there's a code to crack to beat them.
And I don't think many schools have figured that out
over the years, but certainly, you know, the rebounding aspect
has been a little bit of a one uh through
the you know, the first you know, twenty two games
or whatever it's been so far.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you do score predictions, uh, Joe,
but how do you see this one plan out? Could
just be why you crack the code tomorrow.
Speaker 7: I mean, I think this is a high sixties, low
seventies game. I mean I think I don't see this
runaway at any point. You know, I can see Houston
by five or so four or five, But you know
it's it's it's really uh yeah, the you hit it
earlier in the show about just being able to run
the road in conference, and I saw a great stat
from the by U Athletic department where, you know, Houston's
doing the two game road swing to Utah, and only
one school, Texas Tech, has ever won both of their
games on that swing. Everybody else has either lost, boat
or split. So this is a tough This is a
tough next few days for them, and then they get
the uh the gauntlet of Iowa State, Arizona and Kansas.
Speaker 4: UH.
Speaker 7: So I can I could see a split on this
road game. I can see them losing on Saturday U.
But you know, they they're they're a little bit on
a on a roll right now, and I think they'll
they'll be prepared. I don't think it's gonna be The
environment is not going to to shell shock them. They
they respect what BYU has Kelvin raids about the crowd there.
But you know they've been in some big environments before.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Mayor out Center, although it's one of the
tougher places to play in the big twelven in the country.
Houston came in you know last year, the year before
they played in this. They are not going to be phased,
and that speaks to just the preparedness Kelvin has for
his team, and I respect that that when they won
that seventy seven to seventy four, or maybe it was
seventy five, I can't remember, Trevinill had the opportunity to
tie and he missed a shot and they weren't phased
that game, and I was very impressed. And I've been
a big fan ever since b YU and Houston been
in the conference. And I've seen this program play Kevin
Young twenty four and three at home in his two years,
and the two of the three losses come to ranked teams.
So that tells you how good this Big Twelve is.
I'll finish up on this one. I'll get out of
here on this. Just your thoughts on the Big Twelve
Conference in this freshman class. You mentioned a golf that
you got to play, Darren Peterson. Just your takeaways and
evaluations of it.
Speaker 7: Well, first all, on the on the conference. Uh, you
know last year you thought I saw everything when Houston
went nineteen and one. I mean that was remarkable in itself,
and it showed by them getting to the championship game
at the final four.
Speaker 4: But you know this year.
Speaker 7: You look at Arizona and is there a team right
now that can beat them? And I think right now they're.
Speaker 3: One on the list.
Speaker 7: I don't even think there's a one, A, one B.
I think they're a clear number one. And then you've
got Houston and then the one that I don't think
many people are talking about, Iowa State. You know, a
couple of weeks ago, when they lost those games, I thought, Okay, well,
maybe maybe there's some kings in the armor. But no,
I mean, they're just as much of a threat. Texas
Tech just doesn't go away. I mean, they just find
a way and they've got probably one of the best
players and in the country with j. T. Topkin, and
then you got BYU. So to me, I think the
league is in Kansas. I mean, I got an eleven
year old who follows the rankings religiously. He's like, Dad,
Kansas wasn't even on the radar a couple of weeks ago.
Now they're almost at the top ten. I'm like, that's
how quickly things could change. You know, Peterson we think
is healthy. We think he'll get through the rest of
the season. They'll play him. So you've got five or
six schools right there alone that not only you know,
will contend for the conference title. By I think two
of them can can make the final four, maybe three
of them. You know the Big East City what back
in the late eighties at one time where they say
three of the four. Uh, you know, the Big Twelve
could at least get two in there, depending on how
the regions work out. So you know that's from a
team standpoint. And then you know, we've talked about all
the freshmen. I'd hate to be the guy who has
to pick Freshman of the Year or the the awards there,
because I mean you could you could have them. You know,
a bunch of them are are going to be first teamers.
And then by the way, you know, you look at
the NBA mock drafts, you know, I think nine ten
overall and the cross basketball college basketball are in the
lottery right now. The kind of the top ten picks
are all freshmen. And you got co O Pete from Arizona.
There's another guy. So I mean, this is a wild
year for the Big Twelve, not only from the youth aspect,
but the fact that you've got a really top heavy
group of teams that could all compete for a national title.
Speaker 3: You're now wrong. Great time to be a basketball fan,
Great time for our business to be uh beat writers,
to be radio talents and broadcasters and producers. This is
a wonderful time. I got to let you go. You
got other responsibilities before I do. What's the best way
we can support you? What you do, your work and
how you do it?
Speaker 7: Just you know. I we're at Houston Chronicle dot com
and I'm on Twitter. Joseph underscore Duarte d U A
r T. And you know, look forward to my first
trip to the Marriott Center tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Look forward to seeing you down there. Joe. Safe travels.
We'll see in provo.
Speaker 7: Thank you appreciate it.
Speaker 3: We'll let Joseph Duarte go. We're gonna go to break.
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