Speaker 1: Get to know the Cougar's opponents and rivals right now,
you need to know the faux segment on Cougar Sports
with Ben Kreteler.
Speaker 2: Welcome back you for sports one of three.
Speaker 3: Nine ninety point three ESPN The Fan, I bet Crital
broadcasting from our Vanderwelt Studios Vanderwald dot com.
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Speaker 2: But he's time to get to another vote.
Speaker 3: Let's get prep get ready for that BYU TCU matchup.
The BYU Cougars are balling out in the Big twelve
and TCU. They're a good team. Guys, don't get a twist.
Eleven to five on the season one and two in
Big twelve play. They have two consecutive losses, but they've
been competitive in those losses. They lost by fourd to Kansas.
That was at Kansas, who was on the road, and
then they lost to U of A. They were competitive there.
They did lose by thirteen but this team can win.
This team can score with the best of them. And
they got some great athletes as well, so they've got
some nice victory. Look, they barely lost to Michigan sixty
seven to sixty three as well. So a talented team,
a well coached team. And we're familiar with a few
of those guys that are repping that that purple down
there at TCU, and they're gonna be coming into the
marriage center.
Speaker 2: We're gonna get to know the foe here.
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dot com. Let's welcome in former BYU, great basketball player
and now we got the fight song bringing him in.
I love that I told this man like, had you
not transferred by you would have made to another sweet.
Speaker 2: Sixteen in my opinion, But he took us town.
Speaker 3: Some marquette got buckets there, played overseas and now he's
doing great things with TCU.
Speaker 2: Let's welcome in, Matt Carlo to the show. What's up, Matt, hey, Ben?
Speaker 4: How you doing?
Speaker 2: I'm doing awesome, brother. How are you? How's the fam?
How's everything going?
Speaker 5: Everything's great, man, everything's great.
Speaker 4: Can't complain love it man.
Speaker 3: We'll give us an update, give us a brief rundown
of what's keeping you busy these days. I know you're
part of the TCU horn Frogs basketball analysis team. What
else did you got cooking? Where you're living?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 2: Give us update on all the things.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm back and forth worth. I was
a graduate assistant for Jamie Dixon back in twenty nineteen,
twenty twenty one season, when Desmond Baine was here and
we had some good players, Mike Miles, RJ and Mhart.
A lot of guys got a chance in the NBA
and uh yeah, back here with my wife her her
sister was a beach volleyball coach. Here they just won
the national championship uh in the spring. So we're uh,
we're happy to be back here. And I'm working for
a company called higginbotham uh selling insurance. So all is
well on my end, and just feel super blessed to
be here and I'm coming out back to the Marriott Center.
Speaker 2: It's freaking awesome.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: Hey, and you were you were a baller man. People
don't People don't realize like you're were of the best
guards to ever play at b YU in my opinion,
the fantastic score underrated distributor of the basketball as well
had a handle very very rarely prior to the the
k Y era, right when we're getting the rob wrights
and all this stuff, it was a bit of a
novelty to have a point guard that could break a pass,
pressed through the through the bounce.
Speaker 2: You know you were one of those guys.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I appreciate that. I you know, there's
been so many good players to come through BYU.
Speaker 4: I think you can get lost in the shuffle sometimes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt about it.
Speaker 3: But we loved watching to play at Brigham And congratulations
on all of your success. What are you looking forward
to getting back into the merrit Center, and I guess
calling this game, you're gonna be doing color. You're gonna
be doing sideline reporting. What do you mean doing for
the the TCU Hornfrogs.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I do the.
Speaker 5: Color with a great Brian Estridge calls the games play
by play for TCU and yeah, I'm excited, and b
YU as a really good team. TCU, like you said,
really good team. Should have won at Kansas, really could
have and should have.
Speaker 4: Maybe beat Michigan too. They're very good, have some good
wins and a lot of talent.
Speaker 5: So looking forward, I've kind of was joking after our
last game we played Arizona and we we've faced Darren Peterson,
CoA Pete and now AJ in this next one, so
we kind of went through the gauntlet of the the
big freshman. So I'm looking forward to to see how
AJ stacks up with with the rest of them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm excited to watch it as well.
Speaker 3: Let's uh, let's do a little breakdown of who TCU is,
what the team composition looks like, what the culture's like there,
what type of what the style of play that they have.
Speaker 2: Give us a little synopsis.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Coach Dixon, he's done an amazing job of just
developing talent. Got a really good guard and Brock Harding,
who can really he can really share the boy, he's
a really good passer. David Punch who's a sophomore, good
big guy. They got some other really good pieces Michael
Robinson h and another guy in Xavier Edmonds who.
Speaker 4: Was the number one of the number one JUCO big guys.
Speaker 5: So they got pieces TCU's pieces, and uh, you know,
I think coach Dixon's one of the best coaches in
the country, Like I said, at developing talent, but also
game planning for teams, and BYU obviously has some really
talented guys, So I think it should be interesting to
see the matchup and how how they game plan for him.
Speaker 2: You're you're a well versed experience.
Speaker 3: I mean, you grew up getting buckets, right, You played
at by You played at UCLA b YU. Uh, played
up Morquette, you played, I believe, in Europe in the
NBA G League. What type of ball is being played
in the Big twelve Matt right, Like, you're very familiar
with this, Uh, I call it the the G League
with university logos.
Speaker 2: What type of ball is being played right now? Oh man.
Speaker 5: I mean I watched the U of A team against
TCU at Sholmeyer at TCU, I mean, it was ridiculous.
They were eight deep. And you know, anywhere you turn,
you know, there's a lot of guys I work with
who go to various Big twelve schools and they're just like, yeah,
you get done with BYU in Provo, and then you
got to go play Calvin Sampson at Houston, and then
next thing you know, you're you're playing at Iowa State,
and then oh, by the way, next matchups against Texas.
It's just it's insane the amount of talent and even
towards the bottom of the league. I told before conference
play started, I told a lot of people I said,
you can have not a good team, but I think
like a really good team and have a really bad
record in the Big Twelve. It's just it is what
it is. Every night is a fight to get a win,
and there's just so many good teams and so many
different styles of play. It honestly reminds me of an
upscale version of the old Mountain West.
Speaker 3: I like the breakdown and excited for this game. What
do you know about BYU? Have you been able to
scout the coups.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I know they got you know, right
and Saunders and the Bonza and.
Speaker 4: Other than that, I know that they just have a bunch.
Speaker 5: Of guys who are solid, they can play. I've watched
I obviously watch BYU and I'm extremely impressed with the
Bonza and honestly out of the three just on film.
You obviously have to see him in person, but I
think he's the best freshman that I've seen. Just has
the most upside and you know, just an incredible talent.
And I've always been a fan of Saunders, Richie Saunders
since he, you know, was a freshman basically, and I
know what he's capable of. He just does so much
on the court and right obviously a Baylor guy, now
BUYU guy. That was an extremely good get for them
bringing him in to compliment those guys. So you know,
I think it'll be a battle.
Speaker 4: Obviously, being on the other side of it.
Speaker 5: I knew it was always hard for teams to come
in and win at the Marriott Center, so it'll be
a challenge for TCU. But like Coach Dixon always says,
every game is a challenge in the Big Twelve, and
it's just no different.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the SEC in football talks about a gauntlet. That
ain't no gauntlet anymore. The true gauntlet is in the
Big twelve basketball conference.
Speaker 5: That's funny that you said that, because that was literally
a conversation at the office today, someone said that the
SEC football is nothing compared to Big twelve basketball.
Speaker 2: It's not.
Speaker 3: Man, it's no joke, and it's been very entertaining to
watch know if sands or buts about it. Look, you
know you you transferred a little bit. You transferred before
the transfer portal. Okay, you mentioned these guards, Rob Wright,
that was a good acquisition.
Speaker 2: I remember when.
Speaker 3: BYU got you, that was a fantastic acquisition. Was coming
off the Jimmer ferdet era. We were looking for another
guard that could score, that could distribute, that could play
good defense. And for those that don't know, Matt Carlino
played in ninety six games, including seventy one starts during
his three year career at BYU. Average twelve point five points,
four point six assists, three point three rebounds per game.
Shot forty percent from the from the floor, thirty three
point five percent from the three point line, seventy one
point two percent from the Charity Stripe, scored in double
figures fifty nine times and career high thirty twice. Second
in steals per game I think in BA at the time,
I think, and I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you're still there, but it's right there.
Speaker 3: Fourth and assist per game, seventh and three point field
goal attempts in BAU basketball history, and the seventh in
steals at one hundred and sixty one, Eighth in ten
assist games at three. I'm going down the list, man,
your ninth all time and assist and so you you
were getting buckets like, tell me what your thoughts are
on the transfer portal, how it impacts college athletics in
this day and age.
Speaker 5: Man, that's a whole segment in and of itself. I
you know, I'm glad the ear that I played in
even though I did transfer. I mean, not to toot
my own horn, but I did all that in two
and a half seasons, not even three. So but you know,
more transfers would have would have happened back then. It's
free agency every year, and it's just one of those
things that I'm glad that I got to play at
just two places in Marquette, and BYU and because you know,
quite honestly, I probably would have transferred every season. You know,
you're just getting more money and you know, you get
to experience. I mean, maybe at the most you stay
it somewhere two years.
Speaker 4: Because it's just a good fit.
Speaker 5: But you know, it's just so wild. I don't want
I don't like it. It's really hard to follow because
guys just change teams every single year, you know.
Speaker 4: I I'm I was told that I transferred a lot,
but I.
Speaker 5: Always tell people, man, I on even play it at
two places. I see guys who play at four now.
So you know, I don't like it. But at the
same time, it's just changed so much.
Speaker 3: Okay, go back in time. I've asked you this question,
and I've made the pitch. I've texted you this. I'm like, hey, B,
why you have B, Why you retained you and you
not transferred. I know there's a lot of things that
move and uh, you know, certain roles and playing time
and vision of coaches and scheme. There's a lot of
things that contribute to transfers. We all know that, and
it's even more complicated now than ever. But if you
could go back and do it, again. And I know
you loved your time at Marquette. You balled out there.
You had a great time there and were featured and
it got to see a lot of different things, that
experienced a.
Speaker 2: Lot of different things.
Speaker 3: If you go back and do it again, would you
have stuck it out at Brigham and led us to
another Sweet sixteen baby, because I guarantee you we go
sweet sixteen with you.
Speaker 5: You know, I don't live my life with regrets. But
you know, unfortunately at Marquette we didn't win as much.
I enjoyed winning a lot. I loved all my teammates.
I still stay in touch with them from BYU, And
you know, it was really it was kind of sad.
It was sad for me to leave BYU. I didn't
necessarily want to leave BYU.
Speaker 4: In a lot of ways, kind.
Speaker 5: Of felt like I was forced my hand a little bit.
I don't know if you remember, I kind of came
off the bench as one of the best players in
the conference my junior year, so I feel like they
just kind of and you were a team captain.
Speaker 2: I think you were a team captain.
Speaker 3: I was, and one of the best players, and they
moved you kind of to a six man role, which
was tough.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and it wasn't only that. I think they just
had a little bit different vision. They wanted, you know,
to feature some other guys more maybe, And I don't know,
like if we would have went to a Sweet sixteen,
of course, it's easy to sit here and say that
we would have.
Speaker 4: But we did have a lot of talent on that team.
Speaker 5: And you know, honestly, the year before, I definitely think.
Speaker 4: We would have beat.
Speaker 5: Oregon if we would have had a healthy Kyle Collinsworth
my junior year, because you know, we should have beat
them in your gene that same year. So and then
who knows what happens after that you win one, you
start to build some confidence.
Speaker 4: But yeah, no, I mean, I know.
Speaker 5: I felt my time in at Buyu is awesome. I
loved all of my teammates there. I still a close
with them and speak with them, and it was it
was sad and I had had to leave vieu Iu.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was looking at the two thousand and fourteen
twenty fifteen roster and what was there and what we
what we lacked with you not being there, And look,
I I'm.
Speaker 2: In sports radio. So I lived my life in the past,
so you don't have to. But I we talk about
the future. We talk about the past a lot, and
we do talk about the present.
Speaker 3: But you know, Tyler Hawes was a senior that year,
Kyle Causers was a junior. We had Jake Toolson as
a freshman obviously became a good player. Anson Winder was
a senior. Kyle Davis, I think transfer from Utah State
as a as a junior, Frank Bartley, Skyler Halford. Because
we lost you, you know, we acquired we know, went
into the JUCO ranks. And I remember Frank Bartley in
the in the Old Miss game in the NCAA tournament,
he had to play some point guard. We just didn't
have a point guard. We turned the ball over a
lot in in that NCUBA tournament game. Corbyn Cafus and
Luke Worthington, Jamal Aids, Isaac Nielsen, Dalton Nixon.
Speaker 2: It was a good squad.
Speaker 3: I mean it was definitely guard heavy, and it would
have been more guard heavy with you, but you needed
scores and you need ball handlers. On that team, we
had some good shooters. Chase Fisher was a live a
transfer from Wake Forest and he was a good bucket
getter And obviously we know how good Tyler Hawes and
Kyle Collinsworth were and he had young stars and and
Jake Toolson, but I did oh, Josh Sharp Senior also
kind of a slasher type, small forward type.
Speaker 2: You were, you were.
Speaker 3: Familiar with his game, but uh, what we missed, in
my opinion was a ball handler and a distributor.
Speaker 2: And you know, is it I mean, look, is it?
Are we far enough removed to Tom?
Speaker 3: We didn't prep for this, By the way, we're just
talking and I'm getting a bunch of texts because they
love hearing from you, by the way, the fans love
hearing from you, mat But like, are we far enough
away removed now to say, okay, like what was you know,
the key contributing factors to why you ended up transferred?
Speaker 2: I know you alluded to it a little bit, and.
Speaker 3: You know, are we far enough way now to talk
about specifics or do we want to keep it you
know general?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I mean I they kind of came to me my
junior year and just you know, you said some of
the stats and what they brought me in to do,
and they were like, hey, you're you're not a point
guard anymore. And I was like, what do you mean,
I'm not a point guard. I'm leading the conference and
like assists and like, at that point, I don't think
I was leading, but I think my junior year I
did lead the conference and assist the turnover ratio. And
I was like, okay, so what are we doing here?
And they just said, hey, we want to like move
you to the two. And I was like, all right,
like ill, I'll try it out. Well, I've never played
the two in our offense or anything. And I actually
remember it was the Eugene game at Oregon. It was
around that time when we were kind of making the
switch or they wanted to just move me strictly off
ball to the two. And I was just like, hey,
you know, I'll try to do whatever. I don't agree
with this, but i'll do whatever, you know, and to
try to help us win. And it was one of
those things where you know, it was what it was.
And I think they wanted to move Kyle Collinsworth to
the point and just basically have him do the majority
of the ball handling. And I was like, you know,
that's all great, but it doesn't really seem like I'm
too much of a fit. Like I even told him
straight up, I said, you should play Anton Winder. He's
been playing the two all year and I think, you know,
he knows more of it and he's more comfortable with it.
I straight up told him that. And then it just
got to the point.
Speaker 4: Where there was friction there.
Speaker 5: And yeah, it was kind of just that was the
start of it, and when they moved me to the
bench and things of that nature, I kind of just
was like, Okay, well, if this is kind of the
way that you view me and what I've tried to
do for the team being a captain, then you know,
I feel like there's a lot of friction there. Even
though I love love that coaching staff and I've still
talked to them, it was just a difference in opinion
of I guess who they thought I was as a
player and where they wanted me to fit in. But
you know, I still talk to all those guys. I
talked to Pope, I talked I've talked to coach Rose,
and like I said, I've had amazing relationships with my teammates,
but there was just a lot of turmoil that I
was kind of upset about and felt like they kind
of forced my hand and yeah.
Speaker 2: No, dude, I completely understand it.
Speaker 3: I'll continue to live in the past and say, hey,
what if what if we could have synergized a little bit,
what if we could have have figured out a way
to still have you at point and in the in
the starting rotation, right, and and you know, I mean, look,
there's offenses that you can get creative.
Speaker 2: You don't have to have a primary point guard anymore.
Speaker 3: Right, it's kind of an uh, even in even in
that day and age, right, I mean we're talking about
a little over a decade ago.
Speaker 2: It's not like you have to have a primary your
only point guard. Right.
Speaker 3: You have sets, you have I mean, you have you
have five out offenses. Now, all these guys can handle.
Look at Ajtabonsa. He's a point forward, for the love
of pete. Do we really have to put labels on it?
And I think once you start to put labels on
things too, uh, that's where it's like, well, oh, it's
like this identity crisis. It's like to me, it's about
you know, utilization and scheme and and winning and uh,
you know, like if you're if you're a fantastic ballhandler
that averages averages five assists per game, well, you should
probably still be distributing the basketball, would be a primary
ball handler some way, shape or form.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And that was always a struggle for me. I
was probably my best I was always asked to score
and was able to score, But my best attribute was
probably facilitating. And I think, you know, Kyle Collinsworth was
also a great facilitator from his position, And then you
had guys that were just natural, more natural scorers like
a Ty Hawes, who I thought it could have been
a great mix, and it was at times, but I
don't know why. It seemed like they could never like
we could just never synergize the whole thing, because truthfully,
you called out me being a part of like that
Sweet sixteen the next year, but in reality.
Speaker 4: They needed Eric Meika.
Speaker 5: They needed him and he was unbelievable and I don't
even think we got that enough out of him. We
could have got more because he was just an extreme talent.
So that that junior year team when we lost to Oregon,
I think if Kyle's healthy, we were very we were
very good. And I think if we could have gone
far that year, and if Mika would have I mean,
he went on a mission so, but that next year,
if they would have had him, they would have went
an farther.
Speaker 3: Now, we didn't have a big the following year, right, well,
we had a four man. Kyle Davis was a nice
pickup for for BYU that year. But Eric obviously essentially
a borderline NBA guy I mean, definitely a G League
overseas guy that could play.
Speaker 2: He played forever.
Speaker 3: Just a big, strong, fast, explosive, you know, pick and
roll kind of specialists that can run in transition. And
he had pretty good back to the basket game as well,
even in his youth.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: But you're right, there's definitely an argument to be made
there in case he getting injured that season definitely hurt.
But like I said, I still think the NCAA tournament
is run by guards, the guard line.
Speaker 2: It's not the bigs. I really believe that year.
Speaker 3: I believe if you can have four or five guys
that can all handle and all, you know, get their
set set shots in, they can create for themselves and others,
that's a winning formula.
Speaker 2: I think if you can master it. You know, it's
not hard.
Speaker 3: I mean it's not it's not easy, but if you
can if you can get that dialed in, you can
go a long way to the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 2: And that's that was their weakness, honestly.
Speaker 3: That years, like you know, breaking presses, getting the ball
of court, if Kyle got in foul, trouble versus all miss,
and then you didn't have a backup guard you didn't like.
Anson was was decent, but he's not as you know,
he wasn't necessarily a point guard.
Speaker 2: He's more of a two.
Speaker 3: Skyler was more of a two. He was more of
a scoring guard. Frank Bartley was more of a two
at the time. He developed into a point guard, but
he was more of a two. We had a bunch
of twos everywhere. Even Tyler Hawes is a two three
right Chase Fisher was a two. We had a ton
of twos. We had only one one. I'm doing everything
I can. I'm offering up the world to a guy
that for for my for my ones. I need my
ones too, and and Kyle and and Matt to me
needed to be the ones.
Speaker 2: And it's it's hard. I understand, it's not easy, but
that was my pitch h at that time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well I'll let you live in the past.
Speaker 3: I shall Matt Carlito Matt. Let's break down a little
bit more of this b YU TCU game. How do
you see this game playing out?
Speaker 5: Yeah, like I said, I think that, Uh, you know,
TCU has a really good team coach kicks and teams
are extremely tough. He's one, like I said, he's one
of the best coaches in the country at game planning
and his staff does an amazing job.
Speaker 4: Uh, They're gonna play.
Speaker 5: Hard, and I think it'll be you know, I haven't
dove into BUYU and and got into the numbers and
what makes them really kick. Just more of a personnel
standpoint is what I've seen.
Speaker 4: But like I said, it's.
Speaker 5: Really hard to win in the Marriott Center. But TCU,
you know, we can play anyone tough, and I think
that if b YU, the thing that is going to
be big for TCU is not letting b YU get
on those runs because when you get on a run
in the Marriott Center, it's tough. I mean, they were
just at Kansas and the same thing happens. So you know,
for TCU, I think what they need to do is
just stay consistent and whether those storms. If they can
do that, they'll have a chance to win. There and
b Yu. You know, I think it's going to be
come down to fifty to fifty balls for them. And
because this TCU team is tough, so if they can
rebound and win the fifty to fifty battle, I think
they'll they'll have a good night.
Speaker 3: I hope we give you a standing go when you're
announced as one of the analyss here on the play
by play Matt Carlino. Ladies and gentlemen, say hi to
him at the Marriage Center when you see him, and
welcome him back to a place where he made a
ton of memories for us and produced at a high level. Matt,
we appreciate you man, Thanks for hopping on, Thanks for
catching up with us.
Speaker 2: We'll see you down at Marriott Center tomorrow.
Speaker 4: Thanks, man, really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, much love to you and your family. That's Matt Carlino.
Speaker 3: That was another Fox segment brought to you by our
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be back a little Cougar Beat on the flip side
with Darnell Dixon the Daily Heraldi and this is Cougar
Sports on one three nine ninet eight point three.
Speaker 1: He is Cougar Sports with Ben Kretel At Its time
for the Cougar Beat getting the dish from the local
reporters that covered Cougar athletics.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to your sports one of three nine ninety
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Get on that free Q and a no obligation to
invest q A with our tax more wealth advisors. It
is time for Little Cougar be gonna welcome at Cougar
Sports Insider to break down all the news and notes
coming out of Brigham, all the topics we've approaching today.
Just got off the line with Matt Carlino, the one
of the best point guards in my opinion in BAU
basketball history.
Speaker 2: Did that in two and a half seasons.
Speaker 3: Statistical out output was very impressive, which we could have
retained him for an additional year to the lead us
to glory and victory along with Tyler Hallis Kyle Colls
within the crew guard heavy line would have been beautiful
in my opinion, and it just didn't come to fruition.
But we're gonna break down a little cougar beat in
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Hikepike razor horseback ride through them hoodoos at Bryce Canyon.
Speaker 2: You will not be disappointed with your choice. Let's get
out to the high line.
Speaker 3: Welcome at Double D. Darnell Dixon of the Daily Herald
was up Double D.
Speaker 1: I'm doing well with good that you're talking to a
fellow lefty and Matt Carlino. I hope he's doing well
and hope you have a good call tonight.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Man, we were saying were we able to Were
you able to catch any of the interview with Matt?
Speaker 1: I was not, but I'm gonna go definitely go back
and listen to it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you have to check it out. Let me know
what you think, buddy. I was great catching up with
Matt Carlino. What's been keeping you busy, Double d U.
I know you've been typing up writing up all manner
of Cougar sports content for all the consumers out there
in Cougar Country.
Speaker 1: Well, I got to apologize to anybody who does follow me.
I wasn't able to do much at the Utah game
because the wireless wasn't working on press Row and Utah
they're not very interested in getting it to work. So
there are a lot of us that cover BYU that
weren't able to tweet out what we fought or or
you know, make in game kind of comments. But other
than that, working on obviously lots of b why you
asball stories b YU men's volleyball as well, and we
have the women's volleyball program hired new coach last week,
So the sports other than football are getting a little
of my attention right now.
Speaker 2: Hey, all good, all gravy.
Speaker 3: The the headlines right now are all transfer portal related.
Speaker 2: It's something I know you love to talk about, the
nil transfer portal era.
Speaker 3: But b YU is bringing some return missionaries home to
the state of Utah.
Speaker 2: Guys like Kada Ulauave coming back home.
Speaker 3: You got guys like Zak Yamauchi from Stanford who are
returned who's a return missionary, Jake Clifton from Kansas State,
and you got some some good walker Lions from USC.
Your thoughts, your reactions to the seven acquisitions via the
portal for b Yu.
Speaker 1: Well, Ben, I do have to admit, even when I'm
working on other stories, if I happen to see some
information or get some information about a transfer portal, ad
I stop and go to my list and make sure
I add them in because I want to keep track
of all of this. A couple of things that stand
out to me.
Speaker 3: One is it.
Speaker 1: Seems as if most of the guys' bo youth getting
has more. They have more than one year of eligibility remaining,
and I think that's great because as good as players
can be transferring over that first year, the second year,
I think they can be even better. So there's there's
some good opportunities for BYU to build their offensive line
and linebacker spots with guys who will have multiple chances
in multiple years to play there. I feel like they've
addressed some needs on the offensive line and with tight
end and strengthen the linebacker spot. I still think they
need to get a few defensive linemen. I'd like to
see another playmaking wide receiver with maybe some stats. Nothing
against Kyle Kaffer, who seemed like you would be a
nice prospect, but I'd like to see them go after
somebody who may maybe the smaller school that put up
good stats it's out there and just add to those
playmakers on the wide receiver group. But so far it's
doing it. The crews are doing well. We've gone through
this several times since the transfer portal kicked in. The
one year b YU had close to sixty new players,
and that following year they kind of struggled. So I
think they're reaching up right now. Will you take into
account seniors that have graduated and guys have left through
the portal and return missionaries that are leaving that kind
of thing. You're upwards of thirty now, and I think
that's probably they don't want to go too much higher
than that because the more you go beyond that, I
think you create some issues for yourself. And you know,
and we've seen it happen at BYU, So I think
they're in a pretty good spot right now.
Speaker 3: One of the questions that we've posed you mentioned it,
does by you football have a wide receiver one in
your opinion?
Speaker 2: No, And.
Speaker 1: I really feel like it's been so easy just to
point to Chase Roberts every year for the last three
years and say there he is. He's the number one
of the guys returning. You know, Parker is a playmaker
for sure, and I think Jojo Phillips has the ability,
but he was hurt last year, so we never really
got to see what he would be. So I would
definitely like to see them go after. As I mentioned
that a receiver or two in the portal that could
step up possibly be number one. I think bear Bachmeyer
needs that. I think it was great for him to
step up as the starting quarterback and I have someone
like Chase robertson throw to. It was automatic on third
downs and could get open and make great catches and
stance against those guys that are coming back. Nobody really
has that resume, so either somebody steps forward as the
number one or they have to go out and get one.
So I think that's still in the process for the Cougars.
Speaker 3: Double d Darnell Dixon here on ESPN the Fan, I
think there are many others that kind of feel the
same way as you do. You could look at Parker Kingston,
and Parker Kingston very well could become a wide receiver one.
In my opinion, he career, he elevated his play this
seasons as a playmaker. I think for BYU a man
that could create space in restricted areas and can kind
of take the top off if needed. But he was
mostly coming out of the slot, and I've been really
impressed with him. Do you think maybe Parker, out of
all the guys, could end up being that wide receiver
one this next year.
Speaker 1: He seems to have a pretty good rapport with bar Backmeyer.
Looks like those guys have worked a lot together to
get that going. Yeah. Maybe, I mean I like Parker.
I think he's a very good player. He does as
you mentioned, in tight spaces, he can create a little
bit of a separation and that's certainly helpful. And he's
does double duty as a punt returner and make some
difference there as well. But you like to have somebody
that's durable, and the Parker is a little smaller, so
not that he can't get through the season as the
number one, but at the number one gets more targets,
it's more times getting hit, and you like your number ones.
So maybe he'd be a little bit bigger and sturdier
so they can take that pounding. So we'll see what
happens there.
Speaker 3: Darnell, I didn't think that BYU needed linebackers, but they
got two of them, an All acc player in Kate
Ulauave and then they picked up Jake Clifton from Kansas State.
Speaker 2: Why pick up two more linebackers. Seemed like we're pretty pretty.
Speaker 1: Full there are we, Yeah, but I think that if
you take a look at the twenty twenty five season,
there were enough injuries at that spot where they were
having to dig pretty far down in the depth chart.
And they have some good depth there, there's no question
about that. But not only injuries to you know, Kobe
Bryant Struther was having a pretty good start to a season.
He got hurt, but and then he had Isaiah Glaster
and got banged up, and Jack Kelly got banged up.
It's just a position that lends itself to guys that
are going to get hurt, and so they're in Cielo
Serra I think missing time as well. So I think
they're going after some depth there with not just you know,
second or third string type guys, but number one guys,
so they can maybe either replace those guys that get
hurt or maybe give them a few less reps so
that they're a little bit stronger. This season goes on.
Speaker 3: Darnelle Dixon here, on your Utah ESPN Radio network. They
picked up three offensive lineman Zach Yamoucci, Poki Few and
then Junior Sia from Utah State. All three have starting experience.
All three were sought after in the NC in the
in the transfer portal by.
Speaker 2: P four institutions.
Speaker 3: What does it say like three offensive linemen? I thought
we had plenty of talent along that offensive line. Why
do you think they were so aggressive and obtaining three
portal offensive linemen.
Speaker 1: Well, it seems like those three guys are largely interior
offensive lineman if I'm not mistaken. They did have some
injuries there. And you know, as a coach, your job
is to create the best room you possibly can and
if there is somebody that wants to come, that will
make your room stronger and make the competition stronger. I
think the offensive line is definitely one of those spots.
So that's in my mind, that's why yu is bringing
in those three offensive linemen, because they want that offensive
line to be very competitive, and they want the guys
that are coming back not to get comfortable and keep
working hard and they're to be really good competition in practice,
and that's really their job. And with a position like
offensive line, where we have five of them and you
want to be able to rotate a few through and
there's going to be injuries and things. You always want
to build that depth, and again you want to build
the ability to have just great competition in practice to
put guys in positions to make your offenses the best
that you can.
Speaker 3: Arnell, let's get prepped for some BYU basketball, shall we.
I know that's that's one of your favorite sports. You're
a hooper, You're you're You're like a left handed gymmer
on the floor. A gold medalist of bucket getting is
what you are and don't get. In truth, he does
have gold medals. Cougarnation to those that don't know, b
always fifteen and one right now. The only loss is
the Yukon Man. It seems like the always trending in
the direction of of finally getting the monkey after back
for the most the most NCAA appearances without reaching the
final four.
Speaker 2: It is this the year? Is this the year double d?
Speaker 1: It very well could be. There are still a few concerns.
One of those is the number of minutes that that
Aj Debons and Richie Saunders and Rob Wright are playing
that can wear you out a little bit. And it's
a little higher for your top three players than it's
been in the past. I feel like their bench play
and the subs have been a little inconsistent. They need
that to show up a little bit. But there was
still winning games their only losses. You mentioned to Yukon.
Even Kevin Young, who doesn't really comment that much on
you know, things like poles and and and and uh,
you know, numbers, that kind of thing. Uh, he did
mention on Monday when you talked to him, he said, Hey, look,
we were nine. We dropped two spots after you won
three games. What's up with that? And we all know,
and I've been a voter on the AP Basketball Poll,
it doesn't make some sense. Sometimes it's difficult, but there
it just means there's a lot of good teams in
this in this in this country. And and Nebraska and
Vanderbilt are both undefeated. So they jumped over b yucause
they haven't lost yet, and a lot of that as
a product of who you've played. You know, B B
YU right now sitting pretty but they are facing a
pretty tough schedule. They've got Arizona twice, They've got to
go to Kansas. We've got Texas Tech at home on Saturday,
so in another another game against Utah, which they showed
you know, Utah, if they play the way they're capable,
can hang with anybody. So there's a lot left to
be decided. And this is a really good basketball team.
This is a team that has a lot of options
on the offense if teams want to do what Utah
did and just double team aj as soon as he
gets the ball, Whichie goes for twenty four and Rob
Wright goes for twenty three. So they're difficult to guard,
and they're getting better defensively. I still think there's some
things they can do to shore that up, and again,
as I mentioned, their guys coming off the bench need
to be a little more consistent. But it's a really
good team and the possibility of getting to the Final
Four with this team is better than it's probably been
in ever since Jimmer played. I mean, this is a
program that Kevin Young has built to get there, and
even last year, just this first year, he's able to
get to this week sixteen, and then they've made some
adjustments defensively and brought in different players and appear to
be on a really good pawer right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's a great team.
Speaker 3: And look they're they're trending in a direction that I
think is unprecedented. It's it's pretty incredible to watch, and
I'm loving every minute of it. Obviously, that was close one,
though at the Huntsman Center. It's a close one by
the skin of their teeth. They got by it. Like
many other teams before them.
Speaker 1: It didn't have to be close, and by You did
some free throws that it would have probably been a
little close to a double digit win. But that's what
happens in this in the I by U you guys series,
We've seen it in all sports but men's basketball. It's
been kind of crazy that BYU hasn't won up there
for a while, and Richie had never won up there,
and and he hadn't, to be honest, had a great
game against Utah until until that game, until Saturday. He
had twenty four and then sixteen or fourteen rebounds. He
was absolutely amazing in that game.
Speaker 2: And and.
Speaker 1: It just shows you. And it was funny because I
saw some Utah comments like, that's not a play on
the four team if they can't beat us, that by
you know, just four or five points, and I thought, yeah,
you know, Final four teams never played close games throughout
the season. That just never happened. But but it does
show you that you got to bring it every night
in this league. For sure, you have to bring it
every night, and they're going to be you know, you
think about there hasn't really been a lot of setbacks
for this team. You know, a lot of things they've
had to overcome, and they're going to lose some games
in this league. I mean, I think it'd be great
if they went undefeated, but that's not realistic, and they're
going to lose some games they think they probably should
have won, and they've got to recover from that and
come out in the next game and play well. And
so I'm looking forward to seeing how they respond to
some adversity when it pops up, because this league is
just way too tough to just go out and play
your best every night. They're going to have a dud,
they're gonna have a game, They're gonna go out and
it's just not going to work for them, and you know,
they're gonna have to figure out how to get get
over that.
Speaker 3: Love The breakdown for double d Darnell Dixon the Daily
heraldy and talking some BYU Ball here on your Utah
ESPN Radio network.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: As we get into this, uh into the really the
heart of the Big twelve schedule and you're looking at
the next few games. Obviously TCU a formidable foe at
the Marriage Center. But everyone's all the fans got their
eyes on that Texas Tech game, right, Everyone's like, wonder
what's gonna happen there? Uh, what are you looking at
as far as the schedule is concerned for b YU,
Where where are your eyes being casted? Where the where's
the gays? The all seeing eye of Darnell being being illuminated?
Speaker 1: Well, Texas Tech is a really good team.
Speaker 5: JT.
Speaker 1: Toppin's the best big man in the conference and so
that's going to take a real good defensive effort. And
by bringing in Abdullah on that they've they've shored up
that into your defense really well. The showdown with Arizona
on the twenty six to January Arizona, you know, they
lost some guys to the portal, some good scorer and
their league scorers in the NBA, and they're better than
they were last year. I think I think they're much
better and they can score from different angles and they
just push that temple so hard on you and BA
used one at Kansas before, but that will still be difficult.
And then you know, when they played they have not
been able to get close to Houston since they joined
the conference. The Houston Coucher's defense that just ate them
up every time they played. So I think that's going
to be a real Ringer Bell Weather kind of game
when they play Houston on February seventh. This is not
maybe as good a Houston team as they've been in
the past, but they're still ranks that in the country
and they still play amazing defense, and so I'm curious
to see how the Cougars respond and make a close
game for sure, but even have a chance to beat
Houston because, like I said, since they joined the conference,
Houston has been able to kind of do whatever they
want and exert their will on the Cougars, and so
we'll see how that one turns out. But that's the
next several weeks. There's some great ball games, and that's
one of the things I really enjoyed about the Big
Twelve is Texas Tech is ranked fifteen. They're coming to
the marriage Center. Arizona's number one. They're coming to the
married Center. Houston is number one coming to the marriage Center.
That's amazing to me. And they've got Iowa State later
this season. It's coming to the Marry Center. Iowa State's
undefeated number two. So I love that they're bringing in
these teams that they could never even get a sniff
of when they were playing in the other conferences to
come into the Marriage Center. And you know they started
with this in this league. In a league play is
we get to talk to the opposing coach after games
of the Marriage Center, and that's fantastic. I love to
hear their perspective on things. Bobby Hurley was really amazing
a week or so ago when Arizona State came and
had some funny comments to make. So it's big time
and it's a It's something that I'm looking forward to seeing.
Speaker 3: You mentioned the apeopole earlier in the in the show,
you've been an AP voter, Darnell.
Speaker 2: Why is it that BYU fell two spots after getting.
Speaker 3: A win on the road versus versus Utah at the
Huntsman Center, a quad to victory and how much created
should we give the ape pole for basketball or football.
Speaker 1: Well a little bit. I mean, it's it is a
perception that you can look at. But in the last
NET rankings, I think BYU was eight or nine still,
so I think they're still in pretty much the same spot.
I just think that now that we're into conference play,
Nebraska and Vanderbilt are still winning and they're still undefeated,
so it's hard to keep them behind the BYU, who
does have the one loss, even though it is to
number three Yukon. So I think that's probably the main
reason is, you know, you look at what Nebraska and
we can be soughtoma in the preseason game and they
beat BYU by one. We saw they were pretty talented,
and they've continued to do that. When Nebraska and Vanderbilt
are playing in their non conference schedule, they're playing a
bunch of guys they can beat by a bunch, and
it's hard to know kind of how good they are.
But once they get in the league play and they
start getting victories, then you start saying, okay, they're pretty good.
And Nebraska and Vanderbilt have done that in their lead,
so to me, that's why. But I wouldn't be too
concerned because the net ranking really makes a big difference,
and BA has a lot of chances to build that up,
and they're already at eighty or nine now. So I
think that that bau fans shouldn't fret too much about
the A people because there are opportunities to strengthen their
NCAA resume coming up in the league.
Speaker 3: Double D Darnell Dixon, appreciate you hopping on for yet
another Cougar beat and talking BYU football, BYU basketball. We
didn't really delve into the Olympic sports at all, but
I know you're excited about them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is this is a good time of year
for some of those sports. You know, Baseball actually gets
started pretty soon, and softball, the spring sports are getting
kind of reped up, and and the b y U
men's volleyball team is really interesting with its uh four
guys that came in from Grand Canyon, who who killed
their program to put money somewhere else. It's amazing because
the Grand King is one of the richest schools in
the country that can't afford a men's volleyball program, but
that their loss was BYU's game, and we got a
chance to see that team last weekend and they get
beat Saint Francis swept both nights, and U see San
Diego coming in on Friday and Saturday this week. And
Sean Holmeston's got to work cut out for him because
these are kind of just the warm up games. They
have some really big ones coming up later in the
schedule with U. C. L A And Stanford and Pepperdine
and some of those traditional powers. But it's a fun
sport and and it's it's a great night in the
Smithfield House.
Speaker 3: Love it double D and uh the sponsor of the
segment is Ruby's In. And I know you've hiked, biked,
razor and horseback ride through the hooters of Bryce Cannon,
and I know you're no friend of the mouse, but uh,
is it?
Speaker 2: Is it not an accurate depiction?
Speaker 3: I mean when you go into cars Land and uh
and Big Thunder Mountain, I mean all of that is
inspired by Ruby's In and Bryce Cannon National Park.
Speaker 1: You know, I hadn't put that really together, but when
when you said that in the intro, I thought, yeah,
that makes a lot of sense. And that's one of
the reasons I guess. I guess one of my kids
liked to go there when we were taking So it
is a fantastic place, you know, I, you know, I
love it out there. That free breakfast is something else.
And I like the non light pollution of the area
once it gets dark at night, it gets dark. Yeah,
So it's it feels like you're in a different place.
And the hiking is great, and and the snow and
they've got ice skating rink there, and it's it's a
fun it's a fun time of it.
Speaker 2: Double D. Appreciate you man, thanks for hopping on for
you at another Cougar beat.
Speaker 1: All right, Ben, have a great rest of your week.
Speaker 2: All right, you too, man. That segment was brought to
you by rubys In rubies In dot com. Head on
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Speaker 3: Forts last nine to sixty get twenty percent off your
staycation at rubies In in Bryce Canyon National Park.
Speaker 2: Let's take a brief time out. We'll be back.
Speaker 3: Tanner Wall, former BYU safety taking his talents to the
National Football League, going to be training. We'll find out
where he's training and who's.
Speaker 2: What agency he signed with, and what he needs.
Speaker 3: To improve upon leading up to the Pro Day and
NFL combine and obviously NFL Draft. You're listening to Cougar
Sports on one of three nine nine eight point three
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