Speaker 1: Is Cougar Sports with Ben Kretel at its time for
the Cougar Beat getting the dish from the local reporters
that cover Cougar athletics.
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the hotline. Welcome in my god, double d darn addiction
of the Daily herald The Daily Heralding. What's up, Daily Heraldian?
Double d How are you, sir?
Speaker 1: I well, I'm actually headed down to Bryce Canyon and
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his career, we're gonna miss out on one day. It's
probably worth it. My wife understands. But I got I
get some training to do to keep up with my
wife as we're hiking down there. So let's get this going.
Speaker 2: Let's go Darnell.
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Speaker 1: Totally see that now that you pointed out to me.
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in Darnell.
Speaker 2: What have you been working on over at the Daily
Herald recently?
Speaker 1: A lot about basketball, you know, b Yu, it's first
lost in about thirteen games at Texas Tech. But you know,
I often wonder with coaches, you know, they talk about
a guy to see the film, I wonder. And we
haven't been able to talk to Kevin Young since he
that game, but I just wonder does he feel like
defensively they could have done more or was that just
a case of a team going instanling hot, Because after
b why you took that nine point lead, Texas Tech
made seven straight shots, including three or three or four
three an four three's, one of them a bank by JT.
Topp and their center from the top of the key,
and then they were at fourteen or fifteen from the
free throw line, so practically perfect in that game. I
don't know much that b Why You could have done
much at the end there, but it is a loss
and they've had a gonna have a week to kind
of stew on it before they take on Utah on Saturday.
Speaker 2: What did you think?
Speaker 3: Did you think that there was some frailty in the defense?
Do you feel like Texas or do you feel like
just Texas Tech just got hot.
Speaker 1: I do think Texas Tech got hot, But I also
think that there was a little bit of fatigue on
Dyu's defensive end. Towards the end of that game. They
lost a little momentum because you know, they were up nine,
and then Rob Wright had to go out because he
had hurt his pinky and he was tearing up Texas
Tech at that point, so they lost that little bit
of momentum, but they could never get it back. And
you know, this is not last year's team that was
eleven deep. This is a team that the starting five
gets almost all the minutes and then kind of depends
on who shows up off the bench, and it's varied
from week to week how much time the guys have
been getting. There's been some good moments from the bench guys,
just not enough of them. And really, I'm not sure
if there's much Kevin Young could have done down the
stretch of that game because Texas Tech was just on fire.
They're at home, their capacity crowd just riding that wave.
And you know, you certainly want to look at the
film and say, yeah, we could have defended that play better,
We could have done that better. But when when the
sixth to ninth center who has been shooting about, you know,
twenty percent from three makes three or four including a banker,
it just might not be your day. And that's probably
more of it than anything else. It was just Testas
Tech getting crazy good and BYU was a little fatigued
and couldn't quite match it.
Speaker 3: Double d Are you concerned that this BYU basketball team
can't keep the pace that they've been they've been playing at.
How do you feel right now about this team.
Speaker 1: I feel probably a little bit like I felt last
year after the slow start in Big Twelve play. But
Kevin Young got it figured out, and we all think
he's a really good coach, so I think he'll figure
it out. They've had a chance to take a breath
here this week and kind of work on some things
before they played Utah on Saturday. I would expect a
much better performance consistently through forty minutes, And Kevin Young
mentioned that a couple of times in the post game
was to win some of these games on the road
against really good teams, you've got to play really good
forty minutes. And they played about thirty two good minutes
and then things got away from them. So lots of
things for them to work on. And you know, their
defense at times looks really good. Their offense with the
big three can be overwhelming, but they just want to
be able to do both those sides more consistently, and
that's what they're going to be working on. And I
believe Kevin Young will get it figured out and we'll
get a strong finish by the Cougiers.
Speaker 3: Tarnold Dixon, the Daily Heraldy and talking to some BAU
basketball here on your Utah ESPN Radio network. So what
would you say right now is the biggest issue ailing
BAU basketball.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you say they're ailing and they just
lost one game, that's not like a what are they missing?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: No, no, hey, this is a one. It's not a need.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2: This is a one, not a eat.
Speaker 3: What is it that was going to take them from
sweet sixteen to Final four type of team?
Speaker 2: What are we missing?
Speaker 1: I think what we're missing right now is consistency from
the guys who aren't the big three. And I you know,
I hate to pick on specific players, but Cannard Davis
has not figured out his role on this team yet.
And to me, he's kind of like what what Meg
would be if he decided he was a shooter and
wanted to score. Because Davis is having a really hard
time putting the ball in the basket. He's under thirty
percent from three. He was zero for five or oh
for six in that game on Saturday. He can play defense.
I think he's pretty good at that, but when you
are struggling offensively and you kind of use that as
your identity, that can affect both ends of the floor.
So I think Cannard Davis has to figure out what
he wants to do for this team. Does he want
to be a guy that's the fourth scorer in the
Big three in front of him or does he want
to be a contributor defensively and take those open shots
when they get him. Because as much as the defense
has to focus on the Big three, there's open shots there.
And what they're missing right now is guys who can
consistently make the defense pay for their commitment to those
top three players. And they've tried a lot of different combinations.
You know, I said several times in that game, Boy,
this would be a good time for them to have
someone like Dawson Baker. They could bring in who was
shooting about forty five percent from the field and forty
eight percent three when he got hurt. That really changes
things up for the defense when they have to worry
about somebody hitting open shot, and right now they don't
have anybody that's doing that consistently, and that is a problem.
And so if you're asking me that that's what I
think is what they're missing right now to become a
team that can go deep into the tournament is just
more consistency from those guys coming off the bench.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you'd like to see that.
Speaker 3: You'd like to see some some bench scoring and bench productivity,
no doubt about it, don't now. As we get prepped,
we get ready for the I mean, the big game
on the dock at right now is that U of
A game, right, It's going to be electric. It's all
all sins are a tone for, where all losses are
a ton foras you can beat U of A at home.
Speaker 1: Right, oh for sure. And that Arizona team, it's interesting
because they were pretty good last year, had double digit losses,
so they lost some games early in the season, but
they got a really high seed in the tournament. They
lost some guys to graduation as well as guys who transferred,
and I think they're much better this year. They just
seem to be more dynamic. They've got a couple of
freshmen that are really good, and they were able to
just put together these great runs. They're really good basketball teams.
So that's going to be a big deal for BYU
to be able to play them at home first. And
last year we saw Arizona come into Provo and beat
b YU and then b YU went on the road
and beat the Wildcats at their place. So it's starting
to be a pretty good rivalry in this league. And
I'm really looking forward to that game. The Merritt Centers
should be jumping.
Speaker 2: No doubt about it, Double D.
Speaker 3: I know you've been talking a lot of hoop recently,
But football and the transfer portal and the college football
Playoff and the college football Championship is done? Does now
you're the you're kind of my my prototype for the
old curmudgeon that that wants to go back to the
past right and do away with nil at transporportal? But
does is there any solace given the fact that Indiana,
the losing his team in college football became the national
champion this year in the current state that everyone says
is broken, Well.
Speaker 1: We'd have to kind of have a little bit more,
you know, some a little bit a few more years
of this happening. I think, okay, because the data point
is pretty small. It's just one team that did it.
Speaker 3: It's but I mean, it's the losing his power for
it's the losing his power conference team ever and one
hundred years like, they had not had a ten win
season and they just won the national championship.
Speaker 1: They had as many wins against top twenty five competition
this year and they've had in their entire existence. Yeah,
it's nuts and and certainly I think coaches and programs
can look at that and say, hey, that could be us.
So so you know, it happened once. Empirically, we don't
know if it's going to happen again. Maybe maybe the
big wigs get it figured out and get their money
straightened out and go out and buy a championship in
Indiana did their own thing and created it their own way,
and it's it's a pretty amazing feat. But I also
look at it, you know, well, I'm sure we're going
to talk about the schedule in this conversation, but as
I look at the schedule and we try to predict
what's going to happen, then I have hard enough time
predicting what BYU is going to do, let alone the
twelve opponents they're going to play, and with nil and
the transfer portal, that makes it even more difficult because
we looked at this last year's schedule and thought, well,
there's a five game stretch there that could really be
BYU's undoing. BYU went four and one on that stretch.
This year we're looking at it and saying, boy, that TCU,
I State, Notre Dame, Well those three games, who knows.
I mean, you just don't know from year to year anymore.
It's becoming increasingly more difficult to predict how your opponents
will do based on the fact they can turn it
around so quickly, as we just saw with Indiana. That's
where I'll tie that in is that you know, from
year to year, you may you have a harder time
figuring out if a team is going to be good
or not. And so as we look at YU schedule,
and we look at college football as a whole, you know,
the AP votes that go out and I've been an
AP voter, it makes it increasingly difficult every year to
figure out who's going to be really good, who's going
to find that magic formula of returners and new guys
and fill those positions and pay them the right amount
of money where they're not looking elsewhere. As soon as
they get a little bit of adversity. Who puts that
together the best, and sometimes it's difficult to predict. Not
I don't think anyone would have predicted Indiana would be
able to do that, even after last year when they
when they won a bowl game. So that's what I'm
looking at as your old curmudgeon, that it's becoming increasingly
more difficult to be an expert in this because things
change from year to years so fast.
Speaker 2: I get it. I did that.
Speaker 3: Does that data point though kind of like, you know,
does it make you it all optimistic though?
Speaker 2: Or not? It's still kind of curmudgeony here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, one data point doesn't make that's not good enough.
Speaker 1: I still I still think that looking down the road,
there are issues and problems that that could could wear
the ugly head and cause submission. We know right now
college football is more popular than it's ever been. The
numbers are up, and viewing, the numbers are up, and spending.
It's really popular right now. Is it sustainable? That's I
guess my most curmudgety take is ten years from now,
what are we looking at for college football? Is it
just going to be a minor league for the NFL?
Is it going to be you know, employees, I mean,
are the Bowl games gonna be gone. Possibly. I mean,
we don't know the future, but I just feel like
a lot of the decisions that are being made are great,
maybe for the short term, but not for the long term.
And we'll see, and we'll see if I survive long
enough to view it.
Speaker 3: Who knows you're gonna survive many years from from now, Darnell,
You're gonna live to the riple age of one hundred
to see by you finally win a second national championship.
Speaker 2: How far away are they from doing such, Darnell.
Speaker 3: They retained their roster, they retain most of their coaches,
They've acquired some good players in the portal. How far
away are they? What positions are they are they in
need of? What talent are they in need of? In
order to get over the hump?
Speaker 1: Well, if we believe the one data point we just
talked about, it could be next year, Ben, you know
what I mean. I feel like they've done a pretty
good job of filling in some holes that they need,
and the coaches know better than anyone who am the
returners are ready to take the next step up, whether
it be somebody that was a scout team that's going
to be a backup, whether somebody was a backup, it's
going to be a starter. A starter's going to be
a star. They know those situations the best. And if
you retain and your goals to retain those guys you've
been working with, you want that to benefit you the
next year. And the way that benefits you is they
know what they're doing, they're confident, they fill their role
as well, and they want to be there. I mean,
that's that's a big deal I think in today's college
sports is do they want to be there? And if
they have a little adversity, does that make them start
get a wandering eye right away? I mean, you know
a month into the season that things aren't going exactly
the way I did. Go on, gosh, I'm looking where
could I go? You know that you wonder about that,
and I think BYU's doing their best to create an
environment that everyone feels that they're they're getting their best
show and part of a family and all that stuff.
And so as you look at what comes up next
season with a quarterback and a running back coming back
that are really good defensive players, you know, great transfer
portal hall so far, the linebacker spot they're putting themselves
in a good position to have an under great year.
But we saw last year and last season anyway, it
hasn't even been a year yet, but even an eleven
to one record didn't get BYU into the football playoffs.
You know, they were eleven to one going into the
Big twelve championship game, and a lot of situations teams
like that don't get punished for losing that game and
they get in b why you didn't. So it almost
seems like they still have to go undefeated in order
to get into the playoffs. Can they do that? Sure,
it's not easy to do, and you would expect after
getting into a power conference that there would be a
little bit more lee way. And apparently there's just one
game different where maybe eleven and one gets you in
this year, if you beat Notre Dame, maybe that's the
one that puts them over the top. On October seventeenth
of twenty twenty six, they win that game into that
puts them in if they're eleven and one. But I
think they're putting together good pieces and they proved that
the system works. They've got to have some adjustment period
to Jay Hill leaving and General Guilfer leading me brought
in coaches to get that started, and Kalik the THINGA
knows this defense well. Does he know how to inspire
the troops? I think so? Does he know how to
make those halftime adjustments and in game adjustments that I
think Jay Hill did really well with Will We'll see.
Speaker 2: So I just came upon this real quick.
Speaker 3: Kirk Signetti was one of the voters in the coaches
pulled the season, and this is his final Top twenty
five ballot. Indian obviously number one, Miami number two, Oregon three,
Mississippi O miss for Ohio State five, Georgia's six, Notre Dame, seven,
Texas eight, Texas A and M nine, Texas Tech.
Speaker 2: Ten, Iowa nine and four.
Speaker 3: Iowa is eleven nearly beat the Hoosiers back in September
ranked them an eleventh to this poll. Alabama twelve, Oklahoma thirteen,
Brigham Young fourteen.
Speaker 2: That's where he's got in Utah at fifteen.
Speaker 3: Your reaction to the news that bus is actually the
fourteenth ranked team per the National Championship, Hell, I mean.
Speaker 1: He's going definitely on what he saw on the field.
Talking about the Iowa game, I think that by use
a top ten team, and I think they should be
a top ten or fifteen team going into next year,
and we know how important that is in terms of
being able to move up once you start winning. Unless
there's a big offseason issue like there was last year
with b what you're losing its quarterback. They should be
a top ten or fifteen team heading into too twenty
twenty six. So that puts them in a position where
if they win their games, they're going to get in.
And so you know, this season's over. They did the
best they could. Have a hard time with Texas Tech,
which laid a big egg in the playoffs unfortunately. So
it doesn't even look good to me why you lost
to them now. But we're moving on and the Cougars
are getting prepared. They're they're working out right now doing
conditioning with the strength and conditioning staff, and in a
month or so we'll have them checking in for spring
football and there we go.
Speaker 3: Love you, Double D. Always a pleasure talking ball with you.
We invite everyone to follow you on x and read
all your content at the Daily Herald.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, brother.
Speaker 1: All right, man, have a great week, are you.
Speaker 2: Too, brother? Appreciate you.
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