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Speaker 1: Morning News Dumped eight o'clock on Bryce and BA NEUCI

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and one oh three nine and ninety eight three ESPN.

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Speaker 2: The band brought to you by Bally Plumbing and Drain Clean.

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Just look for the truck with the dug.

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Speaker 1: Ben Crittle's life accomplishments include a two time conference championship,

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creator of the ode to the Walk on Business mogul,

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and every Cougar Fan's favorite week sports radio host This

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is Cougar Sports with Ben Kretel right here on one

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o three nine at ninety eight three ESPN.

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Speaker 2: A fan, Yeah, buddy, when I hear college basketball music,

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it gets me turned up. You know why, because I'm

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a basketball junkie. I love basketball, love basketball season. I

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know I've been very h I've been a lot of

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patrit of accountability with this BA basketball team the last

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couple of days, and rightfully so. Look, I give credit

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what credits due, but I also when things don't go well,

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you know, you have to have it. That's the only

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way we talk about it as we do here in

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the world of journalism, and that's what we're gonna do.

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In this last segment, break it all down with the

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guy that knows this Houston basketball team very well. I

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was told in the first hour by the two coals

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that were here with me, they're not here with me

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for the last segment. I got pressed. They said that

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at BYU basketball gets a win, that not everything can

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be fixed, but it's their best, one of their best

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wins in program history. They can turn it around. And

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I just don't know. Kelvin Sampson. There's two Look, I

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always joke, you can't outrun death, you can't outrun taxes.

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And look, you haven't been able to outrun Kelvin Sampson

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and the Houston Cougars. I can tell you that you

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haven't beaten them since he entered the conference. Rightfully, so

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did you see what they did last year? Duke didn't

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score for ten minutes? Goodness great, it's Cooper flag? Where

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was he at? I got all the respect in the

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world for all what that program is able to do,

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no doubt about it. This segment gonna be brought to

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you by one of our favorite sponsors. Gonna be brought

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click the hot deals button today without further do. Let's

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not make him wait anymore. He's got a busy schedule traveling.

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I think they're gonna be taking care of some business,

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you know. Later on. We got Jeremy Branham, the voice

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of the Houston Cougar's Basketball with me on the line

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right now. Jeremy, how we doing.

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Speaker 3: I'm doing good. How you doing? Thanks for having me on?

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Speaker 2: No, thanks, joining I appreciate it. Luk, you heard my intro.

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I was being tongue in cheek, but I'm also being

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real death taxes and Kelvin Samson. This Houston Cougar's basketball

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team is a phenomenal, but I feel like this season

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they might not be getting as much attention as they

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did last year. How do you do that from your perspective.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think last season they kind of flew under

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the radar in the regular season two a bit. They

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went one and two in Vegas last year and people

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kind of forgot about him, and then they started to

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make some noise in the Big Twelve, eventually won the

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Big Twelve and eventually got a one seed, and that's

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when you started people, you know, kind of picking up

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momentum on them, I guess in terms of what the

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talking heads had to say. And then I think it's

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been similar this year. Didn't lose the two in Vegas,

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took two to three, but you lost one to Tennessee,

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you lost one early in Big twelve. Play at love it.

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It feels kind of like the same story again where

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it's kind of flying under the radar. But I don't

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think Houston minds that too much.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Kelvin Samson doesn't mind anything, but he loves his

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his defense. Take me through this roster this year different

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than last year's, but it just seems the same discipline roster.

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They're gonna pick you up ninety four feet the very

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well conditioned. They get it done on the defensive end.

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And I look, I've never seen the basketball team since

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my time starting covering this is able to score sixty

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to sixty five points but still beat you by twenty.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, they get after you defensively a little bit. They

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believe in they're at court man de man defense and

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they're very good at it. They've been very good at

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it for a long time. Calvin, you know, he preaches defense,

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demands it, and I think it's evident when you look

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at all the defensive metrics overall from the roster. I

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like the I like the mix. You know, you have

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some of the veteran players that you had last year

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on the deep run. Yu Zan's back, Sharp's back, Tugglers

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back in that starting lineup, and then to round out

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the starting five, you have two really good freshmen. Kingston

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Flemmings has been one of the best freshmen all year. Really,

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he's trending up. You know, he's projecting to be potentially

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a top five depending which Muck draft you're looking at.

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And then Chris Snak Junior has been really coming on lately.

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You know, came in with a lot of accord with

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somebody that was highly hally touted, highly recruited, and you know,

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he's he's been steady all year and has really coming

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on lately, coming off a game in which hit a

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double double. He's scoring, he's rebounding, he's really starting to

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find his footing in college basketball, and it's been fun

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to watch his development of another very talented freshman.

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Speaker 2: Scott A report on BYU and want you see you

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mentioned junior. Obviously they got one of the best trios

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in college basketball with Rob Wright, who you're familiar with,

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Agent De Bonds, everybody, just like you know, Kingston, Fleming

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and Snack junior guys that are gonna go in this

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twenty twenty six NBA draft when that time comes. We'll

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leave that conversation for another day. Obviously, who do you

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think is gonna be matched up with them? And what

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do you see on tape from this BYU basketball team.

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Speaker 3: They're explosive offense. De Bonsa the best player in the country.

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I think he would be in the He'd be in

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the argument there, right, you'd have his name in the hat.

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You could debate that. I like that you mentioned the

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trio you know, right, Saunders and Devonsa, because there's a

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lot of really good trios in the Big twelve. I'm

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not sure there's one better than Byu. You know, Kansas

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is good. You know, Peterson and you and Me would

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be a pretty good trio. Iowa State has a good

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trio with Lipsey and Jefferson and Mom Schilovich. So there's

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just a bunch of really good teams, really good trios.

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But BYU's right there. I mean, they have a headliner.

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They have one of the best players in the country,

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Richie Sanders. You know, he could sneak into the first

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round too. He could have been an NBA guy last year.

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Rob Wright one of the best point guards, not only

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in this conference but in the entire country. So yeah,

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that's tree up for Byu' is legit.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he has definite, definitely legit trio. AP you got

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a question for Jeremy, Let's go ahead and turn it

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over you.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I just just wanted to ask specifically on the

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Rob right BUYU struggled a lot lately to defend point guards,

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defend specifically with Rob Wright. Is that something you see

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Houston attacking, especially with Kingston Flemings being so good.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I would it would. Houston likes to hunt matchups.

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That's that's no secret, So they'll they'll try to go

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out of defenders that they think they can get to. Now,

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you know, this is kind of the chess match of coaching, right,

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Like who does Rob right match up? Is Rob Right

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match it up on Kingston Flemings If he is, the

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Houston runs some actions where they switch him up and

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get Kingston Flemings going against him. So it's kind of

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the chess match there. Do I use link is pretty evident?

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A lot of link there when if they use that

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to kind of combat to Houston a little bit. But

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Houston will hunt match ups that that's uh, that's something

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that they like to do offensively.

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Speaker 2: What is made Kings and Fleming just so good from

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your standpoint, I was looking at the numbers. I think

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he's over twenty or twenty five points in top ranked matchups.

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The lights are too bright for this.

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Speaker 3: Kid, No, he almost It's it's like he shines in them, right,

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And there's there's always in any sport, like there's players

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who play well against really good competition, and there's players

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where the competition kind of gets to them, right, like

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it frustrates them. It's you're playing good defenses, so you're

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not gonna have as much success against better defenses. Now,

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I think it's something that he craves. He just has

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that mentality. I think it starts there. I think it's

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the mentality. He's got god given athletic attributes as well,

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but the mentality is something you don't see from any freshmen,

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you know. It's it's kind of the killer instinct that

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you see from seasoned veterans, kind of grizzled veterans. And

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he's had that day one. He's had that in high school.

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He he has that alpha guard, alpha man style about him.

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He is the outfit in the room, that's for sure.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 3: His skill set, he's really good at everything. He's got

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a shot that can beat you. You know, he's not

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gonna lighted up like Steph Curry from behind the three

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point line in terms of volume, but shoots it at

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a high percentage because he has good shot selection. He's

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good late in the shot clock, very athletic. So he

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gets to the rim and you know he can elevate

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on you. He can finish at the ram. His best attribute,

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I think, at least from my point of view, is

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his first step. He has a quick first step that

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you just don't see very often. That allows him to

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blow by defenses. And you know, depending on the defense

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he's facing, maybe you have a big that comes over

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to contest at the rim, and then he has the

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vision to find the open man. So he has it all,

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he really does. But that quick first step is the

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thing that I think stands out more than anything.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I watched him a couple of weeks ago. I

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get your thoughts. Just on this freshman class. Fleming had

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dropped forty two. You saw that you have close and personal,

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best seat in the house. I was tuned in watching

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to it because I love college basketball, Big twelve basketball

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in general. The Bondser dropped forty three. Later that day, Waggler,

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where I'm from from Chicago? Way a line. He dropped,

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you know forty six. Oh my gosh, this freshman class

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is ridiculous.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was pretty crazy because we actually got stuck

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in Lubbock in that game because of the ice the weather.

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It was just too bad to fly out, so we

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had to stay on Lubbock. So we went to the

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hotel after the game and I was watching it in

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the room and I was starting to wonder. I was like, Okay,

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I wonder what the I was about to look it up. Actually,

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I was wondering for my prep for the next game

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or whatever. Who has the freshman record for the most

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points in conference play? Because Kingston and you set the

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U of H record, broke the record for what Rob

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Williams had in the early eighties, so I knew he

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had done that. And as I was starting to think, okay,

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I wonder who has the big twelve freshman record? Was

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about to open up the computer, but I had the

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BYU game on. I think they were playing Utah that day,

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and then he scores forty three. Okay, I let BYU

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do that prep. Then I don't need to do that

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research to Ruin. But yeah, the freshman in the unbelievable.

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I mean, this is one of the better freshman class

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we've seen in a really long time. It feels like

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a lot of them are in the big well too.

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You mentioned Wagler from Illinois and certainly not the big

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twelve boozer from Duke's really good. You look across the country.

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North Carolina has a guy, has a guy. But the

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freshman play in this league is just You're probably the

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top two picks in the draft and probably three of

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the first five, so it's it's pretty insane.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty insane for sure. We're currently on the

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line right now with ESPN the Fan in our last

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segment with Jeremy Brenham, the voice of the Houston Cougars

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men's basketball team, also hosts on ESPN ninety seven point

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five in Houston as well. Debonza the name out there,

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that's who everybody you know is trying to stop. But

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it's so hard because he can get to his spots.

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Who do you think starts the game? Are they gonna

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throw multiple bodies at this this kid, this Houston ross

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is probably familiar with aj from people playing against him

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growing up.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not really sure. Like you mentioned, he has,

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he has the ability to make every defensive assignment a mismatch.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 3: You can try to to match him up with his size,

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but he's fast and he's athletic, and he'll he'll be

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able to out athlete you if you try somebody that

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can match his quickness potentially, or at least the best

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that you can with his quickness and athleticism. Usually it's

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a smaller guard and he's really good, like you mentioned,

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getting to his spots rising and firing over those guards.

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So I mean it's a matchup. It's a mismatch for anybody.

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Everybody in the country is gonna have a difficult time

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defending aj. I'm not sure what the cougars do. You know,

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they're not huge with the guard position six three, six,

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four sixty four their posts, you know, can they keep

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up with with with him? I don't know, so I

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would bet it's probably the last thing you said where

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it's kind of all right, let's throw some bodies at him.

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Let's see who's having some success. If there's not success there,

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let's see if we can throw the kitchen sink at him.

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So it should be fun to watch early who draws

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that assignment and how long they draw that assignment for.

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Speaker 2: You're coming to the house that Jimmer built. That's what

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they call it. At least that's what I was told

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right when I started. I'm from Big ten country. I

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don't understand, you know, sometimes these rivalry terms. But you know,

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I've learned about him the more I go on into

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it riding. As I've watched, there doesn't seem like Houston

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is phased by these big environments. Case of Flem, we

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already mentioned it earlier, Shines Bright, what do they need

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to do to come out of Provo with the win

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because BYU's on a losing streak, they would love to

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get a top ten win over you guys.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think the easy answer is defend. You're right,

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I mean this, going going to to Probo and playing

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is always a thrill.

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Speaker 2: I like the environments.

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Speaker 3: I mean the environments are kind of why I love

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college basketball. You go into these places that are just

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loud and noisy, and you get the goose bromps whenever

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it gets loud and noisy. And there's a lot of

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great stops in this league. You know, I would put

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Fortita Center up there with any of them. Allen Field

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Houses obviously great aims is unbelievable. I think the Marriott

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Center is the most underrated in the country, though I've

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had the good fortune of calling two games there. In

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the crowd there is on another level. I think they

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kind of get lost in the shuffle a little bit

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when you're looking at the best crowds in the country.

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Because I would put BYUS fans up with anybody they

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pack in that place. It is massive. The students are

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on you, the entire game. I think they call it

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the wall where it's just from the floor all the

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way to the raptors where you're staring into that the

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whole game. And they're loud and noisy, so it's a

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great environment. It's an intimidating environment. They do a great

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job up at the defense. I mean BYU the offense.

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They have the star power that they have. They average

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over eighty five points a game. They can score on anybody,

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even in a loss against Oklahoma State. At Oklahoma State

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they scored ninety two. So defense, you know, keeping BYU

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at Bay offensively, You're not going to stop them obviously,

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but trying to keep them below their season averages. But

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it's going to be a good test, and I think

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a good battle of two contrasting styles, right they say

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they say in boxing that styles make fights. And you

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have an elite offense first, an elite defense tomorrow night.

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I think those styles make a pretty good fight.

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Speaker 2: Definitely. I'm excited for the elite offense and the elite defense,

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but have to remind the folks the elite defense has

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won the last couple of matchups. If I have to

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remind the folks as well, So maybe b what you

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can lock a defensive. They struggle with that, and look,

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I'm gonna all I'm gonna say is this, If you're

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gonna let Kinks and Fleming get going, that'd be a

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bad decision. If I were a betting man, I don't bet,

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but if I have to, from what I know and

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watch on tape, I wouldn't do that. Houston plays BYU.

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Let's go through the rest of the schedule, and they

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kind of you know, I don't want to say a gaulet,

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but it gets it gets tough. You know, you go BYU,

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then at Utah, right, the road trip out here in Utah.

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How do you feel about the rest of the schedule.

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You got a gatland of Iowa State, then you host

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number one Arizona. That you got to go to Kansas.

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Speaker 3: Oh, it's tough. I mean, it's it's a gauntlet everybody.

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The Big Twelve is a difficult schedule. But you know,

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Houston's road games I think are pretty apparent. You look,

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I mean Texas Tech. You played a home at home,

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so you can't reallyse anything about that, right, you got

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them at home road the city split, but the one

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matchup against BYU, it's on the road, the one match

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up against Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse, the one matchup against

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Iowa State in Ames Oklahoma State. They're tough to be

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on the road and still Water. That's the final road

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trip of the regular season. That's gonna be tough. The

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one break you did have is the loan matchup against Arizona.

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You get them at home. So all the all the heavyweight,

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you know, main event, top of the marquee type of matchups,

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most of them are on the road for Houston. And

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then also all the big Monday games for Houston are

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on the road at Kansas on a Monday, at Iowa

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State on a Monday. What's tough about that too, is

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you're coming off a Saturday game, You're playing Saturday, traveling Sunday,

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and playing at a powerhouse that Monday night on Big Monday. So,

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you know, I think that everybody kind of looks at

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their Big twelve schedules like, man, this is a gauntlet.

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You know, it's certainly no different when you look at

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the Houston schedule. You know, I wish maybe there was

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an extra big Monday game there for Houston. But when

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you have sixteen team league and you're playing eighteen games,

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and you want to put these heavyweights up against each

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other as often as you can. I wouldn't want to

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be a schedule maker in this league.

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Speaker 2: Nope, don't want to be a schedule maker. And indeed

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there are some scheduled people that will still have people

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come for them because there are still some folks in

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Provident's still ping me Ron, Debotson and Peterson only one time. Look,

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I don't make the schedule. If I did, I gave

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it to you three times if I could have. That's

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just how it goes. Last time by you gotta win

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over Houston in provo December fourth, nineteen sixty five, behind

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thirty nine points from a certain player. Jerey Man needs

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you to tell me, how do you see this one?

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Plan out tomorrow? We'll get you out of here on this.

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Speaker 3: Your guest is as good as mine. I mean, I

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think you have the country and I think it's gonna

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be fun. You know I mentioned the styles contrasting styles

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to fights. This is that I know these two coaches

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have a lot of respect for one another. Kind of

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an interesting storyline there, second year young head coach and

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Kevin you versus kind of the you know, the old

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guard with Kelvin Sampson in his thirty seventh year, eight

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hundred and nineteen career victories of both I think top

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of the country coaches both in you know, both areas there,

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top of the Big twelve. You know this has seating implications,

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tournament implications. It's just it's a heavyweight matchup. It's flip

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a coin. I mean, it's tough to win on the

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road in this league. It's tough to be BYU, it's

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tough to be in Houston. Flip the coin. We'll see

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how it goes.

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Speaker 2: Well, flip a coin and see how it goes before

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I let you go, h what's the best way we

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00:18:32,799 --> 00:18:35,319
could support you? Good? Luckily your call, Not that you

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need it, But where can people tune in from if

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they want to hear from you tomorrow?

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Speaker 3: Probably the Varsity networks the easiest spot, although I can't

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imagine you have many fans of Utah wanted to do that,

387
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but you can't have Varsity Network. I'm very annoying on

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social media, so don't even bother with the handle.

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Speaker 2: Well, I'm gonna track you down on social media. I'm

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gonna give you a follow. I've been told that I'm

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annoying to at least that's what my wife tells me,

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so we could be two annoying people together. But Jeremy,

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we'll let you go please. I know you're traveled the

394
00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:05,039
probos safely. Appreciate your time today and good luck tomorrow

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00:19:05,039 --> 00:19:07,160
and save travels for the rest of the weekend.

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Speaker 3: Thank you very much, Happy to do it anytime.

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Speaker 2: You'll have a good one you too. That was Jeremy Branham.

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00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:14,759
He is the voice of the Houston Cougars Men basketball

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00:19:14,839 --> 00:19:17,960
radio and host of ESPN ninety seven point five Houston.

400
00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:20,920
Down there, he's on ex at Jeremy Brandham, appreciate him

401
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:23,039
joining us. Guys, we gotta close out our show. We've

402
00:19:23,039 --> 00:19:24,680
had a great show. Shout at the bread always bringing

403
00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:26,920
a hammer. Caleb Lyons joining me. They've taken off for

404
00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:30,680
the day. We appreciate ap as well. Guys. Shout out

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on a one of three nine ninety eight three dolls.

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00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:17,480
Tomorrow seven thirty pm, Andrew Peterson and myself on my

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00:20:17,559 --> 00:20:20,599
show The Cougar Basketball pre Game with me will be

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00:20:20,599 --> 00:20:23,440
breaking down more and getting into the nitty gritty ken

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BYU pull off this win