Speaker 1: The mackness of marches right around the corner, and the
Cougars are.
Speaker 2: In the metal of it.
Speaker 3: It's time to talk some college basketball on Cougar Sports
with Ben Cripple to you welcome back Cougar Sports, one
of the three nine ninety eight point three ESPN the band.
I've been quittal broadcasting from our Vandard Wealth Studios, Vanderwealth
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this segment going to get into some college basketball with
Jonathan Devnard, the Brazilian bomber, talk about what ails this
bou men's basketball team and what can remedy those ailments.
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Speaker 2: Utah dot Com.
Speaker 3: We're gonna talk to some BYU basketball here momentarily, but guys, uh,
I wanted to reiterate some of the news coming out
of BYU regarding the coaching staff. Shout out to Kalani
and crew on the new hires. BYU initially hired to
Mario Warren to coach the corners right coach the cornersbacks,
and he was listed as a passing game coordinator.
Speaker 2: Well, they've made the move.
Speaker 3: They've pushed de Mario over to the safety's room and
he's still the passing game coordinator. They brought in Lewis
Walker cornerbacks coach. Okay, this is what Kolani had to
say about Lewis Walker. I've known Lewis for a long time,
ever since he was a player for me at Utah,
so Kilani coach to them at Utah. He has a
strong He's got strong expertise teaching cornerbacks and defensive backs
and has also been a coordinator overseeing the entire defense
for two years in North Dakota State. He knows the
small details matter and truly cares about the development of players.
He coaches. He is from Utah, so he knows our
state well. I'm excited to welcome Lewis to BYU. He's
a native of Salt Lake City. Walker comes to BA
after working the past eleven seasons in the NCAA Football
Championship Subdivision, including multiple stops at Monmouth University and FCS
Powerhouse North Dakota State. He served as a defensive coordinator
at Monmouth in New Jersey the past two years, where
the Hawks improved from a six and six season in
twenty twenty four to earn a nine to three record
in twenty twenty five as members of the Coastal Athletic Association.
Lewis officially comes to BAU from North Dakota State, where
he had rejoined the Bison staff on December thirty first,
after having previously coached cornerbacks in Fargo for two seasons.
From twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three, Walker helped
the Bison achieve an overall record of twenty three and
seven and challenged for the national title ball seasons. In
twenty twenty two, the team he advanced to the FCS
National Championship Game before finishing as the national runner up.
Speaker 2: With an overall record of twelve and three.
Speaker 3: In twenty twenty three, the Bison achieved an eleven to
four record while advancing to the FCS National semi Finals.
Before going to North Dakota State, Walker served five seasons
as defensive back coach during his first stint at Monmouth
from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty one. Monmouth made three
FCS playoff appearances during Walker's time coaching defensive backs and
contributed to two Big Big.
Speaker 2: South Conference titles.
Speaker 3: He coached three FCS All Americans while overseeing the defensive,
secondary and return specialists for the Hawks.
Speaker 2: During each of his five seasons.
Speaker 3: The players he mentored went on to earn at least
two All Big Big South honors for their play, including
at least one first team selection every year. So Walker
began his coach career as a secondary coach and especial
teams coordinator at Copper Hills High School here in West
Jordan in twenty fourteen before going to Columbia University in
New York City for the twenty fifteen to twenty sixteen
seasons as a defensive quality control, defensive back and return coach.
So shout out to Lewis Walker as a player. Walker
was a defensive back at the University of Why from
two thousand and eight to twenty ten before transferring to
complete the final two years of his college career at
Utah in eleven twenty twelve. He prepped in Salt Lake
City at Judge Memorial High School, where he was a
team captain and the team's most inspirational player. I'm excited
for the opportunity to join this bou program, Walker said,
I'm really looking forward to being a lot to being
with a lot of familiar people at this elite level
and a chance to learn and grow from a great
administration and staff here.
Speaker 2: I can't wait to get in.
Speaker 3: And develop our cornerbacks and build relationships with all of them.
Speaker 2: Love this hire.
Speaker 3: Really impressed by his resume and the sequencing and crescendoing.
Speaker 2: And leveling up as he went.
Speaker 3: Loved that he's got connectivity and roots here in Utah
with family, And you know what really stands out to
me is at Judge obviously a team captain, but both
the most inspirational. This guy is a positive light for
good and I think he's going to embody the spirit
of what BYU is trying to bring to the Kilane
culture and embrace that and acquire more talent to come
in to represent the culture and the school that is
very discipleship driven right now, So very excited about this.
Shout out to the new Cornerbacks coach Lewis Walker for Byu.
Let's talk some BU basketball, let's transition and welcome in
the six foot a two and twenty five pounder of
out of Brasil, and of course Bishop Gorman, let's welcome in.
Speaker 2: Jonathan Tavnari, what's up? JT for three?
Speaker 4: I'm doing great, man, I'm I'm a little bummed out
because of the law and you know, back to back
losses for Buyu and so kind of a kind of
a dreary day here for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a tough loss, no doubt.
Speaker 3: They made it respectable though, right and they they got
it within four points.
Speaker 2: And this is a this is a tail as old
as time, JT.
Speaker 3: They get down twenty, they come roaring back and they
make it respectful and sometimes they win, but more often
they lose.
Speaker 1: Yeah, unfortunately, you know a lot of happened on that game,
and you know Buyu is still missing. It's marquee win
of the season, right against twenty five you know, twenty
fIF franc Wisconsin at the time that they did it,
and you know the day one by thirty at the
Delta Center, you know, and then maybe Clemson. Right, But
again those so far have been the best wins that
BUYU has had and you know they didn't have it.
And again, right, they have lost now four games. They've
lost to number three, you can, they've lost to number
fifteen Texas, tack to number one, number one Arizona, and
number nineteen Kansas, and so they're now losing to a
bunch of booty boos, you know from Booboo State University College. Right,
and so, but nonetheless, for the investments and you know,
the attention and the height that this team is getting,
you would hope that at least one of those.
Speaker 5: Games BILU would have won it.
Speaker 1: Now you can make the argument that only one of
them was at home, and that all three of those games,
with the exception of Texas tack, so three out of
those four games it came down to arguably the last shot.
You can make that comment, right, And it's just happens
to be one of those situations where you know, it
just need to be better, and they're just not doing
that right now, and they're not getting the job done.
I'm not saying anything controversial. I'm not causing and stirring
up any any drama. The fact of the matter is
b YU needs to figure out a way to win
these games because Ben, out of the next twelve games
that they have in February in March, four of them
are again stop fifteen teams, and b YU better win
at least two of them otherwise, you know, going into
Martin Man March Madness with al a marquee win, you know,
they're definitely not going to be a four seed. I
really don't think they're gonna I mean, unless they go
indefeeder from now to the end of the season, I
think that they're you know, the best that they can
be is maybe a four seed. They're pending at three.
But you know, like there's a lot of stake here
because if you get in the tournament, seeding matters like
five twelve matchup, and then on that five and five
twelve men up the next next time you're playing against
you know, a four seed, and so you know there's
a lot on the line for this team in these
next six weeks and uh, you know, Saturday's game to
me was a you know, a a microcosm of the
fact that BUYU just hasn't been able to finish and
to get a marquee win. And I'm not gonna even say,
I'm not going to criticize Kevin Young. I'm not going
to criticize players, or at least not heavily.
Speaker 5: But they just need to get one of these.
Speaker 1: Games, man, because if not that, it's it's going to
get interesting about about seating.
Speaker 2: No doubt about it. It's gonna be Uh.
Speaker 3: That's that's the issue right now, right it's the seating issue.
It's not that BYU is not an an NCAA tournament team.
We know they are, right, it's uh, it's proper seeding
in the best path uh to uh to get into
a Sweet sixteen Elite eight and beyond that at do
you feel like BLA is going to figure this out?
Last year, JT, when we were having you on now
late late January, early February, we were asking questions about
the identity of the team. You know, we were asking
about the bench, we were asking about three point shooting,
and they figured it out. But what mag stepped up
in a big way three and d Trevinell was hitting
guys like Dawson Baker, came off the bench, jaeg Or
started to really come into his own as a as
a scorer and distributor.
Speaker 2: Are they going to figure this out? Do you think?
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, you know, the flowers that be
certainly get paid well enough that you would hope that
they figure it out, right, And I just don't know.
Right at this point, I will say, Kevin Young has
a lot of experience, you know, but it now has
been back to back games that I will say, you know, like,
am I gonna start Am I gonna start criticizing Aj?
Absolutely not.
Speaker 5: But there's also to be said that the.
Speaker 1: Last two games AJ hasn't shot the ball particularly well
and has forced a lot of shots.
Speaker 5: And so is that a negative thing?
Speaker 1: Is that a bad thing? Is that are knock on him? Well,
it depends on how you look at it, because he's
the number one player you know, in the country that's
not in the NBA or the euro League.
Speaker 5: And you know, you can definitely say the same.
Speaker 1: About Darreon Peterson, right, I mean, Darren Peterson didn't play
well in the second half. You also got pulled out,
you know, like there's a lot of going on about
his agent and the associated flag director.
Speaker 5: You know, one thing.
Speaker 1: That I command AJ is he is always available no
matter what.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 1: But in the first half Darren Peterson very much looked
like the first speaking a draft and AJ didn't. And
so but again none of that matters because at the
end of the Dame Richie Saunders was the player on
the floor that night, and so them. You know, there's
a lot of things to consider here. You know, like
the roster was formed with Nate Dickens and and and
Dawson Baker and Brody Koslowski in mind, and all three
of those guys are done for the season. You know,
I'm surprised that Ahilo hasn't been more effective, that Alexei
hasn't been more effective. You know, certainly expected a little
bit more overall from from Canard, you know, but again
he found his shooting groove against Arizona. You know, development
of Hadem is coming along, and then the addition of Abdullah,
and so I think there's a lot of things to
consider here, Ben, you know, but I think you know
what if I I will say this before I toss
it back to you, Ben, as a fan and as
someone who is very in touch with Cougar Nation as
much as you are, Ben, I don't think that you
would bat an eyelash at me saying that BYU fans
overall are going huh for as much of a hype
as this team has not seeing you know, BYU coming
through on these four losses. It's you know, you're not
quitting on the team, but at the same time you're like, huh,
I thought he would be getting it done. And I
don't think that's a crazy thing to say.
Speaker 5: Ben.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you always you know, life's all about expectations, right,
and the expectation is at the end of the year, right,
that's when we get to, you know, see what the
final grade is. But in the lead up to it,
you do want to see signs of the ceiling, is
what I like to call it. So what's the sign
of the ceiling? Well, I don't know. This is this
a This looks more like maybe a Sweet sixteen team
than it does an Elite eight and Final four team,
which would be.
Speaker 2: What by you did last year.
Speaker 3: So a lot of BUA Fansas say, wow, well you
paid a lot for this raw, sure you know you've
invested a lot in this roster and you didn't really
get the R o I in return.
Speaker 2: And I think that's the issue, the invitation and the
return on investment.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm I one hundred percent agree with you. I
think that you know the way that you that you
eloquently put the business in perspective. What's the roy Because
they already be into the sweet sixteen right now, back
to back sweet sixteings. We can also knock on that
because it's never been done in.
Speaker 5: The Uyu history. I get that.
Speaker 1: However, you know, perception is reality, and the perception is
that this team has the put ahead, all of the
tools to get to the final four. But it's just
it's you know, it's not firing in all cylinders right now.
Speaker 5: And I think there's a lot of reasons why.
Speaker 1: Right The problem is not all fans and not all
media talking heads and not all commit any members are
gonna look at it and go, you know what, I
feel bad for Byu because they had three season ending
injuries and they lost to this team and that team
and that team. They're not gonna do that, Ben, because
you and I know much better than that. Like you know,
they're gonna look at that and go, oh geez, these
guys could never be the top fifteen team, And look
at the roster that they had with AJ and this
and that and Kevin Young get an NBA staff, and
so all of this would be solved and will be
solved with a marquee win right against Houston against Iowa,
stayed at Arizona against Texas stack. If they can get
all four of them, it's a different story. The problem is,
based on everything we're seeing right now, it just doesn't
seem like they are going to be able to pull through,
just based on again, on a simple size of everything
that we're seeing. There are reasons for that. You and
I can reason the reasons for that. But at the
end of the day, right if if some butts were
candy and nuts, it would be Christmas every day.
Speaker 2: No doubt about it.
Speaker 3: Jonathan Tavonari, Jonathan, this uh the bench right now is
a concern. Only three points off the bench. Hadeen Boo
was the the sole three point shot I was looking
at last year, right and the MWA mag and Trevinell
and Trey Stewart, and you know you had you had
a lot of great role players that would lift where
they stood. We're not seeing the lifting in certain areas.
Every once in a while guy will show up, Tyler
Morass or Alexei Kostik, maybe Mahi Low, maybe Hideem Uh,
but there's a certain level of inconsistency there that just
uh has to be accounted for. Who who can step
up in the next four weeks.
Speaker 2: Do you think?
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what my expectation is.
Speaker 5: My expectation was.
Speaker 1: That my high Low being an experience, being an experienced
overseas player, that Alec Alexei Coastitch, you know, being an
experienced overseas player, that they.
Speaker 5: Would be able to come through. That just hasn't been the.
Speaker 1: Case, right, And so it's difficult, at least for me.
It is very difficult to be okay with this, especially
because these guys are actually getting paid money right now,
and so you know, like it's it. I expected more,
and so to me, I'll continue to say Cornard Davis
needs to be consistent.
Speaker 5: Shooting the ball.
Speaker 1: I would also say that Keba and Abdullah needs to
be consistent on the block. Hopefully Hadem is able to
come along and and have a couple of games that
he he you know, he makes a difference, and then
you know, Alexei Amhilo needs to step up, right, and
so they absolutely you need.
Speaker 5: To do this.
Speaker 1: And so that's you know, that's my.
Speaker 5: That's just my two cents and all of this.
Speaker 3: Jonathan, as far as you know these first halfs are concerned,
what is ailing the way you in the first half?
Would you say, if you were to diagnose and treat
the first half issues, what would they be and why?
Speaker 5: I'll probably say it's lack of urgency.
Speaker 1: It's you know, just not playing with a sense of urgency,
I think, and I think everybody is at faull of that, right.
I have a hard time believing that someone as respected
and knowledgeable and then at the level of Kevin Young
would not have his players ready. Nonetheless, that's what we're
seeing right now. We're seeing we're seeing the fact that
the guys are just they seem like, you know, they
just don't have a sense of urgency. And so I
can't imagine that the coaches aren't getting them ready to go.
And so I would definitely put this on the players,
and uh, you know, it's just it's just an unfortunate thing.
And but again that's the that's the reality that we're
experiencing right.
Speaker 2: Now, Jonathan.
Speaker 3: As far as this, uh, the coaching staff is concerned.
Speaker 2: Uh k y is uh?
Speaker 3: You know, I think offensively we're putting up enough points
to win. Are we giving up too many points? What's
going on defensively? And how can we maybe remedy some
of our defensive woes?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 6: You know, It's an interesting thing because I think defensively
the game plan is working because you know, overall, you
your scout teams and you know, and then you know,
Kevin Young makes adjustments. I you know, something that I've
been joking around on by UCV is can we get
the halftime adjustments that happen before the game starts, you know,
because it feels like b IU is very much a
second half team. And you know, is it And I
don't know the answer to this.
Speaker 1: Is it because the game plan is not working? Is
it because the guys, you know, the players don't have
a sense of urgency. I really can't pinpoint at this
at this time that I just know that he continues
to happen, you know, and it's definitely a frustrating thing.
Speaker 5: It makes for.
Speaker 1: Great basketball and great you know, and great fun for
the fans because you've seen some great rallies, right, but again,
it's not sustainable. You know, they played Texas Tech type
for about eight nine minutes, you know, about about thirty minutes,
you know, and and then everything collapsed. They played Arizona
well for five minutes at home because the rest of
the game wasn't very good. You know, are they gonna
be able to do that at Arizona? You know? How
are they gonna play Houston at home? He is a
team that everybody thought it was gonna be the number
one team in the country and they're not, right and
so and then Texas Tech at b YU, how is
that going to work?
Speaker 5: And so?
Speaker 1: But none of that matters then because you know, at
Oklahoma State that was a game that they dropped last year,
you know. And and if this BOYU team loses three games,
three games in a row, I think there's going to
be a lot of problems, right, because a lot of
money is going into this. You know. I recall a
conversation I had with Tom Holmo where he was like,
JT As you know better than I do. Sports are
based on results, right. You talked about our return on investment,
and right, now you know, like the team just needs
to respond. Is all lost? Absolutely not, but they're still
missing a marquee win and that's a big right now,
that's a big black mark on Biu's resume for the
NCAA tournament.
Speaker 3: Jonathan Tabanawar Ladies and gentlemen, hopefully they can get some
marquee wins. What do you I think the always favored
in nine of the last ten games of the regular season,
do you think they went out? Do you think they're
what nine to one, ten and zero? When you look
at the schedule, what do you see?
Speaker 5: Well, I mean, you know, like, let's just go down.
I'll look at it.
Speaker 1: I'll pull up here on my app and yeah, I'll.
Speaker 2: Start it off.
Speaker 3: So at Oklahoma State, you can pull it up while
I'm talking about it. You're you welcome Houston into the
marriage Center. You're at Baylor, then you welcome Colorado. You're
at u of A, you welcome Iowa State, you welcome
you UCF, You're at West Virginia, You're at Cincinnati, and
then you welcome Texas Tech.
Speaker 2: Those are your last games.
Speaker 7: Well, so I gotta tell you, Ben, the last ten games, buy.
Speaker 5: You better go nine and one?
Speaker 7: Yeah, and if and if they go nine and one,
they're going to be fourteen and four, and.
Speaker 8: And I think that it will be.
Speaker 5: They probably ended.
Speaker 7: Up at the fifth spot, right, which is not ideal
because you don't get a double by and so.
Speaker 8: You know, but like again, I mean look at the
top five.
Speaker 7: Teams, right, I mean, right now, BUYU is you know,
just one game half a game behind UCF. But you know,
big twelve is tough man Arizona, Houston. You know the
thing is Houston is seven and one, and you see
some of.
Speaker 1: These other schedules, you know, is Arizona.
Speaker 8: Gonna keep this up? Because if Arizona keep this up.
Speaker 7: Good grief that that literally is going to be the
number one overall overall seed, right.
Speaker 8: And so they are very much a national title contender.
Speaker 7: They're a national champion contender easily.
Speaker 5: And so you know, the game.
Speaker 7: Against Kansas really was, you know, a turnaround point in
the season, especially after you know, having the chance slip
through the fingers against Arizona. And so I get losing
at Texas Tech, I get losing on the road on
a neutral side to Yukon, but dropping the game, you know,
dropping the game at home against Arizona and then losing
at Kansas.
Speaker 8: You know, Kansas is not the same Kansas that.
Speaker 5: It has been.
Speaker 7: You know, obviously they they picked up as off late.
But those are the two games that Uyu had to have,
you know, because now the the the.
Speaker 8: Mountain they have to climb is massive. And again you know,
they are a full game behind Kansas and Texas Tech.
You know, but again they.
Speaker 5: May have the type breaker.
Speaker 7: With with Iowa State. They may get the type breaker
against Texas Tech, you know, And so there is uh,
there is a path.
Speaker 8: For b I used to finish in the top four.
Speaker 7: But again Buyu is gonna have to go nine and
one in the last stand with four games, you know,
forty of their games being against top fifteen teams in
the country.
Speaker 8: That is a tall task, man. And you know, as
much as I.
Speaker 7: Have blue goggles for basketball, you know, having to go
having to go you know, nine and one against you know,
and in almost half of those games are against top
twenty five, you know, top fifteen teams. That is a
lot then, and if they pull it off, I think
you I was gonna have a very different conversation, you know,
But I just don't think we're there yet. And I
will say this, Ben.
Speaker 1: You know something that you that.
Speaker 7: Me and and b Ham and and uh and raw
and we kind of ganged up on you, is that
you know, the a J A sensation would topple Gimmermania.
Speaker 8: That hasn't happened yet.
Speaker 2: It hasn't happened.
Speaker 7: A lot has to happen for that to for that
to come to fruition.
Speaker 5: But we're just not there yet.
Speaker 7: And you know, I think we all said, you know,
if they do this, if they do this, but you know,
as off today as it stands, on this groundhog Day,
it has not come to fruition. And uh, you know
a lot has to happen for that for that to
be the case.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's interesting. I did get a lot of
flak for it right when I was leaning into the
gym Ermania and I say that it's gonna be tough
to replicate and there's a lot that has to happen,
and uh, and I hope it, like I hope it
becomes like absolutely crazy.
Speaker 2: We all want that.
Speaker 3: But up to this point and it's not like and
we had this discussion too, it's like a J I
think has met are the expectation right, It's not like
he's not met the expectation for the For the most part,
I think he has. It's just, uh, I don't think
the supporting cast is there for him. The bench isn't
there for him. I agree the brig three is awesome.
We we just need a little bit more from the
supporting cast. So Jonathan Tabinari always appreciator, our conversations, always
learned something, man, Thanks for hopping on to talk some
ball with us today.
Speaker 7: I appreciate her Man always in forever go Koob's and Plus, however,
you pronounced.
Speaker 8: That the.
Speaker 7: Groundhog's name predicted six of winter, and uh, I'm I'm
waiting for winter to come to Utah.
Speaker 5: So there was sixty seven today in a beautiful.
Speaker 7: Gorgeous day, and so winning Kansas would have made it
that much sweeter. But you know again, baggers can't be choosers.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, Yes, indeed, hopefully we get some snow, he
gets some voice here.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, JT. That's our segment.
Speaker 3: Great segment with Jonathan Tavanari, brought to you by Central
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