Speaker 1: But on this radio show, the rem brands are saved
Speaker 1: for one person, and one person only.
Speaker 2: Of course, I'll be there for you.
Speaker 1: The theme song of the Horrible, Horrible television show back
Speaker 1: in the nineties called Friends, it means it's time for
Speaker 1: Roxy Bernstein. You guys know that by now Roxy. On
Speaker 1: a Tuesday, sir, how are you?
Speaker 3: I will be there for you, sence. I can't say
Speaker 3: that i'd be there for Courtney Cox, that I would
Speaker 3: be there for you now.
Speaker 2: We don't need to.
Speaker 1: We don't need to make it weird on a Tuesday.
Speaker 1: I know when you hear the name Courtney Cox, it
Speaker 1: just your your ears get red, you start feeling Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know. Well, let's be honest. I mean, enough time
Speaker 1: has passed. That was a That was a dumb That
Speaker 1: was a dumb show. It was a bad TV show
Speaker 1: that co opted the thoughts of people that just are
Speaker 1: simpletons that didn't like a intellectual television show like Seinfelder.
Speaker 3: For honest, the show was pretty good. I could get
Speaker 3: past the personal issues.
Speaker 1: Fine, well, I was trying to have your back, never mind,
Speaker 1: awesome show, how you man?
Speaker 2: Thank you for the time as always good.
Speaker 3: I'm good. You know I was in Town. Over the weekend,
Speaker 3: I had that overtime thriller at the Huntsman Center, and
Speaker 3: I'm on my Utah week with that game. Saturday, I
Speaker 3: have BYU Tonight, I'm in Boulder for the game against
Speaker 3: the Buffaloes. Thursday, i have the Hockey Club for ESPN
Speaker 3: against Minnesota, and then I'm back in your great state
Speaker 3: on Saturday. I'm double dipping. I have the Utah Women
Speaker 3: against BYU women down in Provo, and then the nightcap.
Speaker 3: I'm double dipping on Saturday with Cincinnati against BYU.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Well, never a dull moment, and Roxie Bernstein, the unofficial
Speaker 1: voice of Utah sports, I love it.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: I was actually I was at the Huntsman Center on
Speaker 1: Saturday night and I looked down. I looked down. I
Speaker 1: had some pretty good seats. I was about five rows
Speaker 1: behind you. But I did not have my credential. And
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be the dude that says, don't
Speaker 1: you know who I am? So I could not come
Speaker 1: down and say hello. But when I saw that you
Speaker 1: were on the call, say again, sorry.
Speaker 3: You could have been Yeah, but I don't I know yeah,
Speaker 3: I know him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but Roxy, I'm already unlikable enough on paper. Like
Speaker 1: you know, I'm well aware of how unlikeable I'm on paper,
Speaker 1: So I don't want to, you know, I don't want
Speaker 1: to further the narrative. So I simply texted Porter. I said,
Speaker 1: let's get our guy. And I wanted to start with
Speaker 1: Saturday Night. And as you know, I was a student
Speaker 1: at Utah in the late nineties when their head coach
Speaker 1: was named Rick Majaris, and our weeks were playing around
Speaker 1: Utah basketball.
Speaker 2: Games when I was a student there.
Speaker 1: And I'll say, and look, Larry Chriscoviaka had a couple
Speaker 1: of good teams, you know, Jim Boyling had an NCAA team.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying the building hasn't had one night like
Speaker 1: that in twenty seven years or whatever, but it really
Speaker 1: did feel like an atmosphere that reminded me of when
Speaker 1: I was watching Andre Miller and Keith van Horn and
Speaker 1: Mike Tholeiak and Britton Johnson.
Speaker 2: So let's start with the environment.
Speaker 1: You travel all over the place for a college basketball
Speaker 1: game to kind of feel and sound like that of
Speaker 1: the Hunts kind of warm in my heart.
Speaker 2: What did you make of that crowd?
Speaker 3: Well, as you know, over the years, I have done
Speaker 3: a ton of games at the Huntson Center, and I
Speaker 3: think I've had a more energetic, boisterous crowd that was
Speaker 3: into it from even before the game started, like we
Speaker 3: had Saturday night. That was an electric atmosphere. And I've
Speaker 3: done BYU Utah games there in Salt Lake City before
Speaker 3: and that was just a tremendous atmosphere for college basketball
Speaker 3: and it was great to see. And the Utah fans
Speaker 3: got rewarded with that overtime win, a huge w for
Speaker 3: Craig Smith in his program. But it was great to
Speaker 3: see that again. I've seen good crowds and full houses
Speaker 3: at the Huntsman Center before, but if all the games
Speaker 3: I've been to they're up at the Huntson Center, that
Speaker 3: was probably the best in terms of atmosphere and fan
Speaker 3: engagement that I've seen, probably in all the years I've
Speaker 3: been going to games at the University of Utah.
Speaker 1: I agree, And it was a lot of fun and
Speaker 1: there were a good number of BYU fans, but not
Speaker 1: as many as I thought. Because the rumors prior to
Speaker 1: the game was BYU fans, we're gonna grab all the
Speaker 1: secondary market tickets in the upper Bowl, and because Utah
Speaker 1: fans at times don't fill that lower Bowl.
Speaker 2: There was gonna be a lot of blue.
Speaker 1: There was some, not a ton, But let's get into
Speaker 1: the game and I'll tell you what roxy you like
Speaker 1: to start the season. When we're doing kind of a
Speaker 1: little preseason stuff to preview the Big twelve schedule, I
Speaker 1: looked at January eighteenth BYU here in Salt Lake and
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, that's probably going to be an ass kicking.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if anybody would argue that Craig
Speaker 1: has near the talent that Kevin does. I mean, reports
Speaker 1: are Jegor demon is a seven figure nil kid, and
Speaker 1: last Jonathan Cavoni Matt Mack I looked at he was
Speaker 1: number seven off the board. Canon Catching's is all supposed
Speaker 1: to supposed to be a first round prospect, although I
Speaker 1: don't really see it with him just yet. But I
Speaker 1: don't feel like Craig has near the talent Kevin did.
Speaker 1: And certainly home court advantage helps. And you know, had
Speaker 1: a couple of performances from some players that were quite frankly,
Speaker 1: things we hadn't seen before. But what stood out most
Speaker 1: to you about the way the game played out that
Speaker 1: allowed Utah to get that win on overtime.
Speaker 3: Well, first off, I explained a little bit more for
Speaker 3: free flowing offense, and it didn't really come to fruition
Speaker 3: Saturday night. With the way Utah have been playing this year,
Speaker 3: second in the country and assists spence, the ball has
Speaker 3: been whipping and moving around for the youths this year,
Speaker 3: and it didn't really happen, probably because BYU, I think
Speaker 3: had it well scouted and they do for things, so
Speaker 3: I think they took that aspect away and tried to
Speaker 3: limit the movement and they were with the physical battle
Speaker 3: between the two, which I did anticipate just because of
Speaker 3: the rivalry, and that was the one thing I thought
Speaker 3: we'd get a score in the eighties. We did, it
Speaker 3: was overtime in the low seventies. But it was a
Speaker 3: fierce competitive battle from the outset, and I was really
Speaker 3: impressed with the toughness that really team showed and Utah
Speaker 3: trying to defend. The home floor crowd certainly was into
Speaker 3: it with Kavakada playing on the other side at starting
Speaker 3: for Utah, and it was really just an intense game
Speaker 3: from the outset. That's the one thing that really stood
Speaker 3: out to me is just how locked in both teams
Speaker 3: were and how physically intense this game was.
Speaker 1: I imagine you had a chance to catch up with
Speaker 1: Craig before the game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, oh yeah, I saw. I was there shoot around.
Speaker 3: In fact, I was talking to him for about five minutes,
Speaker 3: about twenty minutes of four tip over the hallway. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I have had a great relationship with Craig going back
Speaker 3: to his days in Utah State.
Speaker 1: So he's like the best dude, as you know, and
Speaker 1: I'm pulling hard for him. His son Bountiful lum Roxy
Speaker 1: don't I know you don't have time, but when you
Speaker 1: have time later, you can look up the nineteen ninety
Speaker 1: seven Bountiful Braize basketball team, the one state. People around
Speaker 1: here believe it's the best high school team in the history.
Speaker 1: I don't say that, even though I mean I may
Speaker 1: have been on the team, but I don't say that.
Speaker 2: It's not me.
Speaker 1: And so his son played for the same high school
Speaker 1: coach I did, so I used to run into him
Speaker 1: at some of those games, and I pull for him,
Speaker 1: and I felt so happy for him with this win.
Speaker 1: And he's had good wins in the past out of
Speaker 1: win over Oregon, and so we're hoping ultimately this is
Speaker 1: not only a moment in time, but can you shed
Speaker 1: a little light on some of the portions of your
Speaker 1: conversations with him and his thoughts on this group and
Speaker 1: what they could potentially do this year.
Speaker 3: First off, as you know when you talk to his fence,
Speaker 3: he's always upbeat, he's always positive, and the way he
Speaker 3: looks at things got so much energy and it's infectious,
Speaker 3: and I think his team feels that every time that
Speaker 3: they're on the practice floor, they're on this floor for
Speaker 3: shoot round, get ready for games in locker room, he
Speaker 3: gets them going and they feed off it. And you're right,
Speaker 3: they don't have the talent at BYU does, but Craig
Speaker 3: finds a way to get the most out of his
Speaker 3: talent utilize the pieces. The other thing about Craig is
Speaker 3: he recruits that style that he wants to play with
Speaker 3: the ball movement. Yes, Gabe Madsen is a great shooter
Speaker 3: from the outside is going through a little bit of
Speaker 3: a funk right now, but he's also a willing passer,
Speaker 3: laws and lovering at center is a center that's averaging
Speaker 3: two and a half assists a game. It's a style
Speaker 3: that he recruits to and he wants to play, and
Speaker 3: to me, it's an aesthetically pleasing style a watch because
Speaker 3: of the ball movement and how free flowing they go,
Speaker 3: and they shoot threes and he's excited. Look, they know
Speaker 3: this transition is not going to be easy the last
Speaker 3: ten years. I don't think anybody will give you the
Speaker 3: argument that the Big Twelve has been the best league
Speaker 3: in the country this year. It's not. The SEC has
Speaker 3: shown that they are the best basketball league so far here,
Speaker 3: but I think the Big Twelve is right behind it.
Speaker 3: To be honest with you, I with the way this
Speaker 3: league is balanced. You look at teams like Iowa State, Kansas, Baylor,
Speaker 3: after a rough opening to the season has come on.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of really good basketball. Arizona's figured things
Speaker 3: out and it makes it challenging when you're in this league.
Speaker 3: And Houston's looked to me legitimate Final fourteen and that's
Speaker 3: now the competition level with Utah needs to embrace and
Speaker 3: I think they have and they stack up physically when
Speaker 3: you look at him, they look the part. And on
Speaker 3: Saturday night, it was a challenge to go up against BYU.
Speaker 3: They're on the whole floor and it seen. The emphasis
Speaker 3: in the second half was be physical, go inside, and
Speaker 3: that's where they took this game from BYU with the
Speaker 3: physicality that Ezrasore played with and lost and lover and
Speaker 3: the way they were able to attack BYU on the interior.
Speaker 1: So I saw Craig on the sidelines of the Utah
Speaker 1: BYU football game, and he was there to kind of
Speaker 1: do the basketball coach thing. It's like, hey, well you're
Speaker 1: all here, come see us play. And he told me
Speaker 1: about ezra at the game and he said, you know,
Speaker 1: they were really excited about him East Carolina transfer, and
Speaker 1: he's had some personal stuff. Craig alluded to it after
Speaker 1: the game. He went home after the death of his grandmother.
Speaker 1: And I got to say, Roxy, you're old enough to
Speaker 1: remember because I made this reference. And I think most
Speaker 1: young listeners are probably looking at me with eight heads.
Speaker 1: There's like a little Adrian Danley to this kid's game
Speaker 1: because he's not six ' eight, Roxy, He's not okay,
Speaker 1: he's listed at six ' eight, he's like six '
Speaker 1: five sixty six, but his the myriad of pump fix,
Speaker 1: the ability to finish with both hands.
Speaker 2: He's a better athlete than ad was.
Speaker 1: Because the knock on your head, but finishes with the
Speaker 1: right hand, finishes with the left hand. And Kevin threw
Speaker 1: everybody at him. He threw for foose tray or at him.
Speaker 1: He threw ke bacade at him. And it didn't matter
Speaker 1: who was guarding Ezra Sar. He just got whatever he wanted.
Speaker 1: And I didn't know he had that in him, and
Speaker 1: I know he had a nice game against TCU, but
Speaker 1: that was next level.
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts on what you saw from Ezra?
Speaker 3: It seemed like he was a different player in the
Speaker 3: second half Saturday night, maybe because the emphasis to get
Speaker 3: him the basketball, but he was unstoppable and he went
Speaker 3: to town b what you knew what he was going
Speaker 3: to do, and they couldn't stop him. And every shot
Speaker 3: was either right at the rim or within five ft.
Speaker 3: And it's not like he's yep it do on the
Speaker 3: perimeter and nailing threes or even hitting the mid rage jumper.
Speaker 3: It was all attack, attack, attack, And he's got that
Speaker 3: to his game, that toughness, strength and a nice compliment
Speaker 3: to loss and lovering. Who isn't really your low post
Speaker 3: big man. He's more of a face up and looking
Speaker 3: to pass and facilitate where Ezra just completely just game
Speaker 3: over in the second half, a few points at halftime,
Speaker 3: with a non factor for the most part in the
Speaker 3: first half, but certainly in the second half. In in overtime
Speaker 3: it was a point of emphasis. Then they had to
Speaker 3: sweat it out with all the free throws they missed
Speaker 3: down the stretch. And that's one thing that concerns me
Speaker 3: going forward then, is their struggles at the sul line
Speaker 3: and guys like Leering Ezra, who have the ball a
Speaker 3: lot and are attacking, gets to the line a lot,
Speaker 3: but they miss a lot of free throws and it
Speaker 3: became shaking down the stretch for Utah.
Speaker 1: So before we get over to BYU, because I do
Speaker 1: have some questions about Kevin's team, I was really happy
Speaker 1: for Hunter Erickson, who is a BYU transfer, and it's fun.
Speaker 1: You know, you mentioned Gabe and his shooting struggles. I
Speaker 1: will say this, I thought BYU did a remarkable job
Speaker 1: on Gabe. You know, they started with Mowatt mag on him.
Speaker 1: Richie Saunders chased him around for a while, Dawson Baker
Speaker 1: chased him around for a while, but every single screen
Speaker 1: he came off.
Speaker 2: Of BYU was ready. They blitzed him this and two,
Speaker 2: so he.
Speaker 1: Just didn't have a lot of space, and he's the
Speaker 1: type of shooter like Steve Kerr and I Before people
Speaker 1: get crazy, I'm not saying Gabe matts and Steph Curry
Speaker 1: everybody calmed down. But Steve Kerr always talks about I
Speaker 1: want Steph to take five or six horrible shots a
Speaker 1: game because when he gets going, you know it's unstoppable.
Speaker 1: And when Gabe gets going, he's one of the elite
Speaker 1: shooters in this conference. So I'm fine at times with
Speaker 1: a fadeaway three to get the feel. But I thought
Speaker 1: Gabe was really mature with his ability to handle the
Speaker 1: space and the gravity effect allowed some open shots, but
Speaker 1: nobody could really capitalize until Hunter came in and knocked
Speaker 1: down a couple of massive threes. He did airball free throw,
Speaker 1: but he stepped up and hit three free throws and
Speaker 1: his nine points during the final portion of the game,
Speaker 1: both in regulation on and overtime. Utah doesn't win that
Speaker 1: game without Hunter Erickson, so I was really happy for him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no question, and the clutch plays you alluded to,
Speaker 3: and with mattson, he needs to be a volume shooter
Speaker 3: on this team and he is their best shooter. Okay,
Speaker 3: maybe not percentage wise, but he's got to be the
Speaker 3: guy that they look to to take the big shot.
Speaker 3: And that's what Craig's getting at with him being a
Speaker 3: volume shooter and those tough, challenging shots, those fadeaway threes
Speaker 3: end of a shot clock, when he's got a fire
Speaker 3: and he's off balance and falling out of bounce, those
Speaker 3: are the type of things that Gabe needs to do
Speaker 3: for that team. And when you look around this group,
Speaker 3: he's the one that's capable of doing that. Shark Jompson
Speaker 3: is more of a creator. He can score, you know,
Speaker 3: other guys on this team, there's things they can do,
Speaker 3: but at the end of the day, Gabe has looked
Speaker 3: to as that guy who needs to be the volume shooter.
Speaker 3: And look, he's second in Utah history and three winners
Speaker 3: made and that's why they're going to keep going to
Speaker 3: him because he's not afraid of the big moment either.
Speaker 1: Indeed, indeed, before I get to bring him young, what
Speaker 1: are you willing to say about Utah's Big twelve chances
Speaker 1: this year? They're not winning the conference, but they've won
Speaker 1: three straight games. Could Craig somehow some way get this
Speaker 1: team in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't rule it out because of what you alluded to.
Speaker 3: They won three straight games and if you can come
Speaker 3: up with some clutch wins along the way, they're eleven
Speaker 3: and six overall to five hundred league. They got a
Speaker 3: tough game with Houston coming up, which on the road,
Speaker 3: and I think I think Houston's really good Spence I
Speaker 3: had them early, and I'm so impressed with the way
Speaker 3: that they play. They're so tough mentally and physically. They
Speaker 3: just pound you and they beat you up. And to me,
Speaker 3: they're the team to beat in the Big twelve. I
Speaker 3: think as good as Iowa State is and Kantas certainly
Speaker 3: over the years. I don't think this is a great can.
Speaker 3: It's his team for Bill Selp, I think they're really good.
Speaker 3: But to me, I think Houston is the best team
Speaker 3: in his league.
Speaker 1: I agree with that, and you know, well, we'll see
Speaker 1: how Utah stacks up. But I'm not going to take
Speaker 1: a ton away from that game because Houston might win
Speaker 1: by thirty and you know, ultimately, I don't think it
Speaker 1: would change a whole lot because there's a gap between
Speaker 1: those two teams.
Speaker 2: All right over to BYU.
Speaker 1: And here's the thing, Like, you know, Kevin Young gets
Speaker 1: that job to a lot of celebration, a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of BYU fans, you know, really really excited
Speaker 1: about the potential.
Speaker 2: And Kevin comes from the NBA.
Speaker 1: His bench is littered with assistant coaches that have NBA experience.
Speaker 1: They bring in an NBA strength and conditioning staff and
Speaker 1: nutritionness from the Phoenix Suns, and suddenly the collective starts
Speaker 1: paying a lot of money to get talent. I reference
Speaker 1: Diego Demon, who reportedly is a seven figure kid ken
Speaker 1: and catching is a lot of people think he's a
Speaker 1: first round prospect, is making good money aged the bands,
Speaker 1: is on his way to play for Kevin next year.
Speaker 1: But you know the deal, Roxy, when you clearly have
Speaker 1: the talent on paper, you got to show you can coach.
Speaker 1: And he hasn't done this before. This is his first
Speaker 1: go around, and they're obviously close. But the fact of
Speaker 1: the matter is they're ower to five and quad one opportunities.
Speaker 1: They're own four in games decided by five points or less,
Speaker 1: and they have not won a road game. They have
Speaker 1: to win tonight. What stands out most to you is
Speaker 1: you watch this early project that Kevin is tasked with leading.
Speaker 3: Well. It is a work in progress and it's different
Speaker 3: the way Mark Polpe went about it, and certainly that
Speaker 3: offense was fun to watch with all the threes they
Speaker 3: shot last year. This is the team of still making threes,
Speaker 3: but they go about it a different way. And you know, Demon,
Speaker 3: he hasn't been the same since he hurt his knee
Speaker 3: in early December in that game against Province, and I
Speaker 3: think they're hoping at some point it clicks back in
Speaker 3: for him. But you could see the talent in terms
Speaker 3: of his ability to create for others. He is not
Speaker 3: a scorer as of yet. He clearly needs to get stronger,
Speaker 3: but it's a talented team and right now Catchings, for example,
Speaker 3: think is going through a confidence issue and that's a
Speaker 3: problem for them. He was really well early but the
Speaker 3: last five games he has really struggled and trying to
Speaker 3: find his way again. And I think it's more mental
Speaker 3: than it is physical right now for him, Spence and
Speaker 3: the talent's there, we see it, but he's got to
Speaker 3: get back on track and it's important for BYU that
Speaker 3: he does. And the interesting thing about them, Spence is
Speaker 3: I've talked to a few coaches and some NBA people.
Speaker 3: They think Richie Saunders might be an NBA player. That
Speaker 3: the things that he does, how quickly he gets his
Speaker 3: shot off, the toughness that he plays with, that the
Speaker 3: energy he provides. Look, I'm not saying he's going to
Speaker 3: be maybe a regular rotation top guy in the NBA,
Speaker 3: but there is a lot of people that feel, including
Speaker 3: some coaches around the Big Twelve, that Richie Saunders is
Speaker 3: an NTY player.
Speaker 2: Well, Mark badly wanted him at Kentucky.
Speaker 1: You know, he had a good offer to take off
Speaker 1: to play for his former head coach.
Speaker 2: And he's a good player.
Speaker 1: I mean, he means a lot to them, and I
Speaker 1: think they'll figure it out because that talent is undeniable,
Speaker 1: and I just don't know if Kevin can coach. I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to be critical here, but this is his
Speaker 1: first time. When you have the talent, we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about the coaching. Let's take advantage of the final
Speaker 1: few minutes to get a little hockey in roxy as.
Speaker 2: We are now.
Speaker 1: We are now hockey Town, USA, of course, with the
Speaker 1: Utah Hockey Club here and then to Detroit.
Speaker 2: Well they might have a claim to it.
Speaker 1: We don't because we're still very early in our experiences.
Speaker 2: But you know, I've been to four or five games.
Speaker 2: It's so fun.
Speaker 1: I love watching that sport live and the NHL Live
Speaker 1: is something else to watch. These guys do what they
Speaker 1: do on skates forwards and backwards, like go out and
Speaker 1: try and skate in the straight line. Yeaw, that goes
Speaker 1: for you. But they've been up, they have been down.
Speaker 1: They have been up, they have been down. They've won
Speaker 1: a couple of straight games, and you're gonna call a
Speaker 1: game of theirs this week. What stands out as you
Speaker 1: do your prep, as you learn about the Utah Hockey Club?
Speaker 2: What stands out most of you?
Speaker 3: Well, right now, it's the play of the top line
Speaker 3: and basically the connection that Coolly Keller has. Keller last
Speaker 3: night coming back after getting popped in the eye and
Speaker 3: eat it, Stitches had the game and the struggles that
Speaker 3: Utah has had at home. For some reason, they played
Speaker 3: well on the road. Marino coming back I think is
Speaker 3: a boost for them on the back end. They need
Speaker 3: Sergachev back going again and Connor Ingram being back certainly helps.
Speaker 3: But the line right now, the way that they are
Speaker 3: rolling even with gun Through being out. But the play
Speaker 3: of Keller and Cooley right now, it's just fun to
Speaker 3: watch those two. They have a chemistry, a connection right
Speaker 3: now that's really fun to see.
Speaker 1: Do you think as we sit here today they have
Speaker 1: fallen a little bit but there's still somewhat in the
Speaker 1: mix for the wild card. They've got forty seven points,
Speaker 1: Calgary has fifty one, Colorado has fifty seven. They've fallen
Speaker 1: behind both Vancouver and Saint Louis. And look, you know,
Speaker 1: Bill Armstrong, I think I mentioned this to you. It
Speaker 1: was I got such a kick out of this. The
Speaker 1: introductory Utah Hockey Club kind of rally press conference included
Speaker 1: mostly players. At the beginning, Spicy Tuna stole the show.
Speaker 1: Fans were going crazy, Coach Torney took the mic, fans
Speaker 1: were going now, and Bill Armstrong took the mike.
Speaker 2: He's like, hey, everybody knows we're rebuilding, right.
Speaker 1: He's like trying to temper expectations, and so, you know,
Speaker 1: knowing what they were last year in Arizona and understanding
Speaker 1: how young they are, I felt like if they could
Speaker 1: get a wild card, that would be a massive win.
Speaker 2: Do you think they have that in them? This year.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't rule it out. He's are gonna They're gonna
Speaker 3: happen on some home games because as you know, it's
Speaker 3: been tough slutting for them well for whatever reason at
Speaker 3: Delta Center this year. That has to get corrected if
Speaker 3: they're going to be a playoff team. But the interesting
Speaker 3: thing here down the stretch, and you alluded to the
Speaker 3: days in Arizona, is they haven't been through this as
Speaker 3: far as down the stretch being in a playoff race.
Speaker 3: If they are there, how are they going to handle this?
Speaker 3: And even let's say they don't make it this year, hypothetically,
Speaker 3: the experience of going through this will pay dividends for
Speaker 3: them going forward. But you look at the young core
Speaker 3: of this group and it is a talented group that
Speaker 3: is just going to get better and better. There's a
Speaker 3: lot of talent coming, whether it's in the minors right now,
Speaker 3: are still playing in juniors, but they have drafted well
Speaker 3: at least by prospect wise, that the bright future if
Speaker 3: they happen to not make it this year. But I
Speaker 3: wouldn't rule it out with considering this group right now,
Speaker 3: but this is a key stretch for them and they
Speaker 3: have to find bays to win home games. That was
Speaker 3: a good win against Saint Louis over the weekend in Winnipeg.
Speaker 3: They got to keep it going and finding ways to
Speaker 3: win on homelites.
Speaker 1: All right, Roxy, before I say you loose, we now
Speaker 1: have a college football national champ in is Ohio State,
Speaker 1: and we now have the first iteration of the twelve
Speaker 1: team expanded CFP behind us, So we can diagnose ultimately
Speaker 1: how we digested it and the change is the need
Speaker 1: to be made. I just kind of wonder, as a
Speaker 1: guy that's covered this thing forever, what do you make
Speaker 1: of this new college football playoff and how we crown
Speaker 1: a national champ.
Speaker 3: I like the fact that they value the conference championship
Speaker 3: to me, that was important Spence. That was one of
Speaker 3: the famous for me that I wanted to see if
Speaker 3: they were going forward with the twelve team playoffs. You
Speaker 3: win the Big twelve, you win the ACC in the SEC,
Speaker 3: you should be rewarded with the first round by And
Speaker 3: I also like the fact they rewarded the group of
Speaker 3: five with Boise State. Now do I think Boise State
Speaker 3: was one of the elite teams? Know? But I think
Speaker 3: they earned it and so you put them, you give
Speaker 3: them the buy. But now Ohio State, give them credit.
Speaker 3: They had to win four games along the way. They
Speaker 3: smashed Tennessee, they went to the Rose Bowl and they
Speaker 3: beat Oregon, and they won these last two games until Knights,
Speaker 3: and give them credit. They earned this national championship and
Speaker 3: this is the way we should be doing it, deciding
Speaker 3: it on the field. Okay, we had a lot of
Speaker 3: blowouts in the opening round, which stinks because we want
Speaker 3: competitive football. I do believe that going forward will get
Speaker 3: better opening round games. I do see the formatic Fanny
Speaker 3: again at some point, just because spences. We know there's
Speaker 3: way too much money in television and putting these games on.
Speaker 3: So I do since we'll get an expansion, I don't
Speaker 3: know if it'll go to sixteen or what the next
Speaker 3: step will be. But this isn't going backward. You don't
Speaker 3: see playoff fourmats move backward. At twelve is too many.
Speaker 3: We're to go down to eight. That's not going to happen,
Speaker 3: and so I'm just anxious to see what the next
Speaker 3: step is. But I do like that we got home games.
Speaker 3: Maybe you make the quarterfinal round home games well, rewarding
Speaker 3: those top four seeds. But I think it's great for
Speaker 3: college football when you get these type of matchups. I
Speaker 3: just wish we had more competitive games, to be honest,
Speaker 3: we only had a handful of them in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you there all right. My friends always
Speaker 1: appreciate the time. Great to catch up. Safe travels as
Speaker 1: you are now the voice of Utah sports and we'll get.
Speaker 2: You on soon, okay, anytime. Man, the great.
Speaker 1: Roxy Bernstein, our old buddy from the Pac twelve network.
Speaker 1: It's funny how many of these broadcasters we met as
Speaker 1: a twelve institution here at the University of Utah, but
Speaker 1: he now does a grip of stuff for ESPN, ESPN Radio.
Speaker 1: He is a Heisman voter and one of my favorite
Speaker 1: people that I've met in this business. He is on
Speaker 1: social media at roxy Bernstein is where you find him
Speaker 1: doing some YU basketball tonight against Colorado, doing some Utah
Speaker 1: Hockey Club against the Wild and on Saturday as the
Speaker 1: Utah Women and the BYU Men. So a lot of
Speaker 1: Utah content for a guy Roxy Bernstein.
Speaker 2: Coming up