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Little Know the Foe as well as Little College Basketball
segment here on your Utah ESPN Radio network. We're gonna
get to know the Yukon Huskies. Ladies and gentlemen BAU basketball,
taking their talents across the country and they're going to
be tested versus a very talented, well coached Yukon Huskies team.
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live choose Dental pros Dentalprosiutah dot com. Today, let's get
out to the hotline. Welcome in the voice of the
Yukon Huskies. We got Mike Crispino on the line. Mike,
how you live it?
Speaker 2: Looking good? Feeling good?
Speaker 4: How about you doing fantastic.
Speaker 3: It's a beautiful day here along the Wasatch front, and
U can't wait to delve into all the knicks and
crannies with this matchup BYU versus the Yukon Huskies. Let's
give a little foundational approach here.
Speaker 4: How do you see this game?
Speaker 2: Well, I think both teams are off to really good starts.
I saw BYU played Villain Nova. I was impressed. They've
got some major talent there. Their coach, Kevin Young is
NBA background, you can see some of his influences. Obviously,
had a great first year, twenty six wins, got to
the sweet sixteen. You know, very rare that a guy
that takes a program over rises to that heights. I mean,
we're seeing Richard Patino at Xavier, for instance, struggling to
get the Musketeers off the ground after Sean Miller left.
Stuff happens. I mean, when you change coaches, he can't
expect things to be bright. And Rosie Dan Hurley took
over for Kevin Ollie eight years ago, couldn't get the
five hundred in his first year. Second year he got
over five hundred. Took him a few years to get
it rolling, and then he won back to back championships
three years ago and two years ago. So I think
Dyu's got a great coach there now, and Yukon's had
a great coach here over the last eight years. So
I'm looking forward to it because this will be the
first test for Yukon. They played three non conference games
against mid majors and you know, scored and played well,
but didn't overwhelm people. You know, they've won by twenty
plus each time. You really want to see a team
and how they match up against a team like BYU
that's got major talent in so many positions. So we're
looking forward to it. I don't know how it's going
to come out. I think Yukon will be able to
score with anybody. The question for them is can they
defend well enough. BYU obviously has scored a bundle of
points in their first three games, so is Yukon. But
it comes down to how you can defend. Can you
stop another team when you need to, And Yukon's averaging
over ninety points a game, so teams have had trouble
stopping them. But it really comes down to a Dan
Hurley's been saying this, how good do we guard the perimeter?
How good do we guard the three point line? So
far they've done that, so we'll see can they do
it again. BYU is not a strong three points FIO team,
it looks like so far, I think they're averaging under
thirty percent from three, so that might be might not
be the major test. I think it's gonna be dealing
with Aj Debonsa and Robert Wright the third. Both guys
are prolific scorers already. In Richie Saunders and not another
guy average at almost eighteen their guard. So those three
are going to be real matchup problems for Yukon and
we'll have to see how they handle that.
Speaker 3: Last year, Yukon was twenty four to eleven. They lost
in the NCAA Tournament second round. What what has happened
since that loss? That makes you out to miss it
that they can get back to the air Elite winning
ways from twenty twenty three and twenty twenty three and
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: Well, they're deeper. They are much deeper. And we haven't
even seen Braylan Mullins, who was a McDonald All American.
He's a freshman guard from Greenfield, Indiana. He played in
one of the exhibition games against Boston College. He's six six,
two hundred pounds. He's a guy that can fill it
up from distance. But he had an ankle injury early
on in camp and after playing one exhibition game, hasn't
played now in the last four games. So and I
don't think we're going to see him until maybe December.
It might be another couple of weeks before he's really
one hundred percent healthy to ready to play, So he
can't tell how good Yukon can be. And also they
got another freshman guard that comes from Australia, Jacob Furfey.
He's six six two oh five left handed, sweet sweet stroke,
can really fill it up. He's been unable to play
as well because he had an ankle injury, so Furfy's
getting close. He may play Saturday, he may play tomorrow.
I'd like to see that because I really haven't had
a good look at him except in practice a little bit.
But my point is they're deep. They go ten deep
with quality players. So if Alex Caravan has an off night,
a two time national champion, and he doesn't score his
seventeen a game, or Solo Ball doesn't shoot lights out
from three, he's averaging eighteen a game, overcome it. Because
now they have Terrace Reid back. They're big center, and
he's a double double waiting to happen pretty much every night.
He's averaged twenty one minutes in the two games he's played,
averaging the most twenty points and ten rebounds. He's a
senior and a big dude, six eleven two sixty five.
So Red and Ball and Caravan they're the lynch pins,
but they've got a lot of other guys that come
off their bench that are really quality players. Silas Demery,
guy that came from Georgia in the SEC after two years. Raleigh,
North Carolina guy is their point guard and so far,
so good with him. He's really played well in terms
of assisted turnovers. Scored about ten a game, but had
nine assists the other night in a game against Columbias,
So looks like he's going to be able to fill
the role as a point guard. Malachi Smith is from Dayton.
He's a transfer from Dayton, the Bronx guy averaging eight
points a game, a legitimate difficult guy to guard and
a difficult guy to play against when he defends you.
He's kind of gritty. You know, he's only six to one,
but he's tough as nails. So I mean, you keep
going down the roster, and we haven't talked about Jaln
Stewart as a junior forward from Seattle in his third
year with Yukon and Jayden Ross, another junior who lit
it up the other night from distance. Those two guys
are juniors in the program and they're starting to get
their most significant playing time here this year. So and
we haven't even got to the two other guys that
came in from other schools that will help them on
a given night. So my point is they're deep, they
have a lot of answers. They can pick up the
pace against you defensively and turn you over. And one
thing they're doing better this year, much better than last year,
is get out on the fast break. If they can defend,
turn you over or rebound and run. If they do that,
then they're going to be a dangerous team throughout the
season in the Big East and maybe beyond.
Speaker 3: Number seven taking on. This is a top ten showdown, baby,
this is a big game. Saturday's game will be broadcast,
I believe on Fox. And what's your broadcast like for
those that are going to be at the at the
game and maybe want to tune into a little play
by play, how can they tune into you?
Speaker 2: We're on the Varsity Network app yukon Sports Network every game,
every football game, every basketball game, and our baseball too.
So yeah, it's great people are on the country and
Ukon with the success they've had over the years in
the last twenty five years particularly, has a lot of
folks around the country that root for them. So that's
what a lot of people tell me they're in various
parts of the country. Could be Florida, could be California,
could be Texas, could be Utah, could be anywhere. Tune
in on the Yukon Sports Network and listen to our games.
So that's the beauty of that app. You can get
it on your phone. It's a pre app, and you
can hear every single game and the pregame in the
post game, which you know, for fans who are really
in tune to what's going on with these schools and
this college basketball scene, that's what you want to do.
You want to be able to hear what the coaches
have to say, what the players have to say after
the game, something you don't always get, you know, with
the TV side, we were able to get into the
locker rooms and talk to the coaches well in advance
of these games, and it's always enlightening and it's always informative,
and it's always interesting. When Dan Hurley starts talking about
the Yukon basketball program.
Speaker 3: No doubt about it. What is the scouting report on
b YU right now? What did Dan Hurley as coaching
staff at the players tell you about this BAYU Cougar
basketball team.
Speaker 2: Well, They've got talent, and they've got a lot of
skilled players and they have a balanced team. We talked
about Aja Devonsa and Robert Wright the third to stop
more guard transfer from Baylor. But they've also, you know,
got people like Kevakta. I think that's how I pronounced
his first name. He's a senior from Molly. He was
a Utah player last your University of Utah. And they
have people who can come up to the bank like Cannard
Davis averaging nine points. He transferred from Southern Illinois. They
have let me kind of them up your six transfers
on this team. They lost Agor Damon who was drafted
eighth by Brooklyn and the NBA last year, so they
lost him. You got to replace people like that, and
looks like they're gonna they've been able to do it,
and you know, I don't know, I expect they're gonna
run and gun, they're gonna score. I don't know. You know,
I think it looks like they're good one on one
players too. They can isolate you, and that would be
one way I think to attack Yukon because the Huskies
are still figuring out, you know what their health, defense,
can do, who can come over on the weak side
and block shots and help on d because that's when
they became dominant two years ago and three years ago
and won national championships because people like Donovan Kling and
Adamas Sonogo uh Andre Jackson, people who were immense defensive players,
Stefan Castle and they were capable, you know, going one
on one and locking people down. So until they have
like a crew of lockdown type defenders playing together, I
think that's what teams will try to do. They'll try
to exploit them on Yukon's defensive end. Get to the basket,
get to the free throw line. That's what teams did
to them last year and put the Huskies in some
tough spots. But I think they're a little better this
year on the ball, I do, and they're getting to
the line more frequently than they did last year, and
that's always a big advantage. I know that this team
YU shoots at fifty seventy three percent from the free
throw line, and they had thirty seven free throws in
their first three games. But that's an area that Ukon
knows and Dan Hurley talks about it all the time.
Got to keep the other team off the line, can't
give them free points and let them control the game
from the free throw line. So I think that'll be
one of the keys in this game on Saturday.
Speaker 3: Saturday will be the second all time meeting between the
programs who only the only previous meeting took place in
the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, where I actually
attended that.
Speaker 4: When I was on my mission. I was out in Spokane, Washington.
Speaker 3: We actually brought this up twice now that I served
my mission as Spokane, Washington anyway, kind of an odd
stat of the day on our show, but I was there.
My brother in law, Jake Show, The Late Jake showf
he bawled out in that game. Was trying to d
up Omecha Okafer and we're trying to slow down Ben Gordon.
They had a really nice outing fifty eight to fifty
three victory for the Huskies on March twenty of two
thousand and three at Spokane Veterans Memorial.
Speaker 4: Real were you at that game by chance?
Speaker 2: No, I was not. I was in New York working
for the Knicks at the time. I've been to Spokane.
I think that's a cool place. I've been there obviously
for Gonzaga, and we played Gonzaga in Seattle last year.
It's a great college town, I gotta say. But Yukon
three to four were pretty darn good all four. They
ended up winning a championship with the back local Gordon.
So yeah, BYU great, great organization over the years and
always always plays great basketball. Danny Ainge of course comes
to mind. I work with him in Boston when I
was with the Celtics back in the eighties and early nineties,
so he would tell great stories about BYU and the
kind of hoop they played. So we're looking forward to
this because Yukon needs a challenge. They got to get
a big challenge, and they're going to get one on
Saturday night, that's for sure.
Speaker 4: No doubt about it.
Speaker 3: What are are there any weaknesses that you see in
this Yukon team?
Speaker 4: Really?
Speaker 3: I mean, they are personnel rich and they have a
great coaching staff obviously.
Speaker 4: Molding the clay. The culture there is very unique.
Speaker 3: I mean I've heard Dan Hurley discuss how he does
not bring in certain players that are not fits culturally because.
Speaker 4: He likes to coach them up hard.
Speaker 3: He likes to coach him up like grown men, and
you gotta be willing and ready to align with the
the culture that the championship culture he's built.
Speaker 4: Are there really any weaknesses.
Speaker 2: Well, of course, there's always a weakness with any team.
We won't. I think we're really going to find out
something Saturday night. Will BYU get to the rim? Will
they get to the free throw line? Will they give
you con trouble when they have the basketball? That's that's
the number one thing in my mind. Will Yu can't
take care of the ball? Last year they had some
turnover issues? This year they seem to be tighter with
the basketball. They throw it into the bigs a lot
Terris Reid being the number one guy, the senior center,
but there's also a freshman center that I think people
are going to enjoy watching, especially as a season unfolds.
Eric Raiba comes from Hanover, Germany, and he's played about
sixteen minutes a game in the first three games, averaging
about seven and a half points. It gets to the
boards pretty well, ten to thirteen from the field. He's
a freshman, but he's seven to one and he's a
lefty and he can shoot from outside, not that he will.
That's not really part of what Yukon does. They play
the inside out game quite a bit when they're not
running fast breaks and running patterned offense. But Eric Riba
is a guy to keep your eye on because at
seven one two sixty he's an unbelievable backup guy to
Terris Reid, who is six to eleven two sixty five.
So yu Khn's been feeding off this dual center thing
now for four or five years. Used to be a
Domasonogo Donovan Klinghen and it was Donovan Klington, Sampson Johnson
and then last year Sampson Johnson, Terris Reid now is
Terris Reid Eric Riba, So both of the centers are
can be trouble. If they get in foul trouble, that's
when yukonk and have their issues. Then they'll have to
go small and they won't be able to control the
boards as well and might probably won't be able to
defend as well because they won't have weak side help
with the bigs like Eric Riba and Terras Reid. So
those are the things I think they got to be
aware of the Huskies not getting fouled trouble. Don't put
the other team on the line, take care of the
basketball typical stuff. Sometimes if you don't shoot it well,
you can overcome things with that kind of stuff. You know,
the defensive mindset which Dan Hurley constantly harps on.
Speaker 1: With these guys.
Speaker 2: So BYU gets off they're a past start and they're
filling it up and U con falls behind, then anything
can happen. Then you don't know how your team's going
to react. I think that's what Dan Hurley is looking
forward to more than anything. What are we going to
do when we get in a hole? When this team
does what they're gonna do, they're gonna score it, and
what if they get a lead on us? How are
we going to handle that? So that's what we're looking
forward to seeing on Saturday night.
Speaker 3: Defensively, how do you think Dan Hurley approaches this game?
You mentioned Bay who has not shot the three ball
especially well. Although this last game versus Delaware maybe a
defunct Delaware Delaware team, they did hit twelve three pointers.
I believe under k Y when Bous hitting over ten
three pointers, they're like twenty and three, So I mean
they win when they get into double digit threes. Do
you think Dan closes out on the perimeter? Do you
think they try to maybe byu to hit threes early on.
Speaker 2: Well, I think they got to defend the perimeter. He
talks about it every game when they do. And again,
this is a young this is kind of a young team,
a team that hasn't played together very much. Are they
going to be able to guard the perimeter? Are they
going to be up on guys at that at that
line and force them into difficult shots? Are they going
to switch? Are they going to go underscreens? I think
you're going to find out as the game unfolds. But yeah,
if you know, I'm sure. Listen, when you scout a team,
you don't look at just basic stats. You see that
they scored twelve threes. You know they're better than what
their averages say they are in terms of shooting percentage.
So I'm sure that's he's got this huge chalkboard. Most
coaches do, but Dan sets goals up for his team
every game, you know, hold the other team under thirty
percent from three, whatever it may be. And so I
think that might be one of the keys because again,
the way basketball's played now, and if you watch NBA stuff,
you really realize it. I mean, they're shooting one hundred
threes in a game in the NBA. Now, so the
three point deiald goal, it's kind of money, right. It's
the way you score big points in bunches. And if
you let the other team get off off on you
from the three point line start filling it up, that's
a real issue. And so I'm sure that's one of
the things they've been discussing big time. And when teams
do shoot from three out there, guess what that opens
up stuff in the inside for drives, more space to
hit intermediary shots, get to the rim. Perhaps, So the
three point field goal is always key. If you're making them,
that's a real problem for the defense and for the
overall opponent, whoever you may be playing.
Speaker 3: What do you think the environment's going to be like there?
I mean, is it going to be a rockis one?
How many people show up to this game tomorrow?
Speaker 2: I think? And I talked to some folks a couple
days ago. They have sold over fourteen thousand seats. They're
expecting another two thousand probably walk up. I think the
capacity a TD Garden is about seventeen to seven. Whether
they sell out the upper regions, I don't know, but
I think a good sixteen crowd of sixteen thousand will
make a lot of noise in that place. Although Boston's
not a crazy college town as far as hoop goes,
I do think there is a huge segment of Yukon
fans that will get in their cars and drive seventy
five miles up the highway to watch this game. And again,
AJ Demansa is a Brockton kid, the Massachusetts kid. One
of the reasons this game ended up here. I got
to feel like his crew and his neighborhood and his
folks from Brockton are going to show up in droves.
Right had a great chance to see him in person.
And I think that's why these games are so cool,
because you're seeing two great top ten teams, You're seeing
him in a big time arena with a great crowd,
And if it turns out to be a fabulous competitive game,
I think the place will be rock I really do.
Speaker 3: The Big three AJ de Bonca, Richie Saunders and Rob
Right third. They actually accounted for seventy of B's eighty
five points on Tuesday. This past Tuesday's game, I think
through three games, the Big three has accounted for almost
seventy percent of the scoring for BYU. I imagine the
scouting reporties very heavily focused on these three players.
Speaker 4: Aj De Bonsa, Richie Sanders and Rob Right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt about it, because usually, you know, college
teams have two primary scorers. Only the really good ones
have three, maybe four people who can be dependent on
to put points up on the board every night. And
this team has three guys. We talked about it. Rob
Wright is averaging almost fifteen a game, and De Bonsa
is averaging almost twenty, and then Richie Saunder is almost eighteen.
So all three are major threats, let's face it. So
even though maybe the rest of the roster isn't a
big time offensive problem, but they got three guys besides them.
Dominique Diamonde I think he pronounced his name. Richard Freshman
the French, a kid from Paris, France, transferred from Washington.
He's averaging almost ten points and he's only playing thirteen
minutes a game, so he's obviously kind of a microwave
when he gets on the court. And Dawson Baker, another guy,
senior guard, he transferred from UC Irvine. He's averaging eight
and a half a game. You know, in seventeen minutes.
So all those guys in Cannard Davis Junior is also
a guy in minimal minutes averaging almost double figures.
Speaker 3: Let me give you let me give you an update
on Canard. I don't know if he's going to be playing.
He was he was sided for a d DUI yesterday,
so I don't know if. I don't know what his
eligibility status is going to be and whether or not
he made the trip out to the East coast.
Speaker 2: Okay, well yeah, but the point is they have depth.
Right Cada twenty minutes averaging six points, but he he
can really throw his eight around six to eight. Dude
was at Utah last year, so it's not like you're
playing the team with three great players and a bunch
of supplementary guys. This looks like to me and what
I saw against Villanova a three man show, but seven
or eight can really hurt you, and that to me
is a sign of a good team. Right. He might
have a couple off nights from Right or maybe by Saunders,
whatever it may be, but the other guys can pick
up the slack and that is a huge, huge advantage
for Kevin Young because he knows no matter where they play,
and they're in a tough conference. Now remember that, no
matter where they play on the road, at least they
have options, and you need options if you're going to
have success in a really good league like they're in
right now.
Speaker 3: I was pulling up the numbers here. Yukon's favored by
I think five and a half in this game. One
point fifty four point five is the is the point total.
ESPN Matchup Predictor gives the Yukon Huskies a sixty five
percent chance of victory.
Speaker 4: How do you see this game playing out?
Speaker 3: It's at TD Guarden five pm November fifteenth, and I
think it's going to be broadcasting on Fox.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this is gonna be a great game.
I mean, Yukon, if they play to their potential, can
win the game. I mean, I'm not in the prediction business.
I don't like to do it, but I think there's
ways that you, certainly BYU could come in and walk
away to victory too. Right, if they play up to
their potential. It really comes down sometimes in these great matchups,
who is able to reach the level of excellence that
they're used to. Right, if aj Debonsa does his thing
and comes up with twenty five or a huge Nike
it's thirty. I mean, anything could happen then. So Yukon's
got to be very aware as a team about guys
like him. He's legit. He looks like a pro right
now to me, and I've seen a lot of pros
over the years coming out of college, and he's got
the skill set right. So you CON's got to find
a way to make it hard for him. And if
they can do that, maybe they slow down Rob Wright
or maybe they You're able to get Richie Saunders off
his game somehow. You've got to be able to do
that against these great teams. Otherwise you're matched up. Both
teams are going to score eighty and who makes the
last basket wins. That's the way these things go. Oftentimes.
Speaker 4: Love the breakdown, Love talking ball with you.
Speaker 3: Great segment, Mike Crispino, the voice of the Yukon Huskies.
Speaker 4: Have a great call. Brother. It's great getting to know you.
Speaker 3: Great getting to know the Huskies through your your rising
voice today in a college basketball Know the faux segment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no problem, really appreciates you having me.
Speaker 4: Thanks Mike Crispino.
Speaker 3: Ladies and gentlemen, and if you want to download that
app and you can listen to Mike's call for the
Yukon Huskies. As I mentioned way, you're not favored in
this game. And you know, I don't know if you're
going to see it as disrespect or what have you,
but you need a lot from the Big Three this game.
AJ Ritchie Rob You've been leading this team all season long.
You may not want these guys off the floor. He
may want to keep them on the floor of the
entire game. If you want to beat the Yukon Huskies,
throw out load management.
Speaker 4: Let's knock off them Huskies.
Speaker 3: Let's go to break guys, don't go anywhere more to
get to great segment. Fantastic segment there with Mike Rispino,
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Speaker 3: At ESPN, the fan mentioned Ben Krittle, You're gonna be
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nine ninety eight point three