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Let's get out to the hotline. Welcome to Cougar Sports Insider.
We got Jerems Jordan on the line representing BYU Sports
Nation and BO TV. Jerrem, how are you?
Speaker 3: I'm doing great? And with that promo, I feel like
I should be running around Kansas City in one of
those suits, like stretching out, squatting, Viking like I'm in
the moon right now.
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love them. They're they're great. I really do like them.
Speaker 1: Nobody does it better, man, They're fantastic. So state of
BYU right now, BYU basketball, let's talk about it. Big
twelve tournament time. How far will BYU go in the
Big twelve Tournament? Do you think?
Speaker 3: Win two games and then probably bout against Houston. So
win today against K State B West Virginia, give a
little revenge not in Morgantown, and then three games three
day is gonna be a lot to take on a fresh,
really good Houston squad and Colin Good have a week
to rest up for the NCAA tournament and then go
see if you can't win two games.
Speaker 1: Go win two games. That's quote job well done, rest
up and get ready for selection Sunday in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think it. Like let's say the UY
did pull off a Craig upset against Houston on Thursday,
should they get there, I don't know that it helps
you a ton like I don't know that the Uyu
would get up to a five seed. I think they
would lock in a six. I think if YU wins today,
they've got a good chance of the six If they
beat West Virginia, they got a great chance of the
sixth seed in the anti tournament. If you happen to
beat Houston, which just feels like a crazy tall order.
Three games in three days, where Aj and Rob are
probably playing almost forty minutes every game. That's a lot
to ask, even those young lives. So yeah, go get
you a sixth seed, which has been great to b
YU in two of the three Sweet sixteens. BU was
a sixth seed, including last year. And that's kind of
the hope is that this team can catch a little
bit of fire and get to that second weekend.
Speaker 1: Okay, so what does it look like? So if they
get a sixth seed, right, how confident are you that
by You can get to a Sweet sixteen? And what
does the bracketology look like? Would you say? On location
for BYU?
Speaker 3: Yeah, we know there are four possible Thursday Saturdays, right,
and then you got to look into the next spot
to see which regionals are Sunday or whatever. But yeah,
the four that are Thursday Saturday right now are Buffalo, Greenville,
South Carolina.
Speaker 4: That's how you say it.
Speaker 3: My dad is from North Carolina, so I'm super legit.
Oklahoma City and then Portland. And then the two regional
spots are that are Thursday Saturday are Houston and San Jose.
And it all depends ben On. If BYU can play
defense at the level and give an effort and energy
and rebound like they did Saturday, it's going to be
hard without that little number next to the name. Like
when BOAD played the top ten team, they've been up
for those games, right, And isn't it wild that BYU
had only played one top ten team in any given
season when they played them at home, and then they
played four this year. BYU went two and two in
those and amazingly without Richie, those are the two they won.
So coach Ritchie, I can verify is in Kansas City?
Is it going to be on the bench with by
which is great news? Is it causation? Is it correlation?
It's probably just correlation, but there's some juice that is there.
And if BYU gives a crap on defense and a rebounds,
I think they have a chance to not only win
two games in this tournament, but next week perhaps win
two as well. Because what is the point of the
Big twelve Gauntlet, Ben, is so that in that first
and second round game, you go, okay, first yet and
you should win, right if you're six, you're playing eleven,
might be tricky, who knows, maybe you match up with
like a Miami of Oira or whatever. But that second
round game, you go, we've played hand of these kind
of games in the WCC, you would say we played
that one non conference game and maybe two or three
in the regular seasons. BYU should be a weathered, experienced
team at this point in those kind of matchups, and
they should give an effort in on defense and rebounding.
And then they got a shot because in that three
game losing streak to unranked teams, boy did not play
hard on defense. They just didn't. Against Texas Tech, they
were super engaged and it was amazing, like if Rob
and Canard a AJ that's the tone. Defensively, switching everything,
moving their feet, hit in the glass, hadeen, bloop energy,
all that. Boy can do something. Man, they can They
can get to the Sweet sixteen. We'll see on the
matchups and all that coming up on Slection Sunday. But
I feel like if Euyu just it sounds weird, tries harder,
they got a chance to do something.
Speaker 1: If they just try harder, is there a visible like
I mean, you're right, you know what I mean? Like no,
But I'm like, I'm watching it from home. Ronnie covers
the games, right, you know for ESPN the fan, you're
your court side, you're watching. Do you do you see
a visual difference in effort in these games in which
b YU is playing like, you know, a top ten team,
and there's like maybebe the backs against the wall and
and the players are really efforting a little bit more.
Speaker 3: I literally do against Iowa State in Tech with Tech
Day tried harder than they did against UCF Cincinnati and
West Virginia. And it's not about what happens in the
game in terms of made shots or not. Ben On Saturday,
d YU allowed twelve for nineteen from the three point line,
yet they stayed engaged, They did not give up Canard
Davis goes zero for five to start from three.
Speaker 4: What did he do?
Speaker 3: He's still staying games on the defensive end. He hit
the offensive glass for two easy putbacks, and then and
then second half, how did he how did he shoot
four or five in his final five three point shots?
He stayed engaged. He has to be in double figures
for VUA to have a chance to compete at a
high level. And he's got to be that third guy
because you know, Aj and Rober are gonna get it done.
Aj was not super efficient on Saturday, but he was.
He was rebounding, and he was finding his teammates, and
he was scoring when needed and so on so forth.
Rob Right's the third is a Texas Tech demon. They
don't have a guy that can guard him right now.
Certain teams have not But that was good to see too.
But it's more important on the defensive end, Rob to
be engaged because that's the key for this team. Is
Like to me, defense is in basketball is less skill
than offense, Like you got to make a shot. That
takes skills. It's rebounding and defense our effort, like just
try hard and b aways. Again I've said a million times,
but just be engaged on that end.
Speaker 1: Be engaged. Be engaged in a good cause, which is
winning basketball games right now, playing great defense, getting rebounds,
getting a second chance shots, and hopefully getting a bucket
or two on the offensive. Van Jerem Jordan talking to
some BYU basketball here on your Utah. ESPN ready a network.
What what Thursday Saturday situation is best for by you?
Would you say from a home court advantage and BYU
fans showing up, showing out. Gone to Denver.
Speaker 4: Last year, Yeah, that was sweet.
Speaker 3: There were a ton of BI fans there and BOI dominated.
And that includes Wisconsin, who is famous for how their
fans literally travel. We say BUA fans travel, but we
know they've mostly just live there and fans do travel
in but it's who kind of lives with it. You
dow like an eight hour circle, like or with a
pin on a map, and like all those homies show up,
which is great. Portland seems like the obvious choice there.
I lived in the five O three as a kid,
and like there's some great BUI fans in the Northwest
that would really show up. My only fear there is
what if gone Zaga is a three seed and Boi
matched up in the second round against them in the
Great Northwest, like all the Zag fans and all of
a sudden, it's like, is this or Leans Arena again?
We've been here. I don't want that a per se.
If contact is not a three there, then I am
enticed by that because I could say hi to the
in laws who live in Wilsonville, you know, and the
whole thing. It'd be great. But like selfishly, I kind
of want to go to like Greenville or Buffalo, just
like to see somewhere else. But UI did in twenty
ten go to Oklahoma City, and that's the gym or
for that junior year. That's Michael Lloyd junior off the bench.
That's you know, they beat Florida, you know, and overtime,
and then the next game they lost to Kansas State.
But you know, there's so there's some history of winning
Oklahoma City. But it doesn't matter all that much because
if I guess, if you feel like you need some
energy from the crowd, then Portland is the most obvious
choice there. If you don't, then yeah, you go somewhere else.
But what you don't want is you're the sixth Miami
will House. The eleven and you're in Buffalo because then
all those Red Hawk fans are showing up, so it
could be interesting, but ultimately you just got to go
and win. It's like people that have been to the
NCAA tournament. It's a more sort of uh gale environment
than people like want to admit it like a little
super exciting, but there are four teams in there, so
kind of who's whose, other fans are rooting for who.
It's a weird vibe, the weirdest game mode that I've
ever been to. Ben's Remember when Jimmer played in his
hometown of Glens Falls, New York against Vermont to senior
ear yep. I went to that game. The people only
cheered in the gym for Jimmer, nobody for Vermont, nobody
for Yu except for when Jimmer scored. There was no
like in house toun of music. There were no cheerleaders,
no mascots. It's like the weirdest game I've been for this,
but it was really cool for Jimmer.
Speaker 1: It's always intriguing, right, the kind of the neutrality sometimes
in the the role those fans play in the in
these games. Uh, it's always uh of intrigue to me
and uh, you know, we're the momentum shifts Ultimately. You know,
b YU pass Ball is a great basketball team when
they're playing in front of their home crowd. It seems,
at least recently, they have been without Richie Saunders. So
if you can create a home court environment, great, If not,
they got to find a way to win. My thought
is this, I want to get your your eval on this.
AJ versus Tech didn't have his best game. In fact,
it was kind of an average to maybe above average game.
If BYU is going to get to a Sweet sixteen,
doesn't Rob Wright and AJ have to play their best
ball in March in order to get there?
Speaker 3: I mean in Seria, yes, but on that day you
just have to be better than that team. What's the
sort of level that team is competing at. Maybe they
shoot poorly too. You just have to scrap your weight
to whatever that day requires, because every game is different,
right If yeah, if Robin and AJ play their best,
I mean I think they're beating a lot of teams
in the country, like all but like six or seven.
Maybe I have no idea, but yeah, those two are
super important to me. They Yeah, if one of them
is super off, it's going to be hard, but you
have to have Canard Davis playing defense, hitting some threes.
If you need Alexic coast to a little bit, you
meet Kava Cata and that injured hand to like be
able to get enough rebounds. Which, by the way, Kiva
was fantastic against Kansas State and the two games he's
played the less complete as I expect him to have
a big game today. For BOI to go far, it
does depend on kind of the matchup. But the good
news is we have two reference points BOI playing tremendous
teams like two and three seed types in Iowa State
and Texas Tech where BOI won. Those were in provo.
But if you don't have a big home court advantage
for either team, BOI was six and one in neutral games.
Then they had more neutral site wins than any other
team in the country in non conference play. This team
has been through it. Granted it's been a minute. What
is that yield here in Kansas City? What is that yield?
In the NCAA tournament. The hope is you avoid a
upset in the first round. Right, I think Boa is
going enough to get through the first round. It's this
team will be defined by whether they win that second
round game or not. If they don't, we'll go, hey,
injuries off too bad with aj he's going to be
the number one pick. Still a lot of positivity. But
if they do win a second round game and gives
them Sweet sixteen, you go, hey, that was the minimum
threshold for how much talent was on this team and
how much was fed on the team. And so that's
my hope that next week BUA can kind of validate
that it's not a massive failure if they don't because
they've had too many injuries, but if they can get
through that second round and get to the fourth Sweet
sixteen ever do it in back to back years with
Kevin hung Now we're talking because Buy's future is in
the right direction.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this, speaking of a j to Bontson,
do you feel like he got robbed? Did he should
he have been the Big twelve Player of.
Speaker 3: The Year Jerem Heck, yes, he absolutely got robbed. I'm
fired up about this man. I think that he should
have been the player of the year. It's not the
leadership award, it's not the the best player on the
best team, which I'm not even sure. Jaden Bradley is.
I think Brayden, Burrays and Coed Pete are like as good.
Arizona and Houston have so much talent and they're good
and their balanced. I'm not saying Jayden Bradley is not
a great player, because he is. But AJJ. Box is
clearly the best player in the league. I don't understand
why this happens. Sean Farnham was on roy Sport station
to day and he brought up a great point which
I agree with and I have discovered through some conversation
that was likely the case, which is Jaden Bradley probably
won because JT. Toffen and AJJ Box have probably got
neutralized in the votes. I bet you it came down
to one vote and Jaden got one more among the
sixteen coaches, and you can't vote for your own guy, right,
and so that sways things or whatever. So yeah, I
do think aj got robbed. Does this really matter in
the hierarchy of whatever? No, not even within like the
season it would have been cool. I think we all
get that he's the best player in the league. Though
he's going to be a first team All American. Jane
Bradley was not even and Sean brought this up a
great point. Jamee Bradley was not even a unanimous first
team selection. What does that tell you again, Jane Bradley,
great player, Jake Toppin amazing player. Ad was the best
player in the league though, no.
Speaker 1: Doubt about it, no doubt about it. And hopefully he
confirms that in the Big twelfth Tournament and hopefully confirms
that into March madness. For you, what is quota this season?
Taking into account five season ending injuries, the three iterations
of this BYU basketball team, the trials, the tribulations, the undulations,
the Jekkoelin hiding of Brigham this season? What is quota
this year? And what would be overachieving this year for
this BOA men's basketball team in the NCAA Tournament.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm kind of split between they have to win
a second round game and no, you know, if they
bout the after the first into the second, then maybe
with all the injuries, that's tough to say. Hey, you
got to beat a three seed if you're a six
seed aka top kind of twelve through fifteen teams. Yet,
we've seen some lows, we've seen some real highs coming
off the high against text of sex so hope this
boy can get to a Sweet sixt team. I think
if they do, we go they did it, they probably
over atch you by a little bit given where the
roster's at right now. But it's also just tough because
you have literally the best player that's ever worn a
BA uniform, like AKG. Bompson is going to be the
number one pick in the draft. We can discuss another
day whether this season for him was better than Jimmers,
because I think that is an interesting conversation, Jimmer senior
year or Danny senior year. Danny defined the year by
beating Utah top ten team in the final regular season
game and then going to the Elite eight. One of
those things just happened for AJ. By the way, senior
Knight's top ten win for him, it was freshman night.
He ain't coming back. That's by what he's saying. Come on,
so how is you? Are you going to be defined
not what they do in Kansas City this week, by
what they do next week in one of those four cities.
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, you bring up an interesting debate here.
We discussed it as well. Today. You buying are selling
the rhetoric that AJ is seriously considering coming back to
b Yu. He's now said it or three times. He
does it with a smirk. He does it with maybe
a chuckle each time. But you buying, are selling?
Speaker 3: That selling? There's no way he's coming back, dude. There's
like I've talked to as and he's saying the same thing.
It's like, stop, there's no way he's coming back to me.
I don't care what he tells McKay coppins. I don't
care what he tells Spencer Linton. He ain't coming back, man,
There's no way. Who would that, right? Mind is like,
I'm cool with a third of the pay with anything.
That's what it'd be, right, Like, he can make you know,
three or four mil, and next year he'd make thirteen
or fourteen miil, Like what are we talking about here? Also,
he's grown up wanting to plan in the NBA, he
didn't say I want to stay in college two years.
He can't even say it without a smile or a tuffle,
Like you said, he can't even finish.
Speaker 1: But Jeremy, he said he loved his Book of Mormon class,
and he loves his teacher, and his mom wants him
to get his degree.
Speaker 3: The degree can still happen for Yegor and AJ if
to want so, no, he gonna he gon' But what
a year it was for a j And let's uh,
let's finish, let's finish strong hair and listen, here's the thing.
If it doesn't go well here at the end, whatever
that means to you, it was still worth everything that
it costs for the donors and from YU, because this
dude is gonna rep BUYU in the NBA and he's
gonna be the highest drafted player ever from BYU unless
he goes too then he Tyshan Bradley, Right, But what
he's repped really well, and he's carried himself in a
way that his parents have raised him really well, and
the boy should be proud of.
Speaker 1: To him, no doubt about it. And do you think
did Jazz get them? Do you think the Jazz somehow,
some way fortuitously get you know, a little tank Lake
City and get the number one overall.
Speaker 3: Pick and they take a j Isn't there the stat
that the Jazz have never had their pick improved from
where it was like it? And you think the NBA
and all the conspiracy theories about you know, the lottery
and whatnot, you think after the fine that the Jazz
is somehow going to get a top two pick.
Speaker 4: I do not.
Speaker 3: I'm hoping, you know, I would love to have aj
on the Jazz. Trust me, I work like fifteen twenty
games a year. There's some tough nights in there.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: If they don't and they kind of fall, you need
to take best player available. But if they fall the
four or five, then, which is likely where they're going
to be again, give me a cuff junior, Give me
Kingston Plumbings one of those two. Now we make our
move with Walker Kessler, Jaron Jackson, Lay Laurie Markinen, de'ante
George and then TBD top five draft pick. That's a
fun roster that I think could be somewhere in the
seven eight nine seed range. You're in the plays for
the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Now we're going which fact of the day uh ticks
off BYU slash Jazz fans. More? Is it the fact
that they've never improved their lottery slot ever, or is
it that they've gone to more ZAA tournaments and not
seeing a final four than any other team in college
basketball history.
Speaker 3: Well, given the tanky nature of what's going on, promptly
the Jets, But I do hate the I do hate well,
I don't hate it. Like what I love about it
is well that means BI makes attorney a lot. Yeah,
but yes, have they had that? Like team No? I
want Boa to have some magical run in the attorney
that it feels like random teams get every year that
someone stumbles into the Elite eight as a ten seat away,
It's like, why kid by us? Then can b A
do that? They have a daj bonter this year? Can
we just alection coastch goes for five threes and Canard
goes for four and a J and Rob do the
thing and Kate like and Boom b aways in the
Sweet sixteen with one game to an Elite eight. Now
they've equaled the best run ever and you're one game away, Like,
can we do that? Because we talked about Final four
and when Gostren Baker was healthy and Richie was healthy,
BOI was a top ten team. I'd like to remind
people that they had a nice jump on the season
starting number eight. But yeah, unfortunately injury injuries happened and
BOI was even struggling with Richie, Like it's not like
having Richie Boy was perfect but they have discovered something,
hopefully here at the end that they can capture and
hopefully that they packed packed with him from provo.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll never know how Nate pickens, what role he
would have played as well on this squad.
Speaker 3: Right, give rob just a few minutes to rest the
bench a little bit, like Brody Koslowski has a stretch
forward and like and and by the way, with Senior Knight,
we learned that basically it's not a done deal, but
that Dawson and Nate intend to come back because they
were not honored on Senior name. We have implied that
Nate would be from the beginning of the year, but
we didn't know on Dawson for sure. He wasn't honored
on Senior night. And I dapped up Dawson today earlier
in the hotel and it was loud. So they're a
good vibes with Dawson Baker like earth earth shattering dapths.
Speaker 1: By the way, the decibels were just off the freaking chart.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean. You've you've been there, like
you connectually, like, oh my gosh, did we just like
break glass somewhere? What's happened?
Speaker 5: Jerem has the best DAPs been. He'd he gets everybody,
but that probably was. We have it every single time.
Speaker 1: Jerem.
Speaker 5: Just see that I'm jumping in. Jerem needs to continue
to help the other, and I have to help brand
to see Gurney because it can't be forced. It's just casual,
you know, like growing up on the growing up there
in Seattle. JJ knows, he knows.
Speaker 3: For whatever reason, it's just Goodbbes.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Right now, next time I see it, Ben, we'll do it.
Speaker 4: We'll do it.
Speaker 1: Let's go, baby.
Speaker 3: I want it in his like entryway. We'll like dap
up and till it's super loud and it takes like
max three.
Speaker 1: I want more of like a like top gun you know,
traditional o g you know Maverick Goose, like high five
up top around the windmill. You know what I mean,
That's what I want.
Speaker 4: I just did it.
Speaker 3: I just did it thinking about it.
Speaker 1: Yes, I did it too.
Speaker 3: Do we have to lose the shirts if we do that,
because like your.
Speaker 1: Damn straight, we do.
Speaker 4: We may.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take them off and then do the Windmio
baby high five around the wind meo baby around the clock.
Let's go, Jerem Jordan, Ladies and gentlemen, Oh man, Jerem,
let's go, let's get a win. Let's go. Uh cougarnation,
How can they support you? What you do, how you
do it? Jerem.
Speaker 3: First off, if you listen closely tonight, you'll hear Kansas
Day Break one of the huddles can coon on three.
Uh because they're going to be done though after tonight.
But yeah continues to uh. Hey, listen to this program.
Watch listen to boy Sports Station. We got covered from
Kansas City all week, so keep pumps the good work. Boys,
love it.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. Jerem Jordan, Ladies and gentlemen, we'll go
to break, don't go anywhere, and we're to get to
on a beautiful Tuesday edition of Cougar Sports. That segment
was brought to you by Odeon Menswear, Odion menswear dot Com.
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This is Cougar Sports one O three nine ninety eight
point three ESPN The fing This.
Speaker 2: He's a one oh three nine at ninety eight three
ESPN Sports Center updates.
Speaker 1: We'll start to stay off in the pool.
Speaker 6: As YU divers, marty Off and Ashton Sparks competed in
the three meter event at the NCAA Zoni Championship in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Yat made it to the final round and play seventeenth overall.
The women's set of Things Brooklyn Gekorates competed in the
one meeter event, placing eighteen day. The women will compete
in the three meter event, with the men competing in
platform diving in sunny San Diego, California, and BYU men's
golf finished yesterday tied for fifth with keihe Keena in
third place overall. Simon Quan has two strokes behind a
Keenette four hunder part in seventh place. The final round
began this morning at nine am. Today, the men's basketball
team faces Kansas State in the first round of the
Big twelve tournament in Kansas City, with the winner facing
West Virginia tomorrow. The game tips off at five o'clock
on the ESPN Plus. Sticking with the men's team, the
Big Twelve Awards were announced yesterday and A. J. D.
Bonsa took home Freshman of the Year, a spot on
the All Freshman Team, and a spot on the All
Big Twelve First Team, to where the Cougar were featured
as Richie Saunders was named to the second team and
Rob right the third to the third team. He Bonce
is the first Cougar since Jonathan Tabernari in the two
thousand and six two thousand and seven season. The win
Freshman of the Year and his spot on the All
Big Twelve First Team marks two years in a row
with BYU having Amber on the first team. Other games
today will feature a home game for the BYA baseball
team against Utah Tech at three o'clock because they look
to get back into the win column after having lost
their last four, and softball has their home opener tonight
against Abilene Christian at six o'clock.
Speaker 1: We finished with news from the pros we're in the NFL.
Speaker 6: Former BYU running back Tyler Algiers signed a two year
deal with the Arizona Cardinals for twelve and a half
million dollars in defensive tackle Kirostanga joined Kingsley Suamataiya and
Andy Reid on the Kansas City Chiefs on a three
year deal worth twenty one million dollars. And in the NBA,
Yegor Joeman has been.
Speaker 3: Shut down for the year with increased plantar.
Speaker 6: Faciatis in his left foot. Yegor finishes his NBA rookie
season averaging ten point three points a game and shooting
thirty eight point five percent from three. I'm Cameron Clark
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They're trying to take on the Kansas State Jayhawks or
excuse me, the Kansastate Wildcats. I apologize and we're gonna
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them call, shoot him a text, give them a call
at Central Garage, Utah dot com. Let's get out to
the hotline and welcome in the voice of the Kansas
State Wildcazz. We got Wyatt Thompson on the line. Wyatt,
how are you living well?
Speaker 4: I'm doing okay, Ben, how are you? I got a
little bit of a uh there's a little bit of
a sore throat kind of chess colds going around the team.
I've got just a tiny bit of it, So bear
with me on this. But uh uh. Here we are
in Kansas City and getting ready for I think what'll
be an interesting tournament this year, without question.
Speaker 1: No doubt about it. Well, sorry you're under the weather.
We appreciate you making the sacrifice. What you know, being
a voice right, Like, what what are your typical protocols?
I mean people just think like we just step up
the mic. We never have a cold, we never get sick.
When you know, there's never any issues with anything, and
we can just do it every day, all day and
pontificate without any sort of inhibition in our vocal cords.
Like what's your protocol when you do feel a little
you know, correct the virus, a little flu bug hitting you.
Speaker 4: You know, I don't have a whole lot then. To
be honest, I've known guys that have, you know, like
lost their voice almost entirely. Not on wood. I've never
had that happen. I don't know about you, but I've
never had that happen. I'm just a little raspy. The
truth is, I feel okay. I just don't sound perfect
or like I normally do. But Coach Driscolls like that,
a couple of our players, a couple of other coaches.
It's just kind of some of the stuff that's going
around this part of the country right now. So hopefully
the Cougars will get that.
Speaker 1: So, you know, you don't do any like cough drops.
No like lemon honey tea, Kama mule chai tea, you know,
cold do.
Speaker 4: The tama meal so much, but the hot tea, A
little bit of lemon every now and again. Lemon water
is probably pretty good. But that's a rarity for me
because it's knock on wood. I'm not you know, under
the weather very often. I've been pretty lucky.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got like alien spray, I got salt gargling,
I got call I have I mean, I gotta you know,
I have a pro no. No, Now, I think I'm
just more impacted by by cold and flu season than
than most on the radio. So I got I gotta,
I gotta have like all my profile axes. I taken
zinc every night now because you know, there's uh, there's
been all manner of bugs going around. So uh but
let's uh, let's get into what we are really having
you on for here, the Big Twelve basketball Termam I
give us a state of the basketball program with Kansas State.
There's been turmoil. There's been ups and downs. Right. Uh,
it seemed like a couple of years ago the Kansas
State Wildcats, they had this upward trajectory and all was
well out there in Manhattan as it relates to this
basketball program. Now, uh, there's been some turmoil. Give us
the state of the program. What's going on?
Speaker 4: Well, turmoil is probably a good word to use to
quantify what this has been. Four years ago in coach Town,
first year, it was magical. They went to the Elite eight,
had a really really good team lost to FAU in
the regional final in Madison Square Garden led by Marquise
Noel who had one of the great tournaments in the
history of the NCAA tournament. Keante Johnson was a fringe
pro on that team. They really played well. The next year,
they lost a young man by the name of Makwon
Tomlin got into some trouble off the floor. He was
removed from the team somewhat in a controversial move, and
I don't know, if I'm being honest, if they ever
recovered from that, I think that would have been a
tournament team, but it wasn't. And then it's kind of
been the continued downhill slide over the last two years.
You know, this year was a three and fifteen conference season,
at twelve and nineteen campaign overall that really exposed Case
State a lot of areas. What I would tell you
is they struggle defense of late, they struggle with rebounding.
They don't have a lot of front court depth, and
when you are bringing that to the table in this league,
you're going to get your backside kicked a lot. And
they have one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's crazy. I didn't think that there'd be
so much turmoil this season there within this basketball program,
that the there was an upward trajectory where what's the
current like maybe outlook from the personnel standpoint look like,
have they been able to retain some of the maybe
the culture cohesion that could get them a win or
two in the Big twelve tournament this go around.
Speaker 4: You know, that's a really good question. I'm not sure
how to go about answering that because they've been so inconsistent.
I'll give you what I would describe as the perfect example.
You know, you know this, you follow this league pretty closely,
right Well, one team that's been really, really pretty darn
good of late as TCU. We kind of got them
off the deck a few weeks ago in Fort Worth.
Led for thirty nine minutes and thirty seconds. They never
led until the very end, and scored the final seven
points of the game. My point is is Case State
has done a really good job of finding ways to
not win games. They lost a close game, and they
truthfully have probably been better in conference play on the
road than they've been at home. But think about this,
they've at home, they've played Kansas BYU. You know a
few teams like that. On the road, it's been more
of the Arizona States, the Oklahoma States, that kind of thing.
We played the Iowa State at home as an example.
So it's the Big twelve, right, It's hard. We've also,
I want to be totally fair and honest with your listeners.
This is a team that has lost some I've kind
of lost the exact track, but probably somewhere in the
neighborhood of fifty eight or fifty seven games because of injuries.
With this club, they have played most of the conference
season without Abdy Vasher, who was a sharpshooter for them
from three during the times that he was available. Forty
four from three is pretty good, right, and they missed
that badly. And again, they're not big enough, They're not
deep enough, and that's that's been problematic. They are good
enough with their guards on a day where they shoot
the ball well, if they do some other things well,
where they can give you a game, but getting over
the hump has been the biggest part of that. I mean,
they scored eighty five and Lawrence, but they gave up
one hundred and four. So you kind of get the idea.
And I'm I probably sound like Debbie Downer and I
don't mean to be that way, but I also have
to be honest. And when this season started I'm not
gonna kid you. I really felt like they had enough
to maybe be middle of the pack, maybe be in
the conversation for an NCAA tournament team. And they haven't been.
They haven't been in the hemisphere of that, not even close.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So, who are some of the key players, Like,
if Kansas City is going to be competitive in this
gampers at BYU, who are those players that are going
to stand up and show out in the bright lights
of the Big twelve tournament.
Speaker 4: Well, I think three guys are guys that I probably
should and need to mention. Probably PJ Haggerty would be
the lead guy. He was aimous. Think about this a minute.
He was a unanimous second team All American last year
at Memphis. He was an honorable mentioned Big twelve pick
this year and was second in the leading league in
scoring behind some guy named AJ Debonta who's averaging almost
twenty six a game in Big twelve play. But for
PJ it's about twenty four and a half. So he's
been a good score right. The other two guys Amarii
McGriff who is undersized at you know, six eight six
nine in two thirty left handed athletic but really struggles
with foul trouble. But the last couple of games he's
been eighteen seven and two and seventeen seven and two
because he hasn't been in foul trouble at home against
West Virginia and at KU. And then the real wildcard
for me is Nate Johnson. When Nate plays well, case
stages in games and they give themselves a chance. When
he doesn't, it's really, really, really difficult for them to
win games. And he's the kind of guy that he could.
He could be a fifteen point seven rebounds, seven assists
for steel guy. That's pretty good. Now he doesn't do
that all the time, but I mean he's twelve and
a half points, five rebounds, four and a half assists,
and leads to the conference in steels. So when he
plays well, he's pretty good.
Speaker 1: Give me a little scout report on BYU from your perspective.
What is it that they do well? What challenges do
they pose? And look, they've had their ups and down
this season. I mean there's a tenth team in the
Big twelve. Like sometimes they play like a top ten team.
Sometimes they played like maybe a top fifty team.
Speaker 4: You know, it's more than fair. Yeah, that's more than fair. Ben.
I think what I would say is, I'm just being honest.
Losing Richie was really hard. He's such a real chap
piece for them. That's, you know, very experienced. I mean,
how many guys, mean, be honest with yourself, how many
guys that you can you name that are eighteen points,
nearly six rebounds, two assist blue guy, make big shots,
not afraid to be your top rebounder defender night once
in a while. And this is on the team that
has Devonsa and Robert Wright and others, so they miss
him a lot. Now what do they pose in terms
of issues for Kansas State. Well, the one guy that
I always say really really hurts Case State is because
of the size and strength is Kapa Keda. When you
think that to the game in Manhattan, hit eleven points,
sixteen rebounds, and I think a couple of blocks if
memory serves me right. Visiting with coach Driscoll this morning,
that's that's one of the things he said. They've got
this and this and this and this, but the one
guy that always seems to get us is Caterkata. And
that's a fact. I like what they do offensively. I
think if if they if they defend, and you know
they I looked. I watched the uh I watched part
of the Texas Tech game the other night live and
then rewatched it the next morning, and if I'm not mistaken,
they were down thirteen in the first half and came
back and won the game. I just wonder how they
will build off of that. That's that's a big time
get in my mind. So I think they're dangerous. Would
it be better for them long term if they had Richie? Yeah,
but they don't. Unfortunately. That's you know, we've seen that
with him, We've seen that with Topping. That's that's tough
this time of year.
Speaker 1: The Big twelve awards were dropped yesterday. Any thoughts on
any debate on who should have would have could have received?
Maybe Player of the Year. We were debating a little
bit whether or not A J. Debonca deserved the Player
of the Year award. Give me your take on the matter.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't tell you that. I think in a lot
of years he would have been the Player of the Year,
just just based on numbers alone and what he did consistently. Right,
I think that's the thing you want to look at that.
The interesting part for me with with Bradley winning the
award is I think Arizona was clearly the best team
in the league consistently start to finish. I think you'd
agree with that. But who's the who's the main guy
with them? And maybe that's why they're so good because
one night it's Crebas, one night is Pilipe, one night
as Bradley, one night it was del Orso, I mean,
Tobey Iwaka. I mean, you just keep going with those guys, right,
And I wonder sometimes the way these guys maybe they
canceled each other out. So I really like Bradley, and
you went at the highest level with a good big
man and a good point guard. Everybody knows that, right,
So I don't necessarily disagree with Bradley, But I'm just
trying to state that in a lot of years, Debonsa
would have been the winner. In my opinion, as far
as the rest of them, I didn't have a real
big issue with it. And this is kind of nitpicking
a little. And I don't understand how that freshman guard
at Colorado, Isaiah Johnson, wasn't at least honorable mention. He
really was good when we saw him. I think he
finished with a flourish. But then you get to looking
who you're going to take off to put him on there,
I didn't think it would have hurt to put him
on just as an honorable mentioned guy. But that's again,
that's probably nitpicking. Did you have a real big problem
with any of them? You could argue all day on
the Coach of the Year. But I if it were me,
I would love to This is just my opinion. I
would have loved to have seen the voting because I
wonder how many votes Johnny Dowkins would have gotten.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think most people want to see the votes. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I think most people want to see the votes. Yeah,
I think that if you you know, in this era,
I think everybody wants to know the why. Everybody wants
that accountability. And I think the awards are supposed to
be from a public relations standpoint, from an internal big
twelfth amilial standpoint, They're not supposed to be controversial, right,
They're supposed to be really positive. They want to give
awards to everybody. Everybody gets an award, everybody gets a trophy,
everyone gets the medal. That's what it looks like to me,
and I think for the most part, save the you know,
Thomas the the Colraade reguard. Like, I think you're right,
he probably should have gotten nod on the honorable mention.
But if he didn't get a vote for whatever reason,
that's on the voters.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I think that's probably more than fair. I'm
you know, I'm sitting here looking at this now. I
went ahead and called it up, and I mean that
that first team, it shows you the strength of the league.
But show me another league that has Ritchie Baba Miller,
Taman Lipsey, ma'm chilovich and Darren Peterson on the second team. Yeah,
I would. I would say that would stand up against anybody.
And then you continue to go down and like folks
at UCF, I thought he had a fantastic year, Xavier
Edmonds at TCU. Same. I love Coleopete from the night
he had thirty first night out. You know, So the
league is, the league is really really good.
Speaker 1: How many NCAA tournament bits does the Big twelve get
this year?
Speaker 4: Well, I think they. I think they're pretty much locked
in for eight. Now. I don't see how you can
keep UCF and TCU out. Now, right, I just don't
see that. To me, it all comes down to, you know,
big Steelers and can and or can Cincinnati play their
way in this week? You agree with that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I don't know how often the conference tournaments,
even in the kind of the power structure of basketball,
determine seeding. Right now, I feel like they kind of
like they they kind of they toss it aside to
a degree. So I think the idea of playing playing
into the tournament in the in your conference tournament outside
of the championship game, it seems to me to be folly.
I don't know, I could be wrong. Does that make sense? Like,
I just I'm not there yet. I'm not there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah, I would not disagree with that in any way.
And I think generally speaking, and again I'll repeat it
that way, generally speaking, I think you're on the money.
But if you have if you have a team like Cincinnati, yeah.
Speaker 1: And that's truck that's trending in like so, yeah, they.
Speaker 4: Didn't have Jizzle James for the longest period of time
to start the year, that's a relatively legitimate piece.
Speaker 1: Not only that, the marketability of that name in CF
Gizzled James. You know what. I mean it really, it
really rains true. I like it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think you can say that too. You know,
some some people were I think, just being dumb about it.
We're questioning about by you being in. I'm going wait, wait, wait,
go look at their resume.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: And you know what, if I'm a if I'm a
major college basketball fan and I'm watching the tournament, don't
we want to see a J. Debosa in the tournament. Yes,
and for that matter, b YU in the tournament. But
but sometimes it gets a little bit And I'm not
picking on anybody, but come on, Bruce Pearl, really.
Speaker 1: I will say this. If I will say that, I'll
counter it. If this was the college football Playoff Committee,
for sure, b YU would be outside of the NCAA tournament.
They just find a way to leave BYU out and
not get them into the big boys club. I don't
know why that is. Let me tell you, I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't want to speak for this past year because
I think it was tighter. But two years ago they
got jobbed. Yeah, period, end of story. I mean they
beat that's a new head to head at their place.
That's to me. That really fired me up. Man, and
I fight for the Big twelve. I've been doing this
in this league for twenty four years, and newcomer team
or not. Man, I'm all for them and they deserve
to be in. I'll never I'll fight that till the
end of time.
Speaker 1: You know this, Well, this is what I'll say about it,
because I think Kansas State it's legacy, it's history, be
it on the grid iron of the hardwood, is gritty,
blue collar, and I don't know if they always received
the benefit of the doubt, you know, especially, I mean,
look like, obviously the Snyder era is akin to an
adjacent to and parallel to in many ways the Lavelle
era Edward Lovell Edwards Eric excuse me, yeah, And so
like you know, I think there's some some similarities here,
kind of arm in arm and how the two programs
are built and were built and maybe having to overachieve
always because of whatever reason, right, you know, Kansas State
in many ways, and I look at like what Indiana
and Signetti are doing right now, and I think Snyder
in many ways built up Kansas State in kind of
the same way that Signetti is right now. And now
it's it's it's somewhat different because Signetti just want a
national championship. But I mean Kansas State was put on
the map because of Snyder. That being said, I'll kind
of end with new money. Old money doesn't like new money,
the new kids on the block in the college football
cabal that we're living in the cartel, right, This is
me being a conspiracy there. It's hard to break through there.
It's hard to get equity in that brand stake, is
what I'm getting at. They don't like that new money,
they don't like the new kid on the block.
Speaker 4: Well, I'll just add this, and I know you're probably
running out of time, but I'm one guy you could
be talking to today that experienced Lavelle Edwards and Bill Snyder.
Snyder more up close and personal than Leavell. But I
was at Colorado State for a lot of years thirteen,
I believe, and there is nobody from an offensive mind
standpoint that I would necessarily put you up against him
on most days. Yeah, you could argue Bill Snyder. Yeah,
you could probably argue Tom Osborne and maybe a couple
of two or three others. But we're talking elite, elite,
and sometimes I think he gets left out, and I
think that's sad that dude was insanely good and put
BYU athletics on the map. And as far as I'm
concerned and Snyder, most people that don't follow it all
that closely have no idea how bad case they was
when Bill Snyder showed up. They just don't know. And
believe me, they were bad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right the way would you say that? They were
kind of in lockstep, kind of side by side with
who Indiana has been, you know, over the years, like historically,
and then Snyder came in and completely changed the trajectory
of the program.
Speaker 4: They went to one Bowl for Snyder showed up in
their history and you know how they did it. Yeah,
they did it with a bunch of guys that they
red shirted for a year and then brought him back
his red shirt seniors and they played in the Independence
Bowl ben in Shreveport. So Snyder comes along. Snyder comes
along and goes to eleven straight and wins two Big
twelve championships. A little different animal.
Speaker 1: It took them five years to get to a Bowl
game though, That's what's so crazy. I mean they went
seven to four, you know, and in a modern era, yeah,
they would have been I mean but yeah, so when
I when I look at it like that, I really
do see I see a lot of similarities to Indiana
and Kansas State in the pre Snyder era. Well, hopefully,
hopefully it's a great game, ton I, you know, turning
you know our gaze, casting our games towards the b
YU Kansas State matchup. Two fantastic programs, one that has
been relink with turmoil in b YU a little bit
of a jackal and hide team this year. B YU
a favorite in this game. I think eleven and a
half point favorite, and ESPN Analytics gives b y u
and eighty three point nine percent chance of victory. But
hopefully it's a competitive one five pm tip off, I
believe on ESPN Plus. Well, we appreciate you joining us,
thanks for getting letting us get to know the phone,
Wyatt Thompson. Ladies and gentlemen, we appreciate you. Why we'll
catch up with the en soon you got it.
Speaker 4: But always great talking to you, my friend, Thank you,
my pleasure.
Speaker 1: My blessing talking to Wyatt there. That segment was brought
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