We'll get to the jazz in a moment, Craig. But of course, as you know as someone who was a big booming voice during college football season and did radio here locally, it's a big week around here with Utah and BYU playing a little American football on Saturday night. When you hear Rivalry Week Utah BYU football week, what are some thoughts that come to your mind?
Ah, Man, I love it, and I'm so glad BYU and Utah in the same conference with even more impact now, Spence, you know the old days of the Mountain West. You know the whack. This is great. I mean, you know that it's going to be here, whether it's going to be home or away for whatever team. Utah you know, dials up first with a home game at right Ecles and I think it's great, man, It's it's what fans want. Coaches may not like it, but it gives you that
feel good feeling. Utah is struggling in a big way this year, unexpectedly, so this game with BYU, who is winning and dominating, undefeated, there's a lot on the line here, man, to save a season or BYU really jumps into the national scene and really knocks on the door, and I think it's it's about, hey, look at us, We're for real And that's what I think by use most most interested in. But hey, every week's different, spence, as you know, rival weeks. Really you can't go with what the spread is.
The emotion plays big, home crowd plays big unless those fans have sold off tickets, and there'll be more blue than red, and that will be intriguing to see.
Yeah, that's definitely a topic here locally, for sure, not exactly, no, you know, I don't exactly know what to expect based off of rumors here or there. It does sound like a lot of youth fans have tapped out, but I'm sure a lot of youth fans will be there loud and proud. And if you're a BYU fan, you probably want to attend because you feel good about your chances. But you know, you grew up with rivalries Case State Kansas.
You called rivalries throughout the course of your broadcasting career, So as you just outlined the dynamic of this game, certainly could and in my opinion, probably will make it close. But the data tells us BYU is just simply the better team through eight games.
But what is it, Craig about rivalries?
You've been a part of rivalries You've covered that make the environment so intense and make the outcome of the game oftentimes impossible to ascertain.
Well, in my opinion, from my experience, it's the one moment where one mistake can fuel the confidence of the underdog or fuel the confidence of the team that is supposed to dominate. And so that's what I've always noticed is a fumble early can give new life to the underdog, or it can give dominance to the team that is expected or favored to win. I think that's the one key is you cannot make mental mistakes. And b YU has taken every opportunity this year, and we've talked a
lot about just being opportunistic. Look, they've earned that, but you know, to to make something out of that turnover to really be costly for their opponent, uh in case they lived it by the way, you know, that's truly what started this whole run. UH and this dominance of BYU and their confidence grew, I thought immensely after the k State victory. So you know, for Utah, if you get down and this, you know your form four you're
still playing me before a Bowl game. Not sure how hype fans are about just getting the six wins, but you know this one, this one just on paper, means more. You know, in the SEC when I was the CBS, I mean, every game felt like a rivalry game because the competition is so keen in that conference. Uh the l s U, Alabama, Auburn, Alabama. I mean I got to call all those and man, it just it just has a special hum. You know, you'll feel the energy in the building unless Yu is able to take it out.
And that's what I mean by something early that has to dictate maybe the outcome of the game. There's always a chance to rally back. But I'll tell you that that first defensive series or that first offensive series, whoever wins the coin flip and how they decide to go. But Spence, that's what I've always called is that you can change it quickly if you take advantage of what's given to you. And if you don't, then the opponent's going to I think, roar back and try to dominate.
One more thing here, And you just kind of alluded to it because coming from a guy who has called some of the biggest games in the landscape of college football. You know, you can pull up lists like greatest Rivalries in college football. You're going to see Michigan, Ohio State, Bama, Auburn, Army, Navy, Oklahoma, Texas, USC, Notre Dame most of the lists. You know, you'll have
Utah BYU around fifteen or sixteen. And I think that's going to change because we've been waiting for BYU and Utah to be in the same conference, but not just the same conference, the same P four conference.
This isn't the whack of the Mountain West, all due respect.
So now it's this new era starting on Saturday where more people are simply going to see it as somebody who's called some of the biggest rivalry games and has been a part of Utah BYU. How does this rivalry stack up with the Auburns and Damas in the USC Notre Dames of the world.
Well that's another great conversation to have because look, you know k U K State was just more a four state area. Okay, so was Nebraskan Oklahoma back in the day. Is Switzer right, and Osbourne? But this becomes it spreads, is my point. And in the Southeastern Conference. It's religion spence. It is, and you have to experience it on game day and even the whole week because people travel miles and they actually have the thirty five foot you know, RVs and make it a religious you know moment and
a way football is. Football is what people just do from August until December or the first of the year when the playoffs come in for BYU and Utah. I think it ranks higher than people give it credit for, honestly, I do. And and you know, when I was at CBS and Fox and ESPN, they always talked about, Hey, what do you think is it? Is it really that big of deal? It's it, absolutely because it splinters a
state of and you always talk about it. The religion part of it, red and blue Mormon or non Mormon, that feeds it. Maybe not as much as it once did, but I still think it's very real. But then you add in this year the fact that you have two big twelve teams back and now a team that Utah was favored to be a real player nationally, not only in the conference spense, but my gosh, they were talking about hosting the first round of the of the playoffs,
that's not going to happen, but Byu could easily. And that's what makes I think this such an intreaking game is how the turn of events throughout the last three months have occurred, and you know the injury to Cam and and the way that Dyu's defenses has really bowed their back and played incredibly well, and what Jake's been able to do to just to handle the offense in provo. So I think this is top five personally. People may laugh and shuckle, but I think if you're in this
part of the West, yeah, it's real. It just hasn't been exposed as much. And I'm still not in favor of an eight to fifteen kick because again on the East Coast, that's late and you may not see the ending of it. I'd still like to see it more in a quote prime Time Arena six o'clock, the five point thirty window and let people really enjoyed around the country. But you're still going to see a hell of a football game, and you should see a lot of the pomp and circumstance that goes with it. And I love
calling those games. Scott Mitchell. The one year we had it down in provo I called, and boy did Mitchell put on a show. And you know, the dominance of BYU was so keen for so long, and then you know, Matt came in and changed the whole, the whole culture, and Levelle and him actually were friends, and that didn't sit very well Spence. You know that with the Cougar's the Cougar and the ute fans is how did how these two guys get along? But they were, they were
bonded up until Lavelle's passing and beyond. But I just think it's special, and you know what, I hope fans have a great time because it's it only happens once a year, and it looks like it's gonna come back for a long time.
All right, let's move over to some jazz. And you know I did uh we do talking jazz over over at Ku t v uh with Day and Me and Dave Fox, and we were just looking at the schedule and wondering aloud, like when's the first win gonna come? Because the schedules tough, man Like, they're on the road and then they're home with the Sons and the MAVs and they're back on the road and look Chicago in a way is kind of where Utah is. They're trying to figure out what they have with their young players.
They have some decent vets in Nicola, Vusavik and obviously Zach Lavine who didn't play.
So that's not a great team.
But I was just really happy for him Craig just to get one. Yeah, And I was really happy for Keyante to have a game.
That reminded everybody why he has so much potential.
So let's just start in the vacuum as the guy that called the game with kind of the fuel around the team after getting their first win in a road went against Chicago Spence.
I think John Collins was a fuel. I really do. I thought he would not let this team get beaten again. Collins has come off the bench and whatever you want to say, you know, as a veteran, he's accepted a role of a bench guy. He can start if he has to, but he's shooting the ball extremely well from three and two. He's a rebounder almost eight a game. He had twelve against Chicago. I thought that his veteran
energy helped fuel Keyante. It helped fuel Cody Williams to a nice you know game and Walker Kessler Man has really turned his game up. The way he finished last year, the way he started, you know, two different polar opposites. But you know, Walker's been able to find some confidence, find some muscle, and that's been a good thing for the Jazz. You know, twenty two rebounds through seven games, spences,
you know, three plus blocks a game. I should say twenty two blocks, and so yeah, three plus blocks a game. But I just thought John was really the fuel of what that win was. Sixty pay points, how about thirty five assists? We haven't seen that. And maybe the biggest stat of all is the Jazz finally did not just put themselves in a ditch with turnovers at thirteen that's doable, and they only gave up twelve points and that's just that was a season and low in that stat. So
the bench continues to play well. He's rotated, you know, about ten to eleven guys in and without marketing, it's even a I thought, probably even a sweeter win and JC as well. So the young guys had to really take control of that game.
So it doesn't pop off the screen when you're looking at the box score. But you know, you and I discussed the dynamic of who would get the minutes on the table after Taylor went down. There's twenty eight thirty minutes available. Looks like Cody's going to be the guy. That was the best game Cody has played. It's only seven games at Sports Talk Radio, so we're going to talk about what we have and through seven games, that was a grown up game from Cody. Had eleven points,
he had five boards, he had four assists. He did not turn it over in thirty minutes. Okay for your seventh NBA game and no turnover, staying clean and being able to board a little bit and being able to guard a little bit. That to me was the best game I've seen from Codyeah, give me your thoughts, Greg.
No, I think he feels like watching and after that game talking to him is like, you know, it's that switch Thuroll always talks about, when do you actually believe I belong? Okay, And I thought this game probably the light he turned the light switch up and on because he realized that he can compete and his body is not one that you're going to dominate guys with, but yet he's smart angles. I thought he played angles better than he has in the early part of this season.
You're right, he can go in and rebound eleven points. I like it. He was still getting his teammates involved that. You know, you're the tenth pick and he play and you're a young guy out of Colorado, and the immense pressure to perform instantly is there for all these guys now, Spence, you know, you get one year of college and now you have to be developed. And it's not When Thorough came out four years and won a national championship with
North Carolina State. One of the last guys I remember was Wesley Matthews, right that the Jazz picked up and played four years at Marquette. That just doesn't happen, right, because if you're not out after two something's not right and teams don't want to touch it. Ed he's an exception right at Purdue coming into the NBA, But I thought I thought he played well. I think Flip has done an amazing job as well. By the way, he's twenty one today. Can you believe that that's how we're Yeah,
that's how we're talking about. Most of these guys are twenty. They came in at nineteen. It seems like most of them have November birthdays, so you know sense of Baf and the others in Keyante who had you know, how about the nine to two turnover ratio nine assists and two turnovers? And Kyante continues to make maybe baby steps, but I thought he made a big big step in Chicago on Monday night.
All right, before we get to tonight's let me just because you you touched on Walker, but I want to expand it because as you and I discussed to start the year, I am really keen in on him because this is his third year under Will and they traded Oachi's so like this is the third year example. Because we know that Quinn and his staff were able to develop young players. We saw with Heyward, we saw with Mitchell, we saw with Gobert, you know, and obviously previous iterations
of the Jazz have been able to develop. It's an organization known for its development. But this is a new staff, it's a new front office. And if they can develop players, Walker is going to be art example, because this is year three and it's just as different after you've done some things for a while, and he's had a couple of off nights, he wasn't great against Golden State, he wasn't great against Sacramento. But overall, this to me is the one piece of the start where I go okay,
that's like an A plus start for him. You know, overall on the season, his splits are really, really impressive, and he is back to what we saw at the start.
Of the career and he's actually playing better.
He's double digit points, he's ten points, he's twelve boards. He's four offensive rebounds tonight, which is a massive number. He's blocking three shots tonight, and ultimately, to me, again, as a result of this quote development situation, we need to see what he's about year three. What has stood out most to you about what I perceive to be the brightest spot of the start to the jazz season.
I think you got to get credit my first song when you asked a question was Will Hardy. I think that he has not let up on on Walker, and I think he's encouraged him at the same time. Look, coaching is you have to have a psychology degree alongside, and you have to know your players. Their personality is what switch to turn on, which one to turn off. I think he's been brilliant with Walker, I really do.
He's been hard on him, you know what. He's been very public about that conversation about quit looking at me, you know, and Walker has He's finally grown, he's maturing, he understands who he is, and he's finding little bits of confidence Spence along the way. And the Chicago game was just another piece of the puzzle. So I give Will a lot of credit for just helping him along and through last years at times a bit of a debacle. But I've talked to Walker a ton and he knew
he's left hand dominant. So when he heard his elbow, the left elbow, he knew that he wasn't going to be able to perform and couldn't perform at the level he won. And so what happens during the you know, people always say this, oh the sophomore slump. It bit him, And how do you respond to it? Spence. That's the biggest thing Hardy I think has helped helped Walker come back, grow up and go out and play with a bit more of a Now he's not a mean guy, but
on the floor he can least express it right. He can he can play with some high level energy and those numbers you spoke of. He's shooting sixty six percent from the floor, he has the three plus block shots, and the guy's rebound in nearly twelve boards a night and average in ten. So that's that's a big man
who's making a difference on this team. And you know, the point is if they can develop Walker Kesser from basically just kind of a babyfaced kid out of Auburn and make him into, you know, a legitimate big who can run the floor and still has to improved his free throws. But that is that developmental parts bench you speak of. The Jazz have done very well, but this
is Will's baby, right, this is Will's first test. Can you develop a guy and make him into an All Star or close to it and be an integral part of your starting five?
All right, Craig, Before I say you lose, Tonight's an interesting game and I try to stay tuned into Milwaukee games because we cheer for Dame around here. Milwaukee's an eight point five point favorite. From what I have in front of me. As far as the injuries go, right now, we know that Chris Middleton is out.
He hasn't played this year and it looks like surgery.
Yeah, exactly, and it looks like Giannis is questionable from what I'm seeing. Yes, okay, yeah, Lowry questionable, Clarkson questionable, and Isaiah Collier questionable as well. So let's start with a helped update. What do you know about the health of both teams right now?
Well, I do know that the three players of the Jazz you just mentioned have all been upgraded a probable. Okay, so I think we're gonna see Lowry, We're gonna see JC, and you know what, I'm anxious to see Callier kind of more of a bulldog point guard who was basically raised as a point guard, unlike Keyante who's making strides. But Caller will be an interesting fit. That means no minutes for Patty Mills, and that was kind of the plan anyway. But to fit marketing back in means less
minutes for Philipowski to get JC back in. You probably won't see much of Johnny Guzang or Bryce Senza Baw, but I still think you'll see minutes and depends on how Will wants to divide those up. I haven't heard any update since I walked in here to the pressure room yet on Onto Decombo. Look, he's been he was listed as a hip then than a right adductor. I'm not really sure you know what's going on? Look there, just it's not between you and I because everyone's listening.
But Milwaukee's won in six man, they've lost six in a row after they're opening night win against Philly, and things aren't good here, and there's a lot of heat, you know, mentioned in the local press and around the country. Hey, what's up with Milwaukee and Doc? So you know, they made the change last year, they moved Adrian Griffin out and then Doc comes in. So I don't know, it's going to be interesting to get a feel when I get out on the floor here in a bit, to
kind of see what's going on. But they haven't won a home game, by the way, They're zero to two and their only win was on the road in Philadelphia and that was on opening nights. So interesting to see if giannis Is is bucking for change or if he's actually hurt. But Lillard, you know, can't carry this team alone. They don't have the deepest bench except for Bobby Portis, who I like a lot and you know about the way he plays. He's just you know, consistent guy coming
off the bench. But it's interesting to see how the Jazz respond tonight. They come in with confidence, spence. And this is where you have to wonder as a Jazz fan, how many wins you know, do you really actually want to put in your pocket? Right and you know with this young team, but Will wants to win. He wants these guys to jump and make progress. And then I could be an interesting scenario with a team Milwaukee I'm speaking of. This seems that a it'll be a little bit upside down.
All right, Bowler, Well, I appreciate the time from the road. Have a great call tonight, and hopefully we can see you back in the studio soon.
Okay, all right, bell talk soon.
All right, Craig Bowler. Jack will be on the call tonight. It's the Jazz are taking on Milwaukee. We'll see which players actually participate, because NBA basketball these days, you never know. Rotchi buy our friends at Big Old Tires right now is their fall into savings sale. You can get eighty to one hundred and twenty dollars off select set of tires.
They've got all the high end tires.
Need your true one stop shop for automotive repair, stopping for tires, wheels, alignments, rotations, balances, oil changes, breaks, battery shocks, struts, fluids and more. They offer free tire rotations, flat repairs, air checks, alignment checks, check engine and break checks as well. Big Otires has financing options to fit every budget and situation. Walkins are welcome or schedule an appointment online over the phone. Visit big ot tires dot com to find a location near you.