Richard Smith forty years with the Jazz front office, Smitty. As I sit here watching George Washington, Boise State, and the College Basketball Crown, there are more scouts than actual fans, and so I know, you know what it's like to sit in basically empty arenas and watch a lot of college basketball.
Yeah, I'll tell you what says. When you're in those kinds of environments, it seems like you're in a vacuum because it's really hard to feel any energy from the games. And I don't know how that translates to the coaches and players when they're actually in the middle of the action.
But it's a tough get when you've got a place at seats twelve or fifteen thousand, and there's two hundred and fifty people scattered around and half of them are you know, a they after because they don't have anything else to do, you know, So that's a tough gat sometimes, Yeah.
For sure, for sure, But you know, fun to be here, and I always enjoy being around the atmosphere of college basketball. And we'll start with the the game that took place today. You know, our plan was to be here as long as the utes were and that only lasted one afternoon and the Butler Bulldogs take care of Utah eighty six to eighty four. So I understand and respect the desire to continue to play. And as I reference Smittie, there's as I was walking past media row, I counted at
least a dozen pro scouts. We've got guys in Knicks shirts and Sun shirts and there, and they're also a grip of college you know, assistant coaches and probably college scouts. Now that's probably a thing. So ultimately, you know, it gives these players a chance, you know, maybe a player like a Jake Wallen in a transfer portal situation, or Ezra Asar or lost and lovering to showcase their talents to other coaches if Alex Jensen isn't interested in bringing
them back next year. So what are your thoughts on this many little postseason endeavor that Utah basketball just took, just under undertook.
Well, it's interesting, you know, it's it's really something that's born out of the nil age that we're in the middle of right now. For for college athletics. It's really a tournament that's set up to try and buy promoters, to try and get get players some extra money. At the end of the year. You know, there's like a pool.
I forget how much it is, but but that the winning team is going to get the school gets some of it, the players get some of it, and it's really just a money making venture for a promoter, you know, to get college teams who still want to play a game and and listen. It's great for the kids, the players. It's an opportunity for the coaches to have opportunities to have extra practices with their players, to maybe make final assessments on what their roster is going to be going forward.
And then it gives it the school and opportunity to to showcase itself. I know this is all being broadcast on Fox Sports one network and they're involved in the in the promotion of it, and and and uh and and just giving everybody a one last chance to get some to get some money really out of it is what the end of the day is what it's all about.
And give the players a chance to showcase themselves one more time, whether it's two NBA scouts or European scouts or some other college coaches that might be looking for and then il transfer portal kind of guy. So so it serves a lot of a lot of people, a lot on a lot of different levels.
Yeah, and the paycheck would have been three hundred j if they were able to go win the thing. And and you're right, a lot of this now, all of it quite frankly, I suppose in college basketball, maybe in life is driven by the almighty dollar.
Maybe you just need to accept that.
But I want to move over to the space now, Smitty, of what comes next for Utah basketball, now that this season has ended and Alex Jensen has already been on the job. You know Wes Wilcox to hire that We talked and you were great to give us some insight into who Wes is. Maybe one of the only guests we could have locally, it actually knows Wes. And of course, of course Raphael Chiles coach Chill as he's going by. So Alex has been busy, he'll continue to be busy.
And Smitty, I want to be clear, I don't know this to be true. It's just what my gut is telling me. Because a lot of the conversations since Mark Carlin elected to move on from Craig was okay, you know, Josh Eiler moves his wife and children out to Salt Lake City, and he has twenty years of experience combined with playing and coaching in the Big twelve Conference, which is home for Utah. Now, a player like Ezra A Sar, a player like Keanu DAEs, a player like Jake Kalleen.
You know, the conversation has been who will be back that is here right now? And I'm starting to feel like the answer might be nobody, coaches and players that Alex might want that blank canvas to paint his own picture and make.
His own creation. What are your thoughts on that? Like I said, I don't know.
That's not coming from any place of sourcing or inside information.
That's just me talking out loud. Tell me what you think.
Well, I would think that at least with the current coaching staff, that Alex and We'll take a look at that and see what makes sense to them. If there's anybody on the existing staff either that they have relationships with or that have a particular niche in the game that they think can serve the program going forward, if there's somebody on that staff that's really known as a defensive wizard and they feel can help them, you know,
with that part of the growing the program. Then that would be someone that they would I would think they would lease it down and talk with. There'll be a lot of people coming at alex I'm sure there already has been guys who are either out of jobs or guys who are trying to transition from one job to
the next, you know. Couge basketball nowadays, you know, withy with few exceptions, seems to be a very fluid situation on all levels, whether it's the coaching staff, whether it's the players, whether it's the people that you have and your support staff. And so they're gonna look to try and get the best people possible. I'm sure there's people on that staff now UH that that that are doing an excellent job. You know, look, I think Craig Smith and his group UH are were very good coaches. I
think Craig Smith is a is an excellent coach. He's shown that before. You know, their their issue in the last few years has just been and not having enough horses to be able to run with the with the rest of the group when you're talking about getting into the uh UH the Big twelve, especially even the Pac twelve.
The US has been a mediocre, you know, middling team in in a very good PAC twelve conference before that, So they're their real concern is going to be who can we get as players that can really help to elevate the program in that regard. That's what they're going to be looking at their current Utah players that could serve in that role. I think there are there are some, but it's gonna be something with it trying to piece together a team, a group that makes sense to them.
They got to look at, you know, their backcourt and who their ball handlers are going to be. They got to look and see, if you know, if there are shooting wings that are available that that they can go after.
I have no idea, haven't heard anything about, you know, what the current situation is relative to high school recruiting, if the U has any high school recruits that are already committed to coming in, or if they have, if they've if they've backed off commit So so, all that that thing is is a broad canvas for Alex and Wes and and the rest of the group as they try and formulate that and try and figure out where they're going to get players. It's going to be top
at this stage of the game. I would think to put any kind of a group together going forward for at least next year. That's going to make any sense in terms of being highly competitive, you know, very quickly. So that's going to be the challenge for them is trying to identify guys that they think might be able to help them immediately.
Yeah, it's interesting when you and all of this could change because of the landscape of this sport and players coming and going and changing their minds and decommitting.
But Houston is loaded. Of course this year.
They're a final four team, and when you look at who they could have coming back. We'll wait on some of their player decisions. In addition to what their recruiting class is thought to be per the ESPN one fifty, they're going to be stacked. Kansas has right now one of the top three recruiting classes in the country.
Arizona, you know they'll lose Caleb Love.
You look at the Big twelve landscape and we'll get to BYU in a moment. I don't know what to expect from Utah basketball next year for two reasons. One Nice outlined the difficulty of filling up a roster in time for next fall that actually looks like it can compete with the best teams of the Big Twelve. And the other is the best teams of the Big twelve are only going to get better or and a team like Kansas who had a down year will be back, So it is impossible to analyze who they will be
year one under Alex. But I wanted to ask you, Smitty, and the course of your career. I think one of the coolest things, at least from my vantage point, that you experienced is watching great coaches put together great teams then lead those great teams to great heights Jerry Sloan, Quinn Snyder, among others. And you know I was talking about this with Seon Mooney, who stopped by last segment.
As far as the staff that Alex will build and the type of communication structure he will encourage and inspire. And in a lot of rooms that I've been in in pro basketball, the best leaders that I've seen on the personnel side, like at Dennis Lindsay, encourages conversation, encourages debate, right Like you were in rooms with Dennis for years and he'll point to you and say, Smitty, I want to know what you think, Like, what's the deal?
Right?
So what sort of communication structure.
Knowing Alex the way that you do, would you think he'll put in place with you know, of course he's the head coach and Wes Wilcox, the general manager, reports to him. It's a different dynamic than it is in pro basketball, and then allow his assistant coaches. But Alex doesn't strike me as the type of guy that will say this is this is a monolith. Okay, like I'm the guy, you have to listen to my ideas. He he strikes me more of like a collaborator with his staff once he has that in place.
Is that kind of driving with your understanding of who he is?
Yeah, well that's that's who he is. He's a uh you know, Alex is a thinker and he's he's someone very thoughtful person, someone who's going to analyze the situation. You know, he's more of a studier if that if that's the right term to use of of what's going on and trying to analyze the situation and then trying to gather information from all different aspects, you know, before making a decision. Remember he was he worked for one of the best coaches ever and Rick Mjerriff. You know
who and and and Rick was. Wash was very much, you know, the man on the top of the mountain, and he was he was the guy who directed everything
and he demanded excellence. And that's what That's what alex Is has been used to now only as a player at Utah under at Rick Mgeris, but then working with them at Saint Louis University as an assistant coach, so he knows he knows what it takes in terms of the uh, the x's and o's, but also in relation to making sure that everybody who's involved understands that they have to have all of their bases covered and they have to have everything on the page so that they
know that what they're trying to get get done going forward makes sense based on all of the circumstances that are at hand. And so to do that, you have to rely on the staff. You have to rely on people who have a different viewpoint and a different perspective.
Ali you know, has that kind of personality where he's gonna listen and he's gonna take in what other guys are saying, and then he's gonna be able to he's gonna be able to transfer that onto the floor in terms of educating the players and training the players to
play the way they want. So it's gonna he's gonna have a staff that's gonna have that kind of an approach and that kind of a mindset, and they're gonna need that right out of the shoot because again, they're gonna have players whoever they end up with come next
October on the on the practice floor. They're gonna be guys from all over the place, and so coordinating them, getting them all on the same page and making sure everybody's headed in the same direction is really gonna be a major task for the group that they're gonna have there.
So what is the what's the selling points, Maddy? Because this will be brick by brick, and if they return zero players and zero coaches, which I will continue to reiterate, I do not know if that's the deal, then this will be.
There's not even a foundation. Lake.
You have to lay the foundation, and you know, the Jazz oftentimes will talk about, you know, this whole idea that they're not rebuilding, they've actually been tearing down so they can rebuild, which I think is beyond silly. But
you've got to put a foundation in place. So if you're Alex Jensen, if you're Rafael Chilius, if you're Wes Wilcox, and you're talking to talented players, because as you always remind us, there's no such thing, not Jerry Sloan, not pat Riley, not Phil Jackson, there's no such thing as a great head coach who simply didn't have great players.
So as Alex and coach Chill and West and they're they're hitting the road, what do they say, What's what's the selling point to get these young men to consider playing for University of Utah program that has not been a destination in basketball, if we're frank for over a generation now.
Well a couple of levels. One is they're going to lean on the history of the University of Utah a basketball program, and they're gonna lean on what it has been and how it's how it's been built up over the years, going back to Arnie Ferron in the forties and and UH coach Gardner in the in the fifties and sixties, and and with Jerry Pim in the eighties and and UH and Rick Jeers. They're gonna they're gonna lean on a lot of that to say this is
what what we're capable of doing. We need to have the horses to come into the stable to help us do that. You're one of the guys we want to bring in to help, you know, resurrect that. Okay, So that's gonna be one approach and the other the other level is gonna be leaning on their own experience and
what they've been through. Alex is gonna be able to talk about, this is how we did it when I was a player at Utah, This is how we did it when I was the D League Coach of the Year in Canton, uh uh when he started and in this NBA track of working in the G League for a couple of years. This is how we did it when I was with the Jazz and working with Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, and this is how we set
things up. Wes Wilcox has all of that experience, having been in a lot of different levels, including being a GM of an NBA team for several years. So they'll be able to talk from the perspective and advantage point of having had that experience of knowing what it takes
because they've been there, They've been on the battlefield. They've known what it takes to do it, and they've shown that they have the ability to do that as a head coach, as an administrator, and we want you to be part of what we're trying to put together here. And when we do that and we have that rolling, we're going to be on the same level as Kansas. We're going to be on the same level as Arizona.
We're gonna be on the same level as a BYU, which has a very good program now and it's shown that they're that they're in it for the long haul in terms of competing in the upper level of the of the Big twelve, and so uh that's those are gonna be the selling points that they'll have to make with recruits. And then you're gonna find some players who are gonna say, hey, if I go to Utah, I
can be one of the main guys right away. You know, I don't have to come in like maybe at a Kansas or maybe at an Arizona, where maybe I have to sit behind someone or have to battle someone for playing time or that kind of thing. They they can sell the idea that you're gonna come in and you're
gonna be one of our guys right away. And and for some players that's a big deal because they feel like, Hey, I'm just as good as the other guys at those other schools, and so Utah is gonna give me a chance to get on the floor and play twenty five, twenty eight, thirty two minutes, whatever it is, and show what I can do and also show that I can
compete for that program against these other schools. And so those are going to be the things that they're going to use as some of their main selling points when they get out on the road and start trying to trying to get in the homes of guys to see if they can get them to come to Salt Lake City.
Let's move over now. Richard Smith is our guest.
The show is live on the road in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Arena. The MGM Garden Grand Arena. Shout out to the sponsor.
Let's get it right.
We got Boise State and George Washington Game two going on right now. The Utah men's basketball season came to a close at the hands of the Butler Bulldogs.
Earlier today eighty six eighty four.
So, Smitty, since you and I last spoke the BYU Cougars ran into a buzza namely Mark Mark Sears in the Alabama Crimson Tide, and you know, let's talk about.
The game for a moment.
Then we'll get to the news that you know, Cannon Catching's four star kid transfer portal, and you know the decision that Yegor Demon has to make. And you know, before the game, the one number that hit me right in the face as I was doing some prep and reading, you know, as far as what these teams do well and where they struggle. BYU two hundred and thirtieth in the country at Guardian the three and Alabama one of the better teams in the SEC.
At Guardian the three. They were not a.
Physical Houston type defensive basketball team. So you give Alabama a lot of credit for simply knocking down shots. And the Sears kids sat a personal best making ten threes, and they broke the NCAA record held for a number of years from that great loyal team that Los Hank Gathers and had Bo.
Kimball former Nick so Yes.
Alabama made a lot of shots, but I thought defensively BYU on the perimeter really showed why that three point percentage number is one of the worst in college basketball. So what did you make about BYU's run of the Sweet sixteen and the way they got trounced by Alabama.
Well, they just they just ran enter the team. They had a historic night. I mean, there's that's the first thing that glad to me. They Alabama took fifty was a fifty two fifty two threes in that game, and they only took fifteen two point shots, So you know, it was it was such a disparity and where their shots were coming from. But you're taking the shots and
when you're making them, you getting the flow. And when you're getting the flow like they were in you know that that's just that's just a big downhill slide that is hard for any defensive team to put a stop to. Alabama just had it going that night, and that's you know, you gotta tip your hat to them. Alabama's a better team.
They're better team than BYU. So BYU was gonna have to have the kind of night that Alabama had shooting the ball if they were going to have a chance to in that game, in my opinion, and they didn't have that. Alabama at it and UH and so you know, b YU just showed you know that that they were they were just outclassed in that game, and they had a you know, you have to sometimes you just come back to the locker room. You just you just tip your hat to the other guy and said they were better.
And that's that's the way it was. And then you try and figure out what you can do. But the one thing you don't want to do as a program is overreact to a singular game. Now, now, a week or so earlier, UH b YU had been manhandled in a different way by Houston, which is a terrific, suffocating defensive team, and they showed that that b YU has to be a more physical defensive team, UH for a
physical team going forward. And so those are the things that that Kevin Young and his staff can take and then go, Okay, here's two games where we got manhandled pretty good. We were feeling pretty good about ourselves before those two games, but those two teams really showed us, UH some areas where we really need to concentrate, uh on on the the kind of basketball we're going to play, but also how we need to improve ourselves going forward
to our program. So I thought it was a great learning point for them, and it's something they'll be able to look at over the summer and and try and figure out how to be able to address those kinds of games when they come upon them to make them a better team. And uh, and they will be a better team because they've got they've got good players, they've got a good core players, and obviously they've got the the the banter Kid coming in next year. And so
they they're going to be a better team. And this is a good, a good first year for Kevin Young and his group. I thought they did a terrific job managing uh, the players they had and installing what they want to try and do. And now they take this and they move forward and look ahead to next year.
Well, I agree that this year one under Kevin Young has manifested proof of concept. I also felt like when b YU more often than not this year, ran up against the elite teams in college basketball, there was a clear line of delineation.
And that's not a knock on Brigham Young.
That's a you know, that's the reality. And look, we've got four number one seeds in the final four. And Ken Pomeroy has pointed out all year that the gap between the best teams in college basketball and like the second tier is pretty big this year. But whether it was you know, getting run by Alabama or the two times they faced Houston.
They had some great wins.
They beat Arizona McHale, they trounce Kansas and Provo. But is the is you know, aj De Banta who appears from everything I can tell to be everything he's cracked up to be, and then another year of some of these other players, if the Demon kid comes back, do you think we'll see the gap between b y U as a very good team and the Houston's and the Alabamas of the world close a little bit? Because there are levels to this stuff, Smidia, as you know, Yeah.
And I would think so because I think the talent just having the de bands kid again, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves and we don't want to make it more than it is. At the moment. He hasn't played a minute of college basketball, so we don't know how he's going to react, you know, when when he gets there on campus and and and gets with that group. But his physical abilities and what he's shown at the prep school level, uh is is really exciting.
And if he comes with that kind of of athleticism and that kind of skill level and he can he can bring that onto the college floor into the Big twelve action. Now you're going to get a kid who could potentially and I underlying the word potentially, affect games
like the Cooper Flag is doing with Duke. Now he has a different group of guys around him and he has other NBA players playing with him at Duke, but having a presence like that on the floor where where the other team is always looking to see what they have to do to take care of that individual player.
And when you have someone who has that kind of presence on the floor, then that's going to be able to elevate the opportunities for his teammates to be able to uh to, to be able to show what they can do uh to to to use a BYU quote, to rise and shine. You know, when you have when
you're on the floor with another player like that. So if if he comes and he's all that he's supposedly cracked up to be, and he can he can show that early in the season, that I think b Yu will take another step upward and be able to compete with those kinds into teams, you know, on a night in,
night out basis. It's going to be interesting to see if what the what their team looks like uh in October, you know, with transferred portals and guys deciding where they're going to stay, go and you know whatever that's gonna be. But uh uh b YU certainly has a bright, bright future in front of them and and options that they're going to be able to choose from going forward.
I want to ask you about two b YU players before you get a quick jazz thought and I'll set you Looseimidty for a Monday ken and catchings and you could tell his body language after the game. He was interviewed on a couple of different occasions. The b YU Sports Nation guys interviewed him, and uh, he was very short with his answers.
He looked like said, he looks sad.
I mean he's a young kid, you know, and he didn't get a ton of run uh in the in the rotation and there were moments where he can really shoot it.
Uh.
He's so young and he's so raw that I'm sure the talent that people and him is still something that could that could come to the.
Table, and you know, a lot of people think he's a pro.
The reports are by you paid him a seven figure salary, just like they played paid the Demon kid to play for them this year. So Kennon catches in the transfer portal. And then do you know, I want your thoughts on him? And then from your eye as a guy that analyzed talent for years, do you think Jegor Demon did enough with a really good NCAA tournament run to convince NBA teams to look at him high enough where he's going to leave as well?
Well, I think I think both those kids are potential pro prospects. I think the catching kids look look like to me during the year, and I went to I went to six or seven BYU games in person, watched them, paid a particular attention to him. He had such an uneven year and it was up and down. To me, it looked like as a year went on that he was losing confidence in what he was trying to do
out on the floor. And then toward the last month or so, it seemed to me like, you know, maybe the B y U coaches had lost some confidence and in using him, and so his minutes started diminishing, and he wasn't in a key times during certain parts of games, and so I can see where he might put his name in the portal. But hey, I'm one of those guys who thinks that the you know, the portal first of all, is such a weird, goofy thing that that
ruins college basketball to me. And it's a whole different discussion.
But but the fact that it's in place and the fact that the student athletes can use that, I don't know why every every player doesn't put his name in the portal and just see who else is out there who might be interested in me, And then it gives it gives you a chance to assess what other people think of you, and then you know, you know the school you're at, you know they're going to start the re recruiting process on you if they still want you back,
and and all that. So so just because the kid enters his name in the portal doesn't mean he's totally dissatisfied or he's out of here, or he's just had it with the school he's currently attending. So so that part of it will be interesting to see how that plays out. As far as the demon kid, I like
his skill. I've always liked his ability. When he was at Real Madrid and the youth program, which is the same youth program that Luka Doncic went through in his high school years, demon showed that he has some skill and some innate ability to read the floor to make plays. Will he will he leave? You know, he's gonna leave if he gets feedback from NBA teams that he's going
to be a lottery pick. If teams are telling him, hey, somebody's going to take you in the top ten, twelve, fourteen picks or something, it's going to be hard for him to come back to the YU because you're going to have to look at it from a practical standpoint and understand that how much higher can I get in the draft if I wait another year? And so you're
going to have to play that game. He comes from a background where he's not He didn't come up in the traditional US high school system or AAU system where there was a stepping process and in college, have an affiliation for a school to stay to school. You know, look he you know, he comes from Russia. He was in early youth programs there was identified to be a top level prospect enough that he moved to Madrid Stain to play for one of the top youth programs in Europe.
He did that for three years. Now he comes to the US to get a taste of what college is like, ends up at BYU. BYU. For him, it's not about going to college. It's not being a college student. It's just another stepping stone to eventually being a profession player for him. So here's his assessment is gonna be a little bit different. He he and his family and his agent, they're they're gonna look at it and see what makes sense from a business perspective. That's what we're here for.
That's why we moved this young man halfway around the world to be able to position him uh to eventually, you know, embark on his professional career. So that's those are the things they're gonna weigh. And if they think staying at b YU another year makes sense developmentally for him and UH and the money makes sense, you know, and they're gonna work all the angles behind the scenes in terms of a dollars And if he stays, how
much does he get from b YU. If he goes, how much is he gonna get from the NBA and all that kind of stuff. It's uh, you know, nowadays it's all about it's all about the business part of it, which you like or you don't like, or what have you. But that's that's where the college is are right now. And somebody like Demon, he's using the b YU program just as much as BYU is using him to try
and promote their program. So it's a you know, it's a symbiotic relationship and they're gonna awigh all the all the factors and then and then figure out what's best for him as an individual.
So many that is our time, my friend. I appreciate you hopping on. And next time we come to Vegas, maybe you can come along for the ride, because I know how much you love the strip, but it feels like it's tried to and your alley.
Sence you are. You are a Vegas guy, and I heard you earlier talking about moving the show there. You would you would be prime right to have one of those five o'clock Tuesday afternoon shows from the Miracle Mile shop from Hollywood. That would be right up your alley.
We're looking into it, man, I'll keep you in the loops. Manie. Thanks have a great week with chat.
Toon Okay alike bets man the Great Richard Smith forty years with the Jazz front office and good perspective there.
As the Utah men's basketball season comes to an end this afternoon at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, I believe is what we're calling in now just used to be the MGM Grand Arena, but the Butler Bulldogs used a game winner with about three seconds left to send Utah home and s Mandy stops a bout today courtesy of our friends at Bert Brothers, which is a one stop shop for reliable repairs and maintenance from tires and alignments to fluids and breaks.
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