Our next guest is definitely dangerous. He's definitely honest. The question is does he know what he wants? He is Richard Smith, He's live in the studio for the next hour. Smithy dangerous, honest. I know that about you. But do you know what you want?
These these are all major questions that people have been asking about me for most of my life. Oh yeah, this is this is nothing new.
Where are we at today?
You know? Hey, by the way, like I thought, I thought my so called intro song was wash where the streets have no name. And then I hear bill Bill Riley gets it, and then I hear, well, this is what we used to use or whatever. And so obviously Porter just elbows me right to the side, into the gutter and he goes with something else, and and I got you know, I see, I see what's going on here?
Now, Porter, you want to stand up for yourself.
I'm out of I'm out of town for a couple of weeks, and all of a sudden, it's just you know, bing bang boom.
I don't think he gets the context, but I'll let you go first.
Hey, I mean a man wants his walk up song. He wants his walk up song.
That was That was the intro to Bill's show for like twelve years.
That's what I'm saying.
You know what, if you want, we got one more segment with you. We can bring a little streets out no name if you want. But my question remains still on this day. Do you know what you want? We know you're honest, we know you're dangerous, but do you know what you want?
Yes? I always know what I want, Spencer. Right now, what I want I want to be able to spend a good solid hour getting educated by you all things ute basketball, ute football, b y U basketball, jazz. I know you have all the answers for the jazz. You know that's what we've been waiting for all year long.
Matty, you're the one that educates. I just asked the questions.
No, this is If this is the premise, then we're in a lot of trouble.
Let me tell you well, I'll tell you what you're uniquely qualified to talk about the UH and we'll do mostly college hoops here and I don't know, maybe we'll do some jazz. Alex Jensen, it is official. Since you and I last spoke last Monday, we were up at the Huntsman Center doing the show, which was a lot of fun. You worked with Alex Jensen closely with the Utah Jazz for a number of years, and we have
discussed this. But now that the news is official, Smitty, what should YOUT fans know about the seventeenth head coach in Utah men's basketball history.
Yeah, well, well, Alex is is obviously everybody. One of the one of the key things I think right right off the bat, Bence, is that for just for Utah fans, is that there's no getting acquainted period. There's no like, Okay, who's this guy, what's he about? What's what? What is this going to look like? Everybody in this community. Everybody who's a Utah fan knows Alex Jensen, knows who he is,
knows what he's about. Uh, they know his lineage, they know his background, they know all the experience he's had as both a player collegiately and professionally overseas and then in his coaching career, and so so none of that is is is they get to know me, period. So so everybody's hitting the ground running in that regard. You know,
he knows what he's doing. It's just you know, again, It's just going to be a question for the uthse of you know, how long it takes them on the recruiting trail to start getting guys that can compete, you know, the big twelve level and be able to go to war night in the night out. And I'll tell you what, they got two great people working with him right off the bat in Raphael Chilias and Wes Wilcox. Those are two guys I know, and two guys who are really
big gets for Alex. And so I'm excited for them because that is a good start to building a great foundation in terms of your staff and your program.
See this is good because I don't think there's anybody else in the market that knows Raphael Chilias and Wes Wilcox. I certainly don't. I know Wes's pedigree more than I know Coach chills pedigree. But let's start with Raphael Chilius, who is the first assistant that Alex has hired, and when you read through his background, he's done a lot of different jobs at a lot of different levels, high school, college, and pro very well known in circles that you run in.
So what should you fans know about this new assistant coach.
Well, he's uh, he's first and foremost. He's a top flight recruiter. And he's a guy who knows all the grassroots. He knows all the AAU people, he knows all the guys around the country, West Coast, East Coast, in the South. He knows how to get into into homes, into with with agents now that that that are working a lot for these high school kids and even the portal kids. And you know, he's a guy who knows the landscape.
He knows all the levels. Spence, you're talking about the prep level, which is you know for people around here. I'm familiar with that and it's a big thing in the East Coast. But the prep level is the high school level. So you talk about the top of kids who want you know, Donovan Mitchell was a prep prep school kid, you know, from from New England. You know, all these these this level. He knows those guys. He
knows everybody in college. He was a great recruiter Lorenzo Romar in two different stints when he was at the University of Washington and had it rolling up there for a while, and and of course he's been working in the n b A and in a couple of different stints with player development. So he's got the full scope of the landscape of what you need to do and
who you need to get in with. So now he's the guy who can can get into doors, can get the ear of some kids, some agents, and then you know, from there, you know what the what's the U offering, what's their program, what's what's it gonna look like? Or how's Alex gonna coach him? All that kind of stuff. But Chill will be a great a great resource for
him in that regard. UH. And then Wes Wilcox, of course is uh, you know, is a proven veteran NBA guy who's worked his way up, you know, from a college and intern you know, to a video coordinator, through being an assistant coach on the staff, to being to being in the front office with player uh play a personnel UH and being a GM in Atlanta and now
assistant gym and in Sacramento. So they've got they've got two main guys in key positions who are top flight guys that you would want when you're trying to retool in a situation like that, you is, so I'm not sure that you could have a better start to assembling a staff than getting guys like uh coach Chill and like Wes Wilcox.
You know what, Porter, I've decided something. I need a cool nickname like everybody has. We just had bill On Ryles. We got Smitty coach Chill ll cool Tray ll cool Tray maybe the coolest nickname? Do you have a cool nickname? Because I think I need a cooler nickname than than what I have. I don't really all right, we need to work on that. You and I Coach Chill, Smitty Ryles. My grandpa did nickname me Doobie.
When I was young. He called me Spencer Dooby.
See that That's where we had our issue is the because that's literally what my family has called me since I was a baby.
Well, okay, so Porter and I have the same nickname, but but Doobey has double meanings. My grandfather certainly had no context for what dooby meant.
When I got into high school, my brother DearS.
Did so my my family called my dad. No one knew his real name. It was Doobie because when he was a baby he was wrapped up in a little thing and his his aunt, who they loved, called him, made him said he looked like a little Doobey because he was wrapped up in a white blanket and he was Doobie forever.
I still, Smitty, you knew my mother's father, my grandfather. There's no way he knew what Adobie was. I can promise you that I have no idea why he decided to call me Spencer Dooby. And then I get into high school, I'm like, you want me to smoke a what what are you talking about?
So Smitty, we need to work on this. I need a cooler nickname than what Hey.
I think you guys could could easily go around with matching t shirts that say doob one and Dooby two, Like I think I think that's something that you guys could roll with.
But we could be sued because the Doobie brothers might take issue.
Spell it. You spell it differently. You know you spell it do o B? Why you spell it do o B? I so you're an idea, Yeah, yeah, you do some trick thing with it, you know.
Okay, let me, but let me ask you about coach Chill's personality, because you know, Alex is a little reserved and he's a little more introverted.
And it's not a bad thing. I mean, it's just is a thing.
So when it comes to kind of that yin and the yang, is he the type of person that's a little bit more front facing than Alex tends to be.
Yeah, and and and and uh, coach Chill is is. Uh he's a great gregarious person. He's an outgoing guy. Uh. That's how you get to be able to be sustained in this business, if that's what your niche is, Uh, being able to get into into homes relative to recruiting, being able to make get relationships and sustain them with agents, with coaches, you know, in the grassroots level. Uh, that's what he's been able to do. You know, for a
long long time. He's well known, he's he is the kind of guy who will be outgoing more so than Alex. He'll be a kind of guy who, you know, maybe on the bench, you know, and Alex is more of a subtle, you know, quiet leader, and and Chill will be the kind of guy who's you know, uh, ranting and raving on the sideline, yelling at the kids or something. And Alex may just be there pointing to a spot or two or say, you know, get over here whatever and uh, you know, in the heat of the battle,
so to speak. But uh, he'll serve as a great counterbalance, uh to Alex in that regard, you know, which is I don't know if that's planned, if that if that just happens to be, you know, part of the makeup.
You know. I think I think coach Chill's uh track record and resume, you know, is what really got him in the in the his foot in the door in terms of being considered for a job like this and and in the conference like the Big Twelve where you have to go against you know, a lot of heavyweights in the recruiting battles, you know, and so so that's that's that's a big time get in my opinion, you know, for the you No.
It's really good to know. It's really good context.
You're the guy that knows a lot of people in this ecosystem that most do not, So that's good to know. And you know, Coach Wait has Shreef Shaw, who's more of like a front facing kind of outward funny dude. Anddn't I was trying to think of like the Jerry Phil dynamic. I mean, Jerry was the guy that was kind of firing and Phil is the one that trying to make sure he doesn't get ejected. But in coaching staffs it does help to have different types of personality.
Of course, you know, in the early years of the Jazz you know, Frank Frank Layden was the gregarious, outgoing guy. Jerry Sloan, you know, was the hard nose you know, a teacher, former player guy, and and and that balanced off, you know, at that time Scott Layden was on the bench and Scott was a studious guy, you know, and and was really involved in the UH in the outing and the pro scouting, advanced scouting game planning that constants
say had to balance around a lot of that. Now, one thing I was interested to hear from Mark Harlan in your interview earlier with him where I think he said it. I don't know if it was you. I think here's what who mentioned that they may be they may end up with a smaller staff.
Yeah, I thought you would like that.
Well.
I just think that that, you know, I think if they're looking at things, I think it's you know, you know, you can have in my opinion, you know, there is such a thing as too many cooks in the hun you.
Know, totally agree with you.
And and you know, staffs have grown over the years
and people have different responsibilities. But but I do think there's been a wave and this is isn't new, you know, last ten, fifteen, even twenty years, and in both college and the NBA, where where organizations are afraid that they're missing something if they don't have somebody who fits the role that the other guys have, and if the other guys are having any success, then it's a copycat situation, right, So you get you get staffs where there's you know,
seventeen guys in the in the in the pullovers and in the half zips, on the on the on the bench, and you're going, well, they have more coaches than they have players on the thing and whatever. Both yeah, both collegen and pro you know, and it's uh and and it's overkill, you know. I mean, Uh, Gary Briggs are great trainer for the jazz and the in the in the two thousands. You know, he used to do the
job when he was in Cleveland. We were talking one night about this where uh he did the job uh in the early days where now there are literally six other full time people doing the different responsibilities that he used to do by himself.
And Gary probably didn't get sixs of the money.
No, that's exactly right. And so you know, these things can be done if you're smart, if you're efficient, if you know what you're doing, uh, you can do it. You know, more isn't always more to coin the phrase.
You know, if you're smart about who you have on your staff and what they're about and what they're trying to do, you know, then sometimes that can be a benefit to you so that you don't have too many voices in the room and too many conflicts going on and you know, in terms of what you're trying to get across and and work with with your team.
So let's move over to Wes Wilcox now. And when I first saw the Pete Tamill report, I went, man, that would be a be a really good hire.
Leg Wes has been a GM. He ran the Hawks, he.
Was the director of player development in Cleveland and then the g the GM and the G League team and Wes hired Alex to coach the Canton Charge where Alex won G League Coach of the Year D League back then and won the D League Championship thirty nine years old. From what I understand, very analytically driven, and Mark actually referenced that Wes most likely will.
Report to Alex Now.
In the NBA, the coach reports to the general manager, at least historically speaking, UH coach with Bleckin is the general manager who reports to Kyles. So maybe this is a new college model. But tell me what you make of this and also what should we know about West.
WILLK coylein, Yeah, I think that I think that model Spence is what's taking place in college is that the head coach is really the guy who's who's the point person for the whole program. So he's gonna he's going to hire a person to serve in the GM role, the GM role, you know, maybe you know in the NBA, we're used to the coach reporting to the GM, the GM reporting to the owner kind of thing. In the college,
they're kind of reversing that. They're having the head coaches the main guy, the GM reports to him, and then the head coach in turn reports to the athletic director. And so this won't be an unusual setup if that's what they're what they're doing, because most of the college setups are doing that now, so that so that this nom miss misperception about who's who's reporting to the athletic director or who's reporting to you know, the main booster
group or whatever it is. UH, the general manager is going to be the person who comes in and keeps everything in in ther in the h within the program organized heads up, the people who are doing the recruiting heads up, the overseas, the n I l UH stuff or whatever it's going to be, the revenue sharing stuff
going forward, however that falls out through the NCAA. UH, They're going to be like the guy who keeps everything organized so that the head coach can spend a good chunk, not all and maybe not even majority sometimes, but a good chunk of their time actually coaching basketball, actually trying to get their players better, to be more competitive on the floor, and to leave the so called day to
day business stuff to the guy who's the GM. And so Wes Wilcox is perfectly situated for that great resume, a great experience, really UH, an organized guy and and will be really good for Alex. And again those guys
know each other. Alex reported to Wes when they were in a part of the Cleveland Cavaliers organization, you know, almost twenty years ago now and then uh, and now it's come kind of full circle and Wes is going to be part of his staff and uh, you know, again a nice balance because while Alex can can concentrate on the basketball part, Wes will concentrate on organizing the office for the people who work there. How they're doing all their their stuff on a day to day basis, recruiting, nil,
blah blah blah, all those kinds of things. And and Wes is very uh he's a very organized, very streamlined type of guy. And so that's uh, again another great get for them now they have they're getting a good staff in place. They're getting a good core of the guys that that that you like to see and what their what their skill sets are, and what they can do. Now, what's the bottom line, spets. You gotta get horses. Yeah, So so that's what it's gonna be. All these guys
can do what they want to do. And uh, you know, the great lesson I learned way way way back when the Jazz were playing the Lakers and Lakers eighty eight, playing with Pat Riley and Pat Riley's in an interview with the press and they're talking about this new stuff they were doing at the time with video stuff and and uh, and the press was asking do you think
that gives you advantage? And he said, I don't know. Well, you're using this technology, which at that time was new, using plays and watching video halftime, which teams didn't do at that time. And finally they were pressing them on it, and pat Riley finally said, well, I don't if it helps us that much or not. He said, I think I think the better advantage we have is that we have Kareem and Magic. And to me, you know, at that moment, I remember thinking, and I thought about that
ever since. Spencers. Yeah, we can do all this other stuff behind the scenes, and we can dance around, and we can spend money, and we can have seventeen coaches and we can do whatever whatever we need magic and Kareem on the floor, and if that's what we have, then we're gonna be okay. And I was the recipient of that because you know, my basically my first eighteen twenty years in the NBA, you know, I was riding on the coattails with John and Carl and that's that's
how that went. Everybody was and that's why everybody looked good and whatever it was they did because John and Carl were there and we're playing every night, and so okay, thank you very much.
Nineteen eighty eight was I think probably my first real in doctrine in a playoff basketball right, And I just remember that Jazz Lakers series.
Remember going every home game. I did a little.
Project Wassatch Elementary mssus Farman shout out fifth grade. I did a little Jazz Lake and I remember when I'll say we lost Game seven, how gutted I was as a ten year old, and I think I was just hooked for life. I'm like, man, playoff basketball rules, because that was so fun and that was kind of like, okay, you know, the Jazz aren't not some little team out in Salt Lake anymore.
Like the Jazz actually are building something.
It felt like that was a And then was it the next year where the Warriors got It was pretty Yeah.
That next year was it was the Kerry Tiegele. Yeah, the fame, the famous sweep you know, was you know, but but yeah, eighty eight was really the you know, from a historical perspective the way I see it. So then now even more so in my mind was the coming out party was that, well, these guys are for real, yeah, you know, and uh and then you know, hey, during the nineties, what they what the jazz did. And then like ninety eight, you know, Lakers with Shaq and Kobe
and oh oh those guys are pretty good. The Jazz going and whack them forth straight up, you know, to get back to the finals. And you know that was you know, that's you know, all all that's time in between. That's when you knew, you know that your team was competitive and was able to fight with anybody night in the night out, and that that's really what will be
the test for you, you know going forward. As all this other stuff, well, we'll obviously play major roles in it behind the scenes, but at the end of the day, you know, they're gonna have to get players there and gonna have to figure out a way to be competitive on the floor in the Big twelve.
You have to have talent.
I mean, just while we're in the space, I can remember, man, you referenced Scotty my freshman year at the you professor gave us an assignment you need to go out and find somebody in the field you want to work in and go interview them. That was kind of the deal. And Scott was the GM of the Jazz. When I was at the You and So I sat down with Scott. One of my first questions was, and I thought he was gonna say Larry. Thought he was gonna say Larry Miller.
I said, who is the most important person in the jazz organization? Scott didn't hesitate, says, there's two. It's John and Carl in the whole organization, including I thought he was gonna say ownership, and he said, John and Carl.
Yeah, well, you know there the most popular people, uh during the so called heyday was hot Rod and the Bear. Those are the two most popular, uh in the organization, Uh with the fans and then but the most important you're you're you know Scott's exactly right, is is because when you have players and they're driving, winning and you can do that, that's that's what trickles down to everything else in the organization. That's that's where it comes from.
Uh.
That's why you know the current iteration of the jazz where they're trying to you know, get some traction and and uh really you know, slipping and sliding so far you know in this uh, this new approach that that
they've chosen to take. It's surprising that they chose to get rid of players who were main guys who were in their prime, you know, and under contract, you know, for whatever the reasons were, and to let them go because because those things are hard to find as they're as they're they're finding out and there in the middle of and when you have those you try and hold on to them as long as you can to make sure that you can you can sustain success and have
everybody else do what they do to the best of their ability.
I can't remember what year it was, but some at some point in the nineties, when Riley had gone in Miami and Jeff took over for Pat in New York Van Gutt he was the head coach of the Knicks in New York. It was after a game and I can't remember if they played the Bulls. It may have been the game where Jordan came back and dropped fifty five of the garden the double nickel, the famous game, and Jeff was getting ready to address the media and Phil Jackson had just released a book.
I think they called it. I think it was Sacred.
Hoops, that's right. And Frank I saw last Jeff. He said, Jeff, have you read Phil's new book? I may have told you this. And Jeff said, oh, I actually I have a copy of her right here. And he took a blank piece I think it was a statue, turned it over and he wrote number twenty three on it and handed it to Frank I sola because obviously Phil wrote Sacred Hoops after a great run coaching somebody named Michael George.
That's right. And Phil Jackson a very smart guy and a good basketball guy. But what was even smarter at He knew that he had to run in the nineties with the Bulls, had a couple of years off, and then he had other opportunities, and then he looked around and go, maybe I'll go coach the Lakers. They got
Shaq and Kobe, right, Yeah, maybe I'll do that. Yeah, you know, yeah, I mean that's the smart park, because you know, if you got him in place, then you just you know, you do a little dressing around the edges and then you let those guys go to work.
Richard Smith forty years in the NBA with Utah Jazz is Liveman Studio on a beautiful Thursday.
Mischiet Bonnie this morning.
I know, I know, I'm sorry about that, man. How'd you do?
Forty one to thirty nine?
Did you real?
Eight?
Really?
And I didn't make any puts? I don't know why I was. My ball striking was both surprising and very pleasing. Really, yeah, I played well wow with no puts, Smitty, I gotta start making puts.
Let's get out soon, huh?
All right?
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Right here on ESPN seven hundred, Richard Smith.
Live in studio, We've hit our YouTube quota for the day. I will not knock on Porter for giving the people what they want.
Little streets have no name with Ryles. Have you seen you two in person?
And live in persons?
And Bill?
Okay, yeah and Bill.
They put on quite a show.
That's great, terrific. Yeah, all right.
We got the madness of March resumes in one hour from now as Brigham Young will take on Alabama and the Sweet sixteen. We've got four If you're a college basketball fan, I cannot wait to go home and just I will marinate on.
The couch tonight for hours.
I've got all of them recorded, because if you've been paying attention between commercial breaks and video reviews, oh my gosh, man, can we please play basketball?
This is this is this is what's driving and spends this whole thing, the whole thing. I think if you really go taking a thirty five thousand foot view of the whole thing, it's really kind of funny, like you know how much money they pull in and how much they market all this and and you know what used to be amateur sports, right, it's is a whole different thing. And and it doesn't it doesn't matter. All that stuff's out the window.
Yeah, but spitty, like I'm a grown up.
I know they're making money, play your ads, but the reviews, Like, dude, we can all see what is going on. We do not need a ten minute stoppage to decide whether or not the ball went off the player.
Yeah. Yeah, it's always it's always that that that that stuff in this sport and also in football, you know, in the NFL. It just it drives me crazy when they you know, I don't know, I always think you know, I don't know what they did in the old days. The old days. Uh spence, Spence check its was the line, judge. You just said it was this or that, and you went on like, well, you know, everybody's got a way in.
They scrutinized. Of course they're afraid if they're wrong that, you know, millions of people are going to get on them because they saw the tape and everything. It's just it's awful.
But before we get to the games tonight, you were good enough to remind me during the break commutual friend.
Of ours and the man who was the original.
Jazz Bear and the jazz Bear for two decades plus, I mean more than twenty years and just a sweet guy. His name is John Absey. We got some bad news about John, and we're all here to support him.
So smody.
For our listeners that are not familiar with the news that came down over the past week or so, why don't you fill us in.
Yeah, John Abssey, the longtime bear for the Utah Jazz, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer stage three. Talked with
him last night. I asked him if if he was okay with me, just mentioning it on the air today, and he said, of course, his goal is more to educate the public and to try and help people who might find themselves in similar health situations, who feel, you know, when they get a shot to the to the gut like this, and and all of a sudden it comes out of the out of left field, Adam that that you not only get staggered, but you also sometimes your head is spinning about, Okay, how do I handle this?
How do I uh systematically go about getting the proper care, getting my insurance stuff lined up, making sure I can try and and and deal with whatever my health issue is.
And and and John really wanted to just get the word out that, you know, while he fights his own individual battle, that that he's trying to put together information that will help other people who get, you know, similar type diagnoses during their lives to maybe have a starting point of of a how to how to start looking for care, how to start doing this thing that that
might that might help them. So he's, he said, along his journey that's still in front of him, he's going to be trying to put together a guide book of sorts or a blue book, so to speak, to try and help people. You know, these are the steps you should be taking. This is the stuff you should do, you know when if in one you or some loved ones find yourself in this kind of a situation, to
try and help you be more organized. Because I can tell you, Spence, nobody has done more in this community, not only in their job, which was his job with the Jazz for over two decades in that regard in terms of charitable efforts, but John did so much stuff outside of the Jazz on his own, for groups, for kids, for disadvantage people that I can't even tell you, you know how many people you'll really owe a debt to him, just in terms of how he has lived his life
to this point in service of others. And it's you know he wants, uh. He's not putting all this stuff out there, uh, to to get people to be feel sorry for him. He's trying to put it out there to get people to to rally around others and to help other people, you know, find their way through whatever their challenges are, to help them to to get to get better, to get the kind of care and support that they need, and whatever their their individual challenges are.
So so we we love John, and and we hope the best for he and and Sean and their girls and and in this fight, and we're with him one.
So John Absey, the original Jazz Bear, is fighting pancreatic cancer. Okay, so that's the diagnosis. There is a go fund me, and I would just encourage you to google John Abssey, which is spelled j O N then A B S E. Why you can include go fundme and your Google search and the link will come up. These types of things, you know, the cruel reality is they cost a lot of money, and even if you have insurance, oftentimes it
only covers a portion of it. I will not give you a commentary on my take on the social you know, situation regarding medical care in America and how many I think it's twenty million plus Americans per year go bankrupt as a result of the inability to pay for medical care, which is pathetic in a lot of ways.
But let's just leave that there because we won't get political.
But John Apsey, original Jazz Bar, fighting pincreatic cancer. If you're able to donate to the go fundme, they are trying to raise money to help John fight this this horrible disease. So there you go, Smitty. I appreciate that reminder. I was going to bring that up, but I'm glad you brought it up. And to your point, the sweetest guy around, you know, and for so many years nobody knew who the jazz bear was, right because you weren't
supposed to. And then you know, now we know that it was John who I thought among if not the best mascot. And I'm dead serious, I'm not just saying that. I mean, I've been some of you, how many NBA arenas, probably all of them. When John was doing the John stuff at the top of his game. I don't know that there was anybody better.
Well.
They they they have a thing that you know, most people don't know about. It's probably more of an internal organization anything, but the mascots community, you know, both on the collegiate level and the professional level across all sports. They they have their own community. And John, while he was doing it, he was he was the seven time
mascot of the year. Whoever votes on that and however that's decided, you know, he's considered a pillar in that, in that community, and it's in the in the mascot hall of Fame again whatever however that's decided. But but you know, he's just he's been seeing over the years by those people who are inside of that that that business as one of the best to ever do it and one of the kindest guys to ever do it. And that's why he's so highly thought of by the people in the sporting community.
Well said, all right, last segment, if you missed it, really good insight. Smitty is one of the very few people in the basketball ecosystem that is familiar with both Wes Wilcox and Raphael Chilis. So we did some Utah basketball talking about the Alex Jensen highly becoming official. If you missed any of that, go to the podcast page and hear what Smitty had to say about coach chill and Wes Wilcox hired by the You tell if Alex build this thing how much, Smitty before you give the
games tonight? Kevin Young, former NBA coach, You guys can go look at his staff. They're all former NBA G League guys. There's a little bit of a BYU flavor, but not much. Charles Buo is on his staff, but it's mostly x NBA guys. Or x G League guys and Bringham Young is reported to have two seven figure players on the roster this year, and if the reports are true, they're paying aj De bants Is seven million dollars to play five months of basketball next year.
Provo.
There are a lot of people that are doing the narrative like Utah is just ripping off the BYU model to try to build their program. Certainly BYU is not the only only program in the country that as X NBA guys are a grip of NIL support. But things are happening down in Provo on the basketball side of things that are hard to ignore, right, I mean, as far as the money they have and the NBA model they put in place.
Well, they have a lot. You know what BYU has to my understanding, I don't know this you know firsthand, but I believe that they with the new NIL influence in college athletics now BYU has been able to tap into their donor base and their support base, which involves
a lot of people through this tech corridor. If you will spend between Salt Lake and Provo Silicon Slopes, the Silicon Slopes, and there's a lot of BYU people involved in that and my understanding is that there's a lot of them who have chosen to get involved on a financial level for the program. Uh. They don't want a lot of publicity, you know, a lot of them saying, hey, look i'll get involved, I'll donate, I'll do this or whatever it is. But I don't want to be that guy.
I'm just you know, I just want to do my part and you know, slide in the side door and sit down in my seat, watch the game and go home whatever. So there's a lot of those people. I think Ryan Smith, the owner of the Jazz you know, is a big b YU booster. You know, he's right front and center. You know, he kind of gets a lot of the attention, you know, for what's going on. You know, whether that's accurate or not, I don't know.
I do know he's a he's a terrific uh by U supporter, and he's at a lot of the games with his family and and and they're big boosters there. But there are a lot of other people involved also
that have helped by you in that regard. And and we've mentioned before Spence on on this show, there's there's you don't normally get if your your if you're church related school located in Provo, Utah, you don't normally get into the living room of the top a national recruit who happens to be from Boston, Massachusetts, you know, without something going on, you know that that that attracts that individual to a to a program like BYU and so uh and and and look it's it's all. It's all
above board, it's all. That's what it is. Now, that's what's going on. And so uh until that changes, uh, you know with the revenue sharing or how they're gonna how that's all gonna play out in college athletics. You know, the your b YU has uh has figured out how to do that. To this point, they're on a nice little run here. I love how people always, you know, these things get amplified this time of year, right or wrong, uh, based on how you you play one game or a
particular game. You know. Colorado State, you know, maybe should have could have won their game last week against Maryland. They hit a game winning shot with six seconds left. Maryland comes down, the guy hits a floater, you know, fallaway shot at the buzzer, and they end up winning instead, and Colorado State goes home. But Colorado State would be a nice story if they had that shot hadn't gone in and and and they they're in the sweet sixteen. But b YU has played two good games, shot the
ball well. UH played well against Wisconsin and was able to hold on at the end even though they tried to lose the game the last couple of minutes the way they played, but they had enough of a cushion to survive UH and then had to stop right at the end to win the game. So so they're in a great position tonight playing a tough Alabama team UH that is really athletic, and it's gonna test UH b yu's ability to match up UH to be able to defend them UH and to be able to UH be able.
They're gonna have to be able to shoot the way that they capable of doing if they're going to have a chance to be in it at the end.
So that brings us to tonight. And before we get to BYU Alabama, Smiddy, there are sixteen teams left in college basketball and zero Cinderellas. Don't tell me Arkansas of Cinderella.
Cal has like.
Three or four pros. They were just hurt to start the year and they didn't play well. And when I watched them play Kansas, you could tell that the talent on that roster did not actually reflect the ten seed. Only four conferences represented seven teams from one conference. Is this the new re I mean, I know, you don't thill out a bracket, and I fill one out and like an idiot, I picked Cinderellas because you know, I've
watched the thing my entire life. Is it the new reality of college basketball where we're just going to see more separation from the top to the bottom.
Yeah, well, I think I think for two reasons, Spence. One is is it the nil stuff Until they get a handle on that, until there's some four of a so called salary cap like they have in the pros, programs are going to be able to get the top players. And no matter what you say, how you phrase it,
how you approach it. You know, kids who are juniors and seniors in high school who have aspirations to, you know, maybe play someday as a professional, or even if they don't get there, you know, maybe their college experience will end up being their professional experience in terms of financial reward. So they're looking at schools that are going to give them an opportunity to earn some money right out of
the gate. And then the other the other equation is the fact that you have this open transfer portal process. So you know Randy Ray, you know, the great Weaver State coach who retired a couple of years ago, and by his own admission, probably the three or four years earlier than he wanted to or had originally planned to. He got out because he said, I can see it coming.
I don't want to have to deal with it because if I get fortunate enough in the recruiting process to get another Damian Lillard to come to Weaver State and play well my fresh his freshman year, he doesn't come back his sophomore year because he's going to Kansas. So he's going to Texas, So he's going to U C. L A or whoever has the money. And I and I would not want to stop them, because that's what it's all about, right yeah, I mean, so, uh, you know,
so that's what's gonna happen. So you're you're seeing the so called cream rising to the top. All the big boys are going to continue to be the bigger boys because as long as they have those kind of financial resources and the situations that they're in, you know, to to attract collegiate players, that's what's gonna happen. And and you know this thing like you know, going up to the U this year, and I'm an U bo I
like all the teams in the state. I go to the U Games because there are five is from my house and I and I support I've supported the program for a long time. But I go up there this year and you know, they were competitive. Craig Smith is a good coach. He knows what he's doing on x's and o's stuff. He just didn't have the horses. And and if you looked at that roster, all these guys who came from different schools from last year other than the Madson kid, you know, we're from different schools that
they plucked from the transfer portal. And you don't have any connection to these guys. They're not the kids who are freshmen and sophomores. Now, they're you're juniors and seniors who you've been rooting for and that's my guy and whatever. You don't see him grow up. They're just passing through because as soon as they get a different thing. They're
gone to the next thing, whatever that is. And that was born out last year when when Utah had the Devin Smith kid who came in Davon and and and uh and he played well enough and boom boom, he's off to Saint John's, you know, this year. And so
that's just going to continue to happen. And unless you have you know, some unusual, you know, magic potion that gets your kids to want to play for good old you know, state to good old University and be part of that fabric for three or four years, like the old Alex Jensen days and Michael Doliacs and Andre Miller's and Keith van Horns and all these guys who stayed four years and we're part of the fabric of that that that's everything's just going to be a revolving door.
And so how do you root for them? In fact, I asked I was on a trip last week with a bunch of BYU fans and and and as we were visiting, I just asked him casually, Hey, I'm just curious now that this whole landscape has changed, and we know kids are getting paid, and we know what's going on, you know, in that regard you as a fan. Do you find your fandom having changed at all in terms of how you think about the kids you're coming to
root for every night. Has that changed your the way you look at it, or it just doesn't matter to you as long as they're winning that kind of thing. And everyone I asked, you know, individually, they said, nah, you know, I know it's changed and whatever. But you know, I go with my family because it's a good time, and you know, we can root to something we can do together as a family or as friends going to
a game. But obviously if they're winning, that makes it much more fun, right And the other part how they're winning, Why they're winning. They're paying the guys the most money, so they got the better guys. Whatever. I really don't think about it, you know, I just think about they're wearing. You know, it's the old Jerry Seinfeld bit about laundry, you know, laundry. I'm not really rooting for my guys.
I'm rooting for launde because whoever's wearing the shirt of my school, that's who I'm rooting for.
Yeah, you know, yeah, I wonder one more thing here that I do want to get your thoughts on what we could see tonight BYU getting going just about forty minutes from now.
But my listeners are probably sick of hearing me say this.
I just think it's the only solution, and I think it needs to happen sooner rather than later, which is simply leaning more into the pro model, allowing the players to unionize and collectively bargained.
And therefore.
Gabe Madson signs a three year contract with a fourth year option to play for the Utes, which means you're here for three years and then or whatever two years third year option. At least you've got the guy for two years, and if he's a pro after that, the third year options is and he leaves, or if he's not that good, the third year option is ours. So your ours for three years. I don't see any other way around it. Smitty to me, that's the only solution.
Well, they have to have some kind of cap or ceiling on what they do. In other words, it's got to be some kind of stability. Right now, it's a it's a revolving door for both. Look look at the coaches. Look at just in the last week. It's the coaches who have moved on you know, whether it's and how about the guys who were involved in the NCAA scandal.
And the Maryland coach took the Villanova job and is coaching tonight.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, right right. I mean, you know, but I mean it seems like most people involved don't really care as long as you somehow have a formula that allows you to have some level of success. Okay, whether it's a Sean Miller who got run out of Arizona because and in part because of that that bribery scandal, or will Wade LSU who got run out because of the same thing, and they go to lesser schools. Do do do do they have a couple of good years?
Here we are back in the line light at the big schools, you know, with with Sean Miller going uh going to Texas and and and and Will Way to going NC State. I mean, you know, like, to me my opinion, you're like, you got to be kidding me, Like this is it's so blatant about how schools are handling their business now. And but who's on the other end of the spectrum. Somebody like Saint Francis of Pennsylvania,
scott Leyden's old school who decides. Last week, they get in the first four, right because they won their league tournament. They lose. A couple of days later, they announced that they're moving next year to Division III, that they're getting out of this scrum. They say, we can't do it. It's not going to work for us the way everybody else is doing it. We understand what's going on. We
can't compete in that regard. So we're going back to what everybody was originally supposed to be forty fifty sixty years ago, right, which was which was a student activity and the process of being a program on campus where the students came and they got scholarships to go to school and then they played for good old U and uh. And now it's not that. Now it's a it's a it's a big time business, and it's really a professional
sports business that colleges are running. And it's interesting that how many schools are just you know, just chasing that that dollar down that rabbit hole. And it's it's really interesting to me that that more presidents of of high schools, of hire institute higher learning aren't looking at that and going, wait a minute, do we do we need to have a meeting about this, like what what are we doing?
You know? And uh, whether it's the Ivy League schools or whether it's other smaller schools who know they can't compete in and are getting out of it like that. So that's interesting to me. And that's but this whole march madness thing, this thing is like, this is some beast that's out of out of whack, and everybody, everybody
goes along with it. Spence, It's interesting, Like Mark Cuban said years ago in an interview about copyright infringement and copyright laws, and the biggest copyright infringement company going is YouTube because YouTube uses everybody else's content. They have nothing that's the wrong. They they use everybody else's stuff and they don't pay them, and everybody acknowledges it, and everybody
goes whatever, right and they shrug, right. I mean that's and and we all fall into it because we all use YouTube to look at something or whatever, and YouTube wouldn't have it if they had to pay copyright and image blah blah blah, and so we all fall into it. We're all part of it. We're all as guilty as the next guy for participating and being part of it, and it's it's just interesting that that's that's what we
find in college athletics, and it's getting more so that way. Right, That's that's the direction that's going.
As we currently have the conversation live on our YouTube streaming channel. You can subscribe to the ESPN seven hundred YouTube channel. All Right, somebody, before I say you loose BYU struggles this year, For the most part, they've had some outliers. They lost to the U, they got smoked by Cincinnati randomly. Their struggles this year have been when they ran up against a team that has elite physicality, athleticism, speed and strength.
That's kind of who Bama is. Bama's not Houston.
Excuse me, Bama's not Houston physical, but they're faster than Houston. They play with the best pace in college basketball. They're the fastest team in college basketball. I don't know you think about the Sears kid, but he's a really seasoned veteran college basketball point guard. They were in the final four year ago. They lost a great game to Yukon. When you look at the numbers, these two teams are similar. They want to get up and down, they want to
score Alabama's a five point five point favorite. Where Alabama excels where BYU does not is Alabama guards the three a little bit.
Better than BYU.
BYU is one of the worst defensive teams of guarding the three in Bama lex to shoot the three. Bama a great offensive rebounding team. Okay, but Kenada Fus TREIORI, by You's got some athletic biggs might be able to hang.
How do they get it done?
And you think they can as b YU takes on Baman just about forty minutes, right, yeah, I.
Think Well, if BYU is going to win and they're going to be in it at the end, they're going to have to They're gonna have to shoot the ball. That's that's what they rely on well the whole season. So they can't get away from that.
That.
You can't shy away and try and change your game plan. Now, this is what got you here, this is what you know. The girl you brought to the dance, that's who you're dancing with. So they've got to be able to shoot the three. They've got to be able to get good looks that they're comfortable with, and they've got to make their share they've got to make eleven, twelve, thirteen threes during the course of the game and get in a
flow that they feel comfortable doing that with. The other thing for them is, you know, Alabama is is so athletic can attack them. They've got to have a better transition defense to slow it down, to get in some kind of a rhythm defensively for BYU. But then if they get into a into a clutch game, which is in the college three three points or less or two minutes to go, b YU has to handle it better than they did against Wisconsin. They did not do a good job at the end. Wisconsin. They had a big
enough cushion they were able to survive it barely. But they have to be able to handle it better and they're gonna have to rely on their key guys Saunders and and Demon And then usually when you have a game like this, this deep in the tournament, Spence, someone else shows up and has the game of the year for them. Who is that? I don't know. Is it Trey Orri who comes in and gets twelve rebounds and it goes six for six from the field because he
keeps getting duck ins and dunks or whatever. Or is it Trevinnell who gets free because Alabama doesn't respect him quite as much on the weak side and he's able to drill four threes in the second half or something like that that comes out of the woodwork that helps you to get over the hump. But I'm excited for the game. It's gonna be fun to watch a.
Lot of good basketball tonight. Good night if you're a college basketball fan. Smitty, great to see my friend, and we'll see you next week.
Thanks man, appreciate it.
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