THU POD @SpenceChecketts on Utah Spring FB, Utes/Cougs hoops, 3-0-4 RSL, The Masters + more

have you along for the riots fence check. It's beyond the Mike Porter Larsen, beyond the glass, producing and booking the program today, jam packed guest list, a lot of different topics. It's not just a beautiful day in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is a beautiful day in Augusta, Georgia, where Justin Rose is having himself a day.

Uh no point, but ultimately a couple of big shots and overtime from Keante George allowed the Jazz to beat the Blazers one thirty three to one twenty six. They honored the longtime PA voice of the Jazz, Dan Roberts, who, after forty six years and over twenty one hundred games, is Colina quits. His final game will be on Friday, as Oklahoma City is in town and the Jazz limping towards the finish line. Uh, you know, the lost last night or the win last night doesn't do a ton

to the lottery odds. We'll walk you through those coming up in just a little bit. And I'm sure for a team that is. I think they were one and twenty in their prior twenty one games, with only three or four wins since the All Star break. Simply remembering what it's like to win a basketball game may have been good for these young players. Kyle Philipowski with thirty points, eighteen boards, five assists, three steals. That's a ridiculous stat line.

He was thirteen or seventeen from the floor. So we'll do some jazz basketball, we'll do some NBA basketball in the program today. Interesting scenes in Dallas last night as Luka Doncic was in tears during the introductions as the Lakers were in Dallas to take on the MAVs.

the Pro Basketball Slate. The Knicks are in Detroit to take on the Pistons, the Cavs will take on the Pacers, and a big one out West as the Timberwolves and the Grizzlies will do.

up on Saturday, April nineteenth. Utah Utes dot com is where you go for tickets. They new hire was made by Alex Jensen and the Utah coaching staff. We'll let you know who that is and talk about it on the show. And of course the latest with BYU throwing money all over the place to attract talent to play for their basketball team. Matt Gan fortunately was cut today Napolis Colts after a very successful stint with the Rams.

RS on the program as well today. All right, Lock going on, Lock going on. So our first guest right out of the gates will be a good friend of the show who we haven't caught up with in quite some time, Amy Donaldson. Amy Donaldson, our friend from KSL. Then it's Dave mcminnamon, who claims he's not a celebrity reporter.

with those guys not playing but not missing majors. That's a guarantee. Not watching like the simulator golf, not watching live, not watching the rest of it. But you're if you're playing with the top players in the world and they're all playing together at the same place, I'm tuned in.

Picks app today. Use that promo code ESPN seven hundred. You get fifty dollars instantly after you play your first five dollars line up Prize Picks.

He served under Jared Calhoun a Utah State last year. And a lot of people that I know Eric's dad, I know Donnie. I don't know Eric, but a lot of people that know Eric believe this is a good addition based off of his understanding and ties to players here in the state and maybe some players that are in the transfer portal from Utah State or web State. So Eric Salt Lake City native. As I reference his dad, Donnie Daniels, was a longtime assistant coach here and elsewhere.

Sixteen years of experience to the program and a lot of work on the recruiting and the player development side, which seems to be a theme so far for Alex's staff, which you understand. Prior to his stint at Utah State, Eric spent five years as an assistant at Weber where he started under the legend himself, Randy Ray, and then he was the top assistant under Eric Duff. Prior to that, he worked with Mark Pope at Utah Valley and that

was a very successful run for Mark. Of course partlaid that into the BYU job, and now he's in Lexington with one of the best jobs in college basketball coaching Kentucky.

According to the reports that are out there, BYU is preparing another big time nil offer for a transfer portal guard out of Baylor.

hearing from folks that work for BYU. We'll get back to this up in a bit and we'll give you a master's update as well. But coming up on the other side, one of our friends who joins the show from time to time, maybe Donaldson will join us live in studio.

the pro game. So you know, the number two pick in the w NBA draft was an international student who went to a small Christian school I believe in Tennessee. You know, it was down south somewhere, and yeah, it's really more and more. Now we have some issues like I don't know if you saw the freshman from Duke

who who is here from South Sudan. He has a South Sudan passport, he has a family actually lived most of his life in Ghana, and now he's maybe gonna have to leave the country and they have to figure out that visa situation for him, because all South Sudanese people here on a visa, anyone, any visa holder or i'm sorry, passport holder from South Africa South Sudan has been told they have to leave self deport So.

of it is visa management. Who's who needs a visa, who has a pastor you know, where do they live And a lot of times when a family and we you know, look at Yannish, his family fled from his home kind of tree, Nigeria to Greece and he had a Greece path you know, passport from Greek. He's a Greek citizen, right. But there just there are these complications now that all these games are international games, and then

you have world politics that impact it. I mean I saw it during the Olympics when Russia invaded Crimea in twenty fourteen. You had athletes who their home was in Crimea and it was really difficult to when those political you know, the happenings then impact whether or not players or athletes can do what they that's I think it was twenty eighteen when they began a refugee team. That was the first time they had a refugee team. Or

actually I take that back, it was in Reo. Yeah, that they had a refugee team.

And so you had the IOC had these athletes who their countries either couldn't or wouldn't participate in the games, and so they created this refugee team. And it was really interesting because the politics were really anti refugee. But the IOC, which is not really what I would say is a leader, a thought leader, as my College of the Desert and News would say, they weren't really out

in front of things. So they but they had these athletes and one of the women was a swimmer, and she had Carrie, like she pulled the little raft her family and a bunch of other people that they knew from, you know, their community, their town or whatever. But she had pulled them the last couple of her sister swam and pulled them the last bit into into Greece and it was Yeah, it was incredible and really just what they had been through, it was really hard to focus

on sports. Yeah, Like you're like, oh, you're a swimmer, Like what's your best time, what's your favorite you know, stroke, whatever you or how do you psych yourself up for a race? Like all the normal things you might look at were they just seemed so dumb. You know. It was like the difference between you know, knowing someone's you know, real life story and knowing what their favorite food is. Yeah,

that's how I feel. Sports is when we really figure out how much we how little we know about these athletes that we love or cover whatever.

was a weightlifter. They're just they just did different sports, right. There was judo, and they were just giving people hope who really were just trying to get through another day. They didn't have food, they didn't have medicine, they didn't you know. It was it was especially the refugees from Syria. It was heartbreaking. I mean I really like went back to my room and was like, I think I need to revaluate my entire life predecision I've ever made, I

don't know, you know, it's hard. Yeah, but then I just tried to focus on the fact that they were giving them this opportunity and I believe they still do that, and then it was just fun to be part of telling that story. And I would say I'm pretty critical of the IOC and most managing bodies, but that was one where I thought, Okay, this was this was a really beautiful thing that they did.

and stuff like that. But you think still like there's an there's a thread of it, there's an essen, it has an essence of something beautiful. There are so many greats. Like the first woman to win a judo medal was from the favelas in Rio, and I went to the favelas and spend some time. Yeah, my so, my cousin is married to a woman from Rio. Her mom does a bunch of works. So she said, you know, do you want to go? So one of my case all colleagues and I went, and then I went again with

her on a service project. But you know, they don't have running wat. I mean, the conditions they live in are probably not as good as some of the dogs that i've I've adopted out.

real world. Then you get in the real world, you start working, you realize what bills are and I just had to walk them through how to do you how to do his taxes and he's like, Dad, this this adulting stuff isn't all it's cracked up to me. So day in and day out, just remembering and the stories you're sharing about you know, folks that certainly are less fortune than most of us give you perspective where every day you can't choose what you focus on.

in their community. And I would say, like I read an article about Cooper Flag because my nephew is a jazz fan and he's obsessed. All my nephews are. He's obsessed with the draft and this is all we can discuss now, right right, we just sit through this season. We had a little mini pack because he just got station at Hill Air Force, bass in the Air Force and he's just been a jat dieheard my brother in law bought one of the old chairs from the old Delta Center.

bob slied. That's wild and best in the world, and you know, you don't know is your window closing? Right in athletics, it's always about as much about timing as it is your talent. But then she comes back and she loses out like by a tenth of a second. It's like literally a blink of it, not yeah and so, and you just like, how do you not replay that in your mind for the rest of your life? Like am I that unlucky? Or was I lucky that I came back and I got to compete and I was fourth?

and so there's no time for them. I mean, none of us do well through puberty. Okay, we all have a rough time. It is. It is really rough.

the immediate access to everything. And this article is basically saying, I hope somebody in his life lets him be a kid, takes him back and says, you know, this is not the pinnacle of your life. It is not the thing that you should define yourself with. But you know, learn from it, grow from it like like our parents would. But it's just on such a massive stage. There's so much at stake that it you couple normal teenage there

are no mo Hills with actually millions of dollars mistake. Yeah, and you have like it's a perfect storm for absolute horrific mental health problems.

would consider to be normal. And he's like, yeah, you want to doing that. This is a job. You're going to focus And I was like, at the age of fourteen, but you also have to be a kid and so and look, it's worse than soccer. Look at I mean I talked to Justin Glad. His life has been his job, right right, and I think he loves it. I don't

think he would change a single thing about it. Sure, But like that existence is I don't even know how you really to that if you've had this other experience where you you know, played fifteen sports or you know, you just didn't know how to find yourself good at you know what I mean? Like, I look at the focus and the commitment, the level of discipline that that is required of athletes in sports now, I mean I

just read an article about women's basketball. Women's basketball has never been more popular than right now, even though the viewership is down from last year in the final four or from the championship game, I would say, top to bottom, you know, every league is getting more media attention, they're getting more financial investment. Everything's just better across the board. Right But I read an article from a youth basketball website that I or a newsletter that I subscribe to.

They said the participation of the best athletes in women's basketball is declining, and the reason is club sports. If you're playing, you can play club soccer at like six, You can start club volleyball at like eight, you know, and so basketball which used to be like you used to do it, volleyball in the fall, basketball in the winter,

maybe track and fill or softball in the spring. Right now they I remember when they started having the tryouts for club volleyball the day after the state tournament in Utah, and I remember thinking, this is this is a mistake. This is going to mess it up because now those girls are going to choose volleyball over basketball. They're gonna have to make a choice. Oh no, no, we're going to do this because the coaches who were coaching at

the time had played multiple sports. But now you have coaches who had not played multiple sports, who don't care about multiple sports, who think you have to commit. And I still hear people saying this, play a lot of sports, you know. I heard Peyton Manning say play two or three sports, and everybody's advocating for that. You don't know what the world is like in youth sports right now.

If your kid is not and if I pay four or five thousand dollars for my kid to play club soccer, club volleyball, there's no way I want risking let her play for the local high school basketball team where she may or may not play where she may it hurt. I mean, the sport with the highest amount of concussions in high school. It's not football. It's girls soccer.

is real. But it's interesting you bring up like Justin Glad in the soccer dynamic, because Justin Glad is a success story where the path between five and six years old to a pro life is riddled with bodies along the highway of kids that were forced into things by

their parents. And I was looking this up because Malcolm Gladwell wrote Outliers in two thousand and eight and had a tremendous amount of compelling data about ten thousand hours and how he used the Canadian hockey ecosystem as his blueprint, and I remember reading it thinking like I need to get my son into something now so he can get ten thousand hours by the time he's a junior in high school so he can play high school basketball or whatever it is. So I listened to a podcast last

year and it really was compelling. It was Andras Erickson and David Burkis. It was on the ESPN platform where this ten thousand hour rule has been completely deep because of the factor that most people miss out on, and that is, yes, you need reps, and yes, if you get to ten thousand hours, and if you do something consistently, you're going to be good at it. But you're not going to get to ten thousand hours unless you enjoy

the endeavor, unless you enjoy the work. So what Malcolm Gladwell left out and parents I think don't fully maybe understand, is yes, it's fine to push your children to succeed, but you need to give them opportunities to find out what they love to do, and then when they land on something, then yes, encourage them. If you have the financial means pay for club soccer, if they want to play golf, it's expensive, but you know, if they love it, and if you want to see them succeed at it,

they need to spend hours doing it. But if they don't love what they're doing, they're going to burn out before they're fifteen or sixteen years old. And parents push these kids with this ten thousand hour mark in mind, like, Okay, if I can get little Johnny to ten thousand hours, maybe get a college scholarship or play it, you know, make some money via nil. But unless your child loves what they're doing, you're going to burn them out.

I do dog training, as you know. And one of the things that I found is if you do a lot of obedience, the dog doesn't how to make a decision unless you tell them what to do. Interesting, and I find this is very true in life. If you give people, if you say this is the way, everything has to be and you give everyone directions, and there's so much structure that nobody knows how to make a choice. A they don't have confidence in their own decision making ability,

and B they don't have resilience. What gives you resilience? What gave me resilience? A lot of failure. I didn't make a lot of things I tried out for. Do you know how terrified I was for my kids to try out for things, how much I didn't either want them to try out or I wanted to make sure they would try out for something that I knew they

could make for sure. And so I think that as a parent, I really really regret that the number of times I either push them in a direction where I knew they would succeed or I discourage Let's not do club soccer. That's a lot of money. It will impact our vacations. We like to travel. And I wish I had pushed them to I had encouraged them to fail to try things that they might or probably would fail.

One of my favorite athletes is Jared Campbell, who ran the Barklay's an ultrarunner, and he says he doesn't do anything professionally unless he's pretty sure he's going to fail. Interesting, And to me, that's the opposite mindset that I have always had. I didn't want to do anything and unless I was pretty sure I was going to succeed. And just interviewing him, just seeing what he's done and seeing what he's able to accomplish. He's done something nobody else

has and in finishing the Barkleys Marathon four times. But he's also like just an incredible human being. Right, Because what failure does is it teaches you about limits and about your own Like you think you know what rock bottom is, you don't know until you suffer. You don't know until you fail. You don't know until you have pain, right, and if you are insulated from all of that. I mean, it's just you know, I'm working. I'm in a little

story group, working on a couple of projects. And the most boring stories are the people who don't have anything, like everything is good, I'm great. The people who come in and like I just got out of prison for selling drugs and now I'm clean ten years or whatever. They're interesting that you know, how did that happen? How

did you pull yourself out of that? Right's the That's the thing I would say if I was to do sports over again with my kids, I didn't push enough because I didn't want them to fail.

sports fields, golf courses and city parks. You can consult the IFA's team of experts for your yard this season. Visit them online at IFA dot co op er stop by one of the eighteen Utah stores today. IFA Country Stores helping to grow the things that you love more with Amy Donaldson live in studio coming up on the other side right here on ESPN seven hundred ninety two NFM. We are proud to be part of Utah's ESPN Radio network.

Sammy Donaldson is live in studio. We were just talking about the h the magic of owning a dog, the magic of owning a K nine, and we'll get back to the sports stuff for a moment, but our station, mascot Duke is in studio and he's been attached to my hip now for quite some time.

a dog. And so I remember and the first dog I had as an adult on my own, my dad had saved a dog from euthanasia in Bethel, Alaska, and I went up to visit him lived in this little apartment and the dog he lived in this two bedroom place. And you know, I said, can I have this dog, and I was living by myself in an apartment and it's the dog a lot. I could go running any time I wanted. And Shelby was a retriever. She was

not going to protect me. Probably licked somebody, sure, But when you have a big dog who is a police officer and runs, you know, said, oh, I run with you. She If you run with a big dog, you don't have to worry about anybody comeing near you. So they don't know if your dog is friendly or whatever. Right, But yeah, it's just allowed me to get out. But yeah, when you find for me, the dogs are the thing I love about them is they're They're incredibly indulgent of

the bad stuff. They forgive, they get over stuff. They have a sense of emotional They have an emotional intelligence that some animals don't have. That they don't that you don't have to explain things to them, you know. I remember my daughters. We hit a brought Wiler Retriever mix named Wolf, who's I just last last May. He's the best. He's the best like emotional support dog I've ever had.

from out in the back. I was working at a glass company and he just was such a nice, warm human being that you felt an energy of love right and he married a woman who was very similar. And so there's these people who just put other people at ease. You know, They're just people who just in your in their presence, you just feel calmer and just like, Okay, this is going to be I'm fine, I don't have to impress this person. That's the way a dog is.

And yeah, I joke around all the time about my dog, Sula. She's my Rottweiller I rescued from South Severe shelter a couple of years ago. When she looks at me man talking about true love, I feel like, you know in the Princess Bride that that romance in the Princess Bride a movie. That is how I feel. Yeah, whatever you want, ma'am.

I have two fosters at my house. One i've had since July, when I've had since August, two black labs. They're amazing. I can't figure out why they haven't been adopted. We had a couple of dogs from a hoarding situation that did get adopted in the last month, but cause caws dot Org. But you can go on petfinder dot Com and just put in I want a small dog, I want a big dog. I want a girl dog. I want to you know, whatever you want. We're having

an event on Saturday. I'm trying to remember where it's at. It's a different one. We did one tonight. They're at the front climbing gym, cause at the front you can get information.

So if you're had a tough time and you're looking for potentially a solution that could help, I would encourage you to adopt or go find a dog that can make a difference in your life.

you want to maintain the relationship. I'm a big Dave Blitzer guy, and I think the Blitzer group, with their ties to all of the clubs they own across the landscape of soccer throughout the world, is a good thing for ourself to be a part of. I worked for the Millers for seven years, had a really, really great experience. I'm a big fan of Steve Starks, and you're not

going to find anybody better than Gail. I don't think Ryan ever really cared to be involved, and I think the hockey thing, combined with basketball and now whatever else he has going on, probably is more of a priority priority for him, and that's fine. I just don't think the promises that were made initially wherever you know, cashed in, wherever executed. I guess whatever you want to say. What

are your thoughts on where we find ourselves? Yet again another ownership transition structure for Rails all the.

the back door and people would drop their towels. And I was at the time thirty two, thirty one or thirty two year old, you know, woman with a couple of kids, a couple of step kids. So it wasn't that I cared about the nakedness, expected to see that in locker room, not a problem. It was the deliberate attempts to harass me, to undermine me, to just let me know it wasn't welcome there. Yeah, and I talked

with a few people about it. Completely separate from that, I always really hated I had different experiences at hockey. When I was covering the Grizzlies, I had to rely on Brett Prettyman from the Like Tribune to go get me people to interview and bring them into the hallway because I was not allowed in the locker room, okay, And nobody would fight that back like I would fight. I would argue. They were like, yeah, you can't go in. No, and so you know, it's it's disrespectful to our players.

We don't want to do it. Whatever. When they did let me in one time to do a feature story, they kind of played a joke on me and the player. They told me to go in this room and it was a bathroom and he was using the bathroom, going number two. And it was like pretty humiliating for both of us. So when I started, it was two thousand, two thousands, so it would have been early two thousands and yeah, and so you know, but Bratt was great. But I mean, I kept saying, like, I'm relying on

my competition to bring me people to interview this. This is not an ideal situation. And then in the case of baseball, the Tribune reporter could go in and hang out and he would be describing scenes when they would get a new player, he would have you know, dinners sometimes beers with the guys, like bonding with them, hear things, know things. Just had a different level of intimacy with the players that I just didn't how am I going

to do that? And I remember when I started in journalism, I asked my mentor, Mike Carter, who was, you know, the best crime reporter? Everybody said he's the best ever was learn from him. He was an AP. I got hired by EP and his advice to me was, Okay, so after the shift, be where, he said, be where they are, go over to the cop shop, hang out whatever. But when their ship's end, you know, invite him over to the bar and get them and buy them a beer and get them talking and just get to know them.

And I was like, I'm twenty two years old. Yeah, if I invite someone to get a beer after work, what do you think they think? Lost?

Do you want to go with or whatever? And I didn't want to go, but like, I think somebody noticed that they had invited pretty much everybody in the room but me, and I remember some one of them, and it would have been Fulk or Cameroni would have said something, and I was like, I don't want to go anyway, It's okay, but like it's it's just you're at a competitive disadvantage, right, So I asked. So I was interviewing Larry about this softball tournament that he was bringing to Utah,

like World Championship Fast Pitch Softball Tournament. I was out at his office in Sandy and then we did the interview, which every time I had, like when he had the WNBA, I went over chatted with them for a minute. He invited me to sit with them every time I talked

to him. Couldn't have been more accommodating, gave me way more than I ever asked for, right, And so after we finished the interview, I said, Hey, can I talk to you about something that's bothering me as a reporter covering the baseball because he had they had purchased the baseball team. And I explained it to him, and I said, personally, I think it's disrespectful to players and to journalists that we have to do this in a locker room. We're

not getting good interviews. Nobody's talking to us because they're trying to get dressed and get out of there. Isn't there a way we could do this differently? There's no other business that asked you to talk to people who are not dressed, right, it just doesn't make sense.

and we will make them available. You tell us who you want, you know, you tell us when you need them. They gave us a little bit before time, a little bit after time, and you know, I think there were people who were a little bit upset about it at first, But for me, it was not just about leveling the playing field for journalists. It's really about like what are

you there for? I mean, are you there to overhear conversation, to be involved in gossip to you know, like, how much does it matter that you can describe a scene at a locker where someone's getting dressed versus being able to have an actual conversation where they can think about what you're asking them and you can have a much more meaningful exchange. Yeah, you know, I mean, I know, if I'm half dressed, I'm not gonna be thinking about what I'm talking to San. I'm be thinking about am

I covered? Is there a TV camera around? How long is this going to last? What am I obligated to do? There was just a controversy about this in golf with the after interviews trying to remember who it was, but I think it was McElroy who defended the other golfer saying that we don't have to talk to you.

They're not politicians, they're athletes. They play games for money, and do I think that they should want to talk to us, Yes, But I also feel like this is more the situation where you work with someone you're comfortable with. Most people I talk to, I say, find a journalist you trust, find people you are comfortable working with, and really, you know, work on a good understanding. You help them, they can help you. I don't always. I see sometimes

journalism as much more transactional. You give me what I want, and I'm going to go and do what I want with it, and I don't really care about you, like I feel like you owe me this. Anytime there's entitlement or like this feeling of being owed something I don't

think it's a good energy for the exchange. But so while I do think that in principle McElroy the golfers were right, I think the journalists that are there need to rethink, like, how are we interacting with them that makes them feel like if they are not obligated to do it, Because dealing with the media, it doesn't just help you. It helps your league, it grows your sport,

it helps it's there are things that are happening. You know, Tony Fanow you've mentioned him, had an exchange with a young woman, a who is a cancer survivor as a child. He's a golfer now, and you know, I can't I think it was one of my friends when a journalists who shared the video. But there's super uplifting, right, and that doesn't do much for Tony. I mean, maybe it makes Tony look good, but it also makes the game of golf look good. It also makes the tour look good.

It also encourages people into the sport. There's a lot of reasons that you want good, positive interactions with media. I just think they're difficult to find. But that's a long and way got way wider than I expected. No, it's fine, Larry Miller.

were all cuddled around somebody else. I don't remember who it was, but he decided he was annoyed that we were He couldn't get to his locker right right, so he just dropped his towel and bent over just because it's a locker room, okay. And we have a buddy Ken Kevin.

Gail Miller. She might be at the top, if there's anybody else up there, it's a very short.

little tiny community, right. We have amazing scenery and you can make some really incredible courses here if you're talking racing bike or hiking or running. But I loved working with them because they weren't just about we need to make money. It was about we want this community to have this because this will open their world, this will change the way they see this sport. And yeah, it's

definitely a business. Definitely want to make money, definitely show you that, right, But it's also like this life enriching thing. The reason we love sports, the reason we love entertainment, right, it makes our lives better. It made it, you know, going to work and going to bed. You know, just doing doing the things you need to do to live

is a pretty pretty depressing life. Yeah, right, having joy doing things that are fun, and something about having these experiences is very You know the Millers did when they made the the finals the two years in a row against with the Bulls. They had a thing I remember talking to somebody about this. They had on the plat

on the block. They put a big screen teat right outside of the delta side and they had all these chairs and they had at the time that I don't think stre vendors were much of a thing, but they The thing that was fascinating was how many of those people I went and covered that I won hung out with them. I had no interest at all in this, and I absolutely loved it. It was a blast, and I ended up doing it in Atlanta during the Olympics in

two thousand and two. But what they did was they gave people who couldn't afford a ticket a way to have that finals experience. And I think they did it actually in the semis. I think they did it two rounds and it didn't cost anything and you could buy concessions, which you know, only benefits the team, right, But like it was amazing because there were people with families and they were like, I've been in a jazz fan all

My guy he was in his sixties. He was like, hadn't even taken a shower after work, and he brought his kids and and he said, I remember this world kept soccer when they had a thing on the Gallovan too. These people will never be able to buy a ticket there and they but they got to have this moment. They got to be part of this community celebration of their team. And that is a thing that I think the Millers are unique, uniquely like they do that in a way that is I don't see a ton of owners doing it.

the front office. It's hard on ticket sales. Fans are showing up. The TV ratings are massively down locally. When Gobaert and Mitchell and Quinn had like their best teams, the Jazz were second in the NBA and local TV ratings to the Warriors. The Warriors were one because Steph was Stephen and Durant the whole thing. Yeah, And I think there were only two teams that had a more precipitous drop than the Jazz have in local TV ratings.

How do you have some integrity in that process if the goal is to lose and it's not a matter of like we're going to give our best and we're just you know, overmastered or whatever, like they're sitting their best players. Like it's so I feel like I feel like it's been hard on the fans. I feel like

we haven't seen anything like this. I mean, this is, as someone pointed out, if you lived in another city, this would be like, so what you know it matters to us because this is a community where this idea of not trying your best is also just no one's going to admit to that. Not okay, right, So I think those are the things I've thought it. I think

I mentioned this to someone. I think it's fascinating. I would love to talk to him honestly about, well, how do you have integrity in this coaching process and trying to get guys to give you something good or great or develop or have long term goals about who they want to be in this league, about how you're going to evolve this team when the entire season. I think the real issue to me, the root of the problem is the league, and they should not have They shouldn't

They should change this system. As you said, it incentivizes losing. And it's not just incentivizedes losing, it's ruining the game. You're you're hurting your own product by making sure that in certain certain markets that the players are the best.

Players are not going to be on floor. So you're not getting your best every game from everybody, right, and you're not even getting you have you have someone like Jordan Clarkson who's had this crappy year right because of what's happening with the team, and that when you're talking about athletic athletes and maybe injuries and and like again this idea of timing and windows, right, I just feel like the league should adjust the way they think about

the draft and reimagine it because you're they are hurting their own league. And eventually this will be when you get to a point where you the haves and the have nots are further apart. You could get to a situation where half your teams are trying to dump, trying to try and.

should benefit you. And when you were trying to work in a place where excellence is not rewarded, I don't. I just think that's a bad recipe.

my entire life. For a little old soccer club that's not at the top of the Premiership table trying to fight to stay in it, and the days where they've lost to be relegated back down to the second Division or whatever they call it, the people that are involved with the club are devastated. And then the next year enough success to be promoted once again. And when they're able to grab promotion, it is promotion just to be able to play with the other teams not win the league, No, but I think what.

expanding the playoffs gives you levels of success. And so there's lots of ways to have that moment you're talking about, where the community can galvanize, where everybody can be inspired, where people can give everything they've got to this community that we're all trying to be a part of.

for you this summer. They're the same products you used in many local sports fields, golf courses and city parks. You can consult the IFA's team of experts for your yard this season, visit them online at IFA dot co op, or stop by one of their eighteen Utah stores Today. IFA Country Stores helping to grow the things you love.

I love Tiger when I was a kid, but it's been a while since Tiger's been kind of been that guy.

random fights. You're not trying to get anybody injured. You're able to you know, shower and not have a you know, black black eye or bloody nose when you go to work an hour after the pickup game.

around the league. I feel like, of the guys who covered the NBA that play regularly.

was our guy Tim McMahon. I got to know what that was like because there are so many times in a lot of sports where we anticipate the gravity of a moment and wonder whether or not an athlete or a coach or whatever is going to step up and meet that moment.

in extreme conditions. And so walking away from the arena last night, you're just shaking your head and you're just blown away by how Luca Dottris was able to compartmentalize fully feel the moment of the pregame introduction where the Mavericks honored with about a three minute highlight video and the crowd starts channing his name and let that wash over him and be vulnerable enough and quite frankly, man enough to cry in front of twenty thousand people and

rather than you know, feel like he has to be John Wayne about it and then put the switch. You know, he was a little shaky for the first two minutes in the game. He had a bad pass underneath the basket behind his back that was the turnover, and he had his first shocky miss, But really from the moment he hit a three right in front of the Lakers bench with about you know, maybe eight minutes ago in the first quarter till the end of the game, he was a killer and it was just an incredible night

to watch. And then walking into the postgame locker room for the Lakers afterwards, talking to Austin Rees and he's like, man, I didn't want to look at Luke on the bench pregame because I thought if I looked at him crying, I'm going to start crying.

There's been two nights since regular season games, I should say since I started covering the NBA back in two thousand and five that I've regretted that I wasn't able to cover. One was December second, twenty ten, when Lebron had his first game back in Cleveland as a member of the Heat and I was coming to Lakers back then,

it wasn't necessarily had an opportunity to do that. And then it was Kobe's last regular season game with the Lakers, and if I pushed for that, I probably could have covered The Cavs had a meaningless end of their regular season that year, they had already lot up there seating in the Eastern Conference playoffs, and I had covered Kobe for six years, so I probably kind of pushed for that one. I wish I did because obviously had the

sixty point send off. This is the only game that I would put anywhere close to the realm of what those two games became and lucas there's all the cred in the world.

But it also felt like most of the Mavericks fans, from what I could tell on television, were pulling for Luca to.

it's like no one's responding to that. So I think the general interest of mass fans last night was to cheer Luca and then when there was breaks in the action have the fire Nico chant and the fire Deco chant. It started just when Lakers shot free throws, and by the end of the game is when the Mavericks were shooting free throws as well. That said, you know, I

thought that it didn't cross the line. Of course, it had to be uncomfortable for Nico Harrison, who stood a tunnel kind of in between the Lakers bench and the Mavericks bench. He was mostly out of sight, but if you knew where to look, you could see him. But the Dallas fans really like poured their support for Luca. You saw so many families wearing you know, different versions of Mads Luca jerseys that of course they've been purchased

over his six and a half year career. There the Luca Luca chant right that followed right after the tribute video that played like echoed throughout the arena gave me goosebumps when I heard it. There was a little bit of an MVP chant for Luca at one point, and in the first quarter whenever he touched the ball, it was just pure agulation cheers, which was cool. I mean, the guys, if you love watching basketball, it's hard to you know, put him in any category other than like

a master of the game of basketball. It's a modern Larry Bird with you know, with the European twist. I guess holf fitting he scores forty last night, the bucket that he gets it on is a ridiculous reverse, you know, showing the type of commandy as of the game unlike few have ever had. And yeah, it was a big night Phil Lakers as well. They clinched the playoff spot.

They're not going to be in the play in tournament and they have two games left to get the number three seed in the West, and if they get that, you're talking about a week's rest. You're on the opposite side of the bracket as okay, see, and you could really do some damage this postseason.

Doncic right, I'm not, But the Jazz did that. The Jazz traded Donovan, you know, really at the beginning of his prime, and certainly two different situations.

and play. I get all that, But when Donovan Mitchell came back to saw Lake with the Calves, there was no there were no tears, there was no emotion like when he left. It was kind of like, yeah, I'm out, and I'm thrilled that I'm no longer there anymore. And if you're a jazz fan and you see a generational talent like Luca crying during the pregame introductions, if you're a Mavericks, just makes you even more upset because it's like, dude, he wanted Dallas, he wanted to be here, and he's

one of the best players in the world. And you know, from a jazz perspective, it's like, if Donovan was outwardly upset about that move and he clearly wanted to be back here, I think it would have changed the way a lot of jazz fans view him, viewed him then and view him now, And just from simply this is

a really loose I'm gonna land the plane. But just simply from like a fan paradigm fan perspective, the fact that you just saw that that generational dude is so upset that he was traded away from your team, it probably makes the vitriol towards the Dallas front office even more intense.

is a bad one. If Kyrie Irving can come back, you know, let's say play half the season next year, the second half of the season, and they can stay healthy with the rest of their core, they will be a significant team in the Western Conference, but they won't

be favored over the Lakers. And even if they win a championship with that group sometime over the next couple of seasons, I just don't know if we'll feel as good as had they won with Luca Dudgets and you know, that when I came back, I covered the Lakers for six years and covered the Cavs for four, and now I've been covering the Lakers for seven on this currency.

Then when I came back to LA there was a faction of Laker fans who kind of didn't want Lebron to be on the team because they wanted to see the group led by Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram and Julius Randall figure it out together and follow that story all the way through because it was kind of the quote unquote homegrown talent. It's going to be a different feeling for this this MAPS group if they can, in fact even do it. I mean, that's a monumental test

to begin with, so I don't see it changing. Obviously, Nico Harrison has had the support of Patrick Dumont, the new ownership group, or the trade wouldn't have gotten done. So I don't necessarily think his job is in jeopardy.

But the job's not gonna be fun. I mean he still has to, you know, be a citizen of the city of Dallas, and you know he has a family there, and you know, you go out to dinner and go to shows and et cetera, et cetera, like it's going to be uncomfortable experience for him kind of no matter what happens with the Mavericks going forward.

change the roster than it is the coach. And of course the general manager wants to always have a way to not make it their fault. Right rising part to me was Calvin Booth, and of course Booth's reputation after building the championship team of a couple of years ago, took a bit of a hit of not being able to retain guys like Bruce Brown and Jeff Green and contagious Caldwell Pope and you know, obviously Christian Brown's role has improved in that time. But other than that, you know,

what are they added? They added Russell Westbrook, Like, come on, so clearly he had not had the best couple of seasons. But I figured it would have gone to go the way that we've seen in other organizations. You get rid of the coach, the general manager has a little bit more time here. But listen, it's a bold move. I don't like it, just by the fact that they'd already qualified for a playoff position. To me, like, it's bad business.

It's just it's not treating people like humans. You let the coach then coach the team in the playoffs for the playoffs lootion that he'd already qualified for. That's what I would do. But they're going to get a look at David Adelman here. And you know, the front office part will be very interesting because the Krokey ownership group is not known for really being willing to open up the purse string and spend at the level of some

of the other teams that are pernial contenders. Will they do that here, spend a lot of money to get you know, one of the top executives on the market, or you know, do they try to do it on the cheap? You know, there's a reason why I'm besides Jerry's in Toronto, and there's a reason why Tim Connelly is in Minnesota because Denver didn't pay them either. And

so a very interesting situation. And of course we all are wondering about the potential fallout of will Nikola Jokich want to finish his career there or will he be the next superstarter? Decide that I'm better off finishing my career somewhere else.

for professional baseball, family friendly entertainment and unforgettable memories. Giveaways include Pennett's t shirts, beanies, and more every night of the first home stand. Single game tickets are on sale now. Visit SLBs dot com for more information. This season, the Bees are going to feature fireworks and drone nights throughout the year, brunch every Sunday home game, Bark in the Park nights where you can bring your dog to the game, a Superman Night, and a.

options ticket for every type of fan. The animenities include a locally inspired concession spot, a grab and go market using smart technology, alcohol free family zone, spectacular views of the Wassatch Mountains, improved transportation and access to the ballpark, more parking, lower costs for parking, newer track stop at center field for America First Square, and increased walkability, curiated game day experience for fans at America First Square, comfortable

seats and expansive video board, premium seating options, and fans seated behind home plate in the new field suites will be closer to the batter than the picture is. Visit SLBs dot com you get your tickets and come see the Bees.

Rob Wright recently signed a contract for more than one million dollars to stay at Baylor, but according to Jeff Goodman, b YU is paying rob Wright three million dollars to pay to play college basketball down in provo aj Debantsy getting seven rob Wright getting three ten million dollars for two players that will probably be there for one year for BYU basketball. All Right, Rsel is back in action, coming up on Saturday against Nashville. Pablo mash Johnny Head

coach ray Al salt Lake. Thursday afternoon, Pablo, Happy Thursday man, how are you doing?

you know, trickling off. But this last week and have the opportunity to go to Arizona for a couple of days and and shot at seventy nine. So I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things.

One of them is is Top Top. The other guy is kind of in his in his nascent stages of his career, but but again, a really good player. And I think, you know, we've talked about this internally, is that experience for our front group, you know, in particular for guys like you know, dominic and and Diego Luna would be really really important for their growth. Again, it

have them not carrying such a load. And obviously Luna wouldn't consider a younger player anymore because he's breaking through, but really just having a little bit more experience and would really bring a lot of confidence to the team. So that's really an area that we're focusing on when we're selecting these players. And experience doesn't necessarily mean age,

it just means years playing professionally. And a lot of the guys in Europe, you know, to start with their sixteen, so they have quite a few years of experiences under their belt.

the paperwork. So you know, at this point, Spence, you know, having one guy at this point in the season, I think we'll put us in a good way, and then you know, it gives us options heading into the summer window.

and a belief in the group. And you know, when you look up front, you see a guy that's like he's been here, he's done that, he's played at a great level and all those it's it's you wouldn't think of it like that, but like again, it'd be like, you know when when the Lakers picked up Luca recently and and now you're like the fifth guy on the team, but now you have Lebron and you have this guy, and it's like you believe more than you've ever believed,

even though you know what I'm saying. So it's like it has that type of magnetism to a team. And for me, it's all about belief. And when you have big you know, when we have good experience, big players on those front lines, you can concede a goal and it doesn't waver your belief. In fact, you're now pushing forward with the understanding that you are going to get another goal back.

done and then to land and then get acclimated. When is it reasonable to expect to see him in your lineup and actually playing well?

those type of things. And so typically it's a month from when the players signed from abroad that he's able to participate so again not not ideal from from our perspective, but that's just the reality of it. And and that's why I keep telling you, like from my from from my chair, that you've got to put all your attention on the players that are currently in the clubhouse. And and you cannot, you cannot be caught looking and ahead because you know those times, you know that's that's four

games and and those four games are critical. So but but it's typically a month.

lot of really great opportunities, and then we scored two goals. So, like you know, I think it's it's early days in the season, and oftentimes when you're not getting the results, you're you're, you know, you're you're obviously extremely disappointed. But there's a lot of things that are happening in those games that were going back to the to the video room and we're assessing as a group and we're talking about, okay, so if we don't have this player, then Diego and

Diego you've got to get in the box. And typically there are two players that like to hang out at the top of the box because it's less crowded. They both have good shots. But in this particular game against La Diego, Luna was in prime real estate, and you know, one of them he took really well as well executed to play. The other one was a good cross, but

the but the defender took a bad touch. Which is why we want numbers in the box because there's so many there's so many things that that can happen when the ball is in dangerous areas. But if you don't have any players in those areas, well, then you know you're not going to score the goals, so you know, and and so looking at Diego and Diego in particular and their positioning in the attacking part of the field has improved game over game and the same thing happened

in Houston when they were in good spots. But it's it's almost a habit that we have to break. So to answer your question, if we you know, we bring in a nine that that is that is a guy that can score goals, well, now we in this time that we haven't had them, we've we've worked on the players that we do have to not only score goals, but to also now have three players that teams have

to worry about as opposed to the one. So you know, I think, and not to mention the confidence piece and all the different you know, intangibles that this player will bring to our group, I think will be in a good way.

It's really easy to hang your head and and and not fight for the team when you feel like you've let the team down. It's it's it's it's it's a really interesting place to be but I think he showed a lot of resolve, a lot of grit, a lot of perseverance in that action to give the team an opportunity to score a goal even though it wasn't him.

So he's doing a great job. You know, he's been he's been a catalyst in the games where we've been uh successful, And so you know, we need Diego to be either contributing from a goal going perspective or if not, from a leadership perspective, which is putting putting the team first. And he did that on that play and.

this club. Where as Jason put it on the show two weeks ago, we do not write checks for ten million dollars for players. We develop players, and then we sell them for ten million. Okay, all right, that's the deal. I'm I'm not gonna say him on board. I'm just gonna say I understand, and I just don't want to see him moved on. So as he continues to evolve, are there any anxious moments for you where it's like, hey, don't score every game, man, we need you here for

a while. Of course, you want him to do what he's doing, and he's just so good. I mean, what is that like as a coach where you know you want your players to succeed and do well, but there's also this underline like is he playing too well for us to hold on to him?

you know. And you know, sitting down with Diego last week and just talking through some things like you know, nonverbals of body language and and getting the right spots and and and and all these little things, and then

seeing him go out and perform. Now, it wasn't because of the video session, but it's it's the commitment that we and we have a wonderful coaching staff that spends countless time with all these players and they're getting the best individual video sessions and work and and just a lot of love, you know, And and these coaches do a fantastic job at coaching staff. And and so when when there are moments like this where players like come to the club and no one really knew who he was.

He was a great young player but played in the USL, and then you're over a year he's having this you know, increase in play and now he's with the national team. I mean, it's it's for me, It's why I do it. And so if Diego were to, you know, get an opportunity to go abroad and it makes sense for the club and it makes sense for Diego, well then I think that's what our job is, right is to help the next generation of players, us generation of players.

a part of it. And so while it would be tough in the short term losing a player like Diego Luna, who's doing everything for the team in possession, out of possession in the clubhouse, you know, in in the media, he is the face of our of our team, And when you lose a player like that, obviously there's gonna be you know, there's gonna be a big boy to fill.

But but the other part is is that, you know, I feel like we've accomplished what we've wanted to do, which is helping players reach the next level of their game.

And now we're a league that really wants to, you know, try to sell younger players and have this be the grounds in which they they they grow their craft. And Dom's you know, Dominic Marsouk's agent said, listen, the reason why I'm pushing Dom to come to MLS is because you guys are doing it right. You guys sold andres, you guys play younger players. You obviously have a really

good infrastructure within the club. You have a coaching staff that cares about the players, and so we feel it's best that he goes goes to the MLS versus going to you know, a place in Europe that's going to just they have to win as we do, but a little bit different where you know, he might not be seeing seen as much playing time or have the same opportunity.

So it's it's it's you know, the proof is in the pudding, right and if you're not, if you're just saying it and not doing it, you're you're probably not going to get the type of young talent that's going to help our team win today, right. And we feel like dom Is is a player that is, you know, breaking into the Polish national team. You know, he's coming into form and and he's an important player for us,

albeit that he's a young player. So you know, the more the more we're able to show proof of concept, the likelihood is we continue to get very very good players that might not have the experience yet.

to get back into this game? And those those for the most part, those were early days and and I feel like, you know, well, I'll just say the last game in particular, we were we were real stout defensively, and it's obviously been an area that again we haven't been pleased with that. Spence, I think you're spot on it. It's not there's I mean, it's eleven goals, so it's

it's not good enough. But but I think we did a great job against La minimizing they didn't have a shot inside our box and so real, you know, for me, it's again it's it's Jay Glad and the pivots doing a great job of organizing our defense, you know, learning from our previous games. And again we're not going to get a shot out every game, but we've placed a high premium on defending really really well as a team.

And again, the defending starts at the front, right, So if our guys up front, and the last game, it was Luna and Ari doing a great job of making it difficult for them and making it predictable for the guys behind behind them to make plays. And so when I look at that stat, it's not just the back line, it's it's you know, it's it's the whole group. So you know, hopefully we continue on the same vein heading into Nashville.

foot four nine who's got great hold up play. He runs well, but more importantly he's got a nine for the goal. And then they have Honey Mouktar, who's I think the MVP in twenty two or twenty three, and you know this guy has got you know, he plays underneath Surge, And so the tandem up front is really

the two guys that we have to stop. And so I think if we do a good job against those two guys and create as many quality chances as we did it again in La, we put ourselves in a great position to come away with a great result.

the forever twenty two game. The defensive coordinator of the utes and the head coach in waiting and my good friend for a number of years, Morgan Scalley on a beautiful Thursday. Morgan, happy Thursday.

spring football. Obviously, you know doing this as long as I have, and you with your eighteenth year with the program, opportunity to get the new group on campus, opportunity to start learning new personalities, opportunities to start helping these young men understand what you ask for them. So let's go to the start of springball the boxes that you want checked, and let's fast forward to where we're at today and how how's the progress going?

to the scheme. The things that we wanted to work on this spring that we didn't feel we did a good enough job of is stopping the run and creating takeaways. I say, midway through, we're seeing what we want to see.

It can always be better, But you know, in the drill work that we've been doing, in the crossover drills that we've been doing, strong emphasis on stout run defense, you know, getting those defensive tackles up to par and then creating takeaways, which I believe we've done a pretty good job of that.

a couple of weeks ago. Regardless of how many support staff you guys bring in, your individual individual jobs are going to change and evolve. How has your job been affected by the changes in college football?

great job. But ultimately, know, recruiting used to be all about the relationships, and now there's that financial piece that no matter how much the recruit may love you, love what you do, love love your scheme. Sometimes if it's just about the money, you're not going to end up getting that kid, no matter how great the relationship. Is so a little bit different than in that aspect. But we've still got kids that love the culture, love that we what we do. We're financially being able to take

care of them. You know, it's the front office really now that has to take care of all those other things. You know, we're we're as coaches talking about, you know, how do we win games? And now you're hiring people and you're putting people in positions to deal with the professional side of things.

that spreads across the country. Are there really situations more than that you run into with a recruit out of state where you want to get them on the phone or get them on campus, and if you don't have something offer right up front, you can't even talk to them. Is that a real thing?

supply and demand. And you know, is this a heist kid that you know maybe isn't a highly recruited kid versus your five star kid that's got every offer out there. Everything really is is situational, and you've got to be really good at understanding that. So this game, this you know, college football has changed quite a bit over the past few years.

any of these things on your radar? I mean because for me covering the sport and covering the U, I think the house versus NCAA segment will actually bring some clarity so people like you and people like coach Wit and even people like Mark Harland don't have to guess how to do this anymore. Are these benchmarks that we look at people to cover the sport, something that you're dialed into and maybe looking forward to to get more clarity and more guidelines in place.

cheating before them. Still there's still cheating going on now and we'll continue to go on. But hopefully what this does is it's it levels the playing field.

info twenty four to seven. So there's no way to protect your team from the knowledge that we all thought you guys were going to win the thing. I wonder if you feel like that extra added pressure or start the year had anything to do with the way that everything went. Of course, I always bring up last year with the context of a tremendous amount of injuries and

health issues. But the pressure that you guys faced from the outside looking in, where we all thought you were going to win the Big twelve and go to the CFP, how did that affect the way last year went.

missed too many tackles, We didn't create enough takeaways. We did some really good things on defense, But there's some things that we that we did that contributed maybe that five and seven season, right, And so what what did the film say? How can we improve? How can we get better on the offensive side? Obviously that's what they're working on and what coach Wit has worked to fix on the offensive side of the ball. Preseason talk. That's I mean, it is, it's what makes the game great.

You get fans and they want to know about projections and where's everyone ranked. At the end of the day. No one ever puts a preseason ranking on their resume. It didn't you know, these preseason awards, no one does. You don't see that on anyone's resume. It's what you do during the season. It's the behavior that matters. And you know, unfortunately we had some things that you know, we didn't do well enough, and you know, staying healthy is one of them too. That in order to have

a great season, you got to stay healthy. That's that's just a part of it.

and you don't play until August. But is having that pressure removed from the equations, something that you think could benefit you guys year two in the Big twelve.

motivation that at times people don't believe in you. But when the ball's kicked off, it's all about are you playing the way we need you to play, Are you playing with great fundamentals and technique or you know, it's no amount of anger, no amount of of preseason hype, whatever it is is going to have a factor on you. Peddling the right way, breaking and driving the right way. That's that's what we do in practice, That's what we

train for. So it's behavior that wins championships. It's teams that win championships, not talk for sure.

And I'm not trying to run anybody down. And the past is the past, and you guys have moved on. But you know, you know Kyle, he doesn't pull any punches. He's gonna let you know how it is. So when he says publicly multiple times, there's more positive energy in our building right now than there has been a long time, how does that land with you?

And it's been it's been fun, you know, not only obviously if you ever come to practice, you're always going to hear the defensive coaches yelling and screaming, and now you hear it from all angles and it's you know, it's very lively and guys are having fun. It's just it's a fun environment to be a part of. And that's what Coach WIT's talking about.

right where they need to be. And Devin is that guy and excited for his continued development and what he has in store for the season.

to weigh. He's quick, he's athletic, he's long levered. Dallas Bakalah, he is a freshman who was so productive and now you add another season and the spring ball where he's gaining a little bit more confidence and a little bit more power and strength. He looks fantastic.

ons and the two incoming freshmen. This is going to be a very stout defensive tackle group and I could not be more excited.

very serious, serious person. But I've noticed Morgan from outside looking in whenever I hear you interviewed or whenever I kind of have a chance to be around you a little bit, this kind of maturation period where emotion has been replaced by pragmatism. And I don't know if that's a result of a lot of things that you've been through. You guys are coming off a hard season. Life is hard.

It's not linear, it's not a straight line. But before I set you lose for our Youte football fan listeners, how have you grown and changed in the eighteen years you've been in Utah?

learned most is just empathy. People go through tough times, hard things, and you can be resilient and you can come back stronger, and you can be more understanding of other people's struggles and be there for others, lift others. And instead of why me, you know, why did this happen to me? Why did this happen for me? And what am I supposed to learn from it? And how

can I be better? So I would just say that definitely have learned a ton from adversity and tough times that I faced, and learned from really good people, really good mentors, and have had an unbelievable staff to love and support me as I love and support them.

repairs and your roof maintenance needs. They're offering you a free insurance analysis, free estimates and senior discounts, so check them out online at Cortland Roofing dot com. Day one of the Masters, Augusta, Georgia at the Augusta National Golf Club where conditions just looked to be pristine. Feature Justin Rose going low sixty five, seven hundred par.

The wildcard is out of reach. They have officially been eliminated. But a fun chase and a really really exciting young team with a very very bright future. A big one tonight in the NBA, and we're going to have it for you. Probably the biggest game, not probably the biggest game on the slate for pro basketball tonight is going to be the Timberwolves and the Grizzlies from the Grindhouse. The FedEx form in Memphis, Tennessee, and as of right now,

the Western Conference continues to be stacked up. The Minnesota Timberwolves are one game behind Memphis for the sixth spot. Now that's important because if you get a top six spot, you avoid the play in and you don't have to worry about going home early. Golden State has kind of come back down to earth. They're the only team between Memphis and Minnesota. They are a half game behind Memphis

and a half game head of the Timberwolves. All right, in case you missed it, the rumor became official now. Jeff Goodman, one of the best college basketball media members Riders covered the game forever, is reporting that Rob Wright, who signed a one million dollar nil contract to stay at broke that contract and is going to BYU where. According to Jeff Goodman, bringing Me Young his Pain, Rob Wright three million dollars to play basketball and profo. You

add that to Ajdbantsa, who the reports are seven million dollars. Now, the hard part about breaking these stories down or covering them or talking about them is we don't know for sure. Just those are the reports for people to cover college basketball. That de Bants is getting seven mil, Rob Wright's getting three mil. That is ten million dollars from BYU for two players to play for them, one certainly for one year.

So a lot of BYU employees, a lot of BYU apologists have taken a social media today to try to spread some sort of narrative that this is not about money, it's about the BYU experience. Just stop it, okay, just be honest about what it is. This is the game now. You should be proud that your institution is in a place where you can essentially buy the best players out there, because if you can't do that, you're not gonna be

able to win. We just saw the four number one seeds advanced to the final four, and that's going to be how it is moving forward. The chasm between the haves and the have nots in college football and college basketball, it's can get to continue to grow. So instead of this hand ringing and this wailing of gnashing of teeth where BYU people are taking a social media to try to get in front of the story, just stop it. Call it what it is. This is not Rob Wright

wanting more swig in his life. This is not aj Debantsa wanting more muss or excuse me, wanting what do they call the rock the BYU student section. This is about BYU writing massive checks for talent. And honestly, I've talked about this for years. I said, like the day after NIL became legal and NIL became a reality. So if you're a BYU fan, this is what you've been waiting for. Because if BYU wants to get into the game and money is the issue. Money is no issue

for that school. Money is no issue for that religion, Money is no issue for that culture. It's just a matter of whether or not they want to get involved, and they're getting involved in a very aggressive way. And Kevin Young's gonna have a really, really good team next year.

I don't know what it means for Alex Jensen and the University of Utah, but there was a piece of Utah Basketball news today that Eric Daniels has been hired as an assistant coach for the youth, so he will join Raphael Chilius as the lead assistant, and then Wes Wilcox is the general manager of Alex.

for three four years and then made their way up. Okay, that's not how college basketball is anymore. It's not how you want to be anymore. If there are cultural aspects that you want to put first and foremost of your program, cool, that's fine. But that's not why the kid from Baylor who had a million dollar offer on the table is coming here. It's not why the number two recruit in the country who was paid already to come play here in prep ball, It's not why he's going to Provo.

It is an entirety, entirely different reason altogether. So for you, for you know what you said, why you know, why are you trying to put on that narrative when it doesn't matter. This is this is the reality of college sports. Now, you should want and you should be happy that your program or let's just say people around your program, because we don't know exactly what's going on behind the scenes until until.

And uh you should be stoked about that if you're a if you're a Cougar fan, not trying to like backpedal, do do something else. It's it's uh unnecessary to me. I don't know.

we're at. So fun Day one at Augusta, Georgia. Will be all over the Masters tournament coming up tomorrow and of course through the weekends. Utah Hockey Club and Action. Tonight we have a big NBA game on the station that features the Memphis Grizzlies in the Minnesota Timberwolves, FedEx form Memphis Tennessee RSL and talks to bring in a Slovakian striker. Alex Jensen hires an assistant coach for Utah men's basketball program. So very very busy day. Unexpectedly, you're

almost to the weekend. Lovely Thursday afternoon, all right, Porta, before we get out of here, what comes our way on a Friday edition of the show.

Make sure to download our mobile app and take us on the go. The ESPN seven hundred app is available in the App Store and the Google Play Store for free. And then, finally, for what we do in our space every afternoon for four hours, check out our podcast page. It is called The Drive with Spence. Check its and it is available wherever you get your shows. So subscribe, rate, review, say nice things in the comments, give us all the stars. It actually helps out for porter. I'm Spencing and I

enjoy your Thursday evening. We've got a little NBA basketball between the Grizzlies and the Tea Wolves coming up in a bit and join us for a Friday Drive and as well as you can catch that right here on ESPN seven hundred ninety two and FM. We are proud to be part of Utah's ESPN Radio network.