Jake & Ben: Full Show | Mitch Harper talks BYU Basketball’s big moves | The Dallas Mavericks are …

Jake & Ben Full Show from May 31, 2024

Hour 1

• Mitch Harper, BYU Insider for KSL Sports joins to talk about BYU basketball’s recent moves and how the school could be putting an emphasis on basketball over football. 

• Top 3 Stories: The Dallas Mavericks are advancing to the NBA Finals, latest news on the NHL team’s name, times revealed for Utah’s non-conference games. 

• More on the Dallas Mavericks advancing to the Finals. 

Hour 2

• BYU Basketball’s new Head Coach Kevin Young joined DJ & PK earlier this morning to talk about his offseason so far, catch that conversation here. 

• The Mavericks faced a more difficult road to The NBA Finals than the Celtics did, is that an advantage? 

• Show Wrap Up. 

and now it’s 10:00 a.m. let’s just get down to it and it’s time for your sports fix strap yourselves in folks from two guys who have covered the teams you’re passionate about for years we are professionals this is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 the KSL Sports Zone night I think of you I want to be [Music] Baby J B 975 the KSL Sport Zone happy Friday to everybody out there Jake Scott a late scratch today so you’ve got me and uh Christian aspara filling in today Christian’s always our producer but you’ll just hear him a little bit more uh some programming notes we’re G have Mitch Harper jumping on the show coming up here any moment uh giving us a breakdown on the latest with BYU football and basketball obviously a huge week for BYU basketball so excited to talk to Mitch we’re let you hear from Kevin young the head coach of BYU basketball coming up at 11 o’clock he was on with DJ and PK this morning thought had a really good interview and is worth revisiting and then coming up at 11:30 Tim lcome is going to join us we’ll break down uh the NBA the Utah Jazz the NBA draft Etc so should be a fun show today with a lot coming up obviously uh plenty to talk about after uh last night’s lost by the Minnesota timber rules Rudy goar Mike connley out so looking uh forward to that uh going to be an exciting uh show today tough one last night for Minnesota really no showed you saw the greatness of Luca donic on display we’ve seen that before at times throughout the postseason two years ago against the Phoenix Suns he did it in-game seven in Phoenix so this is not unfamiliar territory for him he has not been afraid to go on the road and get big wins uh with single-handedly great performances and that’s what he did again last night outscored the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first quarter by himself 21 to 20 uh he and Kyrie Irving combined to outscore the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first half and I thought uh unfortunately for local fans pretty unremarkable performances from Rudy goar and Mike connley in their final games in Minnesota all right let’s uh go down to Dallas not to talk the playoffs where the Mavericks are returning home before they head to Boston but to talk to latest with BYU Athletics it is our BYU Insider KSL sports.com Mitch Harper Mitch what’s going on hey Ben happy to be on with you Mitch you’re in Dallas what are you doing in Dallas Big till spring business meetings so you know meetings with both BYU and Utah taking place and you know business getting handled with their board of directors so the school presidents athletic directors uh you know kind of putting a a bow on the 2023 2024 academic year as they head into the summer and you know it’s it’s a dynamic time in college athletics where you know Revenue sharing is upon us and we’ll you know hear from Brett ymark here in about an hour or so here we’re at the uh Four Seasons here in in Irving and so it should be you know interesting commentary because uh the Big 12 is just in a in a new era going into the 16 team version of The League so what gets decided at these types of meetings what what is there a main topic this year is it kind of the same thing every season one of the big things is is obviously the kind of the aftermath of the the house of ver NCAA settlement which you know ushers in Revenue sharing and you know I was talking about Tom hommo and mark hardland down here and and you know other you know ads around the league and you know there’s a feeling of you know this could bring more stability to the sport and I think that fans listening to this show they’ve been frustrated by the inconsistencies year after year in this portal and nil era where it’s like well that’s great I’m getting excited about this player but then he’s gone after you know 12 months and we don’t know if we’re going to actually get this guy back anymore whereas now in a revenue sharing era you could be seeing you know more stability and in these meetings you they’re discussing that because like fans I think all these administrators are getting a feel for trying to gather what’s next and get a sense of how to move forward as they conference um in you know Revenue sharing where you’re paying you know upwards to you know $22 million per team per University back to the athletes and how does that get distributed so sorting through all that one of the big themes of these uh meetings and then and then just kind of digging into individual sports and digging into uh what transpired this past year and figuring all that out it’s kind of what some of the themes of these meetings so Mitch looking at what has happened now over the last week with the house versus NCAA I I just last year when there was conference realignment and the Pack 12 was dying it just kind of felt again like well there’s the SEC and the Big 10 and then there’s you know the acc’s trying to figure out whatever it can to survive and the big 12’s in a good spot and they’re just getting richer by adding four other teams but it felt like there was just this this battle between these four conferences to see who was the big dog and obviously we knew the SEC and the Big 10 were the big names there are we going to see because of Revenue sharing maybe like a a competitive environment between the conferences do you know what I mean like less fighting for that top spot or is that going to stay consistent I I think there is that possibility and I think that’s why there’s there’s optimism abound about the next era because uh you know maybe you’re not going it’s going to be a little more transparent instead of you’re going to lose this guy to uh a last minute switch and recruiting Because well he got the bag at this other school and you thought you were going to get him and well he just got a bigger payday at this their school now if you see in Revenue sharing with these nil collectives moving potentially in house uh it’s pretty much going to be you know uniformity maybe potentially across the board with these leagues now each individual league is going to set its own you know kind of standard of what they’re going to be doing with with Revenue sharing but uh I I think it really could create where there’s not I mean there’s still going to be that that chase for the most media rights but it feels like longterm it’s kind of hit its ceiling it feels like uh you know the college football playoff it’s going to be uh a dynamic piece to all this too where the big 12 is going to be fourth among the power conferences in percentage of Revenue distributed uh but you know they’re optimistic that in this 16 team era that they can improve their football product with you know Utah coming into the mix and in some of these programs like BYU they got a history but they got to you know Build It Up in the power conference ranks if you know they can be a better football product in the 12 team playoff they can you know have a look in down the road where that percentage of distrib to their league gets you know raised up so there’s a lot of moving pieces but I think you’re right that we might see this whole you know back and forth every summer talking about well this conference is getting this payout no I think it’s just going to come down to you know who’s just got the best onfield products and still kind of trying to maximize their media rights dollars uh quickly I know this number might be hard to come up with but do you know how much money athletes are going to get from the uh the from the settlement last week a individual athletes it’s a good question and so I was talking with Tom hommo about you know for BYU particular he doesn’t even know yet if you know they’re going to have to you know pay the same amount as their big 12 peers because from 2016 to 2022 athletes that played on those teams were not in a power conference so do they have to pay a a a different amount uh that’s all going to be sorted out probably in the next 6 to 8 months you know and the courts would figure out you know what that amounts are going to be uh in particular but you know $2.8 billion is a settlement and I mean it’s a lot of money that can go back over over you know the the going back to 20 2016 uh yeah it’s crazy and what what is there a $20 million cap per school but still that’s a lot of money that can be divvied out uh for the athletes at least the numbers I’ve been looking at all right let’s switch it up let’s talk some BYU basketball Mitch obviously an enormous week for Kevin young again we’re gonna let you hear from Kevin young again coming up at 11:00 so uh a little over 45 minutes from right now but BYU lands I mean it’s not Shawn Bradley but in all honesty it might be the biggest basketball recruit they’ve ever landed certainly outside of the state of Utah yay goroman coming in a projected lottery pick next year coming from overseas what can you tell us about him and and how this whole situation came together for BYU yeah joer yman is is a massive get for BYU and and you know it it really it could be you know changing the perspective of what BYU could be uh in year one of Kevin young uh under his Direction because you know before his addition I thought BYU probably that maybe ninth or 10th in the Big 12 you know he could put them in position to be maybe a top five team in the Big 12 and and be a nationally ranked team again in the top five in the Big 12 you’re going to be you know hovering around top 25 and that that’s a potential and look there’s been teams like UCLA last year who had three international prospects that came over you thought they were going to be first round picks and it it didn’t work well for UCLA so there’ll be a filling out process I’m curious to see how dman how he handles maybe the physicality of big big 12 play but what an incredibly skilled player and you know Kevin young is just a very noons direct individual and he is well prepared uh you know Kevin young is going to be someone that can give players he’s got the background in the resume that gets I think recruits instant in instantly intrigued by what he offers and he can give them direct comparisons or kind of feel for what he’s going to do with them and and I just think that it’s it’s interesting with what Kevin Young’s doing is that it’s really an NBA approach to BYU and man you think about when BYU lost Mark Pope to Kentucky there was a feeling of the by’s momentum gained from last season just completely go out the door and to think you know about a month and a half later the momentum might be even higher uh for BYU and the expectations uh that’s because of Kevin young and he’s not you know bitting around the bush of what you know he’s he’s doing he’s just very No Nonsense he’s going to be very direct and I just think that he was very deliberate and made dman a instant priority to the moment he got this job with his International connections and he just laid out what he can do with him and he’s going to be someone that BYU could use at the two they could use him at the four I mean there there’s so many different ways they can play with him and this by team’s going to be really fast and they’re going to be Up Tempo and they’re going to be five out and they’re going to play uh a dynamic ba style of basketball that is going to resonate with what the NBA does and I think that’s going to appeal to a lot of players with a guy that’s got such deep NBA background so how much of this success as we talk BYU basketball with Mitch Harper or BYU Insider KSL sports.com is how much of this success is backed by a huge financial commitment from BYU’s donors to go out and keep BYU basketball relevant in the absence of Mark Pope and how much of it is Kevin young is a coaching star that I mean I remember I was somewhat flabbergasted Mitch when he got hired because he was the top NBA assistant uh so to go to BYU of all schools is I I understand the the ties and and and the background but that wasn’t that was a major coup for BYU how much is it that Kevin Young’s a star how much of it is there are people with Deep Pockets saying no we want BYU basketball to really matter it’s it’s a case of the the pockets uh you know I even asked Tom Homo that yesterday and he he pointed out that uh BYU’s nil and boosters have really stepped up the moment that Kevin young uh got this job and you know he he he laid it out Tom hommo and he didn’t get into specific numbers but it’s at a rate where you know BYU is is highly competitive and it’s you’re not talking about BYU B bball in the you know bottom half of resources in the Big 12 you know this is a well resourced program and even there were signs of it was improving significantly in the buildup to transitioning to the Big 12 but it’s kicking in overdrive where Kevin young laid out of vision the moment that he stepped into the program in the chair and laid out the type of prospects they want to go after and he’s going out and chasing them and he’s got the financial backing to get in the mix because that’s the key now and then you pair up with what we were talking about earlier about Revenue sharing if you got the nil piece and then you have the revenue sharing that you can sell to these 2025 recruits that’s an attractive pitch and then you pair it up with he’s got the NBA resume BYU’s got a lot to offer right now and it’s going to be huge for BYU and young to deliver on dolman uh because if they can get him to be a you know top five pick or top 10 pick and he thrives and becomes the star that everyone thinks he can be this year it could it could be you know open up the floodgates for the type of offer that he’s dishing out and the type of recruits he’s getting in the mix with be really fascinating to see what BYU does uh coming up in November when the early signing period happens this fall but then next April too uh you know Kevin Young’s going to shoot for the the Stars when it comes to recruiting he’s got a lot of uh people around him there supporting him do you think they’re done I guess recruiting now or or are they still star hunting uh or as Danny Angel likes to call it big game hunting to to finalize this roster because one of the interesting things is you know the early withdrawal date for the NBA draft was yesterday so everybody has to pull their name out it’s how Jackson Robinson ended up in Kentucky but all of a sudden a lot more high level names become available and they’re going to take spots which might mean more movement is BYU basketball done I don’t believe they’re done but they’re close they got three scholarships available and I could see them adding another player uh you know trying to get one more guy before you know training camp begins in in late September they’re going to start practicing next week actually with Kevin young so the first kind of official practices they get some Summertime by the NCA so Kevin young will get the practices going on Monday but they you know I could see them adding one more and then leaving you know one or two scholarships open for maybe a guy that was a high upside player that he arrives at his new spot and feels like it’s not working out and he wants to hit the portal say in December and then maybe you got a scholarship waiting uh to offer that individual so I think there’s going to be a little flexibility you’re seeing that more in college basketball where coaches are kind of going to 10 11 scholarship players being filled and then just kind of from a number standpoint too in nil you can really maybe maximize the the dollar spent on individual athletes with only 10 or 11 scholarship players compared to 13 so I think he’s going to allow for a little bit of flexibility but I could see one more player being added uh inevitably when we do this Mitch we start saying well if the basketball programs getting money is the football program going to get money I is this a shift towards BYU being a basketball school or do you think there’s going to be an even approach for for the type of stars they’re trying to land right now it definitely feels like a shift and uh football they need to keep funding that football program though because you know football at the end of the day drives it all you know we’ll hear from like I said Brett ymar today and you know he’ll talk about probably revenue and and a big bulk of that money from revenue is coming from football you’ve got to have a good football product to finance and fund everything else and BYU still to its core as a football school and uh but it just feels like it’s almost we need to see instant results to get the you know for for individuals to get the the payments and or to get the resources whereas uh because last year kind of showed B wasn’t ready for the transition of the Big 12 they just kind of chalked it up to well is it going to be a transition and but you I you know seeing these big 12 venues and seeing these administrators the the the resources the commitment to football you just kind of ask yourself man is what’s colani staring down this this fall and you know what happens if it’s another five and seven 4 and8 type campaign what do they do and it’s like at the same time he’s probably in the bottom half pretty close to the bottom in terms of resources and funding in Big 12 Football I asked Tom Homo if Y is considering maybe a football Operation Center being built and he noted that you know the student athlete building is primarily that that football Ops Center for them and you know the sun athlete building is fine but that’s 20 plus years old and if you’re not having you know shovels in the dirt on facilities right now how you going to be able to build things when you’re paying now 22 you know 20 million back to athletes it’s going be tougher to build facilities now so uh it’s an interesting dilemma and that’s where be when you kind of turning the chapter to focusing on Player Development and developing from within uh to try to maximize these players and we’ll see if it works uh for this year to kind of get a step in the right direction if they do have success it should lead you would think to more resources being pumped into that program Mitch four of BYU’s 12 games have uh kick times now when it comes to football 600 pm. against Southern Illinois 5:00 P PM against SMU that’s on ESPN 2 7 P.M against Wyoming and then the Oklahoma State game is the only late game we’ve seen so far 8:15 p.m. I I was glad to see three pretty reasonable kick times so far for BYU it was nice and it’s nice to shift away from every game always being 8:15 that that first one the six o’clock game against s Illinois in the Big 12 the individual schools recommend uh kick times when it gets designated for the ESPN plus slot theu gets to pick you know their kick time that they want so that was chosen by the school and when Utah gets an ESPN Plus game they get to pick you know the kick time so uh that’s a nice luxury when when you do have to go to a streaming platform you get to pick the the kick and for a late August game it’s nice to avoid uh the sweltering heat but yeah those other spots I think are good opportunities the SMU game is kind of tough because you’re on a night where the NFL is going to have a game in Brazil I think the Eagles are playing that night against I believe it’s the Packers so you’re not going to probably get many eyeballs and that’s why you saw that game go to ESPN too because ESPN probably wants to have the runway to have Van Pelt you know do postgame reaction from the NFL game so that’s a little bit of a tricky spot but all in all I think you know there’s good exposure to be had in the Big 12 and and you know the the media rights that they’ve got that’s you’re going to have a lot of linear options and you’re going to be and if you win you’re going to be on ESPN and fox I know there was a lot of concern that BYU was going to have to do a lot of heavy lifting uh with late night games just because they were so far west in the Big 12 that didn’t end up happening as much as I think people projected last season but does having Utah Colorado Arizona and Arizona State lighten that burden even more where Big 12 can fill some of these later Windows if they want to with teams that are further west definitely and I think when those two teams you know square up I think you know that’s where it’ll be interesting when BYU takes on ASU and I think the the second to last week of the Season you know that’s that has all the makings to be you know an 815 FS1 ESPN 2 maybe ESPN type game uh you know I talked to Mark Harlin about BYU Utah November 9th and and you know he pointed out and I think it’s a it’s a fair point that you know they wanted to maximize the exposure for that game we’ve talked about that before but that November 9th date I think the league feels confident that that that game can really get uh kind of a national stage whereas before it’s always been that late night 8:15 8:30 kick on ESPN 2 or FS1 maybe this can now be ABC Fox something Network that’s in prime time uh that could be you know a fun Dynamic too so I don’t think it’s going to always just be 8:45 8:15 like you know Utah experience in in in the uh in the Pack 12 and for BYU and Independence I think you’re going to see a lot more reasonable kick times and I think that’s a welcome change for fans who are now being asked more than ever to spend more money at the gate and to invest more so it’s going to be a little bit more reasonable times when they’re actually driving home from the games all right Mitch is down in Dallas it’s the big 12 what did you call it biger big business conference excuse me yeah spring business meetings there he is follow his coverage at KSL sports.com find him on Twitter at Mitch Harper great stuff Mitch thank you thanks man take care there he is Mitch Harper our BYU Insider giving us a breakdown on everything live from Dallas the uh Big 12 Conference business spring meetings they need an acronym yeah they need something the bigness meetings is what I accidentally called it several times so maybe just go with that the Big 12 this meetings uh good stuff for Mitch uh full breakdown on BYU football basketball uh the shift towards basketball at least right now is pretty fascinating uh one of the more interesting moves we’ve seen made by a local University in a very long time now look you are one good football season away from being a football program again and everyone wants to be a football school so we will see if Kanani sataki can follow up the success that Mark Pope had a BYU basketball and then if Kevin young can complete it and the other thing I think Mitch made a really good point is top recruits whether they’re international local whatever top aou players not what is winning right now in college basketball look at the top 10 picks projected to be selected in the lottery this year two of them were on good teams and one of them was a sophomore and that was uh that was Yukon who was really good and obviously won the national title but they had Stefon Castle who was the Freshman who was very good but really they were so good because they had Donovan kingan and a couple of other experienced wings uh in in caravan and guys who had won at that level before so just because you’ve got a star incoming freshman doesn’t quite guarantee that you’re a Kentucky of the late 2000s that we saw for so long I think it’s still a lot of work to be done but they’ve got experience coming back as well so very exciting to see what happens with the Kevin young era at BYU we’re let you hear from Kevin young coming up at 11 o’ uh Tim loles going to join us coming up at 11 11:30 top three stories of KSL Sports coming up next stick around more Jake and Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone it’s time to break down the biggest stories of the day this is the top three stories of the day on KSL sports.com 975b KSL Sports [Music] [Music] ja and Ben 975 the KSL Sport Zone 10:31 a very happy Friday Ben Anderson no Jake Scott today Christian aspara back there running the board it’s time for the top three stories at KSL sports.com brought to you by our friends at J Brooks Jewelers with two locations up and down the was front you can uh find them online at J Brooks Jewelers or go see them in Murray 152 East Winchester Street in Murray all right Christian where are we starting number one the Dallas Mavericks are advancing to the NBA finals the horn sounds and for the third time in Dallas Mavericks franchise history spanning 44 years the Mavericks will play for the NBA Championship winners of the Western Conference and winning it convincingly tonight in game five 124 to 103 well you heard the final call there you really didn’t need to wait till the final buzzer to figure out that this game had been decided it was over early Luca donic came out on an absolute tear uh and was brilliant he had one of the great closeout performances I’ve ever seen uh and really just in the first quarter because the game was essentially over in the opening 12 minutes again he outscored the Minnesota Timberwolves by himself 21 to2 in the first quarter he and Kyrie Irving combined outscore Minnesota 44 to 40 in the first half the two stars for Dallas show up and Luca has that Stone Cold killer mentality He’s Just Not Afraid of the moment ever in fact he leans into it four first quarter threes uh LED all scores with 20 points Rudy goar took seven shots in the first quarter it was just you could tell Minnesota was discombobulated from the very jump and you heard him talking about it on the TNT broadcast and I thought it was accurate they seemed content to not get swept which I was surprised going back home Christian going back to Minnesota that they didn’t have more to offer yeah and we were wondering if this was going to happen obviously being down you know facing the threat of being eliminated like yeah Minnesota won that first game but it’s so hard to win four games in a row if you’re the Timberwolves so we were wondering if this was coming and then it’s really not surprising after they picked up that first win they can say okay we didn’t get swept we got a win but that’s you know they they roll over and die that’s enough yeah uh which is unfortunate I thought I thought they’d have more to offer Luca donic was named the Magic Johnson Western Conference Final player of the uh player of the series award here’s what he had to say about their upcoming match up with the Boston Celtics in the finals I mean they’re the best team in the NBA they had by far the best record uh they have some incredible weapons on offense and defense uh so we’re going to have have to play really hard and amazing basketball to beat them uh this series doesn’t start until next Thursday which is a huge deal for both teams Chris DS porzingis has been hurt he’s been dealing with a C TR he didn’t have to play at all in the Conference Finals so we haven’t seen him for quite a while he’s going to end up with nearly an entire month off uh in between games which will be great for that calf but also Luka donic has been dealing with a knee injury throughout the entire playoffs so you give him now six days off to get that knee I don’t think it’s going to be perfect he has said it’s not going to be perfect but at least rested he showed you last night he can be the best player in the series and he’s going to be the best player in this next series he is better than Jason Tatum he’s better than Jaylen Brown uh but there’s going to be a lot of heavy lifting to do for the rest of the players uh on this Dallas Mavericks roster uh including Kyrie Irving who had a huge performance and has been to the finals before and he spoke about going back to the finals now as a member of the Dallas Mavericks we had to earn our spot into the NBA finals and uh we had to go against some great opponents OKC Clippers wolves uh and I feel like they got us better uh as a team they really challenged us on the defensive end made us focus in and um you know I think every single one of them like I did the previous two two series for making me better Kyrie was terrific last night he had 36 points to match Luka donic more of his scoring came in the second H uh quarter and the second half 14 of 27 shooting five assists zero turnovers he’s been up and down at times uh in this postseason and I know I’d struggled with jadeen McDaniels in the last game Minnesota’s lone win uh but just did not have any issues last night at all an impressive performance from Dallas on the road did a home team Dallas won one home game they won game three that was the only home game in this series one so uh Jake’s favorite talking point at the unimportance of home court advantage very much on display in this series uh so heading to Boston coming up next Thursday and then a very interesting offseason for the Minnesota Timberwolves we’ve talked about them quite a bit couple of free agents on the board Kyle Anderson maybe their most notable free agent but Rudy goar is eligible for an extension he had a very good season but had a very bad playoff series against the uh against the Mavericks including last night I mentioned he had seven points in the first quarter but he only finished with nine points so he was pretty ineffective team worst minus 23 in the game uh and then Mike Conley also two of five seven points four rebounds one turnover just pretty ineffective as well so we will see what they do to make that team they are close they are knocking on the door to win a title they’re going to try and push it over the top and I don’t know what type of wiggle room they have this off season we’ve talked about maybe the desire to trade Carl Anthony towns he was the reason reason they won game four and he was good last night 28 points 12 rebounds nine of 20 shooting he and Anthony Edwards were really the only two players that showed up and they’re your young Stars so if you’re going to make trades maybe you don’t trade uh your younger pieces even though they’re on huge contracts maybe you try and keep those two together and build around them yeah it’s always an interesting conversation to bring up you know when these teams get so close it’s like okay do they have what it takes to just maybe think they can push through it next season or do they need to make changes and sometimes you can talk yourself into a decision and let’s just I mean for the Timberwolves sake hopefully they don’t do something that they end up regretting yeah you can bet on experience you can bet on coming back and having better chemistry next year and hope that’s enough and if it’s not then you’ve closed your window they really only have one more year to do this before they’re going to get so expensive and nuse Reed as we’ve talked about it’s going to be eligible for a contract contract extension next summer and he’s going opt out of his player deal because he’s played so well and if you lose too many core pieces because you get too expensive you can’t you can’t win anymore it doesn’t matter how good your best player is if if Anthony Edwards continues to develop you need to have that Supporting Cast so a difficult decision and then topped off with Minnesota not knowing who their owner is whether it’s Glenn Taylor or whether it’s Alex Rodriguez they have that issue this summer so they have a lot of headaches uh for a team that’s this close to winning a title and going to be difficult to figure out where they go from here but I’m very curious about their offseason both Rudy goar and Donovan Mitchell contract extension eligible gonna be something to watch for jazz fans all right Christian number two number two Ryan Smith has revealed that Utah’s NHL team nickname has been trimmed to four finalists what is the early favorite do you know well I think I think our four like we’ve got our four I think uh okay you know mammoth’s up there I think Yeti’s up there I think a couple other ones are up there it should be good Christian guesses on who what the other two are I would think Outlaws I think Outlaws is in there as well because that has a very strong fan response you know on social media and obviously that’s what Ryan Smith is playing towards then the fourth one is kind of a wild card it could be blizzard it could be something uh later in the show Pat mck or excuse me Ryan Smith told Pat mcae that black diamonds is not on there okay so we know it’s not that uh maybe like I said blizzard uh maybe the fury FY I know Fury had a little bit of momentum there for a minute but I think you’re right I mean Outlaws is definitely one of the four I the maybe ice something like that I don’t know if they’re they’re thinking maybe hockey hockey club hockey team yeah maybe I I suspect what he has revealed though is what the final two are essentially going to be well we know what there’s four left I do think the two are going to be the mammoth or the yeti and you know what I think both are very solid fine there’s a reason he mentioned those two names right I mean they’re probably favorites in his mind do you have a problem with him saying Yeti and Mammoth uh rather than yetis and Mammoth I prefer not plural I prefer singular yeah I like Mammoth as the whole because I also like the idea that Mammoth refers to like size that something is large I I like that there’s a little bit of a double word play there and no I like the yeti I don’t I don’t need the yetis it’s just I don’t know why it seems like it’s harder to say for me so yeah I like the Utah Yeti and I like the four letters in both words and then the Utah Mammoth I I guess I like them both and I hope that’s what they go with but either way it’s not it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a terrible name and I know there’s probably some exhaustion at this point just because those are the two names we’ve heard the most certainly Yeti was the front runner really early on in fact the first time he showed up on Pat Mac ify Show talking about buying the NHL team and was asked about the name Yeti was the first name he threw out that he had seen that he had particularly liked but I don’t think it’s just because Ryan Smith likes it that it’s become a finalist I actually think just utans have really kind of rallied around that as a name and as an option and as branding opportunities I think it makes a lot of sense yeah and you’re right there definitely is some exhaustion to this point partially due to the squabbles back and forth on social media but at the end of the day I think whatever name is picked people are going to come around to you know people can sit here right now and say oh Yeti’s a stupid name but you know two years down the road when you’re buying merch like you’re going to love it hey I can see Jazz fans on Twitter talking about how dumb the yellow jerseys are go to a jazz game you’re G to see 4,000 yellow jerseys people bought the yellow jerseys I I know fans on Twitter didn’t like them I know they never want to see them again they’re not in the rotation next year and Jazz have more branding they were going to do this off season and a Rebrand themselves you’re going to see those yellow jerseys around people bought them and people are not going to get rid of them and you’re right there’s going to be complaints about the yeti uh but you will end up seeing a lot of Yeti jerseys floating around if that ends up being the final name I will also say this I am glad he hasn’t done a true bracket I’m glad we didn’t pit two teams against or two names against each other for eight rounds or whatever you know have eight different matchups to try and and figure this out I thought that would have been too much would have been overkill on the whole process throw out 20 names or whatever they had narrow it down to four then go with those four and and let people vote on those well and it’s a hard process anyways something that we haven’t really seen before like an owner bringing so much fan opinion into such a big decision and I kind of talked about this a little bit like on Twitter it’s almost a like it’s a good idea and a bad idea and I say it’s a bad idea in the sense that fans have become so attached to their favorite name yeah and then you know if you put it head to-head against another name and it loses you’re going to be upset about that but at the end of the day I think like I said earlier people are going to come around regardless the problem is it loses the magic of we’re getting an NHL team and that’s the success you don’t need to feel like you lost your name because you wanted Outlaws and it ends up being the mammoth like that doesn’t need to be a sore point for you forever the whole thing is you got a hockey team and we should be happy that we have this hockey team I know I am I’m excited for it a lot of coverage of KSL sports.com including an interview with Nick bu’s Dad if you missed that go find it he talked about how excited he is to come to Utah I think that’s going to be the big key in where uh I think Utah fans are going to rally is once this team is actually here and it’s realized and it’s actualized the way it was when they got introduced and we’re walking down the ice at the Delta Center and going up on stage and realizing there were 15,000 fans and all this media there to see them and cover them or support them I think once the players are on the ice and they’re here in the community I think that’s when everyone’s really going to have a good time and is going to forget about all the ancillary pieces like The Branding like the color scheme and of course like the team name oh 100% and people are going to be wearing whatever merch is out there uh like they said for this first year it’s probably going to be pretty generic but I know that people are going to get their hands on merchandise as soon as they can and yeah those first couple even the preseason games I mean it’s just preseason but I know they’re going to be it’s going to be impossible to get a ticket it’s going to be really hard to get a ticket so uh yeah everyone’s going to be excited to go and sa for the opportunity to get there all right Christian what’s number three number three times and networks have been revealed for Utah’s nonconference schedule we talked about BYU’s kick times all evenings but only one late night uh in their first four games here’s what Utah’s going to be dealing with again their non-conference games and their Friday night game have been announced taking on Southern Utah uh that’s week one August 29th that games at 7 pm week two against Baylor this is a big game on Fox 1:30 p.m. man I remember when this Baylor series got scheduled before Utah was a member of the Big 12 thinking why is Utah G to play Baylor that’s a good football team no they’re not they’re a bad football team and Utah uh is going to have an opportunity to win these games uh so that’s a good chance for uh Utah to go on national TV on Fox at 1:30 and really make a statement in week two that uh they can blow the doors off of Baylor and I would expect them to do that at rcle Stadium week three 230 kickoff against Utah State another huge game at the Maverick Stadium in Logan cool for Utah to go up there I know a lot of Utah fans didn’t want to see that either but exciting for Utah State to be able to host that game and then their Friday night game week six against ASU that’s October 11th that is a late game 8:30 p.m. mountain time but it’s on ESPN so you get the advantage of being on national TV there so some kick times coming out uh the college football season is coming very closely if you’re on Twitter you’ve seen all the videos of the new NCAA video game circulating as well uh so I know it’s getting close because you got to release that thing a month or two before the season starts it’s crazy we are less than 100 days away we’re probably what 89 90 days now from uh from kickoff it’s going to come up very quickly I know Big 12 media days are not that far away a little bit more than a month so a lot of college football coverage at KSL sports.com right now make sure to go check it out that’s your top three stories at KSL Sports brought to you by Jay Brooks Jewelers we’ll talk more Conference Finals coming up next stick around Jak and Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone that whether it’s the Jazz Utes cougars or Aggies these guys have got you coming eat fellas you’re locked on to Jake Scott and Ben Anderson 2 on 975 the KSL Sports like we always do with this time for mine I got to shine throw your hands up in the got for he understands me in Kyrie’s role because he’s been in that role so he helps us a lot uh but everybody he kept he kept everybody together uh you know we were up we were down a lot especially during the season uh he was ups and downs all the time but he kept us together ja B 975 the KSL Sports Zone that’s LCA donic talking about head coach Jason kid who is now taking a team that he helped lead to the the finals as a player back to the finals as their head coach don’t miss your chance to win big every week on KSL Sports Zone next week win on win ticket Wednesday you can win a four pack of tickets to the Salt Lake Bees listen to the KSL Sports Zone all day on Wednesday for your chance to win nothing like a Bees game uh Christian Jason kid a good coach I mean it’s a lot easier to be a good coach when you’ve got Luca donic you know a top three if not two if not one player in the world he’s certainly the best player remaining Kyrie Irving as well who has kind of regained his Superstar status recently so that that makes things a lot easier on you as a coach but I think there have been certain situations this season where we have seen that Jason kid can can do some good things he was very much on the hot seat entering the year now he kind of had the rug pulled out from underneath him remember they got in trouble last year and fine $750,000 because they outwardly tanked uh at the end of the season so they could get their top 10 pick otherwise it belong oned to New York and it’s going to New York this year they finally have conveyed that pick but instead of giving up the 10th pick they’re giving up the 25th pick great that’s a smart move because that 10th pick last year turned into Derek Lively who man I like Rudy goar a lot Derrick Lively might have been the best center in the series he was just when he was on the floor he had the next brain that that kept him out of game four when he was on the floor he just neutralized the size advantage that Minnesota had and that was a huge plus and in that sense tanking those last couple of games of the season and not just qualifying for the playin was the right move and then you put a talented roster in front of Jason kid and he knows what to do with it it’s a good reminder and a difficult thing to process beforehand because you don’t know how it’s going to play out but Jason kid was once thought of as a little bit Untouchable as a coach he had failed in Milwaukee he had domestic abuse charges like he had ugly history there was not he was not the most uh sought after coach available and we are not far removed from Kyrie being the most toxic player in the NBA Kyrie Irving was Untouchable in fact Dallas traded Dorian finny Smith who was the guard they traded for him in a first round pick I mean like nothing essentially nothing to get a player of Kyrie Irving’s ilk because he was so toxic in the locker room had so many issues with Brooklyn ownership had so many issues during covid that he didn’t want to get vaccinated that a lot of people thought this is not a guy you want to have anywhere near your roster and less than 24 months later 36 months later they are in the finals Kyrie is this you know comeback story and Jason kid is pulling all the right or pushing all the right buttons to get the Dallas Mavericks back to a spot where they can win it’s just it’s so easy to paint players coaches whoever is Untouchable or guys you can’t win with until they’re put in the right situation to win and I do think that is something Danny a has shown a willingness to do in the past go out and find the types of players that can help you win even if they’ve been disregarded for one reason or another uh and then they get you back to winning your winning ways and it uh it can paint a Rosy picture around all these players and you know that’s that’s I’m not endorsing anybody to come in I know there’s been a lot of push back on Miles Bridges from the Charlotte Hornets this offseason and rightfully so he’s got horrendous domestic assault uh uh in his history that I wouldn’t endorse and certainly would be hard to cover a player like that if he came to Utah that’s not what I’m saying at all all but these players that we write off as being Untouchable or non-winning players you put them in the right situation all these guys are super talented and they can find a way to help you win games yeah and it’s it’s so much fun to see Kyrie Irving get back to the Kyrie Irving that we saw win a championship in Cleveland and because he went to Boston and he was still great there but things just didn’t work out and then the Brooklyn move again didn’t work out and even at first in Dallas when he when he got there last season people were questioning if it was the right move for the Mavericks to make at that be fit at all yeah and things maybe looked like they weren’t gonna work out but then this season especially during these playoffs man he has just been so much fun to watch and I talked about this with Jake a little bit when you are out like that’s kind of what set the Mavericks apart is when Luca is not doing his thing that’s okay because you have Kyrie Irving who can come in and carry that Superstar uh level on his back you have two play players who are I mean Luca is obviously a top five talent in the world uh if not higher like you mentioned he might be the third or fourth best player in the league uh you have a player of that quality and then another top 10 offensive player in Kyrie Irving I don’t think it’s a stretch to say he’s in that conversation and they’re a weird fit and they both kind of do the same thing I mean not identical but they both are Ballin hand guards but Kyrie has shown a willingness to embrace not being the guy he’s clearly the Batman or the robin to Lucas Batman and he’s embrac r that and then they made a bunch of smart trades around them they did had one really good draft pick like we mentioned in Derrick Lively last year they traded for PJ Washington they signed Derrick Jones Jr on a minimum contract they went out and acquired Daniel Gafford those have been home runs uh but it’s easier to hit home runs when you have the Stars already there uh and they had they drafted Luca they traded for Kyrie and then they found The Supporting Cast around them and that’s that’s how you got to build a team and that’s obviously what the Utah Jazz are going to try to do as well with Danny a at the helm we’ll be interesting to see how they coach at this off season but again I know there’s been a lot of people advocating for trading Lowry marinin because he’s not that he can’t get you there by himself well you know Luca could get you there by himself either but you keep Lowry you add that second piece whatever it looks like around him through a trade and then you hope you’re uh that much closer and then it gets easier to make those little draft picks or those little trades those little Acquisitions to really push your team Over the Top If you’re a Utah Jazz fan but Dallas Mavericks taking on the Boston Celtics that series get start next Thursday should be a good one I I don’t expect that to be a short Series in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes six or seven games oh I mean it’s going to be an extremely fun series like the Celtics have gotten so close so many times over the past few seasons they’re like the 49ers uh but they have not been able to win that championship and so obviously Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown they really want this they’re in a similar situation to the Timberwolves where they’re going to get really expensive they might have to blow things up sooner rather than later so this almost feels like it could be their last chance to win a title with this roster and then you’ve got the Mavericks who have got hot at the right time and a lot of times we see that’s what matters most when the playoffs come around so yeah this is going to be a very very fun and entertaining series and I know Boston has homec court advantage uh until the Indiana Pacers game or Pacers series in the last round they were something like 17 and 17 in their last 34 home playoff game like just crazy for the last several years they are just not reling able at all at home and as Luca has shown plenty times throughout his career and now certainly in this playoff run he doesn’t care where he’s playing he doesn’t matter who he’s playing in front of in fact it seems like he likes playing on the road because he likes picking out enemies in the crowd and yelling at them uh and he will do that again in Boston and of course the Kyrie Irving Boston Celtics conversation and narrative will be there as will the Chris daps porzingis Dallas Mavericks uh remarriage we’ll see what that looks like as well so going to be a very fun series good Conference Finals even though it ended in five I thought it was pretty fascinating to see Luca really show out on that stage and reveal some of the cracks and the seams on this Minnesota timber roles roster when we come back we will let you hear from Kevin young BYU basketball head coach who was on with DJ and PK this morning let you hear some of what he had to say about their fantastic week that they’ve had stick around more Jake and Ben coming up next take the Zone with you wherever you go download the KSL Sports app to get live streaming of your favorite shows downloading download the latest podcasts and get all the latest breaking news on the teams you can’t live without everything you need delivered right to your phone let’s go get them where we can get them just search KSL Sports on your app store of choice download it now the KSL Sports app presented by University of Utah health oh hey guys Jake here for my friends at Tran wealth as Trent TR r a j n traan wealth now listen if you’re uh not into the weeds with the financial news like myself uh we may have some very specific simple questions that we just need some guidance what to do in a vola of Market how much am I going to need to save to be able to retire when am I going to be able to retire will I be able to stay retired all these things that seem like really simple questions I have no idea what I am doing and I need a team on my side a team that’s going to help me develop a strategy and that’s where the good Folks at trun come in and they can do the same for you you can ask them these simple questions they can give you the best answers and they can lay out exactly what they can do for you and how they can help you accomplish those financial goals it’s so simple maybe you’re close to retirement maybe you’re uh right in middle age like I am need to make sure you’re doing the right things maybe you’re young right out of college want to put the Train on the tracks well Tran’s there for you and they’re so confident in what they can do for you they’re going to do a free review they’re going to sit down with you for free and lay it all out all you need to do is get in touch with them 801 899-7676 or go online Traen wealth.com paid endorsement advisory Services through traun wealth LLC and SEC registered investment advisor 801 899 7600 or trun wealth.com the sports you love the teams you can’t live without s urgency this is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975d KSL Sports [Music] Zone ja band 975 the KSL Sport Zone 11:06 very happy Friday hope everyone’s got a fun weekend planned ahead of them nice short week Memorial days hope everyone had a good week at work nominate your Youth Sports volunteer that you know for the Hercules hero of the week submit your nomination at KSL sports.com contest and listen every Thursday afternoon to JJ and Alex for the winner help us celebrate the efforts for those volunteers making an impact with the Hercules hero of the week sponsored by Hercules Credit Union all right Christian earlier today Kevin young the head coach of BYU basketball appeared on DJ and PK giving a breakdown on the latest with BYU basketball including signing the top rated recruit jagor jman uh jumping in from Russia signing with BYU a late commit but a huge commit arguably the biggest in BYU history certainly among non-lds players uh here was Kevin Young’s conversation with PK earlier today joining us now we’re looking forward to this this man is taking our community by storm he is Kevin young the new BYU men’s basketball coach coach thanks for coming on this morning yeah thanks for having me excited I was the guy who asked the first question of your press conference uh what was it last month when you uh were speaking up there and I asked you about your NBA dreams and you said that you didn’t have specifically dreams to be a head coach I don’t know if you remember that question at the NBA level uh so I thought I’d follow it up with by asking when you got into coaching and as you progressed what was the goal obviously being a head coach was was the goal I mean you know coming up in the NBA I mean that was what I was was was aiming for was trying to get to that point um but everything for me has always been just in line with my personal life as well and and the direction I want you know my my family’s life and uh to go and what I want that to look like and um you know that could have been in the NBA it was for a long time and and very easily could have been as a head coach in terms of that that combination of family life and work life but when this opportunity came along we felt like uh you know it just a seamless fit relative to the career as well as the the family alignment and uh ultimately that’s that that became the goal in short order I need to point out right now I should have done it earlier but I’ll do it right now that NCA rules prohibit you from commenting on commitments so we can’t go in that direction and we know there’s been news out there you can only speak on players who have literally signed and are in your program so let’s put that out right now is that you’re unable to comment on guys who’ve given you oral commitments so uh I mean you know that but I want to make sure that our audience knows that if they’re wondering why I don’t ask about specific players but with that in mind you still have some opportunities to uh add to the roster whatever you choose what do you have in mind knowing that you cannot get specific so we’re certainly not asking you to break any rules here no no I mean it’s a great question I mean you know we when we came in you know we looked at the roster and and really liked the shooting really lik the experience and the IQ of the team you know we’ve we’ve sort of targeted you know playmaking we’ve targeted a scorer you know we’ve targeted defense and athleticism um you know kind of across the board with all three of those things uh you know you looking kind of at the at a little bit more uh you know size as well so there’s certain things that that that are attractive to adding to this group and those areas are where we spent the majority of our time trying to lock in on do you feel like you have enough size to go forward in the Big 12 uh as currently constituted I do actually I I I’m not I love the guys that we have you know at the Five Spot um you know we’re looking you know at to different things that some combination of like a four or five potentially um you know so feel good where we’re at there but but uh you know getting a four has been a priority for us coach Kevin Young new newb basketball coach joining us last summer and as we progressed into the fall we had heard about that the team went on an overseas trip and it really brought them together we have Steve Cleveland I I used to uh uh be a rider for the Salt Lake Tribune way back wi I used to work for the Mesa Tribune too way back wi and the Cass Grand dispatch for that matter that’s where I got my start I went to ASU I’m an Arizona guy and uh so when we had coach Cleveland on he would refer back when the team started to have success this past season and it was somewhat of a surprise because they finished fifth in the West Coast Conference and then they did really well in the rugged Big 12 and he would talk about and others would talk about one of the things that he thought really benefited them was that overseas trip that they went to and played because it galvanized the team you’re not going to have that this year you’re new to them they’re new to you all that stuff how do you recreate that or simulate that to be able to bring the team with you and them together qu qu more quickly so that you’re prepared once the season starts I think a big part of it was getting uh you know D and Richie to to come back I mean they’ve been obviously a huge part of the of the team and of the group both on the court and off the court and Leadership qualities as well are really impressive out of those two and then you know getting F to come back and or stay rather um so I think having some of the main guys back in and of itself is is a major benefit for us as as it relates to this specific question you know as it relates to any specific events and things that we may or may not be doing I mean hly I’m learning a new thing about the the rules and regulations every five minutes as I go through this so I’m I’m still carving my way out there but you know the the bit one of the huge differences from college to the NBA is the amount of practice time that you have leading up to the season I I laugh about when people talk about the NBA preseason or excuse me like training camp training camp basic training camps basically four days and your end of the season because you got preseason games once you start that it’s basically like the regular season so I’m I’m sitting here staring like six weeks in the face of you know buildup for the season for for an actual you know training camp on steroids right and so I’m looking at that and and looking at different creative things that we can do within Camp to drive a competitive environment to drive a galvanizing environment and so you know there’s some different things that we we’re looking to do there to get creative um so that that time one doesn’t become stale and then two it does allow us to sort of come together a little bit quicker coach Kevin Young new BYU basketball coach joining us you talk about retaining Hall and Saunders and that was really great news because we’ve watched them play for two years now and it’s fun to watch guys develop and see them get better as far as retaining them did you have a particular pitch that you use as far as I guess your recruiting them for the first time to the program in a sense they’re being re-recruited I mean that those two guys were were great because they were they were all about really how can you help me get better and that that’s where their main focus was and so you know I was able to kind of break the the film down for them and Sh them specific things that I’ve kind of learned in the NBA you know showed them examples of guys who I’ve worked with in the NBA um that that I think I can help you know translate to to their game and what we’re doing here at BYU that was a big part of it and then style of play you know how how am I going to use them on both sides of the floor um they were they were like sponges during those situations and you know I think that’s ultimately what uh what got got them to join back up with this coach you’ve been doing this for a good while now you’re still a young guy but you got started early and you’ve been doing this for a long time uh as you describe yourself when you make your presentations to Saunders and hillhall and all these other guys and you’ll be doing it multiple times a year for the next however many years you’re coaching in college in a BYU hopefully for years to come what would you say are your specific strengths I think I think just communication you know that’s kind of how I was able to carve out a role in the NBA just you know I try to be as prepared in studies as I can before I talk to any player or any any team setting uh and with that you know being direct and being um you know taking a lot of the the fluff out of it I think guys are drawn to the truth I think guys don’t want you to waste their time and I guys want to know how you can help get them better and so that’s kind of what I gravitated to in the NBA is my style it fits my personality and I just try to stay true to kind of who I am and and uh that’s that’s kind of where I’ve been able to make make Headway with relationships and that’s that’s how I’ve approached this as well how much do you lean on using the NBA as a recruiting tool do you think you’ll use use it as a recruiting tool because I mean that makes kids sit up straight when you talk about getting them to the NBA obviously yeah I mean quite a bit just because that’s that’s who I am and that’s what I know right and so I think I’d be fooling myself and the and the kids if I didn’t talk about that because that’s what I know and and obviously you know it it goes well with what with they’re goals are all these young men are really good players and they have dreams and Ambitions to play in the NBA and at the next level and so I think showing them how they would play in in our system here at BYU that’s going to look very similar to an NBA system not not just in terms of a style of play but just how we’re how we’re running our operation how we’re Staffing it how we’re attacking Player Development how we’re attacking weightlifting and strength training and how we’re attacking our mental performance and how we’re attacking our nutrition I mean this this is much bigger than just rolling the ball out right and so trying to take the blueprint that I’ve learned in the NBA both good and bad and and when I say bad I mean doing things that you know maybe I okay I won’t do it that way and really putting putting it out there for them to say look this is this is how they operate in the NBA this is how we operate you’re going to be a beneficiary of that and it’s going to help you with your goals you talked about filling out that staff coach and you got some guys on board I understand you’re in the process of uh maybe getting closer to an announcement on three other guys and you had somebody down there at the father’s and Son’s Camp we’ll go about that if you’re not willing to name them that’s fine they’ll come out in time uh and names are out there anyway people can go figure it out if they want to um but you look at historically so I moved up here in 93 and so I’ve been around for a good while right and first I covered Utah during their great runs for the Salt Lake Tribune to the final four and all that stuff and I saw how they assembled the staff and then I went on and and did Steve Cleveland and Coach Dave Rose and their staffs and a large portion of those staffs were people who had a connection to BYU had a connection to the sponsoring faith it looks like you’re going maybe outside of that could you explain your philosophy in filling out your staff yeah I mean I wouldn’t say going outside of that holistically I mean there’s a there’s a a handful of guys obviously myself included who are who are members of the sponsoring faith and and that’s important given you know obviously what this uh University stands for and and a lot of our players share that background so trying to strike a balance uh between that and then just you know good basketball coaches regardless of uh you know what faith they are and people that are good people right I’ve a vetted uh these people quite a bit that’s something that I’m really big on you know I just I didn’t want to rush and hire any of the wrong people just to get people in in uh in these offices to start doing the work I really wanted to take my time uh I have a lot a large network of of people that I can uh you know pull from just giv my experience and so the guys that I’ve selected are guys that have really two two things once the first thing is just are they a good basketball coach and what are their experien as a basketball coach and then number two is what’s their what’s their recruiting uh expertise so every guy that I’ve brought on on staff as you said those are hopefully get announced soon every one of them had unique uh recruiting um uh base and that’s that was really important um and then the last thing I would say there is the the reason I hired Burgess and dunon um as my first couple guys was to get guys in here that could help me navigate the college landscape and they’ve been a pluses as well as Doug Stewart um in terms of holding my hand with all the the NCAA and the grassroot stuff here in the early days has life settled down for you yet no no it hasn’t I mean we’re getting there you know we’re getting there feel like every day is getting we’re getting a lot more done and a lot more accomplished um but there’s still a lot of work to be done in the NBA you would obviously know this more than I would it it seems like you know every every organization has scouts all over the planet because the game is really expanded now and no matter where you’re from you have the opportunity to be seen right any European country South America you name it then we’ve seen guys come over the NBA and it’s no big surprise anymore when the foreign guy comes in and is not just a role player he actually ends up in a star and we’re seeing that obviously with Dallas and and Boston NBA Finals guys then they have team players who play those roles so you may have been exposed or you know people who’ve been exposed to somebody who’s wherever they might be and where I’m going with this is I’m wondering how much of that exposure that you’ve had to kids who are in Euro leagues or coming up through the ranks overseas can actually help you get you maybe a little bit of a jump start under recruiting going forward no it’s big it’s big it’s you know coming up the way I did in a pro game you know I didn’t just jump into the NBA even on the pro side right I was in the G League even the D-League I’m that old uh for for nine years right and so a lot of the guys that I jumped in with you know climbed the the the ladder kind of this simultaneously as I did like a lot of my friends are directors of scouting or assistant GMS or GMS or head coaches right um and so with the network of people I know in the NBA you know I get I’m getting hit up quite a bit from just different people or if I or if I find out about a player I make one call and I can get any type of information that I want and that that’s just years of relationships years of like authentic friendships that I can draw upon and so you know that’s that’s really surprised me honestly in terms of how much that stuff would be helpful as i’ as I made the jump I thought it would be I’ve been surprised about the similarities in terms of just the network for me where I can draw on that’s one thing yeah that’s really been helpful yeah I thought so I thought that’s why I needed to ask that question because it seemed to me it would be obvious well coach before you let you go my wife’s a phoenix native I grew up there uh how appreciative are you going to be that the days coming forward of5 are gone uh I’m definitely looking forward to that even just dve in this morning man it’s just such a beautiful this time of year in Utah is so amazing with the Sun hitting the mountains and it’s just uh like you said it’s not sweltering hot outside and uh um you know definitely looking forward to that well thanks for your time coach we know you’re very much busy and we appreciate it and we look forward to watching you progress along your first season at BYU this season all right man thanks for having me I appreciate it there he was Kevin young with PK earlier today really good interview pretty expansive touching on a lot of different topics including recruiting players already on the roster his background in the NBA I he’s hit an absolute Grand Slam I he was a grand slam higher and then he’s done nothing but follow that up with a ton of success maybe lost a couple of names that BYU fans would like to have stuck around but that’s inevitable anytime anyone takes a new head coaching job uh but obviously Landing some of the talent he has and filling out his coaching staff has been successful Christian I think what I’m curious about is a the hard part is we don’t know what college athletics looks like literally one season to the next I mean and it’s not just players leaving it’s that the rules change it’s that the regulations change it’s that you know now you’ve got players with this house versus NCAA settlement means there’s going to be Revenue distribution to players and what does that mean of how long you can keep them around and who of the players that he has landed and sign this year are going to enter the transfer portal next year and so I think those are the difficult conversations it’s hard to judge what anyone’s going to look like a year from now and that’s not exclusive to Kevin young that’s every coach in college basketball but what makes it so unique is he’s jumping from the NBA to college basketball so he’s doing this for the first time despite the fact that he’s had all this this success in his first what two months on the job yeah and maybe that’s somewhere where he potentially has a leg up I mean you can compare the transfer portal in nil to free agency in the NBA and maybe with the experience that he has there that will help him here at BYU but it it is really interesting to hear and he mentioned earlier one of the parts I liked was that you know when he’s talking to these players and he basically throws on NBA tape and says here this is what we want to do for you and how we can help potentially get you to the NBA because that’s what any almost any student athlete is going to want to hear that’s why they’re partially why they’re playing Collegiate Athletics is they want to go pro so for him to say I’ve had this experience in the pros this is how I think I can help you like that’s music to a student athlete’s ears and that’s potentially why he has been so successful so far and you love to see it h absolutely and now what I’m really curious about another area that that’s going to be fascinating for Kevin young and BYU specifically is I think one of the things BYU has success doing and one of the reasons why they can stand out and I know a lot of these kids were were transfers last year under Mark Pope these weren’t necessarily a lot of kids that were homegrown BYU players who had been here for several seasons and found success that was not the case he had transfers come in and won that way but when you’re getting star freshman coming in how much and this is a conversation I had with David lock are these players willing to quote unquote unpack meaning how much are they willing to actually settle in and say okay I’m a part of this at BYU whether it’s 30 games and I go to the NBA or whether it’s the next 60 90 120 games if that’s what my career looks like and again that doesn’t exist in college basketball anymore because nobody knows where they’re going to be after 30 games because the transfer portal allows you to both be kicked off the team essentially or to go make a bunch of money elsewhere and uh maybe these star players go up and say hey I played well at BYU and now Louisville wants me and now Kentucky wants me or North Carolina or whoever and I’m going to get recruited there but how much are players willing to lean into BYU for six months that they’re going to be on campus and is that something they can do successfully and is that much different than anywhere else I actually think the idea of one year at BYU is probably a lot easier for some people who are not of that Faith to go and survive in and live in and exceed in and succeed in versus saying hey this does have to be a three-year commitment for me and this is where I’m going to spend my entire college career some kids might be better at doing it for a single season and seeing what BYU has to offer playing under Kevin young yeah and like you mentioned it’s not just the top recruits the one and DS doing that anymore now it’s basically everybody that after a season they could be gone you never know you never know what’s going to happen everybody has a different background you know maybe a coach that they know is you know they have a job somewhere else and so that’s always a possibility and then yeah somewhere like Provo I mean people have lots of good things to say about Provo a lot of people like the location and stuff and there are a lot of people that come here and they fall in love with the area and uh they do want to stay because of their experience here but then there are other student athletes that uh again they’ll want to go play somewhere else whether that’s uh they’re getting opportunities at the next level whether they didn’t like it here in Provo or whether they have connections elsewhere and want to go explore that so uh I I do think that is going to be something obviously that we see more and more of not just with these top freshmen and then on top of being paid which be why you were showing a willingness and their donors are showing a willingness to step up to the plate to fund this basketball program to reach new high that we haven’t seen it reach in a very long time they have to win and that’s the next big thing for Kevin young and that’s what’s going to be so important this year which is bringing in Star Talent is one thing and we have seen a lot of schools have star talent and not necessarily win I mean nobody’s had more Talent historically than Kentucky over the last two decades and they’ve got one national title to show for it now I’m not expecting BYU to win a National Title nor is that the bar for success or failure just being relevant in the Big 12 is a huge sign for BYU and a huge uh a huge marker of growth for that basketball program but what you don’t want to be is the Washington Huskies under Lorenzo RAR who had NBA players seemingly every year and a great recruiting background in Seattle and a lot of Ballers that came up through that City that went there didn’t unpack like I mentioned recognized they were only going to be there for a season before they jumped to the NBA and that was just a stop Gap and something in the way to uh cross off the list before they could make the jump to the NBA and I think that’s going to be the next thing for Kevin young I would expect him to have more success because of his history not as a recruiter but his history as a basketball coach like he’s had in the NBA though we haven’t seen a lot of NBA assistants go back to college and win necessarily it’s a pretty unproven route that BYU and Kevin young are trying to forge yeah and then now you look at I mean obviously last year BYU was in the NCAA tournament um so that’s kind of the bar where fans are going to expect them to at least get there but then they lost a game that they probably shouldn’t have lost so now You’re Expecting BYU to not only make the tournament but win a game they’ve got a coach who we are going to assume I guess that he’s an upgrade over Pope if not similar or on the same level yeah I mean they it Mark Pope just got hired by Kentucky right you’re not replacing some guy who got fired and run out of town and saying like well you just got to be better than that like Mark Pope got not just a promotion he got the promotion the premier promotion in college basketball so Mark Pope is a good coach and it’s hard to expect Kevin young to come in and meet those expectations right away yeah I hope I hope the donors recognize that right and that’s what I hope so that’s going to be the hard thing is it’s hard to make the tournament it’s harder to win a game in the tournament so you’ve got this guy coming in who has not coached college basketball before uh but he is a very well-respected coach so I think that’s do we tamper expectations where do we set those expectations those are going to be figured out over the next couple of months but uh I think that’s going to be the biggest question with Kevin young this first season is like what exactly are we expecting in year one with this top freshman with this NBA level coach and it’s it’s hard it’s a hard conversation it feels like he’s at base camp at Everest that’s what it feels like to me which is like you’ve done everything you’ve had to to prepare yourself to have success on the expedition to get to the top of Everest and you have no idea what the actual rest of the trip and if the weather’s going to communicate and if the people around you are going to be able to do it that’s going to be the big question but he has done absolutely everything he can he’s got the best gear the best equipment he’s so prepared to make it to the top now he’s got to actually get there and the the difficult part’s going to going to actually start now because the difficult part is the season and then maintaining your players but a fun start and certainly could have been so so so much worse for BYU after losing Mark Pope and that has not been the case there’s more optimism now than I think I’ve ever seen at BYU basketball uh and that’s very exciting all right Christian let’s take a quick break with when we come back we will look at the NBA Conference Finals once again get you ready for Hansen Scotty stick around more Jake and Ben coming up next 975 the KSL Sports Zone who’s got it better than us no your home for the best sports coverage in Utah you’re listening to Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 the KSL Sports Zone [Music] we had to earn our spot into the NBA finals and uh we had to go against some great opponents OKC Clippers wolves uh and I feel like they got us better uh as a team they really challenged us on the defensive end made us focus in and um you know I think every single one of them like I did the previous two series for making me better J B 975 the KSL Sports Zone that’s Kyrie Irving talking about the Dallas Maverick’s Pathway to the NBA finals get the official debit card for the Utah Jazz University of Utah Sports reala Lake and more exclusively at America First Credit Union uh Christian the difficulty of the path for the Dallas Mavericks to get to the finals it’s not an alltime now compared to the Boston Celtics who cake walked their way to the finals they played a Miami Heat team I think people thought would be better but of course we’re playing without Jimmy Butler Miami did win game two they had a historically great shooting night uh otherwise that was a non-competitive series they then played the Cleveland Cavaliers who had tanked to avoid that two3 matchup so they didn’t have to play the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the second round wouldn’t have had to face either uh but the Cleveland Cavaliers ended up facing Boston in the second round were without Jared Allen most of the series if not all the series and then Donan Mitchell didn’t play the last two games he had the uh the knee and hamstring issue whatever he was dealing with uh so that was an easy route and then of course the Indiana Pacers who lost Tyrese halberton late in that series and were not that good in the first place who had only gotten there by beating a very beat up Milwaukee team and a decimated New York Knicks team as well Dallas’s Pathway to the finals was much more difficult than Boston’s but I don’t think Dallas necessarily faced murderers row you know the way we can look back at Dirk Nowitzki’s title when he was with the Mavericks and they had to go through Kobe and they had to go through I think it was even the Spurs and they had to go through LeBron and Miami and the heedles uh and that unit this was not the most difficult run for Dallas either no it’s it’s nothing crazy I mean they won the series uh against the Clippers 42 against no Kawai yeah with no Kawai uh 42 that series Thunder series was 4-2 and then 41 against Minnesota so it’s not like they were playing a game seven every single series but it is an interesting contrast to the Celtics and it brings up the question I think like for the Celtics to not face as much you know in quotes as much competition does that uh does it help or hurt the Dallas Mavericks now to be a little more battle tested going into the NBA Finals um you know they’ve they’ve had to I guess earn their wins a little bit more I know that’s not really fair to say because the Celtics can only play who they play who they play they have no control over that but if you’re the Mavericks and you have this mindset they they’ve had to fight a little bit more during these playoffs uh do you think that helps them or hurts them more so than the teams that they’ve played and it’s certainly part of it I think my fear for Boston is how average they’ve looked it’s not just that they’re playing these bad teams it’s that they’re letting these bad teams hang around it’s not like they were blowing out Indiana every game which it felt like they should have the Pacers almost won three of those games right and we’re up with five minutes to play in three of the four games I mean to look at what Dallas did last night on the road in a closeout game to be up by 30 in the first half I mean it was a dominant performance it’s exactly what you want to see from a team that says hey we’re ready to take this to the next step and we’re going to we’re going to trounce this team this opponent because we’re looking forward to the next team and it never felt like Boston was really a able to fully do that and I do think that is a that’s a it’s a big question I mean that’s a problem if you’re Boston how do you get to the finals and just flip that switch and say okay we’re going against a team who is as healthy as you can be this late in the season um and their two biggest stars have been playing out of this world the past couple of weeks so if you’re Boston again how do you kind of get into that mindset okay we have to be Killers too and play the second best team in the NBA right now now and can you avoid can you do it by game one because I’m not sure you can afford to give up a game in the finals final the way it doesn’t matter if you lost a game to Miami it didn’t matter if you lost a game to Cleveland it wouldn’t have mattered if you lost a game to Indiana there was no chance you were going to lose that series Dallas can beat you and you give away a single game you do find yourself in a situation where you’ve lost home court advantage which again I know Luca has shown he can win wherever it doesn’t matter to him he’s going to be hard to beat in Dallas they’re going to be hard to beat in Dallas and uh if they can steal game one they’re going to have all the momentum and all the all the belief in themselves that they can win that series they’re going into the series thinking they can win it and I do think they are going into the series thinking they’re going to be the mentally tougher team and that’s we just saw that with the Timberwolves I mean they were coming off against coming off of a huge Series win against the Nuggets went seven games everybody was like oh my gosh the Timberwolves are up next right Dallas wins game one and it kind of shocks everybody and I know that the Timberwolves didn’t immediately fold the next game but you think back about how much that game one win really affected that whole series threw him off yeah and then you know it gets to game three game four and then the Minnesota Timberwolves are buried because partially because they lost game one I I thought one of the interesting things that uh Anthony Edwards said last night was that there wasn’t a single moment in the series when that team jelled when Minnesota played together and we saw them multiple times earlier in the playoffs really play together as as an entire unit I mean they crushed the Phoenix Suns and looked like a complete team and everybody was clicking including you know we were talking about how well former jazz man nikil Alexander Walker was playing it’s like they were playing so good that even their eighth man ninth man was totally clicked in and was out playing stars on the other team and then in the second round obviously they win the first two games in Denver and you thought they’re totally clicked in get rattled in games three four and five game six they win by was like 45 you know what I mean they were up huge in that game blew out Denver and then went back home and and won game seven not with ease but convincingly and you thought okay they have jelled again and then you’re right they lose game one and they just never really regained it even game four they pulled it out because Carl anthonyy towns hit a couple of shots in Dallas but that was never a complete performance from the uh Minnesota Timberwolves and can you find a way to disrupt Boston celt Boston’s Rhythm which again has just felt a little bit off to me all all playoffs I mean I just have not seen Boston team despite the fact that you can look at the numbers they’ve got the best net rating in the postseason they have the third best defensive rating they have the best net rating as I mentioned they’ve got the second best offensive rating only behind the Indiana Indiana Pacers now some of that is because they played terrible teams so they’re going to have better numbers as opposed to Dallas who’s had a tougher road but Boston the numbers say they’ve been great the it test doesn’t say doesn’t uh doesn’t agree with that and I think that’s going to be very very telling coming up in the finals this is a fun series for analytics right because what do you what do you trust the it test or the numbers and so again like you just mentioned you look at strictly numbers and they’re like oh yeah that’s why the Celtics are favorites in this series but then I test and it’s like you know the Mavericks have been playing really well the last two weeks and that’s like I said earlier in the show we see so many times in the playoffs it might not always be who the necessarily best team is sometimes it’s just who catches fire at the right moment and that feels like Dallas right now but I mean obviously Boston is really good so we can’t count them out and to your point I mean the second best net rating team in the playoffs is the Oklahoma City Thunder they didn’t make the Conference Finals and the third best net rating is the Orlando Magic and they got eliminated in the first round you know they won their games big when they beat Cleveland they just only won three out of the seven they needed to win four out of the seven and they weren’t able to do that to Dallas’s credit they do have the fourth best net rating so uh they are plus 4.1 per 100 possessions Boston’s plus 10.8 but Boston has dominated a lot of the games with blowouts late certainly over Miami early in that series and then a couple against Cleveland as well not as many against Indiana as you’d expect so I guess the issue comes would you rather be battle tested going into the into the your next round and I think as you brought up you know Minnesota was they were really battle tested against Denver more so even than I thought Dallas was and then I don’t know if they had anything left in the tank the difference is I I don’t think Boston’s out of gas or excuse me I don’t think Dallas is out of gas I think Dallas has a lot left in them and as we mentioned earlier in the show in fact maybe the most dangerous thing is giving Luca a week off to rest that knee and really figure out what this uh what this Boston team’s all about we’ll see if Chris DS comes back does he start does he come off the bench those are major questions but uh letting Luca come in healthier than he has been at any point in the playoffs when he’s already been this good is is pretty terrifying yeah and getting that week of rest is huge because again like you said the the Timberwolves being so battl tested against the Nuggets but going seven games and then having to turn around in immed 24 or 48 hours right and they lost the first three games exactly yeah having to turn around and immediately play Luca donic and Kyrie Irving like that’s really really hard so you give these guys a week of rest and I know a lot of people are complaining about it but I think ultimately yeah we want to see them as healthy as they can be and the Celtics getting Chris STS back is huge and like didn’t Jason Tatum have something with his knee or shoulder or something so that’s always big is to get these guys healthy uh or as healthy as you can in the next week and then have them both ready to go by the time the finals start and it’s going to be a fun series I think uh you have to have elite players that’s one of the things we are learning you know LCA donic is top three player in the world I think Jason Tatum’s top five top six in the world he’s been Elite and Jaylen Brown’s been as good as Jason Tatum in these Post in this postseason but I I want to go back to my belief that I just don’t think you have to be a great team to make the finals anymore I think you need to be a good team that has a great season and Dallas is a good team that has a great season but we’re not going to look back at this as an all-time great Dallas Maverick’s roster this isn’t a legendary roster Luca is an all-timer Kyrie’s close to an all-timer their third best player is who you know what I mean like this idea on the night yeah right it depends on the night it’s a good team that’s having a great season good team nobody would have said at the beginning of the year that the Dallas Mavericks are going to the finals like that or that they were a PJ was trade away from going to the final when they trade nobody said okay that’s what they needed that’s going to put them over the top whereas the Celtics it’s like okay in the East it’s the Celtics and who else right like that was easy and the Celtics are closer to having a quote unquote great roster you’ve got Jason Tatum you’ve got Jaylen Brown you’ve got Chris ABS porzingis you’ve got Drew holiday the terrific back court I mean they have made those moves where you said oh man you go get Drew you’re going to the finals and to their credit they have they they haven’t disappointed they are exactly where they are supposed to be after going all in this season but it’s amazing that and and in a sense Dallas has gone all in they they’ve traded all their future assets but they didn’t go all in for Superstar players they went all in for some role players that have really uh fit in around LCA donic and Kyrie Kyrie Irving anyways next Thursday finals kickoff going to be a fun series hopefully as we mentioned two fully healthy teams we’ll wrap up the show coming up next stick around Jacob Ben 975 the KSL Sports [Music] Zone J B 975 the KSL Sports Zone last day of May tomorrow June 1st join uh the KSL Sports Saturday show for Dino days at all Sinclair locations fuel up save up to 30 cents per gallon on top tier premium with uh fuel with Dino pay plus free Dino swag June 1st so uh very cool tomorrow at all Sinclair locations our 50 segment brought to you by our friends at Peach doors and windows let Peach customize your house whatever you’re thinking they can put it in install it design it for your house it’s Peach doors and windows go check out their beautiful showroom 2940 South 300 West or you can check them out online Peach building products.com all right Christian fun show today thanks for uh filling in for Jake late scratch but uh we found a way to get it done we made it work man yeah a lot of fun things to talk about I mean that Kevin young interview with uh with PK earlier I know hatch has been wanting to get that in for a while and I believe this is like his first big media interview yeah he’s done he does press conference but this is the first I’ve heard him really talk about uh himself and and what his future plan is for BYU in a non I guess regulated situation so what good job by hatch and PK getting that done uh we’ll be back coming up next week H and Scotty are on remote next stick around jaken Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone