Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Brian Hanni previews Utah vs Kansas from a Jayhawks perspective, Early returns from Darryn Peterson with the Jazz + more

Transcript

Brian Hanni previews Utah vs Kansas from a Jayhawks perspective, Early returns from Darryn Peterson with the Jazz + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:03
Speaker 1: This is the Sean O'Connell Show, your home of the
0:07
Speaker 1: best inside of your Utes. Let's get back to OC
0:10
Speaker 1: from the Murdoch Chevrolet studio of ESPN 792.1 FM.
0:19
Speaker 2: What is Utah actually going to see on Saturday night
0:23
Speaker 2: against the Kansas Jayhawks? Like many teams in the conference
0:28
Speaker 2: right now, including for some your Utes, Kansas, a little
0:32
Speaker 2: bit difficult to figure out. They're 2-2, 0-1 so far
0:38
Speaker 2: in conference play. Victories have come from Long Island in
0:44
Speaker 2: the first game of the season and Middle Tennessee in
0:47
Speaker 2: their last game. That was a 55-0 demolition by the Jayhawks.
0:53
Speaker 2: Tough game in the Board of War against Missouri, and they...
0:57
Speaker 2: Got outlasted by Arizona State in their only conference game
1:00
Speaker 2: so far. Now they're coming to Rice-Eckel Stadium for a
1:03
Speaker 2: night game with a whiteout, which is a combination we
1:07
Speaker 2: have not yet seen. And when you're looking for people
1:11
Speaker 2: that know a thing or two about Kansas Jayhawks athletics,
1:15
Speaker 2: the first name you think of is our next guest.
1:18
Speaker 2: Brian Haney, the voice of the Jayhawks, is kind enough
1:20
Speaker 2: to join us here on the Sean O'Connell Show.
1:22
Speaker 1: Brian, welcome.
1:23
Speaker 2: How are you, sir?
1:24
Speaker 3: Great to be on, Sean. Appreciate you having me. Fired
1:27
Speaker 3: up to come out there on Saturday night. Obviously excited
1:30
Speaker 3: about the game, but as somebody that just loves seeing
1:32
Speaker 3: new venues, I think this is the last of the
1:36
Speaker 3: stops for us to cross off the list of the
1:39
Speaker 3: latest wave of new Big 12 league members that we
1:42
Speaker 3: haven't been out to see in football. So looking forward
1:44
Speaker 3: to it. What am I getting myself into? This is
1:46
Speaker 3: going to be a pretty raucous crowd, it sounds like.
1:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, night games at Rice Eccles are typically a little
1:51
Speaker 2: bit rowdy. Now the weather might... Diminish that a little bit.
1:55
Speaker 2: We're not a hundred percent sure of course, but it
1:57
Speaker 2: sounds like there might be some wind and some wet
2:00
Speaker 2: that could take a little sting off the must, but
2:03
Speaker 2: you never know because this is a group of students
2:06
Speaker 2: and fans that are very excited about what Utah looks
2:09
Speaker 2: like right now. What is the Kansas Jayhawk perspective on
2:13
Speaker 2: this game against an undefeated 13th ranked Utah team?
2:17
Speaker 3: I think we know what we're up against. Easily the
2:21
Speaker 3: biggest challenge we've had to date. Missouri certainly deserves to
2:26
Speaker 3: be in that conversation. We played them at home, though,
2:29
Speaker 3: so this is a different kind of beast going out
2:31
Speaker 3: there on the road. Our guys will draw confidence, even
2:34
Speaker 3: though it was different personnel, certainly at many spots, but
2:38
Speaker 3: some carryover, too, from how competitive last year's game was
2:42
Speaker 3: in Lawrence. I didn't think that that was necessarily truly
2:46
Speaker 3: indicative of all that Utah was capable of, and yet
2:49
Speaker 3: they still found a way, even on Saturday. you know,
2:52
Speaker 3: a somewhat down day by their standards to pull out
2:55
Speaker 3: a road win on KU senior day. But I think
2:57
Speaker 3: there's some returning Jayhawks that will try to draw from
3:00
Speaker 3: that experience and having a little bit of an idea
3:02
Speaker 3: of what to expect. But for us, we're breaking in
3:05
Speaker 3: a new quarterback that now is four starts deep in
3:09
Speaker 3: his tenure. And you hope he takes that next step
3:12
Speaker 3: in what will be far and away the most hostile
3:15
Speaker 3: environment he's ever played in. We've technically not had a
3:19
Speaker 3: road game yet because the trip to London and Wembley
3:22
Speaker 3: stadium was a home game on paper for us, a
3:25
Speaker 3: neutral site in actuality. So this is a whole new
3:29
Speaker 3: ball of wax to walk into a venue like this
3:31
Speaker 3: for a young quarterback. And they've done a lot this
3:34
Speaker 3: week to try to simulate the type of crowd noise
3:36
Speaker 3: that he'll be up against and his ability to still
3:39
Speaker 3: have command in the huddle and, and, communicate and articulate
3:42
Speaker 3: the play calls and all that. So Isaiah Marshall is
3:45
Speaker 3: the young man I'm talking about. We saw some nice
3:47
Speaker 3: strides out of him a week ago after a little
3:50
Speaker 3: bit of a slow start, first three games. But he
3:54
Speaker 3: is very similar to what you saw last year in
3:56
Speaker 3: Jalen Daniels in terms of a true dual threat quarterback,
4:00
Speaker 3: maybe more explosive when he does get outside the pocket
4:04
Speaker 3: and gets those wheels rolling, but not yet the full potential.
4:09
Speaker 3: package deal that Jalen Daniels was by the end of
4:12
Speaker 3: his senior year here, a guy that's now starting tomorrow
4:15
Speaker 3: night for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the NFL. So
4:18
Speaker 3: I think that's the big question for me as the
4:21
Speaker 3: play-by-play announcer. How does the young quarterback handle this environment?
4:25
Speaker 3: We're also just four games deep into Andy Kotelnicki returning
4:29
Speaker 3: as offensive play caller. He, as you'll recall, perhaps was
4:33
Speaker 3: the OC for Lance Leipold and in Coach's first few
4:36
Speaker 3: seasons when we were going to back-to-back bowl games and
4:39
Speaker 3: the program was really starting to take off. Then in
4:41
Speaker 3: years four and five of the Leipold era, Kodelnicki was
4:44
Speaker 3: at Penn State. And so he's back. The offense is
4:48
Speaker 3: starting to take shape like we think it could look,
4:51
Speaker 3: but it hasn't quite hit on all cylinders until last week,
4:54
Speaker 3: and that was obviously a Middle Tennessee team that's a
4:57
Speaker 3: far cry from the Utes. But certainly those were nice sides.
5:01
Speaker 3: They set a school record in yardage, in the history
5:04
Speaker 3: of KU football last Saturday. So the hope that they
5:07
Speaker 3: can build off of that, but those are my, my
5:09
Speaker 3: main concerns and things to look for the defense for
5:12
Speaker 3: Kansas has played as well as they've played in six
5:14
Speaker 3: seasons of Lance Leipold here. And we can get into
5:17
Speaker 3: that more if you like, but the defense has been
5:19
Speaker 3: the strong suit throughout this first month. And they hope
5:22
Speaker 3: to build on that Saturday.
5:24
Speaker 2: I definitely want to talk about the defense, but I
5:26
Speaker 2: have a couple of more offensive questions here. And of course, right.
5:31
Speaker 2: a lot of times what your quarterback does is the
5:33
Speaker 2: determining factor for whether you win or lose football games.
5:37
Speaker 2: When you got a young guy, even a talented young
5:39
Speaker 2: guy like Isaiah Marshall appears to be, there's some growing
5:42
Speaker 2: pains here. And right now that manifests itself with some inconsistency.
5:47
Speaker 2: He's not completing a high percentage of his passes right now.
5:50
Speaker 2: I certainly haven't watched anywhere near the amount of Kansas
5:52
Speaker 2: football this year or ever that you have. When you
5:56
Speaker 2: look at, you know, where that consistency comes from, is it,
6:01
Speaker 2: A target selection problem for him? Is he being pressured
6:04
Speaker 2: more than he's comfortable with right now as a young player?
6:08
Speaker 2: Are the routes wrong? Are his receivers not up to snuff?
6:11
Speaker 2: What is causing some of that for the Utah fan
6:14
Speaker 2: to look for?
6:16
Speaker 3: All good questions. There's probably five different answers. I'll try
6:19
Speaker 3: to give them concisely. But, you know, week one, you're
6:22
Speaker 3: playing Long Island. Everything comes easy. It's a small college
6:27
Speaker 3: coming in here and you boat race them. And, you know,
6:30
Speaker 3: it wasn't the type of real SEC caliber speed that
6:34
Speaker 3: he would face the next week and the strength of
6:36
Speaker 3: the explosive athletes and all that. Week two versus Mizzou,
6:40
Speaker 3: I thought he was running for his life the entire
6:42
Speaker 3: second half. There were some protection issues that had him
6:45
Speaker 3: constantly on the go. If you go back and search
6:48
Speaker 3: for it on social media, you'll see a play where
6:51
Speaker 3: he's falling out of bounds and just spins and chucks
6:53
Speaker 3: the ball straight upward in the air. He actually completed
6:57
Speaker 3: it to his tight end, and they gained yardage, but
6:59
Speaker 3: it's the type of play that whether you're playing Pee Wee,
7:01
Speaker 3: Pop Warner, or playing on Sundays, it's definitely ill-advised, but
7:06
Speaker 3: that was a microcosm indicative of just how much he
7:10
Speaker 3: was getting beat up in that game, how much constantly
7:13
Speaker 3: he felt under duress. And so that was a tough one,
7:16
Speaker 3: I think, for the entire offensive unit, starting with pass protection,
7:20
Speaker 3: but everybody. And nobody was without some blame in that one.
7:24
Speaker 3: They just kind of got outmatched against a team that
7:27
Speaker 3: clearly is further down the line than Kansas. Week three
7:32
Speaker 3: at Arizona State, I don't think he was fully healthy,
7:35
Speaker 3: and he was without his number one receiver, Cam Pickett,
7:38
Speaker 3: and his number one tight end, Carson Bruin. He fought
7:41
Speaker 3: through some... bumps and bruises from the week before, and
7:45
Speaker 3: showed great perseverance, I felt, in a game where they
7:49
Speaker 3: were really slow out the gates, couldn't get anything going offensively.
7:52
Speaker 3: They're down 17 halfway through the fourth quarter, and he
7:55
Speaker 3: leads them on back-to-back scoring drives to pull them within
7:58
Speaker 3: seven and darn near complete the comeback. So I saw
8:02
Speaker 3: something from him that night in terms of stick-to-itiveness and
8:05
Speaker 3: mental toughness. And a guy that was operating a little
8:09
Speaker 3: bit hurt and not with a full deck of cards
8:11
Speaker 3: in terms of his weapons did everything he could. Last week, again,
8:15
Speaker 3: it's Middle Tennessee, still an FBS opponent, it's Conference USA,
8:19
Speaker 3: but man, he looked good. He looked fresh. He got
8:22
Speaker 3: both the tight end and receiver back that were gone
8:24
Speaker 3: the previous week, and it started to kind of come together. Now,
8:27
Speaker 3: what this Kansas team has lost offensively a couple of
8:31
Speaker 3: weeks back now in that Arizona State game that they
8:33
Speaker 3: will not be getting back is the Yassin Willis running
8:37
Speaker 3: back talent transfer from Syracuse that was a preseason Doak
8:41
Speaker 3: Walker Award nominee. You still have Dylan Edwards, who's the
8:45
Speaker 3: lightning in that thunder and lightning combo. But there's no
8:48
Speaker 3: more thunder. Willis is likely done for the year. He
8:50
Speaker 3: will not be there on Saturday night. That puts more
8:53
Speaker 3: pressure on the quarterback. But I think there's more things
8:55
Speaker 3: they can do in the QB run game. It really
8:57
Speaker 3: starts with him making better decisions on when to keep
9:00
Speaker 3: and when to give in some of the zone reads
9:02
Speaker 3: and QB option that they'll run. But I saw a
9:05
Speaker 3: guy that, to me last week, it looked like the
9:07
Speaker 3: game was slowing down a little bit for him. He
9:09
Speaker 3: was more like himself physically and in terms of no
9:13
Speaker 3: restrictions health-wise than That's the guy I hope we see
9:16
Speaker 3: on Saturday night. But again, he's not been in an
9:19
Speaker 3: environment like this, and that'll be as big a question
9:21
Speaker 3: mark as any.
9:23
Speaker 2: Let's switch to the defense. By the way, Brian Haney
9:25
Speaker 2: is our guest, the voice of the Kansas Jayhawks, who's
9:28
Speaker 2: coming to Salt Lake City to call the game on
9:30
Speaker 2: Saturday night. Look, if we go strength versus strength and
9:34
Speaker 2: weakness versus weakness with these teams, right now it's hard
9:37
Speaker 2: to pass the ball against this Kansas Jayhawks squad, at
9:40
Speaker 2: least in the sample size we've been able to see.
9:44
Speaker 2: They're not I wouldn't say vulnerable against the run, but
9:47
Speaker 2: you can have a little bit more success there. And
9:49
Speaker 2: we might get a short game with both teams running
9:52
Speaker 2: the ball a ton. Tell me about how Kansas has
9:55
Speaker 2: been so potent against the pass.
9:58
Speaker 3: Well, I think it starts with the pressure up front.
10:01
Speaker 3: It's clearly a strength and a strong suit of KU
10:04
Speaker 3: when you look at their two rush ends, starting with
10:07
Speaker 3: Leroy Harris, who's probably our best pro prospect ever. since
10:12
Speaker 3: Aqib Tlaib in 2008. That goes back a ways. I
10:15
Speaker 3: know you guys just put two linemen in the first
10:17
Speaker 3: round of the draft last year, but we haven't had
10:18
Speaker 3: a first round pick in 18 years now. I think
10:22
Speaker 3: Leroy Harris has the pedigree to potentially be that. If not,
10:26
Speaker 3: he's a second round pick. That is a high day
10:28
Speaker 3: to selection. He has been so impactful and whether he
10:32
Speaker 3: gets all the way to the quarterback for a sack
10:35
Speaker 3: or he's making a play at the end of the play,
10:37
Speaker 3: ripping the ball out with three consecutive games, forcing a fumble.
10:41
Speaker 3: He has been tremendous. His dad played six years in
10:43
Speaker 3: the pros with a couple of different franchises. When he
10:46
Speaker 3: came to Kansas two years ago, really just phenomenal. 15
10:50
Speaker 3: months ago, to be honest, he was a UT Chattanooga
10:55
Speaker 3: transfer portal addition that had yet had the benefit of
10:59
Speaker 3: a power for conference training table and strength and conditioning
11:03
Speaker 3: program and all that. He's put on 30 pounds of
11:06
Speaker 3: great weight. He had the frame to build into this
11:09
Speaker 3: body of his with that NFL pedigree that his dad
11:12
Speaker 3: gave him. And to me, he looks like as fun
11:15
Speaker 3: a prospect as we've had. On the other side, David Santiago,
11:19
Speaker 3: who's a transfer from Michigan State and Air Force before that.
11:22
Speaker 3: He's been a really potent pass rusher, too. Really excited
11:25
Speaker 3: about him. And that one-two punch they bring there has
11:28
Speaker 3: been getting to the quarterback, making time in the pocket,
11:31
Speaker 3: time to make reads and get the ball out much
11:33
Speaker 3: faster than it's been in recent seasons. Blake Harrell's a
11:36
Speaker 3: great guy. In the middle of that D-line, he's the captain.
11:38
Speaker 3: And then in the middle of the defense as a whole,
11:41
Speaker 3: Trey Latham, our leading tackler from a year ago, he's back.
11:45
Speaker 3: He's not the pro prospect that Leroy Harris is, but
11:48
Speaker 3: we call his name as much as any, and he's
11:50
Speaker 3: a great carryover player from last year that Utah fans
11:53
Speaker 3: will remember. So those are where I think the defensive
11:57
Speaker 3: keys start, but in the back end of the defense,
11:59
Speaker 3: a young man by the name of Jalen Todd, four-star
12:01
Speaker 3: prospect from Detroit, same high school actually as our quarterback,
12:05
Speaker 3: Isaiah Marshall, He is our best upper corner. He has
12:09
Speaker 3: a chance one day to play for pay on Sundays
12:11
Speaker 3: in the NFL too. So it's a total recipe of
12:15
Speaker 3: some frontline talent that's maybe a little bit better than
12:18
Speaker 3: we've typically had at Kansas and a defensive coordinator in D.K.
12:22
Speaker 3: McDonald today. who's now in his second full season as
12:25
Speaker 3: the primary DC, he's really putting his stamp on things
12:29
Speaker 3: and their scheme and their execution has been very impressive.
12:32
Speaker 3: Missouri found some soft spots in the defense with their
12:35
Speaker 3: exceptional personnel that was able to get open downfield, second
12:39
Speaker 3: and third level. Other schools have struggled to get that,
12:42
Speaker 3: including Arizona State. So it'll be interesting on Saturday night.
12:46
Speaker 2: The punt return game, already seen one taken to the
12:48
Speaker 2: house for your Jayhawks and a second right now in
12:52
Speaker 2: the conference, an average punt return. And obviously when your
12:54
Speaker 2: defense is playing well and you're forcing somebody to punt,
12:57
Speaker 2: that's a chance for an explosive play, momentum grabber, you know,
13:01
Speaker 2: a game changer potentially. What has been the biggest contributor
13:05
Speaker 2: to their success on that particular special team?
13:08
Speaker 3: Well, there's a couple of guys to look at there.
13:10
Speaker 3: Keaton Kabeca was the punt returner last week when Tate
13:13
Speaker 3: Nagy was not available. Tate's the guy that had the
13:17
Speaker 3: 72-yard punt return touchdown you alluded to versus Arizona State.
13:21
Speaker 3: If that name Nagy sounds familiar, his dad is the
13:25
Speaker 3: OC of the New York Giants, previously head coach with
13:28
Speaker 3: the Chicago Bears. O.C. for Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs.
13:32
Speaker 3: That's how we got Tate. He was living in the
13:35
Speaker 3: Kansas City area when his dad was working with the
13:37
Speaker 3: Chiefs the first time around. And Kansas recruited him, former
13:42
Speaker 3: high school quarterback, but has great instincts and shiftiness back there.
13:47
Speaker 3: Also is a tremendous receiver in terms of defense. May
13:50
Speaker 3: not have the measurable that, wow, you're getting off the bus,
13:53
Speaker 3: but he's not afraid to go over the middle and
13:55
Speaker 3: make that tough catch in traffic and has tremendous hands.
13:58
Speaker 3: But Kabeca was the guy last week, and we'll see
14:02
Speaker 3: what combination of those two are available on Saturday. But
14:05
Speaker 3: they have had some great success in that regard, and
14:08
Speaker 3: they've been forcing a ton of punts. I think it
14:10
Speaker 3: was nine versus Arizona State. It might have been that
14:13
Speaker 3: same number last week versus Middle Tennessee. So excellent in
14:17
Speaker 3: the punt return situation. Punt and kick coverage has left
14:21
Speaker 3: a little something to be desired, particularly kickoff coverage. That's
14:24
Speaker 3: been a vulnerability the last couple of weeks. It needs
14:27
Speaker 3: to get shored up, but it's been a major point
14:29
Speaker 3: of emphasis this week, and hopefully we'll see some progress
14:32
Speaker 3: there on Saturday night.
14:33
Speaker 2: Big picture standpoint. Look, Utah at home is a tough
14:37
Speaker 2: out for anybody, so even if it doesn't go all
14:39
Speaker 2: that great for your Jayhawks this weekend, what do you
14:42
Speaker 2: feel the ceiling of this team is in a very,
14:45
Speaker 2: for me at least, unpredictable and hard-to-figure-out Big 12 conference?
14:50
Speaker 3: That's a good way to phrase it. I think anybody
14:52
Speaker 3: can be had on any given night in this league.
14:55
Speaker 3: And it's, it's why, you know, the, the razor thin
14:59
Speaker 3: margin between being a seven and five team, which at Kansas,
15:04
Speaker 3: you go seven and five more years than not, they'll,
15:06
Speaker 3: they'll raise a statue for you. Cause we just haven't
15:07
Speaker 3: had that sustained consistent bowl game every December type success.
15:14
Speaker 3: The razor-thin margin between 7-5 and 5-7 comes down to
15:19
Speaker 3: just a couple of plays. I mean, I don't have
15:21
Speaker 3: to tell you, OCU, you go back to last November,
15:25
Speaker 3: senior day at KU, and they had two end zone interceptions,
15:29
Speaker 3: otherwise could have won that game against a top 15
15:32
Speaker 3: Utah team. And what does that do for our program?
15:34
Speaker 3: Makes us bowl eligible for the third time in four years,
15:37
Speaker 3: makes the one-year blip on the radar of not going
15:41
Speaker 3: to a bowl game feel like a distant memory. And instead...
15:45
Speaker 3: Those plays aren't made by the Jayhawks. They're made by
15:47
Speaker 3: the Utes. We finished five and seven just on the
15:50
Speaker 3: outside looking in, and suddenly it's back-to-back years of this
15:53
Speaker 3: in a bowl game, and you feel a little bit
15:55
Speaker 3: more pressure coming into this year to get back to
15:57
Speaker 3: that trajectory they were on before it. My point of
16:00
Speaker 3: bringing that up is not to be critical, but to
16:02
Speaker 3: say they've been so close. And, buddy, I can point
16:05
Speaker 3: out eight games in the last two years where we
16:08
Speaker 3: had a four-quarter lead at least halfway through the fourth,
16:11
Speaker 3: and for one reason or another, they let the lead slip.
16:15
Speaker 3: And many times it was the self-inflicted wound with an
16:18
Speaker 3: untimely turnover or something that flipped the game at game point.
16:22
Speaker 3: And that's how close they've been. Even if you get
16:25
Speaker 3: a fourth of those, not half of them, a fourth
16:28
Speaker 3: of them, you're going to bowl games each of the
16:30
Speaker 3: last two years. So when you ask for what's the ceiling,
16:33
Speaker 3: what's the big picture? We need to win those 50-50 games,
16:37
Speaker 3: and losing the Arizona State game is one that certainly
16:40
Speaker 3: puts Kansas behind the eight ball a little bit here
16:42
Speaker 3: in getting to six wins this year. You're going to
16:44
Speaker 3: have to steal a couple you're not supposed to get.
16:47
Speaker 3: And if you look at our schedule... The next four
16:49
Speaker 3: weeks shape up to be quite a gauntlet starting on
16:52
Speaker 3: Saturday night. But you go to K-State, you know, they've
16:55
Speaker 3: won every game for the last 18 years of that
16:58
Speaker 3: matchup heading into this one. You got Baylor at home
17:00
Speaker 3: after that is way better than what many thought back
17:03
Speaker 3: in the summertime at TCU to follow. Got to find
17:07
Speaker 3: a way to steal a couple in there. But to
17:09
Speaker 3: your point, I think this league is so good that
17:13
Speaker 3: teams that are thought of as middle-of-the-pack teams can absolutely
17:16
Speaker 3: jump up and get you if you're not careful. Kansas
17:18
Speaker 3: has to be one of those teams. And while they
17:20
Speaker 3: caught some teams by surprise in 2022 and 2023, they
17:24
Speaker 3: had more of a target on their back the last
17:26
Speaker 3: couple of years. That target's gone. Now you've got to
17:29
Speaker 3: play that role of spoiler again, and hopefully this club
17:31
Speaker 3: has the moxie to do it. I think they will.
17:34
Speaker 3: I think we can get to six wins, but certainly
17:37
Speaker 3: the margin for error is very small.
17:39
Speaker 2: Help me figure out, at least here in week five,
17:43
Speaker 2: week six, what the conference is. Who is the best team?
17:47
Speaker 2: Who are the best teams? I don't think anyone's abysmally bad.
17:51
Speaker 2: Maybe Colorado, we'll see. But if you're handicapping kind of
17:55
Speaker 2: your top four, who are they?
17:59
Speaker 3: I'm excited to see Saturday night, to experience your whole
18:03
Speaker 3: field advantage, to see how good the youths are, because
18:06
Speaker 3: we've got all these ranked teams in the top 20
18:10
Speaker 3: right now. I guess you could lump Houston in there,
18:12
Speaker 3: say top 22. And we're trying to figure out how
18:16
Speaker 3: good are they really Texas tech. That's the school I
18:19
Speaker 3: used to work for. I have a ton of respect
18:20
Speaker 3: for joy, the wire program and their resources and Cody
18:24
Speaker 3: Campbell and all that, but they don't necessarily look like
18:26
Speaker 3: world beaters out to shoot. Do they? They look really
18:29
Speaker 3: good at five and oh, I'd take that a heartbeat,
18:32
Speaker 3: but they don't look unbeatable or other worldly by any means. BYU,
18:37
Speaker 3: similar story now, eighth ranked in the country. They escaped
18:41
Speaker 3: TCU at 17-10, a low-scoring affair. didn't blow the doors
18:47
Speaker 3: off Arizona at home. I don't know that they're, you know,
18:51
Speaker 3: otherworldly either. And so again, I know we've got a
18:54
Speaker 3: lot of Cougars listening to the broadcast, BYU fans, that is, that,
18:57
Speaker 3: you know, probably feel like they're the class of the
18:59
Speaker 3: conference and maybe they will prove to be, but two
19:02
Speaker 3: weeks into this thing, or for a team like Kansas,
19:04
Speaker 3: it's only played one league game. I still think there's
19:07
Speaker 3: a lot of moving and shaking to go on. And,
19:09
Speaker 3: you We've got some pretenders perhaps that need to prove
19:13
Speaker 3: their contenders. And we've got some middle tier teams that
19:16
Speaker 3: could still rise up. But to me, Right now, we'd
19:20
Speaker 3: have to say it's BYU, Tech, Utah, and Oklahoma State
19:25
Speaker 3: just based on what the rankings tell us. I'm not
19:27
Speaker 3: so sure one or two teams from the middle tier
19:29
Speaker 3: don't upset the apple cart before it's all said and done.
19:32
Speaker 3: Who wins those 50-50 games, those one-score games? That's going
19:36
Speaker 3: to determine your league champ, as it always does, but
19:38
Speaker 3: especially this year where the top-to-bottom differential, you've got a
19:42
Speaker 3: lot of parity there that I think is going to
19:44
Speaker 3: make for some really exciting football.
19:47
Speaker 2: I would Be irresponsible if I didn't ask. you something
19:51
Speaker 2: about everyone's favorite new jazz man. The last time you
19:54
Speaker 2: and I had a conversation was pre NBA draft, if
19:57
Speaker 2: I'm not mistaken, and came away from that conversation, you know, you, you,
20:02
Speaker 2: you gave, you know, a testimony of what this kid
20:05
Speaker 2: is and was and how maybe the messaging around him
20:07
Speaker 2: in college basketball is got a little bit skewed toward
20:10
Speaker 2: the negative. And so far, the experience in Salt Lake
20:13
Speaker 2: City has been remarkably positive. Everything's coming up aces with
20:18
Speaker 2: Darren Peterson. And last night, he had a beautiful performance
20:21
Speaker 2: in a preseason game. Can't judge too much off a preseason,
20:24
Speaker 2: but 23 points in 30 minutes is what jazz fans
20:28
Speaker 2: hope he is capable of. And just wanted your thoughts
20:31
Speaker 2: on the early returns of Darren Peterson in the NBA.
20:35
Speaker 3: I thought you were talking about Shreyas Lada, your new
20:38
Speaker 3: beat writer that you stole from Kansas as well. Everybody's
20:41
Speaker 3: new favorite jazz man. Shout out to Shreyas. I know
20:44
Speaker 3: he's a friend of the show as well. Yes, we
20:46
Speaker 3: are so excited about Darren Peterson and everything I said
20:49
Speaker 3: to you back in May and June. I echo now
20:52
Speaker 3: and I hope you start to see more and more
20:54
Speaker 3: of that come to fruition. This is a guy who's
20:58
Speaker 3: His work ethic and his desire to not just be
21:01
Speaker 3: great but be elite is truly on a different tier.
21:04
Speaker 3: And there was a lot of misinformation. There was a
21:07
Speaker 3: lot of confusion over his availability or lack thereof, what
21:11
Speaker 3: was causing these cramping issues. They finally got to the
21:14
Speaker 3: bottom of all of that. But what I tried to
21:16
Speaker 3: tell your listeners back in the summertime was... He was
21:19
Speaker 3: still beloved by his teammates. He was still respected tremendously
21:23
Speaker 3: by his coaches. Bill Self saying, this is the best
21:25
Speaker 3: pro prospect I've ever coached. Think about that. He coached
21:28
Speaker 3: an NBA MVP in Joel Embiid and a first overall
21:32
Speaker 3: pick in Andrew Wiggins. He's coached some big-time guys. This
21:37
Speaker 3: is a guy that we really feel, if he's blessed
21:40
Speaker 3: with good health... He's clearly in a good organization that's
21:44
Speaker 3: got great infrastructure around him. I think he could be
21:46
Speaker 3: a perennial all-star. Whether that starts this season or in
21:49
Speaker 3: year two, I think he could be a yearly guy
21:52
Speaker 3: that you slot into that. Similar to Jayhawk's last player
21:56
Speaker 3: to do that from a wing scorer position in Paul Pierce,
21:59
Speaker 3: who was a 10-time NBA all-star. The Kobe Bryant comparisons
22:02
Speaker 3: that Bill Simmons put on him early in his career,
22:05
Speaker 3: prep career heading into his college career. I think while
22:09
Speaker 3: certainly Kobe's an all-time great, it's tough to have lofty,
22:12
Speaker 3: you know, true parallels there until you get some trophies won.
22:16
Speaker 3: There's a reason why he likened his skill set and
22:20
Speaker 3: his game. to the black mama. And I think that
22:23
Speaker 3: you're seeing some of those, I see the tweets, but
22:26
Speaker 3: the highlights are showing. They're like, who does this remind
22:28
Speaker 3: you of? You kind of see some of that. It's
22:30
Speaker 3: just my hope for Darren, that he has good health
22:33
Speaker 3: and that, you know, he's in a situation where he
22:36
Speaker 3: can really thrive and continue to blossom in the ways
22:39
Speaker 3: that he only began to scratch the surface of here,
22:43
Speaker 3: simply because, uh, the health and availability wasn't what he'd
22:46
Speaker 3: hoped a year ago, but terrific young man, fabulous competitor.
22:51
Speaker 3: He wants to be special and he lives in the gym, man.
22:55
Speaker 3: That work ethic is already starting to bear fruit with Utah.
22:58
Speaker 3: Everybody inside that building knows what I'm talking about. And
23:01
Speaker 3: I can't wait to see him reap a big harvest
23:03
Speaker 3: of wins and big scoring games and being a great
23:06
Speaker 3: teammate and all of the above in the seasons to come.
23:09
Speaker 2: Well, Brian, appreciate you giving us time today. You got
23:12
Speaker 2: my number, so if you need anything while you're on
23:14
Speaker 2: your trip here to Salt Lake City, please let me know. And, yeah,
23:18
Speaker 2: the hope is that we get a fun game at
23:20
Speaker 2: Rice-Eccles Stadium and you get to experience that atmosphere fully.
23:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, much appreciated. Thanks for having me on. I hope
23:26
Speaker 3: we'll do another one of these in basketball season, and
23:29
Speaker 3: I'll definitely hit you up later in the week, my friend.
23:31
Speaker 3: Thanks again.
23:31
Speaker 2: All right, appreciate you, Brian. Brian Haney is the play-by-play
23:35
Speaker 2: voice of the Kansas Jayhawks. Kind of have to give
23:38
Speaker 2: us some time today. He'll be on the Kansas radio call.
23:41
Speaker 2: You can hear 10 hours of game day coverage on
23:44
Speaker 2: ESPN 700, your home of the Utes, this Saturday. Porter
23:47
Speaker 2: Larson's got a pregame show at 415, 815 kickoff right
23:54
Speaker 2: here on your home of the Utes, ESPN 700, 92.1 FM.