Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Gavin Petersen on Utah women's basketball, Hosting BYU on Saturday, Being on the NCAA tournament bubble + more

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Gavin Petersen on Utah women's basketball, Hosting BYU on Saturday, Being on the NCAA tournament bubble + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Peased by Sean O'Connell's show you all the best inside
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  Speaker 1: of your US. Let's get back to OC from the
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  Speaker 1: Murdoch Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred ninety two one
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  Speaker 1: A F A M.
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  Speaker 2: We await overtime in the gold medal game, USA VERSUS
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  Speaker 2: Canada tied up at one one Sun Valley, Idaho's Hillary
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  Speaker 2: Night tied it up with two minutes left.
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  Speaker 3: Let's go baby.
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  Speaker 2: We talk a little women's hoops as well as we
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  Speaker 2: await the overtime period in the Olympics. Gavin Peterson, head
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  Speaker 2: coach of Utah women's basketball, kind of have to stop
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  Speaker 2: by with US coach, how are you good?
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  Speaker 4: How are you doing OC? Always good? Being on?
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  Speaker 3: Are you able to catch up on these Olympic games?
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  Speaker 2: I mean it's right in the middle of your workday,
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  Speaker 2: So can you can you like at least throw a
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  Speaker 2: TV on in the corner of the officer something.
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  Speaker 4: After you said that, yes, I'm about to okay?
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  Speaker 3: Cool? All right?
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  Speaker 4: We bether than that.
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  Speaker 5: It's just film and game prep as we go well,
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  Speaker 5: and a big game that you're prepping for. It's BYU
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  Speaker 5: this weekend, this one at home two o'clock tip on
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  Speaker 5: ESPN Plus. But of course if you can get up
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  Speaker 5: there and see it in person. You've already seen this
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  Speaker 5: team once this year. That was on the road, tough
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  Speaker 5: one down there at the Marriott Center. But what do
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  Speaker 5: you know about this BYU team and what are the
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  Speaker 5: adjustments you can make for the second meeting.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I thought when we were down there
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  Speaker 4: in provo, we played a great first half. We're executing
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  Speaker 4: our game plan both on offense and defense. And then
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  Speaker 4: a credit to them, they made some minor adjustments and
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  Speaker 4: we were kind of playing on our those four that
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  Speaker 4: beginning of the third quarter. They made it a game,
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  Speaker 4: cut it to I think five, and then it was
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  Speaker 4: a closed game all the way until the last couple
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  Speaker 4: of minutes. But you know, hopefully we can sustain our intensity,
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  Speaker 4: our focus and commitment to the game plan on the
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  Speaker 4: defensive end for forty minutes and then offensively being able
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  Speaker 4: to take what they give us, being shot ready and
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  Speaker 4: then knocking those shots down at home. So looking forward
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  Speaker 4: to a great crowd, a sea of red instead of blue.
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  Speaker 4: That is something I'm really looking forward to.
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  Speaker 2: When you're at to this point, you got three regular
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  Speaker 2: season games left before we head into Big twelve tournament play,
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  Speaker 2: and I know there's you're always striving for constant improvement
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  Speaker 2: as a team. As a coach, you want your players
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  Speaker 2: of course to be hoping to improve themselves individually. But
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  Speaker 2: we are who we are to some extent at this
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  Speaker 2: point in a season. So what are the little tweaks,
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  Speaker 2: the little adjustments that you can make from a practice standpoint,
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  Speaker 2: or from an individual workout standpoint, or for you in
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  Speaker 2: how you're studying film and how you're communicating with your
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  Speaker 2: ladies to get the maximum and to improve as much
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  Speaker 2: as you can with that small sample size.
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  Speaker 3: Left.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, very well said. It was something that I used
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  Speaker 4: the exact words in our team meeting and film session today.
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  Speaker 4: It's we are who we are at this point. So
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  Speaker 4: there is no reinventing the wheel. There is no waving
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  Speaker 4: your magical wand and putting in new plays. It's a
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  Speaker 4: matter of doing the basic, simple things that we've been
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  Speaker 4: doing all year to the best of our ability. So
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  Speaker 4: for us, our focus continues to be winning our point
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  Speaker 4: of attacks, whether that's off ball screens or on ball screens,
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  Speaker 4: and then max effort of the time, whether that's in
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  Speaker 4: transition offensively, transition defensively, defending the ball, rebounding the ball.
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  Speaker 4: At this point, we are who we are, and so
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  Speaker 4: let's go out there and play. Let's stay connected, let's
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  Speaker 4: move the ball, play play basketball the way the Utah
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  Speaker 4: women's basketball program plays that, passing up good shots for
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  Speaker 4: great shots and then just pouring to each other. So
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  Speaker 4: that's exactly what we said today, That's what we did
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  Speaker 4: in practice and looking forward to one more practice before
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  Speaker 4: our game Saturday. So that's exactly you hit it spot on,
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  Speaker 4: And that's kind of exactly where we're at.
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  Speaker 2: You're eight and seven right now in conference play, and
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  Speaker 2: there's a little bit of a log jam kind of
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  Speaker 2: there in the middle of the league. But to me,
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  Speaker 2: it feels like there's not this grand, humongous disparity between
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  Speaker 2: where you're at right now in where TCU, Texas Tech,
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  Speaker 2: Baylor are. I know, they are good teams and they
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  Speaker 2: deserve credit for being good teams, but you don't watch
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  Speaker 2: them and say, well, that's a team with you know,
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  Speaker 2: seven pros on it, Like we've got some of that
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  Speaker 2: going on in the men's game right now, where you
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  Speaker 2: look at it and you're just like, I mean, you
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  Speaker 2: gotta go out and you got to play these games.
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  Speaker 2: But not all things are equal here. So is there
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  Speaker 2: encouragement to be taken from the idea that even the
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  Speaker 2: top of the league right now, and it is a
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  Speaker 2: good league, is not.
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  Speaker 3: Out of reach.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, And that's something that we keep preaching each and
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  Speaker 4: every day. Is we have beaten two of the top
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  Speaker 4: four teams in our conference. We haven't had a bad
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  Speaker 4: loss per se yet all season long, we've we've lost
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  Speaker 4: to teams that, you know, from a ranking perspective, they're
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  Speaker 4: ahead of us. We get that opportunity to play, you know,
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  Speaker 4: the team down south Saturday. We're focused on just going
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  Speaker 4: one and oh, but as a coach and I look ahead,
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  Speaker 4: you know, Colorado's a few spots ahead of us. We
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  Speaker 4: have a chance to play them. And then Arizona, a
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  Speaker 4: team that we've already played in Tucson on Senior Night.
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  Speaker 4: We get to finish our regular season with them. So
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  Speaker 4: we want to go one and oh, and we want
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  Speaker 4: to do that three times to close out our season
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  Speaker 4: and hopefully that will give us some momentum into the
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  Speaker 4: Big Twelve tournament, because it really is a logjam. There
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  Speaker 4: are some really good teams, but it is anybody's tournament,
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  Speaker 4: and I truly believe that, and I believe we're capable
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  Speaker 4: of beating anybody, and we're also capable to lose to anybody.
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  Speaker 4: So whoever's feeling, you know, the most confident, the most synergy,
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  Speaker 4: the most togetherness, the healthiest, those are teams that can
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  Speaker 4: really get on a run there in Kansas City. And
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  Speaker 4: you know, we're looking to be one of those those
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  Speaker 4: teams that are in contention for.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, Jelani White is she's shooting forty from three.
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  Speaker 2: She's your leading scorer, And it's easy to take a
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  Speaker 2: look at a stat sheet and be like, yeah, this
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  Speaker 2: is the most impactful and important player on the team,
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  Speaker 2: but it doesn't tell the whole story of what she
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  Speaker 2: has done for you all this year.
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  Speaker 3: If you can just put.
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  Speaker 2: Some words to the significance of her leadership and her
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  Speaker 2: contribution on the floor.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's funny. It's like I just got done watching
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  Speaker 4: film with her fifteen minutes ago. And yes, she does
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  Speaker 4: bring such a great dimension to us on the offensive
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  Speaker 4: end with her scoring ability, being able to score on
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  Speaker 4: all three levels. But some of the clips we watched
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  Speaker 4: is when she allows the ball to find energy and
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  Speaker 4: makes the extra pass and makes the right read. It's
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  Speaker 4: just contagious, and I think that's when we are at
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  Speaker 4: our best as a team. We're moving to basketball, and
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  Speaker 4: I told her, and this is something that you know,
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  Speaker 4: because of her energy, because of her passion, it's contagious,
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  Speaker 4: and we want her to have that smile on our face.
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  Speaker 4: We want her to be you know, that competitive edge
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  Speaker 4: because we feed all of the feed off of it,
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  Speaker 4: all of us coaches players, and that's something that doesn't
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  Speaker 4: show up in a stat sheet. But when she is
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  Speaker 4: locked in, engaged and pouring into her teammates, man, it's
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  Speaker 4: fun to be around. And that's what we're gonna need,
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  Speaker 4: especially down the stretch. So I told her, hey, I
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  Speaker 4: have four more games that are guaranteed to coach you
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  Speaker 4: three regular season and we're only guaranteed one game in
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  Speaker 4: the Big Twelve tournament. We want it to be more,
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  Speaker 4: but I only we only have four. Let's go out,
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  Speaker 4: let's enjoy competing together and let's leave it all out there.
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  Speaker 4: But again, I want her to have that passion. I
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  Speaker 4: want her to have that swagger because that's the stuff
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  Speaker 4: that we feed off of.
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  Speaker 2: Coja at this juncture of a year where you know,
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  Speaker 2: the the light is at the end of the tunnel
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  Speaker 2: from a tournament perspective, and that's when you build towards
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  Speaker 2: all year. But like you said, you got to go
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  Speaker 2: one to oh three times before you get there. How
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  Speaker 2: do you approach that, folks acknowledging that the tournament is there,
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  Speaker 2: but not getting ahead of yourself.
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  Speaker 3: I know you can do it.
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  Speaker 2: Is it a natural thing for your players to stay
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  Speaker 2: on the task at hand?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I will say this week it'll be easy to
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  Speaker 4: focus on the task at hand because it is the
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  Speaker 4: team down south. We're owing one against them this year, right,
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  Speaker 4: so I think that has all of our attention. So
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  Speaker 4: that's what's going to be. You know, our players are
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  Speaker 4: talking about it. They're they're locking into the scouting reports.
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  Speaker 4: You know, they're fired up for this game. We get
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  Speaker 4: to play them again. So that's going to be not easy.
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  Speaker 4: But we're going to be able to focus on the
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  Speaker 4: task at hand this week one, I'm not even worried
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  Speaker 4: about that. Now. After Saturday, that's when it becomes a
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  Speaker 4: little tricky. You know, we got to go to Colorado
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  Speaker 4: and we come home for Senior Night. That's when a
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  Speaker 4: lot of the distractions could start creeping in. Uh, and
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  Speaker 4: we've got to do our best to really focus on
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  Speaker 4: okay one and oh one and oh and easier said
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  Speaker 4: than done. But you know, I'm confident our kids will
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  Speaker 4: be at that point ready to just lock in and
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  Speaker 4: finish strong.
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  Speaker 2: We had, I guess, all the way back to like
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  Speaker 2: right before the season started, we had Reese Frost come
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  Speaker 2: on and join us, and she was talking about kind
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  Speaker 2: of her her not just willingness, her love to do
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  Speaker 2: the things like rebounding.
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  Speaker 3: She's eleiting rebounder.
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  Speaker 2: And how you know, it's something that for her, I guess,
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  Speaker 2: is a little bit ingrained, maybe born with it, that
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  Speaker 2: that is as important of a part of her game,
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  Speaker 2: or as important part of the game for her as
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  Speaker 2: scoring points is or anything else. And just you know,
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  Speaker 2: the contribution she's made, particularly on the boards, has it
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  Speaker 2: been contagious in the way that you wanted.
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  Speaker 3: It to be.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, she is, you know, she is our elite rebounder,
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  Speaker 4: you know, hands down our best rebounder. She shows it
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  Speaker 4: every day in practice, she shows it every day in games.
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  Speaker 4: I think she's averaging a double double in conference play,
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  Speaker 4: So like she's been doing a phenomenal job every opponent
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  Speaker 4: in the Big Twelve identifies her and marks her as
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  Speaker 4: somebody that you got to try to, you know, keep
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  Speaker 4: off the O boards or limit her rebounding, and she's
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  Speaker 4: still able to put up those numbers. So I think
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  Speaker 4: having Reese sometimes are you know, especially that game against Cincinnati,
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  Speaker 4: we started out really slow on the rebounding side of things.
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  Speaker 4: They were the best big twelve rebounding teams coming into
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  Speaker 4: the game, and then we gave them seven O boards
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  Speaker 4: to start the first quarter. Well, our guards tend to
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  Speaker 4: watch her rebound because she does such a phenomenal job
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  Speaker 4: securing those boards. There are times when you know, those
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: long rebounds, we need our guards to rebound, so you know,
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  Speaker 4: they ended up finishing with only ten. So once we
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: addressed it, we're able to fix it. But we got
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: to make sure that, you know, we're not spectators out there.
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: There are four players out there on the floor with her.
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  Speaker 4: They got to do their job as well. And you know,
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  Speaker 4: she can't get all the rebounds, even though she does
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  Speaker 4: get a high percentage of them. It's just real valuable
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  Speaker 4: asset to have in our program. And then on top
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  Speaker 4: of that, you know her finding her way to school
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: within our offense, She's made really good strides. This in
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  Speaker 4: her third year with us, and we're going to look
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  Speaker 4: to kind of feed her more as we close out
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  Speaker 4: the season. So really excited about her and just where
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  Speaker 4: she's been and where she's come to this point in
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  Speaker 4: her career.
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  Speaker 2: I know the task at hand is always the most
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  Speaker 2: important thing, especially for coaches, but easier to focus on
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  Speaker 2: the task at hand when the bracketology says, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's still within striking distance right now, ESPN's got you
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  Speaker 2: in the first four out category, which means you could
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  Speaker 2: play your way in.
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  Speaker 3: Is that a motivating factor right now?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah? Absolutely. I think if at any point in any season,
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  Speaker 4: especially down the stretch in late February, when you're playing
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  Speaker 4: for something, it just matters more. And that's what we
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  Speaker 4: all signed up for. There are a lot of teams
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  Speaker 4: that they're just waiting for the conference tournament, right that's
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  Speaker 4: their last ditch effort. We are in a position where
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  Speaker 4: we will get that opportunity, but we also have have
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  Speaker 4: right now the regular season. How we close out makes
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  Speaker 4: the world of difference in terms of moving in the
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  Speaker 4: tournament or getting out. So again, it's better to be
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  Speaker 4: in the position we're in as opposed to being you know,
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  Speaker 4: with a ten and eighteen record or something like that
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  Speaker 4: where we're completely out and we just need a Hail
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  Speaker 4: Mary in the Big twelve tournament. So I wouldn't trade
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  Speaker 4: our position, you know at this point, I'll take what
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  Speaker 4: we have. With what we have and a lot of
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  Speaker 4: newcomers being relied upon, let's go.
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  Speaker 3: To work, coach. Good luck this weekend and beyond.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously we probably won't get a chance to catch up
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  Speaker 2: with you before the Big twelve Tournament starts, but we'll
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  Speaker 2: chat again then, thank you, sir.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, hey, real quick, I just want to say congratulations
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  Speaker 4: to our recruiting coordinator Jordan McIntyre and her husband James McIntyre.
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  Speaker 4: She gave birth to a beautiful baby boy this morning.
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  Speaker 4: Jonesy was welcomed into the world. So we are gonna
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  Speaker 4: miss her, but she is texting us all the time,
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  Speaker 4: and Jordan, we love you. I don't know if you're listening,
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  Speaker 4: but congratulations to you and James, and can't wait to
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  Speaker 4: meet Jonesy in person. But another addition to the Utah
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: family and we're loving it.
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  Speaker 2: Congratulations and welcome to the world and to the Utah family.
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  Speaker 3: Jonesy. That's awesome.
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  Speaker 2: Nothing better in the whole world than being a parent,
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  Speaker 2: so we extend the congratulations.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks again, coach.
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  Speaker 4: Thanks Oc Goutes.
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  Speaker 2: That's the head coach of Utah women's basketball, Gavin Peterson.
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  Speaker 2: Great stuff from him.