Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Shawn Harrison on Utah State men's basketball, Maintaining consistency despite coaching and admin changes, Expected seed in March Madness...

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Shawn Harrison on Utah State men's basketball, Maintaining consistency despite coaching and admin changes, Expected seed in March Madness... · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:03
Speaker 1: Your tune.
0:04
Speaker 2: Took a Sean o'connells show for the Murdoch Chevrolet Studio
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0:28
Speaker 1: madness brought to you by Big Willie's Game Day, Men's Health,
0:31
Speaker 1: Inner Mountain Bobcat, Budweiser International Sportsman's Expo, and the Utah
0:36
Speaker 1: RV Show. We have been remiss in not checking in
0:40
Speaker 1: with the Aggies more frequently as of late. Sean Harrison,
0:43
Speaker 1: the sports editor up there at the Herald Journal in Logan,
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Speaker 1: is kind enough to stop by as we do just that,
0:49
Speaker 1: checking in on Utah State men's basketball, who is thirteen
0:54
Speaker 1: and three in conference play atop the Mountain West standings.
0:58
Speaker 1: Right now, they are twelve in at home, still one
1:01
Speaker 1: of the best atmospheres in all of college basketball, and
1:05
Speaker 1: Sean has been on top of all of it. Seawan,
1:08
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show.
1:09
Speaker 3: Thanks, I appreciate you having me on. Hopefully you bear
1:12
Speaker 3: with me a little bit. I've had a little bit
1:13
Speaker 3: of a cold so I might lose my voice, but
1:15
Speaker 3: I appreciate being on well.
1:17
Speaker 1: I will do our best to get through it together.
1:20
Speaker 1: I appreciate you giving us some time. I marvel at
1:24
Speaker 1: this every year when we get to about late January February,
1:28
Speaker 1: and you know, you get over the football thing and
1:30
Speaker 1: you start paying more attention to college hoops, and by
1:33
Speaker 1: then the Aggies are already whatever, sixteen seventeen, twenty games
1:37
Speaker 1: in twenty seven in this case, and I'm like, wait
1:40
Speaker 1: here they are again. Utah State men's basketball a top
1:45
Speaker 1: their conference. In the conversation for the tournament nationally, they're
1:49
Speaker 1: gonna make some noise again. And I every year I
1:53
Speaker 1: marvel at it and say, well, how why in a
1:57
Speaker 1: resource battle that should exclude little engine that could from logan,
2:02
Speaker 1: Utah a program that has had plenty of turnover from
2:06
Speaker 1: a player standpoint, from a coaching standpoint, they are still
2:10
Speaker 1: somehow a constant Sean Howe.
2:14
Speaker 3: Well, one of the things that I mean, it really
2:16
Speaker 3: doesn't have nothing to do with I guess what happens
2:17
Speaker 3: actually on the court is is the fans support. They've
2:21
Speaker 3: been able to, you know, get some good athletes that
2:23
Speaker 3: come in, some decent athletes, because of the record numbers
2:27
Speaker 3: of fans that show up regularly and cheer on the
2:31
Speaker 3: team be able to get some good coaching hires. And
2:35
Speaker 3: the interesting thing is they've had some turnover at the
2:37
Speaker 3: athletic director position as well, so it hasn't been just
2:40
Speaker 3: one athletic director hiring, you know, hitting some home runs
2:43
Speaker 3: with some coaches. But they have had some good coaches.
2:45
Speaker 3: They've made some really good choices. There haven't been able
2:49
Speaker 3: to hold on to them very long, but I've been
2:51
Speaker 3: able to get some good coaches. Right now, this particular
2:54
Speaker 3: team kind of has a mix. You actually have five
2:58
Speaker 3: guys that did stick around from from a year ago
3:01
Speaker 3: and actually a couple of those guys have been here
3:03
Speaker 3: for now three years, which is almost unheard of. But yeah,
3:07
Speaker 3: and then you've got a mix of some really good
3:09
Speaker 3: freshmen and five transfers. So you got five transfers, five freshmen,
3:13
Speaker 3: and five somewhat veterans that are their make up this
3:16
Speaker 3: team this year. And then a coach, coach Jared Calhoun,
3:21
Speaker 3: who who knows that they're going to be able to
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Speaker 3: hold on to him much longer his second season here
3:26
Speaker 3: at Utah State. But you know, fans they have they
3:29
Speaker 3: have had, you know, seven eight sellouts now this year
3:33
Speaker 3: at the Spectrum at the Dee Glenn Smith Spectrum where
3:35
Speaker 3: they play their games, and they normally almost fill that
3:38
Speaker 3: thing up on a regular basis, but this year, for
3:41
Speaker 3: whatever reason, there's been a lot more excitement and they've
3:44
Speaker 3: they've they've broke the record for the most sellouts in
3:47
Speaker 3: for a season this year with eight and they still
3:50
Speaker 3: have two more games to go. So it's it's I
3:52
Speaker 3: think it's a lot of it's the atmosphere. Maybe you
3:54
Speaker 3: can say there's not a lot to do with Logan,
3:56
Speaker 3: you know, I can kind of argue with you on
3:58
Speaker 3: that sometimes. I think, like the outdoors, there's lots to
4:01
Speaker 3: do here in Logan, But definitely in the winter time,
4:04
Speaker 3: basketball is king and people are coming out, people are
4:08
Speaker 3: supporting the team, and it kind of carries over. I mean,
4:11
Speaker 3: you talk to any of these athletes, especially these guys
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Speaker 3: that these transfer guys that came in, and every one
4:16
Speaker 3: of them just lists very number one, the fans. The
4:19
Speaker 3: passion of the people in the community for basketball is
4:22
Speaker 3: why they chose to come play at Utah State. So
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Speaker 3: I think that's really helped.
4:26
Speaker 1: You mentioned the guys that have stuck around even for
4:29
Speaker 1: like you said, the rare unicorn duration in college hoops
4:33
Speaker 1: now of three years and maybe you'll get four out
4:36
Speaker 1: of Mason false Lever whoever.
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Speaker 3: Maybe.
4:39
Speaker 1: But you know, like we were just I just spent
4:42
Speaker 1: a bunch of time ranting about how this BYU team
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Speaker 1: is so incredibly talented this year, but maybe lacks a
4:48
Speaker 1: little bit of chemistry. The same thing with Utah basketball.
4:51
Speaker 1: They're not hyper talented and they don't seem to have
4:54
Speaker 1: a ton of chemistry in certain moments either. So how
4:58
Speaker 1: much do you think that the cohesiveness in the chemistry
5:00
Speaker 1: of the saggy team has allowed them to build the success.
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Speaker 3: I think that's a big, really big thing. You know,
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Speaker 3: you go back a few years you had Sam Merrill.
5:10
Speaker 3: Uh Evenima cad I spent three years here before he
5:14
Speaker 3: you know, he's now starting for the Celtics. You've got
5:17
Speaker 3: some players that have kind of built a little bit
5:19
Speaker 3: of a foundation. They've always had players before this whole
5:22
Speaker 3: nil and transfer stuff that you know that's stuck around.
5:25
Speaker 3: You did lose some players here and there, but but
5:27
Speaker 3: you've got a core, and you've got your Mason falls
5:30
Speaker 3: Love the other another guy, Carson Templan's been here for
5:33
Speaker 3: three years. I think those guys really set a tone
5:36
Speaker 3: for the for the rest of them, they kind of
5:39
Speaker 3: just their work ethic has been really good. These new
5:42
Speaker 3: guys come in and find out what it's like and
5:45
Speaker 3: then just and just love how how much they're loved
5:48
Speaker 3: by by the fans in the community. But I think
5:50
Speaker 3: those guys definitely set a tone for the rest of them. Uh,
5:54
Speaker 3: and I think that definitely carries over. You know, in
5:57
Speaker 3: crunch time, they looked to Mason false Love. I mean
6:00
Speaker 3: he's he's the guy that just makes a lot of plays.
6:03
Speaker 3: I mean, they've got a couple of new guys this
6:04
Speaker 3: year that have made big plays and done some big
6:06
Speaker 3: things for the Aggies. But really, when it comes down
6:08
Speaker 3: to it, Mason, Mason false Love and Carson Templan are
6:11
Speaker 3: really the heart and soul of this team this year.
6:14
Speaker 1: I actually put a question out yesterday about who right
6:18
Speaker 1: now is the biggest star athlete in the state of Utah,
6:20
Speaker 1: because the Jazz are a little bit down and the
6:23
Speaker 1: Mammoth are on the rise, but maybe not fully mainstream
6:26
Speaker 1: for every sports fan yet. And aj Debansa is the
6:29
Speaker 1: number one player in the country. Maybe, but you know
6:32
Speaker 1: he's going to be here for about five minutes, and
6:34
Speaker 1: a couple of Aggie fans came in. They said, no,
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Speaker 1: the most electric player, the guy, the big star right
6:39
Speaker 1: now is Carson Templan So I think that's a I
6:43
Speaker 1: think that's a testament of like just the uh the
6:47
Speaker 1: fan favorite that he is with some of his his
6:50
Speaker 1: hard nose play in his hustle.
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Speaker 3: Oh definitely, you know, you know, Mason makes a lot
6:55
Speaker 3: of plays, but Carson, but Mason's not one that really
6:57
Speaker 3: seeks the spotlight. And I don't know, I'm not saying
7:00
Speaker 3: that Carson Templon seeks the spotlight, but he definitely enjoys
7:03
Speaker 3: the spotlight. You know, he's an undersized guy. List him
7:06
Speaker 3: at six eight. He's probably six seven. And that's one
7:10
Speaker 3: thing you thought it probably is really lacking, is really
7:12
Speaker 3: a true big man. But he gets in there and battles,
7:15
Speaker 3: and I think the fans love him. And he's been
7:18
Speaker 3: here for a while now. He's got kind of a
7:20
Speaker 3: colpe following. They sing a little song and you know,
7:23
Speaker 3: sing along his name, and whenever he does anything, it
7:26
Speaker 3: seems like anymore. And they've got new DJ this year
7:29
Speaker 3: that's doing stuff for the home games, and he's actually
7:32
Speaker 3: come up with a little thing that whenever he does
7:34
Speaker 3: something big. And yeah, he is definitely up late for sure,
7:39
Speaker 3: really been playing well. You know, he's had a couple
7:43
Speaker 3: of eighteen point games. He said his career higher the
7:46
Speaker 3: other night with twenty points, and you know, normally a
7:49
Speaker 3: better normally gets more rebounds than what he's been getting.
7:51
Speaker 3: But he just gets in there, mixes things up, leads
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Speaker 3: the team and block shots, and yeah, he's just a
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Speaker 3: hustle guy, gets on the floor and gets already and
8:00
Speaker 3: uh yeah, definitely definitely a fan favorite. I don't know
8:04
Speaker 3: if I would say he is the best guy on
8:06
Speaker 3: this team or anything in the state, but he definitely
8:09
Speaker 3: has a following and and and has loved up here.
8:11
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's a it's a star power conversation more
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Speaker 1: than it's are you the best conversation because you gotta
8:16
Speaker 1: you know, people see, people seem to like what he
8:19
Speaker 1: offers both on and off the court.
8:21
Speaker 3: Uh.
8:21
Speaker 1: Bracketology has this team as as like a seventh seed
8:24
Speaker 1: right now?
8:25
Speaker 3: Right?
8:26
Speaker 1: Is that?
8:26
Speaker 3: Yeah?
8:28
Speaker 1: Is that where they belong?
8:30
Speaker 3: Uh? You know right now, you know they're obviously coming
8:33
Speaker 3: off of actually coming off a loss. They lost it
8:35
Speaker 3: Nevada not an easy place to play, and maybe the
8:39
Speaker 3: team they should have, you know, be at home earlier
8:41
Speaker 3: pretty by nine or eight or nine points. Anyway, they
8:44
Speaker 3: I think right now, especially with how they're playing. Uh yeah,
8:48
Speaker 3: I would take a seventh seed. I don't think, you know,
8:51
Speaker 3: I don't think they can get much higher than that.
8:53
Speaker 3: Maybe six if you're really dreaming, but you know, I
8:57
Speaker 3: would they would prefer a seven seed. I think away
9:00
Speaker 3: from that eight to nine where you do have a chance,
9:02
Speaker 3: but then if you do win, then you've got to
9:04
Speaker 3: play a one seed, you know. So I think it's
9:08
Speaker 3: seventeen would be you know, I think they'd be very
9:10
Speaker 3: excited about that at this point right now.
9:14
Speaker 1: What's the biggest weakness for this team. We've we've spent
9:17
Speaker 1: enough time, you know, talking about all the positives. What's there.
9:20
Speaker 1: What's their biggest weakness? What's the question mark?
9:23
Speaker 3: I think it is the big that that that five spot,
9:25
Speaker 3: the big man. It's it's kind of by committee right now.
9:29
Speaker 3: Zach Keller, who spent some time at Utah then I
9:32
Speaker 3: don't think really played very much. He's actually been getting
9:35
Speaker 3: a lot more playing time of late. He's been at
9:37
Speaker 3: the starter for about half the games now, he gives
9:40
Speaker 3: them some size, but he's kind of been in foul
9:42
Speaker 3: trouble at points, doesn't have I don't know, he's got
9:45
Speaker 3: some breathing issues. He doesn't can't really go for long stretches,
9:49
Speaker 3: but he's been you know, he's had some pretty good
9:52
Speaker 3: stretches lately, but it's been kind of by committee him.
9:55
Speaker 3: Carson Templon kind of fills in there. Carson Templon's more
9:58
Speaker 3: of a four guy, but has to fill into the five.
10:00
Speaker 3: And then another JC junior college guys, Gary Clark, that
10:04
Speaker 3: really started the season off really hot. He's kind of
10:07
Speaker 3: undersized as well at six eight. But those that that spot,
10:12
Speaker 3: that number five, who's going to be the big man,
10:14
Speaker 3: And you know, and they've even had to go small
10:16
Speaker 3: when they've gotten into foul trouble, uh, because because all
10:19
Speaker 3: three of those guys are prone to get into foul
10:21
Speaker 3: trouble at times. Carson's been a lot better lately, but
10:25
Speaker 3: all three of those guys have had their moments where
10:27
Speaker 3: they've been in foul trouble and then they've had to
10:28
Speaker 3: go small. And uh, They've got another freshman, Adlin Elamin,
10:33
Speaker 3: more of a wing and the last where he likes
10:35
Speaker 3: to play. He's six nine, he's actually one of the
10:37
Speaker 3: taller guys. Just does theminal meat on these bones. The
10:39
Speaker 3: need they need to pump him up a little, you know,
10:41
Speaker 3: build him up a little bit. But he he uh,
10:44
Speaker 3: he's more of a finesse to drive to the basket,
10:47
Speaker 3: shoot threes kind of guy. He's not going to get
10:49
Speaker 3: in there and bang on the inside. So let's just
10:51
Speaker 3: facing some of these teams. I mean, you got when
10:53
Speaker 3: you're placing the San Diego States or almost anybody in them,
10:56
Speaker 3: mount and West these days has a big guy, a
10:58
Speaker 3: really true big guy, and Utah State just doesn't have
11:01
Speaker 3: that big guy. And I think that's and that's definitely
11:04
Speaker 3: going to hurt him once they get to the NCAA
11:06
Speaker 3: tournament as well.
11:08
Speaker 1: I saw this is this is more of an Aggie's
11:11
Speaker 1: all sports thing than it is purely basketball. But there
11:15
Speaker 1: were there were a few Aggis that were having fun
11:17
Speaker 1: with the idea that you know, Utah fans were so
11:21
Speaker 1: up in arms and so hurt when their coach left
11:23
Speaker 1: for another school and when some players followed him in
11:26
Speaker 1: the transfer portal, because that's something that has happened at
11:29
Speaker 1: Utah State with more frequency or relatively more frequency for
11:33
Speaker 1: obvious reasons there, and yet in basketball they've been able
11:37
Speaker 1: to kind of handle it. In football, I think that
11:39
Speaker 1: they're headed the right direction with broncomen in Hall. But
11:42
Speaker 1: we'll see. Uh the I guess the place that the
11:46
Speaker 1: Aggies and teams on that level occupy in the college
11:50
Speaker 1: sports world right now? How sustainable is it? In your mind?
11:54
Speaker 1: Can expectations of a fan base and of a community
11:58
Speaker 1: and of a university be brought to a level that
12:01
Speaker 1: is more appropriate and allows people to be satisfied with
12:06
Speaker 1: whatever you can bring back every year because your best
12:09
Speaker 1: players are at least going to be getting phone calls.
12:11
Speaker 1: It's happening at Utah, It's happening at b YU. It's
12:14
Speaker 1: certainly gonna happen at Utah State.
12:16
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, for sure. You know, it's tough. The landscape
12:19
Speaker 3: has definitely changed. Uh, you know every you know, to
12:23
Speaker 3: which Calhoun has even talked about last year, there's the
12:25
Speaker 3: season wasn't even really over and they're already he already
12:28
Speaker 3: had players that were being reached out to by agents
12:31
Speaker 3: or whatever's going on out there. And I think that's
12:34
Speaker 3: already going on this year. I've heard grumbling's already some
12:36
Speaker 3: of their couple of these freshmen that this Adlonela means
12:39
Speaker 3: that he's been starting. And then they have Elijah Perryman
12:41
Speaker 3: that's been coming off the bench and playing really well
12:43
Speaker 3: at a point guard. To both true freshmen. I mean,
12:46
Speaker 3: they're going to have to come up with some money
12:48
Speaker 3: to pay those guys because to keep them. And that's
12:50
Speaker 3: just that's just become a reality. You know, it's tough.
12:54
Speaker 3: I think Aggie fans have kind of gotten used to
12:56
Speaker 3: it a little bit maybe now. I know they were
12:58
Speaker 3: pretty bitter and I know, like they didn't have a
13:00
Speaker 3: lot of fun with the Utah UH, with the football situation,
13:04
Speaker 3: because that's just a day in the life here at
13:06
Speaker 3: Utah State. The left and ever since this has been
13:09
Speaker 3: going on, it's like you lose, you lose a coach,
13:11
Speaker 3: you know, dang well, some of the players are going
13:13
Speaker 3: to be going to and UH and and even if
13:15
Speaker 3: you do keep a coach, you know, we they kept
13:17
Speaker 3: kept Calhoun last year. You know, they've even had, you know,
13:20
Speaker 3: a basketball coach. It's spent one year here, Danny Sprinkle
13:22
Speaker 3: who's at Washington now, one year and he and he
13:25
Speaker 3: left and took the star player with him, you know.
13:27
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's it's it's, it's, it's, it's it's
13:30
Speaker 3: it's tough to get used to. I don't know how
13:32
Speaker 3: well you can sustain that, you know, just try to
13:35
Speaker 3: be competitive in the league. You look around the Mountain West,
13:37
Speaker 3: which I know is now splitting into the pack whenever
13:40
Speaker 3: you want. I mean, they're calling themselves the PAC twelve.
13:42
Speaker 3: There's not I don't know. I have an issue with
13:44
Speaker 3: that as well. That's the whole that's a story for
13:46
Speaker 3: another day. But I really think the pact, the people
13:49
Speaker 3: going to the PAC twelve in the Mountain West should
13:50
Speaker 3: have try to figure out something to stick together to
13:53
Speaker 3: help each other out instead of dividing everything up. But uh,
13:56
Speaker 3: not to get off on that tangent, but you know,
13:58
Speaker 3: the Mountain West, they they've they've just gotten used to it.
14:01
Speaker 3: I mean, you look around the whole Mountain West this
14:02
Speaker 3: year for basketball, and it's it's yeah, there's a few
14:05
Speaker 3: guys back, but for the most part, it's just a
14:08
Speaker 3: it's just a re you know, re overhaul the whole thing,
14:11
Speaker 3: you know, every every year, and they even and even
14:13
Speaker 3: last year, like I said, Calhoun stayed here and they
14:16
Speaker 3: lost their their point guard. He went to New Mexico.
14:18
Speaker 3: They just couldn't pay him what the Mexico offered to
14:21
Speaker 3: pay him whatever whatever it ended up being. And so
14:24
Speaker 3: even lose guys within the league, which I just head
14:27
Speaker 3: scratching to me at times. And there's a lot of
14:29
Speaker 3: a lot of movement that way within the league. Like
14:31
Speaker 3: some of the best players you know in a Fresno
14:34
Speaker 3: state or a San Jose state, those poor schools can
14:37
Speaker 3: can't keep their guys at all. They're going with you know,
14:40
Speaker 3: they're playing for Nevada, they're playing for New Mexico. They're
14:43
Speaker 3: moving even within the within the league, and and they're
14:46
Speaker 3: losing their best players every year. I mean, if if
14:49
Speaker 3: you're an underclassman and and you're the player of the year,
14:51
Speaker 3: the defense of whatever, they're losing them to other, to
14:54
Speaker 3: bigger schools. And I don't know, I don't know what this.
14:56
Speaker 3: I don't know what the end result is. I think
14:59
Speaker 3: you can stay competitior in your own league, but to
15:01
Speaker 3: compete with the big boys, I just think the GAP's
15:03
Speaker 3: getting wider and wider.
15:06
Speaker 1: Would we be Would it be good for Utah State,
15:10
Speaker 1: for all sports fans to create a true separation In basketball,
15:15
Speaker 1: I think, you know, the tournament has to stay what
15:18
Speaker 1: it is. But in football, especially if we had you know,
15:22
Speaker 1: the whatever, top sixty teams, fifty teams, forty eight teams,
15:25
Speaker 1: whatever it is, if they peel off and they do
15:28
Speaker 1: their own thing, would the rest of the country be
15:31
Speaker 1: better served under a different rule set maybe, you know,
15:34
Speaker 1: not the same level of pay et cetera, et cetera,
15:37
Speaker 1: all that stuff expected. If we separated it and had
15:40
Speaker 1: a championship for that lower division, would it be Would
15:43
Speaker 1: it serve the fans and the athletes?
15:46
Speaker 3: Yeah? I think that would be more exciting really for
15:48
Speaker 3: the fans. I mean it's I have a hard time,
15:51
Speaker 3: you know, I try to put myself in fans shoes sometimes.
15:54
Speaker 3: How would I how you know, how do you even
15:57
Speaker 3: build a relationship with with athletes when there's just revolving
16:01
Speaker 3: door and so yeah, I think ultimately that's probably the
16:05
Speaker 3: best option, really is to have have another division, have
16:09
Speaker 3: a place where you be competitive and you have a
16:11
Speaker 3: chance to play for a title. You know, basketball are
16:14
Speaker 3: still that dream of you know, you know, San Diego
16:16
Speaker 3: State a few years ago made that run, and there's
16:18
Speaker 3: there's been some runs made by some by some teams.
16:21
Speaker 3: I don't know. I think you're gonna see less and
16:23
Speaker 3: less of that, especially now you're seeing guys that are
16:26
Speaker 3: pros and Europe or in the G League or whatever
16:29
Speaker 3: make it into college. I don't know what's going to
16:32
Speaker 3: happen to the college game. I really I love March madness.
16:35
Speaker 3: I love that, you know, the rooting for the underdog,
16:39
Speaker 3: so I really hope that doesn't get completely destroyed by
16:42
Speaker 3: what's going on. But as far as football, yeah, I
16:45
Speaker 3: think I think you're going to have to create another
16:47
Speaker 3: division to really make it competitive.
16:51
Speaker 1: Well, Sean, enjoy the rest of the way for this
16:54
Speaker 1: Utah State basketball season, and we'll check it again after
16:57
Speaker 1: some springball.
16:58
Speaker 3: All right, all right, sounds good anytime, guys. Thanks for
17:01
Speaker 3: having me on.
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Speaker 1: Sean Harrison, sports editor up there at the Herald Journal
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Speaker 1: in Logan