BYU Cougars Redemption Arc SURGING | Has Kevin Young Found MAGIC Formula? March Madness Dreams Alive - Sweet 16 Expectations? | BYU Football's Early Enrollee Freshmen Shining in Spring Camp

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The BYU Cougars run in Kansas City is over, but BYU show it a lot of grit, a lot of tenacity,

and actually show they have some hope for March Madness.

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What's up everybody?

Welcome into locked on Cougars.

You're daily podcast focused on the BYU Cougars.

I'm Jake Hatch, 14 year credential media member of BYU.

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Coming up on today's show, reaction to BYU's loss to Houston last night.

But it's not necessarily a bad thing.

The BYU went out the way they did because they showed a lot of fight, a lot of tenacity.

And I think they have shown.

The second part we'll talk about here is they've got a lot of hope for March Madness.

They have found a true identity heading into the most important part of the season.

And that is obviously good news.

Then we'll finish up today's show on the football front.

Some things I'm hearing about BYU's early and roly freshman class.

That's turning heads at spring ball.

We'll get to all that ahead on today's show.

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All right.

So BYU falls 73 to 66 to Houston last night.

And obviously the fact that BYU's never gotten off the snide against the Houston Cougars.

Now, 0 in 5 since these two programs joined the big 12 conference is going to grade at Cougar fans.

We'll have to wait for another year.

The bigger point I want to make here is who would have thought that BYU coming off two straight days

of playing some hard-nosed basketball would have a halftime lead against Houston

and would essentially hang tough for the entirety of this game.

I'm not going to lie.

I was looking at this kind of trying to analyze what I expected to happen in this game.

And I felt like BYU would come out of the gate strong.

But I felt like Houston would at some point overwhelm BYU.

I didn't expect it to take until the last five minutes of the game.

So that is a credit to Kevin Young and the BYU men's basketball program that they played.

As well as they did as long as they did in this game.

But the way that Houston plays, it's relentless, it's physical.

It was right up against the line of almost what I'm trying to say.

Like breaking rules, but they play it just at an absolutely high level that it's hard.

Hard to match that, especially in the case if you're BYU where you were playing your third game in three days.

And Houston had been off since last Saturday.

So full credit to Houston obviously in the victory.

And best of luck to them in the semi finals later on this evening.

And should they advance best of luck in the big 12 tournament final tomorrow.

But BYU showed in this game that they can hang with the nation's best.

And that is an encouraging sign for the BYU Cougars.

And it's obviously spearheaded by AJ D. Bonza.

Congratulations, by the way, in order to go to AJ.

As he is now set the big 12 record for most points scored in a big 12 tournament over three games.

Had 93 points.

And who is the one player he idolizes among all others in the NBA?

Yeah, that would be Kevin Durant.

And he breaks Kevin Durant's record.

Yeah, and that's that's some phenomenal stuff.

And yes, he along with his teammates seemed to sputter down the stretch in the last five minutes.

But I don't think it discredits anything that he or BYU did in this game.

In fact, I think it enhances what this young man is capable of.

He is a true superstar in every sense of the word.

I still believe, and I said it earlier this week on the podcast,

that I think the big 12 coaches aired in giving Jaden Bradley, big 12 player of the year.

And I think the way the AJ D. Bonza performed in Kansas City,

I think he made a statement to everybody out there that, no, I'm the best player in the big 12.

No questions asked.

So congratulations are in order to him on setting that record.

But beyond that, you saw more contributions from BYU's roster.

That is also a positive sign here.

Rob Wright's still dealing with the after effects of taking that shot to the face.

And he played as bad as well as he could have 15 points, 5-12 shooting, added 5 assists.

He and AJ actually did a combined for 10 turnovers.

So that obviously was less than ideal.

And Robert Wright had a few of them are glaring in the final stands,

like the final five minutes of this game.

But he contributed.

Kevin Kata had eight points, 13 rebounds.

Kenar Davis Jr. didn't shoot it as well.

He had been so good the game before this going into the West Virginia game.

He went one of eight from the field, 0-5 from three.

But it's good to see the confidence still remaining from him to step up and hit big shots.

Alexei Kostich, a day after he had one of his more brutal performances going over from the field.

He was three of six from deep and obviously all three of those three pointers were important.

But I guess the one other facet to this is the Dominic Dio Monde continues to show flashes of some major potential.

And who knows what the roster is going to look like next year for BYU?

Because Kevin Young has been very open about the fact that it's going to be annually a bit of a churn with BYU's roster with guys

leaving the program via the portal, bringing you guys in via the portal and recruiting et cetera.

But I think you are seeing pieces of this BYU roster that you want.

Like, okay, that guy's got to stick around.

You want that guy to stick around.

And I'm going to give a big shout to Jordan Plader, a good friend of the podcast.

He actually sent me a text last night at halftime.

And I'm going to read this text to Jordan.

So I apologize if you didn't want me to read it.

But he said at the end of the half, we had this on the court.

A Hadim Boop Freshman, Dominic Dio Monde Freshman, Alexei Kostich Freshman, A.J. Dibonsa Freshman, and Ahmed speaking of Boudou Ahmed, who was a sophomore.

Four Freshman and a sophomore.

And they finished that first half remember with a flourish.

They absolutely, the final 11 points were scored by players other than A.J. or Rob.

And that was a positive thing to see from BYU.

And that, if you can keep those pieces around, yes, A.J. I'll reiterate here.

I believe A.J. is done after the season, but they're the four guys.

Those are pieces I would like to see retained on this roster going into next year.

And the season's not over quite yet.

But that's the point is that there is a lot of young developing talent that is starting to assert itself and starting to show itself capable of contributing on what Kevin Young has termed.

The third iteration of this year's BYU men's basketball program.

So I like where things are trending for BYU right now.

And that performance against Houston, obviously a loss.

It's a gut punch.

I don't necessarily want to watch your team lose.

But the way BYU competed and hung tough with the number five team in the country, especially considering they were playing their third game in as many days.

Some encouraging stuff for the BYU Cougars.

And that should engender some confidence that this team, yeah, they talked about the soul searching, having to look in the mirror in the aftermath of their lost UCF.

And then that brutal road trip to Cincinnati and West Virginia, the three game losing streak when things just seem like they will be coming off the bus.

Kevin Young and the BYU programs credit everybody involved with it.

They circled the wagons.

They found something that worked and they have put together a strong run to finish out the first stands of the postseason.

But you know what?

The best part of the postseason is coming up.

And that's what I want to talk about coming up next.

The big dance is here.

And something that Rob Wright and AJ DeBonza concurred with it in the post game press conference last night struck a chord with me.

And I think it's a positive sign that BYU very much could be one of those teams that makes some noise in March.

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All right.

BYU performed.

I thought admirable as we've already discussed in that loss to Houston.

And obviously I don't know if it takes anything away from the BYU is going to be looking at when it comes to selection Sunday.

It looks like by most bracketologists reckoning BYU is a six seed according to most.

Now could they slide to a seven seed shore.

But BYU is established itself is where it's going to go into a game in hypothetical fashion where it should be the favorite team going in to March madness.

It's not even like it feels like a week ago that we were looking at this.

Okay, BYU is likely to make March madness.

But what's the reality of them potentially making a deep run?

Well, it didn't seem very likely then.

But I will give mass credit to the BYU cougars and what Kevin Young has reestablished with his team as a true identity.

And the identity is that yes, they have two true playmakers in a JD bonza and Rob Wright.

But every else kind of plays off of them and they're sharing the ball a little bit more.

And the other thing is is their defense is starting to morph into something that it actually looks like they're trying to play defense.

Kevin Young talked about it.

He said that we did away with our sets.

We did away with our schemes defensively.

And we just told guys go out there and compete.

Essentially, I've told the guys go play ball, de up your guy and let's get the job done.

And I think considering some of the how brutal do I want to get here?

How bad BYU's defense was at points this year?

That's the right call.

Essentially deregulated and go out there and just say, guys, you know how to play defense, get the job done.

And I think the results have borne in themselves out.

They had their best defensive outing obviously against West Virginia.

They helped Houston 73 points, which is actually relatively a little mark for BYU considering they'd given up 90 routinely at points during big 12 play.

So what BYU has shown here is they have capability of going into March madness.

And they should go into the NCAA men's basketball tournament with confidence and understand that yes, we can advance.

Tim Lecombe, the former BYU assistant coach, he said on social media, at minimum, he sees BYU going into the sweet 16.

And Timmy spent a lot of time on those sidelines at BYU and has seen a sweet 16 run because he watched the national player of the year in gym or for debt due just that when he was coaching with Dave Rose.

So Timmy and he knows basketball better than I do and I call him Timmy because he's a dear friend of mine.

But coach Lecombe, he knows what is up.

And he believes they can go to the sweet 16.

Man, I would love to have that confidence in this team and I hope they accomplish it.

Let me be very clear.

I would love nothing more than to see for the second straight year, at least a sweet 16 run for the BYU Cougars.

You get out of that first weekend.

I think considering the injuries they've absorbed, how awful they have looked at times this year.

Anything beyond, like I said, a first round exit, in terms of going one and done, anything outside of that, I think you can quantify as a success for this BYU team.

Could they win one and then lose in the second round? Sure.

I'd still say, okay, that was a pretty successful year because they've absorbed a number of big injuries, none bigger than Richie Saunders.

But I look at this team and I think that they are feeling good about themselves for the first time in a little while.

They went through it and they essentially hit rock bottom when they came home off of that road trip at Cincinnati in West Virginia.

Kevin Young is referred to it.

He said he had to look in the mirror and try and get, I don't know, soul searching is probably the best term for it and find the answers as to what this BYU season was going to be.

And I don't believe he's the only one.

Everybody on that roster and that coaching staff associated with the program had to kind of analyze where they stood and how they felt and to their credit, they use the term circle the wagons, they figured it out.

And they have got some juice, they got some momentum going in to March madness.

And that I think they have the capability of being one of those teams that, yeah, some people may want to overlook.

Some people may say, okay, yeah, it's fools gold. They beat Kansas State, they beat West Virginia. Those are no buddies.

I'm telling you, the feeling around this program right now as compared to what it was just like I said, feels like 10 days ago is night and day different.

It's crazy how different it feels and Kevin Young talked about it said that we are we're feeling good about ourselves right now.

And yes, that could very quickly go away. Should you go into the first round as a 16 for the third straight year.

And obviously the first year in the big 12, there were 60 got upset by Ducane and it was a pathetic performance.

Be very blunt about that performance against the Ducane dukes.

But then they followed up last year by going to the sweet 16 and I thought the performances that they had some electric ones.

What are they going to do here? Are they going to be more like the 2023 version?

Sorry, it should say the 2024 version of BYU or they're going to be more like the 2025 version.

Well, we hope it's the 2025 version because a sweet 16 run that would be absolutely marvelous and Tim LeComb.

He's putting his name on the line saying the BYU can make it sweet 16 run. I've got full faith.

I think BYU can win the first round game. My question is, okay, if they are a six seed, who is the three seed?

When it comes down to brackets, we've got to see what happens on Sunday.

And obviously we'll have a full reaction show for you guys on Monday reacting to who BYU plays, where they're playing, when they're playing it and analyzing.

Okay, if they can get past the first round against insert, whoever their first round opponent is, what does the second round look like?

If they are truly a six seed, who is the three seed that could be standing in their way?

If they are seven seed, there are so much that goes into it more than just saying, hey, BYU should advance to the sweet 16 because it is about matchups.

And it is about how the bracket breaks because let's be very clear.

There are routinely teams last year was a bit of an anomaly with having all one seeds make up the final four.

But there are opportunities if things break your way that you can take advantage of.

And that is what BYU's got to be focused on right now is saying, hey, we got a week off here.

Let's rest up. Let's recoup. Let's get some practice time in. Let's see how things lay out for us on Sunday and then come next Thursday.

We're doing it again. We're going out there and nobody wants to believe in us. Every wants to believe in us.

It doesn't matter. We believe in ourselves. Let's go out there and do the Durham thing.

We'll see how it all goes. I love this time of year. The NCAA men's basketball tournament is one of my favorite sporting events.

And I think it's pretty clear if by now if you haven't realized it that I am just an out now sports fan.

I love the thrill competition. I'm a football basketball guy at heart golf also in the mix there.

But I love the thrill competition. And when it comes to postseason, man, I'm hard pressed to find a more exciting weekend than what we get coming up Thursday through Sunday next week.

The first weekend of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

The second and third weekends in terms of the sweet 16, the elite eight and then the final four in the national championship.

Those don't really hold the same thrill to me that the first weekend does because you get those upsets.

You get those moments where people become iconic. Jim are for debt.

Who will ever forget? I still have where I met my studio here. I could walk down the hall and I've got a handful of sports illustrated magazines.

I haven't collected a lot of them, but I have a handful of them.

And one of the ones I still have to this day is that iconic shot of Jim referred debt. I believe it was in Denver in 2011.

He's elevating. He's just floating through the air and he's sunk a three against Gonzaga. It's just one of those iconic shots.

This is the time of year when those legends are made. Will AJ DeBonza be able to etch his name among the greats in March madness?

Well, we're all about to find out. But the way BYU's playing right now.

I got a lot of confidence and if Tim McComb believes it, hey, I'll sign on with him because as I mentioned, Tim knows a whole lot more basketball than I do.

He thinks they're capable of making a sweet 16 run. Let's see how it all plays out.

Alright, coming up next, we will finish up today's show by digging into the BYU football. There are some things, some rumblings.

I guess you can call them about BYU's early and rolly class. There's a lot of them.

It's kind of a larger group of guys who have bypassed graduating at the regular time, speaking of coming up this spring.

They enrolled at BYU in January. They're going through spring camp with the BYU football program.

And sure looks like they could be a group that, you know, can actually play this fall.

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The BYU football program will be scrimmaged for the first time tomorrow at LaVelle Edward Stadium.

It's the midway point of spring camp for the BYU Cougars.

And Clonis Atake is going to put his guys through the paces now.

I would expect that this will be a scrimmage.

It's close to the media.

So I'll be very clear about that.

We won't have much in terms of finding out what happened until we talk to the coaches the next time they are available next week.

Because there's no availability after this scrimmage.

But it's an important date as they hit the midway point of spring camp for younger players to show what they're capable of.

Because in spring camp, you are not going to put guys like L.J. Martin, even if he were healthy, L.J.

He's been dealing with the offseason shoulder surgery, obviously.

And there's a handful of other guys out there.

The Newsy Townway payouts, the sunny Makasini's like veteran players who have proven themselves.

You're not going to put them in harm's rate way in spring camp.

But the scrimmage that BYU will have tomorrow at LES.

It is for young players to assert themselves and show that, hey, I have been coached up over the last six, seven, eight practices.

And I'm ready to really put it on the line.

And yeah, they're going to strap it up, put pads on.

And there will be some actual, you know, football being played in scrimmage format.

Colonies to talk, he talks about it all the time.

The only way to really learn how to play football, to tackle, to really learn how to play the game and play at the level that BYU wants their guys to play it at is to actually, you know, tackle.

Now, there's the inherent risk because it is once again a violent sport.

Injuries are always, always a possibility.

So while I expect Bear Bachmire to probably take reps in the scrimmage, he will not be touched.

He will wear that green jersey.

And if anybody gets near him, it'll be whistle dead and heaven forbid somebody actually touches them.

Because then you're going to have a quarterback's coach and offensive coordinator and a few other offensive linemen.

We're probably going to be on your rear end.

But the bigger point of what I want to talk about here is a talk about young players and their opportunity to assert themselves here in spring camp.

That includes a contingent of young players that have essentially enrolled a BYU is 17 year old freshman.

In some cases, they're 18 already, but they have bypassed the traditional finishing up high school, graduating in the spring and then rolling in summer in college.

They have been enrolled since January.

They've gone through winter workouts.

They've gotten a head start on school as Colonies to talk, they talked about earlier this week.

But more importantly than that, they are showing some really, really nice things.

And the guys I'm talking about here include the Pula twins, Kennen and Jaron Pula from Wompeek High School.

You also have the Lehigh contingent and Devon Eka legend, Glasker.

He include Braxton Lindsay, who is a defensive and from the Arkansas area, Nihemiah Colone.

Who is my thing of justice, breathway.

I think has also been there.

The nice part is these guys who and also botanulitalo.

I'll be very glad botanulitalo should also be mentioned in this group among others.

So I apologize if I forgot anything.

Oh yeah, Terence Sarion is another name I should probably involved there as a wide receiver.

This is a pretty significant contingent of early enrollees that are freshmen for this BYU class.

But Colone mentioned it on Tuesday when we talked to him that they have come in and they've made an impression.

And in my conversations with the people about this freshman contingent is that they're coming in with the mindset that they are going to force their way onto the field this fall.

And that that should actually be welcomed.

If you're a Cougar fan from my vantage point because what that means is they're not being forced into action or pressed into action

because of necessity because BYU has got a strong roster.

They retained everybody that had eligibility remaining of their starting lineup from a year ago that went 12 and 2.

That that's unheard of in this day and age of the transfer portal in NIO.

I've said that time and time again on this podcast.

What they did in terms of roster retention was absolutely remarkable.

But what they have done is this was the highest rated recruiting class in BYU program history.

What they just put together.

And there's a larger than normal group of those guys who are already on campus.

And all of them have made impressions in spring camp.

And that will continue with this scrimmage tomorrow.

They will actually be able to play the game that they love and strap it up, put their helmets on, got all their pads.

And really go out there and play ball.

And I hope that the impression they have made already continues in that scrimmage.

Because I saw on Tuesday, for example, bot mullitalo, who was a former defensive lineman at Lone Peak made just an incredible transition

to playing offensive tackle at Lone Peak a year ago.

Well, he was run with the twos on a Tuesday at offensive line.

He is, I think, I don't know how old bot is.

He might be 18 to the very old as fire call correctly.

But he's already in the mix with BYU's old line.

And he's been on campus for all of three months.

And the poolers are getting their opportunity.

Terrence Serion had a couple of great catches with the twos on Tuesday that I thought showed what he has in terms of his slot receiver ability.

Braxton Lindsay continues to be a guy that shows up on highlight rills the BYU sends out to us in the media.

So this freshman group, yeah, while they're not being guys like, oh man, we've got to have you.

You got to get in here. Do your thing.

No, what they're doing is they're just that good.

They're pushing the guys in front of them guys who have multiple years of experience on them are being pushed by them.

And that that is going to make BYU that much better.

That means there is a lot of young talent.

And I've always believed the BYU has done a great job over the last few years, especially since they joined the big 12 of upgrading the overall talent base of the BYU football program.

But the nice part is this, this highly, highly talented recruiting class is already paying dividends.

And that's exciting because you don't even include the likes of Brock Harris and writer lions who are out serving missions right now for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I am a huge fan of what Jack's Tanner, for example, as an offensive lineman could be bringing from the Idaho prep ranks.

And he's not even on campus quite yet.

This 2026 recruiting class, it is deep.

It is talented.

And it's already bearing fruit.

And that should be very, very intriguing.

And I would say downright exciting for you as a Cougar fan that you could sell me these guys, legend glass, for example.

I haven't mentioned him.

He has been shown on some of these highlights, his ability to get deep at any given time.

He's got just true elite deep speed at wide receiver.

Devon Eka.

Well, with everything else behind a guy like L.J. Martin kind of unsettled at this moment, who's to say that Devon, an early and roly running back from Lehigh, couldn't make a move up the dev chart and assert himself as a guy who can be counted on with a lot of other guys who've had injury concerns.

I love what BYU has done with this freshman class as they have been unafraid speaking to the coaching staff of putting these guys out there on the field and saying,

hey, if you can prove yourself capable on the field, we got no problem putting you out there and letting you show what you're capable of.

And if anybody else veterans, players that are being pushed by these young men are upset about it, the message from coaching staff is like, well, guess what?

Get better.

That is why I love what I'm hearing about this freshman class and was cool to hear Kalani highlighted on Tuesday and subsequent conversations both before and afterwards that I've talked with individuals about.

It is that, yeah, these, these young bucks, young guns, whatever you want to call them, they've got every capability and got every, every opportunity of making some noise this fall.

I hope it pays off and I hope that that scrimmage tomorrow continues.

I said that kind of that upward trajectory for these young players.

All right, that is going to do it for today's edition of the show as always.

Thank you for all of your support.

Thank you for making this show truthfully your first, listen and or view of the day.

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What's up everybody? This is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

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