Larry Jewell

3, 2, 1. Talking with Dixie College head basketball coach Neal Roberts. Coach, this is the first of a big homestand for you. Well, we play six in a row in St. George and this is the first of what we feel like is some of the better teams we've had here, especially since I've been here in St. George. Bring in team like Pasadena and Yavapai and Centro and csi. It's a lot of fun, really a challenge. And our team, as you can feel the difference in practice, they know that they've got a challenge this week. Part of the challenge tonight is going to be you've had almost a two week layoff from actual competition. Yes, we have. We really haven't stopped practicing. We took well, really three days off over the last two weeks, which is a little less time than we've taken before. But our team is so young and inexperienced we decided to stay with it and actually spent a week in Salt Lake practicing. And right after the holidays we all got together back down here and have been working out for the last six days going into this ball game. I think it's been good for us. It gave us a chance to put things back together and smooth out some of the rough spots and give some of our players a chance to really mesh it all together. It is a challenge to take time off though. Once you get in the groove game after game after game, you like to keep a repetition of games and it is hard to stop and start. A couple of ankle injuries are concerning the fans. Brad Heaps and Fred Travato, both of them are back, not full go. However Brad is he's ready to go but Fred still bothers him somewhat. It's really an unusual sprain. It's almost up high in his calf and he had it fallen on so it was a severe thing. He is able to play and will play the ball club tonight. You've been using a variety of starting lineups until the last couple of games. Do you plan any changes? Yes, we have a major change tonight. We'll start Rich Scamillion at center tonight and we feel like this is a good addition for us. Rich has come a long ways especially as we worked hard the last two weeks and has really earned that position and we'll start him. The rest of them will basically stay the same with Bauckham and Hammer playing the forwards and Slaymaker and roles of the guards. That's quite a bless for Rich. He hasn't really played that much until now. He really hasn't. But yet if you Remember, right. In the last ball game that he did play, he only played four or five minutes, but played exceptionally well in that forward five minutes. We've had a difficult time with our centers hanging onto the ball. Our offense is really predicated to get the ball there, and if they can't catch it, we have a hard time with it. Everyone becomes apprehensive. And he does have a good pair of hands and is aggressive inside. I think it's a good plus for us. Taking a look at some of the ballplayers, some of the pleasant surprises about individual development for each of the ballplayers. Rich, you mentioned has really come on. What about some of the other ballplayers? Oh, Brad Boyle, the same one. They played together in high school. His improvement is really tremendous. He's still growing. He's almost grown an inch since he's been down here in St. George. Must be that good cooking he had over the holidays. But his improvement is really there. Tim Fulmer's improvement is starting to fall in place. And Dave Rose gets better all the time. You mentioned the good cooking. Maybe we ought to explain that a little bit. Weren't you playing chef? Yes, I was. They're either going to really play well tonight or we're going to have to substitute a lot over the holidays. There's really the cafeteria and things are closed here at Dixie College, and so we do the cooking. And I've been cooking breakfast. I don't know if they like to sleep in or they didn't want to have to get up to face my breakfast. What about this Pasadena squad tonight? What do you know about them? Well, I know that they are, at the present time 11 and 4. They have lost four basketball games. One of them was to Yavapai just a couple of weeks ago. That was a good close game in a tournament, the Moorpark Tournament. They also lost to Saddleback Junior College, which is the best team engine in junior college in California at the present time. And that was a close ball game. They've also lost to Taft, and then they've lost one other game. So they have lost four. And against good competition, they really play a tough schedule. They'll be ready to play. They're excited about being up here. This is the furthest they've been out of California, so they're really happy to be here. And they've been here for two days. Schedule wise, it sounds fairly similar to what Dixie's gone through. Well, I really think that, and I mentioned this to you and have mentioned it on the air several times, I really purpose in preseason to get ready for conference play. You don't get ready for conference play playing teams you know you can be. You get ready playing teams that are going to teach you how to play. And you don't do that in preparation by playing the teams that just come in and show up. And you go through the motions, you have to work to improve. And going through the motions, you don't do that. So we've tried to schedule as hard as we possibly could and so do they. As far as the team, anything that you're particularly pleased with as far as team play? Didn't really expect to be this far along at this point. Well, the motion offense is really a slow offense to develop. It takes time, it takes effort from the players and it's a constant improvement. And as our teams have gone on the last couple years towards this time of year, they really start to get over the hump. I feel like that's starting to happen with this team at this time. And if it is, if my feelings are right and if it is happening with this team at this time, it's about three weeks ahead of where it happened last year. So that's a good plus. Yes, it is. And maybe that's because we have the experience of Dave Rose, Eric Slatemaker and Craig Hammer that have been through the battles a few more times. Coach Neil Roberts, thank you for being with us and good luck tonight. Thank you, Larry. 3, 2, 1. We have a pleasantry tonight. A change of venue, I guess you could say. We've moved to assistant coach Sam Sampson. Neil Roberts is in working on ankles. And Sam, you're our designated interview tonight. Great. That's what I've been all year as a designated. Do it man. Let's talk a little bit about this squad. It must be fun to travel with these kids. Oh, yeah. This is a good team to travel with. We have a. As compared to last year, this group really has a good time traveling. We get up front and start telling stories. As opposed to last year the sophomores would get in the back and play cards. This year we get up front and we really have a good time. No card games. Well, every once in a while we get a card game going when newbie comes along, but other than that, we just get up front, tell stories and have a good time. Let's talk a little bit about this tournament. Outstanding ball clubs coming in to face. Oh, yeah, we got four real good ball teams including ourselves and I think pretty even match. This first game we're watching tonight has been just Nip and tuck all the way and they match up good. And that's what we're going to match up good tonight with Yavapai. So I think if the people come out and watch them tomorrow night and those that come tonight will see four good basketball games. Yavapai has some horses up front. Yeah, that's what I understand. Saw them walk through the door and then saw them shoot around a little the other day. And they're big. But the only consolation I told Neil is they can only play five of them. So the Halloween plays five, so I guess we'll be alright. This may be a preview for the regional championships. At least three of these ball clubs might be in it. Yeah, that's very true, I think. I don't know which way it is, but either Yavapai or Central, one of them's first and the other one's ranked right up there in Arizona. And two teams out of our region go down there out of our league, so. And it could be on Yavapire Central's home court that we'll end up playing if we place first or second in the conference. Turning to Dixie, what about this ball club? A little bit slow on offense last time out against Pasadena, but that's a good defensive ball club you faced. Yeah, they were a good ball team. They played pretty good defense against us, but yet we were proud of our kids. We just haven't been able to find the right combination to get going this year and we've got behind and we've never had a chance to catch up and we get close like at CSI and we just couldn't get over the hump to get that lead and get going. But these kids Wednesday just stayed in there, ran their offense, did a good job and we pulled ahead and pulled the thing out and played good. A new starter has done well. Rich Gramillian. Yeah, Rich has done a real good job. I think we've been pleased with the work that he's done. The other day in practice we just put him in the center for 10 minutes and he just did a good job. He opened up in there and the kids got the ball to him and he made some good moves and it really has helped. What about starters tonight? Flubug, is it? Yeah, well, Eric's been a little sick and so has Bauckham and a couple of other kids are feeling a little light, but I think we'll. I know Rich will go in the middle and then Boyle will start on the other forward for Bauckham and then I'M not sure. We'll probably go with Eric tonight and if he, you know, gets faint, we can bring in Brad. And the three guards played good the other night and so we could go with either, either of the combination and feel good about it. Sam Sampson, assistant coach for Dixie College. Thank you for being with us. Okay, appreciate it. 3, 2, 1. We're talking with Dixie College head basketball coach Neil Roberts. Coach, big smile on your face after the game last night. Deservedly so. Well, I was really pleased. We played a really fine basketball team and as good a basketball team as we played this year, and it has great personnel and they've had a heck of a win loss record coming into this, and you can see why, because they really were a good team. We had several players that were a little under the weather with the flu. In fact, one of them didn't even dress and the other played a very limited role. The team really responded and we played our best game. We did the things that we have to do to be a good team. We kick out and run extremely well. We've been doing that all year. But we've been turning the ball over, especially in the process of getting into our offense. And last night we got into our motion and got some good baskets and shot the high percentage and showed the patience that it takes. Rebounded really well and played good defense. And it was without Eric Slaymaker. That's been a starter for a couple of years here, and we didn't think that we could be that strong without Eric, which says a lot for our bench and also without John Baucom has been a starter for us most of the year, which again, says a lot for our inside people and the way they've responded. One of the big keys, early in the second half, when you expanded the lead on Yavapai, you went with almost an Ironman 5 there, and not all of them were starters. Well, Bruce Hurst isn't a starter. No. And to tell you the truth, that's his own choice. He would rather come off the bench. He would rather not start. He'd rather come off and lift things up and get it going. And there's a lot of great basketball players that would really rather do that to sit down, take a look and then come off the bench and go, but yet who is a starter? As we told them every ball game, it's not important to us who starts a ball game, and I hope it's not important to them, but it is important to see who finishes the ball game. And some nights with this type of depth and this type of personnel on our team. Some nights certain people get it going and you just stay with them and other nights they don't. We went with a little more, A little more solid with the number of people, meaning that we stayed with them a little more because they were playing extremely well and they were executing extremely well. And when we did substitute, it wasn't two or three people at once, it was one or two people. And even though practically everyone on our team played, it was the type of substitution we try to get to by conference. And this type of competition we've had where we play Pasadena and Yavapai tonight, Arizona Central, and of course next Wednesday we have a chance to play CSI again is exactly the type of competition we need for conference play because these are really good teams. Looking at some of the individual efforts last night, Craig Hammer, career high and did everything just beyond the point total. No, he didn't. He missed a free throw. That's the only thing he did wrong. Craig's a very capable player and really capable in the respect that he really gets himself ready to play for big ball games. We knew this was a big game. This is really the best team in Arizona. We felt these two teams are about equal. The team we played last night, the team we played tonight, in fact, they played each other and played each other to a double overtime. So that's how close they really are. We feel like that this is the team that we're going to have to play when we get to regional playoffs. So it was important to us to play well and we felt like we did. Hammer really exerted himself. Board wise, shooting wise, defense wise. And if he can continue to play that way the rest of the year, it's going to be a great plus for us. Super effort like that you really don't expect at every ball game you hope they do, but you really don't expect it yet. His type of personality is such that he really gets himself ready for the big ones. There's very few times that when we have a big game he isn't ready to play. Dave Rose is back full speed now after that two year layoff for a mission. It takes a long time, it really does. And Dave has worked hard. He worked till he got back early in the summer and worked all summer with it. But just now he's starting to fit into the framework of what we want to do offensively and defensively. He's starting to play within his abilities, yet he's starting to exert his abilities and his move to the basket. His first two or three steps are as quick as anybody I've ever coached. For a six, three and a half player that jumps as well as he did, he's a great plus for us. And I think he, you know, if we start comparing last year's team to this year's team, which is impossible to do, it would be fun to see them play against each other. But he is really a plus for us this year. He's a better basketball player than I thought he was before he went on his mission. He's a better basketball player than I thought he could be. And if he continues to work as hard as he is, he's going to be one great player by the end of the year. He did an outstanding job on defense with the big man underneath for Yavapai. That's a rugged front line. Well, they were big. You know, it's really funny. Sam and I were talking about this earlier. We watched these teams work out and really respect them as their abilities because we watched them play in high school as well. And we also really respect the coaches. We feel like this coaching staff of the three different people that are in here are really, really fine men as well as good coaches. We watch them work out and we watch them warm up and we think, hey, what are we doing here? And then when it comes down to it, when everyone strips down, we're ready to play, we can play with them. And it's really gratifying to us. And there's a couple of our younger players that have really responded to the inside defense. Rich Chameleon's playing well. Gordon Anderson came off the bench and played really well last night. Brad Boyle played well inside and we're early in the year. We're getting hurt rebound wise this year. We're battling good teams on the boards tonight. Central Arizona, they had an off night a little bit last night. A lot of that caused by Pasadena's defense. Do you expect them to be significantly stronger tonight? I think they got embarrassed last night. Pasadena is a good basketball team, but they're not that much better than Arizona Central. And I don't think Arizona Central was really ready to play. I don't think they took them very seriously. We beat Pasadena quite easily. Yavapai beat them quite easily early, and I think they took them kind of light. They're probably looking forward to playing us tonight to try to redeem themselves. I'm sure they'll play a lot better tonight for Dixie. Can you get two great efforts back to back? That's what it's all about. That's why we schedule like this, because in conference play, that's what you have to do. You have to play Friday night. You have to come back to. On just as tough a team to play on Saturday night. And that's exactly why we schedule this, to make ourselves ready to play. And that's all preseason is, preparation for conference play. Because you can beat every great team in the nation. If you lose in a conference, you're wasted your time. We sure hope we can play two in a row. Sounds interesting that you should say that. And then in the Colonels meeting Friday afternoon, the other three coaches said almost the same thing. Well, they have a conference, too. And our whole ambitions is predicated on getting back to Kansas again. And not just getting back to Kansas, but to finish higher than we finished last year in Kansas. You don't do that by playing in preseason. You do that by playing in January and February and into March. Starting lineup tonight. How is Eric? Eric will start as he started last night. He's ready to play more so than he was last night. And we'll spend more time on the floor, but we'll start with Rose and Eric at the guard line again. And we'll start with Boyle at one forward. And also I think we'll start Hammer. I think he earned that last night. And we'll go with Gramillion again. But it's really nice to know that you've got Anderson sitting there. It's nice to know that you've got John Bauckham that we hope was ready to play. It's nice to know that you've got a man that you can that's always ready off the bench. And that's Bruce Hurst. And to have Brad Heap sitting there, I feel comfortable sitting down there because I can look down the line and know I have 8, 9, 10, as many as 12 basketball players that can play. And it really makes it fun. It makes it fun to practice because all of them know they're going to get their chance to play. Coach Neil Roberts, we hope you keep your grin for you and your fans. And congratulations on the win last night. Good luck to not. Thank you, Larry. It. 3, 2, 1. We're talking with Dixie College head basketball coach Neil Roberts. Coach, this is a game you've been looking forward to a little bit, and I think the kids have, too. Well, it's one that they beat us quite easily up in Twin Falls, and it was one that we were down 2 and 4 and 2 and 4 and we just couldn't get quite back over the hump. They controlled the temple really well against us and at the end and finally won by 14. They're an excellent basketball team. They execute really well. They're patient with what they do and we are looking forward to playing this one tonight. Lawrence Furlough had his best game of the year against you guys. Outstanding performance. Well, he gets 36 and dominated the boards just as a player. We couldn't get shut down. And other ball games. He played against Snow, he played against ceu, didn't even score against us. He went nuts and we seemed to bring out the best in people. Was there a revenge factor for CSI going into that game? There's only one ballplayer on that team that played you last year. I don't think there was much. It was a new coach. There wasn't the. I think the media tried to build it up. The news media did, the newspapers and the radio. But I didn't feel anything on the floor. I didn't feel anything from the crowd as well. There were two good basketball teams and I think the people there really do appreciate good basketball. I don't think there's any revenge here either because we have a lot of our players back. They really don't. It's a new coach, new situation. This was an intersectional rivalry for a number of years. Dixie and csi. It's kind of pleasant to have it back. I don't know why it stopped. It's an ideal situation. They are an independent school. It's one that has enough money to travel so they can come down and play against us. And it's always one of the better basketball teams in the United States. So we're really anxious to play against them. Let's talk about your squad. First loss since back when Doug Allred's last year for Dixie College on their home floor. Yes, it was. And it was against a team that deserved to win. It was one that out hustled us on the floor. They really came to play and they'd been beaten by us three times year before. And all three of those games were really important to us and to them as well. And we had played quite well Wednesday and Friday before and both of those teams had beaten Central. And I think I was as guilty as any of the players where we took the game way too light. What about Dixie's ball club now? What was the reaction of the kids since that time? Did they feel like they just flat dab blew it? Yes, they were embarrassed. They were embarrassed with the way they played. They were embarrassed with the way they executed, they were a little ashamed that they didn't get themselves ready. And our schedule this year is such that if you don't get ready to play every basketball game, you're going to get beat because there are no passes on the schedule. This team tonight, sure neck isn't one. You did have a couple of outstanding individual performances against Central Arizona. Bruce Hurst and Fred Trevato. I'm thinking of right off the well, Fred didn't play very well. He played very limited, only got a couple of baskets. He did get a couple of rebounds, however. But Bruce had a good performance and will be starting tonight and has played a major role for us all year long. But we've been bringing him off the bench. But we felt like that's hurt us because we've been slow starting and we need to get started from the opening tip, not from a behind position. But it's imperative for us to play up front. We try to do a lot of things, but we can't do those things unless we're in a head position. And when we start changing defenses around, if they're ahead, they can really dictate what goes on. Starting lineup. You mentioned Bruce will be starting tonight. What about the rest of them? Yes, well, Bruce will be going one forward along with Craig Hammer at the other. Our guards will be Dave Rosenarig, Slaymaker and Rich Gramillian will start at center. Rich is looking like a pillar right now. He's doing an outstanding job. Yes, he is. It's really a great addition for our team. He's really standing in, battling. He's playing better defense, gives us an offensive threat. But more important, he's got excellent hands inside and that gives us someone that we can get the ball to and really help us out. He's really an intelligent person. He's an intelligent player. John Bauckham. How's his health? Well, he's over the flu. He was really sick for about four days. I mean, really sick. And he lost about eight, nine pounds in just a couple of days. He's back. He says he feels better all the time, but yet he's still so thin. He doesn't have too much strength and we really miss John. We hope he can be back with us. Sleighmaker is back full tilt. Fred Travato got over the flu just a couple of days ago and then he hurt his back, has muscle spasms in his back. So maybe by conference play we can get everybody back with us. Last game before conference play begins. I'm sure there are some particular things that you and the team want to get accomplished tonight before you go into conference play? What are those? Well, the things that concern me most as a coach is at times this basketball team plays as good as any basketball team that's ever played here. They shoot, they can rebound, they can get out and run, they can really do the things that has to be a good team. And they're really fun to coach and really fun to be around. But yet, unless we get ready psychologically, we are just another basketball team. That's what happened to us last Saturday. We've got to become more consistent game in and game out. Maybe I'll have to lock them in my office, game in and game out until I get ready to play, but that's the only problem that we really have is getting ready emotionally. And so this game is very important for us. Coach Neal Roberts, thank you for being with us and good luck tonight. Thank you, Larry. We're talking with College of Southern Idaho head basketball coach Tom Weyrich. Coach, Outstanding performance up at Twin Falls against this Dixie ball club. Your kids did a lot of things right. Well, we had a very exceptional night and seemed like everything seemed to fall in place. We were able to keep the lead and kind of dictate the tempo and increase upon the lead and hold that lead. And I think that's very important in a basketball game. We didn't lose our composure. And I thought in the end of the game, in the last maybe four minutes, that Dixie kind of tried to go all out and do some things maybe that they normally don't do. And with our pressure, we were able to get three or four straight turnovers, which kept them really from getting back close enough that they could really make it a real tight game. Lawrence Furlough had a super night and Antwan Williams had an outstanding night also against Dixie. Larry had his best game of the year. No doubt about it. It probably was his best game of his basketball career, including high school. I don't think he's ever scored that many points, but he is. He's capable of busting out and really having those type of basketball games. He has a lot of talent as far as running and jumping and just sheer innate ability. He's not the greatest looking shooter, but when he works hard and he comes to play, he can play with the best of them. Derrick Thomas had an off night that night. Derrick Thomas has had several off nights, although he's still leading us in scoring and he's still leading us in rebounding. But Derrick is one that you have to keep an eye on too. We're a lot. Maybe not as good a shooting team, but we're a lot like Dixie's ball club. I think you really can't concentrate solely on one individual which makes for a better basketball team. We have three guys in double figures and then two right at nine, nine plus. So with five guys right close to double figures, it makes it a little bit better balanced. Basketball team. What about your team since they met Dixie back in mid December? What's taking place with the Golden Eagles? Well, we took a rest and probably we should have kept right on playing. We shouldn't have taken the rest, but the schedule was set up that way and we had a two and a half week layoff. Players went home after beating Spokane Saturday night on the 15th of December and came back last day of the year. And we had three reasonably hard workouts and then went on the road to play two games in two nights. And I don't think that's real smart scheduling, but we did it and we dropped a fairly close game to Spokane, the team we had beaten just before Christmas, and shot horribly and then came back the next night on Saturday and went away from Walla Walla. Going away, I should say from Walla Walla right down to the end of the game in an exceptional shooting night. So apparently the break didn't help us much. Coach, what about your starting lineup tonight? Our starting lineup will be very similar to what we used in Twin falls back on December 12. We will insert Blansey, however, for Curtis Rayford. We're still nursing Curtis ankle injury from the last three minutes of that game with Dixie where he did go to the floor right in front of the Dixie bench. We had to carry him off the floor and he really had three weeks for it to be on the mend. But he returned the ankle in the Spokane game and we're just taking it easy with him. He can play, he probably could start tonight. But I just want to see how he reacts in warm ups and how the game is going and so forth because we really need that little guy going down the wire coming up here later in January when we start to play some teams out of our own region and we get into what we call our conference games with Treasure Valley and Ricks in North Idaho and those people like that. So I really want to make sure that he's really ready for the last one quarter of our season. Coach Tom Weyrich, thank you for being with us and good luck tonight and thank you for having me. 32 1. We're talking with coach Neil Roberts. Coach, that's got to be gratifying to come back with such a fine performance against College of Southern Idaho. A good team. Yes, they are. They're an excellent team. I believe their win loss record is 12, 5 at the the present time and they've played an excellent schedule. Really gratifying to me. Yes, because we Saturday let down in a couple of areas, especially defensively and especially with, you know, the straight old word that's often used. That's still what basketball is all about and that's hustle. And then they came back Saturday and really exemplified the best way to play that. They played as fine a defense as any team would have had. Eric Slaymaker seemed to key both offense and defense. I thought he did too. And he kicked out really well on the break. He put a lot of pressure on on defense, made it difficult for them to get the ball in the play area. Blocked some shots, did all kinds of things, had eight assists in the game. And see we played without him the week before Friday and Saturday he was sick and Friday we were able to get by. Saturday he did play on a limited basis but didn't perform very well. He's really a key person. Not only does he really lead that, but he settles our team down and runs the motion the way it has to be. You have to have that floor general and he's the one. He's normally not looking for the shot but again CSI had his career high big total there, 22 points. Yes, he usually takes it when it's there and he's an excellent shooter when he's there. In fact he's around a 50% field goal shooter and then he's about 90% free throw shooter. So we like him to shoot the ball but he penetrated well. He got the good shots, he caused people the fouling and that's important for us as well. And he's really a key player. He's not really tall but he's extremely quick. And they tried to go a little full man pressure. They've been able to do that with other teams this year. And he turned them every way but upside down. The first four minutes it looked like a duplicate of Twin Falls. It looked like you were going to have some problems and then all of a sudden the kids reversed and away they went. Well, you know, early in the ball game, as you watch the game, we had three or four wide open shots, 15 foot range stuff. We usually expect to knock down at least two out of three times or at least half the time anyway, but we didn't. And they just barely missed and came off. But yet from the sideline and also on the floor, you knew that was going to get going eventually and they did. About 10 minutes into the game they really exploded. And once we got up four or five points, we set back in a zone. They tried to hold the ball, but how can you hold it when you're behind? And after we started extending our guards up out of the zone, got in the passing lane, stole the ball a few times and immediately went up to a 20 point lead. The only man who really seemed to hurt you was Derrick Thomas and he only hurt us the second half. I think he only had four points at halftime, if I remember right, yet he got 12. I think he got the first 12 points in the second half primarily on offensive tip ins and making and good strong move to the basket. And he is a big, strong basketball player and we just didn't block out and do the things that have to be done with him. But yet he got his points, his 22 points primarily when the game was over. Lawrence Furlough. Outstanding performance at Twin Falls. Down here look like some attitude problems against him. Well, that's half the battle I believe as a player is you've got to believe in yourself, but yet you've got to keep presence of mind to the extent that you don't let all the external types of things bothering you. He was fighting with the officials, he was fighting with his own players, he was arguing with us, he was even arguing with me a couple of times. When you're doing that on the floor, there's no way you can really perform to the best of your abilities. He let such little things bother him that his game fell apart. Was that a good tune up for what you wanted to do tonight against College of Eastern Utah? Oh, I'd love to be 26 ahead of halftime. I don't know if it is or not. Now I say that because when you play really well, naturally you feel good about it and I really felt good about it afterwards because they are a big, strong, physical team and an excellent team. They beat us quite easily up in Twin Falls, but yet it was so easy the first half. We jump out 46 to 20 at halftime and it won't be that easy tonight. And I hope our players don't expect it to be that easy tonight. College of Eastern Utah, what do you know about this squad? Well, they have scored a lot of points. They've beaten some teams really bad. They're really an up and down team. One night they'll beat an excellent team by a long ways and next night they'll lose to a team they should have beaten. And it's hard to know what to expect from them. I know a couple of their players that played for them last year, excellent players. Arthur Robinson is that. Yeah, I wish he wasn't. But yet he is one of the class players in the conference this year. He's averaged 19 points a game. He's averaging also about eight rebounds a game. And it's kind of indicative of how Art Robinson goes, is how CEU goes. That seemed to be the key last year. When you shut down Art Robinson, you were able to win that prize here. He really hurt us. I believe he had 33 points against us here and we had a difficult time with him. However, we went up to CEU last year and Kim shut him right down, held him below double figures. And that was the difference in us winning by eight points. I believe seven or eight points here and going up there and getting them quite easily was the defense was played on him tonight. Craig Hammer will have a chance to guard him. So that should be a lot of fun defense. Is it as far along now as it was at this time last year? The combination defenses are further along, but last year we didn't really run a combination. We worked on them, yes, but we didn't really utilize them that much in a game. We play better zone than we ever have done at this school, but yet our man to man is not what it should be. And at times we are a little lax, but yet we're getting better and better. And our inside defense is really significantly better than it was even two weeks ago. Starting lineup for tonight, Same as it was last goal game, believe it or not. We're going to start the same way. We'll start with Gramillion at center, Hammer and Hurst at forwards and sleighmaker and rolls of guards. Do you feel like the experiment putting Hurst in at the beginning of the ball game was really significant? I think one of the real keys for us as a basketball team is to get started right. Some teams you can start slower and they just build and build and build. Other teams you've got to get off the mark. This team to be able to utilize the different types of defenses that we use has to get off the mark and therefore we were bringing Bruce off at 4, 5, 6 minutes into the game and he seemed to lift things and get it going. Yet in a lot of situations we would be down five, six points. And it was difficult, difficult to get back. Yet we feel like the first 10 minutes of our game are the most important 10 minutes. So we bring him early. In other words, he starts. Coach Neal Roberts, thank you for being with us and good luck tonight. Thank you, Larry. We're talking with College of Eastern Utah head basketball coach Kirk Jansen. Coach, this is a ball club that much like all your other ball clubs, likes to score well, sometimes. We've been kind of up and down in that respect this year. Probably not quite as good a scoring team as we've had in the past, but we have had some games where we've scored well. I wish we could do a little better than we have on some nights. You have some good sophomores back? Yes, we have a couple that have done real well for us. Mostly we've kind of. We got a couple of missionaries who are back as sophomores and it's taken them a little time to fit in. But overall I think we're starting to come along. We've had a lot of new people. We've really only got two back from last year's team, but the new people I think have come along pretty well. Let's talk about some of the strengths of this ball club. Arthur Robinson was extremely tough last year as a freshman. Yes. And he's had a good season so far this year. He's playing a lot more confident and doing a lot more things than he did last year. So he's really helping us out. What about your starting lineup for tonight? We'll be going with Gary Huber at the point guard. He played for us three years ago. Little 510 guard from Vernal, Utah. And of course, Arthur Robinson will be starting at one of the wing spots. Dave Johnson from East High School will be inside along with Kevin Miller who was back from last year. He was a substitute center last season. He's done a pretty good job this year for us coming in. And then our fifth starter will be Bryant Henry, who's just come back from a mission, is from Richfield High School and played at Mesa College one year. Coach your ball club. How has it done so far? Recognizing record wise this year we're 8 and 4 so far and we've won some good games, we've won some close ones and then we've had some games where we shouldn't really have showed up, so to speak. So we're kind of still, we've been inconsistent is what I should say. I guess that's the best description so far. The key to your ball club Tonight against Dixie. Well, we'll have to play very well. We can't make mistakes against the Dixie. I haven't seen them play, but of course I know they're a very good team. They have a lot of talent back from last year, and we'll have to shoot well and not make very many mistakes and somehow play some defense. I think it seems like the last few years, every time we played down here, Dixie has played very well. And of course, maybe we've contributed, I don't know, but. But I'm sure it'll be a tough game for us. Last year was kind of an odd situation, having to play Dixie three times in the same season. That's right. I'd prefer not to do that very often, especially last year. And the last ballgame we played them, of course, was for the conference tournament championship, and they played a super ballgame that night and of course went on and had a great season and had a fine team. I just hope they. That they don't shoot that well tonight as they did that last time that I recall. Are you glad the tournament is no longer in existence? I would like to see it go from our standpoint. I think it's good for the conference. If I were one of the powers and had all the material that maybe some of the schools have, then maybe I wouldn't be for it. But I think that it gives some of the teams a chance to keep their interest alive a little longer during the season. And I think it's a good thing and could be a good thing, I think, if it was developed. But I can also see the other side of it. And so I'm kind of on the fence, really. I understand you have another good basketball player coming up in your family right now, playing at Carvin High School. Well, he's had a pretty good season so far. Yes. I. I haven't gotten to see him play very much. I wish I could see a few more ball games, but he has done a very good job so far this season. And they play tonight. I guess they play Dixie High School later on in Carbon and probably won't get down here. But he's dedicated and that's what it takes. He's worked hard at it. Coach Kurt Jensen, thank you for being with us and good luck tonight. Thank you. It. Since Christmas, since the Christmas holidays, our tendencies are down a little bit. And so as you run into fellow Colonels throughout the week, trying to encourage them to start coming back out to the meetings now, they're about to get into league play and of course, we have the tournament tonight and tomorrow night, so things are starting to gear up again and are very exciting and we have an excellent program. So let's get the members out. Let me introduce Neil and he can introduce the other coaches and they can do the go from there. Let me move this up a little. What we'd like to do. I'm really a little bit reluctant to do this at times because you get to see the quality of the other people that we coach against. You guys will be looking for a change here before very long. But it really is fun to have three basketball teams come into our city that are as good a basketball team as these three are. And of course, you watch the one play with Fasadenos, they have basketball team. All three of the other coaches are here and I'd like to introduce them to you and then have each of the coaches talk about their programs, where they're really from, what does Yavapai stand for and what is a Yavapai? And talk about teams they have played, their conferences, some of their players, and just make any type of comment they want. And then when each coach is through, if you guys have any questions we'd like you to ask rather than having to listen to me each time you get to listen to some different people. It should be a lot of fun. First of all, let me introduce Dave Brown. He's the basketball coach you gather by, which is one of the. We feel like we have the two best teams from Arizona here and we're really interested in them coming here because. Because we, if we are fortunate enough to get to the regional playoffs, we'll be playing, we feel like one of these two teams and probably both in that tournament down in Arizona, and it will be on one of their two floors, if they're of course there in their conference. Dave, Thank you. Coach Roberts, as coach mentioned, I represent Yavapai College and I've been the coach at Yavapai since the start of the school. I'm in my 11th year there. I've had to spend a lot of my time as a coach trying to justify what a Yavapai is. I think maybe one of the most important things is that we just happen to be labeled from an Indian tribe that most people have never really related to or heard of it, Cochise or Big Bear or somebody like that. We possibly might have been a little more reputable over the years, but Yavapai is actually the name of our county and like most of the community colleges in Arizona, we inherited that name one of the times that we played up at Casper, Wyoming, several years ago. It is nice to hear at least the name pronounced correctly. I took my team up there to play in Swede Erickson's tournament. We went into the motel and I introduced myself as Coach Brown. And we had reservations at this motel for Yava PI College. And the young attendant there had turned around and said, excuse me, we have any reservations for apple pie? So over the. Over the years, I've been the coach of Yabipi, Yavapai, Apple Pie, you name it, but we've been called that. It's a pleasure to be here and visit St. George, Utah. We know that you have a very fine program here. It's nice for us to be able to leave our state and come to a good basketball program and have an opportunity to kind of get back in the swing of our conference play by playing some very fine competition. I'm a firm believer that that's the only way that you develop good team from year in and year out. We feel like we have a good team. We, I think, like some of the other teams here, coaches are experiencing young at times and that we seem to be up and down. Our young men have just gotten back from the Christmas holiday, so we're looking forward to this tournament. Trying to help us get some of the kinks out before we return to our conference play next Wednesday night. I'll tell you a little bit about our team. We have and over the years have been known, I think, for recruiting extensive, extensively, throughout most of the country. A lot of the players that I have been fortunate enough to coach over the years have come out of the California region. Coach Terzian hasn't been a junior college coach very long. He's been a very fine high school coach. But I'm sure in the next few years, instead of me going over and trying to recruit some. He's very fine. 3, 2, 1. We're talking with Colorado Northwestern head basketball coach Paul Conrad. Coach, your ball club has had a winning record this year so far. Well, right now we're 11 and 4, so we've been playing pretty good ball. We beat Rick's in our first conference game at home in overtime. And last night we were up to snow, and snow beat us. I think it was about 92 to 78, which was fairly close game off and on. We got within nine points a couple times. Just couldn't get over the hump. Is it just travel wearies in the ICAC that so many teams go through? I Think it is. You know, you play at home in an ICAC and it's pretty tough to win. You know, for a team coming in on the road, it's, you gotta jump on them right away and you gotta hold them down a little bit, maybe play a little control ball to beat that home team. Because if you let them get away from you, then they're tough to catch up on the road. Let's talk about your squad this year. James Singleton had an outstanding night last night. Jimmy had 29 last night and he's averaging about 24. He's about six two and he jumps pretty well, plays good defense and he's just a heck of a kid for us. He controls the ball pretty well and has real good range on his jump shot. He can hit inside, he can hit outside. Just depends on where he gets the ball. What about some of your other ball players back from last year? Well, we don't have too many kids back. I had Mike Littner, 6, 8, but he's hurt and he's going to have to redshirt for us this year. We have Mauricio Ortiz, who played with us last year. Didn't get a whole lot of playing last year, but he's really come on pretty good. And he's starting for us. He's about six' six from Costa Rica. And then both our guards are freshmen. We've got about three kids. We've been going with William Hall, Jerry hall and Andy Yockey. Hall is a pretty exceptional passer. He livens the game up that way. Then our other forward, Sometimes I start Singleton, sometimes I don't. We're going with a gentleman that was voted Most Valuable player in that Colorado All State game by the name of Curtis Riggins. And he's averaging about 18. And we have another kid out of Thornton, out of Denver, Colorado six two, David Linhorst, and he's averaging probably about seven fourths. He's a smart player is his big attribute, and he checks out well and plays good defense. Your ball club this year, if you could say any one particular strength over ball clubs of other years, what would it be? Right now? I think that first semester we played together real well. I hate to see that Christmas break come because everybody spreads out and when they come back it's tough to get them back together. And I think this is what's hit us a little bit. We played three games in Denver before we came on this road trip with just two practices. So I think, you know, if we get things back together in our togetherness, I Think this, this is what our big attribute is because we're not very big and you know, we're not really that talented, but if we play together, we're pretty strong. If there's any one team in the ICAC that's played spoiler for Dixie on occasion it's been cncc. I remember last year Doug Allred coached, you came down and spoiled a possible second place finish for the Rebels. Yeah, we played well. That's the first time we'd ever won down here and we got ahead and we kind of controlled the tempo of the game, went the four corners a little bit and made them come get us. And then we just kind of maintained that four point lead about the whole game and they just couldn't get ahead of us. It was a good ball game. It was a bad one for Doug to go out on his last year, but I enjoyed it. Coach, what about your starting lineup tonight? Well, I got about two different ways I'm going to go. I think the way it looks, I'll go with James Singleton, 6:2:1, forward Curtis Riggins, 6:2. The other forward postman will probably be Mauricio Ortiz at six' six. Guards will be William hall at five ten and Andy Yockey at six foot. Now Linhaus might step in there at a forward. Linhaus is about 6'2, but that looks the way we're gonna go, I think. Coach Paul Conrad, thank you for being with us and good luck tonight. Thank you very much. I've enjoyed it. We were talking with Dixie College head basketball coach Neal Roberts. Coach, an outstanding performance against the EU last night. Yes, I was pleased with that. You have to be pleased when you win by that far. But there's some things that happened for us last night that we've really been waiting to happen for some weeks now. And that is our starters, our first five, six, seven guys have been playing quite well and our bench has been struggling. Not necessarily one at a time as would play them with the starters they were playing quite well, but when we bring all five at once, they really out of control and more concerned with shooting the ball than just playing well. And last night we had a chance to get them in and let them play long enough that they could settle down and utilize some of their skills. And I was really happy for that. It looked like they went in a little scattered right at the beginning and then after about a minute in there did settle down. It was quite pleasant for the fans to watch. Yes, because they were quick and aggressive and had been sitting there and wanted to Prove a point that they were good enough not to sit there. And it was pleasant for me as well as the fans. I was really happy for them that they could play that well and played every bit as well as anyone else has. And there's some good players there, some good skilled players there, and some of them finally broke out of their shell. I believe he started to break it open again. CEU level. Arthur Robinson was still in there and having a good night. That's a little bit of a surprise that you could break it while he was going so well. He's a really fine player. I don't know when was it he got hurt? About 10 minutes into the first half. I think it was just before the end of the half. Okay, Just before he had 12 and we were up 14 at the time when he got hurt. So his not playing was not directly related to losing the ball game. It might have something to do with them losing as far as he did, but not necessarily to lose the game because the rest of the players, when he left the ball game, did pick it up. Now, there's been times where he plays well. There's been times where he struggles, really struggles. I know one time when they played Snow earlier this year, he went 9 for 24 in the game. I mean, excuse me, 4 for 24 in a game. So that kind of performance actually hurts their team. Yet he is a fine player. I think he is one of the premier forwards in our league this year. Gary Huber has come back from his mission and is still. Yes, he is. He is scary. In fact, they pick for him a lot. He comes off, shoots a pretty good jump shot, really controls the ball well, and therefore they can get it into the play area, which some teams we've played against this year haven't been able to do that. But yet he really controlled it quite well. And they actually played with only one guard. Let's talk about some of the individuals for Dixie that did so very well last night. A lot of fans were tickled about Tim Fulmer finally being able to get that shot down. Well, we put tim in with 950 left to go in the ball game and indicated to him when we put him in, not to worry about all the little things. Just go out and play hard and everything else will go for him. He's been coming in the ball game. If he misses his first shot, his whole game's gone well. If you play hard, it doesn't really matter because the shot will go in for you eventually. And his play wasn't Predicated on did he make the basket or not. His play was predicated on playing hard and it changed his whole outlook. He came in in 9:50, scored 12 points and did a lot of other things. Blocked some shots and rebounded and really hustled and played hard. I was happy for him. Gordon Anderson, used as a forward coming down the wire a little bit. Yes, we've been working on that the last couple of weeks because he has pretty good quickness and gets out and likes to fill the lanes and run the break and do some things. And he's six seven cam Clay Ford and we'll use him as that when we get against big people. Brad Boyle, outstanding night last night. Yes, extremely well. Especially board wise and controlling things as far as getting the ball inside and taking it in and putting pressure on him and causing people to foul him. It was really fun for Brad too because he was playing. A lot of his former teammates, a lot of those kids that were on CEU's team did play at East High School and it was nice that he could have a performance. Looking to CNCC tonight. CNCC has played well and defeated Ricks and lost to Snow big last night. What do you expect out of this ball club? Expect a good game. Anytime you play in this conference this year, you expect a good game. They were what, 10 and 2 going into the snow game. I take that preseason most of the time and it's hard to know what they're going to do. I realize that the travel between here and snow is not comfortable and of course the worlds aren't that good as well. But yet once the lights go on and you start playing, what difference does it mean what the roads are like? But he expects a lot out of his team and feels like they are small, but they shoot the ball quite well and he said they're really hustling well this year. They're 10 and three at the present time. That's not a bad record. What about your ball club? Who will start tonight same way we started last night. That will be Slaymaker and Rose at the guards and Hammer and Hurst the forwards and in his center. And we'll try to use everyone if at all possible because we try to do that in every ball game. But yet Baucom is about ready to go now. I'd like to use Tim in a little different situation and get him in and where he can run with the starters as well as with the other players. And then of course Brad Boyle deserves the right to play more and so does Gordon Anderson. What About Fred Crovato's back spasms. You know, Fred's really had a tough time. He's been out about a month now. And first of all, he got hurt in the Weber game up at Weber in which he had a player fall on his ankle. And he was really hurt with that for about three weeks. And then that just barely started to come around and got the flu, and that put him down for another week. And then this thing with his back, and he got it in practice where he went up to try to block a shot and actually pull some muscles in his back, which causes it to go into spasm. And. And he's still under medication to try to correct that. So he won't dress tonight? No, he won't. He's on a muscle relaxant, and it's really tough to play basketball on with a muscle relaxant. Indian Rubber man sort of thing. That's right. He said he feels really good, but his back still hurts. Coach Neil Roberts, thank you for being with us and good luck tonight. Thank you. Larry Jr. He was only about six feet. And then Craig Cottle, who was six' three senior, they'll try to fill that void for us. And Todd will also back us up inside. So we're not a big team. Our guards are five'11 and only about five'8. So you can see there that we're not gonna overpower anybody size wise. So we have to do some of the things that I've talked about. You have some youth on this ballclub. You mentioned starting a junior. Well, we start two juniors now. Our center is also a junior, Justin Bones, and they've done real well. Bone is an excellent rebounder. He plays defense very well and has done a real good job. You've had a chance to go around Region 6 just a little bit. See some of the ball clubs, especially up north, a lot of people are wondering about Provoko. 3, 2, 1. We're talking with Dixie College head basketball coach Neil Roberts. Coach, this is first road league game of the year, and there are some bitter memories from last year in Rexburg. Well, last year we ended up with a pretty good league record with only two losses. And one of those losses came here at Rexburg. And not only did we lose, but we lost quite handily. They really beat us quite easily. It's almost a completely different ball club that will be facing Dixie tonight than last year. Only one man back from Eisner. Yes. Tobler is their only player back, the only sophomore on their basketball team, but for some reason, it Seems like that Ricks is always freshmen. There are a bunch of freshmen and it seems like they all go on missions and then some of them come back. Some of them don't come back. They lost a lot of good players last year in their region. Region 18. They ended up second in the region next to CSI and I felt like was one of them the better basketball teams we played last year. Their record at the present time is about the same as ours. And they won their last two ball games and one of them was a league game beating UTEP here. And we feel like it's one of our really big tests. This is really the key weekend for us. If we could get both of these ball games. We're really in great shape as far as the opportunity to go. The regionals is concerned. Rick's always seems to have a big ball club up front. They are this year too. Their center is six eight one four is six seven, the other four is six' six and they are all big strong kids and good basketball players. And one of the better teams that we'll play, I'm sure. Especially on the road. They play exceptionally well here at home. They always fill up the place. They always play quite well and end up to be one of the better teams that we play. Especially at Rexburg. This is one of the unique facilities. One of the larger seating capacities in the league. And yet the floor is so much different. Yeah, it is. The floor is suspended. It's built up on wood slats and has a lot of give in. The floor creaks and grinds when you play on it. Yet really a comfortable floor to play on. They do have a lot of waves in the floor at the present time. I'm sure they'll have to put a new floor down in a couple of years. And they have a lot of dead spots in their floor yet they get a lot of student body support. They have a student body of over seven and they really come out. They sell their games out night after night after night. And I'm sure they will be sold out tonight. You have glass backboards with plenty of depth seats on one side, the stage on the other. Is that going to be a problem for the shooters for Dixie? I don't think so. Of course it's really a lot different than our gym. Our gym, our two end walls are right on the playing floor. Almost too close in fact. They're dangerous. But yet here there is a lot of room, which is good. That's the way it should be. And our team does have a chance or has had a chance this year to play on a lot of floors with a lot of room on the end. We opened back in Kansas, they had a lot of room. We went to Phoenix, they had a lot of room. We went to Weber. And so they have a chance to play on a lot of floors with a lot of room, which is the way the basketball court should be built. Let's talk about Dixie now. A couple of injury illness problems. People are concerned about. Fred Travato. John Bauckham, how are they doing? John Baucom's fine. He's back 100%. Should be able to play and really help us tonight. In fact, he's practiced really well all week. He's got all his weight back that he did lose when he had the flu and he's ready to play. Fred Travato is not. In fact, he won't even dress. He has a back problem that when he does play he has a muscle in his back that goes into his spasm is really painful. And I'm sure this will take a long time. Maybe he won't even be back this year. We're not sure about it. We hope he is, but at the present time it doesn't look good. One player that we're concerned with right now is Craig Hammer and he has had a cold and he has had almost a flu situation. Has lost a lot of weight. In fact, he's lost £14 in the last two weeks and is down to £170. But yet Craig's really a competitive person. I'm sure he'll give us everything we have. But yet isn't full speed your ballclub Had a chance to get to the bench a little bit. Let the bench play against CEU and CNCC got some good results out of the bench. Yes, we had been struggling from the bench. I felt like that part of our team was strong and I still think it is, but yet not on a substitute. All of them at once. Let them go in and play. It's a one or two men at a time and let them play if the other players have been on the floor. However, in the last weekend against CNCC and ceu, they did have a chance to all play and be in long enough to settle down and play to their abilities and did show good signs of the type of players they really are. Team shooting percentage seems to be climbing well. It's above 53% now, which is good. Anytime you're shooting above 50% you feel comfortable with it. Last weekend in two ball games, we shot between 58 and 59% for the two games against pretty good teams. Not the kind of teams that we were used to playing against. CEU and CNCC were not as strong as the teams we had in the week before. They were not as strong as the teams we played preseason wise, maybe they were five guys, but they didn't go 10 deep like the teams we had been playing. I think that Ricks is a better ball team than these two teams. To start at Ricks and go to Utah Tech, is that preferable than starting the Provo and working your way this way? No, I'd rather go the other way. The reason is because you only go part way. You can stop, you can play a basketball game. You can stay over that night and continue to travel up. This is really a tough road trip because of the distance between the two schools we play. In fact, it's the furthest we have to play. So you go up, you work hard on Friday night and then you've got to settle down that night, get up the next day and travel again and play and then go all the way home. It's a 12 hour bus trip with a game between is what it is. Coach, what about starting lineup? You put Bruce Hurst in last week. It seems to have provided some early game spar. Yes, it's helped us a great deal. Bruce Hurst had an excellent weekend. In fact, he had three ball games that were really outstanding. And we'll stay with the lineup. We have been going with Dave Rose at one guard and Eric Slaymaker at the other. And Craig Hammert won forward along with Bruce Hurst and Rhys Cameleon will start at center. Key against Ricks tonight for your club rebounds. They are a big basketball team. They really board quite well. Their guards do shoot well. They're really key for us to get up and get going early. They're a team that spurts and stops, spurts and stops. I'm talking about Ricks and we've got to play in that situation that when they get things going to settle down and play intelligent and then when of course they have that dry spot, we've got to take advantage. A prime example of this against CEU they were ahead 14 and CEU came back and beat them. Against CNCC they were ahead 26 and came back and lost it in overtime. So it's a team that has had a difficult time maintaining the momentum of their game. However, we're playing in Rexburg tonight. Coach Neil Roberts, thank you for being with us and good luck tonight. Thank you, Larry. We're Talking with Coach Glendaleing of Ricks College. Coach, your ball club has been pretty hot this year. You've won a couple of invitational tournaments already. Well, we've been fortunate in winning some good games, but we've also lost some very key games and at this point in the conference we're not standing very well. You have quite a challenge with an almost all freshman ball club. We surely do. And it seems like with our mission program that's repeatedly what we have. You do get a few of them coming back though, occasionally. But you know, the turnover is so much greater than what you have return. You've had some good recruits this year. I understand you've gone mainly to Idaho kids this year. Well, we've got some good Idaho kids because they were here and available. We got two or three pretty good Utah kids, one out of California. As you mentioned, we're primarily freshmen playing just one sophomore and I think for a freshman team we played very well. Let's talk about some of the ball players. This sophomore, Larry Tobler, outstanding. I think Larry Tobler's a good player. Larry was sick during the whole month of December and did not play well for us, but we think now he's pretty close to full strength. You have one of the best rebounders in the conference in Cragan. Well, again, Craigen played awfully well in early December. In late December when we went on the road and played our two conference games against Eastern Utah and Rangeley, he did not play well and hasn't been playing well. We think he's got to play well tonight. Looking at your ball club, admittedly freshman oriented, there's got to be some problems with consistency. Have you found that this year? We've had some problems with consistency. We haven't known who to play at times. We've had a lot of shuffling in the starting lineup. We've had an awful lot of turnovers in the late stages of the game. Those problems are very apparent. We have been fortunate that we've had some kids that shoot pretty well. We've had a complete unselfishness on the ball club. So there are some good things key to your ball club. Tonight against Dixie, I think Cragan has to play one of his best games. In fact, I think all our players have to play well against Dixie. I think one thing that is going to hurt us, and I just mentioned this to you, Anderson, Jeff Anderson, who is our leading percentage shooter and one of our leading scorers, is out due to a standards violation. I think this has hurt us because he has so Much fire and enthusiasm. And also we start a much slower player than he is when we start. Let's talk about starting lineup tonight for your ball. We'll be starting Cragen, center, and Toby and McCleary at forwards, Gardner and Curbs at the guards. Keep hearing good reports about Brad Gardner. Brad Gardner was an excellent money player in high school at Ricks College. He's played well at times. He's still one of our leading scorers. He's been one who has been very instrumental in turning over, turning the ball over and losing some of our key ball games. However, in the game, first conference game after the holidays against Utah Technical College, he played the way we thought he could play and was very instrumental in winning that one. Your ball club this year, development, has it been right on schedule of what you would have hoped? No, it really hasn't. We have not been able to eliminate the turnover problem. And then it seems like when one player starts to come on, a good example of that is when one player starts to come on, somebody else seems to fall off. And Cragan is a good example of that. He was playing so well early. Tobler was having his troubles. Tobler's playing well now and Cragan's having his troubles. And that's been typical of this team. Coach Glendelling, thank you for being with us tonight and good luck. Thank you. And as long as you can keep him here, treat him right because he's one of the best. We don't know if we can afford everything you're saying, But you've done very well by him. And I think he's got a lot of big wins in him yet. So our team is a young team and it seems like every game we're learning new things. When we played Yavapai this year in the third place game at the Moore park tournament, we learned a lot of lessons. And it seems like every time out we're learning lessons, not only the kids, but the coach. And you know, in the coaching business, if you stand still, if you try to rest on last year's accomplishments, you're going to go under. You can't even stay the same. You've got to continually be improving because that's how fast basketball is improving every year. It's considerably a better game than it was the year before. I think football has been probably pretty even the last 10 years. The progress they're making, I think, is very, very small. But basketball taking great leaps forward. And unless we as coaches really stay into that and keep improving our methods of Teaching and our methods of dealing with young people and staying up on the game. And even in advance of the game, we're losing ground. And I've learned a lot just by playing teams like Yavapai and by playing up here and things are going to help us the future. But we were really happy to play that game because it gave our kids a chance to play some ball. Plus one of our best players, we were disciplining him. He had missed four or five practices. Family had gone on vacation. He went off with them and then they took off. The parents took off somewhere and left. All the kids, they're older, of course, they're in their 20s. They're from 3, 2, 1. We're talking with Dixie College head basketball coach Neil Roberts. Coach, Close one last night and that's an understatement. Well, I think as close as we can possibly play, especially and win the ball game. It was a different kind of a game in that we really struggled throughout the ball game to get the ball in the basket. It's a problem we really haven't had too many times this year because our team is an excellent shooting team, shooting over 53% for the year. Last night we shot 41% from the field. Had a lot of good shots too. They just wouldn't go down. We missed layups, we missed short jump shots, we missed a lot of different things. They were smart, they just set in really tight and when we were having a hard time knocking it down, they just sat in the zone and made us shoot over the top. Yet I was really pleased in a lot of respects, I think felt like our players really battled it and showed the maturity that we expect from them this year and really hung in and won even though things weren't going really well for them. It was a little case of the sophomores beating the freshman. Yeah, it was. We had three players that were just outstanding, especially when it really came down to win loss time. Eric Slaymaker hit a lot of key baskets and key free throws and really handled the ball well and ran out a lot of time. And then Hammer was really steady throughout the ball game. Got 25 points in the game and really the steady force that we expect him to be. And then Brad Heaps coming off the bench, you know, the same old Brad that we expect. We get down two, he comes down and gets a three point play. They foul him at the end of the game when we're up one and he knocks them both in. Eric. They foul him when we're up one with a Few seconds left and he knocks them both down. But yet we had some other kids. Sean Bauckham played quite well for us too. Bruce Hurst really struggled in the game. He went 1 for 7, turned the ball over a few times and was having a difficult time defensively. I hope that was a one game situation. He can get it going tonight because we're really reliant on his strength in that fourth position. You had some cases where. Well, Hurst with an off night, did get a big tip for you. Dave Rose with an off night, hit a couple of key baskets for you anyway. Oh, yeah, they're good players, you know, it's just that they have been playing so well. You expect them to play that way all the time and they just had a hard time getting going. It is a difficult time place to play. The floor is really different. The floor is really in poor condition up there. It has a lot of waves in it, a lot of dead spots in it. They've got a lot of nails in the floor and things like this. So it wasn't the best, but yet no one can really come complained about it. They just went out and worked hard and did the things that are expected. Plus the officiating in Idaho is a little different than what we're used to. You're going from the largest facility in the ICAC down to Orem High School's gym, almost an ancient gym. That's got to be quite a change. No, it's not really that old. It's just so poorly kept. It's really decrepit almost. Our dressing room is really. It just falls apart and the floor is slick and the walls aren't very nice. But a gym is a gym. The basket is the same. You expect to go out and play. This is a heck of a ball game for us, Larry. This is really the ball game that will make us a team. Excuse me. Two teams go to the regionals this year. That's really our goal is to get the regionals, win a couple there and get back to the nationals. And if we can win this, this means that we're three games ahead of everyone except snow. And of course snow has got to do the same as we have. They've got to play us in Dixie. And then of course we've got to go up and play them at snow. Plus they've got to go up to Rick's tonight. So it's really a key game for us. If we can win this. Boy, we're in great shape. Snow, you know, it puts us in a situation we've never been before 4 and O in conference play. We've never been there since I've been at Dixie. First two years you were losing record after the first two weeks. Yeah, we were all on the road. It seemed like the first two years that I was there we started on the road and last year we won our first game on the road with Trade Tech. We lost to Ricks, we lost to Snow. So we were one and two. It was a similar situation the year before. We had to at the end of the year struggle back and come and we're in a position now to really be on the plus side. Snow had a big win here last night, one big over Utah Tech. Utah Tech now without a win in comparison conference play, yes, but they're a fine team. As I mentioned earlier, I think they're one of the three teams that. One of the three teams that will battle for the two positions and I'm sure they'll be ready to play tonight. Snow's an excellent basketball team. Snow is the best basketball team that I've seen since we've been in a conference. Statistically, this is one of the best shooting teams that you'll be facing tonight. Yes, they are. And they have done it consistently. They have about three or four. Four players are shooting above 55% from the field and they're quick, they really play good defense. They change their defenses a lot. So we're going to have to be sharp. Last year you faced them three times. Twice they ran with you, once they got blown off the court, once they stayed with you and one time they slowed it down in the playoffs. What do you expect out of Gary Gardiner tonight? I think he'll play. You know, the only reason he slowed it down in the playoffs is because the game before, which was the week before we played him, we beat him 34 points. So he really didn't have a choice other than to slow it down because he felt like he couldn't play with us. They still ended up losing that ball game by about 20 points, but he had a different situation. He's got a lot of mature basketball players. He's got some return missionaries. He's got some players that have been around a little bit. And this is a different type of Trade Tech team. They don't have a bunch of screw ups on there. They have some good solid basketball players. For tonight's game for Dixie, we're going to have to be patient with what we do and take a good shot and make sure we get it down. Plus the defense is going to be important. And then the patience with our offense because the patience against their good defense is going to be where it really is tonight. I feel like we can rebound with them because we are as big as they are and we're just going to have to just battle it. Just get down and play hard. I was noticing that since I've been following the Dixie College that coaches you, Doug Allred before you, the ball players oftentimes like to spend an hour or so almost in silent contemplation what goes through an athlete's or a coach's mind in that time just before a game. Well, I don't think that you can get ready for a basketball game just by walking on the floor to get ready for it. We expect our players to be serious a few minutes before the ball game. And yes, we turn the radio off and we make our players be quiet on the bus about an hour before the game because it's important that they get ready mentally as well as physically. And they have to get almost crawl within yourself and you can't do it screwing around. And if your mind isn't where it should be prior to walking on the floor, you won't play well. And I think that's one of the problems with traveling is they don't get down and get serious. For a period of time, you've been both a coach and a player. What is the difference in terms of mental preparation for the coach in that short period of time? Well, as a player, of course, the mental preparation is the idea of playing your best. As a coach, you're concerned about all aspects. So there's really. As a coach, there's a lot more worries than I as a player, because as a player, you have a little more control about what's going on. Believe it or not, you do have more control than a coach does. So there's a lot of different things. I think it's harder, harder mentally for the coach, but it's harder for the player because he knows it's completely reliant on him at this stage. Coach Neil Roberts, thank you for being with us and good luck tonight. Thank you, Larry. We're talking with Utah Tech head basketball coach Gary Gardner. Coach, a tough loss last night against Snow College. Well, we stayed with them for the first 15 minutes and then they blew us out. Tough ball club. Very tough. In fact, I can't think of very many teams that has played any better. Their starters shot 68% from the field. They hammered us on the board. They're just a great team to do that against Utah Tech. A good shooting team on their home floor. They must be tough. Well, you can say home floor, but that's up to Dixie High School and that's the second time we've been up there in two years. So every game we play is an away game, just like right here. We haven't played in here since the middle of December, so it's been over a month that we've even been in here. Are there plans on a drawing board for Utah Tech to get their own gym? Yes, but I don't know when. I got a brother on the Board of Regents and it's not. It's not going to be soon, but they're definitely. Let's talk about your ball club now. It's still early in the season. You are 0 and 2 in league play, but with the potential you have, it looks like you're going to be a tough ball club for everybody. Oh, we're 13 and five overall and we're 02 in league, but I don't have any height. That really hurts us. And when we play against a team bigger than us, then we got problems. When we play against a team our own size, you know, then we can stay with them and we've been able to battle. But boy, like last night and probably again tonight, we're going to be going to be hurting some of your ball players. Carl Anderson, transfer from College of Eastern Utah, has been shooting very well. He's over 50% from the field. He's been a little sick. I hope he can bounce out of it. He didn't, didn't do that good last night, but I hope he can bounce back tonight. Some good experience coming back. Joe Tate. Joe Tate got 24 last night and played very well. He's a good ball player, but, you know, he's only six three and a half, six four. Scott Pace, freshman guard. Scott went down to Dixie and tried out and didn't make it. And then he came up here and red shirt and then he went on a mission and he's back and I lost my point guard and so I've been moved him in there and up until last night he was super, but last night he had a bad shooting night. Let's hope he can get it back tonight. Your ball club key against Dixie. The key against Dixie is we got to stop their break and we got to try and stay with them on the boards. I don't know if we can, but we're sure going to try. Coach Gary Gardner, thank you for being with us and good luck. Thank you. You say you didn't say that like that. What is this? Coming up. What's up? All right. 1, 2, 3, 4. What's up, duck? Sing that song, babe. Rose after the cat. We get to put in our new version. You'll hear it. Damage award. I don't know how this going be to. Wow. Five seconds. Okay. I come across a statement once that Alonzo Stag. He made. He actually had a sign hanging up in the in the locker room. It's not what he put in. Coaches know what players have learned. Okay, okay, okay, wait. No, wait, wait, wait. We have to be from the top. We can do the whole thing. Okay? At the count of three, every single man, we're gonna be on the radio. All right? KDX2. Just get hammer. 1, 2, 3. Hammer. E I e o. And on this farm we had a hammer e I e I o with a crank crank. Here, here. Quack, quack, Quack, quack. That was Bruce Hurts. Gold. You guys give up on shot. We need to do so let's do like we had in Salt Lake. You actually know your kids from the time you're in in the fifth grade. You actually influence their progress from that time to the time you get in your junior and senior year. And unfortunately, if you have a sophomore that can play, but by the time they really get to you, because of your junior highcoach you associate with so closely and because of your sophomore and your JV coach that you associate, they're actually part of your staff. By the time they get to you, they're fundamentally executive what you want. Sometimes the skill level isn't exactly what you want because you just take what's there, but yet they're fundamentally exactly what you want. They block out, they run your offense. And when we were coaching in high school, our fifth grade team ran our offense and our fifth grade coach sat on our bench, and it came all the way through the program. And when you come to junior college and you take them from 10 different high schools and try to put them together, it's the most difficult thing I've ever had to do as a coach. And then junior college situation. You guys have all heard this as well. Well, I've got a player here that didn't really do it in high school, but you can make him a player. We have less time than any other coach to spend with that particular player. And they've really got to be pretty much ready to play by the time we get them. And you don't have a lot of time. We have less time than any other level of coaching we can. Because you expect to take a freshman sophomore and put him against Yavapai Central in Pasadena and expect him to play well. And in a lot of respects, George and I talked about this. You actually do recruit high school coaches because then you don't have to waste your time teaching the basic things. I will take any of Jim Spencer's players because they are ready to play. And yeah, in junior college you do teach. And that's why these men are successful because they take the time. They just don't say, go ahead and play. If we. If any of these men would have had csi, we wouldn't have finished third in the nation because of the quality of coaches and the quality of players that they had. But it's really fun to be in a tournament like this. It's going to be great basketball. We hope you all enjoy. Any other questions? Thank you. We're just going to wrap up here. We really appreciate you fellows coming down and spending time with us today. Is there anything you'd like to say, President, to protect yourself or. We've heard from all the coaches except one. Mont. Did you have anything you wanted to say? Yeah. In case you fellows hear a lot of noise up behind you, he. It's the guy in the big. In the big Texaco outfit there that's making all the noise. And just ignore him because we all do. Don't let him bother you. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Does anybody else have anything? We'll meet then. Did you want to say anything? Ed? We'll be here again next Friday. And let's get the members back out. Thanks again. It. That. There.