Larry Jewell

3, 2, 1. We're talking with Coach Westkirst Jansen of Hurricane High School. Coach, good win for your team last week against San Juan. That was really a fun win. You know, they beat us twice last year in a couple of close games in the big one and the kids really got up for it and they showed a lot of courage. And the thing I liked about the game last week is the dominance of our line. Offensive line was the key for you then? Yes. The offensive line just did an outstanding job. The quarterback had plenty of time to throw when we threw and they just. The surge just blew them back and made our power offense look good. Come from behind. Victory too. That must have been pleasant. Yeah, you know, we time wise, I guess we led most of them game and that was quite a play that they went ahead on. But you know, the kids had the guts. On 4th and down, Cal Nielsen scrambled and found Renvick Erickson open and Renvick made a diving catch. And you know, we tell the kids all the time that games are won when we have people have the courage to come up and make the big play, the great catch or the saving tackle and. And it's that extra effort that makes you win ball games. And these kids so far have had the courage to do that. Last week was a home game and yet it wasn't a home game. Now this is a home game. That is a home game for the Tigers, isn't it? Yeah, we just got our goal post put up last night. We were out there with the forklift, welding and getting the goal posts on the football field. And our special teams on the kicking game are going to be a little bit rusty because we haven't had any goal posts to practice on, so. But yeah, we just got the field done. The grass probably isn't quite ready to play on, but we're going to play on it anyway. After San Juan, the defending state champ that you battled so close last year, you come right back with one of the preseason toughies in the Region 10, Millard High School. That's not easy. Boy, we don't get any rest in our first five ball games. We got Millard and then Delta and then Kanab and then, you know, it just. This is a tough region and a tough league, and what makes it tough is this league and region has great coaches in it. And no matter what, they always come along with a real well prepared, disciplined team and that makes the region real close. Eagles have traditionally had one of the toughest 2A teams in the state. Year after year, the Eagles probably have the best football tradition in the state of Utah. They've won more state championships than any other school in football. But in the last few years, I think the scales have tipped our way. We've probably the last eight or ten years we beat Millard more than they beat us, so. But they do have the tradition and we're always, you know, we always have to make sure we're ready for the Millard Eagles. What do you expect out of Millard tonight? I expect them to use their quarterback quite a bit in keeping the ball in options and passing. He is an excellent quarterback. He's a big kid and then we expect him to run probably a little more true option than they have done the last couple years. They've got a real good fullback in the Crapol kid and so we expect the fullback to carry the ball a lot and a lot of power football from them. For your ball club, you spent most of the time on the ground last week. What about this week? Yeah, we worked all week trying to develop our passing game and it's just something that we had neglected and so I hope that our passing game is going to be a little bit better this week and we're going to try and pass the ball more efficiently against Millard than we did. San Juan, you have one of the better athletes in two A football and Cal Nielsen at quarterback for you. He can do both. He can run and pass. I think old Cal Nielsen is the premier quarterback in into a football. He's just what a game breaker. And I know that whenever anybody prepares for our offense, they've got to prepare special for Cal Nelson. They've got to work on containment and rushing and pressure and what that does is that really gives another dimension to our offense. So Cal Nelson is just, he's the real spark plug and the workhorse for our offense. How healthy are the Tigers this week? Well, we're bruised up. That was a real hard hitting game. We don't have any injuries that's putting anybody out, but we've had some broken blood vessels and some real bad bruises that the kids have had to take care of all week so that they're ready to play tonight. So we haven't had a real good, intense week of practice because of the bumps and the bruises and, and maybe even a little bit of the emotion that first football game drained from us tonight. It's going to be a warm night again. Maybe not quite as warm as it would have been if you had to play in the afternoon, but it's still going to Be warm. How is that going to affect your team and mine? It's going to be a benefit to us, I'll tell you. We're used to the heat. We just plan on drinking a lot of water, and we have the kids tank up on water and Gatorade before they even show up to the game. And. And really, the heat is to our advantage. When the teams come down from the north, sometimes they're not quite ready for that heat, so it's to our advantage. Key for the Tigers tonight. The key for us tonight is right on Cal Nielsen's shoulders. If he can throw the ball and scramble, well, then we're going to come out on top. Coach Wes Christiansen, good luck tonight, and congratulations on the victory that first week. Thanks a lot. I'm talking with coach Dennis Aldridge of Millard High School. Coach, big victory last week for your team over at Grantsville. Yeah, we felt good about the way our kids played. We didn't know what kind of condition they were in or what stage of the ball game, but they came out and played well and did a good job, and we were pleased. We might be a little farther ahead in our progression than we thought we were. Not an easy task to come back and play Hurricane at Hurricane. Well, it's never an easy task to play Hurricane, and it's even worse to have to come down here into their home field and play them down here. And as tough as they are, it's. It's not going to be fun. Millard never sneaks up on anybody. People kind of gun for Millard, don't they? We feel like they do. I don't know if it's just our opinion or whether it's true, but we feel like people seem to play a little bit higher when they play Millard because of this tradition that Millard has built over the years. Let's talk about your squad this year. What are the strengths? What are the weaknesses that you see? Thus far? So far, the strength of this team has been that right now they are playing as a team. There are no jealousies, there's no bickering. Right now, they're just 30 or 40 guys who are trying hard to accomplish something, and they're not worrying about who's getting the glory right now, and they're supporting each other, and we feel we've got some decent talent. We think we're young and inexperienced, and that's going to come with time. But right now they're playing really well together, and we feel that's a real good plus for Us on the weak side, I'd have to say probably our experience level. We've only got four kids that really played last year and the rest of them have played jv, but as far as varsity field experience, they just haven't had much and that would be our one weakness at this point. Some people say you do have some experience though in the backfield and that helps. We have the quarterback back, other than that, our fullback play a little bit last year and our running backs really didn't play much. We were a senior oriented team last year, so other than the quarterback and maybe the fullback, we don't have any experience back there. We do have two linemen with experience and other than that we're rebuilding there. Our receivers are new. Shouldn't say new. They've been in the program for three years, but they haven't had the varsity level experience. Coming back to the Heat, this is almost like old home week for you, isn't it? Yeah, I used to play at Dixie High School and we had to come over here and play in the Heat, but we were used to it then. We're not quite that used to it, although it has been really hot up there lately the last few days. Will it have much effect on your kids? We hope not. There's a lot of things that can get into a kid's mind when you're playing high school football and one of the major things that you try to do is to block everything out but the game and let them rely on their physical abilities and what they've been trained and taught to do and hope that the outside elements don't come in. But both sides have got the same problem. What's the key tonight against Hurricane? Score more points. We have to contain their offense. They have a tremendous offensive weapon, especially in their quarterback with his quickness. He generates a lot of things and a lot of things happen when he starts to move around. We feel like we need to contain him and by containing him we probably we will be able then to contain the offense. You mentioned you felt like your team was a little bit farther ahead than you might have been. The win against Grantsville really did prove something to the kids then. Yeah, they felt good. Like I said, we just didn't know. We knew we had talent, we just didn't know what was going to happen in a real ball game at this point. And they seemed to play at a level that we thought maybe was a week or two down the road and we felt good. Their progression seems to be the farther along and that gave him Confidence granted that Grantsville is not probably the caliber of a team that you find in Hurricane or a Beaver or a Canal. Region 10 is going to be tough. Hurricane is considered one of the favorites. A lot of people are saying Miller is going to be one of the favorites too. No, I think the favorite has to reside with San Juan, Hurricane and Beaver. And now if Hurricane has beaten San Juan. So I think you got to consider that that Hurricane is the team to beat. They're awfully good school and we think before we're done we should probably be, you know, in the contention with the top five schools. But like I say, we're so young that we're just growing, we're just building. Coach Dennis Aldridge, thank you for being with us. Good luck tonight. Thank you for carrying the game for us. That's amazing. Those walk ons, they want a little bit more and if they get a break or if they are to make the team, I think at that time they're just hoping they can make the team. Then once they make it, they play a little more relaxed and then they'll have a chance of maybe starting. So it's a new type of goal they want to get at. Walk ons do well here. Looking back over the season. 3, 2, 1. We're talking with Dixie College head basketball coach Ken Wagner. Coach, a game like this, do you just get anxious for it to start? You really do. I think this is what most people go into coaching and into athletics for, to get an opportunity where you get to play someone like csi, where they're ranked number one in the country and where the number one seating and number one place in the league is. Whoever wins is able to get that. There have been times when the Dixie CSI matchup has been more important for Dixie than it has for csi. This may be a reverse. It is. I think there's more pressure on them. Although the number one seed is critical and it would be nice to win first place in the the league, there's a lot of pressure on them because they've never been ranked number one before and this week, as most people know, they are ranked number one of all the junior colleges in the country. And it's kind of fun for us to get to play them the style of csi. Is it fun to play against a team like that? Well, I don't know if it's fun. They pressure and get after you. They really work hard, get after the offensive boards and do a tremendous job. I don't think they've lost here in four or five years. And they have a 70, 80 game home winning streak. And so we'd like to end that if we can. I think the last time they lost to a Dixie College team here was in the national championship year. But you almost got them last year. Well, we had our chances last year and of course we won the game at home. And this year they beat us at home in a close one and would like to them back for beating us at home. How have the two teams improved since that time? I think both teams are a lot better. They're more consistent. They have some other players that are hitting the outside shot. I think our team has come a long ways. I think we understand our roles. We have a pretty healthy team right now and we haven't been sick, so it should be a great matchup. The strengths of the two teams, how are they going to run headlong into each other? Well, I think they may be a little more physical and I think we may have a little more quickness overall. Their guard line's awfully quick and we have some good quickness, but they really pound the boards hard. And I think the key to the game is one, we have to stay out of foul trouble and two, we cannot give up the offensive baskets. We've got to rebound and really do a good job on the board. Rebounding seems to be even more critical at Twin Falls than it is on the road against. Well, it is, and they're a very good rebounding team. And here they get really aggressive and really get after some people. And so I think it's a key that we have to rebound probably better than we have all year. Let's talk about personnel wise. Who's going to be the big challenge for you? Well, I think first of all, their guards last time gave us a little trouble with their penetration. Kenny Jarvis, who is a preseason all American, is a great offensive rebounder and just keeps coming after you. I think we need to keep him off the board. Other than that, like I said, the key is probably not so much individuals, but as a team. Juby comes off the board bench and shoots the ball really well and we just need to be prepared for all of them and do a good job. CSI does use the pressure. We talked about that. You like to use the pressure of defense too, because both teams have to practice against that. Does it make the pressure that less of a factor? Well, it's probably less of a factor because of the quickness of both teams. And yet in critical situations, it always comes out. I think many games this year, the Ricks game, The Snow game. There have been a sequence of defensive series that have changed the outcome of the game emotionally. What sort of feeling is with a player or with a coach going into a game like this? I think the players are just like I am. They're really excited. They're, I don't think, overconfident, but I really believe they feel that we can win this game if we do the things that we're talked about in practice and just come out and play as hard as we can play and play intelligently. The trip so far has not been marked by a lot of tenseness by the players. They seem to be relaxed. Well, this group has never been known for their tension. They're kind of a loose group and in a lot of ways that's good if they can get that intensity level. And I know watching the film today, most of the time we have to wait three or four up and say, hey, make sure you pay attention. I don't think that's the situation at all. They're very intense as far as wanting to do the things that we need to in order to win. Is it awkward to come to Twin Falls and have to turn around, come right back to Twin Falls for the region tournament? Well, it is. It's a long ways, but we have to do it, so there's no sense in worrying about it. I guess somebody has to. It's a luck of the draw. Right? Right. Tonight, starting line at first predicting we'll go with the same lineup we've had. We'll have Richard and Todd inside and Booby and Corby and Craig on the perimeter. Last time Todd Crow sprains his ankle in the opening warm ups. Never plays a minute at the CSI game. What sort of difference will that make this time to have Todd with you? Well, Todd's a key for when we really play well. I think he always has big games inside and so that'll be a key. I think a rebounding. He makes a big difference on our rebounding, so we're just glad he's back with us. And I felt the people that came in and played for him last time did an excellent job. But it'll be good to have him back. Last time against csi, you were able to hurt them underneath. Richard Jardine's much improved. Todd's back and healthy. What about csi? Are they still being hurt underneath? Well, I imagine offensively we can still hurt them inside, but I'm sure that have improved quite a bit since then and it'll be a lot tougher. I don't think we'll be able to get the ball inside quite as easily as we did last time. Coach, what sort of thoughts haven't we covered that's kind of wandering through your mind right now? Oh, I don't know if any. I think this is just a challenge. And all of us have been excited about the game since we started coming up here, and not only here, but I think all over the state. I was at both state tournaments and I don't think people have ever been as aware of, you know, a game that's outside of Utah as they are of this one. I had quite a few people, not just coaches, say, well, good luck up there. And you know, they all knew we were going to be playing csi and I guess the media let everyone know that CSI was number one. So it's one of the games that you look forward to and you just want to have a lot of fun. One of the strange twists with this is with the Boise State Idaho game last night, CSI Dixie has kind of taken the back burner, except in Twin Falls. Well, and Twin Falls may have done that on purpose, too. I think it would be much better for them not to, you know, get a lot of media attention because I think because they're number one, the pressure would be on. Coach Ken Wagner, thank you for being with us. Good luck tonight. Well, thank you, Larry. We're talking with College of Southern Idaho head basketball coach Fred Trankel. Coach, as we were talking just before we went on the air, this is quite an honor to be ranked number one first time in your career. Yeah, it is. I guess, you know, you have to look at it that way. I think there's. It's a vote done across the United States and a lot of people were knocked off in front of us over a period of four months and we kept playing steady ball and lost one at mid season. But to a very good North Idaho team, by the way, especially that night. They were unbelievable. And we've played steady ball and we've just worked our way up and certainly that wasn't one of our goals. But now that it's happened, you can't change it. You might as well enjoy it. You've been associated with the two national championships here and a whole bunch of trips back to Hutchinson, Kansas. There's quite a tradition. Well, certainly there is. If you look at the flags in our gym, I think the average win loss record would probably be better than most people's. Best season in their history, their school. I think our average win loss record is about 264 since I've been here, we've been fortunate enough to have excellent ball clubs, and we've been able to make some trips to the nationals. And I helped Boyd Grant for three years, and I made three trips to the nationals with Boyd. So I've been back there several times, and certainly it's a great experience, as, of course, you people at Dixie know, because you've been back there several times yourself and won it all. So to get there is always the important thing. You know, a year ago, we won the regionals and we went to the BI regionals, and we lost. Had a 314 record, which was quite a good record, but no one remembered that. If you don't make it to the nationals, people seem to forget how good a season you've really had. Success almost makes it tough, that constant success makes it tough to be anything less than extremely successful, doesn't it? Well, there's a lot of pressure in this job, believe me. I mean, you can't go into most places and lose. They won't accept that. When we lost in North Idaho, people said, what did you do, throw the ball game? I said, well, where did you see North Idaho after they watched them play here? North Idaho played a really good game here. We had to play tremendous to win here. They could see how you can lose on the road. Region 18 this year is a tremendously strong region, probably the strongest or one of the two strongest in the United States from the scouts that I've talked to in recruiters. So from Dixie to Rangely, we can appreciate that. From North Idaho to csi, that. But certainly we have one of the very best, if not the very best, junior college region, and it's made for a lot of good basketball for people to watch. As you look at this season coming into this year, every coach hopes to be undefeated at this point of the year, but with only one loss, is that a surprise, a pleasant surprise for you? Oh, I think so. You know, certainly my goal has never been to be undefeated. Never. We set a goal, and that's to get to the national tournament and win a national championship. And we try to strike our recruiting to give us a chance. Certainly. I thought with the schedule we had, it was a very difficult schedule. We played several teams in the top 20 early preseason, top 20 early. We played several even late at, of course, Utah Valley. And they can say what they want about Dixie. To me, they're a top five ball club. I've talked to a lot of people that watched Dixie during the year and watched all the Texas Schools and they stated Dixie as good as any team in Texas. And of course, I, I think there's four of them ranked in the top eight. So, you know, to me, this is the top five ball game tonight. And that's the way we've approached it. Is it fun to coach in a game like this? Well, you know, it's amazing about every night we go out, we see the biggest crowds most people have, and there's certainly a lot of pressure on us no matter where we go. Whether it's Rainsey Colorado and they have 250 people or Utah Valley last week with 1200 people. You've got to thrive on it or I don't think you can stop. Stay healthy and stay alive. Because, you know, if you're csi, everyone wants to knock you off and make their year just to beat us. And of course, when you match two great teams up like CSI and Dixie, then you got a classic contest. And yeah, I enjoy playing in the big ball games. And you've got to be successful to have big ball games. The guys that never play in them are never in a successful program. This game tonight, as you view it, do you view it as more pressure on csi, more pressure on or a pressureless game? This is one that's just pure basketball. Well, our first goal is to win a regional championship, and all we have to do is win at one out of two and we've tied for the regional championship. At worst, a win tonight would give it to us outright. It's been a long time since we've been beaten at home and we played very good at home. You know, sometimes a loss going into the tournament doesn't hurt you. We lost two out of our last four before we went into the tournament at Dixie last year and won that. So, you know, I don't look at it as a must ball game by any means. Tomorrow night's more of a must ball game as far as seeding goes. We've defeated Utah Valley twice, yet we've lost to North Idaho. So if you're first, you got to probably play north in the semis. If you're second, you know, with a tie in the region, then you go against Utah Valley. And we've been able to had two good games with Utah Valley, but I feel real comfortable with Utah Valley, so it really doesn't matter to me which way we go. Certainly we try to take them one at a time and our focus certainly is on tonight's ballgame and to win tonight's ballgame. As you assess the two teams how do you see Dixie's strength, CSI's strength and the weaknesses of the two teams? It's been so long since we played Dixie, you know, it's like a season away. But I think we have more depth. I don't think there's any question. I think our heights are about the same. I think we have great matchups between good athletes and even great athletes. We both have a big, strong kid in the middle. Caio de Silva was all tournament a year ago. Of course, Crow was all conference two, three years ago. Very similar in size, very similar in games. They have Jardine and we have several people, Wilson, Gomez and Martin in that height range. They have Corby, McDaniels and Jerm Williams and we have Jarvis and we have Cook and we have Jube and then they have. You know, I think Dixie probably has some kids that have scored more points than we do. You know, we do not have one scorer in the top 20 in the conference. We have six kids that average double figures and three more that come in with about seven to 11, seven to nine points a game. So I think it will be more of our depth in our defense against Dixie's big, you know, big scores. James has scored in the 30 several times. Rydalch has been there a number of times. Crow, of course, is constantly there and Jardine's had his big game. So I think they have some people with some big nights. We've given up some big nights, but we've always been able to, you know, sustain defense well enough for 40 minutes to win the ball games. And I think that's been our biggest positive factor. We've been more consistent over 40 minutes than probably any team in the conference right now. So we hope it will be a 40 minute ball game. We hope no one spurts out to an early lead and we put it in a 40 minute ball game. We feel confident with our depth that we can prevail. The key tonight, well, you know, we haven't turned the ball over much all year. We've only turned it over over 20 times one time, and that was at Snow early. We went into Dixie right after that and turned it over about nine times. We're only averaging nine, eight turnovers. I don't think we can turn the ball over 20 times and win tonight. I think we have to continue our free throw shooting, which leads to the league at almost 75 a game. I think we have to hit our normal field goal percentage, which is 57. If we do that, we're going to win the ball Game easy because Dixie shoots 66 and 48 or 49 from the field. If we do things, if Dixie makes us do things that are subnormal or abnormal, then they win the ball game. I think that's what basketball is all about. It's a chess game. They're going to come in here and try to make us do things we wouldn't normally do and we're going to try to make, try to take advantage of their weaknesses. Starting lineup tonight for csi. Well, I'm going to, I'll give you four, but I'm going to have to wait to see who Kenny starts. We'll go with Henderson, we'll go with Martin, we'll go with Disulva and we'll go with Jarvis and then we'll wait and see. Do you know who he's starting by the way? If you do, I can give you another one. It's probably the usual starting line of a Jardine is that if he goes with the big kid, we'll go with Gomez. If he goes with Williams, we'll go with Jubay. Coach Fred Trinkel, thank you for being with us. Good luck tonight. Thank you. I think with Leon Covington, you know, he's a very hard person to guard. He's tough in the paint. I think making, what's his name, Rydar worked very hard on Leon and Leon worked very hard on him. I thought we did a good job with him down there, but he may come back and shoot us out. But I think stopping Crow and Booby James is a key to success. Starting lineup tonight for your ball club. Starting lineup, Matt Smith, Leonard Langdon, Leon Covington, Nelson Stewart and David Baldwin. Nelson Stewart's been a two year starter for you and definitely looks to be a major college prospect. Hey, he's been playing, he's been playing like a different person the past five games and right now I'm pleased with the way he's playing. I think he can work a little harder on defense. I think, you know, whoever gets him, you know, he leading the league and rebound, nobody's not even really close to him. And against Northern Idaho he had 23 points and 20 rebounds. And I just think if he keep progressing that he can play in a major college setting. Coach Ron Stubbs, thank you for being with us. Good luck tonight. Thank you. Dixie College coach Ken Wagner. Great win for you last night. It was good to have that first one of the second half out of the way. Oh, it is. You know, tonight's just as important. Like we said, we need to take Them one at a time and be ready to go. There's something about these two teams. They helped debut this Burns arena two years ago and they both, Colorado, Northwestern, the CEU seem to like to shoot in this arena. Well, I hope they don't really enjoy it tonight against cncc. Were the kids possibly looking beyond CNCC a little? I don't think so. I thought they came out and played pretty hard to start out with and then got a lead and started relaxing, being a little bit careless. And yet tonight, I'm sure from seeing the CU scores and how they've been playing, we really better be prepared a little bit. Like Snow College, they could have a lot better record. Well, they really could and they have some awfully good athletes. So I feel that we need to come out and really we can't have any bad games right now. We can't be inconsistent and we need to develop habits that will carry us through in the tough games in pricing defensive effort, shut down their big three scorers until late when Covington got hot. Well, you know, I really feel it's important that we come out and play good defense. I thought we from the last time we played them, I feel we need to rebound a lot better than we did that time. We got a big game out of Todd Crow and so you can't have that every time out when someone gets 35. So we need others pick up some of the slack offensively and just play good defense. For Todd, he's just coming off a sprained ankle at the time and has A career high 35 points against CEU. A great night. Well, he did have a very good night, so hopefully he'll continue to play well against him. How have these two teams changed in relationship to each other since the last time you met? Well, it's hard to say. You were so far apart of them. We've seen their scores have been real close with everyone that played, but I really don't, you know, can't say because it's in a league that's this big, you don't get a chance to go scout very often. And between recruiting and playing your own games, you don't have time. This may sound strange, but is that an advantage in some ways for a coach, you just get a chance to concentrate on yourselves as opposed to the opponent. Well, it's an advantage and a disadvantage. I think defensively it's good sometimes to have two or three videos of a team. You can really prepare for them and shut them down. They've always been kind of freewheeling offensively. So I think the keys are that we need to stop them from penetration and then just rebound really well. Last time we mentioned the good efforts on their three ballplayers, their three leading scorers, you shut Smoke Langdon completely out virtually. Well, he's an awfully good player and works hard, and he may have just had an off night, but Germ and Corby and some of those did a pretty good job on it, and hopefully we'll be ready to do the same tonight. We were talking after last night's game, Jerm Williams is your designated sixth man. As much for defense as anything else he is, and many times our defense, most of the time our defense sparks our offense. So it's critical to get things going tonight against ceu. Is everyone healthy? Is Craig Rydalch back well enough to play full game? I think everyone's healthy. I think everyone's sick. Had a little bit of a flu in getting over that, so they may get tired of the quicker and have some things like that. But other than that, we're in pretty good shape. Starting lineup tonight? Well, we'll go with the same one we. Have you mentioned the defense part of the key tonight for your ball club. Are there any key ball players that you're looking to for Dixie? No, I think everyone has to come out and play hard and do a good job. Coach Ken Wagner, thank you for being with us. Good luck tonight. Well, thank you, Larry. 3, 2, 1. We're talking with Dixie College head basketball coach Ken Wagner. Coach, it's a good thing this isn't television. Well, it is. Well, we're catching you before we get over to the ball game right now. This has been an adventure so far, more than than a road trip, hasn't it? Well, it has. It started out being a long road trip and we were joking in colonels about how long it was going to be. Usually takes us about 20 hours. And then we were stopped for six to eight hours, stuck because the road was closed. So it really has been a road trip for this unusual sort of weather. What sort of problems does that pose as a coach? Well, I don't know. I think anytime you travel a long ways, you'll be a little bit tired. In our situation, I think we have a lot of sophomores. I think they'll respond well to it. So we'll just have to wait and see. Does it bother the concentration on the game or does it help take some of the edge off just right for. For a ball game or don't you know, at this point Well, I don't think you can tell. I think we'll have to wait and see how we play and see how things go. I think in a lot of ways it's an experience everyone talks about and has a lot of fun, so they don't worry very much about the game. And in other ways it may distract them a little. But I don't think you can really tell until you play. Because of the severe weather, you're really probably not sure if there's going to be a big crowd tonight or not. Well, they had to cancel school and it's been awfully cold. We were laughing because coach all read all his jokes about sending me back to Mexico if we keep losing. And, you know, we were laughing, saying, oh, this is. That'd be better than Siberia where we are now. The Siberian front down here has been extremely cold. Let's talk about north. North Idaho a little bit. Last time, big ball club couldn't handle Todd Crow. No, Todd had an excellent first half, especially had 25 points in the first half. And they have some very big people and some good athletes. So they're kind of a scary team. We watched the film and a lot of the shots they were taking will probably be shots they'll hit here at home. So we're really going to have to do a good job defending. Do you anticipate major changes in the way they handle Todd Crow? Well, they may play us a little more zone and change up a few things, but I don't think they'll really just concentrate on him. We have too many other scores for North Idaho. Mario Jackson was really not that much of a factor until the run in the second half. You pretty well took him out of his game in the first half. Well, he's a very good athlete and he'll be going to Oregon State next year. And he can score inside, outside does it all, and so we'll really need to do an excellent job on him. We talked about the weather problems, travel problems. There's health problems at the team also, isn't there? Well, I think a lot of them have had the flu. A lot of people, you know, every place I think have had it. But right now it looks. I think most of them are feeling better. I don't think they're quite as sick as they have been, so I really think we'll come out and play well. Any changes in the starting lineup tonight? Well, I don't know exactly who's going to start just simply because of who's been sick and how they've been feeling. I'll probably wait and see when they're warming up and decide who to start for Dixie tonight. Do you anticipate another key other than Todd Crow or will be how Todd goes, how the team goes against North Idaho? Well, I don't think necessarily how Todd plays. I think that would definitely help, but I really feel it will be how well we keep them off the offensive boards, don't let them get second shots and make them pressure them on their shooting and then rebound well and I think we'll be in good shape. Against a big team, rebounding becomes even more of a case. Well, it does because they have not only the big people, but they have some quick good athletes, so they have a combination of good rebounders. You're coming off some pretty good ball games at home. And since the first of the year, really, the team has been accelerating, it seems like, on its play. Do you anticipate that continuing? Well, I would like to think so. I hope we come out and really play well and I anticipate that we come out and have a good game. Are there particular individuals for North Idaho that are going to be extra tough for you to handle? Well, I think Jackson's an awfully good player, like we mentioned earlier, and their big people are big and I think you have to keep them away from the basket. But they're a well rounded team and I think you just have to, especially on their home court, they've been awfully tough to beat. They beat CSI by 10 up here and Utah Valley beat them. And although Jackson got kicked out of the game and early, North Idaho was ahead of them by 14, 15 points. So they're an awfully good team and I really believe this may be the key as far as us being able to win the league. Is the game tonight, is the gym a factor? Well, you know, I don't think so. It's a good, you know, they're used to it. I think anytime you're playing at home that's an advantage, but I think it's a fun gym to play in, so we're looking forward to it. For the records, Dixie's never lost in this gym. Well, good. I hope we stay that way. Coach Ken Wagner, thank you for being with us. Good luck tonight. Well, thank you, Larry, and keep warm. We're talking with North Idaho head basketball coach Rolly Williams and coach at has to be a little disappointing after last weekend's two losses, but you still now have the home schedule and the chance to get back in the race. Well, we were a Little disappointed. We lost to Salt Lake on Friday night and then Utah Valley Saturday. Salt Lake played very well against us. Really shot the ball in the hole and they had some very fine athletes and they performed as fine athletes. And Saturday, I didn't think we played that well against Utah Valley. They played played well against us. They're a very consistent basketball team, very good team. And we just didn't have much luck. Of 18 games. There's still a lot that can happen in a Region 18 season. That's true. We've got seven games left, five of them at home. So we feel a little fortunate with that. We've been on the road quite a bit. I think we're on the road three out of four weekends this past stretch. So we're looking forward to being on the road home for a little bit for the Region 18 season. Now that Salt Lake is pretty well out of it because of the NJCAA suspension, this is really more a positioning effort by most of the teams now, isn't it? That's true. Initially you were concerned about possibility of hosting the tournament. Being a Northern team, that's still not totally impossible right now. Doesn't look that probable. But what we're playing for now is a position in the regionals and that makes a tremendous difference in the first round. Difference between third and fourth, or second and fourth can make a big difference in who your opponent is. That's right. The one unusual thing about the league entirely this year is again, I would mention the parity in the league. I think anything can happen on any given night. So you just have to go over what has been a consistency throughout the season, season and how people have performed for your ball club. What has pleased you most? What has disappointed you most about the Cardinals? Well, I would say our consistency, lack of consistency. When we play well, we play very well. And when we play poorly, we play very poorly. We haven't had that many down games this year. It just seems that when we play the very good teams such as Dixie at Dixie, I thought we played very poorly there. Utah Valley, we didn't play twice. Two games against them were not good games, and that was disappointing to me. In St. George, you made a big run in the second half, but the first half kind of got you down too much. Well, we were so far behind that first half. It was tough, really, to get back in the ball game. They're a very fine club and you just can't afford to give them that much. When you start the ball game for North Idaho tonight, what will be the key for the Cardinals, I think we have to slow down Dixie down in their transition game. They really hurt us and they pushed the ball up and down the floor very well. Obviously we have to do a better job than we did against Crow in the first game. He just tore us apart that first half. So it gives us kind of a double edged sword to deal with. We've got an inside problem and they got people that can hurt you from the outside. But I'm a little more concerned at this point than just getting up and down the floor with them. A lot of people observing the ball game said, hey, a lot of those shots taken by North Idaho were shots that they would normally hit. They just didn't hit. So you were seemingly getting your shots down there. Well, again, they're a very good basketball team and when you play a good team, you're going to have good pressure. And I thought Dixie did a good job applying pressure to us, our shots. I thought the selection was what we normally shoot and we just didn't shoot as well as we have throughout other games in the season. That's one of the advantages of being home. You can feel comfortable then. Well, we can feel comfortable, but the main thing is to have the ball go through the hole, whether you're on the home or on the road. Starting lineup tonight for North Idaho, it'll be the same as we've had. Sheldon Baker, Kenny Johnson at the guards, Mario Jackson, Heist Girders and Thomas Rodgers on the inside. Shelton Baker had an outstand game against Dixie, but Ken Johnson always seems to have a good game against Dixie. Well, let's hope they continue that. I don't recall exactly what the scores might have been and how well they function, but from a total effort, it was not a good production for us. Coach Rollie Williams, thank you for being with us. Good luck tonight. Thank. You.