Runnin' Hoops Podcast
All things Runnin' Utes basketball and Big 12 basketball.
Runnin' Hoops Podcast
Episode 338: Ryan Larsen
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Utah WBB assistant coach Ryan Larsen joins the podcast to discuss the summer workouts, schedule, and much more as we head towards the upcoming season. Plus, CBB law and order continues to dominate the headlines. And, another Big Rick anecdote courtesy of a new hall of famer!
Runnin' Hoops Podcast 30% Off Exclusive Deal! – FlyFitTees - Promo code runninhoops
For a limited time only, Super Chicks is giving you a chance to Caesar with its all new Caesar Chicken wrap. As always, you can chase that down with their signature frozen custard flavor of the week. And you can find the nearest Super Chicks to you online at SuperChicks.com. And remember, it's Chickswithanax.com. On this episode, Utah women's basketball assistant coach Ryan Larson joins the podcast to discuss how the summer workouts have gone for the women's basketball team as well as the schedule that he helped put together for the upcoming season. Plus, college coaches anonymously weigh in on the fifth year seniors, which will lead us into our weekly, it seems, law and order segment for the podcast. And another Rick Majoris anecdote courtesy of a new Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer. We'll have all of that and more coming up here for you. But first, I wanted to remind you to follow the podcast over on X at Runin' Hoops Pod and on Instagram at Runin' Hoops. You can rate, review, and subscribe to the show over on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get a podcast. We have hit 82 five-star ratings. So I'm loving the momentum here, but there are 18 of you out there I know that can help us push that to over 100. And of course, you can support the show over on Venmo at Run and Hoops. Well, we're going to start with a couple of things out of the Big 12. Kansas coach Bill Self joined John Rothstein last week and had a little bit of an interesting comment on the league going to a 20-game conference schedule with, of course, a 32-game regular season now. Take a listen.
SPEAKER_05When they went to 32, I think there's a chance the AD is now on 20. And it's being discussed, which I think is I think it's fair. But from my standpoint, I would rather be at 18 of Kansas. Yeah. And then I could control my schedule. And then the games that you you mentioned beforehand, I think that brings a lot of interest uh uh to a fan base and things like that to add one or two of those.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so nothing super earth-shattering there from Coach South, but certainly the idea of 20 games is being discussed. It seems like the league wants to go there. And I suspect the divide on this between coaches and ADs is right down the middle and probably follows the standings in the Big 12 pretty closely, as well as a team's ability to get games in the non-con. So if you're a Utah and you can't or won't get quality home and homes, you're probably okay having less control over your schedule versus, say, a Kansas who wants to have as much autonomy as possible scheduling marquee games. Gut feeling here for me in mid-August of 2026, they'll go back to 20 games potentially as soon as next season. Now, speaking of those non-conference schedules, we've got another one, and it comes to us from Stillwater. That is the Oklahoma State Cowboys. And with the prospect of what some would call a quote jump season, Oklahoma State released its non-conference schedule this past Friday. But would that schedule reflect the investment made in the program this passed off season? Well, the Cowboys will open on November 2nd at home against Incarnate Word. Other notables on the schedule include a road trip to Texas AM on November 12th, a trip to Charleston where they will join the youths. Now, initially it was thought that both Big 12 schools would face Minnesota and Virginia Tech, but that might change for at least one of them. And OSU could now face Dayton and Minnesota. More to follow on that. They'll face a couple of intriguing matchups at home against Grand Canyon and St. Mary's back to back before heading to Oklahoma City for their bedlam game against the Oklahoma Sooners in what is likely a hot seat season for Porter Moser. And then they'll wrap up their meaningful games with a game against Northwestern in Tulsa, Oklahoma. All in all, I think this is a perfect schedule for a team that expects to make the leap into the top half of the standings in the Big 12 with six notable games against Power Five competition or close to power five competition, and then a couple of intriguing home games against two high mid-major type teams. So this schedule gets an A from me. All right. So around this time of year, Matt Morlander over at CBS Sports College Basketball publishes a series of articles based on an anonymous survey of college basketball coaches entitled The Candid Coaches Series, where he gets their opinions on a myriad of topics. Now, how many coaches? We don't know, but they say in the article that it's nearly 100. So a decent sample size, about a third or so of the coaches in college basketball. So the first question that he put an article out on, pretty simple do you support 2026 seniors getting a fifth year? 58% of the coaches polled said yes. Well, 42% said no. And here are their quotes on the yes side of things, quote, making this rule and announcing it before the start of classes is maybe the dumbest move of all time. Maybe as dumb as Mark Emmert saying paying players will never happen, close quote. However, all of us always think our world is the most important, and it's not. If the rule officially changed any other time, football would be 100% more chaotic with lawsuits than what basketball is seeing currently. And then finally, yes, I do support it because I don't think there's sound legal precedent for that class versus the last five years or the next five years. I do wonder if the chaos was allowed by the NCAA to further their political pursuits. Ultimately, what everyone has been wanting is for the dust to settle, and nothing about the way the NCAA chose to time these decisions pointed towards that happening or has helped to create certainty and a level playing field, close quote. Now, on the no side of things, quote, I think if this had been established in March or April, I would have been 100% on board. However, 95% of college basketball has built our rosters with the assumption that these players would not be grandfathered in, close quote. Another one, quote, we are setting back another group of high school players who have waited their turn to get recruited and play college basketball. It's a disgrace to see where the sport is with 18-year-olds having to compete for a position against 24 and 25-year-old grown men, close quote. And then finally, no, I don't support it, but I reserve the right to take one on if they do. The NCAA has to be able to make eligibility rules. We can count on everything being held to. It's a fact that players being granted extra years hurts younger players, close quote. So a little honesty there. And honestly, like both sets of quotes, yes and no, really follow the same pattern, which is yes, I support it, or no, I don't support it. But a bigger problem here is the dopes in the NCAA office trying to enforce rules that don't hold up in court or by timing their announcements in a certain way. So very interesting, certainly. And that takes us to what has seemingly become our weekly college basketball law and order segment.
SPEAKER_03In the college basketball justice system, there are two things you can count on. The NCAA will make a rule, and someone will sue them. These are their stories.
SPEAKER_01And Ohio, where the Ohio Court of Appeals has issued a stay on the injunction that was issued in the eligibility case in that state, which covers roughly 24 men's and women's basketball players. As it pertains to the Big 12, one of those players is Cincinnati's MJ Collins, who played at Utah State last year with his now new head coach, Jared Calhoun, and averaged 17.5 points per game and has been playing with the Bearcats on their foreign tour this summer. Now, will this set a precedent for other courts to follow? That remains to be seen. And we saw on Tuesday that a judge in California has granted a bunch of players an injunction, including guys like Jackson Kohler. So obviously, we're not seeing a consistent ruling across the board, or at least we're seeing injunctions. Now we'll see if the appeals happened in California and how that ends up going. But the NCAA wasted no time in issuing a statement on the ruling in Ohio. Quote, the NCAA argued and the Ohio Court of Appeals agreed that the injunction harms the thousands of college athletes and member schools across Division I who are playing by the rules. The new model makes it clear. It ensures college sports are played by college students while allowing opportunities for future generations of students to access the life-changing benefits of college sports participation. We appreciate the court's recognition of the harm caused by the injunction and the substantial arguments we have presented in favor of reversal, and we look forward to fully arguing the merits of the case in the future. Close quote. So plenty more as this develops. But one athlete and one program that isn't waiting around for stays on injunctions, that's the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who just added or rather re-added Donovan Atwell to its roster. Atwell played for the Red Raiders last year and averaged 13.5 points per game, shooting 45% from deep. In the last few weeks alone, Texas Tech has added Donovan Atwell at 13.5 points per game. Darien Williams, who played at Texas Tech, went to NC State and is now back in Lubbock at 14 points per game. And Jamichael Stilwell, who's transferring in from UCF at 11.6 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game. So the Red Raiders will definitely be moving up on my next set of power rankings if they continue to add a bunch of talent to their roster. And again, this was a program that would fall into that category of programs that kind of swung and missed in the early part of the transfer portal, you know, offseason. Now, with these injunctions, they've got room, they've got money to spend, and they are loading up their roster so that JT Toppin, former Big 12 player of the year who was recovering from an ACL injury, can take his time getting back on the court. But guess who else weighed in on these rulings? The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. Well, sort of. One committee member reportedly said the following to Jeff Goodman of the Field of 68 podcast: quote, the NCAA may not be able to threaten teams that use players deemed ineligible by the NCAA, but I can penalize them, and so can other committee members if they want, whether it's by seeding or even not including them in the field, close quote. Woo! Shots fired there from Mr. Anonymous or Miss Anonymous NCAA Tournament Selection Committee member. Not sure where this would fall on front of the podcast Josh Newman's pettiness scale, but it's safe to say that this could get messy. Now, of course, the committee itself, via chairman Martin Newton, released the following statement in response. Quote The men's basketball committee's charge is to set up the most competitively balanced tournament possible, selecting the best 44 at-large teams to join 32 automatic qualifiers and then seeding those 76 teams. It's not under the committee's purview to pass judgment on players deemed eligible by an institution, a conference, the NCAA, or other entity. A player or coach's availability or unavailability shall be considered without prejudice. This is a consistent application to the selection, seating, and bracketing principles and procedures which are reviewed and shared annually. School is starting for some of these schools here. Utah starts in a week or so on the 24th. So, I mean, this has got to get resolved sooner rather than later. But so far, we're just in a law and order back and forth. And man, it's certainly made for a busy offseason of news, that is for sure. All right, when we come back, women's basketball assistant coach Ryan Larson will join me to discuss the women's basketball non-conference schedule, the offseason, and much more. We'll do that right after these words from one of our sponsors. Hey everyone. Well, if you can believe it, it is back to school time already. And if you've got a husband, dad, or son that you want to outfit with something fresh this year, check out Flyfit Tees. With a blend of ring spun cotton and polyester, these t-shirts will have that important man or man child in your life looking sharp just in time to head back to school. Listeners of this podcast will get 30% off their first order by entering the promo code RUNIN'HOOOOS at checkout. This is the absolute best offer out there for FlyFitTease. And with all of the money that you've been spending on your back to school shopping, wouldn't it be nice to save just a little? That website for you again is flyfitteas.com and your promo code at checkout, run in hoops.
SPEAKER_04Here comes Utah. Flypass, low block, left to auto, jump looking fine on everything working right right now for the University of Utah.
SPEAKER_01All right. My guest today is heading into his third season with the Utah Women's Basketball Program. And prior to that, was at the University of Wyoming. He's also primarily responsible for the schedule, which is partially why I wanted to speak to him today. Utah assistant coach Ryan Larson. Ryan, thank you for joining me. How are you? I'm good, Andrew.
SPEAKER_02Appreciate you having me on. This is fun.
SPEAKER_01Well, we got a lot to cover here, but I want to go back to when you joined the program. You did so uh after the 24-25 campaign had started. Obviously, you know, Utah had a coaching change uh early on in that that season. So how did that come about and and what made Utah kind of the place that you wanted to be after being in Laramie for quite a few seasons?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, it uh it's an interesting story just because I you know, I jokingly I say I might be the only college basketball coach to put on their resume of you know switching jobs mid-year. Um, but uh, you know, it I loved Wyoming. I loved it a lot, and uh, you know, wasn't looking for a job. Um, you know, really wasn't looking to leave. Uh just really enjoyed it there. Um but yeah, at the same time, you know, I'd known Gavin for, you know, we always joke, we don't say the exact number because we don't date how old we are. All right, but uh, you know, as long as we've been in women's basketball, we've known each other. And uh we met on the recruiting trail in Australia of all places, and you know, it's always been you know really good friends, and uh, you know, whenever we saw each other on the road, we'd hang out a lot and call each other and talk basketball, and you know, just you know, really hit it off, and we're we're good friends within the business for the last you know, again, 18 years. Um, and you know, uh the change happened here. Uh he gave me a call, and you know, we we kind of discussed uh, you know, kind of gave me the option of coming at the end of the year or coming, you know, in December, like I did. And uh, you know, it was a really tough decision. But you know, first of all, I'll state it. I'll start it with you know, this is probably, and I'm not joking when I say it, because a lot of people do, you know, say those is the one of one jobs I would have left for. It really was. I was that happy at Wyoming where you know, I love to tell a story. Uh, Julie, my wife and I, we visited every national park in Utah, all right, and and other things. And every time we're driving through the state or Salt Lake City, we always say, This place is fantastic, you know, it's great. Uh it fits me and my family perfectly as far as what we want to do. Okay, the outdoor life. Uh, we love to hike, you know, mountain bike and the national parks and all that stuff. You know, we just that's that's our style. We love to do that. Um, so moving to a state like Utah, Salt Lake City, all right. Uh never lived in a city and was you know excited to do that. Um, but then you know, coming to work for a guy that I I know and trusted for a really long time, you know, it the stars aligned for me. All right. And but then again, as happy as I was at Wyoming, you know, I'm also one of those people that you know I feel a little bit complacent after a while if I'm in a spot too long. All right, and the the timing was right. Um, so long story short, and I'm good at that, Andrew. All right, the longer this podcast goes, you're like, yeah, this guy can really talk. But uh, you know, a lot of hard conversations with the head coach at Wyoming, Heather Ezel, who's a tremendous friend um and lover to death. We're we're not just you know work together for a long time, but we really are truly friends. Uh the administration at Wyoming, you know, had some hard conversations there. They they accept, you know, they're they were willing to do, you know, they were willing to let me do whatever I felt was right. And the bottom line was, you know, it came down to, you know, I just I would have left for I would have left Wyoming at the end of the year, no matter what, to come to Utah. And I didn't think it was fair to anybody for me to sit in Wyoming from you know December, whenever it was, you know, you haven't asked me to come come here to the end of the year knowing I was leaving. Um, so as hard as a decision as it was to leave mid-year, and it was very hard. Um, a lot of hard conversations, a lot of tears telling people I was leaving. It just didn't sit right for me, you know, that I could have, you know, knowing I was leaving at the end of the year, and I would have been doing any program any good. All right, so I made that tough decision. It was the right one, all right, but it didn't make it any more any more difficult. And so that that's kind of the backstory there. Um, but uh pretty unique. It's it was a pretty unique, and I I love to say, so uh yeah, I I left I left Laramie uh on a Friday, uh, got to Salt Lake City that afternoon. Um we had practice Saturday morning, met the team, and then played Princeton set Sunday afternoon. And I'll never forget sitting on that bench going, I barely know these players' names. I don't know what the heck we're doing. You know, it was it was quite the experience, you know. So uh pretty unique, but uh it was really neat at the same time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you're looking around the arena and you're going, aren't these seats supposed to be? Yellow? Yeah. And uh where's the brown? I mean what happened?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Thankfully I did have a little red from my time, my days from South Dakota. I still had a little, you know, a red tie, you know, available to to use. So that that helped out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh I so I read in in one of your you know kind of intro QA things that you did with the with the program that you you kind of have always had your sights set on being a basketball coach. You know, has it lived up to your expectations in terms of what you thought it might be?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, it has, you know, early on you think it's just basketball, you know, what you get to do. And I still joke with my dad to this day. You know, he loves to tease me and go, well, practice is done. What do you what do you do? All right, season's over, what do you do? Uh there's just there's so many things that you know how I state being a basketball coach is you don't do the same thing two days in a row. I could probably say that for a lot of college coaches, and it's probably never more that statement is never more true than it is right now with the changing of the times. All right, yeah. I'm not gonna get on a soapbox here, but you know, the way the NCAA is changing, you know, month to month and stuff like that. Um, yeah, you you really got to be on your toes, and it's there's a lot of thinking that goes into it anymore, and a lot of strategy. And you know, it's it's kind of the fun part about getting older in this profession is you know, you become a better thinker, you know, you're not probably as reactive, at least for me that way. As a young coach, it was pretty reactive, and you know, may not like this or that and be down upon it. Well, you know, you just gotta roll with it now. Um, and that's probably been the biggest adjustment, but yeah, you know, still pinch myself, even though I'm going into my you know third season here, looking out this window at those beautiful mountains in the skyline of Salt Lake City. You know, one of my favorite sayings is basketball has you know brought me to a lot of cool places and you know got to meet some tremendous people uh along the way. And been fortunate to be at all kinds of different levels, all right. And you learn a lot at all kinds of different levels. Uh um, but you know, nothing nothing beats the thrill of a game, all right, and the practice and nothing. It's just you get to I like to say you get to stay young in this profession, you know, being around young people, and that's what really makes it enjoyable. You know, these the kids don't change, you know, they they they don't. There's still a heck of a lot of fun. They still want to be coached, you know, they still want to get better, they still want to compete. That that hasn't changed at all, and that that makes it really, really enjoyable. So yeah, I am I did want to be a basketball coach. You know, I kind of the lifelong dream early was uh went to school to be a teacher, and I thought I wanted to, you know, uh teach some history and geography and uh coach some high school basketball, me maybe a little defensive backs coach in the football season, you know, stuff like that. Um but uh the further I got along, and I just you know very, very fortunate to have opportunities to be in the college game and then you know, been again very fortunate to you know just kind of move my way around and know the right people. I'm not gonna shy away from that, you know, to be in this business and uh get some gets some really neat places that I've been. You you got to know the right people. Um been very fortunate in those regards. So it's yeah, I'm definitely living my dream, Andrew. It's been a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_01So outside of uh putting the schedule together, which we'll get to, I'll grill you on that here uh on the show. But uh what what other responsibilities do you have as an assistant at Utah? What's kind of the primary role there?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, my primary role is I'm co-defensive coordinator with Morgan Bailey. Uh her and I have a lot of input defensively, um, you know, designing a game plan, designing our defense for the year, what's gonna fit us, you know, um how we think we're gonna be able to defend differently this coming season versus last year. And, you know, um, you know, without going too far into our defense there, you know, working with the guards and Jace Henderson. Um been fortunate to coach coach all kinds of different positions, you know, coach offense, defense. Um, so I think that's something that Gavin, you know, hope hopefully he sought that would be able to help him out. That I've done a lot of variety uh different things in in my career. And you know, uh heard this term a long, long time ago for a guy that I used to work for. You know, he's like, you know, hire when you do hiring, hire experience. And I think Gavin saw that in me a little bit too. That I've been at a lot of different places, not a lot, but you know, different places and worked for some good people. I was a head coach of a division two uh program. There again, I'm you know, it doesn't matter what level, you know, sitting in that first chair. I don't care if it's you know high school to P4, all right. That it's different. And you have to think differently than assistant. So I think you know Gavin finds it nice that I've had that experience to go like, you know, if he asks me something to do, like yeah, I've done that. Let me take care of this for you, Gavin. I can take care of it, I can do this, you know. So that experience and just knowing what he's going through, you know, on a daily basis, uh, being a head coach, uh is helpful for him. So and I I I enjoy that role. I I really do. Um, you know, it just you can't you can't, and I know it's cliche, but you cannot, you know, replicate the experience of being a head coach as an assistant until you've actually done it. And you know, after being at South Dakota Mines and going to Wyoming, I was a million times better assistant coach, all right, knowing what they're going through than I was, you know, previously before not for my days at South Dakota in Augustana where I didn't have that head coaching experience.
SPEAKER_01So yeah. So you had the team on the court this summer for about eight weeks or so. How did those workouts go? And what did you learn about the squad here as you head towards the season?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I you know, we have a we have a squad that's a lot of fun to be around. Uh we were really competitive all summer, you know. Yeah, I I truly mean this. You know, I'm not just you know, coach speak here or you know, looking for clicks or anything like that. And that if I didn't believe it, I wouldn't say it, believe me. But I I really there's probably two or three practices where it's like, that wasn't that wasn't our best, you know. And that's rare to say in the summer, you know, it's it's tough. You know, uh every practice after those two or three, we really brought it. We really competed and we got better at a lot of different things. We we got everything covered this summer that we needed to to feel really good about when we start, you know, uh our preseason stuff here in a couple weeks, to knowing we'll be able to hit the ground running. We don't have to go back and really clean this up that we didn't get taken care of. We can hit the ground running in the preseason and just start adding to it. Uh, that's a that's a good feeling, and knowing that we have all that stuff installed offensively, defensively, you know, not a whole lot of special teams stuff or anything like that, but uh knowing that we don't have to go back and repeat ourselves. Um so that that's a that's a really good feeling, knowing that we can you know add to right away, you know, continue to put you know, sharpen our saw a little bit rather than going back and you know cleaning this up. So you know, the best way to do that, and I I give the women all the credit there is you know, they just they really competed, they listened, and they're really coachable group. Uh, so they're they're a lot of fun to be around. They they are, you know, the breakdown of our roster probably didn't realize that until you know a few weeks in into the summer is like we probably got lucky with you know the number of freshmen, the experienced uh transfers that we brought in, who's played a lot, you know, our returners who you know know what they're doing. It's just a really good balance as far as classes and experience of you know players who've played. Um, so that that that's helped us a bunch. But it starts with their competitiveness. We you know, they they really competed this summer. I was really impressed with that because again, been been through a lot of summers where you know, and coach doesn't want to have to motivate or raise their voice in the summer a whole lot. It's that's that's kind of a a waste of energy, you know, and just never felt we had to do that, you know. And um, so it was it makes me really excited about what we got coming up for the year. It it does.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you mentioned that that breakdown, it's almost like a perfect, you know, one third, one third, one third in terms of freshman returning players, and and you know, portal. I know that coaches don't necessarily like to, you know, single out individual players when you're this far away from the season. But did anybody stand out among the newcomers where you know you you recruited them and you were like, hey, you know, I I think this person's got this specific skill set, and wow, it just you know kind of blew us away how much better that that player was than we even anticipated. Was was there anybody that really jumped out to you for that?
SPEAKER_02You know, yeah. Um and I I'll start it with, you know, they uh they all they all surprised me one way or the other with some things we didn't, you know, really pick up. Um, yeah, and I I'm not a if anybody tells you that they can really pick out everything in the evaluation process, a recruiter, you're you're a hell of a lot better than I am. You are okay, because there's just some things that you can't really pinpoint, you know, especially in the portal because it's so fast, you know. But uh every single one of them, you know, as far as those transfers really impressed me in a lot of different ways as far as their game goes. But the most important thing is you know the the way they compete. Um one kid I'll point out, you know, probably especially is uh you know Laia Canessa from from Kansas. Um, you know, she's a point guard, and I'm gonna give Morgan Bailey all the credit here. You know, Morgan watched her a lot uh when she back in Spain with her national team. And uh, you know, Lai didn't get a chance to play a whole lot of point guard last few years at Kansas, you know, because they got they got pretty darn good one, you know, they they do. And so she was playing off the ball a little bit, and and uh you know Morgan was you know pretty staunch on the fact that she's a point guard and she can help us and trusted her evaluation uh on her, you know, when she was back in Spain. And yeah, she's a darn good point guard. She is very, very smart, you know, play probably wants to pass a little bit too much for me right now. You know, I I'd like to use the expression you gotta score that thing before you can really start passing around and setting people up, you know. Uh, but uh I'd rather have that than the opposite. But uh she's the one that's probably surprised me the moment just because of that fact that you know didn't see her play a lot of point guard at Kansas. Didn't. And uh she's she's you know really surprised me as far as her point guard abilities. And that that's the one kid that I'll really point out, you know, more than anybody else. Um but they've all surprised me um you know in one way or the other, showing me something uh that I didn't we didn't pick up as far as their basketball abilities, or but you know, the the biggest thing is just the way they they work and compete. Um I'm pretty excited as as you can tell. Lena Girardi is another really good example. Um I think I don't remember exactly, but uh I think every single one but two of her shots were from the arc at Oklahoma State. You know, um she's able to put the ball on the floor a lot better than than what I thought. All right, and get be able to get to the rim. I think it's you know probably one better parts of her games because she's pretty strong. You know, Olivia Bradley, um really skilled, and that's one thing that we really pinpointed when we we recruited her was her skill level. Uh, but then you get to watch them live, you know, for those six or eight weeks. Like she's a lot more skilled than I thought, you know, a lot more skilled than I thought. She's a much better defender than I thought, you know. So just kind of those things. But I again can go down the list, you know. Filippa Barros, yeah, much again, much better score than I thought. You know, she put up really good numbers at Cal Baptist, um, but you know, naturally uh a better score. And she again, kind of kind of like Lyah, really wants to pass a little bit more than what she should right now. Uh, but uh all of them, one way or the other, have you know really impressed me. And same thing with those freshmen, you know, though the freshmen are the one that they impress you the most because you know, that first week of individuals, you can see their their heart rate going through their jerseys, you know, because they're so nervous. But as they get more and more comfortable and uh they get more, you know, understand the verbiage and understand the drills that we're doing, pick up off in some defensive things, you know, they just get a little bit more comfortable. Then you can start to see their game and their basketball abilities. That's when you're like, Yeah, that's why we recruited that kid, you know. So, yeah, pretty happy with all of them, as you can say. And the returners, I can't forget about them. You know, Kyra Evans has been really good this summer. She's worked really hard, not just in the gym, but in the weight room. You know, she's kicked it into an extra gear there. Um, you know, Ella Todd and Cameron Mafua, you know, have uh weren't weren't able to play a lot last year or hardly at all because of their injuries. You know, they've worked hard and are looking good. And then Evelyn had, you know, playing with her national team. She she had a lot of minutes. You know, Gavin got a chance to go watch her play and came back smiling, like yeah, she's having a really good summer. So yeah, again, long-winded answer to a short question there, but I warned you, be careful of some of those. You get I get passionate, you get me going and look out.
SPEAKER_01Hey, it's hey, it's it's it's good for me. That's that's for sure. And and having a you know, having an extra pass first point guard is probably the old uh you know, good problem to have for a lot of coaches.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'd rather say shoot that thing rather than pass it any day. Much easier to coach. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So obviously, one of the big storylines, you know, this offseason, uh, you know, in addition to all of the coaching that you guys have had to do, is you you know, in some ways you've had to become legal experts because of the you know age-based uh eligibility rules and and injunctions from fifth-year players. You do have some extra roster spots. Is that something that you guys are exploring at all, or are you pretty comfortable with you know the roster where it is at what 13, I think?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we're comfortable with where we're at. Um, you know, those are the one the kids that were here all summer long. And uh yeah, we're we're gonna roll with it, you know, unless, you know, can't rule anything out, seems like anymore. But uh as as we speak right now, and as you asked me that question, that's where we stand. Um and uh yeah, and and and feel good about it unless unless something changes today or tomorrow or next week, you know, which very well could happen, you know, then then we'll move on to that part and and see what we can do. But uh, you know, without talking too much, you know what could be, you know. Um you know, we we kind of understand that this is how the rules and this is how we're gonna go with it. So yeah, yep.
SPEAKER_01Well, I had to ask, right?
SPEAKER_02No, I appreciate it. And I gotta check myself every once in a while about going down a road I probably shouldn't, you know. That's right. Not that we there's really no possible areas for me to go down that road, but uh again, just one of those that I could probably you know speak my mind on a little bit more than than I what I really need to. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. All right. Well, we'll turn we'll turn here to the schedule that was released last week. Uh, I'm you know, I'm a self-provessed scheduling nerd, so I'm always kind of fascinated in you know how this comes together, right? For both the men's and the and the women's teams. You know, obviously you guys had a number of return games from home and homes last year that you had to to fulfill. Uh, but you know, just in general, what were you kind of hoping to accomplish as you put this schedule together for the upcoming season?
SPEAKER_02You know, we really did kind of fall into the schedule a little bit more than you know, than what we our original plan was, you know, for sure. Um, you know, kind of start with, you know, we added that Colorado State game late last year because you know, some unfortunate things happened, and you know, we had to scramble really, really late, and we were able fortunate to add that. You know, we had to start there, so you know, there's a home game. I why I say that is because we just some of these we just really fell into, you know, we really think that's fun about scheduling, maddening about scheduling, but also like why I like to do it because it's you know that constant jigsaw puzzle, you know, of you know what you want it to be, but it rarely does it turn out that way, you know. And it seems like as long as I've been doing scheduling, which is a long time, way back to you know, my South Dakota days, you know, the video the vision you have, what you want, often doesn't turn what what your vision is. Then after the fact, you're like, well, this is what I wanted. Why didn't I why didn't that happen? You know, um, but so yeah, we just kind of fell into it really, you know, where we were looking for, you know, at least one more, if not two more, P4 games. Um didn't matter on the road or at home. You know, obviously, selfishly, you want to start those games at home. Um, you know, but honestly, we we didn't find them and we didn't have any takers, you know, and we fell into some more games that people wanted to play here for a guarantee game. And you know, that's one thing I'm not gonna apologize. I don't think any coach will ever about you know playing at home, you know. Uh I still chuckle. I move two road trips in the non-conference, one of them was going to Boise, which you know really isn't that's a great trip. It's a you know, a really great trip for us as far as not having to be gone that long. Um, you know, so it just we obviously were looking for you know beef it up a little bit more, you know. And as soon as it one day Gavin and I are high-fiving that the schedule is done, you know, we're all partying as a staff, yeah, we got it done. And the very next day, Gavin are sitting around drinking coffee. Like, man, it'd been nice to have one more or two more D4 games, you know. That's kind of but that's how it happened, you know. And uh I like it, I do. Um, you know, and you know, really if you break it down from last year in the Big 12 schedule, you know, we have 14 quad one in two games just within the league, you know. Um and could possibly have one to two more quad two games in the non-conference game, you know, schedule. Uh, not sure who we're gonna play at the Baha Mar yet. Um, that could boost it a little bit more there. You know, they haven't released that yet. Um, so it could juice it up a little bit more for us, which it'd be nice, uh, but you know, we don't have that control. Um, so yeah, we kind of think with you know the Big 12 schedule, um, you know, the Quad One and two games that we'll be playing there, uh, you know, RPI and net should be okay. All right. And part of that is, you know, we were kind of as as some of these games were coming together, you know, one of the things that we were thinking about is you know, the the national tournament expanding. And okay, well, how how many more games of those do we really need to play? You know, that's kind of one of those unknowns that we were you know speaking about earlier, and it's not just the unknowns about rosters and fifth year and people coming back, you know. Things have changed with the national tournament as well as that expanding, and you know, will our current schedule be good enough this year to get us into the you know national tournament as a large? You know, we think it is, all right, uh, according to you know how the metrics have gone in in years previous. And so that that that came into my play as we were, you know, as these some of these games were you know coming to us and if we decided it if we wanted to play them or not. So yeah, a lot going on there for sure.
SPEAKER_01Do you have any sense or can you sh I guess the the bigger question is can you share uh that rest of that field at at the Bahamar, or is that still kind of a TBD kind of thing? That's a TBD, yeah.
SPEAKER_02It it is just because they haven't announced it yet. And so yeah, one thing I was actually prepped on as far as careful about how you're gonna answer this one because they they haven't announced it, and I don't want to get in trouble by them because yeah, we'd like to go back someday for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's that's fair enough, I get, I guess. Um, and how do you feel that you know you you mentioned those those quad one, quad two games in the league? Now you know how do you feel this is gonna help prepare the team, you know, for the grind of of Big 12 play? I mean, obviously, you know, you had some some really good wins last year in the league and then some some tough losses. You know, how do you feel this schedule is gonna prepare you so that you can crack into that you know top five, top four in the league?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that that's a good question. That's probably you know, again. And going back to you know how we celebrated the schedule, but then the next day going, yeah, probably not sure how that's gonna suit us, you know. But you know, um it's a good question, and I don't know if I can really answer that right now. I I feel confident, you know, with the group, you know, the way this group competed, that you know, it's not so much gonna be who they're playing, but you know, the way they compete against themselves and the standard of Utah women's basketball. That's kind of the sense I get with this group, you know, right now that they're not that they don't care who they're gonna match up against, you know, on a night in night basis um in the non-conference. It's about you know how how we want to play and we want to get better from every opportunity. It's not not our opponent. Uh, and I really mean that and feel that with this group right now. I do again, could be wrong. All right, uh, listened to a podcast a while ago. Uh Shaka Smart was on there and goes, Yeah, everything's great in the summer because it's peacetime, you know. And I've been saying that ever since and still laughing about it, but he's right, you know, could be wrong, you know. So, but yeah, that's always the greatest question when it comes to scheduling. And it seems like again, going back to the days where I first started this, is you know, you get done with it and you're like, I don't know, I don't know if this is gonna prepare prepares, you know. Yeah, there's just so many different ways to look at it where you know, uh what prepares your team for the conference, you know, conference grind. Yeah, there's so many different ways to look at it, and I still haven't figured out which way is right and which way is wrong. You know, I really because there's years at South Dakota or South Dakota Mines when I was the head coach and doing the scheduling, you know, even at Wyoming, we're like, we need to juice up our schedule this year, you know. In the following year, yeah, we need to dumb it down and not dumb it down, but water it down. Yeah, it just kind of worked up opposite of what we were thinking, you know. So that's what I mean by all these years of doing it. I still don't know which way is right or which way is wrong. And that's where you know again, it's just scheduling. There's no exact science to it. Um, but uh most of the years you're just happy to get it done, you know. Yeah, because I know there's still teams out there looking for games right now. So yeah, yeah. So I don't know if I'm I'm obviously not giving you a really good answer to your question, uh, but I I that comes from you know comes from our team of getting us prepared for Big 12 play and not so much our opponent. But there's still there's still some darn good teams on uh you know up and down our non-conference, you know, schedule that uh albeit that'll get our attention plenty, you know, will get us get us ready to play. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Do you uh do you allow yourself any time to breathe, or do you start focusing on you know your 2027 schedule right away?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we probably give ourselves a little bit of time to breathe, you know, maybe a couple weeks. Um, but you know, I'm always I'm always checking the websites of you know he who might be looking, who might be advertising. Uh Gavin and I, you know, meet just about weekly or talk weekly for a couple minutes of you know dates, or I heard this team is looking, you know, or you know, have you contacted this team about this tournament, you know, just kind of communication between between him and I a little bit. Um, but um yeah, you're you're probably always working, but it's not the stress of it's gonna be here coming up, you know, once everybody finishes their schedule and everybody's in the same boat again looking to you know fill dates and stuff like that. Uh but uh yeah, I'm not joking. There's still a lot of teams advertising. There's uh a team we're that we're playing at home this year and we're returning to them next year. And I called their coach yesterday about scheduling. Hey, you know, you got any ideas about when you might want us to return? And he kind of kind of cussed at me a little bit and said, Yeah, we're not even done with this year. Well, why the heck I want to talk to you about returning you know next year. So oh, sorry about that. But uh you're always you're always looking, and you know, like I said, it's kind of always thinking of ideas, you know. Um, you know, hopefully, you know, we can retain a lot of this roster next year. We will, you know, that this non-conference will look a lot different than it is this year for sure. Yeah, I can I can divulge that for sure.
SPEAKER_01All right. Do you can you can you share which which game is that return game?
SPEAKER_02Uh yeah, Wisconsin Green Bay.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay. All right.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Hopefully we get a plate and the Packers are there too. That'd be fun.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that there you go. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um find a hotel room though, so maybe we shouldn't play then.
SPEAKER_01I've just got a couple more for you here, and then I'll I'll set you loose. Um, so what would you what would you say you're looking forward to the most this season? I mean, obviously we've talked about you know the roster and and the workouts and everything, and now you're kind of in that break before you you know you really start to ramp up in late September for the season. What are you looking forward to as you get ready to take the court you know with this particular group?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, it's just it's kind of excitement for me. You know, I haven't been this excited for for a while, you know, um going into preseason. That that is nothing, you know, no ill comments towards you know teams before. You know, it's probably just me a little more juiced up than normal. Um, but yeah, I'm I'm excited about you know the tweaks we're we're doing offensively, defensively. I'm excited about that. You know, that's always fun trying some new things out, uh and seeing seeing if they're gonna stick and work. Um it's always fun as a coach. I'm excited about that. Um you know, I've I'm excited to you know just jump in and be on the court for you know longer more time with these guys and this this team just to see if you know the the four hours a week was that real? You know, was that is that how we're gonna be this season? You know, that's what I'm really excited about because I think you know Brent done a pretty good job of telling you, you know, how you know excited I am about this team overall. And so I'm just curious and excited to know, is this who we really are? You know, uh the four hours a week that we have you know throughout the weeks of the summer, is that who we're gonna be all year? And if it is, you know, we're gonna we're we're gonna have a whole whole lot of fun. You know, win or lose, we're gonna have a lot of fun because we're gonna compete, you know, and we're gonna be coachable and we're gonna be able to do things differently, you know. Um, you know, some things that we know we have to get back to. You know, we we got to be better in transition offensively. You know, we we gotta play faster, you know. Traditionally, you know, Gavin and Lynn really had it going here, you know, fast teams played fast in the full court. And a lot of that started on the defensive end, you know. You know, we gotta be a lot more disruptive defensive this year. You know, we have to cause more turnovers, we have to force teams into harder shots, you know, we gotta be more physical, you know, um stuff like that, you know. So be able to play faster, it really starts on the defensive end, you know, and then you know, play with pace in the full half court again as well. You know, so just kind of those staples where you know people have you watched you know Utah women's basketball for the last 11 years, though those staples that you know that that they hang their hat on, taking really good shots, making the extra pass, you know, those type of things. And so excited to get back to to that because that that's a fun brand, you know. It it really is. You know, uh fun fact for you here, you know. Um when I was at South Dakota Mines, uh Gavin brought us out for an exhibition game and uh played in the Huntsman Center. And I mean I remember it like yesterday where you know I they must have scored 40 points in transition, and 20 of those were Emily Potter just running hard, catching at the room and laying it in, you know. And about halfway through the second quarter, I probably called my third timeout already and said, all right, nobody crashed the glass anymore. You know, nobody crashed the glass, and uh still didn't matter. You know, we would send five back in transition, but they were just that good of running hard, making the extra pass, you know, putting pressure on the defense of scoring fast. You know, uh I witnessed that firsthand as an opposing coach, and uh, it always sticks in my mind of you know the things that they were really well known for. Um, but it starts defensively, you know. So I'm excited about you know uh being a co-defensive coordinator and just really getting that juice back defensively, getting excited to defend, um, causing turnovers, you know, deflecting passes, challenging shots, and just you know, we get a rebound and boom, we got to get out and go, you know. So individually, me, that's what I'm really excited about. Um, but uh yeah, going back to scheduling, excited that we only have to go on the road two times and not cut them two.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you'll spend a lot of time in Salt Lake this fall, right? Sure will, yeah. Yeah, uh well, I'll get you out of here on this one off the court question. Uh, I understand you're a dog guy. Uh what can you tell us about your dogs and and you know what what do you enjoy most about uh getting out with your dogs in in the Salt Lake, you know, area?
SPEAKER_02Well, I uh I'll start this with uh when Julia and I first met 19 or married 19 and a half years ago, you know, met each other probably 22 years ago. Uh each of us had a dog, so we've always kind of been you know a dog couple, a dog family. And uh rarely are we a one-dog family, most often always have two. Uh, but uh um, you know, our our whole goal in life, you know, not long after we got married, and you know, uh University of South Dakota loved it there again. Uh just you know, love the job, love the community, I great friends. Uh, but uh, you know, the uh our our weekend walks were around Clay County State Park and uh Spirit Mound, you know, which uh you know it's pretty flat, you know. So our those were the days we were traveling out here, you know, to either Colorado or Utah and going hiking in the mountains. Uh but always wanted to keep moving west. Uh fortunate to move to Rapid City, South Dakota, South Dakota School Mines, and then you know, obviously, you know, not huge mountain there, mountains there, but in the black hills, and so got good hiking there. Moved to Laramie, Wyoming, where you can hike to 12,000 feet and all other things in the snowies and the surrounding areas and uh amongst our travels. But uh yeah, we we feel that we have really reached the Mecca as far as you know doing what we love to do as far as you know, hike with our dogs here in Salt Lake City and in Utah. You know, I I love the fact, and this is again 100% truth. Uh where we live up in North Salt Lake, I can walk one block or you know, the closest is one block or you know, three others blocks away, or I can be on a trail and let my dogs off the leash and and walk, you know, and and have some fun. That's just it's what we love to do. Uh and uh yeah, uh, I don't know where you got that question from, but I should probably ask you, you know, if that was something from Corey Seo or something like that. But the pipe dream is to have a cabin and live on a lake in the mountains and you know uh a dog sanctuary, where you know that's that's what we're doing every day.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, yeah, that was another deep cut from your from your intro from your intro QA. We do our research here, you do on the podcast.
SPEAKER_02So uh real deep cutting, you know, as far as excitement from the Larson family, but uh that's what we like to do.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. We we were just up in Montana. I was taking my my daughter up to school up there, and uh we had our dog with us, and we had a little cabin for a few days, and and and really it was you know same same sort of thing where you're just able to kind of let them off the leash, and yeah, you know, you hope that they don't chase the deer that run through uh too far and and hope they don't get any rattlestakes, you know, yeah uh while they're out there. So it's it's certainly a a good uh good thing to have as a as a North Star uh for your life. That's for sure.
SPEAKER_02We were in uh uh Lake Tahoe last week during the recruiting shutdown. Uh and um yeah, speaking of having your dogs not run after you know a deer or anything like that, you know, you even if you're supposed to keep your dog on a leash on a trail, usually I'm letting mine off. But uh we were half a mile into this hike, and you know, thankfully we did have our dogs on a leash at this point, but uh about 25-30 yards in front of us wandered across uh a brown bear across the trail. Wow. You know, as much as I, you know, I'm a bad dog parent, you know. Uh admittedly, um they're they're well behaved, but I don't have them trained well enough not to chase something. But uh, if our dogs were off the leash, at least one of them I know is young enough to, you know, and not trained well enough to to chase that that that brown bear. So the uh the hiking gods were looking after me that day, making sure that we had them on a leash. So that was that was quite the thrill. I've seen quite a few bears in my my day from a car or far away, but nothing that close. And that was uh I had the bear spray in the backpack at that time, but it was on my hip the rest of the hike after that. Yeah, so pretty fun story.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that yeah, that's enough, that's enough to make you want to, you know, turn the other way and say, Well, I guess our our walk's done for today.
SPEAKER_02Well, it crossed our mind, but then I remembered, you know what the bear is probably gonna circle back, and you're you the best thing to do is sit and wait uh for a few minutes and then proceed on making sure you're yelling no bear for a good solid 10 minutes after that. And that's exactly what we did. And uh yeah, didn't didn't see our bear friend after that, thankfully. But uh exhilarating.
SPEAKER_01Uh all right. Well, it doesn't look like you're super active on on the socials, but fans uh can still follow you over on X, you're at Ryan Larson, and on Instagram, you're at Ryan Larson uh2021. Coach, thanks so much for joining me and and I really appreciate your time uh and all your you know your thoughts on the team and and the schedule and uh best of luck this upcoming season.
SPEAKER_02I appreciate the coverage, Andrew. Uh you do a lot of great things for Utah basketball and Utah athletics, and really fun. You know, it's always fun talking hoops and talking to a fellow scheduling nerd. I I enjoy it. That's right.
SPEAKER_01If you ever need any help, I'm I'm right here for you.
SPEAKER_02Respect right there. There's not many of us out there, man. So we we gotta hang together.
SPEAKER_01All right. My thanks to Ryan Larson for jumping on the podcast with me and to Corey Sue Holmes up there at the U for setting that interview up. I very much appreciate the willingness of the women's basketball program to join the podcast and help fans get to know some of these players and coaches that will be in the program that we will be rooting for this upcoming season. Okay, one last thing before I get out of here for this episode. This past weekend was the Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony. And one of the people that was inducted was Doc Rivers. Now, for those of you that don't know, Doc isn't actually his name, his name is Glenn, but he was given that nickname by none other than Rick Majeris. Here's the story.
SPEAKER_04And you got to go back to college when Rick Majaris was your assistant coach. Were you at a at a basketball camp when you wore the Dr. J t-shirt?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was a freshman in high school, and Rick didn't know McGuire. They didn't know my name. You know, they they they needed me to uh play the books were there, play the next position game for the campers. They only had nine players, and they needed a tenth player and no Maguire's as a play. And I'm sitting there like looking just like all the other kids that was done. And he pointed at me and I realized that I was done. Um and I found out after the game that Rick Major was a total man, I can't get really play. Uh, but I had a Dr. J t shirt. So I told Rick and Al 50 times. My name's Glenn, my name's that doc. Um, and they didn't want to hear it, so I just had to live with it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so anytime we can squeeze in a Rick Majoris anecdote here on the podcast, we are absolutely going to do it. And just amazing that as a freshman in high school, he wears this Dr. J shirt to a basketball camp. And Rick Majaris, who kind of famously didn't know the names of walk-ons and other things, you know, he labels him as Doc, and that has now carried him through his entire life. And he now goes into the Naismith Hall of Fame with this nickname that was given to him by our guy, Rick Majaris. But that's gonna do it for this episode of the Run and Hoops Podcast. I want to thank you, of course, as always, for listening. Please give me a follow over on X at Run and Hoops Pod and on Instagram at Runin' Hoops. Please rate, review, and subscribe to the show over on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get a podcast. And of course, you can support us and our efforts over on Venmo at Runin' Hoops. But until next time, I'm Andrew Proly. This is the Run and Hoops Podcast. And as always, no use.