Runnin' Hoops Podcast
All things Runnin' Utes basketball and Big 12 basketball.
Runnin' Hoops Podcast
Episode 339: Top Transfers & Burning Big 12 Questions
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Which incoming Runnin' Ute landed on the Big 12's top transfer list? Plus, what are the burning questions for the league heading into the upcoming season, we'll discuss. And, all the latest in college hoops law and order as well as some audio from former Utah AD Chris Hill on Alex Jensen + much more!
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Alright, welcome in. Welcome back to the Run of Up Podcast brought to you by Super Chicks, the home of the Last True Chicken Sandwich. For a limited time only, Super Chicks is giving you a chance to seize the Caesar with its all new Caesar Chicken Wrap. As always, you can chase that down with their frozen custard flavor of the week. And you can find the nearest Super Chicks to you online at Superchicks.com. And remember, it's ChickswithNex.com. On this episode, one of the new Run and Youth lands on a top Big 12 transfers list. We'll let you know who. Plus, five burning questions for the Big 12 heading into the upcoming season. We'll dive in and we'll take a look at what happened this past week in the world of college hoops, law and order. A lot of movement on that front. We'll have all that and more, including some recent comments made about Alex Jensen by former Utah AD Chris Hill. 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, or subscribe to the show over on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get a podcast. We are at 83 five-star ratings and reviews. So we're getting there. I think I had a random three-star in there as well.
SPEAKER_02Erroneous! Erroneous! Erroneous on both counts.
SPEAKER_03Nevertheless, I appreciate you getting in there and rating and reviewing the show. And you can support the show over on Venmo at Running Hoops. We had a donation come in over the weekend, and it's always nice to see a little support come our way when we are least expecting it. So thank you to the donor who did that over the weekend. Well, I'm getting the episode out to you a little bit early this week because I've got some work travel here coming up on Monday through Wednesday. So I wanted to get something in the hands of everybody. There's a lot of things that happened this past week that I wanted to address before I get on the plane and head off to Texas. So let's start with some Big 12 news. Media Day will be held on October 20th and 21st in Kansas City. I am trying to decide if I can make it work to get there. Would I get my credential approved? I don't know, but it could be a lot of fun. So stay tuned to see if I can make that happen or not. Now, in some not so good Big 12 news, Iowa State will be without sophomore star Killian Torrey until January. I quote from the Cyclones release. Quote, Iowa State sophomore Killian Torrey underwent a successful surgery Friday morning for a right shoulder injury. After a successful summer session in Ames, Torrey suffered the injury, serving as one of the top 15 college counselors at Damian Lillard's Formula Zero Elite Camp. Torre is expected to return to play in January. This is an unfortunate setback for Killian, TJ Otzelberger said. He has been an important part of our program, and we're looking forward to having him back for the second half of the season. Right now, our focus is on his health and recovery, close quote. Now I had Iowa State at number four in my first pass at Big 12 power rankings this offseason. Note Torre early on certainly impacts that as he is an all-conference level player and will miss the entire fall and have to ramp up and get healthy as Big 12 play begins. That's a tough deal for Iowa State. It's a tough deal for Torre. It'll be interesting to see who those first couple of games are for the Cyclones in Big 12 play if they start them off a little bit softer because of that, or if they've got some bangers right out of the gate. Elsewhere in the Big 12, Cincinnati released its non-conference schedule, which puts us now at 10 non-conference schedules released. The Bearcats will open their season on November 2nd against American University, a proud program out of Washington, D.C. Fun fact my brother went to law school at American. So shouts to the Eagles. Other notables on the Bearcats schedule include a November 9th tilt with Minnesota, which is the start of a home and home series, their annual local rivalry games with Dayton and Xavier, the ESPN events invitational, where they will face off with Georgia and Boston College, though I don't know if that is official yet, but I believe those are the two teams they will play. We don't know which order, but it's not a traditional four-team tournament. It's just going to be two games in two days for each of the participants. And then finally, they will face Clemson on December 19th in the Heritage Bank Center in downtown Cincinnati. So five power, five games plus Dayton. I'll give the schedule a B minus C plus. Could have been better, but not bad for year one under Jared Calhoun. Calhoun's Bearcats return precisely zero players off of last year's team. So obviously he needed to add a couple of transfers, but how many of them landed on the Hoops HQ top 20 for the upcoming season? Do you like that transition? Pretty uh pretty smooth there, right? This comes to us from Kristen Freeman over at Hoops HQ. I'm going to give you the full list of 20, and then we'll very likely read a few, especially as it pertains to Utah. Now, I don't know if this is in order of importance, in order of potential impact, or what have you, but they're ranked one through 20. So I'm going to assume that these are in fact in order of what they believe to be the impact that these players are going to have on the teams that they have transferred to. Number one, Paulius Marauskis, who transferred from St. Mary's to Arizona State. Number two, D.Dan Thomas, who went from LSU to Houston. Number three, Keanu Dawes, who went from Utah to Kansas. Number four, Caden Mingo, who transfers to Baylor from Penn State. Cruz Davis, who transfers from Hostra to Texas Tech. Mohamed Sila, who transferred from Georgia Tech to West Virginia. Houston, again, on the list here. Delarico Gillespie, he transferred in from Kent State to Iowa State on the list. They get Jaquan Johnson, who came to Ames from Bradley. Draw Gibbs Lawhorn, who transferred from UNLV to Texas Tech. Isaac Seliskop, who transferred from Yale to Baylor. Jackson Holcomb, number 11, he transfers in from UVU to Utah. More on Jackson in a minute. Justin Neely, number 12, goes from UNC Greensboro to Colorado. Number 13, Finlay Bizjak, who transfers from Butler to West Virginia. 14 is Leroy Blyden Jr., who transferred to Kansas from Toledo. 15 is Riley Allenspatch, who transferred from George Mason to Cincinnati. 16 is Dior Johnson, who transferred from Tarleton to UCF. This is the rare re-return as Johnson was at UCF, then transferred to Tarleton and now is returning to Orlando. Number 17, Corey Hadnott the second, going from Purdue, Fort Wayne to Houston. Number 18, Joel Foxwell going from Portland to Arizona State. Number 19, Tylen Riley going from Tulsa to Cincinnati. And number 20, Jordan Burks going from UCF to Oklahoma State. Now, notably, we don't see any of the fifth-year guys that have been granted eligibility at this very moment on that list. Certainly a number of those guys would make the list and push other guys off of the list. So we're going to take it for what it is here in mid to late August. Still a pretty wide swath of players, though, entering the Big 12. And I believe if I did my math right, Houston leads the way here with three of those notable transfers. But again, no fifth year guys just yet. So maybe we'll see if they publish an updated list here as practice begins in late September, as the rosters begin to be finalized. But we'll go back to a couple of these transfers. Here's what he had to say about Jackson Holcomb. Quote, Holcomb was a breakout star in the whack, earning all league and all defensive honors, including a combined 3.3 steals and blocks per game. The big guard had nine games of at least 20 points, including 26 points and 13 rebounds against southern Utah. After losing all of its guards last season, Utah will look to Holcomb to fill the void. Close quote. All right, so not much that we didn't know there, but I do think that Jackson is forgotten a little bit as a playmaker. And especially since he was the first transfer to commit to Utah, and then we had all the other ones, I do think he gets a little bit lost in the shuffle. So I'm definitely excited to see how he levels up here in the Big 12 this season. They're certainly going to need him. And of course, we've got to read what he said about KD as well. Quote, in two years at Utah, Dawes averaged 10.4 points per game and 7.6 rebounds while starting 34 games. The athletic forward did produce 14 double doubles last season, including 22 points and 12 rebounds on the road at Kansas. He's now set to be a starting front court piece for the same Jayhawks, giving them a proven rebounder who can also offer some interior defense, close quote. So this is another interesting one, right? KD has gotten a ton of attention this offseason as an addition for Kansas, with many viewing him as a guy who was a good player on a bad team and feeling like now that he's with the Jayhawks, he'll just continue to improve. The metrics folks also really, really love him and think his game will translate well at Kansas as a complimentary player. But even Bill Self said this summer that they're going to need him to be at about 14 points and eight boards to have the impact that they need him to have. And none of these metrics can measure want to, which is a long way of saying I'm fascinated to see if he can live up to all the hype surrounding him in Lawrence. That is for sure. So there you go. Ranking the top 20 transfers in the Big 12, Utah lands Jackson Holcomb on the list. We'll see if the other guys can elevate their games and have people like Tristan Freeman saying by season's end, boy, I was wrong. I missed out on that one. Some former running news for you. Josh Hayes has landed at Tarleton State. That's where he will be playing next year. And Hayes is one of these guys that I am definitely pulling for at his new stop. I think they squeezed just about every last drop of what he could give. And I think that he's going to be really good and really impactful down a level or two. And so I wish him nothing but success here at his next stop. Now, let's go back to Hoops HQ for five burning questions for the Big 12 ahead of the 26-27 season. And this comes to us from Alex Squadron at Alex underscore squadron over on X. Here is his lead-in to this article. Quote, it has been a busy off-season in the Big 12, defined by dramatic roster turnover and several coaching changes. Most of the league's biggest stars from the 25-26 campaign either left for the NBA or hit the portal, but teams have managed to rebuild in impressive fashion. Ten of the 16 schools in the conference are currently ranked in the top 50 of Bart Torvik's preseason projections, led by defending champion Arizona at number three, Houston at number five, and Kansas at number 10. Since beginning play in 1996, the Big 12 claimed three national titles, 2008, 2021, and 2022. It should contend for its fourth in 2027. Below are five burning questions that will help determine the success of the league this season, close quote. All right, so there is our primer. There is our setup. Let's get to the questions. Question one: How far can Tyron Stokes take the Jayhawks? Quote. Following an up and down 25-26 season, Kansas saw most of its team fall apart in the spring. Starguard Darren Peterson left for the NBA. Starting wings Melvin Council Jr. and Trey White graduated, and a whopping seven players entered the transfer portal, including frontcourt standouts Florey Badunga, now at Louisville, and Bryson Tiller, now at Missouri. Bill Self's reconstructed roster is headlined by the number one player in the class of 2026, Tyron Stokes, a 6'7 do-it-all forward from Seattle. Stokes committed to the Jayhawks in late April, restoring hope to a disheartened KU fan base. Tyron is as versatile a youngster that I've ever recruited, Self said. He can score, he's a terrific rebounder, he's powerful and can be a great facilitator. And maybe what he does best is pass the basketball. He's had far more exposure to basketball than most kids his age and will come in here with the ability to live up to the lofty expectations that will be placed on him by others. Close quote. So as I've been preparing my second annual Big 12 preview, which will be out as we get closer to the season once we have some finalized rosters and schedules and other things, I have this as a burning question for Kansas, but not for the Big 12 on the whole. Still, I don't think anyone would argue that South Stokes and Kansas need this one to work out. That is for sure. There's a lot of uh bloom that is off the rose there in Lawrence these last couple of seasons, with some of these players not working out as well as they should have, some of these early tournament exits, etc. So that certainly is a burning question for Kansas. Don't know that I would have it for the Big 12. Let's get to question number two. When will JT Toppin return? Quote In mid-February, Texas Tech star JT Toppin, a six foot-9 junior forward, suffered a season-ending ACL injury. At the time, he was in the wooden award conversation, averaging 21.8 points and 10.8 rebounds with 1.7 blocks and 1.4 steals for a Texas Tech team near the top of the Big 12. There was speculation that Toppen might redshirt the 26-27 campaign to fully recover and preserve his eligibility. But with the passage of the new five for five rule, the big band is now guaranteed eligibility in 27 and 28, regardless of if he sits out a year. Texas Tech posted a video on social media in early July indicating that Toppin would be back on the court this season. The question that remains is when? The staff plans to exercise patience as Toppin rehabs. I would not anticipate him being ready anywhere near close to the beginning of the season, Coach Grant McCasslin told the Lubbock radio station double T 97.3 a few weeks ago. People can eliminate that from their brains. I think it will be deeper into the season, and then I just think it's going to be about when he's strongest and 100%, or not putting him out there at 90, or putting him out there when he's fully recovered. Close quote. So this question definitely finds its way into my preview, that's for sure. McCasland is very clearly trying to manage expectations here in terms of when Toppin will return. If he stays healthy, he's probably the back-to-back player of the year in the league last year. And depending on how all the fifth year stuff shakes out, they're definitely going to need him. So I do think that JT Toppin's health is, in fact, a big time burning question for the Big 12 here as we head towards this season. Question three Which mid-major transfers will thrive the most? Quote Several Big 12 powerhouses are relying on mid-major transfers to play key roles this season. After Chris Seneck Jr. left for the NBA, Houston signed former Kent State standout Del Reco Gillespie, a six'8 senior forward. On paper, the fit is perfect. Gillespie is a hard-nosed, physical big man who pounds the glass and plays tough defense. Last season, he led the nation in double doubles, averaging 17.7 points per game and 11.3 rebounds to earn all Mac first team honors. Gillespie is projected to start alongside returning forward Jojo Tugler. To replace program stalwart Tamon Lipsy, Iowa State landed another scrappy two-way guard and 5'11 junior Jaquan Johnson from Bradley, nicknamed Bully. For his bruising style, Johnson averaged 16.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 2.5 steals, and was named MVC Defensive Player of the Year in 25-26. For the Cyclones to remain a Big 12 contender and preserve their identity as a defensive juggernaut, they'll need Johnson's transition into the high major level to go smoothly. Kansas also has a lot riding on a floor general transferring up from the mid-major ranks. Six foot-one sophomore guard Leroy Blyden Jr. In one season at Toledo, Blyden earned MAC Freshman of the Year honors with averages of 16.4 points, 4.5 assists, and 4 rebounds while shooting 40.7% from the three. We felt Leroy was one of the very best scarred prospects in the portal, period, Bill Stealth said. Close quote. Also mentions a couple of guys that are heading to Lubbock. But yeah, obviously a big question in this era of the transfer portal is which guys can level up or show that they belong at the high major level. For our team, guys like Jackson Holcomb, TJ Burks, Trey Campbell, if he's eligible, and others are really going to have to contribute to this team if it wants to make any kind of leap from last season. Question four Which new coach will make the biggest splash? Quote: The Big 12 welcomed three new coaches this offseason. Jared Calhoun at Cincinnati, Randy Bennett at Arizona State, and Casey Alexander at Kansas State. Calhoun has completely overhauled the roster, bringing in a whopping 12 transfers, the most of any team in the Big 12. His portal class is currently ranked fourth in the conference by 247 Sports and features prominent names such as 6'5 senior guard Miles Colvin from Wake Forest and 6'9 junior wing Tyler Tata from Townsend. The Bearcats haven't made the NCAA tournament since 2019 and have gone 23-33 in their first three seasons in the Big 12. They are slotted at number 40 in the nation in Bart Porvik's preseason projections. Alexander joined the program after an impressive stint at Belmont from 2019 to 2026. That included three regular season conference titles. I obviously recognize that there's a long historic tradition at Kansas State with great resources and support, Alexander told Hoops HQ. I don't think you take a job at this level if you don't think you can win games and be successful. So it was an easy no-brainer. That said, K-State has mostly struggled over the past seven seasons, posting a dismal 44 and 84 league record. There is hope in Manhattan that Alexander can turn things around, starting with a revamped roster that features 10 transfers, a pair of top 100 high school prospects, and one returnee, 6'6 sophomore guard Andre Costik. In Tempe, Bennett, the longtime St. Mary's coach, has taken over for Bobby Hurley. During a remarkable 25-year run with the Gales, Bennett made 12 NCAA tournament appearances and won West Coast Conference Coach of the Year seven times. The Arizona native assumes control of a program that has suffered three straight losing seasons in the Big 12 and hasn't advanced past the first round of the Big Dance in more than a decade. His debut roster, composed of eight transfers, two international prospects, two returnees, and one four-star freshman, is headlined by six foot eight senior forward Paulus Marauskas, who played for Bennett at St. Mary's and was rated as the number eight player in the portal by Hoops HQ. Bart Torvik's preseason rankings have Arizona State at number 13 in the Big 12, but Bennett led teams have a tendency to exceed expectations. This one's interesting to me because, and you can see it here as well. There's not a huge sense from the wider college basketball media universe that any of these new coaches are going to struggle whatsoever in their first seasons in the Big 12. The closest that we have to that is Casey Alexander at K-State. But even so, there really does seem to be this sense among the national media that these guys, especially Randy Bennett, are going to waltz into the Big 12 and field a competitive team. And I'm just not so sure. Now, is that a little bit of shock from what happened to our beloved Renan Youtes last year? Yeah, a little bit, but I still think that a lot of these coaches and a lot of these teams just struggle to fully understand what it takes to win in the Big 12. And that does, in fact, take a season or two or three for some guys to figure out. Now, in the transfer portal era, that timeline should be accelerated. But again, you look at these three coaches, and I'm just not penciling any of them in to the NCAA tournament this season. More on that in a minute. And we get to our last question here. Question number five Can Arizona defend its crown without Jaden Bradley running the show? Quote Arizona retained two starters, 7'2 senior Modius Krias and 6'7 sophomore forward Ivan Karkchenkov from last year's roster, which won a program record 36 games, swept the Big 12 titles, and made it all the way to the final four. But coach Tommy Lloyd also lost his top three scorers, including his captain and floor general, Jaden Bradley. The six foot-three point guard didn't put up the flashiest numbers, 13.3 points per game, 4.4 assists, and 3.4 rebounds per contest, but few players were as important to their team's success in high pressure moments. Bradley always stepped up. He was named Big 12 Player of the Year and won most outstanding player in the Big 12 tournament after hitting an unforgettable buzzer beater in the semifinals against Iowa State. The rebuilt Wildcats, who are slotted number three in Hoops HQ's never too early top 25, have the perimeter talent to replace Bradley's production. They landed prize recruit Caleb Holt, a 6'5 wing, ranked number two in the class of 2026 per the 24-7 Sports Composite, and signed a pair of promising Power Five transfers, 6'5 sophomore wing Derek Dixon from North Carolina, and 6'1 sophomore point guard JJ Mandequitt from Washington. That group has a ton of potential, but it's young, inexperienced, and new to the Big 12. Bradley was Arizona's leader, go-to option in the clutch, and top playmaker. Who will fill those roles for the Wildcats in 26-27? Close. Now, I was pretty vocal about this at the time, but I didn't like Bradley getting the player of the year in the Big 12 back in March. I still don't like it. But since he's become a folk hero here in Tucson for leading them back to a Final Four and not the two first-round picks that the Wildcats lost to the NBA, I guess we have to address this question. And I would say that if Arizona doesn't repeat as Big 12 champions, it won't be because Bradley is gone, but rather because other teams like Houston have rebuilt and have done so with gusto and far more experience. So there you go. Five burning questions heading into the Big 12, courtesy of Alex Squadron over at Hoops HQ, at Alex underscore squadron over on X. If you have a burning question for the Big 12 heading into this upcoming season, throw it at me over at Run and Hoops Pod on X, and we'll read a few of these on the podcast here moving forward. Now, I should add the Wildcats received a few votes in Matt Norlander's candid coaches series answering the question of who will be the best team in the NCAA this season, but did not crack the top five. That distinction went to Florida, Duke, Tennessee, Yukon, and Illinois. No Big 12 representation among those five. So the one burning question that wasn't addressed was how many teams will or should make the NCAA tournament out of the Big 12. So for that, of course, we turn to ESPN's lead bracketologist, Joe Lenardi, for a little August bracketology.
SPEAKER_01That's a sick thing to do.
SPEAKER_03Now this comes to us from August 18th, so fairly recent bracketology. Arizona moved up from a two to a one. Houston moved up from a four to a three seed. Kansas also moved up from a four-seed to a three-seed. Iowa State and Texas Tech both stayed steady as five seeds. BYU moved down from a six seed to a seven seed. Shouts to all the middle schoolers out there waving their arms. Baylor stayed as an 11 seed. TCU moved down from a 10 to an 11 seed, but still comfortably in. They weren't among the final four in. So TCU is an 11, but still in the dance as we sit here in August. Oklahoma State moved down from an 11 to a 12, but stayed among the last four teams in the NCAA tournament as team 75. Cincinnati moved up from the first four out to the last four in, literally team number 76, which gives them an 11 seed. Arizona State moved down from the last four in to the first four out of the field, team 77. And West Virginia is still among the first four out, team 79, but that's up from team 80. So in that last grouping, that you know, 75 to 80 range, a lot of Big 12 representation. Now, as I said, this came out on August 18th, which was the day after Texas Tech added Donovan Atwell. But perhaps Joel Lenardi either doesn't think these recent additions move the needle for the Red Raiders or doesn't think those players will be eligible. We'll find out more about that here coming up in our Law and Order segment. Still, when you look at the seed lines here, again in mid-August, with rosters not settled, there's a clear top three and a clear competitive rest of the league with two teams lurking and a clear bottom four, which is where our team currently resides. New podcast power rankings coming out soonish. All right, when we come back, we will take a look at the latest in law and order around college basketball and a little bit of college football as it pertains to Utah. And we'll hear what Chris Hill recently said about Alex Jensen. All that coming up right after these words from one of our sponsors. Hey everyone. Well, it's hard to believe, but back to school is here. And if you've got a husband, dad, or son that you want to outfit with something fresh this school 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'HOOOS, all one word, at checkout. This is the absolute best offer out there for FlyFitTees. And with all of the money that you're spending on your back to school shopping, wouldn't it be nice to save just a little bit and have that man or as I said, man child in your life looking fresh for the school year? That website for you again is FlyFitTease and your promo code at checkout running hoops.
SPEAKER_00In 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_03Let's begin where I live in Colorado, where a federal court has issued a stay on the Colorado case that had granted a blanket waiver to anybody in the class of 2022 that was trying to get eligibility for the upcoming season. That would include, in for bid 12 purposes, Utah commit Trey Campbell and Brennan Laureate at West Virginia and Donovan Atwell at Texas Tech. After this ruling, the grandstanding begun. And we start with the following statement from the NCAA quote The 10th Circuit's decision to stay the preliminary injunction issued by a Colorado Federal District Court judge in Wisnen permits Division I to return to the status quo before the district court intervened. Effective immediately, the age-based eligibility rules will be implemented as the Division I membership intended. Class members who were allowed to compete because of the WINS injunction are no longer eligible to compete. The association will separately continue to defend our similar punitive class action lawsuits and the state court cases that have been filed by former student athletes seeking additional eligibility and expeditiously appeal any cases where former student athletes have or will be granted eligibility through separate state court rulings. We are encouraged by the Ohio Court of Appeals decision to stay the first of those injunctions pending our appeal. Institutions will not have violations for any class members who are allowed to compete consistent with the scope of the WINS injunction prior to the stay being granted, and those former student athletes are no longer eligible in the WINS injunction. Staff will continue to process any hardship waivers or season of competition waivers submitted for class members by the July 31st, 2026 deadline. Scott Barby, NCAA chief legal officer, close quote. Now it should be noted that this does not change anything that happens at the state level, but I would suspect that we're going to see a scramble of additional filings and appeals here in the next few days and weeks. Meanwhile, you know, the whole school thing is starting. Remember that whole student athlete label that some folks still want to place on the athletes that play for their school? Yeah, that continues to be a factor, school starting and everything like that. And the first coach to actually address that came from the football side of things when Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman was asked about former Irish defensive end junior Tui Halamaka, whom he says he hadn't talked to. Here's what he had to say, though quote, it's just too late in the graduate admissions process, and I don't think it would put a person in a good situation this late. School starts on Monday. To have success in the classroom and on the field, that's kind of been our stance with it, close quote. Elsewhere, two players that are involved in a state where an injunction is still good for now committed or recommitted to programs in the Big 12. Parsifala announced that he is returning to Oklahoma State. You may remember he left last season with an injury late in the year. He's trying to get back in, and Jackson Kohler, the Michigan State big man, committed to BYU. Now, meanwhile, the football coach and Provo seemingly has to hold a bake sale to raise funds that were promised to him while the basketball coach has no issues getting money. One does not impact the other, they will say. To which I will say, come on, don't be naive. But let me go back to this NCAA statement for just a second. This reminds me of, gosh, 10, 15 years ago when my childhood football team, the Washington Redskins, were in the news because folks found their moniker to be offensive. And the Washington Post came out with a poll. Now, if you know anything about the Washington Post, they have always been anti-name for that football franchise. Some people don't know that living outside of the market, but that's overwhelmingly the case. A lot of the writers for the paper over the years really sunk a lot of time and energy into protesting that nickname. So every decade or so, the Post would put out a poll in which they would survey Native Americans and ask them if they found that name to be offensive. And in 2012, I think, or maybe 2015, I can't remember the exact year, but there was a poll that came out that completely flew in the face of what the Washington Post was hoping they would find in that survey that basically said that 90% of the Native Americans that were surveyed did not find the name Redskins offensive. Now, why do I bring that up? Well, because sometimes you just gotta let things rest on the facts, right? The truth will do. I say that sometimes on the podcast. Like we don't have to dance or celebrate or do whatever. But Redskins owner at the time, Dan Snyder, who's one of the worst owners historically in all of professional sports, he would release statements that was like, ha ha, told you you shouldn't have been offended by this on behalf of Native Americans because they're not even offended. And that just furthered the desire by a lot of folks to try harder to get the name changed. Whereas if they had just let the pole just kind of sit and had not said anything, maybe the outcome would have been different. Maybe it wouldn't have, right? The climate in which the name got changed certainly was very heated and it just kind of was a confluence of things. It allowed that to happen. I'm digressing, but I bring that up to say this about the NCAA. They are issuing statements on every single one of these rulings, and I think they're doing so foolishly because their grandstanding is allowing other people, specifically NIL lawyers that stand to make a ton of money off of these fifth-year players getting, you know, two, two and a half million to go play at BYU, for example, they continue to be motivated to fight on behalf of these players. If the NCAA would just simply let these court rulings stand on their own merits and speak for themselves, I'm not saying that these other injunctions would go away. But what I am saying is that the grandstanding would not necessarily make other lawyer types on the student athlete side so vociferous in their opposition to the NCAA and create uh an environment where now heading into this week, again, where school starts at Utah and other places, it's already started in other in other places, and football starts in a week, less than a week at this point. Like there's just this, there, there's just going to continue to be lots of litigiousness. And I think the NCAA is making a mistake by issuing all of these statements. So that's my NCAA soapbox. Let's quickly move to some gridiron law and order.
SPEAKER_02Let's talk football. Let's talk football.
SPEAKER_03So, sometime last week, Jason Batico of the Salt Lake Tribune reported that Utah was suing former tight ends coach Freddie Whittingham, mostly for being a goofball, but technically for breach of contract, listing off, among other things, Freddie advocating his duties as an assistant coach at Utah, recruiting Utah players to Michigan while he was still coaching in Utah, and most notably not paying back the portion of his salary that he owed for taking a new job before his contract was up, which I think was somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000. Naturally, the reactions to this have been varied and have come from all corners of the sports universe, with most people just reading the headline and saying, wow, that is petty, or oof, I don't know, that's bad PR for Utah and Mark Harlan, or they paid Kyle how much to go away, but now they're going after poor Freddy. I mean, on the last point, at least Kyle did something for the football program during his time at Utah. Freddie, eh, not so much. Well, I hope longtime listeners of the podcast are sitting down because I stand with Mark Harlan on this one. Now, look, I'll concede, it can't be easy to be the Frank Stallone of Utah football. It has to be tricky to be the Roger Clinton of the Utes. It's no small thing to be the Don Swayze of the modern era of Utah athletics. It must be difficult to be the Stephen Baldwin of the Whittingham family. I'll grant you that. However, when every other coach who leaves fulfills his obligation to the university on his way out the door and doesn't act like a doof in the process, then your attempt to be the hamburgler of Utah football is going to have a much brighter spotlight on it, especially when you, you know, recruit players who are on the team to go to another team when you are still employed by the first team. Also, not to get political here, but he just sort of sounds like one of these guys that Trump would have in his crosshairs. And I don't mean 2026 Trump. I'm talking about 2015 Trump, when he was first in the Republican primary and coming up with clever nicknames for his rivals like Little Marco, Low Energy Jeb, Lion Ted. And I submit to you for your consideration the following. There he goes, off to Ann Arbor, Freddy the Freeloader, Freeloading Freddy. That's right. Come here for the hoops talk. Stay for the killer Trump impression. Okay, well, we've gone off the rails here a little bit. So let me get us back on track with the guy who once upon a time hired Kyle Whittingham, which ultimately led to the arrival of Freeloading Freddy, Dr. Chris Hill. Now I've been working my way through Chris Hill's book, and I hope to have a full review here on the podcast in the not too distant future. And I would love to talk to Dr. Hill on Ye Old Podcast if anybody can help me make that happen. But absent that, I'll have to settle for him talking to other people. So about two weeks ago, Dr. Hill joined Spence Checkets on the drive over on ESPN 700 for about an hour. And per usual, he had some great stories to share. They were talking about the coaching traits of the great Utah coaches, including Rick Majaris, Urban Meyer, and Kyle Whittingham, with Morgan on the periphery. And Spence asked Frisk Hill if he thought Alex Jensen had some of those same traits as a Rick Majaris, an Urban Meyer, a Kyle Whittingham, or a Morgan Scally. Take a listen.
SPEAKER_01Does Alex Jensen uh uh demonstrate the same traits from your your knowledge? Because we we we've looked as I continue to say, Al's my guy, friend of the show, friend off off air as well. My sister-in-law and his wife are like best friends. So I love and care about Alex Jensen as a person. So when I cover the team, it's laced with the desire to see him do well. I didn't think it was gonna be great last year, but it has to be better this year than it was last year.
SPEAKER_02It has to be. Um Alex stopped by the house. Uh oh, better we could do that. We talked for about an hour or so. And, you know, to get back to your question, you know, he's smart. He obviously knows how roles are important, he understands that real well. The uh the question is, is he gonna be like get the players? You know? And and I I think he will if he has the financial support. Uh and I think you all those intangibles he has in terms of that. So um if he can get the players, which is always a name in the game, man. Kyle would say that with every interview he had, but uh I think Alex can identify talent, and if he can buy them. I saw Kyle Whittingham when he's back for two weeks on vacation at the pool when he was with his grandkids, and he said, uh I said, How's it going? He goes, Oh, great. Of course that's what you'd say. And uh he said, Chris Adams said no to anything. I said, Kyle, have I had another 150 million in our checking count off either. But really, the reality is now for I think I mentioned this before, you got a guy if you can identify talent, you know, the the you know, the Mike Doldiak's or the Alex Jens, Alex Smiths, and those people, and a tile can, and they just buy them. Yeah. It doesn't matter if he's we said it doesn't matter if he's ever been met a high school coach in Illinois ever. Yeah. He goes in near to Illinois, Carbondale, and finds the best running backs in sliced bread, right? Walking to Michigan, and here's what you pay. Yeah, yeah. What the hell?
SPEAKER_01He doesn't have to know anybody. You know, it's funny, I I was at Rick's camp when he first saw Doliak. Uh we we we were at the camp together, we're the we're the same age. I remember um Mike walked in and you know Rick saw this because I I don't think he knew much about him prior to the camp. And he saw him and just saw his size. But I can remember being at camp with Doliak and not thinking he was ever going to be able to play because he just didn't know how to play. No, he didn't start till the single year in high school. But Rick did uh I mean, uh and Mike deserves the credit for putting in the work. I mean, he ended up playing in the NBA for a number of years, and when I first saw him play, he looked like a baby deer. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, it's amazing what happened. All right, so a couple of interesting things there. We get the whole he's you know Spence's guy, and Spence wants him to succeed, as do we all, but we also get an acknowledgement, I think for the first time from Spence, and I think Dr. Hill agrees here, if ever so subtly, that as bad as it was last year, it can't be that bad again this year, which, as we've covered here in this offseason, the college basketball commenting media seems to believe it will once again be that bad for the running mutes. But here's a couple of things that Chris Hill said about Alex that I wanted to highlight and talk about for just a second. He's smart, he understands the roles really well. But is he going to be able to get the players? He can identify talent, but now he's got to be able to buy them. Also, he had the interesting anecdote about Kyle, who, you know, is kind of persona non grata in Salt Lake for many folks these days. I mean, his brother is now for sure, but just the whole idea that recruiting used to be about relationships, and now it's about how much guys can get paid. Then we get the Mike Doliak anecdote from Spence, which, if you want to hear Rick's side of that, check out my reading of My Life on a Napkin. That's a shameless plug for you new listeners from last summer. But man, I'd love to hear Mike's side of the story as well. Mike, if you're listening, open invitation. Okay, so that's two open invitations issued on the podcast, Dr. Chris Hill and Mike Doliek. But back to the things that Dr. Hill said, Alex understands roles. He wants guys to play on his team, he can identify talent, and of course, he's got to be able to have the financial support to see that vision all the way through. So you project that forward to this year's roster that Alex and Wes Wilcox have put together. And it certainly makes me wonder how he's going to bring all of these pieces together as a cohesive unit to improve on last year's 10 win season. Because at a place like Utah, more than other schools, I think that kind of thing is really, really important. And like Dr. Hill, I've got a great grasp of the obvious, but it really is going to be about how this group of players, international, freshmen, returners, and transfers come together in a very, very short period of time and whether or not they're able to execute against Alex's vision. Now, he had a vision for last year's team, but you know, like I said, I think on my previous episode, you had three guys basically quit and Balakar Fay got hurt. So the team wasn't even really able to get off the ground to see what it could really actually become. So I hope that this season we get a little bit more of Alex and West's vision as it pertains to the Run and Yudes roster. But that's going to do it for this episode of the Run and Hoops podcast. I want to thank you as always for listening. Please give me a follow over on X at Run and Hoops Pod and on Instagram at Run and Hoops. Tell your friends, please rate, review, and subscribe to the show over on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get a podcast. Of course, you can support the show over on Venmo at Run and Hoops. To all students that are listening to the podcast, first of all, great job. You're off to a great start in life. But second, best of luck this semester as you begin school, especially friends of the podcast like John Leone, who's doing a great job. He's killing it with his Utah coverage, and guys like HD U and others who follow the show as well. Best of luck to everybody who starts school this week. But until next time, I'm Andrew Crowley. This is the Running Hoops podcast. And as always, go use.