oh man it's been a fun run with that dude who we call the what the insta pot the insta pot it gets hot quick welcome back to Bo Sports Nation jerem Jordan Tyler HW in the house just a couple of Ballers I'm referring to Tyler and our next guest not myself Spencer Johnson in the house Spencer senior night tomorrow man how you feeling dude feeling good it's uh kind of a crazy feeling I'm sure you remember yours yep it is crazy it goes fast doesn't it yeah it does but super excited it'll be a fun ga
me it's going to be emotional um in the are high it's the big 12 regular season finale you got to win to try and secure the best seed you can so it's not like it's just about senior night it's hey you got to get a win and hey this team beat you last time yeah no they definitely have some payback coming I mean we went down there they handed us a loss um which was kind of bad for us so definitely we're we're looking to bounce back so Spence you've had an incredible career it's been so fun to follo
w you and you mean played at multiple universities you've had to earn everything you've gotten here at BYU what what are your emotions going into senior night what what do you feeling right now um it's it's just pretty crazy like thinking back to when I first got here on campus and then yeah just like all the the the steps along the way to where we're at now is pretty crazy I mean four years um you know coming in not playing to then getting into the rotation to then starting to then finishing la
st year in the Big 12 is is pretty cool and you had the chance to kind of move on last year if you wanted but you've been here another year you you graduated you got your real estate license you had a baby I I don't think you could have been busier this G look you're in the dad gang I don't think you could have been busier this year no yeah I mean the timing was perfect like totally planned out for the middle of the year so well um but it's been great man it's been been really really great one t
hing me and my wife have talked about is like you know when you are trying to do the best you can when you're trying to you know do what you feel like God has called you to do that he's going to bless you and he's going to help you through through everything you're going through yep um so this first year in the Big 12 all these games are so intense and it feels like they they come down to the last two or three minutes and trying to close out those games uh how has the big 12 been been different
or similar to what you expected coming in yeah it's you said it perfectly like little things make the the biggest difference um and we've seen that in a lot of our games where we'll have a pretty good lead and then these teams just come storming back or teams will be have a lead on us and we come storming back so it's just just little things that end up making the difference and I think the biggest thing that I've seen the difference playing a WCC to here is just like the level of physicality um
the level of athlete just all around like everyone's really really good so it's been fun how has this team been able to bounce back from tough losses so effectively because off of Kansas State we're not thinking Yep this is absolutely the time bu goes and gets Kansas and uh you know off of what was it Oklahoma State you beat Baylor um how has it now Iowa State like that was disappointing finish right how have you guys been able to bounce back in a way where tomorrow night we fully expect you to
to win despite maybe being in a rut if you let it happen yeah uh it's just our attention to detail I think after the uh um when we bounced back and and we won versus Baylor here at home um there were some specific things that we broke down in film where we're were like hey if we fix these like two things then we're going to win this game and we did we paid super close attention to those two things and that ended up being the whole difference in the game what were those two things um it was like
it was being on the catch like when the guy catches the ball being there make sure you have a stick hand up so he just doesn't get these catch and shoot threes right and then it was protecting middle like because they would just drive us middle middle middle um so we fixed those two things and and we ended up beating Baylor uh so for this game I think it's going to be the same deal like we have to protect the middle of the floor because last time we played them they just boat RAC us down downhi
ll to the middle of the floor and the same deal just being there on the catch no catch and shoot threes all the small details I I love this stuff um so w with every every team right now you're trying to play your best basketball right especially headed into Conference tournament NCAA tournament uh how how important are these next games for you guys as a group just collectively trying to play the right way heading into uh not trying to look too far ahead I know you guys are locked into the moment
but how important is it for for you guys to just be playing the right way right now headed into uh postseason play yeah it's huge we got to start stringing some good things together and getting on a roll to head into this postseason we got one game and then it's one game at a time in the conference tournament and one game at a time in in March Madness which we hope is in Salt Lake by the way let's keep our fingers crossed that that's a thing you can hope for and and I dare say pray for uh if yo
u want it okay take me back to the moment you're at Salt Lake Community College and then now now you're here like what it took and what you felt at that time because I'm I'm sure there was uh hope but also perhaps doubt that this could happen like you're in the big you're a starter on a big 12 team that's in the top 20 yeah uh maybe naively I always thought I was like ah I'm I'm that good I can be there right but just the steps that I've taken along the way I've been super super blessed um I don
't know if I totally envisioned it happening the way it has like it's been so much better um than I ever thought but just been super blessed to to play here at BYU for these fans in this University and um this just been incredible so you are a dad now M congrats that that's a big life moment how is it being a dad it's awesome it's super fun he uh he's keeping us up at night but it's been great he's going to watch this you know 10 years from now on YouTube he's going to laugh about it so I'm call
ing you out right now get some sleep even as a 10-year-old in 10 years um and and you're calling him Joey which is his middle name Joseph yep Spencer Joseph is he a junior or is that a different middle name junior junior very cool MH what uh what went into the decision to to make it Junior and what why was Izzy okay with this oh man we were joking I was joking with the coach Fel I was like man we really want to name him kahill but she just like she wasn't having it so we settled with Spencer tha
t's awesome how excuse me how it's an emotional thing it's an emotional thing yes all this Dad stuff how are you you've got a lot going on right now and it's an important time of year how how are you staying I mean so grounded a cool calm I feel like this is the way Spencer plays on the court it's calm cool collected never rushed how how are you handling all all these things going on man um we have a really good team of psychologists that I try to meet with at least once a week and they've been
super helpful tips tricks you know ways to navigate stress and and different things like that um and yeah just just not getting too high and too low just you know come what may we're going to roll with it and uh Life's good is it Craig Manning or one of Craig yeah Craig is one of them we meet with um Dr lson uh Michael larsson's been one that I meet with pretty regularly they've been awesome and that's a huge part of the game obviously I know mental strength's been a big thing you've pushed and
it's always nice to have the guy that helped LeBron and Giannis win titles Craig Dr Craig back at BYU this year which has been pretty cool where does that sort of because because he's not like um I've talked to him uh with him about this before he's not in the I'm G to help you deal with the crap that happens he's the I'm going to make you a higher performer than you are like M like on the court you will be a better where have you seen that with the help from Dr lson and Manning this year for yo
u well they just talk a lot about like proactive confidence so you have like proactive and you have reactive reactive is like something just happened now what am I going to do about it but proactive is hey if if if this happens I already have a plan in place and so I don't have to stress about it so that's something that's like if a stressful thing happens then what yeah or even a good thing even a good thing okay like hey Spencer if you get 4 hours of sleep cuz your son has been crying all nigh
t which is a reality probably it happen like you you know make a plan beforehand that you're going to handle it X Y and Z or hey if you you know make a really big shot in a game what are you going to do right after that so just stuff like that what how what do you think the the impact of having those guys around the team cuz I know this has been a change within the last couple years what do you think the impact their focus on on mental performance has has had on the group overall it's been huge
I think most of the dudes meet with them pretty regularly which you know last year I think we tried to implement that but we really took a big push to it this year to like hey we need to meet with them we need to you know talk through things whatever um and not only us but our coaching staff as well I think has has also taken that step which has been good for everyone cuz it's high stress and it's high performance you know job that we're in so it's it's been really huge so in this studio there's
like seven people right now but when you perform there's like 15 to 20,000 so yes that I would say it's much more stressful um we hope that there's more watching but I'm not seeing them they're not reacting to things I'm doing so to that end what are some of your favorite moments of BYU let's play The Nostalgia card ahead of SE what are some of your favorite where you like I'll always remember that and hopefully there's a couple more sitting here tomorrow Big 12 tournament tournament yeah we go
t some more coming yep uh definitely the first uh bucket that I hit it was a game I guess W Westminster it was an exhibition and it was cool because they actually cut up the court and replaced the Merit Center floor but I got a piece of the floor of the three-point line oh very nice where I hit it that was pretty cool that is cool um getting a shout out from president Nelson in general conference he was talking about a comeback that was cool and you you made a shot right before halftime that he
referenced spiritual momentum go look it up really good um cool yeah hitting a a game winner against Idaho State yep super fun um the win against Kansas obviously there and I think just a little moments like on the road with with the guys and um that's probably the stuff I'll miss most is just like the little uh day-to-day interactions the relationships you create will last a lifetime with these guys which would be special and this team will never be together again every year is special right an
d so uh take it in man well thanks for coming in enjoy tomorrow night soak it in and then uh we'll see you at the Big 12 tournament man he let's go thanks guys okay Spencer Johnson on bu Sports Nation
Comments
What if SpenceJohn goes out with a 30 piece on Senior night? How epic would THAT be?