It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thorntons on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now here's Nick Coffee, two hours in with one more to go.
I cannot believe how fast the show has has gone by, not just
today, but really this week. You know what they say. Yes,
I'm about to give you the ultimate corny cliche. Time flies when you're having
fun. It is true, though, I do feel like that time does
go about faster whenever you're really enjoying something. I think it's a cliche because
it's true, which is why most cliches are in fact true. All right
again, Coffee and Company, that's us. We are fueled by Thornton's here
on Sports Talk seven ninety Nick Coffee. That is me Radio Rick Ryder alongside
today producing this afternoon. I was delighted this afternoon when I pulled into the
garage. Luke or not Luke. Your name's not Luke, you name's Rick.
It just got a text message from somebody I know name Luke, which
is why I got the names mixed mixed up. So I won't do it
again. Won't disrespect you. It's Radio Rick Ryder. But I forgot that
you were filling in today for Austin, and I saw your vehicle and it
reminded me that you're going to be here, and it's always a pleasure working
with you. Do you mind sharing with the listeners the type of car you
have, because it's beautiful. I've got a red Audi A three. I
mean it is. You know what that car says about you, Rick,
Let's say it says you're classy, says you're elegant, but you're also not
afraid to let your hair down, have some fun. It's a sporty vehicle.
You know how long you had it? About two years though, I
mean it's it's in tip top shape. So a beautiful vehicle, and I'm
jealous. Yeah, I find the drive too. Yeah, I have an
issue V which I love my vehicle. I've got a Volkswagon Atlas. It's
a nice vehicle. But yeah, cars like that are going to have to
be you know, not in not in, not in the works for me
until my kids get a little older. I got I got car seats,
I got a lot around and you know that's why I need the bigger vehicle.
But uh, yeah, I'm very jealous of that nice bright red Audi.
Is it Audi or Audi. Uh it's Audy. Okay, yeah,
see, I'm not even worthy of one of those nice vehicles because I don't
know how to say it. I think I was calling it, uh you
know, Audie. But anyways, it's an Audi and it's a nice vehicle.
So if you are driving around listening to us in your vehicle, thank
you. And just remind just to remind you that if you are, you
know, going to be getting out of your vehicle doing whatever it is you're
going to be doing here on a Wednesday afternoon, just know you can take
us with you. Listen live on the Auhet Radio app and listen live at
seven ninety Louisville dot com. So let's dive back in here to the news
of the day. I mean it's not breaking news, but Louisville is going
to be back in the a C C SEC Challenge. I guess they're going
to be making their debut in the acc SEC Challenge because they didn't play in
it last year when it was in its first year. But before we do
that, this is some breaking news that is not related to you know,
anything you would typically hear on this show. Right, it's not a sports
story. But at five thirty, So in about twenty minutes, Louisville Mayor
Craig Greenberg is set to make what is being described in the press release as
a significant announcement about the Louisville Metro Police Department. So our own Paul Miles
put that out there about fifteen minutes ago, so I'm not sure what that
is, but we will be sure to keep you updated. I don't know
if there's going to be just a press release or a press conference, and
we probably won't go live to it, but if it ends up being something
substantial, given our resources we have here at iHeart Louisville with our great powerful
news station across the Hall, news Radio eight forty WHS, we'll keep our
eyes on what that announcement is and see if we need to kind of,
you know, break in and carry that. I don't know what it is.
I've no clue, but I feel like this was kind of out of
nowhere, so we'll see all right. Back to Louisville hoops. So right
now, Pat Kelsey has a schedule that I hope, I mean, regardless
if he likes it or not, I hope he likes it. But either
way, he's going to have to play a really challenging schedule in year one.
You know, Louisville every year. I guess previously, in a different
world, they'd play a really challenging schedule in the ACC, And now that's
just not the case anymore. And I know, trust me, I don't
lack self awareness like some of you may think. When I talk about how
bad the ACC has been in basketball in recent years compared to what it used
to be. One of the factors in that is Louisville being really, really
bad. Right here, I am dog in the league for no longer being
elite like it once was. And the team that I care about and I
root for, and the team I talk about on this show quite frequently,
was dead last in that league the last couple of years. So I'm aware
of that. I know that. But let's just be real. If Louisville
ends up in a few years getting back on top, not to where they're
winning a national championship in that timeframe, but they are consistently viewed to be
a top twenty caliber team, that's not unreasonable by any means, especially when
you can consider how much things have changed. Right. This isn't like a
huge rebuild that's going to take ten years. Pat Kelsey could have a pretty
damn good team this year. In fact, when you look at the personnel,
I think he has a chance to have a pretty special first season.
Not to say it would be special in regards to like an old timer,
but I don't think it's crazy to say Louisville could be the most improved team
in college basketball next year. Now, I'm also aware that if that is
the case, it would more so have to do with how bad they were
the previous two years. But either way, Louisville could be pretty good next
year, and let's just say in the next few years they end up being
again a top twenty caliber team, and it becomes something you can realistically expect
to be an annual thing. Well, if the rest of the ACC is
not doing their part, and you just have you know, Duke Carolina continuing
to be you know, two of the better teams in the country, Louisville's
up there. Let's say I don't know, let's say Wake Forest is a
consistent tournament team. Tony Bennett's still you know, living on the bubble.
Like that's just not ideal for the ACC. I mean again, it's not
going to end the league. But the coaching changes in college basketball over the
years, really the last ten years, I think, is why you've seen
a big shift as far as which conferences appear to be not only thriving when
it comes to college basketball, but they appear to be kind of taking over.
I mean the SEC. We talked about the SEC's big change in the
last ten years earlier in the show, because when I look at the ACC
SEC matchups, which we're going to get to in just a minute, I
feel like there's a good chance the SEC wins this thing and it's not even
close. And imagine saying that ten years ago. Ten years ago, the
SEC was a joke of a league in basketball. Kentucky was dominant, nobody
thought that they weren't elite despite their league being bad. But Florida was still
pretty good because Donovan was still Thereccasionally you'd have another team that would emerge as
being pretty decent, but other than that, I mean, nobody was really
good. In fact, they were all pretty bad if we're being honest.
And now they have a crop of really good coaches in that conference, and
I know we all factor the tournament as far as how we'd view as a
season successful or not. In last year, the SEC bombed in the tournament.
Bama did make the Final four. Better than that. That was not
a good showing for the SEC in the NCAA tournament, but it didn't mean
that the league is frauds. I mean, Bruce Pearl at Auburn, like,
they're consistently going to be one of the better teams in the country,
not top five, but I mean if they mess around and make a Final
four, nobody's going to be surprised. They did it just a few years
ago. Todd Golden at Florida, He's about to be a star in the
game of college hoops. I believe Rick Barnes. I mean, I don't
think he's ever going to make a final four, but he's clearly put Tennessee
in a really good spot. And last year, if they didn't run in
to Purdue in the Elite eight, they they would have been a final four
team. Buzz Williams at Texas A and M. You know, he's not
an elite coach, but he's good for Texas A and M. Right,
he's I mean, where would he rank among the ACC's coaches. Probably higher
than he will in the SEC. Caliperry. He's still at Arkham, He's
still in the league. He's at Arkansas now. So what it comes down
to is the SEC the network was launched, they realized they had a lot
of inventory to fill with basketball games and it would be in their best interest
if that was a good product, and the money was there, and I
guess it was. I guess it was Sankee, who was the commissioner at
that time, you know, encouraged everybody in the league to make investments into
basketball, and they did exactly that. And now that league is in a
really good spot. So I don't think that the ACC is going to have
a great showing here in the ACC SEC Challenge, but we'll see. Maybe
I'm maybe I'm completely wrong. But here are the matchups. Arkansas, Miami,
Cal at Missoo, FSU at LSU, Georgia Tech at Oklahoma, UK
at Clemson, Notre Dame at Georgia, Ole, Miss at Louisville, South
Carolina at Boston College, Syracuse at Tennessee, Wake Forest at a and M
Alabama at North Carolina, Auburn at Duke Pitt at Mississippi State, Texas at
NC State, Vandy at Virginia Tech, and Virginia at Florida. So the
big matchups here are Alabama at North Carolina and Auburn at Duke. Those are
I mean, I would I mean, if you just base it off of
the ESPN preseason Top twenty five, I mean Bama's number two, Duke is
number eight, Carolina's number ten, Auburn's number eleven, So those are four
of the top eleven teams in college basketball. So those will be the really
big matchups that get the most attention. Louisville and ole Miss won't, but
it is a good matchup for Louisville. I mean, Chris Beard in year
two, they're a preseason top twenty five team according to ESPN. You get
to host them. So if Louisville's coming off some momentum after that trip to
the Bahamas in the Battle of Fortlantis, they'll come right back and play this
game. And I mean, we're not going to be in this situation we
were in in twenty twenty, which was awesome when Louisville ended up number one
in the country and then hosted Michigan who actually was maybe Michigan. No,
Louisville was number one in their first game as the number one team in the
country under Chris Mack. They beat Michigan, who was coming off of a
championship, in the Battle Fortlantis, and I think that was a top five
matchup at that time, and that was, in my opinion, the last
time that the Young Center was just on fire. And I don't know if
we're going to get that. But let's be real, the bar is low,
right, I mean, because of how bad Louis's been recently. They
if they just end up winning two out of three, easier said than done.
In the Battle for Atlantis, I think you will return home to Louisville
with a packed Yum Center. I mean, I don't want to set expectations
up too high, but I think there is a desperation level for Louisville fans
to be excited and they are right. I mean, but it's the off
season, so part of me low key kind of things, like even when
they play the lousy teams in the non conference, you're gonna see really good
crowds because the team is clearly going to be a lot better. It's a
new era. You want to be all in and supportive. So I understand
if people don't go because again, like you know, you have lives,
you have things going on, Like it's not as convenient to get nine o'clock
on a Tuesday to go watch Louisville play. You know, I don't know
EKU or something like that, but I think this first season, unless they're
just like really bad, it's gonna be a fun ride. But it is
going to be challenging because again I just mentioned Old miss as the opponent they're
going to have in the Battle or in the acc SEC Challenge. But if
you look at the rest of the non conference schedule. Last week they announced
they're going to play Tennessee. That's another top fifteen matchup. I mean,
Tennessee in the ESPN preseason rankings is number thirteen. They've got Kentucky, which
they'll them in Lexington. Kentucky's not ranked right now in the ESPN preseason top
twenty five, but I'm sure if you check other rankings you'll find him,
and I wouldn't be shocked if they're ranked when you play him in mid December.
And then the Battle for Atlantis, I mean, that is a loaded
field. It's actually not as loaded as it has been in previous years,
but you're still playing some of the best teams in the country depending on you
know, the draw you get. So we don't know who Louilvell was going
to play in this event, but here's the field outside of Louisville, Arizona,
Davidson, Gonzaga, Indiana, Oklahoma, Providence in West Virginia. So
Arizona, I mean, they're they're bringing back Caleb Love, who won PAC
twelve Player of the Year last season. Right now, they're number nine in
the country according to ESPN. Gonzaga if you end up facing them, their
preseason top five according to ESPN. So I love that this schedule right out
of the gate for Pat Kelsey is challenging. I assume he's embracing it as
well. I'm certainly gonna ask him tomorrow. So that's another reminder for you.
He's going to be with us tomorrow at three thirty on the show,
so be sure to check out the interview if you can, And if you
can't tune in at three o'clock because of your schedule, we'll probably rerack that
and play it in the five o'clock hour because obviously we typically have a different
audience at that time. But yeah, Pat Kelsey gonna be on with us
tomorrow at three point thirty. Really looking forward to it. I know he's
gonna be making his rounds doing different interviews, and he's not shot away from
interviews and his social media stuff, so he's been engaging with the fans.
But I'm gonna try my best to make this a different interview than you typically
have heard with Pat because I know a lot of people have asked him the
same kind of questions and I get it. I'm not being critical because look,
I can tell you this, I'm not listening to every interview he's doing
with other people because that's just not me. But yeah, I look forward
to having him on tomorrow and hopefully you guys will. We'll check it out
also real quick before we move on. When it comes to Louisville basketball,
I don't know if there were fans that were really worried about this. However,
there was one player who had not yet arrived to camp, and that
was Korin Johnson. He got here I think either late last night or early
this morning, so he's here, which means the entire the entire roster has
made it. So you're thirteen scholarship players. I believe they're all here.
There may be one that has not arrived just yet. But I'm but I
but I think all of them are here now because I remember last week somebody
telling me that Korin Johnson was the only one that hadn't made it to town,
as well as Kahani Russ, the freshman. He also got here earlier
this week. So they're all here all right before we get to the first
break here in the five o'clock hour. This is news that I'm sure none
of you care about, but it is something if you care about college basketball
that you might you might want to keep an eye on. Because the NCAA,
when they recently announced that they're no longer going to they're no longer going
to have any limit on the amount of times you can transfer, they also
kind of snuck something in there that I didn't know if it'd be relevant or
not, and it may not be, but again something to keep an eye
on. So college basketball players are getting an additional year of eligibility if they
were if they were deemed ineligible to compete for a season or any portion of
a season of competition occurring during, during, or since the twenty nineteen twenty
twenty academic year because of the transfer eligibility rule provided to these student athletes.
So if you transfer between two member institutions more than yeah, let me just
double check this here. And the reason I bring it up is because there's
now a player from UNLV who was a pretty good player last year for UNLV,
well, he thought his eligibility was done. He ended up going to
the Portsmouth Invitational. Not a draft prospect, but a good college player.
Well, because of this, this decision from the NS doablea. He's now
available in the portal because he got a year of eligibility added. Because he
was again he was ineligible to compete during any portion of that season or any
season since then. So I know of at least two college players who did
not play last year that because of this rule are now trying to see if
they qualify. Like you could have dudes who took a year off that.
I mean, if you're playing professional basketball overseas or something, I would imagine
you wouldn't want to do this. But if you're just kind of hanging out
because your career ended, you didn't have great options overseas, but you could
still potentially be effective as a college player, you may see guys return to
college basketball, which is kind of crazy to think about, but it could
happen because again, this young man, Keelan Boone, I mean, he's
now available in the portal. He averaged thirteen points and seven boards last year
at UNLV, So I mean, I'm sure there are plenty of programs out
there that have a scholarship or two available that we'd love to add a guy
like that. All Right, I lied, We're going to do one more
thing here before we take our first time out in the five o'clock hours.
So Jerry West passed away earlier today. And obviously I don't think I need
to tell anybody who Jerry West is one of the better basketball players of all
time. Obviously I didn't live to watch him, or didn't I wasn't around,
I wasn't alive whenever he was, you know, becoming a superstar.
But obviously he was always involved in basketball. Was an executive in the NBA
many many years. In fact, he was a two time NBA Executive of
the Year and eight time NBA champion as an executive. So even when he
wasn't playing, he was clearly very much involved in basketball and an all time
great, a legend. And I remember as a young kid asking my dad
who Jerry West was because I think i'd received I think it was like an
old here's what it was. I'm not even sure if they make these anymore,
but there used to be these magazines where you could check the value of
basketball cards, and I remember often times trying to check what my cards would
be worth, which they weren't worth much of anything at that point, but
I remember seeing like a rare Jerry West card was a really really valuable card.
And I asked my dad who's Jerry West? And you know, I
was young, so he didn't look at me as if he was ashamed of
his son. I was probably like seven or eight years old, and he
told me he's a logo. And I'm like, what do you mean he's
a logo. It's like, you know, the logo of the NBA.
Yeah, that's Jerry West. And I'm like, really, I thought it
was just some random like I didn't think. I didn't know what it was
actually a logo of anybody. And I remember as a kid, and I
think this still today, you know, roughly thirty years later, how cool
would it be to have you be the logo of the NBA? And I
bet there's kids right now that don't know that that he's the logo that they
made. The NBA made the logo of of Jerry West. So still cool
as hell. And you know, rip an all time great. And by
the way, you know he died at the age of eighty six. He
just did an interview that I heard not that long ago. I don't think
it was like the last couple of months or anything like that, but within
a year or so, he did an interview where he was responding to JJ
Reddick's comments about that era of NBA basketball whenever Jerry West played. And you
know, because at that point he was at least eighty four, eighty five
maybe, And I would have never believed he was that old because he was
still sharp. He looked great for that age. But yeah, he passed
away earlier today. So in all time great we've lost now Bill Walton and
Jerry West in the last couple of weeks. So very sad for us for
the basketball world to all time greats legends in their own right. All right,
quick break, we'll come back on the other side. I guess we'll
figure out what this announcement is from the mayor and get to the text line,
get to your phone calls. We'll mix it up here in our last
thirty minutes or so. And the state of Illinois, to my knowledge,
has become the first height the first state that I know of that is that
is going to introduce a shot clock for high school basketball. I found that
this has turned into a topic that a lot of people have opinions on,
including myself. So we'll get to that in a lot more. Keep it
locked right here with us on Sports Talk seven ninety Now back to coffee and
company fueled my Thortens on Sports Talk seven ninety so, I could totally believe
a scenario where ESPN wanted to put Louisville in Arkansas together in the acc SEC
Challenge and Arkansas Caliperi via Kinny Payne, you know, made it clear they
didn't want to do that. I could see a scenario where that's true.
I mean, I don't know for sure, and still believe that overall,
Like there aren't people looking at these matchups in the acc SEC Challenge and just
thinking, Wow, they missed a big opportunity there to really put together a
matchup that has a big storyline. Kenny Payne coming back to the YOUM Center,
you know, the following season after he was canned after a two year
run that I believe will in fact go down as the worst two seasons any
head coaches ever had at the Division one level. But you know, it
still would have been something. And I bring it up to say, there
are at least some college basketball you know, national media guys, Rob Douster
of the Field of sixty eight being one of them that has said that was
the biggest omission, that was the biggest miss for whoever put these pairings together,
because that's certainly, I mean, the storylines are there, not only
because of the Kenny Payne factor, but let's just say Kenny Payne didn't get
hired by by cal Perry cal coming to play Louisville in his first season at
Arkansas, that's a storyline, I mean. And because to be fair,
like he was super successful during his time against Kentucky's rival as their coach.
I mean, I'm going to try not to say, you know, he
dominated the rivalry, although he kind of did, but that's you know,
that's in the past. It's gonna be lowell o' miss. And I still
think of all the matchups that's that's still one of the better ones. And
I know Louisville is coming off a couple of bad years to where there aren't
many people that are gonna think much about this team. But I think you
got a chance to get off to a really good start if you have a
good showing in the Battle for Atlantis. And you know Chris Beard, I
mean, he's still one of the bigger names as far as coaches in college
basketball. The only reason is at Ole Miss is because of what happened at
Texas, and that could be a big opportunity there for you if you're Pat
Kelsey to get a to get a signature whin. I mean, Chris Mack
did exactly that. And I'm not trying to put the pressure on on Pat
Kelsey, but you know Mac, And by the way, Mac and you're
one totally different situation than what Kelsey is doing here about building a brand new
team from scratch. But it all ended poorly with Mac, right, you
know, just ended so you know it felt part quickly because he had a
good start to his career here and his first big win was taken down a
Michigan State team at the Young Center, who was a top ten team at
the time in the ACC Big Ten Challenge and that team went on to beat
Sion and Duke in the Elite eight. So you know, the vibes were
really really strong with Chris Mack in the first couple of years, and then
again in the last year and a half it just completely fell apart. But
yeah, big opportunity, in fact, many big opportunities for pac Kelsea to
uh to get some to get some early wins. And really, I mean,
the fan base is already super excited, but if he could pull off
some wins here in November and December, that would really really go a long
way. It's something we used to kind of just be accustomed to. But
I'll tell you what if if you if you do it this time around,
given the circumstances, I have a feeling it will be like this fan base
won't know how to act and I'll probably be included with that group of people
who will be just you know, over the moon. All right. Five
two f seven seventy nine is the number. If you guys want to jump
in and give us a call, we will go to the phone lines now
and welcome in. Robert. Robert, how are you, sir? Hey,
Dick, a couple of things. They what it is, they have
destroyed college and sports. I mean think that that there you can go anywhere
anytime you want to. There is no penalty. You're gonna get paid.
Now that means that you're gonna have four or five schools, do North Carolina,
Kentucky? Uh, you know a couple of anyway they're gonna be able
to buy. And now it's not even illegal. They can buy whoever they
want. It's this whole thing is it's just destroyed college sports. I mean
football, they want two mega compegens. That's what it's going to be.
You know football, you might have a little chance because of the size of
your roster where you could be a team that you know, spent more money.
But it is just ridiculous. And you know a lot of this,
I swear to me, U A. K is starting a lot of this.
Just this president to come in even I mean they set the trends with
this. They've been paying these players forever and it started with she way you
know that was before the NL or really like completely like legit. So they
give a guy who played what eight years he was forty years old. I
think when he left. They give this guy like two big dollars and they
called it n I L well n IL. Usually it's for advertising, Am
I wrong? I mean oh yeah. I mean the biggest croc here is
that it's for name image and like this. They just dressed it up as
that to pay them. Because these these companies and sometimes it's not even companies
now it's just collective where they're taking money from fans. I mean that's good.
Yeah, these guys, these guys aren't are not providing a marketing service
to anybody getting the money. Most of that was the guides. Yeah,
that was the guide that was under Okay, the big companies, and are
some of them like Cayden Cardonal that that dude. I saw some TUCKI kids
get on the with the AT and T. But the thing is Oscar.
She way did like two commercials, one for the Lectionon bank down there maybe
that place is, and the other was for a high end car dealer.
Do you think that they he made two million dollars from those two companies.
Yeah, there was. There was there was no return on that investment,
I would say, I mean, certainly some brand recognition. Yeah, I
don't think two million dollars worth of cars were sold. Sok, Hey,
Robert, I appreciate the call. My man. I'll say this. I
think the chaos and just so many moving parts, guys jumping from team to
team, it is it just it's it's hard for a lot of college sports
fans who've been following this for decades to it's just so different. But I
think when it comes to your team, and I'm talking to any fan out
there, your best case scenario is that you have success to where guys who
want to leave they're leaving because they're not They're they're not a big factor for
you. And there are guys who will leave that you won't want to leave,
but you'll have to just understand, like, yeah, they're they're not
going to be a key player because they're just not that good. And it's
still going to be tough to see guys moving in and moving out. But
your best case scenario is that you have success and you have good an IL,
meaning you have a good amount of money and now INNIL is still going
to exist, but colleges are going to start paying these guys. And again,
if you if you're a school that is not willing to max out at
the twenty two million annually that you're going to be allowed to pay all your
student athletes and every sport, it's going to hurt you. I mean some
it'll hurt more than others, but I mean you're going to have to be
competitive. Now. The fact that there's a cap it does make it to
where if everybody's paying twenty two million, then you know, that's somewhat of
an even playing field if of course you have the money. But INIL is
still going to exist to where the rich is still going to get richer.
The overall hierarchy of college sports I don't think is going to change with this
new With this new change about where now the schools are going to pay the
players, they're going to potentially be employees. Because when you get to everybody
capping out and where everybody's got like a base level pay of whatever amount of
money that the school's paying them, then INIL is going to be you know,
on top of that, it's gonna be like your bonus right like hey
here, you know, when you're considering a job, you've got your salary,
but you also, depending on the kind of work you do, you
want to know bonus structure right, you want to know what kind of incentives,
what kind of money you could really make if you do well, And
that's where innil's still going to exist. So if you are, if you're
a fan of a program, if the success is there and the money's there,
it's still going to be chaotic and you're still going to see guys moving
in moving on regularly, regularly. But you can sustain your success if you
keep the good players and you can pay them. I mean, I mean,
I can't act like this isn't weird if you'd have told me ten years
ago this is what college sports would look like, because it's just so unusual,
and college sports was the same forever. Right. The amateurism model that
the NCAA stuck with is archaic. It was archaic twenty five years ago,
if we're being honest with you, So it's different. I just am someone
that I just can't imagine not it not being such a big part of my
life. It's the like there's probably when it comes to just things I enjoy
from an entertainment standpoint that like you know, can distract me from everyday life.
It's college sports, college basketball, college football. And I'm very fortunate
to be able to have a job and a career where I get to talk
about it all the time. So you know, I'm somewhat of an outlier.
I'm kind of in the minority because despite these changes, I rarely ever
think like, uh oh, college basketball or college football is going to go
away, because you know it might. I don't know. I don't think
it will. But I don't even let my mind go there because I'm gonna
love it and watch it and consume the product no matter what, just because
I don't. I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know how to live life without
it. That sounds pathetic, but it's kind of true, all right.
So Illinois, to my knowledge, has become the first state that is going
to implement a shot clock igh school basketball. So THEHSA announced yesterday their boarded
Directors has approved the use of a thirty five second shot clock that'll begin in
the twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven season. Says here that the ISSA has
allowed the shot clock usage in specific events in the past two seasons, but
not in general competition. That's going to change after a couple more years.
Here is the quote. The overwhelming feedback we receive from coaches is that it's
time to embrace the shot clock in all varsity contests. We believe the two
season lead time will provide our schools with ample opportunity to install the shot clocks
and get comfortable with them, both from a coaching and a game administration perspective.
That is a statement from the IHA executive director. So I feel strongly
about this. I mean, I don't have any skin in the game.
I don't coach high school basketball. I clearly don't play high school basketball.
But what I would love for somebody to do is tell me why it's like,
why is it needed to make the game more entertaining? High school sports
is not about entertainment. It's not. I mean, I'm sure you've seen
some entertaining games over the years, and I'm sure when your kid plays,
you're entertained, but they're not making money from because it's not a product that
is there to entertain Again, people love it, and there's in high school
sports is such an important thing. I mean, I don't know what my
life would be like if I didn't get lost in playing sports growing up from
the time I can remember till you know, I decided that you know,
I wasn't going to be fit to play small college basketball, So it's a
huge part of I think how I developed and grew up as a human.
But it's not an entertainment thing. It just isn't. So I've heard others
say, well, hey, this will get this will get guys ready for
the college level. This will really help them get acclimated to the college level.
Do you know any high school basketball players play college basketball at any level?
A teen, ten, tiny percent. So I think what it turns
out, what what a lot of folks say is that you know, it's
going to keep teams from holding the ball, which when I played high school
basketball, at times we would play teams where we had to hold the ball,
not the whole game. I mean, we did try to do that
once and it worked out pretty well for us, but we didn't have the
personnel to get into a track meet with certain schools we play because we just
didn't have the athletes, the person the speed. So if you don't want
somebody to hold the ball and really eat up clock and be able to break
the five second count, then stop them. I mean, it's gamesmanship,
like I it's competition, like that's a if you have the ability to burn
clock without letting a team turn you over, rattle you, get you uncomfortable,
force you into a tough shot. That is an advantage you have.
And someone say, well, how's it an advantage? You're not scholl because
you're keeping that team from being able to dictate pace and they get uncomfortable if
they can't run. Teams who, of course, you know, like to
play up and down and like to full core press. So I just I
don't know that. I don't know why there's a need for it, because
again, if it comes down to it being an more entertaining game or developing
players for the next level like that, you don't make an entire change to
a state for those two reasons. And another thing that nobody thinks about,
and I'm glad that this statement did include something about that. But I have
a close friend of mine who's an athletic director, and you know, there's
no movement from an understand from the athletic directors in state of Kentucky to do
this, and I'm glad to hear that. But one of the things nobody
talks about is the logistics. I mean, you can't just think if you
have somebody operating the shot clock every single possession. You only have four instances
in a game where somebody might beat the buzzer, and it just is a
guess because you're not going to the replay monitor. At a podunk high school,
they don't have. You can't do that. So if you've got a
team that's down to the wire every possession because it's a thirty five second shot
clock, you're just going to have to hope that the refs are right that
they got it off in time every possession. Potentially, I mean, that
would be an extreme situation, but high schools don't have the resources to do
that. They can't go to the monitor to see if you got it off
in time. I mean, heck, I've been to high school games where
the scoreboard is not working, so you think a shot clock is going to
oftentimes work correctly. I mean, it's just it's it's it's just not necessary
in my opinion. But I understand that I could be in the minority because
I know a lot of people feel very strongly about it, but I've yet
to hear anybody tell me why it needs to happen. And you know another
thing that that nobody seems to really think of about is that there are certain
teams that like they're really successful because they understand, hey, we have as
system, we have a style in place that that is hard for teams to
beat us because we dictate pace and we really only give them We give them,
you know, forty percent less opportunities to score because we dominate the pace,
we control the tempo, and that gives us a chance to win.
And that may not be fun to watch. It may rattle teams who like
to run and dunk, but hey, it's called competition. Do what you
can do within the game to give yourself the best chance to win. And
for those who think like, you know this, could you know this?
This? Could you know keep getting I've heard some people act like this could
make games more competitive? No, here's the thing. There are there are
games right now with no shot clock in high school basketball where teams lose by
forty points. If the team that's up forty has to take a shot every
thirty five seconds, even when they have the third string in, you could
take forty point beat downs from that level to sixty point. And I'm not
exaggerating. I mean that would be an extreme example, but that will happen
if there's a shot clock, so it'll always going to do it. We'll
see what happens. I don't know of any other state that does it,
and I don't believe there's any movement from Kentucky to do it, and I
hope they don't do it, but who knows, maybe by the time my
sons play in high school, hoops still have a shot clock.