It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now here's nick coffee. All right, let's get it started.
Hour number two here on a Wednesday afternoon coffee and company fueled by Thornton's appreciate
you guys hanging out with us. Also appreciate the one the only, mister
Kent Spencer from WHS eleven who joins us. Now been a couple of weeks
since we chatted with our man Kent, and certainly a lot to get into.
I'll just start with this the latest. There's a new era here for
Louisville basketball. Kent. Pat Kelsey is the guy. Just your thoughts on
the search and just early impression on one Pat Kelsey, Well, my thoughts
on the search. I think you and I probably talked even on the radio,
and you know, I was pretty out of it. I hope that
they were gonna end up with a really good coach. I thought people at
some point were going to lose their minds over it not being a big enough
name for him. And I thought at some point, you know, I
didn't know when I thought the coach would win the presser and then it would
be. You know, we'll see what happens from from there on. Well,
let me say this, Ken, everything you just set up to that
point is exactly what has happened. So you were spot on. People lost
their minds, me included. But you know what, we're excited and he's
a good coach. You just got to you know, I guess, now
see if it works out. And one of the things I think he's actually
probably won over. You know, social media is a tough gauge, right,
but at least the social media part of it, he's won over the
fan base, I think quicker than I thought he would. And I think
it started with the presser. I think it started with, you know,
the opening news conference. I think it started with his energy that he clearly
has provided. And you know, at this time last week, Wolville didn't
have or we at least knew he was going to be the head coach this
time last week, but you know they didn't they didn't have any players.
They've got three. So you know, a lot has happened in just a
week's time, no doubt about it. Now. The player I mean,
there's so many roster spots open right now. Even if they were to get
a couple of guys back from the last last year's team, still many spots
to fill. But you know, speaking of last year's group, I mean,
do you get a sense that you know, I know, you were
around a lot of these guys covering this team for the last you know,
couple of years, even the newcomers this past year, just for the one
year. But do you get the sense that we could actually see an entire
new team, meaning not a single scholarship player. I mean, every one
of them's in the portal. Now. I guess there's some thought that maybe
a couple of them come back, but I mean, it sounds crazy,
but I'd say that's probably more likely than not that you do have literally an
entirely new team of scholarship players and there's not a single guy back from last
year. Yeah, And I you know, I go back to the to
the locker room in DC about what you know, like when you talk to
the kids after their final game, and do you get a sense, you
know, if I if I probably like put my finger in it, like
a sense for for some kids that that maybe they would be open to a
return. I would probably say, like Sky Clark, Brandon Huntley, Hatfield.
I don't know, you know, I know, Hunty Hatfield's kind of
narrowed his choices, and a return to Wouisville is among that, you know.
But but you know, for for a couple of guys who have been
here, you know, for multiple seasons, you know, maybe a clean
breaks the best thing for for them, sure, best thing for the program.
Just kind of move on, have a clean slate, and good luck
and good luck to you and see what happens. Yeah, I think anybody
wanting just to fresh start wouldn't be a bad look on Louisville or Kelsey would
be just completely understandable. But I do think it's odd that the team is
just an odd dynamic with the team being, you know, to be frank
just really bad. Last year they won eight games, But you know,
there were some good pieces that I think could really thrive with with Pat Kelsey
if if you had it's show. You know, I don't know this is
hypothetical, but let's just say there were two guys you could get back.
Who would you prioritize? Who would you say is maybe who do you think
could not only help in regards to talent, but that you could see really
being able to adjust to really a new world, because that's what it's gonna
be anybody that does come back. I mean, they're gonna still be going
to the same place and practicing playing at the same arena, but other than
that, it's gonna be totally different. Yeah, I mean, I would
probably say Huntley Hatfield just because I think, you know, I think he
was by far the best player on that team, and I don't I don't
think it was even close, So I would I would say him, and
maybe, you know, just just throwing it out there, maybe a guard,
maybe maybe Sky Clark, maybe you know, Tyler Johnson, just because
you know, you want bigs and you want guards. That's who that's that's
who you want, and so that, I guess those three is what I
would probably throw out there, just you know, off the top of my
head. Definitely definitely be Hh though. Yeah, he's a talented guy and
it was it was noticeable, but it was just hard to really you know,
there wasn't a whole lot to show for it as far as team success,
but man, he really turned it on. And I think he's got
every tool you'd need. Man, he can run, he's got nice touch,
good hands, good feet, you know, and we started to see
towards the end of the year why he was somebody that you know, scouts
and you know, those who cover recruiting just saw so much potential in him.
But and maybe he does come back. But obviously Yukon Inc State those
are two final four teams that, you know, I don't think anybody could
blame him if he wanted to finish his career at those two spots. But
Ken Spencer's our guest here on Sports Talk seven ninety let's switch gears to Kentucky.
Obviously, their season came to a very disappointing end in the first round
the NSAA tournament. It seemed as if the noise about cala Perry's future was
was not only loud, but real, right there was I mean, I
don't know if there was a real conversation between Mitch and cal about hey,
are we going to keep doing this? But it certainly seemed that way.
You know what we're let's just go back a couple of weeks here, right,
Did you feel this if there was any scenario that he would not be
the coach moving forward? We know now that he will be, but it
did seem as if it became real that maybe his future was in jeopardy.
There, well, I think, you know, and a prisoner of the
moment after they lost to Oakland, I was in Pittsburgh for that. I
thought that there was a very real possibility that they could fire. Now I
wasn't then like well this is over. It's it's you know, they're gonna
they're gonna get rid of him. And then as you know, you start
putting together the pieces, it's like, Okay, if you're going to fire
somebody like him, then first off, you're gonna need the money. And
you know, I have heard that they they they didn't have the money and
it wasn't even close. So that's a that's a real thing. I also
And then and then you go into who you gonna get? Yeah, and
if you're going to fire him, you better get somebody that you think is
equal or better. So who you're gonna get? How's the market? The
market? You know, and we've talked about this, the markets it's not
great this time around the cycle. You know, there wasn't you know.
And so for me, you know, to fill that job to feel,
you know, for Mitch Barnhart to go out and get somebody that he feels
comfortable with, you know, I don't. I don't know who they were
going to get, But if you're going to make a move, you better
have somebody already lined up ready to go. And it just didn't feel like
anything was in place. So, you know, the one thing that I
think that you know, Caliperry needed to do a Kentucky is you know,
I think just running it back with the same staff, with some of the
things, the same things that they have in place. I don't think that's
the move. I don't know if that's what they're going to do. If
they're going to make changes, I would imagine what the portal being open.
If you're gonna make some change, you're gonna have to do it pretty soon.
So so we'll see. But I don't think just running it back with
the same staff, with the things, with the way things have been functioning
the last couple of years, I don't. I don't necessarily think that's the
move. We're kind of in a waiting game. You know. The luxury
that Pat Kelsey has is everybody from last year's team is in the portal.
He can decide if he wants those guys back or not, and he can
go out and get a whole bunch of fresh groceries and and look, I
like that fresh groceries, that that that could be, fresh, that that
can be you know, that can be frustrating at times too, Like it's
it's it's a great luxury, but at times you still got to get a
lot of pieces. You know, with Cal, he's getting Harold roster,
but he's kind of at their mercy right like are they gonna stay, are
they gonna go? Are they gonna go through the draft process? Are they
gonna enter the portal? You know, there's there's just a ton of stuff
that that he's kind of waiting on before he could make a book. And
that can be difficult considering the amount of pressure that he has this year.
Yeah, and I hadn't thought about it that way, but that's true.
Right now, Pat Kelsey's in full control of kind of everything, whereas with
Cal and obviously there's a lot of guys if they would want to come back,
he'd love to have him, but you know, you just don't you
don't really know. And when it comes to a potential change, there's a
lot of fans who would say, well, look, yeah, we can
go get somebody that isn't the name of Cali Perry and they'll probably get us
past Oakland and Saint Peter's, and you know, I get it. You
know, obviously, the results just haven't been there for the standard of Kentucky,
especially when you consider the investment that's made for Cali Perry. But despite
the embarrassing losses in the tournament recently, he's still somebody that is a big
name, keeps you certainly relevant. Kentucky's always gonna be relevant in basketball,
but you know, he brings in the top talent every year and he's one
of those last guys left. Again, the results haven't been there lately,
but you know, he's still I think of the he's part of that old
guard right where you'd mention guys that everybody, even if you're not a big
college basketball fan, you know who this guy is. So you know,
I just think it was the feeling was there as if maybe there should just
be a divorce more so than him just you know, being canned for one
specific result, but it just really seemed unlikely because of a lot of factors.
Now, he did say he wants to get older, right, I
mean, what do you make of the portal for Kentucky because he's always relied
on freshman He's going to continue to do that. But this is the first
time I've at least heard him mentioning that you're going to have to get older.
But Kentucky, I mean, they should be the place where most transfers
just want to go. And for some reason, and maybe you have thoughts
on what that reason is, they've not really thrived at all. They've lost
guys that I feel like they could have easily had, you know there.
I mean, obviously Reeves is a really good player, and he was a
transfer, but he's a guy who was not a high level transfer when he
first entered Oscar Sheebway National Player of the Year, but that was kind of
pre portal. That's a guy who had to sit out a year. What
do you think has led to Is it maybe just not trying. I just
feel like Kentucky's one of the bigger brands in college basketball that cala Perry's always
been able to kind of get whoever he wants. But when it comes to
just high level transfers in the portal, they've not had success well. But
but now think about it, you know, like the year that they had.
They went and got Kellen Grady, who was a nice addition. They
went and got Savir Wheeler, so he has going out and got older before.
And then he went out and got Sibe who had experience in one and
one National Player of the Year that year. Now, they they lost to
Saint Peters, but you know that was you know, two of your what
three best players. Ty Ty Washington was dealing with an injury, Kellen Grady
was dealing with an injury going in there. They still didn't want to Saint
people, but you know there was some there was some factors in that team
as far as them them kind of losing down the stretch that that kind of
hurt them going to that tournament. He's done it before. But I think
that, you know, be quite honest with you, Nick, I think
we're kind of looking at a different era, like can you pay him?
Can you you know? Like who were you? Like, guys don't just
care about name brand, they care about the bag now. And you know
that was a story the other day that you know, like Kansas was going
to offer this kid like X amount of dollars. He wanted a million.
So he's going somewhere else, like that's Kansas, that's Bill self. They
had, I mean, other than the injuries hitting them this year and some
things going against them and them being thin. You know, they they've had
this thing hum in the last couple of years, and this kid chose a
different path because he wants to get the bag. So it's a harder thing
to maybe navigate now than it's ever that it's ever been, because you know,
your Kansas is your Kentucky's, you know your Duke's. They could just
they could just recruit you via you know, name brand. It's it's not
that way anymore. Yeah, And and college basketball, I love it,
but it's kind of crazy how we view things because you you reminded me just
sort of the different makeups of those two teams that bounced in the first round,
right with Kellen Grady and and Severe Wheeler and obviously Oscar in this year.
You know, they were mostly young, but of course had a couple
of really good veteran pieces with Reeves and Mitchell, Like those are really I
think two different ways to build a team, and they were both really good
teams. They just lost in the first round to like, you know,
teams that a lot of people have never heard of and I think it makes
it look as if Cali Perry has no clue how to build a roster.
Well, again, his roster was good enough to be a good team to
get a two and a three seed, but yet none of that seems to
even matter at all because of what happened in March. And again, it's
crazy. I kind of wouldn't have it any other way. But you know,
if cal Perry makes the Sweet sixteen in twenty twenty twenty two and this
year they get to you and I don't know, the Elite eight or something,
I mean, well, never know. It's hypothetical, but it's crazy
just to think exactly exactly. No, Look, it's kind of one of
those things where you know, like if you can close your eyes, look
at their year and just you know, forget about what happened in the SEC
tournament. In the NCAA tournament, they had a really good year and they
were fun to watch. They had they had great movements, and they had
a really fun team. But but guess what, like that's not how it's
judged. So yeah, the roster was fine. They just absolutely laid an
egg in the most important time. Of year when you can't do that.
So that's what you know. I'm and look I asked, I asked those
kids in the locker room afterwards, you know, and some of them,
you know, they didn't they didn't know if it was fair. But some
of them said, like, look, we're at Kentucky, like it's okay
that we have these expectations. You know, our fans expect us to go
deep in the tournament, and we when we don't, it's a failure,
you know. And look sometime soon in the let in the next couple of
years, it's Louisville basketball, Like you know what I mean, Like you're
you're, you're your fans want you to go deep in the tournament, to
make a to be in the conversation. And if you're getting you know,
bounced by double digit seeds, then you know there's there's gonna be some questions
that have to be answered, no doubt about it. All right, last
question for you, Obviously, the final four is set. I think we've
got two of the best, the two best teams in the country still left,
and that's who I think is gonna end up playing each other, Yukon
and Purdue. But how do you see this playing out, and who do
you think is cutting down the nets on on Monday, Yu Khan, easy
answer. I'm with you. I thought about I honestly thought it was I
mean, I thought it was there. There's to lose going into this thing.
I thought they were the they were the best team. It's it is
funny though, I said, if you took it before this tournament started,
I said, if you gave me Yukon and Kentucky or the field, I
would take Yukon and Kentucky because I think Yukon by far is the most consistent
best team. And I said, I don't think anybody has a gear that
Kentucky has. On the first day of the tournament, half of my picks
were eliminated, but I still had Yukon, who I think is the best
team. And so man, they just do everything so well, you know,
and whether it's offense, whether it's defense, however you want to play,
they can play that way and they'll be better. They just demand excellence
of themselves, like I have an appreciation for watching them play basketball at same
here go about the business. Yeah, Dan Hurley looks like the next you
know, all time great coach and that may be premature right now because you
know, he just has one title, which not many have even one,
But man, this doesn't look like something that's going to slow down anytime soon
for Dan Hurley up there in Nycon. Let me say this, so I'm
all you know, and I have been for weeks since the since and honestly
before the like when when m C State came to the young Like, dude,
I'm all in on DJ Burns. I have been for a while.
And the fact that nobody has put his highlights set to the nWo Wolfpack scene,
I think we have really started to struggle with all of the oh,
he's he's the star man and I can't you know it's they're not a Cinderella,
but they kind of are. But man, they've got a guy that
like a lot you know, ACC fans and those who covered the ACC.
You know, they're they're well aware of of, you know, who he
is. But man, if I feel like he's like he's the darling of
the tournament, is he not? He he is? And and to be
quite honest with you, like he's so much fun. On Monday, before
the a SEC tournament started, they had their open practice and we went up
there and went to their went to their practice, and he was just fun
to watch, like interact with his teammates and coaches. And he didn't really
do much as far as a practice that day, and it was really just
kind of like a shoot around to get to get used to it. And
and Kevin Keiths came up and and you know, we talked for a little
bit. And then I saw him again in Pittsburgh. I came out of
I came out of the media room and here comes Keats and and and DJ.
He's they're walking down the hallway and so I go up and and Keith
and I start start talking and we start going. The next thing, you
know, DJ gets in the conversation and I just flat out looked at him
and I said, I said, big man, let me ask you this.
I said, if anybody called you big sexy, put it start laughing.
Keith, Keith and we all three start laughing. And he said,
man, that was that was back in my AAU days, big sexy.
I love it. Man, He's he's the man. And I don't know
if they've got much of a chance to to to advance, but if they
do, man, the the love's only going to keep piling up for this
guy. So yeah, good stuff. Can I appreciate the time brother as
always. Uh, we'll talk to you soon, all right, man,
Hey baby, be good. All right, that's Ken Spencer. W h
A S eleven always appreciate his time. Good stuff. There, here we
go, Thank you, Austin, perfect perfect good stuff. All right.
We'll take a quick quick time out. What we're gonna do. On the
other side, Uh, we can hear. We're gonna hear from Pat Kelsey
because he is chin in with you know. I don't think he can say
some specifics about the new edition, but we know who it is. It's
James Edwards, the man they call FATS, who's transferred in from James Madison
and Pat Kelsey. You know, he's gone to social media to you know,
share some thoughts. I guess as much as he can without you know,
breaking INTAA rules. So I'll let you guys hear that. On the
other side, it's Coffee and Company. We are fueled by Thornton's right here
on Sports Talk seven ninety. Now back to Coffee and Company, fueled by
Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day. Man, the vibes have been good
ever since Pat Kelsey was introduced to us last Thursday, six days ago.
Not only did he dominate the press conference, and obviously a lot of folks
expected that to be an opportunity for him to thrive, but I think he
exceeded what everybody expected. And again, it's something new, it's it's a
new era, and I think we already have some early results. We don't
have a game, we won't have a game to watch or anything like that
for quite some time. But obviously it's gonna be a brand new team.
Essentially, maybe every scholarship, thirteen of them. It's gonna be guys that
are here from the portal. I mean that. I'd say that seems likely
right now. And he brought a couple of players with him from the College
at Charleston, which we discussed earlier this week. But about two hours ago
he landed Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Terrence Fatz Edwards, who was
a really good player for a really good team last year, who committed the
Louisville on his visit. And I don't think Louisville or Pat Kelsey can make
any kind of a formal comment about him until there's some paperwork signed again,
it's a little different with the portal because you know, there's not a letter
of intent. But obviously I think there's got to be some you know,
some type of process here that you have to go through before you can,
you know, put out a statement, put out a release stating that you've
added this young man to the program. But Pat Kelsey sharing his excitement as
he's about to board a plane and hit the road and start recruiting. But
here's what he had to say after the big news today, Cardination coach Kelsey,
Here, big day, Hel's up that you know what I'm talking about,
the five ho two circle the match campaign. But my man Rick has
stepped up and done is huge. I want to make sure I'm never delaying
gratitude and saying thank you once again. Putting us in a position to be
competitive with the biggest, a big, the best of the best, which
is Louisville basketball, is what Cardination's all about. Hey, happy hunting,
hitting the road, Hels up, go cards. Been a long time since
I heard a Louisville basketball coach talking get me fired up like that. I
mean against just words, right, but we knew all along the bar's low
when it comes to getting us excited. But this guy's exceeding it. And
I love this fan base and I mean that right. I mean, obviously
I'm a part of it, and I think if you're a part of it,
then you really do know what makes it special. Obviously lately it's I
mean there's a lot of toxicity, a lot of infighting, a lot of
division throughout the Kinny Payne era, and I'm you know, just it was
at times just man of sad. But I always chose to just believe that
that's just the product of the environment in the situation, right, there's really
not anybody specifically at FAULL. That's just as fans. We were going through
something we never thought we'd ever go through, and it, you know,
it was, it was toxic. But this fan base, man, they
care in a major way. You're seeing that with the amount of money that's
being raised through nil with a five O two circle, that's what he was
alluding to there. Rick Kieber obviously from glob Brands, who's been a big
time contributor and you know, supporter of U of L Athletics, but he's
gonna put up a million dollars. If a million dollars can be raised by
fans joining in or making donations, and right now they're over five hundred thousand
dollars. I mean, fans have donated five hundred thousand dollars plus. And
this man hasn't been on the job for a week yet, but we care
so much. And that's evident when you look at social media. Right now,
I'm on Twitter, and I'll give credit where it is due. Kyle
Spire, I believe, is how you say that he's on Twitter at the
third banner, which I believe is the name of his show, his podcast
and big time Louisville Fan, and you know they're doing the flight tracker stuff,
right, I mean he is. Pat Kelsey's getting on a plane over
there in Jeffersonville, a chartered flight, and he's hitting the road. And
it looks as if his schedule is a stop in Toledo and then a stop
in Boca Ratan, which you may wonder why he'd be going there. Well,
Deonte Maddox Junior, I believe, is the young man's name who is
transferring from Toledo. And obviously i'd say he's still there. I'm not sure
if he's from there. Yeah, I think that's his name. Let me
make sure I've got it correct here, because it's gonna be And by the
way, I need to I need to take my own advice because as I
mentioned, it's going to be really hard to keep up with with there so
many new players that are going to be on the roster. But here I
am already struggling to remember some of these guys they're recruiting that are in the
portal. But yeah, the Toledo transfer. We talked about him a little
bit yesterday and again his name is Dante Maddox junior, and he's down to
six schools, Louis being one of them, creat in Oklahoma, Xavier,
Illinois, Kansas, TCU, Michigan. It's a really good player who averaged
fifteen and a half points a game last year, and Louisvill's in the mix.
And I would say that that trip that Kelsey's making right now is to
go see him and put Louisville in a good spot to probably get a visit
from him, and then maybe, who knows, maybe he commits to Louis
I mean, Whilch with as good of a salesman as Pat Kelsey appears to
be, maybe he ends up making a decision and pulling the trigger before he
even comes to Louisville. I wouldn't say that that's likely, but you know,
wouldn't be shocked. I'm not going to doubt him just yet because within
you know, really less than twenty four hours of being on campus. That's
what happened with James James James, the James Madison transfer. I'm sorry,
Terrence Edwards Junior, so we'll see that would certainly be a big addition.
Again, this is a this is a guard, meaning Dante Maddix junior.
He's a six two junior guard who again put up some big numbers in the
MAC last year for Toledo. And then the other trip, the other the
other flight looks like it's heading to Boca and that's where fau is John L.
Davis uh just entered the portal earlier today, and I would I think
everybody just expects him to follow his coach to Michigan, which no, wouldn't
shock me at all. But again, Michigan, let's be honest, they
struggle with transfers. I mean that's what that's what really was a factor for
Juwan Howard, right, they had Terrence Shannon Junior, committed who transfer from
Texas Tech well then ends up at Illinois because of either n I L or
some type of admissions thing with UH with the university. And then Caleb Caleb
Love that's his name right North Carolina Guard, he transferred from Carolina initially chose
Michigan, but an issue with academics getting into the school that kept him from
being able to go there. And Hunter Dickinson he left because he could go
make a lot of money at a place like Kansas. So maybe John Old
Davis doesn't follow Dusty made of Michigan. Maybe he decides to go elsewhere.
And hey, I would imagine that is where Kelsey's going, meaning FAU.
And there's other guys that are transferring out of FAU as well, So maybe
it's not. Maybe it's not General Davis. Maybe it's one of the other
guys that has hit the portal for them. But h man, this is
going to be fun to watch. And you know, I don't want to
set expectations too high, and you know, and put some pressure on on
on Kelsey because you know, I don't know how timely this is going to
be, right, I don't know how how long it's going to take to
get everything assembled. But man, that guy's I mean he's working. And
as kid Spencer who joined us in the at the beginning of the hour here
mentioned, you know, this is this is he's got full control. I
mean, this is I think every coach technically has full control. Right,
you can't get anybody you want, but like you can you can get rid
of a player without like booting them off the team or I mean, like
it's quite clear guys are going to have to manage their roster and make room
for guys they want to go get. And that's just that's just the new
world that we're in now. But with Kelsey, he's not waiting around on
anybody, right, Like he's got thirteen scholarships, I guess technically he's got
ten now to use, and he's just he's going to work, going to
get players. He's not you know, trying to balance you know, hey,
do we have a room for this guy? You know? Do?
I am I going to wait on the NBA decision from this player and that
player. So again, according to the Athletic, here are the current rankings
for players that are in the portal. Terrence Edwards is the eighth best player
in the portal right now. According to the Athletic and the's see here,
number one is Tucker Devrees Deveries, the son of the Drake coach who left
Drake to go to West Virginia, and obviously Tucker is following his father there,
and then Johnald Davis is number three. Pat Haggerty, who I'm not
real familiar with, is a guard from Tulsa. He's number three. Malik
Mack, a guard from Harvard, is number four. Number five is Miles
Rice, a guard from Washington State. Canaan Carlisle is a transfer from Stanford.
He's another guard. He's number six. Kate Tyson from Belmont, a
wing he's number seven. I mentioned Terrence Edwards, who I mean Louisville right
now has the eighth best player in the portal committed to join them next year.
Number nine is Danny Wolf from Yale, and the number ten is aj
Store, who again is transferring from Wisconsin. You heard can't bring this up
during our conversation. This is a guy who apparently wanted a million dollars and
Kansas couldn't do that. They could do you know, three fourths of it,
and he decided Nope, I'm gonna keep, you know, so I
don't know if somebody's gonna give this guy a million dollars. He's a really
good player. But you know, this is just's that's where we are.
I mean, maybe he doesn't get a million and he tries to go back
to Kansas and they don't want him, so he takes five hundred k elsewhere.
But you can buy players, and that's what people are doing right now.
And for what it's worth, the Louisville the Louisville players that are in
the portal. The highest ranked guy on the Louisville side that is in the
portal is Brandon andly Hatfield, who's at number twenty two. And then from
there, I'd say the let's see here after that. I mean, I
think when it comes to the top, they have the top well, yeah,
I guess they're ranked. I mean, gosh, they're ranking them all.
I'm looking here and they've got they've got rankings all the way down to
I mean, yeah, they've got ninety eight players. I guess they're doing
a top ninety eight, which is a really weird number to do. But
yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be hectic. I'm gonna have to really
do better at remembering names on the fly, because you know, it's just
gonna be ever changing. There'll be a guy that maybe for three four days
we're talking a lot about because Louisville's in the top three to land him,
well, then you know what things move. He decides to go elsewhere.
Now it's somebody else. So uh exciting, no doubt, but it's gonna
be hard to keep up with. All right. Uh, five two,
five seventy nine hundred is the number. If you guys want to jump in
and join us, we'll get to the phone. Nnes coming up here on
the other side. Also the text line, A few different people in the
last couple of days have asked this, and that's you know, Bronnie James,
should Louisville get in the mix? Which, juck, I've got some
thoughts on that, and it's just there's no I mean, he's gonna go
to Ohio State, right, he may have already committed, but either way,
like one, that's a circus you don't want. He's not that good
of a player. But also I mean he would never go to a school
but does not wear Nike No chance? All right, quick break we'll come
back, keep this thing rolling along, exciting times. The vibes super strong
right now with this new area of Louisville basketball. It's Coffee and Company where
Piel Beth Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety back to Coffee and Company
fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day. All right, so it
looks it's like Bronnie James has let's see here. Yeah, this is crazy.
This is this is what we deal with now that you know Twitter is
now x and and there's just no real legitimate way to know. I mean,
there's a there's a Twitter account that is at Bronnie James Junior. That's
the Twitter handle, the name shown as just Bronnie. They have a blue
check mark, one hundred thousand followers. Very very misleading. But if you
just look at the bio, it says you're number one source for everything on
Bronnie James, not affiliated with Bronnie. So there's a bunch of photoshops of
Bronnie James in different uniforms, right schools he could potentially transfer to. And
this has seven point six million views on the one of Ohio State, and
you know, many people think that that's Bronnie James. It's not him one
hundred thousand people obviously. I mean it's crazy. So anyway, we shall,
we shall see where he ends up. But Bronnie James, I do
think he's a talented player. I think when I you know, I won't
claim to have watched him play a whole lot. But one of the things
that I think is a is a redeeming quality in Bronnie James is that he
knows who he is as a player, and he doesn't try to play like
his dad. He's a guy that really if he's ever going to be a
pro player and actually make an impact, it's going to be just being a
defensive specialist. And he's really good defensively, great athlete obviously, he's got
good genes when it comes to athleticism, he's got good size, he's actually
really strong, but you know, decent player in really every other regard.
But he could be a pro. And I mean that not just because you
know he's going to be a pro. We know that he's going to be
a pro because of his dad, and he'll probably be a first round pick
whenever it's all said and done. And I'm not kidding, because here's the
thing. You draft Lebron, you draft Bronnie James, you get you get
Lebron James. I mean, he is going to want to play with his
son. His contract, I believe, is already set up to where he'll
have the option to kind of opt out at that time whenever his son does
ent or you know, he enters the draft, and there'll be a franchise
that knows they're not drafting an elite guy. They'll know that Lebron James is
old. But the value you get by having one of the all time greats
on your team is something that I think a lot of NBA franchises would just
do because it's business man and you know, let's be real, the guy
is still a really good player. We've hit a weird level of the NBA,
though, where there are really really good players that put up big numbers,
but they just don't win, like you know, Lebron's. Lebron put
up a hell of a year last year with not this current season but the
season before in LA, but like they stunk. You know, he was
doing his thing hard to look at his numbers and not think this guy,
I mean, it's actually insane that at this this level, this age,
he is still playing that well, but it's just not resulting in, you
know, a whole lot of team success. So overall, if you're a
college program, is that brand boost worth it? Now? I think it's
silly to consider Brownie James at Louisville because of a variety of things. Probably,
but more than anything, Nike Lowell's not a Nike school. I mean
that man is. I mean, let's be real. Has Nike invested money
into anybody like they've invested money into Lebron James? I doubt it. I
mean certainly on the basketball side. So if it was like somewhat realistic,
I do think it'd be worth it for this reason, not because he'd help
you in a major way. I mean, he's a talented enough player to
where like he's not a guy that you would say, no, he can't
play here. He stinks. Now would he be a high impact guy?
I don't know. Certainly didn't look like he was that type of player at
USC. But Pat Kelsey, we're all super excited. Let's be real,
We're bricked up for our man Pat right now, Like he's got us rolling.
I mean, it's crazy and I mean that in a good way.
But he's not a national name that's going to bring like instant eyeballs to Louisville
basketball. It could happen once Louisville starts winning, and there's gonna be a
spotlight on him that he didn't get at Charleston at Winthrop, to where if
Louisvill wins at a high level, regardless who of who's here playing and his
personality, his flair, his energy, it's going to be witnessed more than
it ever has been at the lower level, and that could really help Louisville.
So my point is this, you know, right out of the gate,
if you could get a guy like Brownie James, and that's going to
bring more eyeballs to Louisville and maybe that's needed now more than ever. No,
no offense to Pat Kelsey, has nothing to do with him, but
it's just because Louisville has not been relevant in a long time. Like Louisville
next year, they're not going to probably be preseason top twenty five unless somehow
they end up putting together the best portal class that has ever existed in college
basketball. But you know it's gonna be probably a gradual build. Maybe they
get off to a really good start, they win a bunch of games.
They're going to be in the Battle for Atlantis, so maybe they, you
know, beat some really good teams and start to generate some momentum, and
that would be great. But maybe just because of how down we've been,
the eyeballs that would be on you with Bronnie James and the mix would be
worth it. But again, I just think it's so impossible given the fact
that the shoe company thing matters, and I actually want to get to that
coming up in the five o'clock hour, because shoe company execs are now,
you know, not as influential, because again, nil is a bigger priority,
right, Like, Hey, I wore Nike or Adidas all throughout my
high school career and AAU. Therefore I'm going to stay loyal. But oh
wait a second, this school, they were a different they were a different
shoe, they were a different brand. But man, they got more money,
they got the bag, so you know, thanks for everything, Nike.
I'm signing with Adida. It's like, you know, but again it's
different with Bronnie because of his father. So I actually think you would want
to avoid all that attention that comes with it. That just feels fluff.
It feels not you know, just feels I mean, honestly, I think
Bronnie James at USC this year it was TMZ. I mean, that's what
it was, so much attention on him. He farted in the layup lines
made headlines, right, you know, he debuted against Long Beach State and
it was a big, big deal. They lost the game, and like
nobody talked about that. It's just about Brownie. To me, it's almost
like in a weird way, maybe not a great comparison here, but you
know who the TMZ is of college football, Deon Sanders. Deon Sanders can
say everything he's saying, do everything he's doing, and be prime and it's
going to always get a lot of attention, a lot of interest, and
a lot of you know, eyeballs, and that's good for college football.
But he could keep he could keep going three and three and nine, four
and eight, and there's no accountability because again, his value to the sport
right now is not winning, at least it hasn't been yet. It's because
he's a big he's he's an entertainer, he's a big name. He brings
eyeballs and he may end up being a really good coach. But like Deon
Sanders, you know, said following his very underwhelming first season at Colorado,
that next year, you know they're in the playoff. Well, most coaches
wouldn't say that, but prime is prime, he says it. But if
they end up going six and six or something, it's not going to be
brought up like he you know, because he he's he's a you know,
he's a character, and I mean that in a good way, Like he's
a he's a guy that people care about no matter what he does. And
that's that's what happens with Brownie, regardless of like how good he actually is.
So I don't know, I don't know where he's gonna end up.
Woul say, Ohio State. There's a there's actually some some belief that he
may end up at Decaine, which I don't I mean, that would be
like that would be cool, But then again you have to keep in mind,
like the connection's not really there anymore. For those who don't know,
Decaine's coach who broke through and made the tournament this year, he was Lebron
James High school coach and he retired though, like he stepped down and they've
elevated an assistant coach and maybe the maybe the assistant coach that's now the actual
head coach of Decaine. Maybe he has connections to Lebron and you know,
Saint Vincent, Saint Mary and whatnot. Is that I think that's that where
he went to school. Yes, it sure is. So he's a kid
from Akron, just a kid from Akron. Yeah, a man Austin's He's
good with the one He's good with the one liners. I love it.
Are you still on cloud Non? Not only because our man Pat Kelsey,
but you got to play the nWo wolf Pack theme. Oh dude, I
just told you off air. I've been waiting my whole life for that.
It's it's a wrestling week, man, Russell Maney is coming up. That's
right, Philadelphia, baby. I know we're at the top of the hour
here and we don't have much time, but I do want to play this
because I mentioned it yesterday and I completely forgot. But Ryland Griffin, who
is at Alabama. They're taking on Yukon. Obviously Yukon is the jugg or
not, but this was his Uh, he's the he's I'll just read for
you exactly what is on ABC three three four oh. Here on Twitter,
Alabama's Ryland Griffin on what wrestling event would he compare to beating Yukon And this
is what he had to say, and only I mean, this is perfect
timing because Austin could tell me if this fits. And with the attention that
this video has got, I assume everybody thinks it's a great comparison. I
think Olsiman Warrior would be Hulk Hogan. Like Hulk Hogan was big dog,
he was like the highest, the big time dude, like you know around
the w WF at the time, and Ultimate Warrior came in with a bunch
of energy and beat him and he got the belt, he got the championship.
Hull Cogan was, uh, he's just laying down on the floor like
hurt and stuff. So I would say that because Ohlle Cogan's like in the
goat conversation for WWF and Yukon. They're a really really good team like that,
They're like the whole Cogan of college basketball right now. So you know,
Ultimate Warrior came in there and beat him, So I would say it's
like that, is that a good. You think that fits? Yes,
that's perfect. WrestleMania six Toronto SkyDome, The Warrior and Holkster. Yeah,
that was like the true passing of the torch and wrestling, because you know,
there's like a sort of near late eighties where a lot of people the
Ultimate Warrior was over right, everyone liked the Ultimate Warrior, but there's still
one guy on top. And when they matched up, it was the passing
of the torch. And maybe he's got a good point. You got a
hold beat of this, Austin, And I know we got to get you
a break. But next year, when we know the roster next season,
I should say we know the rosters in is put together. You know,
I'm gonna figure out if there are any players on this team that have that
are wrestling fans, and I'm gonna get you credential and you're just gonna do
wrestling comparison. Let's do it to basketball comparisons to these guys. That could
be fun. Couldn't it be good? Do it? All? Right?
We got one more hour to go and we're gonna make the most of it.
Stick around a lot more to get into as we roll along here.
Coffee and Company feelbuth Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. This report is sponsor