It's time for Coffee and Company. Fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety
Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think when we are get
off our show. Idiots, the kids are playing or trail off. The
countries are screwing it up. Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother gold Play Inner
Murals. They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not. Who's
the kid here? Who's the kid here? Are you kidding me? Now?
Here's Nick coffee. Only time will tell how good or bad this three
hour radio show is going to go. We got three hours and we're gonna
try to make some magic here. But I will say, as we get
it started here, I already feel like I've won today because there's something like
there's something about I should say, challenging yourself. And it wasn't really like
a challenge. I laid out like, Hey, let's see if you can
get it done. But I texted John about thirty minutes ago and I was
like, hey, should be okay, but you never know. I might
be a little late coming from a doctor's appointment, and I thought I might
have enough time. But again, there's more people in Louisville than there usually
is because we've got the PGA Championship going on. I mean you never know
which I mean, you could literally have bad luck with red lights in downtown
Louisville if in fact, you know you have to like go four blocks five
blocks, which sounds like a lot, but it's really not. And if
lights aren't on your side, you're doubling or maybe tripling the amount of time
it will take you to get somewhere. I mean, I'm not exaggerating with
that, am I I think that's fair. But ever since I started going
the same Catherine route, which I've talked about before on this show, yeah,
I hardly ever get burned by lights anymore. And it's because and that
is, there's no doubt in my mind, if you put it in your
ways your GPS, that would actually probably be a longer trip as far as
the amount of distance you're driving, But because of lights, it's the way
to go. So I was coming from I had to go seventy one to
whatever that exit is. As soon as you're right in front of the bridge
and you are so Muhammad Ali something like I All I know is that when
I get off of an exit I end up like right behind them center.
So long story short, it was. It was tricky, and I've already
already feel like I have a win for the day because I thought we would
be like I thought I might have to start the show on the phone.
But we got here, we got situated, and it makes me happy.
So let's get it started, ladies and gents. It is Coffee and Company.
We are fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety Nick Coffee.
That's me the company man, John all In alongside today as we take you
up until six o'clock. No guests scheduled today, which is a little rare.
We usually don't get to Wednesday without anybody. But the two people that
I've asked to join me this week have just not been able to make it
work. So maybe we do that tomorrow, maybe we do it Friday.
But we don't need them. I mean, we appreciate him. Anybody that
is like a you know, a regular, there's a reason for that because
they contribute to the show. They get the show, they provide what they
say, what they call analysis opinions, and we need that right because I
mean, you don't want to hear me for three hours straight, do you
And that's why I'm letting you guys know if you want to join us,
you can five O two five seventy nine hundred is the number. If you
want to give us a call, you can text in on the ln N
Federal Credit Union text line five O two six five three zero seven ninety.
We had a loaded, loaded five o'clock hour yesterday with phone calls and I
thought to myself, I wonder what really generated that, and I think it
was just by me saying, hey, phone lines are open if you guys
want to join us, and it happened. So again, I try to
make this show as interactive as possible, and again we'll keep it rolling today.
So plenty of ways for you guys to be a part of the show.
I know I've mentioned this throughout the week, but I'll mention it once
more. I will be gone next week. I'll be on vacation full week,
so uh, you know you won't have me, but you're gonna be
in good hands. We've got the company man himself kind of quarterbacking the shift
that is three to six pm Drivetime Radio, and then Tuesday and Wednesday it's
Scott Fitzgerald correct, correct, and then Tony and Dave on Thursday Friday that's
also correct. So look, I I'm I'm gonna say this and because I
just want you know my good my boss, Gus Allen. I mean,
he's he's he's one of like three bosses that I you know, that I
report to essentially, but he's he decides what's gonna happen on Sports Talk seven
ninety and that that matter that that you know clearly when I go, when
I go on vacation, what we do He and Jim Finn they figure out
what what's what's gonna happen? And I am so relieved. And I mean
this like, no, maybe none of you guys care about this, but
if you ever wanted to, you know, hears some behind the scenes stuff.
This is this is what I would call that. When I used to
go on vacation, they would just throw it in national meaning you wouldn't hear
it. I mean, it would just be I'm not even sure who's on.
I'd be Doug Gottlieb, No is he is he? I think it's
him. Yeah, I mean I know he's on Sports Talk seven nine,
and I know he's on Fox Sports Radio's lineup. I don't really know what
what showed what Tom Slot obviously Cowherd's from noon to three. It may be
it may be Gottlieb, and then after that is it Cavino and Rich Yeah,
that's after us. Yeah, so it probably is Gottlieb. So you
know, and look clearly he's I mean, he's all. I mean,
there's many many markets across the country that don't have local uh sports radio programming.
So therefore, like Doug Gottlieb, like love him or hate him,
Fox Sports thinks he's good enough to where he's on in a bunch of cities.
So it's not like I'm saying our you know, national sucks. But
I always hated knowing that it was gonna be now because it just it.
It sucked for me, and I would go on vacation and try not to
think about work. But I'm like, hey, well if people just get
used to this national show with no local flavor at all, like a lot
of people, even if these guys are brilliant when it comes to like and
I'm sure I'm not I'm not surprising a lot of you, but like national
shows in this market don't do well as far as like listenership. I'm sure
they have some people that really like him. In fact, there's probably somebody
thinking right now, damn, I wish you guys would go national all the
time, get you local hacks off the airwaves. But nobody else is talking,
you know, about what's going on around here other than local shows in
this market. So I want to thank us, Allen, because now when
I go on vacation, like I know whoever it is, if it's John,
if it's if it's Scott, or they're doing Tony and Dave, like
it's it, you know, And I can't promise those guys are gonna be
phenomenal. I mean, they may be better than me. I might get
Wally pipped and they just realize, you know what, Nick, you had
a good run. But we're gonna we're gonna leave Scott Fitzgerald in here.
He's great. And I'm a little worried about that because you know, one
thing, we know, Scott's gonna give it his best. That's the man.
He is the man. But like, don't be the man too much,
Scott. Whenever I'm whenever I'm out. But I used to be on
vacation and like think, man, well, they're gonna you know, it
would it would take a while, and I don't know how much the numbers
the analytics are really worth when it comes to how we gauge listenership, Like
you can get everything with digital, but as far as like terrestial radio,
there's no way to know at any point, like how many people are listening,
so you know, you have your journals and then you can use the
stuff. But we do have a good ability to you know know listenership with
you know stream And every time it would happen like it would take a while
to get people back on board because you know, you didn't have it for
a week. And I know that whenever there's going to be some familiarity,
right like people that you clearly hear on our family of stations here at Ihart
Louisville, it's it's great. So I'm glad to know that, like they're
not just going to throw it to a national guy whenever I'm gone, because
it didn't used to be that way, and because I'm you know, somebody
that is just obsessed with you know this and always wanting to be able to
do this for as long as I can. You know, I would be
on vacation where I should be relaxing and not thinking about work, and I'd
be thinking, Okay, well, you know, I bet it'll take me
two months to get the listeners back because you know, out of sight,
out of mind, right, Like this may surprise you, John, But
there are people who listen to the show, but like if they're not,
they're not thinking about it when they're not listening, you know what I mean.
Like that's fair, so say they may try something else. And I
think part of it too, is like when you come into these off season
months anyway, and they do drop off during that week when you're gone,
they may think, well, there's not really anything going on, and they
get used to that week that you mentioned, and so it is tough.
I don't want people to forget about me. No, that's what it comes
down. I don't forget about Coffee and Company. I hope, I hope
not. And I hope that one day every time that I'm not available to
do the show, rather it be vacation or I don't know, a sick
day or something like that, that it is you, the company man himself
that runs that runs the show just got to grow the nass. Well,
you you've already. I mean, you've kind of mean you did it while
I was out on Thursday. It's the base for taking care. But but
that's something and I and I won't put words in your mouth. And I
don't even know if I've asked you this directly, but I said beforehand,
just doing that and kind of you know, throw into some best ofs just
kind of again quarterbacking the the shift there, like once you do it and
you realize, hey, this isn't that difficult, like you you probably felt
much better after the fact, right, Yeah, that's true. Do you
mean that? Are you just saying I know, I'm dead serious. Okay,
it's it's one of those things where getting enough reps with it and then
maybe adding some things to it here and there. I think that'll help me
get used to it. Yeah. So I wish it was you the whole
week, but hey, Scott Fitzgerald's gonna do a great job. And I'll
chime in with Scott. He's a great yeah, yeah, and it'll it'll
you know. I'm just a little worried about Tony and Day not not worried
about him, because clearly they they they've held down this this ship this time
slot on seven ninety for I mean they have they haven't in a while,
but when they did, I mean, they had a great run. But
you never know, I mean Venetti, he's always a wild card. I'm
always you know, I'm always a little worried about what he's going to do.
But anyways, let's let's dive in, shall we. So there's a
lot to get into today. But what I'll do after our first break now
that Louisville has added Case and Pryor, and you know, the moment Minim
continues to well, I shouldn't speak to momentum because momentum would indicate that they
have more guys on the way they're about to get and I don't know if
that's happening or not. I hope. So I think there's you know,
there's some there's some meaning truly Donovan. I was gonna say some people,
but it's really truly Donovan, who continues to be adamant that Louisville has already
had a great portal hall so far, and they're not done yet. So
what I want to do is lay out best case scenario for the rest of
these three scholarships, because I think in my opinion, because in my opinion
is best case scenario is not like some far fetched thing. I think it's
actually maybe not probable, but like it's of the three scholarships that are left,
I think you could land three guys that right now, nobody would say
that, like, wow, that's a shocker that you landed one of these
three. I mean Cason Pryor was that guy. I mean, he was
always connected to Louisville. But I'm willing to gamble money if this was something
I could gamble on. The way this played out was that as soon as
Osabor was off the board, they were able to go at someone like casein
Pryor a little bit differently than they had before because of money that they didn't
have to spend with Osibor. And look, you could probably you know,
I you know, you never know what agents and players really feel like they
deserve. Because I still think that if I'm a player that is a you
know, a good like if I maybe I don't think I'm gonna get two
million from Washington like Osibor got, but also I would think like, well,
if I was thinking to myself, I'm getting eighty k now I'm gonna
get more than that because this guy got two million, and like he might
be a little better than me, but not by much. So we'll see.
But I feel like avoiding whatever the price tag actually was that Louisville was
willing to pay for osibor, I feel like the money you saved by not
doing that might be a scenario where you could end up literally getting the three
guys that you want here. So we'll get into that coming up after this
first first break they have here coming up in about five minutes or so.
Also, this is there's never anything entertaining, at least that I can remember
that comes from the ACC Spring meetings. However, this situation is a little
bit is a little bit different because you have the ACC Spring Meetings going on
and the you know, two of the bigger brands in your conference, Clemson
in Florida State, like they're suing the conference, the conference is counter suing
them, Like this is far from normal, and the dynamic there is just
weird. But also the leader of the Atlantic Coast Conference, his name is
Jim Phillips, and I remember seeing Jim Phillips. Hearing Jim Phillips for the
first time. It was a few years ago back at the ACC Football Media
days in Charlotte, And obviously I knew that they had replaced Swafford with Jim
Phillips, but I, you know, I didn't. I wouldn't have been
able to pick him out of a lineup, and I didn't know a whole
lot about him other than he came from being an athletic director, I believe
it Northwestern, prior to be being the commissioner here. And I remember sitting
at Radio Row. They'd started the you know, the I guess the what
do you call it? The the State of the Union essentially right where he's
talking before you know, he essentially kicks off the event where he talks.
And this was the first time he'd been in that position, right, it
was his first year. And I couldn't see him from where I was,
from where they had us set up. He was in like the ballroom about
I don't know, twenty yards across from me, and I couldn't see the
podium. But we ended up just picking up the live feed of him talking,
you know, you know which, by the way, like when you
were at an event like that, you feel like like that's what you should
do, you know, because you're there for the coverage. But man,
Like, now that I can reflect a little bit, I'm thinking, like,
man, everybody was like snoozefest, turning this off, like who wants
to hear this? But anyways, I remember thinking like, man, you
know what, I don't know a a lot about this guy. But I
don't. I don't really, I don't really sense a whole lot of that's
the right word to use. I'm going to instead of throwing one out there
that would make me look like a fool even more than I typically do.
Like he just didn't have it as far as like owning a room right,
like holding court, like conveying leadership qualities right. Sometimes when you have somebody
like that, you know, in that position, just hearing them kind of
say what they're supposed to say but say it in a way can kind of
put you at ease. And he didn't do that. But you know,
I didn't. You know, at that time, I'm thinking, you know,
who cares? This guy's kind of boring? You know what, a
lot of commissioners across college sports, they're probably pretty boring guys when it comes
to speaking in those kind of situations. But I remember being unimpressed, and
since then, at every step Jim Phillips has been unimpressive. And some of
the things that I want to share with you guys that have happened at these
meetings that are going on, which honestly, I don't even know what it
is, Like, what do they do just get together and chat? Like
I honestly don't know what the conference likes. I mean, what gets done?
Is it just a pow wow? Is it just to kind of share
thoughts clear the air on some things? Like I don't really know what actually
happens when these meetings take place. But there's a little more tension on this
than there usually is because of the ACC's weird situation with Again, they're two
bigger brands in the conference suing the league trying to get out of that grant
of rights. But there are some things I'll share with you that Jim Phillips
has either said or just some things that have taken place that you probably won't
believe. You're gonna think I'm making it up like this guy, Like the
ACC has its own problems, and to be fair to Jim Phillips, the
ACC financially is in a spot that he had nothing to do with the decision
from Swafford to lock in till twenty thirty six, in what two thousand and
eighteen or something, twenty and sixteen, whenever it was, Nobody does that
right. That's insane to not account for the fact that, you know what,
money could be a lot different in even four or five years. So
they're locked in and everybody else in every other league is going to continue to
have more revenue. And that's a big problem. That is the biggest reason
I think why you see Clemson in Florida State trying to get out. And
I guarantee you none of them said it, but we all know it.
Every single athletic director slash president at these meetings knows that if they somehow got
an invitation to the Big Ten, to the or to the SEC, they
would take it. Now again, they may not be able to because of
the deal they're locked into and what would be owed to get out of the
grain of rights. But the ACC has issues that really don't have a whole
lot to do with anything Jim Phillips did. But when you're looking to hear
something that tells you this guy is a leader, He's going to get this
figured out. We're in good hands. He's got it. Jim Phillips gives
me zero confidence that this the league's gonna be dead soon, I think so.
I hope that's not the case, but Louisville will land somewhere. And
again, I wish I could match the energy that some have about the conference
affiliation. You know, I'm you know, Louisville not being you know,
Louisville going to like the American or something like that would be a disaster,
right, or maybe the ACC becomes something that's not the ACC and it's just
the leftovers that wouldn't be ideal. But you know, here's one thing I
can tell every fan. We can't control it. We have no control.
There's nothing you could do to make any impact on where Louisville would land if
this league blew up. So just you know, we'll see what happens.
Right, Also, we can we all just agree. And I'm talking to
Louisville fans here because you know, and maybe I shouldn't say this, but
like I it's just a pet pee for me going back and forth with Kentucky
fans and just with you know, any college basketball fan about transfer portal rankings.
I mean, the inconsistency at every outlet. And that's not really a
knock on the I mean, it's tough to know, like what you like,
you know, how you truly value a guy that's coming from the mid
majors and where he's going, because there's some that look at you know,
like you can honestly unless you're just like a very irrelevant program that doesn't have
like the ability to just go grab a big name in the portal like a
Boston College or like a Vanderbilt or something like that, if you're somebody that's
in in the top of the food chain here. And I don't mean like
the elite of the elite, like right now you've got clearly Yukon who's running
college basketball, but like, if you've done decent in the portal, Let's
put it this way. If you've done decent in the portal in college basketball,
and John, I know you know this too, you can find one
of these rankings that makes you feel justified that your team did the best.
Yes, you know what I'm like, it's just not consistent, which you
know again, I actually I actually like that in a way because it's it's
telling me that these they're not copy off each other. Just to all look
like they're on the same page. You know, you got somebody that has
Terrence Edwards Junior as one of the top ten players that entered the portal.
You have somebody that has him in the seventies, Umar Bollo the number one
and on three, and I believe in one of the other ones he's like
forty. Yeah. I mean, it's just so I just can't you know.
I sometimes people want me on the text line to kind of like,
you know, get into the weeds with fans of mostly Kentucky fans about like
Louisville's class being better. But I just like, again, like it's just
nobody knows. We had a caller yesterday that said something that is pretty obvious,
but I needed to hear it, like nobody has a clue how good
of these guys are going to be. Like there are plenty of guys who've
transferred that you thought would be great, that were all right. There were
guys that you never heard of, like that team that landed such and such
transfer didn't get a big note, Like they didn't get a big bump like,
oh wow, can you believe this program got this guy to transfer in?
And then you look at the end of the season they were, you
know, all conference. So I do love that we get free agency season
and you have the chance to really change everything just by adding guys in the
portal. But like I just I can't. I can't fake it that.
I'm like, yeah, eat that, Kentucky fans. Once you go check
out the Athletics Transfer portal rankings, we're number one and you're number eight.
Because it's like again, you can find whatever you want to make you feel
whatever way you want. All right, don't go anywhere. It is Coffee
and Company. If you want to join us on the show, you can.
Five O two five seven seventy nine hundred is the number to give us
a call. Text line five O two sixty five three zero seven ninety it's
the L and N Federal Credit Union text line. Again, this is Coffee
and Company, and we are fueled by Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven
ninety some really sad news to share that is just tragic. Former Louisville kicker,
in fact, one of the better kickers that's ever had the position at
Louisville, John Wallace, has passed away at the age of thirty one.
No details are our public or have been provided, and I'm not sure if
they're going to be. But went to Central Hardin High School just south of
Louisville in e Town, and you know was I mean not only was he
a really good kicker, he was somebody that did it during a phenomenal run
for Louisville football that I will always remember. I mean, I've talked about
it before. The Charlie Strong era at Louisville football was so monumental as far
as timing great success. A lot of players that we all remember because of
the success in because they went on to have careers in the NFL. But
yeah, thirty one years old, he has passed away. I know he
was working in Louisville for a corporation and just really sad. He played from
twenty twelve to twenty fifteen, so the majority of his career was under coach
Strong, but he did play for Bobby Vatrino. My belief for actually maybe
a year, maybe two, but yeah, four straight Bowl appearances with him
is with his help, including that went over Florida and the Sugar Bowl,
which I still maintain is the most monumental when Louisville Football's had in my lifetime,
probably ever, but he had two field goals in that game. Wasn't
needed a whole lot because the offense was rolling in that victory. But he
was sixteen to twenty one in that year and made ten of his first eleven
kicks to start that season. His only miss was a fifty seven yard attempt,
which of course was big. But what I remember about John Wallace was
against Cincinnati in overtime at that time. You know, rival Kegan nails right,
and I believe Brian Kelly was still there at that time. I could
be wrong, but I think it was Brian Kelly still, unless my memory
is just off, but either way, it went overtime, close game.
I remember they were all white uniforms and he was raining, but those white
uniforms looked phenomenal. Devonte Parker had a big game, but it was a
thirty yard field goal from John Wallace that gave them the victory walk off,
if you will, thirty four to thirty one in overtime. So he still
holds the record at U of L with sixty six field goals made during his
four seasons, and he's it's just so young, thirty one years old.
So condolences to his family and obviously to the Louisville football family. Just really
really sad. All Right, we'll try to gracefully transition here. It is
coffee and company, and we are fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven
ninety. If you want to join us on the show, phone lines are
open again five o' two five seven one seventy nine hundred if you want to
give us a call, and if you want to text in good text line
going right now as we uh as we get it started here five o't two
sixty five three zero seven ninety. It's the l it's the Ellen and Federal
Credit Union text line, and as you likely know, members get more at
Ellen NFCU. You can learn more open your account today at LLNFCU dot com.
All right, so I promise you I'm gonna get to one of these
questions in a second, because it's a good one. But I'll start with
the best case scenario for Louisville as far as the rest of the roster.
Right now, they have ten players and three more are are hopefully going to
be added. Right I still think when you get down to that last spot,
it really just kind of depends on what you're selling there, right,
Because when you've got one spot available and everybody that you've brought in is somebody
that is coming from a different program where they've already played and had a role,
I just think that's a tougher sell. But again, if it's somebody
that's young and is willing to take a you know, an attractive NIL situation
and wants to play for Pat Kelcey and is willing to buy some time,
then you know, sign them up. But I think, and I want
to be clear here, I'm not like I don't follow this stuff as closely
as some others. I follow it as best I can. You know,
I'm somebody that you know does check out the truly Donovan discord, But like
I don't, you know, I don't have but to be honest with you,
I feel better with that said, because I don't think that there are
many insiders, even those that cover Louisville specifically, that have had any kind
of a leg up on the one one and the only Trillie Donovan, but
the latest on Ugo Ugana and Yinso the transfer from Kentucky. He is going
through the NBA draft combine and he has to my knowledge like zero zero buzz
for the draft, which is understandable. But Louisville and North Carolina appear to
be the schools that are, you know, the threats here. Right he's
still listing Oklahoma, Mississippi State in Alabama, but I believe on three Sports
is the one that said that. It's the quote here from Joe Tipton and
on three two schools that I view as legitimate threats here are Louisville and North
Carolina. So you know, you just added a big and you can play
case in prior at the five, but he's more of a natural four,
and I think you're still going to see lineups where they do play him at
the five and it's just playing small ball. And obviously still have James Scott,
who I think is a true five, rim protector, rim runner,
good athlete. But you know, if you could add another guy like Ugo,
that would be I mean, that would be a nice addition, especially
when you're getting into your pasture. You've already added ten guys. Now I
know one won't play because of actually two won't play because of red shirting,
and that's the two Ali Khalifa, which again I'm still I still don't know.
I still think there's a chance he might actually end up not red shirting,
but we'll see. And then obviously Kobe I got it wrong yesterday.
Was it Kobe Rodgers? Yes? I think yeah, from from was who
was a I mean I didn't I knew of that guy because he obviously was
one of Charleston's better players last year, but I didn't know his story.
I mean, that's Pat Kelsey lost some dudes to the portal after they had
a phenomenal season in twenty twenty three. Well he had to go back to
the portal and and and replace those guys, and one of them was Kobe
Rodgers, who was a Division two national champion and from Cincinnati where Kelse is
from, and brought him in and he was a key guy. So anyways,
if you could add Ugo, I mean, at this point, I
because you've because you just got Case and Pryor it's not as I mean,
by the way, even if you didn't have Case and Prior, I think
you would still take Hugo just because you need more players at that position.
We did have somebody on the text line who sent in the and that's where
I'm referencing from By the way, somebody sent a screenshot of the Joe Tipton
right up about Hugo, and you know, Louisville, Carolina kind of believed
to be the leaders there, and they reminded me that they hope he wasn't
listening that day, that you know that. I I don't think I was
mean to him. It was more about nil in general, right, Like,
he can't control what the market is. But a guy who you know,
played in twenty four games last year and averaged four points and three rebounds
for the market value to be three hundred thousand dollars. I mean, come
on, like what and to be fair, like, if Louisville's got nil
money currently to use and they got they got to spread it out as best
as they can. However they choose to get three more guys. I mean,
if Ugo is like the most, I mean, I I don't.
I don't think he's that big of a necessity. I would take him,
and I think he could be a good rim protector, not an offensive threat
by and he means unless he really, you know, really improves, but
he did. He did have the longest wingspan at the NBA Draft combine,
so you know, you're you'd be adding an elite rim protector with really good
length. But yes, I would, you know, I would, I
would say this. I hope he would never make a college decision based off
of what some loudmouth on the radio says. But yes, that just kind
of I don't I remember thinking like, what are you doing? Why you
while you're railing on this kid. He mean, he's probably not even gonna
come here, but he just to see the stat line and know that he's
being shot for three hundred k like it just did. It's insanity. So
he would be given where you are, in my opinion, a really nice
like one of your final pieces. Noah Waterman, I've not heard a whole
lot since two days ago, and man, that doesn't sound like a long
time and it's not. But man, things move so quickly, especially in
the portal. So he's a six' eleven four who can shoot it again.
Transferred into BYU last year averaged nine and a half points five and a
half board shot at thirty eight percent from three. I mean, not only
is he another interior player that you need he play, he fits the system
very well and it sounds like he's already kind of high on Louisville from some
previous conversation somehow. I don't know if it was tampering or what, but
one of the big factors is that Ali Khalifa, his former teammate at BYU,
is already in the mix here at Louisville, and it sounds like he's
doing his best to help them recruit. So the last scholarship, if it
goes to Kahani Ruth's the four star, top forty kid from the twenty twenty
four class freshman to be. I believe that that is your best case scenario.
I believe that that would be a thirteen thirteen man roster, all put
together, all new guys that I would sit back and say, look,
we'll have to wait and see. We have no clue how it's all going
to work, right, We have no clue. I mean, it's the
ultimate unknown. I think that's actually the best way. I mean, I
think that's the most accurate way to kind of describe the debut season for Pat
Kelsey. But I'm not gonna hammer on that because that sounds negative. That
sounds like you have already have doubt and I don't. But you have a
brand new coach that is coaching thirteen players, some of them have played before
him before, but like your key guys are not guys that came from Charleston.
So I mean, it is the ultimate unknown. We have no clue
how it's all gonna work out. I mean, I think it could work
out great, and I'm going to continue to believe that because I love the
personnel. They've had it at this point and they're not done yet. So
again, if that's how it ends up finishing. By the way, all
three of those things happening are not unrealistic. They're not you know, they're
not. It's not something that you would say, wow, like I can't
believe that happened, right, So you know, with that said, it
could happen. And I think fans would have to look at Pat Kelsey's first
offseason as he just got the job and say, job well done. Doesn't
mean it's gonna lead to you know, a tournament appearance doesn't mean it's gonna
lead to a bunch of wins. But I would be very very encouraged and
and and excited. And I'm already excited. I think they've already done a
great job. But if it ended up finishing with those three. I mean,
I would say, I don't know if you could have done much better.
I don't know if when he got hired, I could have said,
he, you know, would have done anywhere close to that good. And
I know I've already got a couple of people that have mentioned Nick what about
Coleman Hawkins that I guess that would that would potentially be a better scenario,
because he's really good. But I just don't I don't think that's I don't
think that's that realistic. If so, that'd be great, But I think
landing case in Pryor would is gonna make it tough. I mean, I
think, honestly, those two guys are the same player. I mean,
clearly, i'd say, you know, I'd say the better defender overall is
Prior. The better rim protector would be Hawkins. Hawkins is a better shooter,
but I think the better athlete is Prior. So I just think it'd
be tough to see him want to prioritize Louisville meaning Hawkins, now that they've
added Prior. Look, I think somebody had him ranked as like the seventy
eighth best transfer, which you know, who cares. We'll never know actually
where these guys fall in line when it comes to players that enter the portal.
But I think the schools that were in on him really tell you the
value there and what you're getting, right, I mean Rick Bettino at Saint
John's who By the way, I didn't realize this. He really needed that
kind of a piece for his team. Arkansas and Caliperry they were in.
I guess Villanova kind of faded away a little bit, but that was a
big get for Kelsey, no doubt. All right, quick break, we'll
come back on the other side. Keep this thing rolling along. Get to
the text line. Some good stuff coming in. If you want to give
a call, you can do that too. A lot of people call and
hang up. Like if you would have called John and just talk to him,
I'll give you his number. Now. I do know people do want
to call some time and just like hey, I want to go on the
air. But I wanted to tell you this. In fact, we had
everybody breaking the neuce to us that case, and Pryor committed yesterday. So
if you want to talk to John, I get it, But like,
come on, I've got an ego to maintain here. If you guys want
to just call and talk about producer. What am I doing here? All
right, let's go to the lenn Federal Credit Union TEX line five O two
six five three zero seven ninety. This is good question, says Nick.
Of all the players that have transferred out many are staying in the ACC,
who is it that you think could potentially give us the most issues? So
I think the obvious answer would be in C State if you're talking team,
just because Mike James and Brandon Huntley Hatfield could end up being productive. I
mean, I don't know a lot about what Kevin Keats is bringing back,
don't know exactly what he's done in the portal, But Mike James and Brendon
Huntley Hatfield especially, those are guys that I think we're nowhere near like a
reason why Louisville sucked under Kenny Payne. Like, I think those gys are
actually pretty talented, especially Hatfield. He really came on late, and I
was very surprised, very surprised that he didn't get more like he was not
at any point that I saw somebody that was like a high value guy in
the portal. And I get it because Louisville sucked and as we've discussed.
When it comes to how Pat Kelsey has put together his roster. You want
to go get guys who have a have are familiar with winning, right,
They've been a part of a culture, they've had a buy in to make
their program that they played for successful and unfortunately for BHH, like that's just
I mean and Mike James, I mean that that just didn't happen. So
talent levels there, but I think those two guys are good dudes and are
hungry as hell to win because they've not done it here at Louisville. Huntley
Hatfield had some success at Tennessee, but he didn't play a whole lot down
the stretch there before he transferred. So you know, I think those guys
could be you know, could be good for Kevin Keats and you know Louis's
gonna have to play. And we know that one name that I that I
talked about last week, and I guess I haven't discussed it on the show
since it happened. But like Tyler Johnson was as quiet as can be as
anybody in the portal, never heard anything about visits which schools are involved.
I mean, it was it was silence and over the weekend he committed to
Wake Forest to play for Steve Forbes. I think Tyler or if everything works
out, And what I mean by that is like academically, it sounds like
one of the reasons why he did not get a whole lot of interest is
because there were a lot of folks that thought academically like he wouldn't be able
to transfer, in which I don't know a whole lot about how all that
works. But he's a guy who was only in school one year. I
mean, it's not as if he's transferring from three different schools collectively with his
you know, his you know, his degree and his overall academic situation.
So he was eligible to play at Louisville. And you don't have to make
grades to be eligible to play at the high level. I mean you could
have You could be a very very bad student and still be able to actually
be eligible to play. In fact, if you ever hear of a guy
who like is ineligible because of grades, they just didn't go to school,
like they just clearly did not they didn't do anything. Because it takes very
little to just be eligible. That's why you can go to you can go
to school four years and you know, stay eligible, but you may be
like two years away from your degree. So it was very, very puzzling
to me when it comes to Tyler Ore, which honestly, that's the same
thing that happened when he was in high school. If you remember, he
was committed to was it Memphis and Penny Penny at Memphis and then it opened
up and then like you never really heard anything. He was available. He
was coming off that overtime elite season that ye had, the overtime elite league
that he played in, and out of nowhere he became an addition for Louisville
and it was a good get. I mean, and he at times he
was your best player last year, but it could be maybe academic, but
you know, Tyler Orr, he was you know this is not in defense
of Kenny Payne, trust me, but like he wasn't real coachable, and
I think that has kind of, I think at times been evident, Like
if you're watching film on him at Louisville, and I don't know why you
would because it would make you not win any of those players if I'm being
honestly, that you'd have to watch highlights specifically, But you know, at
times like he and in the moment I probably said he was justified, but
like he had a bad attitude towards coaches. I mean, he did,
and maybe it was justified because of how bad things were going. And he's
young, so I'm not holding it against him. But I think from New
York where he's from, to the overtime Elite League to Louisville, it's carried
with him that maybe he's not the most coachable guy, and that matters,
especially when you've got so many options as a coach now to fill a spot.
You know what I'm saying, Like, if he's one of four dudes
and you got to pick, you know, one of those four, Like,
clearly he'd probably be, you know, somebody that you want if he
gets that desperate. But guardsman in the portal, especially dudes that are coming
off of one season where they played for a team that won eight games,
Like I guess it makes a little more sense that he wasn't that attractive to
coaches. But I think he's talented. It can be and I think if
he really buys in and honestly, Steve Forbes is a hard ass, but
he's a guy that is so energetic players love playing for him. I remember
when he you know, you guys, give you an example, Chris Jones
at Louisville, right, Chris Jones. You guys remember Chris Jones. He
played for Steve Forbes at Northwest Florida JUCO. And I'm pretty sure Chris Jones
at every point in his career, I don't see he was a head case,
but like he had some attitude, right, he wasn't the easiest guy
to coach. That's why he initially I think, was at Tennessee. Had
to go to the juwe COO route after that, and then he got to
Louisville and it worked until you know something that really he was a victim of
somebody falsely accusing of him of something. I mean that kind of derailed his
college career, which is honestly a shame. But before all that, like
it was no like he may eventually get booted off the team just because of
you know, some things going on that we were I didn't know a whole
lot of information about. But nonetheless, like he played for Steve Forbes and
became a jueco All American, was the number one JUCO player in the Portland
when he picked Louisville at that time. He picked him over some big time
school. So Steve Forbes's main in fact, be the right guy for Tyler
and if that does work out, meaning where he's he's the guy kind of
running that team. I think he could have a lot of success, and
I hope he does, you know, other than when he plays Louisville.
I don't, as much as I do think that the freshman group last year
had talent, and not even just the freshman BHH and Mike James, I'm
missing a even Scott Clark at times like he looked like a guy that could
do some things for you. Probably not nearly as good as he was ever
billed to be coming out of high school, but a good guard that I'm
not surprised Mick Cronin wanted Trey White Illinois. There's a lot of buzz for
him. I hope those that are expecting a lot of him know that,
you know, you may have to just sub him after every dead ball because
he will not play defense, has never shown any interest in that. But
he's a talented athletic guy. So maybe those guys eventually really break through elsewhere.
But I will not have any room like, you know, I'm not
gonna go oh man, that's the one that got away because the what they
will. As I said, in the first year of Kenny Payne and this
most recent year of Kenny Payne, anybody wanting to leave is totally understandable.
So it's not like, man, I wish we could have kept him around,
Like, no, I get it, JJ trainor his father played here.
He's from here. He's never had any success at Louisville as far as
the team, but like he wanted to leave, and I totally get it.
Like I'm totally totally you know, I understand, and I don't know,
maybe some of those guys that they came back, it would have really
helped, because I do think, you know, there was some talented players
that would have been, you know, viewed as an asset. However,
I just think it may be better for everybody if it is a completely clean
slate here and everybody's kind of you know, everybody from top to bottom on
your roster and your staff, like it's all new and you know, like
it's a complete fresh start. All right, we got two hours left,
so stick around. We'll keep this thing rolling along, and we are gonna
you know, it's probably not a great tease, right because I'm sure this
will not have you on the edge of your seat just counting the seconds during
this commercial break. But we do need to talk about Jim Phillips, the
a SEC commissioner, who I'm convinced is, like, I mean, the
worst. All Right, it's coffee and Company we are feeling about Thornton's right
here on Sports Talk seven ninety