Rarely do I get a chance to to reference a wager that I discussed previously
and tell you, hey told just so that's a winner. That's what happened
last night. I felt really good about Seaton Hall as underdogs, and I
felt like the love for the Indiana State Star, which I'm not even I
can't. I'm not good with names anymore. I forget. But this is
like a villa or something like that. And have a little bit of an
excuse with this one because nobody calls this guy by his actual, uh you
know, legal name, Big Dufis. They call him by all his nicknames,
which I'm not sure if that's one of them, but Cream, Abdul
Jabbar, Larry Blurd, He's got a lot of different nicknames that are pretty
pretty clever. And he's obviously not He didn't look like a player, but
he can ball. And I think Indiana State wanting to be there because they're
Indiana State, and it being a hinkle that there was just a belief that
that Indiana State was going to run away with it. But Seaton Hall played
really well throughout the n I t Their trio of guards were effective all throughout,
and they were last night as well. It was nice to see,
you know, against the n I T. But still drey Davis, He's
had a journey throughout his college career. A couple of years at Louisville and
then transfers to Seaton Hall, and I know in year one they were not
not great, but this year they should have made the tournament. To be
honest with you, yeah, I agree. So to see him have some
success last night on the national stage and be a big part of their win,
that was that was good to see. But yeah, Seaton Hall plus
two and a half got a little nervous there when I I mean, at
one point in the first half, I was I was feeling as if,
hey, this can't lose. They're up like thirteen, and then sure enough.
You know, Indiana State's high powered offense with guys they stretch the floor,
they can shoot it. I mean, they're a good team. They're
fun to watch too. By the way, that Indiana State team so ended
up coming through and for the games tomorrow, which we're gonna talk a little
more about these matchups with Aaron Torres. He's going to join us coming up
here in about twenty minutes or so. He's in Phoenix for the Final four.
I really really attempted to do money line for n C State, not
because I'm just that confident that they're going to win, but I don't.
Again, I mean, INC State is not your typical eleven seed for a
variety of reasons. One, they're in the final four. They have more
losses on their resume than any team has ever had at this point in the
tournament. But they've got talent, and they are really good defensively, at
least they've played really good defensively since their run started, which goes back to
the ACC tournament to where I think, you know, they'll They're not gonna
shut down Zach Eediy because I'm not sure anybody can, but I think they'll
do enough to limit really everybody else since especially the guards for this Purdue team
that I think, you know, it'll be a tight game, and Purdue,
you know, they don't usually win that many close games. And I
don't know if this would be considered a choke because again, you're you're you're
in the final four for the first time ever under Matt Painter, and you've
already this is kind of a breakthrough for them, To be honest with you,
but you know, NC State's not your typical eleven seed, but Purdue
losing to an eleven seed would be very Purdue, even though again the wolf
Pack aren't your typical eleven. But right now it's NC State plus nine,
and I just think that I feel like that's a lot of points. Uh.
And the one thing that would keep me from from from making that money
line pick is that in c State there's still even though it's not flukey,
they're still just rotting some crazy magic and you got to think at one point
that may just completely run out. I think if Burns can get physical with
Eadie, that'll bother him without getting in foul trouble. And then I think
you're right, yeah, And I think, honestly, if you know,
Zach Edy's a guy that can defend without fouling pretty well because he's when he
can just wall up and he's not just this guy that you push through.
He's a big dude, you know, in every in every aspect, So
he can do that and then just use those gigantic arms and just make it
tough for anybody to score, so he can he can defend effectively without fouling.
But also, you know, Burns. I think it's gonna be really
interesting to see right out of the gate if they're matched up against each other
and Burns is just simply you know, using his size, his frame to
move him around. You got to wonder, you know, could he get
Eadie in some foul trouble because a lot of guys, you know, they
end up going straight up against Edie and they never move him because you know,
he's a humongous human being. Will they have a backup, big body
that they could throw fouls at him for incy State? Yes, Yeah,
So he's not really a backup and he doesn't have the same frame by any
means for as as Burns, which I'm not sure anybody does. But this
guy, Dara, he to me, is like the X factor in this
game for NC State because he's really turned it on in the tournament. Specifically,
long athletic big they can he can rim run you throw it up near
the rim. He's pretty effective at just dunking it. But also he can
stretch the floor knock down some threes. So we're you know, he's been
good for them and certainly been a big part of their run. But I
kind of feel like if he's if he's able to give them some matchup problems.
And honestly, you know what you could do is if when you send
the double team to Edie, one of the things that he's really good at.
In fact, both these guys and I love this, by the way,
because I think the big man position seems to just be fading away right.
Everybody wants to be a guard on the perimeter shoot threes. But these
are two guys and Edian Burns that are you know, absolutely old school low
post presence where you just you feed the post and you kind of let him
go to work. You can run things through them, and Edie and Burns
are really good at feeling the double team coming and making some really good passes,
especially Burns. But I feel like, if you if you want to,
if you want to wall up with big Burns and just try to use
that big you know, because he's he doesn't look as tall because he's round,
but I mean he's six y ten six non six ten. But if
you could do that and maybe not send the double team to trap Eadie because
he'll see over you and he'll pick you apart with his passing, but maybe
be like a weak side shot blocker with Diarra. Again, he's got the
link to do it. That's kind of where he thrives. Defensively, their
passing goes kind of remind me of David Paget. I used to call him
a point center when they ran the offense through the center position. Yeah,
I mean that was so fun to watch, and he was such a mean
that's quite literally what his role was. And I think it was this either
his second to last year or his last year to where yeah, they would
they didn't really have a guy that was dynamic at creating. In fact,
they just had a bunch of combo guards I feel like. But yeah,
they could throw it right to him at the high post and you know,
he'd face up and either you know, go to work or you know,
get somebody cut cutting back door, or they love the dribble handoff with the
big guy right, he'd catch it at the high post and somebody'd kind of
run around and yeah, that basketball is still played. You couldn't get goosebumps
again thinking about good basketball exactly exactly, talking little Tom Pat talking some hoops.
Pat. Let's let's you know, let's get these juices flowing. Even
more so because It's one thing to just you know, remember what it was
like. But man, once we I mean, this sounds crazy, and
maybe I am getting a little bit ahead of myself, but the bar is
so low on the basketball floor to get us excited because of how bad it's
been lately. Like, you know, we may bring in some Division two
team for an exhibition, beat them by forty like you're supposed to, and
you may see people for just a moment acting as if we just won the
national championship. It'll feel like it, yes, And you know, it's
just crazy to think that those two you know, those type opponents, those
type of opponents the Division two exhibition games. Kenny Payne lost more of those
games than he did then he won away from the UMP Center. I wonder
if any Kentucky fans bought T shirts of those teams, because I saw a
story where ten thousand dollars of Oakland T shirts were sold in Louisville. Yeah,
and then another there was another donation. And this is this is not
only like next level, Petty, it also makes me think that you are
like next level obsessed with the rival which, hey, I'm here for it.
That's what makes this rivalry crazy. And I always tell everybody who's not
familiar with the rivalry in the city of Louisville is where you're going to really
get a sense for how crazy it is, because there's so many on both
sides that coexist together. But there was somebody that every year they claim they
send a check a donation to the athletic department who knocks Kentucky out of the
tournament. And Oakland shared the story of how they got they got a check
and it was, you know, from you know, an anonymous person.
I'm sure the names more than one. Yeah, and it's it just you
know, like that's that is. I mean, I wouldn't have it any
other way. But I as much as I love to see Kentucky lose,
and I'll make the jokes, trust me. They owned the rivalry right,
They've beaten up on Louisville for many years since Cali Perry got there. I'm
gonna get my jokes off somehow so we can talk Robert Morris, Saint Peter's
Oakland Now, I mean it's it's yeah, Gardner Webb, that's that's way
back in the day. But the sending my own money to a school that
beats Kentucky. I don't have enough money to be doing that. No,
but but if but if you do, you know, God bless you,
because that's that's a story that really does just make I mean that the story
of Louisville fans crashing the Oakland student or the Oakland school website buying T shirts
the night of the game. I mean, that's something that the coach mentioned
and before they played their next game. And I've already forgot the name of
the coach that beat Cali Perry, but he mentioned that happening, and it
became kind of a viral story, and I just love that there were those
that cover college basketball at the national level, you knowind of just mentioning,
Wow, and you thought this rivalry over here was crazy look at this,
But like I think people around here were like, yeah, that makes sense.
It's kind of what we do. We do that kind of stuff,
and we got a long way to go before we can, you know,
feel like we're right there with Kentucky and going to have a good run to
where we can feel like each year we got a chance to go beat him.
And look, I guess you have a chance, but I just that's
one thing that during the Patino era, they had good teams, they were
good, really talented, but man, he just could never really. I
mean, I think there was a part of the rivalry during the Patino era
that he was never comfortable in that game because I truly believe that deep down
he never for a second thought that he would ever be booed or disliked by
Kentucky because of what he did there and that day he walked out on his
first year at Louisville at RUP and it was overwhelmingly boozed. I think it
wounded him. Yeah, it did, and I I mean for fifteen seconds,
there you go. It's another patented Tod Dave Jennings one line which I'm
sure every knows that that reference there. Okay, we don't know the roster
yet, but what are realistic expectations for this Louisville team assuming you can put
together a pretty competent roster. So five hundred So I honestly, if we
were going to hold Kenny Paine to a standard of like, hey, you
know, you should be flirting with the tournament because you're Louisville and you have
the ability to go get players that would want to come and play for Louisville
and there's sixty eight teams that make it. I know, to some it
sounds like I'm already setting this guy up to fail and putting the bar too
high. But with the ability to go put a brand new team together and
not have to really develop players because you're going to go get some juniors and
maybe seniors that have played, I think, you know, in my opinion,
and it could change once you see what the roster is and whatnot.
But I don't feel like we're out of line to say, hey, you
should be competing for a spot on the tournament next year. I mean,
I think that's doable given the fact that when the ACC despite some tournament success,
let's be honest, it's not the league that it once was. I
mean, there's there's there's a good there's enough evidence of that to to you
know, to make it look as if, you know, beating Boston College
Virginia Tech. I mean, heck, you beat Miami this year, who
went to the final four the year before. So I kind of feel like
that would be a reasonable expectation to have out there. And again, we
asked Kenny Paine to do that, and you know, he never came close,
never even sniffed it. Well, he told us it was going to
take a long time, you see. So I sometimes, Dave, just
think back to the era that just ended, you know, a couple of
weeks ago, and I still am stunned about not only how bad it went,
but how Kenny Payne truly did not feel in any way responsible for winning
twelve games in two years. It's a level of delusion, and you know,
just kind of being in your own world that I didn't know existed.
And I oftentimes try to reference Seinfeld episodes to make comparisons. But you know,
George Costanzo one of his more notable quotes, it's not a lie if
you believe it. That's Kenny Payne. Belie. Believe that this was all
everybody else's fault and that there was no scenario anybody could have done any better
than him, given you know, the mess, what he inherited and all
that kind of stuff. So I the mess can be fixed. As we
just said in one recruiting cycle, I mean Pat Kelsey, he put a
top five team together, top five class. Pat Kelsey has has shown more,
has given this fan base more life than Kinny ever did. And look
I know they're completely different people in regards to personality. You don't want somebody
to be fake because I think we have we at times have seen a coach
try to do the raw raw and it's not legit, and you know it's
it's easy to sniff out like Scott Saderfield, right like he was such a
you know, could you get any Taylor anymore vanilla? Yeah, that's probably
the better way. It's it just super vanilla. Never too high, too
low. And if you win really big, you know whatever, nobody cares.
But whenever things aren't going well and you're worried about you know, improvements
needing to be made in real time, you're worried about the future, you
know, longevity of it. You know, you got to be able to
convey. You know, you've got to hate losing. Yes, absolutely,
Sadderville the close game to Clemson, Yeah, that one got away was smiling
and you know, hugging him in the in the handshake line and all that.
I mean it, and that is that sounds so obvious that you need
you think you would think anybody in this position that is coaching at a at
a place like Louisville would have you know, they they'd be such fierce competitors
because they wouldn't be in the position they're in without that being a part of
their DNA. But Kenny never you could never tell. I mean, I
think you you pretty pretty safe. Guess if you heard him after a game,
he was talking about a loss, because that's all he did, was
lose. But I mean, he never once even acknowledged in any way that
winning was part of the job. I mean, he he went to the
press conference after they lost to Clemson this year and just did a passionate the
most the most energy I've ever heard from Kenny Payne, and you'd have thought
they won and they lost, and he, you know, quite literally word
for word, said, you know, do I wish we could have shot
it better from three? Turned it over less? Yeah, but I can't
worry about that because they fought their balls off that Literally he said, word
for word. I'm just like what you realize that literally you were paid millions
of dollars annually to win basketball games. And you know, he's not a
fault. We didn't hire a philosopher, we didn't hire a guy. You
know, just continue to tell us build culture building. It's broken. I
need you to I mean, like it was, how did he not absorb
more basketball knowledge the ability to coach the game after being an assistant for so
long. That's a great question. And I know that there are people who've
been around him before he was a head coach that do you know, do
believe he has good knowledge of the game. But to me, he's the
well being an assistant and running a program or two different plagues, and not
everybody's cut out to do that. And he may be a great assistant coach.
Again, there's a former assistant that worked with him at Kentucky that I
remember talking to right around the time that that Kenny was hired, and you
know, he didn't say anything but great things about Kenny, regarding him as
a person, but did say that his specific role at Kentucky for Caliperi was
was not like a normalist, distant coach a thing, and it had it
had no there were no layers to what he was doing that had anything close
to being like an actual head coach. And these are things that you know,
I think are probably common sense to a lot of people. But when
I was trying to just figure out how we got here, how could it
be this bad? It's that at the end of the day, a coach
is a leader, Like that's that's what a coach is a leader, and
everybody leads in their own way. You can do it, there's different ways
to do it. But Kenny Payne was not a leader. I think he
was a I mean these That's what made it even odd. Is that more
crazy than you'd think, is that as bad as the team was, I
think they liked Kenny. You know, they didn't play it like him personally,
yeah, but like he did. It was it was more of a
buddy relationship with these players, and that just clearly did not work. And
that led to there being such a casualness to everything and just no intensity,
I mean, just not locked in at any point. It was very very
nonchalant. And I think it's because they never were really held accountable and occasionally
I think he would probably yell at him and you know, try to really
rip them, but they didn't see that as being genuine because that's just not
how he typical. You can't be a fake and phony, right, I
mean, people will sniff that out, like David Pagett. You know,
I don't know if it would have changed anything, but if he tried to
be Rick Battino to these players. The day that Rick Patino left, they
would know that's not at all legitimate because he'd been there for years and that
clearly was not who he was. So again, I'm sure it's pretty obvious
to people that, hey, when you're a coach, you're you're a leader.
But Kenny, to me, maybe he has a good basketball mind.
Clearly he can recruit, He's been able to do that everywhere he's been,
and he even did decent and recruiting here at Louisville. But leading and really
just you know, I've asked this question, outside of Tony Dungee, who
are the winning coaches that aren't type A crazy personalities. It's a great question.
Nice guy winners, It's a great question. I think there are some
that you know, have this nice demeanor, but I don't like. For
example, I think Phil Jackson has never been too high too low, but
I think, you know, his ego has made it to where a lot
of people probably don't see him as somebody that is you know, I'd like
to see him, Tonye coach the Pacers. Let's not have ten all stars
on each team of yours. That's A good question, Dave. I.
I so Kenny is more in the Tony Dungee line. Yeah, just without
the wins. I think that's I think that's that's well said, because again,
Tony Dungee's one of those guys that you know, he does have the
wins, which makes him different than Kenny. But Tony Dungee's the guy that
I've never heard anybody say anything other than great things about and that, and
that's that's what everybody was saying with Kenny got the joy great. Everybody loves
him, and then you know there's other Likability and being nice and kind are
great qualities to have as a human being, but as a basketball coach,
you need a little more than that. And I'm going to miss those.
I feel bad for the kids, for those you know, Kenny camps,
Oh God, that they're not going to have anymore. All right, quick
break, We'll come back and check in with our man, Aaron Torres the
Fox Sports Radio who's live in Phoenix for the Final four. He's there.
You're in Phoenix, right, Aaron, I assumed you were there. I'm
correct, right, I'm literally at the stadium. My my alma mater is
having an open practice right now, and I blew him off to some coffee
and company. I about Taurus. I love it coming through cow out through
ors. I won't keep you too long. Let just ask you this,
how is Phoenix as a host city here when it comes to the final for
I know you've been in many final fours. You want the honest answer,
not ideal. It's a beautiful area. I've been outside since about eight am
this morning. It was well chilly. There wasn't a frost morning like in
Louisville, but I was probably in the low sixties this morning. Everything is
very spread out though, so the stadium, which is in Glendale, is
without traffic thirty five minutes with traffic coming back yesterday about fifty minutes to downtown
Scottsdale, which where a lot of the events are. The convention center is
in Phoenix, which is about twenty five minutes from Scottsdale. So beautiful area,
you know, obviously, I think a lot of people are enjoying,
you know, if you're from Connecticut, if you're from Indiana, if you're
a new fan, whatever, enjoying the nice weather. But it is a
little bit of a little bit of a hassle to get everywhere, but don't
want to make it make myself sound ungrateful, still privileged to do what we
do. But yeah, I if I was putting it on a scale of
one to ten, compared to a New Orleans or Indianapolis, I would say
it's definitely. It's in Antonio too, I would say it's definitely behind those
three for sure. Well, the team that again you cover when you cover
college basketball overall, but you mentioned you're an alum, You're a yon hu
You're Yukon Huskies are the best team in the country. I don't think it's
quite close. Everybody's expecting them to be the ones that cut down the nets
on Monday. What do you think has led to them being just so?
I mean, I guess what would you say has led to Dan Hurley becoming
a guy that not only has a national championship trophy on his resume, could
be getting his second one, but the belief, and I'm one that believes
it as well. He could be the next all time great coach in the
sport of college basketball. As somebody who follows Yukon closer than most. What
do you think stands out about him that has given him such a quick rise
here to the top of college. Oops. I just think the word complete.
I think he's a complete coach. And when I say that, what
I mean is and by the way, and I think there's something too.
And hopefully, you know, maybe Louisville fans are fortunate enough to see this
with Pat Kelsey is you know, got to make some mistakes at the high
school level, got to make some mistakes at Wagner, got to make some
mistakes at Rhode Island. But I think two things stand out. I think
I know I just said complete. I'll get back to that at a minute,
But I think the first thing is as weird as it sounds, self
aware. He's talked a lot in the last two or three weeks about two
seasons ago, the twenty twenty two NCAA Tournament, they lose in round one
to New Mexico State, and they were kind of a grinded out you know,
you know, old school biggies when every game sixty three or sixty one
type team. And he admitted he said, I had to look myself in
the mirror and say that we can't do this anymore. And so they've been
able to bring that defensive intensity, keep that and obviously do do to some
coaching staff changes. Luke Murray, who I know Rus fans are familiar with,
came in and kind of runs the offense, and it's just obviously a
much more fluid offense. And there's been an emphasis, you know, on
recruiting offensive skill really quickly. Couldn't nick. The other thing that stands out
to me is, as I said, the word complete, this isn't a
guy that you know, and this is not a knock on caliperrer Shire.
He doesn't just recruit five stars. I mean Alice Caravan was a fringe stop
one hundred recruit. He's going to play in the NBA. Donovan Klingen was
a fringe top fifty recruit in some circle in some evaluating services. He's obviously
we know what he has become. So I think to me, you know,
step Castle was a McDonald's All American, but he was about a top
thirty, top thirty five prospect when he committed as a junior. So I
just bring all that up to just say, this is a guy that canutily
coach, is not only aware, can only recruit. I think evaluation and
development are maybe his two biggest strengths, which is why you see the success
that they've had the last two years. Man, the timing of that comment
is perfect because we were just talking earlier in the show, when you were
at the level of Charleston and Winthrop like Pat Kelsey was, or Wagner a
Rhode Island like Dan Hurley. I mean, you're recruiting a humongous pool of
players, right. There's a lot more unranked two stars, three stars than
there are fours and five. So what it actually comes down to is can
you evaluate which ones are better fits for you, that fit what you want
to do. And when we think of who's a great recruiter, I think
ninety nine percent of the time, a lot of people just assume, Okay,
how many burger boys did they get? Where are they ranked in the
rankings? But I think the actual real talent in recruiting is knowing what you're
getting, right, knowing it's a guy that's going to fit what you want
to do, you can see the development, and that's it's very, very
underrated. And that's why again Yukon they've got good players. Nobody would tell
you otherwise, But I knew from the jump this year when I started watching
them play in the November December games and the non conference portion of the schedule.
You know, they're not guys who you know, we're in that McDonald's
game and that had you know, offers from just about every school. But
still it all works in this Yukon team. Man, I think they're they're
They're as good as any team I've seen in a long long time. And
I guess that next question is when it comes to this matchup against Alabama,
I mean, what what would be the recipe for Natos if they could pull
off what would be a huge upset? I mean, Alabama's got a high,
high powered offense and Natots is a really good coach himself, but you
know what would you what would you expect him to try to throw at the
Shukon team to take down the juggernaut. I think it's exactly what we all
think it is. And I've said this all week. People are you know
saying Yukon's unbeatable? Listen, there's no team in the history of college basketball
that's unbeatable. And you know, I hate to say it, but you
know, twenty fifteen Kentucky's maybe the best example. So I bring it up
because nobody's unbeatable, but nobody is especially unbeatable when the other team can hit
sixteen threes in one game, which is exactly what they did against clubs in
the other day. And so for u Kanya, we were just in the
media with them, probably about a half an hour ago, and we talked
to them and I asked, because I asked one of the players that said,
look, man, you know, everybody knows they want to shoot threes,
but what makes them so successful? And you know, he kind of
took me into a little bit the interesting keys of the offense that that Alabama
runs, but it's also just shooting in transition, shooting before the defense can
get set. So yeah, I think, you know, the question becomes,
you know, uh, you know, if I think if Alabama hits
nine threes in the first half, you know, like it's a game.
I think if they go for nineteen in the first half, it might be
a blowout. But I think that capability allows them to absolutely have a chance
in this game. I do think you've got obviously the more complete team,
But when you can hit sixteen threes in a game, which they literally just
did the last time they took the court, you can beat anybody, all
right. So on the other side, you've got Purdue n C State.
Two big fellaws that have gotten a lot of attention throughout this tournament run big
fellas in different ways. Obviously, Zachi he's just a humongous giant. And
DJ Burns, I mean, he's a big fellaw. He's round, but
he's a baller. This matchup really intrigues me, just not because of those
two guys specifically. And I'm not somebody that thinks purduees like a fraud or
anything like that, but I think they've just appeared to be more beatable than
a lot of teams with their record. Now, with that said, wouldn't
be shocked if they win controllably or comfortably, I should say, against NC
State, But I'm of the opinion that NCY State, you know, can
win this game. You know, I'm tempted to do a money line wager,
and it's not because you know, I'm a big fan of Ive got
Keats, but I just think this NC State team, they're good defensively,
their guard play is good. You know, if Dara can really stretch the
floor and kind of be just that hybrid big that can knock down a three
every now and then, you know, maybe maybe rattle Eady a little bit
with his length. Obviously, Eatie's bigger than everybody else. But what do
you make of this matchup again? Purdue? Give them credit, they did
a great job throughout the season and knock down a really good Tennessee team.
But the SINC State team, I'm no longer thinking it's magic. I think
that they've They're playing good basketball, and I think they could win this one.
Yeah, it's interesting. He's actually said yes. Yesterday at the media
bability, He's like, look, we started five to one in ACC play,
and I think they they don't feel like they are some Cinderella and nor
should I mean, that's a huge part of it, right Yeah, no,
And I mean Nick, and I was thinking about this yesterday. Is
listen. I know the ACC is a little bit down right now, but
when you look at the teams that they've beaten, beat Duke twice, beat
UNC on a neutral, beat Marquette on a neutral, like these are real
teams like Virginia. We can make fun, but Virginia is a competent basketball
team and NC State beat them, And so, like I said, is
they're a confident group, not ergant group and not and competent, not like
you know, confident of like, wow, you know, we proved everything
wrong. It's just like, no, we we think we're a pretty good
basketball team. And it was funny. I was talking to the guys this
morning and it's like, even you go back to that Duke game. I
mean, they're down by what six at halftime, and they just weren't rattled.
And actually, as a matter of fact, Keith even said it in
the Prescotts this year. He said, there has never been a game during
this run that I felt like we weren't going to win in the second half,
and so they're very confident. I do think Edie is a different beast
all together, No pun intended. And I'm with you. I know I've
got a little bit of a negative rap on him. I actually think he's
an incredibly talented player, and I you know, I it's just it's kind
of what we just said about Yukon, right, or about Alabama. Everybody
thinks there's a solution to, you know, stopping Alabama from hitting fifteen threes,
but they do in every game. And it's the same with Zach Heaty.
Everybody thinks there's a solution, but he's seven for four, three hundred
pounds, agile mobile, can go over bull shoulders, all that good stuff.
So I think it's going to be tough. I think, you know,
what we've seen really the last two games strikes me is that Gonzaga and
Tennessee against Crewe were both teams that weren't pretty good position with about seven eight
minutes left and they just you just get more down trying to deal with him
for forty forty five minutes. And so that's my only concern is just can
you maintain it for forty minutes because obviously in this tournament, no one's been
able to Aaron Torres is our guest joining us here on Sports Talk seven nine.
You guys here Aaron right here on Sports Talk seven ninety because he's a
part of the Fox Sports radio lineup. Also, Aeron Torres media does a
great job of covering a lot of things, especially college basketball. So what
do you make of the Kentucky situation? I know you'd have a whole lot
of time here, so I just want to get your thoughts on the decision
to continue to, you know, run it back with Caliperry. He did
talk about maybe going a little bit different route with going older. They're lost
to Oakland. It was I can tell you around here, and I'm sure
you sinceed it as well. It was the loudest the noise has ever been
in regards to John cali Perry's future. But yet he's gonna be here,
and you know, their fans, in my opinion, have never been lower
than they are right now. No, there's no doubt. And it almost
feels like, you know, like, and I'm not trying to be sarcastic
when I say this, it's like, you know, how like sometimes you
know parents, Oh they're going to get divorced, but you wait till the
kids get out of the house or whatever. It feels like Kentucky fans are
just like, we just got to get through next year and ain't going to
be back. That's the vibe that I get. And you can absolutely tell
me if that's not the vibe that you get locally. But what I you
know, Nick, I as devastating as it really was, I never really
thought that he was not going to be the head coach next year. And
I think really the reality of it is that I just don't think Mitch Bumkard
was ready to make boat calls to be able to write a check for thirty
three million dollars. You know, I don't think he looked up that Thursday
thinking, oh man, I might have to hit up X y Z to
get some money to buy this guy out. And so listen, I think
to Jimbo Fisher parallels, I know it's an easy comp but I think it's
a fair cop is. You know, you saw laptop he's been, you
could sell. Things were going sideways. They kind of give him this see
Joe Fisher. Now, they give him a year. They let him hire
Bobby Petrino as his offensive coordinator, but the second it went sideways, they
were kind of in position and ready to make the move. I'm not saying
Kal gets fired van season. I'm not going to even say he gets fired
next offseason. But I just think it was such a shocking loss, even
though maybe it should have been that. I just don't think Mitch Barnhard was
mentally prepared to make the decision that he had to make. And so I
think they're all giving it one more year, and I think obviously, look,
everybody's hoping it works out better. I don't think anybody has real optimism
that it will. But yeah, I think I just don't think they.
I don't think anybody went into that Oakland game thinking, holy crap, we
might have to write a check for thirty three million after this game. All
right, last one, what do you think of Pat Kelsey? Obviously not
the first, second, or even third choice for the most part as far
as how the search went down, but he has the fan base engaged here,
Nile money is being raised, and seems like he's a pretty popular guy
in college basketball. Yeah, I you know, listen, I don't know
if it's gonna work or it's not gonna work. We never know, but
I love the enthusiasm. And I'll say this, it's like, you know,
you don't always want to knock the guy on the way out that clearly
wasn't the right fit in Kenny Payne. But it got to a point even
last offseason where it kind of felt like he was just in hiding, like
just wasn't available, you know, and just you know, and obviously you
guys had to deal with them in the media and some of the stuff he
said was whatever. It's like, it's just cool to see a guy like
Pat Kelsey. You see him open that office door for the first time and
says, this is all mine. And you know, I think a lot
of the things that make the Louisville job the Louisville jobs, the fan base,
the excitement, whatever. I think the good stuff about the Louisville job
was the stuff that I don't think Kenny Payne either embraced or could handle.
And I feel like it's the exact opposite to engage fan base. It's a
fan base that wants you out there, wants you in public, and it
does feel like, at least right now the game hasn't been played yet,
but that Pat Kelsey kind of embraced is You know, what I would argue
are the best parts of the Louisville job, But I think what Kenny Payne
would argue were probably the parts that he wasn't necessarily suited for. Could not
have said it better myself, Absolutely agree. Kelsey's given this fan base some
life, and certainly they were desperate for it. But yeah, he seems
to not only be checking the boxes that are important outside of basketball, but
he seems to be someone who genuinely like enjoys that aspect and a lot of
coaches, they don't. They don't like that kind of stuff. So Aaron,
I appreciate the toime. Brother, enjoy Phoenix, Best of luck to
the Huskies. That's who I think is gonna win at all. And don't
take it for granted. Man, you know, I think I got a
little caught up in the twenty thirteen title thinking we'd have a lot more of
those around here, and things have obviously not been the same since. Well
no, and I'll say real quick, I know we got to go.
Is that you know, as a guy, you know, member people forget
and I talked to you hurly about this, but I'll be quick, but
but three straight losing seasons, the last two under Kevin Allie and the first
under Dan Hurley. And Dan Hurley had to rebuild this thing in the pre
portal area to just bring in eleven new players. And I don't criticize any
coach for doing that, but you know he had to build to refreshmen,
so to see, because of those depths that the program fell. I don't
think anybody is taking this for granted. What I will say is it is
pretty surreal to be living in what could potentially be the great Yukon season ever.
That seems inconceivable, but they've already set a regular season win total.
They won their first Big East Tournament, biggest regular season in forever. So
it's kind of crazy to be in the middle of history with obviously two games
potentially left to go before history is actually made. But if they win this
thing, I think they have to go down as the greatest Yukon team ever,
which is kind of crazy to think about everything that's gone on in that
program. I agree, good stuff as always, Aaron, We'll talk to
you soon, brother, all right, thank you. Tick it all right,
that's Aaron Torres again Fox Sports Radio. Let's take a quick time out
our last time that we'll come back and tell you goodbye. Get yourself for
the weekend right here on Sports Talk seven ninety