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 keep it rolling here
on this beautiful Thursday afternoon. I feel very confident that despite me being in
this dark cave of a studio for the last two hours, I feel confident
in saying that it is still very beautiful outside, which we're gonna finish strong.
But I can't wait to just be outside, get a beer, hit
the patio. I'm sure I'll have to, you know, play with the
kids outside, but you know what, it'll be great for everybody involved with
the family, So hopefully everybody else can enjoy a beautiful Thursday. And we
talked about it at the beginning of the show. The weather during this time
of the year. I mean it's a little inconsistent as we're fading out of
winter and to spring. I mean technically it's spring yet it is right now,
we're almost a month into it. Okay, that's what I thought.
You know again, I you know, I thought we were we were there,
but we haven't had like very consistent weather, and maybe that's now about
to happen. But the best part about April. Is that when you do
get the warmer weather and it arrives this early by the time. When I
say warmer weather, I mean, you know, it's eighty five degrees outside,
I think, or at least it was early summer type wether. Yeah,
I mean eighty five degrees is hot, but there's no humidity because it's
April. And then when you get to like seven o'clock, probably earlier than
that, but like it's perfect outside. So the allergy is not good though,
Like I just being outside in the evenings the last two nights, one
at my kid's baseball game, the other I was just outside playing with my
daughter and I come in side, and you know, look when I do
go to the bathroom, look in the mirror. I do just tell right
away my eyeballs are completely like bloodshot with some you know, allergies used to
be something I never had to worry about, even though we live in an
area where if you have allergy issues it's a nightmare. But the older I
get each year, it seems to get worse and worse. So I guess
I should just you know, start taking allergy medicine. But I felt like
a badass for years being able to say, oh yeah, allergies, no
problem here a week allergies can't get me, they can't bring me down.
And now the slowly but surely they're starting to, you know, become a
pain in the rear end. All Right, it is Coffee and Company.
Fiel buth Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety Nick Coffee. That's me the
company man, mister John Alden alongside today very busy show. So we'll start
with the breaking news within I guess an hour or so. Ree Shepherd is
going to go to the NBA and he's going to forego his college eligibility,
which essentially is him letting. Because now there's a way in which you can
go through the process with an agent and still come back. So it used
to be where if you mentioned that you're hiring an agent, that meant you
were done. You cannot have an agent. You can have representation and still
maintain your eligibility. Well, NAA has no really, they don't mean these
kids have agents now that are transferring. They're represented by agents. So he's
not coming back, no surprise. He's viewed as a top five pick,
potentially a top three pick. So I don't get the sense that many Kentucky
fans thought it was realistic that he would come back. But if you did,
now you know that he's not. And we'll get back into Kentucky coming
up a little later on, because it sounds like there's a better you know,
there seems to be a better idea as far as who Mark Pope is
targeting here to try to get the first few pieces for their roster. But
on the Louisville side, you know, I think they're off to a really
good start. It's just they have a lot more spots to fill because they're
replacing an entire team. So Pat Kelsey, as you know, brought two
guys from Charleston with him, Rain Smith and then the other young man who
followed him. I always forget his name. Drives me crazy. And this
isn't just like you know, this isn't just me no longer being good with
names, like I literally just forget this guy's name, you know all together.
James Scott is his name, which is very easy. It's an easy
to remember, right, James Scott. That's probably why though it's so common,
that's like it would be somebody's name on the roster that makes sense.
So he brought those two guys with him. Charleston James Edwards Fats as they
call him. He committed a few weeks ago from James Madison, he was
the Sun Belt Player of the Year, and then earlier this week, Javon
Hadley, the Colorado transfer, he committed. So so far, I mean,
I think they're moving at a pretty good pace and even when they do
in fact, you know, I mean, they've got a lot of guys
that I mean, they're recruiting a lot of players right now, a lot,
and they're not going to get all of them. And we saw that
earlier because Dante Maddox, the transfer from Toledo, he visited Louisville, visited
Illinois, visited Xavier, and he ended up choosing Xavier. I don't know
as to why Louisville, you know, didn't get him, but for what
it's worth, there is a visitors set up. Coran Johnson, the guy
we talked about yesterday from Washington. We'll see what happens, but he is
somebody that will visit this weekend, and everybody who does the recruiting predictions expects
him to visit or I'm sorry to commit, so that maybe I don't know.
I mean, I'm not trying to do like the excuse thing, but
you know, maybe I guess there's a chance that Maddox saw that and felt
like he would be better off going to Xavier where he could play alongside you
know, the young man from Western Kentucky who transferred there. The hell's his
name? The name thing is literally becoming like an issue for me because this
is somebody I've talked about a bunch. Is Dave McKnight, Yeah, Davian
mknight. Like I anytime I'm on the radio and I think to remember a
name, I just block out, Like I have a mental block. What's
your name again? Company man? Is it John? It is John?
John? So anyways, it's uh, it's it's never ending as far as
keeping up with new names in the portal and visits and all that kind of
stuff. But there were visitors visiting today. Maybe the visit's still going on
as we speak. At Louisville, obviously, Jaden Quanton's Jane Quainton is the
big name, a top ten player who was committed to Kentucky de committed after
Cali Perry left for Arkansas, and his first visit is to Louisville and he's
visiting right now. I still think all signs point to him going to Arkansas,
but we shall see a Louisville, as I mentioned earlier, looked like
they could get a commitment before the show ended. That happened. So a
Lee Khalifa, the transfer from BYU, has committed to play for Louisville and
Pat Kelcey six' eleven big who again, like, I gotta watch this guy
play for any of the for me to make any sense of his stats,
because you know, he's a seven foot or six eleven, I should say,
and he weighs two hundred and seventy pounds, and I just don't even
know what it would look like to see a player in twenty minutes per game.
I guess nineteen minutes per game have this stat line five point seven points,
three point seven rebounds, shot thirty one point five percent I'm sorry,
shut thirty eight zero point six percent from the floor as a as a seven
footer, but averaged four assists per game in those nineteen minutes. So just
looking at highlights here, he looks like a guy who can who can pass
it. You know, he's a guy that they clearly they pull him away
from the rim, and he's a threat to knock down threes, but you
know, he didn't shoot a good percentage. He shot thirty one percent from
three. But he's also somebody that you know is a really good passer,
you know, and you need that. So I'm not gonna act like this
is a huge git, because you know it's not. This guy will not
rank very high in the in the portal rankings, but you have to keep
this in mind. Louisville is not looking for three, four, maybe five
guys to really finalize their roster and on paper have something they feel could be
special. They're looking to build an entire team that also includes role players,
guys that you know know that they're going to be reserves, and heck,
there maybe games where they rarely even get off the bench. So I can't
imagine that that won't be the kind of role that Khalifa will have. But
we'll see. You never know, maybe he ends up being super productive at
Louisville. But I would also keep in mind that, knowing his role at
BYU was what it was, I doubt he is looking at Louisville as a
spot where he could, you know, go from playing nineteen minutes to playing
thirty four minutes per game. So that's another roster spot taken. And again
it's not a big name that you're gonna hear fans claim is gonna get us
back to prominence. But again, you need every roster spot filled. You
have nobody coming back, and it's you know, the guy, you know,
having a big that could pass it and step away from the rim and
really, you know, do some things for your offense, set some guys
up. You know, that's there's value there. But what you're gonna see
Louisville fans mentioned when they talk about this commitment is that he committed to Louisville
instead of instead of you know, BYU. I'm sorry, Kentucky, I
keep saying BYU because he's transferred from BYU. He played for Mark Pope's That's
kind of the story here, right, Like, the only reason that this
guy was really talked about as far as a transfer is because he hit the
portal and he listed three schools Kentucky, Louisville, and BYU, meaning he
could return to BYU. And everything on the surface made it look as if
this guy was trying to give Mark Pope his first recruiting win. Right,
he was going to, you know, act like Louisville wanted him, and
then commit to Kentucky and it'll be all Pat Kelsey taking his first l to
Mark Pope. Well, on the other end, maybe you know, Louisville
fans are going to claim that they couldn't even get be. They couldn't even
Mark Pope couldn't even get one of his own players to follow him to Kentucky.
He went to the rival. That must mean Mark Pope sucks. It
wouldn't shock me if Mark Pope really wasn't pursuing this guy. I don't know
that for sure, but you know, I think Mark Pope is traveling across
the country, this young man who's visited, who visited Louisville and committed today
Ali Khalifa. You know he he didn't have a visit schedule to Kentucky that
I know of, So maybe that's what it is. But hey, he
he's instantly earned some points in my book, which again have no value for
him. But if he really did do this to kind of conspire to,
you know, troll Kentucky fans as he's about to join the program that that
their rivals with, then you know, I can respect that. So his
numbers again, I keep mentioning his numbers from from this past season, but
the year before he played a lot more minutes and he averaged let me see
here, I think let me pull it up here, because yeah, he
before a BYU, he was at Charlotte, and at Charlotte he was better.
I mean, he had better numbers. He averaged roughly twelve points a
game, six rebounds, well yeah, uh two point seven and started every
game. So you know he was more productive at that lower level, which
is Charlotte, and then at BYU. You know, he had a kind
of a minor role. And I mean, would you even call that productive?
Because again, I'm just I'm not kidding you his stat I can't make
sense of his stat line. If you have that many assists as a big
man in nineteen minutes, that's productive, right, That's definitely productive. It's
just not what you would expect out of somebody of his stature. But it's
only productive in that specific spot. Everything else It's like, huh, in
nineteen minutes and you only had three rebounds and you're seven foot tall, so
you know. Anyways, I'm viewing this as not a huge piece that changes
everything. But again I talked about it early on when we knew that Pat
Kelsey was probably gonna have to build an entire roster that it's going to be
difficult to get guys like Khalifa. And what I mean by that is not
seven footers. I mean guys that are well or or moving to a different
school and are fine with maybe even having a smaller role than they had at
their prior school. Because usually I mean if you see if you see a
guy with that stat line and you see he's transferring, I think you would,
especially knowing that he started his career at Charlotte, you would think that
he's moving back down to where he can play more minutes and have more production.
But he's coming to Louisville. So again there's more visitors coming coming to
town tomorrow and the weekend and all that. So we'll get into that on
tomorrow's show, and we've talked about it throughout the week. But when it
comes to UH the visitors today, it's UH acquaintance and Khalifa, and so
far Khalifa is is in the mix. All right. Some other news that
that that we did be talking, Yeah, we talked about reed Shepherd and
he's move. He's going pro as I mentioned for those just not joining us,
which is not a real shock, but one of the things I mentioned
at the beginning of the show that I wanted that I want to reset here
because you know, Kentucky fans, they're not panicking at least that I can
tell, and if they are, they're doing it in silence like their in
turn only kind of worried, and I can't speak to if they're worried or
not at all. But wait a second, here some breaking news on Khalifa.
So apparently Khalifa is going to red shirt this upcoming season. Interesting.
I don't know if it's because he's coming off of an injury or yeah,
yeah, he has a knee issue according to Jeff Goodman. So that that
that makes it to where you don't even have to worry about him being on
the floor, right if you were worried about it, and maybe you know,
with when healthy, he could be more productive. And if he's red
shirting, I'm curious will he practice like you see having a knee operation,
because if anything, you just need dudes that can help you in practice,
just bodies that can give you a realistic look when you play teams. So
anyways, back to the Kentucky side of things. Right now, Mark Pope
has at least started conversations with Liam McNeely, who is probably one of the
best available. At one point he was the very best available player left in
the twenty twenty four class after he decommitted from Indiana. Well, then all
of the Kentucky kids decommitted and it changed a little bit, but he's still
a top fifteen, top twenty player that everybody would want. And I have
not heard anything about which schools are likely to land him, but Mark Pope
has at least had a conversation with him. As far as what that conversation
is, I don't know, but that would be that would be kind of
a statement get for Pope, would it not, Yeah, for sure.
And his Liam mcneely's process has been interesting because once he decommitted, you know
why he decommitted from Indiana, No, and that's part of it. He's
been so quiet since then. A lot of people thought he was just going
to commit to Kansas pretty shortly afterwards, and that hasn't happened obviously, but
it's been nearly I guess over a month now since that happened, he hasn't
made any sort of decision, which is odd to me. Yeah, I
mean he's got options, so I don't know if it's an nil thing or
what it is. But also Cali Perry, I'm just seeing this now from
one of the Arkansas writers. He's visiting with Liam McNeely too, and that
I'm glad that I just saw that because that's actually the direction I wanted to
go in because Cali Perry, I mean, he he's going to get big
time recruits. He's going to probably get some big time transfers now because the
money situation is in a good spot within IL And as we discussed earlier,
this is actually something that I'm surprised that it hasn't got more attention, maybe
because it's coming from Trullie Donovan and not a known outlet, but Jerry Jones
of course, Dallas Cowboys owner. He's a big time Arkansas supporter from Arkansas.
You don't see him attached to the program like you see, you know,
McConaughey with Texas, but like it's a known thing that he's an Arkansas
supporter and he's given them money over the years. But he says that he
is offering to double whatever the Kentucky commits we're making if they follow Cal to
Arkansas. So apparently he also financially helped out with the Cali Perry situation alongside
the Tyson Chicken guy. So like that's the kind of stuff that Cali Perry
can do that most can't. Cali Perry is the master of flash and sizzle,
and he's a big figure within the world of college basketball. So Jerry
Jones, I mean, yeah, he sees Cali Perry come into Arkansas and
the attention that it gets and how excited Arkansas fans are, and it gets
him excited because he's a fan, so he wants to throw money at it
and Cal doing stuff. I mean, Cal is somebody that moves the needle
in college basketball in a major way. And he's going to continue, I
think, to stay in the spotlight, especially now because he's at a new
school. Right like it had kind of becomes stale Cali Perry. You know,
he'd been getting top ten top I mean he beginning, he'd been getting
the top classes every year in college basketball, and they were always good for
the most part. But you know, lately it'd become where it'd become the
it had become a situation where everybody just knew he was probably gonna lose early
in the tournament. Well, now he's at Arkansas, he's probably gonna start
getting a bunch of players. He's got Jerry Jones, the owner of the
Cowboys, wanting to throw money at anil to help. And it's just he's
going very much gonna be in the limelight, whereas Mark Pope is the exact
opposite. And that's not a bad thing. I'm just curious to see how
Kentucky fans deal with the drastic difference that you're you're gonna see as far as
brand, Arkansas's brand is going to be more visible, it's going to be
more known. It's gonna have more momentum than it's had in a long long
time. Now will that result in results and wins next year? I don't
know who knows, But that's what Cal was the master of winning the offseason
every year because he's a hype machine. When he says things and he makes
statements and he does the Cal stuff like it gets it moves the needle.
And that's going to happen in Arkansas, probably even more so than it did
at Kentucky recently, because it's mentioned it's new and who knows, maybe next
year Mark Pope's got a really good team and cal sucks. I mean,
I doubt that's the case, but I just think it's going to be almost
impossible for Kentucky fans to not find themselves comparing Mark Pope to Cali Perry,
and I get it. I would be doing the same thing if I was
somebody that was a fan of Kentucky and that was the coach for fourteen years.
It's almost human nature. So I think they're well aware it's going to
be different, and they're excited about the differences that are going to make them
feel better about their program. Where Mark Pope is clearly going to be more
of a Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky, where Caliperry his brand at Kentucky was Cali Perry,
right. I mean, he never seemed to really understand that. One
of the reasons he was able to sell and really kind of climbed to the
top of college basketball at Kentucky was because one, it's a great recruiter,
always has been. He's a he's a really I mean, he's he's got
a powerful presence, right, larger than life kind of guyler, larger than
life figure. But he also was selling Kentucky. So it's quite too early
to know how things will work out with Mark Pope. But I just think,
you know, for example, Leam McNeely, now like if he comes,
if it comes down to where he's considering Kentucky and Arkansas, and we
know Jeremy Roach is considering those two maybe with Saint John's Like, there's no
way a Kentucky fan could tell you that they realistically believe and expect Mark Pope
would get those wins in recruiting battles over Cal Perry. And then if they
don't, meaning like they go to Arkansas, both of them somehow, I
just I it won't sit well with them. I'm here for it because I
think that it'll be a complex and I mean, yeah, I would enjoy
seeing that happen, but I mean I get it, like this is just
the dynamic. Here's weird. Cal didn't just ride off into the sunset,
go to the NBA or go to a school that you know he didn't get
five. He left for Arkansas. But again, it was because he knew
he needed to leave. It did run its course, but now he's a
direct competitor, and he's gonna be petty. He's going to I mean,
he's gonna if he hears Mark Pope called some dude cali Perry's calling him on
the other line. Is that a thing like other line? Like we don't
have one line. I feel like I just talked about phones, like we're
in the nineteen nineties, Like it's one of those camp phones or whatever.
Yeah, something like that. So what's like a break? Keep it rolling
along? Pat Kelsey talked earlier today at an event filling in for John Caliperry,
who was scheduled to be the speaker. Of course, he's not here
anymore. And anytime Pat Kelsey sees an opportunity to get in front of a
crowd and do his thing, it seems like he's going to thrive in that
spot, and I think he did today. I've got more sound from that
to share with you. We shared a little bit of it earlier, but
there's more that I'll share on the other side. Stick with us right here
on Sports Talk seven ninety. We got Aaron Torres the Fox Sports Radio going
to join us in just a secondent, I do want to let you guys
hear this clip of Pat Kelsey speaking earlier today at a Cosair children's event,
filling in for Caliperi, who is the keynote speaker, who, of course
you know, has left Kentucky. But this is some of what he had
to say. And again, I think if you are not a fan,
or if you're already, this will probably make you feel justified in your love
for Pat Kelsey. I mean, he hadn't coached a game yet, but
when it comes to this talking in front of a crowd, he's pretty good
at it. Even though the business has gone to a version of professional sports,
I still believe that the young men that I coach and that I bring
into this program, that at that stage of their life nineteen twenty twenty one,
twenty two, twenty three years older, still formative years of their life.
And it is very very important to me that obviously, first and foremost
right talented individuals that fit our system, that are about the right ideals,
that have toughness, that have competitiveness, that have basketball IQ, that make
people around it better and are adaptable. But we still talk about the ABCS,
whether I'm talking to four hundred children at a basketball camp, or I'm
talking to twenty two to twenty three year old high level players with NBA aspirations.
It's always about the ABC's academic basketball character, academics, basketball character,
academics basketball character. That piece of paper from the University of Louisville will feed
their family and open up doors for the rest of their life. The ball
will stop bouncing. That is always one of our major priorities to be is
basketball. I want people that are passionate about their craft. We call it
hoop dudes. And if I'm talking to a group of children and I say
ABC's academics basketball character, and the four hundred kids at that basketball camp,
there might be fifty that are really really passionate about basketball. The other ones
are going there to do something fun. And that's fine. My little girl
Caroline and Ruthie went to my camp all year all their lives. You know
what, They're not that passionate about basketball. But be passionate about something something.
I don't care if it's a musical instrument, I don't care, if
it's dancing, I don't care if it's science, but be past I love
passionate people. And when we say basketball, it's guys that get there early
and stay late, care about their craft right, pour into the details of
their game. The see is character, right, ABC. A character is
guys that are about winning first and foremost. You give them yourself for the
good of the team. You're willing to sacrifice for the guy next to you.
You know that was courtesy of Tyler Griever WDRB. Which look, I
know he hasn't coached a game yet and he's still putting together a roster.
But the box that need to be checked, you know, engaging fans and
giving us some life and you know, using the platform rather it be an
interview on a radio show, a TV show or speaking in an event like
he did today. Uh, he's injected some life in his fan base and
man, it was missing in a major way. You know who else has
been missing on the show show in a major way? Is the one the
only mister Aaron Torres of Fox Sports Radio who's a passionate guy about his craft.
Are you ready to run through a brick wall? Could you hear that?
Well, here's the problem he's talking about the wrong. ABC's where I
come from. ABC is always be closing and I bought my boy Pat kelcey
knowing that I was coming on with you today saying, you know what,
we're gonna take this commit from Ali Khalifa. Big Blue Nations go to claim
that we never wanted him anyway. ABC is always be closing Nick coffee and
we got a new car to talk about, man we do and the what
are your early impressions of Pat Kelsey, because I've got you know, you
know a lot of people in college basketball as far as just coaches here and
there and just connects that you've made throughout your your career, and I've not
heard anybody say anything bad about him. In fact, everybody's been consistent that
does speak of him just because he's a high energy. He's a high energy
guy that it's something you remember when you do meet him, just because he's
he's always on. But there's a lot of folks that just really don't know
a lot about him, didn't know much of him. What you know,
obviously he's done a good job thus far getting some players, But you know,
from who you've talked to, what have you heard about Pat as a
guy and a coach? Yeah, bluntly, Nick, you know, he's
a guy that I don't know a lot about either. I mean, but
but I think a couple of things, you know, and I'll equate it
to this after Yukon won second straight national championship and I'm not bringing it up
and I'm seriously now, I was talking to Yukon Da d Day Benedict on
the floor in Phoenix, you know, about two weeks ago now, and
I said, what did you see in Dan Hurley? And he said,
you know what, Aaron he goes. Guy has won everywhere he went.
Dan Hurley won in high school, he won at the low major level,
the high major level, whatever, Rhode Island, et cetera. And Pat
Kelsey I don't know anything about him. But when you win consistently, it
went through them, and then you immediately go to h to Charleston and win
there. There is clearly a blueprint that is in place that works for you
and has a proven track record. So that's one but set. What has
really impressed me Nick just watching from a distance, and it's really all kind
of come out the last week or so. I really respect that. Right
now, Jaden Quaintance is on campus. I don't know if Louisville will get
him. I'm not in tune with his recruitment. I do know also that
you know, there's a belief in basketball circles that Boogie flanned another five star,
that Louisville is pursuing him as much as anybody outside of Arkansas, where
he obviously has ties to the new coaching staff there. And what I respect
about Pat Kelcey, and I do think it's something that was lacking from the
previous regime, is he's sitting there saying, I'm coaching the University of Louisville.
I'm coaching in the ACC at a program that has won three national championships.
Every player in America should want to play for me and play for this
school. And I don't know if he's going to get him, but I
don't think there should be a fear I think there should be a entitlement almost
of this is Louisville. You should want to come play here. We're going
to give you every resource imaginable to get for you to chase your dreams and
have success. And so those are my first impressions. But I just love
the way that he is attacking recruiting fearlessly and using all of the benefits of
Louisville to his advantage and saying this is a place every player in America should
want to complain for. Now, what do you think of Mark Pope as
far as you know, obviously we know he's the guy now and I know
you're you're familiar with what he did at BYU, But were you expecting to
see the Kentucky fans kind of one show up the way they did on Sunday
and at least within the first you know, forty eight hours and I assume
they're all still in they're getting Nancy because you know, they don't have a
team yet, which is understandable. He got he just got the job essentially
a few days ago. But were you expecting them to make such a shift
and such a turn from thinking it was the worst move ever in the history
of the program to being completely all in and you know, completely filling the
arena for him to you know, be introduced as the coach. So I'm
I'm not surprised. I'll tell you what actually did surprise me was the initial
reaction is, you know, listen, and this goes for Louisville fans as
well. Kentucky fans are very passionate, but they're very knowledgeable basketball fan base,
and I was surprised at the number of people that only looked at the
two NCAA tournament appearances, zero NCAA tournament wins, and listen if it was
Mark Pope, you know, yukon grad or Mark Pope BYU read that's different
than being a guy that has been in Kentucky, that knows this program,
that knows the expectations. So I was actually a little surprised by the initial
response. It was funny, I do a show every Thursday night, and
the news kind of broke after my show, and I'm kind of grateful that
I didn't have a show that night because it would have been basically a therapy
session. So I was a little surprised. I wasn't surprised that once they
did a little homework, realizing the challenges that we had to overcome, it
BYU with the honor code and all that, and then just seeing the style
of play that they got on board pretty quick, especially because he's obviously a
uk guy. So that part actually did surprise me. The part that surprised
me was more the the initial reaction. But obviously to your point, Nick,
now it's about getting to work because hack Kelsey's making moves. You know,
cal Perry's got a few tricks up his sleeve, whether Kentucky fans won
admitute or not. And if you're Mark Pope, listen, you don't have
to sign it. To quote John cal Perry. You know, John Calperry
said, you don't have to make every shot, but you can't miss them
all. It's like Mark Pope, you don't have to sign every five star.
But we need to kind of see what the plan is here over the
next couple of days. Obviously one to two players on the roster, obviously
assuming Travis Perry is going to be there along with Colin Chandler. But Mark
Pope obviously has a lot of work to do. Not surprised by the initial
reaction, but now it's time to get to work for Mark pol So,
who do you I mean, who could you see being the first edition that
is you know, substantial to where it's not just another player because they need
a lot of them. You know, Louisville's building an entire roster, and
so is Kentucky. But maybe one that would get some attention across us the
country that you know wouldn't be maybe the guy call because Calup, there's nobody
that no matter who they hired, they weren't going to have the recruiting ranking
credit that cal Perry has. I mean, the guy had the number one
class just about every year, and if he didn't have that, he had
number two, and I think once he had the third rank class. So
they knew whoever was taken over would not be that kind of recruiter. But
is there somebody that you believe they're in the mix with that they could end
up getting. That would put maybe their fan base at a little bit of
ease, just knowing that, hey, this guy isn't cal As a recruiter,
but he's also somebody that can go get talented players. Yeah, I
mean I could start naming names, Nick. I just think it's hard to
speculate because obviously Mark Pope doesn't even really have a staff right now. Now.
You know, obviously there's there's yeah, there's you know, reports about
Antigue Wo potentially staying all this and that. But I just bring it up
because it's it's hard to say without knowing, Like we don't even know who
the assistant coaches are going to be. So yeah, I think there are
names you know, I think if if Mark Pope can get you know,
Jackson Robinson, who's a very good college basketball player out of the PA Draft,
bring him to Kentucky. I was the guy that average fourteen to fifteen
points a game in the Big Twelve last year. I think that obviously sends
the right message. You know, I've seen some buzz on Leah McNeely,
who of course was the five star McDonald's All American that's actually set to visit
Yukon next week. It feels to me like it's a little too late in
the process to get involved. But listen, I think that would be a
huge statement if he could. And then the last thing I would say is
obviously, look, I mean, I think if you can convince some of
those cal commitments that hey, Kentucky is still the best place for you,
even under a new coaching staff, I think that'd be a heck of a
statement. But it just seems like from a distance, those guys aren't his
priority. No disrespect to again, Jayden Klayton, so I know is on
campus right now at Louisville to a boogie planers. Not saying they're bad players,
but that just doesn't seem to be a priority for Mark Pope. So
because of it, like I said, it's just hard because we don't even
know what the coaching staff is right now to really speculate on what recruits have
really moved the needle. Yeah, and I think they know that it's going
to be a lot different and Cal's gonna be very you know, Cal's just
and this is where I wanted to shift to Cal because you know, he's
he's a figure within the sport really unlike anybody else. He's just different and
he's he's flash and sizzle. He's won the off season every year because that's
just what he does. He'll go load up a roster, he'll talk is
junk and you know, and usually they're pretty good. Now lately they've become
a team. When he was there Kentucky where they flamed out on the tournament,
But he's going to do that at Arkansas, and because it's new and
because he's re energized, it's probably gonna be a bigger deal than it has
been in Kentucky in a few years. Because you got Jerry Jones wanted to
put up money to help. I mean, he's he's gonna want to stick
it to Kentucky. They're a competitor. Now, I just you know,
for example, let's just say it. You know, Kentucky's in on Liam
McNeely, and they're in on Jeremy Roach, and Cal gets both of them,
and Mark Pope gets you know, shut down. I just can't see
that fan base handling that any other way than you like losing their minds.
So I bring with you one hundred percent. By the way, I don't
know how much time we have stuff I go along just cutting me off.
I was offended. What no, no, no, First of all,
you know, so first of all, I agree with you, and I
do think listen, I think Mark Folk's gonna be good. But I do
think it's going to be interesting for Kentucky fans to kind of deal with.
You know, there's there's a lot of all those things. Like I don't
even know how to phrase this properly, but like I'll just give you an
example. Last night on my show, I talked a lot about, you
know, the next move for both Kentucky and Arkansas, and I got a
lot of the I'm tired of hearing about Cal Perry. I can't listen to
this show anymore. It's like, well, you know, Cali Perry is
a Hall of Famer in a first year, replacing eleven players. We're going
to talk about him. It's the biggest move of college basketball off season,
no doubt, dude. I mean probably over the last ten years. It's
the biggest coaching move, you know. And so you have that, you
have you know, other programs arriving, but then you know, you also
just have the you know, I do think there's a little bit of cal
Perry back on the way out where, you know. I saw some stuff
today of well, you know, I mean, you know, because Red
Schifford declared, I mean, how different would the season that's been if Reid
had started from the beginning and good riddance talent. It's like, well,
you did finish in the second you finished second in the toughest SEC. Ever,
Now, I will admit the SEC tournament performance, the NCAA tournament performance
was not acceptable. I don't disagree with Kentucky fans on that, but this
idea, you know, you're coming off here and once you finished second in
the SEC, and it's like, good riddance. All I will say is
I think while the tournament success wasn't there and while I think a fresh start
was best for all parties involved. Just because you're Kentucky and I learned this
as a Yukon fan over the last couple of years before Van Hurry, you
learned this as a Louisville fan. There's no fan base that is entitled to
greatness every single year. And I am curious from the recruiting perspective, you
know, I think there's going to be more talented teams in the SEC than
them next year. I will be curious how the fan base handles it.
Bec because again, as a Yukon guy who saw three straight losing seasons within
the last decade, I can tell you nobody's entitled anything. I know Louisville
fans feel the exact same way. Yeah, and I think they, you
know, they'll have the level of patients that a program that is used to
excellence will have meaning very little, but they'll at least they'll understand. But
I just think the Caliperi component to it, when he's when he's thriving at
his new school, it's just gonna it's gonna make it uncomfortable for him.
What do I have a second ask you a question or a week ago yeah,
we got to make it quick. But yeah, okay, what is
your how do you think Kal's going to do? Because I do think he
is reinvigorized, reinvigorated at it. I manage made it for where they're reinvigorated,
and I think it means something to have a fan base that believes in
his vision and his tone, something that had obviously run pretty dry at Kentucky
the last couple of years. I'll answer it quickly. I think he will
win there. I think he will engage their fan base throughout, but I
don't think he finds himself in multiple final fours or a national championship. That's
my prediction. That's that's the way I see it. But we got to
run sixty five years old. Yeah, I get it. A t appreciate
your brother, Thank you, sire. We gotta take a quick break.
We'll come back on the other side. Wrap this thing up on Sports Talk
seven ninety Just a couple of minutes left here before we say goodbye. Been
a fun, busy show so far today. A lot of news during the
show today, well, you know, at least two big pieces of news.
One read Shepherd heading to the pros and also Louisville end's a commitment from
BYU transfer Ali Khalifa, who, of course uh played for Mark Pope at
BYU and was expected to also consider Kentucky and a return to BYU, but
he chose to commit to Pat Kelsey. Lois Well, he's gonna red shirt
this year, and uh sounds like he'll probably have a knee surgery, which
would explain why he is why he's gonna take the year off, which really,
you know, you're in a position where you could do that if you
think the kid could help you down the line, because obviously, you know,
you got scholarships to give, and I thought that they would end up
probably having to just give some of those last couple of scholarships to walk ons.
But in the end, you know, you can give it to somebody
who can rehab get better there and potentially play the next year. I mean,
that would be a better way to do it than giving it to somebody
who you don't really feel like could ever end up, you know, helping
you. All Right, Tomorrow, you got to remind me John, we
got to talk about this Kaitlyn Clark press conference with Greg Doyle, because yeah,
it kind of won't die like, you know, for those who don't
know what we're talking about, a guy who covers Indianapolis sports up there was
at the Fever press conference with Kaitlyn Clark and just like, I mean,
total cringe creep. It just really couldn't have made himself look. Yeah,
it was just all around uncomfortable. So all right, we're gonna call it
a day. You guys, enjoy your evening. We're back at it tomorrow
right here at three o'clock for a feel good Friday again Coffee and Company.
Fieldbut Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety