It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now, here's Nick coffee. All right, we're here. It's
five o'clock on a Friday. Let's finish strong as we wrap up the week.
A little delayed there, apologies before I turned the microphone on and got
us started here, because I'm just I am distracted by everyone's reaction to Officer
Brian Gillis who I mean. My hesitation there is because I don't want to.
I don't know the guy personally. I've never been a law enforcement officer,
and I'm sure there are some things that are very frightening because of past
experiences. But I have a hard time not thinking this guy's like the ultimate
clown. Because every step of the way there has been any kind of an
update, it proves that this was an emotional police officer who is either just
really soft or just wanted to abuse his authority and turn something into a big,
big deal, including a felony charge that didn't need to happen at all.
I mean, for those who haven't seen it, the pictures have come
out today, So yes, he still claimed even after the charges were dropped
and there were witnesses who told both the county attorney and Scottie Scheffler's attorney that
they saw it no video, They didn't have a body cam, of course,
and they didn't have a camera running, but they watched everything step by
step throughout the entire encounter and that he was not dragged. That didn't happen.
And if it did, even if it was a misunderstanding, Scotti Scheffler
would probably have a tough time not having charges dropped. And I can't sit
here and tell you that it would need to be dropped, like if that
happened, even if it's misunderstanding, you can't drive ten to fifteen yards dragging
a police officer, which is what Brian Gillis claimed. But that just didn't
happen. And now we've seen the pictures of his injuries. He's got two
little booboos, one on his knee and one on his and I was clearly
trying to make you know, a poor joke by calling them booboos last week,
and he got his feelings hurt. And that is evidently exactly what happened,
because the little bitty cut on his knee and a little I guess it's
not a cut, but it I mean, you just put a band aid
on it like it's nothing. Crazy on his arm and then he has a
little hole in his pants. I mean, imagine calling nine to one one
and them showing up and you showing that to them. They might call the
cops on you for abusing resources of first responders. I mean, I'm sure
that's not a charge in you know, worded that way. But I mean,
this guy continues to look like an absolute clown. Don't know him personally,
maybe he's a nice man, but this situation, along with other things
he's been in trouble for as a law enforcement officer, I mean, it's
hard for me to not think he's a clown. But my goodness, I
mean, if you haven't seen it, they're all I mean, I'm about
to tweet it out again. Pictures of the knee, the arm, and
the pants, and it's crazy but consistent. I mean every step it's Scotti.
Scheffler has been professional, understanding, apologetic to an extent, and not
holding a grudge despite him being in a situation that just didn't need to happen.
I don't know if i'd say, I mean, I guess he is
a victim, to be honest with you, because that was someone just deciding
to overcharge and escalate something on paper, right when you look at the charges,
you look at the mug shot, and he was in for it didn't
add up at all to what actually happened. So I guess he is a
victim in that way. But I mean it's I mean, this guy got
his feelings, hurt, got emotional, and I feel like if emotion and
look, emotions are on high, emotions are a human reaction that's always going
to be there. But I feel like if you're cop, you need to
have the ability to keep things in check because you know there are people who
will do a lot worse than what Scotty Scheffler did intentionally actually to you,
and if you get worked up, like you know, like that's probably not
what you're supposed to do in that position. But here's some of the audios,
so for those who missed it, the body camera of Officer Gillis was
turned on after the incident and there's audio from that. In fact, I
just found another clip that I guess Whas eleven put out there that I hadn't
seen yet. That is somebody's body cam who shows Scotty Scheffler actually realizing he's
about to be arrested. You can hear some concern from him. But this
is Brian Gillis being approached by another officer after after the situation, and this
is what he had to say. They want to talk to you whom,
Yeah you are. I'm pissed. My pants are ripped. I have this
scrape on my knee and my wrist and then to see what it is,
I mean like it's I don't want to say that that felt good. But
man, imagine like if he really got hurt on the job. It's like
he went around everybody else. We already had a line of them trying to
come in, and he decided he's going to be recording. No, wasn't
at a time was it wasn't expecting to run over. Wasn't expecting to be
run over. Well, you weren't run over. But I think he believes
he was rent run over. I think he believes that the way he shared
what happened is actually what happened. I really do. I mean, for
are you are you the one that I mean my wrist, my angle,
my knee and like rip like hands I'm directing traffic, it says police army.
I mean insane, insane. All right, this is the this is
the let's see here, let me see this is the let me see if
I can find this sound here, I'll track it down in just a second,
because I mean it. You know what Scottie Scheffler said after the fact
in regards to misunderstanding, didn't know he was law enforcement. You know,
I was trying to get around one cop. I guess had told him that
he could go like that, that even if he was mistaken, and it
wasn't misunderstanding. And he's clearly at fault for some of that, and I
think he's acknowledged that. As far as just you know, the mix up.
I feel like he has been consistent since day one, and you know,
to me, just seems like it turned into something it didn't need to
be. But that's, you know, that's the way. I all right,
let's switch gears here and bring on a special guest. He's doctor Larry
Bins from pro Rea Physical Therapy. How are we doing, Larry? Can
you hear me? Hello? Huh oh, I've got him potted up here.
I can't hear him for some reason. Okay, Yeah, I love
yeh, let's see here. We got it all right. Sorry, Larry,
we having some phone issues. We're having some phone issues this afternoon.
Can you hear us, sir? I can hear you, yes, Yeah,
sorry about that all right. Well, first of all, how you've
been been a couple weeks since we talked. I was on vacation, long
time note chat. How we've been. Yeah, everything is going really well.
You know, we've had we went right from you know, pretty much
an absent spring with a lot of rain into into some hotter weather and so
getting a lot of seeing a lot of early heat injuries that we're concerned with.
People need to just continue to drink water and solve all those things.
But it's been a good everything's been good so far. Yeah. I think
earlier this week with the humidity, and most of it was because we had
some some storms here and there. But yeah, earlier this week it felt
like, Okay, here we go the hot weather, the humidity is here.
We're gonna have to be gonna have to be mindful of it. I
think, yeah, we had, you know, a pretty pleasant spring overall,
but that summer heat is here, no doubt. Now. One of
the things I wanted to ask you about Larry Is. I don't know how
much you follow boxing, but I know you're very familiar with Mike Tyson.
He was set to have a match this summer with one of the Paul brothers,
who has turned himself into a very rich man because of these fights that
he puts on a really good promoter. I know some people have thoughts on
how good he actually is as a boxer, but either way, people tune
in and watch and they're making a lot of money and Mike Tyson was going
to be a part of that. But the fight has been postponed due to
ulcers that Mike Tyson is dealing with, you know how calm, and I
could be wrong. I feel like that's not something you hear of athletes dealing
with a whole lot rather really in any sport, but serious enough for them
to hit pause here and let him get healed up before they actually have this
fight. Yeah. No, this has been an interesting thing to follow,
and I love boxing, by the way, and one of the things I
notice is, you know, he's fifty seven years old trying to fight a
twenty seven year old, and that was part of the instead. As part
of the booking and the events and leading up to it. But all these
fights are legit. I mean, you remember a few years ago with Kinder
Grigor and you know, things going on, so that was very legitimate fight.
He was training pretty different, you know, pretty strenuous and doing well.
Then he was on a very short American Airlines flight. I think this
is right, you know, just a few weeks ago at the end of
May, and he had a bad bout of you know, dizziness and vomiting
and basia and all kinds of things going on, and then got diagnosed with
an ulcer. What's interesting though, is he never really released it publicly as
the type of ulcer that it is. It sounds like it's a peptic ulcer,
which is a type to get you know, around the lining of the
abdominal wall and cobb all kinds of discomfort. I think those who followed music
and when Bruce Springsteen had to cancel his tour about a year ago, that
was the same phenomenon that happened. So it it's definitely at risk for those
who are getting a little bit you know older. The other aspect of this
is it could be you know, the other type of ulcer that it is.
It's just a preforation and having so think of having open soores on your
skin, well, imagine that being in the lining of your stomach. And
if those things, you know, sort of burst, that can be really
really dangerous. I mean, you have to respect them. The traditional school
of thought is to wait four to six weeks, you know, and avoid
any kind of training. And it's hard to sell these guys down, all
those boxers if you look traditionally, they've always had this notion of you know,
they train, they fight. You know, they get overweight, They
train, they fight, and they get overweight. And you know, Tyson
hasn't fought in years. So I don't know if he's going to come back
from it. I mean, I guess it'll depend on the type of pain
he has or lack of it. If he comes back, I certainly hope.
So I think that anytime we can get an older athlete who trains like
crazy and hopefully performs pretty well, it could be a pretty really good entertainment,
no doubt. And Mike Tyson, you know, despite him him getting
up there in age, I mean, he is still somebody that I feel
like, even if it wasn't one of the Paul Brothers, who certainly developed
a big following. He's still someone meeting Mike Tyson that people would tune in
to watch because he's Iron Mike. He's Mike Tyson, one of the one
of the all time greats. What is the you know, what is the
typical pro like when it comes to him healing here? Is it just resting?
Is it just completely taking time down to just kind of you know,
let it heal on its own? I mean, is there a specific process
to you know, to to to get over this. Yeah, it's a
combination of things, but rush is certainly part of it. A lot of
times they do antibiotics on this. There's some theory around ulcers being you know,
really effectively like infections, and so they've been treating them. They're tricky
things. You know, stress can cause you to have increased pain and discomfort
that could exacerbate or make worse in ulster. But yes, it is that
you know, as you well know, there's all kinds of over the counter
stuff or when you're stomach pain that could be more of the peptic you know
types of type of ulcer, which is the lining and we'll see it's kind
of a wait and see game for sure a good portion of the time,
and he certainly doesn't at least by all news reports suggests that he's got a
long history of this. It should resolve, but he has to be a
patient, and that patience is you know, four weeks to you know,
call it a couple of months and then what happens, you know, do
you back as your training set you back a bit. I think they actually
maybe even rescheduled this fight. Yeah, I think it's going to be in
November. Maybe. Yeah, I think that's right, And that's a good
sign. He's he's obviously, you know, going to be treated effectively for
it. He can, he can afford it. But you know, there's
a lot of there's a lot of speculation around oh yeah, exactly. And
you know, was he on too many you know, anti inflammatory drugs like
ibuprofen and add bill and those kind of things. But you know, he
certainly doesn't have a history of you know, abuse as far as some of
these other things go. He's a fascinating character, as you all know.
Absolutely. Yes, he's been a stand up comedian, he's been an actor,
he's been a little bit of everything. I remember when he came to
Louisville several years ago when he was promoting the fight that you know eventually was
one of his first big down palls where he got knocked out, you know,
here in Louisville. And he was just so well regarded by everybody around
town who just wanted to be near him and see him, and I mean
Iron Mike as a persona and a branding that is amongst the most unique characters
of history in boxing. I was a little bit younger when that happened,
but I certainly remember it because even though I wasn't exposed to a lot of
boxing growing up, when Mike Tyson is going to be fighting in Louisville,
it's a big deal at that time. Was he still I mean again,
I feel like even as a younger kid, that was a big big deal
around here to have that event. It was a big deal because we hadn't
hosted boxing in years and it was Iron Mike. Yeah, and he stayed
at the Gold House. He had birds in his hotel room. If you
remember he heard yeah we did. I think he was over at the old
Automate hospital with that knee injury is a very legitimate knee injury that he had
during the fight, which you know was probably the reason he got backed out,
but it was it was great entertainment. It was great having him in
town. I think a lot of people over the years, at least this
is my perspective, have been, you know, could been confused because he
does have a little bit of a speech disability, and they conflate that with
well, maybe he's not the smartest guy in the world. I remember seeing
him in interviews where he just could recite boxing history like no other. And
he might not have had the formal education growing up, but he is a
very astute and he's taken his career in directions that the people you know,
never thought of. Now, on the other hand, he was a convicted
fellaon right. I mean, he was sure he was in jail and everything
else, which sort of adds to the lore of this whole whole story.
It really does. And I'm glad you said that, because I think there
are some athletes that, you know, they do things that a lot of
us have never done as far as you know, committing a crime, a
felony, but whenever it all plays out publicly, you know, it makes
them relatable because again, there are issues, their mistakes may be a lot
different than ours, but I think it adds a level of relatability. Like
John Day, to me, is a really fascinating character, and he's also
a phenomenal athlete, a really good golfer. But you know, he had
his issues that kind of all played out in front of the public to where
I just feel like it's hard for people to dislike him. Same thing with
Mike Tyson. Obviously, there's some things he's been involved in that I think
most people wouldn't condone or speak highly of. But I think he's kind of
turned into somebody that a lot of people find themselves pulling for and find him
entertaining too. That's exactly right. And he did serve his time. I
mean he did serve a sentence. He was on probation for a very long
time. He was a very wealthy man as he exited prison, and to
my knowledge, really hasn't been in any serious trouble since. All Right,
Larry, were you a fan of Bill Walton? Absolutely. I've got a
great picture at the Texas Roadhouse conference from several years ago. I served as
sort of a co host for him as he did an incredible speech at that
conference in San Diego where he lived. Now, I'm jealous that you got
to meet him, because I'm a Bill Walton super fan, and I feel
like I can't Now. I feel like I'm a fraud by claiming that because
I knew he had injuries throughout his career, but I got to admit I
did not know the severity of it to where he missed, I mean sixty
percent of his games in the NBA due to various injuries with his foot,
his ankle. I mean he had thirty seven orthopedic surgeries in his lifetime.
I mean that is that's unbelievable now, that is. And I engaged in
all kinds of conversations with him about physical therapy. He also had been you
know, he played on the Celtics with local legend Rick Roby from you know,
right Kentucky, and so he wanted to get caught up as to what
was going on in his life. He was just an incredibly engaging man,
and anybody who's watched in these recent days any of his YouTube you snippets from
his talk, he just had a way of communicating and memorizing a lot of
John Wooden material that really was motivating and I highly recommend you know his book,
his autobiography. Yeah, I thought the way he's been discussed here locally.
The Celtics had a really awesome tribute to him last night before the game.
And yeah, I was unaware that he had that he that he was
going through. I mean I didn't I didn't know he had cancer. And
I think there's something about especially celebrities, who can be dealing with that.
And I'm sure it's not private to everyone. I'm sure they're close friends and
loved ones are aware and they want to keep things private for certain reasons.
But I think there's a level of selflessness whenever you clearly, I think Bill
Walt knew that if he made it public that he was going through something like
that that was going to take his life at some point, there'd be an
overwhelming amount of support and love for him. But you know, he decided
he didn't want to do that, and I just think, again, that's
a really selfless thing. No. Absolutely, As you said, there's many
who want to be in the public light on that. His privacy was well
respected and it was that's why for so many of us, myself included,
it was shocking to hear that you've been lost because he just you know,
in any public, you know, venue, whether he was given a speech
or being interviewed, he was just so full of life. Yeah, I'm
I'm a big Bill Walton fan and really jealous. I've never got a chance
to meet him, but anybody who has shares similar, similar vibes from the
conversation and the experience, very very kind and would talk to you know,
he would talk to probably a former NBA player the same way he talked to
a stranger who never played the game, just because he would give you.
He'd give you his time and listen to you. So yeah, he'll be
missed, no doubt about that. All Right. I wanted to I want
to switch gears here real quick and talk about basketball, because Louisville basketball obviously
has had a phenomenal first first couple of months here with Pat Kelsey putting together
a roster that not just Louisville fans can be excited about. I think objectively,
those that cover college basketball are looking at the personnel that has been added
here and this team could be pretty good. I mean, I think this
is a tournament caliber team. But they have a couple of guys that have
joined the program that are expected a red shirt, and one of them is
Ali Khalifa from BYU, who the plan is to red shirt. But he's
already had his knee surgery, and I think now it's just him taking a
year to get healthy, get in better shape. But is there a chance
that if in fact that and again, you know, I'm not asking you
to share any kind of inside info from the program, but is it.
Has it happened before? I'm sure it has where a player expects to have
to has to red shirt, But then again, maybe their recovery, their
progress, their weight, you know, they're they're actually making good enough progress
to where they can say, okay, you know what, I'm able to
play if you guys need me. I don't want to act like that that's
for sure going to happen. But when I heard that he's already had his
surgery and now it's just a rehab thing, I'm kind of thinking maybe he
could, maybe he could make some progress to where we do see him on
the on the floor next year. Yeah, he's had you know, he
had this microfracture in his knee, and this is one of the more difficult
injuries to treat. Because you know, you want to play and you want
to see him play, but it absolutely needed the surgery to help. You
know, Effectively, what they do is they set a new wound in there
so you get new healing, and so he will absolutely be resting the entire
year. I don't think there's any any uh anticipation by anybody of him coming
back. I think the fact that we got him to begin with, I
mean, we've already got between that and some other potential signees for the following
year, you know, the beginnings of another class. I mean, this
is a very unique situation. We had no class of players. I mean
right, yeah, It's like where it's like we're an expansion team and you
have to give an enormous amount of credit to the five h two circle,
for example, and to the you know, the hiring of Pat and to
Josh here the athletic director. I mean, this is going to be a
story that will be legendary, I think because the how with the house settlement
Nancy double a beginning in twenty twenty five, although I personally hope it gets
pushed back to twenty twenty six. You're going to start paying players and then
it becomes money management, personnel management, but we were able to secure going
from what might be worse to first. I mean, I don't want to
be overlygue xuberant either, and I'd be really happy for a top twenty five,
you know, but it's gonna you know that plus our schedule, it's
going to really put fans in seats. And we haven't had the type of
revenues that we really need for basketball since literally two thousand, you know,
late two thousand, so you know, well prior to you know, twenty
twenty, and so we need those revenues to support the other sports and to
be able to do you know, the revenue share, which is you know,
approximately twenty two million starting in the fall of twenty twenty five. The
only way we can do that is by winning. And so the investments in
NIL through the five or two circle and through what university has done through hiring
some just incredible coaches. I really do believe that the tightness of how the
coaches work with our collective and with our athletic department in terms of events,
it's got a lot of people excited. And you know, just surely the
eyeball test, you know, the personnel side of it looks very very promising.
Yeah, I think Pat Kelsey, obviously, his resume is impressive with
what he did at Winthro up in College of Charleston and winning. You know,
we'll see. I'm very confident that he'll win a lot of games here
and be here for a long time. But I will say this just from
a fans perspective, until you can actually go out there and win games,
you know, you still need to be engaging, and you need to be
kind of a showman and and really get people excited. And man, that's
a box that Pat Kelsey checked from the very beginning. And look, he's
he's got a resume, he's put together a good roster up to this point.
But I mean right out of the gate, he came out and got
people fired up, and that that matters, right. I know, if
you don't win in the in the end, I guess it doesn't matter.
But until you can actually get on the floor and produce results, if you're
engaging the community, the fan base, getting him excited, willing to invest
rather it be buying tickets, rather it be donating to the FABO two circle,
that kind of stuff matters. And you know, again I'm very optimistic
that it's going to work out. But I really, I really now understand
how important that dynamic was, that that specific criteria really really matters. And
again, wins matter more than anything but the other stuff until you can actually
coach. He's really really thriving in no, absolutely, and look at the
staff that he put together. And you know, if you look at successful
coaches over a long period of time, they may have a down year in
and out, but they tend to be successful coaches. And the one thing
that really stood out about Pat Kelsey was that he had to do completely redo
his roster last year at College of Charleston after having you know, the most
unprecedented year the year before. Yeah that rarely gets mentioned, but you're spot
on. Yeah, no, that's absolutely right. And so he had to
harness the city of Charleston to help in their nil collective and put together from
scratch or roster last year that was incredibly impressive and very successful. So I
think the thing that impressed me most about him and his staff is this,
you know the roster has come to being, is they didn't panic because they
had already been through this learning curve and so they knew how to manage it
and work you know, directly with the collective and have the support of the
community and the fans and the department at the university at large. And so
this is this is right now a w for the community and everybody. But
as you say, we got to we got to have a convert to you
know, on the court. Can't wait. And I am excited about the
schedule. They've got their trip to the Bahamas and obviously adding Tennessee that's going
to be a big time matchup. So yeah, it's exciting to be excited
to get about Louislle hoops. I can tell you that Larry absolutely and football
and that's right. You saw also they released the roster of Jeff Walls's team,
and boy that looks impressive. We got what seven freshmen coming in.
It's going to be a really really fun year at y'all. Good vibes,
no doubt about it. Larry appreciate the time as always, go cards,
absolutely, go cards, right, take care that is doctor Larry of Proria
Physical Therapy. Always appreciate his time, good conversation and again I'm excited to
be excited and look as a fan, even if things aren't going great,
You'll find a way to get yourself excited because you want to be excited.
But I had a hard time doing that the last couple of years with Louisville
Hoops. And I know I'm not alone, but good vibes, no doubt
quick Break will come back. Thirty minutes left before we get out of here
for the weekend. It's coffee and company fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven
ninety. What if I told you, John that I had a gift for
you before you head out of here for vacation. I don't really if,
I don't know if you're being are you being serious? I don't know what
you'd have. It's a gift. It's intrigued what is it? It's Kenny
Payne. Sound oh. I mean, this is the first time I've heard
Kenny Payne talk in any way since he did the press conference after the lost
in the ACC tournament and really just you know, took a different took it
to a different level as far as just deflecting and blaming everybody else and taking
no accountability and you know, kind of playing the victim. And I remember
that day, it was a wild day. We were on the air for
I think five six hours, because we did the show, the game took
place like during the show, and then we stayed on to do a postgame
and we heard from him, and we knew it was gonna be the end,
and I thought to myself, Okay, maybe he'll finally you know,
maybe he'll finally acknowledge, you know, it's over, and he's he's upset
that it happened, this and that. But anyway, then I realized,
why did I expect him to do anything different. He's been consistent since Stay
one, and he was consistent, and he continued to take no accountability,
and he did a podcast interview with I guess the an Arkansas I mean,
I guess it's an Arkansas pot. I don't know if it's like something that's
like actually affiliated with Arkansas University or if it's just like a fan thing or
whatever it is. But uh, yeah, he I mean, he's still
being consistent. He's still is claiming that he did things right. And I'll
let you guys hear it for yourself. And this doesn't like, this doesn't
bring any anger out of me. This doesn't bother me at all. I
mean, I'm you know, hearing it and experiencing it while he's still the
coach here, and eventually you become numb to it. But every now and
then he'll say something you'll just think to yourself, like, well, is
this guy serious? And that's kind of what this is. But now you
know, I don't care because Louisville's in better hands and look good for Kenny.
He's landed somewhere. He's going to be an assistant coach for Cali Perry,
Arkansas. And I don't hope that he has, you know, a
bad career the rest I wish nothing, you know, no ill will right.
I don't you know. I wouldn't be a liar and tell you that,
like I hope he has a great rest of his career. I just
don't really care. But this this actually is is I guess not surprising because
the man's been consistent about Louisville and he still claims that he did things the
right way there. I'm at Louisville. It was Maya Alma mata. We
decided to part ways. They decided to part ways, So you question yourself
as a coach. And then when it's over, the conversations that happened around
the country numerous NBA teams, numerous college teams and programs, Kenny, we
want you to be a part of what we're doing. We know exactly what
happened. And then you realize, you know, you really was on the
right page. He was on the right page despite going twelve and fifty two
in two years, and numerous college programs and NBA teams know that Kenny was
He was actually a really good coach. They know what happened, what happened,
Like, we know what happened, Kenny, Well, tell us what
happened. He makes it sound like there is a conspiracy against him, so
yeah, yeah, that or they set him up for failure, maybe because
of what you said, a potential conspiracy. Like I just I'm impressed by
the ability to be that delusional and that disconnected from planet Earth and reality because
nobody sees it that way, dude, And I don't know who told you
that, but I want friends like that. In fact, I don't because
it's not good, that's not productive for somebody to feed you that kind of
nonsense. But either way, I mean, unreal. But hey, it's
okay, he's he's Cow's problem. Yeah, he's even though apparently I mean,
we heard his sound from years ago. Whenever he was with Kentucky,
he sounded like a different human being when he was doing interviews for them,
he did, I mean that clip we just played, I think he sounded
exactly like he sounded when he coached here. Yes, but yeah, stunning.
It really is. All right. So, for those who are just
now joining us, or maybe you just hopped in at some point during the
five o'clock hour, the news of the day is Coleman Hawkins is not visiting
Louisville. And despite what people want to believe, and I don't really care
what they believe, this was a situation where Louisville decided at the last minute,
which really isn't a good look on their part. But I think they
had to. You know, I think you read I think you this when
you know. You know what I mean by that is they knew that they
didn't know. They didn't they didn't want to pursue him anymore. They're the
ones who canceled the visit and told him, sorry, we're gonna you know,
we're going to go in a different direction, or we're just going to
stand put with the roster we have. I don't know what it is they
told him, But they are the ones who kind of put an end to
this recruitment because of I'm sure things I don't that we that we don't know
and will never know. But I think what I was told and I know
it to be true. What it came down to was they are, I
guess, worried, and maybe it is because of Hawkins and something about his
character, his personality, immaturity. I don't know. Again, I don't
know if him to be I mean, I don't think there's anything that you
can point to as far as evidence that he doesn't have good character. But
they like where they are as far as chemistry, and they don't want to
mess that up. And they would have lost one player had he decided to
transfer here. Maybe that player would have had a change of heart after given
it some more thought. And there's also another player that might have left,
and I don't know, I don't know which player it is, but I
assume it's somebody that would have maybe lost a little bit of playing time and
maybe it would have been more crowded at their position because of adding somebody like
Coleman Hawkins. So both things can be true, Like he would have helped
Louisville. He would have made them more talented. He would have certainly given
them a bump. Some would probably say if he added, if he was
added to the roster, he'd be your best player. I don't know if
I'd go that far, but I can certainly hear you out because he's an
All Big ten performer. He's a good player, and he would have helped
you. But he waited so long to really start being recruited because he wanted
to go to the NBA until he found out that you know, he wouldn't
be drafted, or he you know that he needed to come back to school.
So you know, had he pulled his name from the draft before you
know, three week too or something like that, you probably end up in
a situation where instead of Case and Pryor, you have Coleman Hawkins. And
I love that they have Case and Prior. In fact, I'm I mean,
I think he's to me. Case and Pryor and Codor Trey Ore are
the two guys that I believe are going to be really hard to keep off
the floor with the way they play, what they do, the way they
impact the game. So you know, it's it's a decision I think Pat
Kelsey and his staff probably had a tough time making but in the end they
decided let's stay put, let's not rock the boat. Let's let's not potentially
damage the chemistry that's already been established. And I know they have not looked.
They haven't played a lot of basketball together. So it's not as if
I'm acting as if they've got great chemistry on the court. I mean chemistry
within the locker room, right, getting to know each other. And I
don't think you and look, I know that a lot of these guys just
got here, but they've been communicating with each other for a while now,
trying to get to know each other a little bit better. And you know,
it's new to everybody, so I'm sure there's been a collective effort for
everybody involved, staff, player, everybody to try to get people on the
same page, try to get them communicating until you do all end up at
Louisville, which most of them are here now, so that chemistry has already
been established. It's in a good place. And managing your roster, I
mean because of Nil and the portal, and now I guess because of you
know, when the when you're gonna add another element to it whenever the schools
have to pay players and you've got to to figure out how you're going to
pay them, like how who's gonna make what? Like it's managing your personnel.
Because of these big changes that have taken place in college sports in the
last few years, is it's I mean, it's it's changed how coaches do
everything right, Like the days of saying, well, hey, if you're
bothered because I'm bringing in somebody else that it's at your position, then you're
probably not cut out to play here. You must not want to compete.
You can you know, you can leave. Well, you used to be
able to say that to guys that you know you can't lose, But what
are they gonna do. They're not gonna leave because they'd have to sit out,
or they're not you know, you know, or they're they're not gonna
leave because you know, it just was a different time. Well, now
these guys players have all the power, so you can you can be all
hind mighty and say, well, look, if he's bothered, even if
he is an All American caliber player, if he's bothered by somebody coming in
at his position, then I'll let him leave. Well, you gotta win
games, right, your job is to win and have success. Are you
really going to just let somebody walk because of pride, Like you're gonna have
to babysit egos and and manage that and and some coaches probably think, hell,
no, I want out. I don't want to do this. And
if that's their decision, that's their decision. But I'm I mean, if
I don't think that it's a red flag if somebody took issue with another guy
coming in at its position. Because these especially this roster, everybody on this
roster was sold a specific you know, opportunity, doesn't mean they were guaranteed
playing to I doubt that's how Pat Kelsey recruits. I don't think he's telling
anybody you're gonna get twenty minutes, you're gonna get fifteen minutes. I think
the sales, the selling point is that hey, everybody's going to have a
chance to compete. But also, let's be real, like, if you
are somebody at that position, the four maybe the five spot, and you
thought when you arrived there'd only be maybe two other guys at it, and
they wouldn't be at your position, like that matters. That probably impacted why
you made the decision. And then if they bring in somebody who would probably
start off maybe ahead of you on the depth chart, like it would make
you mean, I have no problem with anybody looking out for themselves. Some
will say it's being afraid of competing and not being built to you know,
work for it, and I, you know, I don't think you're crazy
for viewing it that way. But these guys only have a certain amount of
time to play in college, and if they are wanting to leave because they
want to put themselves in a position that makes the most sense for them as
far as a role, like I don't, I don't fault them for that.
So if the decision did not bring him in was because one they do
think chemistry is good and they don't think that Hawkins would have been would have
fit with that, then that's their call. If they made the decision because
they just knew that bringing him in and him committing would lead to one,
maybe two guys leaving, that's a risk they weren't willing to take, and
that's again, that's their decision. And those are the kind of decisions that
coaches now have to make that are very important. That didn't used to exist,
right, I mean, guys simply did not transfer before the portal unless
of like you know, I mean, it was just it happened, but
it was really rare because nobody wanted to sit out. So look, I'm
not gonna act like colemanhawks isn't a really good player that would have made Louisville
better, because he is that. But again, I trust Pat Kelsey and
his staff for managing this and you know, making the decision that overall is
best for everybody meeting the team, and I think that's, you know,
in their eyes, that's what this was. All right, quick break will
come back on the other side and wrap up the wrap up the wei right
here on Sports Talk seven ninety. That's right, Friday afternoon, just a
couple of minutes left before we get out of here. I'm sure a lot
of you've already started your weekend, so you know, hell yeah, let's
let's have a good one. John's about to make a thirteen twelve thirteen hour
drive tonight starting at three o'clock in the morning. Yeah, best of luck,
stay safe, We'll do enjoy enjoy your vacation. Are you more of
an itinerary guy? On vacation or do you just kind of let the day,
you know, make itself. It really depends on the type of vacation.
Like I thought, I'm kind of an itinerary guy by nature. But
at the same time, I don't like to be, you know, stuck.
I don't like I don't like feeling like I have to stick with the
plan. I guess, yes, I know exactly. You probably are more
of like a guy that does like to have an idea plan, and ye
know, if it fears off the beaten path, that's fine too, though
that's your nature and I'm usually like that with you know, routine when it
comes to vacation. I hate having an itinerary. I mean, sometimes it
actually works out to where you get you know, you get stuff done and
you make the most of the trip and every you know, the time you
have wherever you are, but it also feels like it's not a vacation if
I'm on like a schedule, you know what I mean. Yeah, But
once I had kids, like they dictate everything right, like their their their
mood, they're needing of like naps and stuff, so you know, we
don't have to worry about that and we take the kids. But yeah,
have a good trip, my man. We will will certainly miss you,
but we'll be in good hands. And I hope you guys have a good
time when you coming back. We're coming back on a Thursday. It's kind
of a random time, but we're actually on Friday. We're supposed to go
to Churchill Downs with the in laws, and so we're coming back to the
lot. You finish up the vacation with a little staycation, that's right,
activity good stuff. Yeah, I'm gonna be at the Heavy furday night if
anybody's gonna be there, Hell yeah, I mean that's where I get them
helicopter rides in. Yeah, somebody has me on the text line earlier since
I talked about the Heavy Fair yesterday, if I was going to be doing
the helicopter ride. The answer is no. You know, I'm I'm afraid
of heights, afraid of roller coasters, So like I'm not getting on a
I'm not getting in a helicopter at the hill View Fair. But I bet
that's a pretty profitable hustle, right you. I mean, I'm buying a
helicopter is probably not probably not cheap, but you know, you take it
around affairs festivals, and you know, charge everybody you know, however much
money you charge them to get on for a few minutes. And I bet
you can make some good money. But I won't be riding it tonight because
I'm you know, I'm too scared. All right, We'll see you guys
next week. Take care of have a good week at everybody