Welcome to the Big molind Sider Dick Gabriel with you on a Monday edition of
our program. Coming up tonight, we'll talk baseball, football, basketball.
Ken Spencer of WHAS formerly WTVQ will join us and talk about the football Wildcats.
It's media week, talking season begins open for business today down in Dallas.
Wildcats don't speak until Thursday. In fact, they're the last group to
go, so we'll talk with Kent. We'll talk also with Aaron Gershaan who's
already in Dallas about what's coming up and the kids that Mark Sooops has brought
with him down there, including Dion Walker. He'll be a smashhit. I
believe we're also going to talk with Aaron about basketball. We had a chance
to talk to some of the Wildcats last week, the new guys and baseball
because it was a big night last night for the Wildcats and for the Southeastern
Conference. Man did SEC players go? No surprise at the draft in Fort
Worth, Texas at the Cowtown Coliseum. I guess the only surprise was Ryan
Walschmith didn't go a little bit higher, but he's in. We'll tell you
more about the pick that he went with after we go through some of these.
You've seen you and I saw these guys play this year here in Lexington.
Charlie Condon from Georgia was the number three pick. Kind of a surprise.
We thought he would go to the Reds. Number two. Hagen Smith
from Arkansas, the great left hander, went to the White Sox. Number
five. Jack cagleone. He was here last year with Florida Wildcats, played
at Florida this season. He went sixth to Kansas City. In fact,
it's interesting because on the web page, the SEC sports page, they've got
him going to the Kansas City Chiefs. Big enough, he could have been
a tight end there. But Christian Moore, the outstanding second baseman for the
national champion Ti fannasy Valls goes to the Angels. Number eight. Brandon Montgomery
good pick by the Red Sox. He went twelfth. He's the injured Texas
A and M second basement. Good pick. The kid who pitches lefty and
righty for Mississippi State or Angelo Sincha. He went to the Seattle Mariners.
Number fifteen overall. Ben Hess went to Alabama. Alabama pitcher at number twenty
six, Ryan Waldschmidt was a prospect Promotion Incentive selection. He was the thirty
first player taken by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the second round. Among the SEC
players, Emilian Peatrie goes number fifty eight overall to the Tampa Bay Rays Billy
Rutledge's Tampa Bay Rays. So good night for the Wildcats, good night for
the Southeastern Conference. Travis Bozana was the first Australian ever taken with the top
pick. You saw him here in lexingon. He's the second baseman from Oregon
State. Good player, but Kentucky had a great game plan for him and
held him down as the Cats took both games in the Super Regional. From
Oregon State, the Cleveland Guardians took him with the overall number one, and
he was a great, great player this season. Hit four oh seven,
twenty eight homers, drove in sixty six. Played for Australia at the twenty
nineteen World Cup, and as I said, Kentucky did a great job,
although he did unleash a wicked line drive late in the second game and Mitch
Daily made a tremendous play on it and robbed him of a base hit.
Thirty eight Australians previously have played in the big leagues. But he's got a
chance because he's the number one overall guy. CBS has another space filling pole
on its website where it's kind of combined what two four seven Sports did ranking
the positions in the SEC, and CBS Sports ranked the top coaches and gave
them all numerical values to see who would be the overall number one and right
now, if you do the math, it looks like Georgia with top ranked
quarterback, number two, skilled players, number three, O line, top
ranked front seven, top ranked secondary, and top ranked coach. I'll spare
you the trouble. Kentucky had the eleventh ranked quarterback, twelfth ranked skill players,
seventh ranked O line, ninth ranked front seven. Now it had the
third ranked secondary, even though there were some holes to fill, but veterans
coming back, and they rated Mark Stoops sixth. Among the head coaches,
Brian Kelly was second, Steve Sarkisian of Texas was third, Alabama's new coach,
Kaitlin de Bore coming over from Washington fourth, and Lane Kiffen was fifth.
Cbsports dot com if you want to see the entire survey, I mentioned
that today opens the SEC media days down in Dallas for the first time,
and Greg Sanki, the commissioner, talked about the future of the league and
said, right now we're at sixteen teams, and we'll be at sixteen teams
tomorrow, meaning, as he said, I'm not a recruiter. So much
talk about Florida State and Clemson leaving the ACC. Perhaps evidently there are cases
before judges in Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina where they're hearing arguments.
In the cases where Florida State and Clemson have sued challenging the grant rights
the grant of rights by the ACC, the League has sued those schools trying
to keep them in place and defend the conference. So naturally people assume that
if they can get out, they'll join the SEC. But Sankee said he
is not looking for that right now. And he said, when you point
out the fact that the Big Ten added four teams from the PAC twelve,
the Big twelve added four teams from the PAC twelve, the ACC itself added
two plus SMU, and now you've got all these weird geographic configurations. But
Sankie talked about the fact that the SEC did its best to hang on to
the geographic configuration. I guess you could say those two teams are adjacent to
the southeast, but close enough, closer than PAC twelve teams. All right
up next way here from La Familla here on the Big Moon Siders six thirty
WLAV Welcome back. Coming up in a few minutes, Ken Spencer from WHAS
we'll talk Entucky football, and then our second hour, Aaron Gershan will join
us to talk about media days. He's already in Dallas and with talk with
Aaron as well about basketball and baseball with the draft happening. As I said
last night, today was media day for La Familia that, as you probably
know, is the UK entry into the TBT, the Basketball Tournament, So
it's redundant to say the TBT anyway. The roster set Willie Carley Stein,
the Harrison Twins, Eric Bledsoe, James Young, Nate Cstina Killn Grady,
Daniel Orton, Brennan Canada. Tyler Eulis is the coach. He's assisted by
John Hood and Sean Woods, our regular guest each week. Also, Kareem
Canter is playing. He's the younger brother of Ennis cantor Freedom Canter. But
they let us talk to all these guys today. I got to everybody,
I think, but well I got the most of them. I didn't get
to Andrew Harrison before we ran out of time, or to Brennan. But
it was kind of a group group kind of thing. And I listened to
and asked a few questions of the head coach, Tyler Eulis will join John
Caliperi in Arkansas. How much fun has it been so far? Just to
see everybody back together in the gym, in the hotel last right and all
that. How fun to see everybody back together. This is our first day
back together. But you know, it's fun, like I said, but
blessed, so is my vet. I haven't seen them in four or five
years. Of the twins, I haven't seen probably in about three years.
So you know, it's good to get back with these guys. You know,
get some camaraderie and you know, just you know, come out here,
have fun. Dude. We love try to win some games and you
know, be successful together. How do you approach coaching guys like this.
You've played so much basketball, maybe older than you are. You know,
I feel like we all have mutual respect for each other. I've played with
blood I've played with the Twins. You know, these other guys know me.
I know them. They we all came under cal so it's not really
hard. They know who I am as a point guard. They know my
personality. They know I want to win. I know they want to win.
We all have the same mentality seeing them for these first twenty minutes,
they're locked in and ready to go. I was gonna say, they also
know of your skills is a point guard. That's gonna be a big help
for sure. You know, they they've played. Like I said, I
was their point guard most of them, so they trust me. They understand
me. They know I'm a leader, you know, and I understand them
too, so you know, I understand. I'm not gonna be overly coaching
these guys. They're pros, so you know, hopefully they helped me out.
You know, I help them as much as I can. How much
will this experience I guess We'll wait and see you. But how will this
help you in your career? ARC now is your approach coaching? It will
help me a lot. You know, this is my first experience as a
head coach and on any level. You know, I'm having coach kids or
anything, So, you know, really no, I mean it's a big
step, big first job, but you know, I'm just gonna have fun
with it, not put too much pressure on myself. I want to win,
though, you know, just try to have fun and you know,
piggyback off all our coaching staff and these guys. You know, we're all
pros. We've all been through and played at different level. So you know
it'll be a lot of fun, you know, but you know they gotta
come out play hard. As long as we do that, I think we
will be fun. Just have to make quick decisions in the heat of battle.
But you did that with the ball in your hand, did Yeah?
So for me, you know, the things I haven't done are more like
you know, I haven't drawn plays up in the huddle. I haven't done
things like that. But when it comes to adjustments and you know, in
game decision making, I feel like, you know, that'll be second nature
to me. What about keeping people happy with playing time? Not gonna make
it. I don't think that's the thing. Uh, you know, yeah,
you earn, you earn playing time. And I feel like these guys,
we have a great group of guys, uh, really skilled players.
I feel like everybody will touch the court. But you know the guys who
are playing, who are you know, producing are gonna play more because you
guys have this shared experience even in this building. You feel like that will
help that. You know, you guys are all playing for each other.
Oh for sure. You know we all know each other, we all have
a common goal, We've all played with each other. We have respect for
each other. So you know, I don't think there will be any egos
or anything like that. Guys, understand, if you aren't playing better than
this guy and he's gonna get more minutes, you know, it's basketball.
It's the way life. Last time I saw you, if you're on crutches,
are you good now? Yeah? I'm better. I've been rehabbing for
the last few months out in Vegas, so I'm a lot better. Hopefully
get running soon, moving around more than you were a world class athlete before
that accident. How frustrating has that been for you? I'm extremely you know,
obviously I would love to still be playing, but you know we're here
now. Coach Kyl, you know, blessed me to come back. The
last few years. I've learned a lot from that staff and you know,
now I'm here and I just got to do what I gotta do. This
is what's next for me, and you know, I'm loving it. And
Tyler was in the NBA for a little while and then that terrible accident comes
and just kind of robs him of his athletic ability. But now he's putting
the brain to work as a head coach. I think he'll be a good
when he was such a great point guard. But as he said, this
is his first opportunity to be a head coach, really a coach of any
kind, you know, except for being a GA. But he said he
never even coached kids before, so this is going to be really really interesting.
Anson Harrison twins. Of course Aaron was the shooting guard. Now,
they played two years at Kentucky, came back and we're part of that twenty
fifteen team and made that undefeated run that ended two games short. But Aaron
is the guy who hit not just two huge shots, but three. He
had two in the twenty fifteen tournament, one against Louisville, one against Michigan.
But remember in twenty fourteen, as a freshman, with about seven seconds
left, he buried one against Wisconsin, the team that of course eliminated Kentucky.
The following year, had a chance to talk to Aaron about coming back
and being part of La familia. What's it like being back? That's exciting.
I mean seeing my guys, Willie, James Tyler, the guys I
played with, and just being able to play with Drew and you know,
just other Kentucky legends like Eric. So I'm just excited, you know,
to get out here this excise and to be here, to be back even
you know, missing cal but you know, new energy here and it's exciting
and I'm just excited. Some would say you're a Kentucky legend. I don't
know if you go that farwards you but I don't know. You got you
got history. Yeah, I got history here. We had some really good
teams that I was on, so yeah, we made history. We made
a lot of a lot of fun, lot of memories. So big shots
too, yeah for sure, for sure. But you know that was just
part of the just helping the team and being a part of the team.
You know, I was, that was my role to take the shots,
and I'm happy that it was and it'll be in history forever. But I
mean, you know, I think it'll take a couple of years for me
to a couple more years to appreciate it all the way. Really, you're
still getting there, Yeah, for sure. I think I think about the
losses and more than than the shots that I made for sure, whause you
don't lose very often. Yeah, I guess. I mean that's a good
thing. Yeah for sure. But those shots live on the internet for sure.
For sure. Yeah, I definitely see them every day on social media
every Oh, yeah, for sure. So I mean that's definitely I'm blessed
to be a part of that, and that's something that can't be taken away.
So you still get goosebumps or anything like that when you see them.
Oh, I mean here and there. It just depends on you know,
the situation, or depends on where I see it. But it's definitely like
just something that I'm proud of for sure. Oh, tell me about this
team and what do you think you can accomplish? Oh, the team's great.
I mean I think that if we can, you know, it's it's
kind of tough playing at a high level and then playing you know, something
like this in the summer. You know, some people might not take it
as serious as but I think that if we take it serious, we have
a great chance of it. If we get on there and play hard.
We have the players and the experience and the talent and everything to win.
So you knew what it was like here for people coming at you because of
the name on the front of your jerseys. It's gonna happen again now,
Yeah, for sure, I'm sure everyone's looking forward to coming and rub A.
I bet a lot of guys that were playing against I always wanted to
play rough, So yeah, we're gonna We're gonna show them how it is
playing right, for sure. I got one more for you. Kellen Grady,
who of course transferred in from Davidson for the twenty one twenty two season
and was just having a great year until plantar fasciitis set in and just really
ruined his only opportunity to help pull the Wildcats through the nca Tournament. That's
the team that lost to Saint Peter's. But injuries caught up with that Kentucky
team at the end of the year. Otherwise, and you'll hear him talk
about it, they were the best team in the country for about a month
in the middle of the year, just unfortunate. Like I said that,
the injuries showed up at the worst possible time. But now he's back and
he's got a chance to play again in blue and white. And he talked
about the fact that really he only knows one of his teammates fairly well,
only Nate Nate obviously Brendan because I was Brendan m Canada was here. But
the rest of the guys I'm getting to know now. And you know,
it's funny. I'm I'm now the youngest guy in the Kentucky gym, which
is uh hi, which is not I'm not a granddad anymore. I'm I'm
the young I'm the young ones. So now it's a it's a special group,
man, everyone's excited to be back here. And I think we'll cover
at the phone. Do you keep up with like any of the old guys
familiar your team? Well, I'm a groomsman and CJ's wedding in two weeks
and yeah, still still talk with Jacob a little bit, Oscar uh And
I'd say those guys in terms of guys I'm kind of regularly in contact with,
But I've been watching them in Summer League. They've been doing pretty well,
the last couple of days, I've I saw a little bit of Reid's
game. I saw Jacob had a pretty good game. We've been pretty busy
here with a lot of you know, engagements in their community and stuff like
that. So after practice today I'll see I can check some of those guys
out. Though. All right, such a great run here for a while,
and then the injuries took over. I mean, when you think back
on your stay here at Kentucky, what are your thoughts. I mean,
we had a we had a great year. It just ended, you know,
as I was just talking about the single elimination. You know, we
went we were undefeated at home, fourteen and four in the league. We
had some real quality wins, you know, being in Carolina by thirty on
neutral court, going into Fog Island and beating Kansas by twenty, overcoming a
lot of doubts and adversity when we lost Titan and Severe and we went to
and oh in that little stretch. Look, man, we had we had
a great year. Unfortunately, we were pretty banged up at the end.
And now it's it's unfortunate that our season gets defined by by one loss.
But at the same time, I understand it. You know, we should
not have lost that game, and it still still haunts me to this day.
I'm sure it haunts all of us, but it is what it is.
And overall that, you know, we did have a successful season.
So we get a chance to come back and wear the blue and white and
play here with your buddies, that's got to be a lot of very rewarded.
Oh yeah, it's special, man. I mean in the fact that
we get to play at Oparita. It's just it was a no brainer once
twenty gave me the call, and I would assume that most of these guys
feel the same. So this is a special place to all of us,
and that's why we're here. That's Kellen Grady And actually he was not on
the same team in Nate Sustina, now that I think of it, Nate
was here twenty nineteen, twenty twenty. But at any rate, everybody's getting
back together trying to win some money in the basketball tournament. Well you're more
from more of the guys coming up tomorrow, as well as assistant coach Sean
Woods. When we come back. Ken Spencer Whs will talk UK football on
the Big Blue Insider six back big blew Insider joining us now is a long
time buddy at, a friend of the show, former wd TV sports director,
now the sports director w HS said Louisville Kent Spencer, who, as
I like to say, is one of only two guys on the beat that
I know of who's been hitting the mouth in a college football game. Him
and Jeff pecorro So. I love talking football with Kent sec media days in
Dallas. It's gonna be a zoo down there, Kent. But if your
mark stoops, what do you think is gonna be the message about your team?
Because last year I think everybody bought into the Kentucky hype, and I
think rightfully so, and Kentucky underperformed. I got to think he backsat down
a little bit, don't you. I think cautious optimism is probably, you
know, his his best thing. And you know, I think if if
he has a few question marks, or if he has a few unknown even
if it feels good about him, I think it's okay to put things out
like, look, hey, we're gonna have to see We're gonna see have
to see how these guys perform. We're gonna have to see how these guys
hold up in this in this situation. But I think you know, if
you're Art Stoops, you're you're one hundred percent right. He was pretty he
was very bullish on his team last year, and to be quite honest,
I mean they were you know, they were really close to having a really
good season. But you know some of those losses I e. South Carolina
and a few others, you know, they were real letdowns and underperformed in
certain situations. I mean even look at the at the bowl game. Great
great moments, right, yeah, but you can't get it done against a
Clemson team that's a that's a notable brand. That would have been a huge
victory for them, you know, and and propelled them into the off season.
Just didn't work out that way. Yeah, I think Kasia's optimism is
fair because there are so many question marks starting at quarterback, but defense has
question marks two so uh and and they can't mess around ken as you know,
the scheduled demands may be ready to go almost immediately. No, you're
right, and and you know you you mentioned you mentioned quarterback. They felt
so good about Devin Leary going and to last year and that he was more
of a proven product than than Brock vandergriff Is. And so you know,
I think when you and I think, for me and probably most people would
would agree, the Devin Leary experiment was more of a disappointment than it was
a positive. There. You know, I just don't think, you know,
anybody he had the season that anybody thought he was going to have.
I thought, you know, I think everybody thinks that they were going to
be a lot better in that in that department. So you know, those
kind of things, especially early on, that's going to be tested. And
then also, you know, I think the offensive line showed a little bit
of improvement last year, as you know, but but it needs that it
needs to get back to where it used to be, and that's tougher.
You and I have talked about this before. You know, the longer that
John Schlarman is is not there anymore, the more you know, the big
Blue wall is only the big Blue all in name only at the moment.
And it's a I almost kind of equate it to you remember when Nebraska's defensive
line used to be known as the black Shirts, and they and they would
have the black Shirts. You know, they still do that at Nebraska that's
the name only, like they don't play that way anymore. And so and
that used to come from the tom Osborne days. Well, you know tom
Osborne is long since gone. So you know, you almost have to redefined
or find your own identity now. And so you know, they really need
their offensive line to get back to protecting the quarterback, to be in physical
on a on a consistent basis, and they just weren't that anymore. And
I look at their their secondary so many question marks there, like, hey,
what's what's going to happen there? You know, I think there are
a lot of question marks, and they're going to be tested, like you
said, with that schedule early, with with the likes of South Carolina and
Georgia. You know, early, man, they're going to be put to
the test early. Yeah, you can't losing Andrew Phillips and and right away
think oh, we'll be fine, maybe we'll be even better. Now you've
got to go out and prove that. Uh, And they've got some opportunities
to do that. But the last time we saw that defensive backfield, it
had been decimated by injuries by the end of the bowl game, and we
all know what happened at the end of that game, so so much to
prove, isn't there. You know, they've They've had guys though that have
had rough outings and bowl games and at the end of the season season,
and they specifically in the secondary, and those guys have used that in the
past as a motivation for the future and really have have bounced back and had
great seasons the bury next year. And so that's that's one of those things
that I'm curious to see and and you know, to be to be quite
to be quite honest, you know, I look at a Barryon Brown at
wide receiver, who I think had nice moments last year, and even maybe
Dame Key at wide receiver. I think those guys had nice moments, but
I think they would even probably tell you their season as a whole was largely
a disappointment, Yeah, because they had set so much of expectations on them
on themselves and what they did. I think both of those guys had had
had nice bowl games there, Well, how do you use that back and
how do you have a more consistent season because those guys they have the talent
to be able to play on Sundays, but you got to be consistent in
what you do. You got to be consistent in how you prepare and your
knowledge for the game. So I'm curious to see how they react and I'm
curious to see how they perform in bush Hampton's offense that they're going to use
this year. Talking to Ken Spencer, sports director whas Over in Louisville,
and I'm glad he brought up bush Hamdan because it's interesting. One of the
things that Mark Stoops I think has done at Kentucky is built consistency in the
way they recruit and and develop and win games. But he's not afraid to
make changes. And it's not often his decision like you know, Liam Cohen
suddenly bolts. But he has had more than one offensive coordinator. They have
not all been cookie cutters. But you know, I think that he is
willing Stoops to go with a guy like bush ham Go to say, let's
see what you can bring. You know, in basic philosophy is what he
needs. But he's always going to want to run the football, isn't he.
It's always going to have to be balanced. Yeah, I mean they
want they want to be fifty to fifty. They want to be better in
the passing game. They want to be explosive. You know, I say,
you know, everybody talks about Okay, Kentucky football is here, Okay,
And they've had a few years where they've been able to kind of make
that jump and get up there and and you know, have have really really
a really really nice season. And so for me when I look at when
I look at them kind of going forward, I think that they need consistency
in the offensive coordinator position. They just haven't had it. Dick. I
mean, you know, yeah, Liam Cohen came back for two different stints,
but it was to one year stints. I believe, Yeah, that's
just not that's just not enough. And you know, Rich Gangarello and then
even before that, obviously there was there was the one year even though Eddie
Grant had been there a long time. But I mean we're talking what Bush
Hampton is is the fifth offensive coordinator they've had in five years. And you
know, maybe you know, some things stay the same, but verbage always
changes and how things are called in different things. So that's these kids happen
to learn five different you know, five different systems in five different years.
Now some of those are coming in and new and freshmen and you know,
they they really haven't had to learn that much. That's so much change,
you know, And and it's impossible to say, like, hey, we're
going to keep an offensive coordinator for five ten years, but you know,
you could really benefit by having somebody for three to four years. And so
I think they really need consistency at that position in order to be able to
take the next step. It's impossible to do it with so much change.
You know. As you say that, I flash, and it doesn't take
much to the Bill Curry era when Bill changed his offensive coordinator so many times.
But the difference is they change their style, you know. They go
from pro style to eyebone to optionists, you know, and it affects your
recruiting patterns. That's the one thing they haven't really had to change. They've
they've kind of stayed pro style, so they haven't had to go out and
you know, maybe get a whole bunch of fullbacks or a whole bunch of
more wide receivers or different kinds of old linemen, you know what I mean.
Yeah, but but here's my here here would be the only pushback on
that. So personnel is always the same, right, But when you change
burbage. That's so much. That's right, when you change burbage and plays
and all of this this so much. It can be the same concept that
it can be completely different. What is what is the one thing that coaches
want their teams to do. They want them to play without thinking. They
want them to play fast, right, want them to be free of mind.
So you can play fast if you are learning a whole new playbook each
and every year. Man, it is impossible to do that saying without thinking
and so and in college football in the sec when you take a moment and
you're thinking about it, the plays already passed you. That's right, you're
long gone. If you're a step slow in that league, you're losing by
thirty. And so, you know, it's one of those things where I
think, you know, these guys in some moments are thinking so much.
That's why it's so tough for true freshmen to really be able to excel.
They can excel in certain positions because maybe some positions are a little simpler,
but or they have a certain package. But you know, you put a
you put a true freshman in there, let's say an offensive line or something
like that. Man, that game moves really really fast. It takes a
long time for it to slow down. So I just think the bentsl side
of things, it needs to get easier and with that comes consistency. Ken
Spencer's my guess he is a sports director. W HS and Louisville will come
back and talk more Kentucky ball with Ken on the other side of the break
here on six point thirty w Eli Well come back for talking with Ken Spencer,
talking Kentucky football with a sports director, whas this week in Dallas,
Dion Walker I think will captivate the writer's room. I think, really any
room he's in doing you. He's one of the three players. And I
think Derek Jackson will be fine, Marcus Cox will be fine. Old limoner
usually, as you know, pretty good interviews. But there's just something about
Walker. He's charming, isn't he. Yeah, so he not only is
he charming, but he's not afraid to be bullish. That's true. You
know, there might be some they may tell him not to say certain things,
but sometimes you just you you know, you can't put him in a
cage. First off. First off, he's too big and he's too good,
and there may be a few things that come out of out of his
mouth that will make Mark Stukes cringe a little bit. But yeah, he's
one of those kids like once you sit down with him and then you get
away from the conversation, you look at whoever you're with and you're like,
man, I really enjoyed that. Yeah, that's right, that's just the
way, that's just the way that he is. Yeah. I think that
he'll be a kid this week that everybody enjoys talking to. Yeah, And
I'm curious to see how de Eric Jackson does and I think he will do
well. He's a smart kid, but he is soft spoken. As you
know. He's not a bad interview. But generally when it came to linebackers,
we would gravitate to Trevin Wallace, wouldn't we his running mate and now,
but of course Derek D. Jack is a veteran. He's played a
lot of football and he knows what's coming at him. I think, you
know. The funny thing about it is is sometimes like you know a kid
and you don't know if they're the best talker or not, or you know,
you don't maybe necessarily go with them to interviews. So when it comes
to coaches, and fans they don't care about that stuff, like are you
solid? And Eric Jackson for Kentucky's defense is as solid as rock. I
mean, I really think that he took a massive step forward last year on
that defense. And I think when you look at their defense outside of Dion
Walker, who's always going to be you know, a one man wrecking crew
up front, I think the Eric Jackson at linebacker is as solid as a
guest. He always seems like he's in the right he always seems like he's
in the right place. And when he arrives, he arrives with bad intention.
When you lose a running mate, like like a Trevin Wallace who obviously
was a great college player, he's in the NFL now and came out a
year early as a linebacker, what are the adjustments you have to make?
What kind of challenge is it going to be for Jackson? And again an
experience, but he's gonna be flanked by a new running mate, you know
what I mean? Yeah, but that that running mate has already had some
experience, a ton ton of experience at the SEC level. And so you
know, the one thing about you know, playing with a linebacker for a
couple of years is you know where they're going to be, you know kind
of how they do things and this and that, you know it will it
will come, and it can and I think at linebacker, honestly that I
think it can come in practice. You know, sometimes you don't really know
things until you get in a game, but I think you can feel of
each other at that position in practice. And the way that that that Brad
White and and those coaches they you know, they've they they've coached those linebackers
up really well, you know over these you know, last handful of years
or how however many long, so you know, inside linebacker for them,
in my opinion, has generally been a strength for what they do. They've
always found the right fips and they found guys who kind of compliment each other
there. Yeah, they've done a good job at that and they need to.
That has to happen because if they're not communicating, that could be a
real disaster. A couple of minutes left of Ken Spencer kent covers U of
l Indiana, whatever it takes there in the city of Louisville, and I
watched again that Louisville Kentucky game. I was laid up recovering from surgery,
as you know when they played that game, and what a great football game.
But I had kind of forgotten how talented Louisville was going into that game.
It was the favorite, an eight point favorite, I think in that
game Ken. So now it's almost a rebuilt roster for Jeff Brohm and they've
already been predicted to be better than Kentucky. That's a win from most prognosticators
for Louisville when they look at the Ski what can we expect from from the
Cardinals and when when UK and U all get together. A lot of football
has to happen between then and now. But it's going to be interesting again,
isn't it. Yeah. I mean, you know, when you look
at the when you look at the cards I think that most people even though
I mean, you know they Louisill played so well last year, but you
know, their their biggest disappointment was, you know, they lost the last
three games of their season. They did, and Jeff Brown was He has
not been shy about the fact that even in those three games, his most
disappointing loss was the Kentucky loss. Because that's a rivalry game, that's the
game that he desperately wants to win. He knows his fan base desperately wants
to win. It's not been easy going for them in that series the last
handful of years, and so it's it's the one game that he wants.
I also think that most fans would tell you that they thought that Jack Plumber
was not the best answer for them at quarterback, even though I think he
was by far the best quarterback they had on the roster. Right, They
wanted more out of that position, right, And let's be honest, I
think Kentucky fans wanted more out of that position for them last year as well.
So Jeff Brown brings in Tyler shuck transfer from Texas Tech. He is
going to be I want to say, he's going to be twenty five years
old at some point in like August or September, right, and he's a
talented kid. Actually he's a talented man. When you're twenty five, you're
told you're a man. But he is a talented man who has not been
able to stay healthy. They have to keep him healthy, they have to
keep him upright for them to be able to win football games. I think
that they believe that their offensive line is even though they lose a Brian Hudson.
I think they think their offensive line is you know, one of their
strongest assets that they have coming back. Their question marks obviously are at quarterback,
if you can keep him healthy running you know, they running back.
They lose two of their running backs, their their top two running backs to
the NFL. And then wide receiver. You know, you had a lot
of wide receiver turnover. Now you do have some guys coming back, but
not you know, not your high end producers. So they do have some
question marks. He's you know, he has lived in the portal. You
know, they they've really attacked the portal, and so you know, we'll
kind of see, you know, not so much early on because you know
they kind of they kind of ease into this thing right a little bit schedule
wise, but at some point you know you're gonna be tested and you'll see
how those guys perform. But no, I think, you know, with
the way that they you know, some of the guys they got out of
the portal, they feel good, but you got to be able to mesh
and go forward and be successful as a unit. So I guess by the
time UK and U of L play, we'll find out which team is meshed
the best. I guess and stayed healthy. I think that's the dick.
I think that's the biggest thing right Like also, I think what what are
you playing for when that game rolls around? And are you healthy enough to
be able to perform at your best? I think those two are huge,
huge factors. Ken Spencer sports director, Whas and Louisville give everybody your ex
handle at WJS eleven ten. It's just that simple. Thank you, brother.
We'll see it on the road here, baby, I Re Number two
is up next with Aaron Gershan and the cast Balls here on six point thirty
w LAB. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider and joining us now from
Dallas, Texas. He's already down there for the SEC media days, and
Truth went down a day or so early to visit a friend. But Aaron
Gershan joins us on our celebrity hotline as he does every Monday, covers baseball,
football, basketball, whatever it takes for the Cats pause, we're going
to talk about all three. Aaron, You've already posted photos from downtown and
a big SEC sign in Dallas first time for media days in Dallas, Texas.
So this is gonna be wild, isn't it. Yes, it is
definitely going to be a while event. Greg thank He's going to be gloating
and bragging. Let's just put it that way. Because the SEC is healthier
than ever, you know, sixteen team the league now, adding Texas and
Oklahoma to two juggernauts really in football and other sports too. I mean Texas
basketball was in the earlite a couple of years ago, has a rich history.
Oklahoma basketball isn't too shabby either in the Final four or than the last
seven eight years here. And both schools are great in baseball Texas you know,
look at volleyball of what they do there. So just two monsters that
they've added to this conference and that's why we're here in Dallas to accommodate that.
They're welcoming a little bit, but that's all right. It's a different
experience and you know, first SEC media days in almost fifteen years over that
that nick name is not going to be at the podium instead, he'll be
working for ESPN. So it's just going to be It's going to be different,
to say the least, but I'm looking forward to it. Yeah,
I know Oklahoma's won four straight softball titles. But you know something I was
looking for another sports there, Yeah, dah, I started asking people recently
about something else on this topic though, Aaron, and Yeah, the SEC
just got a lot tougher, But so did life for Texas and Oklahoma.
Sure will those schools be able to keep dominating in certain sports, you know,
in postseasons, postseason, but their life, especially in football, just
got tougher, There's no doubt about it. I mean, I think I
think Texas is very much ahead of where Oklahoma should be right now. I
think the Starkesian you look at the roster he's put together, what they did
last year, I mean that their roster can go to to so is just
about anyone in the country right now. So I'm not too worried about Texas
making the transition. They also have a guy in ars Manning sitting on the
bench, so they're going to be fine for the for the foreseeable future in
my opinion. But Almo, yeah, I think they're going to be the
war football wise, that they're going to realize this is it's not the Big
twelve anymore. I mean, they're at program and that kind of slumped their
way to ten wins last year. If you look at their scores, I
mean, they had a dogfight with UCS that probably should have gone UCS lay.
There were some I remember watching that game, there were some calls that
tendsually helped out as Sooners at home that day. They did have the big
win over Texas and the Red River rivalry, but you know, they've still
lost their games and didn't even make the big tall championship game that Oklahoma State
was representative. So yeah, I think they're gonna think bred Venables is in
for a top of year one in the league. I reflected that in the
Cash Calls Yearbook sec Standings prediction. I just I don't I don't think.
I think it's gonna be a little bit tougher for Oklahoma than Texas this year.
But at the end of the day, I do think over time,
both of those programs will find their way. I think Tactics go right away,
but I think I think Oklahoma just for the history they have, the
recruited dates they have, because they recruit the heck out of Texas. There's
some good players in their own state and surrounding states, and the money they
have that they and push portal portal. They'll be fine. Uh, It's
just I think they're going to have to be in the top acclamation period just
with their current rosters in Texas well. And they can also say as they
recruit, come play in the SEC. I mean, we all know what
that means all those other schools that are recruiting. Since you and I spoke,
In fact, you and I talked last Monday, and shortly thereafter UK
released of the list, we speculated about who Kentucky would bring down to Dallas
to do the talking. When it comes to the players, no surprise,
Dion Walker, Derek Jackson, a veteran linebacker really talented, led to team
and tackles the last couple of years. Marcus Cox who transferred into play old
line last year, So no real surprises there. Dion I think will captivate
the audience. The Eric's kind of soft spoken, though, isn't he He
is He's a very very soft spoken guy, So I'm interested to see.
Sometimes this event will bring some guys a little shy out of their self.
I mean, I wouldn't categorize I think he's Austin nine as a shy guy,
but he you know, I thought he was a really good representative last
year. And same with DeAndre Squaire, who is one of my personal favorite
to interview during my time covering Kentucky. One of just my favorite people.
I think he's such a good kid and he was even a little on the
shy side at times, and he came to a few media days and he
carried himself wonderfully, so usually flats up there goes what he's doing. I
think the Erica will do a great job. We'll see what he he says.
But I think Marcus cos is a great personality for this. He's he's
a lot of fun to talk to, and he's a guy going into his
seventh year, which is crazy, but plenty of experience. He's not going
to be saved by this at all. And then Deion Walker will be,
like you said, the Stars a show from Kentucky's perspective, and Kentucky's a
lot will be closing this event down. So there's the last team to go
on Thursday. And Leon Walker is a pretty good guy to stick around for
at the end there because knows I mean, he'll probably be the second or
third guy in the whole league drafted in twenty five, maybe only behind Carson
Beck and another so, uh, that'll be a guy post. Won to
stick around and talk to talking Aaron Gershan to the Cats pause and Aaron on
your Twitter. In the X page, you have a pinned post that you're
gonna have to change here sooner or later because it's from last last year.
It's the cover of the Cass plus yearbook from last year and the Eric Jackson
is on it. A long that was that was that was? That was
an issue? Okay covert, Okay, yeah, it is a yeah,
a cover story about the two Georgia kids who teamed up for Kentucky and teamed
up extremely well. Obviously Van is going on to the NFL. So now,
uh, obviously you're gonna have to pick a new uh, a new
cover. But I do think that this is kind of a telling look at
this team, and it reminds that Trevin Wallace is gone, d jack is
back, and it's going to be interesting to see. I really think Pop
moves in Doomus Johnson to take Wallace's spot, But it reminds that there are
going to be some interesting new faces on that defense. Yeah, no doubt
about it. I think that what's really cool. First of all the defensive
line is pretty much all in fact, so that's really good. And then
the outside linebacker, maybe he can argue that they could use another body to
help JJ, but they're in past too. So the front seven is in
really good good shape out try to the only I wouldn't say good shape.
It has a top. It is a good shape. But the contonuity he's
there, or maybe isn't that other positions, but yeah, the one part
of the front seven that's new is Pop Johnson, the inside linebacker. And
I guess you're not gonna have Travil Wallace back. That's a pretty good consolation
to have a guy that's a you know, a former first team All American
and the captain at Georgia, two year starter starter for an undefeated national championship
team. So, uh, you know, not a bad guy to add
there. I think he'll sit in pretty seamlessly. I think I know for
a fact that the coaching staff loves him, is very confident in him.
He's got a very unique personality that we got to see a couple of times,
uh when you know, first posts when he got here and then at
spring ball. But uh, I think, uh, he's a guy that's
from the guys I talked to. He's down that covered Georgia, that that
has covered him. He's a castabell last year's team. Uh, he's beloved
in the locker room, and he's gonna he's gonna make an impact on and
off the field to the defense and then other new faces will be really more
so at the corner position. It's I mean, that's the biggest question,
right. You know what you got in Mack Harrison, Uh, the top
tennish corner in the country, But across the field, you don't know what
you got at all. So you lose Andrew Phillips probably a little bit of
a surprise and ended up being a third round pick, so you can't blame
him at all. But you know, is it gonna be Jenson Dunn,
who from all accounts had a really good spring, but it sounds like he's
more comfortable in the flat. Is going to be Dj Waller, the kid
they just in from Michigan who has zero starts under his belt, but you
know, was varied at Michigan for you understand why it doesn't have any starts
because he's you know, he's only a red shirt sophomore. Is gonna be
jqu Hardaway, who I thought struggled when he played last year, but has
the length that Mark Sukes was in quarter. So that's that's a big one
on this defense, and that'll probably be a big talking point for Mark Soukes
on on Thursdays, or at least the big questioned him is what are you
going to do across the field from Max Harrison because this past defense struggle last
year. And then you know the safety room. They're bringing Christian Story to
kind of replace Jalen Baiger, but you bring back Jordan love It, You're
bringing back Zion Shoulders and Ty Bryant who played a lot last year. So
I think that room just needs to I talked about right about it for the
yearbook. You can read it in the Q and a session about that room.
And I used to word underperformed and he didn't like that. He was
like, oh, I would say, you know, the injuries. He
would say, the injuries and you know continuity issues with I mean to shift
guys in and out, you know, so and obviously, and he made
a good point that Jordan Loved played really well when he came back at the
end of the year. He's absolutely right about that, So you know,
I walked it back a little bit. I gave him a break pass on
that. But in reality, they whether it's injuries or not, they need
more to that safety, the fear and the towns there to have it.
Jordan Lovey did intercept the pass at the end of the Louisville game, but
that was kind of a hail Mary. But yeah, also a big taking
the Bowl game. But Devin Larry through the ball right back. Yeah,
right. Aaron ger Shawn is in Dallas for sec meety days, but when
we come back, we'll talk basketball and baseball. Some Wildcats drafted last night.
Back in a minute on the Big Blooe Sider six thirty w LAP Welcome
back to the Big Blue and Sider. We're talking with Aaron gershewan of the
Cats boss. As I mentioned, we're talking baseball, football, and basketball,
and most recently we're talking baseball because last night was the first and second
round and the additional rounds of the major league drafts. A little confusing,
Aaron, I know you're a baseball walk but yeah, technically, I guess
you could say that Ryan Walsh went went in the first round, but not
the traditional first round right. Yeah, he technically he was not a first
round pick. He was the first pick after the first round. I'm going
to get you the name of that round. Only two teams and all explaining
exactly what it is, the Prospects Promotion and Centive pick. So what that
is. It's cool. I actually like it. So it's an incentive for
you know, major league teams to call up their top prospect. Maybe they're
not necessarily a finished product, but they're exciting players that are ready to be
in the in the league and uh, you know, are close enough to
being ready to be in the league and maybe they can make a difference.
So it has to be a top one hundred prospect either by two of the
three major services which are at MLB dot com they Fall America and ESPN.
And if that player is on the opening day after and goes on to win
Rookie of the Year, that team gets a pick right in front, right
after the first round. And the two guys to do it last year were
Corbyn Carroll the Diamondbacks and Gunner Henderson of the Wrioals. So that's why the
Zionbacks pick thirty one and the Orioles pick thirty two and Ryan Walsh ends up
in Arizona, who is coming off the trip to the World Series, but
they promoted Corbyn Carroll one rookie of the year, gets the thirty first pick
and they take Waldy right outside the first round. Yeah, and you know,
it was a little thankfully he wasn't in, you know, whatever they
have that Mike double is the green room. He wasn't there, so we
didn't have to, like a Will Levis situation, didn't have to watch him.
I got it. He was getting a little little antsy wherever he was
because he was projected as a late first round pick and when he was at
his hottest, some were talking top ten. I never really thought that,
Yeah, maybe he had a couple of defensive issues down the strategy. He
struggled in the College World Series and I started watching high school kids go before
he went. That really concerned me. Yeah, I think the college I'm
sure the cool streak a little bit in the College Hold Series effective that he's
also had. You know, he had the Tory ACL in the summer of
twenty three and the broadcast on MLB network that still carried it after ESPN went
off air. They he talked about that he had a major injury in high
school that I wasn't aware of, so I don't know if he knew that
one, but I don't know if that was something they just never said.
But to two major injuries, that probably is what did it, more so
I think than the cool college World Series, because you know, he hit
three seventy or something during SEC play and he's a guy who can steal a
ton of bases. He's a guy when he's at his best as a really
strong west fielder. I know he had the mischuse later in the year there,
like you said, but this is a guy I think that has all
the tools. He's only a rising senior because he's still twenty one, twenty
two, and you know they compared him in interestingly enough to kind of being
a right handed Corbyn Carroll and Corbyn carrolled both of his numbers this year because
they're not good. But this rookie year last year, you're talking about a
guy who was near the top of the league and still in bases batting average,
and the guys would hit the ball for power just from the left side
where wall Deal'll be from the right side. So Arizona has a vision with
those type of players clearly, and they make it happen with wall Shrint.
The signing bonus is still two point five million, so we didn't miss up.
I mean, yeah, he was the top twenty take. He would
have made more, but still making pretty good money there in that spot and
goes to an organization that develops players really well. Right now, they have
a lot of They've done a really good job at developing some young players,
and they topped into the World Series last year and they're a game out of
playoffs right now. So kind of similarly to the Levitt when he dropped in
the NFL drafts, I think Glenn's in a pretty good spot. I was
a little surprised at how high how quickly Amelian Petrie went in the second round.
Happy for him, of course, he's going to be a guaranteed Darren
Hendrick and Doug Flinde when they were saying they thought he'd be a second round
guy. Yeah, I was here in second third for him, and I
say he's going to be stood guaranteed one. I think he's really good.
But the Tampa Bay Rays, there's a team that that's going to draft you
early and knows what they're doing. It's Tampa Bay. They get the best
out of their prospects. He was like every guy they take, they hit
on, and uh, he's going to an organization that that is really really
good at player development. He shouts exactly what they like to do. Compact
guy. Uh, the guy, Uh can play the heck out of second
base. They are, you know, always at the top of the league
in fielding percentage. I think they're up there again this year in the top
five. He is going to be. I think he's going to flourish in
that Tampa Bay system. And then Tampa you know, less than pent Thick
later takes Kentucky's top high school signing Poler Bell and other short stop well Apche's
the second baseman, but you know, middle landfielder. Uh, that'll be
a decision. That's a one point five spot. But kind of the kind
of the way around this is Pich is a guy that, like you said,
they probably went a little higher than he was projected. He's going to
be more enticed to sign and maybe go a little underslots and then you can
pay overslot for a guy like Pylot Bell, who you know has a big
decision to make with college. So the Rays tapped into that Kentucky uh farm
system and their and their their current squat, so they like what they're seeing
from from UK. Clearly, Yep, Tyler Bell likely will not be a
Kentucky Wildcat. But you know you can't get gay high school same position as
Ryan Ritter Tyler Bell. That's what they were talking about on the broadcast.
So uh, it's interesting there. Yeah, people move around, so you
know, things change. Uh before we hit the break, I'm gonna have
to hold you over to talk a little basketball. But uh, don't have
time to go through all the names. But it looks again like Kentucky is
recruiting the need and and hitting some long balls when it comes to the portal.
Yeah, I definitely think so. The sixteen, which is a crazy
number of baseball transfers coming in, but they needed it because it's the roster
overall. So yeah, I don't have all the names in front of me
either, but I do know there are a couple of names to watch worth
today during the MLB Draft. Ryan Verdugo, right handed picture from cal State
Bakersfield is probably a guy who's gonna get drafted in the first couple third through
fifth rounds. Today, so he's gonna have a decision to make. He's
a guy who is ninety eight with a nasty splitter. Kentucky really wants to
get him on campus. And then the other one, his name is flipping
me, but it's an outfielder from Kinisius who sold forty bags this year at
Canisis and hit well over three hundred. So those are kind of the two
top guys in their portal recruiting class, or two of the top guys that
there are some other some good names in there as well. Those are kind
of the guys that they're a little worried about maybe getting drafted today and signing,
So I keep an eye out on those. Jackson Strong is the kid
from Drafty Trump. Thank you for hello. Just a couple of minutes here
in this segment. But Nick menzione Hire is a new hitting coach, a
guy from Wright State. You might scratch your had a little bit, but
Wright State has had a really strong program over the last five or six years,
if not absolutely, I mean yeah six years about yeah, maybe even
more. You're right, Yeah, this is the guy who was a part
of that as a player. I mean he just finished his playing career.
In twenty nineteen. So we're talking about a twenty six or twenty seven year
old guy who you know has led to Right State to having a top ten
offense twice in the last three years, including this past season. They've won
the Horizon League regular season every single year he's been the hitting coach. And
then you know, this is the first year that he didn't makes a part
of it because from upstate North Kentucky. Northern Kentucky won the Horizon League tournament,
so right they didn't get in to the dance this year, won did
league. By Yeah, you're talking about a guy who's coming from a very,
very much winning program up there at Right State Chase Bone. He got
top ten offense the staff year, number eight in home runs a sucking percentage,
so has produced six shots packs in a mid major north school, which
is hard to do. Uh. Had a fourth round pickers in the in
Triple A with the ashtros Now. So, uh, he's done a great
job with there. Rick Clayton can talk to you a couple of times at
KPP since he's been the hitting coach. So I bet Nick Mingeon saw that,
noted that, and uh, you know, got a guy Aaron Gershan
is Mark. Guess we're going to go an extra segment with Aaron, and
we talked to him every Monday, but we got to talk some basketball because
we had a chance all of us really to talk to some of the new
wildcasts. We're back in just a minute here on the Big Blueing Sider six
thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Aaron Gershan of the Catch Baus.
We talk with him every Monday, and as I said, we're talking baseball,
football, and basketball. So an extra segment with Aaron so we can
talk Aaron about the three guys we had a chance to chat. I don't
know if you'd had a chance to talk to any of the three that we
had a chance to talk to last week. But they're all good interviews,
no surprise, because they're all veteran guys, and they all had kind of
a different take, didn't they on a lot of different topics. Yeah,
there's no doubt they were all really good interviews. Yeah, I thought that
they definitely were all a little bit unique. I think Andrew Carr had a
lot of interesting things to say, and at all in a good way.
Thatsn't bad, obviously, but just about his recruitment, the tiste that Mark
Pope made to him, about being born to play here, and just you
know, some of the things he was saying about his game and being a
leader, how he really wants to be one of the leaders on this team.
So that was cool to hear. Ansley Alamanno were the chancellor from Fairley
Dickinson. I asked him a little bit about being part of a sixteen to
one upset because not many people can do that, and how that might help
him just be prepared because every game here is a big stage. So and
he you know, he's the guy who's just super happy to be here.
Like he talked about how he has no ego, he has nothing, no
personal agendas. He's just here to win and you know, win at the
highest level. So was impressed with him. And then otego Olay, who
I think is one the more just look at his numbers. I think he's
one of the more underrated players on the roster. I don't I just don't
think he gets enough buzz compared to some other them. That's okay, but
uh, you know, he talked about kind of how he is as kind
of being one of the raw Rod guys on the team, just one of
the guys who hypes guys up and lists guys up. And also how you
know, as soon as he had interests from Kentucky, he was kind of
the place he wanted to be at. Talked about, you know, his
game, a lot of the attentions on defense, talked about some of this
stuff on offense because he was a thirty seven and a half three point shooters.
So good stuff all around. And you know, we'll finish those interviews
I think next week with the guys YEP. I felt like Andrew Carr just
his his speech pat in the way he sounded to me kind of like Mark
Pope, you know, the way he talked and he said, did that
and you know it's not a Caver coach was coached by, you know,
by Mark Pope. He went to Wake Forest. But he's still what he
said and how he said it. To me, he sounded so much like
the coach. Well, Mark Pope did say that, right, he said,
they're very similar. Yeah, and yeah, you can definitely see it.
There's no doubt about it. He did kind of sound like a mini
Mark Pope, very mature, well spoken, upbeat guy and uh yeah,
I think. I do think sometimes the coaches looked for guys that remind them
of themselves because they know that they're going to be what they're looking for off
the court and maybe as a vocal guy in the locker room and carry also
fits exactly what they want to do stematically from a stretch force. So really
good stuff. I thought he was not a rank any of them, but
that was one of the better players. And sure, that's three interviews.
You know, Trey Mitchelhill was a really good one last year, but right
right there up there with him, Yeah, I agree. I thought Ohway
had some really interesting things to say. Although I couldn't use a whole lot
on the radio, Aaron, because he's so soft spoken as a beautiful deep
voice, but they put it behind that big table and I couldn't get my
microphone close enough to you. But but but he does have that level of
maturity, doesn't he. Yeah, no doubt. I mean that's another three.
He's actually a junior, so technically as another year if he wants it,
if he's not ready for the NBA. But yeah, another mature guy,
well spoken, carries himself the right way, and you know, you
definitely felt the common theme with those three guys. They're all they were all
that way, and I think that I wouldn't be surprised. It's the whole
roster. Honestly, when I've spoken the only guy on this team I've spoken
to so far as tabs Perry in passing, you know, throughout his high
school career. Uh and then over at the at the think sure that say
I stopp him, but so I already know he's going to be in that
group. He might be a little shy at first, That's okay, he's
a fession, but I honestly think you know, you listen to some one
back and listen to some stuff from Lamon Butler for Mensala tournaments, Jack and
Robinson, this group, their fans will notice the team, and they're all
very very personality wise. They take on their head coach, and it's easy
to see why he takes these places. Oh, absolutely absolutely, And that's
why it took a little while. Some people, I think we're getting nervous
about why it took him quote unquote so long to put the roster together.
He didn't just throw it open to say who's to play for Kentucky. You
know, he had to get the right, guys in there. Uh and
you know one of the things I asked, I asked a couple of them,
but it's too soon to answer. I was just curious to see what
they say. But I keep coming back to the ninety sixth title team that
Pope was was such a key part of, and in our documentary that we
did. You know, a lot of the guys were seeing preseason, they
could not understand how Rick Pattino was going to make this work with all these
players. Everybody wants to start, everybody wants the minutes, everybody wants the
spotlight. How does he make it work? And he did both with his
coaching approach, you know, the way if one east, we all the
kind of thing the Caliperi used as well. I don't think Patino ever said
that, but essentially basically he said, if we win, everybody benefits.
But they said it's too soon to tell right now how Pope is going to
do that, you know, but I got to think it's going to be
some combination of the way Caliperi and Patino did it. No doubt. I
think they'll be a lot of coach Patino just because that's how he's done it.
And also doesn't be a lot to coach Pope because you know, obviously
he hasn't been at a station like Kentucky, but he's been a head coach
now for almost a decade between Defaul Valley and Dyu. So I think she's
probably come on to his own and has his own style that you know,
it'll be something that's passed on the Cody figure. But well, Cody figures
already got he's been in the poke forever. But uh, Mark, not
Mark Parker, Al Halgen, Broke, Jason Hard, some of the younger
assistants on this stash as they you know, let's have become head coaches one
day. So yeah, I definitely think it's gonna be a lot of there's
gonna be a lot of Patinoisms, There's gonna be a lot of just post
I mean all Moner talks a lot about kind of how he just different from
a sense. He doesn't curse, He doesn't. He's not a screamer like
he's very Tom. He'll coach you up. He's gonna correct your mistakes,
that's for sure, but he's not gonna he's not gonna He'll get on you
too, but he's not gonna chew your your butt out. He's not gonna
be He's not gonna lose his level headedness that you know coach Shall certainly had
in the past. Not not a bad thing necessarily. Every coach is different,
but you know, he's not gonna be a hot heads like cow or
Bruce Pearl or even Patino. Uh, he's gonna you know, kind of
do I think a lot calmer than most coaches will. So that was cool
to learn from perspective on how these first practices are going through and his coaching
style. Well, he's not Italian and I'm calling out my own you know.
Do you know that the coaching box was installed, invented, if you
will, in part because of Rick Patino. He was one of a back
in the day who made it a point to race up and down the sideline
even beyond mid court too. We'll get buzz Williams. This past year he
ran onto the court onto like the free throw line to call time out and
didn't get teed up there either. So yeah, some of these coaches just
lose their mind, but I don't think. Well, I've seen help get
teed up a couple of times. There's some quests from BYU. So he'll
get into it during the game, yes, believe it or not. So
he'll get after it. But he's not He's not gonna chow other players.
I just don't see it happening unless someone really really strews up. As we
wrap this up, do you remember what he did to get teed up?
I mean he was riding the rest hard. I don't know if he used
any foul language, but he would not let up, and I think they
just had enough. It was I think it was I think it was Baylor
the opponent. It was this past year for sure. I think it was
Bailor. And we all know how smart he is. I guarantee you.
Yeah, he sets his sights on an official. There's something funny going to
be said, something deep and cutting, you know what I mean. Yeah,
he's creative because he's not, like we said, he's not going to
cuff. So what is he going to say. He's going to say something
maybe see as weird if he will, just because he's a little bit of
a point guy. That's not a bad thing that he is a pointy guy.
So I'd love to know what got him seed up that day. But
yeah, he lost it. On that official Well, as I'll let you
go, I'll see you down there in Dallas real quickly. Is there anything
in particular coming out in the magazine you need to point us at. We
have our next Our next issue should be in the mailboxes and be available for
purchase this week, recapping Omaha, and you know some of the stories from
throughout the summer. I think our next one will be after UK Football's media
Day, so a lot of coverage from this that in Dallas, a lot
of coverage when we get back to Less and then obviously, like we were
just talking about all these basketball player interviews, so that that'll be the next
one, not share exactly, but the one recapping Omaha should be available today
or tomorrow. And it's not already out honestly, I'm sorry it's not already
if it's not out there already, And we'll watch for the yearbook as well.
We'll talk about that next year. Thanks so much, Aaron. Anytime
up next to w NBA coach misses it golden opportunity to either give a better
answer or just keep your mouth shut. And it's about as always, it
seems. Caitlin Clark back in a minute six thirty WLP Welcome back to the
Big Blue Insider. Thanks again Aaron gerse John for working overtime with us.
So much to talk about there on baseball, football and basketball on a Monday,
so when a little long with him, but it all worked out for
the best. I mentioned prior to the break a WNBA coach and Caitlin Clark,
and I don't know that you could call this controversial, but it just
seems like the discussion is never ending right now in this Clark's rookie year.
Minnesota Link's head coach Cheryl Reeve, prior to their game with Indiana yesterday,
was asked about the fact that Caitlin Clark is going to bring a lot of
fans, and there are a lot of fans in that area anyway, she
had played at Caitlyn Clark in that building more than once because of the Big
twelve championships, so well known in that area. But it's Kaitlyn Clark for
crying out loud, and there was going to be a lot of cheering for
her, for Fever fan from Fever fan and for the Links fans, but
Caitlyn Clark is filling the building. Cheryl Reeve was asked pregame about the fact
that there were going to be a lot of fans cheering for the opposing team
during that home game in Minnesota, and here's what she said. But as
a as a coach, as a home team a year, I mean,
there's maybe a lot of people cheering for that other side. And the hubble
one. You heard it right, she said, I don't give two bleeps.
And given a chance again, she said, I don't give even one
bleep. Keep in mind, Cheryl Reeve is the coach of the US Olympic
team whose committee chose not to put Caitlin Clark on the team. The only
thing that Reeves said about her was I've never been to war with her in
a way backing the decision, And I got to admit that I've done a
little bit of a one to eighty on that situation. Maybe not a complete
one eighty, maybe a forty five degree turn, because when it was first
announced that Clark was not going to be on the Olympic team, and everybody
got upset because here's a chance to sell more tickets and grow the game and
interest and all that. I thought, well, yeah, but if you're
the coach, your job one, and job two and three is to win
the gold medal. Right, that's your job to put together the best team
literally in the world, to go out and win that gold medal for the
United States and choose the best players from among the players available to you.
Obviously there are WNBA players from Europe and whatever, but you got players from
the US of A. And you ought to be able to win the gold.
Yeah, but who are the best players? At the time, Caitlin
Clark was just into her WNBA career and I wasn't yet sure that Caitlin Clark
was one of the best twelve or fifteen or whatever, because you knew there
was going to be a learning curve in the pro basketball game. You knew
they were going to beat her up, not like they are now, but
you knew it was going to be more difficult for a college kid to come
in and excel. I did not expect the level of excellence from Caitlyn Clark
that we have seen now. If I may be allowed to say, she
is one of the best players, one of the best players available to reeve
who could help her win a gold medal, There's no question about that.
Now she has proven herself as Caitlyn Clark as one of the best players in
the league, and yet there has been so much consternation about Caitlyn Clark and
the cheap shots of both physically and verbally other players disrespecting her. You had
the one clown who said all she does is to shoot three pointers. Right.
No, No, she does every thing and does everything well. And
as I've said before, and I've said more than once, and this goes
for the coach. This is bad for business to not recognize her as being
great for business. This is not smart. And I will give Cheryl Reeve
a measure of the benefit of the doubt. Going into the game. I'm
certain she was focused entirely on winning this game. So someone puts something in
front of her that might have been a distraction for her team, She's gonna
shove it out of the way. I don't care. You know. That
may be why she responded the way she did. I don't give two blanks
because her players shouldn't give two blanks going into the game. They need to
put that aside and win. But with this situation with Caitlin Clark, she
needed an attitude and it could have been just a quick response pregame. You
know, look, anything that's great for the game is good with me,
that kind of thing. But what she said after the game was smart and
she mentioned Bird and Magic and we'll play it for you here in a second,
and it was one of the first things. Not that that makes me
smart, but a lot of us realized that Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and
a couple others coming into the WNBA is really similar to when Magic and Bird
save the NBA they did. Charles Barkley has said that over and over that
NBA players himself included, oh, practically everything they have, maybe not everything,
but the biggest money to Bird and Magic. Because the NBA Finals were
on tape delay during the week. They were on live during the weekend.
But some of you don't know or remember that the NBA Championship games, the
series, midweek games, they were on tape delay. Nobody liked the NBA.
Then here came BYRD, here came Magic, and here's where we are
now. I'm telling you it's not exactly the same, but it's very similar
with Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever, Angel Reese in Chicago, and like
I said, a couple of other big name players, and Cheryl Reeve,
to her credit, did mention that after the game, which by the way,
her team lost, our teams around the league are having sellouts or because
Caitlin Clark are the steps that this league can take to have this be more
consistent in the regular season and event the game atmosphere like today. I mean,
I don't know that I quite understand the question and that everybody knows that
the reason why our teams around the league are having sellouts are because Caitlin Clark
and the Indiana Fever are coming to town. Angel Reese has impacted their their
attendance at the Chicago games. I suspect on the road as well. So
what the league can do is be ready to capitalize on the moments. But
it's it's much like when we saw saw you know, Bird and Magic come
in the league right that the league has been building, you know, for
a watershed moment and we're here and now you got to take advantage of it.
And it's it's beyond just kind of saying, Okay, well, the
Indiana Fever are coming and they're selling out, you're just sitting back and watching
it. How do you how other ways can you monetize and capitalize on it?
You know, that's obviously a business and a layered thing, but but
that's how I think you could. You could capitalize as Cheryl Reeve, the
head coach of the Minnesota Links and the coach of the US national team,
and that what she said, is smart, that's good business. She's right,
what do you do with it? Now you've got this new toy?
Basically, how do you maximize? And one of the smartest things they've done.
And it seems like overkill, but it's really not. Is Indiana Fever
games are on national TV, like forty times most of their schedule is on
national TV. We had Debbie Antonelli on with us. She is, of
course a Hall of Fame broadcaster, former UK sports marketing director, one of
my former broadcast partners who now calls a ton of basketball for ESPN, CBS,
FOX, whoever's got a game, she'll call it and works most of
the Indiana Fever games. And we talked with her last week on the show
about the fact that the league needs to capitalize and as the coach said,
monetize what's going on. So I'll give her a pass on that first snarky
comment, but she was right when she followed up. Thanks so much to
my guest today, Aaron gershein Ken Spencer. I'm heading for Dallas later on,
but we'll be back with you tomorrow night. That's it. Good night
from the garage in Lexington. According to this morning sample, it would be
a Twinkie thirty five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds. That's a big twink