It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now here's Nick coffee. I'm gonna go ahead and do it now
so I don't forget about it later. But I will say that I'll say
happy birthday to my sister. I guess we'll start the four o'clock hour with
me saying Happy birthday to my sister Emily, who I think for every year
I've been on the radio on her birthday, I always say happy birthday,
of course, if you know, if it's not on a weekend or whatever,
but Happy thirty seventh birthday to my sister Emily. And we are fifty
one weeks apart. She's the fifteenth obviously mine is. My birthday is the
seventh, which was last Sunday, So for eight days we are the same
age. And you know, the older I get, the more you know,
the more I not that I've done it a million times, I've done
it twice as far as you know, going through having a child, Like
clearly nobody would want to have two kids that close to the same age because
you would be pregnant for two consecutive years, which most people don't want.
So I was an accident. Anytime I say that, my mom always corrects
me and says I was more of a blessing, And that's one way to
look at it. But yeah, happy birthday to my sister. I mean,
I think they call that Irish twins. I was gonna ask, I
was gonna say, I was worried about sounding stupid. I fact I've heard
I've heard Irish twins means something else to where. It made me think,
okay, that is that the case, But yeah, I just actually looked
it up. Yeah, so it's still Irish twins is those who you know,
siblings who are who. Let's see. Irish twins is an informal term
for children born to the same mother within twelve months or less of each other.
So the term has originated in the eighteen hundreds as a derogatory way to
describe our Rish Catholic immigrant families who didn't have access to birth control. Today,
the term is generally not intended as an insult, and some families use
it with pride. I don't know how prideful we are about it, but
yeah, I remember like a light bulb went off when I was like,
I don't know, fifteen it's like, wait a second, mom, and
then you know she she had the answer prepared for whenever I did realize that,
you know, I probably was not a planned wasn't a plant thing with
me. Isn't that funny that they have to think about that for your entire
life until you finally asked that question. Yeah, I mean I think she
you know, she wasn't stressed that I was going to react in a certain
way to where I would be, you know, want to be removed from
the family and you know, have somebody adopt me. But you know she
was ready. She was ready, and it's had that one in the chamber
exactly exactly. All right, Coffee and company, that's us. We are
feel by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. You'll forget take us with
you wherever you go. You can listen live on the iHeartRadio app listen live
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It's the Ellen and Federal Credit Union text line again, the numbers five oh
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Members get More at Llenn Federal Credit Union Union. You can learn more and
open your account today at LENFCU dot com. That always gives me, Always
get hung up on that. At credit Union you can. That's tough,
John, because that's the copy, right, It's I'll start from the beginning.
Members get More at Ellenn Federal Credit Union. You can open up account
today at LNFS. It's tough. Yeah. Anytime I successfully get through that
without falling over verbally, I feel, you know, I feel like I've
accomplished something but I wasn't able to do at that time. So anyways,
we'll get this party back on track here. So the strength of schedule stuff
there, I'm trying to find some different numbers just to just to reference what
what's here at Pro Football Focus and Pro Football Focus is a very reputable analytical
website that has really exploded over the years and it's trusted by not only college
football super fans NFL fans, but organizations. I mean, there's there's analytics,
uh that that they provide at PFF, that that NFL teams pay for
because clearly we are in an analytic world when it comes to sports now.
I know some people have strong opinions on it the other way, but regardless,
it's it's it's a it's a big I mean, and I feel like
sometimes it's overly leaned on and there's not enough talk about, like you know,
actual results. However, there there's been clear evidence for many years now
that analytics are valuable and I reference them, I followed them, but there
are some that really only look at it from an analytical standpoint. But anyways,
according to Pro Football Focus, Kentucky's schedule as far as strength of schedule
this upcoming season ranks twenty second nationally in difficulty and I'll be honest, I
can't disagree with that. I mean, again, we'll see there's obviously teams
that'll probably end up being better than you'd expected, teams that won't be quite
as good as you would have expected. I mean, you really never know
until you actually get results. But if you remember, I think it might
have been earlier in the spring. I mean I saw someone had Kentucky's actual
schedule that doesn't include you know, their FCS opponent, and like it was
up there as one of the most challenging schedules in the country. So they've
got Southern miss and Ohio and Murray State as the three you know gimmes,
those are the three games on their schedule that by all accounts, those should
be blowouts. So then you get into the one game it's the rivalry game,
and you know, I would imagine, to be honest with you right
now, this isn't me. This is I didn't bring this up to,
you know, Pat Louisville on the back here. But let's be real.
Louisville finished as a top fifteen team last year. They're gonna probably be borderline
top twenty five this year. I don't know if they're gonna be in the
AP pole, but they should be. So if they're ranked twenty second or
something, and that's one of Kentucky's non conference games. That's a factor in
why that schedule looks to be so challenging now their conference schedule. I mean,
i'd say outside of Vandy, the worst team they play is probably I
guess South Carolina, and that's who they have in Week two. And South
Carolina, you know, beat the brakes off them off of them last year.
So you then have Georgia and ole Miss. You'll play Georgia at home,
You'll play ole Miss on the road. Those are two, I mean,
those are those are two really really tough games, playing ole Miss in
Oxford and in Georgia, of course there's still a powerhouse. And then they've
got Florida in Gainesville that's on the road. Florida is not in great shape,
Billy Nape, You're probably going to be coaching as last season in Gainesville
unless they have a big breakthrough. But you're still going to the swamp.
And Mark Stoops has had success against Florida much more than anybody else ever has
in Lexington. Obviously, he's taken some losses, there's no doubt about that.
But I mean you got to keep in mind it used to be a
thing. I mean, Florida streak. How long was that, I mean
it was decades, So you know, Florida's gonna be down, but going
in and winning in Gainesville is still probably something that most would view as a
big challenge, and I'm sure the analytics view it that way as well.
They've got Auburn at home, and I got to be honest with you,
I haven't heard a damn thing about Auburn this offseason. Like, I feel
like they're probably going to be looked at as a team that's gonna be in
that you know, in that tier that's above Vandy, which is probably I
guess you know where Kentucky's gonna be viewed, which the tier above Vandy isn't
a terrible Like you know, Mississippi State and Arkansas and Vandy, those are
probably gonna be the worst teams in that league. So I guess the tier
above those guys is where you'll find Auburn. And they've got Tennessee Andoxville.
I mean that's a tough game. I mean, Josh Hipel in the last
two years specifically, I mean, they've Tennessee I think right now has as
much consistency is they I mean, I feel like, since what's his name,
the old guy who ended up working is an athletic department associate and ended
up getting him in trouble for cheating with Jeremy Prue. I can't I think
of his name. What the hell's at old Tennessee football coach's name again,
everybody's probably screaming it right now listening, thinking you dumb as, why can't
you remember his name? But yeah, it's Phil Follmer. Former Tennessee coach.
Phil Filmer since he left Tennessee has been an absolute roller coaster. I
mean, who's the longest tenured coach they had there butch Jones. That thing
fell apart bad when they became Champions of Life. So now Jeremy not Jeremy
Prude. He was the guy in between that again got caught cheating. But
Josh Hipel has given Tennessee a foundation, and last year they were not quite
as good as they were in twenty twenty two, but they still finished nine
and four overall eleven and two. Of course they before that when they knocked
off Alabama, and you know, now they're coming into a season where they're
they're going to be expected to be probably one of the top teams to compete
with Georgia, who's clearly, you know, the cream of the crop in
the league. Well, I was going to say in the East, but
the East isn't a thing now their divisions are no more, right is that
this year? Yeah, it's correct. So you know, Tennessee is going
to be a really, really tough game for them, and it's in Knoxville,
and then they've got Texas. They got to play Texas in Austin.
So I have no problem looking at Kentucky's schedule and saying, yes, it
is going to be a tougher schedule than Louisville, And according to Pro Football
Focus, it's not even close. So the way they look at Louisville schedule,
it's ranked one hundred and fifth, and Pro Football Focus will tell you
that at one hundred and five, that is the easiest schedule among Power Conference
programs. And I want to dispute it, but I don't really know if
I can, because you got to keep in mind last year Louisville strength of
schedule wasn't great, but it wasn't as you know, you only played twelve
games, and usually every power team will play two of those twelve against teams
that are going to completely drop your strength to schedule ranking because they're an FCS
school or they're a G five. You know that that you know isn't isn't
good, you know, like a MAX school or something like that. So
you know, like this year, you have Jacksonville State, who is making
their first appearance in the FBS this season, Austin p and yeah, you
got Notre Dame and that one certainly helps. But you still play teams like
Virginia and Boston College, who you know, did play in a bowl game
last year, but by all accounts like those are not challenging games. And
let's not forget Stanford. You know, this isn't this isn't the hardball Stanford
program. Stanford, I'm pretty sure was got. I think Stanford lost to
two f's two No, no, they lost to at least one FCS team
last year. So you know, I will give Rick bo Boset some credit
because I actually read about the Pro Football Focus numbers in an article that he
put together over at WDRB dot com, where he you know, he went
out of his way to try to defend Louisville strength of schedule and acted as
if it's there's not as big of a gap as you might as you might
see. So here's here's his ride up. It says Kentucky plays eight home
games while Louisville only plays six h The article also he's referencing the PFF article,
but it says the article also compares oh yeah, the opponents on each
team's schedule, noting that Louisville has a tougher has tougher non conference games against
Notre Dame, while Kentucky's SEC road games against Ole, Miss, Tennessee and
Texas will also be challenging. So again, he just maintained that, meaning
Bozich maintains that that the difference in scheduled difficulty between the two is not as
there's not as big of a gap as the PFF formula will tell you.
But you know, again, last year, if you look at Louisville schedule,
there's no way to do this without it sounding like I'm telling you that
they were Actually they did not have a challenging schedule last year, but it
was just weird. It was different, right, They only outside of Murray
State, every other team they played was a Power five Power five team.
So that alone is going to make it to where at the end of the
year, if there's not an FCS team or a G five or I guess
there is an FCS team, but if there's not a if there's not a
G five team from the MAC or the Conference USA or something like that to
weigh you down. Like Indiana, I mean, they weren't good last year
by any means, but you know what, Indiana also played a really really
challenging schedule because they're in the Big Ten. Georgia Tech, I can't claim
they're good, but they won seven eight games last year. Boston College,
I think they were one of the worst teams in the league, but they
ended up actually going to a bowl game and they beat simuita bowl game.
NC State ended up finishing the season. It's a top twenty five team.
Notre Dame. Same thing. Pittsburgh sucked out loud Duke. You know,
they didn't finish strong, but they were a top twenty five team throughout the
year here and there, and they probably finished within the top thirty forty five.
Whatever it may be. Virginia Tech a team that Louisville demolished, but
they actually ended up having a solid season and had a winning record. Virginia
stunk Miami you know, they were kind of whatever. They clearly weren't as
good as they should have been. So this year, you know, you
play teams that, you know, if I'm being honest with you, I'd
say three, maybe four, like if Boston, if Stanford or Stanford or
Boston College. I'll put it this way, this is the best way.
This is the best way to to to throw it out there. At least
I hope I'm making sense. Nobody knows how good any of these teams are
actually gonna be when it's all said and done, But there's a chance that
this year Austin p Jacksonville State, Virginia, Stanford, and maybe Boston College.
Like, is anybody going to be surprised if all five of those teams
end up really just being bad this year? Like four wins at max for
those for those teams, like that's not out of the question. And that's
six of your twelve opponents. So the difference this year is that you have
some bad teams that are going to really weigh you down, whereas last year
you didn't have that. So I still think this year's schedule is tougher because
again, Clemson teams still don't go to Clemson and to win very often.
It happens very rarely. I could be wrong, but I'm a believer that
Miami will actually have a much better season this year with cam Ward. I
think he's a really, really good quarterback SMU. I don't buy the hype
as much as some others. I mean not to say that people are claiming
SMU is about to make the playoff, but you know, they are coming
off a pretty good year statistically. They won a lot of games in the
American but you know, they also lost to Boston College in a bowl game,
who wasn't good Notre Dame. I mean, I think it's going to
be a huge year one way or the other for Marcus Freeman. I think
he's either going to have a breakthrough and they're going to be competitive for a
playoff spot, or maybe they put together a you know, eight win season,
which you can't do it Notre Dame very often and expect to keep your
job. You know, I don't believe that Georgia Tech's going to be great,
but they did have a breakthrough season last year and have momentum, and
of course, you know Kentucky, you probably will find them borderline top twenty
five. Maybe not when they play at the end of November. But you
know, right now, if you're out there looking at you know, preseason
rankings whatnot, whether it be somebody's actual rankings or some analytics, they're their
top thirties and that you know that that that's a tough game and you got
to go play them there. And for reasons I don't know, Louisville just
you know, isn't successful in this rivalry anymore, and I'm hoping that that
ends this year, but only time will tell. All right, real quick,
before we get to our next break here, I've not watched a whole
lot of the Summer League, but I did find myself watching I think it
was on was it? Yeah, Friday night? I think it was the
rockets first Summer League game out in Vegas, and Reached Shepherd put on a
show, and you know, he's got a couple of good games under his
belt. I don't know when the Rockets play again, but you know,
it's not that big of a surprise, And it's weird talking about reach Uppart
as if like can you believe it? Because again, he was a top
twenty five player nationally. He had offers from just about everybody. He was
a McDonald's All American. So like him being a really good looking rookie in
the Summer League after a one and done season at Kentucky is really not a
surprise at all if you think about it. However, I just think because
for so long it was Wagner, it was Bradshaw, Like he wasn't the
guy in that elite class that Cal brought in last year that people thought right
away would be having this kind of an impact in the NBA. He was
drafted number three overall, and right now he's been the best rookie in the
Summer League. And it's not close. Again, it's just two games,
but twenty two and a half points per game, and one thing. Reach
Shepherd's always been insanely good at is. He's affishing, he didn't hurt you.
He'll make mistakes, he'll have a turnover here and there, but like
he's he's smart man. I mean, here's his averages and here's his average
in the two games, twenty two and a half points, five rebounds,
six assists, three steals and two blocks per game while shooting fifty six percent
from the field forty five percent from three point range. I mean, I
think even before the numbers, I think he'd be a not a safe bet,
but a good bet for NBA Rookie of the Year. And what he's
done in the Summer League has has done nothing but make me think even more
more so that he's he's probably gonna have a really good season and have a
good chance to win Rookie of the Year. I still think Dalton Knneck could
end up being a big factor for lebron and the Lakers, unless you know,
they give all the minutes to h to Bronnie, which you know he's
not playing well in the Summer League if you guys haven't haven't noticed, which
is not a surprise, right. I mean, in fact, I'm actually
pretty pleased because I don't think that that's that's been as big of a talking
point like that that Bronni's playing in the Summer League, because I think everybody's
well aware that, like we know what this is. He's not an NBA
caliber player yet and certainly may never will be, and yet he's still getting
Summer League minutes and he's been kind of dreadful. So the Houston runs because
I think for reach Evard to potentially win Rookie of the Year. It does
depend on like what kind of an impact. Well, it depends on the
rest of the rookies, but also if you are making an impact for a
team that actually does you know, does get better and it's because of your
involvement, that can really help you as far as winning that award. But
Jalen Green, I mean that's sort of their their franchise guy. Cam Whittmore's
coming off of a good season. Dylan Brooks is there, Fred Van Vliet
is sort of their lead guard. They also have Jabari Smith Junior, the
one of the Thompson brothers from last year's class is still there. So you
know, I don't think they're gonna be good and you know, competing for
the UH for the West next year. But you know, if they make
a jump from last year and reach you know, they if they make a
jump to where they're potentially, you know, fighting for one of those play
in spots. And Shepherd is a is not a key factor like to where
he's leading them in scoring, but if he's clearly a part of what they're
doing and he's getting he's got a legitimate role as a rookie, then I
think he'd have a good chance of winning it. I mean, the two
guys that got drafted one and two, they may be stars down the line,
but again they weren't able to be productive as far as you know,
stuff in the stat sheet when they were playing last year. Wherever they were,
I know one of them was playing in a France like I think the
other one might have been playing in Australia, so you know, read Shepherd.
I don't know what the odds are. Maybe I'll look into that,
what current odds are for NBA Rookie of the Year, because he may actually
be the favorite now, which would make it to where it wouldn't be you
know. I mean, I guess if you if you bet on that kind
of stuff, then you know, knock yourself out. But when it comes
to futures, I like to take one that you know is not that unlikely
and the odds are maybe a little surprising to you to where if it does
work out, you can you know, put a little more money in your
pocket. All right, let's do this. Let's get to a quick break.
We'll come back here on the other side. Keep this thing rolling along.
Speaking of sports gambling, I do want to give you some some win
totals that I am looking at here in college football because Brad Power is one
of my favorite handicappers. When I say favorite, it's just because he's usually
given me some pretty good not me personally. I mean, I'm one of
probably thousands of people that follows this guy, but that's because he's good.
But he has certain teams out there that he doesn't have favorite. He doesn't
have favorite in any game this year. He has a few teams that he
has favored in every game, And if you look at the win totals for
some of these teams, there could be some real value there because you know,
if your win total, for example, is set at four and a
half and you're not favored in a single game, I mean, I mean
take the under right, you never know, but I trust brat Powers,
all right. So we'll get to that talk a little recruiting, and I'm
sure there's some other takeaways from the SEC media days going on right now that
we can get to at some point. So stick around. It's coffee and
company. We are fueled. Bouth Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
No surprise. As I scan through Twitter, there's a lot of folks
sharing their gameplay as they are. I guess some of the lucky few.
Well, yes, if you bought it, it's like deluxe EA Sports pack
that includes Madden, then I guess you have access to the new College Football
EA Sports game today, whereas the other I think have to wait until Friday.
But I'm watching here as somebody just ran in a touchdown here with Louisville
and they're playing, of course, at Cardinal Stadium. And I didn't assume
that. I didn't know this was included, but it makes sense. There's
a huge Leen n FCU logo on the field. I mean, I know
there's one there in real life. Obviously it's Ellenn Cardinal Stadium, but I
don't remember it. Again, I don't play video games at all, and
even when I used to, it wasn't much compared to a lot of people
who are really into video games. But I don't remember specific sponsors being included
in the game. Maybe that's just again my lack of experience as a gamer.
But that's pretty cool because there's I mean, there's added value there.
I mean, I'm sure there's endless amounts of value to have the naming rights
to a college football stadium. But this game is going to be played by
an insane amount of people and they may not know what the hell each of
these sponsors are, especially if it's if they're playing the game in another country
or something. But hey, that's brand exposure and that that matters when it
comes to marketing. And no surprise. The last video game for me a
sports that was college football many years ago. And this looks real. Like
a quick glance, I feel like I'm If I didn't see the little circle
around the guy running with the ball, like for a second, I might
think it's a real game I'm watching, especially when they show it from the
side angle, which they probably don't do that very often. But when you
see those shots of the game from the side, it looks a lot more
wrong when there's not as much movement, like, for example, some of
the shots I've seen as they show like like the fans in the crowd.
Yeah, that looks real. I mean it looks I mean, I mean
I can tell by looking at a little closer that it's clearly not And I
know I'm looking at a video game, you know, graphic, but it's
it's much much different than when I played many many years ago, So happy
release date to everybody who's playing. And I can you know there are people
right now that probably started downloading it last night when it became available, I
guess at midnight, and it didn't didn't download because it takes forever and they
had to go to work today and they're just like they can't wait to get
home and grab the sticks? Was that a thing? Was that a saying
grab the sticks? Like the joysticks? So whenever I whenever we would play
like NBA Live or Madden or the College Fall game, like whenever I was
in high school, and at that point I didn't play, but it was
it didn't play often, but occasionally, like if you're with some boys and
you know, you're hanging out and you might get a few games in and
like if you're getting beat really bad. It was a thing like people would
say, pass the sticks. But I haven't heard that since I played.
And you know, I'm not even sure if like that like the current world
of gaming. Maybe me, I don't even know what the hell that means.
I've just heard controller, But do you get though, like past the
Yeah, I know it means somebody told me i'd figure it out. Yeah,
so I don't know if you're a breaking controller when you play video games.
No, but I know people who did, and I never did a
common I made someone breaking controller playing FIFA one time. It's like an extra
win, isn't it like an extra win? That's that? Have you ever
gotten like super angry when playing I have. It's been a long time.
I haven't and it and I guess that's why. I just I've never really
been able to get into it as much as as as others. And it's
really like I have a very addictive personality, like things that I end up
becoming really interested in, Like it doesn't consume my whole life. I don't
make it my whole personality. But if I was, if I was a
gamer, like I would, I mean, it wouldn't be good for probably
certain wouldn't be good for my marriage, that's for sure. And that's like,
and I hate to act like if you're playing this video game that you
know you must be you know, sacrificing time with your family, because everybody's
situation is different. But I I mean, I wouldn't say I'm the busiest
guy in the world, but I mean I have I would have no time
to play this like I got too. I got a kid that's eight,
I got a little one that just turned four, and you know, I
work full time. I just I feel like, if you're really gonna just
get lost in this game and play it for hours on end, I would
imagine you probably not. You know, you don't have to be single,
but you may not have like a wife who lives with you. Maybe you
just have a girlfriend and you're casually dating, and maybe you have a lot
of free time on your hands. But you know I don't. And by
the way, that's you. Good for you, there's nothing wrong with that.
It's just I'm in such a different phase of my life. I feel
like, honestly, and you're an old soul. I think a lot of
people your age. Well, I shouldn't say a lot. I don't know
the actual because I don't know that many people your age, But I feel
like, you know, you married younger and kind of settled down a little
quicker than a lot of others in your generation. Most of my friends still
aren't married. Yeah, and that's again, that's everybody, you know,
people know. I don'tways say as a joke, but it is weird to
think about that. So I think if you're ten, if you're closer to
John's age, like, you probably are in a position and everybody's situation is
different, but you know, you may have more free time on your hands
to just, you know, do whatever you want, like spend a few
hours each evening playing a video game. I you know, I could do
that, but I would be single, and I don't want to be single.
I like my family and I want to keep my wife. And I've
seen people that I know who are getting this game that like that have children,
like they're going to try to at least include sure, yeah, kind
of pass it down, like, hey, this is what I did whenever
I was your age. Yeah, you can get into it that type of
a thing. Well, the hype for this game was next level, and
I haven't seen anybody who's shared their thoughts on it say anything other than great
things about it. So I guess well done by the folks at Ada Sports.
All right, let me talk about my friends over at the Louisville Men's
Clinic, because you know, they can't help you with video games, but
they can certainly help you with a lot of other things fellas low testosterone.
They can help you. They've helped me with that. If you have a
rectalitisfunction, that's probably something that you would be very uncomfortable talking about to anyone.
But the sooner you address it, the sooner you get back to being
happy or healthier with your partner. I mean, ed, it's way more
common than I ever anticipated. I don't have that issue and hope to never
have it, but if I do, it'll be a punch to the pride.
But I won't stress too long because I know who I can lean on
to help me, and that's the friends that I have at the Louisville Men's
Clinic, specifically doctor Wood, who's an absolute pro. And you know he's
helped me. Let him help you. And it's not just low t or
ed. You you want to lose weight, I mean, I'm on the
semi glut side program right now and I've I mean, I'm down one hundred
and sixty four pounds, which I got to be honest, I haven't weighed
that much in a long time. And meaning that's a good thing. I'm
losing weight, but also still you know, benefiting from my workouts and whatnot.
So I feel great and you can too, and you may feel hey,
I don't need any help. I'm good. Well you could be better,
so give him a call five two four four four four thousand, or
you can check them out online at Louisville Men's Clinic dot com. All right,
so some some cruiting updates for you guys out there. We'll start with
the latest commitment for Jeff Brahm, who, by the way, this young
man now happens to be the highest rated recruit in Louisville's twenty two twenty five
class. It is CJ. May who is from Alabama. He is ranked
as the number seventeen edge. He's a defensive end, but seventeen, he's
ranked seventeenth that is positioned in the country in twenty twenty five, and pick
Louisville over Auburn, Washington and Syracuse. He's a four star kid, and
that's a big get, you know. I think, you know, if
you have a class that is smaller than the typical classes you had prior to
the portal, and you get you know, maybe some high three stars and
I don't know, maybe like a decent a decent mixture of players of this
caliber. You know, I think that again, I've talked about it many
times to me. It's it's it's here's the formula for programs like Louisville to
have high level success, you know, hopefully consistently, and that formula is
do really well in the portal, try not to lose guys that you know,
have proven to be able to help you and recruit in the you know,
the thirties and forties. I mean, everybody's gonna want to have the
best recruits in the country, there's no doubt about it. But that's not
realistic. That's never been realistic for programs like Louisville or Kentucky for that matter.
So the portal, I don't know. I see some people complaining about
the guys who have decommitted from Louisville in this twenty twenty five class because right
now the class doesn't look great when it comes to rankings. I mean,
it clearly got a bump from this young man Cjay with the kid from Ohio
who ended up getting the offer from Ohio State. He flipped to Ohio State.
And then there was another kid who flipped to Purdue who really wasn't that
highly regarded anyway. So people are always going to be bummed about guys who
end up committing elsewhere or they decommit, and I'm not telling you that you
shouldn't, but the days of chasing a top twenty class and being able to
live in a world where you can consistently bring in that talent, it's not
as important anymore because you can now fill that gap with portal guys that are
ready to play as soon as they get here, especially if they've already played
a season or two of high level football. So again, I think the
formula is, retain your roster as best you can. You're clearly going to
lose some guys. But when you do lose guys to the portal, go
out there and get players who are clearly better than the guys you lost.
And that's exactly what Jeff Brohm just did with this past recruiting class or this
past portal class. So then you know, maybe occasionally you can get a
few notable recruits that are picking you over some big time schools. And I
think that's a good formula to have success at a high level. I mean,
sometimes you're gonna get burned by the portal, right where you're gonna lean
on it and it'll be good to you. And then sometimes it'll be bad
to you where you on paper had a really good class, but man,
it just didn't translate that That happens sometimes. But you know what, that
also happened sometimes with high school kids that you recruit. So you know,
I haven't seen a whole lot of it, but there have been some that
are, you know, bitching about Louisville's lack of recruiting success here in twenty
twenty five. And I just don't think it's warranted. I mean, I
can't sit here and tell you that they're killing it. But like when you
have a guy who is in the last two seasons put together one of the
best portal classes in both of those years, and by the way, the
first year he won ten games with those guys, I just feel like that
would lead that would make people understand that you don't need to be beating Alabama
in Georgia for recruits, and that wasn't ever really realistic to do consistently anyway.
All right, on the basketball side, this is not a commitment by
any means. But a local kid here we can say local. He's not
in Louisville, but he's right across the river in Jeffersonville. Tray Singleton.
He is a twenty twenty five power forward prospect from Jeff six seven, six
' eight, and you know, really a hybrid big if you will.
I mean when I say hybrid, I don't mean he's somebody that you know
can stretch the floor and knock down threes. I mean, maybe he can
do that, But I think when I say hybrid, maybe I'm using that
word incorrectly when it comes to basketball. But he's a really good passer.
You can run things to the room in the high post. He's tough,
he's physical, plays it. He's a really good player. And I didn't
anticipate that he would end up being a guy that ended up on the Louisville
radar, But that is because he's currently playing for I think it's Indiana Elite,
the Adidas one of the top Adida's AAU programs, and he's playing for
a really good team. I think Malachamorino, the big man from Scott County
here in Kentucky, is also on that squad. But he he's had a
really, really good summer and that has led to some big offers come in
his way, Louisville being the most recent one. But yeah, he's I
think Butler also recently offered. Clemson is involved, so he doesn't have a
ton of you know, actually Notre Dame has offered, but it's a pretty
good that's a pretty good offer, I would say at this point. So
what's likely gonna happen is he'll end up taking a big jump in these rankings.
And I don't say that because you know, Louisville is involved, but
those who cover high school basketball recruitings say that on this Adidas circuit, he
has been a really really big you know, not to say he's been the
best player out there, but his current ranking, he's like two twenty I
think in the twenty four to seven Sports composite, but I think Rivals and
twenty four seven Sports. I read some stuff earlier today that they both have
having said where he's going to end up, but they did act as if
he will take a significant bump in the rankings. So it got me thinking,
you know, Jeffersonville, they've had years, you know where they were
really really good in basketball. A lot of that was a long long time
ago, well like when I was a little bitty kid. But I was
trying to think of other Jeffersonville kids that of course now are grown ups,
but guys from jeff they ended up playing basketball at U of L. Like
for some reason when I you know, when I thought of that, I
was like, oh, yeah, there's probably a bunch of them, but
I really can't think of that many. I know Brant Northern and he walked
on initially and ended up getting on scholarship. There was a guy by the
name of Dennis Coute who signed and I believe was like a pretty big name
recruit but didn't end up qualifying. Somebody helped me out. I feel like
I'm blanking on dudes who played at jeffersonvill High School. They ended up playing
at u of L. But anyways, that you used to live in jeff
you didn't you Jo? I did? If we never moved, I would
have gone jeff High School. When did you move? My sixth grade years
so it would have been about eleven years old. If that, I didn't
know if it was like right BEFO High School or not. But I do
think since I think it's Jim Shannon has moved on from New Albany. Not
to say they just still don't have good players. I'm sure they do,
but I think Jeff in recent years has had I don't know how much they've
won, but I do know that they've they've they've had some high level players
over there in recent years, which for a while it kind of felt like
there was a gap like that it was just everybody, you know, it
seemed like New Albany was the southern Indiana school that had all the you know,
high caliber basketball players. All right, quick break, we'll come back
here on the other side. Keep this thing rolling along. Get to the
text line five O two six five three zero sivin nineties the number if you
guys want to want to jump in and join us, and something else I
want to get to. I mentioned the list earlier from ESPN when it comes
to their top one hundred athletes since two thousand, which we will get to
that later. But the yearly ESPN poll about the best quarterback in the NFL
is now here. This is when ESPN asks NFL coaches executive scouts to rank
the best quarterbacks in the NFL in their mind, and some of the results
here might surprise you. So again we are loaded the rest of the way.
Keep it locked right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. All right,
let's go to the text line. This comes in from Chris who says that
he believes that a lot of college football programs will benefit because fans will have
the ability to know a lot more about them by playing the game. I
suppose that's true. I mean again, the players themselves are in the game,
so you know, and I did see that somebody shared that you cannot
make any you can create your own player that kind of stuff and do what
do you call it the the road to glory? Yeah, the road to
glory where you kind of start as a high school recruit and you know,
work your way up or whatnot. But you cannot make any edits, any
customizations to the current players that are in the game. So like, if
EA Sports gives you a ranking of you know, eighty five, that's what
you are. So no, I think you're right. I mean I again,
I I'm not the right person to know if that's like, if that's
that's legit or not. But I'll take your word for it. Meaning I'm
sure you know you'll be You'll have some rando team on your schedule, and
you know you'll end up thinking, Okay, wow, why can't I stop
this guy for ball State? Well, maybe because you know he's an All
American, but you didn't know it because he's playing at Ball State. So
I guess in that in that aspect, maybe maybe you are right. All
right, So again, if you if you guys are interested in following somebody
who is always putting out some good information when it comes to uh to sports
wagering, follow Brad Powers on Twitter. He's got sixty seven and a half
thousand followers because he's really good at what he does. But at Brad Power
seven is his is his Twitter handle, and he is a handicapper and and
has gone through and and and looked at his own I guess spreads that he
would put together for for these games that ever, you know, for certain
skills. I guess probably every schedule in the country, to be honest with
you, but he has just four teams favored in every single game this year,
and that is teams you know that you would expect to be really really
good. Georgia and their closest game spread. He has his minus two and
a half at Alabama or again, which kind of surprised me. Their closest
their closest game is minus one and a half at Ohio State and then Kansas
State is minus one point one at Iowa State, but again favored in every
game, and then Notre Dame favored in every game. They're closest spread is
when they go to Texas A and M and they're favored by half a point.
So he does analytics. He's got his own formula. So that's why
you see spreads that are, you know, minus one point four, which
you know makes no sense. So I'm not going to touch any of those.
I just thought it was interesting to see that's that's somebody who thinks that
those four teams will be favored in every single game they play. Doesn't mean
they're gonna win them all. We all know that. In fact, Louisville
last year, they were favored on paper in every game before the season started.
By the time you got to the end of the season, that wasn't
the case. In fact, I think they were favored in every game but
one, and it was Notre Dame, wasn't it. I mean, I
can't think of any other team that would have been favored over them, just
because of how the schedules set up. So again, being favored didn't mean
you're gonna win it, but it does put in prospect sort of that you
know, people who put money on these things, meaning they're not doing it
just because they're fans of a team. They just think that's that's how the
spreads would break down. So teams that he has favored in zero games this
fall, there's three of them, Kennesau State, New Mexico, and Temple.
So let's look at UH. Let's see here. Let me try to
makebe make sure because there's some of these teams that like you may not even
be able to get a win total for them because they're so obscure. But
in Conference USA, Kennesaw State, their total is two and a half.
That's low enough to where like I still would have a tough time taking it
because at that level, like you might mess around and win four games because
you know, how much for example, how much worse can you be than
you know, UTEP or Jacksonville State. Like Conference USA is I think the
bottom of the barrel right now when it comes to football at the at the
you know, FBS level. So that's my stay away from that one.
But another team that that is UH, that has been bad for quite some
time. I don't have the expectation that they're going to be you know,
uh any better this year is New Mexico. So New Mexico another one of
these teams that is not expected to win a single game this year. Just
as far as the spread, uh, their win total is also set at
two and a half. I would actually take that because I think they're their
league is tougher and they're really really bad and I can't I don't have it
in front of me. But there, that's already one that I have bad
because they're they're their non conference schedule, They've got a couple of Patsy's,
which can there's. They're bad enough they could lose to some of those teams.
And I think the other they had a notable non conference opponent that I
feel like they're gonna get. They're gonna get hammered and again in conference play,
they're gonna be the worst team, uh in their league. And then
uh a school that you know, I can't tell you a whole lot about
their football program, but it's a school I think a lot of you've heard
of. That's Temple. So Temple is in the American still and that league
looks a lot different than it ones did. But Temple, their win total
is set at three, and they're they're also not expected to be favored.
So I took New Mexico. I may take Temple just because, again like
the Unders. But clearly there's a reason these teams have win totals set so
low. It is because they're supposed to really really suck, all right,
the other side of it here the uh let's see, let's see here.
Yeah, So these are teams that are favored in eleven games this year.
One of them is app State, So app State, they're in the Sun
Belt, and their win total is eight and a half. A nine win
app State team. I guess it's possible, considering the league they're in,
but I don't know if I can do. That's a lot of wins.
I probably would stay away from that one. Another team expected to be favored
in every game, but one is Boise, and Boise's win total in the
Mountain West is set at nine and a half. Ten win. Boise probably
gonna stay away. I mean, they it could happen, but you know,
that's that's a lot of wins. What about this one, John,
does this surprise you? Well, we got Iowa. Iowa's expected to be
favored in eleven games, this year, and again that probably won't end up
playing out, but that's how the formula has it here. And Iowa's win
total is set at seven and a half. Would that make you potentially take
the over? I'd hammer that over. I might even hammer that over.
Yeah, I mean, how did I mean? Iowa? And again I
don't have their records in front of me, but I feel like they've been
a consistent eight plus win team for the last ten years well, and I
think they've They've been made fun of so much in recent years because of how
dreadful they are on offense, but yet they still usually have a good record.
Yes, And when we looked at that breakdown a couple of weeks ago,
that showed sort of like are you doing more with less or less with
more? What really stood out to me is that for like the last ten
years, man, they're winning eight or or more, I mean, and
usually it's more than that. So this year they've got Illinois State and Iowa
State. That'll, yeah, that's their rival game, they play Troy,
and then of course all the other games on their schedule are conference opponents,
and they've got Minnesota, Ohio State, Washington, and Michigan State. Northwestern
Wisconsin, UCLA, Maryland, and Nebraska, So I could, I think
eight and four is probably most likely for this team, and that's why I'm
with you. I would hammer that one. So we've there's more of those
we can look at before we get to the to the to the start of
college football season. But if you are somebody that enjoys betting on some futures
win totals, that kind of stuff, again I trust, I trust the
formula of one bread of Brad Powers, So again, follow them on Twitter.
If you're not at Brad Powers seven all right, five o'clock hours next,
stick around right here on Sports Talk seven ninety