It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
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Now? Here's Nick Coffee? All right, welcome man, Happy Friday,
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Did I get it right? Correct? A subscript at the oh,
there we go the third? How about that? So we're gonna get yourself
for the weekend, try to uh, you know, get our week ended
the right way, which, of course again we'll send us into the weekend
the right way. And there's certainly a lot to get into Day two of
the NFL Draft. Obviously last night there's a lot to recap from that,
I think the rather obvious takeaways, you know, are rather obvious as many
quarterbacks that got taken the Michael Pennox pick. But you know, the last
few weeks and probably for the next month or so, we'll continue to track
the roster for Louisville basketball and I think for the Kentucky So I'm not really
sure what there is to track. I mean, they've got guys visiting,
but you know, sounds like the guys who don't pick Kentucky. I mean
they just, you know, they didn't want to be the twelfth man,
right like I mean, you know, I'll be really good players at all
these other schools wanted. But Mark Pope, you know, he only has
one player on his roster that has ever played a second of college basketball,
So you think that maybe he'd just be trying to kind of build some you
know, build some STU build, build a foundation. You get a foundation
set and then start building. But yeah, he's selling all these recruits that
they'll be eleven twelfth man, so they're just gonna go elsewhere, you know,
go back to BYU. So we'll continue to do that. But you
know, Friday, I want to mix it up, have some fun.
The last few days have really been just you know, laser focused on the
Louisville stuff for obvious reasons. There's a lot that's happened in the last week.
In fact, a lot that's happened, as I mentioned, in the
last few days. So no guest today, which means you guys will be
able to be a part of the show. And uh, I've said it
before, this time I really mean it. I usually mean it, but
again, forgive me for just getting off track in the last few days with
a lot of you know, a lot of things going on. But we
will let you be a part of the show. I mean it today.
Five O two five to seven seventy nine hundred is the number. If you
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N Federal Credit Union text line five two six five three zero seven ninety.
So, John, I want to tell you real quick about my day.
Okay. So got up this morning and took my daughter to school, which
I typically do. Then I dropped Moose off at daycare, and then I
made my way to the Louisville Zoo to be a part of my first field
trip as a parent. That's pretty awesome. Yeah, So my daughter's class,
and I think some of the classes from her elementary school had a zoo
field trip and it was it was kind of you know, it was awesome
by the way, but it was also one of those things that like,
you know, here I am on a field trip as as you know,
as I don't know if I was a chaperone. I mean, I didn't
sign anything. They probably they probably just let me tag along. They don't
want to make me responsible for anything, which makes total sense. But it
was awesome. I got to be around my daughter and her classmates for a
few hours and just kind of see them all enjoy everything that comes with the
zoo. We had lunch, they played on the playground. And for those
who don't know, my daughter is special needs. She's intellectually disabled, and
she has a class that she's in for the majority of her school day.
She does kind of have you know, a home room, but the majority
of her day is spent in a classroom with other kids with special needs.
And uh so it's been awesome overall. But you know, she never since
she's been in the school system, she's in second grade now, she's never
she's never changed like it's been the same the same crew of kids, if
you know what I mean. So you know, it's not like, you
know, each year we're having to learn about some new friends she's making.
And she always makes new friends, and there are some new kids every now
and then that kind of move into the district and end up at the school.
But it's such a great group of kids and parents and the three teachers
that that are a part of it. Uh. And we've always my wife
and I've always been super appreciative of her teacher Ms. Samantha James, who's
who's great, and everybody that works alongside her. And just for me to
be around it for you know, three hours rather than just dropping her off,
you know in the morning and whatnot. But uh, it was a
lot of fun and it made me feel kind of old. But it was
cool and the weather was great, and then you know, luckily the rain.
Did you hit rain on your way in the little the tail end of
my drive, we got some rain. Yeah, I didn't realize. I
guess it's just going to I think the rain stopped. It's going to be
cloudy the rest of the way. But earlier today it was a little a
little breezy early in the morning, and then by the time it got to
be I don't know, nine thirty ten o'clock, it was perfect weather out
there. And I went on a lot of field trips as a kid.
We never went to the zoo. Did you ever go to the zoo on
a field trip? I feel like I did, But if I did,
it was the early years, like kindergarten. Maybe did you where do you
think you guys went the most? So in elementary school. I lived in
Indiana, so it was a lot of places that people around, Yeah,
familiar, totally different type of stuff. The one thing I do remember,
though, is we went to the Falls of the Ohio. I was literally
to guess that I was getting ready to guess like that had to be the
ultimate go to because we went on some of those field trips there. Okay,
And maybe you know, maybe my memory, you know, thirty years
later is not it's it's you know, it's it's it's failing me. But
I feel like we went to a lot of the same places, like a
bunch of times my old Kentucky home in Barchtown, Bloomfield, I think is
where that's at. We went there quite a few times. In fact,
I think we were on a field trip there when one eleven happened, and
we were somewhere on a field trip, because I remember leaving and then coming
back. We left to go on this field trip, and at the time,
you know, he could tell the teachers were distracted and the TVs were
on, and it was a big deal. But you know, as a
young kid, I didn't really know exactly how big of a deal it was.
But then we end up, you know, getting on the bus going
to the field trip and coming back, and at that time, you know,
cell phones didn't really exist. That's how old I am. John.
Teachers didn't have cell phones whenever, you know, in two thousand and one,
and if they did, they weren't smartphones or anything like that. Like
you weren't checking for updates. Yeah, and maybe you were maybe playing Snake
on your phone or making a phone call. You probably even know what snake
is, do you? I think I know it? Is it that snake
dot io is what it's turned into? Is it similar to that? I
don't know. It was Snake. Snake, to my knowledge, was the
first game ever on any phone, and it wasn't much of a game,
but it was a big deal. Because you know, it was new.
So we came back and obviously you know a lot of every you know,
everybody that was on the field trip, students, teachers, chaperones, parents,
all that stuff. Like at that point you just get back into school
and go back to the TV. You realize, oh wow, like this
is you know, this is crazy. So we went there a lot.
We went to the Science Center, but not a ton, and we went
and saw plays occasionally, like at the at the Actors Theater. Yeah,
those were always those were always a big hit. And I think probably a
science center is probably where we went more than than anywhere. But field trips
were were always a lot of I mean like it was to me, it
was you know, I wasn't a great student, and maybe this is maybe
this is one of the reasons why field trips. I was never excited about
where we were going. I was excited not to be in school all day.
I mean, like we can agree on that, right, John,
Like that was a big part of it. So I forgot about this because
you know, some some kids that that that had their parents go with them
to the field trip today they ended up just leaving with them whenever. You
know, the field trip was wrapped up, not everybody, but some of
them. And then you know, I had to come to work. My
wife's at work, so my wife or my daughter went back to school,
and I forgot all about that. I remember the you know, just the
waste of time that you have when you get back to school after a field
trip. Sometimes it's like an hour maybe a little bit longer, and like
there's gonna be no productivity, nothing's gonna get done, Like you're not gonna
start the school day when with that much time left, and you just you're
just waiting for it, Dan, Like, what are we doing here?
Can we just go home now? Obviously my daughter's very young, so you
know, they'll they'll they'll keep them busy doing something, but it's probably more
playing than it is, you know, learning stuff. But there was some
nostalgia there today because despite it being a much different situation than you know,
what I than you know, when I would be a part of a field
trip thirty years ago, you know, the field trip vibes were there.
I guess that's the uh the best way to put it. And it was
a lot of fun and it was there were tons of uh tons of different
schools there, different classes from each school. I mean bus loads of kids
coming in. Uh, But I'll give the zoo credit. You know,
they you know, clearly they do this frequently, right, it's this one
in the first time. They just decided to have a day where they welcome
in a bunch of different schools, bringing hundreds of kids, seemingly, but
they had it organized, you know, they let you in school by school,
so we we had ourselves. We had ourselves a great day. But
again it's one of those days where I'm feeling, you know, on the
older side. Real quick, how long has it been since you've been to
the zoo? So I had not been to the zoo in a few years,
and then I went. Actually, gosh, we went the weekend,
the weekend that Pat Kelsey was hired. So we went for the first time
as a family in a long time. So we used to go all the
time with my daughter was really really little, like a baby. My wife
got the zoo the family Zoo pass. Oh yeah, remember, you know,
and you know, sometimes it's the last thing on the in the world
I wanted to do. But you know, we kind of had it.
You know, we were new parents, and she was so into it and
you know, I just you know, I'll tag along, but at times
it you know, it was the last place I wanted to be. And
because she bought the zoo pass and paid whatever she paid for it, like
if we didn't go every now and then, she'd feel like we were wasting
it. And then COVID happened and we didn't go back to the zoo,
And I mean, I mean I think when we went a few weeks ago,
it was first time we'd gone since pre COVID. So it is sad
though the did you know the elephants, sir, I was going to bring
that up, or they got rid of them? Yeah, I mean they
didn't like get rid of them. Sounds like they put them down, that's
what I mean. Yeah, but yeah, they're moving them. Yeah,
it's like a sanctuary, which is really sad because of the of the animals
that like just visually really just stand out to you, because of the massiveness
that you know, the like giraffes, elephants, the gorillas, and there's
one other one we saw today that was just like very you know, you've
seen one before, but like each time you see it for the first time
in a while, it's like Wow, that's that is a monstrous creature or
you beautiful animal. But the elephants were certainly that, right. I mean
they had, you know, probably the biggest space of any any of the
animals there, and they're no longer going to be there, and that's uh,
you know, that's sad. Did you have a favorite animal when you
went to the zoo? I don't know that I did. I always liked
elephants, like you mentioned, giraffes are pretty cool. I did, but
it was super boring. What wasn't the turtles, which I don't even think
they're there now. I think like they've they're either either they weren't cool enough
to get a spot or something similar to the elements where maybe like there,
I don't know, I don't think there. Maybe certain types of turtles have
become so rare that maybe they don't have them in zoos. But yeah,
shout out to Louisville Zoo. All right, let's uh, let's dive in,
shall we? I mean I want to We'll get into the to the
latest with the Louisville basketball roster, because honestly, things have kind of calmed
a little bit. There are some visitors set up for the next week or
so one that I know of this weekend, and you know, we'll get
into that. Some have already asked, Hey, is there going to be
a new wave of of guys that're in on and then you know, start
scheduling visits bringing them in, and then we kind of follow that same process,
right, you know Louisville and Pat Kelsey. You know, we talked
yesterday with with doctor Larry Ben's and I'd mentioned throughout our conversation we were just
chatting about Pat Kelsey and how how great of a job done so far at
you know, filling this roster. But one of the things that that was
mentioned about Pat whenever I was learning that he was in fact going to be
the coach was somebody told me that he's one of the most organized coaches they've
ever been around. And I I mean, I know what being organized means,
but in that role as a head coach, it can mean a lot
of things. And you know, I'm sure it does. I'm sure there's
layers to what that means in regards to what the person told me, but
I think they clearly have an organized plan as far as how they want,
how they're how they're going to go get players. I mean, clearly there
is an there is a process in place to truly identify is this somebody they're
going to fully pursue. And then from there, you know, I think
there's a lot of probably phone calls made, you know, some some selling
that's done that's not in person. And then what you do is you secure
a visit. And if you get him on a visit and uh, you
know, the vibes are good, right, you hear the visit went well,
and it doesn't appear that there's you know, one or maybe two schools
that have an advantage over you. I think at that point we sit and
wait to see if you get you get the you get the commitment, and
you know they've they've not gotten a couple of them. And I'm not going
to be the guy that claim that they didn't want Maddox, the Toledo transfer
who ended up at Xavier. I don't really. I mean, I'd be
a liar to say that. I that I thought they didn't want Nick Boyd,
who transferred from fau to San Diego State, but they brought him in
for a visit, and you know, they clearly wanted him, and they
didn't get him, So it happens, right, you're not gonna get everybody,
which you know Kentucky fans though, if they didn't get if somebody didn't
give me to Kentucky, it's clearly just because you know they're not good enough,
and you know they just said, you know it's what you know,
probably just didn't want to be tenth man on the bench. So they've not
gotten everybody, and they'll continue to probably go after some players and not get
him. And that's how this works. But so far, so good.
But again, who that whole process there, I mean, visit kind of
check and see if there's any initial reporting of a next visit for said recruit.
And I think after a visit, if two days go by and you
know the visit went well and you don't hear of any other visit scheduled,
it's not a full proof thing. It's not a guarantee. But I think
at that point you I think you're justified in kind of feeling okay, we
could get this commitment at any point. So again we'll get into all that
stuff. In fact, there's some big names that have already entered the portal
today from college basketball and Hunter Dickinson has decided to come back, which I
don't you know, not that I think we need to spend a ton of
time on that, but uh one, Kansas is going to be absolutely loaded
again because I don't think anybody's done better in the portal than them. And
they brought back Hunter Dickinson, who was a great player. But the way
in which Bill's self and Hunter Dickinson like announced that he was coming back might
have been the corniest thing I've ever seen, which you know, what happens,
But I think they believe that it was like a really cool like you
know, like it was you know, it was, it was funny and
it was lame. But anyways, we'll get intoll that. Let's talk about
the NFL Draft. So I was talking to my buddies yesterday about the draft,
and you know, I didn't say it first, but one of my
close friends said, Hey, is it just me or does this feel like
the the like the Lamish draft ever, Like there's not a lot of buzz,
there's not a lot of like, it just kind of feels flat.
There's not as much hype about it. You know, we all kind of
collectively agreed we didn't realize the draft was actually happening until like, you know,
two days prior, and then I realized we're all Louisville or Kentucky fans,
like my group of friends, and it could just be that we're so
preoccupied by seeing how Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey are putting things together that like,
that's why we just haven't paid as much attention. So I'm curious,
like, do you guys think that this was kind of just a not a
ho hum draft? And look, there's some really good players in this draft,
but it just, I don't know, the lead up to it just
kind of didn't seem to be what it used to be. But I'm willing
to believe that it may just be because we're kind of in our own bubble
here, because this is rare. This is not normal for both of these
basketball programs to be going through a coaching change at the same time and building
an entirely new team from scratch. So again, back to the draft,
no surprises, Kayleb Williams number one, and after Caleb Williams, Jane Daniels
number two, which one of the things that you know, Jadan Daniels was
sensational at LSU put up some big time numbers, I mean six, three,
two, ten. I mean some say he's got a lot of Patrick
Mahomes traits to him, which you know that I don't know if I necessarily
believe that, but hey, others that have more credentials to assess quarterback play
they believe it, so it's worth something. But this dude's been in college
forever, like this is let me see if I can pull up the there
was a play that somebody shared from when Jade Daniels was at Arizona State.
By the way, did you even know he went to Arizona State? John
First, I didn't. He transferred from Arizona State. And I'm pretty sure
like there's, yeah, there's a I'll find it later, but there's there's
a highlight that mentions like two different players from when he was at Arizona State
that had been in the league for like years now, and it just really
you know, and again, I don't think your age is as big of
a deal when you're a quarterback in the NFL, you know, compared to
when you're like a basketball player, Like if you're coming out of college and
you're twenty four, like the NBA already sees you as a senior citizen.
But you know, I'm not here to say that, you know, Jane
Daniels is going to be a bust, But to me, I just think
he fell right into what these NFL gms can't help themselves with is a quarterback
who has the ability to not only you know, showcase a big arm,
put up big numbers, but he's mobile, he's athletic. And these are
guys that, you know, ten years ago would never get a sniff,
right, if you weren't built like a refrigerator, quite literally, like a
Ben Roethlisberger or a Josh Allen, you weren't sniff in the NFL, right,
you had to have that prototype. And the game has changed. And
I'm not here to say that it was Lamar Jackson that changed it, but
you know, around the time that you know, you know, he's one
of those guys that got to the league. And honestly, Russell Wilson was
another guy too. I mean, I would not compare at all Russell Wilson
to Lamar Jackson, but Russell Wilson, you know, he was the third
round pick I think it was for the Seahawks, and he was not a
tip guy as far as his building how he played, but it worked and
he won. So Number three was Drake May and could have been JJ McCarthy,
but Drake May was the guy. And when I say could have been,
because there's a lot of folks that thought that the Patriots would take McCarthy.
You know, there's been plenty of guys who I thought would be total
bust, would be complete failures, and they were good. And the one
that stands to mind most recently for me is Josh Allen. I just didn't
understan mean, he had to build, but you know, his statistics at
Wyoming weren't even that good. And I just felt like it was nflgms looking
at a dude who was getting built like a refrigerator and they and they love
the thought of that, right, And he's been phenomenal in Buffalo. I
mean, he's not been the best guy in the league, but he's been
great. So then Marvin Harrison Junior, I knew he wasn't going to be
a cult but it did make me sad because I saw some of the graphics
and just some of the you know, just hearing them talk about it after
he got drafted. I'm a lifelong cult fan. When I fell in love
with the Indianapolis Colts. Was right around the time that did Marvin Harrison Senior
was drafted. You know, people think I became a Colts fan because Peyton
Manning. I became a became a Colts fan because, you know, my
dad decided he was a Colts fan. And at the time Peyton Manning wasn't
there. It was Edrin James and Harball. Harball was our quarterback when I
first went and saw the Colts play a game. So, you know,
Marvin Harrison whole career there, Hall of Famer, phenomenal, and I would
have just like, this is insane, but I'm just gonna say it because
I say some insane things sometimes, like if a guy's a first ballot Hall
of Famer who played his entire career, won a Super Bowl at one franchise,
If his son, especially one who has his same name, if he
is in the NFL draft, if he wants to go play for the team
his dad played for, they should let him. Is that crazy, John?
If he wanted to play for the Colts, the NFL should say,
well, we can't stop him because what his father gave to that organize.
Like, I just think that you know, selfishly thinking here, but like
that's not I mean, why not, right? I mean I wish,
I wish the Colts would make it happen with the I don't know. I
guess you can move your picks around Finnagel a little bit, but obviously it's
not important enough to him or else it would happened. Yeah, I would
have loved it. I would have loved have seen him as an Indianapolis Colt.
And look, I knew all along, like the way the way the
draft was set up with as far as where the Colts were picking, there
was no chance it was gonna happen. But I would have loved to have
seen them trade up and make a move. But you know, they didn't.
And I'm gonna always be a Colts fan because you know, there's been
times where I felt like, you know, the opportunity was there to bolt,
and I just couldn't do it, because it's just not natural to just
all this all of a sudden, stopped having the emotional attachment to a team
you've loved your whole life. But I have no faith in their future at
all. I mean I don't think Anthony Richardson, I mean Anthony Richardson.
You know, he started three games, never finished one because he got hurt
in all of them. Then he got injured, missed the whole year.
You know, maybe he ends up doing, you know, being something special.
But I you know, I just that that's who they picked as the
first rounder last year. And the guy they picked this year, who knows,
maybe is great, but like you know, I it's a guy they
probably could have got in the second round. I think so. Anyways,
nobody cares about my colts though. At number five was Joe Alt, the
tackle from Notre Dame Harball, making his first pick as an NFL coach with
the Chargers. And this may not have even have gotten as much attention as
is I think it did. But if you haven't seen the video where Joe
Alt is in the living room or wherever he was with a big group of
people, his family and friends, his sister was next to him, and
the look on her face whenever the camera pans to her was very very odd.
That's I'll just put it that way. You can go look at it
for yourself. Malik Neighbors with the Giants. Some think he may be the
best player in this draft. The receiver from LSU j C. Latham,
the ot from Alabama goes with the Titans. And then this is the pick
everybody is talking about. Michael PENNOCKX Junior John's favorite NFL quarterback as of today
because he's now in the league. Former Hoosier who went on to Washington became
a phenomenal player there, took them all the way to the National Championship Game.
He was drafted by the Falcons, and I mean, it's safe to
say that he's easily the most talked about selection from last night. And what's
happened here is it was for the first I don't know, it hadn't even
twenty four hours since the pick was made, but it went from a universally
criticized decision to where now nine out of ten people are still saying, man,
the Falcons a bunch of dumbasses making those picks, Like what are they
doing? And then the video of the of their GM talking to the owner.
You can't see what's being said, but it looks as if is it
Arthur what's the name of the I can't think of the name of the Falcons
owner. He's like the home depot guy. And anyways, he's in like
the war room as they call it, and you can see the GM and
him talking, and I'm sure this is not what it was, but somebody
like quoted it and said, this is when the GM had to just had
to explain to his boss why he picked a quarterback at the number eight pick
when they just signed a lucrative four year deal for Kirk Cousins. So again
it's gone from it's still being criticized, but I do see people now kind
of like it's it's this has happened before, where something just becomes the most
like bashed thing in sports, some will just naturally gravitate towards defending it,
just to kind of go against the grain. And I've heard some people say,
well, hey, no, this makes total sense because you know,
look at what happened with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. Jordan Love. He
sat there forever and then you know then he was a pretty good quarterback,
and you know he had Jordan Love really broke out this past year. So
I'm not ready to go there. But it's one of those picks that I
just think the optics make it look as if you don't know what the hell
you're doing. And Pennix junior. You know, clearly they like him a
lot, but they could They knew when they were they were, They knew
when they were going to be getting their they knew where they were picking when
they signed Kirk Cousins, right, And maybe he didn't want to. But
like I, if you're gonna draft a quarterback at number eight, wouldn't you
think that that's a guy that you know more often than not, it's going
to be your starter right away because you're that bad and you need a quarterback.
So I can't make a lot of sense of it, but that's where
he is. I don't know if I can be a Falcon fan either,
because he won't be playing. I don't feel like, yeah, I mean
eventually maybe, but this could maybe get Kirk Cousins to like request the trade,
that's true, I mean that could see that happening. I really could,
all right, a lot more to get into. We'll keep it rolling
along. I think it's more, you know, more bad news for Mark
Pope. But I'm convinced that no matter what happens, no matter how many
guys decide they're not going to come to play at Kentucky, for Mark Pope,
it's not bad news. I mean Kucky fans, there's we don't need
him like he was gonna be like he might have. We might have we
might have let him wear a uniform one one game. Other than that,
he'd being street clothes. Because you know, we got eighteen guys that are
super secret guys not even in the portal. Dudes who've already won Olympic gold
for the Team USA that are nobody knows about him. Yeah, but they're
entering the portal and they're coming here. All right, So some quick updates
here on the on the roster tracker situation is that is that? Is that
okay to use that for you know, the way to describe it. That's
the way it is. No. Yeah, I mean we're tracking the roster
here and that includes you know, guys visiting and guys that have visited portal,
that kind of stuff. So when I say roster tracker, I assume
people know what I mean. But there is one that we can, uh
we can pull off the board because uh, Humrikus Humberk House. Humberk House,
he has decided uh to h to commit to Illinois. So he did
visit Louisville this past week. Uh, he's somebody that I don't believe there
was a I mean, I could be wrong, trust me, and I'm
I'm there's no doubt I could have missed something. But I believe he's somebody
that everybody found out was visiting because he was here like that, you know,
he was pictured and I think maybe he put out a list of like
thirty schools when he first hit the portal. The Evansville transfer, but he
is committed to Illinois, so Bummer would have been a good fit as far
as just the way he plays, because clearly, I think right now,
if you look at the guys Pat Kelsey has added, versatility is without question,
uh, part of the plan here, right, I mean they still
need I think maybe, I mean, they need more interior players for sure,
and they've got a seven footer that is visiting this weekend. We'll talk
a little bit more about him later on in the show. But uh yeah,
uh hum, say it again, Humberous. He started his career in
NAI School, I believe, in Indiana, went to Evansville for a year,
and they were much better than they used in Evansville. At one point
was close to being the one of the doormats of the of the country.
Well it's probably an exaggeration, but I mean they were really really bad for
a long time, and uh, they were better this past year and only
and here I am saying they're better. They may have lost as many games,
but they covered a lot more. And I know that because I used
to bet on him a lot. I bet on him too. They helped
me get a lot, Yeah, because they I think that there are a
level in college basketball that you can if you if you, you know,
if you really want to invest and I don't mean money, I mean time
in watching and kind of studying a team like that. You can't take advantage
of lines that are set with people really not understanding that, yeah they're not
good, but they're not going to get beat by nineteen, you know what
I mean. So he was a part of that. He put up some
big numbers. A guy that's just a stretch forward that plays on the perimeter,
can you know, can help you space it out, can shoot it
and he'll be a good one in Illinois. But you know, I honestly
think that given what Louisvill's added everywhere else, I could see why this kid
would maybe want to, you know, probably fit a specific role they're looking
for at Illinois. All right, it is Coffee and Company. We are
feeled by Thornton's here on a Sports Talk seven ninety. We'll get back into
the NFL Draft stuff in just a moment, because I forgot to mention a
couple of things. The Buffalo Bills, I mean, the Bill's mafia.
I mean, they were on top of the world for a few years.
It felt as if any moment now they're going to get that Super Bowl.
They were building towards it, and I don't think the window is closed for
the Bills, but it kind of feels like if they were going to break
through, it would have happened in the last couple of years. And then
last night, I thought they looked completely foolish at the end of that first
round with them trading away and getting out of the first round with the two
teams in the last two picks picking receivers, when quite literally the Bills are
desperate for receivers right now. So there's some more takeaways. Say, we
got to talk about a guy who I believe is clearly the biggest clown among
NFL owners, who really showed his ash yesterday. So trust me, we'll
get back into the NFL, and we've got night too to night of the
draft, which is exciting. But let's talk about Kentucky because disclaimer, I'll
put this on the front of this comment here and I'll put it on the
end of it just to be clear. Kentucky's going to get players. Their
roster could end up being pretty good. But the inability to take the l
when you don't get a player is from the cal era and it's something you
haven't been able to shake off yet because you did not lose very many players
at all to other schools when Cali Perry was your coach. You didn't and
it gave you a sense of arrogance. Then honestly was justified. When it
comes to recruiting getting players, Kentucky and Cali Perry dominated, and yes they
lost players. It's not like they got everybody they wanted, but honestly,
they lost players to Duke. Like I'd say, the majority of the guys
Caliperi went all in on and did not get in the last I don't know
seven eight years were all guys that committed to go to Duke. The majority.
I mean, there's others right that have been it of elsewhere. But
that was something that I don't think you can just, you know, in
a month's time lose. And what I mean is the you know, the
the arrogance. But like Mark Hoe's not Cali Perry, and I think you
say, and I believe these Kentucky fans, I know a lot of them,
they know that they're not going to be recruiting in the same waters and
they're fine with that. I believe. I think it'll be weird if kl
just starts rolling in and he's let's say he's killed it next year and you
know, you have a roster of players that look as if they would have
never sniffed the floor for cal and Arkansas is better than Kentucky. Like,
that'll be a process, you know, and I think they'll lose their minds
like most passionate fan bases do. But I think overall it, you know,
Mark Pope is their guy, and you know they're gonna give him enough
time to see if it works out. It's not like, you know,
next year, if they're not great, then they're gonna they're gonna say he
needs to go. I mean, maybe some will, but that'll be the
extreme, you know, minority, not the majority, but Hope is gonna
lose players too, like he's going to get turned down. And it doesn't
mean he sucks as a coach, like this is the this is normal.
There are how many? I mean, look, Yukon Danny Hurley just won
back to back national championships. He's on top of the world. I don't
know if he's missed out on anybody yet right now, like since you know
he became this back to back national championship winner. But you think in the
last couple of years he hasn't lost players to other schools. He probably has
lost him to schools you would like, I bet I bet Seton Hall's got
a player or two over him, like it happens. But what was going
on in Kentucky was so rare. And it's because you know, as much
as it isn't fun to say cal Perry is the best recruiter that has ever
existed in college basketball. That mean he's best coach. We all know that.
But that's not something you just are gonna get over, like that is
what you were used to for fourteen years. And yeah, throughout those fourteen
years, some were great, some were good, some were not so good.
One or two were bad. But throughout all that, outside of the
wins and losses, when it comes to just recruiting and bringing in players,
he was dominant. And nobody's gonna do that, and I think, you
know, Mark Pope isn't. But like the inability to just accept that you
lost a player because he didn't want to go to Kentucky and play for Mark
Pope like that, Like, to me, that's fascinating and maybe it's just
to be expected because again what I just laid out like this is so different
than what they were used to for fourteen years. But Richie Saunders, who
hit the portal as soon as Mark Pope left scheduled to visit, showed up
in Lexington. That was the big you know, he's getting off the Mark
Pope showed up at the airport right Mark Pope's Wife's there to greet him.
Big deal. Like you know, he he seemed to be a shoe in
to go to Kentucky. Well last night it comes out that he decided to
stay at at Byu, which, by the way, if you follow those
who cover Byu Saunders, I think through you know, talking to one of
the reporters of the Beat writers whoever it was the nil situation at BYU in
Kentucky for him, was the same thing, so he stayed. Now,
if Mark Pope advised the Nile Collective for Kentucky not to spend more than this
because you know, he knows he's gonna need money for bigger, better place,
that makes total sense. That's totally fine. But those who look at
this situation as if yeah, I mean Pope probably told him, you know,
he'd be the tenth man, might give him a jersey, you know,
might let him get in the game at the end with the walk ons,
right they're up fifty, they may you know, hell, they may
let him do one of those contests you know during the TV timeouts right where
you shoot a layup, a free throw, a three pointer, and if
you make the half court shot you get a free car. No, not
for him, though he'd get playing time. Maybe they let him play for
a couple of minutes. Like that's just that is hilarious arrogance that I cannot
believe. Yeah, Mark Pope, he wanted to bring a productive player for
him, who averaged ten points in four rebounds per game as a sophomore in
the Big twelve, best league in the country. Shot fifty two percent from
the floor. But yeah, his coach brought into election in for an official
visit and picked him up at the airport to be a scrub when he only
has one player on his team with a single second of college basketball experience.
Yeah, that's what it is. Just makes it. Yeah, he's just
gonna stay back at yet and if he just you know, he was cute,
but you know, he's just I don't even know if they'd let me
be in the same gym with the players Mark Pope's bringing in the monstars from
Space Gym, they may not even let me around those guys. So to
say that Kentucky didn't want him as a lie and they know that. But
now what they've done, and this may be true, but like it's always
something well, you know, he's got a family, like he's you know,
he's grown, he's got a family and wife and you apparently his wife
was in on the visit and he wanted to come to Kentucky, but you
know, his wife didn't like Lexington, so you know he couldn't come.
Like it's it's it's the gymnastics mentally, to like tell to tell yourself that
like, well, no Biggie. I mean, we told that guy could
come here, but you know, only if he if he'd clean up the
arena after the games. Because he's a scrub. I mean, get over
yourself. You're gonna miss out on players. It happens, it's normal.
And then Corey Brea, who was the marksman from Dayton sharpshooter. He was
initially considering. We talked about him earlier this week, Kentucky, Duke,
Yukon, Carolina, and Kansas the elites right as far as brands, well,
he's only going to be visiting Duke and Yukon now he's no longer considering
the others. He's not visiting. He's down to Duke and Yukon. Those
he's only two visits. But I'm sure it's because you know, every elite
program in the country wanted him. He was going to visit, but he
already heard Mark Pope again. I mean, this guy can shoot so well,
they might actually let him. They might have had him in the three
deep, would be twelfth man. And then there's another guy, davey On
Smith from Utah, the transfer. I don't know specifics here, he's a
really good player. We talked about him yesterday. He's I think he's the
guy who had five triple doubles for Utah last year. He was going to
visit this weekend. Now he's not. I'll take you know, I've known
nothing about why he's not. Apparently there's something and like something with his situation
that makes it to where he can't, like he can't come to Kentucky.
And I'm not saying that that's untrue. I have no clue that could be
the case. But but you know, if it fits with the it's always
something right, because there's no way that there's no way that this guy just
there's no scenario he would just decide he didn't want to visit, right,
And look, maybe it is out of his control, but I'm convinced that
no matter what happens throughout this, you know, throughout this process with Kentucky
and Mark Poper trying to go get players, like, there's never going to
be a guy that doesn't go to Kentucky because can you know, because he
just didn't want to becau It's always going to be something else. And great
programs that have had a lot more success than Kentucky in the last you know,
seven eight years, they lose players often. I mean maybe that's a
stretch to say often, but like it happens, but they're not used to
it because they because they never did you really think about it, Kentucky was
Kyle did Who is the I mean the closest second would be Duke, right,
I mean Duke and Kansas. Yeah, I mean in terms of like
the elite of the elite freshmen. Yeah, but Kansas, yeah, I
guess Kansas. You know, Kansas is certainly up there, but the Kansas's
roster was always a little bit more fluid where they would bring in a great
crop of freshman every year, but probably not as many as as you know
Kentucky could, and they would always have guys coming back, right like they
So it's just different. But I just I think somebody and you produced KSR
earlier today, and I don't know, he might have been a caller who
said it, and I think, this is like, this is this is
this is normal, and this is fair, this is understandable. You're not
like worried, but you're not not worried. I think then somebody say that
earlier. And if you remember, there was a caller who said about the
roster they were talking about being worried and also like the uncertainty and nervousness that
comes along with this kind of stuff. Yeah, like that makes sense.
But I think at times, like when it's almost like whenever they lost,
when they lost Scott Drew and then it was like, all right, make
Dan Hurley say no, like that's actually a sign that you are you're worried.
So I think some of the deflection of like, well, you know
his wife didn't like it. Here, Oh, he'd have been the he'd
have been the he might have got in you know, he wouldn't be able
to go to road games. They make him drive the bus though, if
he did go to road games for the team, Like that's that's all like,
like that's that's that's a sign that you're nervous, and it's okay to
be nervous. This is new. We're all Nobody knows how good any of
these coaches are going to be. When I say any of these coaches,
I mean Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey. But I just find it, you
know, it's just interesting to me to see the inability to just acknowledge that,
you know, maybe Mark Pope wanted a guy and the guy didn't want
to come to Kentucky, all right, don't go anywhere. It's coffee and
company fee about Thorton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety Listen up, ladies
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Elin and Eland Eland dot com FABO two five twenty eight hundred. All right,
So real quick. Uh. The visitor that's that's unless something's changed,
that is gonna be on campus for uh for Louisville this weekend is the seven
footer who has a cool name. UH. And it is Keenan Fitzmorris.
I was about to say fitz Simmons, but Keenan fitz Morris is a stony
Brook grad transfer. And I believe he started his career at uh AT I
think it's it's Sandford maybe, but yeah, he's visiting. He's a seven
footer, you know, his his production. In fact, I'm sorry,
Stanford not Sanford. I don't know want I said Sandford, but yeah,
he started his career at Stanford, you know, on the West Coast,
and then at Stonybrook. This past year had you know, the best,
the best season of his of his career ten points, roughly eleven points,
ten point nine, four and a half boards, just over a block a
game. To me, this is somebody that that you know, you could
bring in that would give you some good depth. I'm not sure what other
visits he has scheduled, but he's seven foot, two hundred and fifty pounds,
an experienced guy. Uh And you know, right now, when it
comes to interior players, you have obviously James Scott, who followed Pat Kelsey
here, and then you've got Ali Khalifa, who again another big fellow.
But the belief is that he is going to red shirt, so you know,
this would be a really good addition, just so you have you know,
who knows, maybe this guy would be a you know, an integral
piece that plays a lot and has a big role. But to me,
he's somebody that that if you could land him, and I don't know if
they will, right, I don't know where they stand because I you know,
he's probably being prioritized by some other schools and I would get it right,
this is a guy who has one year left, he's not looking to
go and you know, wait over time to get a big role. So,
uh, there were a lot of schools I saw that he'd listed,
but as far as his visits, I'm not quite sure. But look,
there's no doubt right now when you look at the overall roster as it stands,
still plenty of spots you need to fill. But I'd say adding another
big is certainly you know key here. Now you also have two guys visiting
or one well one guy visiting, and that's a sort uh Osbor, I
think I say it every different every time I say it, Or is that
is that that's how it's tough to get so Osbor the big from Utah State
that's transferring, and he will be visiting Louisville next week after he visits Kentucky.
You knows, maybe maybe he pops for Mark Pope and doesn't end up
making the trip here, uh to to Louisville. But you know, that
would be a huge addition. It would be massive. I mean, if
you've added Chucky, Hepburn and and then along with all the other good pieces
that you've put in place here. I mean, and the reason I mentioned
Chucky and Osibor is because those are guys that are quite literally viewed as some
of the best players in the portal. Terrence Edwards Junior. You know,
it varies, man. I've seen some rankings that have him as like the
fiftieth best player. I've seen some that have him at like the top twenty.
So wishful thinking here, but if you could get Osibor, I mean,
at that point, like you feel pretty good about where you are,
and at that point, I think you really just kind of are adding some
depth. And that's where it's gonna get tough. As I've mentioned since Pat
Kelsey got the job, if it is a complete roster rebuild, you got
thirteen scholarships to give and nil will help in every way, but nobody wants
to come and be your depth. They want to come and be a part
of your team and know they're going to have a role, like a big
role. So but even right now, I mean I think they're a guy.
I mean, you're going to be super I mean two through four you
are in really good spot. And Chucky that's why he was such a big
get because one he's a point guard. They will run your team. He's
a leader, He's proven that in the Big Ten and he gives you.
I mean, having a point guard that can really set the tone for you
defensively is huge. So we'll talk a little more about Jaden Quainton's coming up
on the other side, because I do believe fans have at least started to
kind of wonder, you know, should we wait it out? I look,
I'll save my answer, but it's rather obvious what I think Pat Kelsey
should do at this point with Jaden Quaintan's and that is, you know,
wait it out right, don't pull yourself out of the out of the pursuit
because you feel like he's just chasing money. I mean, he may not
get what he thinks he's gonna get elsewhere, and if that ends up that
means he ends up at Louisville, then that's huge. All right, don't
go anywhere. Two hours left right here A Friday Edition Coffee and Company.
Phil but Thornton's on Sports Talk seven to ninety