It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think when we are
get off our show, idiot. The kids are playing or trail off their
countries are screwing it up. Gold Play inter murals, Brother, gold Play
inter murals. They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not.
Who's the kid here? Who's the kid here? Are you kidding me?
Now? Here's nick coffee? All right, let's get it started, folks,
ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages. Actually
it's weird to, you know, act like I'm talking to children, but
you know what I mean. It's I'm just giving you one of the many
corny, stereotypical opens that you hear for, you know, a talk radio
show. One thing I didn't mention is welcome to the program. That's kind
of growing on me. You've heard me mention that before, right John.
I always think it's weird to call a radio show a program, although I
guess it technically is. But anyhow, welcome in it is Coffee and Company.
That's the name of this program, and we are fueled by Thornton's here
on Sports Talk seven ninety Take us with you wherever you go. Listen live
on the iHeartRadio web Listen live at seven ninety Louisville dot com. Nick Coffee,
That is me the company man, mister John all On alongside today.
Do you notice anything different as far as when you when you view me here
in Studio B through the webcam, anything eating different that you notice? You
look like you've got a little bit of facial hair going on. I don't
know if that's what the observation I do you're looking for that it's I do
have a little bit of facial hair going on, but no, it's a
little bit lighter, like can you tell that it's brighter? And yes.
Second, so I don't know if this was Buck Sexton who came in here,
and he might have he might have slow played his sabotage right he you
know, he's waiting for a few days of me getting settled in to realize
what he might have done to the studio here that I use because all of
the lights are off and that's how I keep it. It's not like I'm
in pitch black. There's five TVs in here that are humongous that actually give
off a lot of light. And I actually have three monitors directly in front
of me that are large that give off a lot of light too, So
it's not as if I'm sitting here in a dark dark room. That would
be very weird. But this big it's like a I don't know what you'd
call it, but like this big thing that hovers over us. It's like
some real modern, expensive, I'm sure lighting for our studio, and I
always just turn it off and it's off right now, but there's one bulb.
I guess it's a bulb. It's it won't turn off. It's driving
me crazy. It's not usually on, so it's kind of distracting. But
also do you hear this somebody drilling? I hear that, Yeah, in
my studio. Yeah, that's got to be coming through the microphone. I
mean, probably not something that's going to be distracting. But you would think,
you know, in a radio studio that there'd be some you know,
there'd be some sound, some level of soundproof. But where's that coming from?
I think I feel like if I remember right when I there's they're working
on the stairs down unforceable. Oh okay, and I guess that would kind
of be like where we are, if that makes sense, maybe at the
top of where we're at. So anyways, I'll power through again. I
always tell anybody who asks, and trust me, not many people do.
But whenever I am asked about, man, how do you do on the
radio for three hours every day? And I always say, well, first
of all, you know, you got to learn how to feel time,
and then once you do that you get comfortable. Then you try to,
you know, figure out what you would want to talk about that people would
be interested in that kind of stuff. But just being comfortable, right,
if you're uncomfortable, rather it be temperature, you know, maybe you're I
don't know. I mean, everybody knows their own comfort level. And this
this light to my left that is never on, that is now just you
know, an outlier here. It's distracting. But again I'll power through because
we've got some things to discuss today. We have a great, Oh Sibor
update. And I'm not saying that the update's great. I'm saying his name
is great, so great, O Sibor. He's he's made three visits now
he's off to his fourth visit. And again We've got what I think is
at least somewhat of a notable update, and I'm willing to acknowledge that it's
it's probably that because there's been no update, right, It's not like I've
got any any clue which what decision this guy is gonna make. But there's
at least some level of noise out there about where things are trending. Which
you know, I've never felt as if Louisville was going I mean, I've
I think all these transfers, I've never really felt like, Okay, Louisville,
better get this guy. Because, honestly, Pat Kelsey, if he
misses out on dudes in the portal, I'm sure some would say, well,
hey, that's his job, he's got to go get players, and
it is. But you know, this is a little bit newer. This
is new to him, right, He's selling a program like Louisville for the
first time, which I think so far the results have shown that, Wow,
this guy, at least as of now, he's been on the job
for a couple of months, and it looks as if he is someone that
really could take off at a place like this, right, because he did
a really good job recruiting at a place like Charleston will Now you know,
he's in a different world with Louisville and within IL and that kind of stuff.
But if dudes just decide, you know, hey, I don't want
to go play for this first year coach who's coming from the CAA and they
won eight games last year. I think I'm gonna go in my final year
of college basketball, go play for a program that you know, has a
coach that's been there for five six years, that has been on a deep
tournament run in recent years. So you know, it's not that I'm saying
he could have lost out on every player and I would have said, you
know, it's not his fault, but that's just kind of how how I
have approached it. So with all that said, Osabor, he's somebody that
would be great, but I've never felt as if, like, man,
you better, you know, you better get it done. And he would
be a big time edition, no doubt. But there are more guys in
the portal we can discuss because it sounds as if they've got backup plans,
and actually it's probably not even fair to call them backup plans, because I
mean, I would say that even if you do getor you still need to
add some other some other players and they're going to So I'm gonna try my
best today to do something well, I'm gonna I'm gonna do something a little
bit different that I believe is the best way to discuss players that you know,
could potentially be playing for Louisville or even Kentucky, right because they're still
looking for players too, and there's some updates on that side. But I'm
gonna try my best to be informative but not get too deep into the weeds.
So that makes sense, John, because just you know, spending a
segment discussing names you've never heard of that more often, more likely than not,
will probably never play around like that. Just I can I can see
people changing the station. You can get lost in the weeds. Sometimes it's
hard to find your way out of. Yeah, well, especially just because
of the lack of transparency that is involved in all of this. I mean,
that's what's made it to me just almost you know, probably should admit
this, but there are times where I'll you know, finish up a segment
and I just talked about two transfers from schools you've never heard of, names
you've never heard of. And we go to break and I get up to
go to the bathroom. I'm like, who in the hell would listen to
that? And there are people that are obsessed with it, but that's a
smaller group than you know, the audience you can reach here at Sports Talk
seven ninety. So again I'm gonna try my best to balance it today and
not just you know, nerd out too much on it. All right,
So I gotta tell you, John, I did finish the roast of Tom
Rawdy your tweet. It was so good and now it has me wanting other
athletes to do the same thing, but I'm not sure they would. I
mean, it was, it was hilarious. But again, I'm just some
schmuck on my recliner watching at home in Kentucky, right Like, It's not
me up there for three hours getting completely just completely, I mean, I'm
trying to think of the right word. I was gonna say a word I'm
not allowed to say. But just getting made fun of by some of the
most famous human beings on planet Earth, like Kevin Hart and Bert Kreischner,
and I mean, and then Lindsay Glazer, who I gotta be honest,
I don't even know who that is, but she was the best. She
actually I thought had the best roast. So I mean there's a little bit
of like uncomfortable. It's an uncomfortable feeling watching it, at least it is
for me, and I talked about it yesterday, right, I like in
a way like it's funny, but I sometimes want to hit like that skip
button on your screen to like because I'm like, man, they might say
something like super mean and there might be like uncomfortable and awkward because you know,
I'm an awkward guy myself. But then it hit me as I watched
the entire thing. One thing Kevin Hart says because he's the host, but
he's so he's roasting like between sets and all that, Like he's I mean,
he was driving the ship and he did a great job doing it,
and I think he's funnier in that setting than he is and you know a
lot of things. But you know, he would say to the crowd and
to other people that were coming up to roast Tom Brady not they weren't all
famous comedian. I mean, there were some teammates of his that were a
part of it, and like Gronk I mean, Gronk did what you would
think Gronk would do, just be Gronk and you know, be kind of
you know, the meathead dude. But then like Randy Moss, like he's
never tried to be funny, I don't think. Well, he tried and
you know, didn't really work out. So what Kevin Hart kept saying was
like, you know, you need to get comfortable being uncomfortable, because that's
what this is. So I guess in general that's that's what a roast is.
So if some of these athletes like knew that going in, then I
think they would, you know, they'd be open to it. And there
are some who I can see like, yeah, they probably have the thick
skin. But even even though like Ben Affleck, he came out and he
wasn't funny, but he's not really a comedian and he's just a huge Boston
fan and friend of Tom Brady and he's an actor and he really didn't feel
like part of his you know bit. He just went out of his way
to look at Tom Brady who's sitting up there on the stage and say,
who would agree to do this? And I'm sure he made a ton of
money. In fact, This is something and they apparently worked on for years.
But you know, like they've already got a list out here. This
is from Sports Betting dot ag This these are the the next athlete roast on
net because but it's a Netflix production and apparently they want Netflix wants to continue
to implement live you know, live like a shows I think they've done.
I think I don't know if they've ever done a live sporting event or not,
but you know, they want to dip into doing some live stuff rather
than just having streaming stuff that's on demand. And I think they want to
continue to do this whenever they can get an athlete that would agree to it.
I'm not sure anything is going to top what happened last night or on
Sunday night, I should say, But like, I could totally see Charles
Barkley doing it, couldn't you Like he could take the joke, he would
rib people back, Yeah, and it would Yeah, it would be funny.
I can't see Lebron James doing it because I don't think Lebron James has
any level of self awareness. I'm serio, I don't think he has.
Like I've always respected Lebron as a great player. But I also know why
people like oftentimes say come on, Lebron, come on, like because he's
very Lebron right and he's very political too. Yeah, so I mean not
that they're gonna make political jokes about him, but like somebody might say something
offensive about him and he takes it the wrong way, and then that becomes
an issue. I think he's probably not that political. I think he is
when it's convenient for him to like take a stand, to be the you
know, to be like, I don't you know that makes sense? Like
I don't even I don't think he really even believes a lot of the things
he does say at times when he shares it politically. But that's just my
opinion. But to me, he's someone that like he would he'd be sensitive
to it and he'd be offended. And I mean maybe I'm wrong, but
like he'd all here's what he would also do. Lebron James would be the
guy that would want everybody who was going to be a part of roasting him.
He would have to know and approve every word they say, Yeah,
I'm not kidding, that true. That is exactly what he would do.
He'd hand pick everybody and comes on and says something, and look, he's
a great player, one of one of the most talented athletes of all time.
And you know, I love being able to say that. I've watched
his career from start to finish. Whenever it is over, and you know
who go done as a great but he's he's somebody that I think, to
me, he's the first first athlete that really hit the mainstream at a young
age whenever like the Internet was taken off, like Lebron James was a superstar
as a young teenager, like fifteen years old. And I'm not talking about
how he ended up number one in the country, you know, on rivals.
I'm talking about like he was a superstar, like he was talked about
on ESPN and Sports Center. And I think because he was a larger than
life celebrity at such a young age, I just have you know, And
I've tried my because I want to like Lebron at times, but it's hard
to because he's, you know, Lebron. And when I say he's being
Lebron, like, he's like, you all know what I'm talking about,
like whining and crying and saying things that are justus not saying, like offensive
things, but just saying things that ridiculous, like in a press conference.
And it's because he has no self awareness. And that's why I believe that,
you know, this is what I've tried to tell myself, you know,
is why he's he's like this is because he was a larger than live
celebrity superstar at such a young age that he's never had to really you know,
he's never had any normal Like lie, he never had anything normal.
Right, He's been he's mean as a young kid, but you know,
since he's probably been twelve thirteen years old, he's he's had you know,
not to say he didn't work hard, I'm just saying he's he's he has
no self awareness, and it would be it would be if Netflix was smart,
they would not want to do it because they wouldn't they would know we
can't make this funny because he would have to be very much editing all of
it and it would be lame. So I think Barkley would be great.
I think Shaq would be really good too. But I could see Shaq getting
I don't want to say defensive, but you know when he yells back and
forth with Barkley, which now they've just become like they just kind of laugh
and make jokes to Yeah, but there was a while whenever inside the NBA
on TNT, you were really starting to get that chuck in Shack like they
were I don't want to say they were butting heads, but there was a
there was a different dynamic there to where they'd be yelling and cracking jokes and
Kenny would be laughing. Ernie would be kind of you know, trying to
be the you know, mediator, and we'd be laughing. But every now
and then you'd realize, okay, wait a second, Shack's kind of serious
here, Like he really is just bagging on Charles Barkley for not getting a
ring and being a bump, and you know that's actually maybe, you know,
maybe he'd be good at that because of the roast aspect of it.
But yeah, the other the celebrity slash athletes that have the best odds here
to be the next, you know, athlete that gets roasted on Netflix.
According to this, it's Lebron number one, but again, I don't think
that would work. Barkley number two, and Shaquille O'Neil number three, the
Rock number four, Does that count? Like he's that would be lame.
Thank you. Yeah, and I like The Rock. You think he's a
better actor than I would have ever imagined. But yeah, he to me,
he's not in any way, He's not anyways funner and just fake laugh
at everything that people are saying about him. Well, And there were many
jokes made about Kevin Hart during the Tom Brady roast from a variety of comedian
comedians who made references to like The Rock and Kevin Hart, Like, you
know, they wake up every day and do awful movies together. They have
such a close friendship, Like it's you know, they just just bagging on
him. And I could listen to those two make fun of each other all
day. Like there's videos from social media that have surfaced when they're on set
of a movie and you know they're just you know, going back and forth
giving each other the business. But yeah, I'm with you. I think
to me, The Rock would be it would be yeah, it would it
would It would be awkward more so than And I think that's what made Brady
so funny is because you know, you could tell he was you know,
he was just sitting there taking it. He'd get a little bit uncomfortable at
times. And you know, kind of blush, but like he's also an
easy guy to make fun of. Hearing his teammates, like, they're not
comedians, so they're not like they're not delivering these phenomenal sets that you know,
there's some people that were on there that I mean, I'd never even
heard of, but they were. I mean, it was some of the
funniest things I've ever heard. But like the athletes, it wasn't the same
level of funny as far as like the comedic value because they're not stand up
comedians, but like they know how to make fun of Tom Brady better than
anybody because they know him better than anybody, right, They've been in a
locker room with him, you know him personally, And I just thought that
was I thought that was really well done. Travis Kelcey, I don't think
I want that, but I could see it potentially being good. They mentioned
Mahomes. Peyton Manning is listed as well here, and that could work maybe.
But Peyton Manning was also on the roast last night, and he was
really good at making fun of Tom Brady and you know, kind of acknowledging
their rivalry. So I would I'd recommend watching it if you're somebody who enjoys
any level of stand up comedy, because you get good doses of like everybody
there. Like, there's a guy who I think he became a famous comedian
because he was podcasting, Andrew Schultz. You know who that is? Google
his name. I guarantee you recognize him because if you're on Instagram, TikTok,
I mean, his like clips from his podcast are always all over social
media. I've seen him, yes, so he he was. He was
really really good on there, and you know, he's really funny. So
again, Tom Brady to me has always been somebody that if you're not a
Patriots fan, you kind of love to hate him and make fun of him.
And that's what everybody did for three hours. So I would recommend watching
it. It is a commitment, that's I mean, it's three hours long.
But it has me curious to see if we get if we get more
of these in anytime soon, in which in which athletes you know, would
be willing to do it. But to be fair, like Brady, I
mean, he's he's the goat. He's the best quarterback of all time.
And you know, I don't know if there's another athlete that would really bring
out the celebrities to be a part of it. Quite like I right down
the line and Patrick Mahomes could be a good one. Yeah, But I
just I just don't know enough about his personality, Like I don't know enough
about like if he's just a because I think he's kind of a boring dude,
which isn't an insult. I mean, it's just I don't, you
know, I don't think he's you know, he's not. He's pretty low
key, to be honest with you. He's been with his same girl since
high school and you know, you never see him out, you know.
I mean, he's not a big like Papa Rozzi kind of guy. Which
again, like that I mean that that's a good thing to be honest with
you, not that they're they're to be anything wrong with you know him,
want to be somebody that's out taking advantage of being super famous and super successful.
But I don't really know if there'd be a whole lot of ammunition there,
right, Like you could make fun of you know him sounding like Kermit
the Frog. You can make fun of him, you know, putting you
know, ketchup on steak, which became a big deal. I think was
in his first Super Bowl. You could certainly make fun of his brother,
but that's one of those things like that may be off limits, you know
what I mean, Like he's brother would be absolutely torched if Patrick Mahomes got
roasted. But I'm telling you, like that's a you know, even though
he kind of knows his brother brings it on himself and like is a royal
douchebag. I mean, it's still your brother, and you'd probably be uncomfortable
making jokes about it, so or make other people make any you know,
you may think it's funny, but you know what, your mom wouldn't.
You wouldn't want to make your mom mad at your roast. So I really
enjoyed it, But there are I mean, I'm not a prude, but
I'm also you know, I'm aware of things that wouldn't necessarily bother me,
but I know they potentially bother other people. So like go in knowing that,
like it's gonna be pretty it's raunchy. And I hate even bringing up
the whole cancel culture stuff because I just I cringe hearing people say he's gonna
get canceled. It's the cancel I just I don't know, I hate it,
but the level of what was said on there by certain people, it
did take me back to a time where I forgot existed where you could say
some of the most I mean just and again, I'm not even I don't
even want to dress it up and and assess if it's over the line,
because everybody has their own view of that, and I don't want to be
controversial. But they made there were a lot of jokes about Aaron Hernandez that
you could feel in that room with certain people, it just became uncomfortable.
And his wife's already come out saying how disgusted she was that people were making
jokes about Aaron Hernandez, Brady's wife. She's also complaining about how much she
was brought up during the roast that you know, she had an affair and
was and I didn't even know that. I mean, i mean, there's
nothing that I'm less interested in in, like clicking on, than you know,
celebrity gossip stuff. So I'm pretty sure I've never even like clicked on
anything that was about Giselle and Brady. But apparently it was a really public
divorce and she was, I mean, she was hooking up with a with
a jiu jitsu guy, like, did you know any of that? John?
No? No. I was apparently some just some some trainer that was
given like I guess her kids and him or and maybe Giselle like corning lessons
or something. And there was a lot of jokes made about that, which
tells me that, like that's real. I mean, so anyways, I
think it was awesome, but again, just be you know, maybe don't
watch it like with your parents or something, because maybe they you know,
maybe they'll be really just you know, like put it this way. I
think my mom would crack up at certain things. But I know my mom
would also be want to just walk out of the room because she's you know,
she's not that's you know, she's she's my mother, And even if
she did enjoy that kind of comedy, I wouldn't want to know about it
because she's my mom and she's she's perfect, and she's you know, she's
the best. All right, let's uh, let's do this. Let me
set the table for you guys really quickly here before we get to a break,
because we do have some early I guess they're considered post spring college football
rankings for the upcoming season. Louisville did crack a couple of those lists,
so we can certainly discuss that, and also some numbers, and I dont
want to nerd out too much on you know, just nothing but numbers,
but we really it's actually some good stuff on both college football and college basketball.
On the football side is really good breakdown from twenty four to seven sports
that kind of tells you what the portal and what NIL is doing to the
landscape of coaching right as far as which you know, certain coaches are not
even interested in being head coaches at the college level anymore because of you know,
how much things have changed. And then on the basketball side, the
portal, I mean, the amount of guys who have hit the portal that
have not committed. The vast majority of those guys are guys that probably aren't
getting many phone calls because they're transferring because they were on a mid level or
a low level team and they didn't play much. So you know, at
some point like NIL is going to get worked out in some way. In
fact, that's something we can also discuss because we least now know I guess
the proposed you know, the proposed there's still some specifics, but as far
as how they're going to go about pay and the schools are going to go
about paying college athletes, we'd have a better idea as far as you know
which direction they're heading with that, and we can we can get into it.
But with the portal, you know, if they just make it to
where you can always leave at any time, Like I'm curious, you know
these guys having the ability to do that. I can't say that that's wrong
because I mean, as an eighteen year old, if you want to play
for four different schools in your four year experience as a college player, like
you should be able to do that if somebody will take you. But I
was always under the impression that as soon as this started or you could transfer,
there would be there'd be those that learned the hard way that ended up
actually changing this, not not completely ending it, but slowing it down right,
Like countless players who thought the grass was greener on the other side,
thought that leaving was going to lead to them having a breakout season elsewhere,
But in the end, they just left because they didn't like where they were
on the depth chart and they didn't work hard enough. That kind of stuff,
and you know there, I thought there'd be enough examples of guys that
just you know, left because they could, but in reality, they should
have stayed and they probably would have gotten better and it would have been beneficial
for everybody involved. But maybe we're a little too early into the portal era
to where we haven't seen enough of that happen yet, because I mean,
the amount of guys who just leave because they can is crazy. But again,
i'd i'd be a liar if I said I feel like that they shouldn't
be allowed to. It's a different story if they become paid employees at these
schools and they signed contracts, because that's a different ballgame, and that's honestly
probably what's gonna end up happening. All right, Look, if you guys
want to be a part of the show today, you can. You can
give us a call. Five oh two five seven seventy nine hundred is the
number if you want to call in. You can also text in on the
L and N Federal Credit Union tex line five oh two six five to three
zero seven ninety quick break. Also, something else we want to get to
that I haven't mentioned yet is the they're the number two player in Steady Kentucky.
Trent Noah has been given his release from South Carolina and he will have
a lot of options. And I'd say this could be I don't know if
Louisville's gonna get involved here. Wouldn't be shocked if they do. But you
know, could this be a pope burst Kelsey? Could? I mean,
because they haven't gonehead to head for a player, have they? I mean,
I don't think they have, at least not that I'm aware of.
Was Ali Khalifa one? Is that count? Uh? Maybe? Maybe?
So? If that's so. If that's the case, then you know,
Kelsey's already he's want to know, all right, hangout, don't go anywhere,
keep it locked right here. On Sports Talk seven ninety so, somebody
on the text line reminded me of something that I completely forgot about with Lebron
James. So if you are just now joining us, we were discussing which
athletes would be the best candidates to be roasted, like Tom Brady was,
which again I thought it was phenomenal, And we were talking about Lebron James
because the that I referenced has him as the the athlete with the best odds
to be next and I just think he would be lame, and I don't
think he would. It would be so doctored and it would just be lame.
He would want to know everything that everybody is going to say about him
so he can decide if it's if it's you know, if it's approved or
not. But somebody had the text on reminded me of something Lebron did long
long ago that I'd be willing to bet John didn't know about this because it's
that long ago. This was like it's probably twelve thirteen, maybe longer than
that years ago, during a summer workout. I don't even know where they
were, but a summer like pickup game. Jordan Crawford former former played at
Xavier. In fact, played for coach Mackett Xavier. I believe at the
end of his career, I think he started Indiana. Maybe he did.
Yeah, he's the guy who was part of that. I mean he was.
He was part of a Kelvin team's right, him and DJ White.
But Jordan Crawford really good player, had had a decent little run in the
in the NBA with the Hawks, the Wizards, the Celtics, and he's
actually now still playing professionally, but he apparently dunked on Lebron James in a
pickup game, like in a way Lebron's never been dunked on before, and
somebody there was videoing it. It might have been like one of those gosh,
is this is balls Life still around on? You know again, I'm
these are things that I would totally understand if you don't know what it is,
because, yeah, Ballislife dot Com the website, it looks like it's
still got some fresh content here, but it used to be the authority on
like video footage of recruits. Like if you had a ball As Life mixtape,
like you know, and this was when you couldn't upload video files to
Twitter like it would. You'd have to go to YouTube and whatnot, or
you'd have to embed it on your on your web page, and like you
know, John Wall apparently, you know, if I remember correctly, had
like one of the most notable mixtapes ever from ball As Life. Well,
I think it was one of their guy way somebody who worked for them was
they're filming it at this pickup game and Lebron's people, I don't know who
that is, like his agent or security, but they made him. They
would not let this guy leave the gym until they until he deleted the file
from from the camera, because Lebron was so worried about people seeing him getting
dunked on, and he blamed it somehow got blamed to like, no,
it was Nike that didn't want it out there because you know, they have
so much invested in Lebron and Lebron getting dunked on by a guy who I
think at the time might have been I mean, I think he was fresh
out of college or something like that. But like that, that's Lebron.
When I say, like Lebron is so Lebron, Like that is the kind
of stuff I'm talking about. I'm sure you've never heard of that. I
just saw the video. I looked it up as you were talking about it.
It probably looks very grainy, right it does. Yeah, so it
eventually it eventually surfaced, but for a while it didn't because that mean they
were you know, it was they were bullying this guy and he was like
a guy younger than me at the time, and I remember he would come
every year to the Dirt to the Kentucky Derby Festival Classic, the event that
was here forever. That at one point was kind of like, you know,
the slightly lower level McDonald's All American game, and you know, he
become in film and he was telling me the story about it, and sure
enough it was all I think it might even might even have been on.
I think it might have been TMZ who actually got the video, because you
know, at that time, not everybody was getting out their phone and videoing
everything. This guy actually videoed it on like a real camera. So anyhow,
all right, So some news to share with you guys that I'm sure
Kentucky fans are, you know, somewhat interested in. I'd say Louisville fans
probably not as much, but maybe we should be. So Trenton Noah.
He is the number two player in the state of Kentucky according to twenty four
to seven Sports. He was let out of his letter of intent from by
South Carolina today. I gotta be honest, I didn't even know that he
was trying to get let out of his letter. But he's a six to
six guard who played at Harlan County and I think he put up like forty
six points in the state tournament. And you know, I'm not here to
tell you this guy is going to be a Reach Shepherd or anything like that.
But I watched him play when he was a sophomore, and he was
really really good then, and apparently he's only gotten better. He's the guy
that people who do get a chance to go see him after hearing about,
Wow, this kid out in eastern Kentucky again, and this is just what
it's you know, not that I'm out in eastern Kentucky a lot, but
this is what I feel like nearly everybody I heard. And it's not as
if again I'm acting like there's an army of people that are coming up to
me to talk about Tritt noah No. But those who had heard about him
that then watched him play, especially those who saw him in the state tournament,
he was actually the King of the Bluegrass as well. The Louisville event
here at Fardell High School, they all said, well, you know,
I don't think he's going to be as good as Read Shepherd, but man,
he's really good. Because there was this belief that most kids, white
kids out in the state of Kentucky that if they, you know, had
got a three star and had some decent offers, then you know, they
could be a cute little player somewhere, and I remember telling people for years
that is not Reach Shepard. Reached Shepherd is an elite talent, and that
was evident, and he's going to be probably a top five pick in the
NBA Draft. I don't think this guy or Travis Perry is that. But
I think Trent Noah would be a good college player for Louisville, Kentucky and
just about anybody. I mean, I think he's that talented six' six
big guard can shoot it. I mean, he's been a star since you
know, since he's been I think an eighth grader. I think he's top
five all time in the state of Kentucky and in scoring. And this could
make a little sense because the right up I saw earlier it might have been
from Adam Finkelstein or one of the other guys who writes who covers you know,
high school recruiting for twenty four to seven Sports. You know, he
already he committed to South Carolina relatively early in the recruiting process, but it
sounds like after that he got really better, like he made a big jump.
And again now he is a twenty four to seven Sports four star.
You know, he's around the top one hundred, which you know, that's
probably not something that Kentucky fans ever have thought they'd be excited about, because
you know, when they were when when Cal was their coach, it was
a different world. But now things have changed, and you know, I
mean honestly, even though nobody would would be wise to try to put anybody,
I mean reed Shepherd could eventually be one of the best players that comes
out of state of Kentucky. I mean, I believe that. It's like
saying, you know, Reid has now made people think that there's going to
be a bunch of dudes like that. I don't think anybody should and will
like put anybody to that standard. But you know, give you give you
a name that a lot of you guys probably aren't even that familiar with,
Braxton Beverly. That's a guy who I believe played his high his high school
ball, I don't know. It's in eastern Kentucky. I don't remember exactly
which school, Perry County Central, and he was, you know, he
had offers from n C State, Ohio State, ended up going to hard
Grave for a year and he ended up I think finishing his career. But
like He's somebody that I think he was never going to be the best player
on your team, but like he could play at this level, and there's
guys like that. I think Trent Noah is that guy. And it sounds
as if his decision to be let out of his letter of intent at South
Carolina's because he wants to stay closer to home. And I would imagine,
like this just means he's going to go to Kentucky, But I don't know
that. I mean, I'm just gonna make that assumption, and maybe that's
not a fair assumption, but I will say this, at one point,
this kid wanted to be recruited by Louisville. Now, I mean I think
that was when Ky I mean I think that was clearly was when Kenny was
here. And I don't think that means like he for sure would have come
to Louisville if they offered him, But when he was playing at Fardale at
the King of the Bluegrass. He is someone and I think it was that
event. But this is somebody that like he knew Louisville probably could use some
players, like his family did, and you know, he wanted them to
have interest because I think you know, and it's probably just more than anything
that he would want to stay closer to home. But I expect Kentucky,
you know, and Mark Pope to you know, to make this happen because
if you grow I mean, let me ask you this, John, Wouldn't
it be an insanely rare situation here If this young man grew up in Harlan,
Kentucky, born and raised in that area of Kentucky, and he's not
a diehard Kentucky fan, Yeah, that would be out of the blue.
Like that would be that would be very unusual, Like there'd have to be
some kind of connection like maybe his dad played at Tennessee or something like.
It would just be very very rare. But when you are I mean,
I think there's plenty of guys who grew up fans of certain teams, but
then when they become you know, recruits to where they're being pursued by a
lot of coaches, you kind of, you know, not that you lose
your fan hood, but you know, you start thinking about yourself rather than
your team because you're going to be, you know, you're you're going to
be in that world of college basketball. So Matt Jones out, you know,
if there's anybody that may have, you know, the ability to check
the pulse of eastern Kentucky, it's probably Matt And he said earlier today that
he expects Kentucky, Tennessee, and Louisville to be involved. So I would
expect it to be Kentucky, but you never know. And he's good too,
by the way, I know Louisville's not right now currently looking to add
guards. But this is an incoming freshman and you still have scholarships to give,
so you know, we'll see. But I also wouldn't put it past
this kid to you know, announce he's going to Kentucky tonight. But you
never know. When guys become available this late. There's always schools that end
up having a scholarship or two that they didn't expect to have, and they'll
they'll make a strong push for somebody to finalize their roster. And you know,
I would I think I read it earlier today that you know, those
who cover recruiting think that he was one of the most improved players during his
senior year, and again at the time, he'd already committed to South Carolina.
That's an SEC school, all right, Let's see here some news to
get to before we get to our next break. Sticking with the Kentucky side
of things, Gavin Wimsatt has committed to Kentucky. He's a quarterback transfer man.
I forgot about that name. He was the Owensboro guy, that's right,
I forgot all about him. He went to Rutgers and did he play
much there? I don't. He may have filled in after an injury,
but he was never the main starter from what I remember. Yeah, he
enrolled early, and I remember there were I mean, there was a story
done by someone here in the state. It might have been one of the
newspapers, might have been the Herald Leader. I'm not sure. But at
the time he committed to Rutgers, Kentucky wanted him, right. He was
a he was a four star kid. I think Louisville, I mean Sadderfield
was recruiting him as well, and he ended up going to Rutgers, and
like, there was a story done about how much backlash he was getting from
like people in his community from not picking Kentucky. Well, now here he
is, you know, four years later, seemingly and he's he's going to
be playing for Kentucky. So yeah, it looks like he. Yeah,
his number, I would say in this past year would have been the year
where he probably played the most. But it doesn't look as if isn't.
Yeah, it doesn't look like his Yeah, I guess he was their starter,
you know, all year. It looks like but I don't know,
like if you like, the last game they played was in they play the
Ruggers in Miami, played in the Bowl game, which I forgot that that
game even happened. But yeah, he completed seven of fifteen passes. I'm
not I guess in a Greg Chiano program, I would say that, you
know, those can be you know, seven of fifteen could be. You
know, it seems to me like a light day of work. But then
again, like maybe they didn't rely on him to uh to throw the ball
very much. But last season he threw for seventeen hundred yards, nine touchdowns
and eight interceptions. So you know, I guess that gives Kentucky a little
bit of depth at quarterback, which I suppose was needed. They brought in
Vander Griff Is that how you say it? I think it is Georgia from
Georgia, which you know, he may be great. You just never know
because he's not. He doesn't get a chance. He didn't get a chance
to play much at Georgia because you know, they already had their quarterback situation
taken care of. So maybe he's great, but you know, if not,
I guess Gavin Wimsatt will be the guy. I could be wrong,
but I feel like they kind of got gutted by the portal at quarterback,
which most programs do, honestly, just because you know you could. Rarely
does a program want to play more than one quarterback. And you know,
in fact, there was a kid yesterday. I'm not sure if anybody saw
this, there was a kid yesterday that had offers from some SEC in Big
ten schools but committed to Toledo. And the article I read reference that you
know, there wasn't anil situation that made it attractive. But you know,
he wants to go in and play right away. He doesn't want to sit
behind three guys when he's a freshman and then know that no matter what happens,
they're going to bring in transfers. And like it's just such a cutthroat
competitive spot. Now. I think if you're good enough, you'd compete,
And you know, feel like you'd win. But that's why, I mean,
there's no doubt the quarterbacks in college football are going to be the ones
who are, you know, in and out of programs NonStop. Well,
that's why I blew my mind last year the amount of quarterbacks Louisville had on
their roster. Did they get gutted this? And it's and it's crazy,
John, because I thought they'd lose two after spring just because there's only gonna
be one guy that starts right, because that's how it works. But all
of them have stuck around. And how many are on the depth chart like
five or six? Gosh, they lost two to graduation Evan Conley, and
then the other was brocked Omen and then everybody else is still around. I
mean they've got the kid from Purdue, Brady Allen. Yeah, Brady Allen
is still there. Uh, the guy who transferred from Tennessee by way of
UNLV or maybe the other way around, Harrison Bailey, he's still there.
Pierce Clarkson's their backup right now. And then they've they added another freshman I
believe this this year. And then there's a couple of walk on So I
mean they played ten quarterbacks in one game last year against Murray State, which
is insane that anybody would even have have ten quarterbacks on their team. But
yeah, I mean, look if it was if it was me, I
would totally want to transfer if I'm like fifth on the depth chart and I
was a four star quarterback you know, two years ago, like Brady Allen.
But maybe they just I don't know. I mean, I'm glad that,
you know, these guys want to stick around because it means you can
get down to maybe your third string and still feel like maybe you've got someone
that can move the ball down the field for you. But it is puzzling,
isn't it, Because again, like nobody's everywhere else is having an issue.
You're like, if you're only gonna play if like the first three guys
get hurt, if you're four string, you know, I just to me,
maybe one of those things. And I don't know all of Louisville's like
quarterbacks and their their classes, like when they're going to graduate, that kind
of thing. But if they can see maybe a year or two down,
like all these guys are going to be gone and then I'll be the man.
Maybe that's what these guys see could be such of the younger players.
But that that's where it's just become harder to do because if you've been sitting
there with no experience, but you're getting better, and then there's an elite
quarterback in the portal that's played three coach is going to go after that guy.
We're still gonna have to compete against whoever he brings. And that's why
I really I was happy to see the way Piers Clarkson handled it because you
know, five ten years ago, in that range, he would have been
he would have been the next man up, he would have been the starter
this year. But the game's changed. It's now very common for a guy
to be, you know, still a backup after he's a you know,
red shirt sophomore at times, because that's just the quarterback position due to the
portal has really changed, and I think it's led to some guys just bouncing
around trying to find a spot where they can start. And then you know,
there's others like Pierce, who you know, I think is willing to
stick around and hope that this year maybe he gets some reps in that once
Tyler Shuck's gone, then they'll uh, you know, they'll hand the reins
to him, but it almost kind of feels like your way to break out
as a starter is to transfer in place where we experience. Yeah, alright,
quick break. We'll come back on the other side, wrap up the
three o'clock hour and keep this thing rolling along again. Coffee and Company feel
about Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety so we will get into I've been describing
it as a new wave of players in the portal to at least keep an
eye on as far as who they're visiting, that kind of stuff, any
reporting on where they could end up, because Louisville and even Kentucky, I
mean, they're still trying to finalize their rosters. And I know the portal
has closed and the majority of the big names are no longer available, but
there are still some good players to get. And again, I'm gonna try
to get a little creative here and just not be as you know, deep
into the weeds and you know, boring when it comes to just rattling off
names that you've never heard of and stats that you probably don't care about.
But it's something that is I think important because again, you know, we're
college basketball crazy around here. We're in a very unusual spot where both programs
have a new coach and are trying to build a roster from scratch. So
but I just you know, I'm gonna try to mix it up a little
bit. All right, real quick, let's give the city of Louisville a
pat on the back here. Maybe that means giving yourself a pat on the
back here, because Mayor Greenberg shared something earlier that I was happy to see,
but it did not surprise me that much. So Craigstweet says, big
news. Louisville's downtown is buzzing again, ranking number three in the United States
for visitor return. So I'm a little biased because I actually like downtown Louisville.
Now, I know why a lot of people don't come down here a
lot. And I don't mean because they think they're gonna die. I mean
because there may not be like a destination for them to, you know,
to go to. And a lot of people who were coming downtown for years
were coming downtown to go the Yum Center for a Louisville basketball game. That
ain't even happened in a while. I mean, even before things fell apart
with Kenny Payne. I mean, you didn't even have full I mean,
you haven't been able to. I remember the last time you had fifteen sixteen
thousand people at the Yum Center. It's got to be since twenty twenty four.
It'll be five years, five seasons ago when we get to this upcoming
season. So you know, there are some that act like it's some boarded
up war zone, which is not true. But yeah, are there moments
where you could be in danger and need to have your head on a swivel.
Absolutely, but that's everywhere in Louisville. If you guys watch the news,
do you realize like you can get stabbed in the prestigious East End?
It carjack like it's you know, it's not just downtown, but people who
come to Louisville and stay downtown really like it. And you know, I
had some friends that came in from for Derby that you know, I just
know of them for you know, people that I met, you know,
when I was in school and whatnot. But there's also people like I ran
into some friends of mine at Oaks and they had friends with them from Germany
that they met while back, and they make it a point to come every
year because they love Louisville and it's not just because the derby. That's a
big part of it. Like that's what gets people to come to Louisville a
lot, Right, it's a big I mean, it's a big event.
But there are people who come to Louisville that or here for work for a
week, and you know they're downtown and you know, are downtown if you
haven't been here in a while, Like it's nice. I mean there's a
lot of great restaurants, a lot of I mean, I consider Newlu to
kind of be downtown, do you, John, I mean, that's kind
of, at least in the last three or four years where I feel like
everything you know, I mean it's called Newlu for a reason. Yeah,
that's kind of where everybody goes to hang out. But you know, to
me, you could be a Nulu and then you know, five blocks up,
which is not a far walk, you are what everybody's can considers to
be, you know, downtown. Yeah, so if there are people who
come here that really like it and make it a point to come back and
stay here, Like if you live here, why wouldn't you come here?
You know what I mean? Like trust me, Like I don't want any
I don't want people just flooding the text line or calling in to reference you
know, homicide rates like I know, but that's not I mean, it's
not just downtown where that kind of stuff happens unfortunately. In fact, there
are areas that I think used to be viewed as maybe not like the safest
place is but you know, artsy fartsy, And I think you guys know
what area I'm talking about that like now it's it's kind of dangerous, Like
it's more it would probably be, you know, way more dangerous now than
it was many many years ago. So come downtown if you haven't. Right,
there's restaurants that are great here and I'm I'm hopeful And maybe this is
me just giving Louisville basketball too much credit here, but I think when you
do have great crowds starting to show up this year, and that that means
that's that's the reason people are going downtown. You know, if they're there
on a Saturday before a game or maybe a you know, a Thursday night
or something, you know, they'll probably be taking There'll be people that'll be
doing that this year that haven't done that in a long long time. And
I hope that that makes them realize, you know what, like we should
do this more often. I may have asked you this before, but do
you think Louisville will sell out the home opener for Pat Kelcey. It's a
great question. Let's talk about that on the other side, because I got
to give that some thought because I'm gonna say no. But it's not because
I'm like, you know, being credit. I just I think think times
have changed. But I don't know. Maybe maybe he comes out and gives
us some kind of you know, like pep Riley's speech, and he can
talk. We learned that on day one. Maybe that'll get it. I
mean, I think if you'd have asked people to show up after he gave
his opening press conference a couple months ago, I think there'd have been people
waiting for miles outside to get in. And yes, I'm aware forty eight
hours prior, people were pissed he was the coach. All right, don't
go anywhere. Two more hours left right here. On Sports Talk seven ninety