It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven to
nine day. Now here's Nick coffee. Those cheese It's got me again.
Anytime I go to the kitchen here, I grab a bottle of water and
those cheese it's they're just staring at me. And we've pretty much been ransacked
of all the snacks usually, but at the end of the week, you
know it's been emptied out and they'll be full again next week. But nobody
touches the cheese. It's there just for me. And I don't think they
do that because they know I like them. Nobody else wants them. But
yeah, I try to get a little snack in during the breaking you know,
I couldn't stop eating them and getting the music goes. I thought cheese
it's were more popular than they're not unpopular. They've been around a long time.
They've had a long, long life. But there's thousands of commercials about
them. To me, they just seem not They're kind of boring. I
don't know. I mean, let's look at their competitors in there. The
chips that that they do get grabbed. Doos just lays regular potato chips,
there's a sour sour cream and onion, the cool ranch Doritos. So like
there's bags of those. Am I missing any others? Those are the main
ones. Yeah, so there's bags of those pop corners too, which I
had never heard of until they kind not a big fan of those. But
we get snacks loaded up each week in our kitchen. No, I mean,
you know, peanuts like rice, Crispy treats, vanola bars, and
then like chips, and those chips I just mentioned usually are gone within a
couple of days. The cheese, it's not so much. They're always still
there. So I guess they're popular. I guess because again it's a known
chip, been around a long time. But when it comes to competing,
they're always there and the others aren't. You know what I mean. I
think they overloaded with the cheese. It you think, so, I think
whatever packaging they get, whoever distributes the snacks, I think they just give
us a bunch of cheese its. Well, actually I would. I mean,
I think you're right, because I think what happens is that when you
like my wife, when she does the online ordering of groceries, she gets
like a box of chips from that are all in the free Do Do Lay
family. So it's, you know, a bunch of different types of chips
all within one package. When you order the cheese it, you're getting the
cheese its, you know what I mean. So I guess that's why there's
more of those there. But yeah, sorry about that. I little I'm
do vending machines anymore. Me too a little late to get the mic turned
on there, so I was just trying to, you know, digest and
not choke on my cheese. It's that could be a good band name,
Choke on the cheese It. They'd play some very weird indeed, he wouldn't
really. Yeah, you wolntally know what you're getting though, right, Maybe
be the d Listers on Thursday Louder than Life. Yeah, I think that
checks out. All right, Let's get it started the five o'clock hour here
on a Thursday afternoon, coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk
seven to ninety Nick Coffee. That's me the company man John alongside today and
we will, I guess, reset some things for those just joining us.
We will get back into the NBA draft because obviously there's still a lot to
talk about from last night, and the draft's going on right now as we
speak, hand up. Probably don't even need to put my hand up to
identify you. Guys. Know, I at times can be a real dumb
ass. I had no clue that the NBA Draft was going on right now.
I still don't know why, but the second round of the NBA Draft
is going on as we speak. And why they chose to do this,
I'm not sure, but I thought it was tonight. I was looking forward
to going out to dinner with the family, you know, probably being there
late enough to see the first you know, handful of picks in the second
round, but it'll be over by then, so my hand's up there with
you though, I was just as a I don't I mean, I don't
understand, Like what sense does this make? I don't know, But that's
their decision. Maybe it's ESPN's decision because they technically own the rights to it
because they are a rights holder of the NBA's content broadcast that kind of stuff.
I don't know, And maybe I'm maybe I'm off base here, but
I feel like ESPN did a poor job of just marketing what was new about
the NBA Draft in general this year. Yeah, and you have two different
options for coverage. Last night, you could watch on ABC, which had
Stephen A and I guess the A team, and then you had the ESPN
crew which was Billis, Malika Andrews, another female analyst that I'm not sure
what her name is, and then the third one who was that and they
get who it was? There was one more on their four man crew or
four person crew. I should say, it just kind of felt, you
know, felt kind of flat. And again, if you're going to put
an NBA guy who covers the NBA for you exclusively on NBA Draft coverage,
let's be real. It makes total sense. It's an NBA event, like,
but make sure they may they at least can fake it that they've watched,
that they know anything about these players. I mean that was pretty evident
at times last night. So anyways, earlier today on this on this very
station, Rick Patino was on live. He was on KSR. Imagine that
who would have ever thunk it? Well, there was a specific reason because
it wasn't, you know, the typical KSR show. It was the invasion
of KSR by Pardon My Take, the podcast from Barstool Sports that features Big
Cat PFD Commenter, two guys who have put together a podcast that I think
for many many years now has been up there maybe still is number one in
in sports podcast across the planet. So every year when Matt goes on his
vacations in the summer, he gets a big crew of folks to fill in
here and there. And they've done it for many years, and despite their
growth, they still choose to spend one of their you know, what they
essentially do is their show. They just make it the day where they are,
you know, hosting a show in Kentucky and trolling Kentucky. And so
their audience, I mean, the people who listen to their podcast is substantially
bigger than really any show because it's such a big show. But there's a
lot of people who don't listen to KSR that listen to that show, and
they probably just think, like, this is hilarious. These Kentucky people who
call in don't get it. They don't understand what this is. So they're
entertainers, not to say they don't know anything about sports, but it's it's
really it's a comedy show, and I always think it's really funny. I'm
a big fan of both those guys, and they have a relationship with Rick
Potino. They had him on their show a few months ago, which is
where we played the clip of him talking about his time at Kentucky. So
they didn't tell anybody, they didn't tease it. They just you know,
we have a special guest. We have a special guest. And then sure
enough, whenever they brought on special guests, it was Rick Patino, and
Patino said some things during the interview that I didn't think were that surprising,
but it seemed to be maybe the final goodbye from Louisville fans to Rick Patino,
at least some of them in regards to you know, he never loved
us, he's now that he's not here, he's actually more loyal to Kentucky.
And you know, I just the question I asked everybody earlier, if
you remove a motion from the situation and ask yourself this, what was your
realistic expectation for Rick Pattino as far as his thoughts and feelings towards Louisville after
he was fired. I mean, there's never a scenario that you thought Rick
would would you know, feel good about Louisville. I mean, I'm sure
he feels good about what he did here as far as the accomplishments that were
made. And I know he has a close relationship with his players still and
loves those guys. But he was fired, probably should have been fired long
before that, we're being honest. He got away with a couple of big
time scandals that even though he didn't leave fingerprints on one of them, it
still happened. And then the Katina power I mean not the Katina Pow,
the cold the Karen Pzsipher stuff, I mean that was that was more of
a personal thing than like him as a coach. But still you have you
know, you got a you roar held to a high standard when you coach
the little basketball program around here, and you know a lot of I think
a lot of coaches would not be able to survive what he did. So
even though the Brian Bowen stuff really ended up being not nearly as as big
of an of a I mean, I don't know what to believe anymore or
who to believe, and it doesn't matter, but we now know Rick was
not close to being as involved in slimy in that whole shoe money thing as
other coaches. And now you can pay players, so it just seems silly.
But either way, he already had two three strikes depending on who you
talk to as far as his time at Louisville and that whole thing, him
being involved in the FB. I mean, you're not gonna think the when
that happened, Of all sources out there as far as citing somebody as coach
to it, it's the FBI, folks. Now we've later learned that for
some weird reason, they had some agenda. They really did want to arrest
rec like they wanted to create this whole thing and invest FBI resources into getting
Rick Patino and arrested, which seemed kind of odd, but that's what played
out. So like at the time when you say the FBI has uncovered this
and they have these allegations that even even then they were they were it was
basically just word from uh, what's the guy's name, the shady character who
they did the HBO did a documentary on him, which by the way,
was really good. Doesn't matter whatever his name was. It was him saying,
you know, coach too. He wouldn't say coach too, but they
redacted it in the FBI document. So if you're U of L. You're
thinking or the FBI has now included him in some former fashion in this huge
indictment. We gotta let him go. Like it's easy to say now they
should have let cooler heads prevail, but like in the moment, like their
action did not seem like an overreaction, just because you're thinking to yourself,
you can't make this stuff up. We literally just had a national championship banner
vacated, and now this guy is involved in bond players, So he should
have been fired. I think deep down he knows that, but he didn't
feel that way. He feels like he was wrong. He feels like he
was betrayed, and he doesn't feel that way about fans because Rick doesn't have
any feelings towards fans. He does. I mean again not to say he
hates Louisville fans, but Rick's just different man. He's a different guy.
How many times did you hear him ever mention fans during his time here.
I didn't hear him mention him much at all. So when he says his
time at Kentucky, his time at Louisville, his time at Saint John's,
he's talking about people he met along the way, like rich people who he
got close with, because that's that's what it is. So the real,
I guess trigger for some Louisville fans was what he said about Kentucky football,
which again, now that it's been a couple of hours since we played it,
I mean, I I still can't. It just doesn't make any sense
to me. But the one thing that is quite clear is that Rick went
out of his way to share this knowing what he was doing, and is
him letting everybody know He's donated money to the UK football in IL and he
will donate to Mark Pope's and IL efforts if need be well. I actually
cut a checked to the football program because I'm a casual friend of Mark and
Eddie Grin and cut a checked to the football program. But I would definitely
cut a check if Mark needs me for anything, no matter what. Except
for my firstborn Michael, he could have it so to me, I I
mean, that's what I don't get, donating money to UK football. That
just seems odd. But apparently he's friends with Eddie gran and Mark Stoops and
I have no clue how on under any circumstance. I don't know how Edie
Grand and Rick Patino could be rubbing elbows and become friends. I did have
somebody to reach out to me and say they believe that it's from horse racing,
like they Eddie Grand's big and horse racing, and obviously Rick Patino is
as well, or at least was. Heck, he was at Keenland not
that long ago, if you remember, it became a big deal. So
maybe they connected then I'm not sure. Heck, maybe that's where it all
started, right, Maybe Patino was at Keenland and Stoops and his staff were
there and they connected. And I mean, I have so many questions about
that whole thing. Like to just slip that in there is if that's not
really weird. If you're Mark Stoops and you're meeting Rick Pattino at Keenland or
wherever you meet him or however you know him, when you're thinking of people
that could give your programs some money, thinking call Rick Patino and ask him
is just like, I can't I can't see how that happened. Doesn't make
any sense. Also, if your Patino, what would make you randomly think,
hey, you guys need any and I all money? Mark Stoops?
Like it's just it's insane. It's insane. It also seems like, and
this may not make any sense, but it also seems like if you're an
active head coach somewhere else for a different program, and I know Saint John's
doesn't have football, why would you be able to, as somebody who coaches
another Division one basketball program, be able to donate your money. I guess
you do whatever you want with your money, but why would you be allowed
to do something like that for a difference? So how would you want to?
I mean exactly like Rick, this is a great example of Rick Patino
being Rick Patino. And if anybody else says it, it's a huge deal.
But it's Rick being Rick. I mean, take away the football side
of it, him saying if Mark Pope needs him, he'd give money.
Every other program with a fan based around the country would think, what the
hell are you talking about? Do you're gonna use money that we're paying you
or you know, maybe not we're paying you, but you're gonna use money
to go help another school that we compete with for players? Like what?
But Rick said it? And you know it's Rick being Rick because that's Patino.
So he also talked about his Tommy Kentucky and how great it was,
and like this is like this is not a surprise at all. Like if
you as if you told me Rick's about to be asked about how he feels
about Kentucky, I would have expected him to talk about how great it was
there, because he's kind of always done that when asked. I always called
University of Kentucky Camelot for me. I never had a bad year, never
had a bad day. They treated me like a king. They treated me
with great respect, so I only had Obviously I didn't get treated great when
I was at Louisville, But sitting back on and examining it today, I
totally understand why. So I mean, I don't think it's a random coincidence
that Patino says those things on that show kind of knowing. I think he's
aware of what that's gonna do to people in Louisville, I'm sure. But
when he says they treated me like a king, I'm sure the fans did.
But I think he's talking about people he knew and met along the way,
because even when he was at Louisll, like he's like Rick still has
close friends that he met in Lexington that I wouldn't say. I mean,
I'm not sure how close any of Rick Patino's friends really are just because of
the stat I mean, just because of him. But I think that comment
they're bothered some Louisville fans because they're thinking, Hey, you were our coach
and we loved you and we stuck by you when you went through some weird
stuff. To be honest with you, and at that time, all they
did was make fun of you. They hated you. Well, you're talking
about fans doing that. I don't think Rick sees it that way. He
doesn't ever think or care or even acknowledge that fans exist. I mean,
at times he'll occasionally throw it out there, But when he talks about being
treated like a king, I think he's referring to the way people in his
administration treated him and rich people that he met along the way, that kind
of stuff. So, you know, I just don't know how you can
say you're surprised that he feels fondly of Kentucky because it was the best part
of his career. He said it before the biggest mistake he's made as a
coach was leaving there. So to hear him gas up Kentucky is not a
surprise to me. It's never gonna be something you want to hear from your
former coach, especially if it's a guy that you still feel fondly about.
But I mean, I'm not surprised. But if anything, it's good timing
here because I think there are many fans that probably are all in on Pat
Kelsey, but you know, still felt a certain way about Rick. But
like if that bothered you, now it helps you, I guess maybe completely
turn the page on that and only look forward, which you should anyway,
you should. So one thing that came in on the text line earlier that
I don't have an answer for you, but it is a good question,
is if Rick knew where he was going on, Because you know, I've
only played those two clips. A lot of what he talked about wasn't about
Kentucky. It was about other stuff and Saint John's and all that. So
and Mark Pope, just specifically Mark, not you know about UK obviously as
their coach now, but Rick did know he would never admit it publicly.
Rick knew what KSR was, and he knew who Matt was to an extent,
and he didn't you know, wasn't a fan. You know, there
was some time. There was a time when matt On on his show really
you know, really became I guess a foreign in the side of uf L
administration, Tom Jurch and Patino because some of the things that Matt would mention
about, you know, like Kevin Ware's speeding ticket and you know, stirring
up stuff. I mean, Matt I think at one point had to come
on and actually publicly apologize for something he said about Tom Jurge, which I
still can't believe that happened, but I think Earl made him do it.
So I think I think they might have got him meaning like, hey,
you're gonna come on our show again, which he which he did, but
it was just their show that happened to be recorded live on KOSR. I
don't know. I mean, all I know is that Rick has such an
ego that he is very very very clear on who he goes on with,
and you know that's an elite, a select elite group. So anyways,
that was why that became at least a talking point. But I feel like
it's already kind of like over, like it's already like you know, it
was kind of a shocker, and it might have made some Louisville fans upset
to hear it, but you know, it's nothing you can do about it,
and it shouldn't change, and I doubt it changes the way anybody truly
feels about the era that was the Patino era. I mean, it ended
in a bad way and we're still, you know, kind of recovering from
that to an extent. But the timing of him being hired here and the
success that he had it helped Louisville still be able to claim to be one
of the best jobs in the country, one of the best programs in the
country, right. I mean, obviously it's Denny who did the most,
but Rick came in at a time where it was we were desperate for somebody
to come in and give the program some more life and kind of give it
more relevance. And he did exactly that, and I'm happy that he did.
But one thing that you don't really like to remind yourself of, because
it does it might make it not as special to you, It might not
make it as you know, sentimental to you as a fan. But coaches,
it's always transactional. This I mean like not to say they can't have
passion for a program and where they coach and the fan base. They can
appreciate that and love their time, but at the end of the day,
it's a job for them. So you know, Rick had jobs at both
schools in the state that are rivals, and both ended entirely differently. He
left Kentucky was beloved there, He went out on top, and he now
whish is he never left And now he's not coaching their arrival. He's at
Saint John's. So his emotions towards Louisville are still bitter because he's bitter about
how he was treated. I don't think he was treated poorly. I think
he got more of a leishier than anybody would. So you know, it's
I guess it sucks for people, and I get it if that's the way
you feel, But I just it really isn't that big of a surprise if
you think about it. Right, his former and again, his former player
who was a captain on his team in the nineteen ninety six championship team,
is now coaching Kentucky. It would be odd and unusual for that coach to
not be super happy and excited and supportive of that guy. I mean,
Rick was only and by the way, he really wasn't anti Kentucky when he
was here. I don't really remember Rick ever going mostly because of his ego.
He hated cal but he in hate Kentucky. He loves Kentucky because it
was a special, special part of his career. So you know, with
that said, now that he's no longer Lowis was coaching, he fel bitter
about Louisville. Again, It's not that surprising if you really, if you
really think about it. All right, let's take a quick break. We'll
come back on the other side. Let you guys hear a little more from
Pat Kelsey. Also get back to the text line, and we've got more
evidence out there that maybe one of the reasons that Kyle Filapowski flipped or slipped
I should say no pun intended to the second round is because of this situation
with his girlfriend. So apparently his brother is now on Twitter going back and
forth like telling people like, yeah, what you read here is true,
which you never know what to believe. But what a wild draft story about
a guy who apparently abandoned his family and is with a girl that is significantly
older than him and she's kind of like calling the shots and apparently have been
a red flag for NBA teams wild all right, don't go anywhere. It's
coffee and company. Feel But Thorton' right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Instead of shoving my I faced with cheese. It's during uh that last commercial
break. Instead, I was just internet slothing trying to figure out more about
this Kyle Philipowski situation. So uh, for those who missed it, he
was probably the biggest surprise miss last night, not hearing his name called in
the green room. And Jonathan Giovanni is really who started this and kind of
made it a thing. He went on to a podcast, one of the
ESPN podcasts. By the way, Javanni is one of the is one of
the NBA draft analysts for ESPN, formerly of Draft Express, which he which
he launched. So he he mentioned that teams didn't like workouts and that he
was kind of nervous. But they also mentioned Kyle Philipowski's girlfriend. And I
guess the clip that we played did not include this, this this last little
little part here that I'm reading from a quote. Uh. He says that
he heard it twenty five times. It came up from from NBA. I
guess sources that he has teams that were bothered by the girlfriend situations. Says
what I swear, I heard it twenty five times this came up. It
was one of the biggest factors that you've heard. And it's just weird.
It's really weird. I think people really overthought this one. And listen and
listen. The workouts didn't help, the interviews didn't help. He's a little
bit nerves He's a little bit of a nervous guy. But there's a lot
less pressure in the NBA regular season than there is playing at Duke. So
his girlfriend fiance, I suppose I think they're actually I think they are are
engaged. She's eight or nine years older than him, apparently. And this
guy who video recorded his he's did a video screenshot, if that makes sense,
like where you can record your screen. This random dude on Twitter recorded
it, and that was the Zachloe podcast, and you know, put it
out there like what's going on with his girlfriend. Well, then Daniel Philipowski,
his brother, chimes in and says, let me just go back to
the initial So he says, I'm I'm Kyle's oldest brother, you all don't
have a clue of the extent of the story that has to do with his
girlfriend. There's a story that has been pushed under the table for nearly two
years now. So then this guy Rando on Twitter says, dms are open
for end. I can take down the post if this is blatant misinformation.
So it's a nice guy. He says. If Giovanni responds to my DMS,
he'd be able to get the full story. And no one knows that.
No one knows about outside of who's involved. Duke coaching staff and his
agent may know. So then the next response was, oh wow, yeah,
I hit up Gavanni first. I'm not the NBA newsbreaker for a big
story like this. Lol. Maybe they'll both go on the Low podcast like
he suggested, so they can set the story straight themselves. He then said,
other than messaging him on his IG account, I don't know how to
get in touch with him, But look up and read on Mormon grooming and
brainwashing and you'll find some introductory details in there to connect some dots into the
story that is going on here. I looked up Mormon grew I don't know
what that is honestly. And then Becky Philipowski, which I guess this is
mother. She chimes in and says, you're opening up to your issue.
She's twenty eight, he's twenty. He says, she's twenty eight with an
end game three years ago to have a diamond ring on her hand. When
Kyle left Duke, he was still in high school. So when he was
seventeen in high school, she was twenty five and they were dating, which
is totally weird, to be honest me, it's not. I mean,
it's not like crazy. Again, we're not talking Belichick here, but that's
I mean, first of all, that's illegal if you're like in a relationship
with somebody that's underage. I mean, I'm sure it happens more than people
realize. But his mom is essentially from when I gathered from that tweet saying
that this woman locked him up when he was a kid because he was about
to be a super He's a he's one of the nationally most highly ranked national
players in the country in that class. I mean, he was a McDonald's
American five Star player and she was twenty five, and I guess knew of
it when he was sixteen. Seventeen and got in a relationship, and her
plan was to get a diamond ring on her hand and get engaged to this
guy and marry a millionaire. And I guess it's worked, but the money's
not gonna be as great because he slipped to the second round. So that,
I mean, how's this? How's this not a bigger story? I
mean, I guess it's turning into it. But it's all by the work
of random people on Twitter. What a great site. Yeah, I mean
that's kind. I mean, that's that's gross. Isn't it take away just
the age difference? But like that, I mean, and I'm sure this
happens often and and in fact it does. There are other examples of women
who just you know, know that they have a, you know, a
very attractive appearance and a you know, a lot to offer as far as
looks and you know, maybe some other things, and they'll take advantage of
that or use that to take advantage of NBA players. I mean, I
don't know if you guys know the story of Brittany Renner and PJ. Washington,
but that's like a I mean, that's that's that's that's messed up.
Currently Jalen Green of the Houston Rockets, who I thinks, like, I
don't know, twenty it's like twenty years old. But he's with a woman
and she's pregnant and she is I think it is nineteen years older than him,
which again that's not a crime, and that's you know, if they're
in love, they're in love. But you know a lot of people just
assume women are trying to latch onto a young maybe easy to manipulate millionaire NBA
player and you know, milk it they want the bag too. Yeah.
Well, and also, you know, you got to keep in mind if
you, I mean, you are connected to that person for eighteen years,
if they have a kid with you, you're not a relationship, but child
support that kind of stuff. Like, I mean, it's a dirty game
out there. I mean Britney Renner, who I only know who she is
because of her involvement with athletes and you know, being you know, I
guess the I'm not even sure if it's politically correct, but like you know,
being a being a gold digger or whatever, you know, she she
used to speak to. You know, I don't know if it's NBA locker
rooms or what it was, but she was somebody out there like advocating,
hey, watch out, you know, watch out for women who do what
I did. I mean, she was out there bragging. I think she
wrote a book maybe about how women can change their lives by you know,
hooking up with an NBA player and you know, knowing that it's their time.
You know, it's that time where they can get pregnant, and you
know, if you have a kid, it connects you to somebody that is
probably going to be very wealthy for eighteen years. And although a lot of
that money is supposed to go towards the child, we all know that that's
not really how it works. So it was known that she was doing that.
She wrote a book about it, and then she started dating PJ.
Washington and did the same thing. They had a kid together, she left
him, and now she's getting child support from him for you know, a
long time. So it happens. It happens. You gotta be careful out
there, fellas. Gotta be careful. All right. Let's see here trying
to manage the time we have left, not a whole lot of time left,
and we were going to potentially have doctor Larry beins On today but he's
been caught up in some meetings, so we may push that to tomorrow,
but we'll see. I imagine that's what we're gonna have to do, just
given the time right now. But back to Pat Kelsey he talked earlier today.
It was great to hear him, not only you know, talk about
being at Louisville. I mean we've heard him. He's on the show a
couple of weeks ago, he's made his media rounds, and obviously his introductory
press conference months ago was a home run. But today he talked about personnel,
talked about basketball, talked about philosophy, talked about their trip coming up
to the Bahamas. So that that was certainly good to hear. But this
was a question that he was asked, and I don't have the exact question
within the clip, but he was asked essentially who kind of has emerged as
the dog, maybe the alpha as far as practiced thus far, and also
asked about a potential starting lineup. And this is, uh, this is
what coach Kelsey had to say purchase of well, who the dogs? I
mean, hopefully got a bunch of them. You know, it's like picking
out who's stood out, you know, picking out who's who's the dog.
I mean, dogs are competitors, Dogs are winners. Dogs are uh,
you know, guys that don't back down to greit their teeth, that blow
their neck, that that that that. I like to think we got a
bunch of them. In terms of my approach to to deciding our starting lineup,
compete, compete. There's nobody in that locker room that was promised anything
in recruiting, and there's nobody in that locker room that's been promised anything to
this point. I really cannot have a starting lineup conversation until probably the day
before the first game. You might say, oh, this is the guys
that started in the Bahamas. Well those are the guys who are the productive
and practice right up to that point. Maybe not, but there's a lot
that goes into that. So I'm hopeful that he has a lot of dogs
as well, and maybe he has some you know, maybe he has some
hints as to who may be that guy that just you know, does all
those things that he mentions, and maybe it's maybe it's everybody. I don't
know, But what really stood out to me about that, you know,
about that answer, is that in a typical off season press conference. When
a coach would be asked that question in the previous world of college athletics,
as far as roster management roster building, you wouldn't expect him to say one
of the true freshmen, you know. You might expect him to say a
guy that's come back for his junior season that's gotten better every year and you're
expecting him to take a big jump, right, because it would just be
somebody that you are expecting to make big leap, maybe a guy going into
a senior season, or maybe a guy coming off of an injury that was
that kind of got prior to injury. Will now, I mean, it's
just different with the portal. But also this is a really rare situation where
it's thirteen brand new guys, So he can't just give you who you'd expect
and give you, you know, and just go and give you the clea
and just give you the expected answer. I feel like, I mean,
I'm assuming I assume he was being genuine there, but I feel like at
this point you're better off not mentioning anybody by name, just because these guys
are going to know what you say, and you want to keep everybody competing
which goes to the next part of that question, which was starting lineup.
You know, compete, compete. Nobody was promised any playing time, nobody
was promised anything, guaranteed anything, So you got to work for it.
And that's healthy. And I don't mean like the promise or guarantee. I
mean competition's healthy. And that's what really really excites me, among many other
things about this team and the personnel, is that there's nobody that I feel
like is miles ahead of the others at their position. I mean, i'd
say Chucky Hepburn has to be the guy that is going to be your starting
I mean, I mean, obviously you could play Corn Davis at the one,
but I mean I would imagine Chucky Hepburn. It'd be a huge surprise
if he's not your starting point guard. But everywhere else, I mean,
you've got options, man, and you you're going to have to compete.
Because if it's Terrence Edwards Junior one day and he's looking like the you know,
sun Belt player of the year that you just brought in and he's a
big addition, and he you know, starts to coast a little bit,
Well, maybe Javon Hadley's gonna be right there competing with him to steal a
spot. Maybe it's Cador tree Ora. I mean, like, I mean,
you've got to have to compete. I mean, Noah Waterman and in
case in prior. I mean, those are two guys that you know,
I'm sure you can play them together, and that's a good thing. There's
a lot of these guys that are very versatile. You have guys that some
of the guys that can play two, three and four, and you've got
guys that can play probably three, four and five if need be. I
mean, you've got a lot of versatility here. But man, it's going
to be healthy as far as competition because there's nobody that can just you know,
kind of go through the motions and not have it impact their minutes.
And that's good. Now, I'd say, you know, the downside of
that would be and it's not a downside necessarily, but it's more I guess
the potential concern is that, like, you got a bunch of dudes who
are kind of all average and not and not good enough. But I don't
think that's the case. I think you have some really good players here,
some talented guys that you know, you could you could have. You're gonna
have versatility, you're gonna have depth at most positions. You got shooting.
So I mean, I don't want to talk this team up like they're about
to go on a run and you know, make a Final four. But
uh, the way the roster had to be built, meaning everybody out,
all new guys. In best way to get players immediately that can help you
is to go through the portal. So twelve or thirteen guys are portal guys
that have that have college basketball experience. So you know, with that,
it worked out to where this was just the way it was going to be.
You're gonna have dudes that are competing NonStop and that's good. And as
far as leadership, I don't know who's going to be that guy. I
mean, I think it's always good if your point guard can be a good
leader. And I think chuckiy Hepburn starting every single game when he was at
Washington or Wisconsin is a good sign of that. Starting as a true freshman
of the Big Ten as a point guard is a good sign of leadership,
I'd say, but they're all veterans who probably had leadership roles where they were
previously I mean in case I prior Javon Hadley, Terrence Edwards Junior. So
I think you can have some collective leadership if everybody's kind of on the same
page and they're mature. But the one guy, he kind of slipped up
and did, and he kind of almost tried to walk it back, like
I shouldn't single anybody out, but he said Javon Hadley, and he did
mention that you know, you just always hear him. He's a loud he's
vocal, which is good, which is good. So I can't wait.
I can't wait. And these guys are going to be playing in games in
the Bahamas a month from now, and good vibes for basketball, no doubt.
All right, quick break will come back. Put the finishing touches here
on a another Draft day edition of Coffee and Company. Again, I had
no clue the draft was going on as we speak, and still don't know
why, but it is. We'll get you caught up. I guess on
how the second round is played out up to this point, So don't go
anywhere. It's Coffee and Company. Feel Abut Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety
So the reason that the NBA Draft played out this way this week is because
of the presidential election tonight. I guess a smart move on their part to
realize that you don't want to be competing with that as far as viewership,
and the draft is always the last week of June, and I guess that's
why they did last night. I mean, they should have done both rounds
last night and just made it that, But I don't know. I feel
like you could have probably had more people watching it tonight than would watch it
in the daytime, even if you are competing with the presidential election anative.
Yeah, but what do I know, you know, I mean, yeah,
they'll there'll be people watching. I mean, heck, I'm going to
watch some of it. But I think it might be comedy, or it
might be it might it might be sadness. Maybe I'm wrong, but I
feel like most people, at least if it were me, I'm probably not
gonna tune into the debate. But if I were to, it's because I
want to laugh at both of them, Like completely, this has nothing to
do with politics at all. It's just the characters that we're talking about that
are running for president. Yes, I'm gonna be eager to see if Joe
Biden looks like he knows what planet he's on, and Trump's gonna say things
that's gonna make you think, like how was this guy ever the president?
He's the least presidential and some people think that's like a quality. Well he's
not a politician or something. But I mean, and like Trump's gonna make
fun of Biden, Like we know that's gonna happen, right, yes,
Like he's just gonna make fun of him and that's not nice and that's Trump
being Trump. But like you know what, I don't want to see some
people getting offended because like you already know it's coming. Don't get offended about
what Trump says about Biden and vice versa. I know, I know nobody's
gonna listen to that. I mean, people are gonna get offended by,
whether they get offended by but just Biden doesn't know what he's saying, and
oftentimes we don't know what he's saying either, if we're being honest, and
with with Trump, I mean, I don't know. With Trump, you
know more what to expect, and I guess the unexpected from Biden is again
just like how coherent is he is going to fall asleep the microphone. Yeah,
I mean, and I'm sure I have at times fallen for some deep
fake stuff that maybe isn't one thousand percent legit as far as like his mumbling
and just and you know, just when he went on Howard Stern, he
sounded very not coherent, but like I mean, he only he had to
be trained to be. It wasn't It was a very we all know how
I probably shouldn't even brought it up because I'm not doing a great job of
explaining it, but it was very interesting. Well, the the one thing
that just really stands out to me, and I don't want to laugh because
like you know, I don't want to make I'm not making fun of people,
I guess, I mean, but the visual of him finishing up on
a stage and having to be like guided as he walks away, it's wild
to me, Like it's just you know what I'm talking about, the you
know, the little a little strut where like he's somebody's gonna if nobody's there
next to him, he might just walk off the stage and die. I
mean, because he gives is boned. He's just old. It might just
fall over, you know, So you know, it's gonna be one of
these two guys, right, I mean this is this is it forty five
or forty six, will be forty seven. Yeah, still doesn't seem real
at times, but here we are. I mean, Bronnie James, I
mean he's gonna get drafted at potentially five in the afternoon. If he does
get drafted, or maybe he has I don't know. All I do know
is that we are at a time and I thank you all for hanging out.
Appreciate it. Hope you enjoyed yourself here with us. If not,
come back again tomorrow we'll try it over. We'll do it again, see
what happens. Have good night, everybody ins