Speaker 1: Hell, everybody to the facilities of the iHeartMedia Megaplexis is
Speaker 1: Dick Gabriel. This is the state wide edition of The
Speaker 1: Big Blue Inside. He heard Mark Pope today with Tom
Speaker 1: Leach here, Nick mangeone with Darren Hendrick and some of
Speaker 1: the UK women. After that heartbreaking lost to Kansas date,
Speaker 1: but what a game and what a game is the
Speaker 1: Wildcats beat Illinois tonight. We'll talk with a couple of
Speaker 1: guys who were up there. Jeff Picoro, who covers football
Speaker 1: for the UK network but covers the cash for WTVQ,
Speaker 1: and Lee K. Howard from wk WAIT to Billy relaigives
Speaker 1: here be a part of the state wide BBI, The
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider Pikeville to Paducah. You know the drill,
Speaker 1: and it seems like it's becoming a drill with Jeff
Speaker 1: Pecorro that we don't reach him right away. Remember the
Speaker 1: one night he called us at like seven minutes to
Speaker 1: the top of the hour.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I forgot.
Speaker 1: We tease him now because half the time when we
Speaker 1: can't reach him. When he used to carry a briefcase,
Speaker 1: he would leave his phone in his briefcase. Didn't do
Speaker 1: a whole lot of good there. Now that he's you know,
Speaker 1: in TV news again, he needs to keep it in
Speaker 1: a hip pocket.
Speaker 3: Well, my phone's never on Ringer, it's always on Vibe,
Speaker 3: So if I'm not in this, it's not on my person.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't hear it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I silenced mom when I'm working in
Speaker 1: the garage on the radio show, and I always forget
Speaker 1: to put it back or I'm you know, doing a
Speaker 1: baseball game or whatever. So anyway, we'll we'll soldier on.
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll hear from him, maybe we won't, but we
Speaker 1: will contact leak as usually pretty good too. Anyway, let's
Speaker 1: talk first about Kentucky Illinois. Did you pick the Wildcats?
Speaker 1: I think no. I did pick them in my bracket,
Speaker 1: but I just wasn't sure because Illinois is better than
Speaker 1: I thought it was. When I first looked at the brackets,
Speaker 1: I thought, well, But then I started doing research on him,
Speaker 1: and I thought, oh man, they're good on the boards,
Speaker 1: They've got some talent, got some draft picks, got some
Speaker 1: draft picks.
Speaker 2: They got a visas brother out there too.
Speaker 1: That's right. But Kentucky Billy, I thought, may have played
Speaker 1: its best game of the year all things considered.
Speaker 2: Best defensive game. I think there's no doubt question.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, you're right, because offense, they put up
Speaker 1: one hundred million points against Alabama and Tennessee.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's amazing, and they've beaten Florida this year,
Speaker 3: who looks like the team to beat in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 3: So it was it was a great game. Defensively, you
Speaker 3: saw the impact of Lamont Butler. I mean for him
Speaker 3: to score zero points against Troy and then ten in
Speaker 3: the first half in that game versus Illinois. But that's
Speaker 3: not why he was at his best. It was defensively
Speaker 3: and it was he was phenomenal. There was no doubt
Speaker 3: about it. There's a reason why the Illinois coach said
Speaker 3: afterwards that Kentucky will go as far as Lamont Butler
Speaker 3: takes them.
Speaker 1: And I think we all know that.
Speaker 2: I did pick Kentucky to win.
Speaker 3: I've actually got them winning against Tennessee in my bracket
Speaker 3: and then losing to Houston in the Elite eight. But
Speaker 3: my expectations have him met, Dick. I mean, I think
Speaker 3: I said a minus earlier. He did a couple of
Speaker 3: weeks ago when I gave Pope grade.
Speaker 2: It's now gone up to an a.
Speaker 3: I mean, for Pope to put this roster together in
Speaker 3: a matter of weeks to make the Sweet sixteen, and
Speaker 3: to do it with the pressure of BYU and Arkansas
Speaker 3: both making the Sweet sixteen. People say that's not on Pope,
Speaker 3: and there's no pressure there. I'm telling you there was.
Speaker 3: And for Pope to get it done, it saved us
Speaker 3: a long summer of sports talk radio, of calls and
Speaker 3: well at times. Yeah, but this is just a very
Speaker 3: very gratifying way.
Speaker 1: It really is very satisfying. But you get the idea
Speaker 1: that the players aren't happy to stop here.
Speaker 2: But well, they were.
Speaker 3: Loose too, you know, they were much looser I felt
Speaker 3: like in the game versus Illinois than they were.
Speaker 1: Oh have you ever had that stuff?
Speaker 2: I have not, I have you have?
Speaker 1: It's awful. Oh it's awful. Now, I gotta say, I
Speaker 1: think I just put cold milk. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it fruit on whatever. But I mean, I like shredded wheat,
Speaker 1: and I'd read about this stuff, yeah, and I'd read
Speaker 1: what what what they found out? It's it's better for
Speaker 1: you than just regular old shredded we were, It's it's
Speaker 1: got a lot of nutrients. In it. You know, it's
Speaker 1: a lot of good stuff in it, right, So I thought, well,
Speaker 1: that's that's good. And I like cereal and all.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: Oh. I tried it once. You know, they come to
Speaker 1: these big biscuits and I told them, I said, I
Speaker 1: can't eat this.
Speaker 2: It's tasty.
Speaker 1: It's just the way I ate it, right, the way
Speaker 1: I ate it. It was like wallpaper paste. I mean
Speaker 1: it was like, oh my god, you know. Uh, And
Speaker 1: so I chucked it out in the you know, we
Speaker 1: have a wooded backyard and put it out, put it
Speaker 1: out there for the wild animals. You don't hope they
Speaker 1: didn't hurt any of them. But uh but now I
Speaker 1: hear that you need And I'm not going to do
Speaker 1: this because I'm not a warm milk kind of guy,
Speaker 1: but I understand. I like hot cereal and this could
Speaker 1: be like hot cereal and you know, a bunch of
Speaker 1: sugar or honey or whatever. So yeah, I'll give it that.
Speaker 1: It kind of reminded me in a weird way. It's
Speaker 1: not the same stuff. But when we many years ago,
Speaker 1: when a group of us went to China, we were
Speaker 1: in a hotel in Hong Kong that had a great
Speaker 1: breakfast buffet. I mean, great, they're big on breakfast over there,
Speaker 1: but they believe it or not, they serve salad for breakfast.
Speaker 1: That's a big thing over there. I didn't touch it,
Speaker 1: but I like hot cereal and they had it. So
Speaker 1: I get some. I like grits, I like oatmeal. So
Speaker 1: I get this stuff and it was awful, and I
Speaker 1: come to find out later it was basically what we
Speaker 1: would call gruel, right or porridge. Well, I'm like nope.
Speaker 1: After two bites, I'm like nope. So later on I
Speaker 1: see my teachers over there, my karate teacher, and this
Speaker 1: guy is half a head shorter than you. It can
Speaker 1: eat like a trucker, takes his time but really savors
Speaker 1: his meals. Right. So anyway, he's over there and he's
Speaker 1: got a bold of this stuff and he's loading it up,
Speaker 1: but he's loading it up with cold vegetables. And I thought, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: this stuff's a carrying agent. And I guess we've min
Speaker 1: exist the same thing. And he said, of course, he
Speaker 1: grew up in a man, I grew up on this stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm like, good, hey, all you want take it, take it.
Speaker 1: But anyhow, if that's if that was the secret, weapon
Speaker 1: for the bigs, and now Mark Pope says he's going
Speaker 1: to have it good on you.
Speaker 2: It does look like a show down, a brick of nothingness,
Speaker 2: like if you.
Speaker 1: Can get it, trust me on Amazon, Well you can
Speaker 1: get anything on him.
Speaker 3: It's one of the top five cereals on Amazon today apparently,
Speaker 3: now Tucky effect. Think about the Google searches right that
Speaker 3: this cereal has gotten in this state and how many
Speaker 3: people have ordered it. I mean, people are little boys
Speaker 3: and girls are going to be eating this cereal this
Speaker 3: week as we anticipate fire.
Speaker 1: Still in local television, I would have, knowing what I know,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't be me, but I'd have somebody on camera
Speaker 1: doing something well, of course, And how about the assistant
Speaker 1: going out, Maggie Davis, if you're listening, that's right, Ma,
Speaker 1: I want to see you with a bowl of We've
Speaker 1: been X in your lap.
Speaker 3: But to go to an international store in Milwaukee to
Speaker 3: bring a little home to Amari Williams, a guy that's
Speaker 3: fighting back and found it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's impressive, isn't it.
Speaker 1: It really is.
Speaker 3: I'm not I've never had warm milk before, not even
Speaker 3: as a kid, not every even as a kid.
Speaker 2: I like milk. I eat milk with dinner, but I
Speaker 2: really ever had warm.
Speaker 1: Milk, glass of Big Boy juice with dinner.
Speaker 2: Whole milk.
Speaker 1: Okay, wow, my son's the same way.
Speaker 2: We got to grow big and strong.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's true.
Speaker 2: Now you've had hot chocolate, but that's had hot chocolate.
Speaker 1: But that ain't the same. Coffee, that ain't the same.
Speaker 1: Never really never, just hot.
Speaker 2: Milk and cereal.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well and again in China, and when we were
Speaker 1: in a small village and eating breakfast at a modest hotel,
Speaker 1: you know, it was okay, a little usterear and this
Speaker 1: waitress came out with a big tray of hot milk,
Speaker 1: glasses full of hot milk because they thought that's what
Speaker 1: Americans liked hot. Yeah, and they heard that that's what
Speaker 1: we ate for breakfast. And so I said, no, thank you, bud.
Speaker 1: And so she turns to leave and I grab on him,
Speaker 1: hang on a second, you know, because I was drinking coffee.
Speaker 1: I said, I'll put something out my coffee, thank you.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm not a hot milk guy either.
Speaker 3: Well, the poorly traveled man that I am, I thought
Speaker 3: it was just strictly beans on toast. In England, Dick,
Speaker 3: but it seems like they've.
Speaker 1: Got you can get that.
Speaker 2: Laporless cereal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, but no when I had fish and chips
Speaker 1: in a restaurant run by a couple of guys in
Speaker 1: the Middle East, so you know, you can get what
Speaker 1: you want. You can get what you can sure. Anyhow,
Speaker 1: So back to what we were discussing before, Yes, Defense
Speaker 1: and Kobe Brea and I love this story. Once they
Speaker 1: got through the weabineing stories that Pope told about. And
Speaker 1: you remember that Old Miss game. I was stunned. I
Speaker 1: think the Big Blue Nation was shocked at how poorly
Speaker 1: they played, lack of effort. They almost seemed disinterested that night,
Speaker 1: you know, on the road, almost came out, punched him
Speaker 1: into John and he said, okay, thank you, May I
Speaker 1: have another? And he said, you know you heard him tonight,
Speaker 1: said Brea threw himself into drills the next day. That
Speaker 1: told me everything I needed to hear.
Speaker 3: A good Old Miss team that just throttled Iowa State
Speaker 3: to get to the sweet sixteen. So it's it's amazing
Speaker 3: SEC's got seven teams in the tournament. I'm sure we'll
Speaker 3: talk about that a little bit more later, but listen,
Speaker 3: I think the numbers were Kentucky went from that Old
Speaker 3: Miss game, they were at one twelve in the Ken
Speaker 3: Palm and they made it all the way down to
Speaker 3: forty five. Yes, since then, and that is something Mark
Speaker 3: Pope said in the postgame that he has never seen
Speaker 3: no to be able to have that growth mindset. That's
Speaker 3: something he touched on tonight as well, is that these
Speaker 3: guys are willing to learn, They're willing to do the
Speaker 3: little thing to get better every day. And guys like
Speaker 3: Colin Chandler and Brandon Garrison are going back to back
Speaker 3: putting their own runs together. Bench boys were huge in
Speaker 3: these two NCAA Tournament games twenty five and respectively.
Speaker 1: When Chandler rose from two steps beyond the arc, are
Speaker 1: what I'm like, what is the own nice shot?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 1: One of those deals you know. But I think part
Speaker 1: of this too, and I heard somebody make a reference
Speaker 1: to this is if this were And again I'm not
Speaker 1: comparing the two, but let's say this where a Caliperi
Speaker 1: team chock full of first year guys, freshman true freshmen.
Speaker 1: That's why he always tried to point toward February March,
Speaker 1: because it takes a while. I think the fact that
Speaker 1: Mark Pope has a roster for the most part full
Speaker 1: of veterans. They know how to learn, you know, they
Speaker 1: know how to take that information and assimilate it. And
Speaker 1: I was fortunate enough to go to a couple of practices,
Speaker 1: not you know, I can't go every day, I'm not allowed,
Speaker 1: but going into the pro day event, they allowed me
Speaker 1: to come just to learn the players and you know,
Speaker 1: see what they're doing so I could talk to them
Speaker 1: on camera about it. And it's complicated, you know. Their
Speaker 1: offense which just looks beautiful and its simplicity is not
Speaker 1: you know, and Mark Pope is anything but uncomplicated. But
Speaker 1: these are older guys who've played a lot of basketball,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 3: Uh, And think about them amassing twenty minute wins this
Speaker 3: year in one of the toughest conferences of all time,
Speaker 3: and to do it without Jackson Robinson for half of
Speaker 3: the year. Mott Butler missed multiple weeks, kerkkrisa your backup
Speaker 3: point guards out for the entire year.
Speaker 1: Carr had a back injury hobbled.
Speaker 3: It's just incredible that they've been able to play their
Speaker 3: best basketball when it matters most.
Speaker 2: And that's now, Yeah, that's now.
Speaker 3: And there's a lot of things you can't control, especially
Speaker 3: the guy who is the main translator of the Mark
Speaker 3: Pope offense going down with injury and these guys finally
Speaker 3: seem to pick it up. Colin Chandler steps up. But
Speaker 3: it allows o Way to stay at his natural position.
Speaker 3: It allows Kobe Brea to come in without or with
Speaker 3: less urgency at times. So it's just it's just a
Speaker 3: trickle down effect in a lot of ways. And if
Speaker 3: we could did Amari to dunk the basketball, this would
Speaker 3: be a complete team.
Speaker 1: It was great. A caller brought that up and Mark
Speaker 1: didn't really answer it, but I did love that call
Speaker 1: because how many times Bud he just dunk it, you know.
Speaker 1: But speaking of Chandler, though I rewatched the first half today, uh,
Speaker 1: and there was one plane in particular where there were
Speaker 1: two plays I want to talk about. Number one, Brea
Speaker 1: hits a three, okay, or it might have been a jump
Speaker 1: shot inside the circle at two, but it came in
Speaker 1: a huge time. Chandler set the pick the screen that
Speaker 1: freed him. He came off a pick himself and then
Speaker 1: he screened Bray as guy and Bray just circles around
Speaker 1: and bang you know. And when you listen to Cameron
Speaker 1: Mills told this story many times. He thought he understood.
Speaker 1: I had to set a pick at a user pick.
Speaker 1: He said, when he got to college, he realized he
Speaker 1: knew nothing about it. And I got to think Chandler,
Speaker 1: who's coming off two years of not playing as all,
Speaker 1: had to learn that skill and he did. You know,
Speaker 1: that's it's the little things that that kid does, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, the three pointers are great, but it's little
Speaker 1: things like deflections. The other one was And everyone's talking
Speaker 1: about this, but as I'm watching the game, I thought,
Speaker 1: mental note, I got to talk about this with Billy
Speaker 1: Kentucky's up ten, what momentums shifted second half and Illinois's
Speaker 1: doing some things. I'm about to go down and make
Speaker 1: it an eight point or seven point game, and Lamarch
Speaker 1: sneaks in from behind and makes a steal all the
Speaker 1: sneaky steel in the scars. One to me, that was
Speaker 1: I don't know it was the turning point, but it
Speaker 1: was one of the biggest turning points of the game,
Speaker 1: maybe the biggest one of the second half. There were
Speaker 1: a lot in the first half.
Speaker 3: Well, you're right about momentum. I think at that time
Speaker 3: it was just chipping away, chipping away. It was after
Speaker 3: Kobe went on his own ten oh run I think
Speaker 3: in that game where he went three jumper, three jumper, amazing,
Speaker 3: So that that came at a huge time, and you know,
Speaker 3: Lamont to have that tourney experience that maybe has been
Speaker 3: missing in years past, and also on this team if
Speaker 3: you exclude Lamarch, so he's just been able to bring
Speaker 3: a dimension to this team and they play with joy.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think that you absolutely can see that.
Speaker 3: You know, you mentioned Colin Chandler and Kobe Brea. Kobe's
Speaker 3: looking to shoot when he's coming off those screens too,
Speaker 3: And it's not that he wasn't before, but I feel
Speaker 3: like it comes with much more confidence. And it's interesting
Speaker 3: that Kentucky was able to hold on because I had
Speaker 3: it locked and loaded in the chamber, Dick. If Kentucky
Speaker 3: lost a game, it was going to be all about
Speaker 3: the basketballs. You know, about this non uniformity and these
Speaker 3: PSI levels, and which is Kobe saying that he's having
Speaker 3: to adjust the way that he shoots to adjust.
Speaker 1: With these bad fuketball.
Speaker 3: It's just there's so much money going on, and we
Speaker 3: saw the first round this year was historically low scoring averages.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to get into it. Is this the
Speaker 2: death of the Cinderella with nil? Please?
Speaker 3: Jay Williams, steven A. Smith, you got a gas back
Speaker 3: about something every single day. I think that's a bit
Speaker 3: of a hot take. But I think there is something
Speaker 3: to the the other point.
Speaker 1: I fully agree, And I was stunned when I saw that, because,
Speaker 1: you know, having worked for Jim Host and worked closely
Speaker 1: for a couple of years with regard to NCAA properties,
Speaker 1: NCAA sponsorships and stuff, I'm amazed that there isn't an
Speaker 1: NCAA sanctioned via advertising, sponsorship, whatever you call it basketball.
Speaker 1: Why aren't they a lot? Why isn't the same ball
Speaker 1: being used at every location for men and women at
Speaker 1: a hefty price? You know right that that you know
Speaker 1: they can recoup the exactly. I was amazed that that
Speaker 1: wasn't the case. But uh, I mean you're a baseball fan,
Speaker 1: as am I how many times you've heard guys complaining
Speaker 1: about the baseballs? Yeah, ranking two tightly or not tightly enough.
Speaker 3: Well, then they can throw it away. They just throw
Speaker 3: it to the side and they get a new ball, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, But supposedly this year's ballder making them a different
Speaker 1: way in a different place, and you know they're storing
Speaker 1: him in a cold place. You know.
Speaker 3: Well, it's like Saint John's missed so many layups in
Speaker 3: that game versus Arkansas. Yeah, that's not characteristic of them
Speaker 3: that I think there is something to the over inflation
Speaker 3: of these balls.
Speaker 1: Oh could be. Yeah, call Tom get Tom Brady online. Listen.
Speaker 3: Everybody disposes of their cell phone by slamming it on
Speaker 3: the ground, Dick, It's just natural practice, don't.
Speaker 1: Get We talked about that on my local show. Right
Speaker 1: when it happened. You were in the studio, but that
Speaker 1: was before Brady was before he moved it, Damp, exactly right.
Speaker 1: You were on my side back then. God, before we
Speaker 1: get to the break through, and I said this to
Speaker 1: you before we went on the air. You gotta chip
Speaker 1: your cap to Cali Perry for pulling his team together,
Speaker 1: which he did at Kentucky's several times more often than not. Okay,
Speaker 1: but I firmly believe after rewatching the second half I
Speaker 1: did that this afternoon he had better athletes than Saint John's.
Speaker 1: That to me, what was the difference. I mean when
Speaker 1: it came down to players making plays. And I watched
Speaker 1: that whole series on you know, Redstorm Rising, and I
Speaker 1: watched several Saint John's games, and it was you know,
Speaker 1: Big East basketball. It was tough, it was grinding out,
Speaker 1: but they just had better athletes and they played well together.
Speaker 1: Calipari's team and.
Speaker 2: They're playing a lot better as of late.
Speaker 3: I mean, Jonas Ago is a guy that averaged five
Speaker 3: points a game this year.
Speaker 2: He's averaging eighteen I think right now.
Speaker 1: But you know, when they lost you and I talked
Speaker 1: about this before, when they lost Boogie Flann, they got better.
Speaker 1: Thank you. They that forced them to just kind of
Speaker 1: figure out a different way to do business. But to
Speaker 1: his credit and theirs, now that he's back, I thought,
Speaker 1: are they going to hit that wall? And all of
Speaker 1: a suddenly we got to give the ball to Boogie
Speaker 1: every time.
Speaker 2: No, No, he's he's playing well.
Speaker 1: He's a player, that's right.
Speaker 3: And with thero out that kind of you know, defines
Speaker 3: the roles even more. Yes, Arkansas starts zero to five
Speaker 3: in conference play.
Speaker 1: About that.
Speaker 3: Cali Perry comes in, raises his eyebrow as he walks
Speaker 3: onto the upp Arena court and pulls off the upset
Speaker 3: and there just been a different team since then. I
Speaker 3: think you got a lot of buy in. And you know,
Speaker 3: as much as I hate to admit it, I think
Speaker 3: you look at the situation from a broad perspective and
Speaker 3: you have to think that both sides won the breakup.
Speaker 1: Look, I agree, but when you look at his body
Speaker 1: of work just here, much less at his other stops.
Speaker 1: I mean, he deserves its deserving in all of me,
Speaker 1: everybody was mad at him, and I've told you this before.
Speaker 1: You know, so much of this can be summed up,
Speaker 1: and I'm mad and someone needs to be punished. And
Speaker 1: the Big Blue Nation wanted John Caliperi to be punished
Speaker 1: because they were upset over what's happened over the last
Speaker 1: couple of years. He had some really tough breaks with injuries.
Speaker 1: I still say, if May doesn't hit that shot for
Speaker 1: North Carolina, he's still at Kentucky. And a lot of
Speaker 1: people believe if he runs the table in twenty fifteen,
Speaker 1: no matter what happened after that, he's still at Kentucky.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's sports. It's fickle. We know this, we
Speaker 1: don't care, we still love it. That's the way it works.
Speaker 3: But I don't think Cal has the success if he's
Speaker 3: at Kentucky this year. I think that a change of
Speaker 3: scenery has a lot to do with revitalizing motivation and
Speaker 3: argue with that. You know, Cal is at his bass doubted,
Speaker 3: and he's been doubted by this entire state. He's got
Speaker 3: Rick Patino in his pocket nine of the last eleven matches.
Speaker 3: But not only that, Dick, he beat Bill self and
Speaker 3: Rick Patino to get to the sweet sixteen. So I mean,
Speaker 3: I've got to give the man his couldn't agree, but
Speaker 3: I don't think if he would have stayed at Kentucky
Speaker 3: it had been the same thing that we're seeing.
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I agree with you, because well,
Speaker 1: it just would have been a different collection of players.
Speaker 1: Some of the guys would have been the same. But
Speaker 1: you know, when he digs in and he's stubborn, that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. So anyway, all right, we're gonna step out.
Speaker 1: We'll try to get JEFPI KORL. But I have a
Speaker 1: feeling the phone was locked up in his.
Speaker 2: Breath in the briefcase.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but Lee K Howards gonna join us. We're going
Speaker 1: to talk about the UK women, maybe talk a little
Speaker 1: UK baseball as well, and the portals open open for business.
Speaker 1: How about that Michigan player already left. How about that
Speaker 1: they got a game to play. Man, it's Pippin's son.
Speaker 1: I think they've got to change the calendar. They've got
Speaker 1: to they got to work it out. I know some
Speaker 1: schools are on quarters. Yeah, well, I would think if
Speaker 1: the coaches have anything to say about it. But you
Speaker 1: know they've got it. You know, they got to protect
Speaker 1: the bowl games, they gotta protect the NC tournament. Well, anyway,
Speaker 1: when they put us in charge, we'll figure it out.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 1: We're back in just a minute on the state wide
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider. Well, JEFPA, carls Steell m I A.
Speaker 1: So we'll we'll talk with Lee K. Howard in a
Speaker 1: few minutes. You ever mentioned that George Foreman died? Did
Speaker 1: you ever see the fights? I mean you you've got
Speaker 1: it's all out there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I'm a student of history. I think
Speaker 3: he was featured a little bit in the PBS Muhammad
Speaker 3: Ali documentary, which I love fabulous. Yeah, but mainly, I
Speaker 3: mean I'm young enough to know him more as the
Speaker 3: grill guy, of course than the fighting.
Speaker 1: But fine espan every down runs those ones those great fights,
Speaker 1: Ali Frasier informing and all that. But I heard him
Speaker 1: explain why the grill took off, why it became so popular.
Speaker 2: I'd love to know, because I have one, and I
Speaker 2: treat it like a child. In college, it was, I mean,
Speaker 2: with I.
Speaker 1: Know, short on time he was doing. It was an infomercial, right,
Speaker 1: these people you know, sold them on. You know, he
Speaker 1: makes some money. We got these grills, and here's how
Speaker 1: it works. And he said it was stretching into its
Speaker 1: third hour and they just hardly anyone was calling and
Speaker 1: weren't moving any product. And he said, and I got hungry,
Speaker 1: he said, And I look down and there's this prop.
Speaker 1: It's a big plate of cheeseburgers. You know how they
Speaker 1: have it right in front of the grill, and you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: I fat for you. Yeah, And he said, somebody else
Speaker 1: is talking. He just reached down and grabbed a cheeseburger
Speaker 1: and started eating it. He said, I wasn't trying to
Speaker 1: demonstrate anything. I was just hungry. And the phones lit up.
Speaker 1: He starts eating a cheeseburger or two, and the next
Speaker 1: thing you know, they can't handle all the phone traffic,
Speaker 1: and the George Foreman grill was off and running to
Speaker 1: people like me and you. Oh yeah, I had one
Speaker 1: for the longest time. But it worked simply because it
Speaker 1: might have eventually worked. But when Big George grabbed that
Speaker 1: burger and shoved it in his choppers, a legend was born,
Speaker 1: so reborn.
Speaker 2: So the real celebrity endorsement, it was just started with
Speaker 2: George Foreman.
Speaker 4: One of them.
Speaker 2: And then he gets to name the grill after itself,
Speaker 2: and then you leave a legacy.
Speaker 1: Whoever decided it wasn't quite as great as Nike given
Speaker 1: all their money to Michael Jordan in stead of spreading
Speaker 1: it out right, you know, but it's up there, brother,
Speaker 1: all right, when we come back, we'll talk more.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 1: Lee K. Howard was in Milwaukee. It's the state wide
Speaker 1: edition of the Big Blue.
Speaker 2: You have a briefcase that's right.
Speaker 1: From Pikeville to Paduca. It is the state wide edition
Speaker 1: of the Big Blue Insider. Let us join one of
Speaker 1: the road warriors who drove to Milwaukee and back. Several
Speaker 1: media people did that. I always respect that, having made
Speaker 1: trips like that myself back in the day. Mister Lee K.
Speaker 1: Howard from WKYT, how are you, sir?
Speaker 4: I'm doing well. I'm well rested and ready to go
Speaker 4: to Indy at this point, I think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's less than half the drive, isn't it?
Speaker 1: From here to my Indian cead of Milwaukee. I was
Speaker 1: in Milwaukee on my twenty fifth birthday and I think
Speaker 1: I interviewed Junior Bridgeman. I'm pretty sure I did, but
Speaker 1: that's a story for another night. Yeah, But anyhow, Billy
Speaker 1: and I were just talking lee k about all the
Speaker 1: different ways Kentucky excelled in that game, especially defense. I mean,
Speaker 1: you were right there. I saw one of the pictures
Speaker 1: you tweeted. You had a pretty good look at it.
Speaker 1: But what was going through your mind as you watched
Speaker 1: that game unfold, knowing how dangerous Illinois was?
Speaker 4: You know the thing that impressed me right from the jump.
Speaker 4: You could tell that Kentucky was the more relaxed team,
Speaker 4: and because of that, they were the more they were,
Speaker 4: the more aggressive team. They were, the aggressor of the
Speaker 4: entire time. And the thing about you know, you look
Speaker 4: at the fourteen turnovers that they forced. All fourteen were
Speaker 4: steals and you don't normally see that usually when when
Speaker 4: a team has, you know, fourteen turnovers, you can count
Speaker 4: on a couple of them being a you know, an
Speaker 4: unforced turnover. They dribble the ball off their foot, they
Speaker 4: make a bad pass and it deflects out of bounds.
Speaker 4: But Kentucky literally sotle the ball from them fourteen times.
Speaker 4: And so to me, that's what kind of stood out
Speaker 4: to me. Because we knew going into it that Illinois
Speaker 4: had the size advantage. What I think we didn't give
Speaker 4: enough credit to was Kentucky had the speed advantage. You
Speaker 4: know that sec speed was something that gave Illinois some trouble.
Speaker 4: And to me, defense, you know, there's there's plenty of sayings,
Speaker 4: but the one you know, defense leads to offense. I
Speaker 4: mean it truly did, and that that to me. The steals,
Speaker 4: fourteen steals is what stood out to me. On defense.
Speaker 1: I've got to be honest with you, I knew there
Speaker 1: were a bunch. I didn't know all the turnovers were steals.
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever heard of that that many
Speaker 1: double digit turnovers and they were all steals. That's remarkable,
Speaker 1: every one of them. Wow Wow. And then we were
Speaker 1: talking about it, you know how Brea cranked up his
Speaker 1: defensive game. His offense has always been there Chandler, you know,
Speaker 1: doing little things coming off the bench. The Kentucky bench
Speaker 1: was magnificent, wasn't it.
Speaker 4: It really was, you know, And I'll be the first
Speaker 4: to admit the last part of the SEC schedule, I
Speaker 4: was just like most people, a little bit frustrated with
Speaker 4: some of the playing times, some of the minutes that
Speaker 4: some of those bench guys were getting. And they were
Speaker 4: having to do that in a way because of some
Speaker 4: of the injuries that whether the player was playing or
Speaker 4: just dealing with an injury, you know, didn't have the
Speaker 4: minutes that they could. So we were getting all these
Speaker 4: bench minutes. Well, it's certainly paying off now. And I
Speaker 4: mean Colin Chandler is the perfect example of a kid
Speaker 4: who's own exponentially as far as his confidence. I mean,
Speaker 4: a kid to step up to take a logo shot
Speaker 4: early in the shot clock shows sure where he is
Speaker 4: at this point. But even you know, I know, Travis
Speaker 4: Perry didn't play in that game yesterday, but Trent Noah
Speaker 4: came off the bench. He played about the amount of
Speaker 4: minutes you should expect a freshman to play at this
Speaker 4: point in the season. Ansley Almonor comes off plays a
Speaker 4: couple good minutes hits a three. I mean, if they
Speaker 4: can get a good you know, run from their bench
Speaker 4: every game, that's kind of the key. And I think
Speaker 4: that's kind of what Pope was building toward, whether he
Speaker 4: meant to or not, because of the injuries, it kind
Speaker 4: of forced his hand that direction. And so yeah, any
Speaker 4: night you can have Kobe Bray a step up and
Speaker 4: have a big game. But when you've got one of
Speaker 4: those bench guys stepping up, and whether or not it's
Speaker 4: in the scoring column or defense or what you know,
Speaker 4: really contributing, it makes it makes a huge difference.
Speaker 3: Uh, Lee, do you think that the Weeda bicks and
Speaker 3: hot milk are the key for Kentucky to make the
Speaker 3: Final four this year?
Speaker 4: I think it's got to be Billy. I think that
Speaker 4: has to be the key. I think we all learned
Speaker 4: about weed to bix last night. I actually asked Pope
Speaker 4: the question, I said, now, did you eat? Did we
Speaker 4: de bix also? And he said he did? You know,
Speaker 4: he he didn't look like he enjoyed it, just kind
Speaker 4: of by facial expressions. But you know, sometimes you just
Speaker 4: have to do things that you don't want to do
Speaker 4: in order to get a win, you know, Sometimes it's
Speaker 4: running extra spreads.
Speaker 1: Sacrifice.
Speaker 4: Yeah, these are the sacrifices that we make. Sometimes it's
Speaker 4: eating a kind of a weedy cereal with warm milk,
Speaker 4: because I think that's the key. That's what they said,
Speaker 4: it's warm milk. So I did see weed to bix
Speaker 4: was trending and people were going to their local uh,
Speaker 4: their local stores finding some. So hey, I'm willing to
Speaker 4: try it Amazon Amazon. Okay, if you guys try it,
Speaker 4: you guys try it.
Speaker 1: I will. I told Billy that, and I didn't set
Speaker 1: the time frame. Billy, this wasn't like over the last
Speaker 1: forty eight hours. It's like last year. I tried it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and no thing but leak.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was funny because.
Speaker 1: No, I didn't put warm milk on it. I have
Speaker 1: a cold milk on it just turned into a sludge
Speaker 1: that I didn't like. Now I gotta ask you this. Now,
Speaker 1: Leek went to college in Texas, but it's from New Mexico. Okay, Clovis,
Speaker 1: Is that right?
Speaker 4: That's right?
Speaker 1: Okay. Did you guys eat anything for breakfast out there
Speaker 1: that was sort of like indigenous to the local area,
Speaker 1: you know, something that people in that part of the
Speaker 1: world might eat. For breakfast that people over here don't
Speaker 1: eat for breakfast.
Speaker 4: I don't. I don't like. I think like a lot
Speaker 4: of like fried eggs and Mexican food and that kind
Speaker 4: of stuff with acceptable breakfast, those franchios. But exactly. But
Speaker 4: he got to keep in mind, I grew up like
Speaker 4: in the late eighties early nineties when nobody when parents
Speaker 4: didn't worry about sugar content. So I just dated a
Speaker 4: bunch of like pop tarts and fucked the bikes. So nothing. Yeah,
Speaker 4: just good old fashioned bad sugar.
Speaker 1: The all time sugar bomb, cap'n Crunch.
Speaker 4: And I've started to think if I ate weed the Bix,
Speaker 4: I might have turned into Amari Williams. But we'll never know.
Speaker 4: We will never know.
Speaker 1: Oh man, I went. I went to London two years
Speaker 1: ago when Kentucky played over there. I don't remember seeing
Speaker 1: anybody eat that or order that. So anyway, well, let's
Speaker 1: get back to basketball. What was it like. You've made
Speaker 1: many road trips, you've covered NCAA tournaments. Kentucky was an
Speaker 1: underdog in this game, even though it was the higher
Speaker 1: seeded team and you had more Illinois fans there, until
Speaker 1: you know, they became silent by the end.
Speaker 4: Of the game. What was that like? You know, the
Speaker 4: atmosphere was great, and it's not often that Kentucky goes
Speaker 4: into the tournament in any sort of situation where they
Speaker 4: are that out numbered and night. You're right. I've been
Speaker 4: to quite a few I've been to I was in
Speaker 4: Kansas City in nineteen when they went to the Sweet sixteen.
Speaker 4: I was in Clee. I've been to a lot of
Speaker 4: places and Kentucky fans show up, and to their credit,
Speaker 4: a lot of Kentucky fans did make that seven hour
Speaker 4: drive or flight, some of them, I'm sure to get
Speaker 4: up there. There was a good number of Kentucky fans.
Speaker 4: But Illinois Champagne, Illinois is just about three hours away,
Speaker 4: and I think a lot of you know, people came
Speaker 4: from Chicago as well that you know Illinois Grads, which
Speaker 4: is about an hour away. That place was so orange.
Speaker 4: I mean, they had their backs against the wall. But
Speaker 4: we've seen this Kentucky team so many times on the road.
Speaker 4: They did it it Missouri, they did it at Tennessee.
Speaker 4: They I mean, they've played well in Oklahoma. You know,
Speaker 4: they've done it in these road environments, and I think
Speaker 4: they kind of relished that, you know, and one of
Speaker 4: the things that Lamont said after the game that I
Speaker 4: really enjoyed. He said, you know, a lot of us
Speaker 4: we're just underdogs, and not necessarily just this season, but
Speaker 4: he's like, we've just kind of been underdogs our whole life.
Speaker 4: We've never been the kid that was highly recruited, highly
Speaker 4: sought after we all started at other schools. You know,
Speaker 4: they know what it means to make to put this
Speaker 4: Kentucky jersey on. But they also have that experience like
Speaker 4: Ansley Almanor, who was a part of that Fairley Dickinson
Speaker 4: team that had the big upset in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 4: They totally understand what it means to play the role
Speaker 4: of the underdog in this tournament, whereas a lot of
Speaker 4: the kids, and this is nothing against the Kentucky kids
Speaker 4: in the past, even the ones with experience in the
Speaker 4: tournament always came in with Kentucky across their chest and
Speaker 4: understood that angle. Well, you come in as the underdog,
Speaker 4: you can relish in that if you really accept that role.
Speaker 4: And I think that's what we're seeing from this team.
Speaker 3: Speaking of Underdog's League, Ky Kentucky is a literal underdog
Speaker 3: against Tennessee four and a half point dog, And I
Speaker 3: need you to explain that to me, because Kentucky's already
Speaker 3: beaten this Tennessee team twice. One of those times was
Speaker 3: without Lamont Butler. Feels like Kentucky's peaking and playing their
Speaker 3: best right now. Even if you look at the ken
Speaker 3: Pom numbers, why would you think that Tennessee would be
Speaker 3: favored in this games?
Speaker 4: You know, they keep when I say they, I mean
Speaker 4: national people that make these picks, and they keep trying
Speaker 4: to make Tennessee the better team. And you could look
Speaker 4: at the body of work of Tennessee and say, well,
Speaker 4: maybe they were better overall. But all that matters in
Speaker 4: these tournaments is the team that you play in front
Speaker 4: of you. I mean, that's how the tournament is. It's
Speaker 4: all about matchups. And for whatever reason, Kentucky has had
Speaker 4: Tennessee's number this year that they can play right with them,
Speaker 4: and they can score and they can somehow get Tennessee
Speaker 4: out of their game. So I'm not sure why that's
Speaker 4: the case. But you brought up a good point. They
Speaker 4: didn't have Lamont Butler. I don't think Andrew Carr played
Speaker 4: in that first game either. They were more injured when
Speaker 4: they played them the previous two times, and they will
Speaker 4: be on Friday. This will be the healthiest they've played
Speaker 4: against Tennessee. And then you take into account you didn't
Speaker 4: have Colin Chandler playing the way that he is now.
Speaker 4: I mean, so I kind of like Kentucky's chances, But
Speaker 4: I've honestly like going back to the underdog thing. I
Speaker 4: don't think the players really care that they're going into
Speaker 4: this game as a perceived underdog. Again. I even saw
Speaker 4: on ESPN today as we were driving, they had the
Speaker 4: lower third chiron at the bottom of the screen that
Speaker 4: said something like Kentucky looks to avenge their two regular
Speaker 4: season losses to Tennessee. Oops, and like it's literally literally
Speaker 4: you know, the wrong thing. So you know, I Kentucky
Speaker 4: has played well against Tennessee, and we've seen that they
Speaker 4: can play well against the team that tries to slow
Speaker 4: it down and that kind of thing they've struggled against
Speaker 4: in Alabama because they're just better at playing that style
Speaker 4: of basketball. So I like what Tennessee. I mean, excuse me,
Speaker 4: what Kentucky can do against Tennessee this this Friday.
Speaker 1: Ziggler concerns me. Even with Lamont Butler active. I think
Speaker 1: he's playing really well. Though the last week Aaron Gershan
Speaker 1: immediately pointed out that Ziggler doesn't play well against the
Speaker 1: Kentucky That doesn't mean he won't play well this time.
Speaker 1: But I like the fact that. I mean, I could
Speaker 1: see Tennessee being favored. But I like the fact that
Speaker 1: Kentucky's playing better defense now than it was even back
Speaker 1: when it beat Tennessee those two times, because Kentucky played
Speaker 1: good enough defense then to hold down a Tennessee team
Speaker 1: that has trouble scoring. And the one thing we know
Speaker 1: about Kentucky, it generally doesn't have a whole lot of
Speaker 1: trouble scoring. Now it will against Tennessee because Parbacey's a
Speaker 1: good team defensively. But I think Kentucky's offense against Tennessee's
Speaker 1: defense is going to be better than Tennessee's offense against
Speaker 1: Kentucky's defense, You know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Yeah, And that's fair. I mean, you can outscore this
Speaker 4: Tennessee team, yes, and they purposely, they purposely try to
Speaker 4: keep the score low. So if you can get them
Speaker 4: out of their rhythm. We saw in that first game
Speaker 4: when they took an extraordinary amount of three pointers and
Speaker 4: missed almost all of them. You know, they can be
Speaker 4: taken out of their game as well. And so yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean someone said in the media room in Milwaukee, like,
Speaker 4: it's going to be tough to beat Tennessee for a
Speaker 4: third time. Sure, the way I look at it, maybe
Speaker 4: I look at it with the optimist view here is,
Speaker 4: but going into a matchup with the team for a
Speaker 4: third time, wouldn't you rather be the team that won
Speaker 4: the first two games? Oh yeah, than the team that
Speaker 4: lost the first two games?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 4: You know, you know, you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 4: I just think Kentucky and Tennessee. You know, Tennessee may
Speaker 4: just be one of those matchups where Kentucky can thrive.
Speaker 4: And you know, if you're going to go into a
Speaker 4: Sweet sixteen matchup against the two seed, because you're going
Speaker 4: to have to play a two seed, wouldn't you rather
Speaker 4: play the team that you've beaten twice. That's just kind
Speaker 4: of the view that I go into it with. And
Speaker 4: you know, roll the ball out there. And here's the
Speaker 4: other part of that. When you get into this NCAA
Speaker 4: tournament situation where you're doing scout after scout after scout,
Speaker 4: you don't have to spend a lot of time scouting Tennessee.
Speaker 4: I mean it works both ways, but both teams are
Speaker 4: extremely familiar with each other. Yeah, so you know, there's
Speaker 4: there's not a lot of preparation as far as Nuance
Speaker 4: is about the volunteers that Kentucky's nothing to know about
Speaker 4: going into this game.
Speaker 2: Lee, k Aren't you glad that Kentucky didn't hire Dan Hurley?
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness. I mean that guy, I.
Speaker 3: Mean, has he ruined his reputation? I mean, I know
Speaker 3: he just went back to back titles in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 3: Streak was like second longest of all time that just
Speaker 3: got snapped in it.
Speaker 1: I mean, the guy.
Speaker 2: Has he always been like this or is he getting
Speaker 2: a little too big for his bridges.
Speaker 4: I think he's getting big. I think he's always been
Speaker 4: like this. I think we're all paying attention a little
Speaker 4: bit more, Billy. I'll tell you a story. Selection Sunday,
Speaker 4: we were over at the at Reparena for the selection
Speaker 4: Sunday ceremony and Mitch Barnhardt walked over to where I
Speaker 4: was standing and I looked at him and I said, Mitch,
Speaker 4: I said thank you, And he said for what? And
Speaker 4: I told him for sparing us from Dan Hurley. And
Speaker 4: he got this big smile on his face and he said,
Speaker 4: he said, and I don't think he would mind me
Speaker 4: sharing this. And he said, oh, I knew him back
Speaker 4: from his heart for days. We were never going to
Speaker 4: get Dan Hurley. And and and so even though those
Speaker 4: rumors were out there, who knows, I mean, he who
Speaker 4: knows if the contact was ever made. But I just
Speaker 4: can't imagine the fan base how in love they are
Speaker 4: with Mark Pope right now latching on to a Dan Hurley.
Speaker 4: I mean, it is Uh. I don't cheer against a
Speaker 4: lot of teams as much when they're not playing against Kentucky.
Speaker 4: You know, I don't really have a dog in most
Speaker 4: teams in most fights.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: I actively cheer against Dan in the U cottage just
Speaker 4: it's kind of a fun thing to do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, the guy knows what he's doing, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, the proofs in a pudding right here.
Speaker 1: But and then his welcome, Yeah, well that's true. But
Speaker 1: his team went down fighting this year as well. Real quickly,
Speaker 1: what was your take on the Arkansas upset of Saint John's.
Speaker 4: I didn't see it coming. I mean, I tell you
Speaker 4: what I mean. We we said it from the moment
Speaker 4: that cali Perry was hired there that it was good
Speaker 4: for all parties, and that is completely held true. I mean,
Speaker 4: this obviously was a good upgrade for Kentucky John Caliperi
Speaker 4: going to Arkansas was a great upgrade for him. And
Speaker 4: you know, we talked about teams having people's numbers. Coaches
Speaker 4: have people's numbers two and for whatever reason, John Calipari
Speaker 4: has Rick Patino's number, so uh, best of luck to them.
Speaker 4: I mean, they they played the better game, They were
Speaker 4: the better team that game, and they're moving on well.
Speaker 1: And it's like I told Billy, I watched the second
Speaker 1: half again and I'm just convinced that I you know,
Speaker 1: I can't speak to the coaching moves, but Arkansas I
Speaker 1: had better athletes, you know I mean, And that again
Speaker 1: goes back to the SEC.
Speaker 4: Lee K.
Speaker 1: Howard from w k YT watches work. Watch him on
Speaker 1: Twitter and watch his reports from Indianapolis. Thank you brother.
Speaker 4: All right, thanks guys, have a good night.
Speaker 1: A good one, and we'll come back and wrap up
Speaker 1: this edition of the State Wide BB. I talk a
Speaker 1: little more basketball, a little bit of baseball, and We'll
Speaker 1: be right back. Thanks again to Lee K. Howard, Jeff Picicoro. Yoh,
Speaker 1: it's dinner both billion me but we have there's plenty
Speaker 1: to talk about, of course. Uh you watched the women's game.
Speaker 1: I was there. That was a terrific basketball game, back
Speaker 1: and forth, up and down. Early it looked like Kentucky
Speaker 1: was gonna cruise. Then you realize the big kid that
Speaker 1: is in the middle for Kansas State. You know, she
Speaker 1: owns the n C record for most points in one
Speaker 1: game in a women's game. She's she's the record holder.
Speaker 1: I did not know she scored sixty one points.
Speaker 2: Was that the one hitting threes?
Speaker 1: No, that's that, oh man. And some people say it's
Speaker 1: because they had to commit so much of covering the
Speaker 1: big kid, and maybe it was, but I don't think
Speaker 1: they were just late closing out, you know, and to
Speaker 1: lose her in traffic. It's just a puzzlement to me.
Speaker 1: But things happened still. George Aymore gets the shot you
Speaker 1: would want ninety nine out of one hundred, and it
Speaker 1: just didn't go. When I saw her, When I saw
Speaker 1: Strack make that pass, I thought game over. I braced
Speaker 1: myself for the screaming that building was going to explode. Crowd.
Speaker 1: Billy was as good as I've ever seen at a
Speaker 1: UK women's game. Oh yeah, as good as I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: But it was such a great game.
Speaker 3: When she made a great move on that final play
Speaker 3: too to kind of go towards the base, well, I
Speaker 3: mean it was.
Speaker 1: A loose ball. But here's the other thing. There were
Speaker 1: three really good looks.
Speaker 3: Before that the reoffensive rebounds. Yes, before she made that,
Speaker 3: they could for a better opportunity. And you know what
Speaker 3: that team deserves that support. It's Kenny Brooks has done
Speaker 3: a great jobs. The Sporting News Coach of the Year.
Speaker 3: That's one of I guess six or nine how many
Speaker 3: of those awards there are. But look, I mean this
Speaker 3: is year one. I think the future is bright with
Speaker 3: him at the helm. And now give him a chance
Speaker 3: to bring in some players and let's keep this thing rolling.
Speaker 1: Right, It's got to go find another Georgia aymore. How
Speaker 1: do you do that?
Speaker 2: You don't?
Speaker 1: You don't.
Speaker 2: I mean, she will be remembered forever in the blue
Speaker 2: and white.
Speaker 3: She was phenomenal and for her to miss that, Bunny,
Speaker 3: it looked a little bit like Otega's game winner the
Speaker 3: first Oklahoma game.
Speaker 1: That's a good point.
Speaker 2: But he wasn't or she wasn't completely behind the backboard for.
Speaker 1: The shot where and she didn't use the glass. She
Speaker 1: didn't use the glass either.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they have been part of it.
Speaker 1: And she is so good at that. It penetrating and
Speaker 1: somehow getting the ball off off the square and she'll
Speaker 1: do that and then as they call it, the w Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And this was a team that broke records for most
Speaker 3: shot blocks in a single season. Tracks coming back, So
Speaker 3: I mean, there's there's a lot to be optimistic about Clara.
Speaker 1: Clara Sarah Klatta, I think is how you should know it.
Speaker 1: She should live in the weight room. You know, needs
Speaker 1: to get stronger. I'm sure she knows that. Obviously easy
Speaker 1: for me to say. But too many times the ball
Speaker 1: gets knocked out of her hand or whatever. But she's
Speaker 1: got skills. She's going up against track every day. Come on, now,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 3: I'm sure it is the same. I'm not sure exactly,
Speaker 3: but the transfer portal opened today, at least for men's basketball, Dick,
Speaker 3: how can you ask a coach to work in the
Speaker 3: transferport while they're still playing?
Speaker 1: Let me tell you something we were talking Doug Flynn
Speaker 1: and I were talking to Austin Kuzeno, who's Kentucky's baseball
Speaker 1: recruiting coordinator, about just that, about how it never ends
Speaker 1: really he said. While he said, while we were in Omaha,
Speaker 1: Nick Man, Jone and I were making phone calls, setting
Speaker 1: up zoom calls, stuff like that while they're in Omaha,
Speaker 1: not concentrating on the World Series obviously, but trying to
Speaker 1: get back to the World Series by reaching out, you know.
Speaker 1: And on the one hand, you can say, hey, Billy Routledge,
Speaker 1: we would love to have you come be a Wildcat.
Speaker 1: We're in Omaha right now. That's how much we think
Speaker 1: of you, you know, that sort of thing. But I'm
Speaker 1: sure they kids hear that from everybody.
Speaker 3: Well, no wonder everybody's leaving the coaching profession at college day.
Speaker 3: I mean, I can't like it's it's a joke that
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know what, but you got to
Speaker 3: back that up. And the same thing for the college
Speaker 3: football calendar as well. I mean, we have a second
Speaker 3: transfer portal open for college football, which you need.
Speaker 1: In the spring because there are kids who you know,
Speaker 1: come out of the spring say hey, I ain't gonna but.
Speaker 2: That it's created that culture of I'm not gonna play.
Speaker 1: Sure it is, but who didn't see that coming?
Speaker 2: Oh that's that's true.
Speaker 1: But you and I talked about this. I'm thinking, Billy,
Speaker 1: you and I talked about this three years ago. We
Speaker 1: did when these rules were first, And you and I
Speaker 1: aren't the brightest, but it didn't take a genius to
Speaker 1: see what this was going to do to college athletics.
Speaker 1: The first thing that came to my head was tampering.
Speaker 1: Well now it's now, it's almost legalized tampering because you
Speaker 1: don't need a coach to call a player. You can
Speaker 1: get one of your players to call him.
Speaker 2: Well, I remember it was in real time. We were saying, like,
Speaker 2: this is the end of college sports as as we
Speaker 2: know it, and it was like COVID. And then right
Speaker 2: after that, all.
Speaker 1: The next move is going to be when all these
Speaker 1: schools start paying more money, You're going to see sports
Speaker 1: start to disappear, Teams, programs, merily, men's broc start to disappear.
Speaker 1: Right when it happens, we'll complain about it right here
Speaker 1: on the Big Women's Sider. Thanks so much, Leek Howard
Speaker 1: for Billy Dick Abriel that said good night from Lexington