Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Moon. Sider Dick Abriel with you
Speaker 1: on a Thursday edition of our program, still snow and
Speaker 1: ice bound here in the garage with the space heater
Speaker 1: cranked up. Hope you are warm and dry wherever you are.
Speaker 1: This is kind of a crossover day when we have
Speaker 1: a full show on Thursday. There's no women's basketball tonight,
Speaker 1: so we've got the full show for you, and we're
Speaker 1: going to talk, of course about Kentucky basketball, a little
Speaker 1: bit of football in there, but this is the kind
Speaker 1: of day where you're still talking about the game in
Speaker 1: the rearview mirror, but you're looking ahead to the upcoming
Speaker 1: game on Saturday. And now the framework of that game,
Speaker 1: based on how Kentucky came back and beat Texas A
Speaker 1: and M and beat the Aggies by playing Aggie basketball
Speaker 1: kind of ground it out tough defense. And now you've
Speaker 1: got Alabama coming to town, which could end up being
Speaker 1: a track meet. I mean, it could be just like
Speaker 1: the Florida game, because Alabama's defense isn't nearly what A
Speaker 1: and M's defense is, but Alabama may have more athletes,
Speaker 1: and of course A and M was missing its best player.
Speaker 1: So and like I always said, it didn't play four
Speaker 1: on five. They had a guy out there, maybe not
Speaker 1: quite as good as Waye Taylor, but I think A
Speaker 1: and M made adjustments minus Taylor, and it gave other
Speaker 1: guys a chance to get some stuff done. And therefore
Speaker 1: they're jacking up threes and hitting them in the first half.
Speaker 1: Maybe that doesn't happen if the offense is going through
Speaker 1: one guy primarily in the first half. So anyhow, Kentucky
Speaker 1: gets the win and now is in good shape going
Speaker 1: into the game noon. Something you will hear right here
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLAP. Coming up tonight, we're going to
Speaker 1: talk to Gary Graves. He's been a guest on our
Speaker 1: show before, but always as the Associated Press corresponded here
Speaker 1: in Lexington. Well, he just retired, took a little early retirement,
Speaker 1: as a lot of people do, but he has covered
Speaker 1: Kentucky now for about a dozen years, so we'll get
Speaker 1: his thoughts on what he has seen so far this season.
Speaker 1: Also going to talk to Lee K. Howard from WKA.
Speaker 1: He covered the game the other night and shot the
Speaker 1: video for WKYT, meaning he sat on the baseline right
Speaker 1: next to the visiting team, so we'll get his thoughts
Speaker 1: on the Cats, how they've developed, and some of the
Speaker 1: things he heard and saw from the Texas A and
Speaker 1: M bench during those guys, the shooters and women on
Speaker 1: those baselines. I always have good stories to tell. I
Speaker 1: like that. Also Tim Sullivan, freelance journalist over in Louisville,
Speaker 1: who has worked for newspapers throughout his career in Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: San Diego, Louisville, who's with a Courier journal now a
Speaker 1: freelance writer, will get his thoughts and observations on the
Speaker 1: Cats and the Cards over in Louisville. It's going to
Speaker 1: be interesting Saturday to see if Travis Perry can take
Speaker 1: that next step. And I mentioned him last night. Everybody
Speaker 1: was talking about Travis, and I said we would get
Speaker 1: more into it tonight. So here we are. Mark Pope
Speaker 1: was asked by Daryl Byrd. Of course literary wrote the
Speaker 1: book on Travis Perry, the publisher of The Cat's Pause
Speaker 1: and the lead columnist. He asked Pope about the fact
Speaker 1: that they had to throw Travis Perry and of course
Speaker 1: he's now the number two point guard since Kirk Crisa
Speaker 1: is injured. And you talk about tough minutes and having
Speaker 1: to learn literally on the fly, against a team like
Speaker 1: Texas A and M. But as Pope pointed out, Perry
Speaker 1: was up to it.
Speaker 2: He's terrific, isn't he Against a really complicated defense like
Speaker 2: this is not an easy defense to kind of figure out. Like,
Speaker 2: you know what, our guys are pretty good at They're
Speaker 2: pretty good at figuring out what they're seeing, and we're
Speaker 2: pretty good.
Speaker 3: About coaching them.
Speaker 2: And when things change as much as they did with
Speaker 2: Texas M, that's the next step for us is to
Speaker 2: be able to really change with the changes. But TP,
Speaker 2: you know, I mean, yeah, it was a big shots,
Speaker 2: really big shots, right. They made us feel a whole
Speaker 2: lot better. And he's got no fear and he's just
Speaker 2: going out to play, and you know, it's fun.
Speaker 3: You know, if you.
Speaker 2: Chart his trajectory, you just get to see these little
Speaker 2: steps that he's taking. We all get to say. It's
Speaker 2: It's one of the great things about coaching and being
Speaker 2: fans that are really invested, which is BBN, is you
Speaker 2: actually get to see like the beginning and the middle
Speaker 2: and the growth that we get to prognosticate about where
Speaker 2: they're going and to see these guys grow as special.
Speaker 2: TP is definitely do that. This is a high pressure game,
Speaker 2: is top ten game against one of the best defenses
Speaker 2: in the country, and he was terrific.
Speaker 1: He was terrific, no question about that. Gave them good
Speaker 1: minutes and Perry talked to the media after the game
Speaker 1: just about how he's grown since becoming a Wildcat.
Speaker 3: The reps. Obviously from the beginning of summer till now,
Speaker 3: I've had.
Speaker 4: A lot of reps against the best point guards of
Speaker 4: college basketball, against some of the best defenders in college basketball,
Speaker 4: so that goes a long way. But also just getting
Speaker 4: more comfortable in the college game, Like the pace is
Speaker 4: starting to come to me a little bit, just the feels,
Speaker 4: the reads, like I keep saying, the game is slowing
Speaker 4: down for me a little bit, and that's something that's
Speaker 4: big to get more comfortable out there. And then the
Speaker 4: confidence side of it, like like guys are really showing
Speaker 4: a lot of confidence in each other, Like that's something
Speaker 4: we've had all season, and so when you're out there
Speaker 4: and know that everybody on the bench, the coach is said,
Speaker 4: everyone has confidence in here.
Speaker 1: It goes along with our Jack Gibbons on Tom Leach's
Speaker 1: show this morning talking about Travis and Jack made a
Speaker 1: really interesting point no surprise, he said he was a
Speaker 1: little bit. Jack was a little bit relieved when Travis
Speaker 1: got into the game the other night and almost immediately
Speaker 1: committed a turnover. But it I'm paraphrasing, that didn't really
Speaker 1: affect his game. He just kept right on going. You
Speaker 1: saw how well he played, and Jack said that told him.
Speaker 1: Told Jack that Travis has been able to relax more
Speaker 1: and not worry about making mistakes, understand and accept the
Speaker 1: fact that mistakes are going to happen. You just got
Speaker 1: to move on to the next play. And certainly now
Speaker 1: we are seeing that in Travis. Perry and Travis talked
Speaker 1: about how much more comfortable he is with just really
Speaker 1: not thinking, just going out and playing.
Speaker 3: That's something that I was really working on.
Speaker 4: He's just being more confident, being more decisive, and like
Speaker 4: you said, just being quick to pull the trigger.
Speaker 3: That's something that the credits the kur.
Speaker 4: Kurt told me all the time, him and one of
Speaker 4: our gas Austin Folk, just just being able to come
Speaker 4: in and make shots.
Speaker 3: Like sometimes whether whether you.
Speaker 4: Make the shot, miss the shot, take the shot, you
Speaker 4: might be coming out of the next media, so just
Speaker 4: be ready to kind of bring a spark, bring a
Speaker 4: spark when you're in there and take advantage of the
Speaker 4: opportunities that are given.
Speaker 1: That's Travis Perry, and I'm really curious to see when
Speaker 1: he does get in against Alabama what kind of game
Speaker 1: he has, because this one could be a track meet.
Speaker 1: It absolutely could look like the Florida game because that's
Speaker 1: the way Alabama likes to play. And obviously Kentucky's at
Speaker 1: its best in transition, shooting threes, you know all that.
Speaker 1: So it's gonna be fun. You'll hear it right here
Speaker 1: on six point thirty WLAP A couple of other UK
Speaker 1: basketball notes. Nick Richards, the guy who didn't get to
Speaker 1: play his last year at Kentucky in the nca Tournament
Speaker 1: because of COVID, has been with the Charlotte Hornets and
Speaker 1: playing well. He's been traded to Phoenix, which is trying
Speaker 1: to make a run toward the playoffs. Charlotte wasn't gonna
Speaker 1: get there, and they made a trade to bring in
Speaker 1: and he had some pretty good numbers going off the
Speaker 1: bench at Charlotte nine points a game, seven and a
Speaker 1: half rebounds per game in just twenty one minutes per game.
Speaker 1: Phoenix eleventh place in the Western Conference, nineteen and twenty,
Speaker 1: and they're hoping he helps put them over the edge
Speaker 1: and sadly into the playoffs. And by the way, you
Speaker 1: know who had an eye on Nick Richards for a
Speaker 1: while back in September, the Knicks. This is before they
Speaker 1: got Karl Anthony Towns from the Timberwolves. That was a
Speaker 1: huge deal when they sent Julius Randall, but they were
Speaker 1: looking for big man help, so they were looking at
Speaker 1: Nick Richards. And now he's got a new home in Phoenix.
Speaker 1: So keep an eye on the Suns if you are
Speaker 1: one to be interested. That's a past Wildcat future Wildcats
Speaker 1: Jasper Johnson Malachai Moreno. Two of twelve players named the
Speaker 1: Team USA for the twenty six annual Nike Hoop Summit,
Speaker 1: only Duke had multiple players. That's the only other school.
Speaker 1: Duke head three, but they were selected by the USA
Speaker 1: Basketball Men's Developmental National Team Committee to compete against the
Speaker 1: World team Saturday, April twelfth up in Portland. So great
Speaker 1: experience for both. I want to say rip to Bob Yucker.
Speaker 1: Never met the guy. I've heard stories, obviously, everybody has
Speaker 1: seen him on TV and in Major League the movie.
Speaker 1: Jeff Picicoro posted a picture of himself with Yuker. Jeff
Speaker 1: of course a long time member of the Reds Network,
Speaker 1: so got to hang out with him a little bit.
Speaker 1: But Major League was really when Uker. I think he
Speaker 1: had already done the miller like commercials and all, but
Speaker 1: I think the nation fell in love with him all
Speaker 1: over again. And everybody knows this line job. I don't
Speaker 1: know about that one, but so many of his lines
Speaker 1: in that movie where d libbd and he just went
Speaker 1: up and had fun with it and the producers left
Speaker 1: it in. He was such a vital part of the
Speaker 1: success of that Major League franchise, really the movie franchise.
Speaker 1: Not a great player, two hundred career hitter, but boy
Speaker 1: could he tell stories, especially when he was on with
Speaker 1: Johnny Carson making fun of the fact that he just
Speaker 1: wasn't very good, or.
Speaker 2: Maybe my last time at bat, I'd looking the visitors
Speaker 2: doug out and see all the guys sitting there with
Speaker 2: their street cloths on.
Speaker 1: I also love when Carson held up a photo of
Speaker 1: a bunch of players celebrating and they were pouring beer
Speaker 1: in the Uker's mouth, and he said, is that a
Speaker 1: celebration after a big win? They said, he said, now
Speaker 1: that's me getting ready to play love that one. And
Speaker 1: of course the knuckleball story. Best way to catch a knuckleball,
Speaker 1: pick it up on a quitch rolling. He was priceless
Speaker 1: and gone at the age of ninety. Rip Bob Buker.
Speaker 1: I want to come on six thirty WLAP Welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Big Moonsider. Coming up in a few minutes.
Speaker 1: Gary Graves, who just recently retired from the Associated Press.
Speaker 1: He has spent a long time covering the Wildcats and
Speaker 1: a lot of other things. Who will talk to Gary?
Speaker 1: Also Lee K. Howard from WKYT and Louisville based freelance
Speaker 1: writer Tim Sullivan. We'll talk to him about the Cats
Speaker 1: and the cards. But a lot going on around the
Speaker 1: country last night, As always, let's start in the sec
Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure the results by now. Tennessee destroyed Georgia.
Speaker 1: Seventy four to fifty six was the final halftime. Georgia
Speaker 1: is up a point. Georgia's up twenty six to twenty five.
Speaker 1: And I was playing cards with some friends and we
Speaker 1: had the game on, and every time we looked over
Speaker 1: the lead kept getting bigger and bigger. I think it
Speaker 1: was a thirteen to one run Tennessee began the second half.
Speaker 1: Georgia got it down to eight at one point and
Speaker 1: antened I looked up at twenty one. I mean, Tennessee
Speaker 1: just absolutely destroyed the Bulldogs, who didn't quite get to
Speaker 1: the free throw line as much in this game as
Speaker 1: they did in their last couple of home games games
Speaker 1: including Kentucky. But Tennessee was hitting, Georgia was not, and
Speaker 1: the Volunteers go to three and one in the league.
Speaker 1: Georgia now is two and two. Vandy gets a win
Speaker 1: over South Carolina, which quite frankly, just isn't very good.
Speaker 1: And you knew this going in. South Carolina was one
Speaker 1: of the few have knots in the SEC as league
Speaker 1: play began to unfold this season. Carolina's own four in
Speaker 1: the league now Vandy two and two, fourteen and three
Speaker 1: overall them Commodores. Texas gets its first conference victory in
Speaker 1: basketball beats Oklahoma and Norman seventy seven to seventy three.
Speaker 1: Texas was really kicking their butts in the first half.
Speaker 1: We watched some of that game, and then Oklahoma practically
Speaker 1: turned it around in the second half. But Ou is
Speaker 1: still winless in the league and here's the thing. Oklahoma
Speaker 1: thirteen and oh going into conference play thirteen and oh.
Speaker 1: Texas was eleven and two. So and you knew this
Speaker 1: as you saw the records pile up that some of
Speaker 1: this was because of scheduling. Everybody kept talking about how
Speaker 1: amazing the SEC is, and by tournament time we may see, yeah,
Speaker 1: it really is, but some of that was scheduling, and
Speaker 1: clearly that was the case for Oklahoma and Texas, probably
Speaker 1: South Carolina as well. So the surprises in the SEC.
Speaker 1: Last name of the margins of victory. I thought the
Speaker 1: Iowa State went over Kansas was pretty amazing. Iowa State.
Speaker 1: I've seen him play like one half so far this year,
Speaker 1: really good. They beat Kansas seventy four to fifty seven
Speaker 1: in ames by the way, I will say, fifteen and
Speaker 1: one now five and on the Big twelve, Kansas is
Speaker 1: only quote unquote twelve and four, three and two in
Speaker 1: the league. So not quite the powerhouse that some had
Speaker 1: predicted for Kansas, at least not right now. Guess who's
Speaker 1: undefeated after six games in the Big Ten. Michigan State.
Speaker 1: Tom Mislo's got a ball club fifteen to two overall,
Speaker 1: six to zero in the league. After beating Penn State
Speaker 1: last night ninety eighty five, and Houston keeps rolling, knocked
Speaker 1: off West Virginia at home last night five and on
Speaker 1: the Big twelve, Houston is thirteen and three overall. None
Speaker 1: of the other real powerhouses in action last night from
Speaker 1: the top twenty five. And of course Wildcats taking on
Speaker 1: Alabama Saturday afternoon at noon. You'll hear that game right
Speaker 1: here on six thirty WLAP. You know by now that
Speaker 1: the scuzz bucket who was verbally abusing the fan at
Speaker 1: the Philly game. Yes he was a Green Bay Packers fan,
Speaker 1: but didn't matter who she was rooting for. He has
Speaker 1: been banned from lincoln Field for life. We'll see along
Speaker 1: that stands up, and he's been fired from his job.
Speaker 1: But now, naturally, media members, at least a couple of them,
Speaker 1: are questioning what happened. Questioning her fiance, two media types
Speaker 1: pointed out the fact that this guy created a go
Speaker 1: Fundme page to fund his travel to the game, and
Speaker 1: he wore a body camera. He's a YouTube creator, So
Speaker 1: now they're saying, we've been manipulated by this dude. Really,
Speaker 1: so what was this guy's role in prompting the Philly
Speaker 1: fan and they said, yeah, what that guy did was terrible.
Speaker 1: But my reaction is, so what, And again not just
Speaker 1: because they're fans of the Packers, So what? They created
Speaker 1: a GoFundMe paid, that's smart. No one's forcing anybody to
Speaker 1: give this guy and his fiance money to go to Philly.
Speaker 1: No one's forcing anybody to watch his YouTube page, and
Speaker 1: nobody's forcing the Philly fan to be a part of this.
Speaker 1: It just clicked bait and two media people trying to
Speaker 1: stand and also they're trying to cater to their fan base. Naturally.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there are people out there who will stop
Speaker 1: and pause and say, wait a minute, maybe this isn't fair.
Speaker 1: It's ridiculous, is what it is. So is what's happening
Speaker 1: out with the California fires. With regard to State Farm.
Speaker 1: State Farm is canceled. It's commercial for the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they get the full refund on
Speaker 1: their seven million dollar purchase, but they have gotten so
Speaker 1: much flak, so much criticism. It's the largest property insurer
Speaker 1: in California, but it announced in March twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: it is not going to renew seventy two thousand property
Speaker 1: insurance policies in the state because arising costs, outdated insurance regulations,
Speaker 1: and it said increasing risks of catastrophes, including fires. That's
Speaker 1: just great. So now, according to media which cover advertising
Speaker 1: at age specifically, they've canceled their spot. They had one
Speaker 1: last year. I don't remember it. They had Danny DeVito
Speaker 1: and Arnold Schwarzenegger kind of reprising their role from the
Speaker 1: movie Twins. So yeah, they're out. You know who else
Speaker 1: is out? A member of the Ohio State football team,
Speaker 1: a guy who apparently made famous from TikTok walk on
Speaker 1: defensive lineman Caden Davis the Ohio State student newspaper. So
Speaker 1: this guy's no longer on the team. The team wouldn't
Speaker 1: give a specific reason, and he is a non factor
Speaker 1: they say, in terms of you know, playing time and
Speaker 1: things like that. But apparently he has two hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy six thousand followers on TikTok and another one hundred
Speaker 1: thousand on Instagram. He gives a behind us scenes look
Speaker 1: at Ohio State football as a player on a daily basis,
Speaker 1: and now he's gone. So this is kind of suspicious.
Speaker 1: This is kind of weird. Although apparently he came under
Speaker 1: fire video fire recently for a video featuring footage from
Speaker 1: the trip to Texas for the college football semi final
Speaker 1: at the Cotton Bowl. Some viewers questioned whether he was
Speaker 1: actually on the trip because some of the footage actually
Speaker 1: appeared to be from Ohio State's Cotton Bowl appearance at
Speaker 1: the end of the twenty twenty three season. But now,
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, they're not saying why he's gone, and
Speaker 1: it seems kind of suspicious to his fans. One other
Speaker 1: NFL note before we hit the brake. Some of you
Speaker 1: out there are Cleveland Browns fans, probably of a certain
Speaker 1: age because back in the day this was Cleveland Brown's territory,
Speaker 1: because that's what you got on television. I can't imagine
Speaker 1: anybody in this day and age without a tie to
Speaker 1: the team or the area saying, by golly, I'm going
Speaker 1: to root for the Browns. But they're trying to build
Speaker 1: a new stadium and move about fifteen miles south of
Speaker 1: where they are now. Well, the city has filed a
Speaker 1: lawsuit because the team wants to build, or at least
Speaker 1: the owner, a dome stadium in the suburbs, and the
Speaker 1: suit filed in Cuyahoga County is looking to invoke what's
Speaker 1: called the Model Law to stop the Rounds removing Art
Speaker 1: Modell was the guy who snuck the Browns out of
Speaker 1: town to Baltimore. But the state loss is any professional
Speaker 1: sports owner who uses a tax supported facility for home
Speaker 1: games and gets funding from the state or political subdivision
Speaker 1: cannot leave until it gets permission to play elsewhere or
Speaker 1: give six months notice. Given six months notice because they
Speaker 1: couldn't move till twenty twenty eight. But they haven't gotten permission,
Speaker 1: have they. So stay tuned, as we say, up next
Speaker 1: to Gary Graves here on the Big Blue Siders six thirty,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider, and has promised
Speaker 1: newly retired Gary Graves many many years with the Associated President,
Speaker 1: a good deal of that right here based in Lexington,
Speaker 1: but getting up and down the interstate, covering both UK
Speaker 1: and U of L. And before we went on the air,
Speaker 1: we were chatting about your retirement. You'll stay busy, but
Speaker 1: you're still a fairly young man relatively speaking. Do you
Speaker 1: think that, like maybe when the NCA tournament rolls around,
Speaker 1: you'll feel like that old fire horse that here's the
Speaker 1: bell and wants to get out and run.
Speaker 5: Oh, definitely, definitely for the tournament, and for that matter,
Speaker 5: you might see me on February first for the return
Speaker 5: of a certain head coach to Lexington.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think I think that'll that'll that'll be a
Speaker 5: story around here. I don't know if it's a story
Speaker 5: in Arkansas right now, but we can talk about that later.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm sure the cynics will say just stay there,
Speaker 1: you know. But let's let's double back though and talk
Speaker 1: a little bit gear. As I said, you worked for
Speaker 1: the AP, which serves not just newspapers but broadcast outlets
Speaker 1: as well. But media being what it is in this
Speaker 1: day and age, Gary, where people get, for better or worse,
Speaker 1: accurate or inaccurate, so much information off their their mobile device,
Speaker 1: if you will. I still maintain there is an important
Speaker 1: place in the world for agencies like the AP, which
Speaker 1: still has standards. I was talking to some of the
Speaker 1: younger people saying, you know what, when I was a
Speaker 1: newspaper guy a long time ago, for instance, the Louisville newspapers,
Speaker 1: it had to you know, whatever I wrote had to
Speaker 1: go through three different people to get in the newspaper.
Speaker 1: You know, so you were held accountable and there's just
Speaker 1: not as much of that anymore, which fuels to distrust
Speaker 1: of the media. Not always fair because I remind people,
Speaker 1: you're the media now, whoever I'm talking to, because you
Speaker 1: got a phone in your hand, you're a publisher, and
Speaker 1: that has that has just changed the world, hasn't it.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, yeah, you're so right. And for what it's
Speaker 5: worth at the AP, you know, content still goes through
Speaker 5: a couple of sets of eyes before it hits the
Speaker 5: wire as we used to call it. Uh, you know.
Speaker 5: Part of this transformation, which led to my occurrence status,
Speaker 5: is that we have become more of a digital or
Speaker 5: we're going to become more of a digital and kind
Speaker 5: of image based platform because anything, I guess advancements you'll
Speaker 5: force you to make changes in how you put your
Speaker 5: content out there. And in our case, and I think
Speaker 5: it's in the case of a lot of print and
Speaker 5: broadcast outlets that uh, you know, shorter, smaller bite seems
Speaker 5: to be effective because you and I we're guilty of
Speaker 5: it as well, that if we have to read past
Speaker 5: two or three screens, then it's kind of lost our innswest.
Speaker 5: You know, we want the basics and and part of
Speaker 5: that is because everything is so instantaneous between alerts, between uh,
Speaker 5: social media for for you know, good or bad. It's
Speaker 5: still out there and that's how people have access to it.
Speaker 5: And of course, you know, I mean sports Center still
Speaker 5: serves a purpose and immediacy, so you know, you don't
Speaker 5: have to wait for that that printed project or student
Speaker 5: printed project product on your doorstep the next morning. And
Speaker 5: might might sound really dated with that, but you know,
Speaker 5: I grew up working for a newspaper and delivering it,
Speaker 5: so you know, I'm very old school. Do you remember
Speaker 5: when they used to collect for the newspaper?
Speaker 1: You hated that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, oh, man, go on door to door, like on
Speaker 5: a cold Saturday evening asking somebody for like four for this.
Speaker 1: Exactly, and then they said, I don't have it right now.
Speaker 1: You don't have four bucks or they'd write you a check.
Speaker 1: And you know what, Oh we we were okay, we
Speaker 1: were thirteen fourteen years old, my brothers and me, and
Speaker 1: we were such bad business man. We laugh about it now, folks.
Speaker 1: I promise we'll get back to basketball in a minute,
Speaker 1: but uh, sibby, I'll get you next week, you know.
Speaker 1: And then it would build up with some people and
Speaker 1: we we didn't have the nerve, the strength, the courage
Speaker 1: to say, okay, fine, we're not going to deliver your
Speaker 1: paper till you pay. That's what we should have done.
Speaker 1: But we didn't say anywhere.
Speaker 5: Oh we we did. And guess what, you know there
Speaker 5: was a check or you know, paper and coins in
Speaker 5: my hand within a week.
Speaker 1: Well, you were smarter than we were, I can tell
Speaker 1: you that, or tougher than we were, cause these are
Speaker 1: our neighbors. You know, Hey, missus Wilcox, I need your
Speaker 1: money now. You know that kind of thing. Uh, let
Speaker 1: me ask you. I've always wanted just when when you
Speaker 1: were covering the cats. Of course, a lot of your copy,
Speaker 1: the AP copy would end up in some of the
Speaker 1: smaller papers around the state or not uh, because they
Speaker 1: were they were disappearing, but it would be seen, read
Speaker 1: and used around the country. So you basically had to
Speaker 1: keep that in mind. You had a much broader audience,
Speaker 1: didn't you. You weren't just writing to the BBN. You
Speaker 1: couldn't just assume everybody knew what you were talking about.
Speaker 1: How did that affect the way you did your job?
Speaker 5: I think in a lot of ways that it kept
Speaker 5: me objective about the wildcats because of what you just
Speaker 5: said that yes, you know, I'm trying to drive the
Speaker 5: engine of uh, you know, the train engine of coverage
Speaker 5: in Kentucky, but also you know, mindful that it would
Speaker 5: go on your larger platforms that you had really be very,
Speaker 5: very balanced and down the middle. I don't want to
Speaker 5: say vanilla, because you know, vanilla is a flavor and
Speaker 5: it takes a lot to make vanilla. So even for
Speaker 5: that that vanilla that you you had to put a
Speaker 5: lot of a lot of elements in there to not
Speaker 5: sound like a homer, to really emphasize, you know, really
Speaker 5: what what team won. And I think last year was
Speaker 5: was probably one of my I feel like one of
Speaker 5: my best seasons in terms of being objective and playing
Speaker 5: it down the middle, because a lot of times last
Speaker 5: season it was about the other team and and how
Speaker 5: it affected Kentucky. And you know, when they had the
Speaker 5: losing streak, and I think you know when they lost
Speaker 5: in overtime to Florida that that was one of those
Speaker 5: those games that all of us I remember, were kind
Speaker 5: of saying, what the world just happened here? It's like,
Speaker 5: was they you know, they they took a hundred points
Speaker 5: and you know, losing overtime or something like that at
Speaker 5: and yeah. We never thought we would see a three
Speaker 5: game losing streak at home. Yeah. And when I say we,
Speaker 5: I mean the media, not.
Speaker 1: We, anybody, anybody.
Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, And so you know that that part was
Speaker 5: newsworth in and of it of itself. And that's when
Speaker 5: I remember. It's like, that's where I have to remember
Speaker 5: that it's not about what goes on here, it's the
Speaker 5: impact elsewhere because the sec being what it is, what
Speaker 5: it was last year, and it is even more that. Yeah,
Speaker 5: I think you really do have to look at the
Speaker 5: big picture because what happens in Tennessee or or Starkville,
Speaker 5: you know, it affects Kentucky. I mean we you know
Speaker 5: you saw that last weekend.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: And man, the league is crazy. There's no question we
Speaker 1: knew this going in. I think some of it's leveling
Speaker 1: off because and I mentioned this earlier in the show
Speaker 1: scheduling some of these teams that had gaudy records but
Speaker 1: now are winning, including Arkansas winless in the league. But
Speaker 1: you kind of saw that coming, didn't you.
Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah, I mean between the schedule and you know, again,
Speaker 5: I think with the balance of the League that there
Speaker 5: was a part of me that thought, I think, you know, overall,
Speaker 5: I think Arkansas will be okay.
Speaker 1: Really but.
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, because you know, just because I think things
Speaker 5: tend to balance out even in a transitional year. And
Speaker 5: and you know, we know Calibery finds a way to
Speaker 5: get it done eventually, you know, when they quote unquote
Speaker 5: buy in and things start to fall into place. Now
Speaker 5: having said that, it's go time now because looking at
Speaker 5: that schedule, there is a real possibility that they could
Speaker 5: be one and seven in league play, and and you know,
Speaker 5: and and the that you know that that Chicken money,
Speaker 5: as I've heard, you know, people are going to start wondering,
Speaker 5: you know, was this a good investment? Yea, uh Again,
Speaker 5: you know, you have to look at the big picture
Speaker 5: and look down the road and understand the position that
Speaker 5: you're in with all the all the up people that
Speaker 5: you went through last spring, that that led you to
Speaker 5: this point. And even though it's working out great for
Speaker 5: Kentucky right now, but the position that they left in
Speaker 5: that your other schools are not so fortunate. And for
Speaker 5: that matter, it's like Andy Anfield at.
Speaker 1: S m U.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, he's going through a transition there and
Speaker 5: you know, in the A c C and with a
Speaker 5: new program, and it's just really I think you know,
Speaker 5: coaches like Cali Perry figured out, you know, he's just
Speaker 5: he's just got to get his players to really buy
Speaker 5: in and understand that it's not about just going to
Speaker 5: the league or for that matter. And I because I
Speaker 5: do think that that is a driver of a lot
Speaker 5: of motivation for these athletes. Now, it used to be
Speaker 5: the NBA, but now I think NIL has really kind
Speaker 5: of changed the player's perspective in terms of how they
Speaker 5: approach the game, be it football or basketball, and they
Speaker 5: have to understand that money doesn't come unless you can
Speaker 5: help your team win.
Speaker 1: It is a different era, a different age. And we
Speaker 1: will talk more about that with Gary Graves, who just
Speaker 1: retired from the Associated Press, but keeping an eye on
Speaker 1: the Cats and the Cards. We'll come back with more
Speaker 1: in a minute here on the Big Boo and Sider
Speaker 1: six point thirty. Welcome back. We're talking with Gary Graves.
Speaker 1: He's a buddy, he's a Packers fan. We're going to
Speaker 1: talk a little bit of Packers here in a minute.
Speaker 1: But he has just recently retired from the Associated Press.
Speaker 1: How many years here in Lexington. I know you were
Speaker 1: on the East coast for quite a while, but how
Speaker 1: many years covering Kentucky in Nuol and whatever?
Speaker 5: Twelve plus years? Yeah, I was on my thirtie season,
Speaker 5: and you know, and before that it was that was
Speaker 5: at the USA Today for eighteen years doing a variety
Speaker 5: of things. So and I'd had bounced around a couple
Speaker 5: of papers that down south, so you know it had
Speaker 5: been around, so I think it was it's been like
Speaker 5: forty eight years.
Speaker 1: Amazing, amazing something like that.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But anyways, but as you said, a dozen or so
Speaker 1: years covering the Wildcats and you are stepping away as
Speaker 1: a daily journalist at a time you brought up the
Speaker 1: nil the portal the coach of football coaches are wanting
Speaker 1: to eliminate a lot of the days on the calendar,
Speaker 1: and you you were at the weekly Mark Stoops news conferences.
Speaker 1: How many times did he talk about how the calendar
Speaker 1: has got to be changed, improved whatever? Uh, But you
Speaker 1: know it's going to be I think a tug of
Speaker 1: war geary with the players because although they really don't
Speaker 1: have any bargaining power, but you know, looking to limit
Speaker 1: the number of transfer portal days available might bring a
Speaker 1: little bit of sanity, but I don't know how much,
Speaker 1: do you.
Speaker 5: Uh. I think it will bring bring some sanity. And
Speaker 5: you know, just last night I saw a Network Network reporter.
Speaker 5: Uh they talked to Oakland's coach about n I L.
Speaker 5: And you know, it focused on NIL but everything that
Speaker 5: he was saying, and of course they referred to, you know,
Speaker 5: the victory over Kentucky in terms of how the landscape
Speaker 5: is has changed for for him, even though they won.
Speaker 5: And he basically said, I spend my off season trying
Speaker 5: to raise money and trying to convince my players to
Speaker 5: to to stay here because of the portal and because
Speaker 5: of NI L. And he says, you know, he says,
Speaker 5: I lose guys, you know, to other programs because some
Speaker 5: school offered them five hundred thousand dollars. And you know,
Speaker 5: it's mind boggling. And I do think that the transfer
Speaker 5: portal freedom. It's good in a sense because you know,
Speaker 5: we've always said it was unfair for athletes to remain
Speaker 5: committed to a school when coaches jump all the time.
Speaker 5: But it's just become such a free for all that
Speaker 5: you really can't become attached to any player in any sport.
Speaker 5: You know for longer than that year. You know, we
Speaker 5: here in Kentucky have gotten used to that, of course,
Speaker 5: you know, with one and done, but it's just so
Speaker 5: crazy now. And I think it makes it even more
Speaker 5: remarkable because of all the changes as to what Mark
Speaker 5: Pope has done at Kentucky in a short period of time.
Speaker 5: If you had told me last April that they would be,
Speaker 5: you know, thirteen three, fourteen and three and really looking
Speaker 5: like a team that could make a deep run in March,
Speaker 5: I would have said no, you know, because our first
Speaker 5: thing was, you know, be careful what you wish for.
Speaker 5: You know, all of you that wanted Caliperi out of there.
Speaker 5: You know, now you've got a new coach, and you
Speaker 5: know I mean, and now it's not going to be
Speaker 5: one and done and be careful what you wish for.
Speaker 5: But he's making it work. He's making it work.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's amazing to me that it's it's a
Speaker 1: group that is such a veteran group and yet man,
Speaker 1: they got to figure it out just like a young group.
Speaker 1: But what I love, and I've talked about this a lot.
Speaker 1: Jack Gibbons talked about this on the radio early in
Speaker 1: the year. He said, It's been really kind of refreshing.
Speaker 1: Not a knock at Caliperi, but you know, you got
Speaker 1: veterans on the floor when you know things aren't going
Speaker 1: exactly the way they should be. But he could hear
Speaker 1: them talking to each other and figuring it out on
Speaker 1: their own, and lieuis of looking to the bench wide
Speaker 1: eye like coach, what do we do call time out?
Speaker 1: You know, the coach with his history AICs on the
Speaker 1: sidelines trying to direct traffic or Pope has the luxury,
Speaker 1: if you will, of letting these veteran players talk to
Speaker 1: one another and, like I said, figure things out. That's
Speaker 1: been kind of fun.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think even more so than than you know,
Speaker 5: the past regime where he used to refer to you
Speaker 5: it being kind of a player driven team. Yes, you
Speaker 5: know where you know you say, yeah, guys would take
Speaker 5: themselves out, you know, and and and you know if
Speaker 5: they needed a breather or something. But what I'm seeing
Speaker 5: with this team is this communication where they say, Okay,
Speaker 5: somebody's got to step up. There's no finger pointing, but
Speaker 5: you know, I mean, I can I get this sense.
Speaker 5: And there was it was a time out the other
Speaker 5: night where they they came out better, and I had
Speaker 5: this sense it's like, Okay, here's the situation. Somebody's got
Speaker 5: to step up. If you out a shot, take it,
Speaker 5: you know, I mean if if if you've got a foul,
Speaker 5: give or something like that, and it can it can
Speaker 5: slow the momentum, go ahead and do it, especially against
Speaker 5: the you know, an A and M team that really
Speaker 5: was intent on muddying the waters. And you know, I
Speaker 5: mean it got very chippy out there. It looked like
Speaker 5: a seventies NBA game at times out there, and and
Speaker 5: I think that's what's refreshing is that somebody it's always
Speaker 5: a different hero every game for them, you know, whether
Speaker 5: it's it's Robinson or or or Williams uh you know,
Speaker 5: for example, or you know, I mean you're Travis Perry.
Speaker 5: Uh yeah, I mean, just like a basket here and there.
Speaker 5: And it's great to really, uh to see that that
Speaker 5: that kind of support and you know, filling the void
Speaker 5: right that. I mean, you know that that is truly
Speaker 5: a team. And I think you know, we're seeing it
Speaker 5: over over in Louisville too, to an extent. You know,
Speaker 5: we could talk about that later too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's it's what he had in mind when
Speaker 1: he cobbled this roster together, and so did Pat Kelsey.
Speaker 1: I've only got a couple of minutes, so I am
Speaker 1: going to spend that bear with us, folks. We're both
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packer fans. But my take on the loss
Speaker 1: of the Eagles, I was pleasantly surprised at how well
Speaker 1: the defense played, especially trying to keep Saquon Barkley in check.
Speaker 1: But I was really disappointed with our quarterback. Gary your
Speaker 1: your thoughts, your take on the Packers.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I agree. It's like they're the defense presented opportunities
Speaker 5: for the offense to take advantage, whether it's field position
Speaker 5: or just getting the ball back and really keeping it
Speaker 5: from becoming a blowout, and it's like, okay, you know,
Speaker 5: like just just somebody do something, you know, again, like
Speaker 5: we're talking about somebody. Somebody's got to step up. And
Speaker 5: they just seemed flat, you know, they I don't I
Speaker 5: don't know whether you know those those wild card games,
Speaker 5: how seriously, you know, guys take them. At this point,
Speaker 5: it almost seemed like, okay, we've gotten this far, we're
Speaker 5: on a road in a hostile environment. You know, let's
Speaker 5: not try to get blown out. But but I don't
Speaker 5: think they really tried that hard to win, you I mean,
Speaker 5: Jordan Love just just made some mind boggling decisions, uh,
Speaker 5: you know, with with with the ball and and they
Speaker 5: didn't play to their strengths. And I can't remember what
Speaker 5: point I started to really dial out and say, Okay,
Speaker 5: it's been a good year. You know, they were the
Speaker 5: number three team in a strong division and you know that.
Speaker 5: I mean, if this is as good as it's going
Speaker 5: to get get for them this year.
Speaker 1: Well he's got to step up his game, Jordan Love.
Speaker 1: If the Packers, because they've got a good young team,
Speaker 1: just gotta hold it together. Given another shot next year.
Speaker 1: Gary Graves is a veteran journalist just into retirement after
Speaker 1: a long career with USA Today and EAP. Thank you,
Speaker 1: my friend. We will talk again soon. Maybe I'll get
Speaker 1: you over here to mic Garage. No sin, you have
Speaker 1: more free.
Speaker 5: Time, Oh yeah, my pleasure, man, anytime, because look, I
Speaker 5: want to get ideas on how to set up micarage
Speaker 5: now that I'm going to be home able to clean
Speaker 5: it more often.
Speaker 1: I'll let you talk to my wife about that. But
Speaker 1: we'll get together.
Speaker 5: Thanks man, all right, take care, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Hour number two is up next. Lee K. Howard from WKYT,
Speaker 1: we'll talk to us about shooting video for the Kentucky
Speaker 1: Texas A and M game from the baseline under the
Speaker 1: basket right next to the A and M bench. He
Speaker 1: was there the other night. And we'll talk to Tim Sullivan,
Speaker 1: freelance journalist over in Louisville, kipped an eye on the
Speaker 1: Cats and the Cards. All of that ahead, Carol the
Speaker 1: Big One Sider, six thirty WLAP manager, Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Big blon Sider, joining us now as a friend
Speaker 1: of a former colleague at w k y T.
Speaker 5: Lee K.
Speaker 1: Howard, you see him anchoring the sports cast each night
Speaker 1: at eleven and his stories has coverage of the Wildcats,
Speaker 1: and you covered leek. That Texas A and M game
Speaker 1: kind of hits close, see you. We've talked about this before.
Speaker 1: Your new Mexico guy who worked in Texas for quite
Speaker 1: a while covered A and M. But however, what was
Speaker 1: your take on that game? And I guess going in
Speaker 1: we knew it was going to be kind of physical,
Speaker 1: kind of ugly, and it was a grinder, wasn't it.
Speaker 6: It really was, you know, And I think that the
Speaker 6: fact that it was exactly what we anticipated it to be,
Speaker 6: and Kentucky was able to kind of rise to that
Speaker 6: challenge and in many ways beat A and M at
Speaker 6: their own games. Yeah, says a lot about this team.
Speaker 6: And so, like we knew the first of all that
Speaker 6: the you know, the book is out there against this
Speaker 6: Kentucky team, and even the words soft has been floated
Speaker 6: around that the way to beat this Kentucky team is
Speaker 6: to kind of be physical with them and rough them
Speaker 6: up a little bit. And that's how A and M
Speaker 6: plays anyway, and they, you know, the number one team
Speaker 6: in the nation and offensive rebounding, so we knew that
Speaker 6: was going to be a challenge. And then for Kentucky
Speaker 6: to come out and play arguably its best defensive game,
Speaker 6: especially you know against the you know, similar level you know,
Speaker 6: talent of the season, and then to win the boards
Speaker 6: by ten, you know, I mean, that says a lot
Speaker 6: really about how this team is. And then you know,
Speaker 6: the thing that I like the most about what Mark
Speaker 6: Pope said during the postgame kind of to that point
Speaker 6: was he he didn't use the word coachable, but he
Speaker 6: said every single thing, this may be the team that
Speaker 6: is the easiest to learn new things.
Speaker 5: So to speak.
Speaker 6: You know, like everything that they've thrown at them this year,
Speaker 6: whether it was Okay, they're not doing great on ball
Speaker 6: screen defense, or they're not being as physical, or you know,
Speaker 6: we've seen some deficiencies in certain games. He says, they've
Speaker 6: addressed those things, and these guys want to learn and
Speaker 6: they make that kind of adjustment. So, yeah, that was
Speaker 6: the most impressive thing I saw about that game the
Speaker 6: other night.
Speaker 1: You shot the game correct from sitting under the baseline
Speaker 1: or under the bucket on the baseline, right near the
Speaker 1: A and M bench, And I talked to our addy,
Speaker 1: Steve Moss a lot about that. He loves to hear
Speaker 1: what they have to say on the bench, you know,
Speaker 1: either yelling at the at the other the other team,
Speaker 1: or the coach, the coach letting the referees have a
Speaker 1: piece of his mind. But I'm wondering what it was
Speaker 1: like a game that physical. What did you notice when
Speaker 1: you were down there so close to the action.
Speaker 6: Okay, that's a really good question, because I don't think
Speaker 6: I've ever been asked. You know, you do get a
Speaker 6: front row seat to the opposing bench, and every bench
Speaker 6: is a little bit different, and there are certainly benches
Speaker 6: that are chirpier than others. You know, you have some
Speaker 6: that are that are a little bit quieter, and then
Speaker 6: you've got a couple where you've got the managers to
Speaker 6: the video coordinator guy talking. We made a comment, me
Speaker 6: and a couple of people that were sitting on the
Speaker 6: floor right next to that bench the other night, this
Speaker 6: is one of the chirpiest teams we've ever been around.
Speaker 6: Really like they they were active, and I think a
Speaker 6: lot of that had to do with Wayde Taylor, who
Speaker 6: is their best player, probably at least best offensive player,
Speaker 6: didn't play and you know, he missed a couple of games,
Speaker 6: but he was on the bench and kind of leading that,
Speaker 6: you know, that charge on the bench. Yeah, and I
Speaker 6: think when you've got kind of a leader on the
Speaker 6: bench as opposed to on the court, you know that
Speaker 6: his natural like chirpiness, I guess takes over. And so
Speaker 6: it was kind of interesting because I mean, you saw
Speaker 6: they got a technical foul in the first half early
Speaker 6: on for a couple of them almost came out in
Speaker 6: front of you know, a bunch of us photographers on
Speaker 6: the floor. They were, they were that active. So it
Speaker 6: was yeah, I mean that's kind of buzz Williams though
Speaker 6: as far as like he wants his guys gritty and
Speaker 6: into it and that kind of thing. And so yeah,
Speaker 6: that's that's certainly was the case.
Speaker 1: We mentioned you coming to this part of the country
Speaker 1: from that part of the country. Uh, basketball will never
Speaker 1: catch up with football. I realized that. You know, I
Speaker 1: lived in Texas for a couple of years, but there
Speaker 1: is so much more awareness and appreciation for basketball now,
Speaker 1: maybe now more than ever in that part of the world.
Speaker 1: Do you see it that way? And why do you
Speaker 1: think that is?
Speaker 6: Well, you know, as far as A and M is
Speaker 6: concerned and now Texas and everything, I mean, the SEC
Speaker 6: I think is that it's peak right now of where
Speaker 6: it's been as a conference as a whole, you know,
Speaker 6: in in the sport. And so I think that you know,
Speaker 6: just by being in this conference, you're going to see
Speaker 6: teams out west have to elevate their game. And you know,
Speaker 6: I don't know that. You know, football is always going
Speaker 6: to be football, and you know, from the NFL to
Speaker 6: college football, that's that's what drives the dollars, that's what
Speaker 6: people tune in to watch. But basketball is not far behind,
Speaker 6: you know, and no one understands that better than people
Speaker 6: in this state because basketball has always been at a
Speaker 6: level that is the rivals football, whether you want to
Speaker 6: say football, basketball, whatever, not in a lot of states
Speaker 6: can say, you know, it is football. You know there's
Speaker 6: there's not a rival. So yeah, so it is. It
Speaker 6: is interesting, you know, and Kentucky fans probably get that
Speaker 6: better than anybody. Maybe Kansas or North Carolina. You could
Speaker 6: throw and you know people in those states could could
Speaker 6: kind of see the same way. But yeah, and just
Speaker 6: with the SEC this year, with nine ranked teams in
Speaker 6: the top twenty five and projected twelve to make the
Speaker 6: NCAA tournament, it's absurd, you know how good the competition is.
Speaker 6: And I think it's great. I mean it's it's great
Speaker 6: for everybody involved, watching, playing, coaching, you know, covering in
Speaker 6: the media.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's it's it's great to be a part of it.
Speaker 1: Things are leveling off though. I mean, these teams that
Speaker 1: had gaudy records now that have won zero or one
Speaker 1: game in the SEC. That was kind of predictive because
Speaker 1: you knew they start beating up on each other. But
Speaker 1: you know, one of my theories about basketball, and I
Speaker 1: know you've been alecxing it for quite some time. But
Speaker 1: I really believe that the growth of March Madness, which
Speaker 1: of course is on w k YT, has been forever.
Speaker 1: You see schools, especially the Cinderella schools, that for a
Speaker 1: weekend or two or two solid weeks are making headlines
Speaker 1: because they become destinies, darlings, and you know, schools you
Speaker 1: never even think about are suddenly making headlines. And I
Speaker 1: wondered if like school presidents and chancellors and board members
Speaker 1: are saying, hey, why aren't we in on that, let's
Speaker 1: play better basketball. Maybe we can get some of that publicity,
Speaker 1: you know. And now you see schools spending more money
Speaker 1: on facilities, coaches, and now nil uh players. Yeah exactly
Speaker 1: do you do you see.
Speaker 3: Any of that?
Speaker 1: Does that make sense?
Speaker 6: Yeah, it absolutely does. And I think that's that, you know,
Speaker 6: that's the magic of college basketball in the tournament. And
Speaker 6: I'm not for necessarily expanding to allow more, but there's
Speaker 6: enough right now sixty eight teams. And you know, I
Speaker 6: was forward to play in games they added several years
Speaker 6: ago or hover long ago that was in Dayton, to
Speaker 6: give a few more of those usually mid major teams
Speaker 6: or double teams a chance. But you know, maybe that's
Speaker 6: one thing that some of these these schools with the
Speaker 6: transfer portal, they they see an opportunity that you know,
Speaker 6: maybe we can compete, you know, we can win our
Speaker 6: league and have a shot. Yeah, and you know, and
Speaker 6: I think just in general, the talent across the country
Speaker 6: is a whole lot more spread out, you know, in
Speaker 6: the last five six years than it was a decade
Speaker 6: or so ago. You know, your your blue bloods are
Speaker 6: still your blue bloods, but you you know, you still
Speaker 6: have talent spread out, and you see that every year
Speaker 6: because honestly, if unfortunately for those smaller schools, if you
Speaker 6: have one of those Jenni Brooms or you know, those
Speaker 6: guys on they usually get plucked by a power five,
Speaker 6: power four school. But at least that exist and so
Speaker 6: so yeah, the parody of college basketball will never be duplicated.
Speaker 6: I love what college football is doing because at least
Speaker 6: having twelve teams you get a little bit of parody.
Speaker 6: I think that goes to sixteen pretty soon. But I
Speaker 6: think that's football saying, hey, we see the magic of
Speaker 6: the basketball in CAA tournament and what that can do.
Speaker 6: And they've tried to you know to their scale, try
Speaker 6: to duplicate that a little bit. But yeah, I think
Speaker 6: college basketball as a whole is only growing in popularity
Speaker 6: and it's always been popular, but you know, it's it's
Speaker 6: the magic of the tournament. It's the magic of you know,
Speaker 6: what teams can do lot and where these kids came
Speaker 6: from Fairleigh, Dickinson and wherever in the world to compete.
Speaker 6: So I think, yeah, it's it's at a really good spot.
Speaker 1: Right now is Lee K. Howard from w KYT. We'll
Speaker 1: talk more sports with him on the other side of
Speaker 1: the break here on a big New Insiders six thirty.
Speaker 1: Welcome back with chatting with Lee K. Howard, anchor reporter
Speaker 1: from WKYT. And of course you can see the Wildcats
Speaker 1: play whenever CBS has a game, and the INSA coming
Speaker 1: up in March. By the excitement for Mark Pope, I
Speaker 1: can't imagine. Of course, it'll be predicated on how well
Speaker 1: the team is playing going into the SEC tournament and
Speaker 1: all but you and Brian and Steve Moss and everybody
Speaker 1: over there. You got to be loving because I think
Speaker 1: the Big Blue Nation was starting to approach the NCAA
Speaker 1: tournament with a sense of dread toward the end of
Speaker 1: the John Caliperio era. But now it's it's going to
Speaker 1: be crazy, I think come tournament time.
Speaker 6: Yes, you know, you know Pope has earned so much
Speaker 6: equity right now from the fan base that you know,
Speaker 6: you don't want to say that nothing would be considered
Speaker 6: a failure because obviously, you know, losing out the first
Speaker 6: weekend of the tournament, nobody would want to see that,
Speaker 6: or poor showing at the SEC tournament. But you know,
Speaker 6: at this point, I think everybody since the moment he
Speaker 6: was hired, there was a bit of a hesitation of like,
Speaker 6: we know, we like this guy, he's one of our own.
Speaker 6: We know that, you know that things could be looked up,
Speaker 6: but there was always like a little bit of a
Speaker 6: hesitation of like, okay, but can he do it on
Speaker 6: the court. And no matter what happens from this point on,
Speaker 6: and they're gonna look, I'm pretty they're gonna lose some
Speaker 6: games in SEC. They're not running the table here. I mean,
Speaker 6: they've lost to Georgia, but like, there's some really really
Speaker 6: tough games on this schedule still to go before we
Speaker 6: get to any sort of tournament. But to have top five,
Speaker 6: top twenty five, really five top fifteen wins already on
Speaker 6: your schedule, and you know this, this team has proven
Speaker 6: so much at this point that you know it's gonna
Speaker 6: be hard for this season to be viewed as a
Speaker 6: failure no matter what happens, just because of what they've
Speaker 6: been able to do so far. So, you know, and
Speaker 6: it's funny, you're you're you were part of the media,
Speaker 6: you still are for much longer than me, and you're
Speaker 6: not supposed to technically, like you know, cheer for you know,
Speaker 6: a team or whatever, you know, and you can still
Speaker 6: do your job, but you find yourself just wanting Pope
Speaker 6: and these guys to succeed so much. You know, you
Speaker 6: want to see them, you know, many of them with
Speaker 6: their backstories of this wasn't ever a place they ever
Speaker 6: thought that they should be or they would be to
Speaker 6: now like not only are they here, their succeeding and
Speaker 6: they're doing it together, and it's it's just there's a
Speaker 6: different level of joy and like as you as you
Speaker 6: mentioned a second ago, there was this hesitation of like okay,
Speaker 6: what but what's going to go wrong?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 6: Like we're up, we're up seven in this game, but
Speaker 6: there's still eight minutes to play. This can still this
Speaker 6: can still go terribly wrong once you start trying to
Speaker 6: dribble the the air out of the ball, right, But
Speaker 6: now it's like, okay, we're down seven, and now what's
Speaker 6: this team going to do and what is Mark Pope
Speaker 6: going to adjust to make them? You know out outside
Speaker 6: of the Georgia game, we've seen them really kind of
Speaker 6: adjust each game.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, the Ohio State, you know, there was a
Speaker 1: little bit that's true, but you know, but yeah, they
Speaker 1: did make an hotest run. But yeah, it has been interesting,
Speaker 1: you know, watching these guys learn together and you know,
Speaker 1: seeing a guy like Travis Perry getting minutes because Kirk
Speaker 1: creases down. So uh uh, you're right. You know, you
Speaker 1: institutionally you try to maintain your objectivity because that's how
Speaker 1: you you can be truer to the story. But you
Speaker 1: you wind up rooting for the people themselves, don't you.
Speaker 1: You know, you grow, you go to like these folks,
Speaker 1: and uh, they're very likable, they.
Speaker 6: Really are, you know, And I tell people all the time, like,
Speaker 6: I can I can do my job and be objective
Speaker 6: at the same time, I try to believe me if
Speaker 6: if something went wrong with the program or they weren't winning.
Speaker 6: I'm not going to paint this, you know, rosy picture
Speaker 6: of everything's going perfectly. You know, it's our job to
Speaker 6: have a voice that's a little bit bigger maybe than others.
Speaker 6: I mean with social media, everybody has a voice now, right,
Speaker 6: but we we have a little bit more of a platform.
Speaker 5: In many ways.
Speaker 6: And you know, you can you know I've told someone before,
Speaker 6: are like, because I didn't grow up a Kentucky fan, right,
Speaker 6: I grew up a Texas Tech fan of all things.
Speaker 6: But when you are immersed in a culture of being
Speaker 6: around these kids, whether it's the basketball team or the
Speaker 6: swimming team or the rifle team or whatever, you find
Speaker 6: yourself somewhat rooting for these athletes because the large majority
Speaker 6: are really good people, right, and so you want them
Speaker 6: to do well. You want this to succeed. I think
Speaker 6: that's a natural inclination. And if they don't, you know,
Speaker 6: you report that as well. And so, but just from
Speaker 6: a fan standpoint, I think everybody just connects with this
Speaker 6: particular Kentucky basketball team really well. They've got their collection. Yeah,
Speaker 6: you mentioned Travis Perry and Trent Noen. Those guys are
Speaker 6: going to be natural for people to gravitate toward because
Speaker 6: of their upbringing. But just you know an Anley Almanor
Speaker 6: who grew up in New York with a Kentucky poster
Speaker 6: on his wall. You know, that's kind of a cool deal,
Speaker 6: you know, like okay, you know, and then you know,
Speaker 6: who knows when Amari Williams from Nottingham, England ever even
Speaker 6: knew what Kentucky basketball was, but people have embraced him
Speaker 6: and he's loving it, you know. And so yeah, there's
Speaker 6: just so many great personalities on this team. And then
Speaker 6: their response. They're so openness to the fans and the
Speaker 6: BBN and you know, just even the lap around the
Speaker 6: rep arena at the end of the game. You know,
Speaker 6: it's just they are making a concerted effort to be
Speaker 6: connected to the fan base, and so it's natural for
Speaker 6: the fans to be connected to them.
Speaker 1: A few minutes left with Lee K. Howard from WKYT
Speaker 1: and all these things, these wonderful things we're saying about
Speaker 1: Mark Posts program, you could say virtually the same about
Speaker 1: Kenny Brooks's program as well. And they've got you know,
Speaker 1: kids are transferred in from Virginia Tech, but you know,
Speaker 1: kids from overseas who might have known what Kentucky was,
Speaker 1: but now you talk about putting UK women's basketball back
Speaker 1: on the map has been pretty impressive.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, I jokingly said to Kenny Brooks and said,
Speaker 6: how mad are you at Mark Pope for coming in
Speaker 6: and stilling your thunder? And and you know it's like
Speaker 6: because because let's you know, let's pretend nothing ever happened
Speaker 6: to the men's programs. The women's program would be all
Speaker 6: of the headlines, you know, with the way that they're
Speaker 6: doing it, and uh, you know, I saw the other
Speaker 6: day it was like there's there are three women's SEC
Speaker 6: programs undefeated, and it was your usual suspects of South
Speaker 6: Carolina and LSU and then oh yeah, Kentucky. You know,
Speaker 6: you know, just the way that Georgia Amore has been
Speaker 6: able to, you know, run that team. And then I
Speaker 6: tell you that Clara Strack and she's young, she's got
Speaker 6: so much potential. And then you know, just even like
Speaker 6: Amelia Hassett, the other Australian girl, that's just they you know,
Speaker 6: you go into these matchups in Kentucky for the longest time,
Speaker 6: even when Matthew Mitchell had it rolling and he had
Speaker 6: some really good teams, they were always undersized. Y they
Speaker 6: just beat you. They beat you defensively, they beat you
Speaker 6: with forty minutes of dread they did. But this, but
Speaker 6: man Kenny Brooks has put together probably one of the
Speaker 6: tallest teams in the SEC. And it's they're so much
Speaker 6: fun to watch.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they really are. And Georgia Amore worth the price
Speaker 1: of admission, you know, and what a luxury to have
Speaker 1: her on the court. And I heard a story you
Speaker 1: might have heard the same anecdote that, uh, there were
Speaker 1: some people in the SEC who thought, oh, Kentucky's got
Speaker 1: a new coach. Okay, that's fine. But then when they
Speaker 1: heard Georgia Aymore was coming, now they've got their attention, like, oh,
Speaker 1: they've got her. Well, now we've got to pay attention
Speaker 1: to Kentucky. And you can see why.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, you know.
Speaker 6: And and unfortunately Kentucky only gets her for one year,
Speaker 6: but I think it's important that we got her for
Speaker 6: this one year to kind of establish things. And with
Speaker 6: the success that he's having now he's already got a
Speaker 6: couple in his recruiting class. But you know, players are
Speaker 6: going to want to come and play to be the
Speaker 6: next Georgia Amore, you know, just like it happens on
Speaker 6: the men's program. And you know, I just think it's
Speaker 6: so vital for both of these coaches. We were talking
Speaker 6: about Pope as well, but to establish themselves in year
Speaker 6: one and it's just that, yes, that's great for this year,
Speaker 6: but I hope people are also seeing the bigger picture
Speaker 6: of you're establishing your legacy, your your program, not for
Speaker 6: just this year, but for the years going forward. And
Speaker 6: so like what Kenny Brooks has been able to do
Speaker 6: with this group, and so many of them will be
Speaker 6: back and he'll lose a few, like you know that
Speaker 6: are that are you know daisire law Uh Lawrence? I
Speaker 6: believe she's a Yeah, she's a senior as well. And
Speaker 6: but you mean you're gonna have some coming in and
Speaker 6: I just the trajectory of both of these programs. It's
Speaker 6: it's just such a different feeling around those facilities than
Speaker 6: it was a year ago.
Speaker 1: It's fun right now, and it's been fun like this before. Uh,
Speaker 1: And you know, you've got to got to be vigilant
Speaker 1: because you never know when it won't be fun. But
Speaker 1: right now, enjoy it while we can and enjoy Lee K.
Speaker 1: Howard's coverage for WKYT, and I'm sure we will speak again.
Speaker 1: We'll see you maybe Saturday. That's going to be a
Speaker 1: good one. Kentucky Alabama, but I've.
Speaker 6: Heard Alabama's pretty good.
Speaker 1: They're pretty good, brother, and they got beat the other
Speaker 1: nice that they're going to be angry coming in. Thank you, sir,
Speaker 1: my best of the missus and stay.
Speaker 6: Warm, okay, thank you Dick.
Speaker 1: And of course Lee k is married to the wonderful
Speaker 1: Christian Kennedy, an anchor for WKYT, and as I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: he is a New Mexico native but went to I
Speaker 1: think West Texas State and he covered Texas Tech when
Speaker 1: I think when Bob Knight was there, covered basketball there.
Speaker 1: So he's told us some stories, very interesting. But I
Speaker 1: enjoy talking to photographers videographers who get to shoot from
Speaker 1: the baseline. Boy, do they have stories to tell. More
Speaker 1: stories coming up with Tim Sullivan, freelance writer over in
Speaker 1: Louisville here on six thirty WLAP welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Sider joining us sounds a long time friend
Speaker 1: of the show and a guy who has covered sports
Speaker 1: from coast to coast in this country, and that is
Speaker 1: Tim Sullivan, who has gone from Cincinnati, San Diego to Louisville.
Speaker 1: Freelance writer now in Louisville as he keeps an eye
Speaker 1: on all things sports and Tim, welcome back. We haven't
Speaker 1: chatted in a while. Are you staying warm over there?
Speaker 7: No, I'm staying inside though, so I'm trying to avoid
Speaker 7: the snow and the ice.
Speaker 1: Had a boy good to hear. Well, I know you've
Speaker 1: been checking out both the Cats and the Cards from
Speaker 1: the other end of the interstate. And as a as
Speaker 1: a journalist, as a guy who's told a lot of stories,
Speaker 1: what do you think of the way this Kentucky story
Speaker 1: is unfolding with You know, we talked a while back
Speaker 1: about Mark Pope coming in, but you know the fact
Speaker 1: that he had to cobble this team together and now
Speaker 1: they are one of the better teams in the country,
Speaker 1: to the surprise of a lot of people.
Speaker 7: You know, I had a conversation with a Kentucky fan who,
Speaker 7: uh was was critical when I suggested that Pat Kelsey
Speaker 7: might be the national coach of the year, and he said, well,
Speaker 7: you know, look at what Mark Pope has done. I said, well,
Speaker 7: you know, what he's done is undeniably impressive, and you know,
Speaker 7: to put an entire roster together in a single season
Speaker 7: and get them to play as well as they have
Speaker 7: is you know, certainly to his credit. But you know,
Speaker 7: I don't think that he was starting from the same
Speaker 7: base that Kelsey was. I mean, the Louisville program was
Speaker 7: really in tatters when when Kenny Paine left. Uh, you know,
Speaker 7: with all the traditions, the resources support, the history of
Speaker 7: blah blah blah that that Kentucky has. I have to
Speaker 7: give Kelsey a little edge because you know, he didn't
Speaker 7: he didn't have all that. You know, obviously there's a
Speaker 7: lot of history with the Louisville program, but it's become
Speaker 7: a little more remote of wait, and you know, if
Speaker 7: the two of those coaches finished one two in either
Speaker 7: order in the Coach of the Year voting, you know,
Speaker 7: I wouldn't object that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 7: I think sometimes we get a little myopic around here
Speaker 7: and we think that you know, everything our balls around
Speaker 7: those two programs.
Speaker 5: There is a there are forty.
Speaker 7: Nine other states, not counta Canada ann but you know,
Speaker 7: it's tremendously impressive and I think it's revitalized basketball within
Speaker 7: the state and both fan bases I think are extremely
Speaker 7: pleased with their new guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And you know what I find really fascinating as well,
Speaker 1: the latest chapter for Kentucky and you've you're a career
Speaker 1: media guy, is you know how many times have we
Speaker 1: heard coaches and players say, we don't pay attention to
Speaker 1: what's being said in the media the fan, we don't
Speaker 1: hear the noise. We tune it out. And yet the
Speaker 1: storyline was becoming, Hey, this Kentucky team, they're talented, they're fun,
Speaker 1: but they're a little soft, you know, because of the
Speaker 1: three losses, it seemed like they were physically beaten, maybe
Speaker 1: a little intimidated, and they flat out admitted tim after
Speaker 1: this win the other night, that it was important to
Speaker 1: them to show that they weren't. They said, you know,
Speaker 1: they basically admitted, we heard it and we wanted to
Speaker 1: respond to it. I've been around for a while as
Speaker 1: you have. I don't know that I've ever heard coaches
Speaker 1: or players admit to that. You know what I mean.
Speaker 7: Well, I think the culture of sports has changed to
Speaker 7: a large extent because of social media, and it's it's
Speaker 7: very difficult for young kids to avoid the noise, as
Speaker 7: they describe it. You can insulate yourself to a certain
Speaker 7: extent but uh, you know, if you're on X or
Speaker 7: Twitter or whatever it's called today, you're going to get
Speaker 7: quite a lot of amateur advice, and it's it's not
Speaker 7: always gentle. So you know, I think that in this
Speaker 7: environment thing, and you know, coaches will will sometimes say,
Speaker 7: you know, I don't want you guys on social media,
Speaker 7: but you know you're going to hear about it one
Speaker 7: way or another, you know, either directly or you know
Speaker 7: someone in your family say what this guy said about
Speaker 7: you or that, And you know that's so much different
Speaker 7: than uh, you know what most of the the athletes
Speaker 7: that I've covered, you know, for decades, the experience that
Speaker 7: they've had.
Speaker 5: The ability to weather that to deal with it.
Speaker 7: You know, I think it to some extent it toughens
Speaker 7: these guys up responding to it as as Kentucky has
Speaker 7: and acknowledging it. I think it's pretty healthy.
Speaker 1: As you watch this Kentucky team, are you surprised at
Speaker 1: what you see? Because there have been so many different
Speaker 1: they've they've they've won track meets, they've won grind them outs,
Speaker 1: you know, and they've had come from behind wins. What's
Speaker 1: been your experience as you watch this season unfold.
Speaker 7: Well, I you know, I think that any team that
Speaker 7: has been assembled as Kentucky's has is going to have
Speaker 7: some growing pains, Yeah, just because of a lack of
Speaker 7: familiarity with each other.
Speaker 5: And this was.
Speaker 7: I think a big problem during the Calipari era, where
Speaker 7: who is turning over the roster every year and you know,
Speaker 7: was starting from scratch with the freshman dominated team. I
Speaker 7: think the transfer portal has changed that to a certain
Speaker 7: extent and you get an opportunity to deal with, you know,
Speaker 7: a more seasoned roster than maybe we've seen at UK
Speaker 7: in recent years. But there's just a purific amount of
Speaker 7: talent there. And you know, when in doubt, I always
Speaker 7: always go with the more talented team and think, you know,
Speaker 7: eventually they'll figure it out. And their ability to play
Speaker 7: different styles and adapt, you know, I think is really
Speaker 7: going to leave them in good stead when when the
Speaker 7: tournament comes around. I you know, last time I looked,
Speaker 7: the SEC had five or six of the top ten
Speaker 7: country and that's you know, uh, and we always hear
Speaker 7: about you know, s he speak football and what a
Speaker 7: grind it is to get through a season. Well, uh,
Speaker 7: the same is true in basketball, and maybe right now
Speaker 7: to a greater extent in basketball, and and I saw
Speaker 7: Tennessee early in the season that was very impressed. I
Speaker 7: really haven't seen Auburn, but ah, you know, I think
Speaker 7: that the depth of that league and the talent at
Speaker 7: the top is you're going to see a lot of
Speaker 7: very high seeds in Mark.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Caliperry. How surprised are you with the way
Speaker 1: his team has started a SEC play, Well, you.
Speaker 7: Know, somewhat but not entirely.
Speaker 5: But I.
Speaker 7: Can't read his mind. And I you know, I think
Speaker 7: Arkansas is a different animal than Kentucky and you don't
Speaker 7: have quite the same expectations or uh, I guess, uh,
Speaker 7: you know ceiling that that you do. And you know,
Speaker 7: I think there's there were questions towards the end of
Speaker 7: his tenure in Lexington about you know, whether whether he
Speaker 7: had lost a step or was motivated, was able to
Speaker 7: use his formula with you know, freshman dominated teams, uh
Speaker 7: to compete with more experienced teams in this transfer portal
Speaker 7: anile era. And I think he's smart enough to adapt.
Speaker 7: But uh, the SEC, as I just said, is is
Speaker 7: not a place that that you want to get your
Speaker 7: training wheels on because you're you're operating with a high
Speaker 7: level of competition and if you're not ready to go,
Speaker 7: feel it.
Speaker 1: We're talking with freelance writer Tim Sullivan. He's over at
Speaker 1: the other end of the interstate and Louisville. Will come
Speaker 1: back and talk more college basketball in just a minute
Speaker 1: here on a Big Blue Sider. We're talking with Tim Sullivan,
Speaker 1: freelance journalist over in Louisville. He's kept an eye on
Speaker 1: the Cats and the Cards, and we talked about the
Speaker 1: two coaches, Kelsey and Pope off the top. How from
Speaker 1: a guy who's only been able to look in on
Speaker 1: TV a little bit, Tim, how has Kelsey done this?
Speaker 1: Because he's got some talent on his roster, but it's
Speaker 1: not exactly guys where the NBA scouts are knocking his
Speaker 1: door down. So what's been the secret to his success
Speaker 1: so far?
Speaker 7: Well, I think a lot of it is some of
Speaker 7: the players they brought with him from College of Charleston
Speaker 7: Blanket for a second there, you know, And he's been
Speaker 7: able to withstand some pretty serious injuries at once. They
Speaker 7: were very depleted, and you know, I thought that they
Speaker 7: were improved, but I I certainly didn't expect them to
Speaker 7: be going on a seven game winning streak and and
Speaker 7: winning UH at pitt and beating North Carolina, and UH,
Speaker 7: I had thought to that. I think he's got so
Speaker 7: much energy and it's.
Speaker 5: It has.
Speaker 7: Translated to to the fans, and I think the team
Speaker 7: has responded to him in a way that you know,
Speaker 7: they really didn't for either Kenny Payne or or Chris
Speaker 7: mack and.
Speaker 2: H.
Speaker 7: There is a an energy around the program that that
Speaker 7: I really haven't felt since UH, since Fristino left. But
Speaker 7: you know, I I think that this team is probably
Speaker 7: we UH looking at it, you know, maybe six or
Speaker 7: seventh seeded at this point. And at the start of
Speaker 7: the season, I thought, well, you know, if they get
Speaker 7: in the tournament, that would be a tremendous feat. But
Speaker 7: you know, the expectations are higher now. You win seven
Speaker 7: in a row, you're going to get people's attention. And
Speaker 7: you know, I think that they are on an upward
Speaker 7: trajectory that that I think most of us would have
Speaker 7: thought it would have taken a couple of years. But
Speaker 7: you know, the great thing about the transfer portal is
Speaker 7: that you can revise things very quickly. You have the
Speaker 7: ni own money in place and in the system that
Speaker 7: that appeals to too high end talent.
Speaker 1: I was texting back and forth with my brother dead
Speaker 1: or night. He went to Louisville, played in the pep
Speaker 1: band many back when they were going to the Final
Speaker 1: four in the early eighties, so a long time fan.
Speaker 1: But he said, very simply, he said, it's fun again.
Speaker 1: And I can't tell you how weird it was. Having
Speaker 1: covered several Kentucky Louisville games in the Young Center, tim
Speaker 1: to tune in a Louisville game and you know, the
Speaker 1: last couple of years and the Young Center almost empty,
Speaker 1: and now you turn it on and it's not quite
Speaker 1: the same. But it's getting there, isn't it.
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 7: You know, I thought that it wouldn't take a lot
Speaker 7: to bring fans back, that they were hungry for a
Speaker 7: team that they, you know, felt confident in and wanted
Speaker 7: to root for. And what else is there to do.
Speaker 7: We don't have you know, the NFL or the NBA
Speaker 7: yere and you have a big arena that has looked
Speaker 7: rather empty for a couple of years.
Speaker 3: Is but.
Speaker 7: The attendance figures are on the f swing and they're
Speaker 7: not you know, they're not Kentucky figures at this point,
Speaker 7: and they may never be but uh, you know, for
Speaker 7: years and years this was the most profitable college basketball
Speaker 7: program in America, and I think it can be that
Speaker 7: again or close to it. Uh, if the the trajectory
Speaker 7: continues like this, and you know, and you're gonna they've
Speaker 7: benefited from what is a relative down here in the
Speaker 7: A C c UH that that has certainly helped. But
Speaker 7: you know, just the idea that this new coach has
Speaker 7: won more games and three months and Kenny paigned it
Speaker 7: in two years, uh, has has energized people and restored
Speaker 7: a lot of the the faith and the the excitement
Speaker 7: that has existed around this program traditionally dating back to
Speaker 7: the early days of Denny Crown.
Speaker 1: I don't think they've lost since that set back to Kentucky. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: March is coming quickly. That's going to be really interesting.
Speaker 1: We have a few minutes left with Tim Sullivan. I
Speaker 1: wanted to ask you. I don't know if you saw
Speaker 1: this story, but the new president, Charlie Bakerly he's not
Speaker 1: that new anymore, but he talked to day or two
Speaker 1: ago about changing the transfer portal. And at the coach's convention,
Speaker 1: the coach is unanimously voted to eliminate December and April
Speaker 1: in terms of transfer portal windows and just set up
Speaker 1: a ten day transfer portal window from January two to
Speaker 1: the twelfth, which could make for a chaotic scene. But
Speaker 1: on the other hand, they got to do something tim
Speaker 1: because this has kind of gotten out of hand, hasn't it.
Speaker 7: Well yeah, uh At the same time, I think that
Speaker 7: you know, this is kind of the payback for years
Speaker 7: and years trying to deny rights that that almost anyone
Speaker 7: else in American society has other than you know, college
Speaker 7: athletes until very recently, and you know, the the ability
Speaker 7: to put quote guardrails on the system and you know,
Speaker 7: have structure that that reduces the you know, the ability
Speaker 7: of athletes to move freely.
Speaker 5: I think is.
Speaker 7: Is kind of a slippery slope because of of the
Speaker 7: likelihood that it would face a court challenge, and if
Speaker 7: you look at the recent history, the n C double
Speaker 7: A has not done very well in court.
Speaker 5: Uh so uh, you know, I think that as long as.
Speaker 7: You don't violate the rights of these athletes, and you
Speaker 7: can come up with a changes that are acceptable or
Speaker 7: at least they're not going to cause open revolts. I
Speaker 7: don't know that doing in January makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 7: But greater minds than mine are working on this, you know.
Speaker 7: But I think ultimately, until the universities decide that they're
Speaker 7: going to allow these athletes to be employees and unionize
Speaker 7: and do collective bargaining, you're going to have a system
Speaker 7: that is somewhat chaotic and inherently so, I don't think
Speaker 7: that that limiting athletes to it and a window makes
Speaker 7: a lot of sense, because you're you're kind of forcing
Speaker 7: them into rush decisions, not you know, not that a
Speaker 7: lot of stuff isn't going on under the table and right,
Speaker 7: you know, ahead of ahead of time. But that's that's
Speaker 7: the sort of thing you want to avoid. I mean,
Speaker 7: there should be a certain amount of transparency, and I
Speaker 7: think there should be a reasonable opportunity for athletes to
Speaker 7: make informed decisions and not you know, with a gun
Speaker 7: to their heads.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and like you said, it's not like they're going
Speaker 1: to suddenly come up on January second to say I
Speaker 1: guess I'll transfer. Where can I go? But it's amazing
Speaker 1: to me, Tim the numbers of kids who jump into
Speaker 1: the portal with no locked in landing area. You know,
Speaker 1: when the music stops, theres nowhere to sit down. And
Speaker 1: that's dangerous.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it sure is.
Speaker 7: And you know they're always going to be case studies
Speaker 7: of guys who go into the in the portal and
Speaker 7: they and they have nowhere to land, and uh, that's
Speaker 7: that's really unfortunate. But you know that that's I think
Speaker 7: almost inevitable. Uh, when you have a limited number of
Speaker 7: scholarships available. Uh uh, you know, coaches competing for the
Speaker 7: same high end guys and maybe the the guys who
Speaker 7: are frustrated where they are. And I shouldn't say just guys,
Speaker 7: because you know we're seeing some women's athletics as well. Yeah,
Speaker 7: you know that not everybody is coveted and and sometimes
Speaker 7: if you're frustrated where you are, it's because of your
Speaker 7: own ability and not you know, not because the coach
Speaker 7: has an end for you.
Speaker 1: He is Tim Sullivan and you can follow him on
Speaker 1: Twitter or x Tim Sullivan seven to one four and
Speaker 1: Tim will check back with you closer to tournament time.
Speaker 1: It should be really interesting this year.
Speaker 7: Well, I think that in Kentucky this year you're going
Speaker 7: to see a lot more interest than there normally is,
Speaker 7: and there's normally quite a lot, which speaks well for
Speaker 7: both programs.
Speaker 1: Sounds good to me. Thank you, brother, stay warm over.
Speaker 7: There, all right, Dick, thanks for calling and that'll do it.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much to my guests, thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: That said, good night from the garage in Lexington.
Speaker 3: Don't want to meet the team? Clements. Did I meet
Speaker 3: the team? You sure did that in your face, Strawberry.
Speaker 3: Wait a minute, are you kenming? Griffy Jr.
Speaker 1: No, sorry, didn't mean to get your hopes up.
Speaker 3: Nat