Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider. Diay Gabriel with
Speaker 1: you on a Thursday edition of our program. Coming up tonight,
Speaker 1: we'll talk Kentucky football and basketball with Chris Fisher of
Speaker 1: two four to seven Sports. We'll talk about all that
Speaker 1: portal traffic that's going on. MIKEA. LEPs from Fox fifty six,
Speaker 1: who was at the open practice recently for UK football
Speaker 1: and has covered the basketball Cats all year long. Tim Sullivan,
Speaker 1: freelance writer over in Louisville. Talk to him about the
Speaker 1: Cats and the Cardinals, what's going over there. Also, we're
Speaker 1: going to talk to Tim a little bit about the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Tim used to cover the Bengals in the Reds when
Speaker 1: he was with the Cincinnati Inquirer and the Bengals finally
Speaker 1: ponying up for some talent. So that's all coming up
Speaker 1: tonight here on the Big Blue Insider. And of course
Speaker 1: you probably know by now. First of all, you know
Speaker 1: the Masters is happening. I'm going to talk about that
Speaker 1: in our next segment a little bit. But I hope
Speaker 1: you got to see the daughter of Rory McElroy, who
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you the next segment why I'm
Speaker 1: kind of rooting for him. I know he's not an American.
Speaker 1: His daughter, Poppy, wearing what they call a boiler suit,
Speaker 1: played in the par three competition, got the putt and
Speaker 1: she sank a long putt. I think she's three years old,
Speaker 1: and the video is incredible. I urge you to google
Speaker 1: it and find it. But Rory and Shane Lowry helped
Speaker 1: her line it up at the par three contest at
Speaker 1: Augusta National and she sank a huge downhill putt at
Speaker 1: the ninth hole, and just like her dad and every
Speaker 1: other golfer out there, she had to just give it
Speaker 1: a nudge and let gravity take hold and do the
Speaker 1: rest of the work for about thirty feet and it
Speaker 1: dropped in and it was so cool because everybody went nuts,
Speaker 1: and she didn't really understand. She just kind of stood
Speaker 1: there like uh huh. And Lowry's daughter, who was only
Speaker 1: like six years old, ran up and hugged her, and
Speaker 1: the kid was still like what just happened. It's a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. I mean, the dad's went crazy. So
Speaker 1: find that video. It's online, easy to find. Obviously, Mark
Speaker 1: Pope has got himself a player in sights. He's a shooter.
Speaker 1: Maybe by now he's landed him. I doubt it because
Speaker 1: the kid's going to take other visits. But he's from
Speaker 1: sam Houston State by way of a junior college. Lamar Wilkerson,
Speaker 1: who might be a candidate to step in for Kobe
Speaker 1: Brea as the shooter is looking at Kentucky as well
Speaker 1: as Ole Miss Auburn, and Indiana four star transfer ranked
Speaker 1: fifty first best player, eleventh best shooting guard in the
Speaker 1: two four to seven Sports rankings. Kind of got off
Speaker 1: to a moderately good start with his career. But this season,
Speaker 1: like last year, he averaged about fourteen points a game
Speaker 1: and hit thirty four point seven percent from three. This year,
Speaker 1: his numbers twenty and a half points a game for rebound,
Speaker 1: eleven one point one steals per game, hit forty seven
Speaker 1: point seven percent from the field, forty four point five
Speaker 1: from the arc. Again, I'm not saying he's the next
Speaker 1: Kobe Brea. Who is, but this kid in terms of
Speaker 1: the numbers, might fit the bill. But again, Pope and
Speaker 1: his staff did such a remarkable job at fitting together
Speaker 1: the people on the roster, the right kids coming together,
Speaker 1: and that was as much as anything why Kentucky was
Speaker 1: successful this year and now of course. John Rostein from
Speaker 1: cbsports dot Com reporting that Pope got his automatic one
Speaker 1: year contract extension thanks to Kentucky making the Sweet sixteen.
Speaker 1: Quoting a team official, his contract now runs through the
Speaker 1: twenty nine to thirty season, with a salary increase of
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty thousand set for the final year
Speaker 1: of the deal. You know, it's interesting about this unless
Speaker 1: something goes terribly, terribly wrong. I mean, you know the
Speaker 1: passion Mark Pope has for this place, You're not gonna
Speaker 1: have to worry now, maybe whistling past the grave bar,
Speaker 1: but you don't have to worry about your coach flirting
Speaker 1: with other teams, especially during the NCAA tournament the way
Speaker 1: Kevin Willer did when he left Maryland. Mark Pope is
Speaker 1: going to be here until and unless he gets tired
Speaker 1: of it, and I mean like physically tired at the
Speaker 1: end of his career, or he gets run out of
Speaker 1: town for you know, successive back to back to back
Speaker 1: bad seasons. I don't even see that happening, because that
Speaker 1: ain't gonna happen. I don't believe with Pope, but he
Speaker 1: is so beloved now fans will turn on him if
Speaker 1: he loses too many games and too many years in
Speaker 1: a row. They've turned on Mark Stoops, even though prior
Speaker 1: to this past disastrous season they put up seven wins
Speaker 1: each time. But that wasn't enough has been raised in
Speaker 1: Kentucky football. And you're gonna get a chance to see
Speaker 1: the team on Saturday at Fan Day, basically the open
Speaker 1: practice starting at ten o'clock at Kroger Field. And you've
Speaker 1: got Bush Hamden now in his second year as offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: You're not going to see a whole lot. It's going
Speaker 1: to be awfully vanilla, but at least you know when
Speaker 1: the season begins, you've got to totally rebuilt o line.
Speaker 1: And a staff member told me during spring break, and
Speaker 1: he is. He was not the offensive coordinator. He was
Speaker 1: not the offensive line coach. I won't tell you who,
Speaker 1: but he told me he was really impressed with the
Speaker 1: athleticism of the new guys they've brought in to the
Speaker 1: point where they could be putting together another line in
Speaker 1: the mold of the big Blue Wall. And in fact,
Speaker 1: the guy had talked to invoke the name John Schlarman.
Speaker 1: So you may be seeing that although we're not going
Speaker 1: to be entirely sure what we see until the year begins.
Speaker 1: As for the former offensive coordinator, Liam Cohen is now
Speaker 1: the head coach in Jacksonville, and he popped up on
Speaker 1: the feed because he's got a quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, who's
Speaker 1: excited about the new coaching staff. But his shoulder, his
Speaker 1: left shoulder, has been rebuilt, and Liam Cohen was telling
Speaker 1: the media how Lawrence is going to be on a
Speaker 1: pitch count in the early going when it comes to
Speaker 1: summer camp.
Speaker 2: He's been working on it himself right now in terms
Speaker 2: of like monitoring that with the doctors and with Will
Speaker 2: and ferging those guys downstairs. We haven't had anything to
Speaker 2: do with it at the moment. As we lead in.
Speaker 2: We're optimistic that we'll get there, you know, in terms
Speaker 2: of where we need to go. He'll be on a
Speaker 2: pitch count for those things, in terms of the where
Speaker 2: he has to get to because he has little touch
Speaker 2: points he needs to reach before he can obviously get
Speaker 2: out onto the grass and do it full speed. Everything's
Speaker 2: moving forward. He feels really good right now, so excited
Speaker 2: about that.
Speaker 1: Liam Cohen, the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. It
Speaker 1: just feels weird to say that, but keep in mind,
Speaker 1: as you probably know, he's got a couple of ex
Speaker 1: Wildcats on that roster. Josh Allen, who got paid great
Speaker 1: defensive lineman Luke Fortner had been the starting center but
Speaker 1: now is scuffling for playing time and the job there
Speaker 1: in Jacksonville, but still on the roster. Last time I
Speaker 1: checked as we headed the break, I got to wrap
Speaker 1: with a sad note in that yesterday afternoon, we had
Speaker 1: already put the show together so we could include it
Speaker 1: last night. But you may have heard her at about
Speaker 1: the passing of Richie Wells, who was a former assistant
Speaker 1: athletic trainer at UK, and he was killed in a
Speaker 1: car accident. Police in Atlanta were chasing a suspect who
Speaker 1: had robbed at Chick fil A, and the guy in
Speaker 1: Buckhead ran through an intersection, slammed into Richie's car and
Speaker 1: killed him. You never met a better guy than Richie.
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed getting to know him. He wasn't here
Speaker 1: all that long. He was a fellow, which was like
Speaker 1: an intern at UK, and then he left and got
Speaker 1: a job with the Angels, the major league baseball team,
Speaker 1: working with their minor league clubs. And when Nick Manzione
Speaker 1: had an opening. He brought him back to college baseball
Speaker 1: and Nick was telling us that Richie, who had played
Speaker 1: D three baseball, wanted to play in the SEC but
Speaker 1: just wasn't quite good enough. But pulled Nick aside last
Speaker 1: year and said thank you for getting me to Omaha.
Speaker 1: And Nick thanked him for, he said, keeping the team
Speaker 1: healthy enough. They were totally healthy when he got to Omaha.
Speaker 1: Believe it or not. Over the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: they were incredibly healthy as a ball club. But Richie left.
Speaker 1: He got into real estate, I'm told in the Atlanta area,
Speaker 1: originally from New York, and I used to tease him
Speaker 1: a little bit. He would go out on the field
Speaker 1: to check on injured players and games we were televising,
Speaker 1: and if he was doing it too much, say Richie, man,
Speaker 1: you're getting too much FaceTime. I told that to Nick
Speaker 1: MinJe On and he said there were times when Nick
Speaker 1: asked Richie come out on the field and check this guy.
Speaker 1: And later on, as he said, as he's running after,
Speaker 1: he said, I know he doesn't really need it, but
Speaker 1: I'm doing this so your parents can see you on TV,
Speaker 1: which I thought was an incredible response. And it just
Speaker 1: breaks your heart that Richie's gone way too soon, a
Speaker 1: close friend to Devin Burke's, the UK team leader and catcher,
Speaker 1: and all the condolences to his family for Richie. Wells
Speaker 1: back in a minute six thirty WLAP Welcome back. In
Speaker 1: just a few minutes, we're going to be talking with
Speaker 1: Chris Fisher, the Cats Poles. We'll get caught up on
Speaker 1: UK recruiting. Get his thoughts on the season that just concluded.
Speaker 1: A little bit later, Tim Sullivan, freelance writer over in Louisville,
Speaker 1: get his closing thoughts on the college basketball season voting.
Speaker 1: What's going on to U of L. The UKU of
Speaker 1: L rivalry, which you know it kind of really cooled
Speaker 1: off thanks to the flop by Kenny Paine, is heating
Speaker 1: up in a big way now. So we'll find out
Speaker 1: more about what's going on over there. U of L
Speaker 1: showing up in these way too soon pre season top
Speaker 1: twenty fives, in the top five in some instances, and
Speaker 1: so it is Kentucky in the top ten at least.
Speaker 1: And then a little bit later on as well, we'll
Speaker 1: hear from Michael Epps of Fox fifty six mentioned earlier
Speaker 1: the masters going on. You know that if you're a
Speaker 1: sports fan, and apologies. We pre record so man, back
Speaker 1: in the day, we could come on at six o'clock
Speaker 1: live and you know, tell you who was up. We
Speaker 1: had the TV on Billy Religion. I had to monitor
Speaker 1: on and we'll get you up to speed on that.
Speaker 1: But personnel being what it is now, so a few
Speaker 1: people working in the radio station anymore, We've got a
Speaker 1: pre record. So that's that. But I will tell you
Speaker 1: that I am rooting for Rory McElroy. I mentioned the odds,
Speaker 1: the players that are favored meant talked about that yesterday,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I root for the Americans, of course, but
Speaker 1: I really root for Rory. I like him. He's from
Speaker 1: Northern Ireland, that's where my grandfather's from. But I just
Speaker 1: like him. He's great for the game and just a
Speaker 1: great player. But it's amazing to me. I didn't realize
Speaker 1: that here's a guy. We knew this. He lacks the
Speaker 1: masters to complete the career grand Slam. I didn't realize
Speaker 1: he's had eleven shots at it. Eleven shots. Only five
Speaker 1: other people have done it. Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player,
Speaker 1: Jack Nicholas, Tiger Woods. That's it. That's the list. Those
Speaker 1: are the people who have won the career Grand Slam
Speaker 1: in golf, not in one year, although you could argue
Speaker 1: Tiger did it over the course of a year. But
Speaker 1: I heard Steve Sands at a golf channel mentioned the
Speaker 1: fact that these guys all completed the Slam within three years.
Speaker 1: And now, as we said, Rory has been trying to
Speaker 1: get it done for almost a dozen years. So I
Speaker 1: do root for me. See, he's been close, He's had
Speaker 1: a four stroke lead on the last day and he's
Speaker 1: blown it. So yeah, I would really love to see
Speaker 1: him win it. But I'd be okay if Justin Thomas
Speaker 1: wanted the kid from Kentucky, you know, kid young man.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's going to be the kind of
Speaker 1: thing where I think McElroy, who's now admitted that in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen he had won tournaments, but he really struggled
Speaker 1: in the majors. So now he's kind of taking a
Speaker 1: different approach to the majors a little bit more. And
Speaker 1: as I understand Stans was talking about this, you just
Speaker 1: have to be conservative at Augusta and if you follow
Speaker 1: golf and all you know about the Greens, you know,
Speaker 1: unforgiving it can be and Rory apparently is more aggressive
Speaker 1: than most at Augusta has been, So maybe if he
Speaker 1: just backs off and hangs close, you know, stay close,
Speaker 1: the way Houston did against Duke, the way Florida did
Speaker 1: against Houston. Stay close, stay close, and in the closing minutes,
Speaker 1: in the closing holes, make your move. He's good enough
Speaker 1: to do that. He teed off earlier today at one twelve,
Speaker 1: and Colin Morrikawa was one of the early tea times,
Speaker 1: teed off at nine forty seven, philm Mickelson at nine
Speaker 1: point fifty eight, rising to Shambo at one twenty three,
Speaker 1: John Rahm and his group at one thirty four. They
Speaker 1: play threesomes, and if you care about it, you are
Speaker 1: or have been watching it, or you will on ESPN,
Speaker 1: CBS picks up coverage for the last two rounds this weekend.
Speaker 1: It's almost also simulcast on Masters dot Com, the Masters app,
Speaker 1: which I don't have but apparently is tremendous, ESPN plus
Speaker 1: Paramount plus, so it's all over the place if you
Speaker 1: really really want to get in the golf this weekend,
Speaker 1: And I don't blame you if you did. Something happened
Speaker 1: during the NCA tournament and I was on and off
Speaker 1: the air so much and I didn't have a chance
Speaker 1: to talk about this. And it may not mean much
Speaker 1: to many of you, but if you've been following college
Speaker 1: basketball for a while, UK basketball all your life, as
Speaker 1: most of you have been, you know the name John Feinstein.
Speaker 1: John was a career columnist and a best selling author.
Speaker 1: He was the best, probably the best author of sports
Speaker 1: books in the history of the medium. John wrote between
Speaker 1: forty four and forty eight books. I've seen two different
Speaker 1: accounts of it. I knew he had written a lot,
Speaker 1: I didn't realize he'd written that many, But apparently he
Speaker 1: wrote a series of books for young people for teens.
Speaker 1: But he wrote the first huge sports inside look kind
Speaker 1: of book, A Season on the Brink, And that was
Speaker 1: the year he followed Bob Knight. He got permission from
Speaker 1: Night to hang out with his team and write about it.
Speaker 1: Spent the entire season with it. It was a brilliant
Speaker 1: book and a bestseller, chronicled the eighty five eighty six
Speaker 1: Indiana team. The whole season spent seventeen weeks at number
Speaker 1: one on the Times bestseller list. Later on, Bob Knight
Speaker 1: denounced it by saying that Feinstein had agreed to not
Speaker 1: publish the profanities that Night used in almost every breath
Speaker 1: that he took. And of course I thought that was ridiculous.
Speaker 1: There was no way a guy like John Feinstein was
Speaker 1: going to agree to that. No way. By the way,
Speaker 1: later on it was turned into it. Remember when ESPN
Speaker 1: made movies for a while, Brian Denny, he played Bob Knight.
Speaker 1: It was bad. It's a bad movie. I mean they tried,
Speaker 1: you know, put him in a big red sweater. But
Speaker 1: the book was phenomenal. He followed that up with a
Speaker 1: number of books. But he followed it up with a
Speaker 1: book called A Season Inside. And I enjoyed that book
Speaker 1: as much as any of his I ever read. I
Speaker 1: only read maybe five or six of Einstein's books, but
Speaker 1: A Season Inside basically gave the same treatment to a
Speaker 1: different team in every chapter. Wasn't just one team, and
Speaker 1: I loved it. In fact, I was on an airplane
Speaker 1: reading it, and I'll never forget this. I was so
Speaker 1: engrossed in it. The plane landed, people disembarked, and I
Speaker 1: didn't even realize it. A flight attendant shook me, you know,
Speaker 1: grabbed me on the arm, said, sir, you have to
Speaker 1: get off the plane. I was so into the book,
Speaker 1: wasn't asleep reading the book. I read A Civil War
Speaker 1: that's about the Army Navy football game. It's phenomenalminal New
Speaker 1: York Times bestseller. And in fact, after he finished that book,
Speaker 1: he had developed such a strong relationship with the people
Speaker 1: at both the Army and Navy. John became the color
Speaker 1: analyst on Navy. I think it was basketball games. Might
Speaker 1: have been football as well, but it was just phenomenal.
Speaker 1: He's written a book about Ivy League football published last year.
Speaker 1: I didn't know this, called The Ancient Eight. But there's
Speaker 1: so many a good walk spoiled. I haven't had a
Speaker 1: chance to read that yet. Well, i've had a chance
Speaker 1: of just havn't a want two though. I did read
Speaker 1: a book called let Me Tell You a Story about
Speaker 1: Red Aurback, and of course Feinstein developed this relationship with
Speaker 1: Red Hourback to the point where Aurback invited him to
Speaker 1: have lunch with Ourback and his boys on either Monday
Speaker 1: or Tuesday every week. And Aurbak lived in Washington, DC.
Speaker 1: He had lived in Boston even when he was coaching Celtics.
Speaker 1: Didn't even live in Boston. He lived in DC and
Speaker 1: took the train to Boston, but he had lunch every
Speaker 1: week at the same Chinese restaurant, and Feinstein had developed
Speaker 1: such a great relationship with him that he finally broke
Speaker 1: through and was invited to go to lunch, and he
Speaker 1: said he sat there and remained silent, which, according to
Speaker 1: Tony Korneiser as a huge upset because Feinstein always dominated
Speaker 1: conversations and was always right, and Coronizer called him a
Speaker 1: dear friend. But he said I had to step away
Speaker 1: from him for a year or two because he said,
Speaker 1: I just got so tired of him telling me all
Speaker 1: the time I was wrong and belittling me. So and
Speaker 1: oh yeah, there's one other book he wrote called The
Speaker 1: Last Amateurs, which was about the Patriot League and Ralph Willard,
Speaker 1: the former UK assistant, was coaching at holy Cross. That
Speaker 1: was in the nineteen ninety nine two thousand season. So
Speaker 1: many great books, but I bring him up primarily because
Speaker 1: after I heard he died, I remembered this. I interviewed
Speaker 1: Feinstein a couple of times. He may have even had
Speaker 1: him on the radio, but I interviewed him in person
Speaker 1: a couple of times at UK Games back in the
Speaker 1: I guess it was early nineties, maybe late eighties, but
Speaker 1: definitely in the early nineties, because it was in that
Speaker 1: interview that Feinstein explained to me why he was so
Speaker 1: ticked off that UK under Rick Bettino had risen from
Speaker 1: the ashes and had made it back to prominence and
Speaker 1: the Final Four in ninety three. He believed that whatever
Speaker 1: it was the landed Kentucky on probation in the late
Speaker 1: eighties was so serious that the penalties didn't match. Okay, now,
Speaker 1: the penalties were severe, but what happened was Rick Bettino
Speaker 1: came here and, as you know, rebuilt the program. It
Speaker 1: felt like overnight, and Feinstein was going on and they
Speaker 1: should have been this, and it should they shouldn't be this.
Speaker 1: And I finally said, so, what you're saying is Kentucky
Speaker 1: basketball hasn't suffered enough. And Feinstein on camera said right.
Speaker 1: I thought, well, and I didn't say it, but I thought,
Speaker 1: that's ridiculous. I mean, if he only knew what was
Speaker 1: going on and how badly those penalties crushed the program,
Speaker 1: and a lot of coaches, I think not a lot,
Speaker 1: but probably a handful of coaches could have brought UK
Speaker 1: basketball back in a manner of I don't know, five
Speaker 1: or six years, but Tino did it. You could say
Speaker 1: he did it in the first year when they were
Speaker 1: fourteen and fourteen, definitely by the following year and not
Speaker 1: long after that during the Final four. But that did
Speaker 1: not set well with John Feinstein, who, by the way,
Speaker 1: went to Duke and was there when Kentucky beat Duke
Speaker 1: in the championship game in seventy eight and was convinced,
Speaker 1: like everybody that that Duke team, which was so young,
Speaker 1: was destined to win the NSAE title. Maybe the following year. Nope,
Speaker 1: that was Magic Johnson. That Jem Banks Mike Jamiski team
Speaker 1: never did win a national title. I didn't sit well
Speaker 1: with John either, But I wanted to bring that up because,
Speaker 1: like I said, I hadn't had a chance to talk
Speaker 1: about Feinstein, and I remembered that conversation I had with him,
Speaker 1: and he died of natural causes. They said at age
Speaker 1: sixty nine. Friends, that's not old. That's how old I am.
Speaker 1: We'll come back with Chris Fisher in just a minute
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLA welcome back to the Big Blue
Speaker 1: and Cider as promise. Joining us now in our celebrity
Speaker 1: Odeline is mister Chris Fisher from two four to seven
Speaker 1: Sports in the cast pause, How are you, sir?
Speaker 3: Not as good as you mister Hall of Fame. Oh,
Speaker 3: congratulations on that.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Couldn't be happier for you, so so so much deserved.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. You've been part
Speaker 1: of our show for quite a while now and have
Speaker 1: made a real name for yourself covering UK sports, including
Speaker 1: of course recruiting. And this is a different kind of
Speaker 1: beat now, isn't it. When you've got to keep an
Speaker 1: eye on the transfer portal and not just the high
Speaker 1: school kids. What's that been like for you?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I mean, I'm a hopeless romantic when it comes
Speaker 4: to college basketball. I love the pageantry of it. I
Speaker 4: love the tradition of it. And for many reasons, I
Speaker 4: was not a huge fan of the transfer portal because,
Speaker 4: you know, you have such a large number of guys
Speaker 4: playing for three schools in four years or four schools
Speaker 4: in five years, and it takes away from you know,
Speaker 4: what makes college basketball great. If a guy is choosing
Speaker 4: a school just for the money, then it might as
Speaker 4: well be the NBA, you know. And so but at
Speaker 4: the same time, I would be lying to you if
Speaker 4: I said the transfer portal and the all out feeding
Speaker 4: frenzy that we see now every spring isn't a lot
Speaker 4: of fun to watch, no matter, no matter, not just
Speaker 4: fun to watch, fun to follow, no matter, you know what,
Speaker 4: the team you're a fan of.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right. Every every hour, it seems there's a
Speaker 1: new lead on the story. But i'd heard someplace, Christopher
Speaker 1: there were a thousand names in the portal. That's nuts.
Speaker 3: The last I heard it was close to two thousand,
Speaker 3: and I'm sure, and that was probably three four days ago,
Speaker 3: maybe even a week ago, So I'm sure it's well
Speaker 3: north of two thousand, oh maybe now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so much of it is linked to NIL.
Speaker 1: I think, I think most of us, maybe you didn't.
Speaker 1: I mean I saw what I saw coming was tampering
Speaker 1: and you know, kids going back and forth, But I
Speaker 1: didn't think that NIL dollars would have this kind of
Speaker 1: an effect. A lot of us playing time, to be sure,
Speaker 1: but their kids just out there shopping for better deals.
Speaker 1: And you really can't blame them because that's the way
Speaker 1: the rules are set up right.
Speaker 4: Now, right yeah, And you almost have to enter the
Speaker 4: portal to find out what your real market value is.
Speaker 4: And there are a lot of guys that enter the
Speaker 4: portal and you know, return to their own team, or
Speaker 4: you know, maybe they enter the portal to put a
Speaker 4: little bit of financial pressure on the school that they're
Speaker 4: at to pay them, you know, their fair market value
Speaker 4: if they're coming off a good season or what have you.
Speaker 4: And so it's fun to watch, it's fun to follow,
Speaker 4: but I also know, just based on gauging the fan reaction,
Speaker 4: that it's also very stressful for fans to follow because
Speaker 4: they don't have a lot of patience. You know, it's
Speaker 4: kind of like a feeding frenzy at a buffet table,
Speaker 4: and fans are afraid that you know, they're going to get,
Speaker 4: you know, lessed out of it. And so, you know,
Speaker 4: there was some early panic among the Kentucky fan base,
Speaker 4: but I think Mark Pope has been able to quiet
Speaker 4: them down here a little bit over the last week
Speaker 4: or so.
Speaker 1: But obviously that was the salvation of Pope and his
Speaker 1: staff going into year number one. They did such a
Speaker 1: great job of sizing up the kinds of talents they needed,
Speaker 1: the skill sets and the kids. You know, they brought
Speaker 1: in just really quality people, which is what you needed
Speaker 1: in a situation like this, as you know, to try
Speaker 1: to bring Kentucky back almost overnight. You know, as Pope said,
Speaker 1: we understand the assignment, but if it's complicated by a
Speaker 1: bad apple or too, it's going to be almost impossible.
Speaker 1: But they did it a superb job. I thought of
Speaker 1: bringing in the right people.
Speaker 4: You agree with that, yeah, absolutely, I'm a huge admirer
Speaker 4: of how Mark Pope attacks the train. I mean, if
Speaker 4: you look at last year and you look at the
Speaker 4: teams that went out and spent the most money and
Speaker 4: acquired the most talent Arkansas, Kansas State, Indiana, Baylor, those
Speaker 4: tools did not perform particularly well. And there is definitely
Speaker 4: an art to it. And I think with Mark Pope,
Speaker 4: you know, you know you talked to him for five seconds.
Speaker 4: You know how much he loves the University of Kentucky
Speaker 4: and he wants to bring in guys that want to
Speaker 4: be here, not just because Kentucky paid them the most
Speaker 4: money to be here. And if you look at the
Speaker 4: adversity that last year's team overcame, they don't do that
Speaker 4: if they're just here for the money, you know, they
Speaker 4: were truly and legitimately playing for the name on the
Speaker 4: front of the jersey and playing with a ton of
Speaker 4: pride and fighting through injuries and fighting through adversity. And
Speaker 4: so Mark Pope is going to get guys that want
Speaker 4: to be here, that appreciate the experience of being a
Speaker 4: Kentucky basketball player. And I also think he does a
Speaker 4: great job of actually building a team that fits together
Speaker 4: instead of just acquiring raw talent. And you know, each
Speaker 4: PC brings in has a ripple effect on the rest
Speaker 4: of the guys that he brings in, And so I
Speaker 4: think he's he's done a great job.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not a it's not a fantasy team. It's
Speaker 1: more like a jigsaw puzzle, which.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, talking a great.
Speaker 1: Two four seven sports and a catspaws. Uh two four
Speaker 1: seven reporting that a kid from sam Houston State is
Speaker 1: going to visit the dead period ends today. What can
Speaker 1: you tell us about Lamar Wilkerson, Because you know, everybody
Speaker 1: wants to see the next Kobe Brayer when you're looking
Speaker 1: for a shooter. That's not going to be fair with
Speaker 1: ninety nine point nine percent of the people in the portal.
Speaker 1: But could this guy be the answer to what they need?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I think so. I think you know, they had been
Speaker 4: linked to a couple of different guys in the portal.
Speaker 4: Wesley Yates from USC was a big time name to
Speaker 4: put his name in the portal. Ryland Griffin from Kansas,
Speaker 4: Jaron Pierre from Jacksonville State the Conference USA Player of
Speaker 4: the Year, but specifically Pierre and Yate come with a
Speaker 4: big time price tag, and I think Kentucky has kind
Speaker 4: of trended away from those guys, at least for the
Speaker 4: time being, and it sounds like they've set their sights
Speaker 4: on Lamar Wilkerson, who averaged over twenty points per game
Speaker 4: in San Houston State, shot I think forty four percent
Speaker 4: from three, made one hundred and nine to three pointers,
Speaker 4: and so if you're looking for, you know, a one
Speaker 4: for one Kobe Bray a replacement, he's probably as good
Speaker 4: of a candidate as you're gonna find. I think when
Speaker 4: you look at the roster that Mark Pope has put together,
Speaker 4: I don't think they'll have quite the amount of shooting
Speaker 4: that this year's team had. But I think Mark Pope
Speaker 4: also understands you can't just be a great shooting team
Speaker 4: that runs, you know, really good offense and win at
Speaker 4: the highest level in the SEC. We saw as the
Speaker 4: season went on, teams started to systematically take those three
Speaker 4: point attempts away from Kentucky. And at times they had
Speaker 4: had they had trouble defending, they had trouble defending rim,
Speaker 4: they had trouble with the physicality and the athleticism of
Speaker 4: the SEC and you saw Mark Pope pivot and address
Speaker 4: that with guys like Moa Diabase and Jaden Quainton's and
Speaker 4: Cam Williams, even if it comes at the expense of
Speaker 4: a little bit of shooting. And so I really like
Speaker 4: what Mark Pope has done in the portal thus far.
Speaker 4: I think they're probably looking at adding another shooter. I
Speaker 4: think Lamar Wilkerson is a prime candidate. He'll visit Kentucky, Indiana, Auburn,
Speaker 4: and Ole, miss before MA making a decision. I think
Speaker 4: Kentucky's in a good spot with him. And then, you know,
Speaker 4: depending on how the rest of the roster shakes out.
Speaker 4: You know, you know, Mark Cook said one piece affects
Speaker 4: the other, but also every piece that you add may
Speaker 4: affect the current roster. And so it'll be interesting to
Speaker 4: see if Kentucky has any departures after adding you know,
Speaker 4: five guys or six guys through the transfer portal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Chris Fisher, my guests from two four to seven
Speaker 1: Sports and The Cat's Pause. We'll come back with more
Speaker 1: in just a minute. On the Big Blue Insider six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP, we're talking to Chris Fisher of The Cat's
Speaker 1: Pause and two four to seven Sports, which is reporting
Speaker 1: that Lamar Wilkerson uh formerly if Sam Houston State may
Speaker 1: come through the portal to Kentucky's certainly going to visit.
Speaker 1: And as Chris mentioned, he's got a number of high
Speaker 1: profile teams on his list. I remember Chris talking to
Speaker 1: the guys Mark brought in last summer, and you may
Speaker 1: have as well about the fact that you know his
Speaker 1: plan and you just referred to it is to get
Speaker 1: up x amount of three point shots, and that was
Speaker 1: quite the attraction for some especially a guy like Kobe Brea. Hey,
Speaker 1: we're gonna shoot thirty to thirty five threes a game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sign me up. Uh So, while in practice, Pope might
Speaker 1: back off at d just ever so slightly, but I
Speaker 1: think when he's selling the program, he's still going to
Speaker 1: sell that, don't you think to guys like Wilkerson.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Absolutely, And he talked at the end of the
Speaker 4: season about you know, and Mark Pope is a thinking
Speaker 4: man's coach, and he's going to be driven by the data.
Speaker 4: He's going to be driven by the analytics in his
Speaker 4: decision making. And you know, he said after the season,
Speaker 4: you know you want to you know, they do an
Speaker 4: autopsy at the end of the non conference season, the
Speaker 4: autopsy at the end of the regular season, and then
Speaker 4: autopsy at the end of the season and kind of
Speaker 4: see where they need to continue to grow and evolve.
Speaker 4: But you also have to stay true to your identity
Speaker 4: and what makes you you. And so I definitely don't
Speaker 4: think even with some of these other pieces that they've added,
Speaker 4: as far as getting more athletic, getting tougher, getting you know,
Speaker 4: better on the defensive end, and rebounding the basketball, that
Speaker 4: they're going to go away from shooting the three. I mean,
Speaker 4: you look at guys like Cam Williams, Mo Diabat. Both
Speaker 4: of those guys can step out and shoot it. Now,
Speaker 4: they didn't do it at a high volume, but they
Speaker 4: definitely showed a propensity to it to be able to
Speaker 4: step out and do that. And so you know, you
Speaker 4: look at a guy like Lamont Butler, I think he
Speaker 4: was a career thirty two percent three point shooter before
Speaker 4: he got to Kentucky shot thirty percent from three in
Speaker 4: his last season at San Diego State, and while I
Speaker 4: he's a thirty nine percent three point shooter. And that's
Speaker 4: in part because Mark Pope's offense is going to generate
Speaker 4: open looks and these guys aren't going to be counted
Speaker 4: on to force shots and you know, shoot off balance,
Speaker 4: one legged, you know, stay away three pointers like they
Speaker 4: you know, may be worth the previous schools.
Speaker 1: Plus they'll practice it every day, that's the thing. They'll
Speaker 1: get up shots in practice. They'll be expected to shoot
Speaker 1: and hit those shots, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, And you know, I mean you look at
Speaker 4: a guy like Kobe Braya specifically how much he improved
Speaker 4: over the course of the season, and I think he
Speaker 4: doubled his two point attempts from the previous season at
Speaker 4: Dayton and realized, I can't just stand behind this line
Speaker 4: and shoot threes because teams are going to take that away.
Speaker 4: I have to learn to be effective in other areas
Speaker 4: of the game. And we saw him continue to grow
Speaker 4: and continue to round out his game as a basketball player,
Speaker 4: and not just offensively, on the defensive end as well.
Speaker 4: I mean there were times I think early in the
Speaker 4: season he was almost unplayable with how bad he was
Speaker 4: on the defensive end. But he's continued to grow. And
Speaker 4: you know, now ESPN hasn't projected as a second round
Speaker 4: pick in its latest mock draft, So you don't have
Speaker 4: to look any further than Kobe Brea in terms of
Speaker 4: Mark Pope and his development of players.
Speaker 1: How great is that for Mark Pope to be able
Speaker 1: to point to a guy like Kobe Brea and talk
Speaker 1: about what you just talked about. Look, this guy, he
Speaker 1: couldn't say I couldn't play him because of defense, but
Speaker 1: he could couch it in a different term, but say
Speaker 1: he worked so hard on his defense and worked his way,
Speaker 1: let's face it, with defense as much as the two
Speaker 1: point shots into the NBA draft, which is obviously where
Speaker 1: these kids want to be. What a great tool for
Speaker 1: a coach like that.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, And I mean you look at all of the
Speaker 4: transfers that Kentucky brought in last offseason.
Speaker 3: I think they had something.
Speaker 4: Like thirty eight combined seasons of college basketball under their belt.
Speaker 4: And you know, I guess taking out Kirkrisa, who only
Speaker 4: played nine games I think it was, but had career
Speaker 4: years across the board in terms of their per forty
Speaker 4: minute averages.
Speaker 3: I mean, you look at a guy like otega Oway,
Speaker 3: you know, and I see fans all the time talk.
Speaker 4: About, Oh, I don't know if this guy moves the
Speaker 4: needle enough. I don't know if we have enough star power.
Speaker 4: Did anybody think otega Oway would be a star for
Speaker 4: Kentucky this season? You know, I mean led the team
Speaker 4: in scoring. I think, you know, scored in double figures
Speaker 4: in all but two games. You know, had the third
Speaker 4: highest scoring season by a Kentucky transfer behind I think
Speaker 4: it was Oscar Sheebley and Antonio Reeves, and you know,
Speaker 4: put up career numbers across the board in terms of
Speaker 4: field goal percentage, three point percentage, free throw percentage. These
Speaker 4: guys were the most efficient that they've been in their
Speaker 4: college careers. And that was in one season under Mark
Speaker 4: cat Yeah.
Speaker 1: Pretty amazing. Just a minute or two left, But did
Speaker 1: you have Florida winning it? How was your bracket?
Speaker 4: I didn't.
Speaker 3: Still it's been a while since I've.
Speaker 4: Filled out of bracket. I don't know why I don't
Speaker 4: do it anymore. It used to be like my favorite
Speaker 4: day of the year, getting that bracket hot off the
Speaker 4: printer at school or you know whatever, and I thought
Speaker 4: I thought Duke was the best team, and it probably
Speaker 4: played out that way. They should have beaten Houston, and
Speaker 4: I thought they would give, you know, Florida some major problems.
Speaker 4: But it played up pretty much the way that I
Speaker 4: thought it would. That Florida had just been on such
Speaker 4: a heater over the last two months of the season,
Speaker 4: and then when you add to that Walter Clayton himself
Speaker 4: being on the heater that he was with, you know,
Speaker 4: two thirty point games in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 2: And.
Speaker 4: That that Florida Houston champion hip game was as good
Speaker 4: as a championship game as I can remember in some time,
Speaker 4: just you know, go and blow for blow down the stretch,
Speaker 4: and everybody talks about how tough Houston is, and but
Speaker 4: Florida was every bit as tough. The way that they
Speaker 4: came back from that twelve point deficit and you know,
Speaker 4: kind of traded Haymakers down the stretch over the last
Speaker 4: seven or eight minutes and then we're able to finish
Speaker 4: it off and defend Houston. The way they did, I
Speaker 4: thought was was really really impressive. But if you look
Speaker 4: at the way the NCAA tournament turned out. It used
Speaker 4: to be all about first round picks. How many first
Speaker 4: round picks do you have, how many mcdonald' all Americans
Speaker 4: you have. It is completely the opposite. Now it's all
Speaker 4: about how many guys did you retain from the previous season, right,
Speaker 4: That's what it's all about. And Florida had so many
Speaker 4: guys come back from you know, a pretty successful team
Speaker 4: last year. But they you know, they lost in the
Speaker 4: first round of the NCAA tournament, but had so many
Speaker 4: of those guys come back. They added Elijah Martin and
Speaker 4: you know, and the road that waves to a championship.
Speaker 1: Chris, thank you so much.
Speaker 4: All right, you bet?
Speaker 1: And you can follow Chris on Twitter x whatever you
Speaker 1: want to call it at Chris Fisher two four seven
Speaker 1: and of course in the pages of The Cat's Paws
Speaker 1: or online. I think if you type in Cat's Pause,
Speaker 1: it still comes up. It'll take you to two four
Speaker 1: to seven Sports, but two four to seven Kentucky something
Speaker 1: like that will get you there if you're not a subscriber,
Speaker 1: which you should be. Coming up next, our number two,
Speaker 1: we've got Michael LEPs from Fox fifty six covers the
Speaker 1: Cats both football and basketball and was at the most
Speaker 1: recent open practice, and of course covered the basketball Cats
Speaker 1: all year long, and Tim Sullivan from over in Louisville.
Speaker 1: We'll talk a little bit about the Wildcats, about the
Speaker 1: Cardinals as well, and about the Bengals spending a ton
Speaker 1: of money. Chris for the longest time covered sports up
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati. That and more and nour number two next one,
Speaker 1: six thirty wlap.
Speaker 6: Any such such tact tact showing anything.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the big Blue sider joining us down
Speaker 1: our celebrity highline is the road Warrior. Michael Epps. Uh. Actually,
Speaker 1: you've been able to stay at home of late but
Speaker 1: basketball tournament over and it was a fun season to
Speaker 1: cover though, wasn't it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 5: Unfortunately I did not travel for the NCAA tournament due
Speaker 5: to just company policies, I'll say that, which was a
Speaker 5: bummer because I love covering the team. It was a
Speaker 5: really great team, and I told you I really enjoyed
Speaker 5: last year's team. And I as a Michigan boy that
Speaker 5: does not root for Kentucky really outside for my job,
Speaker 5: I've found myself really rooting for Reach Eppert in those
Speaker 5: points last year, which made that lock to Oakland such
Speaker 5: a bummer. But then cal Leaves Hope comes in. The
Speaker 5: fans don't like Pope at first when he's higher, but
Speaker 5: they fall in love with him two days later with
Speaker 5: that press conference, and all the way through eleven months later.
Speaker 5: It was a really fun season with a really unique team,
Speaker 5: and they did well. They made it out of the
Speaker 5: first weekend, which is what they had to do, and
Speaker 5: now the standard is set for Pope in a second season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there are people, you know, I'm convinced still
Speaker 1: laying in the eas waiting to criticize. But I've talked
Speaker 1: to Chris Fisher earlier on the show and a number
Speaker 1: of people about the fact that I think one of
Speaker 1: the things that Pope did so successfully Michael is actually
Speaker 1: constructing the team, you know, not just grabbing stats, but
Speaker 1: really making sure they were the right people. Because to
Speaker 1: your point, obviously we have to remain as objective as possible,
Speaker 1: but you end up in this business rooting for people.
Speaker 1: This was a team full of people that were easy
Speaker 1: to root for. You know.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, you get the you get the tournament name
Speaker 5: in Lamont Butler, who had that Final four moment, But
Speaker 5: a lot of other guys that were unknown and ready
Speaker 5: to come in and prove themselves.
Speaker 6: They did.
Speaker 5: I mean, Kobe Braa had a had a much better
Speaker 5: second half of the year. You know, he had some
Speaker 5: big moments in sec play. Mariy Williams was a double double.
Speaker 1: You know it.
Speaker 5: It was a fun team to cover that. You know,
Speaker 5: it's a little different that you're not going to see
Speaker 5: a bunch of NBA names, And I hope I'll Tega,
Speaker 5: oh wait, find himself an NBA career, maybe after staying
Speaker 5: here for a senior year. Yeah, maybe getting a three
Speaker 5: point percentage up and then getting himself into next year's
Speaker 5: NBA draft. But you know, outside of him, knowing else
Speaker 5: from this team is really going to have a pro career.
Speaker 5: So they were all in, man. You could tell they
Speaker 5: were fighting hard and they enjoyed it. The emotions were
Speaker 5: there when the season ended. So it's a team that
Speaker 5: the fans will remember for sure.
Speaker 1: I got to think the Bigs will play pro ball
Speaker 1: somewhere to your point, not maybe not in the NBA,
Speaker 1: but now, man, there's money to be made overseas. Mariy Williams,
Speaker 1: you know, he's going to play for somebody but wheref
Speaker 1: they go, they'll end up shooting three pointers, because that's
Speaker 1: where we are with international ball now, isn't it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I think Jackson Robinson wants that risk is
Speaker 5: sealed up. I could see himself going over there. It's
Speaker 5: a bumber because I think he was when he man,
Speaker 5: when he got rolling, he had those back to back
Speaker 5: twenty point games and just looked way more confident in
Speaker 5: sec play, and it was looking like he was going
Speaker 5: to be that guy that was going to be their
Speaker 5: bailock guy. He was going to make those tough shots
Speaker 5: lay in, the shot clock went offense flying down, and
Speaker 5: it was a real I think his injury was just
Speaker 5: worse than the rest. I really felt bad for him
Speaker 5: because he was playing himself for a minute there to
Speaker 5: get in a summer league invite, and so obviously he
Speaker 5: won't get that, but hopefully he has a nice career.
Speaker 5: And and Lamon Butler was awesome. I don't I don't
Speaker 5: know what his status is with that shoulder, if he's
Speaker 5: got surgery yet or if he will later, if it
Speaker 5: was a torn lab room or not. I'm sure we
Speaker 5: won't find out, but feel bad for him as well.
Speaker 5: But those those boys played hard and hopefully they have
Speaker 5: some fun in their pro careers. But Otego always is
Speaker 5: that guy that has a has a real potential if
Speaker 5: he comes back, which it sounds like he hopefully will.
Speaker 5: I guess he's still got a lot of time to
Speaker 5: think about it, maybe test the waters. But if he
Speaker 5: comes back and start hitting the threes, this UK seem
Speaker 5: to be scared.
Speaker 1: Yeah, be fun. Uh. And of course the stories now
Speaker 1: are who's coming through the portal. But that's something you
Speaker 1: got to check, you know, your phone and the internet
Speaker 1: every hour on the hour, it seems now. But let
Speaker 1: me you have to go over to football. You've been
Speaker 1: watching this Kentucky team practice and I was talking to
Speaker 1: a staff member during spring break and it was not
Speaker 1: the O line coach, but he mentioned how athletic that
Speaker 1: offensive line is. I don't know what you watch when
Speaker 1: you go to one of the open practices, or what
Speaker 1: you'd be looking for on Saturday. It's hard for me
Speaker 1: to judge. You know, we don't know what we're seeing
Speaker 1: when we're looking at lineman and man, they looked apart,
Speaker 1: don't they.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know they bringing in five new experience guys.
Speaker 5: It's helpful right to shore it up because it's been
Speaker 5: a tough few years and it's frushing. My first year
Speaker 5: here was that twenty twenty one team with Darren Canard
Speaker 5: and Luke Portner, and that was a big blue wall
Speaker 5: and they protected Will Levis to a ten to three record,
Speaker 5: and then they come back the next year and they
Speaker 5: were bottom five in the nation. Back out and it's like, man,
Speaker 5: these guys can't protect Henry Clay out there, you know,
Speaker 5: like Henry Clay pass rush. I mean, it was funning
Speaker 5: and it's been that way for a while.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: You Devin Leary and Rock Vandergriffs weren't great quarterback, but
Speaker 5: you got to cut them a little bit of slack
Speaker 5: because they didn't have a lot of time back there
Speaker 5: to grow and it's been a painful offense to watch.
Speaker 5: So they need to be better.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 5: The quarterback play this year could be a little fishy.
Speaker 5: I mean, Calzada can can run, he can move, and
Speaker 5: so I don't know if he'll be a Week one starter,
Speaker 5: if he'll be cutter bowlie, But either way, they're probably
Speaker 5: both going to have to be ready to you know,
Speaker 5: handle that duress because I don't see that unit getting
Speaker 5: back to being a bleak, big blue wall. You know,
Speaker 5: you can say it can't because everything's happy in springball, right,
Speaker 5: there's nothing wrong in springball. Everybody's happy in springball. Everybody's
Speaker 5: going ten and three when you're in springball. But it's
Speaker 5: hard to see that once the season gets going against
Speaker 5: these sec pass, right, yeah.
Speaker 1: Because everybody else is out there looking great, you know,
Speaker 1: across the conference, and when they're out there and shorts
Speaker 1: and T shirts and helmets, like Bacoro said to me,
Speaker 1: everybody looks good in their underwear, know, But but no,
Speaker 1: you're right, and and really, when you look back on
Speaker 1: the struggles of the old line, I also think, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to point fingers, but it's pretty obvious
Speaker 1: that when Scangarillo took away the running option from Will Levis,
Speaker 1: that made him that forced him to sit in the pocket,
Speaker 1: you know, and that line was breaking down around him
Speaker 1: and he only ran when it was an absolute emergency,
Speaker 1: so that that came into play. But now you got
Speaker 1: Bush Hampden for the second year, and it's pretty obvious
Speaker 1: how big that's going to be.
Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, it's good to have a coordinator stay for
Speaker 5: a second year. For a time that's happened in a
Speaker 5: while since I've been here. And yeah, I mean will
Speaker 5: Levis was drawing those like Josh Allen comparisons at one
Speaker 5: point with his ability to run. Yeah, and then that
Speaker 5: second year, you know, he got her you know, hurt
Speaker 5: the toe, the foot, whatever. And clearly we've seen that
Speaker 5: in the NFL that he's not good enough pocket pastor
Speaker 5: to play at that level. But the whole Skangerrell system
Speaker 5: was messed up. They you know, they were trying those
Speaker 5: bubble screens and it just it didn't work. But to Scanguerrillas,
Speaker 5: you know, give him at least a little, tiny, tiny
Speaker 5: piece of flexibility because he didn't have a good offensive
Speaker 5: line to work with either, so they're going to need that.
Speaker 5: You know, toughness matters here at Kentucky obviously with Stoops,
Speaker 5: but I like how there's at least a little more passionate,
Speaker 5: a little bit more fire with Stoops. I think he
Speaker 5: experienced a little bit of a of a you know,
Speaker 5: a peak here and now he's down in a valley.
Speaker 5: But to his credit, he wants to get back to
Speaker 5: that peak. And he was a king around here when
Speaker 5: cal was getting bounced early in the tournament. And soops
Speaker 5: was winning ten games like that was an exciting moment.
Speaker 5: So I think he wants to get back there. I
Speaker 5: just don't know what that product is going to be
Speaker 5: out there. You can't lose that many games at Kroger
Speaker 5: Field and expect fans to have a lot of excitement
Speaker 5: next year because of how last year went. So they're
Speaker 5: gonna have to prove it and win one of those
Speaker 5: early games.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And the other thing, too, is which which is
Speaker 1: so unique? If there are different levels of uniqueness. And
Speaker 1: again I've covered Kentucky football forever. You came from Michigan State.
Speaker 1: You know good football or what's supposed to be good
Speaker 1: football up there. But you know, this past season followed
Speaker 1: two seven wins seasons. But but the standards have changed
Speaker 1: for Kentucky football. I mean, before you got here, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure what your perception was of Kentucky football. But
Speaker 1: for the longest time, just a winning season was huge.
Speaker 1: And now seven wins aren't enough. So you've you've dropped
Speaker 1: into an interesting situation, haven't you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's uh, it's it's exciting that the standard has
Speaker 5: gotten higher, because, yeah, my perception was was absent. There
Speaker 5: was no perception when I was up north.
Speaker 7: It's like you don't talk about.
Speaker 5: Kentucky if you're talking SEC football. But yeah, I think
Speaker 5: I think he's he got a big plus by getting
Speaker 5: Jamry Macklin back. I think he's gonna have an awesome year.
Speaker 5: And Kendrick Law the Alabama transfer, should be good too.
Speaker 5: You know, they'll they'll run the football, they'll try to
Speaker 5: get another thousand yeard rusher. I don't know if that'll
Speaker 5: happen this year like it like it did for a
Speaker 5: few years there in a row there, but that was
Speaker 5: the real key for him. But you know, Brad White's
Speaker 5: defense is going to hover around twenty points per game scoring,
Speaker 5: which was what it was at its peak. It kind
Speaker 5: of went up a little bit higher last year, so
Speaker 5: that needs to get back down to around twenty. And
Speaker 5: then can can a soup's offense score twenty eight points
Speaker 5: and win you enough games that way? But we will see.
Speaker 5: I think a little bit more excitement will be building,
Speaker 5: you know, over the summer. But right now, I think
Speaker 5: everyone's still riding high on this Pope season. You know,
Speaker 5: they are in love with him. And now you got
Speaker 5: like Jayden Quayton's who's a huge, huge, pickup. You know,
Speaker 5: you have your point guard, and Low you have Diabate,
Speaker 5: who you know was good at Bama last year. On
Speaker 5: top of it, and Malachai and j. S. Johnson and
Speaker 5: Kat and Lewis. I mean, I think Pope's putting together
Speaker 5: really something special. So the basketball craze is still going
Speaker 5: in Big Blue Nation, but hopefully they get a little
Speaker 5: football excitement around July or August.
Speaker 1: Michael lef sports director Fox fifty six. We'll talk more
Speaker 1: with Michael on the other side of the break here
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Michael
Speaker 1: Lepsi is the sports director at Fox fifty six w
Speaker 1: dk Y covering the Wildcats coming down from Michigan State. Uh,
Speaker 1: before I ask you any more about Kentucky football, I
Speaker 1: got to tell you I picked Izzo's team to knock
Speaker 1: off Auburn and get to the Final Four. But as
Speaker 1: I watched that game, Michael and you might have had
Speaker 1: the same response. Uh, they just weren't athletic enough, were they.
Speaker 1: Auburn just had it was well coached and a really
Speaker 1: good team, but just more athletes in Michigan State. And
Speaker 1: I didn't know your spartans couldn't shoot that well. Uh,
Speaker 1: but they gave they gave it a chance.
Speaker 5: Man. It was ugly. They couldn't hit the right side
Speaker 5: of the barn. Now, it was horrible, and it was
Speaker 5: tough because you know, Jace Richardson already is a player
Speaker 5: for the draft, and he was an awesome player. Trey
Speaker 5: Holloman entered the he was like, oh for ten. Jaden
Speaker 5: Akins is a local guy that we love. He was
Speaker 5: from like five minutes from my hometown. Really, he's from
Speaker 5: really close to where I was from. My younger brother
Speaker 5: actually went to school with him, went to like middle
Speaker 5: school with him. So he was an awesome player. He
Speaker 5: was horrible in that game for thirty six minutes, and
Speaker 5: then at the end when it was already over, he
Speaker 5: made a few get in the supple visits, so he
Speaker 5: was bad too. It was tough because they Izzo knew
Speaker 5: he had to make it an ugly physical game and
Speaker 5: want a rebounding margin, and he got it, and it
Speaker 5: was right there for them, even in the second half.
Speaker 5: It was right there for the taking. Jan I Broom
Speaker 5: goes out and it's like, okay, you have to cut
Speaker 5: into this deficit. Even before Jani got hurt when he
Speaker 5: just got stubbed out at that fourteen minute mark. It's like,
Speaker 5: you got to cut into this lead and they just
Speaker 5: couldn't do it. Shouldn't make the shots get over the home.
Speaker 5: It was tough, but it was a good year for
Speaker 5: Izzo and it's not he's coming back now that I thought.
Speaker 5: There was a little bit of buzz that if they
Speaker 5: made the final four he might have retired in the
Speaker 5: thirtieth year. And you know, nine final fours, he broke
Speaker 5: the big time record. He could have hung it up,
Speaker 5: but he wants to get back there, so he comes back.
Speaker 1: Well, he has been on this radio show, so for
Speaker 1: that reason and many others, I do like is oh so, anyhow,
Speaker 1: getting back to the football catch at the open practice,
Speaker 1: I assume you'll be there Saturday. What is Are there
Speaker 1: any specifics you're going to be watching or looking for.
Speaker 5: I think obviously everybody should be looking at the quarterbacks
Speaker 5: because I don't know. I still feel like there's a
Speaker 5: chance that Cutter Bully could be the guy. Really, you know,
Speaker 5: Calzada obviously was brought in to be the guy, and
Speaker 5: that's why Stoops, But I don't think Stoops promised him
Speaker 5: to be the starter. Yeah, you know, I think I
Speaker 5: think this should still be an open competition. And Cutter
Speaker 5: Bowley obviously had his ugly moments there last year, but
Speaker 5: I think he showed a couple flashes and maybe he
Speaker 5: maybe with a full camp, maybe he'll be a little
Speaker 5: bit better next year. I feel like Cutter still has
Speaker 5: a chance to have his moment there. So it'll be
Speaker 5: interesting to see kind of who makes some nice throws
Speaker 5: there on Saturday. But you know, the the to see
Speaker 5: the running backs, to see maybe a little more tight
Speaker 5: end action which you used to see, like that twenty
Speaker 5: one team with Justin Rigg, Like what's awesome and he
Speaker 5: got picked up out of Bengals, you know, like they
Speaker 5: they used to use those tight ends and they don't.
Speaker 5: They just don't anymore. They haven't been good, you know,
Speaker 5: Dingle and Caddis, you know, like those guys have always
Speaker 5: kind of showed a couple flashes. But I think that
Speaker 5: needs to be part of the offense to get back
Speaker 5: to use those tight ends, you know on like a
Speaker 5: second and sixth you know, even first inten use a
Speaker 5: little use a little tight end action. We got to
Speaker 5: show them some love too, because you know, if they
Speaker 5: can work into this offense. I just don't think you're
Speaker 5: your outside receivers are going to be okay. But they're
Speaker 5: not as good as you know, Dan Key and Barrion Brown,
Speaker 5: who were both disappointments. You know, they were that they
Speaker 5: were really talented. So if you're not getting as much
Speaker 5: out of them, how much are you getting out of
Speaker 5: you know, Kenjack Law and you know Jamary Macklin, I
Speaker 5: don't know how much. So they're gonna need to generate
Speaker 5: more offense in this league. It's a tough league. So
Speaker 5: they got to put more points on the board and
Speaker 5: get a little more excitement with the fan base.
Speaker 1: Well, and we started off by talking about the old line,
Speaker 1: and that was a problem to your point about tight ends.
Speaker 1: You know, I know they'd love to use them more offensively,
Speaker 1: but when you got to keep them in and maybe
Speaker 1: even keep an extra running back in just a chip,
Speaker 1: it's awfully hard to build a quarterback to build a
Speaker 1: rapport with a tight end when he's got a block
Speaker 1: instead of going out to catch the ball.
Speaker 5: Yeah. Absolutely, And they'll figure it out. I think they'll
Speaker 5: have their moments, but you know, like they I still
Speaker 5: don't know how they won that whole miss game year.
Speaker 5: It was amazing because outside of outside of that, it
Speaker 5: was they couldn't they couldn't win any of those big games.
Speaker 5: So they need to they need to get a little
Speaker 5: bit more excitement. But yeahs Stoops pumps up. I even
Speaker 5: saw that video of that twenty twenty seven QB calling
Speaker 5: Stoops to say he was committed, and Oops was like
Speaker 5: yelling on the phone, So like, that's cool. It's cool
Speaker 5: that there's a little bit more because there was a
Speaker 5: there was a legit buzz that he might step down.
Speaker 5: You know, he wasn't going to get fired. The buyout
Speaker 5: was too high, but you know, and and Farrenheart likes him,
Speaker 5: he wasn't going to fire him, but you know, there
Speaker 5: was a chance maybe, you know, after that whole Ain't
Speaker 5: On fiasco then you know, has a bad year, that
Speaker 5: maybe he would have just left. And you know he
Speaker 5: wants that Iowa job if her parents will ever retire.
Speaker 5: But you know, the fans want him to succeed and
Speaker 5: want him to get back to what they delivered. To
Speaker 5: your point, they never saw any great success. It was
Speaker 5: just maybe a winning season was going to be good,
Speaker 5: and he gave a couple awesome ten win seasons and
Speaker 5: some awesome wins at Kroger Field that Commonwealth and the
Speaker 5: fans want that. They want that from him, so they
Speaker 5: will root for him again. But he's got to start winning.
Speaker 5: If he doesn't win this year, it's gonna it's gonna
Speaker 5: be tough. I don't see how much longer he can
Speaker 5: stick around if if he has to finish like four
Speaker 5: and eight again this year and try to explain that well.
Speaker 1: And but here's the thing, and I've talked about this
Speaker 1: with some other folks as we read this up. You know,
Speaker 1: Stoops did an incredible job. He did what he said
Speaker 1: he was gonna do when they hired him. He was
Speaker 1: going to scout good players, recruit good players, sign them,
Speaker 1: develop them, in other words, coach them up and build
Speaker 1: a program from the ground up that way. And he
Speaker 1: kept saying there's no shortcuts. Well, now, college sports in
Speaker 1: general all about shortcuts, which is the portal, you know,
Speaker 1: supplemented by nil dollars. And you've been in press conferences
Speaker 1: where he is he's kind of backed off anymore, sounding
Speaker 1: like he's complaining. But the truth of the matter is
Speaker 1: he's not really, And no coach is coaching the way
Speaker 1: they signed up for the job, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Now they're general managers who have to re recruit their
Speaker 1: entire roster every day. And so he's you know, tell
Speaker 1: me a coach is really some are, but who's fitted
Speaker 1: for this? He's not one of them, you know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it seems like the younger guys are, you know,
Speaker 5: and Soups isn't that old. But he's more old school exactly,
Speaker 5: and it's just won't work for him unless, you know,
Speaker 5: I feel like he's got to get up to the
Speaker 5: Big ten. He's a Big ten coach, Like his style
Speaker 5: would just be great in the Big ten. And if
Speaker 5: he could get to ioware get up there, feel like
Speaker 5: it would work for him and he could, he could
Speaker 5: find a second resurgence in his career. But he wants
Speaker 5: to do it here, and it's tough. He drew the
Speaker 5: toughest assignment. I mean, even Vanderbilt has passed him up. Now,
Speaker 5: you know, Pavia is coming back and Bambi's gonna be good.
Speaker 5: You can't lose to Vanderbilt for like the third time
Speaker 5: in four years. You know, that's a must win. Now
Speaker 5: you think that's a given. I was like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 5: So he's got to do it. He's got to deliver.
Speaker 5: He's not going to be Tennessee, you know, or Georgia.
Speaker 5: But you know, he's got to rack up some SEC
Speaker 5: wins and just get to a nice bowl game, get
Speaker 5: a little bit of momental.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and get to a bowl game. It's not the
Speaker 1: Music City Bowl. As much as I love bowl games
Speaker 1: and I love going to the Music City Bowl, but
Speaker 1: been there, done that. The fan base has been there,
Speaker 1: done that. So and you know, to point about the
Speaker 1: Vandy series, people need to go back and look it up.
Speaker 1: That Vandy series. It's the game every year that Kentucky
Speaker 1: knows they're gonna win. The fans do, and they need
Speaker 1: to win. But it's it's the tightest series on the
Speaker 1: Kentucky schedule. Vandy's beating Kentucky almost as much as Kentucky's
Speaker 1: beating Vandy. So that's a topic for another discussion. Michael
Speaker 1: EPs Fox fifty six, watch rim each night. Thank you sir,
Speaker 1: talk to you soon.
Speaker 5: It's great chat with you.
Speaker 1: That up next. Tim Sullivan, freelance writer based in Louisville.
Speaker 1: Back in a minute on six thirty WLAP Welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Big Blue sider joining US now from its
Speaker 1: home over in Louisville. Freelance writer Tim Sullivan, who's covered
Speaker 1: the Cats and the Cards and when he was with
Speaker 1: the paper up in Cincinnati, the Bengals, the Reds and Tim,
Speaker 1: welcome back. Haven't talked to you in a while. How
Speaker 1: did you enjoy this last basketball season? Because you know
Speaker 1: you're over in Louisville, you're keeping an eye on UK
Speaker 1: and both of these teams were such a light to
Speaker 1: their respective fan bases, you know what I mean.
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, it's been a really interesting season.
Speaker 1: And then the.
Speaker 7: Turnaround that at U of L has been very dramatic
Speaker 7: and Jenny Payne to Pat Kelsey and I guess, uh,
Speaker 7: there's a meeting today where he's supposed to get a
Speaker 7: big raise, so uh and and you know it's well deserved,
Speaker 7: but uh, you know, it's it's been an interesting year
Speaker 7: to to me, just to see how the n I L.
Speaker 7: H and has has changed the face of it. And
Speaker 7: a lot of people wrote about how you weren't getting
Speaker 7: Cinderella's anymore because all of their players are approached at
Speaker 7: the un major level, and uh, you know, there's tremendous
Speaker 7: roster change, really virtually everywhere, and uh, you know, I
Speaker 7: I don't know that that's a great thing for the sport,
Speaker 7: but I do think it's a great thing for the
Speaker 7: players to be able to make a buck.
Speaker 1: Do you agree with that though? Do you think they
Speaker 1: arrow the age of the Cinderella is over for that reason?
Speaker 7: I don't know that's permanently over. And I think there
Speaker 7: they're going to be uh some changes, you know, if
Speaker 7: Congress gets involved, and it seems like they're they're trying
Speaker 7: to make their way to that. But you know, I'm
Speaker 7: not really sure what what you can do to superven
Speaker 7: I mean, it's a free market. You know, the school
Speaker 7: did the lost money, uh, and the biggest alumni base
Speaker 7: is wan to dominate, and I think we just have
Speaker 7: to assume that that's, you know, that's going to be
Speaker 7: the case going forward. You know, word number one seeds
Speaker 7: in the final four and I don't think that was
Speaker 7: an accident.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course that didn't happen last year. But there's
Speaker 1: there's been more time for the player movement to take
Speaker 1: hold ad in there.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and I think that the spectators may not enjoy
Speaker 7: it as much because you'd like to follow a player's
Speaker 7: growth in your program. But you know, it's it's hard
Speaker 7: to tell a player who has a marketable asset that
Speaker 7: he can't capitalize on it. There really wasn't any place
Speaker 7: in an American society where other than college sports, where
Speaker 7: an individual was not able to seek their market value
Speaker 7: that I know of. And I think this has been
Speaker 7: a long time coming, and it's going to be difficult
Speaker 7: for for some people to adjust to it, and it's
Speaker 7: going to change the landscape, and not just in football
Speaker 7: and basketball, but I think you'll see it, you know,
Speaker 7: trickle down the weather sports as well.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, well, and then some believe that the only
Speaker 1: answer is to present players with contracts that lock them
Speaker 1: into a school for uh anywhere from two to three
Speaker 1: years or and obviously I firmly believe Tim, they've got
Speaker 1: to change the portal to where kids can't jump in
Speaker 1: there every year.
Speaker 7: Do you agree, Well, I think you have to negotiate that.
Speaker 7: You know, if you're going to have a limits on
Speaker 7: player movement, Uh, the players have to have a voice
Speaker 7: in it. Yeah, they have to agree. And you know
Speaker 7: that that probably means that they're going to unionize and
Speaker 7: have collective bargaining, and yeah, you know that I don't
Speaker 7: see that happening quickly, but I think that may be
Speaker 7: where we're headed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and nobody wants to hear about that or ride
Speaker 1: about that, but it may be inevitable. You're right. We're
Speaker 1: talking to Tim Sullivan, freelance writer over and Louisville's worked
Speaker 1: for the Courier Journals, worked for the newspaper on San Diego, Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: And as you mentioned, you know U of L fans
Speaker 1: had to be overjoyed this year. Obviously, I know Kentucky
Speaker 1: fans were, But did you see this coming at all?
Speaker 1: With Kelsey? I mean, he's a ball of energy and
Speaker 1: just you know, instantly liked by the fan base. But
Speaker 1: people here were hoping for the best with Mark Pope.
Speaker 1: I don't know how many predicted getting to the second
Speaker 1: weekend of the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 7: But what about U of L fans, Well, I think
Speaker 7: you know, when the season started and you had a
Speaker 7: completely new roster, a lot of people would have been
Speaker 7: happy with a five hundred season after what, you know,
Speaker 7: what they'd had the last two years. What ended up
Speaker 7: happening was I think beyond any bud. He's an expectation
Speaker 7: maybe except for Kelsey and the players, but you know,
Speaker 7: he he had an opportunity here, and this is still
Speaker 7: an elite program in terms of arena, the conference, fan
Speaker 7: base and all that, and it just it took someone
Speaker 7: who could wield the modern weapons of player movement to
Speaker 7: restore it to something close to its former glory. I
Speaker 7: saw a odds, you know, one of those two early
Speaker 7: odds on Yeah twenty twenty sixth season, and I think
Speaker 7: Louisville Frank third is in terms of the national championship hopes,
Speaker 7: which struck me as wow, I mean as a but
Speaker 7: it apparently has.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I saw the same thing. It's got Kentucky sixth,
Speaker 1: which is just crazy. But you know, hey, if you
Speaker 1: want to lay a couple of bucks down right now,
Speaker 1: you might make some money in the near future. But
Speaker 1: it does speak highly of of now. The reputation is
Speaker 1: being restored, and I consider Louisville of Blue Blood up
Speaker 1: there with Kentucky and Duke in North Carolina. And it's
Speaker 1: funny you talked about how the fans love Cinderella's and
Speaker 1: they truly do. But I also find it interesting, tim
Speaker 1: having been in the line of work that I'm in
Speaker 1: for so long looking at TV ratings, once you get
Speaker 1: into the second and third weekends of the NCAA tournament,
Speaker 1: unless the big name schools are there, the ratings aren't
Speaker 1: as good, which I think is curious. So it's good
Speaker 1: for basketball, isn't it? Well?
Speaker 7: I think so, you know, it's it's good for the players.
Speaker 7: You probably get a higher level with you know, with
Speaker 7: how it migrates toward you know, they your programs, But
Speaker 7: you know, there is an adjustment period because you know,
Speaker 7: so many of these teams are starting from the scratch
Speaker 7: or near scratch. I think of the of the final
Speaker 7: four teams, you know, Duke and and Houston were you know,
Speaker 7: primarily comprised the holdover players, but you know, Florida and
Speaker 7: Auburn not so much. So you know, it's going to
Speaker 7: take a while, I think for people to get comfortable
Speaker 7: with that, unless there are some significant changes to the
Speaker 7: way this operates.
Speaker 1: What did you think of the Final four? That had
Speaker 1: to be one of the best you've ever seen. I mean,
Speaker 1: that was incredible all three games.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean it was certainly certainly as dramatic as
Speaker 7: as any I've seen, you know, the collapse of Duke,
Speaker 7: the you know, incredible ending of the championship came that
Speaker 7: was almost ready to turn the TV off and go
Speaker 7: to bed.
Speaker 4: Some of these.
Speaker 7: Couldn't couldn't quite pull away. Yeah, I'm glad I stayed up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh man, I wonder how many people did pull away,
Speaker 1: but and then get up the next morning and say,
Speaker 1: you know, what the hell happened? Houston fans are still
Speaker 1: saying that. We're talking with Tim Sullivan, freelance writer based
Speaker 1: over in Louisville. We'll come back with more in just
Speaker 1: a minute on a Big Boo Insider here on six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Moon Sider. We're
Speaker 1: chatting with Tim Sullivan, our friend from over in Louisville.
Speaker 1: He's a freelance writer. Keeps an eye on the Cats,
Speaker 1: the Cards, and what's been going on up in Cincinnati
Speaker 1: since back in the day he covered the Reds and
Speaker 1: the Bengals And before I get I'm gonna get back
Speaker 1: to the UK and U of L. But I got
Speaker 1: to ask you what's been your reaction? And you were
Speaker 1: in San Diego for a while, but all that time
Speaker 1: the Bengals, since you've covered him, since you were away,
Speaker 1: were notorious, if that's the right word from us for
Speaker 1: not spending money, and now they've spent half a billion
Speaker 1: on a couple of players or more. I think, I
Speaker 1: guess you've got to say three players. What was your
Speaker 1: reaction to that when you saw that they're finally loosening
Speaker 1: up the purse strings up in Sincy.
Speaker 7: Well, I think that tells you how profitable the NFL
Speaker 7: has become. They have really more money than they can
Speaker 7: justify spending. For years, you got the sense that the
Speaker 7: Bengals were this mom and pop operation and they didn't
Speaker 7: have other businesses that they could tap into to raise
Speaker 7: their payroll. But you know, now, geez, the NFL is
Speaker 7: just printing money. And I think that the Bengals recognized
Speaker 7: that they have an opportunity as long as you know,
Speaker 7: Joe Burrow is in his prime to make a run
Speaker 7: and maybe only win a Super Bowl, and you've got
Speaker 7: to fortify him with the right pieces around him. And
Speaker 7: you know, I'm I'm kind of reminded of when I
Speaker 7: was covering the Bengals. They they drafted Anthony munos Uh
Speaker 7: in the with the third pick in the drafts all
Speaker 7: of a sudden, Ken Anderson was not getting hit from
Speaker 7: the blind side, and he you know, became the league MVP.
Speaker 7: I think, uh he was eighty one. Uh, and and
Speaker 7: how one key player can make it an enormous difference.
Speaker 7: So they're they're never going to spend like you know,
Speaker 7: bigger market teams, I don't think. But jeez, if if
Speaker 7: you if you have a player like Burrow and you
Speaker 7: know the other pieces that they've assembled and they and
Speaker 7: you don't commit to trying to get it done, you
Speaker 7: know what what wire you a business? And you know
Speaker 7: the other factory there is. They're they're trying to make
Speaker 7: a push for for stadium redevelopment, and uh, of course,
Speaker 7: I think I think that that plays into this a
Speaker 7: lot too. They're you know, they're trying to show the
Speaker 7: the voters that you know, they're serious and that they
Speaker 7: you know, they want uh, they want to win as
Speaker 7: much as the fans do, which you know, I think
Speaker 7: the fans have not always been convinced of that.
Speaker 1: You got sideways with people in San Diego about a
Speaker 1: stadium and it just befuddles me, Tim, And I'm I know, what,
Speaker 1: did you why there's this constant need for a new stadium.
Speaker 1: They're all just palaces, They're all just incredible, Uh, monuments
Speaker 1: to excess, and yet there's always that need. It's keeping
Speaker 1: up with the Joneses, isn't it?
Speaker 7: Well, it is, and sadly there's there's usually another market
Speaker 7: that will prostrate itself to get franchise. And you know,
Speaker 7: as long as that's the case, you know, these existing
Speaker 7: franchises are going to use the leverage they have and
Speaker 7: the desperation of the locals to to keep a team
Speaker 7: or you know, to attract a team, uh to uh,
Speaker 7: to get a new deal. I mean, I don't think
Speaker 7: you'll find any economists of significant standing who will say
Speaker 7: that that the subsidizing sports stadia is a good idea.
Speaker 7: But you know, it's an emotional decision that's not really
Speaker 7: a private one.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And in TV, there's a term for people who
Speaker 1: buy advertising and sporting events, and it can be what's
Speaker 1: called an emotional buy. You know, either whoever's in charge
Speaker 1: is a fan of that team or wants to cash
Speaker 1: in on the emotions of a fan base. Uh. And
Speaker 1: and you and I have careers thanks to the emotions
Speaker 1: of fans who you don't want to follow teams and
Speaker 1: things like that. But when it comes to putting your
Speaker 1: money on the line, that's a different issue, isn't it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, And you know, the the history of a stadium construction, uh,
Speaker 7: you know has accelerated dramatically since since you and I
Speaker 7: started in this business. And yeah, that it was the
Speaker 7: Miami Heat that you know, their arena was this declared
Speaker 7: antiquated and they built a new one like twenty years
Speaker 7: after the first one opened.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and.
Speaker 7: This is this is not healthy. And you know I
Speaker 7: was there in Cincinnati when the Paul Brown Stadium opened
Speaker 7: and I thought, yeah, this is going to be here
Speaker 7: for a long time, but I don't know that it
Speaker 7: will last as long as Riverfront Stadium did.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good point. And I remember when there
Speaker 1: was such a controversy about Rupp Arena what should be done?
Speaker 1: And it truly had become outdated. It would open to
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven or seventy six, I guess I should say.
Speaker 1: But there were people who were, you know, saying, well,
Speaker 1: all you need to do is take the roof off
Speaker 1: and build up, you know, with no idea what that
Speaker 1: would have done or no thought would it would have
Speaker 1: done to the shops around the Civic Center and things
Speaker 1: like that. But everybody has an answer, Well, let's get
Speaker 1: back to the teams. Now, we're looking at spring football.
Speaker 1: You know, Kentucky's guide its open practice, coming up with
Speaker 1: a pledge to rebuild the offensive line. You know, they
Speaker 1: got all these new old linemen thanks to the portal,
Speaker 1: And I know that hopes are high over on your
Speaker 1: end of the interstate. What are they saying this spring
Speaker 1: about the Cardinals and what should we expect when those
Speaker 1: two teams play in the fall.
Speaker 7: Well, I think that there's a certainly a lot of
Speaker 7: optimism on this end of sixty four. I don't know
Speaker 7: that it's quite the same UK. I think the fans
Speaker 7: are a little wary of what's become of the program.
Speaker 7: But you know, I remember when UK was a doormat
Speaker 7: and now it's it's risen, and it probably hasn't broken through,
Speaker 7: or it definitely hasn't broken through to the Alabama George level,
Speaker 7: and it may never just look at the recruiting base
Speaker 7: that because schools have versus UK. But you know, people
Speaker 7: are not going to be satisfied with with eight and
Speaker 7: five anymore, and that's that's going to wear on a coach.
Speaker 7: I don't know that you can expect much better than
Speaker 7: that in the SEC given the strength of all those programs.
Speaker 7: But we'll see. I mean, I know there's some money
Speaker 7: in Lexington and they should be able to track some players,
Speaker 7: but I don't know that they're ever going to get
Speaker 7: the five stars that with to to LSU or Alabama
Speaker 7: or Georgia. So, uh, you're not You're not going to
Speaker 7: be satisfied with that, I don't think indefinitely. And that's uh,
Speaker 7: you know, that's the challenge, and I wish them much,
Speaker 7: but I think in some ways feels like a make
Speaker 7: or break season over there. But I could be wrong.
Speaker 1: That's well, I think you are. You're right in so
Speaker 1: many ways, but I keep reminding people to your point.
Speaker 1: The other schools aren't stopping what they're doing. You know,
Speaker 1: as hard as Kentucky's working, those other schools with with
Speaker 1: the traditional infrastructure are still pouring millions into their respective programs.
Speaker 1: But so much I think is laid at the feet
Speaker 1: of coaches. You know, I think at the college you
Speaker 1: covered a lot of pro sports, much more so at
Speaker 1: the college level. You know, the coaches are almost deified.
Speaker 1: You know, people believe that they can make it happen
Speaker 1: if they're just a good enough coach. Which isn't entirely true.
Speaker 1: But now college coaches, as you know, are general managers
Speaker 1: as much as as head coaches. And most of them
Speaker 1: aren't happy with that, are they.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 7: I mean you've seen quite a number of great basketball
Speaker 7: coaches who left the business. Yeah, because they didn't deal
Speaker 7: with it.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 7: Presumably that's the reason that you know, Shrushchevski and.
Speaker 4: On and on have.
Speaker 7: Decided to move on. But uh, you know, I think
Speaker 7: if you look at it objectively, say you're a five
Speaker 7: star high school player and or or an elite transfer
Speaker 7: portal player. You know, if your goal is to get
Speaker 7: to the NFL, where are you going to go?
Speaker 5: Go to?
Speaker 7: Kentucky? Going to go to some place that you know
Speaker 7: has four first rounders every year? And you know, I
Speaker 7: don't blame the players from seeking that the best deal
Speaker 7: they can, but you know, it's unless you have a
Speaker 7: home court, home field and manage being a Kentucky resident,
Speaker 7: It's hard for me to see that you're going to
Speaker 7: be able to compete with with Ohio State and Michigan
Speaker 7: and USC and you know, all the traditional powers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, unless you can outbid the other teams. And as
Speaker 1: coaches have said, players are looking for the bag. And
Speaker 1: if they're looking for the bag and you can provide it, well,
Speaker 1: then you've got a chance. So but that's unfortunate. That's
Speaker 1: where we are now and we have to leave it
Speaker 1: at that. Tim Sullivan, Uh follow him on Twitter. You're
Speaker 1: still on Twitter. I should ask you at it that,
Speaker 1: Tim Sullivan.
Speaker 7: Okay, not as active as I was, but yeah, I
Speaker 7: still will put something up now and then okay, weak people.
Speaker 1: Good talking to you, man, have a good one.
Speaker 7: Thank you all right, Dick any time, and I'll do
Speaker 7: it for now.
Speaker 1: Thanks to my guests Tim Sullivan, Michael Epps, and Chris
Speaker 1: Fisher from the Cats Paws in two four seven sports.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow night, it's Kentucky Baseball, the Wildcats and those Texas
Speaker 1: Longhorns coming to Lexington for the first time to play baseball,
Speaker 1: and we'll have it for you right here. Darren Heddricks
Speaker 1: got the call six thirty pregame is that six point
Speaker 1: fifteen will be with you very briefly before that, but
Speaker 1: Doug Flinn and I will have that one for you
Speaker 1: as well on SEC plus. So stay warm, stay dry,
Speaker 1: enjoy the golf, enjoy the baseball coming up. But it's
Speaker 1: a big series for the Wildcats. They've got to take
Speaker 1: a couple, but Texas is right second in the country.
Speaker 1: It'll be tough. That's a good night from the garage
Speaker 1: in Lexington.
Speaker 2: If you're blue and you don't know where to go to,
Speaker 2: why don't you go where fashion?
Speaker 8: Since only tact such station.
Speaker 6: Stating doing anything, only SAT stacks anything can let the
Speaker 6: fact can lack them from type Don