Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: on the snowy, icy Monday edition of our show. And
Speaker 1: no it's not the Mark Pope Show obviously because the
Speaker 1: Wildcats are already in Georgia. That's where they play tomorrow night.
Speaker 1: As you know, a game you will hear right here
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLAP. So the Pope Show is going
Speaker 1: to be on Wednesday, as will be be in radio,
Speaker 1: as will the Kenny Brooks Show. So we just kind
Speaker 1: of flip flopped those days and we'll be with you.
Speaker 1: But also today our usual Wednesday lineup which includes Gary
Speaker 1: Moore or West End Bureau Chief and Shawn Woods, the
Speaker 1: Unforgettable Guard. They talked to us every Wednesday. We're going
Speaker 1: to talk to them tonight. And Sean texted me right
Speaker 1: after the game. Of course he was all about Lamont
Speaker 1: Butler when we talked last week. Of course, Shawn is
Speaker 1: quite partial to point guards, which is understandable and very
Speaker 1: proud of what Lamont Butler did and has been doing
Speaker 1: for the Wildcats. And he also was fair in his
Speaker 1: comments after the Ohio State loss up in New York.
Speaker 1: He said Ohio State's point guards outplayed Kentucky's point guards.
Speaker 1: So keep in mind, and we all know this, no
Speaker 1: kerk Crisa, but once again, in lieu of the number
Speaker 1: two point guard, the number three guys getting more minutes,
Speaker 1: and that's Travis Perry. So we'll talk about that when
Speaker 1: we break down the numbers as well. But we'll talk
Speaker 1: with Sean about that, and we'll talk with Gary Moore
Speaker 1: about what's going on with the NFL and with college football.
Speaker 1: And by the way, tonight we're gonna talk more football
Speaker 1: in our next segment. But tonight the FCS championship game
Speaker 1: Montana State, the Grizzlies against North Dakota State. And I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, if you've been disappointed in the Division I
Speaker 1: playoff games, and I can understand that. And by the way,
Speaker 1: keep in mind, there are bad games. There have been
Speaker 1: bad games throughout the decades in terms of the postseason
Speaker 1: games in college football, bowl games or the BCS games
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Are been terrible playoff games. That just happens.
Speaker 1: But I would be amazed if tonight's FCS game that's
Speaker 1: the old one double A, I'd be amazed if that's
Speaker 1: not a great game. That's the level where EKU plays
Speaker 1: where Western Kentucky used to play. But you know, AKU
Speaker 1: as a couple of national titles to its credit from
Speaker 1: back in the late eighties early nineties, four straight appearances
Speaker 1: in the championship game, and then things tailed off a
Speaker 1: little bit when the administration pulled its support from uk
Speaker 1: or Eku athletics. That's a long story, but anyhow, they're
Speaker 1: on the way back, I believe, under wal wells Eku,
Speaker 1: but not quite where Montana State and North Dakota State are.
Speaker 1: So if you want to see an entertaining football game
Speaker 1: and there's no NFL tonight, NFL regular season ended yesterday,
Speaker 1: so check that game out tonight ahead of the rest
Speaker 1: to the Division I playoff games. It is Black Monday,
Speaker 1: if you will, and Black Friday is good for people
Speaker 1: who are shopping ahead of Christmas looking for deals. Merchants
Speaker 1: make a lot of money, a lot of stores make
Speaker 1: their budgets. Black Mondays when coaches get fired. So we'll
Speaker 1: talk about that as well. And there will be some
Speaker 1: Kentucky Wildcats or former Wildcats affected by these moves. But
Speaker 1: we got to talk about both Kentucky women's and men's basketball,
Speaker 1: and why don't we start chronologically start with the men
Speaker 1: who beat Florida one oh six to one hundred, and
Speaker 1: got a message via Facebook from my buddy Chuck Cooperstein,
Speaker 1: who is the radio voice of the Dallas Mavericks but
Speaker 1: is a proud Florida Gator, and in fact, when that
Speaker 1: playbook play job opened up, he might have become the
Speaker 1: voice of the Gators. But Chuck has been the radio
Speaker 1: voice of Dallas Mavericks for so long. He and I
Speaker 1: worked together when I was down there in Dallas, I
Speaker 1: hired him. He was working for KROLD Radio doing scores.
Speaker 1: It was an all news station that did a ton
Speaker 1: of sports, including Cowboy games, and Chuck was a scores
Speaker 1: guy and a sportscast guy and snacks and playbook play gigs.
Speaker 1: And when the Mavericks job opened up at one point,
Speaker 1: he got the job and he's been there ever since,
Speaker 1: got himself a championship ring, and he's a good dude
Speaker 1: and a great talent. And he hit me up with
Speaker 1: a note saying that he kind of wished his team
Speaker 1: and did free throws instead. It was a great game,
Speaker 1: not unlike an NBA game, but wished his team and
Speaker 1: did free throws. And you know what, He's exactly right now.
Speaker 1: When Clayton starts missing free throws, you know it's a
Speaker 1: good day for the Wildcats. But Clayton had thirty three,
Speaker 1: Martin had twenty six. But between them, those guys were
Speaker 1: twelve for twenty at the free throw line as a team.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and Condon three for eight As a team.
Speaker 1: Florida was twenty two of thirty five. And I'm trying
Speaker 1: not trying to diminish Kentucky's win in any way. I'm
Speaker 1: just pointing out that this scene could have gone the
Speaker 1: other way. But guess what, that's the way it's going
Speaker 1: to be in the SEC every night. And I went
Speaker 1: back yesterday. I was at the game, went back yesterday
Speaker 1: and watched the ESPN coverage with Schulman and Billis. That's
Speaker 1: the best crew working for my money today. And I
Speaker 1: know I had wrote about this on the internet not
Speaker 1: long ago that I don't understand why so many of
Speaker 1: you disliked j Billis he had. He does not have
Speaker 1: a bias, you know, He's toward Duke or the ACC
Speaker 1: or whatever, and as enormous respect for Kentucky, and he
Speaker 1: loved what he saw Saturday. If you weren't watching, or
Speaker 1: if you were listening to the radio, God bless you,
Speaker 1: or if you're at the game. Both of these guys
Speaker 1: were so impressed with you all, with the fan base,
Speaker 1: with rupp Arena, great crowd, great atmosphere, and as they
Speaker 1: pointed out off the top, from the very beginning of
Speaker 1: the day eleven am start, you all showed up and
Speaker 1: showed out. And when the games begin, if at a
Speaker 1: non conference game, oftentimes there are spaces of empty seats
Speaker 1: and eventually they might fill in, people might move down
Speaker 1: from upstairs, and some folks just may not show up
Speaker 1: for the Kentucky Brown game. But buddy, buddy, everybody showed
Speaker 1: for that one and they were treated with a great
Speaker 1: basketball game. Yeah, Florida misshots, Yeah Kentucky made some mistakes,
Speaker 1: but it was a great basketball game. Such good shooting.
Speaker 1: Kentucky for the game. For the game shot fifty seven
Speaker 1: point eight percent. Incredible, hit sixteen of twenty seven that's
Speaker 1: fifty nine percent in the second half a loon. Florida
Speaker 1: for the game hit fifty five percent in the second
Speaker 1: half sixty two percent. And there was defense. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: played defense, but guys made shots, especially Clayton that shot
Speaker 1: he hit to beat the clock with a hand in
Speaker 1: his face from three point land late in the game.
Speaker 1: They kept Florida in. It was unbelievable. But how about
Speaker 1: Kobe Braa, Boy, do I sound like Caliperi? How about
Speaker 1: Kobe Brea eight of eleven, seven of nine from distance.
Speaker 2: Anything, whatever they need, Like, I'm going to be that guy.
Speaker 3: So you're gonna come in and get some energy.
Speaker 4: So I think, you know, we've been up to pretty
Speaker 4: slow starts on the last couple of games, and you know,
Speaker 4: just for me to come in and you know, kind
Speaker 4: of change.
Speaker 5: That around a little bit throughout these games. I think
Speaker 5: it's been helping us a lot.
Speaker 1: And and Billis kept saying you cannot leave him open,
Speaker 1: and yet Florida kept losing him. That's the thing about
Speaker 1: Clayton about Kentucky did a pretty good job covering him.
Speaker 1: He was six of twelve from beyond the arc. Seemed
Speaker 1: like he shot better, but it seemed like couple times, yeah,
Speaker 1: he shook loose, and same with Martin. But for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: the Gators kept losing Kobe bre And you know, and
Speaker 1: Billis pointed this out. Every team in America will say
Speaker 1: this about Kobe Bret. You cannot leave him open, and
Speaker 1: yet the Gators did a terrible job trying to check him.
Speaker 1: Terrible job, and Kentucky made the Gators pay. It's not
Speaker 1: going to be that easy relative term tomorrow night and
Speaker 1: from here on for Brea and for the rest of
Speaker 1: the Cats. Everybody knows that teams will try to run
Speaker 1: them off the three point line, and Florida did it early,
Speaker 1: but Kentucky did a much better job of capitalizing on
Speaker 1: buckets they could get inside, and that opened things up
Speaker 1: from the outside. Cats ended up hitting fourteen of twenty nine,
Speaker 1: that's forty eight percent, and Almanor was oh for three.
Speaker 1: He had some good looks from beyond the arc, so
Speaker 1: minus him, they're well over fifty percent. And Jackson Robinson
Speaker 1: was just two of six from the outside, but that's
Speaker 1: good enough. Two for six from three point land, that's fine.
Speaker 1: Anything after that's gravy. One of the best stat lines
Speaker 1: Lamont Butler. He was one of six Wildcats in double figures.
Speaker 4: Well, we got a lot of great guys on the team.
Speaker 2: Everyone contributed at a high rate, and you know tonight
Speaker 2: how we contributed was scoring.
Speaker 3: You know, like you said, a bunch.
Speaker 6: Of guys you knows had a double dission, so I'm
Speaker 6: gona stop reguard.
Speaker 1: That's when you can't really focus on one guy.
Speaker 5: I think that's what's gonna help us throughout the year.
Speaker 1: Thirty three minutes, eight assists, nineteen points, two turnovers. In fact,
Speaker 1: turnovers to me d won the game for Kentucky because
Speaker 1: the Wildcats only turned it over six times, and when
Speaker 1: the other guys are shooting the way they are, you
Speaker 1: can't give them free possessions. Florida only turned it over
Speaker 1: nine Clayton had five of those turnovers, but points off
Speaker 1: turnovers Florida four points, Kentucky twenty. So between free throws
Speaker 1: missed by the Gators and Kentucky taking advantage of those mistakes,
Speaker 1: you see how Kentucky won it despite the fact that
Speaker 1: the Gators had fifteen offensive rebounds and thirty one points
Speaker 1: on second chance tries. Out rebound in Kentucky thirty eight
Speaker 1: to thirty. You talk about a learning experience for Mark
Speaker 1: Pope and his team. There's a lot to go over
Speaker 1: and you know they'll take full advantage of it. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: UK women go down to Nashville and win easily over Vanderbilt.
Speaker 1: Kenny Brooks's team getting it done and this after the
Speaker 1: impressive win over Mississippi State on Thursday night. So the
Speaker 1: Cat's now two to zero in the SEC, thirteen in
Speaker 1: one in conference play, and next up for them Florida
Speaker 1: Gators in Gainesville. That's Thursday. That's a five o'clock start,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna hear that one right here on six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP. When we come back, we'll look around the NFL.
Speaker 1: As they said, it's Black Monday, coaches on their way
Speaker 1: out there packing up here on the Big Moon Sider,
Speaker 1: six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big bon Sider.
Speaker 1: Coming up in a few minutes. We're gonna talk with
Speaker 1: Sean Woods, the unforgettable guard. We talk Kentucky basketball with
Speaker 1: him each and every week, and Gary Moore Bureau CHIEAP.
Speaker 1: But on Wednesday, that is the night we do the
Speaker 1: State Wide Show and the Mark Pope Show and Big
Speaker 1: Blue Nation, BBN Radio NI Kenny Brookshaw and all that.
Speaker 1: So our programming is flip flop. We're going to talk
Speaker 1: to our Wednesday guests tonight. We're also going to talk
Speaker 1: tonight with Mark Mathis. He's a longtime friend from the
Speaker 1: Owensboro Messenger has been covering Kentucky Sports for a long time,
Speaker 1: and in fact sat next to each other at the
Speaker 1: ballgame the other day. So we'll get caught up with
Speaker 1: Mark and get his thoughts on the game as well.
Speaker 1: I mentioned football, and by the way, we'll talk about
Speaker 1: coaches here in just a moment. But the portal door
Speaker 1: is still spinning, and I commend you to two four
Speaker 1: to seven sports coverage. Aaron Gershaan keeps updating the UK
Speaker 1: football transfer portal target Tracker, and you can find out
Speaker 1: more about the defensive tackle from Washington State who committed
Speaker 1: to Kentucky over the weekend story written actually by Chris Fisher.
Speaker 1: Of course, UK trying to find a way to replace
Speaker 1: Dion Walker and Keyshawn Silver in the middle of their defense.
Speaker 1: But a guy named David Gusta committed to UK after
Speaker 1: looking at Texas, A and M and Tennessee and uh,
Speaker 1: I have no idea if this guy's any good or not,
Speaker 1: but he's sixty three or yeah, sixty three three h
Speaker 1: two was rated the number three defensive linemen in the
Speaker 1: portal this offseason, rated by two four to seven Sports,
Speaker 1: and again he has some really really big cleats to fill.
Speaker 1: Not that Dion I thought had a great year. But
Speaker 1: he was good. I mean, you know, he tied up
Speaker 1: a lot of blocks, but the D line was just
Speaker 1: riddled with injuries and it made it a lot easier
Speaker 1: I think relative term for teams to uh to handle him. Uh. Kentucky,
Speaker 1: we host Tamarcus Cooley later this week. That's according to
Speaker 1: two four seven Sports, three seasons of eligibility. He's a
Speaker 1: d back again from ENC State, gonna look at Ole
Speaker 1: Miss LSU and Miszoo originally was recruited by Maryland, ended
Speaker 1: up at NC State this past year. So Kentucky's still
Speaker 1: trying to add defensive backs after losing of course, after
Speaker 1: this year, Maxwell Hairston, of course he'll get a shot
Speaker 1: at the NFL. Andrew Phillips in the NFL, now Carrington
Speaker 1: Valentine in the NFL. They do get Nichols back and
Speaker 1: he's going to be a good one in the defensive secondary.
Speaker 1: So now they're looking at Coolie, who was rated an
Speaker 1: eighty seven on a scale of one hundred by two
Speaker 1: four to seven Sports. So Kentucky's still trying to build
Speaker 1: depth through that portal. Black Monday coaches out Mike Rabel interviewing.
Speaker 1: Now he has sat out the season after being fired
Speaker 1: by the Titans, so he'll get a lot of attention.
Speaker 1: But the Jacksonville Jaguars after three years, fired Doug Peterson.
Speaker 1: You got it done in Philly with much better players,
Speaker 1: and they seemed to draft well in Jacksonville, but their
Speaker 1: teams were terrible. They kept Trent Balky the GM. So
Speaker 1: now who is Josh Allen the UK Josh Allen going
Speaker 1: to be playing for next year? The first round draft
Speaker 1: pick out of Kentucky for the Jaguars. You remember, now
Speaker 1: three teams had already fired their coaches. The Bears fired
Speaker 1: Matt ebra Flus, the Saints fired Dennis Allen, the Jets
Speaker 1: fired Robert Salah, New England Patriots fired Jared Mayo. And
Speaker 1: I mentioned Wildcats being affected. And two you might have
Speaker 1: seen him last night as the Lions destroyed the Viking.
Speaker 1: Josh Pascal and Zadarius Smith in the starting lineup last
Speaker 1: night for the injury riddled Detroit defense. Well, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of interest in the Lions decordinator Aaron Glenn. The
Speaker 1: Jets supposedly will interview him and not the Lions OC
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson. That he's getting a lot of attention as well,
Speaker 1: but there's a distinct possibility that the Lions oc and
Speaker 1: again he's playing Pascal and Zadarius Smith together, two former Wildcats.
Speaker 1: So he may be gone after this year from Detroit.
Speaker 1: Broncos de coordinator Vanced Joseph also getting interest evidently from
Speaker 1: the Jets and the Bears. But because of the job
Speaker 1: that Mark Stoops and Vince Merrill and staff have done
Speaker 1: over the last few years, there are a lot of
Speaker 1: former Wildcats in the NFL, not quite like Kentucky basketball
Speaker 1: in the NBA. I know that's a sore spot for
Speaker 1: a lot of people, but it goes to show why
Speaker 1: Stoops and company have had success up until this year.
Speaker 1: They evaluated, they recruited, they signed, they developed and won
Speaker 1: with outstanding players, and they got some breaks through the
Speaker 1: portal Will Levis, who was still struggling in the NFL,
Speaker 1: he may become a backup for life. I think he
Speaker 1: may end up leaving Nashville after this year, because you know,
Speaker 1: Vrabel was fired by the Titans. He did not support
Speaker 1: the move of handing the keys of the Cadillac to
Speaker 1: will Levis. He wasn't ready to do that. Disagreed with
Speaker 1: ownership and management. They got rid of him, and Levis
Speaker 1: ends up the starter and it has not worked. And
Speaker 1: he got benched again yesterday through a forty nine yard
Speaker 1: touchdown pass. But he was benched again yesterday. They may
Speaker 1: end up cutting him loose to save some money. Now,
Speaker 1: can he work his way back as did Sam Darnold,
Speaker 1: as did well Jared Goff for the Lions was struggling
Speaker 1: before they traded him. But uh, look at Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 1: Look out, Well he's done in Tampa. You got to
Speaker 1: give him the right team. I don't think that's the
Speaker 1: problem with Levis because he keeps making the same mistake.
Speaker 1: He keeps trying to make heroic plays instead of taking
Speaker 1: care of the football. And he had that problem here,
Speaker 1: didn't he second year? It was a lot about the
Speaker 1: O line. First year he lived off Wandale Robinson, who
Speaker 1: will have the same head coach this coming season, and
Speaker 1: Brian Dabole with the Giants. So a lot of it's
Speaker 1: about circumstance and a lot of it is about a
Speaker 1: heck of a lot about it execution. And Levis just
Speaker 1: has not learned how to take care of the football.
Speaker 1: And if he doesn't, he might might not even be
Speaker 1: a career backup, he could be out of the league. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's got a lot of money in the bank, but
Speaker 1: so what wants to play? And he said he believes
Speaker 1: he will be a starter in the NFL. Not if
Speaker 1: you keep turning over the ball like that, young man.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and by the way, as you know, we
Speaker 1: pre record, so by the time you hear this, there
Speaker 1: may be more coaches out of a job in the NFL,
Speaker 1: more head coaches, and of course when the head coaches go,
Speaker 1: the assistants go with him. Don't know about the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Jerry Jones after the Cowboys game yesterday, said he's not
Speaker 1: sure about a coaching change. Mike McCarthy said he wants
Speaker 1: to stay in Dallas. As much as I hate the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: have to admit, of course, McCarthy coach my Packer to
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl win, but he had Aaron Rodgers when
Speaker 1: he did it. He's got Dak Prescott in Dallas. But
Speaker 1: with all due respect, most overpaid, over hyped quarterback in
Speaker 1: the NFL. But the problems with the Cowboys are not
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy's fault. It's the gm oh by the way,
Speaker 1: that's the owner in Jerry Jones Aaron Rodgers in case
Speaker 1: you're interested in I longer am said. He definitely believes
Speaker 1: he can play and play well, just isn't sure he
Speaker 1: wants to. And this takes you back to where he
Speaker 1: was a couple of years ago when he wasn't sure
Speaker 1: if he wanted to play, wasn't sure if he wanted
Speaker 1: to play for the Packers, and then left, disappeared, sat
Speaker 1: in the darkness, came back, said yes, I want to play,
Speaker 1: and I want to play for the Jets. That's been
Speaker 1: a disaster. So I will find out, won't we. But
Speaker 1: I am not going to hang on his every word,
Speaker 1: not that I did when he was an out going
Speaker 1: because I knew we had a good quarterback on the
Speaker 1: bench in Jordan Love, but I wasn't sure how good
Speaker 1: he was. Now I'm really sure. But he's hurt going
Speaker 1: into the playoffs, not too terribly seriously, but he's got
Speaker 1: an elbow and Christian Watson with a knee injury, the
Speaker 1: Packers top downfield threat. He may be done for the playoffs,
Speaker 1: So stay tuned for that, and stay tuned to talk
Speaker 1: Entucky basketball with Shawn Woods coming up next. A little
Speaker 1: bit later on Mark mathis Ram Owensboro and Weston Bureau
Speaker 1: Chief Gary Moore here on six thirty WLAP welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Big Blonsider, and has promised on our celebrity
Speaker 1: hotline he joins us every week. Unforgettable guard Shawn Woods
Speaker 1: as Jersey hangs in the rafters of Rupp and he
Speaker 1: was watching as Wildcats took on those Florida Gators and
Speaker 1: Coach you texted me right after the game about the
Speaker 1: effort turned in by Lamont Butler as a coach, as
Speaker 1: a point guard. We're going to talk a lot of stuff,
Speaker 1: but assist to turnover eight to one in thirty three minutes.
Speaker 1: You can't get too much better, can you?
Speaker 3: No, you can't.
Speaker 4: And I've been raving about this kid ever since the
Speaker 4: beginning of the season of how good he is, how
Speaker 4: I like him, and how important he is to you know,
Speaker 4: our cats success. And you know, Coach Patina used to
Speaker 4: always tell me, he said, if you win the point
Speaker 4: guard battle nine times out of team, we're going to
Speaker 4: win the game. So my thing was, you know, scoring
Speaker 4: came and went just like he does for Theamont, but
Speaker 4: you got to destroy and really pose your will on
Speaker 4: the other team's point guard and I thought that was
Speaker 4: the game. I know, Explorer's point guard, you know, scored
Speaker 4: about thirty points, but they weren't winning points. He you know,
Speaker 4: the Mott really just took it to him, took his
Speaker 4: ball a couple times at half court, embarrassed him a
Speaker 4: little bit, and that's how Kentucky got on a road,
Speaker 4: you know, and then he out maneuvered in with you know,
Speaker 4: back door cuts. He just played a solid basketball game,
Speaker 4: more solid than Florida's point guard. And I thought that
Speaker 4: got everybody else off as far as making shots, because
Speaker 4: everything came off their defense surprisingly, and you know, it.
Speaker 3: Was a beautiful thing. You know.
Speaker 4: They came out flat, Florida came out like Gangbusters, and
Speaker 4: all of a sudden, Lamartin made us.
Speaker 3: Still here, still there.
Speaker 4: Everybody else got to going, and the momentum shifted and
Speaker 4: there was no turn back.
Speaker 1: I was gonna ask you about those steals because they
Speaker 1: were right at there, as they like to say, in
Speaker 1: front of God and everybody at mid court, and they
Speaker 1: came at crucial times in the game, didn't they. I
Speaker 1: was amazed that he was able to not that he
Speaker 1: had the skill to do that, but that the other
Speaker 1: kid wasn't taking care of the basketball any better.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm telling you right now, I'm a defensive
Speaker 4: point guy out.
Speaker 3: You know I can haff the ball.
Speaker 4: It's just a magnificent thing to see him haff the
Speaker 4: ball and just take your rock at the most opportune times.
Speaker 4: And like you know we talked about before, he has
Speaker 4: to stay on the floor for kentuctively successful and he
Speaker 4: was able to oppose his will defensively and not get
Speaker 4: in found trouble. And also when Marx did a real
Speaker 4: wonderful thing, Coach Popam talked about as he knew when
Speaker 4: to take him out and put him back in. You know,
Speaker 4: he saw him kind of get a little will to
Speaker 4: the little.
Speaker 3: Bit little wended.
Speaker 4: You know, he took him off for about three four
Speaker 4: minutes and then he brings you back in. And so
Speaker 4: he was always fresh and he was never in foul trouble.
Speaker 4: And it never gave Florida enough time to take advantage
Speaker 4: of the substitution because the other guys were kind of
Speaker 4: rolling a little bit. And then by the time Florida
Speaker 4: did get some momentum going here comes to my butler back, I.
Speaker 1: Thought Florida immediately attack Travis Perry when they subbed, and
Speaker 1: he got so much to learn about defense. But overall,
Speaker 1: I thought Travis again did a pretty decent job just
Speaker 1: kind of holding down the fort, you know, didn't make
Speaker 1: a lot of mistakes and just gave Laman a chance
Speaker 1: to get a blow. What did you see?
Speaker 4: That's what I saw too, you know, Travis Perry's job
Speaker 4: and he hit a jump shot, which was which was great.
Speaker 4: You know, I was happy to see him do that.
Speaker 4: Travis Ford's job on this team right now is just
Speaker 4: exactly what you said and exactly what he did. Just
Speaker 4: come in, played two minutes spurts, you know, hold the
Speaker 4: Ford down, don't turn it over, you know. But unfortunately,
Speaker 4: as soon as he comes in the game, they go
Speaker 4: right at him, and rightfully so. But it wasn't a
Speaker 4: significant you know, he got scored on like two times
Speaker 4: in a row he first came. That guy just went
Speaker 4: right at it. But it gave Lamont a couple that
Speaker 4: bought Lamont a couple minutes to just you know, get
Speaker 4: his win back, at his goal back and then go
Speaker 4: back in and kind of neutra last game of them.
Speaker 1: All right, let's let's pick at this a little bit. Kentucky.
Speaker 1: I mentioned in the show earlier. Sean was really fortunate
Speaker 1: that the Gators were missing free throws. That helped a lot.
Speaker 1: Also that their big kid, who I thought took it
Speaker 1: to Amari Williams early chin Layhu. He got in some
Speaker 1: early foul trouble as well, which out now, some of
Speaker 1: that was because of what Amari was doing, But I
Speaker 1: think that's something where you and I have talked before
Speaker 1: about Kentucky's got to get stronger in the low post.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he kind of punked him a little bit, you
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying, and we got lucky with him
Speaker 4: getting in foul trouble. The same thing went for Gonzaga
Speaker 4: when we played Gonzaga, They're big, got a foul trouble
Speaker 4: because he was dominating a little bit, you know. So
Speaker 4: it's a thing where it's something we got to get
Speaker 4: better at, you know, from a rebounding standpoint, because other
Speaker 4: teams big are that more explosive, pretty much more experienced
Speaker 4: at playing at this level, to be honest with you,
Speaker 4: and I think that's the case. But the mob Butler
Speaker 4: just continues to just save the day, you know, And
Speaker 4: we've been fortunate all these bigs has been dominating us,
Speaker 4: you know, they've been getting in foul trouble as the
Speaker 4: game goes on. But the games we lost, those bigs
Speaker 4: didn't get in foul trouble, and it kind of neutralized
Speaker 4: what we were trying to do, especially offensively, of getting
Speaker 4: to the rim. And you know, Kentucky took advantage of it.
Speaker 4: I thought they stuck to the you know, to the script,
Speaker 4: but you you know, and I challenged and remember we
Speaker 4: were talking about you know, Ex's and O's and Jim
Speaker 4: and Joe's. Kentucky played. Kentucky's players made some really individual plays.
Speaker 4: There were big time and came at big times stances
Speaker 4: in the games. When that flame throw comes out the
Speaker 4: bench from Dayton, he kind of, you know, says, takes
Speaker 4: the game to another level. And we needed that sturt
Speaker 4: when he came in, and Marshall had to find a
Speaker 4: way to hide his defensive deficiencies because he's not a
Speaker 4: really good defensive player, but man, he can out you know,
Speaker 4: from here on out, as long as he's outscoring the
Speaker 4: guy he's playing against. I got to keep him out
Speaker 4: on that floor.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, especially when he's feeling it like that,
Speaker 1: I mean, amazing. He only played twenty two minutes and
Speaker 1: three in twenty three points, just phenomenal, didn't have any
Speaker 1: turnovers and in fact, as a team, I thought that
Speaker 1: was incredible. You've got two hundred and six points scored,
Speaker 1: all those possessions Sean and only six turns for Kentucky,
Speaker 1: only nine for Florida, five of those by Clayton, and
Speaker 1: Kentucky ended up with twenty points off turnovers just four
Speaker 1: for the Gators. That was huge.
Speaker 3: It was huge, and.
Speaker 4: It was a game that everybody was excited about. I mean,
Speaker 4: it was probably the best college basketball game that day.
Speaker 4: You know, there was a bunch of great games that
Speaker 4: sec games that were going on all day, but that
Speaker 4: game right there was the most exciting because there was
Speaker 4: two teams that were scoring the basketball at a rapid race,
Speaker 4: and you would think there was no defense being played,
Speaker 4: but there was just tough shots being made throughout that game.
Speaker 4: And you know, from a fan standpoint, it was a
Speaker 4: beautiful sight to see. But the home team won, and
Speaker 4: that's what we said earlier. You know, with this Kentucky team,
Speaker 4: I think they're capable of winning every game at home.
Speaker 4: And then they got to steal about you know, you know,
Speaker 4: as many as they can on the road and if
Speaker 4: they can, if they can limit themselves, it's gonna the
Speaker 4: team who wins.
Speaker 7: The league is going to go and lose five games.
Speaker 4: Somebody's going to the team that's gonna win the league
Speaker 4: is gonna lose five games, no doubt about it. So
Speaker 4: as long as we can take care of home, every
Speaker 4: every home stands and still the games. Like, I think
Speaker 4: this game at Georgia on Tuesday tomorrow is gonna be
Speaker 4: a winnable game for us. That game, yes, the other day,
Speaker 4: was a tail tale. We needed that one from a
Speaker 4: for a jump start standpoint going into the SEC. So
Speaker 4: we we we solidified home court advantages. Thus far, we
Speaker 4: took advantage of home. I think this Georgia game is
Speaker 4: winnable games. And now we're two and oh looking at it,
Speaker 4: and then we got who else INSS city state?
Speaker 3: Who we got?
Speaker 1: Uh, you caught me without my schedule up. But we'll
Speaker 1: figure it out.
Speaker 4: But yeah, but I think I think we can be
Speaker 4: three and oh before the week's out. And now we're cooking,
Speaker 4: you see what I'm saying. Now we're still at the top.
Speaker 4: I think somebody's going you know, I don't think Tennessee's
Speaker 4: gonna lose unless they play Auburn or somebody like that.
Speaker 4: One of those gotta lose if they're playing each other
Speaker 4: within the next week or two. But other than that,
Speaker 4: I think right now that that that win at home
Speaker 4: the first game of the SC season was a signature
Speaker 4: win that can carry on throughout this SEC season, especially
Speaker 4: how tough it is.
Speaker 1: It is Mississippi State and then Texas A and m
Speaker 1: right back here in Lexington. But there's there's no nights off,
Speaker 1: there's nothing easy. And Florida I think has Auburn next
Speaker 1: as well. So yeah, life in the conference. And by
Speaker 1: the way, I think I said Lamont had only one turnover.
Speaker 1: He had two. But we'll still take it when you
Speaker 1: talk about any eight eight assists, so that'll work. Shawn
Speaker 1: Woods is my guest. We'll talk more hoops with the
Speaker 1: unforgettable guard on the other side of the break here
Speaker 1: on six thirty. We'll come back to talking basketball with
Speaker 1: Sean Woods, as we do each and every week. Got
Speaker 1: him on a Monday because the Wednesday schedule is such
Speaker 1: that we've had to flip flop our schedules. But of
Speaker 1: course we're talking about the Wildcats win over the Florida
Speaker 1: Gators one six to one hundred Kentucky. Sean had scored
Speaker 1: what was it, something like ninety points at the eight
Speaker 1: minute mar or something like that. It was incredible. It
Speaker 1: was fifty to forty two at the half, and I
Speaker 1: thought maybe the pace would ratchet down a little bit.
Speaker 1: But it picked up, didn't it.
Speaker 8: Yes, they did, Florida. They had a big time shot
Speaker 8: too from outside they did. You know, when you're playing
Speaker 8: a good team like that, we all have to understand that,
Speaker 8: you know, other teams scout, you know, and other teams
Speaker 8: try to take away what you do good, and just
Speaker 8: just like we as Kentucky, we want to take you know,
Speaker 8: you know, away the things that the other teams do good.
Speaker 8: And last night, everything that Florida does good. They did
Speaker 8: everything Kentucky does good. They did except for Kentucky had
Speaker 8: a little more possessions and made more crucial plays as
Speaker 8: the game went on, and they kept Florida at bay,
Speaker 8: which showed me great character of this basketball team. You know,
Speaker 8: you know, this team is growing together and Marcus doing
Speaker 8: a great job of staying the moment, stand the course,
Speaker 8: and sooner or later we're going to get what we
Speaker 8: want and that philosophy is raining true thus far, especially
Speaker 8: on Saturday.
Speaker 1: You know, looking at these turnovers, I'm reminded. And again
Speaker 1: Florida played relatively cleanly as well, only nine with so
Speaker 1: many possessions. But I may have asked you about this before.
Speaker 1: What you mentioned Patino earlier one of the things that
Speaker 1: I remember him saying, and this played into the game
Speaker 1: of ninety two that we don't like to talk about,
Speaker 1: but it was the greatest game ever played, et cetera,
Speaker 1: et cetera. But it was similar to this one in
Speaker 1: it it was played at such a high level in
Speaker 1: terms of execution. But Patino talked about the fact that
Speaker 1: you guys like to run this Kentucky team likes to
Speaker 1: play in transition, and he said, oftentimes the opposing point guard,
Speaker 1: who might not be running a team that ordinarily runs
Speaker 1: a lot, is seduced into running with you or thinking
Speaker 1: he he can do that, and it ups the turnover
Speaker 1: game for the opposing point guard. What kind of a
Speaker 1: weapon was that for you guys.
Speaker 4: Well, it was a great weapon, especially the Duke game.
Speaker 4: We turned Bobby Early over I think thirteen times, and
Speaker 4: Houston said, the best point guard in America. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 4: and that's what allowed us to do what we did.
Speaker 4: You know, it took his teammate to go perfect to
Speaker 4: beat us, who was the best player in the country
Speaker 4: that year.
Speaker 3: But that's what we did.
Speaker 4: You know, we sped him up, We kept him uncomfortable,
Speaker 4: didn't let him just.
Speaker 3: Control the game.
Speaker 4: He was always looking behind him, you know, inside to
Speaker 4: see who's coming. You want to rush them and keep
Speaker 4: them uncomfortable. And I thought that's what Kentucky did the
Speaker 4: other day, and that's what the Mont Butler did.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Mount Butler.
Speaker 4: Was just in him. I mean that kudos to what's
Speaker 4: the point guard name for Florida.
Speaker 1: Well, they've got Clayton.
Speaker 2: And they got more Clayton.
Speaker 4: With the guys score.
Speaker 1: Thirty, that was Clayton. He also had five tur.
Speaker 4: Yes and the five turnovers, three of them. Lamont Butler
Speaker 4: just took it from him. Yes, you see what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, So the kudos to Clayton because he kept coming.
Speaker 4: He was able to score thirty points. But Lamont Butler
Speaker 4: did just enough to make sure that he's his team one,
Speaker 4: knowing that he was playing against a talented point guard.
Speaker 4: And that's what I've been saying all along. The SEC
Speaker 4: is deep with talented point guards. Every big time team
Speaker 4: in this league has a big time point guard. The
Speaker 4: Mont Butler is not gonna give you thirty every night,
Speaker 4: but Lamont Butler can control the game against a really
Speaker 4: good point guard just enough for his team to win.
Speaker 4: He's gonna steal the ball from you every now and then,
Speaker 4: he's gonna bump you every now and then. He's gonna
Speaker 4: you know, he's a tough, hard body.
Speaker 3: To go against.
Speaker 4: Also, when you're bumping him, he's driving you too. So
Speaker 4: he ain't got to score twenty five or thirty to
Speaker 4: be the best point guard on the floor, right. He
Speaker 4: just has to control that guy just enough, distract him
Speaker 4: just enough to give his team a chance, which is Kentucky,
Speaker 4: to have an opportunity to win the basketball game. And
Speaker 4: he did that perfectly against Florida on Saturday.
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of distraction and you being a defensive guy,
Speaker 1: you had to appreciate the fact that you referred to
Speaker 1: this earlier. Butler is out in front of the basket,
Speaker 1: hands off to it, Marii Williams and Butler's defender, whether
Speaker 1: it was Clayton or Martin, whoever took his eye off
Speaker 1: the prize for just a second. Next thing, you know,
Speaker 1: Butler's cutting to the basket and Williams is feeding him.
Speaker 1: Williams is big with five assists. I mean, that was perfect,
Speaker 1: wasn't it.
Speaker 4: That was the way, That's the way Kentucky does it.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean.
Speaker 4: You know, you may stop those cuts, you're switching, you're
Speaker 4: bumping them, but sooner or later, if you're not paying attention,
Speaker 4: they're gonna get you.
Speaker 3: On the backscreen cut. What's going to be a big play,
Speaker 3: maybe a hand one.
Speaker 4: You know, Butler wasn't out there dancing with him shooting
Speaker 4: tough shots in people's faces. He was just orchestrating his
Speaker 4: offense to a t and he got his buckets on
Speaker 4: throughout the offense, which was very detrial and very frustrating
Speaker 4: to Florida because you know, they got to keep their
Speaker 4: head on a swivel knowing that these cuts are coming,
Speaker 4: and as good as a pass as our bigs are,
Speaker 4: they were getting punished for it.
Speaker 1: You gotta love the way Amari Williams, who I think
Speaker 1: needs to be a little tougher easy for me to
Speaker 1: save it, needs to be a little more physical on
Speaker 1: the post. But I'm telling you the way he passes
Speaker 1: a basketball, Sean, it reminds me a lot of sambuie.
Speaker 4: He does, you know, it does, and he's getting better
Speaker 4: at it, and he likes it.
Speaker 3: That's the thing. He likes it.
Speaker 4: He likes the pass of the basketball, which is contagious.
Speaker 4: I would love to be a point guard on this
Speaker 4: team because I ain't got a dance. I can play
Speaker 4: a pick a rock. I can throw it to the
Speaker 4: top that I could go screen a little big kiss cut,
Speaker 4: you know, and if I just got a step on
Speaker 4: my man, he's going to get it to me at
Speaker 4: the right place, at the right time for me to
Speaker 4: be able to spl to basketball.
Speaker 1: You hear Mark Pope constantly use the word beautiful, and
Speaker 1: he ain't wrong, is he? When it looks like that,
Speaker 1: it's a joy to watch. It's a enjoy to behold,
Speaker 1: whether you're a Kentucky fan or whatever. Florida did it
Speaker 1: as well a few times, some really nice backcuts and
Speaker 1: things like that. It was just a great basketball game,
Speaker 1: one to be enjoyed. But if you're a Kentucky fan, player, coach,
Speaker 1: you gotta look ahead to those Georgia Bulldogs. That's what's
Speaker 1: coming up next. And we will discuss that game and
Speaker 1: more with Sean next week when we get together with
Speaker 1: the unforgettable Guard Coach. Thank you so much, Stay warm and.
Speaker 4: Enjoy your week, do you, buddy be couple out there.
Speaker 1: I Renumber two is next here on six thirty Cony.
Speaker 5: Early manamer.
Speaker 1: Mag Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider and
Speaker 1: joining us on our celebrity hotline is a guy I've known,
Speaker 1: Mark Mathis forever from the Onesboro Messenger and but hadn't
Speaker 1: been on the show for quite a while. Welcome back, sir.
Speaker 7: Thank you very much for having me on and on
Speaker 7: this winter day in Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Yeah, trying to stay warm, trying to stay dry and
Speaker 1: get the work done. You made it to election and
Speaker 1: before the big storm. You and I sat next to
Speaker 1: each other elbow to elbow for that game, and we
Speaker 1: kept kept commenting to each other, Wow, did you see that?
Speaker 1: What a game that was? Man? That was a lot
Speaker 1: of fun, wasn't it.
Speaker 7: Absolutely? I mean, that was a wildly entertaining college basketball game,
Speaker 7: one of the better ones I've seen in RUP in
Speaker 7: quite a few years. I would say, I think somebody
Speaker 7: one of the ESPN people made this comment. I think
Speaker 7: on X they said that it was one of the
Speaker 7: few times where the atmosphere and then the game lived
Speaker 7: up to what people thought it would beforehand.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's accurate, isn't it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it was. Now it was a blast, you know,
Speaker 7: great plays on both sides, two really good teams. Yeah,
Speaker 7: and they and they both played well.
Speaker 3: I thought.
Speaker 1: I thought Kentucky, and I mentioned this earlier in the
Speaker 1: show a couple of times took advantage of the fact,
Speaker 1: of course that Florida miss free throws. But on the
Speaker 1: other hand, Kentucky played about as clean a game given
Speaker 1: the opponent as you can expect. I mean, six turnovers.
Speaker 7: That was incredible, Yes, exactly. And I'm sitting here looking
Speaker 7: at this numbers. Also at you know, Carr Williams. They're
Speaker 7: passing well out of the post and then he got
Speaker 7: Bubble going for a assists And yeah, the assistant to
Speaker 7: turnover thing was pretty phenomenal. And I think Pope really
Speaker 7: kind of worked on that a little bit in the
Speaker 7: post game.
Speaker 1: So I thought that Florida's Biggs, especially the was a Chineehlu,
Speaker 1: took advantage of Amari Williams. He is for a guy
Speaker 1: who was an outstanding defender at his previous stop. He's
Speaker 1: not as physical as I thought he might be. Is
Speaker 1: that's something Mark you think he can develop or is
Speaker 1: that just something Kentucky's going to have to live with.
Speaker 7: I think he's I think his mindset, you know, he
Speaker 7: might maybe gonna have to be a little bit tougher mentality.
Speaker 7: And he spoke to this a little bit in the
Speaker 7: post game, just talking about, you know, when when he
Speaker 7: and Ruben hooked up on the you know, first couple
Speaker 7: of possessions and Ruben was just moving him around and
Speaker 7: knocking him around. Amari said, you know, I realized I
Speaker 7: had to start getting back at it. And he he
Speaker 7: said he thought he'd played better in the second half,
Speaker 7: and I, you know, I would agree with that. But
Speaker 7: I thought Pope made a really good point about Ruben
Speaker 7: talking about he's a guy who can carve out space
Speaker 7: and that's very important. That's very important, and I think
Speaker 7: Williams has to be that kind of guy for Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Inside, I'm not sure he's got that in him, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, just his style of play, right,
Speaker 1: But I think the combination of Williams and Garrison could
Speaker 1: possibly make that happen. Of course, Garrison fouled out, but
Speaker 1: he was effective when he was in there, wasn't he?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I thought so. I mean, I thought Garrison probably
Speaker 7: did what they didn't mind foul out obviously, but I
Speaker 7: thought he gave them a physical presence probably that you know,
Speaker 7: I agree with you. I think it's going to be
Speaker 7: a combination kind of thing as far as some physicality
Speaker 7: in the post, and I think Garrison's a little more
Speaker 7: suited to that.
Speaker 1: Talking to Mark Mathis of the Owensboro Messenger, he covered
Speaker 1: Kentucky's win over Florida where, speaking of the bigs, they
Speaker 1: had between them, eleven rebounds, ten assists, I'm sorry, eight
Speaker 1: assists and only two turnovers, Mark, and it combined thirty
Speaker 1: eight minutes. You're not going to see that anywhere else
Speaker 1: in the country in a day like that, are you?
Speaker 7: Now you're going about Kentucky's yeah, right now, No, absolutely no.
Speaker 7: I thought I thought they they look to play total games,
Speaker 7: you know, as well as they have all year long.
Speaker 7: And like I said, Andrew Carr and Williams they are
Speaker 7: really good passers, and they did it. They did a
Speaker 7: pretty good job at taking care of the ball. Just
Speaker 7: kind of like what you're saying, so you know, and
Speaker 7: then and then you know Garrison, you know Brandon Garrison.
Speaker 7: I'm looking at I'm looking across his numbers, and yeah,
Speaker 7: I didn't even realize the three assists, you know, that
Speaker 7: kind of thing. So you know, no, I thought no,
Speaker 7: I thought they were. I think when they get settled in.
Speaker 7: I think it takes car maybe a little bit of
Speaker 7: time in a game to get settled, you know, into
Speaker 7: what he's doing. But once he does, I mean, he
Speaker 7: is wildly effected well.
Speaker 1: And again is number you've got in front of you.
Speaker 1: Twenty nine minutes, scored fourteenth once, two crucial threes, including
Speaker 1: one in the last three minutes. He amazingly missed three
Speaker 1: straight free throws but hit him in the clutch. Five
Speaker 1: assists and no turnovers. You know, it's one thing, as
Speaker 1: you know, Mark, if you know, if a guy doesn't
Speaker 1: commit any turnovers, but he's not really contributing offensively with
Speaker 1: anything with jump shots. But these guys are passing extremely well.
Speaker 1: I mean, carving up Florida with those back door cuts.
Speaker 1: It's pretty impressive.
Speaker 7: Yeah, their court vision is a lot better than what
Speaker 7: I would have thought they were gonna be. I mean,
Speaker 7: you know, Williams had the reputation for being a passer,
Speaker 7: you know, coming in coming in to his spot of
Speaker 7: Kentucky or whatever. But one you know, once you see
Speaker 7: you know, you're kind of not buying into it as
Speaker 7: an observer until you actually see it. But he's him
Speaker 7: and have really really good court vision, I think, and
Speaker 7: they and they look for guys to pass it.
Speaker 1: So talking to Mark manthis he is a sports writer
Speaker 1: from Western Kentucky. You've seen his work for years? How
Speaker 1: long now with The Messenger Inquirer.
Speaker 7: I have been here since the late eighties. I was
Speaker 7: just I was kind of running over this in my mind.
Speaker 7: The other day. I saw Kenny Walker play one of
Speaker 7: his last games for Kentucky, and I saw Rex Chapman
Speaker 7: play his last game for Kentucky. So I've been around
Speaker 7: for a little bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah you have, you have. Indeed, that's how long we've
Speaker 1: known each other. Kentucky out playing the Georgia Bulldogs tomorrow night,
Speaker 1: one of the more in terms of wins and losses,
Speaker 1: one of the more surprising teams in the league. But
Speaker 1: these guys, he's Kentucky Wildcats. Are They're road tested, aren't they?
Speaker 1: I mean, I've got to think that. And again, it's
Speaker 1: the first game in the SEC on the road a
Speaker 1: little bit different. You've covered road games. Teams. Are the
Speaker 1: fans kind of lay and wait for them, don't they?
Speaker 7: Yes, they do. And I mean, I'm I'm gonna be
Speaker 7: real curious to see how Georgia responds to what you know,
Speaker 7: to losing the old myths on Saturday and that kind
Speaker 7: of thing. I'm guessing they're gonna be pretty motivated. And yes,
Speaker 7: I would imagine they'll try to pack the arena and
Speaker 7: that kind of thing like they always do on the
Speaker 7: road for Kentucky eating in the SEC.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's a it's a nice arena. They redid it.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you were ever at the old
Speaker 1: one or if you've been in this one, but they
Speaker 1: gave it. They gave it well, they gave it a facelift,
Speaker 1: much like Kentucky did Memorial Coliseum. And it's not huge,
Speaker 1: so filling it especially when the students decide to show up. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's not quite the challenge that Rupp Aerna presents. And
Speaker 1: you know, kids turn out they want to heckle Kentucky,
Speaker 1: don't they They want to heckle it back it brings
Speaker 1: out the best, doesn't it.
Speaker 7: That's exactly right, And I mean yeah, and I mean, look, look,
Speaker 7: you know the fans, the kids, that kind of thing.
Speaker 7: I mean they you know, they're if they're engaged enough
Speaker 7: to go to the games on the road and that
Speaker 7: kind of deal, then I mean they know what Kentucky
Speaker 7: is and that kind of thing, and yeah, they want
Speaker 7: to they want to get under some skin and that
Speaker 7: kind of deal. So yeah, it's I think it's a
Speaker 7: good time for the opposing kids when Kentucky comes to
Speaker 7: town and that kind of thing. And well, and especially
Speaker 7: I mean George has put up some good numbers this year,
Speaker 7: so I would I would think that there would be
Speaker 7: you know, some some fan interests going on there.
Speaker 1: Mark Matthis my guess from the Owensboro Messenger in choir.
Speaker 1: We'll talk more UK sports with Mark on the other
Speaker 1: side of the break. Here, alcome back talking with Mark
Speaker 1: Matthis longtime sports journalists from Western Kentucky rights for the
Speaker 1: Owensboro Messenger and Choir has covered the Wildcat for many,
Speaker 1: many years, as he said, since the late eighties. And
Speaker 1: let me ask you a couple more basketball questions before
Speaker 1: I picked your brain about football. What was your response.
Speaker 1: What was your reaction your mental process when you had
Speaker 1: to cover the story like the rest of us, or
Speaker 1: you got to cover the story Kentucky hiring a new coach,
Speaker 1: and you were following along the names that kept dropping out,
Speaker 1: and suddenly Mark Pope's name bubbles to the surface, and
Speaker 1: before long, within twenty four hours or no later than
Speaker 1: forty eight hours, he's the guy. What was your reaction
Speaker 1: through all that.
Speaker 7: I mean, I was pretty surprised. I thought it. I mean,
Speaker 7: I thought it hit.
Speaker 4: I thought you kind of came.
Speaker 7: Out of nowhere a little bit, you know, just from
Speaker 7: the aspect of there were a lot, you know, there
Speaker 7: were big names who were in play and that kind
Speaker 7: of thing. And then when they did drop out, though,
Speaker 7: I thought, I think Barnhart probably you know, made a
Speaker 7: pretty bowl decision. And the way it you know, the
Speaker 7: way it worked out once they got him on campus
Speaker 7: and once they you know, when when they had the
Speaker 7: introduction and that kind of thing, you could see the
Speaker 7: fact that he had been there before. He knew the territory,
Speaker 7: even though he hadn't been around in years. But I mean,
Speaker 7: he knew what the program was about and what he
Speaker 7: was getting ready to step into and I think it
Speaker 7: took less time for it to become a fit. But no,
Speaker 7: when he when they when the news started coming out,
Speaker 7: I mean people were texting megoing, what are they doing?
Speaker 7: I mean seriously, you know, you know the fan people
Speaker 7: that I know around here and friends and that kind
Speaker 7: of thing. I mean that people were shocked when they
Speaker 7: really people that I talked to who were shocked when
Speaker 7: they pulled the trigger and said we're you know, we're
Speaker 7: bringing him in that kind of thing. But like that, well,
Speaker 7: I mean we were all, we were we were all
Speaker 7: at the press conference, you know, tent revival, whatever you
Speaker 7: want to call it. That was there was that rep arina,
Speaker 7: and I mean there was a definite energy in there.
Speaker 7: And you know, there were some people from western Kentucky
Speaker 7: and from the Owensboro area who who went to the
Speaker 7: event and they were asking me. They were like, I mean,
Speaker 7: if you've ever seen anything like that? And I said, no,
Speaker 7: not really, you know, And I think that helped at
Speaker 7: least calmed some nerves. If you know, if you're catching
Speaker 7: catch of my drill, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: I had to admit, and I talked about this before that.
Speaker 1: My initial reaction was like what. But then I had
Speaker 1: to remind myself that this guy, I think people looked
Speaker 1: at him as some sort of neophyte and to this
Speaker 1: level of coaching he is, but ninety eight percent of
Speaker 1: the coaches in America are. But this is a guy
Speaker 1: who had this is a third stop. I think people
Speaker 1: were looking at him as some kind of newbie. And
Speaker 1: he had done a good job at Utah Valley where
Speaker 1: you'd say where and then bring him young, which you
Speaker 1: knew about. And I watched a few of his games.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 1: And when you get down to a coach knowing what
Speaker 1: he's getting into, you know, Cali Perry kind of knew.
Speaker 1: Billy Gillispie thought he knew, but had no idea. Mark
Speaker 1: Pope knew exactly what he was getting into, which save
Speaker 1: Mitch Barnhard a lot of trouble, didn't it. He didn't
Speaker 1: have to explain it to him over and over again
Speaker 1: like he did with Gillespie and try to help Cali
Speaker 1: Perry get through it. And like I said, Cali Perry's
Speaker 1: bluster helped him when he first got here. But Mark
Speaker 1: Pope man he knew the roadmap, didn't he?
Speaker 7: Yes, he did that, And I mean I think like
Speaker 7: I said, when he when he stepped off, when he
Speaker 7: stepped off that bus and rub ye, I mean I
Speaker 7: think that I think that moment and you know me,
Speaker 7: I don't get all wrapped up, you know, on the
Speaker 7: emotion side of it, that kind of thing, hardly at all.
Speaker 7: I try not to do that. But I mean when
Speaker 7: he stepped off that bus, I mean that was a
Speaker 7: moment my thought, you know. And you know, like I said,
Speaker 7: just the way the people in the building reacted and
Speaker 7: the way he handled all that, I thought, I thought
Speaker 7: there was a lot of good stuff going on that afternoon,
Speaker 7: you know, And yes, it.
Speaker 1: Impressed What impressed me the most about all that mark
Speaker 1: was after the fact finding out that none of that
Speaker 1: of his speech essentially his presentation is sermon if you will,
Speaker 1: none of that was was formally scripted with the help
Speaker 1: of anybody in uk c. Now here's the point you
Speaker 1: have to hit. You ought to allude to this and
Speaker 1: refer to that and make sure that people he did
Speaker 1: and all of that on his own, because we know
Speaker 1: he's a smart guy. But then you come to find out,
Speaker 1: because the video pops out that on that bus with
Speaker 1: the former players and Cameron Mills was telling me this.
Speaker 1: They choreographed how they got off the bus, how he
Speaker 1: would of course get off the bus last, but that
Speaker 1: he would carry the trophy because he carried the trophy
Speaker 1: in ninety six to the point where you know, either
Speaker 1: he or somebody goes which hand and somebody else. He
Speaker 1: was in your right hand, you know, and then Derek
Speaker 1: Anderson was like, Okay, when you're off, you hand it
Speaker 1: to me. I mean, it was perfect, wasn't it.
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 7: It was. It's funny you talk about all that because
Speaker 7: when I the first time I saw the pictures, like
Speaker 7: side by side of when he was, you know, coming
Speaker 7: off as a player and that kind of thing. I
Speaker 7: was sitting there going somebody had to have put this
Speaker 7: together somehow. So I think what you're what you're saying,
Speaker 7: you know, about what they were doing on the bus
Speaker 7: and that kind of thing.
Speaker 4: I think that's amazing.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, but you know, in terms of the former players,
Speaker 1: it was as much their moment as his, and you
Speaker 1: know they are going to be rough moments and he
Speaker 1: knows that, but you know that that's sports. That's what happens.
Speaker 1: I got a couple of minutes up in Mark matthis
Speaker 1: real quickly let me ask you about Kentucky football, your
Speaker 1: thoughts on what's happening. I know you got to juggle
Speaker 1: a lot, not just UK football and basketball, but if
Speaker 1: you've been able to keep an eye on the portal
Speaker 1: and what you see in the future for this Kentucky
Speaker 1: football team, because this ain't the college football to you
Speaker 1: and I signed up to cover, and it's not what
Speaker 1: Mark Stoops signed up to coach, is it.
Speaker 7: No, absolutely, and full disclosure. I have not been doing
Speaker 7: UK football for three or four years. We have Joseph
Speaker 7: Russell doing that, but obviously I keep up with the
Speaker 7: cow thing. And I mean, tell me if I'm reading
Speaker 7: this wrong. It seemed to me like like once they
Speaker 7: got a little momentum in this last cycle and the portal,
Speaker 7: they did pretty good. But I think people were concerned
Speaker 7: walking into it. That a correct read, Yeah, yeah, but see.
Speaker 1: It's like putting a fantasy team together. You know, you can,
Speaker 1: you can throw a team together with all kinds of
Speaker 1: point potential, but if the guys don't go out and perform,
Speaker 1: you know you're you're stuck. And Kentucky was stuck this
Speaker 1: past year, both with injuries and portal guys who didn't perform.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you know, now they're on the outside looking
Speaker 1: into the playoffs where a couple of years under Stoops
Speaker 1: they might have been in the playoffs. Have you been
Speaker 1: as disappointed with the playoffs as a lot of people
Speaker 1: have because you can't predict how tim who thought Texas
Speaker 1: Arizona State would be the best game? Nobody?
Speaker 7: Right? No, No, absolutely, And and I'll say this, I
Speaker 7: have watched roughly every minute that I could of all
Speaker 7: of the playoff games just to kind of try to
Speaker 7: get a field, you know, to get a feel for it.
Speaker 7: And yes, I'm I'm I didn't think that you would
Speaker 7: be seeing points spreads throughout this tournament or whatever you
Speaker 7: want to call it, like you have, but it has.
Speaker 7: It has borne one thing out I think, and that's
Speaker 7: the power teams are the power teams. Yeah, it seems like.
Speaker 7: So do you think that the way the way Ohio is,
Speaker 7: the way Ohio State has flipped around, is you know
Speaker 7: since the Michigan game has been crazy?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's I think that's a mental thing more than
Speaker 1: anything I was gonna say. Do you think the SEC
Speaker 1: now has a big hole in it? I mean I've
Speaker 1: seen of course, and you know, Twitter is all about
Speaker 1: who is the first take, the hottest take, but out
Speaker 1: the SEC is dead, it's over and done with throws
Speaker 1: some dirt on it. Do you see it that way?
Speaker 7: No, I don't think so. I mean, no, there's there
Speaker 7: is a lot of talent in that league, and and
Speaker 7: it's as we're talking about with Nil and all that,
Speaker 7: it's getting more and more spread out that kind of stuff.
Speaker 7: I mean, look, Alabama performed at such an exceptionally high
Speaker 7: level for for for the saban years that I think
Speaker 7: you know, if you don't have a team in the
Speaker 7: semi finals or in the championship game, talk about the
Speaker 7: SEC in the scenario, people are going to be going, oh,
Speaker 7: well they kind of messed up. But you know that,
Speaker 7: I think that speaks to you know, maybe them's coming
Speaker 7: down a little bit and maybe like the big ten
Speaker 7: teams are involved in this thing, stepping up a little bit.
Speaker 7: That's kind of the way I'm saying it that the talent,
Speaker 7: the talent is very spread.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, thanks to the portal and Nil, it's a
Speaker 1: lot more, no question. He as Mark Matt of the
Speaker 1: Owens World Messenger in Choir. Follow him on Twitter or
Speaker 1: x at. Mark mathis m a t his am, I
Speaker 1: and Mark. We'll do it again soon. It's been a while,
Speaker 1: but we'll talk more basketball later in the year.
Speaker 7: Thanks now, absolutely, it's been a blast. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Western Bureau Chief Gary Moore is next here on six
Speaker 1: thirty wlap back to the Big Blue Insider, joining us
Speaker 1: now by hooker by crook. Because I have lost power,
Speaker 1: we're using a hot spot. We usually zoom with our
Speaker 1: Western Bureau Chief, Gary Moore, but we're making do with
Speaker 1: what we've got here as we brave the winter months.
Speaker 1: Everything good on your end of the interstate.
Speaker 6: Absolutely, Speaking of winter months, before we get into two
Speaker 6: guys in a six pack, what is.
Speaker 1: With all of the snow?
Speaker 2: I mean, it's like you said on Facebook, if we
Speaker 2: only had some kind of a warning on television and
Speaker 2: this stuff was coming in like the weather. You know,
Speaker 2: there's nothing on ESPN about any of this stuff.
Speaker 1: This is the weather we needs. Man, It's their super Bowl,
Speaker 1: isn't it.
Speaker 2: Well, upward and onward we go.
Speaker 6: Here we go with our first sip, our first two
Speaker 6: guys in a six pack of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Cheers to you and you're beloved over there. The gauntlet
Speaker 2: has begun for number ten UK.
Speaker 6: You were there Saturday's brunch of Gator meat, first of
Speaker 6: nine home SEC games, nine on the road, and those
Speaker 6: road games begin tomorrow down in Athens, GA. Of course,
Speaker 6: nothing but SEC games from here on out. Cats and
Speaker 6: Dogs seven o'clock tomorrow night, SEC Network UK two and
Speaker 6: two away from rupp. Meanwhile, Georgia is twelve and two overall,
Speaker 6: but you really haven't played anybody at home, so it's
Speaker 6: gonna be a raucous crowd down there as usual. Then
Speaker 6: on Saturday night at number seventeen Mississippi State, those will
Speaker 6: be tougher dogs to deal with, allegedly States thirteen and one.
Speaker 6: They've got wins over number eighteen pit at number twenty
Speaker 6: one Memphis, so that's gonna be fun to watch Saturday night,
Speaker 6: eight thirty SEC Network. According to latest ratings, the circular
Speaker 6: Firing squad Dick, that is, the SEC ten top twenty
Speaker 6: five teams still Cats, of course one of them, and
Speaker 6: they will play the other nine.
Speaker 2: In fact, they're going to play number five Bama.
Speaker 6: And top ranked that top ranked Orange school down I
Speaker 6: seventy five twice along with Vanderbilt twice. Now you've been
Speaker 6: out there, I think for about every game, and the
Speaker 6: crowds have been great. Have you noticed a discernible difference
Speaker 6: in the energy compared to when a certain coach now
Speaker 6: at Arkansas was there.
Speaker 1: And the crowds. Absolutely, But I think so much of
Speaker 1: that obviously is directed at the head coach, but also
Speaker 1: I think style of play, Gary, And to be fair,
Speaker 1: you know, you go back really to Caliperi's better teams,
Speaker 1: Rick Patino's early teams that shot a lot of threes
Speaker 1: and got up and down the floor in transition. But
Speaker 1: the key is they did it well. The last two
Speaker 1: or three Caliperi teams are the ones who were the
Speaker 1: most disappointing, with all the young guys still trying to
Speaker 1: figure things out. You know, the offense would just bog
Speaker 1: down so much, and they weren't fun to watch. This
Speaker 1: team's been really fun to watch. I think you'll agree.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Hey one six to one hundred, were you
Speaker 2: not entertained?
Speaker 1: And you know what, believe it or not, there was
Speaker 1: defense played. It's just guys made shots they did.
Speaker 2: You're absolutely right.
Speaker 6: Second sip in the six pack while the victory vibes
Speaker 6: are alive and well they're in Lexington. The rebirth boxes
Speaker 6: are being checked over here in Louisville with new coach
Speaker 6: of the Cards, Pat Kelsey. Their ACC Gauntlin's already begun now.
Speaker 6: The first box they checked off Louisville beating Florida State for.
Speaker 2: The first time down in Tallahassee in six years.
Speaker 6: Next box, last week Cards beat North Carolina.
Speaker 2: That's the signature win so far for Kelsey.
Speaker 6: They beat Carolina for the first time in five years
Speaker 6: by thirteen points after Louisville lost five straight by an
Speaker 6: average of nineteen points.
Speaker 2: And then on Saturday, the biggest drought ended.
Speaker 6: For Louisville, not only beating Virginia for the first time
Speaker 6: in ten tries that goes back to twenty twenty, but
Speaker 6: the Cards actually won at Charlottesville for the first time
Speaker 6: in thirty five years, something I don't think Patino and
Speaker 6: Mac and pain could do. Cards are three and one
Speaker 6: down the ACC.
Speaker 2: Ten and five overall.
Speaker 6: They faced Clemson over here at the Young Center tomorrow
Speaker 6: night at seven o'clock.
Speaker 2: ESP and U is gonna have that when the Tigers
Speaker 2: are four to oh in the conference twelve and three overall.
Speaker 6: Including that home court win we saw over UK. Given
Speaker 6: a supposedly down.
Speaker 2: Year for the ACC. How do you like Louisville's chances.
Speaker 6: For March given their recent played, especially the overall play
Speaker 6: this year.
Speaker 1: You know what, win at home, steal a few on
Speaker 1: the road. They've already done one in a really tough
Speaker 1: place to play, and I like their chances, I really do.
Speaker 1: And I watched a lot of that North Carolina game.
Speaker 1: And to be fair, this is not as they like
Speaker 1: to say, your father, your grandfather's North Carolina. It's not
Speaker 1: even our North Carolina, but it's still North Carolina. And
Speaker 1: it's a game that that very few people I thought
Speaker 1: expected Louisville to win. I might be more impressed Gary
Speaker 1: with that win at Virginia, which is not again not
Speaker 1: a great team, but a tough place to play, and
Speaker 1: Kelsey's got his guys playing hard. You can tell you
Speaker 1: know what they're doing. Clemson is going to be a
Speaker 1: tough one because, as we saw, Clemson physical with good guards.
Speaker 1: But I think even if they don't beat Clemson, they'll
Speaker 1: take a step forward. So yeah, I'm liking what I see.
Speaker 2: Chuckie, Hepburn.
Speaker 6: He feels he's the best point guard in the United States,
Speaker 6: and he's really fun to watch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's really I think a catalyst for that team.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he's special. Are our third swig in six packs.
Speaker 2: So we go from college hoops to college football playoffs.
Speaker 6: We have three big games this week, yes three, including
Speaker 6: two nights from Frisco, Texas.
Speaker 2: Or one double A?
Speaker 6: Is it still ought to be called? According to you
Speaker 6: and I, championship game? Number one seed?
Speaker 2: It's so confusing fb F to say one double A
Speaker 2: one A. You know why muddy that I never got that.
Speaker 6: So anyway, number one seed Montana State Bobcats at number
Speaker 6: two North Dakota State Bison. In fact, that's going on
Speaker 6: right now. Kickoff is at seven o'clock on ESPN. Katz
Speaker 6: and Bison are two of the top three scoring.
Speaker 2: Teams in the nation. In one double A.
Speaker 6: Montana State, in fact, their touchdown Tommy Millott, quarterback. He
Speaker 6: won the Walter Payton Award for the FCS Offensive Player
Speaker 6: of the Year. That's their equivalent of the Heisman in
Speaker 6: four years. Check out these stats if you dare. Malott
Speaker 6: rushed so far for three one hundred and thirteen yards
Speaker 6: and thirty nine touchdowns, while he passed for five two
Speaker 6: hundred two yards and forty six touchdowns.
Speaker 2: So definitely I'm looking forward to seeing this one, especially
Speaker 2: that guy.
Speaker 6: And I'm just wondering if any of the NFL team
Speaker 6: is going to give him a shot on draft Day.
Speaker 2: He's been kind of under the radar a little bit.
Speaker 6: You know, he could follow in the one double A
Speaker 6: footsteps guys like Joe Flacco and Carson Wentz and Prey Lance,
Speaker 6: Kurt Water and oh yeah, some guy I believe played
Speaker 6: at Southern High School went to Morehead State here named
Speaker 6: Phil Simms.
Speaker 1: What do you think Morehead State played at the one
Speaker 1: double A level? That's correct. You know, it's interesting because
Speaker 1: Simms played back in the day when, yeah, they made
Speaker 1: good money, but they didn't make generational wealth. And I
Speaker 1: bring that up because it gave him time to develop.
Speaker 1: And now, as you know, you draft a QB, you
Speaker 1: almost have to start him, which is you know, sheer folly.
Speaker 1: But because you're gonna pay him obsceeing amounts of money,
Speaker 1: you can't let him languish on the bench, even though
Speaker 1: it's for his own good and he's learning. So they
Speaker 1: throw these guys in, and what I'm saying is it
Speaker 1: doesn't give anybody a chance to develop, including the backups
Speaker 1: and the guys coming in from the one double A level.
Speaker 1: If they're not good enough to start right away, and
Speaker 1: who is, they ought to be given a chance to
Speaker 1: develop as a backup quarterback. But that is one of
Speaker 1: the worst things the NFL does or fails to do,
Speaker 1: is develop quarterbacks. Because practices have been shortened, nobody gets
Speaker 1: reps and there's a revolving door. Josh Dobbs is starting
Speaker 1: in there, actually started over the weekend. Bailey Zappi started
Speaker 1: over the weekend. Dobbs played at Tennessee. But you know,
Speaker 1: never really has had much of a chance to really
Speaker 1: learn how to be an NFL quarterback. These guys are
Speaker 1: good enough Gary if they're given the right opportunity.
Speaker 2: Patrick Mahomes set out his first year. How did he
Speaker 2: turn out?
Speaker 1: I think it was not too shabby and learned behind
Speaker 1: a veteran yep and Alex Smith.
Speaker 2: Forth Swig, yeah, exactly, fort Swig and the six pack.
Speaker 6: As for those other big stakes games Thursday and Friday,
Speaker 6: Notre Dame currently a two point favorite over Pennsylvania State University.
Speaker 6: Thursday night, Orange down in warm and breezy Miami. I'll
Speaker 6: just be watching that just a faw out. I think
Speaker 6: seven thirty Thursday night on ESPN, I'm gonna take the
Speaker 6: Irish dick because well, one, I think they're a better team,
Speaker 6: and also they have a better coach whose skin isn't
Speaker 6: as thin as one flight toilet paper unlike the other side.
Speaker 6: Then on Friday night, also on ESPN seven thirty, the
Speaker 6: Cotton Bowl down in Dallas, surging Buckeyes before what may
Speaker 6: be a largely partisan crowd down there for the Texas Longhorns.
Speaker 6: OSU currently is six point favorite. Everybody picking them to
Speaker 6: beat the Horns except me. Give me Texas a notre
Speaker 6: dame for the.
Speaker 2: Finals in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: I say, why do you like Texas?
Speaker 6: I like, I like their line and I like I
Speaker 6: like their defense against the past, you know, because I
Speaker 6: you know, Oregon was just completely a rusty and be
Speaker 6: completely outmanned and out bullied.
Speaker 2: I think Texas can match the bullying.
Speaker 6: Of Ohio State, and I think Ohio States do or
Speaker 6: a drop off, especially in front of a nasty crowd.
Speaker 1: I think you're spot on with a line play and
Speaker 1: having seen them up close, not too personal, down at Austin,
Speaker 1: and I remember during the Kentucky game broadcast, Tom and
Speaker 1: Jeff at one point read off the sizes of the
Speaker 1: linemen on both sides of the football. They're huge, but
Speaker 1: they're athletic, and I think, maybe, just maybe that's where
Speaker 1: they can win this game. I'm not a huge quinn
Speaker 1: Ewers fan, o vau. As somebody pointed out, somebody smarter
Speaker 1: than I am. You know, the last three possessions Texas
Speaker 1: had when it had to have huge plays by Quinn yours,
Speaker 1: he made them, you know, touchdown pass, touchdown pass, two
Speaker 1: point conversion, spot on, you know, and I think that
Speaker 1: you know that counts. It means a lot. I'm the
Speaker 1: same way. I grew up a Penn State fan. I
Speaker 1: really liked Joe Paterno. I also grew up an Notre
Speaker 1: Dame fan, not so much lately, but I do like
Speaker 1: Notre Dame in this game. I do like their coach
Speaker 1: as you do. So yeah, I'd love to see that.
Speaker 1: I love to see a Texas Notre Dame rematch.
Speaker 2: Are a fitthswig and six pack.
Speaker 6: While college football playoffs wind down in historic fashion this year,
Speaker 6: the NFL postseason just about to crank up. We got
Speaker 6: six kind of six big NFC wild card weekend games,
Speaker 6: so let's get to it up. First on Saturday. Two
Speaker 6: games on Saturday, Chargers at the Texans that'll start at
Speaker 6: four to thirty on CBS on Saturday.
Speaker 2: Gimme the Chargers in that one.
Speaker 6: Visiting then because I'm not betting against hardball, at least
Speaker 6: not in the first game.
Speaker 2: And then Steelers at the Ravens. That's gonna be another.
Speaker 6: Ball burner eight pm on Amazon Prime. I like Lamar
Speaker 6: and Balmer on that one to beat the Steelers. On Sunday,
Speaker 6: we got three games, starting with Denver at Buffalo one
Speaker 6: o'clock on CBS kicks off. I'll take the Bills, then
Speaker 6: your Packers at Philly, four thirty on Fox.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna take the Green Bay Packers to upset Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 6: Finally Washington at Tampa Bay Sunday night seven thirty. Give
Speaker 6: me DC in that one. And finally Monday night, Minnesota
Speaker 6: at the Rams eight o'clock on ESPN.
Speaker 2: Clearly the Vikings will win that game.
Speaker 1: I agree on just about all of them. I would
Speaker 1: love to see my Packers, of course, beat Philly. We
Speaker 1: opened the season with him down in Brazil. But our
Speaker 1: best deep threat, Christian Watson, we don't know yet if
Speaker 1: he's gonna be healthy. I think Jordan Love will be.
Speaker 1: I do like the steel I mean, I'm sorry, I
Speaker 1: do like the Ravens over the Steelers. And I'm gonna
Speaker 1: take Tampa Bay over Washington. I will disagree on that one,
Speaker 1: but I think they should be fun.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that was the that's the caveat if if your
Speaker 6: boy at quarterbacks is not back, yeah, then and then
Speaker 6: I think Philly's got the advantage on that one. Sixth
Speaker 6: and finals wig final two bowl games this Thursday and Friday,
Speaker 6: obviously the Orange and Cotton Bowls. And it raises the
Speaker 6: question once again this time of year, do we have
Speaker 6: too many football bowl games? And once again the obvious
Speaker 6: answer is no, emphatically no, there are not enough ball games.
Speaker 2: And off TV ratings are your barometer. More we'll be
Speaker 2: on a screen near you in the coming years.
Speaker 6: For example, I give you the Pop Tarts Bowl, six
Speaker 6: point eight million viewers on ABC for that Iowa State
Speaker 6: Miami matchups, right, the best ratings for that particular bowl
Speaker 6: that's been under so many other sponsorships, The best ratings
Speaker 6: for that bowl sixteen years. Another great matchup led to
Speaker 6: record ratings in the Alimo Bowl. Because most of America
Speaker 6: loves seeing BYU beat Buffalo Butts and coach Prime. But wait,
Speaker 6: the pens Dry Bowl even viewers were up forty percent
Speaker 6: from last year, Liberty Bowl up seventeen percent, Birmingham Bowl
Speaker 6: up fifty two percent, and that rely a Quest Bowl
Speaker 6: formerly the Outback Bowl of forty two percent. Michigan beat
Speaker 6: Bama for the second time in twenty twenty four, sending.
Speaker 2: A clear message to Herb Street and Fine Bomb to
Speaker 2: eat it. Okay, boys.
Speaker 6: Rough estimate, Dick Gabriel, how many bulls can you say
Speaker 6: you watched over the holidays.
Speaker 2: I'm going with about a dozen myself.
Speaker 1: Same here, I mean bits and pieces, but yeah, same here. Look,
Speaker 1: I get so tired of these people say, well, now
Speaker 1: there's a playoffs, So the bulls really don't mean anything.
Speaker 1: When have they ever accept a reward for players, coaches, fans,
Speaker 1: something for us to watch, something for gamblers to gamble on.
Speaker 1: It's entertainment, folks. It's entertainment. That's what it's there for.
Speaker 1: And it's there because ESPN needs programming, so they ain't
Speaker 1: going away. But you know, a great game is every
Speaker 1: bit as possible as a clunker, and there have been both,
Speaker 1: and I'm good with that. We're talking to Gary Moore
Speaker 1: or West End Bureau chief. Back with more in a
Speaker 1: minute here on the Big Blue and Siders six point thirty.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue and Sider. We were
Speaker 1: visiting with West n Bureau Chief Gary Moore. We usually
Speaker 1: talked to Gary on wednesday Days, but our state wide
Speaker 1: lineup is coming up, so we've moved him up to Monday.
Speaker 1: That's why I heard Sean Woods on earlier tonight as well.
Speaker 1: There are two guys in a six pack. Time to
Speaker 1: throw a couple of hot reads at Gary and these
Speaker 1: are these are these are kind of juicy. Now, First
Speaker 1: of all, Black Monday for head football coaches and assistants
Speaker 1: in the National Football League. I mentioned this early in
Speaker 1: the show, and by the time you hear this, there
Speaker 1: are probably more. There were already three guys on the
Speaker 1: unemployment line. Jaguars fired their coach, Patriots fired their coach.
Speaker 1: I guess the man who stepped in for Bill Belichick
Speaker 1: found out it's not quite as easy as Belichick made
Speaker 1: it look for look, but when you look at the Jacks,
Speaker 1: their owner preseason, Gary said this was the most talented
Speaker 1: Jaguars team that he has ever built, and they are terrible. Uh,
Speaker 1: you got to wonder how many of these teams have
Speaker 1: the right players and the wrong guys in show charge.
Speaker 2: The firings will continue until morale improves and or the record.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what that.
Speaker 2: The owner of the Jaguar said, this is the best
Speaker 2: team ever.
Speaker 6: Even better than that team to get was the twenty
Speaker 6: seventeen they got to the championship.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: AFC champions Yeah.
Speaker 6: I when you got that that black cloud over you,
Speaker 6: you know, and when they started losing all those games,
Speaker 6: I mean the writing was already on the wall for that.
Speaker 2: That's you know. Peterson getting fired was no surprise at all.
Speaker 6: I think Mayo was a surprise from crap because he
Speaker 6: was like he'd been, you know, being groomed for like
Speaker 6: what five years.
Speaker 2: He told him five years.
Speaker 6: Ago he was going to be the coach in waiting,
Speaker 6: and then after one season, it was just wow, that
Speaker 6: was really stark. Even Gronk was surprised and disappointed by that,
Speaker 6: I think a lot of the Patriots. But of course
Speaker 6: that opens the door for Mike Raebel former Patriots, so
Speaker 6: look for that to happen any second now.
Speaker 1: Well, he should not have gone unemployed this year, but
Speaker 1: it also gave him a chance to sit back and recalibrate.
Speaker 1: I think that would be great fit. I don't know
Speaker 1: about the fit down in Jacksonville, but I do agree
Speaker 1: with that. When it comes to New England, our second
Speaker 1: high rate for Gary. What a mess apparently out on
Speaker 1: the West coast with Fox Sports, You've got lawsuits left
Speaker 1: and right. Skip Bayless accused of offering a woman a
Speaker 1: million and a half dollars to sleep with them. Shannon
Speaker 1: Sharp is weighing in on it. You've got another woman. Well,
Speaker 1: this all came from one lawsuit from a woman who's
Speaker 1: accused of sleeping her way to the top. Deerry Miley communists.
Speaker 1: I'm amazed in this day and age this this stuff
Speaker 1: still goes on with HR being so visible these days.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was from a hairdresser, right that was working
Speaker 2: on Fox.
Speaker 6: And the question I always have is like, why would
Speaker 6: somebody risk their job, you know, that particular job, if
Speaker 6: you didn't have something along the line that you're really
Speaker 6: to number of I mean big names, you know you
Speaker 6: mentioned Skip baylist, Joyce Taylor I think was mentioned.
Speaker 1: Yeah in on that as well. It was her lawsuit initially.
Speaker 6: Yeah, And so there's there's a lot of really prickly
Speaker 6: kind of things that are going on with that. It's
Speaker 6: it's you know, it's almost like you get hit with
Speaker 6: the mud and then it's up to you to kind
Speaker 6: of clean yourself off and see what happens.
Speaker 2: Do you think there's going to be an out of.
Speaker 6: Court settlement with that sort of thing and it's gonna
Speaker 6: blow off or is this going to really go into court.
Speaker 2: And ruin some people?
Speaker 1: I think both? But the bottom line is will anything
Speaker 1: change at Fox Sports? I'm I'm a big weather smoke,
Speaker 1: there's fire kind of guy. Having been a journalist. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for a long time. Something's going on and like you say,
Speaker 1: you know, why do you put yourself out there? And
Speaker 1: most news outlets don't identify the victims of harassmith, but
Speaker 1: the hairdresser has already been identified. And boy Bayless, you
Speaker 1: talk about somebody who's star tumble. Now he's he's sitting
Speaker 1: on a pile of money because he was smart enough
Speaker 1: to sign big contracts. But you do have to wonder
Speaker 1: will this change anything? Out at Fox Sports? Gary Moore
Speaker 1: is our West End bureau chief. He joins us every
Speaker 1: week to talk about everything there is in sports and
Speaker 1: We can find him on Twitter at.
Speaker 6: At nine five five Gary, the same lovely media outlet
Speaker 6: where you're at.
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider one. Stay warm and dry, my friend,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Got any snowshoes on you?
Speaker 1: And thanks to Gary de Shaun Woods to Mark Mathis,
Speaker 1: that's a good night from the garage where we have
Speaker 1: no power in Lexington.
Speaker 3: All right, all right, all right yea