Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue Sider Day. Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: on an abbreviated program on a Tuesday evening. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: make way at the top of the hour for Kentucky
Speaker 1: basketball coverage. Local pregames start at seven o'clock with the
Speaker 1: KSR Boys, and the network folks take over at eight
Speaker 1: o'clock Dave and Cameron Mills and then of course Tom
Speaker 1: Leach and Jack Gibbings from Little John Arena at Clemson.
Speaker 1: It is the ACC SEC Challengees Wild Catch take on
Speaker 1: their second ACC opponent of the year. As you know,
Speaker 1: Kentucky beat Douke earlier in the year, so they tried
Speaker 1: to go too and zero against the ACC. And it
Speaker 1: was on this day back in twenty eleven that Kentucky
Speaker 1: scored a win over North Carolina, one of the most
Speaker 1: dramatic finishes in the history of that series if you're
Speaker 1: a Kentucky fan, and of course that's the team that
Speaker 1: went on to win the National Championship. And it came
Speaker 1: down to a great defensive play at the end, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm talking.
Speaker 2: About, No good rebound Bullock Carolina with the ball twenty
Speaker 2: seconds to play, Kentucky leads by one. Marshall walks it
Speaker 2: across the line twelve seconds Marshall to the middles. Marshall
Speaker 2: fete seller down load, loses.
Speaker 1: The ball picked up by Hanson tenth butter block by Davis.
Speaker 1: Davis is hit the ball four seconds to play off
Speaker 1: the team. He grumbles up to me, port this what's
Speaker 1: over to Tucky wins by one.
Speaker 3: Main Stoney Davis saved the day with the blood on Henson.
Speaker 1: And that comes to us courtesy of the UK Sports video.
Speaker 1: As always, they had a great presentation on that one,
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis blocking John Henson and preserving Kentucky's win. Wildcat says,
Speaker 1: you know went on to win the national title, but
Speaker 1: keep in mind that play began when Marcus Tgue missed
Speaker 1: a free throw. Mister front end and the catcher up
Speaker 1: one wouldn't have sensed the game to made things a
Speaker 1: lot more comfortable. In fact, it gave North Carolina the
Speaker 1: chance to win. But Anthony Davis comes through and always
Speaker 1: right with the world. So Wildcats get another shot at
Speaker 1: the ACC tonight. We will have it for you right here,
Speaker 1: and Clemson is good. Made the Elite eight last year,
Speaker 1: but a different look, I mean, not a bad team
Speaker 1: offensively nearly eighty points a game, but Kentucky scores nearly
Speaker 1: ninety seven points a game. Wildcats with forty five rebounds
Speaker 1: per contest nearly thirty eight for Clemson Kentucky twenty one assists.
Speaker 1: Now again, these numbers are skewed because Kentucky scores more buckets,
Speaker 1: but twenty one assists for the Wildcats per game nearly
Speaker 1: fifteen for Clemson Kentucky six blocks per game to three
Speaker 1: for the Tigers. I won't go through everything, but UK
Speaker 1: was only ten turnovers per game and Clemson just eleven,
Speaker 1: so may well be a pretty clean ballgame. Clemson does
Speaker 1: hit nearly forty percent from three point land, Kentucky thirty
Speaker 1: eight percent, So I don't know. Seems like it's gonna
Speaker 1: be two pretty good teams. We'll see which team can
Speaker 1: take the other out of what it needs to do.
Speaker 1: Clemson seven and one on the year, only lost on
Speaker 1: the road to Boise State. I mentioned the Tigers are
Speaker 1: an Elite eighteen from last year. You know there are
Speaker 1: four on the UK schedule. Cats have already played Duke,
Speaker 1: but Alabama and Tennessee also made the Elite eight. Guy
Speaker 1: named Chase Hunter leads Clemson sixteen and a half points
Speaker 1: per game. Ian Shefflin averages eleven and a half rebounds
Speaker 1: per contest. He is third in the country. And get this,
Speaker 1: he leads the team and assists with twenty nine I
Speaker 1: mentioned three point shooting thirty nine point eight percent for Clemson,
Speaker 1: number one in the ACC, nineteenth in the country. So
Speaker 1: Kentucky's got to get out and challenge the three point shooters,
Speaker 1: just as Clemson will try to do the same to
Speaker 1: the Wildcats. Tiger's picked to finish fourth in the ACC
Speaker 1: preseason poll Hunter and Sheffland preseason All League picks, and
Speaker 1: as you know by now, Kentucky, which was picked to
Speaker 1: finish in the middle of the pack and the SEC,
Speaker 1: is now depending on the pole you like, ranked as
Speaker 1: high as number four in the country, behind two other
Speaker 1: SEC teams, Tennessee and Auburn, and top ranked Kansas. That
Speaker 1: is according to the AP Top twenty five. So the
Speaker 1: Cats jump four spots from last week. Marcati's fifth jump
Speaker 1: five spots. Kansas thirty five first place votes, twenty six
Speaker 1: for Auburn. I have not yet seen Auburn or Kansas
Speaker 1: play complete games, but we know they're good, and we
Speaker 1: know Tennessee's damn good. So the Wildcats have a chance
Speaker 1: to make a statement tonight. Speaking of statements, we had
Speaker 1: a chance to talk to a couple of the Wildcats
Speaker 1: yesterday before they left. And this is a tough schedule
Speaker 1: for Kentucky. You've got the nine thirty hint wink, close
Speaker 1: to the ten o'clock start tonight, and then Kentucky at
Speaker 1: the end of the week gets on a plane and
Speaker 1: flies to Seattle and plays Gonzaga out there. And otago
Speaker 1: Oway was asked about the late games, said he kind
Speaker 1: of likes him.
Speaker 4: Actually, I've never been a part of a schedule like
Speaker 4: this when we played Tuesday and then Friday, and it's
Speaker 4: they're both away games and their lates, So I mean,
Speaker 4: it's gonna be an adjustment for me. But I Rember
Speaker 4: basketball players, so it's just we're gonna be ready to
Speaker 4: play whenever it's time.
Speaker 3: Are you a night out?
Speaker 1: Do you like a like a late game?
Speaker 4: I see, dude, I am a night out, But I
Speaker 4: do like nick games just in terms like I think
Speaker 4: if it's prime time really because everyone's off of work
Speaker 4: or whatever they're doing, they're home Nickel Watson game, So
Speaker 4: that's kind of just how I look at it.
Speaker 1: That's Otago oh Way, who to me has been the
Speaker 1: most pleasant surprise of this Kentucky basketball team because we
Speaker 1: all thought Jackson Robinson and he will be a go
Speaker 1: to guy this year. If they need a bucket, they
Speaker 1: can go to him. But Olway also has presented himself
Speaker 1: is a guy who can create his own shot and
Speaker 1: get to the rims and obviously that just makes the
Speaker 1: Wildcats even tougher to guard. Marii Williams was asked about
Speaker 1: the way this team has come together, and he said
Speaker 1: that playing down in Atlanta and pulling through in a
Speaker 1: game like they had with Duke, that was a big
Speaker 1: step towards these guys really bonding.
Speaker 5: Do you kind of had it going that way? That
Speaker 5: was up I think ten and a half time, but
Speaker 5: we knew that we couldn't give up there and we
Speaker 5: just had to keep fighting to the final buzz and
Speaker 5: that's what we.
Speaker 6: Ended up doing.
Speaker 1: It'll surprised you given the fact that you're all playing
Speaker 1: together for the first time as a team.
Speaker 5: I don't think it did. I feel like having the
Speaker 5: fight to kind of always fights on the end, it
Speaker 5: doesn't matter who you live. But like how long you've
Speaker 5: known them, so something I feel like every player has
Speaker 5: on this team, which is great.
Speaker 1: That's the Mari Williams and by the way, those are
Speaker 1: two of the softest speaking players on this team. When
Speaker 1: we talk to these guys, they bring them in. They're
Speaker 1: kind enough to come in. They don't want to, but
Speaker 1: UK has them come in, and so I guess maybe
Speaker 1: some of them like to talk to the media. But
Speaker 1: at any rate, they're so tall they sit up behind
Speaker 1: tables right, so their knees are pulled up and they
Speaker 1: can't really put their legs under the table comfortably, so
Speaker 1: they kind of sit back away from our microphones. We
Speaker 1: set them on the tables so we're not in the
Speaker 1: way of the camera operators, and we don't want to
Speaker 1: like jam them right in their faces. But when you're
Speaker 1: soft spoken like o Way and Amari Williams, we really
Speaker 1: have to crank things up so you all can hear.
Speaker 1: It's easier when it's television because you can see them speaking.
Speaker 1: I know it's tougher when it comes to hearing them
Speaker 1: speak on the radio. So we do the best we can.
Speaker 1: One other note about the Wildcats and what to look
Speaker 1: for tonight. They need to get out on the break.
Speaker 1: You know that Kentucky had its best in transition to
Speaker 1: this point. Kentucky scores twenty three fast point breaks per
Speaker 1: game as of the end of November, that led the country.
Speaker 1: Don't know where it is now, but after November twenty ninth,
Speaker 1: Kentucky was tops in America average offensive possession fourteen point
Speaker 1: three seconds and according to Ken Palm, third fastest in
Speaker 1: the country. That is what Mark Pope and his analytics folks,
Speaker 1: that's what they want. So the tempo rating possessions per
Speaker 1: forty minutes seventy six point nine, fourth in the country,
Speaker 1: tops in the SEC. And keep this in mind, they're
Speaker 1: just getting started. I can't imagine what this team's going
Speaker 1: to look like by February in March. It's health and
Speaker 1: keeps playing the way it is defensively and in terms
Speaker 1: of rebounding, because that's what it takes to get out
Speaker 1: on the break. So we'll having for you tonight Kentucky
Speaker 1: and Clemson coming up at nine thirty closer to ten
Speaker 1: here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Bluemsider.
Speaker 1: Coming up at the top of the hour. UK Clemson
Speaker 1: basketball coverage begins nine to thirty. Star time has listed,
Speaker 1: it'll start closer to ten o'clock. You've seen it before.
Speaker 1: It'll bother to complain because that kind of thing is
Speaker 1: not going to change. Coming up in a few minutes,
Speaker 1: we're going to look a little closer at the UK's
Speaker 1: draw into the nca Volleyball Tournament. I don't know how
Speaker 1: much of a shot Kentucky has at a national championship.
Speaker 1: It's got a chance of at least getting to the
Speaker 1: final four in Louisville, even though they drew into the
Speaker 1: toughest regional I think, and the tournament simply because Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: the top seed, is in can Kentucky's regional. But it
Speaker 1: has to win quite a bit before it gets to
Speaker 1: the Panthers, assuming they keep winning as well. So we'll
Speaker 1: talk more about volleyball coming up. Also at the bottom
Speaker 1: of the hour, an NFL coach points to blame at
Speaker 1: a quarterback who took a vicious hit over the weekend,
Speaker 1: So we'll talk about that and a potentially stupid rule change.
Speaker 1: Another one to professional, specifically Big league baseball. I need
Speaker 1: to touch on a couple things that I didn't have
Speaker 1: a chance to get into yesterday. First of all congratulations
Speaker 1: to former Wildcat Sydney McLaughlin lavroon Female Track Athlete of
Speaker 1: the Year. She was a wild at only one year.
Speaker 1: But she was not somebody who just used this place
Speaker 1: as a way station. And we know this because she
Speaker 1: still claims UK. You know, she wasn't one of these
Speaker 1: athletes who just stopped here for eight months and took
Speaker 1: off to a great pro career. She comes back to UK,
Speaker 1: so I give her credit for that. The other thing
Speaker 1: we need to talk about is the fact that when
Speaker 1: I was talking about Mark Stoops yesterday, I didn't realize
Speaker 1: because it popped out on social media a little bit
Speaker 1: later after I recorded. I didn't realize that it was
Speaker 1: twelve years to the day since Mark Stoops signed on
Speaker 1: at the University of Kentucky. And I bring that up
Speaker 1: because I was talking about that during my chat with
Speaker 1: you guys about Kentucky football and the fact that Mark
Speaker 1: Stoops is trying to rebuild this program now, not the
Speaker 1: entire program. The subculture is there, the cultures there now.
Speaker 1: He just got to get it back in shape. But
Speaker 1: keep in mind what he said when he got here.
Speaker 1: He said he talked about how he was going to
Speaker 1: lay things out and get things done. Essentially was recruiting,
Speaker 1: got to bring in better players. Rich Brooks said that
Speaker 1: when he got here. Do you remember that rich Brooks
Speaker 1: said when he got here, And he said this in hindsight,
Speaker 1: he didn't say this when he was introduced, but he said,
Speaker 1: UK at the time had one player, one that could
Speaker 1: run a sub four five forty. Now you think about that,
Speaker 1: that meant that Kentucky was maybe the slowest team in
Speaker 1: the Southeastern Conference. And obviously the two things you have
Speaker 1: to have to win in this league size and speed.
Speaker 1: I don't remember what kind of size the Wildcats had.
Speaker 1: And you can have guys that are big who don't
Speaker 1: have a lot of athletic ability. We've seen that, haven't we.
Speaker 1: But minus speed, you got no shot. You don't have
Speaker 1: receivers who can get open. You don't have d backs
Speaker 1: who can cover that kind of receiver. So Stoops comes in,
Speaker 1: looks at the talent level and goes to work. He
Speaker 1: and Vince Merrill and his staff members who have come
Speaker 1: and gone, they brought in better players, right, they developed
Speaker 1: them and they won more games. But one of the
Speaker 1: things that Stupe said was there will be no shortcuts. Well,
Speaker 1: guess what. That's exactly what the portal and the nil
Speaker 1: represent shortcuts for everybody, only they're gambles. You sure you
Speaker 1: got the right guy, You're sure you're paying the right
Speaker 1: people the right amounts of money. It's tempting, isn't it.
Speaker 1: And it's not just tempting. It's a must if you
Speaker 1: are a college football coach, because it's so much of
Speaker 1: a numbers game. Basketball too, but football is such a
Speaker 1: numbers game, and anymore, especially coaches paid a ton of
Speaker 1: money like Stoops, It's not what have you done for
Speaker 1: me lately? It's what have you done for me today?
Speaker 1: Coaches aren't getting four and five years anymore because the
Speaker 1: demand from fans, the demand from boosters, the demand from
Speaker 1: athletics directors who are paying top dollar demands success right now.
Speaker 1: So that's why the shortcuts are so vital anymore. And
Speaker 1: I firmly believe, and I've not talked to him about this,
Speaker 1: and even if I wanted to, I don't think Stoops
Speaker 1: will talk to me about it. I talked to Tom
Speaker 1: Leach about it, but I think this just gets it.
Speaker 1: Stoops where he lives, how to build a football team
Speaker 1: the right way, and given the fact that everybody, and
Speaker 1: Stoops has had some success with the portal, but everybody's
Speaker 1: dealing with it now means he can't go back to
Speaker 1: do things the way he used to do them, at
Speaker 1: least not at the division IE level. At the SEC level,
Speaker 1: he's stuck with the current situation. So you've got to
Speaker 1: try to make the best of it. And as I said,
Speaker 1: sometimes it works out. Sometimes it's great. Will Levis's first
Speaker 1: year in Kentucky, well, Leam Cohen and a great old
Speaker 1: line worked out great and there was at least one
Speaker 1: transfer on that old line. And then sometimes it doesn't
Speaker 1: work out. Speaking of times it works out, how about Syracuse.
Speaker 1: Syracuse upsets Miami Kyle McCord is a big game. And
Speaker 1: remember this is the guy who started his career at
Speaker 1: Ohio State and I believe started for the Buckeyes for
Speaker 1: a couple of years before he left, and they couldn't
Speaker 1: be Michigan when he was there, and apparently people blamed
Speaker 1: him for it. Well, Fran Brown as the head coach
Speaker 1: of Syracuse and was catching some flak for a comment
Speaker 1: he made about sending Champagne to Ohio State or sending
Speaker 1: him Kyle McCord, and on the Jim Rome Show. He
Speaker 1: said he owes Ryan Day, a head coach at Ohio State,
Speaker 1: a case of champagne, and he made note of the
Speaker 1: fact that Ohio State still lost to Michigan minus Kyle McCord,
Speaker 1: which kind of brought or took Kyle McCord if you
Speaker 1: look at it that way off the hook.
Speaker 6: So I'm excited for just our communities.
Speaker 7: You know, everyone down there represents him, but just the
Speaker 7: country to be able to see how good of a
Speaker 7: football player he is. And you know, it was kind
Speaker 7: of put out as if he was the reason. So
Speaker 7: I mean, I guess after watching him win this weekend,
Speaker 7: and I don't know what happened to that piece of
Speaker 7: you know, you're seeing the same results again.
Speaker 6: You can't blame Kyle, correct, you know.
Speaker 7: So I'm happy that Kyle was able to go and
Speaker 7: clear his name, come here and show that he's a
Speaker 7: good quarterback. I got I got ridiculed for State and
Speaker 7: that I wanted to send Ryan Day a bottle of champagne.
Speaker 6: Where I wasn't being disrespectful.
Speaker 7: I was just saying, this guy is the real deal,
Speaker 7: and you guys let him come in like great, thank you.
Speaker 7: You know, I still owe him, She's send him some more.
Speaker 7: She send him a case, not even the bottom. Excuse
Speaker 7: my language, but just extremely excited and thankful for cock.
Speaker 1: That's Syracuse coach Fran Brown, and Syracuse played a great game,
Speaker 1: obviously beating Miami and Soda Kyle McCord. But I guess
Speaker 1: the lesson here because some people got upset about that comment,
Speaker 1: specifically Ohio State fans. You gotta be careful when you're
Speaker 1: talking about other programs, especially in college sports, and especially
Speaker 1: in college football, because people get their respective backs up
Speaker 1: very very quickly. One other note is, we go to
Speaker 1: the break. Were you watching Sunday Night football? But Chris
Speaker 1: Collinsworth and Mike Turrico. I didn't see this part. I
Speaker 1: was in and out of the game, but evidently Chris
Speaker 1: Collinsworth's hands look really bad. And at Total pro Sports
Speaker 1: on Twitter tps but the the that's the avatar or
Speaker 1: the account name. But if you hit at Total pro sports,
Speaker 1: they posted a screen grab and Collinsworth's hands are all
Speaker 1: black and blue. No idea what's going on, but it
Speaker 1: touched off a flurry of tweets and social media posts.
Speaker 1: Collinsworth has not yet said anything publicly. Some people think
Speaker 1: it's because it was so cold at the game and
Speaker 1: he wasn't wearing gloves. But yeah, it's odd looking. And
Speaker 1: you see in elderly people who bruise easily, and he's
Speaker 1: not elderly. That's my point. Sometimes their skin looks like that,
Speaker 1: or their hands look like that. But a lot of
Speaker 1: people out there concerned about Chris Collinsworth, who of course
Speaker 1: married a former UK cheerleader and whose dad Collinsworth's dad
Speaker 1: played basketball at UK, and in fact he was up.
Speaker 1: Collinsworth was for SEC Athlete of the Year and I
Speaker 1: think it was nineteen eighty and Kyle Macy actually won
Speaker 1: the award, but the banquet was here in Lexington, and
Speaker 1: I remember Chris collins were saying it was such a
Speaker 1: thrill for him to be there because he got a
Speaker 1: chance to meet his hero, Kyle Macy. Back in just
Speaker 1: a minute to talk about an odd situation in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big
Speaker 1: Blues Cider coming up at the top of the hour.
Speaker 1: UK basketball coverage Kentucky Clubson tonight at It's not going
Speaker 1: to be nine thirty, it'll be closer to ten o'clock,
Speaker 1: but you'll hear it right here on six thirty WLAP
Speaker 1: and in a few minutes we're going to talk more
Speaker 1: and hear more about UK volleyball. But I wanted to
Speaker 1: bring up a couple of things that back in the
Speaker 1: day I would have said were on the wires, meaning
Speaker 1: the associated press UPI anymore. It's on social media, but
Speaker 1: it still bears looking into because it's it's just silly.
Speaker 1: It's serious, but it's silly. Maybe you've seen the video
Speaker 1: of Trevor Lawrence injury. He was lighting in the Texans
Speaker 1: Jags game and a Texans player, Aziz al Shahar, hit
Speaker 1: him as he was sliding, hit him late. He suffered
Speaker 1: a concussion. Al Shaher was thrown out of the game.
Speaker 1: They're thinking about suspending him as we speak, he has
Speaker 1: not yet been suspended. He issued a heartfelt apology. I
Speaker 1: do buy the apology. I read it, and it's unfortunate
Speaker 1: he's getting some racist and islamophobic comments in his way,
Speaker 1: but that's almost predictable anyhow. This is the thing that
Speaker 1: bugs me to Mikol Ryan's the head coach of the Texans.
Speaker 1: He's a good coach. Now, I believe he's a really
Speaker 1: good coach, but he tries to lay some of the
Speaker 1: blame on Trevor Lawrence. He said, it's twofold, right, a
Speaker 1: quarterback in this day and age, he tried to take
Speaker 1: advantage of the rule. Whether they slide late, try to
Speaker 1: get an extra yard. Now you're a defender. A lot
Speaker 1: of onus is on the defender, whether it's on the sideline,
Speaker 1: whether it's on the quarterback. You don't know what a
Speaker 1: guy is thinking. You don't know if a guy is
Speaker 1: standing up and he's continuing to run, you don't know.
Speaker 1: Then you get a late slide and you hit the guy. Look,
Speaker 1: this is dumb because it was clear that Lawrence was sliding.
Speaker 1: And to his credit and I agree with him, alsha
Speaker 1: Here said it was a split second kind of situation,
Speaker 1: and he's right. I mean, he was running as fast
Speaker 1: as he could, he had shifted his weight and was
Speaker 1: looking to tackle Lawrence, and all of a sudden, boom,
Speaker 1: Lawrence is down and now there's the unfortunate hit. But
Speaker 1: then Demiko Ryans gets into the Jaguars sideline. He said,
Speaker 1: the guy's on the sideline overreacted, which they probably did.
Speaker 1: Pushed our guy, drag our guy to the sideline, but
Speaker 1: again a split second situation. So you can't absolve your
Speaker 1: player awake of a split second decision and yet blame
Speaker 1: the other team for a split second decision. Both Trevor
Speaker 1: Lawrence his split second decision to slide when he did,
Speaker 1: Ryan was saying he needs to get down earlier and
Speaker 1: keep his head down. Again, split second decisions, and you
Speaker 1: know what happens all the time in football. So to
Speaker 1: lay some of that blame on Trevor Lawrence, I ain't
Speaker 1: buying it. Here's something else I'm not buying. And once again,
Speaker 1: like him or not, he's the man. Rob Manfred, major
Speaker 1: League Baseball Commissioner. Evidently there has been some discussion of
Speaker 1: what they call the Golden Bat rule, and this could
Speaker 1: not be sillier. I don't know if you've read this
Speaker 1: or not, but there's a suggestion that this could jazz
Speaker 1: up baseball a little bit. The basic concept a team
Speaker 1: could choose one at bat one in every game to
Speaker 1: use its best regardless of where they are in the lineup.
Speaker 1: So let's say the Yankee said, bases loaded, two down,
Speaker 1: bottom of the ninth and the number eight or nine
Speaker 1: hitter is due up. What wait a minute, Golden had
Speaker 1: bad rule. Let's bring in Aaron Judge. Shall we one
Speaker 1: time replacement, not a substitution like a pinch hitter. Jason
Speaker 1: Stark of the Athletics says restricting the rule only the
Speaker 1: team's trailing at the time could be an interesting constraint.
Speaker 1: I mean, why are they even talking about this. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: And I know I sound old school, but there comes
Speaker 1: a point you got the Manfred man in the extra
Speaker 1: innings where you've got a guy on second base to
Speaker 1: open up the extra innings. I do believe they should
Speaker 1: have made some changes to kind of speed the game up.
Speaker 1: But if you have to pull something like this into
Speaker 1: your game to create more interest, you're done. You're circling
Speaker 1: the drain and you don't know it. This is what
Speaker 1: a guy needs to dig in and say, look, if
Speaker 1: we need to find better ways to improve our product,
Speaker 1: this ain't it. We got to go for something legit.
Speaker 1: We're going to see what he's made out of one
Speaker 1: way or the other, whether whether he does it or not.
Speaker 1: But I think this is foolish. Up next, we'll talk
Speaker 1: to UK Volleyball six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider final segment of our show, We're gonna
Speaker 1: make way for pregame coverage of Kentucky and Clemson, part
Speaker 1: of the sec ACC Challenge. Mark Pope's team trying to
Speaker 1: stay perfect in this young season, but as promised, gonna
Speaker 1: look ahead to volleyball coming up this week. A little
Speaker 1: bit later this week, it's Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament,
Speaker 1: hosting a subregional at historic Memorial Coliseum, and it has
Speaker 1: been the home for a lot of uk SEC championships
Speaker 1: NCAA Tournament wins. Little if he in the middle of
Speaker 1: the season whether or not Canentucky would get the host
Speaker 1: because the Wildcats had to finish in a rush to
Speaker 1: win the Southeastern Conference championship. It's eighth in a row.
Speaker 1: Got a little help Texas losing. Texas looked unbeatable quite
Speaker 1: frankly about midway through the season, and then the Longhorns
Speaker 1: started losing, and even though they beat Kentucky, they ended
Speaker 1: up with three losses and the Wildcats ended up with
Speaker 1: only two. So it was Kentucky winning it outright and
Speaker 1: now hosts Cleveland State on Thursday afternoon early Thursday evening,
Speaker 1: I should say in the afternoon. It's Minnesota and Western Kentucky,
Speaker 1: and of course the winners play the following night at
Speaker 1: Memorial Coliseum listed for seven point thirty, but they might
Speaker 1: juggle the time a little bit for television, so as
Speaker 1: we say, stay tuned, but it'll be on ESPN Plus,
Speaker 1: not necessarily SEC Plus, but ESPN Plus. If you have
Speaker 1: the ESPN app, you can watch it there as well.
Speaker 1: It's been a great year obviously already for the Wildcats
Speaker 1: with the championship. You've got Brooklyn Delay winning Player of
Speaker 1: the Year last year. You might recall Freshman of the year,
Speaker 1: and she really came on because Reagan ruththerferdu since after
Speaker 1: the season ended transfer to Texas, Reagan Rutherford got hurt.
Speaker 1: She got hit in the face in practice with a
Speaker 1: kill and it hurt her eye, serious injury, so she
Speaker 1: was out for a while. So now the freshman Brooklyn
Speaker 1: Delay is pressed into service and just had a huge
Speaker 1: year and was SEC Freshman of the Year. So she
Speaker 1: comes back this year as the biggest arm for this
Speaker 1: Kentucky team, jumps up and wins SEC Player of the
Speaker 1: Year again, and by that I mean another UK player
Speaker 1: six times in seven years wins SEC Player of the Year.
Speaker 1: So obviously first team off Conference four and three quarters
Speaker 1: kills per set. She's hitting two eighty two, which is
Speaker 1: really good. Think of it as batting average or a
Speaker 1: slugger to eighty two forty six service ass She's a
Speaker 1: very aggressive behind, a very aggressive behind the serving line,
Speaker 1: has a lot of service errors, but those aggressive serves
Speaker 1: really set the tone for her team, and she is
Speaker 1: just a phenomenal player in Kentucky. Of course, when it
Speaker 1: needs a point, when it needs a kill, we'll go
Speaker 1: to her. And so much of that falls on Emmogrom,
Speaker 1: the setter who led the SEC with eleven point one
Speaker 1: seven assists percent and about three weeks ago she was
Speaker 1: at about ten and a half assists percent. But during
Speaker 1: this streak she has been absolutely phenomenal and it's up
Speaker 1: to her average. She has a couple of digs percent.
Speaker 1: She actually has one and a half blocks per set
Speaker 1: litt alone Emmigrome and seven double doubles. So she has
Speaker 1: been such a key again to the Kentucky's success. But
Speaker 1: one of the biggest keys I think has been the
Speaker 1: emergence of Molly Tuzzo, who made second team All SEC.
Speaker 1: Now keep in mind this is a UK team with
Speaker 1: Eleanor Bevin, who was sec Librea of the Year as
Speaker 1: a freshman back in twenty twenty one. That's how good
Speaker 1: she is. But if you've heard Craig Skinner talk, we've
Speaker 1: had him on the show many times. He and I
Speaker 1: have talked about the fact that if you practice well,
Speaker 1: you will play. It doesn't matter what your resume says.
Speaker 1: You know what the recruiting services say, you earn your
Speaker 1: spot for tomorrow night's match or this week's matches. In practice,
Speaker 1: and little by little, Molly Tuzzo outplayed Eleanor Bevin as Lieboro.
Speaker 1: So she wears the alternate colored jersey. She is the
Speaker 1: free substitution. But Eleanor Bevin is still a key contributor
Speaker 1: to this Kentucky team. So it just made this team
Speaker 1: a lot better. And this is not a slight on
Speaker 1: oun Or. She's a great player. But now you've got
Speaker 1: both Bevan and Molly Tuzzo in the lineup. In the
Speaker 1: in the went over Missouri that clinched the championship this
Speaker 1: past what Sunday, I'm sorry, Wednesday, Bevan had fifteen digs.
Speaker 1: So this is a team that can move people around.
Speaker 1: And Tuzzo now is second team All Conference and it's
Speaker 1: going to be a key this week. Of course, I
Speaker 1: mentioned the one player Kentucky was six out of seven
Speaker 1: Player of the Year, the one player who was not
Speaker 1: from Kentucky to win it last year, Sophie Fisher of
Speaker 1: Georgia won it. She transferred from Kentucky to Georgia. Interestingly, Missouri,
Speaker 1: which had a good team, put three players on the
Speaker 1: All Conference team. Kentucky had two on the first team
Speaker 1: All Conference, and of course they had Molly Tuzzo and
Speaker 1: on second team. Asia thig Pen and Brooke Baltimoa were
Speaker 1: named of the All Freshman Team. Thig Pen and outside
Speaker 1: hit or. She was a defensive player, but they needed
Speaker 1: her on the front line because of injury. She's five
Speaker 1: to ten, has one hundred and twelve total kills, averaging
Speaker 1: nearly two kills per set. And then Brooke baltima is
Speaker 1: on the All Freshman team. She was a highly tattered
Speaker 1: recruit injured last year, couldn't play it all, red shirted
Speaker 1: two kills per set, hits two ninety two and averages
Speaker 1: a block percent that leads all Kentucky players. So Kentucky
Speaker 1: peaking at the right time. And we talked the other
Speaker 1: night to Brooklyn Delay about the fact that and she
Speaker 1: gave credit to her teammates, the fact that she's the
Speaker 1: player of the year.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 8: No, I think we just had so much depth and
Speaker 8: like versatility on the front row. It's really made it
Speaker 8: easy because the other side doesn't really know who we're
Speaker 8: gonna set, So I think that just kind of made
Speaker 8: my job easy. And obviously, like Emma distributing it well,
Speaker 8: I mean it was overall like a all around team effort.
Speaker 1: You've been through selections Sondy a lot. Now, does it
Speaker 1: ever get old?
Speaker 8: I mean just two times now, But yeah, no, it's
Speaker 8: so exciting. I mean seeing all these amazing teams make
Speaker 8: it and like some that are like making records and
Speaker 8: like first time appearances, that's really cool. But I mean,
Speaker 8: no quadrant, like we were looking at it like no
Speaker 8: Quadrant's going to be easy this year. There's so many
Speaker 8: good teams and I think it's just really exciting to see.
Speaker 3: When the year started, you guys played an unbelievable schedule
Speaker 3: to get you guys ready. You lost some games, people
Speaker 3: are like, hey, maybe this team isn't as good as
Speaker 3: we thought, but you've really jailed. You've got healthy down
Speaker 3: this stretch. How do you guys feel going into this.
Speaker 8: I mean, I think we're just all really pumped. Yeah,
Speaker 8: it was a hard preconference games, and I think that
Speaker 8: just really prepares us because we get to work on
Speaker 8: things that, like some other teams that don't play hard
Speaker 8: games like can't work on or find like weaknesses in
Speaker 8: our team. So I think that really helped us, and
Speaker 8: just like fine tuning some of the new players that
Speaker 8: we added to the court. I think just having that
Speaker 8: experience all year has been tough, and so I think
Speaker 8: just more being on the court more often, it has
Speaker 8: just really helped our team. And I think we're just
Speaker 8: jelling at the right time.
Speaker 1: You kind of pressed into service last year because of
Speaker 1: injuries and took advantage of that. Well, now a lot
Speaker 1: was expected of you and you did pretty well. How
Speaker 1: do you feel about what you bring to the team
Speaker 1: leadership that sort of.
Speaker 8: Stuff, Like, we lost a lot of people last year,
Speaker 8: and I think everybody as a whole had a step
Speaker 8: up this year. And I think just as a team,
Speaker 8: we've just really like worked well together and just trying
Speaker 8: to do the best we can with what we have.
Speaker 8: And I think just the senior class has been really
Speaker 8: helpful with that since and they've just really helped the
Speaker 8: younger girls, and like, I think everybody has just stepped
Speaker 8: up in a really amazing way.
Speaker 1: Y'all kind of got knocked out a little earlier than
Speaker 1: you wanted last year, and how disappointed you were. How
Speaker 1: much does that make? I mean, you've got to be
Speaker 1: hungry now.
Speaker 8: Right, Yeah, for sure. I mean it was a tough loss,
Speaker 8: and I think we're all thinking about that. We have
Speaker 8: been all year, and you just can't really expect to
Speaker 8: get past anyone this year. I mean, like I said,
Speaker 8: the whole every quadrant is tough, and you can't really
Speaker 8: overlook any team. You gotta play one day at a time,
Speaker 8: and I think that just starts in practice.
Speaker 1: Em mcgram is a senior. She has seen her team
Speaker 1: win nothing but SEC championships and go to the NC tournament.
Speaker 1: But truly, it never gets old.
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's always a special night, always exciting. You always
Speaker 9: want to see where you're gonna line up, and it's
Speaker 9: just exciting to see where you're gonna fall and get
Speaker 9: prepared for that. We have a lot of days to prepare,
Speaker 9: which is really nice, but we're excited and ready for
Speaker 9: the challenge.
Speaker 1: What do you think of the draw?
Speaker 9: I think it's exciting.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 9: I don't really have feelings either way, but I think
Speaker 9: it's gonna be a fun challenge for us, and I
Speaker 9: hope we have a good atmosphere here on Thursday, but
Speaker 9: it'll be super fun.
Speaker 1: I had some tough losses, tough schedule early in the year,
Speaker 1: and man, you finished with a rush. I mean, how
Speaker 1: do you feel about the way y'all are playing now
Speaker 1: going to the tournament?
Speaker 9: I feel really good.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 9: We always say that's why we like playing that schedule
Speaker 9: and non conference. It's very tough, but it shows us
Speaker 9: what we need to work on to be able to
Speaker 9: step up in those big moments and against the best
Speaker 9: teams in the country. And I think we did learn
Speaker 9: a lot from those and now we're rolling when we
Speaker 9: need to be rolling. So I'm excited for how we've
Speaker 9: progressed and I can't wait to see what we do
Speaker 9: in the tournament.
Speaker 1: You got Brooke back this year. You lose Aaron for
Speaker 1: a while, but that means Brook gets to play a
Speaker 1: little more and Jordan, you know, in a way that
Speaker 1: in a backhand, a way that kind of helped you
Speaker 1: a little bit, didn't it.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think we've had a couple of injuries this year,
Speaker 9: and it always seems to happen at the worst times.
Speaker 9: But the cool thing is is we have a lot
Speaker 9: of depth on our team and a lot of people
Speaker 9: that can fill in. You know, when Aaron got hurt,
Speaker 9: then Asia stepped up, and then Asia got hurt again,
Speaker 9: and now Aaron's stepping back up again, and we have
Speaker 9: a lot of people that can play in different roles.
Speaker 9: So that really makes this team special is when something
Speaker 9: happens we never wanted to happen, but we don't really
Speaker 9: lose a beat. You know how big it can be
Speaker 9: playing at home in front of you VN so big.
Speaker 9: I mean, it's the best part, especially in the tournament.
Speaker 9: You know, it's not always the same feel. You can't
Speaker 9: have all of your same stuff that you would in
Speaker 9: a normal home game, but having the fans here it's
Speaker 9: so special and they really bring a lot of energy
Speaker 9: to us. They might not realize how much it helps,
Speaker 9: but it really does.
Speaker 1: Playing the role you play on this team and you've
Speaker 1: done it for so long, so well, so many championships.
Speaker 1: So what's it like for you? Because you're so pivotal
Speaker 1: and you know, you guys have had so much success.
Speaker 9: Oh, I think it's really cool. You know, every year
Speaker 9: we're just trying to push to be better than we
Speaker 9: were the year before, and same thing this year, we're
Speaker 9: going to try to make an even further run in
Speaker 9: the tournament. But yeah, it's just super fun to be
Speaker 9: a part of this team. Every year it's a different team,
Speaker 9: but we continue to grow and grow, and I think
Speaker 9: this year is super special to see how people have
Speaker 9: been able to step up throughout the year and the
Speaker 9: growth that we've made.
Speaker 1: Greig Skinner Coach of the Year again. Schedules like a
Speaker 1: maniac early in year. Miss team plays a brutally tough
Speaker 1: pre conference schedule every year and this year they lost
Speaker 1: all but one, like they were one in five in
Speaker 1: these tough non conference games, but got them ready for
Speaker 1: the tournament.
Speaker 2: We're definitely a different team, you know, with then when
Speaker 2: we then in September, the way we're playing, how we're playing,
Speaker 2: most of the consistency that we're playing with and playing
Speaker 2: against those good teams has helped us in practice to
Speaker 2: be able to prepare and get to this point, you know.
Speaker 2: So it's it's a good place to be in. But
Speaker 2: now tournament time and everyone has the same you know,
Speaker 2: goals and aspirations, and you know that it's time to perform.
Speaker 1: Player of the year on your team Again, What what
Speaker 1: did Brooklyn show you this year after kind of stepping
Speaker 1: in last year when there was an injury.
Speaker 2: She you know, Brooklyn's you know, just a complete player.
Speaker 2: She can serve, receives, she can play defense, she can block,
Speaker 2: she can serve obviously score points attacking wise. So when
Speaker 2: you have someone that can score in five different ways
Speaker 2: or help you succeed in five different ways, it really
Speaker 2: helps make other people around her better. She's a very humble,
Speaker 2: you know, unselfish player, and I think a lot of
Speaker 2: people really like playing with her.
Speaker 9: Gig.
Speaker 3: What does it say about the state of volleyball, the
Speaker 3: level of competition in Kentucky When you see Western More
Speaker 3: hit LiH It's pretty deep, isn't.
Speaker 2: It's amazing, you know, and even back in the day
Speaker 2: Murray State's making it, and you know, so just to
Speaker 2: see the success of our programs doing what they're doing.
Speaker 2: But then also you get to see the younger volleyball
Speaker 2: players around the state just aspire to do something more
Speaker 2: After high school and so cool to have so many
Speaker 2: different options.
Speaker 1: Having to have another SEC Coach of the yearnerment your
Speaker 1: belt and what did this group now?
Speaker 5: Was the difference between this groom and your other mc
Speaker 5: PAT coaching.
Speaker 2: Probably what I'm most proud of is just to see
Speaker 2: this staff come together the way we have this year
Speaker 2: and the players them together. And that's the most rewarding
Speaker 2: part for me. I mean, coaches don't get these awards
Speaker 2: unless you have great players and great people around you.
Speaker 2: I mean, and I know that's coach speak, but it's
Speaker 2: it's the honest truth. And just super pleased and excited
Speaker 2: for the staff and players because they just come from
Speaker 2: such a different place since September to where we are now.
Speaker 1: You were so happy with the way this place turned out,
Speaker 1: and now you get to host. So tell me about
Speaker 1: the advantage and that's that's big to bring people into
Speaker 1: historic memorial colisees.
Speaker 2: And you know last year we had great crowds oft
Speaker 2: Roparena for the first and second rounds and you know,
Speaker 2: I anticipate the same and you know, what an exciting
Speaker 2: time in our sport. And with four great teams coming
Speaker 2: in here, they're going to see some high level volleyball.
Speaker 2: So got two more days of volleyball, hopefully Memorial Coliseum.
Speaker 2: So we need the BBN to show up.
Speaker 1: That's Craig Skinner and as we said, if you can't
Speaker 1: be there, we'll have it for you on ESPN Plus.
Speaker 1: That's gonna do it. We're gonna get out of the
Speaker 1: way for Kentucky basketball, the Cats and Clemson coming up next.
Speaker 1: You're on six thirty W l
Speaker 9: AP everything the