Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider Dick Gabriel with
Speaker 1: you on a Monday, And no it is not Mark
Speaker 1: Pope Night, because that show is going to be on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Wildcats are on the road even as we speak down
Speaker 1: in Oxford, So the Coaches Show and the state wide
Speaker 1: shows with Darren, Heddrick and Me will be on Wednesday night.
Speaker 1: So we've got the BBI for you tonight. Following a
Speaker 1: weekend that it was really historic when you think about
Speaker 1: it in so many ways, and there were a couple
Speaker 1: of things that happened over the weekend that ordinarily we
Speaker 1: would be talking about right off the top in depth.
Speaker 1: But because of that Kentucky Arkansas game, we got to
Speaker 1: shuffle the East. At the next segment with no disrespect,
Speaker 1: Georgia Amore with a game for the ages, literally forty
Speaker 1: three points in the win on the road at Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't a one woman show either that Kentucky
Speaker 1: needed everybody to pitch in because Oklahoma's a good team,
Speaker 1: a top fifteen team just like the Wildcats. But it
Speaker 1: just seemed like whenever Kentucky needed a bucket, Wildcats get
Speaker 1: off to a big lead. It almost entirely evaporates, but
Speaker 1: Aymore came through either on offense or defense. We'll talk
Speaker 1: about that. We'll hear from her in the next segment. Also,
Speaker 1: the NBA trade, just the blockbuster between the was a
Speaker 1: three team deal Lakers, Jazz, and Mavericks, the team that
Speaker 1: I kind of rooted for because my buddy's the playbook
Speaker 1: play guy and I was a season ticket holder down there.
Speaker 1: But Anthony Davis, the former Wildcat, now goes to the MAVs,
Speaker 1: who get rid of Luka Doncics. And there's so much
Speaker 1: debate online about that. If you're an NBA fan, you're
Speaker 1: you've you've already, You're already in up to your ears
Speaker 1: with this coverage, and so many commentators have checked in
Speaker 1: on it, and some think the MAVs got the best
Speaker 1: of it. Some think the Lakers got the best of it.
Speaker 1: That's why it's fascinating, but lost in a little bit
Speaker 1: in the shuffles, d Aaron Fox finally gets to leave Sacramento.
Speaker 1: He was traded as sand That's a good landing spot
Speaker 1: for him. He'll play with Victor wembin Yama now who
Speaker 1: just instantly got better because Fox will be feeding him
Speaker 1: the basketball. So we'll talk about that in the next
Speaker 1: segment as well. But of course we start with the
Speaker 1: Wildcats and the Razorbacks, and I've just kind of soaked
Speaker 1: in some of the social media. You go crazy, you know,
Speaker 1: if you try to follow all of it, And some
Speaker 1: of the takes are well reasoned and some of them
Speaker 1: are just nuts, including the one clown on Twitter he said,
Speaker 1: now's the time to get rid of Pope. Do it now?
Speaker 1: Come on what happened? Well and again, and somebody else tweeted,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't go. I'm paraphrasing. I don't care.
Speaker 1: If they were missing two players, they should have won. Really,
Speaker 1: you cannot look at the way Kentucky lost this game
Speaker 1: and blow off the fact that there was no Lamant
Speaker 1: Butler and no Andrew Carr for the most part. Look
Speaker 1: when you look at how Pope constructed his roster, think
Speaker 1: about how vital those two guys were in the process.
Speaker 1: Andrew Carr was a huge get literally and figuratively for
Speaker 1: Mark Pope. Lamont Butler was the lynch pin. He was
Speaker 1: the guy who pulled it all together. He's your floor general,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call him. You're on court coach.
Speaker 1: Why well, because he's a really good point guard and
Speaker 1: he's one of the best defenders in America. What is
Speaker 1: the weak point of this Kentucky team. It's defense and
Speaker 1: we saw that on Saturday again, We've seen it all year. Kentucky,
Speaker 1: like last year, Oh my gosh, you're comparing him to
Speaker 1: last year, has outscored teams this year. Now, I think
Speaker 1: this Kentucky team is a little bit better defensively than
Speaker 1: last year. Last year's was one of the worst in America,
Speaker 1: but it still has problems. This year's team and with
Speaker 1: Nolamont Butler and all due respect to everybody who has
Speaker 1: played point guard, they're just not the same defensively. And
Speaker 1: Arkansas got good looks and I know a lot of
Speaker 1: people wondered why no zone, and my man Jay Scheidler
Speaker 1: tweeted it, you know, absolutely called for zone. Well maybe,
Speaker 1: but after the game Pope talked to somebody asked him
Speaker 1: about that, and this caught me by surprise. Giving up
Speaker 1: poorly Arkansas's played this year and giving up poorly it
Speaker 1: seemed that not last year, but in years gone by,
Speaker 1: Calipari's teams didn't play well against zones. The ball stuck
Speaker 1: and dragged last year, not a problem. With Reed, Shephard
Speaker 1: and Dillingham and Wagner penetrating stuff like that. But against zones,
Speaker 1: Pope said, statistically, Arkansas this year has been markedly better
Speaker 1: points per possession. That shocked me. Now. He also said,
Speaker 1: and I'm paraphrasing, I probably should have tried it. He
Speaker 1: was second guessing the crack out of himself after the game,
Speaker 1: especially when it came to rotation substitutions. He was trying
Speaker 1: a little bit of everything, and everybody complains, not everybody,
Speaker 1: but a lot. No Trent Noah. Honestly, during the game,
Speaker 1: I thought, huh, we haven't seen Trent Noah. But as
Speaker 1: I watched the game unfolded and I see Chandler getting
Speaker 1: more minutes, it made sense because they couldn't stop Arkansas.
Speaker 1: In fact, I turned to Mark Mathis of the Owensboro newspaper,
Speaker 1: sits next to me with ten minutes ago, and it
Speaker 1: was a ten point game, and I said, they can't win.
Speaker 1: They kind of looked at me and said, they can't
Speaker 1: get enough stops. They can't put enough stops together to
Speaker 1: go on the run. It takes to erase this lead.
Speaker 1: They've done it before this year. But Butler was a
Speaker 1: huge part of that if you cannot string stops. Kentucky
Speaker 1: was doing a good job on the boards, relatively speaking,
Speaker 1: but they could not stop Arkansas did his best to
Speaker 1: slow Janelle Davis, who picks a great time to have
Speaker 1: his best game. He had been a disappointment after transferring
Speaker 1: in from Florida Atlantic. He was one of the best
Speaker 1: guys in the portal, but hadn't played that way. Well
Speaker 1: he did Saturday night, and the three former Wildcats played superbly.
Speaker 1: And I see grumbling about that, just to finish up
Speaker 1: on Trent Noa. No, I wouldn't have helped him on
Speaker 1: defense the way he needed the way they needed help.
Speaker 1: But the former Wildcats, especially Thierro Wagner, had a great game,
Speaker 1: and so did Big z.
Speaker 2: Old.
Speaker 1: Wagner never played that way when he was here. No,
Speaker 1: he's a year older, stronger, smarter, spent the year working
Speaker 1: on his game. He still obviously believes he belongs in
Speaker 1: the NBA, and the NBA guys told him, here's what
Speaker 1: you got to do, and he did it in the postseason.
Speaker 1: And here's the other interesting thing. The guy who is
Speaker 1: considered by me and a lot of other people their
Speaker 1: best player is done. Boogie Flan but having watched Arkansas,
Speaker 1: that looked to me like a team that was sitting
Speaker 1: back and waiting for Boogie to fix things, to take
Speaker 1: care of things on offense. Now without him, they're sharing
Speaker 1: the load, and that's what they did Saturday against Kentucky. Yes,
Speaker 1: they had the emotional advantage in my opinion, because you know,
Speaker 1: their coach was under fire, they were under fire. Those
Speaker 1: guys heard the booing and they fed off of it.
Speaker 1: I wasn't aghast or disappointed at the booing. It happened.
Speaker 1: I knew it would. I wonder what happens next time
Speaker 1: Cali Perry shows. Won't be for a year or two,
Speaker 1: I guess. But once the game began, it wasn't an
Speaker 1: issue anymore, and that's the way it should be. There
Speaker 1: was some booing, you know, when early in the game
Speaker 1: other former Wildcats would touch the ball or whatever. What
Speaker 1: concerned me more than anything was the booing by Kentucky
Speaker 1: fans in the last couple of minutes where I sit upstairs,
Speaker 1: way at the top, and from up there I could
Speaker 1: hear the booing. And I've always been adamantly opposed to
Speaker 1: booing college athletes until now. Now I'm torn on it
Speaker 1: because they're pros. They make good NIL money. Some of
Speaker 1: them make great NIO money. So now I'm not heated
Speaker 1: about it. I'm lukewarm about it. And you know the nonsense. Well,
Speaker 1: we're not booing them, we're booing the coach. You're booing
Speaker 1: everybody especially and it didn't happen the other night. But
Speaker 1: when a coach puts a player in and people boo,
Speaker 1: we're not booing the player, we're booing the coach. We're
Speaker 1: putting in the player. It's the same thing. So anyhow,
Speaker 1: you know, boo if you like, that's your prerogative. But
Speaker 1: to finish off this segment, people are upset now with
Speaker 1: the former Wildcats who spoke out on behalf of Caliperi
Speaker 1: on social media, including Reed Shepherd who did the john
Speaker 1: Y Brown thing. Part of him was blue, part of
Speaker 1: him was red. Somebody was upset that the shirt was red.
Speaker 1: It was over a trun whatever. But it made me
Speaker 1: understand that this is all a press, not new number one.
Speaker 1: The Kentucky players who played under Patino rooted like crazy
Speaker 1: for him, and as he was coaching Louisville, unless ul
Speaker 1: was playing Kentucky, and you can draw a line right there,
Speaker 1: I get it, but he's there guy. And with Caliperry,
Speaker 1: it's even more pronounced. With the guys who were being
Speaker 1: criticized because how long were they here? Not very long
Speaker 1: at all. They didn't have the opportunity to build a
Speaker 1: relationship with the fan base the way older players did.
Speaker 1: Playing for three or four years, the most intense relationship
Speaker 1: they had was with their coach, the guy who brought
Speaker 1: them here and in some instances was the biggest factor
Speaker 1: in their lives for no more than nine months, not
Speaker 1: even a full calendar year. You know. Had they stayed
Speaker 1: here throughout their careers and maybe moved here after their
Speaker 1: pro career was over or whatever, they might approach it
Speaker 1: a little differently. But to expect them to be upset
Speaker 1: with Caliperi because Arkansas be Kentucky is not realistic in
Speaker 1: my opinion. And they took the social media like everybody
Speaker 1: and weighed in, and they all said I had not
Speaker 1: heard one remark or read one remark from any of
Speaker 1: them saying I'm no longer a UK backer. They're going
Speaker 1: to back their guy as well as the Wildcats. Maybe
Speaker 1: they didn't word it the way cousins. All of those
Speaker 1: guys did they root for Caliperry, But I guarantee you
Speaker 1: they were rooting for Kentucky to beat Arkansas. I didn't
Speaker 1: see any of the guys who are under fire right now,
Speaker 1: ty Tye or Reed Shepherd, whoever, prior to the game
Speaker 1: saying Josh Sheeryl Parkinsaw Wins never saw that. But now
Speaker 1: it's behind us and Kentucky is in a tough spot.
Speaker 1: Foreign four in the league, hitting the road minus Lamont
Speaker 1: Butler and for the most part Andrew carrt We'll see
Speaker 1: if he gets better this week. Tom Leach is next
Speaker 1: the voice of the Cats. Later on Mike the Corsi
Speaker 1: of the Sporting News and Christy Thomas of the SEC Network,
Speaker 1: who covers the UK women. Back in a minute six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP welcome back. Coming up, Tom Leach's the voice
Speaker 1: of the Wildcats. Mike de Corsi from The Sporting News,
Speaker 1: pre eminent college basketball writer in this country, my opinion,
Speaker 1: and Christy Thomas from the UK Sports Network and SEC Plus.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to about the UK women And as I said,
Speaker 1: only the Caliperi comes back and upsets the Wildcat storyline
Speaker 1: was big enough to kind of obliterate in this part
Speaker 1: of the world, the rest of the news, because Sunday
Speaker 1: was all about reacting, social media and all that. As
Speaker 1: I said earlier, But on the professional front, you had
Speaker 1: the blockbuster trade involving the Lakers and the Mavericks and
Speaker 1: Aaron Fox has traded. But you also the UK women
Speaker 1: picking up a big victory out at Oklahoma. And this
Speaker 1: was a game that you could have understood if the
Speaker 1: Wildcats came up short because Oklahoma's really good, and Oklahoma
Speaker 1: was ranked if you put stock in this twelfth or thirteenth,
Speaker 1: depending on the pole you favor. Kentucky was ranked thirteenth
Speaker 1: or twelfth, depending on the pole you favor, and the
Speaker 1: Wildcats blew off to a big lead, Oklahoma came back.
Speaker 1: I listen to most of the game with Derek or Darren,
Speaker 1: Sorry Darren, Darren Hedrick. I watched the last quarter and
Speaker 1: Darren was pretty upset about the officiating. So I can't
Speaker 1: comment because I didn't see it. I just know that
Speaker 1: Darren was pretty upset. Of course, he gets mad at
Speaker 1: the rest of a lot. But the biggest story, of course,
Speaker 1: with George aymore forty three points, tying a UK program
Speaker 1: high and was just phenomenal absolutely incredible. She'll be an
Speaker 1: All American. I don't know, first, second, third team, whatever.
Speaker 1: But if she's the best point guard in the best conference,
Speaker 1: what does that tell you. She was phenomenal to the
Speaker 1: point where you wondered, is Oklahoma going to change anything?
Speaker 1: Because she had forty three points on only twenty two shots,
Speaker 1: seven to twelve from beyond the arc. And here's the
Speaker 1: other thing that I really impresses me. She drew seven fouls,
Speaker 1: committed one, drew seven. I always look at that, and
Speaker 1: that's a great stat that's in these box scores now
Speaker 1: eight assists, only two turnovers, and played thirty nine minutes.
Speaker 1: And again, if you put any stock in plus minus,
Speaker 1: you know this is one area where it doesn't make
Speaker 1: much sense. Her plus minus was nine. She had forty
Speaker 1: three points. The highest plus minus total was Amelia Hassett
Speaker 1: was thirteen, and she had only five points. But all
Speaker 1: that means is Kentucky jumped out to its biggest leads
Speaker 1: when she was on the floor. Doesn't say who was
Speaker 1: the best player on the floor at a certain time,
Speaker 1: but it was Georgia Aymore all day long. And somebody
Speaker 1: asked her after the game about working her way to
Speaker 1: the best situations possible offensively, and she spoke of keeping
Speaker 1: an eye basically on the scouting report on substitution pattern
Speaker 1: and knowing her opponents, opposing defenders as they come and go,
Speaker 1: because they switch off a lot in every game she plays.
Speaker 1: And then head coach Kenny Brooks chimed in after.
Speaker 3: She spoke, people rotate their gods, and I think I'm
Speaker 3: aware of that when they send people to the to
Speaker 3: the benches coming in, who's leaving, and I know exactly
Speaker 3: where I can what I can do with those type
Speaker 3: of people. You know, I'll give you an example. Three
Speaker 3: today was playing so aggressive that I knew I could
Speaker 3: take it downhill. Todd was a little bit more relaxed
Speaker 3: and sunk it in, so I knew I was going
Speaker 3: to get a shot. So that's the mind games I'm
Speaker 3: playing when I'm out there.
Speaker 2: She does a really good job.
Speaker 4: She wants to be a coach, and so we're coaching
Speaker 4: her differently, and we watch film differently. She watched it
Speaker 4: just like a coach does, and we talk about, hey,
Speaker 4: you know, they're probably going to do this, is probably
Speaker 4: going to do that, And the benefit is is that
Speaker 4: she comes over to me, you know, during a time
Speaker 4: a stoppage and play and she says, hey, you know
Speaker 4: such and such is on me. They're going to play
Speaker 4: me to ice of screen. Why don't we run the
Speaker 4: and you know previous you know, when she was younger,
Speaker 4: I'd probably would say, Okay, that's great, but I'm going
Speaker 4: to do something different now. And I just go with it,
Speaker 4: you know, she says it, and I'm like, okay, go
Speaker 4: with it.
Speaker 1: I do think it's fascinating that he coaches her differently
Speaker 1: because she wants to be a coach number one and
Speaker 1: number two. Maybe this is number one. They've been together
Speaker 1: for so long, they know each other so well, and
Speaker 1: he knows obviously just how good she is. But to me,
Speaker 1: the most telling sign And Kenny Brooks talked about this
Speaker 1: when somebody asked him earlier this year about scheduling because
Speaker 1: the non conference scheduling was kind of weird. Early Kentucky
Speaker 1: had a hard time putting it scheduled together, and one
Speaker 1: of the reasons was Georgia Aymore because when Kentucky was
Speaker 1: struggling a bit, yeah, i'll play it, sure, we'll come
Speaker 1: to town. Yeah. But when they heard the Georgia Aymore
Speaker 1: had signed on with Kentucky. Well, I don't know if
Speaker 1: we can make a election in this year. I thought
Speaker 1: that was fascinating and that flex as well on a
Speaker 1: player as anything I have ever heard. Teams don't want
Speaker 1: to come here and play US coaches say because we
Speaker 1: got this kid, one kid point guard and she is
Speaker 1: the biggest reason. There are many, many reasons and several
Speaker 1: reasons Kentucky won yesterday, not just her, but she's the
Speaker 1: biggest reason. In nineteen and two, eight and one in
Speaker 1: conference play they won three in a row, undefeated at home. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they've got the toughest part of their schedule ahead. They
Speaker 1: got to play at Ole Miss next week. This is
Speaker 1: kind of their bye week. Next Monday, they play on
Speaker 1: the mission. No game Thursday, no game Sunday, but they're
Speaker 1: kind of the prime time game on Monday to tenth
Speaker 1: at seven pm. Then after that, man, you got Texas
Speaker 1: coming to town. I've talked about this before, Georgia, which
Speaker 1: is struggling a bit, Miazoo, and then you close out
Speaker 1: with LSU, Tennessee and South Carolina and the only one
Speaker 1: on the road is South Carolina. That game they can
Speaker 1: somehow get past to LSU and Tennessee, which would be massive.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't it be something that the South Carolina Kentucky game
Speaker 1: decided the SEC or at least to share the SEC
Speaker 1: regular season championship. So tip of the cap Kenny Brooks,
Speaker 1: and a big tip of the cap to Georgia Amore,
Speaker 1: the Australian who is absolutely getting it done. I don't
Speaker 1: know what the Australian term is for that. Had Amelia
Speaker 1: Hassett on the show the other night, and she talked
Speaker 1: about they throw around some of the Australian jargon, the
Speaker 1: slang and confuse their teammates, but on the floor, man,
Speaker 1: they're all on the same page right now. Asset at
Speaker 1: five point six boards. Clara Strack was huge, nineteen points
Speaker 1: six rebounds. She did foul out. Tony Key did not
Speaker 1: have a great She was in foul trouble a lot.
Speaker 1: She only had two points and six boards for them
Speaker 1: to win with her. Having modest numbers like that is unusual,
Speaker 1: but Dojah Lawrence had a big game fourteen. Kentucky hit
Speaker 1: seventy five percent in the first quarter and then after
Speaker 1: that thirty five percent, thirty one percent, but in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter sixty four percent from the field. When the
Speaker 1: Wildcats needed it the most, and it was a three
Speaker 1: point shooting contest. Basically, Oklahoma stayed close. Oklahoma erased what
Speaker 1: a seventeen nineteen point deficit, got it down to one
Speaker 1: in the third quarter, hit some key triples and hit
Speaker 1: twenty free throws out of twenty three attempts. Kentucky fifteen
Speaker 1: to twenty. But the Wildcats were fourteen of thirty four
Speaker 1: from the stripe the arc rather and Amore seven of twelve.
Speaker 1: So Oklahoma didn't guard the arc very well and Kentucky
Speaker 1: took full advantage. Well, they're still chattering in the NBA
Speaker 1: world about the trade Anthony David to Dallas for Luka
Speaker 1: Doncis and the wild card, and all this is injuries.
Speaker 1: Davis has been hurt a lot. If you follow the
Speaker 1: NBA just passively, you know that Luka Donsich has been hurt.
Speaker 1: And there are also criticisms about his lack of conditioning
Speaker 1: and the fact that he doesn't play much defense. And
Speaker 1: you can cynically say, oh, I don't play any defense
Speaker 1: in the NBA. Yes, they do, but Donsich is not
Speaker 1: the greatest defender. Davis is excellent when he's healthy. But
Speaker 1: part of this, too, had to do I was reading
Speaker 1: with Doncid's contract situation coming up, and the mav didn't
Speaker 1: want to pay him max money. But you've also got
Speaker 1: the fact that where Mark Cuban is no longer the
Speaker 1: principal owner, he still owns a chunk of the team,
Speaker 1: but from whatever, he's not making all the decisions, and
Speaker 1: I don't know if he makes this decision on his own.
Speaker 1: And obviously the Lakers had given up on the Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis and Lebron situation. They did win a championship in
Speaker 1: the shortened season. So now Davis goes to the Mavericks
Speaker 1: and puts them right back near the top of contenders
Speaker 1: in the NBA. But you also got to look at
Speaker 1: the Aaron Fox finally getting out of Sacramento. He did,
Speaker 1: I think everything he could for Sacramento. He goes to
Speaker 1: the Spurs, the Kings get Zach Levine from the Bulls
Speaker 1: in a three way trade, and as I said, Fox
Speaker 1: did his best in Sacramento, played at an all star level.
Speaker 1: So now he teams up with Wimby and Popovich the
Speaker 1: head coach, and maybe this drag san Antonio front center.
Speaker 1: I mean, Victor Wilman Yama is the future in San
Speaker 1: Antonio and in the NBA. But right now the Spurs
Speaker 1: are twelfth in the Western Conference standings. See if they
Speaker 1: can make a playoff push this year. All right up next,
Speaker 1: Tom leachs the voice of the Cats. A little bit
Speaker 1: later on Mike the Corsi of the Sporting News on
Speaker 1: six thirty WLA, Welcome back to the Big Bones. Sider
Speaker 1: Joining us now is the voice of the Wildcasts, mister
Speaker 1: Tom Leech. You hear him each and every day on
Speaker 1: this Ferry radio station, and of course calling the basketball games.
Speaker 1: And you'll hear Tom and Mark Pope on Wednesday, as
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, because the Wildcats are on their way
Speaker 1: to Oxford. But Tom, let me jump right in following
Speaker 1: Saturday's loss to Arkansas, and I guess we shouldn't be
Speaker 1: shocked by anything that happens now in the Southeastern Conference,
Speaker 1: but this is I think, given the injuries that Pope
Speaker 1: is dealing with foreign four in the league, you know
Speaker 1: you're not going to win the conference out right, but
Speaker 1: you got to play for postseason seeding. I think this
Speaker 1: is a real turning point. This is a crossroads, I
Speaker 1: think for Kentucky basketball, given where the roster is and
Speaker 1: where the schedule is do you see it that way?
Speaker 5: Yeah? I mean then got a spot here in their
Speaker 5: schedule where I don't know, as tough as this league is,
Speaker 5: you don't want to say it's it's soft, but it's
Speaker 5: it's a little lighter. You know, you had Arkansas at home,
Speaker 5: one in six in the league. You know you figure
Speaker 5: you'll get that one. You got South Carolina at home.
Speaker 5: You know, three of starting with the Arkansas game, three
Speaker 5: of the next four being at home. You feel good
Speaker 5: about that, and one of them is Tennessee. That'll be hard,
Speaker 5: but still it at home. Then you go to Texas
Speaker 5: and you know that it's any of the acts are hard,
Speaker 5: but still it's easier than going to Alabama the next week.
Speaker 5: And then then you got Vandy at home. So that's
Speaker 5: a stretch there where you feel like you've got a
Speaker 5: chance to make a little hay. The problem is that
Speaker 5: Kentucky is now in a situation and that I said
Speaker 5: this after was on my show this morning with John Clay.
Speaker 5: Arkansas lost Boogie Flann, and ironically I think he's better,
Speaker 5: and I think that would have been true if they
Speaker 5: had lost DJ Wagner and kept Boogie Flan. Either way,
Speaker 5: they had two dominant point guards and John L. Davis
Speaker 5: was getting lost, so you get rid of one of
Speaker 5: the point guards, and all of a sudden, Davis fits
Speaker 5: into position better and they're a better team. And I
Speaker 5: think conversely, Kentucky's down to its third point guard, Andrew
Speaker 5: Carr is still working his way back in, and you know,
Speaker 5: you're the pieces aren't fitting together quite as readily right
Speaker 5: now for Kentucky, right And.
Speaker 1: I think number one on the list there is Laman
Speaker 1: Butler's defense because they could not stop Arkansaw obviously enough,
Speaker 1: you know, to put a run together and get back
Speaker 1: into that game.
Speaker 5: Yeah, second half when Arkansas broke it open. DJ Wagner
Speaker 5: had all seventeen of it points and probably most of
Speaker 5: his eight assists, and he yeah, you have to think
Speaker 5: if Butler's playing that, that doesn't happen and you disrupt.
Speaker 5: And the thing was Arkansas their office never seemed to
Speaker 5: get disrupted in the second half. They were just kind
Speaker 5: of getting whatever they wanted. And you know, if you
Speaker 5: defended one thing, you know, even the one possession, and
Speaker 5: Kentucky had cut at the sixth and they played really
Speaker 5: good defense for most of the possession, but then they
Speaker 5: let him kick it out to Zee on a picking
Speaker 5: pop and he hit the three and that was just
Speaker 5: a kind of a gut punch kind.
Speaker 2: Of a shot.
Speaker 5: And uh, that was one of the more difficult possessions
Speaker 5: Arkansas had and they still still scored off that one.
Speaker 5: So Kentucky didn't have the ability to that day anyway
Speaker 5: to make Arkansas uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: Something that speak, something that, yeah, exactly that Cali Perry said.
Speaker 1: They kind of hung in the air a little bit
Speaker 1: for me, but I jotted it down. Mental was he
Speaker 1: said that he told Wagner that he wanted Wagner to
Speaker 1: run more stuff as the point guard, as opposed to
Speaker 1: him running the stuff from the sideline. You remember how
Speaker 1: you know, the young guys would always looked to Caliperry.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like it's very much like, and we've
Speaker 1: talked about this before, what the Wildcats do where Pope,
Speaker 1: you know, just lets them work things out on their
Speaker 1: own because they're veterans, especially when when Butter is playing,
Speaker 1: and you didn't have that luxury, and it was a
Speaker 1: luxury when they were at Kentucky because they were all
Speaker 1: so green. But Saturday night, Wagner ran the stuff. He
Speaker 1: thought they should have been running, which oftentimes meant either
Speaker 1: him or Thiero getting to the rim. And I thought
Speaker 1: that was a huge difference. Did you see it that way?
Speaker 5: Yeah? And you know, a dude figured to be a
Speaker 5: difficult matchup for Kentucky coming in. They didn't really have
Speaker 5: a good match for his skill set. Uh. And then
Speaker 5: uh Wagner, you know, without having Butler. I mean, Robinson
Speaker 5: is a solid defender, but he's not Butler in the
Speaker 5: Butler's four K and so Wagner and it got what
Speaker 5: he wanted, and that led to Zero getting what he
Speaker 5: wanted and Kentucky. I mean, those two guys pretty much
Speaker 5: did most of the damage. He had a couple of threes,
Speaker 5: but you know those two guys. You know, it's a
Speaker 5: little like you know that Auburn game in nineteen and
Speaker 5: the Elite eight where those two guards just kind of
Speaker 5: took over the games, or even further back Arizona in
Speaker 5: the ninety seven title game with uh Simon and Bibbie.
Speaker 5: It's like those two guys. Now, Uh, Zero's not technically
Speaker 5: a guard, but really it's just kind of a wing.
Speaker 5: But you know, DJ Wagner running the show and then
Speaker 5: Zero and they just you know, attacked over and over again,
Speaker 5: and a dude got what twelve free throw attempts and
Speaker 5: that's kind of bean who he is this season. But
Speaker 5: Uh Kentucky and that's where you know, I know Mark
Speaker 5: Uh was second guesting himself after the game. I suspect
Speaker 5: that they run into that situation again. He might try
Speaker 5: to do sometimes just change for the sake of change,
Speaker 5: even if it's not your best pitch. Uh. They needed
Speaker 5: to do something to, you know, disrupt Arkansas. The analogy
Speaker 5: ale was used as if you're shooting free throws with
Speaker 5: a buddy and you know, you know, best out of ten,
Speaker 5: and if he makes seven in a row when you
Speaker 5: throw it back to him for the eighth shot, you're
Speaker 5: not going to throw it right back to them, Maybe
Speaker 5: said his seat. Maybe he has to. You're gonna have
Speaker 5: to move and get out of his you know where
Speaker 5: his feet are, and get out of his comfort spot
Speaker 5: if he's going to keep eating you.
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. And anybody who's done that, has played
Speaker 1: either a horse or a free throw shooting contest. Yes,
Speaker 1: has done just that. As we talk with Tom Leach's
Speaker 1: the voice of the Wildcats. He'll be behind the Mica
Speaker 1: alongside Jack Gibbons when the Wildcats take on All Miss
Speaker 1: tomorrow night. Getting back to our original point, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: the schedule in air quotes manageable over the next couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, but Nola mont Butler, and as we said,
Speaker 1: Mark Pope juggling that roster. And he mentioned this this
Speaker 1: word to you in the postgame, and he mentioned it
Speaker 1: a little bit to the media before he talked to you,
Speaker 1: guys who are stretching their roles, which I thought was
Speaker 1: a really interesting way to put that. In other words,
Speaker 1: guys who might be a two now are playing some one,
Speaker 1: and guys who might be a four to hour plan
Speaker 1: some three, and vice versa. I've not heard it put
Speaker 1: that way, Tom, but that's pretty accurate, isn't it. And
Speaker 1: it's quite a.
Speaker 5: Challenge it is for Robinson in particular, Yes, And I
Speaker 5: heard a couple of his comments after the game, and
Speaker 5: he just you know, he's he's doing his best to
Speaker 5: be a good leader and to try to take on
Speaker 5: this new challenge. But it's seems clearly, even for what
Speaker 5: he says, that it's not his favorite thing to be doing.
Speaker 5: And Pope told the story about him last year. B
Speaker 5: yu how much he hated playing the point. But he's
Speaker 5: doing it, and I mean he's he scored well, and
Speaker 5: but you know, I think he's you know, I wonder
Speaker 5: if he's not a little easier to to limit his
Speaker 5: shots offensively, if he's you know, being the primary ball
Speaker 5: handler as opposed to try to you know, make cuts
Speaker 5: and things. And maybe that's part of it. But you
Speaker 5: know that's so they're they're just again that kind of
Speaker 5: go back to right now, there's struggling to find a
Speaker 5: way to make the pieces fit together better. And I'm
Speaker 5: not they'll they'll, you know, they'll come up with some
Speaker 5: kind of plan, but you know, it had worked well
Speaker 5: obviously at Tennessee, so there wasn't any reason to do
Speaker 5: anything drastically different. But maybe he'll do some different things
Speaker 5: now because obviously everybody's going to look at what Arkansas
Speaker 5: did and try to, you know, approach it the same way.
Speaker 1: Tom Leech's the voice of the Cash. We'll talk more
Speaker 1: with Tom on the other side of the break here
Speaker 1: six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking to the voice
Speaker 1: of the Wow Cats, Tom Leach. He will call the
Speaker 1: action as the Cats take on Ole Miss tomorrow. Night
Speaker 1: down in Oxford. And when you talk about the SEC,
Speaker 1: the strength, the depth, you don't look at the Kentucky's
Speaker 1: and the Auburns tom you know, you look at the
Speaker 1: teams like Old Miss that are, with all due respect,
Speaker 1: kind of off and on have nots. I don't want
Speaker 1: to say perennial, but this is one dangerous team. Played
Speaker 1: Auburn tough and is capable of beating anybody. And that's
Speaker 1: just life in the league, now, isn't it.
Speaker 5: You know, here's they're a good example of what this
Speaker 5: SEC is. They went into Tuscaloosa and beat Alabama and
Speaker 5: then have lost three or four since then. Yeah and
Speaker 5: uh yeah, I watched the game set they just get
Speaker 5: a little bit like Kentucky and Arkansas. They couldn't get
Speaker 5: Auburn stopped. Yeah enough, second half they kept hanging around
Speaker 5: and they would get it to Ford and Arkansas score
Speaker 5: and push it back out I think, or auburt would
Speaker 5: score and push it back out of I think Alburn
Speaker 5: eventually won by about ten. You know, and they had
Speaker 5: some issues with the brooms. So maybe you know, Williams,
Speaker 5: who's playing really well, can continue the success that he
Speaker 5: had Saturday. But you know, they got really good guards.
Speaker 5: They forced a lot of turnovers, and turnovers have been
Speaker 5: an issue of late for Kentucky. They've had I think
Speaker 5: it's like the last three games forty four turnovers and
Speaker 5: thirty three assists. And you know that's not who they
Speaker 5: who they are, so they should do who they want
Speaker 5: to be. They want that number to be a lot
Speaker 5: more heavily in favor of the assist column. So they've
Speaker 5: got to find a way to get that trending back
Speaker 5: in the right direction. And but this is a team
Speaker 5: that you know feeds off turning you over and scoring
Speaker 5: that way, and that certainly was a big factor for
Speaker 5: Arkansas to score off Kentucky. They had fourteen points off turnovers.
Speaker 5: It wasn't like it was, you know, twenty five points, right,
Speaker 5: but it got them, you know, out in transition. And
Speaker 5: you know, Kentucky's third in the country in offensive efficiency.
Speaker 5: Every time you turn it over is the one time
Speaker 5: you don't get to shoot, and they're really good typically
Speaker 5: at shooting and scoring.
Speaker 1: What do you make of that tom that's been I
Speaker 1: don't want to call it a phenomenon, but a problem
Speaker 1: that's popped up really toward the second half of the
Speaker 1: schedule this year.
Speaker 5: Well, I think you look at Butler, I mean, he
Speaker 5: got hurt in that Texas A and M game multiple ways,
Speaker 5: and so maybe he, you know, was you know, playing
Speaker 5: a lot less than one hundred percent. Then we realized yeah,
Speaker 5: and then you know, you look at the Vandy game.
Speaker 5: He was you know, that's the last time we played,
Speaker 5: and he had a usually high number of turnovers. And
Speaker 5: then now they're playing with a guy who's not a
Speaker 5: not normally used to playing point guard. And so that
Speaker 5: would figure, at least in the short term, to affect
Speaker 5: you over time. You know, you kind of if you're
Speaker 5: Jackson Robinson, you get learn to get more comfortable with it,
Speaker 5: and if you're Mark Pope and his staff, you learn
Speaker 5: ways to you know, help out your team to do
Speaker 5: things maybe a little differently because of how it's composed
Speaker 5: at the moment. And but all of that takes a
Speaker 5: little time, and you know this, this is a very
Speaker 5: unforgiving league obviously. This year.
Speaker 1: You know, we talked about some of the individual players
Speaker 1: and the point guards and things like that, but I
Speaker 1: tell you one thing that surprised me and and he
Speaker 1: touched on it with you a little bit. Mark Pope
Speaker 1: did not a whole lot from Otega Olway, and I
Speaker 1: really thought Saturday's game kind of set up for him
Speaker 1: to have, you know, a good evening, but he was
Speaker 1: just kind of quiet, wasn't he.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I mean he got to double figures barely at
Speaker 5: the end. But yeah, he's been a guy that has
Speaker 5: been a real second half force for them. He's and
Speaker 5: he and Kentucky you know, has been a very good
Speaker 5: second half team, and both were not the case on Saturday.
Speaker 5: Hopefully getting car back helps a little bit just with
Speaker 5: the overall flow of things, because Aldanor has has played
Speaker 5: really well, but he's kind of one of those guys
Speaker 5: stretching his role. His role was to be, you know,
Speaker 5: off the bench, instant offense, you know, three point shooter,
Speaker 5: and and so he's a guy that had I think
Speaker 5: going into the Arkansas game, I want to say, he
Speaker 5: had four assists and five turnovers for the year, so
Speaker 5: basically he's just you know, catching and shooting, whereas Andrew
Speaker 5: Carr had forty two assists and fourteen turnovers. So that's
Speaker 5: you know, a you get that's maybe where you get
Speaker 5: your assists boosted back up. As he starts to work
Speaker 5: back into the mixed more. They really could use something,
Speaker 5: you know, a growing contribution from one or two or
Speaker 5: all three freshmen. Noah didn't play the other day, And
Speaker 5: hope they can find a way to work him in
Speaker 5: because I think he kind of just kind of seemed
Speaker 5: like a guy that gives them some intangibles. But I
Speaker 5: understand the other day he was he'd been playing the
Speaker 5: four and so co with car back. You know, those
Speaker 5: the most minutes are taken up there. Chandler I thought
Speaker 5: was really good defensively, and for a team that is
Speaker 5: struggling defensively, he could help them. But he's got to
Speaker 5: be able to give him something on the offensive end,
Speaker 5: and they've got to you know, that's something you just
Speaker 5: kind of work with a young player and at some
Speaker 5: point it clicks to get him his his confidence on
Speaker 5: the offensive end. And you know, he's you know, but
Speaker 5: I was really impressed with his defense and he's physical,
Speaker 5: and so you know he then that's something obviously they're missing.
Speaker 5: So he could help them if but you know, you
Speaker 5: a thought seventeen minutes you know, the other night, probably
Speaker 5: a little more than you would want to play him
Speaker 5: if because he's not giving you anything offensively. He can.
Speaker 5: I mean, he's a good shooter. But one of the
Speaker 5: best illustrations of it was late in the game he
Speaker 5: made a nice move to penetrate into the lane down
Speaker 5: to the right block. Just go up and shoot a
Speaker 5: six footer. Yeah, but he tries to throw it around
Speaker 5: to Arkansas players to make a wrap around pass to
Speaker 5: almonor right, and it's like, you know, if you want
Speaker 5: to make that pass, be a love but number but
Speaker 5: number one, don't make the pass. Just shoot the ball.
Speaker 5: You're six people from the basket. But he didn't have
Speaker 5: the confidence to do that, and so that's where he's
Speaker 5: got to find a way to get that. You know,
Speaker 5: they're gonta give him a little bit of that Trent
Speaker 5: Noah confidence. He seems to play loose and free.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah. But there was one play in particular as
Speaker 1: well with with him where he he took a fifty
Speaker 1: to fifty ball away from Arkansas and I thought, all right,
Speaker 1: that's yeah, that's gonna keep him in a game, and
Speaker 1: it will it will fit him well.
Speaker 5: So you're a charge.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, he's a He's a really good athlete, there's
Speaker 1: no question. And I know people are upset they didn't
Speaker 1: see Trent. But you know, things Trent gave them in Knoxville,
Speaker 1: they didn't need so much as what they gave Chandler
Speaker 1: with Chandler. But again Pope's second guess himself about that.
Speaker 1: So we'll see if changes happened tomorrow night in Oxford.
Speaker 1: Whatever happens, Tom Leach will call the action alongside your
Speaker 1: man Jack Gibbons, and we will be tuning in Thomas.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, and safe travels sounds good, Thank you,
Speaker 1: And of course you can follow Tom on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Tom Leach Ky. Listen to him each and every morning
Speaker 1: on this very radio station. It's the Leech Report at
Speaker 1: eight am. I will actually be sitting in for Tom
Speaker 1: on the Lee's Report on Wednesday morning, as he will
Speaker 1: get back late or early, depending on how you look
Speaker 1: at it, coming back from Oxford. Not a tough trip,
Speaker 1: but a man needs his rest. Coming up an hour
Speaker 1: number two Mike de Corsi of the Sporting News and
Speaker 1: a little bit later on Christy Thomas of the SEC Network,
Speaker 1: and we will talk with Christy about a great name
Speaker 1: at Georgia Amore and the UK women. That's all ahead
Speaker 1: here on a big bullom.
Speaker 2: Side of six thirty Wlaper.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue. Insider joining us now
Speaker 1: is one of my favorite guests because to me, he
Speaker 1: is the pre eminent college basketball writer. Terrific writer period,
Speaker 1: but especially college basketball. That is Mike de Corsi of
Speaker 1: the Sporting News. How's your season going, young man?
Speaker 5: Oh, so far, so good.
Speaker 6: I haven't here's the key. I haven't gotten any wrong
Speaker 6: on my bracket yet. Only I do two brackets a week,
Speaker 6: and they're always perfect. No one can ever say otherwise.
Speaker 1: Excellent. Mike not only works for the Sporting News, but
Speaker 1: for the Big Ten Network as a studio analyst, does
Speaker 1: insa brackets for Fox Sports, also covers the NFL and soccer,
Speaker 1: and if you follow him on Twitter, which you should
Speaker 1: at TSN, Mike, you see all of this. But let
Speaker 1: me get your response. Your reaction as a guy who
Speaker 1: covers the sports nationwide to the Caliperry back to Kentucky's
Speaker 1: story before and after, because there was so much of
Speaker 1: the walk up to it and then he pulls off
Speaker 1: the upset. What was your reaction?
Speaker 6: Well, I will have to say that I was amazed.
Speaker 6: I did not anticipate them being able to Arkansas, being
Speaker 6: able to come inter rupt and do that, and I
Speaker 6: thought there was some really good analysis after the after
Speaker 6: the game that for everybody involved on the Kentucky side,
Speaker 6: it was just another home game against the ninth place,
Speaker 6: tenth place, fifteenth place team in the league, whatever it is.
Speaker 6: I mean, they're way down there, right and it and
Speaker 6: you're coming off a great win against Tennessee on the road.
Speaker 6: And and maybe it was an advantage to Arkansas that
Speaker 6: that that so many of the players on that squad
Speaker 6: had that little extra juice to put to come and
Speaker 6: play there. And I and and and understandably with with
Speaker 6: John and everything, I mean Big Zy and and especially
Speaker 6: Yadu and H and DJ, those guys all lived through
Speaker 6: last year.
Speaker 7: And know how it went.
Speaker 6: And and I'm sure that they probably had a little
Speaker 6: bit of extra juice because it was until the final game.
Speaker 6: It was a fine season. It wasn't a great season,
Speaker 6: but it was a fine season. I don't think it
Speaker 6: was ever treated that way. And then of course it
Speaker 6: turned into a major disappointment with the game up in
Speaker 6: Pittsburgh against Oakland, and.
Speaker 1: They got whatever juice they had. Probably the exclamation point
Speaker 1: game came the moment they walked out for shoot around
Speaker 1: and then the booze cascaded, then they came out again
Speaker 1: for the game and more booing. So that's got to
Speaker 1: drive a kid, wouldn't you may.
Speaker 6: Oh I think it would. Yeah, absolutely, a competitive young
Speaker 6: man is going to respond to that. You see those
Speaker 6: things all over in sports. You saw Iowa yesterday, Iowa
Speaker 6: women's team, how they jumped on USC, which I mean,
Speaker 6: I don't think it's breaking any hearts to say that
Speaker 6: USC is a better basketball team on the women's side
Speaker 6: this year.
Speaker 5: Than Iowa is.
Speaker 6: But they were not going to let that occasion go
Speaker 6: without their best effort. Now, whether it's be enough or not,
Speaker 6: they were going to put it out there and they did,
Speaker 6: and they jumped up twenty to four and ended up
Speaker 6: winning the game. And that's really what you see, and
Speaker 6: that's one of the things that makes college sports wonderful.
Speaker 6: You don't see that as much in pro sports. It's
Speaker 6: pretty rare, true, and college sports it's it's not it's
Speaker 6: not uncommon. Let's say, it's not something you see every week,
Speaker 6: or it wouldn't be special. But when it does, it
Speaker 6: makes an impact.
Speaker 1: Is it because do you think, Mike, there's more emotion involved?
Speaker 8: Oh?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think so. I mean I think that also.
Speaker 6: I think it helps to be if you're looking for
Speaker 6: emotion when the game schedule is as compact as it is.
Speaker 6: When you're playing eighty two NBA games or eighty two
Speaker 6: hockey games or one hundred and sixty two baseball game,
Speaker 6: it's hard to be emotional about just about any of them. Yeah,
Speaker 6: but when you've got thirty some college basketball games and
Speaker 6: about sixteen or seventeen of them at home, and maybe
Speaker 6: one of them is an unusual occasion like this one
Speaker 6: for the Arkansas players, then you're going to You're going
Speaker 6: to get that extra fire. And I kind of thought,
Speaker 6: I wrote about this going into the Duke's came against
Speaker 6: North Carolina, and I had seen North Carolina on Tuesday
Speaker 6: at TIT and they were not very good, and I thought, Okay,
Speaker 6: like this is your last, this is your last shot,
Speaker 6: go out against Duke and at least put some fire
Speaker 6: on the court. And they didn't, And so that sort
Speaker 6: of tells you where it's going. But Arkansas, they said, no,
Speaker 6: we're going to give what we have. And it was
Speaker 6: on this night enough and I'm not sure, honestly, Dick
Speaker 6: enough as being made of the absences for Kentucky and
Speaker 6: it's Lamont. Butler made my All America second team at
Speaker 6: mid season and practically hasn't played since. And it was
Speaker 6: it was amazing what Mark was able to do by
Speaker 6: putting Williams at the point, so to speak, and playing
Speaker 6: out of that. But it was only going to be
Speaker 6: as effective as it was one time. Now it could
Speaker 6: still be effective, but the level of effect and this
Speaker 6: was going to diminish because it wasn't a surprise anymore.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 6: Arkansas had time to prepare for that, and so they
Speaker 6: were able to do some effective things to mitigate it.
Speaker 6: And when Kentucky gets Lamont back, and the sooner the
Speaker 6: better because the terrific young man. I wrote about him
Speaker 6: at the two thousand and three Final four, really enjoyed
Speaker 6: him and would love to see him back out there
Speaker 6: healthy so that the Wildcats can take their best shot.
Speaker 1: You know, we're talking to Mike de Corsi of the
Speaker 1: Sporting News, and you follow Kentucky as much as any
Speaker 1: of the national writers, as we call you, and I
Speaker 1: keep reminding myself that big New Nation. For the most
Speaker 1: part this year, expectations were fairly modest back in April
Speaker 1: when they first hired Mark Pope, and you know, if
Speaker 1: we can just finish in the top half of the
Speaker 1: SEC and maybe win a game or two in the
Speaker 1: ANNG tournament. But you know how Kentucky fans are, Mike,
Speaker 1: especially as the wins pile up, so did the expectation.
Speaker 1: But if I had told the BBN okay mid season,
Speaker 1: your All American point guard is going to be out
Speaker 1: indefinitely and Andrew Carr is going to be playing on
Speaker 1: one leg, how do you feel now? But right, that's
Speaker 1: all part of it, isn't it.
Speaker 6: It is It's how the season goes sometimes. And honestly,
Speaker 6: last year John had terrible injury luck. The Wildcats were
Speaker 6: constantly getting guys hurt, and although that probably wasn't an
Speaker 6: excuse for them losing to Oakland, it was a part
Speaker 6: of the reason why they wound up in the Oakland games.
Speaker 6: It may not have been they might have been a
Speaker 6: one or two if they had been healthy all the
Speaker 6: way through, but they certainly should have done a better
Speaker 6: defensive job on Jack Golkie. It took much too long
Speaker 6: for them to adjust to what they were doing. And
Speaker 6: I think in the end, you have to be aware
Speaker 6: of everything going on with your season, and what you
Speaker 6: have to hope is that whatever issues you have along
Speaker 6: the way, that they get resolved in time for the
Speaker 6: biggest games, which will be played in March, in the
Speaker 6: SEC tournament and in the NCAA Tournament. You have to
Speaker 6: hope that's all behind you. And I don't know the
Speaker 6: answer to that. I suspected it's pretty pretty obvious that
Speaker 6: Andrew should be back soon at one hundred percent. And
Speaker 6: then I know Mark was talking about Lamont and wasn't
Speaker 6: giving any specific so that's not the best news.
Speaker 5: But you know, the.
Speaker 6: Problem is that you already lost an excellent backup point
Speaker 6: guard in kerk Creasa, and now you're down a second.
Speaker 6: I mean, imagine having two players at the most important
Speaker 6: positions that are both capable of playing at a high
Speaker 6: level and then being stuck in the start of February
Speaker 6: with none of them.
Speaker 1: You know, when we talk about football teams and what
Speaker 1: they might accomplish, it's always smart throwing the caveat if
Speaker 1: they stay healthy. You never think about that with basketball.
Speaker 1: But that's there's there's less depth on a basketball team
Speaker 1: than a football team.
Speaker 6: Absolutely, that's one hundred percent true. And again, especially when
Speaker 6: I mean imagine that, like I said that that all
Speaker 6: the injuries happen for the most part, at the same position,
Speaker 6: and the most important position on the floor, the one
Speaker 6: that differentiates the teams that go a distance to the
Speaker 6: teams that don't. If you don't have that guy, it's
Speaker 6: really hard. And that's why, like I said, the Tuesday
Speaker 6: game against against Tennessee was remarkable, but it wasn't going
Speaker 6: to be something that was going to always be.
Speaker 7: As effective as it was against ut.
Speaker 6: And they don't take those wins away. I mean, you
Speaker 6: got it and it's in your bank, and it looks
Speaker 6: looks just clamorous on the resume, but you have to
Speaker 6: try to find a way now to fight on without
Speaker 6: without your most important player, and and I think you're
Speaker 6: best player because he's on a team that is really
Speaker 6: effective on offense, I mean as good as anybody at
Speaker 6: their best they are, but on defense it's it's still
Speaker 6: a struggle. And Lamont gave them a fighting chance in
Speaker 6: every game because he could foul up the ball, yep,
Speaker 6: make it, you know, protect the ball from going where
Speaker 6: it wanted to go. Because he could deny penetration. He's
Speaker 6: an excellent at that, and that's why. That's the biggest
Speaker 6: reason why in twenty twenty three, San Diego State was
Speaker 6: able to make it all the way to the championship game.
Speaker 6: And I think that if he's healthy, Kentucky has significant possibilities.
Speaker 1: SARCH, We're talking with Mike de Corsi of the Sporting
Speaker 1: News and the Big ten Network. More to com here
Speaker 1: on the Big boone Sider six thirty WLAP. We're talking
Speaker 1: to Michael de Corsi. He writes the college hoops column
Speaker 1: for the Sporting News, Big ten Network, studio analyst in
Speaker 1: say bracketologist for Fox Sports, covers the ENF and soccer.
Speaker 1: And let me shift you over real quickly to the NFL.
Speaker 1: First of all, who do you like in the Super Bowl?
Speaker 1: And secondly, I love it. I've complimented you before about
Speaker 1: your common sense and enough of that in the media
Speaker 1: and on social media. But I am not a Steelers fan.
Speaker 1: I am a shareholder of the Green Bay Packers. But
Speaker 1: I admire the Steelers. I admire their head coach. But
Speaker 1: isn't that just a product of where we are really
Speaker 1: in sports period?
Speaker 2: Mike?
Speaker 1: That what have you done for me lately? And there
Speaker 1: are people who want to see him gone. It's amazing
Speaker 1: to me.
Speaker 6: You know, I was thinking about this this morning, and
Speaker 6: I can take it back to college basketball. Cincinnati lost
Speaker 6: another game in the Big twelve over the weekend. I
Speaker 6: think they're two and something, and it reminded me that
Speaker 6: in twenty nineteen, twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, Mick Crolan had
Speaker 6: gotten to the point in his career where he had
Speaker 6: made I think at that point, nine consecutive NCAA tournaments
Speaker 6: and at that point, and he goes Bill self, Mark
Speaker 6: Few and Tom Izzo that had matched that. That's how
Speaker 6: rare what they were doing at Cincinnati was.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 6: They had not advanced to the sweet sixteen at that
Speaker 6: point in seven years, I believe, and they had lost
Speaker 6: in twenty eighteen, they'd blown a twenty one point lead
Speaker 6: in the final dozen minutes or so and missed as
Speaker 6: a number two seeds. And so Mick was looking at it,
Speaker 6: and he'd been approached by different people, and he said, Okay,
Speaker 6: I want to be in Cincinnati.
Speaker 7: I'm a Cincinnati guy. I grew up here, born here, and.
Speaker 6: Only at time I was ever gone was when I
Speaker 6: coached at Louisville Murray. And then he comes, so he
Speaker 6: goes to the administration or's agent or whatever, and says,
Speaker 6: here's what I want. I don't need a big race,
Speaker 6: but I want ten years. If I'm going to stay here,
Speaker 6: if I'm going to turn down big money from all these
Speaker 6: other things, I want security. I want to know that
Speaker 6: I'm going to be here. And the school, the AD
Speaker 6: at the time, said no, here's what we'll do. We'll
Speaker 6: give you four years. And now all the incentives that
Speaker 6: you get from making the NCAA tournament are now.
Speaker 7: If you make the sweet sixteen.
Speaker 5: Wow.
Speaker 6: So I was basically telling them it was a pay cut,
Speaker 6: the way I described it in my article was a
Speaker 6: functional pay cut, and and and so he's declined that.
Speaker 6: And the next thing you know, you see Ali knocks
Speaker 6: on the door and now he's you know, he's living
Speaker 6: in SoCal and he's been to the final four in
Speaker 6: a couple of sweet sixteens, and Cincinnati has not.
Speaker 7: They have not been back to the tournament.
Speaker 6: Since That's that's what happens when you think really good
Speaker 6: is not good enough. I just I believe in success,
Speaker 6: and I can and I and there are coaches out
Speaker 6: there who warrant firing. And it's really easy to tell
Speaker 6: who they are, they're the ones that lose more games
Speaker 6: than they win. I mean, it's really that simple.
Speaker 1: There you go in that common sense again, Mike, come.
Speaker 6: On, they're not hard to find, uh. And So that's
Speaker 6: the way I feel about Tomlin that if you change
Speaker 6: from him, you're going away from something that has been
Speaker 6: successful now for eighteen years and the most difficult, most
Speaker 6: balanced league in all of sports. Yeah, he's never had
Speaker 6: a losing season, and people mock that now, but it's
Speaker 6: just it's an amazing I mean, it's an amazing record
Speaker 6: to have. Chuck Ole couldn't do that. Bill Kward couldn't
Speaker 6: do that, Vince Lombardi didn't do that. No matter who
Speaker 6: you want to name, the only one that's ever done
Speaker 6: that from the start of his career is Mike Commons.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Plus, the players love him, or at least seem to,
Speaker 1: and he seems like the perfect fit in that town,
Speaker 1: in that market, which a city you know pretty well.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, I know we kind of got
Speaker 1: off on a tangent there, but I wanted to get
Speaker 1: your thoughts because I've enjoyed, as someone who's not hip
Speaker 1: deep in it by a friends who are Steelers fans
Speaker 1: and it's just it's just really interesting. A few minutes
Speaker 1: left with Mike the Corsi of the Sporting News, this
Speaker 1: just popped into my head, speaking of coaches, what do
Speaker 1: you make of what's going on up at Yukon with
Speaker 1: coach Hurley up there? I mean, people are asking me,
Speaker 1: do you think he lost his mind? I think he's
Speaker 1: pretty He's wrapped pretty tightly, wound up pretty tightly. But
Speaker 1: what do you see?
Speaker 6: You know, when he is just away from the floor,
Speaker 6: he's the calmest, most normal person you ever meet. I mean,
Speaker 6: I know I'm not living in his house every day
Speaker 6: and all that, but like being around him. I do
Speaker 6: this inside the Big East program for Fox every week,
Speaker 6: and he's often you know, he's always willing to talk
Speaker 6: if I need something. He's a really good guy. And
Speaker 6: there's just something I've been I used this analogy. I've
Speaker 6: been seeing these commercials the last couple of weeks from
Speaker 6: the new Captain America film. I'm not the biggest superhero guy,
Speaker 6: but I see the commercials and I see Harrison Ford
Speaker 6: turn into like an older Hulk, and that's sort of
Speaker 6: how it works for And when he gets to the floor,
Speaker 6: he gets onto that bench, and it's just he's just different.
Speaker 6: And I think that it's I don't think it helps him.
Speaker 6: I think he feels like it does, because I think
Speaker 6: he feels like he if he doesn't do it, he's
Speaker 6: not competing, he's not battling for his guys. But I
Speaker 6: don't think it helps him. I don't think it helps
Speaker 6: his public image. We've seen different coaches over the years
Speaker 6: who were that person away from the floor, and I
Speaker 6: don't think I have to mention any names, but people
Speaker 6: like Geene Katie, who everybody had a negative impression of
Speaker 6: until you find out like this guy's like the sweetest
Speaker 6: person on the planet. And when I first met Gene,
Speaker 6: I was like, wait a second, who is this guy?
Speaker 6: And so I don't think that Dan does himself any
Speaker 6: favors that way, and it's probably and it has cost
Speaker 6: him games. I mean it certainly was in difference when
Speaker 6: he played in Maui and got TechEd, et cetera. I
Speaker 6: would like to see him bring it down a notch,
Speaker 6: because once he brings it down a notch or two,
Speaker 6: he's where everybody else is more or less. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 6: there aren't any John Woodens anymore just standing there with
Speaker 6: their arms folded, everybody gets involved. So I would like
Speaker 6: to see him do that because if he brings it down,
Speaker 6: then then there's no problem.
Speaker 1: And to bring this full circle, I don't know Mike
Speaker 1: that he would have been the best fit at Kentucky.
Speaker 1: I mean, as long as he's winning, anybody's a good
Speaker 1: fit here. But and you can't really compare him to
Speaker 1: what happened with the hiring of Pope. But I just
Speaker 1: don't know that that would have worked here. What do
Speaker 1: you think?
Speaker 6: Well, I think if he was able to do what
Speaker 6: he's you know, something approaching what he's done at Yukon,
Speaker 6: I think people would have gotten used to it. But
Speaker 6: I think that if he'd gone to Yukon to Kentucky,
Speaker 6: I think the pressure from the fans might have pushed
Speaker 6: it up a notch. And up a notch is like
Speaker 6: there's no room for upp notch. So that's so that's
Speaker 6: what I would worry about. This transplanted to Kentucky, it
Speaker 6: could be okay, But if the Kentucky pressure, and there
Speaker 6: is more pressure at Kentucky than there is most places,
Speaker 6: if the Kentucky pressure had had made it more intense,
Speaker 6: that could have become significantly problematic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well we don't have to worry about that, obviously,
Speaker 1: because the story went in another direction with Mark Bope.
Speaker 1: Have you had a chance to sit down with Mark
Speaker 1: ed I know there's a long list.
Speaker 6: I have not, no, and I would love to because
Speaker 6: if you'll recall, I was the one who on the
Speaker 6: night of the Sunday night before Championship Monday that when
Speaker 6: I got word that John was leaving, I put out
Speaker 6: my list and I had Mark number one on the list.
Speaker 6: You did, And I'd like to remind everybody of that,
Speaker 6: because I took a lot of heat that night and
Speaker 6: in the subsequent days until it came out that Mark
Speaker 6: was hiring. Was the hire and he's done wonderfully and
Speaker 6: he has been He has been the kind of person
Speaker 6: that Kentucky wants to embrace, one of theirs, truly one
Speaker 6: of theirs. Although he grew up across the border, he's
Speaker 6: definitely a Kentucky guy, and he's really I always say,
Speaker 6: and have said many times that a job like Kentucky's,
Speaker 6: there's the coaching part, but there's also the senator part, oh,
Speaker 6: you know, and you can embrace that in different ways,
Speaker 6: and John did, especially early before things got a little
Speaker 6: rugged ly. He was always you know, leading the charity
Speaker 6: drives and all that. And Mark has done that personal
Speaker 6: touch type senator where people get interact with him and
Speaker 6: they come away beaming, and that's just wonderful to see.
Speaker 1: Tubby did a good job. Cali Perry did a great
Speaker 1: job at being the ambassador, if you will. Billy Gillespie
Speaker 1: from day one not comfortable with it and its show,
Speaker 1: but that's certainly water under that big blue bridge. We think.
Speaker 1: Mike the course, he is always a busy man, but
Speaker 1: he spent time with us. Uh. Follow Mike on Twitter.
Speaker 1: You really should at TSN Mike and in the pages
Speaker 1: or online at the Sporting News. Mike. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: We'll be watching and reading.
Speaker 6: It was my pleasure.
Speaker 7: Dick, thank you.
Speaker 1: I love talking to Mike and you're hearing periodically on
Speaker 1: with Tom Leach. But he is you. Absolutely if you
Speaker 1: love college basketball, you should follow Mike. He's a big
Speaker 1: soccer guy too. He really likes the and I am
Speaker 1: not so I didn't even get into that, but he
Speaker 1: likes the Premier League soccer and all that and uh,
Speaker 1: but a big Steelers guy is a Pittsburgh guy. Uh.
Speaker 1: And he is steadfast his admiration for Mike Tomlin. But
Speaker 1: as I said to him, and I've texted him and
Speaker 1: I've hit him on Twitter, you know, Mike is one
Speaker 1: of those guys who is quick with a take, because
Speaker 1: that's what everybody wants these days. But it's always well reasoned,
Speaker 1: based on common sense, not emotional. It's it's it's logical.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 1: And like I said, I kind of tease him every
Speaker 1: now and there you go with that common sense again
Speaker 1: on on social media. So yeah, TSN, Mike is where
Speaker 1: to find him on extra Twitter and trust me, you
Speaker 1: will be glad that you did. And he really admires
Speaker 1: UK basketball. Christy Thomas is next on six thirty WLAP
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider, joining us down
Speaker 1: our celebrity hotline. One of my favorite people. Former colleague
Speaker 1: at wkby Team, now a colleague on the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 1: You also see her work on SEC Plus with Jeff
Speaker 1: picoryl covering UK women's basketball and be the end game
Speaker 1: Day on Laxaighteam, Miss Christy Thomas. Christy, I'm gonna start
Speaker 1: with the UK women. Well, then we're going to backpedal
Speaker 1: through Calipari's return. Because you guys talked about that on
Speaker 1: game day in Kentucky Football, because of course you anchor
Speaker 1: our pregame coverage. But Georgia Amore, I mean, come on,
Speaker 1: and she talked a header on earlier talking about how
Speaker 1: different guards guard her in a different way. But you know,
Speaker 1: the one girl from Oklahoma gartered her snugly and she
Speaker 1: drove past her. The other one gave her a little
Speaker 1: space to try to cut her off. You shot over her.
Speaker 1: I mean, how good is this kid? Come on?
Speaker 8: Well, I've been saying, and I think I've said on
Speaker 8: your show before, this young lady is worth the price
Speaker 8: of admission. And if you haven't seen her play, you
Speaker 8: owe it to yourself to do that. And that doesn't
Speaker 8: mean you have to see her play live, because she's
Speaker 8: just as impressive on television as well. So you know
Speaker 8: this will be her final year playing collegiate basketball, and
Speaker 8: you owe it to yourself, if you are a basketball
Speaker 8: fan of any kind, to watch her play. I think
Speaker 8: it's because of there's so many things that I'm so
Speaker 8: impressed with about this young lady, and you know, one
Speaker 8: of them is certainly her ability. But the reason why
Speaker 8: her abilities are so good, I think it's because of
Speaker 8: how smart she is, and that comes with experience. She has.
Speaker 8: Everything has come together for her in such a way
Speaker 8: that is exactly what you would expect or hope from
Speaker 8: someone who's had a stellar career already. But to kind
Speaker 8: of go out on top in a way that she
Speaker 8: is playing, I can't imagine the young lady could play
Speaker 8: any better than what she is. She just makes great decisions.
Speaker 8: She is an excellent shooter. She knows how to create space.
Speaker 8: She's only five six okay, so she's not and I
Speaker 8: think that's on a good day. She's five to six,
Speaker 8: so she doesn't have a ton of size, but she
Speaker 8: knows how to use her abilities and her smarts to
Speaker 8: her advantage to create space and get shots, get open looks.
Speaker 8: And you know, there's as impressive as forty three points
Speaker 8: is against Oklahoma. You know, there's not a game that
Speaker 8: goes by that. I don't look at her assist stats
Speaker 8: and go, yep, that's about what I expected. So you know,
Speaker 8: she's anywhere from eight to ten assists per game, so
Speaker 8: you know she knows how and when to distribute and
Speaker 8: is just so fun to watch play. It's so refreshing.
Speaker 8: I think to see her game and what she brings
Speaker 8: to the table for women's basketball.
Speaker 1: Any Brooks after the game, and he talks about it
Speaker 1: just about every game or every radio show with Darren Hedrick.
Speaker 1: The fact that she's a coach on the floor, as
Speaker 1: you know most good point guards are. But I mean literally,
Speaker 1: she'll come over to him and say, hey, they're doing
Speaker 1: this or they're going to do that, why don't we
Speaker 1: run this? And he said, you know, when she was younger,
Speaker 1: he said, uh huh, right, and then they run. You'd
Speaker 1: run what he wants to run. Now he's like, all right,
Speaker 1: go with it. Whatever you think. You know, incredibly valuable
Speaker 1: ro I mean, Kenny Brook's a good coach anyway, and
Speaker 1: to have an extension of his brain out there on
Speaker 1: the floor. And by the way she can knock down shots,
Speaker 1: that's that's so so great for Kentucky.
Speaker 8: Well, the only way you can have that is to
Speaker 8: trust a player like that. You don't have that kind
Speaker 8: of relationship or you don't give that kind of a
Speaker 8: player like that that kind of freedom to do those
Speaker 8: kinds of things unless you really trust her. And the
Speaker 8: only way they've been able to do that is to
Speaker 8: establish a relationship. So I said, you know, in a
Speaker 8: world of the transfer portal and players kind of coming
Speaker 8: and going from from programs, the only way they can
Speaker 8: build that trust is through the relationship they've had over
Speaker 8: the years. And to his point, you know, early on
Speaker 8: in her career, she's not really he's not really listening
Speaker 8: to that or saying yeah, okay, okay, and but she
Speaker 8: she has earned his trust. And that's the only way
Speaker 8: that that kind of thing works is that you believe
Speaker 8: what she says because she sees it and she understands
Speaker 8: that she speaks your language. Number two, right, I mean,
Speaker 8: you all have to be on the same page and
Speaker 8: speak the same language in order for those kind of
Speaker 8: things to work. And then you go out and prove
Speaker 8: that you're right, and she does that time and time again.
Speaker 8: So two things have to happen. You have to have
Speaker 8: an excellent relationship a player coach relationship, and then you
Speaker 8: have to have some trust. And they've been able to
Speaker 8: build both of those things in a way that is
Speaker 8: really very special and you just don't see in the
Speaker 8: game very often.
Speaker 1: Last time I was at a game and at the Collegeum,
Speaker 1: you guys were working. You and Jeff I have a
Speaker 1: couple of seats down from you, sitting next to Carolina,
Speaker 1: and I'm just watching the ball movement and this is
Speaker 1: not just about Georgia, but it starts with her. And
Speaker 1: the one thing I noticed that it never sticks. I
Speaker 1: mean the ball. Not only does the ball always move,
Speaker 1: but everybody moves with purpose. And this is an experience,
Speaker 1: This is a product of an experienced team. How much,
Speaker 1: of course does that factor into their success.
Speaker 8: It's everything, And I think you hit the nail on
Speaker 8: the head is moving the ball with purpose. It's not
Speaker 8: just about Okay, well, the plays to do this, so
Speaker 8: that's what we're supposed to do. I think I'm teaching
Speaker 8: or trying to help my sixth grader understand that right
Speaker 8: now is yes, I know that the play you're supposed
Speaker 8: to go here in set a screen there, and then
Speaker 8: this player cuts here and the past goes there. But
Speaker 8: it doesn't always have to be that way, right, I mean,
Speaker 8: you have to start to read the defense a little bit,
Speaker 8: and you have to start to understand what they're giving
Speaker 8: you and how they're playing you. And there's a real
Speaker 8: understanding of basketball to be able to sort of get
Speaker 8: to that point. And I think that's it. Moving the
Speaker 8: ball with purpose means that you really understand how an
Speaker 8: opposing defense is defending you and what they're doing and
Speaker 8: what they're giving you, and then what's available to you,
Speaker 8: and then if it's not available to you, one extra
Speaker 8: pass will make it.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 8: So I think that's the thing that is so impressive
Speaker 8: about this team is I think that that we're seeing
Speaker 8: and understanding they really understand the game and they really
Speaker 8: get it. And then when you can also create a
Speaker 8: culture of making the extra pass because it's the right
Speaker 8: thing to do and because it's the best thing for
Speaker 8: the team and not necessarily patting your stat line, then
Speaker 8: you've really got something. So I think that's somehow, some way.
Speaker 8: Kenny Brooks has been able to do that with almost
Speaker 8: an entirely new roster in a very short amount of time.
Speaker 8: If you think about it, I mean, this is he's had,
Speaker 8: He's had a few months before the season started to
Speaker 8: be able to try to pull all that together, and
Speaker 8: it's really happening well.
Speaker 1: And that said, and I've talked about it before, it's
Speaker 1: a brutal schedule in the SEC. We all know this
Speaker 1: for the women, not just the men, but the tough
Speaker 1: those games lay ahead for the Wildcats. How do you
Speaker 1: think this team is shaping up with regard to how
Speaker 1: they just might be able to compete, because you know,
Speaker 1: you're talking about the most physical teams in the country
Speaker 1: lay ahead.
Speaker 8: Well, I think oftentimes, you know, you consider teams seem
Speaker 8: to play really well at home and maybe struggle a
Speaker 8: bit on the road. And we've really only seen Kentucky
Speaker 8: struggle on the road once. And you know, so I
Speaker 8: think them going to Norman, Oklahoma and getting a win
Speaker 8: over a thirteenth ranked team in the country and scoring
Speaker 8: ninety five points and coming from behind and dealing with
Speaker 8: some foul trouble, you know, Dick in that game, they
Speaker 8: had three players foul out. And this team does not
Speaker 8: go deep. They don't play a lot of players, so
Speaker 8: that's facing some real adversity there to try to navigate
Speaker 8: that and figure out how to handle that. So I
Speaker 8: think that was huge for this team to be able
Speaker 8: to do something like that, To go on the road
Speaker 8: and play so impressively and get a win, grind it out,
Speaker 8: gut it out, but then score ninety five points, I
Speaker 8: think is is huge. So you know, this this team
Speaker 8: certainly understands what they're doing and how and what lies ahead.
Speaker 8: I mean, I think you know, to go to Ole
Speaker 8: Miss on the road, tough place to play, and then
Speaker 8: you come back home with Texas. I mean, this thing
Speaker 8: doesn't it doesn't get any easier. And oh, by the way,
Speaker 8: Tennessee and South Carolina are still on the schedule.
Speaker 7: Oh and LSU.
Speaker 8: I mean, what a what a crazy way to finish
Speaker 8: out a schedule. I mean their last three games go
Speaker 8: L s U, Tennessee and South Carolina. So I mean,
Speaker 8: that's that's pretty incredible to think about. But I do
Speaker 8: think this team was built for it in a way
Speaker 8: that you know, you have to have. I think you
Speaker 8: have to have some real mental we talked about and
Speaker 8: being really smart in terms of basketball, but you have
Speaker 8: to have the mental wherewithal to kind of be able
Speaker 8: to withstand, you know, some adversity and play through it.
Speaker 8: And this is a team that I think, starting with
Speaker 8: Georgia Amore, you will never know whether she's rattled or
Speaker 8: she doesn't really get rattled, but you will never know
Speaker 8: how frustrated she is. She had a couple of games ago,
Speaker 8: you know, when they actually lost a little earlier to Texas,
Speaker 8: A and M where she didn't play. She didn't shoot
Speaker 8: very well. Wasn't that she didn't play well, she just
Speaker 8: didn't shoot very well. There's never a moment that you
Speaker 8: would look at her face and be able to tell
Speaker 8: that she's frustrated. And that's a gift. I mean, that's
Speaker 8: something that takes real discipline to be able to do,
Speaker 8: and I think this team does that well. So they
Speaker 8: handle adversity really well and they can fight through it
Speaker 8: and play through it, and that'll definitely serve them well
Speaker 8: in a tough portion of this schedule that I think
Speaker 8: is That's why I say they're built for it. Kenny
Speaker 8: Brooks is very much that way, cool, calm and collected.
Speaker 8: He stays pretty even keeled. He coaches that way. His
Speaker 8: demeanor is that way, and I think his team is
Speaker 8: reflective of that, and I think that'll serve them well
Speaker 8: down the stretch.
Speaker 1: Well, they got a chance to show just how well,
Speaker 1: as you said, every week starting with at least they
Speaker 1: got a week off coming up prior to the Old
Speaker 1: Miss game. We'll talk more of a Christy tom Us
Speaker 1: on the other side of the break here on six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP Welcome Back. We're talking Christy Thomas of the
Speaker 1: UK Network is HEC Network and BBN Game Day. Let's
Speaker 1: let's start there Saturday morning. You know, you guys present
Speaker 1: BBN Game Day for a ballgame that took place twelve
Speaker 1: hours later, nine o'clock Saturday night. But boy, the build
Speaker 1: up was literally like nothing else we had ever seen.
Speaker 1: You and I worked together a long time ago at KYT,
Speaker 1: but this this was unusual. And then Caliperry comes in
Speaker 1: and the guys from Kentucky who played there last year,
Speaker 1: played as well as they ever did. Of course, they
Speaker 1: had a year. That's what a lot of people don't get.
Speaker 1: Christy and you played, you know, DJ Wagner never played this.
Speaker 1: Wee no, we had a year to get better, and
Speaker 1: so did Z instead of especially Ad Theerro.
Speaker 8: Right, if those guys aren't better, then something's wrong.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 8: This is how it works. Yeah, this is just how
Speaker 8: it goes. And this is why we all claimer and
Speaker 8: screen for these guys to stick around, right, I mean,
Speaker 8: we're all all saying, one more year in college. Can
Speaker 8: imagine what one more year in college to do for
Speaker 8: these guys? Right, Well, we're now seeing what one more
Speaker 8: year in college can do for these guys. What one
Speaker 8: more year you know, under a certain system can do
Speaker 8: for these guys, I would absolutely expect them to be better.
Speaker 8: It would be disappointing if they weren't. So yeah, I
Speaker 8: mean I expected the the emotions to be really high,
Speaker 8: and I think, you know, for Kentucky it was. It
Speaker 8: was a tough go to not have a Lamont Butler.
Speaker 8: I say, listen to that when when this this game
Speaker 8: is different under different circumstances. But you know, I think
Speaker 8: that's one of those if you're Kentucky, you really wanted
Speaker 8: to get the win that I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 8: As as a fan, Okay, let me take myself out
Speaker 8: of being someone who covers the team, but but just
Speaker 8: be a fan, I'm kind of just glad it's over with,
Speaker 8: Like you just want to get that behind you and
Speaker 8: get that done. And I think about that in a
Speaker 8: lot of ways, even as an athlete. You know, sometimes
Speaker 8: you just just just get that that game done and
Speaker 8: over with, regardless of outcome. So now we can say
Speaker 8: it's done because you know, these guys certainly feel the
Speaker 8: pressure and to talk and the build up. They get
Speaker 8: it too. They understand what's at.
Speaker 6: Stake, and that can weigh really heavy on you.
Speaker 8: I mean that can really start to put a lot
Speaker 8: of pressure, undue pressure on you when there's already enough
Speaker 8: there as it is. So you know, if I'm if
Speaker 8: I'm Mark Pope, I'm like, I'm just glad it's done.
Speaker 8: I'm glad that game's over with. I'm glad we got
Speaker 8: it behind us, and now let's move on and focus.
Speaker 8: Are you disappointed you lost, absolutely, but let's move on well.
Speaker 1: And he's got so many more problems to deal with,
Speaker 1: and they're starting with his roster, the injury list. You
Speaker 1: gotta Andrew Carr is just not the same, and he
Speaker 1: is a good Defender's not great, but a good defender.
Speaker 1: His best defenders Lamart Butler, and lord knows when we'll
Speaker 1: see him again. It's pretty cryptic Pope's comments talking about
Speaker 1: two games into a second season. It's like, boys, we
Speaker 1: got to adjust, you know, to the fact that we
Speaker 1: don't have our point guard. That sounded to me like
Speaker 1: that's what he was saying. Yeah, you talk about a
Speaker 1: hill getting much deeper.
Speaker 8: Well, and I think you just have to sort of
Speaker 8: prepare that way, because you know, anything can happen. A
Speaker 8: young man can come back into practice and re injure
Speaker 8: or just not be exactly where you need him to
Speaker 8: be and not be ready to go. So you have
Speaker 8: to you do have to in your mind sort of
Speaker 8: shift to say, okay, well what we got to go
Speaker 8: is what we got and what'sn't sure thing and what's
Speaker 8: one hundred percent And you know you mentioned it earlier
Speaker 8: where we're talking about players getting better. This this also
Speaker 8: happens during the season as well too. So your first
Speaker 8: five games out of the gate that you play, you
Speaker 8: should be very different now in this part of the
Speaker 8: season and you should be playing better and you should
Speaker 8: be you know, doing things better. So you know, I
Speaker 8: think that's part of it as well too, is you've
Speaker 8: got to have some of these guys come along. I mean,
Speaker 8: we talk about player development and that kind of thing,
Speaker 8: and this should be happening continually throughout a season and
Speaker 8: from one season to the next, so you know, and
Speaker 8: this is where you start to find out what guys
Speaker 8: are made of. When you've got to step up and
Speaker 8: and take the place of somebody that is you got
Speaker 8: a still avoid and whatever that is that you can
Speaker 8: do to fill that void is what you have to do,
Speaker 8: and you got to do it at a high level.
Speaker 1: A few minutes left with Christy Thomas. I'm going to
Speaker 1: ask you a football question, but we'll talk about the
Speaker 1: more UK football spring practice draws near. But Kentucky got
Speaker 1: a late commitment another old lineman through the portal, UH
Speaker 1: six six three sixty, Jason at Perua from Tennessee. Eric
Speaker 1: Walford offered him back in June after an unofficial visit
Speaker 1: and he finally said yes to the wildcatch after a
Speaker 1: few other trips, which is fine. That makes Christy. Five
Speaker 1: new old linemen coming through the portal. How optimistic, if
Speaker 1: at all, are you about Kentucky cobbling together essentially a
Speaker 1: brand new old line maybe four out of five new
Speaker 1: faces for a group that's got to act as one.
Speaker 1: That's the line that we always come back to when
Speaker 1: it comes to the offensive line. You know, five guys
Speaker 1: acting as one and these are these guys are getting
Speaker 1: annoy each other right now.
Speaker 8: I would say cautiously, it would be cautiously optimistic only
Speaker 8: because you know, because of that exactly, and I think
Speaker 8: it doesn't matter the sport when you bring new players
Speaker 8: together in a new environment, in a new school, in
Speaker 8: a in a new with a new coaching staff, with
Speaker 8: all of it's new for them. That's tough. I mean,
Speaker 8: it's hard to do. And some of that has to
Speaker 8: be so organic. Some of those guys coming together has
Speaker 8: to be so organic, and if they're not willing to
Speaker 8: do that, then you can't force it. And you know,
Speaker 8: I've talked to Logan Stenberg about this, you know, at nauseum,
Speaker 8: I think throughout the year kind of figuring out, trying
Speaker 8: to figure out what was what was going wrong with
Speaker 8: the offensive line at the time. And you know, a
Speaker 8: lot of what he talked about with them coming together
Speaker 8: was player driven. So you know, they spent all of
Speaker 8: their time together, but that's because they chose to do that. So,
Speaker 8: you know, I think there has to be some decisions
Speaker 8: that are made by players understanding what their role is
Speaker 8: and how that works. It doesn't mean you have to eat, sleep,
Speaker 8: and breathe each other as part of the offensive line,
Speaker 8: but I do think you have to have some player leadership.
Speaker 8: You have to have someone in that room that says,
Speaker 8: this is what we're going to do and this is
Speaker 8: how we're going to do it, and now everybody get
Speaker 8: on board. And sometimes that's hard to find who that
Speaker 8: leader can be when they are all new. It's got
Speaker 8: to be somebody that's willing to kind of step out
Speaker 8: of their comfort and maybe just a little bit, you know,
Speaker 8: in a new environment, to go, okay, I see what's
Speaker 8: ahead of us here. I know I'm new, but I'm
Speaker 8: willing to do this, and so you know that's my
Speaker 8: hope is outside. I love the size, I love the
Speaker 8: experience that we see coming in. I love all those things.
Speaker 8: I think the biggest thing for me, then, is who
Speaker 8: in that room can be the guy to say I'm
Speaker 8: taking charge, this is what we're going to do, this
Speaker 8: is how we're going to just how we're all going
Speaker 8: to come together to be able to play well. And
Speaker 8: you know, we'll be interesting to see who that is.
Speaker 1: And it has to be somebody, quite frankly, who can
Speaker 1: play it. Can't grind it. With all due respect, it
Speaker 1: can't be. It's got to be somebody who leads both
Speaker 1: by example and vocally, because I've heard many guys say,
Speaker 1: well I lead by example. Well, I means you're not
Speaker 1: really a leader.
Speaker 8: You know, I think well, and leading by example is great.
Speaker 8: I mean everybody needs to see a guy doing something
Speaker 8: well and try to emulate that and go, oh, I see, okay,
Speaker 8: he's getting playing time because he's doing this, this and
Speaker 8: this on the field. And that's that's great that those
Speaker 8: kinds of leaders do exist. But I think ultimately what
Speaker 8: this offensive line has lacked and is desperate for is
Speaker 8: exactly what you're saying, someone that can do both and
Speaker 8: can do it very well. And you know, I think
Speaker 8: that's especially considering that the fan base has been so
Speaker 8: disappointed in how this has gone. I mean, the expectations
Speaker 8: are going to be incredibly high, and we're also going
Speaker 8: to be critical, I think as well too, maybe even
Speaker 8: more so than we have been, just because we've been
Speaker 8: so desperately seeking some one and you know, so my
Speaker 8: hope is is that something that you know, the coaching
Speaker 8: staff has seen as being really necessary and that's the
Speaker 8: kind of player that they've brought in. It remains to
Speaker 8: be seen. I think the spring game this year will
Speaker 8: be so annoying to kind of see, you know, how
Speaker 8: all this starts to shake out.
Speaker 1: I can't wait. She has Christy Thomas listened for on
Speaker 1: the UK radio network, Watcher on SEC Plus and BBN
Speaker 1: Game Day and follow her on Twitter at Christi UK
Speaker 1: Sports Christie with an eye. Thank you, young lady. We'll
Speaker 1: see you soon, I hope.
Speaker 8: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Thanks as well to Tom Leates, Mike de COURSI, that's
Speaker 1: a good night from the garage and Lexington.
Speaker 5: That sounded like an explosion at the old Simpson place.
Speaker 2: Forget it.
Speaker 5: That's two blocks away. Looks like there's beer coming out
Speaker 5: of the chimney. I am proceeding on foot calling at
Speaker 5: code eight.
Speaker 6: We did pretzels, repeat pretzels.
Speaker 2: Nanga