Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Moins Cider. Dick Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: Monday edition of our show. That's right, no Coaches Show tonight.
Speaker 1: That's gonna happen on Wednesday because the Wildcats are on
Speaker 1: the road on Tuesdays, meaning Monday is a travel day
Speaker 1: and it's not a long trip down to Knoxville, but
Speaker 1: it could be a long night tomorrow as the Cats
Speaker 1: take on the volunteers in Kentucky, coming off that loss,
Speaker 1: as you know, to Vanderbilt and going into the Tennessee
Speaker 1: game very likely shorthanded. I don't really expect Andrew Carr
Speaker 1: to play. We don't know that right now. We will
Speaker 1: probably not know until just before the game tomorrow night.
Speaker 1: But also Lamont Butler is he's not half speed, but
Speaker 1: he's not himself. We're gonna talk about that with John
Speaker 1: Clay a little bit later on and the show. John
Speaker 1: was down at Vandy and witness the Wildcats lost first hand.
Speaker 1: Also gonna hear from David Sisk at the bottom of
Speaker 1: this hour. The Coach Works, of course for the Rivals
Speaker 1: Network covers Kentucky and North Carolina. Cats Illustrated is where
Speaker 1: you see and Vinnie Hardy, our old Buddy from a
Speaker 1: catch Talk Wednesday to podcast and to Believe in Kentucky Podcast.
Speaker 1: Busy Man will join us in our number two. I
Speaker 1: want to talk first though, about the super Bowl coming up.
Speaker 1: All Right, Kansas City and Philly likely the two best teams.
Speaker 1: We say that now because Kansas City dispatched Buffalo. This
Speaker 1: certainly looked like it was going to be the year
Speaker 1: for the Bills, And it looked last night now and
Speaker 1: then like it was going to be the year for
Speaker 1: the Bills, especially when it seemed as though Josh Allen
Speaker 1: had run for a first down. Run is a loose term.
Speaker 1: He was shoved what looked like about, as Jean Sarator said,
Speaker 1: about the third of the length of the football passed
Speaker 1: what was needed for the first down, but after a
Speaker 1: lengthy review on fourth down, the ball went over to
Speaker 1: Kansas City. Look, if you listen to me, we appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I like a good conspiracy as much as the next person.
Speaker 1: I don't believe there is an NFL conspiracy involving the
Speaker 1: referee simply because of this, and I know there have
Speaker 1: been cricket officials in games in different sports, because it's
Speaker 1: been exposed, never in the NFL. That I know of,
Speaker 1: But for the NFL to have a league wide conspiracy
Speaker 1: to promote the Chiefs, imagine all the people who would
Speaker 1: have to stay silent on this and also know this,
Speaker 1: if there were, their games would not show up on
Speaker 1: the betting boards in Vegas because Vegas the sports books
Speaker 1: have their own investigators and they are the best at
Speaker 1: spotting when something is fishy enough to take things off
Speaker 1: the board. But what we're seeing is games that are
Speaker 1: becoming more and more poorly administered. And they've been It's
Speaker 1: happened in the past, but it hasn't been exposed as much.
Speaker 1: Because of the quality now of instant replay, freeze frame
Speaker 1: camera angles, we can see it better now. And to me,
Speaker 1: it's not entirely the official's fault because they're doing the
Speaker 1: best they can with what they have. They're asked to
Speaker 1: officiate the games with what they have at their disposal,
Speaker 1: and I don't care if they mark first downs with
Speaker 1: sticks in a chain, But when it looks on a
Speaker 1: replay to the point where Jeens Saratore says that's a
Speaker 1: first down and they rule that it's not. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I was rooting for the Bills. I didn't have any
Speaker 1: money on it, but there needs to be more accountability.
Speaker 1: To me, is this is what cried out in this situation.
Speaker 1: There should have been the white hat, not the head
Speaker 1: of officials who's going to take up ninety nine percent
Speaker 1: of the time for his guys. The white hat should
Speaker 1: have been made to come out and say, or somebody
Speaker 1: who made the decision, this is what happened. Even if
Speaker 1: it's after the game and it didn't happen and it
Speaker 1: tainted the game, all hail Kansas City. And in fact,
Speaker 1: here's what Nate burleson a CBS said after the game
Speaker 1: to the people who always complain if a team wins
Speaker 1: too much, and Burlston said this on CBS.
Speaker 2: If you're not a Chians fan, that's okay, but resist
Speaker 2: the urge to fall for the narrative that we're tired
Speaker 2: of seeing them win, that we might be fatigued to
Speaker 2: watching Case go to the Super Bowl over and over again.
Speaker 2: You are witnessing greatness and just be happy that you
Speaker 2: are alive to be there to see it.
Speaker 1: And of course he's right, but you can't expect fan bases,
Speaker 1: especially the Bills. But you know, let's exclude them, the
Speaker 1: Buffalo mafia. If you're like me. If you're a Packers
Speaker 1: fan and you're frustrated that your team didn't get to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. Yeah, tip your cap to the teams
Speaker 1: that did. You can still be frustrated and angry and whatever.
Speaker 1: Maybe in the off season you think about that kind
Speaker 1: of thing, but not right now. It's still the wound
Speaker 1: is too And if you're Buffalo, especially the players, you
Speaker 1: just got to shake your head, why are we having
Speaker 1: these great seasons? At the same time as Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: over in Kansas City and Burger McFarlane talked about that
Speaker 1: with regard to the Bills QB Josh Allen who played well,
Speaker 1: just not quite well enough.
Speaker 3: There was this cat that played basketball named Michael Jordan,
Speaker 3: and during his time there were a lot of great players.
Speaker 3: Malone Stockton Ewing, a lot of great players. They were
Speaker 3: just born at the wrong time. I don't know if
Speaker 3: Josh Allen is in that situation now with Patrick Mahomes,
Speaker 3: but he's run up against this guy. He's changed his
Speaker 3: game over and over. They said, well, he turned the
Speaker 3: football over too much. He didn't turn the ball over
Speaker 3: this year. They said he needed to get help. He
Speaker 3: still needs more help. Josh Allen in the back of
Speaker 3: his mind has to wonder, what do I have to do?
Speaker 3: And I think Josh Allen has to ask himself, was
Speaker 3: I born in the wrong era? Because Mahomes is not
Speaker 3: going anywhere? Boom, He's not going anywhere whatsoever. This is
Speaker 3: number five and he's going for three in a row.
Speaker 1: And thought about it that way. Think of all the
Speaker 1: great players trying to win NBA titles while Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: was dominating the league. You can say that, but a
Speaker 1: lot of players. I think of the college players that
Speaker 1: didn't win when UCLA was dominating. That's just the way
Speaker 1: it rolls sometimes, all right. Talking about the Wildcats, Kentucky
Speaker 1: committed sixteen turnovers, forcing only five. Mark Pope really disappointed
Speaker 1: with the way his team failed to take care of
Speaker 1: the ball.
Speaker 4: They did a good job getting us on our heels.
Speaker 5: It's super disappointing.
Speaker 4: This is a this is a style of play that
Speaker 4: we love for teams to play, and it's a part
Speaker 4: of the game that we It's like when we're at
Speaker 4: our best offensively, and for a bunch of reasons that
Speaker 4: I know and some reasons that I don't, Man, we
Speaker 4: were just heavy on our heels and the credit to
Speaker 4: Vanderbilt of course.
Speaker 1: Of course, and that number might swell tomorrow night because
Speaker 1: of the way Tennis See plays defense and Pope knows it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, everybody's good defensively, right, That's the great
Speaker 5: thing about this league. I mean, it's it's a it's
Speaker 5: such a it's such a fun, beautiful league, and every
Speaker 5: night is going to be the biggest challenge of your season.
Speaker 5: It's it's nice because you don't actually have to convince
Speaker 5: your guys that it just is every single game and
Speaker 5: and and so it's it's it's you know, and I
Speaker 5: think every team is probably feeling some uh some fatigue
Speaker 5: and frustration and some some you know, everybody's dealing with
Speaker 5: injuries for sure, and and we're we're we're not far away.
Speaker 5: We are we have some you know, we have some
Speaker 5: some some real issues that we have to find some
Speaker 5: creative answers to. But but we're not far away, and
Speaker 5: our guys are you know, we we did some really
Speaker 5: positive things tonight.
Speaker 1: Kats have lost too straight and might stretch into three.
Speaker 1: Darryl Byrd asked a great question I wanted about this myseself.
Speaker 1: It comes tournament time, could teams be puned just because
Speaker 1: of their one loss record now that they're beating each
Speaker 1: other up in the sec No, No.
Speaker 4: I think it makes us better. Like I would I
Speaker 4: would choose this league this way, this year, the way
Speaker 4: it is this year, every single year. I think it's
Speaker 4: I think it can like it can.
Speaker 6: It can rip you to.
Speaker 4: Pieces, for sure. But but our job is to is
Speaker 4: to keep finding.
Speaker 6: A way to get better.
Speaker 4: And I have a I have a really good locker
Speaker 4: room of guys that are that are going to keep
Speaker 4: focused on getting better. Like they're We're not gonna lose
Speaker 4: our confidence. We're not gonna, you know, question each other.
Speaker 4: We're not gonna, you know, we're gonna doubt what we're doing.
Speaker 4: We're just gonna use all these experiences to get better.
Speaker 4: And and and there's really specific things that that we
Speaker 4: talk about to our guys all the time, but our
Speaker 4: guys actually experience together as a team today for the
Speaker 4: first time where they're like, oh, those words actually really
Speaker 4: mean something, and it's really painful if we don't if
Speaker 4: we don't actually do that, and and so it makes
Speaker 4: us a better team.
Speaker 5: I'm I'm not worried about that at all.
Speaker 4: I think it's it's it's I think we're really blessed
Speaker 4: to you fax this competition every yet, and.
Speaker 1: Of course we'll have a game for you right here
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLAP. Up next, Kenny Brooks on his
Speaker 1: team's victory over Arkansas yesterday. The UK women got back
Speaker 1: in that win column and Red's manager Tito Francona was
Speaker 1: in town with the Reds caravan. We'll hear from him
Speaker 1: on the other side of the break here on six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Coming
Speaker 1: up at the bottom of the hour, David Sisk of
Speaker 1: the Rivals Network. Part of his work you see on
Speaker 1: Cat Illustrated. He'll break down the basketball Wildcats, the men
Speaker 1: by the way, the women with a huge win yesterday
Speaker 1: and easy win over Arkansas. Schedules starting to get tougher though.
Speaker 1: Coming up Thursday, Alabama comes to town. The Crimson Tide
Speaker 1: yesterday lost a tough one at home to Vanderbilt, a
Speaker 1: good Vandy team, banding now eighteen and four, Alabama seventeen
Speaker 1: and five, losing its sixty six sixty four at the time.
Speaker 1: The Tide rank nineteen, so dropping a little bit this week.
Speaker 1: But like I said, the schedule getting tougher and tougher.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma looms ahead on Sunday in Norman, an old good
Speaker 1: old miss team next week along with Texas, which is
Speaker 1: what's seventh in the last poll. After a home game
Speaker 1: with Georgia. Then you got Miszoo, which is that, but
Speaker 1: then LSU, Tennessee and South Carolina to wrap up the season.
Speaker 1: So it's a challenging grid for Kenny Brooks and his team,
Speaker 1: and of course the Wildcats losing that ice cold shooting
Speaker 1: game down at A and M. So Brooks happy with
Speaker 1: the way, of course his team bounced back, Proud of
Speaker 1: our kids.
Speaker 7: You know, we came out. We didn't always play great,
Speaker 7: but we had some flashes. We looked really good and
Speaker 7: it's really good to get back into winn call them.
Speaker 7: I'm very proud of the way we always tell them
Speaker 7: in life is ten percent of what happens to your
Speaker 7: ninety percent is how you deal with it. And there
Speaker 7: was nothing we could do about the Texas A and
Speaker 7: M game, but we could do a lot about what
Speaker 7: the future was going to hold, and they came out.
Speaker 7: We had we had really two really good practices where
Speaker 7: they were loose, confident, and I think it showed today.
Speaker 1: Brooks always says that tianni Key for all the great
Speaker 1: things Georgia Amore does and all the great things that
Speaker 1: Clara Strachanale do. He said, tianni Key is our swag. Basically.
Speaker 1: She had another double double, her seventh of the year
Speaker 1: thirteen and eleven yesterday for Key, and she said the
Speaker 1: difference between this game and Elosity A and M was
Speaker 1: as a whole, the Wildcats were a lot more active
Speaker 1: on both ends of the floor.
Speaker 8: I think today we would just all came out with
Speaker 8: a more energy, more focus, just more like togetherness. I
Speaker 8: think just being connected and confident with what we're doing
Speaker 8: as individuals that helps everyone really get to their spots,
Speaker 8: so what they're.
Speaker 1: Doing and stuff like that.
Speaker 8: So I think obviously we had some ups and downs,
Speaker 8: but I think that was the biggest difference was just
Speaker 8: being out there together, being confident as an individual and
Speaker 8: as a group.
Speaker 1: That's tianni Key who had the double double. We had
Speaker 1: Amelia Hassett on the show last week and it agreed
Speaker 1: with her. I guess she had fourteen points, seven rebounds,
Speaker 1: four assists, four block shots and only one turnover in
Speaker 1: thirty five and a half minutes. Amore brilliant as usual,
Speaker 1: nineteen points, eight assists, did have five turnovers, but two
Speaker 1: steals and clever Strack was seventeen points and ten boards.
Speaker 1: So two Wildcats with double doubles?
Speaker 9: Is he?
Speaker 1: Higginbottom was the only player who did much for Arkansas.
Speaker 1: She had thirty two points, ten of twenty five from
Speaker 1: the field, three out of seven from beyond the arc.
Speaker 1: She had more than half of Arkansas's points. But you
Speaker 1: know I've talked about how plus minus can mean everything
Speaker 1: or nothing. Is he Higginbottom in terms of plus minus
Speaker 1: was the worst player on the floor for Arkansas minus
Speaker 1: eighteen and plus minus. So again the way you look
Speaker 1: at it, and shows had four blocks and three assists,
Speaker 1: So take it for what it's worth. You know, it's
Speaker 1: fun to look at, but oftentimes it's meaningless. Right, let
Speaker 1: me shift over to baseball now, because Tito was around
Speaker 1: Terry Francona making the rounds with the Reds caravan and
Speaker 1: we've got some soundbites courtesy of WKYT. But he is
Speaker 1: now the manager of those Reds after leading the Phillies
Speaker 1: Red Sox and the Indian Slash Guardians for about ten years.
Speaker 1: But he was with the Socks from four to twenty eleven,
Speaker 1: and he led them to a pair of World Series titles.
Speaker 1: Stepped away from the game for a year, came back
Speaker 1: in Cleveland, stepped away from the game for a year.
Speaker 1: Now he's in Cincinnati. It's a great hire, I think,
Speaker 1: because he doesn't come back unless he's convinced, unless the
Speaker 1: Reds have convinced him that they are going to make
Speaker 1: good moves, smart moves and give themselves a chance to
Speaker 1: compete even though they're in a smaller market. It can
Speaker 1: be done. We've seen it happen just INSINCEI It's been
Speaker 1: a while, but Kansas City's not a huge market and
Speaker 1: they compete. Yeah, it's tough to compete with the Yankees
Speaker 1: payroll and the Dodgers payroll, but the players still have
Speaker 1: to play. It can be done. So Francona talked about
Speaker 1: getting the energy back in himself and in the team.
Speaker 6: I mean, anytime there's a new year, everybody feels it.
Speaker 6: But when you come to new organization, you're only new
Speaker 6: ones and it does give you a little extra pep
Speaker 6: in your staff and that's a good thing and I'm
Speaker 6: enjoying it.
Speaker 1: Red last year finished fourth in the division. They fired
Speaker 1: manager David Bell after a seventy seven and eighty five finish,
Speaker 1: and of course Tito Francona is going to know more
Speaker 1: about his team when they break camp down in after
Speaker 1: spring training, but he believes that they've got a pretty
Speaker 1: good idea of.
Speaker 6: What they need to do things that we know for
Speaker 6: us to make a move in the stand, we have
Speaker 6: to be better defensively, you know, you give teams extra
Speaker 6: outs or extra opportunities that doesn't bode well really too often,
Speaker 6: and then want us to remain aggressive because our guys
Speaker 6: are really they do a good job. They're aggressive, they run,
Speaker 6: but we want to make less outs on the basis
Speaker 6: if we can couple being aggressive and being intelligent, that's
Speaker 6: got a chance to get pretty special.
Speaker 1: I am a Saint Louis Cardinals fan. When I don't
Speaker 1: root for the Cardinals, I root for the Reds, and
Speaker 1: I do believe this was a great hire. This guy
Speaker 1: is one of the best in the game, one of
Speaker 1: the best ever, I think, and I think if the
Speaker 1: Reds do smart things by him for him, with him,
Speaker 1: they're going to prosper. I do firmly believe that. I
Speaker 1: also love the fact that he of course he kept
Speaker 1: calling cal Gill. Former Kentucky All American was part of
Speaker 1: UK's twenty oh six SEC championship team, went on to
Speaker 1: a career in the majors, kind of curtailed by injuries.
Speaker 1: Then it became a minor league manager, a major league coach.
Speaker 1: I ended up lately with the Reds, and Francona kept
Speaker 1: most of the coaching staff, including Dolin Calgill, so he came.
Speaker 6: Over to Cleveland for a couple months, so I did
Speaker 6: know him, not not a lot, but a little bit.
Speaker 6: We actually retained about six of the coaches, and the
Speaker 6: reason being is one the guys felt like they were
Speaker 6: good coaches, and being new, you certainly want to have
Speaker 6: some people that know how you want to do things,
Speaker 6: but being too new isn't necessarily the right thing either.
Speaker 1: I had forgotten that Colin played a few games for
Speaker 1: the Indians back when they were still the Indians. Back
Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen. He came over into trade from Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: The Angels traded him and he played a little bit
Speaker 1: for the Indians. Went free agent at the end of
Speaker 1: that year after he had been sent down to the Miners.
Speaker 1: Then he bounced around to the Miners with the Padres,
Speaker 1: the Phillies, the Washington Nationals, signed a contract with the Mariners,
Speaker 1: and was named as the manager for THEBA Arkansas Travelers
Speaker 1: back in twenty twenty one, and then he joined the
Speaker 1: Reds as their first base coach before the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: three season. So he and his wife Allison and their
Speaker 1: two kids are closer to Lexion now and they're staying
Speaker 1: there at least for the time being. So another reason
Speaker 1: to like heet old Francona. All Right, when we come back,
Speaker 1: David Sisk of Cats Illustrated, part of the Rivals Network,
Speaker 1: we'll talk about Kentucky basketball here on six point thirty
Speaker 1: WLAP Welcome back to the Big Lewinsider joining us now
Speaker 1: is the guy who's been on with as many many times.
Speaker 1: He is the guy who covers Kentucky and North Carolina
Speaker 1: for Cats Illustrated, and that is part of the Rivals Network.
Speaker 1: That is David cis coach. Kind of got your hands
Speaker 1: full these days. North Carolina is trying to fight its
Speaker 1: way through a tough season in the ACC and Kentucky
Speaker 1: and his first year under Mark Pope. Since we've spoken
Speaker 1: to you last, I know the Wildcats have stumbled a
Speaker 1: couple of times. Get to that. But what have you
Speaker 1: seen in the way this Kentucky team has developed under
Speaker 1: Mark Pope.
Speaker 9: Well, I think developed right now. That's in the eye
Speaker 9: of the beholder. I think the more they play together
Speaker 9: obviously that they do develop. But there's a lot of
Speaker 9: things working against them right now. Injuries are the big one.
Speaker 9: Oh yeah, And you know, I was at Vanderbilt Saturday,
Speaker 9: and you know, as I watched the game, there were
Speaker 9: times on the floor I'm going, gosh, just doesn't even
Speaker 9: look like the same lineup that you know they had
Speaker 9: earlier in the year when they're scoring one hundred against
Speaker 9: Florida and then even the week before when they scored
Speaker 9: ninety nine against Alabama. But it's not I mean they
Speaker 9: were going to line up and I'm talking about critical
Speaker 9: stages of the game, going to the lineup we've not
Speaker 9: seen all year, and the freshmen played. I don't have
Speaker 9: the number in front of me I think for combined
Speaker 9: twenty six minutes. So you developed, maybe as far as
Speaker 9: developing those youngsters and now and you line up that's
Speaker 9: trying to get used to playing with each other. So
Speaker 9: there's development there. But you know, as far as it
Speaker 9: going into wind lost column and developing toward the team's selling,
Speaker 9: you know, until they can get people healthy, that's kind
Speaker 9: of been put on hold, and you just try to endure.
Speaker 9: Right now. I think the other thing is too very
Speaker 9: tough league. There was a question yesterday in the press
Speaker 9: conference tomorrow Pope I was at it about basically the
Speaker 9: league just feasting on each other, and you know, he
Speaker 9: said there was nowhere he would rather be. We expected
Speaker 9: that answer, but it does and it doesn't let up.
Speaker 9: You know, you get out there, you've lost two in
Speaker 9: a row. Just what you get to go to Knoxville
Speaker 9: for that route canal so and then you know, on
Speaker 9: top of that team scouting and I just noticed that
Speaker 9: there were some actions that kentake you in earlier in
Speaker 9: the year for a good part, just like on her
Speaker 9: Zooms where you go over to the top and you
Speaker 9: curl and you read. I'm like, how in the world
Speaker 9: and you guard this stuff? I don't know if you can.
Speaker 9: But Vanderbilt guarded it well. They had they really Uh well,
Speaker 9: you've got to watch it live. You've got to see
Speaker 9: how teams were, what they're going to do, who are
Speaker 9: going to play off of who they're going to get
Speaker 9: up in who they're going to go ver the top up.
Speaker 9: You know the switches. They've been through this and so
Speaker 9: many people run zoom. They know what's coming, but personnel
Speaker 9: is different. So that's what makes it hard to guard.
Speaker 9: And I just noticed, you know, they had a lot
Speaker 9: of success Kentucky has the last couple of game and
Speaker 9: running the flex and getting away in on the block
Speaker 9: or the smaller guard after they switched. But Vanderbilt was
Speaker 9: ready for that and they jumped into an automatic front.
Speaker 9: They just waited and no way had to get behind.
Speaker 9: They didn't have to loop. So you know the scouting
Speaker 9: reports that put out there, they know how to defend,
Speaker 9: and they're want to see as good defense. I seen
Speaker 9: all Europe not the best so far on Tuesday. So
Speaker 9: right now they're just trying to work through those things.
Speaker 1: You don't want to make excuses, but there are reasons.
Speaker 1: And Andrew Carr is a big one. And early in
Speaker 1: the year when he was playing well and they were
Speaker 1: trying to figure things out, there were folks who thought, well, uh,
Speaker 1: they can win with that Andrew Carr. Then the pretty
Speaker 1: soon as well, they can't win without Jackson Robinson and really,
Speaker 1: the truth is they need all the pieces together, don't they.
Speaker 1: It's not it's not a superstar driven team. It's it's
Speaker 1: more about the combination.
Speaker 9: And you made the point there where your last sentence
Speaker 9: right where I was going, it's not. It's a system
Speaker 9: oriented team. Yeah, and when you lose parts of that system,
Speaker 9: you know, you suffer as a whole. And you know
Speaker 9: the difference. I said this after the Alabama game. Some
Speaker 9: people ask me, what's the big because you have offensive
Speaker 9: minded coaches, you have modern day basketball. What was the
Speaker 9: difference besides you know, Alabama bigger on the perimeter defensively
Speaker 9: and that causes some issues. And I said, you know,
Speaker 9: to me, the big difference was Alabama when it comes
Speaker 9: down to it will ten seconds left to go on
Speaker 9: the shot clot and they don't have anything and those
Speaker 9: those are rare, but Mark Sears and one of those
Speaker 9: guards are just going to break you down. And Kentucky
Speaker 9: really doesn't have that. Now, Oh way, I see more
Speaker 9: and more o tato Oway starting to turn into that
Speaker 9: a little bit. You's had two nice games in a row,
Speaker 9: but Kentucky really doesn't have it. You don't see them
Speaker 9: spread the court and go one on one when it's
Speaker 9: late in the shot clock. They just keep running through
Speaker 9: their system and the stuff's hard to guard, you know,
Speaker 9: when you turn it over for thirty seconds and they
Speaker 9: keep coming off cuts and they keep turning it up,
Speaker 9: and just all the movement and the ball movement and
Speaker 9: the screening, and you have to guard every bit of
Speaker 9: it perfectly. You know, sooner or later there's going to
Speaker 9: be a breakdown, and it's tough, but they have to
Speaker 9: stay in that, whereas some of these other teams just
Speaker 9: have guards who are going to you know, clear it out,
Speaker 9: are going.
Speaker 1: To go yeah, you know, and we're used to seeing it,
Speaker 1: aren't we in Lexington. Yeah, because the previous administration they
Speaker 1: had generally had at least one guy could do that, right.
Speaker 9: Yeah, and you go back. I mean, you know, I'd
Speaker 9: go back farther than that, you know, I'm old enough
Speaker 9: some of my earliest teams that I remember. The first
Speaker 9: Kentucky player I ever remember was Kevin Greedy. Oh and
Speaker 9: I don't know if I don't know if Kevin Greedy
Speaker 9: could have you know, broken guys down and got but
Speaker 9: he was he was an NBA player for a long time.
Speaker 9: I don't remember enough about him to know his style.
Speaker 9: But then you go on to Goose Gibbons, who had
Speaker 9: the huge NC DOUBLEA championship game its dukes scoring the forties.
Speaker 9: But you know, even when you go from there, you
Speaker 9: start you get into the potent. You know, you think
Speaker 9: about Rex Chapman, you get into the Patino era with
Speaker 9: Mercer and Anderson and Delt and all these guys, and
Speaker 9: then you go into John Wall and the Darren Fox
Speaker 9: and and all these players to call a Perry Head
Speaker 9: and it's just it's been one after another and like
Speaker 9: I said, these they're not that kind of team. And
Speaker 9: I think it's very interesting when Mark Pope. If you
Speaker 9: asked me what is the most interesting thing or what
Speaker 9: are you most intrigued about? With Mark Pope? You could
Speaker 9: sit down with him for a day. I don't think
Speaker 9: it would be X's and O's. He said. You know,
Speaker 9: last last spring, when he brought players into the portal,
Speaker 9: some of them were sight unseen. He did not go
Speaker 9: by the highest ranked players who passed the eye test.
Speaker 9: He went by analytics. Whoever fit the analytics the best,
Speaker 9: that's who he brought in. So in other words, he's saying,
Speaker 9: whoever fits our system best They may not be the
Speaker 9: most athletic, they may not be breakdown guys. You know,
Speaker 9: you may not have a chasel a near in it
Speaker 9: as far as somebody can provide that ad or some
Speaker 9: of the others that's come out of the portal. But
Speaker 9: you know, he wanted the system players. So that's what
Speaker 9: it is now. But if he gets there, or rather
Speaker 9: his tenure expends and he recruits, it's not spur of
Speaker 9: the moment where he has to put together a roster
Speaker 9: of it two or three weeks, I think you see
Speaker 9: it become more athletic and you start to see those
Speaker 9: kind of guys come in.
Speaker 1: Talking to David Siskey, of course covers Kentucky and North
Speaker 1: Carolina for Rivals dot Com, you see he's working Cat
Speaker 1: Illustrated and he's based in Nashville, so he was there
Speaker 1: when the Wildcats lost to Vandy. Frustrating for the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Nation coach because Wildcats fall behind, which they've done
Speaker 1: a lot this year, come all the way back and
Speaker 1: take the lead. But it's Vandy executing down the stretch.
Speaker 1: Did that surprise you? And mind you, as you've already
Speaker 1: pointed out, this is a pretty good Vandy team. This
Speaker 1: is not one of those sad sack Vandy teams we've
Speaker 1: seen through the years, even though Vandy has had some contenders.
Speaker 1: But this is a well schooled team.
Speaker 9: I go back to when they had Riley the Chance
Speaker 9: and those guys been a decade ago. Kevin Stallings, I
Speaker 9: mean there are three coaches removed, Kevin Stallings, our quick
Speaker 9: time flight. So uh, you know, so we got to
Speaker 9: go back to a decade. This is the best team
Speaker 9: that they've had in ten years probably, So you know,
Speaker 9: I'm not surprised that they're good because and this is
Speaker 9: kind of a I've kind of gone on this hill,
Speaker 9: uh for the last couple of days. But you know,
Speaker 9: when you look at at at Byington and Pope coming in,
Speaker 9: they were in similar situations. They went to the transfer portal.
Speaker 9: Now Kentucky went all in. Vanderbilt went about as deep
Speaker 9: as you could go without going on in. They've got
Speaker 9: maybe one or two more high school players and recruits,
Speaker 9: but a lot of those guys on the roster are
Speaker 9: ones that don't play, so they rent really what the
Speaker 9: guys that play. These are new names to the Vanderbilt fans.
Speaker 9: So if you looked at the transfer portal, rankings. Kentucky
Speaker 9: Vanderbilt were both in the top ten and by people
Speaker 9: who get paid to do this, who know the portal
Speaker 9: better than anybody. They were apart by a lot of
Speaker 9: these guys by one to two spots, so they were
Speaker 9: almost equal. The difference is Vanderbilt's not as big, but man,
Speaker 9: I think they missed car yesterday. That difference. But when
Speaker 9: you look at that and the year started, I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 9: hold on, Kentucky is top fifteen? Are gonna be top fifteen?
Speaker 9: After a couple of games, Vanderbilt still picked fifteenth in
Speaker 9: the SEC. What is There's something there? And I do
Speaker 9: think you have brand by us. We don't have office
Speaker 9: in Vanderbilt, and it is Kentucky. But I think if
Speaker 9: you take the names off the back or off the
Speaker 9: front rather and it's just five guys, ten guys out
Speaker 9: there playing five on five at the rect Center at
Speaker 9: the WY, it's going to be a really, really, really
Speaker 9: close game.
Speaker 8: Now.
Speaker 9: I picked Kentucky by four or five, and when I
Speaker 9: thought Carr was playing, it was a total crap shoot
Speaker 9: without him. But am I surprised no? Because Vannerbelt for
Speaker 9: they're a good team, man, really good team and Kentucky
Speaker 9: fans went in there and it was there was over
Speaker 9: half Big Blue Man. It looked like the Old Blue
Speaker 9: Miss back from the nineties. But I just wonder when
Speaker 9: they left, and you know, I think a lot of
Speaker 9: us went in and thinking, Okay, Kentucky's just going to
Speaker 9: feed on them here, and it didn't turn out that way.
Speaker 9: So I'm curious across the board how much has that changed?
Speaker 9: You know, what's the confidence level and the team from
Speaker 9: the weekend going now to Tennessee and Old Miss and
Speaker 9: some of these games is coming up here in the
Speaker 9: next few days, especially.
Speaker 1: Without Andrew Carr. We can talk about that on the
Speaker 1: other side of the break with David Sisk of the
Speaker 1: Rivals Network. We're back in a minute here on six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP. Welcome back. We're talking to coach David Sisk,
Speaker 1: who covers UK and North Carolina recruiting for the Rivals Network.
Speaker 1: Can see his work on Catch illustrated. Before we go
Speaker 1: any further. North Carolina grabs a recruit that Kentucky wanted.
Speaker 1: I think towards the end, just the fact that UK
Speaker 1: was in it was a little bit of a surprise. David.
Speaker 1: So although some people say it's still a bad loss
Speaker 1: on a recruiting trail. He's having a pretty good recruiting year,
Speaker 1: Mark Pope. So that wasn't a real shock that the
Speaker 1: kid ends up at North Carolina, you know.
Speaker 9: Yeah, And there were some smoke screens in that one.
Speaker 9: And I got word Saturday week ago that he may
Speaker 9: have already it may have been AJ Debanca tot deal.
Speaker 9: So let me explain. AJ Debants went to Chapel Hill.
Speaker 9: There were three schools for Ajdabanson BYU, North Carolina, and Alabama.
Speaker 9: He signed with Alabama or excuse me, will BYU like
Speaker 9: five to six weeks before he made his announcement. Went
Speaker 9: to the Alabama Alabama North Carolina game in Chapel Hill
Speaker 9: a week before he had signed, and about our before
Speaker 9: he announced, and five weeks after he signed to watch
Speaker 9: that game, and all these rumors were going out that
Speaker 9: Alabama was hot and heady, and I believed that I
Speaker 9: fell for it and he had already. I mean, you
Speaker 9: talk about playing it, you go watch North Carolina, Alabama
Speaker 9: and Chapel Hill after you signed, w BYU and nobody
Speaker 9: knew you had sign So this one was similar. I'd
Speaker 9: heard that about a week before Saturday week ago that
Speaker 9: there was a very good chance that he may have
Speaker 9: have done the same thing that Wilson may have signed
Speaker 9: with North Carolina weeks ago. I was told last Monday
Speaker 9: from another source that indeed was true. They had true
Speaker 9: of that, and so it was. But North Kentucky was
Speaker 9: in the final two. But there was something there that
Speaker 9: made them pick North Carolina. And hey, they're a blue
Speaker 9: blood too. It's not like you lost out of you know,
Speaker 9: it's not like you lost out in Virginia Tech or somebody.
Speaker 9: So they you know, that just goes with it. But yes,
Speaker 9: a very good recruit recruiting class so far, it's a
Speaker 9: top five recruiting class. But I'll be honest with you
Speaker 9: when you start getting nowadays a big time in il Gosh,
Speaker 9: I'll be honest with you what it takes to get them.
Speaker 9: I would rather save that money, go into the portal
Speaker 9: and get me two to three guys, because we can
Speaker 9: see right now with Kentucky's roster where injuries really hurt
Speaker 9: their them. Yeah, what if they had one or two
Speaker 9: more pieces, And I would rather do that next year.
Speaker 9: I'll be honest. In today's game, I would not want
Speaker 9: to and I've said this before. I would really not
Speaker 9: want to go any deeper than three signees on high
Speaker 9: school each class. That would be it. If you and
Speaker 9: show me you're going to go five or six or seven. Now,
Speaker 9: I don't care. Give me somebody liked Banta and you
Speaker 9: have the rest, but I would rather have I would
Speaker 9: rather go into the portal because you can get more players.
Speaker 9: I would rather have a twenty one year old that's
Speaker 9: proven than an eighteen year old. You're not spending as much.
Speaker 9: There's more contract maintenance, roster maintenance with the contracts there.
Speaker 9: That's what I would rather do, and I think you
Speaker 9: can build it better that way. So now if I'm Kentucky,
Speaker 9: then I would shed in tears over that whatsoever.
Speaker 1: Man, it has really changed the face of college ass
Speaker 1: in it especially he's more pronounced with basketball because there
Speaker 1: are fewer players, so the spotlight burns a little hotter,
Speaker 1: doesn't it.
Speaker 9: I wouldn't care, if I'm being honest with you now,
Speaker 9: I wouldn't care if I ever got any high school kids. Wow,
Speaker 9: I would. I just wouldn't.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 9: Now, I know you want to develop in there over time,
Speaker 9: and it can at times. I think it can reach
Speaker 9: out and so I'm being a litters a little hyperbole there,
Speaker 9: But over to the most part. I remember a coach
Speaker 9: told me about four or five years ago when also,
Speaker 9: so North Kentucky's going through this slide, you know, And
Speaker 9: that's the thing. And I'm probably hard into it because
Speaker 9: I watched John Keller Perry for years bring start to
Speaker 9: bring in six or seven guys out of high school.
Speaker 9: And I've told you this on this show. His team
Speaker 9: never could get old because he brought in so many freshmen.
Speaker 9: He just couldn't go getting up guys out of Portal
Speaker 9: Cree already had seven presiments done in and he said
Speaker 9: he wasn't going to do that anymore, but he couldn't.
Speaker 9: But he did the same thing this year. So if
Speaker 9: you look, if you're down about your Kentucky team, look
Speaker 9: at Arkansas because the team they've got would have been
Speaker 9: your team lost down to the man one in six
Speaker 9: from the SEC. So I would rather just watch him
Speaker 9: so much, and I had I had a very good
Speaker 9: friend of mine who's an assistant coach in the Big
Speaker 9: East tell me like five six years ago, he said,
Speaker 9: you have to find a way for your team to
Speaker 9: get on. I know one had done there was a
Speaker 9: time there Kentucky and Duke would take all freshmen could
Speaker 9: compete for the national championship and win them. But you
Speaker 9: cannot do that anymore because you can just put in
Speaker 9: older players. So yeah, it has changed. It is totally
Speaker 9: different than it was ten years ago.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, And that is all over the last three
Speaker 1: or four years. That has been a point of contention
Speaker 1: or a point of interest around Final four week is
Speaker 1: just how older these teams are, the veteran teams. And
Speaker 1: Lamon Butler was part of one of those. You know,
Speaker 1: said Caliperry tried it with that Kellen Grady team and
Speaker 1: it might have worked except for injuries. But you're right,
Speaker 1: his pattern was to always be young.
Speaker 9: Now you got to remember, I'm getting older here, so
Speaker 9: my mind doesn't work too used too. But I'm trying
Speaker 9: to go back and remember these numbers from from ten
Speaker 9: months ago. But if I'm correct here, and if I'm off,
Speaker 9: I'm just off by one or two. Of the final
Speaker 9: four teams, I think there was like one Top twenty player, yeah,
Speaker 9: and like one up the final eight. I believe there
Speaker 9: was like two or three Top forty players and maybe
Speaker 9: two five stars. They just did not exist. On those
Speaker 9: teams was it was guys who had stayed through the process. Now,
Speaker 9: if you talk about what kind of high schoolers you want,
Speaker 9: I wouldn't spend the money on the one and done. Now,
Speaker 9: the guys I would go get are the guys who
Speaker 9: I feel like could stay in that program and develop
Speaker 9: and get bigger and stronger, and then they turn into
Speaker 9: those twenty one year old guys. And keep those guys
Speaker 9: and bring those into portal. That's what I would be
Speaker 9: looking for. So you never know, Man, what is a
Speaker 9: Travis Perry and the Trent Noah gonna look like. Don't
Speaker 9: judge them right now because we've got caught up in
Speaker 9: this Calipery stuff over the years, and we judge them
Speaker 9: to be successful failures by what they are as freshmen.
Speaker 9: Let's look at those guys down the road and see
Speaker 9: what they are.
Speaker 1: It's a different world right now, David Sisters, it's on
Speaker 1: top of it for rivals and the cat's illustrated website.
Speaker 1: Do you see his work there. We love talking hoops
Speaker 1: with the coach. Thank you so much.
Speaker 9: I'll say this yeah, and I'll say this quick. I'll
Speaker 9: give you example. North Carolina on the other side, thirteen
Speaker 9: and eight, they're not a good team. I don't know
Speaker 9: if they get in the tournament or not. But you
Speaker 9: look at North Carolina, They've got three five They've got
Speaker 9: three guys ranked in the top fifteen coming out of
Speaker 9: high school that start on that roster, and that is
Speaker 9: a bad team. And they've got two freshmen and a sophomore.
Speaker 9: And then they bring you in Caleb Wilson. So if
Speaker 9: they stay in that vein and just bringing in t
Speaker 9: they've got these five star freshmen. Well, Wilson's going to
Speaker 9: be wanted done. Ian Jackson's wanted done this year. And
Speaker 9: people said, what's it going to do for North Carolina
Speaker 9: next year? And I said, I don't know if it
Speaker 9: changes anything much because they I mean, they've got three
Speaker 9: top fifteen kids out of high school right now, and
Speaker 9: I wouldn't be surprised if you look up two weeks
Speaker 9: from now and they're not about thirteen and ten. So man,
Speaker 9: it's interesting.
Speaker 1: Well to your point, how many of these kids on
Speaker 1: the Arkansas team that were expected to carry that squad
Speaker 1: found four are going to be back next year.
Speaker 9: So yeah, and you look at Arkansas too. I think
Speaker 9: Cala Perry where he didn't go into analytics. He goes
Speaker 9: and gets the best athlete and and a lot of
Speaker 9: these rankings are based on athletes, especially when they come
Speaker 9: out of high school. So he's always got the best
Speaker 9: looking teamil on coming off the bus. But he's got
Speaker 9: another team that can't shoot the ball and they're just
Speaker 9: doing overly skilled.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's amazing, and this is going to be
Speaker 1: a fascinating, fascinating run to the NCAA tournament, not just
Speaker 1: for Kentucky fans, but for college basketball fans everywhere. Coach,
Speaker 1: thank you so much, and we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: And you can follow the coach at coach David Sisk
Speaker 1: on Twitter and the X.
Speaker 9: We'll talk to you soon, all right, buddy, thank you.
Speaker 1: Up next, I remember two with John Clay and the
Speaker 1: Harrow Leader Vinnie Hardy Kat's talk Wednesday here on the
Speaker 1: Big boone Side or six thirty w lap.
Speaker 8: S.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blond Sider. Joining us now
Speaker 1: is a longtime friend that the show, mister John Clay,
Speaker 1: sports columnists for The Herald Leader, back from Nashville where
Speaker 1: he covered Kentucky. Vanderbert and John you wrote about for
Speaker 1: The Herald Leader in Kentucky dot Com. The fact that
Speaker 1: there are issues that Mark Pope and his to have
Speaker 1: need to fix and better sooner than later with Tennessee
Speaker 1: coming up. But without giving away the store, what kind
Speaker 1: of issues are you looking at? Obviously they've got health issues.
Speaker 1: It's nothing they can fix, but it's severely affecting his team.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously, you know, Andrew carr
Speaker 11: Out did not play on Saturday, been dealing with the
Speaker 11: bat back for at least a couple of weeks. And
Speaker 11: when we talked to Mark after the Mark Pope after
Speaker 11: the game, he said, you know that he they felt
Speaker 11: like that, you know, every time he was making progress
Speaker 11: and then they played him in a game and then
Speaker 11: he was back to zero with him. So they thought
Speaker 11: that for this game they would sit him helping the
Speaker 11: rest with you know, help, and that he would when
Speaker 11: he does come back, he'll be able to better, you know,
Speaker 11: kind of survive though wear and tear, playing in a
Speaker 11: game without getting a set back as far as his
Speaker 11: back is concerned. But I think they kind of you know,
Speaker 11: I think in this particular day, manager obviously could have
Speaker 11: helped them. Kentucky has size advantage. He would help Kentucky's
Speaker 11: size advantage over Vanderbilt. Banderbilt was not particularly is not
Speaker 11: a particularly tall team. And also, you know, the big
Speaker 11: thing coming out of that Bandy game is the seventeen turnovers.
Speaker 11: That's what Bandy does. They force you into turnovers and
Speaker 11: they don't turn the ball over themselves. And that's what
Speaker 11: they did Saturday, forced Kentucky into seventeen turnovers, and wow,
Speaker 11: they only turned the ball over five themselves, five times themselves.
Speaker 11: I think Carr, with his leadership, he's kind of a
Speaker 11: calming influence. He's a crafty player, not that he's a guard,
Speaker 11: but I think he could have helped out, you know,
Speaker 11: on that end as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, experienced their best inside player. When
Speaker 1: you talk about consistency and the different things he does well,
Speaker 1: he definitely I think would have been the difference. But
Speaker 1: you know, that's where you are and you got to
Speaker 1: figure it out, don't you.
Speaker 11: Yeah, And I also kind of mess with Mark's substitution patterns.
Speaker 11: He ended up playing Colin Chandler, Trent Noah and Trento
Speaker 11: had not played a minute an SC game before Saturday.
Speaker 11: You know, I thought Trent when he first came in
Speaker 11: gave him a lift. He had I think four rebounds
Speaker 11: in twelve minutes. But then at the end of the
Speaker 11: game when he was in at the end of the game,
Speaker 11: I thought he got caught in a couple of really
Speaker 11: tough defensive matchups, especially late when he was trying to
Speaker 11: guard aj Hoggard Band. He's a veteran guard transfer from
Speaker 11: Michigan State, played four years for time as a Michigan
Speaker 11: State and Harder was able to get the ball to
Speaker 11: the basket on Trent and he didn't make the basket. Mcloughin,
Speaker 11: Devin mclock and the transfer from Boston God was able
Speaker 11: to clean it up and that was a big basket
Speaker 11: in the game. So hopefully they can get Andrew back.
Speaker 11: But yeah, turnovers had not been a problem until lately.
Speaker 11: They had seventeen turnovers against Texas A and M, even
Speaker 11: though they were able to win that game. So you know,
Speaker 11: La Mott. Butler is another guy who you know he
Speaker 11: hasn't missed time, not lately, but he's he's as many
Speaker 11: times as he's hit the floor as we've seen him
Speaker 11: hit the floor, I think have taken their toll. I
Speaker 11: think he had two assists, six turnovers Saturday. I think
Speaker 11: it's just a second game all year where he's had
Speaker 11: more turnovers than assists. He's another guy that I think,
Speaker 11: you know, they wish they could get He could be
Speaker 11: a little you know, could get a little healthier. And
Speaker 11: I think also because you know, uh, you know, we
Speaker 11: kind of I don't know that we've forgotten about it,
Speaker 11: but the fact that they haven't had Kerk Crisa for
Speaker 11: quite a while since the Gonzaga game. I think Travis
Speaker 11: Perry has done an admirable job for a freshman filling
Speaker 11: in as a backup. But I think that's another guy
Speaker 11: they could really use if they could get him back,
Speaker 11: And there seems to be questions about if and when
Speaker 11: they'll get him back. Is Kirk criesa Yeah.
Speaker 1: No question, And I forget about it until I watch
Speaker 1: Travis Perry struggling on defense and he's you know, I
Speaker 1: was doing the best he can but but teams are
Speaker 1: making no secret and why would they. They're going right
Speaker 1: at him. Okay, here's eleven. Uh, we know what we
Speaker 1: can do against this guy. Let's get at it and
Speaker 1: getting better. But he's just not quite ready. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean Kerk Crisa and the other thing, what you
Speaker 1: said about Butler's exactly right, And I'm watching. I wasn't there.
Speaker 1: I know you were, but I'm watching the game, and
Speaker 1: I'm thinking they've got Butler. But they don't have Butler.
Speaker 1: You know, that's not the guy we saw early and
Speaker 1: here because he is so beat up, you.
Speaker 9: Know, right right, and.
Speaker 11: And that's you know, obviously affected him on both ends
Speaker 11: of the floor offensively and defensively as well. Like I said,
Speaker 11: the only forced Fandy into five turnovers, and Butler's that
Speaker 11: kind of guy who can force turnovers and get a
Speaker 11: lot of steals. You know, It's interesting. I think he
Speaker 11: Tucky ended up winning the boards, but thirteen, but they
Speaker 11: got twelve twelve less shots than Vandy, and I think
Speaker 11: and Fandy had three more field goals. And I think
Speaker 11: that goes back to the turnovers. And I think Bandy
Speaker 11: coming in the game, led the nation and turn turning
Speaker 11: turnovers into points and they had a fourteen to seven
Speaker 11: advantage in that one as well. And I think, yeah,
Speaker 11: you that's that's the way you put it. I think
Speaker 11: is exactly right. They have Butler, They have Lamont Butler.
Speaker 11: He's out there on the floor playing, but it's not
Speaker 11: the real Lamont Butler, not the Lamont Butler that we've
Speaker 11: been used.
Speaker 12: To up to this point.
Speaker 1: That's not the guy who's stepped through the portal who
Speaker 1: materialized on campus. And maybe we'll see that guy again,
Speaker 1: you know. But like Pope said in his postgame, everybody's
Speaker 1: banged up, and you know as well as I from
Speaker 1: covering football more than anything, there's no substitute for rest,
Speaker 1: you know, and just letting your body heal. So we're
Speaker 1: talking to John Clay of the Harold Leader. He was
Speaker 1: down at Memorial Gym, which is a bit of a misnomer.
Speaker 1: I mean, Memorial is one thing, but it doesn't feel
Speaker 1: like a gym down there in Nashville. I've been down
Speaker 1: there a bunch, as you know, you have two through
Speaker 1: the years. We must say, and you've said this without
Speaker 1: saying it, this is not the Vandy of late. And
Speaker 1: there had been some really good Vandy teams, although I
Speaker 1: think you got to go back to the seventies for
Speaker 1: Vandy's to win an SEC title. But still they've had
Speaker 1: some good NCAA tournament bound teams. This one might be,
Speaker 1: so you've got to give them credit. And the job
Speaker 1: that Byington's done is the head coach there.
Speaker 11: Uh, you know, like ro last Seek, you know Jerry Stackhouse,
Speaker 11: who Mark Byington replaced. He was a household name as
Speaker 11: far as basketball people were concerned. You know, a great
Speaker 11: player at North Carolina and NBA All Star and then
Speaker 11: he was named the Vanderbilt coach. But he just never
Speaker 11: could quite get it going. And when they let him
Speaker 11: go at the end of the last season and they
Speaker 11: Mark Barrington is head coach, I'm sure a lot of
Speaker 11: people are like, who's that? Who's Mark Barrington? Even though
Speaker 11: he had led James Madison to a thirty two and
Speaker 11: four record last year. And he's kind of like he
Speaker 11: was in the same situation Mark Pope was in. He
Speaker 11: had to put a roster together and Pat Kelsey I
Speaker 11: wrote about that last week. He had to put a
Speaker 11: roster together from scratch. I think they've got like eleven
Speaker 11: trans players out of the transfer portal. He's got one
Speaker 11: or two freshmen that sit on the team. And I
Speaker 11: think he's a yeah, I think he's done a really
Speaker 11: good job. You can tell he he you know, he
Speaker 11: seems to know what he's doing. He knows how he
Speaker 11: wants to play. He said, they're not a real big team,
Speaker 11: but they play really good defense, force a lot of turnovers.
Speaker 11: They do take a lot of three pointers, and you
Speaker 11: know they've been hit and miss on their three pointers.
Speaker 11: But already they're off to a you know, a much
Speaker 11: better start than I think what they won nine games
Speaker 11: all of last year Vanderbilt, and I think what the
Speaker 11: win on Saturday was fifteenth or sixteenth. I don't have
Speaker 11: it in front of me for Vandy, so they're way
Speaker 11: ahead elected I think they only went four conference games
Speaker 11: last year, and I think that was their fourth conference
Speaker 11: win on Saturday, So they're already way ahead of last
Speaker 11: year's schedule.
Speaker 1: You know, I'll always wonder with stack House what might
Speaker 1: have happened, and it's all everything's would I could have,
Speaker 1: should have in sports. But if Darius Garland stays healthy,
Speaker 1: you know, they win a lot of games. They win
Speaker 1: more games. This guy was was an incredibly highly rated recruit,
Speaker 1: but as you know, it got hurt almost immediately and
Speaker 1: never really got to play. And I think that I
Speaker 1: think if he stays Selsey, they win games. Maybe Stackhouse
Speaker 1: can can build on that. But you're right, Byington was
Speaker 1: a proven commodity, and you know, I talked to somebody
Speaker 1: who works down at Vandy and they said, you know,
Speaker 1: the portal's all well and good, he said, but we
Speaker 1: can take a lot of kids through the portal because
Speaker 1: of academics, and they're not going to talk about that
Speaker 1: for obvious reasons. It makes it sound like they're poor mouthing.
Speaker 1: But Vanderbilt is not a program in any sport where
Speaker 1: they can get instant help out of the portal, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. That makes it more impressive if
Speaker 1: you ask me.
Speaker 8: Right.
Speaker 11: No, No, I think he's doing a really good job.
Speaker 11: I heard Dame Bradshaw's say on Tom Leech's show last
Speaker 11: week that you know, he did the Bandy Tennessee game,
Speaker 11: and he said, I know there's going to be a
Speaker 11: lot of Kentucky fans there on Saturday, and there were.
Speaker 11: There were a lot of Kentucky fans and we get
Speaker 11: there there they were loud.
Speaker 9: He said.
Speaker 11: The big thing about Bandy now is they're back to
Speaker 11: have and they have a home court advantage again, which
Speaker 11: they haven't had for quite a few years. And that
Speaker 11: place was packed on Saturday and there were a lot
Speaker 11: of Kaducky fans, but the Bandy fans got loud, especially
Speaker 11: there at the end of the game when Bandy ended
Speaker 11: up pulling it out. I think what They scored the
Speaker 11: game's last six points to pull it out, and they
Speaker 11: stormed the court. And I just saw before were talking
Speaker 11: to you, Dick, I got a five hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 11: fine from the from the sec over. And I know
Speaker 11: I saw pictures or I saw a video of Vandy's
Speaker 11: ad talking to the students pleading with them. He was
Speaker 11: either before the game or during the game. Do not
Speaker 11: storm the court. You're gonna cost us money. Money we
Speaker 11: could use for nil, money we could use for athletic
Speaker 11: to make things better. But they did not heed the
Speaker 11: AD's admonition there. So yeah, so they're gonna have somebody there.
Speaker 11: Baby's gonna have to write a big check.
Speaker 1: And those are the smart kids, they should know.
Speaker 11: Better, right, that's right, yeah, right, No, it's uh.
Speaker 12: And some of it.
Speaker 1: Does the money go to Kentucky?
Speaker 11: I think that, you know, I don't know. I want
Speaker 11: to say it goes to the conference office. Maybe the
Speaker 11: other team gets some of it. I don't know.
Speaker 9: That's a good question.
Speaker 11: I have to find the answer to that.
Speaker 1: I don't know, And I'm glad to hear you say,
Speaker 1: I know there were a lot of Kentucky fans. But
Speaker 1: I saw a tweet from Andrew Marinus, who went to
Speaker 1: Vandy's the author and his dad's a Pultzer Prize winning
Speaker 1: author and very proud Andy commodore. You mean know Andrew,
Speaker 1: and he tweeted that he was disappointed with the crowd. Really. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it was packed.
Speaker 11: To me, it was a sellout. They that's before the game,
Speaker 11: that it was a sellout. It looked pretty packed to me.
Speaker 1: Sounds good. John Clay and my guests from The Hero
Speaker 1: Leader in Kentucky dot Com Back in a minute. Hair
Speaker 1: on the Big Boon Sider six thirty w l a P.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. We're talking with John Clay, sports columnists for
Speaker 1: The Hair Leader back from Nashville.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 1: Can I assume you're heading to Knoxville or's Mark going?
Speaker 9: Yes?
Speaker 11: No, I'll be heading the arch well.
Speaker 1: Mark's busy counting ballots. I know that for the Kentucky
Speaker 1: Sports Figure of the Year.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: But Knoxville is going to be in tendency to be
Speaker 1: an entirely different kind of game. But this one is
Speaker 1: going to be a real grinder, A meat grinder, isn't it.
Speaker 9: Yeah?
Speaker 11: And I think Mark he may petition the SEC. What's
Speaker 11: the deal that every time Kentucky plays somebody there coming
Speaker 11: off of the tough wall. Yeah, where they want to
Speaker 11: go the one I had? You want to get back
Speaker 11: on the winning, winning side of things. You know that happened,
Speaker 11: you know with Alabama Alabama, just like Ole Miss Bandy
Speaker 11: had just lost to Alabama. So yeah, this is another
Speaker 11: one where Tennessee lost Auburn. I went back and watched
Speaker 11: yesterday because I didn't get to see much of the
Speaker 11: Tennessee Auburn game the other night. One of the things,
Speaker 11: so if you go back and watch the Tennessee Auburn
Speaker 11: and every didn't start on TV anyway till it's thirteen
Speaker 11: to ten in the first half. I think there was
Speaker 11: only seven and a half minutes before ESPN because Kansas
Speaker 11: Houston before it went into overtime. But we can talk
Speaker 11: about the length of these games. That would be another
Speaker 11: discussion for another day, I guess. But yeah, definitely, I
Speaker 11: mean that's the way Tennessee played. I thought it was
Speaker 11: interesting that after the game, Rick Barnes said that he
Speaker 11: was not unhappy at all. He didn't like the loss, obviously,
Speaker 11: but that Aarburn went but he thought his team fought hard,
Speaker 11: played really hard. They lost to a good team, and
Speaker 11: he seemed to be pretty happy with the way they played,
Speaker 11: you know, to me and watching the game. The kind
Speaker 11: of thing that kind of hurts Rick Barnes teams over
Speaker 11: the years, they hit that spell where they just can't
Speaker 11: make a shot, and Auburn took advantage of that. But
Speaker 11: they you know, they're really good defensive teams. Kind of say,
Speaker 11: Brick Barns teams are always good defensive teams. It's going
Speaker 11: to be a tough matchup for Kentucky, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: But you know, when you go back and look at it,
Speaker 1: Kentucky's won some big games down there, right and especially
Speaker 1: through the year. I mean even when Billy Clyde was
Speaker 1: here winning down there or playing well and nobody thought
Speaker 1: they had a chance.
Speaker 11: Right, No, No, that's true, that's true. And you know, yeah,
Speaker 11: you never know what's going to happen in these types,
Speaker 11: these types of games. You know, Auburn hurt. You know,
Speaker 11: John jenia Broom came back after there's another guy who
Speaker 11: been beat up in injury. He came back and had
Speaker 11: a big game. He didn't start for Auburn, but he
Speaker 11: had a big game. Was really kind of the difference
Speaker 11: in the game. But you know, it's just that physical
Speaker 11: style play. And that was a question about the Kentucky
Speaker 11: team a couple of weeks ago. Uh, especially like in
Speaker 11: the Georgia game where they were kind of getting physical,
Speaker 11: kind of getting beat up, maybe bully and pushed around.
Speaker 11: I thought they answered that when they came back the
Speaker 11: next week against Mississippi State. Alabama was a different type
Speaker 11: of game Texas and in place physical and they were
Speaker 11: able to beat them. But then I don't know it
Speaker 11: was so much with Bandy's that they were physical, but
Speaker 11: they really put that pressure, defensive pressure. Mark Pope talked
Speaker 11: about that after the game. He said, they really got
Speaker 11: us on our heels, which he said to me was
Speaker 11: super disappointing. And Tennessee is going to be the same
Speaker 11: type of team. They're gonna put a lot of ball
Speaker 11: pressure on try to create turnovers and try to win
Speaker 11: off their defense.
Speaker 1: It's been interesting with this team. John that going back
Speaker 1: to when the word was and I admit that I
Speaker 1: wondered aloud, was this team a little soft? They heard it,
Speaker 1: you know, for all the times, and you've heard this
Speaker 1: throughout your entire career, coaches and player. We don't listen
Speaker 1: to that. We tune out the media, we don't read.
Speaker 1: You know, we live in a bubble, We live under
Speaker 1: the covers. We don't. You know they do. And the
Speaker 1: players admitted to us after the game, didn't they that
Speaker 1: you know, we heard that talk and they responded, which
Speaker 1: I thought was really interesting. And you got to wonder,
Speaker 1: do they have enough juice in the tank to answer
Speaker 1: this time?
Speaker 11: You know, well, all the right, right, right, obviously, but
Speaker 11: I'm sure you know that after a game like this
Speaker 11: against Fanny, that's going to be a point of emphasis
Speaker 11: there that much time. Obviously turn around with Tennessee, uh,
Speaker 11: you know, the ball pressure, being able to handle that
Speaker 11: and defensively and not turned the ball over, which you
Speaker 11: know Tennessee is going to try to do. Another big
Speaker 11: thing with Tennessee is Chas Lanier, the transfer who came in.
Speaker 11: He did not have a particularly good game at Auburn,
Speaker 11: but when he's he's their offensive threat when he's and
Speaker 11: obviously we all know about Ziegler. Seems like he's been
Speaker 11: there ten years instead of five years. The point guard. Obviously,
Speaker 11: he's a really good player. But if Lanier is on,
Speaker 11: they're tough to beat. But if he if he's not hitting,
Speaker 11: Tennessee sometimes has trouble scoring points. So that's I think
Speaker 11: that'll be another key to the game on Saturday.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just think Butler versus Ziggler is going to
Speaker 1: be key. And if you know, if i'd have Butler
Speaker 1: in a what do you call this chamber? You put
Speaker 1: somebody in a you know, or Myko Jackson slept in
Speaker 1: every night.
Speaker 11: Right, you know, just ojo think coach ed Johnson.
Speaker 1: That's tuperbolic.
Speaker 9: That's it.
Speaker 1: That's it, thank you. Yeah, I'd have him in that
Speaker 1: thing twenty two hours a day. But yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: going to be it's going to be tough. But uh,
Speaker 1: it's always interesting to see how many fans get in,
Speaker 1: how Blue gets on down in Knoxville, isn't it.
Speaker 9: Yeah?
Speaker 11: And I think that that may have been what our
Speaker 11: friend Andrew D. Vandy may have been disappointed by all
Speaker 11: the Kentucky fans that got in. That's probably they're not
Speaker 11: as many fans get in at Knoxville as they used
Speaker 11: to remember the years where Kentucky they dominated the crout
Speaker 11: there and Tennessee changed their ticket policy, and that's when
Speaker 11: they were struggling in basketball. That started to change when
Speaker 11: Bruce Pearl came in. Maybe took a little bit of
Speaker 11: a dip after that, but it's back with Rick Barnes.
Speaker 11: And and I want to say, and I'm gonna write this,
Speaker 11: I'm gonna write a column that this too. You know, Dick,
Speaker 11: we go back a long way. We go back all
Speaker 11: the way to you know, as a kid remembering Ray Mears.
Speaker 11: And there's been a lot of Tennessee coach over the
Speaker 11: years that the UK fans have loved to hate. But uh,
Speaker 11: you know Rick Barnest, and he's a rival. But I
Speaker 11: really like Rick Barnes. I think he's a really good coach.
Speaker 11: I think he's a really good person. He's won Tennessee coach.
Speaker 11: I think have a hard time hating.
Speaker 1: Oh listen, I've talked about it before and written about
Speaker 1: it that if not for the fact that he wanted
Speaker 1: to wait on Kevin Durant, he probably would have taken
Speaker 1: the Kentucky job. But you know, Barnard needed an answer
Speaker 1: right away, and and and Barnes wanted to wait, and
Speaker 1: Durant went pro and the next thing, you know, here
Speaker 1: comes Billy Gillespie. So yeah, it's just another one of
Speaker 1: those would it could have, should have? Uh, John, before
Speaker 1: I let you go, I don't know how frustrated you are,
Speaker 1: but I was, and I you know, I don't hate
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. I was rooting for Ray Davis and the Bills.
Speaker 1: The Chiefs I rooted for growing up in the AFL,
Speaker 1: But I sure wanted to see the Bills and what
Speaker 1: that fourth down call? That that boss spot. I mean,
Speaker 1: if ever anything calls for a computer chip, it's that,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I don't believe the NFL's rigged,
Speaker 1: but it's not. It's not administered very well.
Speaker 11: Now, especially in this age of technology, seems. I mean,
Speaker 11: there's so many things that they could do that would
Speaker 11: help the officials out that they don't do. But I mean,
Speaker 11: you got to hand it to the Chiefs. Uh, you know,
Speaker 11: they keep finding ways to win obviously. Uh you know,
Speaker 11: I thought, you know there everybody talks about Mahomes, but
Speaker 11: their defense Steve Spagnol, their defensive coordinator, that blitz call
Speaker 11: on that fourth down for they have the ball back.
Speaker 11: I mean, just a great, great defensive call. But you know,
Speaker 11: it should be a good Super Bowl Chiefs and Eagles.
Speaker 11: You got Chiefs going for a third title, nobody's ever
Speaker 11: done that before. And the Eagles, you know, obviously a
Speaker 11: dominating win over the Commanders. But yeah, you got to
Speaker 11: feel feel badly for the Bills fans. So to get
Speaker 11: so close so many years and have the same team
Speaker 11: knock them out every time. It's not like different teams
Speaker 11: are knocking them out. It's the Chiefs and they come
Speaker 11: so close again and not get it done. I mean,
Speaker 11: and and you know, you hear people say all the
Speaker 11: time there are no better fans in the NFL, no
Speaker 11: more loyal fans, no more.
Speaker 9: Passionate fans in the Buffalo Bills fans.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you got to feel for them, same franchise
Speaker 1: that lost four Super Bowls. John Clay the Hero later,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, John Clay Ivy, John Clay four
Speaker 1: of the Roman Numerald. Just like a Super Bowl. You
Speaker 1: can find him on Twitter. Thanks so much, John, and
Speaker 1: will see you at the Knicks ball game. Appreciate it.
Speaker 11: Ok, thank you, Dack.
Speaker 1: You know, while we're talking Tennessee, I went back and
Speaker 1: looked at John Scott's incredible Kentucky Statistics Big Blue History
Speaker 1: Statistics page at the Tennessee series, and amazingly, since the
Speaker 1: SEC Tournament championship game in March of twenty eighteen, which
Speaker 1: the Wildcats won, these teams have split the last sixteen games,
Speaker 1: including two SEC Tournament games, one in Nashville which Kentucky
Speaker 1: lost and one in Tampa which the Wildcats lost in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. You've got to go all the way
Speaker 1: back to twenty thirteen. Really started in twenty ten through
Speaker 1: thirteen when Caliperry first got here for a winning streak
Speaker 1: by the Wildcat which reached six games, and there really
Speaker 1: aren't any long Tennessee win streaks or even longer streaks
Speaker 1: when Patino was here. But of late this has been
Speaker 1: brutally even. We'll find out what happens tomorrow night. Vinnie
Speaker 1: Hardy's next on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Big Blue and Cider. Joining us now in our celebrity
Speaker 1: hotline is a guy who hosts Cats Talk Wednesday along
Speaker 1: with Terry Brown and also the Believe in Kentucky podcast
Speaker 1: with our man Aaron Gerschad and former UK quarterback Jalen Wilow.
Speaker 1: That would be Vinnie Hardy and Vinnie. How's your basketball
Speaker 1: season treating it right now, well, right.
Speaker 12: Now, the first I guess official roughcats of the season
Speaker 12: overall still fairly well, but little turtles right now.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's a good way to put it. And
Speaker 1: things get no easier, as you know, with Tennessee coming up,
Speaker 1: and possibly know Andrew Carr, I really do believe, and
Speaker 1: this is not an excuse, should have won that game
Speaker 1: down there in Nashville, as you know, but I sure
Speaker 1: believe he would have made a big difference because Vandy
Speaker 1: just didn't have a whole lot of size, and I
Speaker 1: think Carr could have been a real difference maker.
Speaker 12: Definitely, And I you mentioned Aaron and I talked about
Speaker 12: that on the latest episode. We thought they might try
Speaker 12: to squeeze by without him, and it almost worked. Terrible
Speaker 12: first half, they overcame it, you know, should have should
Speaker 12: have closed him out. They just weren't able to close
Speaker 12: him out after you know, that great rally in the
Speaker 12: second half would have been nice to kind of steal
Speaker 12: that one without him and then maybe he's ready for
Speaker 12: Tennessee and hopefully rested, and you know, but it just
Speaker 12: didn't work. And so now you've got a three game
Speaker 12: of the street looming. If you don't play better in
Speaker 12: Knoxville in in Nashville.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but as you said, they almost pulled off that comeback.
Speaker 1: I thought they were careless with the basketball in the
Speaker 1: first chap, didn't play with a lot of fire. How
Speaker 1: did they turn your eyes? How do you think they
Speaker 1: turned things around on the second half against Vnderville.
Speaker 9: Yep?
Speaker 12: I think I think they were just you know, embarrassed.
Speaker 12: They got punched in the mouth and it was hey,
Speaker 12: let's punch back. Almon Or was huge. You know, he
Speaker 12: sits in that corner and he's locked and loaded and
Speaker 12: he you know, no hesitation. My hometown got Trent Noah
Speaker 12: got some meaning for minutes and he didn't do anything
Speaker 12: to hurt himself, much like Travis Perry has been doing
Speaker 12: progressively throughout the year. Just to turnovers overall kind of
Speaker 12: bit them. You know, we haven't seen that. That's not
Speaker 12: being characteristic of them. And if Butler he beat up
Speaker 12: like Andrew Carr and for the most part, it's still
Speaker 12: been playing great. He had his struggle Saturday. A lot
Speaker 12: of people are on him for that, and you're not
Speaker 12: going to be follows every game, and it was just
Speaker 12: kind of a bad time for that. Happened, but that's
Speaker 12: what it was against Vandy and they beat Tennessee. They
Speaker 12: knew what they were going into it. He's always tough
Speaker 12: down there, tougher than it should be down there.
Speaker 9: Imber.
Speaker 12: I remember ninety three, mash burnon their right, number one
Speaker 12: and they lose at Vanderbilt. I'm like, man, you know,
Speaker 12: Kentucky still wins more than we think that. I think
Speaker 12: those losses stick in my mind when they should. You know,
Speaker 12: Billy g lost by forty down there.
Speaker 9: Like that.
Speaker 12: I don't know.
Speaker 1: And you know what the Tubby team that won twenty
Speaker 1: sixth straight, that wasn't the first win, but that team
Speaker 1: caught fire in a win over Vandy. And then the
Speaker 1: first half, Vandy was punking Kentucky. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you remember that game or not, but in the second half,
Speaker 1: towards the end of the first half, Kentucky started coming around.
Speaker 1: Second half, Kentucky absolutely eviscerated Vandy. Weird things happened in
Speaker 1: that building.
Speaker 12: Absolutely absolutely, And I don't know, it's just and Patino
Speaker 12: got rung.
Speaker 1: It was it ninety three when Patino got ejected, don't
Speaker 1: I wish I could remember?
Speaker 12: That was like it was like Billy McCaffrey was shooting
Speaker 12: the lights down those guys and they were, you know,
Speaker 12: in ninety three. Andi Kentucky has always been good, but
Speaker 12: I'm I'm a teenager, and this is the first really
Speaker 12: legit team because you know Patino's building and this this
Speaker 12: team eventually went to the Final four. So this is
Speaker 12: the first legit good team. And I can remember I
Speaker 12: was too young for eighty four and all that, and
Speaker 12: so their number one, my dad had just gotten you know,
Speaker 12: do you remember the humongous for model big screen TVs?
Speaker 12: Oh yeah, he just got a big screen TV set
Speaker 12: up in the living room and we get it turned
Speaker 12: on and they lose the Vanda bit. Maybe that's why
Speaker 12: six wouldn't the first game on that TV. They lose
Speaker 12: a Vandy. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Oh that's funny. Well, I I have covered many a
Speaker 1: game down there, and it is an odd place to play.
Speaker 1: And last week Jack Gibbons told me he liked that camera.
Speaker 1: Mills told me he liked it. Sean Woods told me
Speaker 1: he did not like it because, being a point guard,
Speaker 1: he did not like losing eye contact with his coach
Speaker 1: for half the game, you know, because you're running away
Speaker 1: from your own bench for twenty minutes of that game.
Speaker 1: So it's just like you said, it's a weird place
Speaker 1: and weird things happen, but you know, you got to
Speaker 1: take the better with the better. Unfortunately, I think Kentucky
Speaker 1: fans were counting on that win. But you know what
Speaker 1: Vinnie I was taking earlier today, when Kentucky started the season,
Speaker 1: I think most fans believe the Wildcats might finish five
Speaker 1: hundred in the league or better, you know, maybe they
Speaker 1: would lose anywhere from you know, six to nine conference games.
Speaker 1: So your knew conference losses were going to be there. Now,
Speaker 1: you don't count on losing a Vandy, but when it
Speaker 1: happens right in front of you, it just stings a
Speaker 1: little more, doesn't it.
Speaker 12: It does, It does, And we've we've heard Mark Pope say,
Speaker 12: of course, you know, understanding Simon and here for banners
Speaker 12: and things of that nature. But he's also, at times,
Speaker 12: i think, in his own way, tried to temper expectations.
Speaker 12: He said, there's times that you think I'm the greatest
Speaker 12: coach in the country. There's times that you think I'm
Speaker 12: the worst coach in the nation. I think that's his
Speaker 12: way of saying, we're gonna have some spots. We're gonna
Speaker 12: have some rough patches. Every coach in the league, you
Speaker 12: listen to all the post game pregame pressures, talks about
Speaker 12: what a monster the.
Speaker 9: League is and it is.
Speaker 12: So you combine that great job assembling this team. There's
Speaker 12: injuries right now. This team isn't freaky athletic. They have
Speaker 12: to play the some has to be greater than the
Speaker 12: collection of the parts. And if they don't play that way,
Speaker 12: they can kind of open themselves up to kind of
Speaker 12: get punks, as Jackson Robinson told Goose after the game.
Speaker 12: And so it's kind of where they are, like we
Speaker 12: mentioned in that rough patch right now, now you can
Speaker 12: easily cure it. It's gonna be tough to come to Knoxville,
Speaker 12: but they can't score. So if you can get a
Speaker 12: little offense, the pressures on them. But they play so
Speaker 12: physical they choke everybody out. There's a fear that, you know,
Speaker 12: who will impose who's will and who Tuesday.
Speaker 1: Night, Yeah, and I really think that that lost to Vandy.
Speaker 1: It was a bit of a wake up call for Tennessee.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's not like anybody needs one. When
Speaker 1: Kentucky comes to town, right. I mean, the Vandy fans
Speaker 1: stormed the court, which you kind of knew was going
Speaker 1: to happen with they went over the Wildcats. That's just
Speaker 1: something that these Kentucky players are in the process of
Speaker 1: learning about right now, isn't it.
Speaker 12: That's true. That's true. All this veteran experience is great
Speaker 12: and we're having to get used to that. But they're,
Speaker 12: like you mentioned, really new to having that Kentucky level
Speaker 12: target on their back. They've heard about it, you know,
Speaker 12: they went to the TBT game at Kentucky and Louisville,
Speaker 12: but now they're having to live it game in and
Speaker 12: game out at Missippi State, at Georgia, at Van Build,
Speaker 12: at Tennessee Toudas on there. They're getting the dose now
Speaker 12: in real time. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you can talk all you want, right. It's
Speaker 1: like it's like when Mitch Barnhart tried to prepare Billy
Speaker 1: Gillespie for what it's like being the head coach of
Speaker 1: Kentucky mis said. I tried and tried to, you know,
Speaker 1: and Billy acted like he knew what he was getting into.
Speaker 1: Nobody knows what they're getting into except Mark Popen. He
Speaker 1: signed up bit to be the head coach.
Speaker 12: Right exactly exactly. He just can't know now next year,
Speaker 12: whoever comes back to his team and how this team
Speaker 12: looks next year, they'll have this these feathers in their
Speaker 12: cap going forward and then they won't be in this
Speaker 12: position that they're in now. You know, they can have
Speaker 12: the guys on the team that can impart the wisdom
Speaker 12: to the incoming guys. But they're all learning together right now.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Vinnie Hardy. Vinnie you can hear every
Speaker 1: Wednesday on Cats Talk Wednesday as well as the Power
Speaker 1: along with Terry Brown, along with Aaron gershawan on the
Speaker 1: podcast Believe in Kentucky. Also Jalen Witlow is the former
Speaker 1: Kentucky quarterback. And we'll talk some football and more basketball
Speaker 1: after the break when we come back here on six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Vinnie Hardy and
Speaker 1: you can hear his work Kats Talk Wednesday with Terry Brown,
Speaker 1: the podcast at Believe in Kentucky with Aaron gershan I
Speaker 1: just Believe in Kentucky, but it's the Twitter handles at
Speaker 1: Believe in Kentucky, b l E A v in Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Of course we're talking about the basketball Cats the women
Speaker 1: with a huge win Sunday afternoon over Arkansas. Not a
Speaker 1: great Arkansas team, but Kenny Brooks, you talk about a
Speaker 1: guy who put a pretty good team together virtually the
Speaker 1: same way Mark Pope did if you had a chance
Speaker 1: to pay much attention to them.
Speaker 12: Absolutely absolutely in there, there's so fun to watch, Like
Speaker 12: you said, outside of Cassidy row and I'm blank on
Speaker 12: the other young lady, a lot of new faces, and
Speaker 12: he said, can take us with sleeping giant, and he's
Speaker 12: proven that to be the case with the start that
Speaker 12: they've gotten off to.
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny because the SEC women's basketball race
Speaker 1: has been lsu in South Carolina over the last few years.
Speaker 1: But for the longest time it was just Tennessee and
Speaker 1: you're familiar with Tennessee. And one of the teams that
Speaker 1: started to help balance things out was Kentucky under Matthew Mitchell.
Speaker 1: And then Don Staley shows up at South Carolina. Now
Speaker 1: that league is about as brutal as it is in
Speaker 1: football and men's basketball too.
Speaker 12: You know, it's unbelievable. I think I twitted the other
Speaker 12: day because you know, when Kirby Smart goes up in
Speaker 12: his knick thab and they show his record against everybody
Speaker 12: else in the SEC, and then his record against Alabama. Yeah,
Speaker 12: they almost have to do the same again for Kim Molky,
Speaker 12: show her wrekor against the rest of the SEC in
Speaker 12: her record against South Carolin because she is over five
Speaker 12: against the Gangcocks. So it's unbelievable. How you know, everybody
Speaker 12: in that league is the same way. Kentucky has fought
Speaker 12: their way into being ranked. As you mentioned, South Carolina, LSU,
Speaker 12: Alabama coming in this coming Thursday their top twenty. So
Speaker 12: it's it's becoming the same kind of gauntlet on the
Speaker 12: women's side as it is the men.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and really, more than anything, I think it's just
Speaker 1: become so physical, and I really believe you've got to
Speaker 1: credit Don Staley's South Carolina team for that. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's size, it's skill, it's everything. And I think
Speaker 1: this Kentucky team has a little bit of everything, you
Speaker 1: know what I.
Speaker 6: Mean they do, and.
Speaker 12: We're having to get used to seeing a team like
Speaker 12: this with so much size. And I'm not saying that
Speaker 12: as a NOx to Matthew Mitchell, but the Victoria Dunlap
Speaker 12: was six to one, you know, and she was the
Speaker 12: big for the Tuckey teams. We had Macy Morris on
Speaker 12: cass Talk Wednesday and before the season, she was not
Speaker 12: jealous or envious, but glad to see the sides because
Speaker 12: she said, look, when I was here, she said, I
Speaker 12: was having to bang with Asian Wilson. So you know
Speaker 12: these you know, Claris Dragon, Clara Silva and Johnny Key
Speaker 12: and and all these all these sizes a welcome sight.
Speaker 12: And now they can go, you know, toe to toe
Speaker 12: with all these others from lines in the SEC.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 8: Uh.
Speaker 1: Now, size is one thing, but physicality is another. So
Speaker 1: they're going to have to really get used. If do
Speaker 1: you think if they think they've been banging already, just
Speaker 1: wait till the last three games of the year with Tennessee,
Speaker 1: l s U and South Carolina. We're talking to Vinnie
Speaker 1: Hardy of Katch Talk Wednesday and to Believe in Kentucky podcast,
Speaker 1: which you co host with Jalen Wilow and former football cats.
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit of football. Uh so many
Speaker 1: changes and changes were much needed in this Kentucky football roster.
Speaker 1: Mark popl Mark Pope, Mark Stoops talked about that, didn't
Speaker 1: he on a couple of his press conferences that you know,
Speaker 1: he needed some people to move on, and a lot
Speaker 1: of people did, and he's brought in a lot of
Speaker 1: new faces. How do you feel about the portal traffic
Speaker 1: when it comes to Kentucky football.
Speaker 12: I hope we can get some good results. I'm just
Speaker 12: kind of waiting see mode. We see the names, we
Speaker 12: see the guys from the USC to Marshall and running
Speaker 12: back from Nebraska, and we just hope it all fits
Speaker 12: like we've seen it fitting basketball, which is much easier,
Speaker 12: but you just hope that they can come together. In football,
Speaker 12: they had so many holes and so many things that
Speaker 12: need to be fixed and addressed and so little time.
Speaker 12: Just hopeful that they got it right with this approach
Speaker 12: to constructing his roster.
Speaker 1: From where you sit and you've observed a lot of
Speaker 1: Kentucky football, how do you think it got away from
Speaker 1: Stoop Center's staff.
Speaker 12: You know a lot of you hear the discipline thing
Speaker 12: a lot. For me, I was just kind of disappointed
Speaker 12: with you know, we had all of this talent, this
Speaker 12: pipeline from Frederick Douglas, and to me, I don't think
Speaker 12: they got nearly as much out of that as they
Speaker 12: should have to call crowds moving on, you know, Dane Key,
Speaker 12: I mean I watched his dad. I watch Dante make
Speaker 12: tackles in place to Kentucky. Dante move, Dane moves on.
Speaker 12: Jagger's Jury's kind of still out on him.
Speaker 9: But the local.
Speaker 12: Talent here in the backyard, to me, I didn't think
Speaker 12: they got as many dividends as they would have hoped,
Speaker 12: or a lot of us would have hoped. From that standpoint.
Speaker 12: For me, that kind of maybe just kind of you
Speaker 12: let that window closed and didn't get the bang for
Speaker 12: your book that I think you should have.
Speaker 1: Well, they definitely did not in terms of well some
Speaker 1: of those guys, But I mean Dane Key, I thought
Speaker 1: did about as well as he could all things considered.
Speaker 1: You know, with the team that has struggled really to
Speaker 1: put together a consistently good, sec caliber O line over
Speaker 1: the last three years, actually there have been some decent
Speaker 1: performances individually and collectively. You cannot look back on last
Speaker 1: year without thinking about the upset they pulled down at
Speaker 1: Old Miss. That to me, Vinnie is the most puzzling
Speaker 1: part of last year. This team was good enough to
Speaker 1: put together a sixty minute effort and beat a really
Speaker 1: good old miss team on the road and yet just
Speaker 1: kind of flubbed its way through most of the rest
Speaker 1: of the year, you know what I mean.
Speaker 12: Yeah, yeah, and I'm not you know, listen, like you said,
Speaker 12: a lot of stuff was beyond Bangs control and can't
Speaker 12: really blame him for, you know, wanting to explore his
Speaker 12: other options.
Speaker 1: What he can do.
Speaker 12: Yeah, exactly, And I think a lot of a lot
Speaker 12: of it too, is so much inconsistency at offensive coordinator.
Speaker 12: I mean we've had how many link cahim twice and
Speaker 12: that I think that plays a role. Are they are
Speaker 12: these guys able to work freely?
Speaker 9: Are they not?
Speaker 12: We keep hearing that they're not. Or is his suits
Speaker 12: kind of putting too much of a thumbprint on them?
Speaker 12: Wim Cohen's about to go coach the Jaguars now, So
Speaker 12: I mean, you know, so that you got to get
Speaker 12: some continuity there. We finally get Bush handling for a
Speaker 12: second year. So so that's that's you know, you're not
Speaker 12: having to switch coordinators again. But I hope what we
Speaker 12: saw last year, you know, the Office of the line
Speaker 12: had a lot of issues and you know, poor Brock
Speaker 12: vander Griffin tired because he got beat up so bad,
Speaker 12: so not a lot of excitement coming back. So he's
Speaker 12: got a lot to prove coming forward to Hey, I
Speaker 12: can put together an offense, Wolford, I can put together
Speaker 12: offensive line that can protect that calls outa and cutter
Speaker 12: Bowlie or whoever we have back there, you know, calling signals.
Speaker 12: So yeah, of offenses consistently from the coordinator spot, too,
Speaker 12: is a huge role.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if because of the problems they've had of it.
Speaker 1: You just mentioned the two quarterbacks, because of the inconsistencies
Speaker 1: and the problems, expectations will be lower, for better or worse.
Speaker 1: But could that mean lower individual expectations for the quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's a plus, you know, maybe that's means less pressure.
Speaker 1: There's always pressure on whoever wins the SEC quarterbacks starting job.
Speaker 1: But I'm thinking within the Big Blue Nation. I remember
Speaker 1: how everybody expected a heck of a lot more from
Speaker 1: Rock vandergriff and like, like you said, he spent the
Speaker 1: whole season running for his life.
Speaker 12: Yeah, and I'm not one that demands that you have
Speaker 12: to win throwing the ball and run. The spread offense
Speaker 12: is if you gotta you know, Benny sneal your way
Speaker 12: to eight nine wins again, if that's you know, lineup
Speaker 12: and just run it down. Teams throw, if that's what
Speaker 12: you know. You know, Hamdom has had a thousand yard
Speaker 12: rushers everywhere he's being If that's the formula, fine, you
Speaker 12: know I'm not Oh, you gotta throw it, you gotta
Speaker 12: you gotta look like Ole Miss and you know, no, as.
Speaker 1: Long as you're winning, whatever works, whatever.
Speaker 12: Your identity is, find an identity and then stick with it.
Speaker 12: It is just grasping for elite passing attacks isn't working,
Speaker 12: then quit trying to quit trying to do that.
Speaker 1: Well, if you got the right personnel, yeah, if you've
Speaker 1: got a Will Levis and a Wandale Robinson sit you know.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But people weren't complaining when when Benny Snell and Chris
Speaker 1: Rodriguez were running over and through SEC defenses. So uh yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll see what Bush can come up with. Well, whatever happens,
Speaker 1: Vinnie Hardy will talk about it, of course on Kat's
Speaker 1: Talk Wednesday with Terry Brown and Believe in Kentucky with
Speaker 1: Aaron Gershawan and Jalen Witlow. We thank you, sir, have
Speaker 1: a great one.
Speaker 12: Hey, appreciate you having meat.
Speaker 1: I'll do it thanks to my guests Vinnie and John
Speaker 1: Clay and David Sisk. Tomorrow night is Kentucky, Tennessee. You
Speaker 1: will have that one for you right here. That's it.
Speaker 1: Good night for the garage and Lexington.
Speaker 11: Unless, Sir Fisher, let me ask you something.
Speaker 9: Six. Have you missed a play like that six when
Speaker 9: the ball jumped out of their Soon as we make contact,
Speaker 9: number tack. What's you were told about?
Speaker 2: You be on the field now watch.
Speaker 10: Sang every sea
Speaker 8: Having