Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on
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Speaker 2: All right, here we go five o'clock hour here on
Speaker 2: a Wednesday afternoon.
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Speaker 2: It is coffee and company and we are fueled by
Speaker 2: Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of reasons you should keep Thornton's in mind when it
Speaker 2: comes to maybe not a daily stop, but unless you've
Speaker 2: got an electric vehicle, you're probably gonna stop for gas
Speaker 2: at some point because you need it. And even if
Speaker 2: you have an electric vehicle, I mean, when it comes
Speaker 2: to grabbing something convenient rather it be food, drink, boo, whose.
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Speaker 2: And Thornton's not only do they let you save it
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Speaker 3: I don't know, but even if they didn't.
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Speaker 2: right now you can get three Monster Indergy drinks for
Speaker 2: just seven bucks. But how about this, This has got
Speaker 2: to be a newer promotion unless I just haven't paid
Speaker 2: attention to it. I'm not a big red Bull guy
Speaker 2: like red Bull, but red Bull often reminds me of
Speaker 2: bad nights drinking alcohol where red Bull was mixed and
Speaker 2: ended up mixed in a drink with another drink it
Speaker 2: didn't like, and it just you know, paid for it
Speaker 2: the next day. So do you have any is there
Speaker 2: anything like that that's non out alcoholic Austin for you
Speaker 2: that make reminds you of a bad night drinking that
Speaker 2: you just kind of stay away from.
Speaker 4: No, But for for me, it's if anything, it's vodka,
Speaker 4: like just a taste of vodka.
Speaker 5: I just can't do anything.
Speaker 3: The boost for me is tequila.
Speaker 2: But when it comes to mixing, which I now know
Speaker 2: and I don't drink much liquor, but the you know,
Speaker 2: if you drink something that is of high quality and
Speaker 2: you can do it with just water, or you do
Speaker 2: it like by itself and you slowly sip. It's a
Speaker 2: little bit more potent clearly, and it'll put you on
Speaker 2: your ear end if you're not sure monitoring how much
Speaker 2: you're drinking. But it is a much smoother experience, like
Speaker 2: all the sugar with like coke, Like I remember one time,
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I realized, like bourbon, if you get a
Speaker 2: good one and you know you're in a bourbon mood
Speaker 2: and you can you can monitor the intake level and
Speaker 2: you do mixing water as well, or you just have
Speaker 2: like a big like I've seen people with like the
Speaker 2: humongous balls of.
Speaker 3: Ice that they just put in a cup and those.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and over time, you know, your your bourbon becomes
Speaker 2: a little bit watery, but that takes a little bit
Speaker 2: of the bite off.
Speaker 5: Yes, so what it's supposed to do.
Speaker 2: And also you know you're not mixing in that sugary
Speaker 2: soda that can make it to where you're you know,
Speaker 2: feeling it even worse the next day.
Speaker 4: Ginger Ale is always a good throw win for that
Speaker 4: little old Forester and ginger Ale. That was my young
Speaker 4: young twenty twenty three to like twenty. It's not a
Speaker 4: bad mix right there. No, that's old Forester and ginger Ale.
Speaker 4: That was the constant going out drink.
Speaker 2: Yeah, red Bull, I mean vodka and Red Bull. That's
Speaker 2: a good like And I don't, gosh, I don't I
Speaker 2: think the last time I had a vodka Red Bull
Speaker 2: was that was in Vegas, which was at least three
Speaker 2: four weeks ago.
Speaker 5: Appropriate place to have that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, we've just been hanging out and had enough
Speaker 2: beer and I just wanted to mix it up a
Speaker 2: little bit. And vodka in Red Bull for me is
Speaker 2: the ultimate not really knowing what I'm going to get
Speaker 2: in a variety of ways, mostly not knowing if I'm
Speaker 2: going to just be perfectly chill and the perfect amount
Speaker 2: of like, you know, a little bit of a buzz,
Speaker 2: or if I'm going to be tipsy, but also feeling
Speaker 2: like I can go run a marathon. It gives me
Speaker 2: like a you know, a real jolt at times. And
Speaker 2: then sometimes I've had multiple vodka Red Bulls at night
Speaker 2: and wake up the next day thinking why are you
Speaker 2: so dumb?
Speaker 3: Why did you mix?
Speaker 2: Why did you why did you go to liquor after
Speaker 2: drinking beer? And then other times I wake up as
Speaker 2: if I didn't even realize that I drink the night
Speaker 2: before so I really never know what I'm gonna give.
Speaker 2: But because of how bad it can be on the
Speaker 2: other end, it's it's uh, I usually stay away from it.
Speaker 2: But anyways, the reason I bring up Red Bull is
Speaker 2: because right now you can do buy two, get one
Speaker 2: free of the twelve Mounts Red Bulls. And they also
Speaker 2: have a five dollars combo. You can get a wild
Speaker 2: berry doughnut in a wild Berry Red Bull combo five bucks.
Speaker 2: That's a that's a creative breakfast for you. So again
Speaker 2: we are philbuth Thornton's certainly appreciate appreciate them all right,
Speaker 2: So we've been all over the place today. I'll mention
Speaker 2: the O takea away watch once more, just because as
Speaker 2: we start the five o'clock hour, unless I have missed
Speaker 2: it during the break, it doesn't appear that we have
Speaker 2: received any information just yet. I don't say we like
Speaker 2: me and this show. I just mean, okay, here we go.
Speaker 2: It looks like it is now. Yeah, I did miss it.
Speaker 2: It happened before we went to break.
Speaker 5: In the uh.
Speaker 2: In the four o'clock hour, he has decided that he
Speaker 2: will return to Kentucky for his senior season, which was
Speaker 2: the obvious right decision, and I would imagine it was
Speaker 2: what he was going to do all along.
Speaker 3: But who knows, maybe he did. Maybe he did.
Speaker 2: Have a real last minute, you know, change of heart
Speaker 2: he was going to go and then he decided to stay.
Speaker 2: Or maybe he just didn't know and he wanted to
Speaker 2: utilize every every hour of every day to actually, you know,
Speaker 2: consider the situation. Or here's another factor that I doubt
Speaker 2: this is the case, but it really wouldn't surprise me.
Speaker 2: These kind of things give you a real big opportunity
Speaker 2: for marketing and branding, not just for you as an
Speaker 2: individual as a player, but also for your program because
Speaker 2: Otegoway coming back solidifies where everybody probably has Kentucky viewed
Speaker 2: next year as far as preseason rankings. So the content
Speaker 2: that goes into this, I don't know if. I mean,
Speaker 2: I haven't seen any of the actual social media stuff,
Speaker 2: but if there's like a video that somebody put together
Speaker 2: or a graphic, you would think they'd have that in
Speaker 2: mind just in case, you know, I mean, I bet
Speaker 2: there's been plenty of creatives that work for these universities
Speaker 2: that have two different scenarios created, right, I guess maybe
Speaker 2: you actually you wouldn't create.
Speaker 3: You wouldn't create.
Speaker 2: Something if it's a you know, for example, if he's
Speaker 2: gonna go pro, I don't think Kentucky would have celebrated
Speaker 2: with some big, special social media content. But even if
Speaker 2: the you know, even if there was a ninety percent
Speaker 2: chance that he does stay in the draft, you would
Speaker 2: still probably have something available just because you know you
Speaker 2: could take advantage of it. So I don't really know
Speaker 2: what led to it, but he did work out for
Speaker 2: the Nets today, and he wouldn't have been able to
Speaker 2: take advantage of that workout had he announced last week or.
Speaker 3: Two days ago.
Speaker 2: Probably so good, there's a good chance he just wanted
Speaker 2: to soak up every bit that you can from this
Speaker 2: process of getting feedback from the NBA and just going
Speaker 2: through the experience working out with other NBA hopefuls, and
Speaker 2: you know, there is real value there. But he looks
Speaker 2: as if he's got his Instagram post he wrote I'm
Speaker 2: back better now. I assume that's an indication that he
Speaker 2: got better throughout this process, which if he did, it
Speaker 2: wouldn't shock me. I'm sure he's competing against really good
Speaker 2: players as it's a competitive thing to make it in
Speaker 2: the NBA, and he will make a lot of money
Speaker 2: at Kentucky and he may never make it in the NBA.
Speaker 2: And had he not decided to come back to Kentucky,
Speaker 2: he wouldn't have had all that money, and he still
Speaker 2: may have never made it in the NBA. So this
Speaker 2: was the right decision for him and clearly the one
Speaker 2: that Kentucky fans were expecting and hoping. So right now,
Speaker 2: I feel like there's a good chance that we've got
Speaker 2: to beat down to as far as players that you realize,
Speaker 2: if they do decide to come back, it's going to
Speaker 2: make the team that they play for a lot better
Speaker 2: than they would be without them. Or it's guys who
Speaker 2: were in the portal, and when they decide to come back,
Speaker 2: there's going to be a lot of competition because they're
Speaker 2: that good. I don't really know who I don't really
Speaker 2: know who else is even I mean r J.
Speaker 3: Luise.
Speaker 2: It looks as if and you never know what to
Speaker 2: believe anymore, because I'm looking right here and this is
Speaker 2: a Twitter account called Johnny Thunderbird, and it's a Saint
Speaker 2: John's basketball fan account that put out an hour ago
Speaker 2: that he's keeping his name in the NBA draft, And look,
Speaker 2: maybe he is, but like I just now see things
Speaker 2: from outlets like that and just you know, I don't
Speaker 2: assume that it's fake, but I don't really know if
Speaker 2: I should trust it. But it wouldn't shock me if
Speaker 2: he does decide to stay, because and it looks like
Speaker 2: that is in fact what he's decided to do.
Speaker 3: Well, there's two different things here.
Speaker 2: You've got you've got a report that he's staying, and
Speaker 2: I don't even know if you can call something that's
Speaker 2: on ex Twitter or report because you know, you can
Speaker 2: pay for the blue check mark and just claim your
Speaker 2: whatever and just mess with people, which a lot of
Speaker 2: people do that, by the way. So I haven't seen
Speaker 2: anything certain as far as what he ends up doing.
Speaker 2: But if he does come back to college and he
Speaker 2: ends up available, he'll have a.
Speaker 3: Lot of suitors because he's that good of a player.
Speaker 2: All right, now, let me see if we got anything
Speaker 2: here the latest from the one and only Jeff Goodman,
Speaker 2: who I feel like is pretty pretty ahead of the
Speaker 2: game when it comes to covering and reporting on things
Speaker 2: like this. But yeah, it doesn't look you know, he
Speaker 2: did just share the Kentucky news with OA on the
Speaker 2: field of sixty eight Twitter account but nothing on R. J.
Speaker 3: Luise.
Speaker 2: And again, people all around here probably don't care anyways,
Speaker 2: because I wouldn't imagine that any of the local schools
Speaker 2: would be in play for him if he does come
Speaker 2: back to school or not. But anyways, that's the big news.
Speaker 2: So take Oway is coming back to Kentucky as expected,
Speaker 2: and now you don't have to worry about what you
Speaker 2: would do if he didn't, because there really wouldn't be
Speaker 2: I think a scenario where you could, even with all
Speaker 2: the money you have, I don't know how you'd be
Speaker 2: able to make up what you had lost with him.
Speaker 3: But it doesn't matter now because again, you didn't lose him.
Speaker 3: He's coming back to college.
Speaker 5: All right.
Speaker 2: Also, we got some news on the UL basketball scheduling front.
Speaker 2: The ACC announced the full schedule today. It just doesn't
Speaker 2: have we don't have dates and tip time anything like that,
Speaker 2: but we now know which teams Louisville is gonna play
Speaker 2: once on the road in conference play, once at home
Speaker 2: in conference play, and who they will play twice in
Speaker 2: conference play. We knew it was SMU as the I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm not calling them a rival regardless what the ACC
Speaker 2: wants to call it. But the pairing of annual your
Speaker 2: annual opponent that you're gonna get twice. Everybody in the
Speaker 2: ACC has one of those. Louisvill's was SMU, and I
Speaker 2: think it just played out because both of you are transplants,
Speaker 2: although Loisl's been there a lot longer and there I
Speaker 2: guess really was no natural fit anywhere else, so they
Speaker 2: just lump those two together. So Louis will play SMU
Speaker 2: every year basketball home and away, and then they're going
Speaker 2: to rotate a different team every year as a two
Speaker 2: time opponent. And this year you get Duke, which it
Speaker 2: is wild. I think this is really telling in regards to,
Speaker 2: you know, just where the ACC has fallen in recent years,
Speaker 2: because you're celebrating at the fact that you get Duke twice,
Speaker 2: not because you're super confident that you're going to beat
Speaker 2: them twice, but it's just because you realize that you
Speaker 2: get two opportunities to probably beat the best team in
Speaker 2: your league. And there could be a big difference between
Speaker 2: teams that are you know, Duke and then teams that
Speaker 2: are you know, in fifth place.
Speaker 3: You just don't know.
Speaker 2: So I do believe the ACC is going to get
Speaker 2: better and take a step forward. I just as I
Speaker 2: mentioned earlier, I think what really is going to be
Speaker 2: the factor for the ACC and we'll know when we
Speaker 2: get there. I mean, I don't know this for certain,
Speaker 2: but this is what I believe, this is how I
Speaker 2: believe it'll shake out. I think you will have teams
Speaker 2: like North Carolina, n C State, maybe Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Virginia.
Speaker 2: I think those are the teams, maybe even Syracuse. Those
Speaker 2: are teams that I think will be better than they
Speaker 2: were a year ago. But are they going to be
Speaker 2: good enough to where there's real value by beating them
Speaker 2: in lee play? And where that really gets determined, I
Speaker 2: think is what you do in the non conference portion
Speaker 2: of your schedule. Therefore, I think competing well outside of
Speaker 2: the conference is going to be huge for the ACC
Speaker 2: as far as getting any kind of benefit of the
Speaker 2: doubt when it comes to how conference play shapes up.
Speaker 2: And the SEC we know is the best league in
Speaker 2: basketball after last season and wouldn't be shocked if it
Speaker 2: once again is the best league in basketball. So if
Speaker 2: you can be competitive in the ACC SEC challenge and
Speaker 2: a couple maybe three ACC teams end up beating the
Speaker 2: top six or seven of the SEC, that could go
Speaker 2: a long way on selection Sunday. Easier said than done,
Speaker 2: and we don't even know the matchups just yet, but
Speaker 2: that is something I think will be a huge factor.
Speaker 2: And it's just it's usually the ACC is just so
Speaker 2: good that you know you're going to get opportunities to
Speaker 2: get valuable wins. You could you could finish with, you know,
Speaker 2: three games above five hundred conference play in previous year
Speaker 2: in the ACC, and you're still safely in with maybe
Speaker 2: even a decent seed. Louisville went eighteen and two and
Speaker 2: got an eight seed last year. I mean, that's that's
Speaker 2: where the league is. So Louisville schedule right now. In
Speaker 2: the non conference, you've got Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Cincinnati, Memphis,
Speaker 2: whoever you get in the ACC SEC Challenge, and then
Speaker 2: now you get Duke twice. So with those opportunities, if
Speaker 2: you can take advantage and win some of those games, heck,
Speaker 2: win a lot of them. I don't know if that's doable,
Speaker 2: but you should be able to. I mean, Cincinnati and Memphis,
Speaker 2: let's be honest, aren't. I mean, Indiana, Cincinnati and Memphis
Speaker 2: aren't teams that really Louisville should be thinking Okay.
Speaker 3: We got a tall, tall task here.
Speaker 2: I mean, I hope they're good and louisvill can beat them,
Speaker 2: because again that's best, that's the best case scenario. But
Speaker 2: if those teams are solid to good and you can
Speaker 2: win your fair share of them and then do what
Speaker 2: you're supposed to do the rest of the way, like
Speaker 2: beating up on the bad teams in your league, and
Speaker 2: then of course doing what you're supposed to do against
Speaker 2: the lower level teams that are going to be on
Speaker 2: the schedule, like the Winthrops or maybe the Bellermans, then that,
Speaker 2: you know, that gives you a much better chance of
Speaker 2: avoiding the eight line like you did last year. All right,
Speaker 2: So the college football playoff argument, that's really the best
Speaker 2: way to describe it, right, And I'm I mean, yes,
Speaker 2: it is. Technically it's fans arguing. I'm not sure if
Speaker 2: we're actually getting arguments with the acc SEC, Big ten
Speaker 2: and Big twelve commissioners, but clearly they're they're speaking on
Speaker 2: behalf of their league, and they're also operating as if
Speaker 2: they're doing whatever they can to you know, make.
Speaker 3: The most of doing whatever they can to help their league,
Speaker 3: like that's their job.
Speaker 2: That's not their fault, so not having somebody overseeing the
Speaker 2: entire situation that is not a representative of one league,
Speaker 2: that is not employed by a specific league, Like that's
Speaker 2: that's what you need, And I just I don't know
Speaker 2: if that's actually gonna ever happen. But the format that
Speaker 2: I think makes the most sense at sixteen.
Speaker 3: Is the champs.
Speaker 2: Get automatic bids from the four Power fours, but.
Speaker 3: They don't get any automatic spot. They just they're in.
Speaker 2: Right, if you're the champ in the Big twelve and
Speaker 2: it's that down of a year, you might get seated
Speaker 2: at thirteen, and then you should have a conference champion
Speaker 2: from one of the other leagues, the G six as
Speaker 2: they call it, and whichever team is best in the
Speaker 2: College Football Playoff rankings from that group should also get
Speaker 2: an automatic bid, and then the rest it's just up
Speaker 2: for grabs and it goes to the best teams, regardless
Speaker 2: of what conference they're in.
Speaker 3: To me, that makes the most sense. Or you could
Speaker 3: give nobody.
Speaker 2: A automatic bid and just pick the sixteen best teams.
Speaker 3: And if you did that, I really wouldn't have any
Speaker 3: issue with it either. But at that point you would
Speaker 3: have to ask yourself, okay, what's the point of conference
Speaker 3: championship games. That's what they run risk of here is
Speaker 3: if you don't have any incentive as far as seeding
Speaker 3: or even a bid to win your conference championship game,
Speaker 3: why play it?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess you're almost going to be you know,
Speaker 2: want you don't want you if you find yourself avoiding
Speaker 2: the conference championship game unintentionally it's because you lost. But
Speaker 2: also late in the year, you could be thinking, Okay,
Speaker 2: we only played twelve games, we only have one loss,
Speaker 2: and because of how our league shaped up, that removed
Speaker 2: us from having the chance to compete in the conference championship.
Speaker 2: But that's okay, because we probably would lose in the
Speaker 2: conference championship game, which would give us two losses, and
Speaker 2: that would make it tough for us to get in.
Speaker 2: So I still think you have to have some kind
Speaker 2: of incentive to get into the You have some kind
Speaker 2: of incentive for the college football or sort of the
Speaker 2: conference championship games, because they become really pointless outside of
Speaker 2: just you know, big money for TV, which really that's
Speaker 2: what the college football playoff is. But at least a
Speaker 2: lie to us and act like you know, it's not
Speaker 2: because of that. So you know, the SEC meetings are
Speaker 2: going on, and there's all kinds of things being said
Speaker 2: right now by different coaches that some I think are newsworthy,
Speaker 2: some not so much. But this is something that Kirby
Speaker 2: Smart said that I mean, I'm not gonna assume he's lying.
Speaker 2: It really doesn't shock me. It's first I've heard of it.
Speaker 2: But again, the top level of college football is insanely
Speaker 2: competitive to where you're gonna do whatever you can to
Speaker 2: get an advantage and just constantly be trying to find
Speaker 2: a way to get an edge over your opponent and
Speaker 2: be it a better situation. The Kirby Smart says that
Speaker 2: collectives are now striking deals with high school recruits to
Speaker 2: keep and also gain their commitments. Smart says, some of
Speaker 2: these guys, these kids, I should say, are getting paid
Speaker 2: as much as twenty thousand dollars a month in the
Speaker 2: unregulated market. If they decommit, they're being asked to return
Speaker 2: the compensation, he says, but clearly they could not do that,
Speaker 2: So that would that would help me understand why there's
Speaker 2: such a big push to get rid of the third
Speaker 2: party collectives because of this kind of stuff. But I'm
Speaker 2: just to the point now where there's always going to
Speaker 2: be a way to get people paid. And I'm sure
Speaker 2: before nil was a thing, people were still getting paid
Speaker 2: to an extent. We know that, right, Like, it's not
Speaker 2: a big shock. You don't clutch your pearls and think,
Speaker 2: oh my goodness, Like before this there were still people
Speaker 2: getting handshake deals and getting vehicles for their family or
Speaker 2: a job or their dad or something like that. I mean,
Speaker 2: that stuff's been going on forever. So if in fact
Speaker 2: what Kirby smart is happening and it's unregulated and they
Speaker 2: can't regulate it, I just chalk that up as okay,
Speaker 2: that's now the new way of bending the rules, because
Speaker 2: no matter what, even if you do open up and
Speaker 2: by the way, a lot of things are now opened
Speaker 2: up to where I mean it's a free market. You
Speaker 2: can pay for players, you can leave any time you
Speaker 2: want as a player and go play wherever you want.
Speaker 2: And some guys are playing college sports for six or
Speaker 2: seven years.
Speaker 3: So with that.
Speaker 2: You could be even more lawless, and it could be
Speaker 2: even more chaotic, and even more so the wild wild West.
Speaker 2: They'll still be people trying to find a way to
Speaker 2: ben rules and not break them or ben rules, break
Speaker 2: them and not get caught, because that's really just human
Speaker 2: nature for a lot of people. I hate to say that,
Speaker 2: but the old saying has some truth to it. You cheat,
Speaker 2: you ain't trying, right. I mean, that's I don't know
Speaker 2: if I necessarily believe that wholeheartedly, but like I know
Speaker 2: why people say it. All right, quick break, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: give you my top three I'm sorry, top four Louisville
Speaker 2: football players by certain positions. Next, and this is not
Speaker 2: a great teast for a five o'clock drivetime sports radio show,
Speaker 2: but somebody's requested it, and I want to have fun
Speaker 2: because I'm I'm running on fumes here.
Speaker 3: The tank is almost empty.
Speaker 2: I've got the rest of this show and then tomorrow
Speaker 2: and Friday and then that's all she wrote.
Speaker 3: I'll be out of here and on my way.
Speaker 2: To to eight forty whas. So hang out. Please don't
Speaker 2: leave me lonely while I'm wrapping this up. That'd be
Speaker 2: a sad way to go out. So please, I beg
Speaker 2: of you. Keep a lock right here on Sports Talk
Speaker 2: seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get right into it. I'm doing the
Speaker 2: same thing that I did last week with the basketball players,
Speaker 2: meaning I'm not basing it on my exact lifetime at
Speaker 2: this point because I was born in nineteen eighty eight,
Speaker 2: so therefore my memory of watching U of L basketball
Speaker 2: and football really starts in the It's more so basketball
Speaker 2: in the mid nineties. Football late nineties is what I remember.
Speaker 2: I mean I remember, I mean, I remember for certain players,
Speaker 2: certain things about football, but just not as as much
Speaker 2: as I do basketball.
Speaker 3: So I'm gonna go.
Speaker 2: With top four quarterbacks, and I'm gonna give you mine here,
Speaker 2: and I want I'm gonna get I'm gonna see Austin here.
Speaker 2: If you like, you don't have to tell me right now,
Speaker 2: but after I give you my four, tell me if
Speaker 2: there's any surprises, maybe not as.
Speaker 3: Far as order, but as far as.
Speaker 2: You know anybody that you were surprised that was there
Speaker 2: or that was that was left off. I mean, the
Speaker 2: first two are so obvious. I mean, and I think
Speaker 2: you could really unless you live to watch Johnny Unitas play.
Speaker 2: And even if you did, he was a better quarterback
Speaker 2: in the NFL than he wasn't. Louisville didn't do much
Speaker 2: at quarterback at Ul as far as throwing the ball
Speaker 2: because it.
Speaker 3: Was a different world.
Speaker 5: A statue though, that's right.
Speaker 2: I mean he's a legend, but again his his his
Speaker 2: legend really became bigger in the pros than it was
Speaker 2: around here. But still we embrace to touch that statue on. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we embrace him, and he's great. But when it comes
Speaker 2: to the top two, I mean it's it's Lamar and
Speaker 2: tent right, I mean.
Speaker 5: We're talking about quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean yes, I mean Lamar is number one
Speaker 2: and I don't think that'll ever be disputed by anybody.
Speaker 2: And I think I go Teddy just because he was
Speaker 2: really good for multiple years and the numbers show that
Speaker 2: his statistics as well as the wins. And then after that,
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I just as a fan, I
Speaker 2: can't remember a quarterback that I felt like we had
Speaker 2: a chance to beat anybody when he was on the field.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there was just something about seeing Teddy march out
Speaker 4: there and you knew.
Speaker 2: That and look, Lamar, Lamar did things that look that
Speaker 2: clearly looked as if, you know, only somebody created.
Speaker 3: In a video game could do.
Speaker 2: But with Teddy, I just kind of feel like the
Speaker 2: moments that And look, Teddy had bigger moments, bigger wins, right,
Speaker 2: I mean, Lamar had a great career here, and Louisville
Speaker 2: had some special wins along that along.
Speaker 5: The way as Heisman year.
Speaker 2: Really yeah, I mean the Florida State win was monumental.
Speaker 2: It's an all time memory, will always be for a
Speaker 2: lot of people.
Speaker 3: Not just me, sarahcuse jump, that's true.
Speaker 2: And then but I mean, I still believe that the
Speaker 2: best Louisville football win ever, certainly in my lifetime, is
Speaker 2: the win over Florida and the Sugar Bowl. And Teddy
Speaker 2: put Teddy put himself on the map more so than
Speaker 2: he already was that year, and obviously that was I mean,
Speaker 2: that was a big statement by louisvill football at that time,
Speaker 2: one of the forgotten things at least maybe it's not
Speaker 2: forgotten people that just don't mention it anymore. But we
Speaker 2: hated Kirk Herbstreet after that because he gave us no
Speaker 2: chance to win and and and you know, dismissed us.
Speaker 2: And then when we won, I say, we like I'm
Speaker 2: on the team. And whenever Louisville won, he acted as if, well,
Speaker 2: it's only because Florida wasn't interested, and I think Herbie
Speaker 2: learned at that time that we may not be a big,
Speaker 2: big brand in college football, but we are active online
Speaker 2: and we're petty and we don't forget.
Speaker 3: That's what he learned. So those are the top.
Speaker 2: Two m again, right, yeah, yeah, he's fine. And then
Speaker 2: for me when it comes to three and four, I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go Brian Brown, of course, but I actually
Speaker 2: think Lafor's in the twenty twenty the two thousand and
Speaker 2: four season was I mean, I think outside of Lamar
Speaker 2: and the Heisman, and Lamar in his in his junior year,
Speaker 2: Lafour's he was insane. I mean he had thirty five
Speaker 2: hundred plus yards in the twenty two thousand and four season,
Speaker 2: thirty total touchdowns. I still think that was a Louisville
Speaker 2: team that despite the schedule, I mean, I can't, there's
Speaker 2: no way to prove it, but I think that was
Speaker 2: the best level football team from top to bottom that
Speaker 2: I watched. Because not only did you have a you know,
Speaker 2: team that went I mean again you lost, so you
Speaker 2: don't get credit for it, but the one time they
Speaker 2: played a really really good team outside of that Boise
Speaker 2: State team in that in that Bowl game was Miami,
Speaker 2: and we all know how that played out, and that
Speaker 2: still pains me to this day to know that they
Speaker 2: you know, they couldn't they couldn't win that game. But
Speaker 2: not only was that team eight to zero in the
Speaker 2: comp ANDSA, they were eleven in one overall. They finished
Speaker 2: number six in the BCS rankings, which just got to
Speaker 2: be the highest we've ever finished, to be honest with you.
Speaker 2: And then the only loss was against number three Miami.
Speaker 2: That happened to have every I mean think every player
Speaker 2: who started on that team was drafted in the NFL.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's accurate. I don't think it is.
Speaker 2: I'm exaggerating, but they were loaded. But also so was Louisville.
Speaker 2: If you go back and look at that team, they
Speaker 2: didn't just have the guy, you know, they didn't just
Speaker 2: have the the you know, Lafor's. They had dudes who
Speaker 2: played in the NFL for a long time. And that
Speaker 2: coaching stab was loaded. Jeff was the QB coach. You
Speaker 2: had Tony Levine who went on to be a pretty
Speaker 2: successful coach elsewhere as a head coach, Mike Summers on
Speaker 2: the O line, I mean, Paul Petrino was still a
Speaker 2: madman here at that time.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to go.
Speaker 2: I'm going to go Brahm three, Lafour's four, And I
Speaker 2: feel bad leaving off Redmond because Revand was really really good,
Speaker 2: and he's one of those guys that didn't have any
Speaker 2: accomplishment as well. I shouldn't say he had a lot
Speaker 2: of the complishments, but he didn't have a team that
Speaker 2: really did anything crazy memorable, at least not that I'm
Speaker 2: aware of. As far as milestones for LOISVLL football, though,
Speaker 2: we feel like are really rare, So you know, I
Speaker 2: think maybe that's why it just doesn't. He doesn't come
Speaker 2: up as much. But I remember how big of a
Speaker 2: deal it wasn't he came to Louisville before it was
Speaker 2: the cool thing to do before guys like Brian Did
Speaker 2: and Mike Bush. So I'm gonna go that's my four.
Speaker 2: If if I was going five, I would go Redmond.
Speaker 2: But the running backs, no, by the way, real quick,
Speaker 2: did Is there anybody that I left off that you
Speaker 2: felt like was now?
Speaker 5: No, that's you was all in in.
Speaker 2: It was pretty easy and my taste too. Yeah, all right,
Speaker 2: so with running backs, this one's easy at the top.
Speaker 3: It's Mike Bush.
Speaker 2: I mean, twenty five hundred yards, thirty nine touchdowns. Imagine
Speaker 2: what would have been had he never got hurt. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's the It's one of the many, but it might
Speaker 2: be one of the top all time Louisville what ifs right,
Speaker 2: just because of how how great that team was, and
Speaker 2: you know, he goes down proven at the time he
Speaker 2: was a phenomenal player, one of the best running backs
Speaker 2: in the country. And then you know, you end up
Speaker 2: getting Kobe Smith and Anthony Allen to step in and
Speaker 2: those guys were great.
Speaker 5: That's true.
Speaker 4: You want to know a weird little side tidbit, as
Speaker 4: I when I was living in Arizona at that time,
Speaker 4: my grandma would always send the would always send us
Speaker 4: a Courier Journal articles and sweet and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great that's well, that's a grandma that
Speaker 2: that that you know, she knows that you would love that.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I don't remember if it was the front page or
Speaker 4: if it was just it had to be on because
Speaker 4: there were different subjects almost sports. One was entertainment, but
Speaker 4: on the same thing where it shows that Michael Bush
Speaker 4: is laying there and it says Heisman candidate out for season.
Speaker 4: There's a sub bottom of the corner that was like
Speaker 4: the same time that Steve Ir when the Crocodile Hunter died.
Speaker 4: And remember I always remembered seeing Michael Bush laying there
Speaker 4: and then just hearing it's just see because that's how
Speaker 4: the news broke.
Speaker 5: We didn't have phones.
Speaker 2: Well, And it's another reminder that like now, when you
Speaker 2: get your information, it's just something you pull up on
Speaker 2: your own device, on your jockett or a TV screen
Speaker 2: or your or your you know, your computer, whatever it
Speaker 2: may be. But now you know back then, but physically
Speaker 2: you'd have it. And then if it just sits around
Speaker 2: somewhere for a long time, you see it enough when
Speaker 2: you walk past it and you remember those kind of things.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of times where I think of that
Speaker 4: Michael Bush, that face, you think of the crocodile.
Speaker 5: And I think of the Crocodile Hunter.
Speaker 3: I love the randomness of this.
Speaker 4: That's just uh so I guess do with that what
Speaker 4: you think the universe thinks of us as you will?
Speaker 2: So yeah, I uh, I gotta go Bush one. And
Speaker 2: then after that it's really competitive, to be honest with you.
Speaker 2: I mean, I I think I think blow pal just
Speaker 2: because of how good he was in that one season
Speaker 2: with Charlie. Also forgot about him and Blow. I mean
Speaker 2: that team wasn't great, but man, we felt like we
Speaker 2: were in heaven because we went through Cragthorpe and then
Speaker 2: Charlie comes in and we start. You know, defense was
Speaker 2: clearly upgraded in a major way. They were competitive and
Speaker 2: you could just tell there was new energy, new life
Speaker 2: in the program. And again we weren't great, but man,
Speaker 2: that beef old Brady's Bowl and Saint Pete felt great.
Speaker 3: Didn't it.
Speaker 5: I meant everything.
Speaker 2: And the reason I put Blow there is because early
Speaker 2: in his career before you know, he got cracked like
Speaker 2: a lot of other people, to where it just you know,
Speaker 2: things were it was, the program was in a bad way.
Speaker 2: He'd kind of slacked off, stopped working out as much,
Speaker 2: and I don't even think he had grades that he
Speaker 2: needed to be eligible whenever Charlie first got here. But
Speaker 2: Charlie uplifted him and basically, you know, made him the
Speaker 2: face if you remember that, that's way back in the
Speaker 2: day he made because Charlie would have a face.
Speaker 3: Of the program. I don't think he wanted it to
Speaker 3: be an annual thing.
Speaker 2: But when it was blow early on, a lot of
Speaker 2: fans every year would ask, you know, who's that guy?
Speaker 3: Then we realized, oh yeah, it's Teddy bridge Water. But anyways,
Speaker 3: that team.
Speaker 2: No offense to those guys at all because they played
Speaker 2: hard and they helped bring us back in that era
Speaker 2: that was the Charlie Strong air at the louis of
Speaker 2: football was really special. But I'm not sure that team
Speaker 2: wins four games without him, or maybe even three. I mean,
Speaker 2: the offense was not loaded. You didn't have many good
Speaker 2: receivers at all, and your quarterback play wasn't great by
Speaker 2: any means, and you had an offensive line that did
Speaker 2: their part. But blat of Powell is the reason you
Speaker 2: were able to win games. You had a good defense,
Speaker 2: but he was the offense. And I mean he had
Speaker 2: one thousand, four hundred and five yard cards in twenty
Speaker 2: ten alone.
Speaker 4: When I think of those years, I think of possibly
Speaker 4: the ugliest uniforms that Louisville's had, you know, with like
Speaker 4: the stripe kind Oh yes, you know exactly what one
Speaker 4: you're talking about. It made it look like a tank.
Speaker 4: I don't know it it's the top.
Speaker 2: So forget I'm going These are running backs that I
Speaker 2: watched play at Louisville that I remember as far as
Speaker 2: the best. And then after that, I gotta be honest
Speaker 2: with you, it gets there's a lot of guys that
Speaker 2: are that are solid, but I don't, you know, it
Speaker 2: just sounds kind of off putting them in the all
Speaker 2: time great. But again, this is an all time great.
Speaker 2: This is Nick's twenty year window roughly or twenty five
Speaker 2: year window, whatever it may be. And and this one,
Speaker 2: I swear to you, this guy I think will go
Speaker 2: down as one of the most easily forgotten electrifying players
Speaker 2: that we had at Louisville. And because of circumstance and
Speaker 2: because of it all not working out for him, it
Speaker 2: easy easy to forget. And that's Javian Hawkins.
Speaker 5: Oh wow, who would you?
Speaker 3: Who are you thinking?
Speaker 5: I want to thinking of Victor Anderson.
Speaker 2: Oh no, Vic had a good run passed up by
Speaker 2: I mean he and he and Blau were the same
Speaker 2: year and Vic was Freshman of the Year in the
Speaker 2: Big East and then kind of tailed off. And he
Speaker 2: was productive and did certainly play a role for Charlie
Speaker 2: in that last year, but it was hard for him
Speaker 2: to really stand out because Blao Powe was just I mean,
Speaker 2: b palet over fourteen hundred yards in one season. I
Speaker 2: mean that's pretty special. But do you remember Javian Hawkins, Yes,
Speaker 2: I do, so he was a freshman All American in
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, SAT's first year where Louisville ended up going
Speaker 2: eight and five and won the Music City Bowl against
Speaker 2: Mississippi State. And even the next year when Louisville stunk
Speaker 2: it was the COVID year he opted out. If you remember,
Speaker 2: he left and signed with Rosenhaus was that his name
Speaker 2: of the agent? Yes, and ended up going pro. But
Speaker 2: never I mean, he had a brief stint with the
Speaker 2: Falcons and the Rams and that's all.
Speaker 3: She wrote. He was really really.
Speaker 2: Good, and I mean in two seasons he had two
Speaker 2: three hundred and fifty five yards and sixteen touchdowns. And
Speaker 2: I say two seasons because I mean it's not really
Speaker 2: two seasons, right, I mean, he he played a normal
Speaker 2: season as a freshman and as a sophomore. He ended up,
Speaker 2: I guess as a red shirt freshman. But that as
Speaker 2: a sophomore, you know, he played and they but they
Speaker 2: only I don't even know how many games they had
Speaker 2: on the schedule that year because again, you only played
Speaker 2: a con he could played a nine game schedule I
Speaker 2: think it was, and he he opted out after maybe
Speaker 2: not even halfway through the season. And I mean, really
Speaker 2: he was so easy to forget about him after that
Speaker 2: because you'd really never heard anything about him.
Speaker 3: But when he was here, he was good.
Speaker 5: Like he was.
Speaker 2: He was of all of the running backs of the
Speaker 2: Louisvells had, like the two guys I just mentioned, they're
Speaker 2: really great, productive, they didn't have a boot burst of
Speaker 2: speed like he did.
Speaker 3: I mean, he was. He was really good.
Speaker 2: And then at four, it really is tough because I
Speaker 2: guess I'm just gonna go I'm just gonna go longevity here,
Speaker 2: because the numbers are impressive over a four year career,
Speaker 2: and he was productive every year. He was to an extent,
Speaker 2: and he played for some really good teams that had
Speaker 2: a lot of success from going Brandon Radcliffe, oh yes,
Speaker 2: twenty three hundred yards in his career, twenty six touchdowns.
Speaker 2: So again that tells you how good Javid Hawkins was
Speaker 2: in a brief amount of time. He had twenty three
Speaker 2: hundred yards in less than two seasons. Whereas Radcliffe, who
Speaker 2: again I believe is good, he was much less productive
Speaker 2: just because he shared the you know, he wasn't a
Speaker 2: feature back and he didn't have many plays where he
Speaker 2: was getting you know, eighty yard touchdowns.
Speaker 4: So what I quick question dad, onto that list on
Speaker 4: that problem with it? Where would we throw someone like
Speaker 4: Brock Bowland? Will we call that a running back?
Speaker 2: No, he's more of a full back. And I love
Speaker 2: that you mentioned Brock Bowland.
Speaker 3: Because I mean love, I loved Brock, But he wasn't
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 2: I mean like he didn't have really any I mean,
Speaker 2: he's just a guy you remember who was on a
Speaker 2: good team, like a kid.
Speaker 3: He just kind of he's like my bozx Smith and basketball.
Speaker 5: Didn't they use them a lot? Didn't they use them
Speaker 5: a lot of a senior year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was effective, he was a weapon. He just
Speaker 2: you know, he would be tough to include him because
Speaker 2: he was a situational guy where he's not just out
Speaker 2: there to continuously move the change for you, you know, right.
Speaker 2: But now I got to look this up because I'm
Speaker 2: I'm a fool for just not being able to move
Speaker 2: on past it. But yeah, Jamie Hawkins, he had twenty
Speaker 2: three hundred yards and he only played in twenty one games.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's impressive. That's impressive. So that's why I
Speaker 2: have him there. But again he is right, he's so
Speaker 2: easy to forget. Yeah, all right, so there you got
Speaker 2: have it. We're gonna do receivers and defensive players tomorrow
Speaker 2: because again I ramble and can't manage the clock. Quick
Speaker 2: time out will come back. Wrap it up on the
Speaker 2: other side right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to coffee and company fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 3: So if you are joining us late, you're really late.
Speaker 2: But the big news today here locally is otego Away
Speaker 2: has decided to come back for his final season.
Speaker 3: Actually is it his final season. I'm not sure.
Speaker 2: I don't know how long he's played college sports, but
Speaker 2: nonetheless he's back, and that's was the expectation. But he
Speaker 2: certainly waited late until making it public. But he'll be
Speaker 2: I think the biggest factor for Kentucky being a preseason
Speaker 2: team that is ranked probably in the top ten, certainly fifteen.
Speaker 3: Just about everywhere that you look.
Speaker 2: But the other news that I guess it's probably not
Speaker 2: really irrelevant, but as far as all the guys that
Speaker 2: were waiting at the last minute, to make a decision
Speaker 2: and make it public. Oway was the biggest I think
Speaker 2: college player that is coming back as far as the
Speaker 2: decisions that were made today. Because r J luis he
Speaker 2: is going to stay in the draft. His father tells
Speaker 2: the field of sixty eight that he's going to remain
Speaker 2: in the draft, and here's a quote. He says, there'll
Speaker 2: be no change of heart. RJ's excited about the future.
Speaker 2: He's appreciative of Saint John's coach Patino and the fans.
Speaker 2: He wants to leave college as a Johnny. So if
Speaker 2: you remember he hit the portal but never ended up
Speaker 2: transferring because he's now going pro. But what a weird
Speaker 2: way for your college career to come to an end.
Speaker 2: You're an All American. You were the man for a
Speaker 2: team that was one of the best teams in the
Speaker 2: country all season, and the team was a storyline because
Speaker 2: Rick Patino, of all people, as the guy that's back
Speaker 2: in New York City bringing the Johnnies back to life.
Speaker 2: They were relevant and successful in a way they hadn't
Speaker 2: been in a long time. And then they get in
Speaker 2: the second round against Arkansas.
Speaker 1: R J.
Speaker 3: Lewise is having an off night.
Speaker 2: Patino benches him and I don't remember if Rick really
Speaker 2: went out of his way. I think he was probably asked.
Speaker 2: But Rick will clearly tell you if he wants to.
Speaker 2: I mean, he didn't shy away from acknowledging why R J.
Speaker 2: Louise didn't play, and you know, he was letting his
Speaker 2: think he said something. He was letting his misshots and
Speaker 2: poor offensive play hurt him on the other end.
Speaker 3: So no more r J. Luise in college hoops.
Speaker 2: So really, I guess by now, and it's probably been
Speaker 2: that way already, but I was gonna say by now,
Speaker 2: you probably have you know, you can look at these
Speaker 2: early rankings and know that not much of anything is
Speaker 2: going to change, because you know, I mean, there's not
Speaker 2: all I mean, there's still certainly some moves that could
Speaker 2: be made. There's still some guys I guess they could
Speaker 2: join your team from a receives I don't even know
Speaker 2: if graduates have the ability to hit the portal even
Speaker 2: though the portal's closed. But for the most part, I'd
Speaker 2: say the dust is settled, and we now know what
Speaker 2: college basketball teams next year are going to look like.
Speaker 2: And I would imagine that both fan bases around here
Speaker 2: probably feel pretty good about where they are now with Louisville,
Speaker 2: it's definitely going to come down to I mean, the
Speaker 2: excitement is going to be there regardless, but figuring out
Speaker 2: what happens with Ali Khalif is going.
Speaker 3: To be huge.
Speaker 2: And I'm still just operating with the belief that common
Speaker 2: sense will prevail and they'll look at his waiver and
Speaker 2: realize that he, of all people, should be entitled to
Speaker 2: get a to get a fourth year of playing college basketball,
Speaker 2: and you know, because he sorry about that, because he's
Speaker 2: only played three seasons and he got injured.
Speaker 3: Like it just to me, it's it's a no brainer.
Speaker 2: But then again, the NAA has at times made the
Speaker 2: wrong decision on what seems to be no brainer decisions.
Speaker 3: So we're out of time, you guys, enjoy the evening.
Speaker 2: We're back at it tomorrow right here on ward, Stock
Speaker 2: seven ninety