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Speaker 2: All right, So we've we've had many different conversations throughout
Speaker 2: the day here on tax Day. And for those of
Speaker 2: you that I'm sure have been worried about it, Austin
Speaker 2: is he's working his way through. He's about to potentially
Speaker 2: have his first you know, Uncle Sam annual check up
Speaker 2: where he's not your where he's where Uncle Sam's not
Speaker 2: beending you over right.
Speaker 4: Right, he's actually he's actually given me a handout.
Speaker 3: That's awesome.
Speaker 2: And we also shared a really I mean this is
Speaker 2: this is one of the things I love about radios
Speaker 2: because you know that that's a story that I think
Speaker 2: honestly was made for radio, because there's a lot of
Speaker 2: people that have opinions on it. I'm sure one way
Speaker 2: or the other. Austin was just a naive young adult
Speaker 2: that didn't realize that whenever he got laid off here
Speaker 2: during the pandemic, that you know, when he was told
Speaker 2: to file for unemployment, they weren't necessarily taking into the
Speaker 2: two account that he had another part time job, right,
Speaker 2: So he filed front employment, got unemployment, and then later
Speaker 2: you know, how many how long was it before you
Speaker 2: got hit up by I guess your ups rep where
Speaker 2: you work part time that said, look are.
Speaker 3: You getting unemployment because you work here?
Speaker 2: And you were just like, well, yeah, you know, because
Speaker 2: a big chuck of my income was gone when I
Speaker 2: got laid off at iHeart, but you know, because you
Speaker 2: already had another job, technically you weren't supposed to apply it.
Speaker 2: When did like how long into it was were you notified? Like, oh,
Speaker 2: I guess I shouldn't have done that, and now I
Speaker 2: need to worry about, you know, paying it back and
Speaker 2: hopefully not get into trouble.
Speaker 4: I think it was probably like five months. I think
Speaker 4: I started in like April, and it took like a
Speaker 4: whole review process everything like that, which is that's why
Speaker 4: it's so baffled. Anyways, they had this review process, I
Speaker 4: had to put in other places that I worked. I
Speaker 4: told him I wasn't let go of ups. I was
Speaker 4: just only let go of this. But I think I
Speaker 4: got my first check probably in like June. I remember
Speaker 4: it was around my birthday. And then I remember getting
Speaker 4: the call around like October, so it was only what June, July, August, September,
Speaker 4: about four or five months. So when they called me
Speaker 4: and they hit me with the well, buddy, what are
Speaker 4: you doing it?
Speaker 2: He kind of alluded to it just now because we've
Speaker 2: had at least three people that have texted in to
Speaker 2: say that there would have been no real legal action
Speaker 2: for them to to, oh really to like get you
Speaker 2: in trouble because they gave it to you. Yeah, you
Speaker 2: know it's what I thought technically, like, you know, I
Speaker 2: could go and you know, if I put in the
Speaker 2: wrong I don't even know. This is probably not the
Speaker 2: best example, but nonetheless, like it's their job to check
Speaker 2: and see if you were qualified to get unemployment or not,
Speaker 2: and they didn't do enough homework. And again like still
Speaker 2: it was an honest mistake and just a young adult
Speaker 2: being naive, not realizing that in order to get unemployment
Speaker 2: you literally have to have like no job, yes, and uh,
Speaker 2: and you just learned through a trial and error that
Speaker 2: you know you got unemployment, but you weren't supposed to
Speaker 2: get it.
Speaker 4: I thought the whole pandemic really just kind of threw
Speaker 4: off the precedence of everything back then. That's what I
Speaker 4: was under the impression of, because I did know when
Speaker 4: you go on unemployment, because I did try to do
Speaker 4: it before years ago. But from what I understood that
Speaker 4: you had to continually check in and say, I'm searching
Speaker 4: for this job, I applied for this job, I'm doing this.
Speaker 4: It's you're updating them on what you're doing to find work.
Speaker 4: And I heard that that part was lifted, so maybe
Speaker 4: that's I took that in the same hand in his
Speaker 4: hand as me still having a job that I didn't
Speaker 4: have to report.
Speaker 2: I got oh, we were all flying by the seat
Speaker 2: of our pants that when all this happened. I mean
Speaker 2: it was you know, and I think it's I'm sure
Speaker 2: I could do some digging and figure this out, and
Speaker 2: it's if it was interesting enough to me, I probably
Speaker 2: would figure it out. But if you end up getting
Speaker 2: paid a lot of money and you don't really know,
Speaker 2: like it was somebody else's mistake, the right thing to
Speaker 2: do would of course pay it back, especially if it's
Speaker 2: just an honest mistake. But like what legal grounds, Like
Speaker 2: for example, Churchill Downs, who was Wes Welker who ended
Speaker 2: up being overpaid by you know, I think twenty grand
Speaker 2: or something. Maybe that's an exaggeration story, but at Churchill
Speaker 2: Downs on Derby Day, Wes Welker was being I mean,
Speaker 2: it made TMZ. There was all kinds of people posting
Speaker 2: photos of it on social media because he's throwing out
Speaker 2: one hundred dollars bills to people. And he later said
Speaker 2: straight up like part of the reason why he's doing
Speaker 2: is because he won a big bet, but they also
Speaker 2: overpaid him and he didn't say anything, and that Churchill
Speaker 2: Downs has no legal I mean, I don't think they
Speaker 2: have any legal right to like or I mean, I
Speaker 2: guess they have a right to ask for their money back,
Speaker 2: but like, I don't think they can force him to
Speaker 2: pay that back. That's their mistake that they made. But
Speaker 2: they put in some kind of like I think they
Speaker 2: put like a press release together, like basically saying he
Speaker 2: needed to give the money back, and it really turned
Speaker 2: out to if my memory's correct, which it may not be,
Speaker 2: it was just a really bad look for them to
Speaker 2: try to bully him to give the money back when
Speaker 2: in all reality, he's somebody of status that could probably
Speaker 2: he probably has multiple lawyers on, you know, in his
Speaker 2: contact that he could that they could tell him like look, yeah,
Speaker 2: they don't have any they can say whatever they want,
Speaker 2: like you don't have to give that money back, And
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure he didn't. So, you know, if somebody
Speaker 2: wins the lottery and it's a mistake, like and I
Speaker 2: guess there's levels as to how the mistake could happen, Like,
Speaker 2: I don't know, just it's one of those things that
Speaker 2: if I ever ended up And this is something we've
Speaker 2: talked about on the show many years ago. If I
Speaker 2: ever ended up with an un godly amount of money
Speaker 2: for a random reason, like I found it, I stumbled
Speaker 2: upon it, I would be scared because I would know
Speaker 2: that I'm not supposed to have it. And you know,
Speaker 2: if I randomly come across it, like hidden somewhere or
Speaker 2: buried somewhere, I mean, they know where it is, and
Speaker 2: they'll probably the people who hide that kind of money
Speaker 2: would probably have resources to find someone pretty easily and
Speaker 2: you know, get it back one way or the other.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I don't think it's ever happening. But I've
Speaker 2: never been lucky enough not to say you were lucky,
Speaker 2: because I'm sure that was a headache that you're happy
Speaker 2: is almost over with. But yeah, I've never randomly just
Speaker 2: come across money, And you know, maybe one day that'll happen.
Speaker 4: One time I was out of a club. Now this
Speaker 4: is a prettoint time, man, You stay in the clubs, dummy,
Speaker 4: stop it. Yeah, as a bouncer, maybe club scene, it's
Speaker 4: you bro that I had a fun club scene during
Speaker 4: the during the pandemic era that that was a really
Speaker 4: fun time. Well, just going over across a bridge in
Speaker 4: Indiana because those are the only places open granted that
Speaker 4: closed at like nine or ten o'clock.
Speaker 3: Are you saying we had tyrants around here? Is that
Speaker 3: what you're saying?
Speaker 4: Never mind a person that I know of, well, I had.
Speaker 4: We were out on the dance floor and at one
Speaker 4: point I remember looking down my buddy and nudged on me.
Speaker 4: He said, hey, look on the ground. There's probably about
Speaker 4: like seven hundred dollars worth of hundreds and ones on
Speaker 4: the floor. And I'm sitting there going, oh my gosh.
Speaker 4: Well he picks up like two of them and there
Speaker 4: is I just remember in my mind, Nick, I was
Speaker 4: a good guy, Okay. I picked up what I could
Speaker 4: and I held it up and gave it to the DJ,
Speaker 4: and I said, hey, I think someone dropped this money.
Speaker 4: I knew that I wasn't supposed to have it, so
Speaker 4: with you saying it just like that, like it seemed
Speaker 4: too real to be true, Like it seemed like is
Speaker 4: this a plant? Like am I gonna bend over right now?
Speaker 4: And there's like somebody across the bar that's like, all right,
Speaker 4: here's a guy that's taking it, and they're gonna come
Speaker 4: check me afterwards.
Speaker 3: By the way, that's what that happens.
Speaker 2: It does people get caught on like hidding TV shows
Speaker 2: or just social media videos where they'll leave it like
Speaker 2: they'll they'll have somebody fake drop right one hundred dollars bills,
Speaker 2: it's not that's not a realm one hundred dollar bill,
Speaker 2: and see if you'll give it back to them or
Speaker 2: try to keep it. And like, I mean, that's the
Speaker 2: ultimate test. I mean, I I would like to think
Speaker 2: that I would do the right thing, but I had
Speaker 2: but you know, the money that was dropped probably the
Speaker 2: DJ just pocketed, right.
Speaker 3: He had to have he had.
Speaker 4: I remember an announcement with the DJ making hey, did
Speaker 4: somebody leave anything important that's not in their pockets anymore
Speaker 4: because they just returned it to the booth, and I
Speaker 4: remember one person going oh exploitive bleep and walk up
Speaker 4: there and then he got the he got the money bill.
Speaker 2: Okay, good, Well that that's good. That worked out good.
Speaker 2: So well he probably had to say exactly what.
Speaker 3: It was or they wouldn't know. And that's how you
Speaker 3: that's how you point like you said, the DJ.
Speaker 2: So uh this something that this was probably this is
Speaker 2: when we were teenagers. So my sister and I I'm
Speaker 2: going to brag on her because I'll always when I
Speaker 2: think of her. This is one of the things that
Speaker 2: always I think of when i'm you know, not that
Speaker 2: I need to be reminded. She's a really good person,
Speaker 2: and you know, she's somebody that she's my big sister,
Speaker 2: but we're really close in age. We're fifty one weeks apart, which, yes,
Speaker 2: I was an accident. Nobody plans to have two babies
Speaker 2: back to back like that. But anyways, I just remember
Speaker 2: she did something that was a very.
Speaker 3: Good deed in what you should do.
Speaker 2: It was doing the right thing, and I remember thinking,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure if I would have done that, but
Speaker 2: I know what she did was the right thing.
Speaker 3: So I need to strive to be more like her.
Speaker 2: She was sixteen years old, she just got her license,
Speaker 2: and she was at the gas station that is the
Speaker 2: closest to our home, and she was getting gas and
Speaker 2: I think there were two one hundred dollars bills that
Speaker 2: just somehow happened to be sitting near her car on
Speaker 2: the ground, and she picked them up and took them
Speaker 2: into the gas station and gave them to the attendant
Speaker 2: and said, I guess somebody dropped this, and I'm thinking
Speaker 2: one at this I mean, I'm a year younger than
Speaker 2: her at the time. I'm thinking, like she could have
Speaker 2: kept that. Nobody would have known in two hundred dollars
Speaker 2: to a sixteen year old that's big money. That's big money,
Speaker 2: and especially back in you know, two thousan and four.
Speaker 2: So I mean, we're talking twenty years ago, and I
Speaker 2: don't know. I don't think I would have done that,
Speaker 2: because I would have justified it by saying, you know,
Speaker 2: it's not mine, but the person who left it's long gone,
Speaker 2: and if I take it inside, it's just going to
Speaker 2: go to the worker. And you know, I think in
Speaker 2: her mind she just thought, well, I just know that
Speaker 2: it's not mine. So if they take it and they
Speaker 2: don't give it back to somebody who comes looking forward
Speaker 2: and they keep it, that's on their conscious They know
Speaker 2: they know they took money that wasn't theirs. And I
Speaker 2: just remember thinking like, that's you know, And she didn't
Speaker 2: even honestly, had I not known of it happening or
Speaker 2: seen it happen, I don't think she would have told anybody,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, Like she didn't do it
Speaker 2: to be like, hey, I'm great. She just you know,
Speaker 2: she had a conscience about her and knew it wasn't
Speaker 2: her money, so she was going to do all you
Speaker 2: could at that point, which is to take it inside
Speaker 2: and hope that the person working would in fact give
Speaker 2: it to somebody who comes back and realizes they might
Speaker 2: have dropped a couple of hundred bucks. So, you know,
Speaker 2: I've never even been in that spot, but I'd like
Speaker 2: to think I would do the right thing.
Speaker 3: But I don't know.
Speaker 4: And here I am thinking, now, my parents raise me
Speaker 4: a little better. So when I told my mom the
Speaker 4: next day, I think you slapped me in the back
Speaker 4: of the head and said, what are you doing now?
Speaker 4: You're gonna ask me for money the rest of the week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, And honestly, like I think most people
Speaker 2: would probably say the same.
Speaker 3: Thing your mom said, Like you know exactly.
Speaker 2: We live in a world of the act where we
Speaker 2: want to we want to assume we would do all
Speaker 2: these things that are just the right thing when nobody's looking,
Speaker 2: because we have a conscience and we try to be
Speaker 2: good people and whatnot. But until you're like tested with it,
Speaker 2: you really don't know, you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 2: you just don't know.
Speaker 4: This is at a bar out on the South End
Speaker 4: in Oklahoona too. So I don't think like MTV was
Speaker 4: there producing like a good samaritan. Shtcha this guy trying
Speaker 4: to pocket the money two o'clock in the morning in
Speaker 4: twenty twenty, you know, But I don't know, I just
Speaker 4: have I have a goodness to me where I'm like,
Speaker 4: what trigger is, Like you just said money that knowing
Speaker 4: that I shouldn't have That's what sparked it more than anything,
Speaker 4: is I know I shouldn't have this. This other person
Speaker 4: probably needs it. But at the same time, if you're
Speaker 4: flawting all that money at the club and you probably
Speaker 4: you know, do you really need it? You could probably
Speaker 4: you probably got some more somewhere body.
Speaker 2: Another way to kind of, you know, maybe justify your
Speaker 2: Like if you were going to take money and not
Speaker 2: give it back, another way to where you could tell
Speaker 2: yourself that it was just you know that what you
Speaker 2: did wasn't wrong. Is that a lot of people don't
Speaker 2: use cash anymore, So like if the cash was already out,
Speaker 2: it was probably already spent that was going to go
Speaker 2: to the bar tab, So like it's not that big
Speaker 2: of a deal, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: That's like bank robbers who know.
Speaker 2: That the the the money that's in the bank that
Speaker 2: they take is federally insured, right, so like they don't
Speaker 2: feel they feel like it's a victimless crime. But what
Speaker 2: they don't realize is that when you are robbing a
Speaker 2: bank and you have someone under the belief that if
Speaker 2: they don't give you the money, then you're going to
Speaker 2: harm them, and that you have a gun or even
Speaker 2: even though you say you have a gun and you
Speaker 2: don't like that is absolutely that's the crime there, and
Speaker 2: that's something you have to be held accountable for because
Speaker 2: that's a traumatic experience that can impact somebody's life forever.
Speaker 2: So you know, there are I mean, I guess there
Speaker 2: are some victimless crimes out there, but I don't believe
Speaker 2: that there are as many as you know, some people
Speaker 2: think that's just what people say at times to justify
Speaker 2: them doing whatever they do. To I guess sleep a
Speaker 2: little bit better at night. All right, Real quick, we
Speaker 2: got to get to our first break. We've got a
Speaker 2: shorter hour here because the Bats games coming up. But
Speaker 2: real quick, just to tell you guys where we've been.
Speaker 2: Will continue the conversation as you move along, but a
Speaker 2: lot of conversation about Nata meant today because we had
Speaker 2: somebody on the text line ask you know, if it
Speaker 2: came down to it and you just had to make
Speaker 2: you could only afford one, and it was either making
Speaker 2: Case and Prior hole and bringing him back with whatever
Speaker 2: that cost, or paying natumant whatever he needs. I mean,
Speaker 2: I think it's a no brainer to take Case and
Speaker 2: Prior just because of where we are in college athletics.
Speaker 2: If you can get both, hell yeah, but I would
Speaker 2: prioritize more so making it work with Prior. But I
Speaker 2: don't say that to say you gotta bend over backwards,
Speaker 2: like if he and I don't think he is. I
Speaker 2: think he'll announce that he's coming back here soon.
Speaker 3: I believe that.
Speaker 2: But you know, he's somebody that I think would help you,
Speaker 2: and there'd be a better chance of him making a
Speaker 2: big impact for you next season than Nata mint. But also,
Speaker 2: you know, with Casein, if he did realize, look, I'm
Speaker 2: not going to play pro. I need to get as
Speaker 2: much money as I can, and I'm going to hit
Speaker 2: the portal and see who throws the biggest amount of
Speaker 2: money at me. You know he has every right to
Speaker 2: do that. I don't think he will, but you know,
Speaker 2: we shall see. But another thing we've got to talk
Speaker 2: about on the other side is Mark Pope. Losing a
Speaker 2: big transfer to Darien Devrees at Indiana doesn't mean Pope's
Speaker 2: doomed and Kentucky's going to be in big trouble. I
Speaker 2: think Pope's going to get it worked out, but I
Speaker 2: do want to review on the other side, what was
Speaker 2: said about the programs by Wilkerson as far as his decision,
Speaker 2: and as you could expect, Kentucky's already justified why they
Speaker 2: don't need him anyway.
Speaker 3: So we'll get into that. We'll have some fun with it.
Speaker 3: Stick around right here on Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 1: Ninety Now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's
Speaker 1: on Sports Talk seven to nine day.
Speaker 2: I did not see this earlier, but Mike James, former
Speaker 2: Louisville cardinal who transferred in se State only did not
Speaker 2: play a single second because of injury. He has now
Speaker 2: found a new home. He's transferred to Vanderbilt. So always
Speaker 2: Mike's one of those guys that I always would have
Speaker 2: loved to have seen get a get a clean I mean,
Speaker 2: he had a really rough, rough run and has honestly,
Speaker 2: since he's been a college basketball player. He was one
Speaker 2: of those guys that Chris Mack really liked a lot.
Speaker 2: But at the time they were recruiting him, obviously it
Speaker 2: was the pandemic. So, you know, I think Max, I
Speaker 2: think Mack told me that that Mike James was one
Speaker 2: of the first guys that he really really felt like
Speaker 2: was going to be great for him and he really liked,
Speaker 2: but he'd never actually met him in person because he
Speaker 2: couldn't go watch him play in high school because you know,
Speaker 2: of obvious reasons. But he got here at Louisville, was
Speaker 2: impacting in practice, got hurt, missed the whole season, and
Speaker 2: then of course played two years for Kenny Payne and
Speaker 2: that was a disaster. And then last year was with
Speaker 2: Kevin Keats at NC State and he didn't play a
Speaker 2: second because he got hurt again. So hopefully he can
Speaker 2: finish finish strong here, but he'll have I think two
Speaker 2: years maybe three years of eligibility left, which is crazy
Speaker 2: to think about. Also, real quick, before we get back
Speaker 2: into the Wilkerson decision to commit to the degrees at
Speaker 2: Indiana instead of Mark Pope in Kentucky after Pope really
Speaker 2: rolled up the red carpet. There's all the footage and
Speaker 2: pit pictures of Pope with his letterman jacket on walking
Speaker 2: around Keenland in the winter circle with Wilkerson. I mean,
Speaker 2: you lose some it happens often. But with Kentucky, they're
Speaker 2: not used to losing players to Indiana. I mean, when's
Speaker 2: the last time that happened. So we'll get back into that.
Speaker 2: But nico Leola Maliva probably didn't say that right. But
Speaker 2: you know who I'm talking about, right, Tennessee transfer who
Speaker 2: was trying to get more money and really hold Tennessee
Speaker 2: hostage and basically say you know, I might hit the
Speaker 2: portlandunless you throw me more money. Well they didn't balk,
Speaker 2: and they moved on. And now he's looking for a
Speaker 2: new home. And I kept saying yesterday he'll probably get
Speaker 2: it because somebody will be desperate this and that, And
Speaker 2: it looked as if North Carolina was going to be
Speaker 2: the school to do it. Belichick was going to come
Speaker 2: get in, but that soured pretty quickly, at least the
Speaker 2: reporting of it that maybe Tennessee or maybe North Carolina
Speaker 2: either just decided they didn't want him, or maybe they
Speaker 2: didn't want to pay whatever he's asking for. But what
Speaker 2: I threw out yesterday just wasn't something I planned to
Speaker 2: bring up. But just the comparison I made was Deshaun Watson, right, like,
Speaker 2: he got a crazy deal that nobody else would ever
Speaker 2: get in the NFL. Collectively together, let it be known
Speaker 2: to the players Association, to agents, to players, Look, that's
Speaker 2: just the dumb ass Browns. Nobody else would do that.
Speaker 2: Just understand, Yeah, that's the highest paid quarterback in the league,
Speaker 2: the most guaranteed money ever. But it needs to be
Speaker 2: known that only the Browns would do that. We're not
Speaker 2: going to do that and just just be you know,
Speaker 2: and every I think, every single And maybe that was
Speaker 2: another factor as to why I still think it was
Speaker 2: foolish for the for the NFL to not want to
Speaker 2: pursue Lamorrow whenever he was looking for his new deal.
Speaker 2: But maybe part of it was they were collectively saying, look,
Speaker 2: we know he's going to ask for more than to
Speaker 2: Shaan and we are we're making a stand essentially to
Speaker 2: let it be known that like that's not happening anywhere.
Speaker 2: So I thought, maybe we'll see this happen with certain
Speaker 2: players in the college game, like like everybody come together
Speaker 2: and realize, yeah, we all want to get an advantage
Speaker 2: and gain an edge, but like maybe sometimes it'd be
Speaker 2: better for everyone if we collectively work together to just
Speaker 2: let players know that, yeah, they've got more power than
Speaker 2: they've ever had, and yeah they can make money, but
Speaker 2: they can't bully. I mean what Nico is looking to
Speaker 2: do there was just bully Tennessee because he's thinking in
Speaker 2: his mind, they'll have to give me whatever I ask
Speaker 2: for because they're not in a position to lose their
Speaker 2: quarterback post spring, especially when they're coming off of an
Speaker 2: appearance in the College Football Playoff. Well they were, they
Speaker 2: let him walk. So the latest report from ON three
Speaker 2: is that multiple schools are interested, but they're making it
Speaker 2: known that they're going to wait and see if his
Speaker 2: nil demands drop before they make a run. Like, the
Speaker 2: report is that multiple programs are ready to become contenders
Speaker 2: and come after him if he's open to a deal
Speaker 2: that's one million dollars, not the four million plus that
Speaker 2: he was seeking at at Tennessee, And he may end
Speaker 2: up being a case study down the line where like, yeah,
Speaker 2: this is what happens when you get real greedy and
Speaker 2: you've got you know, people trying to you know, and
Speaker 2: again you could make the case that he's looking out
Speaker 2: for his son and making the most money for his son,
Speaker 2: but he's all I mean, like, wouldn't shock me if
Speaker 2: Nico's just going about his business and yet his dad saying, hey, no,
Speaker 2: we need more money, don't go to practice today, which
Speaker 2: is what happened. I mean, he wanted more money, they
Speaker 2: weren't willing, and he stopped showing up to team meetings
Speaker 2: and they cut ties. Like that's like, there's no way,
Speaker 2: no way that Nico and his group had this in
Speaker 2: the plans, right, Like they just thought they could do
Speaker 2: this and get the money, and in the end they
Speaker 2: thought maybe worst case scenarios, we don't get it, but
Speaker 2: we tried. Well, no, you're gonna if you're gonna try
Speaker 2: us like that, see you later. And that's the way
Speaker 2: it should be handled, to be honest with you, all right,
Speaker 2: turn ayways back to this decision from mister Wilkerson Sam
Speaker 2: Houston State Transfer and again this I didn't know he
Speaker 2: was going to make a decision today, but it was
Speaker 2: on the time. It was something I planned to discuss today,
Speaker 2: but I didn't realize the commitment was going to be
Speaker 2: coming as quickly as it did so. Lamar Wilkerson is
Speaker 2: a sam Houston State transfer six to five combo guard
Speaker 2: who averaged twenty points a game a year ago, shot
Speaker 2: it forty five percent from three, I think it was,
Speaker 2: and he was wanted by just about everybody. It came
Speaker 2: down to Indiana and Kentucky. He visited both those schools
Speaker 2: and he ended up deciding to commit to Indiana over Kentucky,
Speaker 2: which really surprised a lot of people, you know, including myself,
Speaker 2: just because you know, rarely do you see somebody you
Speaker 2: know in recent years picked Indiana over Kentucky. However, things
Speaker 2: are different now. Money's a big factor. Also, Cala Perry's
Speaker 2: not recruiting at Kentucky anymore. It's Mark Poe. So here
Speaker 2: is here's the quote from from Wilkerson. It was a
Speaker 2: pleasure to be recruited by Kentucky, but I didn't want
Speaker 2: to go to Kentuck Ucky and just be another.
Speaker 3: Guy who's yours.
Speaker 2: Basketball's big time is a big time name, and they
Speaker 2: haven't been where they wanted to be. I trust coach
Speaker 2: Debrees and what he's bringing in, the type of coach
Speaker 2: he is, and how he's going to put us in
Speaker 2: position to win.
Speaker 3: Who's your basketball will be back? Now? The cope here
Speaker 3: is if in fact, you.
Speaker 2: Know you want to play at a place like Kentucky
Speaker 2: or you know, the big times like the Kansas Is
Speaker 2: or maybe Caroline or Duke, you know you gotta be
Speaker 2: willing to you know, battle it out and not just
Speaker 2: be another guy like you got to earn it. You're
Speaker 2: going to be playing against the best because you're a
Speaker 2: Kentucky like that. That's one way to look at it.
Speaker 2: But also, I mean, I remember Matt talking about this
Speaker 2: last year after he met with Mark Pope for the
Speaker 2: first time on ks R, because it really stood out
Speaker 2: to me because you know, Matt clearly is is you know,
Speaker 2: a UK fan, and you know, I think you'll tell
Speaker 2: you what he honestly thinks. But obviously you know he's
Speaker 2: he's a fan of UK, like I'm a fan of Louisville.
Speaker 2: So there's gonna be some positivity from his end that
Speaker 2: wouldn't be there for most, just like for Louisville. Same
Speaker 2: can be said about me. But he said that Pope
Speaker 2: was still of the belief because he played at Kentucky
Speaker 2: and he realizes how special it is and how awesome
Speaker 2: that experience was for him. He's a walking testament to
Speaker 2: what it's like to play there, right, Like, look at
Speaker 2: this guy, he's living his dream that he thinks that
Speaker 2: you know, they're always going to have money, they're always
Speaker 2: going to have nil to compete with anybody else. But
Speaker 2: you know you aren't going to get like that. You
Speaker 2: got to be able to come here knowing that you
Speaker 2: you know, you you have to vow what if if
Speaker 2: if it's equal everywhere else. Mark Pope is still of
Speaker 2: the belief that Kentucky will win out against anybody because
Speaker 2: it's Kentucky, not because of money, not because of role necessarily,
Speaker 2: and that I just don't think that's realistic anymore. And
Speaker 2: that's not I mean, I'm sure there's other coaches that
Speaker 2: think the same thing, but like for example, the Jasper
Speaker 2: Johnson stuff, they ended up getting it right. He ended
Speaker 2: up committing to Kentucky. But I think they wanted guys
Speaker 2: to commit to Pope at Kentucky that are good, that
Speaker 2: are clearly of the caliber that can play at a
Speaker 2: high level, but they've got to, you know, understand this
Speaker 2: is a benefit for them, Like they're lucky to be here.
Speaker 2: That's not what this is anymore. Man Like, it just doesn't.
Speaker 2: It's no knock on Kentucky because again they are cream
Speaker 2: of the crop, right, I still think they have the best.
Speaker 2: I think Kentucky basketball is the best job in college basketball.
Speaker 2: There's really not anything that any other program can provide
Speaker 2: that Kentucky can't. But I think this day and age,
Speaker 2: recruiting anybody, transfers or freshmen, you're not wrong that it
Speaker 2: is a benefit for them to be able to represent
Speaker 2: your program, but that can't be the sales pitch, especially
Speaker 2: not like the big factor, like you have to compete
Speaker 2: with other like for those knocking Wilkerson all, he went
Speaker 2: to Indiana because he didn't want to have to compete
Speaker 2: at Kentucky. Well, Kentucky, maybe they'll be just fine, but
Speaker 2: they didn't want to compete with Wilkerson for Wilkerson, right,
Speaker 2: because I guess they told him, you know, he would
Speaker 2: just be another like here's how we're gonna use you.
Speaker 2: This is you know, this is the role we have
Speaker 2: in line for you, and you know you can take it.
Speaker 2: And I doubt it was a take it or leave
Speaker 2: it situation, But.
Speaker 3: I don't know, just.
Speaker 2: I think As I've said many times, there's enough players
Speaker 2: in the portal. Mark Pope's a good enough coach that
Speaker 2: I have a feeling that they're going to be just fine.
Speaker 2: Like I think they'll have another good season, But I
Speaker 2: do think missing on players in the portal and even
Speaker 2: recruits at times like it may just be because look,
Speaker 2: other schools can pay top dollar two and that's gonna matter,
Speaker 2: right the days of getting guys because of your brand
Speaker 2: being the biggest factor and just being able to play
Speaker 2: for a place like Kentucky. There's no death that still
Speaker 2: has value, but that can't be a huge part of
Speaker 2: your pitch, Like that's really that's a given. Like you
Speaker 2: have to understand these guys now have agents, they have representation,
Speaker 2: they know where they're going, they know that it would
Speaker 2: be an unbelievable experience to play for a program of
Speaker 2: that caliber. But like, don't you know, don't enter, don't
Speaker 2: don't have me interview for a job at McDonald's if
Speaker 2: you want me to work there, and just let me
Speaker 2: know about the Golden Arches and how big of a
Speaker 2: brand it is and how big of a how big
Speaker 2: of a giant that McDonald's is, as they dominate the
Speaker 2: fast food chain. I know that going in. What are
Speaker 2: you gonna do for me to make me want to
Speaker 2: work here? Like this is all transactional now, and I think,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe that has nothing to do with why
Speaker 2: Wilkerson picked Indiana over Kentucky. But like the only reason
Speaker 2: I brought that up is because I remember it stood
Speaker 2: out that Pope still was of the belief that like
Speaker 2: Kentucky can win out if it's even everywhere, because of
Speaker 2: the Kentucky brand, And I just don't think that's accurate.
Speaker 2: But you know, apparently they've landed another transfer. This is uh,
Speaker 2: let me see, Oh, this is basket, this is women's basketball.
Speaker 2: Sorry I thought they landed another player, but it's a
Speaker 2: women's player. So anyways, we're out of time. The Bats
Speaker 2: are coming up next right here at Sports Talk seven
Speaker 2: ninety