Speaker 1: It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think
Speaker 2: when we are get off our show.
Speaker 1: Idiot.
Speaker 3: The kids are playing or turn a lot and the
Speaker 3: countries are screwing it up.
Speaker 1: Gold Play Inner Murals, brother, gold play inter Murals.
Speaker 3: They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not.
Speaker 2: Who's the kid here?
Speaker 1: Who's the kid here? Are you kidding me?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 1: Here's nick coffee?
Speaker 3: All right, let's get it started. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome
Speaker 3: in to a Monday edition, a March Monday, that isition
Speaker 3: of coffee and Company. We are field by Thornton's right
Speaker 3: here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Gonna take you up
Speaker 3: until six o'clock. So sit back, relax, and uh get comfortable.
Speaker 3: Best time of the year. I mean, we've got the
Speaker 3: regular season now over for everybody in college hoops. I mean,
Speaker 3: conference tournaments have been going on for over a week now,
Speaker 3: I believe. However, you know, the big tournaments start start
Speaker 3: this week. And it's nice from the Louisville side of
Speaker 3: things to not have to play in the Day of
Speaker 3: Shame after what three straight years of that, so exciting times,
Speaker 3: no doubt. I will certainly talk about everything from the weekend.
Speaker 3: But it's beautiful outside, and I I you know, it's
Speaker 3: it's just a it's a crutch for a lot of
Speaker 3: people in whatever you want to call this. But you
Speaker 3: just mentioned weather because you know, regardless of what people
Speaker 3: are interested in or what you know who they're a
Speaker 3: fan of that kind of stuff, like you know, the
Speaker 3: weather's it's it's like it's the easiest just thing to
Speaker 3: bring up when when starting conversation. But today really is
Speaker 3: one of those days where when I got in the
Speaker 3: car to head here and when I got out to
Speaker 3: walk in, I mean, I'm just sitting here thinking like
Speaker 3: does it get better than this? I mean, what is
Speaker 3: it like sixty? I mean it felt warmer than that.
Speaker 3: You know, I had my car. I wasn't in the
Speaker 3: garage earlier. I was out and usually when I leave
Speaker 3: the house, my car's been in the garage for hours.
Speaker 3: So my car was warm when I got inside of it,
Speaker 3: which was actually a nice thing. Usually if you get
Speaker 3: in your car and it's you know, it's a one hundred degrees,
Speaker 3: that's terrible. And it wasn't it wasn't anything like that.
Speaker 3: But right now we're looking at Sonny and sixty four
Speaker 3: according to my phone here, and I'm not sure. I mean,
Speaker 3: that might be Sonny in sixty four might be, in
Speaker 3: my opinion, the perfect weather. Some would say they like
Speaker 3: a little bit more warmer than that. That's fine, but
Speaker 3: you know, like that's shorts and hoodie, right, that's that's
Speaker 3: that's in my opinion, it's perfect. So a beautiful, beautiful day.
Speaker 3: And if you guys want to join us on the show,
Speaker 3: we'll let you know how you can do that. But
Speaker 3: I will once again, and I'm really gonna do this
Speaker 3: a lot in the next week. Means not going to
Speaker 3: be something I do every five seconds. But we do
Speaker 3: have a new text line. So if you want to
Speaker 3: call in, this number still the same five oot two
Speaker 3: five to seven one seventy nine hundred and text line
Speaker 3: still the eleenent Federal Credit Union text line, but because
Speaker 3: of some Google issues, we had to switch the number
Speaker 3: five oh two four three eight ninety seventy three. Five
Speaker 3: oh two four three eight ninety seventy three. All right,
Speaker 3: the one and only Montgomery, also known as the Travel Chief.
Speaker 2: Is here. Are you?
Speaker 3: Are you surprised that I haven't learned that number yet,
Speaker 3: Like I still have to look at it on my
Speaker 3: notes here before I before I give it to somebody,
Speaker 3: and I, no, it's relatively real. Yeah, I mean, like
Speaker 3: I feel like by now I should know four three
Speaker 3: eight ninety seventy three four three eight ninety seventy three.
Speaker 2: Do you like know your own personal phone number, like
Speaker 2: at the top of your head? Mine?
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course, I've had the same number forever.
Speaker 2: What about like your what about like your wife?
Speaker 3: It's a great question. So I know, man, I can
Speaker 3: give you my my wife. I can give you a
Speaker 3: number that doesn't even exist anymore. I can still give
Speaker 3: you my house phone that I grew up with. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I could do that five H two nine five five
Speaker 3: O four three three. I don't know whose number that
Speaker 3: is now, but it was mine. Uh. But I can
Speaker 3: give you my mom's cell phone number. I can give
Speaker 3: you my sister's cell phone number. I have two friends.
Speaker 3: I have a lot more than two friends, by the way,
Speaker 3: at least I think I do. My two closest friends
Speaker 3: that I've known my whole life. I remember when we
Speaker 3: got our first cell phones. We were we were you know, fourteen, fifteen,
Speaker 3: whatever it was. Yeah, and they have the same number
Speaker 3: as that day. Therefore, I still remember their numbers off
Speaker 3: the top of my head. But outside of that, like
Speaker 3: I don't, I don't, really I don't. I don't know
Speaker 3: if I can. You know, my dad, he's changed numbers
Speaker 3: so many times with work. He hasn't changed it in
Speaker 3: a while, but there was a stretch there where he
Speaker 3: would get a new job and get a new phone number,
Speaker 3: and and that's made it to where I don't remember
Speaker 3: his his off the top of my head. In fact,
Speaker 3: you know what number I can. I can remember that
Speaker 3: it didn't it wasn't one that I ever think to use.
Speaker 3: But my mom's work numbers. So when I was at
Speaker 3: when I was old enough to stay home as a
Speaker 3: kid during the summer, like mom, you know, I don't
Speaker 3: even if cell phone, don't think cell phones were a thing,
Speaker 3: but like if we were at home and we needed
Speaker 3: to call mom, like I knew her work line and
Speaker 3: she still has the same one. So how many numbers
Speaker 3: can you cause I if I've met you in like
Speaker 3: the last I don't know, ten maybe fifteen years, there's
Speaker 3: no way I remember your number. I'll have it but
Speaker 3: but and I don't even people would need Once you
Speaker 3: put the number in the phone and you save it,
Speaker 3: you never even look at the number. You wouldn't you'd
Speaker 3: never know it, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't even know my my fiance's number. I
Speaker 2: know my number. I don't know my father's number. Any
Speaker 2: of my fathers.
Speaker 3: Have they changed. No, it's just you've never had to
Speaker 3: remember it. Like it's just been you know, it's just
Speaker 3: a serious So when you've been using like that's the thing,
Speaker 3: like whenever I serious trying to call my sad, So
Speaker 3: I remember as a kid having to actually enter these numbers.
Speaker 3: But really, man, that's that's so long ago, like even
Speaker 3: when I got it. Honestly, it comes down to just
Speaker 3: numbers that I used to have to put in on
Speaker 3: the house phone like when I was a kid. That's
Speaker 3: really good because when it even even the earliest days
Speaker 3: of cell phones, once you put the number in and
Speaker 3: you save it as a contact, then you don't I mean,
Speaker 3: you'll never see it again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the same thing with me. I think I
Speaker 2: use one for my Kroger points, which used to Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: I use mine for the refreshment awards. So therefore that's yeah,
Speaker 2: that it was an old number when we lived back
Speaker 2: in Arizona. And I don't know if it's like, uh, well,
Speaker 2: we had we had what's called in Arizona. It's called Fries.
Speaker 2: But it's all under the same it's all under the
Speaker 2: same uh uh.
Speaker 3: Like a circuit city, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's all
Speaker 3: the one.
Speaker 2: It's all under this. It's all under like the same thing.
Speaker 2: Like you go to Fries and then they have like
Speaker 2: Kroger branded stuff, So it's all in the same family.
Speaker 2: So when I moved here, I just always thought that
Speaker 2: I'm not going to go get a new one. My
Speaker 2: mom went and got a new one under her Louisville number.
Speaker 2: I just here. My silly thinking is is they'll probably
Speaker 2: recognize me as being a member since this far out,
Speaker 2: maybe I'll get better.
Speaker 3: Deals, right, And it didn't work.
Speaker 2: I don't think that that's the case. But I just
Speaker 2: ended up using that one.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I guess now that I think about it
Speaker 3: anytime I anytime I ever enter a phone number, it's
Speaker 3: usually whenever I'm checking out at Thornton's no joke, because
Speaker 3: that I mean anytime I get anything there. I put
Speaker 3: my phone number in to save money. When I get gas.
Speaker 3: How about us just talking our way into a live
Speaker 3: rey for Thornton's, which you know came very organically.
Speaker 2: I went to Thornton's the other day I got off
Speaker 2: and I got off of works.
Speaker 3: Then I know that that was a good day for you.
Speaker 2: Oh it was. It was amazing. And I'll just go
Speaker 2: ahead for another plug because I was working a game
Speaker 2: on that amount, was doing a I was working music
Speaker 2: for a Bellerman softball.
Speaker 3: Game, and shout.
Speaker 2: Out Bellerman Softball. The only game that they did play.
Speaker 2: The actually lost, but it was more or less watching
Speaker 2: ball State in Evansville and around Robin for like three
Speaker 2: straight games on those days. So instead of paying seven
Speaker 2: dollars for a hot dog and a coke at the
Speaker 2: Bellerman game, which and no shout out to them, no
Speaker 2: no hate towards the fine people work in the concession
Speaker 2: stands there the economy, I was able to go get
Speaker 2: me a bag of chips, two hot dogs, two Glizzies
Speaker 2: and a coke for six dollars. There you go at Thornton's.
Speaker 2: I means just nothing like putting in your refreshing rewards
Speaker 2: number and just like watching fifty or sixty cents go away,
Speaker 2: because the hot dog was add one for a dollar.
Speaker 3: You know, it's demn erotic, is what it is. Dude,
Speaker 3: think about it. But anyways, let's uh, let's dive in
Speaker 3: sho the the number again if you want to text
Speaker 3: in on the Ellen in federal crediting text line BIBO
Speaker 3: two four three eight ninety seventy three. So again, I'll
Speaker 3: mention that more so than I usually do, just because
Speaker 3: it's a new number, and uh, you know, we want
Speaker 3: people to continue to interact with us, all right, So
Speaker 3: where do we start? I mean, I guess the weekend itself.
Speaker 3: I mean, Louisville having that phenomenal send off for this
Speaker 3: special team on Saturday. I think it lived. I mean,
Speaker 3: it couldn't have been a better ending, right, I mean
Speaker 3: the only thing that was the real bummer is that
Speaker 3: Rain Smith didn't play. And we can get into sort
Speaker 3: of you know, should we be? I mean, look, he's hurt,
Speaker 3: there's no way around it.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: What I would love to know is, you know, is
Speaker 3: Rain the guy who's more so like, Look, I could
Speaker 3: probably if they tell him you can go, because here's
Speaker 3: what I believe, just what I believe. I think it's
Speaker 3: just down to pain tolerance, Like he's got an ankle issue.
Speaker 3: It's probably not going to be one hundred percent for
Speaker 3: the rest of his career here, even if Floville goes
Speaker 3: on a deep run, just because that's that's what he's
Speaker 3: dealing with. So like if he if he wanted to play,
Speaker 3: and then collectively, like he and the staff and everybody decided, yeah,
Speaker 3: let's just gets you more rest. We probably won't need
Speaker 3: you against Stanford, and we really are going to need
Speaker 3: you when it comes to postseason play. So another week
Speaker 3: off of your foot could get that ankle in a
Speaker 3: better spot than if you were to play thirty minutes
Speaker 3: on Saturday in a game where really we didn't need you. Like,
Speaker 3: if that was the mindset, then that would make me
Speaker 3: feel better. But like if Rain's trying to play and
Speaker 3: they're telling him, like, you know, you can't, I mean
Speaker 3: with it being an ankle, I mean, I doubt they
Speaker 3: would tell him that he can, But like he knows
Speaker 3: his limits, and look, he's a grown up. He's you know,
Speaker 3: just finished his fifth year of college. So I'm hopeful
Speaker 3: that it's that it's something that is not super serious
Speaker 3: and he could have played if he needed to. If
Speaker 3: it was a winner go home situation Saturday, then he
Speaker 3: would have gone but two straight games without Rain And
Speaker 3: clearly Louisville hasn't missed him in a major way in
Speaker 3: these last couple of games. But obviously when you get
Speaker 3: to the postseason, you want to be at full strength.
Speaker 3: In Rain Smith one of the biggest weapons in college
Speaker 3: basketball when it comes to that. I mean just he's
Speaker 3: deadly from three point range. I mean didn't make as
Speaker 3: many in the last couple of games. Obviously that's because
Speaker 3: he was probably dealing with that injury or just just winded.
Speaker 3: But you know, he's he's somebody that I just kind
Speaker 3: of got used to. Yeah, if he hits five or
Speaker 3: six in a game, that's just another night for him.
Speaker 3: Or maybe he'll be off for a half and then
Speaker 3: make three a in a segment right in between TV timeouts,
Speaker 3: like maybe he he he just changes the game by
Speaker 3: hitting three or four in a row. Like having a
Speaker 3: guy they can just do that at any moment. And
Speaker 3: you know, it's not a given that he's gonna make
Speaker 3: every shot he takes, but it's also not really a
Speaker 3: surprise when he can quite literally single handedly change a game.
Speaker 3: So again, hopefully Rain is Uh is able to go
Speaker 3: and and you know, can help Louisville make some kind
Speaker 3: of a run here this week in the ACC tournament
Speaker 3: and of course next week when it when it really starts.
Speaker 3: So outside of Rain, I mean, I don't know if
Speaker 3: it could have been better. And I think this has
Speaker 3: been such a let me give you, and I've said
Speaker 3: a billion times, I mean, this has been such a
Speaker 3: fun ride so far, and I think a lot of
Speaker 3: fans have done the same thing. And what I mean
Speaker 3: by that is like you you're kind of living in
Speaker 3: the moment more than you even like realize it. Like
Speaker 3: Louisville fans I think in any other year would be
Speaker 3: bitching and complaining about how the seed seven or eight,
Speaker 3: like that's insane. We should be a four seed because
Speaker 3: we've got twenty six wins. But look, I'm sure you
Speaker 3: can find some fans saying that, and I don't think
Speaker 3: they're correct. But my point is, like that really isn't
Speaker 3: even I mean, it's on your mind. You're happy that
Speaker 3: you're going to be in the tournament. You're happy that
Speaker 3: you know Selection Sunday is going to be fun this year,
Speaker 3: like it's something you're aware of. But it's not really,
Speaker 3: it's not distracting you from just living in the moment
Speaker 3: and realizing we just went through one of the best
Speaker 3: seasons we'll ever get around here as far as just
Speaker 3: the pure joy that came with it. I mean, let's
Speaker 3: be real. They also finished in the top fifteen in
Speaker 3: both poles. At the end of the regular season. They're
Speaker 3: number thirteen in the AP Pole, thirteen the Coaches Poll,
Speaker 3: eighteen and two in the ACC. And yes, the ACC
Speaker 3: is down, we all know that. But to have the
Speaker 3: previous few seas be what they were, and then to
Speaker 3: have this and have not only the success, not just
Speaker 3: a much better season than the previous ones, because they
Speaker 3: could have won thirteen games this year, and it would
Speaker 3: have probably no joke been applauded by a lot of people.
Speaker 3: I mean, we probably wouldn't have been like over the moon,
Speaker 3: because the bar wasn't just said, hey, be better than
Speaker 3: can he paying anybody? We could hire somebody off the
Speaker 3: street to do a better job than he did. But
Speaker 3: you know, if you don't win thirteen fourteen games, we
Speaker 3: probably would have been like, you know what, it's gonna
Speaker 3: take time. But man, that was a good step in
Speaker 3: the right direction. No, LOVLL won twenty six games this year.
Speaker 3: I mean, think about that. I mean, this team was good,
Speaker 3: and I wish that there would have been a little
Speaker 3: bit more opportunity to kind of, you know, get a
Speaker 3: feel for how good you are. But I you know,
Speaker 3: as much as I have reference that, it hasn't kept
Speaker 3: me from enjoying everything that was this. I'm sorry. Six
Speaker 3: twenty five wins. Twenty five and six was the was
Speaker 3: the record overall. And I mean you go to that
Speaker 3: game Saturday, you know, kind of knowing that it's Senior Day,
Speaker 3: which is why you saw the biggest crowd in quite
Speaker 3: some time. I'm at the m Center and everybody stuck
Speaker 3: around it seemed, which was awesome. So like, none of
Speaker 3: that's a surprise. But I think you know, you weren't
Speaker 3: thinking about the emotion that was gonna hit you when
Speaker 3: you're sitting there watching these guys get on or when
Speaker 3: you're seeing Chucky Hepburn kiss the floor.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: I think if you'd have thought about it ahead of time,
Speaker 3: you just said, yeah, I might get a little choked up,
Speaker 3: because man, I love this team. They brought us back
Speaker 3: to life. I'm gonna remember these guys forever. But again,
Speaker 3: you're so caught up in the moment that like you're
Speaker 3: just you're up nearly twenty on stan for in the
Speaker 3: second half, but yet you're into it more so than
Speaker 3: you ever have been into games where you're up that
Speaker 3: big because you know what, we really learned how much
Speaker 3: we would miss getting wins like that whenever you had,
Speaker 3: you know, but we had the last few years. So
Speaker 3: I mean, I think any notion that like these guys
Speaker 3: will be forgotten more so than you expect because of
Speaker 3: so many different Like Louisville next year may have an
Speaker 3: entirely different team, not to the level of what they
Speaker 3: did this year, but like college basketball is clearly different
Speaker 3: now you're gonna have a lot of newcomers every year.
Speaker 3: The scenario where a guy stays and plays four years
Speaker 3: is almost like how would that even happen? Because it
Speaker 3: could happen at places, you know, like this, like Kentucky,
Speaker 3: because there aren't gonna be many if you have a
Speaker 3: good if you're not an NBA guy, and you have
Speaker 3: a really good role and a really good team with
Speaker 3: a program with a lot of resources like the top
Speaker 3: Dogs do, Like where would you where would you look
Speaker 3: to go? Like maybe you'll just you know, jump to
Speaker 3: a slightly lower level and maybe get a little more money.
Speaker 3: But like, if you're doing well and you're getting all
Speaker 3: the minutes and your team succeeding, like guys would want
Speaker 3: to stick around. I would think. So you may see
Speaker 3: some four year guys over time, but it's still gonna
Speaker 3: be a rare thing. So again, anybody who just thinks that,
Speaker 3: you know, I hate it. We only got these guys
Speaker 3: one year. Like I'm with you, I hate it too.
Speaker 3: I wish these guys play here ten years. I can't
Speaker 3: think of I mean, I can't think of a group.
Speaker 3: In fact, there's not one that comes to mind. And really,
Speaker 3: more than anything, it's just because like you really can't
Speaker 3: compare this situation anything, because when has Louiville ever been
Speaker 3: in this situation where they went out and created a
Speaker 3: brand new team from scratch with guys from all across
Speaker 3: the country, many of them that are twenty three, twenty
Speaker 3: four years old. So like, there is no comparable situation.
Speaker 3: But I think, you know, I think these guys will
Speaker 3: be remembered forever, and you know, not something you got
Speaker 3: to really like rack your brain for Louisville Trivia you're
Speaker 3: just gonna remember that special season. And I know I
Speaker 3: could be I could be singing a different tune in
Speaker 3: a couple of weeks, because if you get bounced early
Speaker 3: in the tournament, that's such a such an awful feeling,
Speaker 3: to be honest with you, that's one feeling I don't miss, right,
Speaker 3: That's one of the one of the benefits of being asked.
Speaker 3: The last few years, we didn't have to deal with that.
Speaker 3: I mean, the overall sadness and you know, devastation was
Speaker 3: with you every day because you care so much about
Speaker 3: Louisville Hoopes. But like the daily game day stress and
Speaker 3: like sadness after a loss like that was we were
Speaker 3: numb to that. So if they don't make a deep run,
Speaker 3: maybe others will view it differently. And look, people can
Speaker 3: have their own opinion. I know we don't all collectively
Speaker 3: have the same thoughts on everything. But I just cannot
Speaker 3: imagine this team doing anything like maybe they lose by
Speaker 3: thirty in the first round. Clearly they would be disappointing
Speaker 3: and that would be a real bummer and it would
Speaker 3: make some probably question, Okay, well how good were they?
Speaker 3: But even with that, the joy and just the awesome
Speaker 3: season that these guys gave us that has such such
Speaker 3: a high value to me. And I know I'm not
Speaker 3: alone that they're you know, there's no way I could
Speaker 3: ever look at this group and not remember how awesome
Speaker 3: it was and how really, more than anything, they And
Speaker 3: this is what I was gonna say a moment ago.
Speaker 3: I'm sure there are plenty of guys who played at
Speaker 3: Louisville that we didn't realize how much they appreciated the
Speaker 3: fact they were here because it's not something you know,
Speaker 3: it's college sports. Was the same for generations to where
Speaker 3: it's just you know, and really, I think Louisville was
Speaker 3: so Louisville was so solid. I mean, they weren't. They're
Speaker 3: not elite, and clearly they've had down years before other
Speaker 3: than just the last few. But what I'm saying is
Speaker 3: that Louisville basketball, even in a down year previously, you know,
Speaker 3: not down year the level we had last few years,
Speaker 3: but just overall, everybody knows this one of the top
Speaker 3: ten programs in the history of the sport. Therefore, you
Speaker 3: would just assume, of course, these guys have have appreciation
Speaker 3: to be here. It's Louisville. But these guys, this group,
Speaker 3: like you could tell, man like, they really did value
Speaker 3: bringing us back to life, and they embraced sort of
Speaker 3: what they were doing for us, and it was such
Speaker 3: an infectious thing on both sides to where clearly the
Speaker 3: crowds got bigger as the season went on because these
Speaker 3: guys kept winning and man, they played their ass off.
Speaker 3: They played hard. You can tell they love Louisville. And
Speaker 3: then these players themselves, I mean I think they you know,
Speaker 3: I think from day one, right there's a business arrangement
Speaker 3: for a lot of these guys right in il was
Speaker 3: a big factor in how a lot of them got here,
Speaker 3: and that's just the way it is now. And a
Speaker 3: lot of these guys, honestly, they probably made themselves a
Speaker 3: lot of money later in life down the line. Because
Speaker 3: Chuckie Hibern wants to retire from playing basketball whenever that
Speaker 3: is and live in Louisville, you tell me he's not
Speaker 3: going to be a made man. I mean, Ray Smith,
Speaker 3: I'm sure he's gonna want to go back to his
Speaker 3: homeland of Australia. But if not, and he wants to
Speaker 3: live in Louisville. God should never buy a drink in
Speaker 3: town ever. In fact, never let him not have a
Speaker 3: drink in his hand. Javon Hadley, like I could see
Speaker 3: him retiring and being, you know, a business leader around
Speaker 3: town here and you know, being somebody that you know
Speaker 3: is just embedded in the community forever. I mean even
Speaker 3: even like Frank anzelom Ivey, who has a very minor role,
Speaker 3: but man, he embraces the hell out of that role
Speaker 3: and really, I mean gives you everything he has and
Speaker 3: and is clearly a great supporter of his teammates. Like
Speaker 3: these guys, they just there's a lot of things that
Speaker 3: went into it really was the perfect storm. But I
Speaker 3: think what really hit me early on this year and
Speaker 3: they just each week it seemed to really hit me
Speaker 3: even harder. And then to see them have the sendoff
Speaker 3: on Sunday, these guys had an appreciation for Louisville that
Speaker 3: I'm not sure we'll ever see again. And that's I'm
Speaker 3: not trying to take this in like a negative direction.
Speaker 3: But Pat Kelsey may have better teams down the line.
Speaker 3: In fact, he probably will when it comes to talent.
Speaker 3: He may have teams that have a better record, although
Speaker 3: twenty five and six is pretty damn good. He may
Speaker 3: have a team that you know, who knows what I'm
Speaker 3: saying is that no matter what the team looks like
Speaker 3: as far as wins and losses, success, NBA prospects, that
Speaker 3: kind of stuff, I don't know how you could recreate
Speaker 3: what we just had here well, and you really couldn't,
Speaker 3: because these guys were tasked with, you know, literally digging
Speaker 3: us up from the dead and bringing us back to life,
Speaker 3: and they did a great job at that. So nobody
Speaker 3: else hopefully we'll ever have that opportunity, because God knows,
Speaker 3: hope we never end up in the situation we were
Speaker 3: in prior to everybody arriving here. But telling you this group,
Speaker 3: I mean not only the success because again, who knows,
Speaker 3: twenty five and six is a pretty damn good record.
Speaker 3: Like Pat Kelsey set the bar pretty high for himself
Speaker 3: in year one, did he not? So you know, who
Speaker 3: knows what happens in the future. But I just think
Speaker 3: this was a once in a lifetime kind of team
Speaker 3: to where not the production, you know, not Chucky being
Speaker 3: the best defender in the country, Ran Smith being the
Speaker 3: best shooter in the country. I mean, those things are great,
Speaker 3: but they were able to give you something from like
Speaker 3: you know, an appreciation standpoint that I just don't know
Speaker 3: if it's going to be recreatable. And that's not a
Speaker 3: knock on anybody moving forward. I'm gonna love this program
Speaker 3: if it you know, I'm always gonna love it, clearly.
Speaker 3: But you know, we're having success and everybody's winning. That's awesome.
Speaker 3: But there was just something about this group that clearly
Speaker 3: very special. And I know some are probably a little dramatic,
Speaker 3: others are probably you know, making fun of other people
Speaker 3: who claim they got emotional. I did. I mean I
Speaker 3: didn't actually cry, but like, you know, you start to
Speaker 3: feel like you got frog in your throat, right, like
Speaker 3: when those guys were being taking out individually and going
Speaker 3: over and hugging Pat Kelsey and then Chucky kissed the floor,
Speaker 3: and you know, you could just you can just tell
Speaker 3: by body language that these guys, man, it meant a
Speaker 3: lot to play here. And I just think you could
Speaker 3: have great players, great teams, teams that you love. But
Speaker 3: these guys, I feel like, in a time where you
Speaker 3: typically wouldn't see this is such a business transactional world
Speaker 3: now meaning college athletics, and it was for these guys,
Speaker 3: but they also clearly kind of fell for us right,
Speaker 3: and clearly we fell for them and it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 3: And Austin, you know, there's nothing that hurts worse than
Speaker 3: losing in the tournament and having it all be over
Speaker 3: right like, And I don't even terrible. I don't even
Speaker 3: want to think about that for this Louisvell team. But
Speaker 3: would you agree? And if you don't, it's fine. I'm
Speaker 3: just I'm trying to get your opinion because I know,
Speaker 3: you know, in the moment after the loss, when it
Speaker 3: comes to too, I mean, it's gonna be awful. We're
Speaker 3: gonna be sad, we're gonna be angry. It's gonna be
Speaker 3: you know, it's gonna suck. But I just I don't
Speaker 3: think no matter what that result, if that happens, then
Speaker 3: they lose, no matter how bad it would be or whatever.
Speaker 3: I just can't imagine that being enough to make me
Speaker 3: lose all the love that I will always have for
Speaker 3: this group.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, no, it won't. I think the goal always
Speaker 2: to start the year was just, in my opinion, just
Speaker 2: get to the tournament. Yeah, restore that feeling of selection Sunday,
Speaker 2: you know, your respectable team, compete, you know all that stuff.
Speaker 2: Maybe have a couple couple good wins. Maybe be Kentucky,
Speaker 2: that would have been fun. But just sitting there being
Speaker 2: excited on Selection Sunday, you know that that CBS music hit,
Speaker 2: just start to get nervous, you know those feelings. I
Speaker 2: could care. Obviously I want them to go far. But
Speaker 2: if they lose, you know, even if they get Cinderella
Speaker 2: and they lose to a twelve seed or something like that,
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously that's gonna suck, but what a successful season.
Speaker 2: I'll be happy with it. The bar has already been
Speaker 2: cross jumped. Whatever you want to say. But you know,
Speaker 2: I'll be sad because of the guys, Like we love
Speaker 2: the team. There's an emotional attachment to this team that
Speaker 2: I don't think Louisville fans have had since the twenty
Speaker 2: thirteen season. So I mean, whatever happens, happens, and I'm
Speaker 2: here for the ride, but will not be disappointed.
Speaker 3: They'll be ye, There'll be no way we could realistically
Speaker 3: look in the mirror if they lose in the first
Speaker 3: round or something. I'm not saying that they will, but
Speaker 3: like if they did, I don't feel like we could
Speaker 3: look in the mirror and feel like, yeah, we have
Speaker 3: a reason to be disappointed, you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 3: it's just it's just different. No, I agree, And it's
Speaker 3: been fun. This is the first season that you and
Speaker 3: I have worked together full time. Hopefully it's the first
Speaker 3: of many, but like, what a fun ride for you
Speaker 3: and I to to kind of, you know, start working
Speaker 3: full time together on this show.
Speaker 2: Part of games.
Speaker 3: I mean, and we we just we can't help it.
Speaker 3: We'll just randomly like and I got to talk to somebody,
Speaker 3: I'll text Austin will text me. Love this team, freaking
Speaker 3: love these guys. Love Pat Kelsey. I die for them.
Speaker 3: Not if I die first, then you wouldn't, you know.
Speaker 3: It's just it's it's it's it's crazy. It's been awesome.
Speaker 3: So you hang up. Let's let's take our first break,
Speaker 3: and man, we got a lot to get into before
Speaker 3: we get out of here. Kentucky, they finished strong. I
Speaker 3: feel like that win for Kentucky on Saturday. I'm not sure,
Speaker 3: you know, if it changes a whole lot for them
Speaker 3: as far as resume or whatnot. But it proved one
Speaker 3: thing about Mark Pope throughout the entire year that I'm
Speaker 3: not sure he really got enough credit for so partying
Speaker 3: while I go throw up here because I'm gonna have
Speaker 3: to give him some more problem on your hand. I've
Speaker 3: been doing that a lot this year, and I don't
Speaker 3: want to do it. It makes me, you know, makes me icky,
Speaker 3: but I gotta do it all right. Also, we got
Speaker 3: a lot of other stuff again, we'll go ahead and
Speaker 3: get to a time out. I'll quit yap and so
Speaker 3: we can save some time. It's coffee and company. Feel
Speaker 3: about Thornton's 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: That's right, coffee and company fuel about Thornton's here on
Speaker 3: a Sports Talk seven ninety. You can give us a
Speaker 3: call if you'd like. Phone lines are now open five
Speaker 3: O two five seven one seventy nine hundred and the
Speaker 3: elen In Federal Credit Union text line it is five
Speaker 3: O two four three eight ninety seventy three. Again five
Speaker 3: OO two four three eight ninety seventy three. So this
Speaker 3: text earlier was was one that really U I never
Speaker 3: hadn't thought about it this way, but I agree the
Speaker 3: texterre essentially said, and they didn't leave their name, by
Speaker 3: the way, So if you could leave it. You don't
Speaker 3: have to leave your name. It's not that big of
Speaker 3: a deal. But I'm just trying to, you know, make
Speaker 3: it feel a little more like a family around here,
Speaker 3: to where if we have people that text in, you know,
Speaker 3: every day, and they bring something to the table that's
Speaker 3: worth you know, bringing to the airwaves, bringing it on
Speaker 3: the show, then I can say their name and it'll
Speaker 3: feel like people kind of you know, they maybe they don't,
Speaker 3: they don't know them obviously, but they'll know, hey, that person,
Speaker 3: he usually makes good points or whatever it may be.
Speaker 3: So anyways, they said that they realized earlier this year
Speaker 3: that they couldn't get mad at this team, and I agree.
Speaker 3: I mean I could be disappointed and you know, not
Speaker 3: happy when they play poorly. Right that that that's clearly
Speaker 3: something we all. I mean, I don't know how you
Speaker 3: would never if you're a fan and your team loses,
Speaker 3: you know, even if you're not angry, like you know,
Speaker 3: it's not a good feeling no matter what. Right. But
Speaker 3: whenever they lost to Georgia Tech, I remember realizing, wait
Speaker 3: a second, why am I not you know, why am
Speaker 3: I not upset? Like I'm bummed they lost? But like
Speaker 3: I can't look at anybody on the bench, staff, play,
Speaker 3: or anybody on the court and feel like, wow, can
Speaker 3: you believe these guys? How could they lose this game? Now, again,
Speaker 3: they lost to a bad team. It happened. But I
Speaker 3: just think given the circumstances overall, and you know how
Speaker 3: successful they they were this year in the regular season,
Speaker 3: I mean, when it comes to having genuine like disappointment
Speaker 3: and you know, frustration, it's it's it's not that I
Speaker 3: expect them to lose the teams like Georgia Tech, and
Speaker 3: clearly that was a one off thing. They didn't lose
Speaker 3: any other game like that. But I feel like, more
Speaker 3: often than not, in fact, ninety nine point nine percent
Speaker 3: of the time, from coach to player, don't you feel
Speaker 3: like you've you've got everything you possibly could almost out
Speaker 3: of these guys. I don't want to say they've already
Speaker 3: played their best basketball and it's only downhill from here,
Speaker 3: because you know, I mean, really, for this group, I
Speaker 3: think what really makes them potentially special is when things
Speaker 3: are clicking everywhere and oh, by the way, they're making
Speaker 3: shots right, three point shots that they're making thirteen fourteen
Speaker 3: threes a game, and they've been and they're able to
Speaker 3: kind of, you know, be the same team they've been
Speaker 3: really all year. I guess post injuries, then they're dangerous.
Speaker 3: I mean, they just are. But yes, I you know
Speaker 3: you think Chucky Hepburn didn't give us every single thing
Speaker 3: that he had. Do you think that you know he
Speaker 3: that maybe we didn't get the most out of him?
Speaker 3: And I think you say that same thing about nearly
Speaker 3: every player, right like Javon Hadley, guy's playing hard, and
Speaker 3: I don't really know what else he can give us
Speaker 3: that he's not given us consistently. And oh, by the way,
Speaker 3: you know, these are guys that, in my opinion, as
Speaker 3: we talked about last week, they're producing at a high
Speaker 3: enough rate that I believe they should eat They should
Speaker 3: be all acc guys. I don't think they will, at
Speaker 3: least not all of them where I believe they will.
Speaker 3: But nonetheless, like I'm with you, like, I don't know
Speaker 3: if I could genuinely be bothered by these guys, because
Speaker 3: like even if Pat Kelsey like made a mistake and
Speaker 3: it really was a bad decision and it cost you
Speaker 3: a game, I mean, that would suck, But I can't
Speaker 3: generate any real emotion that is anger, disappointment or sadness,
Speaker 3: because I mean, I guess I mean more than anything,
Speaker 3: it's because, like I know, they weren't trying to do that.
Speaker 3: And look, nobody's ever trying to lose or trying to
Speaker 3: misshots or screw up. But I just think these guys
Speaker 3: have become so beloved that, like, I just I don't
Speaker 3: know if I'll ever be able to be disappointed or upset.
Speaker 3: I mean, look, the twenty thirteen team gave me my
Speaker 3: first and who knows, maybe the only national championship I'll
Speaker 3: ever see around here, right, So like I love those
Speaker 3: guys to this day, Like I love them, But man,
Speaker 3: I was really mad at him when they would lose games.
Speaker 3: I was really mad at him whenever you know, they
Speaker 3: were down to which a tall state at halftime in
Speaker 3: the final four. So you know, it's just it's it's
Speaker 3: a different it's a different feeling. Are we talked earlier
Speaker 3: about with us having a new text line here by
Speaker 3: the way, Babo two four three eight ninety seventy three,
Speaker 3: we were asking. I asked Austin, like, how many numbers? Actually, no,
Speaker 3: he I asked him if he was surprised that I
Speaker 3: that I still was having to like look at the
Speaker 3: text line in order to give you the number, Like
Speaker 3: I haven't been able to memorize it just yet. I'm
Speaker 3: sure I will soon, just like any livery and do
Speaker 3: I have any client, Eventually, if I just say their
Speaker 3: their number enough, then then I know it. I'm sure
Speaker 3: that'll be the same here with the text line. But
Speaker 3: then we were talking about numbers that like we remember
Speaker 3: off the top of our head. And you know, if
Speaker 3: you've met someone, really, I'm not kidding you. I feel
Speaker 3: like in the last fifteen to twenty years, you met
Speaker 3: them and you took their number down. That's probably the
Speaker 3: only time you've ever like, think about this. I never
Speaker 3: give anybody any number anymore. Yeah, Like, hey, the numbers five,
Speaker 3: O two, I send it, I share the contact right,
Speaker 3: Like I haven't even actually had to. I mean I
Speaker 3: do it every day on this show, but other than that,
Speaker 3: I haven't actually Like maybe sometimes when you go to
Speaker 3: the doctor, they'll ask you for your phone number or
Speaker 3: something like that to like reference your account or something,
Speaker 3: but more often than not, like I think, moving forward,
Speaker 3: memoring anybody's phone number off the top of your head,
Speaker 3: it's gonna be a real rare thing, and in fact,
Speaker 3: it kind of already is. But somebody on the text
Speaker 3: line asked if if we remember our if we know
Speaker 3: our license plate? Oh god, so I I know mine,
Speaker 3: and I'll tell you all. I know mine because my
Speaker 3: wife has fun with it. She she the three, the three.
Speaker 3: There's three letters, three numbers. It's I can tell people
Speaker 3: my license number. It's not like they're not gonna like
Speaker 3: steal my identity, right, I don't. It's a BWn is
Speaker 3: my license plate. And I only know that because my
Speaker 3: wife uses those first three letters and and and and
Speaker 3: says that it stands for something. And then I just
Speaker 3: remember the one forty. But other than that, I mean,
Speaker 3: I've I've had multiple different license plates, different cars. I couldn't.
Speaker 3: I couldn't give you a single number or letter in
Speaker 3: any other license plate that I've had. Yeah, either yeah, no,
Speaker 3: and I And why would you remember that? Like unless
Speaker 3: you just unless you just unless you have a vanity plate,
Speaker 3: like you know, we were just talking during the break,
Speaker 3: do I win? His license plate says Cobo on it,
Speaker 3: and some people have the customization And clearly you remember
Speaker 3: that because you pick it out and it means something
Speaker 3: to you. But I don't know why anybody else would
Speaker 3: wouldn't need would know, wouldn't Like I'm.
Speaker 2: Wondering if that's like normal, like people like it. Yeah, seriously,
Speaker 2: you don't know license plate numbers.
Speaker 3: And I only know of mine because because of of
Speaker 3: of a random joke more than anything. It's not because
Speaker 3: like I've ever needed it kind of, but the uh,
Speaker 3: there have been times where, like, for example, this we
Speaker 3: were at a fish fry not and by the way,
Speaker 3: fish fry season just started, but I remember, oh yeah,
Speaker 3: I remember anytime we go to one of the fish
Speaker 3: fries around here, because we go to a lot of
Speaker 3: them my family. There's one that always ends up where
Speaker 3: people just kind of like halfway park their car and
Speaker 3: they're not staying, they're just going to pick up food
Speaker 3: and leave. So they you know, you end up in
Speaker 3: these church parking lots where it's kind of a free
Speaker 3: for all. People get blocked in or there's like, you know,
Speaker 3: you're parked somewhere you can't park because of like the
Speaker 3: fire hazard that kind of stuff. So they have to
Speaker 3: get on like the PA at these churches and tell
Speaker 3: people if you're driving this car, and then they mentioned
Speaker 3: the license plate number and I'm like, who remembers? Like,
Speaker 3: that's not a good way for you know, if you
Speaker 3: tell me I'm driving the white Ford Explorer. Yeah, I
Speaker 3: know that that's what I have. But the license plate
Speaker 3: number is not going to get my attention. Oh that's me,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, Like it's just yeah, anyways,
Speaker 3: we'll move on.
Speaker 2: My foggy brain is not good for that. A couple
Speaker 2: too many gummies over the years have done me in,
Speaker 2: like God help well, burned out huh yeah, like God,
Speaker 2: God help me or whoever else. If I'm like witnessing
Speaker 2: a crime and someone gets away in a car and
Speaker 2: I have to like relied on find the only person there, Well,
Speaker 2: did you see their license plate number? Like, well, yeah,
Speaker 2: I did what I probably couldn't remember it. I'd be
Speaker 2: I'd be more trusting trying to pull out my phone
Speaker 2: and take a picture really quick and get blurry than
Speaker 2: I am, Like all right, that was that was B
Speaker 2: sixty seven? Oh tw n.
Speaker 3: I take pictures of everything to remember, now.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well yeah then that's smart.
Speaker 3: Oh I feel like pictures screenshots Like I I do
Speaker 3: that now so I don't have to write it down
Speaker 3: and I don't have to just remember it. I know
Speaker 3: that there's a there's a there's there's a trace of
Speaker 3: it on my phone where I can reference it and uh.
Speaker 2: And coffee and paste later.
Speaker 3: That's right, all right, So real quick for Louisville, the
Speaker 3: ACC tournament will start tomorrow and the cards will be
Speaker 3: in action on Thursday. Who they play will be determined
Speaker 3: by what happens tomorrow and on Wednesday. So they are
Speaker 3: the two seed and Virginia Tech and Cal. Virginia Tech's
Speaker 3: the ten seed. Cal is the fifteen seed. They're gonna
Speaker 3: play tomorrow at four thirty. The winner of that will
Speaker 3: then play on Wednesday against Stanford, who's the seventh seed,
Speaker 3: and then Louisville will play the winner of one of
Speaker 3: those three teams on Thursday at seven o'clock. So if
Speaker 3: it goes Chuck, you'll play Stanford once again. I've got
Speaker 3: you know. I mean, they were a better team than
Speaker 3: a lot of the teams you played in the in
Speaker 3: the ACC, and I kind of we didn't have a
Speaker 3: long show on Thursday, so I didn't or Friday. I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: so I didn't really get a chance to get to it.
Speaker 3: But you know, Stanford is a team that, despite being
Speaker 3: another one of the non tournament teams in the ACC,
Speaker 3: and another team that when you beat them, you get
Speaker 3: no value because they're not that good. They are better
Speaker 3: than a lot of the teams in the ACC. And
Speaker 3: I started to think about that. You know, you had
Speaker 3: some teams that you know, we know are really bad
Speaker 3: give you more trouble than you would have expected. So
Speaker 3: like Stanford was the kind of team that I feel like,
Speaker 3: you know, one, they do have a really good player
Speaker 3: in their big man, who I believe is gonna play
Speaker 3: a long time in the NBA. And you know, again,
Speaker 3: they ended up finishing nineteen and twelve. And again I'm
Speaker 3: not telling you that to say that they're great, but
Speaker 3: you know, you look at everybody else in the league.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of teams with overall losing records. So
Speaker 3: you know, I was about to say I got to
Speaker 3: worry about Stanford. Bring them on, and I really don't
Speaker 3: worry about them because Louisville didn't have much trouble with him,
Speaker 3: and their big guy was able to kind of do
Speaker 3: what he does, and Louisville really was able to not
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, Stanford's not a team that I
Speaker 3: would be worried about but with that said, you know,
Speaker 3: if somehow you can end up getting Cal because of
Speaker 3: an upset that happens, I'll take that as well, because
Speaker 3: the reality is on a neutral court, you need teams
Speaker 3: to be in the top Let's see here the net rankings,
Speaker 3: because the neutral court, the range is different. So if
Speaker 3: you beat a team that's in the top fifty on
Speaker 3: a neutral court, that is considered a I'm pulled up here.
Speaker 3: Make sure I've got this right, because the only scenario
Speaker 3: where Louisville could get quad ones is the Semis and
Speaker 3: the championship if they get there, and of course you'd
Speaker 3: need Clemson and Duke to still be alive. Clemson and
Speaker 3: Duke would have to be your teams because if not,
Speaker 3: then you know, you wouldn't have chances because there's nobody
Speaker 3: else in the tournament, the a SEC tournament that's going
Speaker 3: to give you any real value. So, like you know,
Speaker 3: part of me says, well, Stanford would Stanford is better
Speaker 3: in the metrics than a CAL or Virginia Tech, but
Speaker 3: not enough to where it really makes a difference, right,
Speaker 3: I mean, beating any of these three teams, whoever it is,
Speaker 3: is going to be the same value, which it has
Speaker 3: very little value. So again, you've kind of been in
Speaker 3: this position for a while, now you knowing you can
Speaker 3: do about it. You have a lot to lose in
Speaker 3: very little to gain with with really every game seemingly
Speaker 3: in the ACC And again we know that that's that's
Speaker 3: out of your control. But Clemson and do give you
Speaker 3: a chance to potentially change your seat. I want to
Speaker 3: get you this in the four o'clock hour because I
Speaker 3: really you know, we talked about a couple weeks ago,
Speaker 3: if Louisville finishes with this record, what happens? And here
Speaker 3: we are, like they finished the regular season unbeaten, and
Speaker 3: you know, I guess technically they could go three, three
Speaker 3: and zero and Charlotte and I still just have a
Speaker 3: tough time. And I'm not saying they'll do that, But
Speaker 3: if they did, how high can they climb? I mean,
Speaker 3: we'll never know until you know one that you know
Speaker 3: that does actually happen, which is you know, very unlikely
Speaker 3: because Duke's playing really good basketball. But I'm just saying
Speaker 3: I don't know how much higher they can climb because
Speaker 3: there's teams that are that are resume wise ahead of
Speaker 3: them on the seed line substantially that I'm not sure
Speaker 3: what they could do to where Louisville would jump ahead
Speaker 3: of them, even if Louisville, again hypothetically had a Duke win.
Speaker 3: So I just think six and seven is what you're
Speaker 3: looking at. I don't think you can get an eight,
Speaker 3: but I really don't know if you can get higher
Speaker 3: than a six unless you beat Duke. And I think then, like,
Speaker 3: I still feel the same about Louisville in the tournament
Speaker 3: as I did a few weeks ago. Right you know,
Speaker 3: it's going to depend on matchups who you know, that
Speaker 3: kind of stuff. But overall, I guess as it's played
Speaker 3: out in the last couple of weeks, few weeks, I
Speaker 3: guess there really was not a whole lot of room
Speaker 3: for you to climb, because again, what we always Louisville
Speaker 3: right now is a great resume when it comes to
Speaker 3: the overall win. I mean, they don't have a whole
Speaker 3: lot of Quad one victories, but they also you know,
Speaker 3: it'd be different if they played in thirteen quad one
Speaker 3: games and had you know, three wins. I mean, right now,
Speaker 3: Louisville and it all. You know, Indiana finishing strong did
Speaker 3: in fact heell, but Louisver right now is number twenty
Speaker 3: three in the net and they they are four and
Speaker 3: five in quad one games. You know, if they had
Speaker 3: four quad one wins and instead of playing nine quad
Speaker 3: one games, they played nineteen of them, that'd be a
Speaker 3: different situation. Now again, we'll save this for later because
Speaker 3: we need to get to a break. But I just
Speaker 3: think with Louisville, the committee really, you know, it's always
Speaker 3: down to what they decide, right, because they're the ones
Speaker 3: who decide. It's there's human beings that do this, not
Speaker 3: just robots, but clearly they use a lot of analytics.
Speaker 3: They have their own formula, which is the net. But
Speaker 3: I really do think, you know, like if Louisville ended
Speaker 3: up getting like a higher seed than most expected, meaning
Speaker 3: a better one, I can't say I'd be shocked, because
Speaker 3: you know, it would make sense with the resume, But
Speaker 3: if they kind of end up being set and eight,
Speaker 3: I kind of think that would make sense too. There's
Speaker 3: there's there's it's open for interpretation when it comes to
Speaker 3: Louisville's resume, and I don't think the committee is going
Speaker 3: to look at it and say, no, they're not very good,
Speaker 3: let's give them like an eight. But also, you know,
Speaker 3: maybe they say, look, there's a lot to like about
Speaker 3: this resume, and we're gonna v We're gonna, we're gonna actually,
Speaker 3: do you know what makes sense? You know, regardless of
Speaker 3: who's who's on the schedule, let's credit teams for you know,
Speaker 3: not losing the bad teams. I quick break will come
Speaker 3: back on the other side talking about the SEC tournament draw, which, again,
Speaker 3: once you just look at this bracket, I mean, it
Speaker 3: confirms what we already know, and that is that this
Speaker 3: league has been insanely loaded this year. However, I've got
Speaker 3: a bold prediction about the SEC and the instead of
Speaker 3: late tournament. I'll tell what that is next right here
Speaker 3: 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: All Right, so Kentucky ended the season on Saturday, just
Speaker 3: like Louisville did. And I don't I don't have it
Speaker 3: in front of me as far as what their overall
Speaker 3: record was. They finished as the sixth seed in the SEC,
Speaker 3: and I mean, I really don't see how they could
Speaker 3: get anything worse than a four seed. In fact, maybe
Speaker 3: maybe a three is as bad as they can do.
Speaker 3: Because you gotta keep in mind they're gonna play in
Speaker 3: the SEC tournament in the first game, I think, yeah,
Speaker 3: because the championship of the SEC is Sunday, their first
Speaker 3: game will be like they didn't get the double by
Speaker 3: this time around, So they'll play on Thursday, and they're
Speaker 3: playing the winner of Oklahoma and Georgia. That doesn't do
Speaker 3: anything to hurt you really if you lose that game,
Speaker 3: I mean, you would probably be losing the two teams
Speaker 3: that aren't in the tournament right now. But if they
Speaker 3: beat you, then maybe they are, you know, so, I mean,
Speaker 3: if Kentucky's slotted as a three right now, a loss
Speaker 3: to Georgia, it could drop them off the three line
Speaker 3: to a four, but probably more so because other teams
Speaker 3: are going to be able to Like teams that are
Speaker 3: competing to go from four seed to three seed will
Speaker 3: have have probably had a good run in their conference
Speaker 3: tournament and maybe slightly put themselves in a better spot.
Speaker 3: But like right now, if you look at the latest
Speaker 3: update from Joe Lenardi, he has by the way, he
Speaker 3: still has Lovell as a seven. Everybody's got lovel as
Speaker 3: a seven everywhere I've looked, but he's got Kentucky Leonardi
Speaker 3: does this is let's what was this put out?
Speaker 2: I his.
Speaker 3: This was yesterday, So this did account for the weekends
Speaker 3: games whenever both teams it ended the regular season. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so Lenardi's got Kentucky as a three seed in the
Speaker 3: South Region, and then Jerry Palm he has Kentucky as
Speaker 3: a four seed in the Midwest. So maybe there are four.
Speaker 3: But I wouldn't be shocked if through a three, and
Speaker 3: I think if they end up falling to a four,
Speaker 3: if they end up I mean, if they end up
Speaker 3: ended up anywhere worse than a four, I would be
Speaker 3: highly surprised. So again that's because Mark Pope did a
Speaker 3: good enough job this year of just getting a ton
Speaker 3: of wins that have value, and like like Louisville, the
Speaker 3: majority of their losses are too teams that really don't
Speaker 3: do a lot to hurt your rest. And for certain
Speaker 3: teams like Kentucky right now, let's see, let me pull
Speaker 3: up their team sheet here, because you know, their records
Speaker 3: not great, it's fine, I mean it's it's not terrible,
Speaker 3: but they're twenty one in ten and you know a
Speaker 3: lot of teams that are twenty one and ten wouldn't
Speaker 3: sniff the tournament. Kentucky's twenty one and ten, and again
Speaker 3: I don't think they can do worse than a four,
Speaker 3: and I think it's because they had enough wins that
Speaker 3: that you know, just had a ton of value. I mean,
Speaker 3: they're ten and nine in Quad one games, one in
Speaker 3: one in Quad two games, and didn't They don't have
Speaker 3: any losses in the Quad three, in the in the
Speaker 3: uh in the quad four range. So right now, I mean,
Speaker 3: is their only Quad two loss Arkansas at home? It
Speaker 3: probably is. So I have no clue what to really
Speaker 3: make of Kentucky as far as like how how are
Speaker 3: they built for you know, a deep run in the tournament?
Speaker 3: And I mean that, like I just I wouldn't be
Speaker 3: shocked if they make a deep run. But I also
Speaker 3: can't say i'd be shocked like if they loseing their
Speaker 3: round of thirty two, because I think they're good. They've
Speaker 3: they can beat really good teams, but you know, they're
Speaker 3: also pretty vulnerable. A lot of teams are. But one
Speaker 3: thing Mark Pope did this year that really I think
Speaker 3: speaks to the bright future he probably has in Lexington
Speaker 3: is that they never got too high or too low,
Speaker 3: regardless of anything. And that's probably a factor of a
Speaker 3: lot of things. Like Louisville, they've got a lot of
Speaker 3: mature players, guys who played a lot of college basketball
Speaker 3: that are four or fifth year got four or five
Speaker 3: year guys. But also because they're led by a good
Speaker 3: leader who you know when they would come out and
Speaker 3: lose a game to again Vandy, right, they lost to
Speaker 3: Vandy at Vandy. Well, next came out, they traveled to
Speaker 3: Knoxville to take on Tennessee, who's top five at the time,
Speaker 3: and they beat them, and again they swept Tennessee. So
Speaker 3: they've proven they can win some games, not get I
Speaker 3: think where they can pick out really good wins with
Speaker 3: value that make you feel good about a deep run
Speaker 3: of the tournament. Let's be real, the majority of those
Speaker 3: wins came at a different time than than you know
Speaker 3: where you are right now. I mean, the Duke game
Speaker 3: happened a long time ago. Heck Evan Louisville, but Lord,
Speaker 3: louisill be Kentucky if they played right now. I don't know,
Speaker 3: but I certainly like their chances better today than I
Speaker 3: did when the game happened a couple months ago. So
Speaker 3: you know that win against Missouri, I mean they won
Speaker 3: that game without a whole lot of trouble. And I
Speaker 3: don't know how good Missouri is overall, but clearly they're
Speaker 3: a good team that's going to make the tournament and
Speaker 3: get a good seed. And it's not like I'm saying
Speaker 3: they're bad, but like that, that's a win that gets
Speaker 3: you to twenty one and ten rather than being twenty
Speaker 3: and eleven, and it's another really valuable road victory. And
Speaker 3: it's just you know, you can have the twenty one
Speaker 3: and ten record and the ten and eight record in
Speaker 3: the league play and maybe even an early exit in
Speaker 3: the SEC sturnment. You can have all that and still
Speaker 3: be at a four seed at worst, because they ended
Speaker 3: up winning enough games to where they never did any
Speaker 3: like the bottom never fell out. And I do remember
Speaker 3: when they what lost was it they lost four or
Speaker 3: five and again they were all the good teams, but
Speaker 3: when Cal got them and then they lost to Ole
Speaker 3: miss and really were getting embarrassed in that one. I
Speaker 3: kind of felt like that season not was going to
Speaker 3: fall apart to where they wouldn't make the tournament, but
Speaker 3: you know they were going to be in shambles because
Speaker 3: they couldn't guard anybody. The health of their guards was
Speaker 3: still up in the air in a major way, and
Speaker 3: yet they stayed the course and you know, never too high,
Speaker 3: too low, And I feel like that's a good sign
Speaker 3: for Mark Pope and next year when he's got a
Speaker 3: team that's probably more talented, that probably doesn't have these
Speaker 3: kind of injuries. I mean, they could be even better.
Speaker 3: All right, quick break, two more hours left. Stick around
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