Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day, now Here's Nick Coffee.
Speaker 2: As we were wrapping up the three o'clock hour there
Speaker 2: we were playing some Jeff Brohms sound as he was just,
Speaker 2: you know, I think, being very honest. I don't think
Speaker 2: everything he had said there was just the truth and
Speaker 2: it was. I mean, I don't think anybody was detecting
Speaker 2: a lot, but you know, him saying that he supports
Speaker 2: his players, but obviously he didn't agree, wasn't happy with
Speaker 2: the decision because Louis was a much better team when
Speaker 2: they've got somebody like Colin Lacy out there, which all
Speaker 2: that stuff is true, but it's almost like when playing
Speaker 2: that I was a pub was playing it from the
Speaker 2: press conference video, like you could kind of see that
Speaker 2: he was understanding, Yeah, this I don't like it, didn't
Speaker 2: agree with it, but this is the way it is,
Speaker 2: and we're going to support him and we'd love to
Speaker 2: have him back. Some people have on the text line
Speaker 2: acted like, you know, they think he's just saying that
Speaker 2: to look like a guy who still is open to
Speaker 2: nil and maybe he wouldn't want him back, And look,
Speaker 2: you guys. Maybe right. I don't know, but I did say,
Speaker 2: you know, there are fans out there that I think
Speaker 2: if Jeff said, the hell with him, he's gone kick Rocks.
Speaker 2: We don't need him. He quit on his team. You know,
Speaker 2: there are fans that if he said that, they would
Speaker 2: they would say, hell, yeah, Jeff, you tell him. And
Speaker 2: a few of you chirped up and said, yeah, I
Speaker 2: wish he would say that, And like, I get it,
Speaker 2: because Colin Lacey he quit. Like I can't say that
Speaker 2: you're wrong. We can call it opting out, but like
Speaker 2: it's quitting, and it's weird that he can quit. And
Speaker 2: yet because of the players having all the control and
Speaker 2: the power, like he could still potentially stick around, and
Speaker 2: you know, he can leverage the situation, and he probably will.
Speaker 2: Now we'll be successful. I don't know. Only time will tell.
Speaker 2: But what I mean by he could leverage a situation
Speaker 2: is that he knows Louisville was able to see when
Speaker 2: healthy that he's a really good weapon to have on offense,
Speaker 2: and with that they might need to come with a
Speaker 2: little bit more money for the next inile package. But
Speaker 2: then again, you know, do you tell them, Okay, well,
Speaker 2: we're not paying you the whatever you were owed because
Speaker 2: you stopped playing, but we'll work on a package for
Speaker 2: next year. Like, if that's the case, one, do you
Speaker 2: even have the ability to do that, because as you know,
Speaker 2: you can't technically pay for play. You weren't paying Colin
Speaker 2: Lacy to play here, you were just paying him to exist.
Speaker 2: I mean quite literally, that's what the NIL contracts are,
Speaker 2: Marketing appearances, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: Whatever.
Speaker 2: So it's a tricky situation. That's why I tried to
Speaker 2: set it up and make it clear that I think
Speaker 2: you could have completely different reactions on this whole thing,
Speaker 2: him opting out, quitting and yet still potentially coming back
Speaker 2: next year. You could have completely different reactions and opinions
Speaker 2: on it, and I can understand both sides totally, but
Speaker 2: it's just, you know, it's a new world. I think
Speaker 2: if there was strictly a salary cap, everything would be
Speaker 2: a lot easier for coaches and everybody involved. Meaning if
Speaker 2: everybody had a max where yeah, you've got the twenty
Speaker 2: two million that each athletic department is allowed to pay
Speaker 2: out annually to their student athletes, and then you've got
Speaker 2: a maximum on what you're allowed to do with nil
Speaker 2: that would that would make it to where, you know,
Speaker 2: as far as the top tier you have even you
Speaker 2: have an even playing field. Right, It's just the kid's
Speaker 2: got the same money. He's just going to have to
Speaker 2: decide where he wants to go for football reasons, right,
Speaker 2: or for where he wants to live. That kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: Money wouldn't be if you've got a really good player.
Speaker 2: Money wouldn't be the ultimate kicker, because it'd be the
Speaker 2: same for the really good players. Now, sure there'd be
Speaker 2: some players that don't get the maximumount that kind of stuff,
Speaker 2: But I'm just thinking out loud here, like what is
Speaker 2: the formula that you could put in place here where
Speaker 2: this is regulated? And it's clearly a part of college
Speaker 2: sports moving forward where you know guys are getting paid,
Speaker 2: but like, it's not such a free for all. It's
Speaker 2: not the wild wild West as they say. And I'm
Speaker 2: sure there are some out there that have a plan
Speaker 2: that would certainly work a lot better than what we're
Speaker 2: doing right now. But we ain't there yet, and I
Speaker 2: don't know when we're going to be. Because again, next year,
Speaker 2: when you can start to pay athletes, yes, that does
Speaker 2: provide some guardrails because you know, the teams that want
Speaker 2: to compete at a high level, they're all going to
Speaker 2: be maxed out and it's going to be split up.
Speaker 2: And that seems okay, yeah, that makes sense, But no,
Speaker 2: nil is still going to be something that is utilized
Speaker 2: to be the you know, the kicker, the cherry on top,
Speaker 2: if you will, when it comes to really having leverage
Speaker 2: over a different program. And look, the rich I've just
Speaker 2: gotten richer for the most part, because the schools that
Speaker 2: have the best facilities, that have the best tradition, that
Speaker 2: have the best resources, that play on national TV, that
Speaker 2: have won national championships, that have put guys in the NFL,
Speaker 2: in the NBA, those programs are still I mean, those
Speaker 2: programs had had benefits then that the habit that the
Speaker 2: have nots don't didn't have And it's still the same.
Speaker 2: So you know, I do think at times we we
Speaker 2: act as if this has changed the product that we
Speaker 2: love a lot more than it actually has. But it's
Speaker 2: easy to say that until it's your team that has
Speaker 2: been impacted by it. In Louisville, I mean, let's make
Speaker 2: no mistake about it, Colin Lacey was playing his best
Speaker 2: football and he just decided, well, I'm out, all right.
Speaker 2: It's coffee and Company. We are feel about Thornton's here
Speaker 2: on Sports Talk seven ninety. If you want to join
Speaker 2: us on the show, you can five two five seventy
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Speaker 2: five three zero seven ninety. Make sure you guys stop
Speaker 2: in into Thornton's. I mean, and I oftentimes encourage you
Speaker 2: guys to become Refreshment Awards members. And if you haven't
Speaker 2: done it by now, I guess you're not going to,
Speaker 2: but just you know, there is still an option to
Speaker 2: do that. But I'm telling you to stop in at
Speaker 2: Thornton's not just because you'll save money on fuel when
Speaker 2: you get when you hit the gas pump as a
Speaker 2: member of the Refreshment Awards program, but you're also gonna
Speaker 2: be able to take advantage of all the great food
Speaker 2: items they have. They've unveiled some really cool food items
Speaker 2: over the years. You guys have heard me talk about
Speaker 2: the pizza Wedge. It was like a Pizza Quesadia, and
Speaker 2: it's not around anymore. Maybe they bring it back one day.
Speaker 2: Just for me. That'd be great because it was delicious.
Speaker 2: But right now, they've got tiketos that are to die for,
Speaker 2: spicy beef and chicken. They've got cheese. You could get
Speaker 2: three of them for three bucks. That's a cheap and
Speaker 2: nutritious lunch. I mean, I can't speak to the how
Speaker 2: healthy it is, but like you know, three tiketos, I mean,
Speaker 2: that'll fill me up. I don't know about you guys,
Speaker 2: but that's just enough for me. So again, that's one
Speaker 2: of the many delicious items they have when it comes
Speaker 2: to food, breakfast, lunch, even a late I mean doesn't
Speaker 2: sound like a dinner, But I mean if you needed
Speaker 2: to get dinner there because you're in a rush and
Speaker 2: you don't have a lot of time, you could do it,
Speaker 2: and you could do it deliciously. Is that a word deliciously?
Speaker 2: I don't think it is. I think a word I
Speaker 2: don't know. Sometimes I just get to yap and I think, man,
Speaker 2: I think I might have made up a few words there.
Speaker 2: Let's see if they stick. Anyways. Point of the whole
Speaker 2: thing is that we're fueled by Thornton's. And I know
Speaker 2: you knew that, but I wanted to tell you once more. Right, So,
Speaker 2: last night Louisville in action against Spaulding, and if you
Speaker 2: listen to the postgame show and you listen to the
Speaker 2: beginning of this show, I really don't have much to
Speaker 2: add other than what was said last night. I don't
Speaker 2: feel any different about this team today as I did
Speaker 2: last Tuesday, as I did before they played their first
Speaker 2: exhibition game against Young Harris. And it's not because I've
Speaker 2: been further, you know, encouraged to be super optimistic and
Speaker 2: expect this team to be a tournament caliber team. It's
Speaker 2: just that I know that any any real learning point
Speaker 2: or takeaway for me personally would just be a reach.
Speaker 2: And what I mean by that is, I mean I'm
Speaker 2: still encouraged by this team. They didn't do anything to
Speaker 2: make me worried, but like if they did do something,
Speaker 2: if there was a specific stat which there is, free
Speaker 2: throws and that is something you got. I mean, I
Speaker 2: talked about this on the post game show. Missing free
Speaker 2: throws like they did last night, that's not really free throws.
Speaker 2: Isn't one of those things you can just chalk it
Speaker 2: up to, well, what are you gonna do? I mean,
Speaker 2: it's it's Spaulding I mean, the arena is not even
Speaker 2: halfway full, and uh, you know, maybe they weren't focused,
Speaker 2: like and I guess maybe there's some truth to that,
Speaker 2: But like I feel like, if you step to the
Speaker 2: free throw line, it really doesn't matter if it's an
Speaker 2: exhibition or who the opponent is. It's a free throw.
Speaker 2: It's a it's a it's a routine thing that you do,
Speaker 2: and you may not be great at it, but like
Speaker 2: you your your routine, your form, that kind of stuff,
Speaker 2: your process when you step to the stripe, like it
Speaker 2: should always be the same. It would be very unusual
Speaker 2: and weird if it wasn't like, hey, here's my here's
Speaker 2: my exhibition free throw form, Like here's how I here's
Speaker 2: how I get in to shoot a free throw when
Speaker 2: we're playing exhibit, Like it doesn't make any sense. So
Speaker 2: that is something that you know, clearly they got to
Speaker 2: be better at that when they play real teams, because
Speaker 2: that is something that can beat you going twenty one
Speaker 2: or thirty fourth the line. But other than that, like
Speaker 2: let's say they didn't shoot the ball so well in
Speaker 2: their first exhibition game, and last night they didn't make
Speaker 2: twenty four of them, but they made eight of twenty three.
Speaker 2: That's thirty five percent. That's still a team percentage better
Speaker 2: than most. And clearly you could tell they weren't trying
Speaker 2: to run things to get a bunch of threes in
Speaker 2: this game. So even if there was a stat that
Speaker 2: was alarming for exhibition games, I wouldn't say that you
Speaker 2: should ignore it. But I'm also not going to act like, well,
Speaker 2: here we go, we're doomed. Or if there's something that
Speaker 2: was like overly impressive, like let's say, instead of making
Speaker 2: twenty four threes last night like you did the first game,
Speaker 2: you made thirty four threes, I mean, insanely unrealistic. But
Speaker 2: I would also have to just, you know, remind myself
Speaker 2: pretty quickly that this is an exhibition game and rarely
Speaker 2: do you remember any of the act will play in
Speaker 2: these games. So Jerry, one of our callers yesterday, called
Speaker 2: in and I kind of disagreed with him. Initially, we
Speaker 2: had some people reacting to his call saying, he's, you know,
Speaker 2: he's somebody who just likes to suck the fun out
Speaker 2: of parties. But like I get it, Like it kind
Speaker 2: of diff feel like a waste of time last night
Speaker 2: for me, you know, not to say that, like, I'm
Speaker 2: angry that my time was spent watching this team play,
Speaker 2: but like I guess from my perspective, like I get
Speaker 2: why it would be viewed that way in the eyes
Speaker 2: of some because you know, it's falding and I doubt
Speaker 2: we ever get rid of these exhibition games. Somebody asked
Speaker 2: me that on the text line earlier. Do you think
Speaker 2: we ever just stop having these games? Because it does
Speaker 2: you know, it's I mean, I'm sure we're a little
Speaker 2: sensitive to the attendance thing because for recent years, Louislle
Speaker 2: basketball has been attended in a way we never really
Speaker 2: thought we'd ever see. But again, we'll never know because
Speaker 2: we can't go back and change things. But I think
Speaker 2: you could be in a much different situation, meaning you
Speaker 2: could be coming off of two years that weren't nearly
Speaker 2: as bad as the last two years were for Louisville,
Speaker 2: and I still think you would have had a very
Speaker 2: very light crowd for that game last night. Like, I
Speaker 2: don't think that's anything to do really with where the
Speaker 2: program has been lately. We're going to learn pretty quickly
Speaker 2: how much fans are willing to buy tickets and go
Speaker 2: to a game because the Tennessee game. I mean that
Speaker 2: sets up perfectly. It's a game against the top fifteen team,
Speaker 2: Pat Kelsey's first regular season game. U of L is
Speaker 2: marketing as marketing it as a wide out, and you know,
Speaker 2: there's no football game, like I mean, it's it. I
Speaker 2: don't want to maybe I'm way off here because I
Speaker 2: think you could get eighteen thousand plus there I do,
Speaker 2: But maybe I'm way off, like maybe we get fifteen
Speaker 2: thousand and and by the way, if you get fifteen
Speaker 2: thousand and they're allowed, it's going to be a great atmosphere.
Speaker 2: But there's a part of me that wants to very
Speaker 2: early on in the season kind of shove people up
Speaker 2: about like Louisville never being able to get a big
Speaker 2: crowd for a basketball game again. And that's I mean,
Speaker 2: I think that's nonsense for people to say. But maybe
Speaker 2: they'll be proven to be more correct than me. I
Speaker 2: don't know. I don't know what tickets look like for
Speaker 2: that game, but if the Louisville fan base is consistent,
Speaker 2: they'll prove that they are willing to pay at ten,
Speaker 2: get loud, get rowdy for a big event, meaning a
Speaker 2: big game like Louisville Miami was sold out. The team
Speaker 2: was coming off of you know, two out of three losses.
Speaker 2: Miami's really good and that matters that. I mean, there's
Speaker 2: a reason it was a big game. Miami was the
Speaker 2: number six team in the county at the time, but
Speaker 2: it was noon, so like Louisill sold it out. Crowd
Speaker 2: was great. That that was you know, not that I
Speaker 2: needed that, but that was encouraging for me to see,
Speaker 2: just because you know, it'll be a surprise to me
Speaker 2: if there is a really light attended game when you've
Speaker 2: got a big game and the team is at least decent.
Speaker 2: But this would be the first because Louisville, I guess
Speaker 2: when was the last time they had a huge crowdut
Speaker 2: a basketball game. It would have to be, gosh, it
Speaker 2: would have to be the the Michigan game maybe, I know.
Speaker 2: In that year they had a bunch of big games,
Speaker 2: meaning when they played the number one Michigan's number one
Speaker 2: in the country, Louislle knocked him off. Or maybe was
Speaker 2: it the other way around. Louisville was number one in
Speaker 2: the country, I think defending the number one spot against
Speaker 2: Michigan who had just won the Battle for Atlantis, and
Speaker 2: I don't think it was sold out, but it was
Speaker 2: close to it. And then the rest of the year
Speaker 2: they had some other big games that had big crowds.
Speaker 2: And then the next year, obviously you couldn't have big
Speaker 2: crowds because of COVID. The year after that they started
Speaker 2: off really rough and the crowd really never showed up
Speaker 2: in a way that you would have expected, and they
Speaker 2: haven't been back since. I mean, they had a big
Speaker 2: crowd on hand for the let's see, they had a
Speaker 2: big crowd on hand for Russ's retirement number of retirement
Speaker 2: and that was gosh, that was max last home game,
Speaker 2: I think, so, I guess you know that would be because
Speaker 2: that season would be the year where Mac left. Even
Speaker 2: though Louis wouldn't great, there still were some games where
Speaker 2: you had big opponents and you did big things like
Speaker 2: retiring Russ's number to where you could get a big crowd.
Speaker 2: So again, that's that's who we are as a fan base.
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying you got to like it or
Speaker 2: accept it. It's just reality. If the opponents not really
Speaker 2: interesting or good or expected to be much of a
Speaker 2: you know, challenge, like a Spaulding or a young Harris,
Speaker 2: I just think that is going to matter more than
Speaker 2: anything as far as people spending their hard earn money
Speaker 2: to go to games. And I look, I agree it
Speaker 2: would be best for Louisville to have games with highly
Speaker 2: attempt mean, you want sellouts every game, but it's just
Speaker 2: not realistic. But I do think the conversation for me
Speaker 2: at least will shift if we get to some of
Speaker 2: these big games like Tennessee, Ole Miss. When you come
Speaker 2: back from from the Bahamas, you got to play Ole
Speaker 2: Miss in the sec ACC Challenge. You'll host Duke on
Speaker 2: what is it December something, and then you have Carolina
Speaker 2: I think is head at home?
Speaker 3: That's New Year's Day?
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, So like if Louisville looks like they're I mean,
Speaker 2: in fact, it doesn't even matter. Like let's say Louel
Speaker 2: does have a few losses at that time, I mean
Speaker 2: that would be you know, it's not the results you want,
Speaker 2: but you're also playing really good teams. Like if you
Speaker 2: get those big matchups and the crowds are super light,
Speaker 2: like that's where I would really start to worry and
Speaker 2: get sad. But I'm not there yet. And yes, I
Speaker 2: know last night was not a highly attended game, and
Speaker 2: I think it's awesome that the fans went, meaning the
Speaker 2: ones that did go, I think it's great and I
Speaker 2: hope they had a good time. But like anybody that
Speaker 2: decided not to go, I just I can't with a
Speaker 2: straight face like come on, where were you guys? Ah,
Speaker 2: we go to support this team, like okay, well it's
Speaker 2: their money to spend, and they may I'll be in it,
Speaker 2: like maybe they're saving their money because the Tennessee ticket's
Speaker 2: gonna be way more expensive. And as we discussed last night,
Speaker 2: I know there are cheaper ways to get tickets spend on.
Speaker 2: Everybody knows that. And if you are somebody that just, hey,
Speaker 2: I don't usually buy tickets, hmm, what am I gonna do?
Speaker 2: I guess I'll go to go karts dot com. I'll
Speaker 2: click tickets, then I'll click single game tickets, then I'll
Speaker 2: click Spaulding, then I'll click two tickets. I'm gonna select
Speaker 2: the upper level because I don't have a lot of money.
Speaker 2: Let's go check out. You're you're spending one hundred bucks
Speaker 2: before you leave to go, Like, that's not like you
Speaker 2: can do that if you're U of L and your
Speaker 2: ticket master, and clearly that's the financial decision they made,
Speaker 2: but I just think it's it's it's really insane to
Speaker 2: have that be the price point, especially from the direct
Speaker 2: host meaning U of L. Like, you go to their website,
Speaker 2: you click buy tickets, it takes you to their ticket
Speaker 2: Master website and you check out, and you're one hundred
Speaker 2: bucks in the hole just to buy the tickets. That's
Speaker 2: not parking, that's not if you want to get a drink,
Speaker 2: you want to get food, Like, that's not a cheap
Speaker 2: evening for most people this day and age. So if
Speaker 2: they decided not to do it, like to say that,
Speaker 2: come on, where were you at? Like, I just think
Speaker 2: that's lame. But they also doesn't mean that I don't
Speaker 2: think that attendance is important because it is all right,
Speaker 2: well we'll take a quick time out coming up here
Speaker 2: just a moment. But I want to let you hear
Speaker 2: this because Ron English, I saw the quote yesterday and
Speaker 2: it really kind of it would be an exaggeration to
Speaker 2: say that it floored me, but like it kind of.
Speaker 2: Did you know? The defense has not been good this
Speaker 2: year at times, and they've been a mess as far
Speaker 2: as communication. They sub too much at times. There'll be
Speaker 2: no difference in what the offense is doing, and yet
Speaker 2: they'll run a new group out there. I mean the
Speaker 2: weeks three was at three straight games where it was
Speaker 2: pretty common to see two more guys on the field
Speaker 2: sometimes than you're supposed to have, Like they're a mess,
Speaker 2: guys running wide open. Like sometimes that happens, but like
Speaker 2: it's happened too much for people to just assume, well,
Speaker 2: what are you going to do? This defense doesn't have
Speaker 2: good players. So Ron english has I think been deserving
Speaker 2: of a lot of criticism, and he showed us during
Speaker 2: the off season that he's willing to take the criticism.
Speaker 2: He kind of fell on the sword, if you will,
Speaker 2: when it comes to the defense falling apart last year well,
Speaker 2: when asked sort of about the and this is one
Speaker 2: of those questions where the MIC's not on the person
Speaker 2: asking it, so you can't really hear exactly what was asked.
Speaker 2: And I do think that matters a lot in this
Speaker 2: answer that we're about to get. But let's I guess,
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe we can't hear it, but the person's
Speaker 2: off Mike. But Ron english Man he sent it a
Speaker 2: whole lot like Kenny Payne with his answer, Oh yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: here's what it was. It was about why they need
Speaker 2: to why they need to make the scheme more simple,
Speaker 2: And here it was his answer.
Speaker 4: This has happened to us before. So we have a
Speaker 4: bunch of veteran guys that we thought would have a
Speaker 4: little higher aptitude than they've had, and so we have
Speaker 4: had to be less ambitious in what we are asking
Speaker 4: them to do. And sometimes that can show up in
Speaker 4: practice where they can execute all those calls, but.
Speaker 3: In the heat of battle is something different.
Speaker 2: So I mean, there's a chance he's just giving you
Speaker 2: the God's honest truth. But I mean, I think you
Speaker 2: could be someone like myself who doesn't really know a
Speaker 2: whole lot about the x's and o's of football. I
Speaker 2: know enough, I know what I'm seeing. You can't tell
Speaker 2: me a team's great when I've watched them all year,
Speaker 2: and like, I know that they're not. Like you know,
Speaker 2: I don't act like I'm a dumb ass, but like
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be equipped to help ron English get things
Speaker 2: figured out. But I also feel like again, others like
Speaker 2: myself who know enough to be dangerous but would clearly
Speaker 2: admit to not be an expert. I can tell by
Speaker 2: watching that they're doing too much out there, so like complicated.
Speaker 2: I can't tell you if it's complicated because I don't
Speaker 2: have a I don't have an ability to know what
Speaker 2: would be viewed as super complicated and what would be
Speaker 2: viewed as super ski super simple as far as game plan.
Speaker 2: But I can tell you by the body language of
Speaker 2: the players all year and just by some of the
Speaker 2: things you see out there that like, whatever you're doing,
Speaker 2: it's not simple. It is very complicated. And Jeff Brahm
Speaker 2: has mentioned that, like he's said, like it's too complicated,
Speaker 2: like we need, you know, we need to simplify some things.
Speaker 2: And I didn't get the sense that when that was
Speaker 2: said from Jeff that it was because the guys aren't
Speaker 2: smart enough to figure it out. And he didn't use
Speaker 2: those words. He used his words correctly. And look, maybe
Speaker 2: Ron English is just being honest, But to say that
Speaker 2: we thought we would have betteran guys that would have
Speaker 2: a little higher aptitude than they've had, and with that
Speaker 2: we have to be less ambitious in what we're asking
Speaker 2: them to do. I don't really think he's earned the
Speaker 2: benefit of the doubt at this point, given the results
Speaker 2: for him to be able to in other words, tell us,
Speaker 2: these guys aren't smart enough to grasp mentally what I
Speaker 2: want to do defensively. So I really got a dumb
Speaker 2: it down for him. I mean, like, that's essentially what
Speaker 2: he said, and he's blaming the players instead of taking accountability.
Speaker 2: And I hate to hear that because the defense is
Speaker 2: coming off of the best spinish they've had all year.
Speaker 2: And I know it's Boston College, but they have some
Speaker 2: momentum right now. I hope that they can really carry
Speaker 2: with them. And if it is simple and that's what
Speaker 2: made it work against BC, then hell yeah. But that
Speaker 2: didn't sound like a guy who really thinks that his
Speaker 2: plan and his ex you know, in his strategy, his
Speaker 2: scheme is the problem. It's that the guys they don't
Speaker 2: have the they don't have the level of aptitude that
Speaker 2: they expected. I mean, that's just I don't know. Maybe
Speaker 2: he's right, but like I wouldn't have said that even
Speaker 2: if I believe that, I wouldn't have said it given
Speaker 2: the situation that we have here. Quick break, we'll come
Speaker 2: back on the other side. Keeould rolling along. It's coffee
Speaker 2: and company. Feel boy Thorntons right here on Sports Talk
Speaker 2: seven ninety you didn't know it, John, But I love
Speaker 2: that song. Oh yeah, that song is such a vibe.
Speaker 2: There's all kinds of different versions of it too, you know,
Speaker 2: like different DJs that I guess.
Speaker 3: Do you know the voice the show singer and the
Speaker 3: singer in the song.
Speaker 2: No, I don't know who it is.
Speaker 3: It's John Newman, Okay. The DJ is Calvin Harris.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's I knew there was a recognizable component here.
Speaker 2: And Calvin Harris is that I mean he is he
Speaker 2: still around? Like I'm sure he's not dead, but like
Speaker 2: Calvin Harris like someone I don't know a whole lot about,
Speaker 2: can't really tell you much about him at all, But
Speaker 2: I feel like anytime I've heard something and asked like
Speaker 2: who is this, if he's involved, it's usually pretty good. Yeah,
Speaker 2: my vibe so good stuff. There also big thanks to
Speaker 2: make sure I get this correct. I want to get
Speaker 2: I want to cite my source here because a cardinal
Speaker 2: companion on Twitter sent me a message and I thought
Speaker 2: it's worth mentioning. He mentions that, you know, free throws
Speaker 2: were concerned last night for the team. However, he goes
Speaker 2: on to see to highlight that a lot of the
Speaker 2: guys you know that shot free throws poorly last night.
Speaker 2: You know, typically don't shoot that poorly, and honestly, some
Speaker 2: of them don't go to the free throw on a
Speaker 2: whole lot. So the numbers from last night, I mean,
Speaker 2: they are what they are, but I doubt that you'll
Speaker 2: see well, I hope you won't see many games where
Speaker 2: you end up with that. I mean, of of the
Speaker 2: two exhibition games, when you just think at numbers that
Speaker 2: stand out from either a positive way or I suppose
Speaker 2: a negative way. The positive is that from three point range,
Speaker 2: I mean, you made thirty two threes in two exhibition games,
Speaker 2: which I mean that's that's a lot. That's sixteen per
Speaker 2: right now, I don't know if you're going to be
Speaker 2: able to do that night in a night out. There
Speaker 2: are going to be some teams that, you know, make
Speaker 2: sure that rain Smith doesn't get a shot off that
Speaker 2: make sure that they you know, make sure they're they're
Speaker 2: well aware that when you've got a big like Noah
Speaker 2: Waterman who's stretching the floor and stepping outside like you
Speaker 2: know that is a guy that will comfortably take a
Speaker 2: shot and drain it. So you know you're gonna have
Speaker 2: some teams that defend you a lot better where you're
Speaker 2: not gonna get the looks that you got again hung Harris.
Speaker 2: But this team, they were built to shoot threes. And
Speaker 2: I've seen nothing at this point that that that tells
Speaker 2: you that you're you know, you have a team that
Speaker 2: can't really fill it up on any given night. Now
Speaker 2: you're good when you are this dependent upon the three
Speaker 2: point line, You're gonna have nights where it goes against you.
Speaker 2: And look, that's one thing that we haven't really talked
Speaker 2: about it. We don't need to at this point, but
Speaker 2: Louisville style of play does make them vulnerable if if
Speaker 2: they have a night off. Now I don't I don't
Speaker 2: buy into the whole Well, hey, that's what you get.
Speaker 2: You live by the three, you die by the three,
Speaker 2: because that's a really silly I mean, like anything that
Speaker 2: you really utilize because you know, it's a strength, you
Speaker 2: know what you do, you live and die by it.
Speaker 2: That's just how it works. Like it's really I'm not
Speaker 2: ready to put it up there as one of those
Speaker 2: sayings in sports that is very very common but really stupid,
Speaker 2: like well, hey, win's a win. I mean, like we
Speaker 2: went there, right, Win's a win. Like so live and
Speaker 2: die by it. It's kind of just as silly in
Speaker 2: my opinion, but again that's just my opinion. So yeah,
Speaker 2: your style of play is going to make you at times,
Speaker 2: you know, vulnerable to a law for a loss, maybe
Speaker 2: against a team that's not that good, if you just
Speaker 2: have that bad of a night shooting. However, the analytics
Speaker 2: still tell you that, like, if you can play this
Speaker 2: way effectively, you will win a lot more games than
Speaker 2: you will lose, and you could be really really good.
Speaker 2: I mean Alabama. I mean, I'm not saying what was
Speaker 2: gonna be Alabama and make a Final four, but if
Speaker 2: there's one and Pat Kelsey has said this before, if
Speaker 2: there's one team that you know, he feels like and
Speaker 2: he's not comparing his team saying they're as good, but
Speaker 2: he mentioned Alabama at one of his press conferences that
Speaker 2: he's had since getting hired, that that is a team
Speaker 2: that he thinks is probably the most And I'm paraphrasing here,
Speaker 2: so maybe I'm actually putting words in his mouth, but
Speaker 2: he brought up Alabama when asked about, you know, style
Speaker 2: of play comparisons because natoates in Alabama made a Final
Speaker 2: four last year and last year they were not good defensively,
Speaker 2: and that got talked about a lot because they were
Speaker 2: really bad defensively. But Natoates's teams at Alabama and nearly
Speaker 2: every other year since he's been in Tuscaloosa played the
Speaker 2: same style offensively and were good defensively. So that's what
Speaker 2: Pat Kelsey wants to do. Obviously, they're you know, their
Speaker 2: butter is going to be you know, well, what's the saying.
Speaker 2: The bread and butter is going to be offense more
Speaker 2: than defense, right, Like they're not going to be out
Speaker 2: there just beating teams because they're that good defense. So
Speaker 2: they're going to score a lot of points. But the
Speaker 2: team is built to do that and to go back
Speaker 2: to kind of having to live on, you know, living
Speaker 2: about the three, dying by the three. If you're somebody
Speaker 2: that is worried about that, it could always still come
Speaker 2: back and bite you in the ass. But when you've
Speaker 2: got this many guys that are all going to play
Speaker 2: that all but maybe two have the green light at
Speaker 2: any moment because being a really good shooter is I mean,
Speaker 2: shooting is a part of their strength. Like that's that's
Speaker 2: what makes them be able to play at a program
Speaker 2: like Louisville, and that's what's helped them be able to
Speaker 2: have successful college careers up to this point is because
Speaker 2: that's a tool that they've got in the toolbox, right,
Speaker 2: That's a weapon they have is they are good shooters.
Speaker 2: So I would say right now, some guys have a
Speaker 2: different green light, if you will, like Rain Smith, if
Speaker 2: he if he's comfortable, he could fire it at any moment,
Speaker 2: and I don't think there's going to be anybody taking
Speaker 2: any issue with it. I think Corn Johnson's same thing,
Speaker 2: maybe even Edwards as long as you know he's set
Speaker 2: and then everybody else, it just depends. Like you know,
Speaker 2: Hadley can knock it down. That's not his strength, but
Speaker 2: he is a guy that can shoot trail ray shooting
Speaker 2: is not his strength. He will still take them within
Speaker 2: the flow of what they're doing offensively, but you know,
Speaker 2: that's just not his strength. Prior you know, I don't
Speaker 2: think he has the best looking shot, but he's proven
Speaker 2: that he can certainly stretch the floor and knock it down.
Speaker 2: I worry a little bit about him leaning into the
Speaker 2: three point shot more so than he needs to, because
Speaker 2: this is certainly an offense where you can find yourself
Speaker 2: open and you've got the green light to do it.
Speaker 2: But he's also really good at driving, and he showed
Speaker 2: that last night. I mean he only took three three pointers,
Speaker 2: made all three of them. So in the game, the
Speaker 2: game against Young Harris, he came out kind of firing.
Speaker 2: And you know, so again maybe frank anselom Ivy, he's
Speaker 2: probably he only played eight minutes last night. He's not
Speaker 2: gonna play a whole lot of minutes. But the Noah Waterman,
Speaker 2: that's a guy that literally he's not fast. He always
Speaker 2: falls down, but he's got good size. He can stretch
Speaker 2: the floor and knock down three. So it'd be different
Speaker 2: if you only had, like if you're if your team
Speaker 2: was not deep and you really lived and died by
Speaker 2: the three, and you needed night in and night out
Speaker 2: to have three guys collectively shoot a thirty six percent
Speaker 2: or more, like, if that was such a core thing,
Speaker 2: then you know, then you might be in trouble. But
Speaker 2: let's say that the team percentage night in and night out.
Speaker 2: You know that after playing twenty games, if you shoot
Speaker 2: it better than this percentage, you're in good shape. What
Speaker 2: makes Louisville, you know that percentage maybe thirty eight percent
Speaker 2: forty percent, which is really good for most teams, and
Speaker 2: it'd be undoable for a lot of teams. It is
Speaker 2: a big risk because most teams can't night in and
Speaker 2: night out shoot it at forty eclipped. However, when you've
Speaker 2: got this many guys, let's say two of them are
Speaker 2: having an off night, well, hey, that means you're gonna
Speaker 2: play Coren Johnson in case in prior a lot more
Speaker 2: than you played Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards or you know,
Speaker 2: Ah Waterman or whoever. Like, you can have some guys
Speaker 2: that have an off night and it's not a big
Speaker 2: ask or a real surprise if the other guys come
Speaker 2: in and they and they fill it up too. Now,
Speaker 2: if everybody's off, that's gonna be a recipe that you know,
Speaker 2: will likely lead to you losing to some teams, and
Speaker 2: that can happen, but it'll be a rarity at least.
Speaker 2: I hope our Happy National Internet Day, everybody, how do
Speaker 2: you celebrate john You've got any big plans?
Speaker 3: Big plans, man? I mean, I'm playing this music off
Speaker 3: of YouTube, which is on the Internet. If that's a
Speaker 3: good way to celebrate.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm telling you, man, I don't. I don't remember
Speaker 2: life pre Internet. I do, but before the Internet was
Speaker 2: a thing, I never needed it as a kid, and
Speaker 2: you didn't know you needed it if you never had
Speaker 2: it before, you know what I'm saying, Like, yeah, we
Speaker 2: utilize Internet connectivity rather it be cell service, network service
Speaker 2: or just you know, hardline internet, and then we're using
Speaker 2: Wi Fi from that, like it is such an everyday
Speaker 2: part of our lives that I mean, we clearly take
Speaker 2: it for granted. And I say this all the time.
Speaker 2: I don't know how anybody did this, meaning whatever you
Speaker 2: want to call this, I mean, it is my job.
Speaker 2: Some of you wouldn't call it a job, but you know,
Speaker 2: believe it or not, they do pay me. I don't
Speaker 2: know how anybody did this before the Internet, Like I
Speaker 2: don't know. Like in a way I tell myself, you
Speaker 2: could have really kind of gotten more create, like you
Speaker 2: could have got lost and really created from a blank
Speaker 2: canvas if you will not to get artsy fartsy here
Speaker 2: and act like this is anything other than what it is.
Speaker 2: But you know, like the Internet provides, it's your fingertips
Speaker 2: at any moment, an endless ability to get information or
Speaker 2: find creative ideas or steal something somebody else is doing. Like,
Speaker 2: there's all kinds of ways to figure out what you
Speaker 2: want to do within your radio show or your podcast,
Speaker 2: whatever it may be, because you can utilize the Internet.
Speaker 2: It's just part of it. Back back in the day
Speaker 2: before the Internet, did you read newspapers?
Speaker 3: I mean, I bet a lot of people if they
Speaker 3: didn't know what to talk about, would refa into the newspaper.
Speaker 2: Oh, if Dave Jennings had to fill in today on
Speaker 2: this show, he would come in here with the Courier
Speaker 2: General sports section. Not kidding because you know he was
Speaker 2: he was built different. He came up whenever he couldn't
Speaker 2: rely on the Internet to do it. And I'm not
Speaker 2: saying that to insult day, but like that was just
Speaker 2: his routine. Like he would know where he was going
Speaker 2: to go. But like he didn't get his reps doing
Speaker 2: live sports talk radio utilizing the internet. He did it
Speaker 2: without the Internet for the majority of the time. And
Speaker 2: I want to make him sound like a donis form mean,
Speaker 2: the Internet did exists, let's be real. But like even
Speaker 2: before social media platforms and YouTube and whatnot, Like you know,
Speaker 2: if you just go into websites and that's that's still
Speaker 2: different than you know, going directly from a newspaper. But
Speaker 2: I am very appreciati of the Internet. I don't know
Speaker 2: what we would do without it.
Speaker 3: But yeah, the reason of today being National Internet Day
Speaker 3: because it was launched on October twenty ninth of whatever year.
Speaker 2: Here's what it says. National Internet Day is October twenty ninth,
Speaker 2: and it's a look back at you. Let's see.
Speaker 3: Now you got to be curious here, because to send
Speaker 3: you down a round.
Speaker 2: I don't know what would make this day National Internet Day,
Speaker 2: but now I got to look it up. It does
Speaker 2: say that, let's see, let's just this is a better,
Speaker 2: better thing to look up. When did When was the
Speaker 2: Internet invented? So the Internet's official birthdate is January first,
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty three. But that's not you know, that's not
Speaker 2: that's not right.
Speaker 3: In the older days of radio, we couldn't just look
Speaker 3: that up.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, yeah, exactly. Do you remember your first experience
Speaker 2: on the internet.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So my family had dial up, a course, they
Speaker 3: did whenever I was a kid, and if everybody did
Speaker 3: play a computer game or something, and sometimes games didn't
Speaker 3: require you to have internet, but if it did for
Speaker 3: whatever reason you would hear that little, you know, ringing
Speaker 3: and those very obnoxious noises that the computers would make
Speaker 3: as it was trying to connect to the Internet, and
Speaker 3: it took forever. That was really the adjust of my old,
Speaker 3: my original Internet experience.
Speaker 2: I mean, it was Internet, but you were relying on
Speaker 2: your phone connection service to to be on the World
Speaker 2: Wide Web. And that's that's a rare thing that we
Speaker 2: we look back on and our first memories of it
Speaker 2: are the same because we.
Speaker 3: Were there from the beginning of it. Yeah, if I
Speaker 3: was a lot.
Speaker 2: Younger, yeah, but you know when you and I would
Speaker 2: say I probably got online a little earlier and got
Speaker 2: acclimated with the Internet, probably before a lot of people
Speaker 2: my age. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong with that
Speaker 2: because I was never like a video game guy, so
Speaker 2: I was super fascinated in every aspect by the Internet.
Speaker 2: Like I would just go to Ashjeeves dot com. I'm
Speaker 2: not sure if you even remember that.
Speaker 3: I know it's a search engine, right, Yeah, it was
Speaker 3: a search it was.
Speaker 2: It might not have been the first, but it was.
Speaker 2: It was the search engine I knew of and like
Speaker 2: I would just like athletes that I was big fan,
Speaker 2: like I would Google like any or again, now I've
Speaker 2: gone to just goog. I say Google because Google means search,
Speaker 2: but it didn't used to be that. It was ask
Speaker 2: jeeves dot com and it was the first search engine
Speaker 2: that I ever used. And I remember like just looking
Speaker 2: up stuff all the time, like and of course the
Speaker 2: early days of like interacting on the Internet was all
Speaker 2: AOL and stemes like that's how a lot of I mean,
Speaker 2: I shouldn't say a lot of Maybe it was different
Speaker 2: for different people where they grew up, considering their situation.
Speaker 2: But I can just speak to people in my age
Speaker 2: range that are, you know, a little bit younger than me,
Speaker 2: a little bit older than me, Like we mostly communicated
Speaker 2: through AOL and Steam Messenger. We didn't have cell phones
Speaker 2: that were texting just yet. And by the time you
Speaker 2: know that that became a thing, I think the Internet,
Speaker 2: you know, as far as AOL and stea messenger like
Speaker 2: that kind of had had faded a little bit.
Speaker 3: But were you a big MySpace guy?
Speaker 2: Yeah, But see that's that's the age gap there. Like
Speaker 2: my Space was way after I started getting on the internet,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. For you, it was probably
Speaker 2: right around that time. But dial up was still a
Speaker 2: thing probably back then, like I don't really like dialug
Speaker 2: was around for a long time and we just accepted
Speaker 2: that that's how it. That's how it like, because the
Speaker 2: Internet wasn't like there was no way like going and
Speaker 2: watching like a live video, like you knew going in
Speaker 2: you're gonna have to wait forever for it to buffer,
Speaker 2: because that's just what it was. Yes, But then once
Speaker 2: you got DSL. I remember DS that was a big upgrade,
Speaker 2: like it was a new world. And of course now
Speaker 2: you've got fiber for some people, and it's you know,
Speaker 2: there's no delay, like if something takes like a millisecond
Speaker 2: to load for me at home, I'm thinking something wrong
Speaker 2: like my WiFi down or something like that. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: the Internet's great. Don't know where life would be without it.
Speaker 2: I'm sure there's some people that think it ruined the world.
Speaker 2: And I don't know, maybe maybe you're right. I have
Speaker 2: no clue, but it's really all I know at this point.
Speaker 2: I remember I found Michael Jordan's I was at my
Speaker 2: dad's work on his work computer. He was out, you know,
Speaker 2: doing work stuff, and I was on his work computer
Speaker 2: in his office and I with ask Jeeves. I found
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan's like fan website and like you can you
Speaker 2: can like you know, hit like contact us or something,
Speaker 2: and you can write messages. And I was I think
Speaker 2: I sent him like fifty messages, thinking like Michael Jordan's
Speaker 2: on another computer, probably in the locker room with the bulls,
Speaker 2: and he's reading this. He hasn't wrote me back yet.
Speaker 2: He's probably getting ready for the game. Like that's that's
Speaker 2: that was the Internet. It was the first Internet Internet
Speaker 2: memory for me.
Speaker 3: Good stuff.
Speaker 2: All right, quick break, We'll come back on the other
Speaker 2: side and wrap it up. Another good one. John, good stuff,
Speaker 2: back to back. That's what he does. I mean, he's
Speaker 2: he's there's the reason they pay him the big bucks.
Speaker 2: It's the company man, DJ DJ John.
Speaker 3: I tell you in college, I was DJ Jazzy John.
Speaker 2: DJ Jazzy John. I mean it flows playoff of Jeff.
Speaker 2: But if you told me that there was DJ Jazzy John,
Speaker 2: I would assume that it's somebody old enough to be
Speaker 2: your grandpa, just because it's an old school name. But
Speaker 2: you got an old soul about you, So maybe it
Speaker 2: actually fits more so than you know, than than than
Speaker 2: I realize. All right, So Cooper Flag, he has made
Speaker 2: an I N I L history with a new Gatorade partnership.
Speaker 2: So he's become the first male college basketball player to
Speaker 2: sign with Gatorade. I don't know if we have any
Speaker 2: any any number as far as how much he's going
Speaker 2: to be paid for this. Obviously you would expect it
Speaker 2: would be a lot of money. But the let's see here, Yeah,
Speaker 2: the the others that have partnered with Gatorade in the
Speaker 2: NIL era, at least as recently was Juju Watkins, the
Speaker 2: USC women's basketball player, Page Buckers who plays women's basketball
Speaker 2: for Yukon, and then Shadoor Sanders of Colorado obviously Deon Sanderson.
Speaker 2: So guy played a played a second yet and he's
Speaker 2: already inking a deal with UH with the biggest you know.
Speaker 2: I mean, at this point, there's no there's no way
Speaker 2: that there's a bigger drink brand out there than Gatorad.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying it's the best, because clearly there are competitors,
Speaker 2: but you know, I don't know if this is a
Speaker 2: sign that this guy is, you know, as legit as
Speaker 2: they say. But if you think about it again, nobody's
Speaker 2: really surprised because of the hype that's come with this guy,
Speaker 2: I mean, Cooper Flagg is believed to be a guy
Speaker 2: that could be the best true freshman we've had in
Speaker 2: college basketball in a long time, maybe since Zion right,
Speaker 2: And that's why there's not a whole lot of surprise here.
Speaker 2: But like what if you mean, what if he ended
Speaker 2: up getting an insane amount of money and it wouldn't
Speaker 2: be a big deal to a corporation like Gatoray. They
Speaker 2: probably have had plenty of losses when it comes to
Speaker 2: what they spend on marketing that maybe they didn't end
Speaker 2: up seeing a great return on that investment. But he's
Speaker 2: never played a second, you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 2: I don't know, there hasn't the freshman entering college not
Speaker 2: getting near the amount of money that transfers get is
Speaker 2: the way that it should be. But that would be
Speaker 2: the I mean, like again, imagine in the Nile world.
Speaker 2: Imagine if the Anile world existed with some of these
Speaker 2: other recruiting busts and there wasn't the transfer portal. I mean,
Speaker 2: imagine if Scalabasia the number one player in America that
Speaker 2: went to Kentucky, they ended up being a pretty big bust.
Speaker 2: I mean, he ended up getting drafted in the first round,
Speaker 2: but he wasn't very good to Kentucky and he got
Speaker 2: drafted based off the high school hype and then within
Speaker 2: a few years was clearly out of the league. And
Speaker 2: I don't think he plays ball anywhere anymore. Like imagine
Speaker 2: if somebody all right, we'll give you two million if
Speaker 2: you commit to Kentucky and like that's what you got,
Speaker 2: that'll make somebody never want to give to ANIL again. And
Speaker 2: I'm sure that's happened to an extent. But that's why
Speaker 2: for the sake of everybody involved, outside of those that
Speaker 2: are giving money, it's best for everybody to not have
Speaker 2: the to not have the full transparency, if that makes sense,
Speaker 2: Because if you think about it, like if you're giving
Speaker 2: an IL money and it's just to help the team
Speaker 2: because it's you an individual, if you're giving ANIL money
Speaker 2: because you own a corporation and you've got the money
Speaker 2: to do it, you would be much more I guess
Speaker 2: you know aware of what kind of investment that was
Speaker 2: a good one a bad one if you knew exactly
Speaker 2: where your dollars went. Now, with that said, there are
Speaker 2: people who don't donate to ANIL because they want to
Speaker 2: know exactly what their money's going towards, not only the program,
Speaker 2: but like which player, and that'd be tough to I think,
Speaker 2: have full transparency on that. But I also get that
Speaker 2: it's your money. If you're gonna spend that, you want
Speaker 2: to know what it's going towards, right. I Mean, I
Speaker 2: hate to call people suckers because I don't believe that
Speaker 2: they are, but like, I get why there are some
Speaker 2: people out there that say, man, college sports fans are
Speaker 2: suckers because they're just giving money blindly to go get
Speaker 2: players or transfers high school kids or kids that are
Speaker 2: transferring to college, and that doesn't even get them anything,
Speaker 2: Like they don't even know for sure if that money
Speaker 2: is going there, that doesn't give them a season ticket,
Speaker 2: that doesn't give them any kind of access, Like they're
Speaker 2: just they're just giving their money away and hoping that
Speaker 2: it all works out. It's really important, so I'm not
Speaker 2: shaming anybody for doing it, but like, you know, what
Speaker 2: else do you spend money on like that?
Speaker 3: Here?
Speaker 2: Just take it, hope everything works out like it's it's
Speaker 2: just like that.
Speaker 3: It's like donating to the political committees and stuff like that,
Speaker 3: the same thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, that's a good comparison. All right, quick break,
Speaker 2: nothing but politics. John, just put the ball in motion.
Speaker 2: We're talking, we're talking election. Starting to Bob o'clock out
Speaker 2: right here in Sports Talk seven ninety mm hm