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: All right, let's get it started, Ladies and gentlemen, our
Speaker 2: number two here, four o'clock on a Monday afternoon. Coffee
Speaker 2: and Company, fueled by Thornton's Nick Coffee. That's me, hence
Speaker 2: the name Coffee and Company. The company man mister John
Speaker 2: Aldens alongside today. And he's been here for a while.
Speaker 2: But I was out last week on vacation, and I'm
Speaker 2: happy to be back. A lot to get to and
Speaker 2: we are going to talk some loulf of basketball.
Speaker 3: Trust me.
Speaker 2: I was able to watch both of those exhibition games
Speaker 2: if you want to call him that, over there in
Speaker 2: the Bahamas, and I don't care about level of competition.
Speaker 2: I still was very excited to see I mean really
Speaker 2: from top of the bottom. I mean, first of all,
Speaker 2: you get a chance to see all these guys play
Speaker 2: for the first time ever.
Speaker 3: I mean, I have no problem in admitting it.
Speaker 2: I'm somebody that watches a lot of college basketball, probably
Speaker 2: more than most and outside of Chucky Hepburn, I really don't.
Speaker 2: I mean, I really don't know if I've watched any
Speaker 2: of the other guys and remembered it, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. Like, I didn't watch a lot of Long
Speaker 2: Beach State basketball that was where, of course Trey Ore played.
Speaker 3: I watched by U a little.
Speaker 2: Bit, but I don't remember a ton about Noah Waterman,
Speaker 2: at least from you know, from those games. So I
Speaker 2: think some people probably feel like there may be you know,
Speaker 2: maybe they're being a bad fan by acknowledging it. Look,
Speaker 2: this is not normal. They just added an entirely new team.
Speaker 2: Everybody is new on this roster, so you know, just
Speaker 2: to see them play for the first time was exciting,
Speaker 2: and I'll give you some big picture takeaways as much
Speaker 2: as I can from you know that kind of setting
Speaker 2: a couple of games in the Bahamas against you know, competition,
Speaker 2: that's not great. But yeah, I'm super excited about year
Speaker 2: one for the Pat Kelsey era, and now just sucks.
Speaker 2: We gotta wait months before we get a chance to
Speaker 2: see these guys again. All right, let's bring him in.
Speaker 2: He's mister Jeff Greer, and Jeff been a while since
Speaker 2: we chatted. Before we get into the big news, I
Speaker 2: have to know how's your summer going. Some are going
Speaker 2: good still.
Speaker 4: Yeah, man, it's too hot. It's too hot. But other
Speaker 4: than that, yeah, I having a great time.
Speaker 5: It's fun having a little kid who can actually like
Speaker 5: start to do stuff and like like's getting in the
Speaker 5: water and all those things. I know, Yeah, I have
Speaker 5: plenty of experience with that. So yeah, we're having a
Speaker 5: good summer. It seems like you guys are too.
Speaker 3: Yep, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: My son is just now the age where he's getting
Speaker 2: to the point where he's you know, I mean he's
Speaker 2: always been into sports as much as someone can, but men,
Speaker 2: there was a big difference from three to four to
Speaker 2: where like now he you know, he understands more.
Speaker 3: He's more competitive.
Speaker 2: So it's kind of like I got a bro, you know,
Speaker 2: not just you know, a human that I have to
Speaker 2: keep alive and take care of. Like we're doing, We're
Speaker 2: having a good time together. So yeah, I holp you
Speaker 2: with the fane, keep the good summer vibes going, and
Speaker 2: I know you guys over at Soccer Holdings had some
Speaker 2: some big news exciting news to share today, as the
Speaker 2: United States women's national soccer team is coming back to
Speaker 2: Louisville first time in what twenty years.
Speaker 5: Yeah, first time in twenty years, and I honestly, when
Speaker 5: we first started these conversations, I thought it had been
Speaker 5: twenty five years, But it turns out they played here
Speaker 5: a couple times between nineteen ninety nine, which of course
Speaker 5: was the famous World Cup win at the Rose Bowl
Speaker 5: and the penalty shootout and all that stuff and really
Speaker 5: kind of considered the landmark moment that the women's national
Speaker 5: team arrived on the scene in American sports culture. But
Speaker 5: they played at Cardinal Stadium in their celebratory victory tour
Speaker 5: after that World Cup, and then they came back a
Speaker 5: couple more times, I believe between ninety nine and four.
Speaker 5: But yeah, this is a huge deal for our city.
Speaker 5: They're very selective about where they go, and it's a
Speaker 5: big big kudos to our general manager Ryan Dell, who
Speaker 5: used to work for US Soccer to land this.
Speaker 4: It's a big economic boost.
Speaker 5: Obviously, they're gonna have a lot of people coming into
Speaker 5: town from the region to come watch this game.
Speaker 4: But it's also great for soccer here because.
Speaker 5: It will show off the stadium, It'll it'll show off
Speaker 5: the facilities they'll practice over here at our training center,
Speaker 5: and it doesn't hurt to show off our facilities to
Speaker 5: potential free agents too.
Speaker 4: Who play for the national team.
Speaker 5: So all in all, just a really great opportunity for
Speaker 5: this city and for our club.
Speaker 2: It makes sense for them to be selective as far
Speaker 2: as where they want to go for the for these
Speaker 2: kind of matches. But what do you think it is
Speaker 2: they look for specifically in that? Is it just you know,
Speaker 2: a community that will have that they'll have a lot
Speaker 2: of fans show up because they are big on soccer,
Speaker 2: is it?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: I mean, I just maybe that's not a question you
Speaker 2: can answer directly, but I'm just curious as to what
Speaker 2: specifically they look for. Because you're right, then picking Louisville
Speaker 2: is a great sign not only for this city as
Speaker 2: a sports city, but it's it's certainly big for the
Speaker 2: growing community of supporters around here.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's it's a nod to And look, we know
Speaker 5: this from from all of our years being around basketball
Speaker 5: and football and obviously golf here in Louisville and hosting
Speaker 5: these events. You know, Louisville is a good events city.
Speaker 5: It's great hospitality. With the Derby obviously baked in, you
Speaker 5: already kind of have the annual ability to show off
Speaker 5: your hospitality. But we know the NCAA tournament has been
Speaker 5: here a whole lot. We know obviously you know PGA
Speaker 5: Championship and the Ryder Cup and all these different events
Speaker 5: have been coming here for a reason. And so when
Speaker 5: they're looking around, you know, one you want to find
Speaker 5: a willing partner. And of course we were like from
Speaker 5: the get go, I mean, we pursued them to bring
Speaker 5: them here. But you need to have great facilities, which
Speaker 5: we we do have. I don't know how many people.
Speaker 6: Know this in Louisville.
Speaker 5: It's something to be really proud of, but we have
Speaker 5: some of the best what are considered some of the
Speaker 5: best practice facilities in stadium in American soccer period and
Speaker 5: that's including MLS, that's including NWSL the highest level all
Speaker 5: the way down. These are outstanding facilities. And then on
Speaker 5: the women's side in particular, I mean the training center
Speaker 5: is probably in the very very highest echelon in the world.
Speaker 5: So as that part of the game catches up, so
Speaker 5: they look for facilities. Certainly the mayor helped in the
Speaker 5: Louisville Sports Commission and our friends and Louisble Tourism. You
Speaker 5: need to have all of that aligned and have some marketing,
Speaker 5: and then the biggest thing, Nick is, you know, we
Speaker 5: have to have a minimum fifteen thousand capacity at our stadium,
Speaker 5: so we're going to get bleachers brought in. Sports Commission
Speaker 5: really helped with that. We'll have some bleachers brought in
Speaker 5: on the open end of the stadium to fill it
Speaker 5: in a little bit more so that there's more places
Speaker 5: to sit versus the standing room capacity that we normally have.
Speaker 5: But once we were able to kind of fulfill all
Speaker 5: of those things.
Speaker 4: I mean, they were ready to go.
Speaker 5: And they always like coming to newer places or different
Speaker 5: places than the same old cities that they usually go
Speaker 5: to for these games.
Speaker 2: It's wild for me to think about the US women's
Speaker 2: national team playing at any point at Cardinal Stadium that
Speaker 2: is now you know, doesn't exist anymore, But I guess
Speaker 2: back then that really would have been the only place
Speaker 2: you could have put it. Now we have this phenomenal
Speaker 2: stadium right there in downtown Louisville that is probably the
Speaker 2: best thing visibly you can see from that stretch there
Speaker 2: on sixty four and seventy one. It just looks absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2: One of the things when it comes to the growth
Speaker 2: of soccer in the community. I know you didn't grow
Speaker 2: up here, but obviously you know you're it's soccer is
Speaker 2: a big part of your meets your career now. I mean,
Speaker 2: have you heard from others that have been around the
Speaker 2: soccer community for you know, maybe generations, maybe decades as
Speaker 2: far as like just where we are as a city
Speaker 2: that supports this sport now compared to last time we
Speaker 2: were here, Because I feel like even within United States
Speaker 2: women' soccer, there's probably not a ton of people still
Speaker 2: involved that you know, maybe there is that would have
Speaker 2: been there around that time, But I feel like this
Speaker 2: could be a good storyline in the soccer world nationally
Speaker 2: that Wow, this city of Louisville, Kentucky. You know, people
Speaker 2: think Derby, people think basketball lois slugger, but man, they
Speaker 2: really have come a long way when it comes to
Speaker 2: the sport of soccer. Mean, they wouldn't be coming here
Speaker 2: to do this if that wasn't the case. But I
Speaker 2: feel like this could probably give you more attention towards
Speaker 2: that than anything you guys have done.
Speaker 5: Yeah, look, it's this is this is It's been a
Speaker 5: huge summer for our entire organization. We had one of
Speaker 5: the biggest clubs in Germany come play here. Just last
Speaker 5: week Eintracht Frankfurt. They are historically a very top level
Speaker 5: team in Germany. Not you know, there's a couple of
Speaker 5: teams ahead of them in the pecking order, but still
Speaker 5: a team that is well respected. To have them come
Speaker 5: here and play lou City last week was really cool
Speaker 5: and they had rave reviews to bring back to Germany,
Speaker 5: which is important because the other piece of news was
Speaker 5: that FIFA named US as one of the World Cup
Speaker 5: training sites for twenty twenty six, when the Men's World
Speaker 5: Cup is here, and that's a big thing too, is
Speaker 5: to be able to say, hey, we're going to have
Speaker 5: a team come train here. I don't think we know
Speaker 5: who that is going to be yet, but we're gonna
Speaker 5: have one of the forty eight teams in that World
Speaker 5: Cup come and train in Louisville and be based in Louisville.
Speaker 5: So you know, they'll stay at you know, probably the
Speaker 5: Omni or one of the nice hotels downtown, right and
Speaker 5: and they'll be around, they'll be in the facility and
Speaker 5: so this just adds another element to that is this
Speaker 5: great summer that we're having just you know, shows how
Speaker 5: far the investment in this sport has come.
Speaker 4: There's always been a base.
Speaker 6: Here in Louisville.
Speaker 5: Look, Louisville is a population center, and so that means
Speaker 5: soccer is going to be popular here. Soccer has been
Speaker 5: popular for our entire lives in terms of people playing it.
Speaker 5: But now it's about the investment of.
Speaker 4: Building facilities and.
Speaker 5: Obviously with the start of Loose City and then adding
Speaker 5: racing and the academy that we have here, it's just
Speaker 5: very much grown on the last decade. And yeah, to
Speaker 5: your point, you know, if you talk to like, go
Speaker 5: talk to Amina Ekech former U of l Legend and
Speaker 5: UFL Legend period and now a pro played here for
Speaker 5: a couple of years and talk to her about what
Speaker 5: soccer was like when she was seven or ten years
Speaker 5: old in Louisville compared to now fifteen years later, and
Speaker 5: she'll tell you. I mean, it is just it's been
Speaker 5: a glow up. As the young folks say, it's been
Speaker 5: really cool to see it all pop up so quickly.
Speaker 2: So you mentioned the Louisll Sports Commission as well as
Speaker 2: Mayor Greenberg and his team. You know, when people bring
Speaker 2: up like why isn't you know, why isn't lou City
Speaker 2: in MLS. Why don't we even have a you know,
Speaker 2: a G League team, Like, there's a lot of people
Speaker 2: who want professional sports to work to be here. You know,
Speaker 2: you guys obviously have done that at soccer holdings with
Speaker 2: both Racing and Louse City. But you know, there's always
Speaker 2: talks about potentially Louisville being an NBA city, which I'm
Speaker 2: not really sure if that'll ever actually happen. But my
Speaker 2: point is this, you know, how important is it for
Speaker 2: you guys to have that support from the Sports Commission,
Speaker 2: from the mayor in his office. I think there's some
Speaker 2: you know, it makes sense people who aren't involved in
Speaker 2: it wouldn't really know the process, all the things that
Speaker 2: you have to do to like bring these events here
Speaker 2: like this this you mentioned FIFA is going to have
Speaker 2: you guys host for the for the women's national team
Speaker 2: and all that kind of stuff. Like do you since
Speaker 2: the support is there from the community to where if
Speaker 2: you guys want to be able to host and you
Speaker 2: want to be able to do these big things that
Speaker 2: those people in office again, the mayor and the Sports Commission,
Speaker 2: Like I just get the sense that there's a whole
Speaker 2: lot of support to do whatever you guys need to
Speaker 2: to get done to make these kind of things happen.
Speaker 3: And that's awesome to see.
Speaker 5: Yeah, of course, yeah, it takes a lot of effort.
Speaker 5: And again to your point, like since moving so to speak,
Speaker 5: inside the walls instead of being a reporter and covering
Speaker 5: these things and talking about them, you really do get
Speaker 5: to see just how invested everyone is, but also just
Speaker 5: how much time things take and how much attention to
Speaker 5: detailed things take. I mentioned the bleacher bleachers earlier. Well
Speaker 5: that took that took a I think at least two
Speaker 5: different mentions and meetings and then a phone call to
Speaker 5: a phone call to a phone call to line up
Speaker 5: the bleachers. And just something as simple as that you
Speaker 5: would think, you know, oh it's simple, just get some bleachers.
Speaker 5: Well now you've got a trans support them from a
Speaker 5: different part in the city. I mean, it's it. There's
Speaker 5: a lot of that stuff, and obviously there's some of
Speaker 5: that at a higher level, and there's some stuff that's
Speaker 5: even more minute school than that, or that's the wrong word,
Speaker 5: but but even more of a minuche than that. That
Speaker 5: requires a lot of time and effort and a whole
Speaker 5: lot of people involved.
Speaker 1: But yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean, look this city, we love our sports, right,
Speaker 5: I mean, we love sports here.
Speaker 4: It doesn't matter.
Speaker 5: Like I said earlier, we're talking about golf and horse
Speaker 5: racing in the same conversation as football and basketball and
Speaker 5: soccer and and these sports are all over the map.
Speaker 5: I mean, shoot, if they had a tennis tournament here,
Speaker 5: I think.
Speaker 4: That would be packed too.
Speaker 5: I know Cincinnati does well with theirs, so you know,
Speaker 5: across the board, the PLL again had their All Star
Speaker 5: has had their All Star stuff here, so that.
Speaker 4: Stuff is packed too.
Speaker 6: So the biggest thing I think Nick, as we.
Speaker 5: Go forward, and I would say this, if there's an
Speaker 5: NBA team someday that comes to Louisville. I know that's
Speaker 5: a very divisive topic among people at the Lightning rout
Speaker 5: of the top is you just always need to make
Speaker 5: sure that there is corporate alignment.
Speaker 4: And what I mean by that, it's something.
Speaker 5: I have not thought about a whole lot until I
Speaker 5: got into this business, is you don't just need the mayor.
Speaker 5: You don't just need sports commission, Tourism Bureau. A lot
Speaker 5: of the people in like the nonprofit world and the
Speaker 5: civic part of everything, but you need businesses to line
Speaker 5: up too, and you need money behind things, and you
Speaker 5: need them to not just write checks. You need them
Speaker 5: to write checks, but also have a staff that wants that,
Speaker 5: that wants the excitement. And we've got some great partners
Speaker 5: who have been very involved over the years, and you
Speaker 5: just need that persistently and consistently to get that stuff
Speaker 5: up and running and then sustain it. So it's a
Speaker 5: big part of all of this, and I think Louisville
Speaker 5: has done a great job of building that up.
Speaker 2: Well, you've clearly been very busy. But I got asked,
Speaker 2: did you get a chance to see any of the
Speaker 2: Bahamas games last week? Any highlights anything?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 6: Well, yeah, I saw some highlights I saw obviously.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, I'm I'm very close with with
Speaker 5: Mike Rutherford and I always his tweets just always seem.
Speaker 4: To find my timeline at the time that I'm checking my.
Speaker 5: My Twitter feed and was making me laugh about forty
Speaker 5: and oh and all that stuff.
Speaker 3: But look, what are you laughing? On the table?
Speaker 4: I love that. I love it.
Speaker 5: Uh, it's definitely on the table.
Speaker 4: I nobody's played a game yet, but but.
Speaker 5: No, I did the so I wrote the Lindy's Uh.
Speaker 5: I do the Lindy's magazine a SEC preview, and I
Speaker 5: write the Louisville preview the last couple of years.
Speaker 2: And okay, you know, little humble bread. Okay, I pick
Speaker 2: up the Lindy's every year.
Speaker 4: Maybe there you go, there you go.
Speaker 7: So but no, I I I talked to the editors
Speaker 7: there about about Louisville and and you know, like you
Speaker 7: said right before I came on, I mean, this is
Speaker 7: an entirely new team and entirely new coaching staff, and
Speaker 7: I know there's some familiar faces helping out, but it's fascinating.
Speaker 4: To me what could happened. The potential is extremely.
Speaker 6: High, and to me, on paper, Louisville has enough talent
Speaker 6: to be very much a team in the mix in
Speaker 6: the top like five or six in the ACC.
Speaker 5: And like just from a talent standpoint and what those
Speaker 5: guys did at other schools, you know, I just I
Speaker 5: feel like that's a really good roster. I'm probably most
Speaker 5: intrigued by what they do up front. I think they're
Speaker 5: gonna be a little bit of a leaner, leaner side
Speaker 5: up front and space the floor a little bit more.
Speaker 5: I think James Scott is the guy who's got to
Speaker 5: really step in as a shop blocker and be that
Speaker 5: guy for them.
Speaker 6: But but no.
Speaker 5: I mean it's fully impressive and I think you know,
Speaker 5: Pat Kelsey has done exactly what Louisville needed.
Speaker 4: Somebody to do over the last four or five months.
Speaker 4: So I'm sure they've sold some seat and tickets.
Speaker 5: I don't know if you have that inside info or not.
Speaker 4: I'm sure they have.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, they're they're heading the right direction with that,
Speaker 3: that's for sure.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what you need, Nick.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, even if it's summertime games in the Bahamas,
Speaker 5: you just need to build some excitement.
Speaker 4: There's certainly plenty of talent there, no.
Speaker 3: Doubt about it.
Speaker 2: Couldn't have said it better Jeff. As always, we appreciate
Speaker 2: the time. Congrats to everybody over there at Soccer Holdings.
Speaker 2: I know there's so much work that goes in to
Speaker 2: everything that you guys do, So keep it up and
Speaker 2: we'll be in touch.
Speaker 3: My friend.
Speaker 4: Awesome, thanks for having me, Nick, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3: No problem.
Speaker 2: Again that is Jeff Breer. Always appreciate his time and
Speaker 2: enjoy the conversation as well. We'll take a quick break
Speaker 2: and we'll carry that conversation into the next segment in
Speaker 2: regards to Louisville basketball, because yeah, I mean, I've I mean,
Speaker 2: I could just sit here and give you my thoughts
Speaker 2: on every single player that I watched play last week.
Speaker 2: I don't think that would be very interesting, certainly wouldn't
Speaker 2: make for great radio. So I'll condense it just with
Speaker 2: some big takeaways that I have. And yes, I'm aware
Speaker 2: that you know they played two teams in the Bahamas,
Speaker 2: one school from Canada and one team called the Bahamas
Speaker 2: Select who. I have no clue if though the level
Speaker 2: of you know, talent on those teams. But I knew
Speaker 2: that going in that it wasn't going to be about hey,
Speaker 2: they're going to go play some elite teams, but still
Speaker 2: just seeing the personnel that Pat Kelsey has to work with,
Speaker 2: seeing the style of play that this group's going to
Speaker 2: have exciting stuff, no doubt. So we'll talk more about
Speaker 2: that as we take you up till six o'clock. Again,
Speaker 2: it's coffee and Company and we are fueled by Thornton's
Speaker 2: right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. That's right, coffee
Speaker 2: and company rolling along here on a Monday afternoon on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven ninety. Thank you so much for hanging
Speaker 2: out with us. I hope you guys missed me as
Speaker 2: much as I missed you. I mean I did miss
Speaker 2: you know, I missed the show and I'm not here,
Speaker 2: but it was probably the best vacation I've had as
Speaker 2: far as just you know, not really thinking a whole
Speaker 2: lot about work. Which I don't say that to present
Speaker 2: myself as somebody that just works harder than everybody. I
Speaker 2: just look, I'm I'm wired a little bit differently mentally,
Speaker 2: so like I worry about I'm a worrier. It's like
Speaker 2: when I'm not here, I worry about, well, you know what,
Speaker 2: they probably are going to realize it don't even need me,
Speaker 2: probably my life show and I'm probably just going to
Speaker 2: hand the gig off to John, the company Man's going
Speaker 2: to take the reins. And you know, like I just
Speaker 2: I don't know why my mind goes in the direction
Speaker 2: that it goes. But I would have thought had I
Speaker 2: known all that was gonna be going on last week
Speaker 2: while I was out, that I would have been thinking
Speaker 2: about it and worried about it. But I was enjoying
Speaker 2: myself and my wife. She's great, by the way, but
Speaker 2: she didn't even like give me any kind of a
Speaker 2: side eyed look or make any kind of a snarky
Speaker 2: comment whenever I was watching Pat Kelcey and the Cards
Speaker 2: on my phone at dinner on Tuesday night and then
Speaker 2: during the day at the pool and at the beach
Speaker 2: on Thursday. Because you know, she understands the excitement that
Speaker 2: I have for this new era that is the Pat
Speaker 2: Kelsey air for Louisville basketball. So I went in thinking, okay, look,
Speaker 2: don't get too high, don't get too low, because you know,
Speaker 2: take it for what it is. It's an exhibition game
Speaker 2: where they're probably not looking to go out and win
Speaker 2: by fifty. They're looking to see what these guys do
Speaker 2: in this setting. Right, it's not a real game, but
Speaker 2: you know, there's going to be a clock, there's gonna
Speaker 2: be referees, it's going to be televised, like, you know,
Speaker 2: let's see what these guys do in these kind of
Speaker 2: situations when they're playing against somebody else that's not you know,
Speaker 2: one of their teammates. So again I told myself, look,
Speaker 2: don't get too high, don't get too low. But I
Speaker 2: got way too high because I love this team.
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 2: I don't know if they have you know, the roster
Speaker 2: that you look at and say, Wow, this team could
Speaker 2: win a national championship.
Speaker 3: I mean I don't. I'm not there, But as far
Speaker 3: as what you have to work with the pieces.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know how you couldn't be ecstatic
Speaker 2: about this this upcoming season. And I know, and I'm
Speaker 2: saying that without the obvious elephant in the room, which
Speaker 2: is that, hey, we just know we're not going to
Speaker 2: be as bad as we were the last two years.
Speaker 2: And the bar is so low because you know, Kenny
Speaker 2: Payne lost to Division two exhibition opponents in each of
Speaker 2: the two seasons he was here, So like, throw all
Speaker 2: that out the window.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's not something you can just ignore.
Speaker 2: Like Louisville fans are going to be more excited about
Speaker 2: beating bums on the schedule because you know, some of
Speaker 2: those bums beat you in recent years. Hex some of
Speaker 2: those bums, you know you barely escaped with a victory
Speaker 2: against them. So I know all that going in. But
Speaker 2: that's like I think, even if you had a team
Speaker 2: that was coming off of a tournament appearance last year,
Speaker 2: you should still feel very good about the personnel that
Speaker 2: Pat Kelsey has to work with and you know, I
Speaker 2: again try not to just give some random thoughts on
Speaker 2: each of the players that you know that we watched
Speaker 2: last week, because again, that wouldn't be interesting radio. But
Speaker 2: it's like it's it's all brand new, right, Like it's
Speaker 2: it's hard not to just go one by one and
Speaker 2: tell you, wow, did you see Javon Hadley Man. That's
Speaker 2: a guy who reminds me so much of Dwayne Sutton.
Speaker 2: And he's the perfect example of the guy that I
Speaker 2: referenced earlier that he's played college basketball for many years now.
Speaker 2: This is a guy who is a fifth year senior,
Speaker 2: He's twenty three years old. He knows who he is
Speaker 2: as a player, and he knows where his bread is buttered,
Speaker 2: so to speak, right Like, he knows, hey, at six
Speaker 2: six two o five, there's gonna be some situations where
Speaker 2: I've got got guards on me that are smaller, and
Speaker 2: I'm gonna use that to my advantage and I'm gonna
Speaker 2: be more physical around the rim.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: You know, he's a guy that has played a lot
Speaker 2: of college basketball, knows who he is as a player.
Speaker 2: I mean, Corange, that guy's silky smooth as an offensive player.
Speaker 2: I mean, he can get hot in a hurry. You
Speaker 2: see why he was packed twelve six Man of the
Speaker 2: Year with his minutes. You know, he could have fourteen
Speaker 2: points in a game where he played ten minutes just
Speaker 2: because he gets hot in a hurry, can run the floor.
Speaker 2: You know, I think Chucky Hepburn is hard to say
Speaker 2: this without it sounding like I'm claiming he's the best player,
Speaker 2: but like, there's not another Chucky Hepburn on this team,
Speaker 2: meaning a guy who is a veteran who has been
Speaker 2: in a leadership position throughout his entire time in college basketball.
Speaker 2: At three, I mean, he was the starting point guard
Speaker 2: for Wisconsin for three years since his freshman season until
Speaker 2: his junior season, which just ended this past year. Was
Speaker 2: a captain. I believe all three at least two of
Speaker 2: those seasons. Maybe wasn't all three, but I mean, this
Speaker 2: is a guy who's your leader. He can set the
Speaker 2: tone for you guys defensively. And then I mean, how
Speaker 2: about Cater Treure.
Speaker 3: I mean I.
Speaker 2: Literally got exactly what I was expecting to see out
Speaker 2: of watching him. I mean, just a unique guy six
Speaker 2: ' five, two hundred pounds, does not have to take
Speaker 2: a shot to be an impact player. He's gonna be
Speaker 2: hard to keep off the floor because I mean, he's
Speaker 2: got a high motor, long and athletic, can rebound, and
Speaker 2: I think he's become a really good passer throughout his
Speaker 2: career because he knows he can't shoot. He's not a
Speaker 2: jump shooter, and teams dare him to shoot it. So
Speaker 2: what does he do? He doesn't take the bait. He
Speaker 2: gets in the paint and either you know, can can
Speaker 2: dunk on somebody's head or he can distribute. And then
Speaker 2: guys like Trey Ora, Noah Waterman and Case and Pryor,
Speaker 2: I mean those are your I mean I call him
Speaker 2: stretch fowards. But you know, I didn't realize Case and
Speaker 2: Pryor and Noah Watermen are nearly seven feet tall, Case
Speaker 2: and Prior six ' ten, Waterman six' eleven. I mentioned
Speaker 2: Trairay too because he's six ' five, but he's he's
Speaker 2: got linked to where he might, you know, depending on
Speaker 2: minute distribution, he might lead this team in rebounds. So
Speaker 2: what really stood out to me is that those are
Speaker 2: guys that typically maybe not their style of maybe not
Speaker 2: them specifically as players, but like you're you know, you're
Speaker 2: full man, you're four or five in most instances, even
Speaker 2: still in basketball, if those guys get a rebound, they're
Speaker 2: looking for a guard. Well, these guys not so much.
Speaker 2: They can they can initiate up temple play by just
Speaker 2: ripping in and running. I mean, how many times did
Speaker 2: you see case in prior get it off the glass
Speaker 2: and just go same thing with Watermen who did not
Speaker 2: play in the first game, but in the second game
Speaker 2: you can see what he brings to the table. I
Speaker 2: love this team before I saw no Waterman and then
Speaker 2: he gets out there as a six to eleven guy
Speaker 2: that can knock down the three plays with a lot
Speaker 2: of confidence. You know this team is, They've got to
Speaker 2: pieces to be pretty damn good. Now, do they have
Speaker 2: elite talent that you feel like, you know you're going
Speaker 2: to be watching in the NBA for many years to come.
Speaker 2: Probably not. I mean, I'll be honest with you, I
Speaker 2: don't think so. But you don't need that to be
Speaker 2: a really good basketball team in college basketball anymore, right
Speaker 2: because the days of really just banking on young eighteen
Speaker 2: nineteen year old kids, kids who really haven't accomplished a
Speaker 2: whole lot, but their name and their value is based
Speaker 2: off of potential that they may not reach until they're
Speaker 2: you know, in the NBA three four years, Like you're
Speaker 2: still going to bring in young talented players. Again, Connie
Speaker 2: Ru's the only freshman on this team.
Speaker 3: He looked great. He's a reminder.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that guy's young. He's got a lot of
Speaker 2: growing pains ahead of him, as most freshmen do in college.
Speaker 2: But man, you can see he's got a lot of potential.
Speaker 2: He's got a lot of talent. So you know, I'm
Speaker 2: not saying that you can't still rely on guys like that,
Speaker 2: but again, if you can go get a fifth year
Speaker 2: Javon Hadley, who is a guy who did a little
Speaker 2: bit of everything for Colorado last year in the Pac
Speaker 2: twelve started all thirty six games, average twelve point six rebounds,
Speaker 2: two and a half assists, one point two steals per game.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a I don't want to say it's
Speaker 2: a finished product as if he can't get better at
Speaker 2: certain things, but like, that guy's probably never going to
Speaker 2: sniff the NBA draft board, but you know what, he
Speaker 2: can be a high impact player college and you can
Speaker 2: win a lot of games with these kind of players.
Speaker 2: So you know, I feel like I've talked about most
Speaker 2: of the guys, you know, James Scott for a little
Speaker 2: worried that he might have actually gotten himself hurt in
Speaker 2: that first game, but you know, he's he's somebody that
Speaker 2: probably won't have the same kind of role and certainly
Speaker 2: probably won't have the same amount of minutes. But like
Speaker 2: he's he's unique, like Hepburn and the fact that you
Speaker 2: really don't have another guy like that, right, he's a
Speaker 2: six ' eleven, needs to give you some some presence
Speaker 2: around the rim as a shot blocker, kind of a
Speaker 2: rim runner. Rain Smith, I mean, again, like Terrence Edwards Junior.
Speaker 2: I mean, these are guys that again, I know it
Speaker 2: sounds as if I'm just reeling off names, like I'm
Speaker 2: telling you that this is the next dream team that's
Speaker 2: going to represent you know, the United States and the Olympics.
Speaker 2: But when you go out and build a brand new
Speaker 2: team and you have the transfer portal and you have
Speaker 2: money through NIL that you can you can utilize to say, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm you know, I'm case in Prior,
Speaker 2: and I don't really love the fact that they're bringing
Speaker 2: in a guy who's kind of like me in Noah Waterman,
Speaker 2: who's a sixty year senior who's also a six ten
Speaker 2: six ' eleven guy who can stretch the floor and shoot.
Speaker 2: It not ideal for me to join a team that
Speaker 2: has one of me or a guy that's kind of similar,
Speaker 2: But you know what, the nil check was pretty great,
Speaker 2: so I'm going to be able to do it. So
Speaker 2: you're you're seeing a team one through ten, one through eleven,
Speaker 2: however many they play this year. They obviously have some
Speaker 2: guys that aren't going to play because of injury, Ali Khalifa,
Speaker 2: Kobe Rodgers, those guys. But you know, like when you
Speaker 2: get to man eight through eleven, or maybe seven through
Speaker 2: ten in your rotation on your depth chart or whatever,
Speaker 2: when you can build a roster like this with a
Speaker 2: bunch of guys who played a lot of college basketball,
Speaker 2: you really don't have much of a drop off, right,
Speaker 2: Like That's what makes That's what really stood out to
Speaker 2: me because the old ways of building a roster with
Speaker 2: no portal, with no nil you would have three or
Speaker 2: four freshmen, you'd have I don't know, six to eight
Speaker 2: sophomores and juniors and then a few seniors like that
Speaker 2: would be your team and you would just know, okay,
Speaker 2: the freshmen they're probably not going to get a ton
Speaker 2: of minutes. Maybe one of them will turn into a
Speaker 2: guy that you can rely on when you get to March.
Speaker 2: You hope that every one of these sophomores and juniors
Speaker 2: that came back are a better version of themself. You
Speaker 2: are confident that a couple of them will be, but
Speaker 2: the rest of them are probably just going to be
Speaker 2: who they are. And then maybe you got a guy
Speaker 2: coming back that's like a senior that's a you know,
Speaker 2: a preseason all conference player, right Like that used to
Speaker 2: be a pretty normal roster when it comes to structure,
Speaker 2: pre nil, pre portal. Now you're like a GM. You
Speaker 2: can go out and literally get guys that give you
Speaker 2: the personnel needed to be the exact team you want
Speaker 2: to be. Now, will they be good enough overall to
Speaker 2: win at a high level, You really never know. But
Speaker 2: Pat Kelsey wanted to go get veterans, guys who have
Speaker 2: played a lot of college basketball, guys who've been a
Speaker 2: part of winning cultures. He clearly wanted to have a
Speaker 2: lot of shooters. He's done that. He wanted to have
Speaker 2: balance and he's got that as well size, So you know,
Speaker 2: they're not humongous out there. You know, I don't like
Speaker 2: the thought of Big Frank having to play major minutes,
Speaker 2: but you know he does give it.
Speaker 3: Again. That's another example.
Speaker 2: That's a guy who has played it both Syracuse and
Speaker 2: at Georgia, has kind of been a career journey man
Speaker 2: who really doesn't get it extensive, extensive minutes. But you
Speaker 2: know what, we got an il. We need another body
Speaker 2: in the in the front court. Let's go get this
Speaker 2: six ' ten, two hundred and fifteen pound fifth year
Speaker 2: senior who will come in and you know, fill the
Speaker 2: role that we need. So I don't know just the
Speaker 2: way I used to look at every roster for Louisville
Speaker 2: and really just college basketball programs in general. You know, again,
Speaker 2: it was mostly based off of like that structure that
Speaker 2: I just laid out. Now, it could be anything. Now,
Speaker 2: this won't be normal, meaning like you're not going to
Speaker 2: see this moving forward. They're not going to go get
Speaker 2: thirteen new players again next year, but if they had to,
Speaker 2: they could. So I think you'll see more a traditional
Speaker 2: mixture of young freshmen that have a lot of potential,
Speaker 2: a chunk of guys who are back, and then you'll
Speaker 2: lose guys to the portal because you always do. That's
Speaker 2: just college basketball now, and you'll go fill four or
Speaker 2: five spots, maybe three spots, depending upon you know, it'll
Speaker 2: probably be different each year. So look, I can't wait
Speaker 2: to see these guys, but now we got to wait
Speaker 2: many months and it makes me sad. But really really
Speaker 2: enjoyed the coverage of the of the two games, I thought,
Speaker 2: I really thought rob Ostry did a good job as
Speaker 2: well as T is it TJ T.
Speaker 3: What's his name? Oglesby? I think that sounds right. He's
Speaker 3: one of the field of sixty eight guys.
Speaker 2: I mean, he was gushing over Louisville in like a
Speaker 2: major way, and I you know, it got me thinking, okay, man,
Speaker 2: if he sees it and he's being objective, then you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: Terrence Oglesby's name. Excuse me, but I thought they did
Speaker 2: a good job. And you know, again, I'm maybe I'm
Speaker 2: a little biased here, but I really do believe that
Speaker 2: their comments about Louisville having, you know, tournament caliber team.
Speaker 2: I think Oglesby just put out his I guess late
Speaker 2: summer ACC rankings he has Louisville as a top five
Speaker 2: ACC team, Like I don't think that that's just that's crazy.
Speaker 2: I mean, it probably says more about the league than
Speaker 2: anything else. But again, I'll go back to what I
Speaker 2: said right after we knew the roster was officially set,
Speaker 2: and that is that it's not unfair. It's not putting
Speaker 2: too much on Pat Kelce right away to say that
Speaker 2: he has a tournament caliber team. I now feel that
Speaker 2: even more so after watching them play. And yes, I
Speaker 2: know they played nobody's but they've got the personnel to
Speaker 2: have a good season to get to the tournament. And
Speaker 2: I have no reason to think that won't happen. I
Speaker 2: can't tell you for sure that it will. You'll we'll
Speaker 2: never know, right, it's the ultimate unknown here. But this
Speaker 2: team's gonna be fun to watch, and I think they're
Speaker 2: gonna win a lot of games. You know, if I
Speaker 2: was forced to nitpick, and again, it would be nitpicking defensively,
Speaker 2: you know, like clearly they gave up a lot of
Speaker 2: points in the first I don't know, fifteen minutes or
Speaker 2: so of that game against the Canadian team. But I
Speaker 2: just think that's what we're gonna see, is like they're
Speaker 2: gonna value to I mean, they're gonna clearly prioritize the defense,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be very important. But what's gonna make them
Speaker 2: really thrive and get the game played at a style
Speaker 2: they want to play.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be offense.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be not worrying if you got beat on
Speaker 2: defense for that possession, you get it out, create some
Speaker 2: early offense for yourself. And I think what you hope
Speaker 2: is that you get enough stops defensively and you pick
Speaker 2: your spots and you initiate fast, fast paced play, and
Speaker 2: you are built to do that better than most of
Speaker 2: your opponents. Now that may not always be the case,
Speaker 2: because you may run into a team that you know,
Speaker 2: they got the horses and they can outrun you, they
Speaker 2: can outshoot you. I mean, I'm sure that's gonna happen
Speaker 2: at times. But overall, really impressed and I think Pat
Speaker 2: Kelsey right now as we get into August, I mean
Speaker 2: I'm not to say he's perfect, because he's not. No,
Speaker 2: he is, but like he's so far on the job.
Speaker 2: All you can do is, you know, engage with the
Speaker 2: fan base, get them excited, really generate enthusiasm, go recruit,
Speaker 2: build a roster, you know, be accessible. I mean he's
Speaker 2: done all those things almost flawlessly, to be honest with you.
Speaker 2: And again that's not to say they haven't missed out
Speaker 2: on some guys they didn't want to get. But so far,
Speaker 2: so good for Pat Kelsey. Now we just got to
Speaker 2: wait until, you know, we actually get basketball season here,
Speaker 2: all right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side.
Speaker 2: Get at the text line fivebo two six five three
Speaker 2: zero seven ninety it's the llen N Federal Credit Union
Speaker 2: text line, and we're gonna take you up till six o'clock.
Speaker 2: So we still got an hour and some change, so
Speaker 2: stick around right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. I
Speaker 2: didn't plan on discussing this, and I'm not sure how
Speaker 2: many people care, but we were just talking about the
Speaker 2: new world of college athletics with Nil and the portal,
Speaker 2: and really that being the reason Louisville was able to
Speaker 2: put together a brand new team and have legitimate excitement
Speaker 2: about year one. Right, there's no rebuild when you're Louisville
Speaker 2: and you have resources and you know, an advantage that
Speaker 2: a lot of places don't have. You know, you can
Speaker 2: put a team together right away, and that's what Pat
Speaker 2: Kelsey's done. But to see this, this is just crazy
Speaker 2: to me that between Division one and Division two there
Speaker 2: are three thousand and fifty five players still in the
Speaker 2: transfer portal, So two thousand and thirty five from the
Speaker 2: Division one level have entered the transfer portal. It's college
Speaker 2: basketball players during this past season twenty twenty three, twenty
Speaker 2: four that have not found the new school. So that
Speaker 2: that's not even guys who went from you know, D
Speaker 2: one to D two. That's guys who were D one
Speaker 2: and I guess now just have never have never found
Speaker 2: a new home. I mean, is that maybe the most
Speaker 2: not discussed component to the portal and what it's done
Speaker 2: to college athletics, like, because that can't be good, right.
Speaker 3: It's weird yea.
Speaker 8: And I would assume that most of these guys who
Speaker 8: are in the portal will just go back to the
Speaker 8: school that they were trying to transfer away from.
Speaker 2: And I'm starting to see that they'll be the occasional like, hey,
Speaker 2: Utah Valley State is getting back such and such who
Speaker 2: was in the portal after averaging seventeen points a game
Speaker 2: last year, And it's because they just never found what
Speaker 2: they were looking for, right, And they have the ability
Speaker 2: to do that. They can test the market, see what's
Speaker 2: out there, and schools like that are not in a
Speaker 2: position to tell you to kick rocks because they probably
Speaker 2: need you so. But you know, the portal is something
Speaker 2: that clearly there's a lot of opinions on it from
Speaker 2: fans of programs, and I think usually the opinion and
Speaker 2: I guess it shouldn't. I was going to say people
Speaker 2: love it if they if they benefit from it, and
Speaker 2: they hate it if they don't. But I don't know
Speaker 2: if that's legitimately the truth, because I think there are
Speaker 2: people who do love the fact that they can use
Speaker 2: the portal and go get good players because they want
Speaker 2: to be good. Everybody wants to have a good team
Speaker 2: and have success. But you also miss the days of
Speaker 2: having a guy they would be there three four years
Speaker 2: that you can see to. I mean, look those guys
Speaker 2: who played for the TBT team last week, free them all.
Speaker 2: I mean those guys, most of them played here for
Speaker 2: many years, three four years, national championship runs for a
Speaker 2: few of them, and that's why they are legends here.
Speaker 2: I mean, you could do it for a year and
Speaker 2: still be remembered. But you know what, they had a journey,
Speaker 2: right They were here for a while, and you got
Speaker 2: to see him, you know, go through the ups and downs,
Speaker 2: and for the most part, those guys had a lot
Speaker 2: more ups than downs.
Speaker 3: But just to see that number, it's crazy that of THEGNA.
Speaker 8: Filled out their final scholarship. Very random, is kind of
Speaker 8: out of the blue. Post last week a guy named
Speaker 8: Dallas James from South Carolina State.
Speaker 3: And he wasn't like very good there, right.
Speaker 8: No, I believe he averaged maybe a point or two
Speaker 8: a game. His big calling card is shot blocking. Okay,
Speaker 8: that's what he's going to be known for. And he
Speaker 8: probably won't play very many minutes for Indiana, but that's
Speaker 8: kind of what he'll be utilized for.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so seven footer, he's played sparingly throughout his time
Speaker 2: at South Carolina State. As a scene, he played in
Speaker 2: twenty six games uh started fourteen, but he only averaged
Speaker 2: seven minutes per game, less than a point a game,
Speaker 2: one point three rebounds. Obviously known for shot blocking, but
Speaker 2: like that, that's that is like why not take that guy?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 2: Like, you have one scholarship, use it or lose it.
Speaker 2: This is a guy that at least gives you presence
Speaker 2: and practice that can give you some size that you'll
Speaker 2: you know that you'll most likely see when you play
Speaker 2: other teams.
Speaker 8: So and he's not someone who will be holding onto
Speaker 8: a scholarship for years to come. He's just a one
Speaker 8: and done guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm curious, like if this guy wasn't gonna go,
Speaker 2: Like if this guy didn't get the offer from Mike
Speaker 2: Woodson in Indiana, Like, would he have just been one
Speaker 2: of these guys It's like, all right, well, I guess
Speaker 2: I'm done. Maybe because I mean, like it's not uncommon
Speaker 2: at all for guys to go to Division one as
Speaker 2: either a lower like a lower recruit, or just as
Speaker 2: a guy who you know, wasn't a big recruit but
Speaker 2: somehow found it found a roster spot on a school
Speaker 2: in the MAC because of like you know, a connection
Speaker 2: and then learn and be humbled. I'm not a Division
Speaker 2: one player, Like, I'm not going to play Division one
Speaker 2: basketball anywhere and get a lot of minutes because that
Speaker 2: level is a little bit beyond where I'm at. A
Speaker 2: lot that happens all the time, And those guys end
Speaker 2: up going to in AI schools. Maybe they go Juco
Speaker 2: and then and then bounce back somewhere else. Maybe they
Speaker 2: go D two, D three, Like there's all kinds of options.
Speaker 2: And that's what has me curious here when I look
Speaker 2: at this breakdown from the transfer transfer portal for playing
Speaker 2: time database here, like are they counting that in? Like
Speaker 2: I don't know if those dudes end up going to
Speaker 2: an NAI school or a JUCO or Division three like
Speaker 2: whatever database they're referencing in the portal, like they may not,
Speaker 2: Like they may not, they may like there's no way
Speaker 2: they're calling every one of these guys like, hey, did
Speaker 2: you find a school? You know what I'm saying, Like
Speaker 2: some of these guys end up at schools you'd never
Speaker 2: heard of that might have you know, four hundred students
Speaker 2: at a tiny school. So like if one, if two
Speaker 2: thousand and thirty five of these guys ended up doing that, that
Speaker 2: wouldn't really shock me. But if if it's true that
Speaker 2: we are in the beginning of August, schools about to
Speaker 2: start everywhere and you have over two thousand college basketball
Speaker 2: players that hit the portal and never found a home,
Speaker 2: Like I'm sure every situation is different, but man, that sucks.
Speaker 2: Like that's like these guys, you know, are leaving a
Speaker 2: college basketball experience that most would die for, and it
Speaker 2: maybe because they thought they were better than where they
Speaker 2: were or they thought, you know, to give you the
Speaker 2: old cliche that the grass would be greener. And you know,
Speaker 2: that's one thing I do feel comfortable in saying about
Speaker 2: moving forward because everybody can be in the portal and
Speaker 2: be available. I think you're going to see dudes who
Speaker 2: do put up big numbers for lousy teams of the
Speaker 2: lower level. They're not going to get the calls they
Speaker 2: probably think they're going to get because you know what, like, no,
Speaker 2: you put up twenty four game, but man, your team
Speaker 2: won four league games the last two years, like we
Speaker 2: just that's just not that that's not what we're looking for.
Speaker 2: So anyways, the coaches poll is out. I don't have
Speaker 2: any real strong opinions on it, but we'll talk about it.
Speaker 3: On the other side.
Speaker 2: No Louisville in the preseason top twenty five coaches, Paul,
Speaker 2: And again I'm fighting some urges here. When I say urges,
Speaker 2: I mean the urge to play the disrespect card. But
Speaker 2: I don't want to sound like such a homer, but like,
Speaker 2: I don't know how Louisville can have a ten win
Speaker 2: season and you know, playing the ACC Conference championship game
Speaker 2: end up beating teams last year that yeah, maybe there
Speaker 2: wasn't a big time wow. They knocked off a top
Speaker 2: five team, but they beat a lot of teams who
Speaker 2: had winning records, went to bowl games, did not play
Speaker 2: any and they played eleven Power five opponents in the
Speaker 2: regular season. And yet they just don't seem to be
Speaker 2: getting much love at all. And I think everybody's gonna
Speaker 2: be wrong about how good this Louisville team can be.
Speaker 3: But we shall see.
Speaker 2: Stick with us five o'clock hours next right here on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven ninety