Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: Oh, guess what day it is? Guess what day it is?
Speaker 2: Huh anybody, It's hump Day.
Speaker 3: Yes, it is hump Day. Welcome to the Big Blue Cider.
Speaker 3: A frigid Wednesday. It's a very cold hump Day, but
Speaker 3: it's heating up in the Big Blue Nation, isn't it.
Speaker 3: After last night's win Ulver, Texas A and M Dick
Speaker 3: Gabriel with you, we will talk about that tonight. Of course,
Speaker 3: we'll also talk Entucky football and just sports in general,
Speaker 3: because coming up at the bottom of the hour, Sean Woods,
Speaker 3: the Unforgettable Guard, will break down last night's game with
Speaker 3: us and obviously he liked what he saw. And in
Speaker 3: our number two, Anthony White will join us. Anthony the
Speaker 3: former football Wildcat who is a co host of Sunday
Speaker 3: Morning Sports Talk and The Locker four one one podcast
Speaker 3: with Van Hiles, one of our favorite guests as well.
Speaker 3: So we'll hear what Anthony has to say about what's
Speaker 3: going on right now with the program with all this
Speaker 3: portal traffic, and he has been going back and forth
Speaker 3: on Twitter a little bit with some fans who are
Speaker 3: critical of some of the moves that Mark Stups is making.
Speaker 3: A lot of the turnover with this team, and as
Speaker 3: he points that, look he had a team that was
Speaker 3: four and eight and he didn't like the way things
Speaker 3: were going. Why play and I'm paraphrasing, why play a
Speaker 3: Pat Hans. We'll talk about Anthony with Anthony about all
Speaker 3: the player movement as well, and our West n bea chief.
Speaker 3: Gary Moore will be with us in our number two
Speaker 3: because that's what we do on Wednesdays, and we were back,
Speaker 3: at least for now to a regular Wednesday schedule. Because
Speaker 3: the basketball games are Tuesday Saturday this week and Alabama
Speaker 3: is ahead. That's gonna be huge. But we need to
Speaker 3: talk about this A and M win in several different
Speaker 3: ways because it was a game not like any other game.
Speaker 3: I don't think you've seen some ugly stretches from this
Speaker 3: Kentucky team, and I mean that in a good way,
Speaker 3: having to kind of grind things out. But I don't
Speaker 3: think we have seen a team play start to finish
Speaker 3: so far the season the way Texas A and M did. Yeah,
Speaker 3: Clemson was physical. There have been Like I said, Ohio State,
Speaker 3: make Kentucky play a little ugly and really beat the
Speaker 3: Wildcats in practically every way you could up there in
Speaker 3: New York. But I think the biggest lesson, at least
Speaker 3: that I took away from this game was this, we
Speaker 3: cannot be too quick to judge. Really, you never showed period,
Speaker 3: But we shouldn't have been so quick to judge this
Speaker 3: Kentucky team because of the newness, if that's the proper word,
Speaker 3: with this roster, with the way these guys are playing,
Speaker 3: with what Mark Pope is asking them to do. He's
Speaker 3: basically in some ways, not every way, but in some
Speaker 3: ways asking them to leave behind what they've done in
Speaker 3: the past, and I mean probably in subtle ways and
Speaker 3: in some big ways to play his style of basketball,
Speaker 3: you know, the way he wants them to run offense
Speaker 3: and communicate and all that. And he talked about it
Speaker 3: in some of the losses that the players sort of
Speaker 3: defaulted to what they knew and abandoned what they should
Speaker 3: have been doing on offense, particularly, and we saw what happened.
Speaker 3: It didn't work, did it all? Right? So now you've
Speaker 3: got A and M coming in minus it's best player.
Speaker 3: We know this, But as I always say, it's not
Speaker 3: like they were playing four on five. They had other
Speaker 3: kids coming in. But Waye Taylor is their best player.
Speaker 3: We know this, but maybe that made it a little
Speaker 3: more difficult for Kentucky to figure out how to stop
Speaker 3: A and M. And by the way, this is not
Speaker 3: an A and M team that is a great shooting
Speaker 3: three point ball club. But it sure looked that way,
Speaker 3: didn't it in the first half. That's why A and
Speaker 3: M took the leade on the Wildcats until late in
Speaker 3: the half, because the Aggies were knocking down threes. Now
Speaker 3: they go for twelve in the second half, and you
Speaker 3: saw what happened. Kentucky built a double digit lead on
Speaker 3: more than one occasion, and yet on more than one occasion,
Speaker 3: A and M came back and whittled it down. Because
Speaker 3: it's a good team. They were ranked eleventh in the country,
Speaker 3: and I know a lot of these SEC teams right
Speaker 3: now are probably over ranked or were over ranked, because
Speaker 3: now you see what's happening. They're beating each other up.
Speaker 3: And you knew this would happen. But who raised your
Speaker 3: hand if you thought Arkansas would be owing four at
Speaker 3: this point? I know some of you hoped that because
Speaker 3: you still have a problem with Caliperry, but did you
Speaker 3: did the basketball person in you really think with that
Speaker 3: kind of talent, Arkansas would be owing four and quite frankly,
Speaker 3: just not playing very well. I watched the second half
Speaker 3: of that game. They blew a huge first half lead.
Speaker 3: But unless you going in was owing three, nobody expected that.
Speaker 3: Nobody thought all this you would be very good this year.
Speaker 3: But like I said, these teams are just beating each
Speaker 3: other up right now. It's gonna happen for the rest
Speaker 3: of the year. But Kentucky right now rising above most
Speaker 3: with five quad one wins and more opportunities on the way,
Speaker 3: including Alabama coming up. But back to what we were
Speaker 3: talking about, the way the Wildcats had to win. They
Speaker 3: beat a really good defensive an M team, and I
Speaker 3: saw some complaints as usual about Jimmy Dikes. And again
Speaker 3: I'm partial to Jimmy. I've known him for all It's
Speaker 3: not like we're boys, but I think he does a
Speaker 3: very good job. And for those of you who are
Speaker 3: critical of him, I've said it before and I'll keep
Speaker 3: saying it, Jimmy Dikes has more. If I'm gonna use
Speaker 3: the cliche skin in the game when it comes to
Speaker 3: analyzing Kentucky, because for the dozens and dozens of college
Speaker 3: basketball analysts out there, he is the only one on
Speaker 3: the national level who knows what it's like to work here,
Speaker 3: to live here, and to coach here, and as such
Speaker 3: is more intimately aware of the Big Blue Nation and
Speaker 3: Kentucky fans, but more importantly the standards for Kentucky basketball.
Speaker 3: That's why he was so hard on UK when Billy
Speaker 3: Gillespie was the coach here. And I remember one night
Speaker 3: before the game, I just went by to say hello
Speaker 3: to Jimmy and we were just kind of commiserating about
Speaker 3: how bad Kentucky looked, and he was trying to figure
Speaker 3: out what Gillispie was trying to do with his recruiting,
Speaker 3: with his personnel, with his lineups, And at one point
Speaker 3: Jimmy said, what is he doing? I don't know, so anyhow,
Speaker 3: That's why Jimmy, I think, bears a little bit of
Speaker 3: a different look. When you're talking about analysts and some
Speaker 3: of you, if you're not fully rooting for the Wildcats,
Speaker 3: you're against the Wildcats, and that's why you don't like him.
Speaker 3: You don't like Jay Billis, you don't like whoever's doing
Speaker 3: a game if they're not constantly praising the Cats, well, look,
Speaker 3: it doesn't work that way. And you know that. So anyhow,
Speaker 3: last night's game was a defensive struggle, and as Pope
Speaker 3: pointed out, it took a while to figure things out,
Speaker 3: but they did. And Buzz Williams after the game, and
Speaker 3: may have already heard some of his comments. The head
Speaker 3: coach Ray and m as a basketball professional, really impressed
Speaker 3: with what he has seen in this Kentucky team. And
Speaker 3: he's beaten Kentucky in the past, not very often, but
Speaker 3: he has. But he's really impressed with what he has seen.
Speaker 3: Mark Pope and his staff put together in a short
Speaker 3: amount of time.
Speaker 1: Really good players, a lot of variety to the skill,
Speaker 1: as you know. But I think the utilization of the
Speaker 1: talent and the skill, considering the newness of the coach
Speaker 1: and his staff and the players, that's really difficult to do.
Speaker 3: And so.
Speaker 1: I have not seen any of their practices or their
Speaker 1: film sessions, but the teaching that's going on and the
Speaker 1: itinerary of the practices for them to have the execution
Speaker 1: that they have remarkable. The third best offense in the
Speaker 1: country that puts stress on you in transition. It puts
Speaker 1: stress on you immediately following transition, and then as soon
Speaker 1: as it goes to twenty two or ten, and they
Speaker 1: begin to run coaches offense. That's a different type of stress.
Speaker 1: So there's three versions of stress, and they're potent in
Speaker 1: each category.
Speaker 3: I must admit I hadn't really thought about it that
Speaker 3: way when it comes to the Wildcats, but I will
Speaker 3: from now on as we analyze each game. Jeff Drummond
Speaker 3: of kat Illustrated, longtime buddy, longtime Friends of the show,
Speaker 3: asked Buzz Williams to comment basically on Amary Williams and
Speaker 3: the job that Amari did on the glass. And like
Speaker 3: probably every coach in America, these guys from looking at
Speaker 3: hours and hours of video, as they like to say,
Speaker 3: studying the film, they know these players first and sometimes
Speaker 3: only by their number and not their name. But I'll
Speaker 3: tell you what. When Buzz Williams figured out who Amar
Speaker 3: Williams was, that he was number twenty two, he lit up.
Speaker 4: Can you comment on Amari Williams and the job he
Speaker 4: did on the glass for them tonight?
Speaker 1: Give me just a second. I don't know their names,
Speaker 1: I just know their numbers. Oh, I love him twenty two. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't know him, but twenty nine percent usage rate
Speaker 1: as a left haender at that size. You can google it.
Speaker 1: Probably not one not that's playing in college. And his
Speaker 1: assist rate is higher than anybody on the team other
Speaker 1: than one, but one is getting his assist primarily, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, in the first twelve seconds of the clock,
Speaker 1: but as soon as one's giving it up to twenty two,
Speaker 1: especially when they're initiating offense and he's going left, he's
Speaker 1: the point. He's the tallest point guard I've seen in
Speaker 1: a long time.
Speaker 3: And Williams went on to say that once Amari gives
Speaker 3: up the basketball or moves as he put it, within
Speaker 3: the charge circle, you know, the small circle under the bucket,
Speaker 3: now he becomes physical and that's just a different element
Speaker 3: to his game. And that's something Mark Pope talked about
Speaker 3: last night when he was asked about Amari about the
Speaker 3: fact that he now has it's almost like he has
Speaker 3: and I'm paraphrasing, permission to be physical compared to the
Speaker 3: way he played in Philly.
Speaker 5: Up at Drexel, looks a man child on the glass,
Speaker 5: didn't he? My goodness, he was a man on the glass.
Speaker 3: I was really proud of him tonight.
Speaker 5: He's you know, it's justtioning. So Amari's played at a
Speaker 5: much different level basketball for the last three years. And
Speaker 5: I think what's fun right now is is he's been
Speaker 5: given permission by the whistle to actually use his physicality
Speaker 5: which he couldn't use at direct So like he was
Speaker 5: a much different deal right It was kind of like
Speaker 5: I'm playing against smaller guys. If I touch somebody, they're
Speaker 5: gonna fall over. I'm gonna get a whistle. So this
Speaker 5: adjustment for him now where he's like, wait, you know
Speaker 5: I can run dudes over it. It's okay, Like it
Speaker 5: gets fun. I think he's having a great time, man,
Speaker 5: and he's fighting for his team. And we talked about
Speaker 5: this after the last game, but he man, he loves
Speaker 5: his He got at it's just a ginormous I know
Speaker 5: that's not a word, but I'm gona use it anyway,
Speaker 5: A ginormous heart.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Remember a week or two ago he talked about
Speaker 3: amar and about how much he cares about this team,
Speaker 3: And there was a common from Amari after the game
Speaker 3: about the s word soft and these guys have heard it,
Speaker 3: maybe not directly, but they heard it. And I wondered,
Speaker 3: was this Kentucky team too soft or just trying to
Speaker 3: learn how to not be soft, and Williams talked about
Speaker 3: that directly when somebody asked him about the effort he
Speaker 3: put in.
Speaker 6: But even on mental toughness, people saying he could have
Speaker 6: went on the road, like just because of the past
Speaker 6: previous games before that. But yeah, like you said, we
Speaker 6: didn't really like the software an thrown around, and I
Speaker 6: think we came in with the points of CRUs to
Speaker 6: night again and reproved that with the rebounds.
Speaker 3: So a soft team isn't going to win that game
Speaker 3: last night because of the way Texas A and M
Speaker 3: played and again minus it's best player, but guys played
Speaker 3: hard to try to make up for his loss. And
Speaker 3: if Kentucky doesn't answer force with force, it loses that
Speaker 3: game last night. And it wouldn't have shocked me if
Speaker 3: Kentucky had lost simply because that's how good A and
Speaker 3: M is. And maybe A and M wins if it's
Speaker 3: the best player plays. But I think the way the
Speaker 3: Wildcats played last night, I think they were going to
Speaker 3: win because they figured it out. As Folk talked about
Speaker 3: in the post game. You know, nothing was going right
Speaker 3: at first, and that was a credit day and M
Speaker 3: plus Kentucky just wasn't hitting missed I think ten of
Speaker 3: his first eleven three pointers, but eventually figured out a
Speaker 3: way to play against this defense. As Pope said, it
Speaker 3: wasn't easy to solve, but they did it. Travis Perry
Speaker 3: is a big part of that. We're going to talk
Speaker 3: more about him tomorrow night, and we'll talk about him
Speaker 3: with Shawn Woods coming up. Sewan of course, being the
Speaker 3: former point guard, how vital were the minutes they got
Speaker 3: from Travis Perry, not just the three pointers, but handling
Speaker 3: the basketball and learning better how to play defense. They're
Speaker 3: trying to victimize him, but he's getting better at using
Speaker 3: his teammates their help and things like that. So we'll
Speaker 3: talk more about that tomorrow night. We'll talk about it
Speaker 3: with Shawn Wood's coming up. Out of the hour, and
Speaker 3: and now we're number two. Anthony White and our Western
Speaker 3: Bureau chief Gary Moore say with us here in the
Speaker 3: Big mullon Sider six. Welcome back to the Big Bullonsider.
Speaker 3: Coming up just a couple of minutes, Sean Woods, the
Speaker 3: unforgettable guard, will join us to talk about Kentucky's win
Speaker 3: last night over A and M. And at the top
Speaker 3: of the hour, Anthony White, former football Wildcat, will break
Speaker 3: down what's going on with Mark Stoop's team and the
Speaker 3: portal right now and Western Bureau chief Gary Moore coming up.
Speaker 3: So we went along in the first segment just a
Speaker 3: couple of minutes here, and I've got to bring this up.
Speaker 3: Brian Kelly, by the way, I'll be rooting, I guess
Speaker 3: for Notre Dame. Nothing against Ohio State rooting for the
Speaker 3: underdog in the championship game. But something that of course
Speaker 3: came up was the fact that Brian Kelly, the former
Speaker 3: Notre Dame coach, left because he said, and I'm quoting,
Speaker 3: by the way, I want to be in an environment
Speaker 3: where I have the resources to win a national championship.
Speaker 3: Now he's saying I wasn't leaving Notre Dame because I
Speaker 3: couldn't win a championship. I'm quoting. They are selling it
Speaker 3: the way they want to sell it. And of course
Speaker 3: he's pointing a finger at the media and whoever his
Speaker 3: critics are. Look, he said it, you said it, and
Speaker 3: it was amazing when he said it that he was
Speaker 3: leaving a place like Notre Dame because he believed the
Speaker 3: resources weren't there to win a national title.
Speaker 2: Win.
Speaker 3: In fact, Notre Dame had won national titles plural, but
Speaker 3: it was a long time ago compared to be speaking.
Speaker 3: And yeah, college football since then has changed drastically with
Speaker 3: the portal and nil. And at the time I thought
Speaker 3: Kelly would have a better shot at winning at LSU.
Speaker 3: I didn't see Notre Dame playing for a title this year.
Speaker 3: But don't try to go back and change history and
Speaker 3: say I never said that, because you did own it.
Speaker 3: End up and own it and we'll all be better off.
Speaker 3: Shawn Wood's next six thirty w LAP Welcome back to
Speaker 3: the Big Blue Insider at his Wednesday, which means that's
Speaker 3: the day, if we are on a regular schedule that
Speaker 3: we talk with the unforgettable Guard, Shawn Woods. His jersey
Speaker 3: hangs in the rafters of Rupp and he was watching
Speaker 3: last night as the Wildcats knocked off Texas A and
Speaker 3: M and coach as you know this as a as
Speaker 3: a guy who's been a head coach, no such thing
Speaker 3: as an ugly win. But it was kind of an
Speaker 3: ugly game, wasn't it? And yet Kentucky adapted.
Speaker 7: I am so ecstatic and proud of Perry. I thought
Speaker 7: that he was the key because you know, the last
Speaker 7: couple of games. He's been kind of you know the
Speaker 7: weeklyin you know they you know, most teams when he
Speaker 7: comes in, when Butler goes out, you know, they kind
Speaker 7: of go at him a little bit. But I'll tell
Speaker 7: you what couple of games, he's making shots, he's handling
Speaker 7: the ball, he's becoming a solid defender. We're not losing
Speaker 7: any points, of losing any trailway. When he comes in
Speaker 7: the game and Butler goes out, I thought that he
Speaker 7: really gave Kentucky a boost of confidence when he made
Speaker 7: shots to make good plays in the midst of A
Speaker 7: and M's run. And there was an actual brutal game.
Speaker 7: And I'll tell you what, I didn't think Butler was
Speaker 7: gonna make it. I mean for a five minutes saying, man,
Speaker 7: he had an opportunity to blow out a shoe and
Speaker 7: tear up an ankle. Another deal, he heard his shoulder,
Speaker 7: Another deal, he got hit in the face. And I
Speaker 7: was like, man, why don't you just take him out
Speaker 7: Mark just for a little bit more and let him,
Speaker 7: you know, regroup a little bit. Because he came back
Speaker 7: in it was like a pinball again. But you know,
Speaker 7: Kentucky's just showing some characters from resilience. And I tell
Speaker 7: people all the time that I don't care who's the
Speaker 7: We don't lose at home. We just don't, you know,
Speaker 7: I don't care who it is. We don't lose against
Speaker 7: Mississippi State at home, we just don't. And I just
Speaker 7: thought that they did what they were supposed to do
Speaker 7: to to to serve home, you know, to take care home.
Speaker 7: And I'm just so proud of the fight. Fortunate for us,
Speaker 7: you know, I mean, am I'm sorry Texas and M
Speaker 7: fortunate for us Texas and M best player at point
Speaker 7: guard didn't play. But we are showing to resilience in
Speaker 7: this brutal SEC schedule and it's only gonna get better.
Speaker 7: I just think our confidence is growing. Jackson's playing much better.
Speaker 7: O way was was a major piece, you know, especially
Speaker 7: in the second half, and we didn't you know, are
Speaker 7: we gonna get dominated at times with offensive rebounds, Yeah,
Speaker 7: but we don't get dominated enough to where it really
Speaker 7: especially the games that we won, we've rebounded enough. And
Speaker 7: as long as we can rebound enough, the way we
Speaker 7: shoot the ball and the way we can pose our
Speaker 7: will and you offensively, I think every night we're gonna
Speaker 7: have a chance.
Speaker 3: I was just flabbergasted at how well. And it's not
Speaker 3: a knock, but it's just it's a nod to how
Speaker 3: good A and M is. As Pope pointed out after
Speaker 3: the game, they going into this game forty four percent
Speaker 3: of the time when a shot goes up, they get
Speaker 3: the offensive rebound and Kentucky, which is incredible, especially that's
Speaker 3: not a huge team, and yet Kentucky I rebounded them
Speaker 3: overall and on the offensive glass. And it didn't occur
Speaker 3: to me. I kind of kept peeking at the stats
Speaker 3: and I would tweet that, yeah, Kentucky's winning the boards battle.
Speaker 3: But just the way they did that was huge last night,
Speaker 3: wasn't it.
Speaker 7: Well, it was huge because you know, the fight, that's
Speaker 7: what I like. You know, as a coach, you want
Speaker 7: your guys to at the highest level against you know,
Speaker 7: the toughest teams in America, and I think Texas A
Speaker 7: and M is like Joe Frasier. You know, you in
Speaker 7: a fight when you play a team like that, no
Speaker 7: matter how big they are, that's just a Buzz Williams team.
Speaker 7: And for us to answer the bell, you know, was
Speaker 7: was tremendous for me in my eyes, because everybody was
Speaker 7: in the fight. Everybody who played, you know, made some
Speaker 7: tough plays and that's what it's all about, you know, collectively,
Speaker 7: you know, you got to make more tough plays than
Speaker 7: the other team. And I thought Kentucky did that last night.
Speaker 3: Well let's back up and talk a little bit about
Speaker 3: Lamont Butler, and yeah, he was just beating in Bruce
Speaker 3: last night. But he's just a remarkable defender. They took
Speaker 3: him to the rim a few times, but I think
Speaker 3: he's He's a guy who really such a great tone
Speaker 3: defensively for his teammates.
Speaker 7: And my seeing that right, you're sending exactly right. You know,
Speaker 7: I've been saying it all years, as you and I
Speaker 7: have talked about, we can't be as good as we
Speaker 7: want to be or go as far as we want
Speaker 7: to go without Lamont Butler. He's the key siece to
Speaker 7: this team. No matter what, you know, we can lose
Speaker 7: a person here there through from you know, through injuries
Speaker 7: and things like that. But I think Lamont Butler is
Speaker 7: one of the most underrated point guards and not only
Speaker 7: in the SEC but in America for what he does
Speaker 7: for his team. And you know, he's one of the
Speaker 7: best on ball defenders. Uh he's got great hands, he's
Speaker 7: he plays with great composure. He's an awesome leader with
Speaker 7: his voice and by example, and he's always pressing the
Speaker 7: needle when things break down, he makes a play, either
Speaker 7: offensively or defensively. And he's the guy that if I'm
Speaker 7: the opposing coach, he's the one person that I'm more
Speaker 7: worried about than anybody on the team because he does
Speaker 7: all the intangible. He's a winner. You know, he's the
Speaker 7: personality on this team, and you know, there's no doubt
Speaker 7: in my mind that he's the MVP of this team.
Speaker 7: But not only that, you know, if push comes to
Speaker 7: shove and we're one of the top two or three
Speaker 7: teams in this league, not only do I think he's
Speaker 7: the first team All SEC guy at that position, you know,
Speaker 7: I just think he's the first team All SEC guy period,
Speaker 7: because of the importance that he brings to his basketball.
Speaker 3: Teck, did you know much about him Sean when Mark
Speaker 3: Pope signed him? I mean everybody saw him shoot San
Speaker 3: Diego State into the Final four, But prior to that,
Speaker 3: were you aware of him much playing on the West Coast?
Speaker 7: No, not at all. Well, you know, I watched San
Speaker 7: Diego State but I didn't watch them in depth to
Speaker 7: where you know how much of an impact he made
Speaker 7: on their team. But I you know, but right now,
Speaker 7: there's not one impactful person on a team him right now,
Speaker 7: you know what I mean. Like there's a bunch of
Speaker 7: teams that can lose a player here there, but we
Speaker 7: can't lose him.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 7: He's just that important to our to the success of
Speaker 7: our team. And uh, you know, I love it. You know,
Speaker 7: he's one of my favorite players in the country, may
Speaker 7: be my best, my favorite player in the country, just
Speaker 7: because of what he brings to the table.
Speaker 3: And when you go back and look at the game,
Speaker 3: Kentucky won without him up a good Zaga. That makes
Speaker 3: it even more impressive, doesn't it?
Speaker 7: Without him? Yeah, we got lucky. You know, we can't
Speaker 7: win so many games in this league without the my Butler.
Speaker 7: You know what I mean. We got lucky on that one.
Speaker 7: I thought, I thought, to be honest with you, I
Speaker 7: thought because Zaga out played it. I just thought they
Speaker 7: had a meltdown the last five minutes of the game,
Speaker 7: which is uncharacteristic you know of a mark Few team.
Speaker 7: But I'm telling you right now, I am a My
Speaker 7: Butler fan. Through and through. And uh, he's one of
Speaker 7: the reasons why I love watching this team because I
Speaker 7: love watching him. You know, Hawk that ball, push it
Speaker 7: when he has it. He's always under control for the
Speaker 7: most part, and he's always seems to make the right
Speaker 7: play at the right time when we actually need it
Speaker 7: on both ends of the floor.
Speaker 3: Well, you said you're a coach who appreciates a guy
Speaker 3: like him, and Buzz Williams was asked about Mary Williams
Speaker 3: and and like all you guys, I don't know if
Speaker 3: you were this way, but you know, he didn't know names,
Speaker 3: he knew numbers. He's like which one twenty two? Oh,
Speaker 3: I love him. And he started talking about he called
Speaker 3: him a point big man, you know, and what and
Speaker 3: what kind of damage of Mary Williams can do as
Speaker 3: a passer? Uh, And that's become evident. I think the
Speaker 3: Kentucky fans I got to think you like that.
Speaker 7: Too, no doubt about it. Not only is he a passer,
Speaker 7: you know, he's a warrior. Yeah, you know, he's the
Speaker 7: physical presence of our team. You know, I thought he
Speaker 7: got a couple of cheap fouls last night. A man,
Speaker 7: you know, he's going to make you feel him, you know,
Speaker 7: and he's got to continue to do that and stay
Speaker 7: out of foul trouble. But you know, he's the physical
Speaker 7: presidence of our basketball team, you know, and every team
Speaker 7: needs Amari Williams and thank god he's on our team.
Speaker 7: And another thing is he makes free throws.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, he makes.
Speaker 7: Free He's got to finish a little bit better around
Speaker 7: the rim, you know. You know, I think he you know,
Speaker 7: for us to really get to where we need to go,
Speaker 7: we need him to be able. We need to be
Speaker 7: able to throw the ball down to him and get
Speaker 7: a bucket when he's got one on one situations. But man,
Speaker 7: he's just a major physical presence. And sometimes you got
Speaker 7: to have that type of guy that that that that's
Speaker 7: going to fight a little bit, that got a little
Speaker 7: stuff to him, and he definitely has that.
Speaker 3: We're talking with Sean Woods, the unforgettable Guard, about the
Speaker 3: Wildcats went over Texas A and M last night. We'll
Speaker 3: talk more on the other side of the break here
Speaker 3: on the Big Blue Sider six thirty. Welcome back with
Speaker 3: you talking with the Unforgettable Guard, Sean Woods. He joined
Speaker 3: us each and every Wednesday to talk about his beloved
Speaker 3: Wildcast before the break, Seawan, we were talking about both
Speaker 3: Lamont Butler and Mary Williams, two guys who last night
Speaker 3: took and delivered some punishment. But I thought it was
Speaker 3: interesting that Mark Pope, Jackson Robinson, Marie Wins they all
Speaker 3: used the S word when they were talking about how
Speaker 3: Kentucky's been playing of late, and that is soft. You know,
Speaker 3: people were saying it whispering. This team's kind of so
Speaker 3: I had to admit I wondered, is that a problem
Speaker 3: for this team? But these guys are are fully aware
Speaker 3: of what was being said, and this day and age
Speaker 3: is not a surprise, social media being what it is,
Speaker 3: and I'm not they're not combing through Twitter to find
Speaker 3: out what people are saying, but they're hearing it, probably secondhand.
Speaker 3: And I think it's interesting Sean, that they have set out.
Speaker 3: It's almost like they're trying to make a point. Hey,
Speaker 3: we're not soft be in.
Speaker 7: This league, right, There's no way you can be soft.
Speaker 7: Now the other team, you know, the losses that we've had,
Speaker 7: we were worse off, you know, because the other team
Speaker 7: was just better than us. They took it to us,
Speaker 7: They were better than us that night. But in order
Speaker 7: for us to win every game. We have to be
Speaker 7: tenacious like we have been in most of our wins.
Speaker 7: When we do lose, it's because of a physical situation. Yeah,
Speaker 7: you know, people take us off out of our deal
Speaker 7: and sometimes the other team just scouts us. You know
Speaker 7: what I'm saying. Better, you know, they're better at running
Speaker 7: us off. You know, I thought that, you know, I
Speaker 7: thought shoot Texas A and M did a great job
Speaker 7: really on our shooters.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 7: It was a grinding game, yes, you know. And now
Speaker 7: Kentucky's got to do something else, and they're showing the
Speaker 7: world in these wins that they can make adjustments that
Speaker 7: they can win another way. You're not going to win
Speaker 7: in the SEC by just shooting jumps, shooting threes. You
Speaker 7: gotta do something else, you got to You got to
Speaker 7: control the backboard, you know. You gotta limit you know,
Speaker 7: the other team to one shot. You got to control
Speaker 7: their their guys because they feel that they can take
Speaker 7: every one of our guys one on one, you know,
Speaker 7: and that's a disrespect, you know. And kudos to Texas
Speaker 7: A and M. They're small for man of they to nations.
Speaker 7: You know, their guards played like Charles Barkley. You know,
Speaker 7: they back the in and they keep going spinning and
Speaker 7: turning and pivoting and pivoting until they can get a bucket.
Speaker 7: But how many times can you do that throughout the
Speaker 7: process of a game. You know, those are low per
Speaker 7: center situations. So kudos to Kentucky's defense. Are you gonna
Speaker 7: get scored on some Yeah? Our team's gonna get get
Speaker 7: the league at the beginning, yeah too. They find their rhythm, yeah,
Speaker 7: But the main thing is they have to sustain from
Speaker 7: a physicality standpoint, and and and and and Tyler Perry
Speaker 7: is going to have to continue to be solid like
Speaker 7: he will last night to give Lamont Butler a break.
Speaker 7: You know, if I don't see you know, Lamark Butler,
Speaker 7: we don't want to rain down, don't We don't want
Speaker 7: him playing thirty five minutes a game. If he can
Speaker 7: play twenty eight minutes a game, that's perfect. But playing
Speaker 7: thirty five thirty six and he has to play that way,
Speaker 7: that's not good because now he's more susceptible to files.
Speaker 7: Nine times out of ten. Most times when he files,
Speaker 7: he is because of fatigue, you know. But when he's
Speaker 7: fresh and he can, you know, Mark and give him
Speaker 7: a blow here and there, and he comes back because
Speaker 7: most teams aren't as deep, you know, especially at the
Speaker 7: point guard position, so it gives him an opportunity to
Speaker 7: get a blow and then come back more fresh and
Speaker 7: pose his will on them from an offense and the
Speaker 7: defensive standpoint. And you know, I'm proud of Perry. I'm
Speaker 7: so proud of you because he's staying the course. He's
Speaker 7: not losing his confidence. You know, as a freshman, you
Speaker 7: weren't playing the first six, seven, eight games. You know,
Speaker 7: you're buying your time, and people are knocking you because
Speaker 7: they feel like you know you, you know you're not
Speaker 7: your feet are as quick, you're not as good a defender.
Speaker 7: But as any basketball player, if you're making shot, you
Speaker 7: get more comfortable and more put to the nations, uh
Speaker 7: and more fisful on the defensive end. And uh, I thought,
Speaker 7: that's what happened to him last night and which was
Speaker 7: a major part in our success and winning that game.
Speaker 3: Well, I think the thing to remember too is Travis
Speaker 3: Perry not only is a true freshman, but it's coming
Speaker 3: from a high school situation where they didn't want him
Speaker 3: to play try to play lockdown, smothering defense because his
Speaker 3: high school team couldn't afford to get him into foul trouble.
Speaker 3: And that's the same for so many high school offensive
Speaker 3: stars who you know on defense. They want him to
Speaker 3: stay out of trouble and not make trouble. So, you know,
Speaker 3: I think he's probably got farther to go than most guys.
Speaker 3: Is that is that fair?
Speaker 7: Well, it's called genetics, dick, And you know some people
Speaker 7: are quicker laterly than others, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 7: And you know it's just you know, if I see
Speaker 7: somebody like like him, I'm going at him too, sure,
Speaker 7: So you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So you know.
Speaker 7: It is what it is. But I just think that
Speaker 7: in most high school kids don't know how to play
Speaker 7: defense period, you know, unless you from the East Coast
Speaker 7: or you just naturally got it, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 7: That competitive edge in you where you want to compose
Speaker 7: your will on somebody from a defensive end to not
Speaker 7: just from an offensive end. You know, that's the mentality
Speaker 7: that he has to get, you know, and that takes time.
Speaker 7: You know, it's not something that he's ever done. I
Speaker 7: don't think me watching him like you know, last year,
Speaker 7: watching him in high school, you know, they were just
Speaker 7: up and down. And I don't see too many high
Speaker 7: school kids periods that are really really good on ball defensive.
Speaker 3: How many kids scientifically.
Speaker 7: They could potentially be, but that's just not who they are,
Speaker 7: you know what I'm saying, And they forget. And as
Speaker 7: a coach, I always used to get on my guys
Speaker 7: and talk about their high school coach because you know,
Speaker 7: when you get you know, you have all these accolades
Speaker 7: from an offensive standpoint, but you don't know how to
Speaker 7: make an entry pass into the post, or you don't
Speaker 7: know how to slide your feet, you don't know how
Speaker 7: to jump to the ball. You know that goes along.
Speaker 7: That's a lot in high school basketball, and that's what
Speaker 7: frustrates college coaches. So then when you come to that
Speaker 7: deal and then your high school coach wants to call
Speaker 7: the college coach and say, hey, why isn't my kid playing.
Speaker 7: That's one of the main reasons why freshmen don't play
Speaker 7: as much. It is because of the defensive end. And
Speaker 7: he's getting it and he's doing just enough, and he's
Speaker 7: gonna continue to get better because I'm seeing his confidence
Speaker 7: rising and rising every every every game, especially making shots
Speaker 7: and just playing great posiosition defense. He's never going to
Speaker 7: be a guy like the LaMonte Butler who can pressure
Speaker 7: the ball full court. That's never gonna beat him. That's
Speaker 7: not who he is. Just play solid, keep the ball
Speaker 7: in front, and you know what I'm saying, don't turn
Speaker 7: the ball over and make shots when you have that opportunity.
Speaker 7: I thought he did that to perfection last night.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I was going to say, how many high school
Speaker 3: kids do you know or signed because of their defensive ability?
Speaker 3: Not that many?
Speaker 7: Guess what? Not too many high school players are even
Speaker 7: recruited because of their defensive foul.
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe Patrick Ewing and a few others. But we
Speaker 3: got a few minutes left with Sean Woods as we
Speaker 3: talk about the Wildcats, so much craziness in the SEC.
Speaker 3: Missouri doesn't win a conference game last year, coach, and
Speaker 3: they go and win at Florida, which as we know,
Speaker 3: is a really good team. Cali Perry winless in the league,
Speaker 3: LSU beating Arkansas it's first conference. When now you've got
Speaker 3: Alabama coming in, what do you expect?
Speaker 7: I expect the same thing from last night. You know,
Speaker 7: if we can keep Alabama out of the paint, which
Speaker 7: allows them to you know, they want to create situations
Speaker 7: where you're sunk in and then they can shoot it.
Speaker 7: Because they are a pretty decent shooting basketball team. We
Speaker 7: got to keep them off the glass, and we have
Speaker 7: to sustain you know what I mean, because they've been
Speaker 7: there before. They got a lot of guys, you know,
Speaker 7: and they're one of the most talented teams in the SEC.
Speaker 7: And they have a winning culture now and you know,
Speaker 7: Mono and Mono, are we as good? I don't know,
Speaker 7: but team wise, I think we're getting to the point
Speaker 7: where we're on the top two or three teams in
Speaker 7: this league. And coming in to Kentucky, coming into our place,
Speaker 7: I feel more comfortable and I predicted it. You know,
Speaker 7: we'll get this win.
Speaker 3: Also, Buzz Williams and I used the comment earlier in
Speaker 3: the show, right off the top. His postgame comments was
Speaker 3: so complimentary of Pope, and he has said, he said
Speaker 3: much what's like what you've been saying all along. The
Speaker 3: fact that they are playing as a team this well,
Speaker 3: and these guys, you know, eight months ago, didn't know
Speaker 3: each other, and the fact that they've been they've pulled
Speaker 3: together so quickly. I'm not sure if you can capture
Speaker 3: lightning in a bottle? How do you do this kind
Speaker 3: of thing? But a lot of it's got to do is,
Speaker 3: you know, with Pope's personality style of play. And as
Speaker 3: you and I have spoke spoken through the weeks, you know,
Speaker 3: they've had to give themselves over to this, this style
Speaker 3: of play. But they're becoming more and more comfortable with
Speaker 3: it now, aren't they.
Speaker 7: They are because you know the difference between Mark Pope
Speaker 7: and everybody else, especially with you know, this era of
Speaker 7: transport portal Marcus is really he's still sticking to his
Speaker 7: guns about his system. Yes, it's not about personnel. See,
Speaker 7: a lot of these coaches are trying to mix in personnel.
Speaker 7: You know, how does this guy play with this guy?
Speaker 7: You know, how do I you know, run this because
Speaker 7: of this guy's strength. So Mark is recruiting to his
Speaker 7: system and that's the reason why he looks. They look
Speaker 7: more fluent from an offensive standpoint than anybody else because
Speaker 7: he doesn't have a break you down guy, you know,
Speaker 7: so he doesn't even have to worry about, you know,
Speaker 7: giving that guy the freedom always running ball screens and
Speaker 7: letting him just go one on one from the top.
Speaker 7: It's constant ball movement and it's constant player movement. And
Speaker 7: when you have that and and and it's and it's
Speaker 7: and everyone is cohesive. Especially from an offensive standpoint. Sooner
Speaker 7: or later, he's gonna wear you down from his offense.
Speaker 7: Normally teams wear you down from their defense. Mark wears
Speaker 7: you down from his offense and then he stops on defense.
Speaker 7: It makes them even better because that offense and the
Speaker 7: way they play is even better in transition. So he's
Speaker 7: getting you in two ways. But he's becoming more underrated
Speaker 7: from a defensive standpoint because if you look at the numbers,
Speaker 7: they're one of the top teams defensively in America. Yeah,
Speaker 7: so his style of play is so smooth because of
Speaker 7: his systems, and there's you know, no, it's not a
Speaker 7: grind where everybody else is in a grind. Kentucky's never
Speaker 7: been in a grind this year. It's just we didn't
Speaker 7: make enough shots, or you beat us this time because
Speaker 7: you know what I'm saying, our system didn't work to
Speaker 7: a t, you know, so on and so forth. But
Speaker 7: I'd rather be on that side than still trying to
Speaker 7: figure it out. They don't have to figure it out.
Speaker 7: They're not figuring it out. They know who they are
Speaker 7: right now. They really do interesting and it's so refreshing
Speaker 7: to see because their system and the way they do
Speaker 7: things is a lot more smoother than everybody that they're playing.
Speaker 7: And I told Mark this, I said, by the time
Speaker 7: this was before the SEC, I said, by the time
Speaker 7: you get to the SEC, you already have won a
Speaker 7: lot of games, just because you've won the locker room.
Speaker 7: They're worried about you how to defend you, more so
Speaker 7: than you worried about how to defend them. And when
Speaker 7: you get that coach talking about it's different. You gotta
Speaker 7: match this. You gotta match this when you play them,
Speaker 7: you already got them. That's seventy percent of the battle.
Speaker 3: As always, Sean Wood's interesting insights on the basketball Wildcats,
Speaker 3: and we'll talk next week about Kentucky, Alabama and more.
Speaker 3: Thank you, coach, good talking to you.
Speaker 7: Stay warm you two buddy.
Speaker 3: Coming up next in hour number two, it's our West
Speaker 3: End Bureau chief Gary Moore. But before that, Anthony White
Speaker 3: Poster Sunday Morning Sports Talk, the former football Wildcat weighs
Speaker 3: in on what's happening in Mark Stifts program. That's all
Speaker 3: ahead here on the Big One Sider six thirty WLAP
Speaker 3: name welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider and
Speaker 3: joining us now a longtime friend that HA showed and
Speaker 3: guy I covered his career at Kentucky and now he
Speaker 3: can be heard on this very radio station. Anthony White,
Speaker 3: who was a co host of Sunday Morning Sports Talk
Speaker 3: as well as other Internet ventures, and b how are
Speaker 3: you doing.
Speaker 8: I'm doing pretty good, trying to stay warm. Finally got
Speaker 8: out of house this week.
Speaker 3: Good for you. Uh, first time we chatted here in
Speaker 3: the new year. So but one of the reasons I
Speaker 3: called we got to get caught up was we haven't
Speaker 3: talked in a while. But I couldn't help but notice
Speaker 3: a little back and forth on X on Twitter, you
Speaker 3: were getting into it a little bit, and I know
Speaker 3: you talked about it on Sunday Morning as well, about
Speaker 3: what's happening with the Kentucky football program. And you're in
Speaker 3: that record book in front and center, so you have
Speaker 3: a lot of time and sweat equity in that program.
Speaker 3: But there's a lot of player movement right now in
Speaker 3: college football in general, college sports in general. But I
Speaker 3: get the impression you believe there needed to be a
Speaker 3: lot of player movement in this Kentucky program right now?
Speaker 3: Is that correct?
Speaker 7: Absolutely?
Speaker 8: If you follow the program with Mark Stukes first came
Speaker 8: here two and ten seasons coming off of you know
Speaker 8: what he was left with and you know him and
Speaker 8: Vince Meryll and the guys had here. Guys coming to
Speaker 8: UK was more or less no blue. A lot of
Speaker 8: guys who you gotta have your lunch pail with you,
Speaker 8: uh and go to work with you know when you
Speaker 8: got here. And uh, no matter what games we played, win,
Speaker 8: lose or draw. The other teams that you know, guys
Speaker 8: are hitting hard. They played hard, and I think we
Speaker 8: kind of losing that blue, that blue collar edge.
Speaker 7: I think it's due to.
Speaker 8: Nil transport portal and some things like that and so.
Speaker 8: And to me, me and my my co host on
Speaker 8: the locker Man House thought that we may have been
Speaker 8: going backwards for a years. This year was absolutely a
Speaker 8: step backward. I thought last year we just took some
Speaker 8: plays off, or we missed a couple of plays here
Speaker 8: and there the past couple of years. But this year
Speaker 8: seemed like we never got clicking. We never had got rolling.
Speaker 8: But gay we have to. We probably had the most depth,
Speaker 8: probably the most talented team depth wise, and somewhat talent
Speaker 8: wise that Stupis has probably had. So you kind of asked,
Speaker 8: you scratch ahead and say why did they you know,
Speaker 8: why are they regressing? You know, same coach, same culture. Uh,
Speaker 8: you know, the guys got all the accolades pre he
Speaker 8: but like I said, I thought, transfer a portal and
Speaker 8: nil calls. Some guys in miss practices, some guys in
Speaker 8: this meeting. Some guys not be available throughout the weekend,
Speaker 8: only on Saturday. So you know, everybody's well dange keys transferred.
Speaker 8: Now lately the latest is is hard to give more
Speaker 8: transferferring and people all this is the programs in shambles,
Speaker 8: and that really that really rubbed me the wrong way
Speaker 8: because I felt like that does a disjustice to SUPs.
Speaker 8: Now you wanted them to bring back the same guys
Speaker 8: who had us going four and eight, because there are
Speaker 8: some top tier players, some of our starters, and I'm
Speaker 8: not saying the guys that I named are those guys,
Speaker 8: but there are some guys who's not showing up the practice.
Speaker 8: There's some guys who want to do their own thing
Speaker 8: on certain plays, which causes gaps and causes big play.
Speaker 8: And the coaches are the ones who have to answer
Speaker 8: for those things. So I just wanted to tell the
Speaker 8: crowd kind of to pump your breaks. These guys leave,
Speaker 8: and they're leaving for a reason, Mark Stutson, that's them
Speaker 8: the lead. He gave them ultimatum. I'm taking it back
Speaker 8: over this ship, and I think some of those guys
Speaker 8: that want the ship to be taken over, we're taking
Speaker 8: some of this money back. We're putting it in an alepool.
Speaker 8: We're gonna bring guys in here who's gonna carry out
Speaker 8: the assignment. We're gonna bring guys in here who's gonna
Speaker 8: be a practice. We're gonna bring guys in here who's
Speaker 8: gonna give it, you know, give it to you for
Speaker 8: sixty minutes. So uh, I just kind of want, you know,
Speaker 8: the crowd to chill, like you can't be mad that
Speaker 8: we were foreign eight last year and you want him
Speaker 8: to regroup a reset, then be scared when he starts
Speaker 8: to regroup and reset.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, there's a lot to unpack there, So let's
Speaker 3: start with the blue collar element. And you're absolutely correct,
Speaker 3: and everybody knows this and Stoops, it's quite frank about that.
Speaker 3: How that chip on the shoulder Youngstown kind of again,
Speaker 3: like you said the culture, uh and you mentioned the
Speaker 3: nil on the portal. My question, Anthony is can you
Speaker 3: in this day and age, can anybody build or rebuild
Speaker 3: that kind of culture With the players holding so much
Speaker 3: of the power now and getting the big bucks and
Speaker 3: feeling more entitled than they ever have in the history
Speaker 3: of college athletics, It's gonna be.
Speaker 7: Tough to do.
Speaker 8: And I honestly think that's why Nick Saban and some
Speaker 8: of these guys are getting out of the day. It
Speaker 8: is gonna be tough to do. And I will tell
Speaker 8: you this though, Gabe and you could attested. If anybody
Speaker 8: can do it, it's gonna be Mark Stewet's for to
Speaker 8: quite a few reasons. He's a players coach, which I
Speaker 8: think that's why things got lacks around here. He gave
Speaker 8: the players a minute of this doubt the players take
Speaker 8: advantage of it. He's also been the guy that you know,
Speaker 8: coach guys in their transport port How many guys have
Speaker 8: you seen in the transport portal will come back? He's
Speaker 8: also that guy, well you know what, Look, I'm I'm
Speaker 8: not gonna tie you down. If you think you find
Speaker 8: something else, he'll let you go. Back and welcome you
Speaker 8: back with open arms. Everything a players looking for in
Speaker 8: a university is right here. You get to play in
Speaker 8: the SEC. You got great coaches, Your coach cares about you.
Speaker 8: I said the only one thing that you said that
Speaker 8: I think, and I think coach might have admitted. He
Speaker 8: may not admitted out loud, but I know the people
Speaker 8: that he may have admitted it to. We may not
Speaker 8: have just spend in our money correctly. So the environment,
Speaker 8: the culture, the coaching was all here. The one thing
Speaker 8: we were missing with the Green guys, you know, the
Speaker 8: bottom line, and though you're right, those guys want and
Speaker 8: that's one aspect I don't think it's going to change.
Speaker 8: I think those guys are don't want to go as
Speaker 8: the money as that, but if they're comfortable enough with
Speaker 8: their coaches, the head coach position, coach, I think if
Speaker 8: they're comfortable enough with those guys, they may stick around.
Speaker 8: Maybe not for the bottom dollar, not for a lower dollar,
Speaker 8: but for you know, the going ways. You don't have
Speaker 8: to be astronomical, but.
Speaker 3: You'll appreciate this. Being a guy who played on the
Speaker 3: offensive side of the ball. Jeff Percorrel talked to Bush
Speaker 3: Hamden about play calling with regard to trying to spread
Speaker 3: the ball around. And now he's got to be much
Speaker 3: more cognizant of making sure they share the football because
Speaker 3: now everybody wants their numb you know, everybody who is
Speaker 3: either trying to get a better deal or justify what
Speaker 3: he's got or whatever, hadn't touched the ball in a while. Well,
Speaker 3: we got to make sure he gets a carrier, he
Speaker 3: gets a ball thrown his way, that kind of thing.
Speaker 3: And it's on the one end, it's kind of subtle,
Speaker 3: but on the other hand, it's not. And I got
Speaker 3: to think that's a real challenge, don't you.
Speaker 8: Oh absolutely, I said that throughout the year. I thought
Speaker 8: that hand customer, I thought it made tougher him to
Speaker 8: call play.
Speaker 7: I mean, I'm going to.
Speaker 8: Try to be a little bit covert. But if we
Speaker 8: got guys who can only run certain routes, maybe it's
Speaker 8: a jets, maybe it's a screen. You got another guy
Speaker 8: who can only run a vertical, there's not too many
Speaker 8: people on that receiving room that you can run any
Speaker 8: route with. So as a defense, well, this guy's in
Speaker 8: the game. All we got to do is just stand
Speaker 8: in the flats because he's only running a screen or jets.
Speaker 8: We just stayed at home on the sweat. Now might
Speaker 8: be one of the most dynamic players in the country,
Speaker 8: but he's not a threat because he's not going vertical.
Speaker 8: Now he's going vertical, there's a whole different story. Now
Speaker 8: you got some guys who actually stuck around, who's been thinking, coach,
Speaker 8: I just need an opportunity to get the ball in
Speaker 8: my hands. And a few times this year when they did,
Speaker 8: they showed they can do something. But I could tell
Speaker 8: just from his play calling and you know the timing
Speaker 8: of some of the calls he made that he was
Speaker 8: trying to piece the players, and that goes all that
Speaker 8: ties back into the transport portal and it also tries
Speaker 8: it goes back to the nil. So when people hear
Speaker 8: some of our starters, all that sc players leaving, do
Speaker 8: you want those guys back that was on the four
Speaker 8: and eight team, or if you want to bring guys
Speaker 8: in who gosna run different routes, Guys who's going to
Speaker 8: be teammates to other teammates. I've told you many times
Speaker 8: in that air raid offense, we were going to throw
Speaker 8: the ball forty or fifty times. You just got to
Speaker 8: get open, and so we were just waiting for our turn.
Speaker 8: You'd be a good teammate, you're gonna get your turn.
Speaker 8: But I'm so a custle to spread the ball around.
Speaker 8: But this whole thing where everybody gets a pitch count
Speaker 8: or you on opportunity, that that that had to be
Speaker 8: tough for Bush Hampson.
Speaker 7: That had to be tough.
Speaker 3: I've got to say, and I've talked about this before
Speaker 3: and I know you guys have as well, that I
Speaker 3: don't blame Dane Key and Barrion Brown for wanting to
Speaker 3: spend that last year someplace where there's going to be
Speaker 3: more I don't want to say a sure thing, but
Speaker 3: but they're going to be assured of a little more
Speaker 3: stability on offense, you know, because this is the jumping
Speaker 3: off point for these guys. This is it. They got
Speaker 3: to show themselves to NFL scouts beyond what they've already done.
Speaker 3: And uh, of course they'll both end up in NFL camps.
Speaker 3: But you know, just how seriously will teams treat them?
Speaker 3: You know? Is you know, the higher you're drafted, the
Speaker 3: more investment of team has. So to that end, I
Speaker 3: don't really blame that Gilmour as I understand it. Uh
Speaker 3: was a separation that had to happen for both parties.
Speaker 3: But that wide receiver room is gonna be is gonna
Speaker 3: have a new look, isn't it.
Speaker 8: Oh, it's definitely gonna be a new looking. As you said,
Speaker 8: I do think the other two guys had have to leave,
Speaker 8: and I think it's fair to themselves. It's probably and
Speaker 8: I don't think Mark Stuke's probably mad about it. They
Speaker 8: get an opportunity to go see what their stock is
Speaker 8: gonna look.
Speaker 7: Like at the next level. Are you only a two
Speaker 7: route person?
Speaker 8: Can you do more? You know, if your pastime, can
Speaker 8: you do for if you got more officer plays on
Speaker 8: the field and those type of things.
Speaker 7: It may or may not happen.
Speaker 8: I got my beliefs on some of the guys who left,
Speaker 8: but I'm eager to see. I mean, I know Jamari
Speaker 8: McLean can play out. I've seen him play. Fred Ferryer's
Speaker 8: coming back. There's some guys coming back, but there's also
Speaker 8: you know, getting guys out of Clemson, La Tech, some
Speaker 8: places that have been successful. I think just that winning attitude,
Speaker 8: that locker room attitude is something that's gonna carry over.
Speaker 8: I don't think well, like I say, it's a new
Speaker 8: day and age you covered me. It ain't like when
Speaker 8: we played that everybody, you know, kind of had a
Speaker 8: lookout for each other. You weren't gonna be a cancer
Speaker 8: in the locker room because somebody else is gonna nip
Speaker 8: it at the bull. It would probably never get back
Speaker 8: to the coaches and they got really bad. But now
Speaker 8: I love the fact right now we're feeling up the
Speaker 8: we're filling up the receiver room with new talent. I
Speaker 8: think our fan base kind of fell in love with
Speaker 8: the guys, and that's a great part about being a
Speaker 8: part of the exclusination. The fan base fell in love
Speaker 8: with the guys that we've had here for three years.
Speaker 8: But like I said, that bottom line was a lot
Speaker 8: of people like to say we redressed for two years
Speaker 8: maybe or started at the end of three and now
Speaker 8: so you know, we wound.
Speaker 7: Up four and eight last year, So how much.
Speaker 8: Do you want throwose guys back?
Speaker 7: You know?
Speaker 8: So, But I do think But the one thing I
Speaker 8: do love is that the places we lost people, we
Speaker 8: are addressing it through the transfer portal and through the
Speaker 8: signing day. So I'm not really the same. I'm kind
Speaker 8: of eager and I think the one thing you can
Speaker 8: hang your hat on if you if you're an avid fan,
Speaker 8: is that we're now We're back where we were five, six,
Speaker 8: seven years ago. Nobody knew who Josh Allen was when
Speaker 8: he first took his first couple of snaps. Benny Snell
Speaker 8: kind of knew because he was from Ohio, but he
Speaker 8: wasn't It wasn't even really a huge named Chris Rohreenez.
Speaker 8: Some of these guys who went down those legends, they
Speaker 8: didn't come in here with the names of Tim Couch,
Speaker 8: Derrick Johnson and you know, some of the big and
Speaker 8: Micah Johnson. So you know, I think I'm more eager
Speaker 8: and interested this year knowing that we're getting guys in
Speaker 8: here that we know we can play. It reminds me
Speaker 8: of twenty seventeen against twenty sixteen seventeen be where we
Speaker 8: get to see the thing bill back up.
Speaker 3: That's a great point because, as well know, Josh Allen
Speaker 3: was an All state player in Alabama and when he
Speaker 3: moved to New Jersey, slipped through the cracks, had only
Speaker 3: Montclair State offering in before Kentucky jumped on him. Benny
Speaker 3: Snell was rated the number twenty six player not in
Speaker 3: the country in the state of Ohio, your home state
Speaker 3: when he signed with Kentucky. But he came here confident
Speaker 3: of what he could do, so did Josh. So maybe
Speaker 3: we'll see more of that. We're talking with Anthony White.
Speaker 3: He is, of course in the Kentucky record book, is
Speaker 3: one of the best ball catching running backs that Kentucky
Speaker 3: has ever had. A favorite target of him Couch. You
Speaker 3: hear him co hosting Sunday Morning Sports Talk on this
Speaker 3: very radio station, and as he mentioned, the Locker four
Speaker 3: to one one podcast on Wednesday nights with our man
Speaker 3: Van Hiles. We'll come back and talk more football and
Speaker 3: a little basketball with Anthony White after the break here
Speaker 3: on six point thirty, we'll come back. We're talking with
Speaker 3: Anthony White, the co host of Sunday Morning Sports Talk,
Speaker 3: former football wildcat. I'm not pointing the finger at any
Speaker 3: one or two guys, but I firmly believe that the
Speaker 3: problems this program had on the field now stemmed from
Speaker 3: the offensive line. It has not yet gotten back, and
Speaker 3: I don't know if it ever will to the classic,
Speaker 3: you know, big blue wall status. But I just think
Speaker 3: there have been such struggles both with continuity and the
Speaker 3: coaching staff, and with the players coming and going and
Speaker 3: some guys injured and trying to plug the right guys
Speaker 3: in and people changing positions. I mean, you know, it
Speaker 3: all starts.
Speaker 8: With the old line, right, yeah, And that is my
Speaker 8: biggest concern and a whole stoops of a dress. And
Speaker 8: it the one thing I have seen throughout my playing
Speaker 8: career with some coaches is guys have better relationships that
Speaker 8: you know they're always gonna be friends the rest of
Speaker 8: their life, but not right now. You know, you got
Speaker 8: a job to do. Everybody has a job to do,
Speaker 8: and it doesn't seem like the offensive line is really
Speaker 8: jailing with the new office line. Coach, I don't think
Speaker 8: they jailed the first time he was here. I mean,
Speaker 8: I mean, just to be quite frank, and I said,
Speaker 8: he must be really good. He keeps getting jobs. He's
Speaker 8: been in the NFL, he's been a lot of different places.
Speaker 8: For whatever it is. There's some kind of block between
Speaker 8: the office line taking the assignments and carry them out,
Speaker 8: and you know, you get talking about injuries and things.
Speaker 8: And this offensive line was built under John Slarman with
Speaker 8: playing seven or eight guys, so one you take a
Speaker 8: fatigue factor away. Guys don't get his injured if they're
Speaker 8: not on the fielders, but they're.
Speaker 7: Fresh a little bit more.
Speaker 8: And this is grueling league in the trenches. So that
Speaker 8: was the first thing I noticed the first go around
Speaker 8: was that he wasn't into the rotating of players. So
Speaker 8: every year you're kind of starting over fresh. But I
Speaker 8: will tell you this we talked about on Wednesday. I'll
Speaker 8: stay this about the offense line. And this is more
Speaker 8: of a bigger problem I think than the teaching in
Speaker 8: the room or just reception of the teaching in the room,
Speaker 8: is we've been turning over offensive line in the portal
Speaker 8: two and three offense line in a year, believe it
Speaker 8: or coming. The problem I have with that and it's unsustainable.
Speaker 8: We got the last three office line and I think
Speaker 8: we're at least two schools. This was the third school
Speaker 8: for at least three of them. One year, you at
Speaker 8: a school, you go to another school, you're at that school,
Speaker 8: you go to another school. You do realize in order
Speaker 8: for you to get the continuity down, or understand the playbooker,
Speaker 8: or to get even in your coach's vision on what
Speaker 8: they have for you next year, you have to stay
Speaker 8: somewhere in two years. And I think that is really
Speaker 8: hurting us because all these guys we're bringing in has
Speaker 8: already been somewhere else, not just one place and playing
Speaker 8: to stay here two years, work through the grind, learn
Speaker 8: to playbook, pick up coaching style of coaching. No, we
Speaker 8: bring in guys in who's been to two or three
Speaker 8: different places. They stay here, don't get don't really pick
Speaker 8: it up. They get an opportunity because all the new
Speaker 8: guys get an opportunity to start, and they lose their
Speaker 8: starting position, then they go somewhere else. And I think
Speaker 8: that is the biggest problem with our office line. We
Speaker 8: don't have any continuity, as you stated, at the coaching
Speaker 8: position or as the players. But the worst part is
Speaker 8: even if we bring in a junior or a senior
Speaker 8: that has maybe an.
Speaker 7: Extra year left that let's let's keep them for two years.
Speaker 8: So we know coming back what we can expect for you.
Speaker 8: So flipping this thing every year, And I think that's
Speaker 8: the biggest.
Speaker 7: Problem up front.
Speaker 3: Well, that's assuming they could play. I mean, if a
Speaker 3: guy is not good enough to compete in the sec hey,
Speaker 3: we got our guys back. Yeah, so we got a
Speaker 3: few minutes left with Anthony Wody. I want to shift
Speaker 3: over to basketball because you talk about everything on Sunday
Speaker 3: Morning Sports Talk. Just real quickly, your take on what
Speaker 3: we saw from Mark Pope's team down in start fille Man,
Speaker 3: because that was a kind of not just the result,
Speaker 3: but the effort they needed and I think that the
Speaker 3: big New nation needed to see.
Speaker 8: Yeah, we like to see. I mean, the thing about
Speaker 8: it reminds me. I keep going back to you wanting
Speaker 8: to stay when he played, and that ninety six team
Speaker 8: is just more talented. They were gonna beat anybody. And
Speaker 8: I keep relating to that ninety eight team, which he
Speaker 8: was not on. But that's exactly what reminds me of
Speaker 8: you know who, Jackson Robinson's the catching flat the past
Speaker 8: couple of weeks. You know he takes he may take
Speaker 8: seven eight minutes off Da da da dah. He's not
Speaker 8: what he was built up to be. The guy could score,
Speaker 8: the guy could just flat out play balls. Why Pope
Speaker 8: brought him, brought him in with us, But you know
Speaker 8: he was catching, he was catching. Heck, Jack Pilbrim told
Speaker 8: me he stayed after after the game before I believe
Speaker 8: it was Georgia, he stayed after and uh, oh no, no,
Speaker 8: the last home game they had before they before they
Speaker 8: went to Georgia, right and uh Jackson Robson. I was
Speaker 8: happy to see him have a really big game.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 8: Lord, they needed him, they needed and he came through.
Speaker 8: And that's the thing I love about this team. He
Speaker 8: has a nice rotation. Uh, you never know who the
Speaker 8: player of the game is gonna be each week. The
Speaker 8: guys are getting unselfish and it's scary thing though. Gave
Speaker 8: us that they're just now really starting to believe in Pope.
Speaker 8: They're not playing that one on one ball. They're not
Speaker 8: playing ice oball. When things get tough, everybody wants to
Speaker 8: go a coach I'm gonna favor and he just telling
Speaker 8: them they live in this moment. Just do what I
Speaker 8: say and live in this moment. And you can tell
Speaker 8: that they're starting to when things get rough, they're starting
Speaker 8: to lean on him more than they're on their own
Speaker 8: one on one field. And that's what's making it really
Speaker 8: interesting for me. You know, we ain't we ain't been
Speaker 8: very successful in March, but if we keep trending in
Speaker 8: this direction, I think it's gonna be exciting.
Speaker 3: You also had some conversations on at ex or Twitter
Speaker 3: or whatever you want to call it. How about John
Speaker 3: Caliperi And it's amazing to me how quickly Arkansas fans,
Speaker 3: I mean, Kentucky fans may snipe a little bit, but buddy,
Speaker 3: if you seen these Arkansas fans already all over Cali Perry.
Speaker 3: And he's another guy to rebuild from the ground up.
Speaker 8: Yeah, when cal first came here, though it was at
Speaker 8: twenty ten. When he first came here, he pretty much,
Speaker 8: you know, came in instantly successful. You know, that's quality
Speaker 8: brought in with cousins Wall and Bled so on those guys.
Speaker 8: And I think that's what they were expecting there. But
Speaker 8: I think I think the world has caught up with Calv.
Speaker 8: I think they know his game. I think they know
Speaker 8: his antiquas. I think they know, you know, what he's about.
Speaker 8: And I think our fan base may have been right
Speaker 8: that that Calv may have you know, as time may
Speaker 8: have worn out here just because you know, we want
Speaker 8: to go into Mark. We don't want to have exciting basketball.
Speaker 8: And that is where my argument started on Twitter, was
Speaker 8: that the fan base was loved it when cal was exciting,
Speaker 8: but we weren't winning tournament games. And you know, we
Speaker 8: finally got a new coach, but cal was not willing
Speaker 8: to change his philosophy. Right, stoops, you love the excitement
Speaker 8: we had with Benny Snell, Chris Rodriguez and all those guys,
Speaker 8: Lin Bolden, And now it's kind of stealing out because
Speaker 8: in il and guy's not working his hard and he's
Speaker 8: cleaning ship doing what you all wanted. Wanted to change philosophies,
Speaker 8: which you all wanted Calipari to do. So it's working
Speaker 8: out that we changed the CALIBERI So I'm kind of
Speaker 8: scared for I'm kind of scared for suits that if
Speaker 8: this thing gets any better for Pope, they might start saying.
Speaker 7: Look how I worked for some basketball. Let's just start
Speaker 7: over news. So a little care for that.
Speaker 3: Well, and in this day and age, man was roster turnover.
Speaker 3: You know you're and and yeah, that's the other thing too,
Speaker 3: is Pope's gonna have to rebuild somewhat next year too,
Speaker 3: depending on who's got eligibility coming back.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 8: The thing about Pope, though, he's plugging play man. Like
Speaker 8: I said, none of these guys have played together these
Speaker 8: some of these guys are six man's on their team
Speaker 8: and their starters here in the SEC, which is a
Speaker 8: tough conference. This year we had getting we played with five.
Speaker 8: This will be our five or fifth Top fifteen game,
Speaker 8: and probably not even the first third of the season.
Speaker 8: So I'm not worried about him getting the guys in
Speaker 8: the running system because I think his system runs itself.
Speaker 7: It's for a lost. He talks to basketball, he.
Speaker 8: Gets you to understand basketball, he breaks it down into
Speaker 8: chewable chunks. So I think he's gonna get the best
Speaker 8: talent because we're Kentucky. You couple that with his philosophies
Speaker 8: and his coaching style. I'm not concerned about any turnover
Speaker 8: that we may have next year.
Speaker 3: You can hear Anthony White on this very radio station
Speaker 3: every Sunday morning on Sunday Morning Sports Talk with Larry
Speaker 3: Vaud and the Gang, and of course on Wednesday nights
Speaker 3: on the Locker for One one with Van Hiles. The
Speaker 3: podcast very entertaining and be always a pleasure. Thank you, Sarah.
Speaker 8: We'll talk to you soon, all right, man, I think
Speaker 8: you appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Western Bureau Chief Gary Moore next on six point thirty
Speaker 3: WLAP Welcome back to the Big Moonsighter. As promised, our
Speaker 3: Western Bureau chief. We are back on a Wednesday. Gary
Speaker 3: Moore joined us from the other end of I sixty four.
Speaker 3: And it might be freezing cold, but you've got some
Speaker 3: hot takes.
Speaker 4: I know I do with two guys in six pack. Hey,
Speaker 4: what's the windshill like over there in the garage?
Speaker 3: Is in the garage? It's not great, but I've got
Speaker 3: the space heater going.
Speaker 4: Are those are those fur ear muffs on unit? Or
Speaker 4: is that a headphone? That's the sort of thermal that
Speaker 4: you got on there.
Speaker 3: You know what, when I'm doing sidelines radio football, those
Speaker 3: headphones go a long way keep my ears warm.
Speaker 4: That's right, they sure do. Well, let's get into this
Speaker 4: first sip on the six pack. Dick is former Kentucky
Speaker 4: Wildcat and Basketball Hall of Famer. Pat Riley said many
Speaker 4: times as coach of the Lakers, and often to me
Speaker 4: when I was covering the team out there no rebounds,
Speaker 4: no rings, which is true. You can also add no
Speaker 4: rebounding after a loss, no rings, And right now Mark
Speaker 4: Pope's Cats eighth RNGTH fourteen and three overall are rebounding
Speaker 4: in both ways. For example, Cats lose at Clemson, win
Speaker 4: the next game on the road, versus number seven Gonzaga,
Speaker 4: Cats lose. Ohio State win the next two, including at home.
Speaker 4: I guess number six Florida, we could go. They lose
Speaker 4: at Georgia. Four days later, what happens? They win at
Speaker 4: number fourteen Mississippi State, continuing to win last night over
Speaker 4: a tough number eleven Texas Agricultural and Mechanical School eight
Speaker 4: won to sixty nine five wins over an AP top
Speaker 4: fifteen team. If you talked about best record in America
Speaker 4: with that, and on Saturday, number four Bama Rup High
Speaker 4: Noon tied number one offense in the SEC ninety one
Speaker 4: points a game, Cats right behind the second place with
Speaker 4: eighty nine points a game. Are we in for another
Speaker 4: one hundred and six hundred ball burner like the Florida game?
Speaker 7: Dick?
Speaker 4: Do you think on Saturday?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 3: I would think so yeah. And kudos for the for
Speaker 3: the name draw pat Riley and you've you've mentioned that
Speaker 3: before covering the Lakers, you had a chance more than
Speaker 3: once to chat with him. I mentioned the fact that
Speaker 3: he didn't say it to me directly, but John Wooden
Speaker 3: used to say that, I mean, earlier in his career
Speaker 3: that rebounds he thought were the most important stat in
Speaker 3: the game. No, he changed it later on, kind of
Speaker 3: moved that to number two in his list behind shooting percentages.
Speaker 3: But it told you just how how vital he believed
Speaker 3: rebounding was. So that's something we got to keep an
Speaker 3: eye on for the rest of the year.
Speaker 4: As well as assists. That assist ratio last night was
Speaker 4: something else else. Nineteen to four.
Speaker 3: Yeah over the Cats. Yeah, it's sister turnover plus assists
Speaker 3: on made baskets. I think that's what impresses opposing coaches
Speaker 3: the most.
Speaker 4: Second Swig in the six packs, speaking Mark Pope, you've
Speaker 4: covered Mark from all of his days playing for the
Speaker 4: Cats as well as a coach. Can you imagine Mark
Speaker 4: saying after say, I don't know, losing to Georgia or
Speaker 4: somebody sec saying this in public, Well, we're soft, so
Speaker 4: don't tell me you want to win. It's really hard
Speaker 4: to coach people who are delusional. We got guys that
Speaker 4: think they're better than they are. Nice kids, completely delusional
Speaker 4: about who they are. Unquote. That, of course, was what
Speaker 4: former Murray State and Cincinnati head coaching current UCLA coach
Speaker 4: Mick Cronin said about his Bruins after they were blown
Speaker 4: out at home by Michigan last week, and how did
Speaker 4: the team respond after that, getting blown out at Maryland
Speaker 4: by eighteen, complete with Cronin's ejection, then losing Monday at
Speaker 4: crummy eight and eight Rutgers by seven. You can see
Speaker 4: what he's trying to do, at least I can or
Speaker 4: who he's trying to emulate. His mentor and apparent idol
Speaker 4: of player abuse, Ricky Patino. Hey, we know Patino. Patino
Speaker 4: has rings. Mick Cronin. You're no Patino and you may
Speaker 4: not be a UCLA head coach much longer if that
Speaker 4: keeps up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And in fact, somebody told me I wondered was
Speaker 3: Mick Cronin in the mix when louisvill was looking for
Speaker 3: a coach And somebody who covers the program said it
Speaker 3: says understanding he was not. And this was well before
Speaker 3: these comments made their way to the public, but it
Speaker 3: was because of that sort of coaching style. And yeah, Patino, listen,
Speaker 3: I've heard the stories from Cameron Mills for years. I've
Speaker 3: heard him from Sean Woods. I've heard him just about
Speaker 3: with the way Patino could just level a kid, but rarely,
Speaker 3: if ever, did it in public. Right, you know, he
Speaker 3: might have said things in general as a team, we
Speaker 3: got to do this or that. But you've got to
Speaker 3: wonder would that not have just played better privately in
Speaker 3: the locker room as opposed and clearly as you pointed out,
Speaker 3: they didn't respond the way he had hoped. So now
Speaker 3: you got to wonder as well, Gary, has he lost
Speaker 3: that team?
Speaker 4: Well, if they're soft and delusional, who recruited them and
Speaker 4: who coaches them?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Third swig and six pack. One last Kentucky basketball note.
Speaker 4: I've been paying much attention to the NBA. College hoops
Speaker 4: always get more of my attention priority wise this time
Speaker 4: of year for me, But I got to wondering how
Speaker 4: Reed Shepherd and Oscar Shebwey are doing lately in the
Speaker 4: pros read of course, third overall pick in last year's
Speaker 4: draft by Houston wasn't getting much of any playing time
Speaker 4: for the Rockets, so they sent him to their G
Speaker 4: League team, Rio Grand Valley Vipers, three hundred and thirty
Speaker 4: seven miles south of Houston near the Mexican border. All
Speaker 4: Reid did was playing all of three games, average thirty
Speaker 4: point seven points eight assists, was the G League Player
Speaker 4: of the week, so they called him back up, and
Speaker 4: of course he doesn't play against Memphis on Monday, but
Speaker 4: maybe tonight in Denver. That's on tap as for Oscar
Speaker 4: reserve on a crummy ten and twenty eight Utah Jazz team.
Speaker 4: But at least he's there in the Association, averaging three
Speaker 4: point seven boards off the bench, get three and five
Speaker 4: on Sunday in the win against equally lousy Brooklyn. He
Speaker 4: may get to see more action to night they're playing
Speaker 4: a home against the eight and twenty eight Hornets. By
Speaker 4: the way, Oscar averaged fourteen point six points, seventeen and
Speaker 4: a half boards in sixteen g League games this year,
Speaker 4: so he did about all he could do as well
Speaker 4: down there. Oscar second year in the Association obviously reads
Speaker 4: a rookie, but each one of them brings something valuable
Speaker 4: that can complete an NBA team.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the problem is getting that team, or those respective
Speaker 3: teams to the point where she Way can take them
Speaker 3: to another level, read can take them to I'm not
Speaker 3: saying a lofty level. I'm just saying, as you point out,
Speaker 3: getting them past where they need to be. You like
Speaker 3: Reid's chances better just because of what the league has
Speaker 3: turned into in terms of three point shooting. But the
Speaker 3: fact that Oscar had trouble hanging on in the league
Speaker 3: despite at one point averaging twenty rebounds a game in
Speaker 3: the G League tells you where they where the NBA
Speaker 3: is now and how they don't put as much of
Speaker 3: a premium on low post play. Apparently he is. I
Speaker 3: haven't seen him play but expanding his offensive game, which
Speaker 3: I think held him back at Kentucky because he camped
Speaker 3: out under the rim. Yeah, but he's got to be
Speaker 3: able to play a little bit facing the basket, which
Speaker 3: he could a little bit of Kentucky. But you got
Speaker 3: a root for a guy like that.
Speaker 4: Oscar can find a three point shot somewhere in there.
Speaker 3: Hey, de Marcus Cousins, did.
Speaker 4: Yeah see forth swig in the six pack one month ago?
Speaker 4: Last night, Dick, you were there December fourteenth, Louisville lost
Speaker 4: to then number five Kentucky ninety three to eighty five.
Speaker 4: And guess what the Cards have not lost since that night.
Speaker 4: Last night, UFL won their second road game in four days,
Speaker 4: eighty five sixty one at Syracuse, the greatest win ever,
Speaker 4: by the way what used to be the Carrier Dome.
Speaker 4: That's seven wins in a row. For Louisville, and of
Speaker 4: course the ACC this year is about as unimpressive as
Speaker 4: the SEC is impressive. But with Duke and Carolina and
Speaker 4: Clemson all out of the way and in the rear view,
Speaker 4: the Cards have no ranked teams so far. Anyway ahead
Speaker 4: on their schedule, they're going to go for eight in
Speaker 4: a row Saturday against VIRGINNY high noon over here at
Speaker 4: the on ESPN two. That's same obviously tip off time
Speaker 4: for the Cats and Bama on original strength ESPN Cards
Speaker 4: are now thirteen and five favorites again on Saturday. Is
Speaker 4: it safe to say, Dick Gabriel that U of L's
Speaker 4: basketball program is back well.
Speaker 3: For right now? Relatively speaking, yes, compared to where it
Speaker 3: was last year. That's not really a fair comparison. I
Speaker 3: don't think it's fair to see it's all the way
Speaker 3: back yet, because that's a championship level program. But to
Speaker 3: your point, schedule favors them. We've already beaten Virginia in Virginia,
Speaker 3: so they know they can beat that team. But against
Speaker 3: Virginia's got something to proved. But the important thing is, yeah, look,
Speaker 3: my brother watched the game and text me said, Syracuse
Speaker 3: is awful, But Yeah, they won at the Dome. That's
Speaker 3: a long road trip, brother, and that's a tough place
Speaker 3: to play. They recorded or reported seventeen four hundred whatever,
Speaker 3: That wasn't the case up there, but it's still a
Speaker 3: really difficult place to play and win. And I just
Speaker 3: think I don't care how many people were there. The
Speaker 3: fact that they won on the road. That's a huge
Speaker 3: step for U of L, no question.
Speaker 4: It's like when they went to Virginia.
Speaker 3: Both.
Speaker 4: Yes, they've always been traditionally a tough place to play
Speaker 4: for the Cardinals, Syracuse in Virginia, and that's not.
Speaker 3: A huge arena, but it's an intimate place. It ain't
Speaker 3: exactly Duke, but it is a tough place to play.
Speaker 3: And the fans show.
Speaker 4: Up fifth Swig and the six pack onto the NFL
Speaker 4: and the college Championship and our picks for those games.
Speaker 4: But quick question for you, what do the Ravens, Eagles, Commanders, Bucks, Packers,
Speaker 4: and Lions all have in common this season? Besides making
Speaker 4: the postseason? I'll tell you what. They're the top six
Speaker 4: rushing teams in the NFL, including mobile quarterbacks. Conversely, what
Speaker 4: do the Raiders, Jets, Bengals, Brown, Seahawks and Cowboys all
Speaker 4: have in common. Besides not making the postseason. There are
Speaker 4: the six worst rushing teams this year, all with fairly
Speaker 4: stationary quarterbacks. Look, you run the ball well, you're dominating
Speaker 4: the line, and when you dominate the line, you almost
Speaker 4: always win. It's a simple formula. So take that. Geniuses
Speaker 4: on Draft Day on all the cable channels who say, well,
Speaker 4: running backs are overvalued.
Speaker 3: Wrong.
Speaker 4: Now on Saturday, four point thirty ABC, Texans eight and
Speaker 4: a half point underdogs at Kansas City, I'll take the Chiefs.
Speaker 4: And then the nightcap eight pm on Fox. Oh no,
Speaker 4: we gotta get Brady again. Commanders at the Lions. In fact,
Speaker 4: we get them through the Super Bowl, then he'll be gone, hopefully.
Speaker 4: Commanders at the Lions Detroit nine half point favorites, give
Speaker 4: me the Kings of the Beasts. And that one Sunday,
Speaker 4: three o'clock NBC Rams six point underdogs at Philly. I
Speaker 4: got the Eggs on this one, but I will not
Speaker 4: be surprised that the resilient Rams do something for their
Speaker 4: wounded city again. And six point thirty on the CBS.
Speaker 4: The Ravens are a point underdog at Buffalo, but I'm
Speaker 4: gonna take La Marvelous and Balmer on that one, and
Speaker 4: then on Monday night, I'm gonna be rooting for the Irish.
Speaker 4: But if I'm betting money, if I had dough, I
Speaker 4: would say I'm gonna take the eight point favorites of
Speaker 4: Ohio State.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I agree on the college game, I'm gonna take Buffalo.
Speaker 3: I'll go against you on the Ravens just because I
Speaker 3: just think they've been sitting on this game. I agree
Speaker 3: on the Lions, and I agree on Philly. But I
Speaker 3: say Kansas City wins, but doesn't cover why, because it's
Speaker 3: been happening all year. Yeah, Ana City has been winning,
Speaker 3: but winning somehow the close games. I don't know if
Speaker 3: it can hang on to that case going into the
Speaker 3: Super Bowl, but it's amazing the way to keep finding
Speaker 3: ways to win.
Speaker 4: Sixth and final swig. You know we open the night
Speaker 4: talking about UK rebounding after losses. If any county in
Speaker 4: state can rebound after horrendous weather losses, I say it's
Speaker 4: La County and California in general. I know because, as
Speaker 4: you know, I've lived half my life out there over
Speaker 4: three decades as your West Coast Bureau chief. In fact,
Speaker 4: for seven years I lived just a few blocks away
Speaker 4: from Pacific Palisades, and for two years just down Lake
Speaker 4: Avenue from Altadena, not too far from the Rose Bowl
Speaker 4: as well. I lived through the ninety four Northridge earthquake
Speaker 4: you may remember, thirty one years ago this Friday, by
Speaker 4: the way, plus more Malibu and Metro LA fires, and
Speaker 4: I can remember, not to mention all those in northern
Speaker 4: California and south of LA. Point is like right here
Speaker 4: in Louisville in nineteen seventy four, and like the folks
Speaker 4: in Mayfield and Bowling Green and elsewhere. After all those tornadoes,
Speaker 4: people in California are good at picking themselves up, dusting off,
Speaker 4: and rebuilding. Only this time I think the lifting up
Speaker 4: may be the heaviest yet. But think about it, with
Speaker 4: events like World Cup Soccer and Super Bowl and the
Speaker 4: twenty twenty eight Olympics all in the rise in sports wise,
Speaker 4: don't bet against LA and the Golden State.
Speaker 3: No, I agree. I think the biggest thing holding them
Speaker 3: back are the politicians, of course in DC, who are
Speaker 3: trying to make this a political I don't know what
Speaker 3: the word is, but a political issue, and they shouldn't.
Speaker 3: This is when everybody's got to pulled together, and we
Speaker 3: learned this again from places like Kentucky. They had to
Speaker 3: deal with flooding, as you said, and tornadoes, and yeah,
Speaker 3: I go back to that seventy four I was a
Speaker 3: freshman at UK. But the famous picture on the cover
Speaker 3: of the Courier Journal of Bardstown Road. Somebody snapped the
Speaker 3: picture looking straight down with all that wreckage.
Speaker 4: And their telephone polls all over exactly right.
Speaker 3: Exactly right, and you could see a shop called Royal Typewriter.
Speaker 3: That's why I worked a summer job. Wow. So that
Speaker 3: brought it home for me, and I drove that area many,
Speaker 3: many times. So yeah, just could we quit politicizing this
Speaker 3: thing and just pull together for a change. I think
Speaker 3: that would be fun.
Speaker 4: I agree the same deal with what happened in Florida.
Speaker 4: You didn't see this kind of political backlash against Florida.
Speaker 4: Biden was there saying, Okay, we're gonna get some funds
Speaker 4: down there right away. And now you're hearing all this stuff,
Speaker 4: but well, California's gonna have to do this, and they're no,
Speaker 4: they're not gonna have to do that. Give them the dough.
Speaker 3: We'll take a right come back with hot raids for
Speaker 3: our West n Bureau Chief Gary Moore here on the
Speaker 3: Big Bloon Sider six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the
Speaker 3: Big Loon Sider. We're talking with our Western Bureau Chief,
Speaker 3: Gary Moore. You've heard two guys in a six pack
Speaker 3: time now for a couple of hot raids, and this
Speaker 3: has been a story that has made the rounds fairly quickly.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you saw the video, but an
Speaker 3: Eagles fan spent much of the Eagles win over the
Speaker 3: Packers much of that game belittling and yelling at and
Speaker 3: saying crude things to a Packers fan, a female and
Speaker 3: her her husband was next to him, saying, don't talk
Speaker 3: to my wife that way, and it didn't slow him
Speaker 3: down at all. It went viral. This guy has been
Speaker 3: banned for life from the Eagles games and fired from
Speaker 3: his job. Good because social media is social media, and
Speaker 3: he was almost immediately identified, and people even said, here's
Speaker 3: his here's where he works, here's who he is, let's
Speaker 3: make him famous. And I read one place where the
Speaker 3: Eagles had a security who was this legendary huge guy
Speaker 3: on the sideline, So bostly he had something to do
Speaker 3: with identifying this dude. But you know Eagle fans. A
Speaker 3: friend of mine is an Eagle fan, and he bristles
Speaker 3: at the notion that Eagle fans are worse than others.
Speaker 3: But this doesn't help, does it.
Speaker 4: No, it doesn't at all. And I stopped bringing dates
Speaker 4: back in the eighties to NFL games when the Raiders
Speaker 4: were out there and well the Rams. The Rams were
Speaker 4: down in Orange County at the time too. But the
Speaker 4: crowd is definitely way more aggressive or verbally violent than
Speaker 4: at a college game. Totally different vibe. You see, you
Speaker 4: and UCLA game games were completely different. But it seems
Speaker 4: like it hasn't changed. In fact, it may have even
Speaker 4: gotten worse. If this is obviously just a and this
Speaker 4: this is one that was caught on video, however, gets
Speaker 4: yeah everything. Our second hid read for Gary Brittany Mahomes,
Speaker 4: wife of Patrick, congratulations on their third child.
Speaker 3: She has explained the names. The latest child is named Golden,
Speaker 3: ray r A y E. The other children are named Patrick, Bronze, Levaughn,
Speaker 3: and Sterling Sky. So you got Gold, Sterling, essentially silver
Speaker 3: and Bronze. Honestly, I think it's kind of cool. But
Speaker 3: on the other hand, if you're bronze now and the
Speaker 3: reason is is, she pointed out, he's Patrick the third,
Speaker 3: which makes sense. But imagine being the third kid, or
Speaker 3: being of the three kids. You ain't gold brother, and
Speaker 3: you ain't silver.
Speaker 4: Back in college, metal stand exactly there you go back
Speaker 4: in college, I wanted to have my firstborn son's first
Speaker 4: name Lead, and of course the middle name would be Zeppelin.
Speaker 4: So that's why I never I don't have any sons
Speaker 4: that I know of. Second of all, that sounds like
Speaker 4: something that somebody in Metallica would name their kids, you know, like, yeah,
Speaker 4: we got all the medals, we're doing, We're going for
Speaker 4: all the heavy metals. Man, that's crazy, and you think
Speaker 4: at school they would get made fun of. But there's
Speaker 4: so many crazy names for kids now at school. If
Speaker 4: you and I like, your name is Gary, kind of
Speaker 4: weird name is that?
Speaker 3: But the one thing the kid has going for and
Speaker 3: make fun of them, say, my dad at the time
Speaker 3: has two Super Bowl rings. How you doing? Exactly?
Speaker 4: That justifies everything? Show them the rings, Show them the rings.
Speaker 3: I would love it. I would have loved it if
Speaker 3: you had a child with a middle name Zeppelin, because
Speaker 3: you probably would have gone a Zeppo. The most famous
Speaker 3: Zeppos and Zeppo Marks.
Speaker 4: I love it. Yeah, it never happened, although the life
Speaker 4: is still young.
Speaker 3: True at uh maybe by Aim.
Speaker 4: That's more likely going to happen to the night I.
Speaker 3: Would say so. He is Gary Mories, our West m
Speaker 3: Bureau chief. Find him, honeymout seek him out on Twitter
Speaker 3: x at.
Speaker 4: At nine five five Gary, that same lovely media joint
Speaker 4: where you're at.
Speaker 3: I'm a big blue insider one, thank you sir, stay warm,
Speaker 3: same at you now. I'll do it for now thanks
Speaker 3: to Gary, Sean Woods, Anthony White. That's it. Good night
Speaker 3: from the garage in Lexington.
Speaker 4: Bad guy in a little code, fat guy in a
Speaker 4: little code.
Speaker 3: Dame