Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Abriel with you
Speaker 1: on a Wednesday edition of our program. I have jury duty,
Speaker 1: so tonight it is the best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about the return of the basketball
Speaker 1: Tournament La Famiya, the team comprised primarily of Kentucky players
Speaker 1: playing for that million dollar prize. We'll also hear from
Speaker 1: Mark Pope, and in our number one, we'll go back
Speaker 1: to the night that I had a chance to chat
Speaker 1: with one of, if not the newest Wildcat, Reese Potter,
Speaker 1: the transfer from Miami of Ohio, Lexinglon Kid, who's coming
Speaker 1: home to play for the Wildcats. This is the best
Speaker 1: of the Big Blue Insider. There is no UK Baseball
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, no midweek game. You'd think this team could
Speaker 1: use a midweek game to kind of lift its spirits
Speaker 1: a little bit after dropping the entire series over the
Speaker 1: weekend at Mississippi State. But the Wildcats nock and rest
Speaker 1: and heal because there have been some injuries, significant injuries,
Speaker 1: and get ready for this weekend series with Oklahoma, the
Speaker 1: Sooners coming to town for the first time as members
Speaker 1: of the Southeastern Conference. And we'll have it for you
Speaker 1: right here on six thirty WLAP. It's a six thirty
Speaker 1: start on Friday night. Darren's pregame comes up at six
Speaker 1: point fifteen. We'll have them for you over on SEC
Speaker 1: Plus as well. Doug Flinn and I we'll have the telecast.
Speaker 1: But it's a huge weekend for the baseball Wildcats and
Speaker 1: they have got the hang on to home Turf. Got
Speaker 1: to win at least two man, if they can sweep,
Speaker 1: that would like put last week firmly in the rearview mirror.
Speaker 1: But Kentucky, I don't know if it's on the bubble
Speaker 1: right now, but it's not going to host a regional
Speaker 1: and being a two seed or maybe even a three
Speaker 1: seed maybe out the window right now. So big weekend
Speaker 1: to baseball coming up, but a lot to talk about
Speaker 1: before that, including the remnants of the Kentucky Derby. We'll
Speaker 1: talk with Kenny Rice to look ahead of the Preakness
Speaker 1: that comes up in our number two, and Keith Farmer's
Speaker 1: also going to join us. He covered the derby, and
Speaker 1: we'll also talk basketball with Kman because we have a
Speaker 1: new Kentucky Wildcat to talk about. He is Reese Potter,
Speaker 1: and we thought that the roster news would end, at
Speaker 1: least for the time being with a yellich the kid
Speaker 1: from Croatia. But a day or two later comes word
Speaker 1: that Potter is entertaining an offer to come through the
Speaker 1: portal and transfer from Miami where he signed after playing
Speaker 1: at Electiondon Catholic and become a Kentucky Wildcat. Sure enough,
Speaker 1: the word leaked out on Sunday and it kind of
Speaker 1: made the rounds on social media yesterday. So I had
Speaker 1: a chance to touch base with Reese and he will
Speaker 1: join us at the bottom of the hour. So coming
Speaker 1: up at the bottom of the hour. Former Lexington Catholic Knight,
Speaker 1: former Miami of Ohio Redhawk, and now a brand new
Speaker 1: Kentucky Wildcat, Reese Potter. He is listed at seven point
Speaker 1: one two fifteen two fifteen. I mean that's slender, but
Speaker 1: you know, if he plays as much out on the
Speaker 1: floor as he does under the bucket, he'll be okay.
Speaker 1: And he played well at Miami of Ohio, played about
Speaker 1: not eighteen twenty minutes a game, averaged six or seven points,
Speaker 1: averaging nearly four rebounds a game in less than a
Speaker 1: half of basketball. So he will help this Kentucky team
Speaker 1: with depth and he will get better, of course playing
Speaker 1: against the likes in practice of Yelich and Garrison and
Speaker 1: Malaka Moreno and all these guys. But we'll meet Rhys Potter.
Speaker 1: I've never interviewed the guy. We'll talk to him at
Speaker 1: the bottom of the hour while we're on UK basketball.
Speaker 1: If you followed, and many of you did, last year
Speaker 1: the basketball tournament TBT La Familia, the Kentucky team is
Speaker 1: pulling itself together again. And the word came out over
Speaker 1: the last twenty four to forty eight hours that Andrew
Speaker 1: and Aaron Harrison would be playing once again for La Familla.
Speaker 1: And if you recall that Kentucky team last year did
Speaker 1: really well, did not win it lost to the team
Speaker 1: that eventually won it called Carmen's Crew. This was the
Speaker 1: team that was the team primarily made up of Ohio
Speaker 1: State players former Ohio State players, and in fact, the
Speaker 1: MVP for the tournament, the basketball tournament for the second
Speaker 1: time this past year, was Jared Sullinger. And he might
Speaker 1: recall he's the guy who bumped into Josh Harrelson a
Speaker 1: few times in a NCA tournament game against the Wildcats,
Speaker 1: and Harrelson hurled the ball at him and it was
Speaker 1: part of a Kentucky upset that included a huge three
Speaker 1: pointer by DeAndre Leak who will play for TBT or
Speaker 1: in TBT for the Wildcats. But the biggest news game
Speaker 1: with the Harrison's coming back. And remember now this is
Speaker 1: a tournament where the games can be decided at a
Speaker 1: certain point. They might not go to the conclusion if
Speaker 1: it reaches a certain points spread at a certain time.
Speaker 1: Game over and against Louisville the Ville last year in
Speaker 1: the quarterfinals, it was Aaron Harrison who hit a huge
Speaker 1: shot that ended the game. And then you might recall
Speaker 1: it was almost predictable. It was so chippy that there
Speaker 1: was I don't know what you want to call it,
Speaker 1: pushing and shoving, you know, all that kind of silliness
Speaker 1: that can go on. And it indeed happened last year
Speaker 1: between Laville and La Familla, but that was in the
Speaker 1: quarters and up in Philly, I believe it was. And
Speaker 1: then the wild Cats, primarily the La Famia team lost
Speaker 1: in the next round of Carmen's Crew, which after that
Speaker 1: beat a team made up primarily of players from Houston
Speaker 1: Forever Koogs. So the Harrison brothers are back. And if
Speaker 1: you go to YouTube, you can watch a couple of
Speaker 1: montages of the huge NC Tournament games won by huge
Speaker 1: shots from Aaron Harrison. Here's a little bit of the audio.
Speaker 1: Harris Autel Ram Priminal Blacks feeds the corn Harris.
Speaker 2: Light the space Saturday after Harrison underna bounced to the
Speaker 2: Carmy shots back outside.
Speaker 1: This is the point where he always upset. A kind
Speaker 1: of fun to relive those I had forgotten that on
Speaker 1: the Wisconsin shot, his brother fed him the ball and
Speaker 1: Andrew got the assists. If you know you follow such things.
Speaker 1: On that shot, and then against Michigan, you might recall this.
Speaker 1: It was a step back. It was a little jab step.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he was planning on trying to
Speaker 1: drive or just setting up his defender, but he used
Speaker 1: a jab step and then stepped back and drained it.
Speaker 1: And those moments were just phenomenal. And you got to
Speaker 1: remember those plays when you think back to how frustrated
Speaker 1: you were, and everybody will. And the loss to Wisconsin
Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen, and I know that there was some
Speaker 1: sentiment leading into that game that cali Peri wasn't subbing enough,
Speaker 1: because in the middle of a news conference at one
Speaker 1: point Calipari was talking about the Harrisons and he stopped
Speaker 1: himself and he looked up and he said, you know
Speaker 1: they're carrying us right now, don't you, to the media.
Speaker 1: And in fact, to a degree, they were. But I'll
Speaker 1: never forget neither were you that lost to Wisconsin in
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen and they could not even with the Harrisons
Speaker 1: in the game, couldn't get off a shot for three
Speaker 1: straight possessions. And over on the bench, say hello to
Speaker 1: Devin Booker. I know, not the same Devin Booker he
Speaker 1: is now, but back then he could get off a shot.
Speaker 1: And you know who might have been better at doing that,
Speaker 1: Tyler Eulis, who could have left somebody in the dust
Speaker 1: and gotten the ball up in the rim at least.
Speaker 1: And yes, I know there would have been challenges defensively.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying put them both in. You put one
Speaker 1: or the other end. Wisconsin with bigger guards, what had
Speaker 1: a field day at the other end, although Uless was
Speaker 1: a hell of a defensive player. But you know what
Speaker 1: you sub them. I mean, I still, oh man, I'm
Speaker 1: sure it bothers you as well. But any other Harrisons
Speaker 1: are back and the TVT was a lot of fun
Speaker 1: last year in Kentucky's kids played hard, they played well,
Speaker 1: they took it seriously, they practiced well, and it's a
Speaker 1: great event. Makes some money. Speaking of money, ESPN is
Speaker 1: reporting a big dollars thanks to college sports ad revenue.
Speaker 1: It's not actually technically ESPN reporting it. It's Sports Business Journal.
Speaker 1: There's a story out right now that says the network
Speaker 1: has increased its AD revenue generated from college sports by
Speaker 1: are you ready forty two percent year over year. Now,
Speaker 1: this coincides with the expansion of the college football Playoff,
Speaker 1: with those eight additional huge games for ESPN to sell
Speaker 1: to advertisers. And by the way, two of those games
Speaker 1: are on TNT. ESPN kept the ad money. There you go.
Speaker 1: But it's not just football. Add inventory on college sports
Speaker 1: such as basketball, baseball, softball, those sports the non revenue
Speaker 1: quote unquote sports have combined for an eleven percent year
Speaker 1: over year increase in AD revenue. You know what else,
Speaker 1: volleyball is making money now for ESPN. And yeah, disclosure,
Speaker 1: I work for SEC plus, owned by ESPN. I don't
Speaker 1: know what kind of money they make. I know they
Speaker 1: don't spend a lot on SEC plus because for one thing,
Speaker 1: a lot of those broadcasts are primarily manned by students.
Speaker 1: Doug Flynn and I we are not. We were students
Speaker 1: of life, students of the game. But what I'm telling
Speaker 1: you is they are modestly crewed. We have a great crew,
Speaker 1: we really do, and modestly but properly equipped on the
Speaker 1: SEC level. So I'd love to know how much money
Speaker 1: comes from SEC plus. Probably not a whole lot since
Speaker 1: it's streaming, but it's all part of one big package.
Speaker 1: And thank you College sports, And if you're ESPN, you're
Speaker 1: saying thank you to the Southeastern Conference. Yeah, the Big
Speaker 1: Ten Network makes a lot of money. ESPN does not
Speaker 1: own the Big Ten Network. It owns the SEC Network
Speaker 1: and the ACC Network, among others, and those are the
Speaker 1: big money makers. So anytime you hear about a decision
Speaker 1: being made that will favor not just college football but
Speaker 1: SEC football, if ESPN is anywhere lurking, you got to
Speaker 1: think they're involved, or at least they're trying to influence
Speaker 1: the situation because that's what's paying their bills right now,
Speaker 1: and it shouldn't be a surprise. Coming up to the
Speaker 1: bottom of the hour. Reheese Potter, the newest Wildcat, you're
Speaker 1: listening to the Best of the Big Blue Insider. You're
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: Dick Abriel with you, and again this is the Best
Speaker 1: of the Big Blue Insider. Because I do have jury duty,
Speaker 1: I should be back tomorrow. We don't start reporting until
Speaker 1: next Monday. If indeed we are selected, if you've been
Speaker 1: through the process, you know what I'm talking about. But
Speaker 1: we will keep you up to date on that. And
Speaker 1: if indeed I'm chosen, well we'll just have to pull
Speaker 1: out some more classic Big Blue Insiders for you. A reminder,
Speaker 1: coming up on Friday at noon, it's UK Baseball as
Speaker 1: the Wildcats take on the West Virginia Mountaineers in the
Speaker 1: opening round of the NCAA Tournament. We hear more from
Speaker 1: the baseball Wildcats, Nick Benjeon and as players coming up
Speaker 1: tomorrow night. Right now, we're going to take you back
Speaker 1: to today that we had a chance to share with
Speaker 1: Mark Pope about his brand new roster. We met with
Speaker 1: him a couple of weeks ago. Here is the UK
Speaker 1: basketball coach on Tonight's edition of the Best of the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider. Today it was about basketball. Earlier today
Speaker 1: because Mark Pope spoke to the media for the first
Speaker 1: time in a long time. Some people have gotten piecemeal interviews,
Speaker 1: and we've gotten comments and quotes and things like that
Speaker 1: throughout the off season, but this was the first chance
Speaker 1: we all had as the crew that covers the beat
Speaker 1: to sit down and talk to Mark Pope, and we
Speaker 1: got to talk to him for gosh, almost forty minutes.
Speaker 1: What this means is, if you're a Kentucky basketball fan,
Speaker 1: you've got all kinds of material out there, all kinds
Speaker 1: of outlets that will use everything he said, every comment
Speaker 1: he made, every quote, every SoundBite. You're going to hear
Speaker 1: them or read them, or some combination of all. If
Speaker 1: you haven't seen them all today and tomorrow, you will
Speaker 1: over the next probably so especially on the TV stations
Speaker 1: that have, you know, a very limited amount of airtime
Speaker 1: sadly on their newscast. Don't get me started on that,
Speaker 1: but they'll squeeze every drop out of that news conference
Speaker 1: that they can, and you know what, so will I.
Speaker 1: Now I've only got a few minutes right now to
Speaker 1: share with you. I'll have much more tomorrow on Pope
Speaker 1: and throughout the week. But some of the things he
Speaker 1: said that have jumped out. You've probably already seen his
Speaker 1: comment about Travis Perry leaving. He said I thought Travis
Speaker 1: Perry would be a legend, and he went on at
Speaker 1: length about Travis. I'm gonna play that for you tomorrow,
Speaker 1: but what I wanted to play for you today are
Speaker 1: a couple of comments. The first one just basically talking
Speaker 1: about his group now his team, the guys in his roster,
Speaker 1: and how much he likes this collection he's put together.
Speaker 3: I think the guys that have chosen to be here
Speaker 3: are guys that are just starving to come test themselves
Speaker 3: every single day in practice to come get better. I
Speaker 3: got hungry, hungry, hungry guys. I got guys that have
Speaker 3: really unique, distinguishable skill sets that fit us really well.
Speaker 3: And so so I'm man, I'm excited about this crew.
Speaker 3: This is going to be a really special crew.
Speaker 1: Pope alluded to guys who want to be here and
Speaker 1: play at Kentucky, and I asked him a specific question
Speaker 1: about that, about when you're looking at guys either recruits
Speaker 1: or more specifically guys coming through the portal, the fact
Speaker 1: that they want to be a part of UK basketball
Speaker 1: for everything that means. I asked him I said, is
Speaker 1: that the top of your list or is it the
Speaker 1: icing on the big blue cake at at the very
Speaker 1: end of the process.
Speaker 4: I think it's both.
Speaker 3: Actually, I think it's the beginning and the end because
Speaker 3: it matters. This is there's nowhere like this. And if
Speaker 3: you come in here not understanding or appreciating that, I
Speaker 3: actually think your chances of success are.
Speaker 5: Not very high to some level.
Speaker 3: I mean, nobody can really understand this until you live it, right,
Speaker 3: But the guys that are really successful here come in
Speaker 3: with a healthy respect for what this is. And because
Speaker 3: it requires more, actually it requires more ability to be
Speaker 3: you know, non distracted. It requires more of a giving heart.
Speaker 3: It requires more of an idea that there's something bigger
Speaker 3: than yourself. It requires more of an ability to sacrifice
Speaker 3: a little bit and understand that by sacrificing a little
Speaker 3: bit of yourself it actually elevates you.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: That's what's great about this beautiful team sport of basketball
Speaker 3: that we have when you learn that concept of like,
Speaker 3: if I give a little bit, you know, if I
Speaker 3: just give a little bit of myself, it actually elevates myself.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: There is much more, But he really went in depth there.
Speaker 1: I'll share some more of that with you later in
Speaker 1: the week. At the end, they were basically ready to
Speaker 1: dismiss us, and Pope said, I can't believe nobody asked
Speaker 1: about the Saint John's game. Oddly, nobody did about the
Speaker 1: fact that Saint John's has stepped in for UCLA in
Speaker 1: the CBS Sports Classic coming up down into Atlanta, and
Speaker 1: so somebody kind of I think it was Lee K.
Speaker 1: Howard from WKYT, said hey, what about going against coach Patino.
Speaker 3: That's awesome.
Speaker 4: I'm so hyped.
Speaker 3: I'll be honest with you, just if I'm putting this
Speaker 3: out there so Coach p can hear it. I am
Speaker 3: bringing the suit game. I already started planning, and coach
Speaker 3: just be ready, Okay, bring it, and the game's gonna
Speaker 3: be elite.
Speaker 1: I'm not going white. I can't listen.
Speaker 3: I'm not I'm not trying to be the dawn like
Speaker 3: that's how that position I have been taking. But I'm
Speaker 3: bringing the thunder. So I don't know what coach has prepared,
Speaker 3: but he better get with his tailor because it's on
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be fun. That's gonna be funny. And I
Speaker 1: can't wait. And I was a little surprised. I thought
Speaker 1: somebody else would ask, otherwise I would have. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be a lot of fun. The time leading
Speaker 1: up to that game is gonna be really entertaining. Otaga
Speaker 1: always name naturally came up early and he talked about
Speaker 1: the fact that you know, Otaga's got a lot of
Speaker 1: skills on offense and defense. Didn't make any predictions about
Speaker 1: what would happen with the NBA. But of course, the
Speaker 1: big story today in the NBA is about what happened
Speaker 1: last night, and that's the Dallas Mavericks winning the lottery.
Speaker 1: With a chance of one point eight percent. The Mavericks
Speaker 1: win the overall number one pick and likely will take
Speaker 1: Cooper Flag And this, of course is the franchise that
Speaker 1: one guy traded away Luka Donsich. Maybe Cooper Flagg saves
Speaker 1: his butt when it comes to the fans, but of course,
Speaker 1: the Mavericks winning that pick when they desperately needed it
Speaker 1: gives rise to the notion if you like conspiracies, which
Speaker 1: I do, that the lottery at times has been fixed
Speaker 1: throughout the years. I love a good conspiracy. I kind
Speaker 1: of like this one. And I'm going to tell you
Speaker 1: more about that coming up tomorrow night, because there just
Speaker 1: seems to be too many coincidences where teams, especially one
Speaker 1: year in particular, where teams needed a specific player, not
Speaker 1: just a type of player, but a specific player and
Speaker 1: they got him. Up next, my conversation from earlier this
Speaker 1: month with Rhys Potter the transfer from Miami of Ohio.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. You're listening to the best of the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Insider joining us now from right now is his
Speaker 1: dorm room at the Miami Ohio is Rhyes Potter of
Speaker 1: the newest Wildcat. Congratulations and I appreciate you.
Speaker 4: It's been a lifelong dream of mind. So this is
Speaker 4: so real for me.
Speaker 1: I had a feeling you're going to say that. So
Speaker 1: let's let's start with when you were growing up always
Speaker 1: a Wildcat fan. What are your earliest memories.
Speaker 6: You know, growing up as a Wildcats fan and liked it.
Speaker 6: I mean I was always the thing. You're either a
Speaker 6: Kentucky fan or a Lobal fan, so I think elected it.
Speaker 6: I was definitely a Kentucky fan, so I grew to
Speaker 6: love the program, and you know, it was kind of
Speaker 6: all everybody knows is to be a Kentucky fan. Everybody
Speaker 6: knows that when a Kentucky basketball game is, when a
Speaker 6: Kentucky football game is.
Speaker 4: So it's the big deal around here.
Speaker 1: And I guess was Tubby coaching when you were growing up?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 6: With him and mostly cal Yeah, mostly the years I
Speaker 6: remember of the cal Era.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what do you remember any specific players that really
Speaker 1: excited you.
Speaker 6: I would probably say John Wall. I mean that was
Speaker 6: always a big thing. John Wall dance when I was younger,
Speaker 6: So you know, that was always the player everybody was
Speaker 6: most excited about. Every every little kid used to do
Speaker 6: his little dance. So you know, I was probably, you know,
Speaker 6: the best and earliest memory.
Speaker 1: I had, Although your game is a little bit different
Speaker 1: from his.
Speaker 6: Right, Yeah, I mean I wish I could say I
Speaker 6: was astass as him and you know, as good as him,
Speaker 6: But yeah, it's a little it's a little different.
Speaker 1: You're you're a pretty tall guy. Were you tall growing up?
Speaker 1: I mean, was it always basketball for you?
Speaker 4: It wasn't always basketball for me.
Speaker 6: I was always kind of I was always taller, but
Speaker 6: I was never really you know, not much taller than everybody.
Speaker 6: But I just kept steadily growing and so everybody kind
Speaker 6: of peaked, and I just I just kept steadily growing,
Speaker 6: you know, a couple of inches every year.
Speaker 4: So I kind of kind of what happened to me well, and.
Speaker 1: That happens to most kids that way as well. And
Speaker 1: then when you got a chance to play college ball,
Speaker 1: what I mean again, Miami is a great school, the
Speaker 1: best option for you at the time, though, right.
Speaker 4: It was.
Speaker 6: I mean it was probably not the most highly rated
Speaker 6: school for sure, but you know, I believe in Coach Steel,
Speaker 6: I believe in the staff. So that's kind of the
Speaker 6: place that I knew kind of was going to.
Speaker 4: Be home originally.
Speaker 1: And you guys are coming off a great year. You
Speaker 1: drop a heartbreaker in the MAC title game, but next
Speaker 1: thing you know, you're in the portal. What led to
Speaker 1: your decision to see you at? What else is out there?
Speaker 4: Just kind of just combined of a couple of things.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 6: I love my time at Miami. I had no complaints.
Speaker 6: You know, Coach Steel, Coach Smith, and you know, Coach
Speaker 6: Home and Coach Risburg and were great for me. You know,
Speaker 6: they they kind of helped me get where it's where
Speaker 6: I am today, and I have nothing but the thanks
Speaker 6: and gratitudes towards them, So you know, I kind of
Speaker 6: wanted to, you know, move on to a little little,
Speaker 6: bigger things.
Speaker 4: You know, I wanted to compete for national championships.
Speaker 6: You know, that's kind of the thing I've always you know,
Speaker 6: growing up in high school and stuff. You know, the
Speaker 6: big deal wasn't you weren't gonna win your You weren't
Speaker 6: supposed to win your city or your region. The goal
Speaker 6: with the win the state title. So that've kind of
Speaker 6: kind of always been in my mindset. You got to
Speaker 6: win the big thing. So that's kind of the big
Speaker 6: difference between Miami and here. You know, Miami, you always
Speaker 6: kind of like the underdog and you're always trying to
Speaker 6: compete for mac championships. But you know, Kentucky, you're competing
Speaker 6: for banners, you're competing for you know, national championships. So
Speaker 6: that's kind of something I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 1: When you entered the portal, did you know Mark Pope
Speaker 1: was looking for one more person?
Speaker 6: I know, so, I mean they were still constructing the
Speaker 6: rest of their roster recruiting some other people.
Speaker 4: So they started recruiting me a month ago, and.
Speaker 6: Then kind of knew all along that that's kind of
Speaker 6: where I wanted to go once they reached out to me,
Speaker 6: you know, but you know I wanted to take my time,
Speaker 6: you know, see some other things. But you know, growing
Speaker 6: up as a electning kid, I always knew, you know,
Speaker 6: if you if I ever had the chance, I can
Speaker 6: it say now. So like I always knew, you know,
Speaker 6: after they reached out to me, that's where I wanted
Speaker 6: to go. You know, Kentucky kind of recruits itself, you know.
Speaker 6: You know, anybody who turned down the blue and white
Speaker 6: and the Kentucky on the front of those jersey, I
Speaker 6: think it's honestly crazy. That's being growing up, being a
Speaker 6: electing kid. So you know, it's a little different for
Speaker 6: me than you know, maybe some other people.
Speaker 1: Talking to Reese Potter, who is the newest Kentucky Wildcats,
Speaker 1: stepped into the portal and emerged a wildcat. So tell
Speaker 1: me about that first phone call. How did that happen?
Speaker 1: What was your reaction?
Speaker 6: That's so interesting to get reached out to me. You know,
Speaker 6: he texted me, and I didn't believe it at first time.
Speaker 6: You honest, I was actuam lessing him. So I thought
Speaker 6: one of my friends to find a joke on here
Speaker 6: or Frank. You know, I never really thought that that
Speaker 6: was the opportunity that would come. And as soon as
Speaker 6: he reached out to me and I told him, you know,
Speaker 6: that's that's something I'm definitely interested in. And then Coach
Speaker 6: Ppe you know, facetimed me. Actually he was in the
Speaker 6: middle of the you know, La airport and he took
Speaker 6: the time as the day, you know, call and talk
Speaker 6: to me. And you know, it was just a surreal moment.
Speaker 6: You know, growing up watching coach Hope, you know, he
Speaker 6: was able to you know, win a banner here and
Speaker 6: he just you know, kind of talked about how much
Speaker 6: everybody likes him, loves him, and how much they like
Speaker 6: wrapped their arms around him and welcome him home.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 6: It's like, you know, that definitely interested me and something
Speaker 6: that I like, you know, I look forward to being
Speaker 6: able to do.
Speaker 1: I've been able to sit across from Mark as a
Speaker 1: as a coach and a player that that energy is infectious.
Speaker 1: What is it like as a recruit when it's coming
Speaker 1: through that computer screen and he's talking to you about
Speaker 1: maybe joining his team?
Speaker 6: Oh man, It's crazy, you know how much energy he has.
Speaker 6: He's just a very passionate person for this game, and
Speaker 6: you know the game has been really good for him.
Speaker 6: So you know, sometimes on training you might think he's
Speaker 6: you know, he's taking it or something like that, but
Speaker 6: like I can say with the Harveston, you know, he's
Speaker 6: not taking it. He's just a very positive guy and
Speaker 6: very confident guy. He's feel confident in his players, and
Speaker 6: so that's the way you know, he wants his players
Speaker 6: to play. You know, he's he's a very happy individual
Speaker 6: for sure.
Speaker 1: That's a good way to describe him. He's happy and
Speaker 1: the people around him are and it makes it easier,
Speaker 1: I guess for them to work for him and play
Speaker 1: for him. You mentioned that you wanted to take your
Speaker 1: time though. How difficult was that, Reef, Because again election
Speaker 1: and kid, you'd always wanted to be a wildcat. The
Speaker 1: knee jerk reaction would have been, yeah, I'm coming yesterday,
Speaker 1: but you did the mature thing and took your time.
Speaker 1: Tell me about that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So, I mean it was really it was really hard.
Speaker 6: You know, as soon as they contacted me right away,
Speaker 6: I wanted to be like, yeah, that's where I'm coming.
Speaker 6: But like I mean, all along enough kind of where
Speaker 6: my mindset was but I said, wanted to take my
Speaker 6: time makes or see all my other options that you know, my.
Speaker 4: Mind never changed.
Speaker 6: Always knew that's where I wanted to kind of as
Speaker 6: soon as they contacted me.
Speaker 1: Well, now you know, there's a there's a pretty good
Speaker 1: looking roster right now with some size. Obviously you're gonna
Speaker 1: learn a lot in practice and then uh, you know,
Speaker 1: go up against some good players. Tell me about fighting
Speaker 1: for minutes. You're gonna have to do that probably anywhere
Speaker 1: you went though, right.
Speaker 6: Yes, there, So I'm really looking forward to it, you know,
Speaker 6: ready to get everybody better for them to make me better.
Speaker 6: So I'm really looking forward to it. You know, you know,
Speaker 6: everybody on this roster, the NBA prospect those huge. I mean,
Speaker 6: the team is you know, very well constructed, and you
Speaker 6: know it's gonna be really fun competing with these guys
Speaker 6: and getting to know these guys.
Speaker 1: What did Mark Pope tell you about his offensive system?
Speaker 1: Because it's a little different, isn't it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a little different.
Speaker 6: So it's more of an NBA style offense, you know,
Speaker 6: which is kind of kind of becoming a thing in
Speaker 6: college now, but not completely you know, the more fought out,
Speaker 6: you know, fast, flawing offense, you know, kind of running gun.
Speaker 6: It's kind of kind of the offense in my opinion.
Speaker 6: So that's kind of something that you know, the NBA does,
Speaker 6: and that's kind of the dream is to get there,
Speaker 6: so you know, they do it and then they're able
Speaker 6: to get their players to it.
Speaker 1: So we saw Amari Williams shoot threes, we saw Brandon
Speaker 1: Garrison shoot threes. How's your three point game?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's pretty good.
Speaker 6: So I feel like my career three point percent is
Speaker 6: pretty solid in my opinion, So you know, I'm just
Speaker 6: looking to improve that a little bit and keep keep
Speaker 6: keep that going.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm looking at your numbers. As a freshman, you
Speaker 1: had forty five percent of your triples thirty seven percent
Speaker 1: as a sophomore. Did the offense at Miami allow for
Speaker 1: that kind of freedom?
Speaker 6: Yeah, So, I mean it was kind of a little
Speaker 6: similar but a little different to the Kentucky offense. So
Speaker 6: it's definitely something that I'm going to have to get
Speaker 6: to know, but it's definitely something that's in my game
Speaker 6: to be able to, you know, pull it from deep
Speaker 6: and face the floor for get everybody else you know involved.
Speaker 1: You average seventeen minutes a game and nearly four rebounds
Speaker 1: a game. I got to think you take a lot
Speaker 1: of pride in that part of your game, am I right?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 6: I mean that's you know, when you're out there, you're
Speaker 6: the big man, so you got to you got to
Speaker 6: make sure to clean everything up. So that's definitely playing.
Speaker 6: I look to improve and just keep going.
Speaker 1: How's your defense.
Speaker 4: Pretty good?
Speaker 6: So last year my team, you know, we took pride
Speaker 6: in our defense and being able to you know, switch
Speaker 6: one through five. So that's definitely playing out. It was
Speaker 6: really fun to me to be able to challenge myself
Speaker 6: to go again smaller, more quicker guards. So it's definitely
Speaker 6: playing that I look forward to improving and just keep
Speaker 6: doing because I feel like I do it at a
Speaker 6: pretty good level right now.
Speaker 1: Is that something that you particularly like doing? Block shots?
Speaker 1: I know a lot of big guys really they make
Speaker 1: it an art form.
Speaker 4: Yes, for sure.
Speaker 6: I mean it's definitely fun to go over there and
Speaker 6: block something that's kind of I mean, that's like kind
Speaker 6: of our our two points, you know, kind of being
Speaker 6: able to clean everything up, you know, make an offer
Speaker 6: a mistakes. It's definitely definitely fun to block a shot.
Speaker 6: You know, get Get gets the crowd going for sure.
Speaker 1: Do you know any of the guys on the roster
Speaker 1: right now?
Speaker 6: I know a few people. So I grew up with
Speaker 6: Malachi and Jasper and then kind of I played against
Speaker 6: her in a couple of times, so so I know
Speaker 6: a couple of the guys pretty well. So I'm looking
Speaker 6: forward to, you know, learning about everybody else.
Speaker 1: How did you cross pass with Malachi and Jasper?
Speaker 4: Uh? So, Jasper actually lives like five minutes from my house.
Speaker 6: I've always played on like similar teams with him and
Speaker 6: always so he went to Woodford County originally, and so
Speaker 6: he went to Carter g in middle school, so playing
Speaker 6: against him in middle school and then we played on
Speaker 6: the similar age team, so I always kind of kept
Speaker 6: close with him, and you know, he was always a
Speaker 6: similar tournament, so I was able to you know, watch
Speaker 6: him because he was in a younger age. And then
Speaker 6: Malachi obviously was at great crossing for his whole career,
Speaker 6: so I was able to play against him a couple
Speaker 6: of times and just you know, grow a friendship from
Speaker 6: that being able to battle it out on the court
Speaker 6: and then you know kind of you know, the friends off.
Speaker 1: The court Hey, I was going to say, how did
Speaker 1: you do against him?
Speaker 4: I feel like I did pretty good.
Speaker 6: I know he'd probably say it'd probably say otherwise. But
Speaker 6: I feel like he's got a got a pretty bad
Speaker 6: record against me, is what I'm gonna say.
Speaker 1: Ah, Okay, yeah, but now he's got a state championship.
Speaker 6: Yeah, he's got to stay jams. But you know, i'd
Speaker 6: like to say my senior year he was going to
Speaker 6: against me. That's that's where what I get him with.
Speaker 6: But you know, he does have the state championship. I mean,
Speaker 6: obviously he's a great player. I mean, he's on draft
Speaker 6: boards for a reason. He's a great, great, great individual,
Speaker 6: and he's gonna do great things next year. People are
Speaker 6: going to look forward to Washington play.
Speaker 1: Talking to Reese Potter, he is the newest Wildcat, came
Speaker 1: through the transfer portal and we'll play for the Wildcats
Speaker 1: this coming season. And you've had to make now two
Speaker 1: major decisions in your life. What's that been like because
Speaker 1: that first time you signed a scholarship, you know, I
Speaker 1: know your parents are there to help you, but that's
Speaker 1: something that you got to decide and you had to
Speaker 1: do it again. Is it an enjoyable process.
Speaker 6: I wouldn't say it was probably the most enjoyable process,
Speaker 6: but when you know, schools like Kentucky reach out to you,
Speaker 6: and it definitely definitely brings the brings the life back
Speaker 6: into the bathro and make the fun being able to
Speaker 6: you know, come back home and play for the premiere
Speaker 6: program and you know, playing in front.
Speaker 4: Of you know, a bunch of crazy fans in the
Speaker 4: Blue Nation.
Speaker 6: So wasn't that hard of a decision the second time around?
Speaker 6: You know, the first time around, it was a little tougher,
Speaker 6: you know, but you know, second time around, I kind
Speaker 6: of knew what I was looking for, knew what I
Speaker 6: liked to play, and you know, I mean, it's impossible
Speaker 6: to turn down.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 4: Coach Pot's offer is.
Speaker 1: Reese Potter, the newest Kentucky Wildcat, transferring in from Miami
Speaker 1: of Ohio. We'll talk more UK hoops with Reese on
Speaker 1: the other side of the break here on six point
Speaker 1: thirty WLP. Welcome back to the Best of the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Insider. We're chatting with Reese Potter, formerly of Lexington
Speaker 1: Catholic High School, attended Miami of Ohio, but just over
Speaker 1: the weekend stepped into the transfer portal and came out
Speaker 1: a Kentucky Wildcat. As I understand it, it happened fairly
Speaker 1: quickly once you decided to make this move. Tell me
Speaker 1: that happened. It happened over the weekend, Am I right?
Speaker 6: So I texted Coach Poe or Coach Pope and Chris
Speaker 6: Stieger last night letting them know that this is what
Speaker 6: I want to do. So I don't really know exactly
Speaker 6: how it got out leaked, but you know, these fans
Speaker 6: are and I'm looking forward to playing from in front
Speaker 6: of them and you know, making them proud hopefully, because
Speaker 6: you know, Kentucky's the you know the school, and you know,
Speaker 6: I look forward to playing.
Speaker 4: In front of these fans.
Speaker 1: Well, I was about to ask you, what do you
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be like now? Because you're a hometown kid,
Speaker 1: And I remember Joe B. Hall telling me that he
Speaker 1: he kind of was very cautious about signing local kids
Speaker 1: because there's so much more pressure from fans and family
Speaker 1: and you know, your minister and your mailman. You know
Speaker 1: about what are you gonna do when you're gonna play
Speaker 1: more minute stuff like that. Uh, you're a little older now,
Speaker 1: you're more mature do you feel like you're better equipped
Speaker 1: to handle that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I definitely feel like i'd be better. Bet I'm
Speaker 6: more equipped for it now. You know, I played two
Speaker 6: years of college basketball clock, so.
Speaker 4: I kind of know what it's like, you know.
Speaker 6: But you know, I never really realized how crazy it
Speaker 6: would be. You know, as a likening kid, always knew
Speaker 6: how how crazy these fans are and how much they
Speaker 6: love their program, but I didn't realize it was it
Speaker 6: was this much.
Speaker 4: So it's definitely something I didn't realize, but I kind
Speaker 4: of did. So I have no idea.
Speaker 6: I don't have any idea how it is going to
Speaker 6: be able to put on that jersey for the first
Speaker 6: time and walk out in front of these fans. It's
Speaker 6: gonna it's gonna be a surreal moment for sure, and
Speaker 6: it's definitely gonna be something on the cherish for the
Speaker 6: rest of my life.
Speaker 1: You've played in reperena though, haven't you.
Speaker 6: I haven't, so yeah, yeah, I feel like I've had
Speaker 6: I don't even know I only had two. I had
Speaker 6: two to three losses every year in high school, but
Speaker 6: I lost in Norwegian championship one.
Speaker 4: Yeah it was rough, you know.
Speaker 6: Every year I felt like I was ranked, We were
Speaker 6: ranked like the Catholic was ranked number one for the
Speaker 6: whole year, and then we always always fell short of
Speaker 6: the goal. But you know something, you to be a
Speaker 6: blessing to finally be on that court. It's definitely feeling,
Speaker 6: you know, I wanted to do in high school, but
Speaker 6: you know, now I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 4: So it's gonna be great.
Speaker 1: And now that you have signed, you say you have
Speaker 1: a better idea how crazy these fans are.
Speaker 6: I feel like I have a better idea, but definitely
Speaker 6: I don't think any of us kind of know how how.
Speaker 4: Crazy it's going to be.
Speaker 6: You know, some of these some of the players that
Speaker 6: have played before me, you know, read mister Shepherd, coach Pope,
Speaker 6: and you know, Trent and Travis have told me how
Speaker 6: how crazy it is, and like you'll never really expect
Speaker 6: it or realize it until you actually do it. So
Speaker 6: looking forward to it.
Speaker 1: What's your phone been like since the word got out, Man, it's.
Speaker 4: Been blowing up.
Speaker 6: You know, I'm just extremely grateful for all these all
Speaker 6: these fans taking me in and welcomed me home. So
Speaker 6: you know, it's been a it's been a real blessing.
Speaker 6: So yeah, it's it's it's been a lot a lot
Speaker 6: of buzz and a lot of people reaching out to me,
Speaker 6: which is which which is all love?
Speaker 4: And so I really really appreciate them all.
Speaker 1: What about your folks, What about your family? What's their reaction?
Speaker 6: You know, my parents love it when I When I
Speaker 6: was when they originally reached out to me, you know,
Speaker 6: that was my My parents both went to Kentucky, so
Speaker 6: or my dad went Kentucky and my mom grew up there,
Speaker 6: so you know, they always kind of they always kind
Speaker 6: of knew how crazy this this place was and this
Speaker 6: program is and how much they love their players. So
Speaker 6: they were able to kind of tell me how it
Speaker 6: was to be able to go to Kentucky and live
Speaker 6: around these people and like them in all their lives. So,
Speaker 6: you know, they're super proud of me, and then they're
Speaker 6: they're really grateful for this opportunity.
Speaker 1: No doubt. I mean, it's one thing to land to
Speaker 1: scolly take that off to your parents' shoulders you're paying
Speaker 1: for school or having your school pay But now to
Speaker 1: be able to come home and play, that's something else.
Speaker 1: And like you said, you've got a pretty good idea
Speaker 1: of what Kentucky fans are like, but just to hear
Speaker 1: that noise in Repperena, I assume you went to games
Speaker 1: growing up in Reperina.
Speaker 6: Right, Yes, sir, I went to a few games that noise. Definitely,
Speaker 6: when when stuff happens, it's different. There's no place, there's
Speaker 6: no place in the country like it.
Speaker 4: For sure.
Speaker 1: Did you see the Mark Pope interview with John Rostein
Speaker 1: last week on YouTube?
Speaker 6: Or I've seen a couple of his interviews, but I
Speaker 6: don't know hock seen. I'm not sure if seen that one?
Speaker 1: Well, you know, you know, man, So get on YouTube
Speaker 1: and just type in Mark Pope and I guarantee you
Speaker 1: that's the first thing that will come up. Because Rostein
Speaker 1: has him. He's with cbssports dot com. He breaks down
Speaker 1: the roster, uh, new guys, guys coming back and all that.
Speaker 1: And you think Mark Pope's excited, listen to him describe.
Speaker 1: And this is before you had made your decision. You
Speaker 1: know what he's got coming in and how this team
Speaker 1: is coming together. When when you looked at that roster,
Speaker 1: how excited did you get?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm very excited.
Speaker 6: Before even I committed, I knew like how great this
Speaker 6: team is going to be. Next year, and how well
Speaker 6: this team is gonna glue together and they're gonna you know,
Speaker 6: this team's really got a chance to you know, do
Speaker 6: something special, something that not a lot of groups are gonna,
Speaker 6: you know, be able to say, you know, even before
Speaker 6: the season starts, you know, this group has a has
Speaker 6: a real chance of winning it all. So that's just
Speaker 6: something that I look forward to doing, you know, competing
Speaker 6: every day.
Speaker 1: I know you were busy with your career at Miami
Speaker 1: and school and all that. Did you ever have a
Speaker 1: chance to watch Kentucky play during the season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I was able to. I was able to
Speaker 4: watch them. You know, a couple of times.
Speaker 6: I felt like most of the time we always played
Speaker 6: at the same time, so it's a little bit of
Speaker 6: a struggle, but yeah, I was able to see, you know,
Speaker 6: some last year. You know, the team had a great,
Speaker 6: great run last year, and so that's something that we
Speaker 6: look to improve on and you know, keep going.
Speaker 1: When you were watching that Mark Pope offense, did you
Speaker 1: have any thoughts like what are they doing or or
Speaker 1: you said it was similar to Miami, So did it
Speaker 1: just look familiar to you?
Speaker 6: It looked a little familiar, you know, when I was
Speaker 6: watching last year, I was watching more of as a fan.
Speaker 6: I'm more more of a fan than like more you know, judgmental,
Speaker 6: you know, studying it really so you know, I kind
Speaker 6: of know kind of similar, know what it's similar like,
Speaker 6: but I don't completely know for sure, but I'm looking
Speaker 6: forward to learning it.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you, I'm happy for you, happy for
Speaker 1: your family, and I appreciate your time. I know you've
Speaker 1: got finals coming up. You're gonna be able to concentrate race,
Speaker 1: You're gonna be able to zero in on the books,
Speaker 1: because without letting your mind wander back to election then yes, sir.
Speaker 4: So, I mean, my mind's nothing going to wonder.
Speaker 6: I don't know if there's anything being able to control that,
Speaker 6: but yeah, definitely definitely got to finish up here and
Speaker 6: then and then you know, get down to electioning. Then
Speaker 6: you know, enjoy enjoying my time there for the next
Speaker 6: couple of years.
Speaker 1: And I'll let you go with this. What are you
Speaker 1: doing this summer? Are you playing going to play much ball?
Speaker 1: Do you even know yet?
Speaker 6: I definitely gonna play a lot of ball, so you know,
Speaker 6: have to as files a wrap up, I'm definitely to
Speaker 6: start getting to work and you know, get down to
Speaker 6: the Craft Center and start start growing myself and start
Speaker 6: to start to develop the profits.
Speaker 1: Just pick up games with your new teammates.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 6: Oh, suddenly, I'm looking forward to it. I think a
Speaker 6: lot of us are looking forward to it, you know,
Speaker 6: to some great.
Speaker 1: Games for sure, I would imagine. Hey Man, thank you
Speaker 1: so much, congratulations, best of luck. Looking forward to meeting
Speaker 1: you in person when you get here.
Speaker 4: Yes, sir, I appreciate you reaching out.
Speaker 1: All right, thanks and great job on the interview and
Speaker 1: they'll let you know what it airs.
Speaker 4: I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: End up next to No. Number two, we'll talk with
Speaker 1: Kenny Rice of NBC Sports about UK basketball and of
Speaker 1: course the Kentucky Derby. Also Keith Farmer from w l
Speaker 1: e X Channel eighteen and BBN Tonight also covered the Derby.
Speaker 1: Also covered Rhys Potter in high school. So we'll talk
Speaker 1: Kentucky hoops with Team Man as well. That's on the
Speaker 1: other side of the news break. You're on six thirty Lately, SA,
Speaker 1: welcome back to Gabriel with you. I have jury duty,
Speaker 1: so you're listening to the best of the Big Blue
Speaker 1: Insider joining us now is a longtime friend and a
Speaker 1: guy you see during, among other things, Triple Crown coverage
Speaker 1: of Thurbo Racing. Mister Kenny Rice, longtime sports director WTVQ.
Speaker 1: Are you dry it out yet? From from Derby one
Speaker 1: fifty one.
Speaker 2: Dick, my great friend. I'm doing better.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: My feet are still a little wet, but you know,
Speaker 2: usually takes about five six days and they'll be good.
Speaker 4: I'll be.
Speaker 2: You know, it's not I'd really work in a cooler climate,
Speaker 2: honestly than than a hotter But we could do without
Speaker 2: the rain. But I've worked in I've worked in worse conditions.
Speaker 4: As you know.
Speaker 2: You have two at the Derby's. We've seen some really
Speaker 2: nasty ones. This wasn't too bad.
Speaker 1: I remember the year it seemed like it was snowing,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean just a little yeah. You know,
Speaker 1: we joke about the rain, Kenny. But you, being the
Speaker 1: veteran that you are, you know where to hide, you
Speaker 1: know where to just step in, and you're welcome in
Speaker 1: any barn. So if the rain starts coming down, you
Speaker 1: can you can pretty much hide from it. But there
Speaker 1: are times you just got to step out into it,
Speaker 1: don't you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And because you know, there are advantages to longevity,
Speaker 2: because you do build up some friendships, at least some relationships,
Speaker 2: and yeah, you can always slide under a shed row
Speaker 2: or you know, pop in a stall when we're back
Speaker 2: over the paddock. So you know, we kind of we
Speaker 2: kind of try to work around that as much as possible. Then, yeah,
Speaker 2: you got to pop out someday. You know, you can't
Speaker 2: hide forever, so you try to you try to time it,
Speaker 2: but of course you're on a time schedule, as you know,
Speaker 2: like they're coming to me at four twenty. They don't
Speaker 2: care if it's a downpour or a sprinkle. I got
Speaker 2: to be in this perceipt. I gotta be in front
Speaker 2: of like Baffort's barn at four twenty. So yeah, I've
Speaker 2: had I've had worse days. My hair, Dick, you know,
Speaker 2: that's the most important thing to me.
Speaker 1: Absolutely it was. But you had a team of specialists
Speaker 1: right there though, Right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm peeling, peeling, peeling grapes and massaging my neck.
Speaker 2: You know, it's embarrassed, embarrassing the treatment.
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about the race. As I recall, I
Speaker 1: mean I parked myself in front of the TV. You uh,
Speaker 1: you picked journalism, I believe, as did I. Yes, and
Speaker 1: he ran a heck of a race. And I believe,
Speaker 1: if memory serves your colleague Donna Barton Brothers, picked sovereignty
Speaker 1: and stuck with it. Do I remember that right?
Speaker 2: She picked sovereignty. She told a sovereignty I think on Thursday,
Speaker 2: one of her early meetings, and yes, she's stuck with it.
Speaker 2: And I said, and she gets the double. I had
Speaker 2: good cheer. She had good cheer and sovereignty.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know if she bet it. I asked her.
Speaker 2: She never commented if she bet it. I said, I
Speaker 2: hope you did. Eddie Ochek certainly was MVS as were me.
Speaker 2: I said, yeah, I wish we hadn't know that well,
Speaker 2: Soalerty wasn't like I was surprised at what he went
Speaker 2: off at. I mean, I didn't think that was the
Speaker 2: craziest pick, sovereignty. I thought it was a solid pick.
Speaker 2: But I just thought journalism was the best horse. If
Speaker 2: I picked again, I'd pick journalism first. And I think
Speaker 2: as they separated coming down the stretch of the best
Speaker 2: two horses were sovereignty and journalists, yep, yep.
Speaker 1: And I thought Basa was one of the top three.
Speaker 2: And he was there so yeah.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and by the way, I also had the
Speaker 1: double but full disclosure, I took the favorite and the
Speaker 1: Oaks Good Cheer and then use that all button. So
Speaker 1: once once Good Cheer got home in the ilkuse, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm a winner. But you know, it didn't it didn't
Speaker 1: even cover my initial bet. Uh yeah, here's the thing
Speaker 1: that I'm kicking myself. And I had sovereignty in my
Speaker 1: second tier in my exotics, but I kind of kenny.
Speaker 1: I threw out the fact that sovereignty had already won
Speaker 1: over the racetrack because it was an off track. And
Speaker 1: that's a good lesson to learn, because you know that
Speaker 1: even when it's when it's wet like that, that's a
Speaker 1: really good racetrack. So if a horse likes the track,
Speaker 1: he's gonna like the track, right, that's it.
Speaker 4: That's it. You know. I did the same thing.
Speaker 2: I kept coming back. I kept coming back to Sandman too.
Speaker 2: I thought, well, you know, maybe it's gonna make a
Speaker 2: good run. I saw him win an Arkansas and uh
Speaker 2: but yeah, but you know, and there, you know, Bill Mott,
Speaker 2: you got to be happy for the gall It was
Speaker 2: funny on the on the post race, he corrected me.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you heard it, because I remember
Speaker 2: I said, you know, it's a very similar, you know,
Speaker 2: kind of a dark, kind of drizzly day in nineteen
Speaker 2: when we waited twenty two minutes for to find out
Speaker 2: that you won the derby with Country. He said, it
Speaker 2: was twenty three minutes. Everybody in the truck. I can
Speaker 2: hear him laughing in my ear.
Speaker 1: It's awesome, you know.
Speaker 4: And when we came back.
Speaker 2: Out, I think Randy and Jerry and Avid commented it
Speaker 2: said that twenty three twenty two. You know, we're not
Speaker 2: going to debate a minute with the man that just
Speaker 2: wasn't the derby, but guy as you know that they
Speaker 2: did seem like eternity man.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and you're right Bill Mott who is from
Speaker 1: South Dakota. But yeah, you know, basically as coud Louisville
Speaker 1: as home base for the last forty odd years and
Speaker 1: just a classy part of the business, isn't he.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, when you talk about horsemen, you know,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of trainers out there, but you know,
Speaker 2: he's one of not a few, but there you know,
Speaker 2: it's about a fifty to fifty split on trainers and horsemen.
Speaker 2: I think. And he's a true horseman, you know, like
Speaker 2: people says he going to the pre I said, honestly,
Speaker 2: Bill Mott is one guy that will truly do what's
Speaker 2: good for the horse. Not that all the others wouldn't,
Speaker 2: but sometimes it's auto maximum. I gotta go to the Freakness.
Speaker 2: Yeall won the Derby, which would make sense, but or
Speaker 2: the horse is not ready to run, and it just
Speaker 2: stands out so much that you know they're not gonna
Speaker 2: try to run the Freakness. But but Bill will make
Speaker 2: the right decision. I don't know what that'll be, you know,
Speaker 2: Like I say, he really does care and uh, and
Speaker 2: it's just everything works out well for him this year,
Speaker 2: the last couple of years, you know, going back to
Speaker 2: the Cody's wish and all that. Yeah, and you know
Speaker 2: a guy like that, you know, you're happy for guys
Speaker 2: like that that's you know, stayed the course and and uh,
Speaker 2: you know getting I won't say getting what they deserve
Speaker 2: because they worked hard to earn what they're getting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and he's been in a game. He's
Speaker 1: seventy one, which as we know, is not old.
Speaker 2: But no, that's the kid.
Speaker 1: That's kid many many years ahead of him. But yeah,
Speaker 1: he's just he's done everything right, you know, without controversy
Speaker 1: and things like that. And either he or the owner
Speaker 1: after the race, when they talked about what what lies ahead,
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's the Preakness or not, one of
Speaker 1: them said, sovereigns he will tell us, which is clear
Speaker 1: early the way to go. And you and I have
Speaker 1: seen horse people wedge some of these horses into the
Speaker 1: Triple Crown race and never have had any business being there.
Speaker 1: But I think that's the proper way to go. But
Speaker 1: the trouble is, Kenny, and you and I have talked
Speaker 1: about this for years, is getting the fans interested. And
Speaker 1: as you know, and there's a triple Crown on the line,
Speaker 1: you've been at Belmont Park whinners, you know thirty thousand,
Speaker 1: You've been there when there's one hundred and thirty thousand.
Speaker 1: Because it's all about the Triple Crown.
Speaker 2: It is, I mean the Belmont. Now for the horse people,
Speaker 2: I know this is different and that includes out most
Speaker 2: of the people listing your legs do get that. But
Speaker 2: the Belmont is just another big race. If a triple
Speaker 2: Crown that is on the line for the rest of
Speaker 2: the world Okay, for the rest of the country. It's like, hey, yeah,
Speaker 2: there's a big horse race in New York today that
Speaker 2: I don't know if somebody want the Derby somebody I
Speaker 2: don't even know, and it shows in the ratings. I mean,
Speaker 2: the race can go. I think we had like twenty
Speaker 2: one million to watch the race itself, at about seventeen
Speaker 2: million leading up to it, that number would drop off
Speaker 2: to like four megan of the Belmont if there's not
Speaker 2: if there's not a Triple Crown, maybe if you had,
Speaker 2: you know, two competitive horses. Let's say hypathetically that that
Speaker 2: you know that the next race is won by journalism,
Speaker 2: so you got a little bit of a rival. You
Speaker 2: might get it up to six million, but that's it.
Speaker 2: You know, it's not going to come close to the
Speaker 2: numbers that the Derby is going to get. And that's
Speaker 2: really why NBC lost it is because they didn't want
Speaker 2: to pay New York Racing wanted pretty close to the
Speaker 2: equal amount that the Derby gets, and Fox is paying
Speaker 2: them a lot of money.
Speaker 4: You know, I don't know. I mean they got the.
Speaker 2: Money to spend I guess, And that's how that's how
Speaker 2: we lost the Triple crown, you know, as we call
Speaker 2: it now, we just call it the double crowd now,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of NBC, your ratings and congratulations were the
Speaker 1: highest since nineteen eighty nine when one of my all
Speaker 1: time favorites won its Sunday silence. Yeah, do you guys
Speaker 1: even talk about ratings? Do they talk about it with you?
Speaker 1: With talent?
Speaker 2: You know what they do is they send it out.
Speaker 2: We found out Sunday night about it. They send out
Speaker 2: a memo to all of us how it was, and
Speaker 2: you know, naturally congratulated us. And actually got a call
Speaker 2: from my boss yesterday, which you know the phone range.
Speaker 2: He goes, My goodness, I'd like to have done the preteness,
Speaker 2: but no, it was a good call. They said, yeah,
Speaker 2: good job, good job. Everybody did a good job. And
Speaker 2: the ratings popped up big. And why they popped up,
Speaker 2: I don't know, other than I guess I'm gonna say
Speaker 2: some of the Bob Baffert factor in there, because it
Speaker 2: wasn't like we wouldn't like we had super horses, you know,
Speaker 2: where everybody said, hey boy, this justify You know what
Speaker 2: about this too? You didn't race last year? And about
Speaker 2: this American pharaoh, I don't know if there was such
Speaker 2: a buzz about journalism or anybody else in the field
Speaker 2: other than the horse community, but for some reason, you know,
Speaker 2: it just clicked, and you know, thank goodness, that means
Speaker 2: we'll keep doing it. Actually, I think we got it
Speaker 2: for about another six years or something with Churchill. So yeah,
Speaker 2: that's nice, excellent.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Kenny Rice of NBC Sports and we'll
Speaker 1: come back and talk a little bit more about the
Speaker 1: Derby and about influence, and we'll talk about the basketball
Speaker 1: cats as well. You're listening to the Best of the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider. Welcome back to the Best of the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider. Kenny Rice is my guest. He is
Speaker 1: for the longest time covered the Triple Crown and other
Speaker 1: races for ESPN and an NBC and if you got
Speaker 1: a race, he'll cover it for you. But I think
Speaker 1: you're just exclusively exclusively NBC anymore, right, That is correct,
Speaker 1: That is correct.
Speaker 2: You don't cut down on the W two's. The accountant
Speaker 2: likes that, so yes, yeah, just staying with them. This
Speaker 2: my twenty sixty year I believe that.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't you know, Jack was just a little
Speaker 2: boy when I left Channel thirty six.
Speaker 1: That's true, that's very sure.
Speaker 2: I remember when he was a kid. You know, I
Speaker 2: hate to be that guy, you know, because I don't
Speaker 2: when I used to go back home and say, I
Speaker 2: remember when you little boys, I'm thirty years old. Now,
Speaker 2: he goes, You'll always be that little eight year old
Speaker 2: kid to me, and I fell. And see that's the
Speaker 2: way I kind of catch myself these days. You know,
Speaker 2: I remember your kids when they were little kids.
Speaker 1: You know, my son used to get in trouble in
Speaker 1: middle school now and then, you know, just just mischievous stuff.
Speaker 1: And a few years ago I bumped into his middle
Speaker 1: school principal. Whatever became of that boy of yours, I said,
Speaker 1: remember that kid who was always in trouble, he's a cop.
Speaker 1: So you know, it comes full circle. Before we went
Speaker 1: on the air that we were talking about, uh, there
Speaker 1: was a there's a TikTok influencer involved in ownership. He's
Speaker 1: got twenty million viewers. Jason Worth, the baseball player back
Speaker 1: on center stage. He's already won a triple Crown race.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering, Kenny, do you feel like this might lead
Speaker 1: to more of new Blood? I guess they say, when
Speaker 1: it comes to ownership and involvement.
Speaker 2: You know, I think it might because I tell you
Speaker 2: they're both very active in trying to drum up support.
Speaker 2: I think what Jason walked around, I think on Oaks Day,
Speaker 2: and he was looking for people that had mullets, I guess,
Speaker 2: and if you had one, you you know, a flying
Speaker 2: mohawk and the rare, rare chance that he won, he
Speaker 2: was going to invite them to come down to the
Speaker 2: winner circle selected too. He selected two or three people
Speaker 2: that had the best mullets that he ran into Oak Stay,
Speaker 2: you know, and some of the old guard may go
Speaker 2: hur on Perra, you know, but let's say it some
Speaker 2: goofy stuff like that. It doesn't hurt anybody, and I
Speaker 2: think it makes it interesting. And uh, you know, racing
Speaker 2: has to take a look at MMA and some of
Speaker 2: these other sports out there that continue to attract young
Speaker 2: people and realize, you know, they've got to maybe change
Speaker 2: the system up. I know it sounds sacrilegious. Maybe have
Speaker 2: less time between races, you know, keep the action going.
Speaker 2: Kids seem to like that. Work out something with apps, Dick.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to say too much and I don't
Speaker 2: want you to either. Until the NPR gives us a deal,
Speaker 2: like they pay these guys from New York to always
Speaker 2: come down tell them the same stuff they've been doing
Speaker 2: for twenty years. I want them to tell I want
Speaker 2: you know, if they cut me and you in on
Speaker 2: a deal, Dick will gladly sit down with them at
Speaker 2: the Jockey Club and everybody else that'll lay out something
Speaker 2: for it. They don't want to hear from anybody in
Speaker 2: the business. They want to hear from consultants that you know,
Speaker 2: you know, they know about racing. But it's the same thing.
Speaker 2: Let's print up some T shirts. Hey, that's great, that'll
Speaker 2: get a kid. I don't want what twenty one year
Speaker 2: old college kids don't want a T shirt and a cap,
Speaker 2: you know, they want to they want to know what's
Speaker 2: going on. You know. I think they kind of can
Speaker 2: start getting human versus human you know, you know, do
Speaker 2: you do you like this guy versus that guy?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 2: Have about Junior Albarez is going to win a cat
Speaker 2: you know something that during the radio. But yeah, having
Speaker 2: the influence in there is huge. Nice guy too, met
Speaker 2: him for the first time. He's very friendly. West Point.
Speaker 2: They're very you know different. Uh, you know, I don't
Speaker 2: want a stereoy. Growing up in eastern Katucky, I hate stereotypes, right,
Speaker 2: so I sure didn't want to do this, but you
Speaker 2: know this was a very articulate young guy, well, you know,
Speaker 2: well dressed, mannered and and yeah, I mean people like him.
Speaker 2: I don't know what an influencer is. You're my influencer,
Speaker 2: I said, want to Gabriel doing the show. But aside
Speaker 2: from that, I don't pay attention to it. You know,
Speaker 2: I don't need somebody. I don't need to look to,
Speaker 2: say Brittany or I love to work for Britney. Brittany said,
Speaker 2: do you ever talk about going on and building up
Speaker 2: your audience by by like a series of showing which
Speaker 2: time what tie should I work for the Derby today?
Speaker 2: Because she does that like with her outfit. That's right,
Speaker 2: really really, you know, you know I said, forget everybody else.
Speaker 2: You know, you know about five or six of my friends.
Speaker 2: What the answer would be if I said, which TI
Speaker 2: guys should I wear it today?
Speaker 1: You know, let me know ahead of time if you're
Speaker 1: ever going to do that. I need to be parked
Speaker 1: in front of the TV for that. You know, one
Speaker 1: thing about that kid, the influencer I cannot recall his name,
Speaker 1: but I saw an interview with him both before and
Speaker 1: after the race. He's not just along for the ride either.
Speaker 1: He's really into the sport, which I think really helps.
Speaker 1: And when while we're talking about online presence, I really
Speaker 1: it's part of it is because kind of on a whim,
Speaker 1: I jumped into my race horse venue and I owned
Speaker 1: a piece of authentic and so now I've got to
Speaker 1: now I own some of the breeding rights. I mean,
Speaker 1: I get a couple of bucks, but I can say
Speaker 1: I own a tiny piece of a Derby winner, and
Speaker 1: I bought a couple more shares of other hornse verses
Speaker 1: trained by Bob Bafford. By the way, but I think
Speaker 1: that I I think if that can really take hold
Speaker 1: and catch on, I think that's going to be big
Speaker 1: for younger people. Not that I'm one of them, but
Speaker 1: four younger people who might want to get involved.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree. And Griffin Johnson, I just now thought
Speaker 2: of his name, and I just met him for the
Speaker 2: first time. I told him, I said, Griffin Johnson.
Speaker 4: He said yes.
Speaker 2: I said, I just want to say your name out loud,
Speaker 2: making sure I got it right. We're going to be
Speaker 2: on it in about fifteen seconds that we were and
Speaker 2: Terry Felly I've known for like twenty five years.
Speaker 4: But anyway, so he.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he and he actually knows it, like you said,
Speaker 2: that was the key. He's not just some guy said,
Speaker 2: you know, I've got some money because I've got a
Speaker 2: you know, I think he's got like twelve or fifteen
Speaker 2: million followers.
Speaker 4: Yeah, maybe more than that. I know, hard to believe.
Speaker 2: I'm not on TikTok.
Speaker 1: I know, I'm amazed.
Speaker 2: You know, you know me the social maven that I am. Anyway,
Speaker 2: he yeah, you know, he but but like I said,
Speaker 2: he he's on these little videos. I watched some of
Speaker 2: the videos after where he's talking about you that tough luck.
Speaker 2: But he's staying with racing and explain why. And I mean,
Speaker 2: I got to be honest, he's more articulate than some
Speaker 2: of these people. Has been doing this for thirty years,
Speaker 2: some of these owners and trainers, and I agree I
Speaker 2: think that way that that's exactly what racing needs. What
Speaker 2: I hope they do is really, you know, stay with
Speaker 2: it and not get too carried away and think everybody's
Speaker 2: going to be an influencer. You know, you've got to
Speaker 2: have guys that really want to do the business, not
Speaker 2: just pop up. And I think he's a guy that
Speaker 2: really wants to do the business. And obviously worth is
Speaker 2: he got. He got Barry the executive for the for
Speaker 2: the San Francisco Giants involved, you know, so he's really
Speaker 2: like he's reaching out to get people. I mean he was.
Speaker 2: I saw him up there. You couldn't miss him by
Speaker 2: the way. You see that, and you know, but he
Speaker 2: always comes by and he's really happy guy and he
Speaker 2: gives you a big hug. And I always asking me
Speaker 2: about John Shelby because he played for the you know,
Speaker 2: when he's with Shelby with the Dodgers, you know, and
Speaker 2: Shelby said, I walked over with here in Shelby sitting
Speaker 2: me at tex said, hey, say, I had adjacent work,
Speaker 2: and I didn't put it all together, you know at
Speaker 2: the moment. Yeah, because I think mostly Phillies and Nationals. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but yeah, yeah, he has has tea doing. I say,
Speaker 2: I guess he's doing good. Who was up at the
Speaker 2: Derby by the way, And I didn't get a chance
Speaker 2: to catch up with him because, as you know, the
Speaker 2: Derby's not a good day to be social, at least
Speaker 2: if you're working, it's not a good day.
Speaker 1: Especially if you're stuck in one place as you are.
Speaker 1: I got a couple of minutes left. But earlier on
Speaker 1: the show, I had a young man from Lexington who
Speaker 1: transferring down from Miami to UK, and I was talking
Speaker 1: to him about the fact that Joe B.
Speaker 2: Hall.
Speaker 1: You might recall this, Joe B used to catch a
Speaker 1: lot of flak and when you were covering sports in
Speaker 1: lectioningon in high school basketball was much more front and center.
Speaker 1: It took I think, really a national spotlight. But Joe
Speaker 1: B would hesitate to recruit a local kid because he
Speaker 1: knew the pressure that a local was going to be under.
Speaker 1: You know, why aren't you playing more? Mom and dad
Speaker 1: and family and neighbors and all that. But I kind
Speaker 1: of flashed back on that that Joe Hall era. But
Speaker 1: it's good to have election and kid back on the team,
Speaker 1: isn't it?
Speaker 5: You know it is?
Speaker 2: I mean, I'd love to having these local kids. I
Speaker 2: think there's just a rooting interest. I don't know him.
Speaker 2: I don't Malaka Moreno personally. His mom plays at Bria
Speaker 2: Christian Cherseph Giano where we go. He plays piano, and
Speaker 2: I remember Jasper Johnson when he's a kid, because you know,
Speaker 2: like you, you know, I've known the whole family, So yeah,
Speaker 2: I root for that. I hope this guy does well.
Speaker 2: I tell you what he's got. This guy has got
Speaker 2: a lot of guts. And I say that at all
Speaker 2: respect to step in. You know, there's a pretty good
Speaker 2: guys in there that hope's already lined up and he
Speaker 2: feels that he can step in there and bang with him.
Speaker 2: I say good for him, because you know, if you
Speaker 2: shy away from that, you don't want the guys Reluctantly,
Speaker 2: I think I might play apparently. You know, he's got
Speaker 2: a good attitude and got the confidence, and I don't
Speaker 2: think you can have you know, with and reason enough
Speaker 2: Kentuckians on the team. I think that really helps everyone
Speaker 2: bond a little more, you know, rooting interesting things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I know you as an Eastern Kentucky and
Speaker 1: you're rooting for Trent Noah, you hated to see Travis
Speaker 1: Perry leave, but uh, he's got to do him and
Speaker 1: he landed in a pretty good spot at Ole Miss.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think it was a good move for him.
Speaker 2: You know, the guy can shoot, and I think it'll
Speaker 2: work I think it'll work out better. And he was
Speaker 2: recruited by Beard in the first place, right, well, so
Speaker 2: it wasn't like they were unknown to each other. So
Speaker 2: I think it was a good move for him. And uh,
Speaker 2: you know, look, he's down in the western part of
Speaker 2: the States. Like our good friend Rodney Woods was almost
Speaker 2: a ten a z years ago, you know when he
Speaker 2: played for the ball. So I wish him well. And uh,
Speaker 2: and no, I think he's pretty good. You know, he's
Speaker 2: got good size on him. He's got a little hype.
Speaker 2: He's got the size that you know, Perry didn't have.
Speaker 2: I think that gives him a little lug too.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, and he's got that Eastern Kentucky grit like you.
Speaker 2: So uh, I's gritty. I'm getting grittier every year.
Speaker 1: Anny Rice of NBC Sports, thank you, brother. We'll watch
Speaker 1: for you on the Preakness. Hope to see you soon.
Speaker 2: Hey, it's always a pleasure. Yeah, we'll definitely catch you
Speaker 2: up again. So thanks Dick.
Speaker 1: Then he goes back to believe it or not, the
Speaker 1: days that channel thirty six WTVQ, where his former co
Speaker 1: worker Jeff Pecorro is now sports director. Some of you,
Speaker 1: some of you may remember this that channel thirty six
Speaker 1: here in Lectioningon and they don't really want people to
Speaker 1: use the numbers anymore. They want to call letters because
Speaker 1: that's what shows up in the ratings books. Anyway, Channel
Speaker 1: thirty six used to be channel sixty two. When I
Speaker 1: first got the lectionon back in the early seventies, it
Speaker 1: was channel sixty two, and in June of nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: they switched from sixty two. You know, you get a
Speaker 1: better reception. The other channels are closer in numbers, so
Speaker 1: if people are spinning the dial, it's easier to find.
Speaker 1: They moved from channel sixty two to channel thirty six,
Speaker 1: and I think it probably helped them at that point.
Speaker 1: But they've still been playing for a lot of years
Speaker 1: catch up to the other TV stations. But they've had
Speaker 1: some good people and still do in that place in Kenny.
Speaker 1: Rice was one of them, speaking of the other stations.
Speaker 1: Up next from wl EX channel eighteen, Keith Farmer on
Speaker 1: the Best of the Big Blue Insider. This is the
Speaker 1: Best of the Big Blue Insider. Joining us now is
Speaker 1: a longtime friend of the show, friend of mine, and
Speaker 1: he is Keith Farmer, sports anchor at wl EX channel eighteen,
Speaker 1: and you see him each night, not just on the
Speaker 1: news but on BBN tonight and came in. I want
Speaker 1: to talk to you about the derby and about Kentucky basketball,
Speaker 1: but I need to talk to you about a story
Speaker 1: that you and Alex Barber worked on. I guess it
Speaker 1: was yesterday with Jack Gibbons an election and Traditional Magnet School.
Speaker 1: And of course Jack has written a book finally, and
Speaker 1: I've talked to Jack about the boys at once, but
Speaker 1: everybody I know who's read it really he's loved it.
Speaker 1: And now these kids get a shot at it.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Well, here's the thing.
Speaker 2: This couple.
Speaker 5: The lady Peggy Henderson, was a principal in the school system,
Speaker 5: and she read it and she went to a book signing.
Speaker 5: She was so touched by what she read and said
Speaker 5: that every kid in Lexington should.
Speaker 4: Read this book.
Speaker 1: And so what they did.
Speaker 5: They went out and they talked to Goose and said,
Speaker 5: we'd love to buy this for a school, and they
Speaker 5: kind of got together and they decided to go to
Speaker 5: his old school, which is Lectington. Traditional Magnet School used
Speaker 5: to be I think Lexington Junior High or something like that.
Speaker 5: And so they purchased books for every sixth seventh eighth grader.
Speaker 5: I think the eighth graders got them first, and they
Speaker 5: already were doing a book report on it, and they
Speaker 5: even wrote him letters about what they learned from it,
Speaker 5: which is really neat. But this couple, the Henderson's, just
Speaker 5: bought the books for the whole school. So yesterday Goose
Speaker 5: got to go back to his old school talk to
Speaker 5: the students, motivate them, and then they all got the books.
Speaker 5: And I just think it's such a great story. In
Speaker 5: the Henderson's are obviously hoping that somebody else will pick
Speaker 5: up from that and maybe do the same for another school.
Speaker 1: You and I have done, both of us a zillion
Speaker 1: UK sports lated sidebars through our respective careers, such as
Speaker 1: they are, and this is one of the greatest stories
Speaker 1: I can remember. He just, you know, a former player.
Speaker 1: I think you know, they kind of had to twist
Speaker 1: Jack's arm just a little bit to get to do
Speaker 1: the book. He was like, I'm not sure, you know,
Speaker 1: he'd been a part of other ones, but this one's
Speaker 1: all about him and the response to it, and I
Speaker 1: mean nationwide. He was signing books at an alumni event
Speaker 1: in San Diego, but now four hundred books for kids.
Speaker 5: Is just fantastic, I mean, just incredible to see where
Speaker 5: he came from. He tells the story of you know,
Speaker 5: how it used to be in like and then there
Speaker 5: was a chain link fence that went down one street
Speaker 5: and only whites were on one side, only blacks were
Speaker 5: on the other and you didn't cross, and you know,
Speaker 5: especially at certain times, and it.
Speaker 4: Was just the way he grew up.
Speaker 5: You know, it wasn't a chance for him to go
Speaker 5: to the University of Kentucky for the longest time till
Speaker 5: somebody broke the color barrier and gave him that chance.
Speaker 5: And so it could have been such a different story,
Speaker 5: right if things hadn't progressed in our nation. And so
Speaker 5: it's just it's wonderful for these kids to hear his
Speaker 5: story and what he had to overcome and the motivation
Speaker 5: he had to have, you know, to make his career
Speaker 5: that he did.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because when you look at Jack and you hear
Speaker 1: him on the radio, you see him on television, and
Speaker 1: it's weird and there's a better word for it. But
Speaker 1: when he was a kid, and he references that, he
Speaker 1: says this to the kids, when he was a child,
Speaker 1: the sec was segregated. UK was not UK desegregated in
Speaker 1: nineteen forty eight, but there was a quote unquote gentleman's
Speaker 1: agreement to not write black players in the South Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1: So a kid like Jack Gibbons, what did his dreams involved? Well,
Speaker 1: maybe I can go out of state or to Kentucky
Speaker 1: state or whatever. That that's really sobering. So but it's
Speaker 1: also uplifting, you know, where things are now right.
Speaker 5: Right, And I think that's part of it. With him
Speaker 5: having this talk with the kids yesterday, some of them
Speaker 5: probably can't comprehend, you know, sixth seventh eighth graders can't
Speaker 5: comprehend some of the stuff that used to happen, you know,
Speaker 5: unless they've.
Speaker 4: Heard it from relatives and such.
Speaker 5: But but yeah, you know, for for them to hear
Speaker 5: it from a guy and yeah, and to be quite honest,
Speaker 5: they never saw him play, you know. So even one
Speaker 5: of them was like, I'm a little confused, did you
Speaker 5: play or you're a broadcaster? And he said, I'm all
Speaker 5: the above. He's like, you know, so they really you know,
Speaker 5: that's the great thing about it. You know, if they
Speaker 5: read this book, they're going to learn that he was
Speaker 5: a UK player, and then that's gonna you know, they
Speaker 5: know that, right, They know that part of it, so
Speaker 5: it's going to make them really interested in reading the
Speaker 5: rest of it.
Speaker 1: What this should be required for every UK basketball player.
Speaker 5: That's not a bad idea.
Speaker 1: But what was interesting too is these kids you transferred
Speaker 1: in through the portal last year sound like Kelly Perry,
Speaker 1: these kids, but I think you probably picked up and
Speaker 1: talking to them. They knew, they knew who Jack Gibbons was,
Speaker 1: and if they didn't know when they got here, they
Speaker 1: found out very quickly because they all showed him enormous respect,
Speaker 1: which I really I really like. But these guys are
Speaker 1: all students of the game anyway, you'd think they're going
Speaker 1: to know it. And Jack has been. Jack's been where
Speaker 1: they want to be, you know, He's been, you know,
Speaker 1: an ncay and an NBA player, So I did.
Speaker 5: You know you would expect that, I guess, but I
Speaker 5: do even remember, like when we were in Toronto and
Speaker 5: Jack would sit down and talk with those guys one
Speaker 5: on one. He wouldn't say, you know, he wouldn't even
Speaker 5: say I played at Kentucky. He was just a broadcaster Jack,
Speaker 5: and I had to be like, yeah, he played a
Speaker 5: little bit too, you know, and I was telling them
Speaker 5: these guys and I remember doing him and Cameron Fletcher.
Speaker 4: And some of those guys.
Speaker 5: Oh really okay, and then I can't remember who it was.
Speaker 5: I think, oh gosh, who was it? Somebody saw I said, yeah,
Speaker 5: he's like, yeah, I want to ring here, and they
Speaker 5: showed and goes, oh, I want one of those, you know,
Speaker 5: and so yeah, but that's Jack. He humbled Jack, and
Speaker 5: he's not going to bring that up.
Speaker 4: To those guys. You're gonna let it figure it out
Speaker 4: in their own time.
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. You know, you might if you talk
Speaker 1: to him long enough, you'll pick up on the fact
Speaker 1: that yeah, he played somewhere and you know, but you
Speaker 1: won't even realize that he did. Okay, So anyhow, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but if you want to see this story, it's at
Speaker 1: uh it's on the website at the lax eighteen dot com. Okay, man,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, you covered the Kentucky Derby. Uh, I
Speaker 1: guess you're probably dried out by now. As much as
Speaker 1: I miscovering the Derby over the last few years, I
Speaker 1: didn't miss it this year because of the weather. And
Speaker 1: I've done my shas you know, my share much through
Speaker 1: the mud, but uh uh huh it it didn't literally
Speaker 1: dampen anybody's in two. They had one hundred and forty
Speaker 1: seven thousand people there, so they just did it feel
Speaker 1: like it had a derby.
Speaker 4: It was amazing.
Speaker 5: It was just because right before the race last year,
Speaker 5: I didn't actually stand on the track like we do
Speaker 5: to watch it because I wanted to make sure I
Speaker 5: was over at my broadcast area, which is on the
Speaker 5: back of the first turn, and so so this year,
Speaker 5: I was like, I got to go watch this one.
Speaker 5: So I got out there in the mud and I
Speaker 5: looked around and you just see everybody come from those
Speaker 5: two big yachts that are on the sides of the
Speaker 5: twin spires to the edge of the you know, railing,
Speaker 5: and it was just I've got some incredible shots of
Speaker 5: them ready for the race, and I mean they're on
Speaker 5: they're everywhere you can be. They're on staircases looking out
Speaker 5: and it's just amazing to see, uh, and to hear
Speaker 5: it's always fun to hear them as they make the
Speaker 5: first pass and then obviously as they come for home
Speaker 5: and everybody yelling out their number or their name that
Speaker 5: they're wanting to win, and it did not dampen it.
Speaker 1: The rain did not, and it was a great race.
Speaker 1: There were no incidents or you know, none to speak of.
Speaker 1: Nobody was just qualified. Nobody got really badly jumped or
Speaker 1: flipped or or whatever. Right, and now we've got another
Speaker 1: thrilling come from behind in the last furlong.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and it kind of looked like journalism. I mean
Speaker 5: maybe maybe for the Bellmont, maybe journalism wins that one
Speaker 5: with the extra length. But you know, Sovereignty was the
Speaker 5: one that I had my eye on. Anyway, I don't always,
Speaker 5: I don't always pick it, but this year I did.
Speaker 5: And I just liked the way he was running. If
Speaker 5: he didn't finish first in his prep races, he was
Speaker 5: usually coming on pretty strong. So I felt like that
Speaker 5: extra length at the Derby was going to give him,
Speaker 5: you know, some help, and it obviously did. And you know,
Speaker 5: it comes down to, as always, the good trip which
Speaker 5: he got. And I saw that there was someone else,
Speaker 5: maybe Burnham Square or somebody that got just pinched off
Speaker 5: on the rail towards the last turn. So you know,
Speaker 5: it's one of those things where he got a favorable
Speaker 5: trip and he did what I thought he could do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you got to have the trip, you know, or
Speaker 1: at least you got to have something not happened to you,
Speaker 1: especially correct first turn. So well, congrat that's on the
Speaker 1: coverage to you and your entire team. How many people
Speaker 1: from your station? I saw the group photo?
Speaker 5: Yeah, but that here's the thing. They decided let's go
Speaker 5: take that group photo now, and it was pouring the
Speaker 5: rain at the time, So there was probably about eighteen
Speaker 5: of us that didn't go out and do the picture.
Speaker 5: So if you add that on to what you see
Speaker 5: in the picture, that's your number. So I would say
Speaker 5: we had probably close to, you know, fifty fifty people there.
Speaker 4: Probably good, yeah and all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, worked out well. Keith Farmer, my guest sports
Speaker 1: anchor WLA X BBN tonight. We'll talk Kentucky basketball new
Speaker 1: faces on the roster when we come back here on
Speaker 1: six thirty WLAP. You're listening to the best of the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider, my guest Keith Farmer of WLA X
Speaker 1: eighteen and BBN tonight and came in, as I said
Speaker 1: before the break, mark Pope's roster. Now since you and
Speaker 1: I last saw each other with two new players, so
Speaker 1: apparently he's done now he's got to be done. He's
Speaker 1: out a roster spot. Let's talk first of all about
Speaker 1: the newest Rheese Potter. You spoke to him, what was
Speaker 1: it last night, I guess, or Sunday, the one or
Speaker 1: the two. Do you remember much about him when he
Speaker 1: was at Leggy and Catholic?
Speaker 4: I do, I do.
Speaker 5: I mean he was, you know, I don't think I
Speaker 5: would call him physically imposing as far as like he's strong,
Speaker 5: but he's not overly like just you know, he's not
Speaker 5: a shock. But he's got good strength in his legs.
Speaker 5: Like Patino used to always talk about that, right, Like
Speaker 5: he wanted guys to have, like like Mashburn wanted him
Speaker 5: to have strong legs. And I feel like that's what
Speaker 5: Reees had.
Speaker 4: He may not have had. Maybe that's what it is.
Speaker 5: He didn't have the upper body strength yet, which he
Speaker 5: probably does now after being in a program for two years,
Speaker 5: but he had that lower body strength. He had the
Speaker 5: ability to block shots.
Speaker 4: Even in high school.
Speaker 5: He had the ability to go out and hit three pointers,
Speaker 5: and so I think that's something that makes it real
Speaker 5: dangerous at seven to two. And he's also a pretty
Speaker 5: good passer, So I think that's maybe something that fit
Speaker 5: into what Pope likes, running that offense through his bigs,
Speaker 5: and so I think it'll be interesting. We were pulling
Speaker 5: some video to put up for him yesterday and we
Speaker 5: came across one of my guys. I said, here, try these,
Speaker 5: you know, and they were pulling the video and he said, yeah,
Speaker 5: I found that one you had with great crossing and
Speaker 5: baby Malachi because obviously Reese is two years older.
Speaker 4: So they've gone.
Speaker 5: Against each other before and now here they are going
Speaker 5: to be teammates.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I had him on earlier and he talked about Malicky.
Speaker 1: He admitted that, yeah, he's got the ring, he said,
Speaker 1: but we've played a couple of times, and he basically
Speaker 1: indicated he did fairly well against Malachi because can you
Speaker 1: imagine what the what the just to pick up games alone.
Speaker 5: Are going to be like, oh my goodness, I mean
Speaker 5: you know, then you're throwing Brandon Garrison right, Oh, who's
Speaker 5: going to be the guy to teach them the offense?
Speaker 5: And yeah, that's you know, and how tall I can't
Speaker 5: remember how tall Yellowvich is. But you know there is
Speaker 5: some light on this team. It's going to be fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but not just bigs athletic bigs.
Speaker 4: Right, right, right exactly.
Speaker 5: I mean when you're talking about, you know, a ree stick,
Speaker 5: and obviously we saw Brandon, you know, do both go
Speaker 5: down low that you know, go out and shoot a three,
Speaker 5: and we believe Reese can do that, and we'll see
Speaker 5: if Malachi can hit the three. He was trying to
Speaker 5: broaden his game a little bit this year. I'm not
Speaker 5: so sure he had the chance to do that while
Speaker 5: he was, you know, also trying to win a state championship.
Speaker 5: So I'm looking forward to seeing how they all gel
Speaker 5: together and how Brandon becomes that Amari leader on this
Speaker 5: next team. And certainly I think another thing is that
Speaker 5: we've seen the team that Pope has put together is
Speaker 5: maybe not so much like last year's because you know,
Speaker 5: last year he talked about nothing but shooting threes. I
Speaker 5: think he realized the SEC is physical, and I've got
Speaker 5: to go find some physical players that also fit what.
Speaker 4: I want to do.
Speaker 5: So I don't know that that changes up his scheme
Speaker 5: or makes it any less. Let's not take threes, but
Speaker 5: I also think he needed people that were going to
Speaker 5: be a little tougher down low.
Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned Yellovich coming in from the European style
Speaker 1: that's a big guy shooting threes. He by the way,
Speaker 1: is listed at six eleven, so whatever he is, he's yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: but I think we're going to see that at least
Speaker 1: that young man. And then talking to Reese, he said
Speaker 1: he can hit the occasional three, said he's not going
Speaker 1: to be looking to step out and then working to
Speaker 1: sweet sixteen this year. While you were at NCAA's I'm
Speaker 1: talking to Great Crossings people. They said, Malachai can shoots
Speaker 1: the three, shoot the three, likes to shoot the three,
Speaker 1: but we don't need him shooting there. We exactly exactly,
Speaker 1: you know, So none of that's going to surprise me,
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: Oh exactly. And you know, Reese, I think it's an
Speaker 5: interesting thing with him having.
Speaker 4: Spent two years.
Speaker 5: He was like, I think forty shooting in it from
Speaker 5: three point range in his first season. Yes only he
Speaker 5: only took thirty three, but he was forty five percent
Speaker 5: and kind of twelve off a little bit in his
Speaker 5: second season. But I like the fact that those guys
Speaker 5: have the confidence to step out there and take it
Speaker 5: because they obviously have tons of time to work on
Speaker 5: the shot and to have the confidence to take it
Speaker 5: and hit it. So, you know, it's just so fun
Speaker 5: to watch Hope put together a team with all the
Speaker 5: analytics and things that he wants to do in his system,
Speaker 5: and it's just gonna be fun to see how this
Speaker 5: one compares to last.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is. And like you said, it's going
Speaker 1: to be a bit of a different looking team. But
Speaker 1: he's got the point guard he wanted. Apparently it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a big deal. Though came in. I believe, Oh
Speaker 1: take a away's decision, and you know, I quit trying
Speaker 1: to predut such things. Maybe a team. What all it
Speaker 1: takes is, you know, is one team to fall in
Speaker 1: love for or at least fall inlike with him. But
Speaker 1: fortunately a G League contract is not the bait.
Speaker 4: That it used to be, you know, not at all.
Speaker 5: I mean, there are so many people that are staying
Speaker 5: in college now. I can't remember the number, but I
Speaker 5: saw somebody put up something about the number of players
Speaker 5: that opted to go pro this year was so much
Speaker 5: lower than it has been in recent years. And it's
Speaker 5: because you can make more money in the college game
Speaker 5: right now, then you can betting on yourself to make
Speaker 5: an NBA contract or get tossed down to the G League.
Speaker 5: So you know, I think a lot of people are like,
Speaker 5: if I don't know for sure now that I'm going,
Speaker 5: then I'm just going to go back to college and
Speaker 5: make some money and improve my game and it'll be
Speaker 5: there next year for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, definitely. If you minutes up with Keith Farmer
Speaker 1: of LAX eighteen and BBN tonight, you guys cover the
Speaker 1: baseball Wildcats. They have what has become a crucial series now.
Speaker 1: Looked like they were all set if they just kept
Speaker 1: going the way they were going, but they took a
Speaker 1: major step backwards last weekend and now, yeah, Oklahoma comes
Speaker 1: to town for the first time, and this is a
Speaker 1: must have series, isn't it.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean, let's see, you've got what ten wins now
Speaker 5: in the sea and every time we have we've in
Speaker 5: the last couple of weeks had Darren Hedrick, Darren Williams
Speaker 5: on both of them continue to say thirteen wins is
Speaker 5: like that magic number that you need to get to,
Speaker 5: maybe even fourteen if that's the case. Kentucky's got three
Speaker 5: against Oklahoma, three at Vanderbilt. You're going to have to
Speaker 5: get three to four of those six in order to
Speaker 5: feel good about yourselves making it, or make a really
Speaker 5: long run in the SEC tournament one or the other
Speaker 5: to really have that feeling that you're going to make
Speaker 5: an NCAA tournament.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I guess it was inevitable that fans would,
Speaker 1: of course look for more of the same from this
Speaker 1: year's team compared to last year's team. I'm trying to
Speaker 1: remind myself that Kentucky, if nothing else, had a left
Speaker 1: fielder who was putting together a first round draft pick
Speaker 1: kind of season that went a long way, you know,
Speaker 1: and play Yeah, and Nick's you know, not making I've
Speaker 1: never heard him even talk about this, but man, the
Speaker 1: injuries on this team to the worst people at the
Speaker 1: worst time have really been something, haven't they.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, they've had him for sure. And as a
Speaker 5: matter of fact, I was sitting down with Mitch Barnhardt
Speaker 5: a couple of weeks ago and it really hadn't hit
Speaker 5: me till he even said He's like, man, injury bug
Speaker 5: just hit us all across the board this year. And
Speaker 5: he's right. I mean, think about even women's basketball had
Speaker 5: two players they expected to play this year they didn't
Speaker 5: even play.
Speaker 4: Uh, you know, at.
Speaker 5: Football, everything you can go down the line and almost
Speaker 5: every sport had some key, like even softball with Brump,
Speaker 5: she was expected to be a big she was a
Speaker 5: big get out of the portal. She ends up injured
Speaker 5: and now look, you know they're they're struggling a little bit,
Speaker 5: and she's such a good player, and so it's like
Speaker 5: those missing pieces, you know that people may not know
Speaker 5: about it, especially with baseball unless you you've definitely followed it.
Speaker 5: It just has been tough for Nickman Jones to make
Speaker 5: it happen. So yeah, tough year all around.
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of Barnardy and his fellow ads, are going
Speaker 1: to have that house settlement. By the next time you
Speaker 1: and I speak. We hope everything will be settled, so
Speaker 1: we'll have something else chat about, but we're out of time.
Speaker 1: Came in Thanks so much Keith Farmer from w l
Speaker 1: e X and again go to the website to see
Speaker 1: the story about Jack Gibbon's book and the kids at
Speaker 1: the lex Inner Traditional Magnet School and follow came in
Speaker 1: at Keith Farmer eighteen on Twitter. Thank you brother, see
Speaker 1: you soon.
Speaker 5: Appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Take care that's going to do it. Thanks so much
Speaker 1: of my guests Keith Farmer, Kenny Rice and of course
Speaker 1: the newest wildcat reevee Potter that said good night for
Speaker 1: the garage and Lexington, Charlie.
Speaker 4: He kindors the deuce.
Speaker 5: And when you speak of me, speak well.
Speaker 4: Total. I was gott to throw into this right yep,
Speaker 4: I mean.
Speaker 1: Iball, get out of here in a hurry.
Speaker 4: You know, anything travels that far.
Speaker 1: Aud to have a damn stewardess on it.
Speaker 4: Don't you think.
Speaker 7: Anything any tact, tact, anything can anything doing? Then sat down, don.
Speaker 6: Don don
Speaker 7: Donos