Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and company.
Speaker 2: Fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety Holy.
Speaker 3: Crap, I don't know who the hell we think when we.
Speaker 1: Are get off our show. Idiots.
Speaker 3: The kids are playing or turn at the countries are.
Speaker 1: Screwing it up. Gold play inner murals, brother, gold play
Speaker 1: inter murals. They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're
Speaker 1: really not. Who's the kid here? Who's the kid here?
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? Now? Here's nick coffee?
Speaker 3: Can I start with some corny back from vacation workplace lines?
Speaker 3: You know, like things you hear your colleagues say when
Speaker 3: you come back after a long vacation.
Speaker 4: Hit me with it?
Speaker 3: Remember me? How about this one? How about this one?
Speaker 3: Let's see if I can remember how to do this?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, or maybe you can. Maybe you can. You
Speaker 3: can hit me with one. I got one for you. You
Speaker 3: ready go for it? Who's the duke guy? Nice to
Speaker 3: meet you. I can't think of any at the time. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I put you on the push you on the spot
Speaker 3: here and look, I'll think of one. I'll refrain from from,
Speaker 3: you know, all the corny stuff. But it really does
Speaker 3: feel like it's been about a month since I've been
Speaker 3: here to do what we are about to do for
Speaker 3: the next three hours, which has provide what is hopefully
Speaker 3: an enjoyable experience for you here on Sports Talk seven nine.
Speaker 3: It is coffee in company with myself, Nick Coffee, and
Speaker 3: the tribal Chief, Austin Montgomery, and we are fueled by
Speaker 3: Thornton's taking you up until six o'clock. And what a
Speaker 3: good day to be back. We've got a National championship
Speaker 3: game tonight and I have a hard time thinking that
Speaker 3: we won't be highly entertained with this matchup between Florida
Speaker 3: and Houston, and obviously a lot to unpack as far
Speaker 3: as how we got here, and we'll do that. Reaction
Speaker 3: to the Final four, I suppose, more than anything, will
Speaker 3: just probably make fun of Duke, right and and you
Speaker 3: know the collapse that they had and with Duke, we
Speaker 3: don't probably need a reminder for this, but if you did,
Speaker 3: it was there. Duke is one of I don't know,
Speaker 3: there's not that many of them in all levels of sports.
Speaker 3: I would guess there's probably ten or less teams, schools, programs, clubs,
Speaker 3: whatever you want to call it, because of course you
Speaker 3: know different levels different sports they do reference, you know,
Speaker 3: they reference, they have different names, but my point is
Speaker 3: they're villains. Right. If you're not a fan of certain
Speaker 3: teams and you know they lose, you you really enjoy it.
Speaker 3: And I feel like college basketball fans, really sports fans
Speaker 3: across the globe enjoyed seeing Duke lose the way they
Speaker 3: did the other night, unless, of course, you somehow are
Speaker 3: a Duke fan. If so, I don't really know how
Speaker 3: you become a Duke fan, unless you went there, or
Speaker 3: you just became a bandwagon whatever it may be, or
Speaker 3: maybe you lost some money because they lost. But other
Speaker 3: than that, we all it kind of felt like we
Speaker 3: were big winners in a Final four despite you know,
Speaker 3: most of our teams, especially the local teams, not being there.
Speaker 3: So again tonight National Championship game, Austin just said it.
Speaker 3: He's right. I mean, he said it to me right
Speaker 3: before the show started. But I've been thinking about it
Speaker 3: since he said it, because it's true. This is it
Speaker 3: College basketball officially over after tonight, and it'll be sad,
Speaker 3: but already a lot of momentum for year two for
Speaker 3: Pat Kelsea obviously, as I'm sure a lot of you know,
Speaker 3: a lot went on last week, and I wasn't here
Speaker 3: to react to it, so I'll try to, as always,
Speaker 3: do not make an entire show on old news from
Speaker 3: a week prior. But obviously there's a lot to run through,
Speaker 3: and I've got plenty of thoughts to share, and you
Speaker 3: can't I mean with Pat Kelseat when you look at
Speaker 3: what he's been able to do so far. We're talking
Speaker 3: about three commits in the portal that as it stands
Speaker 3: right now, they have the number one class. That could change,
Speaker 3: of course, but still, I mean, there's work to be done.
Speaker 3: But I feel like when I was gone last week,
Speaker 3: he got a lot of work done in my absence.
Speaker 3: He didn't need me. Clearly that's a joke. I hope
Speaker 3: you guys get it. But my point is he has
Speaker 3: three transfers coming in all guards that should help and
Speaker 3: fit what he likes to do as far as the
Speaker 3: style he wants to play. You have two top twenty
Speaker 3: five incoming freshmen that'll be joining the mix next year.
Speaker 3: Sonny is not a McDonald's American and he's a guy
Speaker 3: we'd never heard of until he committed. But just to
Speaker 3: remind folks, MIKEL. Brown, he's a top ten player overall.
Speaker 3: McDonald's All American won the three point shoot out, by
Speaker 3: the way in the McDonald's All American Game. But Sonny Frew,
Speaker 3: he's a guy that you know, again, we just heard
Speaker 3: of him when he committed, but he's ranked as a
Speaker 3: top twenty five player overall in the class, ahead of
Speaker 3: you know, guys that are McDonald's Americans. So a lot
Speaker 3: to be excited about. But they're not done. They are
Speaker 3: not done. I'm sure there's still plenty of guys there
Speaker 3: working on on the portal. Who knows what happens with
Speaker 3: Nata Mint. I certainly don't feel like it's gonna be Louisville,
Speaker 3: But I just say that based off of what I
Speaker 3: see on the toxic platform that is X formerly known
Speaker 3: as Twitter. Like I'm not an insider by any means,
Speaker 3: I'm not sure anybody really knows what's going on with
Speaker 3: this kid. He ends up at Louisville, great, If not,
Speaker 3: Lowiell will have money to go get somebody else, probably
Speaker 3: not a guy that's you know, looked at as a
Speaker 3: top ten pick in next year's draft. But you can
Speaker 3: go get a really good college player that can help
Speaker 3: you have a big special season. I mean I don't
Speaker 3: want to act like we shouldn't prioritize elite NBA talent
Speaker 3: coming out of the high school ranks, because I feel
Speaker 3: like every coach program would take those guys. But man,
Speaker 3: the proof is there. It's gonna be there tonight when
Speaker 3: you watch that. The guys who have that status as
Speaker 3: eighteen year olds, some of them are phenomenal. Look at
Speaker 3: Cooper flag right, I mean Edgecomb at Baylor. I mean
Speaker 3: there are great freshmen that have joined teams that are
Speaker 3: loaded with other veterans and transfers, and they are very
Speaker 3: impact So it's not like you should avoid them. But
Speaker 3: there's also teams that we watched in the Final four
Speaker 3: that were able to get there and have great seasons
Speaker 3: because it was the first time we had a Final
Speaker 3: four with all one seeds in quite some time, and
Speaker 3: there wasn't really a freshman that had.
Speaker 1: A big role.
Speaker 3: And that doesn't mean those guys are bad, it's just,
Speaker 3: you know, the game's different now. So again, Nata ment,
Speaker 3: I kind of feel like it's been one of those
Speaker 3: things that I have not really touched on with this
Speaker 3: show at the same or even close to the same
Speaker 3: level as Louisville fans. Have kind of been throwing it
Speaker 3: out there because again, he would be one of the
Speaker 3: best players that ever committed here. But I just if
Speaker 3: he does, Like I you know, this is not me
Speaker 3: just accepting a loss before it happens, meaning losing him
Speaker 3: and him going somewhere else. I'm saying it because I
Speaker 3: mean it. I won't lose a wink of sleep if
Speaker 3: he doesn't come here. If he does, great, If not,
Speaker 3: I don't my you know, my expectations for Louisville really
Speaker 3: won't change. I guess if they don't get anybody else,
Speaker 3: which I find it highly unlikely. But anyways, pack else
Speaker 3: off to a great start. And last year he didn't
Speaker 3: have proof of concept, meaning he hasn't he hadn't shown
Speaker 3: anybody that he'd be able to have success at this level.
Speaker 3: And I feel silly now because we kept saying that
Speaker 3: last year. I said it a lot. This is a
Speaker 3: guy that has been at Charleston, at sam or it's Winthrop.
Speaker 3: Can he get it done here? That's a big jump
Speaker 3: and all that's true. But I just feel now that
Speaker 3: we've gone a full season in watching it right before
Speaker 3: our eyes. As far as you know, what he what
Speaker 3: he brings to the table. Who he is as a coach,
Speaker 3: as a leader, A guy who is insanely detailed and organized,
Speaker 3: clearly not going to be out work by anybody. I mean,
Speaker 3: you have he's got a he's got a formula, right,
Speaker 3: it's been successful, and now he's got resources that can help.
Speaker 3: You know, he had resources last year, right, Like he
Speaker 3: came to Louisville and was building a roster from scratch.
Speaker 3: And yeah, he's a great recruiter, I think when it
Speaker 3: comes to just being energetic, like you can when you
Speaker 3: listen to him talk when he was introduced as the
Speaker 3: coach here, you could tell, Okay, I could see guys
Speaker 3: really liking this guy's high level of energy, wanting to
Speaker 3: play for him, that kind of stuff. But you know,
Speaker 3: money was gonna really matter, and money's always going to
Speaker 3: matter when it comes to players. But I feel like
Speaker 3: everything about Pat Kill now nothing really changed with this guy.
Speaker 3: There's just now a season under his belt where he
Speaker 3: has shown he's off to a good start and there
Speaker 3: really should be no reason to expect them to slow down.
Speaker 3: I don't mean they're gonna win the same amount of
Speaker 3: games they won last year, because obviously the record was
Speaker 3: somewhat indicated by the acc being down. But nonetheless, this
Speaker 3: guy has now shown he's got some momentum here and
Speaker 3: didn't take long for them to prioritize who they wanted
Speaker 3: in the portal and then get those commitments. So exciting stuff. Again, Well,
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna give you, you know, a ton on the
Speaker 3: three guys that have been added. We'll talk about him
Speaker 3: briefly because again those in fact, I think all of
Speaker 3: those commitments happened like pretty early last week. No, I
Speaker 3: mean it was the weekend whenever we landed the young
Speaker 3: man from Kennesaw State wory. But after that, I mean,
Speaker 3: wasn't long after he committed did you end up making
Speaker 3: it official with Isaac McNeely, who, of course another guy
Speaker 3: they prioritized pretty early to the shoot up from Virginia, and
Speaker 3: then Ryan Conwell the transfer from Xavier. So off to
Speaker 3: a good start, no doubt. Now, Mark Pope a little
Speaker 3: bit of a different situation on the Kentucky side, And
Speaker 3: I'm gonna give you this disclaimer before I say this,
Speaker 3: because it's important. It is insanely too early to panic
Speaker 3: about having a good enough roster to compete at a
Speaker 3: high level next year. In year two, for Mark Pope.
Speaker 3: That's the disclaimer, But here's the facts. He went after
Speaker 3: three guys and simply couldn't get them. He couldn't. I mean,
Speaker 3: they clearly considered Kentucky. He got a face to face
Speaker 3: with one of them, a guy who the UAB transfer.
Speaker 3: I always forget his name for some reason, but Mark
Speaker 3: Pope got a face to face from an understand Maybe
Speaker 3: I had that, maybe it was a different rooker, but
Speaker 3: either way, like there's really no way to hide that
Speaker 3: they were prioritizing a few different guys. In all, all
Speaker 3: of those guys decided to go elsewhere. And that doesn't
Speaker 3: mean like Mark Pope is a bomb and he can't recruit.
Speaker 3: I mean, Louivill fans of course are going to say that,
Speaker 3: and I don't blame him. I get it. It's a rivalry,
Speaker 3: but you know they're not used to that, right Kentucky.
Speaker 3: Last year. I don't even remember who they targeted in
Speaker 3: the portal. I don't remember like who their big git was,
Speaker 3: because to me, they just had a nice collection of players.
Speaker 3: I would say Jackson Robinson, who came with Pope from BYU.
Speaker 3: Would you agree, Austin Jackson Robinson was probably the guy
Speaker 3: that came with Pope. Yes, that like had the most
Speaker 3: hype that ever that they thought was going to be
Speaker 3: their best player.
Speaker 4: I would agree with that. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So you know, with that said, like maybe he'll get
Speaker 3: the same kind of class this year and they're not
Speaker 3: going to take as many because they've got guys coming
Speaker 3: back and they bring in freshmen. But you know, I'm
Speaker 3: trying to defend Mark Pope here before I say something
Speaker 3: that I think is really undoubtable. I mean I can't
Speaker 3: prove it, but like the commitment that they did land
Speaker 3: over the weekend Jalen Low from Pittsburgh, I mean that
Speaker 3: was that he's a talented player and he you know,
Speaker 3: he may be really good for them, who knows that
Speaker 3: works out, But to me, he might be the worst
Speaker 3: fit for what Mark Pope wants to once out of
Speaker 3: a guard, he's not a good defender. He is a
Speaker 3: high volume shooter, but he shoots a terrible percentage and
Speaker 3: is not a good three point shooter really at all.
Speaker 3: But he's talented. I mean, he's quick, he can get
Speaker 3: to the rim, he can finish at the rim, but
Speaker 3: he shot a terrible percentage and I remember watching him
Speaker 3: play against Louisville when I was in person in Pittsburgh
Speaker 3: and also watching him play when Chucky Hepburn, you know,
Speaker 3: abused him. I mean a talented guy. Clearly he's making
Speaker 3: an obvious upgrade here. Going from Pittsburgh to any program
Speaker 3: that he was considering, I would assume would have been
Speaker 3: a big jump up. Kentucky obviously is that, but like
Speaker 3: I think, it screams desperation. We keep swinging and missing.
Speaker 3: I don't want to let it get any worse. So
Speaker 3: it wasn't as if they I don't think they had
Speaker 3: to beg the guy to come to Kentucky. But like
Speaker 3: to me, it's rather obvious, and I think louisll fans,
Speaker 3: if you watched Pittsburgh, you're familiar with the acc like
Speaker 3: you would know that this guy talented. But when you're
Speaker 3: talking about like compatibility as far as what Mark Pope
Speaker 3: likes to do, as far as his style as a coach,
Speaker 3: especially on offense, this guy they may figure it out,
Speaker 3: it may work out well, but everything about his game
Speaker 3: at Pittsburgh just doesn't translate. So again I see two
Speaker 3: sides of the Kentucky reaction, which I don't know why
Speaker 3: it ended up that way. Maybe it's because I do
Speaker 3: love to kind of just, you know, sit back and
Speaker 3: watch our rivals be miserable. But like when I would
Speaker 3: be off of Twitter for like a day, which, by
Speaker 3: the way, we'll get to that, it was a really
Speaker 3: good thing for me to do, just kind of unplugged
Speaker 3: more than I usually do. But it would be Kentucky
Speaker 3: fans either acting as if the sky's falling because Pope
Speaker 3: missed out on another player, or it was a Kentucky
Speaker 3: fan yelling and other Kentucky fans telling them to calm down.
Speaker 3: Don't you know where this guy was ranked last year
Speaker 3: and this guy was rank last year? Well, both things
Speaker 3: could be true, meaning the portal class rankings can be silly,
Speaker 3: and I think we will learn down the line that
Speaker 3: there's not really worth There's not a whole lot you
Speaker 3: should put into that. It just to mean, I think
Speaker 3: it's hard to really know how good of a class
Speaker 3: you're getting when you're getting players from all different levels
Speaker 3: of high major, low major, mid major, sophomore who played
Speaker 3: a little bit a year ago, a fifth year senior
Speaker 3: who's taking advantage of an extra year, Like it's just insanely,
Speaker 3: it's insanely difficult to really know what you're getting. So again,
Speaker 3: both things can be true. I mean, they're missing out
Speaker 3: on guys and that that should be should be maybe
Speaker 3: not like concerning, but Kentucky's just not used to get
Speaker 3: missing out on players. That's what I was. That's the
Speaker 3: point I was getting to earlier, and I'm right back
Speaker 3: where I left off before vacation, just losing my train
Speaker 3: of thought. But like, when's the last time Kentucky would
Speaker 3: would like and by the way, the last time they
Speaker 3: would miss on recruits like routinely is if they know
Speaker 3: as they did last week or really since the season ended,
Speaker 3: was probably before. Like the internet is what it is
Speaker 3: now where people have this platform where they can just
Speaker 3: constantly bitch and complain about it and talk about it. Right,
Speaker 3: So like it's a new it's a new experience for
Speaker 3: Kentucky fans because like pre John Caliperi, Billy Gillespie, Tubby Smith,
Speaker 3: like maybe they were going after players and missing routinely,
Speaker 3: but at the end of Tubby and really during Billy's time,
Speaker 3: you understood why they weren't picking Kentucky. Right. So here's
Speaker 3: Mark Pope coming off of a really good season overall,
Speaker 3: as far as you know, they played to their seed,
Speaker 3: got to the sweet sixteen, that kind of stuff. But
Speaker 3: it just you know, it's I think they're not panic.
Speaker 3: They still trust in Pope. But again, this is a
Speaker 3: new thing for them. They've not they've not gone through
Speaker 3: this in this new world, and hell, it's new to
Speaker 3: all of us as far as the season coming to
Speaker 3: an end, and the most important component to how you're
Speaker 3: gonna view the next season for your program is based
Speaker 3: off a short amount of a short window of time
Speaker 3: where coaches are scrambling like crazy and you've got thousands
Speaker 3: of players entering the portal. And again, I just think
Speaker 3: it's hard to imagine many teams looking back midway through
Speaker 3: the season, and you know, if you can, if you're
Speaker 3: midway through next season and you reflect and you're honest
Speaker 3: and you say, yeah, we really missed in the portal,
Speaker 3: have a hard time thinking that you're having a successful
Speaker 3: season midway through. It's important, but it's also just so unusual,
Speaker 3: so different than what we used to be accustomed to
Speaker 3: as far as looking ahead to the next season, because
Speaker 3: we're excited about some players that like we've never even
Speaker 3: heard of, you know what I mean, Like I'll be
Speaker 3: honest with you when it comes to the kid from
Speaker 3: Kennesaw State. I mean, I love what I see. As
Speaker 3: far as his numbers, Adrian Wooley was insanely impressive at
Speaker 3: Kinnesau State. But I'm at least willing to acknowledge that
Speaker 3: pride to three two two. Three weeks ago never heard
Speaker 3: of him, and now who knows, he may be your
Speaker 3: best player next year. I'm not saying he will be,
Speaker 3: but you just don't know. So anyways, this is gonna
Speaker 3: be sports talk radio in this market, I believe for
Speaker 3: the foreseeable future, meaning when you get towards the end
Speaker 3: of the college basketball season. Really, I guess once the
Speaker 3: I mean the portal opens officially like leading up to
Speaker 3: the Sweet sixteen, which is crazy to think about, but
Speaker 3: that's just the way. That's that's what the NAA decided
Speaker 3: to do. So this mad scramble for a few weeks
Speaker 3: to a month as far as figuring out, you know,
Speaker 3: where guys end up, Like, it's it's gonna be something
Speaker 3: we track, it can also become, you know, and I'm
Speaker 3: sure there's many people that aren't interested at all, And
Speaker 3: I get it, totally get it, all right, If you
Speaker 3: guys want to be part of the show today, you can.
Speaker 3: You can give us a call five oh two five
Speaker 3: seven one seventy nine hundred. You can also text in
Speaker 3: on the ln N Federal Credit Union Tex Line at
Speaker 3: five oh two four three eight ninety seventy three. And uh,
Speaker 3: I mean you can react to really whatever. I mean,
Speaker 3: if you just missed me that badly and you just
Speaker 3: want to call and have some dialogue, I mean, I
Speaker 3: get it. Going without me for that long. I'm sure
Speaker 3: it was a really really uh difficult experience for those
Speaker 3: out there. And again, I hope you can pick up
Speaker 3: on sarcasm. But I am happy to be back, and
Speaker 3: I'm hopeful that that is coming across the airwaves Austin.
Speaker 3: I didn't miss a whole lot, right, We got the
Speaker 3: city underwater.
Speaker 5: Other other than what you just talked about. Yeah, there
Speaker 5: was kind of a flood that happened. Thunder over Louisville's
Speaker 5: canceled nowah so sad, which is wild. First time it's
Speaker 5: ever happened since COVID. That was only the other time
Speaker 5: that's happened. So no news coverage down there. It's gonna
Speaker 5: be weird.
Speaker 3: It is gonna be weird, and I think if you
Speaker 3: are paying attention today as to what is happening with
Speaker 3: the Ohio River and downtown Louisville, as it's I mean,
Speaker 3: we may be underwater when we leave here today. I
Speaker 3: mean I'm exaggerating, but I mean these next two days
Speaker 3: from the coverage I followed, that's when it's going to be.
Speaker 3: It's just going to they call it the crest, Yes,
Speaker 3: something like that. We're reaching, is Hyatt's point. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's the Cincinnati River yesterday or not Sincinnati, the Ohio
Speaker 3: River in Cincinnati the last couple of days. I mean
Speaker 3: that was insane to see, and it's now happening right here.
Speaker 3: I mean there's people down the river roads or an
Speaker 3: avenue area that are being rescued from from certain places
Speaker 3: because when it when it rapidly rises, it it rises quickly.
Speaker 3: That's what I told her. That's right. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 3: it's thanks to doctor Wood, the Louisville Men's Clinic and
Speaker 3: for being honest. But anyways, we're talking about flooding here
Speaker 3: and it's uh, it's about a crest. It sucks that
Speaker 3: that thunders can't canceled because it is such an I
Speaker 3: mean that's how you knew that they were aware that
Speaker 3: this was going to be bad, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: And it's such an economic thing for for this for
Speaker 3: this city, this community in so many ways that like
Speaker 3: you never think about if you you know, if you
Speaker 3: unless you just sit down and randomly think about it.
Speaker 3: But I think not having thunder is probably a bigger
Speaker 3: deal than most people realize, just because that this is
Speaker 3: an event that brings way more people to Louisville that
Speaker 3: I think most realize. I mean, it's not the dirt,
Speaker 3: but like, and it's been here for so long, and
Speaker 3: I actually when I see the amount of people that
Speaker 3: are there every year, especially when there's good weather and
Speaker 3: you got that working for you, I mean, that's when
Speaker 3: it hits me. You know what. There's an insane amount
Speaker 3: of people in downtown Louisville right now, and there's a
Speaker 3: ton of them that are not from here, and that's
Speaker 3: it's always big for the economy around here when you
Speaker 3: can bring in visitors and tourists and people that want
Speaker 3: to take in the big events. And not having thunder
Speaker 3: is a real punch to the gut.
Speaker 5: No doubt, I've actually enjoyed thunder since living here. When
Speaker 5: I didn't live here for the longest time. We always
Speaker 5: had tapes. My parents will recorder, my grandparents will record
Speaker 5: them and always send them back to my parents out
Speaker 5: in Arizona. So we got to see like the coverage
Speaker 5: of it and all the themes, and I never really
Speaker 5: found it like fascinating, and I was always at begrudging,
Speaker 5: like we're just really doing all this for an air
Speaker 5: show and the Kentucky Derby. But after being down there
Speaker 5: and just like because I honestly never went to Thunder
Speaker 5: other than like the last couple of years when I
Speaker 5: started working here and they needed some help down you know,
Speaker 5: just getting interviews, and the amount of people that have
Speaker 5: said that they I talked to people that didn't even
Speaker 5: know about like it was part of the Derby festivities.
Speaker 5: It's like, oh, yeah, that's right, Katucky Derby is here
Speaker 5: in a couple of weeks. They just come for the fireworks, yep.
Speaker 3: And and I'm with you. I have lived here my
Speaker 3: whole life, and I never could really understand and I
Speaker 3: won't lie to you like I'm super interested in fireworks
Speaker 3: or really the air show. Where do you think It's
Speaker 3: just not something that I'm super you know, into but
Speaker 3: working here and being around it in that aspect where
Speaker 3: you're not just you know, scrambling to try to find
Speaker 3: a spot with your friends to hang out of the waterfront.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: There was also a really cool couple of years where
Speaker 3: we did, like the Bats the Bats parking lot lets,
Speaker 3: you like, bring our vs and campers down there.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah.
Speaker 3: I had some friends that their families would set up
Speaker 3: their RVs and campers and we would hang out there
Speaker 3: for a little while. So there's a lot of different
Speaker 3: ways you can take it in, but to me it
Speaker 3: was kind of always like whatever, but working at and
Speaker 3: being around people who you know, when you're going from
Speaker 3: random stranger to random stranger to get an interview, you realize, oh,
Speaker 3: this person's from Ohio, this person's from Wisconsin. Yeah, you
Speaker 3: realize that. Like, let me give you an example. Despite
Speaker 3: not really being my thing, there's something about being at
Speaker 3: an event that you can just you know, the energy
Speaker 3: from people who were there because they love it. It
Speaker 3: can be a little bit infectious that you just feel like, hey,
Speaker 3: this is actually a pretty cool thing that we have
Speaker 3: here in Louisville. And the best example and this may
Speaker 3: not hit but I'm gonna try when I went to
Speaker 3: do a vibe check it Louder than Life. I couldn't
Speaker 3: name any bands there other than like the main events
Speaker 3: and I could or the main actcent. I couldn't probably
Speaker 3: really name any songs of theirs. I would maybe know
Speaker 3: a few, so like I'm the most unrelatable as far
Speaker 3: as music, Like, I just that's just not really my jam.
Speaker 3: But being there, man, I could tell the people who
Speaker 3: love it. Man, they freaking love it, oh dude. And
Speaker 3: there's something about that that, again I think can be infectious.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure if that's the best comparison, but that's
Speaker 3: kind of what Thunder turned into for me, because it
Speaker 3: is something that like not just I mean not just
Speaker 3: a handful of louivillions. There are people that travel. I mean,
Speaker 3: there's somebody I interviewed that had been like nineteen straight
Speaker 3: thunder over Louisville events, which wow, I mean I would
Speaker 3: have never even yeah, I would never even guessed that
Speaker 3: like somebody would do that. But some people really love
Speaker 3: that kind of stuff. It's a bummer that that we
Speaker 3: aren't having it this year. And look the flood the flooding,
Speaker 3: I should say that. I mean, it's it's crazy and
Speaker 3: then one thing I did miss and I were you know,
Speaker 3: I wasn't. I was trying not to be super you know,
Speaker 3: distracted by my phone and what's going on. But I
Speaker 3: was also interested to kind of know what is going
Speaker 3: on back home, especially when I saw that we had
Speaker 3: some severe thunderstorms tornado like stuff coming through.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah.
Speaker 3: And I didn't see it until earlier today when I
Speaker 3: was putting the show together, that the tornado that hit
Speaker 3: the jay Town area. I mean it was the strongest
Speaker 3: tornado to hit Jefferson County since nineteen ninety six. I
Speaker 3: mean wow.
Speaker 5: So, I mean, hey, we can't get tornadoes here as
Speaker 5: I always grew up and everyone's a dog. The tornado
Speaker 5: hasn't hit Louisville since the nineteen blah blah blah, what'd
Speaker 5: you say ninety six?
Speaker 4: Yeah, there you go. And so like I've.
Speaker 5: Always tornadoes scared the ever living hell out of me,
Speaker 5: always as a kid growing up. And it was partly
Speaker 5: because of watching Twister. It was like my favorite movie ever.
Speaker 5: So like I was already PTSD buy it. So like
Speaker 5: one of the big drawing points of wanting to move
Speaker 5: back here to Louisville was, no, they have tornadoes.
Speaker 3: Well, the tornado. There was a tornado that hit Bullet
Speaker 3: County right where I mean right. I remember I was
Speaker 3: in I think second grade, I think it was ninety
Speaker 3: six and second grade. We had storms that come through
Speaker 3: the area and it hit Bullet County pretty tough to
Speaker 3: where when it happened, we actually didn't finish like the
Speaker 3: last month of school because a lot of the schools,
Speaker 3: even my elementary school was used as like shelter for
Speaker 3: families because it was like it was a I mean,
Speaker 3: we got like CNN coverage. It was pretty crazy. And
Speaker 3: then we had one in Fern Creek that really wasn't
Speaker 3: that long ago. It wasn't a huge one, but you know,
Speaker 3: it did touch down I think the Glenn Mary neighborhood
Speaker 3: and it wiped out a couple of houses. But we
Speaker 3: had a really scary experience on our way back on
Speaker 3: Saturday because we were driving back Saturday and our plan
Speaker 3: was to and by the way, wife won. We drove
Speaker 3: all the way through and it worked out because the
Speaker 3: kids were perfectly behaved, so it was great. Yeah, so
Speaker 3: it was great, but on the way back, you know,
Speaker 3: we didn't really want I mean, I just I didn't
Speaker 3: want to have to get up at five am, last
Speaker 3: day of vacation. I'd rather sleep in a little bit
Speaker 3: and like not feel rushed, and then we'll get on
Speaker 3: the road and we'll see what happens. Well, I wanted
Speaker 3: to stop because we knew we were going to be
Speaker 3: entering tough weather at some point. My wife just wanted
Speaker 3: so badly to get home, and I mean, I was
Speaker 3: gonna let her make the call. But then we're coming
Speaker 3: through Nashville, and all of a sudden, you know, I
Speaker 3: don't have any I'm not following anything on my social media.
Speaker 3: I don't have any apps for local news stations in Nashville.
Speaker 3: I'm not checking social media about what's going on in Nashville.
Speaker 3: But all of a sudden, my iPhone starts going off
Speaker 3: the alarm that says there's a tornado warning where you are.
Speaker 3: Obviously they can they know my location, And all of
Speaker 3: a sudden, I look up in the sky and sure enough,
Speaker 3: I'm like, I don't know if that's a tornado, but
Speaker 3: if somebody told me that it was, I would believe them.
Speaker 3: So we ended up pulling off the road for like
Speaker 3: an hour and twenty minutes, and you go look it
Speaker 3: up on X I mean it was. In fact, it
Speaker 3: became a he became somewhat of a not a national
Speaker 3: story within sports. But everybody, buddy in the Nashville area
Speaker 3: was pissed because they could watch the Final four because
Speaker 3: the local coverage on CBS was tracking this storm, and
Speaker 3: everybody was pissed about it. But we were like we
Speaker 3: were following the tornado. So we ended up pulling off.
Speaker 3: It took like an hour and fifteen minutes before we
Speaker 3: were able to feel comfortable enough to get back on
Speaker 3: the road and try to get back home. And then
Speaker 3: we knew it was gonna be dark on sixty five
Speaker 3: and there's stretches of sixty five that are so dark
Speaker 3: at night. And you know, we've got friends that left
Speaker 3: ahead of us that didn't stop, and they were like
Speaker 3: telling us that at certain spots on sixty five north
Speaker 3: kind of like around Etown, around I guess a little
Speaker 3: bit a little bit south of the town, there were
Speaker 3: like you could see the water rising close to the interstate.
Speaker 3: And I'm just having like I told my wife, look,
Speaker 3: we can't, like we don't We're not gonna be able
Speaker 3: to see anything. It's gonna be dark as can be,
Speaker 3: you know, We're already seeing areas of sixty five that
Speaker 3: we're going to drive through in an hour and a
Speaker 3: half that are already close to having like where they're
Speaker 3: gonna have to close the Interstate because the water's too high.
Speaker 3: So we ended up standing bowling Green randomly as hell
Speaker 3: on Saturday night, had a good evening. We end up
Speaker 3: getting late dinner watch some of the final four games.
Speaker 3: But but yeah, it was. It was probably the scariest
Speaker 3: experience for me when it comes to weather in a
Speaker 3: long time, because we were in traffic in downtown Nashville
Speaker 3: on the Interstate. I guess going through downtown Nashville on
Speaker 3: the Interstate and everybody's kind of like, You've got a
Speaker 3: bunch of cars that are just off to the side
Speaker 3: of the road not knowing what to do. You've got
Speaker 3: some people driving like a bad out of hell trying
Speaker 3: to get somewhere where they could be safe. We didn't
Speaker 3: know what to do. We ended up we ended up
Speaker 3: getting off the exit not knowing where we are, and
Speaker 3: I told her, like to find a parking garage or something,
Speaker 3: you know, I just don't want to be And then
Speaker 3: sure enough we didn't realize that, but we're driving towards
Speaker 3: the storm, So it was it was kind of scary,
Speaker 3: but it was a lot worse here because clearly a
Speaker 3: tornado did touchdown in jay Town and cause a lot
Speaker 3: of damage. Again, that came in earlier today as the
Speaker 3: National Weather Service has said that the Yeah, it was
Speaker 3: a a preliminary confirmation of an EF three tornado in
Speaker 3: Jaytown last Wednesday night early Thursday morning, one hundred and
Speaker 3: forty five mile per hour winds, which is crazy, dude.
Speaker 4: The sirens were going.
Speaker 3: I had to I woke up in the middle of
Speaker 3: the night and you know, couldn't go back to sleep
Speaker 3: for a little while, so I got my phone out
Speaker 3: and that's all anybody was talking about, was like, wow,
Speaker 3: this storm must have been pretty severe. And sure enough,
Speaker 3: it was the strongest one we've had in Louisville in
Speaker 3: nineteen years or twenty nine years. Yikes. All right, let's
Speaker 3: take a break, way too long back. But clock management
Speaker 3: still not a strong suit of mine, but maybe I'll
Speaker 3: get better one day.
Speaker 4: It was a new guy.
Speaker 3: Hey, stranger, it's coffee and Company. We're fuel about Thorton's
Speaker 3: right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: Now back to Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven nine days.
Speaker 3: That's one thing. One of the many things I missed
Speaker 3: last week is DJ travel Chief on the ones and two.
Speaker 5: Yeah, good stuff songs, A vibe it is, man, it
Speaker 5: is just reminds me of the nineties, just like mom
Speaker 5: and dad are getting McDonald's.
Speaker 4: It's a rain.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just music you can feel because there's a
Speaker 3: level of nostalgia to it for us, right, Yeah, I
Speaker 3: love it. Beautiful stuff and thank you all the beautiful
Speaker 3: people who are with us. Hopefully you didn't forget about
Speaker 3: this show because I was out last week and I'm back.
Speaker 3: It's Coffee and Company where Philbeth Thorton's. My name is
Speaker 3: Nick Coffee, the Austin Well, the Travel Chief, Austin Montgomery,
Speaker 3: that's the other voice that you hear. And it is
Speaker 3: now National Championship Game night. We've got Florida and Houston,
Speaker 3: which should be a really really really good game. I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm hoping so it would mean I guess you never
Speaker 3: know what you're gonna get, but I think it'd be
Speaker 3: a really really really big surprise. If this thing's not competitive,
Speaker 3: maybe it's not super competitive, but I think both these
Speaker 3: teams clearly are very very good, very well coached, and
Speaker 3: you know, I think it's just going to come down
Speaker 3: to who can you know, cause you know, to me,
Speaker 3: it's pretty simple. Can Florida continue to be as efficient
Speaker 3: as they've been offensively throughout this tournament? Or can Houston
Speaker 3: be the team that disrupts them enough to just kind
Speaker 3: of hold on and win. But tonight, eight fifty, I
Speaker 3: believe is the tip, which uh is late. I feel
Speaker 3: like that's later than what we usually get.
Speaker 4: But that's what the guy said on the commercial. I
Speaker 4: didn't know. I always felt there was like around nine o'clock. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I guess.
Speaker 3: So people have been complaining. People have been complaining about
Speaker 3: it for a long time because they just say, there's
Speaker 3: no reason to have it start this late, which I mean,
Speaker 3: you don't want the West. If you did it it's
Speaker 3: seven thirty, it'd be four to thirty on the West coast.
Speaker 3: And some say, well, who cares? The West Coast doesn't
Speaker 3: really care enough to watch college basketball at a high level,
Speaker 3: and I agree with that. But what makes all this
Speaker 3: work is television viewers. And even if you're getting, you know,
Speaker 3: way more viewership on the West or the East, Coast
Speaker 3: or just Central America. You still need West Coast viewers
Speaker 3: to an extent for you to be able to have
Speaker 3: that big number that gets you those big big checks
Speaker 3: that keep this thing, you know, keep this keeps this
Speaker 3: thing going. So currently Florida is favored by one and
Speaker 3: and that's what I would probably have said it at myself.
Speaker 3: I just the Florida team certainly really really talented. They're
Speaker 3: very balanced. But Walter Clayton Junior, what he's been able
Speaker 3: to do is I mean, I know they had a
Speaker 3: close call, and really, I don't know if I can
Speaker 3: really say that Texas Tech choked or that like Florida
Speaker 3: pulled off some miracle, because if you watched Walter Clayton
Speaker 3: Junior this year, even last year, heck, I mean, if
Speaker 3: you want to get real specific, just in the last month.
Speaker 3: He hits shots where he is defended as perfectly as
Speaker 3: he could possibly be defended. And he doesn't just do
Speaker 3: it randomly like he's on some heater. He's got that
Speaker 3: in his back, like there are shots that he like.
Speaker 3: When they say things like he can get to his spot,
Speaker 3: that sometimes annoys me because I think it's a real
Speaker 3: tryhard move from an analyst as far as like wanting
Speaker 3: you to know that, you know, sometimes these guys I
Speaker 3: believe and I'm you know, I think, I think I've
Speaker 3: got the credentials and I've I mean I've certified ballner.
Speaker 3: I mean that's that's right, sort offued ballnover here.
Speaker 4: What about play both ways? You liked that?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, I mean he's a two way guy, uh
Speaker 3: picking picking pop guy three and three and d can
Speaker 3: with his left hand to so you know there's but
Speaker 3: when you hear get to his spot, that means that
Speaker 3: means he is somebody that knows how to get what
Speaker 3: he's the best at, like knows knows where his bread
Speaker 3: is buttered if you will, and and and you know
Speaker 3: he can find that comfort zone consistently and and get
Speaker 3: his I mean that and that's that's technically what that
Speaker 3: means as far as my understanding of it. But Walter
Speaker 3: Clayton Junior gets to his spots, and it's it's if
Speaker 3: he's getting there and he has been able to do it,
Speaker 3: I mean it's insane. I mean his elevation on his
Speaker 3: pull up jump shot despite not being very tall, like
Speaker 3: that's what makes up for it. He's athletic enough. I
Speaker 3: wouldn't say he's the super athlete, but he doesn't lack
Speaker 3: athleticism to an extent to where like it's holding him back.
Speaker 3: I don't know if i'd say he's a lottery pick.
Speaker 3: I know Summers starting to say that he should be
Speaker 3: and could be. I wouldn't be shocked if he is.
Speaker 3: But that guy's really really good. And yes, Houston is
Speaker 3: a team that is defensively elite, but he's been defended
Speaker 3: at times as good as anybody could defend him, and
Speaker 3: he still made shots, not just ones that are big
Speaker 3: because of the moment, because you know that, of course
Speaker 3: is something he's doing as well. But like early on
Speaker 3: in that game against Auburn, like do you how do
Speaker 3: you defend that? I mean, I think the answer in
Speaker 3: some of these shots he's hitting and people say, like,
Speaker 3: what are you supposed to do? There's nothing you can do.
Speaker 3: He's just that good. Now, maybe he's run out of
Speaker 3: gas and his shots aren't falling. Now you really never know.
Speaker 3: But I would take Florida here just because I think
Speaker 3: that they're a little bit better built to win this.
Speaker 3: But Houston's also a team that they're going to fight
Speaker 3: to the end, and always give themselves a chance to
Speaker 3: you know, to stay alive and win one, just like
Speaker 3: they did against Duke. And I wish I had a
Speaker 3: strong take or you know, feeling about the way that
Speaker 3: ended between Houston and Duke, but I don't. I don't mean.
Speaker 3: What I mean by that is I'm not ready to say, well, hey,
Speaker 3: that's why you don't go young, because that's that's something
Speaker 3: you could easily say, is that it got late. Duke
Speaker 3: had outplayed everybody in this tournament by a wide margin,
Speaker 3: meaning their opponents of course, and they outplayed Houston like
Speaker 3: that game played out where like Houston's good, we know
Speaker 3: what they can do, but man, Duke's just got some dudes,
Speaker 3: like Douke's elite with talent, and they are and then
Speaker 3: at the end, Houston their DNA is their veterans. They're tough,
Speaker 3: they don't waiver, They're not going to be outworked there.
Speaker 3: You know, they could be down twenty, which rarely ever
Speaker 3: happens because they're so good. But like they did just
Speaker 3: enough to give themselves a chance, and they took advantage
Speaker 3: of every Duke mistake and they also made some tough
Speaker 3: shots on their end, right like that comeback It's mostly
Speaker 3: going to be about how did Duke manage to lose
Speaker 3: in that situation, which is crazy to think about. I mean,
Speaker 3: the win probability for Duke down the stretch, it's crazy
Speaker 3: to think that they lost the way that they did.
Speaker 3: But Houston hit a tough step back three, which at
Speaker 3: that point, what are they down? Seven?
Speaker 1: Maybe six?
Speaker 3: They're just like they're they're in desperation mode, right, Like
Speaker 3: Duke's just letting them jack it up because you know,
Speaker 3: that's a shot they want to take. We clearly are
Speaker 3: in a good position if we just don't screw up.
Speaker 3: And sure enough, they screwed up, and the turnover like
Speaker 3: the three, and then the turnover that led to another
Speaker 3: three point shot that was missed, and then dunk tipped
Speaker 3: in that changed everything. That five point swing to go
Speaker 3: along with the technical I suppose where he read Actually
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, you know the tech. Yeah, the technical on Houston.
Speaker 3: Did that put him up six or seven? I don't
Speaker 3: know what it was at that time, and it's really
Speaker 3: not important, but yes.
Speaker 4: And then there was the over the back on a
Speaker 4: Cooper five.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and look that call absolutely questionable, no doubt about it.
Speaker 3: I don't I don't have a strumming when I say
Speaker 3: I don't have a strong feeling on it. I can
Speaker 3: see why he called it. I wouldn't have been shocked
Speaker 3: at all if he didn't call it, which is a
Speaker 3: really half assed way to give you an opinion on it.
Speaker 3: But you know, Cooper Flag, he he did something I
Speaker 3: think the instincts for the reft and I don't think
Speaker 3: I don't think it was him anticipating a foul that
Speaker 3: didn't happen. But Cooper Flag has length right, he had
Speaker 3: like he can do some things that most can't do,
Speaker 3: as far as finding his way to a rebound without
Speaker 3: giving you the old boxing out your guy getting low
Speaker 3: and using the trunk of your legs like he's just
Speaker 3: he's different. So I think him doing that and his guy,
Speaker 3: you know, maybe didn't have a full I mean, it
Speaker 3: wasn't like a I think had the guy really dropped
Speaker 3: low and you know, pushed Cooper Flag out of the way.
Speaker 3: And I don't think there's really enough time to do it.
Speaker 3: They were reacting to a to a miss and you know,
Speaker 3: balls coming towards him. But I think had the guy
Speaker 3: for for forgetting his name for Houston, that that they
Speaker 3: that they put to the foul line because of the
Speaker 3: because of the over the over the back call. I
Speaker 3: woun't even I didn't even want to say, like if
Speaker 3: he'd has sold it more, I just mean more so,
Speaker 3: like had he actually been in a in a better
Speaker 3: box out position, maybe they wouldn't have called it. I
Speaker 3: know what you're thinking, Well, if he wasn't in a
Speaker 3: box opposition, he wasn't boxing out, it was it was
Speaker 3: a bad call. Look, maybe you're right. I just think
Speaker 3: that what that ref saw in real time, I understand
Speaker 3: why his instincts were, I gotta call this foul now again.
Speaker 3: I also think that if he didn't call it wouldn't
Speaker 3: have been a huge deal. And here's something that nobody
Speaker 3: wants to hear. I hate even saying it because it's lame.
Speaker 3: It sounds like I'm, you know, get off my lawn
Speaker 3: kind of guy. But like, there are questionable calls that
Speaker 3: could go either way an unbelievable amount of time in games.
Speaker 3: We're just not used to seeing it late when calls,
Speaker 3: you know, can certainly impact a game the way that
Speaker 3: one did. And you know, I know the oh you
Speaker 3: got to swallow your whistle there late. Well, don't you
Speaker 3: want it consistent? Like which one is it? I think
Speaker 3: what you want is perfect officiating. I'm here to tell
Speaker 3: you something that'll never happen. Players misshots, Refs miss calls.
Speaker 3: The best refs of all time. They miss calls every
Speaker 3: game they call, every game that they're a part of.
Speaker 3: They miss calls every player, Michael Jordan, the best ever,
Speaker 3: Lebron whoever, Larry Bird. They miss shots. They're not perfect.
Speaker 3: Like that's one thing that's starting to really just make
Speaker 3: me feel like I'm a Boomer's I just I can
Speaker 3: with the officiating. Like in game, yeah, I'll yell about
Speaker 3: a ref because I'm watching my team and I'm in
Speaker 3: the moment, like I'm I'm a sportsman. But like in
Speaker 3: retrospect after a game, I really have ever felt like, well, man,
Speaker 3: we just really got screwed by the officials. They really
Speaker 3: got us because they're not perfect. And those that say
Speaker 3: that refs need to be a have a press they
Speaker 3: need to be held accountable, have a press conference after
Speaker 3: so they got to face the music. You would be underwhelmed.
Speaker 3: You'd be underwhelmed in a major way. Like those of
Speaker 3: you who don't go to the lot of men's clinic.
Speaker 3: Your wife's underwhelmed. That's the underwhelming feeling that you would feel,
Speaker 3: because you'd want to you'd find a stream for it
Speaker 3: on Twitter or maybe you'd you know, maybe you pull O.
Speaker 3: I don't know where you'd find it, but you'd find
Speaker 3: that press conference. So these refs have to take their medicine,
Speaker 3: and you know what they would tell you, Yeah, we
Speaker 3: missed that one, and you would feel a level of like,
Speaker 3: because they're not perfect. They miscall and sometimes there's questionable
Speaker 3: calls that like it could go either way, and you're
Speaker 3: just you're you're at the mercy of whatever they decide.
Speaker 3: Because they're officials, you can tell I miss talking about
Speaker 3: doctor wood A theew Woman's clinical I was on.
Speaker 4: Vacation, right, that's right, I know what your mind was going.
Speaker 3: All right, let's get to a quick time. I will
Speaker 3: come back and wrap up the three o'clock hour. We'll
Speaker 3: get to some texts that are coming in on the
Speaker 3: Leenn Federal Credit Union text line fab OO two four
Speaker 3: three eight ninety seventy three. Phone lines now open five
Speaker 3: O two five to seven one seventy nine hundred. It's
Speaker 3: Coffee and Company Fiel about Thornton's right here on Sports
Speaker 3: Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: Now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 3: I will say one of the questions that came in
Speaker 3: on the Llenn Federal Credit Union text line five O
Speaker 3: two four three eight ninety seventy three, this came in earlier,
Speaker 3: and I I if you'd asked me beforehand, I would
Speaker 3: have guessed, just a guess that when I returned from vacation,
Speaker 3: we would have some kind of clarity on what some
Speaker 3: of the guys that can return to Louisville are going
Speaker 3: to do. Are they going to return to Louisville or
Speaker 3: are they going to hit the portal again or maybe
Speaker 3: pursue professional options. And it doesn't appear that we have
Speaker 3: any update case and Pryor and Jamon Hadley are still
Speaker 3: members of the program as far as I mean, I mean,
Speaker 3: I don't know. It's awkward because there are still some
Speaker 3: that'll say, well, why would you why would you even
Speaker 3: talk about them leaving? They haven't left fair enough? But
Speaker 3: like I feel like, now, haven't we got to the
Speaker 3: point where good players don't don't you feel the need to,
Speaker 3: like if you are keeping up with the portal and
Speaker 3: maybe not even the portal. Let me let me, let
Speaker 3: me rephrase if you are up to date as far
Speaker 3: as like where we are in college athletics basketball, specifically
Speaker 3: good players playing for programs that you know, really any program,
Speaker 3: but especially programs that aren't making the final four every year.
Speaker 3: I think you kind of just sit back and you
Speaker 3: you do need a confirmation that somebody is going to
Speaker 3: be coming back, because you know that they have the
Speaker 3: ability to leave whenever they want, and a lot of
Speaker 3: them are doing it. So I'm not telling you the
Speaker 3: case in Prior and Jamon Hadley are are gonna leave,
Speaker 3: and I'm gonna wait until they tell us they're coming
Speaker 3: back for me to believe it. I just I to
Speaker 3: me no clue what they're gonna do. Hope they come back,
Speaker 3: So I don't. I don't know. I would. I would
Speaker 3: have assumed that there would be some type of clarity
Speaker 3: on maybe there an il situation on their end to
Speaker 3: where they would know, Okay, is this good for me?
Speaker 3: Or do I do? I want to go hit the
Speaker 3: portal and see if I can get some money, more
Speaker 3: money elsewhere. And you got to keep in mind with
Speaker 3: some guys being available to play because of injury this
Speaker 3: past season, Kobe Rodgers, Ali Khalifa, as well as the
Speaker 3: guys they've met. Because again, this is where it's just
Speaker 3: awkward because it's still relatively new, but it's very obvious
Speaker 3: but also important if you are a player who, like,
Speaker 3: if you're a Jamon Hadley, let's say there is a
Speaker 3: I'm gonna pull up the transfer portal ranking just to
Speaker 3: give you kind of an example, because you know, Javon
Speaker 3: Hadley was awesome. I would love to have him back. Look,
Speaker 3: I love everything about him, and I mean that like
Speaker 3: I think he is. He was one of the I
Speaker 3: wouldn't say one of the unsung heroes, but like he
Speaker 3: was a super super factor in Louisville being able to
Speaker 3: go eighteen and two in the ACC and make it
Speaker 3: to the a SEC Championship game and get this thing
Speaker 3: turned around. He didn't get the same praise and love
Speaker 3: that guys like Chucky and even rain God, and that's
Speaker 3: that's understandable Terrence Edwards too, But like, those four, to
Speaker 3: me were the real reasons why Louisville was able to
Speaker 3: rally after having some tough losses early and then some injuries.
Speaker 3: Those guys really kind of put it all together. But
Speaker 3: let's say I'm trying to find I mean, would you
Speaker 3: consider help me out here? Austin Like he can definitely
Speaker 3: stretch the floor and give you some perimeter play. But
Speaker 3: Javon's a four, right, he's a stretch for like he's
Speaker 3: he's a guy who can you know he can give
Speaker 3: you some He's a mismatch because for Beggs he's a
Speaker 3: little too quick for him at times. And for guards
Speaker 3: he can he can box, he can post him up.
Speaker 3: So let's say you've got perfect example, and I have
Speaker 3: no clue if Louisville. In fact, it looks like Louisville,
Speaker 3: I mean looks like this guy may already have landed
Speaker 3: at another school. But bright, yeah, Bryce Hopkins, he's transferring
Speaker 3: to play for Rick Patino at Saint John's. He is
Speaker 3: a six to seven, two and twenty pound power forward.
Speaker 3: So again this is all hypothetical. He's already going to
Speaker 3: Saint John's play for Rick. And you may remember he
Speaker 3: was committed to Louisville under Chris Mack before he ended
Speaker 3: up going to Kentucky for a year and then going
Speaker 3: to Providence. Having a really good season, and he's been
Speaker 3: injured the last two. But anyways, if Louisville landed him,
Speaker 3: Javon Hadley understandably so would have to reconsider what he
Speaker 3: wants to do, right like the days of well, you
Speaker 3: don't want to compete, it's not about that. It's about
Speaker 3: doing what makes sense. It's about doing what make like
Speaker 3: what's best for you. I mean, so it doesn't look
Speaker 3: like Louisville has it anybody. You know, Bryce is a
Speaker 3: top ten transfer. So like, I'm just giving you a hypothetical.
Speaker 3: So in a long witted way, I have no clue
Speaker 3: what those guys are doing. That's what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 3: But those that think we should just assume they're back,
Speaker 3: maybe you're right, and I'm not assuming that they're not back,
Speaker 3: but I am someone that for me, I will need
Speaker 3: them to announce they're coming back for me to just assume. Okay, Like,
Speaker 3: when I think about Louisville's lineup next year, there's a
Speaker 3: lot of unknown pieces. One because they're still going to
Speaker 3: be active in the portal to an extent, but also
Speaker 3: I'd love to look at potential lineups next season and
Speaker 3: talk about depth with guys like Cason Pryor and Javon Hadley.
Speaker 3: It's just I don't know if they're coming back, because
Speaker 3: if they didn't, then they decided to go elsewhere. It
Speaker 3: wouldn't be a it shouldn't be a big shock to anybody.
Speaker 3: I'll say that. So again, no real clarity on my end,
Speaker 3: but I would love both those guys to come back,
Speaker 3: And honestly, I just I love the dynamic of that.
Speaker 3: I mean, you bring in a couple of really talented freshmen,
Speaker 3: one who's already played pro ball for a couple of years,
Speaker 3: Sonny Frew, and the three guards you've added in the portal.
Speaker 3: Hell yeah, I mean Canai Rus hasn't hit the portal.
Speaker 3: I mean I would love to get him back. And
Speaker 3: then you've got veterans like Javon and a healthy case.
Speaker 3: And I mean, I think that's a pretty good I mean,
Speaker 3: that's a pretty good recipe. To be honest with you,
Speaker 3: I still would like to see a more polished, offensive,
Speaker 3: low post guy. And we'll actually talk about one of
Speaker 3: those guys who is fighting for another year, a College
Speaker 3: of Charleston transfer who played for Pat Kelce. His argument
Speaker 3: as far as why he deserves another year is exactly
Speaker 3: what I guessed it would be, and we'll get to
Speaker 3: that in a lot more two more hours left here,
Speaker 3: stick around National Championship Game the Night, good stuff right
Speaker 3: here on Sports Talk seven to ninety