Speaker 1: Kentucky wanted that game more than usen it wasn't even close.
Speaker 2: That is Tennessee women's coach Kim Caldwell, after last night's
Speaker 2: Kentucky blowout win over the Lady Vaulls, Welcome to the
Speaker 2: Big Blue Insider, And just as last night, we talked
Speaker 2: about how well we might open the broadcast with this,
Speaker 2: but instead we're going to open the show with that.
Speaker 2: Last night, we were going to start talking off the
Speaker 2: top about the UK women's game, but that Oklahoma Kentucky
Speaker 2: finished was so incredible that we led with that. Well tonight,
Speaker 2: I was going to lead with you know, Kentucky Auburn tomorrow,
Speaker 2: wild Cats are playing the top ranked team in the country.
Speaker 2: But after that blowout win last night, I thought Kentucky
Speaker 2: might win, but Tennessee was a slight favorite. Nobody, I
Speaker 2: mean nobody saw that coming what happened with the Cats
Speaker 2: and the vall. So we got comments from both sides
Speaker 2: coming up. Also, we'll hear from Mark Pope as he
Speaker 2: told Tom Leach after the Oklahoma game that the and
Speaker 2: you know, I split time between TV and radio watching
Speaker 2: and listening to that game, but at one point one
Speaker 2: one of the TV guys said, this feels like an
Speaker 2: NCAA tournament game, and at this point in the season
Speaker 2: for bubble teams, they really are. And so Kentucky's fine.
Speaker 2: I don't know about Oklahoma obviously, but just the way
Speaker 2: it played, the frenetic pace and the level of play,
Speaker 2: it was so good and exciting. So it did feel
Speaker 2: like an NCAA tournament game. So Pope alluded to that
Speaker 2: or actually referred directly to it with Tom Leach. Also,
Speaker 2: we'll hear from Rick Patina a little bit later on.
Speaker 2: His team is on the verge of winning a big East.
Speaker 2: But I bring him up because he weighed in on
Speaker 2: the Indiana coaching situation. I want Kentucky to play Indiana again.
Speaker 2: Maybe in the next coach will work something out with
Speaker 2: Mark Pope. Also, we'll talk a little baseball right now.
Speaker 2: Through the miracle of digital technology, I am on SEC
Speaker 2: plus doing Kentucky hostter Baseball. You may have that on
Speaker 2: in the background or right in front of it. And
Speaker 2: Darren Hedrick's got it over on our sister station, wbul
Speaker 2: Dash two ninety eight point five. It's a weekend series
Speaker 2: for Hofstra. If you can't get out with Hofstra, if
Speaker 2: you can't get out. We'll have it for you on
Speaker 2: the streaming channel all week and long, me and my
Speaker 2: buddy Doug Flynn. So but back to the women's game.
Speaker 2: Unbelievable from start to finish. It was an absolute beat down.
Speaker 2: Tennessee never responded. The Wildcats held the Lady Valls to
Speaker 2: nine points in the first quarter, led it twenty two
Speaker 2: to nine after one, and Kim Caldwell, the coach who
Speaker 2: has done a nice job there and coached at Marshall,
Speaker 2: this same crazy full court pressure system, a little bit
Speaker 2: like what Patino ran here. Kenny Brooks had seen it
Speaker 2: before and was prepared for it when he coached at
Speaker 2: Virginia Tech and she was at Marshall, so his team
Speaker 2: was prepared for Tennessee was not prepared for what happened,
Speaker 2: and Calwell admitted that at the end of the first
Speaker 2: quarter in early second her team did not respond and
Speaker 2: that's when she said she knew they were really in trouble.
Speaker 1: We haven't looked like this in a while. We haven't
Speaker 1: looked just kind of dead behind the eyes and defeated
Speaker 1: and just no resolve, no pushback. We haven't looked like
Speaker 1: that in a while. And when you play an effort
Speaker 1: based system, and you don't have effort, or you have
Speaker 1: one player that decides to take a playoff because they
Speaker 1: didn't like the result on the other end of the floor,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get beat. And when you're playing a team
Speaker 1: like Kentucky, they're gonna find a way to score every
Speaker 1: single time on the one second that you take off
Speaker 1: to reflect in the last lay. And they did that
Speaker 1: to perfection.
Speaker 2: I really liked that expression dead behind the eyes. That's
Speaker 2: really fascinating to me. You might think that last night's
Speaker 2: game was the Georgia Aymore Show, and she was fantastic
Speaker 2: as usual, but man, she got help from every I
Speaker 2: mean everybody contributed. Everybody who he put out there, who
Speaker 2: Brooks put out there, played incredibly well, including of course
Speaker 2: Clara Strack. One of the greatest games in the history
Speaker 2: of UK women's basketball, and we can say that because
Speaker 2: she was perfect. She had twenty three points, fifteen rebounds,
Speaker 2: three block shots as she became the single season blocks leader,
Speaker 2: but she didn't miss a shot. She had a Christian
Speaker 2: Ladner game. She was eleven for eleven and one for
Speaker 2: one at the free throw line. I will tell you
Speaker 2: one of the reasons see hit some jump shots, but
Speaker 2: she was eleven for eleven because she kept cutting to
Speaker 2: the basket and beating her defender and getting great passes
Speaker 2: from Aymore and the rest of her teammates, and they
Speaker 2: took advantage. Did Kentucky of that pressure by not just
Speaker 2: breaking it, but then attacking the basket. It's what Eddie
Speaker 2: Fogler did with South Carolina against Rick Patino. Foger had
Speaker 2: three great guards and he twice beat Patino in nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety seven because his guards would break the press and
Speaker 2: then they wouldn't just regroup and run their offense. They
Speaker 2: had head right for the rim. Kentucky did last night
Speaker 2: so often, and I talked to George Amore asked her
Speaker 2: this question in the press conference about the fact that
Speaker 2: her skill set seems to lend itself to that wide
Speaker 2: open style, breaking the other team's defense using the entire
Speaker 2: ninety four feet.
Speaker 3: The practice before this game, I was talking to Koch
Speaker 3: Chicks and was agreeing that this game is going to
Speaker 3: be fun, funny because they give us opportunities the start
Speaker 3: that they play, but we placed the emphasis on a team.
Speaker 3: You know, I wouldn't have been able to survive without
Speaker 3: Deja Lawrence Tonight or Tianni Key. The way that she
Speaker 3: was attacking their defense early in the first was a
Speaker 3: turn set up. So I think this whole focus. You know,
Speaker 3: we knew that they were going to give us good looks,
Speaker 3: just to be patient and rap for the game started.
Speaker 3: Chris Brooks says, you know, they're going to give you opportunities.
Speaker 3: They want you to be uncertain about it, but we
Speaker 3: can take them and we can make them. So we
Speaker 3: were just really really confident with the looks we were
Speaker 3: going to get tonight.
Speaker 2: So there you go. They prepared for it. Kenny Brush
Speaker 2: got his team ready. He's got good players, and they
Speaker 2: executed and they played like a group that's been together
Speaker 2: for more than just a few months. And Brooks talked
Speaker 2: after the game about the chemistry on this team, and
Speaker 2: that's one reason they just keep coming at you.
Speaker 4: You know what they're They're resilient, they're fun, they come
Speaker 4: to work every day. This has probably been the least
Speaker 4: amount that I've raised my voice ever as a coach
Speaker 4: during the whole year, just because they get it, they
Speaker 4: understand it, they know what the assignment is, and they
Speaker 4: work extremely well together. And it's one of the things
Speaker 4: that we talked about. You know, as a as a group,
Speaker 4: we were trying to build chemistry, and we did it
Speaker 4: all organically. You know, we didn't we didn't go anywhere
Speaker 4: with any excursions and you know, doing any of that stuff.
Speaker 4: We just let them hang with each other and the
Speaker 4: chemistry that they found first and foremost are great kids
Speaker 4: and they work, work, work.
Speaker 2: I thought that was interesting when he said we did
Speaker 2: it organically. We didn't go anywhere. Basically, it didn't take
Speaker 2: any foreign trips or whatever. And it's not that he's
Speaker 2: putting those down, but it just makes it even more
Speaker 2: interesting and incredible that they played so well and that
Speaker 2: they are playing so well, the fact that you know,
Speaker 2: you can really bond, you can really build team chemistry
Speaker 2: with a trip to a foreign land or whatever. But
Speaker 2: he said, this group, these kids did it just by
Speaker 2: hanging out. So now next up Sunday, South Carolina in Columbia,
Speaker 2: the tallest of tall tasks in the SEC, literally and figuratively,
Speaker 2: a big team in South Carolina. The Kentucky's got size,
Speaker 2: but this is a tough, strong, physical team and it's
Speaker 2: going to be the toughest test of the year so far.
Speaker 2: But what we saw last night tells you don't count
Speaker 2: this team out. And they also hit shots. They played
Speaker 2: great defense, but they hit their shots. But the biggest
Speaker 2: thing was, and Darren Hedrick said this going into send
Speaker 2: it to me off their sitting on the air on
Speaker 2: the radio. I'll sit right next to him. Third quarter
Speaker 2: was vital because that's where Kentucky flopped against You couldn't
Speaker 2: hold a big lead. LSU killed him in the third
Speaker 2: quarter and that was that. Kentucky extended its lead in
Speaker 2: the third quarter last night and got to win over Tennessee.
Speaker 2: So we'll have it for you right here on Sunday
Speaker 2: on six thirty WLAP. Now, Mark Pope talked to the
Speaker 2: media today. We pre record, of course, so I don't
Speaker 2: have any of that, but you'll see it all over
Speaker 2: the interweb. And I have a comment here as he
Speaker 2: talked to Tom Leach as I said earlier about how
Speaker 2: the Oklahoma game had a real NCAA tournament feel, and
Speaker 2: they made the team aware of that. They stressed that
Speaker 2: point pregame.
Speaker 5: It closest where you get all season long to a
Speaker 5: first round NAA game planning against a great upon of
Speaker 5: a really terrific opponent that's coming off a huge win,
Speaker 5: that's feeling great about themselves, feel like maybe they turned
Speaker 5: the corner off after a little losing streak to just
Speaker 5: beat a top twenty five team, you know, on their
Speaker 5: home floor, So there's a little more juice there, even
Speaker 5: though that's out the SCAA tournament. And then with us,
Speaker 5: with all the k awesome, it's just all the distraction
Speaker 5: of three guys having close ties to Oklahoma, our fourth
Speaker 5: guy playing against the former teammate from is a Dayton
Speaker 5: playing in a late game. You take all that weirdness
Speaker 5: and it gives you a sense of like the weirdness
Speaker 5: of a first round as a game, and and so,
Speaker 5: and the game delivered all those things. It was a
Speaker 5: heroic effort by Oklahoma, and it was it was there
Speaker 5: was a ton of frustration throughout the game, and the
Speaker 5: weirdness of the fouls in the game and the rotation,
Speaker 5: and and I'm super proud that our guys got to
Speaker 5: experience that feel it. They were trying to have them
Speaker 5: pay very close attention to how they felt during the
Speaker 5: course of the game and then how they actually responded
Speaker 5: to finally come up with a window service well down
Speaker 5: the stretch.
Speaker 2: Could you hear those Blue chants. Yeah, come on everywhere.
Speaker 5: BBN is everywhere.
Speaker 2: Man, It's awesome. Yeah, it's been not surprising, is it.
Speaker 2: BBN Blue gets in So all right? Coming up next,
Speaker 2: what's going on with the coaching situation up at EYEU too.
Speaker 2: Hi profile coaches from other schools way in on it,
Speaker 2: including a coach from one I use arch rivals. A
Speaker 2: little bit later on at the bottom of the hour,
Speaker 2: in fact, we'll hear from Shawn Woods, the Unforgettable Guard,
Speaker 2: and our number two. We're gonna hear from more of
Speaker 2: the football Cats, including Mark Stoops and our West End
Speaker 2: bureau chief, Gary Moore. That's all I had here on
Speaker 2: the Big Moon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back to
Speaker 2: the Big Blon Sider. Coming up in just a few minutes.
Speaker 2: Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard. We visited him each and
Speaker 2: every week, and because we were preempted by UK basketball
Speaker 2: on Wednesday, we're talking to him today about tomorrow's game
Speaker 2: with Auburn, and of course the win over Oklahoma where
Speaker 2: the Wildcats appeared to play defense a little bit better
Speaker 2: or a lot better at certain times. But if you followed,
Speaker 2: you know that Shawn who was a terrific defensive guard
Speaker 2: has been critical, you know, not in a terrible way,
Speaker 2: but concern let's say about Kentucky's defense. But last time
Speaker 2: we talked, he admitted they have gotten better. We'll see
Speaker 2: if he saw any more improvement against Oklahoma on Wednesday night.
Speaker 2: Sean is an Indiana native. He was grew up a
Speaker 2: Kentucky fan because his grandmother lived here in Lexington, and
Speaker 2: he spent a lot of time as a kid in Lexington.
Speaker 2: So never really consider going You could have gone to
Speaker 2: a lot of places. People forget that about Sean. He
Speaker 2: was a highly touted guard coming into Kentucky and he
Speaker 2: isn't unforgettable. But indi Enda is looking for a new
Speaker 2: basketball coach, Mike Woodson announcing a few days ago he'll
Speaker 2: be stepping down, heading for their second consecutive year without
Speaker 2: and then say tournament appearance, and they've lost six at
Speaker 2: their last seven. Woodson is sixty six years old. If
Speaker 2: the school had fired him, they would have owed him
Speaker 2: eight million, but they talked about it. He agreed to
Speaker 2: step down and take a one million dollar basically walk
Speaker 2: away payment. Woodson makes four point two million a year.
Speaker 2: Don't know what they'll pay the next guy. Don't know
Speaker 2: who the next guy will be, but an interesting comment
Speaker 2: from Matt Paynter, he is the head coach at Purdue,
Speaker 2: one of, if not the arts rival of the Indiana Hoosiers,
Speaker 2: now that Kentucky's not playing Indiana, but that is one
Speaker 2: of a handful of art rivals. And I guarantee you
Speaker 2: IU is the arts rival for Purdue because Indiana naturally
Speaker 2: the big state school, Purdue not necessarily the little brother,
Speaker 2: but it's kind of a niche program, if you will.
Speaker 2: And Painter is well respected among his peers, and several
Speaker 2: years ago, I would say about fifteen years ago, some
Speaker 2: thought he might be the next coach at Kentucky if
Speaker 2: and when the job opened up. Didn't work out, obviously,
Speaker 2: but he is an excellent coach, well respected, and he
Speaker 2: actually weighed in on what's happening at IU talked about
Speaker 2: Indiana fans talked about the search for a new coach,
Speaker 2: and I thought it was interesting. I mean, that'd be
Speaker 2: like U of L's coach weighing in on the search
Speaker 2: if they had to have another one or a new
Speaker 2: coach at UK. And there was some interesting comments about
Speaker 2: are you and the fans.
Speaker 6: I think you got to look at some of the
Speaker 6: common denominators here. More than anything, I think that's an
Speaker 6: important piece right here, like don't beat yourself, Like, don't
Speaker 6: beat yourself, like let's let's let's support somebody. I gotta
Speaker 6: try that out for once every now and then when.
Speaker 7: It goes wrong, like whatever, you they produe.
Speaker 6: Fans are happy about what just happened, Like like see
Speaker 6: a fan base isn't the people that tweet. A fan
Speaker 6: base is the people when you're bleeding, they support you.
Speaker 7: Like they jump in and off.
Speaker 6: They jump on and off things here way too much
Speaker 6: like support your coach man, support your players. Don't tweet
Speaker 6: negative things about them, like be supportive, like see how
Speaker 6: that works for you. But they build them up, like
Speaker 6: and they overdo things like quit overdoing it just accurately,
Speaker 6: like talk about what's actually happened, like don't like get
Speaker 6: like recruits in like that it's Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen.
Speaker 7: Then they come out of here, well they're not Michael
Speaker 7: Jordan Scotty Pippen.
Speaker 6: They're good college players, like and then they build it
Speaker 6: up and then they go, oh, what's wrong.
Speaker 7: Oh they're part of it, but it's not their total
Speaker 7: fan base.
Speaker 6: It's just that everyone has a bad percentage of their
Speaker 6: fan base now because of Twitter, and then we think
Speaker 6: that's their fan base.
Speaker 7: It's not our fan base.
Speaker 6: It's not their real fan base either, and so I
Speaker 6: think that's an important piece.
Speaker 7: But it's hard for young people to hear all.
Speaker 6: That and then go out and collectively play like, hey man,
Speaker 6: we're playing for you guys, but your dog is when
Speaker 6: we lose, and then we're the best when we win.
Speaker 7: Well, we're somewhere.
Speaker 6: In between, right, So, like, I think they need to
Speaker 6: learn from some of those things and support Scott Dolson
Speaker 6: and support the new coach and support the staff, but
Speaker 6: also kind of be grounded with everything.
Speaker 2: Really interesting comments about the fan base, social media and
Speaker 2: how much can you apply what he said in Jai
Speaker 2: funeral to Kentucky fans really to fans everywhere football and basketball.
Speaker 2: So that's Matt Paynter, the head coach at Purdue, talking
Speaker 2: about the IU job. And by the way, Rick Patino
Speaker 2: weighed in on who he thinks he would go higher
Speaker 2: if he was the one making the decision.
Speaker 8: Can I give you my pick?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 8: Okay, So I'm gonna have some people upset at me
Speaker 8: if I was the ad in Indiana and am I
Speaker 8: friendly with this person? Yes I am. Do I have
Speaker 8: a lot of respect for this person, Yes I do.
Speaker 8: But I would immediately not even into you anybody else,
Speaker 8: and hire one of the premier coaches in all of
Speaker 8: college basketball, and that's Chris Beard.
Speaker 2: Hmmm.
Speaker 8: From moments, I wouldn't even think about another person. He's
Speaker 8: perfect for that job. He's a tough, hard nose. The
Speaker 8: years I was sitting out, I got friendly with him
Speaker 8: because he asked me to. He didn't know me, I
Speaker 8: didn't know him to come out and speak to his team.
Speaker 8: He was at a Texas Tech and I went out
Speaker 8: and spoke to him. But I watched two days two
Speaker 8: days of practice, and I always judge a coach by
Speaker 8: his practices, and I have to tell you that those
Speaker 8: are some of the best practices and meetings with his
Speaker 8: team that have ever witnessed. So now I'm a gigantic
Speaker 8: fan of Cris Beard.
Speaker 2: That was Patino talking on a Saint John's podcast, and
Speaker 2: I also found it interesting. We were talking a minute
Speaker 2: ago about the fans, Indiana fans, Purdue fans, whoever, UK fans. Well,
Speaker 2: Patino gave a large portion of credit to Saint John's
Speaker 2: fans who showed up, and if you saw any of
Speaker 2: the Yukon game in Madison Square Garden, he said, the
Speaker 2: Saint John's fans helped carry them to the win. And
Speaker 2: while it is more of an advantage for Saint John's
Speaker 2: to play there, it's not a huge home court advantage
Speaker 2: because Yukon fans are everywhere and they can get to
Speaker 2: the garden fairly easily. But Patino said that night belonged
Speaker 2: to the Red Storm fans, and he compared them to
Speaker 2: the Big Blue Nation.
Speaker 8: But our fans were there in a big weight. Well,
Speaker 8: I can assure you we had most of the fans tonight.
Speaker 8: We did not last year, but it was about seventy
Speaker 8: thirty this year. And they are a great fan base.
Speaker 8: I mean they are like Kentucky, the Kentucky of the East.
Speaker 8: They traveled great, they show up. But our fans were
Speaker 8: there in a big way tonight. And we're going to
Speaker 8: play next year's game in Cornoseca.
Speaker 2: Carnaseca is where Saint John's plays its home games on campus.
Speaker 2: So yeah, he'd loved to get you U. Khan in
Speaker 2: his backyard, but he got him in the garden. And
Speaker 2: he got him good. You beat him. And now Patino's
Speaker 2: team just needs to beat Seaton Hall to be the
Speaker 2: outright champion of the Big East. And the last time
Speaker 2: Saint John's was the outright champ teen eighty five when
Speaker 2: Walter Berry and Chris Mullen played for Luke Carnaseca and
Speaker 2: they came to the final four election and it is
Speaker 2: the only final four appearance in the histories in the
Speaker 2: history of Saint John's basketball. So Rick Patino getting it done.
Speaker 2: And the guy who played for Rick Patino, Shawn Woods,
Speaker 2: is next year on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to
Speaker 2: the Big Blue and sider joining us now as he
Speaker 2: does every week, usually on Wednesdays, but we were bumped
Speaker 2: by a really good basketball game Wednesday night, so Shawn
Speaker 2: Woods joined us tonight here on the BBI. And before
Speaker 2: we talk about Kentucky Oklahoma, coach, I have got to
Speaker 2: talk to you about last night's Kentucky Tennessee women's game.
Speaker 2: And let me start at the point. You, being a
Speaker 2: point guard but also a coach, what are your thoughts
Speaker 2: on Georgia Amore. She is a singular talent, isn't she
Speaker 2: at point for Kentucky.
Speaker 9: Georgia Amore should be in the top five a player
Speaker 9: of the year, not just in the SEC, but in
Speaker 9: the country for what she's doing for her basketball team.
Speaker 9: And you know, first year here, her coach's first year here,
Speaker 9: and you know, got Kentucky was in third fourth place
Speaker 9: in the SEC knocked off Tennessee last night. I mean
Speaker 9: it wasn't even close. I don't know, I haven't been
Speaker 9: around for a long time, but I know when I
Speaker 9: was playing, we weren't beating Tennessee in pat Summers seams.
Speaker 9: And just the fact that it's Tennessee, which is still
Speaker 9: one of the top you know ten programs in America.
Speaker 9: For them to come in here and we treat them
Speaker 9: like they were just a mid major team last night, wow,
Speaker 9: you know. And Georgia m Moore was just awesome. I mean,
Speaker 9: she's one of the prototype point guards in all of
Speaker 9: college basketball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we just had a SoundBite with her talking because
Speaker 2: I had asked her after the game about and she
Speaker 2: knew that style of play was coming because at Virginia
Speaker 2: Tech they played against it when Tennessee's coach was at Marshall.
Speaker 2: But that wide open pressing which you guys used under
Speaker 2: Patino but Kentucky was able to beat it last night
Speaker 2: because she negotiate, find the spots on the floor, find
Speaker 2: her teammates, and then they attacked the basket like I
Speaker 2: said Eddie Fogler's teams used to do. They didn't just
Speaker 2: hang back and wait to run their offense. But it
Speaker 2: fits into her skill set kind of the way it
Speaker 2: fit your skill set when you were playing, no doubt
Speaker 2: about it.
Speaker 9: I always wanted teams to press me, even though we
Speaker 9: lost the Arkansas at one time. Yeah, they if you
Speaker 9: go back. They took the one thing Nolan Richison did
Speaker 9: that Coach Patino didn't do, was we couldn't stop each
Speaker 9: other's offense, you know, with our press, So they took
Speaker 9: theirs off because I was just strippling through it, but
Speaker 9: we kept ours on. Yeah, and they kept throwing over
Speaker 9: the top time, they getting layups and things like that,
Speaker 9: because as we were coming up, they were going to
Speaker 9: buy us. Well, with me and a player like George Amore,
Speaker 9: you want pressure because once you get through that initial trap,
Speaker 9: or even get by your man with that who's trying
Speaker 9: to trap, now it's wide open. You got numbers. And
Speaker 9: she was just going through it like nothing like no other.
Speaker 9: And she was making all the right plays either for herself,
Speaker 9: hitting teammates. And the good thing about Oppress is when
Speaker 9: you break it to score. They weren't just getting layups.
Speaker 9: They were getting they were making shots, yeah, you know,
Speaker 9: making jump shots. And you know, not only did jorgea
Speaker 9: Amore have a great game, but you know UK's post player,
Speaker 9: you know, yeah, Oh my god, she's one of my
Speaker 9: favorite players too. I love her style play and she
Speaker 9: gives it everything she's got every single night. So I'll
Speaker 9: tell you what coaches got a team, and I don't
Speaker 9: want to if I'm everybody else in America besides probably
Speaker 9: Connecticut and maybe South Carolina. You know, even even Texas
Speaker 9: is good. But I don't want to see this team
Speaker 9: in a one in a one game series in tournament.
Speaker 9: I really don't.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And as Jodine used to say, Strack is just
Speaker 2: a sophomore as a coach. I had a comment from
Speaker 2: from Calwell. She described her team at the end of
Speaker 2: the first quarter beginning of the second, she was looking
Speaker 2: for a comeback and she kind of knew it wasn't
Speaker 2: gonna happen. She said, we were dead behind the eyes.
Speaker 2: I've never heard that expression you may have, but I
Speaker 2: thought that described it perfectly. I are passed a note
Speaker 2: to Darren Heddrick. He was doing radio, of course, and
Speaker 2: I said, Tennessee body language is terrible. I don't know
Speaker 2: if you could see that on TV. But dead behind
Speaker 2: the eyes the way Kentucky.
Speaker 9: I means, that means there's nothing less. That means you
Speaker 9: can't see you can't see the forgiven future, or you
Speaker 9: can't see a comeback. That's what that means. There's nothing
Speaker 9: in front of you. It's all over it.
Speaker 2: Did you ever have to deal with that as a coach?
Speaker 2: You ever look at your team?
Speaker 9: You know when your team doesn't have it, and Tennessee
Speaker 9: didn't have it, But you know, credit Kentucky for smacking
Speaker 9: them in the mouth and you know from the beginning
Speaker 9: and never let up.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Kenny Brooks also talked about the resilience of
Speaker 2: this team. Here, here's a good one for you. He said.
Speaker 2: Later on that, he said, Strack and Amore work so
Speaker 2: hard and care so much. He said, after every game,
Speaker 2: win or lose, win or lose, they text me about
Speaker 2: an hour later and they say, when are we watching film?
Speaker 2: He said, they'll do that tonight when when they go
Speaker 2: back to the to their apartment or room or whatever,
Speaker 2: they'll text me about looking at film tomorrow. So you
Speaker 2: got to love that as a head coach. But he
Speaker 2: also said the chemistry on this team was organic. They
Speaker 2: didn't have to take a foreign trip, you know, and
Speaker 2: live with each other for a couple of weeks on
Speaker 2: the road to build chemistry. It just kind of happened.
Speaker 2: And you can't create that. He can't force that, can you.
Speaker 9: No, you can't. But you know that's where he's got
Speaker 9: to give him, him and the staff some credit. They
Speaker 9: brought in and was able to get exactly what they needed,
Speaker 9: you know, in comparison to who they are, right and
Speaker 9: the style of play that he plays. And it's a
Speaker 9: lot like Mark, you know, like coach Pope. You know,
Speaker 9: same thing. You know, in recruiting, even if you do
Speaker 9: get a transfer, you got to get a transfer one
Speaker 9: that comes from a winning program, you know, that's used
Speaker 9: to winning and have high stakes and accountability. Two, you
Speaker 9: got to get a player not because they were the
Speaker 9: best player on the team, a player that fits your
Speaker 9: style of play. And three, not only from a player
Speaker 9: and talent standpoint, you got to get it from a
Speaker 9: personality standpoint, What is this young lady or young man about?
Speaker 9: You know? Are they're about teams? You know, because in
Speaker 9: today's society, especially with college athletics, it's more about money
Speaker 9: than what's what you know about pride about winning. And
Speaker 9: they did a great job both programs and selecting the
Speaker 9: right people for them and who they are and what
Speaker 9: their program and what they're trying to get out of
Speaker 9: their program. So kudos to them. You know, I know
Speaker 9: it's players, but it's even more about, you know, really
Speaker 9: finding out who am I getting what type of you
Speaker 9: really got to do your homework on that more so
Speaker 9: than just getting a high school kid, because a high
Speaker 9: school kid you can mold into what you're trying to
Speaker 9: get to because you got older kids. Now, when you
Speaker 9: get a kid that transfers, you gotta understand, you gotta
Speaker 9: get a character kid that is this gonna fit? You know,
Speaker 9: I can't make this fit because they're already setting their
Speaker 9: ways a little bit. So kudos to them from an
Speaker 9: evaluation standpoint. And man, is Kentucky women basketball rolling? I
Speaker 9: mean I get a kick out of watching them on
Speaker 9: TV because I don't miss but I'm kicking myself in
Speaker 9: the butt because I haven't been to a game yet.
Speaker 9: Really take in that atmosphere because this second to none,
Speaker 9: especially in the new Memorial Coliseum.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's fantastic. It did such a great job. There's
Speaker 2: a chance to host the nca tournament. That would really help.
Speaker 2: If they could somehow knock off South Carolina. That's a
Speaker 2: big order. But as we saw last night, Man, when
Speaker 2: this team's clicking and like you said, making shots, it's
Speaker 2: really fantastic. It's entertaining, and what a job Kenny Brooks
Speaker 2: has done with the team. Everybody thought they were just
Speaker 2: kind of predicted to finish at her near the bottom
Speaker 2: of the SEC. Shawn Woods is my guess, the unforgettable
Speaker 2: guard who Jersey hangs in the raptors of rup. We'll
Speaker 2: come back and talk about the men's game, the men's
Speaker 2: team in just a minute. Here on the Big Blue
Speaker 2: and Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back, We're talking to
Speaker 2: Sean Woods, the unforgettable guard. We talked about Kentucky's drubbing
Speaker 2: beat down biggest in UK basketball since nineteen eighty six,
Speaker 2: That the last time Kentucky beat Tennessee that badly has
Speaker 2: been that long. But let's shift our attention to the
Speaker 2: men's game. They've got Auburn, top ranked Auburn coming up tomorrow.
Speaker 2: But let us first go back to that Oklahoma game
Speaker 2: and the job done well. First of all, Lamont Butler played,
Speaker 2: He came back and he only played twenty minutes sean
Speaker 2: between fousand, conditioning. But he made a difference, didn't he?
Speaker 9: Yes, he did. You know. It's like any other team.
Speaker 9: You know, when your best player's presence is there, it
Speaker 9: boosts you up. You know, is he going to score
Speaker 9: a lot of points, you know, but what he does
Speaker 9: for this team spiritually and and and what doesn't show
Speaker 9: up on in the stat sheet is unbere I mean,
Speaker 9: it's just second to none. You know, he's just his presence,
Speaker 9: he says the stage. He's still a big time on
Speaker 9: ball defender. He still creates havoc. You know. He kind
Speaker 9: of scared me a little bit, you know, because he
Speaker 9: wants to get in there and be like a little
Speaker 9: pinball machine big ball. But he's got to be careful.
Speaker 9: You know. He took that fall and jump right up. Boy.
Speaker 9: You know, if that reminded me of that reminded me
Speaker 9: of Muhammad Ali when he got knocked down by Joe Frasier.
Speaker 9: The first night, the first the first fight. Yeah, and
Speaker 9: he had so much pride even though he was weary.
Speaker 9: He wanted to show the world and hey, you know
Speaker 9: what I'm saying, I can withstand this. And he did
Speaker 9: that as his team. That did a lot for his team,
Speaker 9: a lot for his team, even his coaches to be
Speaker 9: you know, I can only imagine, you know, Mark Mark
Speaker 9: Pope's heart was almost came through his mouth when he failed,
Speaker 9: but when he came back up, he was like, oh man,
Speaker 9: and everybody else on that staff felt the same way.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, and then of course he'll take an away
Speaker 2: h And by the way, Butler talked to Jack Gibbons
Speaker 2: after the game about trying to help Otaga get going
Speaker 2: in the second half, and he hit him with a
Speaker 2: couple of assists, including that runout, that dunk that Otega
Speaker 2: had when they got behind the defense. But this is
Speaker 2: an offense. You wouldn't expect a guy to have to
Speaker 2: put a team on his back. But he did that,
Speaker 2: didn't they And that was one of the greatest efforts
Speaker 2: in a long time in UK basketball.
Speaker 9: But that's what I was talking about about having special
Speaker 9: people and getting the right guys, you know what I mean.
Speaker 9: You know, Mark co has said, well, you're always a
Speaker 9: tough player, this and that, but he really doesn't match
Speaker 9: what I do. You know, he's not a really big
Speaker 9: time three point shooter. But guess what, because of his
Speaker 9: character in his fight, you know, he has it and
Speaker 9: he showed it last night. You know, from a pride
Speaker 9: standpoint of just not letting his team lose. And two,
Speaker 9: he had a little little more extra inside of him
Speaker 9: because that's where he played, and he was playing against
Speaker 9: his roommate and his friends and things like that. And
Speaker 9: you know it took Butler to get him going because
Speaker 9: he didn't do anything in the first half. But that's
Speaker 9: where Butler, you know, comes into play. But man, it's
Speaker 9: always put on the show. And I'm sure his shoulders
Speaker 9: are kind of hurting right now, but hey, he did
Speaker 9: what he needed to do to help this team win.
Speaker 9: And another thing, Dick, let's just take a step back
Speaker 9: for a minute. I got to give kudos to coach Pope,
Speaker 9: not onto him, but this team from the resilience standpoint
Speaker 9: of going through the trials and tribulations that they've been
Speaker 9: going through all year with injuries and so on, and
Speaker 9: so forth and to still be able to fight no
Speaker 9: matter who has to step up. You know, it doesn't
Speaker 9: look pretty. They do have some mishaps with some personalities,
Speaker 9: you know what I'm say, and this and that, but man,
Speaker 9: are they the one thing you cannot you know what
Speaker 9: I'm saying, knock is their effort and their will to
Speaker 9: stay together and try to fight and win, whether they
Speaker 9: win or losing. You know, you go get one hundred
Speaker 9: ten percent out of these guys, and that's very, very refreshing.
Speaker 2: He talked the postgame with Mark with Tom Leach and
Speaker 2: I had that this earlier on the show that that
Speaker 2: game last night had the feel of an NCA tournament game.
Speaker 2: And he told his guys going in. I thought this
Speaker 2: was a pretty interesting coaching move where he told the
Speaker 2: guy with everything, you're on the road, but Blue got in.
Speaker 2: You got you know, guys coming home, playing back in
Speaker 2: their home state for their home their old team. Uh
Speaker 2: and with all the stakes right now, you know the
Speaker 2: Zala or his Oklahoma on the bubble Kentucky's seating another
Speaker 2: It going in had the feel of an NCA tournament game,
Speaker 2: didn't it?
Speaker 9: Yes?
Speaker 3: It did?
Speaker 9: And every day to tell you what they're fighting for seeding.
Speaker 9: So yeah, every game, not just for Kentucky, right, you
Speaker 9: know what I'm saying, but for Oklahoma and everybody else
Speaker 9: in the SEC right now, So you know, I no fight,
Speaker 9: it's a swim fight. Every fight is very, very important.
Speaker 9: So kudos to Kentucky going on the road and getting
Speaker 9: going into a tough environment and get one because nothing's
Speaker 9: easy on the road in the SEC.
Speaker 2: All right, you got to beat Auburn. Now you got
Speaker 2: them at home. But there's a top ranked team in
Speaker 2: the country. They have maybe the best player in the
Speaker 2: country and a coach who knows how to get it done.
Speaker 2: What kind of a shot do you give the Wildcats?
Speaker 2: Maybe without Jackson Robinson.
Speaker 9: Again, I'll tell you what, man, you can't. When you
Speaker 9: think Kentucky's down, that's when they get you, you know
Speaker 9: what I'm saying. And then when you think they're they're
Speaker 9: finally getting it, then they you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 9: that they come up short. So you know, we know
Speaker 9: we're playing the number one team in the country. They've
Speaker 9: been battle tested all year long, and you know we
Speaker 9: know that the you know, the chances from a national
Speaker 9: standpoint is everybody thinks that you know they're going to
Speaker 9: come in here and get us. But I'll tell you what,
Speaker 9: you never know this Kentucky team and the way they're fighting.
Speaker 9: You know, as long as they continue to make shots,
Speaker 9: they got a chance. You know, I just don't know
Speaker 9: defensively can they handle you know, Aubus jergernaut. But you
Speaker 9: know they're they're scoring the basketball, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 9: And Billy Donovan always said, you know, good offense beats
Speaker 9: good defense any day of the week, or to score
Speaker 9: bat zero zero. So that's why Kentucky always has a
Speaker 9: chance because they can put the ball in the bucket.
Speaker 9: But they're going against a team that's one of the
Speaker 9: toughest defensive teams, not only offensive teams, but one of
Speaker 9: the toughest defensive teams in America. And that's the reason
Speaker 9: why they're the number one team in America.
Speaker 2: Do you have to be able to put it in
Speaker 2: a hole, but you do have to stop the other guys.
Speaker 2: That's how Kentucky beat Oklahoma. They got especially at the
Speaker 2: very end, got to stop Owen by the way, the
Speaker 2: shot that always threw in that beat Oklahoma. Ultimately, somebody
Speaker 2: last night told me, you know, reminded me of Sean Woods.
Speaker 2: How about that you shot against Duke.
Speaker 9: It wasn't a big shot. It wasn't a big shot that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, before I let you go, we have shamelessly
Speaker 2: plugged and happily so Shawn's work with the glycod that
Speaker 2: work online high school sports. They're all over the state
Speaker 2: really and uh, you've got coming up tonight. Even as
Speaker 2: we speak, you're working Henry Clay Frederick Douglas. It's a
Speaker 2: double hader for you. You and Chris Labarri.
Speaker 9: Station, Bryan Station Douglas.
Speaker 2: Oh, I know you got Henry Clay, Henry Clay, Henry
Speaker 2: Clay Douglas girls, and then Brian Station Douglas boys. And
Speaker 2: they're both district championship games. This is when it really
Speaker 2: gets fun, doesn't it.
Speaker 9: I'll tell you what, there's nothing like Indiana, Kentucky high
Speaker 9: school basketball doing the state tournament time. And you know
Speaker 9: the other night, Wednesday night, there's always you know, legendary
Speaker 9: barn Burner between Henry Clay and Brant Station. Yeah and
Speaker 9: braw Station got him. But you know the history of
Speaker 9: high school basketball around here, especially in Lexington, in this region,
Speaker 9: in this district is probably the toughest region in district
Speaker 9: in the state, just because it's from a competitive standpoint.
Speaker 9: And the interesting thing about tonight's game is especially on
Speaker 9: the boy's side. Douglas has beaten Brian's Station three times
Speaker 9: in a row, but less than five points. Every game
Speaker 9: is incide is five points or left. So it's gonna
Speaker 9: be a very interesting game tonight. The only team that
Speaker 9: Douglas has lost too in the district is Henry Clay
Speaker 9: that got upset at Henry Clay two weeks ago. But
Speaker 9: Man Douglas and Murray Garbin, who's been the coach, has
Speaker 9: done a great job all year. Uh, there's the there's
Speaker 9: the the Auburn of the of high school basketball in
Speaker 9: this area. Then it's gonna be a jam packed, high
Speaker 9: octang game between Brian Station and Douglas. And if you
Speaker 9: can't make it, make sure you watch it on television
Speaker 9: because you're gonna you're gonna see a heck of a game.
Speaker 2: Dot Com, I'm g L I C O. D. You've
Speaker 2: worked with my man, Keith Elkins, You're working with Chrys
Speaker 2: Labar tonight. It's uh, it's it's it's really fun to
Speaker 2: see them again because yeah, early in my career. Uh,
Speaker 2: another radio station, we did two high school games a
Speaker 2: week on the radio. Nobody much does that around here anymore,
Speaker 2: but I'm glad that it's on the interweb. Uh. Have
Speaker 2: you seen Great Crossing much?
Speaker 9: Yes? I have, Yes, I have. What are your thoughts, Well,
Speaker 9: they're the team that everybody thinks that, you know, whoever's
Speaker 9: coming out of election needs to be And I get
Speaker 9: that because you know, they got Marino and and their
Speaker 9: team has been pretty good. But I'll tell you you know,
Speaker 9: whoever wins this game tonight has them. I like their
Speaker 9: chances against Great Crossing simply because they're a big time
Speaker 9: pressing team. They wear you down, and they're not a
Speaker 9: spray to Marino. They you know, they'll go at him
Speaker 9: a little bit. So you know, Great Crossing has their
Speaker 9: their work cut out. But you know they still got
Speaker 9: the X factor, which is number one big man in
Speaker 9: the country.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 9: I saw five big men in the country.
Speaker 2: I saw Moreno last year a young big man. And
Speaker 2: you know how big men develop a little bit later
Speaker 2: in their careers compared to perimeter players. But how much
Speaker 2: better is he this year, Sean than last year? Because
Speaker 2: they made the Sweet sixteen last year?
Speaker 9: Oh, kudos better, you know what I mean. The only
Speaker 9: knock is they lost their point guard. Their point guard
Speaker 9: kind of quit on them a little bit. But they
Speaker 9: got a sophomore that's pretty good. That's kind of taking
Speaker 9: the rains a little bit. He's a lefty. He's gonna
Speaker 9: be a big time Division one prospect. So you know,
Speaker 9: you cannot, you can't, you know, take them for granted
Speaker 9: just because they did lose their point guard. I'll tell
Speaker 9: you what, man, Douglas and Brain Station are so relentless
Speaker 9: defensively and they just keep you on comfortable with their
Speaker 9: pressure and their fast paced that that can give great
Speaker 9: crossing problems.
Speaker 2: Hey, I've only got about a minute left, but I
Speaker 2: got to add your man, Patino. If they beat Seaton Hall,
Speaker 2: they win the Big East. I mean, is he the
Speaker 2: coach of the year.
Speaker 9: He may be the coach of the decade. He's done
Speaker 9: this year. You know, I'm not surprised because I've lived it.
Speaker 9: You know, anybody else who's followed his career shouldn't be
Speaker 9: surprised either, because when has he ever failed, He's never
Speaker 9: failed as a coach.
Speaker 2: He went to Europe and won a championship.
Speaker 9: That's just who he is you know what I mean.
Speaker 9: But the one thing I can say about coaches and
Speaker 9: and and I couldn't get away with it, but I
Speaker 9: coached the way I was. I was coaching tall and
Speaker 9: I didn't think it was a bad way. You know,
Speaker 9: I love my kids dearly, but you know, I may
Speaker 9: have got a bad deal out of it. But there's
Speaker 9: you know, for the guy that's had one hundred percent
Speaker 9: graduation rate and so on and so forth, he has
Speaker 9: stuck to the guns of what young men need. They
Speaker 9: need a leader, They need people to tell them the truth.
Speaker 9: And especially in athletics. What better place to grow as
Speaker 9: a young man to be an athletics. And he does
Speaker 9: a sugarcoat anything he tells him, just like what people
Speaker 9: like what you saw that one day in the locker room.
Speaker 9: Where do you come from? You know, life is bigger
Speaker 9: than just giving up, you know what I'm saying. And
Speaker 9: you know a la Kenny Anderson says basketball should be easy.
Speaker 9: Life is hard. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. And
Speaker 9: coach Patino was was dead all with that. And that's
Speaker 9: the reason why the Saint John's Redman is probably the
Speaker 9: most dangerous team besides Houston, Okay in Auburn in America.
Speaker 2: All right, well, I guarantee you they'll be seating all
Speaker 2: and they'll win the championships. So we'll talk about that
Speaker 2: next week with Shawn Woods, coach. I hope you're having
Speaker 2: fun tonight, have a great one. You two dick up
Speaker 2: next an hour number two, We've got UK football coming up,
Speaker 2: players and Mark Tookes and our Western Bureau chief Gary Moore.
Speaker 2: That's all ahead right here on the Big Blue and Ciders.
Speaker 2: Stay tuned for Iron number two on six thirty.
Speaker 9: What do you like?
Speaker 2: He sa, Welcome back to the Big Moe Sider coming
Speaker 2: up here, and our number two, our West Bureau chief,
Speaker 2: Gary Moore, joins us at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 2: Usually have him on Wednesdays along with Sean Woods, but
Speaker 2: of course it was Kentucky basketball as you know, on
Speaker 2: Wednesday nights. So we're gonna visit with Gary here at
Speaker 2: the bottom of the hours. I said earlier, we're going
Speaker 2: to talk a little football. And Mark Stoops earlier this
Speaker 2: week said there will be some sort of event around
Speaker 2: spring football, maybe not necessarily the classic traditional Blue White
Speaker 2: intersquad game, but there will be something that you the fans,
Speaker 2: we the media can attend, you know, like the fan
Speaker 2: day in the past, that could give us an opportunity
Speaker 2: to see what he's got. He's got to find out
Speaker 2: as well. But I will advise you if and when
Speaker 2: that happens, and if you decide to come, probably won't
Speaker 2: be any TV on it, he said, but you never know.
Speaker 2: If you decide to check it out, have your phone
Speaker 2: pre arranged or your iPad, whatever you've got with Ucathletics
Speaker 2: dot com on the football roster site. Because there are
Speaker 2: so many new faces thirty one between the portal and
Speaker 2: the sinees, twenty portal transfers, and eleven freshmen coming in.
Speaker 2: It's a new look for this team. Yeah, there's some
Speaker 2: people back from last year, but not a lot of starters,
Speaker 2: quite frankly, and guys that Stoops and company will be
Speaker 2: depending on heavily this year, including the offensive line. And
Speaker 2: you heard from a Shaazpete yesterday, the six eight, three
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty five pounds left tackle, Bull Blood and Navajo.
Speaker 2: But one of the other guys that you're gonna hear
Speaker 2: from just as impressive in terms of an interview, is
Speaker 2: Josh Braun transfer from Arkansas, also played at Florida a veteran.
Speaker 2: This is his sixth year of college football, and had
Speaker 2: a chance to talk to him earlier this week. I
Speaker 2: did along with the Jeff Bacorrel, and you'll be impressed
Speaker 2: with what you hear. He sounds as mature as he is,
Speaker 2: and he sounds like a guy who's playing a lot
Speaker 2: of college football. And they have spent a lot of
Speaker 2: time of the players getting to know each other, with
Speaker 2: everybody coming and going.
Speaker 10: Oh, you know, it's just the day and age of
Speaker 10: college football that we live in. I mean, players are
Speaker 10: gonna leave, players are gonna come in. Every year it's
Speaker 10: gonna be a different groupe. And I think so far
Speaker 10: these past two months, we've done a good job of
Speaker 10: trying to come together in jail as an offensive line.
Speaker 10: It definitely helps when we have older guys like Jagger Alex,
Speaker 10: just people who've been around the block who know how
Speaker 10: to essentially form an offensive line once the coaches bring
Speaker 10: the players in, but then it's up to us to
Speaker 10: jail and become an actual offensive line.
Speaker 2: Jelling is the key though, for this position more than.
Speaker 10: Any right, Yes, sir, I mean there's five players that
Speaker 10: make up the offensive line, and we got to act
Speaker 10: as one unit. We have to be of one mind.
Speaker 2: And yet you're used to that, you know that. What's
Speaker 2: the challenge that happen?
Speaker 10: Yeah, the challenge is just recreating a game scenario before
Speaker 10: we actually get to the season. And so when the
Speaker 10: bullets start flying week one, week two, you have to
Speaker 10: know how you're gonna handle it, and you have to
Speaker 10: have gone through it through workouts like we did today.
Speaker 10: Walk throughs. You have to have high energy, high stress
Speaker 10: environments that you can work through as an offensive line
Speaker 10: to really come together and see how each part of
Speaker 10: the offensive line operates under pressure and how each guy
Speaker 10: responds to what we're being asked of.
Speaker 2: So what are the workouts like today that you just need?
Speaker 10: It was just a bunch of station work, agility, things
Speaker 10: of that nature. But it's really just right now, it's
Speaker 10: more the mental side of things, or trying to make
Speaker 10: it hard for us mentally, because you can only text
Speaker 10: abody so much. And I mean, they're building us into
Speaker 10: incredible athletes and so at a certain point, no matter
Speaker 10: what the workout is, they're gonna have as prepared and
Speaker 10: it's not gonna be as hard as it was when
Speaker 10: we were eighteen nineteen freshman sophomores. So I was talking
Speaker 10: to Jail and Farmer today, I'm like, dude, I'm twenty four,
Speaker 10: Like I've been doing this six years. I can go
Speaker 10: through a workout like this and it's just like the
Speaker 10: thousand I've done before it. But for right now, what
Speaker 10: we're trying to do is get the mental side of it.
Speaker 10: How you attack each rep in the workout, how you
Speaker 10: attack you know you have a hard lift coming up,
Speaker 10: Say yesterday we had front squats. We knew we were
Speaker 10: gonna have front squats. We knew it was gonna be hard.
Speaker 10: It's just how you attack the weight. Are you gonna
Speaker 10: let it be menacing? Are you gonna let it ta
Speaker 10: control of you? Are you going to take control of it?
Speaker 2: The foundation of Stoops's success has been the big blue wall.
Speaker 2: It's been the run game, protecting a quarterback, all that,
Speaker 2: because it dictates the entire game. I know you guys
Speaker 2: are aware of.
Speaker 10: That, arn'twer, Yes, sir. In the SEC games are won
Speaker 10: in the trenches, and if we want to have a
Speaker 10: successful season, it's up to the offensive line to set
Speaker 10: the standard for the team. And that's what we're working
Speaker 10: on right now. We want to be an offensive line
Speaker 10: that leads, and we don't want to hold back our
Speaker 10: team in any way.
Speaker 2: So other than money, why why Kentucky?
Speaker 7: What was it that kind of And.
Speaker 2: I want to go play there?
Speaker 10: Coach Wolford. So, Coach Wolford recruited me out of high
Speaker 10: school to South Carolina. We met. He actually told me
Speaker 10: yesterday that my name and his phone is still Josh Braun,
Speaker 10: twenty seventeen recruit. So we've known each other seven seven years.
Speaker 10: And so when I decided to get in the portal,
Speaker 10: he was interested. And I knew I wanted to play
Speaker 10: for a coach like Coach Wolford, one that will demand
Speaker 10: your best every day. And I know he's gonna get
Speaker 10: the best out of me, and if I do what
Speaker 10: he asks of me, I will be successful.
Speaker 9: And I know you guys will only been out in underwear, But.
Speaker 6: How do you think this group could get together because
Speaker 6: you're bringing guys in from all over and you just
Speaker 6: trying to jail in a couple months to play.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean that's the key. Like you said, we've
Speaker 10: been out here in underwear, and so whatever we can
Speaker 10: do to make our walkthroughs feel like a game scenario
Speaker 10: that's where we have to be focused on, and so
Speaker 10: Zach Calzada gets us out every Saturday to run routes.
Speaker 10: The sinners are snapping the airlines, doing indie and just
Speaker 10: things like that. The Saturday workouts where it's entirely optional.
Speaker 10: If you have something, you don't have to go. But
Speaker 10: that's where we show the rest of the team that
Speaker 10: we mean this us and that's where the trust is formed.
Speaker 10: I know that we have running backs and wide receivers
Speaker 10: and tight ends who are gonna make the plays. We're
Speaker 10: gonna make the blocks, who are going to be selfless,
Speaker 10: and as an offensive line, that's that's important for us
Speaker 10: because we're never going to touch the ball less. You're
Speaker 10: the center, and so when the skilled players also embrace
Speaker 10: the blocking role, and that where they're showing that through
Speaker 10: the walkthroughs, through the plays. We have trusted them and
Speaker 10: in turn, they trust in us, and that's where an
Speaker 10: offense is built.
Speaker 2: That's Josh Brown likely the starting center this year for
Speaker 2: the Football Wildcats. He'll be snapping to Zach Calzada, transferring
Speaker 2: in from Incarnate Word also spend time at Auburn, at
Speaker 2: Texas A and M, and he will compete with cutter
Speaker 2: Bully likely will be the starter coming in. Here's some
Speaker 2: questions here from John Hale as well as yours. Surely
Speaker 2: John with a herold leader, and he started off by
Speaker 2: talking about what he likes about the Bush ham Dan offense.
Speaker 11: Really the whole thing, you know, I know, you know,
Speaker 11: I want to answer the questions and check the boxes
Speaker 11: for the NFL scouts, and I think that his pro
Speaker 11: style offense does that. But I also think that it's
Speaker 11: it's what you need in the sec You need to
Speaker 11: be able to run the ball, you need to be
Speaker 11: able to take your shots. You need to be able
Speaker 11: to complete quick passes to be able to stay ahead
Speaker 11: of the sticks. And I believe that Coach Hampden's offense
Speaker 11: incorporates all of that and more a little bit.
Speaker 12: About your personality being a little little wild maybe at times,
Speaker 12: or just how it manifests on the field. What do
Speaker 12: you like as a player out there?
Speaker 11: Just that energy I leave for I mean, I'm passionate
Speaker 11: on the field, man, and you know I have to
Speaker 11: control it, you know, as a leader and as a quarterback,
Speaker 11: I have to make sure that I stay composed. But
Speaker 11: you know those are also when I'm on the field
Speaker 11: those ten guys, and those.
Speaker 2: Are my guys.
Speaker 11: So you know, I'm right or die with the guys
Speaker 11: that I'm on the field with. And you know I'm
Speaker 11: passionate and I want to win. That's the most important
Speaker 11: thing to me when I'm on the field.
Speaker 12: How big is that leadership part? As the quarterback on
Speaker 12: an offense basically an hire a group outfall right now?
Speaker 2: I think it's really important.
Speaker 11: I mean, I've studied a lot of football, and I
Speaker 11: know that the best teams have quarterbacks that are selfless,
Speaker 11: leaders talented, and you know, I just I just try
Speaker 11: to do what I can to make sure that I
Speaker 11: check those boxes and that I'm doing what I can
Speaker 11: to continue to progress our team forwards.
Speaker 12: How much you've embraced the Cuban missile nickname? I know
Speaker 12: that's part of your heritage obviously. How much of that
Speaker 12: is a part of it?
Speaker 11: Yeah, that's me, man, the Cuban MISSI it is me.
Speaker 12: Is growing up hearing that story from your grandparents. How
Speaker 12: how big was that in your life?
Speaker 10: That influence?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 2: Man, that that was. It's gotten even more important to.
Speaker 11: Me that the older that I get, Man, I think
Speaker 11: that you know, my family is a true representation of
Speaker 11: the American dream. You know, my grandparents faced a lot
Speaker 11: of prejudice back in Cube, but they had to leave
Speaker 11: with no money, everything taken from them, and all to
Speaker 11: give a better life to their children and grandchildren.
Speaker 4: And my dad did a great job.
Speaker 11: You know, college athlete doing really well in finance now
Speaker 11: and it's just as a man, I see it as
Speaker 11: my responsibility to continue that legacy and move forward.
Speaker 12: This transfer class's kind of that kind of melting by me.
Speaker 12: You got a Cuban American quarterback, You've got a Navajole
Speaker 12: left tackle, You've got guys from all over the place
Speaker 12: out there is what's kind of like everybody bringing their
Speaker 12: own experience to this.
Speaker 11: I mean that's the beauty of football anywhere you go.
Speaker 11: You know, it's football is a melting pot. It's a
Speaker 11: true team sport. All eleven guys matter, and all eleven
Speaker 11: guys come from different backgrounds, they go through different adversities,
Speaker 11: they've had different successes. But in this year that we
Speaker 11: have as a team, it's just we want to come
Speaker 11: together and you know, go for that common goal.
Speaker 2: What's it like being yeah, the veteran or can share
Speaker 2: them the hillage?
Speaker 11: Well, I still feel like, you know, I have a
Speaker 11: lot of my youth left in me. I know, being
Speaker 11: a twenty four year old quarterback in college isn't isn't
Speaker 11: the norm. And you know, I never would have thought
Speaker 11: that I would have played past you know, even five years.
Speaker 11: But you know, like I said, you know, my journey's
Speaker 11: had a lot of ups and downs and a lot
Speaker 11: of adversities. I missed about a year and a half
Speaker 11: back in twenty twenty two and twenty three, and you know,
Speaker 11: for me, I just had to do what I could
Speaker 11: and it was a really long process to get back,
Speaker 11: you know, to the physical ability to play football again.
Speaker 11: So you know, I just think that I carry a
Speaker 11: lot of experiences with me and the guys that are
Speaker 11: open to that and to listening. You know, I love
Speaker 11: sharing those experiences and what I've learned. And you know
Speaker 11: I also learned from the young kids too, So how
Speaker 11: does that work?
Speaker 2: Oh man?
Speaker 11: Everybody has different perspectives, you know, there's wisdom and everybody.
Speaker 11: So I just I'm never I feel like I'm never
Speaker 11: too old or too big to learn from anybody.
Speaker 2: So one of his nicknames is the Cuban Missile, and that,
Speaker 2: of course is a reference to his grandparents who fled Canada.
Speaker 2: It was his dad's parents and they left after the
Speaker 2: Castro regime stripped his high school or as US educated
Speaker 2: father of his three pharmacies and most of the family wealth.
Speaker 2: And long story short, they basically left for Panama under
Speaker 2: the guise of a delayed honeymoon in nineteen sixty, settled
Speaker 2: there for six months and left for the US had
Speaker 2: a little bit the clothes on their back. His parents
Speaker 2: resettled here and made a life for themselves, and that's
Speaker 2: why he appreciates does Calzada where he is now and
Speaker 2: what he has. Mortcomo Talkentucky football on the other side
Speaker 2: of the break here on the Big Blue Insider, or
Speaker 2: here from Mark Stoops in just a minute on six
Speaker 2: thirty WLAP. Welcome back coming up in just a few minutes,
Speaker 2: it's our West End Bureau chief Gary Moore will join
Speaker 2: us talk about a big weekend upcoming, including in the
Speaker 2: Kentucky Auburn game. That's one you're gonna hear right here
Speaker 2: on six thirty WLAP. And a reminder, we know you're
Speaker 2: gonna listen to your radio, but we need you to
Speaker 2: know that if you watch the game and will not
Speaker 2: be on ESPN, will not be on the SEC network.
Speaker 2: Now it's going to be on ESPN's mothership, and that
Speaker 2: is ABC, which actually owns ESPN, but they're stepping in
Speaker 2: and basically bought the game from the worldwide leader. I
Speaker 2: still don't understand that they own ESPN, but they kind
Speaker 2: of have to buy the game anyhow. Till one o'clock start.
Speaker 2: That means local coverage at ten thirty, network coverage at
Speaker 2: eleven thirty, and a tip off of Tom and Jack
Speaker 2: at one pm as the Cats take on Auburn. One
Speaker 2: of the last home games for Kentucky got LSU next Tuesday,
Speaker 2: and the Wildcats finish up at Missouri at the noon
Speaker 2: start one week from tomorrow. So the LSU is not great,
Speaker 2: but capable of beating anybody. Auburn, you know how good
Speaker 2: they are Missouri, especially in Colombia. Man, you've got to
Speaker 2: just grind them out in the SEC, because right now
Speaker 2: you're playing for seating in both the SEC tournament and
Speaker 2: the NCAAs. So back to football. Mark Stoops at a
Speaker 2: news conference earlier this week, talked a lot, of course
Speaker 2: about the new faces, some specifics, some in general, and
Speaker 2: he was asked, right off the top after a year
Speaker 2: or two where guys who came through the portal quite
Speaker 2: frankly didn't perform the way Kentucky needed them to perform.
Speaker 2: Stoops was asked why he feels good and he does
Speaker 2: about this year's crop of new faces.
Speaker 13: Yeah, I think that's a very fair, you know, question
Speaker 13: and assessment. I don't think ever, you know, with the
Speaker 13: way we have worked this roster since I've been here,
Speaker 13: you know, things change and evolve, obviously, and you know,
Speaker 13: the ability to select the right teammates, to select the
Speaker 13: players that fit your program is always important. And when
Speaker 13: you're hitting on the portal, it's vitally important because you're
Speaker 13: you're hitting free agency essentially. You know, with one year,
Speaker 13: guys are feeling a player to hit a certain position,
Speaker 13: to come in and start and compete in this league
Speaker 13: and fit our culture and you know, play at the
Speaker 13: level that you want to. It is difficult. I think
Speaker 13: we have to do a great job of selecting the
Speaker 13: right teammates, you know, and you have to have the
Speaker 13: right resources, you know, And I hate it's funny still
Speaker 13: talking about that, but it is what it is. Right,
Speaker 13: you know, you have to have the resources and you know,
Speaker 13: I think as you have better resources, your selection could
Speaker 13: can be better, you know, and have the ability to
Speaker 13: get higher quality. And hopefully we did that.
Speaker 2: All right resources you know what that means. That's nil
Speaker 2: and people don't like it. Going back to when he
Speaker 2: said you got a pony up. People don't seem to
Speaker 2: like it when Stoops talks about that, but he's being honest.
Speaker 2: And look, when you talk among yourselves, when you talk
Speaker 2: with your friends and fellow fans, whether a UK fan
Speaker 2: or not, about your favorite college team, that's up there.
Speaker 2: Maybe at the top of your concerns, isn't it. Even
Speaker 2: if you talk about a specific player or a position
Speaker 2: group or whatever, your conversation is going to come back
Speaker 2: to niall, do we have enough money to go get somebody?
Speaker 2: Do we have enough money to compete with other schools?
Speaker 2: And then do we have enough money to keep them?
Speaker 2: Think about what happened in Miami with their basketball team
Speaker 2: that went to the Final four and everybody left because
Speaker 2: they han't got more money. That's the way it works
Speaker 2: right now. Everybody who wanted freedom of movement and the
Speaker 2: players to share and this and that a lot of
Speaker 2: the people who are complaining that it wasn't happening. Are
Speaker 2: now complaining that it is happening because of the revolving
Speaker 2: dor nature of college athletics, and it hits football the
Speaker 2: worse because there are more players. So stupents just being
Speaker 2: honest there when he talks about resources, what do you
Speaker 2: like to hear it or not? But he did sound
Speaker 2: the other day stronger, like he has stronger feelings about
Speaker 2: this team than he has in a while, and he
Speaker 2: feels again pretty good about the guys they brought.
Speaker 13: I feel very good. Let me just say that about
Speaker 13: the thirty one guys that are in here in the
Speaker 13: twenty portal guys, I could not be more pleased. You know,
Speaker 13: obviously you know when they're coming in here during the
Speaker 13: recruiting process, you know very clear with them that we
Speaker 13: didn't meet our standards this past year, so basically, don't
Speaker 13: come into this program if you're not willing to do
Speaker 13: those things. Couldn't be more pleased with what they've done
Speaker 13: thus far, you know, and just the attitude that they've
Speaker 13: had in the weight room, attacking the weight room the
Speaker 13: first segment. We just had our first fourth quarter program
Speaker 13: where we're really pushing them mentally and physically and you know,
Speaker 13: really pleased with where we're at. And the twenty portal
Speaker 13: guys and the eleven high school guys have been a
Speaker 13: great addition. So it's a start, but it's a good start.
Speaker 2: It's so odd to me after all these years into
Speaker 2: you I'm sure to hear him talk about is thirty
Speaker 2: first of all thirty one new phases. That's a lot,
Speaker 2: even pre portal days, that's a lot. But of those
Speaker 2: thirty one, only eleven are true freshmen, our high school recruits.
Speaker 2: And it made me think about what Patino said the
Speaker 2: other day about his Saint John's team. And I don't
Speaker 2: know if he's losing more than three guys, but he
Speaker 2: mentioned three names, three of his best players, if not
Speaker 2: the best players on the Saint John's team. And again
Speaker 2: it could be Patino hyperbole. He could mean it now
Speaker 2: and not mean it later. But he said, we're probably
Speaker 2: not even going to recruit high school kids because we're
Speaker 2: losing player A, B, and C and we need to
Speaker 2: replace them right away. And here's the thing. Back in
Speaker 2: the day, you wouldn't even think about that, but now
Speaker 2: you think about it because you can. Plus he's got
Speaker 2: Mike Roppoli, the guy who made zillions of dollars. I
Speaker 2: think a couple different sports beverages that he sold to
Speaker 2: bigger companies, including I think he sold one to Coca Cola,
Speaker 2: and now he buys thoroughbred stock. He had last year's
Speaker 2: I think it was last year's Derby favorite till he scratched.
Speaker 2: But Mike Ropoli is probably the chief benefactor for Saint John's.
Speaker 2: So Patino said, you know, money should be no object. Now,
Speaker 2: that can't be the case for Stoops and most football programs,
Speaker 2: but that's just where we are now. Twenty transfers coming
Speaker 2: through the portal, and assuming majority stay healthy, they will
Speaker 2: play vital roles in Kentucky football this year. When we
Speaker 2: come back, we'll hear from West Mvia chief Gary Moore.
Speaker 2: We were bumped on Wednesday, so we'll visit with him today.
Speaker 2: We will wrap up the week in sports right here
Speaker 2: on six WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue and
Speaker 2: Sider joining us now on Friday because we were bumped
Speaker 2: Wednesday by one heck of a basketball game. Is our
Speaker 2: West End bureau chief. Gary Moore used to be our
Speaker 2: West Coast bureau chief when he was with Kalas Radio
Speaker 2: for years in LA. Now he's in the Louisville area
Speaker 2: and he joins us each and every week something's on
Speaker 2: his mind.
Speaker 14: Well, we do two guys in a six pack every
Speaker 14: time we get together here. Hey, it's always for a
Speaker 14: good cause. We get bumped, especially for a game like
Speaker 14: that on Wednesday. Yeah, great stuff that we finally got
Speaker 14: to see. Once the SEC network cuts to it, Man,
Speaker 14: farm it off on one of the other chance that
Speaker 14: was anyway.
Speaker 2: Well they did, But how about a split screen? Right?
Speaker 14: Yeah, I'm not going to get the app. I'm not
Speaker 14: gonna get ESPN plus. Just fix it our first swig
Speaker 14: in the six pack, dick right now. Today up I
Speaker 14: sixty five in Indianapolis had the NFL Combine going on
Speaker 14: yet again. Another day for that guys basically competing against
Speaker 14: themselves in the combine. You get down two no quarterbacks
Speaker 14: facing jail break blitzes unless they've changed something since I've
Speaker 14: been watching it, or d Lineman trying to break through
Speaker 14: doublin triple teams. Why do you take the combine seriously?
Speaker 14: Why should anybody take it seriously?
Speaker 2: Two words? Pooka Nakua.
Speaker 14: Two years ago, Pooka ran the thirty fourth slowest forty
Speaker 14: yard dash among receivers. But he ran the fastest gauntlet drill.
Speaker 14: That's where he catched seven passes across the field in
Speaker 14: real fast succession. Went from fifth round pick to the
Speaker 14: most productive rookie receiver in NFL history.
Speaker 2: Not bad?
Speaker 14: Well, why not take the combine seriously?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 14: Two words Anthony Richardson. In the same twenty twenty three combine,
Speaker 14: Colts owner Jim Rsay developed some sort of an odd
Speaker 14: man crush on the guy. Only played one full season
Speaker 14: in Florida. What a physical specimen you seen this guy?
Speaker 2: Have you seen this broad jump? How about that vertical jump? Man?
Speaker 2: That was great? We got to get that guy.
Speaker 14: So he goes number four overall, keeps getting the hell
Speaker 14: knocked out of him in real games.
Speaker 2: Can't stay healthy.
Speaker 14: And now now the colt are talking about an open
Speaker 14: quarterback competition air quotes this season. Maybe playing a lot
Speaker 14: of games like bo Nick started with sixty one games,
Speaker 14: maybe that helps out a little bit. Actual game film
Speaker 14: is still the best barometer, especially I think for quarterbacks.
Speaker 14: Jade and Daniels did not go to the Combine last year.
Speaker 14: How'd that work out?
Speaker 2: Just curious? You know the game video that you're talking
Speaker 2: about it might have helped a little bit. How about
Speaker 2: the Florida Kentucky game, right, thank you? So it was
Speaker 2: a week after Richardson looked so good against Utah. Yes,
Speaker 2: but that was a good Kentucky team that went into
Speaker 2: Gainesville and made him look ordinary. And you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: he's got a great arm, he's got a lot of
Speaker 2: physical attributes. Yes, he's an NFL player, but he should
Speaker 2: not have been drafted that highly. And they've had good
Speaker 2: luck with quarterbacks in in the past, not so much
Speaker 2: of this time.
Speaker 14: A second swig, one more NFL thing for you, as
Speaker 14: one of these stockholders, are far more qualified to answer
Speaker 14: than most anybody else popping off about this. Your beloved
Speaker 14: Green Bay Packers, the legendary lords of Lambeau, have apparently
Speaker 14: asked the NFL to outlaw the tush push because they
Speaker 14: can't stop it of our wives and girlfriends complaining. I'm
Speaker 14: not sure outside of petitioning to postpone, outside of petitioning
Speaker 14: to postpone games if the temperature goes below thirty two,
Speaker 14: because that's really uncomfortable and we all get running noses.
Speaker 14: I cannot think of a worse look for a team.
Speaker 14: How many RPMs. Is Lombardi doing in the grave? I ask,
Speaker 14: and more importantly did Gabriel. How do you feel as
Speaker 14: part owner of the pack?
Speaker 2: Well, I'm a little embarrassed, obviously, But here's my first question.
Speaker 2: Didn't this used to be illegal? It used to be
Speaker 2: illegal to help a player. It's illegal now to pull somebody.
Speaker 2: But I do remember, I believe back in the day
Speaker 2: you couldn't push it. Remember when Reggie Bush or the
Speaker 2: winning head liner.
Speaker 14: That's right, Yes, I got notre Dame exactly.
Speaker 2: And people complained because they pushed him into the end.
Speaker 2: Now that's college ball, but otherwise there is no empirical evidence.
Speaker 2: Then it's a health hazard that anyone's getting injured. The
Speaker 2: Eagles happened to be really good at it because for
Speaker 2: so long Jason Kelsey was the blocker. But they've got
Speaker 2: a quarterback who can squat Gary six hundred pounds. It's
Speaker 2: hard to stop a QB when he's driving for the
Speaker 2: goal line like that. Somebody will figure out a way
Speaker 2: to stop it. Third swig in the six pack.
Speaker 14: We'll gus talk college hoops tomorrow. None Bigger Number one
Speaker 14: Auburn at rup one o'clock ABC Television Network, Cats are
Speaker 14: pretty much at full strength at Oklahoma. I'm not sure
Speaker 14: what's going to be happening tomorrow. The crowd had better
Speaker 14: be at full volume though. Over here, Dick in Louisville
Speaker 14: and the U of L cards with the first of
Speaker 14: three final regular season games, all of them at home,
Speaker 14: all of them are winnable. Cal on Wednesday after this one,
Speaker 14: and Stanford next Saturday. By the way, do you see
Speaker 14: who called the the Florida State Louisville game over here
Speaker 14: on Saturday?
Speaker 2: Tom Brenneman. How about that?
Speaker 14: On the CW. Tom is and he did a pretty
Speaker 14: decent job. You know, Tom is lucky to have a
Speaker 14: I think a job at well there's a deep drive
Speaker 14: into left over there where he's been doing a lot.
Speaker 2: Of the ACC games on the CW.
Speaker 14: Hadney, Yeah, he has, and I thought he did an
Speaker 14: okay job. By the way, Louisville's point guard, one of
Speaker 14: the nation's best, Chucky Hebburn is probably gonna be playing
Speaker 14: these last three games, probably into the playoff, into the
Speaker 14: March madness, with a chip on both shoulders because he
Speaker 14: was inexplicably not on the ballot for the Bob Coosey
Speaker 14: Award that goes to the best point guard in the
Speaker 14: nation ten finalists. He ain't won Chucky the heart and
Speaker 14: soul of the best college comeback story this year. How
Speaker 14: ignorant is that a mission?
Speaker 6: Now?
Speaker 2: Very much so? Maybe whoever makes up the list was asleep,
Speaker 2: but to switch what clearly they were. Maybe they see
Speaker 2: him as more of an off guard. But he's a playmaker,
Speaker 2: he's dynamic. He again, he's one of those guys worth
Speaker 2: the price of admission. Yep. And yeah, you gotta think
Speaker 2: Louisville's done enough to merit the attention to at least
Speaker 2: have him on the list. Maybe you don't give him
Speaker 2: a trophy, but he does deserve consideration. There's no question
Speaker 2: about that. That's a puzzler. And uh yeah, next team's up,
Speaker 2: they're gonna feel his wrath.
Speaker 14: I'm pretty sure outside of Mark Sears, I can think
Speaker 14: of somebody who's done more for their team, yeah than.
Speaker 2: Chucky, fourth Swig and the six back.
Speaker 14: Besides the Cats in Auburn tomorrow, two other big ranked
Speaker 14: versus ranked teams on tap in the circular firing squad.
Speaker 14: That is, the twenty twenty five sec Number six Bama
Speaker 14: in Knoxville versus that number five Orange team that ukse
Speaker 14: whooped twice already and we'll do it again if we
Speaker 14: have to in the tournament. You hear that, Dawn n
Speaker 14: I seventy five four o'clock tomorrow at ESPN, then at
Speaker 14: a thirty in the SEC net number twelve A and
Speaker 14: M versus number three Florida. Give me the Gators and
Speaker 14: the Tide in both of those two. By the way,
Speaker 14: speaking of Auburn, obviously Bruce Pearl one of the favorites
Speaker 14: for Coach of the Year, but I was thinking who else.
Speaker 14: Two guys come to mind really quickly, former Cats and
Speaker 14: Cards coach now doing a nice job reviving Saint John's
Speaker 14: Rick Matino of course, over here, Pat Kelsey for resurrecting
Speaker 14: U of l. Mark Pope, I think should get some
Speaker 14: votes for putting together that team out of the air.
Speaker 14: And Mark Byington done at Vandy, done a great job
Speaker 14: resurrecting them as well. Who would you put on your
Speaker 14: short list?
Speaker 2: I would marry yours quite frankly. And you know, people
Speaker 2: look at Auburn, it's loaded. They might now want to
Speaker 2: vote for Bruce Pearl because Auburn's making it look easy
Speaker 2: right now. But coaching is managing the program, running the program,
Speaker 2: putting everything together. There's a reason they play the way
Speaker 2: they do. It's not just running up and down the
Speaker 2: sideline screaming. He does a lot of that, but so
Speaker 2: does Patino, no question about it. But right now Pearl
Speaker 2: is doing it in the toughest conference in America. I
Speaker 2: think Pope should be there if not for the fact
Speaker 2: that Kentucky has lost games. It should not have lost.
Speaker 2: Even though talk about this on the show last night, Vandy,
Speaker 2: that loss looked like a bad loss. Vandy on Wednesday
Speaker 2: Night one. It's nineteenth game on the road at A
Speaker 2: and M. So you know, but again, as you said,
Speaker 2: that's just the nature of the SEC. You were talking
Speaker 2: about the games coming up tomorrow. Tennessee Bama is really interesting.
Speaker 2: Bama not good defensively, Tennessee is Bama no trouble scoring?
Speaker 2: Tennessee lots of trouble. I'm really curious to see this
Speaker 2: be a battle of wills. Who wins out and if
Speaker 2: anybody can slow down Florida it's A and M. But
Speaker 2: I'm like you, I like the Gators.
Speaker 14: It'll be a couple of ball burners.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Buddy six, I'm sorry. The Fitzwig two more to go.
Speaker 14: Speaking of Patina, the more I watched that Redstorm Rising
Speaker 14: show on Vice, it's kind of like hard Knocks for
Speaker 14: Saint John's. Anyway, the more I'm thinking he might just
Speaker 14: take this team pretty far, even to the final four,
Speaker 14: and you know, if he gets there, obviously he knows
Speaker 14: how to win it, having done it twice. I would
Speaker 14: not want to play the Johnnies anytime soon. And the
Speaker 14: one thing I've enjoyed watching on that show, and the
Speaker 14: great thing about it is it's not just behind the
Speaker 14: scenes stuff you get of the current team, but they
Speaker 14: flash back to some other moments in say Rick's career,
Speaker 14: as painful as some still are, a lot of people
Speaker 14: may have forgotten or don't even know what Rick went
Speaker 14: through when he was at Providence. He experienced what no
Speaker 14: parents should ever have to go through the loss of
Speaker 14: a child, and he talked about that on this second
Speaker 14: episode yep, of course, and then then the latest one.
Speaker 14: He also talks about going through the catastrophic injury of
Speaker 14: Louisvill's Kevin Ware, which they recall in that episode when
Speaker 14: they were en route to the national championship in twenty thirteen,
Speaker 14: I tell you there's some emotional moments in this that
Speaker 14: will kind of catch you off guard. And they showed
Speaker 14: some footage of when Louisville was in the twenty thirteen Championships.
Speaker 14: At that game, Dick, those Louisville uniforms have got to
Speaker 14: be the worst ones ever to be associated with a Natty.
Speaker 14: Remember those Adidas jersey that had the short sleeves. They
Speaker 14: all had short sleeves and the pants the shorts were
Speaker 14: just some kind of I don't know what sort of
Speaker 14: material or pattern that was, and yet they still won,
Speaker 14: So they had to be really good to wear that
Speaker 14: and win.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it reminds of the denims that they won when
Speaker 2: he was here. Are yea and people now that bring
Speaker 2: back the denims. Back then, nobody liked the denims nobody,
Speaker 2: But I remember Patino on his radio show saying, you know,
Speaker 2: I don't want to hear anything else about it, like, okay, mom,
Speaker 2: you know that kind of stuff. But no, I agree
Speaker 2: with you. I think the documentary series has been fascinating,
Speaker 2: and I will say with some pride, I produced a
Speaker 2: documentary way back in the day where he actually gave
Speaker 2: us all access for a couple of days and we
Speaker 2: followed him I set in on one of his staff meetings,
Speaker 2: and maybe it'll come up a little bit later. But
Speaker 2: what makes him really I think one of the best
Speaker 2: in the country is he leans on his staff, but
Speaker 2: he knows what he wants and he prepares his teams
Speaker 2: so well. Cameron Mills told me once that patino scouting
Speaker 2: reports every game were like a small book, and Jim
Speaker 2: O'Brien was the assistant coach for the most part that
Speaker 2: prepared them. He said, Tubby, our scouting report was more
Speaker 2: like a pamphlet because Tubby was big on let's prepare
Speaker 2: for us, whereas Rick was obsessive about knowing everything about
Speaker 2: the other team. And he said this on the very
Speaker 2: first episode. Remember he said, I just I'm afraid we
Speaker 2: can lose every game. I'm paranoid we can lose every game.
Speaker 2: So he obsesses about his opponent. Nobody does that better
Speaker 2: in my opinion, in college basketball, and.
Speaker 14: No team will be in better shape right about that,
Speaker 14: and that will be a big difference maker come March
Speaker 14: when there's a lot of tired legs out there, and
Speaker 14: Rick knows how to get those guys and they.
Speaker 2: Don't press Saint John doesn't press away Kentucky does, but
Speaker 2: they play a half court defense.
Speaker 14: Away Kentucky did absolutely six and final swig on the
Speaker 14: six pack. Those of us bluegrass basketball fans of a
Speaker 14: certain age can recall it with a genuine love and
Speaker 14: appreciation for going to see Kentucky's first pro sports team champions,
Speaker 14: the nineteen seventy five.
Speaker 2: Colonels of the ABA.
Speaker 14: Bring this up because the Cats is Pau's latest issue
Speaker 14: has a nine thousand words story all about that team.
Speaker 14: Hall of Famer Dan Issel talks a lot about it,
Speaker 14: that great team that he was on with artists Gilmore
Speaker 14: and Louis Dan Peter, coach Huby Brown, and a great
Speaker 14: supporting cast winning it all and even later that year
Speaker 14: without it so they beat the reigning NBA champion Golden
Speaker 14: State Warriors. Rick Berry Freedom Hall, October eight seventy five.
Speaker 2: Look it up.
Speaker 14: It's a great read worthy tribute to my all time
Speaker 14: favorite pro hoops team, obviously one of the greatest pro
Speaker 14: basketball teams ever. And by the way, there's another great
Speaker 14: read about the Colonels if you haven't seen this book,
Speaker 14: one written by well, a guy who used to work
Speaker 14: on the paper used to work on at UK. The
Speaker 14: Colonel He was a former sports editor Gary West. Colonel's
Speaker 14: trainer Pink Gordon our Pink Gardener. Gardner Gardner called the
Speaker 14: Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association the real story
Speaker 14: of a team left behind. Can we get a camera
Speaker 14: shot of that?
Speaker 2: Because that's right.
Speaker 14: There, autograph copy, great great book about a great team.
Speaker 2: You know, I remember the very first Colonel's game I
Speaker 2: ever attended, and I could not get over how fast
Speaker 2: it was. I had been to college games. It was
Speaker 2: my second year of college, so I've been to a
Speaker 2: lot of Kentucky games. I had seen UOL play growing
Speaker 2: up at the pro basketball and that's what the ABA is,
Speaker 2: you know, frided itself on was the energy, the three
Speaker 2: pointer of the red, white and blue ball. It was
Speaker 2: a spectacle. But it was really good basketball, it was.
Speaker 2: And the Colonels that year, you're right, they beat in
Speaker 2: an exhibition. The following fall beat Golden State. John Y
Speaker 2: Brown offered to play them in a series right after
Speaker 2: because they were better than the NBA champion, which included
Speaker 2: Butch Beard and Rick Barry. Barry played in the ABA
Speaker 2: led the league in scoring. Butch Beard was an All
Speaker 2: American in Louisville, but Kentucky the Colonels were better, and
Speaker 2: oh it was so much fun going to their games.
Speaker 14: Our Murrays Tigers team came up and played before the
Speaker 14: Colonel's Spurs game, real December of seventy five. My best friend,
Speaker 14: who was on the Murray High team, was six foot three.
Speaker 2: He said, when we walked down.
Speaker 14: The to the to the locker rooms, there were all
Speaker 14: the players heckling us on the way down.
Speaker 2: These were the biggest humans I've ever seen. He said.
Speaker 14: That's when I knew I had no future in pro basketball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, going up because of these guys. Well through the
Speaker 2: years of gotten to know Lloyd Gardner, the trainer who,
Speaker 2: by the way, ended up with all the gear that's
Speaker 2: from my old jerseys, and then warm ups, and I
Speaker 2: remember Louis Dampier said he was in an autograph ABA
Speaker 2: autograph show up in Indianapolis and looked down. He was
Speaker 2: signing his own pants, signing an autograph for somebody for
Speaker 2: the pants he used to wear. But you know, gotten
Speaker 2: to know Dan Insel, my very first college basketball hero,
Speaker 2: and got to know Louis so.
Speaker 14: Should have never gotten rid of Dan, should have never
Speaker 14: gotten rid of Thissel that's why they didn't win the
Speaker 14: next year.
Speaker 2: There was a complete leader, right team, and then it
Speaker 2: should have and should have joined the NBA. We'll come
Speaker 2: back with more with our west Ham bureau chief Gary
Speaker 2: Moore in just a minute here on the big moon
Speaker 2: side or six point thirty WLAP welcome back. We're talking
Speaker 2: with our west Ham bureau chief Gary Moore. He is
Speaker 2: presented two guys in a six pack now a couple
Speaker 2: of hot reads for him, Diana Tarassi. Gary, after twenty
Speaker 2: four years, announced her retirement. And you could make the argument,
Speaker 2: and there have been many many Cheryl Miller swoops, just
Speaker 2: just so many great women players, but many believe she
Speaker 2: is the greatest of all the women players. She is
Speaker 2: certainly the most accomplished. Three time NCA champion, three time WNBA,
Speaker 2: six Olympic gold medals, multiple EuroLeague championships. And I love
Speaker 2: what she said, she said, I'm full that's why she's
Speaker 2: That's the greatest line I've ever heard from a retiring athlete.
Speaker 2: Hard to argue that she's clearly the most accomplished, if
Speaker 2: not the greatest.
Speaker 14: Well, she's the all time WNBA scoring career scoring writer.
Speaker 14: And if she's not number one, she's got to be
Speaker 14: in the top two or three, eleven time All Star
Speaker 14: that's what I was looking up. Six euro League championships
Speaker 14: because she played year round. Yeah, you go from the
Speaker 14: WNBA to go and play. They had some because the
Speaker 14: money was right and arguably a tougher league.
Speaker 2: That's from that.
Speaker 14: And retiring after what twenty four years is wow?
Speaker 2: Quitter. She also had the greatest line I read where
Speaker 2: she and some other women players, female players and NBA
Speaker 2: greats were sitting around in a room for some reason.
Speaker 2: Now I know what it was during the Olympics. They
Speaker 2: were on a cruise ship. That's where they stayed. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and they were all sitting around and kind of talking
Speaker 2: smack to each other, and Draymond Green was there, and
Speaker 2: Tarassi said, Hey, Draymond, how does it feel to be
Speaker 2: the only person in the room who's never double teamed
Speaker 2: my drop? Isn't that great? Yeah? Why not retire on that? Finally,
Speaker 2: the other night, I hope you got to see it.
Speaker 2: I hope you listen and got to see it. You
Speaker 2: can find it on the innerweb. One of the greatest
Speaker 2: dunks you will ever see, and I mean savage tomahawk
Speaker 2: dunk from the NBA delivered by mister Shaden Sharp And
Speaker 2: the only thing that keeps you from fully appreciating this
Speaker 2: move was the fact that he might have been doing
Speaker 2: that here in election and for just a year, if
Speaker 2: not for that craziness that kept him in a Kentucky uniform.
Speaker 2: But off the court, you Kentucky fans still have a
Speaker 2: right to be bitter. I say yes. I say yes
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 14: And you know, Dick, when I sometimes fantasize about going
Speaker 14: from my five foot ten stature to six foot something
Speaker 14: and dream about doing a dunk and having the elevation
Speaker 14: of a Darryl Griffith or David Thompson, that's exactly the
Speaker 14: kind of dunk I imagine in my dreams of doing.
Speaker 14: Now did we ever figure out what went on with
Speaker 14: him at UK? Was there a directive from his people
Speaker 14: air quotes not to play him?
Speaker 10: Do we know?
Speaker 2: Fairly? Apparently, because he at one point said he wanted
Speaker 2: to play, but you know, his handlers didn't think that
Speaker 2: was what was best for him. So yeah, I'd say,
Speaker 2: if you're still bitter, hang on to it.
Speaker 14: Missed opportunity. Yep, that was That's a beautiful dunk. I've
Speaker 14: watched it about six or seven times since you gave
Speaker 14: me the heads up on that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, fun every time. It's a beauty. You can follow
Speaker 2: Gary on Twitter already if you don't act, you got
Speaker 2: nothing better to do.
Speaker 14: At nine to five five Gary, same fabulous joint you're
Speaker 14: found at Big Doingsider one.
Speaker 2: See next week, Go cats, go cart my Thanks to Gary,
Speaker 2: thanks to Seawan Woods. That's a good night from the
Speaker 2: garage in Lexington.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you can forget about watching TV while you're eating.
Speaker 7: I can't, oh.
Speaker 6: Yeah, because it's dinner time.
Speaker 2: Do you know what you do at dinner?
Speaker 7: What you talk about?
Speaker 1: Your day?
Speaker 2: Was your day to day?
Speaker 7: Did you have a good day to day or a
Speaker 7: bad day to day? What kind of day was it?
Speaker 2: A don't.
Speaker 9: See pacts.
Speaker 2: Anything to.
Speaker 9: Satta to lack.
Speaker 1: The dipens
Speaker 10: From tipting to the