Speaker 1: It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thorntens on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day. Now Here's Nick Coffee.
Speaker 2: I don't think I ever said it directly, but throughout
Speaker 2: yesterday's show, I kept having this thought of, well, this team,
Speaker 2: I suppose is due for a letdown, because that's just
Speaker 2: how it works in sports, and sometimes you can have
Speaker 2: a letdown and still be able to win, depending upon
Speaker 2: how good you are and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: But I just couldn't really get there to be worried
Speaker 2: about the game, which is rare for me usually, you know, I'll,
Speaker 2: I mean, I just I overthink everything in life. I'm
Speaker 2: sure I'm not the only person that has that kind
Speaker 2: of an issue, but I just couldn't. I couldn't get
Speaker 2: there as far as really thinking that this Louisville team
Speaker 2: was going to come out not ready to play and
Speaker 2: that they wouldn't be able to put together a performance
Speaker 2: that gives them a win. And I was correct. They
Speaker 2: came ready to play and they ended the game pretty
Speaker 2: quickly because they dominated and got a twenty five point
Speaker 2: victory on the road. And not only that, they continue
Speaker 2: to climb in the metrics, with the net rankings and also,
Speaker 2: I mean this doesn't mean anything as far as your
Speaker 2: resume and the NSAA tournament, but you're still seeing many
Speaker 2: of the college basketball talking heads going out of their
Speaker 2: way to just emphasize how well Pat Kelsey has done
Speaker 2: in year one here and how this Louisville team is
Speaker 2: not just playing well and taking advantage of it. Down
Speaker 2: acc they look like a pretty damn good team, and
Speaker 2: I know many of us are enjoying every bit of it.
Speaker 2: Last night, I started the show with this. Actually I
Speaker 2: knew at nine o'clock a nine o'clock tip would make
Speaker 2: it to where when the game's over, even if it's
Speaker 2: not like a super exciting game, if I'm into it,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be hard for me to just all right, well, bedtime,
Speaker 2: let's go to sleep. I'm gonna need a little bit
Speaker 2: of time to unwind. And Louisville did, in fact give
Speaker 2: us a very non competitive game. I mean the game was.
Speaker 2: I mean, Louisville was up twenty ish plus for the
Speaker 2: majority of the game. But to see Chucky Hepburn and
Speaker 2: rain Smith chasing those records and of course breaking those records,
Speaker 2: it was it was awesome to see and I'm loving
Speaker 2: every bit of it. It's Coffee and Company five o'clock
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Speaker 2: sixty five to three zero seven ninety. The record of
Speaker 2: assists in a game was held by Taekwon. I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: that was held by Francisco Garcia, which, by the way,
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like if you weren't, like if
Speaker 2: you just knew of those guys because you knew they
Speaker 2: were legends and played on that two thousand and five
Speaker 2: Final four team. And I mean, I think you can
Speaker 2: be somebody that's young that like remembers the era, but
Speaker 2: you don't remember a ton about it because you know,
Speaker 2: you were really little. Like for me, I remember the
Speaker 2: era of Dwan Weed, Alvin Simms, BJ Flynn, those guys,
Speaker 2: because that's the first team I really had a connection
Speaker 2: to to where I was just I was. I was
Speaker 2: a super fan of that group. That's where I was
Speaker 2: just old enough to kind of really be all in.
Speaker 2: But I don't remember like every stretch. I don't remember
Speaker 2: everybody they played or anything like that. It was a
Speaker 2: long time ago. I was eight years old. So if
Speaker 2: you are the same way with Taekwondan and Francisco Garcia,
Speaker 2: then you probably would have thought it was backwards. And
Speaker 2: then it was Dean because he was you know, Dean
Speaker 2: was a hell of a shooter. In fact, both guys
Speaker 2: were phenomenal shooters, but Dean was also a guy who
Speaker 2: at times played point guard for you and is more
Speaker 2: of a guard than Cisco. But it was Cisco who
Speaker 2: had the record for assists, Dean who had the record
Speaker 2: for three pointers made in a game. And now you know,
Speaker 2: those guys no longer hold those records because Chuck Chucky Hepburn.
Speaker 2: I mean, you keep here and I can't tell you
Speaker 2: that I wanted to be able to say, why are
Speaker 2: not people talking more about Chucky Hepburn being one of
Speaker 2: the best point guards in the country with the way
Speaker 2: he's playing, And in fact, people are saying it. You
Speaker 2: heard it last night on the broadcast. Pat Kelsey of
Speaker 2: course is emphasizing it. And I think if you were
Speaker 2: to ask people who you know, ask those objective folks
Speaker 2: that cover college hoops, they would include Chucky when talking
Speaker 2: about the best point guards. And it's pretty evident if
Speaker 2: you watch him and last night, I mean, he was sensational.
Speaker 2: He was let's see, thirteen points, which I think he
Speaker 2: had most of those pretty early, and he had sixteen assists,
Speaker 2: So I'm sorry, I guess I guess it was fifteen
Speaker 2: was the record. Sixteen is now the new record. I
Speaker 2: think I had it wrong earlier by saying he got
Speaker 2: seventeen last night, but sixteen, that's the new single game record.
Speaker 2: And rain Smith made ten three pointers, breaking Taekwondane's record
Speaker 2: of nine that he made during his time as a
Speaker 2: Louisville Cardinal. So everything about last night was phenomenal. Right,
Speaker 2: you won, big records are being broken, You're score in
Speaker 2: ninety eight points, and I mean everybody got involved. I mean,
Speaker 2: Terrence Edwards was one point away from Louisville having six
Speaker 2: players in double figures. And I want to really applaud
Speaker 2: Terrence Edwards Junior because it's one of those things where
Speaker 2: it feels weird giving somebody credit for things that they're
Speaker 2: supposed to do. But also I know that like you
Speaker 2: wouldn't see this probably with many other players he's had,
Speaker 2: he's had games like that where for some reason, and
Speaker 2: maybe it's just because he's not quite as good of
Speaker 2: a shooter as some other guys, but he's had some
Speaker 2: games where his SHOT's just not falling. He's also had
Speaker 2: games where a shot was falling, and he's been a
Speaker 2: big contributor when it comes to scoring. But last night
Speaker 2: two at thirteen because Rain couldn't miss, and Hadley was
Speaker 2: five of eight, James Scott seven of twelve, can I
Speaker 2: Russ off the bench, made four of his five field
Speaker 2: goals because everybody else was having no problem kind of
Speaker 2: just you know, joining in on the on the scoring frenzy.
Speaker 2: It stood out that Terrence Edwards Junior was not making shots.
Speaker 2: He was two of thirteen, which again you know that's
Speaker 2: that's not a great line when it comes to being
Speaker 2: efficient as far as scoring, but he still makes impact
Speaker 2: impacts elsewhere. He made all four of his free throws,
Speaker 2: had four rebounds to go along with five assists and
Speaker 2: just one turnover, So you know, he can have a
Speaker 2: night like that and it really isn't an issue for
Speaker 2: you because you've got others that are Again, this is
Speaker 2: where Louisville can get can get really dangerous here. And
Speaker 2: I don't mean, you know, maybe win a national championship.
Speaker 2: I mean just that if they if this identity sustains
Speaker 2: and they carry it over to the NCAA tournament, I mean,
Speaker 2: they are going to be somebody that's going to be
Speaker 2: a tough out for anybody. I believe. Now, maybe I'm
Speaker 2: wrong and this is all more so a product of
Speaker 2: the ACC being down, but I don't believe that to
Speaker 2: be the case, and I'm sure deep down a lot
Speaker 2: of people don't believe that to be the case either.
Speaker 2: So when you've got guys that are consistently given you
Speaker 2: this kind of production, that's you're dangerous and yeah, anybody
Speaker 2: can have an off night, but you've got six guys
Speaker 2: I feel like that have kind of rounded into giving
Speaker 2: you a consistent amount of production that makes them pretty
Speaker 2: good players. I don't know who's elite on this team,
Speaker 2: If anybody, it's gonna be chucky. And also rain just
Speaker 2: because when he's shooting like he is as of late.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a weapon that many teams don't have.
Speaker 2: A lot of teams don't have. So it's not like
Speaker 2: asking Javon Hadley to go five of eight from the
Speaker 2: floor and get seven rebounds and sixteen points. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's a pretty tough stat line to maintain. But he's
Speaker 2: been doing that. Like, you know, he's had some games
Speaker 2: where he doesn't score as much, but he's also had
Speaker 2: games where he scored thirty two. So what has me
Speaker 2: so bullish about this Louisville run it's kind of been
Speaker 2: consistent for the last few weeks, is that what has
Speaker 2: what has made them much better and you know, much
Speaker 2: more successful winning nine straight games, has been the fact
Speaker 2: that they're balanced right and the things that you know,
Speaker 2: you worry about maybe not being there one game that
Speaker 2: could hurt you. I mean, they are things you can control. Like,
Speaker 2: I don't think this team's gonna show up and not
Speaker 2: play really good defense. They're gonna play some better teams
Speaker 2: down the line once they get to the tournament, I
Speaker 2: would imagine, and maybe you know they're not as effective defensively.
Speaker 2: But what's really made them this successful in January obviously
Speaker 2: they're not playing the teams they were playing in November
Speaker 2: and December that beat them. But other than that, it's
Speaker 2: things that you can control. It's not luck. Like sometimes
Speaker 2: it's just gonna have bad luck in an off night,
Speaker 2: guys missing shots, but you know, would not be a
Speaker 2: shocker if they're playing Wake Forest and let's say maybe
Speaker 2: maybe rain Smith is two of nine from three and
Speaker 2: Chucky Hepburn is you know, three of ten from the floor.
Speaker 2: Well if Terrence Edwards steps up and he's you know,
Speaker 2: back to scoring more points than than he had last night,
Speaker 2: and he's you know, let's say he's six of eight
Speaker 2: from the floor, I mean like that those are things
Speaker 2: that are very much are realistic. I mean, it's not
Speaker 2: even about being realistic, it's about like, like that's likely now,
Speaker 2: Like I think the result, like in any performance, when
Speaker 2: it comes to just the balance that that you know,
Speaker 2: that is much different than what we've had in the
Speaker 2: last six seven games, like that would be the outlier here.
Speaker 2: I mean, and yesterday, I guess the reason why I
Speaker 2: couldn't fully get there to say that, you know, I'm
Speaker 2: worried and I'm expecting a letdown. They've just been playing
Speaker 2: so well, at some point, maybe they're going to hit
Speaker 2: a wall and come back down to reality. Like I
Speaker 2: kept thinking that that was gonna be where my mindset was.
Speaker 2: But no, because because what we're watching, it's not like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, they can't miss now rain Smith last
Speaker 2: night that was crazy because he was I mean when
Speaker 2: he hit or ees like six through nine, it was okay,
Speaker 2: you got to be making this up. This is unreal,
Speaker 2: like it was one of the I mean, ten three
Speaker 2: pointers at a game is un So that's an exception.
Speaker 2: But the other things that you're seeing, I mean, it's
Speaker 2: it's it's not only consistent, it's things that are not
Speaker 2: at all dependent upon good breaks going your way or luck.
Speaker 2: And that makes me believe that this level of play
Speaker 2: that has made them a much better team as they've
Speaker 2: gotten more and more comfortable, everybody seems to have an
Speaker 2: identified role. They clearly have an identity. I mean, I
Speaker 2: think this is very much sustainable. And again I keep
Speaker 2: saying this over and over, but like I'm loving it,
Speaker 2: and I know I am. I'm not alone. I do
Speaker 2: want to talk really quickly about Kentucky fans because I
Speaker 2: think it's been weird for them because they and I
Speaker 2: know you can. You can get deep into the weeds,
Speaker 2: and you can get deep into the toxic world that
Speaker 2: is social media, specifically Twitter and x and you know
Speaker 2: the anonymous accounts that just you know, spew hate and
Speaker 2: you know that's that's I mean, they're out there and
Speaker 2: you know it exists. But I think level headed Kentucky fans,
Speaker 2: even those that you know, really embrace the rivalry and
Speaker 2: can be nasty at times. I think this is where
Speaker 2: they are. They know that to criticize Louisville for being
Speaker 2: happy and really excited about Pat Kelcey and enjoying this success,
Speaker 2: I think as much as they want to make fun
Speaker 2: of us because like, wow, imagine remember the last time
Speaker 2: I beat a non ranked team on the road, Like,
Speaker 2: but they also like they also know, like they realized
Speaker 2: that Louisville fans understandably are loving this because of what
Speaker 2: the program's gone through recently. So like, I'm sure you'll
Speaker 2: find people making fun of Loisll fans for being excited,
Speaker 2: but I think some are hesitoned to do that because
Speaker 2: like they get it. Also, I think they're not scared
Speaker 2: of Louisville, but they also realize, hey, I'm watching basketball
Speaker 2: I'm a ball knower. I think this team's actually playing
Speaker 2: pretty well. Like I think they're kind of good. I'm
Speaker 2: sure they realized that. I'm sure they realized that they're better.
Speaker 2: They did beat louisvilleadad I mean, but and who knows,
Speaker 2: maybe if they played again it would be a different result.
Speaker 2: I don't know, it doesn't matter. But I think you're
Speaker 2: not seeing them make fun of Louisville fans for being
Speaker 2: happy quite as much, because again, I think they understand.
Speaker 2: I also think they realize that this team is playing
Speaker 2: pretty good basketball, and they think Pat Kelsey as much
Speaker 2: as they don't want it, he's likable and they probably
Speaker 2: think he's a pretty good coach. And again, I realize
Speaker 2: there are many of you listening right now that you're
Speaker 2: Kentucky fins that probably are like, no, this guy's a bum.
Speaker 2: You guys stink you're only winning because the ACC sucks
Speaker 2: and you all are embarrassing yourself. When did Louisville start
Speaker 2: celebrating this kind of stuff? So I'm sure you could
Speaker 2: find that out there. But what I've noticed is that
Speaker 2: those that are sort of in the lane I'm describing
Speaker 2: here right like, they get it when it comes to
Speaker 2: the excitement. They actually think Louisville's pretty good. They think
Speaker 2: Pat Kelsey is doing a really good job. So what
Speaker 2: do they have to yell about. I'll tell you this
Speaker 2: is like, this is I think them telling on themselves
Speaker 2: that they really don't like Louisville being good and winning
Speaker 2: because you know, it's the rival. I'm the same way
Speaker 2: with them. All they do is just yell about how
Speaker 2: the ACC stinks. They're throwing all these numbers out there
Speaker 2: that highlight how down the ACC is and how loaded
Speaker 2: their league is. That is their passive way to, you know,
Speaker 2: deal with it. Now. Maybe again, I'm sure some aren't
Speaker 2: as passive in summery in your face and you know,
Speaker 2: telling you you stink, you suck Loserville, l's down, all
Speaker 2: that kind of stuff. But I've noticed it, like even
Speaker 2: Kentucky fans that I'm friends with, that i'm close with,
Speaker 2: that we don't really do the rivalry thing back and
Speaker 2: forth because I'm never going to change their mind, They're
Speaker 2: never going to change mine. I'm gonna be a Louisville fan,
Speaker 2: They're gonna be Kentucky fans. And that's the way it
Speaker 2: should be, you know, instead of like, oh, Wow, Louis's
Speaker 2: playing really good. They're just like, man, you guys notice
Speaker 2: like how bad the acc is? Yeah, clearly, And that's
Speaker 2: why I that is exactly why I find myself overdoing it.
Speaker 2: As far as that disclaimer that, yes, Louisville's success here lately,
Speaker 2: part of the part of the reason they've been to
Speaker 2: win nine in a row is because they're now playing
Speaker 2: teams that aren't elite, aren't great, and earlier this year
Speaker 2: they were playing really, really good teams. And that's why
Speaker 2: I think when it comes to the resume, like Louisville
Speaker 2: didn't beat any of the big, big teams on the schedule,
Speaker 2: and in fact, they got blown out by a couple
Speaker 2: of them, but they still played a challenging schedule. So
Speaker 2: that's gonna help them, Right. There's other teams out there
Speaker 2: that have a record similar to Louisville and maybe even
Speaker 2: like a better win or two, but they also didn't
Speaker 2: play such a challenging schedule. And in the end, that's
Speaker 2: that's always the way to go. Now again, it can
Speaker 2: hurt you because you end up with a record, like
Speaker 2: because if you play all these good teams and you
Speaker 2: don't beat any of them, but you played competitively at
Speaker 2: the end of the day, like you're still losing, but
Speaker 2: you get rewarded from the committee. The proof is there.
Speaker 2: If you have a strong schedule, you'll be rewarded for it.
Speaker 2: And this isn't even about the resume, but also playing
Speaker 2: a strong schedule early on, it's gonna benefit you down
Speaker 2: the line because you've been battle tested. And I think
Speaker 2: that's that's why Louisville has been able to kind of
Speaker 2: get past these other ACC teams that are fighting for
Speaker 2: the tournament, because yeah, I mean they needed they needed
Speaker 2: some big plays late to beat Pitt at Pitt. I
Speaker 2: guess they did kind of. They did pull away from
Speaker 2: Carolina and Clemson, who are both teams that are, you know,
Speaker 2: fighting for the tournament. Clemson's in right now, Carolina probably
Speaker 2: would be in. But you know, I think it's safe
Speaker 2: to say teams like Tennessee, Ole, miss Duke, Kentucky. I mean,
Speaker 2: those teams are are better than all those teams I
Speaker 2: just mentioned the ACC, outside of course Duke, who is
Speaker 2: in the ACC. So I hope pat Kelsey didn't just
Speaker 2: inherit this schedule and it is what it is. I
Speaker 2: hope that he plans to schedule really tough in the
Speaker 2: non conference every year, because well that's the way Denny
Speaker 2: used to do it, and because of the reasons I
Speaker 2: just mentioned, I just think that that that's clearly the better,
Speaker 2: the better route to go than than playing a big
Speaker 2: week schedule and maybe adding a bunch of wins. But
Speaker 2: your resume is not going to be great, right, Your
Speaker 2: net's not going to be where you want it to be.
Speaker 2: And if you're not challenging yourself consistently in November and December,
Speaker 2: I mean you're missing out, all right. It's coffee and company.
Speaker 2: Feel about Thorton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Appreciate
Speaker 2: you hanging out with us as we've been talking a
Speaker 2: lot of Louisville basketball, as you could expect, and believe
Speaker 2: it or not, this may shock some of you that
Speaker 2: are just now joining us. I said something incorrect earlier.
Speaker 2: I hope you can understand and pick up the sarcasm,
Speaker 2: because I'm sure I've said many things that were incorrect,
Speaker 2: even you know, within this segment. But when I was
Speaker 2: talking about the Quad one and Quad two, and just
Speaker 2: currently Louisville's resume has four and it could every day,
Speaker 2: every day, it could change. I did have it incorrect.
Speaker 2: I was mentioning Oklahoma as the team that Louisville needed
Speaker 2: to stay in the top fifty for it to be
Speaker 2: a Quad one win, and in fact, they needed to
Speaker 2: stay in the top one fifty. But it's because of
Speaker 2: a Quad one loss. They lost Oklahoma. I had it
Speaker 2: mixed up for some reason. I had. I mean, I knew,
Speaker 2: I mean, I just said it incorrectly. I knew that
Speaker 2: West Virginia is who they actually beat. So the good
Speaker 2: news is West Virginia, and in fact, I think they
Speaker 2: I feel like they might have taken a loss last
Speaker 2: night if I'm not mistaken, but or maybe they I
Speaker 2: don't know. The reason I'm thinking West Virginia might have
Speaker 2: loss last night is because Austin was texting me about
Speaker 2: his parlay and how they screwed him. So anyways, right
Speaker 2: now in the net, Oklahoma is borderline. I mean, they're
Speaker 2: forty ninth in the net, and if they drop out
Speaker 2: of the top fifty, that becomes a Quad two loss.
Speaker 2: One of the current strengths of a Louisville's resume is
Speaker 2: the fact that they only have losses in the Quad
Speaker 2: one tier. If Oklahoma slips out of the top fifty.
Speaker 2: Then that's a quad two loss, which isn't terrible, but
Speaker 2: you know, you want all your losses to be quad one.
Speaker 2: So West Virginia is a win for Louisville, and they
Speaker 2: would need to fall out of the top fifty for
Speaker 2: that to no longer be a quad one victory. That
Speaker 2: looks unlikely because they're thirteen and five and they're sitting
Speaker 2: at thirty six in the net. And now that I'm
Speaker 2: looking here, they dropped six spots last night, so I
Speaker 2: would assume they would have had to have lost lost
Speaker 2: to whoever they whoever they played. Yeah, last night West Virginia,
Speaker 2: they took an l to Arizona State, which is a
Speaker 2: bad loss for them at home. Yeah, that's that explains
Speaker 2: why they dropped as many spots as they did, because
Speaker 2: that's I mean Arizona State. I guess, Well, Arizona State's
Speaker 2: not terrible, but they're eleven and seven and had lost.
Speaker 2: It looks like they'd lost six of eight before last night.
Speaker 2: So look, they're still in the top fifty. There's still
Speaker 2: a tournament team, which is good. But yeah, that was
Speaker 2: uh And by the way, what a weird resume for
Speaker 2: West Virginia. West Virginia, as mentioned now has a lost
Speaker 2: to Arizona State, which is not a good loss, and
Speaker 2: they also have well, I guess this is really their
Speaker 2: only loss. They lost to Pittsburgh early this year, and
Speaker 2: I thought that would that would be a bad loss
Speaker 2: for him, and I guess it's to be determined what
Speaker 2: that loss looks like down the line, because pitt had
Speaker 2: a good start to the season and Louisville beat him
Speaker 2: and might have broke them because Pittsburgh has now lost
Speaker 2: four straight and they'll play They'll play Syracuse on the
Speaker 2: road on set. I would imagine they'll get back to
Speaker 2: the winning ways in that one because Syracuse, as we know,
Speaker 2: is really down. So West Virginia. They're thirteen and five,
Speaker 2: only one loss. That's kind of a head scratcher. They
Speaker 2: did get blown out by Arizona, which if you remember
Speaker 2: at the time, that looked like maybe a bad loss
Speaker 2: because Arizona was struggling, But now they're playing well. But
Speaker 2: West Virginia has wins against Gonzaga. They did beat Arizona once,
Speaker 2: which is crazy. They played Arizona in the non conference
Speaker 2: on a neutral court, something that was previously scheduled, but
Speaker 2: because Arizona joined the Big Twelve this year. They also
Speaker 2: played them in In fact, are they going to play
Speaker 2: them three times? No, looks like they're going to play them. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so they'll play. Yeah, they split with arizonas they beat
Speaker 2: them once and lost them once. But then they also
Speaker 2: have a win against Houston. I'm sorry, not Houston, but
Speaker 2: Iowa State, who is number four currently in the Ken Palm.
Speaker 2: So West Virginia could probably lose a few more games
Speaker 2: to teams that are in that tier of Arizona State
Speaker 2: and maybe still be in just because they've got some
Speaker 2: really really strong wins as of right now. So that's
Speaker 2: a good win for Louisville, and you know that you
Speaker 2: need as many of those as you can get. All right,
Speaker 2: let's see where do we want to go here? I
Speaker 2: guess we should say this because I want to make
Speaker 2: sure I don't make the same mistake that I made
Speaker 2: in the four o'clock hour by going way too long
Speaker 2: in the first segment and then just completely messing up
Speaker 2: the clock. You guys know my clock management at times
Speaker 2: is not great. So let's get to a break. We'll
Speaker 2: come back on the other side. John Caliperry got some
Speaker 2: really bad news yesterday Boogie Fland is out for the year,
Speaker 2: which I thought Matt's comment earlier today about that on
Speaker 2: KSR was very telling because instead of just mentioning the
Speaker 2: Boogie Flanned injury and about how that's going to be,
Speaker 2: really you know, I mean, Arkansas is struggling in a
Speaker 2: major way, and then of course you know they I
Speaker 2: mean they're already bad and now they lose Boogie Flan,
Speaker 2: probably their best player this year. And instead of just
Speaker 2: acknowledging that it's gonna be tough for them, the instant
Speaker 2: comment from Matt, which again I get it, I'd be
Speaker 2: doing the same thing, was we definitely can't lose to
Speaker 2: them now, which you can, Like you could lose to
Speaker 2: cal and it would not impact you in any way
Speaker 2: as far as your season. It won't change anything about
Speaker 2: your ceiling, It won't change anything about pope. But man,
Speaker 2: that's when sports really is fun, when it's so personal
Speaker 2: and it actually is what makes us crazy about this stuff.
Speaker 2: But like, you have nothing to truly like again, it
Speaker 2: probably would drop you down in the seed line maybe,
Speaker 2: so I guess there is some potential real harm in losing,
Speaker 2: and you're clearly gonna lose more games in the SEC
Speaker 2: because your leagu's loaded. But overall, like it won't keep
Speaker 2: Kentucky from being able to have a really good season,
Speaker 2: So it's not like it kills you, but it does
Speaker 2: kill you just because you don't want to lose to
Speaker 2: that guy. Given the situation, given the circumstances, col coming
Speaker 2: in to Rup on the first and winning, I think
Speaker 2: it's damn impossible. But like, if they did, that would
Speaker 2: be and I understand it. It would be a really
Speaker 2: tough one for Kentucky fans to deal with. But I
Speaker 2: don't know who they'd be mad at. I'm sure they'd
Speaker 2: be mad at Pope in the moment, but like it
Speaker 2: wouldn't mean that he's not going to be successful there.
Speaker 2: But I can just tell I can feel it that game.
Speaker 2: That's one that there the fans are a little tight about.
Speaker 2: I would imagine the players probably won't be, because again,
Speaker 2: none of these guys even know Caliperry. All right, quick break,
Speaker 2: we'll come back on the other side. Keep it rolling along,
Speaker 2: Talk a little about the talk a little bit about
Speaker 2: the NFL playoffs before we get out of here. I
Speaker 2: know we're gonna well, we have more time to do that.
Speaker 2: The rest of the week, but uh, big weekend coming
Speaker 2: up where we figure out who's gonna be playing in
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl. So stick around again, it's coffee and company.
Speaker 2: Feel about Thorton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: You know, if I didn't have a friend that was
Speaker 2: currently in Destin, Florida that was sending pictures of snow
Speaker 2: on the beach, I wouldn't believe it. I would see
Speaker 2: all the video that's all over social media of in
Speaker 2: fact they're being snow on the beach in Florida, and
Speaker 2: I mean, hey, New Orleans Bourbon Street, I mean, it's frozen,
Speaker 2: there's snow everywhere. There's people ice skating on Bourbon Street.
Speaker 2: Again with AI and how insane it is that they
Speaker 2: can take something that, you know, they can make something
Speaker 2: look real when it's not. I don't know if I would,
Speaker 2: I think I would have just assumed it's all stuff
Speaker 2: on the internet that you have to now just assume
Speaker 2: it's probably not real. But it is. I mean, it's
Speaker 2: just it's the visual of seeing snow on the beach,
Speaker 2: especially a beach that I go to every year that
Speaker 2: is beautiful. And you know, I just I said yesterday,
Speaker 2: I can't even visualize it. Well now I have because
Speaker 2: I've seen it, and it's just it's crazy and we're
Speaker 2: not getting any snow right now. But man, it is
Speaker 2: cold as can be outside, just I mean brutal, brutal,
Speaker 2: and I think we're gonna get some warmer weather, but like, hey,
Speaker 2: you could give me the twenties and that would be
Speaker 2: a big upgrade. As far as how cold it's been
Speaker 2: really in the last few days. I said this yesterday.
Speaker 2: I think with the first snow wave that we got
Speaker 2: taking place on the sixth or I guess it was
Speaker 2: the fifth of January. Here we are on the twenty second,
Speaker 2: and I mean, like my driveway, the area that is
Speaker 2: not shaded, I mean it's been frozen really ever since then,
Speaker 2: and it's had some type of snow, ice, sleet something
Speaker 2: on it for a long time. And this is in
Speaker 2: a year where we've had our biggest win. I mean,
Speaker 2: I feel like the last few years it has been
Speaker 2: very mild when it comes to winter weather. Not only
Speaker 2: has it not been as cold as long as it
Speaker 2: has been here in the last month, but we didn't
Speaker 2: get any kind of snow compared to what we got
Speaker 2: so far here in January, so as somebody who does
Speaker 2: usually like the winter. I still like a lot of
Speaker 2: things that come with winter, you know, like the holidays
Speaker 2: and of course basketball season. But I am like a
Speaker 2: lot of you now in wanting the warm weather to
Speaker 2: get here, to get her pretty soon. All right, it's
Speaker 2: coffee and company. We are feel about Thornton's about thirty
Speaker 2: minutes left here before we get out of here and
Speaker 2: wrap it up. This is a good text that came
Speaker 2: in earlier, and this is the second or third time
Speaker 2: in the last couple of weeks that somebody's asked this question,
Speaker 2: and that is essentially who's eligible after this year? Meaning
Speaker 2: in the last text puts it best. He says, look,
Speaker 2: I should know this. I can look and see that
Speaker 2: somebody's a red shirt senior and assume that they're not
Speaker 2: going to have any eligibility left, but honestly don't know now.
Speaker 2: I mean, here's so right now, let's look at the roster.
Speaker 2: So I could be wrong here because it is really
Speaker 2: hard to keep up with because you think, you know, okay,
Speaker 2: what the rule is, what the standard as far as eligibility,
Speaker 2: and then somebody challenges it and they win, and then
Speaker 2: the NCAA makes a rule change. So that's actually what
Speaker 2: has happened recently with the Diego Pavia, the quarterback at Vandy,
Speaker 2: who challenged the NCUBLEA, claiming that cannot you cannot count
Speaker 2: two years of junior college football against me when it
Speaker 2: comes to eligibility because the NJC double A is not
Speaker 2: the same thing as the nc double A. I should
Speaker 2: still be allowed to have four years of eligibility like
Speaker 2: everybody else. And it's a wild strategy that that you know,
Speaker 2: sounded crazy, but he won. He successfully beat the NC
Speaker 2: DOUBLEA in court. So the NCAA decided, well, okay, I mean,
Speaker 2: because he won, until we figure this out and and
Speaker 2: get a and get more clarity on what we're going
Speaker 2: to do long term, because he's been able to win.
Speaker 2: Not everybody. This basically what they did the day that
Speaker 2: he won his lawsuit, they put out a statement saying
Speaker 2: that you also will be able to get one year
Speaker 2: of you'll be eligible in twenty twenty five, twenty six
Speaker 2: if you are currently playing college sports in one of
Speaker 2: your years of eligibility in the four year window was JUCO.
Speaker 2: So basically what they did was told everybody, look, don't
Speaker 2: hire attorneys and take us to court. We we know
Speaker 2: we've lost. We lose these lawsuits. So just if you've
Speaker 2: got to if you're a JUCO guy that was exhausting
Speaker 2: eligibility this calendar school year, you will have another year
Speaker 2: of eligibility. So what that means is Case and Pryor
Speaker 2: he could be eligible for two more years. I mean,
Speaker 2: hard to imagine that he would play two more years
Speaker 2: of college basketball, but I believe he could. And also
Speaker 2: I think the same thing can be said about Javon Hadley.
Speaker 2: So Case and Pryor was a fifth year guy. I believe.
Speaker 2: Let me pull it up here, Case and Pryor he
Speaker 2: ended up coming out of yeah, coming out of high school,
Speaker 2: and yeah, Case and Pryor was a He's been playing
Speaker 2: college basketball JUCO or D one since twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2: So he played two years at Boise State, not a
Speaker 2: whole lot. Then he played a year of JUCO at
Speaker 2: Northwestern Florida State. He played one season there, so then
Speaker 2: he transferred to where was it? He transferred to South Florida.
Speaker 2: That's where he played. So last year at South Florida
Speaker 2: he was on his last year. But because like everybody else,
Speaker 2: if you played college basketball, if your four year eligibility window.
Speaker 2: One of those years was the twenty twenty one season
Speaker 2: where we played college basketball kind of meeting where we
Speaker 2: had a season, but there were very few fans allowed
Speaker 2: to go. A bunch of games canceled the year where
Speaker 2: we tried to play sports during a pandemic. If you
Speaker 2: were in school at that time, that year does not count.
Speaker 2: You get an extra year. So Cason was able to
Speaker 2: come back to Louisville this year because of that. He
Speaker 2: was getting his fifth year because one of his years
Speaker 2: of college basketball was in fact during that window. So
Speaker 2: he got hurt this year early enough to where he
Speaker 2: will not he will play. I think they base it
Speaker 2: off of percentage he's going to play in such a
Speaker 2: small percentage of Louisville's games that he will be able
Speaker 2: to qualify for a medical red shirt. So that is
Speaker 2: how he could come back another year. But also the
Speaker 2: JUCO thing, so technically, because one of his seasons of
Speaker 2: eligibility was utilized in the JUCO ranks and not the
Speaker 2: nc DOULA because of the recent change they've made until
Speaker 2: they get it figured out, he's now being granted an
Speaker 2: extra year. So that's how theoretically he could play two
Speaker 2: more years of college basketball if he wanted to same
Speaker 2: thing with Javon Hadley. Javon Hadley started his career at
Speaker 2: Where did he start at? I think at Northeastern maybe
Speaker 2: that's where Javon Hadley first played college basketball at Northeastern,
Speaker 2: which is the Division one school, very small school. And
Speaker 2: after that he was there for a season and then
Speaker 2: he ended up transferring to He transferred to a junior college,
Speaker 2: Indian Hills, and I don't know if he played there
Speaker 2: one year two years. I think it was one season.
Speaker 2: So yeah, he played in thirteen games as a true freshman.
Speaker 2: Then he went JUCO for a year. Then he played
Speaker 2: at Colorado for two years and was a good player Colorado.
Speaker 2: So he had another year, a fifth year because again
Speaker 2: he started his college career during the COVID year, so
Speaker 2: he got a fifth year. And now the JUCO thing,
Speaker 2: so Hadley could have another year because the year he
Speaker 2: played at Indian Hills was not counted against him towards
Speaker 2: his eligibility. So technically you could get case In Pryor
Speaker 2: and and and Javon Hadley back if they want to
Speaker 2: come back, because they will have eligibility. Now it's a
Speaker 2: new world where it's going to come down to money,
Speaker 2: and you know, some of these guys may decide, Look,
Speaker 2: I could maybe make some money, but I'm ready to
Speaker 2: just start the next chapter of my life and move
Speaker 2: on from college basketball. So I have no clue what
Speaker 2: the roster is going to look like next year. But
Speaker 2: those guys could be eligible, now what I what. I
Speaker 2: believe one of you that asked this question in regards
Speaker 2: to eligibility, who could be back? I think the confusion
Speaker 2: for one of you was that that you didn't know if, if,
Speaker 2: if the COVID thing had come and gone. I'm pretty
Speaker 2: sure we are currently in the season to where there's
Speaker 2: nobody playing college basketball that is not on that extra year,
Speaker 2: Meaning from here on out, you're no longer going to
Speaker 2: get a fifth year because it's been so long since
Speaker 2: that season happened to where you wouldn't qualify. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean so chucky Hepburn, He's been a four year guy.
Speaker 2: He started for three years at Wisconsin and this is
Speaker 2: his fourth year. He'll not be entitled to a fifth
Speaker 2: year because he didn't start his college career early enough
Speaker 2: and also he didn't play JUCO. But I am to
Speaker 2: the point now with the NC Double A. Anybody could
Speaker 2: be given an extra year, and I'm not gonna be
Speaker 2: surprised for any reason, just because that has absolutely been
Speaker 2: the trend as of late. You sue the NC Double
Speaker 2: A and you challenge them, they're going to lose. And
Speaker 2: you know, I don't see any I can't think of
Speaker 2: any scenario where Chucky would be able to play another
Speaker 2: year of college basketball. But well, yeah, before it, I mean,
Speaker 2: you kidding me. This guy is, I mean, he's he's
Speaker 2: only going to be here one year. And I think
Speaker 2: when you when you consider guys and how they're remembered,
Speaker 2: you do it based off of two things, well three things.
Speaker 2: One how good they were, also how successful their team was,
Speaker 2: meaning did they go on a deep run. Your probability
Speaker 2: of being remembered in a major way at Louisville and
Speaker 2: other programs that love college basketball where it's a big
Speaker 2: deal and you know you're in that blue bud blue
Speaker 2: blood territory is if you make deep runs in the tournament,
Speaker 2: Like there have been some really good players, but their
Speaker 2: teams weren't as successful, didn't have the big run to
Speaker 2: where I really don't know if people remember them as
Speaker 2: fondly as they should have. So, you know, Chucky, if
Speaker 2: he goes on a deep run and Louisville makes some
Speaker 2: kind of miraculous run to the final four, then he'll
Speaker 2: be remembered forever. And technically, I think right now, if
Speaker 2: you're a Louisville fan, you always remember him because he's
Speaker 2: this good, But you know, him only being here one year,
Speaker 2: it just changes it a little bit. When I think
Speaker 2: of players that that get discussed, you know, for generations
Speaker 2: and will you know and will down the line, it's
Speaker 2: it's because they played here a long time, and that's
Speaker 2: just what's gonna make it weird for programs like Louisville
Speaker 2: and Kentucky for that matter, because of the portal, you know,
Speaker 2: you're just not as likely to get guys for as long.
Speaker 2: But maybe, but maybe I'm actually maybe maybe I'm wrong there,
Speaker 2: because you know, if you're if you're Kentucky, I guess
Speaker 2: recently you're used to just having guys stay short, stay
Speaker 2: for a short amount of time because they're going to
Speaker 2: the NBA. And I guess Mark Pope could technically keep
Speaker 2: bringing in and he's got an elite class coming in,
Speaker 2: so maybe that'll be the case moving forward, that Kentucky
Speaker 2: starts bringing in a bunch of five stars that only
Speaker 2: stay a year and and and you know, they just
Speaker 2: don't stick around very long. Or maybe Mark Pope brings
Speaker 2: in some five stars that do have the one and
Speaker 2: dune potential, but he also brings in guys that are,
Speaker 2: you know, really good college players, but maybe they don't
Speaker 2: tran to the NBA right away. Well, if you're at
Speaker 2: a place like Kentucky, why would you leave because you've
Speaker 2: got I mean, you would think if you're a Kentucky
Speaker 2: you're having success, they're gonna be able to compensate you
Speaker 2: when it comes to nil as good as anybody else.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm just I'm thinking CHUCKI Hepburn. I hope
Speaker 2: people realize like how good this guy is, and I
Speaker 2: think people do right now. He's one of the best
Speaker 2: point guards in the country. I think he's up there
Speaker 2: with I mean, to me, he's the best player Louisville's
Speaker 2: had since Donovan Mitchell. And honestly, this is gonna sound
Speaker 2: crazy because Donovan one of those guys that is going
Speaker 2: to be a legend, absolutely, especially with how much he
Speaker 2: loves Louisville and makes it clear. But Donovan was a
Speaker 2: good player at Louisville, He's a way better pro. Like
Speaker 2: anybody who claimed they saw Donovan being this kind of
Speaker 2: a star in the NBA, I think you're a liar
Speaker 2: or you just it was wishful thinking because you're a fan.
Speaker 2: Like he was good, he had a lot of potential,
Speaker 2: a lot of upside. I thought he could be a pro.
Speaker 2: Donovan's one of the best guards in the NBA and
Speaker 2: has been that for many years now. So that's why
Speaker 2: he's viewed and remember the way he is more so
Speaker 2: because of that than what he did at Louisville. He
Speaker 2: didn't even play. I mean, he played one tournament game
Speaker 2: or one one tournament game. And I'm here, I am
Speaker 2: sound like I'm discrediting Gono him and I'm just I'm
Speaker 2: trying to point out that, like with Chucky, even if
Speaker 2: they don't go on a deep run in the tournament,
Speaker 2: I don't know if people ever will ever remember him
Speaker 2: for being quite as good as he as he is,
Speaker 2: because I mean, outside after Russ, I mean, honestly, I'll
Speaker 2: say it. I think Chuckie Hepburn is a better college
Speaker 2: player this year than Donovan was here at Louisville, who
Speaker 2: knows if he ever plays in the NBA, meaning Chucky,
Speaker 2: but I think you can make the case that that
Speaker 2: that this is the best player Louis has had since
Speaker 2: Russ Smith. I mean, am I wrong? I mean Damian
Speaker 2: Lee was really good for one year, So maybe I'm
Speaker 2: actually doing with doing to Damian Lee what I'm worried
Speaker 2: people are going to do with Chucky because that team
Speaker 2: didn't play in the tournament because they kept themselves out.
Speaker 2: That team was good and Damien was good. So maybe
Speaker 2: maybe maybe that's actually the example of how if you
Speaker 2: don't make a deep tournament run and you don't stay
Speaker 2: longer than a year or two, then you're just, you know,
Speaker 2: you're a little easier to forget when it comes to
Speaker 2: talking about guys that are remembered around here forever. Yeah, yeah, Chucky, hepburn.
Speaker 2: I mean this was brought up yesterday I think, or
Speaker 2: maybe no, it was late last week I think when
Speaker 2: we had Kent Spencer on from WHS eleven. And he's right,
Speaker 2: I mean, Chucky is not just you know, bringing over
Speaker 2: what he brought from Wisconsin. He's statistically a lot better,
Speaker 2: but just visually, I watch a lot of college basketball
Speaker 2: because you know, I don't have a life I watched
Speaker 2: I was very familiar with Chucky's game at Wisconsin and
Speaker 2: he was a good player. But this Chucky Hepburn, is different.
Speaker 2: And I know some are gonna make the comment, well,
Speaker 2: it's because he's playing in the ACC and it stinks. Well, Chucky,
Speaker 2: I feel like, has played at a high, high level
Speaker 2: against anybody Louisvill's played this year. Like he's been able
Speaker 2: to impact the game in a major way, regardless of
Speaker 2: who they've played. For the most part, he's had nights
Speaker 2: where he was off as far as shooting. But I mean,
Speaker 2: he's looked everybody on this team right now that has
Speaker 2: a role and that he's playing a lot of minutes.
Speaker 2: They're playing good basketball. But Chucky is the guy that
Speaker 2: I think is just you know, put it this way.
Speaker 2: When it comes to Louisville being talked about as a
Speaker 2: team that people might want to look out for in March,
Speaker 2: and then they bring up a player, he's the first
Speaker 2: guy they're bringing up for good reason. All right, let's
Speaker 2: take our last break. We'll come back here on the
Speaker 2: other side, wrap things up. It's coffee and company. Feel
Speaker 2: about Thorntons right here on Sports Talk seven ninety, so
Speaker 2: we now know how many people watched the National Championship
Speaker 2: on Monday night between Notre Dame and Ohio State. According
Speaker 2: to On three Sports, It says here that twenty two
Speaker 2: point one million viewers. That was the average for the game,
Speaker 2: and it was down from last year's game between Michigan
Speaker 2: and Washington State, which the average then, or Michigan and
Speaker 2: Washington I should say, which the average then was twenty
Speaker 2: five just over twenty five million. So I guess it
Speaker 2: kind of depends on the way you look at it,
Speaker 2: because I'm also looking at another report here. This is
Speaker 2: from Ben Portnoy, who covers college for the Sports Business Journal.
Speaker 2: He framed it a little bit differently. ESPN announces the
Speaker 2: college football title game between Notre Dame and Ohio State
Speaker 2: drew twenty two point one million viewers. The game peaked
Speaker 2: at twenty six point one million viewers between eight thirty
Speaker 2: and eight forty five, and it's the most watched non
Speaker 2: NFL sporting event in the past year. So as far
Speaker 2: as where it peaked, it did really well exceeded last year. However,
Speaker 2: the average from a year ago was higher than what
Speaker 2: we saw the other night, which is I mean, I
Speaker 2: guess you could make the claim that two humongous brands
Speaker 2: with humongous followings, really national programs within the sport of
Speaker 2: college football, Notre Dame in Ohio state, that should dominate
Speaker 2: every number. I mean, that should have it. I mean, again,
Speaker 2: I'm not being critical. I guess though, I guess what
Speaker 2: I mean is that if you're somebody that wanted to
Speaker 2: make the claim that the championship game going this laid
Speaker 2: into the you know, I guess it's early in the
Speaker 2: calendar year, but the college football see lasting as long
Speaker 2: as it did in the national Championship game being this
Speaker 2: laid into the NFL playoffs, it just kind of felt
Speaker 2: off and maybe that would impact viewership. You could make
Speaker 2: the case that it did, because again the average was down,
Speaker 2: although it peaked at a higher at a higher level,
Speaker 2: you still feel like with all what I mean, as
Speaker 2: much as people make fun of the SCC and claim
Speaker 2: that they I'm sorry, as much as people make the
Speaker 2: case that the that ESPN wants their partners, you know,
Speaker 2: the SEC, to get multiple playoff spots that maybe they
Speaker 2: don't deserve because they're in bed together, and again, I
Speaker 2: think there's some truth to that they are business partners,
Speaker 2: and the College Football Playoff is an ESPN owned event,
Speaker 2: So I think the comments about you know, it's there's
Speaker 2: a conflict of interest, I think that's legit. However, even
Speaker 2: if there's not an SEC team in it and they
Speaker 2: want more of their you know, their family members in it,
Speaker 2: if you will, you know, those who really value and
Speaker 2: understand that you need a ton of viewership when they
Speaker 2: see teams like note or Dame in Ohio State are
Speaker 2: going to be playing in the National championship Game, they
Speaker 2: probably think, well, you really can't get much better than that.
Speaker 2: And again, the number was still good, but I think
Speaker 2: the issue. If you wanted to just say, yeah, viewership
Speaker 2: was down and it's an issue, I would chalk it
Speaker 2: up to it just was weird. It was awkward for
Speaker 2: the game to be played this late in January. But
Speaker 2: maybe by next year we'll be more used to it
Speaker 2: because we've had one season, and maybe it won't feel
Speaker 2: as weird. But it just something was off with the playoff.
Speaker 2: And I'm not complaining. I'm glad we have it, and
Speaker 2: it was exciting and it definitely enhanced the overall product
Speaker 2: of college football. But I feel like I was just
Speaker 2: kind of over it towards the end. All Right, we're
Speaker 2: out of time. Thank you guys for sticking around here
Speaker 2: to the end. We'll be back at it tomorrow at
Speaker 2: three o'clock, and I hope you'll join us right here
Speaker 2: on Sports Talk seven ninety