Speaker 1: I can hear you. Now, what's up?
Speaker 2: Man? Sorry, I don't, I don't. I'm not sure what
Speaker 2: what led to that, but let's uh, let's get the
Speaker 2: conversation started again. ESPN analyst College Basketball Hall of Famer
Speaker 2: Jay Williams. I'll just start by backing up to last
Speaker 2: last Wednesday, obviously Louisville.
Speaker 1: Wait, wait, hold on, Nick, how are you? How are
Speaker 1: This is the first encounter.
Speaker 3: I'm doing, a very good encounter for you and I, well,
Speaker 3: very good encounter for.
Speaker 1: You and I.
Speaker 2: I asked the same question, how are you? And I
Speaker 2: guess you didn't hear me. I was very I mean
Speaker 2: I was I was friendly. I was just wanting to
Speaker 2: see how you were doing before we dive in. But
Speaker 2: and I thought, maybe there's some kind of a prank.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's not really Jay Williams.
Speaker 3: But I can tell that I was around with a
Speaker 3: week week.
Speaker 1: What's going on?
Speaker 2: We like to, you know, to mess around, and there's
Speaker 2: a lot of nonsense that goes on within this show,
Speaker 2: but none of that right now. But I'll just back
Speaker 2: up to Wednesday when it comes to the you know,
Speaker 2: for me being triggered by you saying that that Pat
Speaker 2: Kelcey was doing a good job. It's nice that Louisville
Speaker 2: is back, and you referenced what but Pat Kelsey inherited,
Speaker 2: which of course was a was a Louisville basketball program
Speaker 2: that was at a low that I didn't know possible.
Speaker 2: A lot of people would probably say the same thing.
Speaker 2: And there are many of folks that cover college basketball,
Speaker 2: a lot of them, of course, within your family of
Speaker 2: ESPN folks that at times, I in my opinion, my
Speaker 2: opinion only I don't not the only one, but it's
Speaker 2: my opinion they would gaslight Louisville fans initially that they
Speaker 2: didn't have a right to be critical and be upset
Speaker 2: and really just think this is going to go really bad,
Speaker 2: meaning the Kenny Payne era. And I know the second
Speaker 2: year of that Kenny Payne experience, your tone was a
Speaker 2: little bit different than it was the first time around,
Speaker 2: and you were nowhere near I mean, I mean, I'll
Speaker 2: just tell you who it is. I think Corey Alexander
Speaker 2: and Seth Greenberg, and I'm sure they know Kenny personally,
Speaker 2: and you know, that's a fact that that matters, that's
Speaker 2: that makes an impact as far as how you address
Speaker 2: certain things. But I'm of the belief. And I'll ask
Speaker 2: you this directly. Whenever Kenny Payne first got to Louisville
Speaker 2: and things were not going great, he didn't inherit a
Speaker 2: great situation. But were you all when you talk to
Speaker 2: the state, when you talk to people, when you come
Speaker 2: here to do a game and you get access and
Speaker 2: you're embedded within the program for that day or two
Speaker 2: that you're here, was it expressed that like there's really
Speaker 2: nothing that can be done. This is just the situation
Speaker 2: because of a mess that was inherited. Because I think
Speaker 2: that was initially what a lot of people thought, and
Speaker 2: then you know it didn't really play out that way.
Speaker 3: Well, first off, just let me tell you I love
Speaker 3: the way that we exchange notes and this is what
Speaker 3: this is how stuff should be. Right, Like, you have
Speaker 3: a strong opinion. I think a lot of times when
Speaker 3: I do TV, I do so much TV, people don't
Speaker 3: hear all the verticals in.
Speaker 1: Which I do TV and what I say.
Speaker 3: Right, So, and I really want to dig into this
Speaker 3: with you because I think it's important. So just know,
Speaker 3: like two years ago, I was coming back from the NBA.
Speaker 3: I was calling NBA games, so I was being reintroduced.
Speaker 1: Back to college basketball.
Speaker 3: Right, it was doing a radio show where we still
Speaker 3: talked about college basketball a little bit, but our primary
Speaker 3: thing we talked about was college football and NFL and NBA,
Speaker 3: and I was doing NBA Countdown.
Speaker 1: So coming back into.
Speaker 3: College ball last year, I obviously I paid attention to
Speaker 3: things that were going on between Kentucky, Louisville, Duke, all
Speaker 3: these great schools that I've known for so long, right,
Speaker 3: and I had context about the struggles, but that was
Speaker 3: really my first time calling a game and and hearing
Speaker 3: a lot of the reasoning behind why things weren't going well. So,
Speaker 3: but I also seen other schools in which didn't give
Speaker 3: off those similar excuses for lack of better terms, that
Speaker 3: had turned around programs really really quickly. So at the
Speaker 3: beginning of the year, I called the game and I
Speaker 3: was like, you know what, just let me try to
Speaker 3: feel this out a little bit more, and like, let's
Speaker 3: see what he does this year. Because I don't know Nick,
Speaker 3: I know you don't know me. I am not afraid
Speaker 3: to save my damn mine on TV.
Speaker 2: I don't know you. I don't know you, but I
Speaker 2: certainly believe that and I've seen that over the year,
Speaker 2: So I got you so you.
Speaker 3: Know I say that at the beginning of the year
Speaker 3: and then you can you can look it up. Literally
Speaker 3: during the Kentucky game during halftime, I was like, I can't,
Speaker 3: I can't. I can't, I can't, I can't. I can't
Speaker 3: do that. I can't do that. Like I went so
Speaker 3: hard that even I felt like seth. I felt my
Speaker 3: producers like wow, like you really went in. I'm like, well,
Speaker 3: that's just unacceptable. But I had not been calling basketball
Speaker 3: on the college level for those two years, so you
Speaker 3: didn't hear my voice anywhere around that stuff. That was
Speaker 3: my first time seeing it in real time, and I
Speaker 3: called it out for what it really was.
Speaker 1: So you know, my thing is just knowing.
Speaker 3: Who Pat Kelsey is and then frankly like going down
Speaker 3: there and also just now like Nola Smith was on
Speaker 3: that staff.
Speaker 1: I know Nola Smith since his time at Duke.
Speaker 3: Like, I'm not saying things are done right or wrong,
Speaker 3: but I was given a lot of insight when I
Speaker 3: found out about things, and then I saw things pan out,
Speaker 3: I was like, I don't I don't think this is
Speaker 3: the right way to go. So I'm not lambassing anybody, nick.
Speaker 3: I just went when I saw it, and then I
Speaker 3: watched it happen in real time. I said, Nah, unacceptable.
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't back that.
Speaker 3: So that that's just contextually how that whole situation went down.
Speaker 2: And that makes total sense. And one of the things
Speaker 2: that you mentioned, as far as all the different the
Speaker 2: ways that you're in play, your ESPN utilizes you. Not
Speaker 2: only is it hard for people to always have full context,
Speaker 2: but there's probably things that other people say and they
Speaker 2: just lump you in with it. And I think in
Speaker 2: the moment I probably did that a little bit because
Speaker 2: as soon as I did it, I was corrected by
Speaker 2: people who said, hey, actually, after at halftime of the
Speaker 2: UKU of L game last year, he was pretty direct
Speaker 2: about how this just needs to change. So you know it,
Speaker 2: it was so bad that it still doesn't even seem
Speaker 2: real as far as how bad louisvill basketball was at
Speaker 2: that time. So I'm somebody who is very fortunate to
Speaker 2: have a position where I get to cover the team,
Speaker 2: but I'm a fan myself, So again, I was a
Speaker 2: little triggered when it comes to that, because I felt
Speaker 2: like the whole time that Louisville fans were aware that, man,
Speaker 2: this wasn't expected to be great from the jump, But man,
Speaker 2: this is malpractice as far as how things are being led.
Speaker 2: And I totally believe everything as far as what you
Speaker 2: were being told by people that you know, whether it
Speaker 2: be Nolan or others. And I think there's probably some
Speaker 2: partial truth to all that. But you know you were right.
Speaker 2: You've always been very direct and not afraid to share
Speaker 2: your opinion as far as what you really think. But
Speaker 2: when it comes to how it I mean, how did
Speaker 2: it go that bad? In your mind? What do you
Speaker 2: think really was the ultimate root of it being just
Speaker 2: maybe one of the worst hires ever.
Speaker 3: Look, man, Like, first off, I've learned how this game
Speaker 3: of like you know, I often joke around whether that's
Speaker 3: in business or sports, and those those two words are
Speaker 3: combined in our field, right, Like, so when you go
Speaker 3: on when you go on the road and you sit
Speaker 3: down with coaches, and I'm not saying this was done
Speaker 3: at Louisville, but you always got to kind of decipher, right,
Speaker 3: It's like playing a damn game Nick where you're like, Okay.
Speaker 1: This guy told me this, but why is he telling
Speaker 1: me that? Right?
Speaker 3: And then like you have to use other sources to
Speaker 3: be like all right, well, I was told this, did
Speaker 3: this really happen this way?
Speaker 1: Or is it being presented to me?
Speaker 3: So then I go on air and I say things right.
Speaker 3: So it's like you have to do a lot of
Speaker 3: due diligence through other sources and you have to watch
Speaker 3: it a lot to know whether you're kind of being
Speaker 3: bs or not to be real right. So you know,
Speaker 3: I think a lot of times at Louisville, my thing
Speaker 3: is like, look, this NIO game has changed a lot, right,
Speaker 3: But like I would often say, you got to get
Speaker 3: the top players.
Speaker 1: Like, you got to get people. You just have to
Speaker 1: have a system that you have to sell.
Speaker 3: And I thought, not like watching it, I wasn't sure
Speaker 3: that Louisville was.
Speaker 1: Being marketed and framed the right way by the coaching staff.
Speaker 3: Like to me, like, when I think about Louisville basketball, man,
Speaker 3: I think about some of the legendary coaches that have
Speaker 3: coached there. I think about that rivalry with Kentucky basketball,
Speaker 3: Like I think about top tier players that have played
Speaker 3: on that team that represents something bigger, and I just
Speaker 3: never feel like Louisville had that presence. It always feel
Speaker 3: like Louisville was smaller with that staff and to me,
Speaker 3: now it feels like even though back to back losses,
Speaker 3: but like it just feels different, Like and I said
Speaker 3: that on air, Yeah, it's like the bibe around it
Speaker 3: even watching it, like it's like there's an error about it.
Speaker 3: There's a there's a cockiness, there's a swagger to it,
Speaker 3: there's a there's like I'm not afraid to challenge you back,
Speaker 3: whereas those teams that I watched seemed timid and they
Speaker 3: seemed unsure, And that's not what Louisville basketball was to me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and and I think you you couldn't be more
Speaker 2: accurate when it comes to how the program was being
Speaker 2: sold and framed others, because you would think that a
Speaker 2: guy that you hired, that that played here what a
Speaker 2: national championship would would be able to maybe do that
Speaker 2: better than than than anybody. But for reasons that you know,
Speaker 2: I think there's a variety of reasons, it just didn't.
Speaker 2: It didn't work out that way. And now you've got
Speaker 2: a guy who is who's who's going to either make
Speaker 2: it work here, he's going to die trying because he
Speaker 2: realizes this is a special program for a lot of
Speaker 2: the reasons that you just mentioned, and you know that
Speaker 2: that's refreshing. Louisville. Don't how goo they're going to be
Speaker 2: this year. They're dealing with a lot of injuries and
Speaker 2: you just don't know how things are going to go.
Speaker 2: But this guy is clearly you know, making and you
Speaker 2: shouldn't need this as a fan base, but for him
Speaker 2: to continuously talk about how appreciative he is to be
Speaker 2: the coach at Louisville and how you know he's he's
Speaker 2: he's highlight. He's basically gassing us up. And we didn't
Speaker 2: used to need that, but we kind of do now,
Speaker 2: like because of what's happened in recent years. So you
Speaker 2: you talked highly of Pat Kelsey. What is your before
Speaker 2: he was the coach at Louisville. How familiar were you
Speaker 2: with him and just kind of your thoughts on his
Speaker 2: his style as a coach.
Speaker 1: Well, I've known Pat for a while.
Speaker 3: One of the things I will say about Pat, just
Speaker 3: from a personal perspective and watching him over the years,
Speaker 3: is that like he is one of like, Look, I
Speaker 3: don't I don't want to use cliches right because a
Speaker 3: lot of well these guys are.
Speaker 1: Competitive and their dogs. You gotta you have to understand
Speaker 1: how to be around the block.
Speaker 3: Do you get what I'm saying Nick on that, Like,
Speaker 3: like I think that Kenney knew how to be from
Speaker 3: the block, but he never knew how to be around
Speaker 3: the block as a head coach. Different world, You moving,
Speaker 3: you moving seats, you moving a seat down or two seats.
Speaker 1: It's a completely.
Speaker 3: Different experience, right every day, Like I get this sometimes
Speaker 3: being on air, and I'm not comparing to being a.
Speaker 1: Head coach of Louisville at all, but like there.
Speaker 3: Are a lot of times I'm like, Okay, I'm trending,
Speaker 3: Like if somebody tell me I need to kill myself,
Speaker 3: if somebody tell me that I'm stupid, if somebody time
Speaker 3: I need to lose my job, Like you've got to
Speaker 3: be able to like kind of block all that craziness out.
Speaker 3: Easier said than done. And also you got to know
Speaker 3: where bodies are buried, man, Like this ain't this isn't
Speaker 3: elementary school like and that that takes reps so for anybody,
Speaker 3: Like when you're trying to do that at a place
Speaker 3: where like your name was synonymous with being a champion
Speaker 3: and representing your school at a high level with not
Speaker 3: really knowing how to do that.
Speaker 1: Like Pat knows how to do that.
Speaker 3: Like Pat's built programs from the beginning, like like I
Speaker 3: watched it right, like I watched it his entire time,
Speaker 3: Like when College of Charlestoner is ranked top twenty five nationally,
Speaker 3: Like I've seen him build programs over time, and how
Speaker 3: he's been able to do that. He's done that by
Speaker 3: being around the block and being aperience as a head
Speaker 3: coach and forming the right staff and making sure the
Speaker 3: right staff knows how to raise some capitol and knows
Speaker 3: how to get the white people on the door. It's
Speaker 3: just a different it's a different thing when you're in
Speaker 3: that seat.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you're running the show. I mean you're you're
Speaker 2: the CEO essentially, and you got to have some presidential
Speaker 2: qualities about yourself. And there's a lot more to it
Speaker 2: that you probably don't like to do, but it's very important.
Speaker 2: And no, I think that makes that makes total sense.
Speaker 2: Jay Williams is our guest here joining us on Sports
Speaker 2: Talk seven ninety. So I do want to take the
Speaker 2: time we have with you to also address the Kentucky fans.
Speaker 2: We are in Louisville, Kentucky, a big market for college basketball.
Speaker 1: At Oh, you're hitting on both. You're hitting on both
Speaker 1: frunts right now that I like it.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm just trying to catch up a little bit
Speaker 2: because I know that you mentioned something about Cooper Flag
Speaker 2: and just how he's going to continue. I mean, he's
Speaker 2: a guy that's going to bring more eyeballs to college basketball.
Speaker 2: He's probably the most hyped guy entering the college game
Speaker 2: since for a long time, maybe since Zion and that
Speaker 2: crew that came in some years ago. But give me
Speaker 2: the backstory what led to Kentucky fans getting so upset?
Speaker 2: Because I I mean, I kind of caught up late,
Speaker 2: but I still didn't really understand what they were so
Speaker 2: mad about.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, so it was funny we're doing the game.
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, you know, fans only hear what
Speaker 3: they want to hear, of course, so you know, you know,
Speaker 3: while we're doing halftime of the game, I had said
Speaker 3: that I thought, which is which is accurate? So let
Speaker 3: me let me break down a couple of things. Number One,
Speaker 3: I said that, and I still do believe this way.
Speaker 3: I thought this was the most talented and the most
Speaker 3: depth that Duke has had since we won a national
Speaker 3: championship back in two thousand and one.
Speaker 1: Right, and that goes over to fifteen team that won
Speaker 1: a chip.
Speaker 3: Now, just because you have more talent doesn't mean that
Speaker 3: the talent is used the right way all the.
Speaker 2: Time, righty fans more than anybody, right, Yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 3: And it's the same thing with depth, right. You know
Speaker 3: you could have depth, but there are a lot of
Speaker 3: players in Duke's roster that get in play, right, So
Speaker 3: how you use depth talent doesn't always translate to a
Speaker 3: better team with better chemistry.
Speaker 1: All those are different arguments with that, right.
Speaker 3: So, but that comment within itself, I think it's accurate
Speaker 3: for the talent level of this Duke team and the.
Speaker 1: Players that they have.
Speaker 3: Doesn't mean they're gonna hold into a better team than
Speaker 3: Kentucky inevitably, or maybe they could, who knows.
Speaker 1: It's a long season.
Speaker 3: So I think a lot of people started kind of
Speaker 3: like coming back at me with like, oh, how's that
Speaker 3: most talented? How's that most dep team workout? Because look,
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, man, like, I'm always
Speaker 3: gonna be objective with my with my job and my team.
Speaker 3: Like I'm a fan of a lot of different schools, right, So,
Speaker 3: but I would say I'm also I played basketball Dukee.
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you when I think Duke sucks. I'll
Speaker 1: tell you when I think they're good.
Speaker 3: Like I don't try to sugarcoat anything just because I
Speaker 3: played basketball there, Like, I'm real. There have been times
Speaker 3: where I haven't been allowed to go back to Cameron
Speaker 3: Duror Stadium because Gray Allen was tripping people.
Speaker 1: All the damn time. I'm like, really, stop tripping people.
Speaker 3: Broke Oh, yeah, that was That was another intense moment, right,
Speaker 3: But I get it. But I'm always gonna do my job,
Speaker 3: and I'm almost gonna tell you honestly.
Speaker 1: How I felt. So I think fans are triggered by
Speaker 1: that comment.
Speaker 3: And also when that gets clipped and that goes on
Speaker 3: social media, like people don't have context around what it means.
Speaker 1: People act a certain way.
Speaker 3: That's one thing, right, So everybody started getting my mentions
Speaker 3: because of that. Secondly, the game is over and I'm
Speaker 3: on Sports Center right after the game, nick like literally
Speaker 3: seconds after the game.
Speaker 1: Okay, So i go on Sports Center.
Speaker 3: And I'm getting ready to make my comment about Kentucky.
Speaker 3: Now all my network, which I don't control, on a
Speaker 3: huge jumble screen behind me is a massive damn.
Speaker 1: Picture of Cooper Flag.
Speaker 3: So you can imagine in my mind just like your mom,
Speaker 3: like ah shit, here we go. Like I know what's
Speaker 3: gonna happen. I know the first question they're gonna ask
Speaker 3: me about is Cooper Flag because I've already seen it.
Speaker 3: I've seen it last year when he was playing high
Speaker 3: school basketball. How we started to sell him like and
Speaker 3: I'm sorry for going on on, but I just want.
Speaker 1: To be real about it. Okay, what was the last like.
Speaker 3: Incredible like player that we had to do us side
Speaker 3: of ZIGN also is like marketable, Like it's like Cooper
Speaker 3: Flag is somebody I know people are naturally gonna compare
Speaker 3: to Christian Latner JJ Reddick, Like you get where I'm
Speaker 3: going here with this with I'm saying, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, like like, oh, he's gonna be the White
Speaker 3: Superstar and i'd've been living that world. I just had
Speaker 3: people come up to me and say that, and I'm like,
Speaker 3: I would not even frame it that way, but okay,
Speaker 3: I see how people are doing that.
Speaker 1: What happened last year with Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese.
Speaker 3: Like it turned into a little bit at where it's
Speaker 3: like Magic Johnson Larry Bird like like, media can make
Speaker 3: people hate people or make people love people, but they're
Speaker 3: gonna market somebody that they think has an appeal that
Speaker 3: moves the needle. So like, come in and last year
Speaker 3: I knew that, and then the USA basketball, the way
Speaker 3: he played, I knew it was gonna be that situation.
Speaker 3: So right off the top of the show, I get
Speaker 3: asked by our Sports center host, So Jay, like, what
Speaker 3: does this say about Cooper Flag. I cut her off
Speaker 3: and I say, I'm not here to talk about Cooper Flag.
Speaker 3: I'm giving credit to Kentucky basketball. Kentucky basketball, right, and
Speaker 3: I go into all the reasons why I think Mark
Speaker 3: Pope has done one hell of.
Speaker 1: A job at UK bringing in dogs.
Speaker 3: Now, granted, lost to Clemson in our night, but still
Speaker 3: like I I like the way this Kentucky team is constructed, right,
Speaker 3: So I give them credit for like two three minutes.
Speaker 1: And then obviously you have to.
Speaker 3: Go talk about Cooper Flag and about what you learned
Speaker 3: in the situation.
Speaker 1: I saw, you know, having the ball multiple times, not.
Speaker 3: In a position I felt like was to succeed for him,
Speaker 3: and how that played out.
Speaker 1: Why I come off and I'm going back to raps
Speaker 1: and I have.
Speaker 3: All these Kentucky fans coming at me, like, oh, you're
Speaker 3: going after you know you talk.
Speaker 1: Of course you're talking about Cooper flag.
Speaker 3: Blah blahah, like because most of the people, you know,
Speaker 3: if you're at a bar or you're you know, it's
Speaker 3: white noise in your back in your house, you're not
Speaker 3: really listening to what I'm saying. You're just seeing the
Speaker 3: visual and you're hearing me talk, right, So you see
Speaker 3: Cooper flag behind me. So like all these.
Speaker 1: People started coming at me, I'm like, hold on a second.
Speaker 3: Like I gave Kentucky all the love in the world,
Speaker 3: so I like to engage people. And I also think
Speaker 3: sometimes it's like, yo, if Kentucky had a player like Cooper,
Speaker 3: we'd be all over it. Now we can still gonna
Speaker 3: promote Kentucky basketball, but like the same way tonight Duke is.
Speaker 1: Gonna play Auburn, like you're gonna get.
Speaker 3: A high dosage volume doses a Cooper flag, whether you
Speaker 3: like or not.
Speaker 1: So I just went on my social media and say, hey.
Speaker 3: Look, I gave Kentucky love, but like here's marketing, here's
Speaker 3: how it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: You may like it, I'm sorry, but like this is
Speaker 1: the reality.
Speaker 3: So like you could shut it up, shut people up,
Speaker 3: like win, go win a championship, please, But like this
Speaker 3: is how media works, unfortunately, and it's gonna be too
Speaker 3: exhaustion for people. Kentucky fans are gonna hate it because
Speaker 3: they're gonna find a way to talk about Cooper Flag
Speaker 3: regardless of whether Duke wins or loses a game.
Speaker 1: Because it moves the needle.
Speaker 3: I don't know why I'm not involved in data and analytics,
Speaker 3: but it's just what it is. I saw the same
Speaker 3: thing with Zion and I dealt with the hate. So
Speaker 3: I guess that just ruffled a lot of feathers in
Speaker 3: the long winded context way.
Speaker 2: No, And I mean he's somebody that clearly, I mean,
Speaker 2: your employer or ESPN was well aware that this guy
Speaker 2: is going to bring more eyeballs to college basketball, which
Speaker 2: of course will market him even more so when he
Speaker 2: gets to the NBA, which of course ESPN and NBA
Speaker 2: have a great relationship together. So I mean, look what
Speaker 2: you said before that just what you prefaced with was
Speaker 2: the truth is that fans here what they want to hear.
Speaker 2: You could have you could have done thirty five minutes
Speaker 2: just talking about Mark Pope and his offensive structure and
Speaker 2: how how great he is. But maybe one comment about
Speaker 2: Cooper flag and that's what would have probably triggered some people.
Speaker 2: So I know how it works. But Jay, real quick,
Speaker 2: I want to do a little bit of a rapid
Speaker 2: fire with you here because I know you've been very
Speaker 2: gracious with your time. You got a game to call Tony,
Speaker 2: But I'm going to give you a few questions here.
Speaker 2: You just give me the first answer that comes to
Speaker 2: your mind.
Speaker 1: You're ready, all right.
Speaker 2: Best player you played against in college that didn't end
Speaker 2: up becoming like a big time name, didn't have a
Speaker 2: long NBA career, But somebody that you went up against,
Speaker 2: that you competed with, is you had a lot of
Speaker 2: respect for that. Maybe a lot of people don't remember
Speaker 2: or don't you know, don't don't know a lot about.
Speaker 1: Jan Dixon played for Maryland, they win a championship, Like.
Speaker 3: Steve Blake went to the league. I guess say Steve
Speaker 3: Blake too, but he played in the league for a
Speaker 3: long time. But like one was almost like a college
Speaker 3: version of Rip Hamilton.
Speaker 2: That's a great question, And I got to ask you this
Speaker 2: real quick. This has nothing to do with it you
Speaker 2: could settle this. People tell me I look like Steve Blake.
Speaker 2: You've never seen me. I've got to pick. I've got
Speaker 2: my picture on Twitter. You have to look right now.
Speaker 2: But like you would be one. You're the one person
Speaker 2: who I know that is that has actually that probably
Speaker 2: knows Steve Blake, that's competed against him. So like I've
Speaker 2: you could be called worse than Steve Blake, but I've
Speaker 2: been in denial. But lately, as I got older, I
Speaker 2: kind of feel like, you know, maybe that is somebody
Speaker 2: that I do kind of kind of look like, oh.
Speaker 1: My god, Nick, I am on social media, but you
Speaker 1: do look like Steve Broke.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought I thought so. Yeah, I thought so.
Speaker 2: I once I hit like thirty five, like it became
Speaker 2: like okay, now I kind of seised like I'll see
Speaker 2: a Stevey.
Speaker 1: When did you let the hair go? When did you
Speaker 1: let it go? Oh?
Speaker 2: I shaved it off. I shaved my head off whenever
Speaker 2: I was probably like twenty and then I just have
Speaker 2: kept it really short ever since I got a decent hairline.
Speaker 2: I'm not balding, but I'm the guy that like may
Speaker 2: one one day I'll try to like prove to people.
Speaker 2: I don't have the short hair because I needed to
Speaker 2: and then I won't be able to grow it back.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I'll see those clips that people share of
Speaker 2: Steve Blake, like fighting people in practice or just like
Speaker 2: the highlight mixes from him in the NBA with the
Speaker 2: Lakers and Kobe, And I'm like, you know what, I
Speaker 2: kind of get why why people say that?
Speaker 1: All right? I don't know if you. If you, if
Speaker 1: you made money like him and.
Speaker 2: You're doing well, like I trust me, I've made no
Speaker 2: money like him, but maybe maybe one day. All right,
Speaker 2: So you mentioned Louis of basketball as far as all
Speaker 2: of the great coaches that have been here in the success.
Speaker 2: When you when you think of Louisville basketball, rather it
Speaker 2: be from when you were growing up, when they were
Speaker 2: having a great run in the eighties, maybe when you
Speaker 2: were a player. Maybe since you've been an analyst, who's
Speaker 2: the first player that comes to mind for you when
Speaker 2: you think of Louis of basketball?
Speaker 3: I mean, well, coach it always, I mean obviously any crumb,
Speaker 3: but obviously Rick Patino and then player. I always like
Speaker 3: I go to like when I was one, Like you know,
Speaker 3: one of the best parts about my job is I
Speaker 3: form relationships with so many guys, and one of the
Speaker 3: guys that was going through it during his time there
Speaker 3: was Donovan Mitchell. So what I'm thinking, like, I'm not
Speaker 3: talking about like longevity or like hey back in the eighties,
Speaker 3: Like obviously they're a ton of great players that played
Speaker 3: at Louisville. But for me, I always go back to
Speaker 3: d Mitch because I watched him when he was like
Speaker 3: a slasher and when his confidence was down, and to
Speaker 3: see what he's turned into now, like in the type
Speaker 3: of player he is, like being like one of the
Speaker 3: best players in the league. It also made me appreciate
Speaker 3: Rick even more because like you know, last thing, I'll say, Nick,
Speaker 3: and I gotta get out of here, and I guess it.
Speaker 1: The go break is like look man, like.
Speaker 3: The way like media confram people as like cheaters.
Speaker 1: And all the it's kind of like bullshit. I'm not
Speaker 1: even sure if I'm a lot of the cursing your show,
Speaker 1: but I'm doing it.
Speaker 2: You did, and we've been able to use this magic
Speaker 2: button that that that that makes it to where yeah,
Speaker 2: it doesn't happen, and so you're good, go ahead.
Speaker 1: I won't do it anymore.
Speaker 3: But like like let's not act like crazy things don't
Speaker 3: go on in collegiate sports, like people are mad now
Speaker 3: because they feel like collegiate sports are getting professionalized. These
Speaker 3: things have gone on at a lot of places now.
Speaker 3: Whether they have you know, come to life or not
Speaker 3: is a different story. And I'm not saying everything happens everywhere, okay,
Speaker 3: But like I don't know, like I have not had
Speaker 3: one player or come up to me and ever say
Speaker 3: one negative thing about Rick Patino. So like I'm not
Speaker 3: coming on your show backing anybody. I'm just telling you
Speaker 3: what I've heard from players over the years. So for me,
Speaker 3: like watching Rick build in my relationship with him, and
Speaker 3: then also like and Rick and I have been through
Speaker 3: it too, right with things I've said on TV, and
Speaker 3: we've had to work through those things. But like watching
Speaker 3: with Donnovan, to me, that that one always stands out
Speaker 3: because I don't I thought Donovan had talent. I didn't
Speaker 3: know he had that type of talent.
Speaker 2: He's a better NBA player than he was in college.
Speaker 3: I mean, I agree, I mean I but Rick always
Speaker 3: thought he had talent though, like next level talent, and
Speaker 3: I was always like, uh, I don't know, man, Rook's like,
Speaker 3: I'm trying to tell you, Jay, I think there's something different.
Speaker 3: And I was like, okay, like I hear you, but
Speaker 3: and I watch it now, I'm like, damn special.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jay, you are the man. I really appreciate you
Speaker 2: making time for us and having a lengthy conversation, good
Speaker 2: back and forth. Hopefully we can maybe do it again
Speaker 2: some other time. Keep up the great work and again
Speaker 2: appreciate you joining us.
Speaker 1: Same to you, Brotheran. We'll talk to him there. Take care.
Speaker 2: It's Jay Williams.
Speaker 1: All right, Steve R. Steve Blake, Thanks man.
Speaker 2: Well, hey, I can't run from that. I can't run
Speaker 2: from that good stuff. All right, quick break, we'll come back.
Speaker 2: Keep this thing rolling along. It's coffee and company. We
Speaker 2: are feel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven
Speaker 2: ninety