Speaker 1: From border to border across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. This
Speaker 1: is Big Blue Insider. Talk to Tick Gabriel. Call eight
Speaker 1: five nine two eight zero cats that's eight five to
Speaker 1: nine two eight zero to two eight seven. Or state
Speaker 1: wide that's one eight hundred six oh six game. That's
Speaker 1: one eight hundred six oh six four two sixty three.
Speaker 1: Or you can tweet the show that's Big Blue Insider one.
Speaker 2: Now here's Tick Gabriel heard Medium Megaplexus is Dick Gabriel.
Speaker 2: You've heard the ramblings of camer Mills. You've heard the
Speaker 2: words of Mark Pope. They tuned for more chatter about
Speaker 2: Kentucky basketball and football tonight. Aaron Gershan is with us.
Speaker 2: Jeff Pcora will join us as well, because you have
Speaker 2: football season's over, but football players are still on the move,
Speaker 2: so are coaches, and it's bull season as well. Stay
Speaker 2: tuned for the state wide edition of the BBI story.
Speaker 3: It's been proven that Aria boots are one of the
Speaker 3: best values you'll find function, comfort, durability, and style. With Aria,
Speaker 3: you get it all. You can go directly to the
Speaker 3: bootstore and find Kentucky's biggest and best selection of Area
Speaker 3: Western boots. Rugged work, boots, casual footwear, clothing, out of wear,
Speaker 3: and accessories from hat to toe. We've got you covered.
Speaker 3: We are the Bootstore on Nicholas Hill Road and at
Speaker 3: my bootstore dot com doing it right since nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 4: We all know the importance of nutrition and diet for
Speaker 4: healthy lifestyle. We also know that dairy foods deliver great
Speaker 4: nutrition in value. That's reason enough why in Kentucky families
Speaker 4: choose prairie owned Prairie Farms.
Speaker 2: Dairy products like our two.
Speaker 4: Complete lines of delightful Creamy Prairie Farms Yoker flavors fat
Speaker 4: free or low fat both fit neatly under one hundred
Speaker 4: calories per serving. Farm fresh quality from our family to yours,
Speaker 4: farmer owned Prairie Farms.
Speaker 5: The Libasea Group is a family owned CPA firm conveniently
Speaker 5: located on Pasadena Drive near Nicholasville Road in Lexington. They
Speaker 5: can help with tax preparation for individuals, businesses, trusts, and
Speaker 5: the states small business accounting support including full service payroll
Speaker 5: and outsourced bookkeeping services. All the libase Group services include
Speaker 5: free initial consultation and quotes. Bob and Bobby Livessey are
Speaker 5: native Lexingtonians. They are big blue fans and ready to
Speaker 5: serve you. The Libsea Group your one stop shop for
Speaker 5: accounting needs. Call two nine six nineteen thirteen or visit
Speaker 5: liversegroup dot com.
Speaker 6: Cut bugs in your house Call IPM. This is Matt
Speaker 6: Schaeffer with IPM Pest and Termite. For over twenty years,
Speaker 6: IPM Pest and Termite has been servicing homes and businesses
Speaker 6: and spiders, crickets, termites, moles and mosquito services. Mention this
Speaker 6: ad and receive a discount on your pest maintenance service.
Speaker 2: You can always find out.
Speaker 6: More by going to MYIPM dot com. Call us at
Speaker 6: two seven one eight eight five two.
Speaker 2: Hey, if you need roofing work, call my friends at
Speaker 2: Empire Restoration, the number one roofing restoration company in central Kentucky.
Speaker 2: Customers say they love the way Empire shows up on
Speaker 2: time and does exactly what they say they're going to do.
Speaker 2: They're honest, reliable, affordable, dependable, They're passionate about their work.
Speaker 2: Call eight five nine four nine four five five four
Speaker 2: six or go to Empire Ky dot com. Empire Restoration,
Speaker 2: best in the Bluegrass.
Speaker 7: Kentucky is full of secrets, bourbon recipes fishing holes, hunting spots.
Speaker 7: But Jack's Fresh Country Sausage is made from a secret
Speaker 7: family recipe, but has stood the test of.
Speaker 3: Time till the recipe goes back over sixty years.
Speaker 7: It's not broken, so.
Speaker 2: We have never tried to fix it. We've kept it
Speaker 2: exactly the same way.
Speaker 7: We make it, the same way.
Speaker 8: We use the same ingredients from the same vendors, never
Speaker 8: change one time.
Speaker 7: People of them all over the country have fallen in
Speaker 7: love with the homegrown tape of Jacks Fresh Country Sausage.
Speaker 3: Our customers say it best.
Speaker 9: It's the sausage they grew up with.
Speaker 2: Quorter to vorder, it is the big Blue Insider. Did
Speaker 2: Keeble join on our celebrity Highline? By Aaron Gershawn already
Speaker 2: traveling heading back up to close to his home stomping
Speaker 2: grounds of Connecticut, bidding up to the New York area
Speaker 2: where he'll cover Kentucky's basketball game. And you'll be, of
Speaker 2: course watching Mark Pope work his magic again. Aaron, And
Speaker 2: this is not long after you had a one on
Speaker 2: one with him. You're You're on the long list, so
Speaker 2: am I of people who have been trying to sit
Speaker 2: down with the coach. And you finally got your chance.
Speaker 2: I talked to him pre season, but I'm back on
Speaker 2: the list. But I know that you've written about it
Speaker 2: for The Cat's Pause. Tell me what you took away
Speaker 2: from that experience.
Speaker 9: Yeah, really cool and thankful. First time to obviously do
Speaker 9: it during the season. It was we did the interview
Speaker 9: with Monday after they got home from Seattle, so I
Speaker 9: really appreciated him taking the time out of the week
Speaker 9: there obviously the game against Colgates, getting ready for and
Speaker 9: then Louisville. But yeah, you know, we kept it focused
Speaker 9: on this trip to New York. He's a guy that
Speaker 9: you know, I think people you look at his life.
Speaker 9: He was born in Omaha. He went to high school
Speaker 9: in Washington, but he spent his you know, most of
Speaker 9: his first ten years of life here in New York,
Speaker 9: up in Westchester County, just about forty minutes north of
Speaker 9: the city. So this is a homecoming for him. Not
Speaker 9: just because of that, but obviously he went to Columbia
Speaker 9: Middle School, medical school and lived here for a while.
Speaker 9: His wife, Leanne was living here working for David Letterman.
Speaker 9: He played for the Knicks for a year. He was
Speaker 9: a part of the Pacers nicked rivalry in the nineties,
Speaker 9: which was probably the best rivalry in the NBA arguably.
Speaker 9: So he had some really really cool stories about, you know,
Speaker 9: his time with Indiana, his one year with the Knicks.
Speaker 9: There's an epic story actually in there about his tryout
Speaker 9: with the Knicks and how he got that job. That's
Speaker 9: my favorite part of the story. There so really cool
Speaker 9: stuff to check out. And he was super gracious again
Speaker 9: to give me that time during December with two games,
Speaker 9: you know, to prepare for in the same week.
Speaker 2: I got to think, if he's in Columbia medical school,
Speaker 2: he didn't have a lot of time to enjoy living
Speaker 2: in the city. But you know, you just kind of
Speaker 2: soak it up, don't you.
Speaker 9: That's right? And yeah, he said at the top, it's
Speaker 9: the best place in the world, and then he stopped
Speaker 9: and five seconds later said, besides Lexington. So he was
Speaker 9: careful with his words. But he clearly has an affection
Speaker 9: for New York that is right right up there with Kentucky.
Speaker 9: And we all know how he feels about Kentucky. There's
Speaker 9: no question how much this place means to him. And
Speaker 9: I just can't get over the fact I was at
Speaker 9: the arena. Probably I left probably an hour forty five,
Speaker 9: two hours after the game on Saturday night, and this guy,
Speaker 9: Mark Pope is still out there signing autographs. It's just
Speaker 9: it's special. It's not saying obviously John cal Perry had
Speaker 9: great years here and he appreciated the fans it got.
Speaker 9: I mean, you know, it was not as maybe not
Speaker 9: as much as he should have at the end, but
Speaker 9: it is just a complete one to eighty from what
Speaker 9: the last couple of years have been. It's been refreshing.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and you've got that emotional bond to this
Speaker 2: place that, in all fairness, Calip Perry did not have,
Speaker 2: even though he you know, he took this program to
Speaker 2: the top backtime topic of college basketball. But yeah, you know, Mark,
Speaker 2: Mark's emotional bond is different. But you do wonder, like
Speaker 2: fifteen years from now is going to be the same way.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 9: I just think because because of the fact he played here,
Speaker 9: I think that's probably why he will be Now we'll
Speaker 9: still be reflecting on and we'll see where they are
Speaker 9: on the court. You know, we'll see where they're on
Speaker 9: the court next year. It's a year by year kideah, right,
Speaker 9: But I think his experience here, like you said, it's
Speaker 9: just different to Cal's. I mean, if Kal had played here,
Speaker 9: maybe he was an assistant coach here in the nineties,
Speaker 9: maybe it would be a little different. But you know,
Speaker 9: this guy gets and it's been it's been really cool
Speaker 9: to see him just embrace everything that comes with this
Speaker 9: job and you know, do it with a smile on
Speaker 9: his face almost the entire time.
Speaker 2: The way the Louisville game played out, how did that
Speaker 2: happen as opposed to the way you thought it would
Speaker 2: play out?
Speaker 9: Honestly, besides the fact Lamont Butler hit every single shot
Speaker 9: he took and that he even played, uh pretty pretty close.
Speaker 2: I didn't think I thought Louisville.
Speaker 9: I know they're shorthanded, but I didn't think they'd come
Speaker 9: in here and lay down. You know, I watched them
Speaker 9: really the only game I watched them in full this
Speaker 9: season was against Duke, and they led that game for
Speaker 9: almost the entire first staff took the lead into the
Speaker 9: half time, and then they kind of got gassed. But
Speaker 9: you know, they were very competitive. They fought hard in
Speaker 9: that game, and I expected them to come here here
Speaker 9: and fight. And I think Pat Kelsey's a really good coach.
Speaker 9: I think, uh it felt like, I think you might
Speaker 9: have mentioned it when we were sitting up there on
Speaker 9: press row that like every time and they came out
Speaker 9: of the time out, they came up and hit a three.
Speaker 9: So his play calls, his play calls were working, and
Speaker 9: you know, he was mixing things up and doing some
Speaker 9: good things on the offensive end. But Kentucky just felt
Speaker 9: like and it felt like Kentucky was on has been
Speaker 9: on the wrong side of the game like this so
Speaker 9: many times in recent years. And that's not a dig
Speaker 9: at anyone. It just felt like it was the case.
Speaker 9: But it was one of those games where, you know, Kentucky,
Speaker 9: I think they opened the game on a fifteen to
Speaker 9: four run and then it never got closer than three.
Speaker 9: But it was just one of those games where Louisville
Speaker 9: would make a run and then every time they'd make
Speaker 9: a run, Kentucky would hit a big shot and silence them,
Speaker 9: And that, I just feel like is the type of
Speaker 9: thing Kentucky's been on the wrong side of these last
Speaker 9: couple of years, and they've been frustrating losses if you're
Speaker 9: a Kentucky fan or a Kentucky player coach, and it
Speaker 9: just felt like they were on the right side of it.
Speaker 9: I mean, I think Louisville Kentucky got up by ten,
Speaker 9: and I think it went back to five, and then
Speaker 9: Lamont hits a three, and there were so many different
Speaker 9: runs like that where it was like a five to
Speaker 9: ozer run or seven oh run for Louisville. Then Kentucky
Speaker 9: would come down and hit a huge three or have
Speaker 9: a breakaway dunk and it would kind of just suck
Speaker 9: the life out of Louisville for a few minutes, and
Speaker 9: it was good to see Kentucky on the other side
Speaker 9: of it. But yeah, the result was about what I thought.
Speaker 8: I thought, eight to.
Speaker 9: Ten, give her point victory, and that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 9: And now you're ten and one toward the end of December.
Speaker 9: That's pretty impressive.
Speaker 2: I guess the thing that surprised me, Aaron, was when
Speaker 2: Kentucky went up by ten more than once, they didn't
Speaker 2: expand the lead. You got to give Louisville credit for
Speaker 2: coming back time after time.
Speaker 9: No question. I think Kentucky's largest leading the game is twelve,
Speaker 9: so you know, it felt like and some free throws
Speaker 9: kept the score a little close and then probably should
Speaker 9: have That's an issue we need to keep monitoring with
Speaker 9: this Kentucky team. They're not a very good free throw
Speaker 9: shooting team so far this season. But yeah, Louisville hung tough.
Speaker 9: I mean, Chucky Hemper and their point guard played terrific.
Speaker 9: Terrence Edwards, the forward also played terrific, and you know
Speaker 9: those two guys. I mean they had some other guys
Speaker 9: play okay, but those two guys really are the ones
Speaker 9: that kept Louisville in the game and gave Kentucky fits.
Speaker 9: And they never laid over. I mean they were fighting
Speaker 9: until literally the last minute. I think it's still they
Speaker 9: cut it to five or six within the last minute.
Speaker 9: So you definitely give a tip of the cat there,
Speaker 9: and that's what you want in these type of games. Look,
Speaker 9: you obviously want to keep winning against Louisville. They've won
Speaker 9: fourteen to seventeen, and that's what you want to keep doing.
Speaker 9: But it's just so much more fun when these games
Speaker 9: come to the wire. There's at least you know, those
Speaker 9: butterflies and the fans stomachs you don't want, like these
Speaker 9: blowouts occasionally are fun. But you know, Pat Kelsey said
Speaker 9: the best after the game, We got to win some
Speaker 9: of these. Yeah, if we want to keep it a rivalry,
Speaker 9: and you know, in this case it being the first
Speaker 9: year for both these coaches. I think it was a
Speaker 9: win in itself, that it was a close game, not
Speaker 9: not giving Louisville any moral victories, But I just think
Speaker 9: for the state, for the kind of the where this
Speaker 9: rivalry is at, we needed one of these where, you know,
Speaker 9: both teams really played at a high level and it
Speaker 9: was a fun cover, fun one to watch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And in fact, that was the question that was
Speaker 2: put to Kelsey. You know, how important was it to
Speaker 2: come in and compete, you know, and then put up
Speaker 2: a good fight. You know, nobody will like some moral victory,
Speaker 2: But that was his answer. You're right. You mentioned a
Speaker 2: three point shooting by Louisville, and a caller questioned Pope
Speaker 2: about that tonight, and he also questioned him about in
Speaker 2: the same question about body language of Amari Williams, which
Speaker 2: I thought was a really good question. But Pope talked
Speaker 2: about the fact that Louisville had insane numbers from two
Speaker 2: point range and was not a good three point shooting
Speaker 2: team coming into this game, and yeah, what they had
Speaker 2: fourteen you know, of all games to come alive. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but you got to pick your poison, and that's what
Speaker 2: Kentucky did. But he got to give Louisville credit, no question.
Speaker 9: Yeah, Louisville's top three point shooter coming into the game
Speaker 9: was Ryan Smith, number six, and I think he was
Speaker 9: at thirty seven percent on the year, which is yeah, good,
Speaker 9: but that's not what you want your best three point
Speaker 9: shooter to be. So yeah, I mean, I think when
Speaker 9: they go sixteen for thirty nine, so they took a
Speaker 9: lot of threes, which means Kentucky, like you said, pick
Speaker 9: your poison. They knew that that Louisville was a high,
Speaker 9: highly efficient two point scoring team, and they made himself
Speaker 9: for threes. They took thirty nine and they have him
Speaker 9: to hit sixteen, so you tip your cap a little bit.
Speaker 9: But you know, at the same time, Colgate hit a
Speaker 9: bunch of threes on them too, and they weren't a
Speaker 9: good three point shooting team either. So I think it's
Speaker 9: a case of Okay, those were the scouting reports, but
Speaker 9: you're also going to make adjustments to get that cleaned
Speaker 9: up because the SEC teams, if anyone hit sixteen threes
Speaker 9: against you in the SEC, you're going to lose that game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, yeah, And it's a great equalizer if you're
Speaker 2: a Cold Gate or a Louisville with all due respect
Speaker 2: going into this game. It's a great equalizer if you're
Speaker 2: Kentucky and you're playing Duke or at Gonzaga. So everybody
Speaker 2: knows that about the threes, but you got to stop
Speaker 2: the other guys from making threes as well, other than Butler.
Speaker 2: And there's there's in terms of you know, impressive games,
Speaker 2: there's statistically a big drop off because Butler was just
Speaker 2: insane unbelievable. But who else impressed you?
Speaker 9: Yeah? Uh oh take away it would be the first. Yeah,
Speaker 9: I mean not just because he was the second landing scorer,
Speaker 9: but he closed them out right. It felt like kind
Speaker 9: of all game he was just playing his role, nothing crazy,
Speaker 9: did a nice job. And then you know, last couple
Speaker 9: of minutes they really put They pushed a lot of
Speaker 9: their eggs into the stop Lamont. Butler asked, basket did
Speaker 9: Louisville as they should have?
Speaker 2: In oh way?
Speaker 9: You know, had the steal on the Waterman pass breakaway donk.
Speaker 9: He had a tough finish at the rim for a
Speaker 9: three point play, about the gutsiest shot of them all.
Speaker 9: And I did hear Pope. I didn't listen to all Pope,
Speaker 9: but I heard him talk about this at the end
Speaker 9: where you know it's a three. I forget what the
Speaker 9: score was, but one minute left and there's still like
Speaker 9: sixteen or twenty seconds on the shot clock, and Oa
Speaker 9: pulls up a corner three and you're like, oh what, Oh,
Speaker 9: it's good, okay, good shot, all right? So I thought
Speaker 9: he was fantastic in the final minutes. You know, you
Speaker 9: mentioned to Marion Williams, I do. I don't know if
Speaker 9: it was brought up why he only played sixteen minutes,
Speaker 9: but I actually thought he played really well when he
Speaker 9: was in there. I know there's still some things he's
Speaker 9: got to clean up, finishing at the rim, but sixteen minutes,
Speaker 9: he gave you eight rebounds and four assis at the
Speaker 9: center position in only sixteen minutes, did a nice job,
Speaker 9: and no turnovers. So that's exactly right. So thought he
Speaker 9: played well. And then another guy I think he's got
Speaker 9: to give some love to and not didn't fill up
Speaker 9: the stat sheet at all. But Travis Perry came in
Speaker 9: and they didn't. They he was a plus ten in
Speaker 9: those seven minutes he played, So that means Lamont, who
Speaker 9: was by far the best player on the court Saturday,
Speaker 9: came off, but he was never in the game with Travis. Right,
Speaker 9: So those seven minutes that Travis played, Kentucky still outscored
Speaker 9: Louisville by ten, which ends up being the difference in
Speaker 9: the game. And that's because Perry did a really good
Speaker 9: job defending Ryan Smith. He only turned it over once
Speaker 9: he got the ball where it needed to be. He
Speaker 9: didn't go hunting a shot. He just kind of took
Speaker 9: what was there passing wise and kept the offensive float.
Speaker 9: So those are the other guys I think deserve some
Speaker 9: credit for us for that one on Saturday.
Speaker 2: I can be a little skeptical about plus minus because
Speaker 2: I've seen instances where kids who have a great game
Speaker 2: but they're on the losing teams that are plus minus
Speaker 2: is poor, But that just means the guys around him
Speaker 2: didn't play well. But I think you are right about
Speaker 2: Travis Perry. They were kind of stealing minutes with him.
Speaker 8: Yeah, that's exactly right.
Speaker 9: And there were a couple of cases, and you probably
Speaker 9: heard me saying it upstairs, where it's like, oh, I
Speaker 9: don't know if that's the spot. Yeah, pick your spot.
Speaker 9: You did Kentucky just went.
Speaker 7: On a run.
Speaker 9: I don't know if you want to give him amnumo.
Speaker 9: Kentucky just gave.
Speaker 2: Up a run.
Speaker 9: I don't know if this is the spot. And in
Speaker 9: every single spot he seems to be just fine. So
Speaker 9: I think that that's a credit to Travis on the
Speaker 9: defensive end more than anything. And yeah, plus minus definitely
Speaker 9: could be misleading. I think it's more of a nice
Speaker 9: stat when you win to kind of see how it impacted,
Speaker 9: or it's a close or in a close loss like
Speaker 9: the Clemson game. Lamont was a plus seventeen and Kirk
Speaker 9: cries it was a negative twenty one, So that to
Speaker 9: me is very telling. But you're right, it can definitely
Speaker 9: be a misleading stat. But I think in this instance
Speaker 9: where you know, those mints were when Lebron Butler, who
Speaker 9: was the best player be flore was out of the game,
Speaker 9: and you're still able to outscore your opponent by ten,
Speaker 9: I mean, Travis Perry did something right before we.
Speaker 2: Got the break. Let me ask you about the upcoming
Speaker 2: game in Madison Square Garden, Ohio State, which just got torched,
Speaker 2: I mean boat raced by Auburn. I don't know how
Speaker 2: much of that game you got to see by the
Speaker 2: time I got there. It was always a joke. But
Speaker 2: first of all, I've been to the Garden several times
Speaker 2: for pro games in college games. Love it. I covered
Speaker 2: the NIT in nineteen seventy six start to finish four
Speaker 2: games Kentucky one. Not exactly the same building, I know,
Speaker 2: but still it was a great experience. But did have
Speaker 2: you spent a lot of time there growing up in
Speaker 2: that part of the world.
Speaker 9: Yeah, yep, yep, I've I went to several Knicks games
Speaker 9: growing up, and this will be my third or fourth
Speaker 9: college basketball game there. This will be my second Kentucky
Speaker 9: game covering. I was at the CBS Classic two years
Speaker 9: ago in Kentucky Loft to UCLA. I was there as
Speaker 9: a fan for the Jimmy V Classic last year for
Speaker 9: it was Yukon, North Carolina and sau and Illinois. So yeah,
Speaker 9: watched a lot of basketball in this building. Been a
Speaker 9: couple of concerts in this building. So always super fun
Speaker 9: for me to be in there, and especially when Kentucky's
Speaker 9: there and getting to cover that. So definitely can't wait.
Speaker 9: And it's a game that you just mentioned how they
Speaker 9: got blitzed by Auburn, though Ohio State did beat a
Speaker 9: Rutgers team that has two, you know, lottery picks in
Speaker 9: Harper and Bailey, So it's kind of like they're a
Speaker 9: hot and cold team. But it's team Kentucky should have
Speaker 9: their way with in my opinion.
Speaker 2: Talking to Aaron Gershean and the Cats balls, we'll come
Speaker 2: back and shift to football. We'll talk some portal traffic
Speaker 2: in just a minute here in the state Wide BBI.
Speaker 2: Aaron Gershan is with us here on the state wide
Speaker 2: edition of the Big Women Sider Border to Border pike
Speaker 2: Ville two. Paducca and Aaron and you have been tweeting
Speaker 2: and writing about the portal, of course, keeping an eye
Speaker 2: on things, and it's like every hour there's something new.
Speaker 2: But you've tweeted a little bit about quarterbacks and old lineman.
Speaker 2: What can you tell Kentucky fans at this hour? We
Speaker 2: lost Aaron, So we'll come back and we'll re establish
Speaker 2: with Aaron. What I was asking him about was the
Speaker 2: fact that he tweeted about more than one quarterback who's
Speaker 2: in the portal. And of course Mark Stoops mentioned that
Speaker 2: he is looking for a QB. And it might sound
Speaker 2: odd because Cutter Bowley, you would think is going to
Speaker 2: be the starter this coming season. But ay, you need
Speaker 2: depth and it's got to be I don't know they
Speaker 2: brought Vander Griff will be here, or that Gavin Wimson
Speaker 2: will be here. Other than that, the rest of your
Speaker 2: depth is too true freshmen. So as we've learned the
Speaker 2: hard way in the past, it's because Kentucky's run out
Speaker 2: of quarterbacks. Lynn Bowden played quarterback as the Cats ran out.
Speaker 2: Rourke upset Tennessee as the starting Q be because Kentucky
Speaker 2: had run out of quarterbacks. It can happen thanks to injuries.
Speaker 2: So Stoops talked about the fact that they're going to
Speaker 2: need depth and they're gonna need somebody to provide at
Speaker 2: least some competition for Cutter Bowlie. So well, we'll see
Speaker 2: how that plays out. But you got to wonder will
Speaker 2: they get a quote unquote name quarterback out of the portal,
Speaker 2: someone with the kind of experience that it takes and
Speaker 2: skill set to win an the SEC Because if he
Speaker 2: were that good, then why would he be in the portal?
Speaker 2: All right, we got Aaron back, we got your bud,
Speaker 2: I got you, all right, tell us about QB's in
Speaker 2: the portal?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think the two names right now to watch
Speaker 9: are gonna be Malik Murphy of Duke, and then Zach
Speaker 9: calls out of I believe it's incarnate word, but he
Speaker 9: has prior sec experience. I'll get into a second, but
Speaker 9: Malik Murphy's definitely the one that's gonna catch fans. Eyes
Speaker 9: started his career at Texas. He started two games down
Speaker 9: there in twenty twenty three when twin Ewers was injured,
Speaker 9: led Texas to two wins. A guy was kind of
Speaker 9: waiting in the wings, and then between yours coming back
Speaker 9: and arch Manning being brought in, kind of just ran
Speaker 9: out of room there. And he goes to Duke this
Speaker 9: past year and he starts and Duco's nine and three
Speaker 9: in the first year under Manny Diaz. So really really
Speaker 9: impressive stuff. Gunslinger. Not a guy who's two two mobile,
Speaker 9: but through for almost three thousand yards twenty six suction
Speaker 9: downs did throw twelve interceptions, so that would be a
Speaker 9: number you want to see taken down. But six ' five,
Speaker 9: two thirty eight, you know, guy with a lot of size.
Speaker 9: So I think that's the one that for a fan
Speaker 9: base that has been very negative and understandably so I
Speaker 9: saw a lot of people on Twitter be like, get
Speaker 9: that guy and I'll be back in So that's the
Speaker 9: one I think the fans are circling right now. And
Speaker 9: then Calzada is a guy that talk about this era
Speaker 9: of college football. He's twenty five years old. He started
Speaker 9: his college surer in twenty nineteen at A and M
Speaker 9: made a couple of starts that year, starter for most
Speaker 9: of the year in twenty one. I believe he didn't
Speaker 9: play in twenty twenty. And you know, this guy with
Speaker 9: a pretty good year goes to Auburn head of twenty
Speaker 9: twenty two and gets hurt and doesn't play at all.
Speaker 9: Ends up at the FCS level. In this past year,
Speaker 9: he was his confiden since Player of the Year, through
Speaker 9: for thirty five touchdowns, had his best year on the ground,
Speaker 9: ran for over three indred yards. They took his team
Speaker 9: the FCS playoffs. They just got eliminated. So that's a
Speaker 9: one and done guy. Murphy's got two years left. So
Speaker 9: you know, interesting names. I think Murphy would definitely be
Speaker 9: the one again that would bring more excitement, just because
Speaker 9: he has recent success here you know, in the FBS,
Speaker 9: in the power for But I think they're both intriguing options.
Speaker 9: I think, you know, if you're Cutter Buwllie, you're probably
Speaker 9: if they're gonna bring anyone in and they're going to
Speaker 9: you're rooting for Calzada because that's a guy who only
Speaker 9: has one year left. If you're ringing Murphy, it's gonna
Speaker 9: be really interesting for Cutter Bullye. He's gonna have a
Speaker 9: lot to think about because that's a guy who's got
Speaker 9: two years left of eligibility and he's probably not unless
Speaker 9: he has a monster year, going to be a guy
Speaker 9: who's ready for the NFL unless he drastically reduces his
Speaker 9: turnovers and chow some more on the ground. So it's
Speaker 9: that's the interesting part of it with Murphy. But you know,
Speaker 9: Murphy is the guy who believes is the number three
Speaker 9: or four quarterback in the portal right now, Auburn took
Speaker 9: a visit to Auburn. But Auburn, you know, they picked
Speaker 9: up Jackson Arnold from Oklahoma. They're good at quarterback. He's
Speaker 9: got I forgot there was a there's another big school
Speaker 9: he had of Miami. He's supposed to visit Miami, who's
Speaker 9: losing cam Ward. So obviously that's something to watch. So
Speaker 9: we'll see. But it does seem like Kentucky's getting the
Speaker 9: ball rolling at the quarterback position.
Speaker 2: I got to think that Murphy with a success. He
Speaker 2: had a duke, and I don't understand why is he
Speaker 2: leaving duke. Maybe he's just looking at a step up.
Speaker 9: To it's a weird thing. I think. I think it's
Speaker 9: a I think it's a good old money situation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, probably, yes, yeah, but he may want to go
Speaker 2: to the SEC or you know, the Big twelve or whatever.
Speaker 2: But I got to think a guy like that, it's
Speaker 2: gonna look for a situation where he's all but guaranteed.
Speaker 2: You know, if he's studying Kentucky, he's looking at this
Speaker 2: kid who ended up the starter at the end of
Speaker 2: the year. He's a low et cetera, et cetera. But
Speaker 2: what do I know? I mean, but I do know this, Aaron. Uh,
Speaker 2: They've got to get to a situation where the quarterback
Speaker 2: position is no longer a revolving door unless they can
Speaker 2: start pulling in the likes of Dylan Gabriel or Bo
Speaker 2: Nicks or somebody like that. But those kinds of kids, well,
Speaker 2: those two kids both went obviously to Oregon, but a
Speaker 2: lot of these guys, I guess. I guess it all
Speaker 2: depend on nil money, won't it.
Speaker 9: It will, It really will. And I think you know,
Speaker 9: Murphy's definitely Gouy who's giving him a hard luck because
Speaker 9: he's gonna be got to campus tonight. He's gonna be
Speaker 9: there all day tomorrow. There's actually a picture of him
Speaker 9: walking into the Marriotte right where you are downtown, So
Speaker 9: see if you see if you can see him on.
Speaker 2: The way out. Aaron says, hi.
Speaker 9: Yeah, exactly to ask him where he's going to school
Speaker 9: next year. Yeah, yeah, So it's a it's just look
Speaker 9: they I do think it's the right move to get
Speaker 9: a guy who go to part with more experience next year.
Speaker 9: If you're going to be in a when if you're
Speaker 9: going all in what you have to because you have
Speaker 9: a thirteenth year head coach and they've already made some
Speaker 9: portal moves that I think are really good. Honestly, you
Speaker 9: kind of have to go with that experienced starter. It's
Speaker 9: just that's the thing with college football. He got away,
Speaker 9: you got away now versus the future, and that's cutter
Speaker 9: bully going to think of it. It's going to be
Speaker 9: very interesting.
Speaker 2: Aaron Gershan of the cast paus A Gershan ninety nine
Speaker 2: on Twitter. Aaron will be up there this weekend. I
Speaker 2: know we'll see you at the garden. Stay safe and
Speaker 2: have a good time. Is the dog with you?
Speaker 8: He is not.
Speaker 9: He's with Mattie back home, but he's about fully recovering.
Speaker 2: Okay, good to hear about Barkley. All right, man, all right,
Speaker 2: well we'll see in a few days. Have a good one. Thanks,
Speaker 2: all right, see you up here, all right. Coming up next,
Speaker 2: mister Jeffiicoro, the UK Sports Network. We'll talk football and
Speaker 2: a little basketball on the back end. You're listening to
Speaker 2: the state wide edition of the Big Blue Insider. Welcome
Speaker 2: back to the state wide edition of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 2: Dick Gabriel with you on a Monday evening and joining
Speaker 2: us now on our celebrity headline from the UK Sports Network,
Speaker 2: former UK Wide receiver, mister Jeff Picoro, Champion. We're going
Speaker 2: to talk a little basketball because in your other life
Speaker 2: as a sports director of WTVQ, you must be an
Speaker 2: expert on all sports. Again, but let me ask you
Speaker 2: about the swinging door that is the portal. And already
Speaker 2: Barrion Brown and Dante Key are gone. The best bookend
Speaker 2: receivers Kentucky's had probably since the Rich Brooks era. Of course,
Speaker 2: the team didn't have the year it was looking for,
Speaker 2: so neither did they. But how big of a step
Speaker 2: back is this in your opinion?
Speaker 8: Well, I think it's only a step back if they
Speaker 8: can't fill that hole with some of these guys that
Speaker 8: they're trying to bring in here. Look for all, Barry
Speaker 8: Undid he is a great return guy, and I think
Speaker 8: they're really gonna miss his speed there at receiver. I
Speaker 8: think that there are guys out there that and guys
Speaker 8: on this team that were simply better than him at
Speaker 8: the receiver role. They're gonna they're gonna miss his speed.
Speaker 8: They're gonna leaves his quickness. You know, you just can't
Speaker 8: replace that. But other than that, I really don't think
Speaker 8: that he hurts them that much. Leaving again the returns
Speaker 8: that hurts now dank Key is a different story. Dank
Speaker 8: He's got great size. He's an NFL wide receiver. You know,
Speaker 8: he's got the size to play at the next level.
Speaker 8: He's got the toughness to play at the next level.
Speaker 8: Hill he doesn't mind going over the middle, he doesn't
Speaker 8: mind taking hits he's he's you know, reprepa, you know,
Speaker 8: changed to his body. He's matured a lot, he hit
Speaker 8: a lot of weights, so uh that that one's gonna
Speaker 8: be a tough one to see. But look, I like,
Speaker 8: you know the first four that they got, the first
Speaker 8: four a if you will into the transfer portal. You know,
Speaker 8: they mined four gems. I like all four of the
Speaker 8: guys they got so far.
Speaker 2: What do you like about them?
Speaker 8: Well, you're especially your two offensive linemen. They're not projects
Speaker 8: coming in. Yeah, these are two guys that were All
Speaker 8: conference at their conference and one of them obviously an
Speaker 8: SEC player at guard who gives you some some just
Speaker 8: huge hugeness there three hundred and three hundred and thirty
Speaker 8: nine pounds. You know, it's like a Stallings, you know,
Speaker 8: getting somebody like Bunchie or somebody like that. This is
Speaker 8: a guy who's been there, done that, final year player,
Speaker 8: fifth year guy, All SEC team, it all, did a
Speaker 8: great job at Arkansas. I think he's gonna be a
Speaker 8: nice player. Then you bringing in a mac kid, another
Speaker 8: guy that's got great size but great lengths, and that's
Speaker 8: what you're looking for. The reason that NFL teams really
Speaker 8: like Malachi Wood is because of the length that the arm.
Speaker 8: You but you know, I've got what thirty four inch arms?
Speaker 8: His are probably forty two. I mean, he just they're huge.
Speaker 8: And same with this kid who I can't say his
Speaker 8: last name, and Tom'm gonna make Tom say it every
Speaker 8: time next year. But again, you've got a couple of
Speaker 8: guys that have played and on the offensive line, have
Speaker 8: been there, done that started. We saw what happened with
Speaker 8: Marcus Cox a nice pickup, and I think it happens
Speaker 8: with these two guys as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm with you because it's different, obviously, when
Speaker 2: you've got a guy who has played and had some
Speaker 2: success as opposed to a guy who has been with
Speaker 2: an SEC team but couldn't crack their rotation, so I'm
Speaker 2: gonna go look for another place to play. Well that's
Speaker 2: all well and good, but unless this kid is a
Speaker 2: diamond in the rough, how are you going to beat
Speaker 2: that same team with a guy who couldn't start for them? Right?
Speaker 8: Right? Well? Yeah, And the other thing is, you know
Speaker 8: what a four star coming out of high school? What
Speaker 8: do they have? They have what's called potential? A five
Speaker 8: star player, they have potential? Right? Well, I would rather
Speaker 8: have a kid like Josh Allen, who who you know
Speaker 8: was a lower star rating but had the motor too.
Speaker 8: You know that I'd rather have that. I'd rather have
Speaker 8: some guy that skated, you know, through his high school
Speaker 8: because he's bigger, stronger, faster than everybody. I'd rather have
Speaker 8: a guy that had to work his butt off in
Speaker 8: high school improve himself at every point and than that.
Speaker 8: And so that's that's why I like these guys that
Speaker 8: Kentucky gets, and Mark's been able to develop so well,
Speaker 8: the Benny Snells of the world. You know, Benny was
Speaker 8: a guy that was only a two or three star
Speaker 8: coming out of Columbus Ohio Westernville there, and you know,
Speaker 8: Ohio State didn't recruiting, so he came to Kentucky and
Speaker 8: look what he ended up. That Ohio State would have
Speaker 8: loved to have him though.
Speaker 2: Well, and you know you bring up two great names.
Speaker 2: These are two of and this is noble as you know,
Speaker 2: two of the greatest players in the history of UK football.
Speaker 2: Benisel broke records. Josh Allen won basically every award a
Speaker 2: defensive player could win. And as you said, both of
Speaker 2: these guys, for whatever reason, relatively unheralded. There were so
Speaker 2: many other great players in the same area. Oh we
Speaker 2: got the TV on its Jef piicorro on a promo,
Speaker 2: so many other great players in the Columbus area. And
Speaker 2: with Josh Allen, he moved from Alabama to New Jersey,
Speaker 2: did not play in summer camps, slipped through the cracks.
Speaker 2: UK got tipped off on him and was able to
Speaker 2: bring him in, beat out Montclair State for his services,
Speaker 2: and then developed both of those guys. They both were patient.
Speaker 2: They both played a little bit as freshmen, little more sophomores.
Speaker 2: There was no portal beckoning and those were the classic
Speaker 2: Mark Stoops program with the Capitol p players. I think
Speaker 2: jeff in that they evalue, waited, recruited, sign and developed
Speaker 2: them and they both make the NFL. How often does
Speaker 2: that happen now with a portal sitting there saying hey,
Speaker 2: come on in crazy.
Speaker 8: I know, yeah, you know the other thing that the
Speaker 8: portal has done. I think it's great for for you know,
Speaker 8: to for guys to be able to move. I think
Speaker 8: there has to be a limit on it. I think
Speaker 8: you should say, okay, you get one transfer free, and
Speaker 8: then you get another one if you're coaching, and then
Speaker 8: if your coach leaves, you get another one. Anything after
Speaker 8: that to the old way you get. I mean, you've
Speaker 8: got guys now that play for four different teams in
Speaker 8: four years because you know what, Well, I didn't make
Speaker 8: it at Alabama, so I'm gonna transfer to Kentucky. Well
Speaker 8: i didn't make it a Kentucky, so now I'm gonna
Speaker 8: transfer to you know, Tulane. You know what you're creating
Speaker 8: is a bunch of quitters, guys who you know what.
Speaker 8: I didn't get my way here. I didn't make it,
Speaker 8: so I'll just move on. No, you you get, you
Speaker 8: hit the weight room, you try to run faster, you bigger,
Speaker 8: You know there's things you can do, not just quit
Speaker 8: and go to another school. That's the thing that just
Speaker 8: drives me crazy about some of these kids.
Speaker 2: You mentioned, Coach.
Speaker 8: Now, I will tell you, I will say this for
Speaker 8: both for Berryan and Dane. I think that and I
Speaker 8: understand I've heard a lot of reasons, you know, people
Speaker 8: say this. In my opinion, in talking to Dane and
Speaker 8: stuff like that, I think he wanted to play in
Speaker 8: a pro style offense where he was going to get
Speaker 8: the chance to catch forty to fifty passes like sure
Speaker 8: like Tennessee, and I blame him one bit. Look, here's
Speaker 8: the thing, Mark Soops has an offense in a defense
Speaker 8: that is built to win at UK, right, and that's
Speaker 8: just the way it is. So I don't blame him
Speaker 8: wanting to go somewhere like that.
Speaker 2: No, No, I couldn't agree more. And you and I
Speaker 2: talked about that towards the latter stages of the season.
Speaker 2: I couldn't agree more with that. If you're a guy
Speaker 2: like either one of those kids, essentially in your last
Speaker 2: year of college, you don't even know who's going to
Speaker 2: be throwing you football, you know, until until August. You
Speaker 2: really don't, So you know, how do you take that
Speaker 2: step forward? We're talking to Jef Pecorro the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 2: We talked about you mentioned coaches leaving. I saw where
Speaker 2: the Wake Force job is going to open up. Yes,
Speaker 2: and that's uh. That was that was that was home
Speaker 2: for Brad White, and you could you could see a
Speaker 2: school like Wake saying, well, those guy's never been a
Speaker 2: head coach, but he's done a hell of a job
Speaker 2: you know at Kentucky.
Speaker 8: Well wait, yeah, you know, I just I don't mean
Speaker 8: a step on your toe, no, no, but what wait, what
Speaker 8: wake did twenty years twenty twenty five years ago? I
Speaker 8: guess it was they took a flyer on a guy
Speaker 8: that was the head coach at Ohio University. Uh and
Speaker 8: they got named Jim.
Speaker 2: Grow Jim Grove. Yeah, yeah, Grobe.
Speaker 8: Left Ohio, went to Wake Force and started that kind
Speaker 8: of that optioning style offense that air Force runs and
Speaker 8: you know, a lot of you know a lot of
Speaker 8: beer and stuff like that. And look what he did.
Speaker 8: He Wake Forest all of a sudden became instead of
Speaker 8: a four wins school, they were like Kentucky. They won
Speaker 8: sixth and they won seven, and they won eighth, and
Speaker 8: they won seven and they won eighth and they won six.
Speaker 2: They went to the Orange Ball.
Speaker 8: Yes, and then every once in a while you get
Speaker 8: a ten win season. Wake Forest was able to do it.
Speaker 8: So you know, Brad White, hey, he's a great defensive coordinator. Man,
Speaker 8: he's you know, he's getting paid a lot here. But
Speaker 8: you know, if he wants to be a head coach
Speaker 8: that I think that would be a great step for him.
Speaker 8: I hope he doesn't take it. He's one of my
Speaker 8: favorite coaches here.
Speaker 2: Yes, sure, I agree. And by the way, that Orange
Speaker 2: Bowl team Wake Forest had a defensive coordinator coordinator named
Speaker 2: Dean Hood. So yeah, you know, things like that can't happen.
Speaker 2: You know, the decision people need to understand because everybody
Speaker 2: wants to promote coordinator. Not that Brad doesn't deserve a
Speaker 2: shot if he wants it. But as you well know, Jeff,
Speaker 2: coordinators get to coach football. Head coaches get to coach
Speaker 2: some football and then do what go to meetings fundraise
Speaker 2: now you know do the media is stuff? I mean,
Speaker 2: you know that everybody recruits, but the people think that
Speaker 2: the recruiting coordinator is responsible for all the recruits overall,
Speaker 2: and they're not. You know, the head coach is the
Speaker 2: recruiting coordinator. Recruiting coordinator is a title and it's got
Speaker 2: important duties. But the head coach signs off on everybody,
Speaker 2: at least with successful programs, so that takes even more
Speaker 2: of your time. That's a hell of a decision. And
Speaker 2: in this day and age, yeah, a head coach is
Speaker 2: going to make a bunch of money, but right now,
Speaker 2: so are coordinators, you know what I mean. So he
Speaker 2: can afford to be picky and be choosy about the
Speaker 2: next job.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you know, you have to look at it this way.
Speaker 8: A head coach now in college football is a CEO.
Speaker 8: That's right, right, I mean, I mean the best example
Speaker 8: I give, and I don't know if a lot of
Speaker 8: people in lexing understand, is Jeff Brahm is the CEO
Speaker 8: of Louisville Football. Right, He's the head coach for say,
Speaker 8: but his brother Brian runs the offense, runs all the practices,
Speaker 8: calls all the plays. Jeff is on the headset with him,
Speaker 8: and you know they're kind of very similar, but he's
Speaker 8: really the guy that's making the calls. Jeff is a
Speaker 8: great recruiter. Jeff is a great CEO. The best coaches
Speaker 8: and again, you could take this to business. I mean,
Speaker 8: if you read, I know you're not a huge fan
Speaker 8: of this guy, but Urban Meyer has a book and
Speaker 8: the best coaches are really just like businessman. They're the
Speaker 8: best businessman. They're c You have a CEO ce oh yeah,
Speaker 8: and that's the best coaches now there.
Speaker 2: You know who was a CEO toward the end of
Speaker 2: his career was Bear Bryant. You know Bear Brian would
Speaker 2: stand up in the tower and oversee yeah.
Speaker 8: Ye.
Speaker 2: Now, on the other hand, you had a Rich Brooks
Speaker 2: who would oversee stuff, but he could drop and he
Speaker 2: often did because John Cropp would tell us this. He
Speaker 2: would drop into a position area and teach the finer
Speaker 2: points of you name it, D line, running back, d back.
Speaker 2: He could. John Cropp told me, well, he probably told
Speaker 2: you the same thing. Rich Brooks had an uncanny ability
Speaker 2: to coach any and every position on the football field. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he said, I've never seen anything like it. But that's rare,
Speaker 2: isn't it.
Speaker 8: Yes, it is. I mean you look at Mark Stoops
Speaker 8: for instance. Mark I think could coach any position on
Speaker 8: the defensive.
Speaker 2: Side of the ball.
Speaker 8: Yes, but he lets he It's very rare. You see him,
Speaker 8: Like even when they're when they're practicing, and when they're
Speaker 8: running past Kelton drills and when they're running one versus one,
Speaker 8: he always stands behind the defense. Now he's getting an
Speaker 8: overview of everything. Sure, but he's not an offensive guy.
Speaker 8: He's a defensive coach, and he lets those guys do
Speaker 8: their job, you know, on the offensive side.
Speaker 2: Well, And I don't believe in and uh Billy Religion
Speaker 2: and I I have had discussions on this. I do
Speaker 2: not believe that he steps in to the to the
Speaker 2: offensive channel and and calls out of play. I don't
Speaker 2: believe that. I do believe because I've heard him yelling
Speaker 2: it on the sidelines at times, like run the ball
Speaker 2: or keep running it or something like that.
Speaker 1: That of course is blowing down.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know. And of course when you got
Speaker 2: a guy like Benny Snell, you're gonna yell run the ball.
Speaker 2: But but no, you're right about that, and and you know,
Speaker 2: you just got to be you know. I said the
Speaker 2: same thing Jeff about Bill Curry, and I think that's
Speaker 2: what got him here is he did not hire well
Speaker 2: at first. By the time he left here, he had
Speaker 2: put a really good staff together. But guess what, it
Speaker 2: was too late. He made too many mistakes. As the CEO.
Speaker 2: He had a great staff at Alabama and it paid off.
Speaker 2: And as we learned, it's not automatic at Alabama. It's
Speaker 2: not automatic. If you're the Kentucky basketball coach, you know,
Speaker 2: you got to make the right views, you know. So
Speaker 2: all right, when we come back, we're gonna pick Jeff's
Speaker 2: brain a little bit about basketball because he's now covering basketball.
Speaker 2: Welcome back. It is the state wide BBI. Jeff Pecoro's
Speaker 2: on the line with us. Jeff, you have been around
Speaker 2: for a long time. We always talked about this. With football,
Speaker 2: you didn't play against Louisville, but when the series finally
Speaker 2: did good, basketball series came around before the football series.
Speaker 2: But growing up, when you move, people don't understand this. Cier.
Speaker 2: You spent a lot of time of your childhood in Lexington,
Speaker 2: but you've spent time also in Seattle and New Orleans.
Speaker 2: But as you grew up here in Lexingon, tell me
Speaker 2: about the UKUL basketball rivalry as you saw it.
Speaker 8: Well, you know, the coolest thing for me is, I
Speaker 8: don't know. We're probably eleven, twelve years thirteen, fourteen years
Speaker 8: old through there. And remember we used to come down
Speaker 8: and play a game at Memorial Coliseum. Do you remember
Speaker 8: that ever? Don't they They came down and they would
Speaker 8: play like a preseason game. And I'll never forget this year.
Speaker 8: I think I was in high school when they came
Speaker 8: out and they were that was Griffith's team, So it
Speaker 8: was right before you know, I got to college. I
Speaker 8: was in high school and they were they were. They
Speaker 8: wore these elaborate warm ups that were like capes, and
Speaker 8: they said the doctors have dunk and each of them
Speaker 8: had you know the names that Jeryl Griffiths was doctor
Speaker 8: Duncan stuff. It was the coolest thing, and everybody was
Speaker 8: like because and again love Joe Hall. He was just
Speaker 8: one of my favorite people, really him and him and
Speaker 8: him and mister Wildcat Bill Kylee were just two of
Speaker 8: the greatest people in the world. Right And but you know,
Speaker 8: Joe Hall was this you know, uh old or suit
Speaker 8: and tie old school guy, and Denny was just the
Speaker 8: three hundred and sixty degrees right. I mean, he was
Speaker 8: total opposite. That's why the Denny and And and Joe
Speaker 8: By show worked because they were so opposite, but they loved,
Speaker 8: you know, basketball.
Speaker 7: Guys.
Speaker 2: Denny was one of the few guys you could pull
Speaker 2: off the leisure suit.
Speaker 8: Yes, yes, yes, yeah, it was you know, it was
Speaker 8: such an antithesis because Kentucky was you know, Kentucky was
Speaker 8: the state school and Louisville was kind of these guys
Speaker 8: play a cool brand at Douglas Park basketball man, you know,
Speaker 8: and it was it was pretty neat. That was my
Speaker 8: first voy. And then I grew up with Matt Grant,
Speaker 8: whose dad was Judge LT. Grant, So I used to
Speaker 8: go to games at Memorial Coliseum with him, and we
Speaker 8: got to sit on the actually sit on the floors
Speaker 8: right next to the uh, the cheerleaders. We'd sit in
Speaker 8: the end zone on the they'd pull out the bleachers
Speaker 8: for all the judges and and uh and people that
Speaker 8: were in the politics, you know, on top of it.
Speaker 8: So that was my Yeah, that was my first foray
Speaker 8: into it. And then of course I remember because I
Speaker 8: went to school with Kenny and and Sam and Melvin
Speaker 8: and those guys. That was my years and and and
Speaker 8: uh and of course jimmy master. And then Jim hit
Speaker 8: the great shot to send it to overtime in the game.
Speaker 8: But yeah, but we never played him in football, but
Speaker 8: basketball it was. It was cool, But I don't even
Speaker 8: think it was his intense until John Why really, you
Speaker 8: know what he wore the half glue, half red.
Speaker 2: I thought that was the dream game. Yeah, yeah, that
Speaker 2: was pretty odd. If Kentucky had won that game, when
Speaker 2: would they have eventually agreed to play? Because I firmly
Speaker 2: believe it's because Kentucky lost that there were enough board
Speaker 2: members who were ticked off, and I was at the
Speaker 2: athletic board meeting when they moved let's let let's get
Speaker 2: this done. Let's let's play a regular game. Because you
Speaker 2: know what, Kentucky lost, and the sun came up the
Speaker 2: next day, and joe Be made an impassionate plea to
Speaker 2: keep things the way they are, the way coach Rupp
Speaker 2: wanted him. And of course, as you said on the
Speaker 2: Joe Be and Any Show, he later admitted he was
Speaker 2: wrong about this. And then it's been a great thing
Speaker 2: for the state.
Speaker 8: Right, Yeah, no, it has. I'll tell you the other
Speaker 8: thing too. I never liked the football game being the
Speaker 8: first game of the last game. I liked it, yeah,
Speaker 8: but my problem is rivalry week in football High State, Michigan, USC, UCLA, Auburn, Alabama, Oh,
Speaker 8: Miss Missippi State, it was always a last game. Yes,
Speaker 8: you know at Florida Florida State. Uh, you know, South
Speaker 8: Carolina claims it. It was always that last game. To me,
Speaker 8: if you lost that game, it was almost as if well,
Speaker 8: season's over.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but not the players, because I did the research
Speaker 2: on that. It only I think only once each time
Speaker 2: did a team go spiraling in the wrong direction if
Speaker 2: they lost the first one. But uh, Mike, my complaints
Speaker 2: always been I'm in the hype business and I'm just
Speaker 2: not crazy about talking basketball recruiting all summer. And that's
Speaker 2: why Curry and Schnellenberger they literally said, we're tired of
Speaker 2: hearing people talk about basketball recruiting all summer. They ought
Speaker 2: to be talking about football. And if your team's opening
Speaker 2: up with no disrespect kent State, there's not nearly the
Speaker 2: chatter that there is with Lord. Here's the other thing, Jeff,
Speaker 2: and it's it's been dramatic. There have been Bowl games
Speaker 2: on the line and stuff like that last game of
Speaker 2: the year. I will admit to that, but I feel
Speaker 2: like Kentucky's more beat up at the end of the
Speaker 2: year running in that SEC garnlet than Louisville is. And
Speaker 2: I also think that as rivalries go, with no disrespect
Speaker 2: to either program, the uk U of l rivalry stacked
Speaker 2: up against all those rivalries you just mentioned, gets very
Speaker 2: little hype. It's very.
Speaker 8: My question to you is this, Dick, how much longer
Speaker 8: does that last? Especially if the SEC goes.
Speaker 2: You can't do it. You can't do it.
Speaker 8: You can't. You can't play now.
Speaker 2: Maybe once in a while, but you know, home and
Speaker 2: home home games now and especially now, Jeff, next year,
Speaker 2: would you like to be an athletics director?
Speaker 7: Uh?
Speaker 2: Trying to figure out how to pay all these players
Speaker 2: out of your budget, not out of a collective You
Speaker 2: know what sports? Now do you have to drop in
Speaker 2: order to pay the football and basketball players? And so
Speaker 2: now you want to lose, Yeah, you want to lose
Speaker 2: a home game that's worth you know, five million dollars
Speaker 2: in revenue. Heck no, those are problems that people smarter
Speaker 2: than we are have to figure out, right, Thank goodness
Speaker 2: for that, Jeff, ro I appreciate it. Always fun talking.
Speaker 2: We'll watch for you on the boob tube as we
Speaker 2: used to call it growing up. And uh, that's well,
Speaker 2: here you at. The season opener is not that far
Speaker 2: away for Kentucky football, right, see you man? That's right. Yeah,
Speaker 2: usually you and I are preparing for a Bowl game.
Speaker 2: We'll see you. That's crazy. Bowl games are getting started
Speaker 2: this weekend. Man. I love Bowl games. I love covering
Speaker 2: Bowl games.
Speaker 1: Bow.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna get to do it this year. Maybe
Speaker 2: next year, all right, Thanks to Aaron, Thanks to Jeff,
Speaker 2: Thanks to bo Robinson. We'll talk to you next week
Speaker 2: after I get back from New York. Aeron as well.
Speaker 2: Let's say good night from Lexington