Speaker 1: It's Stick Gabriel taking a little bit of time off,
Speaker 1: so we thought we would replace some of the best
Speaker 1: interviews from over the last several months. Please enjoy the
Speaker 1: best of the Big Blue Insider Gus.
Speaker 2: I cannot wait any longer this will you please join
Speaker 2: me in a little cast cast one two three, Cats,
Speaker 2: please come on, stand up and let's go.
Speaker 3: I need your help here. Can we do this? Please?
Speaker 2: One two three, See hey gee us.
Speaker 3: Touts, gouts tuts. I love it. Let's go again.
Speaker 4: See thank you, guys, thank you. That's good. That's good.
Speaker 1: He couldn't wait, could he. That's the new head coach.
Speaker 1: And you saw him and heard him on Sunday in
Speaker 1: one of the most amazing spectacles. And that's what it
Speaker 1: was really in the history of Kentucky basketball. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Big Bloe and Sider. Dick Gabriel with you Tuesday
Speaker 1: abbreviated edition of our show. We'll go for about forty
Speaker 1: five minutes because there's a big baseball game coming up
Speaker 1: six forty five pregame, seven o'clock, first pitch, Kentucky and
Speaker 1: Louisville over in the Derby City. Remember this game last
Speaker 1: year was canceled because of the tragic shooting in downtown
Speaker 1: Louisville and this year's game in election, it was rained out, postponed,
Speaker 1: but they have not yet rescheduled it, and it doesn't
Speaker 1: look as though they will. So tonight, Kentucky Louisville, we'll
Speaker 1: have it for you right here. Coming up Darren's pregame
Speaker 1: at six forty five, first pitch a little bit after
Speaker 1: seven o'clock, we're gonna talk just basically all about Mark
Speaker 1: Pope and Kentucky basketball and this abbreviated show. We'll talk
Speaker 1: spring football tomorrow. I hope you got a chance to
Speaker 1: go and watch them work out. If not, and I
Speaker 1: understand that there wasn't a big crowd. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't know what I saw, quite frankly, but I did
Speaker 1: see a quarterback, Brock Vandergriff, who can use his feet,
Speaker 1: as he said when he has to.
Speaker 5: But throws the ball.
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to talk to John Hale of the
Speaker 1: Herald Leader tomorrow on the show, get his take on it.
Speaker 1: And we're also going to talk tomorrow with Sean Woods,
Speaker 1: the Unforgettable Wildcat, who was there Sunday when Mark Pope
Speaker 1: was introduced. But tonight we'll hear from a lot of
Speaker 1: former Wildcats who were there, and as you know, that
Speaker 1: was one of the keys to this entire successful appearance
Speaker 1: on Sunday for the Big Blue Nation, all the former
Speaker 1: players who showed up and a tip of the Big
Speaker 1: Blue insider Captain Nathan Schwacke of UK Sports Marketing and
Speaker 1: his entire team. I mean, it took a lot of
Speaker 1: people to pull this off. You know how big the
Speaker 1: crowd was, right about twenty thousand, it's an estimated crow
Speaker 1: twenty thousand and five something. The entire arena was jammed,
Speaker 1: as you know, the points to the point where they
Speaker 1: had to turn away anywhere from three to five thousand people.
Speaker 1: And you know, there were some seats on the floor
Speaker 1: for boosters and media, but for the most part the
Speaker 1: floor seats were not there. But still an unbelievable crowd,
Speaker 1: and it clearly clearly underscored the fact that there was
Speaker 1: just a massive disconnect with John Caliperry. And I'm not
Speaker 1: knocking the guy, you know again, the first five or
Speaker 1: six years he was here. That was one of the
Speaker 1: most impressive runs in college basketball and modern history. It
Speaker 1: really was, with a championship and all the final four
Speaker 1: runs plus the Elite eight his first season, and of
Speaker 1: course that was a year they should have gone to
Speaker 1: the final four, could have won the national title. I
Speaker 1: think they were the best team in the country, but
Speaker 1: they blew it, and they blew other opportunities under Cali Perry.
Speaker 1: Some of it his fault, some of it not. We
Speaker 1: all know you go through the odd number of years,
Speaker 1: those are the ones that jump out the easiest to me.
Speaker 5: Twenty fifteen, we know what happened there.
Speaker 1: I put that on Cali Perry as much as the
Speaker 1: missed call on the shot clock violation, but he did
Speaker 1: not make in game adjustments he should have. Twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: if Derek May doesn't hit that jumper for North Carolina,
Speaker 1: Kentucky goes to the final four. We're maybe not talking
Speaker 1: about Mark Pope at Kentucky twenty nineteen, they missed going
Speaker 1: to the Final four because they lose to Auburn, a
Speaker 1: team they led by ten points at halftime. It goes
Speaker 1: to the final four that year, we may not be
Speaker 1: talking about Mark Pope. And I do agree with Cali Perry.
Speaker 1: I don't know he so easily says we would have
Speaker 1: won it in the COVID year.
Speaker 5: That's easy to say. A lot of teams could have
Speaker 5: said that.
Speaker 1: There were a lot of really good teams that year,
Speaker 1: but I do believe that was a final four team
Speaker 1: with Richards and Quickly and Tyree s maxwe because they
Speaker 1: were playing so well at tournament time and had all
Speaker 1: those future NBA players. So that's just how fragile this
Speaker 1: thing can be. But it worked out. I think for Calipari,
Speaker 1: I think he'll do very well at Arkansas, and every
Speaker 1: time he does something good, somebody back here is going well,
Speaker 1: you see, you know, but Pope's going to get off
Speaker 1: to a good start. He'll do well here. I think
Speaker 1: his teams will make deep runs in the postseason simply
Speaker 1: because he has and will have better players than he
Speaker 1: had at first Utah Valley State.
Speaker 5: And bring him young. Now why is he here? Well,
Speaker 5: Mitch barnardt spoke to the crowd, but.
Speaker 1: He also after the news conference spoke to the media
Speaker 1: about the fact that and I was told again there
Speaker 1: was interest from Billy Donovan, but not interest in dropping
Speaker 1: what he was doing to pursue the job right away.
Speaker 1: And I was told Kentucky basically couldn't wait. Barnard talked
Speaker 1: about the fact that he didn't wait because he had
Speaker 1: a guy that he really liked right in front of him.
Speaker 3: Oh, I think there's a lot of raaided.
Speaker 5: Number One, I felt coped with Mark.
Speaker 6: I mean, let's not we're diminishing if we sit here
Speaker 6: and say, why didn't I wait.
Speaker 3: I didn't feel like I needed to. I was comfortable
Speaker 3: with who.
Speaker 4: I had, I liked it. I knew where I wanted
Speaker 4: to go.
Speaker 6: I had a couple of two or three thoughts at
Speaker 6: the beginning. It played out. There's no mystery that we
Speaker 6: talked to someone first, and Mark knew that. I said,
Speaker 6: this is why it's going to work. And I was
Speaker 6: copable with our process, our research, the people I was
Speaker 6: talking to, and I felt like I was ready to go.
Speaker 1: So let's go, and let's go was basically the theme
Speaker 1: of that news conference as we mentioned the former players
Speaker 1: coming back and the trophy being held Aloft and the
Speaker 1: spotlight on the banner. That was a nice touch, and
Speaker 1: Barnard talked about the fact that he had kind of
Speaker 1: kept an eye on Mark Pope throughout the year. And look,
Speaker 1: if you're miss Barnard and you're struggling with your head coach,
Speaker 1: you got to have that list in your pocket, don't you.
Speaker 1: I mean every ad. You know that every ad should
Speaker 1: have a plan for really all of his coaches if
Speaker 1: any of them leave.
Speaker 5: You got to be ready. You got to do your homework.
Speaker 5: You got to do your research.
Speaker 1: And he knew about Mark Pope, and in fact, he
Speaker 1: had met Mark Pope, but he had also been keeping
Speaker 1: an eye on him, and he kind of liked the
Speaker 1: vibe that he brought.
Speaker 7: We've got a chance of meet a couple of times
Speaker 7: in reunions and things like that, But when you talk
Speaker 7: to him, do you get a real feel for his
Speaker 7: love for this institution?
Speaker 3: And I don't think there was anything.
Speaker 6: More important at a time in our journey to finding
Speaker 6: somebody had understood this commonwealth, this fan base, and our
Speaker 6: program and what we needed. And he checked when I
Speaker 6: said checked the boxes, when the conversations, he checked every box.
Speaker 6: It was he knew exactly what we needed and he
Speaker 6: knew exactly the pathway that he needed to get it done.
Speaker 1: Checked every box is the new one of the newest
Speaker 1: expressions that we're all over using now. But that's okay
Speaker 1: because in this particular instance, you gotta have a list
Speaker 1: like that. You gotta have a guy checking boxes and
Speaker 1: didn't it seem like and he was well prepared. The
Speaker 1: guy's a Rhodes Scholar candidate. But Mark Pope knew exactly
Speaker 1: if I may use another overused metaphor, which buttons to
Speaker 1: push when he stood on stage, and one of them,
Speaker 1: of course, was right away talking about something that rub
Speaker 1: Kentucky fans the wrong way from day one now was
Speaker 1: Cali Perry's declaration, we don't care about winning the SEC.
Speaker 1: We don't care about when in the SEC tournament, although
Speaker 1: for a while there they owned it. He wanted six times,
Speaker 1: but you talk about not reading the room, and he
Speaker 1: tried to play catch up towards the end when his
Speaker 1: team was eliminated. This past year, I feel so bad
Speaker 1: for the fans, which he should said that after the
Speaker 1: NCAA tournament as well, but when it came to the SEC,
Speaker 1: he finally recognized the fact the fans spend their hard
Speaker 1: earned money. And he had mentioned it once or twice before,
Speaker 1: but he really hit it hard this year. Pupe hitted
Speaker 1: hard on Sunday.
Speaker 2: We're here to win banners in Nashville because you guys
Speaker 2: turn out.
Speaker 3: In Nashville like nobody else in that matters.
Speaker 4: And we are here.
Speaker 2: Our job here, our assignment is to go win banners
Speaker 2: in the final four, win national champions.
Speaker 3: That's our job, and.
Speaker 5: There's no reason you can't do both.
Speaker 1: Again, Calipari's teams did that, So Mark Pope's teams did that,
Speaker 1: and he will see to it. He'll do the best
Speaker 1: he can to see that they do it now. He
Speaker 1: also nodded toward tradition and literally nodded toward his former
Speaker 1: teammates and peers the former players about what it means
Speaker 1: to wear the Kentucky uniform and a lot of guys
Speaker 1: you know who have played under Calipari, they do, I
Speaker 1: really truly believe respect that. But Pope, that's an element
Speaker 1: of this, of this change over. The Pope hit pretty
Speaker 1: hard the tradition and what it takes to where the
Speaker 1: UK jersey and to have that honor.
Speaker 8: You know what all these players know that all of
Speaker 8: our future players are going to learn really quick, okay.
Speaker 9: Is that they are not doing those jerseys a favor
Speaker 9: by letting the jerseys clothe them. Our guys will know quickly,
Speaker 9: and it's hard not to know. It will be one
Speaker 9: of the great honors of their life to put that jersey.
Speaker 1: On and you better believe the crowd loved that one,
Speaker 1: so did the former players. That brings us, though, to
Speaker 1: the guys who are going to wear that jersey. And
Speaker 1: the guy, of course everybody wondered about, was Read Shepherd
Speaker 1: and this was a bit of a faux pas here.
Speaker 5: By Pope and Cameron.
Speaker 1: Most told me later that this was quite by accident,
Speaker 1: but it turned into a thing, didn't it.
Speaker 8: I believe these players man our job as coaches as
Speaker 8: we get to be shepherds.
Speaker 1: H Like I said, it was accidental, but it gave
Speaker 1: the Shepherds the family. Jeff was standing there. I don't
Speaker 1: believe Reid was there one more chance to realize if
Speaker 1: they didn't already, just how much this fan base appreciated Read.
Speaker 1: But I hate to say it, but it's my understanding
Speaker 1: that Reid will leave. And there's been a lot of speculation.
Speaker 1: I think most people expect him to, but it's my
Speaker 1: understanding that he will leave, Which brings us to another topic,
Speaker 1: and that is the roster transfers. Aaron Bradshaw leaving DJ
Speaker 1: Wagner in the portal. A lot of people are in
Speaker 1: the portal, but people are coming in and earlier today,
Speaker 1: Colin Chandler committed de committed to Brigham Young committed to
Speaker 1: Kentucky Big Guard. They call him a late bloomer, good size, apparently,
Speaker 1: good scoring ability. It's been on a mission trip for
Speaker 1: two years, so it may take him a little while
Speaker 1: to acclimate. But Travis Branham had something on Twitter earlier
Speaker 1: today for two four to seven Sports and other people
Speaker 1: had it as well that this guy has been released
Speaker 1: from his NLI and is heading for UK. So he
Speaker 1: is officially Mark Pope's first recruit. Ugo made an announcement
Speaker 1: earlier today announcing to no surprise that he will declare
Speaker 1: for the NBA Draft. But you got to scratch your
Speaker 1: head when he talks about how he wants to show
Speaker 1: the NBA his scoring ability. When we come back former
Speaker 1: Wildcats talking about the hire of Mark Pope, we're listening
Speaker 1: to the Best of the Big Blue Insider. More to
Speaker 1: come here on six thirty WLAP. It's Dick Gabriel. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Best of the Big Blue Insider. Tonight,
Speaker 1: we're looking back on the news conference you heard the
Speaker 1: coaches shows last night. Kenny Brooks was great, I thought,
Speaker 1: with Darren Heddrick, Nick Menngeone talking about his team, and
Speaker 1: of course Mark Pope talking to Tom Leech. But after
Speaker 1: the news conference was over, a lot of the former
Speaker 1: players hung around. They were asked to hang around, and
Speaker 1: they did, and we talked to several of them. It
Speaker 1: was great to talk to a lot of them, and
Speaker 1: they said similar things. Tony Delk talked about why he
Speaker 1: believed his former teammate was the right man for the job.
Speaker 10: You know, it's a great recessor for a great guy,
Speaker 10: and it's a remarkable. It's remarkable for us to walk
Speaker 10: in and just see twenty four twenty plus thousand people
Speaker 10: in here and just how much they love and enthusia
Speaker 10: asked about basketball. So I'm I mean, it doesn't get
Speaker 10: any better than this. When we say we have the
Speaker 10: best fan base, I truly believe that and have believed
Speaker 10: that for.
Speaker 3: Many many years.
Speaker 10: The right guy definitely right guy, you know, not just
Speaker 10: because it's my god. I think he understands the landscape
Speaker 10: of basketball, what it takes to win here, and the expectations.
Speaker 10: So when you have that in mind, you know you're
Speaker 10: not gonna be able to sleep a lot of nights,
Speaker 10: but you're thinking about what can I do to help
Speaker 10: us be the best, seen me compete and get to
Speaker 10: a final four, try to win the national championship. So
Speaker 10: it's it's worked though, But he has the right people
Speaker 10: ahund him. He's gonna hire good staff, he's going to
Speaker 10: schedule well, and with the support of the fan base here,
Speaker 10: I think it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Tony got a big round of applause when he put
Speaker 1: his image up on the big screen. Also Richie Farmer,
Speaker 1: who was like a lot of us, he was really
Speaker 1: surprised when he heard the name Mark Pulpe because you'd
Speaker 1: heard Hurley and Billy Donovan and other names, but Mark Pulpe,
Speaker 1: that was kind of a sudden.
Speaker 11: Thing nobody had ever even mentioned. And so I was like,
Speaker 11: do what And then I started to think about it.
Speaker 11: And I started to think about it because I know Mark,
Speaker 11: and I know how intelligent he is, and I know
Speaker 11: what a good coach he is, and I know where
Speaker 11: he come from. I know who coached him and who
Speaker 11: changed his life, and so I know the kind.
Speaker 5: Of makeup that he has, that he's a hard worker,
Speaker 5: that his.
Speaker 11: Teams, that he instills that same principles, those same principles
Speaker 11: in his teams, and it just started to make a
Speaker 11: lot of sense, and I thought, you know what.
Speaker 3: I'm in. I'm in, you know. So it took about twelve.
Speaker 11: Hours, but then I was like, that makes so much sense.
Speaker 11: And then I started to think, Man, this Barnhart guy,
Speaker 11: he's pretty good.
Speaker 1: The knock on mark, obviously is his postseason record hadn't
Speaker 1: been that great around here of late, but you feel
Speaker 1: like without the limitations that he finished at his other
Speaker 1: two stops, he's got a much better shot in the postseason.
Speaker 12: Now.
Speaker 11: Well, I think so, you know, I think that there's
Speaker 11: no secret that, you know, recruiting at BYU and some
Speaker 11: of the the things that they have to sign, you know,
Speaker 11: in order to play there, and the oaths and the
Speaker 11: bowels and things. I mean, it makes it a lot
Speaker 11: more difficult to get the kind of players that a
Speaker 11: lot of guys like to go after. But I think
Speaker 11: he was he was smart and talking about today that
Speaker 11: he's gonna, you know, make sure that he recruits kids
Speaker 11: that fit his style and fits into what he's trying
Speaker 11: to do here, and I think that makes a whole
Speaker 11: lot of sense.
Speaker 1: I talk to Derek Anderson, who's quite active on social
Speaker 1: media and I asked him about the initial negative response
Speaker 1: to Mark Pope.
Speaker 13: Well, I told everybody, nobody started at the same place
Speaker 13: they they came in and nobody came.
Speaker 4: In here and just was winning.
Speaker 13: Gregutino didn't win, Nobody had won a cows first championship
Speaker 13: was here, So why are we putting pressure on this guy?
Speaker 13: And then everybody say, you know what, You're right, Let's wait,
Speaker 13: let's wait to see him. And that's how we had
Speaker 13: to just wait. But what happened was people got to
Speaker 13: a point and a lot of it wasn't even our fans,
Speaker 13: so I take that with a great and soot, but
Speaker 13: some of our fans. I had to remind him, like, hey,
Speaker 13: give him a chance because he's one of us. You know,
Speaker 13: you don't tear down one of us. You let him
Speaker 13: to grow and develop, and if he doesn't do his job,
Speaker 13: then let that be known. But you always want to
Speaker 13: support one of us. And I think that was the
Speaker 13: point that I kept putting my message across him, and
Speaker 13: I think they're starting to turn the circle down and
Speaker 13: see it and give him a chance.
Speaker 4: That's all I care about.
Speaker 5: Just give our guy a chance and see how he does.
Speaker 1: Winning at Utah Valley and then bringing me on with
Speaker 1: some certain limitations there. There are very few limitations here.
Speaker 1: As you know, that's.
Speaker 5: Gonna matter big.
Speaker 3: It's come out of big.
Speaker 13: But he said he wants to give guys who knows that,
Speaker 13: and he said that as honest to his statement, I
Speaker 13: want to get some guys who know what they're doing.
Speaker 3: And he doesn't know everything.
Speaker 13: And that's a good coach who says I don't know everything,
Speaker 13: but I want to get better, and I think Mark
Speaker 13: is gonna do that.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: More to come here on six thirty w LAP. It's
Speaker 1: Dick Gabriel. Welcome back to the Best of the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Insider. Read here in the garage once again, because
Speaker 1: he'd rather come to the garage than do it over
Speaker 1: the phone. Cameron Mills, it.
Speaker 4: Sounds better than it does.
Speaker 14: I love a sad as promised this though you're listening
Speaker 14: early on the show, hanging on for me to be on.
Speaker 14: You never know well and Dad, yeah, thank you, My mom,
Speaker 14: my dad, my wife. Those might be the three that
Speaker 14: are that are anxious about this promise.
Speaker 1: Everybody else takes it in stride, which just stops listening
Speaker 1: one the other.
Speaker 5: Well, Cameron agreed to come on, We've kind of waited.
Speaker 5: I didn't talk to you immediately after, which hurt my feelings.
Speaker 1: A Sunday press conference, Well, I knew you were being pulled.
Speaker 14: In a lot of It was a lot of new done,
Speaker 14: a lot of new non uh big blue insider directions.
Speaker 4: There you go, which is again why I was upset
Speaker 4: that where's my man, where's my buddy, Where's I don't
Speaker 4: know these people.
Speaker 1: Plus this was the best day to get you in
Speaker 1: the garage.
Speaker 14: Yes, except I've got conference calls and such this afternoon,
Speaker 14: but whatever.
Speaker 1: AnyWho, you are so happy I talked to you when
Speaker 1: the name first came up. Yeah, tell everybody about how
Speaker 1: you discovered that the deal was done because the name
Speaker 1: popped up as you and your wife were getting ready to.
Speaker 4: Turn Friday night.
Speaker 14: Yeah, yeah, Friday night. No, actually is that afternoon? The
Speaker 14: name popped up and I sent it to a mutual
Speaker 14: friend of ours who's in the who's in the business
Speaker 14: or the industry as we say, and which the entertainment industry,
Speaker 14: the one that's currently getting to go downhill real fast?
Speaker 14: Because he did he go Anyway, I digest so I
Speaker 14: think I think that was a family guy thing. Anyway,
Speaker 14: so I felt, So let's back up real quick, real quick.
Speaker 14: Remember how I found out cal Perry was leaving from
Speaker 14: a Delta Gate agent. Oh, that's a Delta Gate agent.
Speaker 14: Monday morning that cal was leaving. He is at five
Speaker 14: five o'clock, five or fifteen in the morning, and the
Speaker 14: Delta Gate agents like, boy, can you believe it.
Speaker 4: I'm like, what's the fly canceled? Is it delayed?
Speaker 14: He's like, no, no, cal Perry. I'm like, what about him?
Speaker 14: He said he's leaving. I'm like, oh, okay. I had
Speaker 14: no idea, and so even said, well, I didn't think
Speaker 14: i'd be telling you this. I don't have any kind
Speaker 14: of inside insight in of is. I don't have a
Speaker 14: sources I don't have I mean now, but I didn't before.
Speaker 14: But I found out the same way everyone else found out.
Speaker 14: I saw coach coach Pope, which that's good to take
Speaker 14: some getting used to. Some coach Pope names pop up.
Speaker 14: I mailed a mutual mail texted a mutual friend of ours.
Speaker 14: They said their response was, that's just his agent trying
Speaker 14: to get his name out there, you know, to get
Speaker 14: any more money. Which my response was, yeah, but his
Speaker 14: agent wouldn't lie, would he. I mean, my point is
Speaker 14: he's in the conversation, Barnhart is considering him. And then
Speaker 14: from that point I saw his name a couple more times,
Speaker 14: started kind of still thinking that as a long shot.
Speaker 14: It's a long shot, and then got the next morning
Speaker 14: it was practically a ton deal. I'm getting calls from
Speaker 14: people at UK who were, you know, wanting to put
Speaker 14: together that amazing thing that we saw on Sunday, and
Speaker 14: people saying, hey, listen, like Billy Toombs, who you and
Speaker 14: I have talked about, who's at UK. I mean reached
Speaker 14: out to not just Pope sex players meaning Pope sex
Speaker 14: teammates obviously.
Speaker 4: But everybody, everybody that an agent.
Speaker 14: We want as many ex players there as they could
Speaker 14: because that and of itself. Maybe it's something we're talking
Speaker 14: about or we've noticed I don't know, fans have thought
Speaker 14: about it maybe somehow, But this is the first time
Speaker 14: an ex player has ever been offered a job, much
Speaker 14: less taken the job. And see, and I keep forgetting
Speaker 14: about him because I forget he played here two years.
Speaker 14: Well so did Mark Marcole. He played here two years
Speaker 14: as he transferred well, no, he didn't read that one.
Speaker 1: Yet.
Speaker 4: He wasn't a red shirt.
Speaker 14: He was a stout because he transferred, so anyway, so
Speaker 14: either way, okay, so thank you. I'm glad you corrected
Speaker 14: me because I can say second of two players to
Speaker 14: not only be offered, but to take the job, but
Speaker 14: he was. He's the one player I think that popped
Speaker 14: up in our group text that he's referred to several
Speaker 14: times that he was suspiciously quiet on and now we
Speaker 14: know why that he was. That week we weren't hearing
Speaker 14: much from him. And then after it broke and everybody
Speaker 14: was like, ohoo, everybody's congratulating, he came with a with
Speaker 14: a text basically just you know, I don't say this enough,
Speaker 14: but I don't. I don't want this job without you guys.
Speaker 14: I don't, I don't. I don't get off of this
Speaker 14: job without you guys. And I And that wasn't a
Speaker 14: I don't want this job and you know, he just
Speaker 14: meant it was like, you know, you all are the
Speaker 14: reason I love Kentucky, and I think because we went to,
Speaker 14: as he said, to battle with him, and I love
Speaker 14: the way he did that. And he included all ex
Speaker 14: players the other day, it's like, look, look, you may
Speaker 14: be a next player, and you and I may not
Speaker 14: have battled together. I think it was this quote, but
Speaker 14: that we were the same and we've gone through the
Speaker 14: same because it doesn't matter what coach you have, there's
Speaker 14: this big frata cks players that have all been through
Speaker 14: the exact same pressure, and that's the pressure that it
Speaker 14: comes with playing at Kentucky, no matter.
Speaker 4: Who the coach is.
Speaker 14: So the group text that he sent that out and
Speaker 14: everybody was like so excited. But it was Oliver Simmons
Speaker 14: who put his name up in that group text early
Speaker 14: on because it was going on it was basically who
Speaker 14: do you think?
Speaker 4: Who do you think? Who do you think?
Speaker 14: And the usual names were coming up, and then Oliver
Speaker 14: Simmons is the one that I remember popped up and
Speaker 14: said what about Pope? And I even felt somewhat cringey about that,
Speaker 14: because I'm like, all right, got all Needwards's an assistant
Speaker 14: coach on here, Steve Massieli's assisant coach. I mean, you
Speaker 14: got other coaches on here, and you know, but I
Speaker 14: think Pope makes the logical sense. And I was surprised
Speaker 14: and thrilled to see when popet name popped up from
Speaker 14: Oliver Simmons. Everybody was on board. Everybody in that group
Speaker 14: text was on board, Like, yes, because of everything you
Speaker 14: saw on Sunday.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean you know that.
Speaker 14: That's a rhetorical question coming from you because you know him,
Speaker 14: and you know him, I would say, even a little
Speaker 14: bit better than most meeting. You know him, but you
Speaker 14: know who he is, how he is and what was
Speaker 14: thrilling for me. And I'm assumed for my teammates from
Speaker 14: ninety six to ninety seven ninety eight because we weren't
Speaker 14: on the team with him in ninety eight, but so
Speaker 14: many of us knew him, like we played with him
Speaker 14: from ninety six.
Speaker 4: But I think we all knew who he was.
Speaker 14: We knew the kind of person he was, the silliness,
Speaker 14: the exuberance, the excitement, the positivity, the enthusiasm, the I mean,
Speaker 14: you know, embrace adversity, attitude, his his his theory of
Speaker 14: the circle, which I think you and I have talked
Speaker 14: about before if you don't remember, But he'll bring that
Speaker 14: up at some point, I'm sure.
Speaker 4: Just he's just brilliant and.
Speaker 14: Then he he will. I said this last week. I
Speaker 14: think you and I even joked about it. I thought
Speaker 14: I came up with that off the off the top
Speaker 14: of my head. It was brilliant. He is not the
Speaker 14: kind of person that you run through a brickwall for
Speaker 14: He's the kind of person that has already run through.
Speaker 4: The brickwall for you. And I think everybody got to
Speaker 4: see that on Sunday.
Speaker 14: And granted it's all just words at this point, but
Speaker 14: that's what's exciting about the next few weeks and a
Speaker 14: few months and hopefully many many years, is that everybody's
Speaker 14: going to get to see that what we saw on
Speaker 14: Sunday is not an act. That is who Pope is
Speaker 14: and so win or lose, that's our head coach in
Speaker 14: all his great forms.
Speaker 4: That's our that's our head coach.
Speaker 14: And the funny thing is, and I'm biased, there are
Speaker 14: too many bad ones that there were that that you know.
Speaker 4: There are there. He'll admit when he makes mistakes.
Speaker 14: You know, I don't think he should be listening at
Speaker 14: ninety six group text that he's on, but he says
Speaker 14: he's going to. I don't think just because we're on
Speaker 14: there we love him and he's our boy, it doesn't
Speaker 14: think we're I don't think that means we're full of
Speaker 14: all great ideas, but you know.
Speaker 4: I think he just he's just proud to be back here.
Speaker 14: And I've got a picture because Susan grabbed us front seats,
Speaker 14: which I love.
Speaker 4: But yeah, my.
Speaker 14: Wife, she she They told us whifs go out there
Speaker 14: and grab seats players on the bus, right, Well, so
Speaker 14: I get out there and we're off the bus now
Speaker 14: and I'm looking around.
Speaker 4: I asked, I asked some of them, like, where's my wife?
Speaker 14: And they pointed, she's on the front road next to
Speaker 14: the barnard. And I'm like, well, don't Babe's great seats.
Speaker 14: But I mean, just what we saw on Monday was
Speaker 14: just I think everything Sunday, everything shepperd I've been saying
Speaker 14: for a couple of days.
Speaker 4: Shep said to me.
Speaker 1: He said, people when they see him are going to
Speaker 1: wonder is this real? Hey? Can this honestly be him?
Speaker 1: And who he's about what he is? And he said,
Speaker 1: it won't take long before you realize that's.
Speaker 4: Really it's annoyingly him.
Speaker 14: I mean, you know, I mean, Sheppe even said that
Speaker 14: the other day when when TD and I and Shep
Speaker 14: did that.
Speaker 4: Podcast for UK Network.
Speaker 14: He was talking about how all right, dude, calm down right,
Speaker 14: you know, call I get the enthusiasm, calm down. And
Speaker 14: then TD pipes in and says, oh, it'll calm down.
Speaker 14: Coach pell run it.
Speaker 4: Out of him.
Speaker 14: I don't think Coach Per ever ran it out of him.
Speaker 14: I mean, I know he was tired after some practices.
Speaker 5: But wait, when he first got here, you all said
Speaker 5: calm down.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah that was what yeah if you know what, yeah,
Speaker 4: CHP tells him becau ship. They were roommates all three years. Basically,
Speaker 4: I thought you meant this this one. No no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 4: no no. He was kind of he was excited but humbled.
Speaker 15: No.
Speaker 14: No, we're talking about back in the day when he
Speaker 14: and first met, because that was the question, what was
Speaker 14: the first time you met Mark?
Speaker 5: He was bouncy.
Speaker 4: Oh, just you know.
Speaker 14: SHEP tells the story about how he's got his Cannondale
Speaker 14: bicycle on his shoulder, he's wearing his hat backwards, he's
Speaker 14: got flip pops on.
Speaker 4: I mean, just classic, you know, like.
Speaker 14: West Coast pope, right, And so Shep Shep's meeting, he
Speaker 14: was like, seems.
Speaker 4: Like a cool dude.
Speaker 14: Then he wouldn't he wouldn't stop being enthusiastic and positive,
Speaker 14: and at some point shep said he was like, I
Speaker 14: get it, but it's what was perfect is they were
Speaker 14: perfect roommates for each other. And then TD pipes in
Speaker 14: and he says, and this again, this the other day,
Speaker 14: talking about Mark's meeting Pope for the first time. He's like,
Speaker 14: calm down. And then he thought, I don't have to
Speaker 14: tell him, Colm down. Coach p is gonna run this
Speaker 14: right out of him. And I don't know that Coach
Speaker 14: ever did, because because you see, you've seen how Pope.
Speaker 14: Pope was the one that as we would finish a
Speaker 14: three hour long marathon. And I don't know that he
Speaker 14: ever specifically said these words, but this is the kind
Speaker 14: of player he was and the kind of leader he was.
Speaker 14: We would be done. Coach p would say, all right,
Speaker 14: let's you know, circle up, you know, you know, we'll
Speaker 14: break here and that'll be it. And Pope would be
Speaker 14: the kind of teammates they'd be like, Coach, let's get
Speaker 14: one more suicide and let's get one more good sprint
Speaker 14: ind And I'm like.
Speaker 4: No, no, shut up.
Speaker 14: But that's who Pope is is that he will go
Speaker 14: further than you think you can go.
Speaker 4: And when you got somebody on the team. They'll do that. Man,
Speaker 4: that makes a big difference.
Speaker 1: Cameron Mills in the garage. Of course we're talking about
Speaker 1: Mark Pope, his former teammate, his friend and a new
Speaker 1: head coach of the Wildcats as well. Know we'll come
Speaker 1: back and talk more about this topic. You're listening to
Speaker 1: the best of the Big Blue Insider. More to come
Speaker 1: here on six thirty w lap. Hey, it's Dick Gabriel
Speaker 1: and you're listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider here in the
Speaker 1: Garage with Cameron Mills, two time NCA champion, teammate of
Speaker 1: UK head coach Mark Pope, and a guy we've heard
Speaker 1: a lot from Kyle Tucker's story and athletic.
Speaker 4: By the way, I haven't read it yet. I just
Speaker 4: don't read. No, I don't. Well, it's it's behind it's
Speaker 4: behind the paywall.
Speaker 14: I love you, Kyle, but I'm not a subscriber as
Speaker 14: of this year.
Speaker 4: I am. I may still I may still off.
Speaker 1: Have you heard about it?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 4: No, I read that's the thing.
Speaker 14: I read the first paragraph and then I can't get
Speaker 14: past the paywall, and I'm like, all right, well that's
Speaker 14: the best intro I've ever had.
Speaker 4: So ever, maybe I'll let you read. But I've heard
Speaker 4: great things about the art.
Speaker 1: It really is and uh and there's been a lot
Speaker 1: of good things written and said about Mark.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Following Sunday's you know pep rally news conference, can.
Speaker 4: We talk about how silly that was?
Speaker 1: Well, let me, I was going to ask you this.
Speaker 1: I know you could have expected that kind of show now,
Speaker 1: but what do you think.
Speaker 5: I've asked everybody this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what do you think that said? What was the
Speaker 1: message from the big We all know what Mark's message was?
Speaker 5: What was a message from the fan base?
Speaker 14: I think the message was because I completely understand anybody
Speaker 14: who even now doubts what he what I believe he's
Speaker 14: going to do. I mean, he was not a He
Speaker 14: was not the shiny pick. He was not the Danny
Speaker 14: Hurley or even the Scott Drew or the Billy Donovan
Speaker 14: or the Bruce Pearl whoever else Barnhart was sincerely looking
Speaker 14: at or talking to because again I don't know. But
Speaker 14: what I do know is that on Monday of the
Speaker 14: cow story breaking, there were a bunch of us who
Speaker 14: thought on the team, and I think some other people
Speaker 14: as well, but I'm I'm telling people, I'm like, well,
Speaker 14: I don't know it's going to be, but it needs
Speaker 14: to be this guy. And it wound up and wound
Speaker 14: up being that that that that that early you were
Speaker 14: on the Pope I was on always. I think we've
Speaker 14: I think to some degree we've all been. All his teammates,
Speaker 14: we've all been like, okay, of all And I'll speak
Speaker 14: for myself. I'm assuming this about my teammates. But I'm
Speaker 14: assuming because we have conversations all the time, especially when
Speaker 14: we're together, and some of them get very very honest.
Speaker 14: That tex Troup gets very very honest, And so I
Speaker 14: think you're we all are like even if we hadn't
Speaker 14: thought about it before, when we thought about it, it
Speaker 14: made sense. But to me, and I think to most
Speaker 14: of my teammates, his name just like Oliver Simmons bringing
Speaker 14: his name up in the group chat to be he
Speaker 14: was the first one that brought his name up, And
Speaker 14: I mean it was like.
Speaker 4: A pylon in a good way.
Speaker 14: That's it because either we had been thinking that for
Speaker 14: years that even as great as all of our other
Speaker 14: teammates are, that are coaches, Alan Scott, Steve Massiello, you know,
Speaker 14: our guys that are NBA scouts, that are you know,
Speaker 14: basketball is their life. This is the one that made
Speaker 14: the most sense because I think a lot of it
Speaker 14: is we know how mentally tough he is Ah and
Speaker 14: I think that is the one a binding thing. I mean,
Speaker 14: we all know he's enthusiastic, we all know he's the
Speaker 14: hardest worker.
Speaker 4: We all know. It makes sense from what he's done.
Speaker 14: At Utah Valley and BYU. But one of the big
Speaker 14: things that I think we're missing, and I think I
Speaker 14: missed this one I originally thought of him was he
Speaker 14: is the by far the most mentally tough person from
Speaker 14: that ninety sixteen I don't think, and that would include
Speaker 14: Anthony Epshue. You know, I talked about how mentally tough
Speaker 14: he is, but I think Mark was the one that
Speaker 14: always was preaching, you know, overcoming adversity, and so he knows.
Speaker 14: He admitted to press conference, this is a meat grinder.
Speaker 14: It is cow was the one. He's the second longest
Speaker 14: tenured coach we've ever had. It's it did, and I
Speaker 14: think that's what we saw from his that that video
Speaker 14: he sent out Isa it look, we all need a
Speaker 14: different voice and maybe I'm sure.
Speaker 4: He sounded sincere. Maybe he was.
Speaker 14: I think we owe a lot for what he did
Speaker 14: during his fifteen years here. But I think Hope was
Speaker 14: just the right person at the right time. And I think,
Speaker 14: you know, if he turns out to be as successful
Speaker 14: as I think we all think he's going to be,
Speaker 14: then I think, honestly, I mean, I still think this.
Speaker 4: I think Mitch hit a grand slam. Well.
Speaker 5: Getting back though to my question about the fan base, Oh.
Speaker 14: Yeah, I'm sorry, that's so I getstracted with my own story.
Speaker 14: Oh you no, But I mean.
Speaker 1: That was more than just a show of support. That
Speaker 1: was more than just curiosity.
Speaker 4: Yes, I do believe.
Speaker 1: That was an absolute statement by the FT.
Speaker 14: I don't think five thousand people wait in line don't
Speaker 14: get in for curiosity. I think when we were on
Speaker 14: the back of that bus, we were told there were
Speaker 14: ten thousand people out there, which we were like here,
Speaker 14: and I think before to be fair, I think five
Speaker 14: thousand was made up by you media, but nonetheless there
Speaker 14: was I was on the back of the bus. I
Speaker 14: was not playing media that day anyway, So I think
Speaker 14: the show up because when we pulled out.
Speaker 4: I don't know if you know this not. You know,
Speaker 4: the bus hit the wall pulling in. Did you know that?
Speaker 4: Nobody knows that.
Speaker 14: I'm like, oh, we hit it pretty hard, actually, because
Speaker 14: I remember saying.
Speaker 3: Oh, that's not an omen was going on.
Speaker 4: It's not a good start.
Speaker 14: But the fans showing up, the five thousand that waited, Man,
Speaker 14: God bless you all. To me, what mattered is that
Speaker 14: Friday night to Saturday morning. Certainly this Sunday afternoon there
Speaker 14: was a one hundred and eighty reflip from most fans.
Speaker 14: And for those who still doubt, I get it. He
Speaker 14: hasn't proved anything yet, but there's little doubt in those
Speaker 14: of us who know him that he's going to prove
Speaker 14: it to you soon enough if he didn't on Sunday.
Speaker 14: And that's what made that's why I teared up so
Speaker 14: many times Sunday number one. I mean, just the thrill
Speaker 14: of seeing him up there next to Barnhardt and then
Speaker 14: looking around. I mean, like I said, we were told
Speaker 14: ten thousand while we were on the bus, then we
Speaker 14: were told fifteen thousand while we're on the bus, and
Speaker 14: then we pull out and there's twenty thousand.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's the number I've seen.
Speaker 5: I have two and quite frankly, are you going.
Speaker 4: To be a member of that? Are you gonna be
Speaker 4: a journalist here?
Speaker 1: And get us to the right now, the mathematician, you know,
Speaker 1: the capacity being what it is, the floor seats not.
Speaker 14: There, right, But the floor seats were there, not all
Speaker 14: of them, but there were a lot.
Speaker 5: Of a lot of them.
Speaker 4: But you got five thousand people.
Speaker 5: I'm about to say.
Speaker 1: The bottom line is the place was jammed and there
Speaker 1: were people who wanted to get in and couldn't. And
Speaker 1: the other thing too, Cameron, and you played there. You
Speaker 1: played through one of the greatest periods of Kentucky basketball.
Speaker 1: And the spirit is the best word I come back
Speaker 1: to that in that building was as good as it's
Speaker 1: ever been.
Speaker 14: It was old school, I think, and I think that's
Speaker 14: again what excited us, because Mark, not only the stories
Speaker 14: of Mark and what people researched on their own of
Speaker 14: Mark in that's forty eight hour period between Friday night
Speaker 14: and Sunday afternoon. I think that's what turned a lot
Speaker 14: of people because again, no one, no one except those
Speaker 14: of us who knew who he was and knew he
Speaker 14: was a coach on the rise. I don't think anyone
Speaker 14: had him as as an option, and that's why I'm
Speaker 14: so thrilled, obviously, but even even shocked that Barnhart was
Speaker 14: talking to him. But gosh, I don't think he could
Speaker 14: have made a better move. But when the fans show
Speaker 14: up like that, yeah, it's not a it's not a
Speaker 14: let's go see, it is a you know, we're on board.
Speaker 14: And then if you weren't on board, even if you
Speaker 14: did show up out of curiosity, which I guarantee people
Speaker 14: tuned in out of curiosity, I would have a feeling
Speaker 14: they're at least leaning towards him more now than they
Speaker 14: were before. Because even if you're doubting, because you're one
Speaker 14: of these people that I want to see results, which
Speaker 14: I understand. He said the very same thing from his
Speaker 14: press conference. This is not We're not here to do
Speaker 14: anything other than hang banners. How many times have you
Speaker 14: heard that the last years?
Speaker 4: Never it was all about that.
Speaker 5: Cali Perry alluded to that when he.
Speaker 1: Was when he was hired because he knew he was
Speaker 1: bringing in great players, right, But he didn't.
Speaker 14: Flatly state no, no, and not And not only did
Speaker 14: Mark state that, he stated the SEC tournament he made
Speaker 14: a point of doing everything, saying everything and here's the
Speaker 14: key checklist did but I promise you, I promise you
Speaker 14: he's genuine and everything he said about that checklist, it
Speaker 14: may have been a checklist. And the funny thing is,
Speaker 14: I know he had some of a checklist because I
Speaker 14: feel like the SEC comment was a shot at cal
Speaker 14: intentionally unintentionally.
Speaker 4: The Shepherd thing, I promise you was unintentional.
Speaker 14: That was a complete accident because Mark immediately ran up
Speaker 14: to Shepperd apologized for that. The fans just kind of
Speaker 14: took off on that, and I think it a really
Speaker 14: fun But by.
Speaker 1: The way, I don't think it was a personal shot
Speaker 1: at Caliperry. I think I think when he talked about
Speaker 1: the the SEC, I think it was a reassurance to
Speaker 1: the fan.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so too.
Speaker 14: But at the same time, you can't help but think, Okay,
Speaker 14: but the last coach he had the reputation of not
Speaker 14: caring about that. Yeah, we're saying he didn't.
Speaker 4: I think that.
Speaker 14: I think that's a great point is that I've told
Speaker 14: people for years, and it's gonna be interesting now if
Speaker 14: my actually is gonna change because I told people for
Speaker 14: years you never believe a head coach when he's behind
Speaker 14: a microphone, just like you never believe a politician was
Speaker 14: by you, don't. They're not going to tell you the
Speaker 14: truth because they don't want you to tell other people.
Speaker 14: And can the other players or other teams whatever. He shuts,
Speaker 14: that's that's not who Mark is though. I mean, did
Speaker 14: you see the doubt about whether or not to have
Speaker 14: open practice.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm like, is he kidding? Yeah? He he knows
Speaker 4: practice can't be open.
Speaker 5: It used to be. It used to be in Kentucky.
Speaker 5: It's Joeby's were open.
Speaker 4: I just can't.
Speaker 14: But not in this age, not in Yeah, it can't
Speaker 14: be because of film video. But I just to me,
Speaker 14: even in Joby's era, I did not know that. So
Speaker 14: you've taught me two things about Joe be in this
Speaker 14: last hour.
Speaker 1: That and honestly when Eddie first got here was they
Speaker 1: began to close practice during the late eighties and c investigation, uh.
Speaker 4: Practice, well forget it.
Speaker 14: He is strip shirt is so yeah, he's so paranoid
Speaker 14: about I mean, you know Jerry Klinch.
Speaker 4: I think it was Jerry Clangelow.
Speaker 14: So it was somebody very much up in the in
Speaker 14: the basketball world, not just the NBA or college I
Speaker 14: mean the world of basketball, and he almost he literally
Speaker 14: got thrown out of our practice by an unbeknownst manager.
Speaker 4: Your manager did not know who he was.
Speaker 14: This guy's sitting on the front row and the manager
Speaker 14: goes up and says, sir, I'm sorry, but our practices
Speaker 14: are closed because you know, thankfully sees what's going on,
Speaker 14: looks across the court and says, it's okay.
Speaker 5: Klango's NBA or the thing.
Speaker 14: It wasn't Jerry Colangelo, but it was somebody like him,
Speaker 14: And I knew who this guy was. That's how bad
Speaker 14: it was. I've recognized that face, but I don't know
Speaker 14: who he is. But yeah, don't ask him to leave.
Speaker 4: I think he's here with permission.
Speaker 1: Camera Mills in the garage with us the studio slash garage.
Speaker 1: We'll talk more about UK basketball and Mark Pope on
Speaker 1: the other side of the break. You're listening to the
Speaker 1: best of the Big Blue Insider. Our number two is
Speaker 1: next here on six thirty w lap. Hey, it's Stick Gabriel.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Our number two
Speaker 1: taking a little time off, so please enjoy the best
Speaker 1: of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 5: Welcome back to the garage. Camer Mills is here with us.
Speaker 1: We're talking, of course about his former teammate, his friend
Speaker 1: Mark Pope, the new head coach, And you mentioned earlier
Speaker 1: that I might know him a little bit better. I
Speaker 1: did more than one show you and I did one
Speaker 1: together with him, but I taped a couple with him
Speaker 1: right after the championship back in ninety six. However, I
Speaker 1: did one of first of all, shamelessly plug our doc
Speaker 1: We had a string of three successful documentaries.
Speaker 14: Associated to press, documentaries of the Kentucky documentaries of the year,
Speaker 14: that's right.
Speaker 1: And you came to me about this first one because
Speaker 1: you guys had planned your reunion, the controversial reunion in Miami.
Speaker 4: People up here got upset.
Speaker 5: The words are having election, and you know, like it's
Speaker 5: it's for us.
Speaker 4: It's we did we had we had it Sunday, Sunday.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 1: But you guys decided in a meeting or something, and
Speaker 1: somebody goes, how about Miami? Okay, great, because Patino had.
Speaker 14: A boat, you know, had a boat and a place,
Speaker 14: and you know, and again, what's wrong with my troll
Speaker 14: south Beach?
Speaker 4: You know, if we were at South Beach, what's wrong
Speaker 4: with Miami?
Speaker 1: But anyhow, you came up with the idea to shoot
Speaker 1: a documentary.
Speaker 14: Well, actually no, it wasn't my idea. It was Terry
Speaker 14: Miner's idea. What Terry Minor had the idea because I don't,
Speaker 14: and I feel like it was you that told me that,
Speaker 14: because I know somebody told me, because I think what
Speaker 14: happened is is that Terry and Tony Terry Tony Tony
Speaker 14: Terry Minor was always very close. Yeah, but Terry was
Speaker 14: always very close, I think with Patino.
Speaker 4: And so when there.
Speaker 14: Yeah, absolute Terry Minor, absolutely a legend on radio. And
Speaker 14: I think Terry, I think his name popped up as
Speaker 14: the group tech started building about the excitement for the union,
Speaker 14: his name popped up. Is somebody wanting to do a
Speaker 14: document something, some kind of special report, and then he actually,
Speaker 14: my understanding is he bowed out because he thought that
Speaker 14: just doesn't it's not going to translate well to radio,
Speaker 14: which I agree, but it sparked. It sparked in my mind.
Speaker 14: Well yeah, but I mean he's still Terry Minor. He
Speaker 14: could do something right, Surely he's got connections. And so
Speaker 14: I was like, well, somebody ought to cover this. I mean, this,
Speaker 14: this is gonna be and My thought was, I didn't
Speaker 14: know what the ori originally, what I thought it. I
Speaker 14: didn't think it turned into what it was. I don't
Speaker 14: know what I thought it would turn into what it
Speaker 14: might even become. But it was gonna be. I knew
Speaker 14: there was gonna be a plethora of stories that were
Speaker 14: not And I always say this that we're not then
Speaker 14: if you're on the team at least, but that are
Speaker 14: hysterical now. And when you get a group of us together,
Speaker 14: they don't stop. I mean the other day and when
Speaker 14: I when I met Pope's daughters, and I'd met his
Speaker 14: wife before, but when I met his daughters, they're like,
Speaker 14: you know, I introduced myself and They're like.
Speaker 4: Oh, you're the one who And I'm like, wait a minute,
Speaker 4: what he like, Oh, Dad talks about you all NonStop.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 14: And I'm like, okay, well that makes sense because you
Speaker 14: know we taught I mean in the documentary you're talking about,
Speaker 14: which by the way, is called The Team. It's available
Speaker 14: on vimeo dot com or check my Twitter or Facebook.
Speaker 14: I've made some posts about it recently. I mean, I've
Speaker 14: lowered the price, by the way, in ninety nine cents.
Speaker 14: It's as low as I can. I know it's as
Speaker 14: low as I can go, as low as Vimeo will
Speaker 14: let me go, or I would have made it for
Speaker 14: free because I want people to see who Mark is,
Speaker 14: and Mark shines out in this documentary.
Speaker 4: He really really does.
Speaker 14: And who you see on the documentary is exactly who
Speaker 14: you saw on Sunday and exactly who you'll see any
Speaker 14: other time. That's just who Mark is. So but yeah,
Speaker 14: I just knew the stories would be great. And then
Speaker 14: we wound up, you know you and I thought the
Speaker 14: story was gonna go the story of the documentary was
Speaker 14: going to go one way, and it turned out going
Speaker 14: an entirely different way, which to me makes it a
Speaker 14: great documentary.
Speaker 1: I will tell you that the maxstory on and as
Speaker 1: Jason Epperson worked with us an accomplished established Emmy.
Speaker 4: Award winning the award winning way.
Speaker 14: And by the way, that documentary that we're talking about
Speaker 14: did not get a nominated for Nimmy, but the next one.
Speaker 1: That's right. Anyhow, we sat down, I had a meeting
Speaker 1: with Cameron and we had.
Speaker 5: To explain to you that it needed a theme. What's
Speaker 5: the story? And easily easily you said stories. Easily you
Speaker 5: said it'll be how terrified we all were of Rick.
Speaker 4: You did that not come across.
Speaker 1: It came across in the best Mark Post story.
Speaker 5: But the other day, Oh god, but but it Basically
Speaker 5: when we talked to the more established veteran players, it
Speaker 5: was not they weren't afraid of Beteina. Yeah they were,
Speaker 5: but they were, like you.
Speaker 1: Their whole thing was they were afraid in a different
Speaker 1: I'm afraid this guy's not going to play.
Speaker 4: Me, which I was not. My fear. No, I was
Speaker 4: not struggling with that fear in ninety six. I was
Speaker 4: convinced he was going to play me. Was total. He
Speaker 4: was on a few occasions and then was terrible. Oh
Speaker 4: well yeah, but no.
Speaker 5: Their whole thing was how's he going to do this?
Speaker 16: You know?
Speaker 1: But what I got to thinking about this after I
Speaker 1: got home Sunday. I remember in ninety four that Kentucky
Speaker 1: team fell short your freshman year.
Speaker 4: You're talking about the Elleite eating inst Carolina ninety four?
Speaker 4: Was you you were still? Yeah?
Speaker 17: I was.
Speaker 1: They get beat I think by Marquette in yea. That
Speaker 1: year they were not a great rebounding team, and Rick
Speaker 1: Batino kept saying, yes, I do remember this, that's going
Speaker 1: to change next year, it was Mark popees on the way.
Speaker 14: He was more about rebounding though, because I remember coaching.
Speaker 14: I mean, it was about you know, I think shirt
Speaker 14: whoever we played in that tournament game. We got roughed
Speaker 14: up a bit physically in ninety four, yeah, the game
Speaker 14: before Mark became eligible. Basically, whether it's Mark, yeah, there's Marquette.
Speaker 14: So we got physically roughed up. Because I remember coach
Speaker 14: p of course I'm still in high school, saying this
Speaker 14: won't happen next year, but he even mentioned I think
Speaker 14: Marky by name more than once. And then we come
Speaker 14: back for that next season, which is my freshman year,
Speaker 14: so every all this is new to me. But I
Speaker 14: remember coach I think, basically saying you know, and I
Speaker 14: don't know when he would have said this, maybe he
Speaker 14: said this to the to the press, but he felt
Speaker 14: like he was putting too much pressure on Pope, and
Speaker 14: you know, it's like he was pulling back the expectations.
Speaker 4: A little bit. But the reality is that it did change.
Speaker 14: I mean, I don't know the practice is different because
Speaker 14: woudn't hear the year before, but I know practice was
Speaker 14: physical and boody, and as Pope said, vomity, and it's
Speaker 14: such a such a great story, and such a perfect
Speaker 14: Pope story too. I mean, who throws up in the
Speaker 14: middle of their shirt in the middle of practice and
Speaker 14: thinks it's not going anywhere. Apparently a Rhodes scholar does,
Speaker 14: because he's the one that didn't think. And then the
Speaker 14: next thing I know, we got teammates slipping in the floor.
Speaker 14: Coach PE's rant and raving and I'm move around the
Speaker 14: sideline like, boy, it's a different world I live in now.
Speaker 1: Well, he did tell the Walter McCarty story, yep, more
Speaker 1: than once, and he told that to us on camera.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And one of the reasons is that, Yeah, I wrote
Speaker 1: out about the documentary was because and I had watched
Speaker 1: it in a while, but I just played a couple
Speaker 1: of clips and I remember thinking Mark Pope was the
Speaker 1: star of that show now. To me, in terms of
Speaker 1: the sit down interviews I did, to me, the most
Speaker 1: my favorite part was the video we shot on the
Speaker 1: boat when you guys got together and had a little
Speaker 1: cocktail party, you guys, you know and everything. At first,
Speaker 1: it was as many of these things are joking and laughing,
Speaker 1: but it settled into kind of a discussion where Rick
Speaker 1: would talk to you guys and then you guys. I
Speaker 1: remember Anthony Epp said, when did you know that we
Speaker 1: had what it took? And then later on Rick said,
Speaker 1: you know, if we're he and he still believed and
Speaker 1: I do too, in the modern era, best team ever,
Speaker 1: and he said, if I were coaching against this team today,
Speaker 1: I would have no idea how to stop it.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 14: Well, you know one thing that Mark said in the
Speaker 14: press conference, at least I believe he did. It may
Speaker 14: have been what someone said, maybe what Tony Yrship said
Speaker 14: in the in the in the podcast, I'm getting everything
Speaker 14: kind of con bolluted at this point. But there is
Speaker 14: a lot of you know, what today would be considered
Speaker 14: innovative offense. That's what Pope runs. It's not innovative. It's
Speaker 14: thirty thirty five years old. I mean, it is almost
Speaker 14: precisely what Patino runs. There's some different wrinkles, but it's
Speaker 14: the same basic offense and attitude towards offense in general.
Speaker 14: It's you know, you heard, we're going to share the ball.
Speaker 14: If you go back and look at Patino's first years,
Speaker 14: or even I mean any of his years for that matter,
Speaker 14: it was all about not ball movement, but moving without
Speaker 14: the ball, like there were backdoor cuts, there were there
Speaker 14: were you know, the ball is going to move. It
Speaker 14: has no choice because everyone else is moving. And so
Speaker 14: it's not just about coming off a triple stagger screen
Speaker 14: on one side. It's about what's that second man going
Speaker 14: to do after he comes off, after he set the
Speaker 14: double of the triple stagger screen. Is he flashing or
Speaker 14: is he going wide to the wing? I mean, there's
Speaker 14: going to be so much movement. It's basically one of
Speaker 14: the reasons that Golden State Warriors run this offense. And
Speaker 14: it's not not saying that copy that you told me.
Speaker 14: It's basically the Warriors offense a lot of threes. Look, no,
Speaker 14: we don't have a Steph Curry so well, not yet.
Speaker 14: I don't think we ever will, to be perfectly honest,
Speaker 14: but who will now you never know. But uh, I
Speaker 14: think that's that's the part where just there's gonna be
Speaker 14: a lot of change in You know, if Cali Perry
Speaker 14: ever did roll out the ball, which he never did,
Speaker 14: at least I never saw him ever do anything close
Speaker 14: to that. I went to some practice, went to some
Speaker 14: pre game or walkthroughs, and it was all serious all
Speaker 14: the time.
Speaker 4: But it's gonna be different.
Speaker 17: Now.
Speaker 14: It is going to be different. And that's not a
Speaker 14: shot at cal Perry. It's just what I know about Pope,
Speaker 14: how Pope was coached, how I was coached. There are
Speaker 14: gonna be differences in how he was coached and how
Speaker 14: he coaches, but they're not going to be huge differences.
Speaker 14: I think the only real difference is going to be
Speaker 14: one guy was more and maybe negative. The other guy
Speaker 14: is going to be more, maybe positive. And I don't
Speaker 14: know what that's gonna lead to, except maybe some guys
Speaker 14: that aren't leaving terrified for their lives, which sometimes we did.
Speaker 1: I was trying to picture though last night, when I
Speaker 1: was thinking about my conversation with you, uh Mark, Pope
Speaker 1: being a bad cop yelling at somebody. You know what
Speaker 1: it's gonna happen.
Speaker 14: But well he well he yelled at guys during practice,
Speaker 14: but it was always in this positive All right, let's
Speaker 14: go now, all right, here we go.
Speaker 4: Everybody Guys like.
Speaker 1: All right, you're listening to the best of the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Insider. Want to come here on six thirty w
Speaker 1: LAP It's Dick Gabriel. Welcome back to the best of
Speaker 1: the Big Blue Insider Cameron Mills here in the garage.
Speaker 1: Of course, we're talking about Mark Pope, his former teammate,
Speaker 1: the new head coach of the Wildcats, And before the
Speaker 1: break we talked about offense. What about he described and
Speaker 1: explained his defense, but he just kind of you know,
Speaker 1: he couldn't sit there and break it down. But do
Speaker 1: you know much this was not your specialty? I know
Speaker 1: this was not And did you also did you did
Speaker 1: you get a chance to the last few years to
Speaker 1: well and you don't stay up as late as I do.
Speaker 5: But see Brigham Young play at all?
Speaker 4: I have not seen I've seen them play in the
Speaker 4: last week.
Speaker 14: Obviously, I've watched the videos and watched some of their
Speaker 14: players play obviously in videos. But to me, I Mark
Speaker 14: plays the same now when he was at Utah Valley.
Speaker 14: I mean, he's got a an mo as a coach,
Speaker 14: just like every coach has. And I think one of
Speaker 14: the things that I think fans will be And he
Speaker 14: said this on Sunday, so this isn't news, but you
Speaker 14: know he's and again this was this seemed to be
Speaker 14: different from how Caliperi approached things, which was if I
Speaker 14: need to change something up. I'm gonna change something up.
Speaker 14: If if if, if I've not prepped a team for
Speaker 14: a certain way of play and we come out we're
Speaker 14: a team's playing us differently. I expected we're gonna have
Speaker 14: to make some changes. We're gonna have to make some adjustments.
Speaker 14: I think obviously, I think, you know, one thing that
Speaker 14: fans are probably wondering, or maybe they're not wonder They
Speaker 14: probably know what this way. I think there will be
Speaker 14: some own defense. But I think the exciting thing is
Speaker 14: one thing that I think Mark said at this at
Speaker 14: the press conference that to me was like, oh, this
Speaker 14: is just straight p meaning coach Patino, is that we're
Speaker 14: going to throw a lot of stuff at them. I
Speaker 14: don't know if you remember that part of the past
Speaker 14: press conference, but it stood out to me because so
Speaker 14: many times, and I don't know how many people were
Speaker 14: aware that we were doing it, because sometimes we weren't
Speaker 14: aware that we were doing it, I don't think, but
Speaker 14: we would change from offense to zone back to from
Speaker 14: zone demand back to man in the same thirty five
Speaker 14: second shot clock. I mean we did it specifically against
Speaker 14: I want to say Iowa, State of Iowa in the
Speaker 14: second round of the ninety seven tournament. We literally had
Speaker 14: a team in do you remember was Iowa State or
Speaker 14: Iowa whoever it was. They had a team where they
Speaker 14: were offensively, they were dangerous because they had a great
Speaker 14: point guard, they had a great big man, and coach
Speaker 14: Coach Patino's solution to their offense was, We're going to
Speaker 14: go manda man for the first fifteen seconds of every
Speaker 14: shot clock and then I tell you what it was,
Speaker 14: the first twenty seconds of very shoklack. Yeah, and then
Speaker 14: at fifteen seconds and Anthony Epsto was his job to
Speaker 14: be watching the opposite shot clock and to know when
Speaker 14: we were switching to a one two two, And in
Speaker 14: the middle of a shot clock, we go from manda
Speaker 14: man to immediately everyone is in a one two two.
Speaker 14: And the whole point was to throw Iowa or Iowa State,
Speaker 14: whoever we play Iowa, to throw Iowa completely off their
Speaker 14: game because they were going against the man and man
Speaker 14: now of a sudden, wait a minute, they're in his zone.
Speaker 14: We've got to all get to our spots. And it
Speaker 14: works several times. I mean, I mean specifically, there were
Speaker 14: possessions where we knew that simply our change in defense
Speaker 14: had surprised them, thrown thrown them off.
Speaker 4: They weren't ready.
Speaker 14: They wound up taking a bad shot or throwing a
Speaker 14: pass that would have been there if we'd been in
Speaker 14: a man and man but it wasn't because we were
Speaker 14: on his own. So I think there's gonna be a
Speaker 14: lot more of that, which I think you could say
Speaker 14: is innovative. I mean, oh yeah, it's not just he's
Speaker 14: going to and I think that's one of the things
Speaker 14: that where there needs to be some grace. And I
Speaker 14: would always argue that this with cala Perry's team as well.
Speaker 14: Do not think that the team you see in October
Speaker 14: is the team are going to see in March, because
Speaker 14: there is so much with Pope especially. I don't know
Speaker 14: if they're going to thirty five page scouting reports like
Speaker 14: we have, but there's so much He is going to
Speaker 14: want to ingest into them as a team to get
Speaker 14: them to play his style of balls. That's problem one.
Speaker 14: But then you got to ingest all the stuff about
Speaker 14: the team you play, which that's gonna be. The next
Speaker 14: thing is there's gonna be a lot these guys are
Speaker 14: gonna have to ingest. And that's in just four hours
Speaker 14: a day.
Speaker 1: You played Iowa second round Montana the first round, which
Speaker 1: I barely remember.
Speaker 4: Look at are you looking at the stats?
Speaker 14: You'll notice number twenty one had a huge block in
Speaker 14: that game against Montana.
Speaker 4: It was it was more like a looking at bike,
Speaker 4: It was more like a volleyball spike.
Speaker 14: I absolutely took a guy, no offense to him, who
Speaker 14: looked like he was maybe in his forties at the
Speaker 14: time when he played in his twenties from Montana. He
Speaker 14: took a jump shot and I pitched it out of bounds,
Speaker 14: literally almost pinning in against the wall that was standing
Speaker 14: a foot from where I was in bound.
Speaker 11: Uh.
Speaker 1: That was the Salt Lake City. Coincidentally, it was Utah.
Speaker 1: And you go to Santasee, you beat St. Joe's and
Speaker 1: Utah the utes right who you guys beat next to following.
Speaker 4: And would beat the next and the and the year before.
Speaker 4: We picked them out three years in a row.
Speaker 5: Yeah you beat Minnesota.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 8: Uh.
Speaker 4: And then but here's the thing.
Speaker 1: The Utah game was all that changing defense until the
Speaker 1: light in Arizona, I mean Iowa gat Uh that was
Speaker 1: a six point win.
Speaker 5: Soa all that defense that made a big difference.
Speaker 4: Oh no, it made a different well, we got a.
Speaker 1: Few minutes left. But you talked about the team we're
Speaker 1: gonna see on the floor.
Speaker 4: Who are they gonna be?
Speaker 1: And by that, I mean tell me about the recruiting
Speaker 1: the poor I mean he's up against it right now.
Speaker 1: You know have two guys for sure, the kid who
Speaker 1: flipped from from b y U and Travis Perry, who
Speaker 1: you know, as long as he can guard a little bit.
Speaker 14: Yeah, the way he shoots the ball, you gotta think
Speaker 14: to handles the ball. That's the thing that stood out
Speaker 14: to me in the sweet games I saw but one.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I mean, I you knew he could shoot.
Speaker 4: But I'll tell you what he went up against.
Speaker 14: Was it Trevor Noah I think his name is that
Speaker 14: plays in Harlan And I mean I honestly I looked
Speaker 14: at both of them. Now, Now, Trevor did not have
Speaker 14: a great or Trent no I think his name is.
Speaker 14: He did have a great name, a great championship game,
Speaker 14: and Travis did, But I Noah. I mean, you know,
Speaker 14: it's funny. And I haven't talked to Mark. I'm not
Speaker 14: I won't talk to him about recruiting or any of
Speaker 14: that stuff. But like Noah may be a kid that
Speaker 14: he may want to reach out to, because I mean,
Speaker 14: you had two Kentucky kids that I saw this hit.
Speaker 14: I'm like, I think both of them maybe if not
Speaker 14: next year, but you know, the way a typical team
Speaker 14: can work, maybe there's two kids right there that'll be like,
Speaker 14: you know, rock stars for us in the next couple
Speaker 14: of years.
Speaker 4: Because they're both.
Speaker 14: I mean, Noah kind of reminds me of a Chris
Speaker 14: Lofton and Travis Perry kind of reminds me of I mean,
Speaker 14: first of all, he's just he can shoot. For me,
Speaker 14: He's like a Richie Farmer. Yeah, he can shoot from
Speaker 14: anywhere on the court. He's got great ball handling, he's quick,
Speaker 14: he's his basketball smart.
Speaker 4: It's smart. I think as maybe Reid was.
Speaker 14: Reid might have a little bit of an anticipation about
Speaker 14: him that's better than Travis's.
Speaker 4: But that's yet to be seen.
Speaker 5: I think on this level, trying to know by the way,
Speaker 5: committed to South Carolina.
Speaker 1: But sometimes kids flip.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, that's all the kids are doing right now,
Speaker 4: that's the whole point of the portal.
Speaker 14: And I think I feel like if Mark reached out
Speaker 14: to him, I feel like he consider coming here but again,
Speaker 14: I think what we're gonna get are guys. And Mark
Speaker 14: said this, We're gonna get guys who are good for here. Yes,
Speaker 14: And I don't think it's exactly how he put it,
Speaker 14: but he said. I think he said whose hearts are here?
Speaker 14: And I don't think he just meant Kentucky boys. I
Speaker 14: don't think he just meant guys who want to play
Speaker 14: at Kentucky.
Speaker 1: But he kept referencing you, kept pointing you guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be the same as when you guys were here.
Speaker 1: Well name on the front.
Speaker 14: Well, and that's what it becomes. But because let's be honest,
Speaker 14: most of the guys that I played with, with exceptions
Speaker 14: of a myself, A Scott Pageant and Jeff Shepherd, most
Speaker 14: of those guys came to play for Patino.
Speaker 4: They did true.
Speaker 14: So they just learn while they're here, a lah Mark
Speaker 14: Pope right, they learn why they're while they're here, what
Speaker 14: Kentucky basketball across the front of that chest means. And then,
Speaker 14: as you saw on Sunday, it can carry on thirty years,
Speaker 14: but home still is Lexington. Yeah, and that's what Pope
Speaker 14: spoke and said, and that is the truth in his heart.
Speaker 4: I promise you. And that's what I think people are
Speaker 4: excited about.
Speaker 1: UK Sports video has about an eleven minute clip out
Speaker 1: there on social media where.
Speaker 5: Pope driving up to Rupper. It's a brilliant piece UK Sports.
Speaker 1: Peter Greg Gorm's people knocking out of the park all
Speaker 1: the time they do, but it captured Pope's passionate enthusiasm
Speaker 1: and talking about his daughters get tired of hearing.
Speaker 5: It, but they love it.
Speaker 14: You I mean, I mean, at this point, I'm like,
Speaker 14: you know what I'll talk about, Mark Pope, I'll talk
Speaker 14: about to Blue in the faith.
Speaker 1: Putting that documentary, I left more Mark Popes up on
Speaker 1: the cutting room floor because he was so great, so
Speaker 1: brilliant brother, Thank you so much, and we'll keep in touch.
Speaker 1: We're listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: More to come here on six thirty w LAP. It's
Speaker 1: Dick Gabriel. Welcome back to the Best of the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Insider. Kentucky knocked off Oregon State, no stranger to
Speaker 1: the College World Series Wildcats, though making their first trip
Speaker 1: to Omaha.
Speaker 5: Oregon State, as you.
Speaker 1: May know by now, won three national championships twice in
Speaker 1: the Arts six and seven again in twenty eighteen, Oregon
Speaker 1: State was looking to make it's eighth trip to the
Speaker 1: College World Series, and it actually made three straight trips
Speaker 1: back in the odds, winning at six and seven but
Speaker 1: falling short in five.
Speaker 5: Made it to Omaha but did not win.
Speaker 1: But Mitch Candon, the head coach, was a player back then,
Speaker 1: and he was asked about what it's like to get
Speaker 1: there for the first time as a team. Oregon State
Speaker 1: had been there in nineteen fifty two, but then that
Speaker 1: long layoff until five. He talked about what it was
Speaker 1: like back then for the Beavers to reach the World
Speaker 1: Series after such a long layoff, and when you listen
Speaker 1: to what he says, think about that in terms of
Speaker 1: what the Wildcats are feeling.
Speaker 12: Right now, it's an amazing accomplishment. You know, Kentucky's got
Speaker 12: a great team obviously. I mean the way they played
Speaker 12: all year long, the they understand they're playing in the
Speaker 12: small game, they're playing the speed, they're the heck out
Speaker 12: of it. They neutralized a really good offense. I mean
Speaker 12: we went out there, we stung some baseball's hard. Trotsky
Speaker 12: hit one down the line that like, well, that puts
Speaker 12: puts a guy in scoring position.
Speaker 17: Right there, Webber smashed the ground ball to shortstop. Anyway,
Speaker 17: that's not what the question was.
Speaker 12: But you know, thinking back when we made it to
Speaker 12: Omaha and five and having that feeling winning out at
Speaker 12: Supers and going to Omaha that first year, we would
Speaker 12: oh and two real quick and got sent sent home
Speaker 12: and then it just felt like a blur because you
Speaker 12: had never experienced it before.
Speaker 17: But it just made you hungrier to go out and
Speaker 17: do that. And six we even started off what it
Speaker 17: was in eleven to one to Miami with some rain,
Speaker 17: and then we came back on fire and never.
Speaker 12: Looked back at It's obviously a lot of confidence and
Speaker 12: momentum that can be built from that belief.
Speaker 17: The relationships you build. Every game you get to play
Speaker 17: with those guys around it, your relationship gets stronger and stronger.
Speaker 12: I mean, I know, I go check my phone after
Speaker 12: this and there's a text thread of all of us
Speaker 12: from six and seven that are on it, and I
Speaker 12: know they're going to be saying some stuff on there
Speaker 12: to pick us all up.
Speaker 10: Right.
Speaker 17: It's a.
Speaker 12: It's a life changing thing when you're able to accomplish
Speaker 12: like those big moments and move on and even how
Speaker 12: you handle the tough moments I think can bring you
Speaker 12: a lot closer too.
Speaker 1: So Mitch Cannam, the head coach at Oregon State, knows
Speaker 1: the feeling of getting to the College World Series. He
Speaker 1: also knows the feeling of winning the College World Series,
Speaker 1: which Oregon State did twice while he was a catcher
Speaker 1: there back in the mid auds. And now, of course
Speaker 1: the head coach, but his team falling short, losing to
Speaker 1: the Wildcats last night in the Lexington Super Regional. I
Speaker 1: will leave you now with the melt as we say,
Speaker 1: the highlight melt of last night's win of Oregon State,
Speaker 1: as Darren Hedrick and Keith Madison called it for.
Speaker 5: The UK Sports Network.
Speaker 1: Next Omaha, that's it.
Speaker 5: Good night from the garage and Lexington.
Speaker 3: Zana takes a hopping lead at first. The three to
Speaker 3: two got him with a slider that comes through the
Speaker 3: front door and parks in the living room. Here's the
Speaker 3: one one swung on and lined over third.
Speaker 18: That's a fair ball and it's gonna get all the
Speaker 18: way into the left field wall and bounce off the corner.
Speaker 18: Nicholson makes it the third. They're gonna send him. Here
Speaker 18: comes the throw from left. It is offline Nicholson process.
Speaker 18: It's an RBI double for Nolan McCarthy and Kentucky's up.
Speaker 3: One to nothing. The pitch, here's the two to oh.
Speaker 18: He squares and bunts it softly up the first baseline
Speaker 18: daily coming home.
Speaker 3: He's safe. He's in there ahead of the tag.
Speaker 18: Oregon State the first baseman, Guera bare handed the ball
Speaker 18: softly up the first base line, immediately shoveled underhand, but
Speaker 18: Webber in front of the plate.
Speaker 3: Not enough time to turn around with the tag Runners
Speaker 3: will move.
Speaker 18: The payoff pitch got him on the inside corner with
Speaker 18: a fastball strike three inning over a.
Speaker 3: Three to two part two struck him out swinging with
Speaker 3: a change up.
Speaker 11: Another outstanding inning by Cameron O'Brien, five.
Speaker 3: Strikeouts for the right hander, two two game.
Speaker 18: In the seventh the two and he struck him out,
Speaker 18: but the ball got away from Weber. McCarthy to third.
Speaker 18: There's nobody at cover in the play. It's a foot rice.
Speaker 3: He dines across.
Speaker 18: Safe, Nobody covered home for Oregon State and McCarthy stores
Speaker 18: from second as graft Smith arrives at first.
Speaker 3: Whit's a three to two Kentucky lead. Here's the one
Speaker 3: two swinging a mass. He struck him out with a slider.
Speaker 5: That was a huge strikeout by Robert Hogan.
Speaker 18: The old one to McDowell, swung on and lined up
Speaker 18: the middle. Grant Smith clocks it, inning.
Speaker 3: Over two to one.
Speaker 18: Line shot turns into a bounce to Grant Smith. In
Speaker 18: short he flips the first heading over. Robert Hogan is
Speaker 18: fired up and so are the Big Blue Nation. Here's
Speaker 18: the one swung on in mind.
Speaker 3: Locked down by Daily at third The throw got up
Speaker 3: two aways. What a play by Mitch Daily at third base.
Speaker 11: Wow, he laid out and made a perfect crew over
Speaker 11: Ryan Nicholson for the out.
Speaker 18: The Wildcats are one out a way, hands together nothing
Speaker 18: in two to McDowell.
Speaker 3: Hummel's pitch, cold strike, three ball game over. The wait
Speaker 3: is finally over. Roll out the big Blue carpet in Omaha.
Speaker 18: The University of Kentucky Wildcats are headed to the College
Speaker 18: World Series. Kentucky defeats Oregon State three to two. They
Speaker 18: flood the field from that third base stugout and talk
Speaker 18: piled to the right side of the mound.
Speaker 1: They're listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider
Speaker 1: More to come here. On six thirty WLAP. It's Dick Gabriel.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: Earlier we were talking about Jerry West because so many
Speaker 1: tributes poured in about Jerry West over the last twenty
Speaker 1: four hours since his passing on Wednesday at the age
Speaker 1: of eighty six. And I pulled this off social media.
Speaker 1: Somebody posted this speech he made, not really his speech,
Speaker 1: but his comments. He was at sort of a roundtable
Speaker 1: forum and he opened up personally about how his life
Speaker 1: changed as a young man from a very small town,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier in West Virginia, had never played
Speaker 1: with African American players, so they got to college and
Speaker 1: the effect that some of those guys that he played
Speaker 1: with had on him as a basketball player and as
Speaker 1: a person. And this was a really I thought moving
Speaker 1: soliloquy by and by Jerry West. And this popped up yesterday.
Speaker 15: I want to talk about the greatest learning lesson I
Speaker 15: ever have in my life.
Speaker 4: Please.
Speaker 15: I went to school and never played against a black
Speaker 15: man until I was in college. I graduated from school
Speaker 15: and played against a few black players at that point
Speaker 15: in time during my career. The most important peat people
Speaker 15: in my life were five five black men five. I
Speaker 15: haven't talked about this very much in my life stream
Speaker 15: I didn't even broach it with you. I grew up
Speaker 15: very much like they did.
Speaker 3: I was like these guys.
Speaker 15: I was like the dog behind these guys. They walked
Speaker 15: me everywhere in our conversations late at night after a
Speaker 15: game we'd played cards, and so.
Speaker 14: They were.
Speaker 15: They changed my life's perspective more than anyone will ever know.
Speaker 15: If I could write a book, I would like to
Speaker 15: write a book about five of those guys. And I
Speaker 15: had one player in particular.
Speaker 4: He was the NBA Rookie of the Year, the late
Speaker 4: Ray Felix. I was a rookie and my college coach.
Speaker 15: Was coaching the team, and I wasn't playing very much,
Speaker 15: and I didn't say I never said a word, never
Speaker 15: said a word. I was clearly better than these other
Speaker 15: two players. I think he was trying not to not
Speaker 15: to look like he was prejudiced toward me, And he
Speaker 15: came back and asked me one night, He said, you
Speaker 15: know you should play and I said, Ray, I said,
Speaker 15: you know, I don't really want to talk about that,
Speaker 15: but for some reason, he said, you're going to be
Speaker 15: one of the greatest players that I've ever been involved
Speaker 15: with will ever See for a long time, and for
Speaker 15: him to say that to me Elgin Baylor, who was
Speaker 15: an incredible player, I was like.
Speaker 3: He was a guy who drug me around like a dog.
Speaker 15: Those were the most important years of my life.
Speaker 3: I learned so much.
Speaker 15: You can throw your college degree out the window, but
Speaker 15: just learning that other people have similar circumstances to you.
Speaker 15: All of you were raised differently. If you're not love
Speaker 15: and a home, it's a house. If it's love and
Speaker 15: a home, it's a home. And I experienced that for
Speaker 15: these gentlemen and never said a word about it until
Speaker 15: I guess last six months, and it's been exceedingly I
Speaker 15: wish I had told him earlier.
Speaker 1: Gary Moore, Weston bureau chief, usually with us on Wednesdays,
Speaker 1: but he had last night off. He's actually on the
Speaker 1: West Coast in Los Angeles taking care of some business literally,
Speaker 1: and I thought I would reach out to Gary because
Speaker 1: in all the years he lived out there and covered sports,
Speaker 1: you are a West Coast bureau chief for several years
Speaker 1: covered the Lakers, and you know you also posted about
Speaker 1: Jerry West yesterday when he passed. He was an incredible
Speaker 1: figure in Los Angeles, wasn't he Well.
Speaker 16: Yeah, in many ways. I mean, obviously he's on the
Speaker 16: Lakers Mount Rushmore, if you want to call it that.
Speaker 16: I think he's the greatest Laker evera it ever will
Speaker 16: be more than likely he's tops in my book as
Speaker 16: far as the greatest Laker because of what he did
Speaker 16: as a player and as what he did as an executive.
Speaker 16: I think you'd be I think you'd be hard pressed
Speaker 16: to find a greater player turned NBA executive than Jerry West.
Speaker 16: I don't even know who had really come close to that,
Speaker 16: considering what he did as an All Star and then
Speaker 16: late how he constructed the showtime Lakers. In fact, that's
Speaker 16: when I first started to cover the Lakers was in
Speaker 16: eighty six. I've been out here for a few months.
Speaker 4: I moved from.
Speaker 16: Louisville in late eighty five and I got on a
Speaker 16: KFI radio and I said, Hey, is anybody going out
Speaker 16: to Lakers you know, the spring to you know, cover
Speaker 16: some of the playoffs and now we can't make it. Well,
Speaker 16: I'll go hello. I came out as I came out
Speaker 16: as a DJ, but I was I was helping our
Speaker 16: sports guy who was a department of one and Chris
Speaker 16: couldn't do it all. Chris Chris, Chris Roberts, who later
Speaker 16: became the UCLA play by play guy. So I was
Speaker 16: out there covering the Lakers that in eighty six, eighty seven,
Speaker 16: eighty eight, you know, the great showtime years, and got
Speaker 16: to talk to Jerry several times. I posted this on Facebook.
Speaker 16: Was the best time you could talk to Jerry. Were
Speaker 16: usually after the game, not daring a game. He really
Speaker 16: was was very, very nervous about watching the game. And
Speaker 16: I can understand, I think a lot of of athletes
Speaker 16: may be able to understand that after you've played and
Speaker 16: you're so close to the team, you're so close to
Speaker 16: the game, and as Jerry was maybe more of an
Speaker 16: extreme version of that. But there was a place, Dick.
Speaker 16: The media had our own lounge in the fabulous Forum.
Speaker 16: Of course, there was the Forum Club, which you know,
Speaker 16: all the high rollers, all the celebrities, where they're all
Speaker 16: the athletes would go to before and after the games.
Speaker 16: And on the hallway leading to that, like one of
Speaker 16: the upper levels, there was a little door off to
Speaker 16: the right. I'll never forget this, that's the media door.
Speaker 16: And you go in there and there was a small
Speaker 16: bar over the corner like you'd have in your basement
Speaker 16: and had a bartender, and that's where Jerry and the
Speaker 16: great Chick Hern play by play guy would meet afterwards
Speaker 16: and have a soft drink, have a beer, whatever, and
Speaker 16: just kind of talk about as the game. And I
Speaker 16: had many conversations with Jerry which are just absolutely golden.
Speaker 16: What a great, great man. Nothing at all did not
Speaker 16: remotely resemble that buffoonish cartoon portrayal that was on the
Speaker 16: A CEO special. We've talked about that when that was on,
Speaker 16: just ridiculous nothing only in name, but he was nothing
Speaker 16: like that character, because Jerry was the most level headed,
Speaker 16: sincere classy, respectful executive I think I've ever met in
Speaker 16: any sport Baseball, football, basketball. He was just that great
Speaker 16: of a guy. And boy, he did he know something
Speaker 16: about constructing basketball teams or what.
Speaker 1: He absolutely did. And it's legend now that week that
Speaker 1: he signed Kobe Bryant, or actually traded Vlade Divac's rights
Speaker 1: for Kobe's rights, and then he turned around and signed
Speaker 1: Shaquille O'Neil the same week. To your point about being
Speaker 1: an executive, best week ever in a history.
Speaker 5: For an executive.
Speaker 16: Yeah, he knew what he was doing. He didn't like coaching.
Speaker 16: He coached for a while and it was just it
Speaker 16: was he wasn't comfortable with it. He did I think
Speaker 16: he did it very well. I think they're probably that
Speaker 16: the stats will show that. But Jerry was not only
Speaker 16: just a great player and great executive. Look at the
Speaker 16: whole NBA. When Jerry was drafted, I believe it was
Speaker 16: in the spring of nineteen sixty. Later that year, they
Speaker 16: moved from Milwaukee to Los Angeles, the first team to
Speaker 16: come to the West. Because of Jerry and some guy
Speaker 16: named Elgin Baylor, who a lot of people who thought
Speaker 16: that people thought was the best player in all of
Speaker 16: basketball at that time, they had this immediate interest in
Speaker 16: pro basketball raised here in Los Angeles, Jerry had a
Speaker 16: lot to do not only with the popularity of basketball
Speaker 16: in LA, but in the West in general, because two
Speaker 16: years later you had the Philadelphia Warriors transferring from Philadelphia.
Speaker 16: They moved to San Francisco with Will Chamberlain, and they
Speaker 16: seem to have done fairly well since that move. So
Speaker 16: you look at Jerry as one of the pioneers who
Speaker 16: helped just not only helped the Lakers, but bring the
Speaker 16: NBA out west where our has flourished and it's never
Speaker 16: been any stronger than it's been in the past several years.
Speaker 16: But a huge loss, just a really great and by
Speaker 16: the way, I would wreck anybody. I would recommend to
Speaker 16: anybody to read his book that he wrote a few years.
Speaker 3: Ago that I have.
Speaker 16: It's on my kindle. I think it's My Tortured Life.
Speaker 16: I think was the name of it or something like that.
Speaker 16: You know, he had, as you know, because your dad
Speaker 16: went to West Virginia, you know about a lot of
Speaker 16: his history growing up, and he had a rather rough
Speaker 16: childhood and lost his brother in the war and some
Speaker 16: other things like that, and his dad was not the
Speaker 16: easiest guy to live with either.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, as you said, and I talked
Speaker 1: about it earlier on the show, being a fan growing up,
Speaker 1: and I didn't realize until I started reading even more
Speaker 1: about him, just recently, really within the last twenty four hours.
Speaker 1: He didn't like the nickname Zeke from Cabin Creek because
Speaker 1: he was technically from Cabin Creek, and I know Elgin
Speaker 1: Baylor tease him about his accent and things like that,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I always grew up my dad called him
Speaker 1: that and all, but still I was really surprised Gary.
Speaker 1: And now it makes sense to find out from excerpts
Speaker 1: from his book and then interviews he's done about how
Speaker 1: tortured he was to this day until his dying day,
Speaker 1: literally about not being able to get past the Celtics.
Speaker 5: You know, when it came time to win a championship.
Speaker 1: I think they beat the Sixers when they won his
Speaker 1: only ring, but that series with the Celtics nearly destroyed him.
Speaker 16: He was the best competitor the Celtics ever faced, and
Speaker 16: yet and yet he couldn't get past. Well, it shows
Speaker 16: you the kind of a team that the Lakers had.
Speaker 16: They just didn't have enough around Jerry to you know,
Speaker 16: seal the deal until later on, when you know, they
Speaker 16: got Will and Gail Goodrich and some other guys in there.
Speaker 16: West By West, My Charm Tormented Life is the name
Speaker 16: of the autobiography that he wrote, and anybody who's any
Speaker 16: kind of a basketball fan should read that because in
Speaker 16: his own words, and you know, a lot of it's
Speaker 16: hard to because you're thinking, God, this guy is so talented.
Speaker 16: You know, he had the basketball, the sporting world in
Speaker 16: the palm of his hand, and yet he didn't think
Speaker 16: he did. He in terms of a shooting guard, uh,
Speaker 16: you know, and a playmaker and a point guard whatever
Speaker 16: you whatever position, he wanted him to play right there
Speaker 16: in the uh, in the back court he could he
Speaker 16: could do very well. And as somebody who grew up
Speaker 16: in basketball crazy Murray, Kentucky and practice every day outside
Speaker 16: with the basketball goal of my dad set up. He
Speaker 16: was one of the guys and I tried to like,
Speaker 16: you know, Jerry West and Pete Merrivitch, another guy who
Speaker 16: wore number forty four the Dog were two guys who
Speaker 16: I just completely looked up to and throwing there too,
Speaker 16: exactly exactly I mean that it was. It was really uh.
Speaker 16: He was really somebody that that I think epitomized having
Speaker 16: the logo. And I don't think he was completely comfortable
Speaker 16: with being the logo either. By the way, I think
Speaker 16: that he said before, like, yeah, Michael Jordan should be
Speaker 16: it now.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Steven Smith floated that and immediately assumed wrongly that Jerry
Speaker 1: West would be opposed to it, and Wes said, no,
Speaker 1: that's a great idea. I said earlier Gary that I'd
Speaker 1: be okay with Michael, but you know, if they could
Speaker 1: somehow design a logo if they are going to retire
Speaker 1: the Jerry West logo that somehow encapsulates Magic and Larry
Speaker 1: Bird together because they saved the NBAS and I bet
Speaker 1: Jerry West would have been good with that as well.
Speaker 1: But I know we lose him within a week or
Speaker 1: a few days of losing Bill Walton. You know, we
Speaker 1: keep losing these giant figures.
Speaker 3: And you met both of them, Yeah.
Speaker 1: I did.
Speaker 16: I liked both of them a lot, and obviously we're
Speaker 16: a big fan of both of their games. I didn't
Speaker 16: know this until a few years ago, that Jerry West
Speaker 16: and Elgin Baylor and those Lakers came to Murray really
Speaker 16: in nineteen sixty four to play a guy by the
Speaker 16: name of Cliff and the Hawks of Saint Louis. It
Speaker 16: was part of a benefit thing, and they did this
Speaker 16: for several years, Dick were They would come down and
Speaker 16: play them in the field house there at Murray State's campus,
Speaker 16: and Cliff would do these and I think they went
Speaker 16: over to Western. They may have played in owens Borough
Speaker 16: and in Cliff's hometown as well, but they would do
Speaker 16: these barnstorming exhibition games to raise money. I know they
Speaker 16: raised money for the third Red Fund at Murray State.
Speaker 16: But Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, and a young player from
Speaker 16: Kentucky you may remember by the name of Cotton Nash,
Speaker 16: who was a rookie for the Lakers, all came to
Speaker 16: Murray State in like September, late September nineteen sixty four.
Speaker 16: Will Chamberlain came on one of those junkets when he
Speaker 16: was with the Philadelphia with the Philadelphia Warriors, and Oscar
Speaker 16: Robertson came there too. All these great things that you
Speaker 16: don't really see anymore, I mean, how great. And of
Speaker 16: course we know about when the Celtics came to Lexington
Speaker 16: in an exhibition game that didn't quite happen. We know
Speaker 16: about that story. But how great would it be to
Speaker 16: see some of these games like that, to see you know,
Speaker 16: Steph Curry, or to see Donchish or some of these
Speaker 16: guys come to upp Arena and play exhibition games against
Speaker 16: say a d and the Lakers, you know, for some funds.
Speaker 16: I would I would love to see that kind of
Speaker 16: barn starring happen again.
Speaker 5: Thank you so much.
Speaker 16: Absolutely always a pleasure to talk about the logo, and
Speaker 16: I'll do it for now.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us for this special edition, the best
Speaker 1: of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 5: That's it. Good night from the garage in Lexington, Deezer