Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider Day. Abrael with
Speaker 1: you on a Thursday edition of our program. Coming up
Speaker 1: on a big weekend for the baseball Wildcats, they take
Speaker 1: on South Carolina tomorrow night. You will hear it right
Speaker 1: here on six thirty WLAP. It's a six thirty game time,
Speaker 1: six fifteen pregame with Darreon Hendrick dug and I will
Speaker 1: have it for you over on SEC Plus as well,
Speaker 1: so you can watch on your mobile device tonight that
Speaker 1: We're going to talk a lot of Kentucky football and basketball.
Speaker 1: And we start with the Travis Perry situation, because we
Speaker 1: talked about this over the last couple of days. He
Speaker 1: puts his name in the portal, as somebody pointed out,
Speaker 1: literally at the eleventh hour heading up to the deadline
Speaker 1: Tuesday at midnight. And the reason I'm bringing it up
Speaker 1: is because there has been so much consternation, so much
Speaker 1: backlash on social media, which I suppose was really predictable.
Speaker 1: People disappointed. They wanted to see this kid matriculated Kentucky
Speaker 1: for obvious reasons. You know, he's a great story. You know,
Speaker 1: broke king Kelly Holman's record, as you know, leads his
Speaker 1: team to a state championship was not really wanted quite
Speaker 1: frankly by Calipari and his staff. He didn't really fit
Speaker 1: their style of play. Let's be honest, but a kid
Speaker 1: like that in your backyard, it behooves you to take him,
Speaker 1: although now you're signing up for criticism when you don't
Speaker 1: play him well. Mark Pope didn't have that problem because
Speaker 1: he wanted him. He was glad to have him. He
Speaker 1: inherited him, but he ended up needing him when Lamart
Speaker 1: Butler and Kerk Crisa went down. And for a while there,
Speaker 1: Travis Perry was the point guard and he did okay.
Speaker 1: His best games, unfortunately, were against Alabama and losing efforts,
Speaker 1: and he also was victimized defensively, as you would expect
Speaker 1: a lot of freshmen are by SEC backcourt players. But
Speaker 1: the question was what is his future at Kentucky. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: if he had finished his career at UK, he would
Speaker 1: have played more, he would have been successful. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: he would not. I don't know it would have ever
Speaker 1: been a starter for Mark Pope at Kentucky, either at
Speaker 1: the point or at the two. And I considered Travis
Speaker 1: Perry in terms of a skill set and this is
Speaker 1: just one man's opinion. A shooting guard six 't one
Speaker 1: was a point guard in high school because he needed
Speaker 1: to be the facilitator. He was obviously the best player.
Speaker 1: But at Kentucky he was a point guard because of
Speaker 1: a need for him to play point. But in terms
Speaker 1: of his skill set, I truly believe he is a
Speaker 1: two guard. Now. If he goes someplace where he's essentially
Speaker 1: a combo, that's fine, and you can take him him
Speaker 1: as a combo at Kentucky, but much better shooter and
Speaker 1: score at a good handle, but much better I think,
Speaker 1: in the off guard role than at the point. So
Speaker 1: what was his future at Kentucky. Well, he had to
Speaker 1: be asking himself that. And I do not believe for
Speaker 1: a moment this had anything to do with nil. I
Speaker 1: just don't. And maybe I'm naive. There's a rumor out
Speaker 1: there that, you know, he found out what other guys
Speaker 1: were making and somebody else made him a better offer.
Speaker 1: That might have happened. He might have gotten a decent
Speaker 1: offer to go elsewhere. We'll find out, I would think
Speaker 1: fairly soon. But I don't believe his motives were strictly
Speaker 1: about money. I just don't. And again, call me a sap,
Speaker 1: that's fine. I've been call worse. But I just believe
Speaker 1: that he took a good, hard look at playing time
Speaker 1: and how he wanted to develop as a ballplayer, and
Speaker 1: this had to be an incredibly difficult decision for Travis Perry.
Speaker 1: And as as somebody I was talking to yesterday said,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe he goes off and develops his game
Speaker 1: and comes back to Kentucky. As long as the portal
Speaker 1: doors keep swinging both ways, you know, without restriction, that's
Speaker 1: entirely possible. Harley Gilmour came back that the football team
Speaker 1: wasn't quite the same scenario, but it happens, and it's
Speaker 1: happened in a lot of different sports with a lot
Speaker 1: of different kids. But I find interesting the discussions on
Speaker 1: social media about, you know, the people who want to
Speaker 1: paint Mark Pope is the bad guy. Pope could have
Speaker 1: kept him, Pope should have done this, and that Perry
Speaker 1: should have done this, or that you got to do
Speaker 1: what's best for what's right in front of you, And
Speaker 1: I would be again, I might sign san naive. I
Speaker 1: gotta think Mark Pope said, Travis, if you want to stay,
Speaker 1: there's a place for you here. It's not a Cassidy
Speaker 1: Rose situation where they said you can stay, but it's
Speaker 1: got to be as a walk on. No, Travis Perry
Speaker 1: was on Scollie, but I'm sure Mark Pope was honest
Speaker 1: with him, and even if without a word, what Mark
Speaker 1: Pope has told him with his recruiting and with his
Speaker 1: moves in the portals is we are recruiting guys who
Speaker 1: are bigger, faster and stronger than you are because that's
Speaker 1: what coaches do. And again, it's different in basketball, I believe,
Speaker 1: than it is in football, where Mark Popell sign a
Speaker 1: kid and he says as much, Mark Pope said, you know,
Speaker 1: I'll sign a kid and say the next thing I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do is go out and try to recruit over you,
Speaker 1: because that's how you develop depth and that's how you
Speaker 1: get better. It's not quite the same in basketball, at
Speaker 1: least it hasn't been in the past because coaches could
Speaker 1: put a roster up on the wall basically and see
Speaker 1: the future. All right, we've got Travis Perry for the
Speaker 1: next four years. You know if the kid's gonna be
Speaker 1: a pro two years or three years. But you know,
Speaker 1: you had Travis Perry probably for four years, so you're
Speaker 1: gonna recruit around him, maybe a little bit over him,
Speaker 1: but you can't do that anymore now in college basketball.
Speaker 1: It's year to year and we're gonna hear Rick Patino
Speaker 1: in just a minute talk about that. Why he's not
Speaker 1: recruiting right now high school kids at Saint John's and
Speaker 1: why he's comfortable with that because now college ball is
Speaker 1: more like the pros. You don't know literally from year
Speaker 1: to year what's your roster is going to look like,
Speaker 1: even if you have players with long term contracts, because
Speaker 1: there are ways out. So Pope and company, every coach
Speaker 1: in America is recruiting for this coming year. That's it.
Speaker 1: Even when you sign a high school kid, you clearly
Speaker 1: don't know how long you're gonna have him. So it's unfortunate.
Speaker 1: I think everybody all root for Travis Perry. We all
Speaker 1: liked him, We enjoy talking with him, and he's a
Speaker 1: great story. So let's trying to know the locals. They're
Speaker 1: always great stories. But he's got to do what's best
Speaker 1: for himself. Mark Pope's got to do what's best for
Speaker 1: the program and you the fans, And sometimes those two
Speaker 1: paths crisscross and go in different directions. So all this
Speaker 1: chatter on social media about you know this this nefarious
Speaker 1: kind of action going on. You know, Perry is the
Speaker 1: bad guy. Pope is the bad guy. You know. It's
Speaker 1: just the way it is in college basketball these days.
Speaker 1: All right. I mentioned Rick Pattino and he had said
Speaker 1: during the n Sate Tournament, which is when there were
Speaker 1: documentary series, the reality series on Saint John's Basketball aired,
Speaker 1: that he's not going to recruit, at least right now
Speaker 1: high school kids for Saint John's. They're going to the
Speaker 1: portal because he's got experience. He's got to replace, et cetera,
Speaker 1: et cetera. And keep in mind, now his money man
Speaker 1: is Micropoli. Micropolis, a New York kid, Saint John's fan,
Speaker 1: and a guy who sold vitamin water I think it
Speaker 1: was to Coca Cola for a billion dollars. Then he
Speaker 1: went back developed another drink and sold that for a
Speaker 1: gazillion dollars. You might know his name because he has
Speaker 1: owned two different horses that were Kentucky Derby favorites, including
Speaker 1: Fierceness or So I really liked last year. He also
Speaker 1: had Forte who had to scratch out of the Derby.
Speaker 1: So here's a guy living his dream plowing money into
Speaker 1: Saint John's. And I got a comment here from Patino.
Speaker 1: He was on a podcast from Barstool Sports and they
Speaker 1: were asking Patino about the fact that he is going
Speaker 1: basically exclusively with Portal Kids now, and not only that,
Speaker 1: he seems really comfortable with the concept.
Speaker 2: A lot of these guys feel like they've gotten out
Speaker 2: because of the transfer Portal and Nil and having to
Speaker 2: play a different game. You've kind of almost run into
Speaker 2: the fire and been like, I'm ready for him.
Speaker 1: Read no.
Speaker 3: I like it because I spent ten years in the
Speaker 3: pros and to me, it's it's almost a cobbon copy
Speaker 3: of the EuroLeague. The EuroLeague, if you sign a player
Speaker 3: for two years, that's a long time, so it's really
Speaker 3: a one year contract. You're getting different players every year,
Speaker 3: and that's the way it's with us now. Fortunately for us,
Speaker 3: we haven't lost a freshman yet, a freshman have come back.
Speaker 3: So this year we're losing. We're not even looking at
Speaker 3: a high school basketball player.
Speaker 1: We'll look.
Speaker 3: We're losing Aaron Scott, Kadari Richmond, and Davon Smith. So
Speaker 3: we're looking for three transfer guys. And I like it.
Speaker 3: I don't get involved in the financial negotiations of any
Speaker 3: of that. But if we need more money, I'll call
Speaker 3: our guy Micropolis.
Speaker 1: Esay, yes, he's ready to go. Wait, so you're not
Speaker 1: even looking.
Speaker 2: At any college or high school?
Speaker 3: No, not this year.
Speaker 2: So if a five star high school kid calls you
Speaker 2: up AND's like, hey, no, you're not looking for but
Speaker 2: I want to come to Saint John's.
Speaker 3: I probably wouldn't take him because I don't think you
Speaker 3: could win and win big with high school kids.
Speaker 1: Rick Potino courtesy of Barstools Sports, and boy have times changed.
Speaker 1: I mean when you go back to Patino's best teams
Speaker 1: in Kentucky, obviously he recruited the crap out of high
Speaker 1: school kids. But keep in mind now that there was
Speaker 1: some element of the portal at work when Patino was
Speaker 1: putting his best team together at Kentucky. That, of course,
Speaker 1: was the ninety six team. That team featured, among others,
Speaker 1: Ron Mercer and Anthony Epps and Walter McCarty. But Tony
Speaker 1: Delk became the mop in the final four. But two
Speaker 1: of the most key elements for that team Derek Anderson
Speaker 1: and Mark Pope. And I'll never forget this in ninety
Speaker 1: five when Kentucky was struggling it's actually ninety four at
Speaker 1: times to rebound and play physical on the inside. Mark
Speaker 1: Pope was wearing a red shirt and was already in
Speaker 1: lexingon and Rick Patino kept saying, that's not going to
Speaker 1: be a problem next year because we have Mock Pope,
Speaker 1: and he was right. Pope wasn't a starter in the UK.
Speaker 1: Came off the bench, but he added something that they
Speaker 1: absolutely had to have. And Derek Anderson, of course was
Speaker 1: one of the best players in America when he went
Speaker 1: first to Aisle State and then transferred I e. Came
Speaker 1: through the portal to play Kentucky, but that roster was
Speaker 1: supplemented with the transfers. It was essentially a high school recruits,
Speaker 1: including the key to that team that was Asheoine Walker,
Speaker 1: and it was a guy Patino took because he knew
Speaker 1: he could handle him, and a lot of coaches stayed
Speaker 1: away Mantoine because they didn't think they could. So now
Speaker 1: that that has swung entirely toward the portal for Rick Pattino,
Speaker 1: and it's all part of the landscape now of college sports,
Speaker 1: and it's driving a lot of people crazy, and it's
Speaker 1: making some kids, very few really rich want to come
Speaker 1: in a big Moon cider. At the bottom of the hour,
Speaker 1: we'll talk to Jeff Drummond from Cats Illustrated. A little
Speaker 1: bit later on John Wong, sports writer and blogger, and
Speaker 1: also Peter Wilson from the Georgetown newspaper. We're going to
Speaker 1: talk to him, but Scott Connie's new head coach, Shawn Woods.
Speaker 1: That's all ahead on the Big Blue Sider six thirty
Speaker 1: WLAP Welcome back. Coming up at the bottom of the
Speaker 1: hour just a few minutes. Jeff Drummond of Cats Illustrated,
Speaker 1: part of the Rivals Network and our number two. John Wong,
Speaker 1: blogger and sports writer covers the Wildcats, also an established author,
Speaker 1: and Pete Wilson, the sports editor of the Georgetown News
Speaker 1: Graphic to talk about Scott Connie's new coach, Sean Woods.
Speaker 1: As you know tonight it's the NFL Draft. Going to
Speaker 1: find out where Maxwell Hairston goes, and maybe he goes
Speaker 1: to my beloved Green Bay Packers. He could be on
Speaker 1: the board there. He ran the fastest forty of all
Speaker 1: the players at this year's combine. He ran a four
Speaker 1: point two eight forty. Now he is a little light
Speaker 1: at oneint eighty three, so some wonder can he stand
Speaker 1: up to the riggers of the National Football League. But
Speaker 1: I would love to see him in Green Bay. And
Speaker 1: of course the Wildcats had Carrington Valentine go to Green
Speaker 1: Bay in the seventh round and was a pleasant surprise
Speaker 1: to make the team. He got a little lucky. There
Speaker 1: were some injuries that helped him make the team as
Speaker 1: opposed to the practice squad, but he made the most
Speaker 1: of his opportunities and now he is an established NFL player.
Speaker 1: Of course, you have to establish yourself every year. Bryant McFadden,
Speaker 1: as a former NFL player, played at Florida State, when
Speaker 1: a couple of Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive
Speaker 1: back and he is a guy who really likes what
Speaker 1: he sees in Harriston. He talked about Maxwell on thecbssports
Speaker 1: dot com website.
Speaker 4: He would go higher than many people expect. Remember Devin
Speaker 4: Witherspoon's surprise a lot of outsiders when he was the
Speaker 4: top five draft pick by the Seattle Seahawks. Maxwell Harriston
Speaker 4: has that ability. The thing I love about Maxwell Harriston.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately he didn't.
Speaker 4: Get chance to play a full season because of a
Speaker 4: show to ailment. But when he started fourth Kentucky, he
Speaker 4: was a player. Go back and watch the game earlier
Speaker 4: in the year against Georgia there in Kentucky. Watch the
Speaker 4: double move concept they consistently threw at Maxwell. Watch the
Speaker 4: discipline eyes. Go watch what he did against Texas against
Speaker 4: Isaiah Bond, Matthew Golden. Consistently they trying to hit him
Speaker 4: cross the middle with deep digs, deep posts, and he
Speaker 4: was always in the hip pocket. So when you watch
Speaker 4: him play, we all knew he was extremely quick and fast.
Speaker 4: But when he went to Indy and put forth that
Speaker 4: great personal workout, all he did was confirm everything that
Speaker 4: we saw that he did while at college at Kentucky.
Speaker 4: So I believe, like I said, he will be drafted
Speaker 4: a lot higher than many people believe. And oh, by
Speaker 4: the way, anytime you're running forward two, that's just the
Speaker 4: icing on the cake, and you better believe that cake
Speaker 4: was already tasting good.
Speaker 1: Ryan McFadden courtesycbssports dot Com. If you're a Kentucky fan,
Speaker 1: probably a question just as big as what happens with
Speaker 1: Dion Walker when you're keeping an eye on the draft. Well,
Speaker 1: when he first came to Kentucky. You thought, this is
Speaker 1: a guy six y six almost three point fifty with
Speaker 1: great athletic skills, a dtackle who could be you know,
Speaker 1: like top fifteen. And he has played well. He played
Speaker 1: well in college, there's no question. And I was looking
Speaker 1: at the walterfootball dot com website, the scouting reports, and
Speaker 1: they've got pros and cons now on Diane. And again,
Speaker 1: Vince Merrow, if you're listening, this isn't me talking. This
Speaker 1: is one of the scouting services. On the upside. He's huge,
Speaker 1: of course, large body at the point of attack yeap,
Speaker 1: athletic for a size oh yeah, burst to close, yep,
Speaker 1: quick for a large defensive tackle. Well we saw that,
Speaker 1: didn't we at Kentucky. But here is how they list
Speaker 1: his weaknesses, and again not me. Doesn't play big, doesn't
Speaker 1: play powerful, plays too high, thinks he's an athletic pass rusher.
Speaker 1: All of that to a degree I believe is true.
Speaker 1: I don't know about how he thinks he's an athletic
Speaker 1: pa as rusher. I don't know what that means. But
Speaker 1: I will say that this year he did not command
Speaker 1: the double teams that I thought he would. I don't
Speaker 1: know why. I don't know if it was something he
Speaker 1: was doing the team was or was not doing, or whatever,
Speaker 1: but he didn't quite clear the path that I thought
Speaker 1: he would as an elite defensive lineman in the SEC. However,
Speaker 1: I don't think and this is just me talking, I
Speaker 1: don't think there's a work ethic issue with him. And
Speaker 1: depending on where he goes, I think if and when
Speaker 1: he gets well he'll get into a camp, I think
Speaker 1: he'll respond, and I think he'll make a team ultimately
Speaker 1: pretty happy. So that's going to be a mystery. Now, Look,
Speaker 1: he's a big athletic guy, so he'll probably go I
Speaker 1: would think in the second round. But what do I know?
Speaker 1: We'll find out. To me, one of the most fascinating
Speaker 1: elements of this draft is going to be Shador Sanders,
Speaker 1: the guy who had his jersey retired or number retired
Speaker 1: at Colorado for leading a team to a glistening thirteen
Speaker 1: and twelve record. Man Anyhow, a lot of people believe
Speaker 1: that he might be a number one draft picking this
Speaker 1: and that he's talented, there's no question, but going through
Speaker 1: the process didn't help him much at all. And in fact,
Speaker 1: here's a quote that leaked out from a long time
Speaker 1: assistant NFL coach who spent time with Sanders, and here's
Speaker 1: the quote. He's the worst formal interview I've ever been
Speaker 1: in my life. He's so entitled, he takes unnecessary sacks,
Speaker 1: he never plays on time, he has horrible body language.
Speaker 1: He blames teammates. But the biggest thing is he's not
Speaker 1: that good now. Of course, Dion Sanders calls it venomous
Speaker 1: and laughable comments like that, but the kids obviously athlete.
Speaker 1: Can he step in and lead your franchise right now?
Speaker 1: Probably not. And in case you're asking yourself, why would
Speaker 1: a guy leak that? Why would he let that be
Speaker 1: known publicly anonymously? Of course, one of the reasons that
Speaker 1: pops to my mind is if you're an assistant coach
Speaker 1: for a franchise that has fans clamoring for a guy
Speaker 1: like Shador Sanders, it's sad, but it behooves you to
Speaker 1: leak that information and let people know you don't know
Speaker 1: that this is the guy you want, you know, and
Speaker 1: they say, look, he's not a bad kid. Another guy
Speaker 1: pointed out, he's been so insulated, it's going to be
Speaker 1: a culture shock when he really learns how a locker
Speaker 1: room operates and how it works inside a building. This
Speaker 1: guy went on to say he's had so much input
Speaker 1: on the offensive game plan and who the coach is,
Speaker 1: and everything's been catered to him. When you walk into
Speaker 1: one of these NFL buildings, no one's gonna give a
Speaker 1: bleep about that. No one cares who your dad is.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to end up fighting through some adversity.
Speaker 1: So this is gonna be an interesting story one to
Speaker 1: keep an eye on. There's a lot going on in
Speaker 1: this year's draft. I think it's fascinating. One other note
Speaker 1: about the portal I didn't mention in the first segment.
Speaker 1: You may have seen this Aaron Bradshaw once again on
Speaker 1: the move. You knew that he has picked the school.
Speaker 1: Now he's gonna play at Memphis. First Kentucky, then Ohio State,
Speaker 1: and now Memphis. This is a five star kid out
Speaker 1: of high school everybody wanted, seven foot one with a
Speaker 1: lot of skills, but he has yet to blossom into
Speaker 1: the kind of player we all thought he would be.
Speaker 1: And that's a guy who could be a absolutely significant
Speaker 1: player on a team advice for a national championship, and
Speaker 1: it hasn't happened yet. So keep an eye on Memphis.
Speaker 1: All right, coming up next, Jeff Drumming. If Cat's illustrated,
Speaker 1: that's all ahead right here on the Big Blon Sider,
Speaker 1: six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big bon Sider.
Speaker 1: Joining us now is a longtime friend of the show,
Speaker 1: Jeff Drummond. Cat's illustrated part of the Rivals Network. You
Speaker 1: see his work on the website. You see his photos,
Speaker 1: especially when the baseball Wildcats are playing. We'll talk about
Speaker 1: them in just a minute. But the Jeff's been covering
Speaker 1: the UK beat for a long long time, and I'm wondering,
Speaker 1: Jay Drumm, as a native Kentucky and yourself and the
Speaker 1: guy who's seen a lot of Kentucky kids come through
Speaker 1: all the UK programs, how surprised were you by Travis
Speaker 1: Perry's announcement, Not just the way he made it, but
Speaker 1: it's just the fact that by all accounts he was
Speaker 1: coming back. But the next thing you know, he's out
Speaker 1: the door, or at least in the portal. What did
Speaker 1: you think, Well.
Speaker 5: It was new things where I was a little bit surprised.
Speaker 5: But then again, not if that makes any sense at all,
Speaker 5: because I totally understand the rationale behind his decision. And
Speaker 5: this is a kid that's been starting and playing almost
Speaker 5: every minute of his basketball career until he got to UK.
Speaker 5: So that's a big adjustment going from that to the
Speaker 5: role he had at UK, and with UK recruiting so
Speaker 5: many guys out of the portal this season, I think
Speaker 5: he just saw that he probably wasn't going to get
Speaker 5: that opportunity that he craved for at least another year
Speaker 5: or so. It makes me sad that then it happened, though,
Speaker 5: because you know, a lot of people were hoping that
Speaker 5: he would get that opportunity and really didn't know if
Speaker 5: he would when Cal was here, and he got it
Speaker 5: and then played some good minutes last season in a
Speaker 5: backup role where he kind of had to be forced
Speaker 5: in action. I had a schedule, but you know, I
Speaker 5: just wish that that it would have worked out and
Speaker 5: had been a similar storyline to you know, a Darius
Speaker 5: Miller or a Dominie Hawkins, Guys like that who stuck
Speaker 5: it out and eventually played an important role on really
Speaker 5: good UK teams.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great parallel to draw. Darius, of course,
Speaker 1: wins the national championship with the Wildcats. Hawkins was you know,
Speaker 1: sort of on the fringe until he had that great
Speaker 1: sweet sixteen and Caliperry happened to be there and he
Speaker 1: turned out to be a guy to Kentucky really needed.
Speaker 1: But as you mentioned, you know, Mark Pope was bringing
Speaker 1: in guys that were gonna keep Perry pretty much tattooed
Speaker 1: to the bench. He was needed this year because of injuries.
Speaker 1: But yeah, just a great story. But you get your
Speaker 1: root for him. I know everybody will root for him
Speaker 1: wherever he goes. But you know, it was just for
Speaker 1: the guy that brooke King Kelly Coleman's record to come
Speaker 1: to Kentucky. And man, you could feel it, couldn't you,
Speaker 1: Jay Drumm, And of course you were right there taking photos.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're upstairs are down, But every
Speaker 1: time Travis Perry rose up to shoot, the crowd was
Speaker 1: sort of hold its breath, wouldn't it, waiting for that
Speaker 1: three point of a drop.
Speaker 5: Yeah, they just wanted to explode. And anytime he or
Speaker 5: Trent Noah would do anything. And that's that's what makes
Speaker 5: it so special when you do have guys under that
Speaker 5: good in the state. And we didn't get to see
Speaker 5: that for a long time. I mean, given the fact
Speaker 5: that John cal Perry was here for fifteen years, there
Speaker 5: weren't a whole lot of guys that that kind.
Speaker 6: Of fit that.
Speaker 5: Scenario for UK, So I'm going to miss it. I'm
Speaker 5: one of the people I think it would have worked
Speaker 5: out for him if he hung around. But I certainly
Speaker 5: understand the desire UH to want to go out there
Speaker 5: and play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you. Well, let's shift over and
Speaker 1: talk a little Kentucky football. You were at the open
Speaker 1: practices and this is just a real pivotal year for
Speaker 1: Marx troops. I don't know about you, and of course
Speaker 1: you're looking through your viewfinder through your camera, so I
Speaker 1: don't know how much you have a chance to really
Speaker 1: in your own mind kind of break things down and evaluate.
Speaker 1: But if you look at this team on paper and
Speaker 1: the experience they brought in through the portal in the
Speaker 1: areas that they need, they've got a chance to turn
Speaker 1: things around. At least that's the way I see it.
Speaker 1: What do you think?
Speaker 5: The way I view it is they've got a chance
Speaker 5: to be a better football team next season, But I'm
Speaker 5: not convinced that's going to result in a big jump
Speaker 5: or boost in the wind total this season just because
Speaker 5: of who they play and where some of those matchups are.
Speaker 5: I have a hard time looking at that schedule and
Speaker 5: seeing the team uh that can get the six wins,
Speaker 5: And I think they've got to do that bare minimum,
Speaker 5: uh to kind of get the fans back on board. Yeah,
Speaker 5: right now with Mark, mark stoops in the direction of
Speaker 5: the program's going.
Speaker 1: Yeah, although he has raised the floor. I've said many times,
Speaker 1: I didn't make it up, but he has raised the floor.
Speaker 1: And you know, back when you and I started covering
Speaker 1: this program, more me than you, but uh, you know,
Speaker 1: six wins was something to celebrate. That's not the case anymore.
Speaker 1: And yet as you point out, this league is so
Speaker 1: much tougher now than it was when six wins was
Speaker 1: something to celebrate.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 5: And I keep going back to, uh, not only the league, uh,
Speaker 5: but you know, Louisville is coming up to when when
Speaker 5: Mark Soups really had it rolling and uh had those
Speaker 5: two ten wins seasons and and the bowl stream going
Speaker 5: winning the heart of those bowl games, they were taking
Speaker 5: care of business against South Carolina, Missouri, Vanderbilt, and Louisville. Yeah,
Speaker 5: four kind of almost built in wins for them. Because
Speaker 5: they were beating them almost annually, and you take that
Speaker 5: out of the equation and you get something that looks
Speaker 5: like last season.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And you know, Kentucky had a chance. There
Speaker 1: was a point there where Tennessee was kind of stumbling
Speaker 1: and Florida was stumbling and Georgia was not what Georgia
Speaker 1: is now. You know, they you might say they were
Speaker 1: backing up a little bit, but Kentucky didn't take advantage,
Speaker 1: especially Tennessee which was really really going through some problems.
Speaker 1: And yet the Cats just didn't have the opportunity to
Speaker 1: take advantage of all that. And then Stoops comes in
Speaker 1: and they do somewhat. But they're still looking up at
Speaker 1: too many teams, aren't they.
Speaker 5: Yeah, they really are. Even though you know, I think
Speaker 5: they did a nice job of adding talent to the program,
Speaker 5: it just remains to be seen if they can you know,
Speaker 5: produce those wins, especially early. I think every year it
Speaker 5: seems like we're talking about a massive gage early in
Speaker 5: the in the calendar. And you look at this year,
Speaker 5: You've got Ole miss and in game two in South
Speaker 5: Carolina in Game four, and that's a that's a massive challenge,
Speaker 5: uh that they face because even if they go out
Speaker 5: and take care of business and look great against Toledo
Speaker 5: and Eastern Michigan. And you know, nobody should really sleep
Speaker 5: on Toledo either, follow that program over the years. But
Speaker 5: you know, they could be sitting at two and two
Speaker 5: if they if they don't win those first two league
Speaker 5: games or one of them, and it looks pretty bleak
Speaker 5: then because you've got Georgia, Texas Tennessee.
Speaker 6: Uh, back to back to back coming.
Speaker 1: Out of that.
Speaker 5: You your season can be over before it even gets
Speaker 5: to the midway point.
Speaker 1: Now, you're absolutely right about that. There was some comfort
Speaker 1: in the routine back in the day of you play
Speaker 1: your pre conference games, then you get work into your conference.
Speaker 1: By the time you play your first conference game, you've
Speaker 1: played at least three at the non conference games. And
Speaker 1: you know what you have now? And this isn't just Kentucky.
Speaker 1: It's everybody, isn't it.
Speaker 5: Yeah it is, you know, And I suppose, like most things,
Speaker 5: that TV's dictating that the desire to have some higher
Speaker 5: profile games earlier in the season. But yeah, that's the
Speaker 5: way the way it used to be. From late August
Speaker 5: through the month of September, you just had mostly a
Speaker 5: bunch of snoozers. Yeah, outside of two or three games.
Speaker 5: And now you get right into it with you know,
Speaker 5: a Kentucky Old Bez matchup. Yeah, in early September. It
Speaker 5: is pretty attractive for both programs, yep.
Speaker 1: And it's going to be an o miss program minus
Speaker 1: Jackson Dart. We will see where he goes in the
Speaker 1: NFL Draft, which begins tonight. We're talking with Jeff Drummon
Speaker 1: of the Cat's Pause, part of the Rivals Network. We'll
Speaker 1: come back and talk more with Jay drum on the
Speaker 1: other side of the bright here on six thirty WLAP
Speaker 1: Welcome back. We're talking with Jeff Drummon. He has covered
Speaker 1: the UK sports for a number of agencies and he
Speaker 1: is a part of the Rivals Network with Cats Illustrated.
Speaker 1: I mentioned off the top that Jay drum his work
Speaker 1: is on display and of course the website and periodically
Speaker 1: on Facebook. When it comes to the photographs he takes
Speaker 1: at UK baseball games, Man, you had a perfect night
Speaker 1: to shoot pictures. I gotta think the other night. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know the light plays plays tricks on you sometimes,
Speaker 1: but there was a great crowd at Kentucky Proud Park.
Speaker 1: I don't know that anybody expect did a beatdown like
Speaker 1: that though, you know what I mean.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it was.
Speaker 5: It was a gorgeous night for baseball over there. That
Speaker 5: stateum is a little bit tricky when it comes to
Speaker 5: shooting and photography because you even on a great day,
Speaker 5: you have a lot of shaded area that can play
Speaker 5: havoc with the photos. But uh, yeah, I couldn't ask
Speaker 5: for better and just to be out there and that
Speaker 5: be dry, you know, at this time of.
Speaker 1: The year, that's a big fun Yeah, weather cooperated, There's
Speaker 1: no question about that. And you've been to a lot
Speaker 1: of other games, so have you. Do you see this
Speaker 1: team kind of rounding into shape because it seems like now, Jeff,
Speaker 1: they're playing with so much more confidence.
Speaker 5: Well, it's it's it's really funny when when you look
Speaker 5: at it, about a week or so ago, at least
Speaker 5: amongst our community on Yes's Illustrated, there was a lot
Speaker 5: of gloom and doom about this team's chances and then
Speaker 5: they just get a little bit of momentum, gold go
Speaker 5: down and take two out of three from Tennessee and
Speaker 5: it's the next thing, you know, I've got people asking,
Speaker 5: well do you think they can host now? Is they're
Speaker 5: a shot at that. So just you know, a week
Speaker 5: ago you were asking me, you know, if the nick
Speaker 5: Manjill was the right guy. So the program now you're
Speaker 5: talking about hosting. So it shows you how quickly things
Speaker 5: can change, especially when you play in this league and
Speaker 5: have so many opportunities to prove yourself against really good competition.
Speaker 5: And if people do a deeper dive into their season,
Speaker 5: even though they're not where they want to be record wise,
Speaker 5: and and they've lost a few games they probably should
Speaker 5: have won. They they've been ahead of almost everybody they've
Speaker 5: played at some point or another. I forget what that
Speaker 5: number is, but they've helped a league almost every every
Speaker 5: night they go out there in the SEC competition, well.
Speaker 1: An SEC alone, it's seventeen out of eighteen games they've led, Yeah,
Speaker 1: right off the bat, so yeah, it's holding leads. Of course,
Speaker 1: you know, taking a lead in the first inning it
Speaker 1: still counts for something. But you're right, it does show
Speaker 1: you that they've got what it takes. They just got
Speaker 1: to figure out how to hang on and lately they've
Speaker 1: been doing that and now here comes South Carolina. Got
Speaker 1: a few minutes left at Jeff Drummond, let me shift
Speaker 1: you back to basketball. Portal period for the time being
Speaker 1: is over and Mark Pope has once again pulled in
Speaker 1: on paper, a really good class through the portal. He's
Speaker 1: top five depending on the ranking you look at. But
Speaker 1: it's interesting to me how some of the naysayers prior
Speaker 1: to this past season were wondering just the fact that
Speaker 1: they were just wondering about it. Could Mark Pope recruit
Speaker 1: the level of athletes that you need to be successful
Speaker 1: at a Kentucky level, you know, not a Brigham Young level,
Speaker 1: all due respect, but at Kentucky level. To me, that
Speaker 1: was just the easiest question of all. Yes, of course
Speaker 1: he can do that. You can ask about x's and o's,
Speaker 1: and I thought he had quitted himself well and gain
Speaker 1: preparation and all that. But you had to know that
Speaker 1: Mark Pope was going to be able to go out
Speaker 1: and get players. And you covered the recruiting beat for
Speaker 1: a long time. Jane Drummer, I got to think, you're
Speaker 1: not surprised by this at all.
Speaker 5: No, baby just does a little bit because it was
Speaker 5: such a dramatic change from the personality and the philosophy
Speaker 5: that John cal Berry had. Yeah, it's smart Pope. So
Speaker 5: I wanted to see how that would play out with
Speaker 5: the people you have to deal with and on the
Speaker 5: recruiting trail. But he has answered that just in resounding
Speaker 5: fashion with this class that he's put together, not just
Speaker 5: with two of the high school guys, and it would
Speaker 5: have been three had he not been so a depth
Speaker 5: as well getting guys out of the transfer portal. So yeah,
Speaker 5: he's he's I would give him a nine out of
Speaker 5: ten if I was given it kind of a grade
Speaker 5: right now or an A. And you know, he just
Speaker 5: put together a roster and it reminds me a little
Speaker 5: bit of you know, what Todd Golden and Florida had
Speaker 5: this past season. There's there's there's balance in the back court,
Speaker 5: in the front court. There's balance and offense and defense,
Speaker 5: and if you look at it, it's kind of like
Speaker 5: a friend of mine the other day said, it's kind
Speaker 5: of like a Noah's Art type of deal where he
Speaker 5: got two of everything, uh, you know, and that's that's
Speaker 5: kind of the blueprint that Florida had where they weren't
Speaker 5: really on many people's radar when when the season started,
Speaker 5: but if you look at it, they had Clayton as
Speaker 5: a superstar. Yeah, and perhaps Kentucky has a couple of
Speaker 5: guys like that. It remains to be seen if there's
Speaker 5: going to be a dude that comes along like that.
Speaker 5: But then they just had a bunch of guys that
Speaker 5: could rotate in and out of games that if one
Speaker 5: guy went out, there was no drop off to the
Speaker 5: next guy, or very little drop offs. And you know,
Speaker 5: I don't know if he was inspired by that at
Speaker 5: all or that's just the way that it turned out,
Speaker 5: but it kind of reminds me of their championship blueprint.
Speaker 1: That's interesting. And you know, Clayton's a great example of
Speaker 1: a guy that you know, the portal's not entirely bad.
Speaker 1: But you look at a kid who started off at
Speaker 1: Iona with Rick Pattino and he ends up a national
Speaker 1: champion at Florida and maybe the best backcourt player in
Speaker 1: America because he was either a late bloomer or overlooked
Speaker 1: or something like that. I'm not in favor of a
Speaker 1: kid transferring every year until he finds a place that
Speaker 1: he likes. But there is a play I think for
Speaker 1: the opportunity some kids get, you know what I mean
Speaker 1: of bettering themselves and it's not all about money. But
Speaker 1: this guy landed in the perfect spot for him, and
Speaker 1: it paid off for everybody, didn't it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think he's the ideal kind of poster child
Speaker 5: for advocating what direction we've gone in there. I know
Speaker 5: a lot of people still aren't comfortable with it, but
Speaker 5: you you really have to look at a case like that,
Speaker 5: or even with otega Oway, you know, coming to Kentucky
Speaker 5: and how that's helped him blossom and emerge as a
Speaker 5: bigger impact player. But I'm with you on the other
Speaker 5: part though, I think we need some legislation in there
Speaker 5: eventually to kind of get it back to not so
Speaker 5: hard line as to if you transfer ever you're setting out,
Speaker 5: but maybe after you've done it once, you can't just
Speaker 5: hop around for five or six years.
Speaker 1: No, I'm good with one freebie, one freebee and then
Speaker 1: after that. And people like to compare it to the coaches,
Speaker 1: but you know, it's not the same, and there are
Speaker 1: buyouts involved with coaches, et cetera. But yeah, there's got
Speaker 1: to be some element of it. But you know, I
Speaker 1: think for everybody involved, and you know what, even for this,
Speaker 1: some of the kids who would benefit from staying put,
Speaker 1: not always, but a lot of times, right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think there are cases where even you know
Speaker 5: that wouldn't have applied to like a Travis Perry. But
Speaker 5: let's say, in the future, if it doesn't work out
Speaker 5: on his next stop, you know, it may be his
Speaker 5: best interest to just kind of ride it out, Yeah,
Speaker 5: and lest things develop instead of maybe jumping to another
Speaker 5: level or or trying another move.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you. He is Jeff Drummond. Tell
Speaker 1: everybody how to follow you on Twitter or x.
Speaker 5: Well then all of those social media media formats. I
Speaker 5: am at j drum uk and you can find my work.
Speaker 5: And I've always got to put a plug in for
Speaker 5: our other guys, justin Rowland and David Sis and Travels Graft.
Speaker 5: They're just killing it over at Cats Illustrated. That's Kentucky
Speaker 5: dot Rivals dot com is the easiest way to get
Speaker 5: there and all kinds of things going on, even though
Speaker 5: we're kind of out of season on football and basketball
Speaker 5: ever the buck, it's twenty four to seven these days.
Speaker 1: There you go, And those guys have been guests on
Speaker 1: this show as well, so we do appreciate that. Thanks
Speaker 1: j Drumsey at the Ballpark.
Speaker 6: All right, Thanks Gab.
Speaker 1: That's it for our number one coming up in our
Speaker 1: number two, John Wong, blogger and sportswriter as well as
Speaker 1: an author, to talk about the Wildcats, and Peter Wilson,
Speaker 1: the sports editor of the Georgetown News Graphic. He'll talk
Speaker 1: about Scott Coney's hiring of former Wildcat Sean Woods. That's
Speaker 1: all ahead on the Big Boom Sider here on six thirty. IP,
Speaker 1: welcome back to the Big Blue Sider. We welcome back,
Speaker 1: and gentlemen, there's been a guest many times on the show.
Speaker 1: In fact, John Wong Wong's Whinings is his blog and
Speaker 1: he writes for Nolan Media Group. John, you've actually made
Speaker 1: a rare trip to the bat Cave. You've been to
Speaker 1: the garage. I appreciate you joining us on the Celebrity Hotline.
Speaker 7: Yeah, thank you, Dick. And I'll confess I'm kind of
Speaker 7: nervous today because I think this is the first time
Speaker 7: I've been talking to you, with you being this new
Speaker 7: found Kentucky Hall of Fame journalist. You know, there's a
Speaker 7: great responsibility now what I say to you. So I
Speaker 7: hope I don't blow it. I hope I don't take
Speaker 7: you down a few notches. But yeah, you've told your
Speaker 7: your listeners on many occasions that you and I we
Speaker 7: were at UK back in the day, a long time ago,
Speaker 7: and we didn't know each other, and we were on
Speaker 7: very very different career paths. But I have followed your
Speaker 7: career path fairly closely, and it's wonderful to see it
Speaker 7: culminate such high and distinct honor. Congratulations, Dick, you are
Speaker 7: the man.
Speaker 1: Appreciate that. Yeah, John and I were you CA at
Speaker 1: the same time, so our memories of games, coaches, players
Speaker 1: are an absolute parallel. John was on one side of
Speaker 1: campus studying dentistry. I was on the other side, and
Speaker 1: then journalism building. But yeah, it was so much fun
Speaker 1: when you and I got to know each other during
Speaker 1: a rain delay talking about certain games and championships and
Speaker 1: this and that so and there are people like that
Speaker 1: everywhere who share memories. Might not have been sitting next
Speaker 1: to each other, but they might as well have been. Said.
Speaker 1: That gives us some perspective, doesn't it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you had the glamorous job of writing for the
Speaker 7: Kentucky Colonel, where I was busting my butt just trying
Speaker 7: to get through organic chemistry. So if you would have
Speaker 7: told me back then that we would have somehow reconnected
Speaker 7: and for you to have me on your show periodically
Speaker 7: to just talk about all things sports in general and
Speaker 7: University of Kentucky sports in particular. I would have told
Speaker 7: you that you were absolutely nuts. But it's weird the
Speaker 7: way life works sometimes. And here we are, you know,
Speaker 7: kudos to you, and I am living to dream. That's
Speaker 7: my tagline.
Speaker 1: Yeah, now, in his second career is covering sports. Well,
Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about one of the hottest
Speaker 1: topics right now. And of course, in a general sense
Speaker 1: the portal nil, but within the Big Blue Nation, it
Speaker 1: is Travis Perry's departure, which I think caught almost everybody
Speaker 1: off guard simply because and you might have been there.
Speaker 1: He said right after the NCAA tournament He's coming back.
Speaker 1: But clearly, obviously at second thoughts, there are people trying
Speaker 1: to blame Mark Pope, you know, but I'm certain Mark
Speaker 1: Pope wanted him to come back, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: if nothing else, the kid provides depth. But you can
Speaker 1: certainly understand his decision.
Speaker 7: True, I'm frustrated, Dick. I'll be the first to admit that,
Speaker 7: because yes, I was there, and I'm not saying that
Speaker 7: he was saying something that he didn't meet at the time.
Speaker 7: People have a right to change your mind, but the
Speaker 7: fact that it was the at the eleventh hour does
Speaker 7: make you wonder if there was something else going on
Speaker 7: down there. And I'm not mad at him. I'm not
Speaker 7: mad at Coach Mark Pope at all. I'm just really
Speaker 7: frustratingly disappointed at a system that allows something like this
Speaker 7: to happen. Because Mark Pope has said all along that
Speaker 7: he loves to tell stories, and this would be the
Speaker 7: perfect story for all of us in the media to
Speaker 7: be able to tell how this in state kid, the
Speaker 7: all time leading scorer in Kentucky high school basketball history,
Speaker 7: surpass a great king, Kelly Coleman on that scale. He comes,
Speaker 7: plays for the state university and leads the team to
Speaker 7: their ninth national championship. Wouldn't that be a great story
Speaker 7: to tell? And with Pope, you know, at least so far,
Speaker 7: he hasn't been known to be this guy who's been
Speaker 7: able to nab that elite talent out there. He's gotten
Speaker 7: good players, but the elite talent still seems to have
Speaker 7: escaped him. He's been known for being this maestro, this
Speaker 7: chess master who can look and see all the wonderful
Speaker 7: pieces out there, take them, plug them together, and come
Speaker 7: up with a team that's somehow able to compete for
Speaker 7: national championships and final fours every single year. And I
Speaker 7: would have just loved to have thought that he would
Speaker 7: have found a way to have made this work. I mean,
Speaker 7: we all heard the story. Yeah, Travis, he's a little
Speaker 7: bit undersized, a little bit slow, he's not quite athletic
Speaker 7: enough to compete in the SEC. Well, he only had
Speaker 7: one ear I mean, people do develop over the time,
Speaker 7: and I would have liked to have thought that Pope
Speaker 7: would have somehow found a way to make this work,
Speaker 7: to write that story, to allow us to write that story.
Speaker 7: Looks like it's not going to happen, That's that's my thought.
Speaker 1: Well yeah, but it sounds like you're putting it at
Speaker 1: the feet of Mark Pope, when in fact, it was
Speaker 1: up to Travis Perry to make his own decision. He
Speaker 1: could have stuck around and you know, but look, I
Speaker 1: mean he's listed as a point guard john, but as
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, he is a He is a two
Speaker 1: in terms of his skill set. Yes, he ran the
Speaker 1: point in high school, but that was because he needed
Speaker 1: to be a facilitator and a score. He was pressed
Speaker 1: into duty as a point guard this year because of injuries,
Speaker 1: but in terms of his skill set, he's a woefully
Speaker 1: undersized shooting guard. Now he's tremendous at scoring and a
Speaker 1: really good shooter, but when you recruit guys who were
Speaker 1: so much bigger and quicker and faster than he is
Speaker 1: at his position, you know, he saw the handwriting on
Speaker 1: the wall, didn't.
Speaker 7: He He did, and he has to do what's what's
Speaker 7: best for him, and he's making that decision and in
Speaker 7: the end it may all work out for the best
Speaker 7: for all parties involved. And no, you're you're wrong, and
Speaker 7: I'm not blaming Pope. It may sound like I am,
Speaker 7: but my frustration, I think is coming out of the system.
Speaker 7: The current landscape of college basketball is heading in the
Speaker 7: wrong direction. And the last thing I want to do, Dick,
Speaker 7: is I don't want to come out sounding like a
Speaker 7: walk Kawawski. You remember Walt He was a Clint Eastwood
Speaker 7: character in Grantorino saying get off my lawn. And I
Speaker 7: know I'm I'm sounding like that, but this is kind
Speaker 7: of the way it is right now. It's it's all
Speaker 7: about the money. And it's all about seeing what you
Speaker 7: can you can get, and it's unfortunate because those of
Speaker 7: us who have grown up in the system, who loved
Speaker 7: seeing the way things have played out with had a
Speaker 7: passion for the sport just don't like the way that
Speaker 7: it's headed in this direction. Now, the good news is,
Speaker 7: I think it's it's non sustainable the way it is.
Speaker 7: When you hear about these salaries of players getting three
Speaker 7: and four and five and then even six million dollars, now,
Speaker 7: I mean that's certainly more than pro contract. So this
Speaker 7: is a sport that's been elevated to the pro pro level,
Speaker 7: and let's don't let's don't make any bones about that.
Speaker 7: But unless the team continues to win, you're not going
Speaker 7: to be able to see these salaries be thrown thrown
Speaker 7: at these players year in and year out. You know,
Speaker 7: you end up with a losing season or a media
Speaker 7: over season, and that money is going to go away
Speaker 7: because there's only so much of it. There's there's a
Speaker 7: pot and if you're putting it into your athletic programs,
Speaker 7: you're taking it away from academics. And get me started
Speaker 7: off on that point. Either, you know, the worth of
Speaker 7: a college scholarship right now is essentially nothing. They've poo
Speaker 7: fooed it. And speaking from a personal standpoint, I'll be
Speaker 7: the first to say that my degrees that UK are
Speaker 7: our most my most valuable life right now. I just
Speaker 7: hate to see that kind of over the course of time.
Speaker 1: Oh no, I agree. I mean, I work my way
Speaker 1: through college doesn't make me better than anybody else. It's
Speaker 1: impossible now unless you have the side job as a surgeon,
Speaker 1: you know, to work your way through college. But here's
Speaker 1: the thing too, when you think about it, John, you
Speaker 1: went pro. You went to college, and then you went
Speaker 1: pro and had a successful professional career, just like athletes do.
Speaker 1: I push back on the notion that dollars ago to
Speaker 1: athletics aren't going to academics. They're two entirely different pots
Speaker 1: and two entirely different sources. You know, if people, some
Speaker 1: people might you know, give money to athletics, that they
Speaker 1: might give that to academic to the general Fund. But
Speaker 1: for the most part, I think people who donate now
Speaker 1: to these collectives don't. I don't know that they would
Speaker 1: be donating to the General Fund as well. But what
Speaker 1: we're both saying is we kind of missed the way
Speaker 1: things were when you and I were in school. And
Speaker 1: also when you think about this John roster construction, you've
Speaker 1: set in on many of Mark Stoop's news conference when
Speaker 1: he talks about, you know, having to rerecruit and all
Speaker 1: his free agents and all. But he also talked one
Speaker 1: day about the fact that when he signs a kid,
Speaker 1: he the next thing he does is go out and
Speaker 1: try to recruit over him and and the athletes know this.
Speaker 1: You didn't see that quite as much, did you, Back
Speaker 1: in the day with basketball, when coaches could build rosters
Speaker 1: with an eye on the future. You know, Okay, let's
Speaker 1: say they sign a Travis Perry and they're like, okay,
Speaker 1: we're set for his position for the next two or
Speaker 1: three years. Let's go get a power forward that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. You don't do that anymore, do you.
Speaker 7: They could count on that. Back in the day there
Speaker 7: was a little bit more planning involved. You could look ahead,
Speaker 7: and nowadays you just don't know where you're going to
Speaker 7: get from here to year. In fact, the only thing
Speaker 7: that you know is that it's going to change from
Speaker 7: year to year, and you better be able to react
Speaker 7: and adapt or you're going to be left far far
Speaker 7: behind and and and once again, don't get me wrong,
Speaker 7: I'm a capitalist. I really do believe in America as
Speaker 7: a land of opportunity. You ought to be able to
Speaker 7: make money, you ought to be able to establish your work.
Speaker 7: I mean, my parents were a product of the American dream.
Speaker 7: They came from very, very humble beginnings in China, moved
Speaker 7: their family over to America. Within one generation they had
Speaker 7: a pharmacist, a dentist, and a medical doctor within the family.
Speaker 7: And I'm not saying that to brag. Well, maybe a
Speaker 7: little bit, I ain't braggage, but the point. The point
Speaker 7: is that with good work, ethic, with perseverance, America is
Speaker 7: someplace that you can do do these things. And I'm
Speaker 7: not against people making money, but but nil. And this
Speaker 7: whole system initially was designed so that athletes could could
Speaker 7: share a little bit of the pot, right if they
Speaker 7: earned it, if they wanted to put their face on
Speaker 7: a T shirt, they should be allowed to get a
Speaker 7: little bit of money. But it's warped into something so
Speaker 7: far more sinister, where it really is pay for play
Speaker 7: right now, and there's just something inherently not not right
Speaker 7: with that. So my rant, no, no, no, that rant
Speaker 7: to the newly minted Hall of Fame media member Kick Gabriel.
Speaker 1: I'm with you, John, and I think everybody agrees, except
Speaker 1: perhaps the guys were making the most money. He is
Speaker 1: John Wong. He is a sports writer blogger. Will come
Speaker 1: back and talk more sports with John on the other
Speaker 1: side of the break here on six point thirty Wlap
Speaker 1: Welcome back. We're talking with John Wong. He's a blogger,
Speaker 1: a sports writer and covers the Wildcats. You covered Maxwell
Speaker 1: Harriston when he was playing football for the Wildcats. He'll
Speaker 1: play for somebody else. The end NFL Draft starts tonight
Speaker 1: and a lot of people are high on him. He
Speaker 1: apparently tested really well. It was tough that he was
Speaker 1: injured this past year, but it was really fun watching him.
Speaker 1: Kind of a parallel to what Carrington Valentine did. You
Speaker 1: know had a rough season a couple of years back,
Speaker 1: and then last year talking about twenty three, I guess
Speaker 1: when he had to pick sixes and put himself on
Speaker 1: the national radar. It was fun to watch him blossom.
Speaker 1: So you got to feel good about a kid like that.
Speaker 7: I feel fantastic. Everybody remembers when Vince Morrow said this
Speaker 7: guy's going to be playing on Sundays. Hardly anybody could
Speaker 7: believe him at the time because he wasn't the player
Speaker 7: that he developed into, And to see a story like that,
Speaker 7: which is essentially rags and riches, is kind of why
Speaker 7: we cover sports now. On the flip side, I think
Speaker 7: one of the most intriguing stories of draft night will
Speaker 7: be to see where Dihon Walker because you see that,
Speaker 7: on the other hand, a guy who went from riches
Speaker 7: sleep to rags based on whatever lack of work ethic
Speaker 7: or whatever else that that people have thrown his way.
Speaker 7: It's kind of neat to see how those two unparalleled
Speaker 7: universes are going to collide on on draft byke.
Speaker 1: When you see though, a guy with that kind of
Speaker 1: size and that kind of athleticism, you got to think
Speaker 1: that somebody is going to be intrigued by that. But
Speaker 1: you know, he Yeah, he probably could have tested better
Speaker 1: or whatever. But it's such a meat market anyway, and
Speaker 1: there are so many swings and misses when the draft
Speaker 1: comes around. It's really a fascinating process and I'm glad
Speaker 1: my career doesn't hinge on it. You know what I mean?
Speaker 7: Are you gonna are you one of these people that's
Speaker 7: gonna sit there and watch it round by round. How
Speaker 7: does Dick Gabriel usually handle it? And not like that.
Speaker 1: I keep an eye on it, and I keep my clock,
Speaker 1: my watch set to when the packers are gonna draft.
Speaker 1: Of course it's all happening in Green Bay, uh tonight,
Speaker 1: but uh yeah, I keep it. Take a peek at
Speaker 1: an aisle. So I'm like you, I'm sure fast ned
Speaker 1: by the number of SEC athletes who are taken. And
Speaker 1: we should never be surprised, right.
Speaker 7: It's fun watching all those guys gather together in the
Speaker 7: green room, and I don't know, I kind of get nervous.
Speaker 7: I feel for the guys who should have gone very,
Speaker 7: very high. And yeah, I mean that's the agony of
Speaker 7: having to sit through something like that lives with you
Speaker 7: forever and ever, and it bothers us that much. Impartial
Speaker 7: observers from the outside, how much was it? Must it
Speaker 7: way on on their own picture parts and families my
Speaker 7: my mind. But that's that's the drama, right, the thrill
Speaker 7: of victory, the agony of defeat. That's why sports is
Speaker 7: so great.
Speaker 1: Let me shift you over to baseball. We have a
Speaker 1: few minutes left, but you've been tweeting about the baseball
Speaker 1: Wildcats and the strangest two game series that I can
Speaker 1: recall with the Louisville Cardinals, just a you know, a
Speaker 1: pitcher's duel in sub freezing weather literally two weeks ago
Speaker 1: in a four to three extra inning win by Louisville,
Speaker 1: and then a Kentucky total beatdown, a run rule game
Speaker 1: of the works nineteen ninety two U. And it's coming
Speaker 1: a good time for these Wildcats. They're finally kind of
Speaker 1: pulling it together in time to impress the NCAA Tournament committee,
Speaker 1: aren't they.
Speaker 7: They're coming on. I'm two weeks ago they were strictly,
Speaker 7: strictly on the bubble, and now most people have agreed
Speaker 7: that this is a legitimate, bona fide NCAA team that
Speaker 7: is gaining a heck of a lot of momentum right now.
Speaker 7: You look at the last couple of series that they've
Speaker 7: been in against top flight competition, and then I think
Speaker 7: they've got South Carolina coming on this week in South Carolina.
Speaker 7: I understand this is struggling a traditional power. If they
Speaker 7: can somehow, you know, take certainly take the series and
Speaker 7: complete sweep sweep the game Cocks, that's really going to
Speaker 7: set them into the stratosphere of high orbit coming down
Speaker 7: the stretch here. And as you know, Dick, you've covered
Speaker 7: him a lot more than I had this year. Inconsistency
Speaker 7: is kind of the bugaboo for this team. They've been
Speaker 7: in so many games, they've been on top, they've had
Speaker 7: to lead, they've blown lead, and they just failed to
Speaker 7: execute at those critical times. You know, a team that
Speaker 7: traditionally has been so great at bunting, this year, it's
Speaker 7: kind of fifty to fifty whether they're going to lay
Speaker 7: down that bunt. And when I asked coach min Gione
Speaker 7: about that, he bristled a little bit. He wasn't quite
Speaker 7: ready to see that that coaches always are a little
Speaker 7: bit defensive from that standpoint, but he did acknowledge that
Speaker 7: just a little bit at their execution here and there,
Speaker 7: and you could be talking about a real Juggernauf this year.
Speaker 7: But as always, Dick, you can tell I'm drinking the
Speaker 7: kool aid. You know, I'm excited. I'm ready to go.
Speaker 7: Now do almbaha again. Man, wouldn't that be something else?
Speaker 1: I would love that. Before I let you go, you
Speaker 1: know you were you were quite generous with your praise
Speaker 1: for me, But congrats to you and your family. You've
Speaker 1: awarded another long family scholarship. Real quickly tell us about that.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that was something that essentially my dad put together.
Speaker 7: He decided that, hey, he's raised three professional kids, neither
Speaker 7: one of us any need, none of the three of
Speaker 7: us really need needed the money. So he decided to
Speaker 7: give away his inheritance by setting up five different scholarships
Speaker 7: across the University of Kentucky and with his church. And
Speaker 7: it just shows the importance of being able to give back,
Speaker 7: to be able to pay it forward. And I think
Speaker 7: my dad is one of these guys who believed so
Speaker 7: much in academics that he would have sacrificed giving to
Speaker 7: any NIL collective in order to continue contributing to academics.
Speaker 7: That's my feel and to me, realistically speaking, my priorities
Speaker 7: have always been academics. Also, Dick, I love sports, I
Speaker 7: love UK. But truly, if you ask me, if it
Speaker 7: comes down to give in to a scholarship or given
Speaker 7: to a NIL to give get a five star center
Speaker 7: into Kentucky's basketball program, I'd probably have to pick academics.
Speaker 7: I'm sorry, you don't have to apologize for that.
Speaker 1: At all, brother, no problem.
Speaker 7: I'm letting my money speak where my mouth is right
Speaker 7: right now. There you have it, I hear.
Speaker 1: Here is John Wong and as I should have mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: not just a sports writer now, but an author. And
Speaker 1: you need to go out and you can get his
Speaker 1: books plural at Joseph Bett and other places via Amazon,
Speaker 1: so check them out. Not just contemporary stuff. But he's
Speaker 1: got the murder mystery out there right now that's centered
Speaker 1: based on college basketball. So go out and tell everybody
Speaker 1: the name of it. Again.
Speaker 7: It's called name, image and murder. Highly appropriate. Yeah, basketball
Speaker 7: coach gets brutally murdered, so it's a who done it?
Speaker 7: You got to figure out who's done it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it should be a lot of fun, John, thank
Speaker 1: you so much. We'll see it at the ballpark, all right.
Speaker 7: Thank you, Dick, appreciate it as always.
Speaker 1: Up next, Peter Wilson, the sports editor of the Georgetown News,
Speaker 1: graphic on Scott County's new head boys basketball coach, Shawn Woods.
Speaker 1: That's next in the Big Moonsider six thirty Wlap Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Big Bluonsider. Joining us now? Is somebody
Speaker 1: new to the Big Blue Insider? You might know his work,
Speaker 1: Peter Wilson. He is the sports editor of the Georgetown
Speaker 1: News Graphic. Welcome to the show, young man.
Speaker 6: Glad to be.
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things.
Speaker 1: You got to stay champion over there in Great Crossing
Speaker 1: High School. But also I think it was you who
Speaker 1: actually broke the story that Shawn Woods, the former Kentucky Wildkett,
Speaker 1: is the new head coach at Scott County High School
Speaker 1: and takes over after just one year of the previous coach.
Speaker 1: Was this a surprise, Peter, that they moved to name
Speaker 1: a new coach.
Speaker 6: So quickly, I mean previous coach to help me. He'd
Speaker 6: been pretty clear after the last game of the season
Speaker 6: that he and that he wasn't coming back. So they they,
Speaker 6: I mean, they took about a month's months to six weeks,
Speaker 6: and that wasn't I don't. I don't think the timeline
Speaker 6: was a huge surprise. I talked with them, and they,
Speaker 6: I mean they were they were very pleased with the
Speaker 6: number of candidates, and the superintendent, the hiring committee was
Speaker 6: very pleased with the number of candidates they had, but
Speaker 6: just felt that Seoun Woods was the right man for
Speaker 6: the job. And kind of I think the words that
Speaker 6: would use was kind of bring the sizzle back basketball.
Speaker 1: Any idea. How many candidates they had.
Speaker 6: I believe it was somewhere in the twenty Well obviously
Speaker 6: maybe uh inter of people that reached out to probably
Speaker 6: in twenty pigs range. Wow, but that of course a
Speaker 6: narrower field that may have gotten called in for interviews.
Speaker 1: This is one of the good jobs in the state
Speaker 1: of Kentucky. Not that there are bad jobs, but there's
Speaker 1: tradition there, there's facility, there's support. I got to think
Speaker 1: this was a job that a lot of people really
Speaker 1: would love to have had. True.
Speaker 6: Oh, absolutely. I mean it's a brand new school. I mean,
Speaker 6: even in the old school it was a great job.
Speaker 6: It's a brand new school. And I mean, if you've
Speaker 6: been to that that gymnasium, it's beautiful. It's one of
Speaker 6: the prettiest gyms in the state. And you've got, of course,
Speaker 6: the great tradition, and you've got a chance to really
Speaker 6: build it back at this point because they've had you know,
Speaker 6: four or five straight losing seasons. Well let's have that tradition.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about that though, because obviously with great
Speaker 1: crossing now you know, the whatever talent, whatever talented kids
Speaker 1: live in Scott County used to be they went to
Speaker 1: Scott County High. Now I don't know if there's a
Speaker 1: battle involved in recruiting, but that makes things a lot
Speaker 1: more challenging, doesn't it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, the schools split, I mean in a lot of ways.
Speaker 6: It was very lopsided at first, you know, because two
Speaker 6: two thousand point scores went to Great Crossing High School.
Speaker 6: You know, it stops and of course mouth a mareno.
Speaker 6: So it'll be interesting. This is really the thing that
Speaker 6: I'm most kind of intrigued by is to see how
Speaker 6: it whether it even's out with Woods, whether it tilts
Speaker 6: back the other way with Woods, because obviously a great
Speaker 6: scene class from Great Crossing just left, and actually, I
Speaker 6: mean Scott County had a lot of guys leave as
Speaker 6: well to graduation, a lot of their kind of main states.
Speaker 6: So it's kind of like a it's not as much
Speaker 6: of a like slate for Great Crossing just because they've
Speaker 6: got phenomenal freshman Brady arm and then l Jick Holman,
Speaker 6: but it's it's kind of a reset for the county
Speaker 6: in some way.
Speaker 1: I feel like, again, give me one second, my my
Speaker 1: wife niece. I'm in my do my show in my garage.
Speaker 1: She's going to shut the door because she's mowing the
Speaker 1: the weed's out there. On one second, Okay, here we go.
Speaker 1: Can I assume that that the county line in terms
Speaker 1: of middle schools, are the middle schools sort of assigned
Speaker 1: to the high schools? Because I know that the really
Speaker 1: good will Malachi and a couple of his teammates played
Speaker 1: through middle school into Great Crossing High. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't know if they had the option of going to
Speaker 1: Scott can or how did that work in that county.
Speaker 6: Well, they did have the option to go to Scott County.
Speaker 6: I believe every student in the county. But there are gms.
Speaker 6: George tum Middal is generally districted to Great Crossing, Scott
Speaker 6: County is generally district to Scott County, and Royal Spring
Speaker 6: is I believe generally split.
Speaker 1: I've got to think that the fact that Great Crossing
Speaker 1: just won the state that that's got to be a
Speaker 1: great attraction to kids. But on the other hand, if
Speaker 1: you grew up in Scott County, you know that Scott
Speaker 1: County High has been a basketball powerhouse. Have you gotten
Speaker 1: a chance to, you know, check the temperature of the
Speaker 1: room in the county where you work, and how people
Speaker 1: are feeling about this.
Speaker 6: Yeah, there's there's definitely a lot of excitement because you know,
Speaker 6: I was a little surprised with this myself by how
Speaker 6: excited some of the kids were on Scott County's team
Speaker 6: about Shane shawmlits. Because you know, if you're a freshman
Speaker 6: in high school, know you were worn like two thousand
Speaker 6: and nine or whatever, right, I don't know you two
Speaker 6: or whatever. Yeah, and that's that's you know, twenty years
Speaker 6: removed from the unforgettable almost so, but there was kids
Speaker 6: that were excited about Seawan Woods because of his playing days.
Speaker 6: You know, I would have thought, you know, I'm looking
Speaker 6: at and saying, looking at the twenty five years of
Speaker 6: Division one experience. Sure, yeah, coaching, but there was kids
Speaker 6: that was like, I pretended to be Sewn Wood's shooting
Speaker 6: in Mayard growing up. You know, like, yeah, so that's
Speaker 6: still there because because if you're playing basketball for Scott
Speaker 6: un High School, you're a basketball mute. And if you're
Speaker 6: a basketball at in Scott County, you're probably a uk
Speaker 6: nott you know, so you know about you know about
Speaker 6: those guys. So it's it's definitely brought already brought some
Speaker 6: of that excitement back. And of course, I mean you've
Speaker 6: talked with them. Sure he's he's not a he's a
Speaker 6: very he's good at bringing that excitement.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, energetic, and he's got the million dollar smile.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, and he's you know what he
Speaker 1: also has going for him beyond the fact. And I
Speaker 1: guess these kids they may not even know that it
Speaker 1: was his shot that almost won the Dude Game for
Speaker 1: Kentucky but basically set up the laterner moment. But here's
Speaker 1: a guy who played for Rick Pattino who is now
Speaker 1: relevant again in a superb way in college basketball. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm sure he'll he'll drop that name more than once
Speaker 1: to these kids. You know, that's got to mean something
Speaker 1: to him.
Speaker 6: Right, Yeah, I'm I'm sure I didn't. Probably didn't he
Speaker 6: could specifically speak to that yet, but yeah, Sean Woods
Speaker 6: definitely mentioned the guys that he's light under because it's
Speaker 6: I mean, it's quite a less even even if pass Patino,
Speaker 6: I mean, Dwyane Gazy, you know, guys that people know,
Speaker 6: you know that are still a big deal in coaching
Speaker 6: or in the league. Yeah, so that that brings some
Speaker 6: I guess authority haness with it like that I think
Speaker 6: will help him a lot.
Speaker 1: I'm really curious Peter. By the way, we're talking to
Speaker 1: Peter Wilson, sports editor of the newspaper over in Georgetown.
Speaker 1: I'm really curious about his style of play at this level.
Speaker 1: I watched his team's play in college and it wasn't
Speaker 1: exactly the you know, the denial press stuff that they
Speaker 1: use in the UK when he was there. But you know,
Speaker 1: he is a defensive guy. Uh, not that he is
Speaker 1: shoes offense, but he's intense about defense. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: really I'm really curious to see how his teams reflect that,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean?
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, And he was clear that that's not going
Speaker 6: to change. Yeah, he talked a little bit about offensive spread,
Speaker 6: but most of what he when I were asking him
Speaker 6: about his playing style for the Fit paper on Tuesday,
Speaker 6: I was I mean, it was he was talking about
Speaker 6: the defense and in the press, he's gonna run and jump,
Speaker 6: he's gonna try to beach turn that defense into offense,
Speaker 6: and it's gonna be energetic. So which is not that
Speaker 6: I mean, that's that's not going to be entirely new.
Speaker 6: I'm sure he'll do it in then entirely. I'm sure
Speaker 6: he'll do it in a different way. But that's not
Speaker 6: going to be entirely new to some of these guys,
Speaker 6: because that's that's what I mean. That's been Scott County's
Speaker 6: calling card is the running, I mean, the press, for
Speaker 6: quite a while.
Speaker 1: But yeah, well, people who are of a certain age,
Speaker 1: or even if they're my age, might not remember that
Speaker 1: Betino's teams, for all the three point shooting and the
Speaker 1: and the runouts and the pressing, you know, they I
Speaker 1: guess pressing was a big part of that. They really
Speaker 1: hung their hats on defense, and they forget that his
Speaker 1: last couple of teams, his best teams, didn't press us
Speaker 1: nearly as much as his first teams because, and he
Speaker 1: said this, they had to press to cover up the
Speaker 1: the I don't know what the word I'm looking for is,
Speaker 1: but you know, they just didn't have enough in certain areas,
Speaker 1: so they made up by pressing. Maybe Scott County is
Speaker 1: gonna end up doing that. But the reward for these
Speaker 1: guys for working their tails off on defense, you know,
Speaker 1: to cover the shortcomings, I guess is the word I
Speaker 1: was looking for. The reward is offense. If you're open,
Speaker 1: you shoot the three, get out and run, that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. So you think we'll see that from Scott County.
Speaker 6: I think I think you definitely will. I think that's
Speaker 6: going to be what they're angling for. And if it
Speaker 6: goes off, and Scott County has shooters and they've got
Speaker 6: they've got some really promising kids that if they get
Speaker 6: in the right scheme and just get experienced, because some
Speaker 6: of them are young freshmen, are going to do really
Speaker 6: well offensively and maybe gross too. But uh so there's
Speaker 6: there's a lot of potential there. I'm you know, I
Speaker 6: can't speak to all this stuff is going to not
Speaker 6: go on, but I think it'll be really interesting to
Speaker 6: see the next two years kind of how what changes
Speaker 6: and how these kids developed. And I mean, coach Wood
Speaker 6: is not hedging. He's not saying, well, you know, it
Speaker 6: will be a long rebuild. He's he's he's talking about
Speaker 6: competing this you know, competing in the louthern region, which
Speaker 6: if you're competing in the eleventh region, you're competing in
Speaker 6: state this year, you know, So it'll be it'll be
Speaker 6: interesting to see how hot they come out of the
Speaker 6: gate and he's got you know last last year, I
Speaker 6: mean because they Helton had a year, right, Well, he
Speaker 6: really doesn't have a year he had. He took over
Speaker 6: that team in the summer, so Woods has more time.
Speaker 6: I mean, he still does some time, but he's got
Speaker 6: more time to get his scheme into the kids and
Speaker 6: get them practicing the way he wants some practicing playing
Speaker 6: the way he wants them playing. So that'll be I'm
Speaker 6: definitely gonna try to make it as much summer ball
Speaker 6: as I can, just to kind of see how that develops.
Speaker 1: It's going to be fascinating. We'll talk more with Peter
Speaker 1: Wilson after a break here on the Big Bloon Sider
Speaker 1: six thirty WLAP Welcome back with chatting with Peter Wilson.
Speaker 1: He is the sports editor of the Georgetown News Graphic
Speaker 1: and an e KU graduate, and we talked about Sean
Speaker 1: Woods becoming the new head coach of Scott County and
Speaker 1: of course the arts rival now is great crossing the
Speaker 1: Warhawks and the defending state champions now, but as Peter
Speaker 1: pointed out in the first segment, lost a lot of talent,
Speaker 1: including Malachia Moreno to the Wildcats. What do you expect
Speaker 1: to see from him Pete in his first year as
Speaker 1: a college player, knowing that Biggs take a little bit
Speaker 1: longer to develop. I know what everybody in Georgetown would
Speaker 1: love to see, But realistically, you've watched this kid mature.
Speaker 1: What do you think.
Speaker 6: Realistically? And I think he's going to do probably not
Speaker 6: as well as everybody would love him to do from Georgetown,
Speaker 6: but probably a lot better than most people are thinking
Speaker 6: he'll do from It feels like there's a lot of
Speaker 6: Marino I would say disrespect where it's like he's not
Speaker 6: really going to be a factor at all. I think
Speaker 6: he will absolutely be a factor. Yeah, and of course
Speaker 6: they're they're a transfer portal. I think it's just about
Speaker 6: finished churning for the Wildcats, and they of course they
Speaker 6: added a big but he The one thing that I
Speaker 6: think I haven't been mentioned a lot is that he's
Speaker 6: a great distributor. Yes, yes, he's a he's a phenomenal distributor.
Speaker 6: It maybe it may be his most bus right and
Speaker 6: he's step several, but like that may be the thing
Speaker 6: that so I could see some some of that, like
Speaker 6: Amar Williams type playing a little bit of point center,
Speaker 6: so to speak.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and he he's got I think because he had
Speaker 6: mainly because he had you know, Vince Doofson, who's a
Speaker 6: two thousand point scores that's going to moreheads and honestly,
Speaker 6: I think more has getting a little bit of a
Speaker 6: steel it. Oh yeah, Uh. He didn't probably have the
Speaker 6: eye popping numbers some people would expect for his unfitter.
Speaker 6: I mean, he had eye popping numbers, but they can
Speaker 6: you know, it's like twenty five points a game. It
Speaker 6: wasn't like forty a game, right, and yeah, it absolutely
Speaker 6: could have been. I mean he showed that a couple
Speaker 6: he did score quarter one game. Yes, but he just
Speaker 6: had a lot of weapons and he likes to use
Speaker 6: you know, he likes to get his teammates assists. He
Speaker 6: enjoys that part of the game.
Speaker 1: Well yeah, and you've been reviewed him more than once,
Speaker 1: and every time you do, he wants to talk about
Speaker 1: his teammates more than himself.
Speaker 6: It's so hard to get him to talk about it
Speaker 6: really is. But I mean, but he does like he
Speaker 6: is driven to succeed. I think he's I think he's
Speaker 6: likely you'll see him come on as a seasons as
Speaker 6: his freshman year, even you'll probably see him get in
Speaker 6: the game more and more. I expect him to. You know,
Speaker 6: it wouldn't it wouldn't shock me to see him do
Speaker 6: really well off the bat because he's I mean, he's
Speaker 6: he's a phenomenal rebounder and he's had you know, even
Speaker 6: with those weapons, he's had three guys on him for
Speaker 6: four years now, you know, every play and then maybe
Speaker 6: you know, they may be six to three guys, but
Speaker 6: that's still three guys. I think when he's you know,
Speaker 6: when he's in a more balanced situation, it's it's going
Speaker 6: to be really cool to see that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned Vince Dawson. I was going
Speaker 1: to bring him up, and I agree with you. This
Speaker 1: guy could be looking at a really fine career at
Speaker 1: Morehead State. And in this day and age, Peter, you
Speaker 1: got to wonder how long does he stay at Morehead State?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean den I Broom obviously for Ahead State. Yep, answer,
Speaker 6: Vince Sawson. He didn't get overlooked by the team, but
Speaker 6: because Malachi is so good and so big, he got
Speaker 6: overlooked a lot.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 6: But I think more at large and he's another kid
Speaker 6: great kid, so humble, same type of thing where you
Speaker 6: know you talk to him, he wants to talk about teammates.
Speaker 6: Just the kind of guy you want in your program.
Speaker 6: Like that cliche, but it's true. And he's a really
Speaker 6: good shooter when he's smart rather shots, which usually he is.
Speaker 6: He's also a good distributor, moves well with the ball,
Speaker 6: moves well without the ball. Yeah, just that. I'm definitely
Speaker 6: I'm I'm for sure making trips he up next year.
Speaker 6: You get pictures as not guy, but I'm also absolutely
Speaker 6: making some trips down to Morehead because it'll be fun
Speaker 6: to see how he does there.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I may see you there. I'm just as curious
Speaker 1: as you are. He is Peter Wilson. He is a
Speaker 1: sports editor of the Georgetown News Graphic. He can follow
Speaker 1: his work on x or Twitter if you will at
Speaker 1: Peter w I K why Peter, Thanks so much. We'll
Speaker 1: talk again soon, I hope.
Speaker 6: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: It is going to be interesting to see how well
Speaker 1: Sean Woods does at Scott County High, which had really
Speaker 1: fallen off. I think the Cardinals were six and twenty
Speaker 1: one last year. But for the longest time, if you
Speaker 1: played basketball, high school basketball in Scott County. You were
Speaker 1: playing at Scott County High and Billy Hicks was there,
Speaker 1: and he wasn't opposed to going out and getting players,
Speaker 1: if you know what I mean. But a lot of
Speaker 1: players gravitated toward that school, and why not. Great tradition,
Speaker 1: great coaching, and you got a chance to play with
Speaker 1: a lot of really good kids. Well, now you got
Speaker 1: kids pulled in different directions. One direction is Great Crossing,
Speaker 1: the other is Scott County. They're building a new Scott
Speaker 1: County High School not too far from Great Crossing, so
Speaker 1: that's going to be fun to watch that develop. Tip
Speaker 1: of a big Blue Insider cap to Marquise Estel. He
Speaker 1: is now the new assistant boys basketball coach at Paris
Speaker 1: High School. So Marquise is coaching over in Bourbon County
Speaker 1: for the new head coach, Eli Strait. He's the new
Speaker 1: headman at Paris. Played his college basketball at Gardner Webb,
Speaker 1: but he was a high school player at Tates Creek
Speaker 1: under Nolan Barger, the great one. So he knows his
Speaker 1: stuff as well. A lot of coaching moves in the
Speaker 1: high school ranks, and we'll keep an eye on him.
Speaker 1: Thanks to Peter, thanks to Jeff Drumming and to John
Speaker 1: Wong and again Kentucky Baseball tomorrow night at six thirty
Speaker 1: three games of six fifteen. That's a good night from
Speaker 1: the garage in Lexington. A A Ron?
Speaker 2: Where are you? Where is a A ron right now?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 1: A ron?
Speaker 2: Huh? Well you better be sick.
Speaker 7: Dead or mute a Aron here?
Speaker 1: Oh man?
Speaker 2: Why didn't you ask me the first time? I said
Speaker 2: ear huh, I'm you know, I'm just asking you. I
Speaker 2: said it like four times, So why didn't you say
Speaker 2: it the first time?
Speaker 4: I said a a ron?
Speaker 5: Because it's pronounced aaron.
Speaker 2: You done messed up?
Speaker 8: Hey, Ron, only tact such statta cantacute packs and then
Speaker 8: let to back them from tap don