Speaker 1: It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine days. Now, here's Nick Coffee.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get it started at five o'clock hour
Speaker 2: on a Friday afternoon of Valentine's Day edition of Coffee
Speaker 2: and Company. Thanks for hanging out with us, and we'll
Speaker 2: get right too.
Speaker 3: Let's bring him in.
Speaker 2: He is the one and only mister Kent Spencer from
Speaker 2: w h a S eleven. Kent, I'll start with this.
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to give you more work. I know
Speaker 2: you work very hard for the folks at WHS eleven.
Speaker 3: But let's just say you.
Speaker 2: Were asked to be a part of the n C
Speaker 2: double A selection committee. Where would you slot Louisville and
Speaker 2: Kentucky right now?
Speaker 3: As of today?
Speaker 4: As of today? That's so, that's so good.
Speaker 5: I haven't even seen any of the latest bracketologies. I
Speaker 5: would say this right now. I would I would probably
Speaker 5: have Louisville anywhere from a six to a seventh seed.
Speaker 3: That's that checks out. That's where just about everybody as them.
Speaker 6: Okay, okay, so I've got them around six or seven,
Speaker 6: and with Kentucky, I would probably have them around Like.
Speaker 4: I think they'll probably end up being like a three
Speaker 4: or four.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I wouldn't be shocked if kind.
Speaker 5: Kind of depends on honestly, it kind of depends on
Speaker 5: how they finish out the season. That being said, like,
Speaker 5: and this is more with them, you know, the selection
Speaker 5: the selection committee looks at more of who.
Speaker 4: Have you beat, in my opinion, rather than who you've.
Speaker 5: Lost to, And so there's not too many people that
Speaker 5: have the wins that Kentucky has.
Speaker 2: Kentucky tomorrow, if they end up on the two line,
Speaker 2: because we're getting that early look at the bracket tomorrow,
Speaker 2: which we get every year, they give us the first
Speaker 2: the top sixteen seed, seeds one through four. I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't expect it, but I wouldn't be shocked if
Speaker 2: they're on the two line, because again, they don't have
Speaker 2: a bad loss per se, and they have a lot
Speaker 2: of really valuable wins, a sweep of Tennessee, I think
Speaker 2: right now, when you look at that game in Knoxville
Speaker 2: in Tennessee still being where they are today, there's not
Speaker 2: a more valuable win on anybody's resume than that one.
Speaker 2: Not to mention, they also beat Florida, They also beat Gonzaga.
Speaker 3: They beat Duke.
Speaker 2: I mean, they've got a lot of wins along the way,
Speaker 2: and I think to see them be able to win
Speaker 2: games against really good teams whenever it doesn't look great
Speaker 2: because of these injuries that they've had, or maybe they
Speaker 2: just don't have momentum because they're coming off of one
Speaker 2: of their rare losses. I think it speaks to Mark
Speaker 2: Pope and really how good of a coach he is.
Speaker 2: But what would you other than you know, these guys
Speaker 2: just sticking together, next man up, continuing to fight. What
Speaker 2: would you say if anything that has led to them
Speaker 2: having these types of wins whenever again their back was
Speaker 2: against the wall. I mean against Tennessee the other night,
Speaker 2: they had the two freshmen from Kentucky come in and
Speaker 2: give them really good minutes. I think everybody from top
Speaker 2: to bottom deserves credit. But is there something that stood
Speaker 2: out to you in these games? And there's been many
Speaker 2: of them where you felt like, you know, what, probably
Speaker 2: going to be tough to do. Right, They're coming off
Speaker 2: of a big beat down against Ohio State.
Speaker 3: What do they do? They go to Gonzaga and win, Uh,
Speaker 3: they ended up.
Speaker 2: Losing to Georgia. Then they go to Mississippi stated game
Speaker 2: that they were I think nearly double digit dogs they
Speaker 2: win that one. Is there anything specific that stood out
Speaker 2: to you that has been able to that they that
Speaker 2: has been that has given them the ability to win
Speaker 2: these games where it feels like they, you know, they
Speaker 2: have no chance. I'm I'm convinced now there's no game
Speaker 2: left where you can say Kentucky shouldn't win. I mean,
Speaker 2: they they they they'll lose, they can lose to anybody
Speaker 2: they don't play well. But man, these wins they have.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know if you have a team
Speaker 2: out there that's got better wins than them.
Speaker 5: You know what, though, Nick, here's what I would say,
Speaker 5: outside like, when you look at I think the big
Speaker 5: wins that they've that they've been able to pick up,
Speaker 5: outside of maybe the Florida game where they just outscored Florida,
Speaker 5: I think it was like one oh six to one
Speaker 5: that game. One of the things, one of the biggest
Speaker 5: things that I would say is their effort in those
Speaker 5: games on the defensive end, which has kind of been
Speaker 5: their crutch in their in their losses, they just haven't
Speaker 5: been you know, tough defensively, tough on the boards, and
Speaker 5: the losses but when they really needed to lock down defensively,
Speaker 5: they've been able to do that. And you can see
Speaker 5: in those kind of games, you know, they distrain and
Speaker 5: the desperation that they play on the defensive end in those.
Speaker 4: Games, they just haven't been able to do it, you know,
Speaker 4: game in and game out. You know.
Speaker 5: One of the things I'd say is, like a couple
Speaker 5: weeks ago with the at Ole miss I mean, that's
Speaker 5: one of the that's one of the worst defensive effort
Speaker 5: games that you'll ever see, and.
Speaker 4: They just didn't bring it that night.
Speaker 5: So if they can get to the point like they
Speaker 5: did the other night against Tennessee, where everybody on the
Speaker 5: court is straining and making everything difficult on the other team,
Speaker 5: they're so good offensively that you know, it's it's really
Speaker 5: hard to beat them when they do it.
Speaker 2: When they play that way, Both coaches Mark Pope and
Speaker 2: Pat Kelcey have legitimate excuses and reasons to where if
Speaker 2: these seasons weren't going as good as they currently are
Speaker 2: for both sides, everybody would understand. Now, you still let
Speaker 2: people complain and that's just what we do, but it
Speaker 2: would make sense right with injuries. I mean, this roster,
Speaker 2: the Pope put together is certainly a good roster, but
Speaker 2: I don't think it's anywhere close to one of the
Speaker 2: more talented teams, and he's going to have a lot
Speaker 2: more talent moving forward. Yet they're not loaded. They've had
Speaker 2: a lot of injuries. Like Louisville, they clearly just have
Speaker 2: some guys that aren't great defenders, but again, they find
Speaker 2: ways to win. And I think there's some real similarities
Speaker 2: between both of these coaches and their first seasons as
Speaker 2: far as how it's gone. Clearly Kentucky's having a better
Speaker 2: year and clearly is a better team at least they
Speaker 2: were when they played, and they've got a much better resume.
Speaker 2: But I see some parallels between these two guys, and
Speaker 2: really I'm not sure if it'll be this way the
Speaker 2: rest of their careers. In Lexington and Louisville. It probably won't,
Speaker 2: because I can't imagine a scenario where either of these
Speaker 2: guys will need to build a completely brand new roster.
Speaker 2: But I think you did that and you got guys
Speaker 2: that really everybody for the most part that joined your
Speaker 2: program from the portal, they had somewhat of a big
Speaker 2: role where they were rather it be at a bigger
Speaker 2: school or a smaller school. And I think when you
Speaker 2: are shorthanded, you know, it gives guys more more of
Speaker 2: an opportunity to kind of, you know, make something happen.
Speaker 2: Like Javon Hadley. I'm not sure he turns into the
Speaker 2: Javon Hadley that we're seeing now if Cason Pryor is
Speaker 2: still getting twenty seven to twenty eight.
Speaker 3: Minutes a game.
Speaker 2: And again, you'd be foolish to say that that Louisville's
Speaker 2: better without Prior, And same thing could be said about
Speaker 2: Kentucky not having Butler and Jackson Robinson. But you know what,
Speaker 2: Kobe Brea, he's comfortable kind of taking on more minutes
Speaker 2: and having a bigger role. I think, in a weird way,
Speaker 2: nobody would say these injuries are ideal. You're better when
Speaker 2: you're at full strength with more talent. But I think
Speaker 2: you're seeing other guys kind of not have too much
Speaker 2: of a tough time kind of finding a new role
Speaker 2: whenever they have more minutes available to him.
Speaker 5: You know, it's it's so funny because you hear it
Speaker 5: a lot, and I've probably heard you know, Pat Kelsey
Speaker 5: always says it. You know, he says it a lot,
Speaker 5: you know that they have an xt man of mentality. Yep,
Speaker 5: Nick every coach in the country as a next man
Speaker 5: up in mentality, Like that's not that's not anything.
Speaker 2: New, every single one of them. That's their mindset. If
Speaker 2: you don't have a guy, you get next man's up.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, like every coach in the country, Like if you
Speaker 5: get like, hey, cliches to say, it's like one of
Speaker 5: the top five things that you need to say when you're.
Speaker 4: Dealing with injuries, if you're if you're a coach. But
Speaker 4: the difference is.
Speaker 5: Like what are your guys going to do in the
Speaker 5: moments when the opportunity presents itself, And so like, you know,
Speaker 5: let's just take Louisville.
Speaker 4: I mean, and we've kind of talked about this before.
Speaker 5: I don't think Javon Hadley is the player that he
Speaker 5: is if he's not playing like the.
Speaker 4: Undersized power forward position.
Speaker 5: Yep, he's a matchup nightmare down there. And he's really
Speaker 5: I think, you know, probably in my opinion, I think
Speaker 5: he's played the.
Speaker 4: Best basketball of his college career. Not that I watched
Speaker 4: him a ton of Colorado.
Speaker 5: But I mean, like, like he has been a dude,
Speaker 5: you know, and and early on in the year, James
Speaker 5: Scott wasn't really kind of thought of in any sort
Speaker 5: of a way.
Speaker 4: Now he is a major piece.
Speaker 5: So like they needed those two guys to really step up,
Speaker 5: and they've done it.
Speaker 4: And so you know, and and.
Speaker 5: Like the other night with Kentucky against Tennessee, like you
Speaker 5: needed Trent Noah to do.
Speaker 4: Some things and guess what he did it. He got
Speaker 4: the opportunity.
Speaker 5: And it's you know, everybody wants to talk about the
Speaker 5: eleven points, but like, like if you watch that game,
Speaker 5: that kid went toe to toe physically with Tennessee and
Speaker 5: he won a lot of there. Yes, whether it was
Speaker 5: running down rebounds and guarding and all of that stuff,
Speaker 5: like he belonged on that court.
Speaker 4: It wasn't just smoking mirrors.
Speaker 5: And so like, you know, that's what these guys, that's
Speaker 5: what the next man of mentality, you know, and everybody
Speaker 5: says it, but but who can actually do it? And
Speaker 5: both of these programs this year have done an excellent
Speaker 5: job when it came to you're a little down of
Speaker 5: the dumps. You've got guys that you really didn't need
Speaker 5: to lose, But how.
Speaker 4: Do you make up for it?
Speaker 5: You know, they've been piece mailing it together, but they
Speaker 5: still been doing it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think the cliche as far as next
Speaker 2: man up, everybody says it. Everybody has that that's just
Speaker 2: a canned answer for a coach if he gets asked
Speaker 2: about a player not being able to play. But clearly,
Speaker 2: these guys that play for Pat Kelsey and Mark Pope,
Speaker 2: it's something that's truly playing out. Hey, I know I'm
Speaker 2: gonna get more minutes. I better be ready to play.
Speaker 2: And for the most part, the guys that get more
Speaker 2: minutes have. But another cliche that is just you know,
Speaker 2: probably one of the most often set things in sports
Speaker 2: is one game at a time, we're only worried about.
Speaker 2: I think that's also a you can tell that's what
Speaker 2: both these teams have really been able to do. I
Speaker 2: mean with Kentucky, anytime it seems as if momentum is
Speaker 2: gone and they're looking at a likely loss, they win Louisville.
Speaker 2: You know, I think the reason they've been able to
Speaker 2: roll through January and February outside of the one lost
Speaker 2: to JO or to Tech is because they don't get
Speaker 2: too high or too low. And I you know, I
Speaker 2: it's one thing to have all these cliches, but I
Speaker 2: think it's a mixture of things. I think these guys
Speaker 2: are really good at relating to people. You can just
Speaker 2: tell these players for Kentucky and the players for Louisville
Speaker 2: they love their coach. But also I think that you're
Speaker 2: benefiting from having some real maturity on your roster, Like,
Speaker 2: for the most part, these are grown ass men. I mean,
Speaker 2: obviously Kentucky's playing a couple of freshmen who play bigger play,
Speaker 2: I mean, played older than they are. Certainly Trtonoa did
Speaker 2: the other night. But I think I would hope Kelsey
Speaker 2: and Pope will realize moving forward they're not going to
Speaker 2: have such an old roster with a bunch of veterans.
Speaker 2: But man, I wouldn't be shocked if these guys end
Speaker 2: up realizing, you know what, we need to prioritize that
Speaker 2: to an extent, because there's real value in having guys
Speaker 2: that have that are mature, that have that have grown
Speaker 2: up throughout their first few years of college or whatever
Speaker 2: it may be.
Speaker 3: I mean, am I crazy?
Speaker 2: I know they don't look the same, but I think
Speaker 2: that these two teams kind of have had some similar
Speaker 2: storylines throughout the season thus far.
Speaker 5: Well, let's let's let's just think about some of the
Speaker 5: things that we've even seen and then and then we
Speaker 5: can actually get an eye on the future.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 5: And and I heard a quote I think Rick Patino
Speaker 5: actually said this today about like his seniors on Saint
Speaker 5: John's team, because he tells him, He's like, guys, this
Speaker 5: is over before you know it. And the role of
Speaker 5: a senior on a team around this time of the year,
Speaker 5: they understand.
Speaker 4: It's almost all.
Speaker 5: It's almost over, and you know, they they start kind
Speaker 5: of playing I don't want to say with it with
Speaker 5: a desperation, but they play with this. You know, they
Speaker 5: they do play desperate to a certain extent, but they
Speaker 5: play with an unbelievable amount of confidence.
Speaker 4: And so when you look at Louisville.
Speaker 5: Hepburn Edwards Hadley like it there's no tomorrow, you know,
Speaker 5: for for these guys after this year, they got to
Speaker 5: they gotta go get it now.
Speaker 4: When you look at Kentucky.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's that is that level of desperation.
Speaker 5: Yeah, like even like Lamont Butler, Jackson Robinson, like those
Speaker 5: guys need to rest.
Speaker 4: There's no tomorrow.
Speaker 5: That's why Lamont Butler is playing with that shoulder thing.
Speaker 5: And trying to gut it out and still diving on
Speaker 5: the floor when to be honest, with that shoulder, you
Speaker 5: got no business diving on the floor. But that's that
Speaker 5: kid's makeup, like it's almost over. You're trying to gut
Speaker 5: this thing out. And so that's why I think, you know,
Speaker 5: you see those guys, and you see that veteran leadership,
Speaker 5: and it's meant so much to both programs this year.
Speaker 5: And the guys that I mentioned, you know, they're not
Speaker 5: coming back. And when you look at the freshman classes
Speaker 5: or the classes that both Wolveoine and Kentucky have coming back,
Speaker 5: like they still have to replace.
Speaker 4: A lot, Well, how you going to do that?
Speaker 5: I would imagine Kelsey and Pope are going to look
Speaker 5: for veterans from the transfer port.
Speaker 3: Yeah, a good mixture is the best way to go.
Speaker 2: And even if it's not as many as you have now,
Speaker 2: having a few, and even if they're not necessarily guys
Speaker 2: who produce a ton, I just think having mature and
Speaker 2: guys that really you know they can set to tell
Speaker 2: them they're leaders. They're likely going to be older than
Speaker 2: a lot of their teammates. And if they're doing what
Speaker 2: you mentioned, especially with Butler out there diving on the floor.
Speaker 2: I mean that that's going to become infectious, And yeah,
Speaker 2: I hadn't really thought of it that way, but yeah,
Speaker 2: these guys, I mean, this is it for them, and
Speaker 2: they don't feel sorry for themselves after a loss. They're
Speaker 2: just trying to make the most of it, meaning their career,
Speaker 2: what they have left. And I think again that that
Speaker 2: speaks to the leadership from their coach, but also just
Speaker 2: their their maturity. All Right, I'm gonna give you another job, can't.
Speaker 2: You're gonna be the You're gonna be the hypothetical Indiana
Speaker 2: Athletic director. What direction would you go in if you
Speaker 2: know Mike Woodson went he beat Michigan State. I still
Speaker 2: don't see a scenario where he's back, at least doesn't
Speaker 2: sound like it. What direction would you go in to
Speaker 2: try to find a new coach for Indiana? Obviously, college
Speaker 2: basketball has changed quite a bit since she since they
Speaker 2: last hired a coach, and really, Indiana, my opinion, has
Speaker 2: everything you need to be insanely.
Speaker 3: Successful at college basketball.
Speaker 2: They just have not been able to get the coaching
Speaker 2: thing right since Bob Knight left. They did once get
Speaker 2: it right, but then they had to get rid of
Speaker 2: Kelvin Sampson for something that it's crazy to think was
Speaker 2: against the rules. But you have any idea of what
Speaker 2: direction they're going to go or any any any input
Speaker 2: that you would you would give them if asked.
Speaker 5: I mean honestly, Like there's probably a lot of names
Speaker 5: that that people are, you know, throwing out there, and
Speaker 5: it's you know, you got to make the call and
Speaker 5: you got to make him say no and stuff like that.
Speaker 5: Like there's probably three names that I've kind of I've
Speaker 5: kind of settled in, and I wouldn't be surprised if
Speaker 5: one of these.
Speaker 4: Three would end up being the next Indiana head coach.
Speaker 4: I think TJ.
Speaker 5: And I'm going to mess up his name because it's not.
Speaker 3: The easiest thing.
Speaker 4: Otsberger.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if if he doesn't get
Speaker 5: a call, and he may be like he may end
Speaker 5: up being like the first legitimate call, you.
Speaker 4: Know what I mean.
Speaker 5: I went through this, but like he may be the
Speaker 5: first legitimate call to see if to see if he
Speaker 5: wants that.
Speaker 4: And then the two guys that I.
Speaker 5: Wouldn't I are Chris Beard from Ole Miss, an old
Speaker 5: Bobby Knight disciple, but we would see with his past
Speaker 5: if if Scott Dolson ends up making that call.
Speaker 4: But I think that, like if they called.
Speaker 5: Him, I'd be shocked if he wouldn't have, if he
Speaker 5: wouldn't say yes. And then the other guy, honestly is
Speaker 5: the guy that's in believe it's in tonight, Mick Cronin.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I hadn't thought about Mick cronan. What about Bruce Pearl.
Speaker 3: He's not leaving, you don't think so.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's got everything he needs, He's making a
Speaker 2: lot of money, they're the number one team in the country. Like,
Speaker 2: he has no reason to leave. But you know, Indiana
Speaker 2: is a great job. But if you already have a
Speaker 2: really really good job and you're successful, it is foolish
Speaker 2: to kind of rock the boat and mess that up,
Speaker 2: especially considering I mean, there was a time where people
Speaker 2: didn't think Bruce Perl would be back in college bass,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 5: And also like twenty years ago, I think that you
Speaker 5: would have seen some of these jobs that come open,
Speaker 5: like the bigger fish of college basketball would have crawled
Speaker 5: to those places, right.
Speaker 4: But now, like you.
Speaker 5: Can make a ton of money, and you can win
Speaker 5: a national championship, and in some places you don't have
Speaker 5: to deal with all the bs and the pressure.
Speaker 4: And so I think a lot of these guys like
Speaker 4: they love that.
Speaker 5: Yeah that Like I think like Bruce Pearl, like he
Speaker 5: loves that. Like I'm sure like he loves like Auburn's
Speaker 5: his thing and like that's his place. They're gonna put
Speaker 5: up the statue of him at Auburn one day.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, we've got Charles Barkley and Bruce Pearl. That's
Speaker 2: what That's what's gonna come to mind for people when
Speaker 2: they think about Auburn basketball probably until the end of time.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: And I mean like look and and and to be
Speaker 5: quite honest with you, like.
Speaker 4: Look no further.
Speaker 5: And by the way, as I say this, both guys
Speaker 5: are doing a great job and they're in they're you know,
Speaker 5: present jobs at Kelsey and Mark Pope Louisville and Kentucky.
Speaker 5: That's who they hired and both of them, Like at
Speaker 5: the end, nobody was.
Speaker 4: Really shocked that it was Kelsey.
Speaker 5: But look, let's be honest, Louisville could have hired Kelsey
Speaker 5: two or three weeks before they did. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 5: like it it took a it took a while for
Speaker 5: Joshua to be okay with that.
Speaker 2: And I think there are some other examples like Pope
Speaker 2: and Kelsey haven't. I mean, they haven't even finished their
Speaker 2: first season, but they were successful at a lower level.
Speaker 2: They had a winning formula and the challenge was taking
Speaker 2: it to the higher level and seeing if it can work.
Speaker 2: And I think the days of needing to be this
Speaker 2: larger than life presence like a Patina or Caliperi, you know,
Speaker 2: first of all, that's just not really the way to
Speaker 2: go about it anymore. And you can make up for
Speaker 2: the larger than life personality if you've got an il
Speaker 2: money and you can relate to players and they may
Speaker 2: not know a whole lot about you, but man, they
Speaker 2: feel a connection to you.
Speaker 3: I just think when you look at me NATO's he
Speaker 3: was a Buffalo.
Speaker 2: And now he's at Alabama doing the exact same thing
Speaker 2: but with better resources, and he's winning at a really,
Speaker 2: really high level. You mentioned Alzolberger. He was he was
Speaker 2: at one of the Dakota's I believe it was, and
Speaker 2: then was at UNLV briefly, and now he's got Iowa
Speaker 2: State rolling. I think sometimes you just, you know, you
Speaker 2: can look at a coach's success. But big programs, they
Speaker 2: want a big name, They want a guy that they
Speaker 2: know has been there and done that, and that's just
Speaker 2: one of those guys aren't around as much anymore. But
Speaker 2: also there's more evidence that you don't have to go
Speaker 2: about it that way to get to get a home
Speaker 2: run higher.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and and and look some of these programs, like
Speaker 5: you know, when Indiana hired Mike Woodson, you know that
Speaker 5: kind of came out of like what they hired Mike Woodson,
Speaker 5: and some of that was like you know that the
Speaker 5: ad was kind of pressured to make the hire sure
Speaker 5: Louisville with Kenny Payne, like that was that was that
Speaker 5: was a pressure higher like it was you know, there
Speaker 5: were a lot of people, a lot of people that
Speaker 5: were like, that's the guy you have to hire. And
Speaker 5: there were they were a small group that was like,
Speaker 5: I don't know if that's gonna work. But the masses
Speaker 5: you wanted Kenny Page didn't work out.
Speaker 4: And so sometimes like.
Speaker 5: You have to go through like that higher before you
Speaker 5: can get to the real one. And I think this
Speaker 5: time around, I think is at the is at the
Speaker 5: real higher, like when they're just gonna go out and
Speaker 5: They're going to go get the best coach that they can.
Speaker 3: Get, can't you are the man.
Speaker 2: I always appreciate your time, enjoy your weekend and we
Speaker 2: will talk soon.
Speaker 5: My friend, Hey, thank you, buddy, appreciate it again.
Speaker 2: That is Kent Spencer from WHAS eleven. Always appreciate his time.
Speaker 2: Always a great conversation. Some good stuff there. Let's get
Speaker 2: to a quick break. We'll come back a couple more
Speaker 2: segments before we wrap it up and get out here
Speaker 2: for the weekend. Happy Valentine's Day, everybody, now.
Speaker 1: Back to coffee and company. Fueled by Thornton's on Sports
Speaker 1: Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: Just a beautiful, beautiful song. Absolutely, there's a lot lot
Speaker 2: of hip hop songs over the year. Is probably nothing recent.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about like mixtapes in the two thousands, the
Speaker 2: twenty tens that you know, that was when I was
Speaker 2: downloading a different one every day before I went to
Speaker 2: the gym, and much more. I guess into what was currently,
Speaker 2: you know, popular when it comes to hip hop. But
Speaker 2: there's a lot of rap songs that have sampled that hook,
Speaker 2: and it's they are like I don't even care about
Speaker 2: the bars, like it's just it that that's a beautiful,
Speaker 2: beautiful song to sample.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so absolutely, I love it. Some Cydney Lapper for you.
Speaker 3: She's she's one of the best.
Speaker 7: For the radio host Delilah, she oh hell yeah Sunday
Speaker 7: Night is she's still around.
Speaker 3: She's still around.
Speaker 2: I don't think we're supposed to talk about it because
Speaker 2: it's probably on a competing station.
Speaker 3: But either way, like, yeah, she's still alive.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and she's still she's still doing her thing. And
Speaker 2: am I allowed to say this? I think I can.
Speaker 2: The reason I know Delilah still is around because one
Speaker 2: of the stations in town and I'm not saying it
Speaker 2: because I'm not supposed to. I legitimately don't know which
Speaker 2: one it is. It's probably not hard for people to
Speaker 2: figure out because there are a few stations in the
Speaker 2: market that will go to Christmas music way earlier than others.
Speaker 3: And I'm all about that, sir.
Speaker 2: Once I realize, like, if I'm driving home from work
Speaker 2: or I'm out and about and I still have it
Speaker 2: on one of those stations and they've stopped playing Christmas music,
Speaker 2: one of those stations has Delilah Oh okay, and I remember, like,
Speaker 2: she's just got such a I mean, I feel like
Speaker 2: I'm sitting on the couch at my grandmother's house when
Speaker 2: she's talking.
Speaker 7: Such an angelic voice, but her calls aren't real, Like
Speaker 7: that doesn't shock me. Well, if you work in the business,
Speaker 7: as they say, we're not shocked at all by that.
Speaker 7: But I guarantee you the vast majority of the people
Speaker 7: listening don't at all even think that that's not a
Speaker 7: real person calling because they want to reconnect with somebody
Speaker 7: they broke up with in college and they just want
Speaker 7: to let they want to send this song out to
Speaker 7: them and let them know they love them so much,
Speaker 7: and they're thinking about forking it.
Speaker 2: So Delilah's still around, and good for her, and really
Speaker 2: that's longevity, right, I mean, that's a hell of a career.
Speaker 2: But yeah, shut out Delilah. All right, So not a
Speaker 2: whole lot of time left here before we get out
Speaker 2: of here. I do want to let you know that
Speaker 2: the whole Brad Stevens thing has already been officially shot down.
Speaker 2: I mean again, Indiana fans, some of them are legit
Speaker 2: when they say they never believed it and they were
Speaker 2: just making jokes, But there were some that were, like,
Speaker 2: you know, his wife should let him come now because
Speaker 2: the kids are older. Well, Jeff Goodman got a update
Speaker 2: from Brad Stevens today that says he is not a
Speaker 2: candidate for the Indiana job and that he loves being
Speaker 2: able to wake up every day and work with the
Speaker 2: fine folks in the Boston Celtics organization. So you could
Speaker 2: scratch him, scratch him off the list. Also, one thing
Speaker 2: to remind you if you did not hear this, and
Speaker 2: maybe you didn't know, maybe you weren't with us in
Speaker 2: the three o'clock hour, The YouTube TV paramount issue is
Speaker 2: at least just kicked down the road. So they've come
Speaker 2: to an agreement a short term extension on their current
Speaker 2: situation that will avoid anybody not having access to inns,
Speaker 2: DOAA tournament games.
Speaker 3: That has you two TV.
Speaker 2: So maybe eventually you'll have to move on from YouTube
Speaker 2: TV because they're losing all these stations, or maybe they will.
Speaker 2: But as far as March madness, if you've got YouTube TV,
Speaker 2: you're gonna be good to go to be able to
Speaker 2: watch all the games, which you know around here we
Speaker 2: probably this market Louisville, Kentucky, and I should say we
Speaker 2: care about that stuff more than anybody, all right, let's see,
Speaker 2: we don't have a whole lot of time, and I
Speaker 2: meant to get this isn't something that is really this
Speaker 2: doesn't fit the Friday vibes, but I do want to
Speaker 2: get to it because it's been out there for a
Speaker 2: few days and I just keep seeing it on my
Speaker 2: list of things to talk about.
Speaker 3: But it's not fun to talk about, but it is informative.
Speaker 2: So one of the things that has been brought up
Speaker 2: throughout the Louisville basketball season, specifically especially early on, was
Speaker 2: why are fans not going back to games? Why is
Speaker 2: the maximum capacity looking like, you know, sixteen seventeen thousand,
Speaker 2: and A lot of folks say because of price, and
Speaker 2: that's legit. So the Courier Journal did a breakdown earlier
Speaker 2: this week that highlighted the UFL Athletics having their largest
Speaker 2: operating deficit, which is at fourteen point five to seven million.
Speaker 2: So here's a little bit of a breakdown. I'm not
Speaker 2: going to nerd out too much on these numbers, but
Speaker 2: UFL generated a record one hundred and fifty point six
Speaker 2: million in revenue but also spent a record of one
Speaker 2: hundred and sixty five million on operating expenses. It's the
Speaker 2: third time in the last six years that u OFL
Speaker 2: has reported a net negative revenue to the NCAA. They
Speaker 2: first reported an operating deficit in twenty nineteen of eleven
Speaker 2: point twenty one million. Again, this is around the time
Speaker 2: when you're buying out coaches and there's big, big contracts.
Speaker 3: You got to buy out.
Speaker 2: Obviously, Bobby Petrino's buyout was humongous in twenty nineteen, and
Speaker 2: you know, they they had to pay it, they had
Speaker 2: to get rid of them. So fourteen point five to
Speaker 2: seven million, that deficit. It's it's the highest amount of
Speaker 2: reading here directly from the CJ, but it says the
Speaker 2: fourteen point fifty seven million deficit came despite the highest
Speaker 2: amount of direct institutional support, not adjusting for inflation. Since
Speaker 2: the USA Today Network has began tracking these numbers in
Speaker 2: two thousand and five in partnership with the Knight new
Speaker 2: House College Athletic Database, so Louisville reported seven point zero
Speaker 2: seven million in direct institutional support, which the NAA defines
Speaker 2: as direct funds provided by the institution to athletics for
Speaker 2: the operations of intercollegiate athletics, So essentially they borrow money
Speaker 2: from the school to help keep the lights on with
Speaker 2: the athletic department. So this includes unrestricted funds allocated to
Speaker 2: the athletics department by the university.
Speaker 3: What else here?
Speaker 2: I'm trying to skim through here just to get, you know,
Speaker 2: notable numbers that may be of interest to you or
Speaker 2: at least make some sense out of why they're at
Speaker 2: a loss and why certain things have been have been
Speaker 2: so expensive. Here's a quote from Josh Hurd that he
Speaker 2: provided to the Courier Journal when they did this write up.
Speaker 3: Quote.
Speaker 2: For three years, our men's basketball program did not experience success,
Speaker 2: which resulted in significant decline in revenue reflective in our
Speaker 2: current deficit. Heard also said referencing the failed head coaching
Speaker 2: tenures of Chris mac kinny Payne.
Speaker 3: Quote.
Speaker 2: Also reflection in the deficit are significant expenses incured by
Speaker 2: the men's basketball coaching staff transition in March of twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four. As with many of our peers, inflationary factors
Speaker 2: in fiscal year twenty twenty four resulted in higher operating
Speaker 2: and salary expenses.
Speaker 3: Quote.
Speaker 2: As we enter the revenue sharing era of college athletics,
Speaker 2: we will continue to explore every option available to us
Speaker 2: to maximize revenue while mitigating expenses. Every area of our
Speaker 2: department has a responsibility to ensure that the fiscal health
Speaker 2: of our athletics department now and into the future. So
Speaker 2: payroll increased as Kenny pain and others got their payouts
Speaker 2: their severn. So Louisville's payroll increased from forty nine point
Speaker 2: three million in twenty twenty three to fifty four point
Speaker 2: six million in twenty twenty four, so ten point six
Speaker 2: percent overall, and coaching salaries increased by four point one million,
Speaker 2: or fourteen point nine percent, while support staff administrative salaries
Speaker 2: increased by one point six million, or five point two percent.
Speaker 2: So Kenny Payne got seven point five million and severance
Speaker 2: this past year and he'll continue to get that. His
Speaker 2: support staff also received seven point four million. And again
Speaker 2: those are guys who got buyouts. I mean the fact
Speaker 2: that the bums that Kenny brought here to help coach
Speaker 2: are still getting paid by Louisville. That actually chaps my
Speaker 2: ass more than anything. To be honest with you, I
Speaker 2: saw Josh Jamison sitting on Dane Alban's bench in Oregon
Speaker 2: the other night looking like a bum. I mean a
Speaker 2: true bum. I'm sorry, I'm getting personal. I don't know
Speaker 2: him as a human, but man, those guys really sucked.
Speaker 3: They really really sucked.
Speaker 2: So it says he that Max's buyout is not reflected
Speaker 2: in the report as it would have been included in
Speaker 2: previous NCAA reports. So Mac is either done receiving money
Speaker 2: or yeah, yeah, at the end of January, Mac has
Speaker 2: been paid in full. And by the way, not saying that,
Speaker 2: you know, we need to send Chris Mack a letter
Speaker 2: because you know that's not where I'm going, although I
Speaker 2: guess I feel the need to throw the disclaimer out
Speaker 2: there because I know people are aware that I'm a
Speaker 2: big fan of Chris Mack and still talk to him
Speaker 2: to this day. So what people didn't realize it's not
Speaker 2: really relevant now, but he took half and said I'll
Speaker 2: walk for half. He could have got every penny, and
Speaker 2: in fact, he probably still would have been the coach
Speaker 2: until things really fell apart, or maybe they wouldn't have
Speaker 2: fallen apart, but like him wanting to leave did leave
Speaker 2: us in a tough spot to where that season fell apart,
Speaker 2: and then they hired Kenny Payne. But he also, you know,
Speaker 2: he took half of what he could have. I mean,
Speaker 2: so as bad as this is, it could have been
Speaker 2: a lot worse. And what I think is hilarious is
Speaker 2: there's all this there was. It's not again, it's not
Speaker 2: a talking point now, but there was all this noise
Speaker 2: out there about how he did that because he was
Speaker 2: worried that if he didn't then they were gonna they're
Speaker 2: not gonna fire him with cause like that was never
Speaker 2: gonna that was never gonna happen. So he did us
Speaker 2: a favor, to be honest with you, and at least
Speaker 2: he gave us some success.
Speaker 3: Can he pay?
Speaker 2: The fact that he's getting paid anything is crazy. It's
Speaker 2: just insane, absolutely insane. All right, we'll finish up on
Speaker 2: the other side because this will this, this is all
Speaker 2: gonna make sense. But there's a reason that big donors
Speaker 2: have had to buy tickets in bulk and give them
Speaker 2: away because things because of this transition and the buyouts,
Speaker 2: you're in a financial crunch to where you can't lower
Speaker 2: the ticket prices.
Speaker 3: If they would, they could.
Speaker 2: They know that the price of these tickets is not ideal,
Speaker 2: but they can't give them up for any cheaper because
Speaker 2: of how dire things are financially at least least now,
Speaker 2: like that's why you look at the Spaulding Exhibition game
Speaker 2: and see a ticket being sold for what it's being
Speaker 2: sold for, because they got to try to make up
Speaker 2: whatever money they can. All right, quick break, We'll come
Speaker 2: back and wrap it up on the other side right
Speaker 2: here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: So one more thing to pick up on from the
Speaker 2: article the CJ did earlier this week about UFL athletics
Speaker 2: financial situation. So donations, you know, used to be a big,
Speaker 2: big deal, meaning they were really valuable, and they were
Speaker 2: there were a lot of donors and they were donating,
Speaker 2: donating a lot of money. And that was certainly during
Speaker 2: the time of the boom, when Louisville was in the
Speaker 2: midst of you know, the year of the Cardinal, that
Speaker 2: kind of stuff. And I don't know if anybody would
Speaker 2: be better at getting people to donate money and partner
Speaker 2: with U of L than Tom Jorge was. I mean,
Speaker 2: I think Josh and even Vince did a good job.
Speaker 2: It's just there's some people that just want to go
Speaker 2: back to that era when Tom was rolling and that's
Speaker 2: just not one Tom was that's what he was great at.
Speaker 2: But also UL athletics was on top of the world.
Speaker 2: So to see donations declining, you know, some people say, well,
Speaker 2: that's that's that's an issue with our leadership, and and
Speaker 2: maybe it is to an extent, but what you have
Speaker 2: to keep in mind is that donations certainly went down
Speaker 2: in the pandemic. I mean that, I mean that's just
Speaker 2: a factor. Also you now, I mean donations decline for Louisville,
Speaker 2: but I think recently, meaning this past year, it wasn't
Speaker 2: because of lack of success. I think it's because there's
Speaker 2: some money that you know would be coming in from
Speaker 2: supporters that we're going to be donating to the athletic
Speaker 2: department that now they have to donate to the Nile
Speaker 2: Fund because that's super important. So Louisville won't be the
Speaker 2: only school I think that has a decline in donations
Speaker 2: to the athletic department. It's still going to be important
Speaker 2: and you need it, but you also are going to
Speaker 2: be mindful of how all this works now and say,
Speaker 2: instead of giving us all of it, let's give half
Speaker 2: to the NIL collective and half to us. Because that's
Speaker 2: just what we have to do now. But yeah, ticket
Speaker 2: sales revenue is up along with football seasons, so football
Speaker 2: is helping. Football is making money now at least well,
Speaker 2: football is getting better from a financial standpoint. I mean,
Speaker 2: Louisville's ticket sale revenue returned to the pro pandemic levels
Speaker 2: this past football season, bringing in thirty two point eight million,
Speaker 2: which is just over the thirty two point eight one
Speaker 2: million they had in twenty nineteen. So football was responsible
Speaker 2: for nineteen point six million after selling thirty eight thousand
Speaker 2: season tickets last in Brahm's first season, which was a
Speaker 2: sixty five hundred increase from the twenty twenty two campaign.
Speaker 2: So obviously, once Louisville starts succeeding, and they are right now,
Speaker 2: it's happening.
Speaker 3: Football is in a good space.
Speaker 2: Basket basketball seems like the future's bright, and that's how
Speaker 2: you start to get back to where you're not looking
Speaker 2: at these kind of numbers. That and of course, getting
Speaker 2: everybody off the books that came here and robbed us,
Speaker 2: essentially meaning Kenny.
Speaker 3: Payne and his cast of clowns.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry I shouldn't end the show and end the
Speaker 2: week on Valentine's Day base being so negative. We're loving
Speaker 2: and I hope everybody has a Greatvalentine's Day and a
Speaker 2: great week and we're back at it on Monday.