Speaker 1: It's time for Coffee and Company, Fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine.
Speaker 2: Day, Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we
Speaker 2: think when we.
Speaker 1: Are get off our show. Idiots, the kids are crying
Speaker 1: or turn at. The countries are screwing it up.
Speaker 3: Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play Inner Murals.
Speaker 1: They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not.
Speaker 1: Who's the kid here? Who's the kid here? Are you
Speaker 1: kidding me? Now? Here's nick coffee?
Speaker 4: You smell that? Can you feel it?
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 3: In?
Speaker 2: Yet?
Speaker 4: That's what she said. It's a Friday.
Speaker 5: Let me be immature, Let me be a child? Can
Speaker 5: we If I can't be immature and childish on a Friday?
Speaker 5: What is this? This isn't America. If that's the case,
Speaker 5: it certainly isn't Coffee and Company. But it actually is
Speaker 5: because it's three o'clock and we're here with you for
Speaker 5: the next three hours, taking you up till six o'clock,
Speaker 5: getting you set for the weekend. What should be a
Speaker 5: big weekend. I mean, it's already off to a good
Speaker 5: start because today I'm not sure it can be, you know,
Speaker 5: more beautiful than it is today, And I've said that
Speaker 5: a few times, but today's like the perfect day because
Speaker 5: there's just enough of a breeze. Temperatures are not really high,
Speaker 5: but like it's it's perfect out there. So hopefully you
Speaker 5: are enjoying your Friday, and hopefully you will stick with
Speaker 5: us for the next three hours. Don't forget you could
Speaker 5: take us with you wherever you go. Listen live on
Speaker 5: the iHeartRadio ABB listen live at seven ninety Louisville dot com.
Speaker 5: When I was asking if you can if you can
Speaker 5: smell it and you can feel it, I mean I
Speaker 5: didn't just mean Friday, I also mean the big game vibes,
Speaker 5: they're there, and I don't know if this is much
Speaker 5: of a sign because I can't feel I mean it
Speaker 5: just you know, you get the number six team coming
Speaker 5: to town. I think most fans would say they're a
Speaker 5: little disappointed with how Louisville football has looked this year.
Speaker 5: Maybe a little disappointed with already having two losses six
Speaker 5: games in, or maybe you're a lot disappointed. Everybody can
Speaker 5: have their own opinion, but make no mistake of it regardless.
Speaker 5: If you're not disappointed at all, you're kind of disappointed.
Speaker 5: You're big time disappointed. We can all agree that tomorrow
Speaker 5: is a huge opportunity and here's still hoping that Louisville
Speaker 5: can play their best game of the season.
Speaker 4: Don't it to be perfect. They can make mistakes.
Speaker 5: When I say their best game of the season, it
Speaker 5: really is just, you know, because I'm not really sure
Speaker 5: what is their best game of the season. You can
Speaker 5: throw the first two out because of who you played.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's all you can do is you know,
Speaker 5: plays on your schedule. But I mean that one doesn't
Speaker 5: mean a whole lot to me. If I'm being you know,
Speaker 5: totally totally honest with you, those two I should say
Speaker 5: those two games don't mean much. But from then on,
Speaker 5: you know, you won against Georgia Tech, you bounce back
Speaker 5: last week against Virginia, and obviously you had a couple
Speaker 5: of losses in between there at Notre Dame and at
Speaker 5: home against SMU, But they just haven't put together a
Speaker 5: game where you can you can reflect on it and
Speaker 5: say win or loss.
Speaker 4: You know, they came.
Speaker 5: Ready, they avoided many avoidable mistakes. That just hasn't happened yet,
Speaker 5: and it needs to happen tomorrow for Louisville to be
Speaker 5: able to win and again here's to hoping that it
Speaker 5: does in fact happen. It is Coffee and Company.
Speaker 4: That's us.
Speaker 5: We are fuel about Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5: Appreciate you hanging out with us. My name is Nick Coffee.
Speaker 4: I hope you knew that.
Speaker 5: If not, now you do. The company man, the man
Speaker 5: with the plan, mister John Alden is alongside today and
Speaker 5: you've got a big game as well, Indiana and Nebraska.
Speaker 5: And I was just looking at Twitter earlier today, and
Speaker 5: I've been off Twitter for a good chunk of the day,
Speaker 5: but when I was looking earlier, it felt like every
Speaker 5: time I would, you know, scroll down every few tweets,
Speaker 5: I would see one of the networks or one of
Speaker 5: the personalities that covers college football talking about making their
Speaker 5: way to Bloomington for this game. You know, Varstool, they're
Speaker 5: taking their show, Fox is doing Big nuone kickoff. You
Speaker 5: may not know the answer to this, but if you're
Speaker 5: coming to Bloomington to cover a game, are you flying
Speaker 5: into Louisville or are you flying in Indy? I feel
Speaker 5: like you're flying in Louisville, or maybe does Bloomington have
Speaker 5: an airport like.
Speaker 3: They do it's a very small airport, but I feel like.
Speaker 5: Like most people aren't getting like a chartered playing to
Speaker 5: the Bloomington airport.
Speaker 3: I would assume, Yeah, I think traveling why from Louisville
Speaker 3: to Bloomington and Indianapolis to Bloomington are very similar time wise,
Speaker 3: is it?
Speaker 5: I felt like Louisville's closer, but you would know more
Speaker 5: than I. But either way, you know, we can collectively
Speaker 5: have excitement for both programs. You know, I'm a Louisville fan,
Speaker 5: John's and Indiana fan, and we both have a big
Speaker 5: game and I you know know, no offense to the Hoosiers.
Speaker 5: But like, I never really once thought about what life
Speaker 5: would be like if we was in this, if we
Speaker 5: were in this position where we both were both happy
Speaker 5: about football, rightactly, Well, you're you're happier than I am
Speaker 5: for obvious reasons. But still, you know, tomorrow's a big
Speaker 5: opportunity for Louisville, and I'm hoping they can they can
Speaker 5: take advantage.
Speaker 3: We're both celebrating because both games will conclude around the
Speaker 3: exact same time.
Speaker 4: That's right, That's right.
Speaker 5: So that's a good opportunity for me to remind you
Speaker 5: that we will have you cover tomorrow for all the
Speaker 5: game day coverage. Louisville kicks off at noon, which means
Speaker 5: we will have our pregame show starting at eleven. We'll
Speaker 5: go from eleven to noon. It is the Louisville Fotball
Speaker 5: Pregame Show presented by Pellow Windows and Doors of Central
Speaker 5: Kentucky and Jefferson Animal Hospital. And then as soon as
Speaker 5: it ends, we go live right here for the louisvill
Speaker 5: Football Postgame Show presented by Alex R. White Suit Distracted
Speaker 5: Driver dot Com. And you know, I'm to the point
Speaker 5: now where you know we can we can discuss, and
Speaker 5: we will. You know, we'll hit on some things as
Speaker 5: far as what I think is most important in this matchup,
Speaker 5: what needs to go well for Louisville, among many things.
Speaker 4: But you know we've done that a lot.
Speaker 5: I think everybody kind of knows, like louis Is gonna
Speaker 5: have to be a different team than they've been all year,
Speaker 5: and you're gonna have to make sure you offensively can
Speaker 5: give your quarterback enough time to make some plays, because
Speaker 5: that's where you're gonna be able to score your points
Speaker 5: is airing it out to Corey Brooks. I mean, you
Speaker 5: can even hit Isaac Brown out of the backfield. I
Speaker 5: mean not to say Tyler Shuck's got to go out
Speaker 5: there and put up four touchdowns for louis to be
Speaker 5: able to win. But if you win, I'd say it's
Speaker 5: because you're able to match them offensively and you know,
Speaker 5: hold on long enough to to you know, to to
Speaker 5: score eight maybe get it maybe, you know.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 5: I've not thought about any scenarios specifically as far as
Speaker 5: what needs to happen, but as far as specific matchups,
Speaker 5: just you know, the off line's gonna have to make him.
Speaker 5: You know, I don't want to say they got to
Speaker 5: be perfect, and I don't want to act as if
Speaker 5: they're terrible, because you know, it's not as if Louisville
Speaker 5: has been unable to move the ball offensively this year.
Speaker 5: Is just that at times it looks like Tyler Shuck
Speaker 5: doesn't have a whole lot of time in the pocket,
Speaker 5: And I feel like this offensive line is gonna have
Speaker 5: to play their best game tomorrow because what Miami has
Speaker 5: upfront is I think easily the best defense you will
Speaker 5: have faced up to this point. I don't know, maybe
Speaker 5: Notre Dame. They're pretty good upfront as well. And then
Speaker 5: defensively avoid all the miscommunication issues that you've had and
Speaker 5: obviously find a way to make cam Ward uncomfortable. I mean,
Speaker 5: I would imagine I shouldn't say it's impossible, but the
Speaker 5: thought of him just completely lay in an egg. I mean,
Speaker 5: it's certainly possible. It happens quarterbacks have bad games. But
Speaker 5: I don't think you can just bank on that. You're
Speaker 5: gonna have to throw some things at him that maybe
Speaker 5: he's not expecting, just keep him from getting comfortable. I mean,
Speaker 5: Louisville hasn't done this in a while, at least not
Speaker 5: you know, this year. I mean, you go back to
Speaker 5: last week, Virginia was moving the ball pretty easily in
Speaker 5: the first couple of possessions. They had obviously smu my goodness,
Speaker 5: I don't remember two drives for opponents where their offense
Speaker 5: so effortlessly moved the ball down the field and scored. So,
Speaker 5: you know, doesn't seem ideal to give Miami any kind
Speaker 5: of a head start. So if the defense can't find
Speaker 5: a way to get off the field on third down
Speaker 5: on the first couple of possessions, again easier said than done,
Speaker 5: that could go a long way, right. That gives you
Speaker 5: a chance for you to put some points on the board,
Speaker 5: maybe establish some early momentum, get that stadium rocking.
Speaker 4: So I'm excited.
Speaker 5: But you know, I've been asked a few times in
Speaker 5: the last couple of days, not by you know, it's
Speaker 5: not like people are just running up to me in
Speaker 5: the street. But I was talking to somebody last night
Speaker 5: at dinner that came over to have a chat with us, which,
Speaker 5: by the way, they said they're not interested in meeting me,
Speaker 5: They're interested in meeting Moose, which you know, I get it,
Speaker 5: he's the star of the family. But we were talking
Speaker 5: about the game, and they're like, you know, what do
Speaker 5: you think happens, and I'm like, well, I don't really know,
Speaker 5: Like I we'll see. And then I think their initial
Speaker 5: reaction was, without saying it, well I guess he thinks
Speaker 5: we're gonna lose. And I could sense that, so I
Speaker 5: was like, well, I'm not saying that. You know, I'm
Speaker 5: convinced that it's going to be a loss and they'll
Speaker 5: really surprise me if they win. But I just I
Speaker 5: don't have much of a feel for because what it
Speaker 5: all comes down to for me, and again this doesn't
Speaker 5: mean it's not gonna happen.
Speaker 4: You know, maybe Louisville win's big tomorrow.
Speaker 5: I don't know, but I know for them to pull
Speaker 5: off this win, it really feels like they're going to
Speaker 5: have to show us some things we haven't seen yet
Speaker 5: this year, which again, not to beat the dead horse,
Speaker 5: but just you know, cleaning things up, don't make the
Speaker 5: avoidable mistake. And they just haven't done that yet this year.
Speaker 5: So that's not like asking them to go out in
Speaker 5: a week's time and become some substantially better team and
Speaker 5: you know, go get new players or you know, mix
Speaker 5: up the rotation, nothing like that. It's just you know,
Speaker 5: being a little more disciplined, being a little more organized,
Speaker 5: don't make the avoidable mistake. And again, it sounds like
Speaker 5: something you could just Okay, well that's easy.
Speaker 4: I won't do that.
Speaker 5: I won't hold I won't commit a silly penalty that
Speaker 5: gives the opponent an extra set of downs when we
Speaker 5: could have got off the field. I mean again, it
Speaker 5: seems pretty easy to not do, but they haven't yet
Speaker 5: done it yet. So you know, for me, I'm not
Speaker 5: big on given like predictions. Here's the score, here's what
Speaker 5: I think happens, and here's how we got there. It's
Speaker 5: just not really, it's just not men. I don't do that,
Speaker 5: and I don't think anybody needs me or wants me
Speaker 5: to do that. But it's not that I don't have
Speaker 5: confidence in them. It's just I know they're going to
Speaker 5: have to show something in Game seven that we really
Speaker 5: haven't seen yet, and maybe that happens tomorrow or maybe
Speaker 5: you know, they continue to kind of be the same
Speaker 5: team they've been, which isn't a terrible team, but it's
Speaker 5: not a team that I feel like would be able
Speaker 5: to knock off a Miami team that I happen to
Speaker 5: think has momentum.
Speaker 4: Now, maybe that.
Speaker 5: Is just the way I view it, because yes, they
Speaker 5: have avoided some really close calls.
Speaker 4: They could have easily lost.
Speaker 5: Both the Virginia Tech game and the game against cal
Speaker 5: But I feel like them being able to hold on
Speaker 5: and survive. Guys on that Miami roster right now that
Speaker 5: know last year, even the year before that, those are
Speaker 5: games we lose. Well, we were able to survive when
Speaker 5: and get into the bye week, and you know, I
Speaker 5: maybe it's the complete opposite of that. Maybe they are
Speaker 5: on their heels because they realize how lucky they are,
Speaker 5: and you know they're vulnerable, right, they were able to
Speaker 5: escape without losses.
Speaker 4: Some would say it's a miracle.
Speaker 5: So maybe they just maybe they're just feeling like they're
Speaker 5: you know, it's about to happen, right, They're finally going
Speaker 5: to have somebody that gets them in the position where
Speaker 5: they can knock them off.
Speaker 4: We'll see.
Speaker 5: But with cam Ward and the swagger that he has,
Speaker 5: the confidence that he has, and really just his ability
Speaker 5: I mean quarterback, and by the way, quarterbacks have such
Speaker 5: an impact on those kind of things. I mean, I
Speaker 5: think we're seeing it with Tyler Shuck this year. I mean,
Speaker 5: you could tell this offense, man, they know that the
Speaker 5: guy under center has a lot of confidence in himself
Speaker 5: and his ability to lead the offense down the field.
Speaker 5: And it's just that's a healthy offense when your quarterback
Speaker 5: is the guy that's carrying the energy and guys are
Speaker 5: feeding off him, and it's infectious. And certainly you could
Speaker 5: tell the cam Wore does that. So, by the way,
Speaker 5: one of the things that I totally forgot about when
Speaker 5: it comes to this matchup, and I wouldn't say this
Speaker 5: is some big storyline between Louisville and Miami, However, a
Speaker 5: little trivia for you. You want to hear John, I
Speaker 5: think this is somewhat interesting. Mario Christoval when he was
Speaker 5: before he was the coach at Miami, he was the
Speaker 5: head coach at Oregon, and at Oregon he recruited Tyler
Speaker 5: Shuck out of high school. So you know, I don't again,
Speaker 5: that's just a random fact, but you know, me being
Speaker 5: the pessimist that I am, it did have me thinking, oh, well,
Speaker 5: I guess this. You know this guy, he'll know how
Speaker 5: to really take away shuck strengths because you know he's
Speaker 5: coached him before, which you know that's just me being
Speaker 5: a pessimist. I mean, I don't even know how much
Speaker 5: Tyler Shuck actually played for him. Obviously, throughout Tyler's career
Speaker 5: he's been banged up and has never played more than
Speaker 5: seven games in a season. But certainly they'll be some
Speaker 5: familiarity there, and I don't know, maybe they can lean
Speaker 5: on Maybe they can lean on Shuck meeting the defensive
Speaker 5: staff for Louisville because maybe he knows what Mario Christabal
Speaker 5: is gonna want to do. I don't think any of
Speaker 5: that's gonna matter, but it is one of those things
Speaker 5: that I hadn't really given much thought to, but yes,
Speaker 5: those two have a connection from when he started his career,
Speaker 5: which was a long time ago. We all know Tyler
Speaker 5: shuck Is is a grandpa here in college football, but
Speaker 5: he's a damn good grandpa. And again, I know I've
Speaker 5: said it many times and maybe I'm maybe I'm gassing
Speaker 5: him up a little more than he might deserve. But
Speaker 5: I would just hate for this season to feel even
Speaker 5: a little bit underwhelming when you've got this guy for
Speaker 5: only one year and I happen to think.
Speaker 4: He's really really good.
Speaker 5: So again, tomorrow three uh not three noon nuone kickoff,
Speaker 5: and I am certainly excited for that.
Speaker 4: Some other things we'll get into today.
Speaker 5: Obviously a lot of games we can we can look
Speaker 5: look look at other than the local ones here, I
Speaker 5: mean Kentucky and Florida. I feel like this is as
Speaker 5: quiet as Kentucky fans have been about their football team
Speaker 5: in a long time. And I get it. You just
Speaker 5: lost to and Andy. You kind of feel a little
Speaker 5: bit stuck when it comes to to Mark Stoops or whatever.
Speaker 5: And maybe you don't feel that way.
Speaker 4: I don't.
Speaker 5: I shouldn't be like, I know what every Kentucky fan
Speaker 5: is feeling. But you know, the loss to Vandy coming
Speaker 5: off of a bye, I mean, it took you right
Speaker 5: back to close to where you were.
Speaker 4: Maybe you're maybe maybe you're right there.
Speaker 5: Maybe you're just close to where you were after that
Speaker 5: South Carolina loss where it just looked like, you know,
Speaker 5: your season was going to be terrible. I mean, you
Speaker 5: did you produced KSR this morning? I mean, did they talk?
Speaker 5: I got to listen to a little bit. I heard
Speaker 5: some of their trivia, But did they talk a whole
Speaker 5: lot about this game tomorrow?
Speaker 3: We talked about it during the first hour. It wasn't
Speaker 3: super extensive or juicy like maybe you might think.
Speaker 4: But it wasn't like extensive breakdown.
Speaker 3: It was that kind of just really A lot of
Speaker 3: the talk was about blue white games and blue White
Speaker 3: game and having you know, stoops, having really bad clock
Speaker 3: management management and stuff like that.
Speaker 5: So and I think, you know, weird, like this is
Speaker 5: a big game for both of these programs because Billy Napier,
Speaker 5: I mean, I have a hard time thinking that he's
Speaker 5: going to be able to survive after this year. And
Speaker 5: I don't really think Florida would benefit at all by
Speaker 5: getting rid of him. Mid season, but he has for
Speaker 5: a while been talked about as one of the coaches
Speaker 5: that could potentially lose his job. You know, if in
Speaker 5: fact there was somebody that does get fired from a
Speaker 5: Power five gig mid season. Which has that happened yet,
Speaker 5: I feel like maybe I'm did somebody get fired?
Speaker 3: I don't, I mean, unless I missed it, I don't
Speaker 3: think so. Yeah, it's time. Last year there was.
Speaker 4: A couple of them.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think yeah, I don't think there's been anybody
Speaker 5: can just yet. But Napier's been talked about for about
Speaker 5: a year now as far as somebody that at any moment,
Speaker 5: if he gets fired, nobody's going to be super surprised.
Speaker 5: So a loss to Kentucky, Look, there's a lot of respect.
Speaker 5: Well I'll put it this way, there's a lot more
Speaker 5: respect for Kentucky from the Florida football side, probably now
Speaker 5: than maybe there's ever been because what was it, twenty
Speaker 5: something years consecutively Kentucky never beat him, And of course
Speaker 5: during that time, Florida had some really good teams.
Speaker 4: But even when they.
Speaker 5: Weren't up towards the top of the SEC, I mean,
Speaker 5: they were still beating up on Kentucky and then things changed.
Speaker 5: I mean Mark Stoops has you know, has has had
Speaker 5: some success against Florida against multiple different coaches, and you know,
Speaker 5: I I know earlier this week, Napier talked about that
Speaker 5: exact thing, meaning that Kentucky's not going to sneak up
Speaker 5: on us because again they've I mean, Napier's lost to him,
Speaker 5: what two straight years or something like that, and Stoops
Speaker 5: again has had at least four I feel like he's
Speaker 5: had at least three or four maybe five wins against
Speaker 5: Florida since he's been there. But Florida previously has fired
Speaker 5: coaches seemingly because like, the one thing you can't do
Speaker 5: is loses to Kentucky. I mean Dan Mullen, I mean
Speaker 5: he got he got let go in a year where
Speaker 5: they were you know, I don't know how good they were,
Speaker 5: but like, and again this is I know, it's sounding
Speaker 5: as if I'm acting as if anybody who loses to
Speaker 5: Kentucky and the SEC is automatically going to be fired,
Speaker 5: because that's not the way it is right now, but
Speaker 5: it once was that way, and right now this you know,
Speaker 5: this Florida team they lost in overtime to Tennessee, which
Speaker 5: I mean it's Florida. They've got big expectations. However, given
Speaker 5: where they are right now in this current season and
Speaker 5: how tough their schedule is, that doesn't look like a win.
Speaker 5: But it obviously looked pretty good for billion Napier. They
Speaker 5: got blown out by Miami earlier this year at home,
Speaker 5: and that's when it looked like it was going to
Speaker 5: be really bad. But really, since then, I mean, they've
Speaker 5: not I mean Florida, I think at this point they're
Speaker 5: not great, but I think they're better than maybe people
Speaker 5: thought they would be, because I think at one point
Speaker 5: there was belief that this thing could completely fall apart.
Speaker 5: He may get fired mid season. I mean, they were
Speaker 5: underdogs at home last week to Central Florida and they
Speaker 5: blew them off the field, unless maybe that game got
Speaker 5: closer late, but I know at one point I was
Speaker 5: watching and it wasn't much of a game at all.
Speaker 5: So a loss here for Kentucky, I mean weird to
Speaker 5: think a loss to Florida would be like, oh my god, can.
Speaker 4: You believe Stoops did this?
Speaker 5: Because again, like Florida, in the majority of most of
Speaker 5: your lives, if you're a Kentucky fan listening listening to
Speaker 5: this the vast majority of your life. Kentucky has not
Speaker 5: been Florida in football very often, but you know, they're
Speaker 5: they're not good right now, at least they're not believed
Speaker 5: to be so. And if Kentucky does win, you know,
Speaker 5: maybe that does speed up the process for.
Speaker 1: That.
Speaker 4: I keep saying, did I say Dan Mullen, what's his name?
Speaker 5: What's the Billy Napier? Billy Napier Mullen was there before, which,
Speaker 5: by the way, I still don't understand what really led
Speaker 5: to them moving on from Dan Mullen, Like he wasn't great,
Speaker 5: but I mean for him to get fired that quickly
Speaker 5: and then to go make the move and bring in
Speaker 5: Billy Napier, that just I mean, clearly, as of now
Speaker 5: it looks like it was a bad move. But even
Speaker 5: at the time, I don't really know why that would
Speaker 5: have been. Like it's one thing, if you know, Urban
Speaker 5: Myers coming out of retirement and he wants to get
Speaker 5: back into coaching or something, but like to make that
Speaker 5: kind of move and move on from a guy who
Speaker 5: has been at least relatively successful and go hire Billy Napier,
Speaker 5: I guess they thought he was the next guy up.
Speaker 4: And clearly that is data.
Speaker 3: Only one true really bad season in Florida. He had
Speaker 3: ten wins, eleven wins, eight wins, and then five wins
Speaker 3: in his final year.
Speaker 5: And then that final year was that COVID year. It
Speaker 5: was the year after twenty twenty one. Yes, yeah, I
Speaker 5: mean that may have been the game that they lost
Speaker 5: to I think that was the game that they lost
Speaker 5: to Kentucky, And maybe at that time it might have
Speaker 5: been the.
Speaker 3: They did lose to Kentucky that year thirteen to twenty.
Speaker 3: Was that early in the season October second, Okay, there
Speaker 3: was at one point where Kentucky beat Florida and it
Speaker 3: was a big win because of where they were ranked.
Speaker 3: And then of course as the season played on, it
Speaker 3: turned out that Florida wasn't that good, and you know,
Speaker 3: they moved on from their coach. Maybe it was that year,
Speaker 3: but again I'm sure it's because they've got a new
Speaker 3: basketball coach. The Blue White Game is tonight, isn't it?
Speaker 3: I think is it tonight?
Speaker 5: It is, so they're focusing on basketball, not to say
Speaker 5: that they hate their team and think they're going to
Speaker 5: lose the rest of the way, but when you're coming
Speaker 5: off a loss to Vandy, and you've got you know,
Speaker 5: Mark Pope's first Blue White game and whatnot. Like I
Speaker 5: get it, but I just can't remember a week where
Speaker 5: I feel as if they've been this quiet about an
Speaker 5: upcoming game, which, by the way, is a game they
Speaker 5: can win.
Speaker 4: They should win. They're better than Florida. Now, well they
Speaker 4: do it.
Speaker 5: That's a that's a different conversation, I think. But they're favored, right,
Speaker 5: It's not much, but I'm pretty sure there's still favorites
Speaker 5: down there in Gainesville, which I feel like that's got
Speaker 5: to be super, super rare. All Right, some of the
Speaker 5: things we'll get into today. In fact, coming up here
Speaker 5: in about six seven minutes, we will bring in Kevin Sweeney,
Speaker 5: who covers college basketball for Sports Illustrated. Obviously, the big
Speaker 5: news today Tony Bennett had his press conference and you know,
Speaker 5: explained himself as best he could as far as why
Speaker 5: he's moving on. Clearly, timing is still not ideal. But
Speaker 5: I am somebody that believes that, you know, he does
Speaker 5: deserve the benefit of the doubt. I don't know him personally.
Speaker 5: I know I talked about our elevator experience yesterday on
Speaker 5: the show, and trust me, I'm not saying this because
Speaker 5: of anything that happened in that you know and that
Speaker 5: Charlotte elevator when we had such a you know, such
Speaker 5: a moment together. And if you don't know what I'm
Speaker 5: talking about yet, have to go back and listen to
Speaker 5: the podcast. I'm not getting into it again, and I
Speaker 5: don't want to make you waste your time. It wasn't
Speaker 5: anything crazy. But anyways, I'm not acting like I know
Speaker 5: the guy, but enough people who cover the sport that
Speaker 5: I do know at least a little bit, and people
Speaker 5: that I just know, like legitimately, like they think he's
Speaker 5: a great dude, and they're giving him the benefit of
Speaker 5: doubt that this is really just not I mean, if
Speaker 5: there's one thing you could be super critical of here,
Speaker 5: it's got to be the timing. However, I think what
Speaker 5: he's doing is making sure his top assistant gets the
Speaker 5: opportunity to at least coach one season and show what
Speaker 5: he can do. If Tony Bennett left after this past year,
Speaker 5: then they probably wouldn't have hired his guy. They probably
Speaker 5: would have gone outside and found somebody else, which probably
Speaker 5: would have been the right thing to do. So, you know,
Speaker 5: I get why people don't like that, but I you know,
Speaker 5: I still get why Tony.
Speaker 4: Bennett is is gonna do that.
Speaker 5: The one thing though, that has annoyed me, And it's
Speaker 5: not like I mean, it's not really Tony Bennet's fault,
Speaker 5: but I just I am so over those that cover
Speaker 5: the sport at the highest level they do have relationships
Speaker 5: with some of these coaches that you know, act as
Speaker 5: if they have been just dealt such a terrible hand,
Speaker 5: and like it's a travesty that that the you know
Speaker 5: that now things have changed within college sports, that now
Speaker 5: you know you have employees on your roster and you've
Speaker 5: got to worry about retaining your employees. Like these guys
Speaker 5: make so much money and they don't even have to
Speaker 5: be good. They can be terrible and it doesn't matter.
Speaker 5: That's not I mean, that's imagine your I don't know
Speaker 5: what you do for a living wherever you are listening,
Speaker 5: but I would imagine you probably do not have a
Speaker 5: job that pays you anywhere close to what these college
Speaker 5: coaches make at the highest level or even like mid level.
Speaker 5: And if you were really really bad at your job,
Speaker 5: because most jobs are what results based, you got to
Speaker 5: get results. If you're bad at your job, meaning the
Speaker 5: results are bad, you're likely not going to keep your
Speaker 5: job right, and then you you know, you get fired,
Speaker 5: and then you got to find you got to go
Speaker 5: find a new job. Then you go get you maybe
Speaker 5: you get unemployment, but you know, I don't know if
Speaker 5: you can get unemployment if you're fired.
Speaker 4: I don't really know how that works.
Speaker 5: But what I'm saying is like, these guys have the
Speaker 5: best situation of anybody in the American workforce, and yet
Speaker 5: they complain about changes made to their job. And yet
Speaker 5: these national honks out there are acting as if they're
Speaker 5: dealing with something that you know, it just it really
Speaker 5: makes me sick, to be honest with you. I know
Speaker 5: that's over the top and it's dramatic, but like, these
Speaker 5: guys can be terrible at their job and still just
Speaker 5: get paid an insane amount of money nobody else.
Speaker 4: Like, they have the best situation.
Speaker 5: You'll find, and yet at times you hear those that
Speaker 5: cover college basketball and college football for that matter, that
Speaker 5: act as if it's just it's such a shame that
Speaker 5: what the sport college sports has turned into. The climate
Speaker 5: change and you know, just the landscape being so much different.
Speaker 5: It's just it's really, somebody's really got to take a
Speaker 5: look at this. Okay, Well, you know it is different.
Speaker 5: Nobody would tell you that it's not a huge difference.
Speaker 5: But the last people I ever have any sympathy for
Speaker 5: is college coaches who have contracts where they're paid millions
Speaker 5: and millions of dollars and even if they suck, they
Speaker 5: get fired and still keep all that money. Like, how
Speaker 5: could you feel sorry for somebody like that? It's insane
Speaker 5: to me. All Right, I gotta get too break so
Speaker 5: I can keep this clock on schedule. Today we're going
Speaker 5: to be joined again Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated. We'll
Speaker 5: get his thoughts on the Tony Bennett news and also
Speaker 5: get his thoughts on the local teams around here. I
Speaker 5: know Kevin is certainly higher on Louisville than a lot
Speaker 5: of people. He thinks they're the third best team in
Speaker 5: the ACC. They came in at number nine in the
Speaker 5: preseason ACC media poll. So again, Sweeney's joining us on
Speaker 5: the other side right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5: It's right Coffee and Company Field by Thornton's. You're on
Speaker 5: Sports Talk seven ninety on a Friday afternoon. Got about
Speaker 5: two and a half hours left, so don't go anywhere.
Speaker 4: Hang out.
Speaker 5: We'll help you get the weekend started, and don't forget
Speaker 5: you could take us with you wherever you go. Listen
Speaker 5: live on the iHeartRadio app. Also listen live at seven
Speaker 5: ninety Louisville dot com. All right, joining us now to
Speaker 5: talk some college basketball is the one and only mister
Speaker 5: Kevin Sweeney, who covers college hoops for Sports Illustrated. Long time,
Speaker 5: no talk, How you bid, keV.
Speaker 2: Been good man. I appreciate you having me on as always.
Speaker 5: We appreciate you making time for us. And usually if
Speaker 5: there's big news in college hoops at this point, you know,
Speaker 5: late October, it's usually because of something bad, a big injury,
Speaker 5: a scandal, and it's neither of those things. It's just
Speaker 5: an abrupt retirement from Tony Bennett. Obviously. I don't think
Speaker 5: anybody saw this coming. I would assume you were just
Speaker 5: as shocked as everybody when the news broke yesterday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, shocked by October eighteenth or seventeenth, or whatever day
Speaker 2: it was when he officially announced it right like that,
Speaker 2: to me was a surprise. I think him walking away
Speaker 2: from the game early wasn't a huge surprise. I think
Speaker 2: it's something that a lot of people in the industry
Speaker 2: have been bracing for for a year or so now.
Speaker 2: And you know, I don't know if we knew it
Speaker 2: would be this year, next year, the year after, but
Speaker 2: I think the feeling was that he wasn't gonna make
Speaker 2: it further than Jay Wright did, you know he retired
Speaker 2: at sixty. I think the feeling was, you know, just
Speaker 2: sort of a disillusionment about the state of affairs and
Speaker 2: college basketball. Tony Bennett has always kind of done things
Speaker 2: his way, wanted to operate a program in a certain way,
Speaker 2: and I don't think modern college basketball it's really possible
Speaker 2: to do it the way he wants to, and so
Speaker 2: I think it's you know, natural for him to walk
Speaker 2: away and say someone else is better student to run
Speaker 2: this program. He's been been a selfless guy throughout his career,
Speaker 2: a guy's cared about others, been a very gracious both
Speaker 2: in defeating and in victory, and I think not surprising
Speaker 2: to see him go out and in a classy way
Speaker 2: and and know when his time was up.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the timing of this is really what
Speaker 5: made it this kind of a story. Obviously, a guy
Speaker 5: who is a national championship coach who is widely respected
Speaker 5: by everybody. I mean those who cover the game and
Speaker 5: those who are coaches. I mean, his peers clearly think
Speaker 5: the world of him, and that's why I think he's
Speaker 5: given the benefit of the doubt to where I think.
Speaker 5: And actually, I'll just ask you this, do you think
Speaker 5: if this was a different coach, maybe they didn't have
Speaker 5: the good will that Tony Bennon has and the reputation
Speaker 5: that he has as being not only a good coach,
Speaker 5: but a really good dude. And again, I don't think
Speaker 5: you end up with that reputation by coincidence. I assume
Speaker 5: he's legitimately a great guy. But if it was anybody else,
Speaker 5: I do think the noise would be a little bit different,
Speaker 5: maybe not to where people would be ignoring what is truth.
Speaker 4: The game has changed.
Speaker 5: The job really is different now than it was five
Speaker 5: years ago for these guys coaching college basketball in college
Speaker 5: football for that matter. But to me it stood out
Speaker 5: to say, Okay, those will kind of you know, lot
Speaker 5: of a lot of your peers, Kevin, those who cover
Speaker 5: the college game at a high level, you know, they
Speaker 5: don't think that this guy did anything slimy here. He
Speaker 5: just knows he's not in it anymore, and with that,
Speaker 5: it's not fair for anybody for him to still be
Speaker 5: doing it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I don't think this was like an entirely
Speaker 2: calculated decision and he was sitting there waiting until it's
Speaker 2: the best the best time pop will walk away and uh,
Speaker 2: and whatnot. I do think he he's being truthful, and
Speaker 2: he says, you know, I went home and went on
Speaker 2: vacation football break and realized my heart wasn't in it.
Speaker 2: And it's because my heart wasn't in it, it wasn't right
Speaker 2: for me to keep on. But I also do think
Speaker 2: and in talking to people really for the last you know,
Speaker 2: six to eight months, there's been a feeling that Tony
Speaker 2: Bennett wanted to orchestrate things so his successor would be
Speaker 2: Ron Sanchez, who was over head coach Charlotte came back
Speaker 2: over the came back over the summer last summer. Uh
Speaker 2: and and since then, I think there's been a feeling
Speaker 2: he wants a head coach in waiting title or something
Speaker 2: essentially to give him confidence that that when when he leaves,
Speaker 2: that that Ron would would succeed him. And I think
Speaker 2: you can perceive this decision as choosing Ron Sanchez over
Speaker 2: this year's team, right, like leave guys that I recruited,
Speaker 2: and I said I'd be therefore leave them out to
Speaker 2: dry to a certain extent for for the benefit of
Speaker 2: his guy getting to leave the program. But I also
Speaker 2: do think that like Tony Truey probably does not believe
Speaker 2: he's in the right head space to coach this team
Speaker 2: this year. And if he did, I think he would
Speaker 2: have stuck it out for for the rest of the
Speaker 2: season and retired come you know, March Rapril.
Speaker 5: And for what it's worth, I mean, there aren't many
Speaker 5: other coaches that would have that awareness, and you know,
Speaker 5: see how it would be perceived him leaving just a
Speaker 5: few weeks before the season starts. But you know, he's
Speaker 5: comfortable in his own scan and knows that, as you said,
Speaker 5: he's just not in the right not in the right headspace.
Speaker 5: But when it comes to coaches that that that are
Speaker 5: clearly upset and don't like the fact that things have
Speaker 5: changed so much, they've had to adjust. They've had to
Speaker 5: not only do their job a little bit differently, but
Speaker 5: they've had to coach differently. I mean, they've probably found
Speaker 5: themselves really uncomfortable, frustrated, and I know you guys hear
Speaker 5: a lot about it with your connections and relationships with
Speaker 5: those that are that are the top coaches in the sport.
Speaker 4: But behind closed doors, off the record, what do you
Speaker 4: think they want?
Speaker 5: I mean, do you think it's that they truly just
Speaker 5: wish it was like it was many many years ago,
Speaker 5: because that's never happening. I mean, they claim they want
Speaker 5: regulation and they don't want it to be I guess,
Speaker 5: such a free for all. But like I don't, you know,
Speaker 5: I don't know if anybody has like a plan out
Speaker 5: there that that would get mass approval from everybody else.
Speaker 5: I understand it's it's not ideal for these guys, and
Speaker 5: again it's a different job than what it was when
Speaker 5: they initially, you know, made this their career. But I
Speaker 5: don't hear a whole lot about what solutions can be.
Speaker 5: And maybe it's because we don't have any I don't know.
Speaker 2: Look, I don't think there's many coaches out there that
Speaker 2: are objecting to the fact that players now drive nice
Speaker 2: cars and wear designer clothes and and have just a
Speaker 2: different level of incoming status than they did five ten
Speaker 2: years ago.
Speaker 4: I mean, the employee complaint.
Speaker 2: Yes, I think the complaint is the lack of structure
Speaker 2: around it. I think there's real problems with the nil
Speaker 2: agency world. The fact that guys who like I think
Speaker 2: there's an annihil agent. I won't name his name, but
Speaker 2: he is a former manager and sec school who within
Speaker 2: five years has now become mister juice man with like
Speaker 2: including a kid that Virginia has right now and has
Speaker 2: no training, no backing that says he should be an agent.
Speaker 2: There's no reasons he should have the power he has.
Speaker 2: But he can pick up the phone and quality I
Speaker 2: major head coach and they have to listen to him
Speaker 2: and they have to deal with him. And there's so
Speaker 2: many guys like that who have not earned their place
Speaker 2: in this business. They have essentially attached themselves to kids
Speaker 2: and taken as much power and as much money possible
Speaker 2: from those kids. And has there always been those kind
Speaker 2: of leeches in the game, Yes, but you could ignore
Speaker 2: them to a certain extent ten years ago or twenty
Speaker 2: years ago and just recruit different kids. Now there's a
Speaker 2: leach attached to every one of them. And I think
Speaker 2: that's the thing that's really hard, the fact that, yes,
Speaker 2: there's just so many people you do not want to
Speaker 2: have to deal with that you're now dealing with. I
Speaker 2: think the fact that you have to do it, do
Speaker 2: this every year and renegotiate it. It's not oh, you know,
Speaker 2: we got the kid to come and now he's invested
Speaker 2: in us. It's when could he change his mind next
Speaker 2: and go get more money? Like that's those are the
Speaker 2: things that coaches a father. So I think control over
Speaker 2: who's in these kids and circles. I think some sort
Speaker 2: of of tap or standard amount of money that every
Speaker 2: school is spending, or at least that conference, I think
Speaker 2: would be something coaches really really desire. But I really
Speaker 2: I get really frustrated. And I'm not saying you're doing this.
Speaker 2: I think you're you're very fair, but I think there's
Speaker 2: so much narrative out there of like coaches just can't
Speaker 2: handle seeing kids have money or power. That's not it.
Speaker 2: It's it's all the things that come with that that
Speaker 2: I think have really driven coaches and sane.
Speaker 5: And and as far as they're being you know, a
Speaker 5: way to keep the slammy people out of it. As
Speaker 5: you mentioned, there's always going to be, uh, you know,
Speaker 5: an entourage around certain players. I mean, that's that's probably
Speaker 5: never going away. But I mean, is there any belief
Speaker 5: from coaches that the n C double A will in
Speaker 5: fact get something in order to to clean this up
Speaker 5: a little bit and get some regulation, get some guardrails,
Speaker 5: Because that's that's the scariest part is that I feel
Speaker 5: like there's there's never been sort of less faith in
Speaker 5: the n C double A being able to get this thing,
Speaker 5: you know, organized and regulated, because it's like a big
Speaker 5: can of worms has opened up, and I just, you know,
Speaker 5: I feel like the confidence that the NC double A
Speaker 5: can get this thing fixed in any way just seems
Speaker 5: lower than it's ever been.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I think the problem is is that even
Speaker 2: when the NAA tries to do things that with help,
Speaker 2: they just get sued again. Right, the house settlement I
Speaker 2: think will help. I think I think that will be
Speaker 2: a step in the right direction towards this. But as
Speaker 2: soon as an NIL collective outside of the House Settlement
Speaker 2: wants to spend more money on a kid and the
Speaker 2: answerable tup shut them down, what's gonna happen. We're gonna
Speaker 2: go to court and we're gonna see what happens. Like
Speaker 2: we we no one has any idea, right, and so
Speaker 2: I think, yes, the idea that Congress is going to
Speaker 2: come in and say today, everyone keeps pushing it. It
Speaker 2: hasn't happened yet. I don't know why anyone expects it
Speaker 2: would now, Like maybe it will, right, maybe maybe after
Speaker 2: after the election things are less polarized, people come together
Speaker 2: and decide the first priority is six in college sports.
Speaker 2: CONSIDERAB be a skeptic that that's going to happ So, yeah, Like,
Speaker 2: I don't think there's there's a clear end insight. I
Speaker 2: think what you're hoping for is incremental improvement. I think
Speaker 2: the hope would be the House settlement is the first
Speaker 2: step in that incremental improvement.
Speaker 5: Kevin Sweeney's our guest joining us here on Sports Talk
Speaker 5: seven ninety. He covers college hoops for Sports Illustrated. A
Speaker 5: couple more questions before we get.
Speaker 4: You out of here.
Speaker 5: I know you are higher on this Louisville team in
Speaker 5: the ACC than most. They came in at number nine
Speaker 5: in the ACC preseason media poll, which isn't like a
Speaker 5: huge shock to me. I think Louisville is one of
Speaker 5: many teams that it's just tough to know really at
Speaker 5: all what to expect. But I know, you feel pretty
Speaker 5: good about this team as far as personnel. You've always
Speaker 5: talked pretty highly of coach Pat Kelsey, even whenever he
Speaker 5: you know, before he became a legitimate name that Louisville
Speaker 5: was was was pursuing, you know, and we haven't seen
Speaker 5: this team.
Speaker 4: Play just yet.
Speaker 5: But I guess what would you say is the difference
Speaker 5: that that you know, what do you think you're seeing
Speaker 5: that maybe a lot of others aren't. I mean, I
Speaker 5: know some of your other you know, peers that cover
Speaker 5: college hoops, they think Louisvill's a borderline top one hundred team. Again,
Speaker 5: the the ACC folks think that they're, you know, just
Speaker 5: inside the top ten. And I don't know if you're
Speaker 5: surprised that others see it differently, because again we're all
Speaker 5: we're always just guessing. But now with you know, new
Speaker 5: rosters in the Portal and Louisville, situations different with an
Speaker 5: entirely brand new team and a new coaching staff. But
Speaker 5: I guess what would you what would you say that
Speaker 5: you see in this team, in this group as far
Speaker 5: as potential that others are maybe missing out on.
Speaker 2: I think one thing would be I believe in kind
Speaker 2: of the vision of the roster that Kelsey built. I
Speaker 2: think there's there's some cohesive beams across the group of
Speaker 2: guys that they brought in that that that make him
Speaker 2: fit together better than I think a lot of these
Speaker 2: kind of transfer given teams. I do think. Look, the
Speaker 2: ceiling is high in the floor as well, because it
Speaker 2: is one hundred percent new faces. It's a lot of
Speaker 2: guys that quite frankly, haven't won, you know, at the
Speaker 2: highest level yet in college basketball. And to get to
Speaker 2: the top three or four in the ACC like I've projected,
Speaker 2: is probably a top end outcome. I think I acknowledge that,
Speaker 2: and I don't think it's unreasonable to say that they
Speaker 2: could come in ninth or tenths right at the end
Speaker 2: of the day, like that might be two or three aims.
Speaker 2: That's the difference in the ACC, right, So I'm not
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna toot my horn and say, Wow, Louisville
Speaker 2: is way better than everyone thinks that. I just think
Speaker 2: their talent levels play a little bit higher than the
Speaker 2: rest of the middle of the ACC. I believe in Kelsey,
Speaker 2: and I think you know, they do have older guards
Speaker 2: and experience, you know, pieces throughout the roster with not
Speaker 2: everyone can and can look at and that's a that's
Speaker 2: a good starting.
Speaker 4: Point, all right.
Speaker 5: On Kentucky, this team somewhat similar to Leisville just as
Speaker 5: far as the situation. It's a brand new coaching staff
Speaker 5: and really an entirely new roster. Who would you say
Speaker 5: on this Kentucky team as far as guys they've added
Speaker 5: from the Portland I guess really that's everybody who is
Speaker 5: most important for them. Maybe not somebody that you think
Speaker 5: is going to be their best player, maybe not the
Speaker 5: guy who puts up the most points, But who do
Speaker 5: you think sort of has to who has to work
Speaker 5: out for them this year in order for them to
Speaker 5: be a team that does make the tournament safely and
Speaker 5: looks like, you know, maybe not the best team in
Speaker 5: the SEC because that league is loaded this year. But
Speaker 5: who's most important for them as far as somebody that
Speaker 5: needs to be exactly what Mark Pope thought he was
Speaker 5: getting when he brought him in.
Speaker 2: I think LaMotte Butler is the guy that they really
Speaker 2: bet on, right, I mean, point guard spots are critical,
Speaker 2: and the garden him and him and Kirk Crisa. But
Speaker 2: I think from the day that both signed, it's been
Speaker 2: clear that the planets with the ball in Butler's hands.
Speaker 2: And He's been sort of up and down offensively in
Speaker 2: his career. Always a great culture guy, always an elite defender.
Speaker 2: It's been a part of a ton of winning at
Speaker 2: San Diego State. But I think the question for him
Speaker 2: is and by putting him in a much better offensive
Speaker 2: system with Pope and he had a with with Brian
Speaker 2: Butcher at San Diego State, is that enough to make
Speaker 2: him go from good player, game manager to one of
Speaker 2: the best players on a top twenty five level team.
Speaker 2: And that to me what I'm watching right now with
Speaker 2: the Stefan He's how to seat pick to the spots.
Speaker 2: They have the shooting around him, they have the experience.
Speaker 2: Can he be the guy that steers the ship offensively
Speaker 2: every trip out of floor?
Speaker 5: Kevin has always I appreciate you making time for us.
Speaker 5: Good to catch up. I'm sure we'll be doing it
Speaker 5: again soon. Enjoy your weekend and we'll talk to you
Speaker 5: down the line on man.
Speaker 4: Thanks sir, Take care. That's Kevin's again.
Speaker 5: He does a great job covering college hoops for Sports Illustrated.
Speaker 5: Really good stuff there, looking forward to it. That's another
Speaker 5: sign that college hoops season is approaching. We'll have our
Speaker 5: weekly chats with Kevin, probably not next week or even
Speaker 5: the week after that, but not far from there.
Speaker 4: And that's that's exciting.
Speaker 5: All right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side,
Speaker 5: wrap up the three o'clock hour and keep this party
Speaker 5: rolling along. It's coffee and Company. Field by Thornton's here
Speaker 5: on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 5: With Tony Bennett retiring, there are six active coaches in
Speaker 5: college basketball that have a national championship. I would ask
Speaker 5: John on the spot if he could name him, but
Speaker 5: I don't want to do that.
Speaker 4: No, let's do it. Do you think you can know himself?
Speaker 3: John Caliperry, Rick Bettino, Yep?
Speaker 4: How many are left?
Speaker 2: Three?
Speaker 4: More more? Oh?
Speaker 3: Man, I don't like hitting the road, but you finish
Speaker 3: it off for me. I got three of them, you
Speaker 3: I mean, John?
Speaker 4: This is why one. Yes, this is why I don't.
Speaker 5: This is why I didn't want to do it, because
Speaker 5: it'll be something because you're when you're on the spot
Speaker 5: and not even thinking of it, then you just start
Speaker 5: thinking really quickly and you and you you blank on
Speaker 5: a guy who's won the last.
Speaker 4: Two of them. Oh my god, you're right early.
Speaker 5: And then the other one, h this is one I
Speaker 5: don't know. I would say, if you put somebody on
Speaker 5: the spot like I just did, you who knows college
Speaker 5: basketball really well, like you, I would say that the
Speaker 5: most likely ones that they would miss of those six
Speaker 5: would be is a witch you got because it's been
Speaker 5: so long since you won a title. And the other
Speaker 5: would be Scott Drew just because that Baylor title kind
Speaker 5: of seems random, right, Yes, so you know, just six
Speaker 5: coaches left in the game with the title, and of
Speaker 5: those coaches, as far as the likelihood of them winning
Speaker 5: another one, I mean, I would say Hurley just because
Speaker 5: of momentum and because he has found his success and
Speaker 5: he's I mean, I think he's at the ceiling. Maybe
Speaker 5: he could go higher.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 5: I mean when you went back to back, I guess,
Speaker 5: I mean, if you went a third straight one, it
Speaker 5: really is because you're maintaining what you're doing. But he's
Speaker 5: done all this in this new that a lot of
Speaker 5: coaches bitch and complain about. And then I would also
Speaker 5: have to put after that, the most likely got to
Speaker 5: be Bill self just because annually, I mean, it's now
Speaker 5: considered if Kansas isn't preseason top five.
Speaker 4: It's a huge shocker, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 4: I would say Hurley and self are the most likely
Speaker 4: of the group to win another title, but I would
Speaker 4: say the rest of the group, I would say all
Speaker 4: very unlikely. And my surprise.
Speaker 5: Of who's next in line after those two to potentially,
Speaker 5: you know, maybe get another one to add to the
Speaker 5: trophy case, I would honestly just go with Scott Drew.
Speaker 5: But I don't, you know, but I think that's because
Speaker 5: more than anything, I just realized he puts together really
Speaker 5: good teams. But he's I mean, he's had one tournament
Speaker 5: run and that's really been it. So you know, tom Izzo,
Speaker 5: I mean, I wouldn't be shocked if he's the next
Speaker 5: guy to go.
Speaker 4: I mean, he inspired by what Tony Bennett has did.
Speaker 5: Absolutely so Patino, you know, I just he's got to
Speaker 5: you know, he's gotta win it tournament game or something like.
Speaker 4: Not to say he can't do it.
Speaker 5: Patino has proven to be a really, really good coach,
Speaker 5: But like Saint John's, all of a sudden, winning a
Speaker 5: national championship in the next five six years just seems
Speaker 5: insanely unlikely. And Rick Patino. You got to be thinking
Speaker 5: how much longer is he actually gonna coach Caliperry. Maybe
Speaker 5: I'm wrong, but I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't.
Speaker 5: I would be highly shocked if he gets to a
Speaker 5: Final four at Arkansas. I don't think he's gonna be terrible,
Speaker 5: but I just don't know if he's gonna happen. He's
Speaker 5: not gonna have the overall type of talent that he
Speaker 5: had at Kentucky. He'll be He'll have good teams, and
Speaker 5: you know, maybe he does adjust and play a little
Speaker 5: more modern basketball than what he's been trying to do
Speaker 5: for the last four or five years. But I don't
Speaker 5: think he wins another title and then yeah, I mean
Speaker 5: that that that's it.
Speaker 4: Those are the Those are the six.
Speaker 5: I'm not somebody that that necessarily looks at the elite
Speaker 5: coaches that are there as far as those that have
Speaker 5: won a title and all the coaches that are like
Speaker 5: I don't, I don't look at college basketball and feel like,
Speaker 5: oh my gosh, what happened to this game that I love,
Speaker 5: all the all the legends are gone, because I'm gonna
Speaker 5: love it regardless. I mean, you could be a coach
Speaker 5: at a big time school and I would still love
Speaker 5: the sport because and you may be good at it.
Speaker 5: I don't know, maybe you find a different career down
Speaker 5: the line.
Speaker 4: Who knows.
Speaker 5: But to see, you know, the visual of what it
Speaker 5: looked like not that long ago. As far as the coaches,
Speaker 5: I mean, they all kind of not quickly, but within
Speaker 5: a few years time, a lot of the legends were
Speaker 5: just gone. I mean, I'm looking here at what the
Speaker 5: acc looked like in Rick Patino's last year at Louisville,
Speaker 5: which was twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, so what seven years ago,
Speaker 5: which is a lot longer ago than you know. I mean,
Speaker 5: that doesn't feel like it was that long ago, but
Speaker 5: it was. But in that season you had coach k
Speaker 5: you had Roy Williams, I mean, Rick Patino, Jim Behem,
Speaker 5: those are all hall of famers. Tony Bennett, I mean
Speaker 5: he's now a national champion and he's going to be
Speaker 5: a Hall of Famer. Mike Bray probably not a Hall
Speaker 5: of Famer, but a guy who had you know, back
Speaker 5: to back elite eights right around that time. And this
Speaker 5: is not a guy And this is gonna sound like,
Speaker 5: this is gonna sound bad because I'm not putting this
Speaker 5: coach in the group with everybody else that I just named.
Speaker 5: But back to the ACC when you think about what
Speaker 5: league used to be and now what it is, I
Speaker 5: mean these coaches being gone as a big factor. I
Speaker 5: mean Buzz Williams was at Virginia Tech. Buzz Williams, I
Speaker 5: mean he's not anywhere near what the who you know
Speaker 5: what those guys I just mentioned have accomplished. But he's
Speaker 5: still somebody that you would say, wow, Buzz Williams is
Speaker 5: is you know your sixth or seventh, eighth best coach
Speaker 5: in your league. That's saying something because he's pretty solid.
Speaker 5: Other names that are no longer here anymore. This guy's
Speaker 5: in a great coach. But Josh Passner, which I didn't
Speaker 5: realize he was at George Tech as long as he was.
Speaker 5: I mean, Larrenega is still somebody that you know has
Speaker 5: I mean he's gone to two different final fours. That's
Speaker 5: that's not something that makes him elite, probably not making
Speaker 5: him a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 4: But there aren't many.
Speaker 5: Coaches right now coaching college basketball that can say they've
Speaker 5: gone to two different final fours with two different schools.
Speaker 5: I mean, we are certainly in the era of the
Speaker 5: new wave here as far as who's going to be
Speaker 5: the next group of coaches that you know, we realize
Speaker 5: are elite at this and as long as they stick around,
Speaker 5: certainly not going to be in every year thing, unless
Speaker 5: maybe your name's Danny Hurley, But like, who's gonna be
Speaker 5: the next you know, maybe not Mount Rushmore, but the
Speaker 5: next wave of coaches that you feel like are the
Speaker 5: elite guys in the sport. I mean again, Hurley, I
Speaker 5: think is has has gotten there with his back to
Speaker 5: back titles, and you consider sort of the way he
Speaker 5: you know, he went from what was it Wagner or
Speaker 5: something to Rhode Island and then to Yukon and now
Speaker 5: he's got two titles, so he's I mean again, he's hard.
Speaker 5: I mean, he could stop coaching now and he would
Speaker 5: be an elite guy all time, because not many can
Speaker 5: say they get more than one, and he's got two
Speaker 5: and they're back to back. I think nat Oates is
Speaker 5: somebody that is certainly brewing to be one of those guys.
Speaker 5: He hasn't won a title yet and I don't know
Speaker 5: if he's going to, but him breaking through the final four,
Speaker 5: I think that kind of confirmed and solidified a lot
Speaker 5: of the hype that he was getting in recent years.
Speaker 4: But it is certainly a new world here in college hoops.
Speaker 5: And I mean, I love college basketball so much despite
Speaker 5: all the changes. It's not like I ever sit back
Speaker 5: and think, oh, man, I don't I don't love the
Speaker 5: game as much as I used to.
Speaker 4: It's changed so much.
Speaker 5: Despite the changes, I'm still gonna, you know, consume it,
Speaker 5: probably more than most, because you know, that's just my nature.
Speaker 5: And I know a lot of you are the same way,
Speaker 5: maybe not the same way, as far as you know,
Speaker 5: pulling up watch y piano on a random Tuesday night
Speaker 5: and betting on a team you've never heard of, that's
Speaker 5: kind of what I do. I'm a sicko when it
Speaker 5: comes to college hoops. But you know, clearly we are
Speaker 5: a very passionate market here when it comes to the
Speaker 5: sport of college basketball.
Speaker 4: All right, real quick, before we get to the top
Speaker 4: of the hour here, let me talk.
Speaker 5: Let me talk about my friend's over there at Jefferson
Speaker 5: Animal Hospital, because again they've got their big event coming
Speaker 5: up tomorrow. Again tomorrow they will have their pints for
Speaker 5: pausing people event where they will they will show you
Speaker 5: and demonstrate how pets can donate blood, and they'll give
Speaker 5: you the opportunity to see if your pet can qualify
Speaker 5: to be a pet blood donor. They'll also let you
Speaker 5: give blood with the American Red Cross if you'd like to.
Speaker 5: So again, it's tomorrow from ten am to two pm
Speaker 5: at the Jefferson Animal Hospital on outer Loop. Bring your pets.
Speaker 5: Pets welcome, People are welcome. They're gonna have food and
Speaker 5: should be a lot of fun. And again it's all
Speaker 5: for a great Cross. Every time a pet donates blood
Speaker 5: helps save up to four to six lives. So again,
Speaker 5: it's a very good cause and should be a good
Speaker 5: time Tomorrow from ten am to two pm at Jefferson
Speaker 5: Animal Hospital on outer Loop. All right, quick break, we'll
Speaker 5: come back on the other side. Get hour number two
Speaker 5: started at the four o'clock hour. That is, talk a
Speaker 5: little more about this weekend's college football slate Louisville, something
Speaker 5: I haven't talked about. They're honoring Teddy Bridgewater tomorrow, which
Speaker 5: is awesome because Teddy's an absolute legend. But Teddy's also
Speaker 5: going to be bringing some of his high school players
Speaker 5: with him who just so happened to be some big
Speaker 5: time recruits, so we'll get to that.
Speaker 4: At four point thirty.
Speaker 5: We're going to talk to Brian Edwards, Vegas Insider, so
Speaker 5: stick around right here on Sports Talk seven ninety