Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Toy Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: on a Wednesday. We are beyond the midway point in April.
Speaker 1: That was yesterday, Tax Day, Jackie Robinson Day, and the
Speaker 1: last day before the portal open. We'll talk about that
Speaker 1: a lot tonight with Cam Drummond of the Herod leader.
Speaker 1: Sean Woods, our unforgettable guard. We talk to him every week,
Speaker 1: and of course we'll also chat with Gary Moore, our
Speaker 1: Weston Bureau chief, whom I suspect has some things to
Speaker 1: say about what's happening down in Knoxville. Of course, we
Speaker 1: pre record as we speak. No news on whether nico
Speaker 1: Il Malaieva has landed a new pseudor a new employer,
Speaker 1: a new school, but we'll stay on top of that
Speaker 1: as best we can. The portal opened up, I guess
Speaker 1: at midnight, and there are names that you might recognize,
Speaker 1: not many if you're a Kentucky fan, But how about this.
Speaker 1: Hartley Gilmore is back in the portal. Yeah, that Hartley Gilmore.
Speaker 1: He was a Wildcat last season and decided to transfer.
Speaker 1: Although he might have been, and I suspect he was.
Speaker 1: I have on a pretty good authority. He was one
Speaker 1: of those guys who was sort of helped out the door.
Speaker 1: You might recall Mark Troops has said us a couple times,
Speaker 1: you know, we need people to leave because of the
Speaker 1: numbers game. But there was a press conference a while
Speaker 1: back when he talked about people who needed to leave
Speaker 1: for their benefit and the benefit of the program basically,
Speaker 1: and I have it on good authority that you mister
Speaker 1: Gilmore was one of them. Apparently. Now he stepped out
Speaker 1: of the line again with a second program and is
Speaker 1: in the portal and is leaving Nebraska. So he traded
Speaker 1: blue for the red, and now who knows where he
Speaker 1: end up. He is a talented player, but evidently cannot
Speaker 1: stay out of his own way. So that's a name
Speaker 1: that you might recognize going into the portal. Wallace Unamba
Speaker 1: also in the portal from the Kentucky roster. He re
Speaker 1: entered the portal. He had come in through the portal,
Speaker 1: worked with a second team offensive line during the spring.
Speaker 1: He was from Kilgore Community College down in Texas. He
Speaker 1: was a juke call American twice. This is after he
Speaker 1: redshirted at Florida Atlantic and transferred to New Mexico. I
Speaker 1: guess Juco was before that. Transferred to New Mexico, started
Speaker 1: ten games and played fairly well. Played for Bronco Mendenhall.
Speaker 2: But.
Speaker 1: Decided Kentucky's not the place for him, and so he's
Speaker 1: in the portal. That's somebody that you may know about.
Speaker 1: If you follow the depth chart, you know about that guy.
Speaker 1: There's another name in the portal. He's a Kentucky defensive back,
Speaker 1: Jiquavius Marshall. He entered really late last night. I guess
Speaker 1: it was first thing. He was part of the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four freshman class, ranked one of the top six
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty best players in the nation according to
Speaker 1: two four to seven Sports, and was ranked the seventy
Speaker 1: fourth best player in the state of Georgia. But he
Speaker 1: was on the injured list last year so did not
Speaker 1: play for the Wildcats and gained a red shirt year.
Speaker 1: But he has entered the portal. He was back in
Speaker 1: practice the spring practices in the two open practices, work
Speaker 1: with the third and fourth team defenses. According to Aaron
Speaker 1: Gershaan of the Cats Boss So he is the second
Speaker 1: member of the twenty twenty four freshman signing class no
Speaker 1: longer with the program. Caleb Read and edge rusher transfer
Speaker 1: to Kansas during the winter portal window. So those are
Speaker 1: the comings and goings from football as we know it.
Speaker 1: Right now, you've got four Wildcats being projected as NFL
Speaker 1: draft possibilities, including, of course, cornerback Maxwell Harrison. He's been
Speaker 1: invited to the draft up in Green Bay. Dion Walker
Speaker 1: will be drafted. Eli Cox is projected as someone who's
Speaker 1: going to be drafted. Dion, of course, the dtackle. Cox
Speaker 1: played center, has played in more than one offensive line position,
Speaker 1: and according to one outlet, Jamin Dumas, Johnson will be drafted.
Speaker 1: He is the linebacker who transferred in from Georgia, battled injuries,
Speaker 1: played well. Remember he was known as Pops, although they
Speaker 1: kind of wanted us to move away from that. But
Speaker 1: these are the guys expected to be drafted off the
Speaker 1: Kentucky team. Harston may go in the first round, possibly
Speaker 1: the second round. But he's a guy who just made
Speaker 1: a huge leap. You might recall he was victimized by
Speaker 1: I guess it was Tennessee a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: and then last year two years ago, had an incredible season,
Speaker 1: was hurt much of last year. But he's still coming
Speaker 1: out and it's projected because dat are such a great
Speaker 1: commodity in the NFL, so you can expect to hear
Speaker 1: his name go fairly early in the NFL Draft again
Speaker 1: being held in Green Bay. No, I will not be there.
Speaker 1: I wish I could go, but I need to stay
Speaker 1: close to home right now. Biggest news on the basketball
Speaker 1: front today if you're a Kentucky fan, of course, is
Speaker 1: the fact that the Wildcats have brought in another recruit,
Speaker 1: Braydon Hawthorne, who listed his hometown as Beckley, West Virginia,
Speaker 1: but as high school is listed as Huntington. Beckley's not
Speaker 1: far from Huntington. But I've been to Beckley several times
Speaker 1: because when you go Whitewater Rafting, generally in West Virginia,
Speaker 1: that's where you go to work with any one of
Speaker 1: the companies that run the New and the Gauley Rivers.
Speaker 1: You go to Beckley. But Braiden Hawthorne lists Huntington High
Speaker 1: School as his school. He decommitted from West Virginia. We'll
Speaker 1: talk more with Cam drum and about him coming up,
Speaker 1: but he was going to go to West Virginia. Then
Speaker 1: they had a coaching change. Had been talking to Old Dominion.
Speaker 1: Ohiou Mount Saint Mary's and Florida Gulf Coast. But now
Speaker 1: today was or is on campus here in Lexington, so
Speaker 1: maybe the Wildcats at him to the roster. Otaga Ohway
Speaker 1: made his announcement last night. Otaga Ohway made his announcement
Speaker 1: last night. And it's not a surprise that he will
Speaker 1: try the NBA draft, which he should. He needs to
Speaker 1: go find out. First of all, could he be a
Speaker 1: first round pick? Probably second round pick? Eh, you know,
Speaker 1: he may maybe late if he comes back to school
Speaker 1: and of course receives a hefty stipend. Could he work
Speaker 1: his way up into the first round. And I guarantee
Speaker 1: you they've already talked to him, somebody has. Antonio Reeves,
Speaker 1: who did not play for this current staff, did not
Speaker 1: play with any of these Wildcats, but is a great
Speaker 1: example of a guy who went and got really valuable advice,
Speaker 1: great information, and came back fully armed with the knowledge
Speaker 1: of what he has to do or what he had
Speaker 1: to do to improve himself and get to the NBA.
Speaker 1: And he did it. He improved his floor game, his handle,
Speaker 1: his short game. When he came to shooting, we already
Speaker 1: knew he could shoot. His defense. Antonio Reeves is a
Speaker 1: grand example of really for any kid in the country
Speaker 1: who's thinking about testing the waters away. Of course, Kentucky's
Speaker 1: leading scorer, second team All Conference sixteen points a game,
Speaker 1: nearly five rebounds a game, one and a half assists,
Speaker 1: one and a half steals, heroic moments for the Wildcats.
Speaker 1: Man had that long string of double digit games finally
Speaker 1: broken by I want to say Alabama, but he scored
Speaker 1: in double digits thirty three of thirty six games and
Speaker 1: had thirteen games of twenty or more, including the career
Speaker 1: high twenty eight against Oklahoma in Norman. His old school
Speaker 1: had the buzzer beater, remember, and he had twenty seven
Speaker 1: against Oklahoma and had a buzzer beater, So no, I
Speaker 1: guess the first game was not a buzzer beater, but
Speaker 1: he almost single handedly brought the Wildcats back, and then
Speaker 1: that went over Troy in the first round of the tournament.
Speaker 1: Became the first UK player since Walter McCarty back in
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six with twenty or more points, eight or
Speaker 1: more rebounds, and five or more assists in an NCAA
Speaker 1: tournament game, maybe his best all round game. So the
Speaker 1: only UK transfer is ever to score more than o
Speaker 1: take Oway in his first year as a wildcat. Antonio
Speaker 1: Reeves did it. Then Oscar she Boy did it as well.
Speaker 1: Oway had five hundred and eighty four. S Boy had
Speaker 1: five ninety. Reeves at six sixty seven, So you know,
Speaker 1: good luck to him, but he doesn't have to settle.
Speaker 1: If there is such a word for second round money,
Speaker 1: it's amazing that we're talking about that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: But he'll make some bank here if he comes back.
Speaker 1: So keep an eye on the NBA picture, keep an
Speaker 1: eye on the portal will help you keep an eye
Speaker 1: on it, and also keep an eye on recruits who
Speaker 1: may have been a wildcat but instead choose to go elsewhere.
Speaker 1: I'm looking right at you, Lamar Wilkerson. He's going to Indiana,
Speaker 1: and a lot of people thought he would come to Kentucky,
Speaker 1: but he decided to be a Hoosier, and it sounded
Speaker 1: in his interview with Field of sixty eight and Jeff
Speaker 1: Goodman that he wanted to go someplace where he might
Speaker 1: have been needed a little bit more in terms of
Speaker 1: the roster construction. You saw the quote I've got it
Speaker 1: for you right here as he talked about why he
Speaker 1: decided to become a Hoosier, and decided against Kentucky.
Speaker 2: I'm grateful for the opportunity that I had to get
Speaker 2: recruited by the.
Speaker 3: Top blue buzz in the school.
Speaker 1: You know, it was a hard decision, but Indiana felt
Speaker 1: like home. Man.
Speaker 2: I'm just I'm ready to bring Who's your Basketball? Back?
Speaker 4: Man?
Speaker 1: So why was it Indiana? I mean, you had Kentucky?
Speaker 1: Who else was it at the end?
Speaker 2: I know it was Indiana Kentucky at the very end,
Speaker 2: But why Indiana over.
Speaker 1: Kentucky in some of these other big time programs?
Speaker 2: Like I said, Uh, it was a pleasure to be
Speaker 2: recruited by Kentucky, but I didn't want to go to
Speaker 2: Kentucky and just be another guy. You know that that
Speaker 2: has already been to Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Man, Who's Yours basketball?
Speaker 3: You know, it was a it's a big time name,
Speaker 3: and you.
Speaker 1: Know they haven't been where they wanted to be. And
Speaker 1: you know, our trust coach Debries and what he's bringing
Speaker 1: in and the type of coach he is and how.
Speaker 3: He's going to you know, put us in position to win.
Speaker 1: That's Omar Wilkerson's interview with Field of sixty eight Jeff
Speaker 1: Goodman asking the question I got to get him back
Speaker 1: on the show. He's an interesting guest, but again it's
Speaker 1: sounded to me like and of course, if you're not
Speaker 1: going to be just another guy at Kentucky, come on.
Speaker 1: But I have a feeling he wants to be the
Speaker 1: guy at Indiana or somewhere important in Indiana is important
Speaker 1: to college basketball. Hasn't been as important as it needs
Speaker 1: to be for the good of college basketball in my opinion.
Speaker 1: And he had has a blue blood, it just hasn't
Speaker 1: been there in a while. Maybe this kid helps bring
Speaker 1: him back and you'll get a chance to cheer against
Speaker 1: him real, real soon. So now he's public enemy number
Speaker 1: one for the Big Blue Nation until the next one
Speaker 1: comes along. But best of luck to him. We'll come
Speaker 1: back and talk more Kentucky sports in just a minute
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the hour. We'll chat with Cam
Speaker 1: Drumming about the portal, about recruiting, our number two, Sean
Speaker 1: Woods and Gary Moore Weston Bureau Chief. You're on six
Speaker 1: thirty Wlap, Welcome back to the Big Moonsider. Coming up
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the average, Cam Drummond of the
Speaker 1: Hero Leader. We'll talk the transfer portal, Kentucky basketball recruiting,
Speaker 1: and we'll get back to basketball in a minute. But
Speaker 1: I don't know if you saw this story yesterday. I
Speaker 1: didn't really talk about it much, if at all, when
Speaker 1: we talked about Rory McElroy winning the Masters. Apparently when
Speaker 1: it came to his playing partner Rice into Shamba, Rory
Speaker 1: never spoke to him, never said a word, and De
Speaker 1: Shambo was interviewed about it, and he kind of made
Speaker 1: it sound like he thought it was weird or you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if he if his feelings were hurt
Speaker 1: or whatever, but you could tell he wasn't super thrilled
Speaker 1: about it, not that, but you know, he wasn't fixated
Speaker 1: on it. But Bob Rotella, who was McElroy sports psychologist,
Speaker 1: talked about it. And you might recognize that name because
Speaker 1: John Caliperi used to talk to Roteller, used to have
Speaker 1: him come talk to the Wildcats. That's where you know
Speaker 1: that name. Bob Rotella, sports psychologist. Well he's one of
Speaker 1: Rory McElroy's coaches, if you will. And he later said
Speaker 1: the silent treatment really wasn't the treatment. It had nothing
Speaker 1: to do with the Shambeau or anybody. He said, it
Speaker 1: was just the strategy that they put together for Rory
Speaker 1: to stay laser focused on winning that Masters, and if
Speaker 1: you saw the interview with Jack Nicholas, that figured into it.
Speaker 1: He and Rory McElroy sat down and had breakfast or
Speaker 1: launch or something first of the week, and he said,
Speaker 1: how are you going to play the tournament? To Rory,
Speaker 1: they went through every stroke on every hole at Augusta.
Speaker 1: Of course, both of them know that course, they know
Speaker 1: every blade of grass, and McElroy told Nicholas this is
Speaker 1: how I planned to attack one, two all the way
Speaker 1: through eighteen the greens, and Nicholas later said, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have changed the thing. That's exactly the way you need
Speaker 1: to play. And I mentioned this prior to the tournament
Speaker 1: because I've told you I was hoping Rory would win
Speaker 1: that He had been overly aggressive at times and it
Speaker 1: cost him, and it almost cost him this tournament when
Speaker 1: he had just some clunkers, some bad shots and flew
Speaker 1: the green late, but was able to come back from
Speaker 1: it and make up for it in a couple other
Speaker 1: holes with almost miraculous shots. He lost the tournament and
Speaker 1: won the tournament on the back nine. Amazing. But part
Speaker 1: of the strategy was staying quiet and not chatting up
Speaker 1: his playing partner. As Rotella told the BBC said that
Speaker 1: had nothing to do with Bryson. That was just the
Speaker 1: game plan all week and we wanted to get lost
Speaker 1: in it and that's what he did. And now on
Speaker 1: a social media accounts Rory McElroy is simply right and
Speaker 1: he has Grand Slam winner, which he has done the
Speaker 1: career Slam. Just amazing. Good for him. All right back
Speaker 1: to basketball, we know about Georgia Amore being drafted. Well,
Speaker 1: Kenny Brooks has going out and gotten another outstanding guard. Apparently,
Speaker 1: Asia Boone has signed with the Wildcats, a new part
Speaker 1: of the family. They say she'll joined the program as
Speaker 1: a junior coming up. She's from San Diego, but played
Speaker 1: the last two seasons at Liberty Down in Tennessee. Started
Speaker 1: in all sixty seven games in which she played, scored
Speaker 1: six hundred eighty three points, knocked down one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty five triples, more than two hundred rebounds one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventeen assists. She was Conference USA Freshman of the Year,
Speaker 1: ALLCUSA second Team, and of course made the All Freshman
Speaker 1: team in two years ago. Was named Freshman of the
Speaker 1: Week nine times, so she should be able to step
Speaker 1: right in now the SEC tougher competition. She's not Georgia anymore.
Speaker 1: We know this, but she knows what she's doing. She
Speaker 1: attended IMG Academy, so yeah, she's far from home, but
Speaker 1: she's traveled. She's mature when it comes to that. So
Speaker 1: Kenny Brooks lands another one baseball while Cats land another
Speaker 1: one as well, another one run victory. They've played thirty
Speaker 1: four games this year. Almost a third of them have
Speaker 1: been one run contest. I got to think more than
Speaker 1: a third have been one or two runs. They beat
Speaker 1: Miami of Ohio, jumped out to the early lead, looked
Speaker 1: like they were going to turn it into a midweek blowout,
Speaker 1: but no bats went to sleep. Miami of Ohio chips
Speaker 1: away Kentucky's bullpen falters that had been really good of late,
Speaker 1: and some guys came in who had really had a
Speaker 1: chance to throw much. And long story short, Miami ties
Speaker 1: the game when a runner scores thanks to a couple
Speaker 1: of wild pitches, gets the third on a wild pitched,
Speaker 1: then scores in a wild pitch, and it just looked
Speaker 1: like it was gonna be another extra inning deal. But
Speaker 1: two outs runners on second and third Ethan Hindle is up.
Speaker 1: Ethan had a huge home run against Texas over the
Speaker 1: weekend and to win over the long Horns. They're now
Speaker 1: ranked number one by the Way. And with two outs
Speaker 1: and the infield back, Hindle drops down a bun. It
Speaker 1: wasn't a good bunt. He popped it up quite frankly,
Speaker 1: but it didn't go very far and the third basement
Speaker 1: it was playing back came charging in and made a
Speaker 1: dive for the ball and it hit his glove, which
Speaker 1: would have been the end of the inning, but it
Speaker 1: bounced off as Mitt went into foul territory. Umpire immediately
Speaker 1: played up said fairball, which it was, and Kayas garget
Speaker 1: scores and Kentucky wins by a final of four to three,
Speaker 1: and the Wildcats could not afford another midwek loss. Just
Speaker 1: could not had lost a Xavier had lost to Murray
Speaker 1: State lost to a good Louisville team. But you got
Speaker 1: postseason coming up fast, and unless they start piling up
Speaker 1: SEC wins, they're gonna have to sweat it out on
Speaker 1: selection day. So big win for the baseball Wildcats. Softball
Speaker 1: team also wins knocks off Western Kentucky nine to one
Speaker 1: in six innings Lauren Borzolari with two home runs, so
Speaker 1: good win for Rachel Loss's ball club. The men back
Speaker 1: in action on Friday night. They go to Knoxville take
Speaker 1: on a really good Tennessee team, and last year the
Speaker 1: Tennessee series was incredible. This is on their home turf.
Speaker 1: It's a launching pad. It's gonna be tough and you'll
Speaker 1: hear it right here. Cameron drummers next year on six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue and so sider.
Speaker 1: Joining us now in our celebrity highline is mister Cameron
Speaker 1: Drummond from the Herald Leader, who covers anything and everything
Speaker 1: that he's covering, including Kentucky basketball. Cam the beat just
Speaker 1: doesn't go to sleep, doesn't, especially when it's UK basketball.
Speaker 1: I know that, but thanks to the Transfer Portal, you've
Speaker 1: been reporting a lot about cummings and goings. So if
Speaker 1: it could be more than twenty four to seven, it
Speaker 1: would be right. You know.
Speaker 4: It's one of those things, you know.
Speaker 5: When the season ended, after Kentucky lost in the sweep sixteen,
Speaker 5: some family friends were texting me calling saying, oh, you know,
Speaker 5: congrats on a great season of hard work. You must
Speaker 5: be looking forward to the off season now, and I
Speaker 5: kind of look at them with a blank stare, and
Speaker 5: I say, you know, the date I always use in
Speaker 5: mind is the Kentucky Derby because a I do a
Speaker 5: lot of the horse racing coverage for the Herald Leader
Speaker 5: as well, but also with the transfer portal, with the
Speaker 5: comings and goings with roster movement, the NBA draft declarations
Speaker 5: constantly happening. It feels like there's another extra month six
Speaker 5: weeks to the season, so we're getting closer to the
Speaker 5: end of it, just like Kentuch he is in terms
Speaker 5: of finalizing next year's roster. But you're right, it's ever
Speaker 5: going and it feels like the season extends far beyond
Speaker 5: the end of March Madness now.
Speaker 1: Earlier today, the name Brayden Hawthorne was linked to Kentucky.
Speaker 1: What can you tell us about him?
Speaker 5: Yeah, so he's a four star small forward in the
Speaker 5: class of twenty twenty five of prospect in this year's
Speaker 5: high school senior class that Kentucky is a bit late
Speaker 5: getting on but nonetheless is making a move for He's
Speaker 5: from West Virginia originally and was committed to and signed
Speaker 5: to play with West Virginia as well, that was Seinfield
Speaker 5: and delivered for many months. Obviously, there was a coaching
Speaker 5: change this offseason at West Virginia, with Darien de Bries
Speaker 5: going to Indiana, and of course Indiana and Kentucky have
Speaker 5: some recent portal recruiting history as well to speak of.
Speaker 5: But nonetheless, Hawthorn has now reopened his recruitment following that
Speaker 5: coaching change at West Virginia, and he's still giving Ross
Speaker 5: Hodge and the new coaching staff at West Virginia a
Speaker 5: fair chance, but he's also a track seeing new recruiting
Speaker 5: interest from the likes of Michigan, Virginia Tech, and obviously Kentucky.
Speaker 5: You know we're speaking here on Wednesday. This is the
Speaker 5: beginning of braiding Hawshorn's visits to Kentucky. A really rangey,
Speaker 5: small forward, lots of versatility, lots of toughness, of tremendous lens,
Speaker 5: a guy who's really rocketed up the rankings. He went
Speaker 5: from I think outside the top one hundred and fifty
Speaker 5: prospects in the country to now solidly in the top
Speaker 5: eighty per the twenty four to seven Sports rankings. So
Speaker 5: a guy who's a late bloomer and certainly is expected
Speaker 5: to make an impact as a multi year guy at
Speaker 5: the college level, and now he's here in Lexington taking
Speaker 5: a visit to Mark Pope and the Wildcats as they
Speaker 5: look to continue to round out the roster. And as
Speaker 5: something I alluded to earlier, the fact that so many
Speaker 5: pieces are already in place for that twenty five twenty
Speaker 5: six team kind of gives Kentucky that latitude a bit
Speaker 5: to be, you know, mining for some diamonds in the
Speaker 5: rough or some late additions from the senior class like
Speaker 5: braiding Hawkshorn could appear to be Well, does.
Speaker 1: This have anything to do with otega always announcement, which
Speaker 1: to me was not a shock. It was kind of sobering,
Speaker 1: I'm sure for Kentucky fans when they saw his message,
Speaker 1: because it sounded like he was gone, but he's leaving
Speaker 1: his options open. But does that have any impact either way?
Speaker 5: No, I don't think so at all. Two very different players,
Speaker 5: and I think, you know, talking about Oway's announcement for
Speaker 5: a second, I think this was always kind of the
Speaker 5: expected route for him. I mean, obviously, if you look
Speaker 5: at a lot of the mock drafts, ESPN, the Athletics,
Speaker 5: the Ringer, you know, what have you? Olways, is nowhere
Speaker 5: really near the draft board right now. I think he
Speaker 5: might be the eighty sixth on the big board for
Speaker 5: the Athletics. So he has a ways to go in
Speaker 5: terms of, you know, earning his way into being maybe
Speaker 5: a second round pick status at best. That being said,
Speaker 5: if you have the avenue and the availability to go
Speaker 5: through the draft process to get feedback from teams, I mean,
Speaker 5: why wouldn't you go that route? And so I think
Speaker 5: that was something that's been expected for a while, you know,
Speaker 5: almost one of those Hey, you have this opportunity, why
Speaker 5: would you not go seek out advice from NBA personnel?
Speaker 5: But I don't think that a hawk point and way
Speaker 5: things are connected. And I still think that the most
Speaker 5: likely outcome would be Alway coming back to Kentucky for
Speaker 5: his senior season, just because as of now the draft
Speaker 5: stock isn't there for him.
Speaker 4: It wouldn't make sense for.
Speaker 5: Him to go in the draft with incredible uncertainty and
Speaker 5: likely looking at undrafted free agent status.
Speaker 1: Well, an exhibit a is Antonio Reeves. I mean, he
Speaker 1: did the same thing when in God advice as you know,
Speaker 1: and had the best season of his life, maybe the
Speaker 1: best season you could possibly haven't really helped himself.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a great point.
Speaker 5: We're actually just having a meeting here at Harold Leader
Speaker 5: HQ and Lexington today and I walked in on a
Speaker 5: couple of reporters.
Speaker 4: Talking about Antonio Reeves.
Speaker 5: And talking about exactly what you just mentioned there, right,
Speaker 5: the fact that he was able to go get feedback
Speaker 5: from the NBA personnel, go to that draft process, and
Speaker 5: not only did that allow him to have such a
Speaker 5: great final college season at Kentucky, you both from the
Speaker 5: three point line and just showing off his scoring versatility
Speaker 5: in all sorts of ways, but also made him more
Speaker 5: familiar with that draft process so that when he went
Speaker 5: through that again after another year college experience, going through
Speaker 5: the interviews, going through the measurements, all that stuff. I
Speaker 5: think that probably made him more comfortable with things. And
Speaker 5: you mentioned the success that he had this year you
Speaker 5: going on into the NBA, and that's something that you
Speaker 5: can directly correlate to go through the draft process one
Speaker 5: year earlier, learning what he needed to feedback on, working
Speaker 5: on that, implementing it, and having a great final college
Speaker 5: season as a result of it. And I'm sure that's
Speaker 5: what many Kentucky fans hope Otega Away chooses to do
Speaker 5: as well.
Speaker 1: Talking to Cameron Drummond of The Herod Leader covers, as
Speaker 1: he said, horse racing and basketball whatever needs covering for
Speaker 1: the HL. You mentioned Indiana, Lamar Wilkerson earlier. I know
Speaker 1: Kentucky fans were disappointed, but I don't know. I always
Speaker 1: kind of thought he was going to Indiana. Did you
Speaker 1: or were you surprised he didn't choose Kentucky.
Speaker 5: I was fairly surprised that he chose Indiana, I'll be
Speaker 5: honest with to Dickon, and one of the things that
Speaker 5: I guess kind of needs to be reminded in this
Speaker 5: for both of the schools that ended up being the
Speaker 5: finalist in his recruitment. He obviously shut down the idea
Speaker 5: of an Auburn visit. I don't even know if an
Speaker 5: Oldness visit was really as likely as some people may
Speaker 5: seem to be, but looking at Indiana Kentucky, he was
Speaker 5: an absolute must get for Indiana Obviously the riser I
Speaker 5: mentioned earlier going from West Virginia to IU. I think
Speaker 5: he's still now only the fourth or fifth player set
Speaker 5: to be on the Indiana roster for next season. So
Speaker 5: not only do they need bodies, they need talent, they
Speaker 5: need scores. So he was a much more important get
Speaker 5: for Indiana than he was for Kentucky, just given the
Speaker 5: way that Kentucky's roster fleshed out. Obviously, it's no secret
Speaker 5: that Mark Pope and the wildcatch we're targeting a guard,
Speaker 5: a three point shooting threat from the portal, and that's
Speaker 5: still the plan. They would still like to add another
Speaker 5: guard for that thirteenth scholarship spot for next season's team.
Speaker 5: But I think he was way more of a priority
Speaker 5: in terms of we absolutely have to have this guy.
Speaker 5: He's integral to what we're going to do next season
Speaker 5: for Indiana. But nonetheless, I think the way that that
Speaker 5: transfer portal recruitment shook out, I was quite surprised that
Speaker 5: he picked Iu. It seemed like although the momentum, all
Speaker 5: the wind was trending towards Himentucky in that and you
Speaker 5: know that kind of continues the string of Pope and
Speaker 5: the Wildcats getting some guys on campus that have opted
Speaker 5: to not commit to Kentucky or opted to string out
Speaker 5: their recruitment a bit longer. But that being said, I
Speaker 5: don't think this is something that Kentucky fans. While I
Speaker 5: can understand their disappointment. Shouldn't be completely pulling all the
Speaker 5: hair out of their heads just because they didn't land him.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's because of what you said. I felt like
Speaker 1: Indiana absolutely had to have him, sure, and then his
Speaker 1: comment had to be just another guy at Kentucky. I mean,
Speaker 1: when's the last time you saw somebody who, with all
Speaker 1: due respect, was not a walk on described as just
Speaker 1: another guy. So I don't know if he came up
Speaker 1: with that on his own, if somebody planted that in
Speaker 1: his head. If they did, it was brilliant. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, if he's sold on being the man at Indiana,
Speaker 1: well good for him.
Speaker 5: Right, Well, I mean you can just fast forward now
Speaker 5: to try. I believe it's December twentieth when Indiana comes
Speaker 5: to Kentucky to renew that rivalry basketball series that Rapperena,
Speaker 5: the first of a four game, four year engagement between
Speaker 5: the two schools. So yeah, just get ready for all
Speaker 5: the Lamar Wilkas. I mean, I'm sure we'll be kind
Speaker 5: of followed his progress throughout the season, obviously just from
Speaker 5: a regional interest. They'll be fascinating to see what de
Speaker 5: rides his first Indiana team looks like, but yeah, that
Speaker 5: game week of the December fourteenth to December fifteenth range.
Speaker 5: I think we'll be having a lot of Lamar Wilterson
Speaker 5: content and the reaction that he gets at Reperena in
Speaker 5: late December. It probably won't rise to John cal Perry
Speaker 5: or Arkansas levels from last year, but I'm sure he
Speaker 5: will get a warm greeting in Repereena.
Speaker 1: Shall we say he could be one of those guys
Speaker 1: Cam who every time he touches the ball, you know, boo.
Speaker 1: But that's all part of it. Cameron Drummond is my
Speaker 1: guess from the Herold Leader will come back and talk
Speaker 1: more with Cam in just a moment on the Big
Speaker 1: Bloom Sider here on six thirty will welcome back. We're
Speaker 1: talking with Cameron Drummond. He covers sports for the Herold
Speaker 1: Leader UK, basketball, horse racing, whatever needs covering. He is there.
Speaker 1: You have a piece that hit the internet earlier today.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure when it'll be in the newspaper if
Speaker 1: it are is, but without giving away to the store,
Speaker 1: tell us about your team by team, look at the
Speaker 1: comings and goings from the SEC and the portal. This
Speaker 1: is specifically about basketball. Did anybody in particular help themselves
Speaker 1: more than another.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so I went to school by school, and obviously
Speaker 5: the transfer portal is such a fluid thing, but I
Speaker 5: took at least as of Wednesday morning, a snapshot of
Speaker 5: all sixteen teams in the league, what they have going
Speaker 5: out via the transfer portal, what they have coming in
Speaker 5: via the transfer portal. I've only had to update it
Speaker 5: once so far, with Trase and Eagle Staff, the former
Speaker 5: high score at North Dakota backing off his South Carolina
Speaker 5: pleasure earlier this morning. And just because of the way
Speaker 5: the portal is, I have a feeling I may have
Speaker 5: to make a couple of adjustments as things go. But
Speaker 5: one team that's really popped off this season in terms
Speaker 5: of adding a lot of portal guys and adding a
Speaker 5: real influx of talent that route has been LSU, and
Speaker 5: they were a bit of an afterthought this past year
Speaker 5: in the SEC. Obviously they finished second bottom of the conference.
Speaker 5: They're still zero and three with Matt McMahon, the former
Speaker 5: Murray State coach in terms of trying to get them
Speaker 5: to the tournament, but LS was talked about at the
Speaker 5: beginning of portal season as a team that was really
Speaker 5: going to load up financially, going to have a lot
Speaker 5: of good nil in place and really be aggressive to
Speaker 5: bolster their roster, and they've certainly done that so far.
Speaker 5: And there's been some other schools as well. Obviously there's
Speaker 5: two coaching changes to address both Texas A and M,
Speaker 5: and Texas will be under new leadership this year as well.
Speaker 5: Sean Miller's already brought over a couple guys from Xavier
Speaker 5: for his first Texas team. Bucky McMillan, the former Stanford
Speaker 5: coach who's now at Texas A and M is still
Speaker 5: trying to get going a little bit in the portal,
Speaker 5: but they got their first commit a couple of days ago.
Speaker 5: It was kind of funny going school by school. The
Speaker 5: easiest blurb I had to write for this article was
Speaker 5: for Florida because they didn't have anyone coming in and
Speaker 5: they don't have anyone going out, And I guess it's
Speaker 5: kind of that's the way it is when you win
Speaker 5: the national title, right, I mean, who's got time that
Speaker 5: I know? Kentucky got the Cam Williams commitment while they
Speaker 5: were still in the tournament. But for Todd Golden Company, yeah, you.
Speaker 4: Got some bigger fish to fry.
Speaker 5: In terms of winning a national title, and who would
Speaker 5: even want to leave, you know at that point, I
Speaker 5: know they're one of the finalists for Davian Lee, the
Speaker 5: absolute standout guard from Princeton, who's in the portal as well.
Speaker 5: But there's been a lot of activity among SEC teams.
Speaker 5: Obviously that league projects to be super strong next.
Speaker 4: Year as well.
Speaker 5: John cal Perry and Arkansas got their first two portal
Speaker 5: commits on Tuesday. Nick Pringle, the big man who feels
Speaker 5: like he's played for every SEC school at the stage,
Speaker 5: is going to be in Arkansas next year. Also, Old
Speaker 5: Miss picked up aj story yesterday, which I thought was
Speaker 5: really interesting because he's a guy who's bounced around a
Speaker 5: number of different high schools and colleges, you know, Saint
Speaker 5: John's so Wisconsin and Kansas, but clearly someone who has
Speaker 5: a lot of talent. And I also think Oklahoma's done
Speaker 5: good work in the portal so.
Speaker 4: Far as well.
Speaker 5: Obviously, they really had to just limp over the finish
Speaker 5: line to make the tournament last year, but Porter Mosers
Speaker 5: got a couple of good guys coming in, including Kay Davis,
Speaker 5: who was really good on a bad noted AME team
Speaker 5: last year. So I'm sure, much more portal movement will continue.
Speaker 5: Tennessee did some great work getting Jacoby Gillespie from Maryland,
Speaker 5: and everyone's roster is in final yet. Obviously, I think
Speaker 5: it's very clear that a lot of experienced, tallended guys
Speaker 5: are not only moving within the SEC. We talked about
Speaker 5: Mohammad Diabase going from Calladama to Kentucky, but are also
Speaker 5: leveling up. They're going from smaller schools, mid major schools,
Speaker 5: kind of lower high major schools.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 5: I think about Dedan Thomas, the former UNLV standout who's
Speaker 5: going to LSU.
Speaker 4: Like I mentioned at the beginning, they've done great work.
Speaker 5: So a lot of movement, a lot of fluidity, and
Speaker 5: I don't think this will be the end of me
Speaker 5: updating that transfer portal tracker, I can tell you that much.
Speaker 1: No, No, keep the phone handy. You mentioned Diabat and
Speaker 1: the kid from Tulane. I look at those two guys
Speaker 1: as elements that Pope really didn't have this year, that
Speaker 1: that kind of player. I mean, he kind of did,
Speaker 1: but they just seemed to me to be elements that
Speaker 1: he could add his roster that can give him more
Speaker 1: of a complete looking team, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: Certainly, Yeah, And I think physicality is the optimal work there, right,
Speaker 5: especially in the Diabaate and Kentucky saw him three different
Speaker 5: times this year. Unfortunately for the Wildcat there was being
Speaker 5: on the receiving end of three losses to Alabama. But
Speaker 5: you know it just really jumped off the page and
Speaker 5: struck you long before we knew if he'd be going
Speaker 5: in the portal or not, in terms of just being
Speaker 5: an energy guy, playing with that tenacity, that grit around
Speaker 5: the rim. I think maybe where he differs from some
Speaker 5: of the guys that Kentucky had on this past year's
Speaker 5: team is just in terms of not being a final
Speaker 5: product yet, right. I mean, obviously, the likes of Amari
Speaker 5: Williams and Andrew Carr, you know, kind of leveled up
Speaker 5: and you know they definitely asserted themselves and played very
Speaker 5: well at Kentucky. But Diabaate and Cam Williams, the freshman
Speaker 5: wing from Tulane this past season, these are guys who
Speaker 5: still have so much feeling still to reach. You know,
Speaker 5: they've only barely scratched the service of what their long
Speaker 5: term potential could be. Diabaate, you know, kind of projected
Speaker 5: to be in a starting role, right now for Kentucky,
Speaker 5: and obviously if he can extrapolate what he did over
Speaker 5: I think seventeen minutes a game exclusively coming off the
Speaker 5: bench for Alabama this past season, not only from just
Speaker 5: a physic hallie standpoint, but just a pure rebounding standpoint.
Speaker 5: And again, maybe the staff can a list is a
Speaker 5: bit more offensive touch from him, and Cam Williams currently
Speaker 5: projects to be the best three point shooter on this
Speaker 5: year's Kentucky team. Obviously, I think Mark Pope and company
Speaker 5: will would like that to change again, and they're still
Speaker 5: targeting a guard and a three point shooting threat via
Speaker 5: the portal. But Cam Williams made north of forty three
Speaker 5: pointers for Tulane last season as a freshman wing. He's
Speaker 5: a guy that scouts have talked to me about having
Speaker 5: NBA upside and again long rangeye has some lens.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I think to your overarching point, these are.
Speaker 5: Guys that Kentucky maybe didn't have last season, especially at
Speaker 5: this age range, only being sophomores and coming off in
Speaker 5: case of Williams's freshman year, so a lot for Pope
Speaker 5: and company to kind of dig into with these guys,
Speaker 5: especially since you know, maybe Diabata projects as a starter now,
Speaker 5: but I think Williams can be a real impact guy
Speaker 5: off the bench as the roster's currently constructed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know with Diabate, he is a proven
Speaker 1: SEC talent, Like you said, so giving us up with
Speaker 1: Cam Drummonds, the hero leader, the name that that and
Speaker 1: as we speak, he hasn't landed, I don't think. But
Speaker 1: that I find the most intriguing for a number of reasons.
Speaker 1: That's Hunter Dickinson gets his seventh year of eligibility and
Speaker 1: is one of five guys leaving Kansas of all programs.
Speaker 1: But you talk about an underachiever and a guy that
Speaker 1: Kentucky fans desperately wanted, And then I got to think
Speaker 1: after a point they were relieved he didn't come here.
Speaker 1: But and he's he's a big man with a big
Speaker 1: man's game at the wrong time when it comes to
Speaker 1: the NBA. Twenty years ago, NBA teams would have been
Speaker 1: fallen all over him. But that's not the style of
Speaker 1: play anymore. So now he's looking for another year of
Speaker 1: college basketball.
Speaker 5: Well, it's one of those things where I can even
Speaker 5: remember back when when John Calpay was a coach to
Speaker 5: Kentucky and I think it came down to Kentucky and
Speaker 5: Kansas in terms of, you know, where Hunter Dickinson was
Speaker 5: going to go out of the portal a few years ago.
Speaker 5: I remember the coffee shop that I was at in Lexington,
Speaker 5: you know, writing material for that. I think I remember,
Speaker 5: you know, being in the specific coffee shop when I
Speaker 5: got the alert on my phone that he had picked
Speaker 5: Kansas over Kentucky. And that coffee shop is no longer
Speaker 5: in existence and it's changed over like two or three
Speaker 5: times to different businesses. So that gives you a little
Speaker 5: insight into am working mechanism, but also be just how
Speaker 5: long Hunter Dickinson has been around in college basketball. I
Speaker 5: mean I went to reveal a dirty secret on air.
Speaker 5: I went to Indiana for school, and I remember covering
Speaker 5: Hunter Dickinson when I was a student at Indiana when
Speaker 5: he was at Michigan. So the fact that so not
Speaker 5: only does this kind of date me and age me
Speaker 5: a little bit or makes me feel old at least,
Speaker 5: but to see that he's still going strong and yeah,
Speaker 5: you mentioned looking for his seventh season. I mean, some
Speaker 5: of these guys in the portal now are absolutely crazy
Speaker 5: in terms of not only their raw age, but just
Speaker 5: how many years of eligibilities are getting Devin asked you,
Speaker 5: I believe it's still in the portal as well, to
Speaker 5: throw his fans for a loop there, Cameron Fletcher had
Speaker 5: just landed at high point after he's bounced around to
Speaker 5: Florida State and Xavier since his time at Kentucky. So yeah,
Speaker 5: maybe you know, everyone likes to joke about college sports
Speaker 5: becoming professional sports with nil and the monetary aspect, but
Speaker 5: also just the fact that you can follow a guy
Speaker 5: for six seven years of their college career. That's certainly
Speaker 5: something that wasn't happening, you know, even ten to fifteen
Speaker 5: years ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you had a college football player I think
Speaker 1: in his ninth year or something like that. It's nuts.
Speaker 1: But until and unless they make some significant changes and
Speaker 1: it survives any kind of litigation, it's going to stay
Speaker 1: crazy with the portal. So you make it sound I
Speaker 1: think you mentioned you feel like Pope and company are
Speaker 1: not quite finished this year.
Speaker 5: No, I think they're still into after some guys, and
Speaker 5: obviously the portal is still a moving target because we
Speaker 5: haven't quite reached the deadline yet for guys to enter
Speaker 5: the portal that will arrive next week, and the good
Speaker 5: news for Kentucky is that, you know, Oway declared for
Speaker 5: the draft. Aside, all the other four potential returneys from
Speaker 5: last year's team seem pre set and Stelle Brandon Garrison
Speaker 5: put out that statement of the trio or freshmen seem
Speaker 5: like they're pretty confident and signed on for next year
Speaker 5: as well. But yeah, I think Kentucky will continue to
Speaker 5: monitor and big things, bigger things in the portal again,
Speaker 5: especially at that guard three point shooting threat spot. And
Speaker 5: next week deadline isn't for guys to commit out of
Speaker 5: the portal, it's just to enter their name into the portal.
Speaker 5: So you know what me and my college at the
Speaker 5: hur Leader we're told, even going back to the ending
Speaker 5: stages of the season, is that Kentucky wanted most of,
Speaker 5: if not all, its roster finalized by the end of April.
Speaker 5: We're obviously tracking towards that they've got twelve of thirteen
Speaker 5: scholarship spots filled right now, and so maybe they can
Speaker 5: take their time, you know, be a bit more selective
Speaker 5: really hone in on a couple of guys, especially since
Speaker 5: the need, the fit, the skill set they're looking for
Speaker 5: is pretty clear. Again, guy who can fill up from
Speaker 5: three point range. You'd like them to be a plus defender,
Speaker 5: but someone who's maybe in that archetype of player. There's maybe,
Speaker 5: you know, not a ton of those guys left now,
Speaker 5: only because some of the names we heard link to Kentucky,
Speaker 5: the Darn Pierre Juniors of the world, obviously, the Lamar Wilkerson's.
Speaker 4: Of the world. Even some of the bigger guys like.
Speaker 5: I'll borrow Fulgeias too with a three point shooting threat
Speaker 5: from Robert Morris at a different position. They seem to
Speaker 5: be trending in other directions, but nonetheless, I think Pope
Speaker 5: and the Catch are still looking for at least another
Speaker 5: guard from the portal, not to mention Hoshorn, who is
Speaker 5: on the visit right now and even made a ment
Speaker 5: the five star Power forward who Kentucky probably isn't trending
Speaker 5: in the best direction with of his five finalists right now,
Speaker 5: but nonetheless he still hasn't made a college decision yet,
Speaker 5: And so I think as long as there's a chance
Speaker 5: in the world of recruiting, fans will hold out hope
Speaker 5: that their hat will get picked on the table.
Speaker 1: Because that's the way it's done these days. Hey, thanks,
Speaker 1: so much. If you want to follow Cam on Twitter
Speaker 1: or x or whatever, see Drummond ninety seven and of
Speaker 1: course forming the pages of the Hero Leader in online
Speaker 1: at Kentucky Sports dot com. Thank you, sir, we'll talk
Speaker 1: again soon.
Speaker 4: I appreciate it. Dick tick care coming up in.
Speaker 1: Our number two, The Unforgettable Guard Sean Woods and West
Speaker 1: End Bureau Chief Geary Ward all ahead on six thirty wolak.
Speaker 3: Any such.
Speaker 6: Tact taping doing anything?
Speaker 1: Don welcome back to the Big Blue and sider joining
Speaker 1: us now? Is he does each and every Wednesday? Is
Speaker 1: the Unforgettable Guard Sean Woods coach. Let me start off,
Speaker 1: it's it's portal day. I don't know if your name's
Speaker 1: in the portal or not. But we also we already
Speaker 1: knew the news that otega Oway is putting his name
Speaker 1: in in front of the NBA but keeping his eligibility.
Speaker 1: That it's kind of shocking when you see it announced,
Speaker 1: but it's not a surprise. He really needed to do that,
Speaker 1: didn't it? Just to get the information?
Speaker 2: Oh, no doubt about it. And to be honest with you,
Speaker 2: I don't know of a better two way player in
Speaker 2: college basketball that is tough. You know, one thing that
Speaker 2: that I that I'm very impressed with Oway is he's
Speaker 2: very dependable. And what I mean by that is he's
Speaker 2: gonna give you everything. He's a winner. He's a guy
Speaker 2: that can go to a Golden State and be like
Speaker 2: a Gary Payton Jr. Wow type of guy who can
Speaker 2: defend your your best player, who's strong enough to defend
Speaker 2: and and and and and and finish it the rim.
Speaker 2: And I think his shooting has gotten a lot better
Speaker 2: since he walked on campus at the Kentucky and it's
Speaker 2: only going to get better. Well, see becomes a pro.
Speaker 2: You know, he can go get a bucket. He's proven
Speaker 2: that he's a gamer. He's proven that he can at
Speaker 2: times put a team on his back. You know. And
Speaker 2: I'm telling you right now, if he would have stayed
Speaker 2: at Oklahoma, he probably would have been, no doubt about it,
Speaker 2: an All Conference performer and and and maybe first team
Speaker 2: because of what he brought to the table. I mean,
Speaker 2: you take him away from Kentucky, they're they're not as
Speaker 2: good as they were. And shoot, and I'm being honest
Speaker 2: with you right now. I you know, I understand he
Speaker 2: wants to go to the NBA, and I think he
Speaker 2: should I think he's he's legit enough to be a
Speaker 2: late first round or or first or or hide to
Speaker 2: mid second round pick. I don't think that's that many
Speaker 2: guards out there that's better than him and tough as him.
Speaker 2: But I'm telling you right now, to all the guys
Speaker 2: that are coming back or have a chance to come back,
Speaker 2: he's the one that Kentucky needs to come back if
Speaker 2: they want to sustain what they got. If he doesn't,
Speaker 2: now we're starting all over. And I know looking at
Speaker 2: these guys that we've signed so far, that they have
Speaker 2: the nuances in their game. They bring the same type
Speaker 2: of presence, toughness and all that. And plus he's been here.
Speaker 2: He's played for Mark Pope already, so that's you add
Speaker 2: that to the equation. So I think his decision is very,
Speaker 2: very important to the future of this basketball team coming
Speaker 2: up this next season. I think that it's gonna you
Speaker 2: know me, personally, I think it's gonna be a tougher
Speaker 2: task if he doesn't come back. I think we're right
Speaker 2: where we need to be if he does come back.
Speaker 2: If that makes sense, well, the good news.
Speaker 1: Is, let's say he's a late second round pick, because
Speaker 1: I don't know that he's showing up in any of
Speaker 1: the marks. But if somebody is smart and sees him
Speaker 1: the way you do in a studying him, maybe they
Speaker 1: do say, you know, we could. We don't need him
Speaker 1: to start for us, but he can be in our
Speaker 1: program and learn the way we do things and blah
Speaker 1: blah blah. But if he does come back, Sean, he
Speaker 1: won't be empty handed, you know, he'll make a nice
Speaker 1: chunk of change here.
Speaker 2: Oh, no doubt about it. And see that that that's
Speaker 2: the carrot that we have right now. Is I'm sure
Speaker 2: that we're gonna throw the bank at him because he
Speaker 2: deserves it. First of all. You know, I don't think
Speaker 2: there's not I don't think there's a more important person
Speaker 2: to the puzzle than him, no matter if it's I'm
Speaker 2: talking about even even talking with these new guys that
Speaker 2: that that we signed, nobody's more important than him. So
Speaker 2: from that standpoint, I think that the bag needs to
Speaker 2: be thrown at him, and it needs to be full,
Speaker 2: you know, just as much as as anybody else who's
Speaker 2: getting it, because they all are getting it. But to me,
Speaker 2: he's the most important piece, uh to the puzzles, you know,
Speaker 2: for next year and of course, the.
Speaker 1: Knee jerk is, well, this guy's not ready for the NBA.
Speaker 1: But you know what, that's not the issue. Is the
Speaker 1: league ready for him. A lot of guys have been
Speaker 1: sort of drafted on spec. He's beyond that though. I
Speaker 1: think he's probably more NBA ready than some of the
Speaker 1: other guys that have made it to the league. So
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. I was talking to Cam Drummer,
Speaker 1: the Hero Leader about this Sean, but I am amazed,
Speaker 1: and it just tells you where we are with the
Speaker 1: NBA right now that Hunter Dickinson has petitioned and been
Speaker 1: granted a seventh year of college basketball. Whereas ten or
Speaker 1: fifteen years ago, NBA teams are fighting over that guy.
Speaker 1: But now the way the league is, he's He's almost
Speaker 1: an antique, isn't he.
Speaker 2: I mean he's just like she what's the name they
Speaker 2: played here a few years ago for cow same thing. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, it's just and when he goes down to
Speaker 2: the G League, he dominates, Yeah, you know, but just
Speaker 2: Na she Way. Yeah, you know, he dominates the G League,
Speaker 2: but he never gets a chance to play in the
Speaker 2: NBA with the Pacers. So you know, I think Hunter
Speaker 2: Diggerson is the same deal. I don't think he has
Speaker 2: the same presence as in the she way. I don't
Speaker 2: think he's his mobile and it's dominant as in the
Speaker 2: she way. So if I'm him and if I can
Speaker 2: get an extra year of millions of dollars, I think
Speaker 2: that's his best bet. You know what I'm saying. He's
Speaker 2: you know, because I don't think he's going to have
Speaker 2: a long NBA career maybe overseas for sure, But it's
Speaker 2: a smart deal to try to get back. But gosh, dog,
Speaker 2: I mean, this is where college basketball is going now,
Speaker 2: to where you've got guys twenty six, twenty seven years old.
Speaker 2: And I don't see him getting better. I mean I
Speaker 2: don't see I mean, you're going to get Kansas is
Speaker 2: going to get the same deal. I don't think he
Speaker 2: moved the needle for Kansas. I thought he was in
Speaker 2: the way a lot of times.
Speaker 1: Oh he didn't.
Speaker 2: So you know, maybe he can transfer and get another year,
Speaker 2: but Kansas got to, you know, move on.
Speaker 1: I think, oh, no, he's leaving. He's leaving ANSAs. He's
Speaker 1: one of five guys who have left Kansas, so lord
Speaker 1: knows what.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, I think that I think the
Speaker 2: feelings is mutual.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, uh she Bay has gotten some minutes,
Speaker 1: and I think he's actually gotten more since he left
Speaker 1: the Pacers. I don't know if they traded him or what,
Speaker 1: but he wound up he finished the year with a
Speaker 1: Utah Jazz, which got past me. Uh but yeah, seven
Speaker 1: points a game, but he did average nearly nine rebounds
Speaker 1: a game. But but anyway, back to Dickinson, it's just
Speaker 1: I just go back Sean to win. Kentucky fans so
Speaker 1: or thought they so desperately wanted him or needed him
Speaker 1: and did just fine without.
Speaker 2: Him, you know exactly, you know, and you know this
Speaker 2: is this college basketball landscape is changing every single day,
Speaker 2: and it's all about money now, as you know, I
Speaker 2: mean kids, you know, the NCAA allowing kids to play
Speaker 2: seven years and continue to get paid the money that
Speaker 2: they're paying. I mean, come on, the NBA is really
Speaker 2: I mean, college basketball now is not even minor league basketball.
Speaker 2: It's just professional basketball, say the way it is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well that brings me. I'm going to come
Speaker 1: back to basketball with you. But I got to ask you,
Speaker 1: as a guy who's been a head coach, a guy
Speaker 1: who's been a recruiter, a guy who's built programs. You
Speaker 1: got a quarterback down in Knoxville who's hanging out with
Speaker 1: his teammates at the quarterback coach's house on a Thursday night,
Speaker 1: playing with the guy's children at a dinner just for
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks. You know, Hey, everything's great. And then the
Speaker 1: next day doesn't show up for practice, and the head
Speaker 1: coach at the end of practice the guy never shows
Speaker 1: announces we're done with him, and so now Nico is
Speaker 1: looking for a new team. You know, is that where
Speaker 1: we are or do you think this is going to
Speaker 1: be an outlier or will we see more of this?
Speaker 1: Because this is a bad decision, and by all accounts,
Speaker 1: this kid has cost himself a lot of money and
Speaker 1: a lot of opportunity.
Speaker 2: You know what it's called. It's called getting bad advice,
Speaker 2: That's what it's called. This kid make this this decision
Speaker 2: on its.
Speaker 4: Own, on his own.
Speaker 2: He trusting somebody and they're saying, roll the dice, they
Speaker 2: need you more than you need them, blah blah blah
Speaker 2: blah blah. You know, make them pay you more. And
Speaker 2: now he realized he just made the mistake of his life.
Speaker 2: You know, because you're leaving Tennessee. You're the guy. I
Speaker 2: think him being at that house that night was just
Speaker 2: him trying to get you know, them trying to It
Speaker 2: had to have been already going. It was an ongoing situation,
Speaker 2: and just to bring him in just to fill him out,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe that that that you know, hanging out
Speaker 2: the coach's house that day wasn't enough.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he never even he never even went to Tennessee
Speaker 1: and said, look, I think I deserve more. Let's talk.
Speaker 1: He never even gave them the opportunity to talk with him.
Speaker 2: You see. And that's that's bad advice. That's he's not
Speaker 2: supposed to know better, but somebody in his camp supposed
Speaker 2: to know better and never didn't they they did not
Speaker 2: know better, or they just you know. That's that's that's
Speaker 2: that's where this has come to. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: It's not about these kids. It's bad advice here, right.
Speaker 1: And now that brings me to my next question. Uh,
Speaker 1: you've had to deal with parents, and we've talked about
Speaker 1: this through the through the months that you and I
Speaker 1: have talked on the show about just having a deal
Speaker 1: with that. And I was I set in on a
Speaker 1: meeting with a coach's team, and he told his players,
Speaker 1: he said, do not tell your players, and he said,
Speaker 1: tell your parents not to come talk to me about
Speaker 1: your playing time. I will talk to you about anything else, academics,
Speaker 1: campus life, whatever, but I will not speak to them
Speaker 1: about your playing time. So don't bother, you know. But
Speaker 1: there are times, for instance, when Rod Rhodes was here,
Speaker 1: he was getting advice from his brother, right, and he
Speaker 1: was quoted as saying, if I ended up injured in
Speaker 1: a wheelchair, who's going to take care of me? UK
Speaker 1: or my brother? Well the answer was going to be both,
Speaker 1: but he listened to his brother over whatever Rick Patina
Speaker 1: was trying to tell him, and he ended up leaving.
Speaker 2: So I really sympathize with you guys, yeah, because you
Speaker 2: know that's when it all started. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: My mom never spoke to a coach a dare in
Speaker 2: her life really about playing time about it. Nobody my dad,
Speaker 2: my mom, my stepdad, my uncles, my cousins, nobody ever
Speaker 2: said anything to a coach about my well being as
Speaker 2: a player.
Speaker 1: Never.
Speaker 2: You know, I didn't grow up like that, you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, And and and and people I grew
Speaker 2: up with that wasn't a big deal. Parents didn't rule
Speaker 2: the roost, and we were just harding those guys. And
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. We got advice on what
Speaker 2: school to go to. But as far as calling the
Speaker 2: coaches saying you're not playing me enough, I mean, just
Speaker 2: think my high school coach played me. I jumped center.
Speaker 2: I never played point guard in high school until my
Speaker 2: senior year, but I was the top point guard in
Speaker 2: the country.
Speaker 1: You jump center.
Speaker 2: I jumped center my senior year because my junior year
Speaker 2: and sophomore year, my center was a guy by the
Speaker 2: name of Ron Peck who played at East of Kentucky,
Speaker 2: who played at h a U. That was my high
Speaker 2: school center. Okay, and but when he left my senior year,
Speaker 2: I had to jump center. But I didn't play point
Speaker 2: guard until until my senior year. I was not the
Speaker 2: primary point guard on my team. I was the primary
Speaker 2: score you know, and things like that, and I, you know,
Speaker 2: did point guard things. But my my role on my
Speaker 2: high school team my sophomore junior year was not primarily
Speaker 2: being the point guard.
Speaker 1: Interesting. Interesting, And my mom.
Speaker 2: Never said a word, you know. It was times where
Speaker 2: I was frustrated because the ball wasn't in my hands.
Speaker 2: And you know, there was some political things going on
Speaker 2: at the high school I went to. But she never
Speaker 2: she never waivered. She never, I mean she'd be you know,
Speaker 2: we talk about it at home, but she never said
Speaker 2: to the coach. And I had to figure it out
Speaker 2: on my own how to navigate this game and get
Speaker 2: to where I needed to go. And when I went
Speaker 2: to summer camps and things like that, that's where I
Speaker 2: made my name known nationally, playing against the best players
Speaker 2: in the country. When I got back to Cathedral High School,
Speaker 2: it was boom, you know, this was it. You know
Speaker 2: that I scored some points I did, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, But I was not the potma at point
Speaker 2: guard one a lot of games.
Speaker 1: But yeah, interesting, Well, talk more with Sean was on
Speaker 1: the other side of the break here on six point thirty.
Speaker 1: Welcome back for talking with Sean Woods. The unforgettable guard
Speaker 1: is Jersey hangs in the rafters of RUP and we've
Speaker 1: been talking, of course about the basketball Wildcats a little
Speaker 1: bit of a football portal information as well. Let me
Speaker 1: ask you about Georgia Aymore. She was drafted and drafted
Speaker 1: number six overall Sean, I don't know how much you
Speaker 1: knew about the women's draft going in. I was just
Speaker 1: watching the coverage, and all the experts thought she would
Speaker 1: go ninth or tenth and she'd really be real help
Speaker 1: to this team or that team because of her skill set.
Speaker 1: And the Mystics, who already had drafted two players with
Speaker 1: their third first round pick, jump up and grab her.
Speaker 1: Uh So she's in a little bit of a rebuilding phase.
Speaker 1: I know, you like her skills and you like her game.
Speaker 1: You got to feel good for.
Speaker 2: How high she went in the draft, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: And you know what, when you're a lottery pick, now
Speaker 2: it's become you know, who are you and what a
Speaker 2: team needs. And I watched that whole w NBA draft
Speaker 2: and I was highly impressed with those teams on how
Speaker 2: they drafted those young ladies because they all drafted those
Speaker 2: young ladies on based on need. Every team drafted a
Speaker 2: girl that they needed at that position. And at the time,
Speaker 2: the most important deal for the Mystics was to get
Speaker 2: a power forward and to get a shooter. They did that.
Speaker 2: Now we got to get a person that you know,
Speaker 2: because they understand where your draft where you you know,
Speaker 2: located at in the draft, what number? And they amongst
Speaker 2: each others to the GMS do and they felt that, Okay,
Speaker 2: we can wait. She's gonna be here. She's projected to
Speaker 2: go nine or ten, but we can get her at six.
Speaker 2: Now now that we got the two that we got,
Speaker 2: Now we got the you know, the probably to me,
Speaker 2: one of the most intriguing players, you know, in college basketball.
Speaker 2: I think she's she brings a lot more table, a
Speaker 2: lot more to the table than someone that I really love,
Speaker 2: and that was the young lady who went to TCU,
Speaker 2: who was at at Littlewood first and then oh, that's
Speaker 2: one of my favorite players. I'm crazy about her. But
Speaker 2: I just think that our young lady is a little
Speaker 2: bit better. She's a little more shift here, she's quicker,
Speaker 2: I think, and she's more of a point guard playmaker
Speaker 2: that can actually score than Van leeth Is and Sho.
Speaker 2: I was impressed, you know, I'm happy for I thought that,
Speaker 2: you know, coach brought her in and she really at
Speaker 2: the table in his first year. I don't think he
Speaker 2: could have been as successful without her. You know, he
Speaker 2: brought in probably the second best player in the SEC
Speaker 2: in my opinion, for what she meant to her basketball team.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, And you know what, she was the
Speaker 1: only player I saw this stat during the coverage. She
Speaker 1: was the only player in D one basketball with at
Speaker 1: least six hundred points and at least two hundred assists,
Speaker 1: the only one. I tell it backs up everything you
Speaker 1: just said.
Speaker 2: Yes, she's you know, she was my Lamont Butler to
Speaker 2: the men. You know, she was the most important person
Speaker 2: to that team. And she you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: And she made more of an impact for her team
Speaker 2: more than anybody else as far as success. And I
Speaker 2: thought Lamont Butler was the same way for our team,
Speaker 2: you know, and I mean for the men. So you know,
Speaker 2: she was my favorite point guard in the country. I
Speaker 2: love Van Leap, I do. I mean, I just I
Speaker 2: loved her story. Yeah yeah, and you know, the trials
Speaker 2: and tribulations and things like that. She's a fighter and
Speaker 2: I respect that and I appreciate that, and uh, I
Speaker 2: wish through all the luck. I think she's gonna have
Speaker 2: a great career Barney Andrews. Yeah, in the w n
Speaker 2: b A and then I think she's gonna be one
Speaker 2: of the better point guys in the NBA because she's
Speaker 2: a three level scorer and.
Speaker 1: Well you know TCU also as Maddy Shearer transferred from
Speaker 1: Kentucky but couldn't play all her because she was hurt.
Speaker 1: But I like the fact that TCU, and you know,
Speaker 1: you got to hope that at some point in Kentucky
Speaker 1: makes another run at the final four. But that's the
Speaker 1: one thing the women's game I think lax Sean is
Speaker 1: some new faces, new blood. You got Ukon winning for
Speaker 1: the twelfth time, and Rim is the best ever in
Speaker 1: terms of coaches. But you know, you got those brands
Speaker 1: that are always there. Uh, Texas showed new life. Texas
Speaker 1: was big back in the eighties. Uh, Southern Cows coming
Speaker 1: back to life. But you know, if you can get
Speaker 1: Notre Dame's always there. But if you could get some
Speaker 1: new blood making runs at the final four, that's gonna
Speaker 1: make it even better, don't you.
Speaker 4: Say it does?
Speaker 2: But but the thing is the nil you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, Those teams that have already been at the top,
Speaker 2: and they're normally at the top, nobody can trump them
Speaker 2: as far as money is concerned. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: It's not like the men where everybody's getting involved and
Speaker 2: everybody's jumping on the badwagon from an nil standpoint. You know,
Speaker 2: women dream about playing for LSU, Tennessee, Connecticut, you know,
Speaker 2: Notre Dame in that a little bit, maybe Texas and
Speaker 2: South Carolina. Don't get you don't get me wrong with
Speaker 2: South Carolina. I mean that's the epit of me. But
Speaker 2: you got downstate, you got personalities at this place. You
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. You got mean Jean at Connecticut.
Speaker 2: You know, the young lady at Tennessee is trying to
Speaker 2: establish her personal brand along with the Tennessee you know,
Speaker 2: all of the past. But when a young lady is
Speaker 2: coming out of highest school right now, she's looking at
Speaker 2: Gena Orienta, Emma, She's looking at Don Staley. Those are two.
Speaker 2: Those are the epitomeen and then everybody else and Kim
Speaker 2: Moke and Kim Moky I'm sorry, and now everybody else.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, kind of you know, fickles
Speaker 2: in after that and what they and what these young
Speaker 2: teams have to do now is okay, are we going
Speaker 2: to get five or six of the top twenty five
Speaker 2: players in the country. No, because they're going to Connecticut, LSU,
Speaker 2: South Carolina. But there are some top twenty five girls,
Speaker 2: and there are some top thirty girls that we can get.
Speaker 2: If we can sustain them and keep them here, then
Speaker 2: we can, you know, simply compete. And that's how it's
Speaker 2: got to be, you know what I mean. Unlike the
Speaker 2: men's deal. You know, it was starting to become the
Speaker 2: mid majors was starting to become creep up on the
Speaker 2: high brand, you know, men's basketball teams. But this nil
Speaker 2: has stopped that completely. You know, the parody has gone
Speaker 2: away now because what all these high major teams will
Speaker 2: recruit what young top freshmen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to see if it go I want
Speaker 1: to see if it comes back. And I think the
Speaker 1: mid majors just make it a lot more fun and
Speaker 1: a lot more interesting in the nca tournament. Unfortunately, we're
Speaker 1: out of time. As always, we could talk all night
Speaker 1: and we'll talk more next week. Coach, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: All right, Dick Jael was a pleasure.
Speaker 1: West n Bureau Chief Gary Moore is up next here
Speaker 1: on six thirty. Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider.
Speaker 1: It is Wednesday, meaning we looked down west toward La
Speaker 1: Louisville area or Western Bureau Chief Gary Moore. He was
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles for many many years with us, but
Speaker 1: now as much closer and he is joining us as
Speaker 1: every Wednesday. Two guys in a six pack? How you going?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: All good, Well, we got six things to talk about.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 7: In fact, since you and I last had speaks last week,
Speaker 7: that Orange school we love to cheer against, down I
Speaker 7: seventy five had their star quarterback quit on them. That
Speaker 7: was after the school said, essentially, we don't care how
Speaker 7: much Miami's overpaying that refugee from Georgia. You ain't getting
Speaker 7: more money, so don't let the don't let the door
Speaker 7: itch you where the good lord splitches the portal reopening
Speaker 7: the day and not last check. I haven't seen any
Speaker 7: takers for Nico and his gang greed, but I got
Speaker 7: a lot of questions about this. I don't know if
Speaker 7: you can answer any of these. Did Nico get all
Speaker 7: that money in his alleged seven figure contract.
Speaker 1: Before he bailed? Does he have to give any of
Speaker 1: it back?
Speaker 7: Did he have any kind of renegotiation clause that his
Speaker 7: dad was involved with. We don't really know, do we,
Speaker 7: Because there's no transparency. Why because that same ugly Orange
Speaker 7: school sued the NCAA to keep their nose out of
Speaker 7: their recruitment of Nico and all I guess the subsequent
Speaker 7: subsequent non transparent details.
Speaker 1: About it all.
Speaker 7: Obviously, this is still the wild wild West as far
Speaker 7: as contracts and nil money. So I ask you you,
Speaker 7: do you see any end of this or some kind
Speaker 7: of structure for contracts or.
Speaker 1: Is this going to just keep going on and on
Speaker 1: and on and on both which means lawyers are going
Speaker 1: to get richer and richer. But I do understand that
Speaker 1: there was some sort of clause in his deal where
Speaker 1: first of all, he didn't have to play a down
Speaker 1: to be paid, but he had to be on the team,
Speaker 1: and there was something roughly again as I understand it,
Speaker 1: to a morals clause, you know, So him up and
Speaker 1: leaving would basically violate any kind of agreement they had
Speaker 1: to where they had to shovel all that money into
Speaker 1: his pockets. Has anybody seen away from a lot of dough?
Speaker 7: Has anybody seen the contract? Are there any outlets that
Speaker 7: are reporting like all these details?
Speaker 1: If there are, I haven't seen it yet me either. Wow.
Speaker 7: Our second swig in the six packs, speaking of overrated quarterbacks,
Speaker 7: word is that Shadur Sanders's camp is telling Cleveland and
Speaker 7: even the New York Giants, who's gonna be doing a
Speaker 7: workout for telling those front offices don't pick him next
Speaker 7: week in the draft, to which I personally hope Cleveland
Speaker 7: does pick him and says, you're gonna not only be
Speaker 7: our first pick, You're gonna play here and you're gonna
Speaker 7: like it. Punk You and your retired jersey at Colorado.
Speaker 1: What do you think about that?
Speaker 7: But by the way, let's not forget about his favorite
Speaker 7: target there at Colorado, Heisman winner Travis Hunter also getting
Speaker 7: his jersey. Well, he's got more I guess craid to
Speaker 7: have his jersey retired winning a Heisman Trophy. But, as
Speaker 7: he's told CBS Sports, if a team would only let
Speaker 7: him play on offense or only on defense, but not both,
Speaker 7: then it's never played quote football.
Speaker 1: It's quote never.
Speaker 7: Play football again unquote, which reminds me of three famous
Speaker 7: words from Kentucky actor Warren Oates in our favorite movie
Speaker 7: Stripes Lighting Up Francis.
Speaker 1: Yeah, first of all, Sanders getting jersey retired, I mean
Speaker 1: his his career record at Colorado thirteen and twelve, finished
Speaker 1: eighth in the Heisman race. Great, you got a wonder
Speaker 1: And I don't know right off the top of my head,
Speaker 1: but I'm sure people that cover that beat could tell
Speaker 1: you readily and quickly of the great Colorado players from
Speaker 1: the past who could step up and say, excuse me,
Speaker 1: what about me? What about this buffalo who did a
Speaker 1: hell of a lot more, you know, with the exception
Speaker 1: of garnering headlines, But that doesn't win you ball games.
Speaker 1: And Nita to shed door Sanders again thirteen and twelve.
Speaker 1: His first year at Colorado, they went one in eight
Speaker 1: in conference play, one in eight. But that gets you,
Speaker 1: That gets your either jersey or number retired. So it's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: You know, you can't. You can't blame coach Prime for
Speaker 1: a lot of what he's done in terms of building entry, excitement,
Speaker 1: building a team. But some of this just borders on
Speaker 1: or crosses the border into ridiculous. Style over substance comes
Speaker 1: to mind too. Yeah, that works.
Speaker 7: Third swig and a six pack last night over here.
Speaker 7: Jim Patterson stateum UFL number seventeen Cardinals and also in
Speaker 7: the latest that's their latest ranking in the Baseball America Poll.
Speaker 7: I'm sure it's going to go up next week, depending
Speaker 7: on this weekend too. They also have the nation's number
Speaker 7: seven batting average at three twenty eight Cards hosting my
Speaker 7: number twenty Hilltoppers with their pitching staff that has the
Speaker 7: nation's number one er two point sixty four at least
Speaker 7: going into the game, I don't think coming out of it.
Speaker 7: So something had to give last night, and it was
Speaker 7: the Toppers Louisville five. Western two toppers did have their chances, though,
Speaker 7: Dick Top of the seventh down three to two bases loaded,
Speaker 7: nobody out, likely conference the USA player of the Year
Speaker 7: Ryan Widman up strikes out on three pitches. Then there's
Speaker 7: a double play ending and momentum over. Good win for
Speaker 7: the Cards, and now they go three this weekend at
Speaker 7: number six Clemson and it's back to Bowling Green for
Speaker 7: Western and three with Middle Tennessee starting tomorrow. Good walk
Speaker 7: off win for the Cats to last night. I believe
Speaker 7: you talked about that earlier four to three over Miami
Speaker 7: of Ohio. Now they get three down I seventy five
Speaker 7: of the before mentioned ugly Orange school. How about a
Speaker 7: big blue sweep to get back in the SEC race.
Speaker 2: Dick.
Speaker 7: It's getting kind of late out there, isn't it It.
Speaker 1: Really is, and you know, it's unfortunate that Kentucky has
Speaker 1: had the stumbles. I mean the Auburn Series three one
Speaker 1: run games or a couple one run losses. The Tennessee
Speaker 1: Series last year was one of the greatest weekends, maybe
Speaker 1: the greatest weekend in the history of Kentucky baseball, given
Speaker 1: the crowds, the interest and all that, maybe topped only
Speaker 1: by the Vanderbilt Series a few weeks later when they
Speaker 1: actually won their share of the SEC championship. I don't
Speaker 1: expect that kind of weekend simply because mentioned this earlier.
Speaker 1: Tennessee's ballpark is built for home run hitters and Kentucky
Speaker 1: just doesn't have any or enough, you know, not nearly
Speaker 1: what they had last year. So but yeah, they had
Speaker 1: to get that win last night over Miami because it
Speaker 1: was not a great game, as I mentioned earlier, but
Speaker 1: they could not afford that loss. I was rooting free
Speaker 1: of toppers. Yeah, they quitted themselves well, played well for a.
Speaker 7: While, but just couldn't get the timely hits that they
Speaker 7: That happens our fourth wig and the six pack you
Speaker 7: mentioned earlier. Also UK's way declaring for the draft but
Speaker 7: keeping his eligibility, so this would be a good time
Speaker 7: to talk about the association for seconds.
Speaker 1: So I guess I got to.
Speaker 7: Start paying attention out of the NBA now that it's good.
Speaker 7: Now they're actually starting to play like they mean it
Speaker 7: to play in games. Last night, Orlando blew out Atlanta.
Speaker 7: Now the Magic go to Boston. Then you had Steph
Speaker 7: and Jimmy Buckets and Golden State and Memphis.
Speaker 1: That was really a good game.
Speaker 7: It looked like that was playoff restaurant quality stuff there
Speaker 7: last night. So now Golden State and Houston get each
Speaker 7: other starting I think on Sunday, that's gonna be a
Speaker 7: fun series.
Speaker 1: Just now.
Speaker 7: Starting in Chicago, you got the Bulls hosting the Heat
Speaker 7: for the chore of playing at Cleveland. Then at ten
Speaker 7: o'clock tonight, Dallas and Sacramento both on ESPN. Winner that
Speaker 7: game will.
Speaker 1: Get the Okies.
Speaker 7: By the way, speaking of the MAVs, their genius GM
Speaker 7: Nico Harrison doubled down yesterday on his idiotic trade of Luca.
Speaker 7: I mean, what's it gonna say while he's still there?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I really have that one up, didn't I.
Speaker 7: But give me your thoughts on that still and who
Speaker 7: you like going into the playoffs. Ultimately, I would love
Speaker 7: to see Cleveland and U of L's Donovan Mitchell against
Speaker 7: the UK's SGA and Oklahoma City in the finals.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would love that as well. You know, I
Speaker 1: was rooting for Sacramento with dearon Fox and I only
Speaker 1: got Malik Monk. But of course he's been traded, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But anyway, getting back to your question about Dallas, I
Speaker 1: still root for the MAVs, having been a season ticket older,
Speaker 1: but my buddies are a playbook play guy and having
Speaker 1: lived there, so I do root for him. I'm still
Speaker 1: scratching my head over that trade, and you know, amplified
Speaker 1: by AD's injury, you know, yeah, and he's but for
Speaker 1: how long? So I just don't understand. I know the
Speaker 1: guy had to double down on it, but it's just
Speaker 1: something that is going to stamp this It's going to
Speaker 1: follow this guy for the rest of his career, which
Speaker 1: may take an interesting turn at the end of this year.
Speaker 1: He's lucky Mark Cuban's not there. Well, it never would
Speaker 1: have happened if Cuban had been the owner, agreed, But
Speaker 1: if Cubans were the owner right now, that guy would
Speaker 1: be selling pencils somewhere Fitzwig and the six Pack.
Speaker 7: If you're the Savannah Bananas or you're just a fan
Speaker 7: of the team, you could not have asked for a
Speaker 7: better time slot to be featured than on sixty minutes
Speaker 7: last Sunday night, right after the Masters, and being promoted
Speaker 7: throughout the Masters too. By the way, I've put in
Speaker 7: a call haven't heard back yet from Banana's publicity to
Speaker 7: find out what kind of an uptick they've had in
Speaker 7: just say merch since the sixty minutes story, but I
Speaker 7: can tell you ticket sales have already been crazy across
Speaker 7: the country. The Bananas have not only sold out in
Speaker 7: Major League Baseball stadiums again this season, well in advance
Speaker 7: of the games, but NFL stadiums. They're taking over those
Speaker 7: as well. They've sold out Nashville, Charlotte, Tampa Bay NFL stadiums,
Speaker 7: and next weekend they've sold out Clemson's Memorial Stadium. The
Speaker 7: Bananas are going to be here in Louisville three sold
Speaker 7: out dates in June. Of course, we've heard that ESPN
Speaker 7: is going to be airing ten Banana games on its platforms,
Speaker 7: including Disney Plus this summer. The Bananas clearly are mussy entertainment.
Speaker 7: You know that if you've ever seen them. So I
Speaker 7: ask you, is that good or bad for Major League Baseball?
Speaker 7: Given how many empty seats you often see it a
Speaker 7: lot of these games.
Speaker 1: I think anytime you have anybody going in droves to
Speaker 1: a baseball game, I don't care who's playing, that's big.
Speaker 1: They are the Harlem globe trotters of baseball. And there's
Speaker 1: a great tradition of clowning at baseball stadiums. And now
Speaker 1: you got the whole team. And you know what's interesting
Speaker 1: is a few years ago they had a former Kentucky player.
Speaker 1: Actually he was still playing I think for Kentucky, but
Speaker 1: in the summer he joined them. A pitcher named Alex
Speaker 1: Dan who's six foot eight. Wanted to be an Air
Speaker 1: Force pilot but grew too tall, so transferred from air
Speaker 1: Force to Kentucky. Unfortunately, couldn't finish his career because of
Speaker 1: an arm injury, but got into sports marketing. So and
Speaker 1: they had invited him to come back and play when
Speaker 1: he was still healthy. But he said, I said, are
Speaker 1: you going? He said, no, I'm not much of a dancer,
Speaker 1: you know. So that is part of the whole deal exactly.
Speaker 1: You know, and then what's great about the clips is
Speaker 1: you got the opposing players dancing, you got the umpires dancing.
Speaker 1: I think no, anything that gets anybody to a baseball
Speaker 1: game is good, and I'd love to go to whole
Speaker 1: game myself.
Speaker 7: I just want to go to see the guy on
Speaker 7: stilts bat.
Speaker 1: Yes, amazing, they.
Speaker 7: Talked to him on that report on Sunday. Now it's
Speaker 7: a great feature. And finally our sixth and final swig
Speaker 7: in the six back. Speaking of the Masters, I am
Speaker 7: still shaking my head, dick over what I saw on Sunday.
Speaker 7: Rory mcle performed a highlich maneuver on himself.
Speaker 1: It can be done, Who's says?
Speaker 7: Twelve point seven million watched the final round, with a
Speaker 7: peak of nineteen point five million during that playoff hole.
Speaker 7: And while we're talking millions, the sports Kida website reported
Speaker 7: the Masters was set to make seventy million bucks in
Speaker 7: merch sales during Masters week, about maybe a million dollars
Speaker 7: an hour. Basically, there is no online store. You can't
Speaker 7: go online. You either got to get stuff there at
Speaker 7: the Masters, have a patron friend get it for you,
Speaker 7: or you're going to shell out huge bucks on eBay
Speaker 7: for example, Master's garden homes that were selling for forty
Speaker 7: nine to fifty they're at the store and Masters three
Speaker 7: hundred to five hundred bucks right now. Masters may be
Speaker 7: the toughest ticket in sports. Two million people inter a
Speaker 7: lottery each year for any remaining tickets. Sure, you could
Speaker 7: have bought a weekly pass this week on stub Hub.
Speaker 7: They had a couple of them available for twenty two
Speaker 7: thousand dollars each.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And in fact, when you go, if you are
Speaker 1: lucky enough to get a ticket, you better be ready
Speaker 1: because you're going to do a lot of standing and
Speaker 1: or sitting and walking. So it's it's the kind of
Speaker 1: event as a spectator where you have to be in
Speaker 1: some kind of physical shape, no kidding, to make it happen.
Speaker 1: You know what, I have a Master's cap. I have
Speaker 1: a Master's golf hat and I actually got it from
Speaker 1: a horse trainer named Steve Penrod. I was, you know,
Speaker 1: out early one morning like I used to be a
Speaker 1: lot and this was at Churchill Downs and Steve's a
Speaker 1: big sports fans. We talk every now and then. I
Speaker 1: asked CBS sports hat on not the trucker type, but
Speaker 1: the you know, the embroidered type and Penrod liked it
Speaker 1: and offered the tray. The hat he was wearing was
Speaker 1: just and I said, I can't take your master's. Oh no,
Speaker 1: I have another one, so he swapped, So you know
Speaker 1: I do have it, having never gone, but buddy of
Speaker 1: mine and his dad for many years used to go
Speaker 1: down just for a practice round and just adored being
Speaker 1: down there. So yeah, and so happy for Rory. I
Speaker 1: talked about him earlier, but to your point about as
Speaker 1: only as personal Heimlich, that's a great line. Can you
Speaker 1: choke away a tournament and then heroically win it within
Speaker 1: the span of a couple of hours answers, Yes, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we saw him do it, heroically win it in fact,
Speaker 1: and maybe the toughest sport to do it in individually.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you're talking, and by the way, you can you
Speaker 7: can also get practice round tickets if you don't have one,
Speaker 7: a thousand bucks.
Speaker 1: Each just for the practice. Yeah. My buddy and his
Speaker 1: dad they had him for many many years and just
Speaker 1: held on to him. So yeah, happy for Rory. As
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, he's already changed all his social media
Speaker 1: channels and so would I. We're talking with Gary moy
Speaker 1: as our West n BUA chief. We'll come back with
Speaker 1: some hot reads in just a minute. Here in the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking
Speaker 1: with our West n BUA chief, Gary Moore. We have
Speaker 1: listened to two guys in a six pack, as we
Speaker 1: do every week, so time now is through a couple
Speaker 1: of hot reads at Gary, you mentioned earlier in the Giants,
Speaker 1: maybe taking a look at Coach Prime's son who apparently
Speaker 1: doesn't want to play there. They're also holding a private
Speaker 1: workout for Tyler Shuck, who is the Louisville QB whose
Speaker 1: stock rose through the year, and why not he's a
Speaker 1: good player. Chris Canty, a former Giant Super Bowl winner
Speaker 1: with the Giant Giants, he begged them on the air,
Speaker 1: please do not draft a QB in the first round.
Speaker 1: He wants up Duel Carter, who could be a generational
Speaker 1: talent out of Penn State. But I think it's really
Speaker 1: interesting Gary that with fans banging a drum for qbs
Speaker 1: all the time, you've got a guy who knows what
Speaker 1: he's talking about begging his former team on national media
Speaker 1: outlets to not take one. Does that mean these guys
Speaker 1: are overrated or are we undervaluing the defensive lineman. Who
Speaker 1: might have that effect on the Giants. Well, that's a
Speaker 1: good question.
Speaker 7: And you know, I think that Shuck is really in
Speaker 7: the last couple of weeks, and you know what momentum
Speaker 7: gets like in the last month, in the last couple
Speaker 7: of weeks, and especially after some of these workouts, how
Speaker 7: their stock can really start to shoot up. Anthony Richardson
Speaker 7: being I think the latest example of that. But I
Speaker 7: think Shuck has got more to offer than Richardson ever
Speaker 7: did have in college because he played obviously for a
Speaker 7: lot longer. But yeah, I think that that's a good point.
Speaker 7: And here's the other thing too. Anybody heard from Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: Lately exactly what exactly he I a all of.
Speaker 7: A sudden, right, nobody's even talking about the guy he's
Speaker 7: maybe this is it for him?
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, could be somebody will take him, but you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's going to be at their price, on their terms.
Speaker 1: I've got to think Pittsburgh it seems as cooled on him.
Speaker 1: So who are they going to get exactly? They're kind
Speaker 1: of well, they could draft, they could draft one of
Speaker 1: these one of these rookies, you know, but you talk
Speaker 1: about starting over right, Well, yeah, and some of these
Speaker 1: genius is talking about you know, well, this quarterback's definitely
Speaker 1: a generational guy, and this one isn't.
Speaker 7: You know, let's not forget about what they said about
Speaker 7: bo Nicks last year. Most of all the guys like, well,
Speaker 7: this is.
Speaker 1: The second round kind of a guy.
Speaker 7: You know, he might make an impact a few years
Speaker 7: down the road.
Speaker 1: I heard that a lot last year.
Speaker 7: There was a few that liked him, but a lot
Speaker 7: we're just sort of like, na, I wouldn't go in
Speaker 7: the first round with that guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and now look, yeah, our second hot red again,
Speaker 1: we'll talk about a guy you mentioned earlier in another
Speaker 1: Colorado Buffalo, Travis Hunter saying I would rather fight than switch.
Speaker 1: I'd rather quit than play one position. And as you said,
Speaker 1: that's fairly melodramatic. I don't buy it. But is he
Speaker 1: going to represent the wave of the future if he
Speaker 1: is able to make that work and land a contract
Speaker 1: commensurate with a two way player? I don't mean a
Speaker 1: guy whoever he once in a while like Dion. Did
Speaker 1: you know Dion played two ways in the NFL, but
Speaker 1: not a lot. You know, it was a great shutdown corner.
Speaker 1: But you didn't see him much on the other side
Speaker 1: of the ball. But could this be a new chapter
Speaker 1: in a National football league. If a guy can command
Speaker 1: that kind of contract, could we see more players trying
Speaker 1: to do it? Well.
Speaker 7: I don't know if he's going to be on every
Speaker 7: play offense, every play defense, every play. I think that
Speaker 7: there's a chance that he could probably do a few,
Speaker 7: you know, come out for a blow on defense a
Speaker 7: few times. But let's not forget what a lot of
Speaker 7: people are not reporting on only a handful that I've
Speaker 7: seen ever even talk about it. Toward the end of
Speaker 7: last year, he was looking kind of tired and not
Speaker 7: being able to cover or maybe run the routes as
Speaker 7: crisply as he did at the beginning of the season,
Speaker 7: which is something to think about. And the NFL, it's
Speaker 7: a big step up from the from the ucfs and
Speaker 7: the Cincinnatis and that division to your Bucks and Bengals
Speaker 7: and people like that and Ravens. So I think you're right.
Speaker 7: I think that eventually they might try it on going.
Speaker 7: You know, let's have a little chat here for a second.
Speaker 7: I'm really good catching the ball received. Let's concentrate on
Speaker 7: that for a while, not saying you're not going to
Speaker 7: get back in and be a dB.
Speaker 1: But let's just concentrate on this. Here is our west
Speaker 1: End Bureau chief, Gary Moore. You can always find him
Speaker 1: lurking about on ex or Twitter at.
Speaker 7: At nine to five to five. Gary, you lurk there too,
Speaker 7: don't you.
Speaker 1: I do a big Blue Insider one. Thank you sir.
Speaker 1: Have good weekend and that'll do for now, Thanks to Gary,
Speaker 1: Thanks to Shaun Woods and the cam drummon that said
Speaker 1: good night from the garage in Lexington E.
Speaker 2: The we heal now a's a t.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 8: We will die as individuals. That's football, guys, that's all
Speaker 8: it is.
Speaker 6: Such such.
Speaker 3: Tact contention. Anything to.
Speaker 6: ONCT that's.
Speaker 1: A thing to
Speaker 6: Back the tens them from typing donning the