Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue Insider Day. Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: on a Monday as we wrap up the month of June.
Speaker 1: Amazing it is shot right by and once again tonight baseball,
Speaker 1: football basketball to talk about. We're going to be joined
Speaker 1: a little bit later on at the bottom of the
Speaker 1: hour by Ainsley Almanor, who of course wants a Wildcat,
Speaker 1: always a Wildcat, but also now is a member of
Speaker 1: La Fa Meia. It's the team that plays in TBT,
Speaker 1: the basketball tournament you know it by now. That's the
Speaker 1: tournament where a lot of former players get together and
Speaker 1: play for a one million dollar person winner take all.
Speaker 1: And the Kentucky team last year, which was one of
Speaker 1: the favorites to get to the championship, ended up in
Speaker 1: the final four, which is where the Wildcats lost, or
Speaker 1: La fa Mea lost a name. Of course, it harkens
Speaker 1: back to the Caliperi era, but people seem to like it,
Speaker 1: and Ansley Almanor is happy to be on the ball love,
Speaker 1: so we will talk with him at the bottom of
Speaker 1: the hour. A little bit later on, we're going to
Speaker 1: talk to Doug Flynn, my broadcasting brother, who of course
Speaker 1: is my partner on the SEC plus telecasts of the
Speaker 1: streaming channel of UK Baseball, and we always talk to
Speaker 1: Doug here in the garage for the chain Gang of
Speaker 1: Keith Madison, Darren Headrick and Doug. But I wanted to
Speaker 1: talk to him about the upcoming documentary on his life.
Speaker 1: And you heard perhaps the man who produced that documentary,
Speaker 1: my former WKYT colleague, David Patrick, on Friday, talking about
Speaker 1: the project. So we'll talk to Doug about it, as
Speaker 1: well as the Wildcats and yesterday's College World Series, which
Speaker 1: just a mess if you don't know by now, the
Speaker 1: head coach of Coastal Carolina and an assistant coach ejected
Speaker 1: in the first inning. And I will get to that
Speaker 1: in just a moment, but I also want to point
Speaker 1: out that Lee K. Howard will Travelers as well, coming
Speaker 1: up in the hour number two. But I got to
Speaker 1: talk first about SGA Shay Gildess. Alexander capped off the
Speaker 1: year of a lifetime, the season of a lifetime that
Speaker 1: saw him lead the league in scoring at thirty two
Speaker 1: point seven points per game. He wins the MVP Award
Speaker 1: and now he's a world champion and the MVP of
Speaker 1: the NBA Playoffs. Following the Thunders win over the Pacers yesterday.
Speaker 1: And as I mentioned before, I loved it when ABA
Speaker 1: teams the former ABA teams and gosh, you know you're
Speaker 1: talking about fifty years ago with the ABA. But those
Speaker 1: of us who are ABA fans, we still revel in
Speaker 1: the fact that there was success coming out of that league,
Speaker 1: great players, the three point shot style of play, and
Speaker 1: now another ABA teams won a title because San Antonio
Speaker 1: won five. But yeah, the Pacers came close again. I
Speaker 1: could not root for them because I just hated the
Speaker 1: Pacers when they were in the ABA. But I'm also
Speaker 1: rooting for SGA and Cason Wallace, who had a nice
Speaker 1: game as well. He had double figures. He had ten points.
Speaker 1: But say, Gilles Alexander put together the greatest season and
Speaker 1: that a former Wildcat ever has in the NBA. And
Speaker 1: as you know, there have been a lot well there
Speaker 1: are a lot of Wildcats now in the NBA. But
Speaker 1: he had twenty nine points twelve assists. Wallace also had
Speaker 1: three steals and a couple of rebounds to go with
Speaker 1: his effort. And I will say, yes that Pacer fans
Speaker 1: will always look back on the fact that their best player,
Speaker 1: Tyrese Halliburton, who would have been the MVP had he
Speaker 1: kept going the way he was early and had the
Speaker 1: Pacers want it. He went down with the injury, and
Speaker 1: it wasn't the calf injury that sidelined him earlier. It
Speaker 1: was an achilles and one may have led to the other,
Speaker 1: I don't know, but that happened in the second quarter
Speaker 1: and the Pacers never really were able to catch up
Speaker 1: and put as much pressure on the thunder as they
Speaker 1: might have. But one of the other things I wanted
Speaker 1: to mention was the fact that the stats for Shay
Speaker 1: Gilgess Alexander put him in some heady company like namely
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan and Kareem up du A Jabbar. Okay, there's
Speaker 1: this uproar now and who brought it up on TV?
Speaker 1: But Stephen A. Smith like him or not? Steven A.
Speaker 1: Smith knows the NBA, and he's passionate, you know, and
Speaker 1: he does the yelling and screaming thing. I like his.
Speaker 1: He's a really good writer. He's a really smart guy,
Speaker 1: smart enough to parlay his persona into millions and millions
Speaker 1: of dollars. But that said, I often wonder if a
Speaker 1: guy like that is imitating himself when he does everything
Speaker 1: at the top of his lungs. But he was extolling
Speaker 1: the virtues of SGA and he mentions Jordan and Jabbar
Speaker 1: as it relates to stats, and some people lost their
Speaker 1: minds on the internet immediately. Oh, he thinks he's as
Speaker 1: good as Jordan, Asbai. You know. Know, here's what stephen A.
Speaker 1: Stephen A Smith said, you beat a judge.
Speaker 2: It was com met us.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 3: We look forward to the NBA Finals. A lot of
Speaker 3: people doubted that it would be the spectacular, but it
Speaker 3: exceeded expectations because the Indiana Pacers showed up and give
Speaker 3: them a lot of credit where credit is due, and
Speaker 3: there's going to be a lot of people out there
Speaker 3: that's so question. What would have happened if Halliburton had
Speaker 3: it gone down? That's inevitable, but should know what the
Speaker 3: answer to that question is. It's a brother by the
Speaker 3: name of Sga, Say Jilles Alexander twenty nine points, twelve assists,
Speaker 3: one turnover, just one turnover in forty minutes. This brother
Speaker 3: is something special. Only the third player in history thirty
Speaker 3: points per game during the regular season and NBA League
Speaker 3: MVP and obviously the MVP of the NBA Finals. You're
Speaker 3: talking about Jordan three times, you're talking about.
Speaker 4: Kareem Matthew Jabar, you're talking about.
Speaker 3: Shake Gilgs, Alexander. That's the conversation that he is in.
Speaker 1: That's the kind of season he has had.
Speaker 3: That's the kind of season he let ok t s
Speaker 3: do and a lot of people could do nothing but
Speaker 3: stay on and congratulate them.
Speaker 1: And that was it. The stats add up. He was
Speaker 1: comparing the stat line who else has done this, who
Speaker 1: else has led the league? And then going on to
Speaker 1: do what SGA did this year. Well, two guys, Jordan
Speaker 1: three times, crime Abdul Jabbar. That's it. Never said SGA
Speaker 1: should be in the same conversation in terms of ability,
Speaker 1: and it's it's too soon in his career. Of course,
Speaker 1: he'll never, though, be Michael Jordan. Nobody will. I don't think.
Speaker 1: I mean maybe somebody will someday. But I do think
Speaker 1: he's the greatest of all time. And Jabbar for everything
Speaker 1: he did, is underrated when people who are eat up
Speaker 1: with recency bias start talking about the greatest players in
Speaker 1: the history of the league, just like well Chamberlain. So anyway, yeah,
Speaker 1: that stuff. I get really tired of that when when
Speaker 1: people because it's everything's an instant take. Everybody's got their
Speaker 1: phone in their hands. Everybody without thinking, they tweet things.
Speaker 1: I've done that. I've gone back and deleted tweets, or
Speaker 1: I've refuse to hit sin when I look at it
Speaker 1: and go, that's really stupid. Uh. But I felt like
Speaker 1: the criticisms of SGA and yeah, I know I'm being
Speaker 1: a bit parochial because he's a UK guy, but I
Speaker 1: just think it's silly, and I like to point out
Speaker 1: silly things here. You know, what was beyond silly was
Speaker 1: the College World Series. And I tuned in a little
Speaker 1: bit late. I was out of the house and I
Speaker 1: tuned in. I'm like, oh my god, what happened? And
Speaker 1: I started going back and looking and reading and looking
Speaker 1: at video. In the first inning, Coastal Carolina's head coach,
Speaker 1: Kevin Schnall was ejected from the game for arguing balls
Speaker 1: and strikes. Now coaches know this, managers know that you
Speaker 1: cannot argue balls and strikes. The problem here was it
Speaker 1: was such a knee jerk reaction by the plate umpire,
Speaker 1: whose name was Angel Campos, and I had forgotten about
Speaker 1: this guy. This guy has a rep for being hot tempered,
Speaker 1: rabbit ears, whatever you want to call it, so much
Speaker 1: so he was fired by Major League Baseball MLB. And
Speaker 1: for those of you out there say officials are not
Speaker 1: held accountable, and I don't know what's going to happen
Speaker 1: to him now, but they are held accountable. He was
Speaker 1: fired by Major League Baseball for being poor behind the
Speaker 1: plate on balls and strikes, throwing out too many guys,
Speaker 1: too many ejections, and just being not up to the job.
Speaker 1: He got the dream job, he got called up to
Speaker 1: the show, and he blew it. So the next thing
Speaker 1: you know, he's working college baseball and he works the
Speaker 1: championship game of the College World Series, or at least
Speaker 1: one of them. There might have been another one if
Speaker 1: Coastal had won, and he blew it. And look, I
Speaker 1: am as sympathetic to officials as anybody you'll ever hear
Speaker 1: in the media, and I mentioned it more than once.
Speaker 1: When I was young, I umpired baseball games from peewee
Speaker 1: to adult league games, fraternity games, you know, intermurals. I've
Speaker 1: talked to Jim Dopplas the other night, the former NFL
Speaker 1: rough I worked for him at UK. I have had
Speaker 1: people threaten me I have had somebody tell me they're
Speaker 1: going to meet me in the parking lot after the game.
Speaker 1: I've had a father who is an ex marine come
Speaker 1: at me because he thought I'd said something to his
Speaker 1: kid and he wanted to fight me. I had a
Speaker 1: fraternity come after me, come walking at me with bats
Speaker 1: in their hands because they were so mad at me.
Speaker 1: And you know, one of the worst was one game
Speaker 1: in particular, where these moms were screaming at me over
Speaker 1: eleven year olds and you know their voice is just
Speaker 1: piercingly loud. So yeah, I am extremely sympathetic because I've
Speaker 1: been the behind the plate. I've caught pitches not just
Speaker 1: by kids, but by guys who were playing college baseball,
Speaker 1: So I know what it's like. But I also know
Speaker 1: this officials have discretion, and I will let you hear
Speaker 1: from the head coach, Kevin Schnall about what happened. This
Speaker 1: is according to the head coach. Now from coast to Carolina.
Speaker 4: There's twenty five thousand people there, and I vaguely hear
Speaker 4: a warning issued as the head coach. And I was
Speaker 4: an assistant for twenty four years, and as an assistant,
Speaker 4: you're almost treated like a second grade second level citizen
Speaker 4: and you can't say a word now as a head coach,
Speaker 4: I think it is your right to get an explanation
Speaker 4: of why we got warned. And I'm forty eight years old.
Speaker 4: I shouldn't get showed by another grown man, right, So
Speaker 4: when I come out to ask what the warning is,
Speaker 4: a grown man showed me. So at that point I
Speaker 4: can now hear him say it was a warning issued
Speaker 4: for arguing balls and strikes. And at that point I said,
Speaker 4: because you missed three. At that point ejected. If that
Speaker 4: warrants an ejection, I'm the first one to stand here
Speaker 4: a man and apologize to words that the Fine Art
Speaker 4: program or own it. And what does that mean is
Speaker 4: you have to own You have to own everything that
Speaker 4: you do without blame, without defending yourself, without excuses.
Speaker 1: If you guys watched.
Speaker 4: The video, there was a guy that came in extremely
Speaker 4: aggressively tripped over the campos his foot, embarrassed in front
Speaker 4: of twenty five thousand, immediately goes two game suspension and
Speaker 4: said bumping the umpire immediately does that there was no bump.
Speaker 4: He was embarrassed. I shouldn't be held accountable for a
Speaker 4: grown man's athleticism. Don't retract it, though, because now it's
Speaker 4: accept and the reason why is excessive because I was
Speaker 4: trying to say I didn't pump him. It is what
Speaker 4: it is. But if that warranted an ejection, man, there'd
Speaker 4: be a lot of ejections. As an umpire, I feel
Speaker 4: like it's your job to manage the game, the National
Speaker 4: Championship game, with some poise, some calmness, and a little
Speaker 4: bit of tolerance.
Speaker 1: That's an accurate depiction. I went back. I've seen the
Speaker 1: video several times and yeah, one of the other umpires
Speaker 1: tripped over the play Empire's foot and fell down but
Speaker 1: embarrassing and immediately jumped up as though he had been shoved.
Speaker 1: And that's what they said with the release in the
Speaker 1: fifth inning. That was a bad look by the NCAA
Speaker 1: bad look. You know. They never had a chance to
Speaker 1: sit down and debrief everybody before they released the statement.
Speaker 1: Then they changed the wording, which is just weak. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it really ticked me off. And again I am as
Speaker 1: sim My brother's been a sports official for almost fifty years,
Speaker 1: and of course I'm arguing with him about this via
Speaker 1: text message. But it wasn't as though I wondered were
Speaker 1: they chirping from the dugout the campos go over and say, hey,
Speaker 1: that's enough. And then if that happened and the coach
Speaker 1: comes charging out of the dugout to argue balls and structs, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's got to go. That's baseball. That's part of it.
Speaker 1: I don't care what level, but that's not how it happened.
Speaker 1: He came out of the dugout and all in one
Speaker 1: fell sup, here's the warning, you're gone. The umpire choked.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, he was not up to the moment.
Speaker 1: And I can't say that it cost Coastal the game
Speaker 1: and the championship. LSU wonted five to three. I think
Speaker 1: ls she was a better team, But in my mind,
Speaker 1: it just kind of ruined the memory for anybody who
Speaker 1: wasn't an LSU fan. Off you were certainly a Coastal fan,
Speaker 1: but man, that was ugly. And of course, you know,
Speaker 1: they talked about it throughout the game, and I've seen
Speaker 1: people ripping the announcers on social media. I mean, what
Speaker 1: are you supposed to say? You're really not supposed to
Speaker 1: have an opinion when you're calling a game like that,
Speaker 1: beyond the fact that, oh man, this is a shame
Speaker 1: that this happened because up there when you're live on
Speaker 1: the air, and I've never had this happen to me
Speaker 1: in a game like that, but I've had odd things
Speaker 1: happen where you don't know why call was made, but
Speaker 1: you have no information at your fingertips. You have no explanation.
Speaker 1: As I said that the release they came out in
Speaker 1: the fifth inning, yeah, did it help, Well not really.
Speaker 1: It kind of confused the situation even more because what
Speaker 1: the hell is this? So I can't really say anything
Speaker 1: about the response to the broadcasters, but it just needed
Speaker 1: more information which they did not have at the time.
Speaker 1: So anyhow, those were the two huge sporting events yesterday,
Speaker 1: and one of them with Tyrese Halliburton going down, put
Speaker 1: a question mark over I do think the Thunder would
Speaker 1: have won. They were the better team and the coach
Speaker 1: being a jacked and by the way, the first base
Speaker 1: coach was ejected too. That's another thing in baseball coaches.
Speaker 1: You've got the head coach is one thing, the manager,
Speaker 1: the base coaches, no, they're not allowed to say much
Speaker 1: of anything. That's kind of an unwritten rule. That might
Speaker 1: be a written rule. That's you know, I remember in
Speaker 1: one of the ball games when Marks Troops was drawn
Speaker 1: back and forth with Georgia Tech's head coach and one
Speaker 1: of the Georgia Tech assistant coaches chimed in, oh, man,
Speaker 1: that was bad form now, but it was just a
Speaker 1: weird weekend for sports, and I'll go back to the
Speaker 1: NBA playoffs for just a moment. Also, social media uproar
Speaker 1: by Christian schenaw with who sang the national anthem. She's
Speaker 1: an Oklahoma City native. She's a Tony Award winning actress.
Speaker 1: You've seen her if you don't know the name, She's
Speaker 1: been in a lot of stuff. Tremendous voice. She sang
Speaker 1: the national anthem and got some black. She was fine
Speaker 1: at the end. She put a little bit of her
Speaker 1: spin on it.
Speaker 5: Here it is what the lote I love hold.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she took it up a notch at the end.
Speaker 1: A lot of singers do they go up that one note.
Speaker 1: She went that second note. I think she was just
Speaker 1: showing off because she has such a great voice. But man,
Speaker 1: some people just trashed her on social media. Others chimed
Speaker 1: in and said it was one of the best they'd
Speaker 1: ever heard with you know, not for me, but I
Speaker 1: thought she did a nice job, but two each his own,
Speaker 1: I guess, but I thought it was something like I said,
Speaker 1: you want to grab your phone and tweet, that's fine,
Speaker 1: but think about it. More to come. At the bottom
Speaker 1: of the hour, Ansley Almanor talks about joining La Famia
Speaker 1: here on six thirty w LAP Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Big Bloon Sider quick segment here because I managed to
Speaker 1: go on about refereeing and umpiring and SGA in that
Speaker 1: last segment, but I will tell you that coming up
Speaker 1: in a few minutes, Ansley Almanor will join us. The
Speaker 1: sharp shooting perimeter player. I'm a swing man, I guess,
Speaker 1: more forward than anything for the Wildcats this past year,
Speaker 1: and now a member of La Familia, which is the
Speaker 1: Kentucky based UK based I should say, a team that's
Speaker 1: involved in the basketball tournament Winners take All for a
Speaker 1: million bucks. They made the final four last year. They'll
Speaker 1: try it again this year, and Angsley will talk with
Speaker 1: us about his opportunity to play and being Rapperina once
Speaker 1: again again mentioning what happened with the College World Series.
Speaker 1: But I can relate it as much to basketball, and
Speaker 1: you probably can as well, because there have been moments,
Speaker 1: especially if you're a Kentucky fan, if you follow the Wildcats,
Speaker 1: I go back to two situations where discretion came in
Speaker 1: and now a number one. Maybe a little too much,
Speaker 1: but I guess it's understandable. Let me take you back,
Speaker 1: and if you're of a certain age, you remember this.
Speaker 1: If not, you may have heard about it or read
Speaker 1: about it. If you're a Kentucky fan, you know the
Speaker 1: Wildcats made the Final four nineteen seventy five. Use your
Speaker 1: Google machine if you're young and you want to know
Speaker 1: more about that game. The Wildcats beat Indiana up in
Speaker 1: Dayton in the regional championship game. The Indiana team that
Speaker 1: had beaten Kentucky by twenty four points undefeated Bob nineteen,
Speaker 1: virtually the same team the next year went undefeated and
Speaker 1: won the national title. Kentucky pulls the upset, goes to
Speaker 1: the Final four. Beat Syracuse in the first game. It
Speaker 1: should have been a UKUL final, but U OFL blew
Speaker 1: a late lead and lost to UCLA and John Wooden
Speaker 1: in the day. On the day between the two games,
Speaker 1: the Saturday and Monday games, John Wooden announced his impending retirement,
Speaker 1: which of course changed so much and of course, John
Speaker 1: Wooden later on addressed and anybody who supported John Wooden,
Speaker 1: the notion that if Wooden had not done that, Kentucky
Speaker 1: would have won. I've said before, I mentioned that once
Speaker 1: to Denny Crumb, who was an assistant under John Wooden
Speaker 1: up until you know what nineteen seventy one when he
Speaker 1: went to U of l oh Man. Did he take
Speaker 1: me a part on that wasn't mean about it, but
Speaker 1: sternly explained to me why I was wrong. I've talked
Speaker 1: to a couple of former UK players, Kevin Greevy and
Speaker 1: Bob Guyett from that team, who had the same opportunity
Speaker 1: to speak to Wooden, and they brought that up, and
Speaker 1: John Wooden patiently but pointedly explained why they were wrong.
Speaker 1: His point was UCLA was quicker and faster, So anyway,
Speaker 1: think what you will. Here's what happened in the championship game.
Speaker 1: And again Kentucky missed opportunities. There were free throws the
Speaker 1: Wildcats missed, but John Wooden at one point walked out
Speaker 1: onto the floor during the game to protest a call
Speaker 1: and then of course quickly a dead ball. But he
Speaker 1: was out there on the floor in a situation where
Speaker 1: any other coach would have been teed up. And he
Speaker 1: didn't just step out and step back, you know. I
Speaker 1: mean Calipari used to step out, Patino used to walk
Speaker 1: on to the floor. No, this was a calculated move
Speaker 1: by Wooden to take on the officials and it worked
Speaker 1: only in that he was not ejected. But look, you're
Speaker 1: a referee in that game. It's one of the biggest games,
Speaker 1: maybe the biggest assignment of your life, and you're going
Speaker 1: to tee up John Wooden and possibly eject John wouldn't.
Speaker 1: No way, You're not going to do that, even though
Speaker 1: proper protocol demanded it. Why not discretion? That's when a
Speaker 1: referee and official can show discretion, and they did. Now,
Speaker 1: Joe Hall wasn't happy about it. I don't know that
Speaker 1: it costs Kentucky the game, but that was a glaring
Speaker 1: example of discretion. Here's another one for you December thirty,
Speaker 1: twenty oh too, Louisville's Freedom Hall Kentucky Indiana crucial point.
Speaker 1: Late seconds, Indiana goes in for a shot that either
Speaker 1: ties or puts them up and a player gets banged around.
Speaker 1: No call. Mike Davis, the Indiana coach, ran out on
Speaker 1: the floor in the middle of the play live ball,
Speaker 1: demanding a foul, and then you know, the officials stopped
Speaker 1: to play finally, and he's chasing the referee up the floor,
Speaker 1: Bert Smith, and you can see the video of Bert's
Speaker 1: he's already tied him up. But now Bert Smith, you
Speaker 1: can read his lips clearly saying walk away coach, walk
Speaker 1: away coach, and he didn't. Finally they throw him out
Speaker 1: of the game, and Davis later apologized, wrote a letter
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. But Bert Smith was willing to
Speaker 1: leave it at a technical foul by seeing walk away coach.
Speaker 1: That's discretion. Ultimately, Davis paid the price literally, but it
Speaker 1: can't happen. Good officials know when to apply discretion. All right.
Speaker 1: Up next to Annsley Amanor of tbt's Lafa Meya here
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLAP, Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider.
Speaker 1: We're joined now by a guy who was so popular
Speaker 1: to the basketball Wildcats fans of the Big Blue Nation,
Speaker 1: Ansley Amanor, sharp shooting perimeter player who now will bring
Speaker 1: his skills to TBT part of the Lafa Mea Aley.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us, Congratulations on
Speaker 1: joining the ball club.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Tell me about just what excites you about this project.
Speaker 2: You know, just having an opportunity to be able to
Speaker 2: represent you Ban one more time, you know, put it
Speaker 2: on jersey that you know represents the University of Kentucky
Speaker 2: and playing with you know, so much prestigious alumni. It's
Speaker 2: just a great opportunity.
Speaker 1: I feel like for me, you've played against this team
Speaker 1: last year, did you not. Weren't you guys able to
Speaker 1: square up against the TVT squad last year?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, last year you played against them. You know,
Speaker 2: it was a good experience. If I got to meet
Speaker 2: somebody guys this year, it's gonna be a little bit different,
Speaker 2: but there's definitely gonna be some carryover, so I'll be
Speaker 2: familiar with somebody.
Speaker 1: Got a different roster, you mean, yeah, a different Yeah,
Speaker 1: when you were playing against them, did you think to yourself,
Speaker 1: you know, that might be kind of cool to be
Speaker 1: a part of that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely thought that, for sure. I definitely did
Speaker 2: think that. So you know, just you know, looking at
Speaker 2: a year later, it's like full circle a lon and
Speaker 2: I'm actually here and now I got to go play
Speaker 2: against them. So it's definitely a great opportunity.
Speaker 1: This tournament has been around for a while. I think
Speaker 1: it's safe to say it's pretty successful. What do you
Speaker 1: know about it if you followed it since its inception and.
Speaker 2: Get the following for a little bit to a few
Speaker 2: guys who played in the past few years, So it
Speaker 2: definitely gained some traction, I feel like, especially recently. So
Speaker 2: I think it's a good tournament, good opportunity, especially for
Speaker 2: guys like me, were trying to get some more exposure
Speaker 2: and you know, play at the next level.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, that was going to be my next question.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know basketball isn't over for you, so
Speaker 1: this is a great opportunity to show what you can do,
Speaker 1: isn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely is you know, definitely a great opportunity. I'm
Speaker 2: excited to actually showcase my skills, especially in front of
Speaker 2: your ben and just two whatever else is watching.
Speaker 1: Fans, im media heard about your shooting ability. We all
Speaker 1: read about you, we saw your numbers, what you did
Speaker 1: at your previous school, and sure enough, you didn't disappoint.
Speaker 1: I mean, people love the way you shot the ball,
Speaker 1: but I felt like Ansley second half of the year especially,
Speaker 1: you really expanded your game, didn't you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely feel like I did, you know, just you know,
Speaker 2: I was working on my game every day, showing more
Speaker 2: the year went on, getting more comfortable in the offense.
Speaker 2: I just feel like that's just a part of you know,
Speaker 2: becoming a better basketball player. And I feel like, you know,
Speaker 2: even after the season, I made more progression. It's just
Speaker 2: really takes being my game and you know, getting better.
Speaker 1: So you're still working, You're still working at it.
Speaker 2: Of course, of course, what what do you want to
Speaker 2: get better?
Speaker 1: I know everything, right, but I mean I felt like
Speaker 1: you took the ball to the rack a little bit
Speaker 1: more and a little bit better as the year went on.
Speaker 1: Did you did you feel that way?
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely felt that way. It was a game more
Speaker 2: comfortable and having more confidence doing things like that after
Speaker 2: working working at working on it in practice a lot.
Speaker 2: So definitely definitely I got better over the year.
Speaker 1: Talking to Ansley, Almnori is now part of LA Fora Media.
Speaker 1: The team basically comprised of UK players who will play
Speaker 1: in TBT coming up. And uh, yeah, this past season,
Speaker 1: I always wonder about this, Guys like you who are
Speaker 1: so good at shooting the three. You know, when you
Speaker 1: when you check in you can kind of at least
Speaker 1: I can up and where the media sits kind of
Speaker 1: feel the crowd start to rustle, like okay, here we go.
Speaker 1: And then whenever you get the ball, especially if you
Speaker 1: had just a shred of daylight, you could feel the
Speaker 1: entire at least I could feel the entire arena kind
Speaker 1: of brace itself and inhale ready for that shot to
Speaker 1: go down. Can you feel that as a player or
Speaker 1: are you so dialed in you don't notice that.
Speaker 2: I don't really notice it too much, to be honest,
Speaker 2: I'm readouted into the game to trying to focus on
Speaker 2: making an impact up my team, you know when any
Speaker 2: way possible, So I don't know, you get to focus
Speaker 2: on that while I'm playing. But looking back at it,
Speaker 2: watching family definitely see it and hear it.
Speaker 1: What was that like for you when you would look
Speaker 1: back at the video and you could see the way people.
Speaker 2: React, You know, it's obviously just a humbling experience, great experience,
Speaker 2: just you know, being able to just seeing like so
Speaker 2: many people would just support me and just you know,
Speaker 2: root me on stuff like that. It was a great,
Speaker 2: great experience and it just felt good just being able
Speaker 2: to feel that and see it at least especially watching.
Speaker 1: Them back, you could, I know you could feel it
Speaker 1: when the shots went down and a place to right.
Speaker 1: A little bit different from Fairley Dickinson, was it?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 2: A lot different?
Speaker 1: Was it what you thought it would be the experience
Speaker 1: of playing in rupp Arena playing for Kentucky?
Speaker 2: It was even even better, you know, even bigger, even better.
Speaker 2: BBN is just you know, something you can't replicate, you
Speaker 2: can't prepare for it, and it should, you know, so
Speaker 2: so grateful for you know, you would represent them.
Speaker 1: You guys all talked about how tough it was going
Speaker 1: to be to walk away, and even Kobe talked about
Speaker 1: they're not going to be able to take this jersey
Speaker 1: away from me. How tough was that for you? When
Speaker 1: the season ended?
Speaker 2: You know, it was really tough. You know, it suck,
Speaker 2: really really sucked. You know, such a time flew You
Speaker 2: got there and there for you know, over like ten
Speaker 2: months and just felt like it was you know a
Speaker 2: day when you know, like going all sit and downe
Speaker 2: So it just really flew by it, especially when you're
Speaker 2: having fun with your family, with your brother.
Speaker 1: So this was a UK This was a UK team
Speaker 1: ANGELI like no other because the roster had to come together,
Speaker 1: the entire roster of scholarship players in such a short
Speaker 1: amount of time, and you guys had so many big wins,
Speaker 1: You made a deep run. Why do you think this
Speaker 1: team was so successful?
Speaker 2: You know, I just feel like we loved each other
Speaker 2: on and off the court. You know, we spent a
Speaker 2: lot of time. We knew each other, like where a
Speaker 2: family coach did a great job apparent as if we
Speaker 2: did all the coaches that have We had great coaching staff,
Speaker 2: and you know, we just played for each other, played
Speaker 2: the right way, and we played for the right reasons.
Speaker 1: And the coaches I know, and they're still doing that,
Speaker 1: weren't getting just they weren't compiling a team like it
Speaker 1: was a fantasy team. It was it was as much
Speaker 1: about the people as the players. Did you get a
Speaker 1: feel for that with Mark Pope and his staff because
Speaker 1: they did a great job of getting just the right guys,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely, they definitely did that. And you
Speaker 2: could just tell while we were out of the court
Speaker 2: and we started playing with each other that there is
Speaker 2: a team that just gel really well. And you know something,
Speaker 2: you can't really up the plate I.
Speaker 1: Know there are some players who wonder about Mark Pope's
Speaker 1: coaching style, his demeanor. I mean, everybody knows how smart
Speaker 1: he is, and coaches all know x'es and o's. But
Speaker 1: Pope admitted that, you know, he tried to be that gruff,
Speaker 1: mean kind of coach that he was coached by Rick Patino,
Speaker 1: but he said he just had to be himself, which
Speaker 1: is much more upbeat and positive. And I was privileged
Speaker 1: to attend a couple of practices and saw that firsthand.
Speaker 1: What was it like being a player with a coach,
Speaker 1: you know, who's not always up in your grill, who's
Speaker 1: you know, much more positive.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a great It was just a fun
Speaker 2: and enjoyable experience, you know, just being a player, just
Speaker 2: being able to learn and you know, not worrying about
Speaker 2: your coach just being a little, you know, too much
Speaker 2: sometimes coach, I think that just a little too much,
Speaker 2: and players they react poorly to it and they just
Speaker 2: can't really handle it. But just being able to just
Speaker 2: talk to coach, you know, like like he wasn't your coach,
Speaker 2: like you just another person that you just you know,
Speaker 2: just talking to me, and the man how to respect
Speaker 2: for his players always, and it's just a great feeling.
Speaker 2: You know, you just want to go out there and
Speaker 2: fight for him, you know, especially you know when you
Speaker 2: feel like he's just out there and just wants the
Speaker 2: best for you and just talks to you like, you know,
Speaker 2: with doub most respect.
Speaker 1: The fact that he has been where you guys want
Speaker 1: to be and and and wanted to be. You know,
Speaker 1: he's played in Kentucky, won a title, played in the league,
Speaker 1: played overseas. How much does that help when you when
Speaker 1: you guys go to relate to him, It helps a.
Speaker 2: Lot, you know, it helps a lot just being able
Speaker 2: to listen to them and hear what you gotta say
Speaker 2: and just like understand that he's been where you run
Speaker 2: and go. He had a lot of things to say
Speaker 2: and like a lot of great wisdom and you know,
Speaker 2: great guidance that we definitely want to listen to. And
Speaker 2: it just makes it easier to listen to him, especially
Speaker 2: knowing that he been exactly where we're trying to.
Speaker 1: Go talking to. Angeley Amanor is now part of lat
Speaker 1: for Meia. The ball club that is comprised primarily are
Speaker 1: UK players that'll be a part of TBT once again.
Speaker 1: Winner Take All Uh, it's a steep hill, but the
Speaker 1: last year team made a pretty good climb. You like
Speaker 1: your chances?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we definitely do. Change is trying to go over
Speaker 2: all this year for sure.
Speaker 1: That ought to be fun. This past year's team, you
Speaker 1: guys had to adjust quite a bit because of injuries.
Speaker 1: You had Jackson go down, you had Lamont dealing with injuries. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know your playing time would increase. Uh what was
Speaker 1: that like for you guys to constantly have to you know,
Speaker 1: change if not the style the attack that what you
Speaker 1: guys or how much did you have to change because
Speaker 1: you lost some key games, a lot of games from
Speaker 1: key players.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, we just we had we had a
Speaker 2: great team. Of course, had a great team. Everybody's prepared,
Speaker 2: you know, it's just a next man up mentality. So
Speaker 2: just having having great players and practice and hard every
Speaker 2: day and pushing each other in practice every day in
Speaker 2: fact prepared us. Uh, you know for anything, especially when
Speaker 2: it came to the game and if you're putting the
Speaker 2: situations that you maybe not have been used to, you
Speaker 2: were always prepared for it just because you know, uh,
Speaker 2: you've been pushed charge and practice and you know you've
Speaker 2: just been preparing for it your whole life basically. So
Speaker 2: I just feel like we did a great job of adjusting.
Speaker 2: And you know, since we're older but more mature team,
Speaker 2: it was easier for us to you know, handle those bumps,
Speaker 2: the bumps and up and downs because you.
Speaker 1: Were older and more mature. Did that make it easier
Speaker 1: to blend and come together as a team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, definitely think so, because.
Speaker 1: I wondered about that. You know, usually younger guys and
Speaker 1: when you learn your way, but some of you older guys,
Speaker 1: and it's a relative term, I know, are set in
Speaker 1: your ways, but I really felt like you guys hit,
Speaker 1: for lack of a better term, ans a more of
Speaker 1: a professional approach to the way you came together. Is
Speaker 1: that is that accurate?
Speaker 2: Yeah? For sure? Definitely.
Speaker 1: What did you learn from your teammates as much as
Speaker 1: your coaches can you can you zero in on any
Speaker 1: of that?
Speaker 2: I mean, just you know, just learning about them, just learning,
Speaker 2: you know, just different people came from different places, keep
Speaker 2: calling from different backgrounds, learn how to hand those certain things,
Speaker 2: you know, learning tips. You know, a lot of them
Speaker 2: played a high major schools that I wasn't really playing
Speaker 2: out before. So just you know seeing how to hand
Speaker 2: themselves and handle certain things definitely helped me throughout the year.
Speaker 1: What about playing with the Mari, a guy a big
Speaker 1: like that who at times would run the point and
Speaker 1: could pass the basketball. What was that like?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was it was great. You know, he's a
Speaker 2: great player, a great skill set. Definitely very unique, and
Speaker 2: I feel you're the privileged to be able to play
Speaker 2: with a guy like that who could you know, at
Speaker 2: that at that height see the whole floor and be
Speaker 2: able to facilitate for the whole team.
Speaker 1: We talked about how you grew as a player. Where
Speaker 1: do you think you improved the most. I kind of
Speaker 1: touched on this earlier, but I felt like your defense
Speaker 1: got better, your handle. Was there anything in particular you
Speaker 1: were most proud of?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like defensive I got a lot better
Speaker 2: throughout the year. Some of the people didn't really notice,
Speaker 2: like just me personally, I got the better defensively, and
Speaker 2: uh yeah, my handle more comfortable. So like, here's just
Speaker 2: the sense that you should be more comfortable and more confident,
Speaker 2: you know, in my abilities. But definitely defensively, I play
Speaker 2: actually got better. In general.
Speaker 1: Of course, you had to get better playing in the
Speaker 1: SEC and do respect to the teams that you played against. Uh.
Speaker 1: This year, I think you'll probably what, hell, the SEC
Speaker 1: won the national title and a team that you guys beat, Uh,
Speaker 1: tell me about kind of moving up in terms of
Speaker 1: competition playing against SEC teams.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it was. It was definitely a tough
Speaker 2: I mean it was really tough. You know, we're all
Speaker 2: basket players the O of the day. There's a great
Speaker 2: so thankful to you know, I just to be able
Speaker 2: to play in the best conference, you know and arguably
Speaker 2: prograst of history. You know, that's you know, showcase my
Speaker 2: skills and to go out there and get better every
Speaker 2: single day. You know, the BASKETBLL players gold is at
Speaker 2: all times, and you know, just being able to you know,
Speaker 2: play that, being able to do that and just play
Speaker 2: in that league just you know, definitely a great experience.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, you know, you've played against tough players,
Speaker 1: good players throughout your college career before you got to Kentucky.
Speaker 1: It just seemed like in the SEC, there's more of them, right,
Speaker 1: more depth top, you know, there's so much.
Speaker 2: Death you know, uh, size, speed, other games just different.
Speaker 2: So just it was great, you know, as a competitor
Speaker 2: as you want to be in.
Speaker 1: I was going to say it had to be a
Speaker 1: tough adjustment, but iron sharpens iron, right, you want.
Speaker 2: To go at that, right, Yeah, exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: I mentioned Florida, you guys in one of the incredible
Speaker 1: games beat them both Team I one six to one hundred.
Speaker 1: When you watch Florida throughout the year from that point on,
Speaker 1: knowing how good they were, did you feel like that
Speaker 1: was the team that really had a shot? I mean,
Speaker 1: Walter Clayton Juniors are pretty incredible, isn't he.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, definitely, you know, they're a great team built well. Coach, Well,
Speaker 2: that was cool. I mean, obviously beating them, you know,
Speaker 2: with the bitter season our Military Washington National championship, because
Speaker 2: you know, you know how a healthy, you know, full
Speaker 2: strengthy for Lake definitely could have been there ourselves.
Speaker 1: So well, but you've got that win over them in
Speaker 1: your hip pocket, right. A couple of minutes left with
Speaker 1: Ansley aman Or he's going to be playing in the
Speaker 1: TBT for La Familia, and uh, a little bit of
Speaker 1: a different look in terms of the rules and things
Speaker 1: like that. The scoring. I gotta think that it's going
Speaker 1: to be a little more up temple. Although you guys
Speaker 1: love playing up tempo under Mark Pope, how much is
Speaker 1: that going to help you in this tournament?
Speaker 2: I mean just it's definitely help us. Seeing the way
Speaker 2: that we play in general, just as a other team
Speaker 2: is gonna be pretty interesting. You know. I'm just excited
Speaker 2: to get to put those guys yea, and you know,
Speaker 2: I just want to be out there help them win,
Speaker 2: help us, help us win this whole prize.
Speaker 1: Well, when you do, when you win that big prize,
Speaker 1: what are your plans afterwards? I mean, I'm sure you've
Speaker 1: got an Asian.
Speaker 2: And agent, you know, just exploring professional opportunities right now,
Speaker 2: seeing you know what pops up and you know what
Speaker 2: are your best for me?
Speaker 1: How would you feel about playing overseas because some guys
Speaker 1: get homesick.
Speaker 2: I definitely definitely opened to the opportunity, definitely, you know,
Speaker 2: open an opportunity just as long as they have to
Speaker 2: play at the next level.
Speaker 1: Yeah, see the world on somebody else's nickel.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, exactly. You know that would be a great
Speaker 2: experience for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you already know that you can always come
Speaker 1: back to lexingon right.
Speaker 2: And yeah, of course you know us at my second
Speaker 2: home now. You know, everybody over there show love and
Speaker 2: you know, definitely had to go back next month as.
Speaker 1: We speak, are you back in New York? Are you
Speaker 1: still in Lexington?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm in New York right now. I'm in New York.
Speaker 2: Head off to lex next month.
Speaker 1: I'll let you go with this. What do people say
Speaker 1: to you when you see them and they followed you
Speaker 1: and your friends, your family, But what do you tell
Speaker 1: them about BBN and and lexingon?
Speaker 2: You know, it's just one of the kind, you know,
Speaker 2: definitely as other to try to go experience that whenever
Speaker 2: they can, you know, just being out there. Uh, my
Speaker 2: experience is a great experience, you know, BBN, It's just
Speaker 2: there's nothing you can really describe. You've got to go
Speaker 2: out there and witness it yourself. Kentucky's a great place,
Speaker 2: great people, and definitely I'm going to try to come
Speaker 2: back as often as I can.
Speaker 1: He is Ansley Almanor. He's always going to be welcome
Speaker 1: in Lexington from initially Spring Valley, New York. But he'll
Speaker 1: be a part of love and looking forward to seeing
Speaker 1: you play again, young man. I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2: I appreciate you man.
Speaker 1: Can go and we'll talk more UK hoops on the
Speaker 1: other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP. Well,
Speaker 1: it's a quick one here, but we only have time
Speaker 1: to tell you that earlier today Denzel Aberdeen and Mohammed
Speaker 1: Diabatte talked to the media. We'll have all kinds of
Speaker 1: coverage of that. Tomorrow you hear from both players. And
Speaker 1: also tomorrow we'll hear from twenty Beckham, the GM of
Speaker 1: Lafa Meya and the new head coach, Sean Woods. They're
Speaker 1: holding a joint press conference on Tuesdays. So much more
Speaker 1: UK basketball coming up tomorrow. Yeah. I know it's the
Speaker 1: middle of the summer, but you know as well as
Speaker 1: I that it just never stops if you're a Kentucky
Speaker 1: basketball player or a media person. But really, the the TBT,
Speaker 1: the TBT tvt has been a great success and a
Speaker 1: lot of fun, and we'll be talking about it, of course,
Speaker 1: we hope through the championship game. I remember two with
Speaker 1: Doug Flynn. His next from six thirty w LAP.
Speaker 7: Then any type set such station tap, don't do anything.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Moon Sider. Join now by
Speaker 1: my broadcasting brother, mister Doug Flynn. June we get together
Speaker 1: on the he doesn't join me. I joined him. It's
Speaker 1: my privilege on the SEC. Plus streaming telecasts of UK
Speaker 1: baseball and the College World Series has come to an end.
Speaker 1: We're in the middle of the big league season. But Doug,
Speaker 1: before I ask you about what happened with Coastal Carolina
Speaker 1: and LSU, I don't know if you've had a chance.
Speaker 1: You're not a big social media guy, but I know
Speaker 1: that Darren Hedrick keeps us up to speed on her
Speaker 1: chain gang text message. Were the moves that nickmn Jonas
Speaker 1: staff were making through the portal, really going after pitching,
Speaker 1: just laying that a kid from South Carolina, and that's
Speaker 1: going to be the key coming up, isn't it. They
Speaker 1: got some good guys coming back, but they need arms.
Speaker 2: Oh absolutely.
Speaker 6: If you look at the College World Series, every one
Speaker 6: of those teams that got there just had some strength
Speaker 6: and all of it on the hill. Some teams two
Speaker 6: and three guys that are projected to be in the
Speaker 6: top couple of rounds of the draft. So I really
Speaker 6: like what Nick's doing. Plus with the kids that he's
Speaker 6: got coming back from last year that are going to
Speaker 6: be a year older, and the way they showed that
Speaker 6: they could play. Towards the end of the year, you
Speaker 6: got to be pretty excited about next season.
Speaker 1: You and I got to watch and everybody got to
Speaker 1: watch Ben Cleaver really blossom. We saw him as a
Speaker 1: freshman come on at the end of the year and
Speaker 1: then a slim reaper really made a name for himself
Speaker 1: in more waste than one this past year. I can't
Speaker 1: wait to see what happens. He's gonna work it, he says,
Speaker 1: putting on even more muscle and getting stronger. And he
Speaker 1: was an sec guy, wasn't he?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 6: Absolutely yeah, and he will get so much better. And
Speaker 6: you have confidence that when he went out there that
Speaker 6: all right, which guy we was gonna see tonight. Unlike
Speaker 6: a few of the pictures that we've seen over the
Speaker 6: years where just never could get that comfortable feeling of
Speaker 6: owning that mound, Well, he started doing it from day one.
Speaker 2: His mound was his.
Speaker 6: And I just think as he gets stronger, he gets
Speaker 6: more command of that. Already some really good stuff that
Speaker 6: he is definitely going to be the picture that nobody
Speaker 6: wants to face, especially left handed hitters.
Speaker 1: And you know, talking to him after the game, is
Speaker 1: we do uh, it's really funny because you know, you
Speaker 1: talk about being out there on the mound and owning it.
Speaker 1: You know, he's got that baby face and he's a
Speaker 1: slender guy. He is the slim Reaper, so you know,
Speaker 1: he just looks like a kid. Now he's tall, you know,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't pitch like a kid, does he.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, Danny Graves was nicknamed him the baby
Speaker 6: face that sassin.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and uh he's.
Speaker 6: All time save leaders from the Cincinnati Reds. But you
Speaker 6: know he's about my size, not big. But I'm telling you,
Speaker 6: you know, the makeup that he had which made him
Speaker 6: such a great great relief pitcher is what you would
Speaker 6: really love to see and everybody. And I think Leaver's
Speaker 6: got that.
Speaker 1: I met I got to meet him at the College
Speaker 1: World Series last year, Danny Graves. I seen him pitch
Speaker 1: and he was working I guess for ESPN. Uh that's right,
Speaker 1: acc Network, And uh yeah, he's got you know that,
Speaker 1: Like like you said, he just that appearance. But when
Speaker 1: he starts talking, he kind of owns the room, doesn't he.
Speaker 4: So I.
Speaker 1: Pictures need that. And when you look around the infield
Speaker 1: and the outfield, a lot of starters back for the Wildcats.
Speaker 1: But relievers is where Kentucky really struggled this year. You know,
Speaker 1: Hogan was hurt most of the year, some other guys struggled.
Speaker 1: But yeah, getting back to the College World Series, you
Speaker 1: had just incredible starting pitching, especially LSU and Coastal. But
Speaker 1: it seemed to your point, Doug Leck. You know they
Speaker 1: would show they pick up that camera and the bullpen
Speaker 1: guys warming up. This guy throws ninety eight, that guy
Speaker 1: throws ninety four. Everybody had a roster of relievers who
Speaker 1: could come in and to shut you down. And anymore.
Speaker 1: In college ball you got to have that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you really do, because the quality of play is
Speaker 6: so good. I remember one time they said college baseball
Speaker 6: was probably equivalent to good class at a baseball and
Speaker 6: now it's probably equivalent to double a baseball. I really do.
Speaker 6: And you see a lot of these kids that are
Speaker 6: staying around for that extra year plus. What I often
Speaker 6: forget too is some of these kids are now twenty
Speaker 6: four twenty feet, so they get a little bit older
Speaker 6: because of the portal, and so they've got an extra
Speaker 6: year of play, and so we saw a lot of
Speaker 6: older kids over the last couple of years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great point because about when the Legends
Speaker 1: first got here. Gosh, I don't remember how many years
Speaker 1: ago that was, but people would say, well, the SEC
Speaker 1: is about as good as I said, Not quite, because
Speaker 1: SEC kids back then would give their left arm lifts
Speaker 1: that were left handed to land a contract with the Legends. Now,
Speaker 1: as you said, they're sticking around. Of course there's more
Speaker 1: money involved, but they're bigger, stronger, faster, and especially when
Speaker 1: the best pitcher on the teams on the bump. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that team could could compete with a single air double.
Speaker 1: The we're talking to Doug Flynn of the SEC Network
Speaker 1: covers UK baseball, and of course was at Omaha last
Speaker 1: year when the Wildcats were playing and we were all
Speaker 1: furiously and frantically texting yesterday Doug about what happened at
Speaker 1: the first inning, and I talked about it off the top.
Speaker 1: I just felt like, uh, that played umpire, lost his cool,
Speaker 1: had the opportunity to show discretion and did not. And
Speaker 1: I had forgotten this. He had been fired by the
Speaker 1: major leagues. He they say officials aren't accountable, held accountable.
Speaker 1: He got fired for doing the same kind of stuff
Speaker 1: and he really put a cloud over this championship roun
Speaker 1: didn't he?
Speaker 6: Yeah, And you get a really good understanding of it
Speaker 6: when you listen to Coastal Carolina's coach explain exactly what happened. Yeah,
Speaker 6: I played that because there was there was I mean,
Speaker 6: we were all speculating as to what was said, what
Speaker 6: could have happened, what did happen, But he pretty much
Speaker 6: laid it out on the line. And then I saw
Speaker 6: the umpire run up, the other umpire run up, and
Speaker 6: you could tell that he lost his ballance and the
Speaker 6: tripps he wasn't shoved, but then to come up and
Speaker 6: immediately tried to blame that on the coach as well,
Speaker 6: when the video is certainly going to make him look
Speaker 6: completely foolish. But Dick, we saw a lot of that
Speaker 6: over the last year or so with some of the umpiring.
Speaker 6: Now there's you know, there's part of this game that
Speaker 6: you really you got to let it talk, you gotta
Speaker 6: let it breathe, you gotta let it be human. And
Speaker 6: if it gets to the point where we start taking
Speaker 6: all that away, I mean, this is the championship game
Speaker 6: of the national title for college baseball, and he yanks
Speaker 6: him quickly. That's one of the fastest ejections I think
Speaker 6: I've ever seen at any level.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I had read about it, and this is kind
Speaker 1: of legendary, but every once in a while you read
Speaker 1: about a coach or a manager brings a lineup card
Speaker 1: out and starts talking about last night's game and gets
Speaker 1: ejected at that point. I know, But in terms of
Speaker 1: in terms of yeah, a game like this, and I
Speaker 1: talked earlier Doug about other situations where officials have used discretion.
Speaker 1: But man, if your back is up like that so
Speaker 1: soon you got that's a you problem. You know what
Speaker 1: I mean?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 6: Oh, I agree and uh And you.
Speaker 1: Know, the statement they release in the middle of the
Speaker 1: game was suspect. And as you know from our conversations
Speaker 1: on the air and off within the chain gang, I'm
Speaker 1: the one in our group who's most sympathetic to officially,
Speaker 1: not just because of my brother, but just because of
Speaker 1: my experience. But you know, like I said, I've had
Speaker 1: people screaming at me and threatening me and I know
Speaker 1: what that feels like. Not at that level, though, but
Speaker 1: he's working at that level. He ought to be able
Speaker 1: to handle it, right.
Speaker 6: I would think that he would, and the NCAA should
Speaker 6: have been well aware of that as well, so I
Speaker 6: put a lot of blame on him for putting him
Speaker 6: in that situation, knowing that he has a history of
Speaker 6: something like that. Yeah, but I've been you know, I've
Speaker 6: been run before for just with my big mouth when
Speaker 6: I was coaching in pro ball, and I mean, Dick,
Speaker 6: without even saying anything bad, I would just you know,
Speaker 6: question something like hey, like that, both you're gone. And
Speaker 6: he made a good point yesterday, which I thought was
Speaker 6: one of the most ridiculous things. If you are in
Speaker 6: a ball or minor league ball, the manager can speak,
Speaker 6: but if a coach says one word, he's automatically ejected.
Speaker 6: And it's pretty much the same way a college ball.
Speaker 6: The coaches are to be there to watch it. They're
Speaker 6: not supposed to be able to say anything. I mean,
Speaker 6: you can't question anything without getting run. And I think
Speaker 6: they've got to loosen it up a little bit on that,
Speaker 6: because if you and I both know there is a
Speaker 6: tremendous amount of mouth and going on in the game,
Speaker 6: and you clean it all up or you let it.
Speaker 1: You know what My point on that was, they had ejected.
Speaker 1: They had ejected the head coach, so technically that coach
Speaker 1: on the field. He was the head coach at the time.
Speaker 1: He had instantly become, you know, the head coach of record,
Speaker 1: so to throw him out was supreme. I mean, I
Speaker 1: get that, you know, and again that's one of the
Speaker 1: unridden rules of sports really, but yeah, they just they
Speaker 1: just mishandled everything. It was a bad look or college baseball,
Speaker 1: and it ruined for a lot of us. What is
Speaker 1: one of the greatest events, and especially if you've been there,
Speaker 1: that there is I've said before it's it's like the
Speaker 1: Final Falling twice as good because there's twice as many teams, you.
Speaker 6: Know, and you've got to let it go a little bit.
Speaker 6: In that situation. You always give the guys a little leeway.
Speaker 6: They work there, Reari and the team like Coastal Carolina's
Speaker 6: worked there, Rearian to be here. I mean, we have
Speaker 6: said before that are the days gone for Coastal Carolinas
Speaker 6: and teams like that. Well, we saw Burray and them
Speaker 6: have great years, able to compete with the Southeastern Conference
Speaker 6: and something the strong teams out west. So they make
Speaker 6: it that far and then you've got to give them
Speaker 6: a little leeway. Especially the guy wasn't custing or anything.
Speaker 6: He was just questioning, you know, his louthy umpire.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know what, You've made a good point
Speaker 1: through the years about ballplayers, both current and retired, being
Speaker 1: shepherds of the game. That extends, in my opinion, to officials.
Speaker 1: I think they need too as well. And will he
Speaker 1: be held accountable If that guy, any of them, really
Speaker 1: the couple of them, end up in Omaha next year,
Speaker 1: I'll be really disappointed. He is Doug Flynn. He is
Speaker 1: my broadcasting brother on the SEC plus broadcast at UK Baseball.
Speaker 1: We'll come back and talk about learning more about mister
Speaker 1: Flynn in just a minute on the big one side
Speaker 1: of here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're chatting
Speaker 1: with my good friend and colleague, mister Doug Flynn from
Speaker 1: SEC plus coverage of UK baseball and a longtime Big leaguer.
Speaker 1: He is the glue who held together, we say, tongue
Speaker 1: in cheek, the big Red machine. Of course, when Doug
Speaker 1: was traded, the Big Red Machine fell apart. But also
Speaker 1: just saying I got the T shirt to prove it
Speaker 1: Gold Glove winter with the New York Mets. We're gonna
Speaker 1: learn more about Doug. I thought I knew everything there
Speaker 1: was to know about you. But I mean we've traveled together,
Speaker 1: worked together. But David Patrick, a former colleague of mine,
Speaker 1: reached out to Doug. And you've now I ever met Doug,
Speaker 1: as you know, a bigger Reds fan than David Patrick.
Speaker 1: But David has heard your story in little bits and pieces,
Speaker 1: but he decided it was worth a documentary. And you're
Speaker 1: a guy who you enjoy talking baseball, but you're not
Speaker 1: real keen on talking about yourself. But why did you
Speaker 1: accept this offer from David who I know you've known forever.
Speaker 6: Well, I don't know if accepting the offer, but you
Speaker 6: know I love David because I've known him for a
Speaker 6: long time as you have. I've always appreciated in trusted
Speaker 6: h When he said something, you know that it's facts.
Speaker 6: And then he said, why don't we just sit down
Speaker 6: let's talk a little bit. And I said, all right,
Speaker 6: now you have to understand this has been like three
Speaker 6: or four years ago when we did this, and so
Speaker 6: I sat down and then all of a sudden I
Speaker 6: forgot about it. I thought, well, I guess he's used
Speaker 6: it on some of his TV shows or maybe down
Speaker 6: at Moorhead where he is and then he calls me
Speaker 6: said okay, he said, remember that little deal we did.
Speaker 6: I said, yeah, well I've got it put together and
Speaker 6: you're kidding and he said no, and he's so I
Speaker 6: started sending me some pictures and he already had a
Speaker 6: bunch of pictures and hook him up with Rick Walls
Speaker 6: at the Hall of Fame in Cincinnati, and he got
Speaker 6: a few more and he says, have you ever just
Speaker 6: sat down? I said, David, people know my story pretty much.
Speaker 6: He said, well, there's a lot that I don't know
Speaker 6: about it. And so we basically started from the get
Speaker 6: go and walked it all the way through. And you know,
Speaker 6: I feel very very fortunate. I feel really humbled and
Speaker 6: almost embarrassed a little bit that we're going to do
Speaker 6: something like that. And you know, Kyt said they were
Speaker 6: going to run it a couple of times over the
Speaker 6: coming weeks.
Speaker 1: Sunday.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and I'm Saturday and Sunday and I'm going to
Speaker 6: be up in Cincinnati with the Big Red Machine reunion.
Speaker 8: Uh so.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 6: But David sent me a copy of it. I haven't
Speaker 6: looked at it yet, but I'm trusting if he's excited
Speaker 6: about it, then I'm gonna be excited.
Speaker 1: Well, he said, he showed you a rough draft and
Speaker 1: you gave it the thumbs up.
Speaker 6: So well, he and I both looked at it. Yeah,
Speaker 6: we look had it together and then at a restaurant
Speaker 6: one time, so and I was sitting there laughing. He said,
Speaker 6: what do you think? I said, that's pretty funny.
Speaker 1: But yeah, will air this Saturday one on w KYT
Speaker 1: and Sunday on the c W Lexington at one o'clock.
Speaker 1: Now you talk more than just baseball. You get into
Speaker 1: some personal stuff and again I know that that can
Speaker 1: be difficult for you.
Speaker 6: Yeah, something it can. I think we touched a little
Speaker 6: bit on my sister's disappearance and then but we talk
Speaker 6: a lot about my faith too, and you and I,
Speaker 6: you know, we're buddies. We've talked about that a lot
Speaker 6: and how important that has been, especially when you go
Speaker 6: through tough stuff like that with my sister, and then
Speaker 6: you know, my parents going this is we did all
Speaker 6: this right before Mom and Daddy passed away, so you
Speaker 6: know there's some things that have changed. But it just
Speaker 6: kind of and I don't ever use that as an excuse,
Speaker 6: but you know, when I got traded in seventy seven
Speaker 6: at the same time that Melanie disappeared, and I went
Speaker 6: to New York and every day with calling home to
Speaker 6: see what was going on. Fighters at your every day
Speaker 6: coming in. If you heard anythings, you know what's going on.
Speaker 6: And it was just my career was almost over at
Speaker 6: that point because I just was not handling it all
Speaker 6: very well. And so it kind of gets into that
Speaker 6: just a little bit.
Speaker 1: Also, your parents. One of the great things I thought,
Speaker 1: because having lost my dad at a young age, I
Speaker 1: had my mom for quite a while. But both your
Speaker 1: parents were excellent athletes. You told me your mom might
Speaker 1: have been the best one in the family. But the
Speaker 1: fact that you could share all of this with your brother,
Speaker 1: but with your parents, and you know how proud your
Speaker 1: dad was as a former ballplayer himself. I've told you before.
Speaker 1: My enduring memory of Bobby Flynn, and there are so many,
Speaker 1: not just his multicolored jacket, was the night you were
Speaker 1: inducted into Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame, and one of
Speaker 1: the giveaways was a glass a tumbler with the names
Speaker 1: of each inductee on it, and a lot of people
Speaker 1: will leave the banquet and inadvertently leave him behind. Your
Speaker 1: father collected every one of those glasses he could find. Uh,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you if you even know where
Speaker 1: they are right now, Doug, he must have had two
Speaker 1: dozen of them as he wanted as he walked out
Speaker 1: of that banquet hall. But he was so proud, and
Speaker 1: he wore one of your World Series rings. And I
Speaker 1: know you're a year so high, so proud to let
Speaker 1: him do it.
Speaker 6: Oh. Well, you know, Dicky's gone Cincinnati so often that
Speaker 6: when my first couple of years, Johnny Bench got a
Speaker 6: name tag and put it on the locker for him.
Speaker 6: So here, Bobby, you up here as much as and
Speaker 6: Dad felt like, you know, pro game has changed so
Speaker 6: much from when he was playing with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Speaker 6: He played one year in the minor league and then
Speaker 6: all of a sudden you get to the big league. Well,
Speaker 6: the security and all that stuff was so different for him.
Speaker 6: But Dad felt like, hey, my son's here. I just
Speaker 6: walked through the locker room. Go get a ball of
Speaker 6: that whatever I wanted. Yeah, and uh so he finally
Speaker 6: had to learn the proe a call, but it never
Speaker 6: really faced him.
Speaker 2: If you do, Dad, he was you know, it's.
Speaker 6: Better to ask for forgiveness and permission so and he
Speaker 6: had and I saw I saw him one day and
Speaker 6: he was asking Johnny Bentrick, I need a hat Christmas. Bobby,
Speaker 6: let me ask you guy. So I went home and
Speaker 6: I said, Dad, what are you doing with all those hats?
Speaker 6: And I looked around. I couldn't find the one. Well,
Speaker 6: none of them are for him. He's always given idea. Yeah,
Speaker 6: and that that pretty much was the way he was
Speaker 6: his whole career. He loved to do things for other people.
Speaker 6: And I used to think, you know, he just really
Speaker 6: loved be around sport. I think he just really loved
Speaker 6: bearing people.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, And that's why he was great because
Speaker 1: he was the sideline marshal at Rupp Arena and helped
Speaker 1: media people find their seats and all that stuff. And uh,
Speaker 1: he was great. Uh. I'll let you go with this.
Speaker 1: With the the doc coming up, it's on Saturday one
Speaker 1: on w d k YT and Sunday I had won
Speaker 1: on the c W Doug Flynn, what do you hope
Speaker 1: people take away? I know again, you don't seek out attention.
Speaker 1: You've never met a stranger. I get a huge kick,
Speaker 1: Doug out of when you and I and Dan Darren
Speaker 1: and Coach Madison go to the visitors broadcast booths, and
Speaker 1: inevitably one or both of them because their baseball nuts
Speaker 1: know you know your career, they know the big red machine,
Speaker 1: of course. But and you all start swapping stories and
Speaker 1: I just melted into the wall and listen. But what
Speaker 1: do you hope people take away from this?
Speaker 6: Well, you know, I got to thinking about that when
Speaker 6: we were on TV those day with David. It's kind
Speaker 6: of a cool little story, I think, And it's kind
Speaker 6: of one of not giving up, but it's also one
Speaker 6: of appreciating your blessings and the good things that do
Speaker 6: happen to you along the way. And I think sometimes
Speaker 6: we get to the point, or after we get to
Speaker 6: a certain point, we forget about those little things that
Speaker 6: helped us to get where we were. I think of
Speaker 6: the coaches that I had that kept developing me, the
Speaker 6: parents that supported me, the friends in this town that
Speaker 6: were all always there pushing me and wishing me the
Speaker 6: very best. And then a story of not giving up,
Speaker 6: just keep learning how to hone your skills, doing something
Speaker 6: that you love to do. In baseball was something because
Speaker 6: as you know, I continued playing softball even after I've
Speaker 6: an He's pro baseball. So I love that, but I
Speaker 6: always kept trying to get a little bit better. And
Speaker 6: you know, there's one percent of the game that makes
Speaker 6: it strictly on their ability. The rather ninety nine percent
Speaker 6: of us. We got to play hard every day just
Speaker 6: to stay up there. And that was never That was
Speaker 6: never something I minded doing, is getting that extra work in.
Speaker 6: But I think, probably more than anything else gave. It's
Speaker 6: just how blessed that I really feel, how humbled I
Speaker 6: am after I look back and think why me?
Speaker 1: Why? And I love the fact that you like to
Speaker 1: chat with the current players of Kentucky really anybody who
Speaker 1: wants help. But I'm around you obviously in UK, and
Speaker 1: you love talking to the players, especially infielders, about you know,
Speaker 1: little improvements here and there, trying to help them appreciate
Speaker 1: and get better right now instead of looking back saying, man,
Speaker 1: I wish i'd known this back when, because you told
Speaker 1: me before that we joke about, you know, the fact
Speaker 1: that you were a bit of a light hitter, but
Speaker 1: you never got any help with it in the pro ranks.
Speaker 1: And you're giving it back even now, aren't you. Well.
Speaker 6: I see the size of these kids and the sheer
Speaker 6: ability that they have. They're bigger than we were, they're
Speaker 6: stronger than we were if they can just learn to
Speaker 6: harness this in the right way. And they've got such
Speaker 6: good instruction as well. The college game right now probably
Speaker 6: is as good as instruction as you're gonna get anywhere
Speaker 6: at pro balls, I mean, and they all pretty much
Speaker 6: use the same techniques. But being able to identify where
Speaker 6: someone needs help and then putting that into words, Yeah,
Speaker 6: there's a you know, I saw a lot of pros
Speaker 6: like myself sometimes, as you well know, I have a
Speaker 6: lot of time articulating things.
Speaker 2: I got it up there, just don't come.
Speaker 1: Out right used articulate pretty good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got it written down here time what it
Speaker 2: was on your hand.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 6: But I just I think when you see, don't blow
Speaker 6: an opportunity here. Yeah, because if you make it now, Dick,
Speaker 6: you don't need very long and your set for life. Yeah,
Speaker 6: that's right, And it's a great life. It's a great life.
Speaker 6: I'm here, we are fifty years later talking about you know,
Speaker 6: the first world series that we want in seventy five,
Speaker 6: and I'm thinking, wow, it's been fifty years. But I
Speaker 6: have milked that sucker as much as you can.
Speaker 1: And I'm proud of you. Is Doug Flynn. Watch for
Speaker 1: his story coming up. David Patrick produced it. It's on
Speaker 1: Saturday one o'clock on WKYT and again on Sunday on
Speaker 1: the c W lexingon a whole new appreciation for my
Speaker 1: broadcast brother. Thank you, sir. I have a wonderful week.
Speaker 6: You're the best of my brother. Thank you. Gave seapout
Speaker 6: and Lee K.
Speaker 1: Howard of WKYT is up next here on the Big
Speaker 1: Mom's Side six point thirty WLAP Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Big Lewensider. Joined now on our celebrity Hot on the
Speaker 1: Hem by a long time friend of the show, Lee K. Howard,
Speaker 1: a sports anchor reporter for WKYT, my former stomping grounds.
Speaker 1: And you know, Lee K, when I was setting this
Speaker 1: up with you, I flashed back sitting here in my
Speaker 1: garage remembering you were the first person who came over here.
Speaker 1: You did a TV story for KYT. This was during
Speaker 1: COVID when you were hurting for stories and you actually
Speaker 1: try a story on the fact that I was here
Speaker 1: in the garage doing my show. So media versus media,
Speaker 1: but something to do, right.
Speaker 8: It was, you know, and at that time if you remember,
Speaker 8: we were all trying to search for just things to
Speaker 8: talk about, and you sitting in that garage with you
Speaker 8: your record deck and whatever else on your ironing board
Speaker 8: was kind of novelty. Now now now it's to become
Speaker 8: kind of the norm for a lot of people working
Speaker 8: from home or from the garage or whatever. So I'm
Speaker 8: glad to see you pushed through all this time.
Speaker 1: Well it spoiled me. I mean, you know, you get
Speaker 1: up and you got to go to work, get the
Speaker 1: kids off, just go whatever and go to work. I
Speaker 1: come down here, walk past the man cave, walk in
Speaker 1: the garage, and I will tell you sadly the ironing
Speaker 1: board has been retired. But because my kids gave me
Speaker 1: a nice table for my gear, and gave me a
Speaker 1: nice set of shelves, and my wife was switching out
Speaker 1: desks upstairs, so I got a nice little command center now,
Speaker 1: So you need to come back and maybe, just you know,
Speaker 1: next time you're a guest on the show, you can
Speaker 1: sit right here in front of me, because some folks
Speaker 1: have made it to the garage. Now that you know,
Speaker 1: COVID is not exactly a thing of the pass, but
Speaker 1: we can we can speak face to face. But it
Speaker 1: has been a while since we did that story, but
Speaker 1: you have been, of course busy since then. And one
Speaker 1: of the many, many many things you cover, of course
Speaker 1: is Kentucky basketball, and we had an Ansley Almanor on
Speaker 1: the show earlier today. He is now, as you know,
Speaker 1: part of La Familla. And I really wondered about that
Speaker 1: tournament when I first read about it. I thought, really,
Speaker 1: it has really become a thing, hasn't it. It's been,
Speaker 1: and it's great for you guys to have something to cover.
Speaker 8: In the summertime, right exactly. I mean selfishly, the timing
Speaker 8: of it is perfect. But I think last year the
Speaker 8: fan base as a whole was kind of captured in
Speaker 8: almost a nostalgia of having so many of those guys
Speaker 8: back and competing. And then you know, it got so
Speaker 8: much better when it became a Kentucky Louisville thing and
Speaker 8: the way that game played out, and it just it
Speaker 8: was so much fun. And I've honestly been looking forward
Speaker 8: to the tvt since last year a lot of those
Speaker 8: same guys coming back, with the Harrison Twins and Willie
Speaker 8: Caley Stein and a couple of them. But then I
Speaker 8: think it's also great that they've learned a few things like, hey,
Speaker 8: you need some pressure legs as well, because if you
Speaker 8: think back, Nate Festino was probably their best player and
Speaker 8: he was a younger guy. And so with them getting Annsley,
Speaker 8: I think that's a great move because you've got a
Speaker 8: guy who Chef's played college basketball. He can shoot threes obviously,
Speaker 8: and you need three point shooting in this kind of
Speaker 8: a tournament. And I think he's almost a perfect fit
Speaker 8: for him and Kentucky. Really. You know, the TVT has
Speaker 8: been around for a long time and Kentucky's never really
Speaker 8: had a team because well mostly because a lot of
Speaker 8: the UK alum went directly to the NBA or the
Speaker 8: G League or we're trying to play. So now Anthony's
Speaker 8: kind of a unique situation where you've got a guy
Speaker 8: right out of college and he can provide some really
Speaker 8: good minutes I'm sure for this team this summer.
Speaker 1: I also think you got to tip your captain Twane Beckham,
Speaker 1: the former Wildcat who is the GM and made it
Speaker 1: clear and they told us this during interviews last year.
Speaker 1: You were there. This is not just a fun league thing.
Speaker 1: You're going to work, you're gonna play. We want to
Speaker 1: win that money. And they played that way, didn't they.
Speaker 1: And I thought Beckham did a great job of putting
Speaker 1: the roster together and then setting that tone, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean.
Speaker 8: Yeah, twenty's great and he has kind of found a
Speaker 8: Niche is kind of a business person in this situation
Speaker 8: and you know he I know Tyler Eulis couldn't come
Speaker 8: back this year. He got Sean Woods to be the coach,
Speaker 8: who Sean was an assistant last year on that on
Speaker 8: the La Familia team staff, and you know, you can
Speaker 8: tell these guys want to win. And that's one thing
Speaker 8: about it. I was a little bit concerned about going
Speaker 8: into last year. Are they going to treat this kind
Speaker 8: of like, oh, we're having fun, this is an All
Speaker 8: Star game scrimmage, or are they going to treat it
Speaker 8: like they have something to prove? And that was clear
Speaker 8: from the first jump that like these guys, they're competitors
Speaker 8: at heart, and when you put that amount of money
Speaker 8: on the line too really give them something to shoot for.
Speaker 8: Combining that with how good of a run they had
Speaker 8: last year, I expect him to come back this year
Speaker 8: in this summer and have even more of a drive
Speaker 8: and you know, like I said, maybe they learned a
Speaker 8: little bit from last year from like, Okay, what kind
Speaker 8: of pieces do we need. Maybe we need some more
Speaker 8: three point shooting, Maybe we need some younger guys as well.
Speaker 8: I think they could use a few more post players.
Speaker 8: And I think they're still you know, releasing players still
Speaker 8: to come twenty in that group. But yeah, it's I
Speaker 8: think that of all the schools, Kentucky has a real
Speaker 8: shot at putting together a really, really good team that
Speaker 8: could win at all.
Speaker 1: Well, and you remember last year, Cistina had to be
Speaker 1: somewhere else, They got you know, other duty somewhere and
Speaker 1: basically had to leave the team before the final four.
Speaker 1: I think if he stays with him, you know, they
Speaker 1: might have won that money. So yeah, if they can
Speaker 1: keep that roster intact. But also I was so happy
Speaker 1: for Sean as a regular on my show each week
Speaker 1: because he wasn't certain last year if he could commit
Speaker 1: to working with that team, and then he did, and
Speaker 1: Tyler Eulis you could see if you were at the
Speaker 1: game or watching on TV. Eulus really leaned on Sean
Speaker 1: Woods to kind of run huddles during the game. Sean
Speaker 1: has so much head coaching experience that I thought this
Speaker 1: was a pretty.
Speaker 2: Good fit, you know, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 8: I mean, Tyler clearly knows basketball, and he was, you know,
Speaker 8: kind of a point guard coach even when he was
Speaker 8: playing at Kentucky. But you're right, you hit that on
Speaker 8: the head. Sean has the actual coaching experience, and there's
Speaker 8: something that's a little bit different about knowing how to
Speaker 8: coach guys than knowing the game, and both of them
Speaker 8: know both. But Sean I think will excel in that
Speaker 8: role now that he's the head coach of the team.
Speaker 8: And you know, obviously, like you said, he worked with
Speaker 8: a lot of these same guys last year, so they're
Speaker 8: familiar with him and he's familiar with them. So I
Speaker 8: think it's going to be a really good situation with Sean.
Speaker 8: And plus, you know, with him being over there at
Speaker 8: Scott County now he's around and probably can be committed
Speaker 8: committed to something.
Speaker 2: Like this in the summer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he's told me he knows how to coach pros,
Speaker 1: you know, as opposed to high school or college kids.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Lee K. Howard, the weekend sports anchor
Speaker 1: reporter for w k y T not Weekend Weeknight and
Speaker 1: used to be the weekend guy. And Lee k is
Speaker 1: a Southwest kind of guy. He's from New Mexico, went
Speaker 1: to Clovis right right, went to West Texas State. And
Speaker 1: as such, you know, and I like you anyway that
Speaker 1: you're a Cowboys fan. But which NBA team do you
Speaker 1: follow more than Mavericks or the Rockets or either one?
Speaker 8: So ironically enough, I wasn't much of a Mavericks fan
Speaker 8: because we're terrible. When I was growing up in the
Speaker 8: late eighties and early nineties, we would go there. I
Speaker 8: remember going there when Michael Jordan and the Bulls came
Speaker 8: to town. So like we would go there for other
Speaker 8: games or other teams. Rather ironically enough, I grew up
Speaker 8: an Indiana Pacers fan. Uh yeah, because my family I
Speaker 8: had extended family from Indiana, So I went to several
Speaker 8: Indiana Pacers games growing up, including a Knicks Pacers game
Speaker 8: I remember in the nineties. So big fan of Reggie
Speaker 8: Miller and Rick Smith, the Duncan Dutchman and Mark Jackson
Speaker 8: and all that group. I say, ironically enough, because you're
Speaker 8: going to be really blown away by who I was
Speaker 8: cheering for in this NBA Finals, which was not really
Speaker 8: the Pacers. I liked the Pacers quite a bit, but
Speaker 8: I felt more connected to this thunder group just because of.
Speaker 1: Shay and as absolutely.
Speaker 2: But yeah, so growing up, I.
Speaker 8: Guess I was more of a Pacers fan than anything.
Speaker 8: But over time and as of age, I didn't really
Speaker 8: have an allegiance to any one particular team. I followed
Speaker 8: the Kentucky guys, to be honest with you. Yeah, so
Speaker 8: this this particular series has been a lot of fun
Speaker 8: for me, watching the team that I grew up liking
Speaker 8: and cheering for and then a group of young guys
Speaker 8: that played at Kentucky on Oklahoma City. You know, it
Speaker 8: was kind of a win win for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, at least you've got Reed Shepherd still on
Speaker 1: the rock. It's interesting that they made that huge trade
Speaker 1: for Kevin Durant, but they held on to Reed Shepherd.
Speaker 1: He was never on the trading block as I understand it,
Speaker 1: so apparently he is one of the young building blocks.
Speaker 1: But now he'll play alongside Kevin Durant. We're talking with
Speaker 1: Lee K. Howard of WKY. He will come back and
Speaker 1: talk to Kentucky Football on the other side of the
Speaker 1: break here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back. We're talking
Speaker 1: with Lee K.
Speaker 5: Howard.
Speaker 1: He is a sports anchor reporter for wk YT. Covers
Speaker 1: everything because when you work in local TV, you got
Speaker 1: to be an expert on everything. But one of the
Speaker 1: primary beats, of course is UK football. And you come
Speaker 1: from football territory out there in West Texas and New Mexico,
Speaker 1: and I know they love their basketball too, but it's interestingly, Kay,
Speaker 1: I think watching this Kentucky football program which has grown
Speaker 1: under Mark stops but as such, now expectations are so high.
Speaker 1: The ceiling is higher, the floor is higher, and now
Speaker 1: UK fans sound like football fans everywhere. You know, they
Speaker 1: want it, and they want they know what they want.
Speaker 1: They want it right now. This is a pivotal year,
Speaker 1: isn't it.
Speaker 8: It really is. And I think the biggest difference that
Speaker 8: I noticed this year going into this fall camp or
Speaker 8: the summer, even as opposed to in years past and
Speaker 8: recent past for Mark Soops is kind of people are
Speaker 8: down on the football program and the expectations are much
Speaker 8: lower for what the fan base feels like team can do. Now.
Speaker 8: I don't know that's the case with the coaching staff
Speaker 8: and the players. I'm sure they think that they can
Speaker 8: be just as good as they've ever been. But I
Speaker 8: think a lot of that is probably just the unknown.
Speaker 8: They know themselves and they know their personnel a lot
Speaker 8: better than what the fans do, just because there's been
Speaker 8: so much turnover on the roster. It kind of feels
Speaker 8: like after Stoops first got here and they won two
Speaker 8: games for two consecutive seasons, and going into that third
Speaker 8: season it was like, I don't know, I mean, we
Speaker 8: haven't seen the results, so I think coming off it
Speaker 8: almost feels like that year coming off of not going
Speaker 8: to a bowl game. You know, it's a huge year
Speaker 8: for Mark Stoops and his coaching staff. They've got to
Speaker 8: put some results on the field. But as you said,
Speaker 8: it's not easy, and that really has more to do
Speaker 8: with the competition around the league as much as it
Speaker 8: does the Jimmys and Joe's on the UK roster. I mean,
Speaker 8: it's a combination of both. It doesn't make it easy,
Speaker 8: but you're right, it is a huge year for Soups well.
Speaker 1: A combination of that, and then you know the competition
Speaker 1: around the league that's about Jimmies and Joe's. Everybody has
Speaker 1: players now, including Vanderbilt, which be Kentucky. As you know,
Speaker 1: last year, and you know, we talked with you of
Speaker 1: being a New Mexico native, and you know, they brought
Speaker 1: in a QB and coordinators and somebody else from New
Speaker 1: Mexico State. Kentucky's got a key alignment. Could be a
Speaker 1: key alignment from New Mexico State, which is not known
Speaker 1: for great football league as you well know, what do
Speaker 1: you make of that?
Speaker 8: Well, I think it speaks to a little bit of
Speaker 8: a transfer portal when you've got a guy like a
Speaker 8: bandy like Diego Pavia quarterback who you mentioned he played
Speaker 8: at New Mexico Military Institute, which is a very small
Speaker 8: junior college in New Mexico. You know, we always talked
Speaker 8: about the negatives of a transfer portal the positives as
Speaker 8: a kid that played there can make his way into
Speaker 8: the SEC and be the darling of the country for
Speaker 8: a couple weeks of the year, you know what I mean.
Speaker 8: So I think guys that maybe started the program like
Speaker 8: New Mexico or you know, name your other state can
Speaker 8: find their way to the big time. So that's that's
Speaker 8: kind of kids using the transfer portal correctly to elevate
Speaker 8: their game and elevate their status and everything like that.
Speaker 8: So I think that's probably more than anything, but you're
Speaker 8: right now. I think it evens the playing field a
Speaker 8: little bit more, not just in the SEC, but in
Speaker 8: college football. You've got your Georgia's and some of your
Speaker 8: elite programs, but everybody else doesn't have to be that
Speaker 8: far behind. And I think one thing that we saw
Speaker 8: last year is if you go after the wrong guys
Speaker 8: or miss in the transfer portal, your season is tanked.
Speaker 8: Now the good news about that is you can try
Speaker 8: again the next year. And I think that's what Stoops
Speaker 8: and the team have done. They've gone in and gone
Speaker 8: all right, we've got thirty three new players or whatever
Speaker 8: it is coming in this year in the transfer portal.
Speaker 8: They've been really active in the recruiting cycle this past week,
Speaker 8: past couple of weeks actually bringing in guys for twenty
Speaker 8: twenty six. And you can have a bad year and
Speaker 8: follow that up with a good season, and so I
Speaker 8: think that's what this Kentucky coaching staff is hoping that
Speaker 8: they can do this next year.
Speaker 1: Now with the portal door spinning, you've got another quarterback
Speaker 1: who probably will start in Zach Calzada, who has Texas
Speaker 1: roots in in Carnin word in San Antonio and then
Speaker 1: we've stop at Auburn, but at Texas A and m
Speaker 1: uh so yeah, coming from your old stomping grounds out west.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 8: The thing I like about Calzada is and this is
Speaker 8: not a knock on Brock Bandergriff, but Brock was a
Speaker 8: great you know he was. He was a career backup essentially,
Speaker 8: didn't have a lot of experience. He got into some
Speaker 8: games at Georgia. But right, but but Calzada comes in
Speaker 8: as the guy who's played a lot of minutes. And
Speaker 8: so if I'm trying to spin it and think of
Speaker 8: a positive for Calzada, who's I think forty five years old,
Speaker 8: it is. It is that he's played a lot of
Speaker 8: college football and in the SEC you know, when Jimbo
Speaker 8: Fisher beat Nick Saban, you know Texas A and m
Speaker 8: over Alabama, he was the quarterback that led the Aggies
Speaker 8: to that win. And he's played meaningful games, meaningful minutes,
Speaker 8: and so nothing is going to overwhelm him. And so
Speaker 8: I think that's going to be a big thing. He's
Speaker 8: going to go in as confident as anybody on the field,
Speaker 8: you know, his team and the other team included. So
Speaker 8: I do like that as a mature quarterback going into it.
Speaker 8: That he's the kind of guy who's not going to
Speaker 8: be intimidated by the moment. Now, how does he fit
Speaker 8: with all the rest of the guys around him. I mean,
Speaker 8: that's still to be seen, but I think it's a
Speaker 8: good swing for this coaching staff because you've got a
Speaker 8: guy like Cutter Bowlie sitting right there that you can
Speaker 8: ideally learn for one more season. You only kind of
Speaker 8: needed a rental. I mean, I hate to call him that.
Speaker 8: I don't mean, I don't mean that as a you know,
Speaker 8: as a negative, but you kind of needed someone to
Speaker 8: fill a gap. And so maybe Kalzada is that guy.
Speaker 8: You work in Cutter sparingly as you go, and you
Speaker 8: get him ready for the following season.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I've talked about it a lot this summer, Lee
Speaker 1: k with this revolving door because you know, as you
Speaker 1: well know it, Drew Barker was supposed to be the answer,
Speaker 1: and through no fault of his own, he gets hurt.
Speaker 1: And now Kentucky's got to start plugging in temporary quarterbacks
Speaker 1: and some have played more than one season and played
Speaker 1: really well. But I wonder if Cutter Bully and you
Speaker 1: covered his high school career at least the one year
Speaker 1: here in Lexington. You know, could he be the guy
Speaker 1: who at some point seeses the job and plays more
Speaker 1: than one year as a starter, you know what I mean?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 8: And I think ideally, I mean, the college football world's
Speaker 8: a little bit different now because guys transfer so often.
Speaker 8: But I think your ideal situation is you have your
Speaker 8: top quarterback come in, they sit for two years. By
Speaker 8: the time they're junior or senior there in there and
Speaker 8: they're playing. That was always Mike Leech's thing at Texas
Speaker 8: Tech when I was there covering his teams in Lubbock.
Speaker 8: He always wanted a guy to come in fit for
Speaker 8: two years and take over the program and play two years. Now,
Speaker 8: like I said, a lot of things have changed. Players
Speaker 8: that get buried even one spot on the depth chart
Speaker 8: leave because they don't want to sit around. But I
Speaker 8: don't think it's a terrible thing. And Cutter has his
Speaker 8: head on his shoulders correctly. I mean, he's a good kid.
Speaker 8: I think that they are assuring him of the talent
Speaker 8: that they believe that he has, and we've seen flashes
Speaker 8: of it, so I absolutely think that, especially if you
Speaker 8: kind of just work him in here and there this
Speaker 8: year in spots and give him opportunities that he's the
Speaker 8: guy going forward for this program. You know, I will
Speaker 8: say they've they've got it. They've got a pretty deep
Speaker 8: quarterback room, which is something that you've got to have.
Speaker 8: Also just says injuries and things like that. I don't
Speaker 8: want to see Cutter come in because of injury, but
Speaker 8: I think that he knows his role on this team.
Speaker 8: He's going to compete and they're going to say he's
Speaker 8: competing for the job as well. You know, but I
Speaker 8: think that's kind of the ideal situation for Cutter going
Speaker 8: into year two.
Speaker 1: He is Lee K. Howard. You can see him on
Speaker 1: WKYT and follow him on Twitter at Howard WKYT. Thank
Speaker 1: you sir, all right, thank you da. That'll do it
Speaker 1: for now, Thanks to my guest Lee K. Howard, Angeley
Speaker 1: Almanor and my man Dougs Lynn. And remember the documentary
Speaker 1: by produced by David Patrick, coming up Saturday on WKYT
Speaker 1: at one o'clock and again on Sunday that we are
Speaker 1: on the c W lexing and again at one o'clock.
Speaker 1: You don't want to miss that and we'll talk about
Speaker 1: him more throughout the week. I am sure. So that'll
Speaker 1: do it for now. Thank you so much. That's it.
Speaker 1: Good night from the garage in Lexing movie Quaranteed praaves tonight.
Speaker 4: But the fight is mine.
Speaker 1: Oh I don't say yes, stupid.
Speaker 5: You've got the arms left, Yes.
Speaker 2: I have look just a fish wool.
Speaker 7: The tactic dippen so doing can anything to anything? One
Speaker 7: sat stack that shack from tap its Unpat Dottumatmo