Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Moon. Sider to Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: on Tuesday of tournament week two of them that were
Speaker 1: following this week. Of course, you've got the SEC tournament
Speaker 1: coming up. You'll hear it right here on six thirty.
Speaker 1: Wlap the Wildcat says, you know, on Thursday taking on
Speaker 1: Georgia air quotes nine to thirty. It'll be closer to ten,
Speaker 1: but we'll have it for you right here. And of
Speaker 1: course the Girl Sweet sixteen is happening in Reperena this week.
Speaker 1: Frederick Douglass coming out of Lexington, has a big shop.
Speaker 1: The Sacred Heart is going for its fifth consecutive state titles,
Speaker 1: so keep an eye on that as well. And I'm
Speaker 1: going to be helping out a little bit on the
Speaker 1: TV and radio this week at Reparina. Really excited about that.
Speaker 1: But we must talk about, of course, the NCA tournament.
Speaker 1: Another team wins its way despite the fact that it
Speaker 1: was not the top seed in this tournament. Wafford last
Speaker 1: night beats Furman and gets the bid that of course
Speaker 1: would have gone to UT Chattanooga except for that tournament,
Speaker 1: that Pesky tournament, because Chattanooga was the team that won
Speaker 1: the regular season championship finishing fifteen to three. Maybe Chattanooga
Speaker 1: gets in. I don't know anything about the team, but
Speaker 1: it's twenty four and nine overall now. But one of
Speaker 1: those nine losses came to Furman in the semifinals on Sunday. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Wafford was beating VMI, which upset its way to the SEMIS.
Speaker 1: Virginia Military Institute was fifteen and eighteen going into this
Speaker 1: game with Wafford loses eighty five sixty five. But how
Speaker 1: about that. VMI gets all the way to the SEMIS
Speaker 1: down in Nashville, North Carolina. But Wafford wins it, and
Speaker 1: then Furman had I think it was an eighty three
Speaker 1: seventy nine lead with a couple of three minutes left,
Speaker 1: and Wafford goes on a run at the end of
Speaker 1: the game and pulls out to win ninety two eighty five.
Speaker 1: The head coach, Dwight Perry, that's right, former he was
Speaker 1: a walk on. He's a cousin to Bobby Perry. And
Speaker 1: a little bit later on, we're going to tell you
Speaker 1: why Dwight Perry started. You may remember this. He started
Speaker 1: an nca tournament game for Kentucky by mistake. That's one
Speaker 1: of the great footnotes in UK basketball history. So Wafford
Speaker 1: joins a handful of other teams. Troy wins the Sun Belt,
Speaker 1: Omaha Omaha wins the Summit League, and let's see who
Speaker 1: else do we have in Siue wins the Ohio Valley Conference.
Speaker 1: Drake wins the Missouri Valley Conference. High Point which plays
Speaker 1: its home games in Tubby Tubby, which plays its home
Speaker 1: games in Tubby, and Donna Smith Arena or field House
Speaker 1: or whatever they call it wins the Big South. So
Speaker 1: the bracket is filling up. Of course, you know, Selection
Speaker 1: Sunday will decide everything. But yeah, the tournaments are happening
Speaker 1: for better or worse. I don't always think it's for better.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking that fine folks at UT Chattanooga agree. We
Speaker 1: talked about that last night on the statewide edition of
Speaker 1: The Big Moon Inside with Aaron Gershaan and Billy Rutledge.
Speaker 1: We kind of debated the value of those tournaments. They
Speaker 1: don't make money. That's one of the I had an
Speaker 1: a detail me that once not Mitch Barnhart an ad
Speaker 1: at them mid major. They don't make money. They don't
Speaker 1: get squat for playing me to get a little bit
Speaker 1: but it's all about exposure and publicity. Do you want
Speaker 1: to be able to tell your recruits they we're gonna
Speaker 1: play on ESPN. Now, of course everybody's got TV, but
Speaker 1: this is the biggest of the big deals playing in
Speaker 1: these tournaments on ESPN or ESPN two, and of course
Speaker 1: you have a shot at getting to the NCA tournament.
Speaker 1: So they're gonna stick around for no other reason. ESPN
Speaker 1: needs the programming. Unless ESPN decides we don't want them.
Speaker 1: Conference tournaments will stick around. And you know, the IVY
Speaker 1: League held out for the longest time and now they've
Speaker 1: got of course they only take four teams, but it's
Speaker 1: here to stay in my opinion. Now, do you go
Speaker 1: down there and try to win? Well, of course, unless
Speaker 1: you're John Caliperry, I shouldn't say that. I think they
Speaker 1: try to win. But cali Perry's attitude, of course, bubbles
Speaker 1: to the surface again and it's making the rounds. Here's
Speaker 1: the comment he made during a podcast. This was part
Speaker 1: of the Court Side with cal program on Hogs Plus.
Speaker 1: So I guess technically it's a TV show, And once
Speaker 1: again he reiterated his disdain for the SEC tournament. And
Speaker 1: you've heard it before.
Speaker 2: I don't care about the conference tournament, which is why
Speaker 2: we wanted so many times.
Speaker 3: Because I could care less.
Speaker 2: The tournament that matters is the NCAA tournament. Now, you
Speaker 2: play that tournament to get the best seed you can get,
Speaker 2: and if you're gonna get to the finals, win or
Speaker 2: don't go to the finals and lose because you're exhausted
Speaker 2: and to play on Tuesday or Wednesday. So I'm like,
Speaker 2: let's play well and try to improve our seat.
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, that's not why you won it
Speaker 1: so many times. You want it because you had better teams.
Speaker 1: You had really talented teams, and you cali Peri did
Speaker 1: a good job of putting those teams together and getting
Speaker 1: them ready to play by March, and you stayed healthy
Speaker 1: for the most part. That was people forget that. In
Speaker 1: Kentucky's toughest years under cali Peri, he had some key
Speaker 1: injuries down the stretch, but he did not do as
Speaker 1: good a job of putting teams together down the stretch
Speaker 1: as he did in the beginning of his time at Kentucky.
Speaker 1: So let's not say that his laisse fair attitude about
Speaker 1: the SEC tournament is why. How in the hell did
Speaker 1: that motivate kids to go in and win. Those teams
Speaker 1: at won SEC tournaments under Caliperrey played their butts off.
Speaker 1: That's why they celebrated the way they did after those wins.
Speaker 1: They celebrated like they had won the NCA champion and
Speaker 1: they deserve that. So that's nonsense. Now he added that
Speaker 1: little twist at the end, let's go win. You know,
Speaker 1: he never said that when he was here. He acted
Speaker 1: like he didn't care if they won or lost, and
Speaker 1: he never talked about, you know, let's get more rest
Speaker 1: or whatever. All he ever did was whine about the
Speaker 1: fact that it wasn't helping them with their seeding. And
Speaker 1: for the most part, he was right, because at least
Speaker 1: early in his tenure, Kentucky was already locked in to
Speaker 1: a one or a two, once in a while a
Speaker 1: three seed. But you don't go down there with the
Speaker 1: attitude that you don't care, because that's a hell of
Speaker 1: a message to send to your fans. And I've talked
Speaker 1: about this from day one here. That was a slap
Speaker 1: in the face to Kentucky fans who treasure the tradition
Speaker 1: of Kentucky basketball and the wins. And it all adds
Speaker 1: up he didn't care about winning the conference. He said
Speaker 1: he didn't care about winning the tournament. He said that
Speaker 1: as soon as he got here, that's all about the
Speaker 1: seedings and all that. And I know one leads to
Speaker 1: the other, but to say that to a fan base,
Speaker 1: you know, And when he said that the most important
Speaker 1: night in the UK history was the five kids being
Speaker 1: drafted in the first round, clearly a message to recruits,
Speaker 1: clearly a message. But it was still a stinger, wasn't it.
Speaker 1: And then to follow that up with UK fans, what
Speaker 1: you loved the most? Winning conference championships, winning tournament championships,
Speaker 1: having those bragging rights, having those elements of pride. They
Speaker 1: don't matter to me, and by extension, I'm telling you
Speaker 1: they shouldn't matter to you. Terrible. I mean that to
Speaker 1: me was one of the It is much of more
Speaker 1: than losing the greatest disconnect with John Caliperi. Now he's
Speaker 1: gone Arkansas, Frew dealing with it, and now Kentucky fans
Speaker 1: of Mark Poe feels differently.
Speaker 4: Now we're at the final stages where it's time to win,
Speaker 4: Like you're either gonna win or you're not. And that's
Speaker 4: not to be paralyzed by fear or crushed by expectations.
Speaker 4: It's just time to recognize that, you know, what you've
Speaker 4: worked for for the last six months and for your
Speaker 4: whole lifetime is actually right now. It's not the other
Speaker 4: stuff in the future or the past or wherever. It's
Speaker 4: right now. And so this SEC Tournament matters. It's the
Speaker 4: best league maybe that's ever been in any you know,
Speaker 4: in any year of college basketball. And this SEC matters.
Speaker 4: And so we're heading to Nashville with all of our
Speaker 4: successes and confidence and warts and holes that we got
Speaker 4: to plug. And we're going there to to with with
Speaker 4: one goal, which is to go win. And I assume
Speaker 4: every team is going there that way. That's why athletics
Speaker 4: is beautiful. It is because you know, it gets that sure.
Speaker 4: At the end of the day, you're either going to
Speaker 4: go win or you're not, and it matters.
Speaker 1: That was actually from a news conference prior to the
Speaker 1: Missouri game, but he doubled down last night on his
Speaker 1: radio show said the same thing. You know, but hey,
Speaker 1: to each his own right and Cali Perry's had success,
Speaker 1: but you can understand why Arkansas fans aren't happy right
Speaker 1: now with him. Some have defended him on social media.
Speaker 1: But I got to think, especially given the fact that
Speaker 1: they finished ninth with that nil budget and with that
Speaker 1: portal class. But it's interesting, and I've said this all along.
Speaker 1: You got a credit Cali Perry. And again, I know
Speaker 1: some folks are tired of hearing about him, But in
Speaker 1: a way, Kentucky's dealing with a similar situation as Arkansas
Speaker 1: with Jackson Robinson being out. Now, there wasn't as dramatic
Speaker 1: a turnaround at Kentucky as there was at Arkansas when
Speaker 1: they lost Boogie Flann. That team starts to win, right,
Speaker 1: they win here and they immediately if they were one
Speaker 1: and six and then went seven and four in league play.
Speaker 1: And none other than Jay Wright, the guy everybody wanted
Speaker 1: to be the coach at Kentucky, no way that was
Speaker 1: gonna happen, knows a little something about college basketball, and
Speaker 1: he said recently on CBS Sports Network that believe it
Speaker 1: or not, he thinks this might have been the best
Speaker 1: work Cali Perry's done. I really think.
Speaker 5: So this is such a difficult situation. Think about they
Speaker 5: were one in six in the league when Boogie Flann,
Speaker 5: their leading scorer, went down. He had to rearrange the
Speaker 5: whole team, got Dj Wagner back on the ball at
Speaker 5: the point guard spot, got them playing defense at a
Speaker 5: high level. Now they're eight and ten in the league.
Speaker 5: That is an incredible build. He started building the program
Speaker 5: when Boogie Flann went down and got them to be
Speaker 5: one of the best defensive teams now in the SEC
Speaker 5: and the team that you don't want to see in
Speaker 5: the tournament.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and the SEC projected to get thirteen, they would
Speaker 6: break the old Big East record of eleven. I think
Speaker 6: they deserve to get every team in let's not forget conference.
Speaker 6: The SEC won eighty nine percent of their games against
Speaker 6: the rest of the time. These are the best teams
Speaker 6: and the best players, and that's why we're going to
Speaker 6: see historic stuff this year.
Speaker 1: That was Wally Zerbiak chiming in at the end, so
Speaker 1: interesting comments from Jay Wright. And like I said, Mark
Speaker 1: Pope's team has had to deal with the cold heart
Speaker 1: fact that Jackson Robinson is not coming back. So now
Speaker 1: they can settle into their roles and play positions they
Speaker 1: might not be used to playing. And they want to
Speaker 1: have Jackson Robinson, but he's not coming through that door.
Speaker 1: Get used to it and buckle down and play which
Speaker 1: is what they did against Missouri, and they'll keep doing
Speaker 1: it in the SEC Tournament and in the NCAAs. I
Speaker 1: don't know what's going to happen with Arkansas quite frankly,
Speaker 1: with all due respect, don't care. But I just think
Speaker 1: it's an interesting storyline, kind of out of the corner
Speaker 1: of my eye watching what's going on with Cali Perry
Speaker 1: over there, and he just won't back away, but he's
Speaker 1: tried to tweak what he has said. Yeah, let's go
Speaker 1: win it. Yeah, uh huh. So if you're an Arkansas fan,
Speaker 1: you knew what you were getting into. Up next, Mark Stoops.
Speaker 1: He spoke to us this week about spring football and
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the hour, Chris Collins will join us.
Speaker 1: Chris is the co defensive coordinator along with Brad White.
Speaker 1: We always talk about Brad as being a decoordinator, which
Speaker 1: he is, but he shares that title and he's happy
Speaker 1: to do so with Collins, who is a defensive backs coach.
Speaker 1: And when you look at the guys who have come
Speaker 1: out of the Kentucky defensive backfield in the three last
Speaker 1: three seasons, he's in his fourth year, pretty impressive. He
Speaker 1: put two guys in the NFL in Carrington Valentine with
Speaker 1: my beloved Green Bay Packers and Kedrin Smith with my
Speaker 1: sons Denver Broncos and others, and that could be a
Speaker 1: position of strength this year. So we'll find out what
Speaker 1: he has to say about the d backs, about the
Speaker 1: defense in general, and about what Kentucky will be doing
Speaker 1: this spring. And our next hour we'll preview the Girls
Speaker 1: Sweet sixteen, talk a little bit about Rachel Lawson's Kentucky
Speaker 1: softball team, and more on Dwight Perry, the former Wildcat
Speaker 1: who has coached Wafford into the Big Dance. That's all
Speaker 1: ahead on the Big bullon Sider six point thirty WLAP
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blullonsider. Coming up in just
Speaker 1: a couple of minutes. Chris Collins, the code defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: for the Kentucky Wildcats. We'll talk to us about the
Speaker 1: Kentucky defensive backs. That is his area of specialty, and
Speaker 1: of course his boss, Mark Stoops, knows a little something
Speaker 1: about coaching defensive backs. That maybe why Kentucky has had
Speaker 1: a pretty good run of d backs coming out of there.
Speaker 1: So we'll talk to Chris a little bit later on.
Speaker 1: We'll talk a little bit more about the NCAA basketball tournament,
Speaker 1: former Wildcat Dwight Perry coaching Wafford into the Big Dance,
Speaker 1: and we'll check on the UK women's softball team, plus
Speaker 1: the preview of the girls Sweet sixteen. But as I mentioned,
Speaker 1: Mark Stoops and the football Cats back at works bring
Speaker 1: practice underway and Stoop speaking to us this week, it
Speaker 1: was telling us about kind of the yearbook approach, meaning
Speaker 1: trying to urge and direct his players into learning about
Speaker 1: each other because they're working on team chemistry with so
Speaker 1: many new faces.
Speaker 7: We've worked really hard as an organization, as a team
Speaker 7: to really bond, to get closer, to be very intentional,
Speaker 7: you know, to you know, really know each other. And
Speaker 7: I love the group. I like them as a whole.
Speaker 7: I like the way they're working. I feel like we
Speaker 7: have good depth. You know, we're work in progress. We
Speaker 7: have a lot of work to do, but it's a
Speaker 7: great start.
Speaker 1: Thirty one brand new Wildcats either coming through the portal
Speaker 1: or signing as recruits coming in. So yeah, chemistry is
Speaker 1: vital and if you can get to know your teammates
Speaker 1: as people, not just as numbers on the jersey, that's
Speaker 1: a huge help. Then you can get down the business
Speaker 1: of making ourselves into a good foot ball team. And
Speaker 1: last year, of course incredibly disappointing, but if you go
Speaker 1: back and look at it, but a couple of exceptions,
Speaker 1: Kentucky had a shot at winning those games that it
Speaker 1: lost if not for a play here, a play there.
Speaker 1: And through the years under Stoops they made those plays.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 1: Last year they went against them. And in those seven
Speaker 1: win seasons, you could make the same argument that they
Speaker 1: didn't make enough of those plays to get up to eight,
Speaker 1: nine to ten wins. And as we know, it is
Speaker 1: possible now at least it has been under Stoops at Kentucky.
Speaker 1: So you work on that kind of stuff. You work
Speaker 1: on focus in the spring, and they got after the
Speaker 1: Wildcats early, really on the first day.
Speaker 7: The focus has to be there, you guys know, and
Speaker 7: I just told them at the end of practice. You know,
Speaker 7: you look at the season last year, there's so many games,
Speaker 7: so many critical plays that there's just no excuse to
Speaker 7: take any playoff. You know, it's in a game of
Speaker 7: you know, one hundred and sixty plays. I mean, you
Speaker 7: don't know any one play that's gonna make the difference
Speaker 7: in the game. And practice is kind of the same way.
Speaker 7: We have to get in good habits and have great intensity,
Speaker 7: great focus, and great discipline through the entire day.
Speaker 1: And you can make that argument for every position group,
Speaker 1: but more than anything, and I'm going to keep banging
Speaker 1: this drum through the season, it's about the old line
Speaker 1: because I've been looking at the last few seasons a
Speaker 1: little more closely, and again not blaming any one guy
Speaker 1: in particular, not blaming anyone group in particular, but the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Wall, the original Big Blue Wall, and again
Speaker 1: it's becoming sort of a tired expression. Then just raise
Speaker 1: the ceiling, but raise the floor. Now we know that's
Speaker 1: how good it can be at Kentucky. A good old line,
Speaker 1: take special players, takes a great mix. But it's possible
Speaker 1: to get it done here. It's harder to do through
Speaker 1: the portal, There's no question. But that's where it starts.
Speaker 1: And they're not sound. I'm not saying putting three guys
Speaker 1: or four guys in the NFL camps like the original
Speaker 1: Big Blue Wall did, but if they're not sound, Kentucky
Speaker 1: doesn't have a chance. It just doesn't. I'll shift you
Speaker 1: back to basketball for a minute because we got to
Speaker 1: talk about the fact that otego Oway was named to
Speaker 1: the All SEC second Team by the league coaches, which
Speaker 1: is about right. Keep in mind, now, for all the
Speaker 1: wonderful things and all the great fun we had watching
Speaker 1: Kentucky and the Big Quad one wins it all, they
Speaker 1: still finished middle of the pack in the SEC, however,
Speaker 1: and take Away surely deserves to be there. But I
Speaker 1: echo my colleague mister Aaron Gershaan, who talked about this
Speaker 1: briefly last night on the State Wide Show. How is
Speaker 1: Amari Williams not at least third team? Well? Because if
Speaker 1: they just glanced at overall stats, then yeah, you know
Speaker 1: you could leave him off. But if you study what
Speaker 1: has happened with Kentucky, which lost at one point four
Speaker 1: out of five games before righted itself and now is
Speaker 1: one of those teams nobody wants, you've got to look
Speaker 1: at Amari Williams and other guys did great things, There's
Speaker 1: no question about it. But as Gershon pointed out, this
Speaker 1: guy is putting up historically good numbers. Nearly eleven points
Speaker 1: per game, eight and a half, eight point seven rebounds,
Speaker 1: three assists per game, one and a half blocks, hitting
Speaker 1: fifty nine percent of his shots eight double doubles and
Speaker 1: a triple double. And as Aaron pointed out, since the
Speaker 1: seventy four to seventy five basketball season, that's fifty years,
Speaker 1: he's the only player to average nineteen points, sixteen boards,
Speaker 1: five assists per forty minutes. Again, he's playing twenty something
Speaker 1: minutes a game. But if he played forty nineteen points,
Speaker 1: sixteen boards, five assists, that's Oscar Sebwey territory. And yes,
Speaker 1: I know he's not doing that literally in games. Pay
Speaker 1: close attention to what has made Kentucky so dangerous down
Speaker 1: the stretch, not to mention the fact that there are
Speaker 1: times he brings the ball up the floor or initiates
Speaker 1: offense as one of the best passing big men in
Speaker 1: the country and and so vital in this five out
Speaker 1: offense that Mark Pope plays. I don't vote on SEC
Speaker 1: all Star teams. I would probably vote Williams third team.
Speaker 1: I know there's bias. Somebody accused us of that on Twitter,
Speaker 1: and that's fine, but take a close look and I
Speaker 1: think you would agree. Co decordinator Chris Collins next on
Speaker 1: six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider,
Speaker 1: joining us on our celebrity hotline is Kentucky co defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator and d backs coach Chris Collins Spring Football Underway coach.
Speaker 1: This is when you guys get to teach football. You
Speaker 1: got do you love Spring?
Speaker 8: I do? I do? I get excited it about it.
Speaker 8: You know, you got a new team every year and
Speaker 8: you get to go back to the fundamentals and really
Speaker 8: hone in on the details of each each position. And
Speaker 8: it's fun to watch the guys grow and develop and
Speaker 8: you get the chance to really see some of that
Speaker 8: maturation in the in the spring.
Speaker 1: So many new faces people coming and going. Has you
Speaker 1: how has it changed your job or has it?
Speaker 8: It's it's always been, you know about the development aspect,
Speaker 8: you know, but again with the with some of the
Speaker 8: roster turnover, you know, that development aspect becomes a little
Speaker 8: bit more expedited. But for us, you know, especially in
Speaker 8: the defensive back when we talk about the commitment to
Speaker 8: the process and staying true to that process and not
Speaker 8: getting caught up in exterior circumstances, but staying true to
Speaker 8: the process, and your growth is determined on how aggressive
Speaker 8: you are with the process, you know, And so we
Speaker 8: tell them all the time, how you'll grow in this program,
Speaker 8: all right, how past you grow is up to you, right,
Speaker 8: and how how much you're willing to take the bulls
Speaker 8: by the horn and take the medicine and uh and
Speaker 8: do more than what's expected.
Speaker 1: I can't say it's more important for defensive backs staying
Speaker 1: true to the process, but that that is, as we
Speaker 1: all know, the last line of defense. I mean, guys
Speaker 1: have to really zero in, don't they on their job
Speaker 1: have that short memory. But technique is everything, isn't it.
Speaker 8: Oh, it's it's crucial. You know, your eyes and your technique, man,
Speaker 8: those are your lifeline. And so you know, honeing in
Speaker 8: on those things and understanding that it doesn't happen overnight.
Speaker 8: You know, we've got to build up what we call
Speaker 8: stacked days. We got to build up quality reps on
Speaker 8: top of quality reps. And that process isn't one that
Speaker 8: just happens, you know, it's one that's intentional. Is one
Speaker 8: that takes, you know, some commitment. And again it takes
Speaker 8: more than doing what's what's just the average. You know,
Speaker 8: you got to do more than what's expected in that regard,
Speaker 8: and so that allows guys to continue to grow. And
Speaker 8: I think We've been successful in that regard because they
Speaker 8: see that growth, you know, they see that that maturation
Speaker 8: from spring one, spring two, year one year two, so
Speaker 8: on and so forth.
Speaker 1: You mentioned eyes, and I will tell you that and
Speaker 1: this probably comes with no surprise to you, but I'm
Speaker 1: sure you'd be proud to know that your pupils, the
Speaker 1: guys who are we interview defensive backs, they talk to us,
Speaker 1: they say eyes all the time. So your message is
Speaker 1: getting through. And I know different coaches have different methods
Speaker 1: at all, but what a great way to get them
Speaker 1: to concentrate. And if you wouldn't mind explain to our
Speaker 1: listeners a little bit what that's all about.
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, oh yeah, And every snap, in every call,
Speaker 8: you know, there's a place where your eyes need to
Speaker 8: be located, and that can give you an advantage in
Speaker 8: terms of what the offense is doing, in terms of
Speaker 8: what your job is doing. We start with the foundation
Speaker 8: of Okay, where should my eyes beat? Based off the call,
Speaker 8: based off the technique I'm trying to execute, and those
Speaker 8: things vary, but we'll start just with the simplest form.
Speaker 8: And man the man, you know a lot of people
Speaker 8: take it for granted, like, hey, you're playing man look
Speaker 8: at your man, and they take that thing for granted,
Speaker 8: but that is such a such a such an important detail,
Speaker 8: and then we detail it up in terms of exactly
Speaker 8: where to look at the man throughout the progression of
Speaker 8: the route. Right, So at the line of scrimmage, I'm
Speaker 8: key in the leverage hip right, and I'm tracking that
Speaker 8: hip and my eyes are glued into that hip and
Speaker 8: I'm matching that hip right. When the route can use
Speaker 8: past the release right, we're into what we call the
Speaker 8: stemming a route. Now I'm seeing the near hip right,
Speaker 8: and I want to see that near hip through what
Speaker 8: we call the intermediate zone where where routes are breaking off.
Speaker 8: You got your curls, your digs, you come back, things
Speaker 8: of that sort that are happening in that zone. And
Speaker 8: then once I clear to the vertical now my eyes
Speaker 8: can now rise up to that near shoulder right, and
Speaker 8: I want to see if that near shoulder is opening
Speaker 8: to me right, are staying down the field, And if
Speaker 8: it's staying down the field, then I'm anticipating that ball
Speaker 8: being thrown out in front. If it's opening up to me,
Speaker 8: then I'm anticipating that ball being thrown on what we
Speaker 8: call back shoulder and I've got to do a great
Speaker 8: job of pushing through. And so there's a lot of
Speaker 8: nuances and details. You know, the guys who may say,
Speaker 8: hey man, look at your man. It's very simple, but
Speaker 8: it's not in terms of all the different players that
Speaker 8: come with it, and so understanding those things, that's what
Speaker 8: we talk about. Foundation and fundamentals.
Speaker 1: You work with veterans, you work with young guys, is
Speaker 1: there a common mistake or a habit that you have
Speaker 1: to help them break when they first get started as
Speaker 1: a college d back. They might have been able to
Speaker 1: get away with it in high school, but not at
Speaker 1: this level.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think the most important piece is just trusting
Speaker 8: your from meals and your technique. Trusting those things when
Speaker 8: you work them all the time, and then when you
Speaker 8: get into a live setting, you know, you kind of
Speaker 8: revert back to old habits, but relying on those fundamentals,
Speaker 8: and that does take reps to build confidence in those
Speaker 8: fundamentals and those techniques, and so I think that's one
Speaker 8: of the biggest learning curves in terms of Positionally, it's
Speaker 8: just ain't trust my technique and understand that there's gonna
Speaker 8: be times where they make really really really good place.
Speaker 8: You know. Uh, that's a part of it, right, And
Speaker 8: it doesn't mean that you were flawed in what you
Speaker 8: were doing. It means they made a heck to play
Speaker 8: the else scholarship too. It got really talented people on
Speaker 8: the other side, and so now it doesn't second guess
Speaker 8: my technique, right, but it allows me to hone in
Speaker 8: even more so. I think that's kind of one of
Speaker 8: the biggest learning curves for guys when they step in,
Speaker 8: you know, to the SEC program.
Speaker 1: That short memory. You know. Metcap just signs a huge
Speaker 1: contract with the Steelers UK fans remember him. This was
Speaker 1: before I think you got here. But he made a
Speaker 1: catch that beat Kentucky on the last play when he
Speaker 1: went up as high as he could. He's a big guy,
Speaker 1: as you know. And the guy covering for Kentucky is
Speaker 1: in the NFL now and he was right in his
Speaker 1: grill and just you know, I've jumped him. I mean
Speaker 1: that happens, doesn't it.
Speaker 8: That does. That's a part of the process. Man. If
Speaker 8: I did everything that I was supposed to do in
Speaker 8: that rep hey, we got to move on and shake
Speaker 8: his hands and get it again, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and to that end, Carrington. Valentine had a
Speaker 1: tough sophomore year and just kept his head down, kept working.
Speaker 1: And I remember a coach talking to him on media
Speaker 1: day and I asked him about what he was gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, do this season, and he said, You're just
Speaker 1: gonna have to wait and see, That's all he's saying.
Speaker 1: And he ends up leaving and going to the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers and making the team after that. So you
Speaker 1: just got to keep chopping the wood. Don't You.
Speaker 8: Got a book we read a couple of years ago,
Speaker 8: Chotwood Carry Water, and it just talks about that process. Man,
Speaker 8: And defensive back is one of those, you know, one
Speaker 8: of those things that sounds cliche, but it's very very true.
Speaker 8: You know, stay committed to it, Stay committed to a
Speaker 8: good things happen. But you got to stay committed to
Speaker 8: it because the game I won't allow you to cheat it,
Speaker 8: you know. And if you stay committed to a good
Speaker 8: things happen. You cut corners, man, it'll catch up to you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you gotta be ready. And I remember a
Speaker 1: couple of trips to Gainesville ago when you guys won,
Speaker 1: when somebody on the SEC network had called you all soft,
Speaker 1: and you went in there and won. And Kedrin Smith,
Speaker 1: who's now with the Broncos, I believe, uh, you got
Speaker 1: to pick six. And I interviewed him after the game
Speaker 1: about that play, about a lot of things, but he said,
Speaker 1: I knew he was gonna throw it before he threw it.
Speaker 1: That's gotta make you feel pretty good as a coach
Speaker 1: knowing a guy is that well prepared.
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, it does. And you know, to Ether's credit, man,
Speaker 8: he was the pros pro now on his approach and
Speaker 8: uh and and really in terms of the information that
Speaker 8: we were able to give him, and he was able
Speaker 8: to digest it at a really high level. And that's
Speaker 8: why you know, of course he's playing on Sundays and
Speaker 8: been able to continue that. But uh, but no, it's
Speaker 8: been good and again for guys to be able to
Speaker 8: see that in the room, especially young guys. You know,
Speaker 8: you got to throw phillips in the rooms able to win.
Speaker 8: You know, this guy made a play just strictly off
Speaker 8: of film study, you know, taking the coaching and then
Speaker 8: going out there and execute, not being the not being
Speaker 8: too big for the moment. You know, you got a
Speaker 8: young actual assing in the room. Uh, who's seeing those
Speaker 8: things and so those things carry on into the next
Speaker 8: generation of players, to the next generation of players. So
Speaker 8: very fortunate, blessed man. Thankful the Good Lord allowed us
Speaker 8: to be able to, uh to overlap, you know, and
Speaker 8: that's been, you know, part of my careers, you know,
Speaker 8: having really good young men that want to be great players.
Speaker 8: You know what I mean, those two things tight handed hand.
Speaker 1: A lot of the times you mentioned Max Harriston, who
Speaker 1: had his struggles as most freshman d backs do, and
Speaker 1: then just had a tremendous sophomore season, led the league
Speaker 1: and was ranked fifth and interceptions a second team All Conference.
Speaker 1: What got him from year one to year two. I
Speaker 1: know he's got great skills, but a lot of guys
Speaker 1: have skills and they don't make the jump that he did.
Speaker 8: I think for him, it was it was him learning
Speaker 8: how to work right. He was always a guy that
Speaker 8: had a high level work etic. But let's be intentional
Speaker 8: about the things that we're working on right, things that
Speaker 8: are going to show up on saturdays, that are going
Speaker 8: to show up in stadiums. And so when we kind
Speaker 8: of sat down and built out a plan and his
Speaker 8: off season approach in practice approach, he really stuck to it.
Speaker 8: To his credit, like he stayed disciplined, and you know
Speaker 8: a lot of times, man, we say, you know, success
Speaker 8: is a lagging indicator, right, It takes a long time
Speaker 8: of you doing the right things over and over before
Speaker 8: you actually see success come from it. But for him,
Speaker 8: you know, within that season, that off season and going
Speaker 8: into that season, you know a lot of the things
Speaker 8: that he worked home were things that were showing up
Speaker 8: on Saturdays that he was making plays. And again, it's
Speaker 8: always good because you've got guys in the room who
Speaker 8: watched that happen, right, you know, take a j Q hardaway, right,
Speaker 8: he watched Maxwell go through that process, and it's like, man, Okay,
Speaker 8: if I'm willing to turn up my level of work, man,
Speaker 8: I can have some of the same results. And he
Speaker 8: goes down to have the solid season last year. So
Speaker 8: you know, it's it's that pay it forward mentality that
Speaker 8: we always try to keep in the room. And you know,
Speaker 8: again the development and the process, Man, getting those guys
Speaker 8: to understand buy into that. It doesn't happen overnight, but
Speaker 8: it's well worth it's well worth it.
Speaker 1: I'm talking with Kentucky's co defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach,
Speaker 1: Chris Collins. More to come with a coach on the
Speaker 1: other side of the break here on a Big Blue
Speaker 1: Sider six thirty wlap Welcome back to the Big Blue
Speaker 1: Insider talking to Chris Collins. He is the co defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator and defensive backs coach for the Wildcats. Mark Stoops
Speaker 1: talked to us on Monday morning, said it's a little
Speaker 1: too early to be naming names, but he did say
Speaker 1: he's excited about the group that you've got the d backs.
Speaker 1: And then you know, spring is when you get excited, right.
Speaker 8: Oh for sure, for sure, man, you get a chance,
Speaker 8: guys get it, get kind of a fresh a breath
Speaker 8: of fresh air, you know, a chance to go compete.
Speaker 8: You know, you got some returning guys, you know, George
Speaker 8: loved you, Todd Broynt and JQ Hardaways who played and
Speaker 8: been in those fires, you know, and then you got
Speaker 8: some guys who played sparingly and you know, had to
Speaker 8: step up in rolls last year when guys went down
Speaker 8: with injuries and did a good job. And so now
Speaker 8: it's about finding the right pieces and the right places
Speaker 8: and getting those guys to blend together, you know, because
Speaker 8: I said earlier, every team is different, you know, regardless
Speaker 8: of how many new faces you have or how many
Speaker 8: returning faces. Yet can't take that process for granted, in
Speaker 8: finding out what works for this team and for this
Speaker 8: defensive unit and for this defensive backfield. So that's fun
Speaker 8: far a springt you know, along with the fundamental pieces
Speaker 8: that you get to work.
Speaker 1: Your boss, your top line guy. I know you and
Speaker 1: Brad White are co coordinators, but Mark Stoops knows a
Speaker 1: little something as we all know about playing and coaching
Speaker 1: defensive back. What's that like? Having the head coach is
Speaker 1: a guy who knows your position as well as he does.
Speaker 8: Man. For me, it's been phenomenal, you know. I just
Speaker 8: try to have a sponge like mentality and continue to
Speaker 8: learn and try to steal any nuggets I can, you know,
Speaker 8: But it goes just past you know, the actual coaching
Speaker 8: part of even to the evaluation in terms of how
Speaker 8: we how we evaluate guys, what we're looking for, things
Speaker 8: of that nature that I can get somewhat overlooked in
Speaker 8: these day and age. But but no, it's a tremendous blessing.
Speaker 8: I've enjoyed it. You know. He's allowed me to grow,
Speaker 8: which I'm tremendously thankful for. But again, man, some of
Speaker 8: the small details, the nuances, man, you know, and sometimes
Speaker 8: he may be saying something not even realize. I'm trying
Speaker 8: to take notes write it down in some of those
Speaker 8: staffs meetings when we're talking to defensive back place. So
Speaker 8: it's been really good for my growth. Man. I think
Speaker 8: our players enjoy, you know, having a head coach that
Speaker 8: understands the pressure of their position.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you had guys come through the portal from all
Speaker 1: over the Midwest, Basic in Michigan, Ohio State, Cincinnati, and
Speaker 1: obviously coaches have their way of doing things. But do
Speaker 1: you have to tweak much when you got a guy
Speaker 1: when you've got a guy coming in from Maryland or
Speaker 1: wherever when it comes to technique or is it all
Speaker 1: pretty much the same? You just gotta you know, clean
Speaker 1: it up.
Speaker 8: Every guy's different, you know, every guy's different. You know,
Speaker 8: there's things that we do that are unique, uh, to
Speaker 8: to who we are schematically and system wise, and so yes,
Speaker 8: I think that part part of it definitely holds true,
Speaker 8: you know in terms of like the fundamental pieces you
Speaker 8: kind of see where they are. It's different. You know.
Speaker 8: Then then when you're recruiting the high school. You know, man,
Speaker 8: you're able to go see that guy played live, so
Speaker 8: you got a really good idea. Okay, these are the
Speaker 8: things that we got to get cleaned up. Once you
Speaker 8: hit the ground running, uh for a transfer, not quite
Speaker 8: the same you you really may not have a chance
Speaker 8: unless you saw them in high school. Uh, to see
Speaker 8: them play live. Uh, you know, in terms of that regard,
Speaker 8: So unless you play them on the season or something
Speaker 8: like that. And so now you're you're really when you
Speaker 8: when you get them here in the winter, that's your
Speaker 8: first time really seeing them lib and saying, Okay, these
Speaker 8: are the things that we got to get cleaned up.
Speaker 8: These are the things that can carry over, you know.
Speaker 8: And for those guys again, they built up reps doing
Speaker 8: it that wait right wrong, you're indifferent, right, And from
Speaker 8: now it's reversing some of that muscle memory that may
Speaker 8: not fit what we do. And so that process is
Speaker 8: always fun for me because you know we've had success
Speaker 8: with it, and so it's kind of look around the room.
Speaker 8: You know, if you trust this thing, it'll happen for
Speaker 8: you as long as you're willing to work, and the
Speaker 8: Good Lord bless you with some ability. You wouldn't be
Speaker 8: here if you didn't have ability, you know what I mean?
Speaker 8: And so now it's about how hard are you willing
Speaker 8: to commit to it and work at it? And so
Speaker 8: but yes, I mean there's parts of it you got
Speaker 8: to tweak and adjust, and there's parts of it that, man, yeah,
Speaker 8: carries over. So you know, anytime you can get a
Speaker 8: whole bunch of carries over as a good thing. Doesn't
Speaker 8: always happen that way.
Speaker 1: March Dube sounded like he was really excited about the
Speaker 1: winner workouts. Do you share that enthusiasm? What did you
Speaker 1: think of the way your group threw itself into the
Speaker 1: weight room.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I I always get excited about the winning workouts.
Speaker 8: Matt trails man. Chance to kind of you know, build
Speaker 8: some us and mentality wise, you know, see those guys
Speaker 8: straining and go through some hardship together. It always excites
Speaker 8: me as the ball coach because that's part of that process.
Speaker 8: It really is, you know, and for us we talk
Speaker 8: about stacking days, continue to get better, ringing out the spun,
Speaker 8: never being too big right or too full to grow
Speaker 8: and so you get a chance to see, okay, well
Speaker 8: this is where you started and you look up, you know,
Speaker 8: in those couple of months when it's over, this is
Speaker 8: where I am now, right, and did I make progress?
Speaker 9: You know?
Speaker 8: And evaluating that. So we break down the off season,
Speaker 8: you know and quarters for those guys, and so they're
Speaker 8: really aware of the time frame that they have to
Speaker 8: grow and get better. Like I don't want it to
Speaker 8: be like, well, coach, I wasn't it snuck up on me? No, no, no,
Speaker 8: no it didn't. You know, it didn't. Now, you know,
Speaker 8: like we're really aware. We want you to be aware.
Speaker 8: And so a lot of times when guys are aware
Speaker 8: of the process, aware at the timetable and aware the
Speaker 8: things they need to get better, that they can do
Speaker 8: those things. It's hard when not sure. Yeah, and so
Speaker 8: we try to take out a lot of that great
Speaker 8: as much as possible. And those win the workouts help
Speaker 8: do that, you know. Coach, the head coach here, they
Speaker 8: do a phenomenal job in the weight room of getting
Speaker 8: those guys bigger, faster and stronger, definitely faster. So uh,
Speaker 8: you know, the coach, I wanted as fast as possible. Man,
Speaker 8: I need to run and so and so again it's
Speaker 8: good to see that and I think it helps those guys,
Speaker 8: you know, build confidence confidence.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I'll let you go with this. It's rare
Speaker 1: and it's been quite a while since since a Mark
Speaker 1: Stoop's coach team has had to bounce back from a
Speaker 1: losing record. You were a two year captain in college
Speaker 1: and safety and outside linebacker. Obviously, leadership was important to
Speaker 1: you then, and as a coach it's important to you now.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about the leadership on this team?
Speaker 8: Man? We're growing it. We're growing it, you know. And
Speaker 8: that's the view, like I said in the spring, is
Speaker 8: you get a chance of new teams recalling how many
Speaker 8: old faces may be earning or vice versa, you know,
Speaker 8: not as many return. You get a chance to grow
Speaker 8: and identify and guys find their voices. But again, just
Speaker 8: like developing as a defensive back, developing as a leader
Speaker 8: has to be intentional work. And you know, coach hood
Speaker 8: is leading us in our leadership development, man, and I
Speaker 8: think our guys are excited about that process, you know,
Speaker 8: And so that excites you as a coach when you
Speaker 8: see your enthusiasm right, and it matches yours and it
Speaker 8: even helps you continue to elevate. And so now we're
Speaker 8: feeding off of each other in that regard. So, but
Speaker 8: growing leaders is important and that's something that I think
Speaker 8: we really have any intention about our players right and
Speaker 8: they've kind of matched that energy.
Speaker 1: Coach you Ken, thank you enough for your time. Looking
Speaker 1: forward to seeing this team in action, and I'll see
Speaker 1: you with practice I hope real soon.
Speaker 8: Yes, sir, yes, sir. You have a good and I
Speaker 8: appreciate you taking the time to hang out.
Speaker 10: With me for a little bit.
Speaker 1: I remember two is next. We'll look ahead to the
Speaker 1: girls sweet sixteen and to UK softballs are after a
Speaker 1: good start. That's all I had on six thirty.
Speaker 3: Co what you all I could.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big lew Insider. Coming up, we're
Speaker 1: going to look at the Kentucky softball team, which has
Speaker 1: a game tomorrow and is off to a great start
Speaker 1: in conference play after sweeping Missouri last weekend. But of
Speaker 1: course it's time to talk about March Madness and the
Speaker 1: teams that are quote unquote punching their tickets. And last night,
Speaker 1: as we mentioned earlier, it was Wafford under former Wildcat
Speaker 1: walk on Dwight Perry, the cousin of Bobby Perry, who
Speaker 1: got an accidental start in the NCATE tournament back in
Speaker 1: the day. And he talked to the guys on the
Speaker 1: Field of sixty eight podcasts about why his team might
Speaker 1: be able to win a game or two.
Speaker 11: We have a great group, and we have a great
Speaker 11: group of people. Our guys have been through a lot,
Speaker 11: We've dealt with a lot of adversity. You know, A
Speaker 11: big part of it is we're not really relying on
Speaker 11: just one player. We have a group of guys that
Speaker 11: are willing to step up when it's their night, and
Speaker 11: you know, whether it's scoring, rebounding, playmaking, screening, defending. I
Speaker 11: just think we do a lot committee and so it's
Speaker 11: really hard to key in just on one particular guy.
Speaker 1: That sounds a little bit like Kentucky if you ask me,
Speaker 1: hard to keen on any one person. So Wofford could be,
Speaker 1: you know, a Cinderella, a dark horse. But I will
Speaker 1: tell you this, Wafford will get attention in the tournament
Speaker 1: if for no other reason they have a player who
Speaker 1: shoots quote unquote granny style free throws. Yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: guy named Kyle Filowitch. He's one of their bigs, and
Speaker 1: he was probably the worst free throw shooter in America,
Speaker 1: if not the SoCon and he was hitting less than
Speaker 1: thirty percent from the free throw line. So Dwight Perry
Speaker 1: and his coaches, specifically, one of the assistants named Tyser
Speaker 1: Anderson got with him and said, look, why don't you
Speaker 1: try the underhand thing? And if it sounds familiar. Shaquille
Speaker 1: O'Neal struggled with free throws about his career in the
Speaker 1: NBA because he had at one point, I think the
Speaker 1: bones in his shooting hand. His wrist refused, so he
Speaker 1: had a hard time with you know, flexibility there, but
Speaker 1: he resisted any suggestions or attempts to get him to
Speaker 1: shoot underhanded. Well, this kid listened, and as it turns out,
Speaker 1: the assistant coach, Tyser Anderson, has some sort of relationship
Speaker 1: with Rick Barry. Rick Barry was one of the greatest
Speaker 1: players in the history of the game. He was an
Speaker 1: MVP in both the NBA and the ABA, and he
Speaker 1: retired as the all time greatest free throw shooter in
Speaker 1: NBA history. He had better than ninety percent, and he
Speaker 1: was a guy who shot underhanded, and he was the
Speaker 1: last guy to shoot underhanded. So they flew him from
Speaker 1: the West coast to Spartanburg, South Carolina, and he spent
Speaker 1: a couple of days with Kyle Fillowitz teaching him to
Speaker 1: shoot underhanded. Now he's not shooting, you know, seventy or
Speaker 1: eighty percent. Now he's still in the thirties. But it's
Speaker 1: better than it was. And at one point in a
Speaker 1: big game he hit six out of ten. Last night
Speaker 1: in the Silkon Championship game, he was just three for seven.
Speaker 1: But at least he has a chance making the freight
Speaker 1: throws now much better than he did. But I bring
Speaker 1: this up because you're gonna see at least one story
Speaker 1: about it. I'm sure during nca tournament covers, you're gonna
Speaker 1: hear every announcer who works as games talk about it.
Speaker 1: But that's how it happened. That's why it happened, that
Speaker 1: this kid is shooting underhanded. And of course they'll talk
Speaker 1: about Dwight Perry, I would think, being the guy who
Speaker 1: started a game for the Wildcats, which was a shock
Speaker 1: to everybody, everybody including fans who were watching the game,
Speaker 1: like what not Bobby Perry, Well, whoever turned in the
Speaker 1: lineup card on that day in the NCAA tournament back
Speaker 1: in twenty oh seven, they're playing Villan Nova inadvertently put
Speaker 1: Dwight instead of Bobby, and once you turn it in,
Speaker 1: it's locked in. So Dwight Perry started that game at
Speaker 1: the United Center in Chicago, a six foot, one hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty five pound freshman walk on. He only played
Speaker 1: in three games that season, but he starts, So what
Speaker 1: does he do? Under orders from the coaches? He immediately
Speaker 1: filed somebody. He fouled Curtis Sumpter of Villanova, and they
Speaker 1: took him out of the game, and Bobby started the
Speaker 1: game at the scorer's table waiting to come in. They
Speaker 1: actually beat Villanova that day under Jay Wright, sixty seven
Speaker 1: to fifty eight. But yeah, that is a footnote to
Speaker 1: UK history. Dwight Perry started a game during the twenty
Speaker 1: oh seven NCAA tournament. Now he's got his own ball club,
Speaker 1: and I would have to think that he'll double and
Speaker 1: triple check the lineup before he turns it in. When
Speaker 1: we come back, we'll preview The Girls Sweet sixteen a
Speaker 1: little bit later. UK Softball here on six thirty WLAP
Speaker 1: Here is mister peck in three two one, Welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Big Blue Insider. Coming up this week, of course,
Speaker 1: it is The Girls Sweet Sixteen, brought to us by
Speaker 1: Clark's Pumping Shop studio and a guy who's been covering
Speaker 1: high school sports for quite a while. You read his
Speaker 1: work in The hero Leader Kentucky dot com. He's been
Speaker 1: preparing this week for the big event, mister Jared Peck. Jared,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you joining us, and are we looking at
Speaker 1: another coronation of Sacred Heart, which finally saw its win
Speaker 1: streak snapped by a team in the Sweet sixteen? Who
Speaker 1: else can challenge.
Speaker 10: Well, I mean, how many times you can be George
Speaker 10: Rugers Clark. They're an awfully good team as well. But yeah,
Speaker 10: I mean, Sacred Heart is really the overdog again this year.
Speaker 10: But having them lose this Simon Kenton is kind of
Speaker 10: glimmer of harp hope for some of the other teams,
Speaker 10: because you know, they got they got the point guard
Speaker 10: amor two D Jordan and Foul Trouble and z Kyie
Speaker 10: Johnson in Foul Trouble and when that happened, kind of
Speaker 10: the doors opened up and the Simon can pull out
Speaker 10: an overtime win. So if some some things can go right,
Speaker 10: you know there they don't look as invincible as they
Speaker 10: have in the past, but you got to do it.
Speaker 1: Oh, Yeah, Simon Kenton is kind of a defensive specialist
Speaker 1: as a team, isn't it.
Speaker 10: Yeah, so I think that they are playing in the
Speaker 10: eighth region. It's kind of a low scoring league there,
Speaker 10: and that game, you know, got up in the seventies
Speaker 10: I think, but that was because they went into overtime.
Speaker 10: But they only played I can only play five players
Speaker 10: in that game, so it really was kind of miraculous
Speaker 10: that they pulled that off. I think it might have
Speaker 10: been the fact that I wrote about to take a
Speaker 10: guard streak before. Yeah, it went the next the very
Speaker 10: next night. But I won't I won't take too much
Speaker 10: credit for that. I mean, can played a heck of
Speaker 10: a game.
Speaker 1: I'm sure Simon Kenton on average only gives up thirty
Speaker 1: eight points a game. So the fact that it got
Speaker 1: into the seventies is wild, and then the fact that
Speaker 1: they want it is too. But Simon Kenton, man, they
Speaker 1: drew a short straw too. They had Frederick Douglas to
Speaker 1: open up. That's a pretty hot team right now.
Speaker 10: Yeah, they are read. If they really surprised me. I
Speaker 10: didn't have them picked in the eleventh region. I thought
Speaker 10: Frankland County. I worried about their ball security with Frederick Douglas.
Speaker 10: They tend to play fast, yeah, and they would turn
Speaker 10: it over a little too much, but they were calm,
Speaker 10: cool and collected. You know, since losing to Cooper in
Speaker 10: Sacred Heart in the regular season, they just shored everything
Speaker 10: up and they put the metal the tedal to the
Speaker 10: middle last night on Mass and Central and it was
Speaker 10: over fast.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And this is a team that you mentioned the pace
Speaker 1: they like. They're the fifth highest scoring team in the state.
Speaker 1: So you're going to run into a real test of
Speaker 1: Wills in his first round, aren't you.
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's going to be you know, Simon Kin's want
Speaker 10: to play possession by possession and as soon as Pudick
Speaker 10: Douglas gets the rebound, they're gonna want to go.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 10: So Simon Kins is gonna need to make it shots
Speaker 10: and not let Frederick Douglas, you know, get offensive rebound
Speaker 10: to get kickouts like that. You know. Something for Frederick Douglas.
Speaker 10: They've got an eighth grader that's really come on of
Speaker 10: late to be Awaye and you know, she scored twenty
Speaker 10: five points in a game and just amazing. And then
Speaker 10: Jayey Knows is about six foot tall power forward and
Speaker 10: she's you know, she's blocked shots. She gets double digit
Speaker 10: rebounds there. I thought you that is a tough game
Speaker 10: for Simon Kinton to draw there, But I mean Simon
Speaker 10: King plays plenty of tough competition, so I don't think
Speaker 10: they're gonna be scared.
Speaker 1: That's true. Ashland Blazer and North Laurel opened things up,
Speaker 1: and then Not County Central Taylor County. On that first day,
Speaker 1: you mentioned George Rogers Clark and Franklin Simpson, and again
Speaker 1: Franklin Simpson's got their hands full, don't they.
Speaker 10: Yeah, George Rogers Clark is really you know, there are
Speaker 10: three generational players in this year senior class. Really would
Speaker 10: see Ara Byers and Zakaia Johnson's for Sacred Heart and
Speaker 10: then Liam Mason's not here with Bethlehemers. She got injured
Speaker 10: in the middle of the season, but Buyers is one
Speaker 10: of those players that's a double double a night. She's
Speaker 10: come back from an injury she she tore acl last year.
Speaker 10: She just came back from the injury like in February,
Speaker 10: so they've been kind of slowly getting her back in
Speaker 10: up to speed. But yeah, George Orge Clark is a load,
Speaker 10: and they would have won a few state titles by now,
Speaker 10: if Stacred Heart just hadn't been in their way in
Speaker 10: every every single Sweet sixteen up to now, that during
Speaker 10: this run I think is you know, I think we
Speaker 10: takes against Stacred Heart and the last three years so
Speaker 10: it's been rough. But you know, a great, great program
Speaker 10: there down there, and they got great players Kennedy Stamper
Speaker 10: as well as points here's the point guard. You know,
Speaker 10: just an incredible crew.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh. By the way, Sacred Out does open with
Speaker 1: Johnson Central fifteenth Region champ. That team is twenty seven
Speaker 1: and three, undefeated in region play, undefeated in district play,
Speaker 1: but looking at their schedule, don't know that they've played
Speaker 1: anybody the likes maybe out of state. They might have
Speaker 1: played somebody who can even compare with Sacred Heart. They
Speaker 1: can Johnson Central challenge them, do you think now?
Speaker 10: I don't think, you know, as you said, Jonathan Central,
Speaker 10: well really hasn't played anybody. That's a really tough draw
Speaker 10: in fifteenth Region sometimes get those hard luck draws at
Speaker 10: the Sweet sixteen, and you know, it's a really big
Speaker 10: as to play against the team that has so so
Speaker 10: many weapons and so many future division and players and
Speaker 10: against them. So you know, you know, Lawrence County had
Speaker 10: a miss basketball a couple of years ago against Sacred Heart,
Speaker 10: so it was, uh, it's gonna be that's gonna be
Speaker 10: hard go uh that day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they eleven o'clock game Sacred Heart Johnson Central is
Speaker 1: the eleven am game on Thursday, followed by Mercy Academy
Speaker 1: out of Louisville against Cooper. Then you got Henderson County,
Speaker 1: Marshall County, and Davis County on Sunday beat Owensboro Catholic
Speaker 1: to win the third region. So it's Davis County and
Speaker 1: Danville Christian and uh, I'll tell you in these games
Speaker 1: now are in Rapp Arena. The girls tournament has bounced
Speaker 1: around a little bit around the state. It always seems
Speaker 1: like it drew pretty well in Richmond. But they're bringing
Speaker 1: it to Rupp Arena. What kind of crowd do you expect?
Speaker 10: They have a good crowds lately. Uh, it really depends
Speaker 10: on the school's coming a lot of times. Henderson County
Speaker 10: brings a good crowd. Marshall will bring a good crowd.
Speaker 10: He County made it one year and filled the whole
Speaker 10: place up in a green wave. But uh, you know,
Speaker 10: Bulleties brought a great crowd, So it depends on the pane.
Speaker 10: You know, the walk up traffic's a little different. And
Speaker 10: you know, with Sacred Heart winning so much, and they're
Speaker 10: being a small, smaller private school, not you know, small
Speaker 10: by some standards. I mean, they're they're a Louisville private school, right,
Speaker 10: but the fan base is not as broad for them.
Speaker 10: But I mean, we really get a chance to see
Speaker 10: a generational player Zakaia Johnson. I mean, he is just
Speaker 10: a Marvel three time Gator Bay Player of the Year,
Speaker 10: three times uh Sweet sixteen MVP going to four and
Speaker 10: you know the miss Basketball announcement's going to be the
Speaker 10: Sunday after uh, so we could be looking at one
Speaker 10: of the greatest players in Kentucky Grills basketball history. I
Speaker 10: don't know if we really appreciate that, but I mean
Speaker 10: I appreciate it. I appreciate it. You have a cover
Speaker 10: sir Kaya Johnson before she heads the LSU and the
Speaker 10: other things that she does in her life. It's been
Speaker 10: a pleasure so far.
Speaker 1: Can't be anybody miss basketball but her, am I right.
Speaker 1: I mean I know she's going to l s U
Speaker 1: and and some people maybe they don't vote for her
Speaker 1: because she's not going to Kentucky or Louisville or Western Kentucky.
Speaker 1: But it's got to be her, doesn't it.
Speaker 10: Yeah, there's not really any big point scorers out there
Speaker 10: that are for some of these regions, I think. And
Speaker 10: it's also you know, it's been unfortunate that you know,
Speaker 10: leam Asby got hurt out of Beth Plump. Yeah, and
Speaker 10: then Thierrera Barrs has been hurt part of the season
Speaker 10: and then gracefully go out of Danville. Christian also miss
Speaker 10: part of the season being hurt. You know, Grace and
Speaker 10: the baby down there at DCA really doctor World bout
Speaker 10: year Reparena with how they played against Cooper and a loss.
Speaker 10: She was a revelation and really she reopened her for
Speaker 10: fruitment and got a Louisville offering over the summer, and
Speaker 10: then she kind of she just tore aco just shooting
Speaker 10: a jump shot at the camp over the summer and
Speaker 10: missed up until January. She came back in January and
Speaker 10: they won the All A Classic with her back in
Speaker 10: the lineup.
Speaker 8: Basketball.
Speaker 10: I mean, if it's not Zakai Johnson, I need to
Speaker 10: stop giving miss basketball away. Yeah, she is the most
Speaker 10: decorated girl HOSCO player.
Speaker 1: In history, leam Macy. It's a shame she did get
Speaker 1: her because she only got to play in about half
Speaker 1: her team's games. What was averaging twenty seven points a
Speaker 1: game with third in the state, thirteen rebounds a game.
Speaker 1: Just just a terrific talent, and you know obviously that happens.
Speaker 1: So we're talking to Jared Pecka, the Harold Leader. He'll
Speaker 1: be covering the girls Sweet sixteen Jared. Also you might
Speaker 1: have seen Jared on the TV special that was on
Speaker 1: w l e X about the top twenty five high
Speaker 1: school players in the history of the state. And I
Speaker 1: enjoyed sharing that that platform with you. That was a
Speaker 1: tough task, you know, asking us and some of us
Speaker 1: go back farther than others. Jack Gibbons ended up being
Speaker 1: voted the best. But it was kind of fun putting
Speaker 1: the list together. You kind of had to dig in
Speaker 1: and do some research, you know.
Speaker 10: Oh yeah, I was talking to you know, I heard
Speaker 10: plenty about it after it came out.
Speaker 1: I bet, yeah, did you have people complaining about it
Speaker 1: or asking why did you? How did you forget so?
Speaker 1: And so.
Speaker 10: There is some you know, I think George Baker is
Speaker 10: a highlightmaker of Dunbar. He's now the Dunbar Voice coach. Yeah,
Speaker 10: he was a little upset about, you know, being left off,
Speaker 10: and you know, there's just so many great players like
Speaker 10: the basketball history, you know, John Brown and yeah Baker
Speaker 10: and just you know Ben Jonson. It was that was
Speaker 10: an impossible list to make.
Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, George Baker is on my list, but I
Speaker 1: can tell you that there were probably players who played
Speaker 1: within the last ten or twelve years that did not
Speaker 1: make my list. So you know, the bias works both ways,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean.
Speaker 10: Yeah, yeah, I mean it was just a tough deal.
Speaker 1: Talking to Jared Peck of the Herald Leader, who'll be
Speaker 1: covering the girls sweet sixteen, and as I said, he
Speaker 1: was one of the voters for the high school the
Speaker 1: top twenty five. You know, it's kind of weird as well.
Speaker 1: They asked us to kind of mix, you know, three
Speaker 1: of the top female players, three of the girls and
Speaker 1: with the boys. They really deserve their own list. But
Speaker 1: I realized why they didn't do it. Maybe next time
Speaker 1: they will.
Speaker 10: But it does if we're here for the next to.
Speaker 1: That's right, that's right, But it does underscore the fact
Speaker 1: that there have been some tremendous girls players in the
Speaker 1: state of Kentucky. And now that women's basketball on the
Speaker 1: college level is I think, really taking off more than
Speaker 1: it ever has. What do you think that'll do to
Speaker 1: the level of play here in central Kentucky. It can
Speaker 1: only help, right.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I think so. And I think putting it we're up,
Speaker 10: it's helped a little bit. I mean, the reason why
Speaker 10: it's back it went to the spouts around to western
Speaker 10: Kentucky and northern Kentucky, and I think it's Northern Kentucky
Speaker 10: had kind of stagnated as far as attendance because of
Speaker 10: where Highland Heights is and just the to get there.
Speaker 10: And I think there's landed on ropp Arena. They've got
Speaker 10: a good sponsorship bill to keep it there. I think
Speaker 10: it'll be there for quite a while. And you know,
Speaker 10: I said, is on the matchup you know the Sweet sixteen.
Speaker 10: They sure Sweet sixteen you could have, you know, a
Speaker 10: finals level matchup because of the random draw in the
Speaker 10: first round or in the second round Saturday morning semi finals.
Speaker 10: So that really sways what the attendant is right there
Speaker 10: is just you know who's playing who? And how good
Speaker 10: a game is that at that point. You know, we've
Speaker 10: seen some great games of the girl sweep the team.
Speaker 1: There are some folks who for years have lobby not enough. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: I would chose you where I'm coming from for seeding
Speaker 1: so that it almost guarantees, you know, the bigger games
Speaker 1: later in the tournament. I don't know about you. I
Speaker 1: know the blind draw can be awkward, but I just
Speaker 1: think tradition being what it is, I think the others
Speaker 1: leave it alone. Leave it alone when it comes to classes,
Speaker 1: you know, stay away from that, you know, breaking Kentucky
Speaker 1: basketball into the four classes or three or six or whatever,
Speaker 1: you know, because they ruined high school basketball in Indiana, and
Speaker 1: I think, just leave the sweet sixteen alone. For crying
Speaker 1: out loud, what do you say.
Speaker 10: Well, I think the Lane County Harlan County Game Boys
Speaker 10: Championship game last year went a long way to preserving
Speaker 10: that because you know, one really small school in Harlor County.
Speaker 10: It's not a small school, but it's an Eastern Kentucky
Speaker 10: little school.
Speaker 8: You know, that is.
Speaker 10: Lots of times, you know, we get to give up
Speaker 10: in the Golden Triangle in your Louisville, Lexington and you know,
Speaker 10: Covington area have their days and but it's good every
Speaker 10: now and then to have a small school rise up
Speaker 10: for a little school in the championship game, whoever it is,
Speaker 10: so that helps out. You know, if if you know,
Speaker 10: if we if Sacred Heart wins another five in a row,
Speaker 10: we might be in trouble on just a draw and
Speaker 10: classes and all that stuff. But you know, maybe maybe
Speaker 10: they'll share a little bit after they graduated. The guy.
Speaker 1: Ye you know, she'll be on the next list that
Speaker 1: we all put together, right because she is a generational talent. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: when we see her after this season, she'll be playing
Speaker 1: against Kentucky and then whoever. But it's been fun watching
Speaker 1: or play. Jared Peck covers high school basketball for The
Speaker 1: Herald Leader. Follow him on Twitter or ex whatever you
Speaker 1: want to call it. At HL Preps. Watch for US
Speaker 1: covers this week in the girls Sweet sixteen and next
Speaker 1: in the boys Sweet sixteen. Thank you, sir, we'll see
Speaker 1: you in Rapparina. Thanks more to come stay with us
Speaker 1: here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big
Speaker 1: Blue and Sider. This is the time of year when
Speaker 1: you see the all conference teams, the all Americans, the
Speaker 1: all tournaments and all that. In our line of work,
Speaker 1: we have the National Sports Media Association and the awards
Speaker 1: go out to sportscasters and sports writers all over the country.
Speaker 1: Miss Maggie Davis, you may have already heard from LAX
Speaker 1: eighteen and Big BBN tonight, is the winner for the
Speaker 1: state of Kentucky. So great for her. Congratulations. That's been
Speaker 1: out there for a little while, and I've been fortunate
Speaker 1: enough to win that thing three times. That was back
Speaker 1: when I was active at the WKYT as well as
Speaker 1: all the other stuff that keeps me busy. But it's
Speaker 1: a great event, and it's a great honor, and I'm
Speaker 1: happy for her, and I'm also happy for the major award. Well,
Speaker 1: not that it's not major if you win for your state,
Speaker 1: but you got the Hall of Fame awards, you got
Speaker 1: the national Sportscasters and sports Writers of the Year. I
Speaker 1: know a couple of them a little bit now going
Speaker 1: into the Hall of Fame. Mike Turrico of NBC Sports.
Speaker 1: He does a lot of stuff for them, as you know,
Speaker 1: and now as the host of the Kentucky Derby coverage.
Speaker 1: I actually interviewed him once I was filling in for
Speaker 1: Tom on another radio station, and Tariko was my interview subject.
Speaker 1: Nice guy Dan Shaughnessy, an absolutely incredible sports writer a
Speaker 1: long time for the Boston Globe. He is going in.
Speaker 1: I don't know him at all. Charlie Jones, Ohones, who
Speaker 1: called games the old AFL games an NBC is going in.
Speaker 1: Tom Hammond was quite familiar with him. And the late
Speaker 1: Wendell Smith of the Pittsburgh Courier, a black newspaper, is
Speaker 1: finally going in to the Hall of Fame. So that
Speaker 1: is much deserved for Wendell Smith. And the national sportscaster
Speaker 1: of the Year, Iron Eagle, and I mentioned him on
Speaker 1: the air the other day. He works with CBS, Westwood One,
Speaker 1: TNT TV and radio. I think he is fantastic. It's
Speaker 1: interesting to his son, Noah is coming up quickly, looks
Speaker 1: and sounds just like Iron. But he's really good. You
Speaker 1: can scream nepotism, but he's really good. But Iron is
Speaker 1: taking over the Final four this year. Jim Nance stepped
Speaker 1: away from it. And I know some of you don't
Speaker 1: care for Irony, or rather for Jim NANTZ. I promise
Speaker 1: you you'll like Iron Eagle. Let's put it to you
Speaker 1: this way, I'll be surprised if you don't, if you
Speaker 1: haven't really paid attention to him yet. But I just
Speaker 1: think he's great and he has a really understated rise
Speaker 1: sense of humor, and you hear it to the end
Speaker 1: of games when things start to get out of hand
Speaker 1: and announcers get a little silly. But I've been around him,
Speaker 1: just sitting around the press room. He's just really funny,
Speaker 1: a good guy. He's been on the show. I'd love
Speaker 1: to get him back on at some point. He's in
Speaker 1: such great demand. Though. There are a couple of other
Speaker 1: awards that haven't been determined yet. The Woody Durham Voice
Speaker 1: of College Sports Award that's fairly new over the past
Speaker 1: few years. What he was the longtime voice of the
Speaker 1: North Carolina tar Hills, the son Wes. I know him
Speaker 1: a little bit. He does the Georgia Tech and ACC
Speaker 1: games on TV. He's another good guy. And now the
Speaker 1: Jim Nantz College Sportscaster of the Year is gonna go
Speaker 1: out as well. So they haven't named that award winner yet,
Speaker 1: nor have they named the Big House Gains College Basketball
Speaker 1: Coaches of the Year for Divisions one and two. Big
Speaker 1: House Gains was a legendary small college coach for forty
Speaker 1: seven years at Winston State at Winston Salem State University.
Speaker 1: He was born in Paducah, Kentucky. But as I said,
Speaker 1: just a legendary head coach, and they have named that
Speaker 1: award after him, so we'll share that with you when
Speaker 1: it pops up. But congrats to the winners. And as
Speaker 1: I said, I'm excited for Iron Eagle. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to hear the job he does with the Final Four
Speaker 1: for CBS. But I really really enjoyed. Actually it was
Speaker 1: his gopher one night for a Westwood One radio game
Speaker 1: up in Cincinnati. My buddy, our UK network engineer, Darryl Dass,
Speaker 1: was the engineer, so I went up to help him.
Speaker 1: I was just the extra set of hands. It is
Speaker 1: always great to hear him and see him in action,
Speaker 1: and like I said, you will enjoy it. Up next,
Speaker 1: Kentucky Softball. Here on the Big Blue Insider six thirty
Speaker 1: WLAP joining US nine our celebrity. Hodline is a guy
Speaker 1: who has been part of the UK athletics team for
Speaker 1: quite a while, including ten years working with softball. That
Speaker 1: is Chris Sholes, sports information director for that sport. And Chris, congratulations,
Speaker 1: first of all, on a great weekend to sweep of Miszoo.
Speaker 9: That was a lot of fun, Dick with tell people
Speaker 9: in the press box. Astually, my favorite days of being
Speaker 9: the SID for softball are Sundays when you already have
Speaker 9: the series clinched. Yea, And I might have to modify
Speaker 9: that some Mondays after a sweep because they're pretty sweet.
Speaker 1: Yeah they are. And now you're three to zero in
Speaker 1: the league, which kind of throws me into my first
Speaker 1: question or more of a statement, especially now, Chris, with
Speaker 1: Oklahoma being in the league which is just dominated of late,
Speaker 1: it's easier, it seems, to win our say regional that
Speaker 1: the win an SEC title. It's amazing, isn't it. It is?
Speaker 9: It's every I think one of the cool things about
Speaker 9: SEC softball that really no other conference can truly say
Speaker 9: is every weekend is a super regional. You are going
Speaker 9: to get the atmospheres, you're going to get the stadiums,
Speaker 9: you're going to get the athletes, you're going to get
Speaker 9: the pitchers, you're going to get the dominant hitters. You're
Speaker 9: going to get that every weekend when you come to
Speaker 9: watch SEC softball. I think there is a higher than
Speaker 9: fifty percent chance that all fifteen teams that can in
Speaker 9: the softball side of the SEC softball are going to
Speaker 9: make the postseason. Just looking at the way the RPI
Speaker 9: is shaping up. As long as everybody stays above five hundred,
Speaker 9: I think everybody's going to get in. I think you're
Speaker 9: looking at probably four to five super regional hosts and
Speaker 9: between ten and eleven regional hosts, just what the RPI
Speaker 9: shows you now. So there are a lot of great teams.
Speaker 9: Like you said, Texas is right number one in the
Speaker 9: country right now, Oklahoma is number one in the country,
Speaker 9: and the other poles. So those are the two movies
Speaker 9: to the SEC. So it's an electric conference with dominating
Speaker 9: players in a sport that is just taking off.
Speaker 1: Obviously, pitching is so vital in his sport, just like
Speaker 1: it is in baseball. But ye, there have been rule
Speaker 1: changes through the years that have kind of allowed hitters
Speaker 1: to catch up just a little bit. But yeah, there
Speaker 1: have been You still need great pitching, you do.
Speaker 9: You need great pitching, And I think the thing that's
Speaker 9: changed most recently, Dick, is you need more than one
Speaker 9: great pitcher. These hits are so good adjusting to the plate.
Speaker 9: They're good at adjusting to spin, they're good at adjusting
Speaker 9: to speed. You know, five years ago, back when you
Speaker 9: had pitchers that I would say maybe under a handful
Speaker 9: that we're throwing in the upper sixty sixty eight sixty nine.
Speaker 9: That's now a normal weekend in our league. If you
Speaker 9: all have someone that throws that hard, you're probably not
Speaker 9: pitching with the rest of the league in terms of
Speaker 9: the upper echelon. So the speed is there. I mean, obviously,
Speaker 9: as you get more technology, as that comes along, more
Speaker 9: people are devoting their time and energy to softball on
Speaker 9: the baseball side of things, So you're getting more analytic
Speaker 9: data for coaches to go into swing paths and you know,
Speaker 9: yaker tech information and launch angle and all that kind
Speaker 9: of stuff that you've been used to seeing on the
Speaker 9: baseball side that's not coming over to softball, and it's
Speaker 9: changed the game completely.
Speaker 1: You know, looking back on Kentucky's World Series team from
Speaker 1: back in twenty fourteen, gosh, ten years ago, Kelsey Nunley
Speaker 1: was so great. She wasn't the only big arm on
Speaker 1: that roster, but she was the star pitcher for the team.
Speaker 1: I think everybody thinks about pitchers like Jenny Finch and
Speaker 1: and you know so many more who are just have
Speaker 1: been dominant through the years. But like you say, the
Speaker 1: hitters have caught up. The bats have changed, the balls
Speaker 1: have changed. Has strategy changed through the years.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean I was actually talking to Christine Hines,
Speaker 9: who runs the offense at in Tucky, and she was telling.
Speaker 10: Me last weekend.
Speaker 9: You know, we were just talking about situational stuff, and
Speaker 9: she said, you know, she's heard a coach for UCLA,
Speaker 9: Kelly and Away Perez, who is one of the best
Speaker 9: in the country, won multiple national champions there, say that
Speaker 9: they've basically taken bunting out of their repertoire.
Speaker 1: No kidding.
Speaker 9: They have an elite offense. I mean, they are scoring
Speaker 9: runs and buckets out there, and they have some of
Speaker 9: the most dynamic offensive players. But she was essentially saying
Speaker 9: that they don't bunt anymore. They don't believe in it
Speaker 9: because these hitters are so good. And to your point
Speaker 9: about the rule changes and having a pitchclock now and
Speaker 9: the way that their footwork has to be when they
Speaker 9: start to pitch and they you know, are not allowed
Speaker 9: to leave all that kind of stuff. There's different things
Speaker 9: that the offenses can do now to combat all of
Speaker 9: the different things the pitchers are throwing at them, and
Speaker 9: so that's one of the changes that you've seen. So
Speaker 9: again that's not obviously the case for every offense in
Speaker 9: the country. It's certainly not the case of Kentucky. That's
Speaker 9: one of the biggest weapons that we have this year
Speaker 9: with our team speed. But it just goes to prove
Speaker 9: the point that you were making, Dick, about the fact
Speaker 9: that the changes in the rules and the way the
Speaker 9: offenses have caught up to the pitchers needing multiple of
Speaker 9: them are really something that is shining in our support.
Speaker 1: You all played UCLA at the ESPN Shriners Children's clear
Speaker 1: Water Invitation. All you lose three to one, only three
Speaker 1: to one to the Bruins. That was a tough road trip.
Speaker 1: But Rachel Lawson almost routinely schedules like that, doesn't she
Speaker 1: because obviously she can find out what she has and
Speaker 1: and hone her team for a tough conference run on.
Speaker 9: And you know, there's there's so many upsides to scheduling hard,
Speaker 9: you know. So the one thing is that you're going
Speaker 9: to want those non conference wins on your resume. Comes
Speaker 9: selection Sunday, you want. Those are key data points. Those
Speaker 9: are very very important things when it comes to hosting
Speaker 9: regionals as well. So if you have key wins against
Speaker 9: teams in your region, because this is not like the
Speaker 9: Nsilbey men's basketball tournament where we're seeded one to sixty four.
Speaker 9: The top sixteen seeds are protected, and then it's geography
Speaker 9: off of that. So those games that are within six
Speaker 9: hours driving of your team are very important. So you know,
Speaker 9: you look at the midweek this week against Virginia Tech.
Speaker 9: If Kentucky or vin your Virginia Tech are not in
Speaker 9: the top sixteen one or the other, most likely that
Speaker 9: team will then come to that team's regional. So if
Speaker 9: Kentucky's in the top sixteen, I would imagine Virginia Tech
Speaker 9: would probably come to Lexington or vice versa. So that
Speaker 9: is a game that the committee can use as a
Speaker 9: huge data point. And then in February, you're right, you
Speaker 9: know you it's funny because you know, there are a
Speaker 9: lot of people that came up with me, came up
Speaker 9: to me in the fresh box this week because this
Speaker 9: was our home opener, and they're like, oh man, I'm
Speaker 9: so excited the softball season. This is such an exciting thing.
Speaker 9: And I'm like, yeah, but you got to realize that
Speaker 9: we're twenty games into the season of fifty six games.
Speaker 9: You know, we've already played twenty games. But when we're
Speaker 9: out on the road in February, yeah, you want to
Speaker 9: challenge yourself. You want to see what you got because
Speaker 9: if you walk into the SEC opening weekend and you
Speaker 9: have some questions about what you have because you haven't
Speaker 9: scheduled yourself a good schedule, and trying to find that
Speaker 9: out in leak play is really hard.
Speaker 1: Oh forget that. We're talking to Chris Showles. He is
Speaker 1: a baseball or rather supball sports information director at UK
Speaker 1: Wildcats at one eleven to twelve after the sweep of
Speaker 1: Missou over the weekend. As Chris said, Virginia Tech Wednesday
Speaker 1: five o'clock and then LSU in Baton Rouge. Anytime you
Speaker 1: go to Baton Rouge at the long trip, it's a
Speaker 1: tough trip. But I got to think the confidence level
Speaker 1: is pretty good right now.
Speaker 9: Confidence for sure is as high as it spent off season.
Speaker 9: And you just look at the roster that we have
Speaker 9: and I'm just going based off of the lineup that
Speaker 9: we had yesterday in the starting line of against in Surrey,
Speaker 9: you have a newcomer the team from a transfer leading off.
Speaker 9: You've got a sophomore in the three hole, a sophomore
Speaker 9: in the four hole, of sophomore in the five hole,
Speaker 9: of sophomore in the sixth hole, a sophomore in the
Speaker 9: seventh hole, a sophomore in the eight hole, and the
Speaker 9: true freshman in the nine hole, with a true freshman
Speaker 9: starting pitcher. And that one a third game of a
Speaker 9: series against the team that was already down oh two.
Speaker 9: So not that this team lacked confidence, but I think
Speaker 9: anytime you can get a young group of players to
Speaker 9: believe in something and actually see it happen with their
Speaker 9: own two eyes, you're going to get a lot of
Speaker 9: confidence out of them. And this is a new group.
Speaker 9: I mean, there's just so many new pieces that these
Speaker 9: fans and myself included, are not used to seeing put together.
Speaker 9: And you know, I think it was very fair to
Speaker 9: say at the beginning of the season that I think
Speaker 9: a lot of people knew that the puzzle pieces were
Speaker 9: on the table and didn't exactly know how the puzzle
Speaker 9: was going to fit together, or if all the pieces
Speaker 9: were going to align, and you know, We're twenty three
Speaker 9: games into the season now, so just about half way,
Speaker 9: and you're starting to kind of get the corner pieces there,
Speaker 9: and we're starting to get some bases and you know,
Speaker 9: fill in those those puzzle pieces to make it really pretty.
Speaker 1: Who has impressed you the most in the circle?
Speaker 9: Sarah Hendigis has been awesome. And I think not only
Speaker 9: has she been great, but the way that she has
Speaker 9: been deployed has been amazing. You know, you look at
Speaker 9: her and throughout the season, she's kind of been the
Speaker 9: super relievers, super sub role, and I think that that's
Speaker 9: something that's softball really, you know, we that's not something
Speaker 9: that we use very often in our sport a lot
Speaker 9: of times, Like to your point earlier, we have one
Speaker 9: pitcher and you ride them until they can't and then
Speaker 9: you bring somebody else in. There really has not been
Speaker 9: a defined closer at Kentucky under Rachel Lawton. But Sarah
Speaker 9: Hendigas has a one forty five BRA. She has four
Speaker 9: wins and just one start, and that shows you kind
Speaker 9: of the importance of what she's brought to the table.
Speaker 10: She got two staves.
Speaker 9: This weekend out of the three games she pitched. The
Speaker 9: last out and the last complete inning in all three
Speaker 9: of those games. She is not a pitcher that is
Speaker 9: going to blow you away with speed by any stretch.
Speaker 9: I mean she maxes out at sixty four maybe on
Speaker 9: a really hard day with the wind back. But what
Speaker 9: she does is she has a change up and to
Speaker 9: be able to throw the batters off and when you
Speaker 9: only have to face her once through the order and
Speaker 9: people are guessing, you know, that's why she has six
Speaker 9: walks and thirty nine strikeouts on the year. Just an
Speaker 9: unbelievable effective tool to throw these powerful hitters off.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so if Lacntana falters a little bit, Lawson is
Speaker 1: not hesitating to go to handages.
Speaker 9: Right, that's correct. I mean you have five pictures right now,
Speaker 9: and you have lack antennas to your point of forty
Speaker 9: six innings. That's the most of any anybody on the
Speaker 9: staff by a mile. She's got six wins. But then
Speaker 9: the next four pitchers have twenty nine innings, twenty five innings,
Speaker 9: twenty four innings, and twenty innings. So I struggle to
Speaker 9: say pitch by committee because I don't know if that's
Speaker 9: fair to the kids, But what it is is it's
Speaker 9: situational matchups, so where team's really gonna have to face
Speaker 9: the pitcher maybe one time through the order, and we
Speaker 9: can switch things up and bring a different look. I
Speaker 9: think the cool thing about this staff is as young
Speaker 9: as they are, but they're so unique. You've got Hendigates
Speaker 9: who gives you the spinny change up kind of brings
Speaker 9: the power. Langdon has the highest wifth rate of anybody
Speaker 9: on the staff, so she can come in and get
Speaker 9: strikeouts and buckets if needed. Carson Fall is going to
Speaker 9: be a star in the NBC. I don't know if
Speaker 9: it's going to be this year, but she will be
Speaker 9: a star in this league. And then Julie Kelly, who
Speaker 9: is a predominantly drop ball pitcher, a player that was
Speaker 9: a late signee for US and has gotten three wins
Speaker 9: on the season and has struck out sixteen batters in
Speaker 9: twenty innings already, So she's going to get the hang
Speaker 9: of it as the season goes and gets some experience.
Speaker 9: And I think you're looking at a pitching staff that,
Speaker 9: although while we may not have the best pitcher in
Speaker 9: the country or the number one strikeout pitcher in the country,
Speaker 9: there's a variety of different options here that can beat
Speaker 9: different types of offenses, which is something that I don't
Speaker 9: think that I can comfortably say that we've had really
Speaker 9: since twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: Right, you mentioned Rachel Lost in the head coach. It's
Speaker 1: hard to believe she's in her eighteenth year. But what
Speaker 1: a job she has done. And handle's pitchers so well,
Speaker 1: And it's amazing when you consider the fact she was
Speaker 1: not a pitcher and up until this year or maybe last,
Speaker 1: she called pitches and now is handed those duties off
Speaker 1: to an assistant. But man, just the way she puts
Speaker 1: a team together is it's so impressive, isn't it.
Speaker 9: Yeah, it is. I mean, you've been around her enough
Speaker 9: to know how smart she is. She's just a very
Speaker 9: smart individual. She there's I mean, you can say that
Speaker 9: there are other coaches that have won championships, and that's true,
Speaker 9: but I can promise you there's nobody's ever outworked Rachel
Speaker 9: Lost the amount of film that she does to scout
Speaker 9: the opponents, and every lineup in the position group in
Speaker 9: the lineup is scouted tremendously. For Kentucky on offense, everybody
Speaker 9: is in the lineup for a specific reason. She's trying
Speaker 9: to look at matchups she's trying to dictate the pace
Speaker 9: of the game. She's trying to make sure that she's
Speaker 9: putting her players in a position to succeed no matter
Speaker 9: what type of pitch they're throwing. So to your point, yeah,
Speaker 9: that's one hundred percent accurate. And there are You know,
Speaker 9: Kentucky may not win every game, but I can guarantee
Speaker 9: you that the other team is not as well prepared
Speaker 9: every time that they take the field when they face
Speaker 9: a Rachel Lston coach team.
Speaker 1: I heard a basketball coach over the weekend talk about, Uh,
Speaker 1: he was praising another basketball coach about the way he
Speaker 1: puts people together. Believe or I was not Mark Pope,
Speaker 1: but put his team together and collected people and basically
Speaker 1: talked about how this coach had selected players who had
Speaker 1: been able to play for winners at a championship, championship level,
Speaker 1: things like that. And that's always impressed me about Rachel
Speaker 1: Lawson's recruiting, as you well know, she recruits players from
Speaker 1: successful high school programs, club programs, travel programs because she said,
Speaker 1: I don't want to have to teach them how to win.
Speaker 1: I want them to know that when they get here.
Speaker 1: And it's such an advantage, isn't it?
Speaker 9: It is? And I think that that goes to kind
Speaker 9: of the blue collar mentality that Kentucky softball has developed
Speaker 9: during her time. Kentucky has always been somebody who's going
Speaker 9: to be to with pitching and defense. They're going to
Speaker 9: be hard nos, they're going to slide when they need to,
Speaker 9: and it's going to be a team that's really hard
Speaker 9: to play against. I think that's the most respectful thing
Speaker 9: that you would hope to, you know, when I always
Speaker 9: heard one of the coaches that I worked with back
Speaker 9: in the day, who's loger, but he said, the one
Speaker 9: thing that I hope when I go to the handshake
Speaker 9: line is the other coach tells me that we were
Speaker 9: tough to play again. And that's you know, that's you know,
Speaker 9: kind of the bell coal of Okay. I had my
Speaker 9: team prepared and ready to go. And I would imagine
Speaker 9: that every SEC coach probably looks in the mirror and says,
Speaker 9: you know, Kentucky may not be the most talented team,
Speaker 9: Kentucky may not have fifteen All Americans on their roster,
Speaker 9: but boy, they're really really hard to play against. And
Speaker 9: I think that that's a very fair statement.
Speaker 1: Is Chris Shols, sports information director for the UK softball
Speaker 1: Woldcats to have another non conference game, but a tough
Speaker 1: one coming up Wednesday, Virginia Tech five o'clock at John
Speaker 1: Crop Stadium. You'll hear it on the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Chris. You're seeing it at the ballpark, Hey,
Speaker 1: thank you, appreciate it. Tech.
Speaker 9: Always a pleasure.
Speaker 1: And that'll do it for now, Thanks to Chris, to
Speaker 1: Jared Tech, and to coach Chris Collins. That's a good
Speaker 1: night from the garage and Lexi game.
Speaker 3: Joey.
Speaker 8: Do you like movies about gladiators? Joey, have you ever
Speaker 8: been in a in a Turkey prison?
Speaker 3: Takes the Singing Snatch? Think Donnas, I don't don