Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day. Now, here's Nick coffee.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get it started, ladies and gentlemen. The
Speaker 2: five o'clock hour here on a Thursday afternoon, or if
Speaker 2: you are someone like myself, Thursday is the new Friday.
Speaker 2: So maybe that means the weekend started. Weekend vibes the
Speaker 2: rest of the way here, not only today until we
Speaker 2: wrap it up, but also, you know, tomorrow on a Friday,
Speaker 2: as we get you set for a big weekend and
Speaker 2: a big weekend. You know, we say that all the time.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it's not really a big weekend. Sometimes it's, you know,
Speaker 2: just whatever weekend. It is a big weekend as Louisville
Speaker 2: sting a top six team Miami coming to town undefeated,
Speaker 2: a Heisman Trophy candidate, and an opportunity for Louisville too.
Speaker 2: I think, really not remove those losses that are on
Speaker 2: the on the record as we speak, because you can't
Speaker 2: do that. But a win here could really could really
Speaker 2: make up for the frustration that fans have failed up
Speaker 2: to this point. And I don't want to act as
Speaker 2: if fans are just completely and I don't know, everybody
Speaker 2: can think for themselves, so I can't speak for anybody
Speaker 2: but myself, but I don't get the sense that it's
Speaker 2: gotten to the point where you think, Okay, this season's
Speaker 2: been a disaster, and we were expecting, not necessarily to
Speaker 2: be an ACC champion, but man, like this is terrible.
Speaker 2: I think if you lose to Virginia, that would have
Speaker 2: been the reaction, that would have been the conversation. But
Speaker 2: you avoided the loss. But as I've said throughout the week,
Speaker 2: I still am seeing things that make me really worried
Speaker 2: about a game against a really good Miami team that
Speaker 2: can easily make you pay for mistakes more so than
Speaker 2: anybody you've played up to this point, to be honest
Speaker 2: with you, So a loss here isn't even a bad
Speaker 2: loss here. Here's my worry in this game, other than,
Speaker 2: of course, you know, just knowing Louisville could play well
Speaker 2: and lose because Miami they've always got talent, and now
Speaker 2: they've got a quarterback that has made this Miami team
Speaker 2: different than the others that have been maybe not posers
Speaker 2: or frauds, but there have been a few teams here
Speaker 2: and there over the years that for a few weeks,
Speaker 2: you feel like, Okay, maybe the U is back and
Speaker 2: then they underwhelm and they fall apart and this team
Speaker 2: maybe they do that.
Speaker 3: We'll see.
Speaker 2: But if they don't, I think it's going to because
Speaker 2: they've got a quarterback that they haven't had in quite
Speaker 2: some time. So the ultimate worry there is, Yeah, losing
Speaker 2: to Miami is expected when it comes to you know,
Speaker 2: point spreads and all that. But look, upsets happen all
Speaker 2: the time, and Jeff brom is good for a big
Speaker 2: upset in October. That's kind of routine for him. But
Speaker 2: here's here's what really gets me is that if you
Speaker 2: lose here and you play well, you can be real
Speaker 2: with yourself and say, hey, like they lost, and now
Speaker 2: they've got two ACC losses. They're sitting at four and three,
Speaker 2: and that sucks. There's really almost no certainty you have
Speaker 2: a shot at sniffing the ACC championship game. But you
Speaker 2: know what, they played better. If they can do this
Speaker 2: against everybody else, they'll be able to win the majority
Speaker 2: of their games, maybe all of their games on the
Speaker 2: schedule other than Clemson. Like, you can look at it
Speaker 2: that way, or you can say, wow, and this is
Speaker 2: by nature how I typically am as far as just
Speaker 2: being pessimistic. If that was the result, I would think, well,
Speaker 2: damn it. If you didn't just shoot yourself from the
Speaker 2: foot repeatedly against SMU and against Notre Dame especially, then
Speaker 2: this would be one you can burn. You got one
Speaker 2: loss to burn. And it just so happens to be
Speaker 2: a team that right now is a playoff team. I mean,
Speaker 2: I guess you can't be until it's over, but you
Speaker 2: know they're they're in full control here. I mean, Miami
Speaker 2: doesn't have to play Clemson in the regular season, so
Speaker 2: you know, Louisville. Maybe I'm giving louis At a little
Speaker 2: too much credit here, but Louisville is one of the
Speaker 2: last real big tests for this Miami team. And maybe
Speaker 2: they don't even view it as a big test because
Speaker 2: again I'm sure they feel, I mean, their favorites for
Speaker 2: a reason. But I hope that you know, I'm just
Speaker 2: gonna come out and say, like I think Miami is
Speaker 2: from a talent perspective, like good enough to where like
Speaker 2: Louisville could. Again, my fear is they could play really
Speaker 2: well and lose, and I don't want that to happen
Speaker 2: because again I would go back to just thinking, well, geez,
Speaker 2: this wouldn't be as demoralizing if you wouldn't have, you know,
Speaker 2: made so many mistakes and lost at Notre Dame and
Speaker 2: lost at SMU, and again those aren't Those aren't losses
Speaker 2: that right now are like, oh wow, can you believe
Speaker 2: they lost to this team? I mean SMU. We'll see.
Speaker 2: But I still happen to think that they're pretty good.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be shocked if they end up finishing with
Speaker 2: a really, really good record this year, because again, they
Speaker 2: have a really favorable schedule in the ACC as well.
Speaker 2: Lost in Notre Dame at their place doesn't have anything
Speaker 2: to do with the ACC. But also, you know it's
Speaker 2: it's at Notre Dame. So if you end up with
Speaker 2: losses to Notre Dame, SMU, and Miami, and let's say
Speaker 2: you lose to Clemson, but then you win every other game,
Speaker 2: I guess that would mean you beat Kentucky and that
Speaker 2: would certainly go a long way considering the drought. But
Speaker 2: that's the scenario where you end up finishing eight and four,
Speaker 2: and that's not a record Louisville fans I feel like
Speaker 2: usually are disappointed in, but it'd be one of those
Speaker 2: years where because you only played twelve games in the
Speaker 2: regular season, you really never got to figure out how
Speaker 2: good you were. Right, you lost to the teams that
Speaker 2: you know were supposed to beat you, and you beat
Speaker 2: the teams you were supposed to be like, there wasn't
Speaker 2: some big and I guess technically you were favored against SMUs,
Speaker 2: So maybe you were supposed to win that one. I mean,
Speaker 2: and you should have to be honest, But I was
Speaker 2: just more impressed with SMU than I thought I was
Speaker 2: going to be once that game came to an end.
Speaker 2: So noon on Saturday, we'll have pregame coverage starting at
Speaker 2: eleven o'clock The louisvill Football Pregame Show presented by Pellow
Speaker 2: Windows and Doors of Central Kentucky and Jefferson Animal Hospital. Again,
Speaker 2: we'll go from eleven to noon, and then as soon
Speaker 2: as it ends, we'll go live here for the postgame show.
Speaker 2: Reacting to whatever it is that happens on the Louisville
Speaker 2: Football Postgame Show, presented by alex Arwhite Lawyer's Suit Distracted
Speaker 2: Driver dot Com. Real quick, if you are just now
Speaker 2: joining us, maybe you just hopped in your vehicle and
Speaker 2: you're heading home. From work or maybe you're just waking up.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: If you've been unplugged here recently, you might have missed
Speaker 2: some big, big news that is a real surprise. Seems
Speaker 2: to be one of the most unexpected pieces of news
Speaker 2: we've seen in college basketball in quite some time. Tony Bennett,
Speaker 2: Virginia head coach, National Championship head coach, twenty days before
Speaker 2: the season starts, has decided to abruptly retire immediately from
Speaker 2: his position. Press conference is set for tomorrow on have
Speaker 2: you seen anything on Twitter that like, as you know,
Speaker 2: any update to the story is if any reason, any context.
Speaker 2: I'm seeing a lot of speculation at nothing, you know,
Speaker 2: nothing legit.
Speaker 3: I would assume with the press conference that they're trying
Speaker 3: to keep whatever the reason is under wraps until the
Speaker 3: press conference takes place tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean most most are just assuming that it's
Speaker 2: that it's health related, which of course we would hope
Speaker 2: that his health isn't bad enough to where he'd have
Speaker 2: to just retire. I mean, he's fifty five years old,
Speaker 2: he's young, and others are speculating maybe he got in trouble,
Speaker 2: maybe something happened. I'm clearly giving him the benefit of
Speaker 2: the doubt based off of the you know, perception we
Speaker 2: have of him. As far as his image, he seems
Speaker 2: to be a pretty I mean, I told John during
Speaker 2: the break, he's a choir boy. I mean, he seems
Speaker 2: to be a guy that you'd never see getting himself
Speaker 2: into some kind of trouble that would lead to the
Speaker 2: university saying look, we're going to fire you unless you
Speaker 2: walk away and retire. I just can't see that happening.
Speaker 2: But again, we never really know these people, so maybe
Speaker 2: maybe I'm wrong, but him just realizing he's not he's
Speaker 2: not in it anymore, and it's best for everybody involved
Speaker 2: for him to walk away and not just be sticking
Speaker 2: around because you know, he feels like it's what he's
Speaker 2: supposed to do. Like that would be my guess at
Speaker 2: this point. But here is a quote. So I mentioned
Speaker 2: Jeff Borzello being one of the many writers who covers
Speaker 2: college basketball, sharing how they recently talked to Tony Bennett
Speaker 2: and they did not get any indication that this would
Speaker 2: this was possible. So I'll read directly from Jeff Borzello's
Speaker 2: tweet here it says I asked Tony Bennett literally last week,
Speaker 2: why so many people thought he could be the next
Speaker 2: Jay Wright and then suddenly he retires out of nowhere.
Speaker 2: His response verbatim, I got to call Jay Wright and
Speaker 2: see what he says. Right, I always have said, when
Speaker 2: you're doing this, you're in this profession. Whether you agree
Speaker 2: how it's going or not, you have to be true
Speaker 2: to yourself and really look at it and say, who
Speaker 2: am I kind of operate how I want?
Speaker 4: Can it?
Speaker 2: Can it be successful enough? And you get to choose
Speaker 2: if you want to be a part of it or not.
Speaker 2: And when you feel like it's time, like Jay did,
Speaker 2: like Coach k maybe saving it's their choice and you
Speaker 2: can sit here and complain or gripe, or you have
Speaker 2: a decision to make. Either you try to do it
Speaker 2: your way or you get to make that decision. So
Speaker 2: I think Jay Wright probably foresaw the where this is going.
Speaker 2: It'll be better wherever, it'll be better, whenever there's regulations.
Speaker 2: Is that three to five years away? Who knows? But
Speaker 2: if it's not, those are decisions that every man has
Speaker 2: to make when it's his time. So it looks as
Speaker 2: if this story was more so based on how he
Speaker 2: could be a guy that just I mean By the way,
Speaker 2: legends legendary coaches, and I'm not saying Tony Minutes a legend.
Speaker 2: He did win a national championship, but like I think
Speaker 2: anybody retiring that is successful, and he's clearly fallen, like
Speaker 2: he hasn't won a tournament game since he won a
Speaker 2: national championship. But it's not to the point that this
Speaker 2: is a non shocker because everybody wanted him gone at Virginia,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, Like, and he's young, so
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like, no matter when he would
Speaker 2: do it, it would be considered a surprise unless you
Speaker 2: had a multiple year, you know, stretch where he was
Speaker 2: winning nine to ten games a year, which I just
Speaker 2: don't see that ever happening. So for him to say
Speaker 2: that and then a week later make that decision to retire,
Speaker 2: I don't know, Like there's two ways to look at that.
Speaker 3: Either he.
Speaker 2: Had that conversation with Jeff Borzello and then decided to
Speaker 2: actually give it some thought and maybe take his own
Speaker 2: advice and consider what he mentioned, you know, is it
Speaker 2: your time? But if this would have happened three months ago,
Speaker 2: even maybe two months ago, it would have been still surprising,
Speaker 2: but not like this. This is. I mean, they probably
Speaker 2: have an exhibition game next week, so we'll see. I mean,
Speaker 2: here's my guess. He'll have a press conference tomorrow. He'll
Speaker 2: get up there in front of all the cameras. You know,
Speaker 2: he'll be at the podium in front of the mic,
Speaker 2: being handsome as ever, and he'll he'll say something profound
Speaker 2: and he'll be very heartfelt in how much he loves
Speaker 2: Virginia and this and that, and then you know, he'll
Speaker 2: call it a career and everybody will talk about how
Speaker 2: great of a guy is. And I wish Tony Bennett
Speaker 2: was a scumbag John because he plays all he coaches
Speaker 2: awful basketball as far as the style of play. It's
Speaker 2: ugly to watch. I mean, but he's good and he's
Speaker 2: typically been very successful at it. Like he's not a
Speaker 2: good villain. I want a villain to beat us like
Speaker 2: a drum the way he has throughout his career. I mean,
Speaker 2: his record against Louisville in the ACC has got to
Speaker 2: be as good as his record against maybe any team
Speaker 2: in the ACC. I mean, when Patino was here, it
Speaker 2: was a Patino thing actually before it was anything else.
Speaker 2: I mean, we haven't really had a long standing coach
Speaker 2: other than Patino since Louisvell has been in the ACC,
Speaker 2: and Patino couldn't beat him, just couldn't do it. It
Speaker 2: took a Mango Matthiang buzzer beater to knock him off
Speaker 2: back in twenty fourteen, fifteen whenever that was, and then
Speaker 2: Mack got him one year and then I don't think
Speaker 2: Louisboll's ever beat him outside of that. So he's been
Speaker 2: super successful. And you know, I can't stand the way
Speaker 2: his teams play because they're boring and they just they've
Speaker 2: got our number. And it'd be nice to look over
Speaker 2: at the sideline and think that's son of a bitch.
Speaker 3: He's just he's the worst.
Speaker 2: But then, like you hear him talking, I can't help
Speaker 2: but I can't help but think he's great.
Speaker 3: He's the guy you ran into in the elevator. Oh yeah,
Speaker 3: media days, right.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, very awkward. So here's how here here? Yeah,
Speaker 2: I guess this is a good no better time than
Speaker 2: now than to share my Tony Bennett story.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So, it was a Tuesday night, got to Charlotte. It
Speaker 2: was the night before the ACC basketball tip off actually started,
Speaker 2: and I ran into to coach Mac and his daughter.
Speaker 2: He brought her along with Kenny Klein and one of
Speaker 2: the other UFL staffers, and we were in the lobby
Speaker 2: of the Weston where they were doing where they were
Speaker 2: getting set up for media day, and in fact, Mac
Speaker 2: and were just shooting the you know what. He was
Speaker 2: giving me crap about, you know, asking if I was
Speaker 2: still sore from like the fantasy camp or whatever. And
Speaker 2: Tony Bennett walks in and all of a sudden, you know,
Speaker 2: Mac and I are kind of just mid conversation. Tony
Speaker 2: walks over to Chris Mack and was like, Hey, how
Speaker 2: you doing. And then within like five seconds, I realized, yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't I don't need to be in this conversation,
Speaker 2: like it's going to be awkward for me. So I
Speaker 2: just like I tapped Mac on the shoulder. I was like, hey,
Speaker 2: I'll see you tomorrow morning, because he was set to
Speaker 2: come on. He was said to come on the show
Speaker 2: the next morning. So, you know, I go to dinner,
Speaker 2: I go to a Hooters across the street from the hotel.
Speaker 2: I come back, I get in, I get in the
Speaker 2: the the elevator, and I guess because he saw me
Speaker 2: talking to Mac earlier.
Speaker 3: I don't know if he thought I worked for U
Speaker 3: L or what.
Speaker 2: But he gets on the elevators, just me and him
Speaker 2: and his sid, and you know, here he is a
Speaker 2: super successful college basketball coach and here I am some
Speaker 2: you know, some stranger to him who's there covering the
Speaker 2: ACC basketball tip off. And you know, I wasn't gonna
Speaker 2: say anything to him other than you know, maybe like
Speaker 2: the nod, like the hello. Well, he gets on the elevator,
Speaker 2: sees me, shakes my hand, and you know, he says, hey,
Speaker 2: I'm Tony, almost as if like hey, your boy Mac
Speaker 2: didn't introduce us, but nice to meet you. And I
Speaker 2: just probably looked at him, like, you know, I was starstruck,
Speaker 2: and I just said, I know, instead of saying nice
Speaker 2: to meet you, I'm nick. I just looked at him.
Speaker 2: And it probably wasn't like that long, but I feel
Speaker 2: like it was a long pause and I was just
Speaker 2: like mouth wide open, like I know, I know who
Speaker 2: you are. And then it got up to the second floor.
Speaker 2: He got off and told me to have a good night,
Speaker 2: and I just feel like, yeah, that wasn't that was awkward.
Speaker 2: That was weird for me. I don't know why I
Speaker 2: did that. I never thought I'd be starstruck with Tony Bennett.
Speaker 2: But he's he's a dreamy son.
Speaker 3: Of a bitch.
Speaker 2: He's a really really sharp guy, a guy that's hard
Speaker 2: not to like. Like whenever David Paget had that heartbreaking
Speaker 2: loss to Virginia where, if I mean, quite literally, the
Speaker 2: one thing Louisville couldn't do at the end of that
Speaker 2: game they did ding Adel running on the sideline, they
Speaker 2: get a bank threat to beat us. I mean, it
Speaker 2: was one of the more disastrous losses in Louisville basketball
Speaker 2: history as far as how it happened and really what
Speaker 2: was on the line. It's many years we're many years
Speaker 2: removed from that now. But and who knows what would
Speaker 2: have happened had that loss not taken place, because a
Speaker 2: win there, you'd have beat the number one team in
Speaker 2: the country and you would have gotten in the tournament.
Speaker 2: And who knows, maybe DP goes on a little bit
Speaker 2: of a run sweet sixteen. Maybe instead of going and
Speaker 2: hiring somebody, they give David the job. I doubt that
Speaker 2: was ever gonna happen, but you never know. But I remember,
Speaker 2: you know, after the game being so just you know,
Speaker 2: distraught that they lost that way, and here he is
Speaker 2: coming in to do the press conference before David, because
Speaker 2: obviously that was an emotional locker room as you could
Speaker 2: expect to lose like that, especially given the way that
Speaker 2: season had gone, and like he came out and like
Speaker 2: felt really he talked about how bad he felt for Louisville,
Speaker 2: and I believed him, like, I don't want you to
Speaker 2: be nice and genuine. I want you to be an
Speaker 2: a hole because you just beat us, and I want
Speaker 2: to not like you, but it's hard not to like
Speaker 2: you because you're a pretty likable guy. And then whenever
Speaker 2: Louisville missed the tournament that year, they did, like you know,
Speaker 2: they were doing those live hits with coaches after they
Speaker 2: get their seed and their draw and whatnot, and as
Speaker 2: most coaches do, they talk about their league and how
Speaker 2: many teams that got in, and like he had like
Speaker 2: a brief pause about Louisville not getting in, and it
Speaker 2: was like I hate that for them, and almost like
Speaker 2: he was choked up, and I believed him.
Speaker 3: So, you know, maybe not necessarily in results just yet,
Speaker 3: but you know who I'm thinking of, right, No, it's
Speaker 3: Mark Pope. He's the guy who's going to be too
Speaker 3: nice for everybody. Maybe not for Louisville fans. Maybe it'll
Speaker 3: be more annoying for Louisville fans, but for the rest
Speaker 3: of college basketball, he's going to be the new Tony Bennett.
Speaker 2: When it comes to personality, yeah, there's a layer there
Speaker 2: because he played at Kentucky and he's at Kentucky. That
Speaker 2: makes it to where it's not going to be as
Speaker 2: difficult to dislike him. But as far as personality and
Speaker 2: being genuine, I think you're right. I mean, I think
Speaker 2: Mark Pope. I mean, I don't want to say something
Speaker 2: that may come back to like you know, I don't
Speaker 2: want to I don't want it taken out of context.
Speaker 2: I don't want somebody just now getting in their car
Speaker 2: and hearing this being the first thing, first thing they hear.
Speaker 2: But like, I think Mark Pope's pretty awesome. Like I
Speaker 2: think he seems like a really genuinely good you know,
Speaker 2: I think he's proven to be a pretty good coach.
Speaker 2: Now him being able to do it here at Kentucky
Speaker 2: will see. But you know, I think he's a really
Speaker 2: likable guy. I think what he and I don't even
Speaker 2: know if he said it. But like Pat Kelsey, I
Speaker 2: think has been pretty direct whenever he's talked, when he's
Speaker 2: asked about UK and Pope, because you know, he probably
Speaker 2: knows he's not supposed to like the guy. And he
Speaker 2: comes from a rivalry, believe it or not, like the
Speaker 2: Cincinnati Zavior rivalry, like Pat Kelsey played in that rivalry.
Speaker 2: You know, he was at Xavier for a long time.
Speaker 2: He's from Cincinnati. I mean, that's as close as you're
Speaker 2: gonna get. I think as far as just the hatred
Speaker 2: between the two sides, it doesn't get the same love,
Speaker 2: but it's it's intense, so he knows it. But like
Speaker 2: he also knows Pope at least enough now to say
Speaker 2: kind of like the dude, which I get it, but
Speaker 2: it won't take long. And I hope you're not right,
Speaker 2: because I want to dislike Mark Pope, you know, I
Speaker 2: want to. I want to be able to say, you know,
Speaker 2: that guy is the worst, Like could you.
Speaker 3: I can't imagine him, especially if he's facing Louisville doing
Speaker 3: the thing where he's like man like, he wouldn't feel
Speaker 3: You'll you'll think he would feel bad for Louisville. You know,
Speaker 3: that kind of a loss or not getting in the
Speaker 3: tournament would he know at that level.
Speaker 2: Of it, No, and he's you know, he's someone that
Speaker 2: I'm really curious to see because he's such I mean
Speaker 2: again right now, it's refreshing. And I think overall there
Speaker 2: are many Kentucky fans that will legitimately prefer the way
Speaker 2: he carries himself more so than the way that Cal
Speaker 2: carries himself. And I don't just mean because Pope loves
Speaker 2: Kentucky and he played there. I just mean Cal's arrogant.
Speaker 2: Cal would you know, talk to you know, fans through
Speaker 2: the met is if everybody's so stupid and he's on
Speaker 2: a different level intellectually and when it comes to basketball,
Speaker 2: so like, I think they'll prefer that. But you know,
Speaker 2: you also want to coach that's got a killer's instinct
Speaker 2: when it comes to being being a competitor, and I
Speaker 2: have no reason to think Pope doesn't have that. But
Speaker 2: you know, we're going to learn about both these dudes
Speaker 2: this year because yes, you know Pope because he played there,
Speaker 2: but he hadn't been around Lexington in a long time.
Speaker 2: None of us knew much about Kelsey until he got
Speaker 2: the job, and we've learned about them throughout this process.
Speaker 2: Right the honeymoon when they're building the roster, getting fans
Speaker 2: excited about these new eras. But when it comes to
Speaker 2: you know, how they handle a loss, right, what their
Speaker 2: temperament is for certain things that come up in a
Speaker 2: season like that's it's really just a just kind of
Speaker 2: a wait and see kind of thing. Like let me
Speaker 2: give you an example when it comes to Pat Kelcey,
Speaker 2: just knowing how how he is about routine and having
Speaker 2: a plan and being very organized and detailed. When he
Speaker 2: said at the Mediada press or that they're going to
Speaker 2: prepare for their Friends of Life University, whatever the hell
Speaker 2: that school's called, that's coming to town next week for
Speaker 2: an exhibition game. He said they're going to prepare for
Speaker 2: that game as if they're playing Duke. He wasn't joking,
Speaker 2: And I think that's just like a reminder, Yeah, that's
Speaker 2: just how this guy is, which you know, if you
Speaker 2: prepare for it that way, then maybe you won't lose
Speaker 2: to Kentucky Wesley and or lea Ane RIM's like the
Speaker 2: previous coach did. All right, quick break will come back
Speaker 2: on the other side. If you guys haven't seen the
Speaker 2: uniforms that louell is gonna be wearing on on Saturday
Speaker 2: all black. I mean, I'm aroused just by looking at him.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 2: It is Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's here on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven ninety about thirty minutes left. I was
Speaker 2: talking to my wife there during the break, you know,
Speaker 2: just doing what we do, communicating, getting a plan together. Hey,
Speaker 2: A'm I meeting you at football practice? Are we meeting
Speaker 2: at home? What are we doing for dinner? Do you
Speaker 2: need me to you know what? Do you you need
Speaker 2: me to tell me where to be, tell me what
Speaker 2: I need to pick up? Like I'm you know, I'm
Speaker 2: just a I'm a guy that's there for her to
Speaker 2: do whatever she ne me to do. And she calls
Speaker 2: the shot. So when I called her during the break,
Speaker 2: I told her about the news of Tony Bennett, and
Speaker 2: you know, her response was, well, that's that's a bummer
Speaker 2: because he's really nice to look at. I mean, can
Speaker 2: you keep that comment to yourself? Like, I'm I'm aware
Speaker 2: he's I mean, like she still got me, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean? Like she gets to look at me
Speaker 2: every day? Does she know how lucky she is? Maybe
Speaker 2: somebody should remind her.
Speaker 3: Maybe you should dress as Tony Bennett for Halloween. I wouldn't.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't embarrass myself like that. I'm nowhere near as handsome,
Speaker 2: although you know, I don't know. What do you think
Speaker 2: the percentage chances are that there's some kind of a
Speaker 2: scandal related to this.
Speaker 3: More than i'd like to more than more than it
Speaker 3: should be. I would say, I'd say twenty percent.
Speaker 2: So Goodman just put this out within the last you know,
Speaker 2: twenty minutes or so. There is no health issue with
Speaker 2: Tony Bennett and his decision to retire. Sources tell the
Speaker 2: Field of sixty eight there are likely other reasons, but
Speaker 2: the changing landscape of college basketball over the last couple
Speaker 2: of years cannot be underestimated in his decision. So I mean,
Speaker 2: I read that as if it does mean that it's
Speaker 2: the ever changing landscape. But then and I'm overthinking and
Speaker 2: over analyzing it, certainly, But to say there's no health
Speaker 2: issue and that there are likely other reasons and then
Speaker 2: throw that out there, I mean, it's almost as if
Speaker 2: Goodman assumes that's a factor, but maybe he also thinks
Speaker 2: that there's something else.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: It's just see them announcing him doing a press conference
Speaker 2: to say goodbye makes me think that it really is
Speaker 2: just him deciding to leave in not anything else, but
Speaker 2: nothing would shock me this day and age.
Speaker 3: At the same time, though, I feel like, and again
Speaker 3: I don't mean to tell anybody what to do. I
Speaker 3: don't like to do that, but I mean, if you're
Speaker 3: this close to the season, I feel like you should
Speaker 3: just ride it out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, or why not say I'm retiring after
Speaker 2: this season.
Speaker 3: I mean that's if you want to make it like
Speaker 3: about you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And he's somebody that I do believe would not
Speaker 2: like that, Like I don't know if he would be
Speaker 2: bothered by it, but like he doesn't. He's not somebody
Speaker 2: that would seek that, meaning like give me my farewell tour,
Speaker 2: and a lot of coaches aren't. But clearly, you know
Speaker 2: coach k Is, so you know, maybe that's why he
Speaker 2: is just deciding to do it. I don't know. I
Speaker 2: just with you when you're this close to the season starting,
Speaker 2: because honestly, it has you're practicing like you're probably are
Speaker 2: preparing for an exhibition opponent to walk away. Then it
Speaker 2: just is really surprising because I feel like, what do
Speaker 2: you know now that led you to just make the
Speaker 2: call today? October seventeenth, that you didn't know two three
Speaker 2: months ago. I mean, you're not even recruiting right, Like,
Speaker 2: it's not like you're hitting you're hitting a wall with
Speaker 2: the portal and with nil, because right now the portal's closed.
Speaker 2: And if you you know, I'm sure you're recruiting high
Speaker 2: school kids, but you know, those guys aren't coming in
Speaker 2: with an insane amount of money right out of the
Speaker 2: gate unless they're elite level recruits. And let's be honest,
Speaker 2: Tony Bennett doesn't recruit those guys. He just that's not
Speaker 2: his style. So it's maybe a dumb question.
Speaker 3: But like, like they're going to obviously feel a team,
Speaker 3: but here's the thing, like they can't does does the portal?
Speaker 3: I guess is my question is the portal open up
Speaker 3: for the guys for this kind of situation?
Speaker 2: So where it where? And that's not a dumb question
Speaker 2: because now guys can do whatever the hell they want
Speaker 2: to where you you feel like anything a player is
Speaker 2: able to somehow do and make happen bypassing potential INCITUBLA
Speaker 2: rules right now doesn't surprise you because look at what
Speaker 2: just happened with the Mary Huggins, Bruce like I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm true. I mean I don't. I don't know what
Speaker 2: ended up happening, but they made it work. So but no,
Speaker 2: I would say, with with it being October, you can't,
Speaker 2: I mean, you can't transfer right now, like you know,
Speaker 2: you're mid semester, so I mean.
Speaker 3: It'd be wild though if you could. And then like Virginia.
Speaker 2: So yeah, these teams and these guys just became available
Speaker 2: now what you may see, and I doubt it because again,
Speaker 2: the type of guy that been at recruits, I just
Speaker 2: don't feel like, you know, it's a very specific kind
Speaker 2: of guy and player I think that would want to
Speaker 2: play for Tony Bennet. And I don't mean that as
Speaker 2: an insult, but I think you guys know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So this may still happen, but again, I feel like
Speaker 2: these are the kind of guys that wouldn't do this.
Speaker 2: But it could be Okay, Well, I now know I'm
Speaker 2: just gonna go ahead and sit out and transfer when
Speaker 2: the portal opens up in the semester break around Christmas time,
Speaker 2: because I came here to play for Tony Bennett and
Speaker 2: he's gone, and I don't think this team is going
Speaker 2: to be great. I don't want to burn your eligibility.
Speaker 2: So that's something you could see. But I don't know.
Speaker 3: Is there a game minimum like there is in football
Speaker 3: that you can keep your red shirt?
Speaker 2: It's a great question. Not I think it's like a
Speaker 2: certain percentage of the season, okay, so, and I think
Speaker 2: you also have to be I don't know, that's a
Speaker 2: great question because you also have to be injured for
Speaker 2: that to happen. So for example, like JJ Trainor, he
Speaker 2: played this past year for Louisville, but he didn't play
Speaker 2: and I think I think he played in less than
Speaker 2: twenty percent of the games and it was because of injury.
Speaker 2: Therefore he got a medical red shirt. If you just
Speaker 2: end up not getting off the bench other than three
Speaker 2: games as a basketball player, I don't know how that works.
Speaker 2: Because in football it's clearly a strategic thing for these
Speaker 2: guys to take advantage of. Now that's why they're opting out.
Speaker 2: I mean, you put a few good games on film,
Speaker 2: and you can bail and maintain a year of eligibility,
Speaker 2: another year to make money through nil, and you still
Speaker 2: get to keep whatever money they're supposed to pay you.
Speaker 2: I mean, the players have found a way to really
Speaker 2: take advantage of it. And I don't mean like it's
Speaker 2: a scam, but I mean they're just now able to
Speaker 2: do things that clearly are them looking out for their
Speaker 2: best interest and their behalf only, and it makes people uncomfortable,
Speaker 2: but I think if you were in their shoes, you'd
Speaker 2: probably find yourself doing the same thing. But that is
Speaker 2: the big news today. Tony Bennett has decided to retire,
Speaker 2: and he's gonna have a press conference tomorrow morning at
Speaker 2: eleven o'clock, and I would imagine again it'll be him
Speaker 2: being very much on brand, being a guy that's very
Speaker 2: easy to like, heartfelt, and you know, I guess he's
Speaker 2: just gonna My guess is he's just gonna tell us
Speaker 2: that he he was fighting it, but now he knows
Speaker 2: for sure it's time, so he's gonna walk away and
Speaker 2: he'll probably then talk about how much confidence he has
Speaker 2: and whoever the next coach is going to be as
Speaker 2: far as the interim. But if you're Virginia, like this
Speaker 2: is a very interesting case study here because I would
Speaker 2: say most situations like this one, it would make sense
Speaker 2: for the university and even the fans to say, Okay,
Speaker 2: this guy gave us something we really never had at Virginia,
Speaker 2: So let's let's promote his top assistant who's been here
Speaker 2: forever and kind of keep this thing rolling. But I
Speaker 2: wouldn't be shocked if Virginia fans are now at least
Speaker 2: able to say it out loud, we hate the way
Speaker 2: we play. We don't want to play boring basketball. That
Speaker 2: is just like watching paint dry. And oh, by the way,
Speaker 2: you you now you know you're gonna have. It's gonna
Speaker 2: be much less. And this is probably a big factor
Speaker 2: in this decision. It's much less likely for Bennett to
Speaker 2: build his teams the way he does and play the
Speaker 2: way he does and succeed at a really high level in
Speaker 2: this new world of the portal and nil, because he's
Speaker 2: not going to be a super attractive destination for guys
Speaker 2: who want to play a good style that'll you know,
Speaker 2: get him ready for the NBA or make a lot
Speaker 2: of money. And you know, I'm sure that was a factor.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 2: If you haven't seen the UL uniforms, go check them out.
Speaker 2: They're on the U of L Football social media pages.
Speaker 2: I'm sure they're on Instagram and on Facebook, but I
Speaker 2: just saw it here on Twitter, and you know, to
Speaker 2: see that they tease the black helmet yesterday. That looks
Speaker 2: so awesome. Not a surprise that they're going all black
Speaker 2: and they're they're awesome. You know they've got I mean,
Speaker 2: I think the jerseys themselves are not a whole lot
Speaker 2: different than what we've seen them where the last time
Speaker 2: they wore black. But that Matt black helmet with the
Speaker 2: the cards. I can't think of what that font it
Speaker 2: is called. We were talking about it earlier when Kup
Speaker 2: was with us, But it looks looks really good. That
Speaker 2: like candy red face mask. I mean, it's a beautiful look.
Speaker 2: And I don't in fact, I'm quite confident that won't
Speaker 2: have any impact or factor in the game itself. But
Speaker 2: whatever happens, at least they look good. And I'm biased,
Speaker 2: of course, I'm a Louis a fan, so I'm more
Speaker 2: likely to, you know, say they look good than the
Speaker 2: average person who doesn't care for the team. But I
Speaker 2: also will acknowledge whenever they don't look good. And when
Speaker 2: they wore the gold, I just I mean, I thought
Speaker 2: that was ugly. I mean, it didn't look as bad
Speaker 2: as the photo we saw before the season started that
Speaker 2: hinted they were going to be wearing those Ronald McDonald
Speaker 2: looking things. They were more gold than the yellow arches.
Speaker 2: I mean McDonald's can say the golden arches. They're yellow,
Speaker 2: they're not gold. But yeah, these uniforms are really really
Speaker 2: sharp looking. All right. So earlier today there was a
Speaker 2: press conference in the NFL with the Commanders and their
Speaker 2: play call or Cliff Kingsbury, former college coach who really
Speaker 2: has has been phenomenal with with Jayden Daniels and with
Speaker 2: the Commanders. I mean, Kingsbury has shown I think that
Speaker 2: he's not a great head coach, and he's had some
Speaker 2: pretty good opportunities and he's yet to really cash in
Speaker 2: with him. But he's a good he's a good oc,
Speaker 2: no doubt. And they had a trick play during I
Speaker 2: think it was their game against Baltimore, and I like this,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not sure if others knew, but he was.
Speaker 2: This is a guy who is known for being a
Speaker 2: really good play caller and a guy that is a great,
Speaker 2: you know, offensive coach. But instead of taking credit for
Speaker 2: a trick they pulled out of the bag, he gave
Speaker 2: all that credit to Jeff brom incident.
Speaker 3: People are for where did that come from?
Speaker 4: So yeah, I got to cite my source as always,
Speaker 4: it's a Jeff Brown play. He did it at Purdue,
Speaker 4: and obviously we had David Blou who played for Jeff Brom.
Speaker 4: So David Blou had brought that one up and we
Speaker 4: ended up they threw it to a tight end. We
Speaker 4: ended up sneaking Austin back there and it ended up
Speaker 4: working out. Guys executed perfectly because they brought a pressure,
Speaker 4: which she even made it better. But yeah, that's shout
Speaker 4: out Jeff Brown for that one.
Speaker 2: So you know, this isn't This isn't something that you know,
Speaker 2: many people probably care about. And if you don't, I
Speaker 2: get it. But Jeff Brom he's not a big, in
Speaker 2: your face me guy. Like he doesn't do a whole
Speaker 2: lot of self promotion. He's not one, you know, I
Speaker 2: don't want to call him boring, but like compared to
Speaker 2: some other coaches who do like to really just you know,
Speaker 2: be a showman, he's not really that. But he is
Speaker 2: really well respected in the football world from the NFL
Speaker 2: to college. I mean, this is a guy that that
Speaker 2: and I'm sure people know this, but like before he
Speaker 2: became a really successful coach, even you know, before his
Speaker 2: days coaching the Louisville Fire, the former arena team, like
Speaker 2: he was a consultant in the NFL. Like he's somebody
Speaker 2: that no matter where you go all levels of American football,
Speaker 2: he is. He's widely respected from an offensive standpoint and
Speaker 2: as a head coach as well. And you hear that
Speaker 2: from time to time, not only there with Cliff Kingsbury,
Speaker 2: but you know, Lou Reddick is a former NFL I mean,
Speaker 2: he's a guy who covers the NFL and I feel
Speaker 2: like he used to be We'll have to look up
Speaker 2: Lou Reddick's bio, which, by the way, he's I've enjoyed
Speaker 2: Lou Reddick on the on the call for some of
Speaker 2: these college football games. He's not somebody that I think
Speaker 2: has done college games before, but he's doing it this
Speaker 2: year and I found him to be pretty I mean,
Speaker 2: I enjoy him on the call. He's pretty insightful. But
Speaker 2: he was just raving about Brahm as a play caller
Speaker 2: and and really, you know, saying something that that you
Speaker 2: know him put it this way, Lou Reddick's saying this
Speaker 2: puts a little bit more legitimacy to it than most
Speaker 2: saying and that is that Tyler Shuck is a guy
Speaker 2: that will get an NFL look despite his age if
Speaker 2: he continues to play really well because of how Jeff
Speaker 2: Brohm's utilizing him. Jeff brom is showing some things with
Speaker 2: how he's using Tyler Shuck that NFL team should be
Speaker 2: intrigued by. And look, the numbers don't really show it.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure maybe I'm gassing him up a little
Speaker 2: bit more than maybe others would, but I think Tyler
Speaker 2: Shuck's really really good. And one of the things that
Speaker 2: has just been a bit that has been a bummer
Speaker 2: for me is that I think had you been able
Speaker 2: to hold on and beat Notre Dame and maybe avoided
Speaker 2: the loss to SMU, I mean, that's what it could
Speaker 2: have should have you been in a much different situation.
Speaker 2: This would be a matchup between two elite teams right
Speaker 2: now to you know, probably two top ten teams, to
Speaker 2: be honest with you, if that would have been the case.
Speaker 2: But I just feel like there's not as much, you know,
Speaker 2: attention on him because Louisville just hasn't won the games
Speaker 2: that you need to win in order to get notoriety
Speaker 2: and attention, and also don't want to waste him. I
Speaker 2: don't want to want to get to the end of
Speaker 2: the year with a whole hum record and feel like, damn,
Speaker 2: we only had that guy one year. What could have been?
Speaker 2: All Right, quick break will come back on the other side.
Speaker 2: Wrap this thing up. It's coffee and company fuel. Beeth
Speaker 2: Thorton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety got some
Speaker 2: decent college football actions and I, you know, comparatively speaking,
Speaker 2: meaning for you know, for a Thursday night of an
Speaker 2: NFL game. But man, this Saints Broncos game not one
Speaker 2: that I, you know, have a whole lot of interest in.
Speaker 2: I'm probably gonna bet on it because I got a
Speaker 2: little momentum from from last week. But Boston College Virginia Tech,
Speaker 2: I think I'm gonna trust Boston College to cover plus
Speaker 2: seven and plus seven and a half. I don't love it,
Speaker 2: but that's what I'm thinking right now. All right, if
Speaker 2: you are a pet owner and you are not routinely
Speaker 2: having your pets checked out, meaning their health, you know,
Speaker 2: that's that's that's a problem. You need to make sure
Speaker 2: your pets are healthy, and where you need to do
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Speaker 2: outer Loop they've been in business since nineteen eighty, meaning
Speaker 2: you can count they've been around for forty four years
Speaker 2: and they're open twenty four hours a day, three hundred
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Speaker 2: when it does happen, you need to have a plan,
Speaker 2: and your plan should be to reach out to the
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Speaker 2: a call at five two nine hundred pets or get
Speaker 2: more information at Jefferson Vets dot com. And don't forget
Speaker 2: they've got their big event coming up on Saturday. Pints
Speaker 2: for pausing people ten am to two pm on Saturday,
Speaker 2: where you can see how the pet blood donation process
Speaker 2: works and maybe get blood yourself. So we appreciate them
Speaker 2: over there at Jefferson Animal Hospital. Appreciate you guys for
Speaker 2: hanging out with us today. We're out of time. We'll
Speaker 2: be back at it tomorrow to finish up the week.
Speaker 2: A feel good Friday. It gets you set for the weekend.
Speaker 2: Have a good on everybody,