Speaker 1: It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day. Holy crap, I don't know
Speaker 1: who the hell we think we are. Get off our show, idiot.
Speaker 2: The kids are playing or turn at the countries are
Speaker 2: screwing it up. Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play
Speaker 2: Inner Murals. They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're
Speaker 2: really not.
Speaker 1: Who's the kid here?
Speaker 2: Who's the kid here? Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: Now? Here's Nick Coffee?
Speaker 3: All right, let's get it started here, Coffee and Company,
Speaker 3: thanks for joining us at Kentucky Oaks edition of Coffee
Speaker 3: and Company, as always, fueled by Thornton's putting the finishing
Speaker 3: touches on Derby Week.
Speaker 1: Well, I guess the work week of Derby Week.
Speaker 3: Obviously we've got tomorrow's big day and I do want
Speaker 3: to remind you. I know I've mentioned it a lot
Speaker 3: this week, but it's worth mentioning a lot. So that's
Speaker 3: what I'm doing. We will have all day coverage from
Speaker 3: the everywhere Churchill Downs. I was going to say, backside,
Speaker 3: I think we actually do start off the broadcast with
Speaker 3: our Derby coverage on eight to forty, whas with some
Speaker 3: backside coverage, but I mean it's all day and we
Speaker 3: will be set up in the grand stand where I
Speaker 3: believe we've been for every year that I've been a
Speaker 3: part of our Derby coverage.
Speaker 1: But also.
Speaker 3: You will get to hear the sounds and we'll kind
Speaker 3: of set the scene of pretty much everywhere at Churchill Downs.
Speaker 3: That's kind of what our annual Derby coverage is, and
Speaker 3: again I'm really happy to once again be a part
Speaker 3: of it. And it's something that I will say, I
Speaker 3: think early on I kind of took it for granted,
Speaker 3: meaning I didn't realize, you know, it's pretty cool to
Speaker 3: be able to be a part of the coverage of
Speaker 3: a huge event, the biggest event that we have here
Speaker 3: annually in this city and in this state, and it's
Speaker 3: one of the biggest sporting events of the entire year
Speaker 3: all over the entire world. So again getting closer and closer,
Speaker 3: but tomorrow's big day. We'll have all the coverage for
Speaker 3: you on News Radio eight forty. Whas I do feel
Speaker 3: a little as if now that we're here and we are,
Speaker 3: you know, a day away from the Kentucky Derby, we've
Speaker 3: got the Oaks today that maybe I would start to,
Speaker 3: you know, shift into really doing more more content of
Speaker 3: a horse racing. But I'm just I'm not going to
Speaker 3: do it every year. I get the I have that
Speaker 3: moment where I'm like, man, what are you doing? This
Speaker 3: is Derby Week? We should be talking horse racing. But
Speaker 3: I feel like, again, it's just a better move to
Speaker 3: talk about what I at least can can yap about.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm not sure if it's great radio, if
Speaker 3: it's entertaining, certainly not really informative, but you know, just
Speaker 3: talking about everything that comes with Derby rather than talking
Speaker 3: about horse racing specifically, that's that's that's my comfort zone.
Speaker 3: And I wish, you know, I wish I had a
Speaker 3: little more range when it comes to you know, Kentucky
Speaker 3: Derby stuff, but I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 3: But we do have a handful of Derby profiles you
Speaker 3: will hear throughout the day today because our man jodymling Uh,
Speaker 3: former colleague of ours here at I Heart, he still
Speaker 3: helps us out every year during Derby time, and he
Speaker 3: is as good as it gets when it comes to
Speaker 3: handicapping races.
Speaker 1: He is a horse racing.
Speaker 3: Expert slash insider, so much so that it's not just
Speaker 3: you know, something he does around here locally. He is
Speaker 3: somebody that's CBS Sports has has worked with. I mean
Speaker 3: they've they've hired him every year, uh for as long
Speaker 3: as I can remember, to be a part of their
Speaker 3: Derby coverage. And one of the things he does for
Speaker 3: us is he will give us a profile of each
Speaker 3: and every horse that is in the field. And foolishly,
Speaker 3: I have neglected that throughout the uh, throughout the the week.
Speaker 3: So we're gonna take advantage, right, I mean, I can't
Speaker 3: give you a whole lot of info on any of
Speaker 3: these horses, and I could, I could lie to you
Speaker 3: and act as if I, you know, have some some
Speaker 3: some insight into what I think will happen in this race.
Speaker 3: But Jody's the man who is again the expert, so
Speaker 3: we'll we'll, uh well, we will rely on on him
Speaker 3: and utilize the resources that that we have. But again
Speaker 3: it is Coffee and Company. We are fieled aout Thornton
Speaker 3: to make sure you sign up to become a member
Speaker 3: of the Refreshing Awards program if you haven't already. He'll
Speaker 3: save money at the gas pump and you can save
Speaker 3: every single time, you know, if you go and get
Speaker 3: gas every day.
Speaker 1: I mean, that would be odd, I think, but hey.
Speaker 3: That's what you do. That's what you do. You're gonna
Speaker 3: save each and every time. However, once per week you're
Speaker 3: gonna save up to twenty five cents per gallon, so
Speaker 3: that that is the real incentive.
Speaker 1: I know that there are a lot of other I guess,
Speaker 1: you know, competitors.
Speaker 3: I don't really think Thornton's has any competition, but you
Speaker 3: know other businesses alike that offer a similar type of
Speaker 3: program you can sign up for and you can maybe
Speaker 3: save some money, but you know they're not giving you
Speaker 3: twenty five cents off per week because.
Speaker 1: You know they're not as good as Thornton's. Nobody is.
Speaker 3: And one thing that I I mean, I talk about
Speaker 3: Thortons a lot. You guys know that right clearly. It's
Speaker 3: a big part of this show. And know I've always
Speaker 3: been really appreciative of the appreciative of them partnering with me,
Speaker 3: and they've been doing it for a long time now.
Speaker 3: So what I'm trying to get to is, I'm sorry
Speaker 3: Thornton's because again here I am yapping and gassing them
Speaker 3: up about things that you know, you typically hear me
Speaker 3: talk about but I did not realize that they have
Speaker 3: now got their bakery back open, so therefore their fresh,
Speaker 3: delicious donuts are back. And I don't know the details.
Speaker 3: I'll certainly get it because I think they may have
Speaker 3: had a transition at some point, or maybe it was
Speaker 3: during COVID, I don't really know, so again i'll get
Speaker 3: the details. But their donuts really really popular, and I
Speaker 3: don't know if they decided to go with something different
Speaker 3: in the meantime, meeting in like the last few years
Speaker 3: or whatever. But you know, my friends at Thornton's let
Speaker 3: me know, Hey, we really need you to start pumping
Speaker 3: up these donuts because you know, the bakeries back open,
Speaker 3: and these things are made fresh and they're delicious, and
Speaker 3: you know, I remember hearing Thornton's has always had great donuts,
Speaker 3: and I never heard that they had bad donuts. But
Speaker 3: clearly there was some kind of of a change that
Speaker 3: they made for reasons. I'm sure that made sense at
Speaker 3: the time. But again, they're wanting me to let you
Speaker 3: know that their donuts are back, the bakeries back, and
Speaker 3: if you forgot, or maybe you weren't aware of how
Speaker 3: delicious Thornton's fresh made donuts.
Speaker 1: Are no better time than now to go to go
Speaker 1: get some.
Speaker 3: All right, So a lot to get into here today,
Speaker 3: and I'm not really sure where to start, but I
Speaker 3: feel like this is going to be a thing for many,
Speaker 3: many many years to come, this time of year where
Speaker 3: we talk about something that we didn't talk about for
Speaker 3: decades prior. And what I mean is, once you get
Speaker 3: to the end of the college basketball season, that's whenever
Speaker 3: everybody's attention shifts to the portal and NIL, because NIL
Speaker 3: has led us to players sticking around in college basketball
Speaker 3: longer than they ever used to. And there's some real
Speaker 3: numbers that I want to get into here in just
Speaker 3: a moment that I think really makes me feel more
Speaker 3: confident in what I've been saying for a while, and
Speaker 3: that is that the new world here with NIL and
Speaker 3: the transfer portal, meaning now you get paid to play,
Speaker 3: and now with the portal, you can go wherever you want, seemingly.
Speaker 1: As many times as you want.
Speaker 3: So what that has done is that has made college
Speaker 3: basketball a much better product, not only because you know,
Speaker 3: you got guys sticking around longer, but because you got
Speaker 3: you've got free agency essentially where you can just you know,
Speaker 3: build a team from scratch, just like Pat Kelsey did
Speaker 3: a year ago. Like that, that's good for the game.
Speaker 3: And yeah, there's the downside of it where you don't
Speaker 3: get guys to stick around for four years. The four
Speaker 3: year player is going to be a real rare thing
Speaker 3: moving forward, and that is and you know that sucks.
Speaker 1: However, I still believe that if you're.
Speaker 3: Just looking at the pros and cons, I mean, it's
Speaker 3: way more beneficial for college basketball.
Speaker 1: This new world is than detrimental.
Speaker 3: And I you know, I'm somebody who loves college basketball,
Speaker 3: so I certainly appreciate that. So again, I don't see
Speaker 3: any change as far as what I guess late March
Speaker 3: and really all of April is and that is where
Speaker 3: you get a feel for what your team's going to
Speaker 3: look like the following season and the NBA Draft. I mean,
Speaker 3: you used to have guys that would go to the
Speaker 3: NBA Draft knowing like they would turn pro, enter their
Speaker 3: name and draft and know that they didn't have any
Speaker 3: real chance of getting drafted, right, but they just decided, look,
Speaker 3: I don't want to stick around in college anymore. You know,
Speaker 3: I can come back and get my degree whenever I'm
Speaker 3: twenty one years old, and I want to go ahead
Speaker 3: and start my pro career now, because you know, when
Speaker 3: you're a professional athlete. Let's be real, in most instances,
Speaker 3: you can't do that for the same amount of time
Speaker 3: that folks can do most jobs that they have, right,
Speaker 3: like God willing, I won't need to have any athleticism
Speaker 3: or be in great shape to do this for as
Speaker 3: long as they allow me to do it. If you're
Speaker 3: a basketball player, you got a window. And if you
Speaker 3: spend four years in college, yeah, it would probably be
Speaker 3: a great experience. I doubt anybody would ever regret that experience.
Speaker 3: I'm sure there are some examples, and yes, you would
Speaker 3: get an education and you'd live a good lifestyle, right
Speaker 3: if you're I mean before an il, before anybody was
Speaker 3: getting paid to play as far as you know, name,
Speaker 3: image and likeness, they were still living a pretty good life,
Speaker 3: right they've got I mean, these college athletes have nice
Speaker 3: facilities they live in, they don't pay for health insurance.
Speaker 3: I mean they're fed, and you actually even get like
Speaker 3: a stipend, like the cost of attendance stipend. So like
Speaker 3: even before that, you were still living a great lifestyle.
Speaker 3: It wasn't as if you were out here just you know,
Speaker 3: doing manual labor and being tortured, nothing like that. So
Speaker 3: you know, like it would make sense that you would decide, hey,
Speaker 3: you know, I'll come back and get my degree, because again,
Speaker 3: why not go ahead and start making money and instead,
Speaker 3: let's just say you've got a ten year pro Let's
Speaker 3: say you're going to play till you're thirty two years old,
Speaker 3: and by the time you get thirty three or just
Speaker 3: you know, your your body's not what it once was.
Speaker 3: You no longer are playing at the level to where
Speaker 3: you can earn a living doing it, G League.
Speaker 1: Europe wherever.
Speaker 3: So if you left college at twenty you would have
Speaker 3: had twelve years to do it. You leave college at
Speaker 3: twenty two twenty three, you have less time. So again
Speaker 3: it's not that big of a difference. But now you've
Speaker 3: got guys that are turning down the NBA knowing that
Speaker 3: they would get drafted, albeit maybe late first round, second round.
Speaker 3: They're now turning that down to come back to college
Speaker 3: because they're going to make more money. So Draft Express
Speaker 3: put this out earlier. Today, they're only one hundred and
Speaker 3: six players that have entered the twenty twenty five NBA Draft.
Speaker 3: According to the NBA's latest release, this is the lowest
Speaker 3: number of early entrants since twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1: And it's down.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's down from a peak of three hundred and
Speaker 3: sixty three in twenty twenty one. Think about the timing here,
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty one, that was right before the NCAA's
Speaker 3: NIL era officially started. So again, these numbers probably don't
Speaker 3: really surprise you, but I just thought it was worth
Speaker 3: sharing because again, I think of all the sports that
Speaker 3: have you know, impact, been impacted differently with this new world,
Speaker 3: I don't even think it's I don't think it's close.
Speaker 3: College basketball has benefited from it more than any and
Speaker 3: it's not.
Speaker 1: Just because of the obvious right that guys.
Speaker 3: Stick around in college. You now have you know, guys
Speaker 3: that are twenty two, twenty three, sometimes even older than
Speaker 3: that playing and they're mature their experience. Maybe they don't
Speaker 3: translate to the NBA, but you know, the product of
Speaker 3: the game is good, and when you've got the portal,
Speaker 3: you can go add guys that are twenty two that
Speaker 3: have played a bunch of college basketball that can come
Speaker 3: in and really help you, you know, make a big
Speaker 3: improvement from the year prior, or maybe even you know,
Speaker 3: just sustain what you did the year prior. But let's
Speaker 3: go back to where college basketball was before this happened.
Speaker 3: I think I think it was suffering in a big way.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm gonna always love college hoops because you know,
Speaker 3: that's just what we do around here. I mean, I
Speaker 3: know not everybody probably is obsessed with it like I am,
Speaker 3: but we're clearly a big college basketball market, both programs
Speaker 3: here in town. I mean, I think, let's I mean
Speaker 3: in the state, I should say both Louisville and Kentucky.
Speaker 3: Like when people think of our athletic programs, they think
Speaker 3: of basketball, and I don't really see a scenario where
Speaker 3: that we'll ever will that will ever change.
Speaker 1: But you know, when you've got top twenty.
Speaker 3: Five recruits coming in for a year leaving if they're
Speaker 3: one and dones, or guys that stick around for a
Speaker 3: second year, because that's that's what this wasn't. I mean,
Speaker 3: it wasn't widespread, but it was, but it was growing.
Speaker 3: And what I'm talking about is guys who weren't good
Speaker 3: enough to be you know, one and Don's right out
Speaker 3: of high school because they weren't maybe they weren't develop yet.
Speaker 3: Maybe they were still just you know, all about potential.
Speaker 3: It wasn't about anything they were actually ready to do
Speaker 3: and produce. So then you would have guys that would
Speaker 3: come back for a second year. And if you're a
Speaker 3: top twenty five recruit of McDonald's All America and you're
Speaker 3: American and you're coming back for a sophomore season, and
Speaker 3: it's because maybe your freshman season, like you didn't you
Speaker 3: didn't really have a big role because you weren't ready.
Speaker 3: Like it was almost as if like you got to
Speaker 3: go pro after that year. Because at that point, if
Speaker 3: you keep sticking around in college like you had no
Speaker 3: time to develop, I mean you.
Speaker 1: Did, but you didn't want to.
Speaker 3: You would you would just move on because guys who
Speaker 3: stuck around in college that were really really highly regarded players.
Speaker 3: I mean it was viewed if you it was viewed
Speaker 3: that you were a bust if you didn't leave early.
Speaker 3: And I just think, you know, you go back to
Speaker 3: guys like BJ King, Jalen Johnson for Louisville, I mean
Speaker 3: even EJ. Montgomery for Kentucky. You know, clearly those guys
Speaker 3: weren't great. I think they knew they were never going
Speaker 3: to make it to the NBA, but they just decided
Speaker 3: to move on from college and start their pro career.
Speaker 3: And look, maybe they don't regret doing that, But there's
Speaker 3: also I think some level of being worried that you're
Speaker 3: The longer you stick in college, the more people were
Speaker 3: going to bring up the fact that you were a
Speaker 3: McDonald's All American or a top twenty five recruit, and
Speaker 3: if you're still in college, it was just viewed as
Speaker 3: a bad thing, that you were a bust and you're
Speaker 3: you know, you know.
Speaker 1: Your story's over.
Speaker 3: Yeah you're you're all right, you're decent, but hey, they
Speaker 3: were really wrong about you. Will now, I mean, you've
Speaker 3: got time to develop. I mean, because let's be real,
Speaker 3: if you're not ready to play as a freshman and
Speaker 3: you're at a high level, you're probably going to transfer
Speaker 3: after your freshman season a to a program where you
Speaker 3: can have a bigger opportunity.
Speaker 1: So I just think it's.
Speaker 3: It's beneficial for literally everyone involved in college basketball. I mean,
Speaker 3: I guess those that would probably say, hey, you're out
Speaker 3: of your mind, this is killing us.
Speaker 1: It's probably the.
Speaker 3: Mid majors, right, the coaches that are recruiting players and
Speaker 3: developing them for a few years and then they're about
Speaker 3: to enter a special season that they've been building for.
Speaker 3: But then they're two best players. They leave because they
Speaker 3: can go elsewhere and make more money, and they'd be
Speaker 3: foolish not to do that. So yeah, I guess from
Speaker 3: that aspect, there are some signs there are some downsides
Speaker 3: of it, but they'll adapt, right, I mean, that's what
Speaker 3: they have to do. I mean, it just sounds like
Speaker 3: something unheard of, but I really don't think that we're
Speaker 3: that far away from it being a very public sales
Speaker 3: pitch from mid major and low D one programs that
Speaker 3: we're selling you to come here and we'll give you
Speaker 3: an opportunity right away and then you can get the
Speaker 3: hell out. I mean again, think about that, a coach
Speaker 3: selling you come here, you'll only be here for a
Speaker 3: year and then you can go to a better program.
Speaker 3: Like that's just unheard of, and I'm sure that's not
Speaker 3: going to be directly how it is, but that that's
Speaker 3: probably a good to an extent, I think that's probably
Speaker 3: a good sales pitch because you know you can sell that.
Speaker 3: Hey with with coaches at the high majors now being
Speaker 3: able to reload and add to their roster with grown,
Speaker 3: experienced players that are twenty one, twenty two years old.
Speaker 3: Most coaches are choosing to do that, and I think
Speaker 3: that's a trend that's only going to grow. So, you know,
Speaker 3: if you're coaching at the low D one or mid major,
Speaker 3: you can you know, you use that against those coaches, right, like, hey, yeah,
Speaker 3: I know they offered you a scholarship, but let's be real,
Speaker 3: you're going to have to sit and wait for a
Speaker 3: long time because they've got this guy back and that
Speaker 3: guy back, and oh, by the way, they brought in
Speaker 3: two guys that play on the wing just like you.
Speaker 1: So why don't you come here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not the SEC, it's not the Big ten,
Speaker 3: it's not the ACC. But you'll get minutes, you'll put
Speaker 3: up big numbers, and then when you hit the portal
Speaker 3: the next year, you'll have everybody calling you again. I mean,
Speaker 3: I doubt that that will be like the direct sales pitch,
Speaker 3: but I feel like that's what you should do if
Speaker 3: you want to, you know, I mean, if you're gonna
Speaker 3: make this work, because if you just try to, you know,
Speaker 3: I mean again, you could try whatever you want to
Speaker 3: keep guys to stay, but it's just not realistic. You
Speaker 3: can't pay, and I the NIL situation is just gonna
Speaker 3: be just gonna be much different. So, I mean I
Speaker 3: used to kind of worry about the future of college
Speaker 3: basketball because you know, the product wasn't great and you
Speaker 3: needed guys like Zion Williamson and Anthony Davis to really
Speaker 3: bring eyeballs to the sport because you know, of the product,
Speaker 3: meaning guys that everybody knew were probably gonna be stars
Speaker 3: in the NBA. And you can tell when you watch
Speaker 3: them play for programs like Duke in Kentucky. But you know,
Speaker 3: you don't get those guys very often. That's a pretty
Speaker 3: rare thing. Well, now maybe you don't have I mean,
Speaker 3: Cooper Flag was certainly a big, big deal this year.
Speaker 1: But I think even.
Speaker 3: Though you know, you may not have a guy that's
Speaker 3: viewed as just this can't miss NBA.
Speaker 1: Prospect like Cooper Flag was the product.
Speaker 3: When I say product, I mean the game like it's competitive,
Speaker 3: you have you know, and there there's a lot of
Speaker 3: parody too. I mean that's another factor that I think
Speaker 3: makes it a benefit to college basketball, meaning the new
Speaker 3: world that we are that we're in now, with nil
Speaker 3: and with the portal. So I just thought, you know,
Speaker 3: I just thought that number. I mean, that's pretty crazy
Speaker 3: to see only one hundred and six players enter the
Speaker 3: draft when just four years ago, right before you get
Speaker 3: paid to play three hundred and sixty three innered. And
Speaker 3: another thing to keep in mind, of the one hundred
Speaker 3: and six that have entered this year, there's many of
Speaker 3: them that know they're coming back to school or at
Speaker 3: least probably expect to come back to school because they're
Speaker 3: just going through this process to get the experience and
Speaker 3: maybe get some good feedback from the NBA, like, oh,
Speaker 3: take it away at Kentucky. I mean, I think the
Speaker 3: expectation is he's back for Kentucky next year, but he's
Speaker 3: considered in one of those one oh six. And also
Speaker 3: there's also guys from across across the pond in Europe
Speaker 3: and other countries, international players that have entered the draft.
Speaker 3: So again, I don't know if this proof. I'm sure
Speaker 3: some would say, you know, they don't notice much of
Speaker 3: a difference, but for me, like this is this is
Speaker 3: a good thing. And yeah, it's not really college basketball anymore.
Speaker 3: It's professional basketball, just a you know, a different version
Speaker 3: of it compared to the NBA. All Right, a lot
Speaker 3: we're gonna get into today, so make sure you stick around.
Speaker 3: It's Coffee and Company feel about Thornton's on Sports Talk
Speaker 3: seventy and seven ninety.
Speaker 1: All right, welcome back in. It is Coffee and Company.
Speaker 3: Field about Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety at
Speaker 3: Kentucky Oaks Day edition of the show. As we continue
Speaker 3: to get you set for Kentucky Derby one point fifty one,
Speaker 3: I haven't really done a whole lot of looking other
Speaker 3: than in fact, you know, I'm now a little bit
Speaker 3: more familiar with the field because of our Derby profiles
Speaker 3: and whatnot. But I'm still sticking with Rodriguez. But I
Speaker 3: don't have anything to add other than earlier this other
Speaker 3: than what I mentioned earlier this week, as far as
Speaker 3: you know, the story as to how Rodriguez got its name,
Speaker 3: and it's based off a documentary that I think is
Speaker 3: one of the best, honestly that honestly that I've ever seen.
Speaker 3: So I'm still rolling with Rodriguez, my son for anybody
Speaker 3: who cares he's for he's the horse racing fan and
Speaker 3: maybe even you know, expert, certainly an expert when it
Speaker 3: comes to, you know, comparing to his dad. But my
Speaker 3: son Moose, he is still all in on American promise.
Speaker 3: So that's one with not as much. The odds aren't
Speaker 3: grade thirty to one. Therefore, you know, maybe that would
Speaker 3: be a decent payday if it comes through. What we'll
Speaker 3: do is my wife Chill end up picking a horse.
Speaker 3: I don't know what she's thinking or if she's even
Speaker 3: looked at the field just yet. But then we'll have
Speaker 3: each of us will draw out of like a hat
Speaker 3: and see which one that you know, see which one
Speaker 3: we get, and then we'll probably put together like some
Speaker 3: type of bet that has all four of them combined,
Speaker 3: and you know, it'll probably have insanely terrible odds and
Speaker 3: you know, probably won't win, but if it does, you know,
Speaker 3: that'd be cool, and hey, we'd make some money. So anyways,
Speaker 3: thanks for joining us here on a Friday in Kentucky,
Speaker 3: Oaks Day edition of the show. All Right, so the
Speaker 3: ACC yesterday, well it n't officially announced it, but it
Speaker 3: came out yesterday from a variety of different reporters that
Speaker 3: were discussing something that the ACC is looking to do
Speaker 3: to to help the basketball side of things. So CBS
Speaker 3: Sports Brandon Marcello is the first that I saw that
Speaker 3: put it out there, and I'll just read directly from
Speaker 3: his write up. It says the ACC is strongly considering
Speaker 3: shrinking its conference basketball schedule to help boost the leagues
Speaker 3: NCAA tournament profile, and the increasing expectation is it'll be done.
Speaker 1: Per sources.
Speaker 3: So I see this yesterday and I'm thinking, Okay, this
Speaker 3: is this is this is good? Meaning, you know, last
Speaker 3: last year, right before the season started, I was in
Speaker 3: Charlotte for the ACC basketball media days they call it
Speaker 3: Operation Basketball, and I was there for the first time
Speaker 3: in a couple of years, and I remember kind of,
Speaker 3: you know, on my there on the flight, thinking, Okay,
Speaker 3: I wonder what the the real you know, vibe is
Speaker 3: going to be given the fact that the league has taken,
Speaker 3: in my opinion, significant steps back as a basketball conference
Speaker 3: in recent years. And the expectation this year wasn't that
Speaker 3: the ACC was gonna be that good. And sure enough,
Speaker 3: that's exactly how things played out. And if I'm being real,
Speaker 3: the ACC can get better next year. But how much
Speaker 3: better I don't know. So I thought maybe they would
Speaker 3: challenge other teams. Hey, we gotta. We got to collectively
Speaker 3: get better and improve to start, you know, getting some
Speaker 3: respect back. I mean, it's not as if it's the
Speaker 3: worst league in the country, but it's fallen quite a
Speaker 3: bit in the last decade.
Speaker 1: And other leagues had gotten better.
Speaker 3: So instead of hearing the commissioner and maybe other coaches
Speaker 3: during their you know, their entire experience at the ACC
Speaker 3: Basketball Media Day is kind of talking about, Hey, let's
Speaker 3: get better, let's let's get back, let's let's get this
Speaker 3: thing back on track. It was more of a hey,
Speaker 3: what can we do to to convince the committee that
Speaker 3: they're wrong? What can we do, uh, to you know,
Speaker 3: get more teams in the tournament? But not because like
Speaker 3: we need to get better, but like we need to
Speaker 3: just sell ourselves that. And I'm thinking, okay, you got
Speaker 3: you gotta, you gotta. The first issue here is you
Speaker 3: got to address the fact that you're the league is
Speaker 3: not what it once was. To me, it was like
Speaker 3: they were in denial and didn't want to acknowledge that
Speaker 3: the league had taken big steps back. They just wanted
Speaker 3: to act like it was all the committee's fault and uh,
Speaker 3: in fact, they were having Lonardi like, I mean, if
Speaker 3: you remember the whole thing, Liken, they they were they
Speaker 3: had Lonardi come and talk to the AC.
Speaker 1: It wasn't at basketball media days.
Speaker 3: It might have been one of the spring or fall
Speaker 3: meetings for the league where like Lenardi was talking to
Speaker 3: coaches telling them what they can do to better improve
Speaker 3: their resume. And I'm thinking, first of all, Lonardi doesn't
Speaker 3: have anything to do with the tournament, and you know
Speaker 3: him having three four teams in in his bracketology in
Speaker 3: late February, like, I mean that that wasn't that far off. So,
Speaker 3: I mean, I was bummed to know that instead of
Speaker 3: acknowledging that the league has fallen a little bit, they
Speaker 3: were just in denial, acting as if they were being
Speaker 3: picked on. Well, then you hear that they're going to
Speaker 3: make a change to the ACC basketball schedule as far
Speaker 3: as how many games you're going to play against conference opponents,
Speaker 3: that's I mean, maybe they won't say it out loud,
Speaker 3: but that's full on proof that you're well aware that
Speaker 3: when you play twenty league games, I mean, that's going
Speaker 3: to leave you having a huge you know, I guess
Speaker 3: that's I think it's four more than some conferences.
Speaker 1: I know some do eighteen.
Speaker 3: Some do sixteen, but the ACC does twenty, and they
Speaker 3: added to it was eighteen and they went to twenty
Speaker 3: when the ACC network launched, just because they needed the inventory,
Speaker 3: but because the ACC has fallen so much. I mean,
Speaker 3: Louisville was a perfect example. They went all through January
Speaker 3: winning games and it wasn't their fault, but like they
Speaker 3: got nothing out of winning those games because the league
Speaker 3: was down week actually, and again you can't control that.
Speaker 3: I guess they realize now that you could have another
Speaker 3: situation where and I still think Louisville was incorrectly seated
Speaker 3: this year, and in fact, I still would be convinced
Speaker 3: you could convince me that the committee just flipped Louisville
Speaker 3: and Memphis and put them in the wrong spot. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's like the first conspiracy theory that I'm getting closer
Speaker 3: and closer to just believing and not even thinking it's
Speaker 3: a conspiracy theory.
Speaker 1: That's just what happened.
Speaker 3: But anyways, if you are like just just next year's expectation,
Speaker 3: right like Carolina, maybe they'll be a lot better or
Speaker 3: maybe they'll be a bubble team again, because you know
Speaker 3: that wouldn't shock me.
Speaker 1: Duke is gonna be Duke. They're gonna have talent. Louisville.
Speaker 3: I mean louisll went eighteen and two in the league
Speaker 3: and got a two seed or I'm sorry, got an
Speaker 3: eight seed.
Speaker 1: Clemson.
Speaker 3: There's no scenario they're able to sustain what they've done
Speaker 3: the last couple of years because I mean, they had
Speaker 3: a special group that had a good run for Clemson
Speaker 3: and now they're kind of starting over.
Speaker 1: Miami certainly can get better because they were awful.
Speaker 3: Will Wade at NC State, I guess it really depends
Speaker 3: on what kind of roster he has when it's all
Speaker 3: said and done, but they'll get better with him.
Speaker 1: He's a good hire.
Speaker 3: Ryan Odam at Virginia, I mean, he's not Tony Bennett,
Speaker 3: but I think that may actually be a good thing.
Speaker 1: Just because they need some new life.
Speaker 3: And I think when you've got players that can transfer
Speaker 3: any time they want, it's going to be tough to
Speaker 3: get guys to stick around in Virginia and play the
Speaker 3: style that Tony Bennett played. So again, like maybe the
Speaker 3: ACEC is a lot better next year, but we could
Speaker 3: certainly be in the same situation we were in this
Speaker 3: past year, where you've got some teams that have good
Speaker 3: records and they're out of conference. I mean, Louisville actually
Speaker 3: is the perfect example as to why they should do this,
Speaker 3: because again, Louisville in the non conference, they didn't have
Speaker 3: any losses against teams that you would say are bad losses.
Speaker 3: I mean, in fact, every team that beat them in
Speaker 3: the non conference made the tournament, and they actually had
Speaker 3: you know, a few decent wins in the non conference
Speaker 3: as well, and then you get to ACC play and
Speaker 3: they went eighteen to two. So I still think the
Speaker 3: committee got it wrong. But in the real issue with
Speaker 3: the with how they seeded the tournament with the ACC
Speaker 3: is that they just weren't consistent, right, Like Carolina getting
Speaker 3: in is something that probably shouldn't have happened. Clemson getting
Speaker 3: a five seed, was it or a four seed one
Speaker 3: of those two getting a one. It's like they didn't
Speaker 3: see the ACC consistently right. The things that got Clemson
Speaker 3: their seed and that got Carolina in, like the things
Speaker 3: that they got credit for to get where they were,
Speaker 3: Louisville didn't get credit for that. So anyways, playing more
Speaker 3: non conference games giving you a chance to go out
Speaker 3: there and add more valuable opponents, meaning that there's something,
Speaker 3: there's something to gain if you win, and if you lose,
Speaker 3: it's not really a real hit unless, of course, you know,
Speaker 3: you get blown out. So they're going to go from
Speaker 3: twenty to eighteen. I wish they actually would go from
Speaker 3: twenty to sixteen, to be honest with you. So this
Speaker 3: is this is full on confirmation and it's actually kind
Speaker 3: of a I mean, I'm happy they're doing it, but
Speaker 3: it's also kind of sad because I think if you
Speaker 3: really consider what they're doing here is like they know
Speaker 3: they want they need and want to get more teams
Speaker 3: in the tournament, But if everybody's playing twenty games, it's
Speaker 3: gonna leave you to have a not not a real
Speaker 3: high ceiling as far as your seed line, because I mean,
Speaker 3: like the only real valuable win and I mean like
Speaker 3: real value that that you were you were getting, and
Speaker 3: I guess everybody's you know, barometer is different. But like
Speaker 3: a resume win, a signature win, the only one that
Speaker 3: existed in the ACC this past year was Duke.
Speaker 1: That was it.
Speaker 3: If you beat Clemson, that's a good win, that's that's
Speaker 3: a solid win, that'll you know, it has quad one value.
Speaker 3: But like outside of that what other win are you
Speaker 3: getting in league play that that is going to help
Speaker 3: you on selection Sunday. So you know, this is the
Speaker 3: ACC confirming they realize their league is not what it
Speaker 3: once was, and look, it could get back there. And
Speaker 3: you know, I still think the potential is there for
Speaker 3: the league to have seven, eight, maybe nine teams.
Speaker 1: In the tournament.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's not something that's crazy. I mean we
Speaker 3: got to take baby steps, I suppose, because you had
Speaker 3: Carolina as the last place team in Louisville as an eight,
Speaker 3: Clemson as a four or five, whichever it was, and
Speaker 3: they lost to McNee state, and then of course Duke
Speaker 3: was a one seed.
Speaker 1: So you know, this is a good thing. Now.
Speaker 3: What I don't like is the latest report from David Teal,
Speaker 3: who does a great job covering the ACC for I
Speaker 3: believe he works for the UH Well. I think he
Speaker 3: retired from writing for one of the newspapers in Virginia,
Speaker 3: in Newport News, Virginia. But he's as connected as anybody
Speaker 3: I can think of in the ACC. And here is
Speaker 3: what he put out there this morning. I'm sorry last night.
Speaker 3: He says, if indeed ACC Men's basketball reduces the league
Speaker 3: schedule from twenty to eighteen games where you play just
Speaker 3: where you're going to play just one rival twice a season.
Speaker 3: Here's so, I guess you'll play every team once and
Speaker 3: then one team twice with that add up to make sense.
Speaker 3: So who is Louisville's rival in the ACC, you may ask,
Speaker 3: I don't think we really have one, and I'm not
Speaker 3: real big on creating rivalries, but I can tell you
Speaker 3: what this is the school that there's like zero connection with.
Speaker 3: Like that makes no sense if you were you know,
Speaker 3: there's no ryt We over use the word rivalry in
Speaker 3: sports way too much as it is. But if you
Speaker 3: don't have a rival, what would you do? You would
Speaker 3: pick a team where you have history with. Louisville apparently
Speaker 3: would be paired with SMU and I just one. I
Speaker 3: would rather play one of the really good teams in
Speaker 3: the league, which you know, I know there haven't been
Speaker 3: many lately, but like Duke and Caroline are clearly going
Speaker 3: to play each other twice. N C State and Wake Forest, FSU, Miami, Clemson, Georgetown,
Speaker 3: cal Stanford, Boston College, Notre Dame, pitt and Syracuse, SMU
Speaker 3: and U of L.
Speaker 1: So that is how they have it. Laid out here.
Speaker 3: According to David Teal, so like SMU and U of
Speaker 3: L put together just because of like being you know,
Speaker 3: being outsiders.
Speaker 1: I mean, louisll has been in the ACC for a decade.
Speaker 1: SMU's brand new.
Speaker 3: I think you could put Louisville in Notre Dame together
Speaker 3: and it would make better sense. I think you could
Speaker 3: put Louisville in Syracuse together because these are good basketball programs,
Speaker 3: like basketball schools, and you could take Pittsburgh and SMU
Speaker 3: and who would care? And you know, Boston College Notre Dame.
Speaker 3: I guess, I guess there's some history there just as
Speaker 3: far as the two teams to an extent, But I
Speaker 3: just wish it would be somebody different than SMU. But
Speaker 3: either way, getting rid of the twenty game league schedule
Speaker 3: what it's going to do. And I'm sure they'll have
Speaker 3: this conversation with with each member of the league. You know,
Speaker 3: we're doing this, and that means you can't go add
Speaker 3: Popcorn State to take these two games. You've got to
Speaker 3: go at, you know, try to find somebody that will
Speaker 3: play you to where you have a really really you know,
Speaker 3: competitive game where there's not a whole lot to lose
Speaker 3: if you do slip up, and sometimes just playing good
Speaker 3: teams and you lose. As we've learned, it can actually
Speaker 3: benefit you. You could beat a team by thirty or lose
Speaker 3: by five to a really good team, and your resume
Speaker 3: is better from the loss against a good team than
Speaker 3: a win against nobody. All right, stick around, It's coffee
Speaker 3: and Company or fuel bout Thorntons right here on Sports
Speaker 3: Talk seven ninety.
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Speaker 3: A Kentucky Oaks Day edition of Coffee and Company rolling
Speaker 3: along here on Sports Talk seven to ninety. Appreciate you
Speaker 3: hanging out with us. And because I'm not very good
Speaker 3: at really knowing anything about horse racing, as I have
Speaker 3: had to let you guys know in many ways this week,
Speaker 3: I'm sure we're going to lean on somebody who is
Speaker 3: an expert, somebody who knows what he's talking about. So
Speaker 3: let's go to Jody Dimmling for a couple of our
Speaker 3: Derby profiles.
Speaker 1: Now look at the Kentucky Derby field.
Speaker 2: One by one American Promise Virginia Derby winner. American Promise
Speaker 2: is one of the biggest and best looking entry in
Speaker 2: this year's Kentucky Derby field. The chestnut son of Triple
Speaker 2: Crown winner Justify, has raced nine times in his career
Speaker 2: for Hall of Fame trainer d Wayne Lucas. American Promise
Speaker 2: is owned by BC Stables and will be ridden by
Speaker 2: Derby newcomer Nick Warez. De Wayne Lucas has won the
Speaker 2: Kentucky Derby four times. He will be starting a horse
Speaker 2: in his thirty first Derby, with his first win coming
Speaker 2: back in nineteen eighty eight with winning colors, his last
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety nine with charismatic Could d Wayne Lucas
Speaker 2: do it again with a long shot? American Promise raced
Speaker 2: three times as a two year old at Churchill Downs,
Speaker 2: but only finished in the money one of those three races.
Speaker 2: It wasn't until the sixth start of his career that
Speaker 2: American Promise broke his maiden. He did that on December
Speaker 2: twenty ninth at Oakland Park. Then it was a sixth
Speaker 2: place finish in the Southwest Stakes. In late January, a
Speaker 2: fifth place finished in the Risen Star. Lucas then opted
Speaker 2: to ship American Promise to Colonial Downs for the Virginia Derby,
Speaker 2: and the colt rewarded his trainer with a seven and
Speaker 2: three quarter links score and a ticket to the Kentucky Derby.
Speaker 2: Lucas had thought about running in the Lexington Stakes, but
Speaker 2: instead opted to train American Promise up to the Kentucky Derby,
Speaker 2: meaning he has seven weeks in between his starts. Lucas
Speaker 2: isn't worried and thinks he's got a big chance. He's
Speaker 2: had a really really good month. Isn't three yet, so
Speaker 2: he's just getting into that frame. He's growing under that
Speaker 2: frame and must learned that baby fat. He's a seventeen
Speaker 2: hand harsh, you know, and it takes them a little wild.
Speaker 5: But he is respining really well for very well.
Speaker 2: The Virginia Derby winner American promise. Now look at the
Speaker 2: Kentucky Derby field one by one East Avenue. One of
Speaker 2: the more intriguing entries in this year's Kentucky Derby is
Speaker 2: east Avenue, a bay son of Medallia de Aora. He
Speaker 2: finished second in the Bluegrass Stakes, beating the nose right
Speaker 2: on the wire by Burnham Square. East Avenue was one
Speaker 2: of the hottest young two year olds last year, winning
Speaker 2: his first two starts. Going into the Breeders' Cup Juvenile
Speaker 2: as a nine to five favorites, but he stumbled at
Speaker 2: the start and finished ninth in that race. Owned by
Speaker 2: Godolphin Stables, trained by Brendan Walsh, East Avenue began his
Speaker 2: three year old campaign in the Risen Star in early
Speaker 2: February at the fair Grounds. He finished tenth a very
Speaker 2: disappointing effort in that race, but that disappointment didn't mean
Speaker 2: he was off the Derby trail. Walsh continued to train
Speaker 2: him for the first leg of the Triple Crown, pointing
Speaker 2: for the Bluegrass Stakes, where he ran a huge race
Speaker 2: and barely got beat by Burnham Square. East Avenue Sire
Speaker 2: Medallia Deor was fourth in the Kentucky Derby in two
Speaker 2: thousand and two. East Avenue all three of his races
Speaker 2: in the state of Kentucky have been in the money,
Speaker 2: two at Keenlan and one at Ellis Park. He has
Speaker 2: two wins and a second in five career starts. East
Speaker 2: Avenue looks like he wants to be on the front
Speaker 2: end of the pace, but Walsh believes his versatility will
Speaker 2: help him in the Derby, and he also thinks east
Speaker 2: Avenue learned a lot in the Bluegrass Stakes.
Speaker 5: Sometimes you have to lose sometimes, I think, to learn
Speaker 5: your lessons and develop. I mean, you see an awful
Speaker 5: lot of horses that have won the Derby back through
Speaker 5: the years, you know, Dave, their seasoned horses have at
Speaker 5: the battle and and and what have you in races
Speaker 5: and they get beaten, you know, one, two, three times
Speaker 5: before they win a Derby, and and you know, maybe
Speaker 5: we were lacking that, you know, but I feel he
Speaker 5: learned a lot in the blue Grass It was great
Speaker 5: to see him fight the way he did and if
Speaker 5: he if he learned the lessons that I think he did,
Speaker 5: then hopefully he said to make another step forward in
Speaker 5: the derby, and if he does, then he should be very,
Speaker 5: very competitive