Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue and Cider. Dick Gabriel with
Speaker 1: you on a Thursday edition of our program, Happy New Year.
Speaker 1: Hope you enjoyed last night's special edition as we look
Speaker 1: back on some of the great moments on the UK
Speaker 1: campus when it came to Wildcats sports and relives some
Speaker 1: of the calls from Tom Leach and Jeff Bacoro and
Speaker 1: Jack Gibbons. It was fun of putting that show together.
Speaker 1: I hope you liked it if you missed it. A
Speaker 1: lot of play by player highlights and things like that.
Speaker 1: It is on our where you get your podcast, Apple Spotify,
Speaker 1: things like that. You can go back and listen to
Speaker 1: last night show. Tonight's show, it's going to be abbreviated
Speaker 1: because we have UK women's basketball coming up, Wildcat's open
Speaker 1: conference play with Mississippi State. Darren Heddrick has the call
Speaker 1: for you seven o'clock tip off at Historic Memorial Coliseum.
Speaker 1: Darren's pregame begins at six forty five with coach Kenny Brooks,
Speaker 1: who coaches in his first SEC game as the UK
Speaker 1: head man, So stay tuned for that. Coming up a
Speaker 1: few minutes, we're going to talk to Shawn Woods. We
Speaker 1: usually talked to the Unforgettable Guard on Wednesdays, but had
Speaker 1: the special show last night, so Sean's going to join us.
Speaker 1: We'll get his thoughts on not just the win earlier
Speaker 1: this week by the Basketball Cats, but that loss up
Speaker 1: in Madison Square Garden. We haven't talked to Sean since
Speaker 1: the holidays, so we'll get his thoughts on the game
Speaker 1: that a lot of people think exposed probably a couple
Speaker 1: of weaknesses that other teams will look to exploit for
Speaker 1: the rest of the year, and it's probably fair to
Speaker 1: say starting with the Florida Gators on Saturday at eleven am.
Speaker 1: So we'll get Sewan's thoughts on that coming up. I
Speaker 1: wanted to talk first off about something that is just
Speaker 1: all over the inner web and now comes the story
Speaker 1: earlier today, and of course we pre record, and I
Speaker 1: don't know where this story might be now, but this
Speaker 1: came out earlier today. Arizona State has reportedly filed a
Speaker 1: lawsuit against the College Football Playoff. And I'm not sure
Speaker 1: who exactly you'd serve with papers on that, but ASU
Speaker 1: denied was denied a crucial targeting call in the Peach
Speaker 1: Bowl yesterday in that game against Texas and Honestly, I
Speaker 1: firmly believe that if that call is properly made, Arizona
Speaker 1: State wins that game in an spectacular come from behind fashion.
Speaker 1: I mean, early in the game, they're down twenty four
Speaker 1: to eight, completely outclassed, and it looked like just another
Speaker 1: example and this was going to be, you know, exhibit
Speaker 1: A of a team that was seeded and maybe didn't
Speaker 1: even belong in the playoff. It definitely belonged because it
Speaker 1: won its conference. But Arizona State, it looked like, was
Speaker 1: the beneficiary of the bracketing that had been set up
Speaker 1: well ahead of time, stating these four conferences will get buys.
Speaker 1: Everybody started to complaining about that after the first round
Speaker 1: of games. Well, guess what those rules were in place
Speaker 1: for weeks and weeks, that bracketing formula. So you can't
Speaker 1: suddenly start whining about that, at least where I'm from,
Speaker 1: where I'm sitting, you don't start whining about that as
Speaker 1: soon as the first round games are over. You want
Speaker 1: to whine about it, whine about it, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: some people did as soon as the brackets were announced
Speaker 1: many weeks ago. But at any rate, Arizona State came
Speaker 1: charging back and quite frankly, if you saw the game,
Speaker 1: Texas scored on an ASU defensive breakdown, got a long touchdown,
Speaker 1: and then scored on a punt return. So now it's
Speaker 1: fourteen to nothing before he had a chance to pop
Speaker 1: the popcorn. But then it turned into a hell of
Speaker 1: a game, back and forth, back and forth. Cam scatbow
Speaker 1: became legendary by carrying the ball, by throwing the ball.
Speaker 1: Arizona State and a crucial make or break situation fakes
Speaker 1: a punt and the punter throws to a two hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty pound defensive tackle who was, you know, supposedly
Speaker 1: just in the block, and the guy makes a hell
Speaker 1: of a catch, fingertip catch. So it was a great
Speaker 1: game back and forth, but on a one particular play
Speaker 1: where if this play is called properly, Arizona State wins.
Speaker 1: And it looked like Texas was guilty of targeting a
Speaker 1: Texas d beck led with a helmet helmet to helmet contact,
Speaker 1: and I thought, well, this is just a matter of time
Speaker 1: before they come over and it's going to be an
Speaker 1: unpopular call with Texas, and it's going to be the
Speaker 1: right call, you know, if you're Arizona State and they
Speaker 1: didn't call it. And to me, like I always say,
Speaker 1: and I am extremely sympathetic to officials because I did
Speaker 1: it a bit when I was young, and again, my
Speaker 1: brother's done it for fifty years. Get the easy ones right.
Speaker 1: The situation was not easy because it would have cost Tech.
Speaker 1: This is a shot at the national title. But guess
Speaker 1: what it costs Arizona a shot at the national title.
Speaker 1: And they like to say, well, we don't want the
Speaker 1: officials to, you know, decide the game, blah blah. Well
Speaker 1: you did decide the game. You did by not making
Speaker 1: the proper call. Obviously, Twitter blew up. Jacob Tammy, the
Speaker 1: former Kentucky tight end, had a great take on this.
Speaker 1: He said, the fact that it was not called targeting
Speaker 1: and exactly why there needs to be a camera in
Speaker 1: the replay booths and explanations from the replay booth. This
Speaker 1: game just got altered by a huge decision by nameless,
Speaker 1: faceless explanationless entity. I don't know if it needs to
Speaker 1: happen in real time from the booth, but it certainly
Speaker 1: would help, and especially after the game. And then somebody
Speaker 1: else whose label is his avatar labels Mark Pope, respector
Speaker 1: and his addresses at Bring Back Patino, So I don't
Speaker 1: know where he stands on things, but he tweeted in
Speaker 1: horse racing we always get am on an explanation from
Speaker 1: the stewards. No reason college football playoff can't do the same.
Speaker 1: I agree, like I said, at the very least after
Speaker 1: the game, it should have been explained and not just
Speaker 1: this is the call we made and were sticking by it.
Speaker 1: That's crap. They need to explain it properly, or as
Speaker 1: many people have tweeted, do away with the rule. Do
Speaker 1: away with it because if you're not gonna call it
Speaker 1: and it's so obvious, do away with the rule. No
Speaker 1: one would complain. It would be a bad decision because
Speaker 1: I think it's a much needed rule because things have
Speaker 1: gotten so dangerous. Players are so much bigger, faster, and
Speaker 1: stronger now and the equipment is so much better now
Speaker 1: that guys are turning themselves into actual missiles, and you're
Speaker 1: seeing now what's happening with CTE, and people later in
Speaker 1: life are developing real problems. But more than one person
Speaker 1: said get rid of it, and one tweeter said, if
Speaker 1: that's not targeting because of circumstances and not wanting to
Speaker 1: call it in the last minute of a playoff game.
Speaker 1: You cannot have the rule. The rules a rule first
Speaker 1: quarter in September, fourth quarter of a playoff game, crown
Speaker 1: of head contact plus defenseless receiver equals targeting. And it
Speaker 1: marred what was a great, great game. And you know,
Speaker 1: another officiating issue that I don't understand, and I probably
Speaker 1: would get a different answer from somebody. You know, for
Speaker 1: every person I asked, I'd get a different answer. I'm
Speaker 1: sure whatever happened to uncatchable ball, I was tweeting back
Speaker 1: and forth or texting, I should say, with Darren Hedrick
Speaker 1: as we often do the chain gang. Keith Madison was
Speaker 1: in on it, Doug Flynn popped in Jeff picorrel. But
Speaker 1: there was a past interference call in one of the
Speaker 1: games that Darren and I ai I think, disagreed on
Speaker 1: whether it was interference or not, but we agreed that
Speaker 1: it was an uncatchable ball. And I loved that rule
Speaker 1: and that rule created. You didn't see it much at first,
Speaker 1: and now you almost never see it. But that to
Speaker 1: me took all the mystery out of a lot of
Speaker 1: these calls, like the one Darren and I argued about.
Speaker 1: You know it's up to personal interpretation. I know of
Speaker 1: a different officials. There are some textbook elements to it,
Speaker 1: but different refs see things different ways. I get that
Speaker 1: that's the same in so many different instances in sports.
Speaker 1: But if a boss twenty feet over the heads of
Speaker 1: the receiver and the d bag flying out of bounds,
Speaker 1: it's unketchable. All you got to do is that signal
Speaker 1: over your head if you're a referen uncatchable ball? Oh okay,
Speaker 1: now there are Yeah, it was uncatchable because my guy
Speaker 1: couldn't go for it. No, there are times when it's
Speaker 1: absolutely obvious when a ball is uncatchable. Bring that back, please?
Speaker 1: Would you appreciate that? Get back to me on that.
Speaker 1: Sean Woods is next year on six thirty wlap back
Speaker 1: to the Big Blue Insider and we say happy New
Speaker 1: Year to one of our favorite guests. He reaches us
Speaker 1: every week on The Big Blue Insiders. Jersey hangs in
Speaker 1: the rafters, A rough, unforgettable guard. Sean Wood's Happy.
Speaker 2: New Year, Coach, Happy knew your Dick, Gabriel.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you, as a coach and a
Speaker 1: football fan and a guy you know the game a
Speaker 1: little bit, but you and I were talking for one
Speaker 1: of the year. You've watched a lot of football through
Speaker 1: the holidays, and that Texas Arizona State game was literally
Speaker 1: one for the ages. But so was what appeared to
Speaker 1: be an obvious miss call definition of the rule targeting.
Speaker 1: I just went off on it in the last segment,
Speaker 1: but I'm curious. Now, you coached a different sport, obviously,
Speaker 1: and play a different sport, but when you were in
Speaker 1: a I don't know if there's a similar situation in basketball,
Speaker 1: but that looked like the definition of the rule of
Speaker 1: targeting and it wasn't called properly. And I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's because they didn't have the guts to call
Speaker 1: it down the stretch or whatever, But does that just
Speaker 1: make your mind go crazy as a coach on the
Speaker 1: sideline when something that obvious isn't called and you don't
Speaker 1: get a decent explanation.
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, you know everyone is human, and
Speaker 2: you can't say that referees don't get caught in the moment.
Speaker 2: That was a unique situation where the referees in that
Speaker 2: game got caught in the moment. There was definitely a
Speaker 2: targeting call, and specifically by the new rule of targeting
Speaker 2: and you try to minimize it. There is no man
Speaker 2: is either cutting dry idea, either targeting or it's not.
Speaker 2: And you know, just make the call. You know. It's like,
Speaker 2: for instance, I hate to go off on something else,
Speaker 2: but Jay Billis says something that's relevant. We got too
Speaker 2: many rules we got you know, we're not We're let
Speaker 2: television and instant replaying things like that get more involved
Speaker 2: in human error and human decisions. And now you know,
Speaker 2: it's like a basketball game, the last two minutes of
Speaker 2: the longest two minutes of a basketball game, because everything's
Speaker 2: got to be looked over. Everything, every call is is questioned,
Speaker 2: you know. And same with this. You know, sometimes in targeting,
Speaker 2: it's hard to even play football anymore, make a tackle
Speaker 2: because when you were taught as a kid, you were
Speaker 2: taught to either lead with your head or make sure.
Speaker 2: You know, Now you're trying to tell a guy who's
Speaker 2: coming at another guy one hundred miles an hour to
Speaker 2: stop and technique. Yes, you know.
Speaker 1: What I'm saying.
Speaker 2: That's hard to do, and and and and now you
Speaker 2: take natural instincts, which the football it is, is a
Speaker 2: naturalisting sport, especially when it comes to tackling. You know,
Speaker 2: you're taking it out and you punish people for it,
Speaker 2: and which can be a game changing situation. And I thought, Yester,
Speaker 2: I mean the other day was a game changing situation.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And you know that's the kind of thing
Speaker 1: that needs to be altered in practice, with rep after
Speaker 1: rep after RepU. But that's hard to do. Like you said,
Speaker 1: when the kid starts playing football in the third or
Speaker 1: fourth grade. Yeah, and I mean I remember, you know,
Speaker 1: being taught you know, basically lead with the bridge of
Speaker 1: your nose, and I was an alignment for a minute,
Speaker 1: you know, and you didn't have a gash on your nose.
Speaker 1: You weren't doing it right. So but yeah, billis is right.
Speaker 1: But on the other hand, as a coach, as a player,
Speaker 1: you just want them to get it right. And yeah,
Speaker 1: they were human, but you know what, the video is
Speaker 1: not human and the video seemed to show So it's
Speaker 1: frustrating and Arizona State clearly had opportunities to win. But
Speaker 1: that's one of those rare instances where things turned. I
Speaker 1: did want to get your thoughts on that, but I
Speaker 1: need to get your thoughts on the basketball Wildcats. We
Speaker 1: haven't talked since before the holidays, so let's go back
Speaker 1: to that Ohio State game, and I guess we shouldn't
Speaker 1: be surprised if anybody loses in a high profile game
Speaker 1: like that. But Sean, it was the way Kentucky lost.
Speaker 1: They just seemed flat and looked like Ohio State took
Speaker 1: it to him and took them out of everything that
Speaker 1: they wanted to do. What were you, I know you
Speaker 1: weren't there, but what were your thoughts as you watched
Speaker 1: that game unfold?
Speaker 2: I just thought that Ohio State's game plan was better
Speaker 2: than Kentucky's game play, as simple as that. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: you know, Mark Pope has been almost flawless. But you know,
Speaker 2: as you go deeper into the season, you start playing
Speaker 2: real competitive teams. You know that other team is sitting
Speaker 2: in their film room and trying to find ways to
Speaker 2: stop what you're doing. It's made you successful. And I
Speaker 2: thought that what they did and the schemes they came
Speaker 2: up with defensively was on point, you know, and it
Speaker 2: took Kentucky out of all their strengths and it made
Speaker 2: them do things that they weren't normally you know, aren't
Speaker 2: normally good at doing, and you know it showed. And
Speaker 2: then offensively, you know, the point guard, won the point
Speaker 2: guard battle, and I just thought he dominated the game.
Speaker 2: And you know, a former Kentucky Wildcat who didn't have
Speaker 2: a great year, who was highly touted, really showed. You know,
Speaker 2: the Kentucky people, you know why cow and those coaches
Speaker 2: were so high on him coming in And he's healthy,
Speaker 2: now you know what I'm saying. You know, I thought
Speaker 2: that him and it was unfair for him. Z and
Speaker 2: what was the other big that left? Yeah, I thought
Speaker 2: that they were just it was unfortunate for them because
Speaker 2: all of them were hurt. He got back to Z
Speaker 2: got you're late and they couldn't play because of NCAA rules.
Speaker 2: From an academic standpoint, the other two had major foot
Speaker 2: injuries that they had to sit out for six months.
Speaker 2: And then they come back and you get thrown into
Speaker 2: the fire. Well, the base of your game and the
Speaker 2: base of being an athlete is your legs. Yeah, And
Speaker 2: how can you have legs when you don't have feet
Speaker 2: and you know, you can't even jump until two weeks
Speaker 2: before they throw you in a game, and you're supposed
Speaker 2: to have base and be able to jump and be
Speaker 2: spontaneous and things. And the athlete that you are or
Speaker 2: were at that particular time. It was just tough for them,
Speaker 2: you know. And now both of them are healthy, z
Speaker 2: is healthy, and all three of them pretty much, especially
Speaker 2: the two are are are having decent seasons.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you go back to the to the Aaron
Speaker 1: Bradshaw effort against Kentucky. It seemed like every time he
Speaker 1: got a rebound or a bucket, it was at a
Speaker 1: crucial time.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean, no doubt about it. And
Speaker 2: you know, he's an athlete. That's why he was highly
Speaker 2: tauted coming out and why why he was on the
Speaker 2: draft board and things like that. And I thought that's
Speaker 2: probably his best the best game of his college career
Speaker 2: thus far, all things considered. But you know, you got
Speaker 2: to give Ohio State credit. You know, they they really
Speaker 2: had their game plan, uh to a t and it showed.
Speaker 2: And you know, they forced Kentucky to make some adjustments
Speaker 2: which they couldn't do, and for whatever reason, it just
Speaker 2: got out of hand and they they didn't let up
Speaker 2: off the gas.
Speaker 1: Only got a better minute left in this segment. But
Speaker 1: what did they do? Did you think we're going to
Speaker 1: see for the rest of the year when teams attacked Kentucky.
Speaker 2: I don't want people to take just the wrong way.
Speaker 2: But you know, as this thing goes on, you know
Speaker 2: people are starting to switch. You know, me as a coach,
Speaker 2: and I'm scouting them, I'm switching everything, and I'm switching
Speaker 2: up and I'm not and I'm taking away the threes
Speaker 2: and I'm making make tough twos. But on the and
Speaker 2: on the other end, it's I'm limiting you to one
Speaker 2: shot and then I'm going to push it and spread
Speaker 2: you out, because especially your second team can't defend as
Speaker 2: well as your first team. And Butler didn't have a
Speaker 2: good night, so they just took advantage of it. You know,
Speaker 2: they spread people, gonna spread Kentucky out. They're gonna make
Speaker 2: them have to guard one on one. They're gonna challenge
Speaker 2: how tough they are from a rebounding and toughness standpoint.
Speaker 2: The two games that they lost, they got beat on
Speaker 2: the toughness plays and they got taken out of what
Speaker 2: they like to do, and adjustments wasn't made in those
Speaker 2: two games, which allowed those two teams to really put
Speaker 2: it on them.
Speaker 1: Sean Woods is my guest, the unforgettable guard. We'll talk
Speaker 1: more about Kentucky basketball. The Wildcats have Florida coming up.
Speaker 1: Southeastern Conference play begins on Saturday. Game you're gonna hear
Speaker 1: right here back in just a minute on the big
Speaker 1: booing sider here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're
Speaker 1: talking with Sean Woods, the unforgettable guard whose jersey hangs
Speaker 1: in the rafters of rup. Wildcats open conference play against
Speaker 1: Florida coming up on Saturday, and coach, I don't know
Speaker 1: how much SEC basketball you've seen in general. I've seen
Speaker 1: a few other games. Some are saying this is the
Speaker 1: best conference play in the history of the SEC when
Speaker 1: it comes to basketball. That's all going to play out.
Speaker 1: But you know from experience, man, you get in the
Speaker 1: league play, it's a different kind of ball, Isn't it
Speaker 1: totally different?
Speaker 2: All that preseason pre conference deals thrown out the window,
Speaker 2: and now it becomes a slug fest. And now Kentucky's
Speaker 2: really gonna have to grind. I don't see a lot
Speaker 2: of scoring of the nineties in the nineties in the SEC.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think these teams are so good defensively.
Speaker 2: I think the brutal league physically, and Kentucky's going to
Speaker 2: have to find a way, especially getting better point guard
Speaker 2: played coming off the bench, because you know, most teams
Speaker 2: have several guards that can break you down, especially in
Speaker 2: the SEC. And that's Kentucky's problem right now. The system
Speaker 2: is great, but when the other teams scout, your system
Speaker 2: now becomes to manual manual, and they always say, like
Speaker 2: like people always say, you can have the best exs
Speaker 2: and those, but if you don't have Jim and Joe's,
Speaker 2: you know you're going to struggle. And now it's time
Speaker 2: for our Jim and Joe's to really play at a
Speaker 2: higher level than they had to. Especially the two losses.
Speaker 2: You know, somebody else is going to have to step up.
Speaker 2: They're gonna have to go against the grain a little
Speaker 2: bit and really try to make offensive plays from an
Speaker 2: individual standpoint, because teams are going to make them do
Speaker 2: that from here and out. And I think Marcus doing
Speaker 2: a better job. I mean, I hope he is in
Speaker 2: practice of creating an environment where everyone is confident to
Speaker 2: go make a play when things break down from their
Speaker 2: system is concerned per se.
Speaker 1: When you played in conference games, how palpable was it
Speaker 1: that the other teams were coming at you because you're
Speaker 1: Kentucky and they just didn't buy the hype they were like,
Speaker 1: where every bit as good as you are, Maybe I
Speaker 1: should be in Kentucky proving myself. I know that probably
Speaker 1: happens in non conference games as well, but I gotta
Speaker 1: think Sean, it happens more in the SEC games. Am
Speaker 1: I right about that?
Speaker 2: Well, any conference games, you know what I'm saying, but
Speaker 2: especially with the SEC. And you've got to remember now,
Speaker 2: you know, if you there's five teams in the SEC,
Speaker 2: if you went down from whether their players were raped
Speaker 2: were ranked, uh, we wouldn't be in the top five. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and said, they're not looking at Kentucky as the name
Speaker 2: of Kentucky anymore. They're looking at their players. And a
Speaker 2: lot of these players seem to think they're better than
Speaker 2: the players that Kentucky from a from a from a
Speaker 2: notoriety standpoint, you know what I mean. So there's no
Speaker 2: mistique coming into rupt saying, uh, you know these guys
Speaker 2: are good because they were this McDonald all American, that
Speaker 2: McDonald all American. No, they have the poor McDonald all Americans.
Speaker 2: And all of these coaches that are in the SEC
Speaker 2: are a one coaches. So that locker room is a
Speaker 2: little different. The tone and locker rooms are a little
Speaker 2: different when they're going against Kentucky more so than years past.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great point because this is still the
Speaker 1: team that a brand new coaching staff had to pull
Speaker 1: together and build literally from the ground up. You know,
Speaker 1: this is not, you know, a roster that sparks all
Speaker 1: kinds of debate about who's going to be a lottery pick.
Speaker 1: The lottery picks are coming at him right now, aren't they,
Speaker 1: no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: There's more lottery picks on the other teams, yeah, and
Speaker 2: the SEC than there is that Kentucky. So you know,
Speaker 2: no one's scared of them, you know. But there is
Speaker 2: this system I think is going to be unique. But
Speaker 2: you know, people starting to find out about it, you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. So you know, I'm sure Mark
Speaker 2: is going to make some adjustments knowing that, you know,
Speaker 2: people are starting to figure out their style of play,
Speaker 2: you know, and now there's no neutral courts. Yep, you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. You gotta go. You got to
Speaker 2: go into the SEC, into their places, which some of
Speaker 2: these places are hardest places in the country to play at. Yeah, so,
Speaker 2: and then they're not scared to come into rut. So
Speaker 2: you know, it's gonna be a slug fest. It's gonna
Speaker 2: be you know. The thing is who's going to end
Speaker 2: up at the top the top five or six schools
Speaker 2: at the end of the year. And I'm telling you what,
Speaker 2: right now, I've watched a lot of SEC basketball thus far.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna tell your team that no one's talking about,
Speaker 2: and that's Mississippi State.
Speaker 1: I was just looking at them. Yeah, twelve and one.
Speaker 2: You know, Kentucky's only lost two, but there's a lot
Speaker 2: of teams in the SEC there's only lost two also,
Speaker 2: or even one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, there are so many schools. Now, do you
Speaker 1: know what I'm wondering As a guy who's head coaching career,
Speaker 1: you were always trying to work your way up from
Speaker 1: what I guess, with due respect, they're known as the
Speaker 1: have nots, and you were going into places with you know,
Speaker 1: the big arenas, and the coaches paid a lot of money.
Speaker 1: And now that's to your point about facilities and coaches. Finally,
Speaker 1: administrations are pouring a lot more money into SEC basketball,
Speaker 1: all because they want to be like Kentucky. You know,
Speaker 1: how do you feel about that as a basketball professional,
Speaker 1: as a guy who played at the highest level at
Speaker 1: the at the top program in the SEC. Finally, the
Speaker 1: league is really going at it to try to make
Speaker 1: strides in basketball.
Speaker 2: Parody is very very much what's going on right now,
Speaker 2: especially in the SEC. You know, SEC as you know,
Speaker 2: was a football conference. You know, that's what everybody said.
Speaker 2: Now it's the number one basketball conference. And the football
Speaker 2: powers are coming to the SEC from the Southwest Conference,
Speaker 2: which was a unique football conference. Also, you know, the
Speaker 2: Texas is the Texas A and MS, you know, and
Speaker 2: they're coming in fully loaded. Oklahall home up. You know,
Speaker 2: those teams aren't no shabby teams, and those teams have
Speaker 2: had success from a basketball standpoint even though they were
Speaker 2: a football school. So it's going to be very very interesting. Uh,
Speaker 2: there's no dominant team anymore. You know, you got some dragouts,
Speaker 2: you know, like I don't want to play at Tennessee
Speaker 2: anywhere home away. I don't want to play Auburn home away.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't even want to play Texas and
Speaker 2: m home away. You know. It's just there's no easy
Speaker 2: win anymore. You know, going to Old Missus, you gotta
Speaker 2: you gotta go in there and and hopefully get get
Speaker 2: a win. You know, going to Mississippi State, you know Vanderbilt.
Speaker 2: I mean, look at them. You know, people counted them
Speaker 2: out and they've had a successful you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So there's nowhere where you could say, okay, that that
Speaker 2: that's when I know we're gonna win. That every game
Speaker 2: is going to be a dogfight. And and and what
Speaker 2: hurts Kentucky is we are Kentucky. So you throw the
Speaker 2: uniqueness of the talent and how good this league is,
Speaker 2: and then you bring Kentucky into every environment, which enhances
Speaker 2: it even more. You know, we're we're the we got
Speaker 2: the toughest schedule in the SEC just because we are Kentucky.
Speaker 1: That's a great point. Uh, you know what it's like,
Speaker 1: You've gone out for shoot around a nine and a
Speaker 1: half before the game, and the fans are already out
Speaker 1: there heckling right, no.
Speaker 2: Doubt about it, you know, And uh, it's gonna be
Speaker 2: the experience. I hope these get these guys really relish
Speaker 2: in it and uh accept the loss, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, like you have been and just learn from it.
Speaker 2: You know, it's gonna be tough at the beginning because
Speaker 2: you got Florida come in here and they're as good
Speaker 2: as anybody in the league, and there's talented as anybody
Speaker 2: in the league, and you know, especially one through seven,
Speaker 2: it's gonna this is gonna be a real test for them.
Speaker 2: And I just hope that we can really take care
Speaker 2: of our been at home and then steal a few
Speaker 2: on the road. That's what you want to do in
Speaker 2: conference play, and so that that's the test and to
Speaker 2: go I think markas going into this SEC season, you.
Speaker 1: Know, that's another great point. More than anything, you always
Speaker 1: want to take care of business at home, try to
Speaker 1: steal some wins on the road. But this year, maybe
Speaker 1: more than any in the history of the SEC, is
Speaker 1: that going to be important. And we're gonna find out
Speaker 1: starting on Saturday when the Wildcats take on the Florida Gators.
Speaker 1: And we'll talk with Sean about it next week. We'll
Speaker 1: probably talk a little football next week as well. Coach,
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time and enjoy the game.
Speaker 2: We'll dock. Thanks for calling me, and you know, look
Speaker 2: forward to talking to you again, hopefully the Cats when
Speaker 2: we do talk. The Cats are at least two and.
Speaker 1: Up, and that'll do it for now. Stay tuned for
Speaker 1: Kentucky women's basketball coming up. Next, it's the Wildcats and
Speaker 1: Mississippi State. Darren Hedrick coming up with the pregame show
Speaker 1: and coach Kenny Brooks, and then the Cats and the
Speaker 1: Dogs at historic Memorial Coliseum right here on six thirty WLP.