Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and company, Fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine.
Speaker 2: Day, Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we
Speaker 2: think when we.
Speaker 1: Are get off our show, idiot.
Speaker 2: The kids are playing or trail off your countures are.
Speaker 3: Screwing it up.
Speaker 1: Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play Inner Murals.
Speaker 2: They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not.
Speaker 1: Who's the kid here? Who's the kid here? Are you
Speaker 1: kidding me?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: Here's nick coffee?
Speaker 2: Alright, let's get it started here on a very very
Speaker 2: cold Thursday afternoon, sun's out, little deceiving. Usually when the
Speaker 2: sun is out, it does add a little. It probably
Speaker 2: makes you not feel as cold if it's the same temperature,
Speaker 2: but like gloomy and dark. But man, I'm telling you,
Speaker 2: it is freezing outside. So I'm very I'm very happy
Speaker 2: to be in a nice, warm and cozy studio here
Speaker 2: at our Louisville four Street Live Studios. In fact, you
Speaker 2: hear that noise? Can you? Can you hear that? Austin?
Speaker 2: That noise? Is it coming throughly? Need probably to take
Speaker 2: the jacket off at some point because whenever I'm moving around,
Speaker 2: you know, that's just excess background noise, and we don't
Speaker 2: need that. That's not professional, and we're we do things
Speaker 2: very professional around here.
Speaker 3: It's so cold outside that you're wearing a jacket inside.
Speaker 2: Yes, and I don't have any interest in taking it off,
Speaker 2: but for the sake of the show, and because I'm
Speaker 2: such professional and I won't sacrifice sound quality, I probably will.
Speaker 2: I'll lose the coat and I should be good because
Speaker 2: it's actually pretty toasty in here. But I feel like
Speaker 2: maybe all of it depending upon if the and so
Speaker 2: far we haven't had an issue. And you may not
Speaker 2: know about this because this is the first time we've
Speaker 2: really experienced the winter weather when we're working together. But
Speaker 2: the heat in the studios and really the ac as well,
Speaker 2: it's all like programmed within a cloud. Like people who don't,
Speaker 2: who don't even in this state, have control over the
Speaker 2: and it's not like they're in here messing with this,
Speaker 2: but like it's it's controlled through like corporate and you
Speaker 2: can I'm sure I know there's people here that can
Speaker 2: mess with it. But like if I was to go
Speaker 2: try to adjust thermistat in the studio, it would tell
Speaker 2: me to like contact the master controller. So what happens
Speaker 2: is whenever you do have heat on, even if it's
Speaker 2: said at like seventy two, which I think would be
Speaker 2: pretty hot, the heat that comes off of everything in
Speaker 2: this studio. How many TVs we got in here, No, Joe,
Speaker 2: We've got there's literally probably six TVs in there. Is
Speaker 2: there is six TVs in this studio right now. I've
Speaker 2: got three huge monitors in front of me, and then
Speaker 2: this massive board that looks like a spaceship in front
Speaker 2: of me that puts off so much heat. So you
Speaker 2: add the natural heat coming from everything in here along
Speaker 2: with the heat within the you know, the thermostat. I
Speaker 2: had to tell people like, look, it's gonna be eighty
Speaker 2: degrees in here if you all mess with the heat.
Speaker 2: So so far, so far, so good. But I know
Speaker 2: there'll be one day where I come in and it's
Speaker 2: like a sauna in here. But right now, like I'm
Speaker 2: still thawing out because it's just it's just that cold outside.
Speaker 3: So during the summer it sucks because I know what
Speaker 3: you're talking. Oh yeah, it's really already hot in there,
Speaker 3: and it doesn't matter if you can change thermostat or not.
Speaker 2: Actually, now that you.
Speaker 3: Remember that, I feel I feel like when we first
Speaker 3: got here to these new studios at four Street, that
Speaker 3: you were allowed to like everyone, Oh yeah, you can
Speaker 3: mess with it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think I think that they just kind of put
Speaker 3: a cabasho on that and made sure where is only
Speaker 3: like one person because everybody has their different comfort levels.
Speaker 2: Corporate, corporate, always trying to bring us down, right, course,
Speaker 2: it's just just in the act, Corporate America. What do
Speaker 2: you know, we can't control our own our own temperature
Speaker 2: because they got to, you know, they got to have
Speaker 2: control over it. Yeah, anyway, so I can control you.
Speaker 2: They can't. They can try, but actually they probably could.
Speaker 2: I'll just live in a world where I tell myself
Speaker 2: I've got all the control, all the power, and you know,
Speaker 2: I know that I don't, but I'll just live as
Speaker 2: if as if I do. Now speaking of that, I
Speaker 2: have no control over this, and I'm going to try
Speaker 2: not to really get into it because anytime I start
Speaker 2: talking about it, I just probably end up going down
Speaker 2: a path that maybe will get me in trouble. But
Speaker 2: we will be very brief today. I mean I shouldn't
Speaker 2: say very brief, but we're out of here with like
Speaker 2: four forty five or something. Yeah, that's what I was told. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so Shorter showed today, which is no fun for anybody.
Speaker 2: But you know, out of my control, there's a basketball
Speaker 2: game that's going to be played, and I believe this
Speaker 2: will be like the last one we have to worry
Speaker 2: about a basketball game getting in the way of our
Speaker 2: afternoon show. But you know, I don't know out of
Speaker 2: my control above my pay grade. So I'm just gonna
Speaker 2: use the time they give me here on a Thursday afternoon,
Speaker 2: and we've got a lot to squeeze in in about
Speaker 2: an hour and forty five minutes coming up here, that's right,
Speaker 2: coming up here, three forty five ish, three forty ish.
Speaker 2: We'll bring in the one and only doctor Eric McElroy,
Speaker 2: pro Ream Physical Therapy. Our weekly conversation with Doctor McElroy,
Speaker 2: And this is a really needed conversation because if there's
Speaker 2: anybody that can give us some type of you know,
Speaker 2: maybe not answers or timetable, but like can explain what's
Speaker 2: going on with these injuries with Louisville basketball. I can't
Speaker 2: think of a year where Louisville basketball has had a
Speaker 2: situation like this where you've, what seven games into the season,
Speaker 2: eight games into the season, whatever it is, You're already
Speaker 2: down two players for the year, and these were guys
Speaker 2: that were going to play a lot. And I feel
Speaker 2: like you don't really know exactly. With Coren, you have
Speaker 2: no clue what you really lost because he only played
Speaker 2: in two games with Case and you knew what you
Speaker 2: lost and then you really saw it play out on
Speaker 2: Tuesday night. But I think if these were guys that
Speaker 2: like had played here three or four years, it would
Speaker 2: have been a little bit different. So but still, you know,
Speaker 2: this team is basically playing with seven scholarship players right now,
Speaker 2: and that's not ideal. So there's at least one guy
Speaker 2: that could make a return, and that's Cater Treray and
Speaker 2: I hope that he will. I assume he will, but
Speaker 2: you really just never know. It's something you just have
Speaker 2: to wait and see. But also there's a couple of
Speaker 2: other players that have been sitting out due to an
Speaker 2: injury and the plan was for them not to play.
Speaker 2: And I'll just tell you, I don't think you're going
Speaker 2: to see Kobe Rodgers or Ali Khalifa end up playing
Speaker 2: this season. But I guess my question to doctor mclroy
Speaker 2: will be, you know, if in fact they you know,
Speaker 2: if in fact they wanted to do that and they
Speaker 2: were trying to make that happen, you know with the
Speaker 2: recovery process, like is that is that doable? So again
Speaker 2: there's no I mean, even if he does have a
Speaker 2: lot of information, because of course pro rehab is very
Speaker 2: very much connected with U of L Athletics, there's certain
Speaker 2: things they're not going to tell us, and they shouldn't
Speaker 2: because they're not they're not supposed to and we're not
Speaker 2: entitled every little bit of information. But when it comes
Speaker 2: to the injury situation, I know doctor McElroy can at
Speaker 2: least provide something that most people can as far as
Speaker 2: just you know what's going on and what the realistic
Speaker 2: timetable is for cater and then you know, I've always
Speaker 2: felt like Ali Khalifa could could have played this year,
Speaker 2: and it was always a plan to like, you know,
Speaker 2: you don't. You may not need him as much. He
Speaker 2: can get it, he can have surgery and he can
Speaker 2: get in shape. But I think the surgery happened later
Speaker 2: than most people realize to where I'm not even sure
Speaker 2: if that's possible. So anyways, we'll get to that coming
Speaker 2: up here around a three forty and then at four
Speaker 2: h five, will bring in our man, mister Kent Spencer
Speaker 2: from w h AS eleven. We haven't talked to Ken
Speaker 2: in a couple of weeks. We weren't able to do
Speaker 2: it last week because of the holidays, So really looking
Speaker 2: forward to chatting with him a little bit later on.
Speaker 2: But I will say before we dive in here, I'm
Speaker 2: kind of glad we have a shorter show today because
Speaker 2: I've been a little distracted in the last hour or
Speaker 2: so because I received a phone call and it's just
Speaker 2: been something I can't share. I can't stop thinking about it.
Speaker 2: But I was offered a job that I'm having a
Speaker 2: really tough time deciding what I want to do, what
Speaker 2: yes and I don't. I probably should have given you
Speaker 2: a heads up before I just started talking about this
Speaker 2: on the show.
Speaker 3: Like a job, like a role, something like a new role,
Speaker 3: A job.
Speaker 2: A new I mean, I mean, not a career change,
Speaker 2: but you know, a job that I'm gonna I don't
Speaker 2: know what I'm gonna do, but I got to. I
Speaker 2: got to call it about one forty five, and it
Speaker 2: was somebody who is in charge of a very very
Speaker 2: important role, very important position that they have, and they
Speaker 2: called me to ask me if I would be willing
Speaker 2: h to be the head coach of my son's four
Speaker 2: year old basketball team. I was signed up to be
Speaker 2: an assistant coach. Oh, and I guess the head coach
Speaker 2: is backed has not you know, if you backed out,
Speaker 2: he's not able to do it. But they've asked me
Speaker 2: if I'm willing to be the head coach. And there's
Speaker 2: a lot of responsibility there. Luckily it is. It is
Speaker 2: a situation where I can do both. I can do
Speaker 2: this job and the other. But then again, like schedule,
Speaker 2: like you know, I would have to have practice at
Speaker 2: least at like seven o'clock whenever we have practice, And
Speaker 2: I don't know if parents want to bring their kids
Speaker 2: out at seven o'clock for a practice on a weeknight.
Speaker 2: But you know, if you want to succeed, you do. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, And the only thing that's making me really
Speaker 2: struggle over a decision is that, like it wouldn't be
Speaker 2: that big of a deal because at four years old,
Speaker 2: like they're not really playing basketball. I mean they are,
Speaker 2: but they're not Like I think this league is set
Speaker 2: up to where like everybody gets to shoot like a
Speaker 2: free throw and they run around. I mean it's very
Speaker 2: early stages of like just introducing what basketball is. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so it's not like it would be a lot of work,
Speaker 2: but like I don't know if I'd be able to
Speaker 2: find the balance of like really coaching them up and
Speaker 2: then maybe like making kids cry or you know, like
Speaker 2: I'm going to learn a lot about myself as a parent,
Speaker 2: because I've already learned a lot about myself when it
Speaker 2: comes to just being a dad of kids that play sports.
Speaker 2: But I mean, my son's four years old, Like he's
Speaker 2: played his first year of first season of flag football,
Speaker 2: he played, uh, he's played t ball now for a
Speaker 2: couple of years, and that's been fun. But you know,
Speaker 2: I always feel like I'm I'm misrepresenting when I say
Speaker 2: that I have a kid that plays sports, but you
Speaker 2: know I do, Like, you know, it's just when I
Speaker 2: was young, we didn't start playing sports until I was
Speaker 2: like six. I mean, he's he's at four, and after
Speaker 2: this year, he'll I mean he'll be in he'll be
Speaker 2: going into his fifth birthday, not even five yet, where
Speaker 2: he's already played t ball, football, and basketball, which is great.
Speaker 2: So in all seriousness, I just I worry, like, you know, well,
Speaker 2: parents get mad if I don't let their let their
Speaker 2: kids play, Like I don't know. Yeah, that's tough. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And I'm a really competitive person. And it came out
Speaker 2: briefly whenever I was at his flag football games this year.
Speaker 2: They had one game where it was really close back
Speaker 2: and forth, and you know, the refs were incompetent. And
Speaker 2: even though I had like the awareness of Okay, it's
Speaker 2: a four year old flag football game, let's calm down,
Speaker 2: but like I was yellow that the zebra's out there,
Speaker 2: and like I'm thinking, what are you doing. You're gonna,
Speaker 2: You're gonna You're gonna make a fool yourself. You're a lunatic.
Speaker 2: Well now you gotta watch it because you'll get ejected. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Like what if I showed up to their games on
Speaker 2: Saturday mornings in a suit like like I was like
Speaker 2: I was Rick Fatino or something. So I have a
Speaker 2: hard time saying no because they don't have a coach.
Speaker 2: They've asked me I would be able to do it,
Speaker 2: and for me to say no, and like, Mason, know
Speaker 2: that somebody you know that I that I had the
Speaker 2: chance to be the assistant. And I said, you know,
Speaker 2: I had a chance to be the head coach, and
Speaker 2: I said no, Like I would just feel bad like
Speaker 2: saying no, like why not they need somebody. It'd be
Speaker 2: different if I was applying for it. In gunning for
Speaker 2: the job. It was a phone call because they knew
Speaker 2: that I was on the list of somebody that was
Speaker 2: willing to be an assistant coach if they wanted me,
Speaker 2: if they needed me. And then the call today comes
Speaker 2: in and they're like, you know, we need you to
Speaker 2: be the head coach.
Speaker 3: So oh well, what what? What is this a program
Speaker 3: you're going to be inheriting? Are they a winning team?
Speaker 3: Is this gonna be like taking over like the Browns?
Speaker 3: No clue, this is gonna be like it's gonna be
Speaker 3: They're they're hiring you to write the ship in that organization.
Speaker 2: Cause I would get with my I'm a program I'm
Speaker 2: a program builder. Yeah, mean that's kind of more like
Speaker 2: I'm not you know, it's not necessarily about winning championships.
Speaker 2: It's about coming in and cleaning up a program. That's
Speaker 2: I mean, like Kenny Payne, he was broken when he
Speaker 2: got here, right it was he inherited such a toxic situation.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's maybe that's what I'm walking into. In fact,
Speaker 2: what I'm what I'll be walking into is probably a
Speaker 2: bunch of kids who were playing basketball for the first time. Uh,
Speaker 2: and it really can I mean, God bless the kids
Speaker 2: or the parents or the parents and coaches. Well, I
Speaker 2: guess the coach is who are also parents that have
Speaker 2: that I've seen coach my kids baseball team, my kids
Speaker 2: flag football team. Because in all honesty, I love all
Speaker 2: the I've gotten to know a lot of the kids
Speaker 2: and their parents that that Moose has played sports with,
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, I kind of know what it's
Speaker 2: like to be a you know, a team dad, team mom,
Speaker 2: that kind of stuff. Me and my wife. Uh, but really,
Speaker 2: the head coaches the biggest part of their gig is babysitting,
Speaker 2: like just trying to keep the kids from getting distracted,
Speaker 2: because we're talking about four and five year olds. So
Speaker 2: I probably, well, I don't know. I had to tell
Speaker 2: them my schedule because like, if it's an issue to
Speaker 2: where I have to be there at a certain time
Speaker 2: certain days, then you know, I may not be able to,
Speaker 2: uh to make it work. That's a commitment. Yeah, it
Speaker 2: is a commitment, and I don't want to let them down,
Speaker 2: and I don't I'm not gonna do it half assed,
Speaker 2: right like I'm gonna, I'm gonna if I'm if I'm
Speaker 2: gonna decide to do it. You know, we're gonna we're
Speaker 2: gonna be winners, and we're gonna work hard and we're
Speaker 2: gonna have fun. And uh, you know, I'll probably call
Speaker 2: him back after the show today and say I've given
Speaker 2: him some thought and I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, talk to your agent, you see, if you can
Speaker 3: get up first of all, get a no trade clause
Speaker 3: in there.
Speaker 2: So what if I what if I went to Christy
Speaker 2: are are higher up here, our boss, yeah, and was like, hey,
Speaker 2: can you would you mind putting something in writing. I
Speaker 2: just need to make sure you guys are are cool
Speaker 2: with me taking a secondary job while still working here,
Speaker 2: because in fact, that is part of the agreement here.
Speaker 2: If I was ever going to get work outside of
Speaker 2: of iHeart that is you know in in I think
Speaker 2: it's mostly just in like broadcasting stuff. Uh, or maybe
Speaker 2: it's you know, I think actually don't think it is
Speaker 2: anything else. If you have any other like employer, they
Speaker 2: need to just be aware of it and may have
Speaker 2: to like sign off on something. So what if I
Speaker 2: went there. I was like, Hey, I don't want to
Speaker 2: stress you out because I know, like you think i'm
Speaker 2: the best, but I think I'm gonna take a secondary job.
Speaker 2: It won't it won't distract, and she'd probably think, like,
Speaker 2: what are you talking about, Like maybe you're more money,
Speaker 2: like you can't do this, and I'm like, well, in fact,
Speaker 2: it's my kids four year old basketball team. She'd probably
Speaker 2: laugh for a minute and then tell me to get
Speaker 2: the hell out of her office. That's that's probably what
Speaker 2: what would happen. So anyways, picking up picking up more gigs.
Speaker 3: When you're when you're coaching, well, it seems nowadays like
Speaker 3: when you're like when you're a coach at any other level,
Speaker 3: you know how they have like the the iPads on
Speaker 3: the sideline. Oh, whenever you got to go sit down,
Speaker 3: go look at what you did when you're coaching kids,
Speaker 3: or you think the punishment is you don't get an
Speaker 3: iPad on the sideline. Now you just kind of take
Speaker 3: the iPad away.
Speaker 2: Oh man, I think the the threat and I shouldn't
Speaker 2: call it that, but it's kind of what it was
Speaker 2: when it comes to trying to get the kids. Because
Speaker 2: there were kids who were out there grabbing flags, playing well,
Speaker 2: and then we get to like the fourth quarter and
Speaker 2: they're just like, yeah, I think I want to go
Speaker 2: lay down on the grass. I'm done playing, And like,
Speaker 2: those are things you just deal with whenever you have
Speaker 2: kids that are that young playing sports. And what we
Speaker 2: would do to try to get them motivated to, you know,
Speaker 2: keep playing, is that you won't get your snack after
Speaker 2: the game because every after every game you did something
Speaker 2: from the concession stands like that. That was a good motivator.
Speaker 2: I'll got to motivate anybody, motivate me. I'll try to
Speaker 2: figure out some way I can can maybe motivate motivate
Speaker 2: these young kids. But anyways, I wanted to start with
Speaker 2: basketball today because I really feel like it's been an
Speaker 2: absolute roller coaster so far for fans this season. And
Speaker 2: if you think about it, I would I would. I
Speaker 2: would assume you would agree because you had such a
Speaker 2: high going into the Tennessee game, right it's the new era.
Speaker 2: You've already started. Want to know, you knew you had
Speaker 2: a big test. I thought they did a great job
Speaker 2: promoting the white out, That crowd was great. They really
Speaker 2: just never really there was never a big moment for
Speaker 2: them to get into it. So it was such a
Speaker 2: high and then you really got let down because it
Speaker 2: was tough to see your first test a team that
Speaker 2: you really hadn't seen challenged at all, and then they
Speaker 2: came out and they got worked. Which, by the way,
Speaker 2: Tennessee's probably going to be the number one team in
Speaker 2: the country given the way the acc SEC Challenge played out,
Speaker 2: So that's not a bad loss. But at that moment,
Speaker 2: you went from being super excited like here we go,
Speaker 2: we're kind of back, and then you're like, oh, this
Speaker 2: may not be good. And then you play a bunch
Speaker 2: of a couple of a couple of dud teams that
Speaker 2: you just know you're going to beat, and you covered.
Speaker 2: You beat them by a lot. I think you didn't
Speaker 2: cover against Winthrop, but you did against beller Man, And
Speaker 2: we just knew going in that you weren't going to
Speaker 2: learn a whole lot, right, Like whatever happened in those
Speaker 2: games wasn't going to tell you how much better you
Speaker 2: got from the Tennessee beat down, So the test was
Speaker 2: going to be okay. When you get to the Bahamas
Speaker 2: and you start to play really competitive games against good
Speaker 2: teams in the Battle for Atlantis, where do you stand?
Speaker 2: And then sure enough you came out and you beat
Speaker 2: the hell out of Indiana, and then you turned around
Speaker 2: and won a close overtime game and with Chucky Hepburn
Speaker 2: really just taken over to get the win against West Virginia.
Speaker 2: And I was ecstatic to see this team win that
Speaker 2: game where it wasn't played at the way they wanted
Speaker 2: it to be played. They got comfortable in the half
Speaker 2: court and were able to grind it out and beat
Speaker 2: West Virginia. And even though they lost to Oklahoma, I
Speaker 2: was still feeling very good about this team. And then
Speaker 2: you find out Cason Pryor's injury is significant, he's out
Speaker 2: for the year. Korn Johnson, he's not going to return
Speaker 2: at all, and then you get your butts kicked by
Speaker 2: Old Miss to where like it's just been a complete
Speaker 2: roller coaster so far, and I uh, I mean, I
Speaker 2: don't know what happens moving forward. I don't know if
Speaker 2: we should really tone you know, tone down expectations. I
Speaker 2: don't think saying the tournament is still something you could
Speaker 2: do is crazy, but I do understand if you're someone
Speaker 2: that just wants to, I guess, prepare for the worst.
Speaker 2: Hope for the best. You're just thinking, Okay, I'm going
Speaker 2: to assume we're not a tournament team and if they
Speaker 2: get there, then great. And if that's your mindset, I
Speaker 2: get it. But if you're somebody that just thinks you know,
Speaker 2: this team is doomed and they're gonna lose to everybody,
Speaker 2: I mean, you may be right, but I don't. I
Speaker 2: don't think that that. I don't. I don't think we've
Speaker 2: seen enough to know or even feel like that would
Speaker 2: be the likely outcome for this team. So it's just
Speaker 2: it's tough. Man. Everything about Tuesday sucked just because the
Speaker 2: bad news you got the two days prior to that
Speaker 2: with Casein and of course coryn and then you could
Speaker 2: just tell, man, they weren't making shots, and I feel
Speaker 2: I don't they did quit at all. I mean, they
Speaker 2: kept fighting, and they kept shooting a bunch of shots
Speaker 2: to try to get him to fall, and it just
Speaker 2: it didn't work out and you got you got beat
Speaker 2: pretty bad. So at least you've got Duke coming up next, right,
Speaker 2: and like that's gonna like it? And let me I
Speaker 2: will give you some positive news here. And I'm not
Speaker 2: trying to be funny. I'm being being serious. I don't
Speaker 2: know if you guys would view this as a piece
Speaker 2: of good news or not, but I do. Duke's coming
Speaker 2: in and they are not coming off of a loss.
Speaker 2: Duke will likely win on Sunday, and I hope it
Speaker 2: doesn't get ugly. But for what it's worth, and it
Speaker 2: may not be much, I would rather have Duke coming
Speaker 2: in off of a win rather than coming off of
Speaker 2: a losscause then they'll be hungry, then they'll have something
Speaker 2: to prove. I mean, maybe Louisville sneaks up on this
Speaker 2: Duke team and they end up, you know, coming out
Speaker 2: flat meeting Duke, and Louisville can knock down some shots.
Speaker 2: I mean, again, I have no clue what we we're
Speaker 2: gonna get on Sunday. But given the most recent result
Speaker 2: and the first time we saw this team without Case
Speaker 2: and Pryor's it's, you know, it's concerning to say the least.
Speaker 2: Now that was their first chance to kind of see,
Speaker 2: all right, let's try to do what we want to do,
Speaker 2: knowing where this shorthanded, and see how it works out,
Speaker 2: kind of like against Tennessee. If you remember they were trying.
Speaker 2: You know, Tennessee was able to completely get them out
Speaker 2: of what they wanted to do. And Louisville was didn't
Speaker 2: have any answers. And when you got to the Bahamas,
Speaker 2: when you played Oklahoma, same thing, and also West Virginia
Speaker 2: is what I meant to say, But against West Virginia,
Speaker 2: you were much more comfortable playing that style, right. You
Speaker 2: let Chuckie Hupburn run the show. He was able to
Speaker 2: really just kind of, you know, take over the game.
Speaker 2: He was the best player on the floor. So maybe
Speaker 2: we see on Sunday a competitive game more so than
Speaker 2: people are expecting, and maybe, you know, maybe we see
Speaker 2: a new wrinkle. Maybe Pat Kelsey has decided to really
Speaker 2: adjust some things as far as what they're trying to
Speaker 2: get into, because as we discussed yesterday, I'm not against
Speaker 2: the city at all that he wants to run long term,
Speaker 2: but I think with the lack of bodies like you
Speaker 2: don't even have, you can't even really try to be
Speaker 2: who you wanted to be because you don't have enough players.
Speaker 2: Because if you're gonna do the same thing and you're
Speaker 2: just playing a lot of these guys so much more
Speaker 2: minutes because there's no there's no depth anymore. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's not a good recipe for what you want to
Speaker 2: do actually working out for you. So we'll see what
Speaker 2: happens against Duke. But if you saw how bad the
Speaker 2: ACC looked in the sec ACC Challenge, even without the
Speaker 2: guys that are you know, that are injured, you should
Speaker 2: still be able to get many wins in this league.
Speaker 2: That is, I mean, you know, even worse than I thought.
Speaker 2: All right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side.
Speaker 2: We'll also talk some football stuff. Because everybody seemingly is
Speaker 2: hopping into the portal, I still haven't seen anybody from
Speaker 2: Louisville yet that I'm like, oh man, this is gonna
Speaker 2: kill us. On the Kentucky side, not exactly, they've lost
Speaker 2: like all their good players, and I don't think Stoops
Speaker 2: is going anywhere. But if he doesn't have a good
Speaker 2: run here in the portal like at all, and there's
Speaker 2: no moment me and him at all as far as
Speaker 2: like what they did to improve the situation, maybe he
Speaker 2: goes to Mitch Barnfhart and says, look, can we meet
Speaker 2: in the middle. Will you buy me out? Like not
Speaker 2: the full amount, because I doubt he does that because
Speaker 2: who would. But if they're going to be terrible and
Speaker 2: like there's nothing but negative, toxic noise about him being
Speaker 2: the coach, and it's quite clear everybody wishes he wasn't
Speaker 2: the coach. Maybe that is enough to where you say, okay,
Speaker 2: I'm not walking for nothing, but like give me sixty
Speaker 2: percent of the buyout. Who knows. What I do know
Speaker 2: is we'll be back on the other side. So don't
Speaker 2: go anywhere. It's cofee and company. Feel about Thortons right
Speaker 2: here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day, a little.
Speaker 2: Bit of change of plans here. We've got a late
Speaker 2: scratch here for the show. Eric mclauray gonna join us tomorrow.
Speaker 2: That works better with his schedule, which is okay because
Speaker 2: two guests when we have a short show anyways, I mean,
Speaker 2: that's not enough of me. And that's what you guys
Speaker 2: are here for, right You want more of this. I
Speaker 2: hope you can sense sarcasm to guest one show, you
Speaker 2: guess one show in an hour and forty five minutes.
Speaker 2: I mean that's I think there's one issue there. As
Speaker 2: good as those guests are, that's not enough. That's not
Speaker 2: enough me and that's again, I hope that's why you're here.
Speaker 2: But if not, just you know, don't tell me that.
Speaker 2: Let my ego. I just believe that you that you're
Speaker 2: you know you're here because you just want nothing but
Speaker 2: hot takes from the one and only Nick Coffee. That's me.
Speaker 2: The name the other voice you hear the other name
Speaker 2: here part of the show is Austin Montgomery. I just
Speaker 2: took a bow. I hope you saw that, did you? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I didn't see it, but I believe you.
Speaker 3: I was kind of leaning in my chair. I kind
Speaker 3: of want to feed your ego a little bit more.
Speaker 3: Because there's been a been some rumbling around the office
Speaker 3: how people really liked your Jay Williams interview yesterday?
Speaker 2: Really?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've had like two people come up and said, man,
Speaker 3: that was a good interview. How would I had at
Speaker 3: least two or three people come up to me so
Speaker 3: mentioned how how was Jay Williams? And it sounded like
Speaker 3: it They asked, are Nick and him friends might as
Speaker 3: well be?
Speaker 2: I mean, we have talked since the interview and we
Speaker 2: seem to be pretty friendly with one another. But yeah,
Speaker 2: so I'm glad you said that, not because like you
Speaker 2: know I wanted you to gas me up or anything
Speaker 2: like that, but I I thought it went fine, Like
Speaker 2: I'm glad we did it. I thought it was a
Speaker 2: good conversation. He was pretty much what I would have
Speaker 2: would pretty much what I expected. I didn't I wasn't
Speaker 2: going to be contentious or anything like that. But the
Speaker 2: amount of people who were like, wow, that was great,
Speaker 2: really good job, and I'm like, well, thank you, but like, like,
Speaker 2: I don't feel like I did anything that I don't
Speaker 2: typically do. But I guess Jay Williams is a big
Speaker 2: enough name, and I will say this, I kind of
Speaker 2: forgot or maybe it just wasn't really on my radar
Speaker 2: that for a long time, he was one of those
Speaker 2: guys that, like, no matter what they were talking about,
Speaker 2: if you turned on ESPN television, he was on TV.
Speaker 2: I mean he did the I mean he was on
Speaker 2: Get Up for a long time. He shifted from college
Speaker 2: basketball coverage to doing strictly NBA. So you know, we've
Speaker 2: had other big guests on the show before, and he
Speaker 2: certainly is a big name and got a lot of
Speaker 2: people are familiar with. But you know, I guess that's
Speaker 2: probably a big factors like that they assumed, Wow, that's
Speaker 2: such a big get, and then you know I didn't bomb,
Speaker 2: So maybe the bar is low as far as expectations like, hey,
Speaker 2: you did a good job, like you didn't you didn't
Speaker 2: suck at the interview. So well, thank you and thank
Speaker 2: you all for for listening, and thank you to those
Speaker 2: who have provided some good feedback. And if you missed
Speaker 2: it yesterday, you can go check out go check out
Speaker 2: the podcast. All right, So if you want to join
Speaker 2: us on the show, you can five O two five
Speaker 2: seven seventy nine hundred is the number. If you want
Speaker 2: to give us a call. You can also text in
Speaker 2: on the LLEN and Federal Credit Union text line five
Speaker 2: oh two six five three zero seven ninety. So just
Speaker 2: some updates really quickly here. As far as the transfer
Speaker 2: portal for Louisville, Uh, there have been a couple of
Speaker 2: guys that hit the portal, and this is where it
Speaker 2: just becomes uncomfortable because there's not anybody that has hit
Speaker 2: the portal that I'm thinking, oh, hell yeah, get them
Speaker 2: the hell out of here there, and that they don't belong,
Speaker 2: they stink. I want them out of Louisville today. But
Speaker 2: there are certain guys where I'm like, okay, whatever, And
Speaker 2: then there's certain there's other guys, like, for example, Kewan Brown,
Speaker 2: the running back. I think he's really good, really talented.
Speaker 2: He'll end up, I think, having a lot of success
Speaker 2: wherever he goes. Not sure what level it'll be, but
Speaker 2: he's a good running back that I don't really want
Speaker 2: to see leave. But I totally understand why he is. Again,
Speaker 2: you're talking about two guys in front of him that
Speaker 2: maybe you're starting running backs to just about any school
Speaker 2: in the country next year, given the momentum they have
Speaker 2: coming off of a true freshman season, and they're both
Speaker 2: playing together here at Louisville, so it makes total sense
Speaker 2: that he's leading. But he's somebody that you know, I
Speaker 2: really liked and would have loved to have seen him
Speaker 2: stick around. But again, I'm not in any way bitter
Speaker 2: about it, because I totally totally understand the other names.
Speaker 2: Brady Allen, if you remember, he's the quarterback who transferred
Speaker 2: in from Purdue with Jeff, was a really highly regarded
Speaker 2: quarterback out of high school, and it really has never
Speaker 2: never really worked out. He couldn't really crack the rotation
Speaker 2: here at all. And I say rotation like they play
Speaker 2: a bunch of quarterbacks. He really couldn't climb the depth chart.
Speaker 2: I mean Harrison Bailey coming in and being like a
Speaker 2: journeyman that had played football for many years at different
Speaker 2: schools and could never latch. I mean, he had a
Speaker 2: lot of talent coming in high school. Harrison was a
Speaker 2: five star quarterback, but he was at Tennessee, then at
Speaker 2: UNLV and then end up at U of L. And
Speaker 2: I think he walked on initially the fact that he
Speaker 2: was ahead of Brady Allen, and then even when Evan
Speaker 2: Conley was here last year, he was ahead of Brady Allen.
Speaker 2: It kind of like you knew going into this cycle,
Speaker 2: right this end of the season where the portal opens up,
Speaker 2: you knew one of the two was going to transfer,
Speaker 2: and that is either Brady Allen or Pierce Clarkson. And
Speaker 2: now we know Brady Allen is. Pierce Clarkson has not
Speaker 2: entered the portal. I don't suspect that he will leave,
Speaker 2: but if he does, I mean I'm not gonna be surprised.
Speaker 2: That's just where we are. And I've not heard that
Speaker 2: he has been like super impressive in any way. But
Speaker 2: I've also not heard that like Oh yeah, this kid stinks.
Speaker 2: He can't play. It's just you know, in practice in
Speaker 2: the reps that he gets and even when he's been
Speaker 2: in the game at times, you know, it just doesn't
Speaker 2: really you know, there's not a whole lot there that
Speaker 2: you can can judge one way or the other. Now,
Speaker 2: we'll say one time he did get in the game
Speaker 2: against one of these bums they played in the first
Speaker 2: two weeks, whether it be Jacksonville State or Austin p
Speaker 2: and the communication in the headset wasn't working. So that
Speaker 2: was a factor in why it was kind of a
Speaker 2: botched series for him out there. But I still see
Speaker 2: people occasionally saying, really, we're going to go back to
Speaker 2: the portal, why not hand it hand it over to
Speaker 2: Pierce Clarkson, And I I just think those people are
Speaker 2: living in the previous world and not understanding that, like,
Speaker 2: that's just a risk you don't need to take, right, Like,
Speaker 2: that's a risk that you don't have to take, just
Speaker 2: handing it off to a guy who hasn't proven anything
Speaker 2: when you know you can go get quarterbacks in the portal.
Speaker 2: It just it would be it would be irresponsible not
Speaker 2: to go and hit the portal for a quarterback, and
Speaker 2: you're not going to say, okay, well, Pierce is our starters,
Speaker 2: so let's go get a quarterback who like isn't good
Speaker 2: that's in the portal. Like, no, you're gonna go get
Speaker 2: the best guy possible. And if Pierce doesn't like who
Speaker 2: you get and feels like he doesn't want to compete,
Speaker 2: he has every right to leave, or if he wants
Speaker 2: to stick around and say, Okay, look, I'm gonna work
Speaker 2: my ass off, continue to get better, and you can
Speaker 2: bring in whoever you want. I'm going to compete and
Speaker 2: I'm going to go try to win the job. So
Speaker 2: you know, I I just know that if Pierce does transfer,
Speaker 2: and a disclaimer, I don't have a clue what he's
Speaker 2: going to do. I don't even bring this up to
Speaker 2: like insinuate that I think he's going to I'm just
Speaker 2: going to tell you, like any other player, anybody entering
Speaker 2: the portal, for the most part, is not really a
Speaker 2: big shock anymore because that's just where we are. But
Speaker 2: I can sense that if he does go to the portal, Pierce,
Speaker 2: there'll be people acting like somebody screwed up and did
Speaker 2: something wrong. And I just don't see that at all.
Speaker 2: So I mean, I'm not going to run through the
Speaker 2: entire list of players that have hit the portal. I mean,
Speaker 2: we talked a lot about him yesterday and I'd say
Speaker 2: those are the two biggest names as of right now
Speaker 2: that have hit the portal since since we talked yesterday.
Speaker 2: Now on the Kentucky side, Dane Key, that news broke
Speaker 2: yesterday that he hit the portal and he's leaving. And
Speaker 2: then Barry and Brown earlier today within about an hour,
Speaker 2: about an hour ago, he also announced that he's going
Speaker 2: to enter the transfer portal. And these two guys, I
Speaker 2: think when it comes to talent, and I know some
Speaker 2: will say, well, no, Barry and Brown, he drops the ball.
Speaker 2: He's and you can tell yourself whatever you want. That
Speaker 2: guy has ability and talent that I think any school
Speaker 2: would want him and they could find some use for him.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's a guy that on special teams as
Speaker 2: a return man, like you don't kick to him because
Speaker 2: he'll make you pay for it. And he doesn't even
Speaker 2: get kicked to that often in his last you know,
Speaker 2: couple of seasons, but when he does, he tends to
Speaker 2: make you pay for it. He's a special, special guy.
Speaker 2: When it comes to talent. Now, I have no clue
Speaker 2: if the guy has like off the field issues or
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't think he's been suspended or arrested,
Speaker 2: but people act like he was. And I look, this
Speaker 2: may just be Kentucky fans disappointed in him because he
Speaker 2: got a lot of money through NIL and had some
Speaker 2: drops and maybe didn't play well enough. Same thing with
Speaker 2: Dion Walker. But Vince Merrill was on KSR earlier this
Speaker 2: week and made the comment about how they started prioritizing
Speaker 2: talent and not necessarily prioritizing character as much as they
Speaker 2: used to, and I'm paraphrasing. He said something close to that,
Speaker 2: And Seal Brown was on with us a couple days
Speaker 2: ag and I thought he made a really good point
Speaker 2: that if you're winning, nobody says that. Now maybe you
Speaker 2: and I will say this. Even when Kentucky was in
Speaker 2: the last couple of years, they were really underwhelming. In
Speaker 2: the second year of will Evis, they lost at home
Speaker 2: to Vandy, and really, you know, that was one of
Speaker 2: those years where they beat Louisville and they kind of
Speaker 2: could disguise their underperforming season a little bit, right, Like
Speaker 2: they go into the portal or they go into the
Speaker 2: off season with a little momentum because they beat their
Speaker 2: rival once again. They did the last two years, and
Speaker 2: I think Kentucky fans knew that they were taking slight
Speaker 2: steps backwards in twenty twenty two, in twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: and then this year you took a massive step back
Speaker 2: and we're an embarrassment. So, you know, it sounds like
Speaker 2: the issues with as far as like locker room culture,
Speaker 2: that kind of stuff has been a problem since the
Speaker 2: downward slide started for them, but this year it kind
Speaker 2: of really blew up. So my, you know, guys going
Speaker 2: to the concession stand during a game like that's insane
Speaker 2: as far as like where everybody's heads is collectively as
Speaker 2: a pro. So what Ceel Brown said that I thought
Speaker 2: was great is that, like, you know, that's a that's
Speaker 2: a cop out, like if things are, if you're winning,
Speaker 2: then you probably don't even bring that up. You don't
Speaker 2: use that as an excuse as to why you've got
Speaker 2: to go fix things. Because again, when it comes to
Speaker 2: talent one, your roster was not a problem. Maybe on
Speaker 2: the old line you weren't good enough at times. Your
Speaker 2: quarterback clearly wasn't as good as you needed him to
Speaker 2: be but like you aren't. You didn't go one in
Speaker 2: seven because you just don't have good players? So what
Speaker 2: did they? And they know that they haven't. There's enough
Speaker 2: awareness on the UK football staff, I suppose to where
Speaker 2: they realize they can't just claim we don't have any
Speaker 2: good players. They realize that even if they don't have
Speaker 2: the Georgia rosters or the Old Miss rosters, which they don't,
Speaker 2: they still should have been way better than they were.
Speaker 2: So they blame it on well, you know, these guys
Speaker 2: were good players, but now we gotta you know, they
Speaker 2: actually were bad. They were bad apples and we got
Speaker 2: to go get good guys. And maybe they're maybe they're
Speaker 2: telling the truth, but I do believe that like these guys,
Speaker 2: it's not like you know, it's almost to me it
Speaker 2: kind of sounds a little bit like Kenny Payinne, Like
Speaker 2: Kenny Payne acted as if he inherited guys that were
Speaker 2: on parole that like you just never know, like they
Speaker 2: might you know that they're just scumback people like you
Speaker 2: wouldn't know. It's broken. These guys are like and it
Speaker 2: was such a nonsense. So I'm not saying that Mark
Speaker 2: Stoops is acting like these guys are the worst and
Speaker 2: their criminals. But if you are looking at the Kentucky
Speaker 2: football season in twenty twenty five and you and you
Speaker 2: are of the belief that Barrian Brown is one of
Speaker 2: these guys that was basically going to be told he
Speaker 2: needed to leave anyway, you got bigger problems than you realize.
Speaker 2: Because if your coach can't make it work with a
Speaker 2: guy that talented, that you're probably not going to be
Speaker 2: able to get very often because he's that talented, Like
Speaker 2: you got issues. So they did sign a decent class yesterday,
Speaker 2: but that just doesn't matter like it used to. There's
Speaker 2: still value there, but you can't sell to your fans
Speaker 2: if you're Mark Stoops that we're we're gonna really coach
Speaker 2: these guys up and when they're juniors, then we'll really
Speaker 2: be rolling because I'm going to develop them. That That's
Speaker 2: not how it works anymore. You can develop players, but
Speaker 2: they got to play or they're gonna leave. They gotta
Speaker 2: make money or they're gonna leave. And if you roll
Speaker 2: out true freshman, because you know that's where you're these
Speaker 2: are the guys you're rolling with next year. Good luck
Speaker 2: competing when you have a loaded schedule once again. Now,
Speaker 2: dan Key was not somebody that I don't that that
Speaker 2: that was a bad apple. As far as I know,
Speaker 2: he's a he's a good locker room guy, good kid.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's not a kid, he's girl man. But
Speaker 2: him leaving and it makes total sense. But I just
Speaker 2: didn't really think about it until I saw just how
Speaker 2: devastating it was for Kentucky fans. I mean, that's a
Speaker 2: guy who from Lexington, his father played there. He's good,
Speaker 2: he's been your leading receiver for three straight years, and
Speaker 2: he's walking away. Kentucky fans know that he's probably making
Speaker 2: the right decision, Like you don't blame him at all,
Speaker 2: But man, doesn't that really tell you how bad things are?
Speaker 2: Is that a local kid dad played there again, He's
Speaker 2: he's probably gonna be remembered for a long time because
Speaker 2: he was a big time recruit and he's good, and
Speaker 2: he is just having to walk away from his hometown
Speaker 2: program where he's a legacy player because he just can't
Speaker 2: with you know, he can't realistically look in the mirror
Speaker 2: and say, yeah, let's run it back. I want to
Speaker 2: play in an offense that Mark Stoops is the head
Speaker 2: coach for again, like he just doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 2: So I kind of feel like that was like such
Speaker 2: a devastating blow, as well as Stoops not doing his
Speaker 2: Coaches show last night to where I just can't imagine
Speaker 2: him like I take him at his word. I think
Speaker 2: him saying that, you know, I know some people don't
Speaker 2: want me here, but I'm going back to work and
Speaker 2: you know, we're going to go get players and you know,
Speaker 2: kind of a almost like an I wouldn't say arrogant,
Speaker 2: but I heard a little bit of his press conference
Speaker 2: yesterday and it was essentially like, you know, people can
Speaker 2: calm down, We're going to be a good football team again.
Speaker 2: And it's like, well, okay, but based off what like
Speaker 2: you don't have any momentum right now. It's clearly it
Speaker 2: would have you done for me lately. And the way
Speaker 2: Stoops was able to build and succeed, you know, for
Speaker 2: the Kentucky standard, that's not where we are anymore. This
Speaker 2: is a new world and he's clearly it obvious that
Speaker 2: he doesn't like this new stuff, like he doesn't like
Speaker 2: the new aspects of college football coaching where you have
Speaker 2: to raise money and you've got to manage egos and
Speaker 2: personalities and balance the budget. That kind of stuff. You
Speaker 2: got to re recruit players that are that you know,
Speaker 2: you didn't used to have to do that. You would
Speaker 2: you transfers used to be somewhat of a surprise. Now
Speaker 2: it's not that at all. You got to be babysitting
Speaker 2: guys egos, maybe around the clock, because if you're not,
Speaker 2: then they're gonna feel as if you don't appreciate them,
Speaker 2: and they know that they hit the portal, they're gonna
Speaker 2: get the phone calls from other schools. So I just
Speaker 2: I still don't think there's a scenario where Stoops is
Speaker 2: not the coach next year. But if you really strike
Speaker 2: out and like if he can't do anything as far
Speaker 2: as roster management or maybe like coaching changes on his
Speaker 2: staff and there's really nothing that he could sell that'll
Speaker 2: that'll get fans at least believing five percent of what
Speaker 2: he's saying as far as they're going to be better
Speaker 2: next year. Maybe it's just such a toxic situation where
Speaker 2: he's so miserable that he does say, Okay, look I'm
Speaker 2: not walking for nothing, but but give me an offer
Speaker 2: and I'll and I'll get the hell out of here
Speaker 2: because I clearly overstayed my welcome, which, to be honest
Speaker 2: with you, it would be kind of sad because he
Speaker 2: did something at Kentucky that nobody ever did. He brought
Speaker 2: them out of the bottom tier of power football for
Speaker 2: a good run, and he's the most winningst coach they've
Speaker 2: ever had. Like I never have ever believed that he's
Speaker 2: done as much as sometimes they think that he has done.
Speaker 2: But clearly for Kentucky, he's the best coach they've ever had,
Speaker 2: and he did things that nobody thought possible. So I
Speaker 2: kind of, you know, the scenario where it doesn't in ugly,
Speaker 2: I think is if he really does bounce back in
Speaker 2: a major way and they're a lot better next year.
Speaker 2: And I just don't think there's much evidence to tell
Speaker 2: you that that's gonna happen. So I kind of feel
Speaker 2: like it's going to be an ugly departure. And I
Speaker 2: don't whose fault is that, though, I mean, it's his
Speaker 2: fault for not getting it done. It's it's his fault
Speaker 2: for falling off a cliff essentially as far as you know,
Speaker 2: being able to do with that job needs you to do.
Speaker 2: But it's Barnard's fault like Stoops had like a you know,
Speaker 2: I don't even know what a standard buyout is, but
Speaker 2: like he had walking away from the amount of money
Speaker 2: that he would be owed. It would be irresponsible for him,
Speaker 2: as somebody who has children in a family, like who
Speaker 2: was walking away from forty four million dollars guaranteed if
Speaker 2: you if you know, if they fire you. So not
Speaker 2: that I'm losing sleep over it, but I just think
Speaker 2: this is gonna this has a much better likelihood of
Speaker 2: ending ugly rather it be you know, this offseason or next.
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe he does get it turned around and
Speaker 2: they're really good. I doubt it, but I mean, I
Speaker 2: it's just crazy. I don't I can't imagine two three
Speaker 2: years ago, probably two years ago, it is probably the
Speaker 2: best way to put it, that we would see the
Speaker 2: most likely scenario for Stoops being that like he's just
Speaker 2: sticking around, because who would walk away from that? And
Speaker 2: yet all the fans want him gone and think he
Speaker 2: stinks like that. You know, we're not that far removed
Speaker 2: from somebody at the Herald Leader writing an article that
Speaker 2: the statue for Mark Stoops should have already been built.
Speaker 2: I mean, we're not that far removed from that being
Speaker 2: how Mark Stoops was talked about. Now it is seemingly
Speaker 2: a dumpster fire according to their fans, and they don't
Speaker 2: seem to have much belief that like it's going to
Speaker 2: get better. They just they want have gone. And you know,
Speaker 2: I get it, but Alby stays because I you know,
Speaker 2: I'd like for Kentucky to have to sit with him
Speaker 2: being a bad coach for a while so we can
Speaker 2: start collecting more Governor's Cup wins and extend this this
Speaker 2: league that we already have. Now, all right, quick Break,
Speaker 2: we'll come back on the other side. Man. Only two
Speaker 2: ACC teams won games in the ACC SEC Challenge. BARF, barf.
Speaker 2: That's not good.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Again, as I've said throughout, I'm choosing in the moment
Speaker 2: this season to look at that as a positive for
Speaker 2: Louisville because it means that they could potentially, even though
Speaker 2: they're shorthanded, win more games than they typically would in
Speaker 2: this league. But we shall see, quick Break don't go anywhere.
Speaker 2: It's coffee and company, and we are about Thorton's right
Speaker 2: here on Sports Talk seven ninety. I'm going to have
Speaker 2: to start making the first segment of the show fifteen
Speaker 2: minutes because if I don't, it just makes it to
Speaker 2: where we've got very few, very little time, I should
Speaker 2: say in the second and third segment. I mean, we've
Speaker 2: made some progress with clock management, but when you've got
Speaker 2: seven minute commercial breaks, it makes a little bit a
Speaker 2: little bit tough. So sorry about that. Well, we want
Speaker 2: to have a whole lot of time here, and we
Speaker 2: already have a short show as it is, but we
Speaker 2: are going to be talking on the other side here
Speaker 2: at about four or five with the kN Spencer from
Speaker 2: WHAS eleven. Looking forward to catching up with him. So
Speaker 2: the only two teams that won in the ACC SEC
Speaker 2: Challenge from the ACC side, Clemson of course, beat Kentucky.
Speaker 2: You love to see it. Also, last night, Duke outlasted Auburn,
Speaker 2: and it's a weird game. I mean, it's a great
Speaker 2: basketball game, but it was a weird game as far
Speaker 2: as how I felt afterwards, because I still feel like
Speaker 2: Auburn is the best team in the country. That's not
Speaker 2: a knock at Duke. That's a really good win and
Speaker 2: they needed it because, you know, Duke had played some
Speaker 2: good teams up been. You know, they played a lot
Speaker 2: of good teams so far, but they hadn't they hadn't
Speaker 2: broken through. I mean, last night they beat Auburn, who
Speaker 2: I believe was number one. In fact, they still are
Speaker 2: number one in the Knpom. And other than that, they
Speaker 2: played two decent teams or actually, no, I'm sorry, they
Speaker 2: played two really good teams Kentucky and Kansas and lost
Speaker 2: both those games. They're winning against Arizona doesn't look as
Speaker 2: good now because Arizona's kind of been exposed as a fraud.
Speaker 2: But no, Duke winning last night was big for them,
Speaker 2: and it's big for the AEC because Carolina, you know,
Speaker 2: they lost last night at home to Alabama, a really
Speaker 2: good Alabama team. But like Carolina and Duke are gonna
Speaker 2: be the two teams that have the best chance to
Speaker 2: be really good in the ACC this year. Right, And
Speaker 2: as I just mentioned, Duke finally got a breakthrough win.
Speaker 2: They were competitive and they're good, but when they played
Speaker 2: the really good teams, they came up short until their
Speaker 2: win last night. I mean, North Carolina right now, they're
Speaker 2: four and four? Are you is your mic on?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: It isn't. It wasn't. No, I'm hearing some like music
Speaker 2: coming from somewhere. Really, I swear I'm hearing like I'm
Speaker 2: hearing the music from the you were playing on the
Speaker 2: regioint is it still on? No, I can hear it
Speaker 2: in my headphone, so something's playing. But anyways, you still
Speaker 2: hear it? Not now I did, but I don't. I
Speaker 2: don't hear it as we speak, but I did until
Speaker 2: you just did something. But anyways, what was the same
Speaker 2: with Carolina? Yeah, they're four and four now, have lost
Speaker 2: three in a row, and I mean, I still think
Speaker 2: Carolina deserves the benefit of the doubt as far as
Speaker 2: being a good team. But you know, the good the
Speaker 2: times they've played good teams they've lost. They lost to Kansas, Auburn,
Speaker 2: Michigan State, and Alabama. None of those are like are
Speaker 2: like bad losses. But if the best of your league
Speaker 2: is going to play teams that are in the top
Speaker 2: tier of the country and they're continuously losing, I mean,
Speaker 2: you don't even have like an elite team to prop
Speaker 2: you up. Duke, I think can still be that because
Speaker 2: they did beat Auburn last night and that's a huge win.
Speaker 2: And I think Duke will only get better. And I'm
Speaker 2: starting to kind of think that John Shire might be
Speaker 2: like a really good coach. I mean, I think we
Speaker 2: all kind of don't want Duke to win. Duke's one
Speaker 2: of those programs you either are a fan for reasons
Speaker 2: I would never know, or you just kind of prefer
Speaker 2: that they lose. So that's kind of how I am.
Speaker 2: But with Shier, you know, this will be a big
Speaker 2: year for him because he does have a really talented
Speaker 2: roster with young freshmen, and they've done a good job
Speaker 2: at building in the portal with like veterans around him
Speaker 2: that you don't need to go be superstars, but just
Speaker 2: be experienced guys that can really mix in with your
Speaker 2: young talent. So you know, the ACC stinks. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's I'd hate to say that, but like it's I
Speaker 2: don't know how you can look at anything that's happened
Speaker 2: so far this season and act as if the ACC
Speaker 2: is even close to as good as the SEC, the
Speaker 2: Big Twelve, and maybe the Big Ten. I would say
Speaker 2: the gap between the Big Ten and the ACC is
Speaker 2: not is not that big. But I think people are
Speaker 2: telling on themselves when they say, well, we'll see when
Speaker 2: they get to the Elite eight later this year. Well, okay,
Speaker 2: who do you think is going to make the Elite
Speaker 2: eight from the ACC? Right now? From what you've seen,
Speaker 2: and I know it's early and things change. North Carolina
Speaker 2: State made the final four last year. Like, I get it,
Speaker 2: But if that's really what you're clinging to to, like
Speaker 2: try to dunk on people who were acknowledging the obvious
Speaker 2: that the ACC's fallen so far as a basketball Like,
Speaker 2: I think it's pretty telling us is that you're in denial.
Speaker 2: I mean NC State having a losing record and making
Speaker 2: the tournament because they won your conference is not the
Speaker 2: flex you think it is. Give them credit. They got hot,
Speaker 2: Big Burns was working, Kevin Keats was on a roll,
Speaker 2: but I mean Kenny Payne almost beat them in the
Speaker 2: AEC tournament. So like, if that's what yo, will we
Speaker 2: put a team in the final four? There wasn't even
Speaker 2: any good Well that speaks more so to like the
Speaker 2: randomness of the tournament than it does anything else. So again,
Speaker 2: that's not where you want to be. Your conference taking
Speaker 2: massive steps back. But this year, I think it could
Speaker 2: be a positive for Louisville if they can be competitive
Speaker 2: in the games against really good teams, and they haven't
Speaker 2: done that yet. They got worked against Ole Miss, they
Speaker 2: got blown out by Tennessee. The Bahamas was a good
Speaker 2: experience all around. But when you play Duke, and you
Speaker 2: play Carolina and you play Kentucky all by the way
Speaker 2: in the next few weeks, I hope you win, but
Speaker 2: man I really, more than anything, keep it competitive to
Speaker 2: where you're not gonna have your resume take a huge
Speaker 2: hit and then just go beat these bad teams in
Speaker 2: the ACC and that's how you could potentially find a
Speaker 2: patch of the tournament. But we'll see quick break, we'll
Speaker 2: come back on the other side. We've got Ken Spencer
Speaker 2: from WHAS eleven joining us at the top of the
Speaker 2: hour here, so stick around on Sports Talk seven ninety