Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider Dick Gabrielle with
Speaker 1: you on a Thursday edition of our program Baseball, Football,
Speaker 1: Basketball to talk about Tonight, we're gonna chat with Kenny Brooks,
Speaker 1: UK women's basketball coach. Of course, the conference schedule announced
Speaker 1: earlier this week for SEC women and Kenny Brooks made
Speaker 1: a big splash that first year, but a key player,
Speaker 1: Georgia Amore, is gone, so it's gonna be a different
Speaker 1: kind of season this upcoming. But we'll learn more about
Speaker 1: that from the UK coach. Also, Aaron Gershaan of the
Speaker 1: Cat's Pause back from vacation, and we're also going to
Speaker 1: talk with DJ Moberly. He is the head girls basketball
Speaker 1: coach at Frederick Douglas. They made the final four last
Speaker 1: year in the sweet sixteen. But more than anything, I
Speaker 1: want to talk to him, not just about his girls team,
Speaker 1: but the fact that he was a middle school coach
Speaker 1: a few years ago at Southern and he coached a
Speaker 1: youngster named Jasper Johnson, a sixth grader who's now a
Speaker 1: Kentucky Wildcat and a rising star. From what we all hear,
Speaker 1: I've not seen a young man play, but was one
Speaker 1: of the top sign in the country. Now he's a
Speaker 1: wildcin under Mark Pope. And when I first met DJ
Speaker 1: Mobley working the Sweet sixteen, we were just chit chatting,
Speaker 1: getting to know each other, and he told me that
Speaker 1: he had coached Jasper Johnson and he had predicted greatness
Speaker 1: for the kids. So we'll talk about Jasper Johnson with
Speaker 1: his former middle school coach and we will learn more
Speaker 1: about that. I mentioned the women and their conference slate.
Speaker 1: Well we know now the men will play three home
Speaker 1: and home opponents this coming season in the SEC, Florida, Vanderbilt,
Speaker 1: and Tennessee. As God intended away games at Alabama got
Speaker 1: to go to Arkansas, got to go to Auburn. That's
Speaker 1: always tough. Of course, LSU, South Carolina, A and M
Speaker 1: never easy. Long trip. Then the three home and homes.
Speaker 1: So yeah, at home, you get those three plus Georgia,
Speaker 1: Ole miss comes to town. Travis Perry and the Fighting
Speaker 1: Rebels come to town. Mississippi State comes to town. It'll
Speaker 1: be good to see Neil Price, the radio broadcaster. Missouri
Speaker 1: comes in, Oklahoma returns the game from last year. Texas
Speaker 1: comes here again, returning from last year. So look, none
Speaker 1: of it's easy. I don't know you know what anybody
Speaker 1: has got in terms of the portal. I've got a
Speaker 1: pretty good idea. But you know how the SEC is.
Speaker 1: Every year, it's brutal. But at least Kentucky's back to
Speaker 1: home and home with Tennessee the school, the program, it
Speaker 1: has played more often than any other. And of course
Speaker 1: Kentucky swept Tennessee regular season last year. Tennessee got the
Speaker 1: revenge with its first win over Kentucky in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 1: They never played in the NCAA Tournament on March twenty eighth,
Speaker 1: but the Wildcats have beaten the Balls one hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty three times. Conversely, Tennessee has beaten Kentucky more than
Speaker 1: any other seventy nine times. So home and home with
Speaker 1: those volunteers. But the non conference schedule is wicked tough
Speaker 1: as well. It's gonna be fun away Mark Pope wants it.
Speaker 1: And remember, you all want those big games, you all
Speaker 1: want the marquee matchups, but you have to be able
Speaker 1: to accept once in a while a loss by your team.
Speaker 1: And yeah, you can learn things, you can benefit, but
Speaker 1: when you play a schedule like that, you're going to
Speaker 1: drop some of those games. It's not gonna hurt as
Speaker 1: much as it might losing to East Nowhere State just
Speaker 1: just be ready for a disappointment here and there. But
Speaker 1: I think for the most part, given the roster that
Speaker 1: Pope has put together, I think we're all going to
Speaker 1: have a lot of fun. Provided they stay healthy. That's
Speaker 1: always always the big if, right. I've got to get
Speaker 1: into baseball and what happened last night with Arkansas, and
Speaker 1: it's been turned around and flipped around for most of
Speaker 1: the last twenty four hours, less than twenty four hours.
Speaker 1: If you're paying attention to the College World Series, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm talking about. But even if you're not,
Speaker 1: and you have interest at hall in baseball, in sports,
Speaker 1: in humanity, you're feeling for the Razorbacks who blew it
Speaker 1: last night. They had a five to three league going
Speaker 1: into the bottom of the ninth against LSU, which had
Speaker 1: already beaten Arkansas once w Limb in the College World Series,
Speaker 1: which means Arkansas would have had to beat LSU again.
Speaker 1: But Arkansas was in great shape with its pitching because
Speaker 1: gage Wood threw that no hitter a couple of days ago,
Speaker 1: which saved its bullpen entirely. And it was a back
Speaker 1: and forth game. I would were playing cards Wednesday Night's
Speaker 1: poker night, but I was keeping an eye on the
Speaker 1: game back and forth, and Arkansas was ahead behind and
Speaker 1: took the lead going into the ninth inning, and again
Speaker 1: it was setting up another game at LSU, but Arkansas
Speaker 1: staying alive right well. LSU put two men on and
Speaker 1: with one out, the ball to the shortstop. And I
Speaker 1: saw this happen, and the shortstop took the lead runner
Speaker 1: threw the man out of third. Okay, fine, but when
Speaker 1: you look at it, it was a routine ground ball.
Speaker 1: He would have easily, I think triggered a double play.
Speaker 1: It was a sharply hit ball. Routine would have been
Speaker 1: a routine six four to three, and it would have
Speaker 1: ended the game. But it didn't. So now the next
Speaker 1: thing you know, there are two men on and an
Speaker 1: LSU hitter slams this wicked line drive into the left field,
Speaker 1: right out the fielder who got a little a bit
Speaker 1: of a weird jump on the ball, and then he slipped,
Speaker 1: ever so slightly lost his balance and could not close
Speaker 1: the angle on the line drive. He kind of threw
Speaker 1: himself at the ball, got a piece of it, but
Speaker 1: it rolls into the corner. Two men score, and now
Speaker 1: it's tied five to five and a winning run on base.
Speaker 1: Here's Carl Ravage on ESPN. Now he called it. This
Speaker 1: body is hope to the field and a bad.
Speaker 2: It goes off the little fielders.
Speaker 3: Hey damn, those ones are gonna come in and we
Speaker 3: are tied again.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, he slipped it in. The fucking went
Speaker 2: right off of his body, and we are tied at five.
Speaker 1: If you ever in your life under the wood, so
Speaker 1: Arkansas shifts. The batter hits a line drive right up
Speaker 1: the middle, right at the defender. The defender in the
Speaker 1: middle of the field gets his glove on the ball
Speaker 1: deflex it into the outfield, which of course kills the
Speaker 1: momentum the ball. Centerfielder comes racing in, you know, base
Speaker 1: runners scoring. He's got no shot at the plate. If
Speaker 1: the line drive had remained alive, would have been a
Speaker 1: one hopper maybe to the center fielder, and the guy
Speaker 1: might not have tried to score, or he would have
Speaker 1: had a really good opportunity to throw them out at
Speaker 1: the plate. But instead, because of the deflection, runner scores easily.
Speaker 1: Game over. Lsu wins with three in the bottom of
Speaker 1: the ninth Arkansas kids. Of course, the fans devastated, players
Speaker 1: are crying. I mean, it was such a heartbreaking scene.
Speaker 1: But on the other hand, they self destructed. Arkansas put
Speaker 1: men on base the bottom of the ninth inning and
Speaker 1: then misplay after misplay. Oh man, it was tough, you know.
Speaker 1: And I'm rooting for Coastal Carolina like most of the country.
Speaker 1: But I'm okay with Arkansas because I kind of want
Speaker 1: to see their coach win a World Series. He's won everything.
Speaker 1: But and a few years ago Arkansas had it and
Speaker 1: a kid dropped the pop fly and ended up costing
Speaker 1: Arkansas the World Series. But last night it was just torture.
Speaker 1: It was slow death and you just knew something weird,
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen. So now it's LSU and Coastal Carolina,
Speaker 1: all right, that's a rematch from twenty sixteen when Coastal
Speaker 1: Carolina jumped up and beat Arizona for the national title.
Speaker 1: Arizona then was coached by Jay Johnson. LSU now coached
Speaker 1: by Jay Johnson. Should be interesting. Gonna be a best
Speaker 1: of three this weekend, and I'll be watching interesting. Note
Speaker 1: about the college football Playoff, the word comes out that
Speaker 1: the College Football Playoff will begin requiring teams to provide
Speaker 1: player availability reports starting this season, just like the SEC.
Speaker 1: No details yet, but you gotta think they're gonna follow
Speaker 1: that model, and I gotta think Greg Sank is pushing
Speaker 1: this train down the tracks and the SEC. As you know,
Speaker 1: teams are required to release initial availability reports on Wednesday
Speaker 1: before Saturday games, followed by daily reports Thursday and Friday,
Speaker 1: with a final report at least ninety minutes before game time.
Speaker 1: For any non Saturday game, it's got to be submitted
Speaker 1: three days before kickoff. Players have to be designated available, probable, questionable, doubtful,
Speaker 1: or out. Yeah, this is about gambling, but even if
Speaker 1: you're not a gambler and you're a fan, you're buying
Speaker 1: a ticket, you're watching TV and probably paying for that.
Speaker 1: You deserve to know. So now it's going to happen
Speaker 1: for the college football playoffs, and it should. While we're
Speaker 1: talking about something that should happen, this is kind of
Speaker 1: tilting in a windmill. But pro athletes, college athletes, high whatever.
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is about athletes, and I
Speaker 1: know this happens all over the place, but of course
Speaker 1: it's celebrities athletes who make the headlines. But could we
Speaker 1: slow it down out there? Shador Sanders, Brown's rookie quarterback,
Speaker 1: cited for going one on one in a sixty on
Speaker 1: I seventy one, one hundred and one miles an hour.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I know he's young, he's got great will reflexes.
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah, you're gonna hurt somebody else. And this
Speaker 1: comes up just as a story breaks about Henry Ruggs
Speaker 1: the Third, the former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver who's
Speaker 1: doing time after killing somebody thanks to a felony DUI
Speaker 1: a drunk driving crash from twenty twenty one. He was
Speaker 1: given a special release to speak at an organization and
Speaker 1: took that opportunity to apologize again to the family of
Speaker 1: the victim. But yeah, he was sentenced to three to
Speaker 1: ten years. He pleaded guilty in twenty three to a
Speaker 1: felony count of dui which resulted in the death of
Speaker 1: somebody else. Why isn't that enough of it? Well, it's
Speaker 1: always going to be that way, you know, you and
Speaker 1: I are going to get older. They're always going to
Speaker 1: remain seventeen eighteen, twenty one years old. And may I
Speaker 1: remind you, and the former UK player died in an
Speaker 1: accident similar situation, going too damn fast in La ran Alike,
Speaker 1: collided with another vehicle and Terrence Clark never got a
Speaker 1: chance to play in the NBA going too fast, no
Speaker 1: seat belt street racing getting ready for the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: one draft after he was a freshman with the Wildcats.
Speaker 1: But the sad news is that I guarantee you every
Speaker 1: one of the people who might have been affected by
Speaker 1: this at some point said, well, that's not going to
Speaker 1: happen to me, but it'd slow it down. Please back
Speaker 1: in a minute, we'll talk about a situation that was
Speaker 1: really shocking involving high profile college basketball that reminded me
Speaker 1: of a chapter of Kentucky Basketball that's coming up at
Speaker 1: the bottom of the Ara. Kenny Brooks, UK women's coach
Speaker 1: around six point thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big
Speaker 1: Moonsider coming up in just a few minutes. UK women's
Speaker 1: basketball coach Kenny Brooks. A little bit later on Aaron
Speaker 1: Gershano the Cats Paws and coach Jamie Bomberley, who is
Speaker 1: the head coach of the Frederick Douglas women's team girls team,
Speaker 1: but he coached Jasper Johnson in middle schools, so we'll
Speaker 1: learn more about his thoughts on one of the newest Wildcats.
Speaker 1: I wanted to commend you to an article on ESPN
Speaker 1: dot com and it's not a lot of fun, but
Speaker 1: it's fascinating in that there's a Kentucky twist to it.
Speaker 1: Slight Kentucky twist to it. But this was a huge
Speaker 1: headline story back in the early aughts. This is when
Speaker 1: a Baylor University basketball player murdered a teammate and the
Speaker 1: head coach tried to cover it up by spinning lives
Speaker 1: about the victim. We're going all the way back to
Speaker 1: twenty three Baylor basketball player where Patrick Denihey went missing
Speaker 1: and it turned into a murder Who done it? When
Speaker 1: his body was found with two gunshot wounds to the
Speaker 1: head and a gravel pit outside of Waco. His car
Speaker 1: was found in Virginia Beach, Virginia with the plates removed. Eventually,
Speaker 1: his teammate Carlton Dotson confessed to the crime. And then
Speaker 1: it got even worse because secret tapes emerged of the
Speaker 1: then Baylor coach Dave Bliss trying to frame Dennihe trying
Speaker 1: to paint the picture that he was a drug dealer
Speaker 1: and that this was about a drug deal going bad,
Speaker 1: and there was all kinds of money involved, and all
Speaker 1: of this was happening while the NCA was investigating illegal
Speaker 1: payments to players at Baylor. I bring this up for
Speaker 1: a couple of reason. Number One, I had worked in
Speaker 1: Dallas in the early eighties. Dave Bliss was the head
Speaker 1: coach at SMU when I was down there, and just
Speaker 1: as I was moving back to Election and SMU played Kentucky.
Speaker 1: That was an SMU team that was a top twenty
Speaker 1: five team and had a big man named John Contact.
Speaker 1: He wasn't the best player on the team I ended
Speaker 1: up with. He became known as John Contract because he
Speaker 1: got a fat contract in the NBA, and he really
Speaker 1: wasn't that good, but he was big, you know. But anyhow,
Speaker 1: SMU actually came up here and kicked Kentucky's butt in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five, and that was while Dave Bliss was
Speaker 1: the head coach. He left Baylor. I'm sorry he left
Speaker 1: SMU for New Mexico, and I thought he would do
Speaker 1: big things there. He was a hot property. And then
Speaker 1: he left New Mexico and came to Baylor, which is
Speaker 1: a big name now because of Scott Drew, but not
Speaker 1: back then, so I'm not sure why he left New Mexico.
Speaker 1: He was having some success, but when Joe b retired,
Speaker 1: one of the guys at cliff Hagen he later told
Speaker 1: me this that he looked at because we got to
Speaker 1: talking when I came back and I was talking to
Speaker 1: him about being down in the Southwest conference was Dave Bliss.
Speaker 1: He really believed Dave Bliss would have been perfect for Kentucky.
Speaker 1: He was a young, good looking guy, he was good
Speaker 1: with the media. He was kind of fun, a New
Speaker 1: York Yankees fan from New York. He had blue seats
Speaker 1: installed at SMU, which his colors were blue and red.
Speaker 1: But when I was interviewing him once in that arena,
Speaker 1: he said he was pointing at the seats, so that's
Speaker 1: Yankees blue. But Cliff Hagen really thought he might have
Speaker 1: been a great choice at Kentucky. So fast forward to
Speaker 1: an NCA tournament I worked in the early nineties and
Speaker 1: Dave Bliss was there was coaching. I was working at
Speaker 1: Friends a Radio, and so I always carried my recorder
Speaker 1: with me and I interviewed him briefly about the fact
Speaker 1: that you know, his name came up when Kentucky was
Speaker 1: looking for a coach and I asked him a question.
Speaker 1: He gave me some general answer, and I try to
Speaker 1: follow up. Dave Bliss reached his hand out, put it
Speaker 1: over my microphone and kind of muttered. I knew what
Speaker 1: was about to happen there, and he was referring to
Speaker 1: the local newspaper's investigation of UK basketball and leading to
Speaker 1: NCAA probation, and so Bliss, if he had ever had
Speaker 1: any interest in Kentucky turned away because of that. That's
Speaker 1: not unusual either. Mitch Barnard had a heck of a
Speaker 1: time hiring a football coach right after NSA drilled Kentucky
Speaker 1: in early oughts. Rich Brooks was choice number six. So anyhow,
Speaker 1: the story on ESPN dot com refers to the fact that, yeah,
Speaker 1: Bliss resigned in disgrace. One player was dead, one player
Speaker 1: went to prison, thirty five years sentence. But now he's
Speaker 1: been released. He's out of jail, and the family's not
Speaker 1: real happy about it. Obviously, they have fought his parole
Speaker 1: for years and now they they've decided we're not going
Speaker 1: to fight it as vociferously. So he's part of this
Speaker 1: super strict program quote unquote in Texas. But the crux
Speaker 1: of the story, as it turns out, and I had
Speaker 1: forgotten about this, I mentioned the tapes. An assistant coach
Speaker 1: named abar Rousse who had just started at Baylor when
Speaker 1: the murder occurred. He recorded the comments from Dave Bliss
Speaker 1: with the tape recorder that he bought at you know,
Speaker 1: a store like a Walmart or a you know, Target
Speaker 1: or something like that. He bought a small recorder, taped
Speaker 1: it to his body, and captured the comments of a
Speaker 1: Bliss explaining to the st members, the assistant coaches, coaching
Speaker 1: them up on what to say about the victim, and
Speaker 1: how this guy had been a drug dealer and the
Speaker 1: murderer was involved in a deal with him and it
Speaker 1: all went bad and a bar rouse turned into tapes
Speaker 1: and everything exploded. So Dave Bliss, the last thing I
Speaker 1: heard he was doing was coaching basketball on a reservation
Speaker 1: Native American to Native Americans on a reservation I think
Speaker 1: in South Dakota. I don't know. He never obviously got
Speaker 1: into mainstream basketball. But the saddest thing of all, next
Speaker 1: to the murder, was the fact that a bar Rouse
Speaker 1: lost his career. He went and was an assistant coach
Speaker 1: or a part time assistant at Midwestern State down in
Speaker 1: Texas for a short amount of times, a D two
Speaker 1: school or actually former UK walk on Bowl Lander played
Speaker 1: a season, played really well, but then transferred to Kentucky.
Speaker 1: That's the only time I can remember hearing about Midwestern State.
Speaker 1: But this guy could not even get interviewed because he
Speaker 1: had taped the comments of a head coach who was
Speaker 1: committing a felony. And of course he did it to
Speaker 1: protect himself. He turned to a career, believe it or not,
Speaker 1: and this is very coincidental in corrections. He joined the
Speaker 1: Federal Bureau of Prisons. He's forty nine, now works in Victorville, California.
Speaker 1: He's worked at several facilities, and he said he's happy.
Speaker 1: He said, I don't know if I would have been
Speaker 1: this happy if I had stayed in coaching. So he's
Speaker 1: happy now, you know, with a wife and children and grandchildren.
Speaker 1: Dave Bliss eighty one is retired and at first he recanted,
Speaker 1: he apologized, but apparently I got to go find this.
Speaker 1: There was a documentary that appeared on Showtime back in
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, and the man who initially apologized Bliss, apparently
Speaker 1: in that documentary repeated many of the same lives he
Speaker 1: had told about the victim about Dennahe and that's brutal.
Speaker 1: But anytime I heard or read about this situation in
Speaker 1: the early aughts, the mid auts three, five o seven
Speaker 1: around in there, I thought about it never came close
Speaker 1: to happening. But that was a big What if Dave
Speaker 1: Bliss had been hired at the University of Kentucky, all
Speaker 1: of this might have been avoided. Those two players never
Speaker 1: would have been teammates, at least at Baylor. So again,
Speaker 1: ESPN dot com has it, and if you just want
Speaker 1: to find it, just google Dave Bliss and it'll probably
Speaker 1: come up all right. Up next Kenny Brooks of the
Speaker 1: UK women's basketball program next on six thirty WLAP Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Big Blue Insider, joining us now as
Speaker 1: a young man who has been on the show before,
Speaker 1: but he had just been hired as the head coach
Speaker 1: of the University of Kentucky women's basketball team. He is
Speaker 1: back with us. Kenny Bruce, coach. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 4: My pleasure, Dick. I'm not sure I'm that young. Man
Speaker 4: anymore going through a full year in the sec ages
Speaker 4: about ten years. But I'm glad to be glad to
Speaker 4: be going, happy to be on you got that.
Speaker 1: I got a few years on you, so you'll always
Speaker 1: be young to me. But yeah, that that season can
Speaker 1: I'm sure brought a few gray hairs, but a lot
Speaker 1: of smiles. Coach, What was it like for you the
Speaker 1: first year? Now that you look back on it, it
Speaker 1: was so successful, a lot of excitement ended, I know,
Speaker 1: not the way you wanted, But how do you assess
Speaker 1: that first year?
Speaker 4: Yeah, more more smiles than gray hairs, Dick. You know, obviously,
Speaker 4: you know you transitioning to a whole new environment, whole
Speaker 4: new conference, whole new team. You can only hope for
Speaker 4: the best. And you know, the kids came through and
Speaker 4: it was more than I could have hoped for, just
Speaker 4: the way that they gelled, the chemistry that they created
Speaker 4: in such a short time. Uh, and even overcoming some adversity.
Speaker 4: We had some injuries last summer that you know, a
Speaker 4: lot of people you know could have said it could
Speaker 4: have derailed our hopes.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: And I was a little bit gloom and doomed because
Speaker 4: we know Jordan, Obie and and Don Paranova that they
Speaker 4: were going to be a big part of what we
Speaker 4: were going to do and u with their injuries, it
Speaker 4: just really depleted our bench, but it didn't deplete our hopes.
Speaker 4: H what the kids did. Everyone stepped up, you know,
Speaker 4: did a little bit more than maybe what was asked
Speaker 4: of them. And the way they came together and they
Speaker 4: fought it was tremendous, you know, and it's probably I
Speaker 4: could probably go on record to say it was my
Speaker 4: most enjoyable season just because just because of the way
Speaker 4: that they came together did We had no issues. Kids
Speaker 4: really got along, worked hard, they were they were so
Speaker 4: much so, not even late for a meeting, you know.
Speaker 4: That's how you know, respectful. They were of the program
Speaker 4: and where it was going. So for me foundationally, it
Speaker 4: was a it was a tremendous year, a lot of fun.
Speaker 4: I think we brought a lot of excitement to Kentucky
Speaker 4: women's basketball and we're we're looking to build on that.
Speaker 1: How much Kenny of that success was because Georgia and
Speaker 1: Clara came with you, and we know they're great players,
Speaker 1: stats aside and all that they knew you, they knew
Speaker 1: how to play for you, and other players could take
Speaker 1: their cues from them cheat coat.
Speaker 5: It really was.
Speaker 4: And you know, I've started two other programs and it
Speaker 4: took a little bit longer to develop that that chemistry,
Speaker 4: that that philosophy. Uh and you know, they came in
Speaker 4: and Georgia, you know, I effectually call her my minime.
Speaker 4: She could finish, finish my sentences. She knows what I'm thinking. Uh.
Speaker 4: We played a lot of you know, games together, and
Speaker 4: so she knew exactly what I wanted, what was expected
Speaker 4: out of the group. So you know, I could go
Speaker 4: out there and I could say you know whatever on
Speaker 4: the floor, and then when they went in the locker room,
Speaker 4: Georgia was still speaking the same rhetoric. You know, she
Speaker 4: would be my translator. She would say, well, hey, look guys,
Speaker 4: he really means this. There were certain times during the
Speaker 4: year where she could sense my frustration, maybe in a practice,
Speaker 4: and she would huddle the team up together and then
Speaker 4: they come out with a new energy and just understanding
Speaker 4: what I meant. And uh so she really was like
Speaker 4: a little a little coach on the floor. And so
Speaker 4: that really you know, propelled our our just the expectation,
Speaker 4: because you know, we were already ahead of the curve.
Speaker 4: And then you know, you throw in Daja Lawrence, who
Speaker 4: I'd never coached before, but that that kid was such
Speaker 4: a She's such a giver and she just wants to
Speaker 4: make sure that she's giving the best she can give.
Speaker 4: And the leadership between those two, uh really really, you know,
Speaker 4: set the foundation for who we can become. I'll forever
Speaker 4: be indebted to both of them for what they did.
Speaker 4: And uh, and just just a familiarity with you know,
Speaker 4: most of the kids that we had in our program,
Speaker 4: you know, six of them were either played for me
Speaker 4: everything in Tech or were committed to me to come
Speaker 4: to Virginia Tech. So just understanding, knowing developing a team
Speaker 4: that really fit what we wanted to accomplish. I think
Speaker 4: that really put us ahead of the curve.
Speaker 1: It really did. And then you became one of the
Speaker 1: top scoring teams in the SEC, one of the best
Speaker 1: defensive teams in the SEC. And when you got here,
Speaker 1: you talked about the fact that at Virginia Tech you
Speaker 1: had played against SEC teams, but now you're hip deep
Speaker 1: in it. What was that like for you and trying
Speaker 1: to fight your way through that.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, one of the things I'm not trying
Speaker 4: to sound over confident. But you know, obviously I've been
Speaker 4: head coach for a long time.
Speaker 6: We've had you know, moderate.
Speaker 4: Success and what we've been doing and how we've done it.
Speaker 4: And I remember coming here and everyone was saying, you know,
Speaker 4: are you ready for the SEC? Are you ready for
Speaker 4: the SEC? Because obviously there's different styles amongst programs, And
Speaker 4: I just kept thinking in my head, you know, was
Speaker 4: the SEC ready for us? Because we were different than
Speaker 4: anybody else in the SEC. The way that we ran
Speaker 4: our offenses, our defenses were different than the SEC. And
Speaker 4: you know, I think that we came in and we
Speaker 4: imposed our will more than the will was imposed on us,
Speaker 4: and I thought we were different.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 4: Several coaches even commented on it that it was hard
Speaker 4: to prepare for us in a couple of days because
Speaker 4: we were different. We were different than anyone else. And uh,
Speaker 4: And I think that's just that's that's the brand of
Speaker 4: basketball that I love. I think that that's the brand
Speaker 4: of basketball that that fans deserve, uh to really go
Speaker 4: out and try to play with freedom of movement in space.
Speaker 4: I think it really showcases the talent, uh that young
Speaker 4: women possessed these days. Uh, instead of just trying to
Speaker 4: come and beat each other up. And uh so I
Speaker 4: think it's you know, I've had so many Kentucky fans
Speaker 4: come up to me and they they thank me for
Speaker 4: bringing the style of basketball here because it's very pleasing,
Speaker 4: it's fun to watch, and and so you know, just
Speaker 4: going through the sec you know, it prepares lot. You know,
Speaker 4: when you talk to Georgia, she talked about physicality was
Speaker 4: at a different level, but it also prepared her for
Speaker 4: the next level. And so we just we just really
Speaker 4: kind of came in and just really stuck to what
Speaker 4: we do and try to do it as best we
Speaker 4: can do it. And it's going to cause problems for
Speaker 4: other people.
Speaker 1: I go back, I've been here forever, but I watched
Speaker 1: Patty Joe Hedge's play with those great teams back in
Speaker 1: the eighties. Was Valerie still and I'm trying, I try
Speaker 1: to compare the two different styles of player, but so
Speaker 1: exciting and Georgia. It was really interesting coach watching opposing teams.
Speaker 1: They were throwing everything they had at Georgia trying to
Speaker 1: stop her, and they may may have slaughter, yeah, exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: I mean, bumping her, holding her and all that stuff
Speaker 1: and she still got her points and her assists. And
Speaker 1: I know people have probably asked you every time you
Speaker 1: turn the corner, what are you gonna do now without her?
Speaker 1: And she's a generational talent. You don't expect anybody to
Speaker 1: come in and replace her. But how much, Keny, if
Speaker 1: at all, will this affect your style of play with
Speaker 1: a new point guard?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you need to uh, you need you
Speaker 4: need to evolve. And a lot of people will ask me.
Speaker 4: You know, I'll have great players, you know, and throughout
Speaker 4: my career. I think I think we counted the other day,
Speaker 4: I've had nine players who were the player of the
Speaker 4: year in college. Really and yeah, and it's like, okay, well,
Speaker 4: what are you going to do now since she's gone?
Speaker 4: What you evolve? You evolve to your talent and what
Speaker 4: you have, you know, and then this year, you know,
Speaker 4: we'll we'll do more things through Claaria Strack, We'll do
Speaker 4: more things through keani Key and that they'll have their opportunity.
Speaker 4: But Georgia, Georgia is such a special talent, not only
Speaker 4: because of her physical attributes, because of her mental capacity.
Speaker 4: She could go out and you know, I never saw
Speaker 4: Georgia have a bad day, you know, So whether it
Speaker 4: was practice or a game, she always came out and
Speaker 4: she had a just a wonderful attitude to try to
Speaker 4: get better. And it was infectious and it made everyone
Speaker 4: else if your best player has that attitude, and you
Speaker 4: have to have that attitude. And so that's how she
Speaker 4: really affected us, you know. And a quick story with Georgia.
Speaker 4: Georgia is like my daughter. You know, We've been through
Speaker 4: so much together. She spends Christmases with us and everything.
Speaker 4: Coming leaving Virginia Tech, coming to Kentucky, I felt a
Speaker 4: sense of responsibility because I knew what her goals, her
Speaker 4: dreams were, and I didn't want to derail them by
Speaker 4: going to coming to Kentucky, all right, and then making
Speaker 4: her have to go through something totally different. HER's, her
Speaker 4: stock whatever. So every morning, you know, that was the
Speaker 4: first thing I thought of, How can I make Georgia better?
Speaker 4: How can I put her in great situations? Every night? Okay,
Speaker 4: what can I do to make sure that she's going
Speaker 4: to be successful? And when we came up against every
Speaker 4: defense and everything, we were always prepared for. And part
Speaker 4: of that was because you know, she and I spent
Speaker 4: so much time together and her dreams became my dreams,
Speaker 4: and I wanted to make sure that I was going
Speaker 4: to keep her on that path. Beca because I never
Speaker 4: had a kid who worked as hard or harder than Georgia.
Speaker 4: And so with all of that and everyone's seeing it,
Speaker 4: I just think it just spread across our program. And
Speaker 4: now to this day, the kids really follow suit and
Speaker 4: they're all okay, wanting to work as hard as Georgia did.
Speaker 4: And I think that's an lasting impression that will help
Speaker 4: our program for years and years and years.
Speaker 1: He is Kenny Brooks, the head coach in the UK
Speaker 1: women's basketball program. Will come back and talk more hoops
Speaker 1: with the coach on the other side of the break
Speaker 1: here on six thirty WLAP. We're talking to Kenny Brooks.
Speaker 1: He is the women's basketball coach at the University of Kentucky.
Speaker 1: And some new faces on the roster coming up and
Speaker 1: some returning. And you mean, I'm glad you mentioned Tianni
Speaker 1: Key because watching your team as much as I did,
Speaker 1: clearly you needed Georgia to do her thing. But I
Speaker 1: felt like Kenny, that if Tianni had a big game,
Speaker 1: you had a shot. I don't care who you were
Speaker 1: playing again, yea, she transferred in from North Carolina. But
Speaker 1: she is an SEC player, isn't she.
Speaker 5: Yeah, she is.
Speaker 4: I love coaching Kiani King. And last year, last year,
Speaker 4: we had to we had to instill confidence in Kiani.
Speaker 4: Kiani had played three years at the University of North Carolina,
Speaker 4: didn't get much playing time. And when we got her.
Speaker 4: I've known Kiani since she was eleven years old. I
Speaker 4: recruited her sister, Tomori, who went to Tennessee. I've known
Speaker 4: the family forever, and so the first thing, our first goal,
Speaker 4: what we needed to do was still some confidence center.
Speaker 4: So as soon as she got to us, we would
Speaker 4: see the athletic ability that she had, the uh you know,
Speaker 4: she'd guard like skills that she had, and I was
Speaker 4: blown away. But she had no confidence. So all this
Speaker 4: all this year, you know, she she had some tremendous
Speaker 4: games that you mentioned, she had some games where she
Speaker 4: wasn't as a productive for us, and the whole year
Speaker 4: was just a building year for us to build her confidence.
Speaker 4: Now her body looks great, she's confident, she's a WNBA player,
Speaker 4: oh wow, and we're looking forward to, you know, extending.
Speaker 7: Her game a little bit more.
Speaker 4: All the while still in Stilling Confidence Center, and I
Speaker 4: think I think everyone's going to see a different Tiani
Speaker 4: and they're going to see, you know, a young lady
Speaker 4: who's going to come out and show.
Speaker 5: Who she is.
Speaker 4: And I say that having a breakout year. You know,
Speaker 4: she averaged twelve points a game and eight rebounds a
Speaker 4: game in the SEC last year, and I think she's
Speaker 4: going to be even better.
Speaker 1: Wow, bodes well for you hearing you talk about it,
Speaker 1: and stilling confidence is just flashed on your colleague. Nick
Speaker 1: ben Jone, the baseball coach. His first year at Kentucky,
Speaker 1: he inherited guys who were talented, but it kind of
Speaker 1: lost their passion and he spent he had to spend
Speaker 1: the first half of the year telling them, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: we're really good. You guys are really good. We can play.
Speaker 1: They end up winning a regional title that year. Part
Speaker 1: of your job is helping young players assimilate, you know,
Speaker 1: and maybe leave the high school behind where they think
Speaker 1: they're you know, and maybe they are the greatest things
Speaker 1: since jellybeans. But on the other hand, you have to
Speaker 1: build confidence and other players. That's that's quite a gift
Speaker 1: for a head coach. How long has it taken you
Speaker 1: to develop that skill.
Speaker 4: Well, you know what twenty five years, because they're going
Speaker 4: on twenty five years and I'm still doing it because
Speaker 4: you know, we've gone from an era that you know,
Speaker 4: when I first started, you know, coaching on the women's side,
Speaker 4: there was no social media. Yeah, you know, so pretty
Speaker 4: much you were instilling confidence and kids and their little
Speaker 4: bubble and what they lived in, you know, with their
Speaker 4: parents or families or whatnot. And now it's even evolved
Speaker 4: to the point where you know, these kids come and
Speaker 4: they play a game, and they can go on social media,
Speaker 4: and they've got strangers that are just you know, you know,
Speaker 4: breaking them down, you know, over a game. People don't
Speaker 4: know them, and so, you know, it's just just been
Speaker 4: different levels throughout my whole career of talking to kids
Speaker 4: and stealing confidence and telling them what they can do.
Speaker 4: And I think the one way that I've been able
Speaker 4: to be successful with it and be genuine with it
Speaker 4: is you have to know your players. You know, you
Speaker 4: have to know them. So it's more than you know,
Speaker 4: it's more. It's not just transactional, it's relationship based and
Speaker 4: to coach them hard, to understand them, you have to
Speaker 4: know them. And they've got to come into your office.
Speaker 4: They've got to come in and sit down and talk
Speaker 4: to you so that they understand, you know, what's supposed
Speaker 4: to be happening. And that's that's the way we've been
Speaker 4: able to do it. And you know, it took us
Speaker 4: a little while. For Kiani, it's still a work in progress,
Speaker 4: still a work in progress with some others. You know,
Speaker 4: even to the day Georgia was walking out of my
Speaker 4: office or all their last game. You know, I'm still
Speaker 4: teaching her, talking to her about you know, hey, be
Speaker 4: as confident as you can be and your abilities because
Speaker 4: you put the work in. So I do think that's
Speaker 4: very very important. U. You have to have that relationship
Speaker 4: with your players to be able to get the best
Speaker 4: out of them, the most out of them. And h
Speaker 4: you know, and I have a tremendous staff. You know,
Speaker 4: we're very well in tuned with what our kids need,
Speaker 4: what they want, uh, and then we just try to
Speaker 4: get the best of of them.
Speaker 1: Well, you got to know the fans all season and
Speaker 1: yesterday they lined up all the way around Kroger over
Speaker 1: at Beaumont Huge Store.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 1: What was that like for you? You know? And I
Speaker 1: know that's all part of the job. But when you
Speaker 1: can get out and and interact with the fans like that,
Speaker 1: it's got to be a nice break for you.
Speaker 4: I would think, Well, I'll tell you, a big blue
Speaker 4: nation never ceases to amaze me. And uh, you know,
Speaker 4: just their passion uh for for you know, Kentucky in general. Uh,
Speaker 4: me and my family we were just sitting here talking
Speaker 4: and and how much we love Lexington. And Lexington is
Speaker 4: a really cool city. You're able to do a lot
Speaker 4: of different things.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 4: You know, I I go hardly anywhere while I'm not recognized,
Speaker 4: but the fans are so knowledgeable and so respectful and uh,
Speaker 4: they just they just want they want a winner. But
Speaker 4: more than that, they just want teams that are going
Speaker 4: to represent the University of Kentucky, the state of Kentucky.
Speaker 4: And when you do that and you play hard, you
Speaker 4: know they'll be behind you. And uh and and they
Speaker 4: they want to win. They want to win. And you know,
Speaker 4: you don't want to be anywhere where people don't want
Speaker 4: to win. But it's been a tremendous, tremendous experience for
Speaker 4: us in the year. For me going to like Kroger
Speaker 4: uh and just being able to interact with you know,
Speaker 4: fans on a different level. Uh that that's a joy
Speaker 4: for my job. And you know when we were there
Speaker 4: yesterday or the day before at Kroger, I was blown away.
Speaker 4: You know, I thought the line just went a certain
Speaker 4: way and then when they told me you know, the
Speaker 4: line wraps around and you know I was I was
Speaker 4: blown away. But you know, just having the ability to
Speaker 4: sit and talk to each individual person, you know, whether
Speaker 4: you know whether it's ten seconds, fifteen seconds, or you know,
Speaker 4: it could be a little bit longer. It's what we do.
Speaker 4: And for those fans who give so much to us,
Speaker 4: for us to give anything back, it's a joy. And
Speaker 4: that was a lot of fun yesterday.
Speaker 1: I've only got a minute or so. Let but have
Speaker 1: you talked to Georgia since her injury? And then what
Speaker 1: are her spirits like? Because what a disappointment a chance
Speaker 1: to wait to start her pro career.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know what, I talked to Georgia probably five
Speaker 4: times a day. You know, whether it's whether it's whether
Speaker 4: it's you know, on the phone or through text or
Speaker 4: you know, through social media. You know, we're constantly and
Speaker 4: uh communication with each other. And uh, you know when
Speaker 4: when when when it happened. When it happened. It happened
Speaker 4: in the afternoon practice, and she called me right after
Speaker 4: and she said, Hey, don't worry, I just just going
Speaker 4: to take me to you know, look at this situation,
Speaker 4: I hyper extended my knee and I and for me,
Speaker 4: I was you know, heartbreaking because I had her for
Speaker 4: five years and she never had much of a sprained ankle.
Speaker 4: And so I waited all day and then she face
Speaker 4: timed me that night. And when when I clicked on
Speaker 4: and I saw her face and she was, you know,
Speaker 4: very emotional, my heart sank and I just start crying.
Speaker 4: I just start crying. But but what happened, what happened
Speaker 4: after that. That's why sometimes I don't know if I
Speaker 4: was coaching her, she was coaching me. You know, she
Speaker 4: was she was the calm one, she was the adult,
Speaker 4: and she was the one that was assuring me that
Speaker 4: she's going to be okay. Yeah, and you know, and
Speaker 4: immediately she looked with a silver lining in the whole situation.
Speaker 4: The Washington Mystic stepped up. They were tremendous. They didn't
Speaker 4: have to keep her on roster. They did. They're rehabbing her.
Speaker 4: They sent her to the best doctor to get her
Speaker 4: her her surgery done and then her you know, her
Speaker 4: recovery is going yeah, exceptionally well right now, and then
Speaker 4: you know she's helping me through it. So but she's
Speaker 4: she's a trooper, and you know that's why she was
Speaker 4: great that she is. So she's doing extremely well.
Speaker 1: That is great, coach. Thank you so much and looking
Speaker 1: forward to seeing your team this season. I appreciate the
Speaker 1: time and have a great summer.
Speaker 4: Thanks Dick Okat.
Speaker 1: Such a great first season for Kenny Brooks, not unlike Markope,
Speaker 1: and it coincided with the opening of the new and
Speaker 1: improved Memorial Coliseum, so it all came together. Up next,
Speaker 1: Aaron Gershaan of The Catch Balls a little bit later
Speaker 1: on DJ Morbley, who coached Jasper Johnson in middle school.
Speaker 1: On The Big Blo Insider six thirty, what do you
Speaker 1: like feet.
Speaker 2: Tacking back?
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Bone Sider, joining us now
Speaker 1: as he does every week. Aaron gershan of The Cat's
Speaker 1: Pause back Off vacation down to Florida to see mom,
Speaker 1: traveling around a little bit. Everything good.
Speaker 7: Yeah, actually was down in Florida, but this time was
Speaker 7: actually with my friends. Was a Bechtel, trip Ah, hanging
Speaker 7: out with the guys, wit a great time. And yeah,
Speaker 7: like you said, relaxed and ready to get going again,
Speaker 7: do you.
Speaker 1: Well, you put that disappointing Nicks finished behind you. I
Speaker 1: won't have to, I won't harp on that a little bit.
Speaker 1: But you're still trying to find a head coach, trying
Speaker 1: to poach coaches, and nobody will let you talk to anybody.
Speaker 1: But well we'll leave that. And now your Yankees have
Speaker 1: finally scored a few runs.
Speaker 7: You've got a rough time, like the lost. Yeah, they
Speaker 7: didn't win a single game while I was gone. So
Speaker 7: I saw something today where like the last like the
Speaker 7: last nineteen New York sporting events, counting the nets, counting
Speaker 7: the nets, the Knicks, like they've lost nineteen in.
Speaker 5: A row combined.
Speaker 7: Man, Yeah, it's not fun right now.
Speaker 1: Miserable time in New York City. Well, let us bring
Speaker 1: you back to the beat you cover for the Cat's Balls,
Speaker 1: Aaron covers basically anything involving UK sports. Of course, the
Speaker 1: headline why you were gone was Vince Marrow throwing over
Speaker 1: one program and going to the arts rival. You know,
Speaker 1: there had been rumors floating, But again, you've been traveling.
Speaker 1: How shocked were you by that?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think it was the timing of it. I
Speaker 7: don't think it was the fact that happened. And like
Speaker 7: you said, these rumors have gone on for years at
Speaker 7: various different programs. I mean Michigan State when mel Tucker
Speaker 7: was hired there, Michigan, Clinkscale was on staff there North
Speaker 7: Carolina earlier this year when they first hired Bill Belichick,
Speaker 7: and then countless you know, mac head coaching opportunities, and
Speaker 7: then both Purdue when Jeff Brown was at Purdue and
Speaker 7: Louisville when he first got to Louisville. Like this relationship
Speaker 7: with Jeff bro for Vince Marrow has gone back to
Speaker 7: their time in the xfs YE in two thousand and
Speaker 7: one playing together. So it's not a huge surprise he
Speaker 7: landed at Louisville, even though it is the arts rival.
Speaker 7: I think that you know, he's at the end of
Speaker 7: the day, you know, he's a high paid, well known assistant,
Speaker 7: and he's obviously childhood friends and there's no Mark Stoops
Speaker 7: for quite a long time. But you know, the fact
Speaker 7: he went to Louisville as an assistant, I think, you know,
Speaker 7: it's not like the most earth shattering thing ever, especially
Speaker 7: when you have a guy like Jeff Brown there. But
Speaker 7: the problem and why it's so such a tough look
Speaker 7: pr wise for UK such a tough it's the timing.
Speaker 7: I mean, we're talking middle of June, well, I guess
Speaker 7: early June when this happened, busiest recruiting cycle month. As
Speaker 7: you're seeing, you know, Kentucky's finally getting on the board
Speaker 7: in the high school recruiting game, which is good, but
Speaker 7: you know, the guy that's kind of the guy whose
Speaker 7: spearheads all that leaves in the middle of it to
Speaker 7: the arch rival.
Speaker 5: He immediately, you know.
Speaker 7: He saw two Ohio kids get offers formoival yesterday. Like
Speaker 7: clearly there was a lot going on there, you know,
Speaker 7: whether it was a change in power, changing philosophy. You know,
Speaker 7: Vince Marra was ready for something else and he went
Speaker 7: to go, you know, coaching or I guess I'm get
Speaker 7: me on to coach more of a general manager type
Speaker 7: with a close friend. And you can't blame them for that.
Speaker 7: But it's just the timing of it that it's so
Speaker 7: so hard to like not have not to try to
Speaker 7: want to dig deeper and see what the heck happened
Speaker 7: here because these moves don't happen in June. They usually
Speaker 7: happened in December and January.
Speaker 1: Well, and to your point, yeah, those kids get offers
Speaker 1: from Louisville. But suddenly Kentucky is up to six or
Speaker 1: seven or whatever, there's been like this rush. Do you
Speaker 1: think that was a coincidence or do you think one
Speaker 1: had something to do with the other with Vince Marrow
Speaker 1: moving on as suddenly these kids are committing.
Speaker 7: Yeah, notice how so far none of them moved from
Speaker 7: the state of Ohio. It's total different and none are
Speaker 7: from the city of Kentucky either. You know, they're from
Speaker 7: different places. And I think I don't think it's a
Speaker 7: Vince Marrow. This is all happening now because Vince is gone.
Speaker 5: Deal.
Speaker 7: I think this is all happening now. One because it
Speaker 7: is June. This is what happens in June typically. And
Speaker 7: two I just think Kentucky now with Mayor maybe the
Speaker 7: only way that it's not just kind of just timing
Speaker 7: thing is you know, Kentucky now is fully now that
Speaker 7: Mayor's gone, It's like, Okay, we're going to do it
Speaker 7: this way. Now, We're going to kick the tires in
Speaker 7: this philosophy, and you know these kids are that they've
Speaker 7: had committed. There's been Georgia, there's been one from Texas,
Speaker 7: I think Louisiana, definitely one from Pennsylvania the other day.
Speaker 7: Like they're from all over the map, but they're not
Speaker 7: from the two states. Kentucky's recruited the hardest. So I
Speaker 7: do think that is very interesting, you know.
Speaker 1: And the timing, as you say, is everything, and really
Speaker 1: the way this is all coming together going into this
Speaker 1: crucial Mark Stoops year. You know, we all know what
Speaker 1: happened last year. Stoops has talked about how it got
Speaker 1: away and he you know, he took a hit for that.
Speaker 1: He said, this is on me, and he's not wrong.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's a group thing. And now they're
Speaker 1: looking at a brutally tough schedule. So all of these
Speaker 1: things are coming together at once, and I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's a feeling of dread, but
Speaker 1: by the uphill climb is something like we haven't seen
Speaker 1: since Stop's got here, you know what I mean.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's the truth, And you know I was kind
Speaker 7: of I've had a couple of reporters on other beats
Speaker 7: jats to me for future stories they're doing. And they
Speaker 7: both asked me the same question. So they're both in
Speaker 7: the two four seventh space and maybe they're working on
Speaker 7: a similar feature. But they both asked me, who do
Speaker 7: you think Kentucky's best player is? And so the first
Speaker 7: time in a long time, right, usually we'll have a
Speaker 7: quick answer, right, Josh Allen, Yeah, right, you know, going
Speaker 7: back a couple of years ago, get picked one of
Speaker 7: the offensive linemen, Wandell Robinson, Will Levice whatever. Last year,
Speaker 7: even going into last year, Dean Walker, no question.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I couldn't like, I couldn't find a good answer
Speaker 8: for him. It's like and that to me speaks of
Speaker 8: why it's such an uphill battle. And again, yes, the
Speaker 8: schedule is brutal. We all know that there's.
Speaker 7: No game, especially now that Vandy had a really respectable
Speaker 7: year and has Diego potting it back.
Speaker 4: There's no game on that schedule. You can go right
Speaker 4: now on June nineteenth and just chalk up as a
Speaker 4: wint that there's just none of that. So that's already
Speaker 4: one uphill battle. But the other one too is Yes,
Speaker 4: I do think I like what they did with this
Speaker 4: transfer class. I think they just a lot of needs.
Speaker 4: I think, at least on paper, this offensive line should
Speaker 4: be have more depth to it and should be better.
Speaker 4: But there's still that there's that lack.
Speaker 5: Of star talent. There's that lack of Okay.
Speaker 7: This guy is going to make a play when we
Speaker 7: need him in the fourth quarter, Like I just had
Speaker 7: real trouble pinpointing that guy. And I think that's kind
Speaker 7: of the biggest problem that maybe isn't even being talked
Speaker 7: about enough. I'm sure you know, fans are all angry
Speaker 7: and they don't want to talk about much with this
Speaker 7: football program other than the marrow stuff and stoops as
Speaker 7: this is last year whatever. But to me, like the
Speaker 7: biggest issue that's not being talked about enough. And again,
Speaker 7: I think they did a pretty good job of the
Speaker 7: portal class, but they lost over forty kids from last
Speaker 7: year's team. Like if dang Key was coming back, I know,
Speaker 7: you know, I don't really know if he was a
Speaker 7: locker room ische or not. I know he had some
Speaker 7: dumb penalties over the time, but he was a really
Speaker 7: really productive player. He's a fifth leading receiver in UK history.
Speaker 7: Dane Key was coming back, I'd say, dang Key, sure,
Speaker 7: but he's not coming back, so it makes it really interesting.
Speaker 1: That is a great question. And of course you've got
Speaker 1: the revolving door at quarterback. And I just saw one
Speaker 1: of the many many preseason polls power ratings on SEC
Speaker 1: qbs and whoever put it together, of course at Kentucky's
Speaker 1: QB last. But then you know who knows anything about him?
Speaker 5: Right, and they had Tabby had right near the bottom
Speaker 5: last year. That's yeah, studs.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, and actually I think that's kind of
Speaker 7: I think Calzada is really interesting because of how like
Speaker 7: the sort of motivated the news ton this offseasons become
Speaker 7: almost the joie. But like that dude, that dude's got
Speaker 7: everything on the line. This is a seventh year senior
Speaker 7: who is back in the SEC after kind of going
Speaker 7: two years in SPS to kind of re establish himself.
Speaker 7: He was pretty pretty hard solid in twenty twenty one
Speaker 7: at A and m makes the decision to transfer to Auburn.
Speaker 7: That decision goes terribly and now he's back with it,
Speaker 7: you know, Yeah, And that goes back to now he's
Speaker 7: back with a chance to redeem himself. Like that's kind
Speaker 7: of like a position I'm kind of more. I'm not
Speaker 7: I wouldn't say skeptical. I'm more excited to see how
Speaker 7: that plays out. And obviously if Cutter Bully who I mean,
Speaker 7: that Texas game is real like it happens, was not
Speaker 7: so good offensive line. So actually, like, what's funny about
Speaker 7: all this to me is like quarterback, I feel decently
Speaker 7: okay with It's just the talent up and down the
Speaker 7: roster and the schedule, and then obviously the big the
Speaker 7: biggest thing is just how locked in is Mark Stepson's
Speaker 7: coaching staff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well it's all going to come down to
Speaker 1: line play, but it always does in the SEC That's
Speaker 1: just the nature of the beast. But it's interesting, Aaron,
Speaker 1: and we all know the O line had his issues,
Speaker 1: but you know the D line, you know, I thought
Speaker 1: underachieved last year, underperformed a little bit, and I don't
Speaker 1: know why. I'm not smart enough to know why. But
Speaker 1: it's funny. That is a difficult position, as you know,
Speaker 1: to which to recruit and execute, and yet it's been
Speaker 1: a strength of Kentucky football. So now that one's got
Speaker 1: to re establish itself, you.
Speaker 7: Know, absolutely, And yeah, I think last year, look, they
Speaker 7: were a top run defense in the country, like halfway
Speaker 7: through the year and then Deon Walker's back. Really, I
Speaker 7: think that was the biggest thing. You know, that guy
Speaker 7: was playing. It was amazing that guy got it out
Speaker 7: and played. I think that kind of appreciated just what
Speaker 7: that guy tried to do. And he obviously wasn't himself
Speaker 7: and didn't have the year he was hoping to have,
Speaker 7: and that's why he saw his draft stock pummet. But
Speaker 7: you know, other guys like they just didn't. I mean,
Speaker 7: I think Joe'siden Hazes's injury kind of got underrated in
Speaker 7: it too, where they lost that big body in the middle,
Speaker 7: like when the season, you know, when they started losing
Speaker 7: other bodies. But you know, tav Foxen Done was a
Speaker 7: nice player. He was always up and down throughout his
Speaker 7: career and that was kind of what he was last year.
Speaker 7: I thought Trayvon Ripkay had a great year, but was
Speaker 7: a better kind of a pass rusher than run defender.
Speaker 7: And they just they struggled to stop the run. And
Speaker 7: they remember they had all those defensive line injuries in
Speaker 7: spring practice last year, and I think maybe them losing
Speaker 7: time on the practice field in the spring hurt them
Speaker 7: in the fall and then hurt their conditioning. Because again
Speaker 7: they were.
Speaker 5: Top head in the country and run.
Speaker 7: Defense until that Florida game, or yeah, Florida would have
Speaker 7: before Auburn.
Speaker 5: So the Florida and Auburn game.
Speaker 7: Is kind of when things started to go super super south.
Speaker 7: But I think maybe the conditioning and then Deon Walker's
Speaker 7: injury what to blame there. But the thing is with
Speaker 7: this year's run defense is like a lot of the roster,
Speaker 7: there's so much new and it's hard to just project
Speaker 7: exactly how.
Speaker 1: It'll Douncetaer is going to be a question mark and
Speaker 1: that's not been a question mark for a while at Kentucky.
Speaker 1: So we're talking Aaron gershan of the Cat's Balls. We'll
Speaker 1: talk more Kentucky football, a little bit of hoops as well.
Speaker 1: On the other side of the break here on six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP Welcome back, We're talking with Aaron Gershaan of
Speaker 1: the Cat's Paws about the basketball Cats, the football Cats,
Speaker 1: and uh, just let me interject this. Did you see
Speaker 1: Arkansas LSU last night?
Speaker 5: Another Arkansas moment?
Speaker 1: Gosh amazing?
Speaker 7: Yeah, really, yeah, It's been a lot of these games,
Speaker 7: been really good.
Speaker 1: Great in terms of drama, not in terms of execution.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but let me stare you back to football
Speaker 1: one more question before I get you to basketball. One
Speaker 1: of the you mentioned Dane Key and I I really
Speaker 1: I just love watching him play. You go back to
Speaker 1: the Old Miss game and Old Miss through anything, and
Speaker 1: everybody had him and he still made big plays, and
Speaker 1: you couldn't blame him from moving on and trying to
Speaker 1: get you know, a bigger year behind him going into
Speaker 1: the end NFL. But that said, with the guys coming
Speaker 1: back and the guys coming through the portal, I'm really intrigued,
Speaker 1: Aaron by the wide receiver room. Or maybe I'm being
Speaker 1: overly optimistic, but I really believe that this could be
Speaker 1: a strength of this team, you know what I mean.
Speaker 7: I think on paper it can. I think obviously isn't
Speaker 7: going to come down to the quarterback play at the
Speaker 7: end of the day. But Jamury Macklin, the way Jimury
Speaker 7: Macklin played at the end of the year was the
Speaker 7: guy who signed out of North tex That's right, like
Speaker 7: that is what they were looking for, and I think
Speaker 7: him moving outside to his natural spot is going to
Speaker 7: help him. I think Kendrick Law, from what we saw
Speaker 7: in the couples and practices, looked awesome, and he was
Speaker 7: a guy that was at Alabama for three years, right
Speaker 7: was kind of underutilizing the past game. Is a really
Speaker 7: good run blocker, which Kentucky we all know can use
Speaker 7: on the perimeter. That has been a huge issue the
Speaker 7: last two or three years, the run blocking on the perimeter.
Speaker 7: So I think Kenrick Law and Jimury Macklin are the
Speaker 7: two that stand out. It's going to be interesting to
Speaker 7: see who they utilizing the spot. If it's choice though
Speaker 7: the transfer from Funds, and if it's one of the
Speaker 7: freshmen like Quisinberry, I think he's probably got another year
Speaker 7: development to do. But you know, he was the guy
Speaker 7: who may just made every play when we were there
Speaker 7: in the spring, so we'll see if that carries over
Speaker 7: into the fall camps. So you know, there's there's a
Speaker 7: lot of options in that room. You also have if
Speaker 7: you could stay healthy. JJ Hester, who is the six
Speaker 7: or four body that played at Missouri originally when la
Speaker 7: Damian Washington and Jaworium Mathon were there, went to Oklahoma
Speaker 7: last year I think was the healthiest healthiest of his
Speaker 7: career and was almost that four hundred yards, So you know, there's.
Speaker 5: A lot of different options. In that room.
Speaker 7: I think there can be a lot of depth. It's
Speaker 7: going to be I think, you know you're one and two.
Speaker 7: They're going to be macklin in Law. As far as
Speaker 7: options go, it's just who's going to step up behind
Speaker 7: them and who's going to be emerged as reliable. And
Speaker 7: you know, you even have a couple of guys also returning,
Speaker 7: like David Washington was a guy who's really good in
Speaker 7: the spring too.
Speaker 5: We'll see where he's at.
Speaker 7: And then you know, Fred Berrier made a couple of
Speaker 7: plays for you last year too, So it's a very
Speaker 7: interesting room. I agree, And I think it can be
Speaker 7: a strength that's skiffs again. Who's going to emerge behind
Speaker 7: mack when the law is the question for me.
Speaker 1: Holding on to the football and and becoming a downfield threat.
Speaker 1: You know, who's going to be the slot guy that
Speaker 1: everybody knows needs the ball and you know, can they
Speaker 1: get it to him? That kind of thing. It's going
Speaker 1: to be fascinating.
Speaker 5: I agree.
Speaker 7: And and the title, well this finally like a guy
Speaker 7: like Willie Rodriguezy got to throw the ball, like they
Speaker 7: got to figure out a way to get the ball
Speaker 7: in his hands. I think, you know, that was one
Speaker 7: of the guys. I was like, man, I wish he
Speaker 7: had better stats because I think he has a chance
Speaker 7: to be the best player on this football team from
Speaker 7: everything we hear and everything we see in practice. But
Speaker 7: they got to get him the ball to show that.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 1: Joshkatis as well, he's proven he can.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's been around forever. Yeah, and that's the guy.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's uh finally gets to play for a same
Speaker 7: coordinator for a second year. So in last year, he's
Speaker 7: a guy too that was banged up as well. So
Speaker 7: if he's back healthy, yeah, there's no reason he can't
Speaker 7: have a nice year as well.
Speaker 1: You know we talk about Bush Hampden, the offensive coordinator. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that secondary he's got that full cycle, you know, being
Speaker 1: a Kentucky not just arriving quickly installing everything. But on
Speaker 1: the other hand, you know, so many guys on the
Speaker 1: roster don't have that full cycle, so they just they
Speaker 1: just gotta get sync, don't they.
Speaker 5: Yeah, they have to get in sync.
Speaker 7: And I think that's what was so good about, you know,
Speaker 7: having most of the bulkier transfers and even a lot
Speaker 7: of freshmen here for the first spring, supposed to get
Speaker 7: a jump start on that, and you know you do
Speaker 7: just have some again, you have some returners, but you know,
Speaker 7: not as many as a lot of other teams. And
Speaker 7: I do think for Handen of the biggest thing that'll
Speaker 7: make this I think last year, I'm not going to
Speaker 7: say throw away Hamden and you know the play calling
Speaker 7: and all that, But I think this year he picked
Speaker 7: this team.
Speaker 5: Like on offense.
Speaker 7: You know, a lot of I wouldn't they picked it,
Speaker 7: but yeah, a lot of say self were last year
Speaker 7: he came in and then Rock Vandergriff was his quarterback,
Speaker 7: and you know, they had brought in Jamary Macklin already,
Speaker 7: they brought in Jalen part ended up being really good,
Speaker 7: right They like the pieces from the portal Gerald Minty,
Speaker 7: like those pieces were in place and he kind of
Speaker 7: just had to figure it out.
Speaker 5: This year.
Speaker 7: You know, he knows every single piece because they you know,
Speaker 7: he helped either recruit them or or scout them or whatever,
Speaker 7: like he had to say so on these guys. So
Speaker 7: I think this is a huge year for him in
Speaker 7: that regard as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it all comes back to the old line
Speaker 1: as everybody knows.
Speaker 5: But uh, exactly, you know.
Speaker 1: The proof's going to be evident fairly quickly. But and again,
Speaker 1: I've talked all summer with people about the schedule. Toledo's
Speaker 1: not going to be easy. It just isn't. And you know,
Speaker 1: by the time.
Speaker 7: They boat route Mississippi State, yeah, and then.
Speaker 1: And then they beat Pittsburgh in a bowl game, yep.
Speaker 1: But by the time they arrive, you know, I think
Speaker 1: in the minds of a lot of the Kentucky fans, well,
Speaker 1: it's another Mac team. But you know, need I remind you,
Speaker 1: And you've seen MAC teams come in here and play
Speaker 1: Kentucky off his feet and win at times. So and
Speaker 1: then the next thing you know, you got ol miss
Speaker 1: coming in. So it's amazing how some years everything comes
Speaker 1: together in terms of the schedule and the team, but
Speaker 1: then years like this and they're they're rare. I think
Speaker 1: there's so much working against this team right now.
Speaker 7: You know, Yeah, the odds are absolutely one stacked against them,
Speaker 7: and no one's really giving them much of a shot
Speaker 7: at all. I mean, when the votes come into Atlanta,
Speaker 7: I'm expecting them to probably be fourteenth or fifteenth. I
Speaker 7: think Mississippi State's still got the longest road in the SEC.
Speaker 7: Just with Levy and that rebuild going on there in
Speaker 7: the year they had last season, but you know, outside
Speaker 7: of them, like fifteenth or sixteenth, probably fifteenth or fourteenth,
Speaker 7: probably depending on where Vandy they stacked Mandy with them.
Speaker 5: So it's an uphill battle.
Speaker 7: The schedule is one of the hardest in the country
Speaker 7: and in the SEC as well. Like everyone's like, oh
Speaker 7: the SEC, no matter who your schedules and stuff.
Speaker 5: Don't look at I.
Speaker 7: Don't have it in front of me, But look at
Speaker 7: Missouri schedules and tell me how they got that. Like,
Speaker 7: they're two toughest games of the year, I think, are
Speaker 7: all of them, and to Carolina they're both at home
Speaker 7: and the rector are very, very manigable for the Tigers.
Speaker 7: So it's just Kentucky did not get that draw, that's
Speaker 7: for sure. And with all the roster questions, all the
Speaker 7: mark stoops, that's going to be distraction more like.
Speaker 5: Will they handle it well?
Speaker 7: Hopefully, but that's gonna be something that's hanging over this
Speaker 7: program's head all year long. Yeah, and uh, it's gonna
Speaker 7: it's gonna be again, it's an uphill doubt. I like
Speaker 7: the way you put it, that's what it's gonna be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they've lost a lot of the fan base,
Speaker 1: which they know and they I mean, that's all part
Speaker 1: of the job, you know, it's it's winner else, especially
Speaker 1: in the sec uh. But I always go back to
Speaker 1: that Old Miss game last year when Kentucky played so
Speaker 1: well on the road, tough situation against a good team.
Speaker 1: They knew how to prepare a team and they got
Speaker 1: it done because the players went out and executed. It.
Speaker 1: All has to happen at once. Whatever does happen, Aaron
Speaker 1: Gerschell will cover for the catch balls.
Speaker 5: Thank you so much, sir anytime.
Speaker 1: And we ran out of time before we could ask
Speaker 1: him anything about basketball, But there's all next week, so
Speaker 1: we'll check in with him on that. Coming up next,
Speaker 1: we'll talk with DJ Moberley, who coached Jasper Johnson, the
Speaker 1: newest Wildcat, one of the newest Wildcats in middle school.
Speaker 1: Next six point thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Insider. Rejoined now by a young man that actually
Speaker 1: met during the girls Sweet sixteen. His team had a
Speaker 1: run at a state championship. A great job by Dj
Speaker 1: Moberley of Frederick Douglas coach.
Speaker 6: Are you I'm doing pretty good?
Speaker 5: Doing good to.
Speaker 1: Talk to you again. I want to talk about your team,
Speaker 1: but I also want to talk about something you told
Speaker 1: me when we were getting to know each other during
Speaker 1: the Sweet sixteen back in March, and that was that
Speaker 1: you were Jasper Johnson's middle school coach. Is that correct?
Speaker 6: Yes, sir, that's correct.
Speaker 1: Where was that?
Speaker 6: I don't remember the year that was actually over here
Speaker 6: with me, but he's been with me for three years
Speaker 6: over here. He actually when he came in as a
Speaker 6: sixth grade he started eighth grade? Does the sixth grade?
Speaker 5: Wow?
Speaker 1: What did you say and him? That's a broad question,
Speaker 1: I know, but.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Uh, to be honest with you, man, Dennis is
Speaker 6: probably gonna laugh, man, But Dennis was thinking I was
Speaker 6: crazy in middle school because I had told his dad that, uh,
Speaker 6: Jasher was playing three sports when I got him. Actually,
Speaker 6: and uh, you know his dad, you know, his dad
Speaker 6: is a big, big UK football player, you know, you know,
Speaker 6: of course played professional so you know it's Hardsworth football.
Speaker 6: But I's the crazy thing about it, Dick h The
Speaker 6: first year I got Jasper, I didn't want to tell
Speaker 6: this at first, right, but I was like, I knew
Speaker 6: it from the get first day I had Jasper. I
Speaker 6: said this guy's gonna be a basketball placer. I'm gonna
Speaker 6: be a football player. And so the day that I
Speaker 6: got to tell his dad, and his dad was looking
Speaker 6: at me crazy, like, man, you really think So the
Speaker 6: day I could, I remember calling him up and telling him.
Speaker 6: I was like, man, I said, Jasher's passion is basketball.
Speaker 6: I said, man, you know, and I told him this
Speaker 6: why this kid was in sixth grade me, I said,
Speaker 6: this kid's gonna be a pro.
Speaker 1: What position did he play in football?
Speaker 6: Uh?
Speaker 1: He was quarterback, of course, of course, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6: Course is right, he's quarterbacking football. I don't know what
Speaker 6: position he played in baseball, but I know he's really
Speaker 6: good at baseball too. Uh but man, he was man,
Speaker 6: he Jasher was coming in man, and uh he was
Speaker 6: just different.
Speaker 5: Dick.
Speaker 6: I just I just couldn't believe like some of the
Speaker 6: stuff I used to see him doing there and and
Speaker 6: quote be wrong. I mean, I mean that was my
Speaker 6: peing them. I just told Dennis Daula was crazy. Youth
Speaker 6: laughed at me. He's like, man, you're crazy, coach, And
Speaker 6: I was like, nah, man, this kid's gonna be a
Speaker 6: probe man.
Speaker 1: Wow, Well you're a professional coach. You can see athleticism
Speaker 1: a guy like me, I can see athleticism. But you
Speaker 1: mentioned a word passion. You know, how does that present itself?
Speaker 1: What did you see?
Speaker 5: Uh?
Speaker 6: Just, I mean it was just different when Jashu was
Speaker 6: being there just from his his his determination, his drive,
Speaker 6: his love for the game. I just didn't see it
Speaker 6: nowhere else, like his ayes lit up to me when
Speaker 6: he's on the basketball court. No matter what we did,
Speaker 6: I don't care if it was a drill, I don't
Speaker 6: care if we had to run extra sprints. Like Jasper
Speaker 6: was always happy. Uh, he loved getting in the gym,
Speaker 6: always would be one of the first ones in the
Speaker 6: gym actually, and uh, and he just I mean, he
Speaker 6: just had a knack for it. And I mean, I
Speaker 6: mean I've seen it every day, Like I was joining
Speaker 6: every day as to come in and coaching, just just
Speaker 6: to watch his growth. And uh, every day he excited
Speaker 6: me because I didn't know what what he was gonna
Speaker 6: do differently.
Speaker 1: And he liked drills, really.
Speaker 6: Yes, he loved drills. He didn't he never shot away
Speaker 6: from it, man, like Uh. And Jaff was a kid too,
Speaker 6: you know, he's you know, people know, you know, he's
Speaker 6: very shy, but Uh, he's a humble kid, man, I
Speaker 6: mean and uh and and I mean and you know
Speaker 6: at times where you know, I would see Jasher's smile
Speaker 6: through it. You know, he didn't be some of the
Speaker 6: tough drills we might be running a lot, but like
Speaker 6: he always had a good, happy you know, just that
Speaker 6: happy energy around him. I always kept the guys laughing.
Speaker 6: Guys loved him when he came over there. Man, I mean,
Speaker 6: I mean, everybody took to him. He's a great kid,
Speaker 6: a good character. Will we'll joke with you a lot.
Speaker 6: So man, guys loved that man, and they brought in
Speaker 6: to him.
Speaker 1: Man, as a coach, you want to know one of
Speaker 1: your jobs, maybe your biggest job, is to push your athletes,
Speaker 1: boys beyond how they would push themselves. And it sounds
Speaker 1: to me as though Jasper Johnson accepted that kind of
Speaker 1: coaching and probably still does. Am I right?
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, definitely, man. I mean I would put him
Speaker 6: probably one of the toughest coaches agre man, and Jasper
Speaker 6: can take you, man, I mean, and he's gonna show
Speaker 6: any thing about it. Jasper would come in and score
Speaker 6: forty in middle school. You would't even know it. And
Speaker 6: he's not gonna be gonna show you that he's got
Speaker 6: forty after the game. He's just that type of kid.
Speaker 6: He's very very humble. Uh. I mean he would give
Speaker 6: you a quiet thirty and you would even know it.
Speaker 6: Like Forrest, I would know it just because I know him.
Speaker 6: I know what he's doing, and I'm looking for it
Speaker 6: because I'm ready for the show.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 6: But but uh, but uh, you know, he would just
Speaker 6: be quiet man. He wouldn't be one of those kids
Speaker 6: where you know he's you know, he's going to social
Speaker 6: media talking about hey, I scored thirty of middle school today,
Speaker 6: none of that. Like, he was just a humble kid
Speaker 6: and came in every day ready to work. Uh. And
Speaker 6: actually Jasper came to our school because he was going
Speaker 6: to CARTERA G. So he would have to catch a
Speaker 6: bus by hisself to come to our school to practice
Speaker 6: w So the bus would drop him off from Carter
Speaker 6: G and he would come on there in practice with
Speaker 6: our kids about selling kids. So he wasn't even going
Speaker 6: to school with these kids. But these kids looked up
Speaker 6: to jass for so much to where you would think
Speaker 6: he was going to school with these kids every day.
Speaker 6: That's how well they matched and there. You know how
Speaker 6: well they matched together in there in the locker room. Man,
Speaker 6: But uh, I mean he's a good locker room guy. Uh.
Speaker 6: And the guys took toy and he was a great
Speaker 6: leader that we had to come over, man, and it
Speaker 6: was a joy to have me.
Speaker 1: We're talking to DJ Moberly. He's the head basketball coach
Speaker 1: for the Frederick Douglass girls team, but in middle school
Speaker 1: coach the UK's one of u k's newest players, Jasper Johnson,
Speaker 1: and you kind of brought up my next question when
Speaker 1: you were talking about the other players. When you got
Speaker 1: a guy like that coach who is clearly the best
Speaker 1: player but has what you call the happy energy and
Speaker 1: the work ethic as a coach, I got to think
Speaker 1: you just love that because of the effect that's going
Speaker 1: to have on his teammates, the example he's setting, right.
Speaker 6: Yes, definitely, definitely definitely example that he said, And you
Speaker 6: got to think Jasher was pushing these guys at the
Speaker 6: age of eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen years old. You know
Speaker 6: he's coming in pushing kids, making them go even harder
Speaker 6: just because basically our heart he's going and it's the
Speaker 6: set that he's happening. So so he So it was
Speaker 6: a situation where you know he will will these kids
Speaker 6: here at Southern Uh, just just as well as as
Speaker 6: any other part team he's been on where he's probably willing,
Speaker 6: willing kids to know how to win and just be
Speaker 6: competitive because because Jasper is a competitor, like Jasper.
Speaker 9: Doesn't doesn't want to doesn't want to lose. He wants
Speaker 9: to compete. He's not gonna beat on shore loser. If
Speaker 9: he loses, he's still gonna shake your hand and smell
Speaker 9: about it. But uh, but but one thing I'll tell
Speaker 9: you right now, Jasher wants to win. So so that's
Speaker 9: that's one good thing that I can that I can
Speaker 9: count on. And I can tell you k fans that
Speaker 9: you getting a guy that's gonna play very unselfish.
Speaker 6: It's not about him. Uh. And he's a winner man.
Speaker 6: He loves the win man.
Speaker 1: How did you feel about the fact that he moved
Speaker 1: away from home. He moved away from Woodford County for
Speaker 1: a while to further his career.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 6: I thought it was a good I thought it was
Speaker 6: a good uh good move for him.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 6: He matured. I feel like all the way around the
Speaker 6: board mentally, wise, even physical physically wise. Uh, he got this,
Speaker 6: he got to I feel like he got to see
Speaker 6: himself as far as being away from his you know,
Speaker 6: his home, his home and his parents and you know,
Speaker 6: you got to grow up as a man a little
Speaker 6: bit and get to see like, you know, this is
Speaker 6: really what you want to do, and and you know
Speaker 6: it kind of groomed him. I feel like because I
Speaker 6: feel like when he came back, uh, Jasper, I feel
Speaker 6: like you know he was he was more locked in
Speaker 6: mentally wise. You could tell the difference in his body,
Speaker 6: had got a little bigger, put on some weight. I
Speaker 6: probably I've been saying this the kids to people, man,
Speaker 6: jash has been shooting from how of course this middle
Speaker 6: school man. So you know when that when these people
Speaker 6: are seeing this guy do these things. But Dennis used
Speaker 6: to be like coach. After game, he like, you let
Speaker 6: Joshu take that, and and and after like the third
Speaker 6: fourth game he understood because iused to tell this was
Speaker 6: like this, he's got my green light on those shot
Speaker 6: and said this he makes them, he can make them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and as he mature, as he'll recognize better and
Speaker 1: better shots.
Speaker 6: Right, yes, he definitely will. He will recognize better and
Speaker 6: better shots. He definitely will man, but Josh is a
Speaker 6: kid man where he has unlimited range. So, Uh, to
Speaker 6: be honest with you, any shot that's like Jasper gets
Speaker 6: gets off man eighty percent is going in.
Speaker 1: Wow, you were talking about his his skills, his maturation.
Speaker 1: A buddy of mine's a huge UK fan like zillions
Speaker 1: around here. He wondered, was Jasper Johnson a YouTube all star? Meaning?
Speaker 1: You know, everybody can put up great clips on YouTube.
Speaker 1: You know you and I can do that. Uh, but
Speaker 1: you know, is he is? He truly the real thing?
Speaker 1: And from everything you've just told me, it sounds like
Speaker 1: he's well beyond being a YouTube all star.
Speaker 6: Yeah, tell yeah, to tell your guy get his pop
Speaker 6: point ready because this guy's the real deal.
Speaker 1: And you also mention this guy go ahead.
Speaker 6: This guy's a real Yah. This guy's a real deal.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 6: He man, he's a great kid man. He's going to
Speaker 6: represent Lexon will Man. He's not going to be our
Speaker 6: typical and uh and I mean, and I'm saying this
Speaker 6: with and I'm saying this with a great salada. He's
Speaker 6: actually going to be the actually Kentucky kid where people
Speaker 6: can understand that he actually he actually belongs here.
Speaker 1: Okay, well again that you're reading my mind, coach, that's
Speaker 1: that's my next question. Tell me about you watched. I
Speaker 1: know you've been You're busy with your team, but you
Speaker 1: keep an eye on the Wildcats. Uh. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you've met or talked to Mark Pope at all
Speaker 1: or any of his people. But how do you think
Speaker 1: he fits into what Pope runs?
Speaker 6: When Mark Folk came, he actually got the job before
Speaker 6: Jasper committed. When I watched, just some assistance that Mark
Speaker 6: Pope runs. To be honest with you, I thought this
Speaker 6: was the best situation Jasper before he before he even
Speaker 6: committed to a school. To be honest with you, because
Speaker 6: I watch a lot of basketball, and I know Jasper's game.
Speaker 6: I've been knowing Jaffer since Like I said, i've been
Speaker 6: I've been knowing since day whe and uh, I thought
Speaker 6: it was the perfect fit for Jasper.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, what do you like? Why why is it
Speaker 1: such a good fit?
Speaker 6: Well, of course Post shoots a lot of threes. He
Speaker 6: runs a good system, so guards. Uh, I mean he
Speaker 6: showcases him a lot too. I feel like, uh and uh,
Speaker 6: he runs a guard offense. Or you're in the office.
Speaker 6: To me, so uh, shooting a lot of threes is
Speaker 6: a plus or Jasper Jasper Uh is a guy that
Speaker 6: uh uh that that can that can get up, get
Speaker 6: get up some points and very very short seconds. He
Speaker 6: scores quick.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was about to say they they like the temple.
Speaker 1: They like to get out and go triggered by defense
Speaker 1: and rebounding. So they got to work on that. But
Speaker 1: you know, man, they scored a lot of points last year,
Speaker 1: and that sounds like uh in terms of shooting and passing,
Speaker 1: that sounds like it's it's right in his wheelhouse.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's passing, man. I think I think he don't
Speaker 6: get enough credit for us passing.
Speaker 5: Dick.
Speaker 6: This guy, this guy, and this guy got the back
Speaker 6: of his head like I mean he does. I mean,
Speaker 6: this guy, he's gonna if you run. I'll tell you this,
Speaker 6: Tucky when we when we run in out how folk
Speaker 6: likes to run?
Speaker 5: Uh?
Speaker 6: Then boys being ready because Jason's gonna hit him right
Speaker 6: in the hands.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: And this guy is he's very unselfish. I mean, I mean, Dick,
Speaker 6: you're gonna you're gonna see it, Dick, You'll see you'll
Speaker 6: see how phenomenal, how how good he reached the floor
Speaker 6: and passes the ball.
Speaker 1: Well, I wrote down the word unselfish. Again, you you're
Speaker 1: reading my mind. I've never had anybody jump to my
Speaker 1: questions better than you have. But it just sounds like, uh,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be here. Is already a good teammate and
Speaker 1: that's vital, especially at the level of Kentucky where there
Speaker 1: could be a lot of egos involved.
Speaker 6: Right, Yes, but Jash was a guy that has no ego.
Speaker 6: He's gonna come in and do whatever he got to
Speaker 6: do for the team. Josh is that type of kid. Man.
Speaker 6: He's been there since day ward.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 6: I mean Dennis and his mom and uh and his
Speaker 6: granddad and his grand mama. Man, they they have you know,
Speaker 6: played a good seat to him. Man, this guy's this
Speaker 6: guy's a great kid own and off the court. Man. Uh,
Speaker 6: Josh was a very humble kid. So he will you know,
Speaker 6: if it was another guy there to shine and you
Speaker 6: know he's getting his points on job, beating woy probably
Speaker 6: having seven eights just getting the ball to.
Speaker 1: They got all right. We're talking with DJ Moberley. He
Speaker 1: is the head girls basketball coach at Frederick Douglass, but
Speaker 1: a few years ago he coached Jasper Johnson, one of
Speaker 1: the new Wildcats at Southern Middle School. We'll talk more
Speaker 1: about both Southern and Frederick Douglass in just a minute
Speaker 1: here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big
Speaker 1: Boon Sider Dick Gabriel with you. We are talking with
Speaker 1: DJ Moberley. He is the head girls basketball coach at
Speaker 1: Frederick Douglas, but he also back in the day not
Speaker 1: too long ago at Southern Middle School coach Jasper Johnson,
Speaker 1: one of the incoming freshmen and now a Wildcat under
Speaker 1: Mark Pope. This is a question that kind of leads
Speaker 1: me into your girls team. But you mentioned if you've
Speaker 1: got Jasper running, he was good with that. He's going
Speaker 1: to be running in practice a lot under Mark Pope.
Speaker 1: My man Cameron Mills goes to practice and Pope doesn't
Speaker 1: let him cut short. They got to touch the baseline
Speaker 1: before they turn to go back and the hit a direction.
Speaker 1: But but he'll be okay with that, right, And that's
Speaker 1: something you did with your girls team a lot.
Speaker 6: Right, Yeah, definitely that and Jasper still too. I ran him,
Speaker 6: I ran him a lot, So he's definitely he's definitely
Speaker 6: in two with that man. And he's got a fready
Speaker 6: conditioning man. So he's definitely, he's definitely, he's definitely into
Speaker 6: and I know, I know he's ready to accept the
Speaker 6: challenge over there.
Speaker 1: Talking to DJ Moberley, he was Jasper Johnson's middle school coach,
Speaker 1: but also the coach was a highly successful Frederick Douglas
Speaker 1: girls team. You got to the final four last year,
Speaker 1: falling to g RC, which then lost his sacred heart.
Speaker 1: Of course, but we talked in a couple of the
Speaker 1: pregame interviews about how hard you worked your kids at
Speaker 1: Frederick Douglas. But when they came to accept it, that
Speaker 1: really kind of opened the gates for you, didn't it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 6: I was just on a podcast last night and we
Speaker 6: were just talking about this and uh, you know, it
Speaker 6: just it just bying in. You know, you got to
Speaker 6: right standard, you know, from the very first practice, very
Speaker 6: first condition that you got. You got to tell them
Speaker 6: what's the standard and what's the goals and and and
Speaker 6: you know, one of us coaches are you know, what
Speaker 6: we're looking for and in our demands and what we're
Speaker 6: trying to get out of it, and you know what
Speaker 6: we're trying to move forward with the team. So, uh,
Speaker 6: I think once you established that first, uh, you know,
Speaker 6: you get kids to buy in. You know, you get
Speaker 6: kids to buy in and understand like what it takes
Speaker 6: to win and and really really working hard.
Speaker 1: Is that recall you have a pretty good or you
Speaker 1: had in a tournament, a pretty young team. Uh so
Speaker 1: I got to think your expectations are pretty high going
Speaker 1: into this coming season.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, it really is. Uh, we we are young.
Speaker 6: We will this year we will have three seniors, four
Speaker 6: seniors actually on the team this year. We got four
Speaker 6: that was juniors last year, the becoming seniors this year. Uh.
Speaker 6: Of course, guy Jelly you know, is coming back. She'll
Speaker 6: be a junior.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 6: She's her game has has stepped up up tremendously this
Speaker 6: this summer. She's putting in a lot of work, so
Speaker 6: her her game is improving. My eighth grader, she just
Speaker 6: came off of she just came off her first offer
Speaker 6: from Northern Kentucky actually a couple of like two days ago.
Speaker 6: She's got her first offer as an eighth grader. Wow,
Speaker 6: she'll be she'll be in ninth grade coming in this year.
Speaker 6: So we just we're just trying to work over a
Speaker 6: dick and just you know, just trying to move forward
Speaker 6: and uh just stay in the jail.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 1: I got to think that making that run last year,
Speaker 1: your girls have got to be so hungry right.
Speaker 6: Now, right, yeah, they are like right now, Like I said,
Speaker 6: today we go to West Kentucky just be our last
Speaker 6: summer ball for June ball. Man. But we didne had
Speaker 6: a good summer so far. I really like how the
Speaker 6: girls came in and uh, they kind of came in
Speaker 6: this year and already was ready just to get right
Speaker 6: at it this year. I felt like this year was
Speaker 6: was exciting summer for us as far as coming next,
Speaker 6: I feel like the girls was, you know, a little
Speaker 6: bit more happy, ready accept the challenge and was excited
Speaker 6: about getting back together this year as far as the
Speaker 6: little June ball that we got, the little money we
Speaker 6: got together. Man. So it's been a good experience so far.
Speaker 1: Of course, you're in such a tough region the eleventh
Speaker 1: you know, with the election schools Madison Central, Franklin County.
Speaker 1: You know, the top four teams in your region. Coach
Speaker 1: never lost a district game last year and lost a
Speaker 1: total of what six games within their own region. So
Speaker 1: so it's a battle every night. I know, isn't it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it definitely is. I mean, I live in region, man.
Speaker 6: This I always tell people, you know, your man as
Speaker 6: may kind of like the sec a little bit as
Speaker 6: far as you know, you're beating up on everybody every night.
Speaker 6: You never know who might who might get beat, who
Speaker 6: might win, who might be the underdog pull off the upset,
Speaker 6: So so you got to be prepared. I tell my
Speaker 6: girls this all the time, especially with us being there.
Speaker 6: You know, we've been fortunate enough to you know, to
Speaker 6: win the district the last couple of years. So I
Speaker 6: always tell these girls, always the target on your back
Speaker 6: because somebody's always ready to try to, you know, take
Speaker 6: away to throw them. So I just tell them, you know,
Speaker 6: you got to stay in the gym. We can't. I
Speaker 6: always tell my girls, you can't. You know, we're we're
Speaker 6: of course, we're happy with success we have, but we
Speaker 6: still got to always keep them humble.
Speaker 5: We don't.
Speaker 6: We don't, you know, go off of Hey, we just
Speaker 6: want this, we just want that because every years years,
Speaker 6: like I told him, you got to get better every year.
Speaker 6: You can't just go off of the success that you
Speaker 6: might just have this one year thinking it's going Turrio
Speaker 6: to next year. So if you don't stay in the
Speaker 6: gym and keep at it, uh, you know, teams will
Speaker 6: catch up and you know you'll'll you'll start struggling and
Speaker 6: win a while. You know you're not winning games, you know,
Speaker 6: stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So well, coach, best of luck this coming season. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much for your time, and uh, I hope to
Speaker 1: see you again at the Sweet sixteen, if not at
Speaker 1: a UK game watching watching your man Jasper, Yeah.
Speaker 6: You definitely see the man watching Jasher actually met him
Speaker 6: and uh, the craziest story, I'm gonna tell you a
Speaker 6: story real quick for you get off your dad. Uh
Speaker 6: Jasper when he first landed to the UK, which is
Speaker 6: crazy because uh, that's how much family that we got
Speaker 6: around him as far as so, I got a guy
Speaker 6: that's uh the UK's basketball manager that I coach, named
Speaker 6: Max Vandyke. Uh and he's he's actually the boys miniager
Speaker 6: over there. So uh, him and Max actually played together
Speaker 6: at my middle school together with me. Okay, so when
Speaker 6: Jasper came, it was funny because they actually face timed
Speaker 6: me together, him and Max and I actually missed a
Speaker 6: call so I had FaceTime him back that night and
Speaker 6: Max was like man and me and Jasher was calling,
Speaker 6: you know, we just see what he was doing. And
Speaker 6: I said, man, it's crazy, I said, you two boys
Speaker 6: back together again.
Speaker 5: Huh, you know what I mean. So it was it was.
Speaker 6: Crazy because when Jasper came in as a sixth grader
Speaker 6: and Max was an eighth grader at the time at
Speaker 6: Southern Middle of we was at this school together and uh,
Speaker 6: like I said, Jasher got to play with maxes. Like
Speaker 6: I said, Jasper came in and starting as an eighth grader,
Speaker 6: I mean after sixth grader.
Speaker 4: With Max at the time, and so that's great.
Speaker 6: It was good man. So it's you know, it's good
Speaker 6: good to know he's got somebody right there that that
Speaker 6: he really knows, you know, his boy played with so,
Speaker 6: you know, just just just a good experiencement all around. Man.
Speaker 6: So I was happy for that.
Speaker 1: That's a great story. Coach. Thank you so much, and
Speaker 1: I hope to see you soon.
Speaker 6: Well you definitely see me sooner. It doesn't see me soon,
Speaker 6: And good luck to you, man. And I appreciate the
Speaker 6: interview with.
Speaker 1: DJ Moberly, head coach of a good Frederick Douglas girls team.
Speaker 1: They could be back in the sweet sixteen as they
Speaker 1: were last year, got to the final four, lost to
Speaker 1: GRC in the final four. But yeah, he had a
Speaker 1: young team and he's going to have a good experienced
Speaker 1: team upcoming. But good things to say as well about
Speaker 1: Jasper Johnson. But again, when I first met him doing
Speaker 1: pregame radio interviews for The Girl Sweet sixteen, we just
Speaker 1: got to chit chatting about his background and you know,
Speaker 1: I told him, you know, I'd worked on the UK
Speaker 1: network for a while and he brought up Jasper that
Speaker 1: I was his middle school coach and might go, oh
Speaker 1: that that calls for a conversation down the road. So
Speaker 1: I enjoyed talking to him. That's going to do it
Speaker 1: for now. Thanks so much to DJ. Thanks as well,
Speaker 1: Tier in Gershon, Kenny Brooks that said good night from
Speaker 1: the garage in Lexington.
Speaker 3: Mister Speakcole it that's in the game. You're ripping the car, Yeah, Bud,
Speaker 3: what's your problems?
Speaker 2: Batatat tat the shivering then back outstation then too