Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's nick coffee.
Speaker 2: I've learned my lesson at this point, but I still
Speaker 2: couldn't resist. I was eating peanuts during the during the
Speaker 2: break there a little snack litill five o'clock snack. And
Speaker 2: even if I you know, peanuts, by the way, is
Speaker 2: the one thing that I can't just eat like a
Speaker 2: few of them. I'm sure people are like that with
Speaker 2: chips or cheese, it's or whatever. Is there a snack
Speaker 2: for you, John that like once you start, you just
Speaker 2: you know somebody's got to take it away from you.
Speaker 3: You're just gonna snack forever. Yeah, it's the dot pretzels.
Speaker 2: I think that looks actually, and those dots pretzels are great,
Speaker 2: by the way. Yeah, so peanuts are like that for me,
Speaker 2: just this. You know, it's light, it's salty, but they
Speaker 2: get stuck in my teeth and it makes it to
Speaker 2: where anytime I do take anytime I get a little
Speaker 2: peanut break, I find myself trying to clean my mouth
Speaker 2: out before I have to, you know, start yapping again. Here,
Speaker 2: So excuse me a little bit of a a little
Speaker 2: bit of a delay there.
Speaker 4: Get you nuts. We'll kind of put a little bit
Speaker 4: of a film in your mouth a little.
Speaker 3: Bit, absolutely, and as you.
Speaker 5: Get to drink the water. I mean I was much
Speaker 5: non some peanuts during one of the breaks as well.
Speaker 4: It'll do that too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, peanuts are are delicious and I'm glad we You know,
Speaker 2: we've got some different snacks in there today.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you saw the chip selection, but.
Speaker 4: Some different flavor compared to usual.
Speaker 3: Are you a fan of Dorito's, Like do you do you.
Speaker 2: Like the regular nacho cheese flavor? Yeah? I like the
Speaker 2: cool ranch. I like the nacho cheese. I mean they're
Speaker 2: they're both good. I don't really seek out Doritos if
Speaker 2: I'm gonna get chips. I'm usually more of like a
Speaker 2: barbecue chip kind of guy. But the sweet and spicy
Speaker 2: chili that purple bag in there, just see those I
Speaker 2: did see it.
Speaker 1: Oh man?
Speaker 2: Those are those are? Those are my favorite griidos. And
Speaker 2: they're not like hard to find. It's just rarely do
Speaker 2: you see them. I mean they're never here. I mean
Speaker 2: usually we have pretty you know, actually we just like
Speaker 2: we have a pretty good selection. I'm not going to
Speaker 2: sell a short here as far as what our our
Speaker 2: snack selection is, but I know I've never seen those
Speaker 2: in there before, and I'm getting a bag before I
Speaker 2: leave here. Just just just everybody knows, not that anybody cares.
Speaker 4: Before the basketball exhibition.
Speaker 2: That's right, that's right. I'm glad you mentioned that because
Speaker 2: for those just joining us, I haven't talked about it
Speaker 2: at all, but we are doing Louisville basketball postgame shows
Speaker 2: once again this year, and I would say that over
Speaker 2: the last I don't know, I.
Speaker 3: Guess two years.
Speaker 2: Of the people that I run into that mention like, hey,
Speaker 2: I listen to your show, if there's one or two
Speaker 2: things that they they bring up, like how they found me,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean? Like one of them is
Speaker 2: like they just recognized me from the vibe check videos,
Speaker 2: but the other is that like, oh yeah, I heard
Speaker 2: you losing your mind on a basketball on a postgame show.
Speaker 2: Like because of how bad things were for a couple
Speaker 2: of years there, it did make it a point where
Speaker 2: people wanted to tune in to the misery, the you know,
Speaker 2: shenanigans because it became really a comedy hour at certain times,
Speaker 2: and you know, it wasn't it wasn't just me, by
Speaker 2: the way. I mean, it's a caller driven show, and
Speaker 2: you know the era that was the Kenny Payne era.
Speaker 2: If you've never experienced the postgame shows, then you know
Speaker 2: you didn't miss a whole lot. I mean, it was
Speaker 2: if you're a Louisville fan, it was just, you know,
Speaker 2: a very miserable experience where we just collectively complained and
Speaker 2: we're sad about the state of Louisville hoops. And you know,
Speaker 2: I'll be honest with you, I think I'll remember it
Speaker 2: for a long time, and in a weird.
Speaker 3: Way, it did help the growth of me in this station.
Speaker 2: I mean not to say that, you know, it's the
Speaker 2: only thing we were doing around here, but you know,
Speaker 2: anytime I get a chance for somebody to sample what
Speaker 2: we're doing here myself and John on Sports Talk seven ninety,
Speaker 2: that's a good thing. And because of the way things
Speaker 2: went like there was, there was a lot of opportunity
Speaker 2: for people to tune in and hopefully they stuck around
Speaker 2: and didn't just listen to the rest of the postgame shows,
Speaker 2: but hopefully they also listen to this show, and they're
Speaker 2: listening right now. But if there is one, uh, I
Speaker 2: guess silver lining, which I hate calling it that because
Speaker 2: I was just as miserable as anybody to see how
Speaker 2: bad Louisville was in those two years. But excuse me
Speaker 2: getting choked up because I miss Kenny Pain so much.
Speaker 2: Not really, I got a peanuts stuck in my throat.
Speaker 5: What's crazy is that I've never seen I've never seen
Speaker 5: you happy about Louisville basketball.
Speaker 4: I know you've had very happy moments yees.
Speaker 5: Since I've been around doing your postgame shows in your afternoon,
Speaker 5: since we've worked together, Yeah, it's been been nothing but misery, yep.
Speaker 2: And now it's not. Now it's good stuff. So you know,
Speaker 2: I will always remember like what that was like, and
Speaker 2: you know it'll make us, at least it should make us.
Speaker 2: I can't speak for anybody but me, but I know
Speaker 2: I'm going to appreciate some good stuff, some positivity, some
Speaker 2: winning in a way that I probably never had before
Speaker 2: because Louis's going to be good under Pat Kelsey in
Speaker 2: my opinion, I mean, there'll be a good team this year.
Speaker 2: I hope that in a few years we look like
Speaker 2: a team that you know, is in a spot to
Speaker 2: maybe annually be looked at as a team that should
Speaker 2: always be in contention for the ACC. I mean, clearly
Speaker 2: getting ahead of myself here the guy who coached the
Speaker 2: game yet But like, I believe that Louisville basketball is
Speaker 2: going to be in a good spot with Pat Kelcey.
Speaker 2: But you know what you went through recently, Like it
Speaker 2: was nobody ever thought we'd live to see how bad
Speaker 2: it was. So I don't know, I probably overdo it
Speaker 2: a little bit because I know that it was just
Speaker 2: a couple of years. It wasn't But to be fair,
Speaker 2: it wasn't just the Kenney are It was the end
Speaker 2: of the my care too. Like you throw in really
Speaker 2: the last three and a half years, and it's been
Speaker 2: lower than we would have ever expected it to be.
Speaker 2: So I look at it as a positive that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: usually I'm kind of bored with these kind of games, right,
Speaker 2: I Mean, it's always fun to see your team in
Speaker 2: action for the first time going up against somebody else.
Speaker 2: But I'm not I mean, I'm not gonna be bored
Speaker 2: at all. I mean, it's brand new, it's a new era.
Speaker 2: We're gonna get a chance to see what Pat Kelsey's
Speaker 2: like on the sideline. We're gonna get a chance to
Speaker 2: see the type of basketball he wants to play. I mean,
Speaker 2: we got a glimpse of it in the Bahamas, and
Speaker 2: that was awesome, Right, That was a nice little appetizer,
Speaker 2: if you will, when it comes to just seeing what
Speaker 2: this team was gonna, you know, who they wanted to
Speaker 2: be as far as an identity. And yes, it was
Speaker 2: just two exhibition games against inferior competition, but I happen
Speaker 2: to think what you saw as far as the way
Speaker 2: they were playing as far as style, I mean, I
Speaker 2: think that's what they're gonna try to do against everybody.
Speaker 2: And if you win by fifty points tonight, I mean
Speaker 2: I'm not saying they will, but if they did, yeah,
Speaker 2: towards the end, it's probably not gonna be super entertaining
Speaker 2: for you. It'll be you know, you just dominating an
Speaker 2: opponent like you're supposed to in these kind of games.
Speaker 2: But one we didn't do that in recent years. And also,
Speaker 2: I think you're gonna see this team like avoid any
Speaker 2: kind of a random ass upset. I mean, I don't
Speaker 2: want to jinx him, but when Pat Kelsey said last
Speaker 2: week at media Day that he's going to prepare for
Speaker 2: a young Harris, their opponent tonight, just like he'd be
Speaker 2: preparing if it was Duke on the schedule. He didn't
Speaker 2: just say that to sound like a coach who's being
Speaker 2: serious and giving you coach speak like that's just how
Speaker 2: I think, that's how this staff operates, right. They are
Speaker 2: very very detailed, very organized, very much about routine, and
Speaker 2: that excites me one because I think that's the right
Speaker 2: way to go about it. But also I think it's
Speaker 2: just gonna be fun. Man, It's gonna be a lot
Speaker 2: of fun. And the last few years were the exact opposite.
Speaker 2: Not a lot of fun, a lot of misery, a
Speaker 2: lot of sadness. So good stuff again, Tonight tip offs
Speaker 2: at seven. As soon as it ends, we'll go live
Speaker 2: right here, and I hope you guys will join us.
Speaker 2: I'm not really sure what there is going to be
Speaker 2: to react to. Hopefully it's not a close game, Hopefully
Speaker 2: it's a blowout. But what I'm you know, things I'm
Speaker 2: looking for in this kind of game is just to
Speaker 2: see what the rotation is, because again, I believe what
Speaker 2: you see tonight would be the rotation if you were
Speaker 2: playing Duke or Kentucky or North Carolina or Tennessee. Who's
Speaker 2: your second opponent, because that's just how this staff's gonna
Speaker 2: go about it. So as far as who's the starting
Speaker 2: lineup is, I mean, my guess would be that it'll
Speaker 2: be Terrence Edwards, Chucky Hepburn, Cason Pryor, and then at
Speaker 2: the other spots, like I don't know, like I could
Speaker 2: see Cater Treire coming off the bench and really being
Speaker 2: like you're ultimate six man, a guy who doesn't start
Speaker 2: but still plays a lot of minutes and does a
Speaker 2: little bit of everything. You know. Javon Hadley though, like
Speaker 2: he's a guy that I think will prop me, you know.
Speaker 2: So there's a lot of options as far as what
Speaker 2: you do with starting lineups. But I think you're gonna
Speaker 2: see a lot of guys play and a lot of
Speaker 2: three point shots. They're gonna play really really fast. And
Speaker 2: what I saw in the Bahamas and it's a little
Speaker 2: thing like it's not it's it's not like a it
Speaker 2: wasn't some kind of a sign that I that I
Speaker 2: viewed as Okay, this tells me not only is Louisville
Speaker 2: going to be pretty good under Pat Kelsey, they're going
Speaker 2: to be great, Like they're going to be elite.
Speaker 3: It wasn't anything like that, but.
Speaker 2: It stood out that, you know, they're in the Bahamas
Speaker 2: playing against you know, inferior competition, and they got three
Speaker 2: guys diving on the floor for loose balls that are
Speaker 2: kind of acting like high energy maniacs out there when
Speaker 2: it comes to their effort and their enthusiasm. And they
Speaker 2: were a reflection of the guy on the sideline, the
Speaker 2: maniac that is Pat Kelsey. And I shouldn't call him
Speaker 2: a maniac, like it's a bad thing. Like he's high
Speaker 2: energy man, he's always on. And I think this team
Speaker 2: is going to be exactly like that, and that's a
Speaker 2: good thing. And I go back to when they played
Speaker 2: Leonora Ryan and I'm not joking. I mean it wasn't
Speaker 2: like I'm telling you, these guys kind of looking asleep
Speaker 2: out there in the first exhibition game, the first time
Speaker 2: we're watching Kenny Payne coach this team against somebody else,
Speaker 2: even though it's an exhibition. I mean, like I remember thinking, like,
Speaker 2: why do they look like they're half asleep, Like they
Speaker 2: don't really seem to be locked in like this. They
Speaker 2: seem to kind of be going through the motions. And
Speaker 2: sure enough, they were a reflection of the guy coaching them. Now,
Speaker 2: it didn't mean that I was well, I try. Nobody
Speaker 2: could have seen them being as bad as they were.
Speaker 2: Nobody could have predicted that at all, especially when you
Speaker 2: consider they actually had some pretty good players, which, by
Speaker 2: the way, I don't know if you guys saw, but
Speaker 2: apparently Brandon Huntley hadfield for NC State in one of
Speaker 2: their charity scrimmages, like was insanely awesome. I don't know
Speaker 2: what his numbers were, but like that doesn't surprise me.
Speaker 2: So little things tonight that I'm looking for I mentioned,
Speaker 2: I just want to see what the rotation looks like
Speaker 2: as far as who he's got in the starting lineup.
Speaker 2: Who are the first guys that are coming off the bench,
Speaker 2: are they?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 3: Defensively?
Speaker 2: You know they're gonna take a little more risks than
Speaker 2: what we're used to around here as far as defense,
Speaker 2: But I think that is gonna that'll help them get
Speaker 2: games played at a style, at a pace they want
Speaker 2: to play at. And again, a lot of three point shots,
Speaker 2: which makes sense considering how this roster's put together. A
Speaker 2: lot of guys who who are are effective shooters that
Speaker 2: have made a lot of three point shots in their career.
Speaker 2: All right, it is coffee and company. We are fueled
Speaker 2: by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety eight the
Speaker 2: five o'clock hour, rolling along here. Usually we don't start
Speaker 2: with basketball conversation on a Monday in the five o'clock hour,
Speaker 2: but it is a game day for Louisville, and maybe
Speaker 2: I was just trying to avoid talking about what happened
Speaker 2: against Miami once again, because it wasn't a loss to
Speaker 2: a bad team, and I don't even think Louisville played
Speaker 2: terrible football. I mean, they were right there in a shootout.
Speaker 2: But it felt like the frustration with what went wrong
Speaker 2: against Notre Dame and what went wrong against SMU, it
Speaker 2: really it just turned to sadness after the Miami game
Speaker 2: because yeah, yeah, I mean, and I did this on
Speaker 2: the postgame show and I stand by it. I mean
Speaker 2: it was a very I mean, the special teams penalty
Speaker 2: on the kickoff that had you snapping the ball from
Speaker 2: what your own three yard line or something like that,
Speaker 2: and then the fumble from Isaac Brown. That was this
Speaker 2: team showing us their identity again as far as not
Speaker 2: being able to avoid some crucial mistakes. That will absolutely
Speaker 2: be a backbreaker for you. And they've done that all year.
Speaker 2: And I'm not asking them to be perfect like that,
Speaker 2: like not not doing that, meaning not not committing that
Speaker 2: silly penalty and then not coughing it up. And I
Speaker 2: love Isaac Brown, I don't. I mean, it happens, man,
Speaker 2: I mean terrible timing, but you know what happens. He's
Speaker 2: been great. But like, avoiding those two things would not mean, oh,
Speaker 2: they're perfect. It would just be, hey, let's not make
Speaker 2: such a critical mistake that can really cost you. And
Speaker 2: they've done that all year at times. And I don't
Speaker 2: mean they do it every play, but in every game
Speaker 2: you'll go back to a backbreaking mistake they made that
Speaker 2: that really hurt them. And it happened against Miami, and
Speaker 2: you were able to, you know, claw back in it, right,
Speaker 2: I mean, you were able to tie that thing up.
Speaker 2: And you know, it looked like we had a ballgame
Speaker 2: on Saturday, right, and sure enough, you just couldn't hold on.
Speaker 2: And that's a game that you never want to lose.
Speaker 2: I mean, let's say Louisville took their first loss of
Speaker 2: the season on Saturday. We'd all still be really, really sad,
Speaker 2: because one it would be the first loss, and we
Speaker 2: would have probably already been thinking about a potential perfect season.
Speaker 2: So like we still would have been doing what you
Speaker 2: do after a loss, right, nobody wants it.
Speaker 3: You got to react to it. You're upset, you're disappointed.
Speaker 2: But I just think this one would have would have
Speaker 2: been a lot easier to take if you would have
Speaker 2: been able to clean up some things early on in
Speaker 2: the year. And now you're sitting seven games in with
Speaker 2: a four and three record and you are what two
Speaker 2: and two in the ACC, I mean, and that doesn't
Speaker 2: mean the season's over. There's still a lot of football
Speaker 2: to be played. And if they somehow went out, I
Speaker 2: don't know how anybody would say it wasn't a good year,
Speaker 2: because if so, then I think you're probably somebody that
Speaker 2: just thinks Louisvill's got to be in the College Football
Speaker 2: Playoff or at least be in the race for it
Speaker 2: every year, or it's or it's going to be viewed, you.
Speaker 3: Know, a failure.
Speaker 2: And I just, you know, I don't I don't think
Speaker 2: that that's I don't still think that's realistic, But I
Speaker 2: just it's hard for me to say that I expect
Speaker 2: them to finish the year undefeated. I mean, they're going
Speaker 2: to go to Clemson and that's going to be a
Speaker 2: tough place to mean, that's always they've never won their
Speaker 2: right and yeah, it's possible. Clemson, in my opinion, is
Speaker 2: not as good as their ranking shows. They have clearly
Speaker 2: bounced back in a major way and they're playing really
Speaker 2: good football. All you can do is play is on
Speaker 2: your schedule. But they've only got one win against a
Speaker 2: team with a winning record. And that's not to say
Speaker 2: that they stink, but like, as much as it's unlikely
Speaker 2: for them to win there, at least in my opinion,
Speaker 2: like it's not it's not like you're asking them to
Speaker 2: do something that is just downright impossible. It's just when
Speaker 2: you're seven games in and you've established an identity, it's
Speaker 2: just hard for me to think that they won't have
Speaker 2: a backbreaking mistake in a close game that you just
Speaker 2: have to avoid if you want to win close games
Speaker 2: against good teams. And they've lost three games that were
Speaker 2: close against good teams.
Speaker 3: And I think there's.
Speaker 2: A variety of factors in that, but one of the
Speaker 2: factors is that they just they don't play they don't
Speaker 2: play clean football. And then Saturday against Miami with the defense.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know, Miami's the number one offense in
Speaker 2: the country, and that can't be overstated because I think
Speaker 2: many teams would have a really tough time containing this
Speaker 2: cam Ward led offense. I mean, they're special, make no
Speaker 2: mistake about it. But I also think there's other teams
Speaker 2: that would get that would have a tough time, you know,
Speaker 2: beating Miami because they're that good. But I think there's
Speaker 2: a lot of teams that would not have one hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty five rushing yards after contact, because that's what
Speaker 2: Miami did. They ran for many more than one hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty five yards in the game total, but one
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty five yards on the ground after their
Speaker 2: running backs and cam Ward made contact with the Louisville
Speaker 2: defender one hundred and seventy five yards after the catch.
Speaker 2: I mean, this team was not tackling well. We played
Speaker 2: Jeff Bromps press conference earlier today and you know you
Speaker 2: can you can hear it in his voice, like having
Speaker 2: to in in you know, mid to late October, talk about.
Speaker 3: Working on tackling.
Speaker 2: It's just not something you ever It's not a position
Speaker 2: you ever want to be in as a coach, and
Speaker 2: I'm sure he's just as surprised as we are that
Speaker 2: we're here now. We also talked about Ron English because
Speaker 2: it's not a surprise. For weeks now, there have been
Speaker 2: people hinting, does Jeff make a change here? Does Ron English?
Speaker 2: Does he survive another week? That kind of stuff, And
Speaker 2: some of that's just in the moment. That's people calling
Speaker 2: after the game whenever you know, the emotions are high
Speaker 2: because you know you just lost. And I'm not saying
Speaker 2: that like Ron English is not I mean, I think
Speaker 2: Ron English is deserving of a lot of blame because
Speaker 2: you know, at the end of the day, he's in
Speaker 2: charge of the defense. And even if in fact they
Speaker 2: go into the film room and these guys that missed
Speaker 2: these tackles or tried to arm tackle and just got
Speaker 2: trucked over about these Miami running backs, they're always going
Speaker 2: to be held accountable. But you know who is responsible
Speaker 2: for making those guys not do that? Coaches and he's
Speaker 2: the divinsive Courton. You know who's responsible for the defensive coordinator,
Speaker 2: the head coach. So like there's blame that could be
Speaker 2: thrown everywhere. And if you want a point, a finger
Speaker 2: this way or point it that way, do whatever you want. Like,
Speaker 2: if you want to put it all on Bram, knock
Speaker 2: yourself out. I just I don't think getting rid of
Speaker 2: Ron English now would accomplish anything at all.
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 2: I mean, even if you wanted to make a change
Speaker 2: mid season, you probably just demote him internally and have
Speaker 2: somebody else call the defense. Now, maybe they've already done
Speaker 2: that and we didn't know about it.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure.
Speaker 2: I don't get the sense that they have, but you know,
Speaker 2: I try to make it clear on Saturday because there
Speaker 2: were a couple of callers in the postgame show that
Speaker 2: really I think wanted to take that. I mean we
Speaker 2: had two people specifically that I feel like, we're defending
Speaker 2: Ron English. And I don't know if you remember much
Speaker 2: of it, John, but you're working the phones and whatnot.
Speaker 2: I know you can't hear everybody, but I think one
Speaker 2: person wanted to just act like, you know, it wasn't
Speaker 2: his fault, which I thought was kind of odd either way.
Speaker 2: I mean, the defense was not effective and he's the
Speaker 2: guy in charge of, you know, the defense, and there
Speaker 2: was some person that just wanted to say, why are
Speaker 2: we putting it on him.
Speaker 3: It starts with Jeff.
Speaker 4: You can do that.
Speaker 2: I'm not here to defend Jeff and act like he's
Speaker 2: not worthy of any criticism at all. But you know,
Speaker 2: I think it's pretty routine when you're a college football
Speaker 2: fan and you know you've got a guy who you
Speaker 2: believe is specifically responsible for the offense and a guy
Speaker 2: that's specifically responsible for the defense. Whenever one of those
Speaker 2: two sides is underperforming, you're gonna throw criticism at those coordinators. Now, sometimes,
Speaker 2: like in Jeff's case, if you're critical of the offense,
Speaker 2: you know you're being critical of the head coach because
Speaker 2: he's in charge of the offense. So you know, I
Speaker 2: don't think anybody's picking on ron English. I mean, it's
Speaker 2: quite clear he's not been good enough, and that doesn't
Speaker 2: mean that it's all his fault and not player. The
Speaker 2: player's fault. They got to take some accountability. That's never
Speaker 2: not the case, but his The reason I talked about
Speaker 2: his background a few weeks ago was that he really
Speaker 2: kind of just it timed out well for him, right.
Speaker 2: He'd been kind of a career journeyman as a defensive coach,
Speaker 2: where he used to be a CODEC at Michigan, and
Speaker 2: if you remember, then he got the job here working
Speaker 2: for Crackthorpe. He was here, I believe, one year, and
Speaker 2: then after that he ended up getting a head coaching
Speaker 2: job at Eastern Michigan. He was really really bad there
Speaker 2: in five seasons, and I mean really really bad. And
Speaker 2: then he was the DC at San Jose State for
Speaker 2: a year, coached the safeties at Mississippi State, coached the
Speaker 2: safeties at Florida, and then he got a CODC job
Speaker 2: with Jeff at Purdue. And in his second and final
Speaker 2: season for Jeff at Purdue, their defense was pretty good,
Speaker 2: and I think at that point Jeff just decided, Okay,
Speaker 2: well I'm going to bring what I had in place
Speaker 2: as far as my staff with me and try to
Speaker 2: keep this thing rolling. And last year it worked. I mean,
Speaker 2: the defense last year was good, and this year, you
Speaker 2: know they're not. They make timely plays here and there.
Speaker 2: I still think you see some of the talent that
Speaker 2: they have at times with some big play, but I
Speaker 2: just don't think that they're like, they don't have much
Speaker 2: of an identity and and I don't really think they
Speaker 2: know who they are and that the one person responsible
Speaker 2: for that is the guy who's orchestrating the defense, and
Speaker 2: that's around English. So again, I know I sound like
Speaker 2: I'm talking that of both sides of my mouth here.
Speaker 2: I'm not defending him as if he's doing a great job,
Speaker 2: but I still just don't know what you would ultimately
Speaker 2: accomplish if you made a move like right now. I
Speaker 2: just don't think that would really benefit anybody. I mean,
Speaker 2: maybe it would, right maybe it would.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Again, I but I just you know, if it did been,
Speaker 2: I mean, you can have somebody else kind of step
Speaker 2: in and work the defense along. I mean, and they're
Speaker 2: probably already doing that anyway. All right, let's go to
Speaker 2: the phone lines five W two if I've seven one
Speaker 2: seventy nine hundred is the number if you want to
Speaker 2: give us a call.
Speaker 3: Let's go to Will Will. You're on sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 3: What's happening, hey man?
Speaker 6: You know, I was thinking this weekend. I'm a little fan,
Speaker 6: but I think the NIL had to come. It's great
Speaker 6: because school's making all the money. The players are getting
Speaker 6: nothing except scholarship. Okay, so I'm not anti, but it's
Speaker 6: the worst thing for coaches because and you know what,
Speaker 6: I think we're gonna have to reevaluate the coaches overall
Speaker 6: because it's too many good teams, historically good teams that
Speaker 6: are having issues, and then you have some terrible teams
Speaker 6: that are doing great. Man, I think it's whack them mo.
Speaker 6: I think it's the look of the draw, you know,
Speaker 6: because you can't realistically now, okay, like IU, they put
Speaker 6: together a team one year. Okay, but think about it, it
Speaker 6: was the mercy of those players coming in. It's not
Speaker 6: like I recruited that kid at seventeen and he matured
Speaker 6: a twenty.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 6: So I guess I'm arguing both sides. But if you
Speaker 6: think about it, dude, I think we're just in for
Speaker 6: it's because it's gonna be whacky. There's not gonna be
Speaker 6: any rhyme or reason, and then you know who gets
Speaker 6: blown out. Texas gets beat. You know they were on
Speaker 6: the roll. So I just think, man, we're in a
Speaker 6: top Sea Turby. You can't really judge the way we
Speaker 6: used to judge because you probably got some great coach
Speaker 6: Look at Bennett. You know in basketball you got some
Speaker 6: great coaches who are like, screw it. I meant I
Speaker 6: don't care, you know, So you get kind of what
Speaker 6: I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think and will I appreciate the call. Look,
Speaker 2: I think this weekend just with some of the results,
Speaker 2: and I guess you could probably look at every weekend
Speaker 2: in college football and find some some results that tell you, okay,
Speaker 2: with the portal and with nil. You know, the gap
Speaker 2: between some programs just isn't what it once was. But
Speaker 2: as far as just like luck of the draw topsy Turby,
Speaker 2: I don't really look at Louisville this way, but maybe
Speaker 2: I should. But I don't think they got sold something
Speaker 2: that's not legitimate, right. I don't think they went out
Speaker 2: there and got players from the portal and are now
Speaker 2: learning that they're not as good as we thought they were,
Speaker 2: because that is gonna happen like that, like if you
Speaker 2: are going to be dependent upon the portal heavily, like
Speaker 2: Jeff and this staff are going to. I mean, let's
Speaker 2: be real, there a lot of schools are. But Jeff
Speaker 2: in his first couple of years has brought in more
Speaker 2: players in the portal than nearly every program. Now last
Speaker 2: year he took over, so it made sense to you know,
Speaker 2: when you go through a coaching change, it makes a
Speaker 2: little more sense for you to have a roster that
Speaker 2: is honestly mostly built with new guys.
Speaker 3: From the portal.
Speaker 2: I think Jeff loves the portal, I mean, and clearly
Speaker 2: the results are there as far as how many guys
Speaker 2: he brings in. But I don't think it's because he's
Speaker 2: relatively new here or because last year was his first year.
Speaker 2: I think every year he is going to depend on
Speaker 2: the portal, And with that, you just have to know
Speaker 2: sometimes you know, you're gonna learn the hard way that
Speaker 2: that's a risk, and sometimes it's gonna work out great,
Speaker 2: and sometimes it's going to be you know, it's gonna
Speaker 2: be an issue. So yeah, I mean I think what
Speaker 2: you said will as far as you know, not really
Speaker 2: knowing what you're getting and it being kind of, you know,
Speaker 2: luck of the draw, I'm with you. But I just
Speaker 2: don't think here locally, there's been a really good example
Speaker 2: of that. Like I think both teams locally that are
Speaker 2: struggling as far as Louisville and Kentucky, I mean, I
Speaker 2: don't really think it's personnel related. I mean, Kentucky's offensive
Speaker 2: line has struggled. Louisville, They've got some issues defensively, but like,
Speaker 2: I don't know, I mean, maybe we could get really
Speaker 2: deep with it, and maybe it's the fact that like
Speaker 2: these coaches now are having a tough time really coaching
Speaker 2: guys knowing that they're like maybe it's not that they're
Speaker 2: resistant to guys making money, but maybe the same coaching
Speaker 2: practices just aren't as effective because these guys are not
Speaker 2: just college players anymore. They're employees. I mean, that's what
Speaker 2: they are. All right, quick break, we'll come back on
Speaker 2: the other side. Keep it rolling along. It's Coffee and Company.
Speaker 2: We are fuel about Thorton's right here on Sports Talk
Speaker 2: seven ninety. That's right, Coffee and Company fueled bout Thornton's
Speaker 2: here on Sports Talk seven ninety. We got about twenty
Speaker 2: five minutes left before we wrap it up, and we
Speaker 2: are about an hour and a half away from from
Speaker 2: tip off. Louisville and and Young Harris, that's the name
Speaker 2: of the team.
Speaker 3: There were Division two.
Speaker 2: Team, by the way, and they were I think, you know,
Speaker 2: middle of the pack in their conference last year. I
Speaker 2: think it's like the Carolinas Conference, despite them being in Georgia.
Speaker 2: And you know, sometimes you'll see on Division two rosters,
Speaker 2: maybe some guys that are that initially started at like
Speaker 2: D one schools and and kind of transferred down. But
Speaker 2: it doesn't look as if that's the case here with
Speaker 2: with this this program. And again last year, let's see,
Speaker 2: I think they were like a few games above five hundred.
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm not giving them, you know, maybe I'm not
Speaker 2: giving them a whole lot of Maybe I'm not.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Let me just get let me make Yeah, there's seventeen
Speaker 2: and twelve, so eleven and seven in conference play. Looks
Speaker 2: like the majority of the schools they play are in
Speaker 2: the Carolinas or in Georgia. But I would imagine they'll
Speaker 2: get they'll get beat pretty bad tonight.
Speaker 3: But we shall see.
Speaker 2: You know, somebody on the text line asked me earlier,
Speaker 2: have you given any.
Speaker 3: Thought at all of like what you react would be
Speaker 3: if they lose? And No, I haven't, And I mean
Speaker 3: I can't. I mean I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't have the ability to like even process sort
Speaker 2: of what what we would do if that happened.
Speaker 5: I think I would be scared to come back tonight
Speaker 5: if it ended up looking like it was heading in
Speaker 5: that direction.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, and we probably.
Speaker 4: Shouldn't even humor it. To be honest, you're right.
Speaker 3: Because it just I mean, I mean, it's getting.
Speaker 5: Dark just thinking it's it's like we're leaving that door open,
Speaker 5: that left It's.
Speaker 2: Just it's like, I mean, so clearly, I'm I'm proving
Speaker 2: to you that I that I have not and I
Speaker 2: can't even process what any reaction from anybody, including myself,
Speaker 2: would be if somehow they didn't win this exhibition game tonight.
Speaker 2: So we'll see though, I mean, I mean, I wouldn't
Speaker 2: be shocked if they win it by forty points, because
Speaker 2: I think they're going to try to, like I don't
Speaker 2: think you know, they're going to be you know, this
Speaker 2: isn't going to be an opportunity for Pat Kelsey to
Speaker 2: you know, put up, you know, just play. I mean,
Speaker 2: because again, his roster, his personnel is I mean, he
Speaker 2: was able to go out and literally build a team
Speaker 2: that for the most part, everybody he brought in rather
Speaker 2: it be somebody he he brought in from Charleston with him.
Speaker 2: There's obviously a few guys only two are playing this year,
Speaker 2: but obviously James Scott and Rain Smith came with him
Speaker 2: and played for him at Charleston. All the other guys
Speaker 2: that you brought in via the transfer portal. Maybe outside
Speaker 2: of frank anslom Ivy, all those guys are guys that
Speaker 2: you brought in because you feel like they can play
Speaker 2: for you and maybe play a lot like.
Speaker 1: That.
Speaker 2: Is probably the most intriguing thing to me about this
Speaker 2: Louisville basketball team is that when you when you go
Speaker 2: out and you can literally start from scratch and build
Speaker 2: your roster. You know, of the thirteen guys, they have
Speaker 2: ten of them, especially the guys that are playing this year,
Speaker 2: like they didn't. They weren't sold on a, hey you
Speaker 2: can come here and be our ninth man. They were
Speaker 2: sold on, hey, like we got all kinds of spots open.
Speaker 2: You couldn't understand. I'm going to be bringing in like
Speaker 2: a whole new team and everybody's gonna have to compete
Speaker 2: and basically get what they earn. Like your playing time
Speaker 2: is going to be based upon you know how much
Speaker 2: you work and you know where you stand. It's all
Speaker 2: going to be earned, right, you earn everything within the program.
Speaker 2: That's one of the things that they emphasize. So maybe
Speaker 2: we find out midway through the year that, Okay, there
Speaker 2: is a bigger gap between this guy and that guy
Speaker 2: than we anticipated, right, Like, maybe now I think you
Speaker 2: can play Case and Pryor and Noah Waterman together.
Speaker 3: But I don't know.
Speaker 2: Maybe we learned that Waterman's really just a specialist off
Speaker 2: the bench to stretch the floor and knockdown threes. And
Speaker 2: I'm not saying he is. Maybe he plays thirty five minutes. Again,
Speaker 2: we don't know, and that is what I'm I think
Speaker 2: one of them. That's one of the things I'm most
Speaker 2: anxious to find out about is that when you do
Speaker 2: start to get into real games, which by the way,
Speaker 2: are not that far away. I mean, we're not that
Speaker 2: far away from playing the number twelve team in the country.
Speaker 2: That's the second game of the season when they played Tennessee.
Speaker 2: So maybe even at that point, we aren't going to
Speaker 2: know exactly where everybody stands as far as like the rotation,
Speaker 2: because Patt will be trying to figure it out. But
Speaker 2: it wouldn't shock me if you get, you know, midway
Speaker 2: through the year and it really varies, because you have
Speaker 2: a lot of guys that are not kind of I
Speaker 2: don't want to act like they're all the same, Like
Speaker 2: you got a bunch of robots that are the exact
Speaker 2: same players. But I think if there's a night where
Speaker 2: let's say Chucky Hepburn just doesn't have it going and
Speaker 2: he's in foul trouble, maybe Koran Johnson runs the show
Speaker 2: for you, and like whatever game that is, it just
Speaker 2: happens to be a game where he goes off for
Speaker 2: twenty something points because he's feeling it. Like, you know,
Speaker 2: I the biggest concern I have, and I guess I
Speaker 2: can't even call it a concern until I, you know,
Speaker 2: see that it could be a potential issue. But you
Speaker 2: have a lot of guys that have never really been
Speaker 2: the man for their team, if that makes sense, and
Speaker 2: maybe they don't have to be. Maybe it's a collective
Speaker 2: effort and this team ends up being really good and
Speaker 2: they've got a good record. They look like a tournament
Speaker 2: team by the month of February. And it's not because
Speaker 2: of one guy. It's because of a collection of guys
Speaker 2: that are all pretty solid. And when you got sometimes
Speaker 2: five guys on the floor that can all knock down threes,
Speaker 2: like it just you're not worried about Louisville because of
Speaker 2: this guy or that guy. You're worried about their collection
Speaker 2: of talent, their collection of players that just are hard
Speaker 2: to match up with because no matter who you put
Speaker 2: out there, they got dudes who can again stretch the
Speaker 2: floor and and make you have to, you know, pull
Speaker 2: your big guys out and really have to defend picking rolls.
Speaker 2: So again, I'm rambling here because it's the ultimate unknown, right,
Speaker 2: I mean, we're gonna learn a little bit tonight. We'll
Speaker 2: learn a little bit in the next next deshibition game
Speaker 2: next week when they play Spalding. Then it's more head
Speaker 2: state than it's Tennessee, and you know it's gonna be
Speaker 2: a learning experience. But I don't say that to act like, hey,
Speaker 2: they could end up being terrible.
Speaker 3: None of us know. I mean, I guess that is
Speaker 3: technically true. We don't know.
Speaker 2: But I think Louisville fans have are they're justified in
Speaker 2: looking at you're one of Pat Kelsey, knowing that the
Speaker 2: ACC media people think that they're the ninth best team
Speaker 2: in the league, that some people think they're maybe even
Speaker 2: worse than that, Like we all, I mean, I think
Speaker 2: even fans who think this team could be really good
Speaker 2: understand why they're maybe not looked at as like a
Speaker 2: preseason top twenty five team by just about everybody, But
Speaker 2: if it all does end up working out and you
Speaker 2: feel like, hey, we've got a team that looks like
Speaker 2: a safe bet to make the tournament and maybe we
Speaker 2: get a decent seed if we end up getting there,
Speaker 2: not saying for sure that we will, but if we do,
Speaker 2: I think fans will feel maybe not confirmed, but like
Speaker 2: that's not gonna be such a big surprise, right because
Speaker 2: I think when you look at the type of players
Speaker 2: you brought in where they come from, if this team
Speaker 2: ends up being super successful this year, and I guess
Speaker 2: everybody's definition of what super successful would be is probably different.
Speaker 2: But like all I've said since the roster was complete
Speaker 2: is that this is a team that, on paper, as
Speaker 2: far as the pieces they've added and the coaching staff
Speaker 2: and Pat Kelsey himself as the coach, this should be
Speaker 2: a tournament team. And I'm gonna run with that until
Speaker 2: I see something that tells me, you know.
Speaker 3: That they don't look like a tournament team.
Speaker 2: And it's gonna be tough to know, you know, tonight,
Speaker 2: because again the competition, But we'll find out pretty early
Speaker 2: on in the year because of how challenging that non
Speaker 2: conference schedule is.
Speaker 3: All right, So good question, here.
Speaker 2: On the on the text line, and I don't really
Speaker 2: have the answer for you, but it's a good question,
Speaker 2: says Nick. How much does Louisville need to be up
Speaker 2: for me to turn off ACC Network Extra and watch
Speaker 2: Lamar and the Ravens. I mean, the game's gonna start
Speaker 2: at seven at least.
Speaker 3: I think it is.
Speaker 2: We double check here, and I know the NFL game
Speaker 2: won't start until what eight fifteen, so you know you'll
Speaker 2: probably be able to turn on the Ravens game at
Speaker 2: halftime of the Louisville game, And maybe it's a big
Speaker 2: enough blowout to where if you are a Ravens fan,
Speaker 2: or you just are a big Ravens fan because of
Speaker 2: Lamar specifically, maybe you can. I don't know, that's a
Speaker 2: good question if you're a Ravens fan and like they
Speaker 2: become your team because of Lamar, or maybe you were
Speaker 2: a Ravens fan before Lamar. They've got the Buccaneers tonight
Speaker 2: in a pretty good Monday night football matchup. I would
Speaker 2: I'm curious, would you want to continue to watch Louisville basketball.
Speaker 2: Let's say they're up forty at halftime or something, which
Speaker 2: is an exaggeration, but let's just say, they're up twenty
Speaker 2: at halftime twenty five, and it's and it's a blowout
Speaker 2: from the beginning, and it looks like it's going to
Speaker 2: stay that way, knowing that it's not a knowing that
Speaker 2: it's not a real game, knowing that your team's not
Speaker 2: going to really be challenged. Would you still watch this
Speaker 2: based off the fact that it's new and it's exciting
Speaker 2: and it's your first chance to watch this team, or
Speaker 2: would you be more inclined to go right to a
Speaker 2: good Monday and a football game between your Ravens and
Speaker 2: the Buccaneers. I mean, only you can answer that question.
Speaker 2: In fact, with technology, you can do both. To be
Speaker 2: honest with you, like, to me, this is an if
Speaker 2: you're really big on one of the NFL games, not
Speaker 2: because we have two, don't we Yeah, we've got Chargers
Speaker 2: and Cardinals that doesn't start till nine o'clock and then
Speaker 2: Ravens Buccaneers at eight fifteen. But you, like, this is
Speaker 2: an iPad in your hand, or maybe you know, you
Speaker 2: near your recliner and then the TV on a game
Speaker 2: like that's what I would do. But I don't really
Speaker 2: care a whole lot about these And I mean I
Speaker 2: hope Lamar and the Ravens wins night. I'm gonna be
Speaker 2: keeping with it to an extent because I'm probably gonna
Speaker 2: bet on it. But I mean, I'm going to be
Speaker 2: locked in and watching this exhibition game closer than honestly,
Speaker 2: probably closer than I've watched a Louisville basketball game in years. Right, Like,
Speaker 2: I can't remember the last time I was excited for
Speaker 2: a game, like not to pile on the previous regime
Speaker 2: and not to go back down that depressing road. But
Speaker 2: I can't remember the last time I was excited to
Speaker 2: watch Louisville play. I mean, I guess it was when
Speaker 2: they were in the Bahamas just a couple of months ago.
Speaker 2: But like last year, you had a better team. And
Speaker 2: I don't know if anybody truly believed that with that
Speaker 2: coaching staff that Louisville was gonna be much better than
Speaker 2: they were the year before.
Speaker 3: But you could look at the freshmen that they brought in.
Speaker 2: You could look at some of the guys in the
Speaker 2: portal and know that, hey, they did go out and
Speaker 2: add better players, so like, maybe they'll be better. But
Speaker 2: then when you lose your second exhibition game to Kentucky, Wesleyan.
Speaker 2: You you narrowly avoid the upset to UNBC, and then
Speaker 2: you lose to is it Chattanooga or there was Was
Speaker 2: it Chattanooga who came in and got them last year?
Speaker 2: I don't know, they all run together. There was a
Speaker 2: handful of teams that beat them that you know, you
Speaker 2: feel like Louill would never lose to. So you know,
Speaker 2: I mean when that happens, like you're just like all
Speaker 2: of your fear and you're worry about how disastrous, Like
Speaker 2: your hope of year one just being the ultimate fluke
Speaker 2: is gone once you realized they brought out a team
Speaker 2: full of only I mean they like Kenny only played
Speaker 2: four and five star players against Kentucky Wesleyan and lost
Speaker 2: last year, Like I mean, so that made it to
Speaker 2: where the rest of the way, like let's just end
Speaker 2: this thing. This is disastrous. But now we're over that
Speaker 2: and you got a new era and it's exciting. I'm
Speaker 2: excited and maybe this this may tonight may be the
Speaker 2: most excited I'll ever be about an exhibition game, given
Speaker 2: the circumstances. So the Cards and the young Harris. What
Speaker 2: a weird name for a team. What's their mascot look?
Speaker 4: It up the Kamala's according to some people, probably right.
Speaker 2: I get it now, and I thought you were like you.
Speaker 2: I thought that was like the real thing, and then
Speaker 2: I realized what you were doing here. I don't know
Speaker 2: what they are, although the Mountain Lions, So the Young
Speaker 2: Harris Mountain Lions, it's a lame name. They're gonna get
Speaker 2: blown out tonight, I hope, So God bless quick break.
Speaker 2: We'll come back on the other side about how to
Speaker 2: panic attack. So thank you to It looks like Timothy
Speaker 2: on Twitter sent me a screenshot from The Courier Journal
Speaker 2: that says the Young Harris is a D two program
Speaker 2: coached by Jeremy Currier, who has ties to pack to
Speaker 2: member who has ties a little typo here for the CJ.
Speaker 2: In fact, kind of kind of scary to think about
Speaker 2: Jeremy Currier, who has ties members of Kelsey's staff. So
Speaker 2: there's some kind of a connection here with the staff.
Speaker 2: I don't know what it is. But as somebody h
Speaker 2: pointed out on this on this tweet sent to me
Speaker 2: by Timothy, that just explains the connections.
Speaker 3: That's what I'll say.
Speaker 2: Usually when you play an exhibition opponent, there's some kind
Speaker 2: of a connection as to why you're playing them, whether
Speaker 2: they're local or there's a coach that familiarity with the
Speaker 2: program or something like that, but has ties members. Let's
Speaker 2: not tie up an any members of anything tonight.
Speaker 3: Let's just play basketball, guys. Let's do that.
Speaker 2: But hopefully Young Harris leaves here with a big time
Speaker 2: blowout lost tonight. But regardless, we'll talk about whatever happens
Speaker 2: on the postgame show. It'll start as soon as it
Speaker 2: ends tonight right here on a Sports Talk seven ninety
Speaker 2: real quick, one more shout out today for our friends
Speaker 2: over at Jefferson Animal Hospital. Keep them in mind when
Speaker 2: it comes to your pets. An emergency is never planned, right,
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know how you could plan for
Speaker 2: an emergency, but if an emergency does happen, you're playing
Speaker 2: should be to reach out to the Jeffersonial Hospital. They
Speaker 2: have been opened since nineteen eighty.
Speaker 3: They've been serving the.
Speaker 2: Louisville community for forty four years, twenty four hours a day,
Speaker 2: including holidays, even on Christmas.
Speaker 3: They're going to have a doctor on site.
Speaker 2: They've got a dedicated staff and have you and your
Speaker 2: pets covered in case of an emergency. But it doesn't
Speaker 2: have to be an emergency. You can schedule at an
Speaker 2: appointment for any time.
Speaker 3: Walk right in.
Speaker 2: They'd be happy to see you, or give them a
Speaker 2: call Babo two nine hundred pets, or visit Jefferson Vets
Speaker 2: dot com. We certainly appreciate our friends over there at
Speaker 2: the Jefferson Animal Hospital, all right, and we appreciate you
Speaker 2: guys for hanging out with us today. I'm sure by
Speaker 2: tomorrow my morale will be. In fact, by tonight, my
Speaker 2: morale's going to.
Speaker 3: Be much better.
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like I was very windy today,
Speaker 2: but I you know, I'm just being real with you.
Speaker 3: I'm being honest.
Speaker 2: I'm bummed about where this Louisville football team is right now,
Speaker 2: and I badly wish they weren't a team with already
Speaker 2: three losses, but you know, maybe they've finished strong fingers crossed.
Speaker 2: But I know Louisville basketball is going to be to
Speaker 2: pick me up I need tonight. So it should be
Speaker 2: a lot of fun. And again we'll react to it
Speaker 2: right here a little later tonight on Sports Talk seven
Speaker 2: ninety have a good
Speaker 3: One, do they By