Speaker 1: It's Stick Gabriel taking a little bit of time off,
Speaker 1: so we thought we would replay some of the best
Speaker 1: interviews from over the last several months. Please enjoy the
Speaker 1: best of the Big Blue Insider. In this segment, we
Speaker 1: take you back to night in April when the Tennessee
Speaker 1: Balls were in town for a huge baseball series with
Speaker 1: the Wildcats. Huge series coming up tomorrow Kentucky Baseball, the
Speaker 1: Wildcats taking on Tennessee. According to one poll, number three
Speaker 1: versus number four. You'll hear all the games right here
Speaker 1: on six thirty. Wlap and Darren'll have pregame tomorrow at
Speaker 1: six fifteen, six thirty, first pitch, and I've got to
Speaker 1: think that coach Madison, Keith Madison, will be in the
Speaker 1: booth at least some of those games, I would certainly hope.
Speaker 1: So right next door, Doug Flinn and I will have
Speaker 1: it for you on TV, the SEC streaming channel. So
Speaker 1: if you can't get out to the ballpark, we urge
Speaker 1: you to get out. It's going to be a great weekend.
Speaker 1: You can hear it, you can see it, and Kentucky
Speaker 1: with a great opportunity to build on its lead in
Speaker 1: the SEC East and the overall conference Chase Wildcats have
Speaker 1: done remarkably well this year, coming off to win Tuesday
Speaker 1: at Louisville seventeen to thirteen. Can you imagine, but now
Speaker 1: set your sights on Tennessee. If you're a Wildcat and
Speaker 1: everybody knows, it's going to be a crazy night, great crowd,
Speaker 1: good weather, atmosphere should be outstanding. They have had that
Speaker 1: kind of thing before for Louisville games, for tournament games,
Speaker 1: and now with Tennessee coming in, Wildcats want it and
Speaker 1: as Nick Menzilm pointed out, the craziness, they want it,
Speaker 1: they need it.
Speaker 2: We want that every game, and there's just been a
Speaker 2: lot of people that have put in a ton of
Speaker 2: work in order for that to happen. When you just
Speaker 2: think about that, like in the history of the program,
Speaker 2: a regular season game, right, this is number three verse
Speaker 2: number four, two teams battling now for the Eastern Division
Speaker 2: and the overall conference. And that only happens because there's
Speaker 2: been intentional effort by a lot of people from our
Speaker 2: administration to build a stadium like this that number one
Speaker 2: could even hold that many people, the former players that
Speaker 2: have just put their blood, sweat and tears into this program, coaches,
Speaker 2: staff members, previous teams. As I mentioned, the players are
Speaker 2: this current team. There's just been a lot of people,
Speaker 2: staff members that have put a lot of intentional effort
Speaker 2: and work into this. So therefore, I mean, I'm excited
Speaker 2: and then the big Blue Nation for them to be
Speaker 2: able to show up, and it sounds like they're going
Speaker 2: to and we got some great weather, so yeah, that
Speaker 2: always helps.
Speaker 1: Somebody asks Nick about all of the hype going into
Speaker 1: this one and whether or not his players will be
Speaker 1: affected by that. You talk about the fact that they
Speaker 1: are a veteran bunch, they are mature, and he believes
Speaker 1: they can handle it. They can you know, enjoy it,
Speaker 1: but use it to their advantage, take care of business pregame,
Speaker 1: and make it work for them during the game. So
Speaker 1: he's not really worried about player focus.
Speaker 2: Our focus needs to be continue on what we're doing
Speaker 2: and that's what made it. That's what made this team
Speaker 2: so great. It's not on our opponent. It's not anything
Speaker 2: that's going on outside. It's like when we literally have
Speaker 2: those blinders on and I think I'm using another horse
Speaker 2: keitland still going on right, Yeah, Okay, I mean there's
Speaker 2: a reason why those horses have those blinders on is
Speaker 2: because they don't need to be distracted and they need
Speaker 2: to focus on what's in front of them and not
Speaker 2: what's going on around him. And that's how I need
Speaker 2: my team to be. And they're mature, they've done it.
Speaker 2: But I'll be happy for them. I will say this
Speaker 2: to see all the people here and all the fame.
Speaker 2: I'll be happy for our players.
Speaker 1: In the Southeastern Conference. You need to take care of
Speaker 1: business when it comes to baseball, and by that I
Speaker 1: mean win the series at home. Yeah, you love a sweep,
Speaker 1: but the bottom line is you got to win two
Speaker 1: out of three to protect your home turf. Kentucky has
Speaker 1: been sweeping teams this year at home and on the road.
Speaker 1: It's just been incredible. The only loss for the Wildcats
Speaker 1: fourteen and one in conference play was at Missouri, which
Speaker 1: is better than we thought it would be. This year,
Speaker 1: the Tigers have pulled off some surprising when including one
Speaker 1: over Kentucky. The only win for the only lost router
Speaker 1: for the Wildcats in conference play three to two, and
Speaker 1: two of the runs for Miszoo came in on wild pitches,
Speaker 1: so that's one that got away. Otherwise, the Cats are
Speaker 1: undefeated in conference play, but through the last few years
Speaker 1: they have struggled. Indeed, with Tennessee. They lose the series
Speaker 1: last year in Knoxville, twenty twenty one. In Knoxville they
Speaker 1: lose in twenty Of course, twenty twenty didn't play because
Speaker 1: of COVID. They are swept in twenty nineteen. They dropped
Speaker 1: the series at home in twenty eighteen, but in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two they actually took the series two games to one.
Speaker 1: Here in Lexington. He was a Tennessee team that went
Speaker 1: on to win forty nine games and hosted a Super
Speaker 1: regionally here before they had gone to the World Series.
Speaker 1: That Tennessee team hosted a Super Regional but lost in
Speaker 1: an upset to Notre Dame. Really great Tennessee team won
Speaker 1: something like nineteen out of its first twenty or something
Speaker 1: like that. And then you go back to twenty seventeen
Speaker 1: and the Wildcats swept the Volunteers. That was Kentucky's first
Speaker 1: regional championship team in Nickmnjones' first year. Tennessee is good.
Speaker 1: Tennessee could come up here and win this series if
Speaker 1: the Wildcats aren't careful. But I think Kentucky's going to
Speaker 1: be Razor sharp. Question is can the Cats pull off
Speaker 1: two wins this weekend? We're all going to find out together.
Speaker 1: So again, Darren Hedrick coming up to talk about that series,
Speaker 1: if you will indulge me right here. Kind of a
Speaker 1: personal matter, but I just stuff like this just always
Speaker 1: kind of confounds me. Yesterday, April seventeenth, was would have
Speaker 1: been my father's one hundredth birthday. He was born in
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty four in Fairmount, West Virginia. And you may
Speaker 1: have heard me talk about this before we lost him.
Speaker 1: He's way too young. He died actually on his fortieth
Speaker 1: birthday April seventeenth, nineteen sixty four. He had a bad heart.
Speaker 1: He had a heart disease when he was a kid.
Speaker 1: It damaged his heart. But people have always asked me,
Speaker 1: why are you a Green Bay Packers fan? And they
Speaker 1: accused me of being on the bandwagon with Brett varv
Speaker 1: and all that. In the nineties, said no, no. Since
Speaker 1: the early sixties, growing up in Louisville, my dad was
Speaker 1: reading the newspaper one day and he mentioned Paul Horneck,
Speaker 1: who was one of the Heisman Trophy winner Hall of
Speaker 1: Famer Green Bay Packers World champion multiple times, MVP, one
Speaker 1: of the greatest ever from Louisville. They wanted him at Kentucky,
Speaker 1: you know, the governor tried to get him to come.
Speaker 1: Everybody went to not here name anyway, So Horning was
Speaker 1: suspended for gambling. Now you've got Johntay Porter dismissed forever
Speaker 1: from the NBA for gambling. But Pete Roselle suspended Horning
Speaker 1: in the early sixties for gambling. He had to sit
Speaker 1: out a year. And my dad was reading about that
Speaker 1: and he said, he told me who Horning was, who
Speaker 1: he played for, and was from Louisville, and he said,
Speaker 1: you should always root for your hometown players. I said, well,
Speaker 1: who does he play for. He plays for the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers. I thought, green Bay Packer. That's a cool name,
Speaker 1: green Bay. I bet that's just this wonderful, gorgeous place.
Speaker 1: I kind of in my mind pictured like a acup
Speaker 1: in Oregon, or you know someplace even something is tropical. No,
Speaker 1: I've been there, and that town is right in the
Speaker 1: middle of Wisconsin farm country, and you know, it's a
Speaker 1: great setting, of course for a pro football team. But
Speaker 1: I kept trying for years. I couldn't remember was my
Speaker 1: dad telling me about Horning, who was going to be
Speaker 1: suspended or was he coming off suspension. I don't know
Speaker 1: why I wondered about that, but I did well. Not
Speaker 1: long ago I read an autobiography by Paul Horning, and
Speaker 1: he talked about when he got the phone call from
Speaker 1: Roselle telling him he would be allowed back in the
Speaker 1: National Football League. Because Horning said, when he suspended me,
Speaker 1: I never knew if I was going to be allowed
Speaker 1: to come back. Can you imagine a guy with his
Speaker 1: rep his abilities and what hey, he had no idea
Speaker 1: what lay ahead of him, you know. But he was
Speaker 1: already in the middle of a great pro career and
Speaker 1: he thought it might be over. But he got a
Speaker 1: phone call. He said, I'll never forget the day that
Speaker 1: I got the phone call from Pete Roselle telling me
Speaker 1: I was going to be allowed to play in the
Speaker 1: NFL again. And as I read, he mentioned the date
Speaker 1: April seventeenth, nineteen sixty four, as I said, that was
Speaker 1: the day my dad died. So what that tells me, obviously,
Speaker 1: is when Dad told me about hornering a year prior,
Speaker 1: it was that Horning had just been suspended. I've told
Speaker 1: this story to a few people, just the coincidence of
Speaker 1: Horning finding out about his future on the day my
Speaker 1: father passed away, and people I see them react and
Speaker 1: it's nice and they dropped their oh you know. To me,
Speaker 1: it's not. It's sad that my dad died when I
Speaker 1: was young. I was eight and a half. But it's
Speaker 1: a reminder to me that he gave me the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers. I mean, and I'm on here, I talk
Speaker 1: about him, and as I mentioned, I'm a stockholder. My
Speaker 1: kids bought me a share of stock. My son is
Speaker 1: not a Packers fan because he wanted to root against
Speaker 1: the Packers. I was being so obnoxious going into Brett
Speaker 1: Favre's second Super Bowl against the Broncos. He rooted for
Speaker 1: the Broncos. They win. He'd been a Broncos fan ever since.
Speaker 1: I've actually bought him Broncos gear for Christmas. But they
Speaker 1: buy me the Sheriff stock makes me an owner and
Speaker 1: I have so much fun with that. And people kid
Speaker 1: me if the Packers were going back, can't you do
Speaker 1: something about that? You know? But as I said, yes,
Speaker 1: it was devastating to lose my dad on that day,
Speaker 1: but when I look back, I'm right now I have
Speaker 1: a coffee cup in my hand with a Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers emblem on it that my daughter gave me. It's
Speaker 1: a yetty and she had stenciled on it pops, which
Speaker 1: is what actually my kids call me, my granddaughters call me.
Speaker 1: And I've got my phone with the Green Bay Packers case.
Speaker 1: And yesterday I was wearing Green Bay Packers socks. So
Speaker 1: like I said, sad that I lost him on that day,
Speaker 1: but before he died, he gave me my allegiance to
Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers. And again it was yesterday that
Speaker 1: he would have turned one hundred. You're listening to the
Speaker 1: best of the Big Blue Insider. More to come here
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLAP. It's Dick Gabriel. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Best of the Big Blue Insider, turning us down.
Speaker 1: Our celebrity Hodline is a friend and a longtime coworker
Speaker 1: WKYT the legendary Rob Bromley, who was enjoying retirement now
Speaker 1: and Rob, you and I were talking before we went
Speaker 1: on the air. You covered since Joe B. Hall resigned
Speaker 1: every other coaching change, and now you can sit back
Speaker 1: and just watch what's happening. Now that's gotta be kind
Speaker 1: of nice.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a little easier, that's for sure, but you
Speaker 3: never know what. You never know quite what might be
Speaker 3: around the next corner, Dick. And just like on Sunday night,
Speaker 3: I was surprised, really stunned by the news of cal
Speaker 3: to Arkansas possibly going to Arkansas on the night, and
Speaker 3: then I was equally stunned on Thursday night when everything
Speaker 3: developed with Mark Pope. So it's surprised me.
Speaker 1: It's entertaining. Speaking of surprise and stunned, I'm gonna take
Speaker 1: you back to when Joe Hall announced his retirement. You
Speaker 1: broke that story from Denver. I'll never forget when you
Speaker 1: called me and said, I think it's gonna happen, And
Speaker 1: I think it stunned a lot of people. We had
Speaker 1: heard the rumors, remember the year before, but really not
Speaker 1: so much that year. We had kind of put it
Speaker 1: to rest. But what's that like to be in the
Speaker 1: middle of that situation, Because some people think you stuck
Speaker 1: your neck out, But after I felt good about it,
Speaker 1: After talking to you, I knew kind of who you
Speaker 1: were talking to and and and what the situation was.
Speaker 1: But what do you remember about that?
Speaker 3: Well, I, you know, I just remember that afternoon and
Speaker 3: talking to an individual down in the coffee shop who
Speaker 3: simply was able to confirm it without a doubt. And
Speaker 3: that person was Joe's security guy. And it all came
Speaker 3: up pretty quickly, you know, getting getting a call from
Speaker 3: Flexington and then searching it out at the Denver end.
Speaker 3: So I didn't anticipate that happening, oh when we went
Speaker 3: out to Denver.
Speaker 1: That's for sure, absolutely not. And then I described us
Speaker 1: the other night when CBS kept that camera hot, followed
Speaker 1: Joe all the way around. You were right there front center.
Speaker 3: You already start to think then about you know, what
Speaker 3: what the future is. And it was a busy time
Speaker 3: because the Final four was was coming into Lexington the
Speaker 3: very next week, so there was going to be an
Speaker 3: awful lot going on coaching search in the Final four.
Speaker 3: But you know, it just things quickly quickly changed from
Speaker 3: earlier on that day and I guess it was a
Speaker 3: Friday when when Dave gave me a call and we
Speaker 3: started just working at it at the end out in Denver.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then Eddie Sutton becomes the coach, but not
Speaker 1: before things happened, including Loud Olson took the job for
Speaker 1: a couple hours. That was weird as well, wasn't it.
Speaker 1: It was?
Speaker 3: And you have to be ready for people to turn
Speaker 3: you down. Jeene Bartow also the job down, and they
Speaker 3: were both very accomplished coaches. Geene Bartow had built a
Speaker 3: big record at Memphis and then had gone out to
Speaker 3: UCLA and only lost like eight or nine games in
Speaker 3: two seasons, and he'd had he left left the West
Speaker 3: Coast start of the program at UAB and lud Olson
Speaker 3: had been very successful at IOWA, hadn't been in Arizona
Speaker 3: that long, but apparently he came in here and just
Speaker 3: decided that he'd stay out in Tucson. So but you know,
Speaker 3: you bring in still a very accomplished coach and Eddie Sutton,
Speaker 3: a coach that could have easily have made it to
Speaker 3: the final four or won the championship. In nineteen seventy eight,
Speaker 3: came very close to beating Kentucky in the semifinal game
Speaker 3: in Saint Louis. It's a very very tense game along
Speaker 3: with the regional final and date were both very very
Speaker 3: tense games. But you certainly got a, you know, the
Speaker 3: very experienced coach and Eddie Sutton, a very very good
Speaker 3: one man with a good track record.
Speaker 1: People seem upset when when other coaches turned the job down,
Speaker 1: but it's never been a sure thing really until they
Speaker 1: got to Cali Perry, right and he I don't know
Speaker 1: that he was their first choice because first they asked
Speaker 1: Billy Donovan. So it's never a.
Speaker 3: Lot well probably, although I don't know how likely it
Speaker 3: would have been that, you know that, I don't think
Speaker 3: it that likely that Billy Billy would would come in.
Speaker 3: But I think I think Cal wanted the job. Cali
Speaker 3: Perry wanted the job two years before, yeah, and definitely
Speaker 3: definitely would have come so uh, and then they went
Speaker 3: right after the two year experience with Billy Gilisbie, they went,
Speaker 3: they went back to Cal and it turned out to
Speaker 3: be a you know, a great a great thing. Really.
Speaker 3: It's a special time. Certainly you have the final fours
Speaker 3: and the postseason success. After twenty fifteen, they're out of
Speaker 3: the final fours, you know, and it tails off and
Speaker 3: we just start to lose some games that everybody thinks
Speaker 3: you should win, and when they get to be postseason games,
Speaker 3: it's just it's just pretty damaging. It just kind of
Speaker 3: became an untenable situation. Dick with cal talking to.
Speaker 1: Rob Bromley the long time as sports director WKYT in
Speaker 1: for many many years produced and anchored the uk TV
Speaker 1: Coaches Show in the format there changed quite a bit
Speaker 1: through the years, Robin. You know, as we all know,
Speaker 1: Caliperi is not nearly as accessible to the media as
Speaker 1: other coaches have been. And there were times on that
Speaker 1: anchored desk, Rob, where I had to tip my cap
Speaker 1: because you were talking to a coach through the years,
Speaker 1: different coaches who absolutely didn't want to be there after
Speaker 1: a tough loss. But you know, yeah, most of them
Speaker 1: dealt with it graciously, didn't they?
Speaker 3: Yes, they did. It's the losses are hard, you know,
Speaker 3: you ride the ups and downs and and it isn't easy.
Speaker 3: I had some very difficult situations after games and things
Speaker 3: handled pretty graciously, things handled not so graciously, but you
Speaker 3: over the years you just have to learn to roll
Speaker 3: with it. One thing you end up doing, you always
Speaker 3: are kind of pulling for the coaches and hoping that
Speaker 3: it all you know, that it all comes through. That
Speaker 3: isn't always the case, but and I I I certainly
Speaker 3: would feel that way about Mark Pope coming in here
Speaker 3: to pull for him and wonderful guy Deck. I haven't.
Speaker 3: I have not talked to him since he came in
Speaker 3: here with Georgia.
Speaker 4: I'm staff.
Speaker 3: Yes, he was on the staff. I think Mark Fox
Speaker 3: this is you know, he got into I think he
Speaker 3: AAO he went to med school or something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was in med school.
Speaker 3: I'm not yet, I'm not sure just how far. But
Speaker 3: he went from med school to to Koching and uh,
Speaker 3: I guess Georgia was the start of it. And then
Speaker 3: you know, I mean he was at I think Wake
Speaker 3: Forest right and eventually headed out west. But it's an interesting,
Speaker 3: interesting past. Of course, he played played quite a few years.
Speaker 3: Just I think he played both of the NBA and
Speaker 3: overseas and was drafted fairly. It was a second round pick,
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, But I'm not sure how many years
Speaker 3: he played, but it seems like there were quite a
Speaker 3: few there that that he was playing. Profess.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he started off overseas and then in ninety seven
Speaker 1: signed with the Pacers and basically retired after twenty oh
Speaker 1: five and bats back over to Europe for a little while.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean he is an NBA veteran. He's
Speaker 1: been where his recruits want to be, you know, in Caliperi,
Speaker 1: of course with that great trek record getting people to
Speaker 1: the league. But when you can talk to a guy
Speaker 1: who's actually played in the league and as you said,
Speaker 1: fought his way up from being the second round choice,
Speaker 1: fifty second pick overall. But there's a lot going for
Speaker 1: I spoke to him, I mentioned earlier on the show
Speaker 1: for the nineteen ninety six documentary we did, and I'm
Speaker 1: like you, I think he's a terrific guy. Rob Bromley,
Speaker 1: the longtime sports director WKYT. Rob, always a pleasure. Hope
Speaker 1: you and Diana, well, thank you.
Speaker 3: Yes, doing well. But you know I'm going to leave
Speaker 3: the coaching searches to others.
Speaker 1: Sounds sounds like a plan. Thanks man Man, all right,
Speaker 1: all right, Dick, they're listening to the best of the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider. I want to come here on six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP. Hey, it's Dick Gabriel and you're listening to
Speaker 1: the best of the Big Blue Insider. NBA playoffs happening,
Speaker 1: and there are a lot of former Wildcats in the news,
Speaker 1: as you might expect, so many of them making the
Speaker 1: league thanks to John Caliperi. But some of the stories
Speaker 1: that are out there right now really interesting. Shaquille O'Neill
Speaker 1: is catching a lot of what they call backlash now
Speaker 1: because he believes Shay Gilgus Alexander should have been the MVP.
Speaker 1: And it went last night to Nicola Djokis of the
Speaker 1: world champion, reigning champ Denver Nuggets. Now, they're not in
Speaker 1: good shape right now in the playoffs, but they named
Speaker 1: him the MVP. It's kind of ironic because I was
Speaker 1: listening to a Denver radio station guy saying that Jokis
Speaker 1: couldn't care less about being the MVP. They said to say,
Speaker 1: he's a three times now MVP in four years. They
Speaker 1: said the second time he wanted, he asked them not
Speaker 1: to present it out on the court in front of
Speaker 1: the fans, so they handed him the trophy in the
Speaker 1: locker room, just where he was back with his teammates.
Speaker 1: They said, when he left the building, he left the
Speaker 1: trophy there. He forgot it and somebody had to chase
Speaker 1: him down and say, hey man, you left us in
Speaker 1: the locker room. So that's what he really cares about,
Speaker 1: how much he cares about being the MVP. But fans
Speaker 1: have been blasting Shaquille O'Neal, who said this on TNT
Speaker 1: when he interviewed The Joker, and he was straight with him.
Speaker 4: You know, I love you, the best player in the league.
Speaker 4: I want to congratulate you, but I want you to
Speaker 4: hear from me first. I thought the SGA should have
Speaker 4: been the MVP. There's no disrespect to you, but congratulations,
Speaker 4: and what do you guys have to do to get
Speaker 4: back on track versus Minnesota? Thank you, Shan.
Speaker 3: We don't judge people here, you know, so that's fine.
Speaker 4: I'm joking. Hey, all good. I love you, I love
Speaker 4: your brothers. One thing we always going to do is
Speaker 4: keep it real with each other. Congratulations, I love it.
Speaker 1: So there it is, Shaquille O'Neal. No disrespect, he said
Speaker 1: to the Joker, but he believed former Wildcat shake Gilgrish
Speaker 1: Alexander should have been the MVP this year. SGA averaged
Speaker 1: thirty points per game, five rebounds, six assists, not too cheby.
Speaker 1: I thought he might be the MVP, but Joker didn't
Speaker 1: win it last year. Then they won the championships, so
Speaker 1: maybe some guys are playing catch up with their voting.
Speaker 1: So at any rate, uh, Shaquille O'Neal being called a
Speaker 1: hater and disrespectful and hates other big men and isn't
Speaker 1: going to give this guy's respect. You heard the comment,
Speaker 1: Just now make up your own mind. But you know,
Speaker 1: I thought it was really interesting that he was quite
Speaker 1: outspoken when it came to the former wild SGA should
Speaker 1: have been the MVP. I don't watch enough NBA to
Speaker 1: weigh in, but I thought it would be pretty cool
Speaker 1: if he did. You know, watching the Pacers last night,
Speaker 1: they scored seventy three in the first half against the Knicks,
Speaker 1: and then the Knicks and all this. You know they
Speaker 1: don't play defense in the NBA. Yes, of course they do,
Speaker 1: especially in the playoffs. The Knicks hold them to eighteen
Speaker 1: points in the third quarter, outscore them thirty six to
Speaker 1: eighteen and go on to take the win. Even though
Speaker 1: the Knicks are missing Julius Randall, they're missing so many players.
Speaker 1: They're down to seven players who have played at all
Speaker 1: this year. I mean, they got guys on the roster,
Speaker 1: but guys who have played appreciable minutes. Seven players. They're
Speaker 1: averaging forty plus minutes per game. They're gonna wear out.
Speaker 1: But if you want a rooting interest, of course, you
Speaker 1: know the Pacers have Oscar Sheebey. Although he was not
Speaker 1: on the active roster last night. If you google the team,
Speaker 1: he is. But I had almost forgotten. Isaiah Jackson is
Speaker 1: still with the Pacers. He comes off the bench averages
Speaker 1: about six and a half points and four rebounds. And
Speaker 1: the reason you might not think about him very often
Speaker 1: is he played his one season was on that twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one team that was terrible. It was John Caliperry.
Speaker 1: He's really had a terrible season. Worst ball club. Remember
Speaker 1: that team was riddled with injury. I think the guys
Speaker 1: who they had planned on being starters at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the year played together once. But he was on
Speaker 1: that ball club and then was drafted in the first
Speaker 1: round by the Lakers and they immediately traded his rights
Speaker 1: to the Pacers. But Jackson was a nice player coming
Speaker 1: out of high school, as you know, and then declared.
Speaker 1: But at Kentucky, that team only played twenty five games.
Speaker 1: He played only five hundred and nineteen minutes, scored about
Speaker 1: eight points a game six rebounds per game. But again
Speaker 1: that team didn't do much. Another Wildcat who made news
Speaker 1: for the wrong reasons. We talked about him yesterday. Jamal
Speaker 1: Murray was fined one hundred thousand dollars for throwing a
Speaker 1: heating pad on the floor during live action. He finally
Speaker 1: spoke about it. He said, it is what it is.
Speaker 1: I take everything in full responsibility. So on to the next.
Speaker 1: And he wouldn't say much about his punishment, whether or
Speaker 1: not that was appropriate. He just said, and again, yeah,
Speaker 1: on to the next. I mean two days ago. Not
Speaker 1: much for me to say about it right now. Not
Speaker 1: good and if the officials had seen it, he would
Speaker 1: have been suspended. His coach, to his credit, Michael Malone,
Speaker 1: to his team, said, guys, where the reigning world champions
Speaker 1: act like it and play like it. And I do
Speaker 1: appreciate that people are pointing fingers at the Las Vegas
Speaker 1: Raiders and the former Wildcat is trying to clean things
Speaker 1: up there. Defensive Bacterian Arnold, who was drafted by the
Speaker 1: Detroit Lions, claims that the Raiders head coach Antonio Appears,
Speaker 1: told him it was literally a coin flip between him
Speaker 1: and Georgia tight end brock Bowers at pick number thirteen.
Speaker 1: He told a podcast, the Raiders coach called me after
Speaker 1: the draft and said, we actually had a coin toss
Speaker 1: between you and brock Bauers that landed on him and
Speaker 1: Champ Kelly, the former wide receiver slash defensive back, is
Speaker 1: the Raiders assistant general manager, and somebody asked him about
Speaker 1: the comment last night. He said, I can't confirm that
Speaker 1: at all. He sitarian's a good player, excited to watch
Speaker 1: his career and see him play. Said, but we drafted Brock.
Speaker 1: We're excited to get him here. I don't think anyone
Speaker 1: else in our whole draft room felt any other way.
Speaker 1: Now can't confirm isn't exactly no way that happened. And
Speaker 1: I also think it's interesting. Champ Kelly is the guy
Speaker 1: being quoted right now, the former Wildcat. We're listening to
Speaker 1: the best of the Big Blue Insider or to come
Speaker 1: here on six point thirty WLAP. It's Dick Gabriel. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Best of the Big Blue Insider. I
Speaker 1: wanted to share with you a couple of things you
Speaker 1: just heard about the Wildcats and their big win earlier today. Well,
Speaker 1: standing with baseball the LA Dodgers in Chavez Ravine, if
Speaker 1: you're sitting up high, you can see across the expanse
Speaker 1: of the parking lot, and last night a fan was
Speaker 1: added near the top of the stands looked out and
Speaker 1: saw smoke. Really, anybody in the ballpark saw it. But
Speaker 1: this particular fan shot video of would appear to be
Speaker 1: a car fire, and he got bigger and bigger. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you've ever seen a car fire, you know, with
Speaker 1: the fuel, the gas, the oil, the fluids, the rubber
Speaker 1: on the tires, it can burn spectacularly and generate tons
Speaker 1: of smoke, which this did. All right, Well, that happens
Speaker 1: something within that car ignited in the car caught fire
Speaker 1: and burned and burned. Who else noticed besides thousands of fans.
Speaker 1: The Dodger organist Deter Rule, and in fact, my buddy
Speaker 1: Gary Moore sent this to me. He of course, is
Speaker 1: our Western bureau chief who covered the Dodgers for many
Speaker 1: years while he was in Los Angeles. But he says,
Speaker 1: Dieter has an enormal, enormous musical rolodex in his brain.
Speaker 1: And he says, the TV announcers make an obscure band reference,
Speaker 1: and the next thing you know, a few seconds later,
Speaker 1: he's fire enough notes from one of their songs. So
Speaker 1: what does he play when he sees the smoke and
Speaker 1: the car on fire? Listen to this good evening and
Speaker 1: welcome to Dodger See that's right. We didn't start to
Speaker 1: fire Deeter rule. The organ is very very clever. How
Speaker 1: about that. One other note on the Dodgers, Walker Bueller
Speaker 1: is back, or at least trying to come back. According
Speaker 1: to a story on Dodgersway dot com, he has been
Speaker 1: quote butting heads with the Dodgers over his injury recovery.
Speaker 1: Made his third start of the year Saturday, when six scoreless,
Speaker 1: gave up only three hits, no run, struck out seven
Speaker 1: in the Dodgers win over Cincinnati. But after the start
Speaker 1: he told reporters, and I'm quoting, I finally have to
Speaker 1: start listening to people, not just doing whatever I want
Speaker 1: all the time, which seems to acknowledge the fact that
Speaker 1: Bueller and Dodgers' management were clashing over his recovery period,
Speaker 1: his rehab, and his schedule. This is after two Tommy
Speaker 1: John surgeries for the election and native staying with baseball.
Speaker 1: Back to the SEC tournament. Kyle Peterson, who's a good analyst,
Speaker 1: paired up with Tom Hart, who's a really good play
Speaker 1: with play guy, and he's been on our show before.
Speaker 1: They got to talking. During a down period of the
Speaker 1: Tennessee Vandy game, which had become at and if you
Speaker 1: watch the SEC tournament at all, I mean beyond Kentucky games.
Speaker 1: And even if you're watching Kentucky and it turns into
Speaker 1: a route like the LSU game, did, you can get
Speaker 1: a little punchy. I mean, I did Neil Price, and
Speaker 1: I did radio for two three years all the games,
Speaker 1: and you can get a little punchy. Well, Heart and
Speaker 1: Peterson began to talk for some reason about avocados, and
Speaker 1: Peterson made a startling admission to Tom Hart. Can I
Speaker 1: be like brutally honest with it again? I didn't know
Speaker 1: avocado's growing trees until right there. But what your guessing?
Speaker 1: I was like a bush or something rub?
Speaker 4: An avocado shrub?
Speaker 1: You want to plant those avocado vines? Yes, it's like
Speaker 1: a potato.
Speaker 5: What did be fair?
Speaker 1: When's the last time you had a good piece of
Speaker 1: avocado toast.
Speaker 5: Last week?
Speaker 1: That's not so stunning, I mean, how many people know
Speaker 1: avocado's growing trees, you know? But it was interesting that
Speaker 1: he thought it it grew on a vine like a potato.
Speaker 1: So they kept talking about it, and Peterson borrowed the
Speaker 1: phone of I guess the assistant director there in the booth, Kenny,
Speaker 1: Kenny Dunlap, and they googled a picture, brought up a
Speaker 1: picture of an avocado. They just put in I guess avocado.
Speaker 1: And according to Peterson, it looked like it was a bush.
Speaker 1: And apparently they pulled it up through the Amazon website.
Speaker 1: I mean it looks like a shrub.
Speaker 4: Actually, I think I us right, Kenny, can't show them
Speaker 4: your phone.
Speaker 1: Is there anything?
Speaker 5: It's not gonna explode or anything.
Speaker 1: Then that looked like a shrub.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it looks like a shrub.
Speaker 1: You should should buy an avocado tree only seventy one bucks.
Speaker 5: You can get it delivered it, Kenny.
Speaker 1: You don't care to do it? It's prime, it's great.
Speaker 1: Who cares?
Speaker 4: It's like these are like casino chips.
Speaker 1: They don't even really count.
Speaker 5: Okay, add to Kart. No buy now, let's buy now.
Speaker 1: Ye get it here immediately.
Speaker 5: We can get it here.
Speaker 1: Actually, we should have an avocado tree in the food Okay.
Speaker 1: If they ordered that tree and had it delivered, I
Speaker 1: will promise you you will see it as you. I
Speaker 1: don't know what game, maybe every game, I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe just a game the next time Peterson and Hart
Speaker 1: worked together. But if that tree is delivered to the
Speaker 1: ballpark and they had a street address for it. You'll
Speaker 1: see that. I promise you they'll put that on the
Speaker 1: SEC network. Maybe Chris Burke and Dave Neil will have it,
Speaker 1: but I'll promise you if that thing shows up, you'll
Speaker 1: see it on coverage of the SEC tournament. All right.
Speaker 1: Moving over to the NBA, really to the WNBA, because
Speaker 1: this popped up on inside the NBA, and as you know,
Speaker 1: I love pulling off clips from Charles Barkley talking about whatever,
Speaker 1: and he came out last night in support of Lebron James,
Speaker 1: who had come out in support of Caitlin Clark. Lebron
Speaker 1: James made remarks about the expectations on Caitlin Clark's shoulders
Speaker 1: her advice via social media, and this was in response
Speaker 1: to some of the criticism that Caitlin Clark has gotten
Speaker 1: or some of the attitude she's gotten from veteran players.
Speaker 1: Diana Tarossi was the first to do it, and now
Speaker 1: there's backlash to Lebron and Charles Barkley from some players
Speaker 1: whoman saying, and I'm paraphrasing, why haven't more people been
Speaker 1: excited about the WNBA before? Why does it take Caitlin
Speaker 1: Clark to do this, and I would think the underlying
Speaker 1: theme there is she's white and most of the other
Speaker 1: players are black. Well, I will say this, there are
Speaker 1: tremendous players in the WNBA and who came through the
Speaker 1: college ranks, but how many of them lit it up
Speaker 1: like Caitlyn Clark. She became college basketballs when you factor
Speaker 1: in and it's not the same, I know. But she
Speaker 1: made headlines as Pete Maravich. She made lines scoring in
Speaker 1: the women's game the way Pete Merriviage scored in the
Speaker 1: men's game. You cannot touch Pete marrivitage. I'm sorry you can't.
Speaker 1: No three pointer. Only played three years varsity ball. But
Speaker 1: Caitlyn Clark created the conversation. But what else has she
Speaker 1: done lately? Well, now they're gonna fly charter because I
Speaker 1: have a flute charter. So Charles Barkley went to bat
Speaker 1: through Lebron for Caitlyn Clark last night on Inside the
Speaker 1: NBA on TNT.
Speaker 5: I gotta give Lebron a shout out of something I
Speaker 5: read on Bleacher Reports. That's the only thing I do.
Speaker 4: Oh, I love bature reporting.
Speaker 5: That's it. You are, let's spand your horizons. No, I
Speaker 5: don't want to hear, but he tell man, I've been
Speaker 5: looking at his camera right here, eighty three you women
Speaker 5: out there, no pity man, Hey, Lebron, you a hunted
Speaker 5: per say it right on. These girls hate known Caitlyn Clark.
Speaker 5: Y'all petty girls. I expect being to be petty because
Speaker 5: we're the most insecure group in the world.
Speaker 4: You are, y'all should be.
Speaker 5: Thinking that girl for getting y'all ass private charters, all
Speaker 5: the money and ben's the village she bringing to the
Speaker 5: Jemmy NBA. Don't be petty like dudes. Listen what she's accomplished,
Speaker 5: y'all flowers, Stop being petty, all you women out there.
Speaker 1: She got y'all ass chatters.
Speaker 5: She bringing all y'all is money to the table. For
Speaker 5: y'all being penny like dudes. The crime you're one hundred
Speaker 5: percent right, y'all girls, Scott Beam, Petty Caylean Clark, they
Speaker 5: keep for bringing all that money and should shine to
Speaker 5: the jump NBA.
Speaker 4: Well, they gonna hate you even more. Hey, listen, they
Speaker 4: can't do anything to me. They're gonna hate you, Hey,
Speaker 4: they can't. They can't hate on me.
Speaker 5: That's when that male man better be at my damn
Speaker 5: house the first in the fifteen show for another year,
Speaker 5: for another year.
Speaker 1: Reference. I guess to Charles contract, you know, and he
Speaker 1: can follow the rights if they if the NBA GHEs
Speaker 1: to NBC. But he's right, of course, and he is
Speaker 1: always talking about everybody does about Tiger Woods and the
Speaker 1: fact that golfers today are making buckets, oh cash, oh
Speaker 1: a great deal of thanks now and forever to Tiger
Speaker 1: Woods because the purses and TV ratings skyrocketed when Tiger
Speaker 1: was at his zenith, so everybody benefits. Even when Tiger
Speaker 1: doesn't win. The purse at the end of the rainbow
Speaker 1: on the eighteenth green is huge because Tiger was playing
Speaker 1: for it and it'll stay that way. So how do
Speaker 1: you feel about women's basketball and Caitlin Clark? Yeah, there
Speaker 1: are great athletes in the WNBA, but like it or not,
Speaker 1: it was Kaitlin Clark who brought the eyeballs, brought the
Speaker 1: attention and now, hey, among other benefits, you get fly charter.
Speaker 1: I'll bet the salaries go up as well. You're listening
Speaker 1: to the best of the Big Blue Insider. Our number
Speaker 1: two is next year on six thirty WLAP. It's stick
Speaker 1: Gabriel taking a little bit of time off, so we
Speaker 1: thought we would replace some of the best interviews from
Speaker 1: over the last several months. Please enjoy the best of
Speaker 1: the Big Blue. Insider joining us on our celebrity hotline
Speaker 1: is a longtime friend that is show. In fact, he
Speaker 1: was a regular until life happened to Max Gotby. He
Speaker 1: has moved on. He is over in Louisville now a
Speaker 1: Louisville native and a former football wildcat. Once a Wildcat,
Speaker 1: always a Wildcat. How are you, sir, Dick.
Speaker 6: I'm doing great, man. It's it's like I was telling you,
Speaker 6: it's kind of nice of being back on the WLAP
Speaker 6: airwaves as as as a friend, not as a competitor.
Speaker 3: So it's great to.
Speaker 1: Be back with you. You can hear Max in Louisville
Speaker 1: and ESPN six point eighty and our buddy Drew Diner
Speaker 1: every now and then checks in from over there. But
Speaker 1: before we talk football and life in general, Max, you
Speaker 1: told me you're looking for a shameless plug, and I
Speaker 1: really like what you sent me. Tell everybody what you're
Speaker 1: into now when you're not running your regular life and
Speaker 1: talking on the radio, you're moving some merch.
Speaker 6: Well, yeah, so I am. I'm currently the co host
Speaker 6: of a roundtabled Round Daddy with James Streebol, which James
Speaker 6: Streebow and I are the only voice of UK Athletics
Speaker 6: in the heart and belly of Louisville, Kentucky. I mean,
Speaker 6: we literally record on Louisville campus. And Streebel has always
Speaker 6: been one that is the guy that will rattle the cages.
Speaker 6: He's the one that is the most probably divisive voice
Speaker 6: in Louisville, Kentucky with his hot takes on PK the
Speaker 6: new coach at Louisville, and then of course Brahm and
Speaker 6: all that. And he and I really sat down the
Speaker 6: start back in the winter and he decided, you know,
Speaker 6: is he really going to continue to be just this
Speaker 6: divisive person in Louisville. And he said, of course I am.
Speaker 6: In fact, I'm going to be worse, and he's going
Speaker 6: to do that with one snarky T shirt of a time.
Speaker 6: He is actually with me kind of helping on the
Speaker 6: operations side develop Round Daddy T's which is louisville first
Speaker 6: ever kind of trash talk T shirt and merchandise line.
Speaker 1: So you got not just UK shirts, but U of
Speaker 1: L shirts as well on that site, UK and U
Speaker 1: of L.
Speaker 6: The one thing that UK fans and UVEL fans have
Speaker 6: in common, it's just as a stain for one another.
Speaker 6: And to buy a shirt that either trash talks Kentucky
Speaker 6: or trash talks Louisill, they will jump in the bit.
Speaker 6: We've done testing with it, We've had focus groups on it,
Speaker 6: and every single one of them it's like it just
Speaker 6: something that was just strictly Louisville. It was like, okay, Kentucky, Okay,
Speaker 6: wait it's bashing Louisville or it is bashing Kentucky. Yes,
Speaker 6: this is what I want. And we're partnering with a
Speaker 6: great group in Louisll, Kentucky called tax Flag. It's a
Speaker 6: local company in Louisville, Kentucky, and they are a great group.
Speaker 6: So the biggest thing we want to do is make
Speaker 6: sure it's somehow better the state and bettered the city
Speaker 6: that both me and him currently live in as well.
Speaker 6: So it goes you're supporting local when you buy from
Speaker 6: Round Daddy Teas, and it's again it kind of just
Speaker 6: brings them full circle, this bluegrass rivalry.
Speaker 1: And as you said, these are snarky shirts. These are
Speaker 1: not go Catch Go cards, fancy artwork, whatever, it's things
Speaker 1: people say to each other. Describe a few of the
Speaker 1: shirts because they're really unique.
Speaker 6: Yes, So, I mean we we've even come into doing
Speaker 6: game specific merch as well. So you know, with all
Speaker 6: the games of the Gauntlet of the SEC schedule this
Speaker 6: year versus the the ACC schedule and the kind of
Speaker 6: new things that are going on there. We've got several
Speaker 6: different lines for like for South Carolina. For the South
Speaker 6: Carolina game that we've got Shane Biember's dorky biker glasses
Speaker 6: that he wears that are shattered that says vengeance because
Speaker 6: we're on a vengeance tour against South Carolina right now.
Speaker 6: You've got you've got the Kentucky Special for when we
Speaker 6: play against Florida, which is a feature of a smoke
Speaker 6: Gator with a smoker and chef boy Ord just giving
Speaker 6: a chef's hits, or and how we're going to beat
Speaker 6: the Gators again. You have the introduction for uh introduction
Speaker 6: of Texas into the SEC, especially having to play Kentucky.
Speaker 6: One thing Kentucky fans know how to do is to
Speaker 6: take a hand signal and make fun of it. So
Speaker 6: you've got your Forever Horns down and L's down shirts.
Speaker 6: They'll be ready for the Texas game as well. And
Speaker 6: you may be a louisvill fan as well. Louisville fans,
Speaker 6: we've got your notre bum shirts. We've got a Louisville
Speaker 6: Vice shirt for when they play against Miami. And we've
Speaker 6: got a startup for also for our basketball season with
Speaker 6: Mark Pope centric merch that's going to be of course
Speaker 6: making fun of pack Pack Kelsey and you know how
Speaker 6: he's the size of a leprechawn. He steals shoes from
Speaker 6: people and videos and then the new video he put
Speaker 6: out of his Reviveill is going to be a whole
Speaker 6: shirt line in itself. But we've also got a vintage
Speaker 6: line as well that's going to really embrace kind of
Speaker 6: the old vintage look, the vintage swag of the day,
Speaker 6: which is still a very popular style look we've got.
Speaker 6: We've got a collegiate line as well, that's like, you
Speaker 6: know what, maybe Dick Gabriel, you want to have gone
Speaker 6: gone d one in football, I bet you would have
Speaker 6: gone d one in pickleball or you know, beer pong.
Speaker 6: We've got that line as well. We've got a collegiate
Speaker 6: champion line for our grillers, our smokers, our pickleball players,
Speaker 6: beer pong. I mean, we've really thought of every single thing.
Speaker 6: But it's a it's a great line of shirts. The
Speaker 6: website goes live accepting orders August first, but you can
Speaker 6: go ahead and get online now take a look at it.
Speaker 6: Go ahead, get your wishless ready for want to hit
Speaker 6: midnight on August first to be able to place those orders.
Speaker 1: I was looking to say, your vintage line, Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 1: The You know, you've got the block k shirts and
Speaker 1: sweatshirts that people absolutely love, and the and the mesh
Speaker 1: back caps. You got the profile of the Louisville Cardinal,
Speaker 1: which I remember. You've got one of the really old
Speaker 1: school looking I don't know if it's old school, but
Speaker 1: just wildcat heads on a T shirt that just has
Speaker 1: lex under or sweatshirts. How did you come up with
Speaker 1: the artwork?
Speaker 6: Honestly, it's really from just the skin of my teeth.
Speaker 6: I took a lot of a lot of help was
Speaker 6: from my wife, she who would have thought a political
Speaker 6: science major, was actually really good at computer on doing
Speaker 6: designs on the computer.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 6: It was it was concept that Streebel and I drew up.
Speaker 6: Of course, we went infringe on any sort of copywriting things.
Speaker 6: So it's like, okay, so how do we make these
Speaker 6: look unique to themselves? And just in conversation with my wife,
Speaker 6: she goes, well, why don't you do it like this?
Speaker 6: I was like, that looks really good. How'd you do that?
Speaker 3: He goes, I don't know.
Speaker 6: And so we found out that she's able to design
Speaker 6: T shirts now, so of course she's now joined join
Speaker 6: our staff as well, helping us with that. But it's
Speaker 6: and also just a lot of fan input and I
Speaker 6: think this is what's been the biggest thing of it.
Speaker 6: And I think especially being in Louisville, you have UK
Speaker 6: and UFL fans both that listen to our shows. We
Speaker 6: talked trash about Louisville, at least I am. I'm fair
Speaker 6: with criticism Kentucky and Screabull may not be, but you've
Speaker 6: got enough for these fans that are on opposing side
Speaker 6: that come up with ideas. And we talked to a
Speaker 6: few of the listeners of the shows on what they
Speaker 6: would like to see and they've brought some great insight
Speaker 6: on it, and a lot of them is what we
Speaker 6: can help develop that vintage line.
Speaker 1: Talking to Max Godbee, former Kentucky offensive lineman who in
Speaker 1: fact played five different positions at UK. We'll talk football
Speaker 1: here in a minute, but we're talking right now about
Speaker 1: Round Daddy ts dot com. If you go and start
Speaker 1: scouting the merch on there, fanning the flames of the
Speaker 1: bluegrass rivalry one snarky shirt at a time, and he
Speaker 1: and James Streeble from me being six eighty over in Louisville,
Speaker 1: serving both UK and U of L fans, and yeah, there,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have a hard time, I can tell you this.
Speaker 1: Folks deciding right Max on what they want, not just shirts,
Speaker 1: but hats and accessories and all that stuff.
Speaker 6: It's everything. And especially there's there's a ladies line as
Speaker 6: well that my wife and Streebel's wife helped design as well.
Speaker 6: The vintage line is extremely great. And then of course
Speaker 6: the Round Daddy tea's just features as well, which featured
Speaker 6: jokes from the show, a lot of stuff, because you know,
Speaker 6: James Streebel is such a sex symbol that we had
Speaker 6: to put him on a T shirt as well, So
Speaker 6: him in goldfing at cheeseburger, him and his like goofy
Speaker 6: Catholic dad looked that he carries around with him most
Speaker 6: of the time. And as well. One of my favorite
Speaker 6: shirts actually, or one of the favorite lines on here
Speaker 6: is actually the Comfort Colors line, which is, I kid
Speaker 6: you not, is probably the most comfortable clothing I've ever worn.
Speaker 1: I found this.
Speaker 6: I found this group out in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Speaker 6: They do all of a Salty Dog t shirts, okay,
Speaker 6: and the hoodie and so I saw their stuff, and
Speaker 6: so when we came up with this idea, I called up,
Speaker 6: I said, we've got to get Comfort Colors. It's a
Speaker 6: it's basically your favorite old South T shirt or favorite
Speaker 6: old hoodie. We tried to put as many of those
Speaker 6: designs onto them as well. It's got a great faded look.
Speaker 6: It's great as a lazy hoodie. It's great for like
Speaker 6: a those little bit heavier, colder fall day. It's a
Speaker 6: it's a great line up.
Speaker 1: I got to tell you, it's really impressive what you
Speaker 1: guys have put together. And folks, especially you fans who
Speaker 1: have been clamoring for the return of the old school
Speaker 1: of block k, you're gonna like what you see you there,
Speaker 1: So check out rounddaddy ts dot com and support business
Speaker 1: in the state of Kentucky. Yeah, it's in Louisville, but look,
Speaker 1: there are a million UK fans in Louisville. Don't forget
Speaker 1: about that. We're talking to Max Godby, former football wo Okay,
Speaker 1: we'll come back and talk actual football. You're listening to
Speaker 1: the best of the Big Blue Insider. More to come
Speaker 1: here on six thirty WLAP. It's Dick Gabriel. Welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Best of the Big Blue Insider. Max Godby
Speaker 1: as my guest. You might recall Max used to be
Speaker 1: a regular on this show. He and his wife now
Speaker 1: living in Louisville and he's on the air on ESPN
Speaker 1: Radio six point eighty over there flying the UK flag.
Speaker 1: I was thinking about this and I may ask Mark
Speaker 1: Stoops Max this question if I get a chance to down,
Speaker 1: I may wait before you know, if I'm down at
Speaker 1: the SEC meetings, it would it would do a disservice,
Speaker 1: I think to everybody else. But when there's time to
Speaker 1: answer this question, I would love to hear him, and
Speaker 1: I think I know what he's saying. But let me
Speaker 1: ask you the same question. Because you were there in
Speaker 1: the early days of the Mark Stoops era, helping to
Speaker 1: build a foundation literally as an old lineman, as an
Speaker 1: early player. Why has he and the staff why have
Speaker 1: they been so successful? And I know it's a relative term,
Speaker 1: but relative to UK football the past, why has UK
Speaker 1: football been successful over the last decade?
Speaker 6: I think it all comes down to consistency and that
Speaker 6: is probably the number one thing I can say about
Speaker 6: coach Stupes. There's a lot of positives about Coach Stoops.
Speaker 6: He's been a great coach, he's been a great a
Speaker 6: great resources State. But I think it's this mentality of
Speaker 6: understanding what his niche is within the sec of being
Speaker 6: the blue collar team, run first mentality and really knows
Speaker 6: to the grindstone mentality, but then also building on success
Speaker 6: and slowly adapting his style because the Mark Stoops style
Speaker 6: of twenty twenty four and what the UK football team
Speaker 6: looks like when it comes to just philosophically, what this
Speaker 6: team looks like is completely different than the team back
Speaker 6: in twenty thirteen or twenty fourteen. From a defensive philosophy
Speaker 6: where he came in as a four to two defense.
Speaker 6: That's what he cut his teeth on as a defensive
Speaker 6: coordinator at Florida State. Now really diving into the three
Speaker 6: to two and basically all that started when he had
Speaker 6: Bud Dupree and Zadarius Smith really dived into a three
Speaker 6: to two and a three to four, really focusing more
Speaker 6: of having a really sturdy defensive lineman in the middle
Speaker 6: and then really athletic ends on the edges that are
Speaker 6: able to be stand up and then able to get
Speaker 6: into coverage and then causing chaos for offensive lineman. And
Speaker 6: I think as well from an offensive perspective, you've seen
Speaker 6: where they developed from the Neil Brown air raid to
Speaker 6: Eddie Grand run first spread style offense, to go into
Speaker 6: a pro style with Liam Cohen. Unfortunately with s Gangarello
Speaker 6: didn't really turn out well. And then the second tent
Speaker 6: of Liam Cohen there is issues that had happened, and
Speaker 6: now you're seeing that he's adapting again to a Bush
Speaker 6: Hampden style offense, which at Boise State is not really
Speaker 6: the same style as.
Speaker 3: Kay has run for the past three years. Right, it's
Speaker 3: going to be.
Speaker 6: It's gonna be a very run first, it's still a
Speaker 6: spread has a little bit of a pick me up
Speaker 6: as well. I don't know what Hamden is going to
Speaker 6: bring from Boise to Kentucky. We had a very vanilla
Speaker 6: spring practice that really didn't give away a lot. But
Speaker 6: you think of the elements of bringing in really your
Speaker 6: first true quarterback that is a running threat. You can
Speaker 6: make the argument that Will Levis was as well Stephen Johnson.
Speaker 6: Those were more attributes that they had. Vander Griff has
Speaker 6: the ability of being a running quarterback, not comparing him
Speaker 6: to a Cam Newton or a Tim Tebow, but more
Speaker 6: of that being able to be a read option quarterback.
Speaker 6: So it's going to be very interesting to see how
Speaker 6: this offense evolved and again, gradually evolving and bringing that
Speaker 6: consistency has been shoots a success and you know.
Speaker 1: What's fascinating about that, and I agree with you, But
Speaker 1: one of the things that has been consistent with him,
Speaker 1: as you say, has been changed. You know, he has
Speaker 1: brought in OC's and gotten rid of him after a
Speaker 1: year more than once. As you said, he's changed defenses,
Speaker 1: defensive styles, offensive styles. But I think the fact that
Speaker 1: he and Merrow and other coaches he's brought in, they
Speaker 1: play such a high premium as well any coach should
Speaker 1: in the SEC, especially on recruiting and then development Max
Speaker 1: and I think that has just been done here at
Speaker 1: Kentucky as well as it ever has.
Speaker 6: I even taking one step further, I think it's just
Speaker 6: the recruiting yet Marrow and Stoops. The way that they've
Speaker 6: won the state of Ohio, they've won the Midwest is
Speaker 6: something that we've never seen before. I couldn't tell you
Speaker 6: how many dudes. I think we only had two guys
Speaker 6: from Ohio when I was playing before Stops got there,
Speaker 6: Kevin Eatman and Tyler Browsey. I think that was basically it.
Speaker 6: Then all of a sudden the next year had the
Speaker 6: teams from Ohio. It's like, who are these guys? Whur
Speaker 6: all these guys coming from? But I think, even taking
Speaker 6: a step further, it's their ability to win the transfer
Speaker 6: portal as well, which plays into their ability on recruiting
Speaker 6: to where a player decides to leave us, not to
Speaker 6: commit to a different school instead of Kentucky and instead
Speaker 6: of them just going, well, burn a bridge with them.
Speaker 6: It's an open door when if it does not, I
Speaker 6: wish for the best that it works out for you,
Speaker 6: but if it doesn't, you.
Speaker 3: Have a home here.
Speaker 6: And the amount of guys that we have lost and
Speaker 6: then have come back to play with us for the
Speaker 6: back half of their year shows that style of recruiting,
Speaker 6: of keeping that open palm, not pressuring kids, making them
Speaker 6: pick the decisions on their own. Ultimately they come back
Speaker 6: to you, and that is a huge testament tomorrow and
Speaker 6: stoops and then also just seeing the amount of guys
Speaker 6: that don't leave, especially big time players that are not leaving.
Speaker 6: It makes no sense for Dion Walker to still be
Speaker 6: at Kentucky in this world of nil And it's because
Speaker 6: he's saying it's because of the development that he gets
Speaker 6: from the defense Brad White and his staff, and then
Speaker 6: the relationship with Marrow and students and.
Speaker 1: A pretty sweet nil Dal.
Speaker 6: I'm sure yes, that's probably helps out as well.
Speaker 1: Max got you a few minutes left of the former
Speaker 1: UK offensive lineman. You touched on something I found really
Speaker 1: interesting when you mentioned the dns or slash linebackers, the
Speaker 1: Josh Allen's the bud duprees. When you look at a
Speaker 1: four to three, a classic four to three, you need
Speaker 1: those war daddies on the edge, and as you well know,
Speaker 1: because you try to block them, they're really hard to find.
Speaker 1: But if you get a hybrid athlete, Josh Allen was
Speaker 1: a receiver for crying out aladd in high school. But
Speaker 1: when you get those hybrid players and you can developed them,
Speaker 1: coach him up, feed him, put them in the weight room.
Speaker 1: Now they're guys who can set the edge, drop back,
Speaker 1: rush the quarterback, do everything you need him to do. Again,
Speaker 1: not easy, but is it more manageable? Is that the
Speaker 1: better word when it comes to recruitment and development? I
Speaker 1: think so.
Speaker 6: I mean you, let's put in perspective. Bud Dupree came
Speaker 6: into Kentucky as a as a tight end, and then
Speaker 6: they moved they moved him the linebacker. Then then he
Speaker 6: put on forty pounds that became a stand up in
Speaker 6: and became just a monster. Funny story. We just had
Speaker 6: JJ Weaver in studio, probably about two weeks ago, and
Speaker 6: when he when he was in, I uh, when I
Speaker 6: walk in, I was running a little bit behind, and
Speaker 6: I walk in and he takes he encompassed the entire
Speaker 6: door frame. And I still have a larger sized frame,
Speaker 6: but I'm nowhere to the size that I used to
Speaker 6: be where I was playing right And the PTSD nick
Speaker 6: that hit me of like this dude could take it
Speaker 6: at his arms are so long he could push me
Speaker 6: in the chest and put me right into Jalen Whitlow
Speaker 6: and it's like it all came back for a second.
Speaker 6: I'm like, dude, I'm glad I don't have to block you.
Speaker 3: Good night.
Speaker 6: But it speaks to JJ Weaver's development at UK as well,
Speaker 6: and just a Corey Edmund and that stet have found
Speaker 6: a niche of being able to take guys like that
Speaker 6: that come in skinny, that come in with a good frame,
Speaker 6: but they're kind of lanky, and just turning them into monsters.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just about out of time. I love talking
Speaker 1: football with you, as you know, so I'm going to
Speaker 1: have to bring you back. But let me finish up
Speaker 1: with this The Big Blue Wall. I know how much
Speaker 1: you thought of John Schlarman. The Big Blue Wall really
Speaker 1: suffered over the last couple of years. Showed some improvement
Speaker 1: last year. Are you optimistic this year and again new
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator? But what do you think we're going to see?
Speaker 1: Because you were part of it for a long time.
Speaker 6: I think it's the biggest thing you're gonna have to do.
Speaker 6: And I'm hoping that Bush Hampden's able to adapt. This
Speaker 6: is bringing some simplicity to the officive line blocking seam,
Speaker 6: and I think that was a huge component that was
Speaker 6: extremely confusing. I think Scangarello made it really bad when
Speaker 6: he was here, and I don't think Liam Cohen may
Speaker 6: have made it a little bit better, but I still
Speaker 6: think it was a little too complex for just the
Speaker 6: experience that that those guys had. But I think just again,
Speaker 6: you go through that type of wear and care of
Speaker 6: two seasons. Now you've got a pretty veteran group now
Speaker 6: at this point that has been able to see some
Speaker 6: things that it's been not great, but at least it's
Speaker 6: been time that you've been able to see and I'm
Speaker 6: hoping that Wolfe is able to put these guys in
Speaker 6: the position to succeed. He could coach officsive lines like
Speaker 6: the best of them. He took a offsive line at
Speaker 6: Alabama that was not the strongest that they've ever had
Speaker 6: and still turned that group into Maler's turned them into
Speaker 6: extremely disciplined players. So I really have faith that he's
Speaker 6: going to be able to adapt that off of the
Speaker 6: line to where it's a off of the line of
Speaker 6: old when Foreman was coaching.
Speaker 1: Again, here's Max Godbe, former Kentucky O lineman. You hear
Speaker 1: him on the radio in Louisville and ESPN six' eighty
Speaker 1: and he and James Streeble have produced Rounddaddy ts dot com.
Speaker 1: Check it out. You will love the merchandise and really
Speaker 1: dig into a click on to one of the shirts
Speaker 1: that'll take you to a specific page. And I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: if you're a fan of the block K, they got
Speaker 1: something for you. But there's all kind of you're gonna
Speaker 1: have a hard time making up your mind, Max, which
Speaker 1: is a good thing. So you'll have to come back
Speaker 1: on later in the summer and talk more football.
Speaker 3: I absolutely would love to.
Speaker 6: And again it's round Daddy T dot checkout stores dot com,
Speaker 6: so we had to add we had to add the
Speaker 6: checkout stores, but you could also follow it on Twitter
Speaker 6: at at round Daddy T's on Twitter or f you're.
Speaker 1: Listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider More
Speaker 1: to come here on six thirty w LAP. Hey, it's
Speaker 1: Dick Gabriel and you're listening to the best of the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider. Joining us now is someone you know
Speaker 1: from WL e X and BBN tonight and that's Kinsey
Speaker 1: Lee who this week's covering a lot of golf. But Kenzie,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna talk basketball and football and baseball with you.
Speaker 1: You cover it all. Yeah, listen, when the SEC meetings
Speaker 1: crank up next week, a lot of people from Oklahoma
Speaker 1: are going to be there because the Sooners will be there.
Speaker 1: You're an Oklahoma state girl. How weird is this going
Speaker 1: to be for you to cover a conference that again
Speaker 1: has the Sooners in it.
Speaker 7: I mean yeah, I think the last time we talked,
Speaker 7: what did I say, just when I think I can
Speaker 7: get rid of Texas to Oklahoma, I can't? They just
Speaker 7: follow me. But I mean, listen, that's why I wanted
Speaker 7: to come to Kentucky was to cover the SEC. So
Speaker 7: that's what makes me the most excited. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 7: I'm excited to see familiar faces at SEC media days. Absolutely,
Speaker 7: with Texas and Oklahoma joining. But let's just say, am
Speaker 7: I for the expansion? It's like yes to know? I mean,
Speaker 7: you know me, I have mixed emotions being a passionate
Speaker 7: Oklahoma Salem. Is it exciting to know that os Who's
Speaker 7: going to get a chance to dominate the Big twelve
Speaker 7: like they never had before, especially the season with the
Speaker 7: amount of guys they have returning. Absolutely, but you know
Speaker 7: that excitement is a little painted knowing Texas to know
Speaker 7: you is part of what made the Big Twelve relevant.
Speaker 7: And I'm kind of one who wants every conference to
Speaker 7: be relevant because that's a mixed college football fun and unexpecting.
Speaker 7: But I will say, for someone who's followed OU in
Speaker 7: Texas throughout the years, being from Oklahoma, I mean, my
Speaker 7: last station I was in Texas, these fan bases are
Speaker 7: going to be brutal, honestly, a lot like, if not
Speaker 7: very similar to the passion of BBN. So I think
Speaker 7: it's gonna be really fun to watch and see how
Speaker 7: this all pans out. And I know, the last time,
Speaker 7: you know, we talked about the expansion. You know, I
Speaker 7: ain't broke, don't fix it, right, But I think it's
Speaker 7: hard to argue against the fact. And Coach Toupe said
Speaker 7: this last year at SEC media Days that bringing in
Speaker 7: oh you in Texas and the history and the heights
Speaker 7: that surrounds these programs, it's just going to elevate, you know,
Speaker 7: the SEC to what it already is, which is the
Speaker 7: conference to be the conference everyone wants to talk about.
Speaker 7: I kind of compare the SEC to the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 7: You know, you love them or you hate them, but
Speaker 7: either way, you're talking about them, right, yea, and we
Speaker 7: know everyone in the SEC is crucial. So I think
Speaker 7: the biggest thing this year with the amount of talent
Speaker 7: and the leade competition in your face. Now adding Texas
Speaker 7: in Oklahoma, it just makes those wins that much more important,
Speaker 7: especially when you're talking about the playoff expansion this year.
Speaker 7: So Texas I think is obviously going to pose more
Speaker 7: of a threat than Oklahoma this season. I think Oklahoma's
Speaker 7: going to struggle, especially when you look at their schedule.
Speaker 7: But Texas, obviously with the amount of momentum, they're coming
Speaker 7: off of the foundation that the Sakisian has made, the
Speaker 7: recruiting he has said he's taken over three years ago.
Speaker 7: I'm looking forward. I think we're all looking forward to
Speaker 7: Texas versus Kentucky at the end of the regular season.
Speaker 7: I don't think I'm gonna be going to that one,
Speaker 7: but man, I wish I could be. But I actually
Speaker 7: I actually remember asking Jane Walker a while back doing
Speaker 7: the preseason which games he was most looking forward to,
Speaker 7: and of course that's right. Oh yeah, Texas is number
Speaker 7: I'm number one on that list.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you know something, I've heard a lot of
Speaker 1: talk obviously, and you'll be silly not do to talk
Speaker 1: about how much tougher it's going to be to advance
Speaker 1: in the SEC now. But I don't think I've heard
Speaker 1: people talk about the fact and this is not a
Speaker 1: slide of the Big twelve, but it's going to be
Speaker 1: a lot tougher for Texas and Oklahoma, isn't it. People
Speaker 1: think that they're going to slide right in and then
Speaker 1: you know, take their duly appointed spots at or near
Speaker 1: the top of the league. But yeah, they've bitten off
Speaker 1: a big chunk, haven't they Listen.
Speaker 7: I Like I said before, knowing Texas know you fans, do,
Speaker 7: I think that they're going to be coming in with
Speaker 7: a lot of entitlement. Yeah, but I think I think
Speaker 7: Texas is probably I mean, looking at both of their schedules,
Speaker 7: I mean, I think Texas is gonna do pretty pretty decent,
Speaker 7: but oh you, I think it's just gonna really struggle.
Speaker 7: I mean, you open up SCC played with Tennessee, Texas,
Speaker 7: Alabama LSU I it with Brent Bennables. I feel like
Speaker 7: he's still trying to search and find the foundation and
Speaker 7: identity of this team. And I mean, you're losing Dylan
Speaker 7: Gabriel to the portal. So not a lot of guys
Speaker 7: are turning on offense. I mean, they have a solid defense,
Speaker 7: but I think I think the first year in the
Speaker 7: SEC will not be kind to them. I was surprised
Speaker 7: me if Texas doesn't do you know, pretty well. But
Speaker 7: I think it's going to be a hard slap in
Speaker 7: the face for sure. That's why I'm excited to see it,
Speaker 7: because you know, I'm an Oklaima State fan, so I'm like,
Speaker 7: let's go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, it's gonna be an interesting not not really
Speaker 1: a lab experiment, but it's gonna be interesting to see
Speaker 1: all this unfolds and just capping with football before I
Speaker 1: move on. Mike Gundhy Oklaoma State coach. He's been there
Speaker 1: for a long time and he's had a lot of
Speaker 1: success twelve bul wins. But he's best known, of course
Speaker 1: for his rant when he yelled, I'm a man on
Speaker 1: forty What what does he really like to deal with?
Speaker 1: Because he was clearly vocal and passionate that day as
Speaker 1: he defended one of his players.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean that's why we all love Mike Gandy.
Speaker 7: And again I go back to sometimes you love him
Speaker 7: or you hate him, But Mike Gandhy well one first
Speaker 7: and foremost, like he's always going to be loyal and
Speaker 7: no matter what, we're never going to get rid of them,
Speaker 7: even if we want to get rid of him because
Speaker 7: of the times we can get upset with, you know,
Speaker 7: the way some things are unfolding. But Gandhi is just
Speaker 7: He's one. I think he's just a very humble guy,
Speaker 7: you know, I think humility. I think, yeah, he is.
Speaker 7: I mean, I know it's hard to say that with
Speaker 7: the way he comes across sometimes in the media, but
Speaker 7: I think it's sort of like a humble confidence, which
Speaker 7: I think is important to have in sports, you know,
Speaker 7: the way that you portray yourself, because I think you
Speaker 7: need to be confident. I mean, I think with Gundhi,
Speaker 7: he always had to put up that guard, in that
Speaker 7: wall of going against teams and fan bases like you know,
Speaker 7: Oklahoma throughout the day because that's what he's wanted Oshu
Speaker 7: to be. He's built his program to be consistent in
Speaker 7: the Big twelve, but to be relevant and to be
Speaker 7: known for people to talk about them. I mean, growing
Speaker 7: up being an Oklahoma State fan, you would watched the
Speaker 7: media and the SEC network or college game there or
Speaker 7: whatever it is, and you're always just like, man, I
Speaker 7: just wish they were talking about Oklahoma State more because
Speaker 7: I remember that year in twenty eleven when we really
Speaker 7: had a chance with Brandon Weeded and Dustin Blackman. But
Speaker 7: it's like it's he still felt like we weren't getting
Speaker 7: a whole lot of media covers. So I think that's
Speaker 7: that's why Mike Gundy is the way that he is,
Speaker 7: and I think that's why, you know, he has the
Speaker 7: whole bullet thing, because he wants to bring that attention
Speaker 7: in to the program and show people, Hey, this is
Speaker 7: who we are. And I remember, gosh, what game was
Speaker 7: that that he said that where he was like, hey, listen,
Speaker 7: you know when we beat Notre Dame. I believe he
Speaker 7: was like, hey, listen, we're relevant too, We're here too,
Speaker 7: like look at us and see us. So I just
Speaker 7: think that's why he is so passionate, and why every
Speaker 7: OSC fan is so passionate, because we're just like, hey,
Speaker 7: come on now.
Speaker 1: I guess that's the best way to put it, because
Speaker 1: I'm sure they're treated like the little brother you know,
Speaker 1: oh absolutely, yeah, not unlike a certain rivalry here in
Speaker 1: the State. We're talking with Kinsey Lee of l e
Speaker 1: X eighteen and BBN tonight and sticking with football, you
Speaker 1: talked about the passion of fan bases. Of course, Kentucky
Speaker 1: coming off back to back seven and six seasons, and
Speaker 1: of course I go way back to when seven wins
Speaker 1: was a cause for a parade down Main Street. Now
Speaker 1: it's disappointment. But when you look at Kentucky's schedule, which
Speaker 1: I think in terms of the calendar, Kinzie, not the
Speaker 1: teams they're playing, although those are tough, it's when they
Speaker 1: occur on the calendar. I think it's as tough as
Speaker 1: I've seen it in years. What are you in your opinion,
Speaker 1: what are the reasonable and I have air quotes on that.
Speaker 1: Expectations in your opinion for Kentucky fans, Oh man, I mean.
Speaker 7: You're right. I think you have South Carol Line and
Speaker 7: George is there at the top. Yeah, I mean that's
Speaker 7: gonna be huge all in all, but again it's how
Speaker 7: they It won't be that big depending on how they
Speaker 7: do throughout the season at the end of the day,
Speaker 7: of course, but I think we're all just really excited,
Speaker 7: you know, to see this offense at action basketball Stuf's
Speaker 7: the only one with new faces, right. You got a
Speaker 7: new OC, new offensive line coach, new quarterback, running back duo.
Speaker 7: I think people are hungry to see it because of
Speaker 7: an inconsistency last year with it. But man, it's all
Speaker 7: going to come down to this offensive line, right and
Speaker 7: I highlighted by Marcus Cox and Sima. See chance for
Speaker 7: Jerald Minty coming in. I think that's going to be
Speaker 7: the game changer. We're all ready to do what Brock
Speaker 7: Vandergrift can do and bring to the SSC because you know,
Speaker 7: he hasn't seen the field much at all, but I
Speaker 7: can't protect him. You know, it's going to be a
Speaker 7: really long season, So I I think it's exciting. I
Speaker 7: think we're all really excited. I'm excited to talk about it,
Speaker 7: going to Dallas here a little bit, the media days
Speaker 7: and these new pieces that are coming in. I mean
Speaker 7: defense in general. I just think they're gonna have another
Speaker 7: good year. But yeah, I'm excited. I'm ready. I think
Speaker 7: you're probably if I'm being realistic, it wouldn't surprise me
Speaker 7: if you have a four last season, maybe more than that.
Speaker 7: I mean, you saw went off to the South Carolina
Speaker 7: game last year that was tough, and then you're opening
Speaker 7: up with them, So it's like, yeah, I'm just hoping
Speaker 7: that this year Stoops, especially with the whole debacle of
Speaker 7: that chaos is going to Texas A and M and stuff,
Speaker 7: that he can come in this year with these new
Speaker 7: pieces and really show everyone what he and this team
Speaker 7: can do and what he's trying to put together and
Speaker 7: what he's built.
Speaker 3: Over the years.
Speaker 7: I mean, what now with Nick Savin Leaven isn't he
Speaker 7: like the longest active senior coach in the STC. So
Speaker 7: it's like, we are ready, come on go. I mean,
Speaker 7: we know he's been consistent, that is the fact. I
Speaker 7: mean you talked about that, but like you said, it
Speaker 7: like the seven wins isn't enough anymore. So we're ready
Speaker 7: to kind of cross that line and get over that home.
Speaker 1: We're listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: Want to come here on six thirty WLAP. It's Dick Gabriel.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: Kenzie Lee is my guest. She is, of course an
Speaker 1: anchor reporter for l e X eighteen and you see
Speaker 1: her work on BBN tonight and you all have had
Speaker 1: the opportunity to talk to the basketball Wildcats, the new
Speaker 1: guys and the strangest situation in the history of UK basketball,
Speaker 1: new coach and almost an entirely new team except for
Speaker 1: walk Ons. What do you think of the way Mark
Speaker 1: Pope has pieced this team together?
Speaker 7: Well, first and foremost, I think it's safe to say,
Speaker 7: and everyone could agree with me.
Speaker 1: I love this man.
Speaker 7: He is just so much fun, love the energy. Actually
Speaker 7: I met him a couple of times and when I
Speaker 7: got to see him at the club Blue and Al,
Speaker 7: then a few weeks back seeing him interact with the fans.
Speaker 7: I mean, he is just oking in every single moment
Speaker 7: of this But at the end of the day, when
Speaker 7: you know it comes down to it, but this team
Speaker 7: can produce on the court, but I think he's bandaged
Speaker 7: to check all the boxes with the guys on this roster,
Speaker 7: and you really look at it in depth. I know
Speaker 7: we haven't really got to see him in action yet,
Speaker 7: but when you look at it on paper, I mean
Speaker 7: he talked about bringing in that experience when he was hired.
Speaker 7: I mean, no question he has done that. And you
Speaker 7: got your local Kentucky guys, Trent Travis, I mean I
Speaker 7: love covering them in the Sweet sixteen. I think people
Speaker 7: are looking forward to them being Team A. Yeah, young talent.
Speaker 7: You certainly have the defense, which we know we're going
Speaker 7: to be excited to see with, you know, Marii Williams
Speaker 7: and Lamont Butler great shooters. Kobe Brea led the nation
Speaker 7: third best nation last year. Three point shooting kerk Krisa.
Speaker 7: He's a great shooter with what I've seen on the
Speaker 7: stuff they've been posting so far, I mean, and just
Speaker 7: when you watch him all around. Also, he's a character.
Speaker 7: By the way, his interview hasn't air yet for our
Speaker 7: Meet the Wildcat series, so I got to sit down
Speaker 7: with him and man talk about he is hilarious and
Speaker 7: he's got a lot of bold confidence. Ansley amin Or,
Speaker 7: I mean, when you get a big guy that can
Speaker 7: shoot through, he does his goal. So you got the skill,
Speaker 7: I mean, you got the size. I'm definitely sitting on
Speaker 7: the edge of my seat and anticipation on what this
Speaker 7: first year and the Mark Pope Arrow will result it.
Speaker 7: I think it's evidence that everybody loves him. Like I
Speaker 7: said before, the energy that he's bringing. But you can
Speaker 7: only hope that these players He's brought in can produce
Speaker 7: on the court effectively and consistently. And I'm getting to
Speaker 7: do these interviews with each of these players, each of
Speaker 7: their stories and their personality is so different, and I
Speaker 7: can really just sent so much humility too on this
Speaker 7: team and the willingness to learn from whateveryone can bring
Speaker 7: to the table. And honestly, in my opinion, I think
Speaker 7: the players that Hope has brought in is truly just
Speaker 7: a reflection of who Cope is and why I think
Speaker 7: it's going to make it all the more exciting to
Speaker 7: see them come together once the season started.
Speaker 1: That's a great point because obviously you weren't here when
Speaker 1: he played. I don't think you were born when he played,
Speaker 1: but it okay, you just missed him. But yeah, the
Speaker 1: way he played. He always jokes about his lack of ability. Look,
Speaker 1: he played in the NBA, which made him one of
Speaker 1: the best players in the world, and at Kentucky he
Speaker 1: was kind of the missing piece. The year prior. I
Speaker 1: don't know if anybody told you this, Keith Farmer or anybody,
Speaker 1: but the year prior when Kentucky would lose a battle
Speaker 1: on the boards, but Tino would say that's going to
Speaker 1: change next year because Mark Pope's on the way. Of course,
Speaker 1: he was already here practicing as a red shirt. But
Speaker 1: he wasn't wrong. I mean, you know, Hope was was
Speaker 1: kind of a raw bone, physical player. You look at him,
Speaker 1: you might not think that, but that was back before
Speaker 1: bigs were shooting a lot of threes. Even a Kentucky
Speaker 1: they shot it once in a while. But yeah, you're right.
Speaker 1: I think this team and this roster is a reflection
Speaker 1: of him. I got a thing, Kinsey that that's a
Speaker 1: big help in the coaching process, you know what I mean?
Speaker 7: Yeah, absolutely, I mean and speakin of that too, and
Speaker 7: the coaches that he's brought in when I I can't
Speaker 7: keep giving up all these little exclusives here because Kerr
Speaker 7: hasn't aired yet. But when I asked him, I said, hey,
Speaker 7: you know, Polpe said, you're one of the most experienced
Speaker 7: guards and all college basketball. You know, you've been the
Speaker 7: pack tell the big job. Now you're in the RCC.
Speaker 7: What made you decide to be like, you know what,
Speaker 7: I'm going to come here this and be a part
Speaker 7: of something like this, this whole star from scratch, especially
Speaker 7: with a program like this, And I loved what he said,
Speaker 7: and he said it was bold confidence. He was like,
Speaker 7: I would not be here if I did not trust
Speaker 7: what coach Pope was building and what he was putting together. Yeah,
Speaker 7: and so I think that just spicks to it in itself.
Speaker 7: I mean, when you can have your players saying that,
Speaker 7: I think that they're going to be going in with
Speaker 7: a lot of camaraderie, hopefully.
Speaker 3: On and off the court.
Speaker 1: Talking to Kenzie Lee of BBN tonight, and since you
Speaker 1: and I last spoke here on the Big Blue Kentucky
Speaker 1: has been to the College World Series and what to run?
Speaker 1: What a story? I know you posted a lot, you
Speaker 1: did a lot with that run, and how much fun
Speaker 1: was that?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 1: And it's I guess the question now, because people loved
Speaker 1: it so much, is we want more? They're saying, can
Speaker 1: they do it again? It's not out of skepticism, it's
Speaker 1: because people loved it so much, right.
Speaker 7: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, man, I was really really hoping
Speaker 7: i'd just go to Omaha. I was like, come on, guys,
Speaker 7: come on, I know budget me if you I can
Speaker 7: both go, But I'm glad you I got to go
Speaker 7: and got to experience that. But hey, I think I
Speaker 7: was just so grateful. It was so exciting the fact
Speaker 7: that they got to host the Super Regional and you know,
Speaker 7: you know, right in our back ya game.
Speaker 3: To go there.
Speaker 7: Great experience for me. I will say growing up, I
Speaker 7: wasn't much of a baseball girl. I didn't watch it
Speaker 7: a whole lot, but man, have I just fell in
Speaker 7: love with it. I fell in love with it at
Speaker 7: my last station. But now being here is just really
Speaker 7: you know, ella that to a different level. Because it
Speaker 7: was funny when we were talking about and I was
Speaker 7: watching Oklahoma State during it as well, and they're like, Mancasey,
Speaker 7: what are you gonna do? It's Oklahoma stating technically each other,
Speaker 7: and I'm like, listen, I'm loyal and true. I love
Speaker 7: my guys, but I it is so hard not to
Speaker 7: root for this team. It just hopes that they can
Speaker 7: continue to do what they have done. I mean and
Speaker 7: watching what watching how minjeone has brought everyone from all
Speaker 7: different lights together in college baseball, and how they're talking
Speaker 7: about him, like you don't even have to like Kentucky,
Speaker 7: but when you watch him and you watch mingeone his interviews,
Speaker 7: you're just like, man. And then seeing them advanced that
Speaker 7: last game against organ stating catching that shot that I
Speaker 7: have on my Twitter. I mean it just truly that
Speaker 7: was probably one of my favorite moments that I've ever
Speaker 7: got to cover and see him just how down tours
Speaker 7: and how much this truly messed him to get to
Speaker 7: this point. And the fact that going into the season,
Speaker 7: you know, they were ranked what near the bottom of
Speaker 7: the the bottom of the preseason ranking, and then to
Speaker 7: do what they have done, I think just makes it.
Speaker 7: That just made it that much more special to watch
Speaker 7: and see. So Man, yeah, really really really really hoping
Speaker 7: that he can keep this going. And I think it'd
Speaker 7: be hard not to. I think it's hard not to
Speaker 7: be appealing, appealing to come to Kentucky now with you
Speaker 7: know what they've done in the last few years when
Speaker 7: it comes to recruiting. But that's sad to see. Uh
Speaker 7: few of them go sad to see Ryan Man. I'm
Speaker 7: sure I was trying to get to talk to him
Speaker 7: this week before before the draft. But that's that's the
Speaker 7: big question. You know, a place in these guys and
Speaker 7: can you do it again, because that's the hardest part.
Speaker 7: Once he's done it, you're like, Okay, I mean you
Speaker 7: just talked about it, so yeah, I reached Like a lot.
Speaker 1: Of us wanted to talk to Waldy before before the draft,
Speaker 1: but he's getting ready. You can understand why he he
Speaker 1: wants to concentrate. But he's another great story. A guy
Speaker 1: comes through the portal from Charleston Southern UH and one
Speaker 1: of his teammates transferred from college to Charleston and people
Speaker 1: make the mistake of thinking that they both did. But no,
Speaker 1: he was a small school and it was a good
Speaker 1: player last year, but man, he exploded this year. And
Speaker 1: you know it's good. You're gonna root for whatever team
Speaker 1: he is playing for. Thank you so much and we'll
Speaker 1: see you down the road.
Speaker 7: Appreciate it.
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 1: That'll do it for now. Thanks for joining us for
Speaker 1: this special edition the best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: That's it. Good night from the garage in Lexington.