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: All right.
Speaker 3: I've got about four hours roughly left of radio to
Speaker 3: do and then I'm out of here for a week
Speaker 3: for a vacation. And yes, I have had a lot
Speaker 3: of time off this summer, and that's because I get
Speaker 3: a lot of time off, thankfully due to this great
Speaker 3: company that I work for.
Speaker 2: And I'm looking forward to my vacation.
Speaker 3: But there is a little bit of sadness knowing that
Speaker 3: I won't be around as we see the rivalry matchup
Speaker 3: between lat Familia and the Ville, and the timing here
Speaker 3: is great because you have two new eras at each program, right,
Speaker 3: and Louisville obviously needs a reset because you know, cal Perry,
Speaker 3: say what you want about him, was he was good.
Speaker 3: Definitely not as good towards the end as he was
Speaker 3: when he first got there. But one thing he was
Speaker 3: good at very consistently was beating Louisville. You know, he
Speaker 3: had I think a total of three losses ever to
Speaker 3: Louisville in his time at Kentucky. I think he lost
Speaker 3: in twenty thirteen when Louisville won the title. He lost
Speaker 3: in twenty sixteen, seventeen ricks last year, and he lost
Speaker 3: to Chris Mack in the COVID year. Well the year
Speaker 3: they played, you know, in front of three thousand people, So.
Speaker 2: That was that was awful.
Speaker 3: Who knows, maybe Mark Pope ends up being as successful
Speaker 3: against Louisville.
Speaker 2: I hope not.
Speaker 3: And you know, I think here's what I do know,
Speaker 3: no clue who has the best record in ten years
Speaker 3: if they're both still at those schools. But one thing
Speaker 3: I do know is that the days of seeing rosters
Speaker 3: for Kentucky that you knew, like we got a Final
Speaker 3: four caliber team at Louisville, we could beat anybody. But man,
Speaker 3: if they play their best basketball, they're beating anybody, including us,
Speaker 3: because like, those are the rosters he used to put together.
Speaker 3: So you can still be really good without doing that.
Speaker 3: In fact, the way Caliberry builds rosters, as we've seen,
Speaker 3: at least for him, was not as effective in recent years.
Speaker 3: Although you know, I gotta be honest with you, I
Speaker 3: think a lot of people, a lot of coaches.
Speaker 2: I should say, that had the roster that he had
Speaker 2: a year ago.
Speaker 3: With Reed Shepard, Rob Billingham, Antonio Reeves. I feel like
Speaker 3: it was one of the more underappreciated players in the country,
Speaker 3: like Trey Mitchell, and I feel like that a lot
Speaker 3: of coaches would would have had similar success, maybe a
Speaker 3: little more success, but they probably wouldn't have lost to
Speaker 3: you know, UNCG and Oakland. So yeah, the match up
Speaker 3: is set for Monday, and I'm hoping that the villa
Speaker 3: can keep this thing rolling along because you know, it'd
Speaker 3: be great for these guys to keep this fun ride going,
Speaker 3: not only for fans like us, but for themselves and
Speaker 3: a chance to share a million dollars. So last night's
Speaker 3: game best, It was the best case scenario, right, because
Speaker 3: there's no way that they were really carrying a lot
Speaker 3: of confidence after their first two games as to I mean,
Speaker 3: they barely got by.
Speaker 2: They were fortunate.
Speaker 3: In fact, the crowd I think was a huge factor,
Speaker 3: and you know, helping them come from behind against Bellerman
Speaker 3: midway through the game and then of course obviously lifting
Speaker 3: them up and giving them life to survive against sideline cancer.
Speaker 3: And then last night, you know, crowd was into it obviously,
Speaker 3: but they played well. They played their best game of
Speaker 3: the three and you need that as you get set
Speaker 3: to take on a really good Low Familia team that has,
Speaker 3: you know, a lot of talent. I mean, had Louisville
Speaker 3: won in the same fashion last night that they did
Speaker 3: in the first two games, I probably would be looking
Speaker 3: at this matchup a little bit differently. But you know,
Speaker 3: they didn't. They played good basketball. They were better defensively,
Speaker 3: they were getting stops more consistently, and they were running
Speaker 3: sets on offense, which you know, there seemed to be
Speaker 3: more organization than.
Speaker 2: What we'd seen previously.
Speaker 3: Not what you'd see, you know, from like a Rick
Speaker 3: Patino coach team or anything like that, but you know,
Speaker 3: definitely a step in the right direction. As you know,
Speaker 3: their competition is only going to get tougher. And I
Speaker 3: talked quite a bit about this early on in the show,
Speaker 3: in a little bit in the four o'clock hour, about
Speaker 3: how I always struggle each time I kind of try
Speaker 3: to put together something to convey why this has just
Speaker 3: been such a fun ride as a fan is because
Speaker 3: it's kind of again, I don't want to use the
Speaker 3: word weird. I don't want to use the word awkward
Speaker 3: because I still don't feel like that that fits. However,
Speaker 3: like I think it all comes down to having so
Speaker 3: much fun enjoying this, but it being something that you know,
Speaker 3: for years, you never even knew possible, right, Like, who
Speaker 3: would have ever thought you'd have this? This situation present
Speaker 3: itself on both sides, to be honest with from the
Speaker 3: Louisville fan perspective. In the Kentucky side of it, I mean,
Speaker 3: you never thought you'd be at Freedom Hall getting rowdy
Speaker 3: watching you know, Peyton Siva car through the lane and
Speaker 3: drop off a beautiful dish for Montres Harrel for a dunk.
Speaker 3: You never thought you'd see that in the year twenty
Speaker 3: twenty four at Freedom Hall of all places, in front
Speaker 3: of thousands of fans, and you know, David Paget's doing
Speaker 3: the broadcast, I mean Jeff Bram sitting court side. Like
Speaker 3: imagine telling somebody ten years ago that last night would
Speaker 3: have been something that would happen. Like, first of all,
Speaker 3: the TBT didn't even exist. Then nobody would know and
Speaker 3: you would think like that, there's no way they would
Speaker 3: do that. Like wait a second, A bunch of former
Speaker 3: players who like played in the NBA in won national
Speaker 3: championships here, it's gonna be on Fox what Like, you
Speaker 3: wouldn't think that it was real and maybe that's actually
Speaker 3: why I had the dream I had last night. John,
Speaker 3: I'm kind of talking it through. So I started the
Speaker 3: show by mentioning how last night was awesome, but it
Speaker 3: felt like it was ten years because I had one
Speaker 3: of those dreams where it wasn't anything like interesting or bizarre,
Speaker 3: it was just, you know, every now and then, I'll
Speaker 3: have a dream. And I'm sure other others can relate
Speaker 3: to where you feel like when you woke up you'd
Speaker 3: been gone for ten years, like you know, like damn,
Speaker 3: I was out of it.
Speaker 2: Man, what year is it? Oh?
Speaker 3: Wait, I'm married and this is my wife. I forgot
Speaker 3: about her. I've got two kids. Like every now and
Speaker 3: then you have dreams like that, And maybe I had
Speaker 3: that dream last night because everything that's come with this event,
Speaker 3: everything that's come with being a fan, like the fan
Speaker 3: experience for me throughout these last five six days is
Speaker 3: something that you know, you never even knew was possible,
Speaker 3: and it's been very fun and enjoyable. But I think
Speaker 3: what also has I think you know, fans really just
Speaker 3: you know, their enthusiasm, their energy for this, their love
Speaker 3: for this. It's it's ramped up even more because you
Speaker 3: can tell that these players are going through the exact
Speaker 3: same thing. You know, it's different for them. They're out
Speaker 3: there playing, they're the ones that everybody's cheering for. They're
Speaker 3: the ones truly feeling nostalgia, you know, in the action.
Speaker 3: But I think the feelings are the same in regards
Speaker 3: to like I never thought this would be possible, Like
Speaker 3: this is amazing. Let's keep this going. And I talked
Speaker 3: earlier about how you know, one of the players on
Speaker 3: this team that I talked to, not last night, but
Speaker 3: but between the between the second and their game, you know,
Speaker 3: he still plays professionally, doesn't make a ton of money,
Speaker 3: but obviously that's still his career. He's going to do
Speaker 3: that as long as he can. And you know, he
Speaker 3: had to deal with the fact that he could probably
Speaker 3: get a six figure contract in Europe somewhere, and you know,
Speaker 3: that would be great, they'd be phenomenal. Maybe getting paid
Speaker 3: two hundred and fifty thousand a year to play the game. Right,
Speaker 3: that's that's for about five months work and Uncle Sam
Speaker 3: doesn't get a cut because you've made that money in
Speaker 3: another country, right, So, like that's a beneficial That's a
Speaker 3: beautiful situation for any professional basketball player. I mean, obviously
Speaker 3: you want to you want to be in the NBA,
Speaker 3: but like that's not realistic for most. So there was
Speaker 3: kind of a sadness, in an emptiness knowing that, like,
Speaker 3: even if I can do this for ten twelve years,
Speaker 3: I'm never going to be playing in front of Louisville
Speaker 3: fans again. I'm never going to hear the energy that
Speaker 3: you get from a fan base that is this passion
Speaker 3: about their program. You know, when you play at Louisville
Speaker 3: and you play Kentucky, you can't go to dinner without
Speaker 3: somebody you know, noticing you and and most for the
Speaker 3: most part, probably telling you how much they love you
Speaker 3: and that they're a fan. And you know, go cards,
Speaker 3: go Cads, beat Louisville, beat Kentucky, and you know you
Speaker 3: can you can try to live in the moment while
Speaker 3: you're here and know that it's special, but it's almost
Speaker 3: impossible not to take certain things for granted when you
Speaker 3: know they're great, because you know, hey, I'm gonna saw it.
Speaker 3: Almost at times can can really kind of dampen the
Speaker 3: way you enjoy it because instead of just living in
Speaker 3: the moment, you're thinking about, damn it, I gotta be
Speaker 3: living in the moment.
Speaker 2: I don't want to.
Speaker 3: I don't want to not take this in because man,
Speaker 3: this is special and I know one day it's going
Speaker 3: to be gone. I think, you know this what's happening
Speaker 3: now at Freedom Hall and whatnot, and it rup for
Speaker 3: the UK guys like it's not the same thing, but
Speaker 3: it's pretty damn close, and it's something that they probably
Speaker 3: thought was gone forever and now here they are and
Speaker 3: it's it's just cool, man, it really is. I I
Speaker 3: love it for these players to be able to experience
Speaker 3: that again, and I love it for the fans. I'm
Speaker 3: a I mean, I'm I'm one of the many fans
Speaker 3: that has enjoyed this and hope they have it every
Speaker 3: single year.
Speaker 2: I really do.
Speaker 3: All Right, Coffee and Company Hour number three, the five
Speaker 3: o'clock hour on a Thursday afternoon. I appreciate you guys
Speaker 3: hanging out with us. Don't forget you could take us
Speaker 3: with you wherever you go. Listen live on the out
Speaker 3: radio app Listen live at seven ninety Louisville dot com.
Speaker 3: We also talked a little football today because you know,
Speaker 3: I think Jeff brom feels pretty damn good about his team,
Speaker 3: which that's probably the like the the lamest you know,
Speaker 3: uh take, I could give you because every coach says
Speaker 3: that during talking season, media days and all that. But
Speaker 3: I do get the sense that that Jeff Brom you know,
Speaker 3: he feels as if he has personnel that could that
Speaker 3: could accomplish a lot this year. Right. I don't think
Speaker 3: there's any team on this schedule that they that they
Speaker 3: believe is going to be mean. Know, I'm sure every
Speaker 3: coach feels that way to an extent, but you know,
Speaker 3: they really like their debth upfront on both sides, which
Speaker 3: is something that they you know, last year they had
Speaker 3: a good offensive line, but they had no depth, or
Speaker 3: at least not a lot of depth, and they had
Speaker 3: guys that were good but played hurt all year. And
Speaker 3: now they've got options, right, They've got guys who've come
Speaker 3: in from you know, other schools where they played four
Speaker 3: or five years on both sides of the ball up
Speaker 3: front and not to mention on you know, the defensive side.
Speaker 3: They got a guy up front named National Gelati who's
Speaker 3: the first team All American. So you know, when you
Speaker 3: throw out names of players that you know have accomplished
Speaker 3: quite a bit, but they did it elsewhere there's always
Speaker 3: going to be a level of hesitation to you know,
Speaker 3: just just to expect that you're going to get the
Speaker 3: same results when they when they played at different school.
Speaker 3: And sometimes it's because yeah, they were playing in the MAC,
Speaker 3: now they're playing in the SEC. But sometimes it does translate, right,
Speaker 3: And sometimes you know, there's guys who go from a
Speaker 3: power five to another power five and they end up,
Speaker 3: you know, bringing less production or bringing more. Like you
Speaker 3: really never know.
Speaker 2: But and I do like that.
Speaker 3: Jeff continues to say this anytime he talks about his team.
Speaker 3: You know, you really don't know until you actually see
Speaker 3: guys out there on the field and you see what
Speaker 3: they can do in a real game, like in an
Speaker 3: actual game situation. So I'm sure they've evaluated some of
Speaker 3: these guys in the portal and they love what they
Speaker 3: bring to the table. They've really been impressed with spring
Speaker 3: ball and workouts that kind of stuff. But they know, hey,
Speaker 3: we'll see when the lights come on if it's really
Speaker 3: gonna work. But there's also guys that they probably feel like,
Speaker 3: you know what, I'm not really sure about this guy.
Speaker 3: Like I'll put it this way, I think last year
Speaker 3: Jeff Brown was really really concerned about certain certain positions
Speaker 3: on defense. And if you remember when healthy, especially early
Speaker 3: on in this year, in the year Louisville's defense was
Speaker 3: I mean, that was the strength of the team. So
Speaker 3: like not to say that, Jeff thought, oh man, these
Speaker 3: guys stink. But you just don't know. So you know,
Speaker 3: there's way more unknown than ever in college football now
Speaker 3: because so many teams will heavily on the transfer portal.
Speaker 3: Louisville is once again relying heavily on the transfer portal,
Speaker 3: and I don't see that ever changing because again, if
Speaker 3: you want to win now, that's your best chance to
Speaker 3: do it right.
Speaker 2: Don't choose to be young and.
Speaker 3: Say, okay, well we'll cut our teeth with a bunch
Speaker 3: of guys that are going to get their first significant
Speaker 3: reps this year and hopes to be better next year. No,
Speaker 3: you want to win now, and you need to win
Speaker 3: now if you're a place like Louisville in a power
Speaker 3: for conference. So you know, I when I start throwing
Speaker 3: out names that I you know, feel like I'm justified
Speaker 3: in being very confident. In Colin Lacey, a receiver, had
Speaker 3: thirteen hundred yards last year at South Alabama. Everybody wanted
Speaker 3: him he came to Louisville Jacorey Brooks. I mean, that's
Speaker 3: a guy who for Alabama. I mean, let me look
Speaker 3: up ja Corey Brooks's numbers. I mean, you go back
Speaker 3: to not last year he was hurt some and maybe
Speaker 3: that was the biggest factor. Maybe it was something else.
Speaker 3: Maybe he had somebody jump ahead of him, and that
Speaker 3: happens sometimes, you know, when it comes to you know,
Speaker 3: playing in Alabama, you can easily get you know, but
Speaker 3: go back to twenty twenty two. I mean, he led
Speaker 3: Alabama in receptions, Jacorey Brooks did. He had eight touchdowns,
Speaker 3: six hundred and seventy four yards, you know, So if
Speaker 3: he can do that at Alabama, I have a pretty
Speaker 3: good feeling he's gonna be able to do that and
Speaker 3: more at Louisville. So I feel as if these transfers
Speaker 3: who are transferring in, even if they've come from a
Speaker 3: lower level, Like again, those are two receivers that again
Speaker 3: you don't know, but one guy comes from Bama pretty
Speaker 3: accomplished in the SEC for you know, one of the
Speaker 3: best programs historically. And then you've got Lacey, who is
Speaker 3: statistically better than anybody. He had more receiving it. Nobody's
Speaker 3: returning to college football this year with more receiving yards
Speaker 3: than Colin Lacey. But he did it at South Alabama,
Speaker 3: So you know, people are gonna question, can it translate?
Speaker 3: I've seen and not everybody's the same. But you know,
Speaker 3: last year Louisville's best receiver, I mean he came from
Speaker 3: Georgia Southern, right, Jamari Thrash came from Georgia Southern. I mean,
Speaker 3: heck the year before that, I mean I forgot about
Speaker 3: this guy.
Speaker 2: Last guy.
Speaker 3: You know, that's kind of a forgotten team for a
Speaker 3: kind of a forgotten team, meaning Satterfield's last season, they
Speaker 3: were once again just very vanilla. But Tyler Hudson, I
Speaker 3: mean he was the best receiver. He transferred from Central Arkansas,
Speaker 3: which was an FCS school, So you know, I'm sure
Speaker 3: you can find plenty of examples of dudes who transferred
Speaker 3: in with similar resume and it didn't hit.
Speaker 2: So you never know.
Speaker 3: But the closer we get to the season, I feel
Speaker 3: more and more confident in the personnel because the only
Speaker 3: position I think you could honestly say that there's no
Speaker 3: doubt they will take a step back is running back.
Speaker 3: And I choose to believe that it's more so because
Speaker 3: of how good Isaac Garrindo and Juar Jordan were. I
Speaker 3: choose to look at it that way, more so than thinking, well,
Speaker 3: you know, the guys they have now aren't any good.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think they've got some capable ballcarriers. And
Speaker 3: to be honest with you, if j Brom's able to
Speaker 3: air it out like he wants with Tyler Schuck, you're
Speaker 3: not gonna need anybody to be what Juwar Jordan and
Speaker 3: Isaac Grindo were last year. You gotta have a healthy balance, right,
Speaker 3: you got to. You gotta be balanced on offense. There's
Speaker 3: no doubt about that, and I think they have the
Speaker 3: personnel to do that. But again, if you've got you know,
Speaker 3: Schuck airing it out to Colin Lacey and Chris Bell
Speaker 3: takes a big step forward this year, then you know
Speaker 3: your running game is not gonna be as big of
Speaker 3: a necessity. Are you getting fired her for football or not?
Speaker 3: John Ready Signette's Ready.
Speaker 4: Sign I don't know if you You probably didn't listen to
Speaker 4: anything he said today, and I wouldn't blame you.
Speaker 2: I did not, but he he he's I know you.
Speaker 4: Say you say this about Rick Patino a lot, and
Speaker 4: I used it today on Twitter to talk about Signetti
Speaker 4: as well. But he holds court behind the microphone. He
Speaker 4: knows how to get the attention of anybody in the audience.
Speaker 4: Even if they don't give a rat's ass about Indiana food,
Speaker 4: they're gonna know they heard Kurt Signet exactly. He's a
Speaker 4: walking quote machine. And I don't think he said anything
Speaker 4: too out of line. He just kind of laid out
Speaker 4: his own expectations for the Hoosier and he's getting people
Speaker 4: fired up, especially you know, those among the Indiana fan
Speaker 4: base like myself.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So one thing I love about the Signette hired
Speaker 3: Indiana is that he's not in any way and you
Speaker 3: really can't do this anymore because if you, I mean, look,
Speaker 3: if you're in the big ten in Indiana maybe exception
Speaker 3: because they've never really had like a ton of football support,
Speaker 3: at least that I know of, But like you've got
Speaker 3: resources that you know, a lot of schools don't have
Speaker 3: that aren't in the power force. So the days of
Speaker 3: and you also have the portal, so therefore the days
Speaker 3: of just like you know, it's going to take us
Speaker 3: a long time, Like you could do that but like
Speaker 3: you're a loser if you do that, like Saderfield did that,
Speaker 3: Like he still acted as if he was dealing with
Speaker 3: I mean, he benefited from Bobby's leftovers and then when
Speaker 3: those guys left, Sat fell apart for the most part.
Speaker 3: And the only quarterback he ever coached at Louisville was
Speaker 3: a Bobby Patrino quarterback. As far as you know, that
Speaker 3: was his starter. So you know, with Signetti, I feel
Speaker 3: like a lot of coaches that would take the Indiana job,
Speaker 3: especially in the pre and il pre portal world, would
Speaker 3: would would set the bar so low and would act
Speaker 3: as if like it's gonna take time, we need you.
Speaker 3: They probably do some loser stuff that like Kenny Payne did.
Speaker 3: But Signetti when he's not out here saying they're going
Speaker 3: to win the Big Ten, although he did say something
Speaker 3: along those lines about, you know, beating Purdue's ass and
Speaker 3: Michigan suck. Yeah, like you know, but like that has
Speaker 3: to give the Indiana fan base life in a way
Speaker 3: that like they haven't had before Gideia and coached the game.
Speaker 3: Who knows how good he's gonna be, But I just
Speaker 3: feel like the kind of confidence he has in himself like,
Speaker 3: that's just different than anything I can remember of any
Speaker 3: Indiana football coach, because, to be honest with you, the
Speaker 3: vast majority of Indiana football coaches are not memorable. You
Speaker 3: forget about them because most of them came in and
Speaker 3: they sucked and they got fired. Like that's on no
Speaker 3: offense to Indiana, that's just the truth.
Speaker 4: He almost makes it seem like, like you, he's created
Speaker 4: the expectation that they're going to in year one. Now
Speaker 4: what that actually looks like, I don't know. But the
Speaker 4: one thing that makes me nervous though, is that it's
Speaker 4: almost become like a guarantee with him the way that
Speaker 4: he talks that if it doesn't work out in year one,
Speaker 4: like I think Indiana has to at the bare minimum
Speaker 4: get to bowl eligibility. I still think that might be
Speaker 4: a disappointment in Signetty's eyes.
Speaker 2: But you can't talk like this and not have results.
Speaker 2: So I'm totally with you.
Speaker 3: And that's why I think when we talked about a
Speaker 3: couple weeks ago, maybe I'm overestimating this guy, but like
Speaker 3: I feel like him getting to a bowl game, or
Speaker 3: at least winning five games, that's not going to be
Speaker 3: difficult for him to do because you know, and maybe
Speaker 3: I'm way wrong, like maybe he doesn't have a lot
Speaker 3: of you know, good players to work like I don't
Speaker 3: know much about the personnel on Indiana's side of it,
Speaker 3: but like the bar is so low for Indiana, and
Speaker 3: yet you're right, he's talking it up to where fans
Speaker 3: are expecting some wins. But like, you know, I'd be
Speaker 3: shocked if if they're not. You know, would they win
Speaker 3: three last year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd be shocked.
Speaker 3: If they're not at minimum two wins better than a
Speaker 3: year ago, which again is not something Indiana fans are
Speaker 3: going to start celebrating.
Speaker 4: But you know, I mean that this is gonna sound nuts,
Speaker 4: but there are there are a significant amount of people
Speaker 4: who I respect what they say on the Indiana side
Speaker 4: of things, that think that the bare minimum, like that
Speaker 4: he there's no reason he shouldn't win.
Speaker 2: At least six this year. I mean again, like it's and.
Speaker 4: I'm the kind and this is just for me being
Speaker 4: a fan, and we'll shut up by Indiana football and
Speaker 4: move on. But I think I think seven. I don't
Speaker 4: think that that they don't have to get seven for
Speaker 4: it to be successful from the administration's point of view,
Speaker 4: But me, being a fan, I think if you're going
Speaker 4: to talk all this game, you need to get to
Speaker 4: seven wins. They have a schedule that is manageable in
Speaker 4: that regard, especially in the early going.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I don't, you know, and I don't follow
Speaker 3: what he says specifically nearly as closely as you do.
Speaker 3: But like, I don't feel like what he's doing is
Speaker 3: saying that like we're gonna go beat everybody and we
Speaker 3: have we have eyes on that. I just look, I
Speaker 3: think more than anything, he's carrying himself in a way
Speaker 3: that is different than any Indian a football coach has
Speaker 3: to where I think some fans and I'm not saying
Speaker 3: you like you don't really know, like does this mean
Speaker 3: he thinks we're gonna like take over or is he
Speaker 3: you know, because it's just different. It's not something you
Speaker 3: typically get from Indiana. But look, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: If you can.
Speaker 3: I mean, after hearing UCLA's coach yesterday, you got to feel.
Speaker 2: Better about that game. It's night and day and then
Speaker 2: that's week three.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So like here's what's crazy, Like they could realistically
Speaker 3: start the season four and oh and again they should
Speaker 3: be three and one and honestly, like FIU, Western Illinois
Speaker 3: and Charlotte, those are dubs. And if you do end
Speaker 3: up beating UCLA, who should be terrible this year, to
Speaker 3: be honest with you, especially for you know, Big ten standards,
Speaker 3: and then you know, at that point you got to
Speaker 3: steal two more to get to a bowl game. And
Speaker 3: I don't like Purdue's gonna be terrible this year, And
Speaker 3: at that point, I think it comes down to, you know,
Speaker 3: is Northwestern was that a flash in the pan last
Speaker 3: year with their interim coach or you know, are they
Speaker 3: actually going to be pretty pretty good?
Speaker 2: So look they.
Speaker 3: This makes me kind of sad because it reminds me
Speaker 3: a little bit of the same era because Indiana football, like,
Speaker 3: let's be honest, they're they're in a different stratosphere as
Speaker 3: far as expected success in football than Louisville is. So
Speaker 3: all I wanted Saderfield to do was win eight regular
Speaker 3: season games one time, and it really isn't that hard
Speaker 3: to do at Louisville, and he never could do it.
Speaker 3: So you know, saying six and six like again, that
Speaker 3: would be a big upgrade, Like six and six would
Speaker 3: make Indiana fans ecstatic. I think after one year right, However,
Speaker 3: like it's not that difficult to do, Like I you know,
Speaker 3: I think they I think they'll win six, that's my guess.
Speaker 3: In fact, let's do this on the other side. We'll
Speaker 3: get into some basketball stuff because there's a good rankings
Speaker 3: list that I want to break down as far as
Speaker 3: the updated list from field to sixty eight, as far
Speaker 3: as the current top ten college basketball coaches. But what
Speaker 3: I want to do on the other side, and again,
Speaker 3: I'm a louisvill fan. You're an Indiana fan. We're not
Speaker 3: Kentucky fans. You're not a Louisvill fan. I'm not an
Speaker 3: Indiana fan, So like who knows, But I'm going to
Speaker 3: throw out what I believe each fan base here locally
Speaker 3: needs to see win total wise, to feel like they
Speaker 3: didn't have a bad year, like they didn't have a
Speaker 3: step back. Interesting, we'll do that on the other side
Speaker 3: right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. So I feel
Speaker 3: like for Louisville, and I've talked about this before and
Speaker 3: real quick for you just now joining us with the
Speaker 3: Louisville football season coming up in Kentucky and Indiana as well,
Speaker 3: I'm just gonna get I mean, I feel like I've
Speaker 3: got a good you know, not that I can check
Speaker 3: the pulse of the Indiana football fan base, but I
Speaker 3: do have a Hoosier right here with me that can
Speaker 3: and he's a Hoosier himself. So you know, I think
Speaker 3: if Indiana wins six games, there's no scenarioverybody's upset, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the overall fan base. I think six is the
Speaker 2: bare minimum to please everyone.
Speaker 3: I think four would be looked at as Okay, I'm
Speaker 3: a little underwhelming because I thought this guy was going
Speaker 3: to make an immediate impact. More so than that, I
Speaker 3: think five would be. It really depends on which fan
Speaker 3: you talk to. You think that's fair.
Speaker 4: Yeah, But at the same time, and again, I know
Speaker 4: you haven't looked at Indiana's scheduled deeply the way that
Speaker 4: I have. But they have a very favorable schedule. They
Speaker 4: have eight home games. There's no reason they shouldn't find
Speaker 4: a way to six.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but they play good teams, man. I mean, here's
Speaker 3: the thing, High State Michigan in Washington. I mean, I
Speaker 3: know Washington is going through a rebrand, but like they
Speaker 3: are a team they just played for a national championship,
Speaker 3: Michigan State.
Speaker 2: Are they gonna suck they're they're kind of like Indiana.
Speaker 4: They have a brand new guy with Jonathan Smith, came
Speaker 4: from Oregon State, and there's a lot of unknowns with him.
Speaker 3: So I'm gonna give you a hot take here. Okay,
Speaker 3: I think Nebraska is gonna be good with Matt Rule
Speaker 3: this year.
Speaker 2: I think they'll be good too.
Speaker 4: I don't think they'll be contending for the conference championship,
Speaker 4: but I think they may.
Speaker 2: Be top three or four.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then teams that I have no clue if
Speaker 3: they're any good, Northwestern and Maryland.
Speaker 4: Like, now, that's you talked about Indiana being four and
Speaker 4: oh those are their next two opponents right after that,
Speaker 4: and that could be again kind of wild card matchups
Speaker 4: for you.
Speaker 3: So on the Kentucky side, I mean, look, let's be
Speaker 3: real here, they have one of the toughest schedules in
Speaker 3: the country. I mean, their non conference is not super challenging,
Speaker 3: but let's be honest, Like, they can mock Louisville all
Speaker 3: they want. It's been a dub for him for many,
Speaker 3: many years. But Louisville in the non com Put it
Speaker 3: this way, Kentucky's non conference schedule is Louisville, Murray State,
Speaker 3: Southern and Ohio And I looked at it earlier. Athlon
Speaker 3: Sports ranked Kentucky. There's eighteen teams in the SEC. Now
Speaker 3: is that right with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma
Speaker 3: six I'm wrong, No, I think you actually might be right.
Speaker 2: See Big Ten's got eighteen.
Speaker 3: Either way, Kentucky's strengthen to schedule for non conference alone
Speaker 3: was ranked sixth. So you know, Louisville being there does
Speaker 3: does absolutely give them a bump because if you go
Speaker 3: look at a lot of the other SEC teams, their
Speaker 3: non conference don't doesn't feature a team that played in
Speaker 3: a Power five championship last year. And again, who knows,
Speaker 3: maybe by the time you get there, Louisville falling apart.
Speaker 3: I don't know, But you know they have a tough schedule.
Speaker 3: They have South Carolina, who is probably the worst team
Speaker 3: on their schedule outside of Andy, but South Carolina beat
Speaker 3: the hell out of them last year. Georgia's Georgia, Ole
Speaker 3: Miss and Lane Kiffin that's in Oxford. That should mean
Speaker 3: oh Miss should be a playoff team this year. I
Speaker 3: really believe that Florida. You know, Florida's down and this
Speaker 3: is this is actually this could be the first time
Speaker 3: they have three straight losing seasons and I think like
Speaker 3: se seventy five years. So this is in Gainesville, never
Speaker 3: an easy place to play, but you know, Kentucky has
Speaker 3: beaten them, you know, rather consistently in recent years, it
Speaker 3: seems like, so you know that, I feel like that's
Speaker 3: a game Kentucky fans feel like they should go win.
Speaker 3: But then again, you know they are still well aware
Speaker 3: of a twenty five year streak. I think it was
Speaker 3: that they didn't beat them. And then they've got Auburn.
Speaker 3: Auburn to me, is the ultimate like coin flip game
Speaker 3: for them, Like I have no clue what to expect.
Speaker 2: In that one.
Speaker 3: Tennessee they should lose, Like, let's be real, Tennessee's good
Speaker 3: Tennessee under Josh Josh Hypel. You know, they weren't as
Speaker 3: good last year as they were two years ago when
Speaker 3: they really exploded on the scene as a legitimate, you know,
Speaker 3: bona fide, top tier program. But you play them in
Speaker 3: Knoxville and I don't see a scenario where they're going
Speaker 3: to take like a big step backs, Like you can
Speaker 3: win that, but you're not going to be expected to.
Speaker 3: And then you've got Texas, who played in the playoff
Speaker 3: last year, who you know is believed to be one
Speaker 3: of the real contenders. In fact, I think a lot
Speaker 3: of expectation is that it's gonna be Texas and Georgia
Speaker 3: playing for the ACC championship. So I'm sorry for the
Speaker 3: SEC championship. So then you you have Louisville, which again
Speaker 3: you're gonna have them at home, and you know, you've
Speaker 3: you've gotten a great street.
Speaker 2: Going right now.
Speaker 3: But that's that's a tougher game than a lot of
Speaker 3: the SEC teams have as their you know, non conference
Speaker 3: game that's against a not FCS team or not a
Speaker 3: G five team. So I think if they go seven
Speaker 3: and five, realistically speaking, that would be viewed, as you know,
Speaker 3: from their fans, like if they're going to be fair,
Speaker 3: they probably would say, yeah, that's that's that's about right.
Speaker 3: But how long can they go seven to five in
Speaker 3: the regular season and still feel like they're they're they're
Speaker 3: they're gaining ground, like they're they're they're you know, establishing momentum.
Speaker 3: So I think the Tucky fans are kind of not
Speaker 3: of it, not in an identity crisis, but like I
Speaker 3: think they can appreciate what Stoops has done and appreciate
Speaker 3: the position that they're in, but also want to expect more.
Speaker 3: But then again, know that expecting to be an eight
Speaker 3: and four team in the regular season that wins more
Speaker 3: than four games in the SEC is a lot to
Speaker 3: ask for given and the overall identity of Kentucky's program
Speaker 3: for generations. And they play in a really good league,
Speaker 3: let's be honest with they play. I mean, they play
Speaker 3: in the toughest league in the country.
Speaker 2: So I don't know.
Speaker 3: I feel like if they go six and six, they'll
Speaker 3: view that as a step back for Stoops, if they
Speaker 3: go seven and five, they'll It'll probably depend upon who
Speaker 3: you talk to, right Like, some fans will say, well,
Speaker 3: look what do you expect? Look who they play, And
Speaker 3: there'll be some that say, look, I'm tired of seven
Speaker 3: and five, like go in more like you've got resources now.
Speaker 2: And then on Louisville side, I think if if Louisville.
Speaker 3: Is seven and five, I think everybody all around will
Speaker 3: feel underwhelmed and feel as if they should have been better.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: There's always circumstances that you know arise that you don't
Speaker 3: know about, right like, maybe they lose somebody very important
Speaker 3: to injury and that changes things, right, you never know.
Speaker 3: But I think given their schedule, I think if they
Speaker 3: were to go anything lower than seven than eight and four,
Speaker 3: I think fans would feel not as if they're panicking
Speaker 3: and thinking that Brahms a problem and we got, you know,
Speaker 3: we got to worry about the future. But I just
Speaker 3: think it. I think, as I've said, eight and four
Speaker 3: should be the floor. Ten and two's the ceiling, and
Speaker 3: I think nine to three is most realistic. So for
Speaker 3: fans to feel like, you know, they they're in a
Speaker 3: good spot, I'd say eight and four. But then again,
Speaker 3: I think there'll be people that if they go eight
Speaker 3: and four will be disappointed because again there's expectations now
Speaker 3: with Jeff and like it or not. Blame it on
Speaker 3: the week schedule, you know, blame it on winning close
Speaker 3: games that maybe you should have lost, but you won
Speaker 3: ten games, and when that happens, people probably aren't going
Speaker 3: to expect you to do that every year. But you know,
Speaker 3: you go from ten to seven in year two when
Speaker 3: your roster is better by all accounts, I mean, I
Speaker 3: think fans will be underwhelmed. Are speaking of Kentucky so
Speaker 3: FootballScoop dot com They got behind the Paywall John Oh
Speaker 3: for Darryl Byrd's article about Mark Stoops and look man
Speaker 3: like these. I mean, context matters as far as you know,
Speaker 3: hearing how somebody says something. It's not just what they say,
Speaker 3: it's also how they say it. So we don't have that.
Speaker 3: I think that was just a one on one that
Speaker 3: only Darryl Bird captured audio of. Although Darrel Bird's old school, like,
Speaker 3: I wouldn't put it past him that he didn't take
Speaker 3: anything digital to the SEC media days. He had a
Speaker 3: pen and a pad and he's just he's just writing
Speaker 3: down what Mark Stoops is saying. Hopefully he doesn't do
Speaker 3: that because that would be you know, that'd be maybe
Speaker 3: a typewriter, Yeah, maybe his typewriter with him. So, I mean,
Speaker 3: I thought maybe that one quote that we did have
Speaker 3: would be, you know, the one quote of many that
Speaker 3: made it sound like he was complaining, and that maybe
Speaker 3: it was just a quote that he used to really
Speaker 3: get people interested in his story to where they.
Speaker 2: Would buy it.
Speaker 3: But there's quotes that are now featured in this write
Speaker 3: up from Football Scoop that are kind of summarizing it
Speaker 3: that make it quite clear he's bitching. That's what he's
Speaker 3: doing so, it says Mark Stoops says Mark Steps is
Speaker 3: a veteran head coach among SEC coaches by a large margin,
Speaker 3: starting his tenure with the Wildcats back in twenty thirteen.
Speaker 3: Despite doing an admirable job rebuilding the program to respectability,
Speaker 3: winning ten games twice and leading UK to eighth straight
Speaker 3: bowl games, Stoops recently made it clear during a one
Speaker 3: on one interview with ON three that the recent landscape
Speaker 3: of college football with nil and the transfer portal is
Speaker 3: weighing heavily on the fifty seven year old. So hey,
Speaker 3: maybe this is actually I'm sorry, let me back up.
Speaker 3: This is actually an article from Adam Luckett, who works
Speaker 3: for ON three KSR. So I guess two people kind
Speaker 3: of wrote about his quotes and I don't know, maybe
Speaker 3: this was an exclusive from Adams. Again, credit to Adam Luckett.
Speaker 3: This was not behind a paywall, and he got I
Speaker 3: guess a similar story but more he has more of
Speaker 3: that at least we can read. Maybe Dearrebird had more
Speaker 3: behind his paywall. Nonetheless, I do want to give credit
Speaker 3: Adam Luckett for this article because that's what they're referencing here.
Speaker 3: But anyways, here's some quotes I have one hundred free
Speaker 3: agents every six months. The veteran head coach shared with
Speaker 3: on three quote, you don't think there's more pressure of
Speaker 3: raising money to keep them and to pay them what
Speaker 3: they deserve and to help them. And I've done this
Speaker 3: for two three years completely alone. I get no help
Speaker 3: none more. I feel very isolated, very alone. I'll be
Speaker 3: honest with you, I don't know how long I can
Speaker 3: take dealing with that, dealing with what I've dealt with
Speaker 3: myself personally, I can only do so much. I've never
Speaker 3: felt this kind of stress and pressure. I can't coach
Speaker 3: the way I want to coach because all I do
Speaker 3: is raise money or try to raise money.
Speaker 2: You go through all the frustration.
Speaker 3: And even panic. How do I raise the money? I
Speaker 3: feel very isolated on how to do it. But if
Speaker 3: I don't raise it, it doesn't get done. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's him complaining about having to do his job.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: I think there's an element to it where he's claiming
Speaker 3: that he needs more resources to do it. I guess
Speaker 3: because he's claiming he does it all himself, like how
Speaker 3: to raise money?
Speaker 2: Like does he is?
Speaker 1: That?
Speaker 3: A shot at Barnhardt is that you know him trying
Speaker 3: to get a position added to his staff that can
Speaker 3: be out there raising money. I mean, I mean, I
Speaker 3: don't want to let my feelings towards you know, Kentucky
Speaker 3: as far as them being the rival get in the
Speaker 3: way here. But like that's just a coach bitching about
Speaker 3: having to deal with the new landscape of college sports,
Speaker 3: is it not. I mean, I think it's pretty direct
Speaker 3: what what he what he thinks and feels about the
Speaker 3: current situation.
Speaker 2: So I mean coaches really be bitching now they do, and.
Speaker 3: You know, I mean honest with you, I feel like
Speaker 3: he has I mean, I don't know, maybe he just
Speaker 3: doesn't have the energy and the fire that he once did,
Speaker 3: because like he has momentum. I mean again they're not
Speaker 3: they're not world beaters, but I mean, you have been
Speaker 3: able to raise enough money to keep a lot of
Speaker 3: your guys around, and I think he's looking at it
Speaker 3: as like, damn, that's that was really difficult. How sustainable
Speaker 3: is this? Which I think is a normal reaction for
Speaker 3: a lot of people. But also you're getting it done.
Speaker 3: I mean Kentucky did well in the poor both with
Speaker 3: guys they added and with guys that they brought back,
Speaker 3: meaning that they were able to raise enough in all
Speaker 3: money to keep them there. Like Dean Walker is one
Speaker 3: of the best NFL prospects in the country. I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm sure a lot of schools would were willing to
Speaker 3: pay a lot of money for him, and he stayed,
Speaker 3: so I assume he got paid. So I don't know,
Speaker 3: just to meet the energy from Stoops as you're about to,
Speaker 3: you know, enter, I guess what is your twelfth season is,
Speaker 3: I don't know, Like it can't make Kentucky fans feel
Speaker 3: great about the upcoming season that, you know, instead of
Speaker 3: really you know, talking up goals and you know, and
Speaker 3: maybe he is doing that. I've not listened to a
Speaker 3: whole lot of what Stoops have said, but like, I
Speaker 3: don't know, the coaches complaining about the new world and
Speaker 3: money that that's not that's not uncommon as coach, as
Speaker 3: John said, coaches be bitching. But he's throwing in, He's
Speaker 3: throwing in in a direction that is like, I don't.
Speaker 2: Know how much longer I can do this. This sucks.
Speaker 2: I get no.
Speaker 3: Help, Like and that's just you know, maybe if it's
Speaker 3: the truth, it's the truth, and I can respect anybody
Speaker 3: for being honest, but like that can't be what you
Speaker 3: want to hear as a fan. Actually, if you are
Speaker 3: giving a lot of money, right, if you're donating to
Speaker 3: the collective and he's acting like it's still not enough
Speaker 3: and it's never ending like that, that's that can't be
Speaker 3: what you want to hear. All right, quick break, we'll
Speaker 3: come back on the other side. Keep the party rolling
Speaker 3: along until you get back. Because we only have one
Speaker 3: segment left here. Stick around on Sports Talk seven ninety
Speaker 3: So the Field of sixty eight put together an updated
Speaker 3: list of the top ten current college basketball coaches, and
Speaker 3: we'll save that for tomorrow because we don't have a
Speaker 3: who lot of time to get into it. And I
Speaker 3: don't think there's any big surprises on that list. But
Speaker 3: I will say if this list came out and John
Speaker 3: Calipari was still the Kentucky coach, Kentucky fans would be
Speaker 3: losing their mind. They would be because calip Perry's not
Speaker 3: on it. And I don't know, I've always felt like
Speaker 3: he's a flawed coach because everybody is nobody's perfect, and
Speaker 3: that you know, his short cut, his shortfall, despite all
Speaker 3: the talent and expectations always being super high, and yet
Speaker 3: you know, he hasn't made a deep run in the
Speaker 3: tournament in quite some time. Like even despite all that,
Speaker 3: I still feel like I would be a homer as
Speaker 3: a Louisville fan to not include him in the top ten. However,
Speaker 3: you know, I think the way his seasons have ended,
Speaker 3: specifically in the last really the way things have gone
Speaker 3: the last four years, you know, it's justifiable to leave
Speaker 3: him out. Now he has a title and some of
Speaker 3: these guys that are ranked ahead of him don't. But
Speaker 3: you know, if you only based it off titles and
Speaker 3: nothing else, you know, Kevin Ollie would be looking pretty
Speaker 3: good right now, right, I mean, who else is random
Speaker 3: that won a title? I mean, Ali's the ultimate, like
Speaker 3: how the hell that happen? But you know, either way,
Speaker 3: we both in this state, Louisville and Kentucky fans are
Speaker 3: starting new eras that I think both fans are really
Speaker 3: excited about. I think Kentucky fans are going to have
Speaker 3: more of an adjustment just because they've been good. They
Speaker 3: just fell short in the tournament the last few years. Louisville,
Speaker 3: I mean, winning games has not been a norm in
Speaker 3: recent years. Therefore, like bars Low, for us to get
Speaker 3: excited for Kentucky not as much now maybe the way
Speaker 3: they play and it being a former guy that played
Speaker 3: there that won a title, like that's gonna be there's
Speaker 3: gonna be some some emotion involved in that that really
Speaker 3: makes it fun in a way that it wasn't with
Speaker 3: with with cal And honestly, I think both teams, but Kentucky,
Speaker 3: you know they Kentucky had good teams but didn't play
Speaker 3: a fun style. Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey for that matter,
Speaker 3: are going to play a fun style for both fan.
Speaker 2: Bases to enjoy. But I just I don't know.
Speaker 3: I feel like it's gonna be I'm gonna be ready
Speaker 3: to see not only I'm gonna be ready for it
Speaker 3: to happen because you know, I'm a Louisville fan and
Speaker 3: their the rival, but to see how they react to
Speaker 3: like a loss to a team that they feel like
Speaker 3: they shouldn't have lost to. That's gonna be appointment viewing.
Speaker 3: Is it not like to just see how.
Speaker 4: They react classic and get hammered by whoever they play
Speaker 4: this year?
Speaker 2: That could be a problem, it's.
Speaker 3: Duke, I think, so, you know, in a way, you know,
Speaker 3: it's fun that both are in this position because it
Speaker 3: is again, Rivalry renewed, which is wild because you know,
Speaker 3: there's a rivalry matchup on Monday Night at Freedom Hall.
Speaker 3: But you know, it's just something none of us would
Speaker 3: have ever envisioned happening many years ago. But it's here
Speaker 3: and it's gonna be fun. So all right, we're out
Speaker 3: of time, you guys, enjoy the rest of your Thursday.
Speaker 3: We're back at it tomorrow, my last show before I'm
Speaker 3: out of here for vacation. It kind it's gonna kind
Speaker 3: of feel like the lat day of school, which is
Speaker 3: always a lot of fun. So hope, hopefully you'll join
Speaker 3: us tomorrow at three o'clock right here on Sports Talk
Speaker 3: seven ninety