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: Sorted a little bit later than we typically do. But
Speaker 2: you know, clock management has never been my strong suit.
Speaker 2: So what we have here is a lot that I
Speaker 2: want to get into with not a ton of time
Speaker 2: to do it. So I'm gonna treat the five o'clock
Speaker 2: hour here a little bit a little little rapid fire.
Speaker 2: I mean, we're not just gonna roll through things within
Speaker 2: you know, matter of thirty seconds, but I'm gonna try
Speaker 2: to get all this in before we wrap it up,
Speaker 2: because you know, I got to make up for the
Speaker 2: two hours where I feel like we had some fun.
Speaker 2: But those two hours go by really quickly, and it
Speaker 2: just hit me that there's still a lot that we
Speaker 2: have been able to dive into.
Speaker 3: So let's get started. Shelley again, It's the five o'clock hour.
Speaker 2: We are fueled by Thornton see or Coffee and Company
Speaker 2: on Sports Talk seven ninety. Take us with you wherever
Speaker 2: you go. You can listen live on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: Also listen live at seven ninety Louisville dot com. Last
Speaker 2: night was a beautiful thing, not only to see Louisville
Speaker 2: win ninety one to sixty six and beat the hell
Speaker 2: out of NC State, a bad NC State team, and
Speaker 2: I don't care that they're bad. In fact, I was
Speaker 2: happy they were bad last night because last week was
Speaker 2: the past week I should say was tough for me,
Speaker 2: and I know I'm not alone, but the more I
Speaker 2: kind of reflect since last night, seeing Chucky out there
Speaker 2: clearly not hurt and playing really really well, I'd tell
Speaker 2: you what I just made me realize I was more worried.
Speaker 3: Than I needed to be.
Speaker 2: But that's really just kind of how I'm wired, unfortunately,
Speaker 2: but it also reminds me how much I love this team.
Speaker 2: So I believe the basketball gods were just giving me
Speaker 2: the ultimate reminder to not take for granted what we
Speaker 2: have had thus far and really what we have now,
Speaker 2: because last night that was a team that wasn't fully healthy.
Speaker 2: They haven't been all year because again they've been without
Speaker 2: Casein and Korn. But the new version of this team
Speaker 2: that really got rolling in late December went on to
Speaker 2: win ten games consecutively, didn't lose a game in January,
Speaker 2: and in that amount of time, they firmly put themselves
Speaker 2: into the NCAA tournament and right now it could still
Speaker 2: go away. But man, they'd have to really be a
Speaker 2: different team in every way to do enough damage to
Speaker 2: this resume or where they don't get in. I don't
Speaker 2: know what their seed is. That's really up for debate.
Speaker 2: That's anybody's guess as far as what they're sealing is.
Speaker 2: But to have that week where I worried about Chucky's groin,
Speaker 2: thought about figuring out how I could give him mine,
Speaker 2: I mean, Migroin's not as good as his, but you know,
Speaker 2: anything to help because you know he's such a key
Speaker 2: and not only is he such an important piece to
Speaker 2: this team. Clearly Louisville is a tournament team that could
Speaker 2: be atually find themselves in the second weekend with him healthy,
Speaker 2: Like we know that that's not to be little anybody
Speaker 2: else that's been a part of this fun ride, But
Speaker 2: Chucky is different. He's one of the best players in
Speaker 2: the country and watching him last night was nice to
Speaker 2: see him healthy making plays. But he has absolutely become
Speaker 2: a fan favorite like he has beloved and all these
Speaker 2: guys are, to be honest with you, I mean, these
Speaker 2: guys are going to be remembered, I think for a
Speaker 2: long time. Unfortunately, in college basketball, what you do in
Speaker 2: the postseason really is the lasting impression on a team,
Speaker 2: and this team it's just going to be one year
Speaker 2: for a lot of them, So we'll see what happens
Speaker 2: down the line. But I think Louisville losing to Georgia
Speaker 2: Tech that had nothing to do with Chucky getting hurt.
Speaker 2: So they've bounced back one three in a row since then.
Speaker 2: They're now back in the top thirty in the Ken
Speaker 2: Palm in the net. In fact, they're at twenty five
Speaker 2: and twenty six and those two respectively. So I think
Speaker 2: nobody wanted to hurt Chucky, but it played out in
Speaker 2: a way to where I was able to quite literally
Speaker 2: have a week of worry that man, I I didn't
Speaker 2: enjoy that fun ride as much as I should have.
Speaker 2: Maybe Chucky's gonna be out for a while, and this
Speaker 2: team really doesn't have the ability to make a run
Speaker 2: in the tournament, and who knows if they do or not.
Speaker 2: But last night it made me appreciate the process because
Speaker 2: it's a roller coaster, right, Even if you're having a
Speaker 2: good season, you know, you go through peaks and valleys
Speaker 2: that kind of stuff, and Louisville they became pretty consistent, right,
Speaker 2: I mean, they were just beating everybody's brains out. That's
Speaker 2: what they did in the month of January.
Speaker 3: So it was fun.
Speaker 2: It became pretty repetitive as far as how we talk
Speaker 2: about him, how fun they are to watch, how much
Speaker 2: we love everything about this to where, you know, I
Speaker 2: don't want to say I took it for granted, but
Speaker 2: it became such a constant there that I just, you know,
Speaker 2: I was living in the moment and not really reflecting
Speaker 2: on how awesome this is. Well, when I had a
Speaker 2: week of worry about Chucky, it made me appreciate it
Speaker 2: a little bit more. And last night was just, you know,
Speaker 2: was phenomenal. And here's some stats for you. What a balanced,
Speaker 2: balanced attack last night. By the way, things are going
Speaker 2: to go well for you when you shoot sixty four
Speaker 2: percent from the field and you make eleven of nineteen
Speaker 2: threes for fifty eight percent. They were ten of eleven
Speaker 2: from the free throw line. A really good night at
Speaker 2: the strike ninety one percent there, but just a balance
Speaker 2: scoring attack. Twenty one apiece for Rain Smith and Terrence Edwards.
Speaker 2: I mean Rain made five of nine threes. I mean
Speaker 2: these two guys specifically, and again, you should ever expect
Speaker 2: anybody to do this, But you also can't say that
Speaker 2: you're stunned when it happens Edwards and Rain Smith.
Speaker 3: I mean, look at that. Let me see that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Rain was five of nine, Edwards was four
Speaker 2: of four, Chucky was.
Speaker 3: One of two.
Speaker 2: I mean, those three guys your your trio, that is
Speaker 2: your you know, your your backcourt essentially. I mean, you
Speaker 2: play three guards, and Edwards is such a valuable asset.
Speaker 2: Is not only a good guard that can do a
Speaker 2: little bit of everything. I love when when he up
Speaker 2: other guards and just backs them down and basically makes
Speaker 2: them show that they're going to have somebody that can
Speaker 2: keep him from basically dropping his ass and getting in
Speaker 2: front of the rim and scoring. I mean, he's really
Speaker 2: good at that. And when you got to account for that,
Speaker 2: you back off, and what does he do? He buries three.
Speaker 2: So they may have nights where they don't make shots,
Speaker 2: we've certainly seen that happen. I think overall, their three
Speaker 2: point field goal percentage is still not great. But last night,
Speaker 2: let me do the numbers here.
Speaker 3: You had.
Speaker 2: Three guys, your three guards, your starting guards, collectively made
Speaker 2: ten threes on fifteen attempts. I mean, that's not something
Speaker 2: we should expect, certainly not normal, but it's also not
Speaker 2: going to be a surprise because that's part of these
Speaker 2: guys game. You throw in Javon Hadley, who had a
Speaker 2: nice seventeen points, nine rebounds, four assists, just a really
Speaker 2: good floor game for him. So I never fell out
Speaker 2: of love with this team, but last night was a
Speaker 2: result that really was as fun to watch as any
Speaker 2: game this year. And also it's just the reminder that
Speaker 2: when they're playing like that, which again since the UK game,
Speaker 2: really they've been close much closer to what we saw
Speaker 2: last night than any other version of them of themselves.
Speaker 2: So look, they could slip up and loose anybody if
Speaker 2: they don't play well.
Speaker 3: We know that.
Speaker 2: But this is such a honeymoon type year and such
Speaker 2: an enjoyable ride that, like, I'm just living in the moment,
Speaker 2: and last night I was on cloud nine.
Speaker 3: But mostly for one reason.
Speaker 2: It was Chucky's growing right, and Chucky is one of
Speaker 2: the best players in the country. I don't think you
Speaker 2: could say that to a person who follows college basketball
Speaker 2: and get any kind of a pushback. I mean, that, like,
Speaker 2: that's not a Homer thing, that's not some wild take,
Speaker 2: I mean, And I think with that, that's what makes
Speaker 2: him not being on the Bob Coosey watch list such
Speaker 2: as shocker, because I just think again, I think I've
Speaker 2: talked about it whenever the list came out last week.
Speaker 2: I think they just forgot him, which again, maybe that
Speaker 2: would be a sign of disrespect. How could you forget
Speaker 2: Amy's great? But there's no scenario you look at what
Speaker 2: he's doing and look at Louisville as a team, and
Speaker 2: you don't think that he's one of the best ten.
Speaker 3: Point guards in the country.
Speaker 2: Like whoever decided this also left off Braden Smith of Perdue,
Speaker 2: another guy who quite literally is as deserving as anybody
Speaker 2: alongside Chucky In Neither of those two guys were on there.
Speaker 2: And Matt Paynter, By the way, I don't think Matt
Speaker 2: Paynter is a guy known for his you know, fiery words.
Speaker 2: To me, he's a good ball coach, kind of boring
Speaker 2: and it works for him. He's a Purdue but he
Speaker 2: had some bars last night after Purdue's when or maybe
Speaker 2: it was two nights ago. Actually they lost, but still
Speaker 2: Braden Smith's been phenomenal and he you know, he basically
Speaker 2: called out anybody who decided that his guy wasn't one
Speaker 2: of the top ten. And I don't think Pat went
Speaker 2: as strong about it as Matt Paynter did. But here's
Speaker 2: what Pat Kelsey had to say about Chucky. Hepburn being
Speaker 2: left off of the Bob Coosey finalist list that includes
Speaker 2: the ten best point guards in the country. Those who
Speaker 2: decide that decided Chucky wasn't one of them.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't trade him for any point guard in the country.
Speaker 4: And you know, some of those finals for the point
Speaker 4: Guard of the Year, the Bob Coosey Award, whatever that is,
Speaker 4: and he wasn't on it. I mean, they got it
Speaker 4: wrong and promise you that. So you know a lot
Speaker 4: of times those things are many times those things are
Speaker 4: out of your control. You can't do anything about it.
Speaker 4: All you can do about is how you play and
Speaker 4: how you lead your team and how you continue to win.
Speaker 4: But he leads. He's a pro every single day. He's
Speaker 4: a straight up winner. He's a stud on both ends
Speaker 4: of the floor. Like I said, I knew he was
Speaker 4: going to be really good, but I didn't know he
Speaker 4: was going to be this good.
Speaker 5: He's special.
Speaker 4: So any list of the best point guards in the country,
Speaker 4: he should be on one thousand percent. Chuck. He's not
Speaker 4: the type of guy that just lives for accolades and
Speaker 4: individual attention and awards and things like that. He's more
Speaker 4: proud of the and winning in championships. And he's leading
Speaker 4: this team in a great season and hopefully we continue
Speaker 4: to progress and as we get close to March Madness.
Speaker 2: So again, I don't think that anybody would would say
Speaker 2: that what Pat Kelsey said is incorrect because the proof
Speaker 2: is there. I mean, fifteen points per game, he leads
Speaker 2: the ACC and assists at six point two, leads the
Speaker 2: ACC and steels as well. And last night, I don't
Speaker 2: think it was the Bob Coosey finalist list that got him,
Speaker 2: but he was engaged because n C State, which, by
Speaker 2: the way, they're terrible. I mean they're bad, bad. I
Speaker 2: mean I thought it stretches. They looked like as bad
Speaker 2: as Kenny Payne's teams here. I mean I mean that
Speaker 2: like they look bad and I mean Keats's. Keats would
Speaker 2: be foolish to walk away from the contract he has,
Speaker 2: but maybe he just gets to the point where he
Speaker 2: realizes that the noise is so loud about how bad
Speaker 2: things are. I mean, they're at a point now that
Speaker 2: year they're likely going to miss the ACC tournament and
Speaker 2: to be in a final four the year before. Typically
Speaker 2: that would really buy you a lot of time. But
Speaker 2: the issue for Keats is that that was such an
Speaker 2: outlier because Keats hasn't really been good there ever, and
Speaker 2: last year they weren't good, got hot, and they're another example.
Speaker 2: Again I wouldn't change anything about college hoops because I
Speaker 2: love it, but Keats maybe the ultimate example. Do not
Speaker 2: overvalue one fluky run in the tournament. And I love Keats,
Speaker 2: good guy, good coach, but I feel like it's just
Speaker 2: really falling apart for him there. But they have a
Speaker 2: nine game losing streak todd for the longest in program history,
Speaker 2: and they're now again in danger of missing the ACC
Speaker 2: tournament because not everybody qualifies. So they're on track to
Speaker 2: be the first high major team in twenty plus years
Speaker 2: of the Ken Palm rankings to go from a final
Speaker 2: four to finishing outside the top one hundred the next year.
Speaker 2: So a complete free fall, and uh, you know it's
Speaker 2: not good for the ac C. It'd be nice to
Speaker 2: be getting wins against teams that are going to help
Speaker 2: you resume, but that's out of your control if you're Louisville.
Speaker 3: And we'll talk about about.
Speaker 2: This a little bit more tomorrow, but the ACC should
Speaker 2: be looking at Louisville and not thinking, hey, let's just
Speaker 2: go get a Pat Kelsey, because I don't think those
Speaker 2: guys grow on trees. I think Pat Kelsey is a
Speaker 2: pretty special guy. But I think if you really embrace
Speaker 2: a winner that has a winning formula, and you give
Speaker 2: them the tools to do the same thing and succeed
Speaker 2: at that level, that is the ACC. That's not the
Speaker 2: CAA or the MAC or whatever it may be, the
Speaker 2: sun belt like that, that's the path you should go down.
Speaker 2: I think, all right, let's go to the phone lines
Speaker 2: before we get to our first break.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 2: Five two, five, seven, one seventy nine hundred is the
Speaker 2: number if you want to give us a call.
Speaker 3: Let's go to David. David, how are you doing today?
Speaker 6: Always awesome? Nick had a great and just real quick
Speaker 6: my wife got my wife was really scared about some
Speaker 6: some medical tests and we got to a blessing from
Speaker 6: God today that that most you know, I know some
Speaker 6: people are living with with hard times and we were
Speaker 6: so blessed today with the news. So that's God is great.
Speaker 3: I'm very happy to hear that, David.
Speaker 2: I know that can be some real scary stuff. So
Speaker 2: God bless you guys.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 2: I know while you wait to get the news that
Speaker 2: you're praying for, it can be a really tough time.
Speaker 2: So very happy that you guys got good news.
Speaker 6: Thank you so much. Yeah, the waiting is always the
Speaker 6: hardest part. But the reason I called today is, you know,
Speaker 6: just love love talking about this Cardinal team. And I
Speaker 6: hate to give I hate to even mirror this against
Speaker 6: something that happened in Lexington, but I'm gonna look at
Speaker 6: this version of this, This particular Cardinal team is our
Speaker 6: version of the Unforgettables, the team that brought Kentucky back
Speaker 6: from the ashes.
Speaker 3: I can see it, and I can tell you we will.
Speaker 6: We will really remember this team, regardless of what happens
Speaker 6: that way that they have given us and that these
Speaker 6: guys put their blood, sweat and tears. You know, James
Speaker 6: Scott had to lose his fricking front teeth. But anyway,
Speaker 6: I could not be prouder as a Louisville fan and
Speaker 6: to all of the naysayers out there, you know, talking
Speaker 6: about how bad the a SEC is, you know what,
Speaker 6: you got to beat the guys on your schedule. Secondly,
Speaker 6: the NC State team that we whipped last night had
Speaker 6: quite a few players. Outside of that big center that
Speaker 6: they had, they had numerous guys, including Huntley Hatfield back
Speaker 6: from last year. You talk about a fall from grace,
Speaker 6: it is, it's truly, it's truly amazing.
Speaker 2: They had five top fifty recruits on that court for
Speaker 2: them last night, not all guys that are freshmen, of course,
Speaker 2: but yes, they're not lacking in talent and you could
Speaker 2: tell by watching them too, David. I mean they're bad
Speaker 2: as a team, but I mean it wasn't because of ability.
Speaker 3: I don't think.
Speaker 6: Oh, I agree one hundred percent. And a couple other
Speaker 6: quick things. I just want to tell you my favorite
Speaker 6: player on this team is when the guy first took
Speaker 6: the floor, I didn't know if he could walk and
Speaker 6: show gum together, which is Trey Ory. That dude is
Speaker 6: a flat stud with his handles, with his effort. He's
Speaker 6: guarding Huntley Hatfield and he's six ' five. One other
Speaker 6: thing I wanted to mention Seth Greenberg said at halftime.
Speaker 6: He says, I don't know if any of you have
Speaker 6: watched this Louisville team play. They are for real. Those
Speaker 6: are my closing remarks. Love the show. Louisville basketball is
Speaker 6: for real, and we're back here we go.
Speaker 2: Good call, David, Appreciate you, and again I'm very happy
Speaker 2: to hear that you and the family got some good news.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think this team is.
Speaker 2: Gonna be remembered for a long time, regardless of what
Speaker 2: happens the rest of the way. Obviously it could end
Speaker 2: sourly and that would be a bummer. But what I'm
Speaker 2: saying is these guys not just with their winning and
Speaker 2: their effort, but it's the fact that they feed off
Speaker 2: of us because they realize, yeah, Louisville is a place
Speaker 2: that loves basketball. Because they're seeing how much we appreciate
Speaker 2: everything they give us their reflection of Pat Kelsey, and
Speaker 2: we're eating we're eating that up, I mean, and to me,
Speaker 2: it's the it's these are the guys that have kind
Speaker 2: of made you, I don't want to say fall back
Speaker 2: in love, because you never fell out of love with
Speaker 2: Louisville basketball, but man, they hit you in the fields
Speaker 2: to make you realize just how much you missed, how
Speaker 2: great look. And again, I would have preferred not to
Speaker 2: go through what Louisville went through in the last three
Speaker 2: to four years, right, we all would. But if there
Speaker 2: is a silver lining, it's that it's made you appreciate
Speaker 2: little things that we may have never been able to.
Speaker 2: Like if Louisville was able to sustain where we were
Speaker 2: at with the mid two thousands, I mean, it would
Speaker 2: have been great, right, it would have been real successful,
Speaker 2: would have been fun. But man, I've fallen for a
Speaker 2: team in a way that I really don't even know
Speaker 2: what to compare it to because of all the circumstances
Speaker 2: involved here. So yeah, I mean, every one of these
Speaker 2: guys has an important role. They embrace it, they know
Speaker 2: who they are as players. And again this is gonna
Speaker 2: sound corny to some, but it's just the truth. These
Speaker 2: guys appreciate being here, and we appreciate that they wanted
Speaker 2: to be here, and they're helping this thing get turned around.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I can't. I can't. I mean, I know
Speaker 2: I've said a billion times, but it's just been such
Speaker 2: a fun ride so far. And I think you're right,
Speaker 2: We're gonna remember these. I mean, let's also remind ourselves
Speaker 2: it's gonna be hard to find somebody like Rain Smith.
Speaker 2: Louivill basketball has been a phenomenal program for a long time. Right, Well,
Speaker 2: Ray Smith's gonna do something this year that's never been
Speaker 2: done when it comes to the amount of three point
Speaker 2: shots he makes. Chucky Hepburn, I believe is one of
Speaker 2: the best point guards we've had in my lifetime here,
Speaker 2: and I mean that just because of how good he is.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: Some guys are remembered more so because of tournament runs
Speaker 2: and all that kind of stuff, But like Chucky is
Speaker 2: sensational and it's not saying he's the best player, but
Speaker 2: I mean pretty damn good. All right, let's get to
Speaker 2: one more call before we get to our first break
Speaker 2: here in the five o'clock hour.
Speaker 3: Let's go to Captain Kirk. What's up, Kirk? Are we doing? Brother?
Speaker 4: Hey?
Speaker 7: What's going on next here? How you doing today?
Speaker 3: My man?
Speaker 1: Doing well?
Speaker 3: How about yourself?
Speaker 7: I'm doing pretty good?
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 7: I got to say, it's really gratifying to just have
Speaker 7: all of our all of our pieces back to the
Speaker 7: puzzle there. It's like a good pot of chili without
Speaker 7: their blamers chili powder. It's just not a pot of chili,
Speaker 7: you know. And uh, I wanted to let you know
Speaker 7: that I did hear announcers say last night about Chucky
Speaker 7: about his growing He said that that Chucky had said
Speaker 7: that he had a real bad growing pool last year,
Speaker 7: way worse than this one. And he didn't miss in.
Speaker 7: He didn't miss any time over that. So boy, that
Speaker 7: made me feel real good, Like wow, but you know,
Speaker 7: you still stay on the edge on eggshells. You know,
Speaker 7: you're you're watching the whole time going please don't grab
Speaker 7: your growing again, you know. So it's just really gratifying
Speaker 7: this little team. I'm just speechless, you know.
Speaker 3: Yep, they're a lot of fun. They're a lot of fun. Kirk.
Speaker 2: I appreciate the call, brother, And now you got me
Speaker 2: want in chili for dinner. So this is good weather
Speaker 2: for the temperatures dropping. It's getting cold outside. But no,
Speaker 2: with Chuck, he's growing. I mean, I'm not surprised that
Speaker 2: I reacted the way that I did, because again, I
Speaker 2: worry about things that I should never worry about. It's
Speaker 2: just kind of my nature, unfortunately. But to hear that
Speaker 2: he had this confirms that this was really just more
Speaker 2: than anything, a real issue. But also they were being
Speaker 2: cautious because he dealt with it last year.
Speaker 3: Didn't miss time.
Speaker 2: Well, hey, let's see if we can get him healthy
Speaker 2: because we're going to certainly need him to make a
Speaker 2: deep run. And oh, by the way, I believe in
Speaker 2: my guys. Next man up. He can sit out against
Speaker 2: Miami and we should be just fine. Which they were
Speaker 2: so good stuff. All right, quick break, we will come
Speaker 2: back and keep this party rolling along. Not a whole
Speaker 2: lot of time left, but double make the most of it.
Speaker 2: They'll go anywhere. Coffee and Company fuelbouth Thornton's right here
Speaker 2: on Sports Talk seven to ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine.
Speaker 2: Day, real quick, one more Louisville basketball stat that again,
Speaker 2: I know I'm walking into people taking this and just
Speaker 2: running with the ACC see being terrible, But I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna let these impressive numbers just be ignored. I will
Speaker 2: factor in the ACC being what it is. But Louisville
Speaker 2: this year, this team is the first and one hundred
Speaker 2: and eleven seasons of Louisville basketball history to have five
Speaker 2: twenty point wins on opponents' home courts, roadkill, and you
Speaker 2: could play in a league that is even worse than
Speaker 2: the ACC this year and have a tough time doing that.
Speaker 2: And it's not because I'm saying these teams are better.
Speaker 2: But this group, for the most part, really I don't
Speaker 2: believe that when they lost to Georgia Tech it was
Speaker 2: because they were some crazy different version of themselves. They
Speaker 2: they didn't play as well, and george Tech made a
Speaker 2: lot of shots, and look, Louisville was a factor. They
Speaker 2: miss free throws, they didn't execute great down the stretch.
Speaker 3: But I mean, these.
Speaker 2: Guys, they really do approach it one game at a time.
Speaker 2: I don't think of at any point see any sign
Speaker 2: for anybody within this program, player, coach, whatever, that has
Speaker 2: ever gotten a little full of themselves because of what
Speaker 2: people are saying. And I think that speaks to the
Speaker 2: maturity of everybody. But also they got a good leader
Speaker 2: and it's working out in a beautiful way right now,
Speaker 2: all right, Coffee and company? Feel about Thornton's here on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven ninety. Make sure you sign up to
Speaker 2: become a member of the Refreshing Awards program if you
Speaker 2: haven't already, so there's now two people that have embarrassed themselves.
Speaker 2: And I've embarrassed myself many times in life. I've probably
Speaker 2: done it a few times today on this show. Even so,
Speaker 2: I try not to, you know, make fun of people,
Speaker 2: because it can happen. And I kind of feel like
Speaker 2: this is one of those things that I don't believe
Speaker 2: I would have been in the same situation as these guys,
Speaker 2: because I think I would have either set it out
Speaker 2: loud or set it inside my head before I set
Speaker 2: it out loud, meaning, you know, I would have realized
Speaker 2: something doesn't add up here. Let me before I say
Speaker 2: something that might be really stupid, let me, you know,
Speaker 2: let me do some like fact checking on my end.
Speaker 2: And what I'm referring to is Carl Rabitsch, and ESPN
Speaker 2: broadcaster who was on the call the other night for
Speaker 2: the Alabama Texas game, and to emphasize how competitive the
Speaker 2: SEC was, he referenced that the entire conference top to
Speaker 2: bottom is.
Speaker 3: Five hundred. That's their record.
Speaker 2: He didn't have the ability to understand that in league play,
Speaker 2: there are two teams that play each of the same league.
Speaker 2: In every one of those games, there's a winner and
Speaker 2: there's a loser. Therefore, at the end of I mean, like,
Speaker 2: I don't need to explain it to people, but he
Speaker 2: made this goof.
Speaker 8: So think about it. We know how dominant they were
Speaker 8: in a non conference season the SEC, they were one
Speaker 8: hundred and eighty five and twenty three boomed. Since January
Speaker 8: fourth into Tuesday, the SEC teams are eighty two and
Speaker 8: eighty two. It's not as if one team or two
Speaker 8: teams or three, they're eighty two and eighty two. Like,
Speaker 8: there's been no ability to pull away. There's no dominant
Speaker 8: group of teams.
Speaker 3: That's tough to listen to.
Speaker 2: And again, I'm not a I'm not a smart man,
Speaker 2: and I'm sure I've said things worse than that, but
Speaker 2: that's a tough listen because, I mean, he was really emphasizing,
Speaker 2: I mean, come on, nobody's been able to pull away.
Speaker 2: And the other person that did it this kind of
Speaker 2: didn't get it. This didn't get as much attention because
Speaker 2: it was at a press conference. Archie Miller, former Indiana
Speaker 2: coach who's now at Rhode Island, he said the same thing.
Speaker 2: And the belief is that both of these guys this
Speaker 2: just speaks to sort of our culture now with how
Speaker 2: we consume information and how we mean, if you're active
Speaker 2: on Twitter, which a lot of us are, especially in
Speaker 2: the sports world, you don't know what's real.
Speaker 3: And what's not.
Speaker 2: So somebody put it out there and they were making
Speaker 2: a joke, not thinking that somebody would would run with it,
Speaker 2: and then a lot of people ran with it jokingly,
Speaker 2: and then some people got got But somebody said, everybody's
Speaker 2: talking about the SEC being so great, Well, how how
Speaker 2: you know? And that was Archie Miller who was like, well,
Speaker 2: everybody's talking about the SEC's being great, how about our league?
Speaker 2: And then he mentioned that the teams were five hundred
Speaker 2: in league play, and he didn't have you know, he
Speaker 2: didn't have the awareness to just know that, like, just
Speaker 2: just give it some thought. I mean, I say awareness,
Speaker 2: but it's more so than just it's more it's more
Speaker 2: just I guess, using your brain. So Carl Ravage did it,
Speaker 2: and it was it was tough. I felt for him.
Speaker 2: But now he's he's his response to it is worse.
Speaker 2: He tweeted this out earlier and I'm double checking to
Speaker 2: see if he since deleted. No, he said this yesterday.
Speaker 2: Just landed to see X is on fire. Simple explanation
Speaker 2: tongue in cheek eighty two eighty two record was to
Speaker 2: illustrate any night either team can win in one will
Speaker 2: clearly very poor execution on my part. It is amazing
Speaker 2: that Auburn Alabama have only lost once in such a
Speaker 2: great conference.
Speaker 3: That's all. No, no, that's not what you did.
Speaker 2: And it would be different if you said it and
Speaker 2: then left like a brief moment of silence to kind
Speaker 2: of have people thinking like, is this guy serious? You
Speaker 2: said it and you emphasized that nobody can pull away,
Speaker 2: and you're also not a jokester anyway, So like it's
Speaker 2: a tough l to take. You probably should have just
Speaker 2: stayed off of X and let it die down. You
Speaker 2: wanting people to believe that you didn't make that goof
Speaker 2: is really the worst look of the entire thing, in
Speaker 2: my opinion. So tough break for Carl Ravage now to
Speaker 2: make matters worse. It's not just you know, clowns like
Speaker 2: me on the radio making fun of him. He's now
Speaker 2: got SCC coaches making jokes because Mark Pope was asked
Speaker 2: about it earlier today at his press conference and he
Speaker 2: had some fun with it, which I didn't see this
Speaker 2: coming from Pope, and again, he's got to stop doing
Speaker 2: this stuff. He's got to stop being so damn likable,
Speaker 2: because I'm tired of it.
Speaker 5: Coach, everybody talks about the SEC being the best conference
Speaker 5: in college basketball, but the conference is just five hundred
Speaker 5: since conference play started. What do you make of it?
Speaker 5: I think it's been a really disappointing start the conference play.
Speaker 5: I feel like we should, you know, I feel like
Speaker 5: we're not living up to the expectations just being at
Speaker 5: five hundred as a conference, and I just, you know,
Speaker 5: I'm kind of looking around at the other programs that leading,
Speaker 5: but like, guys, we got to pick this up. This
Speaker 5: is embarrassing, and so we'll find a way. I pick
Speaker 5: this up. This is embarrassing, and we'll find a way.
Speaker 5: I believe in this league. I think we definitely have
Speaker 5: an upside and we're gonna work really hard to get there.
Speaker 2: If Mark Pope's cracking jokes at you definition of down
Speaker 2: bad and that's not an insult to Pope, but to me,
Speaker 2: he seems like the guy that if you're if you're
Speaker 2: you know, busting each other's chops and there's you know,
Speaker 2: the fellas being fellas. He'd be the guy to like,
Speaker 2: all right, guys lighting up like he'd be the nice one, right,
Speaker 2: But when he's getting they're setting it up on a
Speaker 2: tee for him in Lexington and he's drinking his diet coke,
Speaker 2: clowning Carl.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's that's.
Speaker 2: A tough, tough situation for Carl Ravage and I look,
Speaker 2: I've just accepted that. I'm I'm gonna have a tough
Speaker 2: time disliking Mark Pope.
Speaker 3: It's just a thing.
Speaker 2: And I don't see any you know, he is Both coaches,
Speaker 2: by the way, I feel like are they're not like
Speaker 2: super similar as far as personality at all. Pope seems
Speaker 2: a little more chill. Pat Kelsey, I think I don't
Speaker 2: think he ever sleeps. I'm not sure he's ever slept
Speaker 2: a second in his life. To be honest with you,
Speaker 2: my man is always he's he's always on right. But
Speaker 2: they're relatable, they're down to earth, they don't take themselves
Speaker 2: too serious, and I think that is now the new
Speaker 2: way to kind of grow your brand in college basketball
Speaker 2: and really stand out. But also I think it's how
Speaker 2: you win. I think it's how you relate to I
Speaker 2: think it's how you recruit and how you coach players
Speaker 2: to where you know it's all about relationships and and
Speaker 2: you have you can't be that. You can you can
Speaker 2: be the drill sergeant and you're always gonna hold your
Speaker 2: players accountable. But to know that they can just up
Speaker 2: and leave now, I think you have to be somebody
Speaker 2: that they don't.
Speaker 3: Just play hard for.
Speaker 2: They like you, They have to like you, and maybe
Speaker 2: at times they end to practice and they don't feel
Speaker 2: the same way, but there's way more of the likability
Speaker 2: to where they trust that you are coaching them as
Speaker 2: hard as you are because you have good intentions. And
Speaker 2: that's just that's not how the legends in this sport
Speaker 2: have have typically gone about it. I mean, everybody's different,
Speaker 2: nobody's the same person. But it's a new world and
Speaker 2: I think both coaches here in this state have shown
Speaker 2: early on they have some traits that I think are
Speaker 2: going to be really, really important that didn't used to
Speaker 2: really matter at all. In fact, it might it used
Speaker 2: to probably be a negative in the grand scheme of things.
Speaker 2: All Right, let's get our last time out out of
Speaker 2: the way. We'll come back on the other side. I
Speaker 2: want to spend make sure we have a little more
Speaker 2: time than we usually do, because we've already got Louisville
Speaker 2: with a pretty solid start to the twenty twenty five class,
Speaker 2: the five star McDonald's All American who is going to
Speaker 2: be sensational next year.
Speaker 3: Mickel Brown.
Speaker 2: Also, we got the big man who's coming over from Germany,
Speaker 2: Big Frew, Big Freu. And by the way, his name
Speaker 2: is Sonny Frew. What a name, Sonny Frew. I love it.
Speaker 2: I don't know how you got Sonny from Sonandra or
Speaker 2: whatever it was, but Sonny Frew.
Speaker 3: I like that.
Speaker 2: That's fun to say, you know. He said that in
Speaker 2: a movie Buddy the Elf.
Speaker 3: There was a guy that went over my head.
Speaker 2: There was a guy in as off as It's office
Speaker 2: named Francisco, and he said, Francisco.
Speaker 3: That's fun to say. So is Sonny Froo Sonny Fru Baby.
Speaker 2: Anyways, they're already in a good spot, but there's a
Speaker 2: five star recruit that recruiting insiders are now saying Louisville
Speaker 2: is the leader for And I'm trying not to get
Speaker 2: my hopes up, but man, that'd be special.
Speaker 3: So stick around, will finish strong.
Speaker 2: Here it's a Thursday Coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's
Speaker 2: on Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 1: Ninety Now back to Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's
Speaker 1: on Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: So we talked earlier about the current dispute between Paramount
Speaker 2: and YouTube TV. A lot of channels could be gone
Speaker 2: from YouTube TV until they get it figured out, including
Speaker 2: channels that are going to have the NAA Tournament games,
Speaker 2: which would be a real disaster for us around here.
Speaker 2: But YouTube TV usually does a pretty good job if
Speaker 2: they have a dispute or some kind of an issue
Speaker 2: they have. To my knowledge, they haven't had a whole
Speaker 2: lot of outage, but there was a couple of times
Speaker 2: where they had an issue that impacted so that was
Speaker 2: on their end, and they'll always take a little bit
Speaker 2: off your bill or do whatever they can to help
Speaker 2: you out. I'm glad somebody sent this on the text
Speaker 2: line that YouTube TV is offering subscribers an eight dollars
Speaker 2: credit to subscribe to Paramount Plus so they can still
Speaker 2: watch those channels while being clear that they totally get
Speaker 2: it if they lose subs in this dispute. So in
Speaker 2: other words, they're actually letting you know that they understand totally,
Speaker 2: but they've got to do what they've got to do,
Speaker 2: and they, I guess are on their end are as
Speaker 2: they're is as far as they can go within the negotiations.
Speaker 2: So I remember Time Warner did the same thing, and
Speaker 2: which it was Time Warner, which I think Time Warner
Speaker 2: owned Spectrum. I could be wrong, but whenever it happened
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago when Louisville football was on
Speaker 2: ESPN for their opener against Georgia Tech, I don't think
Speaker 2: it lasted a whole long time. In fact, they got
Speaker 2: it done right before the NFL season started, because that
Speaker 2: would have been a real disaster to not have ESPN
Speaker 2: for the NFL with money night football and really everything.
Speaker 2: So anyways, they were they were like giving customers options
Speaker 2: of things they can sign up for a free trial for,
Speaker 2: and I remember thinking to myself, that is so stupid.
Speaker 2: You were basically giving them an invitation to go leave
Speaker 2: you and find out they don't need you. And again
Speaker 2: from people who texted in earlier when we were talking
Speaker 2: about it, that's exactly what happened. Because they couldn't get
Speaker 2: it on their Spectrum cable subscription, they signed up for
Speaker 2: the free trial of YouTube TV and probably realized, oh,
Speaker 2: this is a fraction of the cost half the cost.
Speaker 2: I don't need spectrum anymore, so I mean, to me,
Speaker 2: that seems kind of silly. I guess they could find
Speaker 2: They're going to find out one way or the other.
Speaker 2: But I guess it makes you look like you're still
Speaker 2: caring about customers despite your contract dispute, that you know
Speaker 2: your customers have nothing to do with all.
Speaker 3: Right, real quick, before we're not out of time.
Speaker 2: I won't claim to be an insider in any way
Speaker 2: when it comes to recruiting because I don't even keep
Speaker 2: up with it as much as I probably should. But
Speaker 2: keep up with it enough, I guess to you know,
Speaker 2: to discuss it. And Nate Amant is a name that
Speaker 2: you don't really have to keep up with recruiting to
Speaker 2: know who he is one of the top players in
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty five class, and currently he is down
Speaker 2: to it sounds like Louisville, duke in Kentucky and Joe Tipton,
Speaker 2: who covers recruiting for on three sports.
Speaker 3: He believes that Louisville is the leader.
Speaker 2: I mean, he actually put it up either today or
Speaker 2: yesterday that I'll read directly. It says in speaking with
Speaker 2: sources this week Louisville and Duke, or the two schools
Speaker 2: that have positioned themselves the best as of today. I
Speaker 2: would slightly favor Pat Kelsey and the Cardinals. However, there's
Speaker 2: still time in this recruitment and it's hard to count
Speaker 2: out John Shire. So Kentucky's also involved, and they're actually
Speaker 2: going to get a visit from him coming up here soon,
Speaker 2: so he'd be a huge addition.
Speaker 3: I'm still gonna be just.
Speaker 2: Excited about Louisville basketball regardless of what this kid does,
Speaker 2: because I believe in Pat Kelsey and it's nice to
Speaker 2: get really talented freshmen that can help you can I
Speaker 2: Rus is a guy that his stats don't show it,
Speaker 2: but if you watch you can tell that guy's got
Speaker 2: some real ability and he's a little different than all
Speaker 2: the guys out there, just with what he's been blessed
Speaker 2: to be able to do with his size and his
Speaker 2: skill set. So you know, it'd be a big eel
Speaker 2: but help you with the momentum. I'd love to have him,
Speaker 2: but you just aren't as relying upon eighteen year old
Speaker 2: phenoms in order to be really good one year to
Speaker 2: the other. But hey, I'll take him. It sounds like
Speaker 2: it's gonna be a highest bidder kind of situation, so
Speaker 2: we'll see. But he is the number four player in
Speaker 2: the country, a five star recruit, a six ' nine
Speaker 2: forward slash wing, so we'll see what happens.
Speaker 3: All right. We're at a time, so enjoy your evening. Everybody.
Speaker 3: Stay warm, it's getting really cold outside. But we're back
Speaker 3: at it tomorrow for a feel good Friday.
Speaker 2: Always love the Friday vibes around here, so come back
Speaker 2: and join us at three o'clock on Sports Talk seven
Speaker 2: ninety