Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Diay Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: on a Thursday edition our show abbreviated Tonight for UK
Speaker 1: women's basketball, the Wildcats taking on the Texas Longhorns at
Speaker 1: Historic Memorial Coliseum. Darren Hedrick will have the call for you.
Speaker 1: Was pregame coming up at six forty five at Kenny
Speaker 1: Brooks and then the tip off minute or two after
Speaker 1: seven o'clock Cats and Longhorns Historic Memorial Coliseum, an historic game,
Speaker 1: Texas playing as a member of the SEC for the
Speaker 1: first time here in Lexington, and it's a huge game
Speaker 1: as the Wildcats are trying to bounce back from that
Speaker 1: puzzling loss down at Ole Miss when they just got
Speaker 1: hammered on the board, didn't play nearly enough physical basketball
Speaker 1: to hold off the Rebels. Kentucky Blue big lead early
Speaker 1: and just could not make plays when it had to.
Speaker 1: So we'll see what kind of adjustments and changes that
Speaker 1: Kenny Brooks's team will have made, and we'll have it
Speaker 1: for you right here as Darren has the call coming
Speaker 1: up very shortly. But the UK men of course play
Speaker 1: at Texas on Saturday. Another one you'll hear right here
Speaker 1: on six thirty wlap, Tom and jack will have it
Speaker 1: for you. Kentucky beats Tennessee despite not having Jackson Robinson,
Speaker 1: who had a huge game against the Balls down in Knoxville.
Speaker 1: And you know how good Tennessee is defensively, one of,
Speaker 1: if not the best, in the country. And yet the
Speaker 1: Wildcats and Jackson wasn't the only one. But the Cats
Speaker 1: had a great game offensively down there and made enough
Speaker 1: stops to win the game. So coming back this week,
Speaker 1: I wondered, minus Jackson Robinson but with Lamont Butler, could
Speaker 1: the Wildcats beat Tennessee. I would not have been surprised
Speaker 1: if Kentucky had lost that game. Tennessee is just really good.
Speaker 1: And when Tennessee caught up and had a chance to
Speaker 1: catch up, you might recall, but you know, Kentucky took
Speaker 1: the early lead and it was, you know, a four
Speaker 1: to six eight point game, back and forth, and then
Speaker 1: Tennessee got close, and I think three times missed an
Speaker 1: opportunity to tie the game or take the lead. But
Speaker 1: finally it did. And when it did, I thought, okay,
Speaker 1: and I think who was it? Chris Fisher, I think
Speaker 1: of two four to seven Sports tweeted that he was
Speaker 1: impressed because oftentimes when a team surrenders a lead, it
Speaker 1: just kind of and I'm paraphrasing, now's my term. Let's
Speaker 1: go with the rope a little bit, and the other
Speaker 1: team that caught up just kind of moves off, you know,
Speaker 1: eases a way to victory. I wondered if that would
Speaker 1: happen with this Kentucky team, but it did not, as
Speaker 1: you know. And in fact, Kentucky was down sixty to
Speaker 1: fifty eight with a ball and I said to myself,
Speaker 1: they have got to score. I think they were like
Speaker 1: two and a half minutes left, and I thought, they
Speaker 1: have got to score here. Because as they give up
Speaker 1: a bucket at the other end, tennessee me get away
Speaker 1: from him and Kobe Bray comes down and drains a three,
Speaker 1: I mean, with somebody in his grill. And then later
Speaker 1: on he hits Oway with that lob dunk that really
Speaker 1: sealed the game. That which is so impressive the way
Speaker 1: and by now they had lost Lamont Butler, so Oway
Speaker 1: was playing some point. I mean, it was so impressive
Speaker 1: the way that team pulled together. And I'll go back
Speaker 1: and we'll talk. Jack Givans is gonna join us tomorrow.
Speaker 1: I love that comment. That Jack made early in the year,
Speaker 1: and I've come back to it because it's relevant so
Speaker 1: often that when things aren't going perfectly for this team,
Speaker 1: the players aren't all craning in their necks to see
Speaker 1: what the coach wants them to do, as they did
Speaker 1: in their previous management because the teams were often so young,
Speaker 1: and while they had young guys on the court, specifically
Speaker 1: Travis Perry, Trent Noah, the veterans on the court know
Speaker 1: what to do and they and what's expected and they
Speaker 1: solve the problems themselves. I'm not saying they're not getting
Speaker 1: direction from Mark Pope, but they just didn't panic and
Speaker 1: they made plays. And that's what's just really interesting about
Speaker 1: watching this team, watching it grow, and it should be
Speaker 1: really interesting in the postseason to watch them adjust on
Speaker 1: the fly to learn game plans for teams they know
Speaker 1: nothing about yesterday and today we got a game plan
Speaker 1: for a team or playing tomorrow. That kind of thing.
Speaker 1: That's what happens in the nca tournament. So this team
Speaker 1: is growing and maturing before our very eyes. But there
Speaker 1: are so many different storylines, including Butler being damaged again
Speaker 1: Jackson Robinson. You know when Mark Pope used the word
Speaker 1: a heartbroken after the game man. That sent a chill
Speaker 1: through me. I thought, are we going to see Jackson
Speaker 1: Robinson again? Are we going to see him before the tournament?
Speaker 1: If at all? But Kentucky's making adjustments, finding ways to win.
Speaker 1: And I think as long as they have Butler, no
Speaker 1: disrespect to Robinson, they need him too. Wellout Butler, though,
Speaker 1: it's going to be really tough and that Rick Barnes
Speaker 1: talked about Kentucky's point guard, Well.
Speaker 2: He's really good defensively, but also he gives him that.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's their best downhill driver and a guy
Speaker 2: that experience been around. I think I love the way
Speaker 2: he plays, you know, I really do. And he I
Speaker 2: hate that he got hurt again because those shoulders, they're
Speaker 2: hard to deal with this time of year, especially when
Speaker 2: you're at the point where you're getting hit a lot.
Speaker 2: I just hate that for him and for them. But
Speaker 2: he's a difference maker because he want his tough, hard
Speaker 2: nose can't affect the game on both ends.
Speaker 1: Is Rick Barnes, Tennessee's coach, talking about the veteran Lamont Butler,
Speaker 1: and as I mentioned earlier, Kentucky getting great play from
Speaker 1: the freshman Perry and Trent Noah, and I think we'll
Speaker 1: see even more of that down the stretch now as
Speaker 1: Mark Pope tries to figure out where, when, and how
Speaker 1: to play these guys. And my buddy Jeff Drummond from
Speaker 1: Cat's Illustrated ask Kobe Brea about, you know, the notion
Speaker 1: that as of now they're not freshmen anymore, And to
Speaker 1: one degree, he's right, and that they've played more basketball
Speaker 1: when you factor in pick up games and practices now
Speaker 1: than they ever have in their entire lives. Because then
Speaker 1: I've heard so many coaches and players talk about this
Speaker 1: high school to college. There's just so much more. Games
Speaker 1: are longer, practices are longer. So they're reaching a point
Speaker 1: and Caliperi used to talk about guys hitting the wall.
Speaker 1: Doesn't look like the freshmen for Kentucky are right now,
Speaker 1: but they are still freshmen, and that they're experiencing everything.
Speaker 1: And I keep saying this for the first time. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't buy well their sophomores, but no, they have
Speaker 1: never experienced a stretch run to a conference tournament or
Speaker 1: the NCAAA. Yeah, they've played in high school tournaments, not
Speaker 1: the same. But I do like the way these guys
Speaker 1: are maturing, the young guys for the Wildcats, and Brea
Speaker 1: talked about the fact that they the veterans see the
Speaker 1: freshman every day in practice. They see how hard they work,
Speaker 1: and it's paying off.
Speaker 3: For me personally, Like it's such a good feeling, just
Speaker 3: like it kind of feels like watching myself a little bit,
Speaker 3: just because I remember, you know, being in their shoes
Speaker 3: and going through those moments and having a big moment,
Speaker 3: big game like that, and it's just like, like I said, man,
Speaker 3: those guys they put in the work, So just to
Speaker 3: see them, you know, see the word payoff, like I
Speaker 3: think thing is going to give them a lot more
Speaker 3: confidence and just you know, make sure that they keep going.
Speaker 1: They are playing with confidence. And I thought about this
Speaker 1: as much with Trent no as I did Travis Perry,
Speaker 1: but watching Noah do his thing. The other day, I
Speaker 1: flashed back to the State championships the week of the
Speaker 1: State championships last year, the state tournament because I got
Speaker 1: a chance. The baseball schedule worked out to where I
Speaker 1: could go to just about every session, and I watched
Speaker 1: Tren Noah make Rupperena his personal play thing, and so
Speaker 1: did Travis Perry, but Noah, especially because Noah is a
Speaker 1: big guy. He's somewhere between sixty six and sixty seven, legit,
Speaker 1: and he carries some muscle. He's got muscle on that frame,
Speaker 1: and he basically muscled his way through the Sweet sixteen.
Speaker 1: Perry a little bit more of a finesse player, good passer,
Speaker 1: good shooter, obviously great scorer, but Noah just basically imposed
Speaker 1: his will on opponents. And watching him play the other night,
Speaker 1: he looked so confident, relaxing at ease in Rupperena, and
Speaker 1: I thought, well, why not, because yeah, he's played a
Speaker 1: few games, but coming into this season, he knew that
Speaker 1: playing surface, he knew that building that was home for
Speaker 1: him for almost a week, and he played that way,
Speaker 1: played that way against Tennessee and again, Bray and the
Speaker 1: veterans love to see it. And they also loved when
Speaker 1: Perry and Noah hit three pointers. The crowd reaction is
Speaker 1: a little bit different from when the veterans they had
Speaker 1: of towners might hit a three. Why not.
Speaker 3: It's a different energy that you know gets into the
Speaker 3: arena and it's just like, rightfully, so you know he's
Speaker 3: from Kentucky. I'm sure he's like rewatched his moment like
Speaker 3: in his head over and over again, and just for
Speaker 3: him to have that, man, it's crazy. And like you said, man,
Speaker 3: like the arena gets super loud in there, and it's
Speaker 3: just a momentum shifting for us.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: It's like he hits a shy, everybody goes wid and
Speaker 3: now you gotta keep on going. So it definitely gives
Speaker 3: us a lot of energy.
Speaker 1: And you know, if you've been in reparenda this year,
Speaker 1: when the ball swings around, I love the crowd reaction
Speaker 1: to when it finds either Noah or Perry if they're
Speaker 1: on the perimeter or Brea in what looks like could
Speaker 1: be a position to shoot the basketball. The crowd because
Speaker 1: the hopes rise, don't they hear the oh, you know,
Speaker 1: like he's gonna shoot it, you know, and then they
Speaker 1: pass and it's almost like, you know, especially if there's
Speaker 1: an opportunity there, if the crowd fans think that they've
Speaker 1: missed an open shot. But generally, if they swing the
Speaker 1: ball one more time, somebody's got a better shot. But again,
Speaker 1: that's part of the fun for this team. So it's
Speaker 1: really interesting to hear the comments from the veterans watching
Speaker 1: the freshmen and they're hard work paying off. Coming up next,
Speaker 1: we're gonna hear from a couple of the ESPN guys
Speaker 1: talk about just how strong the Southeastern Conference is. That
Speaker 1: has been the mantra since before the season even began,
Speaker 1: not just conference play, but the entire season. It looked
Speaker 1: that way and it certainly has been an incredible year
Speaker 1: already for the SEC. A little bit later on, well,
Speaker 1: help from another one of the members of the seventy
Speaker 1: four to seventy five team who came through town this
Speaker 1: past week, Mike Flynn will join us and we'll get
Speaker 1: his thoughts on how that team pulled together and made
Speaker 1: a Final Four run and got the cast that within
Speaker 1: one win him another national championship. So that's coming up,
Speaker 1: and then we'll make way for UK basketball here on
Speaker 1: six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: Coming up Saturday, the Wildcats taking on Texas down in
Speaker 1: Austin the game you will hear right here on six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP. Kentucky will not win the SEC championship. We
Speaker 1: know that the regular season could win the SEC tournament.
Speaker 1: And one of the things I will not miss about
Speaker 1: John Caliperi and Arkansas people will have to deal with
Speaker 1: this as well. His whining about the SEC tournament. And
Speaker 1: you recall every time Can Chucky would go into a tournament,
Speaker 1: especially when the Cats were favored to win it, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter if we win it or not. Look, you
Speaker 1: knew that going in, and I've said it so many times.
Speaker 1: The SEC, if it really cares about its teams, would
Speaker 1: move the championship game to Saturday. So maybe maybe winning
Speaker 1: the championship on a Saturday wouldn't matter. It definitely doesn't
Speaker 1: matter much unless an underdog pulls off a huge upset
Speaker 1: on Sunday because they've got the tournament seeded and for
Speaker 1: the most part, bracketed by Friday. We've been told this
Speaker 1: for years, but yeah, the conference tournaments make money, they
Speaker 1: bring in eyeballs, all that stuff. I'd be fine if
Speaker 1: they did away with all of them. But I understand
Speaker 1: why the smaller conferences like them. They're one shot at
Speaker 1: being on ESPN. But right now, teams are playing for
Speaker 1: the bracketing, especially when they are buys involved or double
Speaker 1: buyes involved, so vital of course for everybody to win
Speaker 1: every game they can. And you know, the Wildcats are
Speaker 1: no exception. It's gonna be tough. It's a good Texas team,
Speaker 1: not a great Texas team, and Kentucky likely won't have
Speaker 1: Jackson Robinson. We won't know for a while if they'll
Speaker 1: have Lamont Butler, but you heard Rick Barnes talk about
Speaker 1: Butler in the first segment, and I don't think Kentucky
Speaker 1: can go far without him quite frankly, So got to
Speaker 1: keep him healthy, even if it means holding him for
Speaker 1: a game or two. You need him down the stretch obviously,
Speaker 1: So we'll have it for you right here on six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP Tomorrow. Jack Gibbons is going to join us
Speaker 1: on the show and preview that game you heard him
Speaker 1: on with Tom Leech earlier today. But I have other
Speaker 1: questions for Jack about the Wildcats went over Tennessee, particularly
Speaker 1: how much fun Jack had, because trust me, he loves
Speaker 1: to be Tennessee. So that'll be on tomorrow night's show.
Speaker 1: But tonight we've got comments that we borrowed from ESPN
Speaker 1: from the Get Up Show. You might have seen this,
Speaker 1: but kyral Ravitsch and Jay Billis appeared on the show,
Speaker 1: and of course you see them on coverage of SEC basketball.
Speaker 1: They talked about Lenardi's bracketology that actually was updated last
Speaker 1: on February eleventh. All right, that was two days ago,
Speaker 1: and that was prior to Kentucky's win over Tennessee, and
Speaker 1: prior to the Balls losing that game, they were a
Speaker 1: one seed. Might still be for all I know according
Speaker 1: to Joe Lonardi. But in the latest brackets that Leonardi
Speaker 1: had put out three SEC teams or one seeds Alabama, Auburn,
Speaker 1: and Tennessee. Maybe that changes after this weekend when Alabama
Speaker 1: and Auburn square off, but he is predicting what will
Speaker 1: happen on Selection Sunday, and even if those one of
Speaker 1: those two teams obviously will lose, but they may end
Speaker 1: up still in a few weeks being a one sea.
Speaker 1: And so my Tennessee as one of, if not the
Speaker 1: best defensive team in the country. You know, Tennessee's going
Speaker 1: to be a tough out, But just watching that team
Speaker 1: struggle to score against Kentucky and making bad decisions against
Speaker 1: the Kentucky team, it's okay defensively, but not one of
Speaker 1: the best in the country by any means, And according
Speaker 1: to the latest Ken Pom, in the low eighties. Now
Speaker 1: when it comes to defense, I just would not take
Speaker 1: Tennessee as a one seed right now, but you never know.
Speaker 1: The walls may jump up in surprise es. But Ravits
Speaker 1: and Billis both talked about how relatively strong the Southeastern
Speaker 1: Conference is this season, and it's something that everybody who's
Speaker 1: followed college basketball has known since before the season even began.
Speaker 1: Ravits goes first, and then Billis.
Speaker 4: Now, I don't think we've seen anything like it in
Speaker 4: terms of depth, in terms of quality, depth and national
Speaker 4: championship contenders. Now, those three teams that are on the
Speaker 4: one line right now are three that I think could win.
Speaker 1: The national championship.
Speaker 4: The others are all good teams, are capable of upsetting
Speaker 4: highly ranked teams, are capable.
Speaker 5: Of making deep runs.
Speaker 4: But all of them to me, other than Auburn, Alabama,
Speaker 4: and Florida have some offensive liabilities and can go in
Speaker 4: offington wells. I think it hurt them, you know, over
Speaker 4: the course of a long tournament. But I think the
Speaker 4: depth in the competitive character of the entire conference is
Speaker 4: really as good, if not better than anything we've ever seen.
Speaker 1: Jay you.
Speaker 6: It's it's the best basketball conference top to bottom relative
Speaker 6: to the field that we have ever seen. They put
Speaker 6: up numbers that compare favorably to the mid eighties and
Speaker 6: the ACC. But people forget the ACC had eight teams
Speaker 6: back then. It's a lot easier to have eight good
Speaker 6: teams than it is to have sixteen, and it has
Speaker 6: been remarkable now. But that doesn't mean that Houston or
Speaker 6: Duke can't win the national championship.
Speaker 7: Nobody's saying that, you.
Speaker 6: Know, because the SEC is the best conference that automatically
Speaker 6: they're going to have the entire Elite eight or the
Speaker 6: entire Final four. That's not what anybody's saying. But no
Speaker 6: other league can match what the SEC has done this year,
Speaker 6: and historically it matches what any other league has done. Ever,
Speaker 6: I think it's the most powerful league top to bottom
Speaker 6: that we've ever seen relative.
Speaker 3: To the field.
Speaker 1: And again that's courtesy of ESPN's Get Up program from
Speaker 1: the other day. I give Ravas credit. He took the
Speaker 1: hit on Twitter tweeted it out sometime within the last
Speaker 1: twenty four hours. He was another guy who went on
Speaker 1: the air and was kind of knocking the notion that
Speaker 1: the SEC was so strong because he quoted a number
Speaker 1: of games that SEC teams had played in total, and
Speaker 1: then remarked about how the overall record for SEC teams
Speaker 1: was exactly five hundred. Well, duh, one team's gonna win
Speaker 1: and one's gonna lose every night. And somebody else is
Speaker 1: said that a couple of weeks ago. And that's what
Speaker 1: amazed me about Ravage is that somebody else had made
Speaker 1: that same mistake and caught some flag for it on
Speaker 1: social media, and Ravag, I guess didn't see it, didn't
Speaker 1: notice because he said the same thing. But he went
Speaker 1: on to Twitter and said he was on a plane
Speaker 1: for four hours and when he got off, he saw
Speaker 1: the response to his remarks and he said, yeah, I
Speaker 1: I was wrong. He said, I'm always glad to be
Speaker 1: basically I'm paraphrasing, but you know, happy to learn from
Speaker 1: my mistakes, and I appreciate it. And da da da
Speaker 1: da dah. But that's what amazed me the most. Somebody
Speaker 1: else had already taken that hit, and Ravage took it
Speaker 1: as well. And he never said anything, apparently to anybody else, like, hey,
Speaker 1: can you believe x y Z? And Billis is a
Speaker 1: smart guy. If he had said it to Billis, I'm
Speaker 1: sure Jay would have said, uh, yeah, that's the way
Speaker 1: it works. So yeah, But I give I give Ravage
Speaker 1: credit for accepting the heat. All right, when we come back.
Speaker 1: We're here from another one of the members of the
Speaker 1: seventy four to seventy five Kentucky team honored this past weekend,
Speaker 1: the team that made it to the championship game fifty
Speaker 1: years ago, got the Wildcats to the final four, came
Speaker 1: back from a really difficult season the year before, and
Speaker 1: made some memories. That's up next, just ahead of Kentucky
Speaker 1: women's basketball, the Wildcats taking on those Texas longhornge. You
Speaker 1: hear it right here on six point thirty WLAP. That's
Speaker 1: Jimmy dan Connor, All Conference Player, academic, All American. And
Speaker 1: I'm glad he told that story because I was going
Speaker 1: to After that North Carolina game, Joe Hall went to
Speaker 1: Bill Kyteley, went to the equipment guys, said, gimme Jimmy
Speaker 1: Dan's trunks and he had had them so a star
Speaker 1: on it that signified him as the team captain four
Speaker 1: games into the season. He did that in thirty seven minutes.
Speaker 1: In that game, Jimmy Dan scored thirty five points on
Speaker 1: only twenty one shots. He was fifteen of twenty one
Speaker 1: and most from the outside As I recall, that game
Speaker 1: was in Freedom Hall in Louisville. I wasn't there, but
Speaker 1: I watched the delayed telecast. Thirty five points and four
Speaker 1: assists for Jimmy Dan in that game, and again Kentucky
Speaker 1: had to come from behind to win it, so that
Speaker 1: was fun. He ended up with one hundred and six assists.
Speaker 1: That's the exact same number as Mike Flynn, his running
Speaker 1: mate in the back court, who had a huge game
Speaker 1: against Indiana and was on the cover of Sports Illustrated,
Speaker 1: the headline being the Wildcats crashed the Final four. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Big Blue and Cider final segment of
Speaker 1: our shows. We're gonna make way for Darren Heddrick pre
Speaker 1: game coverage of Kentucky women's basketball to stretch run for
Speaker 1: Kenny Brooks team in the regular season they take on
Speaker 1: those Texas Longhorns. Darren, I'll have a call for you
Speaker 1: chip off a little after seven, so pregame coming up
Speaker 1: in just a few minutes. Yesterday we heard from a
Speaker 1: couple of members of the seventy four to seventy five
Speaker 1: team that was honored at the South Carolina Again, that
Speaker 1: seems like such a long time ago. After that win
Speaker 1: over Tennessee. But last Saturday, the seventy four to seventy
Speaker 1: five team that made it to the championship game the
Speaker 1: Final Four in San Diego, losing the UCLA honored at
Speaker 1: the UK Game celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of that special season.
Speaker 1: Yesterday we heard from Jimmy dan connor, the team captain,
Speaker 1: Marion Haskins, one of the key reserves. Today, I want
Speaker 1: to share with you my conversation with Mike Flynn and
Speaker 1: a guy who you might recall if you remember that
Speaker 1: upset win over Indiana in the regional championship, had a
Speaker 1: huge game in the win over the team from his
Speaker 1: home state. He's from Jeffersonville. Chose to go to Kentucky
Speaker 1: not IU, and it turned out okay for him because
Speaker 1: he ends up with his picture on the cover of
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated after that upset win, the headline being the
Speaker 1: Wildcats crashed the Final four. Mike was one of my
Speaker 1: favorite all time players, a tough, gritty guard from Indiana
Speaker 1: who played for Kentucky. He was a job just like
Speaker 1: Jimmy Dan a joby Hall kind of player. Went on
Speaker 1: to play in the ABA for the Pacers. His hometown
Speaker 1: team or his home state team. Had a chance to
Speaker 1: talk to Mike Flynn the other day. Well, Mike, what
Speaker 1: does it meant to you to get back and see
Speaker 1: your teammates on a day like this.
Speaker 8: Well, it's wonderful to come back and see all the guys.
Speaker 8: It's a shame that some of them couldn't make it.
Speaker 8: It's a shame that some of them have passed away.
Speaker 8: But it's all been a great time and I really
Speaker 8: enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: You guys knew the ups and downs. You were conference
Speaker 1: champs and then you struggled through a five hundred year,
Speaker 1: but you hit the Final four. I mean, you experienced
Speaker 1: it all we did.
Speaker 7: We went up and down.
Speaker 8: I mean, first, you know, we had the undefeated freshman team,
Speaker 8: the super Kittens, because we weren't allowed to play varsity
Speaker 8: that year.
Speaker 7: And then our sophomore year we had a great year.
Speaker 8: And Indiana beat us in the Elite eight game down
Speaker 8: in Nashville. I'll never forget that, and they got to
Speaker 8: go Final four and they got beat by UCLA and
Speaker 8: Bill Walker. But then, yeah, then our junior year was
Speaker 8: our down year. We just didn't have much size. You know,
Speaker 8: Bob guy at six eight was playing center, and Greevy
Speaker 8: was our six to five power forward. So then Joe
Speaker 8: b went out and got Rick Roby and Mike Phillips
Speaker 8: and James Lee and Jack Gibbons. So then the next
Speaker 8: year we had a tremendous team. And I'm convinced that
Speaker 8: if Johnny Wooden wouldn't announce his retirement and.
Speaker 7: We would have beat that UCLA team.
Speaker 8: I mean, they played a great game against this We
Speaker 8: played a good game, but they were just a little better.
Speaker 7: But a lot of people don't realize this.
Speaker 8: Louisll had UCLA beat in the semi final game and
Speaker 8: Louis will split it up, turned it over and Terry Hirer,
Speaker 8: who made twenty eight free throws in a row, he
Speaker 8: misses a free throw which was crucial in front of
Speaker 8: end of a bonus. But yeah, we should have been
Speaker 8: playing Louisville for the national title. But yeah, but we
Speaker 8: had a great career. Yeah, great time.
Speaker 1: Yep. You guys. You mentioned the super Kittens, and as
Speaker 1: we said, you experienced so much in four years and
Speaker 1: now that just doesn't happen anymore. I know you're excited
Speaker 1: for young men to get to the league. You played
Speaker 1: pro ball, but do you feel bad for them that
Speaker 1: they don't get to experience the kinds of things that
Speaker 1: you guys do growing together as a group.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think it's important those four years, all the
Speaker 8: bonding you do with all the guys and become great friends.
Speaker 8: And also you're getting an education and your college degree.
Speaker 8: I mean, I think all of us got are degrees.
Speaker 8: But I understand some of these guys that they're so
Speaker 8: good and they want to get to the league and
Speaker 8: start making the money. I understand that. I have no
Speaker 8: problem with that. But yeah, a lot of them do
Speaker 8: that nowadays. But a lot nowadays guys are getting that
Speaker 8: nil money and plus the college the power of colleges
Speaker 8: conference colleges, they can start paying these guys like over
Speaker 8: twenty million dollars a year between the football and basketball
Speaker 8: players who generate the revenue. And that's all good thing
Speaker 8: because I believe that these athletes they deserve a taste,
Speaker 8: they deserve a slice because they're generating the revenue and
Speaker 8: they some of them should should get paid.
Speaker 1: You know what it's like to be a part of
Speaker 1: something special in college basketball because you.
Speaker 7: Played at Kentucky.
Speaker 1: You played Indiana high school ball too, But now college
Speaker 1: basketball is so big now.
Speaker 7: Across the country.
Speaker 1: What's your take on that that everybody now knows what
Speaker 1: you guys do all along.
Speaker 8: Yeah, basketball is not only big across the country, it's
Speaker 8: big throughout the world.
Speaker 7: I mean, it's probably the it's the second the.
Speaker 8: Most popular sport in the world now, of course behind soccer.
Speaker 8: Soccer is still number one over in Europe and other places.
Speaker 8: But yeah, it's grown so much, and some of the
Speaker 8: best players in the NBA are from Europe in foreign countries.
Speaker 7: Now, it's just amazing how the game has exploded. It's
Speaker 7: so popular now. So yeah, I'm proud of it. That's
Speaker 7: like that, it's all it's all good.
Speaker 1: You played in the old ABA and then is so
Speaker 1: They said more than once that the AVA seems to
Speaker 1: be more popular now than it was when you guys
Speaker 1: were playing. But what are your what are your memories
Speaker 1: of that? Because you got to go back home and
Speaker 1: play in Indiana, Yeah, I.
Speaker 7: Got to go.
Speaker 8: I was drafted by Philly in the NBA and the
Speaker 8: Pacers in the a B at the time, and I
Speaker 8: felt like I had a better chance making the uh
Speaker 8: Indiana Pacers, and so I went there and unfortunately I
Speaker 8: made the team and I got to play one year
Speaker 8: in the ABA before we merged with the NBA, and
Speaker 8: you know, we had a three point shot back then, yeah, hey,
Speaker 8: And back then it was like a novelithy shopping shot.
Speaker 8: You might take five or six threes a game. And
Speaker 8: then you look at today. You got the Celtics taking
Speaker 8: fifty threes a game.
Speaker 7: So that has changed tremendous. So they're better or worse. Well,
Speaker 7: in some ways it's good.
Speaker 8: In some ways it's bad because these analytic guys, the nerds,
Speaker 8: they understand that three is.
Speaker 7: Worth more than two.
Speaker 8: So if you put up a lot of threes and
Speaker 8: it hit a good percentage of them, it's it's a good.
Speaker 1: Thing, depending who's taking them, right, Yeah.
Speaker 7: I mean the best shot in basketball is still the
Speaker 7: dunk or layup.
Speaker 8: Are getting fouled and on the free throw line, and
Speaker 8: then the next best shot is a three pointer. The
Speaker 8: worst shot is the long two pointer, but sometimes you
Speaker 8: got to take it. Sometimes you got to take the
Speaker 8: long toos.
Speaker 7: But it's changed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, as we speak on a Saturday, you guys were
Speaker 1: honored at the game, which was great, Kentucky gets a
Speaker 1: big win. What were your thoughts when one of you guys,
Speaker 1: a former player got the job when Mark Pope took over,
Speaker 1: because boy was a shocker when Cali Perry left.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it was a shock to everybody. But I think
Speaker 8: he's the right to fit at the right time. They
Speaker 8: Kentucky needed to change and he understands the modern offense
Speaker 8: of shooting threes and I like the way he runs
Speaker 8: it off his offense and it looked like today they
Speaker 8: played better at defense.
Speaker 7: Maybe it was because he was playing South Carolina. I
Speaker 7: don't know. But a quick story about Mark Pope.
Speaker 8: Remember Lynn Nance, he was our assistant coach and he
Speaker 8: was the head coach out of Orshington.
Speaker 7: And Mark Pope played for him. Mark sim with him,
Speaker 7: that's right.
Speaker 8: And before he transferred the Kentucky Lynn Nance was recruiting
Speaker 8: my son BJ out of Jefferson Bill, who won the
Speaker 8: Indiana state championship for senior year.
Speaker 7: And he had him out there for a visit and
Speaker 7: Mark Polpe was BJ's host.
Speaker 1: Why he was there, that's Mike Flynn. Tomorrow will a
Speaker 1: visit with Jack Gibbons about that seventy four to seventy
Speaker 1: five team, But for now we'll make way for UK
Speaker 1: women's basketball. Kenny Brooks Wildcats against those Texas Longhorns. Darren
Speaker 1: Hedrick with a call comanov neck here on your home
Speaker 1: for UK Sports six thirty wlapp.
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