KSR Postgame UK MBB at Alabama 01/03/26

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone.

00:00:01
Speaker 2: It is the local Toy Dealers Kentucky KSR postgame show. The Cats lose in Tuscaloosa by double digits once again, eighty nine to seventy four. Fourth time Mark Pope has played night oh since he's been in Lexington, and all four games have been double digit losses where Kentucky has rarely had a chance to compete a five to nine, two eight, twenty two, eighty seven. I want to go over a little bit about the game and then talk about what we just heard right before I came on. Let's start with the game. You know, the Cats in the first half were just bad. And it's been this way essentially every first half against Alabama, and honestly, it's been this way in the first half in virtually all of the good games we've had this year. Right, I mean, we've been down in the first half double digits in now six of our seven games against Power conference team. I mean, I want you to think about that for a second. We've played We've played seven Power conference teams. Now, let me acknowledge those are seven good Power conference teams, all in the top twenty five. Or Indiana is just outside the top twenty five. But if you're going to the tournament and you want to play in the NCAA tournament, these are the teams.

00:01:19
Speaker 1: You have to play.

00:01:20
Speaker 2: And we've been down double digits in the first half and six of those seven games, and you know, it.

00:01:29
Speaker 1: Sort of doesn't matter what happens after that.

00:01:32
Speaker 2: We ended up, i think, winning the second half by one point, but.

00:01:36
Speaker 1: It doesn't really matter because you have played yourself out of these games.

00:01:40
Speaker 2: In one of those six games, we came back and won against Saint John's, but otherwise these have been you're just down so much that like your entire game is trying to come back. And this is a team that because they did not recruit shooting, which was our worry from the beginning of the season, because they did not record shooting, they're not built to come back. I mean, they're just not Like, this is not a team that can come back, and you put yourself in these double digit holes and it's like I thought to myself at halftime, I mean, I'm gonna watch this second half, but kind of what's the point, Like, we're not gonna win, and I it's just very disappointing. I didn't expect Kentucky to win this game today. Alabama is better and Alabama is at home. I think I said on the pregame show, you could have a team that was good enough to win the national championship that would lose at Alabama. I mean, that's at Alabama. It's probably our toughest game on the SEC schedule, and you can make a strong argument that Kentucky, who sits nine to five, has played six top.

00:02:48
Speaker 1: Twenty esque teams so far. So I'm not.

00:02:52
Speaker 2: You know, I'm not sort of a doom and gloomer about the season as a whole, but I am a doom and gloomer about how we're playing because this team is just not playing well. They had their full roster today, But I don't know. I'm not sure how. I'm not sure who good we are. I mean, it's a given that Jalen Lowe jayl Low's could and if we didn't have Jayalen low we would not make the tournament.

00:03:20
Speaker 1: He's good.

00:03:20
Speaker 2: I thought he played well when you consider his injury status. I thought he played well. I don't understand why he doesn't start. I don't understand why. It's like Mark Pope wants to start these games with one hand tied behind his back. I'm generally a believer that who start doesn't matter. Over the years, you've heard me say, well, it doesn't really matter who starts and who finishes. Yeah, that's generally true, except when the rest of your guys aren't nearly as good as the starter.

00:03:50
Speaker 1: And I can only think of two times this has.

00:03:52
Speaker 2: Really happened, well really three Quaddy Green, Shay, Gilges, Alexander was better, and then eventually Cal flipped and made Shay the starter, and I think that mattered. He didn't do it with Reid and Rob and we of course know that. But I don't understand like this idea that we're gonna help Jalen Lowe come along by having him not start. I mean Billy in the second half he play, he didn't start him and then brought him in one minute into the game.

00:04:23
Speaker 1: What does that accomplish?

00:04:25
Speaker 3: It's infuriating.

00:04:26
Speaker 1: Oh wait, what does that? I think?

00:04:28
Speaker 2: What is the mindset of, well, we can't start him, but we'll bring him in with one one minute later. I don't get that, So he should be starting. I think I actually think he's our best player. Oh take away was good. Most of the game, I thought in a key sequence. He actually gave some really poor effort, which annoyed me a little bit. He had two turnovers on back to back plays and then he got fell down on defense. I think we had cut it to nine and at the end of that sequence we were down fourteen. I'm not I mean, I didn't like that sequence from him in general, though without him, especially in the first half, we're not even in the game. So I mean in low and Away, I'm good With.

00:05:11
Speaker 1: The rest of the guys. I don't know, man like they just maybe they're just not good. But I can't get over it's a.

00:05:22
Speaker 2: Different player for Colin Chandler in these games against good teams, he looks like a completely different guy. Denzel Aberdeen has just been he's just been bad. He's just been disappointed, and I think he was disappointing tonight. Diabate I thought played hard, but you know he can't. You can't rely on Diabata to be an offensive like facilitator. But the problem for me and then Cam Williams again about lineups, where is he?

00:05:52
Speaker 1: How do you go twelve.

00:05:53
Speaker 2: Minutes in the second half and don't put him in, you know, with with eight minutes to go in the game he had played six minutes. How I mean he made eight threes the other night. Did what happened in the last two and a half weeks. That are two weeks that we just decided he couldn't be in against a team that has made fourteen threes in the game. So I don't understand Pope's lineups. I don't understand why we continue to play starters that.

00:06:19
Speaker 1: Are not our best players.

00:06:20
Speaker 2: But be that as it may, the biggest issue is it was defensively and for thirty minutes. Now they did adjust this in the last ten minutes, I thought, But for thirty minutes, I thought they were playing a team that like it looked like they were playing a team where they didn't think they could shoot. I mean, they were not extending out on the three. They were clearly playing to try to stop penetration, I guess, to prevent Filon from getting to the to the basket. But he only had two points at halftime, and so you just gave up a ton of threes. Pope in the post game said something like, well, now they shot the ball really well, Well, don't I don't think that was unpredictable.

00:07:05
Speaker 1: They're a good shooting team.

00:07:06
Speaker 2: Maybe not as good as a couple of years in the past, but they're still really good at it. And after they made the first nine, maybe you adjust. They did adjust in the last eight or nine minutes, and then I thought Kentucky was more competitive now down the stretch. That one guy hit the one from like twenty seven feet, and then there were a couple times where we did really poor pick and roll defense where I think they were supposed to to come out on it and we just didn't.

00:07:34
Speaker 1: But I don't understand.

00:07:35
Speaker 2: For thirty minutes, we were clearly coaching them to go under ball screens and to play the switch with the driver Ircy me with the guy rolling the basket. And that's what you would do against Michigan State. That's not what you would do against Alabama, at least I wouldn't think so. So, you know, offensively we weren't great, but we also don't make threes. You know, we've assembled a team that can't really shoot. And I don't know how that happened. I don't know why Mark, after having all that success, at least offensively last year with that group, the thought the way to go was to build a team of guys who can't shoot. It's odd to me that we did that, and the guys we have that can shoot just seemed terrified in these games. Colin Chandler seems to me to be terrified when we play these good teams.

00:08:31
Speaker 1: So that all is a problem.

00:08:34
Speaker 2: And I still think this team is okay, but I'm becoming less and less confident that if we play anybody good, we can win. I mean, Saint John's lost at home to Providence today, so maybe they're not good. Indiana's okay, but I mean when we've played good teams, we're not even competitive. We were not comp competitive against Michigan State, we were not competitive against Gonzaga, we were not competitive today. We were semi competitive against Louisville, but again got down twenty in the first half, and then North Carolina is a team we should have beaten and we lost.

00:09:17
Speaker 1: So I'm I'm disappointed, I really am.

00:09:20
Speaker 2: And I'm more disappointed because the things that I thought Mark Pope coach teams would be. It would be a given they would play smart, they would play hard, and they would be well prepared. I thought that was a given, you know I And I think last year, for instance, they were This team does not play smart, does not always play hard, and doesn't always seem prepared.

00:09:53
Speaker 1: And I thought that.

00:09:54
Speaker 2: Was a given talent. I was worried, is he gonna be able to recruit these top players.

00:09:58
Speaker 1: We still haven't.

00:09:59
Speaker 2: We'll see, but being smart, playing hard, and being prepared, to me with a Mark Pope, that is a given. And it's just not with this group. And I'm really surprised by it.

00:10:11
Speaker 1: I really am. I did not see it coming. The other thing I didn't see coming is and I just I think we have to talk about it. Is the way Mark is after these games, the losses, I said on the Morning show earlier this year, and when Mark came from BYU, Jacob Polozech and some other people they did they basically did a deep dive kind of on what was Mark like at BYU, Like, how does he play? And what was he like?

00:10:48
Speaker 2: And people have great things to say about Mark as a person because he is seems like a great person, very smart, one of the smartest people. Almost everybody will say, one of the smartest people they've they've ever been around.

00:11:00
Speaker 1: But a consistent theme that people said to I think Jacob and then a couple of people I talked to.

00:11:06
Speaker 2: Is when he loses, he's not He takes it hard and he's not good to be around.

00:11:15
Speaker 1: And on paper, that's like not a bad trade, right. We kind of want to coach that cares.

00:11:21
Speaker 2: I mean, we had those times where people said things like I want to get home to my dog, and we didn't like that.

00:11:26
Speaker 1: But there's difference between like.

00:11:30
Speaker 2: Caring about losing and then kind of what we've seen from Mark this year. I mean, you heard Rick Patino, who knows him better than any of us do, say, he called Mark after they lost to Michigan State and said, what the hell's wrong with you?

00:11:44
Speaker 1: And I'm glad he said it. He knows him. I really don't, but I thought the same thing.

00:11:50
Speaker 2: And then I thought the same thing after the Louisville game when he did the whole like something happened in the locker room. But I'm not gonna tell you it's gonna be like a Taylor Swift song. That was strange. He was really weird and awful after the Gonzaga game on the radio, but we lost by thirty five. But today I'm gonna play this little segment of his interview that just completed with Tom Leech.

00:12:16
Speaker 1: Now let me be fair tomorrow.

00:12:18
Speaker 2: There were two segments before this he I'm not gonna say he was forthcoming, but he was okay in those segments. But Mark's job, or excuse me, Tom's job is Tom Leach is the nicest person on earth. And Tom Leach's job is to just ask questions. And this is a UK show, This is a Jami show. This is not like the New York Times interviewing you. I just want you to listen to his final segment here with Tom.

00:12:47
Speaker 1: Go ahead?

00:12:48
Speaker 4: What did you tell them in the locker room after this?

00:12:52
Speaker 1: We talked about a lot of things.

00:12:54
Speaker 4: When you come back on Wednesday, what are the things that you need to see different?

00:13:01
Speaker 5: That's a long list.

00:13:02
Speaker 1: There's a lot of things. Lastly, when you.

00:13:07
Speaker 4: Look at a team that had made some significant progress, Jalen getting back, gave you great minutes today, JQ is back. So what is the thing you try to build on from this point forward?

00:13:23
Speaker 1: Well, there's not a lot from this game. I mean, there was no good but we have made What do you have to do best? Maybe that's what I should say. What does this team need to do best?

00:13:31
Speaker 4: Like I said, I was disappointed with our physicality in this game. It's it's not who we can be, it's nothing we should be, and we have to Our game's got to start there.

00:13:39
Speaker 1: Thank you, coach Mark.

00:13:41
Speaker 2: I mean, I just find that rude. Like Tom talks more than Mark, and I don't I don't get it. You have a fan base that after these games has like they're looking to you for answers. And when I think about the last three coaches and I think about the moments that we think about that sort of define the negative parts of their era. I think about postgame interviews where Billy Gillespie was like, this is not the University of Jody Meeks. Remember that, Billy, And that was after a win, and then he would be really rude to talk back. Then then at the end, you know, I mentioned the I gotta fly home to my dogs, and Caw would often just skip postgame interviews after his losses.

00:14:35
Speaker 1: I don't understand this. Mark is a great communicator and a nice guy. What fans want to hear you say something, and when you're asked what did you say in the locker room? A lot of things and what needs to get better that's a long list. I don't know.

00:14:54
Speaker 2: I just I don't get that So when you combine a team that is not well prepared, seemingly at least at the beginning of games, does not play smart and doesn't always play hard, and then you get sort of these reactions. I'm just I'm really surprised, because I thought we might have when Park.

00:15:16
Speaker 1: Pope was hired.

00:15:17
Speaker 2: I thought I have issues at acquiring talent, and I thought we might have issues at like being a brand that Kentucky fans like.

00:15:25
Speaker 1: Of athleticism, et cetera. But I never thought the basics. I thought the basics.

00:15:30
Speaker 2: Were a given, and the basics aren't a given, and I didn't see that coming. Eight five nine two eight oh twenty two eighty seven. Will take your calls, see what you think, and be right back. Cats lose to Alabama. This is the Local Toy Dealers KSR post game show. Welcome back. It is the Local Toy Dealers KSR post game show. A couple of people asking on here on the text machine seven seven two four five two five four?

00:15:58
Speaker 1: Was Pope like this after losses last year? Billy?

00:16:02
Speaker 2: I don't really remember him being like that, do you. I don't, you know, because we took some bad losses last year.

00:16:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, never to a level like we've seen this year.

00:16:11
Speaker 1: No, yeah, I don't. I don't remember him.

00:16:13
Speaker 2: But then again, I think last year he probably thought the team overperformed a little bit. He didn't go into the season saying we have a Ferrari and all that stuff.

00:16:24
Speaker 1: So maybe that's what But no, I.

00:16:25
Speaker 2: Don't remember him being like that last year. Let me read you a quote from Natoates. Okay, so this is this is very interesting.

00:16:33
Speaker 1: And natoates, you know, I don't know.

00:16:37
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say he's a jerk, but I think he's very plain spoken in terms of like not plain spoken, that's not the word, but straight, straight talking. He says, quote, I had our guys pull every assist they had coming in because when I watched them play, I didn't really feel like they moved the ball.

00:16:54
Speaker 1: Great. Correct.

00:16:56
Speaker 2: He then added, Kentucky's big men don't pass. They've had seven assists out of the post in all in thirteen games coming in. When the bigs get the ball, they're not trying to pass. Now that's how you do analytics and field work. No, I'm serious, Like, if you're into analytics and field work, and I am Nato, it's knowing that in thirteen games. Our bigs had assist seven times when the ball went into the post.

00:17:28
Speaker 1: Well, there you go.

00:17:29
Speaker 2: He knows when we throw it in the post, he can throw everybody he wants at the at the at the man in the post. Because we're not gonna.

00:17:35
Speaker 1: Kick it out.

00:17:37
Speaker 2: We maybe should think Nate, because now that he says that publicly, maybe they change it, because that's a pretty damning statistic. I had no idea. I'm gonna and I'm gonna assume he's right. I haven't checked it myself, but assuming that's true, there you go. I mean that's the opposing coach telling you what your weakness is.

00:17:58
Speaker 1: So there you go. Who's up first? Greg? Greg? Go ahead? Greg?

00:18:03
Speaker 6: Hey, guys, Hey y'all doing today?

00:18:05
Speaker 7: Uh?

00:18:06
Speaker 6: Me and the wife are season ticket holders. For many years we went to Atlanta, were staying.

00:18:13
Speaker 8: We cheer.

00:18:14
Speaker 6: We no matter who's the coach, we're always clamping well and for the big Blue Nation. And you know, it's very disappointing. I don't think it was a home run higher for the Cats for the coat.

00:18:30
Speaker 7: Uh.

00:18:31
Speaker 6: And it's very disappointing when you can't get guys like Hopes Yukon coach. A lot of big people didn't want to even consider us, and I think it's that's to do with the fan base expecting a lot more things than what than we should.

00:18:49
Speaker 1: Now come on, I was with you, hang on your second, Greg.

00:18:53
Speaker 6: The bottom right is we don't have.

00:18:58
Speaker 1: Hang on you hold on first.

00:19:02
Speaker 2: I'm with you on everything until you say that the reason we didn't get a coach is because of the fan base. This fan base has been the same since I was a child, and probably the same thirty years before that. Yes, they expect winning, but that's what makes Kentucky Kentucky. Danny Hurley and Scott Drew did not come Dot come here because of the fan base. Natoates I don't know if he wanted to come here or not, but the university was not going to hire him. He may not have wanted to come as well. But Greg, it is not fair to say it is the fan base's fault. I had nothing to do with Kentucky being prepared. Neither did you, Greg, Neither did anyone listening. Kentucky not being prepared is not about the fan base, and the moment the fan base doesn't expect success, then you're not Kentucky. You're Minnesota Basketball now. I'll let you respond.

00:20:00
Speaker 1: Go ahead.

00:20:02
Speaker 6: I just want to say, we run off a Hall of Fame coach for this.

00:20:09
Speaker 2: How many you appreciate the call?

00:20:15
Speaker 1: Greg?

00:20:16
Speaker 2: How many NCAA tournament games did cal Perry win in the last five years?

00:20:21
Speaker 1: He won one game? He won one game in five years.

00:20:26
Speaker 2: Now, how many times did we make it to Saturday of the SEC tournament during his last five years?

00:20:34
Speaker 1: Zero? Zero times?

00:20:37
Speaker 2: So I'm not going to re litigate the Calperrier, but it was time for change. But Mark Pope needs to be judged on Mark Pope and so far this season it hasn't been uh successful this year? What's next?

00:20:54
Speaker 3: Micah, Micah?

00:20:55
Speaker 9: Go ahead, Michael, Hey, what's up?

00:20:58
Speaker 10: Guys?

00:20:59
Speaker 11: Matt?

00:20:59
Speaker 1: I would I want to.

00:21:00
Speaker 12: Say, you hit the nail on the head about the starting lineup irritation. I just felt like that's what exactly what we went with or had with Caliperry in his last few years and not starting the right guys, and Mark Pope's doing the same thing. I don't know if there's a hex or what, but why can we not get that straight?

00:21:19
Speaker 1: I don't know, I really don't know. I mean, I like, okay, maybe there's.

00:21:23
Speaker 2: An argument for moreno over quaintance, Like, I can understand that argument. Maybe quaintance gives six million energy and all that, but what is the argument for not starting Jaywen Lowe?

00:21:35
Speaker 1: I really don't like. I'd love to hear his articulation of it. Has has somebody asked him, Billy, like, what why is he now not starting jail?

00:21:43
Speaker 3: Well, he said that they hit a wall about three to four minutes into the game, so maybe he's looking for that energy spark plug hits a wall Kentucky. He said, we're actually fine for the first couple of minutes of the game and then we hit a wall. I don't know. That's exactly what he said in the.

00:21:57
Speaker 1: Post game.

00:21:59
Speaker 7: Well, and the only other thing was just that.

00:22:03
Speaker 1: Either no, there's not, No, there's not. I appreciate the call.

00:22:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, then bring Jalen low in with two minutes into the game. Maybe that's why you bring him in two minutes in. I don't know, but I mean at the beginning of the game, we what we got a layup or no, I think got filed.

00:22:23
Speaker 1: Aberdeen got fouled, and then somebody hit a three chance.

00:22:29
Speaker 2: Okay, so we were up five to nothing, so we scored on our first two possessions, but then I don't think we scored again for another four or five.

00:22:37
Speaker 3: Minutes, right, that's correct, it was nine.

00:22:39
Speaker 2: I don't think we hit I don't think we hit a wall. We made two free throws and Colin Chandler made a three. I mean that was It's not like there was It's not like there was an elite game. I mean we made two free throws and we.

00:22:53
Speaker 1: Hit a thirty.

00:22:54
Speaker 2: And that first offensive possession I think where Aberdeen got fouled was a really ugly position. The ball just fell into Aberdeen's hands and then he took the basket and got fouled. The Chailer three was a good I think somebody drove away, drove and kicked. But I don't understand not starting low. But be that as a what's next, Sean, Sean, go ahead, Sean hey Man.

00:23:17
Speaker 9: Thanks for checking my call.

00:23:18
Speaker 7: I appreciate it.

00:23:18
Speaker 9: What happened to the days where.

00:23:20
Speaker 11: You took just play the best players, Play the best players, the most half player players, the ones that can shoot.

00:23:25
Speaker 13: And play them.

00:23:27
Speaker 14: Why wait on people to make changes, Just.

00:23:31
Speaker 6: Play the best players.

00:23:33
Speaker 15: That's I'm confused by this.

00:23:36
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I mean let's just look in the second half.

00:23:39
Speaker 2: For the most part, that's what we did, and we basically played them to a draw in the second half.

00:23:44
Speaker 1: So you're the question, why don't we do it in the first half?

00:23:47
Speaker 14: You know, thank you, thank you, thank you for your call.

00:23:51
Speaker 5: I appreciate it.

00:23:52
Speaker 2: Thank you. I mean, you know, I don't know. I don't know eighty seven. Also not sure Billy, who are fourth? Our fifth best player is? So I think that what I mean by that is I think there's no doubt that our lineup needs to have.

00:24:12
Speaker 1: Low oh Way, Diabate, then either.

00:24:18
Speaker 2: Aberdeen or Chandler at the three, although they both have deficiencies, but you probably need one of them.

00:24:26
Speaker 1: But then is it Cam Williams is a quaintance? Is it Quaintance? And Cam Williams? You know, are you just never gonna see Noah again? Are we gonna? I mean, what about Jasper Johnson?

00:24:39
Speaker 11: Right? Like?

00:24:40
Speaker 1: Yeah? About Marine?

00:24:41
Speaker 2: Like I don't know, I don't think, I don't know who those The only three people I know need to be.

00:24:47
Speaker 1: On the floor are low Away and Diabate.

00:24:50
Speaker 2: And then probably Quaintance although he just needs more reps.

00:24:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, it probably needs to be a quaintance. But I don't know if you can leader on the floor anymore now if he can't you because he kills you defense, which.

00:25:05
Speaker 1: Is weird because last year he played pretty good defense at the end of the year, but he's he was bad defensively today.

00:25:13
Speaker 2: I thought, O way, I think Oway was on an Aberdeen kind of we're on filon.

00:25:18
Speaker 1: I actually thought they did a pretty good job, but the rest of it was not good. What's next, Donnie, Donnie, go ahead, Donnie.

00:25:27
Speaker 16: Oh gosh, I don't I don't know where to start overall you can from watching this in my living room. Defense defense, defense, And I'm going to go down some another road here. The coach and staff has got to find a better way to get this team ready. No hustling, no fight. They don't play hard. All right, let's throw that out. Here's what bothers me also selfish, selfish play, no assist. Okay, getting back to my defense, Here's what I don't get. Kentucky's good on defense on the ball. We are like grade stood school kids and pick and row. Yeah, I would like someone to explain to me, what explained to me why we didn't switch. I would switch every dag gonna play because their offense is set up for picking row. Now let's take that a little bit farther. The row isn't there because they're gonna shoot the three. And the shots that Alabama missed Matt in the second half, they were still wide open.

00:26:50
Speaker 2: They were You're right, You're right about that. A lot of their misses in the second half were open. I think you I actually think that's a really good analysis.

00:26:57
Speaker 1: You are right.

00:26:58
Speaker 2: We are pretty good on the ball, pretty good, not great, but we're pretty good.

00:27:03
Speaker 1: On the ball.

00:27:04
Speaker 2: And then I actually think we played pretty good post defense. But we are so awful at all screens. I mean, you know, now they used to be everything was a pick and roll. Now their slip screen and fade screen and all these variou screens. But I don't care which one people run. We're bad at all of them. And I mean, I think you make a good point, especially against a team like Alabama who doesn't really exploit mismatches.

00:27:27
Speaker 1: Now Low very well.

00:27:29
Speaker 2: I don't know why you wouldn't switch on all of them. I really don't. I think we have a pretty versatile group of defenders. We don't have any real slow guys like Andrew Carr last year.

00:27:40
Speaker 1: So I'm with you. I don't know why you wouldn't do that, but you're right. You hit it. Our our problem.

00:27:47
Speaker 16: I appreciate go ahead, Yes, one other comment, get over it, Get over it. It was time for Tow to move on. Fans all the cal Fountain. I love him, don't get me wrong, but it was time for him to go.

00:28:05
Speaker 5: Get over it.

00:28:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, there is a lot of truth to that too, even if you disagreed with the situation, like appreciate the call.

00:28:13
Speaker 1: It's like when you have a divorce. I use the divorce analogy a lot. Billy, they ain't coming home right Unless you're Bobby Petrino. You don't go back to where you were. He did twice twice. But no, unless you're dating Bobby like, it ain't gonna happen. So who's next?

00:28:31
Speaker 3: Hunter?

00:28:32
Speaker 1: Is next? Hunter? Eight five, nine eighty seven, go a go ahead, Hunter?

00:28:37
Speaker 17: Hey, I'll let other people talk about why we went under or went under all the screens and helped off shooters and all this. But I got a little bit of comic relief for BBN because I think we need it. Did anybody else see in the second half? The weirdest thing that. I think I've ever seen a coach do.

00:28:57
Speaker 1: What was that?

00:28:57
Speaker 17: Coach? Pope took a stick of gum out, shoot it real hard for about three and a half four seconds, and then spit it back out. That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen.

00:29:08
Speaker 1: When did that happen?

00:29:11
Speaker 17: I don't know, about eight ten minutes to go in the game.

00:29:14
Speaker 1: It was weird.

00:29:15
Speaker 2: I didn't see that, I will say, and I appreciate the call. The first three or four seconds of gum are the best. Yeah, right, you get the sugar out. Yeah, you get the sugar out of it. And if you have a cheap piece of gum, it's only gonna last about three or four seconds.

00:29:34
Speaker 1: But I didn't see that.

00:29:35
Speaker 2: Do you think that's weird, billy to take three or four seconds of gum and then stop a.

00:29:40
Speaker 3: Little crazy behavior. But maybe you just got to get some anger out.

00:29:43
Speaker 2: I need to see that, Cliff, I need to see how long, because maybe that's weird.

00:29:48
Speaker 1: I know.

00:29:48
Speaker 2: When what are the little gums that are in the little squares that you pop up?

00:29:52
Speaker 1: It's like they look like little mints? What do they call? What are those? I'm not sure they have really they're real powerful, Yeah, you know, like you get them.

00:29:59
Speaker 2: They look like a thing of tail and all right, you know they come in one of those and then you pop it icebreaker.

00:30:07
Speaker 1: I think you're right.

00:30:08
Speaker 2: Those are really good for like seven seconds, but then they don't hold up, so.

00:30:14
Speaker 3: You just need the breath for the incoming kiss. You're going in on, Stub, All.

00:30:20
Speaker 1: Right, Billy, Stub, go ahead, Stub.

00:30:26
Speaker 15: So I want to know how in the world do you hit a wall a few minutes into a game, a college basketball game. I had to listen to the game on radio, and so Billy probably heard this. But at one point Jack Gibbon said, I think it was in the second half. He goes, I wish I could sit here and tell you that these are hard, tough shots that Alabama's making, he said, but they're not. And then Tom Leach at one point they came down and hit a three. They went under the screen, of course, and he goes, I don't you know that's what they're going to do?

00:31:00
Speaker 18: Why do you?

00:31:01
Speaker 15: And then he was talking about the shoot around and the practices and leading up to that, and that all that stuff was harped on. So I don't know. To me, that's just inattention to detail. I think Mark Pope acts the way he acts because I think he a knows that he probably whiffed in this class and b knows or underachieving and doesn't be any solution in it.

00:31:25
Speaker 1: You know what, You may be right that that's the I think everything you just said is correct. I appreciate the calling.

00:31:29
Speaker 2: I like that Jack, especially considering Jack's on the official broadcast. He will say critiques, which I think is good. I think you're probably right about that. As to why Mark is like he is, he probably knows that this wasn't built as well as he thought, and he also probably knows.

00:31:48
Speaker 1: That it's going to be hard to fix.

00:31:51
Speaker 2: I still think you judge people by like their actions in times of adversity, and I.

00:31:59
Speaker 1: Still think he's been in these postgame things.

00:32:02
Speaker 2: And even if it is the case that this team is poorly constructed, which it probably is, and is underachieving, they can still play hard and they can still be well prepared.

00:32:16
Speaker 1: And the fact that these starts are so bad, I.

00:32:20
Speaker 2: Don't know how you can say anything except they're not well prepared. How can you say anything else? Honestly, I don't know. And then if you don't like how we start. Why don't we play Jane len Lowe at the beginning of the games? Why are we not playing Kim Williams. I'm not again, and I've said all that. Let's do one more and we'll take a break.

00:32:42
Speaker 19: Jake, go ahead, Jake, Hey, Matt, got to have you back from holiday break.

00:32:46
Speaker 1: Hope all is pain? Appreciate yep, just.

00:32:49
Speaker 19: One one observation and then a quick question. I'll hang up. So I think one of Pope's biggest faults so far is he tends to not trust his own nyes. And a couple of examples. What I mean is last year, you know, we had a big debate about Amario Williams and how ad minutes he was playing. You know, he's playing twenty twenty five a game most of bb An's I shuld be playing thirty, and he cited like fatigue as a reason, like his play would decrease, even though we all do that's kind of you know, not really what our eyes are telling us. And then this year, you know, if you remember earlier in the season when Brandon Garrison was playing a lot and he sided in a postgame presser, I believe that he's actually a second most efficient offensive player, even though we all were watching it was it going well. So I think I think just the over analytics I think sometimes is hurting Mark and I think it's what's preventing them from from being optimal in terms of lineup substitutions that stuff. And then the quick question is, with not playing and starting JQ in low do you think this could have a negative adverse impact on recruiting in the future for star players when to come to us because they know that we're not always gonna play the best players all the time.

00:34:03
Speaker 1: I you know, I think it's a question. It's a question.

00:34:05
Speaker 2: I think it's a fair question. I think probably a bigger issue for that is the fact that we're not playing Jasper Johnson at all. I don't think star recruits necessarily would look at Jalen Lowe because he wasn't a star recruit and kind of say one way or the other. Now, Jayon Quaint's a little different. I'm gonna say, I'm gonna guess, and I could be wrong. I'm gonna guess Jayan Quaints, I'm gonna guess. Both these guys are starting in a couple of weeks. But Jayden Quaints, I think almost certainly is because, like he's really good. I think the case for not starting Jayden Quaints is better than the one for low, which is this guy hadn't played basketball at over a year, right.

00:34:42
Speaker 1: So I'm okay with it.

00:34:45
Speaker 2: I do think not playing Jasper Johnson, who is a McDonald's All American, that could have a negative effect on recruiting.

00:34:53
Speaker 1: With that said, when Jasper Johnson has played, I haven't.

00:34:55
Speaker 2: Really felt like he needed more minutes, right, So you know, I don't know, and I appreciate the call. I but I do think if you're talking, I have heard some folks that cover recruiting for Kentucky say that Jasper Johnson not getting minutes is an issue with some of these guys because Jasper Johnson's kind of well known in the recruiting world, like he just has that personality, like he was well known on social media and him not playing that might actually be a little bit of an issue. Let me say this, and nothing with the first caller, because he was very passionate and all that. I disagree with him on the it's Kentucky fans' fault. I hate when we don't play well and it's all of a sudden. The people who listen to this show's fault as if we did anything.

00:35:43
Speaker 1: But besides that caller, I actually thought the calls in that segment were really, really good, really good analysis.

00:35:48
Speaker 2: We'll take a break, be right back. This is the Local Toy Dealers KSR post game jow Welcome back. It is the Local Toy Dealers KSR postgame show.

00:35:58
Speaker 1: Good text in the text machine. This is actually, I think a relatively.

00:36:04
Speaker 2: Stable postgame bad loss situation seven seven two seven seven four five four on the text machine. One person rights, Matt, all right, just me and you talking. Are you at all worried that this job just doesn't work for Pope?

00:36:21
Speaker 1: Not yet?

00:36:23
Speaker 2: I mean, the caller said a minute ago, I think it might be clear it's not a home run Higher.

00:36:31
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:36:31
Speaker 2: I think that's probably fair. But that doesn't mean it can't work and be really successful.

00:36:36
Speaker 1: Okay, it was.

00:36:37
Speaker 2: A home run Higher off the court, but that's only part of the job, and the other part of the job is you gotta win.

00:36:44
Speaker 1: Now.

00:36:45
Speaker 2: I think it's very important to remember he went to Sweet sixteen last year, and even though the regular season record wasn't great, it was still had some really great wins and.

00:36:57
Speaker 1: I think that was a successful year. This year is fun. This year's not.

00:37:01
Speaker 2: We haven't even played half our games yet, so I'm not giving up by any means. I'm just pointed in the way the roster construction ended up and in these performances. But I'm not there yet.

00:37:13
Speaker 1: What is. I am still worried about the recruiting of top talent, but that'll play itself out over the next couple months. I am.

00:37:24
Speaker 2: I'm baffled by this team right now, but there's still I mean, there is still time. There's a lot of time for this to get better. I think the ceiling, which I thought could be a title at the begend of the year, I don't think that ceiling is there now.

00:37:39
Speaker 1: But I do think this can still be a good team. But I'm baffled by what's been happening. So I want to see this season play out. And there's gonna be no scenario that I can imagine where I'm like, oh, he needs to go. I can't for me, like, I'm not even in the ballpark of that. But I am in the ballpark of Okay.

00:38:02
Speaker 2: There's some troubling signs here, and some of the things I was worried about. And some of the things people told me to maybe be worried about have manifested themselves here in the last couple of months.

00:38:14
Speaker 1: Who's up next, Mike, Mike, what's up? Mike?

00:38:19
Speaker 14: Hey, guys Perton lost, how are you doing today?

00:38:25
Speaker 1: Good?

00:38:27
Speaker 5: So this is my thing is that?

00:38:29
Speaker 14: So you know, I'm I'm that guy Mark Pope. I was really excited when he came in. You know, I felt like that we had an opportunity to really go back to the Rick Catino era, you know, with defense, defense minded coaching, team press, you know, the whole bringing the energy every single game. Uh. And this to me, honestly, this season boils down to efforts. It boils down to who wants it more. And I don't see a lot of that on the court. I don't see a lot of it. And they're just their body language and they're wanting. And so it's very shocking to me because I go back and I'm that dude that watches on YouTube, you know, the nineteen ninety teams and you know, and then on up you know, I'm just that guy. But I just don't understand. I'm hope is it just drives me up.

00:39:26
Speaker 20: I mean.

00:39:27
Speaker 14: And this is my question to you, do you feel like because of the situation with the ni L and the coach and the team and the players getting paid the money they're getting paid, that coaches maybe are losing some of that what's the words, uh, some of that authority that they should make.

00:39:49
Speaker 2: Baby but maybe, but that means you just have to be a different kind of coach. So you know, let's put it like this. You could be Bobby Knight in the seventies and it worked, right. You could scream and yell and cuss into mean players and it worked. I think you would agree. By the nineties that style didn't work anymore. Right, had to be a new style, and that new style tended to be embodied by Mike Krzyzewski, Rick Patino, John cal Perry. This sort of you could be above the program, a larger than life figure. You were respected, you could get along with the players, but you were still in charge and.

00:40:28
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah blah blah. Okay, So that worked in the nineties.

00:40:31
Speaker 2: Okay, now we're in an era where maybe that doesn't work anymore, right, And now you're in an era where you have to do something maybe a more akin to the way NBA coaches coach, which is a guy like Steve Kerr, who he made bicker with his but like his players respect him. But he's also not screaming and yelling at him all the time like Greg Popovich. Right, maybe that's the kind of college coach you have to have now. Maybe the way Nat Oates does it works now. Of course Danny Hurley this is mine and wins two titles. So I don't know, but I'm just saying you might be right that the kind of coach that you need has changed. But like, okay, now you have to adapt. And on paper, Mark Pope should be able to adapt to that because he's not a yeller and a screamer like you would think he would be good.

00:41:18
Speaker 1: For this era. He's gone, you would think, you know, I mean, I don't know.

00:41:27
Speaker 2: I look at some of it, like like, just think about who made the final four last year?

00:41:31
Speaker 1: Right, it was Kelvin Sampson, an.

00:41:34
Speaker 2: Older school, old school coach but kind of known as a player's coach, Todd Golden, young smart guy, John Shire, young smart guy, and was it was Debama make it last year?

00:41:48
Speaker 1: I think they did, and then Nate Oakes, right, Auburn or was it Auburn Okay Bruce Pearl, known as a player's coach, although he yells, so maybe you just have to be like that. But in theory, Mark Pope should be like that, and it just hasn't hadn't totally worked.

00:42:06
Speaker 3: Who's next, Matt, Let's give out our Johnny Rocker personal injury attorney, moneymaker of the game injury.

00:42:11
Speaker 1: Why can't you just bring that in out of nowhere, like you don't even tell me it's coming. You just I like to keeping me all right?

00:42:18
Speaker 3: All right, go ahead, So injured, get small town compassion with big city results. When you call the Rocker at two seven zero three two one four four two nine, I think we only have two guys that we can choose from today, and we're going with Jalen Low twenty one points eight of sixteen, shooting three rebounds to assist, three turnovers, one block, and two steals in twenty seven minutes. He actually had the second worst plus minus on the team at minus eighteen.

00:42:40
Speaker 1: That was weird to me. I noticed that.

00:42:42
Speaker 2: I wonder why that is. I guess because he was on the floor to some during that run they had.

00:42:46
Speaker 1: In the first half.

00:42:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's dat can be deceiving at times, but he's our money there of the game.

00:42:52
Speaker 2: It can No, he was the best player. Oh, he is the best player for for without question. Who's next?

00:42:58
Speaker 1: Michael, Michael, go ahead.

00:43:00
Speaker 21: Michael in that first time?

00:43:03
Speaker 7: Long time?

00:43:04
Speaker 1: Who are what's up?

00:43:06
Speaker 21: I think a lot of people are going to have their opinions about Pope and this year's team, but I just wanted to be objected and bringing a couple of stats to the table. So we have played in thirty four games against Power conference teams plus Gondaga since Mark Pope has become the Pope or has become the coach. What percentage of those do you think we've been down by double digits at some point?

00:43:30
Speaker 1: That's a great question. A lot. What's the answer.

00:43:34
Speaker 21: Fifty three eighteen thirty four games?

00:43:37
Speaker 1: So over half say that's bad.

00:43:38
Speaker 2: That's really bad to be down double digits in over half the games, and we have about a five hundred record right against those teams.

00:43:48
Speaker 21: Roughly, Yeah, it's.

00:43:49
Speaker 1: I think it's something like that. Now, that's that's that's a that's bad.

00:43:54
Speaker 21: Well, it gets worse. So the other one is what percentage of those have we been down by at least points during the game.

00:44:02
Speaker 1: Oh wow, seven or eight.

00:44:07
Speaker 21: Eight of thirty four, nearly a quarter of the Power Conference game. So to me, both of those are really concerning, not only for this year, but I think just in general kind of going forward. And that's all I got.

00:44:19
Speaker 1: It's a great, great point being down. I appreciate the call.

00:44:23
Speaker 2: Being down twenty points in one fourth of your game against Power Conference teams is really bad.

00:44:33
Speaker 1: Like that's real, that's crazy.

00:44:36
Speaker 3: It's a crazy stuck.

00:44:38
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I think back, it feels like Kentucky hasn't been down twenty to teams very much ever.

00:44:49
Speaker 1: And to be down eight times in two years, that's all. That's bad. And and I don't know if I thought about it those terms before, but that's really bad. Who's next? His next?

00:45:01
Speaker 22: Dave, go ahead, David pay A lot of great points made. I'll be quick here. One thing, you know what coach Pub's resume was when he came. A big talking point was how he leading his offense was in complex and all that last year it really was, you know, we pretty much we had everything to it, Martin Williams. This year, listen, there's no movement. You take the day for example. I mean it's either Jalen Lowe or always puts their hand down credit and get to the rim everybody else's standings. Now, it's been that way all year. I think that's a big part of the offense problem. I think that's one reason why we're our three point percent just so low, because the shots are contested, there's no inside out play. But yeah, that twenty point deficit a quarter of those that's man, thanks you guys.

00:45:47
Speaker 2: It's a great point. Great, I mean everybody's making that is a great point. You We initiate no offense outside of Jay Lowe, you know, outside of low and then away lowering his head and going to the back.

00:46:02
Speaker 1: We really don't initiate any offense.

00:46:04
Speaker 2: And uh, you know, someone said it might have been Jay Billis, it might.

00:46:10
Speaker 1: Have been Jack Gibbons. I can't remember. Those were the two voices I heard.

00:46:15
Speaker 2: Somebody said something like looking at their assist numbers and we had like nine or something, and they said, what was it, you're shooting poorly from three.

00:46:26
Speaker 1: Well I'm not gonna be able to articulate it, but.

00:46:28
Speaker 2: The premise was because we have no assist it's partially why we're not shooting the ball well, because we end up taking contested shots. Somebody said that more articulately than I just did, but it was either Billis or Gibbons.

00:46:37
Speaker 1: Who's next?

00:46:38
Speaker 3: Rob is next?

00:46:39
Speaker 5: Rob?

00:46:39
Speaker 1: Go ahead? Rob?

00:46:42
Speaker 20: Hey, Matt, you know some of the points I was going to make here lately in this postgame show, it's starting to make itself more evident, and you're seeing the fan base more and more look to the future with worry. And I just look at all these games he's losing, and each one of these teams has better players than he missed out on in the portal and recruiting, and I just don't see them getting Tyrene Stokes. I don't see them getting Christian Collins. And as this fan base builds looking towards the future, do you think that pressure is just going to affect Pope even more as.

00:47:15
Speaker 1: We go forward? Yes?

00:47:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean this stuff builds on itself, right, like no doubt. You know, when things aren't going well, you look to the future, right, and when the future doesn't look bright and things aren't going well, that's not a good combination. So you have no recruits signed that can still fix itself. But it's an issue We've talked a lot about it over the last month. And then when you're struggling this year and you don't have recruits for next year, that is a concern, without question.

00:47:48
Speaker 1: So I yeah, people should you look, people should be concerned. This is Kentucky.

00:47:54
Speaker 2: Contrary to the first callers point, this is Kentucky.

00:47:58
Speaker 1: This is what you get.

00:48:00
Speaker 2: This show will go up, it will be one of the eight or nine most listened to podcasts in America. Sports podcast tomorrow. That's what you get when you come to Kentucky. If you don't want that, go somewhere else, all right, But when you're at Kentucky, that's what this is. And so you're exactly right. It's a concern, and I think you're reasonable to be concerned. Appreciate the call. It's it's like it'd be like Kaylin de Boor if he's complaining right now. The Alabama football fans are mad they lost thirty eight to three. Dude, you were in Washington. No one cared. Right, you're in Seattle. They got the Seahawks, and they got the Kraken and they got the Mariners, and so Washington is like you can do whatever. But you went to Alabama. And you got a lot of money to go to Alabama, and with Alabama comes all that Alabama news.

00:48:51
Speaker 1: Well that's the Kentuckiness.

00:48:54
Speaker 2: And so you know, the one consistent position I will have is I'm not blaming our fan base expectations, and it is reasonable to be a little concerned.

00:49:03
Speaker 1: Steve. One more, We'll take a final break. Who's next?

00:49:05
Speaker 3: How about Bob and Jamestown?

00:49:07
Speaker 1: How about it? Bob? What's up Mary? Christmas? And happy New Year? Bob?

00:49:13
Speaker 9: Now you too, my Matt, tell your mom. We hope everything works out for and we'll get happy in New Year. Anyway, We're in conference play now and it's gonna be a tough night and Big Blue Nation for all the wives, girlfriends, kids and dogs tonight. But I mean, at this team doesn't seem to know the tradition of excellence at Kentucky basketball. I mean, when you've got two guys that are getting double figures, I mean, if these guys can't get three five pointers in forty minutes, I mean, I just don't understand. They just don't understand the tradition of excellence is basketball.

00:50:05
Speaker 1: What does three five pointers mean?

00:50:10
Speaker 18: Yeah, we got the score and rebown. Okay, thanks, make a break to get a shine and get open.

00:50:21
Speaker 1: All right, Well, thank you appreciate the call. What does that mean?

00:50:28
Speaker 3: I think he means like three or five three pointers, like maybe let's get him going.

00:50:34
Speaker 2: But girlfriends of oh yeah, see, I gave him a very nice greety.

00:50:41
Speaker 3: It is the family.

00:50:43
Speaker 1: That's yeah, exactly right. Maybe the first guy was right. May five eighth, twenty two eighty seven. We'll take a break, come back. Final segments A local Toyota Dealers ks R post game show. Welcome back. It is a local Kentucky Toyota Dealers KSR postgame show.

00:51:00
Speaker 2: That's what I get for New Year being nice to Bob. That's what I get. You made me do that, Billy. We've been working on my new Well it wasn't terrible, but it was also very Bob. Two A to Zho twenty two eighty seven. Tonight your bucks play here in just a few minutes. By the time people listen to this on podcast, games is probably.

00:51:23
Speaker 1: Gonna be over. Are they beating Carolina to get to go to the playoff?

00:51:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, they will. It'll be the most bucks thing ever. They'll win in Atlanta, will win their game versus New Orleans so it will make Carolina the division winner.

00:51:34
Speaker 1: You've heard that's your prediction? Is that the Billy r Sports lock of the week. It is? That is?

00:51:39
Speaker 3: All right, what's gonna happen?

00:51:40
Speaker 1: All right, well we'll see that's that game is? It's today?

00:51:44
Speaker 2: And then what Seattle and San Francisco tonight for the one seed and then my let's see tomorrow night's Ravens Steelers. Right you yes, learn all this on the NFL cover zero Pike. Are we going to the super Bowl? Have you found out?

00:51:57
Speaker 3: I mean they're talking like they're gonna send us a radio row. I don't know about the game, so you have so they have responded to No, they haven't, but I mean initial emails. So it's very.

00:52:10
Speaker 1: He answers. You don't know.

00:52:11
Speaker 3: No, it's up in the air still.

00:52:12
Speaker 1: But okay, all right, all right, who's up next?

00:52:18
Speaker 3: Jim is up next?

00:52:19
Speaker 1: Jim? Go ahead? Jim?

00:52:22
Speaker 5: Hey, Matt, first time?

00:52:23
Speaker 9: Long time?

00:52:24
Speaker 13: Who Two things?

00:52:27
Speaker 5: Two things. I'm the guy that I've watched the games on the radio. I mean, uh, Tom leach is you know, he paints a picture in my mind every game, nine ten games. I don't get any subscriptions or anything, but uh, two stats that I noticed don't seem like we have enough of. One is fouls. I don't see players getting in foul trouble, And two is assist And I'll just ask your opinion on either of those two things.

00:52:52
Speaker 2: Well, fouls fouls I think have a lot to do with can pit. Sometimes you're fouling and it's good because you're aggressive, and sometimes you're fouling because you're being lazy and reaching.

00:53:02
Speaker 1: So I think that's hard to make a generalization on fouls. Assists.

00:53:05
Speaker 2: I think it's a it's it's a completely fair generalization to not have enough assists. We don't. We don't run an offense that has a lot of flow. I think we don't because we can't shoot, and so I think they believe a lot of our best action.

00:53:22
Speaker 1: Has to be individual.

00:53:25
Speaker 2: My problem is, I don't think there's anybody on this team that can consistently beat their man off the dribble besides Jaylen Lowe. Jasper Johnson can, but he has other mistakes. But these other guys can't beat their guy off the dribble. Olway is physical enough that he can sometimes like bull his way through there, but Aberdeen, Chandler, Cam Williams. All these guys, you have to get them shots. They can't get their own shot. Jalen Low's the only guy on the team own shot.

00:53:51
Speaker 1: Right.

00:53:51
Speaker 5: Do you think we shtill have a chance to make the n Tournament?

00:53:55
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, for sure. I appreciate it the call for sure.

00:53:58
Speaker 2: First of all the SEC's that was the hard game we'll play in the SEC, and it was a terrible performance. But let me just look at my little calendar here, all right, so let me read you the next few games. Missouri at home Wednesday, should win. Mississippi State at home Wednesday or Saturday, should win at LSU. They're okay, but but that's a game you need to win at Tennessee. That's tough. But that's probably your second hardest game in the conference. Then Texas at home, and then Old Miss at home. My point is there's winnable games here in the next few weeks.

00:54:31
Speaker 1: Now, if we.

00:54:32
Speaker 2: Lose to Missouri at home on Tuesday, or we lose to Mississippi State at home on Saturday, then that's a different conversation. Let's see where we are after that before we go to at LSU. Assuming we win those two games at LSU, game.

00:54:47
Speaker 1: Is gonna be big to me? Who's next? Nick? Nick? Go ahead, and Nick.

00:54:53
Speaker 11: Just going off to your point about the basics.

00:54:55
Speaker 1: Matt.

00:54:56
Speaker 11: What gets me is I know that when he when they're not not getting out on three point shooters, when they are not being on not doing what they're supposed to do on defense, that's coaching. Hey, they're not getting stopped in practice, they're not getting told, they're not being corrected on the spot when it's wrong in practice. And that's terrible coaching. I'm sorry, but it is. And Mark is not being a good coach right now. It is honest, a bit futured to me. And the way that we get we're getting like that stat about twenty points. That's unacceptable. It's just not Kentucky basketball. We he got the it and one. I'll quit on that. Could you say something about the quarterback that we got who got an injury in the show?

00:55:49
Speaker 1: Well? Do wait? I appreciate Cad. We don't have him yet, do Shandon, Billy? I haven't.

00:55:54
Speaker 3: I haven't heard anything.

00:55:56
Speaker 2: On everything you said. I agree it is poor coaching. We play like a poor coach team. It is worth noting. We will spend a lot of time talking about this Monday, but I do want to note, since I haven't been on the radio, yesterday and today were massive days for UK football in terms of the people they have visiting as part of the transfer portal class. They had some big time people here, including Sam Levitt, the quarterback in Arizona State. Right now, he's ranked as a number one quarterback in the portal. There'll probably be a couple of people who enter the portal later that will pass him, but he'll be a top five portal quarterback. Most people will tell you Kentucky is the favorite, but Texas Tech is right there as well.

00:56:35
Speaker 1: We'll see what happens.

00:56:37
Speaker 2: He met with Stein yesterday and I was told I think they were up in I talked to somebody at twelve thirty last night and Stein was still meeting with him then, so you know, hopefully that worked out. We have the receiver here from Texas. We had a running back.

00:56:52
Speaker 1: From Texas, Teyvon Wallace, who is Trevor Wallace's brother from Arkansas.

00:56:58
Speaker 2: He's here, a ton of people here. They'll probably get some commitments in the next few days. Some of these guys they're trying to get are going to visit other schools, so we'll see, but I am excited they front loaded their visits in a way other schools didn't because they had to because will Stein has to go back to Oregon to prepare for the next game. So they brought a lot of their top guys here. There's an article on Kentucky Sports Radio that showcases like fifteen kids were here and we'll just have to see how it plays out. I'll talk more about this on Monday. I feel very good about where UK football is from a nil slash portal slash future standpoint. Some of my concerns I've had about the basketball still have We'll learn more about them over the next few weeks. But football, from what I've learned in the last week, I feel better about the stability of what Kentucky football can accomplished. It'll be up to the coaches to do it. But can't accomplish then I have in a long, long time. Matter of fact, I would say the ceiling for me now is higher than it's ever been because I think structurally Kentucky's got a really good situation.

00:58:16
Speaker 1: Not the best.

00:58:17
Speaker 2: There are teams of better situations, but good, and the refshare era has the potential to.

00:58:22
Speaker 1: Be good for Kentucky if they do it correctly. Let's do four more. Who's next, Chris, Chris, go ahead, Chris, Hey.

00:58:30
Speaker 13: Matthew, I think Tayshawn would have killed with those five winers.

00:58:35
Speaker 1: Can you imagine how good he would have been? Jody Meeks too?

00:58:39
Speaker 13: Oh yeah, absolutely. I think our problem is our coach is just too tall. How many bigs have been great coaches? They're all plucky little guards.

00:58:48
Speaker 1: That's a good question. Have there been good Phil Jackson was pretty tall, wasn't he? Yes? He was, he was. I appreciate the call them there.

00:58:59
Speaker 2: You're right they use we are I mean, think about the best college coaches, Billy, they're all little guys.

00:59:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting. Why do you think sinners don't become coaches?

00:59:09
Speaker 2: Is it just a stereotype that really tall people can't be smart?

00:59:14
Speaker 1: Maybe? Can you think of a really good tall college coach?

00:59:22
Speaker 13: Hmmm?

00:59:24
Speaker 3: Who is the old Georgetown coach back in the day?

00:59:26
Speaker 2: John Thompson was very tall. Yes, that's a good one. Okay, so John Thompson, that's a boy. I can't think of another one, though he was tall. I don't know how tall he was, but he's a big man, I don't have a good question. Well, while we're thinking about it, who's next, Jerry, Jerry, go ahead, Jerry Man.

00:59:46
Speaker 10: I got two things I get off for real quick buddy. I I didn't get to watch the game today. I didn't realize low twenty one. But I want the quaintness type a good ball game.

00:59:55
Speaker 2: And I missed miss some shots around the basket, and I thought got beat a couple of times.

01:00:01
Speaker 1: He he didn't play great, but he wasn't terrible. But he didn't play great.

01:00:07
Speaker 10: But you think the next maybe starting the next game or two to his start roll Land acquaintance.

01:00:12
Speaker 2: I think there's an argument with two teams you're playing that on paper, you're you should be better than it then and they're both in rupt that maybe that would be.

01:00:20
Speaker 1: The time to switch and start those guys. We'll see what he ends up doing.

01:00:23
Speaker 10: Okay, Another quick thing, man, I watched Stokes players today. The kid from Warrison at re recruiting. Yes, and he's playing a tournament in Arizona. He say he plays on the same team as JJ Crawford.

01:00:36
Speaker 1: I'm probably the.

01:00:37
Speaker 10: Best freshman in the country. Who is I think his daddy either coaches assistant coach. Anyways, he had him and JJ Crawford got into it. Crawford told him he wouldn't hustling, so they take him out. JJ Crawford told him, Man, they take him out of a game about five minutes ago on the second quarter and didn't put him back in the game. But the second half he didn't do nothing but rip the heart out of that team. He took that game.

01:01:00
Speaker 6: Take it happened.

01:01:01
Speaker 10: He's six eight, about two forty and he ain't nothing.

01:01:04
Speaker 1: But a doll. Matt.

01:01:06
Speaker 2: He's great, he'll be He's he's a great player. He's got there. There are issues that people worry about with attitude and a lot of things, but when it comes to playing, when his head is in it, he's awesome. And uh, Kentucky needs him and I don't know if they're gonna get him, but they need it.

01:01:25
Speaker 1: Did you find any tall coaches?

01:01:28
Speaker 3: Does Bill Russell count?

01:01:32
Speaker 1: Yeah?

01:01:32
Speaker 2: I mean Bill Russell? I think though didn't he just coach himself. I think he was a player coach.

01:01:37
Speaker 3: He was a player coach.

01:01:39
Speaker 1: Uh.

01:01:41
Speaker 2: So it's pretty easy when you can coach yourself and you're really good. Yeah, right now, I'm going Phil Jackson, John Thompson.

01:01:51
Speaker 1: Is Greg Popovich tall.

01:01:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, he's He's decently big. Wes unseled, Yeah he was?

01:01:57
Speaker 1: What was he a good coach? Wes Ide don't.

01:01:59
Speaker 3: I don't know that. I just see players that were coaches.

01:02:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, who's next?

01:02:04
Speaker 3: Two more Austin, Austin.

01:02:06
Speaker 1: Go ahead, Austin, Matt.

01:02:09
Speaker 7: I think you're super fair with your analysis. Appreciate that. I don't want to be fair. I want to be a fan. I'm just a basketball Bennie. I don't have an almost Ivy League degree. But what drives me nuts is late in the second half, we go to this high two man game with low acquaintance, and it seems like we're running, they're driving, and if it's not there, he's kicking it for a dunk or a three at least an attempt, which we don't give many of those. I wish we could do that in the first half. A wait, we don't start our best players, so I guess we can't build our offense from there and move out. What's so frustrating to me is it's like last year we had a break from the cow horrific offensive set, and it was like a breath of fresh air and now it's like we've reverted to those cow years and it's it's driving me nuts.

01:02:53
Speaker 2: It's like we play by the way with players that aren't as good. See that's it's been. What has been frustrating to me is I'm with you. I feel like we're running a cal offense and the guys aren't is good, So it's like we're running. It's like we're running with in that like the I feel like I'm watching the Oscar teams without Oscar, you know how frustrating they could be offensively, Like that's kind of what I feel like I'm watching. I'm watching the Oscar teams without Oscar.

01:03:26
Speaker 7: I'm in Alabama. I was at the game today. Alabama fans are saying your team is awful to watch. I'm like, yes, I know, and I still came to the game. One more things. Sorry, well too. I'm sick of being in Alabama and then it always just we go down there in Alabama so much better than us. I look at Oates fighting and passionate and screaming that. Look at Pope, he's not doing it. Last thing, I think the preseason hype was our offense is going against our defense, which made our offense look really good, and it's not appreciate, appreciate, appreciate.

01:03:57
Speaker 2: I think they ran a different offense last year, though I do that this is not that they are running a cal offense.

01:04:03
Speaker 1: Without cow players. I mean, that's that's what they're doing.

01:04:06
Speaker 2: And it reminds me of that, Like imagine the Oscar team where he had tie tie okay, and imagine that team if Oscar didn't play so like Lowe's.

01:04:18
Speaker 1: Kind of like ty Tye.

01:04:19
Speaker 2: He can get a shot, but then you've got like a couple of other okay players, some athletes all over the place, but they just they just are disjointed.

01:04:31
Speaker 1: That's kind of how I feel. I feel like this that's what we're looking at.

01:04:34
Speaker 2: Always a little bit like caseon Wallace in the sense that he scores a lot, but like you know, I don't know. That's what I feel like I'm watching sometimes and and that's that's hard to watch.

01:04:46
Speaker 1: One more, Who's next, Bobby, Bobby? Go ahead, Bobby?

01:04:50
Speaker 8: Thanks Matt, first time, long time. Who I'm gonna close, I'm gonna close the guy out.

01:04:56
Speaker 5: And talked about the stick of Gum mystery.

01:04:58
Speaker 8: So I went back and found it at the five minute eleven Mark obviously second half, Uh passes out of bounds miss kettle by Oh way.

01:05:09
Speaker 22: Pope passed the duck to not get hit with the ball.

01:05:12
Speaker 8: During that brief period of time out, Hope puts a sticky gum in his mouth literally ten seconds choose it, spits it out, continues.

01:05:21
Speaker 5: That's all I.

01:05:22
Speaker 2: Got, all right, I appreciate it. The mystery salved. There you go. Some other good tall coaches, real quick, very bird.

01:05:29
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, of course he didn't.

01:05:31
Speaker 2: Coach very long, but he was pretty good. Uh, Papa six' four do you? Count i'm six? Four does that count six fourth?

01:05:38
Speaker 1: Tall? Yes all, right but basketball it's not that. Tall but but, okay you're.

01:05:44
Speaker 3: Right i'm speaking from a perspective.

01:05:47
Speaker 2: Here, yeah, YEAH i mean basketball is not crazy. Tall Matt painter is six to.

01:05:52
Speaker 1: Seven that's.

01:05:54
Speaker 3: Tall i'm gonna rank college coaches by height in terms of.

01:06:00
Speaker 2: Success If John thompson's gonna be number one And Matt paynter number, two unless someone gives me a better. One Bobby knight was six.' five he's obviously a. GREAT coach i don't KNOW if i consider six y, five Tall but i'll put him on the list AND then i can't Think.

01:06:20
Speaker 1: Of maybe you do have to, Be Short So mark pope has it if he. Gets going not a lot of people for him.

01:06:26
Speaker 2: To, PASS yeah I Mean john thompson was like six eight or, six', Nine so yeah pope might.

01:06:35
Speaker 1: Be.

01:06:35
Speaker 2: The tallest now we just got to make sure he's good so that he gets. On the, List all right thank you folks very. Much for listening enjoy the Rest of. Your saturday night i'll be back tomorrow MORNING Doing the Espn show with Myron and then i'm back on The.

01:06:49
Speaker 1: Show on monday we will see. You folks later Kats. Lose in alabama this has Been The LOCAL toy dealers ksr post game show