2026-02-23- KSR - Hour 1

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Speaker 1: From Netflix and Hulu, Comedy Off Broadway and Lexington. Welcomes Ashley Gavin February twenty seventh and twenty eighth, then from TV and the Movies.

00:00:09
Speaker 2: He's one of the Kings of Comedy.

00:00:10
Speaker 1: Catch d L. Hugley March sixth through the eighth and from the Nate Land Podcast and The Grand Ol'd Lopry. Don't miss Aaron Weber March twelfth through the fourteenth. Four tickets to all Comedy Off Broadway shows called a five nine two seven to one joke or visit Comedy Off Broadway dot com co off Brodway.

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Speaker 2: This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones.

00:00:36
Speaker 3: Welcome everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio, Monday, February the twenty third. I'm Matt Jones.

00:00:42
Speaker 4: Here.

00:00:42
Speaker 3: We are in Louisville, Kentucky full House in Louisville. Rare, but we are doing it. What do you want me to do, Shannon?

00:00:49
Speaker 2: Turn your mic down?

00:00:50
Speaker 3: Well, you're the one that put it here eight five nine two eight oh twenty two eighty seven On the cars Bumpshop phone line, A Vision Auto Glass text machine is seven seven two seven four five two, five to four in this dish sponsored by the TJ. Smith Office. If you called TJ, he'll make them pay. Guys. Good to see you this morning, rare. We're all in Louisville. Did I hear it's snowing in Lexington?

00:01:10
Speaker 5: It snowed like almost all day yesterday. It snowed again this morning.

00:01:14
Speaker 3: Really is it? Like? Are you all shut down again?

00:01:17
Speaker 6: This is good?

00:01:18
Speaker 7: It's snow globe snow.

00:01:19
Speaker 5: It's the Yeah, like my grass is kind of covered. That's it. Nothing on the streets.

00:01:22
Speaker 3: Rain O very good. I mean it didn't it didn't snow here.

00:01:25
Speaker 5: I noticed that one pulled in.

00:01:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we're good, uh text machine seven seven two seven seven four five two five four? You know? I mean so like in a day like today, you can go one of two ways. You can say, well, this stinks and we can just go on and on about how it stinks, or we could talk about positive things. The hockey game yesterday was fun. Did you watch it? I'm sure Drew did. Did you watch it?

00:01:52
Speaker 5: I didn't know it till you sent the text. He sent us all in a group text's three on three for the goals. That's when I turned it on.

00:01:57
Speaker 3: Three on three is so fun. I didn't like it that that's how they ended it. Yeah, but I do hockey.

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Speaker 5: Purists not like it.

00:02:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think three on three is a good a good like compromise between you know, I hate soccer penalty kicks for big things. It feels like at least three on three is actually hockey, right, Yeah, it is, so I enjoy it. What do you think? I mean, quick score, But it also makes it to where it's like one on one playmaking you beat one guy, you've got a chance to Well.

00:02:30
Speaker 7: I heard in the pregame that Canada their top talent is better. So they were like, if it goes to a three on three, have an advantage because their top guys at better and we scored.

00:02:42
Speaker 3: It came down to I think they poked at it and we got it, and if it had gone the other way, they would have had a two on zero and they probably would have scored.

00:02:51
Speaker 5: I don't realize that.

00:02:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, there are a couple.

00:02:53
Speaker 7: Of good looks before the game winner, all in that first two minutes.

00:02:55
Speaker 5: So this is the United States first goals and the America on ice and a nineteen eighty right, that's exactly amazing.

00:03:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, they with the NHL guys didn't play the last two Olympics. So when the when they play the younger guys, we don't have a chance, got you. But the when you get to the NHL guys, uh huh, sometimes we do. So anyway, we'll talk about that later because it was fun and then but we got to talk about UK Auburn eight five nine twenty two eighty seven. You know, I talked extensively about the game on the post game show. You can listen to it on podcasts. Let's talk about the two things that to me are the biggest story coming out of the game. First of all, Chandler foul call fair or foul? Literally you me go first.

00:03:41
Speaker 5: Yeah, I can't argue that it wasn't a foul, but I kelso can't argue the dude wasn't holding him before the foul. My problem is the guy who called the foul was the farthest away from the It was a one official like right in front of the scores table, perfect view of the play.

00:03:55
Speaker 3: And there's a official handing the ball to the guy out a bound right still has a pretty good view.

00:03:59
Speaker 5: Yet it's the guy the farthest away who's back, you know, kind of almost blocked by the call. He's one who made the call. That's what I had the problem with that guy making that call at that time.

00:04:08
Speaker 3: So do you think it was a foul? Yeah, okay, so you think you can't be that bad.

00:04:14
Speaker 5: But I don't know if you call it in that situation. Okay, I think it was definitely a flop. The guy flopped as well, but he did.

00:04:20
Speaker 3: You you're covering all your base.

00:04:21
Speaker 8: I know.

00:04:22
Speaker 5: That's why I think it was such a tough.

00:04:24
Speaker 2: Call to may answer.

00:04:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, you've literally said everything.

00:04:27
Speaker 5: Involved because he extended his arm.

00:04:29
Speaker 3: So shouldn't have been a foul.

00:04:32
Speaker 5: At that time of the game, I'd say no, Okay, I say no.

00:04:35
Speaker 7: I don't like to reward flopping and grabbing anyway. So the moment it's clear that that guy's leaning back and has a whole Chandler, I think you give Chandler a little bit of grace and he does have to extend his arm a little bit at that point when the guy's got ahold of him, I wouldn't have called it, especially in that moment. Don't think it should have been called, especially from the guy on the other side of the court shon.

00:04:54
Speaker 2: I mean, we can cry about fouls all we want a foul as a foul. I think you call it or there, whether there's nineteen minutes left in the game, left seconds left in the game, If it's a foul, then it's a foul.

00:05:05
Speaker 3: I don't want to say that I could. I just I know ship he's.

00:05:08
Speaker 2: Taking the in that situation to begin with.

00:05:11
Speaker 3: You, Now I agree with that part. To me, it's an egregious call. Not it is. I can't like say we got cheated, although someone did, I can't say that because he did extend the army. I think he was being grabbed. So here's what I would say that every time you have one of those plays, someone grabs the guy, sure every time, and every time, and almost every time someone pushes off. So those are two things that happen almost every time you have this scenario. I think it's I don't think you call either one unless it's egregious. And I don't think what the Auburn guy did was egregious. But I don't think what Chandler did was agreed. So I think you let it go.

00:05:54
Speaker 5: The best is a no call.

00:05:56
Speaker 3: I think it's a no call unless you're really holding them, or you're you ain't pushing them, Like there was a place somebody put online of Keon Brooks a couple of years ago. We had the same situation at Arkansas and he pushed off, and I went back and look, he really pushed off. I don't think Chandler really pushed off. So I don't like the call. I think, you know, people can say, oh, if it's fail, it's fail, it's timing. To me, you do have to consider the time, right, Yeah, you do have to consider the situation. So I think it was a mistake. Now, Shannon's right, we shouldn't have been in that shit. We should have gotten a rebound at the end. Crazy right, I mean, so those things also bother me, But it was a bad call in my opinion. Now, I don't think we got cheated, which gets a part two, which is pope after the game. I was the pope after the game stuff. You know, I had to go on the post game show while that stuff was happening, and I was still kind of processing what The next day I watched it all again, I'm kind of like, what what was going on there? I mean, he said that the ref let's just think about what he said. Put aside all the passive aggressiveness, let's just say, think about what came out of his mouth. He said the ref had something personal against him? Did He called them mother blankers? And he said that we got cheated. Those are three amazingly strong statements. Are you, I mean, are you surprised, like if any other coach in America does that, like we're mocking them and going, are you duding? Sore loser? And a coach calling like, well, I guess he's not calling the refs, he's calling the SEC. I guess mother blankers. I mean that's a kind of crazy, right.

00:08:06
Speaker 7: Yeah, I know he's I think he was trying to work the system and not get a Yeah.

00:08:10
Speaker 3: I don't think that work.

00:08:11
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think you're gonna get a fine. I think you should expect to find just saying it through the door on the other side of the wall louder everyone can hear you. I think still counts. But I was shocked that he was acting that way.

00:08:22
Speaker 3: I was too. Have we ever had a coach in a post game do something like that? I was trying to think about that. We've seen coaches mad, We've seen coaches do silly stuff in postgames. But have we ever had a coach say we got cheated?

00:08:41
Speaker 4: No?

00:08:42
Speaker 3: I ever had a coach say that the ref was col probably a couple times said he thought refereeing was personal, probably with Higgins because he did think that.

00:08:51
Speaker 5: I can't remember anybody else flat out saying they think we got cheated, not even any football coaches, basketball coaches, women's coaches.

00:08:57
Speaker 3: Nothing.

00:08:59
Speaker 5: I gotta admittal kind of me giggle. I saw that video of him running out in the hallway, had been yelling that out.

00:09:04
Speaker 3: Do you think he didn't know?

00:09:06
Speaker 5: Oh, he knew exactly what he was doing.

00:09:09
Speaker 3: Okay, So if he was intentional, then he's going to get fined.

00:09:12
Speaker 7: Yeah.

00:09:12
Speaker 5: Fine.

00:09:13
Speaker 3: I don't understand why he said I don't want to do it because I don't want to get fine, and then did it to go get fine because he's gonna get fine.

00:09:18
Speaker 7: He's trying to loophole it a little bit. Wouldn't say he knew what he was doing. I wasn't there, but the video and people that were in the room as loud as he said it sounded intention in that room.

00:09:28
Speaker 5: It's tiny uh huh.

00:09:30
Speaker 3: So the of course he was going to get hurt.

00:09:33
Speaker 5: Maybe he thought nobody still had their tape rolling microphones were turned off.

00:09:37
Speaker 3: No, I mean he thought, of course he did. He wanted to be hurt.

00:09:40
Speaker 5: But you know, when he was on the podium, he said, like you said, personally said like four or five different things.

00:09:45
Speaker 3: On the podium. Comment was bizarrely passive aggress It was, you know, I'm not saying, look, I love my wife. I wouldn't say anything bad about her even if she nags me and does it like that's the kind of thing. That's sort of what he was he was doing there.

00:10:04
Speaker 5: You know, we've seen them some of some bizarre behavior from him after loss this season, you think, and it's gone completely like from being just molti baby butt to like angry baby butt after the Arkansas game.

00:10:16
Speaker 3: Listen, I feel like I have to say this all the time because people I like Pope, his behavior after games has been bizarre this year. And I spent all yesterday because the game is so late at night. I think a lot of people yesterday, everyone I know literally in the national media was that that I'm friends with was like, what was that like? Objectively, if you're not one of us, Shannon, it looks like bizarre behavior.

00:10:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, whining, I mean going out in the hallway and saying Mitch, Yeah, we wouldn't make fun of that.

00:10:55
Speaker 3: Of course we would make fun of that. Would be like, I want you to go back to Louisville years and think if Rick walked out of the hall and said, Tom, you can't say anything, but we got cheated by those mother blankers, we'd be like why.

00:11:12
Speaker 7: Definitely.

00:11:12
Speaker 5: That's why it made me giggle. When I first saw, like, oh, come on, really you did this.

00:11:17
Speaker 3: I was just shocked about it. And now I do think that call was wrong. I would not say we got cheated.

00:11:26
Speaker 5: No, they didn't lose the game because of that call.

00:11:30
Speaker 3: They didn't call any fouls that whole game. They could have fouled both those teams out twice. Yeah, those teams were beating the crap out of each other and they basically were letting it go, which I thought was at least consistent. But then that last call didn't fit that style of officiating. You know.

00:11:49
Speaker 7: Yeah, and I'm in the camp the things. It's a bad call, but it's very clear of post message and his beliefs, so that we got cheated, and you know, with otego posting it in some comments.

00:12:00
Speaker 3: The whole team is gonna feeling bold to say we got it. Yeah, But I don't.

00:12:03
Speaker 7: I don't like that, Like, yeah, it was a bad call, but did you have that same energy when you went to the locker room and said, Brandon Garrison, did you have quicksand on your feet on that last play? Like they had plenty of problems that weren't that call. And I hope he addresses those two and and just crying the way home because one call, like UK had a lot of second half issues that I hope he is not just excusing and forgetting about on the way home because of that one call. I hope he is equally upset that they went eleven minutes with two field goals.

00:12:29
Speaker 3: And I always think this, like, do you think the officials are gonna chant, like be more sympathetic to us after he went in the press conference and said they got cheated, No they were, and that they were mother you know, efforts, and like, I can't think that's gonna make things better.

00:12:44
Speaker 5: No, it won't it all, especially when we get that guy again, which will probably have him.

00:12:47
Speaker 3: Begin certainly get him again.

00:12:49
Speaker 7: He has a lot of seas I don't get the personal thing, like maybe you hate a bad call, Like, do y'all have history we don't know about.

00:12:56
Speaker 3: Courtney Green has done a ton of UK games. The next time I see him, I'm gonna go, dude, why did you call that? I knowing well enough to say that, But like, why did.

00:13:07
Speaker 5: Pope say it was personal?

00:13:09
Speaker 3: Yeah? Well, what could it be?

00:13:11
Speaker 7: It's pretty big allegation there. If you think that you two have something between you and he brought that to the.

00:13:16
Speaker 3: Game, what would the personal thing be?

00:13:18
Speaker 5: I don't know, Like what could they be mad about?

00:13:20
Speaker 3: Shit? Those are two perfectly pleasant people.

00:13:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't feel like they hang out though outside of basketball.

00:13:27
Speaker 3: You think they had like a bad game of checkers chess chess not checkers. Maybe Courtney wanted to play checkers and Pope was like, I could beat you in chess. They played checkers Courtney one and now he's back.

00:13:39
Speaker 7: Maybe it's like I'm gonna get you. In that Auburn game, double.

00:13:42
Speaker 2: Jumped at the end lose he did, Yeah, Like what a way to go.

00:13:45
Speaker 3: Out, king me.

00:13:45
Speaker 7: Yeah, I just feel like if you're a really good team and you should have won, and this is just one loss and hurts you, Okay, maybe you got cheek. Kentucky's very flawed. They have plenty of problems they should be focusing on other than a push.

00:13:57
Speaker 3: They had two players really play. Yeah, I mean Aberdeen and know Way. How about Aberdeen, dude, I'm gonna just tell you, I'm I'm mister Aberdeen. Yep, he and always the two of them carried us on their back. Yeah, they did, and they deserve. I wish we'd have won, because I wish we'd won, but I also wish that they both should get the press. Like Aberdeen, especially once we found out even sick after the game, he played thirty eight minutes.

00:14:25
Speaker 5: And didn't practice for a couple I alwayshed that.

00:14:27
Speaker 3: Last inbound had gone to him.

00:14:29
Speaker 5: So let's get back to that there was really no inbounds play.

00:14:31
Speaker 3: Well, let's let's we'll talk to the specifically. Okay, let's take a break eight five nine two, eight twenty two eighty seven. Uh, it's Matt Jones and these two mothers, uh sitting there with me. We'll be right back. What about that way of saying Shannon mother blank.

00:14:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't think that Mark Pope even said those words.

00:14:54
Speaker 3: Well, he only said mother mother's Okay.

00:14:57
Speaker 2: Right, yeah, but didn't he say no.

00:15:00
Speaker 3: I think he said mother, and then he said F and then the he left out three letters.

00:15:07
Speaker 2: Oh okay, yeah, is that all right? I guess I don't know. I mean he said to himself. Yeah, I don't think Mitch would appreciate it if he said the other three.

00:15:18
Speaker 4: Look.

00:15:18
Speaker 3: I don't know who took that picture, but the look from the side where you see Rock Oliver and then Mitt, and the look on Mitch's face is so Mitch Barnhardt.

00:15:29
Speaker 5: Like he did bit into a sour lemon.

00:15:30
Speaker 3: That's exactly what it looked like, and he was just like raw whinbers rights. Matt. We did have cow once say we cheated or got cheated at Texas A and M the Isaac Humphreys game. He said it in the locker room after the game. Well, yeah, that I think that's the one game in history. I think we've been cheated in two games. That's the most blatant cheat because they definitely didn't need to call that right. And then I do think we got cheated in the twenty seventeen North Carolina game, but that wasn't to the media though, I mean, that was to his team. I bet it happens a lot to the team.

00:16:17
Speaker 5: It seems like our fan base is split. Half the fan base things that's why we lost the game was that call. The other half are like, well, you messed up many times leading up.

00:16:25
Speaker 3: Well, But both those things can be true. We don't lose that game probably without that call, but we also shouldn't have been in that situation like that's that's I think, Drew. Both those things can be true. Absolutely.

00:16:38
Speaker 7: I'm mad about the call is mauth the ref. I think they would have won if they hadn't have called it. But I'm also mad that you're up nine and blow it. And I'm mad that a certain person is in the game and can't finish a basic tip in or leave his feet to try to get a game winning rebound. Those things stick out to me just as much as the call.

00:16:53
Speaker 3: Jonathan says, Hey, Matt and Drew, y'all act like Pope is hurting us against the refs. Let's be real, it hasn't since been the same since y'all's fiasco with a certain wrath, and that's a fact. Yeah, it's certainly our fault. Anything that's not right, it's probably KSR. Matt and Drew's fault probably, like, it's not when we don't recruit. We ran cal off. It wasn't losing to Saint Peter's in Oakland. It was a radio show. The fact we have no recruits. It's not the fault of like the coaching or the administration. It's it's Ryan. Ryan's playing a big role in the in the recruiting, right, and when we didn't box out and get the final rebound, like you could go, oh, why wasn't Garrison in position? What was Chandler looking at? Actually it's Shannon. Shannon was the one.

00:17:46
Speaker 2: That did it should have gotten that rebound.

00:17:48
Speaker 3: I'll remind you before if you think it changed with officials in twenty seventeen, do you remember why Drew and I were claiming we're complaining about the officials because we had just gotten a came stolen from us. Was that our fault too? Come on, like, just come on, this is a powerful radio show, but we don't move mountains. I don't think Courtney Green listens to this show. The Horney Green is literally the only.

00:18:18
Speaker 2: Ref he should listen.

00:18:19
Speaker 3: That like speaks to me. I kind of know him, and I'm gonna say next time I saw him. What in the world were you doing, Courtney Green, I'm not Grans Reid Higgins versus ks R. And read what the judge said. He said, we didn't do anything wrong. He said maybe we didn't have the most tacked, but he said we didn't do anything wrong. And he noted that all the bad things that had happened to somebody happened before Drew and I even went on the air. Okay, enough of that, Jonathan, Jonathan, just go by, John.

00:18:59
Speaker 7: I apologize from all in the lost whatever I uhould be ashamed Big Blue Nation. I I even bet on us to win. I was confident I lost some money on that game. So whatever I did on the court, my apologies.

00:19:09
Speaker 3: All right, So let's talk about on the court. Oway was great. I thought Oway was excellent. Had very few mistakes most I mean, missed maybe one layup, but in general, hit some tough ones. You know, he missed that free throw. That's sometimes, but that's a nippicking. He was great. Denzel Aberdeen, I thought, even though he missshots early, hit some big shots down the stretch. Those two threes kept us in the game. Made those free throws on the play before that put us up three. I thought he was great, and I thought Diabatte gave us some energy. Although he gets the ball sometimes and it's like this is going up hell or high water, and when you say go up, he's throwing it up. Oh it's bang, just throwing as hard as he can against the backboard. So I don't know what nobody else to say about Brandon Garrison. He's the most frustrating player in my twenty years of doing this. I you know, I hate to say that, but it's just true. He is. I was thinking, has there been a player since I've been When I was a kid, first as a youngster, Rob Block drove me crazy. Rob Block. I can remember my grandfather going Rob Block and Mike Sutton. Mike Sutton drove my grandfather crazy. The mantle got picked up for me with Jared Prickett missing layups. My grandfather I can still remember him sitting there with lung cancer, going dog it at Jared Prickett. Then over the years, it's always it always seems like it's a big guy.

00:20:58
Speaker 7: Yeah, my grandfather had Naziar Muhammad. He didn't like had that r and it didn't like Nazar You you loved him by the end. I think we even had a frame picture him in the living room, but when he was still fast.

00:21:07
Speaker 3: It's usually big guys because they have to play like guards usually don't play if they're not very good, but a big guy might still play even if he's struggling. Right, yes, just not quite ready and so so then we actually had a long period where I didn't really have one. You know, some people didn't like Jamel Martinez. I liked his mustache. Jamel Martinez, by the way, A lot of people don't know top ten all time in UK and free throw percentage and mustaches, but free throw percenting. You wouldn't think.

00:21:36
Speaker 5: That for a big realized that.

00:21:39
Speaker 3: Then I guess maybe I used to get frustrated scal Scal was a frustrating that was like a sympathetic frustrated. It was, but it was frustrating.

00:21:48
Speaker 7: Shouldn't have been number one in that class.

00:21:50
Speaker 3: But Brandon Garrison frustrates me a.

00:21:54
Speaker 5: Lot, and post playing our group chat, Yeah, group chats really.

00:21:59
Speaker 2: Funny, become my favorite.

00:22:01
Speaker 3: Yeah we're not we're not reading Matt.

00:22:04
Speaker 2: Garrison this game.

00:22:05
Speaker 7: I mean, that's the most text you've sent in the game. I think you were up Sadden that one.

00:22:11
Speaker 2: It's like a like a stream of consciousness of.

00:22:13
Speaker 3: This and that's just I'm filtering what I send to you.

00:22:16
Speaker 7: I think what hurts Garrison too is there have been games where we've seen him do it. Yeah, Like he's had games we're like, oh, that's your ceiling, Well that looks pretty good. And then you have games like at Auburn where it's like, why are you even in?

00:22:28
Speaker 3: If you go watch that last play, he does not move at any point. He doesn't move on the block, he doesn't they get two rebounds, he does not move, and he is not next to the rim that last the last shot was over Chandler because Chandler was having to try to box his man out. Where was he? What I mean, well, all right, we'll take the calls when we come back. Seven ks R.

00:22:57
Speaker 6: T J.

00:22:58
Speaker 3: Smith, personal injury attorney called TJ.

00:23:00
Speaker 2: He'll make them pay. No more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Joe quarterback.

00:23:06
Speaker 3: Tucky Sports Radio. People are giving their players over the years that had the frustration A lot of votes for Ashton Hagens. I was pro Aston Hagens.

00:23:14
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's funny. Most of your guys your frustrated with are big guys. Most of mine are like little point guards. Who Veer's been Severe Wheeler for sure at the top of my list.

00:23:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, Ryan Harre didn't like him. No, I felt bad for Ryan Harrow because I think there was more like other stuff.

00:23:30
Speaker 5: I think you're right with him.

00:23:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, Severe was frustrating, very frustrating. I always liked Ashton Hagens. I didn't have that same.

00:23:39
Speaker 5: His career didn't end very well here, but up to that point he.

00:23:42
Speaker 3: Was I think pretty successful. Yeah, there weren't a lot of cowguys. I mean there were cow guys I didn't think were good, But I didn't get frustrated at him. I usually we'd ended up feeling sorry for him. I think part of what's frustrating about Garrison is he struggled so much. A He's so loud, like in confident.

00:24:00
Speaker 5: So the question is why is what happened to?

00:24:02
Speaker 3: Colin Chandler was awful to in the second and that was his worst half of the Yeah, five turnovers and a half.

00:24:08
Speaker 5: And couldn't hit a bucket, couldn't hit anything.

00:24:10
Speaker 7: Yeah, big steel that got the go ahead lead. If not for that, that was a.

00:24:14
Speaker 3: Terrible and his his forced entry passes to Malachi that got stolen back to back. It's kind of what fuel do auburns are.

00:24:22
Speaker 7: I will say there at the end when Malakai got his hand on the ball again before he bobbled it on the one point seven, I was like, oh God, is he get is Malachai I gotta get a second look got his hands on it.

00:24:32
Speaker 3: Just Harrison also missed that little layup at the end that was that was so bad.

00:24:37
Speaker 7: I was just waiting on the rim for anyone to come tap that in. Our equipment manager could have gone and finished that.

00:24:43
Speaker 3: Yeah. Uh. Indiana has hired Indiana NBA executive Ryan Carr, a highly respected NBA executive, to run uh there be the general manager of their basketball team. By the way, there are people in college basketball would tell you the last two schools to really understand what they need to do from a GM perspective, where Kentucky in Indiana and now Indiana has so we have no more excuses, and the fact they're doing it right now says hey, they know it's almost time because we have to go do this. They went and hired an mba professional guy. We have to do it and if people's ego at UK, whether it's the coaching staff or the athletics department, prevents it, that is egregious.

00:25:33
Speaker 5: It's so confusing for me. We're so up to date on modern basketball. Why are we not jumping on this opportunity?

00:25:39
Speaker 3: Because I think it's because, like when you're very smart, this is the downside of being smart and I can I've done this. You have to know what you don't know, or you have to know how to delegate, and that's a hard thing for people who are control freaks to do. Caliperi didn't want to do it, and poping his own way, I think is the same way. It's like I got this, man, I got it.

00:26:10
Speaker 5: Now you're the last one standing that doesn't have one.

00:26:12
Speaker 3: It doesn't have it, and like you have to look and go, okay, I guess I don't have it. Yes, So let's go to Sawyer. Go ahead, Sawyer.

00:26:21
Speaker 4: He Matt first time calling, who are just wanted to get y'all's thoughts on something that's been bothering me over the course of this season. I think it really goes back to this time at b YU. It just seems like Mark Pope's teams have a really bad habit of playing to the level of their opponents. Yeah, you know, we go on the road to Florida and it's a single digit game and then lose the next two to some of the worst teams in the conference. And it just feels like the route of that inconsistency is that we sometimes played down to the level of our opponents and just wanted to kind of get your thoughts.

00:27:01
Speaker 3: I think that's certainly the case, and it's been the case. I appreciate the call. I mean, it's been the case forever. That's what that's what what happens we have. We don't we don't win blowouts unless we're playing really bad teams.

00:27:13
Speaker 5: And we'll play our schedule played out. These were two games where you had a chance to help yourself before you go on the road at A and M and host Vandy and Florida coming up.

00:27:23
Speaker 3: I remember, the worst team in the conference right now is Mississippi State, and we played them at home and we're down double digits at one point.

00:27:30
Speaker 7: South Carolina just beat them Saturday. South Carolina got out of their seven game losing streak, ended up just in time for us.

00:27:36
Speaker 5: Well, they have ninety seven points.

00:27:37
Speaker 7: They did. Their whole starting five is pretty balanced. It was like sixteen points. We can't lose Tuesday. We'll spend a lot of time tomorrow time, but we cannot lose Tuesday. Cannot Jay and Lyndon go ahead.

00:27:49
Speaker 8: Hey man, I'm really conflicted on Pope. Last year, I thought every press conference is smartest guy in the room. This year, at times, he's been not confident, honestly since bizarre things. And I guess what I'm asking you. The landscape has changed so much. And I don't mean just in il. I looked at this this weekend because I'm a nerd. The AP top twenty five at the end of the raire season Col's first seven years, only five times there was one other SEC team in the top twenty five besides us. In two of those years it was two. Last year there were eight teams from the SEC and the top.

00:28:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, SC is much better, much better. But my point, Mike TRANGHEEZI in the house.

00:28:36
Speaker 8: I'm not saying that do I accept the losing, But do I just accept it's gonna be tougher?

00:28:42
Speaker 3: Well, okay, I'm well it's it's tougher. But here's here's my counter to that. Somebody's winning. Alabama, Florida and Tennessee are winning most years. Why can't we end of story? Right? It is harder, and yes, the winning team is going to have more losses. But last year we were the seventh seed in the SEC tournament. We're progressing right now to be the non seed in the SEC tournament. Is it too much for me to ask that we'd be in the top four?

00:29:16
Speaker 4: No?

00:29:16
Speaker 8: But what was our complaint with cal? His non conference schedule was watered down and weak. I mean, should Pope have that as good? Do we need a weaker non conference based on how good the seced?

00:29:29
Speaker 3: Now that's a fair question. I appreciate the call. I don't know the answer to that. I like them playing those games because here's the thing about playing those games. The reason we're projected today in bracketology is a seven seed is because we played all those good games. One thing I give the NCAA Tournament credit for is, unlike the college football playoffs sometimes drew, they actually give you credit for playing good teams. So we are seventeen and ten, which some years in the past, being seventeen and ten you wouldn't even be projected in the tournament, but we are because we played such a good non conference, because the SEC is so good. So I think the way they do the schedule now, losing the bad team, losing the good teams doesn't hurt you. What hurts you is losing the bad teams, which is why we can't lose to South Carolina Tuesday.

00:30:16
Speaker 7: Yeah, and I the SEC argument. There's no one saying SEC's not better off than they were. It's definitely a better conference. But Florida has two losses right now. Florida, Auburn has championship. Auburn had three losses last year. I think Alabama the berefore that maybe three. Like someone's still winning the conference and only losing a couple of games. It's just not us. And part of the reason is why these teams are winning the conference now is Kentucky's gone down and those are wins they're getting that they weren't used to having on their resume.

00:30:41
Speaker 3: That's a perfect explanation. Joseph, go ahead, Joseph.

00:30:47
Speaker 9: Bad loss again, we were at nine points. I know the rest had made a lot of bad calls, but you should have been a lot more. The chandler was awful in the second half with his five turnovers. Not much hope for this season. We just got hope for football that it's better.

00:31:09
Speaker 3: Well, I appreciate the call. What do you think happened with Chandler there at the end? First of all, would you have inbounded the ball to him?

00:31:15
Speaker 5: Well, I mean, he's a good free throw shooter. You want to get him or Aberdeen were set up to try to get it. They didn't run a play, they didn't.

00:31:21
Speaker 2: Run him off a screen or something.

00:31:22
Speaker 3: I mean, remember we've had this problem all year on those you know. Obviously we ran the great play that got Malachi the shot against LSU, But if you remember, there were a lot of games earlier in the year where we would have trouble getting the ball in back. Yes, on a full court like that's happened, and it's because I can't believe it's the same thing that Cal used to do. They just hold an arm up in the air.

00:31:45
Speaker 2: Why, I don't know.

00:31:46
Speaker 5: If it didn't work, the plot said was going to try to work.

00:31:49
Speaker 2: This time you're posting up a guy eighty feet away from the basket.

00:31:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't under I don't understand. I mean, think about how many times now when we bound the ball under our basket, we just throw it to the other end of the court.

00:32:00
Speaker 5: Yeah, heave it.

00:32:02
Speaker 3: I don't understand. When I saw that we were gonna have to inbound at full court, I thought to myself, run something, yes, And they had Chandler on one side with his left hand up and Aberdeen on the other side with his right hand up. And because of the way that the you know, the best the goal is, throwing it to Aberdeen is kind of a tricky pass, so he ends up having to throw it to Chandler. And look, I mean, Chandler's a good free throw shooter. I hope he would have made him. But I think Aberdeen had just made to I probably would have got your path. You know, he just hit I.

00:32:36
Speaker 7: Trust really either one of those guys. I just hated how they got him the ball. And also in that spot when the other team's desperate, that flop is like kind of one of the only things they can do when the clock's ticking and you're just trading free throws and fouling there, so you also have to have your guard up on your man is probably gonnattempt that flop because it's really one of the only things they can do.

00:32:54
Speaker 3: Eight. I'm nine eight twenty two eighty seven. Did you send the edge?

00:32:57
Speaker 2: I did?

00:32:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, Well give me one to do real quick.

00:32:59
Speaker 2: Because I don't it from corn bread hemp.

00:33:01
Speaker 3: Cornbread hemp, I can do that corn bread hemp. If you need to rest and relax, how about corn bread hemp. They have the seltzers, the gummies, the topical oils help you get good sleep. I used it all weekend, was able to snooze with the late game. I'd already asked off Sunday on ESPN because I thought I'd be doing something. Yeah, and then I wasn't doing it. So you know what I did. I just rested thanks to corn bread hemp. It's National Sleep Month. Oh my favorite month in March. Sorry, so be read's in March. Go to National Sleep Month.

00:33:31
Speaker 5: I'll be sleeping a lot in March.

00:33:32
Speaker 3: Then, No, you're gonna be on the road doing basketball games hopefully all month. Probably not. Treat twenty five is the code. Help you get organic gummies, oil and a lot more. It's sleep Treat twenty five for twenty five percent off corn bread hemp. This is the good life where he was just talking with our boss about what of the NCAA sites we would go to, basically agreeing we're going to if we're in the first round in six of the eight cities, we're going the two on the West coast. It'll depend on the draw if we genuinely think we could get through. So just so you know for your travel.

00:34:08
Speaker 5: Plans, I mean, I mean, I was.

00:34:10
Speaker 3: There was a point in San Diego and Spokane are long trips.

00:34:13
Speaker 5: Those are very long trips.

00:34:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll take a break. Very back ksry they got it too, harden them, Welcome back Tucky Sports Radio.

00:34:24
Speaker 2: Just sing it if you want.

00:34:24
Speaker 3: It's fun. I like this song. Hey five nine two eight twenty two eighty seven. Uh, text machine is seven seven two seven seven four five two five four. People still doing the players are frustrating, And one person goes, Matt, there's no way you can look at me in the eye and say you didn't get frustrated from Isaiah brisco I remember your shows. Then good call. Yeah he's on my list. I forgot about you.

00:34:45
Speaker 7: The baseline stepping he was Isaiah Briscoe.

00:34:48
Speaker 3: If I'm going col Era on Isaiah brisco is a good one for me. Hip hop Cherie Thomas in the Tubby era was frustrating.

00:35:00
Speaker 5: At the time. People got so fuckedat with Archie.

00:35:02
Speaker 3: It didn't bother me as much because I felt like he was doing what he had to do.

00:35:06
Speaker 5: I had to do it.

00:35:08
Speaker 3: People were very hard on Julius Mays even though he was and Andrew Harrison, but those weren't mine for me. For me, I think if you look, there are two sets of players that frustrate Matt Jones, big guys who won't dunk and miss layups. That drives me crazy. And then people who aren't as good as they think they are and need to be like the third or fourth option and make themselves the first option. Yeah, that drives me nuts. And Briscoe was one of brisco was on a team with Fulk, Fox and Bam and he would call his own number and I'd be like, dude, he still has one of three triple doubles in UK history, which is an amazing.

00:35:51
Speaker 2: Stack because he called his numbers.

00:35:54
Speaker 7: I liked covering Guysiah brisco because we would go in the locker room. We would be two feet from him about to inter and he would turn to UK and be like, I don't want to talk to these people right in our faces, and he'd be like, great, this is gonna be fun conversation.

00:36:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, so those would be the be the one for me. I'm also upset we lost because I thought Tom Hart came up with a great name for Colin Chandler, Hoppy Chandler. Yeah, and it may not stick because we lost, but that's a great name, Hoppy Chandler.

00:36:22
Speaker 5: You know, Tom didn't hide his feelings too in that last play, that foul play. He's like, how can you call that? At that time he was, you.

00:36:28
Speaker 3: Know, you shouldn't. You shouldn't have called it. He shouldn't have called it. But we shouldn't have been in that position.

00:36:34
Speaker 7: No, And and when you get in position, you should try to jump to get a rebound. Your feet should leave the floor to potentially win the game with a rebound.

00:36:42
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, Well you don't just want to just stand there and watch it.

00:36:46
Speaker 3: No, huh. I thought he played okay, But Malachi's got to get stronger in the offseason grabbing the ball. He gets the ball taken from him way too much. So does Yellovich. Yes, they're both soft when it comes to they get the ball to taken from them. A lot. Both those guys.

00:37:02
Speaker 5: You couldn't play yellowsion this game, That's why.

00:37:05
Speaker 3: But I want him to play because he can shoot, so he gives us an option, but he's not physical enough. And against the SEC, I don't care who the team is. Every team in the SEC has a couple of guards that can beat you off the dribble and a physical big. They all have it. And that's what we have to have those guys. We have to have those guys because every other team, even if they're not talented, they have that. You know.

00:37:31
Speaker 5: That's why poping out and got deaboday.

00:37:33
Speaker 3: And he does. He does okay, but he can't score. Right. Who's up next?

00:37:38
Speaker 2: Your choice?

00:37:39
Speaker 8: There?

00:37:39
Speaker 2: Who you want?

00:37:40
Speaker 8: You won?

00:37:41
Speaker 6: Heo?

00:37:41
Speaker 5: You got?

00:37:41
Speaker 3: Yeah? Sorry, I'm losing my lost stupid hits. You can't go? Ahead? Yeah, Scott, there we go.

00:37:49
Speaker 6: Hey, fellas, I'm just I have some mind boggling like I'm just so mind boggled, buddies.

00:37:54
Speaker 4: Mark Pope stats.

00:37:55
Speaker 6: I look at it over the last two years. There's good and bad. If I can read some of them all real quick quickly, yes, like Mark popes. Yeah, Mark Pope started three and over top ten teams with a team he built in a month. He still has the record. He's tied for the record for most top fifteen wins last year.

00:38:11
Speaker 4: Eight.

00:38:12
Speaker 6: We're four and one versus Tennessee, our biggest rivalry in two years. He's he's got three ranked wins this year verse top twenty five teams. All good stats right on the run, and then there's some crazy bad ones, like we've been down twenty plus eight times since he's been our coach. We lost to Georgia twice. That hasn't happened in over one hundred years, since nineteen twenty one twenty two. He has the same record as Billy G thirty three and seventeen in his first fifty games. We have zero recruits next year. One more quick one. We've been down eighty percent of the games, down ten plus with teams that were considered competitive, you know, those those good divisions teams, and we've come back in won five of those.

00:38:52
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:38:52
Speaker 3: No, I mean it is weird. It's feast or famine with him. I mean, he has your right, that's a great point. I appreciate the call. He has some amazing sta historically and some awful ones. And you go, well, how do you produce both of those, and I don't know the answer to that.

00:39:08
Speaker 5: They were leading that halftime at Auburn on Saturday, you know, I think we were shocked that they did that. Then they go up by nine in the second half against Auburn.

00:39:15
Speaker 3: Let me ask you a question. If I were to pull the fan mase, do you think Shannon the fan base would be pro or con Marx Pope's postgame antics after the game? Con?

00:39:32
Speaker 2: I think for the most part, people don't like it.

00:39:34
Speaker 3: What do you think?

00:39:35
Speaker 7: Very con? I think people would like it better if you would have just set at the podium. It's like the juvenile like I'm gonna say it, but not say it, kind of like playing a little immature game there. I think if you just set down into the microphone like we got cheated, people would have gotten behind it a little more.

00:39:50
Speaker 3: What do you think?

00:39:51
Speaker 5: Definitely?

00:39:51
Speaker 6: Con?

00:39:51
Speaker 5: Like I said, it made me laugh.

00:39:53
Speaker 3: See there was more pro centiment online than I would have thought. So let's do this the easiest way. I've said, the best sample of this fan base is the text machine. Yeah, So let me just all I want you to write is if you thought, well, what what Mark Pope did after the game was was good. You get cheered it on pro if you didn't Conka and let's just look during the break seven seven two seven four five two five four we'll compare what they say.

00:40:18
Speaker 2: I think most of it comes off of, you know, the fact that it's a loss. Yes, we clearly when then I think it would be.

00:40:23
Speaker 3: But there are fans out there who think we got cheated. And so I mean Mario shaking his head, Mario, you're pro or con No, no pro or con the way what Mark said after so he was pro. So that's for con one pro. Let's see what it is with fans. I think you're gonna be. I think there's gonna be more pro than people think, although it probably leans conned. I think it's gonna be more than you think. I think there were people that liked it. I'm with Drew though. If you want to say cheated, say it as they would say, Say it with your chest, commit to it, commit to the bid. You know you want to call them mother, just like I always say say it to you know, say it to my face. You don't need to type it. Say it so say it. Mark.

00:41:12
Speaker 5: I don't think anybody was gonna hear him when he's just stepped outside in the hall way.

00:41:16
Speaker 3: You think he might have heard it. No, yeah, thank you forgot well you looked up Courtney Green who he said it was personal. Yeah, every game he'd ever done of Kentucky's in the Pope era we had won.

00:41:26
Speaker 7: H Yeah, Big Blue History has uh the referee page. He did both Oklahoma games last year. We enjoyed those and the Tennessee game last year. Those were his three with Pope and UK before this season.

00:41:35
Speaker 5: And they won all three. Where'd the personal part come in? It's something happened earlier in the game we don't know about.

00:41:41
Speaker 3: I don't know. It is odd. Oh excuse me.

00:41:44
Speaker 7: He also did the Duke game, so four o four pretty big wins all that.

00:41:47
Speaker 3: I mean, he did Duke, Tennessee and the two Oklahoma games last year.

00:41:51
Speaker 7: Yeah, Acordney, Big Blue History, we only have a pretty good history.

00:41:53
Speaker 2: It sounds like to me they were buddies. Maybe they're getting a good whistle and then maybe something happened.

00:41:58
Speaker 7: I think we have five straight ends with him as until Saturday, according to Big Blue History.

00:42:03
Speaker 3: Shout out Big Blue History. Hey, that's weird. It is interesting though personal. You don't hear that a lot. No, I know. CALE used to think mister Plainiff was it was personal. But you don't hear that a lot. All right, we'll take a break, be back our two. We'll talk a little hockey. Win,