KSR Postgame UK MBB vs Alabama 01/18/25

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone. It is the Local Toy Dealers KSR postgame Show. Kentucky falls in rupperna to Alabama one to oh, two to ninety seven, their first home loss of the year and their first loss against a top fifteen team after five victories. You can give a shout eight five to nine, two eighth, twenty two eighty seven. A lot of you are driving back home or heading wherever you are, so feel free to give me a shout. The Cats, you know, scored ninety seven points and still lose. Really the first time this year where they've had a game where they've played pretty well offensively and still we're not able to get the victory. And the other games where Kentucky's lost, their point total has been in the sixties. This one was ninety seven and still a loss. And I thought, honestly, the better team today one Alabama. A couple things that I thought were crucial to the game ended up playing out before the game. If you were listening yesterday, we said basically two things were important. One was Grant Nelson, because I think the one consistent thing we've seen this year is teams that have a guy at the four, sometimes at the three, but really at the four, who is versatile, can shoot from outside and go to the basket. They really give us a hard time, even you know, going back to Cooper Flag, to Asa Newell at Georgia, the two guys at Florida that got all those rebounds, and then again Grant Nelson here today and he had a great first half, nineteen points in the first half, twenty six points in the game. He was a real issue for us, and I thought was really the reason Alabama was ahead at halftime and a half where Kentucky may have even outplayed Alabama but just couldn't really do anything with Grant Nelson. And then the second thing, And it sounds very simplistic, but Drew and I both made the point. These two teams love to shoot threes, and they're both good at it. Whoever hits the most will win. Well, you know, Alabama made thirteen, Kentucky made eleven. We lost by five. It really, I'm not saying the whole game can be broken down into something that simple, but it's a pretty important thing. These two teams each have strengths outside of three point shooting, but the one thing they share is three point shooting, and they made two more of them than we did, and we had open looks. We had chances to hit shots that I think if you hit, maybe it's a different ending. Almanor had a couple of open threes. I thought, you know, Perry in the second half, I had an open three that was big. Butler had an open three. You know, you miss those. And Alabama in that little run where it was tied eighty one eighty one and then they scored nine straight points, they hit two open threes in similar situations, and in my opinion, that was maybe even the difference in the game some you know, smaller, smaller things. First of all, I thought, even though his stat line looks pretty good and I think he played well defensively, I thought Lamont Butler struggled offensively, especially down the stretch that little sequence from eighty one to eighty one to ninety eighty one, you know, obviously as a sequence where they won the game, and Lamont made a couple big mistakes during that during that sequence, especially on offense. The turnover on the fast break was huge. It was eighty four eighty one. We had a chance to get an easy basket there, maybe even an am one, and he throws it away, then they come down and hit a three. And then the next sequence for us, Butler gets a step and gets into the lane, but then throws a lob to Amari that just really didn't have much of a chance of success, and Amari doesn't catch it. Eighty seven eighty one becomes ninety to eighty one when they hit a three, and then that's kind of that. I think Amari Williams is really is a good player. He hustles a lot, but when he is having to be a centerpiece of your offense, you're going to struggle. And there were three or four times where he tried to initiate offense by dribbling. I never think that's really a good thing for us, and even throwing lobs to him. I think I saw a stat somewhere that we're one of the worst teams in the country at throwing and executing lobbs. And I'm not shocked at that, because again, we're not a crazy athletic team. We're a good shooting team, we're a good execution team, but we're not crazy athletic, and I think you see that in lobbs, where you know, we try to do stuff that maybe some of our guys, it's not their strong point defensively. You know, you give up one hundred and two, it's gonna be hard to win. We gave up one hundred to Florida and did win. I gave up one hundred and two today. You know, I don't talk about or write a lot about defense because I just don't think we're ever going to be great at defense. I just don't think this team is built with guys who are really good defensive players outside of Butler and sometimes oh Way. I mean, I think Carr is a big defensive liability, Bray is a defensive liability, and Robinson can be a defensive liability. Perry's a defensive liability. So you get that many guys on the court that are not great defenders, You're never going to be a great defensive team. Now. What you can do, however, is get loose balls and get rebounds. And we did give up fifteen offensive rebounds. Now that's a big number. It didn't crush us, though, because we actually outscored them on second chance points. We had thirteen offensive rebounds, so we gave up fifteen, which is too many, But I don't think that's why we lost. I think part of the re and we struggled. There was fifty fifty balls. You heard Mark Pope say on the post game that he thought we just weren't We were like a step slow getting to some of those fifty fifty balls, And I kind of agree. Some of their offensive rebounds were long threes that we just really didn't scramble and weren't in a good position for. But you know, defensively, you can't give up one hundred and two. But I think we're gonna give up one hundred and two against teams like that. Sometimes they ended up shooting eighty five percent from the free throw line. What were they, Billy twenty six of thirty or something like that from the free.

00:06:39
Speaker 2: Throw Alabama, are you yeah? Yeah, they were twenty nine to thirty four.

00:06:44
Speaker 1: Twenty nine to thirty four. That's a great percentage. They got thirty four free throws. We got twenty four free throws, but they got thirty four. And you know, when you most of these teams, we've actually had some pretty good free throw percentage luck this year when the other team shoots them. Not today, twenty nine to thirty four, and they made the big ones when they needed to. You know, there was the big foul on the three pointer by Sears. That is the fourth time in the last three games we have had a landing area three point foul called on us, and you know, it's frustrating to watch those calls. But at the same time, the NCAA announced before the season they were going to emphasize that, and we have to stop doing it. Like, whether you think that's a foul or not, we can't keep doing it because they're gonna call it, Which gets me into a greater sort of conversation about fouls in general. We're just not doing a good job of drawing fouls. And I think you know, Almanor had a three at the end where they went into his landing area. It was the one he made, but he didn't fall down, and like, they're not gonna call that unless you fall down. So I mean, there may come a point where I'm not saying flop, but if somebody land, if you land and he's in your landing there, you gotta fall down. And we've got to do a better job of drawing fouls. These other teams are doing a really good job of drawing fouls on us, and you know, we gave up thirty four free throws. And I actually think the refs a lot of the game kind of let the guys play. We were not getting the whistle. You know, some of that can be you know, you can say all the refs stink, and sometimes I think that, but like some of it is also, you know, we shoot jumpers. These teams are driving to paint and they're drawing fouls and we're not. Sears was great, Nelson was very good. You know. I I heard J. Billis say one time, a long time ago, when two teams are basically even, if the top two players in the game are on one of the two sides, that team will win. I thought about that tonight because I think UK and Alabama are close to even. Alabama might be slightly better, but if we're close to even, the two best players on the FLOORI tonight were Sears and Nelson, and that's why we lost. If a game is close to even and one team has the two best players, they're gonna win. And I think that's kind of what happened tonight. I'm not overly down about the game. I thought there was a chance they could lose this game. That's why I thought it was so important that they beat Mississippi State, and they beat Texas A and M, and they did. This game probably makes it hard for us to win the SEC, but I don't know that we were going to win the SEC anyway. I still think a really good goal for this team is to get the double by be a top four in the league, and then if you're top four in the league, you're probably gonna be a three seed in the tournament. I think if the tournament started tomorrow, we'd be a three seed today. So I think your goals are still there. Now. You play va In next on the road. You gotta win that one. You play at Tennessee, which is a game that's going to be very, very difficult to win, and I think if you do lose, not the end of the world. And then what are the next three after that? Billy? Do you know after after Vangs?

00:10:14
Speaker 3: I don't. I'll pull it up right now here.

00:10:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, pull it up. The game at Vanding next Saturday, I do think is very important. It's sold out, and I've got to think if it's sold out, it's sold out with a lot of Kentucky fans there. So we get this week off. Y Saturday. I think that's gonna be a big one.

00:10:30
Speaker 3: What's after Tennessee versus Arkansasary.

00:10:34
Speaker 1: Obviously have to win that one.

00:10:35
Speaker 3: What's next and you're at Old Miss February four?

00:10:38
Speaker 1: Tough game but winnable, but a tough game. And then what's the next one?

00:10:42
Speaker 3: You're at home versus South Carolina.

00:10:44
Speaker 1: Again, you will win that one. So there is this little sequence here where you play. You play if you win what you're supposed to you. If you can win at Vandy, you win Arkansas, and you win South Carolina, you get those three, and then you play at Tennessee and at Old Miss. You know, if you could steal one of those and go four and one in that sequence, be seven and three in conference, I think you would love where you're sitting. Love where you're sitting. So we played five ranked teams to start the conference. We're gonna play two in our next five games instead of five. Gotta take advantage of that during this sequence. And uh, I'm gonna look at these five and say, we'd love to go four and one, four to one, Gotta go three and two, but four and one, and I feel like you're in pretty good shape. Hey, Fi, I've nine two eighth twenty two eighty seven. We're gonna take your calls. Disappointing loss against a really good Alabama team. Uh, you know at some point the top fifteen team had to beat us. We were five and oh so they finally got one. We'll take a break and be right back. It's it's the Local Toy Dealers KSR postgame show. Well, you know people are down about the loss because this is the Billy said the first time this year where the phones are not full going into the first segment. So if I'm nine two eight twenty two eighty seven, look Saturday afternoons, you know, I know you got other stuff to do. Probably a lot of people thought I don't want to relive that game, but hopefully, hopefully we can talk throughout the show. One person, the Prince rites Matt, I want your take on this. Do you think there's been a big foul descript scene our two sec losses. Am I just seeing it as a biased fan? Or do you think we're not getting a fair shake because Pope is too nice? I like how we used to always say the rest didn't like us cause cal complained too much, and now it's that Pope is too nice. I look in these five SEC games, I thought I wasn't a huge fan of the officiat officiating at Georgia, But I think are the complaints about officials We're doing too much of it. To be honest with you, I thought the game was officiated fine tonight. I didn't. You know, Look, they're not gonna get every call, right, but I did not think it was unfair. Alabama's gonna draw more fouls. They cut to the rim, they go at the rim, they try to shoot layups, they shoot over people. They're going to get more fouls. We shoot jumpers like we fade away when when you do that, you're not gonna get his any foul calls. That's just a fact. Like it's we our guys, I was given them. I think our guys have been a lot tougher in the last couple of games than they were, for instance, in the Georgia game. But our guys do not play to contact the Alabama and a lot of these teams we've played do, and you're gonna get more foul calls when you play to contact. So you know, I mean, there were calls I thought were wrong today, but we got benefit of calls too. I mean, think about if that Kobe Brea in the what do you call it? Believe when they say you're like in your.

00:13:48
Speaker 3: Zone or whatever in your bag.

00:13:51
Speaker 1: No, like when they would say that when they called that foul, Brea had the ball and the guy was in his face and they said they would he would they oh, oh, what do they call it? Not in your back? They were like, it's called it in your something? Was it? Whatever it was? I mean, got didn't even touch him and we got that call. So, you know, I just every game when I look at the text machine, half of the comments are not more after the game or the official stink. I mean, I just the officials I do think go to the monitor too much. But beyond that, they beat us. That's that's kind of how I look at it. And by the way, Almonor, I guess did fall? I didn't see that, so people are telling me he did fall. I think they also called a foul and Amari on the same play. So maybe because the whistle blew on that, they didn't call the other one. I don't know. All right, who's up first?

00:14:41
Speaker 3: Andrew?

00:14:42
Speaker 1: Andrew?

00:14:42
Speaker 4: Go ahead, Andrew, Hey, Matt, how's it going?

00:14:46
Speaker 1: You can hear me good? Yes, I'm doing.

00:14:48
Speaker 4: Good, awesome. I think this is the first time chatting with you. I actually interviewed for a KSR internship right after Ryan's handguy bitting in the Chick fil A parking lot. So it's been a while, man. But I I feel like I'm the first fan that's very skeptical that Hope Can will be able to string together six games in March to help us win a title at any point, just because I feel like we live and die by the three.

00:15:20
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I don't. I think that worry is completely First of all, how many coaches string six wins together in a tournament every year? Like?

00:15:30
Speaker 5: What?

00:15:31
Speaker 1: Right?

00:15:32
Speaker 5: So?

00:15:32
Speaker 1: I mean, and how many coaches have ever done it in history? You're probably talking like forty or fifty. So you know the chance that there's a very good chance he won't because it's very hard to do. But I just still disagree with your premise. I think this team right here, I think that argument is fair about but how do you know he's not gonna have teams that have guys who can get stops. He is gonna have athletes on next year's team that are better. He's gonna have three at least athletes on next year's team that are better than any athlete we have right now. And the longer he's here, he's gonna get more guys like that. And he wasn't able to get guys like that at Utah Valley State and at BYU. So excuse me, I don't know how you can say that because he'll have different kinds of rosters in the future.

00:16:23
Speaker 4: Well, I agree with you. I just think that Caleb Wilson is definitely key for next year to be able to make a run. But I'm just I'm just a little bit afraid, especially watching Pope's previous tournament games with but.

00:16:37
Speaker 1: He's never had he's never had roster. I mean he was at BYU and he was at b YU before they started giving Big Nile money, before the new guy came on, so I mean he's never had he is. Just think about it like this, He's never had an NBA player on his roster ever, and now he's gonna have them. So like the idea he can't have a team to play defense. He was at BYU without elite athletes, and he probably thought his best way to win was to get a team that could shoot threes. Same thing with this team. He looks at it and says, look, I don't have any elite defenders. I have won, so I've got to play a way that can give us a chance to win. Wait until he gets those guys, and then I think you there's a lot better chance we will see really good defense.

00:17:28
Speaker 4: I agree, Matt. I just hope that Pope will be able to I guess change his philosophy in March where games are usually a little bit more low scoring, and if we shoot thirty percent from the three point line, we can still win those games and move on.

00:17:46
Speaker 1: Well, I do too, but you also, and I appreciate the call, have to deal with the roster that you have. And this roster, and I've said this since like Game two, we're never gonna be good defense. They just don't have the players. So we got to be the best we can be. But we got four of our top seven guys, maybe five of our top eight, who cannot guard. I think Butler can guard, Away can guard, and Amari can kind of guard. But the rest of our guys can't guard, and they're never gonna be able to. And that's not to criticize them. They can do a lot of things really well. But I don't care how much Carr and Brea and those guys lock in. They're not They cannot stay with these dudes. You know, Travis Perry, there might come a time he's a good defender, but I don't care how much he locks in when he's guarding Mark Sears. He doesn't have a chance of staying in front of that guy. And Grant Nelson Andrew Carr with a hurt back is not gonna stay in that guy, and so it just makes it. It makes it who's next? Mike, Mike? What's up? Mike?

00:19:05
Speaker 5: Hi, Matt.

00:19:06
Speaker 6: I enjoy your postgame analysis. I'm seventy three years old, and even after fifty years, I'm a very unlearned student of the game. So I always listen to your show, and I agree with you. I just think I'm happy, basically, I mean, I'm disappointed, but we're a very nice team. But Alabama appears to be a little bit better. Yeah, you might easily go down there and beat them by twelve or fifteen, but I think they're a slightly better team. I think UK is a legit Sweet sixteen team. I think we have realistic hopes for being an Elite A team and realistic dreams of being a Final four team.

00:20:01
Speaker 1: I think that is a perfectly like I think that is a very cognizant analysis. I appreciate the call and thank you for your nice car. I think that is a you know, the good thing about the NCAA tournament is you can pull an upset, or a team can get upset before they play you, and you can be no better and go around or too farther right, like San Diego State made the championship with Lamont Butler a few years ago. That was not a championship team, but there were a couple upsets they ended up getting. You know, I can't remember who they got in the final four that year. It was like what Miami, Florida Atlantic, yukonn and San Diego State, right, so you know, I think they played Florida Atlantic in the final four. Well, you get Florida Atlantic in the final four, all of a sudden, you might be in the championship game. So I think that I do think this is kind of a team that would be like Elite eight to really good Sweet sixteen, hover in that mark. But if they get a matchup that works and they play really well, or they hit fourteen threes instead of eleven, they could be in the Final four. Right, That's and that is not that is not me being critical. I love this team. This is one of the most fun teams to watch that I can remember us having in years. But they have limitations. And when you score ninety seven and you still lose, I think it's fair to say defense is going to be a limitation for this team. Who's next?

00:21:34
Speaker 3: Michael's next?

00:21:36
Speaker 1: Michael, go ahead, Michael, Hey, what'sten? Man?

00:21:39
Speaker 7: I hope you all having a good day?

00:21:40
Speaker 1: Bro, you too.

00:21:44
Speaker 7: I'll I'm going to be a fan, that's just gonna say. I'm I'm enjoying watching coach Pope. I didn't expect this year to play out the way it was. I was expecting, you know, to have a little bit more struggles. Uh No, going into the game today, I didn't. I'm not gonna say I was expecting to win, but I definitely expected uh as close.

00:22:10
Speaker 1: As it was.

00:22:10
Speaker 7: I'm proud of watching the kids play the way they did today. I do think that we would have pulled off the wind had we not allowed a back to back to back three points.

00:22:25
Speaker 1: That I totally agree with you. I mean, that was that was the swing right there. That was the swing. That was the swing. I mean if you, let's if Lamont Butler on that fast break throws a better pass and you get a basket or maybe even an one and the crowd's going crazy and you come out of that time out and Alabama has to score, could be a different game, right like, like it could be a different game. I'm totally with you on that.

00:22:54
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, I really feel like if that portion that few minutes would not have happened, we I think we could have at least pulled off a win by a few points. But I think that really changed the dynamics. And anyways, appreciate listening to yall, y'all have a good day.

00:23:07
Speaker 1: Appreciate the call. No, that was the swing. And even on the play after the timeout, it's eighty four eighty one, Alabama makes a little baseline drive and Amari cuts it off and gets a block and the ball you know, I mean, he blocked the shot, so that's what he's supposed to do. The ball just falls into Mark Sears hands. Someone probably Butler or o Way should have been boxing out Sears, but Sears gets the ball and then he kicks it out for an open three, and the guy makes it. And you know, that may have just been a bad bounce because Amari blocked, you know, and MARII did exactly what he was supposed to do. It's just it fell into sears hand. And then he kicked it out and the guy hits a three. And so it went from what could have been a tie game to a six point game. And then of course the next possession I think had an open three misses. It comes down we play twenty three seconds of good defense and then the guy shoots the three and lands on Butler and or oh Way or whoever it was. And that's that, you know, I mean that that that little run loses you the game. Hey, if I'm nine two eighty seven, who's next, Kyle, Kyle, go ahead, Kyle.

00:24:26
Speaker 8: Hey, Matt, I'm gonna piggyback off the last two collars and then add a little bit of just like a generalized thing, I think it is important to look at like this. I think we're a fringe Elite eight team, probably a Sweet sixteen team. But you're looking at two teams who are on paper, probably Elite eight teams. Sweet sixteen team. So, as you said, it comes down to sometimes just those balances. Maybe we can get them back at Alabama. It's nothing to hang our head over. But I think where I've started noticing this team starts to struggle or when we lose games is if you look at that five minutes before the end of the first half, and then I don't want to put the last minute in because fALS come into that. But maybe like the five minutes before that, those swings have like killed us in some of these games where we either shouldn't have won or we end up winning, like at Gonzaga or against the Duke.

00:25:21
Speaker 1: We struggled a little bit at the end of first halves. I can't remember. There is a game and I can't remember which one it was where I felt like that run was really good for us. But yes, we have had some problems. I think tonight we haven't even I haven't mentioned it yet. I think fatigue was an issue tonight. You know, Andrew Carr did not play well and he was in foul trouble, and Butler, I mean had to play because Perry couldn't really guard seers. Butler had to play pretty much the whole game. And I kind of felt like at the end Butler and Robinson maybe there was a little fatigue there at the end as well.

00:26:01
Speaker 8: Yeah, I guess like what I look at and I was texting like a like a friend group, is that I felt like we should have been up maybe five or seven at the end of the first half. And when we were down too, I felt really concerned.

00:26:14
Speaker 1: I think we should have been we should have been up, But I think it was I think it was Grant Nelson. We get Nelson. He kills absolutely he and again I'm not picking on Car, but Grant Nelson abused Car in that first half. He just abused him and and and that was the difference. It was kind of like in some ways the A and M game in reverse. If you remember the A and M game, we probably should have been behind and Jackson Robinson just had a great half. Well I think that's what.

00:26:44
Speaker 8: Happened at the time, minute, yes or or half. Like Yeah, as you talked about earlier, the individual players making the game important. So if you have that player who does that, you end up winning. But before you go on to the next point and you can talking about what we were but are we going to see a game under two and a half hours this year in the SEC, or should we just make this the NFL?

00:27:08
Speaker 1: I mean that could I appreciate the call the the Matt Norlander CBS was talking about how the SEC games are longer than any other conferences this year, and I think there's a few things about. One of them is these monitor reviews. I mean, I think he said the A and M Alabama game the other night had eleven monitor reviews Billy the course of the game. I mean the fact that they went to the monitor on a shot clock one minute into the game, like who like stop the rule needs to be monitored, like last two minutes, last three minutes, and each coach gets one challenge. That's it. There's no reason to do this. I mean they were looking at stuff that wasn't even close right. I mean that slows the game down. And then part of it are the fouls. I mean, you know there we've we specifically have played in a lot of games of fouls. And again I'm not saying there aren't calls to go against us, but part of the reason we foil so much is because we're not good defenders. We get beat and so we foul to keep them from score. I mean, that's part of it. Is we foul a lot because we've been beaten. You know, I think if you go and look at the guys who, generally speaking foul the most, it's usually the guys that we don't that aren't the best defenders. Car has been probably leads the team in fouls. So you know, it is what it is. Let's do one more and we'll take a break. Chris, Chris, go ahead, Chris.

00:28:46
Speaker 9: Hey, guys, thanks for taking my call. First time caller, actually five year old of the game. My daughter of the game. She loved it. Star Pats kids and the popcorn was was great them right. Yes, I've got a couple of things. I thought it was a well played game, both really good teams. Toward the end some of the fifty to fifty balls went their way, and I thought, you know, you all touched on it. Fatigue did play a factor. I think toward the end there some of those fifty balls that Mark Pope team I think would get went their way, and about ball kind of bounced the wrong way. But I do want to talk a little bit about our big specifically Williams and the fit for the offense.

00:29:33
Speaker 1: Big Z.

00:29:33
Speaker 9: I think a lot of people would agree would have been an awesome fit for this offense. And his hair was on fire playing for Arkansas earlier in the season. He was banging threes and looking really good. The last three games that they've played, he's scored zero points and he's had ten or less minutes played. I don't know if he's heard or what he's got going on, but we've already had one free big Z moment when he was at Uka. I think we need another free big Z moment when they come on February first.

00:30:04
Speaker 1: Well, I think, I think, But there's a lot of players. There's a lot of players out there that are I mean, I appreciate the call we know Z because he was here, but I mean there are dudes all over the country that you know my here's my guess. My guess is his Pope's big men next year are going to be a returning garrison, and then he will go find a guy somewhere to be what you're talking about. I agree with you. I don't think Amari is the ideal big for Pope's offense. He can't shoot threes, and I think Pope would like to have a big who can dribble. And while Amari, certainly I think things he can dribble, it is not his strong suit. Now. I think the thing Pope probably likes is his passing, which is probably why he brought him in because he's a He's a good passer, really good passer. But I think you will see probably next year in the portal him get a big that is more attuned to how he plays. I've got a feeling, and I have no idea if this is true, but I got a feeling that our big most years is gonna be a transfer that Mark is gonna look around and see because the big is so important for his system with the passing and running the offense at the top of the key, He'll look around and go, where are the bigs that can shoot that are good passers at the top of the key. I'm gonna go look for a dude like that and are smart. I think that's gonna be what he'll do going forward. But with this year, he had to get who he could get. He looked at Amari, he looked at Garrison, and he looked at Osibor. And if you if you were to watch great Osibor play, he's a load. But he's also a good passer, Like I can see why he was interested in him, right, So you know, I think the passing is why Maury is a center. Hey, if I'm nine two eight oh twenty two eighty seven, we will take a break and we will come back. Kats tough loss against Alabama. It's the Local Toy Dealers KSR postgame show, Welcome back. It is the Local Toy Dealers KSR postgame show. It's in the cylinder. Is the rule I was trying to think of.

00:32:14
Speaker 3: That makes sense?

00:32:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what they called the thing on the bre the Braya play aff nine two eighth twenty two eighty seven. I need somebody reminded me as I should have. As we also have Malachi Moreno coming next year, who is very very talented. I don't know how much, Like I don't know if he can be here, I don't know. Maybe that's Pope's plan is to have Garrison as the starter in Malachi's the bench player. Garrison. You know, Garrison defensively, I don't love the way, you know, he's a step slow to actually looking at the foul leaders. He's actually sat third on the team in fouls and he plays significantly less minutes than everybody else, so he's also a kind of a foul foul first guy. One person writes Matt next, our team shoots a lot of threes, and when we make them, we're good. When we don't, we're bad. Is it just that simple? Yeah? But no, I mean yes, I think it was that simple today because we were playing a team that plays just like us. But I don't think it's that simple. Like next week we played Bandy or when we played A and M. I think it's different in those games. But against the team Florida and Alabama are going to play just like us, and I think whoever makes the most shots wins. We said that before the game, and I think that'll be true down in Tuscaloosa two. And I also just think the one thing this team has struggled with is when we play against a guy that we just cannot guard, we have a hard time overcoming that. The only team I think we've beaten that had a dude we just couldn't guard was Cooper Flag and Duke we couldn't guard him, but like he made those airs at the end of the game, but we couldn't tonight, we could not guard Nelson in the first half, and we could not guard Seers in the second half. And even even when he didn't score, he was kicking it out for open looks like we just we had no answer for those two guys tonight, and I think it's ultimately what took us down. Who's next, Andy, Andy? Go ahead, Andy?

00:34:26
Speaker 9: Hey, how's it going?

00:34:28
Speaker 1: What's up?

00:34:30
Speaker 9: Yeah?

00:34:31
Speaker 10: Yeah, A couple of things, you know, you know, people talking about the free throw discrepancy and the foul calls. I mean, I don't really know if that's the best thing to really kind of blame the game on. I think the Georgia thing is one thing, but it's kind of just the nature of how we play. I mean, you know, they take a lot outside shots and they don't really drive the ball a lot. So I mean that's just kind of how it's gonna end up.

00:34:55
Speaker 1: I totally agree with that. I Mean, we don't, you know, Jackson Robinson, Kobe Brea, they avoid contact. Oh way gets a little Butler will draw cont try to draw content, but he also fades away. We just you're we just don't play a way that's gonna draw a lot of fouls, especially at the rim. So we're we're not gonna get as many free throws as everybody else the way we play.

00:35:20
Speaker 11: Yeah, and I think I think, well, I think Butler.

00:35:23
Speaker 10: I think Butler could sort of fix that. You know. I like that he plays off a two feet but I think that, you know, he sort of like he drives to the rim. I think that he's predetermined, he already makes up in his mind that he's gonna come to a jump stop and pump fake when I think that he should just lay the ball up and try to draw contact instead of trying to go for a pump take and get him up in the air.

00:35:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that. I think that's I think that's a pretty good critique. Also, you know, he had that play at the end of the game where he gave up a wide open layup to circle around and shoot a contested three. I don't know what he was doing right there, but uh, you know, listen, he's a great defenders, he's the only guy we have. It's a really good but I didn't think tonight was his greatest game offensively.

00:36:05
Speaker 12: Do you agree or disagree?

00:36:06
Speaker 10: But I think they kind of surrendered the game really sort of in the first half and especially in the second half, they stopped trying to run with him, they stopped trying to match them on their three point attempts. And even in the first half, there was at least like three straight possessions where they just forced started force feeding the ball into Mary Williams. And I didn't really understand.

00:36:26
Speaker 1: That those three possessions were big to me. Yeah, those three possessions were big to me. Twice they force fed him and once he tried to take a guy off the dribble. And I, you know, I like Omari Williams, and I don't think he played bad tonight, although his plus minus was awful. I think he was like minus eighteen. But you I don't know. I don't know. I don't think you forced the ball to him offensively. Sometimes it's gonna happen, but like when he takes off dribbling from the free throw line, I just am like, oh no, so you're right. There were like three straight possessions that kind of went through Amari, and I don't think we scored on any of them.

00:37:04
Speaker 10: Yeah, I don't understand that. I'm not saying like they to me, it just seemed like they surrendered it in that sense. They stopped trying to match the volume on their three point shots. I mean they got to shoot more to be able to to be able to win a game like that.

00:37:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, I appreciate the call. I mean I think Brandon Garrison was like plus ten tonight and Amar was minus like eighteen. But I mean that's one game. There have been a couple of games this year where a Mari was first and plus minus, including I think our last one. So you know that stat can be a little misleading depending in an individual game.

00:37:39
Speaker 3: Who's next, Stub?

00:37:41
Speaker 1: Is next Stub? What's up stub?

00:37:45
Speaker 13: Hey? Man?

00:37:46
Speaker 14: So the SEC is not messing around, man, I've been on my calculator for the past few minutes. So first of all, Mark Pope works the officials. You can work the officials, not be a lunatic about it.

00:37:58
Speaker 11: He worked.

00:37:59
Speaker 1: I agree, I agree.

00:38:00
Speaker 14: But the five teams that Kentucky played outside the SEC and the powerful Conference Duke Clembs in the house that Gonziga Louisville, Yeah, those teams shot one hundred and one free throws. Okay, the five SEC opponents have shot one hundred and fifty. Okay, It's it's not even close.

00:38:19
Speaker 1: Man.

00:38:20
Speaker 14: These teams are so good and so skilled. If Duke was in the SEC, they'd be two and three, I think five games in.

00:38:27
Speaker 1: I think it's also when you're playing those when you're playing those other teams you, I mean there's a culture of officials too, like how many fouls they call and the SEC officials may just call more. I mean, I don't know, but you're right. The athleticism is so good in the SEC, you're gonna get more collisions, which means you're probably gonna get more fouls.

00:38:53
Speaker 14: And we just have guys that don't. Our guys I think are so they're I think they're a little bit more under size even when they do draw contact. I think the officiles are just like, well, the other team's just bigger, more athletic. I mean, Kobe brew has only shot ten free throws for the year. Jackson Robinson's only shot twenty seven.

00:39:13
Speaker 1: Yes, but think about Kobe Bray anyway, he avoids contact, you know what I mean, Like Kobe doesn't Jackson. That number should be higher. But you know, I appreciate the call. The person on our team that I think gets the worst whistle, to be honest with you, is Amari because I think the very nature he fouls a lot, and he gets fouled a lot, and I think they end up just It's like when Shaq used to play, Like Shaq got filed more than anyone in the league, but he also was massive, and I think they used it against him and Amari. I think Mari's the one guy that I think gets fouled and then doesn't get the call more than most because he he Amari does not avoid contact, but you know, he's also not the greatest free throw shoo, Who's next?

00:40:00
Speaker 2: It's hard to avoid contact when a guy like Grant Nelson pushes off every single shot that he has.

00:40:07
Speaker 1: Wow, you have some strong feelings there. You are you anti Grant Nelson? Yeah? I mean you don't like Wist carving him.

00:40:14
Speaker 3: He was carving him up.

00:40:15
Speaker 1: I mean I thought he was you know, in the second half, I think he only had five points, but I thought the first half he was he was great. He was great, Like that was the dude that alb maybe thought they were getting when they were he originally transferred who's next? Hunter? What's up? Hunter?

00:40:32
Speaker 5: Matt?

00:40:33
Speaker 12: How are you doing.

00:40:35
Speaker 1: Good?

00:40:37
Speaker 5: Yeah?

00:40:38
Speaker 12: For my first ever game, that was a top two atmosphere and it wasn't too.

00:40:41
Speaker 14: That's right.

00:40:42
Speaker 1: I'm sure, yeah, you like that. That was really's line. Yeah, it was. It sounded loud in there, and you know, again with ESPN, it's hard to tell sometimes, but it sounded like it was a good atmosphere.

00:40:54
Speaker 7: Yeah, I was saut with Mario.

00:40:55
Speaker 12: Mario said this was just as good as little and I agree just from hearing it. But my two points as far as like the game goes, really what it just kind of came down to everyone blaming the rest and like maybe it was a factor, but ultimately it just came down to, like you said, the fifty to fifty balls, and honestly, it was a lot of trying to do one handed rebounding instead of too, and what was happening is they'd have to pop that ball up with the one hand and then you're scrambling trying to find it where if they got the two handball, maybe we're gonna able to get more rebounds.

00:41:21
Speaker 4: Could be a different ball game.

00:41:23
Speaker 1: I think you're right, y'all. Tell you the one guy we have that does rebound with two hands is a way. I thought he had some really strong rebounds tonight. I love the way he crashed the glass.

00:41:34
Speaker 12: Yeah, he did an awesome job. It's just everyone else again. It was the fifty to fifty balls. And then my second point is I'm not worried about this game at all, just especially because I could see it, like in the March's postgame show after he was done nswering and he would cut to the brake, you could just see on his face that he was just like he was just sad and angry and he wanted to put on the best performance he could. And I know that that's going to changelate into this by many bye weeks that we have and I am not worried to come.

00:42:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. I appreciate the call. He both said in the media postgame press conference, and then he said on his radio show he used the phrase losing is the worst, and you know, I love, I love that he hates to lose. He says, we are supposed to win every game. That is a stark contrast from you know, Wade till March and its process and blah blah blah. He is like, we should win every game, and I love. I feel like Billy, if he were not the coach, he would be pacing in his room, like I'm pacing in my room, right.

00:42:46
Speaker 3: You think you do a lot of the similar stuff you do.

00:42:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, like I think he would do. I think he would go up and get in the shower, right. Like. I feel like I feel like it matters to him on such a level. And I really do. I really do appreciate ate that about him, that it You know, this is the second time now we've lost a game. Uh this in Ohio State where we were losing going into a week a bye and you can tell he hates that, like he's gonna it's gonna bother him all week that we lost going into a bye. I like that about him. I like that. I like that these regular games matter because they do matter us. I mean, on one level, if you're in the tournament, like it's all the same, but it's not here, Like here, we want to win these games, and I like that he seems like he does too. Who's next, Jake, Jake, Go ahead.

00:43:36
Speaker 15: Jake, Hey, Matt, I've just got a couple of points. I know this has been talked about a lot, and this is not a complaint about the officiating at all, because all of the fouls I thought were pretty legitimate, but I really think that Alabama getting in the bonus like six minutes into the second half as well as they were shooting huge, that was huge.

00:43:57
Speaker 1: Yeah. Huge. We had we had three three fouls in like thirty seconds in that game, and that got them in the bonus early. And you're right with him shooting the way they were, that was huge.

00:44:11
Speaker 15: Yeah. And then my other point, you brought up Garrison's defense, and I agree with you that his defense is pretty bad, but I've really enjoyed watching his development as an offensive player throughout the season so far. Yeah, I think he had if I'm correct, I think he had eleven point six rebounds, five assists, and no turnovers today. So I mean, if he can keep just improving and if he can get better on defense, I think he could be a difference maker for us later in the season.

00:44:38
Speaker 13: Well.

00:44:38
Speaker 1: And his ability to shoot threes has an impact with the other players, right, they have to come out and guard him him and they have to close guard him, they have to face guard him, which they don't face guard a marn So that's a big deal. That allows backdoor cuts, that allows guys to uh to get more space. You know, in the first half, Alabama was doing to us every possession what Garrison allows us to do on offense, which is play five out and then take a guy off the dribble or backcut, et cetera. So yeah, I mean, I think Garrison next year will be our starting center, and I think, you know, his defense needs to improve, but there's a lot of stuff I think he does really well.

00:45:24
Speaker 15: Yeah. And then my last question, what would you think about him maybe getting more minutes over at car because in my opinion, neither of them are really great defensively, and I I.

00:45:35
Speaker 1: Just don't think you can play him and Williams together. I don't think that's you know, and I appreciate the call. If there was ever a game, you could probably do it. It would like being in Starkansas, because you know, Cal plays plays two bigs together a lot. But I just I don't know that that works with him with Williams, you know, I do think though, with Garrison, you know, you could at all manure at the four. You know, I thought going into the year you'd be able to play Brea at the four a lot, and I just don't think you can because he can't guard those guys and he struggles with the guys at the three too. But he just when he's had to play the four and we've only had one big out there, we do struggle. I mean, he just he has a heart. He has a heart. He can't buy. He can't rebound with the fours, that's the problem. He can't really guard the threes or the fours, but he can't rebound with the fours, and that that hurts us. And so if you're putting you know, car or Garrison at the five with him at the four, you kind of have a defensive problem. They went on a ten oh run and our lineup I think was was was Perry allmnore or excuse me, Perry, Braa, Garrison and then maybe Oway and Robinson and it just that lineup can't play can't play defense? Billy? Do you? I mean, I know, I guess you don't hear because you're here in the radio broadcast, but do you can we get one? Billis game without the ice cream?

00:47:05
Speaker 5: Just?

00:47:05
Speaker 3: What did they do it again?

00:47:07
Speaker 1: Again? Wow?

00:47:08
Speaker 11: Like?

00:47:08
Speaker 1: Is there any like will they ever have a game where they don't do it? Ever?

00:47:12
Speaker 2: I don't think so. I think that's kind of Jay's thing at this point now. So I mean, yeah, kill some time after a commercial break.

00:47:19
Speaker 1: SMU beat Miami by forty five points on the road today forty five, and Virginia lost by twenty at Louisville. Those two coaches listen Tony Bennett, Larra Naga legends. But quitting on your team mid season and then watching them collapse is to me a really really bad look. We'll take a break and be right back. It's the Local Toy Dealers KSR postgame Show. Walk. I'm back. It is final segment, Local Toy Dealers KSR Postgame Show. You got the Chiefs and the Texans about to start. It's freezing cold in Kansas City. Already started, by the way, has already started.

00:47:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's Kansas City.

00:47:59
Speaker 1: Kansas City. Tennessee is losing to Vanderbilt in the second half forty one thirty seven. Vandy trying to pull an upset in in Nashville. We'll see what happens. And then at midnight tonight, Billy the TikTok CEO has announced they will pull TikTok at midnight tonight. What do you think about that?

00:48:20
Speaker 3: It's disappointing.

00:48:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess Trump announced that he would give them ninety more days, but then I saw he actually doesn't have the power to do that unless they can prove that there are papers ready for it to be sold. So but I feel like Monday there's gonna be a lot of things that they go. I don't know if he can do that, and then maybe they will anyway, but either way, it's going off at midnight tonight. So get your get all your tiktoks in tonight. You're gonna give like a goodbye billy.

00:48:54
Speaker 2: No, but I am going to be disappointed to not see any more dancing videos from you. I mean you kind of got started and then didn't really a lot after that.

00:49:03
Speaker 1: Well we I mean we've we the KSR account has gotten a lot of people. You know, I bet it'll be back, even if it's gone for a little while. I kind of bet it'll be uh be back. My My Democratic Party is really terrible at PR because I mean, think about this. They set this thing up where the Republicans and Trump wanted it banned, the Democrats helped him band it, ban it, and now Trump's gonna get to save it. He's gonna come in and save it like we are the worst at PR, like the worst, and like Trump's really good at pr like he it was literally their idea and then he's gonna be the one that gets to save it. So oh well, Uh, if I'm nine to two eight twenty two, eighty seven, another three for bandy, Man, they're hot? Who's up next? Joy is no Joy? What's up? Joy?

00:49:55
Speaker 8: Hey man?

00:49:56
Speaker 16: I have two things. One was at the ball game about the officiating. After we have a ninth foul called on us and uh, they had won. Pope actually got to talk to the official, and he was hot and when he sat down, Oh, he was hot. And when he sat down, he was still hot.

00:50:14
Speaker 5: Uh.

00:50:15
Speaker 16: Fox had to go out and talk to coach.

00:50:17
Speaker 5: Fox had got and talked to the official.

00:50:19
Speaker 1: See, none of that was on television, so I didn't get to see that. You got so you, Pope get hot? We want Somebody called this week and asked if he did that? So you saw it?

00:50:31
Speaker 16: Yes, he did, he and and it changed. I mean you started seeing foul came on both ends that way, because every time they went down the floor, uh, and it was a stoppage and play Alabama's coach would be talking to an official. It was every stinking time that they go down he would be talking to the officials, and I think Pope finally said, hey, wait a minute, I needed my chance to talk to you too. So anyway, that was one thing, but the other one I have to tell a funny story about Arkansas. I was listening to Paul on the other day and a guy called in and he's an Arkansas fan, and he said, mister Finebaum, I think you probably know more about coach cal than we do. But what kind of offense does he run? He said, he dribbles the ball all around the floor and then he shoots a shot at the last second. And I thought that's exactly the kind of offense that he blames.

00:51:19
Speaker 1: So yeah, no, no, you're exactly right. Well he Uh we could have told him that, couldn't we. We kind of knew that in bad no, but they didn't listen. I appreciate the call. They got a big one tonight. They can't lose tonight. They have any chance of pulling it off in Missouri tonight, Billy.

00:51:35
Speaker 3: No, No, not on the road.

00:51:37
Speaker 2: I don't think they're gonna win until they can get an easy team at home.

00:51:41
Speaker 3: LSU.

00:51:42
Speaker 1: I mean, for some reason, I feel like though maybe they pull on from the Ashes tonight we'll see uh eight, I'm nine twenty two eighty seven. Vaney up ten now in Tennessee. Let's do five more. Who's next?

00:51:56
Speaker 3: Greg?

00:51:57
Speaker 1: Greg? Go ahead?

00:51:58
Speaker 5: Greg at second time caller?

00:52:02
Speaker 1: Love your show? All right?

00:52:03
Speaker 11: Two points And first of all, I love I love Pope so but just two points and it just drives me crazy. And I coached, so you know, first part of the game for me is so important.

00:52:15
Speaker 14: The first half.

00:52:17
Speaker 1: I get my.

00:52:17
Speaker 11: Teams to drive the ball and get get fouls right, and I isolate on the two players, the three players, and one player that I know is gonna kill us in this game. I go after him and drive at him and get him in foul trouble. Well, he did it the second half with Nelson, and it just drove me crazy. Why didn't we do in the first half. That's one point.

00:52:36
Speaker 1: No, we did. I think that's a really good that's a really good point. They did clearly start going at Nelson. He got his fourth foul, he had to sit a little bit. Probably should have done that earlier.

00:52:48
Speaker 11: Yeah, it makes the game so easy because you got in a foul trail. The second point is I hear what you're saying about defense, right, We're never gonna be defense. But I'm watching this team play defense. And I did the same thing with Cals because he couldn't coach defense for crap. But the things they're doing are so correctable. It's stuff you learn in seventh grade. Don't let your man drive baseline. They keep doing it, and they keep doing it. Amari put your ding hands up in the air and some of the other ones.

00:53:16
Speaker 1: I wonder how coach shoe I wonder about I feel like, and I could be wrong about this, but I wonder if they tell him to or if he just does it on his own. I feel like Amari sits back like a half a step to then try to go for a block. I don't know if you notice that.

00:53:34
Speaker 5: Yeah, but he doesn't.

00:53:35
Speaker 11: But he doesn't do it.

00:53:36
Speaker 1: Wait, he doesn't always get it, but yeah.

00:53:39
Speaker 11: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But two things to that point you had If you look at Iday watch twenty twelve video, right, they were great at the second guys and the third guys behind. They would wait and then he'd jump up and block it. It's perfect if you want to do that, but watch the film how they did it. Second thing, off ball defense and help We're still terrible at it. They got a couple of times. Today they kind of got it a little bit. I saw a little bit of progress. But if you see guys coming in, you've got to cut them off your guy a little bit and then go towards the ball and help out.

00:54:13
Speaker 4: They did it a little bit.

00:54:14
Speaker 11: Better, but you know, it's just gotta get back and those are all correctable things, right, all.

00:54:19
Speaker 1: Right, Well, that's yeah, that's a fair point. I might have to let you go because we're gonna get cut off here, but I appreciate the call. But those are all good points. You know, you you probably know more about it than I do. Four more vanding down up thirteen four more. Who's next? Drew, Drew, go ahead.

00:54:38
Speaker 17: Drew, Hey, Matt for some very long time.

00:54:43
Speaker 1: Who Ah.

00:54:45
Speaker 17: Just a quick point about Amari Williams. I mean, honestly, I think overall he could be great at the end of the season. We just got to get him to play a little bit more aggressive, and that I mean going to grabbing the ball with two hands, going to the basket, not really trying to be pretty with it and fading away. But I think by the time the season's over, I think he could be really good for us. And then the question I had for you, and just real quick about the officiating, like Guinea Fan, I mean, I hate the officiating, but that's not why we lost the game. With the gambling that we have now with all these sports, do you think, I mean, is there any way that like some kind of accountability will be brought with bad calls and miscalls and things like that, just kind of want to get your take on.

00:55:29
Speaker 1: Well, the officials do get graded now, right, Like they get graded by the league, and they don't release those grades, but it decides who gets the marquee games, who gets the NCAA tournament, who gets the final four. Now, I mean are those grades good? I don't really know. I mean I don't see them, but they are graded. Now, if you're talking about with gambling, like if you're thinking like, oh, well, there could be a ref achieving, I mean I would say to you if any ref thought about doing that, he is an idiot, because you would be looking at federal prison. So yeah, it's not just like a little thing. It's like a you know, federal prison thing. And so like go see what Michael Porter's brother is looking at for the Raptors, right, now, so, uh yeah, I don't I would be surprised anything like that. I just.

00:56:24
Speaker 17: Yeah, I wasn't trying to excuse anything like that.

00:56:25
Speaker 1: I just didn't know.

00:56:26
Speaker 17: I mean, there's a lot more money at stake, and liked calls, miscalls, things like that if there would be just something, and I didn't. I didn't know that there was anything.

00:56:33
Speaker 1: And they do get graded. They do get graded and and and I appreciate the call. They don't release the grades, but it decides who gets the big games in the Marquee the Marquee Games three more. Who's next? W C, w C? What's up?

00:56:48
Speaker 5: Thanks taking my call? Man, little I guess first time? Well, I got on there one time a little bit okay, it's a little bit easier to get plead or not. That was the before and after of the Duke game. Yeah, I yes, So I tried to get through beforehand and a sudden and I was gone. Predicted the score for you and I didn't get on and I texted to you. I know that you read the text because.

00:57:20
Speaker 3: I may have.

00:57:22
Speaker 1: I mean it was a while, okay, but what did you say?

00:57:24
Speaker 5: I know I know you did, because when you came on the air, you said that we just got through beating Duke by a certain score. You see the score that I sent you instead of instead of the score that the game actually was.

00:57:37
Speaker 1: Okay, well, I guess you got my brain.

00:57:39
Speaker 5: Then, yeah, okay, Well I think we if you go back about ten months and think about what we thought we might be at this time of year, you compare that to where we are now, and everybody'd be real happy.

00:57:51
Speaker 1: I please totally agree with you on that. Totally agree with you.

00:57:56
Speaker 5: I'm sure glad we've got coach Pope instead of coach Octave. You know that Alabama coaches. His name is eight notes, eight notes. You know all your musicians know that, you know eight consecutive.

00:58:11
Speaker 1: He's a good coach too, I will say, I mean.

00:58:16
Speaker 5: He's a good conan heed to start calling him coach Octave minds a lot, but he's okay. But anyway, that but about that game, and another little point about the last game or the next home game. Uh yeah, I know you all when you played played Florida. Have you all serve GATORA? We do, yes, Well, now you know there's a certain part of the pigs and that a minute of the port you could serve some pork dishes there that.

00:58:48
Speaker 1: Now you we we're already doing. Don't you worry about it. I appreciate the call. We're already Uh, we're already playing it on that. Uh. I like Naos. By way, I didn't know until today that he was a man teacher. Did you know that? Have they said that before?

00:59:02
Speaker 3: I did not know that.

00:59:03
Speaker 1: I've never heard that. He looked like a math teacher, but he was a math teacher. He said he was a high school math teacher when Bobby Hurley hired him as an assistant at Buffalo. So he's smart, he's a good coach, like the two. I think it was easy when he first got here to kind of dismiss him as just a loud mouth blah blah blah. But he's he's a good coach, and he his schemes are good. And I think you can tell Pope respects his offense and vice versa. So I think I think though that's a he's a he's a he's a smart, smart guy. Two more, who's next, Luke, Luke? What's up? Luke? Hey?

00:59:40
Speaker 18: Matt just kind of wanted to say, I think, you know, obviously, losing sucks, but I don't think that my view on the team as a whole is necessarily changed after today. I think this is kind of who we are. We are a Sweet sixteen, Elite eight team, and Alabama to me, is an Elite eight final four team. I think we are a slight step below them because they, in my opinion, I think the difference is very simple. They have a Mark Sears and we don't. We just don't have that truly elite go to guy. I mean, we have a group of very good players, and we're very very well coached, and I'm obviously very very excited about what Mark Pope can do here in his time at Kentucky. But I just don't think that we are truly an elite elite team. I think we are a top fifteen, top ten team, but I don't think that we are a top five team where we're a legitimate national title contender. Now that does not mean that something crazy can't happen where we can make a Final four. I'm not going to rule that out, and I'm not down on the team by any stretch, but I've always felt that that's who we are.

01:00:45
Speaker 8: That's kind of who we are.

01:00:46
Speaker 18: But one more thing, real quick, I just want to say, we obviously play them again, so we will have a chance to go down there in about a month and what they did to us today, we will have the opportunity to return the favor and do that to them and them on their home floor.

01:01:01
Speaker 1: Totally agree, And for the tournament, you're better off winning. If you had somebody explain this to me, when you play a team twice for the tournament, you're actually better off beating them there and losing at home than the other way around. So if you.

01:01:14
Speaker 7: Can, yeah, would it weird?

01:01:17
Speaker 18: That makes no sense, But it doesn't understand the net rank and don't make sense. But that's you know, it is what it is. But you know, I'm still very excited about this team. We're obviously very very very good. The question is is can we can we shore up the defense to become more of a truly elite team. And I'm not really sure what the exact answer is because I know, I think.

01:01:40
Speaker 1: The difference is what you said just a minute ago, and I appreciate the call. The difference is we don't have a Mark Sears right like Mark Sears, and remember Grant Nelson has been a little disappointing at Alabama, but he was a he was one of the maybe the best player in the portal last year, two years ago or whenever he was there. Mark Sears is like he's been. He's not had the best year, but last year was he was an SEC Player of the Year candidate and they maybe even won it. Who won it last year? It was Reeves, Sears and somebody else? Were the three guys? Oh, Dalton connects connect one but Jackson Robinson's good, but he's not that. And Andrew Carr is good, but he's not Grant Nelson. And I honestly think if you take Mark Sears and Grant Nelson and then put him up against say, Robinson and Carr, that's the difference in the two teams, honestly, is that those guys Robinson and Carr might be our two best scores, even though Oway probably leads a team in scoring. But if I'm just talking about guys who at their peak can get can get you buckets, and their two guys are better. And that's I think, ultimately probably what it is. Let's do one more. Who's next, Mike, Mike, go ahead.

01:02:58
Speaker 13: Mike, Hey, Matt how a, y'all doing the night doing good.

01:03:04
Speaker 1: All right.

01:03:05
Speaker 13: I just want to say I'm not too worried about the loss tonight. Alabama's a good team and I got faith in Pope. I'll figure it out. And I also want to say that me and my wife listened.

01:03:14
Speaker 5: To you every day and we love you all, but but we disagree with you.

01:03:19
Speaker 13: I with you, but we disagree with you. With Jay Billis and the ice cream, we look forward to that way. Ever, he calls the game that is a rubber arena, saying he only does that at rub So just lay off of him a little bit twitch the ice.

01:03:36
Speaker 1: Cream, understand, But I love you to death. Appreciate the call. All right. So there's one vote for the ice cream, Billy for the bringing it up. I got taking an opinion, why not? The ice cream is good? Like I've only had it once or twice and it seemed fine. And then I met the young woman who who started it and her dad, and they seem really really nice people, so I wanted to succeed. I I'm just saying, I'm just surprised they bring it up every single time he's on there. But you know what, that's okay. Maybe that's the thing that's our thing, right, that's the Willy played wide receiver. It's just it will be that imperpetuity every long as Jay billis is the announcer. Hey, thank you folks very much. If you get up tomorrow morning and you are are feeling it, turn on ESPN Radio. Listen to me on the NFL pregame show. We are off on Monday. We're taking the holiday off and then we'll be back Tuesday. National Championship Game is Monday night at the bar. We're giving away money, so be watching my social media. I got to see how many spots we have opened, but I'm gonna give away the final few spots. Billy. Enjoy your holiday, and thank you all very much. Alabama wins one seven. We'll get him next week. This has been the Local Toy Dealers KSR postgame show