Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider Dick Abriel with you Tuesday edition of our program. Of course, we'll talk Kentucky football tonight as the Wildcats prepare for well, actually for media Day. I'm sure they're putting quips together for us on Friday, then Fan Day on Saturday. And a
new Kroger poster has been released. It is a Kentucky player wearing number twenty four, which has for so long been Chris Rodriguez, but right now twenty four is Jaden Smith, who is a freshman from Charlotte North Carolina listed as an athlete. So it's really just a representative of representation of a Kentucky football player, but it's pretty cool. So if you want your poster, you can get one of Kroger, or you can go to fanday or both. So that
comes up this weekend. Man, the talking season is rolling. We'll also talk a lot of basketball tonight because we've got more comments from the new Wildcats on the men's roster, and we'll have some comments from the new players on the women's roster. We had a chance to talk to some of the UK women earlier today. Kenny Brooks has been on the show. We've talked to a lot of men's basketball as well, but for the first time we'll
hear from the women tonight. Also coming up Maggie Davis of BBN Tonight in LAX eighteen, as well as Tom Leach, the radio voice of the Wildcats, who hosted yesterday's Wildcat kickoff luncheon and is already well schooled. He's been studying hard this Kentucky roster, and I always like to get Tom's perspective on things because he looks at predictive situations like he's handicapping a horse race, and he's pretty good
at that. So I want to hear what Tom has to say about the upcoming schedule as well as the roster, because he indicated yesterday that he has already been doing some deep dives on UK personnel. So that's coming up a little bit later on. But we've got to talk about what the state's been talking about for the last six tent two hours or more, and that's last night's TVT matchup of La Familia and the vill won by of course, Kentucky. And I gotta tell you I watched
the second half. I will admit to you that I was drawn in to the Olympic coverage of men's gymnastics, of all things, and finally flipped over at halftime to watch the second half. And it was a good first half from all indication, and I saw the highlights, but man, the second half was wild. Of course, the Wildcats win
it thanks to the Elam rule. That's the rule set up created by a college professor actually, and what happens is that at the four minute mark they stopped the game and they agree upon a score that the teams will try to reach. They will race to that final score. And last night it was seventy and the Wildcats already had sixty four points. The Cardinals needed seventeen, so they
needed to outscore Kentucky seventeen to six. Basically, they had to get to seventy before Kentucky got there, of course, so really they had to score them seventeen to four. And it didn't happen for a while there. You wondered if anybody was going to score. Both teams came up empty time after time after time, and I think the Fox Sports people said that Kentucky as soon as that
score was indicated, Kentucky went nine possessions empty. Nine They missed free throws, they missed layups, they missed jumpers, and u of L did too, although u of L did score at least one or two buckets one I think. But what we saw, and if you were watching or if you were there, what we saw retired basketball players because they played hard, and both of these teams it pretty much cruised through their first two games and they didn't really have to extend themselves as much as they
did last night. I really felt like the defense was pretty tough for a game like that. Now, these guys, just about every one of them played professionally. They've either played in the NBA or overseas and are still playing, so they're in pretty good shape. You know, they've been off for a little while, but they've also been playing defense on the professional level, which meant last night it
was physical. There was one play down the stretch where Andrew Harrison basically bumped in he had the ball, he was trying to back in and defended. The defender falls and trips Harrison, who's then called for traveling. So it should have either been an offensive foul by Harrison, a foul and the defender for tripping Harrison, who went to the floor, but instaid they called a travel and Andrew got up and I thought he was gonna say something, but there were some really goofy calls, but they let
him play. That's called letting him play. So anyhow, first half, Kentucky team runs out to a double digit lead. Louisville goes on a run late and cuts it to a three point game at the half, although the key down the stretch. In the first half, Willie cally Sneine hit three three pointers. Willy cally Stein, but remember Biggs. In the pro games, whether it's overseas or in the NBA, they shoot threes. And calle Stein after the game said
he was hitting threes and shoot around. And he went over to Tyler Smith and he said, or Tyler Eulis rather and said, hey, this might be one of those Knights. And Ulis the coach, said let it rip. So he did and hit three three pointers. Third quarter Nate Cestina five triples on his way to a game I twenty two points. Kentucky outscored the Louisville guys what was it, twenty four to six and got the lead and then
basically fought Louisville off. The Ville came back and back and back as Kentucky, I thought shots let kind of went down to drain a little bit too much one on one stuff, because at first they were driving and dishing, but then down the stretch it looked like they were just trying to get it over with. But once they set that score and tired players were missing shots, it was just a matter of can you get to the
finish line. Willie Carley Stein scored on an old fashioned three point play, took it to the Rackstrong hit his free throw, and then it just like the previous game, it wasn't a close score, but James Young ended things for Kentucky with a three pointer. Well, last night it was Andrew Harrison, not Aaron Harrison. You know, and Aaron was, of course, was the author of those huge three pointers in the NCA Tournament, including one against Louisville in twenty fourteen.
But last night it was Andrew draining a three that ended things. Here's the way. John Fanta of Fox Sports called it. This is a TV call, but you get the idea. Eric Bledsoe had the basketball look, he was looking four three, then he took it to the rack and then he fanned it out to Harrison and here's what it sounded like, what.
So attacks catch you shooting to Harris.
State it still.
And then all the silliness began. Nate Cistina immediately went to L's down a lot of the players dead nagles right there in the middle of the floor, and one of the Louisville players spit on him and kind of went at him like he was gonna try to get physical with him. And if you don't believe me, check out I think it was Channel eighteen at the best video of it, you can see the guy was it was on Aku came up and spit on Nate Cestina and then it wasn't a brawl. It was described as
a brawl. I didn't see any punchers thrown, and I've looked at video from four or five different TV stations, and of course TV stayed with it. That That's what surprised me the most is Fox Sports stayed with it. They didn't cut away from it, which they usually do. But I think they were having to kill time because even after the dust up was over, they stayed on the air. So I don't know if they were films at the top of the hour or whatever, but it was stupid, It was silly, and it looked like it
was over, and then it started up again. And thankfully there were a lot of Louisville Metro Police there, not the guys in the yellow windbreakers who were hired to make sure people get to their seats properly and all that stuff. No, they were bona fide Louisville Metro Police officers, some of them pretty good size. They did a good and sort of the coaches did a good job of breaking things up. It is silly, you know. And I
don't know how you feel about El's Down. I'm not a huge fan of El's down all the time if you're a Kentucky fan, because all that does is signified it. You don't think your program is viable unless you recognize your arch rival them, ignore them. Why give them credence and credibility. But if you've just beaten them on their floor and that's their favorite gesture, El's well, El's down, you know.
Uh.
I'm the same way with it with the long horns, the horns down, up and down. Uh. You know, unless you're in the middle of a game, taunting the other guys, if you're on their home field, or court, or if they've been flashing them at you, you can flash them right back. So that's what Cistina was doing and other players, as I said, and this guy decides he's going to try to put a stop to it by spitting the
power of spit with Nate Cistina. So it was silly, it was stupid, but it's just another chapter in the history of this rivalry. Here's what Cistina said to w l k Y TV over in Louisville right after the game. A lot of crowd noise, but you can tell what he's saying.
Guys that care about this live don't care about this stage, not always.
Somebody made a good point on Twitter or x that that just might be the last time a Louisville based basketball team, you have l based plays at Freedom Hall and it's a loss. I don't think that's accurate, simply because I think this tournament's here to stay, at least for the time being, and I think Louisville's going to have a representative every year, as will UK and I think Louisville's TBT entry will keep playing in Freedom Hall.
So I don't think it was the last time. Might be the last time they play a team with a UK based roster, but I think you'll still see some games in TBT at Freedom Hall. So it was fun. And now the Wildcat team goes. I'll keep calling them that. They of course our love fora Meilia. They play in Philadelphia in the Final four on Friday night against the team comprised primarily of Ohio State alumni and it's a pretty good team, Carmen's Crew, I think it's called. So
that'll be fun. And Tyler eulis three and zero as a head coach and it was interesting joining him on the bench last night. Rajon Rondo stepped in who apparently wants to be a coach as well. Tomorrow night, Sean Woods, the Unforgettable guard to schedule to join us, and he was right there. You saw him, you heard him as Tyler Elis. The coaches were both miked up. Rhese Gaines, who was one of my favorite UFL players to watch. I thought he was a terrific player. He and Tyler
Elis both miked up. They kept it clean, it was live. I'm sure they had a delay in place if they needed it, but it was really interesting hearing them in their huddles, but at one point Shawn Woods stepped in when Kentucky was looking for a shot at needed. So we'll talk up to Sean about that tomorrow night. I mentioned the Olympics in the gymnastics. We'll talk about that in the next break. But there have been a lot
of things happening in the summer game so far. We talked about some of it yesterday and some more of it popped up last night. We'll talk about that in our next segment as well as the gymnastics. Someone Bios and Company hard at work coming up at the bottom of the hour, Tom Leach, the Voice of the Wildcats. Hour number two, Maggie Davis of BBN Tonight here on the Big Moon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back coming up, Maggie Davis of BBN Tonight. Tom Leach will be with us.
At the bottom of the hour and our second hour, we'll hear from some of the UK men's basketball players, the new guys, of course, they're all new guys for the most part. And then we're also gonna hear from some of the UK women, including a returning player, but only a couple came back to play for Kenny Brooks, So lots of basketball talk in the second half hour, but before that we'll talk a lot of football. But right now we got to talk about gymnastics. Earlier today,
the US did it. The women won the gold after winning silver last Olympics in Tokyo. Remember Simone Biles dropped out after a single vault, but she was back in full force today and really put on a great show. So did Jordan Chiles, who did a tremendous job on the floor routine and that basically locked it up for the US. Simone Biles was kind of the cherry on top, but the Americans won it by a full five points
head of second place Italy. Hey, how about that? Italy wins the silver medal, first time for a women's team medal in the Summer Games for Italy, I think it was in like ninety eight years. Brazil took the bronze medal, and all is right now with women's gymnastics and Simone Biles, who of course is married to a Green Bay packer,
thank you very much. But Sunny Lee, who of course competed for Auburn jade Carey, and I mentioned Jordan Chiles did it and got it done, a huge crowd cheering them on, and Bio now oft the part of the team that won it in twenty sixteen in Rio, but things kind of fell apart for her in Tokyo back winning the gold today. I mentioned earlier that I watched
the men's gymnastics last night and I covered gymnastics. I've actually done some matches, some meets for a SEC network, did him when I was working at WKYT as well a couple of times. But of course UK doesn't have men's gymnastics, most schools don't. But it's phenomenal the power and strength that well the women, yes, but the men as well, on the rings and on the pommel horse.
It's pretty incredible. But the big story last night was that there was one guy who did one event and that was the pommel horse, Stephen Nedorasic, and he is now part of a zillion memes because while his teammates were out there doing multiple routines, this guy was a specialist. Is a specialists. That's all he did. Twenty five years old. He calls himself a nerd. He wears a black frame, non prescription glasses, so that kind of you know, makes him look even more like a nerd and doesn't wear
them when he's competing. But he just sat and waited and waited and waited through his teammates' appearances, and it cheered him on a little bit, but he was just locked into his zone. And at one point NBC showed him sort of pantomiming his own routine, getting himself ready for the pommel horse, and so all that pressure was on him when he got up and jumped on that poma horse for the biggest moment of his life for his routine, and he killed it, crushed it. Scored fourteen
point eighty sixty six. If you get up over fourteen, that's pretty amazing. Now, they didn't win the gold, No, the US team won the bronz but it was the first time since twenty eight that the USA had won a medal in men's team gymnastics, and so the pommel horse guy got it done. China one, which China, oh
I'm sorry, Japan won. China came in second. China had some issues with personnel and one of their key competitors fell off the high bar a couple of times, and Japan jumped in there and took the gold medal, but Team USA. Thanks to the pommel horse Guy, the nerd, self professed nerd, came up with the bronze medal and
celebrated as though they had won the goal. They got by Great Britain by a couple of points and the Americans were actually in seventh place prior to the pommel horse Guy's routine, but he flipped those standings and flat out got it done. It's not a shock he had won the US Almhorse Championship this year, but the Penn State graduate had to get it done on the biggest stage, and he did got a chance to watch some of
the women's volleyball. Unfortunately, Team USA loses to China. The US team is the defending gold medal champ and of course, one of the members of that team, Avery Skinner, who up Kentucky win the national championship a couple of years ago, then transferred to Baylor. But she played really well and in fact, she was one of the reasons, one of the biggest reasons that the Americans, who had fallen behind two games to none, came back and make it made
it a five set match. They won the next two and they were going for what they call the reverse sweep, but they fell behind. They played a fifteen in the fifth match, just like in college, and just could not hold off the Chinese. It is pool play, though, so the Americans are still alive. They played the second match of their preliminary round tomorrow against Serbia. Then they meet
France on Sunday in the pool play finale. Top two teams in each of the three pools and the top two third place teams advanced to the knockout rounds, so Team USA still good haul in the gold. A couple of other stories coming out of the Olympics that I've
kind of enjoyed. One of them, Ryan Murphy, who is a swimmer, won a bronze medal and when he came out of the pool on Monday, he checked in with his wife after the one hundred meter backstroke Monday night, he looks up into the stands after the race and there she is Bridgid holding up a sign they're expecting, and the site says, Ryan, it's a girl. How about that. That's one of the coolest gender reveals ever, And he said,
that's the first time I'd heard the gender. I don't know if you'd paid attention to much of this at all. But there was a great question about the Sane River, and of course that's where the all the boats came through with all the athletes. The triathlon postponed the water is too filthy levels of E coli here the mayor had swum in the river just to show how clean it was. No, the Men's Olympic Triathlon postponed two contaminated for safe swimming. Welcome to Paris. Tom Leach is next
year on The Big Blue Sider six thirty WAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. And as we mentioned yesterday, Tom Leach hosted the annual Kickoff luncheon over at Kroger Field, a full house, a lot of Kentucky football fans. Tom on our Celebrity Hotline and Tom I mentioned earlier in the show that based on everything I heard you say on your show, but yesterday talking to the head coach and the coordinators, you're already deep into your study of this year's team, aren't you.
Oh yeah, it's that time of year or so it's eager to get out to practice and start you know watching, uh, you know, to see who's making a move, because you know, I think it's unlike basketball where you know, I have you know, lineup boards I do, or you know the stats and whatever that will one year to the next, and in some cases a lot of times with football this year you can just you know, change Ian Walker from a sophomore to a junior, maybe you know, change
the weight on somebody. But uh, you know, basketball is a different story where it's almost no names to carry over on the chart. But yeah, Football's got a lot of depth, which just makes me think that there's good reason to be optimistic because they have I think several guys that will hear their name called in the draft and that usually uh matches up to really good seasons, and they should have the depth to withstand a few injuries along the way.
Before I get into that, I'm curious. I don't think I've ever asked you about this. I've talked to Jeff Acor about it, but I will freely admit when I go to practice, I'm I'm rarely certain of what I'm seeing, and by that I mean the technique of lineman assignments blown. I always can tell who's throwing the ball well, who's catching or not catching the ball well, you know, and if a coach is chewing somebody out or whatever. You see a big play, you know that's going on. Maybe
somebody is getting more reps than the other. But when you go to practice, what do you look for? What do you watch? Do you talk to any of the coaches ahead of time to find out what may be up? You know what I mean?
Yeah, Well for a guy like Jeff who played, yeah, he's gonna think understand it that some of the technique things probably at a level more than you or I
or most of us would. But so what I'm looking for, Yeah, I'll talk to coaching a lot of them during breaks in practice or something, or ask about you know, uh, somebody you know he you know, moving up to the depth chart whatever, or you know about about the matchup that week or some something where you I'm looking and then what otherwise I'm looking for, you know, because I'm going to fill out my depth chart, So I want to know you know, who's uh, you know, maybe in
line to play more that week maybe than they have been or less. Those kinds of things you know, pick up maybe you know, talking to one of the guys or one of the coaches, just some nugget of information that you can use to enhance the broadcast or to set you know, Jeff or you up for something to talk about during the game. So yeah, a lot of a lot of what I get out of it comes
from some of those conversations. And then just you know, helping out to fill out a death chart, and then you know if somebody's you know, just starting to notice somebody making plays. I remember a couple of examples Betty Snell's first year. The first scrimmage I watched, They'll have
two scrimmages in August on Saturday, the Fan Days. This this Saturday, but then the next two scrimmages are the ones that I always like to watch because it gives you an idea of how the depth charts really stacked. No matter what, I get relieved. And Bennie Uhst like that first scrimmage. Uh he gets in, you know, he's running with the threes, and he gets in late and he's just running over and through people and you're thinking, wow,
that's impressive. But again it's threes against three. So let's see if he moves up next week and can still do this. Well he did, and so you knew you knew there was something there. And then another example, always remember Steven Johnson, who we didn't think, you know, in August of his year was his first year, was going to even figure in the mix because Drew Barker was the quarterback and then he gets hurt and Stephen becomes
the guy. But in watching, you know, I'd watch Stephen in the spring and it was very impressed, and then in the fall, I'm watching him in late summer. I guess it is technically that the training camp and practices and scrimmages and I'm thinking, wow, he throws a really nice neat ball. He's really you know, come on from what I saw in the spring, and well, you know he he can do that. You know he can you know,
maybe he can help him a little bit. And turned out he had to help him a lot and he did, so, you know, you pick up on some of those things of somebody. The other thing that's important for me to watch is pregame warm up for the opponent, because you'll sometimes pick up somebody that you can tell is higher up on the depth chart than they're listed on paper. I remember one game there was somebody they played that ran the option, that didn't run the option.
Miami, Ohio is that who it.
Was, and I waked it warm ups and I'm seeing this and I'm like, okay, I've added a couple of names to the spawning board. There's like, I don't know if there you know, these are just a few option plays, but this is a guy running a quarterback that I don't have, so you know, you have to pick up those kinds of things.
I'm pretty sure was Miami, and I remember, and it's funny because you know, I'm sensitive to the media types. You criticized the need for sideline reporters, and generally they're talking about TV sideline port and they don't understand what
goes on behind the scenes. But anyhow, I remember that specific halftime a comment I got from Stoops because you know, we all, the three of us, you and Jeff and I talked about the fact that what you had just described, they're running this option attack that never came up in any pregame discussions with the Stoops in the media. So
I asked Stoops about it. He said, we watched them warming up and recognized that offense from something in c State did while we were at Florida State and so Kentucky their coaching staff made a lot of changes on the fly. And you'll recall shut that down right now. That was one of the worst non conference teams I've ever seen come in. But they tried to slip that pass Kentucky's coaches and it didn't work. But got a good memory.
On that, and that's why mat Rourke got slipped by the Tennessee coach because they didn't show anything. And you
know that, and that was back in twenty eleven. And they always have contended that the Kentucky break in the streak in that win was in part a testament to the Tennessee game coming after Thanksgiving and schedule changing and there were no students on campus and it was a less social media and so nothing got out until rumor or two on Friday night that nobody believed and you know, the Tennessee coaches and they were in the booth right next to us, and now you know it's all blocked
off where you can't you can't see in there, but that at that time it was and we're seeing, you know, papers flying everywhere and they're panic because they don't know what the heck's going on. That Kentucky goes down and it's kind of what I would call stole a field goal there Tennessee's confusion and in a ten to seven win that was massive.
As games go and have gone. That was a really not a very good football game, but still one of the greatest wins in UK history. Speaking of guys, I watched in practice as well, and you may as well. When they are in the same areas. Oftentimes they go off to the stadium by themselves. I watched the kickers. I watch the punters. Yeah, and sometimes you can pick up on that as well.
But I will tell you this, the range of like a field goal. Yeah, see either because or Steve Ortmeyer was I always say, a savant when they came to special team and I forget which direction it was. I think it was kicking toward the field house, right. He knew you could get about two extra yards one way or the other, and I think it was toward the field. That's but somebody do with the wind patterns that were consistent, and he knew and you could get you know, you
could make it. I forgot could make it from fifty kick in one direction, he could go to fifty two the other way.
What did he tell you about rugby style? Punters and they kicking across the field.
Yeah. When Mac Steffie was doing that, when he would go to his right and kick it back across his body to his left, Yeah, and it would hit and run down the sideline. He said, they will always do that. It will never go out of bound. I didn't and I don't know how he knew that, but it would hit and run down the sidelines a few more yards experience.
Yeah, I got to tell you the reason that I stopped making predictions. I mean, I always talk about what I think might happen, or you know, I could see X amount of wins. But as we talk about watching preseason, I think back to how Mummies last year. And I'm not banging on Mummy, but I remember. I believe that
was when Marlon McCree predicted ten wins. And I went to a lot of preseason practices and man, they look great, but all they were doing was running past Kelly day after day, you know, the air raid against air and they look perfect. And I'm like, man, this team is they may not get to ten, but they went eight or nine and they won two. So I stopped making predictions. I just say, you know, the uniforms fit and they line up straight when it comes to how they look, so, you.
Know, but you can pick up you can pick up some things. I always tell people who ask me about you practice this, this, this, But understand they have learned that I know nothing until I see them against somebody that is outside competition. Baball as long.
And if you go to practice and they're not carrying somebody off the field and taking them into the training room, you're good, right, I mean, there's lot of it.
It's like, you know, it's uh, you know, I've both covered a lot of thurbred racing. It's like there are courses you can tell they you know, there's something special in the workouts, but not always. Yeah, they are better in the morning than they are in the afternoon, that's very true.
Look them in the eye, yeah, and sometimes vice versa. All right, we're gonna come back and talk more football with Tom Lee. It's a little basketball we'll throw in as well with the Voice of the Wildcats here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back. We're talking with Tom Lee. It's the Voice of the Wildcats. He'll be behind the mic of course when the football catch, kick things off
and you mentioned depth. You talked with Stoops and Brad White and bush ham Dan yesterday about depth at the kickoff lunch, and it's it's clear that you can see it on defense offense. It's it's depth with a qualifier. Right, They've got numbers, but they don't have a lot of proven quality depth. But they got a lot of candidates, don't they. On offense, they did start, you know, a good quarterback.
They've got Brod Vandergrift from Georgia and he'll be the starter. But Wimsats played a lot at Rutgers. You know, bo Allen came up through this system here and you got a freshman in Cutter Bowley obviously wouldn't want to ideally go to a true freshman, but you know, very talented they and you think, you know, in a worst case scenario, they think they could you know, win some games even in that situation. So that's you know, it's depth offensive line.
It looks like, you know, there were times and last season or two where he didn't know if they you know, if they could actually field five guys they truly trusted, And now I think there's the ability to have you know, seven or eight guys that they could rotake in a little bit, have a little depth. Somebody gets hurt, you know, receivers,
tight ends. There's tons of depth there running back. There's no you know, Ray Davis that separated himself from the crowd, but then there wasn't last year until Ray Davis did it. So at least you know bodies there. I think, you know they was listening to coach bull Wear on the Sunday Morning Show last weekend and I think he feels good about three guys there and he's looking for somebody
to claim the fourth spot. Not that that spot will get a lot of action at the start, but you know, we've seniors where they've got down to their fifth or sixth running back at points during a season, so he's still looking for a little more depth there. Otherwise, I think they have the depth that they would like at every position on offense, it's just a matter of you know, who starts, who do you lean on the most? Who
come who can you count on? And sometimes you have, you know, depth of quality, and sometimes you just have depth and uh, you know you've got to have you know, the backups have got to be good enough to be starters to really push the front five I always remember. So there's many times the name is guy Morris line. I heard him use one time, how my problem is I only got five and they know it. Yes, they
have to know you've got seven or eight. And if if that's the case, then it's going to elevate everybody's for They know when.
They're being pushed. There's no question about that. I thought one of the most interesting comments you got from Bush Hampden he just kind of threw it in when you asked him about running backs and he mentioned Gavin Wimsen, a backup quarterback. Yeah, as part of the running attack when he was talking about the running backs room. Not that he's going to move him to running back, but evidently they're trying to figure him into that running attack.
Yeah.
I thought it was a noteworthy Back in the spring, I think I was doing some interviews for Keelan and you were filling in for me and they'd got just gotten whimset and I got a call from someone in UK that coach Hamdon would like to come on and talk about why they did this. It's no I think they wanted people to know it wasn't any you know, lack of confidence in Brock Vandergrift, and he explained that, you know, just different ways they could, you know, utilize Gabbin.
And so that's kind of intriguing to see what is in his mind when we get to see it put out onto the field. What do he things he might do?
I agree, maybe he's a secret sauce who knows a few minutes Leip with Tom leads a voice of the Wildcats. I don't know if we're gonna be able to get to basketball. I love talking football with Tom, but I have said this to you on and off the air,
and I stand by it. I think the schedule is tough as always, it's an SEC schedule, but I think in terms of the calendar, Tom when the games fall is this is the toughest I've ever seen when it comes to Kentucky football because of the early conference games that are so vital.
You know.
It is, But I kind of liked that. I didn't really like where you kind of have all of the non conference games except Louisville loaded up at the front. It's almost looked almost like it was a preseason schedule because then you get into the league and it's just, you know, week after week of that gonblet where you space him out a little bit, and you know it's you know, we've seen games where you can't just you know,
show up, uh and win. But you you know, expect to be able to not have to have your a game or not to you know, to be able to get through it. Giving a guy a week off to recover from an injury and you can still get through and get the win. You I like those games spaced in there a little bit more. There's two open dates, so you know it's always going to be hard. I mean, there's going to be a year now and then I think in this expanded sec where you'll get you know,
you get lucky either. You know, you'll get a couple of the teams that you get in the rotation are in a down cycle, right, something like that happens, but you know you can't really project that. But more often than not, you've got to make peace with the fact that it's going to be difficult, and you know you've got uh, you know, games that you'll be you look
at it now, you'll be favored in. You got games where you'll be a significant underdog like Georgia and you know at Texas but then there's probably about half the schedule of games that you know, you could see Kentucky winning or losing depending on how well they play.
And exactly it's.
Kind of you know, if he sees bet as close as college gets to the NFL, and that's kind of the way it is in the NFL. The games are going to be close most weeks, sided in the fourth quarter, and you've got to win, you know, your share of them to now to get into the playoffs. And so probably with twelve teams, probably takes ten wins, I would think to get into the playoff, but as they expanded
to sixteen, you probably get in with nine. And so you know there have been Kentucky teams and Mark Stoop's time here that would have been in contention to do that.
Yes, well, and with those games that are going to get into the fourth quarter, that's where that depth is going to come in. I'll let you go with this. One of the major topic yesterday was temple. One of the topics Stoops talked about it really they all did,
because it affects both the offense and the defense. Obviously, So I guess Jeff and I especially Jeff, we've got to learn how to keep our comments kind of tight between plays, Tom because there won't be nearly as much time from snap to snap will there?
No, there won't, and teams like, I mean, they're not gonna go as fast as Tennessee. But I'm not a fan of Tennessee systems selfishly, because you know, I'm blogging each play in a shorthand fashion, but still it takes the second or two to write it down, and you.
Know you have to.
I can't. You know, I can type without looking at the keys, but I can't write as well without looking at the paper. So I need to glance down occasionally. So hopefully they'll give me enough time to do that.
But it's going to be exciting, I think, especially because Stoops after spring said it was night and day based on the pace of play last year.
Right it was, And I was looking. They were dead last in the number of plays run, but they were fortieth in yards per play, So you know, if you're pretty productive, and I think they can be better than that, then you know it's imperative to get to run more plays you're having. You know, it's not like they were lasting yards per play as well, so they and they've got a lot of playmakers that you know, everybody wants to, you know, touch the ball, and they have to be
able to improve that. And I think, you know, just the speed at which they operate just has to be better so they can get more plays off and some of that, the defense will be better, so they'll probably get more three and outs. That'll help too. But I just as Stoop said, he didn't want to see the play clocks down the one or two seconds snap anymore.
No, And last year, of course, the defense scored on more than one occasion. Special team scored on more than one occasion, So that'll keep you from running offensive plays and you're still scoring. So we'll find out it's going to happen soon. Tom Leechs will have the call right here on WLAP. Thank you, buddy, we'll see you soon.
Sounds good.
Our number two with Maggie Davis and the Basketball Wildcasts both men and women. That's next here on the Big Moon Sider six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Joining us now from BBN tonight. Someone we haven't spoken to. I don't know if we've talked with you all summer, Miss Maggie Davis because I've been on vacation and out of town and you've been getting ready to get hitched. So how are things, Hey.
Things are good. Thinks they're crazy. You know, this is a busy time of the year for sports reporters who are trying to get everything done in their personal life in that little window between the end of you know, this year baseball season really and the start of football season, and with everything that happened around the back basketball program really extending that season, and then we went straight into Derby,
we went straight into College World Series coverage. It's been a lot of fun covering the TBT tournament the last couple of weeks. Now, it's been a decently busy summer and just trying to get caught up to speed with everyone who's new on both basketball teams, the men's and the women's all the press conferences and interviews and meetings
and all that sort of stuff. So considering it's the middle of summer, honestly, Dick, we've been pretty busy over at the BBA tonight offices, but we are on a short little hiatus this week and next week because of the Olympics. We're on the NBC station in Lexington Laxa team. So because of that no show, so things have sort of slowed down just a little bit, at least for this week.
And be honest, you plan the wedding around the hiatus, didn't you, which is smart.
I technically did not, but in hindsight I am so glad it worked out that way.
Yes, well, Noah could blame you if you did, but yeah, I was just talking. We just we've got some interviews coming up with a couple of the new men and women's players. But yeah, you and I talked back in the spring about what it's like me spending half my career or most of my career in local television trying to fill those summer shows. But it's been a real boon this year, as like you said, college baseball extended and every now and then they make players available. It's kind of fun.
Yeah, it really has been. Like you said, there's been a lot more to cover this year than what we typically are kind of reaching for in the summer. Is obviously, like all of the new introduction to everybody on the new teams. We were excited to talk with both Kenny Brooks and Martope, all their new assistants, all their new players. So that's been a lot of fun. And then the
Olympics too. Obviously, like I just said, we don't have a show this week or next week because of the Olympics, but leading up the trials we did some stories with UK athletes or a UK connected athletes, and obviously say in between trials and when the games actually got started. So I just had a chance to sit down with my Thi Russell not too long ago. We just aired
that last week. Really cool obviously to have so many Kentucky related athletes on the international stage like this, and so many honestly that are in really good position to medal. I mean Lee Kiefer already did defencer, the UK medical school student and her husband is competing as well. That's always a cool story. I know we've always talked about and I think this track session of the Olympics are going to be very very UK dominated. Some excited for us to get go in here soon too.
I think I did the very first interview with Lee Keefer when she was in high school and I was thinking, you know, here's a kid who's got Olympic aspirations and just might make it. And now she's a toast of the town in Paris, isn't she she is?
I mean back to back gold medal. She certainly deserved it, and her husband put up a really sweet message on social media and part of what he said congratulating her obviously for that gold medal, her accomplishment, all the hard work paying off, is that she was able to do
it in back to back Olympics. Yeah, and do it under completely different circumstances, completely different in Byron right, you think back to those twenty twenty one technically Olympics and all of the COVID restrictions and how restricted it was. There were no fans, you were separated from your family.
They were still very much in isolation mode. And the difference in those Olympics and these Olympics and being able to perform to that level regardless upwork of kids as around her, I think is really impressive and very neat of her husband to be the one to help point that out. Yeah.
Yeah. I had Delani Green, Kentucky's track and field coach, on the show and just he is, of course bursting with pride and even in some of these athletes he didn't even coach, but we talked about the recruiting residue that that the Olympics will bring, because you know, everybody knows everybody in that in that atmosphere in track and field, and they know that Sidney McLoughlin came from Kentucky and Side Russell and you know you've got kids representing other
countries who are competing from UK. So that's been a huge boost for Green in his program.
Absolutely, And I love you say he was bursting with pride because that knowing Lonnie Green just a little bit, having done several interviews with him over the years and talking with him here and there at different UK events, bursting with pride is almost an understatement. I mean, he is like the proudest papa to ever exist, you know, like he calls him his babies. He talks about you know, they're the whole peanut, butter ended jelly, there's a whole sandwich.
You know, Like he's just the way he talks and the way he represents that program and truly just puts those athletes on such a pedestal. And obviously they're the ones going out there running their race and putting in
that hard work. But I think it's a real testament that not only the coach he is, but the man he is and the kind of program that he's run that so many of those professional runners are still training in Lexington with him, despite their ability to go truly anywhere in the world and train wherever and with whomever they'd like, and so many of them have stayed in Lexington to continue working with him even after graduation. Massih Russell is a great example of that. She took a
COVID year. She spent five seasons I could talk to you with the track and field team and still didn't have enough. So she's still stayed for this past year, past nine months or so since she graduated last year and continued her professional career in Lexington with coach Creed. So very cool. I think obviously they're representing UK either way, but they have so many still really truly lived here and wear that blue and white and practiced at that facility. I think is even more special.
And you know what else I really respect about Lonnie Green is that he gave great credit to Edrick Floria, who's now the head coach at Texas, but was a great hire by Mitch Barnard and really recruited and developed a lot of the athletes, some of these athletes who are representing the US and UK over in Paris, So I thought that was a classy move, I wondered, Well,
speaking of coaches, what was your reaction. We are surprised when Mark Stufe was this frank with Darryl Bird of the Cats pause, and there's been some fallout over the comments he's made. He said similar things down and SEC media days in Dallas about how his job, the paradigm has shifted and now he has split his time between coaching and being a fundraiser and he's not happy about it. What was your reaction when you read some really frank remarks from the UK football coach.
Well, frankly, I was not shocked. I mean, I think it was pretty consistent with what we've heard not only from Mars Stups, but from so many coaches across the entire country. I mean, the SEC is what we're the most locked into, obviously, so we hear it from so many SEC coaches. But it's really a nationwide and a sport wide issue that so many head coaches, especially high profile coaches, have talked about over the past couple of years.
And you don't have to be a head coach to realize that the job they are doing now is a completely different job than the one they signed up for even two or three years ago. Now, think about how much it's changed. In March, Stups is the longest tenured coach in the SEC, his twelve seasons at the hell,
think of how much that has changed. We think about just the past two years or so with the COVID years, and then that bleeds into the transfer portal era, the that bleeds into nil and now it's all these collectives and it's you know, what started as true in IL is a little bit more of the paper play situation. And so every step along the way, your job is not only changing, I think it's getting harder and it's
getting more complicated. There are so many rules. You still have to follow the rules, but you also have to do what it takes to win. There's so much pressure, there's so much stress, and yet it's very easy to say, well, they're getting paid nine million dollars. I think they can handle it. I absolutely understand that sentiment one hundred percent. I agree with that. But it is a completely different job than the one they had even a couple of years ago. So I do think it's also fair for
coaches to feel some of that frustration. And you know, Mark Stoops. You know, I've talked with Mark Stoops over the years. The fans who have read every interview or most of his interviews over the years knows he's the head coach who speaks his mind. He's honest, He's he coach speaks us sometimes. But that's pretty rare, honestly, and quite frankly, that's typically about an injury or right before a big game or something like that. I mean this
in an offseason. He has never been a coach to hold back his true feelings and I really truly respect that about him, and I think the fan base that's too, so I had no problem with him, you know, bringing up once again is frustrations with it. He's far from the only coach who have done that. You know, I think it's struck a nerve with the fan base because of,
you know, the timing of the situation. Maybe right, this is the time of year to build some excitement around the season, but you never know how the timing of those things shaped out. And like you said, he said very similar things at SEC Media Day. Is not too long before that you know, so it's going to keep happening. But I thought it was It was kind of funny.
We were at the like we Can kick Off luncheon over at Kroger Field yesterday and I'm sure you heard him say that he kind of made a little joke to the fans and attendance there about Yeah, you might have read some things that I've said, and yeah, you know, sometimes I get a little frustrated, but he loves this job.
He loves what he's doing, he loves those players, he loved his staff this year, and there is certainly an excitement about him in this season that I don't think necessarily came across in the interview, like you said with Daryl Bird, just because it was so focused on that nil fundraising piece of it versus when you hear him talker, you have a little bit longer of a conversation about
the situation. Yes, he can bring up those frustrations, but it can also bleed into well, I think we have the deepest wide receiver room we passed, which he said, I think Coach Wilford being back is going to help us be physical again, which he said. So there's a lot that goes into the sort of lead up into the season, and I think in the next couple of weeks we're going to look back at this article of saying that this is just a little blimp on the radar.
We know how soupskills about the fundraising, and yeah, that's a tough gig, right now, let's talk about football instead.
One of the things I like about the fact that when he does coach speak us, he tells us or he recognizes the fact that it's coach speak and he fixes up to it. Maggie Davis Obvian Tonight, as my guest, we'll come back and talk more Kentucky football on the other side of the break here on six point thirty WLAP Welcome back, We're talking with Maggie Davis, anchor, reporter, editor, chief cook and bottle washer BBN. Although Jesse does a tremendous job, doesn't he absolutely.
Jesse Rice is our executive producer. We have a great crew the people you see on camera, but we have a great crew behind us. He said, Well, Nick Latheroff is our lead photographer and editor and he is fabulous as well. He is an Emmy winning photographer. So we have a great crew. We're very lucky to have a seven person sports department, one of the biggest ones in local TV I can find anywhere. So we're super super super lucky and we work together super well, which is great.
Well, there are very few stations in America that do a nightly sports show locally. Well, actually, yours is networked as you do, so you need that many people, no matter what consultants say. Let us get back to Kentucky football and talk about what they talked about at the luncheon. Tom Leach was on the show earlier and one of the keys I think was the two things I took away Maggie depth which Stoops talked a lot about Dallas and everything, But to me, what I think is going
to be fascinating is the tempo. Of course, there was no spring game per se. We didn't get really a sneak preview of that. But Stoops does not want to see that play clock counting down? Does he?
No, he doesn't. And the part that I found the most interesting when he talked about this at the luncheon earlier this week is he said, these were conversations we had when Liam Cohen was still coming back to be the offensive coordinator. That was a decision that he had made as the head coach before he knew that this offense would be reworked yet again. So that is really my biggest takeaway is that that was truly a Mark Stoops decision. He said it before. I think he's got
to keep saying it leading into the season. He was tired of seeing that play clock you down the one, two, three, four seconds. He's like, you know, we're not snapping the ball one second end of the play clock every single time either. It's going to be a balance, right, that's the name of the game. But he was tired of
getting down to the end every single time. The fact that that had been a point of conversation before the change to Bush Hampden, I think says a lot about how important this is to soups End, the kind of offense he wants to be run this year. And then he went out and made sure he got an offensive coordinator who's going to work well with that. And I think Bush Hampton is going to be a good part of that too.
Yeah, I agree, And I think it's going to be fun. It's going to be fun for the players. The old line are going to have to be in great shape though, aren't they.
Hey, yeah, absolutely especially But you know what, I'm so interested in hearing this year US talk more about and we've talked a little bit about it of course throughout the off season, and it's just going to continue being brought up. Are these new helmet communication technologies, because I think that could absolutely affect how the whole operation works
and how quickly it can work. And so, yes, offensive line has to be in shape, but it's going to change the way the quarterback communicates with those guys and how quickly they can sort of relay that information. I love when Bush Hampden talked about it yesterday saying, you know, every fourth day we're going to practice what we do when that helmet community goes out, because you can't fully rely on it, especially once you start going on the road.
In the SEC kind of made a joke like, you know, once you go down to Tennessee, you go down the ole myss, somehow something crazy happened that the Wi Fi goes down, you lose connection, you know, whatever, whatever happens. Sometimes stuff like that happened. So I think that they're being proactive in terms of, yes, we have to learn to make this technology work for us and this no huddle offense and the tempo that we want to see, and hopefully this helmet technology can help them do that.
But you can't rely on it so much that when it goes out when you are down in Knoxville or you are down and app you know, wherever you end up, you have to be able to still make it work the old fashioned way too.
A couple of minutes left with Maggie Davis or BBN tonight.
Another thing I thought was fascinating Maggie that came out of Stoops's comments was when he said that when it came to terminology, there have been so many changes on the offensive side of the building year to year to year to year, but he made the decision to go ahead and allow bush Hamden to install his offense with his terminology instead of insisting that they keep what they had, because Stupe said there was enough time for the players to learn it. I think that's something that's lost on
people who aren't in that room in that building. How difficult that can be on players. But because they've got some extra days to practice, that's a crucial part of the communications that I think should be pretty clean, you.
Know, absolutely. I thought that I was really interested in that part of the conversation yesterday too, because I just, you know, you just never know how that's going to go. It's not always something that even gets asked about or even something that gets brought up. So I thought it was interesting that Suit's clarified, like, yep, we're using Bush's terms,
his terminology. These are his plays. We want him to be the most comfortable so that he can get out what he needs to get out as quickly as possible. And then it's on the players to make sure they are understanding that and the staff to work with them to make sure, like you said, taken advantage of some
extra practice time this season. Obviously, the first football game is a little earlier than we're used to have looking forward to in August pickoff, but that does mean practice is starting a little bit earlier, and the summer workout rules have relaxed a little bit more so these guys have had more time together this summer as a team and even a little bit more time with their coaches as well. So hopefully we'll hear more about that in
ball camp. But hopefully that's all been smooth sailing so far.
Yeah, well, I'll let you go with this. With this new offense, the new tempo, other than the quarterback, do you see a breakout star. Do you think it'll be the kind of thing where Barrion Brown or a Dane Key kind of blows up with this new offense.
I think it has to be a big year for the wide receivers, and I think we know the two that it has to be a big year for. You just said it. Dame Key and barry On Brown absolutely have to have big junior seasons. Not just for the team. Obviously that's the main goal, that's the whole goal, But those two guys are also guys who have wanted to get drafted after three years since probably beginning of time, right, and so for them, I know there has to be
a lot writing on their performance this season. So just being able to relapse in that, to let it motivate you, but to not let it weigh on you, I think is going to be so important for those two young men especially, And honestly, I'm really excited to see how this offensive line comes together. That is not a position that has had a lot of consistency over the last couple of years bar of course Elec Cox in the
middle for like the fifteenth season. Wherever, whoever he ends up this season, I think that is going to be a huge piece to have him back. And Marcus Cock as well as is certainly a leader in the room. But just seeing the dynamic switching now that Eric Wilford is back in charge of that position. Group's obviously talking about the physicality, the toughness, the sort of GrITT that Eric Wilford demands out of his players is certainly one thing.
But just in terms of the rotation of guys, how many reps are getting, how they're lining up across that line, who ends up in the center, who's playing guard, where all those ships fall, what happens with Chator Burton this year, or does he take that next step? You know, I have a lot of questions about the offensive line, and so I'm excited to see how the Big Blue Wall stakes out too.
Oh.
I agree with that, because if they don't get it done, it ain't gonna get done. Maggie Davis watch her on BBN Tonight on LAX eighteen, Follow BBN Tonight on x or Twitter at BBN Tonight. Simple enough, thank you and best of luck to you and you're intended this coming weekend.
Thank you, Thank you so much. We are so excited. So I'll be off air for a little bit, but I don't worry. I'm coming back.
Up next We'll hear from Basketball Cats men and women on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Yes, it is football preseason, the talking season, but we're all getting to know the Basketball Wildcats still because well you and I we have watched this roster come together, still learning the backgrounds, and we don't yet know exactly how this team's going to play. We have a pretty good idea, but they are making the players available to us so far,
three at a time. And we had a chance to talk recently with Travis Perry, and of course we talked with him after his team Lion County won the state championship and now he's a Wildcat and talked about that experience. He had agreed to play for Caliperi, but really Jack and played for Mark Pope.
It's it's honestly, it's way better than you can even dream like. You get to be here every day in the best the best place for basketball in the world, like it's incredible, the best fans in the world. You get to go out, you get to go to practice every day knowing that in a couple of months you'll be competing in front of them, Like it's just it's just so fun. And then you have, especially the mix
of guys we have here this year. It's it's great guys that really want everybody to come together and be a good unit.
So it's just just so much fun to be able to compete and wear the Kentucky every day.
Have you gotten used to that being across your two.
Yeah, no, I don't. I don't think you can really get used to it.
But it's Coach Pope does a great job of instilling it us what it like. You got to get to a point to where it really means something to you, like not just wearing it, just to wear it just like you're wearing it because it means something to you.
And that's something.
That that I think will be really big for us obviously. I mean, I know what it means to want to work every day to become a Kentucky basketball player, So that's something that you don't really take for granted.
And I think we have a good grasp of that as a team. How did he do that?
How does Coach Pope do that?
Through a lot of things, just his teachings obviously the words that he uses like to kind of instill that in us, show up for your guys every day, but also his actions, like he's in here six am every day, like if your coach is being near the gym like that kind of motivates you a little bit. He's here late at night, he's always there to help. Just being a guy that represents what Kentucky basketball is really about.
Is kind of how he teaches you that, because if your leader is doing that, you really got to learn to do yourself.
Do you never a routine yet, like you're here in the gym at six in the morning or anything like that.
It's kind of hard to get a routine right now during the summer because we have our schedule changes a lot day by day. But obviously finding time to get shots whenever you can.
Like it's so easy.
I mean, living right there, like it's twenty five twenty seven steps and you're in your room twenty seven steps you can go get shots up, Like it's it's incredible the access that you have and it's impossible not to become a better shooter here, I think. Uh so, it's just that's something that I love about it. Like if I get bored, send in my room, Like, let's go get some shots up. Shoot a couple couple hundred shots.
You can go back if you get bored in an hour or so, you can come back and do it again.
So it's just super fun for a guy like me.
Do you have a set number a day or so many a shot today?
The coaches really want us to get three hundred to day. That's kind of set shot, Uh breakfast. Yeah, I've been getting getting bored trying to get I like to get between five hundred and one thousand a day, just depending on I'm trying to get it up. Just during the summer, we're a little bit more free, have some more time, So get bored a lot instead of watching some YouTube or something, can come over here and get three hundred shots and that's a better use of your time.
So trying to get in that habit.
And the technology here tracks everything for you.
Tact everything.
It's it's incredible, Like you don't have to track the shots in your head. It doesn't have to you don't have to worry about the gun messing up. The technology tracks it perfectly, so it's really fun.
How do you break down how you said how many shots?
But how do you break down, well, I want to shoot.
This many free throws, this many three corners, et cetera.
How do you break that down yourself?
Yeah, it kind of kind of changes a little bit. I would say it's it's just off a feel. Some days, if you're you're shooting the three really well, you might want to get a few more of those. You might want to get less of those. Uh, definitely want to make sure you get free throws in when you're tired.
But it's just kind of a mixture. Like if you if you have a practice and you got a lot of a certain type of shot and you're not feeling great about it, I say you miss missed a couple of them, might go in and get fifty extra.
Those just just kind of feel. I feel like at this.
Level of basketball, we all have a good, good feel of what we need to work on. The coaches do a good job of kind of guiding this towards that. The managers they watch every single practice, watch every single rep. You get so they're they're not gonna be easy on you, Like if you miss five corner threes and practice, are gonna call you out and be like, hey, let's get get in the corner. Le's get some shots up today. So so yeah, it's just just kind of a just go will let you feel that day.
So just tinker with your shots at all of this level.
I wouldn't say, I wouldn't say tinker with a form.
No, they kind of kind of know that we can shoot the ball, especially just just we've been doing it so long. There are little things obviously, like holding the shot, getting your feet that stuff like that, like like basic mechanics. They might tinker with a little bit, but now they they do a good job of coaching but not changing.
I would say a lot of incoming freshmen struggle with having to get the shot off a lot quicker, Yeah, than they had in high school. It seems like you've always had a pretty quick release.
Pretty quick, but yeah, definitely trying to trying to get it a little bit quicker. And they definitely help with like drills and stuff with that. The managers have some great drills as well to help me with that. But it's kind of the motto is keep the shot the same, but just make it quicker.
So is it different not going home with the coach every night? A little bit?
Yeah, it might be a little bit different, you know, whether it's it's a good practice, bad practice, whatever it is. This time you're going home by yourself, You're going into your room. Uh so, yeah, you don't have to have to worry about it carrying over. But then also you kind of kind of miss it a little bit. You know, you wonder what he would be, what he would be saying after that day. But no, it's fun, it's it's a good change. You know, it's fun to play for
your dad as long as you can. But then it's also good when you get to this level to kind of kind of work under a guy that that doesn't have to worry about going home with you and kind of kind of taking a little bit easier.
There is there anything you've been doing where you hear your dad's voice immediately?
Uh, there's there's a few.
I mean a lot of just the stuff that Coach Pope talks about in the confidence side of it. He was always big on that, not just with me, but with everybody on our team, Like he he trusted you to take a shot if you're in the game, he knows that you can make any shot that's that's out there. Uh, So that's a big part of it, the confidence side, and also just playing fast, like we we love to
play fast. Coach Pope was talking about taking thirty five threes a game, like that's something that sounds sounds awesome and sounds like like I'm sure my dad would love to do that at the high school level. So that's one of the things I think really relates well.
Sir.
This is a team unlike most others in America, with a brand new roster, brand new coach, all the outside pressures. How vital is it to build the chemistry you guys are working on now on and off the court.
It's extremely vital. I mean, it's it's no secret.
That that our our our goal is to to hang number nine, and uh that's not done without having a good team chemistry, having a great bond. I think that bond comes from wanting other guys to do better than yourself. Like if you're if you're just wanting yourself to do good all the time, the team's not gonna do good. If you want other guys to succeed over you. That
that really goes a long way. So I think we have a good understanding of that, and also the coaches do a good job and still in the little things, like we have so many little things that we hit on every day that really lead to championships, and that's that's something that's huge for us as well, just being good teammates, being good guys, learning from each other, competing for each other.
And just want to win above all else.
I think we'll work out a lot of things for us, and chemistry goes a long way in that.
For sure.
Seems like a perfect situation for a guy like Perry. He's really good at shooting the ball. Same with kerk Krisa who started his career at Arizona, then ended up in West Virginia and now at Kentucky. He is from Estonia, entered the portal and landed in Kentucky.
Once Pope called it was a no brainer. I had a school kind of made up where I wanted to go, but then when coach got hired here, I kind of had to held it back because I was kind of hoping for for that call and and played for coach pope and obviously this special university.
There's no no place like that.
Uh So yeah, what was your perception of Kentucky before you got here?
Sorry? What does the mean perception?
I mean, what did you think of Kentucky? What did you know about it? Why did you want to come here?
Oh?
Basketball school, big time basketball school, rich history of basketball.
Uh, you know coach cal coach Patino like this.
You know these names are a big time and uh and what they've done here, and you know more coaches that have been here.
It's it's a special place.
And and the fan base obviously, I mean, I mean, you don't even realize, you know, how how much people care here about basketball. Me and the guys were walking walking downtown the other day and we had cops coming up to us. We're like cops like like.
You know this.
It's just it just shows how much like people know about basketball, how much they care about basketball.
So it's like it's it's super special. It's very special.
Yeah, a basketball guy like you, that's got to mean a heck of a lot. No.
Yeah, And obviously there's you know a lot of on our shoulders. You know, we want to we want to win for the community. We want to win for the state, we want to win for our teammates, for the coaches, for everybody. So so a lot of it is going to be on our shoulders. But but everybody's excited for it. Every everybody's off for the challenge.
Really, this is a team unlike most in America, where the rosters brand new. You guys are new to each other. You're trying to learn each other and be teammates.
What's that been like, Ah, yeah, I mean it's challenging, but that's why we have the summer where you know, I think it would be it would be you know, because if we didn't have the summer, it would be super hard. But I think we've done tremendous job. The coaches have done tremendous jobs just trying to glue us into one one fist. And but the end of the day, we play for each other, Like I said, we play for the state, all that stuff. So so if the common goal is the same for everybody, it should be
pretty pretty easygoing. If you are guys who you know, kind of start thinking about themselves more, think that they're better than the team, then then.
You might have some problems.
But so far, honestly, I mean this is I'm really really freaking pumped to be here.
Other than on the court, What are the coaches, if anything, what have they done off the court to help you guys bond?
I mean they've given us but in the like some guidelines, not guidelines, but like some activities whatever. But in the in the end of the day, like we got an old group and everybody knows that, you know, you you win most of the games off the court, you really do. Just the fact how guys like each other, how you know, you know somebody's you know, problems in life, how you know, how you know when to support somebody. So this stuff is super super important and it goes into winning a lot a lot.
What's been the dynamic with Lamont? Obviously you guys play similar position, but I think kind of different players. How do you feel like you'll maybe compliment each other.
Yeah, I mean, first of all, Month's been pushing me in practice a lot. I'm very thankful for him. I think I've never gotten that type of you know, defensive mindset in practice every day. I mean he's he's picking me up nine for full. I mean we screamed him like Month chill like it's it's fifth of July, you know, like we got time and the July is like months like na na, So it's it's good. He's been really pushing me. But yeah, month is you know, month is
our you know, PG one. Month's gonna set the tone for us for the for the whole season. Months gonna gonna be the guy for us who who who needs to show up every day? And he's done it. I mean, he's taking care of his body. He's showing ourself to be a leader. Month's been very special for the group.
Called him the PG one. Do you think you too? How much do you think you two will play together? And what might that look like?
Honestly, I haven't really thought about coaching job yet, so I don't know.
You might have to ask coach po.
Yeah, I'm still trying to hoop right now.
So I me Mont the whole guy.
Everybody is gonna do what we need to do in order to win basketball games and listen to coaches.
So yeah, is there any question you're the best trash talker team?
Ah?
I don't know if you can. Can you call it best? I mean it's just some guys do it. Some guys don't.
It's I don't. I just think it makes it a little bit fun.
You know, Like I said, college basketball is super super special, and you know, coming from overseas, we don't, we don't have college sports like that. It's you know, you go to college to get a degree, you don't go to play sports.
So it's just for me, it's just so special.
How you know, everybody takes so seriously their alumni. You know, like you're walking on the street and you know, if you have a Kentucky year or whatever and you walking in a different city, they just go go cats. You know, it means so much to people what school they went to, what you know, what university they represented. So it's just super special. And I'm not trying to take it for granted.
Have you always done that?
Have you always liked to talk during games even before you came to the US.
I mean it's you know, as this six to you know, guard, you gotta have some.
You gotta have some. You know you got I was looking this shit.
You gotta have you know, you can't be like because it's just it's so competitive. There's always young guys coming up, and if you're being soft, you get pushed away. Then you're out of this business real quick.
What happened with the Luca thing that kind of went viral?
Uh?
Do you remember the circumstances of that.
That was so long time.
Oh no, I mean it's he's a great player, he's he's an awesome teammate. I mean it was I wouldn't make it any any big scenario. It was just part of the game, bar of the heat of the moment.
Nothing much.
Kids, you go to school here from Louisville, seventy miles away, get homesick, you're pretty far from home. Do you lean in your teammates more because of that? What's that like for you being so far from home and going through this.
I mean, that's why I have a second family here. You know, that's one hundred percent if you you know, it's just it means so much when you have guys who care and obviously the staff. Uh, you know, I had I had a little a little tough moments earlier in June. I found out something about my I have somebody sick in my family.
But it was you know, it's been hard.
But like then you talk to the guys, you go hug with your coach, it just it just means so much that everybody's here for me and and it's special to have this kind of a bond that quick. Uh you know you got you got. I got good guys on my team, I really do.
That's kerk Krisa, who likely will share the point guard spot of Lamont Butler and likely we'll be putting up a lot of three pointers. Up next, we hear from some of the women's basketball players from UK here on the Big Moon Side or six thirty w l a p Welcome back, final segment of our program. And yes, we've been talking to the new guys on the men's roster.
But today kind of a mini media day for women's bad basketball because with the new rules, practices have been happening here in the summertime, so availabilities made to the media, and basically every player on the roster was there. I talked to most of them, including Cassidy Rowland of two Wildcats who returned from last year's team, five to five junior guard from Virgie, Kentucky. Well, Cassidy, you've been around the block here at Kentucky. What's it like to be
the old head here? First time you've ever been called that, I'll bet yeah.
Yeah, you know, me and Sonaia are the only two that were here last year. So but you know, we obviously we love Kentucky. We love getting to wear that name across our chest. So yeah, I'm super excited to be able to play here.
How weird was that whenever a coaching staff leaves and there's turnover, but there's such roster churn as well.
What was it like for you too? You know, it's scary, It was stressful.
There was just so much unknown and it all happened so quick, so it was stressful, but there wasn't a doubt in my mind this is where I wanted to be, and I was super excited when they brought in coach Brooks and his staff and just all the girls that they brought in.
It's truly been a blessing. I feel ask for better.
Did you know.
Anything about coach Brooks before you got here?
I knew we played against him my freshman year in the Bahamas, and so I heard of him then, But it wasn't until they announced him as coach that I really started seeing stuff he'd done in the past, you know, Final four appearances, all all the accomplishments, So that definitely excited me.
You all flirted with success through the years. You have the tournament win, you pulled off some wins, just not enough. You feel like this team, this programs is on the verge of getting back to where it was when when you were growing up.
Yes, I do. I do.
You can just see it on Coach Brooks. Brooks's face like he is just so excited to bring this program to where it once was, and I'm super excited to be a part of that.
You've lived the se see you know what it takes in this league. This is the biggest Kentucky team maybe. Ever, how do you feel like it's it's set to compete?
Yeah, you know, SEC is the best conference to be in, but it's also the toughest conference being you're going to play against the best competition, and I feel like Coach Brooks brought in the right people to be able to compete in the SEC.
So I'm excited.
Having played in the college see in before now knowing what's ahead. Of course, you all played in rough last year, But how exciting is that knowing what's up with the new facility.
Oh yeah, I'm super excited.
I was one of the only ones that got the opportunity to play a memorial before it was renovated. So it's just it's like a different feeling for me to see how it was before and be able to play and like it is now with air conditioning, which that's going to be nice.
It's just super exciting.
Just about everybody mentioned that air can well, you know, they never needed it in the coliseum until the volleyball team came along and started opening play in August and women's basketball started to crank up earlier and earlier. I also talk with an incoming freshman, Lexi Blue from Orlando. How about that in Lexington Lexi playing for the Big
Blue Nation Blue. I asked her about Javis Blue, the former Kentucky wide receiver, said there was no relation, but still the name's pretty cool if it tias you though about your last name coming.
I've been also the Lexi and Lexington that perfect, so it is perfect.
I can't lie, well, why was this a perfect fit for you?
I think for me, just the people and also you know, I committed here before I was able to actually come, so really just focusing on the people was the big thing for me. So it's been a lot of fun just to be here and see everything. Obviously, the facilities are amazing. There's a lot of new things coming, and there's also a lot of buzz here around women's basketball, so it's really exciting.
You committed sight unseen.
I did.
Coach Brooks. That's that's the answer.
What about him?
I think he's just a really great coach and also a really great person. I think throughout my recruiting process, he was just always someone that stood out to me and someone that I knew how I wanted to play for. So when he said Kentucky, I said, you know what, let's do it.
How do you know he's a great coach? What kind of research did you do?
I did a lot of research.
I also visited obviously at Virginia Tech, so I got to see him coach at some games, so kind of seeing that, listening to the players as well that have played under him as well. So really just relying on a lot of people. And I haven't heard a bad thing. So and I'm enjoying it so far right now.
So you can't come the hard work. You're enjoying it, I am, I am.
I think hard work is about of the process and if you don't love it, then you know that kind of sucks.
You shouldn't be here.
So I'm really just enjoying that process for sure.
What is going to be your role on this team?
I think for me, just whatever the team needs right now, that's that's my role. I'm an all around player. I can shoot the basketball at a high level, so of course bringing those things, but my main focus is what does the team need and how can I do it.
You're a Florida girl, right, But that's acc and sec down there. So what do you know about this league?
I mean, it's tough.
I'm sure everyone knows that, especially with you know, the expansion as well. So really just knowing that it is going to be a hard journey, but also it's going to be one that's hopefully worth it.
And I'll do it for now thanks to Maggie Davis and Tom Leachs. That's it. Good night from the garage and Lexinger.
It's like I picked the wrong week. Quit smoking.
It's like I picked the wrong week.
Quick drink, It's like I picked the wrong week. Quin On Fetamans picked the wrong week.
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