Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dicabrille with you on a Tuesday edition of our program. Thanks again to Aaron Gershawan and Billy Rutlede for handling the show last night. I was busy with UK Pro Day broadcasts on SEC Plus and we're gonna hear the tail end of that broadcast. We had a chance, Jack Gibbons and I did to talk with Mark Pope on the air towards the end, so we'll relive those moments coming up in our next segment.
And you can see the entire broadcast. If you couldn't see it on SEC Plus, it is on YouTube right now.
Just go to Kentucky NBA Pro Day and you can check out the basketball Wildcats, but football is number one here in segment number one, because the Wildcats back in action after a bye week take on the Giant Killers of Vanderbilt Commodore seven forty five kickoff at Kroger Field, and we'll have it for you the broadcast at five thirty pregame with Christy Logan and Jeremy and then Tom Leech, Jippicoh and I with the action as the Cats take on a Commodore team that is still buzzing as our
Vandy fans and always will be I suspect from the upset win over Alabama, And of course Mark Stoops talked about that a great deal at his news conference yesterday, and one of the questions he answered was about Jerry Kill, who is a veteran college football coach and as of late, had been the head coach at New Mexico State, and Clark Lee was really struggling as the head coach at Vanderbilt. His team was nine to twenty seven, and he watched
New Mexico State beat Auburn, which had clobbered Vandy. He watched the video and he wondered, how in the world did that happen. So in the offseason he went out to Las Cruses, New Mexico to talk to the staff there, including the head coach, Jerry Kill and the offensive coordinator Tim Beck, and he ended up hiring Tim Beck. Jerry Kill, he and Beck are very tight. So he came to the job interview and both Lee and Jerry Kill hit
it off. And Kill had told Clark Lee, I'm not sure if I want to keep on being a head coach. He was looking at retiring and just you know, hanging out, and clark Lee talked him into becoming his defensive coordinator. So he gets both the offensive coordinator and the head coach from New Mexico State and the quarterback Diego Flavia to transfer to Vanderbilt. So it's amazing to me that Vandy's football fortunes right now have pivoted thanks to three
and other assistant coaches as well. But those three guys primarily from one of the sad sack programs in college football. But Clark Lee had done a really nice job at New Mexico State and they had actually been winning some football games. Well, now they're in Nashville, and now they're celebrating a win over the mighty mighty Alabama Crimson Tide, and Mark Stoops talked about that at the beginning of his news conference. And of course, now as we all knew,
he has his team's full attention. They know what happened in Nashville on Saturday.
Coming into this press conference and don't have to worry about selling Vanderbilt anymore and telling you telling you how good they are and how good Clark Lee's done. He's have a lot of respect for clark and what he's done. And what he's been building for some time. Of course, they beat us not long ago, so I know what he's capable of and what type of quality person and coach he is in the job that he's doing at Vanderbilt.
Congratulations to them to see some of that hard work paying off getting such a big victory this past week. Vanderbilt was very impressive this past week. They were after you know, prior to that, they had their buy and they played Missouri extremely well. You know, they could very easily be sitting here at to and zero in conference against two top ten opponents.
Is a course referring to the fact that coaches, that's coach speak, you know, they'll come in and tell you how great the other team is. And nobody did it to the extent of Lou Holtz, who, no matter how good his team was, will tell you, well, we may not have a chance to win this week, but we'll
show up that kind of thing. But what the Vandy went over Alabama does is reinforced the fact that on every giving, any given Saturday, and in college football, of course, there are more misses than hits, more upsets that you flirt with and you don't finish off. But when you look back two Saturdays ago when Kentucky upset Old miss the only game that was able to knock Kentucky off the top of the store was that incredible Alabama Georgia game.
And yet I guarantee you that Alabama Georgia game played a part and Alabama not being ready for Vanderbilt. And some are saying, a lot of people are saying that wouldn't have happened with Nick Saban as the head coach. It probably wouldn't. You got to give him the benefit of the doubt him of all people, because he was great, had the line about the rat poison, great at making
sure his team remained focused. But maybe they did lose that game to Vanderbilt because Vanderbilt played extremely well, and as Mark Pope pointed out, you know they had Missouri. I watched a lot of that game, Andandy maybe should have won that game at Missou and let it get away. So this could have been a Vandy team coming in here that's two and zero in league play. And yet people still, I think right now, believe how Kentucky will win this one, and it should, but it may come
down to the last position. This is going to be a very difficult game for Kentucky cheaply because of Diego Flavia the quarterback. And you and I have seen a lot of mobile quarterbacks come in here and give Kentucky
all kinds of trouble, just as he did Alabama. This is a guy who could not get a Scollie offer from the University of New Mexico in his hometown, played juco ball for a couple of years, ends up in New Mexico State again one of the real have nots in college football, and then Vandy comes and poaches him and he quarterbacks one of the biggest upsets in the history of college football. So he got away from every
recruiter in America for the most part. And I asked Stoops about that, about just the fact that this is a great lesson to learn for people who may only look at four and five stars, but you can find talent anywhere.
Well, the first thing for him is you just have to congratulate him on his perseverance, you know, you know, the obviously the personal drive that he has, in the competitive nature that he has, and the perseverance that he has. But he's a very good football player and he's proven that. And I think you know, we all would say we like, you know, teams, and you like players that have a chip on their shoulder, and certainly he's playing that way.
And you have to commend him, you know, for for just you know, not only that.
I mean, he wants to win for his team, you know what I mean, but he wants to prove people wrong, of course, and he wants to play well, but for his team. And I wouldn't expect anything less from from Clark Lee and a team like that.
And I have a lot of respect for him. I've seen it coming.
I've seen it coming for years, and you know, and so you know.
I'm not saying I saw that upset coming.
I just saw the way Clark was building his program and how hard they play under any circumstance. When you get teams that are fundamentally sound and they play extremely hard, they have an opportunity to.
Win any game.
If he saw his postgame interview, he talked about divine intervention and a plan and all this, and it was just so obviously overwhelmed by the emotion. But here's a guy, like Stoop said, who just persevered and persevered. But I also had Stoops earlier in the news conference about the fact that Vandy played really physical football. I didn't see the entire game, but I was spending the dial on college football Saturday. We all had the day off, didn't we.
And I have the attention span of a fruitfly, so I'm bouncing from game to game. And I don't remember what game I was watching, but I saw the lower third score crawl across the screen still in the second quarter, Vandy thirteen, Alabama nothing. I thought, huh, Vandy has actually was seven to nothing, and then when I turned into the game, it was thirty teen and nothing because Vandy had just pulled off a pick six on a deflected pass.
And I always say that if you're going to pull off an upset like that, you have to steal points with turnovers or field position or whatever. And Vandy did just that. But what a Vandy also did was it responded every time Alabama came up with a score. Vandy extended its lead on three different occasions. Because when you see Alabama score, you're thinking, all right, here they come.
Vandy didn't think that way. And by the way, Nick Saban, Vandy fans trolled him after the game on his comments that it's tough to play everywhere in the SEC, but Vandy. He wasn't wrong, But on this day it was tough to play in Nashville despite the fact, and they showed this on TV more than once, almost the entire visitor section with solid red and white Alabama fans coming to Nashville. But the Commodore's got it done and they're going to
try to anchor down in Lexington Saturday night. Up next, Well Shift Gears, We're here from Mark Pope, Kentucky's new basketball coach, what he had to say about Pro Day, the event happening yesterday at Historic Memorial Coliseum. That's next on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Coming up in a few minutes, Jack Gibbons will rehashed with me last night's activities that Kentucky Basketball NBA Pro
Day got a chance to see. The Wildcats actually had a chance to see him practice earlier this week, and what they did last night was essentially the same drills. They just did it in front of basically every scout or a team a scout from every team in the NBA. But it was not drills that were specifically designed to
show off skills for these guys. They were just given the opportunity as a group to look in And as I said in the broadcast on SEC Plus last night, you got to give John Caliperry credit because he put this together. It was another innovation for UK basketball. I don't know how much input he had from the likes of TJ Buiser and whoever. I think this one came
together before TJ was there. But anyhow, the reason, of course was with Caliperio recruiting all the superstar recruits that he did, there were so many requests from scouts to come to practice, so they just kind of threw a net around to all of them and brought him in on the one day. And it had been broadcast in the past on ESPN. I'm not sure why we were given the opportunity to do it on SEC Plus, but I was glad we were and glad to be included.
And it was great to work with Jack again. I've done so many shows with Jack and projects and specials and things like that. But in terms of putting on a head, said Mike, and sitting down court side with Jack. You may have seen my Facebook post that also had it up on Twitter yesterday, I photo from an old Herald Leader of Jack and me and the other guy in the pictures of Max's roommate Scott Owens, doing a
high school game. Because when Jack retired from the NBA or was told his services were no longer needed, came back to Lexingon and got into broadcasting. Ralph Hacker hired him at WVLK and we did high school games together. I think that game was in a regional high school tournament. But Jack and I also did Transylvania basketball for two years. We did the home games and they were simulcast on VLK and on the old telecable of Lexingon. Remember tele
a cable. Well, they were looking for content, so they simulcast Transylvania basketball and Jack and I did it. We traveled a little bit with the team, and Don Lane was so great with us and great to work with. And Jack and I got along famously. We knew each other from school. I mean I had covered his teams for the Kentucky Colonel and we just kind of hit it off. But I mean, Jack gets along basically with everybody. So if you don't hit it off with Jack, there's
something wrong with you. But we've remained buddies ever since, and I really really enjoy having him on the show, and he's coming up in a few minutes, but just getting a chance to work with him, and look, he was tremendous. If you haven't seen the pro day broadcast, it's on YouTube and I linked it on Facebook and Twitter. But you forget Jack did nineteen years with the Orlando Magic TV Network. He is kind of a new beat a radio and did a wonderful job with Tom Leach
last year and we'll do it again this year. But he is so polished and such a pro when it comes to TV, and mind did e were no replays last night, so he was doing everything on the fly as we all were, and our crew did just an incredibly great job and it was so much fun. He had a ball being in historic Memorial Coliseum. As I
said in the broadcast, he's part of that history. Played his first two years of varsity basketball freshman and sophomore in Memorial Coliseum pre Rupp Arena, and of course practiced there every day. So he just loves being in the building, love seeing basketball there and had a great time. And of course he basically h piloted the interview when we had a chance to talk with the head coach, Mark Pope in the final minutes of the broadcast, and here it is courtesy of SEC plus. What did you think?
What did you see tonight? I love this.
I love this.
It's good baskets. You guys like you, guys like that. You were supposed to be done twenty six minutes ago.
We just can't get enough.
Yeah it is.
It is a great building.
To play in.
You did some work in here.
I played my first sun first two seasons I played in this building. And I said, and you probably felt it as you practiced in this building. Some there was something about this building that the great players that who have played here, you just felt beast as you walked in.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then the moments we had here that were not not in front of people like I mean, I have so many moments, but I'll never forget. So Nazi Muhammad played eighteen nineteen years in the NBA, is now on his way to being a general manager NBA team, one of the one of the most epic careers of any player here won a national championship. And I remember Nazi as a freshman and coach is killing us he's killing us, and you had to make a time before you could
get off the floor. So Nazi's still running everybody else on the floor. He's a freshman. He's just like he's
just grinding, trying to get his body in shape. And so he's run like this, I don't know what it was, one hundred and seventh ladder, and he came to the finish and we're all standing here, sitting at the at the baseline and Nazy like dives to try and get across the line, like literally right there in that spot right by the k yes, and dives across the line and coach is like, nope, get back on the line. And I remember, listen, I remember now it's like I'm
talking about tears, man, Yeah, like tears. And then because this guy paid the price, he played eighteen nineteen years in the league.
And that's the hard thing.
And I've heard you say it, but that's a hard thing, touching the lines, for instance, getting all the way there. It's hard for players at this age to know what that extra little bit might translate into.
Yes, yes, and right now, I mean, we were trying to be the best, which is which our lofty, lofty goal you're not the best by a large margin, you're the best by the tiniest of margins. So the more tiny.
Margins you can put together.
And so what was fun about practice day was there was some really broken execution and some sloppy stuff, but there were also some moments where guys inside showed up and how they responded something very very specific, and we're super encouraged by seeing that from our guys.
You know, we've talked Mark about Gabe and I talked a lot about bringing all these pieces together and uh, figuring out how to make a team out of all these pieces. How is that coming along?
I think it's been.
Really fun because we have unbelievable So you know what when when we hit little rocky patchs like you do every training camp, every summer, we do with our staff, like, what we believe in is people right, and on this roster we have really special, elite level people that are also terrific basketball players. And so, you know, I just have a ton of confidence in this group because of the character of these guys and their commitment. They're really
working to learn how to love each other. It's gonna be a special group and it's gonna be incredible to watch these guys and as as BBN, as as Kentucky fans, we're gonna love watching these guys, and we're gonna actually have some guys step up and have epic years and going to have big time professional careers.
And really serve this team. And then stayed along.
The way, did you know that aspect about the players when you went to get them, I'm talking about what kind of people they were?
Did you all that?
Well, it's a little bit of our filter. It's kind of a little bit about how we operate, and we're we're really brutally honest and transparent in the recruiting process. And and so you kind of filter yourself out a little bit if you're not grounded, like we talk about how important banners are here, and so if the only thing you're worried about is other things, if that's not a part of what you're worried about, you'll filter yourself out.
If if you're not here to learn how to love a team and like and connect, connect, connect, then you're gonna kind of filter yourself out. So you have a you have a vibe of that when and if you're not actually starving to become a big time pro, you're gonna kind of filter yourself out, and so what you end up with is a good chance of getting great people. We suspected that, but over the eight months summer, the four week in the fall, and then out of Banner Camp.
We just finished up a few days ago, I'm more confident of that we have.
We have really extraordinary I gotta think Mark that that was a key element and how you put this team together, because you're putting it together in a unique way in such a short amount of time. You don't have time to fool with someone who's going to be a bad.
Apple, right, Yeah, And that that's really important. And then and and and so all of that works together. It's huge. Listen.
You know, you can.
Look at you can always look at rosters on paper, okay, and a lot of times teams live up to what they are on paper. Sometimes they don't live up to one of them on paper. But what makes teams special is all the connected tissue, the special sauce, the you know what you had with your guys, like you guys want a championship because you know, those guys knew they needed to get you the ball and they wanted to get you the ball, and you guys loved each other
enough to take care of each other. And and that cont connected tissue is I think what makes championship teams.
I have one final question for you, meaning to ask you this. I can't remember how exactly how old you are, but you spent three years here, right, comparatively speaking, that's not a long time. And yet it is a part of you now, and I know you're hoping it becomes a part of them. Tell me how you relay that to them.
Well, it's a lot of different ways. One is exposing them to BBN because you know, the beautiful thing about all the guys that are transferred here is they have a frame of reference, so they actually know there's nothing like this in college sports, right, And that's a gift I had. I played my first two years at Washington, so when I came here, I'm like, Wow, this is like nothing in the world where sometimes freshman coming in and the think, oh, this is just what college basketball is.
They have no idea. So that's one thing, and then the second thing is like, we have these beautiful young men that are crushing it from the state of Kentucky that just ooze out the belief and faith in this place, and we talk about the history and we're blessed to have great four players like Jack that come around all
the time and kind of share with our guys. And then and then also it's just this guy's connecting with each other like that that the understanding of how specialist is can also come from within our group, from us making it sacred right, and that's what the guys are trying to do right now.
Mark, thanks so much, congratulating, appreciate you, thank you, recessful night, Pro Night, Pro Day. It's over here at the University of Kentucky. That's Mark Pope, the head coach. That's Jack Gibvans, part of the history from here at historic Memorial Palaceum Jack. Any final thoughts.
Well, mainly to Mark because he has done a great job of getting us old guys back involved in the program and for us it's big. But I've always thought that's a big part of Kentucky basketball.
So we are glad to have Mark here. That was at the tail end of our broadcast last night on SEC Plus of Kentucky Basketball Pro Day. And again, if you want to see the entire thing, it's on YouTube. Just type in Kentucky Basketball NBA Pro Day and you can check out this team for yourself. And we also have interviews with some of the players from prior to
the broadcast. They didn't come over during the broadcast, but you get a chance to meet him a little bit, and you're gonna hear an awful lot from these guys starting today because today was media day. So but we did enjoy it last night, and we hope you enjoyed it as well. More with Jack coming up here on The Big Blue Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider and joining me now is the guy who had to put up with me last night, Jack Gibbons from the UK Sports Network UK A American.
I did appreciate working with you again. As I put on the on the interweb, Jack, you and I had not sat down at a game with headsets on and forever had we had been a minute?
Yeah, it had been. It was really good to get back on the air with you, man. I mean, shoot, we started kac hesitate to think how many years ago since we first got started broadcasting together on the radio and doing some TV stuff. But yeah, it was really good to get back with you man, still one of the best in the business.
Thanks.
I really appreciate it.
I love the fact that you got a chance to get back in the Memorial Coliseum as you did. And I'm sure we had done some high school games probably in there. But uh, to see your beloved Wildcats in action in a building that means so much to.
You, Yeah, that was that was a huge part of my career while at Kentucky, you know, playing my first two seasons at Kentucky, we played in that building still, and it was just every time I walk in there brings back so many memories. Of course that changed a lot, and then I'm in this renovation that they've done to the building. It's just unbelievable. First thing you notice when you walk in there, man, is that you don't break out in a sweat, you know, from the building and
so hot we were sitting, man, I was kind of jelly. Man, I said, this air conditioner works really well. Yeah, but that's the first thing you noticed. But it's it's a beautiful building. But you still get that basketball, Uh, just the phil of good basketball had been played in that building. So many great players, both on the men and the women's side, so so yeah, still a very very special special place for basketball.
Valerie Stills Jersey hangs in the rafters and why not.
Uh.
And you know what, we didn't have a chance to get into last night. But and we've talked about this before.
Uh.
And you wrote about it in your book, how you got to play more than once in that building as a high schooler. And there was one huge game between you and new and James Henry Clay Bryant Station. Uh, your senior year. I was a freshman in UK living across the parking lot. I snuck in the back door and watched that one. Those were here and that place was full for those games.
The other think we're turning people away, man.
I mean.
High school basketball really throughout the state of Kentucky, but especially in Lexington and Louisville at that time was just huge. And all of the four public schools at that time for public schools and Lexington had great, great basketball teams, so the interest was huge. The attendance to all of our games was big time. It got too big those games to be played in the actual schools, So we would play at the Memorial Coliseum, would play those games, man,
and they would turn people away at those games. So yeah, those were very special days that so much fun to think back on.
And that was back when it held eleven thousand and As we were doing the pre event interviews yesterday, I explained that to some of the new content yucky players, I said, this place used to be where they played the varsity games, and our eyes got kind of big, and one of them said, how'd they do that? I said, well, everything that's been built up in the end zones wasn't here. You know, you had bleachers on one end and kind
of an opera house look on the other end. But the other thing too was the ceiling was a lot lower, which gave it kind of a the feeling like they have done in Durham, you know, where Duke plays. But anyhow, it served well last night, and it was a basic practice, as Mark Pope went over there with you and me prior to pro Day, But it was designed to give the scouts a chance just to see all kinds of skills that these guys could present, didn't it.
Yeah.
Yeah, they mainly did offensive drills because that's what they pro. Scouts wanted to see guys who could shoot it, and they're plenty of among this team. Ball handling stuff, how do you handle fast break opportunities, what kind of decisions
you make, all of that kind of stuff. Now, a regular everyday practice for this team will be a little bit different than what we saw last night because there's going to be more time spent on defense and defensive drills, which make it very interesting and will be very very important for this team because they will have to defend. They love to shoot the basketball, but they'll have to figure out ways to come up with the ball, and you do that through defense and rebounding. So still a
lot of other stuff they need to work on. But it was good for the pros. It was good for the guys.
Man.
You know, this is first time for all of those guys, and even though we have a lot of vets, a lot of guys who have been around for a long time. Even though we have a lot of those guys on the team, this is the first time that they've had the opportunity to go through these kind of situations. So it was it was a fun night for everybody there.
Yeah, and you talked about on the wrap up when we were talking to to Mark Pope and I played that earlier in the show, the fact that he was able to to some extent, because you know, you can't get everybody you want. But in terms of the style of play, what he needed for his roster, he basically
assembled it, putting the pieces together. It wasn't like a fantasy team or you know, you know, wouldn't it be great to have this guy and that guy was I I need this, I need that, complimentary players, that kind of thing.
Yeah, he very methodically, very thoughtfully, if you will, went about putting together this team. Guys he has guys he feels will fit his season, his his his style of play. This season. He made sure he had a lot of shooters because he wants to shoot a lot of shots from the outside. But he had some bigs who can play. He just kind of went out and he got what the pieces that he thought would fit. And I think he's very happy with what he has has put together.
I mean, I was pretty obvious, and he loves to talk about it. I mean, he got what he wanted and now putting them together and forming the team is going to be high priority for him.
And what people I think Jack need to remember is this isn't being done as a theory he was successful at Utah Valley States, successful at Brigham Young. The style of play that he has developed thanks to all the different coaches, he said, George Carl Larry byrd Rick Patino. You know, he's kind of molded his style of play and he went out and got guys he believed who can play it. He's not trying any What I'm saying is he's not trying something new. It's new to these kids, but it's not.
New to him, and that's what's important. He's very confident in number one, his knowledge of the game. He's very confident in his ability to build players to fit what he is wanting to accomplish and wanting them to accomplish. He's very very confident, and he should be because he's been in close close contact. You mentioned some coaches, but he's he's you know, he's been in close contact with some other coaches who are very skilled and very good
at what they do. He's learned from all of those guys, and he has taken bits and pieces. Uh, He's been able to in his mind perfect a system that he fills work and that's what is most important about Mark. He's very confident in what he does and how he does it. He also is wanting to learn more. I mean, just think about it. He's learning from these guys, just like these guys are learning from him. He's never he's never had a team like this, with this much talent.
He's never had a team with this much experience. He's never had a team made up like this team has made up. So yeah, he is teaching guys and he's showing them and he likes to say, empowering guys to be able to make their own decisions in games. But he's learning as well about these guys, these guys and this kind of team. So it's an interesting situation all the way around.
Jack Givans is my guest from the UK Sports Network. Can't I work UK Pro Day last night on SEC Plus. We'll come back and ask a few more questions of the goosen just a minute here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to talking to Jack Givens, UK al American from the UK Sports Network. We had the pleasure and privilege of working UK Pro Day last night for SEC Plus. Before I go any further, I couldn't sneak it into the broadcast, Jack, because we were having so much fun
but shameless plug for your book. Are things still going well?
Things are going really well, Gabe. I'm still completely shocked. I've been a lot of events, but a couple this week that I have. Thursday night, I'll be in Monticello at I think the Main Street Bookstore from five to seven, So I'll be in be Down and Monicello. But on Friday, and this is going to be a really really special event, not because I'm there necessarily, but we have signing at Kingland for Kentucky Day, University of Kentucky Day, we have
a signing there. I'll be there. Nate Northington, who obviously was one of the first African American, if not the first Afteran Americans to play not just at Kentucky but in the sec He'll be there. Dereck Ramsey will be there selling his book. Northington will be selling his book. And then for the first time, and you'll love this because of your relationship with this guy over the years, but we'll have available for the very first time Reggie
Warford's book. Reggie was had just completed the book when he passed away a year and a half or two ago. He had just completed the book it's finally ready to come out. It has not come out to the public yet, but I was able to get some early releases, so I'll have some copies of Reggie's book there that people can purchase. So it's going to be a really really
special day from one to four at Keenland Friday. We might be doing something the same kind of thing at the Kentucky Vandy football game on Saturday that hasn't at the Take Club. That hasn't totally been put together, but we're trying to have the same guys together for that. But this Ain't Friday is going to be really special. I mean really special.
That is fantastic And I did not know that when I asked you about your book, and I knew I spoke to the man who was helping Reggie with the book as we were putting together the documentary we did on Reggie. So I can't wait to read that and see that after having spent so much time with Regg before we lost him. But I know how much he meant to you, and you were a vital part of that documentary as well. That's an all star lineup, man, it really, it really is.
And and you know, I haven't had a chance to spend much time around Nate, so I'm looking forward to being there with him. Of course. Uh, Derek and I, we we're big gam buddies. Yeah, we go back to our days at Kentucky. We were We came in together, we left together, so we have a special relationship that goes through the years. And Uh, but I'm really excited for people to get an opportunity to get a hold up of Reggie's books because he was so important man,
he was. Uh, he came along at a time when again, if Reggie had not come yep uh and had and and figured out a way to be successful in a very adverse in some ways adverts situation. Been the only African Americans, the first to play four years here at Kentucky, but the only one on the team at that time.
Uh.
If if he's not successful, who knows what would have happened at Kentucky for guys like Mary Haskins and Larry Johnson and James Lee and myself who came through at that time. So it's really really gonna be good to get a hold of Reggie's book. You're talking about stories gave Oh my goodness, you wait until you read some of the stories that's this book.
Well, I mean you've said before you would have had second thoughts about coming if you hadn't seen a guy who look like you and Marion Haskins. Reggie said, I called him up and said I need you, and Marian
said I'll be there. Yeah. Larry Johnson's similar story. And the most amazing part of all of this, Jack, and I'm sure it's in a book I had in the documentary was Reggie had decided I've had enough and he was walking down the hall to toe coach hall, I need to go somewhere else, and bumps into Leonard Hamilton, who talked him into staying because Leonard was interviewing for a job and that changed the course of basketball history. Stuff like that's incredible, isn't it.
Yeah, you know, and and and you're absolutely right, Reggie, I mean it was. It was tough man. And he was just about out the door when Leonard Hamilton came and Leonard told him, he said, Reggie, not everybody can do what you're doing. Matter of fact, you might be the only guy at this time who could be a pioneer who could do what you're doing. And he convinced Reggie to stay, which which was huge. Another big story
about Reggie. I don't know if you put it in his book, but I talked about it in my book. My very first practice, official practice, we had played games and done our thing, but we came out my freshman year. Reggie was was already a junior. But we came out and Reggie said, hey, rook He called me, rook, rookie, Hey, come on, let's play a game of horse. And I said, yeah, Reggie, I said, sure, let's play. You know, we're just messing around trying to wait the coach on the coaches to
come out to get started. So he said, you go first. So I went first and I shoot my normal little fifteen foot jump shot, which I shot a lot of and it goes in. And you know, Horse, if I make a shot, you got to follow it the same place. I walk. Well, Reggie goes walking to the other side of the floor and I look over at him and I say, hey, Reggie, I made this shot. And Ray said, no, you didn't. And I looked at him. I said, Reggie, I made the shot. He said, no, you didn't make
the shot. And we went back and I said, man, come on, I saw it go in, he said, listen, and you need to learn this right now. On this level, the only shots that count are the shots that go in without him the rim. He said, it hits the rim, so that doesn't count. So from that day forward, it changed my whole thought process in shooting and making shots. It helped me get the arc right on the shot. It helped me get the touch correct on the shot. And had I not learned that lesson, I wouldn't have
been as successful as I was shooting the basketball. But it's that kind of stuff that a guy like Reggie, who has experienced and who knows and knew how to play that kind of stuff, taught me. And that's one of the many, many, many reasons why he still to this day holds a special place in my heart.
Jack Gibbans, go out and see him at Kaelan on Friday and listen for him on the UK Sports Network on Twitter at Goose Gibbons. Thank you brother, I'll see you soon.
I Gabe, good talking to you.
I remember who is Next year on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue in Cider I number two of our program. Dick Gabrielle with you on media day for UK basketball. We talk a lot of football, of course, but it is overlap time, so time to hear from more of the Wildcats. You heard from Mark Pope and I number one of a little bit more from him in a couple of minutes, this being media day and him addressing basically every sportscaster and sports writer
in the state of Kentucky, so it seems. But players got their say today, meaning you're going to be seeing a lot of soundbites on TV and then hearing clips the internet. Anything you read, website, newspaper is going to be overloaded right now with UK basketball stuff. But that's okay because you'll still read football as long as the
while Cats are winning. Right gone to the days I really think when people would sit back, slump back in their chair in their seat and say, one's basketball start thanks to Mark Pope and a team that has of late one more than it is lost, but it's vital coming up Saturday that they protect their home serve. Mark's Story has a column out there about the fact that UK and its last eleven games on the road, conference games six and five at home, last eleven conference games
two and nine. He has stoops about it on Monday afternoon and Soup said, I have no idea. I have no idea, I have no answer except he said we played some pretty good teams and he's right about that. But today is basketball media Day, so we'll hear from some of the players. You heard from a lot of them last night on SEC Plus, and we'll relift some
of those interviews in the days to come. But I wanted to talk today to some of the guys I didn't have a chance to visit with yesterday, and one of the first being Otega Olway, who has a lively game of lively personality. And he talked to us about somebody who we may not have heard much about yet or people didn't know much about him going in, but he said, you'll hear about him now.
I'll say, Annesley, I'm gonna he's a sniper. Sniper like a lot of people. I feel like he goes on a lot of people's radar, but he's really good, Like I haven't seen someone that can shoot it like him in a while a while.
Yeah, Coach Pumpe said earlier he's a perfect fit for his system for you for sure.
And He's very unselfish too, like he just he hunts open shots, does and try to force anything too much.
So it's it's great.
He'll be a matchup night Marin.
And yeah, I think so, because what if you go guard him with a big man, I can't do it.
Guarden with a guard, He's gonna shoot right over him. So it's gonna be tough.
YEA.
What do people need to know about your game?
I'll just say that I'm an overall three level score.
Like a lot of people just think that I just get downhill, but.
I could really do a lot of other things, and I'm just gonna continue to show that in ways that I can. So I think that people are gonna expect that a lot this year.
Why were you a good fit for Mark Pope's system?
How did he sell you just being around shooters?
I feel that's big for me because I am a downhill type of player, So like just having space, knowing that you can't help off the person in the corner because if you do easy pass to the corner, open three, so like you just have to stay with your man and then that just that just gives so much space right there. So that was kind of the main thing and just being able to on their coach is going to always pump confidence under you, and it's always gonna
believe in you. And he has big goals and aspirations just like I do too. So, what has been or maybe the biggest challenge for you joining this new team for you this season, like a lot, really hasn't been much of a challenge, Like it just feels like it was meant to be really like I really fit. I fit in very well with my teammates. I mean, everything's been going well with the coaches. Like everything's been smooth so far.
That's Otago oh Way to transfer from Oklahoma just to sophomore after one year at OU nineteen times put up double doubles last year, average eleven points and almost four rebounds a game for the Sooners. His brother, by the way, is a linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens. So comes by his athletic ability and the genetics quite honestly. Now he was talking about Ansley alman Or the transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson,
where he was first team All Northeast Conference. One thousand career points and a four year career at Fairleigh Dickinson averaged sixteen in a game. Last year, He's six seven, but hit thirty nine point four percent of his three pointers. He had ninety three triples last year. That was a fairly Dickinson record. Actually it tied the record, but it did lead the conference, and in fact, as a sophomore, was named the conference most Improved Player of the Year.
So he's got skills. He brings size and a shooting ability. That size is going to be a real problem when teams try to figure out how to play him defensively.
Yeah.
Yeah, I guess you could say that, you know, a little bit of a matchup problem. You know, I could do more than just shoot, but shooting is definitely something that you know, puts defenses on a frenzy.
So it definitely helps me a lot.
That said, tell us about the interaction with Mark Pope when he approached you about coming to Kentucky.
Oh, you know, he when he first proached me, he was just letting me know how he feels like, how it fit perfectly in the as system, and how he'd use me and how you know, what his plan was when it came to winning a lot of games and being able to have like so many different good players on the team so that we can make a deep run when it goes.
So coming to a tournament time.
How much of the discussion was about shooting?
It was a lot, you know, because you know, he shot like a lot of threes actually, Iyu. You know in my research show and that says goal is to shoot the most threes in the country, So he definitely, you know, you need shooters to be able to do that, so's he definitely you mentioned that when he's recruiting me, you're.
About coming to a team that's basically a puzzle, all these pieces coming together and the challenge that you guys are looking at.
Uh, it's been like a great transition so far.
You know, I feel like it's one of the probably the closest team I've been on, like in my college career, because yeah, we've been together probably since June, and you know, we were all living to lodge at first and everybody getting to know each other, spending every day of each other, eating meals together and stuff like that, going out here
every day and just getting closer day by day. And I feel like, you know, what we've done since June to become as close as we could be has worked and we're a really close team.
I feel like, at what point did it kind of hit you where where you are as opposed to where you were in terms of the program and the tradition and and maybe expectations are coming in here?
Uh?
Probably like right away. You know, once I committed here is uh, social media was going crazy. You know, a whole bunch of followers jumping on people with DM and me things like that, always people always reaching out. You know, it was crazy once I committed, and especially after coming here and coming on campus and seeing how different the facilities are and the resources you have here, it's just second to none in the country.
Was it something like when you walk through the halls where you kind of got to grasp of the history and tradition.
Yeah, right out here in the in the Craft Center, you could you could see all the history, all the AH players who played here, the championships they won, and you see all the coaches and coach sharing and stuff. It it's it's definitely a privilege to be able to walk these holes and play on this court and represent the University of Kentucky.
But if that comes to high expectations from the BBN, what do you know about that what do you expect?
Yeah, obviously, you know you see them on social media always telling me what the U excitations and obviously it's a blue buzz. So you know, the only expectations win in the national Championship. And that's what our expectation two as a team is. So you know, we both had the same expectation. So we're gonna go out there and do whatever we can to go and a shoot that goal.
That is Ansley Almon or the big from Fairleigh Dickinson. You're gonna like what you see. We saw him drain three pointers last night on the pro day telecast. Again, we had Mark Pope on earlier. If you missed that, you can pull it up on the podcast version. But I will share with you at least one of the comments. I'm gonna feed off of these for a long time.
He's really good. But somebody asked him, and the question was asked him more than once since he first appeared at that PEP rally that masqueraded as an introductory news conference several weeks ago. But somebody asked him about coming back to his alma mater and being the head coach at a school where he helped win a national championship.
I don't know, guys, this is gonna sound so petty, but it's not. It's gonna sound petty. And then let
me explain. So from time to time I get to sign an autograph and blow it, I get to put ninety six Champs and it's not it's actually not it's it's it's that sounds super petty, right, because I on the on the petty side, I recognize that that's just a little bit bragging rights and it's a little bit like, you know, they're having not many people to get to write that, right and so, But but what means so much to me is that in that nine to six Champs exclamation mark is like a whole lot of like
fight and blood and sweat and tears and together and like leaning on guys and a lot of doubts and worries and frustrations and hopes and perseverance and all that's wrapped up into that. And I'm grateful that I get to do that and be here and do that because that's what I want from for my guys so badly. I want for our guys. I want them to be able to to be able to write that you know for their year and then to be able to write that Champs underneath it. And it's not about that. It's
not about bragging rights or anything else. It's about like the this hmmm right that you know that nobody else knows except the other guys that were in that locker room that really really know. And it's and then and then how you grow as a human being through it. And so it's I'm so grateful to be back here to to to take our big swing at it and see see if we can get there. I'd like all of our guys be able to write that.
Not all of his answers were quite as long winded, but that was a good one. Coming up next, we'll take a look at the bowl picture right now according to a major publication. We'll see if Kentucky rates or how the Wildcats rate right now and look later on Lindsay Golf from WKYT. I want to come on six thirty WLAP Welcome back, coming up with tabbing Lindsay Goff
of WKYT. She is the weekend sports anchor, cover the press conference yesterday with Mark Soups and has covered college football both here in Lexington and down in Savannah, Georgia, so we'll get her thoughts on what happened with those Georgia Bulldogs in Alabama and of course the Alabama Vandy game,
a headline that popped up this morning. A judge granted preliminary approval to the two point seventy eight billion with a B legal settlement, and this is going to transform college sports because it will allow schools to pay players. The US District judge ordered a release in order set a timeline for the deal that would go into effect on October the eighteenth. That's when athletes can begin to apply for payment. The final hearing is set get this for April seventh of next year. That is the day
March Madness comes to a close. How about that. That's quite a coincidence, isn't it. It finalized, this deal would allow the biggest schools to establish a pool of about twenty one and a half million in the first year
to distribute money to athletes through a revenue sharing plan. Now, you could still, if you're an athlete, do your name, image and likeness deals with outside groups, but former college athletes as far back as twenty sixteen would be able to apply for their share of two point five seven six billion set aside to help them recoup the money they could have made from nil deals, which weren't allowed until twenty twenty one. And this all began with the
Edo Bannon lawsuit. As it's known, that's the guy who looked at a video game that had his name and his number. I don't know if it looked like him, but his likeness. Without his consent, companies that were producing video games, one in particular, a sports making gazillions of dollars without his or any other athletes approval. Nobody signed anything,
yet there they were. And yeah, at first I got to think it was fun, but after that it was like, hey, wait a minute, they're doing this without me or without my consent, So now it is literally going to pay off. USA today has a table of bowl games way too soon, but it's always fun, and the internet's a bottom most pit. They got to fill it. So a guy named Eric Smith projected every college bowl game, including the college football playoffs playoffs, and here's who he has in the playoffs.
Boise stayed at Georgia, Notre Dame at Oregon. I always stayed at Alabama, that's right, Alabama, Miami at Penn State in the quarterfinals, Georgia, Kansas State, Penn State, Texas, Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon against Clemson. How about that Clemson coming back from the dead. And then he's got the semifinals in there as well, Georgia, Texas, Ohio State, Oregon, Georgia versus Ohio State in the championship game. Didn't say he's gonna win, He's just saying who's gonna play and win.
Now you're wondering, what about them Wildcats. Well, he's got Kentucky in the Liberty Bowl December twenty seventh. Make your plans now, Maybe got the Wildcats playing in Oklahoma State. That would be a good matchup. Oklahoma State has some really really good teams in the past, not so much this year, not right now, but if Kentucky keeps improving, obviously Oklahoma State could as well, that could be a
good game. Billy Rutligi's beloved Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. He says, will win Conference USA and play Billy in the Hawaii Bowl against Santase State. So save your money and put in for a vacation day in and around Christmas Eve. That's right. December twenty fourth, he's got Western Kentucky against Santase State U of L. He's got in the Military Bowl on December twenty eighth against Memphis. And that's about it for any teams around here that you might be
interested in. But at least he still has Kentucky. And obviously that is based on the EPSOD win overall. Miss Music City. I know Kentucky fans get tired of that one. He's got Tennessee in that game. Boy, the Music City Bowl. People would love that, except the city Fathers wouldn't make quite as much money in downtown Nashville because obviously volunteer fans would come in on game day. That's December thirtieth. He's got them playing Michigan. A lot of interesting matchups.
USAToday dot com is where he can find that. The story by Eric with a K. At the end, e ri C. K. Smith has got his college football bracket. He's going to update that as well, but thought i'd share that with you. A lot of upsets over the last couple of weekends in college football. And Tony Franklin, our old pal, who was an assistant at Kentucky and has worked at several universities, including Cal Berkeley, where he
coached the young quarterback named Jared Goff. He is always posting information about basically coaching coaches, but coaching teams as
well via Twitter. He's now a consultant basically, and he writes about upset wins, gigantic upset wins, and he writes things like the best opportunities for big plays to upset a better team come on fourth and one or less, and he mentions Vandy's play action deep throw for a touchdown and remember now Kentucky's deep throw for a key first down against Ole missed, but that was not fourth and one. Be the most physical team. He talked about how Vandy whipped Bama up front, which was true and
made Bama's defense look soft. Also said, have a killer quarterback with no fear, Yes, that's Diego Pavia. Have a simple, executable plan that seems complex to the opponent. And he writes Bama's defense looked unprepared. Right again, And Tony Franklin also writes respond during the season properly and professionally to heartbreaks, and he reminded that Vandy should have beaten Missouri, and
I forgot they lost to Georgia State. Both heartbreakers, but he said players kept fighting and believing because of incredible Lee. He said Vandy pulled off the best winner of the history of their school because everybody was all in. And he points out that the administration made exceptions on transfers to get them into school. And you know what, that happens everywhere. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's
a bigger deal at Vandy for obvious reasons. He also wrote, and I talked about this earlier, the head coach made dramatic staff changes, and Tony Franklin writes that the head coach brought in maybe the best coach in football, Jerry Kill, to be his advisor. And you know why you haven't heard more about Jerry Kill. He was getting it done, I think in Minnesota, and he began to have epileptic seizures.
And in fact, when Clark Lee went to Las Crusis to talk to Tim Beck, the OC and ultimately to Jerry Kill, Jerry Kill couldn't drive because he had had a seizure. And when you have a seizure, it depends on state law, but for the next three or six months or whatever, you can't drive a car. So that's something he's had to deal with and that's why he had to step down for a while as a head coach. But he became a head coach again at New Mexico State and now he's the DC at Vandy, and he
will be here on Saturday night. We'll take a break. Lindsay Goff up next from WKYT here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider and joining us now in our celebrity hideline as somebody who actually covered the Mark Stoops news conference yesterday and witnessed, via the miracle of television, Vandy's upset win over Alabama. Lindsay Goff,
who is the weekend sports anchor for WKYT. Before I get the Mark Stoops comments, tell everybody about how you came across that game, because you were like me, you were probably paying attention to other things you were working, of course, and then suddenly you heard what was going on.
Well, no, I always pay attention to whoever UK is playing. I usually run a couple of their highlights. This as like a preview, like, hey, next week Kentucky's got you know whoever, And I'll run a few highlights on the eleven o'clock news on Saturdays, and so obviously they were playing Vanderbilt next. So I put the Vanderbilt game on and.
One of my.
Colleagues I was like, hey, Vanderbilt toured first, and he's like, oh, it's not gonna last. I was like, Vanderbilt just had to pick six on Alabama and he's like, oh, it's not gonna last. About halftime he had the game on as well, and uh yeah, then yeah, I was, but you know, kind of half paying attention. I was working on my show and had to go anchor the sixth, so kind of looking back and forth, but I was like, oh, okay, they might be doing something here.
You covered SEC football for a long time, both the KYT in a previous station and I mentioned earlier in the show tonight, lindsay that you know, we've always seen Kentucky flirt with upsets. There's more flirting than actually finishing. And I don't know about you, but I just could not believe my eyes. And I'm sure that was a case for everybody at the game and everybody looking in.
Oh yeah, it was a wild one and there were a lot of upsets. I think I wrote in a script yesterday that nine of the top twenty five. I think we're upset on Saturday. So it was a wild week. And fortunately for Kentucky fans, we weren't on like the losing end of that. We were just kind of able to sit back and watch and enjoy some stress free football. But yeah, the Vanderbilt Alabama game, and then I thoroughly enjoyed on Twitter afterwards seeing the cold posts go down
Broadway to the river. My sister's a senior at Vanderbilt, so I was talking to her and yeah, it was the heck of a game by the.
Common orths did Was she in that crowd?
She was not, So we are very opposite siblings. She could not care less about sports. She was using the opportunity to do laundry because no one was in the dorm on.
Saturday night in Nashville.
I know, I know.
Wow.
I guess that's why she gets good grades. She's very responsible.
That's probably a good point. Well, let's back it up a couple of weekends and you're looking in on Kentucky, old miss and again and your colleague you were talking about Steve Moss, and he and I, as you know, worked together for many, many years and we covered a lot of near missus and we always talked about the late hammer, and I think Vandy fans might have been
waiting on the late hammer. And boy, I'll tell you, when Ole Miss completed that deep ball in the middle of the field late I thought, I hear it comes, it's over time in the late hammer. Oh man, But what were your thoughts as you watched that game unfold?
Yeah?
Well, I was by myself. He took that weekend off, so I was by myself up there for that one. And I think my friend's down in the newsroom. For those that don't know the sports offices upstairs, they could hear me yelling. But yeah, I was just waiting for the shoe to drop, and it never did. When they took victory, I was like, oh, oh, this really is happening.
Anybody in that newsroom. I can tell you on a Saturday, no matter what the TV station, there are always football fans in the newsroom as well. Oh yeah, And when you walk through, the only person who really has their head down working is the producer because they can't afford
to get behind. But everybody else, if their work is only halfway done, they're watching the game so yeah, but going into that one, Lindsay, and again you've covered a lot of press conferences and talked to a lot of Kentucky football players, how surprised were you by that win by the Wildcats overall Miss?
To be completely honest, and I'll say this as a Kentucky alumni as well, I did not really give them a shot down at Ole Miss. I knew they played Georgia well, they usually played George are pretty good, and that was at home. I did not think going down to Mississippi they would fare as well. Obviously pleasantly surprised, but I really truthfully did not give them a shot going down to Old Miss.
So that's on me.
As much as we study it and talk to these guys, you know, it's still you got to play the game.
And we talked a lot too as to have you Brad Smith and guys on the defensive side of the ball, and we kind of knew that would be the strength of his team. But it's really interesting to me now after that Georgia game, people I think wrote it off as a fluke, what's wrong with Georgia, But after the Old Miss game, now I'm hearing terms from the national voices of Kentucky's defense being elite, elite.
Yeah, yeah, that's the chatter.
I guess.
You know, you get close to number one and okay, and then you knock off number six on the road and people start to pay attention. And I know, you know it's Vanderbilt this weekend, but they are coming off a big win, and you heard Mark Stuts say yesterday to defense is going to be crucial. Vanderbilt likes to dominate the clock and they had the ball for like forty minutes. I think Alabama only had the ball, that's right,
seventeen minutes in that game. So it's going to be really crucial and they're going to be tested once again.
Yeah, and you know, Kentucky had a similar plan as it turned out for all miss dominating the clock, didn't it.
Yeah, they did. I think Kentucky and Vanderbilt are similar in a lot of ways, just you know, nobody expects them to upset the big teams. But also, yeah, they are both programs that are being rebuilt, and they kind of do similar things in a way. You know, they both like to run the ball and run out the clock and play physical ball and just make it difficult for these teams.
This could be a really ugly game. You know what I mean because if Kentucky, you know what, Kentucky basically had forty minutes of position time to twenty for all miss. So these two teams exert their will like that, this could be a really ugly looking football game.
Oh I know what did he say yesterday? Points will be a premium. Yeah, we might not have a lot of highlights so as far as scoring, but thank good if you have Alex Rayner, he can you know, hopefully knock a couple down if they can't move the ball too well.
But yeah, well, still nothing on Chip training him. Of course he you know, Stoops is playing those cards as close to the best as he possibly can. I don't blame him. And he said something I had a setback in training them's recovery, so that's not good news.
Uh.
You know, I don't expect to see Hairston this week. So those are two keys for the Wildcats and that's something that I think late in the season Lindsey could affect things even more.
I agree, you need the depth to play an SEC ball. People get banged up and hopefully Harston will be back at some point for their sake, trade them. I'm not sure about now. When he mentioned that setback yesterday, I assume that's from when he went back to practice and reaggravated something. He didn't confirm that, but that's my assumption. Yeah, I mean they're gonna need the depth. One good thing he did say was that Hardley Gilmour had got back
out there. Yep, that's helpful. But yeah, they're they're gonna need the depth, that's for sure. The schedule doesn't get a lot easier.
No, And it's a kind of it's a time of year though, where injuries begin to build. But you talk, it's an odd schedule with the two breaks. Yeah, and I don't think we've ever seen this before at Kentucky. But it's great that they can kind of break the season up the thirds, isn't it.
It is?
And it's a weird schedule too, because they kind of bounce in and out a conference play, like after Tennessee they've got Murray State and then you go to Texas. So it's a I think it's a favorable scheduled the way it's like laid out, not necessarily the opponent. Yeah, you know, the SEC it's gonna be tough, but the way it's laid out that they do get those two weeks to get some people healthy, and then not that
you write off Murray State by any means. You know, on any given Saturday, anybody can win, but out of conference play at least to try to limit some of that.
I think. Did you have a chance to watch any of the Tennessee Arkansas game?
I watched a little bit of it, not a ton.
I don't know about you, but that that did not in credit Arkansas. But that was not the jail break Tennessee team they were kind of used to sing, you know what I mean?
It was not No.
I did catch the highlights obviously. Yeah, that was also a weird game. I do love that the Arkansas people played rock Top afterwards. I thought that was ultimate. Yeah, yeah, that that was a weird game. I didn't to see a ton of it, but Tennessee looked out of sorts. Yeah, what a what a week for the state of Tennessee. Vanabel beat Alabama loses.
That could not have been a better day for Vandy fans such as right right, Tennessee Lewis and the Commodore's anchored down all over Alabama. Lindsay Goffer my guest. She has the weekend sports anchor for WKAT. We'll come back and talk more sports with Linda here Lindsay here in just a minute on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back. Lindsay Goff's on our celebrity hotline. She is the weekend sports anchor at WKYT, where I spent many a fun today and not so fun one's to be honest with you,
but I love covering football. You covered, as I've said at KYT, but also your previous station, were you more Was that more Auburn or Georgia that you covered down there?
Oh?
No, it was all Georgia bulldogs. We were in Savannah, obviously, so we covered Georgia, Southern Savannah State UG North Yeah, yeah, they cover Auburn. Yeah, down in Savannah, it's all bulldogs. That's actually where Uga the bulldog lives. Yeah, it's Asa. He's always belonged to the same family, the Silers, and they're from Savannah. The father he passed I believe last year the year before, but he he's he was a lawyer down in Savannah and his kids still live there.
So every game day they drive UG up tap.
And UG opposers because it's it's weird, but they're cheerleaders and UGA are on the visitors sideline and I'm always it's so crowded. I'm always trying to work my way around them. And because the student section is right behind off to the side, they can't be directed behind by rule, but they're just often to where everybody where the guys all paint their chests and everything. Uh, and right behind the Kentucky sideline. So Uga, he doesn't know what he's doing,
but poses for I don't know. Yeah, he poses for hundreds of pictures. He does before and at halftime and after the game, and on the hot days he lays on a bag of ice. You know, I have never he does. I was gonna say he's living his best life. I've never posed with the UGA for a photo. Don't know that I ever will. But yeah, he's he's living large.
But anyhow, confession I have. I'm a dog lover. He's a good boy.
Yeah, he is a good boy. But I was going to ask you about that Alabama Georgia game. Did you have a chance to keep as a weekend sports anchor? You're running around like a headless chicken, I know from having filled him many times on the weekends. But how much of that Alabama Georgia game are you able to watch?
Not a ton?
Like I said, I think I had it on one of the TVs and was catching it here and there. I'm never surprised if either to wins that game, but somehow Kirby smart just jan not so one. The one Alabama win, granted was for a national title, so you'll take that all day. But I wasn't sure how that dynamic would change with Saban retiring. It seems like Alabama still got their number.
Yeah, oh, definitely, definitely. But you know what impressed me and I went back and watched it. I have to admit I gave up on it.
Uh.
You know there's always stories about games that end in incredible ways and people, Oh, I went to bed, I changed the channel, started watching another game, and uh, but I did go back and watch the entire second half just the other day, and what Georgia did Lindsey coming back And the reason I the reason I bring it up is because I think when Kentucky took Georgia to the wire, like I said, the story coming out was what's wrong with Georgia, and at halftime of that game,
I know people were thinking, well, I guess Georgia is not the good Look what happened with Kentucky. Look what happened for the first half. But I think that second half by Georgia makes that Kentucky effort looked that much better.
You know, I agree, I agree they I mean, I think they scored like nineteen points in the fourth quarter. They played great, and just the scoring at the end of the game. Yeah, I did catch the very end. We had it on actually in all the TVs down in the studio between breaks, like, oh my god, couldn't believe it. So I think that Georgia is a good football team, which makes Kentucky's effort against them, like you said, more impressive. I know that, you know, they almost lost
to Kentucky, and they did lose to Alabama. But I think they're a good football team, and I think that does show what Kentucky was able to do.
Yes, absolutely, and some say should have beaten Georgia, but that's the debate for the ages. Yeah, but I will say this that, yeah, Georgia clearly put the ball in Carson Beck's hands in Lexington, and it worked. It was almost like the coaches said, you know, this guy's going to win and lose a game for us, and why not? And honestly, I sure, I firmly believe, and it's not fair. And if I had a vote, I wouldn't vote this way.
But if they had come back and beaten Alabama, I think that would have won the Heisman for Beck or put it to you this way, it would have been his to lose. But after throwing that pick, he ain't gonna win it now. But he's still a really, really good quarterback.
I agree, especially Vanderbilt hurt Milrose chances wide.
I guess Travis Hunter may have moved it it. I don't know. It's a yeah, yeah, I've said it before. The if I had a vote, I would almost always look for Like when Anderson the linebacker for Alabama a couple of years ago, I might have voted for him.
Uh.
You know people like that because it shouldn't just be the best stats. I'm a guy on the best team. A few minutes left with Lindsay Golf Weekend sports anchor WKYT. It was media day earlier today at Kentucky. Mark Pope not really introducing his first team because we've had a chance already to talk to all these guys thanks to some of the preseason workouts and the change in rules, but now they've had a chance to play together, work together.
We got to see him last night on the pro DA telecast, and I agree lindsay that there probably isn't someone who you might classify as elite, but there are a lot of really good basketball players on this team. I think Pope has done a really great job of picking and choosing from the menu that is the Portal and putting together the kind of team he wants, you know what I mean.
I agree. It's definitely not the Caliperi style of let's throw five future NBA players on the fourse. See what happened. Yes, but you know sometimes that didn't always work. So billing team to the style of offense and defense that you want to play, I think is a smart move in the portal era. And yeah he did. He took kids. People were worried, right like Martin Pok kind of took
his time picking out some of these players. And it wasn't just like all right, let's grab the five form or five stars and throw throw an offer at him. And you know, see what happens. So he definitely has hands selected this team, and I'm excited to see how it comes together.
He's got bigs, he's got a couple of really good point guards. Everybody can shoot. We're watching last night a six seven forward Ansley Almanar, who all he did was set a record at his old school for three pointers. What a matchup nightmare. He's going to be but young talent, veteran talent. So I think they're going to win more games than people believe. I think there are people who think, well, if he can just do this or that, I'll be happy. I think he's going to have the big Blue Nation
thinking about a deep postseason run. I know I'm getting way ahead of myself, right, I think that February you could see that, I think so, you know, I.
Think I've heard from a lot of people too that are kind of down, like they're like, oh, we're not going to be very good this year. Yeah, I don't know that that's the case. I think the portal has really opened.
It up a lot.
We've seen that with Kentucky, right, he used to dominate through the SEC slate and that just hasn't been the case the last few years because the portal's kind of even the playing field. I think they're gonna win games. I think they're going to be competitive. I think they make the postseason, and I think once you get to March, there's always a chance, right, I think there's always a chance. So I like this team and I'm excited to see
them play some actual games from actual opponents. I know we've got Madness on Friday and then Blue White the following week. I'm excited to see these exhibitions and some of these early non conference games.
Well, go back and look at last year's Big Twelve standings. Brigham Young was picked to finish at her near the bottom, but in fact finished ten and eight pulls them upsets, won twenty three games. I mean, you know he's had two other jobs, Mark Pope, and it's overachieved. It both you overachieved at Kentucky.
This year.
You're making a run, right right, Yeah, definitely, so.
Big bou Nation you might be. And but here's the thing. Get your hopes up. And if you don't get to the final four, we all know what that means. But I do think maybe people are just bracing themselves and that's okay too. Lindsey Goff is the weekend sports anchor at WKYT. Tell everybody how to follow you on Twitter, Yeah, Twitter at.
Lg on TV, and I have a Facebook page floating somewhere out there. I think it's Eldolf Sports.
The best thing to do is just turn on KYT on the weekends and check out her work, and she pops exactly Monday through Friday as well. Thank you so much. We will see you down the road.
Yep. Thanks for having me and I'll do it.
Thanks to my guests, Jack Gibbons, Lindsey Golf, thank you for listening. That's a good night from the garage in Lexington.
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