Welcome to the Big Moon Sider Day. Gabriel with you on a Friday edition of our show ahead of a big weekend for Kentucky Athletics. You've got UK women's basketball coming up tomorrow night, Kentucky football Tomorrow it is the Cats in Murray State and as the Wildcats try to get well, we'll have it for you right here. We'll talk some football a little bit later. I'm going to talk a lot of basketball as well. Brendan Quinn of The Athletic, who wrote a great piece about Mark Pope
and his family. Coming up at the bottom of this hour. Brian Milem from WKYT. We'll be joining us as well. He covered the Kentucky Duke game in Atlanta. Will also talk about Murray State. Brian played baseball for Morehead State and Ohio Valley Conference team back then, back when Murray was in the OVC and was a competitive football team, so we'll hear from him as well. And it's going to be an interesting weekend in all of college football. But I've got to start with a story that came
out yesterday. Bryce Underwood, who was committed a quarterback committed to LSU, evidently got an nil deal worth about five million from LSU. And there's a report on Bleacher Report that this kid declined and offer from Michigan ten and a half million dollars. It said Bryce Underwood won't be tempted by a massive nil offer from Michigan. I got
to think he was tempted. Come on, But it was actually a story on on three that reported yesterday that Michigan was prepared quote unquote to offer the QB a four year now four year, ten and a half million dollar nil deal, trying to flip him from LSU. I think that's important. Ten and a half million over four years, and I got to think that a lot of these big dollar figures are four year deals as well. But he's sticking with LSU. Tells you where we are in
recruiting right now. Though, speaking of recruiting, it's official now. Jasper Johnson is a Wildcat. The for sales native six four combo guard began his career at Woodford County High as you know, went off to a prep school. He has agreed to play for the Wildcats and made it official by signing an agreement. So did a guy who looked like was heading elsewhere, Kadan Lewis. But Mark Pope and staff they went to work and they pulled him into the fold. Six three left handed guard chose the
Wildcats over Duke and Yukon. And this was before Kentucky knocked off Duke. Of course, he committed to the Wildcats some weeks ago, but had to help when he saw the Cats beat the Blue Devils. This kid was the Gatorade Player of the Year last year in the District of Columbia. There has some pretty good basketball over there. Wildcats go back to work. They don't play again, as you know, until Tuesday night. They've got the weekend off. But that means a lot of information for Mark Pope
and his staff. And you know, just like football coaches what they call game film, video, whatever you want to call it, when yours deeply steeped in analytics, that is manna from heaven for basketball coaching staffs. And Mark Pope talked about all the great things that happened with the win over Duke, but it sounds like, first and foremost he likes having more information about his team.
It's just a race from you know, our first game on November fourth to hopefully the final four. Like we know, we have to get so much better, and there's limited time, and so it's just a race to see how fast we can grow. And so I think that's the biggest thing that this game did for us, that Bucknell did for us at Right State did for us, is it just gave us more film and data and experience and to try and figure out how we can become a great team.
When you think about it in those terms as a race, you think, man, that's gonna be a long, long slog, And yeah, it's the old marathon versus a sprint. But you know as well as I do, march is going to be here before we know it. Right, So, anytime you pick up a win like that over Duke and you can learn about your team and how to get better, it's a huge help. And one of the ways they're
improving is conditioning. You saw that at play against Duke, and Pope talked about one of the changes they made in practice and it's similar to the way he played under Patino. Go like crazy for two or three minutes, will sub for you like a hockey shift, only they call it something different.
Right now, Randy Twner and Brandon Wells are doing an unbelievable job, and we actually try something that I've never tried before. It's a segment of practice that is we're lovingly calling it our shame guest segment in practice. I think Andrew Carr might have referred to that in the post games Coach Fox's notion that you just keep coming in waves and coming in waves and coming in waves until you break someone. Right, It's just it's kind of a hard tominology for that.
But where we're.
Trying to find a twelve to twenty six minute segment in practice where there's very little coaching and there's no stoppage, and we're going to go until we drop.
And it's paid off. The other night with the Blue Devils, younger guys who aren't used to that consistent, relentless pace yet of college basketball, they'll get it. By March, they'll have it. But you know, by March, Kentucky he'll be even further ahead because of the way they condition in practice.
Talking with Sean Woods on Wednesday and some others, I talked about the fact everybody has that Kentucky wins that game with virtually nothing from Jackson Robinson on offense at one point, but as I pointed out as well, he did have a couple of blocks. And that brings us to what Mark Pope talked about when he talked about Jackson Robinson. He told the media he said, I haven't really talked to him about the game because he wasn't that Pope wasn't that upset with Jackson's struggles on offense.
It's because Robinson evidently did so much on defense, and it may be the kinds of things that you and I don't notice, you know, we might notice him struggling on offense. Sean Woods and I talked about the fact that he wasn't that competitive on offense, and Duke took him out of the game, but then he took Duke. According to Pope, he took the Blue Devils out of a lot.
Yeah, you known't saying about Jackson's like he played great, Like he made huge defensive plays down the stretch. We kind of just do a it's a pretty raw reporting deal, but we do points given up, and Jackson was responsible giving up two points in the entire game. And you think about the matchups that he had. He was actually elite.
He had.
It's a massive toughness plays down the stretch. I was incredibly proud of him.
So let that be a lesson to all of us. Just because somebody is not scoring the way you thought they might, we think they should, that doesn't mean they're not contributing at the other end. We should have known that. But I was so excited to see what Jackson Robinson could do against Duke that I was kind of scratching my head about it. But when I went back and looked at the score sheet, I noticed the points. I
noticed two block shots. They didn't notice the minutes. He played a lot of minutes, But now you know why, because he played so well defensively. Now reminder, you've got Kentucky basketball tomorrow night. It's the women taking on the Louisville Cardinals at six o'clock, five point forty five pre game on our sister station, ninety eight point five FM. Because there was a chance that there'd be a little
football runover on the AM side. So when you're done listening to the football postgame with Tom and Jeff and me, you can flip over and listen to Darren Hendrick as he calls the action Wildcats for the first time under Kenny Brooks playing against the Louisville Cardinals, but not the first time for Kenny Brooks and a couple of his players. Of course, the ones who came over from Virginia Tech. They know those Cardinals already.
More familiar with them than anybody yet that we faced. And you know, I can probably tell you I can give you the scout on every one of their players because the familiarity that we've had with them, and those players are great players. And you know, I'm looking forward to being a part of the rivalry. Obviously, when I was a Virginia Tech, it was always with Virginia, so you understood the rivalry and the different feel of the game coming up. We just have to get our kids
to understand that too. And you know, George's played against Louisville, Claire Strack has played against Louisville, tianni Key has played against Louisville. But nobody's played against Louisville in the Kentucky uniform, and so it's gonna be a little bit different. And I think probably the edge they might have is that they've got some players who played against Kentucky in their local uniforms.
Again, Uku l on ninety eight point five at five forty five. Up next, Mark Stoops talks about game preps for Murray State. That is next in The Big bloon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blonsider. Coming up in just a few minutes, Brendan Quinn will join us from The Athletic. He wrote a terrific piece about Mark Pope, and not so much about Pope and his career and all that, but his career is part
of it. But through the eyes of Mark's family. He has spent a lot of time, did Brendan with Mark's wife, with his daughter's kind of tracing the steps to electing in from Brigham Young but really all over all the different coaching jobs Mark head, starting with that assistant ops director job at Georgia something they created for him. So it's a great story. Brendan's gonna tell us about it and about the access he got to the Pope family.
That comes up at the bottom of the hour. A little bit later on, you're gonna hear a segment from the Wildcat Whip. That's the that Tom Leach, Jeff Piccorl and I record each week. It's basically similar to the really quick segment we do just before Playboy Play begins, the whip around Tom and Jeff and me talking about the upcoming game, and we thought, well, we'd like to
do more. We'd like to share more thoughts. There just isn't as much time during the broadcast of the pregame, so we sit down each week and we whip it around. We are usually at South of Wrigley. This week we couldn't get over there, but they have been so gracious hosting us each week. It's a great place to go for Italian beef sandwiches in Chicago style hot dogs and things like that. But Tom and Jeff and I got
together here in the garage. You'll hear a segment of that coming up a little bit later on as we break down Kentucky and Marie State. If you'd like to hear the entire podcast, not that long, take you about fifteen or twenty minutes, but you can check it out on the UK Sports Network site, on x or Twitter, on my Facebook page which I think Tom has shared as well. So that's all coming up a little bit later on. But tomorrow night or tomorrow afternoon, actually it's
Kentucky Murray State. How about that? A day game here in lectionon Wildcats and Racers. Kick it off at one thirty. It's going to be streamed on SEC Plus. Of course you've got your radio, we'll have it for you eleven thirty. Pregame network Local covered starts at ten thirty. Then the kickoff at one thirty as Kentucky tries to get well and get right against the team that just is really
having a nightmare of a season. It is added near the bottom of offense and defensive stats Murray State in FCS, which is essentially one Double A football, and Murray State at one point was a contender in one Double A. And I'm going to talk to Brian Milin about that. Coming up an hour number two, Brian with WKYT. We'll talk to Brian about his trip to Atlanta to cover
the Wildcats and Duke. But Brian played baseball at Moorhead State, a member of the Ohio Valley Conference for the longest time, and he remembers when Murray State was a playoff team in one Double A. It has just really fallen on some terribly, terribly hard times. So this comes at a good time for the Wildcats, you know, like I said, it's a get well game. Physically, mentally, emotionally. Mark Stoops talked about the fact that coming off the bye week,
went into these last three games. Somebody asked him about Rock Vandergriff finishing well because he's got another year of eligibility. Whether it's here somewhere else, or maybe he wants to try the NFL, who knows. But Stoops talked about the fact that really everybody needs to finish well.
Our players have been a good place.
You know, we talked about to buy. I think was at a good time. You know, we're beat up and we're getting better. We're still not, you know, anywhere near full strept, but I think antily you can see guys in a better spot, and we're trying to finish strong.
Over the last week or so in practice, they've gone what they call good on good first team against first team, just trying to sharpen things up a little bit and it should work out. But you know, we have seen one Double A teams come in here. I mentioned this the other night. Eku came in here and nearly upset
the Wildcats. Remember it took some late heroics from Patrick Toles throwing a couple of touchdown passes to fight off the colonels ut Chattanooga came in a Division one but not a highly harald the team and Kentucky needed some last second magic to win that game, So it's not a giffn Nothing ever, is a given, especially in college football. So Stoops talked about the fact that, yeah, he would
love to play more than one quarterback. He would love to get deeply into his bench, into his roster, play the young guys who deserve a chance to go out and be reward good for the work they've done. But you don't just walk out there and expect Murray to lay down. You got to make it happen.
I've been open.
I've talked to the team about this. You know. We haven't always you know, taken care of business with with somebody that everybody thinks you're much better than or whatever.
We can't ever you've heard me talk about that, and I think I think you all know you believe me when I tell you that because I've lived it, right, I mean, you you all have seen me out there struggling, you know at times to be the you know an FCS team, you know or one Double A teams and and uh, you know, we don't take anything for Brander. But I did talk to the team about that with work, if if you're supposed to take care of business at
a certain spot, didn't do it. But but you know what happens sometimes us is you know, it's it's guys, believe that you're just going to go from zero to sixty. Doesn't happen. Then just one play at a time, right, that's all we can do.
And you know I've.
Challenged the team to embrace that. Just just taking care of your business, do your job, do it right, and then you know things will happen.
And of course he's right, they haven't always taken care of business. So that's job one tomorrow. The other thing is stay healthy. You've got Texas and Louisville coming up. You know you're gonna win this one. If you don't, you don't deserve to go anywhere in postseason. But uh, you've got a shot at going to a bowl game. Finishing six and six. It's going to take a huge effort, but yeah, you've got Texas in Austin, then the home
game with Louisville, a good Louisville team coming up. So win this one and come out of it healthy and at least give yourself a fighting chance, and we'll have it for you right here, one thirty kickoff. You can listen on six thirty WLAP. It's a huge college football weekend. This this game doesn't really I mean, it's vital for Kentucky, of course, but in the national picture, there are a lot of huge games and one of them Tennessee Georgia. Tennessee can put itself into the playoff picture with a
win over the Bulldogs. And Pete Thammil of ESPN has written that Tennessee has turned into Georgia, so they have the better defensive line one through ten and that's how Georgia dominated over the last few years, with a defensive line deep and talented, and so many of those guys now are in the National Football League. But a lot of people expect Tennessee to win this one. They are
eight and one, number one in the Southeastern Conference. The only team to beat Tennessee this year Arkansas, and remember that was a bit of a surprise. Tennessee has beaten three top twenty five teams Alabama, Oklahoma, and NC State. You saw Kentucky Tennessee. The volunteers looked mortal. They left the door open. Wildcats didn't have enough to storm through it with all those injuries and mistakes Kentucky made. But Jordia, Tennessee is going to be a big one this weekend,
the biggest very likely. Up next Brendan Quinn of The Athletic. We'll talk about the piece that he wrote about Mark Pope and the entire Pope family. He sat down with Leanne and all the girls, and it's a great piece. I urge you to try to find it either on The Athletic or the New York Times, but it is worth the read back in just a minute here on the Big Blue and Sider six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. And you have heard me through the years as we talked to our old pal
Kyle Tucker talking about the Athletic, a terrific website. And the other day something popped up in my feed and I am a subscriber, have been for a while, and it was a wonderful piece by a gentleman named Brendan Quinn who's on our Celebrity hotline. He wrote a great feature story about Mark Pope and Brendan welcome to the show. I appreciate you joining us.
Thank you, Dick. I got if you you're gonna need to check that hotline. If this is a celebrity status.
Here, I gotta.
Something's going to wright. But I appreciate Yeah, I appreciate you having me on.
Here's the rule. While you're on the celebrity hotline, you're a celebrity. Once you hang up, that's all. It's all you. It's all you.
Okay.
I will say this though, in the Big Bow Nation, if people read your story, you'll become a celebrity, at least locally. Here was a terrific piece of mark and there have been a gazillion stories written about him. Of course, you kind of went at the family angle, which I thought was fascinating. Tell me, first of all, why you chose that, and secondly, tell me about the access you got.
Yeah. So this all of this kind of starts more so last basketball season when I wanted to do a story on BYU basketball and the intersection of you know, the school being owned operated by the Church of Jesus Christ the Latter day Saints, and that's been kind of the mission of the university and the athletic department being a vehicle for exposure for the religion, et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera. So that the dynamic of that and the direction of college sports with pay for play with nil, you know what I mean, where there's this kind of it seems like there's a fundamental tension between those two goals, right, So that's what I wanted to write about. So I went out to Provo and spent three days with Mark and had some behind the scenes access at in on
some meetings, got to know him fairly well. You know, I thought the story was interesting, et cetera, et cetera, But you know, we had a lot of conversations that had absolutely nothing to do with the story, and it was about him, and it was about his life, and it was about his family. And I'm the son of a coach, so I kind of grew up around. We're in a family that kind of was, you know, described
to the schedule of a college coach. And now my dad coached you know, track and field, across country and all that stuff, but it was every weekend news away recruiting, all that stuff. But so we talked a lot about that and him having you know, a large family that he was raising and you know, Leanne's experience of growing up as a coach's child. So I just kind of stored all of that right in the recesses of the mind.
And once you know Mark at the Kentucky job, you know, one of my first thoughts was, Wow, that family's about to get you know, a lot of exposure, and that's that's going to be difficult. And then obviously, once you know, the great Kyle Tucker decided to you know, take his talents elsewhere, you know, we had a void for the preseason, and you know, we needed to do something on Mark.
I would argue that, you know, it's they're interconnected, but him going to Kentucky and Calgo in Arkansas, and those two and Cooper Flagg are probably the three biggest stories of the preseason, so you know, we needed to have
them accounted for. So I reached out to Mark and said, listen, I would like to write something about you, but I think it needs to kind of come maybe from the perspective of your wife and your daughters, and maybe that can help kind of have a broader audience learn about you. Because one of the big things that you like, you know, is you know, the second the game starts you know, the human sides over. No one cares anymore who you are, right once there's wings and losses. You are a video
game character and no one cares. So you know, I just wanted to maybe give a portrait of the person underneath the job title before before things got real.
Yeah, how did he respond? Because a lot of coaches are very pretense as well, they should be of the wife and especially the kids.
Yeah, you know, he he was. He was open to it. I basically just kind of painted a picture of what it would entail and all this, and like I said to the four girls, his daughters, like, you know, not profially you right, Like the story is about your dad. And and I think that gave everyone a degree of comfort of like, you know, what do you want to know about me? It's you know, it's not about you. So you know, I think that that was put put
people at ease a little bit. And then also it's like a matter of trust, you know that that the job requires sometimes and knowing that there's no other agendas, there's no ulterior motives, there's you know, it's just trying to produce the best story for the audience. You know, I'm not a character in the story, right, it's it's just it's just them as a family, and the goals are trying to make them as snic as possible.
Talking to Brendan Quinn, he wrote a terrific piece about Mark Pope and his family, Leanne and the four girls, and you know, ultimately this story is about love, about their interpersonal relationships with their dad, with the husband and wife, and how much he loves this place. And I asked Mark the other day during we were broadcasting the pro Day event, and I said, you know, your early fifties or whatever, you only lived here for three years, and
yet you are so passionate about this place. So there's a lot of passion in this story, isn't there.
Yeah, that's that's a great point. And you know, I think a lot of it is. You know, there's probably more digging to be done if you really want to kind of print the screws on that brain and try to figure out what's all in there. Like, you know, he moved around a little bit as a kid. You know, he was in Washington and et cetera. And then yeah, I think there was a fundamental disappointment with how things ended at Washington. He was a big time He was a big, big time recruits and he and four other
this was a wormhole. I fell down. I was reading all these old newspaper stories about when he committed to Washington in eighty nine. There it was a big deal. It was him and the program was in bad shape, right, but he and four other Seattle area players committed to the program and that was supposed to be the turnaround. And then two years later they weren't winning. The coach was fired, and you know, Mark had to go find
a new place. You know, he gave the new coach a chance and met with him, but ultimately decided to go elsewhere. And you know that he looked at looked at Utah, but but ultimately, you know, he was recruited by Kentucky the first time. Yeah, and then when Potito came back around, you know, I feel like that really became part of his identity, and that's where that passion come from.
I remember hearing his name from Rick Patino when he was unhappy with the way his team rebounded at one season. Hed next year, that's not going to be a problem because Mark Pope's going to be here and he was already on campus. You know, practicing, so I thought, yes, send the bar pretty high for this guy. But I have heard Mark. I heard Mark maybe probably as a player in the past, talk about some element of failure he felt because of what happened at You Do. But man,
you talk about second chances. He hit that one out of the park, didn't he.
Yeah. And the thing that I'm kind of always been most fascinated by with his Kentucky experience was, you know, Rick telling him, you know, you're going to be kind of the glue guy that holds this whole thing together and going from the guy I mean he was the Pac ten Freshman of the year.
Yeah.
Yeah, his first season at Washington, he started every game his first two years. You know, he was on his way to having a pretty prolific college career, and he he decided, you know, I'm going to go be the sixth guy on a really good team and with the aim of winning a national championship. And he ended up
getting drafted. That's great. But you know, if you think about how big men were treated and thought of by the NBA in the early nineties, you know, if he had played somewhere else and been you know, all conference of this, all conference, that averaging, you know, seventeen a game. Blah blah blah. It could have been a first round pick. Yeah, you know that he likes to downplay how how how
big of a player he was. But you know, I'm sure if he had maybe gone to Utah, gone wherever as a transfer, it could have been very different in terms of how his his career went from there.
I'm talking to Brendan Quinn of The Athletic about a piece he wrote about Mark Pope and the family. Will come back with more in just a minute for Brendan and just a second here on the Big Moon Side or six thirty wlap, Welcome back. My guest is Brendan Quinn. He is a fine writer with the Athletic, and you also see his work at times on the pages of the New York Times, which now owns the Athletic and uses that basically as its sports section kind of picks
and chooses. Did they pick your piece? I take the Sunday Times? But was it anywhere else in the New York Times? Yet?
You know, I would think usually a story of this length would probably fall on a weekend edition. Yeah, so I would look for it this weekend for instance, last week, my story on John Califari at Arkansas ran on the Athletic on like a Tuesday or Wednesday, and then ran in print on I believe Saturday, with the leaders of the sports section in the print edition.
Well in the Times did retweet it, so somebody up there got it like that.
Yeah, I know.
I was looking through the story worry about the girls, because it was so interesting to me that the reason Scott Drew, one of the biggest reasons, as you know, he didn't take this job, was because missus Scott Drew would not have been comfortable with the spotlight here on her and her family, and that's why Drew sent her in the plane to Lexing and to check things out while he stayed back in Waco. But one of the stories Mark told, I'm sure you know, at the PEP
rally that served as his welcoming back to Kentucky. He told about how all the girls were all in and you wrote about that, how the youngest might have balked a little bit because it probably would have been the toughest on her, you know, h picking up high schools, making new friends. But I was fascinated, Brandon by the fact that they were all of them all in, weren't they. Yeah.
I think part of it is, you know, they grew up Kentucky fans. You know, even while he was bouncing around jobs, going Georgia at Wake Forest and then by you and Utah Valley, et cetera. They're always at their core Kentucky fans.
Yeah.
And and I think even beyond that, like it's it's bigger than just Oh, Kentucky's like the best job in the country, So we want that for dad, or it's his dream, so we want that for dad. I think a lot of this goes to Lee Man and she grew up changing schools every two three years and being around a basketball team, and like that is her. That is her normal, right, It is being a coach's kid is you know, seeing the highs of winds and the lows of losses and being there being part of a
team like that was normal. So when Mark dropped it out of med school and when I go into coaching, she was like, let's do it. And one of the things and it didn't make it into the final copy, and it's because I'm a bad writer. But one of the things that scout the most is when they were Leanne was explaining to me. She's like, you know the thing about or no, I'm sorry Mark said this to me,
or even one of the girls. I'm sorry, I apologize, but I think it might have been Laila actually said, you know, Mom never has never complained or take an issue with or been angry about Dad's schedule or when he wasn't there right, And it was because it was always breakfast or framed as we have practice today. We have a recruiting trip, our team is doing this, our team is doing that. So it's not Mark as the head coach. They're all the head coach, you know. So
that is the product. I think of Len coming up under her father, Lynn Archibald, who coached for twenty eight years and had you know, he was fired. He knows what it's like to be fired as a job and he had yest that places. He took a team to the NCAA tournament as a head coach, and I think her understanding that made her as a parent so uniquely qualified for what's really challenging. It is not easy being a coach's spouse, and she's just so hardwired to what's
most important. And she raised bord Altars who are the same way.
I think really really fascinating. I saw that about Lynn Archibald, and here's a quick aside. Lynn Archibald for just a union and took over for Jerry Pim at Utah, right, Yes, Jerry Pim's Utah team in nineteen seventy seven. It was part of the seventy seven to seventy eight season which Kentucky won a national title. Utah team upset Kentucky in their Christmas tournament and won their won their invitational tournament.
Cliff Hagen was so ticked off that as he handed him the trophy, he said, congratulations, I'm inviting you right now to come back next year and try to defend this. They did not, but uh. And then, as you know, probably Pim went on to UC Santa Barbara because he wanted to live on a boat.
Uh.
And that's why Archie.
Wanted to live on a boat, and he said it was a better job and wanted to live in California.
I'd say the ocean had a lot to do with that. We got a few minutes left with Brendan Quinn. You know it was interesting, Uh. The one of the stories Mark told about his girls, I don't remember which one it was, but there's a really famous video clip where his ninety six team, his championship team in the hallway before they came out on the on the court. You may have heard about it or seen it, where they
chant who's in the house tonight? UK. And when Mark talked about that to his kids, one of his daughters started chanting that. That explored me. That was I thought that was one of the great anecdotes. So that told me that the family was all in.
Yeah, there's there's a there's a million examples of that. When I think it was Shay even it was one of the younger ones who went in Shay when there was a game when he had the Georgia job, when he got the Georgia job as a you know, low level assistant assistant to the director of Best Operations, which I didn't know was the job. I don't think I've seen that listed anywhere in any other program, the dobo having having hit to her own assistant, you know, just
a six ten ball boy. But he, you know, he had he got the position at Georgia. So the family went down and you know, one of the girls they grew up Kentucky fans, and when they were going to their first game, realized that they were supposed to be rooting for Georgia and it was unacceptable, you know, it was like, we can't root for we can't root for Georgia.
So they had to stop and go buy a pair at Kentucky, a blue Kentucky stocks for her to wear at the game, uh, to kind of put her at ease for root for out rooting, you know, for for for Kentucky. So yeah, you know, I think it's it's it's one of the things that really I think was kind of like the big picture thought in this is the idea that when he was hired, is the notion that you know, the job's too big for him? Is
what you heard a lot. And look, I have no idea how this is going to go, right, Like if you told me it's not going to work and in three years, you know, there's a change and whatever, I'd be like, yeah, I could see that. And if you told me they're gonna win a national championship, I could say, yeah, I could see that. So but but either way it won't be because the job is too big for him, you know, like that that is not it who knows
what else could happen, but I think it's anything. It's the opposite that everything in a very unique life is has been circumscribed for this exact opportunity or moment. So you know, let's see what happens from here.
Well. Yeah, and that said, before I let you go, I got to ask you to take you back to Tuesday night when Mark Pope, just three games into his first regular season at Kentucky, gets a signature win over Duke of all teams, the team Kentucky fans love to hate.
I know you were spending the dial that night, is in your role as a guy who follows college basketball nationally, but what were you thinking, knowing this coach and this family the way you know now as they put the finishing touches on this upset?
Yeah, I mean I think there was. It was a fine example of he's a good coach. I know that he presents as a certain way, but I mean he is a really good basketball coach. And this team is is a very interesting blend of like guys that I think kind of has pieces of him where it's you know, there is it's almost a bunch of glue guys like I don't know who's the who's the star.
Of this team?
I don't know. I know Andrew Carr was the leading scorer, right, but like, yeah, who's the guy who's the lottery pay I don't. I don't think that exists. It's a lot of pieces, there's a lot of bodies. I like that at any given time, the second that opposing team gets comfortable, he can roll a completely different lineup out there, give you a wildly different look. You know, you sub in Kobe Burrea for at one stop or to play that
other team is the pandemic. He's gonna bang it for two threes, you know, or you know, Kirk kerk Creed is coming off a bench, giving a you know, a big time change of pace at at the league guard position, and you know, and they're going to get looks. It's gonna be you know, if they if they go down. But that's that was good basketball. You know, pt attempt thirty seven twos, seventeen assists. It's they're going to play I think, good aesthetic basketball. Do they have the star
power to go, you know, to to reach April? I don't know, but but yeah, I think it's gonna be good ball.
It will be, and Brendan Quinn will keep an eye on it for the Athletic. You can read him online or in the pages of the New York Times. Follow him on Twitter at b F Quinn. Tell me real quickly, what is what does your slogan mean? Is that? Is that Latin at astra per alas portchie.
At astra uh It translates to to the stars on the wings of a pig. And it was. It was what Steinbeck wrote on the first page of every novel
he submitted to his publisher. And it was because when he was a grade school student, a teacher told him, yeah, you want to be a writer, You'll be a writer when pigs flock ah, And so he went with ashtruck rally of portste And I am no John Stepnbeck, but I did almost like basically a fail out of every class I ever took, and was called by many many people, you will not actually be a writer of any so nice reminder.
Yeah, no one ever said that to me, but I'm sure they were thinking it. So I'm right there with you. Brenda. Thank you so much again. Congrats on a great piece, and I'll be looking for more of your work.
I really enjoyed the conversation. Tick thank you.
I remember one of the books coming up and nour number two Brian Milom, we'll talk to us about Kentucky Duke down in Atlanta, which he covered for w KYT, and we'll look ahead to the Kats and the Murray State Racers. That's all I had here on the Big bullon Siders six point thirty. W lap.
Man Samer.
Mag welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider, joining us on our celebrity hotline. As a guy who is well traveled and you know him well, Brian Mylm, Sports Director w KYT. Brian, I say well traveled because you have covered many many NCAA tournaments. In fact, you and I have been tethered to one another during the tournament
when I was producing pre tournament specials for WKYT. But I bring that up because I was really and I wasn't there, but just watching and listening that game Tuesday night, Duke Kentucky and Atlanta kind of to me had the feel of an nca tournament game, you know, not the records, not the teams, just the way it kind of unfolded. Did it feel that way in Atlanta?
Oh yeah, it felt like everybody knew and this is no disrespective Michigan State and Kansas, but those fans even knew we're not the main event tonight. And I talked to several Kansas people who were in the area beside me when I was doing live shots for the early shows, and everybody was talking about Cooper flag at Duke and hey, how good is this Kentucky team. You know, this is
kind of a neat story, isn't it. And as the game and I told the guy, I said, you see the crowd move in about half time of the Kansas Michigan State game, And I took a picture in the first half from up top of the arena, so many empty seats for that first game. And then if I could have got to the top prior to tip off of Duke Kentucky, you would not have seen one in PC. I mean, it was everything who wanted this game to be from a fans perspective.
Yeah, and you know it's interesting about that you mentioned Michigan State Kansas. Not a great game, but a great performance by Hunter Dickinson. And back in the day when you and I were younger, when dinosaurs were roam the Earth. He would have been the topic of conversation, wouldn't he a big aircraft carrier who posted a double double was almost unstoppable. But instead it was a true freshman who was not should be planning his high school right now. But that's where we are now, isn't it.
Yeah, it's a new world and we're all trying to navigate it. And there's a lot of Christopher Columbuses out there. But it is a new world. The young man is legit. He can go question about it. But there was such an electricity in that building when Duke got off to the good start, that UK comes back. Then Duke comes back, then the UK, and I kept just being that guy. I kept thinking of Rocky too. Now it's Creed, now
it's Balboa, now it's Freed. I mean. It was a back and forth blood set with dunks from Duke and then unbelievable rebounds from this guy. Well he hits a three, Kirk Krista comes in and gives a little spark, and then Amari does this thing. It was somebody seemingly different on every possession because Jackson Robinson had his work game offensively, but as mart Pope pointed out, yesterday, everybody he guarded only score two points. You know, that ridiculous spin move on the base line.
Yes, yeah, you had to keep that in mind. That Robinson he wasn't. He didn't look like a lost ball proverbial in high weeds the way Colin Chandler did. But he did he struggled on aim. Mean, you could tell Duke shaded its defense to keep him from from getting off. But uh, he used his athleticism to contribute at the defensive end. But but to your point about the two teams, you know another cliche were sports people trading the haymakers.
Great games, Brian, in my opinion, have several layers. It's not just one big run by one team, one big run by another team that can't happen, you know, the classic comebacks. But I think the best games, like I said, have those layers, have those different changes in equilibrium and momentum. And that had to feel like that in Atlanta, it sure looked like it.
Yeah. And also another layer that it didn't hit me until late in the game in the first half. Duke outscored UK twenty eight to six in the eight Wow, and Kentucky, what do we know? What is Mark Pope said, this Kentucky team is gonna do We are gonna shoot three yep, we are gonna shoot threes. They I believe this is right. Somebody can go look it up. I believe UK hit only two threes in the last thirteen minutes of the game.
Yep.
And they did what did Kentucky do? They went to the body. They kept going, attacking the rim, attacked the rim because there have been so much talk of well, UK, you take away the three pointer, Now, what can they do against a good team? Well, we saw it. There was The passing is such It's such a marvelous thing on this ball club. We're so unselfish. Kobe Brea had that rifle passed the garrison and then Lamart Butler finds
this guy and Otega, oh wait finds that guy. I mean, it's just somebody like, holy cow, this is just unreal. And it was just a joy to see UK answer the call and the favorite duke withered down the stretch. They got tired.
I was about to ask you about that. Could you tell from your vantage point, because it certainly looked like it on TV that they were tiring towards the end of the first half.
Yeah, I thought, you know, UK, there is one moment and I saw it last night when I was going back to label my clips from the game, and I remember seeing it in the viewfinder for literally a third of a second. But it was just that moment. Oh yeah, there's a play when UK does something and mallow watch the big seventeen student East center. He just like this side. Oh my gosh, I just don't think I can keep
going on. And and you saw Kentucky kind of like, let's go, let's goa coach McLean on the sideline, Jesus standing up, let's go get the crowd. When's the last time you saw UK coach appeal to the crowd. Come on, let's go.
He's pretty cool.
Oh man, Dick, I tell you what two things stood out in this game that only I know about it because where I was on the floor, right in front of the bench, yes, right on the baseline, I was in front of Travis Perry and uh for the majority of the game where he said I was Art Pope did not say one cuss word. And but you know that's almost expected from coaches these days. He was upbeat the whole game. Guys, Hey, watch for this this is gonna be there. I promise you, this is gonna be there.
The but also the way the kids on the bench never stopped talking about the game. Travis Perry Colin was one of these guys. Angela Alanor was in this little group, and they were kept saying, coach, that's the same place they flipped the play.
Oh wow.
And then Clane looking to the smart talk to the pope. Pope, they're flipping the play. They're like, yeah, yeah, good catch, good catch. I mean, it was neat. It was a like it was as if you had seventeen coaches on the sideline and everybody saw one thing different. We're in the past sideline on the baseline, and ain't nobody saying nothing, Yeah, yeah, oh amazing.
That's what I miss you know. I I sit up near to the ceiling now, Reparina. They moved the media. I tell my friends up there, I said, the only reason we're sitting up here, they can't put us any higher, you know, because they're selling the seats on the sideline now. But the one thing I missed, because you can actually see the game pretty well. You see plays them as you know you and I sat near the ceiling at the at the house that Michael built when in Chicago
when Kentucky destroyed UCLA. But you can't hear the players talking, the coaches talking, what they're yelling at the referees, how they're talking on defense. That's a world unto itself.
And I love that, oh absolutely absolutely. And Kirk Crisa came off the floor once he goes, guys, that's my bad. I won't let that happen again. That's on me. That's on me. They It was incredible, Dick to hear these young men dissect certain things of the game. And Angeley said something once. Travis was beside me again and he said, hey, did you see that? Watch this curl they're going to do, And it was they were analyzing the game the way in many ways think old school people think the game
should be done. We're in the past. And I'm not knocking on players of the past. I've been on that baseline and I've been next to the bench and they're not talking basketball.
Yeah, well they're not as experienced. They haven't been in the past. And now you've got a masterclass literally at your feet on Kentucky basketball. And the only sad thing and I know you've already thought about this is when you guys rotate the shooting duties. I know at Reperena, you and Steve moss and Lindsey and Lee k but you're you're seated next to the opposition bench. And Mossy has told me through the years some of the interesting things and profane things that you hear at that end
of the court. But I used to sit, you know, fifteen feet from the Kentucky bench and listen to what was going on there. It really is cool, isn't it.
Oh? It is. And I can tell you without question, the most vulgar bench in the history of Reperrena Oka opposition of a game I've been to was Boston University a couple of years ago. I heard things that would make sailors blush and and but they're like buck Nell what They had a couple of guys down there. They were analyzing the game right state, not very talkative. But I have just fallen in love with the way this
team is a throwback. Even the young guys are old in a way of in the way of thinking the games, talking the game. And you look at Travis Perry. His father's a coach, so he's gonna you'll buy it on so but you can see they are dialed in and they're all looking for something. Yeah I'm not playing. I'm not playing, and I know I'm probably not gonna play. But what can I contribute to the game that maybe will help somebody not on this next possession, but can minutes from now.
Yep, that's great, just look for it.
I mean, it's just constant shatter about the game. Was like being in the dugout again where everybody's uh it was. It was awesome.
And by the way, not no disrespect to Boston you. But when I said, I'm not surprised, it's because doing Kentucky baseball, we had a real problem to night several years ago Kentucky played Boston College. Boston is just a tough town. It's a krusty town. It's an angry town at times. And the language we had to move our microphones off the Boston College dugout because their players were so sall we say, colorful. And you know how baseball is, man,
you were a baseball player. Uh that can be even worse than basketball.
Yell.
So yeah, so uh yeah, be careful what you what you listen for. We'll come back and talk football with Brian Miley in just a minute here on the Big Moon Sider six thirty eight WLA. Welcome back Brian Mile and my guests, sports director w K YT and a longtime veteran of covering TV sports both in uh Lexington and in Eastern Kentucky. When he was with WYMT prior to that. I'm not, you know, not exactly prior or did you go to YMT right out of college?
Yes, okay, I have two stations, Ryant and Kye.
Alrighty. So Brian finished up his career at Morehead State. And I bring that up because I said, Brian was a baseball player, and you played in the Ohio Valley Conference and Murray State was an OVC team for the longest time, and about the time you got to Morehead I believe maybe a little before that or after, Murray State had some really good football teams. And it's just kind of sad where they are right now, isn't it.
Yeah, I believe when in nineteen ninety two, my freshman year, the fall of ninety two, Morehead had a three and eighteen. Not that good. Some of the individual talent was good because when they decided to go one double A non scholarship. People went to San Jose State. One young man went to Nebraska and was on their national championship teams of the mid nineties. You had guys move around, but there
was a disconnect. Well, Murray State comes in and Morehead beat the brakes off of the Racers, and I believe in my college tenure that was Morehead's first ODC win my freshman year. Wow, And it was pretty bad and Murray is not. You know, it's just a tough situation over at Murray right now for football, and but for UK's purposes, Hey, we need a break, we'll take it.
Oh yeah, yeah, And you know this was going to be that kind of game anyway. But yeah, Murray has really struggled. And you know, back in the day, a team like that could rebuild and you know Juco's transfer for things like that, but now the transfer picture is so different. In fact, Juko's might be the only way to go for Murray State because the the n i L and the portal and all that that is really
hindered kids going to junior colleges. Not to mention kids coming out of high school who may not get a look as many looks as they got prior to all this madness.
Yeah, I think And I said this to a coach who agreed and said that, you know, hadn't looked at it that way. But all they're doing at the D one level just recycling athletes. It's going to hurt the high school athlete who wants to go to a place like Eastern or Murray or you know, take your take your pick the situation. Hey, and if you're good enough, guess what we're going to take you out of Murray State. We're going to take you out of e k U and bring you up a level. And guess what we're
going to pay you as well. You know, and you just don't have that at that level at the Murray State level of football. It's a tough blow to that division of football and the guys like Walt Wells at EKU who really turned around their season, winning on the winning on the road and at home against nationally ranked teams. They've got to get creative. And I just don't know how much creativity you have in certain levels of college football.
With the way Murray is going right now, this is going to be interesting to see.
First of all who plays for Kentucky. You know, do the guys who are coming back from injury, do they give them an additional week of rest basically gambling and it's a pretty good gamble that you won't need them with all due respect against Murray State. Or do you play play these guys to help knock the rust off and prepare for Texas?
Yep, let's go back a couple of years. Remember when Steven Johnson was hurt and the UK is playing Austin T. And Austin T jumps out thirteen to nothing and people are are you kidding me? So Stoops has to send Johnson back into the game at quarterbacks just he was gonna rest him the whole game and some of the other guys. I think SUPs may have learned a lesson that day, saying, look, we can play all the younger guys after we get a twenty one nothing lead. Yeah,
let's get the lead. Let's get some momentum for these guys who, let's say Cutter Bowley gets a lot of play tomorrow. Well, I think he would feel more comfortable at twenty one nothing maybe than nothing nothing. And you you know, you get one of those weird tip passes, a pick change, come on, and that's what happened in that Austin p game. We had weird things happen early and Stukes had to play it like an SEC game. Put everybody in, let's go, let's take their business. Yeah yeah,
I'd rather see UK jump out fourteen to nothing. Then put Cutter Bowlly in. Then put that next generation of Wildcats who want to get some games in and still keep that red shirt. I'd like to see that happen. Then put the Then put in the young Cavalry.
That's right here. They come over the ridge. We're gonna see what they can do. But well, you talk about a team, and people have always complained about these games, but non conference games, and could we at least play the teams in state, Well, you know that's what you're getting. But well, if ever a team needed a shot in the arm, a boost of confidence, whatever you want to call it, it's Kentucky.
Yeah it is, and it really is. And they I don't think anybody saw UK at three and six through nine games. Maybe one or two people maybe, but nobody saw the Nobody saw losing to Carolina the way they did. Nobody saw losing the Vanderbilt. Nobody saw UK beating old myths.
Nobody saw nearly taking out Georgia. Nobody. It's been such a discombobulated season of I didn't see that coming, yeah, And I'm sure Mark soups Is I was like, yeah, I didn't see this coming either, And it's just been a very disjointed, very awkward season for UK football.
And as it turns out, South Carolina, I hate to admit, it's pretty good. Yeah, you know, an old miss now is getting some talk is maybe a dark horse for the playoffs and playoffs playoffs, that's right, but uh, you know who who is Georgia Now? We're going to find out this weekend with Tennessee, which is also pretty good. Somebody called Tennessee the new Georgia, So you know, it just goes to show you what do we know right going into the season? What does anybody know?
Yeah, And that's why sometimes I get I get kind of professionally claustrophobic in making predictions, because we all we know until you get an injury or you get oh, there's that upset. Oh my gosh, who saw that happening? Oh my goodness. You know, UK had Tennessee in a position to possibly steal a win, missing three field goals. Tennessee kept open that door. They kept it open the whole game and Ducky had a chance to do something.
But then you know, brock Danda Gripp goes down and he wasn't having a great game, but he was having a gutsy game. And when Kentucky has beaten Tennessee in the past, with the exception of that twenty twenty season, it's been a gutsy performance from people. But yeah, it has just been a strange season. And I know people are like, oh, you got to get rid of Stoops. You gotta do this, you gotta do that. First off, Mark Stoops has deserved a mulligan. Oh yeah, because of
what he has done. But if this was to be his last season, for whatever the reason, you just don't want it to happen like this, after what he's done for the last eight, nine, ten years, you just don't want to see that. And it's just been I know it's kept him up at night. I know it has because you can sometimes see it, you can hear it in the voices. Soy have we let one get away from us? How do we do that. We didn't even show up. How do we how do we do this?
You go back to the media day. They all thought, folks, we're going to be the surprise team of the SEC.
They have been.
They kind of have been reversed.
Yeah, it's wearing on him. And you know it's not like when Billy Gillespie would bounce into the press conference. Well another butt kicking, you know. So, uh no, yeah, I'm sorry to take you back to that. But Brian Mylam is the sports director w ky T watch for his coverage of the Wildcat football and basketball. And we will talk to you, sir. We'll see you at the ballgame.
You got it, buddy, Thank you.
We'll look back at an interesting week in our next half hour plus Heroes, fools and flakes here on the Big Blue Insiders six thirty WLAP.
That was the week.
Over, let it go? That was the week Dot was It's.
Not it way up pluk But he's playing the all.
That was the week. Yes, it was quite a week. Welcome back to the Big Blue in Sider. To Gabriel with you on a Friday, as we wrap things up. Coming up tomorrow, Kentucky football, the Wildcat's taking on the Murray State Racers. You'll hear it right here on six thirty WLAP with a one thirty kickoff. And again a reminder, this is a streaming game, so you will not see it on ESPN or the SEC Network. You'll see it
on SEC Plus. But of course we invite you to listen to the radio and to help prep you for that. Pull up the Wildcat Whip. You can get it off my Facebook page, you can get it off Tom's Facebook page. You can also find it on Twitter on the UK Sports Network account or mine or Jeff Picorul's or Thom's.
And we talk, of course a lot about the game coming up, shouldn't be much of a game, but also what's going on with the Wildcats right now, And in fact we talked about Murray State just really struggling this year, and as I put it to the guys, they've just had a hard time competing and they probably aren't in a position to compete tomorrow. No they don't.
I remember some great e KU Murray games, Yes, in the yeah yeah, and the other thing I remember you guys will remember this. This was sixteen seventeen Steven Johnson's Hurt Yeah and they're playing Austin p and they decided to try to get through through the game without using him, and they get a pick six like maybe on the first play, and they're down like somebody else started a quarterback. Yeah, and uh uh they end up when you know, coming
back and blowing them out as was expected. But you know that was, you know, a similar situation and that there's some you know question of who's going to be the starting quarterback this week because of the injury that Brock suffered in the last game down at Tennessee. And it's a much inferior opponent. So I've I thought Kentucky played I don't know, but you guys were expecting at Tennessee. I thought they really given the circumstances with their personnel losses,
especially on defense and then on offense. As the game started, I really thought they played pretty well.
I was amazed.
I thought they were going to get annihilated, seriously, and we've covered that game before at Tennessee, and I thought the best chance they had if they were going to shock the world and get an upset, that would give them a chance to maybe keep the ball street going. I thought, well, it'll probably be it would more likely be Texas because they'd have a week off off get well game against a team like Murray and then you'd
take your shot. But they played well against Tennessee, so they need now to have the get well game.
I still think we have not seen the best of them yet. Ole Miss was close to being a complete game. But again in the Tennessee game, if you look back, penalties at the you know, just just killed this team, and then.
And then be getting killed with turnovers. Yeah.
I was gonna say the ball hits in two interceptions, hit the hands of the receiver. Yeah, I mean you just got to catch the football.
What did they lack if you can remember back to the ole Miss game, because I would have thought that that was their best. We know they they came up short against Georgia a couple of plays and they win that game. But I don't know how much better could they have played against Olems. I just think given the hostile territory and all that the.
One thing that's missing, and it kind of is still missing. I think through this whole season it's the chunk plays. Yeah, the big plays, and I meant one they had one, So I was gonna say they had one, you get four or five, you know when you play, when you watch it, and I hate going back to any of the top ten teams. Oregon's a great example. They get
every drive it seems like that. You're like, again, they get a thirty yard pass, they get a twenty five yard run, and it's just it's hard because this offense almost has to be perfect and you see him pounding and pounding and pounding their way down the field and they just they for whatever reason, they can't spring. I mean, they've run Burrion, they've run Brown Stevens on that end a round, you know, the sweep, and they just they've been close, but they just haven't had that.
That's why they scouted though. People are ready for that. But you're talking more about downfield throwing.
Right, Well, they got a big chunk play at the start of the Tennessee guy on a run, So now maybe he could give you a little bit of that and maybe you get a couple of twenty plus runs in a game from him, and then you alternate him with civil Karmbay then offensively, you know, they had a tight end down the scene yep to then almost thirty yards catus, so you know maybe I thought one thing with Brock as a first time starter, he was maybe locking a little too much on Dane, who's been very
good obviously, But you know, maybe I can spread the ball around a little bit more.
Yeah, and again I think that this happens to every quarterback, that you get a little gun shy when you're getting pounded back there. It happened to Randy Jenkins if you remember back when when Randy was the quarterback, because he was basically doing the same thing back then. We took the step from the center and he would take his drop and turn around. There'd be two guys breathing down his neck and he just had to get rid of the ball. And that's kind of been the case here.
So Brock now has gotten a little skittish back there a lot of times. The one thing that he does that it's fixable up. But a lot of quarterbacks when they try to escape, they try to get out of the pocket. What makes you don't want to compare him to Peyton Manning, but what makes a lot of great court backs great is the way they can move up in the pocket. Okay, great example is your guy Aaron Rodgers. He's not fast at all, but he moves in the
pocket to give himself time. He just takes a little step this way, a little step this way, step up where he can then get the pass away and it's whole feeling. Yes, yeah, that and again I think this comes from him not playing the last three years, basically that he's lost that clock in his head because how many times have we said get rid of the ball and he takes the sack. So he's learning this is again and again. If he plays this week, this is
a game where he should excel. Yeah, because the one thing I noticed, Tom, and you can back me up with this. I mean they've got a linebackers one hundred and ninety seven pounds and I mean the size is just it. It's a huge and it could be a monumental difference in this game where you should be able to just plow the row.
Tom Leech and Jeffricorrel and the Wildcat whip And if you like to hear the entire segment, it's a podcast take you about fifteen to twenty minutes. Just go to Facebook or Twitter. UK Sports Network account has it for you on Twitter or x. Earlier this week, Sean Woods joined me as he always does. The unforgettable guard. Sean had predicted me. He shot me a text a day or two before the Duke game, and Sean has been skeptical about how this team came together, what's going to accomplishment.
Having seen practice a few more times, Sean made a prediction that Kentucky would beat Duke, would pull the upset. And I had him on as I usually do.
And I asked him why, Well, I got a chance to watch Duke their first two games, and I've been watching Kentucky, of course, and then you know, I've been going to practice more often here lately, and I just saw flaws and Duke from a maturity standpoint that that
intrigued me. You know, one thing about Kentucky, as you saw last night and everybody else got to see, was no matter how talented these teams are in the country, I think Kentucky's head of the curve as far as continuity and playing with each other and knowing everybody's roles, you know, everybody. All these other teams are still trying to figure it out with either newcomers or transfers, and they're trying to jail whereas Mark Pope's system and what
they've been doing since the summer. They're so far ahead of everybody right now. And you know, everybody who played for Kentucky last night contributed in some type of way. Yeah, there was not the only person who just couldn't get it going is jack and Robinson. And Kentucky showed last night that they could win at a high level without the person who everybody thinks is their best player.
Yeah. Yeah, and didn't Jackson Robinson just his presence force Duke to adjust its defense a little bit and account for him, which left other people opportunities to do things.
Yeah, you know, but you know, the thing about it was that that I wasn't impressed with with him was he didn't compete like I wanted him to, you know what I mean. No, I really don't think, you know. And you know last night they were better with him off the floor than on the floor. He just couldn't get a rhythm. I think, you know, his flaw is, you know, if you get up in him, he has trouble, you know, as long as he can make open shots.
And I think it's you know, because of the frustrations and how the game went, he had a couple of times to hit Daggers to either put Kentucky up or whatever wide up in jump shots that he has made thus far, and they weren't even close. So what I'm saying is this is a veteran team and a glue team already, and we're just now getting started. I'm just amazed and really looking forward to how good this team could be.
Sean Woods from our show earlier this week, when the Unforgettable Guard told me why he had predicted Kentucky would be Duke, and again, Sean was skeptical early because of the way this team came together. It's a Kentucky team that does not have, at least it doesn't look as though it has a lottery pick, maybe a first round draft pick in one of these guys. But you know, Duke's got the glossy, glittering freshman class. But Kentucky had guys who knew how to get things done down the stretch,
and that's why Kentucky won it. Earlier today, something popped up on Instagram. It was a melt, basically a combination of comments from Mark Pope and John Caliperi from a couple of their respective news conferences. I have gotten tired of all the Calipery comparisons. When it comes to way people right, and it's very predictable. Right after the Duke game. No way cali Perry wins this game. Well maybe not because he probably would have a roster full of freshmen
and they wouldn't have known how to win it. But how will this Kentucky team play in March versus the Caliperi teams? Lately they haven't played very well. But what somebody had fun with news conferences given by Pope and by Calipery. They couldn't be more different. And here's an example.
I'm gonna give you a long answer because I actually care about this.
Uh give it to Jimmy and finitesimal.
Amount of of other areas. But we're spent a lot of time right now obviously talking about our total player load, a load number that's really heavy inactive load, which is kind of all the extraneous stuff.
The ball goes around a perimeter, what why would you do that?
They'll like run three peals in a row.
Three?
She was really good off the bounds, had a great baseline blind cut where he was getting some action away from the ball.
How about this thought make a three.
When I say the words, it sounds pretty trite and maybe a little bit raw.
It takes me out every time we make a mistake.
No I don't.
But it breaks down into jumping load and running load and dynamic load in the active load. And these are kind of like thirty thousand foot concepts and so getting them into like hard fast data is complicated.
How about that statement, that's pretty much spot on.
Mark is big time into analytics, and a lot of his answers are very if you will, analytical. Caliperi has always been really animated, and I do think after all these years, Caliperry's just bored talking to the media. He's done it for so long, and that's why he doesn't do pregame press conferences, even in Arkansas. I quit doing them at Kentucky. And partly though it's his fault, because we would ask him questions that he would not answer. People criticize the media, why don't they ask him a
tough question. It doesn't matter what you ask him. He's going to say what he wants, but sometimes the question deserves a direct answer. He didn't always go there, and that's what got really frustrating. So we get direct answers from Mark Pope. They are much appreciated, but don't be surprised if they do get a little dry. And that's just the way sometimes his mind works. It's fascinating, but the differences couldn't be greater, not to say that one's
better than the other. And now the Arkansas media are asking each other, what did he just say? Heroes, fools and flakes? Next six thirty eight WAP.
That was the weeklaw over, let it Go, that was the week tuck It's sided way.
Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider, final segment of our program. My thanks tonight to Brendan Quinn of the Athletic and Brian Milem from WKYT time only for heroes, fools and Flakes and our hero tonight, well heroes plural. And this may sound a little odd Philadelphia Eagles fans, that's right there, as tough as it gets in all the professional sports. And we could have easually flipped this
to a fool being the New York Giants. But I love the fact that the Eagles fans last night, late in the game with the Washington Commanders, began to chant thank you Giants for Saquon Barkley. Remember he signed that six year deal, I'm sorry, three year deal worth almost thirty eight million dollars. He had one hundred and forty six yards those two fourth quarter touchdowns, and why the Giants let him go? I mean, and then if you watched Hard Knocks, they were like, well, we just can't
really sign him, can we? And yet they stick with Daniel Jones when in fact, when given a chance behind a decent line, healthy Saquon Barkley is as good as it gets in the National Football League and the Giant let him go to an intradivisional opponent. So yeah, they were fools, But the Eagles fans appreciated the moment last night absolutely and Shannon, thank you Giants for Saquon Barkley, who may carry them to the Super Bowl. Our fool tonight is Jake Paul, not just for stepping into the
ring with Mike Tyson. Look, Jake Paul is a professional fighter. He is a cruiserweight. Might be best known for his YouTube videos, and back when vine was popular, he had like more than five million viewers. I don't know what kind of fighter he is. I know he's all tatted up of course, so as Tyson, but Jake Paul in addition to getting into the ring with Tyson, he's what
forty plus years old, he has bet on himself. He has bet his entire take his share of the loop for this fight, the purse share for him forty million dollars. He has decided he would put that up against the notion that he would win over Mike. Tyson's who is basically betting money doesn't have I guess he has it, but it hasn't been earned yet. He's betting forty million dollars that he will beat like Tyson. This is literally
nothing ventured, nothing game our flake. Tonight, we're actually stepping away from sports and we're turning to the world of science because scientists have discovered a marine creature that, as they put it, basically can time travel. This species defies the natural limits of aging, how because it basically ages in reverse. It's called the comb jellyfish, and the nickname
is the time traveling comb jellyfish. I'm not going to try to read the Latin name for it, but it defies aging by reverting its adult form back to larval stage. It turns the clock back on its life cycle in a way scientists have never observed. You got to wonder who started the research on this, who figured this out? This is why sidedists are awesome. And somewhere somebody with more money than since is already trying to take steps to see if he can figure out how this works.
It's almost like a bad movie. So he can steal one of these things and inject it into himself and live forever. Here's a good movie, a plot for you.
I to do it.
Thanks so much. Enjoy college football tomorrow as the Wildcats take on Murray State at a one thirty kick. You'll hear it right here. That's a good night from the garage in Lexington.
I'm sorry, what was that again.
I'm a god, God, I'm a guy.
I'm not the guy.
I don't think
Manana