2025-01-02 - BBI

It is on our where you get your podcast, Apple Spotify, things like that. You can go back and listen to last night show. Tonight's show, it's going to be abbreviated because we have UK women's basketball coming up, Wildcat's open conference play with Mississippi State. Darren Heddrick has the call for you seven o'clock tip off at Historic Memorial Coliseum. Darren's pregame begins at six forty five with coach Kenny Brooks, who coaches in his first SEC game as the UK

head man, So stay tuned for that. Coming up a few minutes, we're going to talk to Shawn Woods. We usually talked to the Unforgettable Guard on Wednesdays, but had the special show last night, so Sean's going to join us. We'll get his thoughts on not just the win earlier this week by the Basketball Cats, but that loss up

in Madison Square Garden. We haven't talked to Sean since the holidays, so we'll get his thoughts on the game that a lot of people think exposed probably a couple of weaknesses that other teams will look to exploit for the rest of the year, and it's probably fair to say starting with the Florida Gators on Saturday at eleven am.

So we'll get Sewan's thoughts on that coming up. I wanted to talk first off about something that is just all over the inner web and now comes the story earlier today, and of course we pre record, and I don't know where this story might be now, but this came out earlier today. Arizona State has reportedly filed a

lawsuit against the College Football Playoff. And I'm not sure who exactly you'd serve with papers on that, but ASU denied was denied a crucial targeting call in the Peach Bowl yesterday in that game against Texas and Honestly, I firmly believe that if that call is properly made, Arizona State wins that game in an spectacular come from behind fashion.

I mean, early in the game, they're down twenty four to eight, completely outclassed, and it looked like just another example and this was going to be, you know, exhibit A of a team that was seeded and maybe didn't even belong in the playoff. It definitely belonged because it won its conference. But Arizona State, it looked like, was the beneficiary of the bracketing that had been set up well ahead of time, stating these four conferences will get buys.

Everybody started to complaining about that after the first round of games. Well, guess what those rules were in place for weeks and weeks, that bracketing formula. So you can't suddenly start whining about that, at least where I'm from, where I'm sitting, you don't start whining about that as soon as the first round games are over. You want to whine about it, whine about it, and I'm sure some people did as soon as the brackets were announced

many weeks ago. But at any rate, Arizona State came charging back and quite frankly, if you saw the game, Texas scored on an ASU defensive breakdown, got a long touchdown, and then scored on a punt return. So now it's fourteen to nothing before he had a chance to pop the popcorn. But then it turned into a hell of a game, back and forth, back and forth. Cam scatbow became legendary by carrying the ball, by throwing the ball.

Arizona State and a crucial make or break situation fakes a punt and the punter throws to a two hundred and eighty pound defensive tackle who was, you know, supposedly just in the block, and the guy makes a hell of a catch, fingertip catch. So it was a great game back and forth, but on a one particular play where if this play is called properly, Arizona State wins.

And it looked like Texas was guilty of targeting a Texas d beck led with a helmet helmet to helmet contact, and I thought, well, this is just a matter of time before they come over and it's going to be an unpopular call with Texas, and it's going to be the right call, you know, if you're Arizona State and they didn't call it. And to me, like I always say, and I am extremely sympathetic to officials because I did it a bit when I was young, and again, my

brother's done it for fifty years. Get the easy ones right. The situation was not easy because it would have cost Tech. This is a shot at the national title. But guess what it costs Arizona a shot at the national title. And they like to say, well, we don't want the officials to, you know, decide the game, blah blah. Well you did decide the game. You did by not making the proper call. Obviously, Twitter blew up. Jacob Tammy, the former Kentucky tight end, had a great take on this.

He said, the fact that it was not called targeting and exactly why there needs to be a camera in the replay booths and explanations from the replay booth. This game just got altered by a huge decision by nameless, faceless explanationless entity. I don't know if it needs to happen in real time from the booth, but it certainly

would help, and especially after the game. And then somebody else whose label is his avatar labels Mark Pope, respector and his addresses at Bring Back Patino, So I don't know where he stands on things, but he tweeted in horse racing we always get am on an explanation from the stewards. No reason college football playoff can't do the same. I agree, like I said, at the very least after the game, it should have been explained and not just this is the call we made and were sticking by it.

That's crap. They need to explain it properly, or as many people have tweeted, do away with the rule. Do away with it because if you're not gonna call it and it's so obvious, do away with the rule. No one would complain. It would be a bad decision because I think it's a much needed rule because things have

gotten so dangerous. Players are so much bigger, faster, and stronger now and the equipment is so much better now that guys are turning themselves into actual missiles, and you're seeing now what's happening with CTE, and people later in life are developing real problems. But more than one person said get rid of it, and one tweeter said, if that's not targeting because of circumstances and not wanting to call it in the last minute of a playoff game.

You cannot have the rule. The rules a rule first quarter in September, fourth quarter of a playoff game, crown of head contact plus defenseless receiver equals targeting. And it marred what was a great, great game. And you know, another officiating issue that I don't understand, and I probably would get a different answer from somebody. You know, for

every person I asked, I'd get a different answer. I'm sure whatever happened to uncatchable ball, I was tweeting back and forth or texting, I should say, with Darren Hedrick as we often do the chain gang. Keith Madison was in on it, Doug Flynn popped in Jeff picorrel. But there was a past interference call in one of the games that Darren and I ai I think, disagreed on whether it was interference or not, but we agreed that it was an uncatchable ball. And I loved that rule

and that rule created. You didn't see it much at first, and now you almost never see it. But that to me took all the mystery out of a lot of these calls, like the one Darren and I argued about. You know it's up to personal interpretation. I know of a different officials. There are some textbook elements to it, but different refs see things different ways. I get that that's the same in so many different instances in sports.

But if a boss twenty feet over the heads of the receiver and the d bag flying out of bounds, it's unketchable. All you got to do is that signal over your head if you're a referen uncatchable ball? Oh okay, now there are Yeah, it was uncatchable because my guy couldn't go for it. No, there are times when it's absolutely obvious when a ball is uncatchable. Bring that back, please? Would you appreciate that? Get back to me on that.

Sean Woods is next year on six thirty wlap back to the Big Blue Insider and we say happy New Year to one of our favorite guests. He reaches us every week on The Big Blue Insiders. Jersey hangs in the rafters, A rough, unforgettable guard. Sean Wood's Happy.

but I'm curious. Now, you coached a different sport, obviously, and play a different sport, but when you were in a I don't know if there's a similar situation in basketball, but that looked like the definition of the rule of

targeting and it wasn't called properly. And I don't know if it's because they didn't have the guts to call it down the stretch or whatever, But does that just make your mind go crazy as a coach on the sideline when something that obvious isn't called and you don't get a decent explanation.

but Jay Billis says something that's relevant. We got too many rules we got you know, we're not We're let television and instant replaying things like that get more involved in human error and human decisions. And now you know, it's like a basketball game, the last two minutes of the longest two minutes of a basketball game, because everything's got to be looked over. Everything, every call is is questioned,

you know. And same with this. You know, sometimes in targeting, it's hard to even play football anymore, make a tackle because when you were taught as a kid, you were taught to either lead with your head or make sure. You know, Now you're trying to tell a guy who's coming at another guy one hundred miles an hour to stop and technique. Yes, you know.

But on the other hand, as a coach, as a player, you just want them to get it right. And yeah, they were human, but you know what, the video is not human and the video seemed to show So it's frustrating and Arizona State clearly had opportunities to win. But that's one of those rare instances where things turned. I did want to get your thoughts on that, but I

need to get your thoughts on the basketball Wildcats. We haven't talked since before the holidays, so let's go back to that Ohio State game, and I guess we shouldn't be surprised if anybody loses in a high profile game like that. But Sean, it was the way Kentucky lost. They just seemed flat and looked like Ohio State took it to him and took them out of everything that they wanted to do. What were you, I know you weren't there, but what were your thoughts as you watched that game unfold?

stop what you're doing. It's made you successful. And I thought that what they did and the schemes they came up with defensively was on point, you know, and it took Kentucky out of all their strengths and it made them do things that they weren't normally you know, aren't normally good at doing, and you know it showed. And then offensively, you know, the point guard, won the point guard battle, and I just thought he dominated the game. And you know, a former Kentucky Wildcat who didn't have

a great year, who was highly touted, really showed. You know, the Kentucky people, you know why cow and those coaches were so high on him coming in And he's healthy, now you know what I'm saying. You know, I thought that him and it was unfair for him. Z and what was the other big that left? Yeah, I thought that they were just it was unfortunate for them because all of them were hurt. He got back to Z got you're late and they couldn't play because of NCAA rules.

From an academic standpoint, the other two had major foot injuries that they had to sit out for six months. And then they come back and you get thrown into the fire. Well, the base of your game and the base of being an athlete is your legs. Yeah, And how can you have legs when you don't have feet and you know, you can't even jump until two weeks before they throw you in a game, and you're supposed to have base and be able to jump and be spontaneous and things. And the athlete that you are or

were at that particular time. It was just tough for them, you know. And now both of them are healthy, z is healthy, and all three of them pretty much, especially the two are are are having decent seasons.

And you know, they forced Kentucky to make some adjustments which they couldn't do, and for whatever reason, it just got out of hand and they they didn't let up off the gas.

well as your first team. And Butler didn't have a good night, so they just took advantage of it. You know, they spread people, gonna spread Kentucky out. They're gonna make them have to guard one on one. They're gonna challenge how tough they are from a rebounding and toughness standpoint.

The two games that they lost, they got beat on the toughness plays and they got taken out of what they like to do, and adjustments wasn't made in those two games, which allowed those two teams to really put it on them.

how much SEC basketball you've seen in general. I've seen a few other games. Some are saying this is the best conference play in the history of the SEC when it comes to basketball. That's all going to play out. But you know from experience, man, you get in the league play, it's a different kind of ball, Isn't it totally different?

I think the brutal league physically, and Kentucky's going to have to find a way, especially getting better point guard played coming off the bench, because you know, most teams have several guards that can break you down, especially in

the SEC. And that's Kentucky's problem right now. The system is great, but when the other teams scout, your system now becomes to manual manual, and they always say, like like people always say, you can have the best exs and those, but if you don't have Jim and Joe's, you know you're going to struggle. And now it's time for our Jim and Joe's to really play at a higher level than they had to. Especially the two losses. You know, somebody else is going to have to step up.

They're gonna have to go against the grain a little bit and really try to make offensive plays from an individual standpoint, because teams are going to make them do that from here and out. And I think Marcus doing a better job. I mean, I hope he is in practice of creating an environment where everyone is confident to go make a play when things break down from their system is concerned per se.

notoriety standpoint, you know what I mean. So there's no mistique coming into rupt saying, uh, you know these guys are good because they were this McDonald all American, that McDonald all American. No, they have the poor McDonald all Americans. And all of these coaches that are in the SEC are a one coaches. So that locker room is a little different. The tone and locker rooms are a little different when they're going against Kentucky more so than years past.

know what I'm saying. You gotta go. You got to go into the SEC, into their places, which some of these places are hardest places in the country to play at. Yeah, so, and then they're not scared to come into rut. So you know, it's gonna be a slug fest. It's gonna be you know. The thing is who's going to end up at the top the top five or six schools at the end of the year. And I'm telling you what, right now, I've watched a lot of SEC basketball thus far.

I'm gonna tell your team that no one's talking about, and that's Mississippi State.

all because they want to be like Kentucky. You know, how do you feel about that as a basketball professional, as a guy who played at the highest level at the at the top program in the SEC. Finally, the league is really going at it to try to make strides in basketball.

they're coming in fully loaded. Oklahall home up. You know, those teams aren't no shabby teams, and those teams have had success from a basketball standpoint even though they were a football school. So it's going to be very very interesting. Uh, there's no dominant team anymore. You know, you got some dragouts, you know, like I don't want to play at Tennessee anywhere home away. I don't want to play Auburn home away. You know, I don't even want to play Texas and

m home away. You know. It's just there's no easy win anymore. You know, going to Old Missus, you gotta you gotta go in there and and hopefully get get a win. You know, going to Mississippi State, you know Vanderbilt. I mean, look at them. You know, people counted them out and they've had a successful you know what I mean. So there's nowhere where you could say, okay, that that that's when I know we're gonna win. That every game is going to be a dogfight. And and and what

hurts Kentucky is we are Kentucky. So you throw the uniqueness of the talent and how good this league is, and then you bring Kentucky into every environment, which enhances it even more. You know, we're we're the we got the toughest schedule in the SEC just because we are Kentucky.

And I just hope that we can really take care of our been at home and then steal a few on the road. That's what you want to do in conference play, and so that that's the test and to go I think markas going into this SEC season, you.