Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Diay Gabriel with you on a Thursday edition our show abbreviated Tonight for UK women's basketball, the Wildcats taking on the Texas Longhorns at Historic Memorial Coliseum. Darren Hedrick will have the call for you.
Was pregame coming up at six forty five at Kenny Brooks and then the tip off minute or two after seven o'clock Cats and Longhorns Historic Memorial Coliseum, an historic game, Texas playing as a member of the SEC for the first time here in Lexington, and it's a huge game as the Wildcats are trying to bounce back from that puzzling loss down at Ole Miss when they just got hammered on the board, didn't play nearly enough physical basketball
to hold off the Rebels. Kentucky Blue big lead early and just could not make plays when it had to. So we'll see what kind of adjustments and changes that Kenny Brooks's team will have made, and we'll have it for you right here as Darren has the call coming up very shortly. But the UK men of course play at Texas on Saturday. Another one you'll hear right here on six thirty wlap, Tom and jack will have it
for you. Kentucky beats Tennessee despite not having Jackson Robinson, who had a huge game against the Balls down in Knoxville. And you know how good Tennessee is defensively, one of, if not the best, in the country. And yet the Wildcats and Jackson wasn't the only one. But the Cats had a great game offensively down there and made enough stops to win the game. So coming back this week, I wondered, minus Jackson Robinson but with Lamont Butler, could
the Wildcats beat Tennessee. I would not have been surprised if Kentucky had lost that game. Tennessee is just really good. And when Tennessee caught up and had a chance to catch up, you might recall, but you know, Kentucky took the early lead and it was, you know, a four to six eight point game, back and forth, and then Tennessee got close, and I think three times missed an opportunity to tie the game or take the lead. But finally it did. And when it did, I thought, okay,
and I think who was it? Chris Fisher, I think of two four to seven Sports tweeted that he was impressed because oftentimes when a team surrenders a lead, it just kind of and I'm paraphrasing, now's my term. Let's go with the rope a little bit, and the other team that caught up just kind of moves off, you know, eases a way to victory. I wondered if that would happen with this Kentucky team, but it did not, as
you know. And in fact, Kentucky was down sixty to fifty eight with a ball and I said to myself, they have got to score. I think they were like two and a half minutes left, and I thought, they have got to score here. Because as they give up a bucket at the other end, tennessee me get away from him and Kobe Bray comes down and drains a three, I mean, with somebody in his grill. And then later on he hits Oway with that lob dunk that really
sealed the game. That which is so impressive the way and by now they had lost Lamont Butler, so Oway was playing some point. I mean, it was so impressive the way that team pulled together. And I'll go back and we'll talk. Jack Givans is gonna join us tomorrow.
I love that comment. That Jack made early in the year, and I've come back to it because it's relevant so often that when things aren't going perfectly for this team, the players aren't all craning in their necks to see what the coach wants them to do, as they did in their previous management because the teams were often so young, and while they had young guys on the court, specifically Travis Perry, Trent Noah, the veterans on the court know what to do and they and what's expected and they
solve the problems themselves. I'm not saying they're not getting direction from Mark Pope, but they just didn't panic and they made plays. And that's what's just really interesting about watching this team, watching it grow, and it should be really interesting in the postseason to watch them adjust on the fly to learn game plans for teams they know nothing about yesterday and today we got a game plan for a team or playing tomorrow. That kind of thing.
That's what happens in the nca tournament. So this team is growing and maturing before our very eyes. But there are so many different storylines, including Butler being damaged again Jackson Robinson. You know when Mark Pope used the word a heartbroken after the game man. That sent a chill through me. I thought, are we going to see Jackson Robinson again? Are we going to see him before the tournament? If at all? But Kentucky's making adjustments, finding ways to win.
And I think as long as they have Butler, no disrespect to Robinson, they need him too. Wellout Butler, though, it's going to be really tough and that Rick Barnes talked about Kentucky's point guard, Well.
He's really good defensively, but also he gives him that. I mean, he's their best downhill driver and a guy that experience been around. I think I love the way he plays, you know, I really do. And he I hate that he got hurt again because those shoulders, they're hard to deal with this time of year, especially when you're at the point where you're getting hit a lot.
I just hate that for him and for them. But he's a difference maker because he want his tough, hard nose can't affect the game on both ends.
Is Rick Barnes, Tennessee's coach, talking about the veteran Lamont Butler, and as I mentioned earlier, Kentucky getting great play from the freshman Perry and Trent Noah, and I think we'll see even more of that down the stretch now as Mark Pope tries to figure out where, when, and how
to play these guys. And my buddy Jeff Drummond from Cat's Illustrated ask Kobe Brea about, you know, the notion that as of now they're not freshmen anymore, And to one degree, he's right, and that they've played more basketball when you factor in pick up games and practices now than they ever have in their entire lives. Because then I've heard so many coaches and players talk about this high school to college. There's just so much more. Games
are longer, practices are longer. So they're reaching a point and Caliperi used to talk about guys hitting the wall. Doesn't look like the freshmen for Kentucky are right now, but they are still freshmen, and that they're experiencing everything. And I keep saying this for the first time. You know, I don't buy well their sophomores, but no, they have never experienced a stretch run to a conference tournament or the NCAAA. Yeah, they've played in high school tournaments, not
the same. But I do like the way these guys are maturing, the young guys for the Wildcats, and Brea talked about the fact that they the veterans see the freshman every day in practice. They see how hard they work, and it's paying off.
For me personally, Like it's such a good feeling, just like it kind of feels like watching myself a little bit, just because I remember, you know, being in their shoes and going through those moments and having a big moment, big game like that, and it's just like, like I said, man, those guys they put in the work, So just to see them, you know, see the word payoff, like I think thing is going to give them a lot more confidence and just you know, make sure that they keep going.
They are playing with confidence. And I thought about this as much with Trent no as I did Travis Perry, but watching Noah do his thing. The other day, I flashed back to the State championships the week of the State championships last year, the state tournament because I got a chance. The baseball schedule worked out to where I could go to just about every session, and I watched Tren Noah make Rupperena his personal play thing, and so did Travis Perry, but Noah, especially because Noah is a
big guy. He's somewhere between sixty six and sixty seven, legit, and he carries some muscle. He's got muscle on that frame, and he basically muscled his way through the Sweet sixteen. Perry a little bit more of a finesse player, good passer, good shooter, obviously great scorer, but Noah just basically imposed
his will on opponents. And watching him play the other night, he looked so confident, relaxing at ease in Rupperena, and I thought, well, why not, because yeah, he's played a few games, but coming into this season, he knew that playing surface, he knew that building that was home for him for almost a week, and he played that way, played that way against Tennessee and again, Bray and the veterans love to see it. And they also loved when
Perry and Noah hit three pointers. The crowd reaction is a little bit different from when the veterans they had of towners might hit a three. Why not.
It's a different energy that you know gets into the arena and it's just like, rightfully, so you know he's from Kentucky. I'm sure he's like rewatched his moment like in his head over and over again, and just for him to have that, man, it's crazy. And like you said, man, like the arena gets super loud in there, and it's just a momentum shifting for us.
You know.
It's like he hits a shy, everybody goes wid and now you gotta keep on going. So it definitely gives us a lot of energy.
And you know, if you've been in reparenda this year, when the ball swings around, I love the crowd reaction to when it finds either Noah or Perry if they're on the perimeter or Brea in what looks like could be a position to shoot the basketball. The crowd because the hopes rise, don't they hear the oh, you know, like he's gonna shoot it, you know, and then they pass and it's almost like, you know, especially if there's an opportunity there, if the crowd fans think that they've
missed an open shot. But generally, if they swing the ball one more time, somebody's got a better shot. But again, that's part of the fun for this team. So it's really interesting to hear the comments from the veterans watching the freshmen and they're hard work paying off. Coming up next, we're gonna hear from a couple of the ESPN guys talk about just how strong the Southeastern Conference is. That has been the mantra since before the season even began,
not just conference play, but the entire season. It looked that way and it certainly has been an incredible year already for the SEC. A little bit later on, well, help from another one of the members of the seventy four to seventy five team who came through town this past week, Mike Flynn will join us and we'll get his thoughts on how that team pulled together and made a Final Four run and got the cast that within
one win him another national championship. So that's coming up, and then we'll make way for UK basketball here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Coming up Saturday, the Wildcats taking on Texas down in Austin the game you will hear right here on six thirty WLAP. Kentucky will not win the SEC championship. We know that the regular season could win the SEC tournament. And one of the things I will not miss about John Caliperi and Arkansas people will have to deal with
this as well. His whining about the SEC tournament. And you recall every time Can Chucky would go into a tournament, especially when the Cats were favored to win it, it doesn't matter if we win it or not. Look, you knew that going in, and I've said it so many times. The SEC, if it really cares about its teams, would move the championship game to Saturday. So maybe maybe winning
the championship on a Saturday wouldn't matter. It definitely doesn't matter much unless an underdog pulls off a huge upset on Sunday because they've got the tournament seeded and for the most part, bracketed by Friday. We've been told this for years, but yeah, the conference tournaments make money, they bring in eyeballs, all that stuff. I'd be fine if they did away with all of them. But I understand why the smaller conferences like them. They're one shot at
being on ESPN. But right now, teams are playing for the bracketing, especially when they are buys involved or double buyes involved, so vital of course for everybody to win every game they can. And you know, the Wildcats are no exception. It's gonna be tough. It's a good Texas team, not a great Texas team, and Kentucky likely won't have
Jackson Robinson. We won't know for a while if they'll have Lamont Butler, but you heard Rick Barnes talk about Butler in the first segment, and I don't think Kentucky can go far without him quite frankly, So got to keep him healthy, even if it means holding him for a game or two. You need him down the stretch obviously, So we'll have it for you right here on six thirty WLAP Tomorrow. Jack Gibbons is going to join us on the show and preview that game you heard him
on with Tom Leech earlier today. But I have other questions for Jack about the Wildcats went over Tennessee, particularly how much fun Jack had, because trust me, he loves to be Tennessee. So that'll be on tomorrow night's show. But tonight we've got comments that we borrowed from ESPN from the Get Up Show. You might have seen this, but kyral Ravitsch and Jay Billis appeared on the show, and of course you see them on coverage of SEC basketball.
They talked about Lenardi's bracketology that actually was updated last on February eleventh. All right, that was two days ago, and that was prior to Kentucky's win over Tennessee, and prior to the Balls losing that game, they were a one seed. Might still be for all I know according to Joe Lonardi. But in the latest brackets that Leonardi had put out three SEC teams or one seeds Alabama, Auburn,
and Tennessee. Maybe that changes after this weekend when Alabama and Auburn square off, but he is predicting what will happen on Selection Sunday, and even if those one of those two teams obviously will lose, but they may end up still in a few weeks being a one sea. And so my Tennessee as one of, if not the
best defensive team in the country. You know, Tennessee's going to be a tough out, But just watching that team struggle to score against Kentucky and making bad decisions against the Kentucky team, it's okay defensively, but not one of the best in the country by any means, And according to the latest Ken Pom, in the low eighties. Now when it comes to defense, I just would not take Tennessee as a one seed right now, but you never know.
The walls may jump up in surprise es. But Ravits and Billis both talked about how relatively strong the Southeastern Conference is this season, and it's something that everybody who's followed college basketball has known since before the season even began. Ravits goes first, and then Billis.
Now, I don't think we've seen anything like it in terms of depth, in terms of quality, depth and national championship contenders. Now, those three teams that are on the one line right now are three that I think could win.
The national championship.
The others are all good teams, are capable of upsetting highly ranked teams, are capable.
Of making deep runs.
But all of them to me, other than Auburn, Alabama, and Florida have some offensive liabilities and can go in offington wells. I think it hurt them, you know, over the course of a long tournament. But I think the depth in the competitive character of the entire conference is really as good, if not better than anything we've ever seen.
Jay you.
It's it's the best basketball conference top to bottom relative to the field that we have ever seen. They put up numbers that compare favorably to the mid eighties and the ACC. But people forget the ACC had eight teams back then. It's a lot easier to have eight good teams than it is to have sixteen, and it has been remarkable now. But that doesn't mean that Houston or Duke can't win the national championship.
Nobody's saying that, you.
Know, because the SEC is the best conference that automatically they're going to have the entire Elite eight or the entire Final four. That's not what anybody's saying. But no other league can match what the SEC has done this year, and historically it matches what any other league has done. Ever, I think it's the most powerful league top to bottom that we've ever seen relative.
To the field.
And again that's courtesy of ESPN's Get Up program from the other day. I give Ravas credit. He took the hit on Twitter tweeted it out sometime within the last twenty four hours. He was another guy who went on the air and was kind of knocking the notion that the SEC was so strong because he quoted a number of games that SEC teams had played in total, and then remarked about how the overall record for SEC teams was exactly five hundred. Well, duh, one team's gonna win
and one's gonna lose every night. And somebody else is said that a couple of weeks ago. And that's what amazed me about Ravage is that somebody else had made that same mistake and caught some flag for it on social media, and Ravag, I guess didn't see it, didn't notice because he said the same thing. But he went on to Twitter and said he was on a plane for four hours and when he got off, he saw the response to his remarks and he said, yeah, I
I was wrong. He said, I'm always glad to be basically I'm paraphrasing, but you know, happy to learn from my mistakes, and I appreciate it. And da da da da dah. But that's what amazed me the most. Somebody else had already taken that hit, and Ravage took it as well. And he never said anything, apparently to anybody else, like, hey, can you believe x y Z? And Billis is a smart guy. If he had said it to Billis, I'm sure Jay would have said, uh, yeah, that's the way
it works. So yeah, But I give I give Ravage credit for accepting the heat. All right, when we come back. We're here from another one of the members of the seventy four to seventy five Kentucky team honored this past weekend, the team that made it to the championship game fifty years ago, got the Wildcats to the final four, came back from a really difficult season the year before, and made some memories. That's up next, just ahead of Kentucky
women's basketball, the Wildcats taking on those Texas longhornge. You hear it right here on six point thirty WLAP. That's Jimmy dan Connor, All Conference Player, academic, All American. And I'm glad he told that story because I was going to After that North Carolina game, Joe Hall went to Bill Kyteley, went to the equipment guys, said, gimme Jimmy Dan's trunks and he had had them so a star on it that signified him as the team captain four
games into the season. He did that in thirty seven minutes. In that game, Jimmy Dan scored thirty five points on only twenty one shots. He was fifteen of twenty one and most from the outside As I recall, that game was in Freedom Hall in Louisville. I wasn't there, but I watched the delayed telecast. Thirty five points and four assists for Jimmy Dan in that game, and again Kentucky had to come from behind to win it, so that was fun. He ended up with one hundred and six assists.
That's the exact same number as Mike Flynn, his running mate in the back court, who had a huge game against Indiana and was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, the headline being the Wildcats crashed the Final four. Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider final segment of our shows. We're gonna make way for Darren Heddrick pre game coverage of Kentucky women's basketball to stretch run for Kenny Brooks team in the regular season they take on
those Texas Longhorns. Darren, I'll have a call for you chip off a little after seven, so pregame coming up in just a few minutes. Yesterday we heard from a couple of members of the seventy four to seventy five team that was honored at the South Carolina Again, that seems like such a long time ago. After that win
over Tennessee. But last Saturday, the seventy four to seventy five team that made it to the championship game the Final Four in San Diego, losing the UCLA honored at the UK Game celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of that special season. Yesterday we heard from Jimmy dan connor, the team captain,
Marion Haskins, one of the key reserves. Today, I want to share with you my conversation with Mike Flynn and a guy who you might recall if you remember that upset win over Indiana in the regional championship, had a huge game in the win over the team from his home state. He's from Jeffersonville. Chose to go to Kentucky not IU, and it turned out okay for him because he ends up with his picture on the cover of Sports Illustrated after that upset win, the headline being the
Wildcats crashed the Final four. Mike was one of my favorite all time players, a tough, gritty guard from Indiana who played for Kentucky. He was a job just like Jimmy Dan a joby Hall kind of player. Went on to play in the ABA for the Pacers. His hometown team or his home state team. Had a chance to talk to Mike Flynn the other day. Well, Mike, what does it meant to you to get back and see your teammates on a day like this.
Well, it's wonderful to come back and see all the guys. It's a shame that some of them couldn't make it. It's a shame that some of them have passed away. But it's all been a great time and I really enjoyed it.
You guys knew the ups and downs. You were conference champs and then you struggled through a five hundred year, but you hit the Final four. I mean, you experienced it all we did.
We went up and down.
I mean, first, you know, we had the undefeated freshman team, the super Kittens, because we weren't allowed to play varsity that year.
And then our sophomore year we had a great year.
And Indiana beat us in the Elite eight game down in Nashville. I'll never forget that, and they got to go Final four and they got beat by UCLA and Bill Walker. But then, yeah, then our junior year was our down year. We just didn't have much size. You know, Bob guy at six eight was playing center, and Greevy was our six to five power forward. So then Joe b went out and got Rick Roby and Mike Phillips and James Lee and Jack Gibbons. So then the next
year we had a tremendous team. And I'm convinced that if Johnny Wooden wouldn't announce his retirement and.
We would have beat that UCLA team.
I mean, they played a great game against this We played a good game, but they were just a little better.
But a lot of people don't realize this.
Louisll had UCLA beat in the semi final game and Louis will split it up, turned it over and Terry Hirer, who made twenty eight free throws in a row, he misses a free throw which was crucial in front of end of a bonus. But yeah, we should have been playing Louisville for the national title. But yeah, but we had a great career. Yeah, great time.
Yep. You guys. You mentioned the super Kittens, and as we said, you experienced so much in four years and now that just doesn't happen anymore. I know you're excited for young men to get to the league. You played pro ball, but do you feel bad for them that they don't get to experience the kinds of things that you guys do growing together as a group.
Yeah, I think it's important those four years, all the bonding you do with all the guys and become great friends. And also you're getting an education and your college degree. I mean, I think all of us got are degrees. But I understand some of these guys that they're so good and they want to get to the league and start making the money. I understand that. I have no problem with that. But yeah, a lot of them do
that nowadays. But a lot nowadays guys are getting that nil money and plus the college the power of colleges conference colleges, they can start paying these guys like over twenty million dollars a year between the football and basketball players who generate the revenue. And that's all good thing because I believe that these athletes they deserve a taste, they deserve a slice because they're generating the revenue and they some of them should should get paid.
You know what it's like to be a part of something special in college basketball because you.
Played at Kentucky.
You played Indiana high school ball too, But now college basketball is so big now.
Across the country.
What's your take on that that everybody now knows what you guys do all along.
Yeah, basketball is not only big across the country, it's big throughout the world.
I mean, it's probably the it's the second the.
Most popular sport in the world now, of course behind soccer. Soccer is still number one over in Europe and other places. But yeah, it's grown so much, and some of the best players in the NBA are from Europe in foreign countries.
Now, it's just amazing how the game has exploded. It's so popular now. So yeah, I'm proud of it. That's like that, it's all it's all good.
You played in the old ABA and then is so They said more than once that the AVA seems to be more popular now than it was when you guys were playing. But what are your what are your memories of that? Because you got to go back home and play in Indiana, Yeah, I.
Got to go.
I was drafted by Philly in the NBA and the Pacers in the a B at the time, and I felt like I had a better chance making the uh Indiana Pacers, and so I went there and unfortunately I made the team and I got to play one year in the ABA before we merged with the NBA, and you know, we had a three point shot back then, yeah, hey, And back then it was like a novelithy shopping shot. You might take five or six threes a game. And then you look at today. You got the Celtics taking fifty threes a game.
So that has changed tremendous. So they're better or worse. Well, in some ways it's good.
In some ways it's bad because these analytic guys, the nerds, they understand that three is.
Worth more than two.
So if you put up a lot of threes and it hit a good percentage of them, it's it's a good.
Thing, depending who's taking them, right, Yeah.
I mean the best shot in basketball is still the dunk or layup.
Are getting fouled and on the free throw line, and then the next best shot is a three pointer. The worst shot is the long two pointer, but sometimes you got to take it. Sometimes you got to take the long toos.
But it's changed.
Yeah, as we speak on a Saturday, you guys were honored at the game, which was great, Kentucky gets a big win. What were your thoughts when one of you guys, a former player got the job when Mark Pope took over, because boy was a shocker when Cali Perry left.
Yeah, it was a shock to everybody. But I think he's the right to fit at the right time. They Kentucky needed to change and he understands the modern offense of shooting threes and I like the way he runs it off his offense and it looked like today they played better at defense.
Maybe it was because he was playing South Carolina. I don't know. But a quick story about Mark Pope.
Remember Lynn Nance, he was our assistant coach and he was the head coach out of Orshington.
And Mark Pope played for him. Mark sim with him, that's right.
And before he transferred the Kentucky Lynn Nance was recruiting my son BJ out of Jefferson Bill, who won the Indiana state championship for senior year.
And he had him out there for a visit and Mark Polpe was BJ's host.
Why he was there, that's Mike Flynn. Tomorrow will a visit with Jack Gibbons about that seventy four to seventy five team, But for now we'll make way for UK women's basketball. Kenny Brooks Wildcats against those Texas Longhorns. Darren Hedrick with a call comanov neck here on your home for UK Sports six thirty wlapp.
Doing anything to Batta, don't have to s at taps intact intending nating to theos