From border to border across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. This is Big Blue Insider. Talk to Tick Gabriel. Call eight five nine two eight zero cats that's eight five nine two eight zero to two eight seven. Or state wide that's one eight hundred six oh six came that's one eight hundred six oh six four two sixty three. Or you can tweet the show. That's Big Blue Insider one. Now here's Tick Gabriel.
Hell Everyboddy to the facilities of the iHeartMedia megaplex. This is Dick Gabriel. This is the state wide edition of the Big Blue Insider. We had the week off last.
Week, so we're gonna get caught up.
You've heard the comments from Mark Pope, Kenny Brooks. Tonight, Aaron Gershawan back from Austin, Texas. We'll talk Kentucky basketball, a little bit of football, and the go Big Blues brother in the house us here on the state why BBI, Border to border. It is the fab Blo Insider. Dick Abriel joined my eron Gershawan. Somebody left the door open and Billy rud Ledge slipped out. So Bo Robinson is pushing all the buttons. Tonight, one of the go big
Blues Brothers. We'll come back to that though. It's an important weekend for Blues Brothers fans. But Aaron, who did not make the Texas football trip because well, season was kind of broken down by this. But this was an important game for the Wildcats, and you know, I have a feeling eron well, I know that on Selection Sunday, we will look back we being the media and probably fans too, at games like this one. Yes, and there
have been more than one. Yep, when you wonder about why is Kentucky a filling the blank seed and not a whatever seed with all the big wins, Yep, it's these losses the damage.
You Yeah, especially like look, you're gonna have an Unfortunately it came on a night that was so emotional. You're gonna have knights like Arkansas where you just don't play well and you lose. You're gonna have nights like Ohio State where you just stink. But it's the van the way they lost at Vanderbilt where they came back and took an eight point lead and choked it, and the way that it fell apart here in Austin in the
last game. Yeah, they took multiple leads, and it was I mean, they started the game hot, nine to two, run back and forth first half, take a four point lead in a halftime, came out of the gates pretty hot. In the second half. They were back up I think by seven when all Minor hit that corner.
Three.
Texas comes back. But then Kentucky's up five with three point fifty left, and a lot of people were unhappy with me on the good old Twitter because I posted after the game that really, you can't this game is not because they didn't have Jackson Robinson and Lamont Butler. And I'm not at all diminishing the fact that you're without Lamont Butler's best your point guard, your best defense player, and Jackson Robinson your best all around shooter. But they
had the game won. And I'll tell you being there in the building something that may not have been showed on TV is Texas the body language was not good. Really, yeah, it was not. They kind of seemed like never came up. They looked pretty defeated when Kentucky went back up by five, especially after I think it was Omari had the n one. Well,
there's a time out. The cameras follows the team then right, so the and won by Amari that he ends up missing the free throw and then they called the lane violation that wasn't but after that Texas looked pretty dejected. I thought, even if you even when he missed the free throw in the lane, I was like, I think they have them where they want them. I think they're going to pull it out. But they just it was
all preventable mistakes they didn't. I mean, the they gave up the quick layup and one right after the Amari the Amari lane violation, they have an awful turnover where they're after Otega misses a free throw, they're up by one, uh awful entry pass turnover by Travis Perry, and then that turns into foul where Perry ends up fouling to stop a break. Johnson gets to the line, he misses the second and you're like, and he's so automatic that it was almost as if Amari Williams was like, he's
not gonna miss I'm not even gonna block out. Well, he misses, Johnson gets his own rebound, misses the put back, and then another Texas player gets the rebound. Dunks at home, and that felt like in the middle of four among four Blue Jersey. Yes, just not terrible execution. And maybe and it's not an excuse because these are, you know, world class college basketball players, but I don't know if that's basketball. No, I'm saying this one like maybe they got fatigued, but still exactly got a.
Box their team.
No, you have to have exactly they were without two starters two which is something that was not taken into a camp a Kentucky fan, so very much a preventable loss to into something we were talking about off air Trey Johnson stud top five pick Tremon Mark Kentucky killer the last two years.
Other than that, it's not a very good text.
They really aren't.
Uh.
And your tweet when I saw it, I immediately said, yep, yep, Uh, it doesn't surprise me. People weren't happy with you.
No, and but that's just what I was about to show up my column on it because you tweeted that before. Mark post Absolutely, he said when he was asked like it, did you know the angle that Ben Roberts took was the fatigue play a factor? It's a fair question, and he was like, we're not going to have a space for that way really good players and to his point.
You know, Travis Perry, the turnover stunk, but he stepped up and played some valuable minutes and did some big shots and tryan Noah had a really deep three again at six rebounds at you know, six six whatever he is. So you had guys step up to where for thirty six minutes you were the better team without your two lead guards.
But you let go of their open the four minutes that matters, right.
I had never heard that expression until Cali Perry got here, and now I find it popping in Yeah, popping into my head all the time, and it's exactly what happened.
Yeah, Trendonah. By the way, fifty to fifty balls.
Oh, very entertaining is Yeah, he works his butt off. Yeah, that's the type of play. That's what makes a guy like him, not only the fact he's from you know, Harlan County, but that's what makes it. He dad at Harlan County. Yes he did, but it makes you a fan favorite even if he weren't from Kentucky. If anyone that dives on the floor like that is so aggressive on fifty to fifty balls, he plays unafraid, which is both with that and the threes. He takes just ridiculous
shots that he is making at a high rate. So you know, he gave them what they needed. Amari Williams had an excellent game outside of the end there with the boxing out issues and you know, take away wasn't great, but he still scored twenty points. It's like, you gotta win that game.
Tell you a great fifty to fifty moment. Fifty to fifty ball moment. Go an old guy on you.
All right, you know who Chuck Hay is. Yes, right, you.
Are a student of Kentucky basketball. His first game and they put him in, he comes off the bench, there was a fifty to fifty ball that was flying at of bounds. Chuck has laid out like a receiver to go after that. But like he was actually like a lineman trying to recover a fumble. But I mean he dove and it turned out to be out of bounds, you know, but the fans went crazy for it. And from that point on, he was the patron saint of
fifty to fifty balls at Kentucky, and he set an example. Yes, you know, there were some factionalism on one or two of his teams, but you know, the guys in the Chuck Hayes camp they were.
Fifty to fifty guys as well.
Yeah, it makes a huge difference, especially right now when you're shorthanded. Those are the little things in games. So and they did against Tennessee. They were very scrappy in that Tennessee game, I thought, and even in this game, I didn't think they were terrible defensively in this game. I think Trag Johnson's just he does that to everybody. And then Tremon Mark had a great game, and I thought even some of the defense on him wasn't terrible. It was just to me more so.
The four organ It just goes back to those last fours.
I wondered about helpside defense on Johnson when he turned a corner head for the basket, and he's good enough. He probably would have scored anyway. Matter, No, probably didn't.
But no, I mean, look, I mean I thought Trent no it did an admirable job. I mean they only I think he only made one three. I think they held him in check from three for the most part.
That's not a three point shooting team.
No, No, but I'm talking about Johnson himself, right, I think, right, he only hit one. Uh, you know, I thought, you know, Colin Chandler got on him for possession. He struggled to Andrew Carr, they put him on him. That didn't go well. But look, he's a that's a top five pick. That's I mean, he's the leading scorer in the SEC as a freshman.
Andrew Carr still doesn't look No, clearly he's not one hundred percent.
Yeah, it looks better, but he's not on.
Yeah.
But I just wonder where he is because you know, it's interesting every time I see him struggle. I think back to the first handful of games when he was really playing well. Jackson Robinson was trying to find his way, and I remember a lot of people, myself included, thought this team will.
Go as Andrew Carr goes. Sure, and some of the national heads thought the same. He won them the Duke game down the stretch exactly, but that wasn't the only There were stretches in other games. Sure, and now this team has chored and blossomed and all that. Meanwhile, he's hurt and struggling.
He is, so whatever they can get back from him, whatever else but me and a back injury.
Back injury is tough and he's already not you know, coming into this season, defense wasn't necessarily his calling card. And that's more the issues are on the mind. I mean, they're still finishing at the room, okay. And I actually thought, you know, when I thought they were going to win the game. The two plays I had circled were, of course, a Mario Williams sitting a three. It was like, how
do you lose a game where you get that? First of all, but no, And then the other one where I think it was early in the second half, might have been late in the first where Carr kind of dives on the floor for a loose ball and he's kind of looked like he was stuck and he was able to kind of maintain a dribble. There's a great play. Yeah, And he got up and he drew a foul and
he made both free throws. Like those were the type of we were talking about the scrapping its Trentonoah, Like, those are the type of plays when you're short handed when you basketball games. And I was kind of gonna write about those type of things after the game, but unfortunately they gave me something more negative.
Throw it up, Jimmy Dike's mentioned and I told you earlier. I listened to Tom and Jack in the first half, listened to TV in the second half, which I usually try to do because people end up complaining about something that. You know, whoever did the game said, I want to be able to speak to that. But anyhow, he mentioned how smart it was for Car, a veteran player, to start dribbling the ball before he got up, because most
people don't. And I got to admit, I know that when somebody's on the floor like that and they're rolling.
And you hear so many people, oh's that not walking, Well it's not ever.
But here, you know, people don't understand the rule. But the rule is trying to advance the ball.
Uh. And I've always you know, I've been told by.
A referee, if you try to get up, you know, and you've established a pivot foot, now that's travel.
But not if you're dribbling, you know. And that was such a smart play. It was a great play Car.
Yeah.
And you know, again, those they made, that's what was so frustrating about it. They made a lot of winning plays and had a lot of winning uh segments, But those last four minutes were some of the worst basketball they've played all year.
And that's why. Uh, you know, I saw it on TV.
I didn't really see it in lifetime because at that point in the game, your head down on your computer trying to get your buzzer work done. But uh, that was as animated as angry as I've seen Mark Pope look really. Yeah, there's a clip going around. Uh he was pissed off, and yeah, I get why.
Well, I saw him more than once looking pretty angry on the shot and I don't remember which which place.
They were down by six with thirty four seconds aft, they threw it away on an inbounds pass.
Yeah, that was particularly bad, ugly.
One of the things that you and I discussed when we first sat down we're talking Aaron Gershan of the Gash Boss, was you offered your response and reaction to the arena.
Oh gosh awesome.
Yeah, I was joking, like, can we we get the SEC tournament here?
Something you can get us here more often? It I mean, it's a brand.
I think it's three or four years old, and they'd host a lot of concerts and it it kind of has an NBA vibe to it outside, like they have a lot of things going on, like festivities. They have like a green space that kind of looks like those football fields that they set up at NFL stadiums.
There's just a lot going on.
And then you get inside and as you probably saw on TV, they have these ginormous beautiful screens around the entire upper level and they have you know, whether they have stats on them. They had the UT Texas softball game and baseball game going the whole time. It was really cool and really the whole time.
Yeah, and on.
One that's yeah, there's like nine ten sures, but really cool. And they had but anytime you won, you've can look up and yeah, super innovative. And then you had you know, all this crazy food options.
The media.
They had a media buffet with in this beautiful lounge room where there was literally couches to sit in. They had coffee makers and all this great stuff. They took care of us, So shout out to It's always bigger in Texas, I guess, but it's also brand new, so you know, really cool place watch a game.
When I worked in Dallas with the Football Radio Network, one of our assignments per Jim Host, and he sold the league on this we're going to try to help all sports, including basketball. Obviously, the basketball coaches loved to hear that, and we had a weekly show for when all the coaches rotated. The only coach you wouldn't participate Eddie Sutton at Arkansas. But anyhow, the one school I was told that had a really good basketball facility Texas. I was told it was the best in the league.
And that's the one that's history now. Yes, but so they've always kind of had an eye on.
I mean, look they've they're not known for it, but they've had some really good years and some really good players come through. Kevin Durant is the one that comes to mind, and some really good coaches too. So yeah, it was a first class environment. Experienced a lot of Kentucky fans there he felt bad for. I don't know if they traveled. Most of them probably is live in the area. I mean, Austin has become I don't know if it's the most popular city to move to right now,
but it's got to be up there. And tons of UK fans that that made their themselves present. And estimate thirty percent of the arena thirty I put it at thirty percent and it might be a little biased because the whole media section we were like in a UK like section one twenty three where the media is there was like all blue, and then that whole side like it felt like our whole like three four sections over
all blue. It was very It was a really good showing and they were the fans that were there early. You know, Texas's Student Center showed out.
It was it was. It was if it wasn't sold that, it was pretty close.
TV and radio both conveyed that the crowd was great, card was great. Well, take a break, come back and talk about where this puts the Wildcats in terms of, you know, the NC tournament. Why not they just released a bracketing back when more in just a minute here on the state wide BBI.
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From Pikevil Superdoka.
It is a big Blue Insider. Did Gabriel Aarreyn Gershan of the Cat's Pause Billy Rutlis with a night off Old Robinson's City in one of the Go Big Blues Brothers And it's been a big weekend for Saturday Night Live fans and Blues Brothers fans. So we'll get to bo and a little while and talk about the guys who absolutely inspired the Go Big Blues Brothers. But Aaron and I are talking about Kentucky's loss. He was down there in Austin when the Wildcat lost Texas damaging loss.
And this comes right after that Tennessee game, and that brings us and this has happened.
More than once this year. Week it feels like they win a game.
Honestly, I thought, no, they're not going to beat Tennessee because they they're missing too many key people. Yep, and Tennessee's pissed off from what happened last time. They will not shoot forty five threes. They will not hand opportunities to the Wildcats, which they did not. But Kentucky played really well.
It was the same game except the forty five threes. Kentucky shi same exact mark from three.
Exactly, and then gave it back with the loss. Yes, to come from a head loss, and those are the most frustrating.
Yeah, I mean it goes back to that week in December where Clemson, it's turned out they're pretty good, but you lose the Clemson, you beaton Zaga you I think it was Georgia lost down there, and then you beat Mississippi State and look how bad George's played since then. It's there's a lot of these weeks this season it's.
Gone mentioned a game they gave back. Yeah, that was a yeah, that was coming off of bye.
Just such a weird year where it seems like it it seems like it's as simple as they play up to their competition and then they play down, which could be right, but you buy it a little bit. But
I think it's there's a little more to it. I was trying to that was kind of had a lot of time at the Austin Airport on Sunday, just with a late afternoon flight and hotel checkout and not much to do Austin Marathon couldn't get back downtown, so I was looking through trying to find some similarities and the only thing I could find are teams that kind of have that go to bucket getter that you know, everyone says Kentucky doesn't have, and maybe they're right on that
they've really struggled, like Trey Johnson Jason Edwards for Vanderbilt.
Is one of them. There's one another one I'm missing.
Ason Newell's been that for Georgia where they they were teams that are more balanced, like Louisville has a bunch of different dudes who get it done. Florida has a bunch of different dudes to get it done. Tennessee's had to be more balanced because Lanier hasn't played very well a SEC play like they've done better with the teams
that are balanced. It almost feels like when there's a go to bucket together, either they well usually those bucket getters get them, but also it leaves someone else to kind of be off the scouting report that maybe they like Tremon Mark did at Texas or Grant Nelson. Did you know with Alabama and Mark Siers Grant Nelson went berserk had his best game of the year. So those have been ones. It's kind of been teams that actually, believe it or not, are not great offensive rebounding teams.
Like the ones that are really good, like A and M's the best. They beat them and held them in check. They won the battle on the boards that game. Offensive glass included Florida. They didn't play great on the boards, but they won the game. Louisville's one of the better offensive rebounding teams. They've played Tennessee. It's almost as if when it's on the scouting report they key in so
hard and get it done well. When it's not, Like Clemson and Texas are both in the high one hundreds in the country and offensive rebounding they both got fifteen, so it's almost as if, like it's not on the scouting report, they're not necessarily keyed in on it. And then the third one was teams with elite shooting big men.
I think the problem stopping a big bucket getter on the opposing team. Do you feel like Kentucky doesn't other than Lamont Butler doesn't have anybody who's even remote part of this to being an elite on ball defender.
Yeah, I think that's part of it. You know, Takeaway was supposed to kind of be that guy, and I think he hasn't quite been it, and I think that is part of it. And I also do think too though the scouting report has something to say about it, they are very information database team. There's no question about it. Mark Pope will tell you that straight up. And I think that that's a really good thing because you want to be prepared, and it's helped them in a lot
of games. But sometimes when you're so in your head about it, maybe it has a different effect. And I think these bucket getters maybe it's in their head a bit, and then they don't have the on ball defender or they key in so hard on them. Like I said, they're leaving someone else who's capable open, and that's kind of that happened against Texas Tremont. Mark kind of made the day difference in that game. Grant Nelson made the difference in the Alabama game. You're so key, you know
Mark Sears. So that's been a common thing. And then you know again, the other concerning thing these teams that have really that was another frustrating part of the Texas game is Arthur Kalma. Texas is starting four. He is a thirty nine percent three shooter at six eight, and those are the type of guys that Kentucky struggles with. Like we saw Big Z couldn't stop him. He's even taller, but you know, forward and having to come out and guard him. The kid from Vanderbilt. So they'll see again
Wednesday ninety nine. He's a six eight forward. He's a thirty eight percent three shooter. He went two for four against the Cats from three. A's a new weell down a. Georgia's six eleven projected a lottery pick when two to four from three. So they really struggled to guard these forwards who shoot the three. And I think part of that is just their forwards are not very good at getting out and covering face guarding, and that's what.
It takes, because I mean, you can get out on a six to eleven three point shooter. He ain't gonna drive around you, brother, right if you take the arc away from you, he's got a pass the ball.
Now.
Yeah, maybe he cuts after that and you don't want to lose him. I get that, because now he's going for a lob. But you know, to your point, you don't stand at their six feet away and dare him to shoot, yeah, because they're.
Going to kill you, right, And you look at like Tennessee doesn't. Actually, they do have that guy, and he kills them. Every time Millerchick has gone, he's been the only guy shooting well from three.
Against Kentucky, it.
Seemed like they came out second half Tennessee yeah, and thought, okay, we're going through a milicic and it worked.
It worked for till the first TV. It worked until actually it worked till the six minute mark and they took Milicick out of the game for defense. Ohah, can kind of Rick Barnes beat himself a little there. But yeah, I mean, look Florida, right, they don't have an elite shooting three, and I wonder elite shooting big man I wonder if that makes the difference in that Florida game if they had that.
Texas A and M.
Certain they're not a good three point shooting team period. They don't have anyone in their front court shooting above twenty five percent from three. I was looking at that yesterday like like that Kentucky matches up really well. That was another reason I like this Texas matchup going in where yes, they have the bucket geter in Johnson, but they don't have that three point thret threat from the from the front court. But they just choked in the
last four minutes. So now you've lost another game.
If you're Kentucky, one of a handful we've talked about that will cost you on selection Sunday.
Yeah, it is Quad one A. But still it's like it could have helped you big time. Oh yeah, and you know people are going to complain bitterly we won this game, we won that game. But on the other hand, they could be sub five hundred in the sec.
Yeah.
No, I mean what this Texas game does, It doesn't leave you any margin for error because the rest of their year I think it's split kind of they have Obviously they have the monsters in Alabama and Auburn and Missouri, even Looming, those are all Quad one A games, but they play Vandy is going to be a Quad two game here Wednesday. LSU at the end of the year is a Quad three game at home, and then the Oklahoma games Squad one. But they're in like the fifties,
you can't lose those. Become all three of those if you want to be a three seed, become must win us where you could probably have avoid you could probably had a slip up in one of the quad twos or oh yeah, but now they're all must win and you probably to be safe need to steal one of those big ones, whether it's at Alabama here against Auburn or atzoo.
Good luck with that. How do you guard anyone on Auburn?
And then Missouri they they're not a good defensive team, but they score in the hundreds too, So yeah, the margin of error has been kind of thrown out the window. And you're also more of a fan based thing. But you're in risk with the new SEC tournament format of playing on Wednesday, because nine through sixteen are playing on Wednesday.
Yeah, and that's it's gonna be harder to win a lot of people believe and I do too, the SEC tournament than the tournament.
Yeah, and you know there are definitely Like I was having a conversation with someone made a really good point where you have all these teams that are set in the tournament are going to be one in two seeds. Like if you get into a game with Florida and struggling, they might take their foot off the gas and you might get them that day. But if you want to win that tournament, you don't want to start on Wednesday. And you also, if you're Kentucky with all the injury issues,
you just don't want that at all. You almost hope you if you play on Wednesday, maybe win Wednesday Thursday and go home on Friday.
Like it's just it becomes top.
Did you have a chance at all?
I got about twenty seconds to see any of the Auburn Alabama game.
I did see a good amount of at Auburn. Just every time they're just good. Yeah, they're so good. And every time Alabama mitter round, Auburn.
Just put a botch on it. Exactly.
All right, We'll come back and talk more Kentucky basketball, a little football as well, and we'll visit with a Go bab Go Big Blues brother in just a minute here on a Stay Wide BBI, Stay Wide Big Blue and Saturday Kabrill Iren Gershin of the Cats Balls along with our studio producers and it is Bot Robinson wild Cats with a Wednesday game, which is a little unusual, but you know, with TV being what it is. But
now you're in a stretch run under Mark Pope. I keep reminding myself Aaron that preseason, Yeah, I was like so many people who said five hundred in the league, win a game or two in the SEC tournament, win a game in the NCAA tournament, and it would be you could consider this year a success. And yet we just got done talking about all the ups and downs. The ups of course getting everybody's hopes, so then the downs just just ice water in the face.
Yeah.
Look, and when you especially with the way they started, and you beat Duke, and you beat even with the lost of Gonzaga, beat are lost to Climbs, and you beatn Zaga and then you open SEC played by being a Florida team that now look up and they're number two in the country. You reshuffle the deck, you reset your expectations and I get it, man, and and I think you know what not to interrupt you. Yeah, I think that's fair, fair because it's you. They showed, here's
what they're capable to do. Absolutely, we can they had just last week, like, here's what they're Also, they'll proven they can beat anybody in the country just about. We'll see what has against Auburn in two weeks. But you know, they've beat all the number of two Florida right now. I think Duke is number three. They beat them, They shout Alabama on the ropes. They beat Tennessee twice, who's
number six, Like they can beat just about anyone. But they also are two and six against non ranked five themes. You know.
The one of the other things that frustrates man, it always has is people who and I'm talking Kentucky fans, people who look at the injury situation and say, well, that's just an excuse. Yeah no, no, it's talent. I would say, Talent matters. Sure, that's why we choose side in the schoolyard. That's why one kids picked first and
a kid like me is picked last. You know, Talent matters. Sure, But then they'll go down to Tennessee minus Lamont Butler and win and Tennessee up here and minus Jackson Robinson who had the game of a lifetime against Tennessee.
And no la Mont Butler for the most crucial stress yes and still win.
Yeah, and lead back to your original point, Lee Texas, as Pope said, for thirty six minutes, yep, minus fill in the blanks.
Yep.
They had the game won, they had it won, they had him on the ropes and they'd let go.
So and it wasn't like Texas, with all due respect, made incredible plays. Johnson is an incredible player, yes, but play those plays room routine, absolutely.
But I mean getting your own rebound on a free throw yep, Yeah, for the and then you know, not only did they get he get his own rebound, he then missed and they still got the rebound. So it's just it's little things, man, that all added up. And yeah, you're definitely going into the ear if you were to say, in this SEC you go nine to nine, maybe win two SEC tournament games, get to the second week, not necessarily the second week, and at least the second round.
You're probably signing up for it as a start. But when you have all those big wins. That's kind of like, all right, like we expect more, and I still think too, they're still a part of Big Blue Nation, And I get it where it's you look at the SEC and you're six and six and you don't quite understand, and it's like, how are these teams ahead of you? But boy is it changed, whether it's nil the big name coaches that are in this league now, it's a tough, tough,
tough league. And you know, do you want to be six and six?
No?
Because of the teams you've lost to, Like there's no reason you should have lost to Georgia this year, to Texas, even to Vanderbilt. But that's just life in this SEC. There are some really good teams that have the record they do. I mean, Mississippi State's have ranked been a ranked team pretty much from the from day one, and they're six and six in the league. I think will Miss is seven and five are also six and six
in the league. It's a it's a hard league. Tennessee's lost five league games and they're the number six team in America. At one point they were top ranked in the country. Yeah, exactly, and you know they're I think their losses are two to Kentucky, one to Florida, one to Auburn, and then the Vandy game. So it's just it's life in the Sea and he's a spoiler this year. Yeah, they've beaten Texas and or excuse me, they beat Texas too,
but they've been Tennessee and Kentucky and they look. I don't know if you saw Auburn got on up to a fifteen oh run to start the game against him last.
Week against Vandy, I didn't see it. And then Manny took the lead and they lost. They lost.
Everyone loses Auburn except for Duke and I think Florida. But yeah, like it's a tough league. I mean again, I don't. I think we're kind of seeing like Oklahoma's falling off. Texas has fallen off except for Saturday.
They kind of knew Oklahoma, I mean, it's thirteen and oh going in the league.
But who believed in them?
I didn't.
They're only big one, the Terrible.
Yeah.
Yeah, and they only got louisvillecause it was a tournament. Yeah.
So and yeah, so you know, Oklahoma's probably fallen out. Georgia is gonna fall out, Texas is probably going to end up making it, but Arkansas is right on the cusp, probably still going to miss it. And then you know, LSU and South Carolina kind of stink. But the rest league is really good and anyone could beat anybody.
And conversely, Yo, l fans are reveling in Kentucky struggles.
And they're getting playing in the worst acc Ever, that is not what Pat Kelsey's doing now. They you know, put them in this SEC. They're finishing where Arkansas is in my opinion probably you know, not that they haven't done a great jow.
Pack Kelsey is in a wonderful job.
You shouldn't go the year among the top five cookers along with Pope yep, along with Bruce Pearl. Bruce Pearl, even though Autun was expected.
To be good.
Yeah, and uh Vandy yeah, Mark Yeah, yeah, Byington and and toug Olden I think you got to throw but yeah, no, pack Elsie in Louisville, I've had a wonderful season.
But yeah, there's.
A reason they're still like thirty in the net when they have lost six games all year. It's because they played terrible opponents and they have a quad three whole quad the road loss. You know, hardest to have a quad three road loss. You's got to play a really bad team to lose to them.
So, like my little brother texted me after the win, he said, it's fun again. That's all he said, is it's fun again.
Yeah, no, no, just Likeeah, I'm happy for their fan. It's good to have both teams good, but they are. This is yeah, And I've seen some of them be like, well, Kentucky want a bunch of bad secs. That's true, but this year ain't a bad sea.
It's it's amazing and yeah, and it was even more interesting. Is it was very predictable or was let's say predicted. Yes, you know, it's just amazing the way I clearly, the portal, just the way everything came together. Wow, that team's going to be good. Wow, that team's gonna be good.
I guess the only surprises are how bad maybe South Carolina is, Yeah, the tournament team last year, Yeah, maybe people Arkansas, I mean, the coach of the year last year. Yes, lamon Paris, Arkansas, I think is the biggest surprise.
Yeah, in the league.
Although of late, Arkansas let one get away the other night. They sure did a and m They had a and m Yeah, the awesome Missouri on the other end of the spectrum, they were owen nineteen last year counting the SEC tournament, And you know, Missouri is kind of that state is kind of the head of the game in the NAL. That's why you've seen Eli Drinkwitz do what
he's done with the football program. Dennis Gates goes and spends big in the portal this year and they're in the top four I think in the league, in top fifteen in the country, and have one of the most official offenses in the country. Like Dennis Gates should be the SEC Coach of the Year, if not, if it's not Pope or Byington or one of the other ones. So are Golden Pearl And there's so many worthy candidates
it's insane. So it's just it's a great league. And you know, I saw a report today that LSU is sticking with Matt McMahon, the former Murray State coach, and they plan. They were the second lowest NIL spenders in the SEC this offseason, behind LSU, ahead of South Carolina, and they are committed to being a top spender. So look out, LC is gonna be really good next year.
That'll change.
You can set your watch by that kind of thing, or set your checkbook.
Yeah, that's just in this league.
And again there's so many good The fact that John cal Perry, who you look, he's a Hall of Fame co at the end of the day, say what you want about is on the court coaching nowaday is his name is near the bottom of the SEC is crazy.
That's how good this league is.
Yeah, yeah, but so much more was expected given the talent that he brought in. No question, they look and I do believe, well, it's obvious that when and this is not a knock on the kid, but when Boogie Flann went down, it forced him.
You were talking about more modern, you were talking about balance, and it caused them to spread things out a little more and made them a better team, which I guess you can look at Calipari and said, now, why is this happening? Credit to Caliperi for you know, their their success of late.
A m game.
Notwithstanding and by the way I gave him credit, he kind of lashed out a little bit. Did you see the sound bad him? Oh after the game? Yeah, whereas it's not okay? Yeah, yeah, good for him. Yeah, exactly.
That's what fans were hoping to see.
Yeah, exactly.
There's just about to say, why didn't you hear that here at Kentucky? But anyhow, Yeah, Boogie Flann goes down and everybody.
Else, yeah, pitches in. I think Wagner's playing better. As I've said on the show a million times, I've seen Nellie Davis play a ton because my brother goes to FAU and just looked lost those first two three months. And Boogie goes down and again you don't want to see that happen, but kind of lets him get back into that shot volume ron. I think people deferred to him, yeah, because he's so good right with Yeah, Janelle, just he's
a guy who needs the ball in his hands. Yeah, and he wasn't getting it simply enough, and Boogie being the league guard. But now that he has the ball and the Sands boars making things happen. So you know they're on the bubble for sure. They have to go to Auburn unfortunately for them on Wednesday.
But it's an interesting lesson and complimentary players complimentary with an e yes, guys who are good at playing around other guys who are better than they are and there's a skill to that, there's an art to putting a team together like that. But that's Arkansas was like an all star team, right, you know, just like Kentucky games in terms of recruiting, and that's what how do you hand the ball to one guy and say you're going to carry the load. Even if Caliberry.
Didn't intentionally do do that, that's what was happening.
Yep.
Yeah, And that's part of the reason on the other end, specimen you're seeing Kentucky struggle with right now, because they they were not a team they were built to be a team. They weren't didn't necessarily have that goat to guy that you know in the mott. It was going to go through the mott, but it wasn't necessarily going to be in his hands at the end of the guard.
That's a difference. He was going to be your quarterback. Yeah, and unfortunately he goes down, and then Jackson, your backup quarterback, goes down, and well, I guess Kirk Krees, so your backup quarterback goes down. Then Jackson Robinson moves from wide receiver to quarterbacks and goes down. And now you know Kobe, like Kobe Brayd a really tough game and back game. We've talked about it like this team is kind of goes how he goes. That's how it's been all year.
But you should have seen Texas was all. He just couldn't get free. And that's that's the things that hurt most when you're so shorthanded as they can key in on. They were like, we're not gonna let him beat us. Right when the Mott and Jaggarn are out there. They can't do that. You've got to kind of just put a body and hope for the best on Kobe. But now they can send two or three because they're not as scared of some of the other guys in the floor.
We'll take a break, come back and talk more Kentucky basketball, and we'll talk Blues Brothers as well. Here on the state Wide BBI Welcome Back, final segment of the State Wide BBI. Dick Gabriel Aren Gershan of the cast Pause coming.
Up Kentucky Vanderbilt Wednesday night. You hear the game on most of these same stations. I got to think that go big Blues Brothers will be there, am I right?
I think Brother Jake gives a little worried about being on work release in the weather for Wednesday night.
Yeah, yeah, it is.
We plan on being there before we get into the next segment here and what we want to talk about. Brother Jake text me after the Texas game Saturday night and he said, if you want to play in Texas, you got to have a point guard in the game.
Very good, very good. I like that? Is that?
Uh?
I'm trying to remember the band, the original group Alabama, That's what I thought.
Yeah, all right, all right.
We bring this up because the Go Big Blues Brothers have become thanks to Arman Bo and his brother, brother Jake, both plays ellwood a real fun part of Kentucky basketball. I guess you could call it a tradition, uh, if you want to put it that way. At least in terms of social media, you guys do a great job of popping up and making sure people know you're there. And you know, I know you used to love to pose with Joby Hall. You got Yeah, I think you all got a picture with Pope, didn't you.
We did at the New Area event at the Kentucky Horse Park in June, Okay, and then at Reperna at the and we talked about this a couple of weeks ago Arena during the press conference.
Oh yeah, yeah, who else? Who are some of the more famous figures with whom you've posed.
Well, Joe b Mark, Pope, We're still working on Patino, Larry Stamper, who's always at the gas and Larry Stamper is so great. He comes down, he talks to us, and it's not a quick thirty seconds, Hey, how you guys doing.
It's ten minutes.
He's talking to us, and it's about Kentucky basketball, and it's about making banana pudding, it's about fishing, and he's just so great.
To be around.
The seventy five reunion, I was about to ask, yeah, Marion Haskins nice, he was awesome.
Oh yeah, he was.
Jerry Hale was awesome, great, Bob Guyet.
We had to chase guy It down a little bit and I was apologizing to his wife. I'm like, I'm sorry, we're keeping you all here, but you know, this is kind of a once in a lifetime for us to get a couple of autographs, get a picture, get you in the band and everything. They're just laughing, having a great time with it. That made me feel really good.
Good.
Going back to Larry Stamper, his son came up to me a few weeks ago and he looked at me and he said, I just want to thank you guys for what you all do and being a part of my dad's I don't know legacy, leg just always including him and everything you all do. And I had to kind of stop a little bit and be like, wow, damn.
This, how long have you guys been the Blues brother twenty nineteen?
That what seems longer.
Part of that is we took the COVID year off reasons and everything, and then came back that following year. Yeah, I guess when you're there for every game, it does seem like we've just been there forever exactly.
You're part of the wallpaper over the weekend. Of course, Saturday Live celebrated his fiftieth anniversary, and I wasn't aware of this, and Bo and I were talking before.
Were you an SNL fan growing up? Aaron a little bit, especially when you know the sport Peyton Manning Eli Manning hosted and things like that. Peyton wanted a great oh god, great hosts, not just athlete you host and his United Way Football Game of the Kids is one of the greatest, one of the greatest film clips by SNL that has ever been created. And there was a lot of talk about how those came together and everything, and I paid us on interview with him, he said, you know, he
was kind of hesitant about it. It was a nerf football yes, about throwing it at kids because he knew it would look bad or whatever. And he you know, and this one kid, the one kid that he hit.
The guy's dad was like, oh, it was great, you know, and other parents are like, hey, throw in my kid.
I've been wanting to do this for years.
But what I really liked I set up is I didn't know the history and bo you might have known this of the Blues Brothers and why they got on the show, and it's it's in the special that they aired. But the guy who was so supportive of the Blue because Bluehi loved music and you know, there's a long story there, but bottom line is they had put that together the Blues Butter and Howard Shore, who was the original music director, loved so they get excited and they
take it too. I guess they put something on video or on film, took it to Lauren Michael as a producer and he said, I don't see anything funny about this, and.
They killed it. The Blues Brothers were done. You might not have been.
A go big Blues Brothers except for the fact that on show day late somebody comes up and says, the show's three minutes light. I mean, and when you're producing a live show, three minutes is an eternity. And Howard Shore said, let's use the Blues Brothers. And that's why they plugged them in. And I don't remember if it was at the end of the show or somewhere, because they had to strategically place acts and things like that based on costume changes and commercial breaks and stuff like that.
But that's how they originally got in and it just exploded.
It just took off.
It was earlier in that episode, kind of on the front end, not the open or anything like that. It was I think two sketches in is where the Blues Brothers made their debut doing Hay Bartender, and you had Paul Schaeffer as Don Kirshner introducing the Blues Brothers. I went back, yeah, and I believe he referred to him as Jolliet Jake and his Silent Brother Elwood. Yes, and I just thought that was great to see Paul Shaffer
like that. But he was in a lot of stuff now and he was musical director of the Blues Brothers band, So there's that connection there. But if you go back to the Killer Bees, yes, and you're right, this is where it starts. Yes, if you go back to the Killer Bees and go back to that first episode where they did be hospital and by the.
Way, Belushi hated being a bee, hated a costume.
And I went back and watched that today, and when you understand the folklore behind it and the fact that NBC hated the Bees, they told Lauren Michaels drop the Bees, and he wouldn't do it, just being Lauren Michaels.
I think you well.
January seventeenth, nineteen seventy six, they brought the Killer Bees in doing Slim Harpo's classic I'm a King Be, which is great, and they're dressed up buzzing baby. John Belushi's up there doing John Belushi things and doing backflips and everything.
So it kind of morphed out of I'm a King Bee into the Blues Brothers and going back to Belushi and the fact that he was in the heavy metal, he was in the Black Sabbath and Pulsapplin and all that, and Akroy had to kind of rein them in and say, hey, take a listen to this, And there was a band out of it was a huge blues a great student of rhythm and blues and soul music, and that's where I get it from. They were three minutes short and they had to get him in there, and they were
also used as kind of a warm up act. I didn't realize this until watching the documentaries on SNL, which I think has been great. They do a dress rehearsal at ten o'clock and then they start cutting things and making adjustments, and I thought it was fascinating in all
the documentaries that I've seen of SNL. And then they threw the Blues Brothers in and then Akrooyd wrote this like I don't know, it was like thirty thousand pages of the Blues Brother's story, and John Landa said, hey, we got to get this down before they did the movie, and everything.
From an act that was cut that was forgotten about, over and done with to one of the great comedies of all time.
And for my generation, the first time seeing the Blues Brothers on WG in Chicago and watching that movie. Yeah, that's how I got in blues. In rhythm and blues, I mean dand had all these great soul records, but just to really get down to the blues, it was Dan Akroyd, John Belucchi.
Well, and it's so great now when you see the video clip of soul Man from SNL and the guys behind him, the band behind them, you know, Matt Guitar, Murphy and then all those guys, mister wonderful.
Mister wonderful he was wrestler, mister fabulous.
That's right.
Uh, just fantastic. You know, the same guys. They're the guys dancing on the diner counter with Theretha Franklin singing Ray Charles songs.
Yeah, and I mean Steve Cropper ducked down those guys that were in Memphis playing on Green Onions and all those great soul tracks. They went right to the core and nailed it.
That's right. The backstory is always a little bit better than what you see up front.
Well, that's going to do it for now. We thank you for being with us. Aaron will be uh a courtside for there, at least.
Up in the Raptors with the rest of us.
That's right.
And then we'll come back next week and talk more Kentucky basketball. We'll get into baseball and football as well. I'll do it for now. That's a good night from Lexington.