Hell everybody through the facilities of the iHeartMedia megaplexis is Dick Gabriel. This is the state wide edition of the Big Blue Insiety. He heard comments from Mark, Pope, Kenny Brooks. It's March madness, but yours truly, Aaron Gershon and Billy Rutledge stay with us for the state wide BBI Border to Border. It is the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel, Aaron Gershon and Billy Rutledge. Let's take care of Billy,
the most important part of the show. Happy birthday, mister Gershan, Thank you very much sharing your birthday with Tom Leach? How about that? Yeah?
Yeah, We've been texting back and forth and he was quizzing me on some Beatles music trivia, which I told him might fail.
So why was he quizzing you on Beatles.
Sixty four years for them? I don't know if today's their birthday too't.
Oh okay, but I thought I knew it was an interesting one. I know a lot about the Beatles, but I just watched he had another documentary about him. But anyhow, I'm not the guy to ask. Yeah, and uh, in all fairness, Aaron's catching up on the Mark Pope comments tonight because Pops took you to Jeff Ruby's right next
to awesome, ye, which is great. But Billy and I were talking off air a little bit, and you've seen some of the comments on Twitter about fans Billy with, you know, the velvet hammer, the big smile in their voice. But coach could just try doing this or that. I mean, this was classic coaches show stuff tonight, wasn't.
It's very It's very respectful by the respect the I love you, but we know there was a few of those coming after the beatdown against Auburn. Yeah, despite them being the number one team in the country, they did look great, Dick. I mean in what I saw on the game. I mean, since we missed the last eleven minutes. Have you ever seen anything like that in your years of television, Dick.
Of a game being knocked off? Yeah, probably, but not nothing like that. You talk about high profile. ABC buys the game from ESPN, which I still don't understand because they own ESPN, but I guess one side of the
hall pays the other side at all. Anyhow, they went to great lengths to not only get that game, but do some serious pre production and all that stuff, and they bring in the A team Showman and Billis and I was telling Aaron that, you know, I came home from baseball yesterday and I was watching a game so I could comment on it, and I'm looking at the timeline on my dvar and I'm like, wait, it says there's only twelve more minutes, and I'm like, oh yeah, and all of a sudden it goes blank and there's
a hockey screen and hockey. So, man, we heard about it. I was at baseball, but we heard about it. And our producer for the UK Baseball they're in Reperina right now. There's that brand new facility over there, and so we were seeing texts and hearing things about, oh, they switched to hockey, and people thought it was because the game was so bad. They're not that stupid. And immediately our producer, who was obviously, you know, connected to the people in Reperina,
said yeah, they had a fire. I'm like, oh goodness, I'll tell you what. No one was hurt, so that's good.
It was a blessing for all of us in attendance at rep Arena because it meant the officials could not go back to the monitor for a meaningless foul. Yeah, they tried three times and they were like, got no monitor.
Well again, we you know, we hear from Mark Pope about that somebody had brought it up. I'm glad you said that I did. But are there too many? Yeah, but you know it's not up to the officials to decide what is reviewed and how, because as we were talking prior to the show, there were games won and loss that should not have been including UK LSU three or four years ago. Yep, that's right. I was. That was one of the last games they went to as a fan. Yep. So boy that was God. That was
maybe fun. That was cool. That was the twenty eighteen nineteen. That was the Tyler hero year. Okay, So for people who don't remember LSU scored the winning bucket on basket interference, absolutely did. And we're all looking around, going they'll take that down. Yep, and we're all looking around and game over yep. And later on we got word because I don't think there was a pool reporter situation, but they said we couldn't by rule, we could not review that.
That's correct. Now they can now they can't. That's the Kentucky rule. Just like there were a couple of recruiting rules and were Billy Gillespie rules. That's a Kentucky rule, you know, and it's is it bad? Do you take that away? It's just because we had the same discussion to get it right, get it right. But if you only have the Mark Pope idea of one challenge, I think it should be two. I think what's the NBA? Does anyone know? I don't. I think it's one. I
think it's is it one? And then you win it? Yeah, I'm cool with that. I am.
I am definitely forgetting it right. But it's again you we were talking about before the show. Baseball first picture was at one o'clock. They were done before Kentucky Auburn, South Carolina, Arkansas tipped at one o'clock down in Columbia. It was a slaughtering. But besides the point that game ended forty seven minutes before Kentucky Auburn.
And I mean I was there, mind you, the fire in the truck didn't delay the game. The Kentucky no nobody knew. The first half took an hour and twenty five minutes. That's unaccepted. That can't happen. It's a bad product other way of speaking of an Arkansas game. Guess who didn't show for his postgame? Oh suppressed, first time this year, but sucker. Yeah.
Anyhow, Also, I was I was obviously in Oklahoma. Wasn't there a situation there where Texas A and M and Vanderbilt took so long in the last minute? Oh yeah that so Kentucky fans have seen like thirty one minutes of their team on TV.
In the last two days. Yeah, it was what billy ten minutes in.
That game didn't start on the TV until eleven minutes in, So I mean we were under ten minutes.
They held We saw it. They held tip off, Yes they did. It was a five minutes Yeah. Oh the game didn't tips on nine ten and Norman or eight ten Central Time. Yeah yeah, so I don't know. But what's the answer, you know, or do you let it go? Well?
There's also a lot of hostility towards these officials from college basketball fans because of Mark Pope's point that the all of the burden is on officials right now. If you were to give challenges to coaches, then you know, we could probably see a few more missed calls, but ultimately probably speed the game up by twenty thirty minutes, and I'm for that. I mean, we got what was it, two hours and forty minutes for this last one, So that has got to be improved in ESPN has got
to start scheduling better on TV if they're gonna slotting it. Yeh, yeah, the games are two and a half hours long. They're not two hours long, and so despite five minute slides, you're missing the beginnings of games if you don't know the streaming listen in.
That the schools. Would do schools agree to start their gamet half an hour later because of TV? Yeah? I don't know.
We know that ESPN's just trying to schedule as many as possible.
Oh sure, money, But does ESPN have the muscle to tell the schools you're going to be on and here's what time we've got you slated? Right? You know, we've selected your game for the eight to thirty time slot, not the eight o'clock time slot anymore, you know. So you know, my guess is the TV rules the roost because they're right in the checks.
Yeah, and I mean they're already slotted to a degree, right, so we would just be a more of a staggered start for exactly these games.
Yeah, and you know it's come down to this for the fans. Okay, do you want to wait twenty minutes to watch your beloved team tip off or miss the first ten minutes of the game? List' it? Yeah? Yeah, unless you have ESPN plus something about it. Yeah, you know. And there are people I refuse to use the app or I refuse to use see, well, that's fine. It's your choice, you know. But and if you if that helps you, you know, good on you. But anyway, back
to the game. My thought, and of course Aaron, you were up in the rafters and Billy, I don't know how much you had a chance to watch as you were managing the game listening the radio. I know you were listening, but I felt right away I thought, these guys are intimidated. Oh yeah, now you know it happened at a certain point. That was a ball game until there were five minutes left in the first half.
Yes, Kentucky, well, Kentucky had a I think they led for a whole nineteen seconds, but they cut it down to six.
I think they felt you had pined by sixteen.
Yeah, well, Miles Kelly, and this took the year out of both the building in Kentucky. He goes finishes nine for fourteen, thirty points, a wonderful game. He also banks two threes, not just banked them on back to back possessions off.
Balance off seventy.
Yeah, he was fall literally he was falling. It was like are you tripping? No, throwing it in the basket from thirty feet out. But so you could just tell the energy from the team got zapped a little bit. They were definitely and I think something that needs It's not an excuse, but I think something that needs to get overlooked. And it sounded like Mark Pope talked about in his show Jackson Robinson. It sounded like, not only was it an injury and knew what happened in the
moment was very emotional for the whole team. I think what you say described him as inconsolable. So I think that's something they didn't get back from Norman to like three am, and they Thursday morning and having that deflating news probably already was weighing on them. And then to come out in this game. The energy is great, You're getting some stops early. I think it was only five four five to four at the first stop, and then a kid comes in and hits two circuit shots.
But meanwhile Kentucky was playing some of the worst basketball. Terrible it has all I thought the game turnovers just ugly turn the first I mean the first six minutes of the first half, second half, excuse me, they had six unforced turnovers.
Yeah, and I questioned the game plan a little bit. I don't know if it was the game planner, if it was the nerves. But they their game plan in this game, which we've heard all year, we're gonna shoot thirty five threes. We know it hasn't happened. They tried to muscle in their way to the paint. They tried to go in the paint in Kentucky, Kentucky. Yes, and Auburn's got obviously jan I Brew might be the player of the year down there. They have didn't play like it,
didn't play like it. You never play as well here. No, and then they have the other kid is like Johnson, Cheney Johnson, who's are our dyl and Cardwall I'm sorry, like they have some monsters there out in foul trouble. But I just they took seventeen threes that you're not. If you're built to shoot thirty a game, you only get seventeen off, you only make four.
If some of those were really ill advised, I thought they forced And exactly so, Auburn did a great did a great job running Kentucky off the three point line. Kentucky tried to wild their way in the paint and failed. I don't know if you watch it, and Billy, I know you're listening to radio. But Billis made a great point when he said Kentucky has not been able to run offense because of Auburn's defense, and.
They unfortunately too, though they did get some good looks at the frame, they just couldn't finish.
Yeah. The butler, Butler, you can't raise his left arm.
Yeah, he just and he admitted after the game it's still you know, oh yeah, it's still it's hard. And he looked better in the second half, look more comfortable. But yeah, it was. It was an all system's failure. And Auburn, by the way.
They're really good, especially when they're hitting.
Yeah, a couple of points Aaron touched on that. I was going to say, the beginning of the second half was unbelievable.
I mean it was melt out.
Seven possessions, six turnovers, not a single shot from the fields of them unforced, right, unbelievable. Uh, And it led to Goose Givens saying on the radio that at times, I mean Kentucky just didn't look like they knew what they were doing. I mean they were rattled if the moment was too big for them. But you know, we've seen a significant drop off when it comes to the bench play for Kentucky, and I think we saw that
again where they only scored five bench points. And if Jackson Robinson is not going to be available for this team, the trio of Colin Chandler, Travis Perry and Trent Noah, one of the three is going to have to have a good night. Along with otega Oway getting his normal double digits, Kobe Bray hit.
That's about way he was. Just he was off. But Billy and I were talking going into the season, and you look at big picture, you know, they're a five hundred team in the SEC. Uh, they're respected nationally, But in terms of wins and losses, it's basically what we were expecting. It's just exactly who saw the quad one wins coming. And then the losses to the inferior teams with air quotes good league. But then who saw the injuries?
You know, if I told you in November, okay, by the time March rulls around, you're going to be missing uh for an extended period. Your top three perimeter players in Robinson, Creasa, and Butler. Now they get Butler back. But as you just said, he's at it what seventy He claims that he said eighty. He's exaggerated. He's at seventy to seventy. When a guy tells you ways one
ninety five. But anyhow, if I had told and then Billy to your point, if I said, and by the way, they're going to really need to lean on the true freshman, we would we would be thinking, oh this this could be ugly.
Yeah, but it's not well that they've they've progressed. And that's a credit to Pope for not limiting his rotation. And he admitted tonight he maybe limited it too much versus Auburn and those guys played too many minutes.
I thought that was fascinating. Doesn't want to hear it, But it's okay, who's who's making a cost on the sideline?
Look this is and this was a known with Pope. This is what he did at b YU, and he said he was going to do it from day one. That you played eleven guys at b YU last year, so on paper you're probably thinking inferior talent already. So that's how he coaches. And look, Amary Williams, you had to keep him on the floor in that game because he shut down Jani Broom. He really did nine points in five rebounds.
I got Broom from what you know? What do I know? But it looked to me like he was pressing Mary. I'm a physic accounty. Yeah, I want to prove myself against to Mars and how many guys seven foot two sixty is Broom faces? It is?
It is interesting with Broom. All three games he's played against Kentucky going back to the Cali era have not been good. And he was at Morehead State. I wonder if it's like in his head, like I got to prove you guys passed on me out.
Of the portal. But everybody passed, I know, except for Bruce Pearl. Going to say Bruce Pearl felt like he had something to prove. Yeah, that's first. Ala Perry passed on him. Yes on. Oh, I wonder if he even had a shot at him.
I remember when his name went in the portal of a lot of the there's just like the simple Oh, it's got to be Kentucky. He's at Morehead, right, Yeah, it just never came before you. But Cal was also very late to the portal game.
Well that's true. Yeah, we're gonna step I will come back and talk more Kentucky basketball. We'll touch on football as well, maybe even a little baseball down the stretch. Five in a week for the Wildcats and an incredible performance by a sophomore pitcher. All of that and more coming up on the state wide BBI from Pikeville to Paducah. It is the statewide Big Blue and Sider Dick Gabriel,
Billy Rutley, Jaron Gershawn. We're talking about Kentucky. He's lost to Auburn and now coming up next to his LSU. And we know that Jackson Robinson is having surgery this week, so he has definitely done for the I thought it was interesting too that Pope tonight said that he was given the option of surgery a week or two ago, but they also said, if you want to try to play through it, give it, give it a shot. And he was doing okay until he fell on the floor. He was actually having a pretty shot.
Yeah, I mean during warm ups, I was there, he didn't It's like, oh, this guy's back. He wasn't missing. And then he I think he started. I think he went three for seven in the field until.
Yeah, he looked pretty good. So uh, but now you know, you got to put that behind you. I really believe. And nothing's a given. Well, of course, every win is big. Now Goose is given. That's true. Uh, for seating purposes, man, they got to you got to protect your home court.
Can't lose this, No you can't. Yeah, it's a borderline quad three game. They're eighty two in the net lest I checked. So you really can't lose this one. And I mean, obviously the NA tournament seating is more important, but SEC tournament they go zero to two this week. It's almost a guarantee you're playing on Wednesday. Yeah, No, fans want to start on no.
And that's the way conference tournaments are. And and you know, people love him air quotes but complain about him all the time. It seems like they can only hurt you unless you're one of the half nine. That's right. You know, if your team has got to play its way in off the bubble or play your way into the tournament, the NCA tournament, then you need the conference tournament. A
team like Kentucky. I remember back we got Duke up on the on the telly here, but more than once, Skrzyzewsky's saying, you know, if you lose early in the tournament, it means more rest. You mean more in your conference tournament. You know, you get more rest in prep time going into.
No one loved losing the SEC turn more than John cal Perry, but he never did nod well. Yeah, and then he couldn't win tournament game. Remember he said, get to go home and kiss my dogs. Yeah, a little house on the prayer.
I get to go watch a little hoss in the prayer. Yeah.
I mean, look, Kentucky's it's just different with that tournament though, with how they sell out in Nashville. Oh, and they come out and Kentucky has not won an SEC tournament game in Nashville since twenty nineteen because the twenty twenty two tournament was in Tampa, so they won that one game against Andy and then they lost to Tennessee.
Was where was the COVID year where Nashville they lost? Supposed to be, Yes, there was supposed to be in Nashville, but there was no tournaments lost, a tournament, not a game. Yeah right, they one game, right game, the opening game? Right? Yeah.
So Kentucky has not gone to Nashville in front of that sold out basically all Blue Arena and won a game there since twenty nineteen, and they haven't. I mean, I'm I don't think they're gonna win the SEC tournament this year, but twenty eighteen, their last SEC tournament win was in Saint Louis, So they actually haven't won the SEC tournament in Nashville since twenty seventeen. Isn't that crazy to think about?
This would be a good year, though, to have success in that tournament, no question, just because of the you know, I think we'll look back on this season as the year the SEC was the greatest basketball conference. And if you could maybe make the weekend of that tournament, I think you could look back a little bit more fondly on the season. If you were to get bounced by Mississippis State in the first round.
Look, if they end up, if they go one in one, more likely than not they'll be the eighth seed. They'll play their first game at noon on Thursday. If they win Thursday, probably Mississippi State. They play Auburn again. If you go and somehow beat Auburn on Friday, even if you lose, I'm not saying it's gonna happen.
Auburn is one of the best teams I've ever seen a burse. Yeah, but you know what, if they play Auburn again, I firmly believe they will play much much better. After looking at this energy wasn't there No, And you got to think they're embarrassed. They got punked, they got punked, and yeah, they the energy was lacking. I don't know.
Pope talked, but went through all the theories after the game. Was it, you know, the late return to Oklahoma? Was it the Jackson news? What could it have been? But for whatever reason, he didn't have those guys ready to fight and bring what they needed to against Aubeign. And look, Auburn's really, really good and they'll be hard to beat, but there are a lot of.
Teams that play. South Carolina took them to the wire. Yeah, Arkansas took them to the wire. Like their scores, if you go look at them, there's some blowout wins and you tip your cap. But there's gonna be a matchup issue. But I think part of it to your point about about the end, and I was gonna ask you about that because not being there, you can't really see the
body language terrible. But I wondered it seemed like a game where something they had to get off to a good start, something good had to happen for Kentucky to feed off the enthusiasm of the crowd and each other. And not only did it not happen, something bizarrely bad. Kid was thrown in three pointers.
Throw them from the ocean. Yeah, so yeah, the body language wasn't great. I mean it stayed okay. And when they went on that run and cut it to six, Brea has the dunk, they were pretty amped up. And then as soon as Auburn kind of closed the door on them, what was fifteen point halftime lead, but.
You know, Auburn on the next possession turned it over. They sure did, and Kentucky couldn't take advantage of Kentucky cut it to six, Auburn turned it over.
And never got closer than six, maybe five. Maybe it was five at one point, but I don't think it got closer than that.
Now, would love to know in the history of basketball how often there's been back to back bank degrees.
I was I was having a conversation with Ice. If you're out there getting busy, I was having you know, we on the staff broadcast. You get so much good stuff on there. And the one thing I'm like, can you plead us ask add bank threes? I just want to see how many they've had?
Man? And those were those were almost desperation shots. What sure?
The first one was high off the glass, the second one was like and didn't the guy pass almost between his legs?
And by the way, when I was looking at the stat broadcast sight after the game four, I had a chance to watch the video, I was amazed at the rebound numbers. Kentucky crushed them on the porch. Yes, then again Auburn made almost all the shot true. But then my eye dropped down to turnovers.
Eighteen eighteen eighty eight, eight eight and Auburn only assisted I think he, I think they. I think Auburn was an eight assistant turned.
Getting this You don't get an assistant a thirty foot bank three pointers, right, So you're right eight eight eight eight. Wow. Well they've got to uh figure it out. And going into the SEC tournament, I think fans would love it if they won a game. Then if they lose to a team like whatever, they'd be understanding. Get your first winning Bristone Arena on six years. But it's and they lost.
What year was that they lost? Was it was it the twenty twelve teams, Yes, they lost, and Andy beat him in twenty fourteen when they went to the final four the national championship game, they lost as well. But it's gonna be tougher. I think to win the SEC Tournament than to win the nca Tournament. That's how good this league is because the best teams in the country get a couple of bunnies to open up the nca tournament. But SEC and you get rest, plenty of rest. Not
this one. It's gonna be a war, yeah, but that's what you've got to get at least one by and maybe two if you can. Might have fourteen SEC teams in the NCAA Tournament. I was up to that fourteen.
I will take a little credit for Brandon Garrison's game versus Olah, he was awesome. You remember, I was kind of, you know, saying that MARII should probably play a little bit more because Garrison just doesn't have it motive listening.
Or you motivate it, because I mean, maybe it was just much less Brandon Garrett.
Yeah, and you know what, maybe that applies to what he did in the Auburn game, but it does not apply to what he did versus Oklahoma.
He was great.
Oh man, here's another favorable matchup tomorrow night if he can take advantage because l s U they have some really nice players in the backcourt. Uh, front love Damon Collins.
I'm happy.
I hope you gets a nice reception. But you know, Berdie Garrison mar Period.
Touched on this early. We need to talk about it after the break. Uh, not to be laying everything that o' take away? What's the what's the opposite of giving him as flowers, give him as weeds? I don't know, had a terrible game after.
A brilliant game, one of the most best individual performances I've seen in a long time.
Agree more to come and the stay wide, bb I stay with us. We'll be right back border to border, Pikeville to Paduca. It is a statewide edition of the Big Booing Sider. Dick Gabrielle, Aaron Gershan, Billy Rutledge. We have spent a lot of time, of course, slicing and
dicing on the Auburn game. But since we met last Wildcats won at Oklahoma and that was one of those games that you're watching it and Aaron, you were out there and I'm thinking, well, they gave it a good try, but you know, I don't know what would he down five or something.
They were down seventy seven to seventy two. I forget how much time was on the clock five.
You know, to use the oft used cliche. Now that's why cliches are off used. H letting go of the rope a little bit. It's not that they were playing poorly. Oklahoma started hitting shots and Kentucky missed a few, and then Oway had one of literally the greatest games in UK history. It was unreal.
Eighteen of their last eighteen points in the last eight and a half minutes.
And you've got stad broadcast up and you've got your notebook, so you're charting, and you realized in real time it's happening, Billy, Did you realize that was going on?
He was hitting it until like two or three minutes left, because it was like eleven minutes left in the game.
When Omari hit their last non Oways shot, right.
So I didn't notice it until late and then it was I mean, he just looked like a different player than.
What we've saying. I listened to Tom and Jack first half, TV the second half, and TV I don't remember who was doing a game mentioned that he was going nuts and having a great game, but did not. I don't know if if either if they did, I missed it, which is entirely possible, but they didn't make that big a deal out of the fact that no one has scored. But way, well, what was crazy?
And Pope said it in the press conference like the first thirty minutes of the game was one of always worse than the Yes, he was a He had twenty one of his twenty eight in the second half, and I had a factor in the first, right, and I think you know he did. I don't know how well of a TV did picking up the hostility towards Otega away from the Oklahoma fans. Okay, well, every time he touched the ball. It was kind of similar to DJ
Wagner when he was here. Yeah, every time you could hear it, okay every time, only when always touched the ball, huge booze and trade or trade or whatever.
Dumb.
But he was feeding off it. He like after he shoot, he'd put his hand to his ear. He was loving it. And it just kept building and building to this crescendo, to the point where the fans stopped yelling at him because they were like, okay, it's not working. And put it to Kentucky fans. By the way, it was like
forty percent Kentucky fans. Was unbelievable, unreal. I couldn't when they opened they opened the gates an hour before and at first it was only blue coming in and I was like, oh my god, like this is gonna be a blue out, and Oklahoma fans filled it. It ended up being sixty to forty in favor of the home team. But yeah, still, but yeah, those Oklahoma, especially the students, they were very hard on him, and he was feeding off it and loving it. And just at that point,
you know, you lose. Jackson LaMotte fouls out with four minutes and isn't giving you much offensively. Jalen Moore is a really good center that Oklahoma has. He was doing a nice job containing Garrison and Mari in the second half offensively, and it was just okay, take go to work and you couldn't miss. He was just unreal getting to the rim. He hit a rainbow three?
Did it all well?
Brandon Garrison's lucky they didn't call it technical solar him going up into that game.
Zero two big what ifs since we last met. One.
What if that Auburn Kentucky game was close and ABC went out?
Did you imagine that? And then what if they would have stormed the castle?
They probably would have, and Jeff the coorra would have had to answer some angry calls. And then the other what if is what if they would have called a technical on Garrison. The uproar of Oklahoma getting free throws there would be unreal.
I was staring at my TV at the backs of the of the officials, and I'm thinking to myself, what if what if turns around and does that in the arena? I just thought they were seeing if there was time left. I didn't even realize that's what TV said. They they allowed us might be a technical foul thing, but then they were like, you know, it could be a bad after there's any time on the closs That's what I figured. There was just like a point three seconds off in the clock. That deal.
Nope, technically got lucky that he saved the jawing for the whistle.
Which begs the question when is the game over? I guess when they hit triple zeros because if you go back, but did Garrison it start? I when when did the alleged incident that might have brought a team? When did that happen?
So from there was a local you know TV guy that had a video like from the court level literally you can see as the clock hits triple zeros and the horn goes off. As soon as that horn goes off, he's in Jamiah fears. Yes, that's what they must have come to the conclusion that it happened after the game.
I guess. So they were looking to see was there time on the clock this Oh, if there was point one second left, right, that's a technical and Kentucky loses the basketball. But but TV was like, could Oklahoma get the ball back? Not so much for a technical foul, but could they have time to put up one more
shot or something. Well, you can't got the rebound though, Yeah, but they were or you know, like the Garrison foul, right yeah, but yeah, but now, but you're right if if he said something, if he says something a point, yeah, yeah, I don't know, that's a good question. I mean.
And if they lose that game, I mean, that's a I mean, yes, it's squad one, but they're in the fifties, Like, that's not that's a seed drop loss right there.
And you know, Rick Patino has made a lot of headlines this year. One of them was, you know, freshman, I'm not recruiting freshmen anymore. How can I replace my transfer players with that? Tonight he said that's not his philosophy, But he.
Also said I don't believe that. Yeah.
The other headline that I thought, uh was and now it's it's fading for me that Rick Patino has said is uh, I can't even remember what I was gonna say. I'm sorry, I'll come back to me.
Yeah. Well, I'm glad you brought that up, because on the show tonight there was at least two callers who basically implied and suggested that they would like to see Pope essentially coach more like Rick Bettino. They've been doing that in both philosophy and manner and intense. Yeah, that's what I'm saying, because, yeah, we're all peeking behind the curtain right because of that series, and it's fascinating, it's
not surprising, but man, you got to be yourself. I'm going to coach like Rick Beatino.
Guys hate phony coaches. Yeah, that's what they don't like. They want you to be yourself and they'll love you either way if they're If you're yourself though, even if you're losing. The players usually love the coaches, like Mark Soups. Players I've ever talked to, like in an off setting, love the guy. I agree same thing with Cal. They loved him because he is who he is. Maybe the fans were done with the guy who he is, but he is who he is and that's why they play so hard for him.
Well and his players love Mark Pope, But if you've watched the Saint John's series, you can tell from all the current players. And they've interviewed a bunch of former Louisville players, including Russ Smith, who said, I don't know where I'd be today with that coach b because you know his tough love he makes them better player. And I can tell you because he's on my show every week. Sean Woods, who hated, as he told me when right after he was done playing the way Patino treated him,
now swears by him absolutely. And Sean to a point, coached the way Ray We've seen it. Yeah, and he went over a little got into some trouble. I got in a old trouble. Although what ultimately cost him a job at more Ed State was not a Patino kind of thing. It was an unfair kind of thing. But you know a lot of guys believe than that. But you you've got to be yourself. You can't just fake who you are. And Pope is never gonna be. Pope
said he tried it early in his career. He tried to, you know, be that, you know, grind it out kind of in your face kind of coach, because he played for a guy like that in college. But remember, every time Pope has talked about his influences, he's brought up not just Patino, but the half a dozen NBA guys he played for, and one of the guys he swears by is Larry Larry Bird, and Larry Bird does not coach like that or did not coach like that. No, George Carlton, though he sure did.
I remembered my point. The other headline Patino was saying was he didn't have his players do handshake lines.
Is that right?
I missed that, and that was something that probably shouldn't have been done in that Oklahoma Kentucky game either with emotions flaring up. But I always thought that was something that, you know, the guys should put aside and shake hands for sportsmanship. But I'm kind of leaning more towards Patino nowadays.
Well.
I think part of that one, though, was as Garrison wanted to kill everyone, always trying to get hugs from the managers, like I missed the guys, love you guys.
That could be the kind of thing where coaches agree, let's see how the game plays out, and if it if it's better that they don't have the coaches wave at each other thanks see you, you know, and you go this way and I'll go that way. But I do believe when I watch, I mean, we all played little league baseball. When I watch little league teams do it without beating each other up. I'm like, why can't the grown ups do it? I know they don't do in the pros, although actually, you know where they it's
not a formal thing. What do you see after an NFL game when those guys were killing each other a minute before, and they're all out there hugging. And you know who hates hockey series? You know, Well, hockey that's a different animal. But after the series is over, it's long after every game you're drinking this. Well, I'm talking about play, That's what I'm saying. Yeah, but you know who hates the postgame hugging in college football, mister Jeff Picoor.
I believe it because when came up and when he was playing collegeball, you know, they hated their are points that I can't believe these guys are out there shaking hands and hugging. I hated those guys, you know. But that's just a difference.
It's also the portal time too, right, where these guys aren't necessarily attached to a school.
Some are former teammates. A lot of them are former teammates, that's right. Some of these guys played together in a Yeah, it's just.
A different animal now, but yeah, I mean Look, there was what game was early this season Georgia State where you had that kid who was related to the duke player. Yeah, remember he forget his name, Chaz something. Remember Georgia State kid.
Are you talking about when the coach and the sun were at the same time.
No, I'm talking about this basketball season Kentucky, Georgia State where you had that really dirty flagrant foul by a Georgia State player and he's the nephew of a duke player.
Oh, it's coming to me now, you know, I do remember that.
But my point, My point was they got through the handshake line without any incident, and that guy intention lea took Amari Williams out.
And I vaguely remember that guy being a grown up. All right, we're gonna step out. When we come back, we will shift our attention to football because since we last convene, Mark Stoops talked to the media and, uh, what do you got.
Clash Peters? You remember that incident? Yes, yeah, Clash Peters. And now let me get you. I'll get you that uncle.
You get it. After the break, I'll get you his uncles. All right, we'll come back for the thrilling conclusion of that anecdote, Cherokee Parks. I'll save it now, Cherokee Park. There you go, the Christian later. Want to be back
in a minute on the State. Whye, Bbi, all right, we're going to slide from basketball over to football because Mark Stoops had an interesting session with the media and Billy, I know you've talked about it on your show here locally, and you've seen a lot of the clips and you read about it, and Aaron was there. I was there right away. I was impressed with his energy, it seems, and all it did was underscore and I felt bad for him how beaten down he was by the end
of last year. I mean, he was a whip puppy.
It was every fan that questioned if he really wanted to come back, how to write given how he acted at the end last year.
And yet conversely this time.
He seemed like the old Youngstown chippy chip on his shoulder, not gonna get punked again.
Guy. Yeah, it was.
It was a little refreshing, but and he you know, he still stayed careful. He didn't want to get into like individually, who's standing out stuff like that, But you know, he talked. He there was no sugarcoating how bad last year was, how they needed to change with not only players and bringing in all this new personnel but leadership and getting that back under control, getting back to that blue collar identity. So I was encouraged to see that energy for sure.
And if you if you read the transcript and watch the video it's online, it's fairly evident that he was not happy in hindsight, and I'm sure why it was happening with the tone and tenor in that locker room, yeah, you know, among those players. But one of the other things I really appreciated was the fact that, by my count, at least six times he took the blame, you know, because people loved him, always pointing the fingers, throwing the coaches under the throwing the players under the But how
many times did he say that's on me? That goes back to the Youngstown. Yeah.
You know, one thing I caught and it was a question I asked one like John Hale asked two where it asked about like, for example, I asked about the short yard issues they had last Yes, and you could see he was just looking through me. He was like really pissed off. But he's like that's a fair criticism, and he said that a couple different times, but you can also see in his eyes he just memory.
Yeah, so it was good to say. It was good to see I covered Kentucky football for an all time. I have never seen a team so bad, so bad inside the five yard unbelievable Kentucky team.
And yeah, so I was you know, they added a sixty running BA who specializes in that.
But it was good.
It was the old Mark Stoops that you saw, the twenty twenty one, twenty eighteen, the really good years.
A couple other things I heard him say. Talked about the depth. Maybe in the past they'd spent all their money on one guy in one position and now they're spreading the love a little bit there so that that would help when injuries come.
And then the age of this team.
He's like, I've got guys that are married there, you know, I've got guys going for their master's degree, you have, you know, these are grown twenty five, twenty six year old men a lot of times, and that's that's just different from when Mark Mark Stoops started his coaching career.
So you know, but like I told you, guys, a week or two ago, and he's clearly come to grips with it. But I don't think he'll ever unless they looks there are radical changes to nil and portal rules. He'll never be able to manage a program the way he wants to or wanted to the way he did when he got here, and that is evaluate high school kids out, recruit, out work, people signed them and developed them. Now you know the majority of your guys at least
now are portal guys. What do they have eleven high school kids something like that?
Well, they signed twenty one, twenty one high school. They signed twenty one high school.
So I got it flipped. Yeah, so they still can tell Mark Pube's Mark Pope will do that a million times? Did it? No?
Stoops is gonna still try to find that happy medium. But luck you signed. I think it was nineteen players out of the portal and there's more to come after spring ball.
I thought there were thirty one new players. Yes that, Oh I'm sorry, just for spring and rollies.
There are ten more freshmen coming and okay, I see, yeah, ten more freshmen are coming in June. For now, it's eleven on.
I like the answer he gave me at the very end or one of the because I waited. Mine was kind of a big picture question, so I wanted to wait on you guys, and we knew we had him for X amount of minutes. But Aaron and and several of the other reporters had more specific questions about positions and stuff. But my question basically was are you still enjoying this? You know, are you still enjoying your job
as a professional college head football coach? And that's when he said, and that's it's a quote that made the rounds. I'm enjoying it as much as I ever have. And that sounds like something you say when you're trying to be brave. And if I just read it, I'd think, based on my issue or my image, I'll be thinking, you know, what are you selling? But his body language and his and his energy level tell told me that, you know, yeah, he's ready, he's ready to go.
Well, that's good and reassuring to hear it, because I would think inversely, I would think, because how much the game has changed, that Kentucky would be Mark Soups's last job.
You know, if if he's got.
That energy, maybe he would have the energy to restart somewhere else. We know he flirted with A and M just a couple of years ago.
So I don't know.
It's this is there's a little bit of this. I've got to see it before I believe it.
Again. That unfair to see it in stoops or see the team, how the team.
Functions, seem to have the team have success, no question, before I can buy back into the energy.
Look at their schedule. They have a lot of proving it to do. Yeah, but that's where we are. And we've talked about this before. Coming off a four and eighth season, absolutely, but the two seasons prior seven wins in a ball game. But you know, whoever said it first was right. He's raised the ceiling. But he's raised the floor. And again, you guys get tired of hearing me say it. But how many times through the years, if Kentucky could just win six or seven, I'd be happy.
Know you wouldn't because as soon as they did. When Mummy did that, Mommy went to back to back ball games and people complain Mommy goes catching them. They all go to the out back ball. Everybody had a great time in Tampa. It's a good game at Penn State. They lose, but so what the next year they lose their entire O line, everybody. They lose Tim Copps, they lose Craig Yeast, they lose keyos Tamp, they lose everybody off that offense. Dust my man, Dusty Bonner is the
starting QB. And somehow they won six games and went to the Music City Bowl. And people grumbled because you know, fans get spoiled. When aren't we going to a bigger Bowl game? You know, you're lucky. You're in Nashville partying right now. Has But that's just the way sports are when you raise the floor. Yep.
But you know, since then, a lot has changed. Kentucky's got a lot more resources.
But so does everybody else. It's the problem.
We've also got Texas and Oklahoma in the league. Now, no, it's Oklahoma a power move too. Jim Naggy head of the Senior Bowl becoming their GM. How about that they're going to be they'll get it going again. Yeah, No, that's that's Kentucky missed an opportunity when Brooks was leaving. Joker was here early, Mark Stoops. The rest of the league was not the rest, but some of the league was backing up. Florida, backed up Tennessee, backed up Georgia.
Georgia for a while, Yeah, backed up, and Kentucky didn't take advantage.
And it's not that Kentucky was backing up. Kentucky was capable of winning those games, but just didn't get it done.
Yeah, and when you were in school, Yeah, well they started to you know, they passed Florida for a while. Sure they didn't pass they passed Tennessee and the standings she just not head to head. But yeah, they passed Florida. They got the South Carolina missoo. They owned those teams. It wasn't even in Vandy too. Like those were from twenty sixteen to twenty one. They were eleven and one combined against Vanda swing games. They were just win they
were wins. So and now you go look at that schedule they've got to play in twenty twenty five, and you know you're gonna probably beat Tennessee Tech, and uh, there's another one in there that's a couple something like that Eastern Mission.
But you know, like Toledo just beat a SEC school last year. That's true.
Louisville's getting a lot better, and we all know the eight teams on the SEC schedules.
Here's your third what if of the show? What if Will Levis doesn't get hurt on the road at all? Miss?
I mean, could be in a very different spot today with how we look at Mark Stewarts just talking to somebody about that over the weekend, that our closed Kentucky game last year to doing what it wanted to do, what it meant to do, because people don't realize what the effect that that had on the Will Will Levis's second year, no doubt, no question, And that was a game they should have won as well, even.
With them hurt the you know, ilegal illegal yeah, legal legal motion.
Yeah uh. There have been too many moments and you guys are fortunate that you haven't been around here. You've been around here for a while, but not as long that these old school Kentucky things have been happening. And that's one of them. You know when when stuff like what what's next? What can happen next? And then something happens that that's been missing for quite a while. That yeah, well you still should have hit Christian in that end zone. I had to do it over again. Forearm shiver, baby,
that's right, I was gonna do it. Thanks for joining us, Rayaron and Billy Dick Gabriel that said, good night from Lexington