Welcome to the Big Moon. Sider to Gabriel with you on Tuesday of tournament week two of them that were following this week. Of course, you've got the SEC tournament coming up. You'll hear it right here on six thirty. Wlap the Wildcat says, you know, on Thursday taking on Georgia air quotes nine to thirty. It'll be closer to ten, but we'll have it for you right here. And of course the Girl Sweet sixteen is happening in Reperena this week.
Frederick Douglass coming out of Lexington, has a big shop. The Sacred Heart is going for its fifth consecutive state titles, so keep an eye on that as well. And I'm going to be helping out a little bit on the TV and radio this week at Reparina. Really excited about that. But we must talk about, of course, the NCA tournament. Another team wins its way despite the fact that it
was not the top seed in this tournament. Wafford last night beats Furman and gets the bid that of course would have gone to UT Chattanooga except for that tournament, that Pesky tournament, because Chattanooga was the team that won the regular season championship finishing fifteen to three. Maybe Chattanooga gets in. I don't know anything about the team, but it's twenty four and nine overall now. But one of
those nine losses came to Furman in the semifinals on Sunday. Meanwhile, Wafford was beating VMI, which upset its way to the SEMIS. Virginia Military Institute was fifteen and eighteen going into this game with Wafford loses eighty five sixty five. But how about that. VMI gets all the way to the SEMIS
down in Nashville, North Carolina. But Wafford wins it, and then Furman had I think it was an eighty three seventy nine lead with a couple of three minutes left, and Wafford goes on a run at the end of the game and pulls out to win ninety two eighty five. The head coach, Dwight Perry, that's right, former he was a walk on. He's a cousin to Bobby Perry. And a little bit later on, we're going to tell you why Dwight Perry started. You may remember this. He started
an nca tournament game for Kentucky by mistake. That's one of the great footnotes in UK basketball history. So Wafford joins a handful of other teams. Troy wins the Sun Belt, Omaha Omaha wins the Summit League, and let's see who else do we have in Siue wins the Ohio Valley Conference. Drake wins the Missouri Valley Conference. High Point which plays its home games in Tubby Tubby, which plays its home games in Tubby, and Donna Smith Arena or field House
or whatever they call it wins the Big South. So the bracket is filling up. Of course, you know, Selection Sunday will decide everything. But yeah, the tournaments are happening for better or worse. I don't always think it's for better. I'm thinking that fine folks at UT Chattanooga agree. We talked about that last night on the statewide edition of The Big Moon Inside with Aaron Gershaan and Billy Rutledge. We kind of debated the value of those tournaments. They
don't make money. That's one of the I had an a detail me that once not Mitch Barnhart an ad at them mid major. They don't make money. They don't get squat for playing me to get a little bit but it's all about exposure and publicity. Do you want to be able to tell your recruits they we're gonna play on ESPN. Now, of course everybody's got TV, but this is the biggest of the big deals playing in these tournaments on ESPN or ESPN two, and of course you have a shot at getting to the NCA tournament.
So they're gonna stick around for no other reason. ESPN needs the programming. Unless ESPN decides we don't want them. Conference tournaments will stick around. And you know, the IVY League held out for the longest time and now they've got of course they only take four teams, but it's here to stay in my opinion. Now, do you go down there and try to win? Well, of course, unless you're John Caliperry, I shouldn't say that. I think they try to win. But cali Perry's attitude, of course, bubbles
to the surface again and it's making the rounds. Here's the comment he made during a podcast. This was part of the Court Side with cal program on Hogs Plus. So I guess technically it's a TV show, And once again he reiterated his disdain for the SEC tournament. And you've heard it before.
I don't care about the conference tournament, which is why we wanted so many times.
Because I could care less.
The tournament that matters is the NCAA tournament. Now, you play that tournament to get the best seed you can get, and if you're gonna get to the finals, win or don't go to the finals and lose because you're exhausted and to play on Tuesday or Wednesday. So I'm like, let's play well and try to improve our seat.
Well, first of all, that's not why you won it so many times. You want it because you had better teams. You had really talented teams, and you cali Peri did a good job of putting those teams together and getting them ready to play by March, and you stayed healthy
for the most part. That was people forget that. In Kentucky's toughest years under cali Peri, he had some key injuries down the stretch, but he did not do as good a job of putting teams together down the stretch as he did in the beginning of his time at Kentucky. So let's not say that his laisse fair attitude about the SEC tournament is why. How in the hell did that motivate kids to go in and win. Those teams at won SEC tournaments under Caliperrey played their butts off.
That's why they celebrated the way they did after those wins. They celebrated like they had won the NCA champion and they deserve that. So that's nonsense. Now he added that little twist at the end, let's go win. You know, he never said that when he was here. He acted like he didn't care if they won or lost, and he never talked about, you know, let's get more rest or whatever. All he ever did was whine about the
fact that it wasn't helping them with their seeding. And for the most part, he was right, because at least early in his tenure, Kentucky was already locked in to a one or a two, once in a while a three seed. But you don't go down there with the attitude that you don't care, because that's a hell of a message to send to your fans. And I've talked about this from day one here. That was a slap in the face to Kentucky fans who treasure the tradition
of Kentucky basketball and the wins. And it all adds up he didn't care about winning the conference. He said he didn't care about winning the tournament. He said that as soon as he got here, that's all about the seedings and all that. And I know one leads to the other, but to say that to a fan base, you know, And when he said that the most important night in the UK history was the five kids being drafted in the first round, clearly a message to recruits,
clearly a message. But it was still a stinger, wasn't it. And then to follow that up with UK fans, what you loved the most? Winning conference championships, winning tournament championships, having those bragging rights, having those elements of pride. They don't matter to me, and by extension, I'm telling you they shouldn't matter to you. Terrible. I mean that to me was one of the It is much of more
than losing the greatest disconnect with John Caliperi. Now he's gone Arkansas, Frew dealing with it, and now Kentucky fans of Mark Poe feels differently.
Now we're at the final stages where it's time to win, Like you're either gonna win or you're not. And that's not to be paralyzed by fear or crushed by expectations. It's just time to recognize that, you know, what you've worked for for the last six months and for your whole lifetime is actually right now. It's not the other stuff in the future or the past or wherever. It's right now. And so this SEC Tournament matters. It's the best league maybe that's ever been in any you know,
in any year of college basketball. And this SEC matters. And so we're heading to Nashville with all of our successes and confidence and warts and holes that we got to plug. And we're going there to to with with one goal, which is to go win. And I assume every team is going there that way. That's why athletics is beautiful. It is because you know, it gets that sure. At the end of the day, you're either going to go win or you're not, and it matters.
That was actually from a news conference prior to the Missouri game, but he doubled down last night on his radio show said the same thing. You know, but hey, to each his own right and Cali Perry's had success, but you can understand why Arkansas fans aren't happy right now with him. Some have defended him on social media. But I got to think, especially given the fact that they finished ninth with that nil budget and with that portal class. But it's interesting, and I've said this all along.
You got a credit Cali Perry. And again, I know some folks are tired of hearing about him, But in a way, Kentucky's dealing with a similar situation as Arkansas with Jackson Robinson being out. Now, there wasn't as dramatic a turnaround at Kentucky as there was at Arkansas when they lost Boogie Flann. That team starts to win, right, they win here and they immediately if they were one and six and then went seven and four in league play.
And none other than Jay Wright, the guy everybody wanted to be the coach at Kentucky, no way that was gonna happen, knows a little something about college basketball, and he said recently on CBS Sports Network that believe it or not, he thinks this might have been the best work Cali Perry's done. I really think.
So this is such a difficult situation. Think about they were one in six in the league when Boogie Flann, their leading scorer, went down. He had to rearrange the whole team, got Dj Wagner back on the ball at the point guard spot, got them playing defense at a high level. Now they're eight and ten in the league.
That is an incredible build. He started building the program when Boogie Flann went down and got them to be one of the best defensive teams now in the SEC and the team that you don't want to see in the tournament.
Yeah, and the SEC projected to get thirteen, they would break the old Big East record of eleven. I think they deserve to get every team in let's not forget conference. The SEC won eighty nine percent of their games against the rest of the time. These are the best teams and the best players, and that's why we're going to see historic stuff this year.
That was Wally Zerbiak chiming in at the end, so interesting comments from Jay Wright. And like I said, Mark Pope's team has had to deal with the cold heart fact that Jackson Robinson is not coming back. So now they can settle into their roles and play positions they might not be used to playing. And they want to have Jackson Robinson, but he's not coming through that door. Get used to it and buckle down and play which is what they did against Missouri, and they'll keep doing
it in the SEC Tournament and in the NCAAs. I don't know what's going to happen with Arkansas quite frankly, with all due respect, don't care. But I just think it's an interesting storyline, kind of out of the corner of my eye watching what's going on with Cali Perry over there, and he just won't back away, but he's tried to tweak what he has said. Yeah, let's go win it. Yeah, uh huh. So if you're an Arkansas fan, you knew what you were getting into. Up next, Mark Stoops.
He spoke to us this week about spring football and at the bottom of the hour, Chris Collins will join us. Chris is the co defensive coordinator along with Brad White. We always talk about Brad as being a decoordinator, which he is, but he shares that title and he's happy to do so with Collins, who is a defensive backs coach. And when you look at the guys who have come out of the Kentucky defensive backfield in the three last
three seasons, he's in his fourth year, pretty impressive. He put two guys in the NFL in Carrington Valentine with my beloved Green Bay Packers and Kedrin Smith with my sons Denver Broncos and others, and that could be a position of strength this year. So we'll find out what he has to say about the d backs, about the defense in general, and about what Kentucky will be doing
this spring. And our next hour we'll preview the Girls Sweet sixteen, talk a little bit about Rachel Lawson's Kentucky softball team, and more on Dwight Perry, the former Wildcat who has coached Wafford into the Big Dance. That's all ahead on the Big bullon Sider six point thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blullonsider. Coming up in just a couple of minutes. Chris Collins, the code defensive coordinator for the Kentucky Wildcats. We'll talk to us about the
Kentucky defensive backs. That is his area of specialty, and of course his boss, Mark Stoops, knows a little something about coaching defensive backs. That maybe why Kentucky has had a pretty good run of d backs coming out of there. So we'll talk to Chris a little bit later on. We'll talk a little bit more about the NCAA basketball tournament, former Wildcat Dwight Perry coaching Wafford into the Big Dance, and we'll check on the UK women's softball team, plus
the preview of the girls Sweet sixteen. But as I mentioned, Mark Stoops and the football Cats back at works bring practice underway and Stoop speaking to us this week, it was telling us about kind of the yearbook approach, meaning trying to urge and direct his players into learning about each other because they're working on team chemistry with so many new faces.
We've worked really hard as an organization, as a team to really bond, to get closer, to be very intentional, you know, to you know, really know each other. And I love the group. I like them as a whole. I like the way they're working. I feel like we have good depth. You know, we're work in progress. We have a lot of work to do, but it's a great start.
Thirty one brand new Wildcats either coming through the portal or signing as recruits coming in. So yeah, chemistry is vital and if you can get to know your teammates as people, not just as numbers on the jersey, that's a huge help. Then you can get down the business
of making ourselves into a good foot ball team. And last year, of course incredibly disappointing, but if you go back and look at it, but a couple of exceptions, Kentucky had a shot at winning those games that it lost if not for a play here, a play there. And through the years under Stoops they made those plays.
Well.
Last year they went against them. And in those seven win seasons, you could make the same argument that they didn't make enough of those plays to get up to eight, nine to ten wins. And as we know, it is possible now at least it has been under Stoops at Kentucky. So you work on that kind of stuff. You work on focus in the spring, and they got after the Wildcats early, really on the first day.
The focus has to be there, you guys know, and I just told them at the end of practice. You know, you look at the season last year, there's so many games, so many critical plays that there's just no excuse to take any playoff. You know, it's in a game of you know, one hundred and sixty plays. I mean, you don't know any one play that's gonna make the difference in the game. And practice is kind of the same way.
We have to get in good habits and have great intensity, great focus, and great discipline through the entire day.
And you can make that argument for every position group, but more than anything, and I'm going to keep banging this drum through the season, it's about the old line because I've been looking at the last few seasons a little more closely, and again not blaming any one guy in particular, not blaming anyone group in particular, but the Big Blue Wall, the original Big Blue Wall, and again it's becoming sort of a tired expression. Then just raise the ceiling, but raise the floor. Now we know that's
how good it can be at Kentucky. A good old line, take special players, takes a great mix. But it's possible to get it done here. It's harder to do through the portal, There's no question. But that's where it starts. And they're not sound. I'm not saying putting three guys or four guys in the NFL camps like the original Big Blue Wall did, but if they're not sound, Kentucky
doesn't have a chance. It just doesn't. I'll shift you back to basketball for a minute because we got to talk about the fact that otego Oway was named to the All SEC second Team by the league coaches, which is about right. Keep in mind, now, for all the wonderful things and all the great fun we had watching Kentucky and the Big Quad one wins it all, they still finished middle of the pack in the SEC, however,
and take Away surely deserves to be there. But I echo my colleague mister Aaron Gershaan, who talked about this briefly last night on the State Wide Show. How is Amari Williams not at least third team? Well? Because if they just glanced at overall stats, then yeah, you know
you could leave him off. But if you study what has happened with Kentucky, which lost at one point four out of five games before righted itself and now is one of those teams nobody wants, you've got to look at Amari Williams and other guys did great things, There's no question about it. But as Gershon pointed out, this
guy is putting up historically good numbers. Nearly eleven points per game, eight and a half, eight point seven rebounds, three assists per game, one and a half blocks, hitting fifty nine percent of his shots eight double doubles and a triple double. And as Aaron pointed out, since the seventy four to seventy five basketball season, that's fifty years, he's the only player to average nineteen points, sixteen boards, five assists per forty minutes. Again, he's playing twenty something
minutes a game. But if he played forty nineteen points, sixteen boards, five assists, that's Oscar Sebwey territory. And yes, I know he's not doing that literally in games. Pay close attention to what has made Kentucky so dangerous down the stretch, not to mention the fact that there are times he brings the ball up the floor or initiates offense as one of the best passing big men in the country and and so vital in this five out offense that Mark Pope plays. I don't vote on SEC
all Star teams. I would probably vote Williams third team. I know there's bias. Somebody accused us of that on Twitter, and that's fine, but take a close look and I think you would agree. Co decordinator Chris Collins next on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider, joining us on our celebrity hotline is Kentucky co defensive coordinator and d backs coach Chris Collins Spring Football Underway coach. This is when you guys get to teach football. You got do you love Spring?
I do? I do? I get excited it about it. You know, you got a new team every year and you get to go back to the fundamentals and really hone in on the details of each each position. And it's fun to watch the guys grow and develop and you get the chance to really see some of that maturation in the in the spring.
So many new faces people coming and going. Has you how has it changed your job or has it?
It's it's always been, you know about the development aspect, you know, but again with the with some of the roster turnover, you know, that development aspect becomes a little
bit more expedited. But for us, you know, especially in the defensive back when we talk about the commitment to the process and staying true to that process and not getting caught up in exterior circumstances, but staying true to the process, and your growth is determined on how aggressive you are with the process, you know, And so we tell them all the time, how you'll grow in this program, all right, how past you grow is up to you, right, and how how much you're willing to take the bulls
by the horn and take the medicine and uh and do more than what's expected.
I can't say it's more important for defensive backs staying true to the process, but that that is, as we all know, the last line of defense. I mean, guys have to really zero in, don't they on their job have that short memory. But technique is everything, isn't it.
Oh, it's it's crucial. You know, your eyes and your technique, man, those are your lifeline. And so you know, honeing in on those things and understanding that it doesn't happen overnight. You know, we've got to build up what we call stacked days. We got to build up quality reps on top of quality reps. And that process isn't one that just happens, you know, it's one that's intentional. Is one that takes, you know, some commitment. And again it takes
more than doing what's what's just the average. You know, you got to do more than what's expected in that regard, and so that allows guys to continue to grow. And I think We've been successful in that regard because they see that growth, you know, they see that that maturation from spring one, spring two, year one year two, so on and so forth.
You mentioned eyes, and I will tell you that and this probably comes with no surprise to you, but I'm sure you'd be proud to know that your pupils, the guys who are we interview defensive backs, they talk to us, they say eyes all the time. So your message is getting through. And I know different coaches have different methods at all, but what a great way to get them to concentrate. And if you wouldn't mind explain to our listeners a little bit what that's all about.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, And every snap, in every call, you know, there's a place where your eyes need to be located, and that can give you an advantage in terms of what the offense is doing, in terms of what your job is doing. We start with the foundation of Okay, where should my eyes beat? Based off the call, based off the technique I'm trying to execute, and those things vary, but we'll start just with the simplest form.
And man the man, you know a lot of people take it for granted, like, hey, you're playing man look at your man, and they take that thing for granted, but that is such a such a such an important detail, and then we detail it up in terms of exactly where to look at the man throughout the progression of the route. Right, So at the line of scrimmage, I'm key in the leverage hip right, and I'm tracking that hip and my eyes are glued into that hip and
I'm matching that hip right. When the route can use past the release right, we're into what we call the stemming a route. Now I'm seeing the near hip right, and I want to see that near hip through what we call the intermediate zone where where routes are breaking off. You got your curls, your digs, you come back, things
of that sort that are happening in that zone. And then once I clear to the vertical now my eyes can now rise up to that near shoulder right, and I want to see if that near shoulder is opening to me right, are staying down the field, And if it's staying down the field, then I'm anticipating that ball being thrown out in front. If it's opening up to me, then I'm anticipating that ball being thrown on what we call back shoulder and I've got to do a great
job of pushing through. And so there's a lot of nuances and details. You know, the guys who may say, hey man, look at your man. It's very simple, but it's not in terms of all the different players that come with it, and so understanding those things, that's what we talk about. Foundation and fundamentals.
You work with veterans, you work with young guys, is there a common mistake or a habit that you have to help them break when they first get started as a college d back. They might have been able to get away with it in high school, but not at this level.
Yeah, I think the most important piece is just trusting
your from meals and your technique. Trusting those things when you work them all the time, and then when you get into a live setting, you know, you kind of revert back to old habits, but relying on those fundamentals, and that does take reps to build confidence in those fundamentals and those techniques, and so I think that's one of the biggest learning curves in terms of Positionally, it's just ain't trust my technique and understand that there's gonna
be times where they make really really really good place. You know. Uh, that's a part of it, right, And it doesn't mean that you were flawed in what you were doing. It means they made a heck to play the else scholarship too. It got really talented people on the other side, and so now it doesn't second guess my technique, right, but it allows me to hone in even more so. I think that's kind of one of the biggest learning curves for guys when they step in, you know, to the SEC program.
That short memory. You know. Metcap just signs a huge contract with the Steelers UK fans remember him. This was before I think you got here. But he made a catch that beat Kentucky on the last play when he went up as high as he could. He's a big guy, as you know. And the guy covering for Kentucky is in the NFL now and he was right in his grill and just you know, I've jumped him. I mean that happens, doesn't it.
That does. That's a part of the process. Man. If I did everything that I was supposed to do in that rep hey, we got to move on and shake his hands and get it again, you know.
Yeah. Well, and to that end, Carrington. Valentine had a tough sophomore year and just kept his head down, kept working. And I remember a coach talking to him on media day and I asked him about what he was gonna, you know, do this season, and he said, You're just gonna have to wait and see, That's all he's saying. And he ends up leaving and going to the Green Bay Packers and making the team after that. So you just got to keep chopping the wood. Don't You.
Got a book we read a couple of years ago, Chotwood Carry Water, and it just talks about that process. Man, And defensive back is one of those, you know, one of those things that sounds cliche, but it's very very true. You know, stay committed to it, Stay committed to a good things happen. But you got to stay committed to it because the game I won't allow you to cheat it, you know. And if you stay committed to a good things happen. You cut corners, man, it'll catch up to you.
Yeah, but you gotta be ready. And I remember a couple of trips to Gainesville ago when you guys won, when somebody on the SEC network had called you all soft, and you went in there and won. And Kedrin Smith, who's now with the Broncos, I believe, uh, you got to pick six. And I interviewed him after the game about that play, about a lot of things, but he said, I knew he was gonna throw it before he threw it. That's gotta make you feel pretty good as a coach knowing a guy is that well prepared.
Yeah, yeah, it does. And you know, to Ether's credit, man, he was the pros pro now on his approach and uh and and really in terms of the information that we were able to give him, and he was able to digest it at a really high level. And that's why you know, of course he's playing on Sundays and been able to continue that. But uh, but no, it's been good and again for guys to be able to see that in the room, especially young guys. You know, you got to throw phillips in the rooms able to win.
You know, this guy made a play just strictly off of film study, you know, taking the coaching and then going out there and execute, not being the not being too big for the moment. You know, you got a young actual assing in the room. Uh, who's seeing those things and so those things carry on into the next generation of players, to the next generation of players. So
very fortunate, blessed man. Thankful the Good Lord allowed us to be able to, uh to overlap, you know, and that's been, you know, part of my careers, you know, having really good young men that want to be great players. You know what I mean, those two things tight handed hand.
A lot of the times you mentioned Max Harriston, who had his struggles as most freshman d backs do, and then just had a tremendous sophomore season, led the league and was ranked fifth and interceptions a second team All Conference. What got him from year one to year two. I know he's got great skills, but a lot of guys have skills and they don't make the jump that he did.
I think for him, it was it was him learning how to work right. He was always a guy that had a high level work etic. But let's be intentional about the things that we're working on right, things that are going to show up on saturdays, that are going to show up in stadiums. And so when we kind of sat down and built out a plan and his off season approach in practice approach, he really stuck to it.
To his credit, like he stayed disciplined, and you know a lot of times, man, we say, you know, success is a lagging indicator, right, It takes a long time of you doing the right things over and over before you actually see success come from it. But for him, you know, within that season, that off season and going into that season, you know a lot of the things that he worked home were things that were showing up
on Saturdays that he was making plays. And again, it's always good because you've got guys in the room who watched that happen, right, you know, take a j Q hardaway, right, he watched Maxwell go through that process, and it's like, man, Okay, if I'm willing to turn up my level of work, man, I can have some of the same results. And he goes down to have the solid season last year. So you know, it's it's that pay it forward mentality that
we always try to keep in the room. And you know, again the development and the process, Man, getting those guys to understand buy into that. It doesn't happen overnight, but it's well worth it's well worth it.
I'm talking with Kentucky's co defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach, Chris Collins. More to come with a coach on the other side of the break here on a Big Blue Sider six thirty wlap Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider talking to Chris Collins. He is the co defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for the Wildcats. Mark Stoops talked to us on Monday morning, said it's a little too early to be naming names, but he did say he's excited about the group that you've got the d backs.
And then you know, spring is when you get excited, right.
Oh for sure, for sure, man, you get a chance, guys get it, get kind of a fresh a breath of fresh air, you know, a chance to go compete. You know, you got some returning guys, you know, George loved you, Todd Broynt and JQ Hardaways who played and been in those fires, you know, and then you got some guys who played sparingly and you know, had to step up in rolls last year when guys went down
with injuries and did a good job. And so now it's about finding the right pieces and the right places and getting those guys to blend together, you know, because I said earlier, every team is different, you know, regardless of how many new faces you have or how many returning faces. Yet can't take that process for granted, in finding out what works for this team and for this
defensive unit and for this defensive backfield. So that's fun far a springt you know, along with the fundamental pieces that you get to work.
Your boss, your top line guy. I know you and Brad White are co coordinators, but Mark Stoops knows a little something as we all know about playing and coaching defensive back. What's that like? Having the head coach is a guy who knows your position as well as he does.
Man. For me, it's been phenomenal, you know. I just try to have a sponge like mentality and continue to learn and try to steal any nuggets I can, you know, But it goes just past you know, the actual coaching part of even to the evaluation in terms of how we how we evaluate guys, what we're looking for, things of that nature that I can get somewhat overlooked in these day and age. But but no, it's a tremendous blessing. I've enjoyed it. You know. He's allowed me to grow,
which I'm tremendously thankful for. But again, man, some of the small details, the nuances, man, you know, and sometimes he may be saying something not even realize. I'm trying to take notes write it down in some of those staffs meetings when we're talking to defensive back place. So it's been really good for my growth. Man. I think our players enjoy, you know, having a head coach that understands the pressure of their position.
Yeah, you had guys come through the portal from all over the Midwest, Basic in Michigan, Ohio State, Cincinnati, and obviously coaches have their way of doing things. But do you have to tweak much when you got a guy when you've got a guy coming in from Maryland or wherever when it comes to technique or is it all pretty much the same? You just gotta you know, clean it up.
Every guy's different, you know, every guy's different. You know, there's things that we do that are unique, uh, to to who we are schematically and system wise, and so yes, I think that part part of it definitely holds true, you know in terms of like the fundamental pieces you kind of see where they are. It's different. You know. Then then when you're recruiting the high school. You know, man, you're able to go see that guy played live, so you got a really good idea. Okay, these are the
things that we got to get cleaned up. Once you hit the ground running, uh for a transfer, not quite the same you you really may not have a chance unless you saw them in high school. Uh, to see them play live. Uh, you know, in terms of that regard, So unless you play them on the season or something
like that. And so now you're you're really when you when you get them here in the winter, that's your first time really seeing them lib and saying, Okay, these are the things that we got to get cleaned up. These are the things that can carry over, you know. And for those guys again, they built up reps doing it that wait right wrong, you're indifferent, right, And from now it's reversing some of that muscle memory that may
not fit what we do. And so that process is always fun for me because you know we've had success with it, and so it's kind of look around the room. You know, if you trust this thing, it'll happen for you as long as you're willing to work, and the Good Lord bless you with some ability. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have ability, you know what I mean? And so now it's about how hard are you willing
to commit to it and work at it? And so but yes, I mean there's parts of it you got to tweak and adjust, and there's parts of it that, man, yeah, carries over. So you know, anytime you can get a whole bunch of carries over as a good thing. Doesn't always happen that way.
March Dube sounded like he was really excited about the winner workouts. Do you share that enthusiasm? What did you think of the way your group threw itself into the weight room.
Yeah, I I always get excited about the winning workouts. Matt trails man. Chance to kind of you know, build some us and mentality wise, you know, see those guys straining and go through some hardship together. It always excites me as the ball coach because that's part of that process.
It really is, you know, and for us we talk about stacking days, continue to get better, ringing out the spun, never being too big right or too full to grow and so you get a chance to see, okay, well this is where you started and you look up, you know, in those couple of months when it's over, this is where I am now, right, and did I make progress?
You know?
And evaluating that. So we break down the off season, you know and quarters for those guys, and so they're really aware of the time frame that they have to grow and get better. Like I don't want it to be like, well, coach, I wasn't it snuck up on me? No, no, no, no it didn't. You know, it didn't. Now, you know, like we're really aware. We want you to be aware.
And so a lot of times when guys are aware of the process, aware at the timetable and aware the things they need to get better, that they can do those things. It's hard when not sure. Yeah, and so we try to take out a lot of that great as much as possible. And those win the workouts help do that, you know. Coach, the head coach here, they do a phenomenal job in the weight room of getting those guys bigger, faster and stronger, definitely faster. So uh,
you know, the coach, I wanted as fast as possible. Man, I need to run and so and so again it's good to see that and I think it helps those guys, you know, build confidence confidence.
Yeah, well, I'll let you go with this. It's rare and it's been quite a while since since a Mark Stoop's coach team has had to bounce back from a losing record. You were a two year captain in college and safety and outside linebacker. Obviously, leadership was important to you then, and as a coach it's important to you now. How do you feel about the leadership on this team?
Man? We're growing it. We're growing it, you know. And that's the view, like I said in the spring, is you get a chance of new teams recalling how many old faces may be earning or vice versa, you know, not as many return. You get a chance to grow and identify and guys find their voices. But again, just like developing as a defensive back, developing as a leader
has to be intentional work. And you know, coach hood is leading us in our leadership development, man, and I think our guys are excited about that process, you know, And so that excites you as a coach when you see your enthusiasm right, and it matches yours and it even helps you continue to elevate. And so now we're
feeding off of each other in that regard. So, but growing leaders is important and that's something that I think we really have any intention about our players right and they've kind of matched that energy.
Coach you Ken, thank you enough for your time. Looking forward to seeing this team in action, and I'll see you with practice I hope real soon.
Yes, sir, yes, sir. You have a good and I appreciate you taking the time to hang out.
With me for a little bit.
I remember two is next. We'll look ahead to the girls sweet sixteen and to UK softballs are after a good start. That's all I had on six thirty.
Co what you all I could.
Welcome back to the Big lew Insider. Coming up, we're going to look at the Kentucky softball team, which has a game tomorrow and is off to a great start in conference play after sweeping Missouri last weekend. But of course it's time to talk about March Madness and the
teams that are quote unquote punching their tickets. And last night, as we mentioned earlier, it was Wafford under former Wildcat walk on Dwight Perry, the cousin of Bobby Perry, who got an accidental start in the NCATE tournament back in the day. And he talked to the guys on the Field of sixty eight podcasts about why his team might be able to win a game or two.
We have a great group, and we have a great group of people. Our guys have been through a lot, We've dealt with a lot of adversity. You know, A big part of it is we're not really relying on just one player. We have a group of guys that are willing to step up when it's their night, and you know, whether it's scoring, rebounding, playmaking, screening, defending. I just think we do a lot committee and so it's really hard to key in just on one particular guy.
That sounds a little bit like Kentucky if you ask me, hard to keen on any one person. So Wofford could be, you know, a Cinderella, a dark horse. But I will tell you this, Wafford will get attention in the tournament if for no other reason they have a player who shoots quote unquote granny style free throws. Yeah, it's a guy named Kyle Filowitch. He's one of their bigs, and he was probably the worst free throw shooter in America, if not the SoCon and he was hitting less than
thirty percent from the free throw line. So Dwight Perry and his coaches, specifically, one of the assistants named Tyser Anderson got with him and said, look, why don't you try the underhand thing? And if it sounds familiar. Shaquille O'Neal struggled with free throws about his career in the NBA because he had at one point, I think the bones in his shooting hand. His wrist refused, so he had a hard time with you know, flexibility there, but he resisted any suggestions or attempts to get him to
shoot underhanded. Well, this kid listened, and as it turns out, the assistant coach, Tyser Anderson, has some sort of relationship with Rick Barry. Rick Barry was one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He was an MVP in both the NBA and the ABA, and he retired as the all time greatest free throw shooter in NBA history. He had better than ninety percent, and he was a guy who shot underhanded, and he was the
last guy to shoot underhanded. So they flew him from the West coast to Spartanburg, South Carolina, and he spent a couple of days with Kyle Fillowitz teaching him to shoot underhanded. Now he's not shooting, you know, seventy or eighty percent. Now he's still in the thirties. But it's better than it was. And at one point in a big game he hit six out of ten. Last night in the Silkon Championship game, he was just three for seven. But at least he has a chance making the freight
throws now much better than he did. But I bring this up because you're gonna see at least one story about it. I'm sure during nca tournament covers, you're gonna hear every announcer who works as games talk about it. But that's how it happened. That's why it happened, that
this kid is shooting underhanded. And of course they'll talk about Dwight Perry, I would think, being the guy who started a game for the Wildcats, which was a shock to everybody, everybody including fans who were watching the game, like what not Bobby Perry, Well, whoever turned in the lineup card on that day in the NCAA tournament back in twenty oh seven, they're playing Villan Nova inadvertently put Dwight instead of Bobby, and once you turn it in,
it's locked in. So Dwight Perry started that game at the United Center in Chicago, a six foot, one hundred and eighty five pound freshman walk on. He only played in three games that season, but he starts, So what does he do? Under orders from the coaches? He immediately filed somebody. He fouled Curtis Sumpter of Villanova, and they took him out of the game, and Bobby started the game at the scorer's table waiting to come in. They actually beat Villanova that day under Jay Wright, sixty seven
to fifty eight. But yeah, that is a footnote to UK history. Dwight Perry started a game during the twenty oh seven NCAA tournament. Now he's got his own ball club, and I would have to think that he'll double and triple check the lineup before he turns it in. When we come back, we'll preview The Girls Sweet sixteen a little bit later. UK Softball here on six thirty WLAP Here is mister peck in three two one, Welcome back
to the Big Blue Insider. Coming up this week, of course, it is The Girls Sweet Sixteen, brought to us by Clark's Pumping Shop studio and a guy who's been covering high school sports for quite a while. You read his work in The hero Leader Kentucky dot com. He's been preparing this week for the big event, mister Jared Peck. Jared, I appreciate you joining us, and are we looking at another coronation of Sacred Heart, which finally saw its win
streak snapped by a team in the Sweet sixteen? Who else can challenge.
Well, I mean, how many times you can be George Rugers Clark. They're an awfully good team as well. But yeah, I mean, Sacred Heart is really the overdog again this year. But having them lose this Simon Kenton is kind of glimmer of harp hope for some of the other teams, because you know, they got they got the point guard amor two D Jordan and Foul Trouble and z Kyie Johnson in Foul Trouble and when that happened, kind of the doors opened up and the Simon can pull out
an overtime win. So if some some things can go right, you know there they don't look as invincible as they have in the past, but you got to do it.
Oh, Yeah, Simon Kenton is kind of a defensive specialist as a team, isn't it.
Yeah, so I think that they are playing in the eighth region. It's kind of a low scoring league there, and that game, you know, got up in the seventies I think, but that was because they went into overtime. But they only played I can only play five players in that game, so it really was kind of miraculous that they pulled that off. I think it might have been the fact that I wrote about to take a guard streak before. Yeah, it went the next the very next night. But I won't I won't take too much
credit for that. I mean, can played a heck of a game.
I'm sure Simon Kenton on average only gives up thirty eight points a game. So the fact that it got into the seventies is wild, and then the fact that they want it is too. But Simon Kenton, man, they drew a short straw too. They had Frederick Douglas to open up. That's a pretty hot team right now.
Yeah, they are read. If they really surprised me. I didn't have them picked in the eleventh region. I thought Frankland County. I worried about their ball security with Frederick Douglas. They tend to play fast, yeah, and they would turn it over a little too much, but they were calm,
cool and collected. You know, since losing to Cooper in Sacred Heart in the regular season, they just shored everything up and they put the metal the tedal to the middle last night on Mass and Central and it was over fast.
Yeah.
And this is a team that you mentioned the pace they like. They're the fifth highest scoring team in the state. So you're going to run into a real test of Wills in his first round, aren't you.
Yeah, it's going to be you know, Simon Kin's want to play possession by possession and as soon as Pudick Douglas gets the rebound, they're gonna want to go.
Yeah.
So Simon Kins is gonna need to make it shots and not let Frederick Douglas, you know, get offensive rebound to get kickouts like that. You know. Something for Frederick Douglas. They've got an eighth grader that's really come on of late to be Awaye and you know, she scored twenty five points in a game and just amazing. And then Jayey Knows is about six foot tall power forward and she's you know, she's blocked shots. She gets double digit
rebounds there. I thought you that is a tough game for Simon Kinton to draw there, But I mean Simon King plays plenty of tough competition, so I don't think they're gonna be scared.
That's true. Ashland Blazer and North Laurel opened things up, and then Not County Central Taylor County. On that first day, you mentioned George Rogers Clark and Franklin Simpson, and again Franklin Simpson's got their hands full, don't they.
Yeah, George Rogers Clark is really you know, there are three generational players in this year senior class. Really would see Ara Byers and Zakaia Johnson's for Sacred Heart and then Liam Mason's not here with Bethlehemers. She got injured in the middle of the season, but Buyers is one of those players that's a double double a night. She's come back from an injury she she tore acl last year. She just came back from the injury like in February, so they've been kind of slowly getting her back in
up to speed. But yeah, George Orge Clark is a load, and they would have won a few state titles by now, if Stacred Heart just hadn't been in their way in every every single Sweet sixteen up to now, that during this run I think is you know, I think we takes against Stacred Heart and the last three years so it's been rough. But you know, a great, great program there down there, and they got great players Kennedy Stamper as well as points here's the point guard. You know, just an incredible crew.
Yeah. Uh. By the way, Sacred Out does open with Johnson Central fifteenth Region champ. That team is twenty seven and three, undefeated in region play, undefeated in district play, but looking at their schedule, don't know that they've played anybody the likes maybe out of state. They might have played somebody who can even compare with Sacred Heart. They can Johnson Central challenge them, do you think now?
I don't think, you know, as you said, Jonathan Central, well really hasn't played anybody. That's a really tough draw in fifteenth Region sometimes get those hard luck draws at the Sweet sixteen, and you know, it's a really big as to play against the team that has so so many weapons and so many future division and players and
against them. So you know, you know, Lawrence County had a miss basketball a couple of years ago against Sacred Heart, so it was, uh, it's gonna be that's gonna be hard go uh that day.
Yeah, they eleven o'clock game Sacred Heart Johnson Central is the eleven am game on Thursday, followed by Mercy Academy out of Louisville against Cooper. Then you got Henderson County, Marshall County, and Davis County on Sunday beat Owensboro Catholic to win the third region. So it's Davis County and Danville Christian and uh, I'll tell you in these games now are in Rapp Arena. The girls tournament has bounced around a little bit around the state. It always seems
like it drew pretty well in Richmond. But they're bringing it to Rupp Arena. What kind of crowd do you expect?
They have a good crowds lately. Uh, it really depends on the school's coming a lot of times. Henderson County brings a good crowd. Marshall will bring a good crowd. He County made it one year and filled the whole place up in a green wave. But uh, you know, Bulleties brought a great crowd, So it depends on the pane. You know, the walk up traffic's a little different. And you know, with Sacred Heart winning so much, and they're being a small, smaller private school, not you know, small
by some standards. I mean, they're they're a Louisville private school, right, but the fan base is not as broad for them. But I mean, we really get a chance to see a generational player Zakaia Johnson. I mean, he is just a Marvel three time Gator Bay Player of the Year, three times uh Sweet sixteen MVP going to four and you know the miss Basketball announcement's going to be the Sunday after uh, so we could be looking at one
of the greatest players in Kentucky Grills basketball history. I don't know if we really appreciate that, but I mean I appreciate it. I appreciate it. You have a cover sir Kaya Johnson before she heads the LSU and the other things that she does in her life. It's been a pleasure so far.
Can't be anybody miss basketball but her, am I right. I mean I know she's going to l s U and and some people maybe they don't vote for her because she's not going to Kentucky or Louisville or Western Kentucky. But it's got to be her, doesn't it.
Yeah, there's not really any big point scorers out there that are for some of these regions, I think. And it's also you know, it's been unfortunate that you know, leam Asby got hurt out of Beth Plump. Yeah, and then Thierrera Barrs has been hurt part of the season and then gracefully go out of Danville. Christian also miss part of the season being hurt. You know, Grace and the baby down there at DCA really doctor World bout year Reparena with how they played against Cooper and a loss.
She was a revelation and really she reopened her for fruitment and got a Louisville offering over the summer, and then she kind of she just tore aco just shooting a jump shot at the camp over the summer and missed up until January. She came back in January and they won the All A Classic with her back in the lineup.
Basketball.
I mean, if it's not Zakai Johnson, I need to stop giving miss basketball away. Yeah, she is the most decorated girl HOSCO player.
In history, leam Macy. It's a shame she did get her because she only got to play in about half her team's games. What was averaging twenty seven points a game with third in the state, thirteen rebounds a game. Just just a terrific talent, and you know obviously that happens. So we're talking to Jared Pecka, the Harold Leader. He'll be covering the girls Sweet sixteen Jared. Also you might have seen Jared on the TV special that was on w l e X about the top twenty five high
school players in the history of the state. And I enjoyed sharing that that platform with you. That was a tough task, you know, asking us and some of us go back farther than others. Jack Gibbons ended up being voted the best. But it was kind of fun putting the list together. You kind of had to dig in and do some research, you know.
Oh yeah, I was talking to you know, I heard plenty about it after it came out.
I bet, yeah, did you have people complaining about it or asking why did you? How did you forget so? And so.
There is some you know, I think George Baker is a highlightmaker of Dunbar. He's now the Dunbar Voice coach. Yeah, he was a little upset about, you know, being left off, and you know, there's just so many great players like the basketball history, you know, John Brown and yeah Baker and just you know Ben Jonson. It was that was an impossible list to make.
Yeah, hey, George Baker is on my list, but I can tell you that there were probably players who played within the last ten or twelve years that did not make my list. So you know, the bias works both ways, you know what I mean.
Yeah, yeah, I mean it was just a tough deal.
Talking to Jared Peck of the Herald Leader, who'll be covering the girls sweet sixteen, and as I said, he was one of the voters for the high school the top twenty five. You know, it's kind of weird as well. They asked us to kind of mix, you know, three of the top female players, three of the girls and with the boys. They really deserve their own list. But I realized why they didn't do it. Maybe next time they will.
But it does if we're here for the next to.
That's right, that's right, But it does underscore the fact that there have been some tremendous girls players in the state of Kentucky. And now that women's basketball on the college level is I think, really taking off more than it ever has. What do you think that'll do to the level of play here in central Kentucky. It can only help, right.
Yeah, I think so. And I think putting it we're up, it's helped a little bit. I mean, the reason why it's back it went to the spouts around to western Kentucky and northern Kentucky, and I think it's Northern Kentucky had kind of stagnated as far as attendance because of where Highland Heights is and just the to get there. And I think there's landed on ropp Arena. They've got a good sponsorship bill to keep it there. I think
it'll be there for quite a while. And you know, I said, is on the matchup you know the Sweet sixteen. They sure Sweet sixteen you could have, you know, a finals level matchup because of the random draw in the first round or in the second round Saturday morning semi finals. So that really sways what the attendant is right there is just you know who's playing who? And how good a game is that at that point. You know, we've seen some great games of the girl sweep the team.
There are some folks who for years have lobby not enough. Thankfully, I would chose you where I'm coming from for seeding so that it almost guarantees, you know, the bigger games later in the tournament. I don't know about you. I know the blind draw can be awkward, but I just think tradition being what it is, I think the others
leave it alone. Leave it alone when it comes to classes, you know, stay away from that, you know, breaking Kentucky basketball into the four classes or three or six or whatever, you know, because they ruined high school basketball in Indiana, and I think, just leave the sweet sixteen alone. For crying out loud, what do you say.
Well, I think the Lane County Harlan County Game Boys Championship game last year went a long way to preserving that because you know, one really small school in Harlor County. It's not a small school, but it's an Eastern Kentucky little school.
You know, that is.
Lots of times, you know, we get to give up in the Golden Triangle in your Louisville, Lexington and you know, Covington area have their days and but it's good every now and then to have a small school rise up for a little school in the championship game, whoever it is, so that helps out. You know, if if you know, if we if Sacred Heart wins another five in a row, we might be in trouble on just a draw and classes and all that stuff. But you know, maybe maybe
they'll share a little bit after they graduated. The guy.
Ye you know, she'll be on the next list that we all put together, right because she is a generational talent. Unfortunately, when we see her after this season, she'll be playing against Kentucky and then whoever. But it's been fun watching or play. Jared Peck covers high school basketball for The Herald Leader. Follow him on Twitter or ex whatever you want to call it. At HL Preps. Watch for US covers this week in the girls Sweet sixteen and next
in the boys Sweet sixteen. Thank you, sir, we'll see you in Rapparina. Thanks more to come stay with us here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue and Sider. This is the time of year when you see the all conference teams, the all Americans, the all tournaments and all that. In our line of work, we have the National Sports Media Association and the awards go out to sportscasters and sports writers all over the country.
Miss Maggie Davis, you may have already heard from LAX eighteen and Big BBN tonight, is the winner for the state of Kentucky. So great for her. Congratulations. That's been out there for a little while, and I've been fortunate enough to win that thing three times. That was back when I was active at the WKYT as well as all the other stuff that keeps me busy. But it's a great event, and it's a great honor, and I'm
happy for her, and I'm also happy for the major award. Well, not that it's not major if you win for your state, but you got the Hall of Fame awards, you got the national Sportscasters and sports Writers of the Year. I know a couple of them a little bit now going into the Hall of Fame. Mike Turrico of NBC Sports. He does a lot of stuff for them, as you know, and now as the host of the Kentucky Derby coverage.
I actually interviewed him once I was filling in for Tom on another radio station, and Tariko was my interview subject. Nice guy Dan Shaughnessy, an absolutely incredible sports writer a long time for the Boston Globe. He is going in. I don't know him at all. Charlie Jones, Ohones, who called games the old AFL games an NBC is going in. Tom Hammond was quite familiar with him. And the late Wendell Smith of the Pittsburgh Courier, a black newspaper, is finally going in to the Hall of Fame. So that
is much deserved for Wendell Smith. And the national sportscaster of the Year, Iron Eagle, and I mentioned him on the air the other day. He works with CBS, Westwood One, TNT TV and radio. I think he is fantastic. It's interesting to his son, Noah is coming up quickly, looks and sounds just like Iron. But he's really good. You can scream nepotism, but he's really good. But Iron is taking over the Final four this year. Jim Nance stepped away from it. And I know some of you don't
care for Irony, or rather for Jim NANTZ. I promise you you'll like Iron Eagle. Let's put it to you this way, I'll be surprised if you don't, if you haven't really paid attention to him yet. But I just think he's great and he has a really understated rise sense of humor, and you hear it to the end of games when things start to get out of hand and announcers get a little silly. But I've been around him, just sitting around the press room. He's just really funny,
a good guy. He's been on the show. I'd love to get him back on at some point. He's in such great demand. Though. There are a couple of other awards that haven't been determined yet. The Woody Durham Voice of College Sports Award that's fairly new over the past few years. What he was the longtime voice of the North Carolina tar Hills, the son Wes. I know him a little bit. He does the Georgia Tech and ACC
games on TV. He's another good guy. And now the Jim Nantz College Sportscaster of the Year is gonna go out as well. So they haven't named that award winner yet, nor have they named the Big House Gains College Basketball Coaches of the Year for Divisions one and two. Big House Gains was a legendary small college coach for forty seven years at Winston State at Winston Salem State University.
He was born in Paducah, Kentucky. But as I said, just a legendary head coach, and they have named that award after him, so we'll share that with you when it pops up. But congrats to the winners. And as I said, I'm excited for Iron Eagle. I can't wait to hear the job he does with the Final Four for CBS. But I really really enjoyed. Actually it was his gopher one night for a Westwood One radio game
up in Cincinnati. My buddy, our UK network engineer, Darryl Dass, was the engineer, so I went up to help him. I was just the extra set of hands. It is always great to hear him and see him in action, and like I said, you will enjoy it. Up next, Kentucky Softball. Here on the Big Blue Insider six thirty WLAP joining US nine our celebrity. Hodline is a guy who has been part of the UK athletics team for quite a while, including ten years working with softball. That
is Chris Sholes, sports information director for that sport. And Chris, congratulations, first of all, on a great weekend to sweep of Miszoo.
That was a lot of fun, Dick with tell people in the press box. Astually, my favorite days of being the SID for softball are Sundays when you already have the series clinched. Yea, And I might have to modify that some Mondays after a sweep because they're pretty sweet.
Yeah they are. And now you're three to zero in the league, which kind of throws me into my first question or more of a statement, especially now, Chris, with Oklahoma being in the league which is just dominated of late, it's easier, it seems, to win our say regional that the win an SEC title. It's amazing, isn't it. It is?
It's every I think one of the cool things about SEC softball that really no other conference can truly say is every weekend is a super regional. You are going to get the atmospheres, you're going to get the stadiums, you're going to get the athletes, you're going to get the pitchers, you're going to get the dominant hitters. You're going to get that every weekend when you come to
watch SEC softball. I think there is a higher than fifty percent chance that all fifteen teams that can in the softball side of the SEC softball are going to make the postseason. Just looking at the way the RPI is shaping up. As long as everybody stays above five hundred, I think everybody's going to get in. I think you're looking at probably four to five super regional hosts and between ten and eleven regional hosts, just what the RPI shows you now. So there are a lot of great teams.
Like you said, Texas is right number one in the country right now, Oklahoma is number one in the country, and the other poles. So those are the two movies to the SEC. So it's an electric conference with dominating players in a sport that is just taking off.
Obviously, pitching is so vital in his sport, just like it is in baseball. But ye, there have been rule changes through the years that have kind of allowed hitters to catch up just a little bit. But yeah, there have been You still need great pitching, you do.
You need great pitching, And I think the thing that's changed most recently, Dick, is you need more than one great pitcher. These hits are so good adjusting to the plate. They're good at adjusting to spin, they're good at adjusting to speed. You know, five years ago, back when you had pitchers that I would say maybe under a handful that we're throwing in the upper sixty sixty eight sixty nine.
That's now a normal weekend in our league. If you all have someone that throws that hard, you're probably not pitching with the rest of the league in terms of
the upper echelon. So the speed is there. I mean, obviously, as you get more technology, as that comes along, more people are devoting their time and energy to softball on the baseball side of things, So you're getting more analytic data for coaches to go into swing paths and you know, yaker tech information and launch angle and all that kind of stuff that you've been used to seeing on the baseball side that's not coming over to softball, and it's changed the game completely.
You know, looking back on Kentucky's World Series team from back in twenty fourteen, gosh, ten years ago, Kelsey Nunley was so great. She wasn't the only big arm on that roster, but she was the star pitcher for the team. I think everybody thinks about pitchers like Jenny Finch and and you know so many more who are just have been dominant through the years. But like you say, the hitters have caught up. The bats have changed, the balls have changed. Has strategy changed through the years.
Yeah, I mean I was actually talking to Christine Hines, who runs the offense at in Tucky, and she was telling.
Me last weekend.
You know, we were just talking about situational stuff, and she said, you know, she's heard a coach for UCLA, Kelly and Away Perez, who is one of the best in the country, won multiple national champions there, say that they've basically taken bunting out of their repertoire.
No kidding.
They have an elite offense. I mean, they are scoring runs and buckets out there, and they have some of the most dynamic offensive players. But she was essentially saying that they don't bunt anymore. They don't believe in it because these hitters are so good. And to your point about the rule changes and having a pitchclock now and the way that their footwork has to be when they start to pitch and they you know, are not allowed
to leave all that kind of stuff. There's different things that the offenses can do now to combat all of the different things the pitchers are throwing at them, and so that's one of the changes that you've seen. So again that's not obviously the case for every offense in the country. It's certainly not the case of Kentucky. That's one of the biggest weapons that we have this year
with our team speed. But it just goes to prove the point that you were making, Dick, about the fact that the changes in the rules and the way the offenses have caught up to the pitchers needing multiple of them are really something that is shining in our support.
You all played UCLA at the ESPN Shriners Children's clear Water Invitation. All you lose three to one, only three to one to the Bruins. That was a tough road trip. But Rachel Lawson almost routinely schedules like that, doesn't she because obviously she can find out what she has and and hone her team for a tough conference run on.
And you know, there's there's so many upsides to scheduling hard, you know. So the one thing is that you're going to want those non conference wins on your resume. Comes selection Sunday, you want. Those are key data points. Those are very very important things when it comes to hosting regionals as well. So if you have key wins against teams in your region, because this is not like the Nsilbey men's basketball tournament where we're seeded one to sixty four.
The top sixteen seeds are protected, and then it's geography off of that. So those games that are within six hours driving of your team are very important. So you know, you look at the midweek this week against Virginia Tech. If Kentucky or vin your Virginia Tech are not in the top sixteen one or the other, most likely that team will then come to that team's regional. So if Kentucky's in the top sixteen, I would imagine Virginia Tech
would probably come to Lexington or vice versa. So that is a game that the committee can use as a huge data point. And then in February, you're right, you know you it's funny because you know, there are a lot of people that came up with me, came up to me in the fresh box this week because this was our home opener, and they're like, oh man, I'm so excited the softball season. This is such an exciting thing.
And I'm like, yeah, but you got to realize that we're twenty games into the season of fifty six games. You know, we've already played twenty games. But when we're out on the road in February, yeah, you want to challenge yourself. You want to see what you got because if you walk into the SEC opening weekend and you have some questions about what you have because you haven't scheduled yourself a good schedule, and trying to find that out in leak play is really hard.
Oh forget that. We're talking to Chris Showles. He is a baseball or rather supball sports information director at UK Wildcats at one eleven to twelve after the sweep of Missou over the weekend. As Chris said, Virginia Tech Wednesday five o'clock and then LSU in Baton Rouge. Anytime you go to Baton Rouge at the long trip, it's a tough trip. But I got to think the confidence level is pretty good right now.
Confidence for sure is as high as it spent off season. And you just look at the roster that we have and I'm just going based off of the lineup that we had yesterday in the starting line of against in Surrey, you have a newcomer the team from a transfer leading off.
You've got a sophomore in the three hole, a sophomore in the four hole, of sophomore in the five hole, of sophomore in the sixth hole, a sophomore in the seventh hole, a sophomore in the eight hole, and the true freshman in the nine hole, with a true freshman starting pitcher. And that one a third game of a series against the team that was already down oh two.
So not that this team lacked confidence, but I think anytime you can get a young group of players to believe in something and actually see it happen with their own two eyes, you're going to get a lot of confidence out of them. And this is a new group. I mean, there's just so many new pieces that these fans and myself included, are not used to seeing put together.
And you know, I think it was very fair to say at the beginning of the season that I think a lot of people knew that the puzzle pieces were on the table and didn't exactly know how the puzzle was going to fit together, or if all the pieces were going to align, and you know, We're twenty three games into the season now, so just about half way, and you're starting to kind of get the corner pieces there, and we're starting to get some bases and you know,
fill in those those puzzle pieces to make it really pretty.
Who has impressed you the most in the circle?
Sarah Hendigis has been awesome. And I think not only has she been great, but the way that she has been deployed has been amazing. You know, you look at her and throughout the season, she's kind of been the super relievers, super sub role, and I think that that's something that's softball really, you know, we that's not something that we use very often in our sport a lot of times, Like to your point earlier, we have one pitcher and you ride them until they can't and then
you bring somebody else in. There really has not been a defined closer at Kentucky under Rachel Lawton. But Sarah Hendigas has a one forty five BRA. She has four wins and just one start, and that shows you kind of the importance of what she's brought to the table.
She got two staves.
This weekend out of the three games she pitched. The last out and the last complete inning in all three of those games. She is not a pitcher that is going to blow you away with speed by any stretch. I mean she maxes out at sixty four maybe on a really hard day with the wind back. But what she does is she has a change up and to be able to throw the batters off and when you only have to face her once through the order and people are guessing, you know, that's why she has six
walks and thirty nine strikeouts on the year. Just an unbelievable effective tool to throw these powerful hitters off.
Yeah, so if Lacntana falters a little bit, Lawson is not hesitating to go to handages.
Right, that's correct. I mean you have five pictures right now, and you have lack antennas to your point of forty six innings. That's the most of any anybody on the staff by a mile. She's got six wins. But then the next four pitchers have twenty nine innings, twenty five innings,
twenty four innings, and twenty innings. So I struggle to say pitch by committee because I don't know if that's fair to the kids, But what it is is it's situational matchups, so where team's really gonna have to face the pitcher maybe one time through the order, and we can switch things up and bring a different look. I think the cool thing about this staff is as young as they are, but they're so unique. You've got Hendigates who gives you the spinny change up kind of brings
the power. Langdon has the highest wifth rate of anybody on the staff, so she can come in and get strikeouts and buckets if needed. Carson Fall is going to be a star in the NBC. I don't know if it's going to be this year, but she will be
a star in this league. And then Julie Kelly, who is a predominantly drop ball pitcher, a player that was a late signee for US and has gotten three wins on the season and has struck out sixteen batters in twenty innings already, So she's going to get the hang of it as the season goes and gets some experience.
And I think you're looking at a pitching staff that, although while we may not have the best pitcher in the country or the number one strikeout pitcher in the country, there's a variety of different options here that can beat different types of offenses, which is something that I don't think that I can comfortably say that we've had really since twenty seventeen.
Right, you mentioned Rachel Lost in the head coach. It's hard to believe she's in her eighteenth year. But what a job she has done. And handle's pitchers so well, And it's amazing when you consider the fact she was not a pitcher and up until this year or maybe last, she called pitches and now is handed those duties off to an assistant. But man, just the way she puts a team together is it's so impressive, isn't it.
Yeah, it is. I mean, you've been around her enough to know how smart she is. She's just a very smart individual. She there's I mean, you can say that there are other coaches that have won championships, and that's true, but I can promise you there's nobody's ever outworked Rachel Lost the amount of film that she does to scout the opponents, and every lineup in the position group in the lineup is scouted tremendously. For Kentucky on offense, everybody
is in the lineup for a specific reason. She's trying to look at matchups she's trying to dictate the pace of the game. She's trying to make sure that she's putting her players in a position to succeed no matter what type of pitch they're throwing. So to your point, yeah,
that's one hundred percent accurate. And there are You know, Kentucky may not win every game, but I can guarantee you that the other team is not as well prepared every time that they take the field when they face a Rachel Lston coach team.
I heard a basketball coach over the weekend talk about, Uh, he was praising another basketball coach about the way he puts people together. Believe or I was not Mark Pope, but put his team together and collected people and basically talked about how this coach had selected players who had been able to play for winners at a championship, championship level,
things like that. And that's always impressed me about Rachel Lawson's recruiting, as you well know, she recruits players from successful high school programs, club programs, travel programs because she said, I don't want to have to teach them how to win. I want them to know that when they get here. And it's such an advantage, isn't it?
It is? And I think that that goes to kind of the blue collar mentality that Kentucky softball has developed during her time. Kentucky has always been somebody who's going to be to with pitching and defense. They're going to be hard nos, they're going to slide when they need to, and it's going to be a team that's really hard
to play against. I think that's the most respectful thing that you would hope to, you know, when I always heard one of the coaches that I worked with back in the day, who's loger, but he said, the one thing that I hope when I go to the handshake line is the other coach tells me that we were tough to play again. And that's you know, that's you know, kind of the bell coal of Okay. I had my
team prepared and ready to go. And I would imagine that every SEC coach probably looks in the mirror and says, you know, Kentucky may not be the most talented team, Kentucky may not have fifteen All Americans on their roster, but boy, they're really really hard to play against. And I think that that's a very fair statement.
Is Chris Shols, sports information director for the UK softball Woldcats to have another non conference game, but a tough one coming up Wednesday, Virginia Tech five o'clock at John Crop Stadium. You'll hear it on the UK Sports Network. Thank you so much, Chris. You're seeing it at the ballpark, Hey, thank you, appreciate it. Tech.
Always a pleasure.
And that'll do it for now, Thanks to Chris, to Jared Tech, and to coach Chris Collins. That's a good night from the garage and Lexi game.
Joey.
Do you like movies about gladiators? Joey, have you ever been in a in a Turkey prison?
Takes the Singing Snatch? Think Donnas, I don't don