2025-03-12 - BBI

begins for real at seven o'clock. The casts our boys get started at an eight o'clock. It's network coverage with Cameron and Dave and then Tom and Jack will have the call. Probably be a little bit of philled, but you know how these tournaments go. Somebody could get into overtime and some of these games take forever. But it is going to be an interesting, interesting week for the Wildcats. We'll see just how well Kentucky place in its first

SEC tournament under Mark Pope. It has been literally a season for the record books thanks to all those quad one wins, but just also because of the way this season has unfolded with Polpe being hired and the injection of enthusiasm into the program, the big wins, the puzzling losses. It just been a lot of fun. It really has been, you know. And by the way, last night, I watched a little bit of the Gonzaga Saint Mary's game before I nodded off. Gonzaga wins again the West Coast Conference

Tournament championship, and when it did it. By doing so, it avenged two regular season losses to Saint Mary's and the Gales had beaten Gonzaga twice. And then Gonzaga turns it around last night fifty eight fifty one. It was an ugly game. I watched like the first half of the first half, and I was surprised at how ugly a game it was. But this is what Gonzaga does. And you can knock the WCC, the West Coast Conference, and I will not the strongest, but Saint Mary's has

a good program. That's a good team obviously, But man, and the Gales, by the way, beat Gonzaga last year in the title game. It ended Gonzaga has run a four straight conference championships, ten of eleven and it's an amazing stat when you look at mark few in that tournament fifty three and six through his career in that tournament fifty three and six, and of course Gonzaga. Every time Gonzaga wins a game, it helps Kentucky, whether it's

RPI and whatever. So Gonzaga once again coming in won't win the national title, but coming in after beating Saint Mary's late last night. Speaking of Kentucky's chances, bet MGM has released some of the odds, and of course Auburn is the favorite at plus three twenty five, meaning a bet one hundred dollars you win three twenty five if Auburn wins the title. Duke is next, of course, at

three point fifty. Duke now the top ranked team in the country after Alabama's went over Auburn, then Florida at six hundred, Houston at eight hundred, Alabama is at twelve hundred, Tennessee is at fifteen hundred. Tennessee is a sixth betting choice, which seems a little high to me, but a lot of people still like those balls. Then you'd get quite a jump to Michigan State at twenty two hundred. Saint

John's and Iowa State are at twenty five hundred. Bet one hundred, and if either one of those teams wins it all, you win twenty five hundred bucks. Where are your Wildcats? Their next thirty five hundred bet? One hundred win thirty five hundred. If Kentucky wins it all, if you truly believe in those cats, hey, you could win some bucks. If they take it, then it's Texas Tech, Kansas, Arizona,

Gonzaga and Maryland. When the season began, would you have believe that Kansas, at least in terms of betting odds, would be a longer shot than Kentucky. Be honest, no, of course not. But that's the way the season is unfolded for the Wildcats. But you have also thought Saint John's would have been a better bet than Kentucky. Well maybe because of Beatino, But it's just been that kind of year. That's why it's fun, and that's what it's all about. It's all about the fun. There's a lot

going on. Girls Sweet sixteen underway today as we pre record. Can't give you any scores, but I have been in Rapperina all day long and we'll be going back tonight. Thanks to the miracle of digital technology and having this conversation with you while I'm working that event. But yeah, that's it's that time of year. The boy Sweet sixteen is next week, so it's a lot of fun this time of year, no question. Baseball Wildcats had fun last night.

They beat Nordernillan. That was the game they added when they lost to Weather lost the game to EKU, so they added nord In Illinois the last minute and beat the Huskies nine to two. It was at nine to any game because they couldn't get that ten run rule thing happening. But multi hit games for Sean Montoya, Luke Lawrence, who else got one. Devin Burks had a double at a couple of runs batted in among his two base hits.

There was only one home run that was hit by Northern Illinois, but the Kentucky's Nick Misgione was able to try it out. Six different pitchers got some work out of the bullpen. Starter with Nate Harris goes five innings, gives up one in and run, struck out two, and then five relievers came on and got some work, which is vital going into Southeastern Conference play. The Wildcats open up Friday night at six point thirty against Georgia SEC

play begins. Georgia's got a good team, But then again, you're talking about the SEC, and you know, when you're talking SEC, you're talking the best league in the country, as you well know. And the Bulldogs are ranked number three in the country. Kentucky's twenty third, but Georgia's number three.

You can see the game on SEC Plus. You can hear the game on our sister station ninety eight point five FM, because there might well be Kentucky basketball on the air on Friday, depends, of course, on what happens Thursday. There's more going on, of course. But one of the stories that's out there, did you see the video of the high school track runner in Virginia who in a relay race, came upon it was kind of battling with another runner for positioning, and beat her in the head

with the baton. She has since released a video She's all weepy the w ONEm talking about the woman who did the hitting and is terribly upset because she has received threats and criticism and keeps claiming that she didn't do it on purpose, and she clearly did. And the woman who took the blows suffered a concussion and a possible skull fracture. And here's what got me. You know, the arms were flailing, but she clearly hit the woman.

After the race, this gual. This woman's down injured, the woman who hit her, and her coach never even bothered to go over and check if this kid was hurt and never apologized, and now is claiming that she is a victim. It's just nuts. But google it. You'll find it if you're really interested. But that was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, John Clay's going to join us from the Harrow Leader. John has just been inducted into

the US Basketball Writers Hall of Fame. So we'll talk to John about that a little bit later on our Unforgettable Guard Sean Woods. He'll talk basketball, but as he worked that Great Crossing Frederick Douglass game last night, Great Crossing wins by one bucket and therefore goes to the Sweet sixteen. And Frederick Douglass had an open look for a three at the end but couldn't hit it. So Malachi Marino, the future Wildcat, he and his teammates from

Georgetown are going back to the Sweet sixteen. Also our West n BUA chief Gary Moore will join us as well, this being Wednesday. Coming up, in our next segment, we're going to talk a little bit more about Junior bridgmane and we got the word that he had died yesterday after we had already pre recorded our show. But we'll talk a little bit in our next segment and we'll hear from not just a speech that Bridgeman made about what helped make him successful, because man was he successful,

but Shaquille O'Neal talked about it. You probably know because you cannot avoid his commercials. Shack is the most visible retired athlete when it comes to selling products and things like that, and he is crazy successful, so is Michael Jordan. He's just not as VISI and other athletes around the world. But Shaquille O'Neal said that Junior Bridgeman helped him get started in the business world and was his mentor. Basically,

was a great player at Louisville. One of my all time maybe my all time favorite UILL player when I was young, Just a tremendous athlete, help U of L get to the seventy five final four when Kentucky was there. Those teams should have played for the national title, but lost him way too young, just seventy one years old, and had a heart attack while he was making a speech at a fundraiser for the boy Scouts, which comes

as no surprise when you talk about Junior Bridgeman. So we'll talk about him after the break, and then a little bit later on we'll talk about the basketball Cats with John Clay and Seawan Woods here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider. Coming up in just a couple of minutes, we're going to hear from Hall of Famer John Clay. He is now a

member of the US Basketball Writers Hall of Fame. It's been on the show many times just to talk about the Wildcats in his role as a commis for the Herald Leader, but now he's a Hall of Famer. So we'll talk to John. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, hour number two. It's Wednesday, so we'll talk with unforgettable guard Sean Woods about the upcoming SEC tournament, and of course, our Westen Bureau chief Gary Morrow, have some thoughts about the passing of Junior Bridgeman as well.

Gary living in Louisville, now and before he moved to LA he worked here in Lexington and then moved to Louisville, so quite familiar with Junior Bridgeman, who believe it or not. Growing up in Louisville and rooting for both UK and U of L, I had favored UK players. My first were, of course, Dan Issel and Mike Pratt. And my first faves of U of L players were West Unseled and Butcher Beard. But I came to really like and respect and he became my favorite U of L player, Junior Bridgeman.

This year, my second year of UK, I sat out with my sophomore year. My first semester, I went to a lot of Louisville games that was the seventy four to seventy five season. I say a lot, probably you know, four or five, but followed them as I was following Kentucky, you know, the Kevin Greevy jimman' connor team. Then I came back to school that second semester in the spring.

Well that was nineteen seventy five, when both teams were heading for the Final four, and I really really believe, and a lot of people did, that those two teams would collide in the National Championship game and they should have. Kentucky beat Syracuse. Louisville lost to UCLA and John Wooden. Denny Crumb lost to his old boss who held back that famed UCLA press until the last couple of minutes of the game. Then he throws it to the U of L. They start to turn it over and UCLA

wins it. I think it was in overtime and goes

on to beat Kentucky. That was tough. But what I remember about Junior Bridgman, that team, Junior Bridgeman, Alan Murphy, Philip Bond, those guys was everybody was excited as well they should have been about the super Kittens and Denny Crumb, trying to stir the pot, talked about the recruiting class that included junior Bridgeman out of East Chicago, Washington, and he said I'll take my recruiting class over their recruiting class any day now, and said he thought Alan Murphy

was a better scorer than her shooter or whatever, than Kevin Greevy. I don't remember what he said about Bridgman, but it boy got everybody's attention, I will tell you that. But I rooted for Bridgman when when he left U of L and went to the NBA, was drafted by the Lakers. Was part of a trade that brought then Leuel Cinder, who had just become Kareem abdul Jabbar, to Los Angeles and sent Junior Bridgman to Milwaukee, where he became an absolute fixture with the Bucks and became an

incredibly successful businessman. And if you read it anything about Junior Bridgeman since his passing, you've seen reference to that. Junior came on the Big Blue Insider many years ago. I think it was still called Sports Nightly at that point, and I would I would replay the interview, but the archives were lost, I hate to say. Anyhow, he was gracious and classy, of course, And here's a clip when he was talking at a symposium about early successes. You

know he was. He got into Wendy's, he invested, he said, in four or five Wendy's restaurants, and it took off, and he became a billionaire, not just in Wendy's but in other ventures. But this is a talk he gave about what led to his success was basically being decent to his employees, being kind to other people.

a year. And you're not making any money at that volume. Today those restaurants and my son runs them, so we still have a lot of them, but they do over two million.

cared about them. And once they realized that we cared about them, then they cared about the business and they cared about us. And we grew, and as we grew and added more stores, we were able to promote people from a general manager to a district manager to an area operations person. And after a while we had a whole lot of people making over one hundred thousand dollars a year. And you would say, you know, how did that happen? And it was in what I would call

a real American dream. You could come go to work, if you had just natural common sense and you were willing to work hard, you could make a good living for yourself. And we had people that went on from there and became franchised Z's on their own. So turn around and it was a matter of helping people. And then one day I looked up and we had two hundred and seventy five Wendy's restaurants.

heard him say. People come to him all the time with ideas, Hey invest in this, here's a product, whatever, and he always, if he has any interest at all, he turns to his business partner and that's how they figure things out. But one of the first mentors basically my word for Shaquille O'Neil, and I'd never heard this was Junior Bridgeman, and he told that story on the TNT set.

I know I'm on this list. All the commercials I do and I saw his name, I reached out to him and we started talking. And you know, he had Wendy's, I started Big Chicken, you know, Pepsi and coke. So everything that he did I tried to pattern after him. I just actually just talked to him the other day because we were getting ready to do business. So my condoleces goes out to his partners, shawls, to his family,

his daughter, his son. But this one really hit hard for me because he was definitely somebody that I look up to. I know, I get a lot of credit. Oh you do this and you do that. If it wasn't for Bridgeman, I wouldn't have known where where to stay. Because I watched this man. I was like man, and I'm always the type I used jealousy as motivation, Like, man, this man got this man got four hundred windies, let

me do something. This man got free distribute, So like I used that and I had a conversation with him, and he was so nice to me. Nice to go to this function that he held doing the Derby and Louisville was just a nice, humble young man and he gave me all the.

I mean, that is something he knew that if he did it, he would want to do it right and throw himself into it the way he threw himself into all of his business ventures, and he knew because of all those business ventures, he didn't have a time, so he turned it down. I don't remember who they ended up hiring. I think this was after Jock Sutherland ever retired, But the bottom line was he was a fixture in U of L basketball, in the community, in the Milwaukee community.

And yeah, I was stunned. Seventy one years old, he's less than two years older than I am. And feel for his family and his friends. Back in just a minute, John Clay, new Hall of Famer from the Herold Leader and the US Basketball Writers Association Here on six point thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Bull Insider. My next guest has been with us on our celebrity Highline many times, but this is the first time we can

adjust John Clay as a Hall of Famer. He is being voted into, has been voted into, and being inducted into the US Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame with some pretty big name people. John, Congratulations. Yeah, you've been around for a while, but much deserved.

you know, I'm very happy to be. I've always felt a very lucky to get the job that I got, to be able to do the job that I do, and to be able to do it, you know, reporting on the team that I followed growing up and with so many people that I know around has been special to me. So I can't complain. My friends all tease me that I never had a real.

the day. And then you know, and then as on the staff at the Colonel when you were there at the Kentucky Colonel and kind of you know, moved on from there. And then yeah, when I started out the Hero Leader, I was doing high schools. Then when the papers merged, when they started out with the Old Leader in the afternoon paper and the Herald the year after that, and then when the papers merged, I worked on the sports copy desk, but I still got to write some.

But I was basically a copy editor for two three years and did that until eight nineteen eighty seven, when they decided that basketball had become so big that they needed one person to just concentrate on basketball full time, and that was Jerry Tiffin. And then I was fortunate

enough that they gave me the football beat. So yeah, I did a lot of different things, and over the years, as it's been in all of our job with the internet and everything, things change out tell people the job I have now is certainly not the job I had ten fifteen years ago. But for somebody like myself, and I'm sure you probably feel the same way, some of the new challenges have been good for people like this who kind of stayed in the same market for all

those years. You do have different challenges and different things you have to learn, and I think that's kind of helped in a way.

Harold Leader high school writers. So I kind of got moved into a sports copy desk job, which at the time I was not crazy about it, but I think it actually helped me because, you know, learning another side the business and helped with editing and so forth. But I still wrote. I still wrote some, especially I covered a lot of women's basketball back then and girls' basketball. But and then and still did you know, some writing too, But I did also a lot of copy desk work too.

And then, like I said, they decided in eighty seven to split the UK because Jerry when he first got here he did both football and basketball. People kind of forget that. But so then I did football. I did football from nineteen eighty seven till two thousand. When Chuck left to go to the Oregonian in two thousand and that was fortunate enough to get his get his job. But I remember when how Mommy came and got the job. And you remember Chris Hatcher. Yep, he came up with

pal as you know at that time. I think he was even like a graduate sister of ball right her assistant, and he handled the quarterbacks. And I remember talking to Chris and Chris said, how long have you been covering football? I said, since nineteen eighty seven, Chris goes And Chris is the heck of a guy, Chris Goes Man, You've seen a lot of losing football.

Writers Association Hall of Fame class of twenty twenty five. Yeah, I've got to think that working that copy desk made you a better writer, because, man, with the summery intern for the Louisville Times, I worked my butt off just so the city desk slotman and the copy editors didn't have to fix my stories.

their GM. I read a story in which he said that of all the jobs that he had, always the most challenging job and the best job, is being a high school writer. Because when you're covering high school sports, you're keeping your own stats. A lot of people take their own pictures. You're down there, You're in these press boxes that you have to squeeze into, or you may be down on the sidelines, and it's, you know, trying

to keep stats, and it's raining and so forth. It's a great education for I don't know how many times, uh, you know, I was afraid I was going to get locked into a football stadium trying to write your story. Yeah, I think I remember one time Jean got locked in. Jean McLean got locked in covering a high school football game. I remember the first time, you will appreciate this stick the first time I met the great Bob White, who

recently passed away. For a long time career journal high school beat writer writer, he and Mike ro Both legends of the state were covering high school. The first time I met Bob White, I was covering a lot yet I was at the Herald Leader. I was covering a Lapiet basketball game and they had a little table set up for the media, and I was sitting there and Bob White came and sat down beside me. And the whole time, I'm thinking, that's Bob White. That's Bob White,

because I'd read him, but I hadn't met him. And then Bob turns to me and says, are you from the Herald? And I said, yes, from the Herald. He goes, where are you going to write your story? And I said, I think I can go back to the office and write it from there. He said, they told me I could use the vice principal's office, but it's locked. I don't know where I'm going to write my story. I

don't know where I'm going to send my story. Man, I'm thinking, so, whether you're Bob White or just me starting out, you face the same challenges when you're covering high school high school sports.

I think I've told you. I had to drive to the old Jerry's on on South Broadway and phone it in from the lobby. People are in there, you know, ordering a Patty Meltw on the phone. I'm tying up the payphone for twenty minutes dictating a story. But man, you learn, you know. Yeah, and now now you appreciate being able to hit send, uh and right, make sure your story.

with John Clay of the Harrow Leader. He is the newest member of the US Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame class at twenty twenty five, going in with his former colleague and his buddy Chuck Culpepper, who, by the way, was one of our narrators for the documentary the Cameron Mills and Jason Epperson and I did on the ninety eight championship team Out of the Blue. We had. We had Chuck and a couple of Mark Coombs and Daryl Bird read read their copy that would They were our narrators.

And this is a guy who travels the world and just somehow finds finds an interesting nugget to write about. You're covering the same team basically, John Dafterday, you do branch out, cover other things, cover the reds and all. But what kind of a challenge is that to be working in the same market covering the same team for so many years. Background is great, context is great, but it's the same team year after You're the same I should say school year after year.

you're writing about the same team. Luckily, you know, for better or worse, especially under Cal under cal Perry, you know, the members of the team seem to change every year, and it's been a little bit that way in football, so it gives you more new things to write about. One of the things I thought I was fortunate enough

for doing doing football for so long. UK football obviously basketball, you know, probably more interested in basketball than football, though I always contend there's always been a great core interest in UK football, but there were more when you're covering a team that's got a five scholarship players and a bunch of walk ons, there's more opportunities for stories and features and that type of thing, and there is in the uh you know, I go back to one your

another reference point that you can appreciate is Dave Kindred. I read Dave Kendred, you know, growing up in the in the career for twenty years, and they've always said you know, there's a lot of good stories in the losing locker room as well as the winning locker room. And I think that's that's true as well, and so uh, you know, I think that was a good education for me as well to learn for on the beat for football as well. But yeah, I mean it as advantageist

and disadvantage, but I think overall it's an advantage. Like I said, I've always enjoyed writing about uh, you know, the the athletic department and the university that I followed and ruduft growing up and knowing that the people that I know, friends, family, colleagues, people around in Central Kentucky and Kentucky writing for you know, the same teams that they you know, love and follow and want to know more about. So that that's been good as a columnist.

what you write. And then even if they as an account as accumist, even if they disagree with your point of view, if they feel like that you're being fair and you're making you know, it's it's honest and it's what you really believe. You're not trying to get clicks, as we would say now or you know, but I always said, if if a team's not going well and you're writing that everything's great, people are going to stop

reading you because they know that's not true. And it's the opposite if they're doing well and you're nitpicking them and writing a bunch of negative things. Uh, you know, I think that they're not going to read you either. I think as I've gotten older, I probably have been a little more I don't think lenien is the right word, but maybe had a little different perspectives than athletes that yeah, than I once did. And I think that's just part

of growing older. The majority I was probably more apt to when I first started out to you know, be more critical than probably you know I am now. But you know, also, you know social media and then it's changed so many things, it's changed their jobs. Now. I

used to get a lot of emails. I don't get nearly as many emails now because people can't you know, they tell me what they think on Facebook or on Twitter, or you know, they have a direct line to you almost you know, your followers and so forth, so you know that's that's changed as well.

talking about and really ripping me. And then I'll reply to them and say, you know, well, you know, I'm sorry you disagree, blah blah blah, and they'll write they'll come back at you, but they're a little softer, a little soft, like maybe they didn't experience the experience. John Adams, I'm sure you probably know John longtime. Collins occidently asked me one time first when internet started up, because do you get a lot of nasty emails? And I said, yeah, I did, I get a few. He goes, what do

you How do you reply? So well? I tell him, you know, I understand their point of view and blah blah blah. He goes, I don't. I tell them they're nuts. I tell them they're crazy. John can get away with that?

You're still the same one I was here the first time. But you know, that's been really neat because they got to know Mark a little bit when we covered him, and I've talked to him a couple of times over the years when he was coaching elsewhere. I did a story on when he got his first job at Utah Valley. So it's been great to see Mark tackle this job and the job he has done. I mean, I just think he's set the right tone. He's been exactly what the doctor ordered. Nothing against cal Perry. I had no

beef with John. You know, John had his good points and his bad point. But I think John knew and everybody knew it was time for a change and time to move on. And I think Marcus done an incredible job putting a new team together and fighting through the injuries and having the season they had. And I think may more importantly, I think he set the tone for what the program should be and will be under him in the future.

championships back to back with different schools.

the name of Pete Turkovich who went to UCLA. Absolutely, Okay, he was on that team. Remember the big time pitcher named Tim Stoddard. Yeah, he was on that team with Junior Bridgeman.

Ruben Bailey went to. But Darnell Adell came back, took Easchicago Washington the state championship and guess who he Guess who he coached. Kenny Laughton, who was the baseball player for the Cleveland for the Cleveland Indians. We're all grew up together. Kenny Laughton and I grew up together. He's two years older than me, three years older than me actually, but we played Little League, Beast football, baseball, all that

stuff together. And then Tim started came back and won the state championship at Each Chicago Central, which was they combined ISA Chicago Roosevelt to Chicago Washington and made it Each Chicago Central.

You know, Magic Johnson is one, now Michael Jordan's another. But I'm gonna tell you something. I remember I used to get in trouble. Everybody knew that I was great friends with guys that played for the University of Louis, of the Ewie Sullivans of cok these holders, the Boo Brewers and the Jerome Harmers, you know, the Bradford Smiths and things like that. When we would go out okay

and then go get us a burger at Wendy's. There were several times where I went to one I think it's a Horsebourne Lane of somewhere where he was in the back flippenburger and he was the owner and he was known for that oh wow regiment would be in the back and you wouldn't even know who he was, and he would be in the back with the regular workers, flipping berger.

But you worked last night the telecast online of the eleventh Region championship, and I know how much you were looking forward to that game. And it didn't disappoint and future Wildcat and his teammates great crossing. They beat Frederick Douglas by two, survived a three pointer at the at the end. And now Malachai Moreno is going back to the Sweet sixteen. He had a decent game, did he not?

midgets to you. And this is what I am impressed with him about, even when he's in an unfamiliar territory, because the reason why he's one of the best big men in the country is because when he's playing out in those AAU tournaments and those camps against some of the best big men in the country, he dominates. But what's impressive with him is he dominates even when he's playing against smaller guys, like he doesn't look out of place.

I mean, his his his quarter awareness is impeccable. He can score in a telephone boost with a bunch of mitcht because he's got great footwork, he's got really good handle, and he's got great hands. He gets the ball to the rim quick. I think he's a very underrated defender. As you saw last night, he blocked everything that got to the rim. And kudos to Douglas for being resilient and giving themselves a chance to even have it, you know, to have a chance to win under those circumstances when

you're playing against a dominant player like that. But I've been impressed with with Malachi just with the skill level, and he's only gonna get better. One thing he hasn't shown that I've just seen in warm up this. He can shoot the fifteen footer, but he just doesn't shoot it in high school because he doesn't happen. And that's gonna be a major. That's gonna be something when he gets to Kentucky because Mark Polk is real big on improving your shot because you're gonna shoot all day in practice,

that's what you're gonna do. You're gonna shoot all day, so you can't get do nothing but get better as a shooter and become more confident. So that's gonna be a part of his game that people haven't seen that he is capable of doing. But I love his efficiency, He's.

is really good. But man, I got to give a lot of credits to Douglas at Larry Garver for the job he did coming in as a first year coach, come coming in out of college, you know, and it's a it's a major adjustment, you know, when you're preparing for the likes of you know, the MIAK and and and when you got to play those money games against some of the best coaches in the country, right and now you're coming here and you got to develop these

guys to prepare against some these high school you know, situations. And he did a marvelous job all year of even being the second best team in the regions, the eleventh region, then making a championship game and had a chance to win last night even when he got down thirteen to fourteen, they were down ten with two minutes ago. When he comes back and had a chance to win, Yeah, I had a.

and you won it. You Claubert Alabama, I'm wondering where you check in. I have a pretty good idea all this debate. John Calipari has said it again. You know I couldn't care less about the SEC Tournament. I know you wouldn't do that as a co WHI and Pope has gone to one hundred and eighty degrees in the other direction. Can you imagine going into a tournament like that? Uh, not as a coach, but as a player. Hearing your coach.

you win, you still got to play Tuesday Winnsday. That's right, What does that make.

enough defensively. But in the last two or three weeks, Sean, they've made a move forward at least as far as the analytics are concerned, UH, to be not just better at defense, but now one of the better teams in the country over the last two or three weeks defensively, what have you seen when it comes to their defensive improvement, Dick.

the SEC where defense is the jergernaut. Most of the best teams in this league are great defensively, And he knew that he had to change, and he had to change real fast and make that more of a priority than his offense. And when he realized that he wasn't going to get through thirty threes up because defenses from other teams weren't going to allow that. Right, he make a change too, And in order for him to make a change, he had to start getting more stops yep,

to win games. So that's what that means, you know what I'm saying, And I'm sure going in from here on out, he better be working in the summertime on his shell defensive principles and and making that just as much of a priority as it is shooting threes and and coming up with all these wizardry plays uh the offensive end, because that ain't gonna win. That ain't gonna

cut it as he saw it. And from a recruiting standpoint, he better start getting find the guys that that that that fit the mode of a Lamon Butler.

uh to to to go along with these freshmen. But I would put a billboard up, a poster in his office with the the Mott Butler's picture aren't saying gets where I'm going. I gotta find much like this.

So that's what scares me right now is can they win three games in a row if they you know, and and we'll see you know that that's that's the million dollar deal because you're going against the juggernaut and everybody in this in this tournament from who's playing tonight on Wednesday night can beat him tomorrow, to beat us tomorrow. So you know, you saw Lennon Hamilton last night, you know, lost and they were favorite to win, playing against somebody

who had played the night before. It doesn't matter. It's tournament time now did It's tournament time, and the mentality has changed and switched. And that's why some people are really disgusted with John Caliperry making those those deals about nothing's important. You're in the postseason, everything's important.

little bit. They're starting to produce and they're going to need all the production they can get from everybody that comes in that game, that comes in the game starting tomorrow.

it done. He also had six rebounds. Pelfrey had nine points and six rebounds in that game and four assists. But one thing I remember about Jamel Martinez is Rick Patino at one point said, you know, if it weren't for the probation, we wouldn't even have recruited Jamel Martinez. Remind have said a player like Jamel, But I thought that's a hell of a thing to say. But the guy came through and he was the heck of a competitor coming up our Western Bureau Chief Gary Moore, six

thirty WLP Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. It's Wednesday. That means we go down the interstate to the west end of it for our West End Bureau chief Gary Moore a long time our West Coast Bureau chief, and he worked in at Los Angeles. Now he was in LA the Louisville area and joins us every week with two guys into six packs. Sir, ye're up. Well, we're still kind of in shock over.

lost by a point. Had they won that game, yep, there would have been your dream game, right yeah, and then he went on to the Bucks. Was part of that Kareem Abdul Jabbar trade.

the fourth wealthiest retired athlete in the world. Wow, behind Michael Jordan, David Beckham, and Arnold Palmer. He went on to buy you know, a piece of Milwaukee Bucks. He was a billionaire and above it all, just a really great guy and.

things that gives them a little added push. But you never know, right, Yeah, you never know something like this is gonna go on. Well, let's let's talk a little bit about that. Tomorrow night. Louisville set to play at seven on ESP and to the number fourteen. Cards are a second seed in the tournament, led by, of course ACC Coach of the Year deservedly Pat Kelsey and first team All ACC and Defensive Player of the Year as well,

CHUCKI Hepburn. How about d guard point guard. Obviously, this is one of the greatest Louisville teams I think ever, not just record wise, at twenty five and six in the regular season. But for a program, in terms of a program reviving aspect of it, you can't say enough about what they've done to try and make people forget the last couple of years. However, I think if Louisville does not get sharp shooting guard Rain Smith back one hundred percent, I don't know actually how far they can go.

I would love to see them go obviously to File four, but let's let's be realistic here. Can they get to at least a sixteen or an Elite eight? I don't know, But after the season, you know what, I'm not going to count them out because people picked them ninth to finish ninth in the preseason ACCS, so who knows, Dick.

But I'll tell you what. The one thing Kentucky fans had gone for him as their program had not basically hit college basketball rock bottom, which is what Louisville and in terms of teams that were ranked and rated and you know, I mean, they were just almost hopeless. So Duke fans can see all they want. Their coach did a great job, yeah, but hit the challenge he had paled in comparison to what Pat Kelsey found.

tested for a run. So let's talk a little bit about that. We know, if you've followed UK basketball anytime in the last few years, we know only too well what coach cal used to say, you know, the only tournament I really care about, right, And how'd that work out? In the last nine years or so well, as we've seen, the Cats are arguably in the toughest basketball conference this season, and maybe in history, certainly in the SEC history. I think this is probably the season UK beat eight top

fifteen teams. They're only the third team to ever do that, yeah, in history. So depending on the draw and if they stay healthy, how far do you think that they can go. What's their ceiling?

you know, and then we'll see. Well, you know, the SEC won eighty nine percent of its non conference games this year. Now, of course in conference games they only broke even. They were just five hundred. But yeah, I think that I think both Kentucky and Louisville can get at least to the second weekend. But as you said,

depends on. Obviously everybody's staying healthy in the next week or so, but depends on matchups, depends on how games are officiated in that first weekend when there are so many refs, you know who may not have a lot of tournament experience. You know, if you can survive all that, you got a shot and moving on.

contract there. Steve's second act at Murray started three years ago with the athletic director at the time from UK Kevin's does Assault Kevin Saal yep. And then Kevin bailed for just a few months later for the ad gig at Wichita State.

happens and happens in every business pretty much. So I have a question for you, seeing how the portal and the nil landscape has really changed since the days of well campaign Cameron Payne, John Morant, Murray is Murray State delusional to think that they can get back to those top twenty teams?

to be. You know, some kids would go in and you know, hey, I can get some minutes here playing for the Racers or John Morant. You know, you find a guy like that and he sticks around for a while. Now, a John Morant's gone after one year if you stumble into a great talent like that. So I feel for Murray State. I think college basketball better when a team like that is viable. But I just don't see how it's gonna happen.

away from starting officially next Tuesday. Dodgers and Cubs in Tokyo two games Tuesday, the eighteenth, Wednesday the nineteenth Tokyo Dome, and those are six to ten starts, by the way, six to ten am in the freaking morning for us here in the East three time zone, even worse at the Pacific, and keeping with their yearly tradition, the Dodgers have already won pitcher lost for the season before it even begins. Michael Grove relievers out for the season's shoulder surgery.

But still, I tell you, LA looks like repeat World Series defenders to the rest of MLB. So I ask you, who are you going to take this year to win it all? La or the field? I'm going to take Los Doyers.

still had to do some work. But let me ask you this, why in the world is it so important to open the great American pastime? And this is not I'm not being a nationalist. I mean, if you want to have a game like that in Japan, I think that's fantastic. But why in the world take that away from Cincinnati, The traditional season opener with the parade and all the history that is eminently manageable, and the fact that Major League Baseball has let this happen is really sad to me.

keep it, keep it on this shore. I mean, yeah, why don't you do Cincinnati first, then go over to Japan and do those games have Cincinnati for And you know, but that's gonna mess up, you know, I guess the scheduling or whatever, the bottom clock stuff, whatever it should it still should be in Cincinnati every year, period, exclamation point, no question, about it.

Atlantic Sun Championship their first year at that level. I was at Freedom Hall three years ago when they won it, and they should have gone on to the Big Dance except for that horrible, inane anti student rule that the NCAA still cripples schools with when you make them move up to A D one to D D one from D two, that rule, like I guess the NCAA in

general needs to go. But beyond coaching, Scotty one of the most and you know, I know, you know and anybody else who's met him, of the most positive, most motivational human beings you will ever meet. And he's a Louisville guy through and through, as are you. So when you think of Scotty? What comes to mind for you? You know what comes to mind right away?

We're talking our west ENDBUA chief, Gary Moore. He mentioned earlier during two Guys in a six Pack the situation at NC State firing a coach eleven months, not even a year removed from the final four. That's one of our hot reads. Kevin keats eight seasons in Raleigh, but he's done, dismissed. On Sunday, just before Gary, the ACC Network rolls out a documentary about last year's season called why Not Both of course men's and women's teams both

make the Final four. Now, when that word first came out, of course, there was a bit of an uproar. What how can you fire a guy who was just off the final four? But quite frankly, he and I'm glad he got his buyout money. But he was about to get fired anyway, wasn't he. Yeah?

tournament not so fast in C State. You know, you don't get a Lifetime Achievement award for last year's final four. They'ren to make the ACC tournament field. So he's got to sit down and look at, you know what what got him to the final four and figure out how can I do that again? Not just a hot hand.

about that, and so are the Golden State Warriors. Well now his school, which is in the A ten, needs nil help. So they went out and hired this guy, Steph Curry, to be an assistant general manager. And that's part of a trend. Now is this to trendy Gary or is this the future? And is Steph Curry going to lower big time talent to Davidson? I also wonder is stef gonna contribute? I won't say donate, but contribute to the nil, cause I.

a smaller scale. That's what basketball is going to be, you know has come to and I completely agree with that is a great idea. Holy cow with the greatest shooter of all time, and all of a sudden I flashed on, Wow, if Pete Mayrovitch was still around, would he do the same thing down at LSU.