Welcome to the Big Blue and Siderday. Gabriel with you on a Wednesday edition of our show Nasty Day. In terms of the weather, we knew it was coming. Fortunately it was sunny, very very windy earlier today, but really pleasant otherwise, which meant a great It was a break for us the media, because we were invited by Mark Stoops to attend practice today and you've probably already seen some video, heard some comments, read some stuff from today's practice,
you know. And what happens generally is we wait outside the gate or in the lobby, then they come out and speak to us after. But he let us come and observe today, and we'll get a chance to do it again before the end of spring, just as you will, I think on the last day of spring. More to come on that when we find out. But yeah, we got the eyeball things. You couldn't shoot what they call team practice team periods, So you're not gonna see any
video right now of eleven on eleven stuff. For whatever reason, coaches get a little paranoid. Maybe other teams can scout that way, Maybe other teams can poach players through the portal. Hey, take a look at this guy. Let's go after him. You know, he's deep on their depth chart, that kind of thing.
But that's okay.
I just enjoyed being out there and watching it and then hearing comments from Stoops and some of the players afterwards. I have said him many times for many many years now, I stopped trying to evaluate what I see because I'm not an expert. You know, what I can tell is, first of all, somebody getting yelled at a lot. I can tell if kick return guys are dropping the ball. I can tell if punters are shanking the ball, so
can you. I can tell the quarterbacks are connecting with receivers, but if they're not, I can't tell whose fault it is. Was the route run improperly or was the ball thrown improperly? If it looks good, I can certainly recognize that, and there was a lot of that today with all the quarterbacks Zac Calzada, Cutter, Bully and bo Allen. You know,
but what does that mean? I don't know. You know, now, in some of the team drills, the d backs got the better of the receivers, and sometimes the receivers beat the d backs.
That was fun to watch, But who was right? Who was wrong.
Well, now you know what the coaches are looking at. Marks Troops always talks about, you know, he's a little bit torn after practices in the spring or the Blue White game or whatever, and then they're not gonna there's not gonna be one this year, but they'll have something.
But as a.
Coach, how do you evaluate did this guy do well or did this guy screw up? Every coach in America deals with that. But I'm not a football professional, so I mean I covered professionally, but you know, I can't tell you about footwork and technique and all that stuff. I can tell you who looked good. But you know what, for me, it.
Goes back to how mummy's last year.
Not picking on mummy, but I can tell you Mummy let us come to practice all the time. Because he was so overconfident, I should say, kind of smug. Uh. He would say, you guys don't know what you're looking at anyway, and he wasn't wrong. You know what are we going to do? Run back and talk about formations and this and that. Plus Mommy used to say, we all steal from each other. Everybody steals from everybody. It's inevitable.
So he didn't care if we were practiced, unless he get mad at us threw us out a few times. But going into the two thousand season, they looked great. Kentucky looked great in the spring, in the summer and the pre fall workouts because all they did was work on pass Kelly and they never dropped the ball.
I thought they in Bamadeli Li said.
I think it was him, said we're gonna win nine games or ten games or something. No, Marlon McCree said that, Marlon McCree, we're gonna win ten games something like that.
They won two.
Mommy got fired. You know, I felt like an idiot because like, yeah, they're going to be really good. No they're not, or they weren't. So I quit trying to predict stuff based on what I saw in the spring. But I can tell, like I said, what QB's look like, and they all look good.
I don't know who's gonna.
Win the job, but Mark Steuops in general like what he saw today.
You know, it was good to get outside. I'm glad you all were here today and got to see, you know, all the practice and got some footage. You could tell there's quite a few new guys out here. As I told the team, you know, there's plenty of work to be done, but I believe the last time I talked to you was last Saturday, and I felt good about their attitude, their work ethic and and just the process of getting better and putting in the work. And I feel the same way. You know, hopefully you guys saw
that today. You know, I like this team. There's a lot of work to be done, but everybody's putting their head down, working and getting better, and that I can appreciate. So worked out well and again, glad you guys are here.
And I think he meant that. I think he was glad that we got a chance to look. Although it tells you he's in a pretty good mood. You know, he wasn't in a good mood at the end of last year. Yeah, we asked about quarterbacks, no doubt, and he talked about the group, you know, as a whole, not one or two people in particular.
I appreciate that as the group. You know, the group is growing. Zach brings in a guy that's played six years. You know, he's played you know, this is six year college football. So anytime you get that type of experience, you know, we've seen snaps, we've seen him playing, and now it's a matter of getting comfortable in our system, putting it all together. You know, through spring there's there's some things that look sloppy, that look ugly at times, and then we got to just pull it all together.
And so both guys have made a lot of growth cutters getting better as well. You could see both guys have very live arms and you know, so you know that's a good thing. There's a lot to build on.
The QBS kind of take turns talking to us, and today it was Zach Calzada. As you know, he spent the last two years at Incarnate Word in the one double A level FCS started all fourteen games, led the Cardinals to the playoffs, passed for nearly thirty eight hundred yards and thirty five touchdowns, had a big time in
his two seasons there. As a junior, was at Auburn, but did not play in twenty twenty two, had an injured shoulder, and then spent three seasons prior to that at Texas A and M played in three games as a freshman, didn't play appear at all as a sophomore. Red shirt sophomore played in twelve games started ten of them. At one point was the sec offensive player of the week.
But then he moved on. So now he's at Kentucky and he talked today about how much he liked you know, he's had to adjust what three times now to a new place, but he talked about why it's a little different. It was a little different for him arriving in Lexington.
Every you know, new place is going to be different. But I think coming here it was a pleasant surprise, just to see the morale and the mentality of the team. You know, everybody comes in and goes to work every single day and it's been fantastic.
Why was that a surprise?
You know, It's just every place is different, you know, and you never know what to expect.
You know.
Sometimes you go places and some guys work one way and some guys work another. But here I just feel really good about, you know, the whole group as the group as a whole, just coming to work every day, the willingness to get better and take the steps that we need to take.
Zach's cal Zada will hear more from him, and we hear more about him as the spring goes on, But it's only got a couple more weeks. One of the other comments I wanted to share was what Stoops had to say about the D line, which of course is now with doubt Dion Walker's got some new faces in there, and Stoops didn't again speak about anybody specifically, but said, as a group, they're really going at it.
You know, we all know that we needed to improve on the edge as well and get some pass rushers in here, and so you know, across the board, I just again as a group, I like them, I like the depth. We need to stay healthy, as you know this time last year, heck, I lost two d linemen for the entire year, and so we could go he him bang heads all day. And you're not going to get better when you lose two starters, you know, at
the D line. So we're staying healthy, but we're still able to practice as physical as you saw today.
Or from Stoops and the Wildcats tomorrow. Up next though, we're going to hear more about Malachi Moreno. The Future Wildcat played the McDonald's All American Game last night, six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue and sider Dick Gabriel with you coming up in just a few minutes, Tom Leach, the voice of the Wildcats, will join us and we will break down, of course, this Kentucky basketball season,
look ahead a little bit to the Kentucky Derby. Our number two as always on Wednesday, unforgettable guard Shawn Woods.
We'll talk about the Wildcats and the Sweet Sixteen. Sean was there this week or this past week, i should say, and saw a lot of the Sweet Sixteen, and he worked high school basketball all year long for glycod dot com, the streaming TV service, so he had a really good handle on the eleventh region and some of the teams from outside the eleventh region that the local teams did play. So we'll talk to Sean about that. Our Western Bureau chief,
Gary Moores got the next couple of weeks off. He's out on the West Coast taking care of some business. He is a very important guy, as you might expect. So we're gonna have from Brian Milom, who covered the Wildcats on the road throughout the tournament, but it was also back, unfortunately in time to cover the Sweet sixteen championship game. That is a real passion of his high school sport. So that's what's coming up in our number
two and a reminder. Tomorrow night, weather permitting UK Baseball, the Wildcats scheduled to take on Mississippi in a Thursday through Saturday series. Ordinarily, back through the years, teams would play Thursday through Saturday, last week of the year to give everybody an extra day to get ready for the SEC tournament. But once the SEC network came along and they've tried to spread out the schedule a.
Little bit more to give more teams.
More exposure on the Mothership. Everybody's on SEC Plus on the streaming channel. That's where you find Doug Flynn and yours truly. This week the Wildcats play on the main channel on the Mothership as we call it, tomorrow night, so that game's at seven o'clock. That kind of helps the fans in Mississippi or of course on the Central time.
That means Darren Heddericks pregame show will be at six forty five and first pitch probably at seven to two, and then Doug and I will have the games for you on Friday and Saturday.
Now last night.
Malachai moreno in action in the McDonald's All American Game, and of course he has signed with the Wildcats mister Basketball and now a state championship player. He led Great Crossing to the Sweet sixteen title. That means back to back Wildcats who have won state championships had been named Mister Basketball and played in the McDonald's All American Game. Moving on to UK, Travis Perry did it last year. So Malachi, if you saw the game, you know what
I'm talking about. I felt like, well, it's an All Star game and it's one of those I'll get mine kind of situations.
So he barely saw the.
Ball on offense for the first half of the game or so, and then in the second half he began to exert himself a little bit more, players began to look for him a little bit more, and he finished with a real nice game. He had nine points, four out of five, hit a three pointer in his only attempt, five rebounds, and had a game high two block shots plus an assist. One of those block shots came in the first half when the game was still in doubt,
and it came. It was a really nice play, and the announcers were so busy talking about this guy or that guy.
They kind of missed it.
I saw it, and one of the first game stories I saw said that Moreno had one block, but no, he had too. He got credit for that one. Then he got another one in the second half, which was much more dramatic.
But no, he acquitted himself.
Well, this is not the kind of game where if you've never seen him play and you're watching this game, try not to judge, or just don't, because this is not the kind of game where you judge a guy with his skill set. And I know I sound very biased, but I got to see him play last year. I got to see him play through the in person through the Sweet sixteen this year, and.
He's not the kind of guy.
Maybe he needs to be more selfish to go out and get his But when you're big like that and you live in the low post, you're at the mercy of your teammates and nobody for most of the first part of the game was even looking for the seven footer. Everybody tries to get to the rims show after their moves, try to dunk, hit a jump shot, hit a three.
But I think when his team, which.
Lost, fell behind the East team, I think they realized we're gonna win this game. We got to use the big got to get to the big guy. So he did have a nice game and of course had a great, great Sweet sixteen. The entire team did for Great Crossing. And again, if you were listening last night, or you listened about the week, or you followed the Sweet sixteen, you might know that Great Crossing get this, you know,
kind of a parallel with UK. Great Crossing lost its point guard early in the quarterfinal round, was not headed in the first round. But of course the games get tougher as the week goes on. And LJ. Holman, who is the veteran point guard for that team, and by veteran, I mean this is a team that's been all over the eastern half of the United States playing basketball, and this is the guy who ran the offense. And he laid he was trying to make a play on the
sideline and landed awkwardly and rolled an ankle. Man. It was hard watching it and then watching him limp off the floor. And in fact, Cameron Mills and I bumped and we were walking out of Rup bumped into him in the parking garage with someone who was waiting with him for a ride. He had an ice pack on his ankle, said he was going to try to go the next day, but no way, there was no way he was going to be able to play, and so Great Crossing into adjust and rolled a couple different players
through the point guard spot. But it worked out. And their coach told us, told me in the pregame that during practice, these two other guys, Gage Richardson and Vince Dawson is going to Moriad State. They take reps as a point guard, so they were ready. You know, it wasn't super smooth, and a lot of that had to do with Bowling Green. Well, Bowling Green played, but when the game was on the line, they got it to Moreno and everybody played well. Frankly, Bowling Green played well.
But it was Great Crossing once Saint X was knocked out, And I don't know if X was better than Great Crossing. Saint X beat Great Crossing earlier in the year, much earlier. I would love to have seen that matchup, but hey, they got knocked out in the first round by Jeffersontown. So Great Crossing wins the state title. So how about this? Just like Travis Perry, Malachai, Moreno's final game as a
Warhawk or Great Crossing High School was in Rapperina. His next game as a collegian will be as a Wildcat, his next home game in Rapperina in the UK Jersey. Somebody asked him about that after the game.
It's definitely a real moment because you know, I wanted to end my high school career on this floor holding a big old trophy, and I know it wasn't my last time on this floor, but it was my last time in a great Crossing uniform. So it's honestly surreal. And coach canna have a tough time taking this jersey away from you until you know right now. But yeah, it was definitely a surreal moment and it's a great way to go out.
So Malecia Moreno, before you know it, he'll be playing in a Kentucky uniform. So it was kind of fun to watch him win a state titled, just as it was fun last year watching Travis Perry. You know by now that the SEC is.
Down a coach right now.
A and M is well that as we speak, by the time you hear this to me, I hired somebody buzz Williams leaving Texas. A and M from Maryland clearly wanted to get back to the East Coast and he's got a six year deal now with the Terps. Don't know if he just wasn't comfortable with A and M. Couldn't have been money, because I will promise you Texas A and M is as much or more money to offer as Maryland does.
But this is a good coach.
Eighteen years as a head coach, eleven NCA tournaments, five straight at Marquette, three straight at Virginia Tech, and each of the last three at Texas. A and M. Also spent a year as a head coach at New Orleans. He is a good coach. Up next to the voice of the Cats, Tom Leach, you're on a big moon Sider six thirty wlap Welcome back to the Big Moon Sider. Joining me now is the voice of the Wildcats. You hear him, eat you and every day on this very
radio station on the Leech Report at eight am. Mister Tom Leach, you just wrapped up yet another UK basketball season. But no slowing down now, you're already You've been hard at work on your Keenland material right.
Yes, head to get out there early in the week because of the onslaught of rain that is coming, so trying to get some areas done for Keenland social media and the Today at Keenland show that airs every race day.
But a labor of love for mister leach as is being the voice of the Wildcats. Now that you've had a couple of days for perspective, tell me if you would how did this season unfold based on what you expected?
You know, I think I would have said at the beginning of the year that this is probably a Sweet sixteen team really and and just you know, the talent they could could do that, and but that you know, then when you get to that point and you you know, see what the matchup is and how well you're playing and how healthy you are, and unfortunately, you know, the injuries were an.
Issue as far as their overall health.
But the thing I don't I'm sure I didn't see coming was how good they would be at their best. I think at their best, I mean the team that beat Duke and that won over Gonzaga in Seattle, even after Crisa had they had to go out in that game and it was lost to the season and they didn't have Butler that day, and the.
Team that won that shootout with Florida.
Another team that made it to the Final Four and the first day of conference play that team was better than a Sweet sixteen team. So it's just a shame that we didn't get to see them full strength at their best for the March run.
Yeah, I agree, and I'm with you on that. Prior to the season, I wondered could this team get out of the first weekend? But then they shouted racking up those quad one wins. We were counting quad one wins early in the season with an eye on that the postseason. That was pretty amazing, wasn't it.
Yeah?
It was.
And I think the Duke, I mean, this is a Kentucky team that wasn't ranked in some of the preseason polls, was I guess somewhere probably south of the number twenty position, and about it one of them, And I think that was probably just done the name Kentucky more so than anybody believing that they were, you know, maybe a serious Final four contender.
And then what was it? Let me look here. Three games into the.
Season they go down to the Champions Classic and beat Duke, and at that point it was.
Like, oh wow, what do we have here?
Yeah, And at one point Kentucky made it into the top five in the country before they started getting hit with the injury issues and a little bit of a you know, up and down run in the SEC. But you know, that win over Duke opened a lot of eyes about you know what Mark Pope was maybe going to be able to do, not just this season, but long term in Kentucky.
Yeah, and now, of course he's got to rebuild, but doesn't have to totally restock the roster, so obviously that'll be a huge plus. But it's good to be a different feel to a team next season, isn't it.
It is, But it's gonna be nice to have a little bit of carryover. I'm assuming that the three freshmen will be back, and then I'll take it away and Brandon Garrison will be back, and I think he'll probably get to a point where there's even a little more carryover. I saw a stat I can't remember exact numbers, but it was the returning minutes percentage of minutes from the previous season for the teams that are in the final four, and Duke obviously had a low number. I think this
was in the twenties. But they're dominated by some lottery pick level of freshmen. But the other three teams were in the sixties and seventies, maybe maybe Houston was even were in the low eighties in terms of percent of returning minutes. So I think that's you know, we know Kentucky made it to a Sweet sixteen as the only team without any returning points from the year before that, and in the other teams that did that, you go ahead and zero points back either went out early or
weren't even in the tournament. So that was, you know, significant in its own right, but just serves to underscore you know, how difficult it is to do that from scratch. So now they don't have to do that next.
Yeah, and now they've got something they can put in for or they have spent the season putting in front of recruits. This is what it's going to be like if you hadn't paid attention to bring him younger Utah Valley State, you know, people more people pay attention to Kentucky. Look at what they accomplished in that one year, less than one year in weeks putting a team together. How'd you like to be a part of that? Now, so
much of that's going to come down to nil. I understand that, But that's the case for everybody, right, I mean, at least Mark Pope has a body of work at UK to show to potential future Wildcats.
Right right, and he can show them not only that it is a fund style, an NBA friendly style, and it.
Is a style that can compete at the highest level.
Again, going back to that Duke game, the Gonzaga game, beat a really good Louisville team, beat Florida's. I mean, they'd be two of the teams that are in the final four. And that's significant because coming into the year there was the stat that Mark Pope had never won an NCAA tournament game either, by the way, had Todd Golden at a Florida. And turns out that there's there's a lot of guys that have never won a Derby
or a Derby prep race. But if you give them horses that are fast enough to do that, you'll find out that they can win Derby prep races in Derby. So that's what he has now, that what Todd Golden acquired at Florida. And so but it's still in saying that, you know, it's nice to validate it. And they won two tournament games this year, and but you know, the wins they had in the regular season. That validates not only is the system you know, fun and NBA friendly, but can win at a high level.
Yeah, what did you think of the comments the players made after the game about it? And I heard you were talking about it on your show yesterday, and I heard you talk about it with Mark Pope on his show. The fact that they hung out till six am, it wasn't that great.
Yeah, I remember, you know, the COVID year when Cal Perry told the story about the guys that you know came back and just wanted to scrimmage one last time when they weren't going to get to play anymore. So I think if you're a fan of a team, you you like to hear and feel that those guys are as invested in it as you are, and it's not just a means to an end for them, that it's really meaningful on a level beyond you know, any compensation or anything like that. And so that was that story.
I think it's just a good example of that. I think we, you know, had certainly heard that in comments from the players, you know, podium after the game or in the locker room and really even leaning up to the postseason, like almon Or talking about you know what it meant to him to get a chance to play at a place like Kentucky that he never thought would come his way.
Yeah, and you know, I know fans, I'm sure were probab least some fans had to be thinking why couldn't these players through the years have had similar emotions. Well, that's really not fair because a kid coming in out of high school, you know, he's not.
Going to be.
He's not going to embrace that kind of emotion. I think, Tom, because these guys you were talking about bounced around.
A little bit from school to school.
In some cases like Andrew carr or they played at Drexel, they played at Fairley Dickinson wishing that, you know, or a Kobe Bread who believed he was good enough to play at Kentucky but was told no, you're not, and was playing a Dayton and then they.
Get the out. It's like a new life, a second chance, a second.
Go around, and there's there's no way anybody can appreciate it as much as they did. Does that make sense?
Yeah?
No, I get that. And and and it's an example
of the two sides of the transfer portal. On one side, there's a you know at school like Morehead that had Jenni Broom on its roster for two seasons and now you know, may end up being the National Player of the year Cooper fly and those the you know, the Direxels that had Amar Williams or the Dayton that had Kobe Braa, you know, on and on that those teams get their rosters rated UH these days, and it's I know it's awful for their fans and UH and their teams,
but I also think about the other side of it and the the individual and just think, you know, if I had been blessed us to have that kind of ability as a player to play major college basketball. I grew up a Kentucky fan. And you know, let's say you Kentucky didn't think you're good enough to play there, and you go somewhere else and show them that maybe you are, And then why shouldn't you get the chance if you've earned it with the way that you've played. Yet you know it hurts the but you know it
hurts the team that you played for. But you gave them everything you had while you played for them, and now you get this chance to you know, Kobe Bray, Ansley Almon or Maury Williams to go experience what it was like, what it is like to be on the
Kentucky basketball Nate Festina, it's a good example. Gave his heart and sold a Bucknell and had great memories there and they got great, you know, return on their investment of a scholarship in him, and then he got a chance to come and be a Wildcat for a season. Unfortunately that got short by COVID, But you know, I just have seen how those guys just throughly enjoyed that, and that's that's a good thing to me, even though I know it hurts the mid majors.
Cali Perry tried to get older with his team, and I think just because of injuries and had some tough breaks, it didn't work out for him. But uh, that's got to be the way things are now, you know the trend. And of course famously Patino has said he's not even gonna look at high school kids. I think that's a bit hyperbolic, but he will depend more on the transfers. Do you think that's where we are now? College basketball?
Yeah?
I think so, unless you just can you know, do get access to some really special freshman that can maybe compete at the you know, the championship level, which they clearly have, but you know that's not something that's probably
going to happen on an annual basis. So yeah, I think it is the older players that you know, you look at a Walter Clayton junior that wasn't highly recruited and played at IONA and now is an All America type guard, a legitimate big time player and I'm not sure how much of an NBA prospect I'm trial yet some level of the shot, but he's not you know, a lottery pick guy, but one heck of a college
basketball player. And I think that's you know, I thought when Cal tried to get older, it didn't feel like it was a maybe fully thought out planned It was just collecting as the piece as you could collect, right, Whereas I thought the way Pope approached it in his first season it was very strategic and you know, in terms of the team that he built, and I think that intensified the impact of the injuries because it was so uh, you know, so much a situation where the
whole was greater than the parts, and when they lost some of those parts. It it really hurt their overall profile. Whereas you know, in years to come, maybe he'll have guys that have a little more of that ability to you know, get their own shot when the some breaks down, or you know, just to have that great individual talent.
But.
Lacking that that group together fit together so well that they at their best, when they were at full strength, were able to compete with you know, the Duke team that had all the lottery picks and the Florida team that's in the Model four.
He is Tom Lee's the voice of the Cats. We'll come back with more in just a minute on the Big bullon sider six. Well, we'll come back. We're talking with Tom Leach's the radio voice of the football and basketball Cats. He's also been studying the horses at Keenland. We've got the Kentucky Derby coming up. Before I get to that, though, Tom Mark Stoops has kind of played
things pretty close to the best. Let everybody in practice today but or at least the media, but didn't want to talk specifically about anybody, and you know, it really did for quarterbacks. But it's an interesting approach he's taken. It's kind of a back to the basics for stoops, which I think is a really good signed you.
I agree, it feels right. I think he uh, you know, maybe struggled is too strong a word to get comfortable with the changes, and maybe overdid it in terms of, yeah, letting guys have maybe more rope than he normally would avoid having them pilfered by somebody else and that kind of thing. And now I think he's it feels like he's back to the approach of look, this is this is our culture, this is how we do it, this is what the money is.
None of that fits for you.
Wish you good luck, yeah, and this, you know, this is we're you know, going to go to go to battle with the guys who are all in on what our plan is and that you know, if you're a fan that's frustrated, then you don't want to hear words. You just want to see results. And I get that, and that's why I'm sure he's you know, not spending a lot of time trying to you know, hype up his team. Some coaches would probably still try to do that,
and it's just kind of whatever your nature is. But I think my guess is he feels like there's nothing I can say that's going to sway anybody that already has said in their opinion. But we can do things on the field that can change opinion, and so let's just focus all the attention on doing that. So I like the it feels like he's getting back to, you know, truly who he is as a coach, right and being physical and big, strong offensive line and you know, defensive
line that can hold its own in the SEC. And if you can start there, and you know, that's the thing I think a lot of us didn't know if you could you know, if you could do that at Kentucky, maybe you'd have to be a little bit gimmicky to compete in the SEC. But he has shown that you can get the kind of guys in the trenches to compete at this level.
Uh.
And so I think they're definitely, you know, recommitted to doing having that kind of team.
Yeah. Yeah, it's just gonna be tough for Kentucky fans. I think, well, first of all, you know how it is. They want to see it. They've been spoiled. Seven wins aren't good enough anymore. And you and I came up either as fans or as journalists covering teams where seven wins would be cast for a parade. But Stoops raised the floor, didn't he not just the ceiling.
No, that's true, and and that's you know, as it should be. That's that's how you get better. I remember Kaywood saying one time that the Kentucky football didn't expect it us and I think that really changed under rich Brooks, where you know, the the expectation bar was elevated. But I remember when I did the book with Richie said that getting from the bottom to competitive was more challenging
at Oregon than it was at Kentucky. But getting from competitive to the top was going to be much more challenging at Kentucky than it was at Orgon because of the SEC and so that's, uh, just what you have to deal with. But you know he Stoops has had, you know, teams that were able to compete with the best, and you know it, uh you know nowadays with the with the playoffs, you know, he had a couple of teams that would have been right there in the in the hunt for it. So that's the thing now is
can you you know break there. I think for the longest time it was getting to the SEC Championship game was kind of the white whale for Kentucky to pursue. And I think that teams were you know, Rich had a couple of teams that were I think good enough to do that, and and Mark had and uh they you know, that's still out there, but I think now it's you know, can you get good enough to get in that playoff? And I think, you know, he we had a couple of teams that would have been, you know,
right there with a shot. You know, they probably would have needed each year to win one more game, but that was certainly doable. And so if it was doable, then it can be doable down I fully agree.
Before I let you go, do you have a Derby horse yet?
I don't.
I think there's a chance we may. I may find him on this weekend in the Bluegrass Steaks or the Santa Anita Derby.
Yeah.
I think it's it's kind of odd that you look at the races last weekend, the prep races, the Florida Derby and the Arkansas Derby both had incredibly fast early paces where had you know, young horses like there was a Bafford horse that had only started as a maiden that you know, got into a locked into a speed duel. The same thing happened in Florida and had perfect setups for closers. But that's not especially these days, doesn't seem
to happen in the Derby. There's a time when it did when they had for the implemented the system they had. Now they got the horses based on earnings. You'd get some horses that had no chance of getting the distance, but would just set a freaky fast pace and you'd end up with some unexpected results. And that doesn't happen anymore in the Derby in many years anyway.
And so you had.
Some results that I don't know, maybe there you know you can fully trust them, I don't know if you can, just because that was an outlier of a pace scenario in those two races, So that need you to kind of elevate the winters with maybe just an extra grain of salt.
And so.
Just because of things like that, I don't have a real strong opinion on any horse yet. So that's why I'm kind of thinking there's two of the major perhaps historically that are coming up this weekend, that there are horses in there that you know, looked like they of the makings of being a Derby winner. So maybe I'll
find my Derby horse in there. If not, it'll be one of those years where I'm intentionally intently following the people who whose opinions are respect about the training, trying to find the now horse.
Oh yeah, I was going to say the same thing.
If it doesn't, the horse doesn't present himself or herself, then yeah, the works are even more vital, perhaps because, like you say, the horses that really didn't belong their year after year, that my brother referred to as bums kind of you know, screwing things up for everybody else. I think you get a truer look. That's why I think the chalk has been holding up obviously through the years. But we've had some longer shots at the board and
that's always fun. As you know, Tom Leach is the voice of the Wildcats, but you hear him on the Leach for Board each and every day on this very radio station at eight am.
Thank you, sir. Hope to see at the racetrack.
Yes, and hopefully we can get a fast track for the racing at Kieland more often than not the spring, but it's unlikely to happen this weekend.
Unfortunately, that's right, Thank you, brother sounds good. Up next hour number two with our unforgettable guard Sean Woods and Bryan Mylin wk YT given our Western Bureau chief Gary Moore the next couple of weeks off, but more to come at six thirty w.
L at the.
Show doing anything anything, Anta don't have to think tat don't do.
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. It is Wednesday. That's when we talked to the unforgettable guard Sean Woods as Jersey hangs in the rafters of Rupp and he has talked with us all season long about both college and high school basketball because he was incredibly active when it came to covering high school ball for glack Cott TV. But let us talk first coach about the end of
the season. Kentucky losing to Tennessee. It was a Tennessee team I just think was better, certainly played better, but just given a turnaround to this Kentucky team made defensively and got to the sweet sixteen. I mean, you got to give him credit for how far they got this year.
I know you feel that way, Oh, no doubt about it. You know, dealing with the injuries, the ups and downs. You know, they didn't get to me until they did make a major emphasis on defense. I think Mark really learned in his first year at being in the SEC how how how grueling it is. And you know, even though you know there was you know, some of the highest scoring teams in the country came from the ACC.
But those high scoring teams defended and which enabled them to be high scoring teams because they were shutting people down to get in transition. Can you if you high scoring team, that means that you're getting a lot of transition situations, right and Tennessee and those teams like that Florida, even though you're looking at you know, the points that they score, they defend. And you know, Mark, I thought, you know, didn't know how tough and physical this league was.
So defense really wasn't a mainstay in their m of things. That's just me just look from a coach looking at it, because of how disoriented and thought they were on that side of the ball. I think he got frustrated the game when he was supposedly threw the furniture or whatever. But I think it was a wake up call for him too. Oh, because when you don't emphasize defense your team shows, and they showed that defense really wasn't a major emphasis. And then when he made it, him and
his staff made it an emphasis. Okay, and all they need to do is just defend a little bit, and they started defending real well. And and then now that got them back in the groove of being able to compete, you know, like I said, for instance, like I told you before, I thought that Brea could defend, but he wasn't. You know, you can't tell me as athletic as he is, and Jackson all these guys, is that they can't defend.
They didn't have to. They weren't demanded to. So when you think a guy's going to defend, no, they're gonna want the easy way out. And then when they started losing games and things like that, knowing that it was because of their defense, it wasn't because of their offense, somebody had to change and it had to begin with Coe Pope, and then everybody else bought in because they were embarrassed. One thing I can say that the best job he did not only from a wins and lost standpoint.
I think the best job Mark Pope did was to and and to put in these young men's souls in a short amount of time what it is to be a Kentucky basketball player, what it is to have that name on your chest. And that was the best part of his coaching deal this year, I think, which allow him to do the things that they would do and have success that they had. Because if you look at all these guys, they've only been here six months, eight months.
They don't have the same.
Aura and feeling about this place to say the other guys did, who were really just one and done. You know what I'm saying. You know, these guys were older, and he instilled in their heart and in their soul every single day, how it important, how important it is to make a significant impact, how important it is to fight with that with that name on your jersey and the pride that you have. Guys, that's the reason why he did that.
Guys were you guys were so happy for him when he got the job.
Is that?
Did you see that coming?
Sean?
I didn't know how he can do it. I've never been around him as a coach, and I didn't know what. You know, I knew that he loved this place. You know what I'm saying, I think to us practice and no matter if he did the right wrong, whatever they were doing in practice, the one thing he emphasized every single day was how important it is and what the mission is at this place. If you don't like it, you know it's not gonna be the place for you.
And he struck lightning in a bottle with character kids, and that's what I hope he gets strikes lighting the battle again with the next group of transfers that can buy in so quick because Lamont Butler bought in, Yeah, always bought in. All those guys bought in. I just think that Breah was the last one of the last ones, that Jackson were the last ones because they didn't want to buy in on the defensive bend and really dig in. If Brad became a big time defensive player the last six seven games.
Right, well, you know, and I think so much of that too was and you can, you know, flag me off if you think I'm wrong. But these guys obviously began their careers elsewhere you know it places and weren't nearly as high profile. Even San Diego State was not a high profile program, as you know, until Butler and his teammates took him to the final four. Otherwise everybody, you know, you might have known that school because of
Tony Gwynn, but otherwise you know, or Kawhi Leonard. But having played at Fairley, Dickinson, A, Drexel, at all these other places, now they're Kentucky Wildcats.
And they loved it, didn't.
They They loved it, and it was a place that they had all dreamed of playing. Yes, coming out of high school, just didn't wasn't good enough or thought of as that caliber player to play at this level. And when they got their opportunity, they took it and they ran with it. And I've never seen I mean, I've lived it, so I know how quick and how you know these people can get into your soul being a player, and how they love you. But these guys ain't never
came for that. You ain't getting that type of love at Drexel. You're not getting that type of love. Fie Dickinson, You're not getting this type of love. And even San Diego say, you know what I'm saying, so either Wake Force for that matter, Arizona, you know what I'm saying.
Yeah, yeah, So you know it.
Was like man, it was like that girl who just kisses different. It's like that kool aid that just tastes different.
You know what I'm saying.
This is one of a kind, and once you get a taste of it, you want to be a part of it. And then the person who's cooking and seeding you, he's full of it. There was no way and that's the reason why they fought through the adversity, you know what I'm saying. They did all they could do. And I can commend him. Even though we lost in the Sweet sixteen, he squeezed all the juice out of that tournament. And guess what, it was refreshing every game, even though
we were hurt. Maybe that maybe two games or so that we just we fought and we were a dangerous team to play every single night. Every single night. We were a dangerous team to play. And that's all you can ask for, especially in your first year, putting a team like this together. You know, And now I hope you know. I'm sure they're in the office right now on their phones, you know, looking at the trying and I'm sure, I mean I know about ten of them. They're trying to go get or they better be trying
to go get because I'm watching them too. But on another hand, other hand, Dick, I'm I'm more impressed and looking forward to next year with Malachi Marino watching him. I watched him in the state tournament, but.
Not only that.
I got a chance to watch the scrimmage at the McDonald's game, and people's like been asking me, you know, what do you think about Maleochai. You know, I'm saying, he doesn't.
Have a motor.
He's so quiet, he's this, he's that. You know, you always want to knock the guy, especially at seven foot of playing against bidgets in high school. And I told them, I said, you don't become a MacDonald All American as a big unless you dominated at that level other bigs when you're out on that circumplane in the NBA, right, you know, the nybdo Lil's and all that. And watching him in that scrimmage the other day, he was the best five men in the game the other day in that scrimmage.
Okay, that sounds good.
Okay, So what I'm saying is in his class, this twenty twenty five class, he's one of the top twenty five players in this class.
He's got skills not in the state in.
This class, and I saw it with my own eyes against the top twenty five best the other day yesterday as a matter of fact. Then shoot, he's catching out of you dunks, he's blocking shots, he's making jump shots. He's doing his thing. See when you were playing in high school at the seventh foot of you're limited because of you know, the style of play here. You know what I'm saying. But I think that he's got more in his in his bag, and it's going to be even more because I know he's a good passer. I
know he's super skilled. The question everybody has is kN he's stick it to go out there and stick it. I think he's gonna be skilled enough to be able to go out there and stick it because that's what Mark Pope does. I mean, they shoot all day every day. You know, they brush their teeth and working on they follow through all at the same time. So I think that's going to improve his game. That does he have
to get stronger? Yeah? Is he gonna have to go to that gump with in the sec Yeah, but he's athletic and he's seven foot in his skill, will he get beat up some Yeah? But if he a starter and can lead us to an SEC championship in national championship, not as a freshman being a starter. But he's gonna be good enough, no doubt, a doubt.
He is Sean Woods.
And forget guard. We will come back and talk more high school and college basketball in just a minute here on the Big Moon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back for Tucky with Sean Woods, who has covered a lot of high school basketball this year and of course has followed the Wildcats as well. And uh, you know we talked about Kentucky and Tennessee. Tennessee absolutely flopped.
The next game.
Do you feel like it just took everything out of them to be Kentucky because they weren't even competitive in the regional final?
No, Tennessee was that much better than Kentucky that game?
Okay, right, all right?
And then.
Houston, Yeah, Houston is that much.
Better than Tennessee. Okay, if that makes sense, it does you'd that day in Kentucky just like that, just because Houston is Saint john that can shoot.
Yes, that Saint John's man.
Saint John's could not could not, They.
Could do everything right. He had the toughest players they played the toughest style, but they can you know, Billy Doavin. I would always say, good offense, these good defense. Any dead week, could the game be zero zero?
Yeah, I you know, you still got a guard. But when when the For instance, I picked Michigan State to beat Auburn, But had I known, I really should have done a little more research that Michigan Sate was the worst three point shooting team in a Big ten.
I would never have picked.
Them because once they got behind, they were just they were working their tails off on defense, and they were working so hard to get good shots on offense and they weren't falling. Then Auburn would come down and bang knocked down a three.
So yeah, you do.
Yeah, you're exactly right.
You're exactly right that that surprised me as well.
Uh, let me ask you one old question about Tennessee. What do you know anything about the way Barnes teaches defense. Why was Tennessee so sound fundamentally defense and to a point defensively and to a point it cost them on offense.
No, you got to have personnel, okay, And his style of play has always been great defense. You know what I'm saying, up the line defense, keeping the ball, kick penetration out of paint, making you take tough threes, being physical with you, knocking you off your cut. That's always been Rick Barnes, you know. Uh, his teams have always been physical, but his teams have never been able to
have never been really good jump shooters. He's got, He's always had great slashers and undersize physical for me and and things like that, and strong guards that can come downhill, but not too many guys that can you know, spread that spread that you know, spread you out as far as shooting the basketball. So I am I'm thinking that he's going to try to do something different, you know what I mean. Like, for instance, Mark needs to get
tougher you know, he's got to get tougher guys, more guys. Well, Coach Barnes gotta get more shooters, you know. And I'm sure Costatino's gonna do the same thing. He's got to get more shooters, I mean, because the game is so predicated on scoring. And know, and you can see that the only reason why Houston is where they are because they can score. Florida can score, you know what I'm saying. All these teams are in the final flourd they can score.
Yeah, you gotta be able to go get a bucket.
When you be able to get a bucket, And that's the reason why Duke is plowing people out because surprisingly Duke is super defensively. But there's not a gun to Florida. There's not a threat either you throw it in the post of the big fella or penetrate in. He's getting dunks over the top, he's blocking shots, you know. I mean, they they're so long. You know, Houston gets in you physical, you know, Florida long physical. I mean in Auburn, come on, they're so long.
Yeah, they really are.
They got the bionic Man. I mean, there's no way I thought he was coming back.
Nasty injury.
So who do you.
Think right now? I guarantee you he's sore. Taking all the time telling.
You who do you think wins this thing?
Now?
I still think this is just me. I think it's gonna be Florida Duke.
Yeah.
I just think that Duke can score more than than than Houston. I think it's gonna be I think it's gonna be a slug fest. But you know, when you're five men or your four men can step out and be a two guard or maybe a point guard. And these guys are shooting the lights out. I mean there's not one guy, not one league on the offensive bend from Duke right now. I mean, everybody's gonna have I say, under So they're the most I hate to say, but they're the most impressive team going in here. Florida is
a fight back team. You know, when you got that guard, they just refuse to let them lose. Oh yeah, you know, can they get down on Duke and then come back and win a game like that? You know, can they get down against Auburn maybe because they've gone against each
other the four that makes sense. Yeah, But you know, Houston's got to play almost perfect on the offensive end, and they got to score eighty points or so to beat some of these teams, which you know at least seventy five, because you know, score seventy sixty five seventy that's not gonna be.
We got minutes left with Sean Woods, who, as I said, did a lot of high school basketball games for a Gleckcott dot com this year. And you saw great crossing. You saw Frederick Douglass, you saw the Powerhoffs teams. Great crossing, of course, goes on to winning. We talked earlier about Malachi Marino. I thought it was really interesting, Sean, that great crossing could have dumped it into the big guy in the low post on every possession, but didn't. Yes,
you know, now they've got Vince Dawson, who's terrific. I think he'll be fine at More if he stays at Morehead State. Uh, but.
What did you think of of the rest of the field.
I mean, there were there were some great games. You came for a lot of those, and I mean teams were jacking up threes like crazy, uh, and and running up.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, goodness gracious, I mean, everybody would make it shot to the sweet sixteen. I mean, and who would have thought that same next get upset like that? Yes, you know what I mean. And and and that's how they got upset, because they got beat on a team just was just super hot, yep, and they took it for granted, you know what I mean. So I just think and then that that just paved the way for for for our thought, a great cross And I didn't think anybody was in their class after that.
You told me about saying next you in the middle of the year.
I told you how dom that they were.
And they were beating I mean they you know, when I get go back and think about it, though, Dick, when they beat when they beat Great Crossing pretty good, it was at saying that it was at say so, you know, who's the sale on a place like this, and it was meant to be, you know what I mean. I'm happy for a former future cat to win the state championship on his way into wearing the Big Blue for the second year in a row.
And you know, I love how after the game and you you were watching on TV, but so you couldn't have seen this, But after he was you know, after the the wron court celebrations and hugs and things like that, and he took off on a dead sprint for the end zone and he kept right on running and went up the steps into the end zone seats and was jumping up and down with his classmates. I have never seen anything. I've seen kids just climb the wall to go find mom and dad and that kind of thing.
But I love the fact that Matho Chai.
Breno jumped up and wanted to celebrate with his classmates.
I think that says a lot about.
That kid, Well, you know, he's a fixture in that community, you know what I mean. And you know, when you're the tallest guy in the community and the most helded guy, the most popular guy, You're only gonna be two types of people. One that is like a butttholder, don't want to be talked, don't want to talk to nobody. You know what I'm saying. You're social introvert or you have you know, personality and indulge in your community and and really like the effect of putting smiles on people's faces
and establishing friends, you know what I'm saying. And should He's had a heck of a college I mean high school career, and in a small community like Georgetown, I mean, what better way to have to make a living and be, you know, the town hero. Right about now?
Did you guys do any postgame interviews with him?
I did want with him, I sure did so.
And I didn't get to see it, But I guarantee all he wanted to do was talk about his teammates, right, was.
No doubt about it, you know what I'm saying. You know it was never about him, right, you know? And so and and the night I interviewed him. Vince had a really good game. It was again Timya Clayton. Vint had thirty that night, so it was both of them up there, and you know, it was just he was just saying, you know, this is why it was such a dangerous team, because it's not about me. You know,
we got other guys. And I think LJ. Holman played good that night also, so you know, it was it was they They were the best team in the state and they showed it.
Well. I'm glad you brought up LJ two because he sprained his ankle early in the second game in a quarterfinal game and they had to play without him, so they had to make adjustment before I let you go real quick, uh, I said, As I mentioned, Vince is going to Moried State. I hope he stays there. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. But what kind of future does he have?
Tell you what, he's gonna sit in and go with Johnathan Maddicks because he can stretch you out with the three, he can get to his mid range. He's got a nice body. Johnny's gonna make him play a little more defense, but you know, I think he's capable of doing that. But I think he's gonna be a great addition for Johnson Maddocks down there more.
His state sounds good to me.
Sean Woods is the unforgettable guard.
We talk to him each and every week, and next week we'll talk about the new national champion coach.
Thank you so much.
Have a good one, you two, Dick.
Brian Milin from WKYT is up next on the Big Boon Insider six thirty w.
Welcome back to the Big Moon Sider.
Joining us now on our celebrity highline is a guy who is a big fan of the Cats and the NCAA tournament and a combination of both. Because Brian Mylin is the sports director of the CBS affiliate WKYT, my employer for many many years. Uh, Brian, I know it's a lot of work when Kentucky's in the tournament, but man, we we like it when when the ratings are good, don't we. I mean, yeah, that's important, yeah, but I mean it's just a happy time when the Wildcats are winning.
It is and it's good obviously for the morale of the state. Sure individually, if you're a Wildcat fan and if you are in the business of UK athletics. It's good for all involved and obviously the further they go in a tournament, the better it is all the way around. And unfortunately it ended much sooner than people had hope. But I think in retrospect they can'ts probably win as far as they could considering everything that they had going
against them and for them. And you know, hey, when you assemble a team in six weeks or less, whatever it was Mark popend to do, I think a sweet sixteen berth and getting out of that first weekend was just huge.
You and I talk a lot about how we're both old school guys, well I'm older or not, but you know, we like it when when retro moments pop up, and to me when whenever I spoke to these kids, and I know they're young men, but to me, their kids they always will be always. And I've talked to several people about this postseason, the fact that these guys, and I think it was so much more evident when they had to take.
Off that uniform for the last time or refused.
To what it meant to them to play in this program, for this team, it was really throwback stuff, wasn't it. And not because they played it for four years. It's because they didn't get to play here for four years, and then all of a sudden they got this one shot at it, and they just absolutely became engrossed in it.
They are an example of the old saying that some of the parts out equal the whole. That's right, because these guys were not recruited by Kentucky, right how many of them were recruited by major players in Division Basketball two one and a half, I don't know. But collectively, it shows what the team can do when you bring together. Yeah, you weren't a five star, you weren't a four star, you weren't a three star probably in some people's books. But if you take two here, you take three there,
and put this here and that piece fits perfectly. Wow, look what you can do. And I think if you can remove the word injury from this team, a team that won twenty four games with a banged up unit the last two thirds of the season, I mean you can conceivably say this team could have been a thirty win team had they stayed healthy. But hey, twenty four wins is a great start to what everyone hopes is the beginning of a new championship era.
In Kentucky's Yeah, and it was they were fun to watch style of play, and once the defense came around, that made it even more fun. You know. I tipped my cap to Caliperi what he got done at Arkansas, And for whatever reason, there were times that that the offense, the Arkansas offense looked like the offense that would get bogged down at Kentucky.
But there were other.
Times when I thought, well, I would like to have seen that in Lexington. But the way Pulp played it, you know, the the offense that he designed and and borrowed from other coaches was so much fun to watch.
Yeah, and it was everything about from April fourteen when rupp Arena was packed yeah for his announcement, every just about everything from then until now has left you with a smile on your face, like, Hey, this is the style we want to see. We want to see a coach who's thoroughly invested in every aspect of the team, the program, the community, the state, eight everything. There was a time Calipari was that guy. Then when you can't live up to your first at what five of the
first six years, it's a pretty dark good season. And then things happened behind closed doors whatever. But with this team, what a great way to start a new era. And the team was mature. They could talk to you, not that the other kids couldn't from years past, but to have a Nate Cestina from a few years ago and read Travis and some of these guys that were so nice to talk with. You could hold a conversation and they would take you where you wanted to go with
your question or your story. The same way with these guys, and they look you in the eye. They were young adults and and and even acted like older adults, and it was just nice to to be around the mature of a team that you could tell was just so grateful to have this opportunity.
You know.
I came across a clip from the documentary that we did on the ninety eight championship team, and I don't know if you remember, but we interviewed the three captains, Cameron, Jeff Shephard, the seniors, and Alan Edwards.
Together.
It was over at Cameron's house and we just pat them, set him on a couch, and one thing they talked about was playing for each other. And I'm listening to these comments and I'm in my mind I'm hearing them from you know, however what sixteen years ago, But it sounded for all the world like what these guys did this year. You know, these guys who all were thrown together. It was almost like a made for TV movie, you know.
And they came from literally every corner of the country north southeastern West, in all walks of styles of basketball, and through this scene together. You know, under the guidance of Mark Pope and to his great credit, Brian, as you just alluded to this, he picked the right guys, not just the right players, but the right guys and that made such a difference.
Yeah, it did.
And I know that there are some people and you could see it on social media boards and whatnot, saying, well, he can't do this, If he can't do that, speaking of recruiting the major player folks, what do you I mean, Dolly, look what he did. If cal didn't have a magic wand Mark Pope probably borrowed it for a while to turn this team into something the entire state could be
proud of. If Rick Bakino can take a team and go fourteen and fourteen in his first year, you would have sworn that team won twenty four games that year, by the way they played and the way they hustled. The same thing can be said to this team to a different degree. And the fact that they nobody saw them winning anything except oh yeah, they're gonna maybe go five hundred.
That's right, that's right.
Who knows in the SEC with sixteen teams now playing Duke and playing all of the Gonzaga, they're not winning these games. Well, lo and behold look what happens. And you know, some of.
These people who say that Pope.
Won't be able to do this and won't be able to do that, be quiet and sit down. It's one thing to be loud and wrong privately. It's another thing to be loud and wrong publicly. And anybody that does is not on the Mark Pope train right now. They need to have their their oatmeal above the eyebrows right now, because this guy is putting together something we have not seen here before. Yeah, maybe the collective is not five star guys. That's okay. As long as you win at
the end of the day, that's what matters. And that's what he did in this first year.
Yeah. Yeah, And here's the other thing I kept reminding myself, he's not a first year coach. People kind of spoke about him like he was feeling his way or whatever.
He was successful at Utah Valley State. It's successful to bring him young.
You know, this wasn't the first time he's made decisions under fire in a game, and it wasn't the first time he went back to the drawing board, which he did halfway through the year after they were.
Embarrassed by old miss Me.
And by the way, I gotta or I saw something on social media after that game. Gotta get rid of him. Now, get rid of Pope. Now just cut your losses. Get somebody else in there. Now, I'm like, okay, all right, let's reset. Brian Miley was my guest from WKYT and we'll talk more on the other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with WDKYT sports director Brian milein of course talking about the
basketball cats. And meanwhile, Kenny Brooks is having a ball, and or at least Kentucky fan we're having a ball watching the UK women and one of the most disappointed, heartbreaking losses.
Oh.
You know, when you've got everything going for you, you got George Ambore going up for a three footer and it just rolls off. Talk about a made for TV movie. You know that one didn't end properly. But it's amazing that these were kind of like living dual lives, these two programs.
At the same time. Yeah, I mean, it was fascinating to see two coaches, not brand new but brand new to Kentucky from a coaching perspective, come in and revamp everything from head to toe pretty much and be able to put together the seasons they did stunning really in a lot of ways. I was in Greensboro when Kentucky lost to Oklahoma. That was a surprise a little bit, you know, And both in that loss and in the UK men's loss to Tennessee just didn't fire.
Things just didn't.
Drop and it was just tough.
But at the end of the day, looking back, look how far everything can come forward, just when you sit down and say, Mitch Barnhart, Okay, who do we get?
We go get this person, We get this person. And Mark Pope not a Hall of Fame coach, not yet anyway, and everybody was if you you know, you were there, you know everybody's talking about Billy Donovan is going to be here, and and Bryce is coming, and all these guys, and then you get and then on the women's side, you get the quiet Kimny Brooks, the man who just stoically goes about his job on the sideline and brings with him some of the most exciting players this program
has not had in a long time. Collectively. There's been individual players like a Ryan Howard obviously, but collectively what he was able to do in such a short amount of time is just mesmerizing. Because this is a program, the women's program, they have had pockets of success but have not been able to sustain it over a decade
or more in a row. Terry Hall had that great team in the early eighties and then things got a little lean for a while for a long time, and then Mickey Dmoss reignites the flame and Matthew Mitchell carries it. But then even that flame starts to die down a little bit, and then you have Kenny Who's boom coach
Brooks a big explosion. Now the question can he keep doing it at Kentucky and the SEC when you've got the likes of South Carolina at LSU and Tennessee is probably waiting for a rebirth to come back to what they used to be if they can. It was just a fascinating season.
And one of the books.
Yep, well before I Let You Go, you covered the Sweet sixteen great crossing wins it I love working at where I was privileged enough to work on the radio network this year. But precious few blowouts and just some really exciting.
Games, people just throwing in three pointers.
Left and right, and of course you had the star power of Malachi Moreno. I thought it was a fascinating year.
It was, and the best team won, and that's the way.
It ought to be.
The best team did win. But when you look back through the tournament, you saw the teams that were supposed to be there, the majority of the sixteen teams that were there, the majority were pre season number one in their region, and that doesn't happen all the time. But you saw the upset of Saint X in the first round,
which got everybody. You know, Montgomery County making just their third appearance in school history and the last two times they've gone County this when they've gone to the semi final. Happy Oscar took them in twenty thirteen, and you saw the embattled coach from Cooper that is no one really, I don't think unless you're in the mix of it understands just what the heck is going on with that.
And then you see all the three pointers. You see stars that could have had a greater impact on this state had they made it to the Sweet sixteen more often, such as Austin Sperry had Breadthett County who put on a show. And you see the butting. You see the
budding stars like Rhys Davidson at North Laurel. My gosh, and can they make it back to do to be a repeat and to make a name for themselves again, There's so many great storylines, but with great crossing, being able to win a title with homegrown kids in six years is incredible.
Yeah, yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because the coach mentioned that. Steve Page mentioned that in the post and postgame interviews. I think one kid had moved in maybe the point right L. J. Holman h when he entered high school. But otherwise all those kids played at middle school. And there's another great story south Oldham straight
out of Crestwood. They're warm up shirts. Those kids created those or came up with the idea in middle school and they got together and said, someday we're going to wear these in upp arena. I know you love stuff like that.
Yeah, And because there it adds to the stories that all of us hear people say, you know what, Dick, we've got a great seventh grade group coming up. If these guys stayed together together, make go run, if you know, and usually those teams that we hear that from are from rural area. That's because maybe just make like Montgomery County, they've only been three times. They've been to the championship game in the tenth region I think eleven times, but
they've only made it three. And and then when you see some of these schools that last name ends in county or in Ashland, who has made seven trips in a row, you know that's where you hear we've got a great young group and if we can keep them together, we can get to Reparena and make some noise.
And now now the now, the goal is.
Just keeping them together. If we know this world has turned into a transfer portal all the way around.
It has even on a high school level. That's a that's a topic for another evening. But or prep schools or things like that. But uh, but yeah, and you worked in eastern Kentucky for so long. You know what it's like, what it's like for a community to have a team come together like that. And and we saw the crowds show up in Reperena, so and some did, some didn't.
But then on the other hand.
Uh, you know, when the whole town turns out, it's just fantastic. And that's that's been the way it has been for years. Brian Mylin, sports director WKYT, Thank you so much, sir, And I guess now we'll just sit back and wait and see who wins this championship and you can see it on WKYT. The final four.
Yeah, that's right. First time in what almost twenty years, we've had all four number one seeds. Yeah, let's play it out and see how it plays out.
Was that how your bracket played out? Did you have all the child Oh.
Yeah, especially last night when I put in that final team. Yeah, it's it's the way it worked out.
Perfectly, all right, coach, have a good one, all right, thanks to you. I always talk about some of the TV guys who are road warriors. Obviously, the newspaper people as well. But you know, I was a TV guy for a long time and Brian's one of them.
Now.
He travels.
He went to all the games and as often as not drives instead of flies. And I look them as road warriors because they're hauling that equipment. And trust me, it ain't easy. On one trip, we actually flew the airline broke our tripod, which isn't easy to do either, so and there's no accountability, trust me on that. Anyhow, I do appreciate Brian for taking the time. Tomorrow night, it's Kentucky Baseball. The Wildcats take on Ole Miss in a Thursday through a Saturday series and the SEC network
will have it. Doug Flynn and I will have it on SEC Plus on Friday and Saturday. But because it's on the mother Ship Tomorrow night, the game begins at seven, meaning Darren's pregame is at six forty five, so I'll.
Have a shorter Big Moon in Cider for you. But after that, weather permitting.
Of course, it's going to be the Wildcats and the Ole Miss Rebels is Kentucky goes back to work, trying to protect its home turf after a road series win down at A and m so we'll be with you until six forty five and is Darren with pregame Cats and the Ole Miss Rebels.
After that, that's it. Good night from the garage and Lexington.
Man, you are one pathetic loser.
Then anything to do anything then letty that.
I think.
Don't then don't, don