Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider. Diay Gabriel with you on a Thursday edition of our program. Coming up tonight, we'll talk Kentucky football and basketball with Chris Fisher of two four to seven Sports. We'll talk about all that portal traffic that's going on. MIKEA. LEPs from Fox fifty six, who was at the open practice recently for UK football and has covered the basketball Cats all year long. Tim Sullivan, freelance writer over in Louisville. Talk to him about the
Cats and the Cardinals, what's going over there. Also, we're going to talk to Tim a little bit about the Bengals. Tim used to cover the Bengals in the Reds when he was with the Cincinnati Inquirer and the Bengals finally ponying up for some talent. So that's all coming up tonight here on the Big Blue Insider. And of course you probably know by now. First of all, you know the Masters is happening. I'm going to talk about that
in our next segment a little bit. But I hope you got to see the daughter of Rory McElroy, who I'm going to tell you the next segment why I'm kind of rooting for him. I know he's not an American. His daughter, Poppy, wearing what they call a boiler suit, played in the par three competition, got the putt and she sank a long putt. I think she's three years old, and the video is incredible. I urge you to google
it and find it. But Rory and Shane Lowry helped her line it up at the par three contest at Augusta National and she sank a huge downhill putt at the ninth hole, and just like her dad and every other golfer out there, she had to just give it a nudge and let gravity take hold and do the rest of the work for about thirty feet and it dropped in and it was so cool because everybody went nuts, and she didn't really understand. She just kind of stood
there like uh huh. And Lowry's daughter, who was only like six years old, ran up and hugged her, and the kid was still like what just happened. It's a lot of fun. I mean, the dad's went crazy. So find that video. It's online, easy to find. Obviously, Mark Pope has got himself a player in sights. He's a shooter. Maybe by now he's landed him. I doubt it because the kid's going to take other visits. But he's from
sam Houston State by way of a junior college. Lamar Wilkerson, who might be a candidate to step in for Kobe Brea as the shooter is looking at Kentucky as well as Ole Miss Auburn, and Indiana four star transfer ranked fifty first best player, eleventh best shooting guard in the two four to seven Sports rankings. Kind of got off to a moderately good start with his career. But this season, like last year, he averaged about fourteen points a game
and hit thirty four point seven percent from three. This year, his numbers twenty and a half points a game for rebound, eleven one point one steals per game, hit forty seven point seven percent from the field, forty four point five from the arc. Again, I'm not saying he's the next Kobe Brea. Who is, but this kid in terms of
the numbers, might fit the bill. But again, Pope and his staff did such a remarkable job at fitting together the people on the roster, the right kids coming together, and that was as much as anything why Kentucky was successful this year and now of course. John Rostein from cbsports dot Com reporting that Pope got his automatic one year contract extension thanks to Kentucky making the Sweet sixteen.
Quoting a team official, his contract now runs through the twenty nine to thirty season, with a salary increase of two hundred and fifty thousand set for the final year of the deal. You know, it's interesting about this unless
something goes terribly, terribly wrong. I mean, you know the passion Mark Pope has for this place, You're not gonna have to worry now, maybe whistling past the grave bar, but you don't have to worry about your coach flirting with other teams, especially during the NCAA tournament the way
Kevin Willer did when he left Maryland. Mark Pope is going to be here until and unless he gets tired of it, and I mean like physically tired at the end of his career, or he gets run out of town for you know, successive back to back to back bad seasons. I don't even see that happening, because that ain't gonna happen. I don't believe with Pope, but he is so beloved now fans will turn on him if he loses too many games and too many years in
a row. They've turned on Mark Stoops, even though prior to this past disastrous season they put up seven wins each time. But that wasn't enough has been raised in Kentucky football. And you're gonna get a chance to see the team on Saturday at Fan Day, basically the open practice starting at ten o'clock at Kroger Field. And you've got Bush Hamden now in his second year as offensive coordinator.
You're not going to see a whole lot. It's going to be awfully vanilla, but at least you know when the season begins, you've got to totally rebuilt o line. And a staff member told me during spring break, and he is. He was not the offensive coordinator. He was not the offensive line coach. I won't tell you who, but he told me he was really impressed with the athleticism of the new guys they've brought in to the point where they could be putting together another line in
the mold of the big Blue Wall. And in fact, the guy had talked to invoke the name John Schlarman. So you may be seeing that although we're not going to be entirely sure what we see until the year begins. As for the former offensive coordinator, Liam Cohen is now the head coach in Jacksonville, and he popped up on the feed because he's got a quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, who's
excited about the new coaching staff. But his shoulder, his left shoulder, has been rebuilt, and Liam Cohen was telling the media how Lawrence is going to be on a pitch count in the early going when it comes to summer camp.
He's been working on it himself right now in terms of like monitoring that with the doctors and with Will and ferging those guys downstairs. We haven't had anything to do with it at the moment. As we lead in. We're optimistic that we'll get there, you know, in terms of where we need to go. He'll be on a pitch count for those things, in terms of the where he has to get to because he has little touch points he needs to reach before he can obviously get
out onto the grass and do it full speed. Everything's moving forward. He feels really good right now, so excited about that.
Liam Cohen, the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. It just feels weird to say that, but keep in mind, as you probably know, he's got a couple of ex Wildcats on that roster. Josh Allen, who got paid great defensive lineman Luke Fortner had been the starting center but now is scuffling for playing time and the job there
in Jacksonville, but still on the roster. Last time I checked as we headed the break, I got to wrap with a sad note in that yesterday afternoon, we had already put the show together so we could include it last night. But you may have heard her at about the passing of Richie Wells, who was a former assistant athletic trainer at UK, and he was killed in a
car accident. Police in Atlanta were chasing a suspect who had robbed at Chick fil A, and the guy in Buckhead ran through an intersection, slammed into Richie's car and killed him. You never met a better guy than Richie. I really enjoyed getting to know him. He wasn't here all that long. He was a fellow, which was like an intern at UK, and then he left and got a job with the Angels, the major league baseball team, working with their minor league clubs. And when Nick Manzione
had an opening. He brought him back to college baseball and Nick was telling us that Richie, who had played D three baseball, wanted to play in the SEC but just wasn't quite good enough. But pulled Nick aside last year and said thank you for getting me to Omaha. And Nick thanked him for, he said, keeping the team healthy enough. They were totally healthy when he got to Omaha. Believe it or not. Over the last couple of years, they were incredibly healthy as a ball club. But Richie left.
He got into real estate, I'm told in the Atlanta area, originally from New York, and I used to tease him a little bit. He would go out on the field to check on injured players and games we were televising, and if he was doing it too much, say Richie, man, you're getting too much FaceTime. I told that to Nick MinJe On and he said there were times when Nick asked Richie come out on the field and check this guy.
And later on, as he said, as he's running after, he said, I know he doesn't really need it, but I'm doing this so your parents can see you on TV, which I thought was an incredible response. And it just breaks your heart that Richie's gone way too soon, a close friend to Devin Burke's, the UK team leader and catcher, and all the condolences to his family for Richie. Wells back in a minute six thirty WLAP Welcome back. In just a few minutes, we're going to be talking with
Chris Fisher, the Cats Poles. We'll get caught up on UK recruiting. Get his thoughts on the season that just concluded. A little bit later, Tim Sullivan, freelance writer over in Louisville, get his closing thoughts on the college basketball season voting. What's going on to U of L. The UKU of L rivalry, which you know it kind of really cooled off thanks to the flop by Kenny Paine, is heating up in a big way now. So we'll find out
more about what's going on over there. U of L showing up in these way too soon pre season top twenty fives, in the top five in some instances, and so it is Kentucky in the top ten at least. And then a little bit later on as well, we'll hear from Michael Epps of Fox fifty six mentioned earlier the masters going on. You know that if you're a sports fan, and apologies. We pre record so man, back in the day, we could come on at six o'clock live and you know, tell you who was up. We
had the TV on Billy Religion. I had to monitor on and we'll get you up to speed on that. But personnel being what it is now, so a few people working in the radio station anymore, We've got a pre record. So that's that. But I will tell you that I am rooting for Rory McElroy. I mentioned the odds, the players that are favored meant talked about that yesterday, and yeah, I root for the Americans, of course, but I really root for Rory. I like him. He's from
Northern Ireland, that's where my grandfather's from. But I just like him. He's great for the game and just a great player. But it's amazing to me. I didn't realize that here's a guy. We knew this. He lacks the masters to complete the career grand Slam. I didn't realize he's had eleven shots at it. Eleven shots. Only five other people have done it. Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player,
Jack Nicholas, Tiger Woods. That's it. That's the list. Those are the people who have won the career Grand Slam in golf, not in one year, although you could argue Tiger did it over the course of a year. But I heard Steve Sands at a golf channel mentioned the fact that these guys all completed the Slam within three years. And now, as we said, Rory has been trying to get it done for almost a dozen years. So I
do root for me. See, he's been close, He's had a four stroke lead on the last day and he's blown it. So yeah, I would really love to see him win it. But I'd be okay if Justin Thomas wanted the kid from Kentucky, you know, kid young man. But you know, it's going to be the kind of thing where I think McElroy, who's now admitted that in twenty nineteen he had won tournaments, but he really struggled in the majors. So now he's kind of taking a
different approach to the majors a little bit more. And as I understand Stans was talking about this, you just have to be conservative at Augusta and if you follow golf and all you know about the Greens, you know, unforgiving it can be and Rory apparently is more aggressive than most at Augusta has been, So maybe if he just backs off and hangs close, you know, stay close, the way Houston did against Duke, the way Florida did against Houston. Stay close, stay close, and in the closing minutes,
in the closing holes, make your move. He's good enough to do that. He teed off earlier today at one twelve, and Colin Morrikawa was one of the early tea times, teed off at nine forty seven, philm Mickelson at nine point fifty eight, rising to Shambo at one twenty three, John Rahm and his group at one thirty four. They play threesomes, and if you care about it, you are or have been watching it, or you will on ESPN, CBS picks up coverage for the last two rounds this weekend.
It's almost also simulcast on Masters dot Com, the Masters app, which I don't have but apparently is tremendous, ESPN plus Paramount plus, so it's all over the place if you really really want to get in the golf this weekend, And I don't blame you if you did. Something happened during the NCA tournament and I was on and off the air so much and I didn't have a chance
to talk about this. And it may not mean much to many of you, but if you've been following college basketball for a while, UK basketball all your life, as most of you have been, you know the name John Feinstein. John was a career columnist and a best selling author. He was the best, probably the best author of sports books in the history of the medium. John wrote between forty four and forty eight books. I've seen two different
accounts of it. I knew he had written a lot, I didn't realize he'd written that many, But apparently he wrote a series of books for young people for teens. But he wrote the first huge sports inside look kind of book, A Season on the Brink, And that was the year he followed Bob Knight. He got permission from Night to hang out with his team and write about it. Spent the entire season with it. It was a brilliant book and a bestseller, chronicled the eighty five eighty six
Indiana team. The whole season spent seventeen weeks at number one on the Times bestseller list. Later on, Bob Knight denounced it by saying that Feinstein had agreed to not publish the profanities that Night used in almost every breath that he took. And of course I thought that was ridiculous. There was no way a guy like John Feinstein was going to agree to that. No way. By the way, later on it was turned into it. Remember when ESPN made movies for a while, Brian Denny, he played Bob Knight.
It was bad. It's a bad movie. I mean they tried, you know, put him in a big red sweater. But the book was phenomenal. He followed that up with a number of books. But he followed it up with a book called A Season Inside. And I enjoyed that book as much as any of his I ever read. I only read maybe five or six of Einstein's books, but A Season Inside basically gave the same treatment to a different team in every chapter. Wasn't just one team, and I loved it. In fact, I was on an airplane
reading it, and I'll never forget this. I was so engrossed in it. The plane landed, people disembarked, and I didn't even realize it. A flight attendant shook me, you know, grabbed me on the arm, said, sir, you have to get off the plane. I was so into the book, wasn't asleep reading the book. I read A Civil War that's about the Army Navy football game. It's phenomenalminal New
York Times bestseller. And in fact, after he finished that book, he had developed such a strong relationship with the people at both the Army and Navy. John became the color analyst on Navy. I think it was basketball games. Might have been football as well, but it was just phenomenal. He's written a book about Ivy League football published last year. I didn't know this, called The Ancient Eight. But there's so many a good walk spoiled. I haven't had a
chance to read that yet. Well, i've had a chance of just havn't a want two though. I did read a book called let Me Tell You a Story about Red Aurback, and of course Feinstein developed this relationship with Red Hourback to the point where Aurback invited him to have lunch with Ourback and his boys on either Monday or Tuesday every week. And Aurbak lived in Washington, DC. He had lived in Boston even when he was coaching Celtics.
Didn't even live in Boston. He lived in DC and took the train to Boston, but he had lunch every week at the same Chinese restaurant, and Feinstein had developed such a great relationship with him that he finally broke through and was invited to go to lunch, and he said he sat there and remained silent, which, according to Tony Korneiser as a huge upset because Feinstein always dominated conversations and was always right, and Coronizer called him a
dear friend. But he said I had to step away from him for a year or two because he said, I just got so tired of him telling me all the time I was wrong and belittling me. So and oh yeah, there's one other book he wrote called The Last Amateurs, which was about the Patriot League and Ralph Willard, the former UK assistant, was coaching at holy Cross. That was in the nineteen ninety nine two thousand season. So many great books, but I bring him up primarily because
after I heard he died, I remembered this. I interviewed Feinstein a couple of times. He may have even had him on the radio, but I interviewed him in person a couple of times at UK Games back in the I guess it was early nineties, maybe late eighties, but definitely in the early nineties, because it was in that interview that Feinstein explained to me why he was so ticked off that UK under Rick Bettino had risen from the ashes and had made it back to prominence and
the Final Four in ninety three. He believed that whatever it was the landed Kentucky on probation in the late eighties was so serious that the penalties didn't match. Okay, now, the penalties were severe, but what happened was Rick Bettino came here and, as you know, rebuilt the program. It felt like overnight, and Feinstein was going on and they should have been this, and it should they shouldn't be this. And I finally said, so, what you're saying is Kentucky
basketball hasn't suffered enough. And Feinstein on camera said right. I thought, well, and I didn't say it, but I thought, that's ridiculous. I mean, if he only knew what was going on and how badly those penalties crushed the program, and a lot of coaches, I think not a lot, but probably a handful of coaches could have brought UK basketball back in a manner of I don't know, five
or six years, but Tino did it. You could say he did it in the first year when they were fourteen and fourteen, definitely by the following year and not long after that during the Final four. But that did not set well with John Feinstein, who, by the way, went to Duke and was there when Kentucky beat Duke in the championship game in seventy eight and was convinced, like everybody that that Duke team, which was so young, was destined to win the NSAE title. Maybe the following year. Nope,
that was Magic Johnson. That Jem Banks Mike Jamiski team never did win a national title. I didn't sit well with John either, But I wanted to bring that up because, like I said, I hadn't had a chance to talk about Feinstein, and I remembered that conversation I had with him, and he died of natural causes. They said at age sixty nine. Friends, that's not old. That's how old I am. We'll come back with Chris Fisher in just a minute on six thirty WLA welcome back to the Big Blue
and Cider as promise. Joining us now in our celebrity Odeline is mister Chris Fisher from two four to seven Sports in the cast pause, How are you, sir?
Not as good as you mister Hall of Fame. Oh, congratulations on that.
I appreciate it.
Couldn't be happier for you, so so so much deserved.
Thank you so much. I appreciate it. You've been part of our show for quite a while now and have made a real name for yourself covering UK sports, including of course recruiting. And this is a different kind of beat now, isn't it. When you've got to keep an eye on the transfer portal and not just the high school kids. What's that been like for you?
Yeah? I mean, I'm a hopeless romantic when it comes to college basketball. I love the pageantry of it. I love the tradition of it. And for many reasons, I was not a huge fan of the transfer portal because, you know, you have such a large number of guys playing for three schools in four years or four schools in five years, and it takes away from you know, what makes college basketball great. If a guy is choosing a school just for the money, then it might as
well be the NBA, you know. And so but at the same time, I would be lying to you if I said the transfer portal and the all out feeding frenzy that we see now every spring isn't a lot of fun to watch, no matter, no matter, not just fun to watch, fun to follow, no matter, you know what, the team you're a fan of.
Yeah, you're right. Every every hour, it seems there's a new lead on the story. But i'd heard someplace, Christopher there were a thousand names in the portal. That's nuts.
The last I heard it was close to two thousand, and I'm sure, and that was probably three four days ago, maybe even a week ago, So I'm sure it's well north of two thousand, oh maybe now.
Yeah, And so much of it is linked to NIL. I think, I think most of us, maybe you didn't. I mean I saw what I saw coming was tampering and you know, kids going back and forth, But I didn't think that NIL dollars would have this kind of an effect. A lot of us playing time, to be sure, but their kids just out there shopping for better deals. And you really can't blame them because that's the way the rules are set up right.
Now, right yeah, And you almost have to enter the portal to find out what your real market value is. And there are a lot of guys that enter the portal and you know, return to their own team, or you know, maybe they enter the portal to put a little bit of financial pressure on the school that they're at to pay them, you know, their fair market value if they're coming off a good season or what have you.
And so it's fun to watch, it's fun to follow, but I also know, just based on gauging the fan reaction, that it's also very stressful for fans to follow because they don't have a lot of patience. You know, it's kind of like a feeding frenzy at a buffet table, and fans are afraid that you know, they're going to get,
you know, lessed out of it. And so, you know, there was some early panic among the Kentucky fan base, but I think Mark Pope has been able to quiet them down here a little bit over the last week or so.
But obviously that was the salvation of Pope and his staff going into year number one. They did such a great job of sizing up the kinds of talents they needed, the skill sets and the kids. You know, they brought in just really quality people, which is what you needed in a situation like this, as you know, to try to bring Kentucky back almost overnight. You know, as Pope said, we understand the assignment, but if it's complicated by a bad apple or too, it's going to be almost impossible.
But they did it a superb job. I thought of bringing in the right people.
You agree with that, yeah, absolutely, I'm a huge admirer of how Mark Pope attacks the train. I mean, if you look at last year and you look at the teams that went out and spent the most money and acquired the most talent Arkansas, Kansas State, Indiana, Baylor, those tools did not perform particularly well. And there is definitely an art to it. And I think with Mark Pope, you know, you know you talked to him for five seconds.
You know how much he loves the University of Kentucky and he wants to bring in guys that want to be here, not just because Kentucky paid them the most money to be here. And if you look at the adversity that last year's team overcame, they don't do that if they're just here for the money, you know, they were truly and legitimately playing for the name on the front of the jersey and playing with a ton of
pride and fighting through injuries and fighting through adversity. And so Mark Pope is going to get guys that want to be here, that appreciate the experience of being a Kentucky basketball player. And I also think he does a great job of actually building a team that fits together instead of just acquiring raw talent. And you know, each PC brings in has a ripple effect on the rest of the guys that he brings in, And so I think he's he's done a great job.
Yeah, it's not a it's not a fantasy team. It's more like a jigsaw puzzle, which.
Yeah, yeah, talking a great.
Two four seven sports and a catspaws. Uh two four seven reporting that a kid from sam Houston State is going to visit the dead period ends today. What can you tell us about Lamar Wilkerson, Because you know, everybody wants to see the next Kobe Brayer when you're looking for a shooter. That's not going to be fair with ninety nine point nine percent of the people in the portal. But could this guy be the answer to what they need?
Yeah?
I think so. I think you know, they had been linked to a couple of different guys in the portal. Wesley Yates from USC was a big time name to
put his name in the portal. Ryland Griffin from Kansas, Jaron Pierre from Jacksonville State the Conference USA Player of the Year, but specifically Pierre and Yate come with a big time price tag, and I think Kentucky has kind of trended away from those guys, at least for the time being, and it sounds like they've set their sights on Lamar Wilkerson, who averaged over twenty points per game in San Houston State, shot I think forty four percent
from three, made one hundred and nine to three pointers, and so if you're looking for, you know, a one for one Kobe Bray a replacement, he's probably as good of a candidate as you're gonna find. I think when you look at the roster that Mark Pope has put together, I don't think they'll have quite the amount of shooting that this year's team had. But I think Mark Pope also understands you can't just be a great shooting team that runs, you know, really good offense and win at
the highest level in the SEC. We saw as the season went on, teams started to systematically take those three point attempts away from Kentucky. And at times they had had they had trouble defending, they had trouble defending rim, they had trouble with the physicality and the athleticism of the SEC and you saw Mark Pope pivot and address that with guys like Moa Diabase and Jaden Quainton's and Cam Williams, even if it comes at the expense of
a little bit of shooting. And so I really like what Mark Pope has done in the portal thus far. I think they're probably looking at adding another shooter. I think Lamar Wilkerson is a prime candidate. He'll visit Kentucky, Indiana, Auburn, and Ole, miss before MA making a decision. I think Kentucky's in a good spot with him. And then, you know, depending on how the rest of the roster shakes out. You know, you know, Mark Cook said one piece affects the other, but also every piece that you add may
affect the current roster. And so it'll be interesting to see if Kentucky has any departures after adding you know, five guys or six guys through the transfer portal.
Yeah, Chris Fisher, my guests from two four to seven Sports and The Cat's Pause. We'll come back with more in just a minute. On the Big Blue Insider six thirty WLAP, we're talking to Chris Fisher of The Cat's Pause and two four to seven Sports, which is reporting that Lamar Wilkerson uh formerly if Sam Houston State may come through the portal to Kentucky's certainly going to visit. And as Chris mentioned, he's got a number of high
profile teams on his list. I remember Chris talking to the guys Mark brought in last summer, and you may have as well about the fact that you know his plan and you just referred to it is to get up x amount of three point shots, and that was quite the attraction for some especially a guy like Kobe Brea. Hey, we're gonna shoot thirty to thirty five threes a game. Yeah,
sign me up. Uh So, while in practice, Pope might back off at d just ever so slightly, but I think when he's selling the program, he's still going to sell that, don't you think to guys like Wilkerson.
Yeah. Absolutely, And he talked at the end of the season about you know, and Mark Pope is a thinking man's coach, and he's going to be driven by the data. He's going to be driven by the analytics in his
decision making. And you know, he said after the season, you know you want to you know, they do an autopsy at the end of the non conference season, the autopsy at the end of the regular season, and then autopsy at the end of the season and kind of see where they need to continue to grow and evolve. But you also have to stay true to your identity
and what makes you you. And so I definitely don't think even with some of these other pieces that they've added, as far as getting more athletic, getting tougher, getting you know, better on the defensive end, and rebounding the basketball, that they're going to go away from shooting the three. I mean, you look at guys like Cam Williams, Mo Diabat. Both of those guys can step out and shoot it. Now, they didn't do it at a high volume, but they definitely showed a propensity to it to be able to
step out and do that. And so you know, you look at a guy like Lamont Butler, I think he was a career thirty two percent three point shooter before he got to Kentucky shot thirty percent from three in his last season at San Diego State, and while I
he's a thirty nine percent three point shooter. And that's in part because Mark Pope's offense is going to generate open looks and these guys aren't going to be counted on to force shots and you know, shoot off balance, one legged, you know, stay away three pointers like they you know, may be worth the previous schools.
Plus they'll practice it every day, that's the thing. They'll get up shots in practice. They'll be expected to shoot and hit those shots, right.
Yeah, absolutely, And you know, I mean you look at a guy like Kobe Braya specifically how much he improved over the course of the season, and I think he doubled his two point attempts from the previous season at Dayton and realized, I can't just stand behind this line and shoot threes because teams are going to take that away. I have to learn to be effective in other areas
of the game. And we saw him continue to grow and continue to round out his game as a basketball player, and not just offensively, on the defensive end as well. I mean there were times I think early in the season he was almost unplayable with how bad he was
on the defensive end. But he's continued to grow. And you know, now ESPN hasn't projected as a second round pick in its latest mock draft, So you don't have to look any further than Kobe Brea in terms of Mark Pope and his development of players.
How great is that for Mark Pope to be able to point to a guy like Kobe Brea and talk about what you just talked about. Look, this guy, he couldn't say I couldn't play him because of defense, but he could couch it in a different term, but say he worked so hard on his defense and worked his way, let's face it, with defense as much as the two point shots into the NBA draft, which is obviously where these kids want to be. What a great tool for a coach like that.
Yeah.
Absolutely, And I mean you look at all of the transfers that Kentucky brought in last offseason.
I think they had something.
Like thirty eight combined seasons of college basketball under their belt. And you know, I guess taking out Kirkrisa, who only played nine games I think it was, but had career years across the board in terms of their per forty minute averages.
I mean, you look at a guy like otega Oway, you know, and I see fans all the time talk.
About, Oh, I don't know if this guy moves the needle enough. I don't know if we have enough star power. Did anybody think otega Oway would be a star for Kentucky this season? You know, I mean led the team in scoring. I think, you know, scored in double figures in all but two games. You know, had the third highest scoring season by a Kentucky transfer behind I think it was Oscar Sheebley and Antonio Reeves, and you know, put up career numbers across the board in terms of
field goal percentage, three point percentage, free throw percentage. These guys were the most efficient that they've been in their college careers. And that was in one season under Mark cat Yeah.
Pretty amazing. Just a minute or two left, But did you have Florida winning it? How was your bracket?
I didn't.
Still it's been a while since I've.
Filled out of bracket. I don't know why I don't do it anymore. It used to be like my favorite day of the year, getting that bracket hot off the printer at school or you know whatever, and I thought I thought Duke was the best team, and it probably played out that way. They should have beaten Houston, and I thought they would give, you know, Florida some major problems. But it played up pretty much the way that I
thought it would. That Florida had just been on such a heater over the last two months of the season, and then when you add to that Walter Clayton himself being on the heater that he was with, you know, two thirty point games in the NCAA tournament.
And.
That that Florida Houston champion hip game was as good as a championship game as I can remember in some time, just you know, go and blow for blow down the stretch, and everybody talks about how tough Houston is, and but Florida was every bit as tough. The way that they came back from that twelve point deficit and you know, kind of traded Haymakers down the stretch over the last seven or eight minutes and then we're able to finish it off and defend Houston. The way they did, I
thought was was really really impressive. But if you look at the way the NCAA tournament turned out. It used to be all about first round picks. How many first round picks do you have, how many mcdonald' all Americans you have. It is completely the opposite. Now it's all about how many guys did you retain from the previous season, right, That's what it's all about. And Florida had so many guys come back from you know, a pretty successful team
last year. But they you know, they lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament, but had so many of those guys come back. They added Elijah Martin and you know, and the road that waves to a championship.
Chris, thank you so much.
All right, you bet?
And you can follow Chris on Twitter x whatever you want to call it at Chris Fisher two four seven and of course in the pages of The Cat's Paws or online. I think if you type in Cat's Pause, it still comes up. It'll take you to two four to seven Sports, but two four to seven Kentucky something like that will get you there if you're not a subscriber,
which you should be. Coming up next, our number two, we've got Michael LEPs from Fox fifty six covers the Cats both football and basketball and was at the most recent open practice, and of course covered the basketball Cats all year long, and Tim Sullivan from over in Louisville. We'll talk a little bit about the Wildcats, about the Cardinals as well, and about the Bengals spending a ton of money. Chris for the longest time covered sports up
in Cincinnati. That and more and nour number two next one, six thirty wlap.
Any such such tact tact showing anything.
Welcome back to the big Blue sider joining us down our celebrity highline is the road Warrior. Michael Epps. Uh. Actually, you've been able to stay at home of late but basketball tournament over and it was a fun season to cover though, wasn't it.
Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
Unfortunately I did not travel for the NCAA tournament due to just company policies, I'll say that, which was a bummer because I love covering the team. It was a really great team, and I told you I really enjoyed last year's team. And I as a Michigan boy that does not root for Kentucky really outside for my job, I've found myself really rooting for Reach Eppert in those points last year, which made that lock to Oakland such
a bummer. But then cal Leaves Hope comes in. The fans don't like Pope at first when he's higher, but they fall in love with him two days later with that press conference, and all the way through eleven months later. It was a really fun season with a really unique team, and they did well. They made it out of the first weekend, which is what they had to do, and now the standard is set for Pope in a second season.
Yeah, and there are people, you know, I'm convinced still laying in the eas waiting to criticize. But I've talked to Chris Fisher earlier on the show and a number of people about the fact that I think one of the things that Pope did so successfully Michael is actually constructing the team, you know, not just grabbing stats, but
really making sure they were the right people. Because to your point, obviously we have to remain as objective as possible, but you end up in this business rooting for people. This was a team full of people that were easy to root for. You know.
Oh yeah, you get the you get the tournament name in Lamont Butler, who had that Final four moment, But a lot of other guys that were unknown and ready to come in and prove themselves.
They did.
I mean, Kobe Braa had a had a much better second half of the year. You know, he had some big moments in sec play. Mariy Williams was a double double.
You know it.
It was a fun team to cover that. You know, it's a little different that you're not going to see a bunch of NBA names, And I hope I'll Tega, oh wait, find himself an NBA career, maybe after staying here for a senior year. Yeah, maybe getting a three point percentage up and then getting himself into next year's NBA draft. But you know, outside of him, knowing else from this team is really going to have a pro career. So they were all in, man. You could tell they
were fighting hard and they enjoyed it. The emotions were there when the season ended. So it's a team that the fans will remember for sure.
I got to think the Bigs will play pro ball somewhere to your point, not maybe not in the NBA, but now, man, there's money to be made overseas. Mariy Williams, you know, he's going to play for somebody but wheref they go, they'll end up shooting three pointers, because that's where we are with international ball now, isn't it.
Yeah, And I think Jackson Robinson wants that risk is sealed up. I could see himself going over there. It's a bumber because I think he was when he man, when he got rolling, he had those back to back twenty point games and just looked way more confident in sec play, and it was looking like he was going to be that guy that was going to be their bailock guy. He was going to make those tough shots lay in, the shot clock went offense flying down, and it was a real I think his injury was just
worse than the rest. I really felt bad for him because he was playing himself for a minute there to get in a summer league invite, and so obviously he won't get that, but hopefully he has a nice career. And and Lamon Butler was awesome. I don't I don't know what his status is with that shoulder, if he's got surgery yet or if he will later, if it was a torn lab room or not. I'm sure we won't find out, but feel bad for him as well. But those those boys played hard and hopefully they have
some fun in their pro careers. But Otego always is that guy that has a has a real potential if he comes back, which it sounds like he hopefully will. I guess he's still got a lot of time to think about it, maybe test the waters. But if he comes back and start hitting the threes, this UK seem to be scared.
Yeah, be fun. Uh. And of course the stories now are who's coming through the portal. But that's something you got to check, you know, your phone and the internet every hour on the hour, it seems now. But let me you have to go over to football. You've been watching this Kentucky team practice and I was talking to a staff member during spring break and it was not the O line coach, but he mentioned how athletic that
offensive line is. I don't know what you watch when you go to one of the open practices, or what you'd be looking for on Saturday. It's hard for me to judge. You know, we don't know what we're seeing when we're looking at lineman and man, they looked apart, don't they.
Yeah, you know they bringing in five new experience guys. It's helpful right to shore it up because it's been a tough few years and it's frushing. My first year here was that twenty twenty one team with Darren Canard and Luke Portner, and that was a big blue wall and they protected Will Levis to a ten to three record, and then they come back the next year and they were bottom five in the nation. Back out and it's like, man, these guys can't protect Henry Clay out there, you know,
like Henry Clay pass rush. I mean, it was funning and it's been that way for a while.
You know.
You Devin Leary and Rock Vandergriffs weren't great quarterback, but you got to cut them a little bit of slack because they didn't have a lot of time back there to grow and it's been a painful offense to watch. So they need to be better.
You know.
The quarterback play this year could be a little fishy. I mean, Calzada can can run, he can move, and so I don't know if he'll be a Week one starter, if he'll be cutter bowlie, But either way, they're probably both going to have to be ready to you know, handle that duress because I don't see that unit getting back to being a bleak, big blue wall. You know, you can say it can't because everything's happy in springball, right,
there's nothing wrong in springball. Everybody's happy in springball. Everybody's going ten and three when you're in springball. But it's hard to see that once the season gets going against these sec pass, right, yeah.
Because everybody else is out there looking great, you know, across the conference, and when they're out there and shorts and T shirts and helmets, like Bacoro said to me, everybody looks good in their underwear, know, But but no, you're right, and and really, when you look back on the struggles of the old line, I also think, you know, I'm not trying to point fingers, but it's pretty obvious that when Scangarillo took away the running option from Will Levis,
that made him that forced him to sit in the pocket, you know, and that line was breaking down around him and he only ran when it was an absolute emergency, so that that came into play. But now you got Bush Hampden for the second year, and it's pretty obvious how big that's going to be.
Right, Yeah, it's good to have a coordinator stay for a second year. For a time that's happened in a while since I've been here. And yeah, I mean will Levis was drawing those like Josh Allen comparisons at one point with his ability to run. Yeah, and then that second year, you know, he got her you know, hurt the toe, the foot, whatever. And clearly we've seen that in the NFL that he's not good enough pocket pastor to play at that level. But the whole Skangerrell system
was messed up. They you know, they were trying those bubble screens and it just it didn't work. But to Scanguerrillas, you know, give him at least a little, tiny, tiny piece of flexibility because he didn't have a good offensive line to work with either, so they're going to need that. You know, toughness matters here at Kentucky obviously with Stoops, but I like how there's at least a little more passionate,
a little bit more fire with Stoops. I think he experienced a little bit of a of a you know, a peak here and now he's down in a valley. But to his credit, he wants to get back to that peak. And he was a king around here when cal was getting bounced early in the tournament. And soops was winning ten games like that was an exciting moment. So I think he wants to get back there. I just don't know what that product is going to be
out there. You can't lose that many games at Kroger Field and expect fans to have a lot of excitement next year because of how last year went. So they're gonna have to prove it and win one of those early games.
Yeah. And the other thing, too, is which which is so unique? If there are different levels of uniqueness. And again I've covered Kentucky football forever. You came from Michigan State. You know good football or what's supposed to be good football up there. But you know, this past season followed two seven wins seasons. But but the standards have changed for Kentucky football. I mean, before you got here, I'm
not sure what your perception was of Kentucky football. But for the longest time, just a winning season was huge. And now seven wins aren't enough. So you've you've dropped into an interesting situation, haven't you.
Yeah, it's uh, it's it's exciting that the standard has gotten higher, because, yeah, my perception was was absent. There was no perception when I was up north.
It's like you don't talk about.
Kentucky if you're talking SEC football. But yeah, I think I think he's he got a big plus by getting Jamry Macklin back. I think he's gonna have an awesome year. And Kendrick Law the Alabama transfer, should be good too. You know, they'll they'll run the football, they'll try to get another thousand yeard rusher. I don't know if that'll happen this year like it like it did for a few years there in a row there, but that was
the real key for him. But you know, Brad White's defense is going to hover around twenty points per game scoring, which was what it was at its peak. It kind of went up a little bit higher last year, so that needs to get back down to around twenty. And then can can a soup's offense score twenty eight points and win you enough games that way? But we will see. I think a little bit more excitement will be building, you know, over the summer. But right now, I think
everyone's still riding high on this Pope season. You know, they are in love with him. And now you got like Jayden Quayton's who's a huge, huge, pickup. You know, you have your point guard, and Low you have Diabate, who you know was good at Bama last year. On top of it, and Malachai and j. S. Johnson and Kat and Lewis. I mean, I think Pope's putting together
really something special. So the basketball craze is still going in Big Blue Nation, but hopefully they get a little football excitement around July or August.
Michael lef sports director Fox fifty six. We'll talk more with Michael on the other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Michael Lepsi is the sports director at Fox fifty six w dk Y covering the Wildcats coming down from Michigan State. Uh, before I ask you any more about Kentucky football, I got to tell you I picked Izzo's team to knock off Auburn and get to the Final Four. But as I watched that game, Michael and you might have had
the same response. Uh, they just weren't athletic enough, were they. Auburn just had it was well coached and a really good team, but just more athletes in Michigan State. And I didn't know your spartans couldn't shoot that well. Uh, but they gave they gave it a chance.
Man. It was ugly. They couldn't hit the right side of the barn. Now, it was horrible, and it was tough because you know, Jace Richardson already is a player for the draft, and he was an awesome player. Trey Holloman entered the he was like, oh for ten. Jaden Akins is a local guy that we love. He was from like five minutes from my hometown. Really, he's from really close to where I was from. My younger brother actually went to school with him, went to like middle
school with him. So he was an awesome player. He was horrible in that game for thirty six minutes, and then at the end when it was already over, he made a few get in the supple visits, so he was bad too. It was tough because they Izzo knew he had to make it an ugly physical game and want a rebounding margin, and he got it, and it was right there for them, even in the second half. It was right there for the taking. Jan I Broom goes out and it's like, okay, you have to cut
into this deficit. Even before Jani got hurt when he just got stubbed out at that fourteen minute mark. It's like, you got to cut into this lead and they just couldn't do it. Shouldn't make the shots get over the home. It was tough, but it was a good year for Izzo and it's not he's coming back now that I thought. There was a little bit of buzz that if they made the final four he might have retired in the thirtieth year. And you know, nine final fours, he broke
the big time record. He could have hung it up, but he wants to get back there, so he comes back.
Well, he has been on this radio show, so for that reason and many others, I do like is oh so, anyhow, getting back to the football catch at the open practice, I assume you'll be there Saturday. What is Are there any specifics you're going to be watching or looking for.
I think obviously everybody should be looking at the quarterbacks because I don't know. I still feel like there's a chance that Cutter Bully could be the guy. Really, you know, Calzada obviously was brought in to be the guy, and that's why Stoops, But I don't think Stoops promised him to be the starter. Yeah, you know, I think I
think this should still be an open competition. And Cutter Bowley obviously had his ugly moments there last year, but I think he showed a couple flashes and maybe he maybe with a full camp, maybe he'll be a little bit better next year. I feel like Cutter still has a chance to have his moment there. So it'll be interesting to see kind of who makes some nice throws
there on Saturday. But you know, the the to see the running backs, to see maybe a little more tight end action which you used to see, like that twenty one team with Justin Rigg, Like what's awesome and he got picked up out of Bengals, you know, like they they used to use those tight ends and they don't. They just don't anymore. They haven't been good, you know, Dingle and Caddis, you know, like those guys have always
kind of showed a couple flashes. But I think that needs to be part of the offense to get back to use those tight ends, you know on like a second and sixth you know, even first inten use a little use a little tight end action. We got to show them some love too, because you know, if they can work into this offense. I just don't think you're your outside receivers are going to be okay. But they're not as good as you know, Dan Key and Barrion Brown,
who were both disappointments. You know, they were that they were really talented. So if you're not getting as much out of them, how much are you getting out of you know, Kenjack Law and you know Jamary Macklin, I don't know how much. So they're gonna need to generate more offense in this league. It's a tough league. So they got to put more points on the board and get a little more excitement with the fan base.
Well, and we started off by talking about the old line, and that was a problem to your point about tight ends. You know, I know they'd love to use them more offensively, but when you got to keep them in and maybe even keep an extra running back in just a chip, it's awfully hard to build a quarterback to build a rapport with a tight end when he's got a block instead of going out to catch the ball.
Yeah. Absolutely, And they'll figure it out. I think they'll have their moments, but you know, like they I still don't know how they won that whole miss game year. It was amazing because outside of outside of that, it was they couldn't they couldn't win any of those big games. So they need to they need to get a little bit more excitement. But yeahs Stoops pumps up. I even saw that video of that twenty twenty seven QB calling Stoops to say he was committed, and Oops was like
yelling on the phone, So like, that's cool. It's cool that there's a little bit more because there was a there was a legit buzz that he might step down. You know, he wasn't going to get fired. The buyout was too high, but you know, and and Farrenheart likes him, he wasn't going to fire him, but you know, there was a chance maybe, you know, after that whole Ain't On fiasco then you know, has a bad year, that
maybe he would have just left. And you know he wants that Iowa job if her parents will ever retire. But you know, the fans want him to succeed and want him to get back to what they delivered. To your point, they never saw any great success. It was just maybe a winning season was going to be good, and he gave a couple awesome ten win seasons and some awesome wins at Kroger Field that Commonwealth and the fans want that. They want that from him, so they
will root for him again. But he's got to start winning. If he doesn't win this year, it's gonna it's gonna be tough. I don't see how much longer he can stick around if if he has to finish like four and eight again this year and try to explain that well.
And but here's the thing, and I've talked about this with some other folks as we read this up. You know, Stoops did an incredible job. He did what he said he was gonna do when they hired him. He was going to scout good players, recruit good players, sign them, develop them, in other words, coach them up and build a program from the ground up that way. And he kept saying there's no shortcuts. Well, now, college sports in general all about shortcuts, which is the portal, you know,
supplemented by nil dollars. And you've been in press conferences where he is he's kind of backed off anymore, sounding like he's complaining. But the truth of the matter is he's not really, And no coach is coaching the way they signed up for the job, you know what I mean. Now they're general managers who have to re recruit their entire roster every day. And so he's you know, tell me a coach is really some are, but who's fitted for this? He's not one of them, you know.
Yeah, it seems like the younger guys are, you know, and Soups isn't that old. But he's more old school exactly, and it's just won't work for him unless, you know, I feel like he's got to get up to the Big ten. He's a Big ten coach, Like his style would just be great in the Big ten. And if he could get to ioware get up there, feel like it would work for him and he could, he could find a second resurgence in his career. But he wants to do it here, and it's tough. He drew the
toughest assignment. I mean, even Vanderbilt has passed him up. Now, you know, Pavia is coming back and Bambi's gonna be good. You can't lose to Vanderbilt for like the third time in four years. You know, that's a must win. Now you think that's a given. I was like, oh my gosh. So he's got to do it. He's got to deliver. He's not going to be Tennessee, you know, or Georgia. But you know, he's got to rack up some SEC wins and just get to a nice bowl game, get a little bit of momental.
Yeah, and get to a bowl game. It's not the Music City Bowl. As much as I love bowl games and I love going to the Music City Bowl, but been there, done that. The fan base has been there, done that. So and you know, to point about the Vandy series, people need to go back and look it up. That Vandy series. It's the game every year that Kentucky knows they're gonna win. The fans do, and they need to win. But it's it's the tightest series on the
Kentucky schedule. Vandy's beating Kentucky almost as much as Kentucky's beating Vandy. So that's a topic for another discussion. Michael EPs Fox fifty six, watch rim each night. Thank you sir, talk to you soon.
It's great chat with you.
That up next. Tim Sullivan, freelance writer based in Louisville. Back in a minute on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue sider joining US now from its home over in Louisville. Freelance writer Tim Sullivan, who's covered the Cats and the Cards and when he was with the paper up in Cincinnati, the Bengals, the Reds and Tim, welcome back. Haven't talked to you in a while. How
did you enjoy this last basketball season? Because you know you're over in Louisville, you're keeping an eye on UK and both of these teams were such a light to their respective fan bases, you know what I mean.
Yeah, well, it's been a really interesting season.
And then the.
Turnaround that at U of L has been very dramatic and Jenny Payne to Pat Kelsey and I guess, uh, there's a meeting today where he's supposed to get a big raise, so uh and and you know it's well deserved, but uh, you know, it's it's been an interesting year to to me, just to see how the n I L.
H and has has changed the face of it. And a lot of people wrote about how you weren't getting Cinderella's anymore because all of their players are approached at the un major level, and uh, you know, there's tremendous roster change, really virtually everywhere, and uh, you know, I I don't know that that's a great thing for the sport, but I do think it's a great thing for the players to be able to make a buck.
Do you agree with that though? Do you think they arrow the age of the Cinderella is over for that reason?
I don't know that's permanently over. And I think there they're going to be uh some changes, you know, if Congress gets involved, and it seems like they're they're trying to make their way to that. But you know, I'm not really sure what what you can do to superven I mean, it's a free market. You know, the school did the lost money, uh, and the biggest alumni base is wan to dominate, and I think we just have to assume that that's, you know, that's going to be
the case going forward. You know, word number one seeds in the final four and I don't think that was an accident.
Yeah, of course that didn't happen last year. But there's there's been more time for the player movement to take hold ad in there.
Yeah, and I think that the spectators may not enjoy it as much because you'd like to follow a player's growth in your program. But you know, it's it's hard to tell a player who has a marketable asset that he can't capitalize on it. There really wasn't any place in an American society where other than college sports, where an individual was not able to seek their market value
that I know of. And I think this has been a long time coming, and it's going to be difficult for for some people to adjust to it, and it's going to change the landscape, and not just in football and basketball, but I think you'll see it, you know, trickle down the weather sports as well.
Oh yeah, well, and then some believe that the only answer is to present players with contracts that lock them into a school for uh anywhere from two to three years or and obviously I firmly believe Tim, they've got to change the portal to where kids can't jump in there every year.
Do you agree, Well, I think you have to negotiate that. You know, if you're going to have a limits on player movement, Uh, the players have to have a voice in it. Yeah, they have to agree. And you know that that probably means that they're going to unionize and have collective bargaining, and yeah, you know that I don't see that happening quickly, but I think that may be where we're headed.
Yeah, and nobody wants to hear about that or ride about that, but it may be inevitable. You're right. We're talking to Tim Sullivan, freelance writer over and Louisville's worked for the Courier Journals, worked for the newspaper on San Diego, Cincinnati, And as you mentioned, you know U of L fans had to be overjoyed this year. Obviously, I know Kentucky fans were, But did you see this coming at all? With Kelsey? I mean, he's a ball of energy and
just you know, instantly liked by the fan base. But people here were hoping for the best with Mark Pope. I don't know how many predicted getting to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.
But what about U of L fans, Well, I think you know, when the season started and you had a completely new roster, a lot of people would have been happy with a five hundred season after what, you know, what they'd had the last two years. What ended up
happening was I think beyond any bud. He's an expectation maybe except for Kelsey and the players, but you know, he he had an opportunity here, and this is still an elite program in terms of arena, the conference, fan base and all that, and it just it took someone who could wield the modern weapons of player movement to
restore it to something close to its former glory. I saw a odds, you know, one of those two early odds on Yeah twenty twenty sixth season, and I think Louisville Frank third is in terms of the national championship hopes, which struck me as wow, I mean as a but it apparently has.
Yeah, I saw the same thing. It's got Kentucky sixth, which is just crazy. But you know, hey, if you want to lay a couple of bucks down right now, you might make some money in the near future. But it does speak highly of of now. The reputation is being restored, and I consider Louisville of Blue Blood up there with Kentucky and Duke in North Carolina. And it's funny you talked about how the fans love Cinderella's and
they truly do. But I also find it interesting, tim having been in the line of work that I'm in for so long looking at TV ratings, once you get into the second and third weekends of the NCAA tournament, unless the big name schools are there, the ratings aren't as good, which I think is curious. So it's good for basketball, isn't it? Well?
I think so, you know, it's it's good for the players. You probably get a higher level with you know, with how it migrates toward you know, they your programs, But you know, there is an adjustment period because you know, so many of these teams are starting from the scratch or near scratch. I think of the of the final four teams, you know, Duke and and Houston were you know, primarily comprised the holdover players, but you know, Florida and
Auburn not so much. So you know, it's going to take a while, I think for people to get comfortable with that, unless there are some significant changes to the way this operates.
What did you think of the Final four? That had to be one of the best you've ever seen. I mean, that was incredible all three games.
Yeah, I mean it was certainly certainly as dramatic as as any I've seen, you know, the collapse of Duke, the you know, incredible ending of the championship came that was almost ready to turn the TV off and go to bed.
Some of these.
Couldn't couldn't quite pull away. Yeah, I'm glad I stayed up.
Yeah, oh man, I wonder how many people did pull away, but and then get up the next morning and say, you know, what the hell happened? Houston fans are still saying that. We're talking with Tim Sullivan, freelance writer based over in Louisville. We'll come back with more in just a minute on a Big Boo Insider here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Moon Sider. We're chatting with Tim Sullivan, our friend from over in Louisville.
He's a freelance writer. Keeps an eye on the Cats, the Cards, and what's been going on up in Cincinnati since back in the day he covered the Reds and the Bengals And before I get I'm gonna get back to the UK and U of L. But I got to ask you what's been your reaction? And you were in San Diego for a while, but all that time the Bengals, since you've covered him, since you were away, were notorious, if that's the right word from us for not spending money, and now they've spent half a billion
on a couple of players or more. I think, I guess you've got to say three players. What was your reaction to that when you saw that they're finally loosening up the purse strings up in Sincy.
Well, I think that tells you how profitable the NFL has become. They have really more money than they can justify spending. For years, you got the sense that the Bengals were this mom and pop operation and they didn't have other businesses that they could tap into to raise their payroll. But you know, now, geez, the NFL is
just printing money. And I think that the Bengals recognized that they have an opportunity as long as you know, Joe Burrow is in his prime to make a run and maybe only win a Super Bowl, and you've got to fortify him with the right pieces around him. And you know, I'm I'm kind of reminded of when I
was covering the Bengals. They they drafted Anthony munos Uh in the with the third pick in the drafts all of a sudden, Ken Anderson was not getting hit from the blind side, and he you know, became the league MVP. I think, uh he was eighty one. Uh, and and how one key player can make it an enormous difference. So they're they're never going to spend like you know,
bigger market teams, I don't think. But jeez, if if you if you have a player like Burrow and you know the other pieces that they've assembled and they and you don't commit to trying to get it done, you know what what wire you a business? And you know the other factory there is. They're they're trying to make a push for for stadium redevelopment, and uh, of course, I think I think that that plays into this a
lot too. They're you know, they're trying to show the the voters that you know, they're serious and that they you know, they want uh, they want to win as much as the fans do, which you know, I think the fans have not always been convinced of that.
You got sideways with people in San Diego about a stadium and it just befuddles me, Tim, And I'm I know, what, did you why there's this constant need for a new stadium. They're all just palaces, They're all just incredible, Uh, monuments to excess, and yet there's always that need. It's keeping up with the Joneses, isn't it?
Well, it is, and sadly there's there's usually another market that will prostrate itself to get franchise. And you know, as long as that's the case, you know, these existing franchises are going to use the leverage they have and the desperation of the locals to to keep a team or you know, to attract a team, uh to uh, to get a new deal. I mean, I don't think you'll find any economists of significant standing who will say that that the subsidizing sports stadia is a good idea.
But you know, it's an emotional decision that's not really a private one.
Yeah. And in TV, there's a term for people who buy advertising and sporting events, and it can be what's called an emotional buy. You know, either whoever's in charge is a fan of that team or wants to cash in on the emotions of a fan base. Uh. And and you and I have careers thanks to the emotions of fans who you don't want to follow teams and things like that. But when it comes to putting your money on the line, that's a different issue, isn't it.
Yeah, And you know, the the history of a stadium construction, uh, you know has accelerated dramatically since since you and I started in this business. And yeah, that it was the Miami Heat that you know, their arena was this declared antiquated and they built a new one like twenty years after the first one opened.
Yeah, and.
This is this is not healthy. And you know I was there in Cincinnati when the Paul Brown Stadium opened and I thought, yeah, this is going to be here for a long time, but I don't know that it will last as long as Riverfront Stadium did.
Yeah, that's a good point. And I remember when there was such a controversy about Rupp Arena what should be done? And it truly had become outdated. It would open to nineteen seventy seven or seventy six, I guess I should say. But there were people who were, you know, saying, well, all you need to do is take the roof off and build up, you know, with no idea what that would have done or no thought would it would have done to the shops around the Civic Center and things
like that. But everybody has an answer, Well, let's get back to the teams. Now, we're looking at spring football. You know, Kentucky's guide its open practice, coming up with a pledge to rebuild the offensive line. You know, they got all these new old linemen thanks to the portal, And I know that hopes are high over on your end of the interstate. What are they saying this spring about the Cardinals and what should we expect when those two teams play in the fall.
Well, I think that there's a certainly a lot of optimism on this end of sixty four. I don't know that it's quite the same UK. I think the fans are a little wary of what's become of the program. But you know, I remember when UK was a doormat and now it's it's risen, and it probably hasn't broken through, or it definitely hasn't broken through to the Alabama George level, and it may never just look at the recruiting base
that because schools have versus UK. But you know, people are not going to be satisfied with with eight and five anymore, and that's that's going to wear on a coach. I don't know that you can expect much better than that in the SEC given the strength of all those programs. But we'll see. I mean, I know there's some money in Lexington and they should be able to track some players, but I don't know that they're ever going to get the five stars that with to to LSU or Alabama
or Georgia. So, uh, you're not You're not going to be satisfied with that, I don't think indefinitely. And that's uh, you know, that's the challenge, and I wish them much, but I think in some ways feels like a make or break season over there. But I could be wrong.
That's well, I think you are. You're right in so many ways, but I keep reminding people to your point. The other schools aren't stopping what they're doing. You know, as hard as Kentucky's working, those other schools with with the traditional infrastructure are still pouring millions into their respective programs. But so much I think is laid at the feet of coaches. You know, I think at the college you covered a lot of pro sports, much more so at
the college level. You know, the coaches are almost deified. You know, people believe that they can make it happen if they're just a good enough coach. Which isn't entirely true. But now college coaches, as you know, are general managers as much as as head coaches. And most of them aren't happy with that, are they.
You know.
I mean you've seen quite a number of great basketball coaches who left the business. Yeah, because they didn't deal with it.
You know.
Presumably that's the reason that you know, Shrushchevski and.
On and on have.
Decided to move on. But uh, you know, I think if you look at it objectively, say you're a five star high school player and or or an elite transfer portal player. You know, if your goal is to get to the NFL, where are you going to go?
Go to?
Kentucky? Going to go to some place that you know has four first rounders every year? And you know, I don't blame the players from seeking that the best deal they can, but you know, it's unless you have a home court, home field and manage being a Kentucky resident, It's hard for me to see that you're going to be able to compete with with Ohio State and Michigan and USC and you know, all the traditional powers.
Yeah, unless you can outbid the other teams. And as coaches have said, players are looking for the bag. And if they're looking for the bag and you can provide it, well, then you've got a chance. So but that's unfortunate. That's where we are now and we have to leave it at that. Tim Sullivan, Uh follow him on Twitter. You're still on Twitter. I should ask you at it that, Tim Sullivan.
Okay, not as active as I was, but yeah, I still will put something up now and then okay, weak people.
Good talking to you, man, have a good one.
Thank you all right, Dick any time, and I'll do it for now.
Thanks to my guests Tim Sullivan, Michael Epps, and Chris Fisher from the Cats Paws in two four seven sports. Tomorrow night, it's Kentucky Baseball, the Wildcats and those Texas Longhorns coming to Lexington for the first time to play baseball, and we'll have it for you right here. Darren Heddricks got the call six thirty pregame is that six point fifteen will be with you very briefly before that, but Doug Flinn and I will have that one for you as well on SEC plus. So stay warm, stay dry,
enjoy the golf, enjoy the baseball coming up. But it's a big series for the Wildcats. They've got to take a couple, but Texas is right second in the country. It'll be tough. That's a good night from the garage in Lexington.
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