2025-04-16 - BBI

say about what's happening down in Knoxville. Of course, we pre record as we speak. No news on whether nico Il Malaieva has landed a new pseudor a new employer, a new school, but we'll stay on top of that as best we can. The portal opened up, I guess at midnight, and there are names that you might recognize, not many if you're a Kentucky fan, But how about this. Hartley Gilmore is back in the portal. Yeah, that Hartley Gilmore. He was a Wildcat last season and decided to transfer.

Although he might have been, and I suspect he was. I have on a pretty good authority. He was one of those guys who was sort of helped out the door. You might recall Mark Troops has said us a couple times, you know, we need people to leave because of the numbers game. But there was a press conference a while back when he talked about people who needed to leave for their benefit and the benefit of the program basically, and I have it on good authority that you mister

Gilmore was one of them. Apparently. Now he stepped out of the line again with a second program and is in the portal and is leaving Nebraska. So he traded blue for the red, and now who knows where he end up. He is a talented player, but evidently cannot stay out of his own way. So that's a name that you might recognize going into the portal. Wallace Unamba also in the portal from the Kentucky roster. He re

entered the portal. He had come in through the portal, worked with a second team offensive line during the spring. He was from Kilgore Community College down in Texas. He was a juke call American twice. This is after he redshirted at Florida Atlantic and transferred to New Mexico. I guess Juco was before that. Transferred to New Mexico, started ten games and played fairly well. Played for Bronco Mendenhall.

it was first thing. He was part of the twenty twenty four freshman class, ranked one of the top six hundred and thirty best players in the nation according to two four to seven Sports, and was ranked the seventy fourth best player in the state of Georgia. But he was on the injured list last year so did not play for the Wildcats and gained a red shirt year. But he has entered the portal. He was back in practice the spring practices in the two open practices, work

with the third and fourth team defenses. According to Aaron Gershaan of the Cats Boss So he is the second member of the twenty twenty four freshman signing class no longer with the program. Caleb Read and edge rusher transfer to Kansas during the winter portal window. So those are the comings and goings from football as we know it. Right now, you've got four Wildcats being projected as NFL draft possibilities, including, of course, cornerback Maxwell Harrison. He's been

invited to the draft up in Green Bay. Dion Walker will be drafted. Eli Cox is projected as someone who's going to be drafted. Dion, of course, the dtackle. Cox played center, has played in more than one offensive line position, and according to one outlet, Jamin Dumas, Johnson will be drafted. He is the linebacker who transferred in from Georgia, battled injuries, played well. Remember he was known as Pops, although they

kind of wanted us to move away from that. But these are the guys expected to be drafted off the Kentucky team. Harston may go in the first round, possibly the second round. But he's a guy who just made a huge leap. You might recall he was victimized by I guess it was Tennessee a couple of years ago, and then last year two years ago, had an incredible season,

was hurt much of last year. But he's still coming out and it's projected because dat are such a great commodity in the NFL, so you can expect to hear his name go fairly early in the NFL Draft again being held in Green Bay. No, I will not be there. I wish I could go, but I need to stay

close to home right now. Biggest news on the basketball front today if you're a Kentucky fan, of course, is the fact that the Wildcats have brought in another recruit, Braydon Hawthorne, who listed his hometown as Beckley, West Virginia, but as high school is listed as Huntington. Beckley's not

far from Huntington. But I've been to Beckley several times because when you go Whitewater Rafting, generally in West Virginia, that's where you go to work with any one of the companies that run the New and the Gauley Rivers. You go to Beckley. But Braiden Hawthorne lists Huntington High School as his school. He decommitted from West Virginia. We'll talk more with Cam drum and about him coming up, but he was going to go to West Virginia. Then

they had a coaching change. Had been talking to Old Dominion. Ohiou Mount Saint Mary's and Florida Gulf Coast. But now today was or is on campus here in Lexington, so maybe the Wildcats at him to the roster. Otaga Ohway made his announcement last night. Otaga Ohway made his announcement last night. And it's not a surprise that he will try the NBA draft, which he should. He needs to go find out. First of all, could he be a

first round pick? Probably second round pick? Eh, you know, he may maybe late if he comes back to school and of course receives a hefty stipend. Could he work his way up into the first round. And I guarantee

you they've already talked to him, somebody has. Antonio Reeves, who did not play for this current staff, did not play with any of these Wildcats, but is a great example of a guy who went and got really valuable advice, great information, and came back fully armed with the knowledge of what he has to do or what he had to do to improve himself and get to the NBA. And he did it. He improved his floor game, his handle, his short game. When he came to shooting, we already

knew he could shoot. His defense. Antonio Reeves is a grand example of really for any kid in the country who's thinking about testing the waters away. Of course, Kentucky's leading scorer, second team All Conference sixteen points a game, nearly five rebounds a game, one and a half assists, one and a half steals, heroic moments for the Wildcats.

Man had that long string of double digit games finally broken by I want to say Alabama, but he scored in double digits thirty three of thirty six games and had thirteen games of twenty or more, including the career

high twenty eight against Oklahoma in Norman. His old school had the buzzer beater, remember, and he had twenty seven against Oklahoma and had a buzzer beater, So no, I guess the first game was not a buzzer beater, but he almost single handedly brought the Wildcats back, and then that went over Troy in the first round of the tournament.

Became the first UK player since Walter McCarty back in nineteen ninety six with twenty or more points, eight or more rebounds, and five or more assists in an NCAA tournament game, maybe his best all round game. So the only UK transfer is ever to score more than o take Oway in his first year as a wildcat. Antonio Reeves did it. Then Oscar she Boy did it as well. Oway had five hundred and eighty four. S Boy had

five ninety. Reeves at six sixty seven, So you know, good luck to him, but he doesn't have to settle. If there is such a word for second round money, it's amazing that we're talking about that kind of stuff. But he'll make some bank here if he comes back. So keep an eye on the NBA picture, keep an eye on the portal will help you keep an eye on it, and also keep an eye on recruits who may have been a wildcat but instead choose to go elsewhere.

I'm looking right at you, Lamar Wilkerson. He's going to Indiana, and a lot of people thought he would come to Kentucky, but he decided to be a Hoosier, and it sounded in his interview with Field of sixty eight and Jeff Goodman that he wanted to go someplace where he might have been needed a little bit more in terms of the roster construction. You saw the quote I've got it for you right here as he talked about why he decided to become a Hoosier, and decided against Kentucky.

And he had has a blue blood, it just hasn't been there in a while. Maybe this kid helps bring him back and you'll get a chance to cheer against him real, real soon. So now he's public enemy number one for the Big Blue Nation until the next one comes along. But best of luck to him. We'll come back and talk more Kentucky sports in just a minute at the bottom of the hour. We'll chat with Cam Drumming about the portal, about recruiting, our number two, Sean

Woods and Gary Moore Weston Bureau Chief. You're on six thirty Wlap, Welcome back to the Big Moonsider. Coming up at the bottom of the average, Cam Drummond of the Hero Leader. We'll talk the transfer portal, Kentucky basketball recruiting, and we'll get back to basketball in a minute. But I don't know if you saw this story yesterday. I didn't really talk about it much, if at all, when

we talked about Rory McElroy winning the Masters. Apparently when it came to his playing partner Rice into Shamba, Rory never spoke to him, never said a word, and De Shambo was interviewed about it, and he kind of made it sound like he thought it was weird or you know, I don't know if he if his feelings were hurt or whatever, but you could tell he wasn't super thrilled about it, not that, but you know, he wasn't fixated on it. But Bob Rotella, who was McElroy sports psychologist,

talked about it. And you might recognize that name because John Caliperi used to talk to Roteller, used to have him come talk to the Wildcats. That's where you know that name. Bob Rotella, sports psychologist. Well he's one of Rory McElroy's coaches, if you will. And he later said the silent treatment really wasn't the treatment. It had nothing

to do with the Shambeau or anybody. He said, it was just the strategy that they put together for Rory to stay laser focused on winning that Masters, and if you saw the interview with Jack Nicholas, that figured into it. He and Rory McElroy sat down and had breakfast or launch or something first of the week, and he said, how are you going to play the tournament? To Rory, they went through every stroke on every hole at Augusta.

Of course, both of them know that course, they know every blade of grass, and McElroy told Nicholas this is how I planned to attack one, two all the way through eighteen the greens, and Nicholas later said, I wouldn't have changed the thing. That's exactly the way you need

to play. And I mentioned this prior to the tournament because I've told you I was hoping Rory would win that He had been overly aggressive at times and it cost him, and it almost cost him this tournament when he had just some clunkers, some bad shots and flew the green late, but was able to come back from it and make up for it in a couple other holes with almost miraculous shots. He lost the tournament and

won the tournament on the back nine. Amazing. But part of the strategy was staying quiet and not chatting up his playing partner. As Rotella told the BBC said that had nothing to do with Bryson. That was just the game plan all week and we wanted to get lost in it and that's what he did. And now on a social media accounts Rory McElroy is simply right and he has Grand Slam winner, which he has done the career Slam. Just amazing. Good for him. All right back

to basketball, we know about Georgia Amore being drafted. Well, Kenny Brooks has going out and gotten another outstanding guard. Apparently, Asia Boone has signed with the Wildcats, a new part of the family. They say she'll joined the program as a junior coming up. She's from San Diego, but played

the last two seasons at Liberty Down in Tennessee. Started in all sixty seven games in which she played, scored six hundred eighty three points, knocked down one hundred and twenty five triples, more than two hundred rebounds one hundred and seventeen assists. She was Conference USA Freshman of the Year, ALLCUSA second Team, and of course made the All Freshman team in two years ago. Was named Freshman of the Week nine times, so she should be able to step

right in now the SEC tougher competition. She's not Georgia anymore. We know this, but she knows what she's doing. She attended IMG Academy, so yeah, she's far from home, but she's traveled. She's mature when it comes to that. So Kenny Brooks lands another one baseball while Cats land another one as well, another one run victory. They've played thirty four games this year. Almost a third of them have been one run contest. I got to think more than

a third have been one or two runs. They beat Miami of Ohio, jumped out to the early lead, looked like they were going to turn it into a midweek blowout, but no bats went to sleep. Miami of Ohio chips away Kentucky's bullpen falters that had been really good of late, and some guys came in who had really had a

chance to throw much. And long story short, Miami ties the game when a runner scores thanks to a couple of wild pitches, gets the third on a wild pitched, then scores in a wild pitch, and it just looked like it was gonna be another extra inning deal. But two outs runners on second and third Ethan Hindle is up. Ethan had a huge home run against Texas over the weekend and to win over the long Horns. They're now ranked number one by the Way. And with two outs

and the infield back, Hindle drops down a bun. It wasn't a good bunt. He popped it up quite frankly, but it didn't go very far and the third basement it was playing back came charging in and made a dive for the ball and it hit his glove, which would have been the end of the inning, but it bounced off as Mitt went into foul territory. Umpire immediately played up said fairball, which it was, and Kayas garget scores and Kentucky wins by a final of four to three,

and the Wildcats could not afford another midwek loss. Just could not had lost a Xavier had lost to Murray State lost to a good Louisville team. But you got postseason coming up fast, and unless they start piling up SEC wins, they're gonna have to sweat it out on selection day. So big win for the baseball Wildcats. Softball team also wins knocks off Western Kentucky nine to one in six innings Lauren Borzolari with two home runs, so good win for Rachel Loss's ball club. The men back

in action on Friday night. They go to Knoxville take on a really good Tennessee team, and last year the Tennessee series was incredible. This is on their home turf. It's a launching pad. It's gonna be tough and you'll hear it right here. Cameron drummers next year on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue and so sider. Joining us now in our celebrity highline is mister Cameron Drummond from the Herald Leader, who covers anything and everything

that he's covering, including Kentucky basketball. Cam the beat just doesn't go to sleep, doesn't, especially when it's UK basketball. I know that, but thanks to the Transfer Portal, you've been reporting a lot about cummings and goings. So if it could be more than twenty four to seven, it would be right. You know.

congrats on a great season of hard work. You must be looking forward to the off season now, and I kind of look at them with a blank stare, and I say, you know, the date I always use in mind is the Kentucky Derby because a I do a lot of the horse racing coverage for the Herald Leader as well, but also with the transfer portal, with the comings and goings with roster movement, the NBA draft declarations

constantly happening. It feels like there's another extra month six weeks to the season, so we're getting closer to the end of it, just like Kentuch he is in terms of finalizing next year's roster. But you're right, it's ever going and it feels like the season extends far beyond the end of March Madness now.

and delivered for many months. Obviously, there was a coaching change this offseason at West Virginia, with Darien de Bries going to Indiana, and of course Indiana and Kentucky have some recent portal recruiting history as well to speak of.

But nonetheless, Hawthorn has now reopened his recruitment following that coaching change at West Virginia, and he's still giving Ross Hodge and the new coaching staff at West Virginia a fair chance, but he's also a track seeing new recruiting interest from the likes of Michigan, Virginia Tech, and obviously Kentucky. You know we're speaking here on Wednesday. This is the

beginning of braiding Hawshorn's visits to Kentucky. A really rangey, small forward, lots of versatility, lots of toughness, of tremendous lens, a guy who's really rocketed up the rankings. He went from I think outside the top one hundred and fifty prospects in the country to now solidly in the top

eighty per the twenty four to seven Sports rankings. So a guy who's a late bloomer and certainly is expected to make an impact as a multi year guy at the college level, and now he's here in Lexington taking a visit to Mark Pope and the Wildcats as they

look to continue to round out the roster. And as something I alluded to earlier, the fact that so many pieces are already in place for that twenty five twenty six team kind of gives Kentucky that latitude a bit to be, you know, mining for some diamonds in the rough or some late additions from the senior class like braiding Hawkshorn could appear to be Well, does.

the Athletics. So he has a ways to go in terms of, you know, earning his way into being maybe a second round pick status at best. That being said, if you have the avenue and the availability to go through the draft process to get feedback from teams, I mean, why wouldn't you go that route? And so I think that was something that's been expected for a while, you know, almost one of those Hey, you have this opportunity, why would you not go seek out advice from NBA personnel?

But I don't think that a hawk point and way things are connected. And I still think that the most likely outcome would be Alway coming back to Kentucky for his senior season, just because as of now the draft stock isn't there for him.

the interviews, going through the measurements, all that stuff. I think that probably made him more comfortable with things. And you mentioned the success that he had this year you going on into the NBA, and that's something that you can directly correlate to go through the draft process one year earlier, learning what he needed to feedback on, working on that, implementing it, and having a great final college

season as a result of it. And I'm sure that's what many Kentucky fans hope Otega Away chooses to do as well.

mentioned earlier going from West Virginia to IU. I think he's still now only the fourth or fifth player set to be on the Indiana roster for next season. So not only do they need bodies, they need talent, they need scores. So he was a much more important get for Indiana than he was for Kentucky, just given the way that Kentucky's roster fleshed out. Obviously, it's no secret that Mark Pope and the wildcatch we're targeting a guard, a three point shooting threat from the portal, and that's

still the plan. They would still like to add another guard for that thirteenth scholarship spot for next season's team. But I think he was way more of a priority in terms of we absolutely have to have this guy. He's integral to what we're going to do next season for Indiana. But nonetheless, I think the way that that transfer portal recruitment shook out, I was quite surprised that

he picked Iu. It seemed like although the momentum, all the wind was trending towards Himentucky in that and you know that kind of continues the string of Pope and the Wildcats getting some guys on campus that have opted to not commit to Kentucky or opted to string out their recruitment a bit longer. But that being said, I don't think this is something that Kentucky fans. While I

can understand their disappointment. Shouldn't be completely pulling all the hair out of their heads just because they didn't land him.

a regional interest. They'll be fascinating to see what de rides his first Indiana team looks like, but yeah, that game week of the December fourteenth to December fifteenth range. I think we'll be having a lot of Lamar Wilterson content and the reaction that he gets at Reperena in late December. It probably won't rise to John cal Perry or Arkansas levels from last year, but I'm sure he will get a warm greeting in Repereena.

I'm not sure when it'll be in the newspaper if it are is, but without giving away to the store, tell us about your team by team, look at the comings and goings from the SEC and the portal. This is specifically about basketball. Did anybody in particular help themselves more than another.

pleasure earlier this morning. And just because of the way the portal is, I have a feeling I may have to make a couple of adjustments as things go. But one team that's really popped off this season in terms of adding a lot of portal guys and adding a real influx of talent that route has been LSU, and they were a bit of an afterthought this past year in the SEC. Obviously they finished second bottom of the conference.

They're still zero and three with Matt McMahon, the former Murray State coach in terms of trying to get them to the tournament, but LS was talked about at the beginning of portal season as a team that was really going to load up financially, going to have a lot of good nil in place and really be aggressive to bolster their roster, and they've certainly done that so far.

And there's been some other schools as well. Obviously there's two coaching changes to address both Texas A and M, and Texas will be under new leadership this year as well. Sean Miller's already brought over a couple guys from Xavier for his first Texas team. Bucky McMillan, the former Stanford coach who's now at Texas A and M is still trying to get going a little bit in the portal, but they got their first commit a couple of days ago.

It was kind of funny going school by school. The easiest blurb I had to write for this article was for Florida because they didn't have anyone coming in and they don't have anyone going out, And I guess it's kind of that's the way it is when you win the national title, right, I mean, who's got time that I know? Kentucky got the Cam Williams commitment while they were still in the tournament. But for Todd Golden Company, yeah, you.

a lot of talent. And I also think Oklahoma's done good work in the portal so.

are not only moving within the SEC. We talked about Mohammad Diabase going from Calladama to Kentucky, but are also leveling up. They're going from smaller schools, mid major schools, kind of lower high major schools.

the rim. I think maybe where he differs from some of the guys that Kentucky had on this past year's team is just in terms of not being a final product yet, right. I mean, obviously, the likes of Amari Williams and Andrew Carr, you know, kind of leveled up and you know they definitely asserted themselves and played very well at Kentucky. But Diabaate and Cam Williams, the freshman wing from Tulane this past season, these are guys who

still have so much feeling still to reach. You know, they've only barely scratched the service of what their long term potential could be. Diabaate, you know, kind of projected to be in a starting role, right now for Kentucky, and obviously if he can extrapolate what he did over I think seventeen minutes a game exclusively coming off the bench for Alabama this past season, not only from just a physic hallie standpoint, but just a pure rebounding standpoint.

And again, maybe the staff can a list is a bit more offensive touch from him, and Cam Williams currently projects to be the best three point shooter on this year's Kentucky team. Obviously, I think Mark Pope and company will would like that to change again, and they're still targeting a guard and a three point shooting threat via the portal. But Cam Williams made north of forty three

pointers for Tulane last season as a freshman wing. He's a guy that scouts have talked to me about having NBA upside and again long rangeye has some lens.

But you talk about an underachiever and a guy that Kentucky fans desperately wanted, And then I got to think after a point they were relieved he didn't come here. But and he's he's a big man with a big man's game at the wrong time when it comes to the NBA. Twenty years ago, NBA teams would have been fallen all over him. But that's not the style of play anymore. So now he's looking for another year of college basketball.

Kansas over Kentucky. And that coffee shop is no longer in existence and it's changed over like two or three times to different businesses. So that gives you a little insight into am working mechanism, but also be just how long Hunter Dickinson has been around in college basketball. I mean I went to reveal a dirty secret on air. I went to Indiana for school, and I remember covering Hunter Dickinson when I was a student at Indiana when

he was at Michigan. So the fact that so not only does this kind of date me and age me a little bit or makes me feel old at least, but to see that he's still going strong and yeah,

you mentioned looking for his seventh season. I mean, some of these guys in the portal now are absolutely crazy in terms of not only their raw age, but just how many years of eligibilities are getting Devin asked you, I believe it's still in the portal as well, to throw his fans for a loop there, Cameron Fletcher had just landed at high point after he's bounced around to

Florida State and Xavier since his time at Kentucky. So yeah, maybe you know, everyone likes to joke about college sports becoming professional sports with nil and the monetary aspect, but also just the fact that you can follow a guy for six seven years of their college career. That's certainly something that wasn't happening, you know, even ten to fifteen years ago.

the draft. Aside, all the other four potential returneys from last year's team seem pre set and Stelle Brandon Garrison put out that statement of the trio or freshmen seem like they're pretty confident and signed on for next year as well. But yeah, I think Kentucky will continue to monitor and big things, bigger things in the portal again,

especially at that guard three point shooting threat spot. And next week deadline isn't for guys to commit out of the portal, it's just to enter their name into the portal. So you know what me and my college at the hur Leader we're told, even going back to the ending stages of the season, is that Kentucky wanted most of, if not all, its roster finalized by the end of April.

We're obviously tracking towards that they've got twelve of thirteen scholarship spots filled right now, and so maybe they can take their time, you know, be a bit more selective really hone in on a couple of guys, especially since the need, the fit, the skill set they're looking for is pretty clear. Again, guy who can fill up from three point range. You'd like them to be a plus defender,

but someone who's maybe in that archetype of player. There's maybe, you know, not a ton of those guys left now, only because some of the names we heard link to Kentucky, the Darn Pierre Juniors of the world, obviously, the Lamar Wilkerson's.

from Robert Morris at a different position. They seem to be trending in other directions, but nonetheless, I think Pope and the Catch are still looking for at least another guard from the portal, not to mention Hoshorn, who is on the visit right now and even made a ment the five star Power forward who Kentucky probably isn't trending in the best direction with of his five finalists right now, but nonetheless he still hasn't made a college decision yet, And so I think as long as there's a chance

in the world of recruiting, fans will hold out hope that their hat will get picked on the table.

didn't it? Just to get the information?

And I think his shooting has gotten a lot better since he walked on campus at the Kentucky and it's only going to get better. Well, see becomes a pro. You know, he can go get a bucket. He's proven that he's a gamer. He's proven that he can at times put a team on his back. You know. And I'm telling you right now, if he would have stayed at Oklahoma, he probably would have been, no doubt about it, an All Conference performer and and and maybe first team

because of what he brought to the table. I mean, you take him away from Kentucky, they're they're not as good as they were. And shoot, and I'm being honest with you right now. I you know, I understand he wants to go to the NBA, and I think he should I think he's he's legit enough to be a late first round or or first or or hide to mid second round pick. I don't think that's that many guards out there that's better than him and tough as him.

But I'm telling you right now, to all the guys that are coming back or have a chance to come back, he's the one that Kentucky needs to come back if they want to sustain what they got. If he doesn't, now we're starting all over. And I know looking at these guys that we've signed so far, that they have the nuances in their game. They bring the same type of presence, toughness and all that. And plus he's been here. He's played for Mark Pope already, so that's you add

that to the equation. So I think his decision is very, very important to the future of this basketball team coming up this next season. I think that it's gonna you know me, personally, I think it's gonna be a tougher task if he doesn't come back. I think we're right where we need to be if he does come back. If that makes sense, well, the good news.

that that we signed, nobody's more important than him. So from that standpoint, I think that the bag needs to be thrown at him, and it needs to be full, you know, just as much as as anybody else who's getting it, because they all are getting it. But to me, he's the most important piece, uh to the puzzles, you know, for next year and of course, the.

I'll tell you what. I was talking to Cam Drummer, the Hero Leader about this Sean, but I am amazed, and it just tells you where we are with the NBA right now that Hunter Dickinson has petitioned and been granted a seventh year of college basketball. Whereas ten or fifteen years ago, NBA teams are fighting over that guy. But now the way the league is, he's He's almost an antique, isn't he.

she way. So if I'm him and if I can get an extra year of millions of dollars, I think that's his best bet. You know what I'm saying. He's you know, because I don't think he's going to have a long NBA career maybe overseas for sure, But it's a smart deal to try to get back. But gosh, dog, I mean, this is where college basketball is going now, to where you've got guys twenty six, twenty seven years old. And I don't see him getting better. I mean I don't see I mean, you're going to get Kansas is

going to get the same deal. I don't think he moved the needle for Kansas. I thought he was in the way a lot of times.

the quarterbacks. You know, Hey, everything's great. And then the next day doesn't show up for practice, and the head coach at the end of practice the guy never shows announces we're done with him, and so now Nico is looking for a new team. You know, is that where we are or do you think this is going to be an outlier or will we see more of this? Because this is a bad decision, and by all accounts, this kid has cost himself a lot of money and a lot of opportunity.

had to have been already going. It was an ongoing situation, and just to bring him in just to fill him out, you know, maybe that that that you know, hanging out the coach's house that day wasn't enough.

your playing time. I will talk to you about anything else, academics, campus life, whatever, but I will not speak to them about your playing time. So don't bother, you know. But there are times, for instance, when Rod Rhodes was here, he was getting advice from his brother, right, and he was quoted as saying, if I ended up injured in a wheelchair, who's going to take care of me? UK

or my brother? Well the answer was going to be both, but he listened to his brother over whatever Rick Patina was trying to tell him, and he ended up leaving.

I never played point guard in high school until my senior year, but I was the top point guard in the country.

did point guard things. But my my role on my high school team my sophomore junior year was not primarily being the point guard.

to where I needed to go. And when I went to summer camps and things like that, that's where I made my name known nationally, playing against the best players in the country. When I got back to Cathedral High School, it was boom, you know, this was it. You know that I scored some points I did, you know what I'm saying, But I was not the potma at point guard one a lot of games.

knew about the women's draft going in. I was just watching the coverage, and all the experts thought she would go ninth or tenth and she'd really be real help to this team or that team because of her skill set. And the Mystics, who already had drafted two players with their third first round pick, jump up and grab her. Uh So she's in a little bit of a rebuilding phase. I know, you like her skills and you like her game. You got to feel good for.

a power forward and to get a shooter. They did that. Now we got to get a person that you know, because they understand where your draft where you you know, located at in the draft, what number? And they amongst each others to the GMS do and they felt that, Okay, we can wait. She's gonna be here. She's projected to go nine or ten, but we can get her at six.

Now now that we got the two that we got, Now we got the you know, the probably to me, one of the most intriguing players, you know, in college basketball. I think she's she brings a lot more table, a lot more to the table than someone that I really love, and that was the young lady who went to TCU, who was at at Littlewood first and then oh, that's one of my favorite players. I'm crazy about her. But I just think that our young lady is a little

bit better. She's a little more shift here, she's quicker, I think, and she's more of a point guard playmaker that can actually score than Van leeth Is and Sho. I was impressed, you know, I'm happy for I thought that, you know, coach brought her in and she really at the table in his first year. I don't think he could have been as successful without her. You know, he brought in probably the second best player in the SEC in my opinion, for what she meant to her basketball team.

and tribulations and things like that. She's a fighter and I respect that and I appreciate that, and uh, I wish through all the luck. I think she's gonna have a great career Barney Andrews. Yeah, in the w n b A and then I think she's gonna be one of the better point guys in the NBA because she's a three level scorer and.

that are always there. Uh, Texas showed new life. Texas was big back in the eighties. Uh, Southern Cows coming back to life. But you know, if you can get Notre Dame's always there. But if you could get some new blood making runs at the final four, that's gonna make it even better, don't you.

South Carolina. Don't get you don't get me wrong with South Carolina. I mean that's the epit of me. But you got downstate, you got personalities at this place. You know what I'm saying. You got mean Jean at Connecticut. You know, the young lady at Tennessee is trying to establish her personal brand along with the Tennessee you know, all of the past. But when a young lady is coming out of highest school right now, she's looking at Gena Orienta, Emma, She's looking at Don Staley. Those are two.

Those are the epitomeen and then everybody else and Kim Moke and Kim Moky I'm sorry, and now everybody else. You know what I'm saying, kind of you know, fickles in after that and what they and what these young teams have to do now is okay, are we going to get five or six of the top twenty five players in the country. No, because they're going to Connecticut, LSU, South Carolina. But there are some top twenty five girls, and there are some top thirty girls that we can get.

If we can sustain them and keep them here, then we can, you know, simply compete. And that's how it's got to be, you know what I mean. Unlike the men's deal. You know, it was starting to become the mid majors was starting to become creep up on the high brand, you know, men's basketball teams. But this nil has stopped that completely. You know, the parody has gone away now because what all these high major teams will recruit what young top freshmen.

a lot of questions about this. I don't know if you can answer any of these. Did Nico get all that money in his alleged seven figure contract.

his pockets. Has anybody seen away from a lot of dough?

what about me? What about this buffalo who did a hell of a lot more, you know, with the exception of garnering headlines, But that doesn't win you ball games. And Nita to shed door Sanders again thirteen and twelve. His first year at Colorado, they went one in eight in conference play, one in eight. But that gets you, That gets your either jersey or number retired. So it's ridiculous.

You know, you can't. You can't blame coach Prime for a lot of what he's done in terms of building entry, excitement, building a team. But some of this just borders on or crosses the border into ridiculous. Style over substance comes to mind too. Yeah, that works.

on this weekend too. They also have the nation's number seven batting average at three twenty eight Cards hosting my number twenty Hilltoppers with their pitching staff that has the nation's number one er two point sixty four at least going into the game, I don't think coming out of it. So something had to give last night, and it was

the Toppers Louisville five. Western two toppers did have their chances, though, Dick Top of the seventh down three to two bases loaded, nobody out, likely conference the USA player of the Year Ryan Widman up strikes out on three pitches. Then there's a double play ending and momentum over. Good win for the Cards, and now they go three this weekend at number six Clemson and it's back to Bowling Green for Western and three with Middle Tennessee starting tomorrow. Good walk

off win for the Cats to last night. I believe you talked about that earlier four to three over Miami of Ohio. Now they get three down I seventy five of the before mentioned ugly Orange school. How about a big blue sweep to get back in the SEC race.

actually won their share of the SEC championship. I don't expect that kind of weekend simply because mentioned this earlier. Tennessee's ballpark is built for home run hitters and Kentucky just doesn't have any or enough, you know, not nearly what they had last year. So but yeah, they had to get that win last night over Miami because it was not a great game, as I mentioned earlier, but they could not afford that loss. I was rooting free

of toppers. Yeah, they quitted themselves well, played well for a.

how long? So I just don't understand. I know the guy had to double down on it, but it's just something that is going to stamp this It's going to follow this guy for the rest of his career, which may take an interesting turn at the end of this year. He's lucky Mark Cuban's not there. Well, it never would have happened if Cuban had been the owner, agreed, But if Cubans were the owner right now, that guy would be selling pencils somewhere Fitzwig and the six Pack.

the country. The Bananas have not only sold out in Major League Baseball stadiums again this season, well in advance of the games, but NFL stadiums. They're taking over those as well. They've sold out Nashville, Charlotte, Tampa Bay NFL stadiums, and next weekend they've sold out Clemson's Memorial Stadium. The Bananas are going to be here in Louisville three sold out dates in June. Of course, we've heard that ESPN is going to be airing ten Banana games on its platforms,

including Disney Plus this summer. The Bananas clearly are mussy entertainment. You know that if you've ever seen them. So I ask you, is that good or bad for Major League Baseball? Given how many empty seats you often see it a lot of these games.

Dan who's six foot eight. Wanted to be an Air Force pilot but grew too tall, so transferred from air Force to Kentucky. Unfortunately, couldn't finish his career because of an arm injury, but got into sports marketing. So and they had invited him to come back and play when he was still healthy. But he said, I said, are you going? He said, no, I'm not much of a dancer, you know. So that is part of the whole deal exactly.

You know, and then what's great about the clips is you got the opposing players dancing, you got the umpires dancing. I think no, anything that gets anybody to a baseball game is good, and I'd love to go to whole game myself.

go online. You either got to get stuff there at the Masters, have a patron friend get it for you, or you're going to shell out huge bucks on eBay for example, Master's garden homes that were selling for forty nine to fifty they're at the store and Masters three hundred to five hundred bucks right now. Masters may be the toughest ticket in sports. Two million people inter a lottery each year for any remaining tickets. Sure, you could have bought a weekly pass this week on stub Hub.

They had a couple of them available for twenty two thousand dollars each.

a horse trainer named Steve Penrod. I was, you know, out early one morning like I used to be a lot and this was at Churchill Downs and Steve's a big sports fans. We talk every now and then. I asked CBS sports hat on not the trucker type, but the you know, the embroidered type and Penrod liked it and offered the tray. The hat he was wearing was

just and I said, I can't take your master's. Oh no, I have another one, so he swapped, So you know I do have it, having never gone, but buddy of mine and his dad for many years used to go down just for a practice round and just adored being down there. So yeah, and so happy for Rory. I talked about him earlier, but to your point about as

only as personal Heimlich, that's a great line. Can you choke away a tournament and then heroically win it within the span of a couple of hours answers, Yes, Yeah, we saw him do it, heroically win it in fact, and maybe the toughest sport to do it in individually.

with our West n BUA chief, Gary Moore. We have listened to two guys in a six pack, as we do every week, so time now is through a couple of hot reads at Gary, you mentioned earlier in the Giants, maybe taking a look at Coach Prime's son who apparently doesn't want to play there. They're also holding a private workout for Tyler Shuck, who is the Louisville QB whose stock rose through the year, and why not he's a

good player. Chris Canty, a former Giant Super Bowl winner with the Giant Giants, he begged them on the air, please do not draft a QB in the first round. He wants up Duel Carter, who could be a generational talent out of Penn State. But I think it's really interesting Gary that with fans banging a drum for qbs all the time, you've got a guy who knows what he's talking about begging his former team on national media outlets to not take one. Does that mean these guys

are overrated or are we undervaluing the defensive lineman. Who might have that effect on the Giants. Well, that's a good question.

And here's the other thing too. Anybody heard from Aaron Rodgers.

guy whoever he once in a while like Dion. Did you know Dion played two ways in the NFL, but not a lot. You know, it was a great shutdown corner. But you didn't see him much on the other side of the ball. But could this be a new chapter in a National football league. If a guy can command that kind of contract, could we see more players trying to do it? Well.

which is something to think about. And the NFL, it's a big step up from the from the ucfs and the Cincinnatis and that division to your Bucks and Bengals and people like that and Ravens. So I think you're right. I think that eventually they might try it on going. You know, let's have a little chat here for a second. I'm really good catching the ball received. Let's concentrate on that for a while, not saying you're not going to get back in and be a dB.