Welcome to the Big Blue Insider Day. Gabriel with you on a Monday as we wrap up the month of June. Amazing it is shot right by and once again tonight baseball, football basketball to talk about. We're going to be joined a little bit later on at the bottom of the hour by Ainsley Almanor, who of course wants a Wildcat, always a Wildcat, but also now is a member of La Fa Meia. It's the team that plays in TBT,
the basketball tournament you know it by now. That's the tournament where a lot of former players get together and play for a one million dollar person winner take all. And the Kentucky team last year, which was one of the favorites to get to the championship, ended up in the final four, which is where the Wildcats lost, or
La fa Mea lost a name. Of course, it harkens back to the Caliperi era, but people seem to like it, and Ansley Almanor is happy to be on the ball love, so we will talk with him at the bottom of the hour. A little bit later on, we're going to talk to Doug Flynn, my broadcasting brother, who of course is my partner on the SEC plus telecasts of the streaming channel of UK Baseball, and we always talk to Doug here in the garage for the chain Gang of
Keith Madison, Darren Headrick and Doug. But I wanted to talk to him about the upcoming documentary on his life. And you heard perhaps the man who produced that documentary, my former WKYT colleague, David Patrick, on Friday, talking about the project. So we'll talk to Doug about it, as well as the Wildcats and yesterday's College World Series, which just a mess if you don't know by now, the head coach of Coastal Carolina and an assistant coach ejected
in the first inning. And I will get to that in just a moment, but I also want to point out that Lee K. Howard will Travelers as well, coming up in the hour number two. But I got to talk first about SGA Shay Gildess. Alexander capped off the year of a lifetime, the season of a lifetime that saw him lead the league in scoring at thirty two point seven points per game. He wins the MVP Award and now he's a world champion and the MVP of
the NBA Playoffs. Following the Thunders win over the Pacers yesterday. And as I mentioned before, I loved it when ABA teams the former ABA teams and gosh, you know you're talking about fifty years ago with the ABA. But those of us who are ABA fans, we still revel in the fact that there was success coming out of that league, great players, the three point shot style of play, and now another ABA teams won a title because San Antonio
won five. But yeah, the Pacers came close again. I could not root for them because I just hated the Pacers when they were in the ABA. But I'm also rooting for SGA and Cason Wallace, who had a nice game as well. He had double figures. He had ten points. But say, Gilles Alexander put together the greatest season and that a former Wildcat ever has in the NBA. And as you know, there have been a lot well there are a lot of Wildcats now in the NBA. But
he had twenty nine points twelve assists. Wallace also had three steals and a couple of rebounds to go with his effort. And I will say, yes that Pacer fans will always look back on the fact that their best player, Tyrese Halliburton, who would have been the MVP had he kept going the way he was early and had the Pacers want it. He went down with the injury, and
it wasn't the calf injury that sidelined him earlier. It was an achilles and one may have led to the other, I don't know, but that happened in the second quarter and the Pacers never really were able to catch up and put as much pressure on the thunder as they might have. But one of the other things I wanted to mention was the fact that the stats for Shay Gilgess Alexander put him in some heady company like namely
Michael Jordan and Kareem up du A Jabbar. Okay, there's this uproar now and who brought it up on TV? But Stephen A. Smith like him or not? Steven A. Smith knows the NBA, and he's passionate, you know, and he does the yelling and screaming thing. I like his. He's a really good writer. He's a really smart guy, smart enough to parlay his persona into millions and millions of dollars. But that said, I often wonder if a guy like that is imitating himself when he does everything
at the top of his lungs. But he was extolling the virtues of SGA and he mentions Jordan and Jabbar as it relates to stats, and some people lost their minds on the internet immediately. Oh, he thinks he's as good as Jordan, Asbai. You know. Know, here's what stephen A. Stephen A Smith said, you beat a judge.
It was com met us.
Absolutely.
We look forward to the NBA Finals. A lot of people doubted that it would be the spectacular, but it exceeded expectations because the Indiana Pacers showed up and give them a lot of credit where credit is due, and there's going to be a lot of people out there that's so question. What would have happened if Halliburton had it gone down? That's inevitable, but should know what the
answer to that question is. It's a brother by the name of Sga, Say Jilles Alexander twenty nine points, twelve assists, one turnover, just one turnover in forty minutes. This brother is something special. Only the third player in history thirty points per game during the regular season and NBA League MVP and obviously the MVP of the NBA Finals. You're talking about Jordan three times, you're talking about.
Kareem Matthew Jabar, you're talking about.
Shake Gilgs, Alexander. That's the conversation that he is in.
That's the kind of season he has had.
That's the kind of season he let ok t s do and a lot of people could do nothing but stay on and congratulate them.
And that was it. The stats add up. He was comparing the stat line who else has done this, who else has led the league? And then going on to do what SGA did this year. Well, two guys, Jordan three times, crime Abdul Jabbar. That's it. Never said SGA should be in the same conversation in terms of ability, and it's it's too soon in his career. Of course, he'll never, though, be Michael Jordan. Nobody will. I don't think. I mean maybe somebody will someday. But I do think
he's the greatest of all time. And Jabbar for everything he did, is underrated when people who are eat up with recency bias start talking about the greatest players in the history of the league, just like well Chamberlain. So anyway, yeah, that stuff. I get really tired of that when when people because it's everything's an instant take. Everybody's got their phone in their hands. Everybody without thinking, they tweet things.
I've done that. I've gone back and deleted tweets, or I've refuse to hit sin when I look at it and go, that's really stupid. Uh. But I felt like the criticisms of SGA and yeah, I know I'm being a bit parochial because he's a UK guy, but I just think it's silly, and I like to point out silly things here. You know, what was beyond silly was the College World Series. And I tuned in a little bit late. I was out of the house and I
tuned in. I'm like, oh my god, what happened? And I started going back and looking and reading and looking at video. In the first inning, Coastal Carolina's head coach, Kevin Schnall was ejected from the game for arguing balls and strikes. Now coaches know this, managers know that you cannot argue balls and strikes. The problem here was it was such a knee jerk reaction by the plate umpire, whose name was Angel Campos, and I had forgotten about
this guy. This guy has a rep for being hot tempered, rabbit ears, whatever you want to call it, so much so he was fired by Major League Baseball MLB. And for those of you out there say officials are not held accountable, and I don't know what's going to happen to him now, but they are held accountable. He was fired by Major League Baseball for being poor behind the plate on balls and strikes, throwing out too many guys, too many ejections, and just being not up to the job.
He got the dream job, he got called up to the show, and he blew it. So the next thing you know, he's working college baseball and he works the championship game of the College World Series, or at least one of them. There might have been another one if Coastal had won, and he blew it. And look, I am as sympathetic to officials as anybody you'll ever hear in the media, and I mentioned it more than once. When I was young, I umpired baseball games from peewee
to adult league games, fraternity games, you know, intermurals. I've talked to Jim Dopplas the other night, the former NFL rough I worked for him at UK. I have had people threaten me I have had somebody tell me they're going to meet me in the parking lot after the game. I've had a father who is an ex marine come at me because he thought I'd said something to his
kid and he wanted to fight me. I had a fraternity come after me, come walking at me with bats in their hands because they were so mad at me. And you know, one of the worst was one game in particular, where these moms were screaming at me over eleven year olds and you know their voice is just piercingly loud. So yeah, I am extremely sympathetic because I've been the behind the plate. I've caught pitches not just by kids, but by guys who were playing college baseball,
So I know what it's like. But I also know this officials have discretion, and I will let you hear from the head coach, Kevin Schnall about what happened. This is according to the head coach. Now from coast to Carolina.
There's twenty five thousand people there, and I vaguely hear a warning issued as the head coach. And I was an assistant for twenty four years, and as an assistant, you're almost treated like a second grade second level citizen and you can't say a word now as a head coach, I think it is your right to get an explanation of why we got warned. And I'm forty eight years old. I shouldn't get showed by another grown man, right, So when I come out to ask what the warning is,
a grown man showed me. So at that point I can now hear him say it was a warning issued for arguing balls and strikes. And at that point I said, because you missed three. At that point ejected. If that warrants an ejection, I'm the first one to stand here a man and apologize to words that the Fine Art program or own it. And what does that mean is you have to own You have to own everything that you do without blame, without defending yourself, without excuses.
If you guys watched.
The video, there was a guy that came in extremely aggressively tripped over the campos his foot, embarrassed in front of twenty five thousand, immediately goes two game suspension and said bumping the umpire immediately does that there was no bump. He was embarrassed. I shouldn't be held accountable for a grown man's athleticism. Don't retract it, though, because now it's accept and the reason why is excessive because I was trying to say I didn't pump him. It is what
it is. But if that warranted an ejection, man, there'd be a lot of ejections. As an umpire, I feel like it's your job to manage the game, the National Championship game, with some poise, some calmness, and a little bit of tolerance.
That's an accurate depiction. I went back. I've seen the video several times and yeah, one of the other umpires tripped over the play Empire's foot and fell down but embarrassing and immediately jumped up as though he had been shoved. And that's what they said with the release in the fifth inning. That was a bad look by the NCAA bad look. You know. They never had a chance to sit down and debrief everybody before they released the statement.
Then they changed the wording, which is just weak. Yeah, it really ticked me off. And again I am as sim My brother's been a sports official for almost fifty years, and of course I'm arguing with him about this via text message. But it wasn't as though I wondered were they chirping from the dugout the campos go over and say, hey, that's enough. And then if that happened and the coach comes charging out of the dugout to argue balls and structs, yeah,
he's got to go. That's baseball. That's part of it. I don't care what level, but that's not how it happened. He came out of the dugout and all in one fell sup, here's the warning, you're gone. The umpire choked. In my opinion, he was not up to the moment. And I can't say that it cost Coastal the game and the championship. LSU wonted five to three. I think ls she was a better team, But in my mind, it just kind of ruined the memory for anybody who
wasn't an LSU fan. Off you were certainly a Coastal fan, but man, that was ugly. And of course, you know, they talked about it throughout the game, and I've seen people ripping the announcers on social media. I mean, what
are you supposed to say? You're really not supposed to have an opinion when you're calling a game like that, beyond the fact that, oh man, this is a shame that this happened because up there when you're live on the air, and I've never had this happen to me in a game like that, but I've had odd things happen where you don't know why call was made, but you have no information at your fingertips. You have no explanation.
As I said that the release they came out in the fifth inning, yeah, did it help, Well not really. It kind of confused the situation even more because what the hell is this? So I can't really say anything about the response to the broadcasters, but it just needed more information which they did not have at the time. So anyhow, those were the two huge sporting events yesterday, and one of them with Tyrese Halliburton going down, put a question mark over I do think the Thunder would
have won. They were the better team and the coach being a jacked and by the way, the first base coach was ejected too. That's another thing in baseball coaches. You've got the head coach is one thing, the manager, the base coaches, no, they're not allowed to say much of anything. That's kind of an unwritten rule. That might
be a written rule. That's you know, I remember in one of the ball games when Marks Troops was drawn back and forth with Georgia Tech's head coach and one of the Georgia Tech assistant coaches chimed in, oh, man, that was bad form now, but it was just a weird weekend for sports, and I'll go back to the NBA playoffs for just a moment. Also, social media uproar by Christian schenaw with who sang the national anthem. She's an Oklahoma City native. She's a Tony Award winning actress.
You've seen her if you don't know the name, She's been in a lot of stuff. Tremendous voice. She sang the national anthem and got some black. She was fine at the end. She put a little bit of her spin on it.
Here it is what the lote I love hold.
Yeah, she took it up a notch at the end. A lot of singers do they go up that one note. She went that second note. I think she was just showing off because she has such a great voice. But man, some people just trashed her on social media. Others chimed in and said it was one of the best they'd ever heard with you know, not for me, but I thought she did a nice job, but two each his own, I guess, but I thought it was something like I said, you want to grab your phone and tweet, that's fine,
but think about it. More to come. At the bottom of the hour, Ansley Almanor talks about joining La Famia here on six thirty w LAP Welcome back to the Big Bloon Sider quick segment here because I managed to go on about refereeing and umpiring and SGA in that last segment, but I will tell you that coming up in a few minutes, Ansley Almanor will join us. The
sharp shooting perimeter player. I'm a swing man, I guess, more forward than anything for the Wildcats this past year, and now a member of La Familia, which is the Kentucky based UK based I should say, a team that's involved in the basketball tournament Winners take All for a
million bucks. They made the final four last year. They'll try it again this year, and Angsley will talk with us about his opportunity to play and being Rapperina once again again mentioning what happened with the College World Series. But I can relate it as much to basketball, and you probably can as well, because there have been moments, especially if you're a Kentucky fan, if you follow the Wildcats, I go back to two situations where discretion came in
and now a number one. Maybe a little too much, but I guess it's understandable. Let me take you back, and if you're of a certain age, you remember this. If not, you may have heard about it or read about it. If you're a Kentucky fan, you know the Wildcats made the Final four nineteen seventy five. Use your Google machine if you're young and you want to know more about that game. The Wildcats beat Indiana up in
Dayton in the regional championship game. The Indiana team that had beaten Kentucky by twenty four points undefeated Bob nineteen, virtually the same team the next year went undefeated and won the national title. Kentucky pulls the upset, goes to the Final four. Beat Syracuse in the first game. It should have been a UKUL final, but U OFL blew a late lead and lost to UCLA and John Wooden
in the day. On the day between the two games, the Saturday and Monday games, John Wooden announced his impending retirement, which of course changed so much and of course, John Wooden later on addressed and anybody who supported John Wooden, the notion that if Wooden had not done that, Kentucky would have won. I've said before, I mentioned that once to Denny Crumb, who was an assistant under John Wooden up until you know what nineteen seventy one when he
went to U of l oh Man. Did he take me a part on that wasn't mean about it, but sternly explained to me why I was wrong. I've talked to a couple of former UK players, Kevin Greevy and Bob Guyett from that team, who had the same opportunity to speak to Wooden, and they brought that up, and John Wooden patiently but pointedly explained why they were wrong. His point was UCLA was quicker and faster, So anyway, think what you will. Here's what happened in the championship game.
And again Kentucky missed opportunities. There were free throws the Wildcats missed, but John Wooden at one point walked out onto the floor during the game to protest a call and then of course quickly a dead ball. But he was out there on the floor in a situation where any other coach would have been teed up. And he didn't just step out and step back, you know. I mean Calipari used to step out, Patino used to walk
on to the floor. No, this was a calculated move by Wooden to take on the officials and it worked only in that he was not ejected. But look, you're a referee in that game. It's one of the biggest games, maybe the biggest assignment of your life, and you're going to tee up John Wooden and possibly eject John wouldn't. No way, You're not going to do that, even though proper protocol demanded it. Why not discretion? That's when a referee and official can show discretion, and they did. Now,
Joe Hall wasn't happy about it. I don't know that it costs Kentucky the game, but that was a glaring example of discretion. Here's another one for you December thirty, twenty oh too, Louisville's Freedom Hall Kentucky Indiana crucial point. Late seconds, Indiana goes in for a shot that either ties or puts them up and a player gets banged around.
No call. Mike Davis, the Indiana coach, ran out on the floor in the middle of the play live ball, demanding a foul, and then you know, the officials stopped to play finally, and he's chasing the referee up the floor, Bert Smith, and you can see the video of Bert's he's already tied him up. But now Bert Smith, you can read his lips clearly saying walk away coach, walk away coach, and he didn't. Finally they throw him out of the game, and Davis later apologized, wrote a letter
and all that stuff. But Bert Smith was willing to leave it at a technical foul by seeing walk away coach. That's discretion. Ultimately, Davis paid the price literally, but it can't happen. Good officials know when to apply discretion. All right. Up next to Annsley Amanor of tbt's Lafa Meya here on six thirty WLAP, Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider.
We're joined now by a guy who was so popular to the basketball Wildcats fans of the Big Blue Nation, Ansley Amanor, sharp shooting perimeter player who now will bring his skills to TBT part of the Lafa Mea Aley. Welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us, Congratulations on joining the ball club.
Thanks for having me I appreciate you.
Tell me about just what excites you about this project.
You know, just having an opportunity to be able to represent you Ban one more time, you know, put it on jersey that you know represents the University of Kentucky and playing with you know, so much prestigious alumni. It's just a great opportunity.
I feel like for me, you've played against this team last year, did you not. Weren't you guys able to square up against the TVT squad last year?
Yeah? Yeah, last year you played against them. You know, it was a good experience. If I got to meet somebody guys this year, it's gonna be a little bit different, but there's definitely gonna be some carryover, so I'll be familiar with somebody.
Got a different roster, you mean, yeah, a different Yeah, when you were playing against them, did you think to yourself, you know, that might be kind of cool to be a part of that.
Yeah, I definitely thought that, for sure. I definitely did think that. So you know, just you know, looking at a year later, it's like full circle a lon and I'm actually here and now I got to go play against them. So it's definitely a great opportunity.
This tournament has been around for a while. I think it's safe to say it's pretty successful. What do you know about it if you followed it since its inception and.
Get the following for a little bit to a few guys who played in the past few years, So it definitely gained some traction, I feel like, especially recently. So I think it's a good tournament, good opportunity, especially for guys like me, were trying to get some more exposure and you know, play at the next level.
Oh yeah, yeah, that was going to be my next question. I mean, I know basketball isn't over for you, so this is a great opportunity to show what you can do, isn't it.
Yeah, definitely is you know, definitely a great opportunity. I'm excited to actually showcase my skills, especially in front of your ben and just two whatever else is watching.
Fans, im media heard about your shooting ability. We all read about you, we saw your numbers, what you did at your previous school, and sure enough, you didn't disappoint. I mean, people love the way you shot the ball, but I felt like Ansley second half of the year especially, you really expanded your game, didn't you.
Yeah, definitely feel like I did, you know, just you know, I was working on my game every day, showing more the year went on, getting more comfortable in the offense. I just feel like that's just a part of you know, becoming a better basketball player. And I feel like, you know, even after the season, I made more progression. It's just really takes being my game and you know, getting better.
So you're still working, You're still working at it.
Of course, of course, what what do you want to get better?
I know everything, right, but I mean I felt like you took the ball to the rack a little bit more and a little bit better as the year went on. Did you did you feel that way?
Yeah, definitely felt that way. It was a game more comfortable and having more confidence doing things like that after working working at working on it in practice a lot. So definitely definitely I got better over the year.
Talking to Ansley, Almnori is now part of LA Fora Media. The team basically comprised of UK players who will play in TBT coming up. And uh, yeah, this past season, I always wonder about this, Guys like you who are so good at shooting the three. You know, when you when you check in you can kind of at least I can up and where the media sits kind of feel the crowd start to rustle, like okay, here we go.
And then whenever you get the ball, especially if you had just a shred of daylight, you could feel the entire at least I could feel the entire arena kind of brace itself and inhale ready for that shot to go down. Can you feel that as a player or are you so dialed in you don't notice that.
I don't really notice it too much, to be honest, I'm readouted into the game to trying to focus on making an impact up my team, you know when any way possible, So I don't know, you get to focus on that while I'm playing. But looking back at it, watching family definitely see it and hear it.
What was that like for you when you would look back at the video and you could see the way people.
React, You know, it's obviously just a humbling experience, great experience, just you know, being able to just seeing like so many people would just support me and just you know, root me on stuff like that. It was a great, great experience and it just felt good just being able to feel that and see it at least especially watching.
Them back, you could, I know you could feel it when the shots went down and a place to right. A little bit different from Fairley Dickinson, was it?
Yeah?
A lot different?
Was it what you thought it would be the experience of playing in rupp Arena playing for Kentucky?
It was even even better, you know, even bigger, even better. BBN is just you know, something you can't replicate, you can't prepare for it, and it should, you know, so so grateful for you know, you would represent them.
You guys all talked about how tough it was going to be to walk away, and even Kobe talked about they're not going to be able to take this jersey away from me. How tough was that for you? When the season ended?
You know, it was really tough. You know, it suck, really really sucked. You know, such a time flew You got there and there for you know, over like ten months and just felt like it was you know a day when you know, like going all sit and downe So it just really flew by it, especially when you're having fun with your family, with your brother.
So this was a UK This was a UK team ANGELI like no other because the roster had to come together, the entire roster of scholarship players in such a short amount of time, and you guys had so many big wins, You made a deep run. Why do you think this team was so successful?
You know, I just feel like we loved each other on and off the court. You know, we spent a lot of time. We knew each other, like where a family coach did a great job apparent as if we did all the coaches that have We had great coaching staff, and you know, we just played for each other, played the right way, and we played for the right reasons.
And the coaches I know, and they're still doing that, weren't getting just they weren't compiling a team like it was a fantasy team. It was it was as much about the people as the players. Did you get a feel for that with Mark Pope and his staff because they did a great job of getting just the right guys, you know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely, they definitely did that. And you could just tell while we were out of the court and we started playing with each other that there is a team that just gel really well. And you know something, you can't really up the plate I.
Know there are some players who wonder about Mark Pope's coaching style, his demeanor. I mean, everybody knows how smart he is, and coaches all know x'es and o's. But Pope admitted that, you know, he tried to be that gruff, mean kind of coach that he was coached by Rick Patino, but he said he just had to be himself, which is much more upbeat and positive. And I was privileged to attend a couple of practices and saw that firsthand.
What was it like being a player with a coach, you know, who's not always up in your grill, who's you know, much more positive.
Yeah, it was a great It was just a fun and enjoyable experience, you know, just being a player, just being able to learn and you know, not worrying about your coach just being a little, you know, too much sometimes coach, I think that just a little too much, and players they react poorly to it and they just
can't really handle it. But just being able to just talk to coach, you know, like like he wasn't your coach, like you just another person that you just you know, just talking to me, and the man how to respect for his players always, and it's just a great feeling. You know, you just want to go out there and fight for him, you know, especially you know when you feel like he's just out there and just wants the best for you and just talks to you like, you know, with doub most respect.
The fact that he has been where you guys want to be and and and wanted to be. You know, he's played in Kentucky, won a title, played in the league, played overseas. How much does that help when you when you guys go to relate to him, It helps a.
Lot, you know, it helps a lot just being able to listen to them and hear what you gotta say and just like understand that he's been where you run and go. He had a lot of things to say and like a lot of great wisdom and you know, great guidance that we definitely want to listen to. And it just makes it easier to listen to him, especially knowing that he been exactly where we're trying to.
Go talking to. Angeley Amanor is now part of lat for Meia. The ball club that is comprised primarily are UK players that'll be a part of TBT once again. Winner Take All Uh, it's a steep hill, but the last year team made a pretty good climb. You like your chances?
Yeah, we definitely do. Change is trying to go over all this year for sure.
That ought to be fun. This past year's team, you guys had to adjust quite a bit because of injuries. You had Jackson go down, you had Lamont dealing with injuries. Uh, you know your playing time would increase. Uh what was that like for you guys to constantly have to you know, change if not the style the attack that what you guys or how much did you have to change because you lost some key games, a lot of games from key players.
Yeah, you know, we just we had we had a great team. Of course, had a great team. Everybody's prepared, you know, it's just a next man up mentality. So just having having great players and practice and hard every day and pushing each other in practice every day in
fact prepared us. Uh, you know for anything, especially when it came to the game and if you're putting the situations that you maybe not have been used to, you were always prepared for it just because you know, uh, you've been pushed charge and practice and you know you've just been preparing for it your whole life basically. So I just feel like we did a great job of adjusting.
And you know, since we're older but more mature team, it was easier for us to you know, handle those bumps, the bumps and up and downs because you.
Were older and more mature. Did that make it easier to blend and come together as a team.
Yeah, definitely, definitely think so, because.
I wondered about that. You know, usually younger guys and when you learn your way, but some of you older guys, and it's a relative term, I know, are set in your ways, but I really felt like you guys hit, for lack of a better term, ans a more of a professional approach to the way you came together. Is that is that accurate?
Yeah? For sure? Definitely.
What did you learn from your teammates as much as your coaches can you can you zero in on any of that?
I mean, just you know, just learning about them, just learning, you know, just different people came from different places, keep calling from different backgrounds, learn how to hand those certain things, you know, learning tips. You know, a lot of them played a high major schools that I wasn't really playing out before. So just you know seeing how to hand themselves and handle certain things definitely helped me throughout the year.
What about playing with the Mari, a guy a big like that who at times would run the point and could pass the basketball. What was that like?
Yeah, it was it was great. You know, he's a great player, a great skill set. Definitely very unique, and I feel you're the privileged to be able to play with a guy like that who could you know, at that at that height see the whole floor and be able to facilitate for the whole team.
We talked about how you grew as a player. Where do you think you improved the most. I kind of touched on this earlier, but I felt like your defense got better, your handle. Was there anything in particular you were most proud of?
Yeah, I feel like defensive I got a lot better throughout the year. Some of the people didn't really notice, like just me personally, I got the better defensively, and uh yeah, my handle more comfortable. So like, here's just the sense that you should be more comfortable and more confident, you know, in my abilities. But definitely defensively, I play actually got better. In general.
Of course, you had to get better playing in the SEC and do respect to the teams that you played against. Uh. This year, I think you'll probably what, hell, the SEC won the national title and a team that you guys beat, Uh, tell me about kind of moving up in terms of competition playing against SEC teams.
Yeah, I mean it was. It was definitely a tough I mean it was really tough. You know, we're all basket players the O of the day. There's a great so thankful to you know, I just to be able to play in the best conference, you know and arguably prograst of history. You know, that's you know, showcase my skills and to go out there and get better every
single day. You know, the BASKETBLL players gold is at all times, and you know, just being able to you know, play that, being able to do that and just play in that league just you know, definitely a great experience.
I was gonna say, you know, you've played against tough players, good players throughout your college career before you got to Kentucky. It just seemed like in the SEC, there's more of them, right, more depth top, you know, there's so much.
Death you know, uh, size, speed, other games just different. So just it was great, you know, as a competitor as you want to be in.
I was going to say it had to be a tough adjustment, but iron sharpens iron, right, you want.
To go at that, right, Yeah, exactly exactly.
I mentioned Florida, you guys in one of the incredible games beat them both Team I one six to one hundred. When you watch Florida throughout the year from that point on, knowing how good they were, did you feel like that was the team that really had a shot? I mean, Walter Clayton Juniors are pretty incredible, isn't he.
Yeah, yeah, definitely, you know, they're a great team built well. Coach, Well, that was cool. I mean, obviously beating them, you know, with the bitter season our Military Washington National championship, because you know, you know how a healthy, you know, full strengthy for Lake definitely could have been there ourselves.
So well, but you've got that win over them in your hip pocket, right. A couple of minutes left with Ansley aman Or he's going to be playing in the TBT for La Familia, and uh, a little bit of a different look in terms of the rules and things like that. The scoring. I gotta think that it's going to be a little more up temple. Although you guys love playing up tempo under Mark Pope, how much is that going to help you in this tournament?
I mean just it's definitely help us. Seeing the way that we play in general, just as a other team is gonna be pretty interesting. You know. I'm just excited to get to put those guys yea, and you know, I just want to be out there help them win, help us, help us win this whole prize.
Well, when you do, when you win that big prize, what are your plans afterwards? I mean, I'm sure you've got an Asian.
And agent, you know, just exploring professional opportunities right now, seeing you know what pops up and you know what are your best for me?
How would you feel about playing overseas because some guys get homesick.
I definitely definitely opened to the opportunity, definitely, you know, open an opportunity just as long as they have to play at the next level.
Yeah, see the world on somebody else's nickel.
Right, Yeah, exactly. You know that would be a great experience for sure.
Yeah, but you already know that you can always come back to lexingon right.
And yeah, of course you know us at my second home now. You know, everybody over there show love and you know, definitely had to go back next month as.
We speak, are you back in New York? Are you still in Lexington?
Yeah, I'm in New York right now. I'm in New York. Head off to lex next month.
I'll let you go with this. What do people say to you when you see them and they followed you and your friends, your family, But what do you tell them about BBN and and lexingon?
You know, it's just one of the kind, you know, definitely as other to try to go experience that whenever they can, you know, just being out there. Uh, my experience is a great experience, you know, BBN, It's just there's nothing you can really describe. You've got to go out there and witness it yourself. Kentucky's a great place, great people, and definitely I'm going to try to come back as often as I can.
He is Ansley Almanor. He's always going to be welcome in Lexington from initially Spring Valley, New York. But he'll be a part of love and looking forward to seeing you play again, young man. I appreciate your time.
I appreciate you man.
Can go and we'll talk more UK hoops on the other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP. Well, it's a quick one here, but we only have time to tell you that earlier today Denzel Aberdeen and Mohammed Diabatte talked to the media. We'll have all kinds of coverage of that. Tomorrow you hear from both players. And also tomorrow we'll hear from twenty Beckham, the GM of Lafa Meya and the new head coach, Sean Woods. They're holding a joint press conference on Tuesdays. So much more
UK basketball coming up tomorrow. Yeah. I know it's the middle of the summer, but you know as well as I that it just never stops if you're a Kentucky basketball player or a media person. But really, the the TBT, the TBT tvt has been a great success and a lot of fun, and we'll be talking about it, of course, we hope through the championship game. I remember two with Doug Flynn. His next from six thirty w LAP.
Then any type set such station tap, don't do anything.
Welcome back to the Big Moon Sider. Join now by my broadcasting brother, mister Doug Flynn. June we get together on the he doesn't join me. I joined him. It's my privilege on the SEC. Plus streaming telecasts of UK baseball and the College World Series has come to an end. We're in the middle of the big league season. But Doug, before I ask you about what happened with Coastal Carolina and LSU, I don't know if you've had a chance.
You're not a big social media guy, but I know that Darren Hedrick keeps us up to speed on her chain gang text message. Were the moves that nickmn Jonas staff were making through the portal, really going after pitching, just laying that a kid from South Carolina, and that's going to be the key coming up, isn't it. They got some good guys coming back, but they need arms.
Oh absolutely.
If you look at the College World Series, every one of those teams that got there just had some strength and all of it on the hill. Some teams two and three guys that are projected to be in the top couple of rounds of the draft. So I really like what Nick's doing. Plus with the kids that he's got coming back from last year that are going to be a year older, and the way they showed that they could play. Towards the end of the year, you got to be pretty excited about next season.
You and I got to watch and everybody got to watch Ben Cleaver really blossom. We saw him as a freshman come on at the end of the year and then a slim reaper really made a name for himself in more waste than one this past year. I can't wait to see what happens. He's gonna work it, he says, putting on even more muscle and getting stronger. And he was an sec guy, wasn't he?
Oh?
Absolutely yeah, and he will get so much better. And you have confidence that when he went out there that all right, which guy we was gonna see tonight. Unlike a few of the pictures that we've seen over the years where just never could get that comfortable feeling of owning that mound, Well, he started doing it from day one.
His mound was his.
And I just think as he gets stronger, he gets more command of that. Already some really good stuff that he is definitely going to be the picture that nobody wants to face, especially left handed hitters.
And you know, talking to him after the game, is we do uh, it's really funny because you know, you talk about being out there on the mound and owning it. You know, he's got that baby face and he's a slender guy. He is the slim Reaper, so you know, he just looks like a kid. Now he's tall, you know, but he doesn't pitch like a kid, does he.
Well, you know, Danny Graves was nicknamed him the baby face that sassin.
Oh yeah, and uh he's.
All time save leaders from the Cincinnati Reds. But you know he's about my size, not big. But I'm telling you, you know, the makeup that he had which made him such a great great relief pitcher is what you would really love to see and everybody. And I think Leaver's got that.
I met I got to meet him at the College World Series last year, Danny Graves. I seen him pitch and he was working I guess for ESPN. Uh that's right, acc Network, And uh yeah, he's got you know that, Like like you said, he just that appearance. But when he starts talking, he kind of owns the room, doesn't he.
So I.
Pictures need that. And when you look around the infield and the outfield, a lot of starters back for the Wildcats. But relievers is where Kentucky really struggled this year. You know, Hogan was hurt most of the year, some other guys struggled. But yeah, getting back to the College World Series, you had just incredible starting pitching, especially LSU and Coastal. But it seemed to your point, Doug Leck. You know they would show they pick up that camera and the bullpen
guys warming up. This guy throws ninety eight, that guy throws ninety four. Everybody had a roster of relievers who could come in and to shut you down. And anymore. In college ball you got to have that.
Yeah, you really do, because the quality of play is so good. I remember one time they said college baseball was probably equivalent to good class at a baseball and now it's probably equivalent to double a baseball. I really do. And you see a lot of these kids that are
staying around for that extra year plus. What I often forget too is some of these kids are now twenty four twenty feet, so they get a little bit older because of the portal, and so they've got an extra year of play, and so we saw a lot of older kids over the last couple of years.
Yeah, that's a great point because about when the Legends first got here. Gosh, I don't remember how many years ago that was, but people would say, well, the SEC is about as good as I said, Not quite, because SEC kids back then would give their left arm lifts that were left handed to land a contract with the Legends. Now, as you said, they're sticking around. Of course there's more money involved, but they're bigger, stronger, faster, and especially when
the best pitcher on the teams on the bump. Yeah, that team could could compete with a single air double. The we're talking to Doug Flynn of the SEC Network covers UK baseball, and of course was at Omaha last year when the Wildcats were playing and we were all furiously and frantically texting yesterday Doug about what happened at the first inning, and I talked about it off the top. I just felt like, uh, that played umpire, lost his cool, had the opportunity to show discretion and did not. And
I had forgotten this. He had been fired by the major leagues. He they say officials aren't accountable, held accountable. He got fired for doing the same kind of stuff and he really put a cloud over this championship roun didn't he?
Yeah, And you get a really good understanding of it when you listen to Coastal Carolina's coach explain exactly what happened. Yeah, I played that because there was there was I mean, we were all speculating as to what was said, what could have happened, what did happen, But he pretty much
laid it out on the line. And then I saw the umpire run up, the other umpire run up, and you could tell that he lost his ballance and the tripps he wasn't shoved, but then to come up and immediately tried to blame that on the coach as well, when the video is certainly going to make him look completely foolish. But Dick, we saw a lot of that over the last year or so with some of the umpiring. Now there's you know, there's part of this game that you really you got to let it talk, you gotta
let it breathe, you gotta let it be human. And if it gets to the point where we start taking all that away, I mean, this is the championship game of the national title for college baseball, and he yanks him quickly. That's one of the fastest ejections I think I've ever seen at any level.
Yeah, I had read about it, and this is kind of legendary, but every once in a while you read about a coach or a manager brings a lineup card out and starts talking about last night's game and gets ejected at that point. I know, But in terms of in terms of yeah, a game like this, and I talked earlier Doug about other situations where officials have used discretion. But man, if your back is up like that so soon you got that's a you problem. You know what I mean?
Uh?
Oh, I agree and uh And you.
Know, the statement they release in the middle of the game was suspect. And as you know from our conversations on the air and off within the chain gang, I'm the one in our group who's most sympathetic to officially, not just because of my brother, but just because of my experience. But you know, like I said, I've had people screaming at me and threatening me and I know what that feels like. Not at that level, though, but he's working at that level. He ought to be able to handle it, right.
I would think that he would, and the NCAA should have been well aware of that as well, so I put a lot of blame on him for putting him in that situation, knowing that he has a history of something like that. Yeah, but I've been you know, I've been run before for just with my big mouth when I was coaching in pro ball, and I mean, Dick, without even saying anything bad, I would just you know,
question something like hey, like that, both you're gone. And he made a good point yesterday, which I thought was one of the most ridiculous things. If you are in a ball or minor league ball, the manager can speak, but if a coach says one word, he's automatically ejected. And it's pretty much the same way a college ball. The coaches are to be there to watch it. They're not supposed to be able to say anything. I mean,
you can't question anything without getting run. And I think they've got to loosen it up a little bit on that, because if you and I both know there is a tremendous amount of mouth and going on in the game, and you clean it all up or you let it.
You know what My point on that was, they had ejected. They had ejected the head coach, so technically that coach on the field. He was the head coach at the time. He had instantly become, you know, the head coach of record, so to throw him out was supreme. I mean, I get that, you know, and again that's one of the unridden rules of sports really, but yeah, they just they just mishandled everything. It was a bad look or college baseball,
and it ruined for a lot of us. What is one of the greatest events, and especially if you've been there, that there is I've said before it's it's like the Final Falling twice as good because there's twice as many teams, you.
Know, and you've got to let it go a little bit. In that situation. You always give the guys a little leeway. They work there, Reari and the team like Coastal Carolina's worked there, Rearian to be here. I mean, we have said before that are the days gone for Coastal Carolinas and teams like that. Well, we saw Burray and them have great years, able to compete with the Southeastern Conference and something the strong teams out west. So they make it that far and then you've got to give them
a little leeway. Especially the guy wasn't custing or anything. He was just questioning, you know, his louthy umpire.
Yeah, and you know what, You've made a good point through the years about ballplayers, both current and retired, being shepherds of the game. That extends, in my opinion, to officials. I think they need too as well. And will he be held accountable If that guy, any of them, really the couple of them, end up in Omaha next year, I'll be really disappointed. He is Doug Flynn. He is my broadcasting brother on the SEC plus broadcast at UK Baseball.
We'll come back and talk about learning more about mister Flynn in just a minute on the big one side of here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're chatting with my good friend and colleague, mister Doug Flynn from SEC plus coverage of UK baseball and a longtime Big leaguer. He is the glue who held together, we say, tongue in cheek, the big Red machine. Of course, when Doug was traded, the Big Red Machine fell apart. But also just saying I got the T shirt to prove it
Gold Glove winter with the New York Mets. We're gonna learn more about Doug. I thought I knew everything there was to know about you. But I mean we've traveled together, worked together. But David Patrick, a former colleague of mine, reached out to Doug. And you've now I ever met Doug, as you know, a bigger Reds fan than David Patrick. But David has heard your story in little bits and pieces,
but he decided it was worth a documentary. And you're a guy who you enjoy talking baseball, but you're not real keen on talking about yourself. But why did you accept this offer from David who I know you've known forever.
Well, I don't know if accepting the offer, but you know I love David because I've known him for a long time as you have. I've always appreciated in trusted h When he said something, you know that it's facts. And then he said, why don't we just sit down let's talk a little bit. And I said, all right, now you have to understand this has been like three or four years ago when we did this, and so I sat down and then all of a sudden I
forgot about it. I thought, well, I guess he's used it on some of his TV shows or maybe down at Moorhead where he is and then he calls me said okay, he said, remember that little deal we did. I said, yeah, well I've got it put together and you're kidding and he said no, and he's so I started sending me some pictures and he already had a bunch of pictures and hook him up with Rick Walls at the Hall of Fame in Cincinnati, and he got a few more and he says, have you ever just
sat down? I said, David, people know my story pretty much. He said, well, there's a lot that I don't know about it. And so we basically started from the get go and walked it all the way through. And you know, I feel very very fortunate. I feel really humbled and almost embarrassed a little bit that we're going to do something like that. And you know, Kyt said they were going to run it a couple of times over the coming weeks.
Sunday.
Yeah, and I'm Saturday and Sunday and I'm going to be up in Cincinnati with the Big Red Machine reunion.
Uh so.
Uh.
But David sent me a copy of it. I haven't looked at it yet, but I'm trusting if he's excited about it, then I'm gonna be excited.
Well, he said, he showed you a rough draft and you gave it the thumbs up.
So well, he and I both looked at it. Yeah, we look had it together and then at a restaurant one time, so and I was sitting there laughing. He said, what do you think? I said, that's pretty funny.
But yeah, will air this Saturday one on w KYT and Sunday on the c W Lexington at one o'clock. Now you talk more than just baseball. You get into some personal stuff and again I know that that can be difficult for you.
Yeah, something it can. I think we touched a little bit on my sister's disappearance and then but we talk a lot about my faith too, and you and I, you know, we're buddies. We've talked about that a lot and how important that has been, especially when you go through tough stuff like that with my sister, and then you know, my parents going this is we did all this right before Mom and Daddy passed away, so you
know there's some things that have changed. But it just kind of and I don't ever use that as an excuse, but you know, when I got traded in seventy seven at the same time that Melanie disappeared, and I went to New York and every day with calling home to see what was going on. Fighters at your every day coming in. If you heard anythings, you know what's going on. And it was just my career was almost over at that point because I just was not handling it all
very well. And so it kind of gets into that just a little bit.
Also, your parents. One of the great things I thought, because having lost my dad at a young age, I had my mom for quite a while. But both your parents were excellent athletes. You told me your mom might have been the best one in the family. But the fact that you could share all of this with your brother, but with your parents, and you know how proud your dad was as a former ballplayer himself. I've told you before.
My enduring memory of Bobby Flynn, and there are so many, not just his multicolored jacket, was the night you were inducted into Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame, and one of the giveaways was a glass a tumbler with the names of each inductee on it, and a lot of people will leave the banquet and inadvertently leave him behind. Your
father collected every one of those glasses he could find. Uh, I don't know if you if you even know where they are right now, Doug, he must have had two dozen of them as he wanted as he walked out of that banquet hall. But he was so proud, and he wore one of your World Series rings. And I know you're a year so high, so proud to let him do it.
Oh. Well, you know, Dicky's gone Cincinnati so often that when my first couple of years, Johnny Bench got a name tag and put it on the locker for him. So here, Bobby, you up here as much as and Dad felt like, you know, pro game has changed so much from when he was playing with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He played one year in the minor league and then all of a sudden you get to the big league. Well, the security and all that stuff was so different for him. But Dad felt like, hey, my son's here. I just
walked through the locker room. Go get a ball of that whatever I wanted. Yeah, and uh so he finally had to learn the proe a call, but it never really faced him.
If you do, Dad, he was you know, it's.
Better to ask for forgiveness and permission so and he had and I saw I saw him one day and he was asking Johnny Bentrick, I need a hat Christmas. Bobby, let me ask you guy. So I went home and I said, Dad, what are you doing with all those hats? And I looked around. I couldn't find the one. Well, none of them are for him. He's always given idea. Yeah, and that that pretty much was the way he was his whole career. He loved to do things for other people.
And I used to think, you know, he just really loved be around sport. I think he just really loved bearing people.
Oh yeah, yeah, And that's why he was great because he was the sideline marshal at Rupp Arena and helped media people find their seats and all that stuff. And uh, he was great. Uh. I'll let you go with this. With the the doc coming up, it's on Saturday one on w d k YT and Sunday I had won on the c W Doug Flynn, what do you hope people take away? I know again, you don't seek out attention.
You've never met a stranger. I get a huge kick, Doug out of when you and I and Dan Darren and Coach Madison go to the visitors broadcast booths, and inevitably one or both of them because their baseball nuts know you know your career, they know the big red machine, of course. But and you all start swapping stories and I just melted into the wall and listen. But what do you hope people take away from this?
Well, you know, I got to thinking about that when we were on TV those day with David. It's kind of a cool little story, I think, And it's kind of one of not giving up, but it's also one of appreciating your blessings and the good things that do happen to you along the way. And I think sometimes we get to the point, or after we get to a certain point, we forget about those little things that
helped us to get where we were. I think of the coaches that I had that kept developing me, the parents that supported me, the friends in this town that were all always there pushing me and wishing me the very best. And then a story of not giving up, just keep learning how to hone your skills, doing something that you love to do. In baseball was something because as you know, I continued playing softball even after I've an He's pro baseball. So I love that, but I
always kept trying to get a little bit better. And you know, there's one percent of the game that makes it strictly on their ability. The rather ninety nine percent of us. We got to play hard every day just to stay up there. And that was never That was never something I minded doing, is getting that extra work in. But I think, probably more than anything else gave. It's just how blessed that I really feel, how humbled I am after I look back and think why me?
Why? And I love the fact that you like to chat with the current players of Kentucky really anybody who
wants help. But I'm around you obviously in UK, and you love talking to the players, especially infielders, about you know, little improvements here and there, trying to help them appreciate and get better right now instead of looking back saying, man, I wish i'd known this back when, because you told me before that we joke about, you know, the fact that you were a bit of a light hitter, but you never got any help with it in the pro ranks. And you're giving it back even now, aren't you. Well.
I see the size of these kids and the sheer ability that they have. They're bigger than we were, they're stronger than we were if they can just learn to harness this in the right way. And they've got such good instruction as well. The college game right now probably is as good as instruction as you're gonna get anywhere at pro balls, I mean, and they all pretty much
use the same techniques. But being able to identify where someone needs help and then putting that into words, Yeah, there's a you know, I saw a lot of pros like myself sometimes, as you well know, I have a lot of time articulating things.
I got it up there, just don't come.
Out right used articulate pretty good.
Yeah, I got it written down here time what it was on your hand.
Yeah.
But I just I think when you see, don't blow an opportunity here. Yeah, because if you make it now, Dick, you don't need very long and your set for life. Yeah, that's right, And it's a great life. It's a great life. I'm here, we are fifty years later talking about you know, the first world series that we want in seventy five, and I'm thinking, wow, it's been fifty years. But I have milked that sucker as much as you can.
And I'm proud of you. Is Doug Flynn. Watch for his story coming up. David Patrick produced it. It's on Saturday one o'clock on WKYT and again on Sunday on the c W lexingon a whole new appreciation for my broadcast brother. Thank you, sir. I have a wonderful week.
You're the best of my brother. Thank you. Gave seapout and Lee K.
Howard of WKYT is up next here on the Big Mom's Side six point thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Lewensider. Joined now on our celebrity Hot on the Hem by a long time friend of the show, Lee K. Howard, a sports anchor reporter for WKYT, my former stomping grounds. And you know, Lee K, when I was setting this up with you, I flashed back sitting here in my garage remembering you were the first person who came over here.
You did a TV story for KYT. This was during COVID when you were hurting for stories and you actually try a story on the fact that I was here in the garage doing my show. So media versus media, but something to do, right.
It was, you know, and at that time if you remember, we were all trying to search for just things to talk about, and you sitting in that garage with you your record deck and whatever else on your ironing board was kind of novelty. Now now now it's to become kind of the norm for a lot of people working from home or from the garage or whatever. So I'm glad to see you pushed through all this time.
Well it spoiled me. I mean, you know, you get up and you got to go to work, get the kids off, just go whatever and go to work. I come down here, walk past the man cave, walk in the garage, and I will tell you sadly the ironing
board has been retired. But because my kids gave me a nice table for my gear, and gave me a nice set of shelves, and my wife was switching out desks upstairs, so I got a nice little command center now, So you need to come back and maybe, just you know, next time you're a guest on the show, you can sit right here in front of me, because some folks have made it to the garage. Now that you know, COVID is not exactly a thing of the pass, but
we can we can speak face to face. But it has been a while since we did that story, but you have been, of course busy since then. And one of the many, many many things you cover, of course is Kentucky basketball, and we had an Ansley Almanor on the show earlier today. He is now, as you know, part of La Familla. And I really wondered about that tournament when I first read about it. I thought, really,
it has really become a thing, hasn't it. It's been, and it's great for you guys to have something to cover.
In the summertime, right exactly. I mean selfishly, the timing of it is perfect. But I think last year the fan base as a whole was kind of captured in almost a nostalgia of having so many of those guys back and competing. And then you know, it got so much better when it became a Kentucky Louisville thing and the way that game played out, and it just it
was so much fun. And I've honestly been looking forward to the tvt since last year a lot of those same guys coming back, with the Harrison Twins and Willie Caley Stein and a couple of them. But then I think it's also great that they've learned a few things like, hey, you need some pressure legs as well, because if you think back, Nate Festino was probably their best player and he was a younger guy. And so with them getting Annsley, I think that's a great move because you've got a
guy who Chef's played college basketball. He can shoot threes obviously, and you need three point shooting in this kind of a tournament. And I think he's almost a perfect fit for him and Kentucky. Really. You know, the TVT has been around for a long time and Kentucky's never really had a team because well mostly because a lot of the UK alum went directly to the NBA or the
G League or we're trying to play. So now Anthony's kind of a unique situation where you've got a guy right out of college and he can provide some really good minutes I'm sure for this team this summer.
I also think you got to tip your captain Twane Beckham, the former Wildcat who is the GM and made it clear and they told us this during interviews last year. You were there. This is not just a fun league thing. You're going to work, you're gonna play. We want to win that money. And they played that way, didn't they. And I thought Beckham did a great job of putting the roster together and then setting that tone, you know what I mean.
Yeah, twenty's great and he has kind of found a Niche is kind of a business person in this situation and you know he I know Tyler Eulis couldn't come back this year. He got Sean Woods to be the coach, who Sean was an assistant last year on that on the La Familia team staff, and you know, you can tell these guys want to win. And that's one thing about it. I was a little bit concerned about going
into last year. Are they going to treat this kind of like, oh, we're having fun, this is an All Star game scrimmage, or are they going to treat it like they have something to prove? And that was clear from the first jump that like these guys, they're competitors at heart, and when you put that amount of money on the line too really give them something to shoot for.
Combining that with how good of a run they had last year, I expect him to come back this year in this summer and have even more of a drive and you know, like I said, maybe they learned a little bit from last year from like, Okay, what kind of pieces do we need. Maybe we need some more three point shooting, Maybe we need some younger guys as well. I think they could use a few more post players. And I think they're still you know, releasing players still
to come twenty in that group. But yeah, it's I think that of all the schools, Kentucky has a real shot at putting together a really, really good team that could win at all.
Well, and you remember last year, Cistina had to be somewhere else, They got you know, other duty somewhere and basically had to leave the team before the final four. I think if he stays with him, you know, they might have won that money. So yeah, if they can keep that roster intact. But also I was so happy for Sean as a regular on my show each week because he wasn't certain last year if he could commit to working with that team, and then he did, and Tyler Eulis you could see if you were at the
game or watching on TV. Eulus really leaned on Sean Woods to kind of run huddles during the game. Sean has so much head coaching experience that I thought this was a pretty.
Good fit, you know, yeah, absolutely.
I mean, Tyler clearly knows basketball, and he was, you know, kind of a point guard coach even when he was playing at Kentucky. But you're right, you hit that on the head. Sean has the actual coaching experience, and there's something that's a little bit different about knowing how to coach guys than knowing the game, and both of them know both. But Sean I think will excel in that role now that he's the head coach of the team.
And you know, obviously, like you said, he worked with a lot of these same guys last year, so they're familiar with him and he's familiar with them. So I think it's going to be a really good situation with Sean. And plus, you know, with him being over there at Scott County now he's around and probably can be committed committed to something.
Like this in the summer.
Yeah, and he's told me he knows how to coach pros, you know, as opposed to high school or college kids. We're talking to Lee K. Howard, the weekend sports anchor reporter for w k y T not Weekend Weeknight and used to be the weekend guy. And Lee k is a Southwest kind of guy. He's from New Mexico, went to Clovis right right, went to West Texas State. And as such, you know, and I like you anyway that
you're a Cowboys fan. But which NBA team do you follow more than Mavericks or the Rockets or either one?
So ironically enough, I wasn't much of a Mavericks fan because we're terrible. When I was growing up in the late eighties and early nineties, we would go there. I remember going there when Michael Jordan and the Bulls came to town. So like we would go there for other games or other teams. Rather ironically enough, I grew up an Indiana Pacers fan. Uh yeah, because my family I had extended family from Indiana, So I went to several Indiana Pacers games growing up, including a Knicks Pacers game
I remember in the nineties. So big fan of Reggie Miller and Rick Smith, the Duncan Dutchman and Mark Jackson and all that group. I say, ironically enough, because you're going to be really blown away by who I was cheering for in this NBA Finals, which was not really the Pacers. I liked the Pacers quite a bit, but I felt more connected to this thunder group just because of.
Shay and as absolutely.
But yeah, so growing up, I.
Guess I was more of a Pacers fan than anything. But over time and as of age, I didn't really have an allegiance to any one particular team. I followed the Kentucky guys, to be honest with you. Yeah, so this this particular series has been a lot of fun for me, watching the team that I grew up liking and cheering for and then a group of young guys that played at Kentucky on Oklahoma City. You know, it was kind of a win win for me.
Yeah. Well, at least you've got Reed Shepherd still on the rock. It's interesting that they made that huge trade for Kevin Durant, but they held on to Reed Shepherd. He was never on the trading block as I understand it, so apparently he is one of the young building blocks. But now he'll play alongside Kevin Durant. We're talking with Lee K. Howard of WKY. He will come back and talk to Kentucky Football on the other side of the
break here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back. We're talking with Lee K.
Howard.
He is a sports anchor reporter for wk YT. Covers everything because when you work in local TV, you got to be an expert on everything. But one of the primary beats, of course is UK football. And you come from football territory out there in West Texas and New Mexico, and I know they love their basketball too, but it's interestingly, Kay, I think watching this Kentucky football program which has grown under Mark stops but as such, now expectations are so high.
The ceiling is higher, the floor is higher, and now UK fans sound like football fans everywhere. You know, they want it, and they want they know what they want. They want it right now. This is a pivotal year, isn't it.
It really is. And I think the biggest difference that I noticed this year going into this fall camp or the summer, even as opposed to in years past and recent past for Mark Soops is kind of people are down on the football program and the expectations are much lower for what the fan base feels like team can do. Now. I don't know that's the case with the coaching staff and the players. I'm sure they think that they can
be just as good as they've ever been. But I think a lot of that is probably just the unknown. They know themselves and they know their personnel a lot better than what the fans do, just because there's been
so much turnover on the roster. It kind of feels like after Stoops first got here and they won two games for two consecutive seasons, and going into that third season it was like, I don't know, I mean, we haven't seen the results, so I think coming off it almost feels like that year coming off of not going to a bowl game. You know, it's a huge year for Mark Stoops and his coaching staff. They've got to
put some results on the field. But as you said, it's not easy, and that really has more to do with the competition around the league as much as it does the Jimmys and Joe's on the UK roster. I mean, it's a combination of both. It doesn't make it easy, but you're right, it is a huge year for Soups well.
A combination of that, and then you know the competition around the league that's about Jimmies and Joe's. Everybody has players now, including Vanderbilt, which be Kentucky. As you know, last year, and you know, we talked with you of being a New Mexico native, and you know, they brought in a QB and coordinators and somebody else from New
Mexico State. Kentucky's got a key alignment. Could be a key alignment from New Mexico State, which is not known for great football league as you well know, what do you make of that?
Well, I think it speaks to a little bit of a transfer portal when you've got a guy like a bandy like Diego Pavia quarterback who you mentioned he played at New Mexico Military Institute, which is a very small junior college in New Mexico. You know, we always talked about the negatives of a transfer portal the positives as a kid that played there can make his way into the SEC and be the darling of the country for a couple weeks of the year, you know what I mean.
So I think guys that maybe started the program like New Mexico or you know, name your other state can find their way to the big time. So that's that's kind of kids using the transfer portal correctly to elevate their game and elevate their status and everything like that. So I think that's probably more than anything, but you're right now. I think it evens the playing field a little bit more, not just in the SEC, but in
college football. You've got your Georgia's and some of your elite programs, but everybody else doesn't have to be that far behind. And I think one thing that we saw last year is if you go after the wrong guys or miss in the transfer portal, your season is tanked. Now the good news about that is you can try again the next year. And I think that's what Stoops
and the team have done. They've gone in and gone all right, we've got thirty three new players or whatever it is coming in this year in the transfer portal. They've been really active in the recruiting cycle this past week, past couple of weeks actually bringing in guys for twenty twenty six. And you can have a bad year and follow that up with a good season, and so I think that's what this Kentucky coaching staff is hoping that they can do this next year.
Now with the portal door spinning, you've got another quarterback who probably will start in Zach Calzada, who has Texas roots in in Carnin word in San Antonio and then we've stop at Auburn, but at Texas A and m uh so yeah, coming from your old stomping grounds out west.
Yeah.
You know.
The thing I like about Calzada is and this is not a knock on Brock Bandergriff, but Brock was a great you know he was. He was a career backup essentially, didn't have a lot of experience. He got into some games at Georgia. But right, but but Calzada comes in as the guy who's played a lot of minutes. And so if I'm trying to spin it and think of a positive for Calzada, who's I think forty five years old,
it is. It is that he's played a lot of college football and in the SEC you know, when Jimbo Fisher beat Nick Saban, you know Texas A and m over Alabama, he was the quarterback that led the Aggies to that win. And he's played meaningful games, meaningful minutes, and so nothing is going to overwhelm him. And so I think that's going to be a big thing. He's going to go in as confident as anybody on the field,
you know, his team and the other team included. So I do like that as a mature quarterback going into it. That he's the kind of guy who's not going to be intimidated by the moment. Now, how does he fit with all the rest of the guys around him. I mean, that's still to be seen, but I think it's a good swing for this coaching staff because you've got a guy like Cutter Bowlie sitting right there that you can ideally learn for one more season. You only kind of
needed a rental. I mean, I hate to call him that. I don't mean, I don't mean that as a you know, as a negative, but you kind of needed someone to fill a gap. And so maybe Kalzada is that guy. You work in Cutter sparingly as you go, and you get him ready for the following season.
Yeah. I've talked about it a lot this summer, Lee k with this revolving door because you know, as you well know it, Drew Barker was supposed to be the answer, and through no fault of his own, he gets hurt. And now Kentucky's got to start plugging in temporary quarterbacks and some have played more than one season and played really well. But I wonder if Cutter Bully and you covered his high school career at least the one year
here in Lexington. You know, could he be the guy who at some point seeses the job and plays more than one year as a starter, you know what I mean?
Yeah?
And I think ideally, I mean, the college football world's a little bit different now because guys transfer so often. But I think your ideal situation is you have your top quarterback come in, they sit for two years. By the time they're junior or senior there in there and they're playing. That was always Mike Leech's thing at Texas Tech when I was there covering his teams in Lubbock. He always wanted a guy to come in fit for two years and take over the program and play two years. Now,
like I said, a lot of things have changed. Players that get buried even one spot on the depth chart leave because they don't want to sit around. But I don't think it's a terrible thing. And Cutter has his head on his shoulders correctly. I mean, he's a good kid.
I think that they are assuring him of the talent that they believe that he has, and we've seen flashes of it, so I absolutely think that, especially if you kind of just work him in here and there this year in spots and give him opportunities that he's the guy going forward for this program. You know, I will say they've they've got it. They've got a pretty deep quarterback room, which is something that you've got to have.
Also just says injuries and things like that. I don't want to see Cutter come in because of injury, but I think that he knows his role on this team. He's going to compete and they're going to say he's competing for the job as well. You know, but I think that's kind of the ideal situation for Cutter going into year two.
He is Lee K. Howard. You can see him on WKYT and follow him on Twitter at Howard WKYT. Thank you sir, all right, thank you da. That'll do it for now, Thanks to my guest Lee K. Howard, Angeley Almanor and my man Dougs Lynn. And remember the documentary by produced by David Patrick, coming up Saturday on WKYT at one o'clock and again on Sunday that we are on the c W lexing and again at one o'clock. You don't want to miss that and we'll talk about him more throughout the week. I am sure. So that'll
do it for now. Thank you so much. That's it. Good night from the garage in Lexing movie Quaranteed praaves tonight.
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