10.17: Built Different - Hour 3

just whatever weekend. It is a big weekend as Louisville sting a top six team Miami coming to town undefeated, a Heisman Trophy candidate, and an opportunity for Louisville too. I think, really not remove those losses that are on the on the record as we speak, because you can't do that. But a win here could really could really make up for the frustration that fans have failed up

to this point. And I don't want to act as if fans are just completely and I don't know, everybody can think for themselves, so I can't speak for anybody but myself, but I don't get the sense that it's gotten to the point where you think, Okay, this season's been a disaster, and we were expecting, not necessarily to be an ACC champion, but man, like this is terrible. I think if you lose to Virginia, that would have been the reaction, that would have been the conversation. But

you avoided the loss. But as I've said throughout the week, I still am seeing things that make me really worried about a game against a really good Miami team that can easily make you pay for mistakes more so than anybody you've played up to this point, to be honest with you, So a loss here isn't even a bad

loss here. Here's my worry in this game, other than, of course, you know, just knowing Louisville could play well and lose because Miami they've always got talent, and now they've got a quarterback that has made this Miami team different than the others that have been maybe not posers or frauds, but there have been a few teams here and there over the years that for a few weeks, you feel like, Okay, maybe the U is back and then they underwhelm and they fall apart and this team maybe they do that.

upset in October. That's kind of routine for him. But here's here's what really gets me is that if you lose here and you play well, you can be real with yourself and say, hey, like they lost, and now they've got two ACC losses. They're sitting at four and three, and that sucks. There's really almost no certainty you have a shot at sniffing the ACC championship game. But you

know what, they played better. If they can do this against everybody else, they'll be able to win the majority of their games, maybe all of their games on the schedule other than Clemson. Like, you can look at it that way, or you can say, wow, and this is by nature how I typically am as far as just being pessimistic. If that was the result, I would think, well, damn it. If you didn't just shoot yourself from the foot repeatedly against SMU and against Notre Dame especially, then

this would be one you can burn. You got one loss to burn. And it just so happens to be a team that right now is a playoff team. I mean, I guess you can't be until it's over, but you know they're they're in full control here. I mean, Miami doesn't have to play Clemson in the regular season, so you know, Louisville. Maybe I'm giving louis At a little too much credit here, but Louisville is one of the

last real big tests for this Miami team. And maybe they don't even view it as a big test because again I'm sure they feel, I mean, their favorites for a reason. But I hope that you know, I'm just gonna come out and say, like I think Miami is from a talent perspective, like good enough to where like

Louisville could. Again, my fear is they could play really well and lose, and I don't want that to happen because again I would go back to just thinking, well, geez, this wouldn't be as demoralizing if you wouldn't have, you know, made so many mistakes and lost at Notre Dame and lost at SMU, and again those aren't Those aren't losses that right now are like, oh wow, can you believe they lost to this team? I mean SMU. We'll see. But I still happen to think that they're pretty good.

I wouldn't be shocked if they end up finishing with a really, really good record this year, because again, they have a really favorable schedule in the ACC as well. Lost in Notre Dame at their place doesn't have anything to do with the ACC. But also, you know it's it's at Notre Dame. So if you end up with losses to Notre Dame, SMU, and Miami, and let's say you lose to Clemson, but then you win every other game, I guess that would mean you beat Kentucky and that

would certainly go a long way considering the drought. But that's the scenario where you end up finishing eight and four, and that's not a record Louisville fans I feel like usually are disappointed in, but it'd be one of those years where because you only played twelve games in the regular season, you really never got to figure out how

good you were. Right, you lost to the teams that you know were supposed to beat you, and you beat the teams you were supposed to be like, there wasn't some big and I guess technically you were favored against SMUs, So maybe you were supposed to win that one. I mean, and you should have to be honest, But I was just more impressed with SMU than I thought I was going to be once that game came to an end.

So noon on Saturday, we'll have pregame coverage starting at eleven o'clock The louisvill Football Pregame Show presented by Pellow Windows and Doors of Central Kentucky and Jefferson Animal Hospital. Again, we'll go from eleven to noon, and then as soon as it ends, we'll go live here for the postgame show. Reacting to whatever it is that happens on the Louisville Football Postgame Show, presented by alex Arwhite Lawyer's Suit Distracted

Driver dot Com. Real quick, if you are just now joining us, maybe you just hopped in your vehicle and you're heading home. From work or maybe you're just waking up.

his position. Press conference is set for tomorrow on have you seen anything on Twitter that like, as you know, any update to the story is if any reason, any context. I'm seeing a lot of speculation at nothing, you know, nothing legit.

the break, he's a choir boy. I mean, he seems to be a guy that you'd never see getting himself into some kind of trouble that would lead to the university saying look, we're going to fire you unless you walk away and retire. I just can't see that happening.

But again, we never really know these people, so maybe maybe I'm wrong, but him just realizing he's not he's not in it anymore, and it's best for everybody involved for him to walk away and not just be sticking around because you know, he feels like it's what he's supposed to do. Like that would be my guess at

this point. But here is a quote. So I mentioned Jeff Borzello being one of the many writers who covers college basketball, sharing how they recently talked to Tony Bennett and they did not get any indication that this would this was possible. So I'll read directly from Jeff Borzello's tweet here it says I asked Tony Bennett literally last week, why so many people thought he could be the next Jay Wright and then suddenly he retires out of nowhere.

His response verbatim, I got to call Jay Wright and see what he says. Right, I always have said, when you're doing this, you're in this profession. Whether you agree how it's going or not, you have to be true to yourself and really look at it and say, who am I kind of operate how I want?

Is that three to five years away? Who knows? But if it's not, those are decisions that every man has to make when it's his time. So it looks as if this story was more so based on how he could be a guy that just I mean By the way, legends legendary coaches, and I'm not saying Tony Minutes a legend. He did win a national championship, but like I think anybody retiring that is successful, and he's clearly fallen, like he hasn't won a tournament game since he won a

national championship. But it's not to the point that this is a non shocker because everybody wanted him gone at Virginia, you know what I mean, Like, and he's young, so I kind of feel like, no matter when he would do it, it would be considered a surprise unless you had a multiple year, you know, stretch where he was winning nine to ten games a year, which I just

don't see that ever happening. So for him to say that and then a week later make that decision to retire, I don't know, Like there's two ways to look at that.

get up there in front of all the cameras. You know, he'll be at the podium in front of the mic, being handsome as ever, and he'll he'll say something profound and he'll be very heartfelt in how much he loves Virginia and this and that, and then you know, he'll call it a career and everybody will talk about how great of a guy is. And I wish Tony Bennett was a scumbag John because he plays all he coaches awful basketball as far as the style of play. It's

ugly to watch. I mean, but he's good and he's typically been very successful at it. Like he's not a good villain. I want a villain to beat us like a drum the way he has throughout his career. I mean, his record against Louisville in the ACC has got to be as good as his record against maybe any team in the ACC. I mean, when Patino was here, it was a Patino thing actually before it was anything else.

I mean, we haven't really had a long standing coach other than Patino since Louisvell has been in the ACC, and Patino couldn't beat him, just couldn't do it. It took a Mango Matthiang buzzer beater to knock him off back in twenty fourteen, fifteen whenever that was, and then Mack got him one year and then I don't think Louisboll's ever beat him outside of that. So he's been super successful. And you know, I can't stand the way his teams play because they're boring and they just they've

got our number. And it'd be nice to look over at the sideline and think that's son of a bitch.

still sore from like the fantasy camp or whatever. And Tony Bennett walks in and all of a sudden, you know, Mac and I are kind of just mid conversation. Tony walks over to Chris Mack and was like, Hey, how you doing. And then within like five seconds, I realized, yeah, I don't I don't need to be in this conversation, like it's going to be awkward for me. So I just like I tapped Mac on the shoulder. I was like, hey, I'll see you tomorrow morning, because he was set to

come on. He was said to come on the show the next morning. So, you know, I go to dinner, I go to a Hooters across the street from the hotel. I come back, I get in, I get in the the the elevator, and I guess because he saw me talking to Mac earlier.

didn't introduce us, but nice to meet you. And I just probably looked at him, like, you know, I was starstruck, and I just said, I know, instead of saying nice to meet you, I'm nick. I just looked at him. And it probably wasn't like that long, but I feel like it was a long pause and I was just like mouth wide open, like I know, I know who you are. And then it got up to the second floor. He got off and told me to have a good night, and I just feel like, yeah, that wasn't that was awkward.

That was weird for me. I don't know why I did that. I never thought I'd be starstruck with Tony Bennett. But he's he's a dreamy son.

removed from that now. But and who knows what would have happened had that loss not taken place, because a win there, you'd have beat the number one team in the country and you would have gotten in the tournament. And who knows, maybe DP goes on a little bit of a run sweet sixteen. Maybe instead of going and hiring somebody, they give David the job. I doubt that

was ever gonna happen, but you never know. But I remember, you know, after the game being so just you know, distraught that they lost that way, and here he is coming in to do the press conference before David, because obviously that was an emotional locker room as you could expect to lose like that, especially given the way that season had gone, and like he came out and like felt really he talked about how bad he felt for Louisville, and I believed him, like, I don't want you to

be nice and genuine. I want you to be an a hole because you just beat us, and I want to not like you, but it's hard not to like

you because you're a pretty likable guy. And then whenever Louisville missed the tournament that year, they did, like you know, they were doing those live hits with coaches after they get their seed and their draw and whatnot, and as most coaches do, they talk about their league and how many teams that got in, and like he had like a brief pause about Louisville not getting in, and it was like I hate that for them, and almost like he was choked up, and I believed him.

I don't want somebody just now getting in their car and hearing this being the first thing, first thing they hear. But like, I think Mark Pope's pretty awesome. Like I think he seems like a really genuinely good you know, I think he's proven to be a pretty good coach. Now him being able to do it here at Kentucky will see. But you know, I think he's a really likable guy. I think what he and I don't even

know if he said it. But like Pat Kelsey, I think has been pretty direct whenever he's talked, when he's asked about UK and Pope, because you know, he probably knows he's not supposed to like the guy. And he comes from a rivalry, believe it or not, like the Cincinnati Zavior rivalry, like Pat Kelsey played in that rivalry. You know, he was at Xavier for a long time. He's from Cincinnati. I mean, that's as close as you're

gonna get. I think as far as just the hatred between the two sides, it doesn't get the same love, but it's it's intense, so he knows it. But like he also knows Pope at least enough now to say kind of like the dude, which I get it, but it won't take long. And I hope you're not right, because I want to dislike Mark Pope, you know, I want to. I want to be able to say, you know, that guy is the worst, Like could you.

Cal would you know, talk to you know, fans through the met is if everybody's so stupid and he's on a different level intellectually and when it comes to basketball, so like, I think they'll prefer that. But you know, you also want to coach that's got a killer's instinct when it comes to being being a competitor, and I

have no reason to think Pope doesn't have that. But you know, we're going to learn about both these dudes this year because yes, you know Pope because he played there, but he hadn't been around Lexington in a long time. None of us knew much about Kelsey until he got the job, and we've learned about them throughout this process. Right the honeymoon when they're building the roster, getting fans

excited about these new eras. But when it comes to you know, how they handle a loss, right, what their temperament is for certain things that come up in a season like that's it's really just a just kind of a wait and see kind of thing. Like let me give you an example when it comes to Pat Kelcey, just knowing how how he is about routine and having

a plan and being very organized and detailed. When he said at the Mediada press or that they're going to prepare for their Friends of Life University, whatever the hell that school's called, that's coming to town next week for an exhibition game. He said they're going to prepare for

that game as if they're playing Duke. He wasn't joking, And I think that's just like a reminder, Yeah, that's just how this guy is, which you know, if you prepare for it that way, then maybe you won't lose to Kentucky Wesley and or lea Ane RIM's like the previous coach did. All right, quick break will come back on the other side. If you guys haven't seen the uniforms that louell is gonna be wearing on on Saturday all black. I mean, I'm aroused just by looking at him.

do whatever she ne me to do. And she calls the shot. So when I called her during the break, I told her about the news of Tony Bennett, and you know, her response was, well, that's that's a bummer because he's really nice to look at. I mean, can you keep that comment to yourself? Like, I'm I'm aware he's I mean, like she still got me, you know what I mean? Like she gets to look at me every day? Does she know how lucky she is? Maybe somebody should remind her.

the ever changing landscape. But then and I'm overthinking and over analyzing it, certainly, But to say there's no health issue and that there are likely other reasons and then throw that out there, I mean, it's almost as if Goodman assumes that's a factor, but maybe he also thinks that there's something else.

preparing for an exhibition opponent to walk away. Then it just is really surprising because I feel like, what do you know now that led you to just make the call today? October seventeenth, that you didn't know two three months ago. I mean, you're not even recruiting right, Like, it's not like you're hitting you're hitting a wall with the portal and with nil, because right now the portal's closed.

And if you you know, I'm sure you're recruiting high school kids, but you know, those guys aren't coming in with an insane amount of money right out of the gate unless they're elite level recruits. And let's be honest, Tony Bennett doesn't recruit those guys. He just that's not his style. So it's maybe a dumb question.

ended up happening, but they made it work. So but no, I would say, with with it being October, you can't, I mean, you can't transfer right now, like you know, you're mid semester, so I mean.

But it could be Okay, Well, I now know I'm just gonna go ahead and sit out and transfer when the portal opens up in the semester break around Christmas time, because I came here to play for Tony Bennett and he's gone, and I don't think this team is going to be great. I don't want to burn your eligibility. So that's something you could see. But I don't know.

Therefore he got a medical red shirt. If you just end up not getting off the bench other than three games as a basketball player, I don't know how that works. Because in football it's clearly a strategic thing for these guys to take advantage of. Now that's why they're opting out. I mean, you put a few good games on film, and you can bail and maintain a year of eligibility, another year to make money through nil, and you still get to keep whatever money they're supposed to pay you.

I mean, the players have found a way to really take advantage of it. And I don't mean like it's a scam, but I mean they're just now able to do things that clearly are them looking out for their best interest and their behalf only, and it makes people uncomfortable, but I think if you were in their shoes, you'd probably find yourself doing the same thing. But that is

the big news today. Tony Bennett has decided to retire, and he's gonna have a press conference tomorrow morning at eleven o'clock, and I would imagine again it'll be him being very much on brand, being a guy that's very easy to like, heartfelt, and you know, I guess he's just gonna My guess is he's just gonna tell us that he he was fighting it, but now he knows for sure it's time, so he's gonna walk away and he'll probably then talk about how much confidence he has

and whoever the next coach is going to be as far as the interim. But if you're Virginia, like this is a very interesting case study here because I would say most situations like this one, it would make sense for the university and even the fans to say, Okay, this guy gave us something we really never had at Virginia, So let's let's promote his top assistant who's been here

forever and kind of keep this thing rolling. But I wouldn't be shocked if Virginia fans are now at least able to say it out loud, we hate the way we play. We don't want to play boring basketball. That is just like watching paint dry. And oh, by the way, you you now you know you're gonna have. It's gonna be much less. And this is probably a big factor

in this decision. It's much less likely for Bennett to build his teams the way he does and play the way he does and succeed at a really high level in this new world of the portal and nil, because he's not going to be a super attractive destination for guys who want to play a good style that'll you know, get him ready for the NBA or make a lot of money. And you know, I'm sure that was a factor.

they wore black. But that Matt black helmet with the the cards. I can't think of what that font it is called. We were talking about it earlier when Kup was with us, But it looks looks really good. That like candy red face mask. I mean, it's a beautiful look. And I don't in fact, I'm quite confident that won't have any impact or factor in the game itself. But

whatever happens, at least they look good. And I'm biased, of course, I'm a Louis a fan, so I'm more likely to, you know, say they look good than the average person who doesn't care for the team. But I also will acknowledge whenever they don't look good. And when they wore the gold, I just I mean, I thought that was ugly. I mean, it didn't look as bad as the photo we saw before the season started that hinted they were going to be wearing those Ronald McDonald

looking things. They were more gold than the yellow arches. I mean McDonald's can say the golden arches. They're yellow, they're not gold. But yeah, these uniforms are really really sharp looking. All right. So earlier today there was a press conference in the NFL with the Commanders and their play call or Cliff Kingsbury, former college coach who really has has been phenomenal with with Jayden Daniels and with

the Commanders. I mean, Kingsbury has shown I think that he's not a great head coach, and he's had some pretty good opportunities and he's yet to really cash in with him. But he's a good he's a good oc, no doubt. And they had a trick play during I think it was their game against Baltimore, and I like this, you know, I'm not sure if others knew, but he was. This is a guy who is known for being a really good play caller and a guy that is a great,

you know, offensive coach. But instead of taking credit for a trick they pulled out of the bag, he gave all that credit to Jeff brom incident.

to college. I mean, this is a guy that that and I'm sure people know this, but like before he became a really successful coach, even you know, before his days coaching the Louisville Fire, the former arena team, like he was a consultant in the NFL. Like he's somebody that no matter where you go all levels of American football, he is. He's widely respected from an offensive standpoint and

as a head coach as well. And you hear that from time to time, not only there with Cliff Kingsbury, but you know, Lou Reddick is a former NFL I mean, he's a guy who covers the NFL and I feel like he used to be We'll have to look up Lou Reddick's bio, which, by the way, he's I've enjoyed Lou Reddick on the on the call for some of these college football games. He's not somebody that I think has done college games before, but he's doing it this year and I found him to be pretty I mean,

I enjoy him on the call. He's pretty insightful. But he was just raving about Brahm as a play caller and and really, you know, saying something that that you know him put it this way, Lou Reddick's saying this puts a little bit more legitimacy to it than most saying and that is that Tyler Shuck is a guy that will get an NFL look despite his age if he continues to play really well because of how Jeff

Brohm's utilizing him. Jeff brom is showing some things with how he's using Tyler Shuck that NFL team should be intrigued by. And look, the numbers don't really show it. And I'm sure maybe I'm gassing him up a little bit more than maybe others would, but I think Tyler

Shuck's really really good. And one of the things that has just been a bit that has been a bummer for me is that I think had you been able to hold on and beat Notre Dame and maybe avoided the loss to SMU, I mean, that's what it could have should have you been in a much different situation. This would be a matchup between two elite teams right now to you know, probably two top ten teams, to be honest with you, if that would have been the case.

But I just feel like there's not as much, you know, attention on him because Louisville just hasn't won the games that you need to win in order to get notoriety and attention, and also don't want to waste him. I don't want to want to get to the end of the year with a whole hum record and feel like, damn, we only had that guy one year. What could have been? All Right, quick break will come back on the other side.

Wrap this thing up. It's coffee and company fuel. Beeth Thorton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety got some decent college football actions and I, you know, comparatively speaking, meaning for you know, for a Thursday night of an NFL game. But man, this Saints Broncos game not one that I, you know, have a whole lot of interest in. I'm probably gonna bet on it because I got a

little momentum from from last week. But Boston College Virginia Tech, I think I'm gonna trust Boston College to cover plus seven and plus seven and a half. I don't love it, but that's what I'm thinking right now. All right, if you are a pet owner and you are not routinely having your pets checked out, meaning their health, you know, that's that's that's a problem. You need to make sure your pets are healthy, and where you need to do

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they've got their big event coming up on Saturday. Pints for pausing people ten am to two pm on Saturday, where you can see how the pet blood donation process works and maybe get blood yourself. So we appreciate them over there at Jefferson Animal Hospital. Appreciate you guys for hanging out with us today. We're out of time. We'll be back at it tomorrow to finish up the week. A feel good Friday. It gets you set for the weekend. Have a good on everybody,