11.11: Still Learning - Hour 1

A lot to unpacked, specifically just from Saturday at the m Center, which we will. We will do that, and we're gonna get right to it in just a moment. I want to start though, before we kind of set the table and get you set for these next three hours, which I hope you stick with. Let's stick with us for the next three hours because that, I mean, why would you not taking you up till six o'clock. Take us with you wherever you go. Listen live on the

iHeart Radio. Listen live at seven ninety Louisville dot com, and I will certainly tell you how you can be a part of the show. But the atmosphere on Saturday was amazing. Uh, fans showed up in a major way and they were really into it. I I mean, I really can't feel I can't remember the last time I was at a Louisville basketball game with with so much juice if you know what I mean. Before the game obviously when it started, you know, it was a little tough to to keep the the the energy, but hey,

fans tried. But the atmosphere was great. I mean I went with my with my wife and my son, which I really have never I mean since I've been going to the m Center, I've usually always gone with the credential and I and I and I and I typically and I'm still going to do that, but just with everything leading up to Saturday in the new era, I mean, I thought, you know what, this will be a great experience to go as a fan. Take my take, my little one, and you know, my wife, she'll be into

it and we had a good time. Other than, of course, you know, everything that played out on the court. But I still think there's value in knowing, Hey, there was a really big opponent in town, a really big opportunity for Louisville, and just the second game in this new era, and the fans did their part not only by being there, also probably the best I've ever seen a whiteout coordinated. I mean, you could find the occasional fan that wasn't wearing white, but overall that I mean, that stood out

to me. I mean, I'm sure many didn't notice that, or I'm sure you don't care, but that that did that wasn't an observation for me that those that came were also well aware that it that it was a white out. There's been some times where you'll do a white out blackout and you can tell clearly the majority there were well aware of the instructions and they understood the assignment. But then sometimes you'll see, like, how can thirty percent of these people just not own the right color,

not go buy something, or maybe just not know. But anyways, there's value in knowing that when you have that opportunity. When things set up the way they did going into Saturday. The fans did their part. They were there, they were loud, and they were trying. They were trying to, you know, utilize. I mean, I'm trying to think of a moment in the game where it felt like, Okay, here we go, there's about to be a run, and we're going to find out on these next few possessions if this team

is going to get back in the game. It had to be when Ziggler hit that shot at the very end of the shot clock early in the second half that I think took the lead right back to double digits, and then they never looked back. So again we can There's gonna be a lot of discussion about basketball today and we'll get to it in just a moment, but shout out to those that came out because I thought the atmosphere was great. All Right, some other things we'll

get into, Obviously, a wild weekend of college football. Five team in the top twenty go down, which this happens. I feel like every year we get the playoff rankings and once again you just assume, Okay, upsets are are gonna no longer happen from here on now, because all these teams now they know they just they're in the playoff picture, the committee. You know, they're on the radar of the committee. Now, they just got to take care of business and we forget that. You know, that's easier

said than done. In fact, I think some teams probably play tight knowing that, Okay, we've been given the initial look from the committee, here's where we are. Let's just not screw up. We're in pretty good shape. If we take care of business, we'll be okay. And then, you know, you get tight and you don't take care of business, you end up losing. So a lot of shake up.

But yet it's also a reminder that because the playoff is now a twelve team format, that there were teams that lost that still are completely in control of the you know, their fate. As for Miami losing again, does it mean anything for Louisville? No, but kind of. I mean, there is a scenario where Louisville could potentially be in the ACC championship game. But I mean, what you would need to happen, and it's a lot of things that

would need to happen. It's just so unlikely that, like, I hate even acknowledging it, but technically there is there is there's there's some scenario. There's there's some scenario which we'll explain it later as far as how the tie breaker would work out to where Louisville could potentially be in Charlotte for the ACC championship, but I would not get your hopes up. I think it's ultimately impossible, despite

again there being a specific scenario. It's one of those things where you say, well, you know, crazier things have happened, or the old dumb and dumber line. So you're telling me there's a chance, Like I can't even give you ad because it's just not gonna happen. But I guess only Tom will tell. All Right, Kentucky, they had a good weekend, right. You got to see Louisville lose, which

I know you enjoyed. You didn't have to watch your football team, which probably saved you some sadness, and dominated buck Nell just like you know you were supposed to. And best of all, you got to see Cali Perry lose to Baylor. And I don't know if there were fans trying to lie to themselves on the Kentucky side that thought like they would be able to I don't. I mean, I don't believe most of them, but those that did say things like, well, I hope he does well,

we really appreciate cal. No, you don't it. It was a breakup, mutually beneficial breakup, But you tell me there's not mutually beneficial breakups where you still don't have spite, where you still I mean, you clearly want him to lose. It's natural. Don't fight it. So they lose to Arkansas. I'm sorry the Arkansas loses to Baylor, what five days after Baylor got beat by like sixty points against Gonzaga.

So here's what it actually does. And I'm I mean, I think I certainly not a legitimate psychologist here, but I feel like I know mentally what's going on with Kentucky basketball fans right now because Cali Perry losing to Baylor after Baylor ended up getting killed earlier in the week by a really good team Gonzaga. What it's done is Kentucky's got Duke tomorrow and I have no clue what what what to expect in that game. By the way, we'll get to it later because I'm kind of thinking

Kentucky's gonna win, but I hope not. Anyways, with the Duke game tomorrow and the Champions Classic, what this does now that Cow lost to Baylor, it sets up to where you won't be quite as bummed to lose to Duke because you're going to compare the two. It's natural, that's how this works. You're gonna compare what you're doing with Pope and what Cal's doing with Arkansas just because again it'd be it'd be I think, I don't want to say be weird not to but like that's just that,

that's that's natural given the situation. So again, Big by the way, Big Night tomorrow, the Champion Classic, and college basketball. I feel like had a pretty you know, rather eventful first week. It didn't get as much attention as it probably should, but because college football is still in front when it comes to attention and always will be during this time of the year. But you know, you had

some pretty decent matchups in the first week of the season. Also, you have a wild story where Auburn they're they're leaving on Friday via you know, airplane, taking a chartered flight I would assume to to go and play Houston and they had to turn the plane around and change plans because of who knows what. We know there was either a fight that nobody could break up, horse play that

just I guess hit a different level. But to know that they had to turn the plane around and go back to Auburn, I mean that makes you feel like there was something really scary going on to where they felt. When I say they, I guess the flight attendant and the pilot felt in danger and felt it was it was a big enough issue to where they had to

go back. So then they end up leaving the next They end up leaving morning of game day without the two that apparently got into a fight that caused the flight to be turned around, and then Auburn goes in and beats Houston, which I will say leaning into things like that can probably offend some, but I did find it funny after Auburn won, the players, you know, it's celebrating on the court after knowing they were, you know, picking up a huge victory, but also involved in a

story that embarrasses them in the program. Why not lean into it they're doing like the airplane thing, Like I don't know, if you guys know I'm visually doing it right now. Only Austin can see it, but like they had their arms out, moving side to side as if you know, they were airplanes. Again. It probably irritated some Auburn fans or you know, anybody who just thought that

was classless. But I thought it was kind of funny, you know, leaning into something that clearly you're going to be made fun of, and it's going to be a part of, you know, your story. Like if Auburn ends up being really good this year, people will still remember what happened as their season started, because what happened again

was far from far from normal. All right, So look, if you guys want to join us on the show today, you can no guest scheduled, so you guys will have the opportunity to uh to join in on the show. Five O two five seventy nine hundred is the number if you want to give us a call. Text line is five O two sixty five three zero seven ninety the L and N Federal Credit Union text line. We've got Austin in the house today. John is out today.

He has the day off, and John's going to be sort of in a hybrid role moving forward, which we can. We can get to that down the line, but he's just off today. So therefore we always go to the bullpen and bring in miss Drawston Montgomery soup. How you doing me, I'm good. It's good to plan to everyone listening. It's good to be back on here. Yeah, it's always good to have you, my man. Always good to congratulations a John too Big announcement on social media today. Oh

did he make it published? Yes, yeah, he sure did well. I was gonna wait. Thank you man, thank you for jumping the gun my bad. It's fine. I mean, we will get to it later, but I don't want I want to utilize what's left here in this first segment, just to get right into the basketball side of stuff, because you know that sucked on Saturday. I mean that that was a humbling experience for everybody involved. Seventy seven to fifty five. I mean, I'll just say some obvious

things that I know everybody's well aware of. Tennessee was just better. They came out and they were better in every aspect. Rick Barnes hell of a coach. Tennessee is a team that I looked at on paper and did not think there was a whole lot to be worried about. Not to say that I didn't see a scenario Louisville would lose, but clearly, I mean I was way off,

and others were as well. Louisville was a favorite when this thing tipped off, and clearly they didn't look like they belonged on the same Floorward Tennessee at times, which again a very humbling experience all the way around. And I'm sure for many it impacted sort of how you viewed this season going. Maybe it impacted what you know,

what you think this team can be. And I mean I would hope that there hasn't been much of a change for anybody when it comes to sort of what you think about Pat Kelsey and what he can do here. But I wouldn't be shocked if there are some that are, you know, panicking, because that's what we do around here. But I'll just say this right out of the gate, I said, as soon as this team was assembled on paper, right, we knew the pieces Pat Kelsey was going to have

to work with. We knew enough about what he wanted to do as a coach as far as what type of style he wanted to play, the identity his previous teams have had so at that moment, I guess what roughly midway through the early summer I suppose is whenever it was all kind of all the pieces were in place and you knew this was the roster, this is a team that can be in the tournament. The pieces are there where you are good enough to be a

tournament team. So therefore, if that is the bar, if that's the expectation in year one that hey, get to the tournament, you know, I don't think Pat Kelsey or anybody would would say, hey, let's slow down, let's not embrace that, because you know that's too much. This is a rebuild like none of that. So I still believe that the game on Saturday did not make me feel like, Okay, we need to back off of thinking this can be

a team that makes the field of sixty eight. We need to, you know, hope they can get to double digit wins. I'm not doing that at all. Now. The reality of the reality of this is none of us know, none of us have a clue. So I mean, I'm bummed just like everybody else, but I'm not I mean, it didn't even enter my mind that we need to reset and start thinking about, you know, adjusting expectations. Now,

everybody's expectations different, right. That's why I reiterate as much as I can for me specifically, because I can always speak for myself. If this team makes the tournament, you know, and again how they got there, that'll certainly factor in what expectations are if they're there. I'm just saying I never once thought, Okay, we should, probably, we should probably, you know, back off of thinking this team could potentially

hear their name called on selection Sunday. But if you're somebody that now says, no, i've seen enough, they won't be in the tournament, then hey, we'll see. Maybe you're maybe you're right, now I'm wrong, Maybe I'm wrong, you're right, vice versa. Whatever. So I still think they can be. But I think what happened on Saturday it was a reminder that Rick Barnes has won a really good coach

and I did. Look, I don't want to act like I was in any way feeling that beat down coming, because I talked about it really throughout the week that I felt good about this game. I thought was gonna win, and I didn't think I was really doing any kind of Homer type mental gymnastics upstairs in my brain to to to envision the scenario. But I did mention a few times man style of play, right like Rick Barnes.

His team's you know, they've played various different styles over the years, but his identity has always been, Hey, we're gonna be really physical, we're gonna play really good defense. We're going to limit our mistakes as best we can and really try to make you pay for yours. And I knew that, but I never really thought that maybe Rick Barnes might be the exact guy that could take you out of what you want to do. And he did exactly that. It was a masterclass on how to.

And I really talked about this a lot on the postgame show. You know, Rick Barnes, you know, he knew what Pat Kelsey's teams are known for. It's quite clear what Louisville and Pat Kelsey are going to try to do. They want to play a game that's going to have a lot of possessions. They want a lot of a lot of spacing, a lot of movement. They want an uptempo game. And I don't mean just like a tract me, but I mean just from a tempo standpoint, just think

a lot of possessions. Think the ball moving a whole lot, guys catching it in rhythm with enough daylight to fire up an uncontested shot. And we've seen what it looks like when that works. But what we saw on Saturday was what it looks like when somebody has better talent than you overall, and he was able to dictate the pace of that game, in the style of that game, and it and it exposed really what happens when you aren't able to get in what you want to do.

So here's the thing we knew that was going to happen at some point, right, Like we knew this team was going to hit some level of adversity because they hadn't hit any adversity really at all. And that's somebody's fault. That doesn't mean somebody did something wrong, but like, at some point all of these guys collectively were going to hit that wall of like, uh oh, this isn't good. We underperformed. What we want to do isn't working. And you know, let's hope that we look back and ended

up being really happy that this happened in game two. Now, no matter when it happens. It's never a good thing. But you know, now they got ten days off. Selfishly, as a fan, I hate that there's ten days without a game, but maybe it's the best thing for these guys because use you know what happened Saturday, And I don't mean like they should be demoralized in crying themselves to sleep every night, but it was nothing but a

honeymoon party. I think the way Pat described that after the game was nothing but Ada boys, and that's like, that's that's true. That was just really the product of the whole process of hiring a new hiring a new coach, and him really trying to get everybody excited about the future with him as the coach, and he brought in a bunch of players who I still think, you know,

you're lucky to have, you're fortunate to have. But you know, the ceiling for this group, I never really knew what it was, and I still don't, but Saturday's result is a is certainly a reminder that the ceiling may not

be that high. As far as you know. When you play teams that have a roster full of guys that have played a lot of college basketball, maybe their numbers don't wow you, but you know what, they were five star, four star recruits coming out of high school and they played an as system with Brick Barnes for a long time. Like you're gonna be outmatched when it comes to those

type of matchups. So you can grow from this and you can improve to where the next time you're playing this kind of an opponent that you know is a legitimate top fifteen team and they have better players than you overall, and they were able to keep you from getting into what you wanted to do, keeping you from dictating style, pace, all that kind of stuff, Like you're gonna have opportunities to see, Okay, did we get better?

Did we learn? And you know, I would hope that the next time they're presented with this type of situation, which they're gonna play some really good teams from now until I mean, heck, the schedule is so loaded up front. I mean when they take off to go to the Bahamas and play Indiana, they're going to be playing a team that is very talented, that has the edge in

that department. So at that point I hope to see that they've learned from the Tennessee loss to where, you know, it's not a twenty two point loss again, so and I believe that they will get better from it to where they're not going to have that be a routine kind of outing when you play good teams. But what I don't know is is there enough to work with for Pat Kelsey and this team to where you can see yourself not just competing, but like maybe winning these games.

And look, teams get upset all the time, but I don't want to have to rely on a good team to really just have such a bad night for you to feel like you have a chance of beating it. But maybe that's where we are, Like maybe we learn that throughout this season. So a humbling experience, no doubt. And now they got to sit ten days and we wait to see them play Bellerman, who I believe is the next opponent. So you know, I'm sure there's gonna be many that have issues with the all the three

point shots, what were they doing offensively? This and that? And I don't want to beat a dead horse. And I also don't want to nerd out too much on like basketball, you know, I don't want to get into the weeds on stuff that people one don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to basketball, or don't care because they don't think it's interesting, they think it's boring. But this is if there's ever a time to reiterate it again, I'll do it like. That's what he like.

The guy that Louisville hired a lot of three point shots, even if it's early in the shot clock, even if it's not like a wide open look like that. That's that's what he's gonna do. Now, what I hope they find out is, Okay, what's the formula when that is that has been proven to not be working And only time will tell when it comes to that. All right, quick break, We'll go back on the other side again. If you want to join us on the show, you can five O two five seven one seventy nine hundred

phone lines are open. It's Coffee and Company where Fuelbuth Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.

this weekend against usc. Rule added that he hopes Holgerson will can continue as the OC for the twenty twenty five season.

Veterans Day, everybody. Not a whole lot of time left here in the three o'clock hour, but we will use this time to let you guys continue to be part of the show. We had somebody who called in in the second segment there that they didn't want to come on the air, but they just wanted to make sure that Austin let me know if I didn't already know, which I did, that Tennessee had twenty turnovers. Louisville did win the turnover battle. They had fifteen, Tennessee at twenty.

I didn't know that, but I don't really. I mean, what I would love to know is were you trying to say that that's what I should be emphasizing that Louisville forced twenty turnovers, so therefore we shouldn't be as you know, and I'm not even I don't think I've been that critical, to be honest with you, but like, yes, Louisville. I mean, that's a positive that I wasn't exactly going to lead the lead the show with the reacting about a twenty two point loss by emphasizing that, well, hey,

you know, they had more turnovers than we did. I mean, or maybe maybe you meant it that, you know, maybe you meant that it should you know, it could have been worse. So I don't know what you man, That's what I You know, we appreciate anybody who listens and anybody who wants to be a part of the show in any way. That's why I always say questions, complaints, compliments, insults, whatever you've got, send them our way. Sometimes, you know, making fun of me can be the funniest thing that

happens within the show. But when people call and they don't want to be on the air, I mean, like, what are you hoping to accomplish with that? So anyways, if you want to call and you want to be on the air, you'll have to, of course, you know, get through. But calling and just wanting to talk to my producer is I don't know, I don't really get it, but whatever, thanks for listening. Appreciate it. By the way, two five seventy nine is the number. If you want to join us. We will go back to the phone

lines now and let's welcome in. Let's welcome in, Austin, Austin. What's happening, Hey, what's going on?

You know, you you basketball has changed so much right now. Man, You've got to be physical. You got to find somebody to put a body on, somebody to mix it up. And I just didn't see anybody on our team. It just seems like we shine a way when Tennessee flex, they muscle, you know, it just seems like we went into like this little light shell. Now we did cut

the lead. I understand all of that, you know, like that, but I tell you, man, I don't know if this group of guys are gonna be the kind of team that can put down a physical in the paint battle with some of the teams that we're gonna be running into. And if we get deep in march, I mean you're talking, you know, running to seems like, you know, out of the in the sec and and down the road here.

I don't know, man, unless he makes a complete turnaround and pull something out of the hat, I don't don't know if this team physically can take on this kind of problem we got right now, that's my comment.

meet the physicality that Tennessee was bringing. How did it end up where somebody just ended up with a wide

open layup. Why did they just throw it out of bounds instead of throwing it to a teammate Like there's certainly, I mean, there's all kinds of areas where you can criticize, But I didn't feel like I watched a team that you know was soft because of their nature, if that makes sense, meaning I don't think there was any way that Pat Kelsey could even closely replicate from a physicality standpoint what they were about to get when Tennessee came to town. And look, he may not have known just

how physical they were. I'm sure knowing Rick Barnes, you don't really have to even look at the roster because if you just go off of the rosters that he typically has, his teams are going to be able to I mean they're not They're not soft. They're gonna be really they're gonna be physically tough. And it's really always been the case with him. So you know, I think these guys will respond, right. I think they know that when they're watching film that they they look like they

got punk, they look like they were soft. And I think from what I know about the leader that is Pat Kelsey and the way these guys really throughout. I mean, look, you can be somebody that's known as a guy that brings physical presence when you're playing at Long Beach State and when you're playing at you know, James Madison doing it at a place like Louisville, when you're taking on a top fifteen team, it's of different thing. So we

may learn that, yeah, they did get tougher. They're trying, man, They're they're embracing the physicality, but they're just getting beat up. Like that could just end up being what happens because of how the roster was built. But I think they'll, you know, I would. I would be shocked if you don't see a real emphasis on physicality and toughness moving forward,

because they got they got exposed. But I'm hopeful that the reason it was so bad is because they really didn't have any way to like replicate or come close to seeing what they were going to get against Tennessee. So I hope that they learned from it and you get better to where it's not as much of a it's not as much of a of a weakness. Right, it's never gonna be a strength, and there's some things you can do to maybe kind of, you know, neutralize

that a little bit. But yeah, teams that have the ability to play the way Tennessee is, even if they're not as good as Tennessee or as well coached, they're going to follow the blueprint that was put out there by Tennessee whenever they do play Louisville, and you know, that'll that'll be when we decide or that that'll be when we can determine did they make steps forward in

that department. But yes, the lack of physicality, you know, and there's two there's there's really two different sides of it. One is that you just simply don't have like anybody who you'd say, okay, let's throw him out there. Man. He's just a big bull, right bowl in a china shop kind of guy. Just a guy that's just going to take up some space and when when he commits a foul, the other team's gonna remember they got fouled by him. There's not a guy on the roster at

all that's close to that. So that's really a separate part of it. But the other is, okay, knowing that you still don't have a roster with a front court that has guys that look the same way as Tennessee's, you can still you know, hold your own a little bit better than they did when it comes to physicality. And again, I believe Pat Kelsey's the kind of coach and leader that will use this as an opportunity to

really challenge his guys and they'll get better. I have no doubt they will learn and improve, and this will be a valuable loss when it comes to this early in the year, being able to see how a team like that can expose you. However, I will say, after watching what we saw in that game, with a seventy seven to fifty five loss, you know the ceiling for this group. That's where I at least as after Saturday, I'm starting to kind of think, Okay, how good can

they be? And I don't mean, you know, we need to start adjusting to Okay, let's hope we get to ten wins. No, I mean I think this team can make the tournament. Saturday didn't change my belief that they can. But obviously, you know, they got to be a lot better than they were on Saturday, and I think they will be all right. We got two more hours left. Hopefully we'll be better in these next two hours than

we were in the first hour. I mean, I hope we did well, but you know what I mean, continuous improvement right stick with us right here, it's coffee and company. Feel about Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety. This report is sponsored by rates Fence. Looking at a fairly light traffic flow on this veteran's day, Traffic on sixty five north and southbound up to speed through Hospit