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This is Sports Talk seven nine day. It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick Coffee.
All right, let's do it hour number two here on a Monday afternoon. Thanks for hanging with us. Coffee and company fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety Nick Coffee. That's me Austin Montgomery alongside today. As you could expect, we have been recapping a lot that went
on since the last time we had this show. I did have the postgame show on Saturday, which was a lot of fun, but we did a light show Wednesday, no show Thursday and Friday because of Thanksgiving, which it was great to have that time off and spend with family. It was also great to see a little basketball go two out of three in the Battle for Atlantis and
carry some momentum back. I know that may sound weird because of the last game being a loss, and they did lose one of their more talented players, but I mean Tennessee was was always going to be a tough game to win, and Tennessee right now looks like one
of the best teams in the country. And then you beat Indiana, which I can't say that I trust Mike Woodson to salvage their rough start, but they have talent, and I still think Louisville beating them the way they did is going to have a lot of value on your resume. Maybe not because of like an eye test. Maybe Indiana ends up not being that good, but you beat them by thirty points and have a hard time
with them being in the Big ten. I have our time seeing them as a Big ten team not being pretty pretty good when it comes to these net rankings when it's all said and done. So you know, I I going two to three in that event I thought was really best case scenario going in, and I thought that was going to be hard to do. It is kind of painful knowing that you know that third win the Battle Fortlantis Championship was right there and they just
came up short. But all in all, I think it was a pretty successful holiday break there for the for the Louisville fan base. And one thing I wanted to mention because somebody asked me this earlier, did did I did? I go on KSR pre show with Billy today because Louisville one, and he said it. I think it. Maybe he said it when we weren't on the air, but I think he said it that this was this was agreed upon before the game was played. And I'll be
honest with you, that is when I thought about it. Okay, like I love going on with Billy Love, Billy love helping him out Shannons on the road with with the KSR crew. So you know, he needs he needs a what do you call it, a second chair essentially, right,
like a guy to just kind of you know, some reinforcement. Yeah, you know, just just some backup, right, And I thought, okay, well I want to help him out, but man, if Louisville loses, then, like I mean, I'm not really sure what I would even, Like I could probably just try to do the self deprecating thing like make fun of us and make fun of me to you know, keep myself from crimes.
Works.
Yeah, so like that was kind of going to be my mindset. But then at that point, I thought, you know what, no, like they were not losing to Kentucky and it wasn't a level of arrogance. If Louisvill can lose the stand for they losed anybody. But like I just knew that Kentucky had been so defeated and when they were probably you know, expected to be really resetting things and looking at it as a one game season beating Louisville to kind of finish on a high note
despite the terrible year. I just knew that behind the scenes that like not not that I have like access to what's going on behind the scenes with UK football, but I know people who do, and you know, they were telling me that, look, now, there's not a whole lot of like, all right, we're going to come out here and be a brand new team. Like they were
in a terrible, toxic situation. And I think because it was towards the end and they realized they had nothing to play for, you know, they were they didn't have a good week, and man, I really do believe that they had their worst game of the season. And I wish I could tell you that Louisville had a lot to do with it. I mean, technically Louisville did. I mean, they ran it down their throat. I mean he made
big plays offensively, even at times without scoring touchdowns. So Louisville clearly looked like the better team in every way. But Cutter Bowley, that young man. Best of luck to him, but god, he was awful. I mean he was bad. And I know he's got talent and he's somebody that a lot of big time programs wanted, and he chose to stay home and go to Kentucky. But would you agree, Austin, Like, he couldn't have been much worse.
No, he looked all sorts of out of sorts, and I think I was seeing some pictures of like his recruiting stuff, like even before he got to UK, and he just kind of looks safe. I mean, he just looks like a teenager, you know. Yeah, it was it was a boy amongst men in that specific game right there. I probably thought that they would have had a way better shot with vander Griff if they tried it and had a little bit of life once they got a winstad in the game, and.
He threw two really good balls there for those touchdowns, and that.
Helps us because I mean, honestly, you got experience. And this is something that you talked about on the postgame show. Because I'm a loyal listener to I tuned in, I clock in with you after every winner, every loss. But like there's a lot of people that were clamoring for him just last week when he came in and he had his debuts, and I guess when Kentucky's this down and the dumps just really only a couple throws will make you go like, all right, that's a new fresh face.
We found our guy perfect just in time for the Louisville rivalry, which we've had a hold on over the last five or six years.
But even who do.
They play last week? He didn't even look that in Texas the Texas game, and he didn't even really look all that impressive. He just looked a little bit better than what they were used to only for like less than a handful of plays.
Yeah, it was desperation on their end to just try to find some way to flip a switch and act like they weren't a terrible football team as far as results and that. And that was what I said at the beginning of the year when they lost to South Carolina by a billion, which obviously that doesn't look as bad now, and it looked like, man, if they can't beat that team, what are they going to do when
they play Ole Miss and Texas and Georgia. They competed against the and That really speaks to how off the rails it was for Stoops where they could compete early on in those games, and even when they played Tennessee in Texas, they were more competitive against those teams.
And they were Louisville.
I mean, they just were so you know, they were never they were never in a good place, it felt like. But when they I just thought, Okay, best case scenario for Louisville is like if Kentucky ends up limping in here, not six and five like they were last year, because they weren't very good last year, but they were way better than they were this year. It's like, I just think it's it's really hard, no matter what you do, new quarterback, new life, try to wipe out the previous
eleven games. Once you get out there and you get hit and there's any little bit of adversity, any little bit of momentum for your opponent, you crumble and you revert to what you've been all year because you can't just become a new team out of nowhere. And that's
exactly what happened. But again, I think it was because if you remember, they got off the field pretty quickly the beginning of the game, which that actually, no, they they ran the ball twice of effectively and then had the fumble if you want to call it that he just ripped it out of his hands. And then next time out Louisville gets out there and they don't capitalize. Right, They had the mistouchdown pass to Isaac Brown, a bad ball from Schuck. You just overthrew him. And I just
kept thinking, Okay, we're leaving the door open. And really Louisville did leave the door open for them until the midway through the third quarter, but they just I mean, it was a pretty pathetic showing for them all the way around. And I know a lot of their fans really weren't that surprised, right because I think they realized, even if they didn't want to say it, but they thought, okay, we might come out and play well because Stoops always
has us ready in this game. I think as soon as you saw live action, I think Kentucky fans probably felt like, all right, this is who we are and I just want this to be over. And even when Louiell was only up two scores in the third quarter, I think they probably tried to And I don't want to be a psychologist, for Kentucky fans, but I think they probably try to think, okay, like, hey, they left us, they left us alive here, let's go do something you
really didn't believe it was gonna happen. Because again, you know your team better than anybody. You watched them all year and they were bad. So Governor's cups backwards, back where it belongs, and I hope that it doesn't leave here for a long long time. And I really I think objectively, obviously you know what I'm going to say. I mean, I'm clearly a Louisville fan, and I try
to be honest and objective. But I think you ask anybody who covers college football objectively, who knows the sport objectively that doesn't lean red or blue, they would tell you that momentum, it makes it appear that things can change. Right maybe next year it's a totally unexpected situation where for both teams, where Kentucky's rolling and Louisville takes a
huge step back. We don't know, but right now there's really not something you could point to if you're a Kentucky fan that should make you feel like you're about to start winning this thing again. So that's you know, that's all is right in this state now that the governor's cups back where it belongs. And again, I know some don't agree, but that's just it's just the truth.
Just a little bit about the game. I'm kind of glad that it played out just how the way that we were sort of talking about it, like go up, say you can go up twenty points on them and then just really kind of just kill any sort of self esteem that they had because of the way that they were coming into that game. But there was still that anst because they were still at arm's length. Even
though you're at twenty points. It's probably you know, like the caller earlier, Jerry should have been thirty one points. And then you have the easy start off the second half really good, and then you kind of get the Stanford flashbacks. Right then you kind of get the all right, is this a juice that they needed? But all in all, they just kind of fell flat right after that scoop and score when they were so close or when they were down there on their own territory and then that scoop and score.
Yeah, and that was such a momentum swinging play. Whenever they actually had a chance to kind of claim a little bit of momentum and then they had the worst possible situation happened, and yeah, you know, I felt like and you just said something that kind of made me
look at it from a different angle. I think to know that you should have been up a lot more, and you left it kind of opened for not doubt, but you know, you know you should have been up more, and you wondered if it was going to haunt you. That wasn't a good place to be in. But it never got to where like it's down to the wire, but you had a good enough lead and you just kind of let them sit back and implode. You kind of set back and just let them show that they
were that bad this year. And you know, I enjoyed seeing how bad they were.
Didn't see a lot of I didn't see a lot of L's down this week, and you know, I was I was refreshing.
I swear I didn't think of L's down one time during the game, not that I would, but like Kentucky would be down by multiple touchdowns in this game previously before it got out of hand, and would be doing L's Down like it was insane, Like I remember in twenty seventeen, the last time Louisville had won it, Lynn Boden, not Lyn Bowden. I'm sorry Benny Snell. You know, he ended up having a great career there, but he lost to Louisville more than he beat him, I feel like.
And also he was down like three touchdowns in the third quarter and was doing L's down on like a sympathy touchdown, like and it just kind of speaks to like, they can't control themselves. But that's how bad they were this year, and they were getting blown out so bad that there was there was no L's down for many players during the game.
Yeah, they couldn't believe in themselves this year. Yea, And I love it. I love that Brom just ripped their souls out. Yeah, hopefully that means has got a good grasp on this rivalry going forward.
Well. Yeah, and look, you can't you can't find a coach, regardless of how much money you would potentially have, that that can understand it the way that he does. Doesn't mean he's gonna win them all. He clearly lost one already. But you know, I don't think we'll ever have to worry about well our players unders into this fan base
and this city. I mean, they should know that, but I think the guy leading them it being something that he's experienced, that he can feel and he knows more about than maybe anybody, because you know, Jeff came to louisvill when it wasn't the cool thing to do. You know, Jeff came to Louisville before Louisville was able to really, I mean, they were just in a different planet as
far as where they are now. What I mean by that is, you know, they're now in a power conference and they've had a Heisman Trophy winner, They've gone to BCS Bowl games. So you know, we'll never have we should never have to worry about, not not necessarily winning or losing, but we should never have to worry about like our homes. We just should never have to worry about what we had to worry about with Saturerfield when it comes to this rivalry, there's no doubt about that.
All right, let's talk basketball really quickly here, so I and we'll continue to talk about it throughout the show. But I don't have a whole lot of time left in this segment. But I did mention the four o'clock hour being for hoops because overall, as I mentioned just a moment ago, the Battle for Atlantis, I still look
at that as a awesome trip for this team. I hated that they lost the last game the way they did, and I hate that they lost Case in prior for the season, which, by the way, if you guys haven't heard that, maybe you've been caught up at work and you've just been very busy not keeping up with what's going on. They did confirm earlier today before Pat Kelsey's press conference that the Case and Pryor will be out
for the season with a torn ACL. It really looked exactly like what you see when somebody has a torn ACL, and you know, I hate it. It sucks for him, sucks for this team. It changes things for them, no doubt. But I still think that you could have a team
that ends up in the NAA Tournament. And maybe I'm just falling into the trap of the toxic platform that is Twitter now called X But you know, you get people out there acting like, well, okay, you just can't you just can't minimize how big of a deal this is. This is not something you come back from. We need to just shift all Pat needs to shift attention to
recruiting for next year. Like what I mean, Case and Pryor good player, no doubt, and he was a big factor in why you were able to go to out of three and you know the game that you lost, he wasn't in there late to help you win. So I'm not minimizing anything about his value what he brings to the table. But you're replacing a guy who was averaging twelve points in six rebounds a game and shooting thirty five percent from the floor and shooting fifteen percent
from three. I'm not here to tell you that, Like, it ain't no big deal. I'm trying to give you one of those Hey, two things can be true. You're not in a position to lose a guy like him, given the fact that you already have Trey Ore out for probably another month and Corin Johnson's probably I mean, I don't know. I don't want to speculate, but it doesn't sound good Like I wouldn't be shocked if he
ends up not playing this year. Just because when I hear he's getting his second opinion makes me think that they're trying to find some somebody that says you know, yeah, he can play through it, or maybe you don't need surgery. I don't know. I don't know, And again I probably shouldn't been speculate, so there's no way to act like
this is, oh, no big deal. But I also think when you when it comes down to what you have to replace, it's really not it's really not crazy to think that they could still end up having a good enough season to find themselves in the NAA Tournament. I mean, Cayson did a lot of good things for you, but I think caseon and this, I'm trying my best here not to to sound like I'm claiming that people are acting like he's better than he is, because I think
he's a really talented guy. He's a six to ten guy that is not a great shooter, but he can occasionally make one. But he's a good athlete. He's got a good feel for the game, and he's a really good ball handler for a guy that's six ' ten. Like he's a matchup problem for other teams, and that's a real big thing you're gonna miss. But as far as just what he provided, I think, you know, Connie
Russ is a talent. The young man. Now, maybe he has a tough adjustment period getting more minutes because he's a true freshman, but you can tell he has a lot of talent. He also has a lot of energy, like caseon. So you know it's not ideal. But I will say I'm a little surprised that people act as if they lost somebody that's average. I mean, do you I mean again, this team's probably gonna have different leading scorers throughout the season just because of how the rosters
build and how they play. But you know, Cason Pryor is your third leading scorer on this team. Chuckie Hepburn is your All American caliber player. Like again, I don't want to make it sound like it's no big deal, but I think in a way this guy was maybe And again, this is a stupid thing to talk about, like which guy could you afford to lose the least? That kind of stuff, But I think losing Chucky and losing rain Smith would actually be a bigger dagger to
this team than losing Cason. And it's not because I'm saying he's not valuable, but I think you can you can do some things to kind of make up for what you lost there to where it's not going to kill your season, all right, quick break, don't go anywhere, keep it locked right here again. Coffee and Company fuel by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Now back to coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day.
We can get back to some phone calls here if you guys would like, we'll open up the phone lines. Five oh two five seven one seventy nine hundred is the number if you want to give us a call text line five oh two sixty five to three zero seven ninety. It's the LLNN Federal Credit Union text line. Members get more at ELLENNFCU dot com. Actually members get more at LLENNFCU and you can learn more at LNFCU dot com. So got that mixed up a little bit.
We certainly appreciate our friends over there at Ellenn Federal Credit Union, big supporters of U of l Athletics, as you likely know, and also big supporters of us here with the coffee and company. All right, So this text says, Nick, is there any chance we see Pat Kelsey reinvent the offense? Well? No, I mean, I'm sure you're gonna maybe i'd Actually, I don't know I'd be honest with you. I said this many times before the season started, and I've said it
here and there throughout the young season. When when it when it when I'm reminded of it, and that is that we're still learning about him. We're still learning about him as a coach. Not you know, only are we learning, you know, how successful he's going to be, but like we're learning about things that you don't really notice or
pick up on until you're in a situation. Like for example, we had a call her earlier who mentioned one of the questions that Pat got at the press conference about shooting percentages, and he actually had talked about it before they were actually before they played Indiana when they got to the Bahamas last week. In the presser prior to that Indiana game, when asked about three point shooting percentage.
And you know, I think he's going to want to talk up his guys as shooters because he's I mean, it's in his best interest for this team to end up being a really good shooting team. That one of their strengths is that they can make a lot of threes. So it's there's there's multiple reasons why you would expect
him to. Really, I don't know, I'm trying to find the right way to describe because I don't think that he was totally dismissive of the question, but he kind of instead of just acknowledging, what is a fact that this team is not shot it that well, he kind of just acted like, well, that's the last thing I'm worried about, because I think he look, he sees these guys in practice. He knows that they are able to
make shots. But you're shooting twenty eight percent from three, and to be honest, the guy you lost, I mean he was shooting fifteen percent. Case in Pryor on the season was shooting fifteen percent, and it was he was five of thirty three. Man, I know that guys have the green light and you can be taken out of a game if you've got a good look within a rhythm and you don't take it. Because that's just what
he wants to do. And I understand that. So I guess if you're asking if he's gonna change how they play offensively as far as like shot selection, I really don't think so, I really don't, And I think you can implement every every bit of what he wants to do his style, his identity as a coach, and yes, he built this team with pieces that fit exactly what he wants to do. I'd say they probably are missing a traditional big a little bit more than people realized
that they would. I mean, obviously don't helped losing a six to ten guy in case in prior, but he wasn't somebody that you really felt like was going to you know, he wasn't much of a physical presence. But again, he's one of your bigger players, so you know, I think the Indiana game is a perfect example of what you can do when networks. Because Indiana or Louisville didn't shoot the ball that well. Against Indiana, I mean they did.
I mean they made threes, and honestly, it probably was their best game of the season when it comes to three point shooting. So I probably shouldn't state that they didn't shoot it that well. But you know, in that game, I'm pulling up the numbers here. As a team, they shot thirty seven percent from the that's pretty good. I think they can do better, but like that's that's pretty
good if you're making ten to twenty seven. So they made enough, and it really helped you put the game out of reach for Indiana because you can just bury a team if you get Rainsmith open and transition, he knocks down a couple and you're already up ten or twelve. So I think that was an example of when it works and you get a team playing out of their comfort zone, you have sped them up and they don't know what to do. They're turning it over left and
right like Indiana was. They're missing layups because they're uncomfortable, they're out of their comfort zone. And you thrive in that style and that pace, And that's a team that I don't care what anybody says. Indiana's got a lot of talent, a lot of talent, but that didn't matter. Louisville was dictating the way the game was played, and Louisville was able to clearly do that a lot better than Indiana was. As far as just that frantic pace.
Some people hear pace is like, okay, well you don't want to run with them, because man, they got great athletes. That's true. Like if we're talking who's better in transition at running the floor and dunking on somebody's head, I would say that Louisville probably won't be great at that compared to some other really good teams they play this year. It's more about just frantic up and down, and at
times it frustrates louisvill fans. Right, you're thinking, why they held you jack up that three, We're seven seconds into the shot clock. You could have made a few more passes, got a better look, value the possession, like this is still new to us to what we're getting used to it. So you saw a great example of if a team doesn't and I think quite literally Mike Woodson showed up
thinking it doesn't matter what they want to do. We're better, We've got better players, We're just gonna go win, and it backfired on them in a major way where they lost that game by twenty eight points and it should have been forty. I'll never forget the press at the end of that game where they scored seven unanswered points in the final twenty nine seconds to take that from a thirty five point victory to a twenty eight point victory for Louisville. So that was a really good example.
And I think the next day when you played West Virginia, they did a much better job at not letting Louisville get into what they wanted to do. And every team's going to do that, right the blueprint is now out on Louisville as far as what you can do to make them a tougher team to or you know, an easier team to beat, and that is get him playing slower than the half court because that's not really their comfort zone. So I will say this, the West Virginia game,
to me, was so impressive because of that. Louisville played a game that really is not I mean, that's the first time we've saw them in a game where actually Tennessee. Tennessee did it to them, and you saw how in the half court, man they didn't have an answer. Well, you found an answer when you're in the half court. And teams have clearly made it a point to not
let you get into what you want to do. They have a bigger they're a bigger dictator in pace of play, style of play, and that's going to happen because that's what any good team would do, is to make sure that their emphasis is let's not change who we are, but let's also not let them get into controlling how this game is going to be played as far as pace and style. So I think West virgin You did
that on Thanksgiving. The next day, Oklahoma did it, and man, they ran some half court sets that were really, really impressive. I'm not kidding you when I say this. I'm not even making a bad joke here. Porter Moosa is a really good coach. You know why people don't know that because Sister Jean's old ass took a spotlight. That's the guy who went to the Final four at Loyola and had like two really good runs at Loyola, and it was all about Sister Jean. I'm not even kidding you.
Like a Sister Jean Merchant, Yeah, I mean she absolutely was all people thought about during that run. And you know, would they go Sweet sixteen, Final four? I think they.
Didn't, didn't they They made the championship one year, didn't they?
No, they din't playing a title game, Okay, but they made it. They I know they had a Final four and I'm pretty sure they was a final They had a Sweet sixteen at some point. So he's a good coach. He's really good. I love his action in the half court.
Like I think he's a really good coach. And when it comes to that, but people probably don't know it as much as they should, because again, he wasn't somebody that you even really knew a whole lot about during that Cinderella run because it was all about Sister Jean. And I'm not saying that to make fun of Sister Gene. I'm just saying that's why, like you probably don't have as much respect for him as a coach as you should. At least that's the way I see it. So anyways,
you found your answer in the half court. Give the ball to Chucky Hepburn and let him be your guy that initiates everything. He can go get a bucket himself. He can score the ball, he can make shots, he has such a great change of pace when he's got the ball in his hands. And I don't know what was said to him when they got to the Bahamas, or maybe before they took off to go there, but the way he played and what he said after games makes it quite clear that somebody told him, look, dude,
you got the goods young man. Like I know, this is a team and Pat Kelsey's teams have always been great because of a collection of players and really not one individual that can just do some things out there. But Chucky Hepburn is far and away your best player, not even close. So like they're still going to try to Pat Kelsey's I'm not going to say, hey, look,
you take every shot. We're just going to hand you the keys and tell everybody else to get out of the way, because again, you're not going to change your identity. Pat's not gonna just start being a different kind of coach now that he's at Louisville. But I think also he's dealing with a point guard. And he said it, he said it after the game when they beat West Virginia that he's never he's never seen an individual point guard performance that he coached in quite like that. And
that's how good Chuck. He was so in the half court. If you're unable to get into what you want to do, I mean, I don't think we're gonna see it, but man,
I'd be cool. I'd be cool if it turned into like, Okay, we didn't get up the floor before everybody else for somebody to get a transition three, not a fast break bucket, but like you know, Noah Waterman snuck out or Noah Waterman got a rebound and didn't do an outlet pass because he's got the greenlight to just get up the floor and play fast, and sure enough he found rain Smith,
who's spotting up in the corner three ball. Like, if you don't get into that, get it to Chucky and then I think at that point, be a little more
selective with your shots. I don't think it's gonna happen, and it doesn't mean that, like, you know, who knows, maybe this team ends up becoming a really good three point shooting team, because one thing we can all agree on, Losing case In Pryor sucks because he's just talented and one of your better players and you already have two injuries, Like it sucks, but nobody can tell me we lost
a shooter. I mean, I know his three point shooting last year was fine at South Florida, but like there was a reason case In Pryor was open every damn time because the opponent's like, yeah, we'll take that because if he's slashing getting too the rim, that's where we're in a little bit of a tougher spot. But if he wants to shoot threes, we're not gonna maybe dare him, but man, like we'll live with him firing up ten threes making one, and I don't mean to pile on
especially now that he's injured. I feel terrible for him, but like you're you're not losing a guy that you know is valuable when it comes to making three point shots. So to answer your question, and I don't really know that you just asked him, he's going to recreate the offense.
I mean, I think you're probably still gonna see a lot of the same and there's gonna and there's there's good reason for that, because you know that if the game just gets sped up, let's just say for forty percent of the game it is played at that frantic pace, that's still gonna benefit you more than it's probably gonna
bit off anybody else. Now, what you don't want is scoring droughts and going into lolls like we've seen before, and you know, there's not as much consistent stops at times during that frantic pace to where like, if you're put it this way, if you're getting into what you want to do but not making shots and you're not scoring a bunch of points off of turnovers from the other team, that's where I think your danger zone against good teams just because you know this team is not
loaded with talent, so you're gonna see a lot of the same stuff. I just hope that everybody gets a little more comfortable after the Bahamas with it being Dare I say in the half court that Chucky Hipburn showed and I don't, And I don't know why you wouldn't want to do that, because he's not just somebody who is your best option to go create for him himself or others. I think Chucky's really really good and he
showed that again. He went up, he went head to head with Javon small Court, the guard for West Virginia. He's having one of the he's having a phenomenal season. He's one of the best guards in the Big twelve right now, i'd say, and Chucky went head to head with him and both played well. But obviously Chucky got the best of him. So you know, him having thirty two against West Virginia. I know a lot of that came in overtime, but he also got to the line
a lot. He shot seventeen free throws like that can be something. And this is something that they did a good job in the Bahamas. Get getting into the bonus that kind of stuff. So I don't want to put so much pressure on Chucky, but it isn't really about Hey, you need to really step up your your productivity, even more so because you lost case in Pryor. It's more so than anything, because look, you got something special there.
That guy's a really good player, and he was just too passive before they got to the Bahamas and somebody talked something into him, or it might have been Peyton. I know he was really complimentary of Peyton as far as being a good mentor to him, and there's no better mentor I think you could get than Peyton Siva. But he played with confidence, He played aggressive, made big time shots, was always in the moment, and before that
we didn't see it. And I think more than anything, it may not even may not even have been lack of confidence. But he wasn't asked to do that at Wisconsin, right, and he knows that, like there's gonna be his job is to be the point guard and run the team. But I don't know. I wish I did know as far as what happened to make it to where he just kind of went out there and played with that kind of confidence because it was it was huge, and yeah,
I mean twelve against Oklahoma. He was too quiet early on and I was a little I mean I was a little worried that maybe he got complacent again. He did step up in the second half, made made some big plays to kind of, you know, keep you in it late. But he needs to be the most aggressive guy on your team. He needs to be taking I think, the most shots for this team to be a tournament team that maybe can win a game or two when they get there. And I would have said that before
Case and Pryor got hurt. So again, losing priors is tough, but I find myself kind of feeling like I am in the minority and thinking that this is not ideal. You become less talented. You got three key guys injured. But I've seen enough from everybody else to where I feel like you can still go out there and put together a good enough season to get into the tournament. And the net rankings came out today, by the way, the first edition, which I'm sure by now everybody knows
what that is. It's the it's the formula the NCAA uses to really, I mean, it's not the only thing they use, but they use it more than anything. Right, there's ken palm, there's the ape pole, there's the eye test. What they put more into the process of seeding teams and deciding who gets in the tournament is their own formula. And Louisville because they've played the Battle for Atlantis against
three good teams and an elite team in Tennessee. Here they are with two losses, but they're still in the top thirty. I mean they're five and two and their losses one by a lot to Tennessee. But it doesn't hurt you that much because Tennessee right now is number one in the country in the net rankings. And against this Oklahoma team, I mean they're now sitting at they're sitting at whereas Oklahoma are they behind you?
I don't even know if they're in the top twenty five.
Let's see, Yeah, they're Wow, they're in the they're thirty seven. For some reason, earlier I thought that that they I saw them up higher. So Louisvill is actually ahead of them, which you know, isn't you know? I Mean it's not ideal, but they and they did beat you, so they've got they've got that but you can play. And I'm not saying this is the way that it should be. I've complained about this for a long time, but it is
what it is. Maybe this is now the year where I'm like, all right, great, I love these net rankings because it favors Louisville. If you're playing really really good teams and you're competitive and you lose a close game, it really doesn't hurt you in these numbers. I mean, they don't factor in losing and winning as much as I think they should. But hey, use it, use it to your advantage. Like, for example, well, when you play Duke coming up? Is that Sunday by the way, yes,
it is Sunday at six o'clock. What a random I mean, I don't love the spot there. But you do have a home game against Duke, and that's I mean, that's exciting. But when you play Duke, who is currently ranked number four in the net rankings, if you play them competitively and you lose by like I don't know, three or four points, I wouldn't be shocked if you jump up substantially in these numbers. Like when I say substantially, I mean like I think jumping up four spots after a
loss would be substantial because you lost. So I think if you can compete against the really good teams and win a couple of them, like tomorrow night against Ole Miss, you're going to realize that once you get to the ACC teams you played in the Bahamas, which we all know they could have easily gone three and o in the Bahamas. Those like those teams are substantially better than I think seventy five percent of the ACC, maybe more than that, like Carolina and Duke's going to be a
tough out. Pittsburgh's off to a phenomenal start, their number five right now in the net rankings, but elsewhere. I mean not to say you won't slip up and lose to some of these teams, but I mean the ACC, the issues they've had in basketball, as far as just declining as a hoops league, it ain't going anywhere. In fact, it's I think continuing to be a downslot, and I don't like that, but hey, take advantage of it. In
year one of the Pat Kelsey era. All right, quick break what we'll do on the other side here as we wrap up the four o'clock hour. Haven't talked about it. Yet. But last night, man, both fan bases, it seemed to be a big talking point, not really among each other, like as far as Louisville Kentucky fans going back and forth, but Kentucky fans thinking, oh my god, no, we can't lose the big dog. We can't lose the big dog
to Louisville. And then on the Louisville side thinking yeah, like I don't know we'd need him or want him. But man, if it makes them sad, come on down. And it's it was all for nothing. And I don't know a damn thing about what really happened, but I have a theory, an educated guess as far as what happened, and I think it was a failed to attempt from Vince Marrow. I mean that's the way I see it. All right, don't go anywhere. We'll wrap up the four
oclock hour. On the other side, we're taking you up until six o'clock, So hang out with us. I'm Nick Coffee. He's Austin Montgomery, and this is Coffee and Company fuel about Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Now back to Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven to nine day.
So look, Kentucky football in a in a really tough spot. Man, you hate to see it, and I hope you can sense the sarcasm there, but they want their coach gone. He's not walking away from nine million dollars a year.
They're defensive coordinators trying to get out and I really don't know for sure, like what happened with Vince Marrow, but he's done this many times where he either legitimately does have another opportunity that he's not going to take, but he wants to utilize his relationships with people who cover Kentucky to have them float stuff out there that you know, probably one isn't going to happen, and maybe sometimes like it's just not even real. I mean, he has had opportunities.
I think Michigan was a school that wanted to bring him back and or wanted to bring him there. And I don't know if he was there before, but I feel like he has roots in the Big Ten. Maybe I'm just making that up, but and he decided to stay, Like I think there's at least been once where he did in fact decide to stick around. But then like every year there's and it always comes from like Justin Rowland who covers Kentucky for Rivals, or somebody within KSR.
And here's here's what I will say. And I've said this before, and I really want to emphasize this. I don't believe that any of them make this up, and it is technically in their best interest if they're getting information from the program rather be a coach himself or somebody connected. I mean, that's the game, you share that. So I don't think anybody's lying. I think they're being misled and I think they're being used, and it happens
very often. So when I make fun of Vince Merrill's name coming up for jobs, I'm not clowning the people who put it out there. I'm clowning I guess. Really him and Pits Merrow is not really involved in a lot of game planning, not really involved in a lot well I shouldn't say game plann because I don't know that for certain, but I know on the sideline during the game he's not really relied upon for much and
maybe a lot of assistants aren't like that. But for people to act as if like Southern miss was gonna hire him as a head coach like that's insane, Like that's just not real life. Didn't he get mentioned for like the Cincinnati job or something when it opened up before they hired Sadderfield. Like when I say mentioned, I just mean like Kentucky fans are talking about, oh, we gotta oh we don't want to lose him, and look, it's nice to be wanted. And clearly he's a guy
that is golden in Lexington. They can be as bad as they are this year, and the big worry is how do we keep the big dog? So whenever it became a thing yesterday from somebody within KSR, it was Nick Roush, who is very connected to Kentucky football. And a lot of people didn't know this, but Nick Roush is Jeff Bram's cut. Did you know that Austin?
No?
I did not. Is that not crazy to think about because he's like a Kentucky terrorist, Like he's a he's like one of the worst as far as trolling Louisville. I know, I know Nick, and I like Nick a lot, and I think he works his ass off and what he does. But you know he would acknowledge like he's he's a terror when it comes to going back and forth like he's somebody that when you think about Jam, I just wish we could shut those Kentucky fans up, the ones who are, you know, gloating on Twitter and
taking shots at the rival. I think it's from here in Louisville, isn't. Yeah, he went to his sales. He's I don't know the exact connection. I think I have a guess of the South. I think I have a I think I think I know how the connection is as far as relationship. But it's not my business to share that. But it hit me yesterday that you know, and that's to me, that's what made it to where like, Okay, I'm at least willing to acknowledge that there may be
at least something here. As far as Nick being the one to break the news that Louisville wants Vince Marrow because Nick, I don't know if he has a lot of close access to U of L. I think he has some, clearly, just because of what he does and obviously because of his family. But that made it real for a lot of people that there could be something here.
And I'm not here to tell you that it's not real, but I have a hard time believing that there was ever any real threat of Vince Marrow leaving Kentucky to go to Louisville, because one, who does that make sense?
For?
Like who what? Vince Marrow made one point three million dollars last year at Kentucky. Who's justifying that at Louisville? Who's paying that? Like, why would you do that? That's
a lot of money. And he's a good recruiter and that matters now, But like if you're going to go steal your rival's lead recruiter because you do value what he can do, and you actually, you know, also are willing to acknowledge it to be nice to stick to them, and they can no longer get good talent there because he's the guy that brings the good talent to Kentucky.
Fair enough, but you can't make it make sense from a financial standpoint, And Vince Mayrow would not leave Kentucky to take a pay cut to go to Louisville and become a villain. Like it made no sense now what I did not know? And I learned this yesterday, and this makes sense. Jeff Brom and Vince Merrill were teammates in the XFL for the Orlando Rage. I had no clue. I had no clue. Vince Merril played football in the XFL,
so they do have a relationship. I do know that when the coaching change happened, Vince he does a lot of respect for Brom and Bram's family and whatnot. So you know, I knew they were friendlier than the previous staff at U of L was with the UK guys because they just got shoved in lockers by the big dog and stoops because they were whimps. It seemed like, I mean, I don't mean to make it personal, but
that's what it seemed like. So you know, last night there's people claiming maybe Vince was gonna leave all and I just I just like when something just sounds so insanely unbelievable in every aspect, it usually isn't true. And Matt did say this morning that Lowell made a big run at him, and again I don't I believe Matt got that information from somebody. I think he's making it up.
But here's what I here's what. I had a really really hard time believing they were going to go try to hire Vince Mayrow and pay him one point three or four million, Like that's just not really Like that made it to me not real. Now, if he was trying to find a landing spot because Stops was gonna be leaving, that would make sense, but he would go
where Stoops was gonna go like that, he wouldn't. I mean, he might consider other options, but like the scenario where he comes to Louisville just made no sense at all.
And I would have been okay with it if, like you know, it ain't my money they're spending and if it brings you more talent and it makes them worse than hell, yeah, But like I just couldn't get into it because I just one, we've seen this before where he gets mentioned for certain things, and like I just I don't think much of it has ever been really true. But that's all anybody was talking about last night, the
big dog goodness. All right, Well, take a break. We got the five o'clock hour coming your way, and a lot more to get into as we continue to react to a phenomenal holiday break. Kind of shaking off the rust a little bit today, But I've had fun, so stick around. Why would you not? What else you gonna do? It's five o'clock. This is when we shine right here, on Coffee and Company on Sports Talk seven ninety