Day. Now here's nit coffee. I feel like I'm playing catch up here because I feel like the four o'clock hour is starting now, but it's actually four twenty five. So a little late clock management never been my strong suit, but today it's okay because I feel like it was worth it. So usually this wouldn't have been a day where we would bring on a guest like Jay Williams, but you know, it made sense to do it. We
were a little bit delayed in getting him on. Therefore we ran over the four o'clock hour, and he cussed a couple of times we had hit the dump button, and you know, I assumed it worked. I hope it worked. I didn't get yelled at by anybody like how do
you let somebody say that over the air? Now if you hear it on streaming, which I think the streaming works as well as far as the dump button, but there was a time where it didn't to where if you were listening on the stream and not on you know, treashial radio, you would be able to hear but it, you know, it wasn't anything juicy. He just I think he said to he said the S word twice, which of course is a word you can't say, but a
good conversation. I appreciate him, you know, wanting to come on and and uh and kind of explain how it all kind of played out from his end with with the the disaster that was the previous regime. And we you know, today's not a day where we want to relive that or or even discuss the what happened before
Pat Kelsey got here. But I do appreciate Jay making some time and I guess, you know, kind of explaining his side of it and also talking a little bit about Pat Kelsey and you know, the Kentucky side of things as well. So we did have somebody on the text on that this makes total sense. Uh and and uh, this is a nice reminder for me that you know, you get listeners different times of the day, for different amounts of time. You get people who listen that follow
you on social media. You get people who listen that don't even have social media. You get people that that you know, it's just part of their commute and maybe one day they tune in and they like what's going on and they stick around. Maybe one day they tune in and they say, yay, I'm gonna go listen to you know oldies to turn on the legendary Terry Miners on a you know who is just one station up
from US, right seven ninety to eight forty. But this text was you know it says, I tuned in at four o'clock thinking you were off and they were playing national radio. Then I realized Jay Williams doesn't work for us, if far, he works for ESPN, And sure enough I realize he's on your show. So yeah, I explained sort of how this all came about at the beginning of the show, So if you're interested, you can go check
it out. But I do want to kind of get back on track here, because a lot to get to if you are just hearing us for the first time. You weren't with us at the beginning of the show. As you could expect, we had to discuss the you know, the the loss last night. I said this at the beginning, and it's worth saying not to you know, troll Louisville fans. I'm a loivel fan myself, but it's something that I think fans should at least be aware of if they're not you lost to a team that's better than you.
I mean ol Miss is a better basketball team than Louisville, and they might have even been a better team, probably would have been a better team if you had Case and pryor now, the game might have looked a little bit different. Maybe there could have been some big momentum swings to where Louisville could have really got the crowd behind him. But you know the old we're all result itself.
It's not crazy now. Losing at home twice now by twenty plus points to the only two good teams that have made a trip to the Young Center this year, and you've got Duke coming in on Sunday not ideal. And I know there are some fans that kind of felt like you know, And I'm not telling anybody had a fan. I'm not criticizing you, I you know, because I'm sure I view things and have a mindset about stuff that is different than others. So I just think for those that are like, well, hey, I don't care
about injuries, I don't care about anything. You don't get you don't get blown out like that at home. This is Louisville basketball. Like I hear you, And I know why people have that opinion. I know why, like Louis of basketball is something that, to be fair, when luiall would get killed by these kind of teams with the
previous regime, we'd be upset. So like, I don't blame anybody for being upset, I get it, although I do think like benefited out is a little bit more deserving for Pat Kelsey here, just given the fact that one he's already shown what they did in the Bahamas that they are, you know, they're on a much different planet than they were previously. And also I just think it kind of came to a head last night. I think
they came out with I think good energy. You know, they were aware that Old Miss was going to be really really physical and push them around, and they knew they needed to really collectively try to work on the backboard with Casin out, and early on they did a good job, like no Water. But I don't think he played a good game, and you know, I don't think it
was a good matchup for him overall. But he came out and he rebounded, and I thought you could tell there was an emphasis, Hey, I gotta step it up on the boards because we don't have Casein. So I think they came out with the mindset, and I don't think they were feeling sorry for themselves, but I just think once you start to miss that many open shots and old miss is able to get the game played
at the pace they want and slow you down. They've been able to you know, not to give you the whole former player thing, because I didn't play basketball at any level close to the one that we're talking about here at Louisville, but put it in any sport you played, rather it be high school, college, whatever. There's certain things that I think can happen that can be a little demoralizing.
And I think for them to hold strong defensively for the majority of a possession within the shot clock and then get burnt back door like it's your fault, but like you know, it's almost it's not like getting dunked on, but like you got burned. And I think it just a collective There was a collective, a collective effort from the jump that I think you could tell they were trying to kind of block it all out, meaning the injuries,
meaning you know, just the probably are worn out. I know they had a little bit of a break when they got back from the Bahamas, but still, I mean that's three games in three days. One of them went to overtime. Certain guys played a ton of minutes. So I'm not making excuses, but I think i'll quote my man who is he? We just said Jay Williams on my Man John Fanta. He's kind of become too big time for us. I mean, maybe I'll ask him to come on soon and he'll be able to make some
time for him. But John used to come on this show pretty regularly and he always used to say this, and I think it's it's Some would say it's just it's it's how you can kind of dress up an excuse, but I think injuries and not only not having Prior and Korn and Trey Ora, but just kind of mentally knowing that you're this is your roster, like you have basically seven guys. Now, like these guys can have the best culture and the best mindset, but like those things
are just gonna get you. It's the human element of sports. So it's not This is where I'm quoting my man Fanta Milf man, I love Fanta, I said Milf, and Austin lift at his head up because I know he likes MILFs. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about man, I love Fanta. I want a shirt that says, man I love Panta. M I l f get it. And because John Fanta is the man is the first thing I thought. And I knew John Fanta before he became this college basketball star. I just want people to
know that. But it's not This is what Phantas said, and he's right. It's not necessarily an excuse. It's an explanation. Like I think everything kind of just crumbled last night because of a variety of and I don't think that they quit, but I think you could just tell body language. Man, they were trying to stay locked in, but they were pretty defeated once this thing got to midway through the second half because they couldn't buy a shot. They couldn't
really get anything going to get better looks. And then when they would get the best looks, I mean early on they were getting I think, really good looks and they weren't making them. And then you started to get tougher looks. And technically, I guess within pat system, they are considered to be decent shots and shots he wants them to take. But they couldn't buy a basket. Man, five of thirty from three is just not the recipe.
So I hate it as much as anybody that that was what happened last night, a beat down on your home floor. Eighty six to sixty three was the score. I don't like that Duke's the next game. I don't like that they really have seven scholarship players. And I now will tell you I have no clue what's gonna happen with this season. I still think they're gonna win a lot of games in the ACC, and I don't know. I mean, I'm not talking they're gonna win eighteen of
the twenty. But like you guys, realize ACC stinks and O case In Pryor was a factor and he was a big part of how you beat how you beat West Virginia, how you beat Indiana. So like not having him, clearly that's you're not the same team. But if you can beat those teams even without prior, I think you can beat a lot of the ACC. And hate to be the I told you so guy, But like I told you so, the reason I wanted to really emphasize how badly the ACC has fallen as a basketball league
in the last decade. Yesterday was because it was Night one of the acc SEC Challenge, and I knew we were going to get our butts handed to us as a conference, and that's exactly what happened nine to one last night in favor of the SEC. It was nice though, the one loss being Kentucky, although you know, I don't think I think that game doesn't mean Kentucky won't still be pretty good, but they ran into a team that
tried to take away what they want to do. And we'll get into Kentucky coming up here at the end of the four o'clock hour, because you know, I think they're dealing with a similar situation to where teams are going to be able to say, Okay, we're just going to try to make you uncomfortable and not let you get everything at the pace that you want, the style that you want, and we're going to dare you to just go beat us one on one at times. And I don't know if they've got the guys to do
that consistently. Same thing with Louisvill, to be honest with you. So anyways, I still think Louisvill basketball has got a chance to find their way to the tournament. I say that now and I'm not telling you that. I'm not guaranteeing you that it happens. I'm not, you know, making any kind of wager. I won't be stunned if they don't end up finding a way in the tournament. But I think competition matters, and you played a good team
last night. Now what I do worry about is when you play those good teams, man, losing by seven or eight would still be a result fans don't want because you want to win, But losing by twenty something is going to keep it to where you don't really even get good value in playing those good teams because you know you got killed. I mean, Ole miss was below Louisville in the net and in the Ken Palm, I believe, and they came in and beat you about twenty something points.
So you know that's not a good result. But I think Pat Kelcey is the exact kind of guy and coach that you want to deal with this. He's not gonna feel sorry for himself. This is where his energy and his personality and really just his DNA can really help you, because it would be easy to just feel like, okay,
well it is what it is. We'll just we'll try our best, but man, nobody should be expecting us to make the tournament now, And no coach would ever say that, but they would go through the motions and they would really try to give you some excuses. And that's not what he's going to do. I don't know if he's going to figure it out as far as how he can get the most out of this team that now is really playing only seven guys, and they are limited at point guard, and they're limited in the front court.
Like it's not ideal, And I have no clue if it's going to work out or not. But I do think he's the kind of guy that will not only put everything he can, every ounce of energy to figure it out, but he'll keep these guys motivated to where they won't be like the culture is going to be in a good place for something like this happening. Now,
does that result in wins? Only time will tell. We'll reset in the five o'clock out as far as just you know, the specifics when it comes to the offense and where I think they need to retool some stuff. All right, So some news on the football side, and it is signing day, and I got to tell you this, This is probably not something I should say, but I'm
just gonna be honest with you. I am very, very very happy that, like we don't have to try to make signing day a radio thing anymore, because even before nil and before the portal meaning you know, now nowadays high school football is high school fotball. Recruiting is still valuable, but it's just it's not anywhere near as sexy as getting a big name in the portal that you've watched play college basketball for multiple years that you know is good. Like nobody gets you know, bricked up for a big
time high school recruit like they used to. Still, if you're getting a really good player that you know has offers from just about everybody and he's a four or five store, yeah you're gonna be excited. But I hated when we had the previous world of college athletics where signing day was a big deal and like you, you try to make it radio appropriate and it just it fell flat. Like I would know that I'm talking about. Oh, they just got the facts in this high three star
offensive lineman from Northeast Ohio. He's he's faxed in his letter of intent. Let's talk about him, and like, I don't know, none of us on the radio would ever know anything about these guys. We wouldn't know them if they walked in and sat down in the studio and I could read to you like there's stats, but like, you know, that's not that's not interesting. I mean, so at one point I just completely stopped really acknowledging that
it went on. And then now many years later, I realized, like even if we were in the previous world, like it's just not good for what we do here on this show and really in radio, but you know it is. It is a component to your program, right like you went on the football field with wins and losses. You know, you build your roster with the portal, and that's where
I think it matters most. But still high school recruiting is a component and Louisville today, you know, I'm sure coach brom i ha didn' get a chance to hear his press conference, but I am sure that he talked highly of these guys that he thinks can can be developed into good players and helping keep this louisvill football
program heading in the right direction. But I'm reading an article here from Rick Bozig and I haven't got to read it read it in its entirety, but apparently there's some flipping that was going on, and that's that's what you want, right, kids committed elsewhere they show up on signing day sim with Louisville instead. I mean, obviously, if it's a good player, that's that's that's that's what you want.
But the article here says this is the headline, Rick Bosyg at Louisville Jeff Brohm trust his gut over college football recruiting rankings. And then Rick also mentioned at the time he was writing the article. While publishing this, Louisville jumped up in recruiting rankings compared to where they were this morning. And I would say that's mostly because of the flawed system that is recruiting rankings to where it's
based way more off of quantity rather than quality. So like they had a very small class as it was, so just by adding guy like there's a guy who flipped from Ohio a max school and his his along with some others that flipped, led to Louisville jumping up in rankings, and who knows, maybe those guys are stars. I don't know. I don't know. Who they are, just being honest with you. But you wouldn't think that would
really jump you up. But again, if you have a small class, there's really no way for you to be ranked high at all. So when Louisville was ranked dead last in the ACC in recruiting rankings, which they may still be right now, like, that's never a good look. There's no way to shine that up and make it not look, you know, bad. But I tried to emphasize then that it's way more about how many guys you have than it is about the kind of guys you have.
And Jeff Brohm did confirm today he actually said it last week that they're going to continue to really utilize the portal as they should. Jeff in two years at Louisville has really really shown that he's a guy that if you've got a year or two maybe more than that left, especially on the offensive side of the ball, especially if you're a skill position player or a quarterback, you should want to come and play here because he will put you in a position to six seed. And
we'll see what happens with with Shuck. But I wouldn't I mean Shuck being successful at Louisville and him playing for Brom, who is widely respected as an offensive mind in the football world, not only in college but also in the NFL. Like that's going to benefit him and I think Louisville may turn into And again some people would say, well, man, it shows you that you can't develop a quarterback. No, Jeff Brom can develop a quarterback. He's done that before in his time as a coach.
But he's going to utilize this new system where he can go get a guy that's played college football. There's not a whole lot of like developing from the ground up. It's taken a guy that you know has cut his teeth, that has some ability and you can get the most out of him. So the other side is like a Kentucky Kucky. This isn't even a knock. It's just a good example. And I'm not trying to kick him either down because clearly they're not in a good spot when
it comes to football. But Mark Jubes has had you know, success in Kentucky than nobody else has ever had. Clearly it's not going well now, but you know one thing he's never done developed a quarterback, any quarterback. The Ted success at Kentucky was not a guy they developed and recruited. I mean Stephen Johnson was a guy they got from like Juco that ended up like they didn't even want to play him. He just got He ended up being
out there because of guys getting hurt. Drew Barker and Patrick Toles two guys that came into Kentucky that were really, really highly regarded. They they mean it didn't work out. Let's be real, So will Evis transfer so again and moving forward? Maybe that's what Kentucky does, but they keep changing offensive coordinators and that makes it to where you
don't know which quarterback fits. But my point is it won't be looked at as, oh, he can develop any quarterback if every year it's a known thing, who's Jeff Brom gonna go get to play QB? Because I think it's going to be looked at as a highly coveted spot for guys in the portal at that position, and there's always gonna be guys there Right now. Maybe you swing and miss, but I think you got more out of Plumber than most people would have. And clearly we
look at Tyler Shuck. I mean he was in a position to where they didn't use him like the previous schools did. He stayed healthy and he was really good, and I hate the numbers don't back up that because he just because he's a savvy guy, Like he burned a lot of balls, Like how many times did he just throw it away because he had to make a play. Sometimes he threw it away and I feel like he should have run. But then I'm thinking, you know what, this guy's in college for his seventh year. He's been
broken in half. Seemingly, I would probably be a little hesitant to go seek contact as well. So again, you may miss on some, but I trust Jeff Brohm wholeheartedly, especially when it comes to evaluating quarterbacks. And look with Plumber, I don't even think the kid end up being that good.
When he went back to WKU last year and I can't even think of his name, but they thought they had a done deal with this kid from WKU that was transferring, and then he decided because Nil was Western Kentucky did give a good in il situation to him to where he decided to stay WKU. And that's really when they reverted to having to go get Jack Plumber. And you know, Jack Plumber's on a practice squad, which it's not something that you know, probably means a lot
to some people. But I think Jack will probably thank Jeff brom for him even being in the NFL at any level for even one year. That's all it is, because that's that's what Jeff does, all right. So some awards have gone out. This actually came out yesterday and I missed it, but there were a handful of Louisville
football players yesterday that received All Conference honors. Uh, And I personally think that, you know, there's some guys that probably deserve to be recognized and honored more than they
were by the ACC. I don't do the whole like, you know, they're out to get us, they conspire, but like there's certain like the one thing that doesn't make a lot of sense is that if there's somebody that is comparable statistically each week to a Louisville receiver or a Louisville quarterback or running back or tight end or lineman whatever, or maybe they're not even as impressive, but it's close. And they are from North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Clemson,
Wake Forest, Florida State. Like they're just gonna get the bump, and it doesn't really matter. These guys care about about money more than they do about anything. They're not They're not getting caught up about did I make the O a CC weekly honor thing? But it is at least something that you can you can add to the resume. And some will say it's worth it's worth nothing, but
you know it is an honor. But nonetheless, j Corey Brooks the only first teamer as far as the All ACC selection on the second team, Isaac Brown, Ashton Jealotti, and Quincy Riley honorable mentioned shuck and then Isaac Brown was listed as an all Purpose honorable mention, when Roe Mills on the old line, Michael Michael Gonzalez on the O line, Pete Niagra on the old line, Big Romon per Year defensive tackle, Stan Kuan Clark linebacker, Corey Thornton cornerback,
Brock Travelstead our kicker of course. So a lot of guys being honored. And then the big award that just got handed out within the last hour or so is ACC Freshman of the Year. And who do you think it went to? It went to Isaac Brown. So I'm just gonna say it because I it's what I'm supposed
to do, right, share my honest opinion. I believe those guys are coming back, both Duke Watson and Isaac Brown, and they both have done something recently on social media to kind of insinuate that they are going to be back and people need to chill, and that makes me feel like a little bit little bit better. But I'm
going to assume they're here. I'm not going to talk about him like if we can get them back, but I just like, until until we get like post Spring, I'm like, until the portal closes to where you can't leave anymore, and that's way down the line. I'm gonna still just kind of think in the back of my mind, like, don't be totally shocked if somebody swoops in Tampers and offers an insane amount of money and Louisvill's gonna make it right WITHINIL. But you know, can they compete with
the best programs in the country. Probably not, because you know, not many can. And if there's a guy that you know, Isaac, I think is a real interesting case study because we're still relatively new in this world of an IL and the portal and all that and I don't think Louisvill's had a guy or I guess I should say guys like Duke Watson was actually rated higher than Isaac Brown
coming out of high school. But those two guys specifically, we are in a position now where you know that anybody in the country would want them if they hit the portal. We've had good players that clearly have been able to bounce up. I mean, Jordan Watkins was phenomenal this year for All miss but like these two guys, I mean, I think this is where you probably need nothing you can do about it. It's just part of
the game now. But these are the two guys where you probably know, like, yeah, there's got to be tampering going on, because I'm sure the big time programs with the unlimited resources, who have been able to pretty much get anybody they want historically, they look at Louisville as a program will go take their guy, and I hope they don't and I pray that they don't, but we shall see. All right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side and wrap up the four o'clock hour
we've got. We'll get a kind of a clean reset here in the five o'clock hour, because there's a lot I want to get to before we get out of here, including more of the matchups tonight in the acc SEC Challenge College Football Playoff Committee. I mean, just get rid of it. Just go back to a formula police and of course we'll continue to talk some hoops as well, So keep it locked right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Now back to coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's on
Sports Talk seven nine day. All right, let's go to the text line here as we wrap up the four o'clock hour. Good text that came in earlier that wouldn't have thought of it, but I think I'm with you. This text says, Nick, I learned something last night as a Louisville fan. I'm not going to take as much satisfaction in Mark Pulp losing as I did Calip Perry losing. I'm going to miss that. I hadn't thought of it, but I'm I'm kind of as I said, I'm with you.
It's kind of got a point because I think I'm with them, Like, don't you don't you remember the satisfaction that was there when Cali Perry would lose and you know he would come out and make excuses or not do an interview at all, or not do his radio stuff in press conference because he was just cal Bey and cal and was appointment and you knew that he would. You knew that he would probably make his fan base feel worse about him, and he would do it just
because he could. Like he was arrogant, clearly stubborn and all that call him basketball Benni's And because you knew that it would, you know, put them in pain. You would be like, hell, yeah, as a Louisville fan, that's how rivalries work. But with Pope, like Pope lost, he was he was humble in defeat, he owned it. And I'm sure if you look hard enough you can find Kentucky fans being critical of him. But like they didn't melt down on him the way that I kind of
thought that they would. And I get it because it would be a lunatic kind of reaction to think that you've hired the wrong coach because he lost his first game. Now, I do wonder if they didn't beat Duke. I'm curious what the vibe would be, because you know that win has a lot of value. I think Duke at the end of the day, despite right now coming up short in every game they've played against like a legitimate team, They're gonna be really good when it's all said and done.
And I'm not happy they're coming to Louisville on Saturday or on Sunday, because that's you know, even if Louisville was fully healthy, Duke has the ability Like Duke's not one of those teams that you worry about, Okay, do we have enough talent, because they probably have more talent overall than anybody. You try to find ways to kind of limit what they do well and find a way to keep it close and win the game. That's what
Kentucky did. I think either team play great and now when be honest with you, and it really just came down to late Andrew Carr made some man ones and they held on and they deserve a lot of credit for it. But you know, the Duke, when I think, really becomes less and it's gonna be valuable on selection Sunday. But I think, and I'm just trying to, you know,
guess how Kentucky fans are going to react. But the loss to Clemson makes the Gonzaga game that they've got this Saturday in Seattle a much more, not not like you have to have it like you lose there, didn't
mean the seasons. I mean, look, there's a lot of basketball to be played, and look, they're gonna play in a conference that has a lot of good teams to where really every night you play, for the most part, maybe other than a few games, you're gonna have a lot of opportunities to get valuable wins because the SEC's loaded in basketball. So you know what I'm anxious to see, Like if they go to Gonzaga and they get beat and it's not like last night, it's more of just like, hey,
they're just better than you. I still doubt you'd see people like losing their mind about Mark Pope, but I do think that'll be the first chance to see fans start to question, Okay, is this guy's philosophy, Like you know, what's he doing? Because I'm telling you and I probably need to just to stay away from the topic because it's just nerdy stuff for basketball dorks like myself. But both of the what Clemson did last night is the
same things opponents are going to do to Louisville. Like both Louisville and Kentucky have coaches that are very analytically driven. They're both very much about you know, probability through numbers than they are about just like you know, eye test, gut feeling. And I think you can clearly have success
doing it that way. But you know the ogs in college basketball, guys who just do at old school, like Chris Beard and Rick Barnes, who you know made it quite clear, we're gonna play in the half court, We're gonna beat you up, and we're not gonna let you get into what you want to do. We're not gonna let you have as many possessions as you want to have. Like, that doesn't mean if you do that, you're gonna win. Because West Virginia did that to Louisville and Louisville was
able to hold on and beat them. Oklahoma did it and Louisville could have won that game. So like it doesn't mean if people control pace that you can't win, but you've got to have Like for example, for Mark Pope, I believe last night there really was no reason that you shouldn't have Brea in the game. Like he's a really good shooter, and yeah, he's a liability defensively, but you got to find a way to cover that up.
You can't leave a fifty percent career three point shooter on the bench when you've got guys out there that can't make shots. And that's not to say the Pope's bam. I'm just stating, like these guys are very much set in what they want to do. I'm not calling them stubborn. I'm not saying that they're wrong and it won't work. But you know, I think there needs to be some variation when the opponent has been able to keep you from playing at the pace that you want to play at.
Last night for Kentucky, you know, when they let a Murray Williams dribble it out there and don't really have a lot of structure. You know, that's what the opponent wants you to do in those situations. So I don't look, I'm gonna say it. I like more Pope a lot. I don't want to. I feel gross saying it because he coaches Kentucky yuck, But like I think he's I won't gosh, if he heard that, he he'd want to be adopted by somebody else. I think, all right, don't
go anywhere we get the popic Luck guy. Were coming up next right here on Sports Talk seven ninety right the Jungle is back for the Battle of Ohio. Let's pack pay Corse Stadium for the AFC Divisional showdown between the Bengals and Browns on