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It's a meat potatoes kind of sports show because you can't trust some sports talk and Salady Coffee and Company with Nick Coffee today at three on Sports Talk seven nine day. It's time for Coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day.
Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think when we.
Are get off our show. Idiot.
The kids are playing or turn at the countries.
Are screwing it up.
Goldplay Intermurals, Brother Goldplay Intermurals.
They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not. Who's the kid here? Who's the kid here? Are you kidding me? Now? Here's Nick Coffee?
What's happening? Welcome in, Happy Monday. I hope you had a good weekend. It is Coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety Feel like it's been a while since I was on the air. I mean it's been a few days. I was here Friday. Haven't been in studio though in a while. But here today, ready to take you up until six o'clock and obviously a lot to get to. Monday is always very busy, a lot to react to from the weekend, and that
is no different today, but not your typical Monday. As you know, this is my first chance to really react to Saturday, the Louisville Kentucky game. And I really didn't have any intention on kind of sharing this or telling this story. And I don't want to act like I'm about to tell some very entertaining tale that's going to have you on the edge of your seat.
But I I didn't even watch the game live.
So if you remember, and I guess you know, you'd have to be a listener at that exact time, or maybe a podcast listener. But there was a moment last week and I believe it was on might have been on Thursday, maybe Wednesday, Austin, do you remember were you with me when I got completely sidetracked during a segment like to where I kind of like like blocked out.
I mean, I didn't like have an episode, but I lost my train of thought and I mentioned looking at my phone and being like, oh, I just got something, yes, yes, So what that was was that I and I'm happy it worked out this way.
Everything was great.
But I made a commitment to go to Nashville this past weekend a long time ago, and I never really I mean, in fact, I think it was something that I agreed to or I keep saying, like I was asked to go to a Titans Bengals game on which of course took place yesterday in Nashville with my cousin who lives in Arkansas. He's a big time Bingles fan. We were really crowd was growing up, but he lives
really far away now, so long long ago. I'm talking like, you know, early football season, maybe even actually no before that. It was before the NFL season started. He said, Hey, I'm going to be bringing you know, he's going to bring his family to come up to watch the Bengals play in Nashville. Just have a weekend, would you and Moose want to come? And I was like, hell, yeah, just let me know, you know, let me know what date.
And you know, he sent me the schedule and like the date was the day of the game, like the NFL schedule was together. So he let me know right away, like, hey, here's the date and you know, and I was like, what, oh, I owe you? And of course he's great so he's like, nothing, just I got the tickets to show up and we'll
have a great time. And I was like, well, that's awesome. So, you know, because I, you know, because I'm not the like usually when it comes to like trips and plans and that kind of stuff like going out of town for a weekend or for a week like, I usually just you know, go where I'm told, Like my wife coordinates all that. So I always kind of knew in the back of my mind I was going to be going to the Beeler the Steeler, not the Steelers, but the Bengals Titans game. But it just, you know, kind
of out of sight, out of mind. And I even knew a few weeks ago that it was coming up, but I never put it together that the that it was on. You know, it's the same week in the UK you UFL play in basketball, So and I think another and this is me giving myself, I guess a little bit of an excuse here. I the game was way earlier than it usually is. If we end up with a game that is, you know, on a Saturday afternoon like this one, it usually ends up like being
after Christmas. To be honest with you, like in between
Christmas in the New Year, so it was earlier. So again, you know, I just but I got that text message just reminding me that like, hey, you know, we're going to be getting to town on Saturday at this time, looking forward to seeing you, and I just like, oh my god, Like I totally didn't realize that, like I will be traveling to Nashville the day that they play, and usually the day that these two teams play, Like I'm I might as well be locked away in like
a you know, just kept to myself. I mean not really, but like you know, if I'm in public, I'm grown enough now to where I don't make a scene or anything. So what started happened late last week was that me realizing, you know what, like what am I going to do here? I'm clearly going to go and it would probably be better for me to not, you know, like to maybe be not in an area where everybody else is gonna
be caring about this game. I mean, Nashville is like one of the most So I ended up getting to town at around four o'clock, so hour and fifteen minutes. We get settled into the hotel and you know, they my family knew, like, hey, we're gonna we're gonna make arrangements to you know, make sure Nick can watch the game, because like they couldn't believe that I was coming, despite this big game that usually you know, just people don't
make big plans to do things on those dates. And I probably wouldn't have had I known, but I'm really glad that it worked out the way that it did. So we ended up out at a bar restaurant area in downtown Nashville, and it was on, but the sound wasn't on, and I was, you know, catching up with family, so I was watching, we were chatting, but like I wasn't intently watching and I didn't hear sound, so like
I was able to keep up. And I've since watched the game actually a time, you know, nearly two times. I watched it all over again last night, which was a really sad way to end my weekend of fish. But you know, I feel like it's kind of part of the job. I need to watch the game in its entirety, and you know, hearing the broadcast and stuff, I think gives you more context to talk about it
on the radio, like I'm going to do today. And then earlier today, I was kind of just skimming through parts and the condensed version, just trying to kind of like think, okay, what you know, where were the moments that like it felt like okay, you know, you either need to take advantage right here if you want to be able to potentially win, or you have a play
where it doesn't work. You know, you miss a layup or maybe not a wide open layup, but a decent shot around the rim, or you get a really good look, a great look at from three that would have absolutely given you all the momentum, maybe even tied it up or cut the deficit to two. Like those were you know, I was trying to pinpoint when those moments happened, so
like I'm well equipped to discuss it. But it kind of worked out, you know, good for me, because as I said last week, it wouldn't have been crazy for Louisville to win, and I thought they would come out and compete, and they did, you know, but you still
end up losing the arrival. And I've been able to, for the most part, look at the game against and again, this is probably just me because we're gonna find out probably mid January, like who this team is And what I mean by that is are they getting better but shorthanded and playing really good teams? So these losses they sting and if you get blown out, they're actually not
good losses despite these being good teams. Are you building and developing yourself as this new team that is clearly going to be with seven guys for the majority of the season, And you know, did you get did you
get better despite those losses? To where when you get to teams not named Kentucky and rap Aerna, teams not named Duke, teams not named Ole Miss, are you going to be able to you know, to win and sometimes maybe even win big because you know there's teams in the ACC that if you play them close, it might
even hurt you. So you know, long story short, we're going to find out probably within a within the next month, like, okay, what is this because they could still lose to Carolina and close and be competitive and it might have me still in the same spot where I'm at right now, which is, yeah, they don't have a lot of room
for air. The ceiling's probably not high. But and we'll talk a lot about it today from the Kentucky game, Like you could tell some guys are getting more comfortable in this new world where they're only playing seven dudes and they're finding sort of where they fit and it. You know, I think you could see that. So, like, I think every loss that they've had, like I can, I can make an excuse for it. Now at the end of the day, it doesn't I'm not saying we
shouldn't care and that like the loss doesn't count. But I think when they ended up losing to Ole Miss, it was like the way of the world kind of fell on them. They've lost two guys for the season, found that out for sure. They were fresh off that three day or three three games and three days in the Bahamas, and they just they will never shoot as
poorly as they did against Olemiss, in my opinion. Well, then they come out against Duke and they competed, and you know, they were ahead in that game for about thirty minutes. That that doesn't mean anything in the grand like that doesn't have any value on your resume. You still lost the game, and you lost by eleven. But I can still see, Okay, hey, they were competitive. They're kind of finding themselves a little bit. The UTEP game. I mean, they could have lost that one. That was
a really poor showing. But we know that that team we saw against utep is is even the shorthanded version of this team, the seven man team is better than what they did against utep And they came out against Kentucky.
They were competitive. The moment wasn't too big for them.
They I mean, they were comfortable out there and they were kind of, you know, I think, a good version of themselves for the majority of the game. And maybe you see it differently. I know Kentucky led for thirty nine minutes and twenty two seconds, but you know, I was I was still again viewing a team that I know lost and in the end it wasn't even you know, you did cover against Kentucky. I guess that maybe means
something to some people. But I feel like they're going through a gauntlet right now and I'm choosing and it's just me. I don't think I'm alone, but I'm choosing to see, Okay, this group is mature. They understand that despite these losses, like if they were fully healthy, they
might have won and we'll never know. But like I think it's important for these guys to maintain some confidence about themselves and keep a good head about them while they ride out the rest of this schedule where they're playing like really good teams that even if they were healthy fully and played well, they might still lose because again, Kentucky's a really good basketball team, Duke's a really good basketball team, so is Ole Miss. So is I mean
that Oklahoma team to beat you, they're pretty good. So you know, I won't probably be proven right or wrong about that until about a month from now, or I guess maybe you could.
Like slip up and lose to EKU.
I highly doubt that happens, but you've got EKU, Florida State.
Let me pull it up here.
I just had the schedule in front of me, because you've got Florida State coming up. That's next, That's this Saturday, then you play the following Saturday against against ek and then you play North Carolina on New Year's Day. I kind of feel like once you get to January fourteenth, when you play Syracuse, like that's gonna be kind of the stretch of games where you got Syracuse, Virginia, SMU, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Miami, NC State, Notre Dame,
Florida State, Virginia Tech, Pitt Cal, Stanford. That rounds out your schedule. I mean, think about that. You could obviously lose to any of these teams if you don't play well because of how thin you are, and maybe some of these teams end up being, you know, really good. But your performance is for the most part against Duke Kentucky and you know what you did against and again
it's hard. I mean, I still include that they played really well against Indiana, and they played really well against West Virginia in those wins, but you had Case and pryor now again, Case and Prior I think did a little didn't do quite as much for this team on the stat sheet as people realize, but clear just not
having him makes a big difference. So the team we've seen play well and win, or the team we've seen play solid too well but lose to really really good teams, that team, even the seven man rotation team, they can beat a lot of these teams. In fact, they should beat a lot of these teams because they're not good even when full like the ACC is not. And I will say this like I'm gonna give them the pass now to where like you know, and if you want
to crush him and say, hey, this team stinks. Everybody's still all I can. I did miss a lot of the reaction to the game, which I was kind of It was kind of nice. Nobody where I was was watching the game or cared other than me, And of course I stayed off social media because I was not fully live at all times. Therefore I was trying to like,
you know, catch up. So anyways, everybody still seems to just be really really mad at Noah Waterman, like he's in my opinion, he's already in the mix to be like the guy that fans are just so hard on. And look, he's clearly not played well at times this year. But I've got I've got a theory about no Waterman. Then I want to get you a little bit later on.
But my point is this, I'm willing to say, Okay, yeah, like I know, a fans want to be upset and crush team because it's Louisville and even though we're short handed, we still shouldn't be losing to these teams because you know, we're Louisville. If that's your mindset, knocked yourself out. I'm not even being critical with you. I just I guess choosing to go out to go about it a little bit differently from my perspective as a fan, and what
I'm doing is like, yeah, you know, I can't. I'd be a liar if I told you that I felt worse about this team's ability to potentially have a solid season after they played Duke. Same thing after the lost
to Kentucky, because I'm seeing some good things within. But if you get to the Syracuses and the Virginia's and the Wake Forests and the Georgia Techs, the Boston Colleges, the Miami's who at this point have proven and not be very good like and you don't bring it and you lose, I mean, then you're gonna be You're kind of in my opinion, I think you're telling on yourself right now because despite these games being losses, I think you've shown to where if you could compete with those
kind of teams as well as you have and beat some teams, even though it included prior, you should have a really manageable stretch during acc play from mid January to the end of the regular season. And look, maybe Clemson, I mean they did lose to Memphis over the weekend, which hurt them a little bit, hurt the acc of course, But Clemson and Pittsburgh are two teams you play before mid January that will give you a chance to get
some actual value when it comes to wins. So you know, we'll talk about, you know, how things played out on Saturday and just some things I took away because again, I think these guys, you know, I would imagine that when it comes to confidence, as far as the team still having like belief in what they can do. I've never once watched them play and felt like they are
feeling sorry for themselves. So I'm not when it comes to internal confidence, the guy leading the ship, Pat Kelsey, not at all worried about that in any way, not at all, I mean, and I think most would agree. But if you're critical of Pat as far as like his style of play, his decisions, I don't think anybody can can can think can accuse the guy of not being able to get guys ready to play and get guys motivated and keeping them with a good head on
their shoulder. But what I'm seeing from confidence standpoint is like Terrence Edwards is now playing a little bit more loose out there, he's coming off the bench, but he's getting plenty of minutes. They're putting him in some pick and roll action at the top of the key and he can get creative there. And that's a guy that you know, if you're ever if you're gonna be even decent with the seven guys you play, he's gonna have
to be a big part of it. And he's getting more and more comfortable out there kind of finding where he fits within this team, you know, and there's others that we'll get to. I mean, Chucky Hepburn, you know, sometimes he makes shots and I think, man, that was a really tough shot. He does that every now and then. I really hate to think that we have to really rely on that, but you know what you do. I mean, that's that's just that's something that probably doesn't even need to be said.
It's pretty obvious.
You know, you can't have like Chucky Hepburn, Terrence Edwards and Javon Hadley like all have a bad night and be really anybody. So like that's just what you know going in that the margin for error is super super thin. But the more comfortable these guys get and it, you know, there's just because keep in mind they're now playing a rotation that not only was not ideal for Pat Kelsey as far as the amount of guys he has to use, but who he has to play together.
So think about that.
You know, this is not something that like that they would ever do, and they would like they would never want to balance out this the way they have to.
But there's so thin.
They don't have many bigs, they don't have any other true point guard outside of Chucky, so they're putting edwards there. So they're kind of they were kind of restarting when they lost prior and throughout that restart, that reboot, they happened to, you know, try to find their footing when they're playing some really really good teams. So again, I would be surprised if many fans don't really see it the way I do, and they feel like, you know,
this guy's just he's in the bag for Kelsey. He's I mean, he's kissing his ass more than he kissed chris My ax ass. Like I bet there's somebody thinking that right now, and that's fine, But I know, I think by mid January, I'll know that if I was foolish and naive to think that these losses was any sign of growth or if you know what, Yeah, this team, you know they came up short against really, really good teams, but that doesn't mean that they're terrible.
I don't go anywhere.
If you guys want to join us, we will open up the phone lines coming up here on the other side. Five oo two, five to seven, one seventy nine hundred is the number. If you want to give us call again. Five ooh two, five to seven, one seventy nine hundred. This is Coffee and Company and we are fueled bout Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
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The Green Bay Packers won at Seattle Sunday night, thirty to thirteen.
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We'll get to the phone lines coming up here in just one second five or two if five seven, one seventy nine hundred is the number if you'd like to give us a call. A good text came in as I'm I was trying to kind of process the question. I thought it was a good question, but the more I think about it, it's like it's, you know, not a bad question, but like I think the answer is
really really obvious, but maybe I'm wrong. The question was because I mentioned for those who just now joined us, I did not really watch the I mean it was on, but like I didn't intently watch this thing until after I already knew what happened, and it probably was good for my mental health. It was nice to kind of be distracted and not because you can't halfway watch or either like all in or you're kind of like cat like.
I found myself wanting to look away because I knew that if I if I kept you know, if I stayed locked in, I would, you know, probably be rude to the people that I was around, or I may you know, just make a fool of myself and scream a curse word because I'm just, you know, a lunatic for this game. But the question that came in was, would you take an automatic victory for your team in the rival Louisville beating Kentucky if it meant you knew
you didn't get to see any of it? And I'm like, h like, I'm thinking, like weighing, like what, I'm like, yeah, anything like if I mean, beating Kentucky would probably in basketball just because of how long it's been and because you know it's the new era and you always, i mean really any under any circumstance, you want to beat your rival in a major way and.
You feel like you would do a lot for that to happen.
But it's if it's probably a feeling that most would describe as better than sex. I mean, that's only something you could decide for yourself. But like, I wouldn't be shocked if others are like, yeah, you know what, I've had some pretty good sex, some pretty good action over the years, but man, beating Kentucky and Mark Pope's first year, that felt just as good. Like that's not a crazy thing to think that other people. I mean again, if you're wired like we are lunatics, about this stuff, then
you know exactly what I'm talking about. So yeah, I'll I'll sacrifice for the team, not watch a second of it if it meant Louisville was able to win, and I'll just celebrate knowing, Hey, we got laid.
I mean that's not to be.
So, you know, I don't know if that's a great analogy, but yeah, I mean, like I would answer your question about saying yes if I if I knew that Louisville never lost to Kentucky again in basketball and it meant I could never watch a single game, I would take.
It to hell with that.
Let's do it.
I mean I, I mean, this would never happen, so like, this is such a silly hypothetical, but I kind of feel like most would side with me, but maybe others are like, well, it wouldn't be as enjoyable if if I didn't get to watch it. Well, you know, I guess that's that's true. But you know what if it meant like you're doing a fifty to fifty shot every time without knowing I know what the pain feels like, and I'd be able to avoid that.
I mean yeah, and you could still go online and react to it and still talk yours.
I'll ask you this on the text line. This is the first time this person has texted in the show, so hopefully they are still listening. And because it's a mean again to me, it doesn't matter, but maybe there's a little bit more to like if you get I think if you get to watch it after the fact, even though you knew the result, everybody would sign up for that. Yeah, I think everybody would sign up regardless. But you know that's just me. All right, Uh, let's
go to the phone lines five two. If I've seven won, seventy nine hundred is the number. If you want to jump in and join us. Let's go to Jerry. Jerry, how are we doing this afternoon, Sir Ad?
All Right, I'm real quick. I'm a Bron guy and I'm a Kelsey guy, but on either one of them, I'm not one hundred percent bought in. Uh yet. You know, at the end of the day, last year we sort of choked in football and Bron went up to Commonwealth and made up for it. This year. I'm not a big moral victory guy. I don't give a damn for we walk in there with four players. We got to win that game eventually, okay. And the thing about it is is this, That's one of the reasons. You know,
I talked about James Scott last year. Pat Kelsey doesn't have time to wait on James Scott. He's gotta win and win now. And when he came here, he said he's got to win now now. I did not go into Saturday's game thinking we're gonna win that game. But I'm not gonna ever say that I'm satisfied and I'm happy and blah blah blah. It's just not the way I'm wired. And not only the Louisville fans should attack this game. Yeah, we stop and think about it. What
would their reaction be if we flipped this. You know, their fans, they wouldn't have any patience for Pat Kelsey or Mark Pope getting right in the ship right the day.
Let me ask you this, Jary, do you think that they you know, I didn't get a ton of confidence that they felt like they were going to blow us out. I think they felt like they would win, But I kind of feel like again and I didn't.
I did.
I wasn't in the in the the weeds after the game, just checking to see what people were saying on social media postgame shows that kind of stuff. But I kind of feel like Kentucky wanted to be a little bit more chesty about beating Louisville, but they kind of, you know, couldn't help but hide that they felt like, you know,
they probably should. Either they felt that they did respect this team a little bit more than they anticipated, or they just you know, realized they probably should have beat us by more because obviously some other teams did beat Louisville by more. I you're right about like Louisville fans should not feel like, Okay, we won or everything's great.
I because there's nothing.
There's no scenario where you lose to Kentucky my and you'd ever be able to be anything other than angry and sad and you know, sometimes just depressed.
I mean, it's that crazy. But I do think, you know, it's hard.
For me to be angry at any one individual because I don't really know what. You know, this is going to sound like such an excuse kind of thing, but Jerry, I don't really know what Pat Kelsey can do with the seven players he currently has that would make them for sure be able to win these kind of games. Now, the criticism of did you fill the scholarships effectively? That's
a legitimate point that clearly has come around. You know, tough to know that this would happen, but it's come around to kind of bite him in the rear end. But yeah, like I want to clarify, Like I the way you mentioned you being wired, I'm I'm I'm kind of the same way, and I think a lot of people are. And that's just the way it's always going to be.
Well, real quick, you know, here's the thing. He couldn't have coached much better, they couldn't have played much better. I get that, But the end of the day, it's an l we lost, yep, okay, and that's got to be fixed. It's got to be fixed soon. You know. It's like you think that heat isn't on him for next year. It should be. I hope it is. It needs to be. Yeah, that's just the way it is, right, okay, real real quick. You know, I went back and watched
a little bit today. Remember how I talked about James Scott not being a threat. Second possession? Second possession? He had the ball, a pass from Chucky, hepburn and he was square to the rim from twelve feet He had a man. His man was five feet off of him. He turned and dribbled and handed off, turned a shot down. How are we ever gonna get anywhere? I got another one? Okay. We didn't start out good out of the gate, you know,
I think we were down thirteen to five. There was one play where Waterman busts his butt to get back into the paint, but then he doesn't turn and see anybody coming. They flip it back to zuble zero and he jams it in our face. You know. So, I mean that was like a sixth grade move by Waterman. I mean, is that Pat Kelsey's fault?
No?
You know, but I just that's an observation.
Sure, No, I mean there was I mean there were guys that did some good things that like kept it competitive, and then there were times where those same guys, you know, like, how.
Do you miss that shot?
That's literally why you were here to make that exact shot in that moment? How do you you know, how do you miss it? Terrence Edwards played great, but then he missed it. He missed a layup that like could have been a big momentum. He misses a layup, they come down. Butler nails a three on there, or no, maybe it was. It's either Butler or Robinson nail a three. So yeah, look those observations I'm with you. I'm making I'm making the same ones.
And I'll tell you what.
When you mentioned James Scott out there, I kind of felt like, Okay, you know, I can't really think of any specific like, oh man, you got to get this guy out of the game.
But it also furthered your point. It made me.
Realize offensively, he's just out there taking up space and sometimes in the way like when he with him being such an you know, he's not a threat to score. It makes a very limited team offensively even easier to defend if you're an opponent. So just wanted to say said that, and I agree.
Three more things real quick Edwards. Edwards would be a ten to twelve percent better shooter if they could fix the rotation on his ball. Just watch his ball on his shots. It's what I like to refer to as a dead ball. It's barely got any rotation. And if he would fix that, he would be such a better shooter. Okay, football players, I wish Pat Kelsey would go to Jeff Brown and see if there was somebody that could help us like Joshua Tench did, like josh Chichester did years ago.
And I got one more thing. I got a standing argument with a buddy of mine. Have I heard you say on this show before that as a senior at North Bullet that you were six Region player of the year? Yes? Or no?
No?
No? Okay? I thought I were you on the all six region team as a senior? Yes, okay, okay, but not six Region player of the Year.
No, no, not even close. I was Bullet.
I was Bullet County player of the year. If that has any value, I can give you the rest of the resume if you'd like.
But no, that is I.
I don't think I was in consideration for the regional player of the year.
I got you, I got it. It's all good. It's all six reason Nick Coffee.
Thanks take care, Jerry. Yeah, you know, Jerry's become a regular caller. I enjoy, actually really enjoy talking to him, just because I think he's got a lot. You know, he's gonna say what he means, and uh, you know some people will. In fact, I really like Jerry because Jerry gets the people going because you know, he's pretty hard on his team and he uh, he made that clear today just by saying, you know this no sent
and I get where he's coming from. I just think sometimes people hear it and they would, you know, they just maybe they don't feel the exact same way. But I've always felt like, deep down you kind of agree more so than you realize. With people that are hard on your team, you just kind of have a different way of, like I guess, approaching it.
But when it comes to the you know what he.
Said about James Scott and you know Waterman, and like, I think all that's valid. Like you can you can be critical and you can be concerned about what it means for the rest of this season. Maybe there's some things you're seeing that have you concerned about Kelsey long term. I don't really know what that would be, because we're not really I mean I really and that's not to
say that everything's gonna be great. We don't know, but like he's not he's playing with seven guys, and the other day in Lexington, you know, he played James Scott twelve minutes before fouling out, and he played Canai rus A total of thirteen minutes and he got literally not a thing from him. So you know, he's playing five guys for the most part, and that's again, it's not ideal. So I just have a hard time generating any real
like oh these guys, or come on, what do you doing? Whenever, Like, I just don't know what else they could do with what they have to work with and get better results, which, to be honest with you, at times, I'm like, well, hey, keep fighting, keep fighting the good fight, fellas man. One day you're gonna get hot from three even more so than you have at times, and you're gonna steal a win.
And like, I don't I guess I'm mocking myself there, But like sometimes I'm like, cause, again, that's kind of how.
I viewed the Kentucky game, you know what I mean.
Like I'm thinking, you know what, given the circumstance, we lost, and I'm not happy, but I've yet to kind of throw in the towel on this team potentially being able to find themselves in the tournament. But then there's also like the demoralizing side of it, like the glass you know, the glass half empty side, and that is like, wow, let me look at this stat line. You got twenty three points from Terrence Edwards and you got twenty six from Chucky. Those guys made nine of eighteen threes, the
two of them. Waterman made a few threes. He gave you twelve and twelve, Javon Hadley ten and six. Rain Smith not a great night for him, but he still gave you double digits at ten. I'm thinking, oh, you know, all right, that's a good recipe, but like, how consistently can you get that much out of it?
Like that?
Not to say, those guys played the perfect game and their ceiling was met and they'll never play another a better game than that. But you know you're gonna like you played a really again it sounds I tried not to go directly there and say it because it would, you know, it would make it even more so sound like I'm doing the more victory stuff.
But you played really, really well and yet you still lost.
Now again you got to decide, okay, are you going to are you in the middle or are you more positive, pessimistic or optimistic because you know, you could say, yeah, it was at rupp Arena against the top five Kentucky team or top ten Kentucky team. So if you you know, maybe maybe you won't need twenty six and twenty three apiece from Chucky or Edwards, if you you know, if you're playing a middle of a pack SEC team instead
of Kentucky or whatever. So I have a reasoning for why I'm choosing to view things the way that I am, but I just can't generate like any real like disappointment. Again, honestly,
it's not disappointment and it's not anger. It's just being bummed and being sad because like, they got dudes who they expected to play a lot this year that aren't playing, and now we know they got seven guys that they trust, and that just leaves it to where, you know, sometimes if you don't get the production you had from everybody,
and like, am I crazy, Austin? I know you know everybody've viewsed it differently, but like I think all five of those guys, despite making mistakes at times, nobody's perfect. But like, if you got that production from those five guys consistently every night, I feel like you'd be able to beat a lot of teams.
Oh, if you got that production from Duke or Old Miss. We're not talking about blowouts.
But it's just kind of it's hard for me to say, Okay, now you've set the standard because like one of the reasons why we nitpick about certain players is because you know what they're playing thirty five minutes a game.
Because they're such a short bitch.
So anyways, all right, quick break, Jerry said something interesting about bringing football players.
To the basketball side.
I doubt that would ever happen, but you know, I guess crazy things have happened. But speaking of football, Jet Brom did in fact land his quarterback for the twenty twenty seasons.
So we'll talk about that and a lot more.
Get back to your phone calls, and I'm going through my therapy session today, you know, kind of talking through what made me very sad between the Cards and the Cats on Saturday. It's Coffee and Company. Feel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Now back to Coffee and Company. Fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine.
Day, Are Kentucky fans still looking for somebody to to take Mark Stoops off their hands? I mean I think they are, but I don't know. They lay landed a couple of Mac players in the portal, so maybe they're maybe they're fired up for uh for stoops. Now, however, there is a new power for job open wake Forest is going to be available, meaning the gig because Dave Clawson has stepped down, and I'm trying to run through
these reports. I'm reading our man Zac Barnette FootballScoop dot com right now, and it doesn't appear that there's he's gonna he's gonna remain on staff, but I don't really know in what It looks like it's gonna be an advisory role with the university. So I would imagine giving that he's a football player, than he he will advit. Or he's a football coach, then he would be an advisor I guess for football.
But my guess is that he's.
Going to retire, step down as far as being a head coach. But like he did enough there, which he did. I mean, Clawson to me has a real, real unlikable face, which I'm sure people probably say the same about me. But like you know, like unless like you're related to Dave Clawson or you played for him, or he's your coach, like you probably would just assume Ye, I don't know him, but I could see myself probably you know, not liking
this guy. Maybe I'm just realizing that, you know, there was a connection, there was some history there between him and Louisville, and maybe that's why I'm saying that. But either way, he did a lot. He did a really
good job at wake Forest. To be honestly, that's not a good job at all, and it's one as far as resources, it's got to be one of the worst in the power for I mean, the only thing that has going forward is that there's actually a pretty good area of talent in the Carolinas, and you're close enough,
I guess to like the South. But other than that, like everything about that job is a challenge compared to the others in the ACC and of course those in your area there NC State, North Carolina, that kind of stuff. So he did a good job, so I would imagine they're probably just wanted to keep him around and you know,
probably you know, consulting for the athletic department overall. But who they would go after, I have no clue, I mean, and I'm joking because it's actually a good question though, Like if Stoops is not gonna yeah, I was gonna throw out a silly hypothetical, but it's not you know, it's not worth it because it just it's so unrealistic. But I was gonna say, if Stoops could get the same deal at wake Forest, would he go, But he wouldn't like wake Forest couldn't and wouldn't pay that because
one nobody would pay that for Stoops. But also, you know, wake Forest, whoever they hire, whoever they could get, they clearly don't have the bank roll that some SEC schools have, unless you know, they had some private funding to go get a big name like a Bill Belichick or something like North Carolina did. But yeah, I mean I doubt Stoops would ever leave for Kentucky because again, it wouldn't make any sense for him unless he just wants to
take a pay cut. By the way, speaking of football, we'll get back into the louisvill basketball stuff coming up here next couple of hours, because actually have a lot more to share on just what I took from the game, the future of the rivalry, and of course I'm eager to hear from you guys as well. I know, I know you know, we didn't have a post game show Saturday or anything like that, So if you want to sound off, then you know, we'll let you do that
coming up here in the four o'clock hour. But again back to sticking with football, Miller Moss commits the Louisville on Saturday. Kind of issue was after the game rather than before, because you know, it wouldn't have made me feel any better about losing the Kentucky, but at least it would have given me something, you know, like the joy when he committed, which it looks like it came at right around Yeah, it was at well, I guess, well the news broke that he committed like during the game,
I think, or maybe a little bit before. But had I known, like after losing the Kentucky, oh wow, we got our quarterback again. It still all works out, but like you know, I think you know what I mean. But anyways, same exact execution that you saw last year from Jeff Brahmin.
The portal.
When it comes to Tyler, Shuck figured out there was some mutual interest scheduled an early visit. I think with Shuck there was a couple of other schools that were interested that he was going to visit, but he visited Louisville and it was done. And that's what's happened here with Miller Moss. And I know it sounds like, you know, what you'd expect me to say, but this guy has has some real talent and ability we saw at firsthand
against Louisville last year. I know he didn't end up maintaining the starters at starting job at USC this year, but I think, you know, there were some circumstances that that factored into that. And I trust Jeff Brom. If he thinks this kid's good enough and can do what he needs his quarterback to do at that position, then you know, I trust him, and I just I think moving forward, and maybe it's not just maybe it's not just Louisville, maybe it's most programs, But like Jeff Brom
is going to continue to do this every year. I think he actually likes the idea of reloading with a different quarterback every year, not because he wants it. Like if he gets a guy in the portal that he likes that ends up having you know, two years.
Of eligibility or three years of eligibility left, I think that would be great.
But like he's I think he knows he's capable of finding somebody, evaluating somebody that he one believes is good enough to do what he needs, but also developing them, maximizing what you can do as a play caller with what they bring to the table as a QB. Like, I think he's comfortable in that and he knows every year there's gonna be guys out there to pick from. So, you know, I don't know what it with the nil deal cost or anything like that, but you know, it was pretty it was a pretty boring.
Uh.
You know, search for a new quarterback. Right coaching searches can be a roller coaster and can be you know, a lot, and I guess technically the portal can as well. But I think in the in the QB department, we knew right away who Jeff Brown was interested in early and they were able to establish there's clearly some mutual interest there and they got it done. So, Yeah, he's
landed his QB. Moss was let's see through for three thousand and four and sixty nine yards and twenty seven touchdowns, completing sixty six percent of his passes during his entire career at USC. This past season, he threw for just over twenty five hundred and eighteen touchdowns. Started his first nine games and then was benched. And then, by the way, as soon as he was benched, he went to the portal, or at least I guess made it clear he was
going to go to the portal. And I would bet that there's a lot of Louisville fans and I don't say this to like judge you, but like you know, you probably wouldn't have known who this guy was if his best career performance didn't come against Louisville. I mean, three hundred and seventy two yards and six touchdowns and that forty two to twenty eight victory that USC got over Louisville. And again, you know, Louisville that defense fell apart last year.
We all know that that was a factor.
But the kid looked phenomenal and that and he was good for USC until he had a really bad game with interceptions and got benched and then decided to just you know, move on and here we are. But you know,
imagine telling you remember this often. Imagine telling Louisville fans who watched USC's offense with that quarterback six touchdowns light us up and saying, remember, not next year, but the year after, he's going to be your quarterback, I kind of feel like people would be over the moon, and I don't know.
I mean, maybe they are. I just haven't really got a chance to get a ton of reactions. That's a good reaction to it. On good That's what I would have assumed.
And you know, I think it's for a few different reasons, but more so probably because I think Jeff really showed a lot this year with the quarterback. I mean not to say he was perfect, Clearly, there was some play calls that we didn't like, and you know, nobody's perfect, but I think evaluating a guy that had to be on the cheap end compared to the other big names in the portal, and he came in, Jeff used him
differently than the other coaches did. He stayed healthy and Louisville's offense was really good, and certainly Tyler Sruck was a big part of that. So I think he kind of if there was anybody that kind of worried about Jeff wanting to go this way when it comes to bringing in a quarterback, you know, it could go wrong next year. We don't know until we get there. But I think this year really showed a lot that like, yeah, I'll trust his judgment, and you know, it's not like
you're picking some randow that you've never heard of. This guy was an elite recruit and sat behind some great quarterbacks at USC before he got his opportunity, and he made the most of his opportunity until you know, one game, and then I don't really know specifically where things soured, but you know, I would say a factor in this is probably that he didn't commit to Lincoln Riley out of out of high school, and he also never played for Lincoln Riley as his starting quarterback until this year,
and maybe he knew, Okay, this just isn't gonna work. I'm going to take advantage hit the portal. So I don't want to act like there was any kind of drama, but him getting BNCH wasn't your typical Okay, we've got to make a move at quarterback because this guy's lousy. I think it was just they made a move in a really bad game for him. They were trying to find a spark because they were struggling and underwhelming, and he decided, Okay, you know, I'll see you guys later.
But yeah, I'm glad to hear there's been a been a good reaction, and.
For what it's worth, you know, INCAA Football, the game that just came out. When I'm playing it on the Dynasty mode, the computer had him I'm I win Heisman in the first year.
So there, yeah, there we go. That would be that would be amazing.
But I want to talk about the Heisman in the four o'clock hour because I kind of feel like it's still always gonna be a big deal, you know, the Heisman Trophy, but I just think, man, the free agency season, the transfer portal, there are fans that focus so much on that as far as how it pertains to their team, that, like a lot of other things, just kind of becomes background noise within college football. And I kind of felt like that was the Heisman Trophy award this year, but
maybe that's just me. We'll get to that and also get back into basketball. And we will now open up the phone lines. If you guys went to join us, five x two, five seven, one seventy nine hundred is the number. And again this is Sports Talk, seven ninety