It's time for Coffee and Company, Fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
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.
Goldplea inter murals, Brother, Goldpleay 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?
All right, let's get it started.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls welcome in Game day edition of Coffee and Company, Fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. I don't know why I said that so much like a robot, But.
I'm not a robot. I'm human. Hey, I's take, I'm a man. Yeah.
So I was watching you mentioned Ai, I was watching a show that you were really guessing up, which I value your opinion a lot, Austin, So thank you you were talking. I've heard great things about it. The wife and I we watched two episodes last night. The show so far is phenomenal. Landman Billy Bob Thornton Blairmount Plus. At the beginning of the episode, they're showing it's either Billy Bob Thornton or it's the one of the leaders of the crew that his son works for.
That of course, we know what happens early on in the.
Episode, so no spoilers, but one of them is driving a truck listening to the radio and kind of talking back to it. But it's like talk radio, and I mean it's almost like they were introducing something that to my knowledge doesn't exist yet, at least I hope not. But it was like AI talk radio, like hey, tell me what you want to listen to, or when it comes to the talk format and it's like a robot.
It sounded like a robot, and it scared me because like, wait a second, are they going to place us, which I mean they can't. They can try, can't do that, can't do it. They not like us, They not like us because we're not robots. We're we're really humans. But you like the show so far, Oh my gosh, it's great.
Oh really, I love it. So I'm glad you do everything about it.
I mean, Taylor Sheridan, that's who, that's that's the name, correct, that's the guy Taylor.
Yeah, he's I.
Mean, anything he touches is phenomenal and really one of my favorite shows of all time. It wasn't when it wasn't that one of his first shows, Sons of Anarchy, I think it was.
Yes, I haven't watched Sons of Anarchy, but he also does that in Yellowstone Oh yeah.
I mean yeah, I honestly, when you look at when you look at Yellowstone Landman, although it's new, and then you look at Sons of Anarchy, I mean, the guy is I mean, he's he's anything he puts together. When it comes to series like that, it seems to be it seems to be phenomenal. But anyways, I I've always told myself, well, hey, like yeah, people don't listen to music the way they used to, but we're the music.
Like you know, you can't just turn on anything and get it is because I mean, iHeart media pays a pretty penny.
To be able to get this. H I mean they pay something. I mean that's.
Certainly the fans don't get to see your beautiful faces true today, So like truth, I'm on the better end of that.
Yeah, I tell you what I mean. AI is a really powerful thing, and I've found myself utilizing it here and there for things, and it scares me because creative people, which technically that's.
What this is. This is, this is creative art here.
I mean, it sounds really self serving and just ridiculous to say that, but technically our job is to try to entertain and keep you listening, and of course you need to be creative in ways to do that effectively. So I think you know what I mean. But AI is I'm not scared of AI becoming too powerful to where like we get overrun by artificial intelligence like robots, but it is sphere.
It does scare me that it could quite literally wipe out not just.
Low level, entry level and look, those jobs are important too for people, especially if it's what you rely upon and that's your career, that's how you make a living.
That's a scary thing.
But I think for those who haven't really dipped their toe into the world of artificial intelligence, they would be shocked to see the type of positions, the type.
Of careers that it could wipe out.
Which again it's a scary, scary thing. But anyways, I didn't mean to sound like a robot. I'm not a robot. I'm a real human. I'm a man, damn it. And we're ready to rock and roll for the next two hours and fifty five minutes. So game day Louisville, n C State. We'll certainly talk a lot about that. Kentucky, they just keep beating teams they shouldn't beat when they don't have a full roster. It's a very unusual resume for Mark Pope. But I'll say what I've said many times.
His resume at this point isn't perfect by any means, and their season hasn't been perfect by any means. But I think if you look at the losses they have, you can justify them for the most part. And I think if you look at the wins they have, you really can't make much sense of it other than the fact that this guy's a really good coach. I wish, I wish that wasn't the case, but I think that's that's exactly what's playing out. So again, we're loaded the
rest of the way, taking you up until six o'clock. Yesterday, we had a guest scheduled and I completely forgot about him.
I don't know how that happened, but it did.
We had our man Kevin Sweeney, who covers college hoops for Sports Illustrated, set for four thirty, and I just completely forgot about it. I think I mentioned at the beginning of the show, and then of course, you know, I forgot and then he's like, hey, where you at? And I ghosted him, So I kind of feel scared to even ask him now, like maybe he'll say, well, no, you had your chance with me yesterday and you missed it.
It's like no showing for a date or ghost in a chick and then like and then acting like it never happened. I'm sure that happens a lot with guys, right. I could see a lot of dudes out there just like, hey, what's up, knowing you haven't actual like knowing you haven't spoken a long time, and the last communication was her like asking like, are you alive? I bet that happens pretty often now that I think about it. But anyways, Valentine's Day's coming up, and I just I'm in a
good mood. The weather sucks, but it's game day and the vibes are strong on my end because I was just asked to go on a Valentine's.
Day date with my wife, Oh look at that.
Yeah, And I said, yes, she's she's she didn't have to sweat it out anymore. She's she's, she's good. We're gonna be good for Friday because.
You guys skip the Christmas thing, right, So, like Valentine's is is that always going to be a thing.
So I'm glad you asked Valentine's Day. To me, It's never really been a thing we we were, I mean, of all the holidays that we celebrate together, I mean we I would say Valentine's Day is the one that really consistently. It's just never really been much of a thing for us, Like we'll.
We'll have a night.
We'll never do it on actual the actual day of the holiday, just because it's it's impossible to get it to get a spot at certain at most places. But Valentine's Day. Again, if it's like your favorite holiday and you love celebrating it with your significant other, that's awesome. I've gotten to the point where I now I hate mentioning things that like I'm not as big of a fan on because I don't want it to sound like that I'm anti these holidays and that like I'm I'm
I'm judging people who do like it. I mean, you can like whatever you want. It's just it's never and it's a cliche you hear from time to time. But like we we are in love every day, like we do, you know, we celebrate. I mean, I don't know if we celebrate, but I mean, like Valentine's Day, is it more for like puppy love, like a new thing, Because if you've been with somebody for twenty five thirty years,
well maybe longer. Obviously you can still celebrate the holiday, but like that feeling of that day doesn't really do much because again, I have it every day. You know what I'm saying exactly do you all? Do you and the significant other, the fiance?
Yeah? Do you guys?
Are you guys big on the holiday or is it kind of just whatever?
We've always gone out for Valentine's Day? Yes, and we're we're doing it again this we're doing it again this year, actually doing it tomorrow because it was pretty tough. I tried to call a couple is a couple of weeks ago and they were already booked out for Friday.
And the good on you, so you know, like hey, because you guys are foodies, and you know, if you want to get a spot at a nice place on Valentine's Day, especially considering it's on a Friday this year, like you got to call ahead of.
Time, it's tough.
So we're going to La Chase. Have you ever heard of that place? No, it's like a French restaurant. The Fance loves that kind of stuff. She's traveled all over the world. She's see where I'm fine with the place that has just like chicken fingers and like double cheese Western burgers. She likes a little bit more exotic of She has a little bit more exotic of a food taste. So this place is like French. I don't like any
of that stuff. I can't pronounce anything on the menu, so I'm gonna I'm going to probably ask for a burger or whatever that their steak is. But we're We're still doing it as long as she's happy. She's just more or less happy that I'm the one that planned it. Right as we've gone along, It's like, I want you to plan the dates. I want you to like she wants to feel wanted to. You know, I just can't be complacent. So that's just it. She's been begging about that place for a while.
It's the little things, man, It's the little things, like hey, making sure that you did call ahead, you got the reservation. I mean, it's not like it took a whole lot of work, but no, but it'll go a long way.
You know what.
I paid tomorrow too perfectly, so I'm gonna have my paycheck and it drained in the exact same day record time.
Let me ask you this when it comes to a lot of the restaurants that you've been able to try with your fiance. And one of my favorite lines ever because for those who don't know what a food influencer is the soon to be missus Sidney Montgomery.
That's right, she gets to go try these.
Fancy restaurants and she'll document her experience with photos, video, and you know, it's a good look. If you've got a restaurant and she comes and gives you a good review, that's kind of how it works. Are you somebody that would have enjoyed that kind of dining without her?
Meaning?
Like, did you cause where I'm coming from is these restaurants sound very nice. I bet it's a great experience. But if I can't pronounce anything on the menu, and I don't.
Know what it is.
I just feel out of place because again I have the out of a toddler chicken fingers and pizza and burgers. I'm good, but you so if you were the same with me. But I bet now that you've experienced all these restaurants, you're probably like, hey, this is actually pretty awesome.
Uh yeah, it depends. We've gone to a couple of places where I'm saying it. We've gone to a couple of places where I'm like, what on earth is this. We went to a place a couple of weeks ago, or brother took us out because he just the first time we saw him in such a long time since we got engaged, and they wanted to pay for our meals and shout out Matt and Clair if your listening, shout them out. But I didn't really like anything on the menu. The only thing that I saw was able
to pronounce was the duck. So I got the duck, and the fiance was really proud of me. She said, oh, You're going completely out of your comfort zone, and I kind of felt defended. I'm like, I can only imagine like duck tastes like chicken. I thought it was pretty good. I kind of wish I would have gotten like the halibit, but you know, the duck was all right, and I did kind of step out of my comfort zone, so
I don't know, it wasn't too bad. I just now got to get used to because you said food influencer, I can't walk in first, She's got to walk in with the camera. I love the line walk away everywhere I got it. I just stay out of the way.
My favorite line ever from Austin when he told me about his experience with his fiance when it comes to these restaurants is the phone eats first. You got to take a picture before you touch any of the food because you got a document it.
That's what pays for it. Yeah, that's uh so we are that couple.
If you see somebody hovering over for an extra ten amount of seconds trying to get every single angle of the steaming hot faheitas that came out, it's probably me in Sydney. So come say what's up.
I'll tell you what.
I've stepped out of my comfort zone and it doesn't take much because again, I'm pretty limited as far as what I what I want to eat. When it comes to the menu, if you've got five pages, just give me the page that has, you know, chicken wings or a burger or something like that. But my wife, she's she's the kind that will like something so much. She'll know that you know that you don't like it and want you to try it, and if you don't try it,
she's offended. So finally I started stepping out of my umpor zone and trying things that she really liked, because I would tell her, no, I've had this before. I don't like it. Yeah, I've had a version of that. I know, I'm pretty I know that I don't like mushrooms. I've never had death, never had dead flesh, but I imagine that's what a mushroom tastes like. So finally, after a while, I started trying things that she, you know, just assumable.
There's no way nobody wouldn't like this.
And she finally believes me now because she was just of the she thought she could fix me. She thought she could have me trying all these different foods and I would really expand and no, I'm I think I've I've had the same preferences when it comes to food since I was probably about thirteen years old, sorely mistaken, she was, Yeah, so that's that's just kind of how I'm wired. So we actually do go to dinner, but
not like a full Valentine's Day dinner. So we've gone to the same place, no joke, probably seven eight years in a row now, but what and we thought we found something special because this place we go to it is a sit down restaurant, but it's mom and pop, it's locally owned. It is not in a great area of town. It is in a very very rough shopping center. And we just randomly ended up there one time long ago and thought, wow, like I would have never ever wanted to come here, but we ended up here, and
it's really good. So we thought, well, nobody's going to go there for Valentine's Day because you know, it's not it all romantic and you know, I mean it's not. It's not really well known. So and anytime we've ever been there outside of Valentine's Day, it's empty.
So every year there's more and more people.
And this is a place that actually doesn't even have like a setup for you to wait in the lobby like you can't. You're kind of just hovering around like there's no there's no area to wait for a seat, that's not kind of in the way where you feel like you're just standing on.
Top of people, so very intimate.
A few years ago we noticed that like they they've never probably had a wait before like that. So what I'm worried about now is that like everybody else has kind of had the same idea that we've had for a while, and we're going to show up and it's actually going to be hell on earth like it typically is when you wait and wait and wait for dinner, you wait to get seated when you don't have reservations.
What's the place I'm trying to keep its secret of it? Okay, I'll tell you off there. Yeah, and I don't want to give him free advertising either.
By the way, Well, Valentine or White Castle does the thing where you could book in and go to White Castle.
They'll make you like something special. So are those places busy?
Because because there are some fast foods, some chain places that kind of have fun with it. They kind of make fun of themselves, like White Castle's making fun of themselves when they do that right, and it works like you know, in fact, I had a buddy who took his wife one time to white Castle.
That's pretty cool.
And like, you know, if you just want to have a meal and you know, you want to spend some time together and you're not really having a certain standard set as far as what needs to be fine dining and needs to be a you know, exclusive type situation, then you know, I mean, look, I could eat anything as far as you know what I like and be fine with it. So she did call me today and asked us, you know, she said, hey, six thirty would that be good for you? And I'm like, are you
asking me out on a date for Valentine's Day? And she was like, well I got married. She was like, yeah, you didn't ask me, so I figured i'd ask you. And I was like, well it worked. I was just waiting to see if you'd finally asked, you know, just kind of seeing him. She's still got the got the fire for me. How could she not?
Right?
I mean, of course, So anyways, Valentine's Day just a couple of days away.
You remember some places hooters, May they rest in peace. They're not dead, well damn near, they're not as well be damn near at least here in this area. What is there like one or maybe.
Tall No, We've got So they did get rid of the one, by the way, there was one in Dixie, which I was well aware of, and there was one I think in Clarksville that I don't even know where it was, didn't know it existed.
But they shut those down.
But the one on Preston Highway somehow is still around, and then the one on the one on DuPont Elite Talent, and then the one closed no no, and then the one on the River in Jeffersonville is still open.
So they're still around, okay.
And I get why people at times, because I hope they're not a client they are whatever I'm actually I'm actually going to work it around to where I'm actually going.
To give them a compliment. I haven't gotten the Hooters hat.
There was a stretch where, like any Hooters I would go to anywhere, I would be like, man, this place has gone downhill, and I don't. And I'm not making a comment about like the appearance of the staff. I'm just talking about the food and the service.
Get the chicken, breast, hold the chicken, and then.
And then after a while, Like I started to go there here, you know, every now and then, and it's actually like, when Hooters is good, Hooters is.
Really really good.
Okay, it's been a while, but I wouldn't you know, I wouldn't go to Valentine's Day there.
Well, they used to, I think a couple of years ago they had a promotion to where I like, you brought a picture of your accent and like ripped it up. They would give you like free wings or something like that, And I wonder how many people took advantage. Not a bad promo, No, that's great. It's not a bad promote. You never know, you can find love at a Hooters knowing where or the other you.
Know what else is anywhere else is a restaurant that, like I understand, and I totally get why. There have been some people that'll be like, yeah, enough bad experiences.
I'm not going back.
They've lost me. But when I have it and it's good, I'm telling you, man, it's elite. It's tumbleweed. Like again, Tumbleweed is I don't even know how many of those are still left.
There's not that many. But when it's good, it's really, really really good. It Tumbleweed's always been hit or mess with me my whole life. Yeah, it's I mean, the case so so good, I'm sure. So anyway, which ones are still open? There's one there's one.
In Brooks, which is right, it's in Bullock County, which sure, if you knew what I was talking about. But if you get off sixty five at the Brooks exit right in Bullet County, there you'll see one, okay. And then there's also one that's actually not far from uh from Barchtown Road, like Hikes Point area, that one is still there.
And then gosh, I don't really know where there. I have no clue if there's any other left any interesting there used to be the one that was down on the waterfront, and now they've put like eighteen different restaurants in there that cannot stay open because I guess the.
Least restaurant cemetery. Yeah, I mean, did you ever go to the one that was on the river? No?
It was, I mean it was a phenomenal location. I mean it was. It was kind of like if you were going to go downtown and you wanted to go to a place where you could actually park in a parking lot and not you know, in a garage or on the street. Not to say that going downtown and eating is bad. It's just this was a huge place that had a big parking lot. It's set right on
the river. It was right next to the to the waterfront park, and it started to go downhill and then it completely, you know, shut down.
And I'm not kidding you.
I was exaggerating about eighteen But there have been more restaurants that have tried to succeed in that place since Tumbleweed closed than you would imagine, and none of them last very long. So anyways, fellas, just know you're two days away, so don't procrastin in it. If you need to get flowers, you need to get a car, you need to get a gift, then yeah, go ahead and get that taken care of. All right, we need to get our first break out of the way. We got
a lot to get into. We'll talk about tonight's n C State matchup. Still no word on Chucky Hepburn, And I'll admit it, I don't, I don't. I don't mind being transparent. You guys know that I'm scared about tonight. And it's not again, it's not about all that I think in C State's this great team.
It's just that one.
Louisville clearly is a more vulnerable team when they play without Chucky Hepburn. But also it's just there's so much to lose with every game left. Like I'm on the edge of my seat kind of antsy about the rest of this schedule. And typically that would mean it's because man, we've got so many big games.
I can't wait.
There's a lot, a lot on the line, And really it's the opposite. It's just any loss could really change how Louisville is viewed as a potential INSTAA tournament team. So we'll get into all that, and then how about Kentucky Mark Pope, I mean, the hell's this guy doing? Like no Lamont Butler for the majority of the game, No Jackson Robinson sweep in Tennessee. I mean, crazy impressive performance from them last night.
No doubt we got a lot of other stuff we'll get too, So stick around.
It's coffee and Company fueled by 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.
If you guys want to join us on the show today. You can give us a call five ZO two five seven one seventy nine hundred. That's the number to call in text line Ellen and Federal Credit Union tex line five O two six five three zero seven ninety, taking you up until six o'clock at his game day. We'll get into Louisville and NC State throughout the afternoon today. I mean, I don't want to lie neck like we're
going to break the game down. I think both teams here are pretty easy to figure out, at least as of right now. NC State's lost eight in a row. As I've said for the last couple of weeks, anytime NC State comes up, I do wonder if their fans, if they could go back, would they have just taken the loss in the ACC Tournament, which would have ended their season and of course ended probably Kevin Keats's time there. Well, now they go to a Final four, and I'm sure
that was a fun ride. But now they're back to being really in the same situation they were in last year around this time. I mean, in fact, that they're worse now I believe than they were a year ago. But still they're not a good team. But Louisville is vulnerable without Chucky. Hepburn more so than they than they
are without him, and he may play tonight. I really I've spent more time thinking about this, this injury for Chucky than than I should because there's nothing I can do about it, right, I mean, just you know, there's worrying about it.
Isn't going to do anything other than make it worse.
But this has been such a fun ride of fun season and obviously the longer he doesn't play again, the more I guess, I don't want to say likely, but the more vulnerable Louisville is to maybe lose a game that could change their resume substantially. And you know, the longer if he misses the game today and it's just the same thing and he's now missed two straight games, that won't tell us anything for sure as far as like long term. But I would worry. I mean, I'm
worried as it is. And it's not because I have any kind of intel. It's just, you know, I'm a worrier,
that's my nature. And I've learned just by talking with other Louisville fans about Chucky, that I'm a bigger worrier about things than I even realize, because I mean, I feel like, if you one thing that people keep mentioning that I think is true that I need to remind myself of just to kind of down and not be so paranoid about it, is that if he had like a severe injury that was going to potentially keep him out for you know, a long time.
I think we would know.
I mean, they would tell us that, and I feel like they would know, meaning they would have had enough time now to kind of determine if, in fact, you know, he needs like some kind of procedure.
Gune or something like that.
But again, five two, five, seven, one seventy nine hundred is the number if you guys want to give us a call and uh, we'll take your costs here coming up in just just a moment. Have you seen the spread in this one tonight, Austin.
No, I haven't.
Shall I go ahead and guests take a guess. I'm gonna say, Louisville minus five.
Let's see.
I think it opened up a little bit larger than that. So she said, let me see if it's let me see if there's an update here. Yeah, right now, Currently the cards are you were close. It's six and a half, so Louisville favored about six and a half as of right now before we get into this this matchup here. Uh, Kentucky last night, I mean they they they sweep Tennessee and even going back to I feel like the last couple of years.
And I could be wrong on this.
It's not like I'm looking up stats in facts about Kentucky basketball to make them, you know that are positive and impressive, but I kind of feel like they've owned Tennessee as of late. There was some weird games where they were supposed to beat Tennessee, like they were the team that looked better, that had the momentum, and then they lost. And then I know there's been some games where Kentucky has ended up beating Tennessee where they were underdogs,
which last night was one of them. Also, you go back to the Tennessee game where they played them in Knoxville, they beat them there. I think the last game that Tennessee lost. I don't know if they won the SEC Tournament or not, but I remember last year Dalton Connect that team that went to the Elite eight. I know one of their last losses might have been their last regular season loss ended up being against that Kentucky team that you know.
Lost to Oakland.
So I can't really make any sense of it, and I don't really think anybody can, to be honest with you, But somehow when they have guys that are out, they play better. And it's not it's not like they're a better team with a higher ceiling. When you don't have Jackson Robinson, or you don't have a healthy LaMonte Butler, or you don't have a healthy Andrew Carr kerk Crisa hasn't played in months, it seems like so nobody would tell you that they're better when those guys aren't available.
That makes no sense, But I guess to make sense of it, what I would say is that when and I guess maybe you could make the comparison to Louisville, Right, like Terrence Edwards was really not comfortable and really didn't have an identified role at least that was consistent or very effective whenever.
Everybody was healthy.
Now there was only a few games, right, It wasn't like it wasn't as if he played twenty games and was struggling. But there's certain guys on Louisville's team that I'm not sure if they would have gotten as comfortable and settled into the identified roles they have now if there were as many players in the rotation. Jamon Hadley became mister insistent and a guy that is super valuable for this team. And not to say that he was playing poorly whenever you had Case and Pryor out there,
but there was no option to just bench. I mean you had to play him a lot more minutes because you didn't have anybody else to play. Same thing could be said about Terrence Edwards right Whenkoran Johnson just wasn't available anymore because he was done for the year. I mean, Terrence Edwards was going to be getting more minutes and was going to need to, you know, find where he fits to get comfortable. And with Kentucky, the only thing I will say is that part of it is that
these guys, and I don't mean just for Louisville. I'm you know, now back to Kentucky. When you look at the young Kentucky guys that are coming off the bench, the freshman Travis Perry and Trent Noah, those guys just played phenomenal last night. I mean nineteen minutes you got eleven from Noah, he was three or four from downtown Travis. Perry also made two out of three threes and hit some big ones. So it wasn't as if these guys
put up crazy numbers, but they were. They were needed and relied upon more than they typically are, and they delivered. So there's a part of that that's just being being clutch and tough knowing, hey, my team needs me, I gotta go make plays. I'm gonna go get it done,
not being overwhelmed knowing, hey, there's some more. There's some added pressure here because you're not just getting some minutes to come off the bench and give somebody a quick breather, because you know you're the eighth, ninth, tenth man on the bench. You're gonna have to play and actually contribute to an extent and really just not mess up as well. So credit to those guys, which I think those guys have a really bright future. I mean, and I'm sure
Kentucky fans are gonna eat it up right. They haven't had kids like that from eastern Kentucky. I don't Travis is more from western in Lyon County, but I mean these are Kentucky kids who grew up probably worshiping the program like most kids out in the state do. They were really good players and they probably wouldn't have been playing for Kentucky had it not been for Mark Pope. Now,
Travis Perry did end up committing pretty early. And I've watched Travis play when he was a junior in high school. Didn't see any of these games as a senior, and I knew the kid could play. I mean, I don't know if he'll ever be like an All American, but he could play for Kentucky with Caliperi there, with Patino there, with Pope there. Now again, he'll probably have a better role and thrive more playing in the system that Mark
Pope coaches, but he can play. Trent No, I never watched him play, but I remember, and you hear this a lot, And there's many players that you know, you hear this about, and sometimes it's just not the truth. But kids that are out in the state, whether it be in the Thirteenth Region in eastern Kentucky or even northern Kentucky at times, and look, I guess it happens around here in Louisville too, where these guys are really
good put up big numbers. They've got Division one offers, but you know they're not getting the Louisville or the Kentucky offer because that's that's a top tier program. And there's folks that will tell you, look, you got this kid can play. I'm telling you he can play Louislle, he can play Kentucky, and a lot of times you hear that and it's not true. It's just not And sometimes you know, sometimes you know.
You you see that they were right.
And I guess people will write about Trentoah because I will say the noise about this kid was louder than really anybody I can remember in recent history as far as a kid that you knew that was going to play Division one basketball, but he wasn't getting interest from the big programs in the state. He committed to South Carolina, signed with South Carolina, and really, it's got to be like fate for that kid, because he probably dreamed to
play for Kentucky. I'm sure he did, and he asked to be let out of his letter of intent because Cali Perry left, and I think he thought, you know what, I might be able to get a look from Mark Pope because he's a little bit different than Cali Perry, and sure enough it all worked out. He ended up in Kentucky and now he's given him good minutes and he's gonna be a good player.
He's a really good shooter.
He plays tough, a competitor, a guy that you know, I don't know what his ceiling is as far as like NBA upside, but he's a good freshman that'll only get better. And he's the kind of kid that, let's be real, Travis Perry and trentt Noah, they're not leaving Kentucky right. They're not going to hit the portal like they They may even fall behind in the rotation over the years, but if they're still getting valuable minutes and they have a valuable role, they're going to stay there because that's.
Where they want to be.
And they'll probably clean up with nil more so than other five star recruits from anywhere because you know their Kentucky kids and that matters. So again, with Noah, he was the guy that I think it was around. Yeah, I think his team, Harlan County. They played in the King of the Bluegrass, which is a big high school basketball tournament here at Fardel High School. It's been going on for many years. Lloyd Gardner put it together and
it's I mean, it's legendary. So I remember, I guess it was maybe last year during his senior season, or maybe the year before, because I think he'd already signed with South Carolina, but at some point he came as high school player and it was I mean, anybody who watched him play would.
Say, look, you got to go see this kid. If you're going to go to the.
King of the Bluegrass, make sure you go when Harlan plays, Harlan County plays. I think that's where he went because he's not just a good kid from Kentucky that can light it up. He's a really good player. And so far it looks like looks like they were right. So anyways, back to sort of trying to make sense of how Kentucky has their best wins of the season when they're shorthanded.
I mean, you can't really make sense of it. But I would guess is that when you have veteran players like Almanor, who was a really good player at a low level, Kobe Brea, who played thirty three minutes last night and was productive, hit three threes at eleven points. I mean, always been their leading scorer all year. He had a solid night. But I just if I had to guess, it would just be that these guys are are getting more minutes and simply playing a little bit
more loose, more comfortable. But there really isn't anything on the stat sheet that just tells you that can that you know there wasn't a That's what makes it even more puzzling is that when they do get these wins against Tennessee at Tennessee beat them last night in Lexington, they beat Gonzaga without Lamont Butler and Kirk Criesa, they ended up beating who was There was another victory I feel like they got when they were injured and it
felt like a game they probably shouldn't have won. They were healthy when they knocked off Duke, and I think they were fully healthy when they knocked off Florida, which is a great win for him. But it's almost like you tell Mark Pope he's gonna be without some guys and it's no for no real reason. You just kind of feel like they're gonna win because so far that's what they've done. That is that is the pattern that has taken place, and it's not like they needed an
insane night. They did shoot fifty percent from three, which is pretty damn good, and Tennessee shot three of eighteen. I guess that that's what stands out on the stat sheet as to how that ends up happening to where
they win by eleven points. But like Rick Barnes, I think he's a good coach, and I'm not going to do the thing where I act like Tennessee stinks because they lost by eleven to Kentucky, Because if Tennessee was really good, they would be losing this game when Kentucky doesn't have Jackson Robinson and Lamont Butler, you know, only plays twenty minutes. I mean, I wish I could, but I wouldn't. I don't want to lie to you. I don't want a lot to myself. Tennessee's a really good team.
Kentucky just has got the best of him. But if I had to blame it on something, Rick Barnes just he's a good coach. But I don't know why he doesn't. It's like he doesn't scout Kentucky and maybe they're hard to scout. Whenever you realize, oh yeah, the guy we really wanted to take away. He's not even playing tonight, Jackson Robinson, he's out Lamont Butler, we don't really know what we're gonna get because he's been kind of in and out as far as being healthy all year. Kobe Brea,
we know that. Don't let him get open from three. But then whenever you really give too much attention to the three, then he can.
You know, he can. He can hurts you in other ways.
And they probably didn't have a whole lot on the scouting report, I would imagine with Perry and Noah. I mean, Carr played nineteen minutes last night, had two points in two rebounds, like they beat Tennessee by eleven, And I mean it's not just that they didn't get Jackson Robinson at all. Butler played fine, but again six points. And then Carr another guy who I would I feel like he's one of the more valuable players on that team, yet he didn't do anything in the time he played.
Mauri Williams six points in twenty one minutes. So just a good team win for Kentucky and they have a very unusual resume. They still don't have any terrible losses because the sec is just not going to give you any terrible losses when it comes to the metrics. But I mean, they got a lot of good wins. They're gonna have some real value, I mean, Tennessee. And I'm not saying this is correct because again, like the formula is clearly flawed when it comes to factoring in and
the net and the kin Palm. It just does not factor in winning and losing as much as it should. If you play really good teams competitively, you will maintain the same range of your net in kin Palm ranking, which I just don't think that I just don't think that should be the case. Like, for example, Ohio State is fourteen and ten and six and seven in Big ten play and they're ahead of Louisville in the NET
and they are nowhere near a tournament team. They're twenty eighth in the net in the kim Palm, and they have I guess like one or two decent wins, but yet they've lost six I'm sorry, they're six and seven in league play.
So like, you shouldn't just play teams.
Competitively and compete and have the wins and losses not have a bigger factor in how you move up or move down in the formula here. But what I was getting at is that a sweep of Tennessee that Kentucky now has, who's going to have a better data point on their resume as far as like the net and the Kim palm and that kind of stuff. I mean, you look at the rest of their the rest of their resume right now, they're lost to Clemson, can tenues to look better.
Ohio State. I mean, I don't think it's a good loss.
They lost by twenty on a neutral site, but again, the numbers seem to really like Ohio State, so therefore it's not a bad loss. Georgia at their place not a good loss, but I mean it's certainly not one that's going to be a real stain on the resume. It's still considered Quad one. And then Bama one of the best teams in the country. Ole Miss at third place. Arkansas at home is not a good loss, but it's still a team that's in the top forty bobbish when
you look at the numbers. So I wish I could I wish I could say otherwise, but I feel like a lot of these wins that Kentucky has has picked up this year that have real value when you consider the circumstances in those matchups. It's just a sign that they're a really well coached team, not to say he's perfect.
He'll lose.
Who knows what they're going to do the rest of the way. Who knows what will happen in the n SAA tournament. I mean, you just never know. But as of now, twenty five games in. This are twenty four games in, I should say they've I think they've got themselves a pretty good coach.
All right, I'll move on now.
I know it probably made a lot of you want to vomit if you're you know, big UFL fan anti uk, which I am. But you know, it's my job to be honest and say what I think, even if it's you know, something you don't agree with. And a lot of times, believe it or not, I share things that are my opinion that are wrong. But they still let me do this, which is a lot of fun. So let's just keep that between us if we can. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back on the other side.
Talk a little n C State Louisville tonight. Also some other things we'll get into today there is a great article from Pat Kelsey at I keep saying, yeah, who's not Sports Illustrated, But it's a real good column about Pat Kelcey with some really good quotes from different people, and it's just a reminder how lucky we are to have this guy.
And there are some teams out.
There, some individuals that we as Louisville fans, realize we owe a big thank you, right like Cincinnati hiring Sadderfield, those kind of things. When it comes to Pat Kelsey, if this thing continues to work out, which it's working out right now, at least in my opinion it is. I don't know how you could disagree, but we will have somebody to thank. And I'll tell you who that is. On the other side, it's probably somebody you may not even know who it is. But to keep it locked,
it is game day. It's 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.
So, if you haven't checked out the article at Sports Illustrated that that Pat Fordy put together, I would highly encourage you you do exactly that I remember a couple of weeks ago, Pat Kelsey was at the press conference I think it might have been before the Georgia Tech game that Friday, and I thought it was one of the better press conferences for Pat Kelce, not because of any you know any, I mean, it was just he was being asked questions that kind of told us a
little bit more about him as as a coach, as a person, his story, and it's just and we know a lot about him already, but I just I found it to be very informative. And Pat was there clearly working on a piece that he spent some time on and he published it earlier this morning.
Again it's as Sports Illustrated.
Title is how Pat Kelsey revived Louisville hoops and his passion along the way, And Josh heard, I mean so far deserves a lot of credit for this move because even though he wasn't the first or maybe he wasn't the second choice either, it's still somebody that probably would have still been at Charleston had Louisville a really good
job not not offered it. So clearly regardless of when he or where he was on the on the order, as far as who Josh Hurd wanted this was a move that you know, so far looks like it was a home run. And it's not just because louisll has been able to have some success and win some games and this team is playing a good brand of basketball that fans are really really excited about. I mean, Bar was separateretty low as far as just you know, given
effort and playing hard. But even if we didn't have a stretch of terrible seasons like we did for three straight years, we still, I think, are a fan base that does appreciate guys who play hard and play with a lot of energy. And Pat Kelsey has that and these guys are a reflection of it. But really he just he seems to be a guy that his personality,
his energy, his work ethic, his story. I think it's it's the perfect fit for Louisville at the perfect time because he probably wakes up every day thinking like is this crazy?
Is this real?
Am I the head coach at Louisville. Not to say that he thinks he's undeserving, but I mean there's certain things that played out in order for it to work out like this to where he is the guy. So I would encourage you to check it out. It's it's really really well done. And what I what I took from it, among many things that that I hadn't really given.
Much thought to, is that.
The first and I don't even think Louisville offered the job to Scott Drew. I mean, I think what it came down to is that they just knew that if in fact he was gonna kick the time, if he was going to be interested, it was gonna be very, very very expensive, and really not even because of like a buyout, but just because of what he was going to cost. And we'll get to this later. I don't want to spend too much time on it because it's not super relevant.
Well I guess it's relevant. It's just it's not fun to talk about.
But Louisville got Pat Kelsey really cheap, and yet they're still really struggling financially because of a lot of things, including Kenny Paynes buyout and the fact that nobody spent money on the program going to games whenever Kenny was here. So we'll get to that later. It was a good
breakdown by the CJ earlier today. But anyways, you know Pat Kelsey, I mean I think that was one of the factors that made him attractive, one of the many, I'm sure, but he was somebody who knew wouldn't say no. I think the first conversation, it's what it said in the article, the first conversation that Josh heard and Pat Kelsey had, which by the way, I don't even know if this was in the article, but I just the
first coach that Josh talked to was Pat Kelsey. He also in some way kicked the tires on Scott Drew. But it just financially you weren'tna be able to do it, and well, I guess you could have, but then like money that you're gonna need for an IL and that kind of stuff like it would have gone probably towards whatever you had to do to afford to bring somebody like Scott Drew from Baylor. And then Dusty May. I think they believed that Dusty May wanted the job, but
Dusty May didn't want the job. Now I don't know if he maybe it was gamesmanship, maybe he would have taken and had Michigan not actually offered, maybe he would have ended up at Ohio State. I'm not sure, but he was somebody that they wanted and he's doing a great job. I mean, they got a big win last night against Purdue, like Michigan got themselves a good coach.
Now will he be there long term? I don't know, because Indiana is a job that he certainly didn't didn't shut that down the other day when he was asked about it. But then from there it was shirts at Indiana State. And that's the one I didn't hate the idea of hiring Dusty May. I just felt like Dusty May was somebody that, more than anything, just had one specific impressive thing on his resume, and then he went to a final four and that matters.
That's valuable. But like to me, he could have.
Easily been the guy who had the random tournament run and then ten years later you realize, yeah, that guy's pretty average. The only thing, the only reason you know who he is is because he took a team to the tournament. Like maybe Porter Moser is that guy who's at Oklahoma now and struggling Shaka smart. I mean, he's doing well at Marquette now, but like he's very far removed from from the final four, and he hadn't made the second weekend since that final four until last year,
so that was my worry. But I wasn't like, oh, you better not hire Dusty may I just I knew I wasn't gonna be as juiced about it as others because one, he was kind of boring, and I just didn't feel like he had he had not done what Kelsey had done to be honest with you and for
what it's worth, and it's worth nothing. It's just I guess my own insecurity wanting people to know that, like, hey, I was always Pat Kelsey ahead of Shirts and Dusty may I just you know, I never thought they would actually hire a guy from that level because I was just delusional thinking that Louisville was going to have to go out and get some big name when clearly Josh Hurt had a plan and so far it looks like
it's working. But anyways, back to Josh Shirts, that's the one that I just felt like, man, no, like you can't do that, and they offered him the job, and what ended up happening is that he did not end He did not end up winning the Missouri Valley Tournament. So that changed sort of like his availability and when to talk to where he had taken the Saint Louis job.
I mean that's a real thing.
By the way, Like Louisville was in the process and I think pretty much offered in the job and he couldn't take it because he'd already signed something with Saint Louis.
That's what happened, and it was a blessing in disguise.
So I feel like when it comes to who we should be thinking, especially if things continue to work out really well with Pat Kelsey, I mean, I think we got to be thinking Darien Devrees, who was at Drake, who beat Indiana State in the Missouri Valley Tournament, and had Indiana State won that, I think Josh Shirtz would have been our coach, and who knows, maybe it would have been okay. But man, and look, I think if you are a good coach, you could win here.
It's Louisville. You have resources, they're gonna help you. You can win here.
But Pat Kelsey, I think what's made it to where fans are just enjoying this first season so much and the riot has been so fun and you can't get enough of it is because of him, as a dude. Now, if he did all this stuff that he didn't win, totally different conversation, but he does win and it's just been amazing. So maybe we had Darian Devrees who beat Drake or I'm sorry, who coached Drake at the time.
Now he's a West Virginia.
We beat him earlier this year, by the way, but now he's at West Virginia. His Drake team beat Indiana State and that really led to it playing out where Pat Kelsey got the job because Shash Shirts couldn't take it. It sounds like, so throw him in there with Luke Fickle who took the Wisconsin job, and then Cincinnati because they hired Scott Saderfield Maryland for leaving the ACC to go to the Big Tens so we could get in the ACC. We got a long list of folks that for random, well not really random.
But it's like a butterfly.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. We probably owe him a thank you more than people would realize. And I think Darien Debris at West Virginia certainly is is oh to thank you for beating Indiana State last year.
All right, we got two hours left. Stick with us. It's game day Louisville, n C State tonight.
We'll talk about it next right here on Sports Talk seven ninety