It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick coffee.
Sorted a little bit later than we typically do. But you know, clock management has never been my strong suit. So what we have here is a lot that I want to get into with not a ton of time to do it. So I'm gonna treat the five o'clock hour here a little bit a little little rapid fire.
I mean, we're not just gonna roll through things within you know, matter of thirty seconds, but I'm gonna try to get all this in before we wrap it up, because you know, I got to make up for the two hours where I feel like we had some fun. But those two hours go by really quickly, and it just hit me that there's still a lot that we have been able to dive into.
So let's get started. Shelley again, It's the five o'clock hour.
We are fueled by Thornton see or Coffee and Company on Sports Talk seven ninety. Take us with you wherever you go. You can listen live on the iHeartRadio app. Also listen live at seven ninety Louisville dot com. Last night was a beautiful thing, not only to see Louisville win ninety one to sixty six and beat the hell out of NC State, a bad NC State team, and
I don't care that they're bad. In fact, I was happy they were bad last night because last week was the past week I should say was tough for me, and I know I'm not alone, but the more I kind of reflect since last night, seeing Chucky out there clearly not hurt and playing really really well, I'd tell you what I just made me realize I was more worried.
Than I needed to be.
But that's really just kind of how I'm wired, unfortunately, but it also reminds me how much I love this team. So I believe the basketball gods were just giving me the ultimate reminder to not take for granted what we have had thus far and really what we have now, because last night that was a team that wasn't fully healthy. They haven't been all year because again they've been without
Casein and Korn. But the new version of this team that really got rolling in late December went on to win ten games consecutively, didn't lose a game in January, and in that amount of time, they firmly put themselves into the NCAA tournament and right now it could still go away. But man, they'd have to really be a different team in every way to do enough damage to this resume or where they don't get in. I don't know what their seed is. That's really up for debate.
That's anybody's guess as far as what they're sealing is. But to have that week where I worried about Chucky's groin, thought about figuring out how I could give him mine, I mean, Migroin's not as good as his, but you know, anything to help because you know he's such a key and not only is he such an important piece to
this team. Clearly Louisville is a tournament team that could be atually find themselves in the second weekend with him healthy, Like we know that that's not to be little anybody else that's been a part of this fun ride, But Chucky is different. He's one of the best players in the country and watching him last night was nice to
see him healthy making plays. But he has absolutely become a fan favorite like he has beloved and all these guys are, to be honest with you, I mean, these guys are going to be remembered, I think for a long time. Unfortunately, in college basketball, what you do in the postseason really is the lasting impression on a team, and this team it's just going to be one year for a lot of them, So we'll see what happens
down the line. But I think Louisville losing to Georgia Tech that had nothing to do with Chucky getting hurt. So they've bounced back one three in a row since then. They're now back in the top thirty in the Ken Palm in the net. In fact, they're at twenty five and twenty six and those two respectively. So I think nobody wanted to hurt Chucky, but it played out in a way to where I was able to quite literally have a week of worry that man, I I didn't enjoy that fun ride as much as I should have.
Maybe Chucky's gonna be out for a while, and this team really doesn't have the ability to make a run in the tournament, and who knows if they do or not. But last night it made me appreciate the process because it's a roller coaster, right, Even if you're having a good season, you know, you go through peaks and valleys that kind of stuff, and Louisville they became pretty consistent, right, I mean, they were just beating everybody's brains out. That's what they did in the month of January.
So it was fun.
It became pretty repetitive as far as how we talk about him, how fun they are to watch, how much we love everything about this to where, you know, I don't want to say I took it for granted, but it became such a constant there that I just, you know, I was living in the moment and not really reflecting on how awesome this is. Well, when I had a week of worry about Chucky, it made me appreciate it a little bit more. And last night was just, you know,
was phenomenal. And here's some stats for you. What a balanced, balanced attack last night. By the way, things are going to go well for you when you shoot sixty four percent from the field and you make eleven of nineteen threes for fifty eight percent. They were ten of eleven from the free throw line. A really good night at the strike ninety one percent there, but just a balance scoring attack. Twenty one apiece for Rain Smith and Terrence Edwards.
I mean Rain made five of nine threes. I mean these two guys specifically, and again, you should ever expect anybody to do this, But you also can't say that you're stunned when it happens Edwards and Rain Smith.
I mean, look at that. Let me see that.
Yeah, so Rain was five of nine, Edwards was four of four, Chucky was.
One of two.
I mean, those three guys your your trio, that is your you know, your your backcourt essentially. I mean, you play three guards, and Edwards is such a valuable asset. Is not only a good guard that can do a little bit of everything. I love when when he up other guards and just backs them down and basically makes them show that they're going to have somebody that can keep him from basically dropping his ass and getting in front of the rim and scoring. I mean, he's really
good at that. And when you got to account for that, you back off, and what does he do? He buries three. So they may have nights where they don't make shots, we've certainly seen that happen. I think overall, their three point field goal percentage is still not great. But last night, let me do the numbers here.
You had.
Three guys, your three guards, your starting guards, collectively made ten threes on fifteen attempts. I mean, that's not something we should expect, certainly not normal, but it's also not going to be a surprise because that's part of these guys game. You throw in Javon Hadley, who had a nice seventeen points, nine rebounds, four assists, just a really good floor game for him. So I never fell out of love with this team, but last night was a result that really was as fun to watch as any
game this year. And also it's just the reminder that when they're playing like that, which again since the UK game, really they've been close much closer to what we saw last night than any other version of them of themselves. So look, they could slip up and loose anybody if they don't play well.
We know that.
But this is such a honeymoon type year and such an enjoyable ride that, like, I'm just living in the moment, and last night I was on cloud nine.
But mostly for one reason.
It was Chucky's growing right, and Chucky is one of the best players in the country. I don't think you could say that to a person who follows college basketball and get any kind of a pushback. I mean, that, like, that's not a Homer thing, that's not some wild take, I mean, And I think with that, that's what makes him not being on the Bob Coosey watch list such as shocker, because I just think again, I think I've talked about it whenever the list came out last week.
I think they just forgot him, which again, maybe that would be a sign of disrespect. How could you forget Amy's great? But there's no scenario you look at what he's doing and look at Louisville as a team, and you don't think that he's one of the best ten.
Point guards in the country.
Like whoever decided this also left off Braden Smith of Perdue, another guy who quite literally is as deserving as anybody alongside Chucky In Neither of those two guys were on there. And Matt Paynter, By the way, I don't think Matt Paynter is a guy known for his you know, fiery words. To me, he's a good ball coach, kind of boring and it works for him. He's a Purdue but he had some bars last night after Purdue's when or maybe
it was two nights ago. Actually they lost, but still Braden Smith's been phenomenal and he you know, he basically called out anybody who decided that his guy wasn't one of the top ten. And I don't think Pat went as strong about it as Matt Paynter did. But here's what Pat Kelsey had to say about Chucky. Hepburn being left off of the Bob Coosey finalist list that includes the ten best point guards in the country. Those who decide that decided Chucky wasn't one of them.
I wouldn't trade him for any point guard in the country. And you know, some of those finals for the point Guard of the Year, the Bob Coosey Award, whatever that is, and he wasn't on it. I mean, they got it wrong and promise you that. So you know a lot of times those things are many times those things are out of your control. You can't do anything about it. All you can do about is how you play and how you lead your team and how you continue to win. But he leads. He's a pro every single day. He's
a straight up winner. He's a stud on both ends of the floor. Like I said, I knew he was going to be really good, but I didn't know he was going to be this good.
He's special.
So any list of the best point guards in the country, he should be on one thousand percent. Chuck. He's not the type of guy that just lives for accolades and individual attention and awards and things like that. He's more proud of the and winning in championships. And he's leading this team in a great season and hopefully we continue to progress and as we get close to March Madness.
So again, I don't think that anybody would would say that what Pat Kelsey said is incorrect because the proof is there. I mean, fifteen points per game, he leads the ACC and assists at six point two, leads the ACC and steels as well. And last night, I don't think it was the Bob Coosey finalist list that got him, but he was engaged because n C State, which, by the way, they're terrible. I mean they're bad, bad. I mean I thought it stretches. They looked like as bad
as Kenny Payne's teams here. I mean I mean that like they look bad and I mean Keats's. Keats would be foolish to walk away from the contract he has, but maybe he just gets to the point where he realizes that the noise is so loud about how bad things are. I mean, they're at a point now that year they're likely going to miss the ACC tournament and to be in a final four the year before. Typically
that would really buy you a lot of time. But the issue for Keats is that that was such an outlier because Keats hasn't really been good there ever, and last year they weren't good, got hot, and they're another example. Again I wouldn't change anything about college hoops because I love it, but Keats maybe the ultimate example. Do not overvalue one fluky run in the tournament. And I love Keats, good guy, good coach, but I feel like it's just
really falling apart for him there. But they have a nine game losing streak todd for the longest in program history, and they're now again in danger of missing the ACC tournament because not everybody qualifies. So they're on track to be the first high major team in twenty plus years of the Ken Palm rankings to go from a final four to finishing outside the top one hundred the next year.
So a complete free fall, and uh, you know it's not good for the ac C. It'd be nice to be getting wins against teams that are going to help you resume, but that's out of your control if you're Louisville.
And we'll talk about about.
This a little bit more tomorrow, but the ACC should be looking at Louisville and not thinking, hey, let's just go get a Pat Kelsey, because I don't think those guys grow on trees. I think Pat Kelsey is a pretty special guy. But I think if you really embrace a winner that has a winning formula, and you give them the tools to do the same thing and succeed at that level, that is the ACC. That's not the CAA or the MAC or whatever it may be, the sun belt like that, that's the path you should go down.
I think, all right, let's go to the phone lines before we get to our first break.
Here.
Five two, five, seven, one seventy nine hundred is the number if you want to give us a call.
Let's go to David. David, how are you doing today?
Always awesome? Nick had a great and just real quick my wife got my wife was really scared about some some medical tests and we got to a blessing from God today that that most you know, I know some people are living with with hard times and we were so blessed today with the news. So that's God is great.
I'm very happy to hear that, David.
I know that can be some real scary stuff. So God bless you guys.
Man.
I know while you wait to get the news that you're praying for, it can be a really tough time. So very happy that you guys got good news.
Thank you so much. Yeah, the waiting is always the hardest part. But the reason I called today is, you know, just love love talking about this Cardinal team. And I hate to give I hate to even mirror this against something that happened in Lexington, but I'm gonna look at this version of this, This particular Cardinal team is our version of the Unforgettables, the team that brought Kentucky back from the ashes.
I can see it, and I can tell you we will.
We will really remember this team, regardless of what happens that way that they have given us and that these guys put their blood, sweat and tears. You know, James Scott had to lose his fricking front teeth. But anyway, I could not be prouder as a Louisville fan and to all of the naysayers out there, you know, talking about how bad the a SEC is, you know what, you got to beat the guys on your schedule. Secondly, the NC State team that we whipped last night had
quite a few players. Outside of that big center that they had, they had numerous guys, including Huntley Hatfield back from last year. You talk about a fall from grace, it is, it's truly, it's truly amazing.
They had five top fifty recruits on that court for them last night, not all guys that are freshmen, of course, but yes, they're not lacking in talent and you could tell by watching them too, David. I mean they're bad as a team, but I mean it wasn't because of ability.
I don't think.
Oh, I agree one hundred percent. And a couple other quick things. I just want to tell you my favorite player on this team is when the guy first took the floor, I didn't know if he could walk and show gum together, which is Trey Ory. That dude is a flat stud with his handles, with his effort. He's guarding Huntley Hatfield and he's six ' five. One other thing I wanted to mention Seth Greenberg said at halftime. He says, I don't know if any of you have
watched this Louisville team play. They are for real. Those are my closing remarks. Love the show. Louisville basketball is for real, and we're back here we go.
Good call, David, Appreciate you, and again I'm very happy to hear that you and the family got some good news.
But yeah, I think this team is.
Gonna be remembered for a long time, regardless of what happens the rest of the way. Obviously it could end sourly and that would be a bummer. But what I'm saying is these guys not just with their winning and their effort, but it's the fact that they feed off of us because they realize, yeah, Louisville is a place
that loves basketball. Because they're seeing how much we appreciate everything they give us their reflection of Pat Kelsey, and we're eating we're eating that up, I mean, and to me, it's the it's these are the guys that have kind of made you, I don't want to say fall back in love, because you never fell out of love with Louisville basketball, but man, they hit you in the fields to make you realize just how much you missed, how
great look. And again, I would have preferred not to go through what Louisville went through in the last three to four years, right, we all would. But if there is a silver lining, it's that it's made you appreciate little things that we may have never been able to. Like if Louisville was able to sustain where we were at with the mid two thousands, I mean, it would have been great, right, it would have been real successful,
would have been fun. But man, I've fallen for a team in a way that I really don't even know what to compare it to because of all the circumstances involved here. So yeah, I mean, every one of these guys has an important role. They embrace it, they know who they are as players. And again this is gonna sound corny to some, but it's just the truth. These guys appreciate being here, and we appreciate that they wanted to be here, and they're helping this thing get turned around.
So yeah, I can't. I can't. I mean, I know I've said a billion times, but it's just been such a fun ride so far. And I think you're right, We're gonna remember these. I mean, let's also remind ourselves it's gonna be hard to find somebody like Rain Smith. Louivill basketball has been a phenomenal program for a long time. Right, Well, Ray Smith's gonna do something this year that's never been done when it comes to the amount of three point
shots he makes. Chucky Hepburn, I believe is one of the best point guards we've had in my lifetime here, and I mean that just because of how good he is.
Now.
Some guys are remembered more so because of tournament runs and all that kind of stuff, But like Chucky is sensational and it's not saying he's the best player, but I mean pretty damn good. All right, let's get to one more call before we get to our first break here in the five o'clock hour.
Let's go to Captain Kirk. What's up, Kirk? Are we doing? Brother?
Hey?
What's going on next here? How you doing today?
My man?
Doing well?
How about yourself?
I'm doing pretty good?
Uh.
I got to say, it's really gratifying to just have all of our all of our pieces back to the puzzle there. It's like a good pot of chili without their blamers chili powder. It's just not a pot of chili, you know. And uh, I wanted to let you know that I did hear announcers say last night about Chucky about his growing He said that that Chucky had said that he had a real bad growing pool last year, way worse than this one. And he didn't miss in.
He didn't miss any time over that. So boy, that made me feel real good, Like wow, but you know, you still stay on the edge on eggshells. You know, you're you're watching the whole time going please don't grab your growing again, you know. So it's just really gratifying this little team. I'm just speechless, you know.
Yep, they're a lot of fun. They're a lot of fun. Kirk.
I appreciate the call, brother, And now you got me want in chili for dinner. So this is good weather for the temperatures dropping. It's getting cold outside. But no, with Chuck, he's growing. I mean, I'm not surprised that I reacted the way that I did, because again, I worry about things that I should never worry about. It's just kind of my nature, unfortunately. But to hear that he had this confirms that this was really just more
than anything, a real issue. But also they were being cautious because he dealt with it last year.
Didn't miss time.
Well, hey, let's see if we can get him healthy because we're going to certainly need him to make a deep run. And oh, by the way, I believe in my guys. Next man up. He can sit out against Miami and we should be just fine. Which they were so good stuff. All right, quick break, we will come back and keep this party rolling along. Not a whole lot of time left, but double make the most of it. They'll go anywhere. Coffee and Company fuelbouth Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven to ninety.
Now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine.
Day, real quick, one more Louisville basketball stat that again, I know I'm walking into people taking this and just running with the ACC see being terrible, But I'm not gonna let these impressive numbers just be ignored. I will
factor in the ACC being what it is. But Louisville this year, this team is the first and one hundred and eleven seasons of Louisville basketball history to have five twenty point wins on opponents' home courts, roadkill, and you could play in a league that is even worse than the ACC this year and have a tough time doing that. And it's not because I'm saying these teams are better. But this group, for the most part, really I don't believe that when they lost to Georgia Tech it was
because they were some crazy different version of themselves. They they didn't play as well, and george Tech made a lot of shots, and look, Louisville was a factor. They miss free throws, they didn't execute great down the stretch.
But I mean, these.
Guys, they really do approach it one game at a time. I don't think of at any point see any sign for anybody within this program, player, coach, whatever, that has ever gotten a little full of themselves because of what people are saying. And I think that speaks to the maturity of everybody. But also they got a good leader and it's working out in a beautiful way right now, all right, Coffee and company? Feel about Thornton's here on
Sports Talk seven ninety. Make sure you sign up to become a member of the Refreshing Awards program if you haven't already, so there's now two people that have embarrassed themselves. And I've embarrassed myself many times in life. I've probably done it a few times today on this show. Even so, I try not to, you know, make fun of people,
because it can happen. And I kind of feel like this is one of those things that I don't believe I would have been in the same situation as these guys, because I think I would have either set it out loud or set it inside my head before I set it out loud, meaning, you know, I would have realized something doesn't add up here. Let me before I say something that might be really stupid, let me, you know, let me do some like fact checking on my end.
And what I'm referring to is Carl Rabitsch, and ESPN broadcaster who was on the call the other night for the Alabama Texas game, and to emphasize how competitive the SEC was, he referenced that the entire conference top to bottom is.
Five hundred. That's their record.
He didn't have the ability to understand that in league play, there are two teams that play each of the same league. In every one of those games, there's a winner and there's a loser. Therefore, at the end of I mean, like, I don't need to explain it to people, but he made this goof.
So think about it. We know how dominant they were in a non conference season the SEC, they were one hundred and eighty five and twenty three boomed. Since January fourth into Tuesday, the SEC teams are eighty two and eighty two. It's not as if one team or two teams or three, they're eighty two and eighty two. Like, there's been no ability to pull away. There's no dominant group of teams.
That's tough to listen to.
And again, I'm not a I'm not a smart man, and I'm sure I've said things worse than that, but that's a tough listen because, I mean, he was really emphasizing, I mean, come on, nobody's been able to pull away. And the other person that did it this kind of didn't get it. This didn't get as much attention because it was at a press conference. Archie Miller, former Indiana coach who's now at Rhode Island, he said the same thing.
And the belief is that both of these guys this just speaks to sort of our culture now with how we consume information and how we mean, if you're active on Twitter, which a lot of us are, especially in the sports world, you don't know what's real.
And what's not.
So somebody put it out there and they were making a joke, not thinking that somebody would would run with it, and then a lot of people ran with it jokingly, and then some people got got But somebody said, everybody's talking about the SEC being so great, Well, how how you know? And that was Archie Miller who was like, well, everybody's talking about the SEC's being great, how about our league?
And then he mentioned that the teams were five hundred in league play, and he didn't have you know, he didn't have the awareness to just know that, like, just just give it some thought. I mean, I say awareness, but it's more so than just it's more it's more just I guess, using your brain. So Carl Ravage did it, and it was it was tough. I felt for him. But now he's he's his response to it is worse. He tweeted this out earlier and I'm double checking to
see if he since deleted. No, he said this yesterday. Just landed to see X is on fire. Simple explanation tongue in cheek eighty two eighty two record was to illustrate any night either team can win in one will clearly very poor execution on my part. It is amazing that Auburn Alabama have only lost once in such a great conference.
That's all. No, no, that's not what you did.
And it would be different if you said it and then left like a brief moment of silence to kind of have people thinking like, is this guy serious? You said it and you emphasized that nobody can pull away, and you're also not a jokester anyway, So like it's a tough l to take. You probably should have just stayed off of X and let it die down. You wanting people to believe that you didn't make that goof is really the worst look of the entire thing, in my opinion. So tough break for Carl Ravage now to
make matters worse. It's not just you know, clowns like me on the radio making fun of him. He's now got SCC coaches making jokes because Mark Pope was asked about it earlier today at his press conference and he had some fun with it, which I didn't see this coming from Pope, and again, he's got to stop doing this stuff. He's got to stop being so damn likable, because I'm tired of it.
Coach, everybody talks about the SEC being the best conference in college basketball, but the conference is just five hundred since conference play started. What do you make of it? I think it's been a really disappointing start the conference play. I feel like we should, you know, I feel like we're not living up to the expectations just being at five hundred as a conference, and I just, you know, I'm kind of looking around at the other programs that leading,
but like, guys, we got to pick this up. This is embarrassing, and so we'll find a way. I pick this up. This is embarrassing, and we'll find a way. I believe in this league. I think we definitely have an upside and we're gonna work really hard to get there.
If Mark Pope's cracking jokes at you definition of down bad and that's not an insult to Pope, but to me, he seems like the guy that if you're if you're you know, busting each other's chops and there's you know, the fellas being fellas. He'd be the guy to like, all right, guys lighting up like he'd be the nice one, right, But when he's getting they're setting it up on a tee for him in Lexington and he's drinking his diet coke, clowning Carl.
I mean, that's that's.
A tough, tough situation for Carl Ravage and I look, I've just accepted that. I'm I'm gonna have a tough time disliking Mark Pope.
It's just a thing.
And I don't see any you know, he is Both coaches, by the way, I feel like are they're not like super similar as far as personality at all. Pope seems a little more chill. Pat Kelsey, I think I don't think he ever sleeps. I'm not sure he's ever slept a second in his life. To be honest with you,
my man is always he's he's always on right. But they're relatable, they're down to earth, they don't take themselves too serious, and I think that is now the new way to kind of grow your brand in college basketball and really stand out. But also I think it's how you win. I think it's how you relate to I think it's how you recruit and how you coach players to where you know it's all about relationships and and
you have you can't be that. You can you can be the drill sergeant and you're always gonna hold your players accountable. But to know that they can just up and leave now, I think you have to be somebody that they don't.
Just play hard for.
They like you, They have to like you, and maybe at times they end to practice and they don't feel the same way, but there's way more of the likability to where they trust that you are coaching them as hard as you are because you have good intentions. And that's just that's not how the legends in this sport have have typically gone about it. I mean, everybody's different,
nobody's the same person. But it's a new world and I think both coaches here in this state have shown early on they have some traits that I think are going to be really, really important that didn't used to really matter at all. In fact, it might it used to probably be a negative in the grand scheme of things. All Right, let's get our last time out out of
the way. We'll come back on the other side. I want to spend make sure we have a little more time than we usually do, because we've already got Louisville with a pretty solid start to the twenty twenty five class, the five star McDonald's All American who is going to be sensational next year.
Mickel Brown.
Also, we got the big man who's coming over from Germany, Big Frew, Big Freu. And by the way, his name is Sonny Frew. What a name, Sonny Frew. I love it. I don't know how you got Sonny from Sonandra or whatever it was, but Sonny Frew.
I like that.
That's fun to say, you know. He said that in a movie Buddy the Elf.
There was a guy that went over my head.
There was a guy in as off as It's office named Francisco, and he said, Francisco.
That's fun to say. So is Sonny Froo Sonny Fru Baby.
Anyways, they're already in a good spot, but there's a five star recruit that recruiting insiders are now saying Louisville is the leader for And I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but man, that'd be special.
So stick around, will finish strong.
Here it's a Thursday Coffee and Company fueled 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 we talked earlier about the current dispute between Paramount and YouTube TV. A lot of channels could be gone from YouTube TV until they get it figured out, including channels that are going to have the NAA Tournament games, which would be a real disaster for us around here. But YouTube TV usually does a pretty good job if they have a dispute or some kind of an issue
they have. To my knowledge, they haven't had a whole lot of outage, but there was a couple of times where they had an issue that impacted so that was on their end, and they'll always take a little bit off your bill or do whatever they can to help you out. I'm glad somebody sent this on the text line that YouTube TV is offering subscribers an eight dollars credit to subscribe to Paramount Plus so they can still watch those channels while being clear that they totally get
it if they lose subs in this dispute. So in other words, they're actually letting you know that they understand totally, but they've got to do what they've got to do, and they, I guess are on their end are as they're is as far as they can go within the negotiations. So I remember Time Warner did the same thing, and which it was Time Warner, which I think Time Warner
owned Spectrum. I could be wrong, but whenever it happened a couple of years ago when Louisville football was on ESPN for their opener against Georgia Tech, I don't think it lasted a whole long time. In fact, they got it done right before the NFL season started, because that would have been a real disaster to not have ESPN for the NFL with money night football and really everything.
So anyways, they were they were like giving customers options of things they can sign up for a free trial for, and I remember thinking to myself, that is so stupid. You were basically giving them an invitation to go leave you and find out they don't need you. And again from people who texted in earlier when we were talking
about it, that's exactly what happened. Because they couldn't get it on their Spectrum cable subscription, they signed up for the free trial of YouTube TV and probably realized, oh, this is a fraction of the cost half the cost. I don't need spectrum anymore, so I mean, to me, that seems kind of silly. I guess they could find They're going to find out one way or the other.
But I guess it makes you look like you're still caring about customers despite your contract dispute, that you know your customers have nothing to do with all.
Right, real quick, before we're not out of time.
I won't claim to be an insider in any way when it comes to recruiting because I don't even keep up with it as much as I probably should. But keep up with it enough, I guess to you know, to discuss it. And Nate Amant is a name that you don't really have to keep up with recruiting to know who he is one of the top players in the twenty twenty five class, and currently he is down to it sounds like Louisville, duke in Kentucky and Joe Tipton, who covers recruiting for on three sports.
He believes that Louisville is the leader.
I mean, he actually put it up either today or yesterday that I'll read directly. It says in speaking with sources this week Louisville and Duke, or the two schools that have positioned themselves the best as of today. I would slightly favor Pat Kelsey and the Cardinals. However, there's still time in this recruitment and it's hard to count out John Shire. So Kentucky's also involved, and they're actually going to get a visit from him coming up here soon, so he'd be a huge addition.
I'm still gonna be just.
Excited about Louisville basketball regardless of what this kid does, because I believe in Pat Kelsey and it's nice to get really talented freshmen that can help you can I Rus is a guy that his stats don't show it, but if you watch you can tell that guy's got some real ability and he's a little different than all the guys out there, just with what he's been blessed to be able to do with his size and his skill set. So you know, it'd be a big eel
but help you with the momentum. I'd love to have him, but you just aren't as relying upon eighteen year old phenoms in order to be really good one year to the other. But hey, I'll take him. It sounds like it's gonna be a highest bidder kind of situation, so we'll see. But he is the number four player in the country, a five star recruit, a six ' nine forward slash wing, so we'll see what happens.
All right. We're at a time, so enjoy your evening. Everybody. Stay warm, it's getting really cold outside. But we're back at it tomorrow for a feel good Friday.
Always love the Friday vibes around here, so come back and join us at three o'clock on Sports Talk seven ninety