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 we are. Get off our show, idiot. The kids are playing or turning off. The countries are screwing it up. Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play Inner Murals. 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? Welcome in, good afternoon here on a beautiful, beautiful Wednesday afternoon, just a few days away from Kentucky Derby one p fifty and one. It's hot as can be outside. I mean it's I'm not complaining. I'm inside and you know there's air conditioning, but it's warm out there today. But it is beautiful and it's busy. John. I've been all over the city of Louisville today. Oh, I've been to the East End. I've been to the South End.
I've been to Shepherdsville. You're a rambling man today. Yeah, I guess these are both considered east End. But like I was over off Old Henry Road. Had an appointment out there earlier today and then I made my way over to the Oxmoor Mall. So I mean I've been I've been driving, you know, hitting places here and there since eleven o'clock for a variety of
different reasons. And it's busy. Louisville is very very busy today, which you know, I'm sure some of it is a lot of people that are in town for you know, the derby, but also you know a lot of people probably out and about because they're not working, they're not being productive,
they're trying to find something aware to oh, sir derby. And also this doesn't this shouldn't impact traffic flow, but it does whenever there's a sign up like that says mowing zone, like they're not they're not on the road like they're they're not even shutting down a lane. But I guess just because people are you know, I don't know, I guess they slow down because they fear maybe somebody on a on a mower and the median is gonna end
up on the interstate and it could be a could be a disaster. But I do love that every year, and I think it's just a once a year thing. We make sure we get the grass cut and we pick up you know, the abandoned things that have been sitting on the Gene Snyder for nine months because it's Derby, right. We want to make sure we do it. You know, we clean up right. Uh, we take care of our roadways. Sure enough, next week somebody's going to abandon a couch
on the water cent It'll be sitting there till next May. That's just how it is. This is the absolute truth. I kind of love it,
right, I mean, it's part of the brand of Louisville absolutely. I mean I have not noticed it in a while now that I think about it, But there was a time, and I guess probably had something to do with the pandemic, you know, the world kind of just being much different for it for that year or whatever how long it was, there'd be vvehicles that would be on the side of the highway with like that sticker on it. That means somebody from either you know, law enforcement or highway patrol had
had, you know, put a sticker on it. I guess claiming that it had been I don't know, I don't even know what that is, but there's like a yellow sticker that I would see on cars, and some of them would sit there for like six weeks. Like you know, usually, if I'm going to work or going you know, somewhere, I'll go the same route every day. And I'm like, man, that that Chevy blazer, that ninety seven Chevy Blazer's just been sitting there for five weeks.
Now, what's going on? So you know, we're cleaning up, getting the place ready because there's a lot of folks that are going to be here in town. And I hate I'm not kidding you. I can't tell you much at all about this Derby. I mean I can't. I know there's been one scratch, one notable scratch, at least that's what I think. Maybe there's been more. I'm not sure. The extent of my Derby prep, if you even want to call it, that is just this show when
we played Jod Dimmling's Derby profiles. So it's not me telling you I'm too cool for Derby and you know, I don't even know, I don't care, but I've really, you know, this is the first year where I think I've completely and I mean completely just you know, not even given it any thought. Because I'm somebody that doesn't really care a whole lot about horse racing itself, but you know, the Derby is it's a big event and
we do it big and that is awesome. So today, with my last day of the week, by the way, I will be out tomorrow and Friday, you'll be in good hands, and then back at it on Monday to you know, react to a big Derby weekend, and who knows, maybe by that point there'll be more players added to the local rosters around here, which I'd say for the time being, wouldn't you say, John as the executive producer of Coffee and Company, given just you know, the situation
with both programs around here. On the basketball side, I feel like it's just a given that we we spend some time when the show starts to just update people on the portal and you know who's visiting who, you know, which transfers have become available, which transfers have scheduled visits, which transfers are no longer considering certain schools, and you know which transfers have picked a school. Yeah. So now we're in a new phase where the portal is closed,
and so you're going to start to see those names. The amount of names dwindle a little bit, so it actually is open until midnight tonight. I thought second is midnight. Yeah, so I was. I was, I thought the same thing, and sure enough today and I actually, I don't really know, to be honest with you. Yeah, I think there's some guys making a decision today, which I think means it is today, like today's the last day and when it when it hits midnight and it's May
second, then you can no longer do it. But then there could also be dudes who did it yesterday and like the paperwork to process, you know, when they throw you into that portal and you just become, you know, a floating available player out in this college basketball outer space. Uh, maybe maybe it's just a delay. But there there are a couple of names that have been added that I saw in the last couple of hours that that would be big additions. So we'll see, you know. I I still
think there'll be one big name before we hit midnight tonight. And when I say big name, I mean somebody that you know, is a key player that like everybody would want if they could get him, right, if they had money, if they had a spot open. So we'll dive right In the biggest update, I'd say, in the last couple of hours, Kobe Brea has committed to Kentucky. It looked as if that was going to be a for sure thing given the way it played out. And that's a good
get, no doubt. I mean, he's a guy that is one of the best catching shooters or one of the best you know, guys who can spot up, you know, catch and shoot. That's what he does, not that's not the only way he can score. But he's got good size, good link at six six, and he'll get a lot of open shots for Mark Pope. And you know, in a week's time, Kentucky's roster, you know, they've they've yet to land you know, star power,
which a lot of teams probably haven't. You know, Louisville, I'm not sure they have a star I mean, i'd say Terren Saywards Junior, you know, has the billing as far as credentials and stats. But the obvious question there is can it translate from the Sunbelt conference. I think Chucky Hepburnn
could be that guy. You know, he probably would have had a much bigger I mean, he had a big role, but his production as far as scoring would have been much more had he, you know, not played alongside aj Stores last year, who was one of the bigger players in the portal that's now at Kansas. So you know, that's not a knock on Kentucky. But Kevin Sweeney, who joined us yesterday, he kind of said the same thing that you know, not having star power, it's not anybody's
fault. There's not a whole lot of star power in the portal. So you know, Kobe Braa, where he ends up being ranked among like all the transfers, I'm not sure, but he does give you a guy with good size that can shoot the ball. And again, i'd say the similarities between the two rosters right now Mark Pope's and Pat Kelsey's won. I mean, actually the big difference is that Kentucky has a lot of bigs, Louisville has a lot of guards. But with Louisville, I mean, i'd say
the three things that really stand out experience, versatility. I think you've got a couple of guys, maybe three guys that you could put at three different positions if you need to. And then shooting, I mean you've got I mean, CHUCKI Hepburn was a forty percent three point shooter two years ago, didn't shoot it as good last year. Korn Johnson's a really good shooter. Terrence Edwards Junior is a really good shooter. Range Rain Smith. I mean, that's that's what he does. I mean, this is a guy who
I think made more threes than anybody in his conference last year. And then on the Kentucky side, you know, I don't know about versatility, but I would say they definitely have a lot of experience and they've got uh, they've got good defensive players too. So that's a good gift for Kentucky, no doubt about it. But another update involving Kentucky that also relates to Louisville is Great Osibor, who is one of the best players available in the portal.
He is officially not in the mix for Kentucky. So while visiting Kentucky yesterday, Jeff Goodman put it out there and he was right. They took the Oklahoma State kid. And it sounds as if you know, and I will I will say I was glad when I caught a brief, a brief snippet of KSR this morning. You know, they were talking about sort of how this played out where they took the I can't think of the young man's name who transfer from Oklahoma State. You remember his name, Joson, Yeah,
Garrison. He kind of became available and said, yeah, I'm in, I'll commit, and you know that that's a sure thing for the meaning like he's there, he's going to commit, you don't have to wait it out. Well, Osibor was always going to visit, but I do think he was believed initially to be somebody that Kentucky felt like they kind of had. But you know, he visited and while visiting, they got to commit from somebody else. And now he's moved on and as we speak, he
is visiting Louisville. So his visit started today. Don't know what he's doing right now. Maybe he's at Churchill Downs, maybe he's at the facilities, maybe he's listening. And if so, mister Osibor, welcome the Louisville make yourself at home. Hopefully you will call this place home for the next couple of years. You know, he's the number five player in the portal available right now. As far as where he ranks overall, we can get into
that and we do need to figure out John. Let's uh, because obviously I'm gonna like the one that favors Louisville players. You're gonna like the one that probably favors Indiana players, and Kentucky fans are going to like the one that favors their players. But these rankings as far as players that are available, or you know, not even players that are available, but just overall guys that have committed to a school or a guy that hasn't committed to a
school. You I mean not that maybe you guys aren't as interested in this stuff as I am, and you probably aren't because you have lives and you're you know, you're you're you're not a nerd for this stuff like I am. But the varying different I mean, it's insane to see that one one you know, outlet if you will, has a guy ranked in the sixties, the other has him in like the top fifteen. Like it's just crazy.
But I feel like we need to find one that is, you know, as the one that is, you know, the the ultimate one, right like this one is credible. I'm gonna say this. I don't like the ones that are done based off of like formula like number like some kind of you know, like because I just don't think that that's I mean, to me, it's silly. They do that anyway when it comes to recruiting.
But I guess they have their method, but numbers don't really tell the whole story when you're getting transfers, because again, there's a very there's various different levels of basketball. I actually, even if I don't agree with someone's opinion, I actually value looking at one that I know somebody just decided to rank them how they see them as players. Because when you do it like for example, and this is this is you know, people claim I'm you
know, being a crybaby and a homer. And that's fine. I mean, if you want to say that, maybe I am. But if you go to on three, not on three, but twenty four seven sports, they are they're now ranking players in the portal and portal classes and Louisville there's not a there's not a ranking at all, Like he's a nothing for cater treyor and I don't know where he'd be. But like him being nothing like a zero kills their ranking, like it's just it's it completely kills it.
Now. I don't know how soon this is updated, but it looks like they have him listed now as a four star in a ninety one great in twenty four sentence sports. Okay, they didn't earlier today because I saw it yesterday too and it was that it was a zero. Yeah, so good. I mean, I don't know if that you know, updated their thing, but like that that just you know that that that made that made the ranking not legit. You just don't include him if you're if you're not going
to if he's going to be a nothing. So anyways, uh, we'll actually revisit some of those rankings later and and you know, maybe we'll pick one that we feel like is uh, you know, the most trustworthy, and I'll be I'll be fair, right, you know, I'm not just going to pick the one that has you know, Louisville players ranked higher than
the other one. But anyhow, great Osimor's visiting and as I said yesterday, he's planning to visit every single school that he listed, which is Kentucky, Louisville, Texas Tech in Washington. I'm really curious and I'm not sure if we'll get an answer. But something I asked yesterday that again I don't have the answer to but the more I think about it, the more I think I might know the answer. I think these dudes get paid for visits
because that's happening at the high school level. Now. The amount of money I don't know, but you know, for example, that kid who stopped then at Louisville when he landed and then drove to Kentucky for the game for Kenny payn for Kenny to get a selfie to make it look like he's actually doing his job. You remember that when that happened, Yes, that that
kid was paid to visit. Now it was probably you know, you know, Kenny had his own nil people like people who and I don't know who they are, but that's why he left six figures worth of nil funds in the five oh two circle not used because he didn't want any help. He didn't need anybody else. He was going to do it all on his own. So if freshmen are getting paid to visit, some of them, not all of them, why wouldn't a transfer. Transfers have more leverage than anything.
They've proven what they can do at this level. So maybe that's why he's doing that. I don't know, but it will be wild if he ends up following Danny Sprinkle once again back to Washington. When I say following him once again, it's because he played for him two years at Montana State, followed him to Utah State, had a breakout season, and then I'm I mean, I just I wonder if this is all just a parade to
get money and for visits. If that's if that's happening, and then he ends up going with his coach and it looks as if, Wow, Danny Sprinkle was able to hold off Kentucky, Louisville and Texas Tech. I mean, that seems like a lot of work, you know, to be able to have a day of clout on social media to say Danny Sprinkle's out here getting it done. I love saying Danny Sprinkle. Is that fun. I hope he becomes a household naming. I mean, he is a household name,
Johnny's Danny Sprinkle. If it doesn't again, if it doesn't work out as a basketball coach, he moves to the adult entertainment business and the name's already there, right, or he can be a baker if you want to be KPg. Yeah, Danny's Danny's Danny's Sprinkle or Danny Sprinkle's. Danny Sprinkles would be a stage name. Danny's Sprinkle could be his donut shop, right,
yes, something like that. So anyways, I bring all that up to say, we're probably not going to get any legitimate update for a while, and it's going to drive me crazy because this would be a massive addition for Pat Kelsey, massive So you know, I guess it wouldn't be the craziest thing. If he does see what he needs to see at Louisville and he knows that the bag is where it needs to be, right John, they're standing on business absolutely, then maybe he says, look, I don't
need to make the trip to Texas tech. I mean, who would want to go to Lubbock, Texas? Right? So, Washington is believed to have good and il resources there there. You know, they have money and they are big ten school now they're collective is you know, apparently pretty impressive. But you know what, they don't have a young man by the name of Pat Kelsey. They don't have him, so hopefully that can put Louisville
over the top. All Right, some other updates here that have nothing to do with you know, the local schools, but the former local coaches of how about Caliperry. He got John L. Davis to commit last night, and in just a few days Caliperry has has landed two of the top six players in the portal that were available according to twenty four seve I'm sorry, according to the field of sixty eight, and that is jonas I do from
Tennessee, the big man. And then of course JOHNAL Davis, who by by most of the rankings I saw, they had him as the nomb I would say, he's the most consensus like top one, two or three guy in all the rankings. Wouldn't have you seen the same thing, John, Yes, I mean he's I mean he's been He's been up there in every one I've seen. So a massive gift for Cali Perry. And you know he brought a lot of those freshmen with him. Well, I guess he
brought three or four of them. So he brought Billy Richmond, Boogie flannd and uh Carter Knox, did not bring acquaintance and did not bring Osto or to me or I can't think of the guy's name played overtime Elite League. Actually not that highly ranked, So I don't know how many guys that he has on his roster, but a good week for Cali Perry, no doubt. And then this hasn't happened yet, but here's the latest on these three players, Kadaari Richmond of Seaton Hall nor Chad Omeir from Miami. Those are
number two and number three in these rankings. I'm looking at at the field of sixty eight. And then davey On Smith, the former Mississippi State, Georgia Tech and now former Utah player. He's been a lot of places, if you remember, Louisville was initially believed to be involved there according to Trilli Donovan, Well, now he's trimmed his list of just three schools and Saint John's is one of them. So how about Rick Patino potentially landing three.
I mean again, none of them have committed yet, but all signs point to Richmond and Omir being Saint John's guys. And then if Davion Smith ends up picking Saint John's, that could be I mean, that would give Patino a big enough haul in the offseason to where Saint John's would have some real momentum heading into next year. They bring back I think a lot of the
guys that they want to bring back. There's two dudes on their team that are suing the NC DOUBLEA to try to get a fifth year of eligibility, which I mean, last I checked, when you sue the NC DOUBLEA,
it usually works out in your favors. Been a pretty successful thing here lately, which I believe honestly, that's what's led to I mean, it's one of the many things that's led to commissioners around the country and the NC double A meeting to try to, you know, to figure out the guardrails, figure out the the the rules essentially right like, they're gonna make these guys employees, and the biggest, the biggest hurdle is going to be, you
know, what it does for you know, taxes on those scholarships and that kind of stuff. And that's that's something I you know, I don't know a whole lot about, but I actually think that's been the for so long. It's just been a foregone conclusion where you can ever make them employees. And it's because of that, because you know, the the the financial impact that it would have on these schools that has nothing to do with paying the
players. It's about you know, taxes and you know, I guess hr kind of stuff, but it's coming because again, the Nce double A has never been less I mean, I don't even say less powerful. They've never They've never been this lifeless. Right, they can't really enforce anything as it stands. You file, you know, you file a lawsuit. Lawyer up and they're gonna cave or they're just gonna fight it and they're gonna lose. That's what happens. So all right, let's get to our first break here.
In just a moment, we are going to give you our first Derby profile of the day, courtesy of Jody Di Demmling coming up here in just a couple of minutes. But I threw it out there on social media yesterday. We got some responses on the show yesterday from the text line, I'm asking folks, who's the most random celebrity that you have seen in Louisville for
Derby? And I don't mean just this year. I don't mean just at Churchill Downs, but somebody you randomly saw And it can be maybe you didn't randomly see them, like you know, you saw them heading to the track, but you're like that's a random celebrity. I forgot about that guy. You know he was he was in two seasons of Boy Meets World, you know, something like that. And there's some really good responses that have come in on Twitter, on my Facebook, and then again on the text line.
So we'll mix in that throughout the day. And again there's a lot of other stuff we have to get to. We're gonna make you gotta fish. We will. Yeah, we've got a handful of those names left. And I do think a lot of the names left or names were gonna obviously know. But there's a few that I can tell you. I don't know who they are, so that that no offense to John. It makes me
think you don't know who they are either, But I don't know. Maybe you maybe you do know, you know, maybe there's maybe there's a celebrity that you're like in the fan club and I don't even know who any young guns, yeah, I mean the younger side is definitely something you'd be Oh. Actually, here here's where you would really uh crush me in this like members of of of bands? Oh yeah, like the names right, Like I can't tell you the name of anybody in in bands I can tell you
Scott's staff because he's a legend, right, I can tell you. Is it Chad Kroger, Yeah, from nickel Back. Yeah, that's all I got. I meant you think of me another James Hetfield, No Metallica? Okay, what about Uh who's the guy that was instained that? Now? Is like this right wing Aaron ut Yeah, Aaron lewis phenomenal voice. But you know, uh, he's he's doing he's doing country now. But it's like it's like rebel country. Yeah, like like kid rock style, like
like like badass country. Like you know, somebody pulls up to the red light and they're blaring it. You look over at them, You're gonna roll your window up because they're bad mother efforts, you know what I'm saying. Oh yeah, they probably got those chrome nuts hanging from their truck. You know what I'm saying. You've seen those, especially run Bullet County. You need to get those. I think they I think they were created in Bullet County. That's such a Bullet County thing and it is. You need to
get some of those for your camera. Oh, it would look great, And I'll get some from my volts wagging right, a couple of bad asses. It would be funny, wouldn't it driving down forty four? They would be funny? All right? Here's our first Derby profile. Who is the first thorough bredburg in a feature today? Catching Freedom? Catching Freedom? Let's hear it now? Look at the Kentucky Derby field one by one Catching Freedom. One of the horses who is generating a lot of attention and catching a
lot of buzz on the backside is Catching Freedom. The Louisiana Derby winner, trained by Brad Cox, owned by the all Ball family stable, will be ridden by Lobby and Pratt. The bay son of Constitution, has three wins and a third place finish in his five career starts. He won his maiden race at Churchill Downs back in October that it was a fourth place finish in an optional claiming race at Churchill Downs in November before starting off his three year
road career winning the Smarty Jones at Oakland Park on New Year's Day. Then it was a third place finished behind Sierra Leone and tracked Phantom in the Risen Star on a sloppy track. Dox then kept Catching Freedom at the Fairgrounds where he scored a length victory over Honor Marie in the Louisiana Derby bread by Windstar Farm, a five hundred and seventy five thousand dollars purchase at the twenty twenty
two Keenland September Yearling Sale, catching freedom like one of the favorites. Sierra Leone is a closer and we'll be trying to reel them in down the stretch. You know, he's taken off. I mean, he's just he brings him in the afternoon. Like I said, he's the one that you know, I mean that show. You have a tremendous amount of the mornings. But he's always showed up n well. Even when he was third in the Risen Star and fourth heron Aluns last year. They were good efforts, but
he obviously stepped up big time Louise in a derby last time. He's doing right at the right He's doing well at the right time. Trader Brad Cox is one for nine in the Kentucky Derby, that one victory mandalud in twenty twenty one when Medina's spirit was taken down after a failed drug test. This time, Cox feels like he's got a horse that can not only get him to the finish line, but can cross first. In catching freedom, a gun is like a woman's son. It's all how you hold her. That's
that's some lyricism right there. So you've never heard him Saint Country, have you? No? It fits him though, it does the voice, I mean it sounds but but you know he could also do the like yelling, screaming. Yes, it's tained that what he was in. Yes, and it sounds great too. So there you go. All right, it is Coffee and Company and we are fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Any of you that are that are that are finding us because you know you just need your sports radio fix when you arrive in Louisville for the Derby, Uh, support our friends at Thornton's. That's where you need to stop in when it comes to you know, filling up the the rental car or you know, getting a quick bite to eat. They've got a lot of delicious options at Thornton's. So yeah, there's and if you're in the Kentucky and area, then there's one near you because they're all over the place.
They're in high demand, all right. If you want to be part of the show you can in five O two five seven seventy nine hundred is the number if you want to give us a call, and you can also text in five O two sixty five three zero seven ninety on the L and N Federal Credit Union text line. Uh so, let's see here a couple of texts. I want to get to in just a minute. But before we do that, the one of the so when it so, the people have asked what the what the visit length is for? Oh, sibol, I
don't know. I mean I thought, and I could be wrong, that his visit when it initially was announced that he would be in Louisville from the second to the third, like just those days. Maybe maybe it was the first to the third. I'm not sure, but I do think he got to Kentucky earlier than what was the initial schedule that came out as far as because if you remember, you know, this guy hit the portal and everybody
just assumed he was going to go to Kentucky. I don't really know where that came from, but you know, there were there was a lot of buzz about that, and then I think two weeks ago roughly maybe there was the report and Actually, I don't know what it is about the roster tracking and the portal that has me completely losing track of time. Chucky Hepburn committed a week six days ago. I feel like it was six months ago, Like I don't know why. Maybe just because it's just a constant thing,
that's why it seems so long ago. Like whenever Ali Khalifa committed, that seemed like it was six years ago. Like I don't, I don't, I don't get it. But whenever it was Revival Field, those were the four schools listed, and that's when we learned Louisville was in the mix. And now they've got him here on campus, and you know, here' still hoping that he enjoys his visit and eventually decides to be a Louisville Cardinal.
So there are some that have expressed some worry about Louisville being able to, you know, fill these scholarships with with quality players. Look, there's still a lot of good players in the portal. Now are there superstars? I don't know, I mean not doesn't look like it, right, I mean, I guess you know Kaari Richmond Nord, Chadomere, you know those two
guys could be key player. I mean, those two guys could be all conference performers at their next school because they were all conference performers at their previous stop, which was a high level the Big East in the acc Osabor. I mean, he looked pretty good at Utah State last year. And the Mountain West is not, you know, considered a power league, but it
had a good run. They got a lot of teams in the tournament last year, so you know he would Again, There's nothing I can really back this up with as far as like numbers or anything like that, but I feel like if you have the trio of Terrence Edwards Junior, Great Osibor and chucki Hepburn, that's a good core. Not to mention you know, the
other guys you have that are good players. So I don't want to act as if the addition here, of the potential addition of Osibor would make it to where Louisville can you know, just go go recruit the campus for walk Ons to fill the roster, because you know there's still gonna be good players to get and you can never have too much depth. You can never have too much talent. But that would give you nine players one being a red shirt that you know, I still think there's a chance he could play,
we'll see, And that's Ali Khalifa. So this one just feels different, right because a lot of the other commitments that you've received up to this point, outside of Terrence Edwards Junior, have been have been guys that you know, were they kind of came in a way right like there were they were visiting with four other players and they staggered it out and this guy made his
decision on a Monday. This guy made his decision on a Wednesday. Uh. This, you know, it's not that they're not talking to other players. They are, but you know, Ohsabor's visiting right now and I don't think there's any other visits with him. And you know, you roll out the red carpet, right you uh, you make this, you know, the best possible experience that you can. And uh Pat Kelsey talked about it actually earlier today with our partners over there at w l k Y because you
know, he was backside this morning and got it. You know, I guess this is his first I mean I imagine he's probably been in Churchill Downs before, but uh, you know, seeing it up close and personal on the on the close in person, I should say on the backside, you know, he was enjoying it, and also you know it helps with recruiting. Again. This is from uh oh. This is one of those clips John that I don't know if it's gonna work because yeah, little trial and
air. We'll see. This is from Dominique Yates from wk Y again our news partners, and I feel like usually his video that he put well by the way, and I love that he does it because it, you know, gives us a chance to play it here on the air, and Dominique does a great job. But I think it may be that one channel audio. We'll have to wait and see. Okay, I think we're good. I think we're good. Here we go. This is Pat Kelsey earlier this
morning live at Churchill Downs. Every single time we get on a zoom call, every single time I talk to recruit you know, one of the main things we sell is this unbelievable city, right and one of the greatest things that this city has to offer is one of the great spectaals of American sport. That's Kentucky Derby. There's gonna be one hundred and sixty five thousand people here on Saturday. That's incredible. So every time, all day long,
we're selling this city and obviously selling this world class event. Good phrase. It is hectic, but exciting, I think is the better way to say it. It's what I do, It's what we do, and my staff's been working tenaciously. I don't know if that's the word, as hard as any staff in the country to put this roster together. We love the momentum that we have right now. In the next month or so, all the pieces will be in place and get ready to get ready to get the work.
So there you go. I don't know if Great Osibor has any interest in horse racing, but you don't have to to realize how awesome Churchill downs is during this week of the Kentucky Derby. But for those asking, he won't. He's not expected to be in Louisville four Derby day. I think his visit will end on Friday. Maybe he gets to experience the oaks. Maybe he wakes up Friday and leaves. I'm not sure. Hopefully, Actually,
let's just hope he never leaves and just stays here forever. I'm sure with the NIL package we can we can arrange somebody to go pick up his stuff at at Utah State. Where's Uta State? By the way, is at Provo? That's a good question. I think Utah, I believe is closer to Salt Lake City, meaning the university. I don't know where Utah State is, but logan Utah, Yeah, Logan, Look, if he commits, I'll drive a U haul pick up his stuff and drive it back
to louisvill for him. I want if he wants to give you a chance to do that cross country road for exactly, I mean, talk about a double double wind for me, right, they'd be great. And just to clarify, the portal closes tonight, but guys don't have to make a decision honestly until so there's guys that have entered the draft. There's a deadline for that you have to and I think there's two different deadlines, meaning you've got to let the NBA know at a certain time if you're staying in the draft
or pulling your name out. And then I think you also have to let the NSABA know that you're either going to stay in the draft or come back to college. But if you're in the portal before midnight, tonight and you have not entered the NBA Draft, then you can. I'm pretty sure you can decide where you're gonna go up until school starts in the fall. Now that would be that wouldn't be ideal. I don't thin anybody's gonna do that,
but you could technically if you wanted to. But I know coaches are going to probably put you know, let's say you got a guy who's a
top five player in the portal and he's considering three schools. I think all three collectively would work together to say, look, we all need to know what's happening here, so let's let's, you know, give him a certain And I'm not saying that's what happened with Mark Pope and Osibor, but he was clearly going to wait and take visits and they could get the Garrison kid on the spot and it and they took that route. It's not that they
didn't want o Sabor. I mean they take him right now if he wanted to come there, it just clearly is not going to work because you know, they took another guy to his position. And I don't know if Mark Pope's the one deciding, like if they're going to match offers or not. But and I'm not even really sure if if this is true, right, I mean, I wouldn't. I'm not going to say it's a lie,
but there there are some that say that. And it's not like it's coming from you know, it's coming from uk fan media, which hey, I'm I'm a fan myself. I guess technically you can claim that on media, so that's not an insult. But you know that the kid who committed it to Yukon that was from Saint Mary that you know, he wanted to go to Kentucky, but he asked Kentucky to offer what Yukon was going to do
in IL and Mark Pope said no, Like, I don't. I don't know if that's true or not, but you know, I guess it could. I could believe it real quick. This may not be a name that anybody remembers or has ever heard of, but Trevon Brazil, you know that name. I don't so Trevon Brazil was one of the big names returning to
college basketball last year. So this guy, he's from Arkansas. He played at Missouri as a freshman, showed a lot of upside, transferred to Arkansas, and in nine games in twenty twenty three, he was really productive. Twelve points, six rebounds, over a block per game, twenty seven minutes per game, and he I mean he dominated. I think he dominated Louisville in the Battle for Land and not the batfort Land's but the Maw Invitational during
Kitny Paine's first year. Well, then he got hurt, missed the rest of the season, came back to college this past year, had a very underwhelming year at Arkansas. They were dysfunctional. I'm not sure if he was shaken off rust, but he is in the portal and if you get that guy where he was pre injury, you're getting a very very productive, freakishly athletic big man who is six' ten two twenty I mean this, I'm pretty sure he was a big time recruit as well. So you know,
I don't know what he's gonna what he's gonna end up. You know, I don't know what he's gonna end up being after that injury, because again he could he honestly couldn't get minutes at times for Musselman last year. But maybe he just needs a fresh start and now he's fully Maybe now he's fully healthy. But that's somebody that, knowing that Louisville still needs front court players, I hope that they get involved there because, you know, I think
that guy could be really, really good. Real quick, before we get to a break, shout out to the one and the only mister Teddy Bridgewater. Theodore Bridgewater was one of the inductees to the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame. I think that was the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame. They they unveiled their new class earlier today, and yeah, it is the Kentucky Sports Hall
of Fame. So congrats to Teddy. I don't need to give him an introduction or tell you anything that you don't already know about Teddy Bridgewater, but you know he he came to Louisville before it was cool to come to Louisville. And I'm not saying it's the coolest thing to do now, but that era, that was the Charlie Strong era. Just being honest with you, it was my favorite era of Louisville football just because I was younger. I had just gotten a chance to cover the team, you know, as somebody
that you know in the media. I just had started doing radio and that man, that was fun as hell coming off the Crackthorpe era. You know, Charlie Strong brought a bunch of talent in here and they had some special seasons. And I don't know if I believe this, but there's some that
believe it and I can't prove them wrong. And it's not a crazy opinion to have, and that is that without Teddy Bridgewater, none of that really works out with Charlie and you don't have that, you know, it's not a great I mean, it was a great era for Louisville football, but you know, wasn't that long Strong was here. I think four years so, but that four years was monumental. Right when he took over, Kragthorpe had left you in the dumps, and then you get momentum. You know,
you start to you get some buzz. You got guy on the on the draft boards. You know, Teddy was a Heisman candidate. And when you beat Florida in the Sugar Bowl, that put Louisville football on the map in a way that they'd not been on the map in quite some time. And that's one of the best wins that ever that louisvill football ever had. I mean, I think you could make the case it's the biggest win they've ever had just because of how it happened the stage and you know, with
that run that was the Teddy Charlie whatever you would call it. I mean, I think there's more than just those two guys that deserve to be to I mean, that was a great, great group of players for and even even Bobby inherited some of those guys a couple of years after and they went on to the NFL and some of them are still playing now. So I don't think without that success, Louis's in the ACC. I think it's much easier for the ACC to take Yukon. If Louisville was a mediocre football program,
I think Yukon would have gotten the bump. Now, Louisville was killing it in really every other sport that seems to to, you know, to matter, but football matters more than anything, and they had momentum, and I think that made it an obvious choice for the ACC to not take Yukon and instead take Louisville. And you gotta keep in mind, you know ESPN
up there in Bristol, I mean it's in the state of Connecticut. I mean, there was a lot of people, I mean, folks at ESPN just assumed it was going to be a no brainer that and you know in ESPN accnever That's why I bringing them home. Nonetheless, shout out to Teddy Bridgewater. He's retired now for those who missed that, after his NFL season came to and end with the Lions and he's now going to go coach football.
I believe it is alma mater at his high school. So shout out to uh to Teddy Bridgewater, one of the best ever here and uh probably one of the most beloved players of any sport that I can remember. And there's a lot of guys that were beloved here right Louisville fans will will show your love for the rest of your life, and a lot of these guys
make this their home because of that. But Teddy, I mean, as somebody who used to you know, grind it out in the blog world, nobody moved the needle with page views and clicks like Teddy Bridgewater and Russ Smith too. All right, quick break, We'll come back on the other side. Keep it rolling along. It's coffee and company. Fiel about Thornton's on sports talk seven ninety. All right, so Kentucky landed another kerk CHRISA.
I think I'm saying that correctly, the former Arizona Wildcat and I guess now former West Virginia Mountaineer point guard who averaged eleven points and for assists last year for the Mountaineers. So that gives him another guard that I think is I don't know enough about the other guards they have, but I'd say this is this is their point guard. I mean, I think that's what he's specifically, kind of a guy who'll run your team averaged, you know, has
averaged more than four assists per game the last three seasons. So didn't hear a whole lot about his recruitment. You know, he he was a big name last year in the portal, ended up at West Virginia, and then he ended up getting suspended for something. It was, you know, it wasn't like he was a criminal. He I think he one of this. It was at the time when the NSA a still you know, was able to enforce some stuff as far as like impermissible benefits through a transfer or something.
So yeah, I kind of forgot he was available. Didn't hear a whole lot about the schools he recruiting, but it sounds as if he's he's he like a cocky guy, because everybody's claiming like he's the dude who You're gonna love him if he's on your team, but man, you're gonna hate him if he's on the other team. No, that's the truth. Arizona two years ago, and he's somebody that just aggravates you from the opposing side. Is it like attitude or is it like smug? Yes, very smug.
Okay, he's from Estonia and uh yeah, started his career at Arizona and now I guess we'll finish it. He's a fifth year senior, so he'll finish it at Kentucky. So again, in a week, Mark Pope has now landed what is it, five players? I think I think that's that sounds right. So we may be at a point now where I think each team has the same amount of guys. I could be wrong on that, but it's getting close. And for those just now joining us, the
top target right now, at least I think it is. I don't know, maybe Pat Kelsey's got something up his sleeve, but top target for Louisville great Osibor has left Lexington. He's in Louisville now for his visit, and now we wait. I hope you don't have to wait, you know, weeks, but you never know. Everybody who's covered his recruitment, those that have access to his agent that you know, get updates from him. He's planning on visiting every single school, but it really couldn't. You know.
I'm trying not to put pressure on Pat Kelsey because you know, you can make a kid commit, right, like if you've got a great an ile package and you know you're selling him on being a key piece to your team and you you're clearly going to play a style that would really really suit him as a guy who's a stretch for that can you know, do a little bit of everything. But he wants to go play for his coach at Washington, who he followed last time he took a job, which is just a
year ago. Like, there's really not a whole lot you can do, but man, just knowing how big of an addition this would be, and knowing that he's here during Derby Week, Derby one fifty, like it's just it's all I can't help but get my hopes up, but maybe that's foolish on my part. All right, let's do one more Derby profile before we get to the top of the hour. A couple of guests going to join
us today. I did not mention this at the beginning of the show, but we are going to talk to our man Kent Spencer from WHS eleven at four point thirty, and then we'll kick off the five o'clock hour with the one the Only mister Jeffrey Greer. So good vibes coming your way in these next couple of hours, and we'll finish up the first hour again with our
next Derby profile. Who do we have next? John Catalytic Catalytic. Let's hear now look at the Kentucky Derby field one by one Catalytic Florida Derby runner up. Catalytic is a likely raced Bay cult son of Catalina Cruiser. Catalytic is owned by Tammy Bobo, Julie Davies and George Isaacs Hill. He's trained by Saffie Joseph and we'll be written in the Kentucky Derby by jose Ortiz. Catalytic as a win and two second place finishes in his only three starts of
his career. He won his debut October seventh at a race at Golfstream Park. He didn't race again until March eighth, when he was second in an optional claiming race at Tampa. Zaffi Joseph then entered him twenty two days later in the Florida Derby and he finished second, beaten thirteen links by Kentucky Derby favorite Fierceness. In his two races this year, as a three year old, Catalytic was bumped at the starting gate. He actually dropped back to last
in his first race of the year, closing two finished second. He was second behind Fierceness all the way around the track in the Florida Derby. It'll be Joseph's third Kentucky Derby starter. He finished eighth with New York Traffic in twenty twenty, jose Ortiz's o for eight in the Kentucky Derby. Trainer Saffi Joseph said he knows Catalytic is up against it, going against the likes of
Fierceness, but he has the points to get in the Kentucky Derby. The horse is training well, and Joseph said they just decided let's take a shot and try to capture the roses. Yeah, I mean our horses likely raised. It was only his third start, fair citisen in a different league when he shows up for most sources off on. We obviously ran second, We got points to come to the derby, and he's done well since then, so we give it a shop. We don't know how much he's going to
improve. He's supposed to improve. He's only it's a third start of his career. With the first start going two turns on the derby is showing like, hey, he got some crazy results. Sometimes the main thing is to get here on Once Ace is doing well, give it a chance.