KSR - 2024-03-15- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: March 15, 2024

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Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Comedy of Broadway in Lexington welcomes Ian Bagg. March 7th through the 9th. Then catch J.B. Sears March 14th through the 16th. And don't miss Jeffrey Osmus. March 22nd and 23rd. Comedy of Broadway opened in downtown Lexington in 1987.

And they're still bringing me. the best and stand-up comedy to the area 37 years later. Call 859271 joke or visit Comedyoff-Broadway.com. Welcome, everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio here live in Nashville, Tennessee at the Tin Roof. Welcome everybody here to Nashville, where it is packed in blue all across the city, and we are here at Tin Roof right off of Broadway with another massive crowd. We are filled upstairs.

Let me hear from everybody upstairs. It'll be harder for those of you to hear, but then there's people downstairs if you're downstairs scream. Yeah. There they are. We are here ready to glow. You can give us a shout at the Clark's Pump and Shop phone line, 859-280-2287.

A-Vision Auto Glass text machine is 772-7-7-7-4-25-4. And this edition is sponsored by the T.J. Smith, law, obviously, call T. T.J. He'll make them pay. Ten roof. We've been doing this show now for. Morgan, how long has it been? 11, 12 years here over the years?

And every single time we have a crowd, every single time I get a picture of a line early in the morning. How many of you were out here in the rain this morning? Let me see. Look at that. The early folks got here standing in the rain, and they are here now, and we really appreciate it.

Thanks to Country Boy, Brewing, for having us, Kentucky Brandon, and guys, it was a long night yesterday. I will start with, you got to give a round of applause to Shannon the dude four straight hours of singing yesterday. I have to tell you, now I've seen you perform a few times, and you do an absolutely amazing job.

I was here for the beginning, and then I came back towards the end. You hadn't stopped the whole time, and you had a crowd rocking the whole time. You were full. I felt sorry for the bands downstairs. They couldn't compete with you up here. But what is it like? I don't think you've ever done that before,

seeing four straight hours without a break. They are hard drivers here at Tenroof. What did you think? I will say it was a lot easier to do with all the people here. So a big thanks to those of you who were here. You guys brought the energy. And it went by surprisingly fast. We did have a little bit of help.

We had some special guests come up on stage. Yeah, so let's talk about who sang. First of all, of course Ryan sang, he always sings. And what did you end up singing this time? Wagon wheel. There's one song. He's got one head. Then the big surprise.

So I stayed here for like, 45 minutes went off to the game I get a text message and Vince Mero says I want to come see Shannon play he shows up I'm not even here and he came on stage and sang with you too in between one of the songs I hear somebody yelling my name and I look over it's Vince Meryl and he goes you guys are actually pretty good yeah he was not expected yeah he told me yeah I guess the bar was set very low and then somebody said to me you know if you go over there and you get Vince to sing or if you ask him to sing simple man he'll come up and do Leonard Skinner with you i was like no he won't yes so he actually he did

that at his wedding reception i will also note however if you've seen the video vince is a better recruiter than he is a than he is a singer but but you got to love the effort right i love it i love the swag for him to come up here he came up here looking for the teleprompter i think like where's the words that there are no words yeah he just had to make it happen yeah it's awesome Then on the other hand, we have Drew, who I knew it was an issue when I had a friend. I woke up this morning to a text that says it's 3.45 in the morning, and there's Drew across the street. So you got here this morning. Well done to you after a big late night out.

I would like to actually take my Uber driver. All week it's been $10 to get to Broadway. Paid $100 U.S. dollars to go home last night in the rain at surge pricing at the end of the night. So I should have got home a little earlier. And then a big shout out to all the Kentucky fans. It took, I think, until last night, but Kentucky fans have taken over the city of Nashville. I think that's pretty clear. Especially this morning walking around, you could just see it.

I genuinely believe that the session tonight and then assuming we win the session Saturday, Ryan, I think they're going to be two of the wildest sessions in terms of attendance and just people in the city. I mean, let's just do a little thing. How many of you all in here have tickets tonight? Raise your hand. How many of you just wanted to be here and you're going to be watching at a bar somewhere tonight? I mean, that's a lot, a lot of people. And so I think Kentucky fans, if I'm in, if you are in Kentucky, even if you do not have tickets,

I would want to be here. The only other place would be KS Bar in Lexington. But I really believe, I mean, it's going to be great here today. Yeah, like I said, we are so long overdue as a fan base to have a good weekend at the SEC tournament. man we crave it this is our weekend this is our tournament we finally feel like we can get back to that level this weekend so kentucky will play texas a and m today uh 7 o'clock it is a obviously a huge game for kentucky i kind of take the view this has been my view the whole time i think if we win tonight i think we win the whole the whole thing i think we win the whole tournament i oddly think tonight's

going to be tough it's probably if you're just looking matchup wise drew probably the team that's the for us to match up with the way they play. I mean, we're better than them, but they play a physical style. Their guards, while they can't stop us, they can kind of be physical with us. And then they have a dude and Wade Taylor who can go off on you. They beat us down there. I like us against pretty much anybody else we would see. Plus, A&M is, according to Joe Lennardi, the last team in the tournament.

And Lennardi said this morning, if A&M beats Kentucky today, they're in. If they lose, who knows? It'll either be them or Cream Abdul-Jabbar. So the way I look at it is we win today, we win the SEC tournament, we also got to do it for Cream Abdul-Jabbar. He's not going to make the tournament unless we win today. We got to get a victory. Got to get it done.

It's a team. You've got a little motivation having lost there. I'm sure they're eager to get them back. I will say Buzz Williams in Texas A&M, they go on some runs in this tournament. They had a good run last year. They can be a dangerous team, but I mean all the fans here. something special. If we're going to do something special, A&M doesn't matter today. Win this game and we're moving on. Yeah, this will be, first of all, four great games

today. How do you feel about the matchup against A&M? Well, we played them in January. They kind of bullied us around. They out rebound us like by 20. But, you know, I think we've learned, we've got a little bit better defensively. We've got a little bit better rebounding the basketball. And we've learned how now, man, even if you try to bully us around, we can still outscore you. So I like our chances. At the game against N.A. and M. They absolutely, bullied our bigs. I mean, our bigs just got thrown around. And that was, I mean, all of them. Everybody that played got absolutely just tossed around tonight. Some of them, Shannon, have to fight back. And if they do, I think we win by 10.

I know last game they didn't have Big Z. I'll be interested to see if he gets any playing time tonight. If he can be physical, I mean, he can be a guy that can be an enforcer down low for Kentucky. I don't know that he will be that. But they didn't have him last game. This was the game there where, Cal started moving away from Bradshaw and towards Hugo was this game because he saw Bradshaw get absolutely manhandled and he kind of switched the way he's been playing. And A&M is going to change any other game plan based on the fact that Big Z is eligible to play tonight. So it'll be interesting to see, but Kentucky's got to be more physical.

There's no doubt about that. It is, it's a great chance also to knock Buzz Williams in his vest out of the NCAA tournament. I mean, he wears, I kind of like a vest because I would never wear one, but I'd like to see him out of the He feels like A&M feels like an NIT team to me. I mean, I clearly want to beat him today, but I'm a little bit of a closet Buzz Williams fan. I think Ryan is too. I hope he lose by a million points, and he's on his couch tomorrow in this tournament.

But I do think he's a very good coach. That's why they are a dangerous team and they've gone on runs in the postseason in the past. I feel like he's kind of my doppelganger. I think we could be twins. He got the fake hair. I got the fake hair. He's a snazy dresser? I'm a snazzy dresser.

You As you wear your free t-shirt right now, it literally says I'm not sure. I have to tell you, there's very few ways I think you're like Buzz Williams. You both got plugs. That's good. Yeah. We're both handsome young men.

I mean, you're both not young. And we can both pull off a vest. When's the last time you ever wore a vest? Well, you know. I did like you rocking the women's day t-shirt everywhere. Yeah, yeah. You were supporting all the women out there before you called them gal. at some point during the day.

For Kentucky, they're in town. They practiced here yesterday. Antonio Reeves, I think, made third team of All-American from the sporting news, so give a big round of applause. That's one of the six major ones. I think Drew, for us to win the SEC tournament, and maybe to win the NCAA tournament, but certainly the SEC tournament,

Antonio Reeves probably needs to be the MVP. He has scored at least 15 points, Every single time he's left Rupp Arena, and he scored at least 20 points, 10 of the 12 times he's left Rup Arena, which is an absolutely insane statistic. Do you think it continues down here? I mean, I'd be crazy to say it wouldn't. It's just every game. Like, the last game, you know, he's matched Reed and points. We're all talking about Reed, and you're looking at the box.

You're like, oh, yeah, Antonio, he had 27 too. 27. I mean, like, you're 27, you don't even think about it. It's almost just a given at this point. I'm very excited for him in this postseason because last year he had a, he had a, he had a, pretty bad game when they were sent home. And I'm excited for his redemption tour, especially. I know Bob and Jamestown, if you're out there, Antonio Reeves is coming because he's got to make up for what happened a year ago. And I think he's going to play well because it's done it every

single game in SEC play. He had an interesting comment. I don't know if you saw this. He said in an interview, I think yesterday, if not the day before, he said he was kind of surprised that this has worked out as well as he has. I mean, it's a, I don't know how many people know the situation that brought him back, but part of why he came back is it wasn't 100% clear he could play somewhere else. Like there was like some sort of rule that he thought he might be able to, but he might not. And so it was just easier to come back. And I think there was a part of him that thought if he came back he wouldn't play, Ryan, that he'd be like he'd be sitting seventh or eighth man. For him to come back, be first team all SEC is a really great story. You know, that was the storyline we had this

summer, yeah, if he came back, is he going to be to have to come off the bench again with the talent that Cal was bringing in? That was a concern. But there was a real worry that for him, and I don't know what the rule was, but he had two choices of where to play, Kentucky and Illinois State. Like he wasn't, he was either going to have to go back there or come here. He didn't really

there was something about the academic situation that made it where he may not be able to go anywhere else. And I'm not saying that's why he came back, but I think it was part of it and to see that work out, Drew, I think is awesome. Yeah, he was a little worried, you know, with Cal having a freshman class, obviously, you know, Cal loves his one and duns. Will I be second fiddle to

them? But that's the credits of this team how, you know, they embraced him, these freshmen. And really, we talk about this all the time. But from the first seat on the bench till the end, this is the best attitude I've seen of a group. No doubt. Ever. I mean, you have guys who came in here thinking they were going to the NBA. They're probably not going to play another minute. And they are cheering just as loud as anyone else on the bench for their teammates. Since we've been doing this in the Cal era, I think you can really see a correlation between how these teams get along and how they do. I mean, they haven't had, they haven't had a team that hated each other really since Cal's been here, but they've had a couple where guys just weren't really that close. Last year's team was like that, to be quite frank

with you. The COVID team was like that a little bit. And it's not a coincidence. Those teams struggled. I think this team loves each other player to player. I think they all are connected. and, of course, they got the news yesterday. A second NBA mock draft has Reed Shepard going number one in the draft. A second one. Shannon. That's unbelievable. I mean, you know, when it was the ringer, now 24-7 sports,

two different mock drafts have Reed Shepard going number one in the draft. It's crazy, isn't it? Like, it wasn't, it was like five or six years ago, just so you know. Reed Shepard was at this show at the SEC tournament. when he was like in seventh grade. I mean, we may have a future number one draft pick sitting out there in the crowd right now. I mean, Reed Shepard was at this show?

Which one of he is it? It's you right here. You future number one draft pick? I'll tell you what, I'll get a picture of you just in case it happens so that I'll be ready in a few years because I didn't take a picture of Reed when he was here. But isn't that nuts? I mean, considering where we thought he would be,

the conversations we were having this time last year talking about him coming into the team. But yeah, he'll be a guy that comes off the bench, which he is a guy that comes off the bench, but a guy that maybe contributes as a six or seventh man. To now be the projected number one draft pick, they've got what, I guess, nine games if they run the table left. It's his to lose, though.

Unless he had some really bad games, it's his to lose at this point, and that's really unbelievable. And on that point, I do want to say this. I think pretty much all of you have the same view. Don't you think this has been one of the most fun teams we've ever had here at Kentucky? at a time when Kentucky basketball, in my opinion, really needed a fun team. They've had a fun team.

And look, I'm going to be as nervous as any of you guys. These next nine games will be nerve-wracking. But this is, this is going to be the last chance to see this group. And most of the people we like the most, we will not see again in a Kentucky uniform. I do hope everybody really embraces that chance. Because this is going to, there's going to be some special memories that people will keep for a long time that happen over these next four weeks.

We're going to take a break. We are here at Tin Roof in Nashville. We will return. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. We're back. It is Kentucky Sports Radio here live in Nashville, Tennessee. Kentucky branded, by the way, is back in the back. They've got UK gear and KSR gear, some great hats, shirts.

All that stuff is right back there in the back where that tent is. thanks to tin roof and country boy i want to do a little uh little sort of test how many you guys here are from kentucky let me hear from it all right so let's do a little part of the state how many folks here are from eastern kentucky 606 okay come on if you're from eastern kentucky i can do better now how many from eastern kentucky three well we're a little we're a little thin today how many have you got this You know what? How many from the 859 in Central Kentucky? All right. How many we got from Louisville, 502?

Well, I think I know what this one's going to be. How many from the 270 in Western Kentucky? Kind of split out. How many from out of state? All right, so from all over the place. No dominant. Looks like your Western Kentucky people win for once. We're sleeping in a little bit, but we still have a good turnout today. I will add that we have a distinct advantage. today because as good as the crowds have been, and I've been up and down Broadway a couple times,

I don't think I've seen an A&M fan. I've not seen an A&M fan. I have seen every fan. Their student section last night, we counted, had seven people and three of those weird cheer dudes assigned to it and was basically one cheer dude for every two students they had in the crowd. I was in an elevator yesterday. It was just me, an Arkansas fan, and the nice lady that hits the button, Susan, this Arkansas fan was broken. I mean, I wanted to hug him. He was so down. And as he's leaving, he turns and he looks to me and he goes, but good look to you all and just

walks off. And I've thought about that guy a lot, how he respected the basketball. That's right. He was at his worst and his lowest, but he still gave me a little good luck to you. My Kentucky branded worst tweet of the year goes to Bob and Jamestown, who writes, Matt, tell Drew after I called out Antonio Reeves nine points that spurred him on, and that's why he's playing so well. Shut up, Bob and James Town.

That is true, though. That is factual true. You think Antonio Roosevelt is sitting there and he goes, oh, well, Bob and Jamestown thinks I need to play better. So I must need to play there. I didn't say there was any correlation, but it is true after that call. He did start playing better. Did you see the last journey video? Yes.

You can actually freeze a frame, and he has a picture of Bob and Jamestown on his mirror, where every morning he wakes up and that's his motivation. At least he doesn't have a picture of his porch on his mirror. They would not be able to show it in that video. 8-5-9. 2807. Let's talk about some other the games today. You lead off with Tennessee versus Mississippi State. How many of us are cheering for Mississippi State this afternoon?

Tennessee's got a lot of people here. I mean, I will say Tennessee, there was a time. Tennessee's fan base that these things was little. Now I think it's without question the second biggest fan base here. If you want to be able to buy tickets tomorrow for not an outrageous price, you'd like to see Tennessee lose. That would be a good way for 10. tickets to come down. Do you think they win today? I think they do. I mean, I know we just beat them,

but I still think they're a good basketball team. And you're right, there's a lot of orange walking around here. And if Kentucky and Tennessee both end up on Saturday, that's going to be a really hard ticket to get. Playing for a one seed. And the general thought is North Carolina and Tennessee, if Tennessee wins the SEC tournament, they get the one seed. If they don't, and North Carolina wins, they think they get the one seed. The bracket has busted in the ACC. All the good teams are out. So it looks like North Carolina can win it. So Tennessee basically playing Drew to try to get a one seed and win the, if they win this tournament. It's unfortunate that they need to win the tournament because that's not happening.

But I do not like, they have like a quiet confidence their fans around here. You know, we just won. We're being a little noisy when we see them. But they're kind of silent looking forward to a rematch on Sunday. And as much as I want them to lose today, I kind of want them on Sunday, too. I will say this. This is another reason for us to beat them. If you look at how it would play out, if Tennessee does not get a one seat,

then I think if you just look at how the numbers go, there's a really good chance we would end up as the three in Purdue's region, which to me is the best thing you could end up with if you're Kentucky. Because if North Carolina is the one out west, then Tennessee will probably be placed with Yukon, because that's where they're the closest, and then that leaves us either in Detroit with Purdue or in Dallas with Houston, and just looking at the numbers,

I think we'd end up in Detroit, and you tell me we can go. to Pittsburgh for the first couple rounds, and then Detroit with Purdue is our one and Marquette is our two. I don't know if you could ask, Ryan, for a better draw to try to make the final four than that. We're all taking that draw. There's no doubt about it because the one we had last week, I didn't like, but North Carolina and Yukon in our bracket, you give me Marquette and Purdue, absolutely. I'm taking it. And beating Tennessee twice, in my opinion, will get us, it'll ensure we don't end up with Yukon, which I think is the most important thing for us.

We want to win it, but we also want Tennessee to lose. If you tell me I got Purdue as my one seed and Market as my two, I'll take that all day. Purdue chokes every year in the NCAA tournament. I don't believe in them at all. And then with Creighton and Duke losing last night, that helps Kentucky as far as seating goes as well, bumping up maybe to the number one three seed. Before we go, the phones, Kenny Payne at Louisville out. A lot of chatter both yesterday and last night about the whole Scott Drew thing.

Let's say Louisville were to be able to convince Scott Drew to take that job. Does that worry you at all, or you say we're still going to dominate him? It doesn't worry me. I mean, he's a good coach, but it doesn't worry me. And there are such a dumpster fire right now. He's not going to be able to build them up for a while. It's going to take him whoever gets that job a couple years. Yeah, I'll let them have it.

Line up the next one, we'll beat them too. They are so broken right now. I don't know why he would even consider that job where I know it's Waco, Texas, and Baylor. They say their boosters are going to come together and they're going. Because, you know, they are now, just so people realize, they are still paying. Rick Petino, Chris Mack, Kenny Payne, and they will be paying next season four different coaches next year. I love it. Wow.

I love it. Imagine that you want Kenny Payne out so bad. You know, his buyout dropped down to $6 million in April. Imagine not waiting two weeks. Yeah, they did. That's a great point. To save $2 million. They could have saved $2 million by waiting two weeks.

and they're like, we're just going to give it to you. We can not get rid of you quick enough. You got to go. That's amazing. But I think the fact they're going to be playing four coaches next year, and they're probably all those coaches. Chris Max is going to be your next coach here. I mean, that's what it looks like.

Well, maybe that name, Will Wade's another name that's been floating around for the Vanderbilt head coach job. No, he ain't coming here. You don't think you will leave McNeese? No, McKinney State's a better job. No, it's not. Who's up next? I'd rather coach at McNeese State.

Go ahead. I don't even know where it is. Kentucky Joe's up first. Kentucky Joe can't go. He's saying 10 minutes ago. I love you, Joe, but you don't get to come on back-to-back shows. Who's next? Jackson is a... Jackson, go ahead, Jackson. Hey, Matt, is your self-proclaimed favorite 12-year-old?

Sorry, be careful, Jackson. I was a 12-year-old fan. That was that, yes. I have a stat, a comment, and a question. Okay. My stat is that this is the fifth year that we beat Auburn, Mississippi State, Florida, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt all on the road game. And the last four times that happened, we were national champions. He's exactly right about that, by the way. That is a real stat that Kentucky, those four teams, we have only beaten them all on the road in the same year.

This is the fifth time and the other four times we won the national championship. is a very, very good sign, Jackson. I think the crowd likes that. I'd like to take the rest of it, but I've got to go to break, Jackson. I'm sorry, let's get this victory. We'll take a break and be right back. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. Welcome back, Kentucky Sports Radio.

I have a request from a friend here. They want to hear Nashville in Kentucky. Give them to them right here. I don't even know if you can actually, if it's even translates over the radio, how many people are here at Tin Roof, but the place is absolutely powerful. Ryan Lemon, Drew Franklin, and Shannon the dude, 859, 280, 2287.

Text Machine, 772-745-254. Before I get the phones, Rick Petino tonight, Shannon plays Yukon in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament. They said it's going to be the most highly anticipated game at the Big East Tournament in a decade. They're going to have the play sailed out at the Garden. Here's what I want to know. I want you to be honest. Yukon, the number one team in the country, or at least the first.

one of the, I don't know what they're ranked, but they're probably the best team. Rick Petino and St. John's, they're probably in the tournament, but they definitely would be if they won. They're probably in any way. But are you going to root for Rick, or are you going to root for Yukon and root against Rick? I don't know how all of you feel. I'm actually pulling for Rick Patino. I don't know if that's a, are we on board? Let's see. Let's take a poll. I mean, these are the most rabid. I say the fans at the SEC tournament are the most rabid of UK fans. How many of you are pulling for Rick Petino at St. Johns? Raise your hand.

How many of you want to see Rick Petino lose at St. John's? I would say, though, that's like 85, 15 or 90, 10? Yes, does that surprise you? It does, but that was a loud minority, by the way. But they look like they were all in one family. That's right, yeah. It does, you know. Did he date your sister?

Is that what happened? One of you're all sisters or daughters. That's what happened. There's no way you'd have that much animosity. But, you know, if you go back just a few years ago and you ask that same question, it's flipped. It's 85, 15 the other way. So it is surprising how in a very short period of time, it seems like Rick has started to endear himself again to Kentucky fans. Well, in every interview he does, he always throws out, you know, some flowery remarks about Kentucky in his days in Lexington.

I kind of want him to win because I want to play him. I think they'll pair St. John's on a bracket and want to play. I don't want to play him. Are you crazy? No. I'd love to beat him. Look, you know, well, hang on just a second. You do not want to play Rick.

I mean, listen, I hope he does well, but we can't play him on the off chance we were to lose. We would never hear the end. There is, I am 100% Drew against playing Rick Petino, aren't you? He would be so loose and free talking trash and Cal, and I would understand it because I would feel like to. I would understand it too. He would feel so much pressure in that situation. I want to stay far away from that. For years, what happened in that Rick Petino versus Cal

is Cal went in, Rick had to weigh to the world on him. And Cal went in, he was looser in those games than any other, and it was part of the reason we always won. I'm like Drew. I feel like if they play now, it would be completely different, and I would not want that. You're exactly right. There is so much pressure this year, especially,

to get at least out of the second round, right? And if you play Patino's team at St. John's, that's going to be the first or second round, probably the first round if they end up meeting. So you do not want to see them in the first. Yeah, I do. All I'm hearing is you guys are scared to play Rick Petitian. No. That's all I'm hearing.

You guys are scared to play Patino. He's right, though, on the off chance that they did get upset. The one guy you can't lose to is for Petino. You would not want, like, I know there's a couple people in your life that you, like, just don't, that you used to be close to that you just don't like anymore. You wouldn't want to have your most important, like, season in 10 years, because. up against them, would you? Why are we scared to play him? Beat him.

Line it up and beat him. All right. I don't think it's just an unnecessary pressure. We don't need that drama in round one. We've talked about this. I think there is going to be more pressure on this Kentucky basketball team in round one and two than there's been in forever. Now, once you get the Sweet 16, I think it opens up a little bit.

But you take, if we're a three seat and you take that second round, game to a six seed. I'm not sure who the six seats are. But we're playing in Pittsburgh Saturday night against X. That's going to be, Drew, one of the most nerve-wracking games that Cal Perry has ever had. I certainly don't want it to be with Rick Petino standing there on the sidelines. That's what I'm saying. That early, we don't need storylines. We don't need drama. We don't need pressure. Give us a random team, directional school. Let's move past them, and then we'll get into the meat of the bracket. Give me Utah State in Pittsburgh,

and then let's just move on and go to the next round. Who's up next? Court is up next. Court, go ahead. Hey, man. How you're doing? Yeah, I saw the video y'all posted of Justin Edwards, I think practicing where he was mic up.

Man, he just appeared real loose, playing, dancing, cutting up with his teammates. So I think it's going to be a big Justin Edwards night. And then I got one more thing to say. Well, hang on just a second. Hang on just a second. On the Justin Edwards point, how many of you guys are proud of Justin Edwards and how he's played this year?

I mean, I will say to you, I genuinely, Ryan, I mean, I was, I didn't say bitch him, but I was kind of of the opinion, man. We just got to quit relying on him. And then all of a sudden he had like one good game. And now he's without question been one of our top four or five players since Dude, he's shooting the ball as good as Reed and Reeves and Dillingham right now. He is money from the three-point line. And I think we're all pulling for him when we saw him on the bench and had his head down and shoulders down,

getting discouraged. But to Cal's credit, Cal kept the faith in him and now he's paying off. That's one where Cal deserves total credit. Because I think if the fan base was honest, I think 90% of us were like, stop playing Justin Edwards. Why are we playing Justin Edwards? And he's stuck with him, and I do think, Drew, Cal deserves all the credit for that. because it would have been very easy to about mid-January just go,

all right, we're just going to have to stop, and he didn't do it. And, I mean, he's, he had the perfect game. That was awesome. He's been knocking down shots, played well at Tennessee, but it's not even his scoring, box score defense. He just looks like a completely different person. Yes, he does. If you were in Rupp Arena, I don't remember the opponent,

but he took a three and hit the side of the backboard. I thought he might just leave the arena. He was so down. They sent an assistant coach to run over and lift him up. He was slouched. He looked broken. Now he's the one that's pumping up the crowd talking trash. He's just so engaged now, and it's so good to see him break through.

That shot you're talking about, that was the low point. Like, he shot a three, hit the side of the backboard, and the rump arena crowd made an audible noise like, oh, my goodness, that's awful. And I remember thinking, man, that might be just like he can't do it. I thought that was it. I did too. And for him to bounce back from that, he deserves and Cal deserves a lot of credit. All right, yes, I mean, he does. They do.

What's the next, what's your second point? Oh, my second point was, you've got to say, who am I right now? This is the news of the sportscaster. All right, y'all, there's about nine months from now. We're going to have a lot of children in the Commonwealth with the first name where he. Am I supposed to know, was that an impersonation? That's Jimmy Dikes, man. That guy, he said it like two or three times.

Yeah. I feel like a lot of people have said that. I appreciate the call. The reality is it's also probably true. Maybe a couple. Let me ask you a question. Ryan, I mean, I've been obviously a fan for my entire life. There's a lot of people here who've been fans longer than me, but you covered the team.

Is there anybody that's played at Kentucky since when did you start covering them? 96. Since 96 that you think has been a bigger beloved star than Reed Shepard. Nicole, because the guys that would come to mind were before I got here, Rex and Richie Farmer, Reed is just the fact that he's one of us. He loves it. Like you said, he used to come to this show. They'd post pictures of him with Coach Cal and meeting to Marcus Cousins.

That's why he signs every autograph because he was one of those kids that used to get autographs when he was growing up. No, I mean that's like I bring up this kid right here in the hat. But literally, and I mean this, like, how old are you? 11. So seven, eight years ago. Reed Shepherd was you. They didn't make hats like that back then. But I mean this.

Reed Shepherd was you. He sat here in the crowd. His dad brought him to a show. If you all were here, you may not, may even remember. He sat here at the time. And I remember, I think, somewhere floating around. I think he took a picture with us. And then there was a period of time that we didn't see him for a while.

But he was here. And I think that is something like, I don't know that that will ever happen again. I mean, I really don't. I mean, I know Travis Perry's coming next year. He's a different kind of player. Like, I hope he does well, but he's not going to be the number one pick in the draft. But the fact a kid who literally was going to UK radio shows, wearing the uniform, and then now could lead the team on a championship run and be the number one pick,

that's like the stuff drew of a movie. Like, it really is. It's like the stuff of a movie, and it's unbelievable. It's crazy. He grew up with, like, the picture of the little boy with his head on the basketball on his wall, dream with the dream of a Kentucky player, then he just lived it. And that's not even considering, excuse me, his parents, I mean, a couple of legends themselves. I mean, it's almost like you.

I mean, his parents both played here. You know, I mean, that's crazy too. If you sat down to, like, create a player, I think we would create Reed. It's like, if you just gave me a blank canvas, I would draw a read chapter. 13th region. Like, Shannon, if you made it up, people would think you were lying. Like, it would be a Disney movie and people would go, well, that's not really. really believable. It's the perfect story. Growing up in Kentucky, dreaming of playing at Kentucky,

now being one of the top players, being the projected number one draft pick. I mean, it is unbelievable, like where he's, where he was to where he is now. It really is. Hey, if you're tired of buying expensive sunglasses, Ryan, only to lose or break them, how about Shady Raid? Tell me about Shady Raid. An independent American-owned company started right, well, not here, but right over there in Kentucky. If you lose or break your shades, they'll replace them no questions asked. They got all the best styles, all the best selections. It's shady rays.com. You can get them online.

Use the code KSR, 50% off, two or more pairs. It's shady rays, plus they got a location in Lexington, and one in Louisville. It's shady raise.com. We'll take a break. I'll be right back here at Tin Roof. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. Welcome back here, Kentucky Sports Radio.

All right, come on. Those of you in the middle, those of you in the middle and in the back, they can't do all the work for you coming into the break. Let me try that again. Welcome back, Kentucky Sports Radio. There we go. Much better. Much better.

You all making these folks here in the front carry everything, and you're just sitting back getting drinking. That's not fair. Drinking at 8 o'clock in the morning. That's right. I will say, Ten Roof has got to be happy when the Kentucky fans come to town. I don't think they see this on a Thursday morning or Friday morning very often.

Thank you, by the way, to Tren Roof for hosting us. Some scheduling here. All right, so we will do the pregame show. The games at 7. We'll do the pregame show at 4.30 Eastern, for those of you in Nashville, that's 3.30 Nashville time. I'm not sure where we're doing that, but it won't be in front of a crowd. The game, if you are going to the game in Nashville, go to the game.

If you're not, I think this place will have a great atmosphere, and then our other partner, Draft Kings, down the road on 2nd Street, will have a great atmosphere as well. You could go to either of those. post-game show, if we win, I'll probably find a place to do it, and I'll tweet out where we are. If we lose, I'll probably go to the hotel and just be depressed and do it there. If you're in Lexington and you want to watch the game around Lexington at KS. Bar, get there early. Games at 7, I would say, you know, people always ask me what time to get there, and I feel bad,

because I'll say, get there 30 minutes before, and it'll be full, and they'll go, I thought you told me to get there 30 minutes before. I don't know. I'll just say to you, the farther we go in the tournament, the earlier I would get there. Amen. But I do have a request for those of you at KS. Barr. If you get there early, that doesn't mean just sit there for two and a half hours and don't buy anything. I love you all, but you know who you are. Make sure the earlier you get there, you actually buy things, especially for our servers

because they work on tips. And so, Drew, just be courteous to people if you're coming and taking the table for a period. Yeah, it's all about the server. Their section, that's their office for the day, and they take home whenever you can make at those tables. Especially like tonight and tomorrow when the Girls Sweet 16 is in town, and we have a lot of people just do that. But tomorrow night it will be all Kentucky.

Some bad news, unfortunately. Transylvania lost last night to NYU. They cheated. They only won by 23, so they cheated the entire game. We watched some of it. The NYU team, I don't know how that's a Division III team. They were bigger, faster. That's what happens when you have 29,000 students versus 1,000 students.

But still, they won the national championship last year, final four this year. Give a round of applause to my alma mater at Transylvania. This two-year run they've been on has been unbelievable. Undefeated until last night for two straight years. They deserve a lot of credit for what they've done. It feels like NYU is too big, though, both as a school and as players to be in Division III. Very NYU of them. They should be a shade of themselves.

Yes. For picking on Transy. But a great run, two-year run. Great run. And, you know, Shannon, I don't know who UK is going to hire to their women's coach. I've heard, I've actually been surprised how many people down here have given me opinions. It seems like when it comes to Matthew Mitchell, there are two opinions, either definitely hiring or definitely don't. Like, people don't have, like, mixed opinions.

Yeah. They either say the job already been. should be his or go in a new direction. It's weird because I'm kind of like, I don't know, I can see an argument for either way. But when I talk to fans, especially fans of the women's basketball program, like people who follow it,

they are intense either yes or no. I'm with you. I'm kind of in the middle. I can see the good and bad, the pros and cons of hiring him. I mean, on one side, we do know that he can win here. He's one.

Yeah, he's won here. And he knows the culture here at Kentucky. A couple lead eights? But does Mitch Barnhart want to go in a different? direction and get somebody younger and up and coming. It's all going to come down to that, I think. There are two things that have been proven, I think, pretty much correct over the years. A, it almost always is a disaster when you hire an alumnus with no coaching experience to be

your head coach. Patrick Ewing, Clyde Drexler, you know, Juan Howard, Kenny Payne. Now, you got Hubert Davis and John Shire. We'll see what happens with those guys. I think the jury's still out, but for the most part, has a disaster. The second thing, Drew, it's almost always a disaster when you hire somebody for a second time. The second time around almost never works. Bobby Petrino, Bill Snyder, and there are other examples.

So you got that history to deal with when you're deciding whether to do it. Yeah, if he wasn't interested or on the list, I would certainly want someone young and tried to build something you could sustain for a long time. But with his history, I mean, we know the fans love him. His career was kind of up and down with their results, but you know kind of what you're getting. If you get an unknown, it could be awful. You know he's not just going to be terrible. He's got a higher floor than a lot of them because he's already built the –

built up the Goodwill with the fan base. Our opinions, though, are less informed than the guy standing next to me, who is good friends with Matthew Mitchell. So let's just go. Scooper Scuttlebutt. Is he going to be the next coach at UK women's team? I can tell you, I honestly have no idea. No, he's – no, you know something. No, I don't.

Do you want to say why you don't have any idea? Well, one thing I'm not pressured him and trying to get him to tell me something because then I felt like I would let it slip on this show. Oh, you would. That's exactly what we need. To be fair, you would. I mean, if I was trying to decide something, I would just block your calls for a week because there's no way you could not tell anybody.

So I don't know. I mean, I think you also, I think you don't mind me saying this. You just decided not to text him during this time, right? Yes. You just, Ryan just decided, which I think, this is actually why Ryan's a good friend. Ryan doesn't want to put him in a tough spot, so Ryan just decided, I'm not going to text him until this is over, right? I totally, I think that's the best way to handle it. He's a friend before he's a basketball coach.

Yeah, I understand that. That's very nice. I do the exact opposite when Vince's name is in there. I'm like, you better tell me or I won't like you anymore. Who's up next? Boyce is up next. Boyce, how are you boys? Matt Jones, I'm just wondering.

I mean, I'm hoping we'd be good next year, but we don't even know how many guys it's going to come back next year. Boys, why are you worried about next year? We've got the four biggest weeks of the year. The whole reason you play basketball is for these next four weeks. Why are you worried about next year? It's been that for how many years have been doing it? Boyce, I mean, I'm going to give you, this is a little piece of advice to our fan base. In the Transfer Portal era, you're never going to know about next year.

Because your whole roster may leave. Like, you just need to look at college. I'm not saying this is good or bad. It's just a fact. You just need to look at college basketball as it's one year and then a new group comes in. Like, that's how it is now, boys. You'll never know. He thought that was funny.

You told a joke. Boyce, is that funny? All right, well, there you go, Boyce. That's our call today, boys. Appreciate the call. That's just the reality. Drew, we're never going to know who's going to be on the team next year. We might as well enjoy the year when we have it.

I just don't understand. We spend the whole year waiting for March. It's right here. I mean, we play today, and he's already looking to November of who's going to be on the team. Well, the good thing is whoever's going to be in on the team next year is going to be there as we raise our ninth banner to start the season. So I think that'll be exciting. We're going to take a break and come back for hour number two here at Tin Roof in Nashville.

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