KSR - 2024-03-22- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: March 22, 2024

Recap of the Cats' 80-76 loss to Oakland in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Friday, March the 22nd. I'm Matt Jones here live in Pittsburgh where it's been a long night for Drew and I. You can give us a shout. We'll open up the phones. Rick, we'll open up the phones at the end of the. the segment, okay? Gotcha. Clark's puppet shop phone line 859,

2807. A Vision auto glass text machine is 772-745254 in this edition sponsored by the T.J. Smith Law Office called T.J. will make them pay. Ryan and Shannon are in Louisville. We'll bring them in in just a second. Excuse me, right there in Lexington

at the KS Bar and Grill where they're going to spend the day there. Hopefully somebody will join them over the course of the next 24 hours. But cats lose last night. I had some extensive comments on the postgame show. It was another unacceptable loss after a number of years of unacceptable losses. And if you didn't hear the show, I said after the game that I kind of believe there needs to be a separation now between Cal and the university that Cal's time here probably should have passed.

But, you know, I'm not, I did an hour and a half on it last night, so I'm not going to sort of repeat that line of argument. You can hear it on podcast. But I do think it's the conclusion. I guess I will start with this. I'll ask the three of you guys. Let's just cut right to it. Do you agree with my conclusion that the best thing for Kentucky basketball going forward

is to go in a new direction? Drew out, you were on with me from it last night. I don't think I asked you that explicitly. So what would you say? Yeah, I just, I don't know how we can get excited for another year with what it, because it's just going to be the same messaging. Look at these freshmen. Wait till March.

Lose couple in November, December. Don't worry, we're young. It's going to be the exact same movie, and that is going to be so uncomfortable. The fan support will be down. They'll show it at madness and whatever next year. It will be a brutal offseason. It would be unfair to these freshmen coming in who deserve their own path. But if he says,

look at these five stars. I mean, you know the George Bush video where he ducks the shoe. I mean, no one wants to hear him say, look at these five stars after just fumbling teams loaded with five stars recently and having nothing to show for it. So it's just going to, it's just uncomfortable now. I don't know legally what you do, but I feel like Mitch and Cal just need to sit down and be like, we both know this is going to be very weird moving forward. We have to come to some form of agreement. Ryan, well, you haven't been on. yet since this happened? What are your thoughts? First of all, what you said last night in the postgame show was really, really good.

And it was kind of what I was feeling, but kind of afraid to say it and even afraid to say it today. But I think it's accurate. The first five years of the Caliperia era of some of the glory days of Kentucky basketball, but these last four years have been some of the most disappointing era ever for Kentucky basketball. And Joe B, as much as he was beloved, at the end of his tenure, people were ready to run him out of town. Tubby Smith, as much as he was beloved, they were ready to run him out of town. I think we've got to that point again with Cal, and it's sad to me. It's hard to even sad them.

It is sad. No, I completely agree with you that it's sad. I mean, look, the last four-year period, if you go historically, you could make a strong argument as the worst four-year period in the history of the school from post-season success. We've had some worst eras when it comes to regular season. but when it comes to postseason, you can make a strong argument. It's the worst it's ever been. Here's a stab before I get Shannon's. I saw this last night, blew my mind.

Kentucky is two and eight in its last ten postseason games. I'm going to throw it. SEC and NCAA tournament games. Two and eight. Let me give you a stat that'll make even worse. In those two and eight, two and eight games, they were favored in all ten of them. No way. Favored in all ten of their last postseason games.

and they're two and eight in those 10. Shannon, what do you think? Well, first of all, if Caliperi is not the coach here next year, it's because one person doesn't want to be here, and that's John Calipari. He's the one who's ultimately going to make the decision. Should he be gone? You know what? I'm going to be in the minority here.

I still believe Cal can get it done. Really? I really do. That's shocking to me because I would have thought you'd have been the first one to say it, because you've been harder on him than anybody. what makes you think that the situation would be better next year? I know fans are tired of hearing it because we always have to talk about next year

and next year's talent coming in. He's still going to have next year a loaded class, a lot of talent, and it's going to be, exactly, exactly. But I still believe that he can get it done. I'm just wondering, like, if we move a different direction, you're going to have some rebuilding years here at Kentucky. But we're going to have that anyway. I mean, like...

What are we going to go home from the tournament early? Yeah, I mean, I hear you. Obviously, you should have the opinion you want. I'm surprised at your opinion, but that's totally fine. But I mean, we're going to, like, no one's going to be on this team next year that's on it now except like two or three people. So we're going to be rebuilding either way. I mean, I guess the question I would ask is, if you can't beat Oakland with an all-American and two projected top five picks and seven other. guys that can play Shannon.

What does it matter who's coming next year? I understand what you're saying. That loss last night is inexcusable. What's happened the last four seasons is inexcusable. But do I think that it's possible that Calipari can get back to what he was doing at the first part of his career at Kentucky? I still believe that's possible. Will it happen?

I don't know. But I think that it is still possible. I don't believe. Now, I actually will say I don't believe that's possible. I don't believe, Ryan, that it's possible for him to do what he did. the first seven or eight years. Do I think it's possible that he could have a year where they're good and go on and run?

Yeah, that could have been this year. But Ryan, the glory days are gone, right? Like, I mean, you know, Aerosmith can put on a reunion tour and it might be good, but they ain't going to be Aerosmith anymore. Yeah, but they had a good comeback album. What was it, Pump in the 90s? I mean, people kind of wrote them off and they came back and were popular again. I mean, I don't know.

I mean, I appreciate the office. optimism, I guess, but I don't, I don't have it, Ryan. I just don't. I mean, I, some of me wishes I did. You said, Ryan, that you were sad. Like, I was, I am sad about it. I'm genuinely sad about it. It's like anything that ends that, like, deep down you enjoyed, but I just, how can we have an offseason like that's going to happen, Ryan, if he returns? It'll be awful. It's going to be awful. It'll be awful. And I sat right here on this stage last night and watch people walk out of here. and their heads were down, their shoulders were down. They weren't mad.

It was a sadness. So what was that like? Okay, because Drew and I were on Press Row. You're sitting amongst them there at the bar. What was the sadness like? It was like, and I hate to use this analogy, but somebody in your family had passed away. I mean, it was like they were just as solemn.

It was surreal almost because here we are. We're in the NCAA tournament. There's a lot of excitement in here. It's packed. And then when it's over, people just quietly, not even talking, heads down, shoulders down, walking out, and not wanting to make eye contact with anybody. It was as sad as I felt, it made me feel even sadder

to see how it was affecting everybody. It was funny, Drew, because I thought yesterday, what I thought was going to happen was, I thought, like, my post-game show was going to be full of anger. And it was sadness. I mean, if you go back and listen, it's all people being sad. They're not, like, angry.

They're just, like, sad that they... It felt like, everyone collectively outside of Shannon realize like it's over, you know? You're angry when you disagree with something like a timeout or you're angry when you lose a game you shouldn't have. You're sad when you love something and like it's just being taken from it.

I love the SEC tournament. I've said all year, I know we're focused on the Final Fours. I won an SEC tournament. You know what we did in Nashville? We came straight home. This weekend. This is one of the best weekends of the year, probably for everyone listening.

Today, specifically, when Kentucky's not playing, is one of my favorite days of the year because the stress is over. I do not move from the couch, and I watch as much basketball as possible. I want to see zero of this NCAA tournament for two days. I want to go see the Sweet 16. I'm excited to get back to Lexington. I'm very excited to get the hell out of Pittsburgh. But two of my favorite events, and like I said, I assume a lot of people,

SEC tournament, NCAA tournament, Kentucky really wasn't even a participant for yet another year. Yeah, I mean, this is like right now the headline story. on first take has John Cal Perry underachee. You go look at college basketball last night. Nobody else great got beat. The lowest seeds that won or the highest seeds that lost yesterday were a couple sixes besides us. And we let a dude who was playing last year, Ryan, against Wesleyan.

Last year that Jack Golky dude went 0 for 7 against Wesleyan. That powerhouse defense Wesleyan put on him, 0 for 7 against Wesleyan. And then last night he goes for 30. and we have no answer. You knew exactly what he was going to do. And you knew exactly what he was going to do. And we knew exactly the defense they were going to play. And we knew exactly, we couldn't stop it.

If you want to make the argument, we don't have good X and O coaching just put up last night. There was a zone that is the only defense they play and we weren't ready. It took us till halftime to put Antonio Reeves in the corner. And I was sitting next to a dude who's in coaching. who looked at me and said, why don't they have anybody in the corner? Like, they should put Reeves in the corner. And at halftime, he did, and guess what? We got some open threes.

But it took him a half to do that. And he was like, the basics in this defense are guy in the middle, guy in the corner. They can't guard them both. We put the guy in the middle, but we didn't put the guy in the corner. And at one point they said, well, why don't you put a guy that can shoot in the middle? And we didn't. And, like, Ryan, these are, I mean, this is, coaching 101, like it's third grade level.

And we didn't put Reeves on Golky until the second half. And he had seven threes in the first half and three in the second half. And Ryan, two of those were crazy good. We didn't even make an adjustment there. That's what is so frustrating about this game. The coach for Oakland basically told Kentucky exactly what he was going to do, exactly what he was going to do. And he went out and did it.

And said they thought they were going to win. You got to respect the swag, right? I mean, you come in. They called their shot. They said what they were going to do. They loved the matchup against Kentucky, and I'll be damn if they didn't go out there and do exactly what they said they were going to do. I respect it.

Everybody knew he was going to play that zone. And like Matt said, it looked like Kentucky was not prepared to play against that zone. If you go look at the points we scored, the vast majority of them were just because we had dudes that were better. But in terms of a schematic thing, like, no, we were not ready. We'll never know, but I would love to see the game plan because this was a very obvious. I mean, most of us don't know 1% of what that coaching staff knows. But if you have a Twitter account, you knew Oakland has a guy who shoots threes from the wing

and brags about he doesn't take twos and that they're going to zone. And it was like Kentucky. Oh, well, look at this. They got a three-point shooter. There was one point after he had already made like four. I grabbed the stranger's arm next to me and squeezed it because Golki was leaking up the side of the court. We had five players not even looking at him. They didn't even know where he was, and I yelled,

we don't even know where he is on the court right now. And then he bangs another three. I'm not doing this to pick on the kid, but I think it's emblematic of how we approach the game. I want you to watch the play where the guy hits the corner three to put it away. If you get a chance, go watch it. Rob Dillingham, his job right there, is to not give up the corner three. At one point, he's standing there straight up.

not watching his man, just kind of eyeing the guy, dude takes a drive to the basket, Dillingham does not cut off ball, and he leaves his man. He just, like, waves his arm, go over open three. And if you watch it, it's happened all year. When the only thing you can't do right there, Rines give a three, even if they score two, you got a chance. You just can't give up a three, and we give a wide open corner three.

And to me, that's the season in a nutshell. the most basic things we don't do. And it's like throughout the season, you know, I kept holding out hope that they would get better defensively. And these guys would kind of learn some basic defensive principles, and they never did. And I'm telling you, I mean, I hate to you say this, but if I was playing in that game,

that goal kid was having those kind of coming off that screen, he'd have a shoulder in his chest at one point. But they were the one putting the shoulders in our chest. If you watched the way they played, they played like the dudes that were Kentucky. They talked trash. Their fans were on our guys. They were Kentucky and we were Oakland.

They weren't scared. We were scared. If it wasn't for Antonio Reeves and Trey Mitchell, coincidentally, the two seniors we had, we lose that game by 20. We get punked, if not for them. My question is, when do we start becoming scared as Kentucky? Scared of mid-majors, scared of 14 seasons. Well, we've had it for the last four years, which is why I'm saying to you.

I don't think it can continue. I just don't. And that makes me sad to say. And you can hear the... It makes me sad to say, but I don't think this can go on. The fan base, forget about Matt, Ryan, Drew, Shannon.

The fan base is done. Like, just take a look anywhere. I mean, I don't... There are people I haven't talked to in years texting me their soliloquies is why he has to be done. I've never had any text messages I had last night. I heard from people I haven't talked to it a decade.

they're just like, we got a link for a go-fund me? Like, what do I do? How can I do this? It's like, well, good to hear from you. I don't know how it continued. And then Mitch, you know, Mitch wouldn't comment. That says a lot. I don't know that Mitch has ever not commented.

So, well, this is what we'll do today is figure out, I don't know what we'll do. We'll just sit and talk about it. We are in Pittsburgh. Drew and I are going to get in a car as soon as it's over and go home. Not soon enough. I had a lot of stuff packed for the next three weeks. It's crazy. I really thought we were going to Dallas.

I didn't think there was any way they were going to lose this weekend. But unfortunately, it's Kentucky basketball now. You can lose at any time. We'll take a break and hear it back. It's Kayasuk. Welcome back, Tucky Sports Radio. 859-280-2287. I could be really evil here and make an announcement,

Drew, that would throw everybody off and say that there's breaking news. Should I do that? I see a little bit of a... You got me on air now. It's a little misleading of a breaking news. All right. Well, we'll still play the breaking news, but. Breaking news, Rick.

The UK coach has departed, the dance team coach. After 15 years, the UK dance team coach has resigned this morning in an official email. Just got the email. Don Walters. So, Dom was a nice guy. Was Don in charge of the zone office last night? No, but she was with the program for a long time. Tom and very beloved.

They're kind of a surprising email coming through the thing here. Actually, I thought that was, well, I was thinking it was somebody else. She's a former, I believe she's a cheerleader, once in national championships. Very nice, yes. Had the team for 15 years, so that email just came across the UK wire. Yeah, so, well, there you go. 859 wish her the best. 859-280-2287, not the coaching news that probably everybody thought.

Let me ask you a prediction. So we asked what you wanted. or what you think should happen. Next week, next Friday, is John Calpary the coach here. I'll go first. I'll say yes. I say yes he's going to be. 100% yes.

Absolutely. Aline yes a week from now. Yeah. I'm going to say no. Wow. Wow. That scoop or scuttle butt or just? No, no, no, it's neither.

It's just a gut reaction. It's a feeling. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, this is not knowing anything. It's just a gut reaction. Like, I think, I mean, it's not tentable. Like, at the end of the day, there's no way this, they can't run this back. Like, they can't.

They can't. How do you run it back? I want you to just think about the practicalities of the things you have to do to have a basketball program. Okay. How are they going to raise NILM? to go get kids in this offseason. How? Who's giving it?

Like, who's giving it? I'm being serious. Bad timing to launch that law familiar. That's happened twice. I mean, that's, but that's bad, but that's fixable long term. But short term, you got to go into portal in the next few weeks and get kids. Where's that money coming from? And what kid is looking in this?

Like, oh, yeah, that looks fun. Yeah. And how many of these dudes are going to stay? Like over the course the next few weeks, when all these dudes announced they're going to leave, how's that going to go? Right? And then when you sit here and how do you pump this fan base up in the offseason? How do you lead into next year? Like we said Ryan back in September, nothing's going to matter until March.

Well, what matters next year? Yeah. They can go 31 and 0 when people are going to think they might lose in the first round. So I don't know anything about it, but Ryan, I don't know how it happens, and I will say this. It's clear that a change is being considered or Mitch Barnhart makes a statement yesterday. Right? Yeah, I believe that. I think it's something he's definitely got to consider.

I guess my fear is if they do make a change, Cal becomes the head coach, let's say Michigan, and then they go on some big run. Okay, but then good, like, okay, you know, you, you and your wife split, and she may end up marrying somebody and be happy. Good for her. Right? Like, that's, you don't want, I mean. We're singing Billy Ray Cyrus.

It could have been me standing there with you. No, no, no. It's what could have. You know, went to Louisville and had a run, and we were all right. No, I mean, we lived. So I have a family friend to a couple who I'm still. very good friends with both of them. They got a divorce.

They both went and married somebody else, and they both were happy. Isn't that what you want? So, and I always have been kind of amazed at their relationship. So why can't that be us? Why can't he go to Michigan and have success and we go get someone else and have success?

Like, why can't that happen? It can happen. In the perfect world, yeah. If we get somebody else and we work too and we fail. Michigan and we fail. Or we might get a coach and he fails. But like, this can't keep happening. We can't keep coming home after dinner and not speaking to each other.

Like, how much longer are we supposed to do that, Ryan? Well, I think, like you said, what I was feeling last night, that time has come for a change. As sad as it is, it just seems like for this program, the time has come. I mean, I look, you know, maybe that's a little, aggressive to say it will happen. But I guess, Shannon, I just don't see

the scenario. I understand that in theory the man can coach again well here. I mean, I agree with that in theory. But from a practical standpoint, how does it happen? Yeah, fans are tired of talking about next season. And that's what we've

been talking about for the last four seasons now. How are they going to raise the five million they need an Nile to go get players? Who wants to get give that program right now. Who's going to pay that? And I don't know who will be on the team next year, and if he were to leave, I think that class would probably go with him.

But whoever it is, if he were back, it just wouldn't be fair to them to not get the experience of the fan excitement. So much of being Kentucky is the passion the fans put in it. They give a lot of love. It will be so unfair to whatever names are on the roster, but it's the situation that's been built up before them. That's just why it will be so uncomfortable. They could be a good team,

But there's a lot of fan support that just isn't coming back no matter what at this point, until a change is made at least. Well, 859-280-2287, we will take calls starting in the next segment. One person writes, Matt, I saw you and Drew sitting on the sideline. Two people couldn't have looked sadder. The only thing sadder was sitting in the team hotel, Ryan, last night while they were celebrating. Dude, that was surreal. You're going through your opening segment and bringing all this. talk about cow and then you're in the background you hear the band and people clapping

that was a little surreal last night there was nowhere else for me to go i mean we're staying 15 minutes out and i had to it was the only hotel close i walk in during the show jack gulke walks in it's like are you kidding me well it's going to be miserable might as well be really miserable we'll take a break come back it's k s hard welcome back hour number two Half hour number of two of hour one at Kentucky Sports Radio. One person writes, Matt, are you going to still watch the rest of the games of the weekend? Yeah, maybe. I mean, today we'll be driving.

Shannon Ryan will be at the bar today. I hope some of you will go join him. Shannon was nice enough to drive up this morning. I bet you didn't think you'd be driving up for a loss. I did not. I did not. But, you know, it's still the first round. It's still my two favorite days of the year when it comes to sports.

I'm going to try to enjoy it as much as I can here at the bar. We had a great day yesterday, Ryan. I don't know what the rest of it's going to be like. It was great all day long. Like a lot of Sweet 16 folks came over. This fan base was so excited all day. And it was, you know, even it's like the Charlie Brown football. Even after it gets pulled from us, we're still excited.

Now, I want to say, all year, it's been fascinating to read social media, and specifically read the text machine to kind of see where the fans are. You know, I think Cal's had most of the fans kind of down on him, but there were still very, very vocal advocates. I don't hear as much of that anymore. I have gotten a few versions of something like this, so let me read it. And it says, Matt, I know secretly you're happy that they lost because now you're vindicated for always hating Cal.

Now's not the time to give up on him, but you have wanted him to be gone forever. I know you and Drew are laughing. I saw a picture of you laughing. Don't tell me you're not happy. Well, first of all, they did catch a picture of me and Drew laughing. I don't know what we were laughing about, but there is a picture of us laughing.

You are allowed to laugh. I mean, it's not illegal. I'm sure it's not illegal. I'm yesterday I laughed. But, no, I'm completely bummed out. And, you know, I can go over all this all you want. But at the end of the day, I'm a fan, and I hate it. And it's been two levels.

first of all, on the fan level, it sucked. I feel the same way you all do. I look forward to this. These are my favorite weeks of the year. We've gone 0 and 2 all year long. It's been built for March, built for March, built for March, and we come to March and we're 0 and 2. And if you're honest about it, we were dominated in both games.

I mean, we led a couple times to last night, but like they were the better team. Had we won, Ryan, we'd have stolen that game, right? Like, they led the whole game pretty much. Oakland deserved to win. They played better than Kentucky did. They missed 10 free throws. And some bunnies around the rim, too.

They deserve to win. On a personal level, I don't take gratification in it, but I do, I wanted, I wanted us to, I wanted to be proven wrong. But I also, all of us on this show, but I probably more than most, took a lot of personal beatings by people that I've tried to entertain for years for just having a different opinion than them. And oh, you only do this because now those same people are saying the same thing. And when they say it, it must have been rational.

But when I said it, it was because I had an agenda. But they're saying the same thing now. I mean, there's nobody publicly advocating for Cal right now. But it's been a tough year. It's tough to listen to post-game press conferences. and to clearly hear this coach that you've not only idolized that you've had a friendship like take shots at you because he has.

And I think it's always been a distraction for him. His problem is he wants to win, but he wants to win his way. That's as important to him, Drew, as anything, win his way. And then he can go, see what I did? How many times to see what I did? Right? All the time.

How many times is the, you know, they all been saying, I'm going to just do this, but I do this. And yeah. Here comes my tweet. Here comes tweet. They're all built for my. Like, it's all, it's all like his way of thinking has become antagonistic to his fans and to the media and to, like, he has become an antagonist, not a protagonist. And because of that, that's part of why Drew, I say it can't go on because he's just going to be more bitter. now, right?

So we're more bitter, the fans, he's going to be more bitter, how's it going to get better? That's why it's just so weird. Even if you're like Shannon, you believe he still has it to end him, I just feel like as you compared it to a marriage, the relationship is just very broken right now,

and I think part of, a lot of people would have a little more grace and sympathy if he didn't spend the whole year beating his chest when he won or deflecting when he lost. That Auburn press conference down there, I wasn't in the room when they beat Auburn. didn't make that trip. That was uncomfortable and unhinged press conference

when he was doing the look at me, look what he did. If you're going to do all that, you better go winner. You better go to the final four. So now that he didn't, and he's already done the whole year of, you know, I guess we say talking down a little bit or gloating when he's winning, but then hiding when he's not, now at the end,

no one's really in your corner because you spent the whole year, you know, telling people that you're better. He doesn't like us. And by us, I think it's the fan base. He would probably say it's like us as in media. But Ryan, that relationship, it's so antagonistic now.

I just don't know how everybody starts to love each other again. That's why I think, like you said last night, it just has come time for a change. I don't know how you can repair it going into next season. There's no way I think it can be repaired. Boy, we've been punched in the gut the last four years.

I want to add something on cheering against him. That is absolutely not the case. And after we have a little bit of a cooling off, whenever this does end. I will think fondly of him and the era as a whole. I agree. Just like when I think of Rick Petino. Look, I'm wearing the 96 shirt right now.

I don't think about him leaving. I think about the fun stuff. I have great Tubby Smith memories. It'll be the same case for Cal when I'm looking at the overall thing. I still like Cal. These last few years have been broken for what was supposed to be the gold standard in college basketball. And it's hard to just keep saying, all right, let's just do another off season. We'll win June and July.

We'll have the draft. We'll have the class, but November through April, maybe we won't be good. I mean, how do we let, I mean, how is this fan base going to feel about the draft? Like, seriously. That's in the, like, do not say NBA draft. Don't say, say draft again. And we're going to have guys get drafted that we really like, and it's going to be like, it's just going to be terrible. You know, I.

And we should be happy for everyone going to get drafted. Because that is a big deal. But Kentucky should get stuff from that, too. And these are good dudes. but like, you know, what are you going to do? All right, who's up first, Rick? Richard is up first. Richard, go ahead.

Well, I mean, we were last night. We were the only major team upset in day one. A tremendous group of kids. They're all clean kids watching the cats one that was the runs. There ain't but three times the 75 team lost in the finals of UCLA. The 96 team won it all. Yeah, I think that's true. I mean, I think this team, and I appreciate to,

call, I think this team, it's not in the top top of the talent. People say 75, that's before my time. But 96 and 2015, I think we're more talented than this group. But Ryan, I think this group is in terms of talent right there beneath them with a group of a lot of other teams. And to not get out of the first round with that is pathetic. Maybe that's why it hurts so much because not only do we know the talent was there, we really, really liked this team.

They were a likable bunch of guys. They were fun to watch. The last couple years leading up to this, that team was kind of hard to watch with Oscar and as popular as he was. This team were not only good, we liked them, and we wanted them to succeed. I think it's why it hurts a little bit more.

Yes. I actually think, Shannon, the players being likable almost hurt Cal Moore because nobody blames the players. Everybody blames him. You know what I mean? Yep, absolutely. And it should go back on Cala Perry.

all of this should. And don't get me wrong what I was saying in the first segment. There's no doubt. Like Tubby Smith, as Ryan said, he got ran out of town for doing a lot less than or a lot, I guess, you know, like not as bad as Cala Perry has been in the last four season. He got ran out of town for that. So I just think that maybe Calipari still has one more in him. That's all I was saying in the first segment.

I'm getting crushed on social media. I did too, but I thought it'd be this one. Yeah. I thought he had one more in him, but I thought. I thought it was this one. I thought it was this one. He had the draw. You had the team.

But you know what? I'm going to give you some complaints you've heard in years past that's true now. They were all scared to death except the old guys. And Rob. Rob doesn't get scared. Reed Shepherd was scared. DJ Wagner was scared. Justin Edwards, for most of the game was scared.

He had a little run there at the end. He did a big shot in the comeback. The arrow may have been hurt a little, but was also a little scared. They were tight. And by scared, I don't mean like they were tight, though. They were nervous. They'd look at the sideline when they missed. Thank goodness for Antonio Reeves and Trey Mitchell.

But to me, that's the telling point. The two seniors scored 41 points. And everybody else was just MIA. And at some point, as I said in the game, every year they're different players. The same result is happening. Ryan, the only common denominator is the coach. Yeah. You know, I look back and I kind of feel sorry for some of these dudes.

A guy like BJ Boston, right? Or Tai Tai or Kaysen or Davian Mitz or Oscar. Because people have been hard on these individuals, but the common theme is still the same, right? And I go back to a point that I think is important. all I want John Calgary to do is to hold himself to the same standard he holds his players

get up there and hold yourself to the same standard you hold the players I've heard you for years they're not robots you know but this isn't for everybody I can't hide you and then he gets up there and when he's facing tough questions goes well you know my guys just didn't play like they played all year it's on you

you cannot hold 18 and 19 year olds to a standard and then get mad when people hold you to the same standard. All people are doing in criticizing Cal are doing exactly what he does publicly to his players, including last night. And he's mad for us saying about him what he says about these guys. He's making $10 million. Devin Askew didn't make that. Severe Wheeler didn't make that.

And you held them to that standard. You held Aaron Bradshaw to that standard. why can't it be held towards with you? And he doesn't have an answer for that, and he gets mad if you insinuate it, but it is the truth. It is. And there's no standard.

Did Reed Shepard play well last night? No, not by any standard. And you said that. Well, guess what? You have not coached well by any standard, and now you have to hear that the way Reed had to hear it last night. And with that, UK Federal Credit Union is the official credit union

of the University of Kentucky. Quite a transition. It's good bank. An award-winning and best place to work from student to graduate employee and beyond. UK Federal Credit Union is here for you. With two locations on UK's campus, go to UKFCU.org to join its UK Federal Credit Union. Members of eligibility required fairly insured by NCUA. We'll take a break.

Very back. KSR. Welcome back, TechE Sports Radio. Here live in Pittsburgh, Ryan and Shannon are in Lexington. 859-280-2287. Bill Simmons apparently starts his podcast podcast today with a 20-minute Ray. I thought how bad Cal is as a coach.

So that's nice. You know, that we're going to get more of that. It's going to be all day getting dumped on. And it'll be like that for a while. One person writes, Matt, do you agree with Jay Wright that you can't win with freshmen anymore? You know, I've held on with freshmen for a long time, but I do wonder now with the transfer portal, NIL making guys stay longer.

I mean, Jay Wright's argument was, Ryan, basically, with the transfer portal and the way guys can move up in schools, you just can't take freshmen and win against these grown men anymore because the grown men are now better than they were a few years ago. Do you agree with that? I think there's a little truth to that, and I think that, you know, it has led to more parity in college basketball because of that. But I don't buy the parity argument. We're the only one that lost. Yeah, I don't think it's across-college basketball. I do agree with it freshman versus... No, no, no, I agree with what Jay Wright's saying,

but the parody argument, remember two years ago, the Final Four was Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, and Villanova. Right? Now, last year was weird. But, like, yesterday, the top five seeds all won, except us, Shannon. We're the only one that lost. Yeah, we'll see what happens today.

But I think Jay Wright is correct in what he's saying. with NILB and what it is, you're going to have teams with older guys, and how are freshmen going to match up with those guys? I mean, unless you have guys going to the NBA, which Kentucky has, I mean, how many guys does Oakland have going to the NBA? I mean, the one dude, Golky got up and goes, I know I'm not playing in the NBA. I love it, yeah.

Do you hear the story? He transferred to Oakland to complete his accounting certificate or Mattis Master's or something. That's why he's there being an accountant. He looks like Chandler. He averaged five minutes a game at Hillsdale College like three years ago. And he just lit us up. But the thing that's crazy to me is how confident they were. And our guys were scared.

Our guys were scared. They were 100% confident. They knew they were going to win. And our dudes were scared. And that's on the coach. This has been my takeaway all week. Not this game only. Not A&M.

Not St. Peters. These last few years, people do not fear the Kentucky logo anymore. And it's not just they don't fear it anymore. They get their bracket and go on local radio and celebrate that they drew Kentucky. That has never been the case. Forever. People would get their bracket. They'd see Kentucky's the only other side, and they would exhale because they feared that logo, and they feared Kentucky in the tournament.

We have a 40-year-old man in Rochester, Michigan, or a 40-year-old coach in Rochester, Michigan, talking about how he wants Kentucky, and that's the draw his team of accountants got. I thought you bet the goal came before. Well, him too. But, why are the future accountants being? Like, heck yeah, we got Kentucky. Now we're going to do this. But that's the culture now.

Who's up next, Rick? Charlene is up next. Charlene, how are you? I'm not well, but thanks for asking. What Coach Cow can't get through his thick head is the University of Kentucky is not John Calopary's private NBA development center. Every decision he makes as a coach in every game, it's like it's an NBA combined. It's how he distributes playing minutes.

It's how he decides who his starters will be. Everything is about that player exposure and that player development, and I am just so beyond. Last night, we scored two points in three and a half minutes, and it took four minutes for Rob and Reed, our two lottery picks to get off the bench and into the game and the action. Think about this, Charlene, and this is with Reed Shepard having, I think, objectively a bad game.

With that said, with Reed, Rob and Reiki, in together. Kentucky was plus four. When one of them was out, they were minus eight. And yet, they only played. The reason he makes that decision is so he can get DJ's exposure for the NBA draft down the road. I feel like every decision he makes is permeated by NBA player development. I'm over players first.

It's time to be Kentucky first. Appreciate the call. I also don't understand, Ryan, why we never, went small once. They have no bigs. No bigs. And we kept throwing seven footers out there. Why not have Trey Mitchell play sitter?

Yep. Seriously, why not have Justin Edwards and Trey Mitchell? They would not have been able to take advantage of that. So why not? What good does it do to have seven footers, no offense, who can't score down there, Ryan? Like, what good does it do? No, the lineup with Trey Mitchell to five, we saw it work, and this was a perfect game

to play it and go with it. Perfect game to play it. Why not? At one point, Golky had his hands on his knees in the second half, and we even said to each other, this is where we come back. They are so gas and they don't have the depth, and we're still slowing it down so they can catch their breath. They were absolutely gas. They were absolutely gas. We should have just run it down their throats.

But with Ugo and Z, they're tired and, like, what? Like, no offense to those guys, but what did having Ugo and Z do for you tonight, Shannon? Like, nothing. Nothing last night. Nothing. that will combine out of all three seven footers, I think 10 points for the game. Bradshaw was probably the best of the groove. He only played him like seven minutes.

Did the nuclear lineup get one minute? The one Nate Oates is like, well, I just did Cal's job for him. There's his five. Did we see them ever again? No. Can't be acknowledged in the game. Did Edwards play the four? I don't think Edwards played the four of the whole game.

That's my dream lineup. Yeah, yeah. You got to go with that one. Edwards are due to do with the four with the guards and whoever at the five. I knew Kentucky wasn't going to win when they was 53-50 and he had a wide open layup, and he didn't even get it to the rim. I knew at that moment, like, they're not going to win this game. When he missed that dunk, that was.

The thing was Antonio Reeves, man. Bob and James Town probably should never be able to call again, honestly. Because it's not for Antonio Reeves. We lose that game by 20 points. He kept this in it. Unbelievable. All right, I want to talk about sort of a state of the program thing.

Like, what really happens next? Because I think that's important. We'll do that to lead hour number two. It's KSR. 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 podcasts. 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 headlines. 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. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

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