KSR - 2024-04-19- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: April 19, 2024

Live at the Bluegrass Home Center -- last night's Taylor Swift trivia, Reed Sheppard heading to the draft, Mark Pope filling out his staff, Kenny Payne to Arkansas, and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches and Olympic champions about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Comedy of Broadway and Lexington welcomes back, film and MTV star Tom Green, April 19th and 20th. Then Catch International Comedy Sensation Randy Feldface on his first Lexington visit, April 25th through the 27.

And from the Lee and Haley Show, it's Lee Cruz for two nights only, May 3rd and 4th. tickets to all shows. Call 859-271 joke or visit Comedyoff-Broadway.com. Comedy Off Broadway. Welcome, everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio. Friday. It is April the 19th here in London, Kentucky. We are at the brass home centers right off the interstate on exit 41 on a cloudy day but happy to be here and you can give shout and Clark's pump and shop phone line 859-280 2287 a vision auto go 7-2-7474 in this edition sponsored by the tj smith lavus if you call t j will make them pay we are here in london right next to the sign for the dog patch trading post where they have fishing tackle pottery

propane and gifts but we are at bluegrass home center where you can find your dream home home here. They are a family-owned business, specializing in manufactured homes. And Ryan, nice to be here in London today. We were talking about it. I think this is like our third time in London in six months. It's becoming our second home. Yeah, I thought we'd come in and there'd be a big huge statue of Reed Shepherd by now soon as soon as you get out the exit. I'm sure it's probably coming pretty soon. You remember, I feel like every time we come here, there's some kind of Reed Shepherd news and we'll get to his in just a second. But nice to be here at Bluegrass Home Center. Obviously, the timing with Reed's a big deal to be in London, but with the homes here, I'm impressed. That's a good tour. These are some fancy, some places we got around us. You didn't use the bathroom, did you?

It's tempting. That is a very nice master bathroom. Very nice. Don't do. Thought about a quick shower. But, no, it's a cool place to be here. And like I said, unique timing with Reed's decision yesterday. Billy is in the market for a new home.

I told him to take this home with him. I think that's what you do. Yeah. For people around the state, bluegrasshomecenter.com, they'll take it to you. We actually got blocked in for a minute because they said, sorry, you're bringing a home in. And I said, well, all right, that's okay. We'll get there in a minute. But a couple things happening here.

First of all, this is the first time Mario has ever been to eastern Kentucky. He was like a little kid. Look through the mountains there. And I told him what Kudzu was and how my grandmother hated it. And this is first time down this way. Wait until you take him down to Middlesbrough and you've got to go through Pineville in that area down there. We still got, I'm easing me in. So you go to London first, then we'll get down to maybe Barbara Full.

The Hillbilly Days. Then we'll get to, he's not right for next year. He texted on the drive, he texted Ramelle and said, tell me about Hillbilly Days. Ramel just went, that's wild. There were some cuss words and then said that's wild. But maybe then we'll eventually get him up to where he's like in Brethick County or something like that. Well, that's always a big argument. Do you consider London part of the mountains?

It's right on the edge. That's what I told him. It's a little bit city, a little bit mountain, in my opinion. But we are here and happy to be here. I know you're Drew probably tired. Did you stay up all night on the Taylor Swift album last night that came out at midnight? I had a blast at Taylor Swift trivia. I'll say that.

Had a great crowd. I was up at midnight, but I did not, I have not done my listen yet. I will get to it. So we're going to talk basketball. I promise. But I do want to tell this story real quick. So Taylor Swift ended up being the biggest stress of my life yesterday because I don't know anything about Taylor Swift

and it became clear to me that I was going to need to write a bunch of questions. So I got home yesterday from the show and I spent four or five hours writing Taylor Swift questions. And I think I was more nervous about that than I've been about anything because I don't know anything about Taylor Swift. And I was worried all these swifties were going to yell at me. We had a packed house of people. They were, Ryan, you judged. Would you agree very serious?

Oh, they were intense. Very intense last night. Very intense. They told me my questions were too hard, Shannon. Oh, really? There were a couple that were really hard. Maybe they're not true Swifties. Well, that's what I said.

I said, who's the swiftiest? But I want to tell you a good story about how kids can be smarter than adults. All right. So when you walk in to the bar last night, we had a display outside that had two of Taylor Swift's albums with the track list on them. And every single person that walked into the bar had to walk past that. Yep. Okay? So you couldn't have gone in without walking past that.

One of my questions was, and I learned this yesterday, Shannon, that all of Taylor Swift's albums, she makes song five her most personable, honest, and vulnerable. Oh, nice. I didn't know that. I didn't know that either. So one of my questions was, on all of Taylor Swift's albums, what were the track fives? And everybody was like, ooh, rub, blah. And I was thinking to myself, you know, if anybody walks out front, they can get two of them just by looking out front.

And you would allow that? Sure. Why not? They're there. I kept waiting. Nobody gets up. Nobody gets up. And then all of a sudden I see two like eight-year-old girls.

And I hear one of them go, Mommy, didn't they have the folklore album out there? And she was like, go checking these two little girls walk out, and there they are. And they're the only two people. people in the whole bar out of 45 teams that thought to go do that. And I thought that was fascinating because everybody, all adults are like, we're so smart. Only one purse, only two little girls made the think, the thought, Shannon, to go outside and see. And so they got those two answers and nobody else did. The kids were the two ones that paid attention to detail when they walked in.

I guess maybe other people just walked right by didn't even, you know, didn't even pay attention. They looked around and it worked out for them. They're also two of the best dressed. I enjoyed everyone getting dressed up for Taylor Swift night. My favorite part was you just talking Taylor Swift. Like at one point, you're telling everyone how her version is just a couple seconds longer than the original versions. And Matt's breaking down 1989 album for everyone. And I'm trying to get video just of Matt talking about Taylor Swift's.

I didn't know what I was talking about. I know more about the NFL when I talk on Sunday than that. But we did have a good time. Thank you to everybody that came. It was a great night and a good night for the bar. And, you know, it's been a good week at the bar because the fan base is back excited. And there's a lot. I think this weekend is going to be a weekend of a lot of movement.

But let's just talk about what's happened in the last 24 hours. We'll start. We're in London. Reed Shepard declared for the draft. Not a surprise. If you've been listening to this, I've been telling you for a week and a half, he's not coming back. I actually think he was going to announce last week and then Cal Perry left. And because Cal Perry left, Reed didn't want to kind of throw himself into that mix.

So he agreed to wait for a week. You know, in a suit that came out last week. I actually think that was the day he was going to do it. But he ends up waiting. He gives also, I think, for Mark Pope, gives him a little bit of time before they do it. He's going to the draft, probably going to be a top 10 pick. Put everything else aside, it is so cool to me that a guy from this town where we are right now. in eastern Kentucky is going to be a top 10 pick in the NBA draft.

Tell me how awesome that is. I mean, when is the last time, when's the last time a match has been drafted in the first round, period? What's the last one, Ryan? Wawa Jones. Is it Wawa? I don't know if there's another one besides Wawa Wai, Jones. Did Wawa even go in the top 10? I don't know if they even had a draft.

I'm not sure that we've ever, and I'm a mountain guy. I'm not sure we've ever had a 13th regioner. Have we ever had a dude from the mountains, period, going the top 10 in the NBA draft? No. I don't know that we have. I think the state of Kentucky has had many. State of Kentucky has not had many. Rex was one.

Was Purvis Ellison from Kentucky? I don't think he was from Kentucky. Well, we haven't had many. But I don't think the mountains of Kentucky have ever had. any and read is going to be one and so I do think that is put everything else aside I do think that's awesome and we've said this before but it's worth repeating he could have gone and played at some of these big prep schools he wanted to stay here in London and play with his guys he grew up with in North Laurel High School he got wanted to play at the University of Kentucky I think it

just says a lot about his character and who he is as a person I will probably drew honestly here's what I'll think of of Reed when I think of his career first of all so much better than I would have thought initially. I thought he could be like he was down the road. I did not think he could do it. On a team full of five freshmen, highly touted, he was the best one. National freshman of the year, who saw that coming. Probably not a lot of people.

And then, along with Antonio Reeves, I think we'll go down as one of the three or four best three-point shooters that we've ever had at this school. Yeah, I mean, statistically, he's going to be that. I just remember thinking, well, one, when we're watching school, I mean, we knew he'd get some minutes in Kentucky, but no one had him doing what he did in year one. And then I remember the postgame show of the first game, I believe you're out of town of Ryan or do it. Some guy called in, he's like, Reed's going to be the best guard on this team. And we're like, you need to put the bottle down. It's been one game. Turns out, wasn't crazy at all.

I mean, the year he had was truly special. And I know we wanted him back for another one. But I'm just as excited for whatever team gets him, because London is going. with Reed wherever he goes. Don't let a team in driving distance get Reed Shepard. There will be busloads. There's a lot of projections of him in Memphis. There you can see a lot of people end up there. So, sorry, so that's the positive. I think he was awesome. The kid also seems like a great kid. So I hope he crushes it. There will be Shannon Arnda. It kind of hit me last night as I was going to sleep.

And I was sitting there thinking, we're going to have two, if not the top two, two of the top three freshmen drafted in the draft. We had Antonio Reeves, who might be one day the most forgotten All-American Kentucky's ever had. I mean, Antonio Rees was awesome. And there is a part of me that's going to say, I'm going to look back and go, how, I mean, I'm just, how did Cal waste that group? Yeah. I mean, how did they waste that group? How did they waste three?

Seriously, in my lifetime, Travis Ford, Duran Lamb, and then maybe those three as the best three-point shooters. And they were all on one team, Shannon, and we couldn't beat Oakland. I would put, like from a, you're just stacking up talent. I would put Kentucky's roster last year up against any other team in college basketball. I agree. I don't think that's, maybe Yukon had more talent, but do you think that Purdue team had more talent than us? I mean, we have two guys that are going to be in the lottery that we're coming off the bench. We have two guys that were going to be in the lottery.

Yeah. Coming off the bench, which is the other thing. Yeah. Antonio Reeves, an all-American, and in my opinion, should have even been more of an all-American than he was, to be honest with you. AP left him out. AP left him out. I don't know how that happened. DJ Wagner, whatever else you think about him, was Uber talented, right?

Trey Mitchell, a good senior. Like, that team. Three seven-footers? You cannot have the results we had with that team. Coaching malpractice. I mean, that's what it was. There's no way that team should have been a first-round exit in the SEC tournament. Postseason games, and that's one of my favorite teams of all times.

It is. It's one of my favorite teams. Even after the results, there's still one of my favorite. It looks like we're having a little technical difficulty. Of course, right as soon as our show starts. So we're going to take a break, see if we can get that fixed. We will come back. We are here at Bluegrass Home Center in London, Kentucky.

This is Kentucky Sports Radio. It is Kentucky Sports Radio here at Bluegrass Home Center. I apologize for the technical difficulties. We don't want to have them, but it's unfortunate to us. It's Bluegrass Home Center here, bluegrasshomecenter.com. Homes as low as $48,900, $859-2802287. All right, so now that's the Reed Shepard News. Let's go to the other things.

yesterday Kentucky it's reported now has two more coaches the coach from b yu had already been reported corey figure Kyle Tucker said last night they're going to add jason hart who's from syracuse is a second coach he'll be one of the recruiting coaches and then former georgia coach mark fox will be basically an administrative role which will include nil and other things he was doing that role at georgetown you may remember that mark fox used to coach georgeorge and Mark Pope got his first assistant job with Mark Fox. So they're actually flipping roles now. The assistant becomes the head coach.

The head coach becomes the assistant coach. Start with Jason Hart. Drew, I love that hire for people who don't know. Played at Syracuse, you may remember, was a really good player at Syracuse, played in the NBA, has been big in recruiting. I had a guy right me last night who's a coach in another D1 college and said to me, Matt, you all knocked it out of the part with,

Park with Jason Hart for recruiting. which to me sounded like good news. Absolutely. The reaction to Jason Hart was pretty nice to see online yesterday with everybody approving the hire and just saying good things about him. He was with the G-League. So he had a connection there with guys wanting to be pros, got pipelines set up in the Northeast.

He was out in California. I mean, that really want to assume he's going to be the head recruiter, and I think it's a good gift for that role. You know, I remember when he played at Syracuse in the late 90s. Where? Circus. Okay. Didn't know where he had been lately.

But, yeah, he's got head coaching experience if he's been a head coach in the G League. And Mark Fox. Head coach in the G League. He was an assistant. So he worked with G League Ignite, which, of course, gets high school players. He also was at USC. Yeah, and Mark Fox, head coach experience. Mark Fox and Mark Pope, you know, they go back to when Pope was a player at Utah State.

And Mark Fox was on that staff. And how many times we hear Coach Cal speak glowingly about Mark Fox as a head coach? He would go beat him by 30 and then speak glowingly of him and say, you know, this is a guy you all have that's really good. To be fair, though, he probably did better at Georgia as a head coach than anyone's done at Georgia in many years, but they still ran him off. I love the Mark Fox hire just because of the story with Mark Pope, and he gave him his chance at the very beginning of his career, and now he's rewarding him on the backside of it. If anyone thinks of Mark Fox just as a Georgia coach, look at that man's resume. He won at Nevada. Vince George, USA basketball, Brad Stevens in the NBA.

He was at Georgetown in like an NIL role. So if you can just turn off, beating him all the time at Georgia. He has a great career of working with a lot of years. And he had a great career at Nevada to get the good job at Georgia. And remember, at Georgia, he was the bubble every. No one is winning at Georgia, which is crazy. I don't know how that doesn't happen with all their talent. So that's where they go.

Now, they got turned down yesterday, well, actually two days ago, on the Kenny Payne thing. That leaves the Orlando Antigua situation. I don't know that we'll ever know exactly how all that went down. Orlando don't think that's going to happen. I guess today could change, but I kind of don't think it will. Maybe I'll be wrong, but I don't think so. But it looks like it's not going to work out.

I think he's going to end up in Illinois. Are you disappointed in that? or do you because that'll leave one more spot to go get another young recruiter would you have liked to have had Orlando I mean obviously we all would have liked a little bit but are you disappointed that that doesn't work out I think I was excited because we know Orlando's success as a recruiter you know if that's one thing he brought to the table with Cal is that he brought in a lot he'll bring in a lot of the star players so I think that would have helped to Pope in that capacity if nothing else adding to a little continuity because this team as it is right now has zero continuity from the previous seasons He gives you at least a little bit of that if he were to be here.

Yeah. I love Orlando. If he had been here, I would have been excited. I also am not necessarily against just starting a new generation and saying, let's go. You know, I mean, there's, you know, sometimes you've got to turn the page. And I love Orlando. I'd be pulling forward. I think he'll do a good, he would have done a good job.

I also don't think it's the worst thing in the world if Pope gets to start fresh. Completely agree. We have personal experiences we've had with Orlando yesterday. I really like the guy, but I don't know if Pope doesn't want it in the area and wants to start completely new. And if they were going to consider Orlando, he's a recruiting guy. I think by getting Jason Hart yesterday, you have your recruiter. Yes. And Kenny Payne is now going to Arkansas.

Thoughts? Boo. That's my thoughts. I mean, he did his job. He went to Louisville. He tanked their program for a couple years. It was time to welcome him back. I would have been open arms ready to bring a look at him back.

Are they going to have the oldest staff in the country? Maybe. I mean, I think every single person on that staff is going to be older than all of us. Don't forget Brad. Oh, yeah. Well, he helps the average. Bradd helps the average. But, I mean, you're going to have bruiser, chin, Kenny Payne, Cal.

You're running it back. A bunch of grumpy old men. Don't. They are a bunch of grumpy old men. Like, it's, I mean, all you need is Walter Mathau for a, sequel. But I think that maybe that's why you need Kenny because he was that role. But Kenny's a grumpy old man, too.

Well, I mean, Kenny's, how, though. Kitty's older than Ryan. Yeah. But is he grumpy? I feel like he's the guy. Yes. Ask anybody who covered Louisville over the last two years, whether or not he's grumpy.

He's pretty grumpy. Anyone that just left that Louisville job has to be. He could have walked in the nicest person in the world. You have to leave grumpy after what he just went through. I mean, I don't think he even made a statement when he left. Probably for the best. Yeah. from some of the things that he said in his press conference.

So there's a little bit of a chance. I mean, Arkansas could be awesome, make the final four, and we're like, oh, that stinks. But there's also a chance where they're kind of terrible. Because if Cal's recruits are not running to him like I think he probably thought they were. Yeah, listen, could they be successful with that with Cal and the talent they'll have? Yes, they could be successful. I also could see a world. It's a complete disaster, like where it's like, you know,

Godfather three, right? Like I could see that, I could see that happening. I really could. The other thing is it comes out that Jerry Jones, we talked about this yesterday, has said, if Kentucky has a recruit, I'll double the offer. I'm kind of told that's what they did with Kenny Payne, that they basically said to Kenny Payne, whatever Kentucky offered you. I mean, we're going to see the contract because it'll have to come out publicly.

I think Kenny Payne probably just became the highest paid assistant coach in America. Well, I mean, good for Kenny. If he negotiated with Kentucky, got a figure knowing that Jerry Jones was going to add to it. I mean, talk about falling up. Yeah. I mean, he did. I just won 12 games in two seasons. That is true.

It gets an assistant coach, less pressure, less responsibility, and becomes the highest paid. Wow. He really did fall up. That's exactly right. All right. So now let's talk about players. Kentucky loses the kid Ali Khalifa to BYU, excuse me, to Louisville. When I saw that, I was a little bit surprised, and then I saw he's sitting out next year red shirting with a knee injury.

I'm not saying Kentucky wouldn't have taken him, but to me, if he's not playing next year, you don't really need him. The point of having him was we need bodies next year. The year after, I feel like you can go find a guy as good or better than him next year. So I actually, that doesn't really bother me, does it you? No, it's kind of a bizarre situation. I don't want to come off as a sore loser here, but I wonder how interested U.K. was if he didn't even visit Lexington, right? He didn't visit.

It's weird that, you know, you've had this great year with Pope, and you just go straight to Louisville and your redshirting. So I don't know what happened there, but Pope's got some good guys in the portal that he's kind of circled, and I hope we end up with him. It's strangely, he had the do not contact by his name in the portal, and then goes to Louisville and commits that quickly. But I will say, like, I'm, if you're not.

If he's not going to play here next year, then I'm okay with it. Now, this is what's happening. I expect UK to get yeses from two people today. Now, let me be clear. I'm not sure that will come out publicly because nowadays you've got to dot some eyes and cross some T's that you didn't use to after a few. But I think UK will know themselves. They have a couple guys by today.

maybe we hear it before the end of the weekend. I will tell you this. I am much more confident about the state of UK basketball recruiting today than I was yesterday. You know, they're mentioned, they've got the kid from Drexel that Pope saw yesterday. This kid from Utah State, what's his name? Great Osabor. I'm still learning the last name. But his first name is great.

But he is great. I watched Utah State often before I'd go to bed on CBS Sports Network. The dude is awesome. Like, I think we need two or three big time guys. Okay, now there's one. All right, if you get him. By the way, both those guys, the Drexel guy and the Utah State guy, I believe they're both British.

Yeah, both from England. And I believe they both played together in England. Nice. Okay. So I think they have that connection, so you might find a world in which you get both of them. I'd love that. And great was the player of a year in his conference. He had a heck of a season.

I'd love to get him, both of them. You get that great Osabor kid. He might be my new pick for who's going to be the leading score on the team next year. We'll take a break. Hopefully fix our connection issues. This is KSR. Welcome back here to Kentucky Sports Radio. Bluegrass Home Center here in London.

I apologize to folks for the connection. One of these days, you will think I heart will get it to where we can connect in random parts of the state. It's not even that random. We're right on the interstate. But it is what it is. Hopefully it will be, we hopefully have made it. a little bit better here for this one. If you go to Bluegrass Home Center all weekend, you can register and you can win a 50-inch television.

What is it? A Canig Cooner. Coorick. Cajick. Caring. Curek. That's okay. Curig cooler. A brick stone griddle?

I had the same question. What is a griddle? What is a grittle? It's like a flat. Flat top. No, we don't cook. You just said, I said, what's a griddle? And you said a flat griddle.

But that doesn't answer me what a grittle is. Flat top grill. Grill. You know those burgers that sit in their own grease? Yes. Make those on the blackstone. All right, there you go. So you get a curing, a cool, a griddle, or a 50-inch TV.

As you can tell, I use all of those things on a regular basis. Bluegrass HomeCenter.com. We got folks on the phone real quick. People are asking me why Orlando didn't go with Cal. I think y'all can make your own decisions on that, right? Like, I mean, let's be real. Two of his four coaches, including somebody very close to him, didn't go. If you want to know the truth, it's because he was impossible to work with the last couple years.

He just was. You know, people out there can say, oh, it's just a coincidence that T.J. Bisoner went to North Carolina and that John Welch went to Fresno State and that Orlando Antigua tried not to go to Arkansas. And that Jay Lucas went to Duke. Yeah, that's all just a big coincidence. Or maybe Drew, this wasn't the most pleasant place to work the last couple years. I mean, people would accuse us of trying to manufacture drama for the show, but we're just trying to let people know behind the scenes.

It was not a great operation the last few years, and that's why we ended up with the results we ended up with. And the one person who definitely went with him is the guy that was always screaming at him on the bench, which was Jim Coleman. The one I said he shouldn't keep is the one he's taking. I think that's an easy way to make a clean break. guys going to Arkansas, if you don't want to follow that, then it's an easy way to do it,

a good excuse to get out of it. That's why, if you ask us to predict who would stay, who would not go with him and who would, I would have said Orlando and Welch would both go, and probably two guys that are there would not have gone. I would have probably messed that out. At the end of the day, these people are human beings with families, and Arkansas is in Fayetteville,

and that can be it. They can just say, I am not going to Fayetteville with you. I'm very committed to thinking we need to talk about the future, et cetera. But there is a lot to still be said about what happened these last two or three years. There really is. And I said, we'll do it down the road. But for anybody who in the last two years questioned the things we said, just look at exactly what has happened since then.

All right? Just look at exactly what's happening. And when Orlando Antigua, who's been there forever, chooses not to go. And John Welch, who was the one X and O guy, decides to go coach at Fresno, look, it is what it is at this point. Who's up first? Shaker. Shaker.

Shaker. Go ahead, Shaker. Hey, Matt, first time, a long time. What? Who are? So, first off, I want to say, I'm so proud of Reed. I'm young. I'm only 27. I wasn't around during the next years. But seeing a Kentucky boy just fulfilling his dreams and going to the NBA is so dang cool.

I'm so proud of him and just being able to see him go to the NBA is awesome for not only for him for the state of Kentucky. And just seeing him lift up this day to be so awesome. Wawa Jones, by the way, was the ninth pick. So Wawa Jones would be the only other top 10 pick from East. Kentucky, he went ninth, but go ahead. Yeah, that's awesome. So you tweet out yesterday that Pope was flying around. Did he come back yet from his recruiting effort?

Do you know? I don't think so, but I don't know that for sure. I don't think he did. His family is not here right now. They're in various places move. I think there's maybe some health stuff with one of their extended family members, and then, you know, they got kids in school. So he's probably.

traveling because he doesn't, I mean, he'd be by himself if he was here anyway. So I think he's, I know he was on the road all day yesterday. He's going to be on the road all day today. And then he's supposed to be all on the road Saturday. And then I think maybe a couple people coming here on Sunday and Monday. Gotcha. And the last thing I got for you. So aside from Joe B, you know, because of preceding Ruff, I'm sure that he had all the pressure in the world. all the record. Is Pope receiving Calgary? Is that the most pressure out of all the coaches in Kentucky history?

Or would you consider Patino? No, Joe B's the most. I actually think this is the easiest. Okay, so I appreciate the call. Ryan, of the three times people have followed really successful coaches, I think Joe B. Fall and Rup had to be the hardest thing in the world, right? I mean, Rup was a, Rup built the program. I think Tubby following Rick was hard.

You were coming off a national title and a runner up, and then here he had to come in. I actually think this is the easiest of the three because a lot of fans were just kind of ready for Cal to go. Yeah, and the program has been kind of on a downward spiral the last couple of years. You're right. When Tubby came in, we were top of the world. We were the best program in the country at that point. So, yeah, out of the three, Pope's got it, I think, the best. If John Calipari had left for UCLA, that's different.

been a completely different situation. But because of what fans have had to deal with for the last four years, that makes it a lot easier to transition from Cal to the Pope. I mean, just yesterday, you asked Ryan what Pope should do to have a good year, and he said, make Saturday of the SEC tournament,

and I laugh, but that's actually an upgrade from the last four years of basketball. So like Jenon just said, if you'd taken over five years ago, a lot of pressure, but it's been so bad in the postseason recently, you just got to make a weekend. You could argue Tubby had it the worst,

Because even at the end of the Rupp years, it was going down a little. It was. It was going down a little. And there were some people trying to kind of nudge him out even at the end. But Tubby came, Patino left at the peak of the Patino year. You know, and so if you're Tubby Smith and you're walking in here in 1996 and they're a runner up in 97 and you're way, here we go. And then, of course, he goes and wins the title in his first year. And people didn't even give him credit for it.

They said, well, he's winning with Rick's. players, you know, I mean, that would be, I actually think Tubby probably had it to beat too quickly, right? And there's nowhere else to go from there. When you, in your first year, win a national title, now there's that, I mean, how do you get better? The one good thing for Pope is, because the roster's going to be completely new, you won't be saying you're winning with somebody else's players. It's going to be a completely new roster either way. What's next? Joseph. Joseph, go ahead. Hey, Matt. Hey, Matt, a lot of has gone on since the last time I told. The one

thing I like about Pope is he has a no good attitude tells us stuff we want to hear that tournaments matter and the hang banners you know I'll get this guy a chance I really enjoyed what you had to say it I'm hoping he could build a good team and we'll expect at least an elite eight this season you explain hang on you expected elite eight this year that's your that's your requirement for year one uh yeah uh yeah at least and uh maybe uh least he's We don't even have a roster yet. Right now we have two players on the team, not one of which has ever played in it of college basketball.

And, Joseph, if you're already acquiring an elite eight? Of course. I have expectations, man. Of course. All right. Well, I appreciate the call. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it is going to be the hardest of all.

Special guests pulling up right here. Oh, look, there's my parents. I didn't know they were coming. Hello, hello, my parents. That's pretty amazing, isn't it? Well, when you asked the question yesterday, I just want to get to the second weekend. I mean, Sweet 16 would be nice. And Joseph's like, at least a lead eight.

You know, we haven't been to Final Four in a long time, Joseph. I will set expectations, Drew, when I see our roster. You know, I need to see what our roster is because, you know, if we get two or three guys like the kid from Utah State, who's great Osabor, okay, then that's different. But if we get, if we don't, I mean, it just depends to me on who our roster is. Yeah, I mean, you said one player with no college basketball. We have two with no college basketball. Travis Perry and our Mormon back from his mission, even whatever happens, I have the expectation.

Pope will make the tournament and at least hold his own a little in the SEC, probably not win it right away. So I can't set anything exact tournament spots, but I do think it's going to be a decent year. I don't have the guys falling because we're starting fresh. I don't have that mindset. expect, if you're asking me what I expect, I expect us to make the tournament. And after that, then let me see who's on the roster. I do think when you're at Kentucky, it is a reasonable expectation to say we should make the

NCAA tournament. You know, we did that, what? During Cal's 14 years, we did it. Well, one year they didn't have the tournament, so we did it all but two. I do expect we'll make the tournament. Whether it's more than that, I need to see what the roster is. is before I make that determination. 859-280-2287.

We are here at Bluegrass Home Center in London. You're right. Look at my parents made the surprise. About that. Give everybody a hello to my folks over there. Somebody texted in too. Frank Selvey from Corby from Corby was the number one pick one year. You consider Corbyn Eastern Kentucky?

Of course. Frank's from there was a guy from Corbyn was the number one book? Yeah, he went to Clemson or somewhere in South Carolina. I think Furman. He went to Furman. That's where he went. Well, I had no idea about that. I did, however, say, know that the Don Franklin Spring event is going on. Sunshine and warmer days are here, and whether you're looking for a convertible, a sunroof ride, or a newer pre-owned vehicle, try Don Franklin Auto.com. Ten-year, unlimited mile power train coverage is available.

Go check one out. 27 locations around the state at don Franklin Auto.com. We'll take a break and be right back here in London. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. We are here. live at Bluegrass Home Center in London, 859-280-2287. I'm going to give you a criticism, Shannon, that a couple people have said. Matt, you're sitting here talking about a Utah State player.

I see we're getting a get from Drexel, Dayton. This is not Kentucky basketball standards to take these kind of dudes and think they're going to be All-Americans. All right, so that's what you know I decided to do. Let's go look at the All-American list from last year. Okay. All right. RJ Davis and Zach Eaddy, they started at North Carolina and Purdue.

Dalton Connect, where'd he come from? Northern Colorado. Tristan Newton, where'd he come from? East Carolina. Wow. All right. Hunter Dickinson was at Kansas, but he didn't start there. He came from Michigan.

Mark Sears. He was an All-American. Where'd he come from? Ohio, Ohio. All right. That's just on the first two teams. Let's keep going. You got Antonio Reese.

Where did he come from? Illinois. State. Johnny Broom, where'd he come from? Moorhead. Moorhead State. Jaden Ladee, where'd he come from? Started at TCU, then he went to San Diego State.

My point, and then one of them that's on here, Duran Holmes, you all don't even know who that is. He was second team. He played at Dayton. My point is, this ain't the college basketball you knew. That's true. Right? These dudes, this is what's happening now.

Ten of the 15 McDonald's Americans last year played at a non- Power 5 school at some time in their career. So my guess is that the next year's All-Americans will come some from non-power-five schools. That's the good of the transfer portal. Gives these guys that maybe were under-recruited out of high school. Maybe they were hurt in high school. Now they get a chance to go to a higher-level school and show what kind of player they really are. The top three players in the SEC all average about 20 points per game.

And it went Ohio, Northern Colorado, and Illinois State as their first school. The top four. Top four. Yeah, I guess you go to. You take the top four players in the SEC last year, and they started their careers at Northern Colorado, Illinois State, Ohio, and Moorhead State. There you go. You know, is DJ Wagner more talented than all four of those guys? Maybe.

But who's better in college? Yeah. I would rather have guys that already have that college experience coming from the portal. We see that every year in the tour. in the tournament. Mid majors having success. We have some breaking news, John. Running on a nah. A doo Thierro has announced his final five schools.

Give them to us, Drew. We got a little Pittsburgh, got some Indiana, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Kentucky. As Kentucky on his final five, and so does Arkansas. You think there's any chance to do Thierro stays? I think Pitt will be the. pick but do you think there's it at north carolina by the way t j byzner that that's the connection there they did some public social media back and forth if he ends up at north carolina t j bisoner former ksr writer will be part of the reason why probably but what do you think i can see kentucky

being in the picture a lot more than i can see arkansas being in the picture i don't think that relationship between coach cow and the eros family was a good win by the end of the season so i'd be shocked if he picked Arkansas. Be even sweeter if he did pick Kentucky and threw Arkansas in the mix, you know, just to say, hey, I'm committed, recommitted to Kentucky. I just want to tell you, think about how absurd it is that a former KSR rider runs the NIL for North Carolina. I mean, that would be like one day in like five years, Drew Franklin is running the NIL at Duke. No, thank you.

Hard pass on that. As of the guy who worked kind of side by side with Bisoner for a few years. years, if you had told me that guy was going to take over UNC, then I would, there's no chance I would have believed you. Just the UNC part alone, he's being a Kentucky fan. Just the fact that he's doing this. Literally, he was like, wasn't he selling like printers? Selling printers in Tampa. I mean, you're talking about American Dream Story. My man was selling printers in Tampa. He had a blog. I wrote him and said, hey, you're pretty good at this. Would you like to come right on our blog and now he's running the NIL for North Carolina. He's over there printing money now for

the NIL. I took a picture with him in Atlanta after the UNC UK game and he had on this baby blue and I'm just like, what is this? Like how did we get here? That is unbelievable to me that that has happened. Who's up next? Patrick. Patrick. Patrick, go ahead, Patrick. Hey, guys. How are you guys doing? Doing good. Hey, I just got a question. We kind of already talked about the success, That's kind of what we expect as success for the season. Some people talk about one guy with elite aid. I don't know if I believe that necessarily, but I think we all kind of agree that success is kind of just getting to the tournament,

maybe winning a game or two. But is there a chance that, you know, we would see the season as a failure if we don't get to the tournament or, you know, what would be a failure? Yeah, I mean, if they don't make – yeah, here's what I would say about that. And I appreciate the call. I don't think there's anything he could do, Ryan. Mark Pope that like you don't bring him back and you don't still support him because we even gave Billy Gillespie two years right but I will say this with the NIO funds that are going to be

available and we are going to have as much in aisle money as any school outside of maybe one or two with funds that are available with the name on the front of the jersey with the staff they're assembling and with the commitment from UK, yes. He needs to make the tournament or it will be a disappointment. Is it a switch coaches? No. But would it be a disappointment, Ryan? It would be to me?

Absolutely, it would be a disappointment. And I think the words that he said, he's news conference, we know the assignment. He knows what's expected here. And like I love you what he said about his group chat with the 96 guys, they will not let me fail. You know, he's got that support. He's got the NIL support. That's why I think they will have success next year. me feel confident, though, Shannon is, and I'm not trying to disparage people in the past.

Yeah. But I know this dude could coach. All right. So I know whatever he gets, there's a really good chance he gets the best out of whatever he gets. And I think with the resources we have, there's no way he won't be given a team that if coached well, cannot make the term. Totally agree. Sounds like he's also building up a staff that breaks down the analytics of things. That's the complete opposite of what we've had in the last.

15 years at Kentucky. So, yeah, I feel confident that they're going to make the tournament. How far they go? Well, we'll see. But I think for the first year, making the tournament is probably what he should do. If you're nervous about it, think about this. Don't you think we'll have a better roster than BYU had last year? Oh, absolutely.

We'll have a better roster. And you know what they did last year? They were a six seat. Number 18. If he took a roster that's worse than the one we're likely to have, and they were a six seed playing in a conference that was as a six seed. playing in a conference that was as good, if not better than ours, in the first year in that conference? That's important to note.

That was their first year in the Big 12. That was their first year in that conference, and they were a six-seat. Now, if he can do that there, there's nothing wrong with us expecting him to at least be a six-seed here. Amen. So that would be my expectation. We'd be Kansas more than we did last year. That's true. We will take a break and come back.

Hour number two here at Bluegrass Home Center in London, Kentucky. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. 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 IHeart 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. In 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. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like,

I can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.