KSR - 2025-03-05- KSR - Hour 2

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

More KSR Live from KSBar & Grille talking UK Basketball and taking your calls.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Welcome to Hour 2 of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones. Welcome back. It is hour number two here, Kentucky Sports Radio, live at KS Bar and Grill. It is Wings Day. Come on out and join us, Dollar Wings all day, right here with us. Great crowd of folks here watching the day. Let's give a couple updates on some little things. of all, UK baseball team yesterday beat Eastern 16

to nothing, which I think is pretty good. The game today, they were supposed to play again today here in Lexington, that game has gotten canceled due to it's supposed to be bad weather here apparently in a little while. So that game got canceled. But the UK baseball team is now what?

Like 11-1 or something? So, Drew, you've been seeing them play a couple times. I mean, they haven't played the hardest schedule, but do you think they're good? Well, I went to the two games where they scored like a combined 30-something runs, so in my eyes they're the best team to ever play baseball. But yeah, I'm still learning the personnel. I mean, outside of Birx and just a couple others,

it is a brand new roster. But I think they have something. We'll have to see when the competition picks up. I think they start SEC play next week at Georgia. Yeah, so the game, they start SEC play. They'll actually get a hard schedule this year because they did well last year. So he's going to get a test coming. as he goes. They swept Hofster this last weekend. They've got

another three-game series with Monmouth, I believe, is who is coming in this weekend? Wofford. Wofford. Yeah, so, you know, Towers. Tuneups before they get into SEC play. Ellie De LaC. is hitting 478 in the minor leagues. Matt McLean is hitting 443. Are you ready to join the Reds machine? I am not. I will take joy and ridicule you and you and the lady here in the Reds hat later in about a month. Don't listen to him. It's the summer of Ellie. You can feel it in the Yesterday he had an opposite way triple.

He never did that before. Like, you just wait. Next thing you're not going to be, should we just call him the MVP, maybe even the Super Bowl MVP? I'm still riding with the brave, and Shannon. We've got a new pitcher.

He is Kenny Powers. I don't know if you all have seen him. He has a wet, curly bullet. We're talking about Ellie Daylor. No, no, we're talking about teams that will be in the play. This woman right here,

she cares about Ellie. Thank you very much. Both got your red hat on. Did any of you watch the, state of the union. I'm sad to say. People were yelling and screaming and holding up signs. It was kind of an embarrassing display all the way around.

What happened? Did some guy with a cane stand up and they had to escort him out or something? I mean, for people, like Mario's too young. When I was a kid, the state of the union was supposed to be like a non-political thing. Like it was literally the state of the union. You got up to say what the state of the union was. And so they would always go, the state of the union is strong. And everybody would, yeah.

Well, now it's not that. Now, whoever's president, it's a political speech, so it becomes a political rally. And then we started a few years ago with that one dude from South Carolina that yelled at Obama. Then last night, this dude acted a fool and yelled it, yelled at Trump. It's just, it's become a joke. And I actually, I mean, it's in the Constitution that you have to do it, so they're going to keep doing it. But I actually think they should stop doing it. Because it's just, it's embarrassing.

It's embarrassing. Like, it's become like a political rally where the other side has to sit there. and you all just end up yelling at each other, and I just think it's stupid. These are the leaders of our country, and they're getting together. They're children. They're acting like second graders.

They are children. I mean, I'm a Democrat, but what are you doing holding up signs like you're at a Brazilian steakhouse when you don't like stuff? Like, just shut up. And, you know, they got sons?

Trump's up there talking about Biden. Biden's out. Like, you know, just these, this used to be, that used to be like a dignified thing. The Supreme Court. should stop coming. It's just, it's stupid.

It really annoys me because I used to really like that. Now, I haven't watched one in years, but I did see the, he kicked the guy out. He just got up and started yelling. Like, you can't just get up and start yelling during the thing. Like, this is not, this is not, you know, fancy farm. Like, it's the United States. It's Congress and the Senate.

I do not see the state of the union, but what you just described sounds just like politics to me. That's the today's things. But it is. Just crazy people yelling. It's supposed to be, like, my mom used to always say, people need to rise to the occasion. Nobody rises to the occasion now. Everything is just an excuse to yell at each other, and I hate it.

I do. I hate it. It's become a television show, and that's not what it's supposed to be like. But you're right. You know, we were younger. It came on. You had to watch it because all the networks carried it, but at least it was some sort of respectful platform where they, you know, you got to find out what's going on with our country. It has become, and I think if a lot of people are honest about this, they would agree.

It has become to where, like, we're getting to the point that we hate each other more than we do other places. Like, we'd rather, we'd rather score one on our fellow countrymen than, like, be unit. It used to be, what was the saying, politics stopped at the border. Like, we were all on the same side after, and that's changed. That ain't adding to now. I hate it. So last night to me was a symbol of that. But yeah, that dude got up with a cane and just started shaking it like he was Mr. Burns screaming.

Sounds like the circus that it goes on every day, unfortunately. And listen, I love older people, but, like, we got to, like, I looked at the crowd. I mean, my goodness, like, we got to get some younger people. I just saw the story. It's really sad. But, like, there was this Congresswoman, and she was, like, 84, and she passed away. So they appointed somebody to pick her seat. They pointed somebody like 82 and she just passed away too.

Did they not think that somebody who died in office maybe get somebody younger than 80 for the replacement? I'm a little leery if they're coming to me for that replacement. I do think they're not going to come to you, actually. You said you need some younger people in our government. Do you think you're one of them? Well, there's a seat open in here in Kentucky that maybe you might be interested in Qualcomm going to make a run ad. For what? Mitch McConnell's place.

Shut up. Will you stop with that? Kevin Boyle. Do you know who Kevin Boyle is? Seems like I know that name. Does anybody in here know who Kevin Boyle is? It's a good chance Kevin Boyle is the best high school basketball coach in the country. He coaches Monta Verdei Academy.

And he coached Cooper Flagg. He coached Liam McNeath. He's put something like 45 dudes in the NBA or in college basketball at the power conferences in the last 14 years. He is very close with Mark Pope. even though they actually, I don't know if he sent him a player, they are friends, his assistants, I think Alvin Brooks, one of our assistants, is like in it with all those guys.

Here's why I'm bringing it up. He's Coach Monte Verdi Academy for 14 years in Florida. He is taking a new job at a new school just north of Cincinnati. Basically, he's trying to make the best prep school for basketball in America just north of Cincinnati. And apparently whoever's funding this school is putting all this money into it. Now that you can do NIL, I think they're trying to make it like it's, you know, a college basketball team in high school. Why should you care about that?

I can't imagine, Drew, it's bad for Kentucky basketball if the best high school players in America are just going to be playing just an hour or north of us in Cincinnati. I would think that would probably be pretty good, easy to get them on campus. I think that's some pretty good news for Kentucky. I think that's great news. that's a place that just puts out, you know, big-time recruits, several big NBA names went to that school. So if you're going to tell me he's moving his operation to just across the river, that absolutely helps Kentucky get some of these guys. I mean, Florida is not terribly far, but if you can make it to where you just get in a car and you can come to Rupp, those dudes may be coming to a ton of our games. I mean, I think you're going, I can't, I just think having, you know, he had like four of the top 20 players in America last year.

Having four of the top 20 players in America, you know, able to meet me at a Reds game, I think is probably a pretty good thing. And if the coach already has a great relationship with Brooks and Pope and our coaching staff, absolutely. His players will be down here for practices, games, big blue, white games, everything. Pro Day, they'll be down here all the time. There was a moment last year where I thought the last assistance job at Kentucky might have gone to him. That ended up not. But there was a moment that I thought he might be the last assistant. So I think that's actually a small piece of news, but really good news for Kentucky.

And I like this situation being better than assistant, him just packing up and being a little over an hour away. Totally agree with you. I think we got Dakari from there. I'm trying to think of Kentucky players. For some reason, that one pops in my head. But there's a lot of big names that have come through that system. And then finally, the SEC, basically they had these meetings. It looked like we were going to go to a non-team schedule.

nine-game SEC schedule didn't happen. Greg Sanky basically said this. If they expand the playoff, we're going to nine games. If we don't expand the playoff, we're not. Which would you prefer? Just for Kentucky's sake, I prefer not to go to nine SEC games. But we have a better chance to playoff if they expand it. Yeah, I would probably, even like Mark, he said after they played those 10 SEC games in the COVID year,

he goes, my goodness, that was the roughest schedule I've ever seen in my life. I haven't played 10 SEC games. So I would vote for an eight. By the way, people have asked me about having Mark Stoops on the show. I think we're going to have that next week before the SEC tournament. We were working to have it tomorrow, but then we got, they can't do it here, and we got Owen County High School coming tomorrow, and so I need to be here.

So we've pushed it off until. It'll probably be early next week. Part of it depends on when Kentucky ends up playing in the SEC tournament, but we'll probably, Drew, be able to finally have that Mark Stubbs, interview. And I'm going to tell you, when we have it, I look forward to talking to him. I haven't really spoken to him since the end of the year except for two minutes on the phone. But I do plan on sort of asking a lot of the questions that fans want asked. I give him credit for wanting to come on, but, you know, there's some stuff we have to ask, right?

Absolutely. We want him a little sooner, but they had a busy offseason, I guess. He had his ankle surgery, been traveling, you know, it's full time with that job now. He just did a press conference last week, so he's starting to get back in the flow and doing media interviews, which I think he really needs to do before spring ball starts here in a few weeks. How do you think if you were being Mark Stoops' PR head? Serious question. Ryan, what would you tell him to do between now and the start of the season? Like, is there anything he can do to get this fan base excited next year?

Or is there nothing he can do? And everybody's going to be like you when you were like, I don't know. There's some certain things he needs to say for me if you talk about. So let's say you were here. What would you tell him he needs to say? You need to own up to every bad thing that's happened and don't try to make excuses for it. Last year was a bad year.

You haven't won an SEC, one SEC football home game in two years. You've got to own up to that. And you can't say, I'm not trying to make an excuse, but and then make an excuse. 100%. Which is one of the things I love him, but that's one of the things he does. I'm not making an excuse followed by an excuse. So like that needs to not have. What else?

And I want to hear him tell me that it's not going to happen again. You know, and we're going to change. We're going to get better. I want to, he's good at that too. He can make us believe as a fan base everything he says about what he's doing for the program. Just don't make excuses why things didn't happen. He's already kind of addressed that they let the culture slip a little bit, but I'd almost need him to give me examples of what has changed that's going to keep it for happening again,

whether it be if you're late for practice, this happens, or, you know, I don't know what made it lead to what it was, but I need to see some actual or here are some things they're actively doing to make sure it's improving. I think the more I talked to people about last year, and this includes people who are very strong stoops loyalists, which honestly I think almost everyone that works at UK in the football department is a strong stoops loyalist.

But the more I heard about it, the more I think the culture just collapsed last year. I think it had been slipping for a couple years. I think it collapsed last year. I think off the field, and I don't mean guys getting in trouble. I just mean like work ethic, practice, this thing that he had built, that that was really the strength of the program. They let last year, Ryan, collapse, and they're going to have to build it back quick. And I want to hear him say that and admit that and tell me that we're going to make changes.

It doesn't matter if you're one of the star players or if you're a walk-on. You're all going to get treated the exact same. You have to attend workout. You have to attend film sessions. You have to attend practice. Everything has to be in there. One of the good things about the portal and about being able to switch the entire staff, or excuse me, entire players, is if you had bad culture, it can get out.

Right? Like if you don't have the portal, you can't necessarily even do that. And one thing I think he has already said that they're doing this year. In years past when he said people would come in from the portal, they didn't want them to come over and just be leaders. Even Will Levis stayed quiet for a while. They wanted to keep the returning guys at the leaders in the locker room. This year he's pretty much said, the guys in the portal is so old. I got married guys.

They're coming in, and I'm telling them this is your locker room. I'm sorry to the ones over here last year, but he's letting some of the new guys go ahead and lead right away. I love that. Draft Kings, by the way, you know our friend here on KSR, Barstool Big Cat. He is 11 and 0 in his picks in March, one of which was the Kentucky game last night. He had the Kentucky LSU over. And if you saw how bad LSU was playing at the beginning, you would have thought there's no way there's an over.

And then Trent Noah hit a layup with 20 seconds to go to hit the over to help him be 11 and O. You can follow his picks or ours, which have been, okay. But you can go to Draft King's Sportsbook, use a promo code KSR, bet five with $150. I think, I think he's picking one tonight as well, maybe to go 12 and 0.

So go to Draft Kings. crown is yours. If you have a gaming problem called 180 800 Gambler, 18 plus, Kentucky only, eligibility restraint, new customers only, bonus spent the power 168 hours of three issuance for additional terms, responsible gaming resources, see dkng.c0.co slash audio. We'll take a break and be right back. It's Kentucky Sports Radio. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. For more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

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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. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across.

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. It is Kentucky Sports Radio 859-280-2287 here at the KS Bar and Grill. text machine is 772-744-5-254 at KY Sports Radio. The regional tournaments, anything important happened? You're my high school basketball officiant. Well, I was kind of tied up with the Kentucky game last night, but I know Frederick Douglass beat Madison Central, so now they play Lexington Catholic in the semifinals,

and Great Crossing is going to play Bryan Station. I think Malachi Moreno, our future big man, I think he had a really good game last night. I saw ESPN recruits tweeted about his game. He had like 18 and 15 or something. They won by 30. He's really, I mean, really been playing great this last month. Like, he has stepped up his game.

Double doubles all the time. Yeah, no, he's been excellent. One person writes, Matt, I'd like each of you to pick outside of Auburn, Duke, and Houston the one team you would want to play the least in the NCAA tournament. Well, we discussed this not long ago. We think we all picked Houston. I said outside of Auburn, Duke, and Houston. Oh, I didn't catch that.

Yeah, you didn't catch the last thing I said. Outside of Auburn, Duke, and Houston, what would be the team that you would want to play the least? St. John's right now for me. Oh, that's a good point. You would say St. John Shannon. I don't want to see Rick Petino in that team. No. I think they are on a roll right now.

They can't shoot the ball very well, but they're good defenders. I think that would be a real problem for us. I'm okay with St. Johns. I feel like the teams we've played this year that their strength is defense, true. That's been our, we've actually done our right against those teams. I think we struggle with these teams that can score a lot. So I actually would want to stay away from in the NCAA tournament. like Alabama because I just think it's going to be hard.

I just don't know if we, I don't know the group that we have. We can just, I don't think we can score enough points. Whereas when we've played at Tennessee, we've actually played Tennessee to me as the team of the SEC most like St. John's, and we've actually played them pretty well. What about you? I was actually leaning towards Florida, even though we already beat them. They scored a ton of points and that was in Rupp Arena's best atmosphere of the season. So I think a rematch with that, I don't know if it'd go.

as well as for Kentucky. I think that's right. They played really well as soon, too. What about you? I would probably say Alabama, just because their dudes are just better than our dudes. We played pretty well against them, and still they beat us twice. I think we played well against them twice and won neither time. Yeah.

And they beat us both times in completely different ways. They beat us the first time on the boards and kind of killing us inside, and then they beat us the second time on the outside. I just, maybe we can beat Alabama, but I don't know. I think that's going to be we just got to hope that if we're going to beat them they got to be ice cold. Win or lose playing Alabama again.

I just can't watch Mark Sears play basketball. It wasn't just our game against Tennessee the other day. He just, he throws that head back and they blow the whistle every time. He's so good at acting and getting that kind of Trey Flock, Trey Young, just throw my body back.

Can we give a shout out to the officials last night for having a game that went an hour and 45 minutes and not calling any five? Like that was the best flowing. game we've had in forever, didn't it? And I don't know, I don't think I knew any of the three officials, which is probably a good thing. Congratulations to them. And thankfully, they called that foul with 0.2 seconds on the clock to set up that great moment we had last night with the walk on. They could have let that go. Nope, we're going to call it. That was the quickest game. It was over

in an hour and 40 minutes. That's a quickest game we've had all year. Oh, loved it. Halftime. I was tweeting out the stats. The best stat was zero monitor reviews to the first half. I did that. They might have had one. They stayed away from the monitor. the first half, neither team even got in the bonus. So, you know, let them play. Let them play. A lot up and down the court there for a long time. Who's up next, Shannon?

Jamie. Jamie, go ahead, Jamie. Hey, I've seen a lot of rumors about Alvin Brooks leaving. Yeah. And I was just kind of wanting to get your opinion on that. Yeah, he'll leave. Alvin Brooks will leave when he gets a good job. I mean, he's going to be, he is one of the better recruiters in the country.

any good assistant coach the first time they get a chance to get a really good job they're going to go so Alvin Brooks will leave here's what I'm happy about Mark Pope will go find somebody like Alvin Brooks to replace Alvin Brooks I don't think he's I think one of things that happened with Cal is he just would hire his friends that had failed at other jobs and then bring him here I don't think Mark Pope's going to do that I think Mark Pope's going to go get the young up-and-coming assistants Mark Fox is his kind of career guy. I don't think you're going to have to worry about what I worried about with Cal, which was that staff of old dudes that just have failed everywhere else. From the 13th region, can you tell me where McKee is?

Yeah, McKee is in Jackson County. What are you talking about? Wow. Wow. Okay, thanks, man. Appreciate the call. How am I not going to know, McKay? We had a woman here from Jackson County just a day or two ago that was here.

Got one of the best little hole-in-the-wall restaurants in southeast of Kentucky. You've got to walk up to the window and order. They don't have a drive-thru, they don't have tables and chairs. You walk up to the window and get your food. Is that right? Yes. And they have the best chicken sandwiches ever. What place is that?

It's in McKee. It's in a little, like, strip mall. In a strip mall, in McKee? Well, I guess that's what they call it. There's like two couple buildings together, and then you walk up to it. Oh, okay. I didn't remember that. I remember being at the place where Rand Paul was at the same time.

but that was a different restaurant. Who's up next? Carter. Carter. Carter. Carter. Hey, what's up, Matt? First time, caller.

Who are? What's up? I was going to see if you would rather have Nate A.M. Or a very good transfer. Great question. Appreciate the call. Drew, would you rather have top four, top five in America, Nate A.M. Join the team next year.

Or would you rather have one of the three best dudes in the portal? That's a very good question. because I lean wanting the experience, but also Pope making a big splash with the top five recruit who is considering Arkansas, Tennessee, Duke, and Louisville. That would make me very happy, too. I think I'm going to lean amen in this one scenario, because I've heard the people that fall out closely say in other years, he could be the number one overall. I think he might be that top tier that we've said for many years was lacking at the end of Calzer.

I think he might be in that group. So in this one I'll go amen, but usually experience I would take first. So there are years I would pick a Nate A-Men. But if I assume we bring all three freshmen back, which maybe they don't, but I'm going to assume they do. And we already have three freshmen committed. So this would be seven guys that are sophomores are under. If you promise me I get one of the best dudes in the portal. I think this year, Ryan, I'm taking a dude in the portal.

If you promise me. Now, if it's up in the air, then I don't, then no. If you promise me I could get one of the top two or three dudes in the portal, I think I would take that. I think the way you look at the roster, the way it is coming in, you need a good five or a good point guard. And if one of those guys are available, I think you've got to get that guy. I would probably vote the transfer portal guy. I mean, because if you bring in Nate A-Mint, that means your starters next year. You're certainly going to start O-Way, A-Mint, and Jasper Johnson.

And the question is, is that three of the five of a national championship or Final Four? team? Maybe. But you better make sure you have enough to go get those two studs in the portal. So I think I'd rather get the portal. But if we get him, I ain't going to complain. I mean, I'm still because he will be the best recruit Mark Pope's ever got. We'll take a break and be right back. KSR. T.J. Smith, personal injury attorney. Call T.J. He'll make them pay. Now, more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones. Welcome back, Kentucky Sports Radio, here live at the KS Bar and Grill. 859-2-80-22-87 Wings Day all day and tonight.

Dollar Wings. We got trivia tonight, Mario, right? Not me, but another fine gentleman or woman doing it. And then tomorrow we'll be back here again with, there'll be, I guess, a high school here. Mario, when we sent him to Owen County to find something to do, he ended up making a big bunch of friends. So there you go.

Typical Mario, send him off on a little assignment and he makes friends with everyone, invites him to come back with him. I love the fact that schools, they start taking a field trip. Let's go to KS. Bar and watch the show. I love that. I think it's great. It's an education moment. The Herald leader, if you ever wondered if the herald leader, I've become convinced the Herald leader, like it's owned now by a national corporation, and I've become 100% convinced. And this is not a blast on the writers there because we have a former KSR writer that writes there. Ben Roberts does a good job for basketball, Janet Patton, Austin Horn. I like all those people.

They're doing the best they can. But the owners are no longer in Kentucky, and the owners have no connection to Kentucky. Here's how I know this. Kentucky plays basketball last night, plays LSU. It's senior night, and this is the tweet that comes out I see right before I go to bed.

Lexington Harrell Leader. In a mostly forgettable ACC men's basketball season on Tobacco Road, at least we've had Duke. You are the Lexington News. newspaper using the phrase, at least we have Duke. If I'm John Clay or Mark Stewart or someone, I'm calling them up and being like, what are we doing? Oh, wait, they deleted it. Oh, they deleted it.

They did call. Somebody must have really complained. Well, they should have deleted it. Yeah. How in the world do you write, at least we have Duke? They had not deleted it this morning, so they deleted it today. Well, it's about time. I mean, I can't.

I'm sure it's just a kid or even an AI or algorithm doing it, but you have to have some sense that you are in Lexington, Kentucky, saying at least we have Duke. Like, I'd say half the subscribers to the Herald, for some reason sports were part of it, and you're going to say, at least we have Duke? Like, are you crazy? The newspaper industry is a dying industry anyway,

and now you're just pushing more people away with stuff like that happening. I was a subscriber for a long time. Even when I had passwords and other accounts I could have used, I still paid my money every month. But it got so expensive in the quality, not the writers here, but like you get on and it's some story about something in Seattle or these five fruits will make you lose 40 pounds today. I do wonder what those fruits are, though, Shannon. The fruits that'll make you lose 40 pounds, it would be good to know. It's mostly spam like that, though. I'm afraid to click that stuff.

I thought maybe we were just turning into like Duke fans here in Kentucky. You know, yesterday we were picking our favorite Duke player. and then you had that headline, so I don't know. I will say this. What's interesting to me, and I don't root for their downfall. I actually think it's really important for there to be local journalism. Like who's going to cover when the city government is corrupt or the state government. You need someone to cover that.

So I don't want to see them go away. But I will note this. When I started KSR, there were things we used to do to get traffic and attention. that the herald leader not only would mock me about, they would use it as an argument to why I shouldn't get credentialed. On the phone with the editors, he would say, this proves you're not a journalist, and he would cite things, and now they do every single one of them, every single one of them. We used to have this thing where, like, stories like five fruits that'll make you, you know, get rid of 30 pounds. we used to have those on our site.

And I remember the editor going, see, you're not a journalist if you take that stuff. And now that's on their side. And guess what? It's not even on our site anymore. Like we've become more professional and they've become less professional. And it's just fascinating to watch. Times have changed so much. Even just little things like on the blog, we would just post the transcript of a press conference.

And I don't make people like that. Now they do it. Everybody does it. They've become a sports blog. Everything they used to criticize us. for except fans of the day, they do the exact same thing now, which is fascinated me. Who's next? Mike.

Mike, go ahead, Mike. He shouldn't and then win somebody. I think it goes back to when they overperform, they do really well, and when they don't, you know, they lose. And I just wanted to ask you, do you think that he's too stubborn to change it? I mean, because, you know, I was one of my grabs with Cal at the end. Yeah, I don't get the sense with Mark Pope that he is stubborn. Do you all, I mean, I don't, I think he is wedded to the numbers, but I don't think he's stubborn.

I think if the numbers told him to change, like, with John Caliperry, it wouldn't have mattered what the numbers said. He believed one thing, and that's what he was going to do. With Mark Pope. Well, I think it's, I'm sorry. No, go ahead. I think, you know, we're talking about Alabama. I think in Lexington, we beat Alabama if you don't have seven minutes. of a freshman guard and sears.

And that's for two reasons. One, he's just not physically able yet. And two, he doesn't get to respect to the referees. No, he doesn't. I appreciate the call. Do you think Pope with the lineups? Is that going to be an issue? Because I did feel better about the fact in the second half,

he did not line change at any point in that second half until the very end he had good guys in the whole time. That first line change I still wonder about. But, you know, going back to Earth, early in SEC play, we were wondering why he was playing a lot of the guys he was so many minutes. And pretty much all of them have played a lot better, including Colin Chandler last night. If some of the end of the bench makes plays in Nashville in the NCAA tournament, we can look to when we question his lineups against Texas or name the team and say that, you know,

he trusted getting those guys minutes, even if it was a little detrimental at the time, to get them to be better at the end of the year. But I don't mind that they have minutes. I don't want them to all play together. I don't think it's too much to ask. Like you don't, I don't care for, like, let's use last night's example. You start with the starters, you get up, I think, six or eight. Then he takes Bray out and puts Noah in.

So it's the starters in Noah. And you know what? That worked pretty well. But it was the moment then he took all the starters out and put in the reserves when things collapsed. I don't mind one or two. You got a sub some, but you don't have to put them all in at once. Like you said, I'm sure he's got analytics, and that's what he does. He bases labor.

I think everything he does on the numbers and analytics. And analytics, he believes, tells him I need to give these guys some rest so I get quality minutes late in the game. But they don't all have to play together. Yeah. You don't have to play all those guys. It also doesn't. Like if, think about the Alabama game. Travis Perry had some good minutes when it was the starters and Travis Perry.

It puts Perry in a much better situation if he's out there with O-Way and, you know, Carr and Will. Williams than if he has to play with the reserves, right? Yeah, and sometimes I wonder if he's too stubborn to his plan in the analytics, when sometimes you just got to read the situation. Like there's been times the starters have started absolutely on fire, and he still made the switch. You've got to realize you're up 16 to 2, and the other team's terrified right now. Let those guys keep putting their foot on the gas,

and then he's made subs, and we've seen the lead go away. Or maybe not calling Tom Allison times, things like that early enough. We see a lot where we go on a run. other teams coach calls timeout, and then we completely change our line. Yep. I mean, part of what I would argue is you just got a timeout. They just got some rest. Play.

And they're doing really well right now. And they're doing really well. Like, when that other team calls, if I'm a coach coaching against Pope, and there's a lineup I don't like, I call time out just so we put somebody else in. Maybe I'm misremembering this because I haven't slept and I've blanked out the Arkansas game, but didn't the starters go up big on Arkansas and the moment he made that line change is when the tide turned?

I think that was one of the worst examples of it this season. Without question. Yeah, so you're right. So to answer your questions, sir, I don't think Mark Pope is stubborn, but I do hope when we get these games. I just, I cannot, that lineup he had last night, and this is no offense to any of the kids,

because all these kids can play well separately. But if you drew up the worst lineup, we could put on the floor together. He had that end. That lineup of Perry, Brea, Noah, Almanor, and Garrison is the worst group of five we can play together because none of them can guard anybody. That's right. It's a bad defensive team out there right now.

I mean, they literally, and then the got five guys on the bench, Butler, Oway, Chandler, Carr, and Mari are our five best defenders. And he had them all on the bench at the same time. That group, especially Butler O.A. Amari, should never be sitting at the same time. The three of them. Completely agree. You can raise a glass to the cats with Club Blue, the official NIL fundraising partner of the University of Kentucky. They've partnered with bespoken spirits to craft a special bourbon line for NIL initiatives.

You can find these bold, blue and white bottles at Liquor, Jesterbarn, Kroger, Justin's House, Publix, and more. Stay tuned for an ultra-premium third bottle on the way. You can learn more at ClubBlueNIL.com. about the official club blue bourbon. It's club blue nil.com. We'll take a break. Barry back. This is Kentucky Sports Radio.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies,

and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase

that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid?

Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way.

Open your free, our heart radio app, Search learn the hard way and listen now. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards.

If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals.

At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. 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 IHart Women's Sports. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect.

We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history.

You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We're back. It is Kentucky Sports Radio 859-280-2287. Tax Machine 772-774-5254. A couple of you've been asking me about the podcast Drew and I do, fade this. We're going to bring it back for the NCAA tournament and maybe even the conference tournaments.

So we'll do that starting maybe tomorrow. We might do one tomorrow. If not, we'll definitely do one for the NCAA brackets. So that'll be fun. Drew and I haven't done one since the end of college football season. I remember doing one at the NCAA tournament last year. That was a lot of fun. We were watching teams practice.

I think maybe NC State was practicing. That's right. And the band was loud music. Yeah, we did do one. So hopefully we'll do that again. A lot of people ask about that. So it's the long-awaited return of the Fade Biz podcast. You were saying John Cal Perry,

went nuts last night. I don't think I saw that. He almost cost his team. They were up. 11, 12-ish. Pretty much were looking good, had the game locked up, and then he got teed up. Not the ideal time to do it. Probably seven minutes left. Vanie made three free throws to kind of cut into it,

but then I think right away, DJ Wagner bailed him out with a long three. But even, you know, neighbors in some of the Arkansas accounts, I see online, they weren't happy with the timing of that technical. He snapped. I think Big Z was even holding him back a little bit. Yeah, they won last night without a dude. So that's like three straight games he's missed. Is he coming back?

Well, I mean, you know how it is with Cal injuries? You have absolutely no idea because Cal has not seen him, so there'd be no way to know. He actually said I haven't spoken to him today. What's his answer? He did not say that. That was not last night. That was who they played the last game. That was his answer a couple days ago.

But play the hits. That was a big win for them last night. Mitch Barnhart, speaking to the Harold, let's bring two conversations together. Mitch, speaking to the Harold leader and Mitch Barnhart and Mark Stewart. Mitch Barnhart did an interview with the Herald Leader in which he said he was asked about the problems for UK football, and he said it was a one-year blip. I feel like we're going to hear that phrase a lot. I actually think that's a pretty bad phrase to use because it's not a one-year blip. We've only won one SEC home game in the last two years.

We've lost a Vandy twice in a row. We had a losing record the year before. It's not a one-year blip. I think that's downplaying fans' concerns, and I think that's not. a good PR strategy at this point. Yeah, we remember two years ago, they kind of saved that season because they beat Louisville. If they had to beat Louisville, I think we had been really upset over the way the last two years have gone. Don't tell the season ticket holders it's a one-year blip.

The home games have been a lot more than a year blip. I think that the worst thing you can do when you are in a role of having customers, whatever it is, the worst thing you can do is say to the customer that their feeling is wrong. Like you can point out facts, but you can't say it's wrong. So let's say somebody comes in here and they're not pleased about their food. Let's say they eat and they go, you know, I don't feel like the food was. I can't look at you and go, yeah, the food was good. Yeah, it was.

Like, you're wrong. It was good. You don't understand. That food was really good. Like, they don't think it's good. So the question is, how do you make that better? Do you talk about, well, we'll try to do better. or the next time or whatever.

You can't just tell them it's not good. I think Mitch Barnhart and Mark Stoops and John Calipari before that, their way of dealing with it's not good is to go, you're wrong. And you can't do that. No. Like people feel the way they feel. Now you can try to convince them and say, well, maybe think about it like this. But if you just look at somebody and go, you're wrong, it's not going to work, right?

Yeah, it's the yell butt. I hear from my kids. You know, you did the yell butt. clean my bedroom yesterday, you can't do the yell butt. It's all about how you make excuses for things that have gone wrong. And if UK is going to raise the ticket prices, which they are, because they have one last game but the same price, and UK is going to ask people to donate to all the various things they ask, they have to understand that they cannot downplay the legitimate concerns. Cal tried to do that for years. How'd that work out for it? Now counter that to Mark

who when we lose goes, this is not acceptable. I think that's what they need to do for the football. Yeah, especially with the football fans, because they are already very upset with the ticket situation. So then to just kind of dismiss their concerns about the home record the last two or three years, I don't think that's a good move by Mitch. That's just going to have a thing anger of them even more. I would agree with what Nick Rouse just said on the KSR website.

They should do one of those men-in-black things and put them on their brand, and say don't say the word one year, don't say the phrase one year blip again. Because I've heard that a lot. Get that out of your vocabulary. By the way, it was 64 degrees 30 minutes ago, and they say it's going to be 15 degrees tonight. Oh, my goodness.

Yeah, the baseball game, I know at first pitch was supposed to be 40, but by the end of the game it was supposed to be down to, like, yeah, in the 20s. The Kentucky weather continues to be absurd. Who's up next? Barb. By the way, if you're going to the SEC tournament, it's supposed to be in the 70s.

all week in Nashville next week. So that should be pretty good. Barb, go ahead. Hey, first time caller. Who are? I wanted, you were speaking about Gene Hackman and the dogs. I want to tell you a short story. Okay, got to make you quick, Barb.

Okay, I will. Real quick. We had a farm, a World War II, Prison of War veteran, came back. He lived in a little cabin on the woods In the woods He liked to hunt Some people Went back there

To talk with him about hunting And they smelled an awful smell They went in He was dead He had three dogs The dogs had actually eaten him So maybe that's how the dogs Got

He had his dogs lived That's quite a theory. What do you think about that, Shannon, as a theory for the Gene Hagman thing? I would think they would see bites all over his body and know that the dogs bit him. So the fact that there's no bites. He was. He was eaten out of the way to the uncle. I'm talking about Gene. I'm talking about Gene Hackman. Not this guy.

Gene Hackman. Yeah. Wow. Well, that's quite a way. And we called the EMS. My husband had to help get him on the gurney structure to get him out. The EMS workers were throwing up. Oh, okay.

What a scene. Wow. You know, I've got a crowd here for lunch. I don't know if I'm going to repeat that to them, Barb, because they're eating right now, but that's quite a story. Okay. Well, thank you for listening, Barb. I appreciate it.

Happy Wings Day. Yeah, happy Wings Day from Barb. What a gross, disgusting story coming from a sweet grandma. No, she's just talking about what could have happened. That was disgusting. Ryan, you're supposed to be the person that the ladies like when you don't open your mouth. Nice and kind. Yeah.

Okay. Well, these people looking at me right here, didn't you get to hear any of that, Drew, so they don't really know what we're reacting to. Enjoy your food. For their own good. That's probably for their own good. All right. Any chance we beat Missouri next week?

Absolutely. think it's going to be a good game. I don't think they'll be favored by more than three or four points. I think Kentucky will be in it. They very well could win. I think we're going to win. And Tom Hart's calling the game, right? That's his alma mater.

He's calling the game. We're going to be rolling in there, Big Blue Wave. I think we're going to win. It's noon, so it means it's 11 a.m. for them. They're going to be asleep. They're not even going to know what hit them. We're going to come in, and we're winning that game at Missouri,

and starting what I think will be a fun march. It would be a great way to wrap up this season, get a better seat in Nashville, get a big win on the road against a team that's ranked. Let's do it. Hey, thank you folks very much for coming out here today. Great crowd. Great crowd here.

We really appreciate it. Court physical therapy is KORT.com. If you want to feel better not be in pain, go to court physical therapy. Your insurance probably will even cover it. KORT.com, 70 locations around the state. One of the best places to work in the state of Kentucky. It's court.com. KORT.com.

Tomorrow we will be here at KSpar. Friday, we will be at cornbread hemp out on in the, what was the name of it? Shuff Avenue. Shuff Avenue. And you are welcome, and they're giving away all the various gifts and treats and samples. So it should be a good show. Thank you all very much.

It's Wings Day, all day and night. This has been Kentucky Sports Radio. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite, unhumored me with Robert Smygel and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Lerner, letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, 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, 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 Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the... the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman.

Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way. with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences,

having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.