KSR - 2025-03-17- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

Matt, Ryan, Drew, and Shannon talk SEC Tournament, Kentucky's draw in the NCAA Tournament, and take your calls.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.

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dot com. This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones. Welcome, everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio. Monday, March the 16th. Is that right, Shannon? Monday, March the 16th. 17th. 17th. 17th.

17th. That's right. Yesterday was 316. There was a guy here in Bristol wearing an Austin 316 shirt. But you can give us to chat on the Clark's Pubbit Shop phone line, 859-280-2-287. A-Vision Auto Glass text machine is 772-7474. This edition sponsored by the TJ Smith Law Office. You call TJ. He'll make them pay. I am at the ESPN mothership in Bristol, Connecticut, which is still living proof, Shannon, that no matter what technical difficulties will always follow KSO because I'm in one of ESPN radio's main studios. You tell me I sound fine, right? You tell me I sound fine. I've got you loud and clear.

You should hear it in my ear. It sounds like, it sounds like we're doing it in a garbage can, but I'm going to do my best to get through it because it is in my ear. This couldn't sound worse, but Shannon says it sounds fine, so we'll make it work. Ryan and Drew are in Lexington. Shannon is in Louisville. I was here last night for the NCAA selection show on ESPN radio, which was a lot of fun. We'll talk about in a little bit. Ryan, last time we were all together, was Friday, an awful performance at the SEC tournament. Here's my view on that game Friday night. How about now we just don't act like it happened?

Amen. I'm more than okay with that. Let's just put it to bed. I did that post game show. It was like two in the morning and Drew, it was such a terrible performance in the game. And we got the NCAA tournament. I make a motion. And all in favor say I, I make a motion.

We just act like that. game Friday night didn't happen. Do I have a second? I second the motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed. All right. There you go. So now let's just get to the tournament. And Drew, the bracket comes out last night. And what did you think? Kentucky ends up going to Milwaukee. That's good. Plays Troy and then the winner of basically three teams, Illinois, Texas, Xavier, potential sweet 16 matchup with Tennessee. What did you think of the draw? I'll start with just the location. Milwaukee was my number one pick before the bracket came out.

I'm excited. We're playing on a Friday night. It's drivable. We're going to have a lot of fun in that city. And then, you know, 14 seed. You're not getting a great team. But looking up, Troy, I think it's a good matchup too. So I love the draw.

Love everything about it. Yeah, Troy, I will admit, Shannon, don't know one thing about Troy. I mean, I know where it is. It's in Alabama. But as far as their basketball team, couldn't tell you one thing. about the Troy basketball team. Don't know a player. Don't know the coach.

I was trying to think of if I knew, Ryan, do you know anyone that ever played for Troy basketball? No, but I know one of their former head coaches is Phil Cunningham from Campbellsville. He was their head coach a couple years ago when they made the NCAA tournament. He went to Kentucky Wesleyan with me? Yeah. I didn't know that. So you have a former head coach.

I know no players. I know nothing about Troy. But I do know this. We can't lose to them. I do know that we just can't let that happen. I think they rank like 339th and three-point shooting, so that's a good thing for Kentucky. Really? Is that right? They're a good defensive team, and they rank sixth in America in offensive rebound efficiency.

So they got that going for them. But other than that, I think we can beat them. That's more stats than I do. So they can't shoot threes. They offensive rebound pretty good defensively. Now, Ryan, we've for the most part had some success against teams like that. That's kind of what Tennessee is like, for instance. You know, there'll be a pace differential matchup.

I know they slow it down some. The spread is only 10 and a half. So at least Vegas thinks we're going to have to bring it in order to win this first game. Do you think Vegas is weighing that just on the injuries we've had lately? Because I thought that was going to kind of a low spread for this game. I thought it was low, too, but it may be a few things, Drew. It might be the injuries. It might be that, you know, we've struggled some with teams.

that weren't the greatest. And it also just might be that we've lost two of the last three games to teams like this in the tournament. Yeah, and Troy's a pretty hot team too. Ken Palm projects it 8270, so that's right there around the spread. I also thought it would have been a little higher, but they're coming in hot and they like a low-scoring game. So I guess that's how we landed 10 and a half. It's even 11 and a half. It's kind of on the move up.

So if you're going to get it, I would get in early because I think that will only continue to climb. Yeah, I hope so. I, overall, I look at the bracket and I say this. All right, so you go to Milwaukee. Drew and I've been to Milwaukee. Shane, you ever been to Milwaukee? I think we maybe went through it for a few hours. I don't think we ever stopped off and did anything there.

Okay. I've actually been there a few times. Once with Drew, once with a golf trip, I was actually with Mario on our way to Green Bay. I think it's a very cool city. For Kentucky fans, considering whether to go, I think Milwaukee's one of the more underrated like gyms in America.

Oh, even go say gym. Wow. A gym. It's a gym. I think it's a gym. They've got, you know, a big beer selection. I feel like that would make you happy, Drew, right? Like all kinds of micro brews and that kind of stuff. Plus some big companies.

Well, I don't know what the weather will be like. Cold. Cold. I've already looked it up. Looked it up. Yeah. How cold is it supposed to be? 30s. But cold. Oh. All right. Well, you know.

If I don't think that's right. Well, let's see. Well, hey, Friday is supposed to be up to 51 degrees, a low of 28. So we'll take 50. Oh, see, so like it's going to be really hot. So it's going to be 51 degrees. You don't have to worry about that. But I do. I actually think it's a nice place. Then you look at the bracket. Let's put Troy aside. Obviously, we have to beat them, but we don't know anything about them. You get Illinois, Xavier, or Texas, Ryan. That means in the second round, you're going to get a pretty good team. It's going to be one of those. I have to tell you, I look at that group, and Ryan, I'm not sure who I want to play. Like, of those three, who would you want to play? Just me personally, I know we're better than Texas.

We gave that game away at Texas that night, just with some late game turnovers. I saw Illinois a couple times this year. They're pretty good. You know, Big Z's brothers, twin brother plays on the team. They're not bad. But I would love another shot at Texas and just bury them. The thing about Illinois, Drew, is they can be really good. when that one guy's good.

How do you say his name? It's got J's and K's. It's got like, she has so many letters. Like you need to look up the guy. I think he has the world record for most letters in his name. It's like,

Srestra, rush, what's not Ryan pronounce it? He's always good at pronouncing names. No, no, no, no. He'll find a way for it to be offensive. I just know. He will find a way to say it in a way that's not, but it's a lot of S, I think it starts with an S, first name, I think it starts with a J and the second name.

J-A-K, you ready for it? All right, what's his first name? Casperus, K-A-S-P-A-R-A-S. All right, so Casperis, okay, what's the last name? I'm just going to spell it for you. J-A-K-U-C-I-O-N-I-S. Yeah, I don't know how to say that. Good grief.

So we'll call him Jess Paris, the other, whatever his last name is. That guy's really good. And he is going to be like a top 10 pick. But he can also be awful. Like Drew, he will shoot them into, if he's hot, he's like impossible to stop. If he's not, they can lose by 35 points to teams. So he worries me a little bit.

I'm a little bit, Drew, with Ryan. Like, I know what Texas is. So I wouldn't mind playing them in the next game. Yeah, I lean that direction. Texas has looked pretty good lately. They got their own lottery pick maybe in Tray Johnson. That would worry me a little bit. But I do agree that you had them beat down there in Austin in the regular season,

playing with a limited roster and just completely collapsed down in the end to the lose. So I would of all of them, might go Xavier first, but I'm not afraid of Texas at all. I'd welcome that challenge. It's crazy you could have SEC teams in back-to-back games, right, with Texas and the Navy Tennessee. We have sat here and said we can't wait for the tournament to get away from S. And now, Ryan, we might be playing more SEC teams in the tournament. Isn't that crazy? I mean, it just blows my mind.

There's so many SEC teams in the tournament, they got to put them somewhere. And then the other thing about Illinois is that they sit there, Ryan, Champaign, Illinois is only like an hour and a half from Milwaukee. Right. So if you're looking at it from a crowd perspective, there's a chance if we played Illinois that they could have the biggest crowd. So they could have, I won't say a home game, but it could feel. like a neutral home game for them, which is another reason it might be better to play one of those other two teams. You know, I hadn't thought about that, but you're right. You know, Kentucky, we'll travel, we'll have a good crowd, but the second best crowd, maybe the best crowd will be definitely

Illinois fans that making that trip up there. They're just right there. So, I mean, that's one of the reasons maybe to pull Shannon for the winner of Xavier, Texas, is you might not have to deal with the Illinois crowd. Yeah, that and I would just, I think they're obviously seeding-wise. They're the worst team as opposed to playing in Illinois. So I think I'd rather play like a Xavier if I had my pick of those teams. Yeah, Xavier is okay. But here's the thing. And this ultimately is my question for you guys.

You've now seen the bracket. What is success and what is like failure and what's kind of in the middle? I'll give you my opinion real quick. We have to beat Troy. We have to. We cannot lose to a team like this again. We have to beat Troy. There's no argument for me that losing Detroit can be positive.

It will be negative. After that, then there's a lot of X factors to me. Okay. How healthy is Lamont Bowler? How does he play? All right. Who do we get? How does the game go?

The second round game, I think we're going to be better than those teams. But I think those teams are good. So it's not like it's a given you're going to win. Then if you get to the Sweet 16, if you just told me in the abstract, we're in the Sweet 16, I'm really happy with that. But then if we have to play Tennessee and we lose to Tennessee, it's going to break my heart. Because who wants to lose to Tennessee? It's like the 2014 game in Indianapolis against Louisville. Like you're telling me we got to play Louisville in Indianapolis?

you're telling me we got to play Tennessee. But at the same time, it would be the Sweet 16. So for me, the one given is we have to beat Troy. If we lose in the second round, I'm going to be disappointed, but not like furious because of the injuries. And if we lose in the Sweet 16 to Tennessee, I'm going to hate it because it's Tennessee, but also recognize that I think it was an amazing accomplishment to get there.

And if we somehow beat Tennessee, then, To me, this is a dancing in the street kind of success. Drew, what about you? I was going to say I need to see the Sweet 16, but if it's the Valls there in the Sweet 16, I got to win it. I mean, got to win that one. If you'd given me any of the other two's Michigan State, even Rick Petino, I could have lived with going out in the Sweet 16. But as long as Tennessee comes out of that pod, if it's Kentucky, Tennessee and Indianapolis, I have to have an elite eight. Any other team, I'll live with it.

But the pain of losing to the Vol. would be awful. Oh, it'd be crazy. That's a crowd, Ryan. Can you imagine? In Indianapolis, Kentucky, Tennessee on a Friday night? It'd be awesome. I mean, that will be like that Kentucky Louisville crowd.

It will be wild. It'll be wild. That'll be one of those environments if it happens that you have to be in. Kentucky, Tennessee, in Indy where both teams fans can get there. Ryan, that'll be like that'll be like that Louisville game that year. That'll be epic. And that's what March Madden's up makes it so special. You get two teams like that with great fan bases that are all.

short drive to Indianapolis. I mean, you know, I said from the beginning, I would love for the team to win a game in Nashville and to make it to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. So if we can get there to that Sweet 16 game, I'll be happy. But you guys are right. Both of you're right. You got Tennessee on the other side of the floor.

Dude, just getting there is not good enough. You want to win that game for sure. Well, it's an interesting draw for a variety of reasons. I do think if you are, I guess apparently Illinois's Three hours from Milwaukee. Either way. Still a short drive. I mean, I'm still relatively short drive.

We do have a lot of, but actually fans, Shannon. Yeah. They're fact checking you. Yeah, they're big fact checkers. I will say this. While we could lose in the second round, we could lose to Tennessee. We could certainly lose to Houston. I think, Shannon, if you were hoping to make a big run, you got the best bracket you could.

I think you got the best one seed you could get to try to make a run, and you have a two seed that you know very well and can clearly beat. So if you're Kentucky and you're saying, what is the bracket that gives me the best chance of making a miracle run to the final four? I honestly, Shannon, think they got it. I don't know how you couldn't be happy with the bracket that they have. I mean, if you place Kentucky as the three seed anywhere else, I think I'd take what we have versus the other options out there.

So, yeah, you tell me that you guys. got to beat Illinois to get to the Sweet 16. I'm taking that all day. I think the two seeds, yeah, there may be one or two you'd rather play than Tennessee, but you got the one-one seed I think you have a shot against. And then who knows, maybe people have lost. Hey, maybe UCLA beats Tennessee before they get there. True. But first, we have to beat Troy. 859-280-2287. Text machine is 772-7-7-4. We'll talk about all the ramifications of the bracket, and hopefully I could get to a place where Shannon doesn't sound like

Max Hedrum. That's next right here on 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 reaction, actions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

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March Madness, I am here. Ryan, I thought we got the thing to work, so it doesn't sound weird in my ear now. I'm here in Bristol at ESPN. I have to tell you, Ryan, you've been here with me before. Still, even after I've probably been here 30 times, still very cool to be here. like to walk up and down the halls and see all the pictures of the old ESPN people. There's a hallway you can walk down, Ryan, that has a screen. And when you walk down, you can hit the school that you want to play their fight song.

And as you walk down the hall, it will play the fight song. So I hit Kentucky's today on my way to the cafeteria. As you should. Every time you go down that little tunnel hallway, you should hit that. I remember that thing. Yeah. It's very cool. I was fascinated with it.

I just kept hitting all. And I do want to what we're talking about this. I do want to say something. I said this weekend. I mean, last week, that when Shannon's on stage, I feel like a proud Papa. Man, I turned you on last night. And again, I felt I felt myself like I was a proud pop again, listened to you and Myron on the bracket jokes.

I knew that was a big deal for you. You're a bracket nerd. And you guys really did a great job on the show last night. You know, Shannon, you may feel this way sometimes when you're like performing and you feel like it's kind of going really well. Yeah. Last night, and this has happened a few times on this show. but like this is more like being with my family right on this show like it feels like even with the listeners

like we're all kind of a family ESPN it's not exactly the same because there's just it's it's hard to describe there's a lot more stuff going on and there's just there's a lot of it's a chaos and nothing is chaos like that show last night and Ryan I just for a little while felt like I was in the zone yeah you were what I mean yeah I just felt like the the brackets are coming they're telling me coaches are in my ear like the coach is on the phone, blah, blah, blah, and just, and it was, it was really, Shannon, I bet it's like this sometimes for you when you're performing that thing. It was like, I felt like, okay, I'm hitting on every cylinder here. Yeah.

And that was, I got out of it with like a real, like, high last night. Like, I thought it had gone really well. I got texts from my bosses who were like, man, that was great. You know, Pat Kelsey of Louisville comes on actually makes news complaining about the seed. Mark Pope comes on. the commissioner of the bracket selection committee comes on. We kind of pepper him a little bit about North Carolina. Did a good job with him.

And I actually was like, man, this is exactly, that's kind of a really fun thing to do in that scenario. I will echo what Ryan said. I listened to some of it. I thought you all did a really good job. And particularly the Pat Kelsey interview, you kind of set him up there and he kind of vended a little bit about being an eight seat. Yes, well, that's what I wanted him to do. Because, I mean, to be fair, Drew, Louisville got, I can't believe Louisville got an eight seat. I really can't.

I mean, if I'm them, you know, all metrics had them as a five or six, I'd be very disappointed to get an eight and to get an eight in the number one overall Seeds little bracket. I mean, little brother got a little bit screwed, didn't they? They did. I mean, it kind of proves that, as we already know, the AP top 25 does not matter, except for having a little number by your name on the scoreboard. But I noticed in their live reaction on the selection show, Kelsey immediately with his fingers,

holds up eight. Like what? eight seed but I, you know, I hate the cards and want the worst for them at all times, but I couldn't believe they dropped that far. Yeah, Shannon, if you don't mind, you don't have to play his whole clip, but play when I ask him and then what is reaction here? Will you pull that up off of Twitter? Yeah, we'll play it in just a second because I could tell he took a deep breath, Ryan, and thought, am I going to say this? Yeah, I think I'm just going to say it. You know, because he was complaining about it. So, I mean, I can get, I can get, I can

get while he's upset. Now, when I was watching it, Ryan, I thought when they had BYU as the six and there was a long pause before the three, and it was in Denver, Ryan, I was certain. I was certain. I was certain. I was certain. I was like, we're going to be the three and we're going to play BYU in the second round. I was certain, Ryan, that's what was going to happen. Yeah, with that storyline, a pope against his former team, I thought it was coming to the exact moment. I was already, I even said, said, we're going to Denver. Yes. All right. So here was me asking the question. It's a little background. I get in. We have some coaches scheduled. A couple of them cancel. And so my producers are like, who can you get on? And I said, well, do you want

Pope? And they're like, yes. And I said, well, I mean, try Pat Kelsey. And he was the first one to say, Shannon, which kind of shocked me, to be honest with you. Yeah. And then here seems like kind of a cool guy. I hate to say it. I can't seem to hate him. I want to. And I can. So here was the question. And this is like, this made news. They're playing. it like on all the other shows. Go ahead. I can't believe I'm saying this about my rival the Louisville Cardinals. I think you're underseated. You may not want to say it, and I get it if you don't,

but I feel like you deserve better than an eight seed. What do you think? Man, so first of all, I just want to say how fortunate we are and excited we are about playing the national tournament and represent our school in our city. you know, I'll be completely honest with you. Like when we're watching this election show, it was like when that popped up, you know, it hurt a little bit. You felt, you felt flighted a little bit. So you can stop it right there.

But you rarely see coaches sort of say that, Ryan, and then he goes and does. So that was kind of a cool thing to have happened. They have a legitimate argument that they are way underseated, especially when the committee chairman, come out and told you a little bit later in the show, well, we had to give North Carolina a little credit for a strong ACC. Well, yet, then the ACC kind of hurt Louisville, you know? ACC was not strong at all. All right. So let's, Shannon, let's play the Mark Pope comment from last night. Oh, I'll have to pull it up. Okay. So obviously, a storyline, Drew, is that you might get Cal versus Rick in round two. I mean, that's kind of awesome, isn't it?

It's very awesome. I would love to see it. It's the only scenario that has me wanting Arkansas to get out of the first round. I feel like a lot of people are overlooking a first round matchup between Calipari and Bill Self. That's crazy too. They've met in the championship twice and now they're playing a first round game.

I didn't, yeah, they've met in the championship twice, you're right. And you throw in the outrunners and you have a pod of Petino Self, Calipari, and the outrunners. That's my favorite of the entire bracket outside of where Kentucky's going to do. Would it have been nice Ryan if we had gotten assigned to Providence 2 so

that in our off game, we could watch that. Kansas in Arkansas and then Rick Patino versus the outrunners? I mean, I don't think you could ask for anything better, could you? No, that's the best pod of all. That right there for all those storylines are out there. And we would have become huge Omaha fans. I know we all would have been riding the wave of them trying to pull off an upset. Do you want to, Drew, you want Cal to win? I'm pulling for Kansas. Are you? I want Cal versus Rick. I kind of do, too. I really do. If Rick sent him how to. home. Yeah, I would have really

let me say. If Rick sent him home, he would explode. Yeah. But honestly, if Cal sent Rick home, Rick would explode. That's why we want it. That's why we want Cal to win the first game. I mean, those two dudes, those two dudes dislike each other on a level that people just don't realize.

I mean, I can't say some of the stuff that happened. But however much you think they dislike each other, they dislike each other more than that. And it would be hilarious that one of them would put the other one out. We'll 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, Tucky Sports Radio. Always good to hear that music. Sad to see Shannon Greg Gumble not there. Yeah, it wasn't the same. I thought that was a great little opening segment that they did there honoring him, though. That was really, really nice. 859-280-2287. text machine is 772 775254.

One person writes Matt My favorite part of listening to you on the show was the anger and the weirdness you felt when Carolina made it. I think that was the shock, Drew, is Carolina making the tournament? There's no metric in which they deserve to be in. I saw every single mock draft had West Virginia in and then they didn't make it. But Carolina making it with the committee chair,

there's just like, that's probably the biggest story coming out. of it. Definitely. They made up these net rankings to make it a little more clear of why teams are in and who should be in. They put this big emphasis on these quads. Oh, you got to win your quad one games. And what were they like? One in 12. I mean, and then as you said, their athletic director being the committee chair makes it even more fishy that they're in. So do you buy it? They said, Ryan, he walks out of the room and had no impact. I'll believe he walked out of the room. But you know, once he walks out of the room, they all going to be like, all right, we, we're going to, got to do our guy solid, right? Like he's just, I'm going to have to look at him here in just a minute. Like, it had to have had an impact. It's totally laughable for them to sit there and tell you on the show last night had no effect whatsoever. That's laughable. Of course it did. These all guys, they work together. They've been together for three or four days. They knew the situation North Carolina was in. And yet they put them in there. And that's that you said last night in the show where West Virginia was in every single mock bracket just blew my mind.

111 mock bracket, Shannon. 11. West Virginia was in every one, except the one that counted. That's insane. Yeah, West Virginia, six quad one wins, UNC one and 12. And not to mention that their AD gets a $100,000 bonus of North Carolina makes the NCAA tournament. He has to not take that, right?

Does he have to turn that down? Yeah. He's taking it, though. All right, so let's make a bet. Is he going to take it? He'll take it. Absolutely. Yeah, it's $100,000.

I think he's got to turn it down. you cannot take a bonus for picking yourself for the tournament. Well, we'll never know. We'll never hear like the story ends here. No, that stuff has to, by public records, they'll have to say. Yeah, but he has to not do it. But you know, like when they discussed North Carolina, he's supposed to step out of the room. That doesn't mean he's not in the room during the lunch hour.

You think when they're having their McDonald's and they're talking about it. He goes, all right, everybody, I'm walking out. But you know, your boy, you know, if you want dinner to be paid for tonight. Anyway. Yeah, they're hanging out at the hotel bar before the at night. Of course they are. They know what they're doing. All right.

So Mark Pope also was asked, he was on the show with me last night. And I asked him about the Patino Cal thing. Now, what would most coaches say here, Drew? Wouldn't most coaches say, I'm focused on my team. I haven't really looked at the bracket. Don't you think that's what most people would say? Absolutely. You usually don't even mention other teams' names unless it's

maybe the one you're playing because, A, you just want to avoid any controversy that you could say something. B, you do want to give that coach speak. We're worried about us. I couldn't believe you asked him the question to begin with. I mean, that was, that was balls on your part to ask him that question. So I asked him the question. Here's what he says. Mark, I know you are focused on. Actually, excuse me, Myron asked him. Committee says they don't care about storylines. Yet in the West region, there was a world where Arkansas advances past Kansas and St. John's beats Omaha. And John Calibary ends up facing Rick Petino in the second round.

what do you think about that potential matchup? Coach P. Coach P, you think he liked that matchup, Mark? So I'm not going to be, this is not going to be a popular take. I understand that. I'm like,

why can't we be in that grouping? Yes, I love it. And then I just, I just, you know, like out of personal, yeah, so I'm just like, this is what the NCAA tournament is supposed to be,

it's supposed to be about all the drama. So what do you think about that answer? I mean, like, he wanted it. Ryan, he wanted the smoke. I loved him saying that he wanted to be part of it. Perfect answer, because he's thinking exactly what every one of us are thinking. We want to be there in that pod. Watch that drama unfold that could possibly meeting each other in the second round.

I just like that he doesn't shy away from it, Drew. You know what I mean? I mean, like, a lot of coaches be like, oh, please don't put me next to Cal. Please don't put me next to Rick. And then he actually said that's what I would have wanted. and I actually believe him too some coaches might even say something they don't believe just to sound good get some clicks here and there

but I think Pope genuinely wanted to be the three there would have had a fun run in with UNC Wilmington in the first round if we had been in that spot a team we know so well and potentially Cal or Rick would have been crazy for him but I think he really wanted it I think he's being honest well we will Kentucky by the way plays Friday at 7 o'clock

the times came out Friday at 7 o'clock so you don't have to stay up until the middle of the night like we did at the SEC tournament. Friday at 7 against Troy, get to watch a day of the tournament before having to worry about our game. That's good. All right, who's up first?

Matthew. Matthew, go ahead, Matthew. Hey, what's up, guys? Good morning. Can you hear me? Yes, go for it. Okay, sweet. Okay, sweet.

Two things real quick. You touched already on one of my questions about whether to cheer for Cadilloo's in the first rounder win so we can watch. No. I know they wanted cheer for cats. I'm rock chalking Jayhawking during the game. Yeah, I'm with you.

We can't have Arkansas win a single game after how things ended here. But my second thing real quick, a buddy of mine and I have been trying to go to a game all year, and the only logistical way it could have worked out is to potentially get in the Midwest region so we can go to the 316 if we make it there in Indy. But he actually is from Chicago, so there's a world in which we can get to Milwaukee.

Would you say to go, to the guaranteed first and hopefully second round game in Milwaukee or wait. Yeah, I would go. I mean, just A, to be careful, but also because, and I appreciate the call, the first and second round, the tickets are not hard to get. I mean, that regional, Ryan, if we were to play, let's say Tennessee, or even if we were to play UCLA, that regional, there'll be a lot of people there. There'll be expensive tickets.

That's a huge arena. You go to Milwaukee. That's an NBA arena, small arena. I don't think it'll cost a lot. to get in. That second round game, if it's against Illinois or Xavier, still a big game, be on a Sunday afternoon probably, that's the one I would say to go to.

Yeah, Milwaukee, I was surprised. It's only seven hours. I mean, it's definitely drivable. It's not nearly as far as people think it is. Same. I thought it was a lot farther than that. So, yeah, I think there'll be a big Kentucky contingent. If what we saw down in Nashville is any indication, there'll be a big contingent up there in Milwaukee. Yeah, I would definitely go.

I was looking for our house last night, Shannon, trying to find where we're going to stay. Yeah. Find out. and Drew and I, I think I have a really good place. I'm not going to say where it is. I don't want somebody steal it from us, but I actually think we have, I just got to make sure our budget from the I heart people, but I think we have like a nice place. In a district where you can walk to breweries, I feel like you're going to be happy. Who's up next?

Let's go to Andy. Andy, go ahead, Andy. Can you hear me yet? Yes. Just assume I can hear you and talk, okay? Okay. And nobody doesn't keep asking me if I can hear them. Go ahead. I was turning my Bluetooth off at work.

But anyways, I live in Milwaukee, so I'm definitely going to be at the game. And it's, yeah, it's not a bad drive. I've driven down the Rupp Arena probably 100 times in my life, get there in seven hours. So just looking at, I got a couple of questions. Where are you guys going to do the KSR show on Friday? Do you decide that yet? So what we're probably going to do is we're going to be in Lexington at the bar, Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday we'll probably do the show in our house wherever we are.

And then Friday, I don't know what we'll do during the day, but we will do a pregame show somewhere in Milwaukee close to the arena. Don't have the place yet. Sounds good, but you were talking about tickets being cheap for this one. I was looking last night, just for the A.L. or for the game on Friday, you're looking at $300 just to get in. For the night or the day? for the night for the night that's the thing they've got us in illinois playing at the same time so that's driving up the ticket prices oh i guess that's true yeah well

yeah no i didn't think about that that will actually so take back what i just said uh drew i didn't maybe it won't be easy to get tickets on friday night i still agree with you though that my question the option i'd pick that one my question is where is there where would you suggest to try how to find tickets i mean for i mean does the university kentucky saw any at all or here's what i would do i would do i would wait. I appreciate the call. All the schools, all eight schools get like 450 tickets or something. Almost all of them. It's like Utah State's probably not going to sell all theirs. So then the market will get flooded with more tickets on like Tuesday. So I would say if you don't have it yet, hold off, wait until Tuesday or so. And I think then the tickets will come down. But you make a

good point. With Kentucky and Illinois playing in the same session, it might actually be harder to get tickets than I would have thought. I didn't make that connection. But I would still say, like, the allotments for the schools haven't even come out yet. And when that happens, there will be, there will be some schools that don't use theirs and they'll go back on the market. You know, there can only be one since October of 2010, the place for quality smoked meats in Central Kentucky's Red State barbecue, ribs, chicken, pork, brisket, sausage. They got all you like, barbecue nachos, beer cheese, all mac and cheese. It's all great. Trust me, there could be only one. Quality smoked meat since October of 2010. It's Red State Barbecue, your trusted name

in the barbecue business. We'll take a break. Be right back. KS.R. 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. There 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

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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 iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the

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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 feel on. 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.

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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. Welcome back. It is Kentucky Sports Radio. Actually, they are right now going to, Myron Metcalf has walked in the studio. They're bringing him some headphones. So as soon as he gets them, we'll have him on here to join us. We are in, I'm in Bristol, Connecticut at ESPN. walked in yesterday, Ryan, was in the system as a visitor, and the woman did not think I was an employee. I was like, I'm an employee here. And she said, yeah, sure you are. Like, you can just see the look. Like, yeah. We get that all the time. Yeah. I was like, it's okay. I understand.

Now Myron's here. All right. How you doing, my friend? I'm good, man. You know, it's been a wild 24 hours, man. Did you enjoy doing that show last night? First time you and I've been in studio together since COVID. It was fun, man. We had controversy, man. It was cool. It was cool. So the whole show, Drew, Myron was like saying he was going to go at Bubba Cunningham, the tournament committee guy. He was like, I'm taking him out. Then he got on there.

You soft stepped him a little bit when you got on there. I mean, I don't know what I was supposed to say. Hey, man, there's a conspiracy theory floating around. What do you think? I can't do that. So I thought he handled it well. Yeah, Kenny Ryan. Tell him he can do you're a reporter.

Yeah. See, but I got to go and talk to these people after all this. So I didn't want to accuse him of anything, but Ryan, tell him what a reporter would do. Okay, yeah, I don't know what that is. So you tell me. You got to go right at him, Myron. You got to hit him head on. He's the big dog.

His team back towards into the tournament because he was paying people off at lunch. There's no way he would have done anything. It's the selection show and he is being rated and not inside edition. Ryan, Shannon's right. Ryan would have been under the table. He wouldn't have asked one thing. It would have been different. Dude, I was in my bedroom under the table.

Listen to you guys talked to him last. night. All right. So your hometown is Milwaukee. Milltown. Where Kentucky is going to play. So there are thousands of people listening to this, including four of us right here who are going to be going to Milwaukee. Two of these guys have never been. Tell people quickly what to do in Milwaukee. I feel rushed a little bit when you said quickly. Well, because I know you might go, you go long on the Milwaukee stuff. We don't talk about my hometown enough, I might say. Beautiful town, beautiful city. It's like a big small town, I would say. So you got to hit the lake front. That's pretty cool, right on Lake Michigan. Everyone talks about Chicago's Lakefront.

Milwaukee has a great lake front as well. I wouldn't go to the lake front after 9 o'clock. But before then, you go as head and have yourself. Why can't you go after 9 o'clock? It's a different crowd that comes out after 9 o'clock. So I don't know if you want to be down there then. It's also just like a really cool spot. If you get a chance to go to a Bucks game, Well, obviously, a Bucks game is not going to be happening then. But the arena is great. What about food?

Where do we go eat? So you got to go to cops. K-O-P-P-P-S. Write this down, Drew. K-O-P-P-S, America's greatest burger. There's one in Glendale, Wisconsin, just north of Milwaukee. There's one on the south side as well. All they sell is burgers, fries, custard.

And they have a flavor of the day, and they'll put it on a billboard so you can see it. I think it's the greatest burger in the country. You've got to go to cops. All right, so we will go to cops. You've been there. talking about cops on ESPN radio for seven years. If it's not the greatest burger, the

four of us, Shannon, we will all agree to decide if it's the greatest burger. Okay? And if it's not, I'm going to be upset at you. But I'm not going to count your vote because you go into things sometimes expecting the worse, so I'm not going to count you. I want to know what the other guys think.

Because first off, it's an experience. It's not a burger. It's the entire experience. You walk in and everyone, it's old school. You're waiting line. There's a burger line and there's a custard line. So don't get it confused. You've got to stand in whichever line you're supposed to be in. But it's just this gigantic line of people waiting for his bird. So if Kentucky fans go to cops, can they write you on Twitter at Metcalf by ESPN? Is that right? Yes. And tell you whether or not it was worth it. They have to tell me, yes. And I guarantee

it will be. So you think the vast majority will say it's worth it? 95%. All right. Ryan, do you, will you grade the cops? 100% I'm now excited about going to this place so we can give our feedback to my right best brewery well I mean there are a lot of

little spots like I would just go to Water Street Water Street Shannon I'm putting you in charge of the Water Street Water Street is the place to go if you want to go to like a lot of really cool restaurants

it's just like it's a fun fun vibe of a city and just really cool people man now when you're on ESPN Radio, anyone that calls from Milwaukee, you start yelling at them. When people call from Kentucky, I'm like, hey, it's great to hear from you. Thank you. When people call from Milwaukee, you yell at them and tell them they're not Milwaukee enough.

They yell at me. That's the issue. I don't yell at them. Beautiful art museum. We're not going to that. I know these guys. I can't get them to go to an art museum. I will go. What's the name of the art museum? Milwaukee Art Arts Museum. A beautiful, beautiful art museum. They will not go. Art Museum. I would drive on Lakeshore Drive. Where should I tell Mario to go?

Mario said he wants to go do something fun. What kind of fun? Water Street has everything you want. The fun you would expect, Mario. Water Street is tourist fun. But if you find yourself off Capitol Drive, I would go back to the hotel. Just a little advice. Yeah. And listen, I grew up in Milwaukee. So stay off Capitol Drive. Yeah, I probably stay up. Capital and Martin Luther King, I would say, probably GPS back to your hotel.

But that's okay. It's a great city. It has a lot of culture. It's a very vibrant city. Okay. But it can also be a tough city as well. If you need church on Sunday, I can sing you there, St. Paul Church.

You want to go, you know, do that on Sunday morning. My man's got us going, Drew, to art museums and church. He's like, I think he's making the itinerary for my mom. My parents will want me to do that, right? That's what they would tell you. We want burgers and beer. What do you get us, burgers and beer? Yeah, he gave us that.

All right. So, Kentucky, you saw. our little bracket. We play Troy, then either Illinois, Texas, Xavier. Are we going to be playing on the second weekend? It feels possible, right? Okay, possible. Are we going to be playing on the second weekend? Are we beating Illinois, Texas, or Xavier? I have you. I have you there. I mean, Xavier's good. I will say that's a really, really good team. They played great over the last month of the season. I think the problem with Kentucky is Lamont Butler's available. But what does that mean? Like, that's the one of the few teams where I watched them and go,

the second half might have a different lineup than the first half because injuries can happen in game. So if you tell me they're fully healthy during this stretch, they can legitimately beat everybody. But I also think this is where the injuries really start to wear a team day. You were pretty outraged that Carolina made it. Everyone should be. They didn't deserve it. And to me, forget the Bubba Cunningham thing. I just don't think they look like a team that deserve to be in there.

And you have a West Virginia squad that has wins over Kansas, Gonzaga, Iowa State. They should be there. I just think we got to change the process, man. And I love the committee, but maybe these guys aren't best suited. Why do you love the committee? I love the idea of it. Okay. I was about saying you know all of them.

You're like, I love my, I love the committee. But I do think it's hard to be an athletic director and a commissioner and watch games from around the country. No, it probably is. And, you know, not all of them even are necessarily basketball guys. Louisville got seated eight. You thought that was banned? Yeah, well, I think it's bad for Auburn and Louisville, right? Because if you're not to play in Lexington.

If you're Auburn and you're Bruce Pearl and you're like I'm the number one overall seat and I got to go play them in Lexington potentially you feel like you didn't get a good deal from the committee and if you're Pat Kelsey you're going why make us an 8th seat? Forget Kentucky you want to be a five or six which is what they deserve. Drew what do you think about Louisville

and Tennessee coming to Rupp Arena? I think What's the security situation going to be with that? I feel like the NCAA needs outside security for those games. Cratin will have. one of the best home crowds in the entire NCAA tournament for that Louisville game with Lexington people going.

Yeah, I mean, that's the opening game of the tournament. Louisville and Creighton, the opening game of the tournament. Ryan, what are we going to do about KS. Bar being pretty much, at least on Thursday, red and orange? It's going to be all red and orange. No blue in there whatsoever. We got to open up for Creighton to get some blue in there. All we care about is green. Do you going to make money?

That's what you do. We're about green. That's the color we're worried about. I think you turning down money. Can we raise prices? I didn't. saying I didn't want to come. I'm just saying like it's going to be weird.

You're going to cash the check. That's what you're going to do. Come on, man. The money spends the same. Byron, it's good to see you. You too, man. Appreciate it. We will talk to you again soon.

We will take a break and come back here. Hour number two in ESPN. This is KSR. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman, help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends

on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Wife 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. Hey, what's good, y'all? Listening to Learn the Hardway 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 IHard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.