KSR - 2025-03-21- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

Live from Milwaukee for the NCAA Tournament.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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I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Comedy Off Broadway in Lexington welcomes Jay Durana, March 6 through the 8th, then catch club favorite nephew Tommy, March 13th through the 16th, and don't miss Michael Ballasack, March 21st and 22nd. Comedy Off Broadway opened in downtown Lexington in 1987,

and they're still bringing the best and stand-up comedy to the area 38 years later. Four tickets call 859-271 joke or visit Comedy of Broadway.com. Welcome, everyone, Kentucky Sports Radio Friday, March the 21st. I'm Matt Jones here on an absolutely beautiful but cold day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. What made Milwaukee famous is KSR being here on Maryland Avenue in Milwaukee. I don't know if I should have said that, but the Clark's Pumping Shop phone line, why are you shaking your head? It's going to give the address out while right. Long street.

They'll never figure out which one it is. 859-280-2287. A Vision Auto Glass Text Machine is 772-724-5254 in this edition, sponsored by the T.J. Smith Law Office, if you call T.J. He'll make them pay. We are here in a beautiful old house that has haunted but still excited and ready for what is a big day? Two Kentucky games today. Women are at noon. Men are at seven.

The women are there in Lexington. Opening up the women's NCAA turn, we kick it off or tip it off today in Lexington. So, guys, this is a huge day. First day of basketball was yesterday. Shannon did not even leave the house. Didn't leave the house one time. That is the perfect day for the NCAA tournament. Stay and watch all the games.

We're in a new city, Drew. City Shannon's never been to. So far, he's only done one thing in the city, which is drive-through it. as I was speeding trying to get to the restroom. That's a great story we can't tell. Yeah, but I mean, so wouldn't you want to like go see the city? Shannon seems to have no interest. Yeah, I mean, this is a great town, good walking town.

We had pretty good weather yesterday, not to mention Kentucky's practice, just the whole first scene of the tournament over at Fassar Forum, but no, he liked the couch. Hey, here's the thing. I plan on being here for a while. Okay. So I'll get there. I'm going to ease into it. I don't need to see it all in one day.

All right. Fair enough. I hope you're right. So, Ryan, you were here most of the day, and then we went and we got a burrito. It was a very nice burrito. And that was all you got outside, whereas Drew and Mario and I did some exploring. See, I'm kind of on Shannon's side. Just sit in the couch, watch games all day.

But when you did want us to go eat some burritos last night, that sounded pretty dang good. So I jumped off the couch to get out of here. Now, for the three of us, we went down to the arena, got to see the team. It was warm-ups. Just a few thoughts, Drew. I don't know what you thought about this. but probably the smallest crowd I can remember for UK at one of those pre-practice things. Granted in the first and second round, it's not that big a crowd ever,

but it's usually more than we had yesterday. I think there's a couple reasons for that. One, the tournament had started. Last few years, we've actually been on the first day of the tournament, so if nothing was going on. Also, this is drivable so people can come up today. As a matter of fact, I would think there are people listening right now who are making, excuse me making the trip up right now but still it was interesting not as many folks there I thought the team was really laid back Mark Pope was really laid back it was interesting

they used it a little bit as a practice whereas in past John Calgary didn't use it really use it as anything and then when it was over had the players go up in the crowd and meet everybody which I think was also cool not something I've seen in the past and then something that would have never happened in the past called the media over for a player media photo Drew Tyler Mario and I missed it because we were looking down and not paying attention but we were invited nevertheless though a different kind of vibe yesterday wouldn't you say yep the practice day is always fun even though you know it's pretty much a shoot around and the crowd wasn't great yesterday it's just our first time getting the

the NCAA tournament energy you get in there they had the press conferences. I think also with the game being late tomorrow hurt the crowd. If we'd been at noon today, people might have already gotten there. But the crowd was so low, I actually attempted to count like pointing at everyone. I stopped at about 30. There weren't many. I wouldn't put it more than 100. And most people we talked to were just people that lived in Wisconsin that happened to be Kentucky fans. So I mean, I hope there's a crowd coming. We'll see. I mean, the thing is, here's the thing about the first and second round. If we don't have a crowd here, we will have a crowd against us, Ryan, because the other people will all be.

cheering for Troy. So if you're going to this game tonight and you're an Illinois or Xavier fan, and I did see some Illinois fans. They had a good turnout. They had a good little turnout. The Illinois fans are all going to be cheering for Troy. So this can turn into a road game if you're not careful. That happened against Oakland in Pittsburgh. The crowd kind of was an Oakland fan. I'm still hopeful, like you said, a lot of fans are definitely on the route right now. You know, on the way, maybe left this morning. Maybe you take checking a flight somewhere. So I think I think we'll have a, you know, a decent crowd there even though they weren't through yesterday. Yeah, we will see.

Now, then in the interview part, I think there was a couple little pieces of news. I think it's clear to me, I've been saying this for two months, but again, there are a lot of people for whatever reason who just won't believe what we say. But I had heard two months ago that Kirk Creeza would not come back to Kentucky next year. If there was any doubt about that, just go watch his comments. He's not going to be back at Kentucky next year. He said, they were asking him, he said, you know, I might go pro. might go play somewhere else. It's one year at a time.

You know, it's the kind of comment you make, Drew, when you're not going to come back next year, you know. They've been hiding him, not really hiding him, but, I mean, he hadn't done any media since he got injured in December. There's been no way to even access him. But at the NCAA, everyone's available. You can't hide from it. And I wasn't in the room, but I heard they were kind of watching him very closely

to see what he would say about all those questions coming because he had to kind of dance around it knowing that there's a bigger picture ahead of him right now. I mean, I think everybody at UK is fond of him, you know, his personality's person. I think it's fair, even outside the injury, I think it's fair to say, didn't go exactly maybe the way people wanted. So I don't think he'll be here next year. But I do think he's a rallying cry for this group.

I think he's been on the bench and been into it. But, you know, as I sort of look at next year's roster, I see five guys from this team on next year's roster. I think you'll see O.A. Garrison. I do think O.A. will come back, although I think there's going to be a lot of people coming after him. So, I mean, O.A's kind of a test of does our NIL compete? I think the answer is going to be yes. But I think Garrison will be back. Then I think all three of the freshmen are likely to be back.

I've kind of heard maybe one of them wouldn't, but I have gotten the sense in being here and being around people and talking to them that I think you'll have five returners next year as opposed to years past. when we've had none. I think it was a very vague comment from Kerr. But I think at this point, he's just trying to make sure he's not a distraction for this game and just kind of trying to lay in the background and be a good teammate. To give him credit, he was hyping him up into practice. I was sitting where I could hear them all. He was even barking at them.

He was telling him to be dogs. Wasn't an aggressive bark? He went up to Ansley Almanor who was going, woof, woof, woof. So he's still showing that kind of comedic personality, but it wasn't like he was just sitting on his hands on the second. He was a part of it. He's like, we'll wait. We'll wait, leave him.

But he's still like, you know what? We'll still go beat Clipson. He's definitely still part of the team. All right. So then Mark Pope was asked by, I think it was by Tyler, in the press conference about the gas. You know, wasn't as joyous, Ryan? I think she asked, how much gas did you read? And he said something like, I'm not even counting.

I don't want to know. And he even said that was not my best idea. So I think what's happening is he's paying for it. and he's paying for it, which got me to thinking, what do we think he could end up owning? Oh, my. Okay, because the gas up here is probably going to be, depending on what you drive, $80.

Let's just say it's $80. Might be more, but let's say it's $80. How many people do we think took it? I got the sense. Like if it was just $100 people, that's $8,000, which is a lot of money, but, you know, when you're making $5 million, and you just look the other way.

That's what his ice cream tab was. There's seven something, I think. Yeah. But what if it's like 500 people, and it's $40,000? And it starts to hurt just a little bit. I mean, in this economy. I mean, that's plausible. Yeah.

You think 500 people could have taken him up on it? I think it's plausible when you were asking that question. I was thinking there were probably 200, 300 people, but it could be more than that. But even if it's 200, let's say it's $250. You know, that's $20,000. It's a lot of money. It is. It's also pretty awesome that he's doing this because I've never heard of anybody else.

Well, I don't think he'll ever do anything like this again. But there's something we'll remember forever, though. He had a look when he said it. Like, he looked down, not in the joyous like, oh, it's a little more ice cream than I thought, but in the, please don't tell me what this is. Yeah, that's one of those things you don't want to know. Just put it on the table. No, I'm like that too, though, with bad news or with like with money. Right.

Like I bought your all, like, well, you all had left. But I bought some of my friends the dinner. Yeah. We went to dinner, like just a handful of us. And then people like that bill. The thing about that, though, you have to see the bill so you know what the tip. I know, but I didn't want to. I got to wonder if Leanne ever steps in, like, Mark, slow down.

You know, we still have. I think this might be the one that they do it on. Well, here's the thing. Like, all these people got to get back to Kentucky. So, I mean, they need gas money to get back. home that's what i'm saying that's why i said 80 it's it's like if you go back and forth okay i mean we're in a van so it's not the most fuel efficient thing but ours'll end up being like a hundred maybe to 110 so yeah i mean it's gonna be a it's gonna be an expense for him can i send mark pope

my electric bill it's pretty high okay so that gets me to the point there's a growing backlash online of that it was lame it's lame of people to take him up on it there's a growing sentiment on line of it was a nice gesture but you all shouldn't take him up on it unless you're like a UK student or something agree or disagree I wouldn't call it lame but I hope people that can afford their own gas they have a little bit of money weren't hitting him up for it like many and scottie got he can afford his own guy if some students fired off an email to shoot their shot that's that's one thing because he said it it even kind of came off as he wasn't that serious in the remarks but if you have money in your bank account and you can afford gas and you email them

i think that that's a little so you're saying if joe and kelly craft email that would be a mistake if he filled up joe and kelly's text then that might have been a little too fond there so what about you lame or not lame to ask you for the gas because i feel like you would have asked you know i would not have i think it's kind of lame i mean you would like to think it's an honor system and only the people that truly need the gas money would ask for it but you know people are going to abuse that that's just it's just it's human nature that people are going to some people are going to ask What do you think, Ryan? I am 100% behind you thinking if it is a student.

If he wants to buy the student's gas to get them up here, I'm all for it. But yeah, if you're an adult, who can afford it. Who can afford it. If you're coming up here for a hotel and tickets, you can afford it. Well, there might be somebody, though, who, like, there are people who might drive back and forth, right? Like, who literally... Oh, that'd be tough. Because, you know, you could actually get tickets tomorrow, and it won't be...

Well, I didn't think it would be that expensive. They become expensive. But if you end up bought it like when it came out, I mean, what are they right now? They were like $200 a couple days ago. Now, they may have come down today. I don't know. But, you know, anyway, I have to say he had a look like, he had to look like, oh, I didn't think, Shannon, it was going to be like that. Well, what do you think?

Do you think it's lame that some people would ask for it that probably don't need it? $180 to get in right now. Yeah. That's pretty expensive. for an NCAA. I mean, just last night's games were $7 at Ruperina. $180 to get in. Like lower-level seats, the cheapest one I see is $2.18. Because Illinois's in our session, right? I think Illinois will have the most fans today.

Just looking at the crowd. I think that's the likely scenario. Well, here's the thing. When you're Kentucky and you're in these neutral sites, everybody's going to be pulling against you. You're not a Kentucky fan. You're against Kentucky. I'm rooting for Xavier tonight. Because I think we need to root for Xavier or else we're going to be playing a road game in the second round. I agree. So I think that's what I'm going to root for. 859-280-2287.

We're going to preview the women's game. We'll talk about the games yesterday. We'll talk about the trip. We end at 1145 on Lexington and Louisville stations. The rest of the folks in the podcast will get the last 15 minutes. But in Lexington and Louisville, we actually end 15 minutes early because of the women's game. We're going to say the craziest things in those last 15 minutes. I mean, off the rest of the rest.

real. Mario's going to go stream live segment two and three on KSR, the show on Instagram. So you can watch us here in our humble abode. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. 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 source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets

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In theory, it should be streaming right now, live. Hello, there, people. Donnie writes, it says he's coming from Harry. get Tennessee to the game today. Bring the kid from LMU with you so that we can get him. I'll note on that. I've been told that the plan, we have five

people on the roster, right? Three current recruits, maybe a fourth coming to expect four transfers and I think one or two are kind of already done. One I think is done and probably is announced relatively soon after the season ends.

But there's people, you know, they don't know. I think they have a target list. I think they have a big board with like rankings, just like you would in the NFL draft, and then we'll see who enters the portal and what happens. By the way, people have said, if they have one done, is that tampering. It's not, the people with the staff, they don't do anything. This stuff is all done on the DLs. Yes. These are comments made by people who are made to people. The staff hasn't talked to anybody, but it's like, hey man, If you talk to boo-to-to-boo and then he boo-dibus and then you get to there.

A lot of boo-d-d-boos going on. You've got to get some boo-dibos. I totally agree. The staff, they're a little busy right now. The people are working behind the scenes. That's been the case before we've had an aisle. And considering the fact, you know, as we've talked about so many times, Pope has put this roster together this year so quickly,

I'm excited about what's ahead next year. You give them a full season to build the roster? I think it's going to be a good year. I think there's going to be at least one name that comes. It's going to make people really excited. Like it's going to make people kind of go. Here we go. Booboo.

Like I said, I think there's going to be five people return. I told you the five. We got three. They're hoping for four. I don't think they know, honestly, what Nate Amen is going to do. But either way, I'd say four. It's weird because you've got the walk-on thing. They count towards the scholarships now.

So do we go from 13 to 15? That's a question that has to be asked in the next few weeks. So all that stuff, because they count now. The idea of like a walk-on that counts to your total, whether you give them a scholarship or not. I think you have unlimited scholarships, but you only have so many slots for people in the game. And like for Kerr, he knows Pope's going to go after a point guard.

I mean, that's just kind of understood. I think he's going to go after another point guard. Well, somebody's going to offer Kerr, hey, we need a starting point guard. You know, I can see why he maybe wouldn't want to leave. I think it'll be probably the right thing for both sets of folks. One person writes, Matt, I agree with Shannon. I would have stayed in the house. What did you all do in Milwaukee that was so great?

Well, we went to the practice. How about going to the Kentucky practice? We went to the arena, went to the Bucks store, didn't buy anything but went. We found out that Mario there is 1.5 Margarita Mario. He had one and a half, left the other one sitting by the door in a cup until this morning. I accidentally kicked it across the floor last night. Didn't spill a drop, by the way. We found out 1.5 margaritas, and it's like pulling a string on Mario,

and you will get his thoughts the rest of the night. I liked we stopped at a Mexican restaurant after taking, you know, Milwaukee. You want to get the finest margaritas in Mexican they have in town. But it's afternoon of day one of the NCAA tournament, and one TV was on a Vin Diesel movie, and the other one was on a Vince Vaughn movie, so we enjoyed a little bit of the money returns or whatever that was. Zero interest in the games,

even though they were going to be later played across the street. Zero. All right. Let's talk for a second about the games yesterday. I think the two things that people care about the most. in Kentucky to start with Louisville. Louisville loses in Rupp. Gets kind of smack.

Down double digits. Most of the game, most of the game. It was, we enjoyed watching it. I think the big story coming out of it is that somebody threw a water bottle on the court. Pat Kelsey got a technical, you know, that's why we can't let these people in Ruppering, right? Like, they just ruin the place. A bunch of hooligans out there throwing water bottles. But if you listen to the commentary, they went on about it for like five minutes.

You would have thought somebody threw a butcher knife out there on the floor the way they were active. Like this person should be in prison for 10 years but throwing a water bottle. But yeah, it's a little behavior, right? I was surprised. Come on, man. Show a little decency, a little bit, you know? It was a bad call.

You're down by 12 points. Anyone going to make a difference in the game, that one call. Yeah, Kelsey, but it was a weird time to get the thing, too. I mean, it was just like four minutes to go. It's not a chance to pump up your team. It was his first technical of the year as well. Yeah, he lost a little bit. They were never in that game.

I couldn't believe just how easy looks, Creighton, getting early. I mean, they were hitting everything in the first. half. Even when they cooled off, though, they were getting great looks. And that kneel for Creighton, I mean, he absolutely killed him. He destroyed him. Yeah, destroyed him. It was you know, it was weird seeing all that. They had a lot of people at the game. They had a lot of people at the game. And Creighton was basically playing a road game and still lost. I do have to give a shout out, though, to two things. Some people at the game told me that, you know how they have

the big screen. There's clearly a director that decides who to put on the big screen. And you could be like let's put some Louisville fans on the big screen let's put some crate fans i was told they put a disproportionate number of u.k fans on the course because it was probably our camera operator sure right it was probably home crew a multiple else down including a kid in a banana suit with a kentucky jersey on throwing ls down is that uh high class behavior uh drew to when you're hosting and you're playing your rival put everyone on the big screen that is throwing the ls down i think that's the highest class behavior uh drew to a you're hosting and you're playing the highest class of behavior, and that's the perks of getting a host tournament site in your hometown.

We knew Lexington bought up a lot of the tickets before the matchups were even set, so we knew there'd be Kentucky fans in there. And then when you get Louisville and you get to do L's down at the NCAA tournament, I'm not shocked that happened. And that's exactly what should have happened. We're talking about the same camera crew that does classy things like the Snackwards Cam. I mean, of course it was classy. I'm pro-snackwards game.

I love the Snackwards Cam. I keep trying to get on it. I've been eating chili. Yeah, I like just stuff in hot dogs. I'm trying to end up on the camera. It just doesn't work. So now do we let our fans should turn their attention towards Tennessee, because Tennessee's still got one more game in that arena.

Well, you know, they assign the times for the game Saturday night. It's the late games. So the Creighton Auburn is at like 7 o'clock, and then Tennessee UCLA starts at 940. Wow. So you're going to have not only in Lexington, you're not going to have Tennessee fans. You're going to have drunk Tennessee fans.

I actually think that'll be a big crowd, because Tennessee fans, I think, will come because it's, I mean, that's a three-hour drive, night game on a Saturday night. I think there's going to be a lot of them there. They love day drinking, too. I heard they were actually tailgating in the parking lot of Rupp, which Kentucky fans don't even do that for the game yesterday. So you give them all day and they don't start until the last game. Yeah, they'll be feeling good. And if they were to lose, oh, you want to talk about throwing things on the court?

There'll be mustard bottles, batteries. That would be kind of awesome, though, if Tennessee and Louisville were both knocked out in Ruppery. It reminds me if when Duke was knocked out in Rupp Arena, remember by Indiana, the Jay Williams year, right? The second year he was there. If you could have them get knocked out in Rupp, have both teams go out. That would pretty be nice. And they're favored, but UCLA looked good yesterday. So that will be a tough matchup.

And you're right. We've been worried about getting to Indy. We got our own games to win first, but to not have the Valls, to have them already out, if we get past our game tonight, that'll be a relief. Then Calipari wins against Kansas. You know, big win for him. I think he needed a first round victory, sets up Cala Perry versus Rick in a game that, oddly, they put it at 2.15 on Saturday. So it will be, I thought that would be the 5 o'clock game, but it'll be at 2.15. You know, I was, I was rooting for Kansas, but I noticed some of you all rooting for Arkansas.

I was rooting for Arkansas. Yeah, I wanted to see Cal and Petino. That's one of the games that everybody was talking about on selection Sunday. Of course I am, but he had to win to get there to make this happen. What do you think? Megan Caliperi looked like the whole guy. I mean, my goodness, she was like barely hanging on during that game. It's like somebody had kicked her dog.

She looked so bad. She looks sad and upset. I was one of the guys I told you who said, man, I find myself pulling for Arkansas in this game. And I don't know why. Yeah, I don't know what you all were doing. Getting soft. I understand the betting part, but like that's a hedge bet. You bet because you don't want to be sad either way.

I bet on Arkansas, too. I would have preferred Kansas to win. It was a good game, though. I mean, Bill Sell through that zone at Cal that he's done many times. It looked like it was going to be a regular Cal loss. Throw the zone. He can't do anything, and then they made plays down the stretch. Hunter Dickinson also bet on the outside.

By the way, what a terrible season for Kansas. Preseason number one and just stopped most of the year. Hunter Dickinson, that career falls apart. We are going to leave this on during the break for a rare, like, you know, non-on-air stuff. We were going to take the calls. We've got people on the phone. [phone]. The women tip off at noon.

The men tip off at 7. We've got to get two wins. We'll take a break. Be right back. Kentucky Sports Radio. Welcome back. Tech Sports Radio. Estate renovation isn't just your go-to for kitchens, baths, and basements.

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We put moose in Ryan's hair during the break on the Instagram. It looks really good. I'm already a really handsome dude. That just took it to another level, I think. Yes. I'm impressed. that you were able to pull that off. So Kentucky women start at noon, men at seven.

The men are an 11.5 point favorite. The women are a 15 and a half point favorite. Who in your mind will win by more points? Let's assume they win. Obviously, if they lose, then it doesn't count. Who wins by more points? The men are the women? I'm kind of leaning towards the women.

I mean, you know, they did finish fourth in that great SEC conference. I don't think Liberty has much. I don't know anything about them. Let's not act like you know anything about the liberty. I'm saying the UK women will win by more points. All right, Shannon. Kenny Brooks has dominated liberty throughout his career. I'm going to say that the UK women end up winning by more.

How often have they played? I believe seven times. Oh, so he'll know the team. Yeah. Okay. Look at you knowing information. Look at this guy. Show prep.

Show prep. I don't want to get too cocky. I think they're both going to win big. I'm going to lean the women being at home and having a little sour taste in their mouth from the SEC tournament, which feels like it was two months ago. But I think they'll play really well at home. I'm going to say the men. The women played some close non-conference games against it.

And, you know, the way the women play because they shoot well, but they're not, like, physically overpowering. So if they're off a little bit, the game could be close. Look, if we lose tonight, it's a disaster. I looked at the Detroit team. Who? We can't lose. But I said the same thing about Oakland, so I don't want to, you know, I don't want to act like I'm, but you saw them. I did. I put a video on Instagram that if you saw that video, you would honestly, and I'm not being mean, you would think it's a high school team with at least the guys that are in my video. But they are very tough. In the open practice, you can't see what their strengths are. I mean, they have a boot camp or they don't even have a basketball. They practice for two hours. They're basically just beating each other up and diving on the ground. So they're going to be very tough and physical. That just wasn't really on display in the open practice.

They are top 15 in the country in offensive rebounding and steals. Those are the two things. They can't shoot. offensive rebounding and steals. That's what we have to focus on tonight. Do not let them get offensive rebounds. Do not let them get steals. Now, coincidentally, early in the year, we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds. Then late in the year, we gave up a lot of steals. So we got to be careful.

Those are the two things to watch for them. That's how they play. That's how they stay in the game. It's another thing, though, they have a hard time putting up a lot of points. So if we get to 80, we're probably pretty good. So their best three-point shooters, they're big guys, like 6-8. So if anybody's going to get hot, he's the one to watch. Thomas Dowd, he's got great hair.

He probably uses the same moose as Ryan. But if there's one guy that's going to do the unthinkable, I think he'd be the one to watch out for. Who's up next? Got Ryan up next. Ryan, go ahead, Ryan. How you doing, Matt? Four things we have to do, and I'm going to go quick.

I'm going to go quick. First time, we're going to shoot the ball good. Second time, we're going to have to handle the ball, handle that press. We're going to have to play good defense. I watch it, Arkansas game. Coach Cal, my opinion, not coach self, but I can't stay in Kansas, and I don't like Duke, and I don't like Yukon.

And cats, we're going to win tonight. It's going to be a good game. I do worry about Illinois. But here's the thing about that Arkansas, St. John's game. You remember in 96? Cal beat the 96 team and almost beat them again. So I don't know what's going to happen. St. John's.

Almost is the key. St. John's just have a good team. Thanks for Tech McCall. Appreciate the call. You know, I mean, Cal owned. Rick for a long time. And it'll be interesting to see who's more. I mean, that is a, for the two of them, that's personal.

Might be the last time they ever play each other. Very true. And, you know, they, I don't care what they say, they can go, oh, yeah, they hate each. Just trust me, they hate each other. I was around Cal many years. I could give you the five people he hates the most. Now, we might have joined that list. But for a long time, that list was Jim Calhoun, Rick Petino,

Pat 40, Jeff Goodman, maybe Pearl there for a while. For a while, although I think that relationship got better. He really didn't like Kevin Stallings a lot. But at the top of the list, one and two were Petino and Jim Calhoun. And I don't think they'll ever be.

They'll be Patino and Jim Calhoun. And I suspect that Saturday will mean a ton to both of. And they have like eras of rivalries. You know, you had Kentucky, UMass in the 90s. They played a lot as Memphis Louisville in Conference USA. Then you get to Kentucky Louisville, and here they go again with two new teams. I think back to earlier this season. I think they played Celtics Nets.

Yeah, probably. Probably. Yeah. I think back to earlier this year, though, when Rick put out that video telling Kentucky fans not to boo Cal, and I don't know how Cal received that, but they probably didn't think they'd see each other in the tournament just a few months later. Yeah. Well, it's going to be, I mean, they'll give the little handshake and be like, but they. They'll be smiling, real big.

There is no, like one of them is going to get Shannon bragging rights for life. If Arkansas beat St. John, John Calif. You're absolutely right. And it will be like all those stupid quotes, Swaggy Cowell will be back. Like he will literally be insufferable if they win. Now, he desert. If he does that, he should talk all the trash. I get it.

But Ryan, he will be insufferable if they win. Did anybody ask him after they won the game, about his next game. He would give him that same old, who we got? He was in the locker room. There was a thing with him in the locker room where he goes, like he comes in and they pour water on him, and he just goes, we'll still play.

And everybody just looks at him like, all right, what was that sound, Cal? But yeah, that'll be, I mean, it's from just a college, it's great for college basketball. Yes, it is. I don't understand why the game's 2-15. To me, that should be the primetime game, but it's not. Who's next?

John is next. John, go ahead, John. Hey, guys. How are y'all doing? Doing good. What's up? Hey, you didn't mention any names, so apparently you're not supposed to, but I'm going to have to talk directly into the phone, okay? You sound like you're talking into a toilet. Go ahead. Okay, my best.

You haven't mentioned any names, but maybe you're not supposed to, but I'll ask anyway. Is there any truth to the Scuddlebut about Braden Smith? Yeah, I'm not mentioning any of that. names until the season's over. And then we'll talk about names. And it's not because it is or is not that kid. It's just when you start down that path, then, like, you know, their guys that, they're going to go after still playing.

And they're guys that, you know, aren't even in the portal yet because the portal doesn't open until Monday. So I appreciate the call. I'm not going to mention any names until such names become actual conversations. Other people can do that. But here's the thing. There's only a handful of people in the portal right now. So everybody just guesses.

If you hear a name from me, it's because Kentucky is actually interested in the person. I'm not just going to take any dude in the portal and say, right now there are two people that are actively in the portal that I know Kentucky is interested in. The kid from North Dakota and the kid from LMU. Those are two kids that I know that Kentucky wants. I'm not saying they'll get them. I think the kid from LMU were probably a little behind on. I think there's a team that placed him at LMU and kind of, no, I'm serious. I think there's a team that was like, go to LMU, and we're going to come get you in a year.

and that's one of our rivals and you might be able to guess. And then I think the kid from North Dakota, everybody's going to want, we're one of those teams. But I do think there's a person they have. He is not yet in the portal, and we'll just leave it at that.

I have to mention a guy that we watched together last night because I've said his name on the show a lot, and he might not go to the portal. I don't know. But my guy, Danny Wolf from Michigan, but he just trying to create that. No, but he did not shine in the moment last night. He checked in and we're watching that game together.

I'm like, here comes my guy, and he looked terrible. But you're just trying to create that. Yeah, yeah. He's probably going to the NBA, honestly. But, I mean, just as one of the bigger names of the tournament, that guy disappeared for the Michigan game. Do you like, Ryan, I kind of like this idea that, like,

everybody complains about it being free agency. I think it makes it fun. I mean, honestly, while I'm in Amsterdam, y'all are going to have a blast here sitting and talk about who we're getting and who are not. Because you're right. You don't think teams are going to come after Otega O'A and Brandon Garrison? I think we're going to keep both those guys.

But I do think Otega is going to make himself quite a busy or quite a payday. He's going to be singing with baby Billy There will come a payday Otego, what a payday. I think it's coming. I think you're right. I think they'll go after other teams will go after those guys so now they can

use that for leverage to stay in Kentucky. I think Brandon also, I think teams will come after him. And O.A will probably test the waters. I don't think he would go, but we'll just have to be ready for him going through the whole process. Yeah, it may be a while, but I will tell you UK is setting up as if they believe, Shannon, they will have Oway next year.

So I'm going to stick with that until it's not the case. Yeah, and that's a great guy. to build your roster around Otega Owey, by the way, you know, talking about at the beginning of the season, a guy that we didn't even hear anything about him in practice leading up to the season. He's been our most consistent player all your long. I also think there's some loyalty with O'A. I mean, he's got to look at it, but if things are close, even if we were a little less, I think Oway believes this place changed his life.

Yeah. And I think he's grateful for that. And so, you know, you don't hear a lot about that, but there are guys who will stay in a place for if it's $100,000 difference and you're happy here. You know, I mean, that can happen, I think for sure. He's already transferred once. Some guys don't want to bounce around all over the country for their career. He's a guy, I think, if he works on his shot, he could put himself in the conversation

and get drafted next year then. Maybe. I mean, maybe. If he had a really good three-point shot, he would get drafted. So we'll see. Hey, KSR listeners, springs right around the corner to celebrate the season of renewal. You folks on Instagram, remember cornbread hemp, a limited time of help to get your life going great. code is half off.

Buy one. I don't know why I'm getting closer. Buy one. Get the second one half off at cornbreadhempt.com. It's cornbread hip.com. Use the promo code half off on their gummies, balms, lotions, etc. At cornbread hemp. We'll take a break and come back.

That's enough of the Instagram. This is KSR. 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 athletes 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.

people who live them. Listen to SportsSlic. 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. 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

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It is kind of amazing. Cal and Rick have played in four different rivalries. Kentucky, UMass, Kentucky, Louisville, Uval, Uval, Memphis, Celtics, Nets. Like, I mean, there can't be many coaches. This will now be the fifth set of teams that they have played against. That has to not have happened very often. No, brought that up. And also some big tournament games going back to UMass, Kentucky, Kentucky Louisville in 2014,

Kentucky Louisville in the Final Four. And even though this is a second round game, I think it will be the biggest one anyone's talking about this weekend. 772-745-254 on the text machine. One person writes, Matt, Patino and Cal went on a podcast together. If they hated each other, why would they do that? I mean, come on. Like, you should know from the world of politics.

The people act like they like each other when they hate each other. I mean, I learned this when I'm not going to say the politician, but I had a politician from Kentucky who I would see go on television and rant about the other side all the time. Specifically about one person. And then they would go on the other side, and then they would go on TV and praise another person. And then privately they once told me

that they loved the person they ran it against and they hated the person they praised. It's interesting. And I was like, so do you just, is everything you're saying fake? And he's like, no, it's politics. But for them it's like professional wrestling, right? Like they just go out there and just say

whatever people will eat up. I think in college basketball, when you're talking about, like, publicly talking about coaches, I think there's a little bit of they both want to seem like the bigger person by talking to each other, even though when the doors are closed, they both can't stand each other. So we're talking professional hate here, or is there some personal hate between those two? I think there's professional respect between the two of them. I mean, there are people in the radio world that I don't like that I will grant you have a lot of talent. and I have a professional respect for their talent.

But a personal hate. I don't hate anybody, but a personal like I wouldn't like them. Are they in the room right now? Yes, his name is Ryan. Everybody loves Ryan. No. Do you think there really was a time where the two guys actually liked each other? Yes, probably when they first started.

But see, I think that's part of what happens. I think people who have real contempt for each other had to have at one point had a good relationship. You know what I mean? Probably so. Because they had to have one point had some kind of connection because the line between, ask divorce couples. The line between love and hate is very thin. Right?

It's a strong emotion. You can't hate somebody unless you have a strong. Like, I think it's weird to hate a stranger. Yeah, because you don't know anything about them. So why would you hate a stranger? I've always found that strange to hate a stranger. But I think when people hate people, it's usually somebody they had a connection to. And often it's somebody that they want.

had a close connection. And with them, I'm just guessing at this point, but probably a little jealousy when each on their climb up. They had very similar clums, similar age, and playing each other so many times. I'm sure that just the career is coming together. There was a time where I think Cal believed this. I don't know if he still believes this, but he believed this.

There was a time where Cal believed he was a good person, and Rick was a bad person. But the world thought Rick was a good person, and he was a bad person and that really bothered him. Think of pre-scandal. People act like Rick was the greatest dude in the world and Cal was what's wrong with college basketball.

I think that really bothered Cal. He was like, if you knew what he was doing, you know, and I think that was part of what drove that disliked. So is that when the downfall kind of started, you think? I think it started way before he got here. You do, you do. Oh, for sure. They hated each other going to Memphis.

Memphis Louisville was where I think it really happened. And then it was manifested itself here. Well, Drew said it, man. This is the game of the weekend. This is when everybody had to circle. And we saw the pairings, Cali Perry versus Petino tonight, tomorrow night. That's the big one. All right, before we go to the phones, how nervous are we tonight?

I'm nervous. I'll start. I'm nervous. Not because I think we're going to lose. We're better than them. I think we should beat them. I think if you're looking at the spread, I think 11.5 is disrespectful. We should win by 20.

But I'm just, I'm burned twice in the last three years, and it's hard for me not to look at that. How can we not be a little gun-shy after what's happened lately? You have to respect Troy, even though you're a better team than them, because we've seen it happen. Not nervous at all, and I think the reason that you said that you are nervous is the reason you shouldn't be nervous. It's because this is a completely different team, different head coach.

Everything about what that was is gone now. So I think it's just a clean slate at this point. I'm not nervous at all. Right now it's just excitement, but I'll admit, when we get to that arena, Right after the pregame show, I won't be a mess, but I will be nervous. And it's so different. We took for granted just breezing past the first round for so long.

I would not even consider losing in the first round for many years. But that has completely changed lately, as we all know. So I've got my guard up a little bit, knowing we could get hurt again. I've told the story often. When we lost the St. Peters, I and Eagle called me two hours before the game, said, what is wrong with Cal? Why does he look like this? Is he nervous about this game? And I was like, oh, come on, whatever.

he ended up being right. Jack Givens said he knew in warm-ups that we might lose to Oakland with how tight those guys looked. Those are two very respected people that both, they didn't call the loss, but they called like what's going on. I'm going to be asking everybody I know before this tip off. Anybody see anything?

I didn't see anything yesterday. Was it laid back? What was the vibe? Very laid back. Yeah. Very laid back. But those open practices before Oakland and St. Peters out of that Kentucky looked to lose too, something happens.

We'll know during warmups. I'm Eagle called it during warm-ups. Jack Givens called it during warm-ups. So we'll see what happens during warm-ups. I was a little far away in the Oakland game, but A&M in the SEC tournament last year, I remember telling you at halftime, why are we so scared?

We have 95% of the crowd. And St. Peters before that first half, I'm thinking at St. Peters we should win, but why do our guys look so scared of St. Peter's over here? And they were playing loose. It was always just something mental that I don't know, started in the locker room and pre-game or what? Who's up next?

Kentucky Joe is up next. All right, Kentucky Joe, you got a minute. Okay, well, okay. I don't like there's enough time for a song. There is if you just start it. Go for it. All right. It's called They Are the Thunder Cat.

No, I'm sorry. It's called They Are the Comeback Cat. It's called They Are the What? Huh? We are the comeback cat. Okay. Different than the first title. We are special.

We are fine. They got a mission to carry out this time. We're going to be on a row. They're going to let them all know. We're going to come back, and we are fine. We're going to win the number nine. We are on a row. We are the comeback cat.

We're on a row. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Stand up and cheer. We were special. We were fine.

Part of it was that all three of us were counting on a different beat. And then he wasn't following any of those beats. It was a little. Very little. Very little. We'll take a break. Come right back. Hour number two.

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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you guys. 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 Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multimillion 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all?

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