KSR - 2025-11-26- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: November 26, 2025

KSR is on the road in Columbia, KY at Don Franklin Ford on Thanksgiving Eve discussing Kentucky - Louisville football and coach Craig Skinner from UK Volleyball joins in. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories,

their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're 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 AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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 and Lexington, welcome Cincinnati native and club favorite Josh Sneed, November 14th and 15th. Then catch the return of AGT finalist Preacher Lawson, November 21st through the 23rd. And November 28th and 29th, don't miss the Queen of Comedy and Lexington's own Adele Givens. For tickets to all comedy off-Broadway shows, call 8-5. 271 joke or visit comedy off-broadway.com. Welcome, everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio Wednesday.

It is November the 26th. A packed house, great crowd here in Columbia, Kentucky, Adair County at the Don Franklin Ford on a beautiful day, the day before Thanksgiving. And what a great crowd here in Adair County. How about this, Ryan Living? Yeah, new building. and they've packed it. I think they were really excited to see all the blue come in here today. So nice crowd.

That's right. Don Franklin Ford. You can give a shout on the Clark's Pump and Shop phone line 859-2-80-2287. A Vision Autoglass Text Machine is 772-744-4. In this edition, sponsored by the T.J. Smith Law Office, if you call T.J. He'll make them pay. We are here at Don Franklin where this is a brand new building, part of their growing empire across the state, where they have all the best deals.

And I'm sure for Thanksgiving, Black Friday, etc., ton of deals guys Columbia Kentucky so Shannon you and I hold you know fond memories of here first of all I drove through this town or rode through this town many many times on the way as a kid to

Campbellsville to visit my grandmother there was a Taco Bell here which was the one place I could get Taco Bell because we didn't have it and then you spent one fine year at Lindsay Wilson playing baseball your old coach is there he seemed to fondly not remember you being on the team. I knew he wouldn't. But you spent a whole year living here. I did. Yeah, Coach Talley coached Lindsey Wilson for years and years and years, hundreds of baseball players throughout the year.

So I'm sure he doesn't remember me. I was just, you know, a freshman coming in. I feel like he should. I feel like I would have remembered you. Yeah. I wouldn't remember your name, but I would remember you were on the team. But I always have a lot of nostalgia coming back here. A lot of things really haven't changed, you know. I went through the campus today and a lot of it still looks the same as it did 25 years ago. The town square is there with the one Mexican restaurant. that I feel like has been there. We've eaten there many times, Acapulco, in our various points here. So it's nice. It's been a few years since we've been back to Columbia. We used to do, I think we did, Ryan, a few years of show at a pizza place.

Was it Anderson's or something like that? Isn't this the famous Burger King? Yes. Yeah, the Columbia Burger King. Yeah. So we've actually done a number of shows over the years here, but it's been a while. Nice to be back. Yeah, we were here like every summer when we started our summer tour. I see a guy who got a shirt on right there, 2014. Yeah, 2014. That's a, now that's a collector's hide them right there. That was where we sold a lot of those and sometimes they show up. That's always a good old school fan there. Well, Shannon told a good story

about Coach Talley, how, will you tell the story? Well, we had to do like a campus mile, right? That's something we would do. We'd have to run a mile and pitchers of course always had to run more because they want your legs to be in shape. And this one particular day, I didn't feel like running. So there was somebody riding around on a golf cart and I

said, hey, can I get a ride on that golf cart? I just don't really want to run right now. That feels like exactly what you would do. So this person took me. around, you know, and then when we got closer back to where the baseball field is to where coach could maybe see us, I jump off of it, and I wait for everybody else to catch up.

And then when we finally get back around there, he calls me out and knew that I was on the back of that golf cart and cheated on the campus mile and had to stay after practice and clean up the field. I'm shocked you would play here one year. That makes a lot more sense now, Drew, after hearing the story.

Yeah, with all due respect, Shannon, that story does not surprise me. Yeah. It was only a mile too. I mean, how lazy of me. It is pretty lazy. Well, listen, it's a big weekend basketball game and football game. Last time you'll have both on the same weekend. But also, how about a big round of applause for the UK women's volleyball team that came back last night and won the SEC tournament to finish SEC play completely undefeated? So, Ryan, you and I are going to have this conversation because someone on this group left early because they thought they were going to lose. And it actually this time was not me. It was not me.

Ryan Lemon and I, we went to the bar. First of all, was that not fun? It was packed. A lot of fun. A lot of fun. They were into it. A lot of fun. Kentucky plays.

We had a great crowd at the bar watching. Cats go down, lose the first set. Second set should have won. They kind of blow it at the end. Third set fall behind, and it's like, well, looks bad. Lots of people got up and left, including one of the hosts on this show. Wait a minute. Why is this about me?

I could only stay for two sets. Did he not leave? Well, it's a good thing he did. Because the moment he left, it turned around. She'll stay for the last two sets. Had a turkey to cook. The moment he left, it turned around, and probably half the crowd stayed. But then it was really exciting, great comeback.

I had, Craig Skinner is going to join us at 10.30 to talk about the win. But it was an awesome victory. And Ryan, actually, a lot of fun being around. When the game was over, the guy, there's a guy. that plays the fight song on his harmonica. He played it in the bar, and it was excellent. So what a win for that team. Well, two things.

One, I was really lucky. I got to sit by a volleyball expert during the game. They were telling me when they would have some bad sets. I was good analysis. What did I say was Kentucky's problem early? Bad sets. Bad sets. Yeah, when they would set it, they wouldn't set it well.

I'm going to ask Craig Skinner and see if he agrees with my analysis on the game. But we do owe Drew a genetic gratitude because the minute he walked out the door, that's when things turned around. It did turn around the moment he left. The moment he left, it got a lot better, Shannon. So he is the bad luck that was occurring. I'm like 0 for 50 at KS Bar. I told Ryan, I was leaving and watch this.

And I texted you before I was home, I said, you can't tell you. Yep. Even in that third set down, 2319, you feel like it's over. You feel like they're going to lose and they still come back. Well, Marcus Spears was our, first of all, he got Diego Pavia level, mom level of TV time. They showed him a lot. And he, I mean, he had a look like he was already doing. doing the horns, like a match, you know, I had a number of match points, and they fought them all off.

I really enjoyed it. You know, I don't ever watch volleyball until we get to kind of the end of the year. But I really enjoy that game, and you can't help but be tense throughout the whole thing. And those were two really, really good teams. Kentucky is like really good. And man, when they went down 02, they like elevated their play. They got better. And once they got that momentum, man, they couldn't be stopped.

It's kind of when I went to Tennessee to watch them. a few weeks ago they went down a set. A couple other times I've watched them go down a set. And even last night, now, a second set got a little dicey about told Ron is like, this is kind of what they do. They're about to turn on the comeback. But I didn't expect it to get to three championship points for Texas.

I mean, Texas had them absolutely against the wall, and then they flipped that switch, and they looked like a completely different team. So Kentucky's almost certain to host the first four games of the NCAA tournament. They'll host two different rounds. The bracket comes out, I think, Sunday. and then if they win both of those rounds, they'll go to the final four. So it's going to be exciting, and in Lexington, I think the bracket comes out Sunday

and the tickets go on sale Monday, so just keep that in mind. Now, we've got a basketball game tonight. We've got a football game Saturday. We've spent a lot of time on this show this week talking about football. We will talk about in a minute, but let's talk for a second about basketball. All right, we didn't get to this yesterday, Ryan, but Mark Pope's show on Monday. he said Jalen Lowe is now playing two-on-two non-contact. Not exactly sure how that works, but he is playing,

and that Jaden Quaintens is now playing three-on-three contact. So there may be a chance that both of those guys are playing by conference play. Would you agree with that? Yeah, each time he talks about Jaden Quatens, it's a big improvement. First it was he's doing non-contact drills. Now he's doing two-on-two. He says last night he's doing three-on-three. So, I mean, if the early projections were him to get him back in early December,

he seems to be on that track, and boy, they could use him inside. You get both those guys back. It's a different team. I mean, hopefully it's a lot better than what we've seen in these first couple of really good games, but it's certainly a different team. Now, they won't have either of those guys tonight. I don't know that there's much that you can say about whatever's going to happen tonight. I'm taking my parents, so I'm looking forward to that.

But beyond that, is there anything you think you can get from this evening's game? Don't get hurt. That's the main thing for me. Let's try to keep everybody healthy as much as possible. this game. I want to see Cam Williams take another step. That was big of him in the last game, first starting role, probably the MVP of that game, almost had a double-double even joke that Brandon Garrison stole two of his rebounds. Need to see him take another step because I think this team needs him. That four spot's still a little shaky, especially with Diabate not being a shooter.

Cam Williams needs to be a part of the rotation. You know, when I make a drive like this, I always listen to usually podcast, and there was a podcast with Bill Simmons and this basketball guy. And they were talking about the NBA. And the NBA has, more points have been scored in the NBA this year than any year since like the 60s. And it's significantly higher than last year. And they were talking about the two reasons and one is that they're calling more fouls. But the second is that now in the NBA, with the exception of a handful of people, everyone can shoot from the outside, including the centers. Even the sinners are now acceptable three-point shooters. I was watching the Suns the other night. They got Nick Richards out there shooting three-pointers. I mean, Nick Richards

did, and he's actually playing and been pretty good, and he's shooting threes. I thought about our team when I heard that, which is, this gets back to can we play these guys together? Because you put Mo Diabate and Brandon Garrison on the floor together, you got two guys that can't shoot threes. I do agree with Drew. Cam Williams is huge because you can put him at the four and he can make threes. You know, he's done so well, you know, half time in the Louisville game he came in, and he played so well the other night. But yet he's not doing the one thing he's known for, not to shoot the basketball. He's earning minutes by doing everything else.

He was like one for five the other night doing it. He had nine rebounds. So I think just inserting him in the starting line of him, him and Malachi both kind of gave him a little breath of fresh air. And there seemed to be more energized, more energy, it seemed like they had against Lola. Why do you think Trent Noah is not playing? And like, when he's, I mean, I know he's not playing in part because he's not playing

well. But what do you think is, I expect, I mean, he started the game against Purdue, started. and like didn't get in. It was a healthy scratch against Louisville and really has not been good all year. What do you make of that? I don't know. For a little bit, you think, the turned ankle,

but that's been a while, and he was, like you said, he warmed up in Louisville and they said he was ready to go and just didn't play. I'm starting to worry, you know, we bragged about how he slimmed down, but I'm worried he might not be ready for the physicality. Too skinny? Yeah, and, you know, he's not the most physical guy to begin with, and I think at least so far, that's hurt him a little bit, and the physicality is only going to ramp up.

But against Michigan State and Louisville specifically, the whole team kind of struggled with that. He doesn't look comfortable out there to me like he did last year. I think last year he got a lot more minutes than he expected to probably going into the season. But for some reason, something just looks different this year with him. We talked a lot about after the Michigan State game team chemistry. I don't know how much we didn't talk about this on the show Monday, but they did a like signing event in Southern Indiana right on Sunday. So it was like it was Diabate and O-Way.

And I want to say Jalen Lowe. I think those were the three guys. and they clearly it's almost as if they on purpose made a big show of we like each other like they're all joking around and laughing and like somebody posted a picture of them kind of cutting up and then all three of those guys

retweeted it all three of them like hey we get along leave us alone do you do you think the chemistry thing was overblown I think it was way overblown I mean I still think something happened before that Louisville game and it may have been Pope not have been the players at all But the chemistry was good from the minute we were there in practice.

Jack Givens, these guys have all seen practices after practice. They've never said anything about. Well, Travis Ford did. We said that was chemistry on the court. He kind of explained himself. Was he making that clear? Yeah. So he didn't.

He means like the basketball pieces. But at the first interview he didn't say that. Did he do another one? Yeah, he did. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. He came in and he was on Cutler's show and he said,

I was talking about the chemistry on the floor. They just seemed to be out of sync. And I think that goes to Jayland Lohn not being out there as your point guard. Yeah. Well, I mean, obviously we're going to need him. Now, we play North Carolina in six days. And I'm going to talk about this later, but I've watched a lot of college basketball the last two days. Shannon, I'm a little bit worried. Yeah, I am too. Had me to that I am. A little bit worried. I mean, I now see what Rick Petino is talking about when he said this may be the best year. But let's put that side. We'll talk about it later. Do you think, I mean, that North Carolina game, to me, it's huge because it's at home.

Like, okay, I thought we were going to be Michigan State. We didn't. Louisville game, I want to beat Louisville, but it doesn't really concern me. It was a true road game. Michigan State game concerns me. You got to beat North Carolina at home, right? Because I can tell you, Gonzaga looks like they're going to crush everybody. Kentucky's look great against these lesser opponents, but at some point you've got to beat somebody. And you got North Carolina.

You got Gonzaga. You got St. Johns in the non-combers. You got Indiana. You got to win some of those games. And we have an SEC that's not very good. We have an SEC that right now, I want to say, is like, four and 18 against the top 60 teams in Kimpom. Literally, like last year we were like 15 and 3, and now we're like 4 and 18.

Like, we can't, that's bad. So it is concerning, without a doubt. I looked at Alabama last night, though, talking about SEC's teams that put up 115, and I'm going like, could we do that if we played them? But I do worry about, we got to beat some of these teams, Drew, because the SEC is not going to give us the same amount of schedule. You know, last year we went like 500 in the SEC and we're a three seed. This year, it ain't going to be like that.

These teams aren't nearly as good. The whole league's lost by like 40 last year. The whole league's down, but I've watched two full Tennessee games. They're a lot better than I expected. Yeah, they are. Just look at what's in front of us, though. I'm pretty worried about Gonzaga like everyone else. So I think you don't have a must-win game in December.

But if you drop North Carolina and you drop Gonzaga, you can't be 0 and 4 in major games. I mean, that'll be a horrible look. That's got to be a huge. Is it late? Is it 9 o'clock? Gonzaggar or North Carolina? Is it 9.30 on a Tuesday? 9.30 on a Tuesday.

I mean, Ruppereena is going to have to be probably drunk and loud. But that's a, I can't remember last time Rupp's had a 930 game. I mean, that's a late game. If you were to lose all these big games and have five losses in the non-conference. That would be bad. And then going into the conference, I mean. I mean, you got six losses. I don't know.

Any of these wins are certain. Yeah. I mean, but we'll beat the bad teams because our bad team. And the other thing is these bad teams we're playing are really bad. They're not like kind of bad. They're at the bottom of the schedule bad, which also doesn't help us a lot. We're playing a lot of teams outside the top 300. I mean, we're playing the worst teams in the country.

859-280-2287. Text machine is 772-75-254. We'll take a break. We're here in Columbia at Don Franklin Ford. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

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There's food back there in the back if you all want it. I want to give a shout out to a couple of fans listening, including Keith, who's on his way home, whose father's very sick from Ecuador. They say he's listening on a plane. We're praying for you and your dad, Ron. A couple other just quick prayer notes. Drew Deiner, who many of you know for many years, did UK sports, now does U of L sports. His father passed away, and the funeral was yesterday. He's been around UK and U of L sports for 30 years.

Father lived in Louisville for 60 years. Prayers to him, saw all those folks at the funeral home yesterday. And then just another thing, some sad news. My mom, you all know this person, one of my mom's very good friends. Kopey passed away. that she worked with for many, many years down in Belle County, and I know her family's listening, so prayers to you all as well in the holiday season. 859-280-2287.

One person writes, Matt, I coach volleyball, and I know Ryan was making fun of you, but actually, Craig Skinner said after the game, they changed the primary setter because they were not playing well. There you go. And that made a difference in the game. Bam! Man, I have just so thankful and blessed. I was sitting by an expert last night.

I pointed that out to me the whole game. Well, early, you know, she would make the sets, and they'd be behind the person, I don't know, the spiker, and then she'd just have to tap it over, and she wouldn't be able to spike. That's right. Ball know her over here. Don't say, ball don't lie, Shannon.

I understood these things. So the spikers and the bumpers were good, but not the setters. I got you. The setters were not setting well. Okay. Well, that makes sense. But then they changed the setter, and things were being set better.

They should make you the color commentary. So it's in-match adjustments by Skinner. That's exactly right. We could use some of those on the other. All right, let's switch for a second. We'll go to the phones in a minute. I'm going to have Craig Skinner at 1030, and then I'll go to the phones. Let's talk football.

Kentucky and Louisville Saturday. Louisville is the favorite, but who knows what you're going to get from Louisville? I'm hearing sources are telling me the quarterback's going to play. All right? I don't know if that's in the news or not. This is just this was on this morning. I got a message. So I think there's a good chance the quarterback plays, the starter.

but they're going to be out with their top three running backs, out with their top wide receiver. I wanted to ask you, though, the Vince Mero piece of this. Like, how much do you think the fan base, and specifically that coaching staff, wants to beat him? Well, fan base a lot. Yes. The coaching staff probably a lot, and they won't admit it.

But I really think. I would say the coaching staff probably wants to even more than the fan. Well, I'll put the players above that, because you've got to remember Vince went through spring. Vince recruited these guys. Vince looked at them. Forget he went through this morning. He left in July.

Like, even the new transfers, new Vince. I mean, he brought them here, helped build that team, and then left in the middle of the summer. So Mark, he said things, you know, nice things. I guess there's been some personal things that he and Vince dealt with together back home, maybe some tragedy or something he didn't really allude to. He was playing it off. But I bet those players are going to look over there seeing a guy that left him in the middle of the summer.

You can love somebody, Ryan. They can be like a brother to you and all that. but you still want to beat him. I mean, I told the story about how I grew up hating the Washington then called Redskins because my friend Trevor liked him. That is the reason I didn't like him. And I love Trevor, but it didn't matter. The fact that Trevor liked him made me want to dislike him even more.

You know Mark Stoops, you know him. It has to annoy how much credit his friend got for all the recruiting. Even if Vince deserved it all, it had to annoy him, right? he probably wants that Saturday, in part for that as much as anything. You're right, man. Sure it's for boy eligibility. Sure it's on their home field. Sure, we're the underdog.

But you want to beat Vince Merrill, who's over there in red on that sideline on Saturday. Like Drew said, he recruited most of these guys on this Kentucky team. They want to prove to him you made a mistake. We're the better team. You should have stayed here. I forgot he stayed until July. I mean, you're right. Some of these guys got trapped in here, essentially.

even, well, I mean, Trapp, maybe they liked it, but either way, they were here and then he deserted. Still hard to believe that Vince is over at Louisville. You know, there was nobody that was more anti-Luble L's Down than Vince Mero, and then he joins the Louisville team. It's just. No, I mean, listen, I love Vince Merrill. Oh, yeah. With that said, dude was doing L's down mocking Louisville for years, and I probably said to him 50 times on the phone. you go anywhere else

I'm wearing the paraphernalia and cheering for you but if you go to Louisville I hope you lose every game and I will boo you every single time you walk on the field and then he went so I owe it to him to when he walks out boo right in his face Drew I mean I don't I have to he's my friend but I don't care

he knows the deal he was on the good side of this rivalry for more than a decade didn't he when you're 12 tweet mid-game, like from the Louisville sideline talking trash about Louisville? Yes, he talked trash before the, he was tweeting before the game was over. One of those years we beat him by so much. He knows what he did. It's not like he's going to be surprised by the reception the Kentucky fans there give him. He knows exactly who he has to understand.

You know, the one thing that surprised me about the interview you did with Rick Petino, is Rick Petino seemed like he didn't understand why Kentucky fans didn't like him when he went to Louis. Which is crazy, yeah. But Vince, he knows this. He absolutely knows. How do you feel about it, by the way? I have no idea what's going to happen. Like, none.

You could give me any result Saturday, and I would not be shocked. You know, going to the game last year, our team kind of quit, and they just rolled us. It seems like it's reversed a little bit. It seems like they're kind of checking out. They got guys who all of a sudden are sitting out because they don't want to get hurt for the draft coming up and things like that. They got their quarterback Miller Miss. He's not Miller Moss. It's Miller.

Oh, you really? You're really. You burn. Man, he is on fire. How is he going to get him? past that. Here's my fun fact. What about Miller loss?

Miller loss. Here's my fun fact. When the games in Lexington, Louisville has won more games. When the games in Louisville, Kentucky has won the most matchups. So it's like the visiting team was winning, so that just adds to our expectations to win tomorrow. That's a really fun fact. That's a great fun fact. I mean, when I hear that fact, I'm like, that is so much fun.

Yeah. We do have their number there. While we plan the game, that's a guaranteed win. Guaranteed win. But are you with me, Drew? Like, I have no... You could give me any result. Us by 20, them by 20, and I wouldn't be shocked.

I've already hammered the cats. The Governor's Cup has been good to me financially for several years. I don't know why they keep making us the underdog when we won so many a row, but I'm counting on that one more time. Do need the injury report to look good, though. That's... I mean, there's a lot on the line. We'll talk more about it as the show goes on.

Craig Skinner's going to join us, then we will take your calls. We'll be right back. We're here, Don Franklin, in Columbia. Welcome back. It is Kentucky. Sports Radio here at Don Franklin. Ford in Columbia. I would back up every qualifying part, back by five years part warranty at Don Franklin. Quality installed, peace of mind included mile after mile.

We are now joined, and I hope everybody will give a big round of applause to now the SEC tournament champion. First one in 20 years, Craig Skinner, the coach of UK volleyball. Craig, I love that stat. They hadn't had the tournament forever, and so you all just went out and won the first one. What was that like last night? Oh, just an incredible match and environment. And, you know, the SEC did a phenomenal job putting that on for the first time ever and really investing in volleyball and recognizing, you know, the momentum it has.

And for us to pull that out after basically being dead in the water after set two, and even in set three, it was just an amazing accomplishment for our team. You say dead in the water. I mean, it was 2319 in the third set. you call time out. They went to the sideline reporter. You probably don't even know this because you're a coach in the game. And the sideline reporter said something like U.K.'s volleyball has come out with more energy out of this huddle than I've seen all night.

I'm interested to see what they'll do about it. And I was sitting with Ryan at the bar, and I was like, that's kind of a weird thing to say. The game of the match is almost over. And then you did. What happened in that timeout? What did she see that made her say that? You know, I don't, you know, we've earned the opportunity to be in this moment and don't let this slip away. And, you know, our team is, they run the enthusiasm, the fire, the intensity.

I mean, I don't have to do anything to motivate them to compete. I mean, their internal competitive drive is unmatched, you know, so far. And they just, they never flinched whatsoever, you know, in every point of the match. and the sign of great teams is they have no recollection of what just happened. They're just totally consumed of what's going to happen on the next whistle. And this is the way this team has been all year, and they continue to do it last night. All right, I'm not, we're not official commentators, but I sat with Ryan Lemon at the bar last night. Ryan, did you think we had good analysis?

Listen, coach, I was blessed to be able to sit by a volleyball expert last night watching it, because he pointed out early on our sets are off. Okay, so here's what I said. I said, don't let him read it wrong. I said that it felt like to me that the sets, which I guess is when you lob it up in the air for the spike, that they were off in the first and second sets. And he was making fun of me, and I kept saying it. But then it felt like it got better.

Now, was I wrong in reading that? No, the connection was not where it needed to be. And it actually started with the first contact. See, I told you. was a little bit rough. The tempo was off, which creates issues for the setter to get her feet there and create the same rhythm.

And, you know, it's a combination of all of it. But yes, the last, you know, spike, kill shot, whatever you want to do was not, we're not getting full gas. And that's a combination of the,

the tempo and rhythm of execution. And for sure, that was off. And then it got better as the match went on. So, I mean, I think you guys should, you know, call ESPN and see if you can get on and call a match. I told you.

Let, coach. We were at the bar last night, and it was, you know, I just thought, well, it's the SEC Final. It's a random Tuesday night. Let's have a watch party and see what happens. And the place was absolutely full. And a lot of those people are people who come to your regular games at home and obviously weren't able to go to Savannah.

But it was loud. It was exciting. I said it was like an atmosphere for a good basketball game. How does that make you feel that this is happening for your program and the fan support from the big blue nation. Yeah, you know, I had several opportunities to be a head coach when I was looking back when I was 24, 25 years old. And the reason I wanted to come to Kentucky was because it's the flagship institution

in the state where there's no pro sports. And I guarantee if you build something special, they will get behind and be all in. And it's proven true. And, you know, thankfully, we've made the right choice as a family. And, you know, you just. just can't build a special program without a fan base like this, and can't thank everybody enough. I mean, I had over 300 text messages last night, half hour after the match, and it's just an incredible feeling to be part of it. All right. Sorry about that. Tell me about your,

tell me about what happens now. I mean, the bracket comes out Sunday. Are you all expecting to be able to host through the final four? Yeah, I mean, first of all, our team, we'd send them home for three days to just get away and mentally physically they are gassed and so but we'll practice Saturday night and Sunday and Sunday evening and yes we should we should get a top four seed and host the first and second round starting a week from tomorrow and then you know and then if we advance and then host the reasonable okay so when I had a lot of people asking me last night for that first and second round is it like the NCAA tournament you could either get Thursday, Friday. I mean, what's the schedule like?

Yeah, the first thing around you bid, it's, it's, we'll play Thursday Friday. And, you know, other host sites will do, yes, Friday, Saturday. So it just depends on venues, ESPN and the host, host site, you know, what they bid. And then the following week, the regional is, is typically Thursday, Saturday, but because of the demand on ESPN, it's either Thursday, Saturday, or Friday, Sunday, depending on the TV schedule. Okay, gotcha. Well, I'm expecting that you're going to have a massive crowd for those games. I know we're going to show them for all of them. It's very exciting. And I have to tell you, I want to thank you. I was never a volleyball person ever in my life. I guess two-on-two in the Olympics would be the only thing I would ever see. And I started a few years ago, but really like,

that was a really, Ryan, exciting sporting event last night. And I appreciate you for just kind of bringing it into my sporting worldview, you and your team. So congratulations. Thank you so much and appreciate all your support no matter when it comes, man. We just always love the fact that people are jumping on board and I appreciate you guys. Let me call in occasionally when you're ready. Yeah, and Drew over there, by the way, has been a regular attendee, so I don't want to take it. You've been. Oh, I've seen Drew.

I've even had a women's volleyball shirt. Yeah, I bought a women's T-shirt because I couldn't find a men. I was rocking it last night. So again, thank you very much. Congrats on the SEC tournament win, and we'll see you in the NCAA. Appreciate you guys. Have a great day and happy Thanksgiving. All right, happy Thanksgiving to you. 859-280-2287.

Best coach on campus right there, Craig Skinner. And you're right about the fans. I have been to Memorial a few times for regular season games. It is crazy in there. I went two hours early for that Tennessee match to go to El Mariahi next door, and they were already lined up at Memorial. I thought I was going to be one of the first people there, and there was a line on the sidewalk.

Yeah, it's been great. That'll be an awesome environment over the next couple weeks at the tournament. Who's up first, Rick? Mike is up first. Mike, go ahead, Mike. Hey, how you doing, Matt? What's going on? What's going on?

Doing good. Thanks, kidding, first of all. Hey, listen, first of all, that comeback back. I was incredible. But I'm not, I've called in, is Billy there? Billy is not on this show. You may not know that. But he's on the other show.

Okay. Well, listen, I really called in to support him. I heard y'all was kind of kidding around him. But he was pleaded pants last week. And I just wanted to tell him that I wear nothing but pleaded pants. There you go, Billy, right here. This is one of you, right here. Only wears pleaded pants.

You and this guy, Billy. And I have, I'm retired now, but I've had to say. special jobs, shirt and tie and all that thing. Nice night. I bet I have not gone a handful of times to work without pleated pants. There you go. Billy has found his brother in the Pant Brotherhood. Thank you very much, Mike.

I appreciate the call. See, there you go. Billy. It's important to have the right kind of pants on radio. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe the most important place to wear pants is on the radio. Who's next?

Trevor is next. Trevor. Go ahead, Trevor. Hey, Matt, happy Thanksgiving Eve to everybody. Go ahead, happy Thanksgiving. It's about football this week. So I'll just talk about going bowling with soup to kind of determine how its side of the fans are. Does the result of the bowl game, you know, come into play when it talks about our coach next season?

If we go in there and we get blown out by a non-SBC team, does that change anybody's mind? No, not at all because you've already made the decision. You've already made the decision. I appreciate the call because of recruiting and because of the portal. the decision has to be made before the bowl game, so practically speaking, the poll game is going to have no impact, because you're not going to make the change after the bowl game. So you have to decide, and plus the bowl games,

I'm not going to say they're meaningless, but they're kind of meaningless, because you don't even know who's going to play in these games anymore. So to me, the final determination, and I think we all believe Stoops is going to be back, but to the extent that it could not happen, Ryan, the final determination is the Louisville game. The decision has to be made before the bowl game if you're going to have a team next year.

Yeah. Getting to a bowl game is so important because you get that extra month of practice. You're going to make this decision already ahead and advance so you've got your continuity going into the spring football season. You take him out of that equation, and somebody's coming in and got to start all over not until next spring. Yeah, they're not going to do that. So we'll know. I mean, honestly, we'll know pretty much Drew in the post-game press competition. conference on Saturday. Mark Stoops will be asked, are you going to be back next year?

And he'll have, if he's not going to be here, he'd have to at least go, well, I'm going to determine, brer, blah, blah. Now, I guess Mitch, and Mitch Barnhart will be there, and somebody will ask him too. So by the time my postgame show starts at 430 Saturday, we're going to know. Yeah, it's about to get chaotic. If whether change or not, there's a lot going on. Signing day is next Wednesday. So I mean, as soon as Louisville's over, your high school class is signing a few days later. The transfer portal, it's beginning of January, but it's the same week as some bowl games.

There are going to be some teams that are in a tough spot. It's the worst NCAA calendar they could do because there's going to be coaches in another city at a bowl game when they need to be having transfers on campus. Well, I mean, even yesterday, Oklahoma State, Shannon, announced their new coach, and he's the coach of North Texas. And they're going to be playing for the American Conference Championship. And if they beat Tulane in that game,

they have a chance to go to the playoff. I mean, it's an outside chance, but it's a chance. And so the North Texas coach said, I'm going to coach my team through the end of the season, but then go to Oklahoma State. That's got to be awkward. It's the whole, yeah, it's so bizarre, the coaching carousel on the timeline with the playoffs and everything.

I don't know why they can't adjust something to make that line up better. Well, part of it is semesters, though. I mean, like, there is school. Oh, yeah. Oh, there is? No, I mean... We're athlete students, not student-athletes. You're right.

Yeah. But part of the problem is they have to have the portal in time for people to go to school. Yeah. But then that also makes it during the playoff. And Ryan, so I really don't know what the NCAA is supposed to do. You could move the portal to after the playoff, but then you're essentially acknowledging these kids are not going to school because school have already started at that point.

That's what this Lane Kiffin thing is so interesting to me. They play Friday night in the Egg Bowl. Saturday he's got to announce his decision. What was my prediction? Where's he announcing the decision? College game day. Write that down. Okay. He will say, he will make it to where he is on

college game day making that decision. Does anybody want that prediction? Anybody want to take that bet? No, I bet to get that. I think that's what's going to happen. If you have pain, stiffness, or a numbing sensation, preventing you from enjoying watching your favorite teams, court is the Kentucky's go-to physical therapy. They help athletes, fans,

and average Joe's get rid of aches and pains, and if you've met your insurance deductibles, you may not even owe anything through the end of the year. It's court.com. That is k-o-r-r-t-o-t.com. We'll take a break and be right back. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories,

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Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. It is Kentucky Sports Radio. So for all the folks here at Don Franklin, if you were to buy gasoline-powered vehicle today here at Don Franklin in Columbia, Ford, this is including folks in town. If you were going to think about buying a vehicle, two years of free maintenance, if you buy a vehicle today here at Don Franklin in Columbia. So those of you in the surrounding areas, if you've thought about it. it today is the day to go black Friday I always think of people buying cars I remember my parents bought a car a couple times on Black Friday what else do people buy on Black Friday TVs I used to go to Walmart just to watch the chaos I didn't even need yeah is that

still like is it still a thing don't feel not the same because it'd be online and all that people would literally camp outside of stores you know overnight just to get in I love one of my mom's friends it was like her favorite day of the year like she loved it I think she enjoyed the chaos and just like fighting people for things. So did you see, did you enjoy it? You seem like you have that look like you enjoyed it. Yeah. Yeah. So people just, they don't do, do, does anyone line up anymore? Yeah. And now the online deals start like a lot of places have had Black Friday sales for a month. It just keeps getting bigger. Well, it's a shame. That's another thing that we collectively did that the internet is ruined for us. I love the fights. Now we don't get the fights anymore.

That's right. All right. So let's, I want to talk just a second about the two of these two, these two guys next to me here. Drew Franklin, or as he's been called this week, Frank, Franklin, and Ryan Lemon. So you two have kind of been polar opposites on opinions this week. Shannon and I've kind of been in between you guys, but you two have been at various ends. Drew has taken the kind of extreme anti, I don't want to say anti-stupes, but kind of anti-state of the program. and Ryan kind of surprised a lot of people by Monday saying that no matter what, he would bring Stoops back, even if there was not a buyout, which I thought was kind of an amazing thing. So here's what I wanted to do.

Shannon, you know, I'm almost, I'm a lawyer or was. So I like debate. Yep. So do you have, you pull up a clock. Okay. All right. I'm going to let Frank, they are not prepared for this. This is, this is completely cold.

I'm very prepared for this. Completely cold. I'm going to get both of these guys to give the one-minute case. One minute. Without interruption, which is rare on this show, without interruption of why they feel the way they feel. Drew, change needs to be made. Ryan, no change needs to be made to the jury. Now, I want you to pick a number, one through ten, and whoever's closer will get to go,

we'll get to choose where they go first or last. What do you have? I will go with lucky number four. What's yours? I'll go five then, I guess. It was two. So would you like to go first or last, Drew? I'll go first.

I'll let him collect his things. All right. So Drew Franklin, Shannon, you have one minute on the clock, or I would say Frank Franklin, give the case as to why change needs to be made with UK football. Oh, I'm going to need more than a minute. My problem is with the entire big picture. That includes Mark Stoops. But we have the longest tenured AD, the long.

the longest tenured coach. What are we the best at? What are we even halfway up the SEC at? We're almost dead last in recruiting. I think we're currently 15th. Vandy's 20 spots ahead. Game day atmosphere, I think we fall into 16th. The people raving about Nashville are acting like

Vandy has turned a corner. We've been passed by Vandy. We've been passed by Missouri. We've been passed by South Carolina. Mississippi State, we can debate, but they're having a pretty good year now. I don't know their atmosphere. Not a big fan of Starkville myself.

Stoops has been here a long time. We pretty much know the gripes with him. First half stuff, running the ball. We all know that. I don't know that a new coach bringing him back, whatever. I don't think anything will work until UK athletics wakes up and tries to invest in football and making an experience people want to be a part of. They've won one home game in a couple of years.

The record against the SEC is not good. All right, time. Time. Time. No, one minute is time. That's time. I was just getting started. Okay, but that's why we have a moment.

minute. That's what we have a minute. All right. So that is the case. Sort of change needs to be made. Now, Ryan Lemon, you have one minute to give the, no matter what, you would bring Mark Stoops back case. Go. Mark Stoops is the best football coach in my lifetime, in most of our lifetimes. He's done things here. Most of us thought never could be done. Working in the media, I've been with six different coaches now, and he's by far did things that we were one and ten one year. We were two and nine one year. We had the nation's longest losing streak in the 90s. He's turned it around.

He's turned the culture around. Now, granted, the last couple years haven't gone the way we wanted, but we're set up very well for the future. We got a hot young quarterback. We got a hot young tied in. We got a hot young receiver. We got a hot young running back. We are set up to maybe make a move and improve ourselves

where we've not lose those games the last couple of years. So my other thing is, I'm always just afraid what you wish for. You want a new coach. Who's to say that guy can't do what Stoops has been able to do here? I think Stoops does things here that maybe other coaches could achieve. He got 10 wins twice in recent years. When would that ever happen at UK football? So be careful what you wish for.

The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. It's green right now, and it's in bluegrass. Tom. All right, well, you timed it well. Okay, so quickly, we got 20 seconds. How many of you side with Frank? How many of you side with Ryan? So Frank ends up winning.

Frank's winning. A lot of you do. Didn't vote, I will note. But Frank ends up winning. Can we go around two? About how we have to get alone for Wi-Fi? No, we will not. We will take a break.

Come back, hour number two. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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 Acapella 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.

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 SportsSlice 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. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're 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'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.

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