KSR - 2025-12-11- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: December 11, 2025

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Got a couple here from Louisville. You're Lexi-Tig guy, right? since Cynthia. Cynthia in the house as well. Ryan Lemon's got a haircut and a free sweatshirt someone's given him. Logan County today. Drew's got his dad hat on. Drew told us on the Cover Zero podcast last night that that is his new.

The D stands for dad. Got about five of them. They've been sitting on a shelf for months. Now I can finally wear them. What do you mean? Did you buy them? Yeah, I got one that says I'm on dad duty. I've got one that you bought them before.

Oh, the moment I found out. And shoes. They've been on a shelf for months. So you bought them the moment. You didn't have them. No, no, no. It was the excitement. I immediately had to load up on dad here. Okay, gotcha, gotcha. And there was a diaper bag when we start carrying that around? Oh, wow. You're going to get into it.

You're so old. I mean, I'm just got to be prepared, man. That's true. You're going to, oh, she likes that. See, this is how you went over all the listeners. Well, the female listeners with your being a dad. They're going to think that's really sweet. I have an opportunity to get into Ryan's lane here and do the dad. ad talk kind of still maybe some of his favorite people out there yeah no I think I think you do and I

feel like you know I'm gonna help too well you named my baby yesterday yeah we named we named the baby uh what was it you you came up with Bartina Bartina I didn't think that bar Tina huh what do you think about bartina I suspect uh Mrs. Franklin will have something to say about that and then I and then we did something this is all on cover zero which was a good episode yesterday by the way we had a lot fun. There wasn't a lot of football to do, so we just talked about other things. Also, we just had Billy pick five random names from the internet, and he had to name his kid one of those five. And Matt threw in Barbara. I didn't throw in Barbara. The internet did. And we ended up picking Charlotte.

Charlotte. So this kid's name is going to be Charlotte, whether Drew and Abby like it or not. Thank you. I'm very excited to tell Abby the big news that we have named our first child. Yeah, me and you. Well, you wanted to go by Charbar because I couldn't decide between Charlotte and Barbara. Charbar would be a good name of a... That's a good nickname. Yes. So we got a lot to talk about today, actually.

Big story came out yesterday. But let's start with this. Ryan, you watched The Godfather last night. I did. I sat and watched it from start to finish all two hours and 50 minutes of it. And? I really liked it. I told you you would like it.

I knew you would like the Godfather. It's amazing that movie was made in the early 70s. but it holds up today. I mean, you don't get a feeling that it was some old movie. It's so good. You know, I had some people, some movie snobs, like my friend Richmond Bramblitt, say, oh, there are movies from the 30s and 40s. No, they don't.

I mean, like, you can watch them and appreciate it. It's like the same thing with reading. Okay, I love to read. I'm going to finish my 52 books in a year. I've been reading a lot trying to catch up. But, like, if you sit and read, I don't know, Emily Brown. or Jane Austen. Like, you can do it. But it's not fun now. Like, nobody can, like, it's not. They're hard to get through. I mean, you can do it, but don't act like it's exciting.

That's how I feel about old movies. You can watch them and be like, all right, I appreciate this. But it's not made for our modern attention span. But the Godfather, and I think those movies from the early 70s on, they can still play, in my opinion. Absolutely. Now, it's a little long. But I told you it was going to be long. Some of the scenes, maybe you're dragged out a little too long. Which scene is dragged out. Like when he's walking through the mountains of Sicily. That one's a little dragged out.

He walks through Sicily a lot. There's a lot of walking through Sicily. I tell you, though, I was blown away with some of the main characters. Okay, hang on, spoiler alert. She hasn't seen it. It's been out for 50 years. That's a good point. Yeah, but I need 51 years.

Well, okay, so we could say that you were surprised that, like, he takes a bullet quickly. Marlon Brando, you're led to believe, is the main character. And 30 minutes in the movie, he gets blown away. And you think, oh, my God, they killed him off. But they didn't kill him off. He comes back. And then he killed him off 30 minutes after that. I don't even watch the rest of it now.

You already told me what happens. Well, I'm not, I'm sorry. If you haven't seen The Godfather, you can have it spoils. You now want to see the second one. I do. Yeah, I liked it enough. I will definitely probably sit. Who was your favorite character?

Al Pacino's the best. He's awesome. I thought you would say Sunny. He felt like. He's kind of a hothead like you. And he gets blown away. Another main character to blow him away. I listen to all these spoiler alerts.

There's no reason for anyone to see it. It's amazing how many recognizable faces you see. A lot of them got their start in that movie. A lot of, I mean, or at least that was the movie that made him big. Robert Duvall has a big part in it. Yeah, he's in it. James Conn. Abe Vigoda.

You were very excited about Abe Vigoda. How do you know who he is? Because he was in Barney Miller. He was Fish and Barney Miller. You're the only person. Like, everyone knows Abe Vigoda from the Godfather. You're not, like, no one knows him from Barney Miller. Oh, yeah.

Most people don't even know what Barney Miller is. Oh, classic. Classic. I feel like that's a furniture story. Is it Barney Millers? They're running a Christmas cell right now. Yeah, I think they are running a Christmas sale. Go to Barney Millers and you can get.

I told you this, too. I distinctly remember as a kid my parents and their friends are discussing about the horsehead in the bed. Distinctly remember it. I mean, it affected me, and I didn't even see the movie. And so did you see it coming? Or did you forget until he pulled the sheets off? Totally forgot until he's in bed. He's got blood on him.

Like, oh, I know what's coming? Here's the horse head. I'd never seen that scene before, ever. Well, I'm glad you enjoyed. It was good. It was good. My homework assignment, I give it an A. Did you dance when that guy did the wedding song?

No. The wedding was, they dragged that out a little long. But it's trying to set the mood. You're trying to understand what an Italian family is like. They probably could have done that in half. the time probably see that's that's the one thing we don't have as long of an intention span that's true so those 70s movies in general if you go watch them they go slower like they just do and there that is if you're not like for us i think that's true of all of those movies like china town and if you

watch those movies they kind of they just go with their own pace people weren't in as much of a hurry had nothing else to do yeah exactly so they could just sit and make three-hour movies and people would watch it i was amazed that it held up today You know, it's 50 years old. It's like... Okay, so you're going to watch a second. I am going to watch a second. You can report to us how you think it is.

I haven't seen him this excited about anything. When I walked in, he was already halfway through his review with you, and he's like, that's the happiest I can remember, Ryan being talking about all the scenes. I know what he likes. He's a very simple man, but a simple man who has desires. That sounded a lot worse than I meant for it, too. But he, you know, I'm glad you enjoyed it. You'll like, I think the second one's even better.

Well, and it's got more action. The second one has more action. You're going to Cuba. you're going to Vegas. You're going back in time to early New York with Robert De Niro. You're going to enjoy that. See that? I thought Robert De Niro was big in the Godfather, and he's not in the first one.

But he's huge in the second one. It's a big part of the second one. All right. So big story today in the world of non-Godfather news is last night, the report from Kentucky Sports Radio, the website, came out about from from Jacob Polichick and Jack Pilgrim about basically UK basketball recruiting. And I highly recommend everybody read it. They worked on that for weeks.

There was sort of a conversation that was had a while back. Why are they not able? Why have none of these guys signed, these top guys? And they started investigating it. They talked to multiple people. I knew it was coming, but I did not read it until everybody. I intentionally did not read it until everybody else did because I didn't want my stinky fingerprints.

like I didn't want to tell them what to do because they had put in all the work. So they did, and I thought it was excellent. Drew, I would say two main themes. See if you agree with me on the two themes. Theme one, there was actually more in there about Mark Pope than I thought there was going to be.

And the Mark Pope thing was basically twofold. One, that he's just, the negotiation process is not really going well with him. He gets sort of emotional. he is very big on you're coming here because of Kentucky and the name on the jersey and not the dollar amount and while that we all kind of like the sound of that that causes him to not get players and then a sort of secondary thing but one I think is big is that the Pope administration to use a term is very secretive they don't like to tell you what's going on and generally that's okay but

in this world of negotiations, these national reporters, not the local guys, but the national guys, coaches kind of use them to go, okay, what's Kansas offering? What's North Carolina offering? What's the rate? And Pope doesn't share any of that. And it's basically causing him to be both out underbid and overbid because he doesn't know the market. So he'll come in and I've been told like with Denzel Aberdeen, he way overpaid. Whereas with other guys, he loses out because he doesn't know the market. And so that's the Pope side. And then the JMI side is they are requiring these kids to sign contracts

that gives up all of their NIL rights to them. They're basically like, we will offer you a lot of money. But if you do, we get all of the Nile rights and you can't sign with companies that are not official JMI partners. and this is, they quote a couple of top recruits that UK is going at this year as saying that that's what they're requiring. By the way, they didn't require that a couple years ago. They would do it, but this was before JMI was running the process.

So that's the basics of it. You can feel free to add anything else, but what did you think of the argument? You're right about there being two parts there. And I'm also, the JMI thing, I haven't liked from the beginning. I think I've been very clear about that. None of that was completely new to me except seeing some, you know, quotes with it. Actual quotes of people that are in the middle,

not like local people who just, you know, are trying to keep up with it as fans. Like people involved in negotiations being disappointing. But then the Pope thing was a little more eye-opening for me. I've worried about that from the beginning, about how he's going in saying, you come to Kentucky because Kentucky, this is 2026. I worry about that working.

But then saying quotes and stuff about that was just as concerning. On the Pope end, though, that to me can be fixed pretty easily. Maybe you have one bad year, you get a GM. We're like, hey, Mark, we love you. You're not the best closer. Let's fix that. You're not a great negotiator.

But the JMI thing, that is in contract for 15 years. Like, with that ain't, unless you just rewritten, like, or they change the way they're doing it. You're kind of locked into that. Pope could be fixed easily by bringing in help and him realizing I'm not the best at finalizing this deal. Yeah. And by the way, that's, I actually think both of them are fixable. If JMI will just stop saying, you have to only sign with ours. because take a kid like Trent Noah.

They didn't make Trent Noah sign that back in the day. But Trent Noah has a lot of deals in Kentucky that are not with JMI companies. He has a local agent, so like you see him Ryan on a lot of stuff that are not JMI partners. He's a big partner with Fork Bank. And there is a rule that he can't use the UK logo. And I understand that rule. That does, I mean, I don't love it, but I get it. But Trent Noah is just doing it like in a blue generic jersey.

But now they're trying to say that people can't even do that. And these kids are not going to agree to that. Because again, let's say you want to bring in the number one player in America and you say you have to sign with Nike. And he goes, well, I'm an Adidas kid. Right? Sorry. That's what I'm doing. And now contracts like that would say you couldn't do it.

So I think it's easily fixable. Mark's not a good negotiator. Ryan, neither am I. I don't like, I really, I hate negotiating. because I don't like to tell people no and this may seem strange I don't like arguing over money I like arguing over everything else

but I don't like arguing over money I just don't makes me feel icky so I get other people to do the money negotiations for me I just I'm not good at it maybe Mark's not either and it feels like Ryan those two things are things that are fixable but they are according this story big problems

you know first of all kudos to Jack and Jacob that was some old schooled investigative reporting that we don't see a lot of it. You never thought KSR would do something like that, did you? I tell you what, to see it on the KSR made me feel pretty proud of the boys. I'm telling you, I'm not going to lie. But to see it in black and white, it was very damning. You guys have both hit on about the JMI and Mark Pope.

I was more concerned about Mark Pope than I was the JMI. We kind of knew the JMI deal, which is why would an athletics department at any university want to handcuff your coaches when it comes to recruiting the best players possible for your athletic program? And I would also think, and this is why I think JMI, could and should change it. It's in JMI's best interest for Kentucky to be good at sports. Amen. If you're a business and you want to make money, we better win.

So at some point they may just have to sit back and go, from a business perspective, this is not working. Right. Right. So that's why I think it is fixable. But talk about the Pope thing for a second. That was, it was damning to just kind of see it in black and white that it's not a coincidence. They don't have anybody signed in this class because they had interviews with people that

they had been recruiting that said the Pope, one, won't divulge the amount of the NIO money that they wants to give him. Two, kind of seemed like the fact that you should play at Kentucky because it says Kentucky in the jersey instead of the money, that ship is sailed. Those days are no longer around. You can get some, to me, Kentucky is like in baseball, tie goes to the runner, right? If you're offering the same amount of money, you go to Kentucky because this is awesome. But you've got to get to the point that tie goes to the runner.

like you got to get to the point that it's a tie because if it's not a tie then they're going to do something else you know so there's one quote in there the guy's like I don't give a bleep about where they got all that yeah what's what's he getting paid

also Mark's a control freak and I know that because I'm a control freak cow was a control freak most people that are really successful in things like are control freaks not all but most and what's hard for a control freak is when one of the things you're responsible for,

you ain't the best at do it. Because control freaks believe they're good at everything. And sometimes you have to realize, like, this might not be my strength. And I have to give up control of that. And that's hard for folks. It was hard for Cal to give up the control of the media, public narrative because he thought he understood everything,

and then by the end he kind of didn't. It may be the case that Pope's got to give over the reins of this recruiting thing, because it just isn't his strength when it comes to the closing the deal part. Yeah, the article talked about him being, getting emotional. You know, his emotions get in the way. You're trying to, you know, lock down. Sometimes that, like sometimes you have to know.

I get emotional. I get worked up. Maybe I got to let somebody who doesn't do that. Right. You know? So as a GM, the answer to solve some of those. I think it is the answer. I think it's the exact answer.

And we'll talk a little bit more about that. in just a second. 859, 280, 2287. Text machine is 772-745-254. We'll be right back. KSR. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

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He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted. this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some

playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the car. Get your ass up and down the court and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast,

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8592-2-8027-87. Text machine 772-754. One person writes, Matt, it has been said the godfather was Saddam Hussein's favorite movie. Well, he's not the only one. There's a lot of people. I mean, you know, you don't have to just put it to Saddam Hussein. Ane. There were other people.

Do they put that on a sticker on the DVD? Well, he said, Saddam Hussein's favorite. I don't know. I feel like that's not the only one. He's allowed to like a movie, right?

Yes. One person writes, Matt, Utah signed a deal for private equity. Is that like what Kentucky did? No, but it's really complicated. And I was going to talk about that today,

but there's other stuff. Part of this, like, you almost now have to have an NBA to understand what teams are, what everybody's doing in college sports. But Utah's is different. Utah's the thing I told you like,

somebody's going to cross a line and take private equity money and who would have thought Utah, all those Mormons would be the first one to do it, but they did. And that's a separate conversation maybe we'll get into in the future. You ask me about if Mark Pope should get a GM. Whether it's a GM or just somebody else, he needs to have somebody else do the contract negotiation.

Again, I can only relate stuff to like my life. Like Drew knows this. when it comes to some business things, I get worked up sometimes. And I realize, you know what, I'm a hubby. That's part of the reason of hubby, my co-owner. He does some of that. Like, he does our taxes because I don't like to. And then he does some of those negotiations because I don't want my temper to get frustrated.

So I hand those to him. Mark needs that, it looks like. I mean, I didn't know this until Jack and Jacob, but they had multiple people tell them this. This wasn't one person. This was multiple people. So at some point, I think there has to be some validity to it, or else you're not going to get the same story. And we don't have anything against Mark.

We want Mark to succeed. But if multiple people are saying that, maybe you've got to listen to it, right? Oh, this goes back months. You know, I'll see Jacob at something. You know, we're in group texts. I'm like, what's going on? I'm like, man, the buzz around Pope and recruiting isn't good out there right now. I've been hearing that for a long time.

Nothing too detailed. But, you know, exactly what's in that story. That's the reputation that's been very. brewing for a while because they go to these events Jacob was just in a small one in Owensboro I mean if there's a recruiting event we're most likely have someone there being a part of it and that's not just watching the guys on

the court that's talking to agents, coaches parents, it's a big networking thing and they didn't just pop this story up overnight. That's been brewing for a long time. And look at the national people who when they put it out retweeted it and said nice job guys because they know it's true too. I mean this has been the

reputation of what's been going on. Now, Jay and Lyndon asked, is that a hard story to write because you're worried UK is going to be mad? Well, first of all, I didn't write it. So I know Jacob and Jack, they were nervous about it. I talked a lot to Jacob especially, and he was like, you know, my sign in my career over, putting my name on this. And I said, listen, man, if it's true, it's true. And you may get some negative pushback, but surprisingly he really hasn't.

It feels like fans wanted to hear this. I thought it would actually be more negative reaction than it's been. I think it takes a lot of courage with those guys. The folks at the UK are not going to be thrilled. Now, I will note, nobody called me to refute any of this, which I find interesting. Usually, sometimes within minutes of me saying or something made on KSR's faults, I'll get a comment.

I haven't heard a thing. I asked Mitch to come on the show. I haven't gotten an answer back yet. Hopefully you'll get one today. But I don't think there's people who are thinking this is made up. Because we haven't heard one pushback yet. So I think Jacob and Jack, they worked on this a long time, and they know the ramifications of putting their name on this.

So that's why I supported them when they did it. The timing of the article, I think, also affects a lot of us, because instead of being 10-0, we're 6 and 4, I think we are right now. Yeah. If we were 10-0, maybe they would get some pushback on it, you know. That's probably true. Well, but if it were 10-0 and we had recruits for next year, we wouldn't need to write it.

Yeah, right. It's not coincidental that we have nobody signed up in this class. I mean, for people, and there were only a few people, but for people who questioned it, I would ask them this. How do you explain the fact that all the top programs have players signed but us? North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Yukon, Allt, Michigan. They all have their top high school recruits signed. They're like three top players left, and they're the three players we spent the most time on.

How do you explain that then? You don't know, it's just a weird coincidence? Or maybe is this stuff actually legitimate? And we keep in it up in the top three. We keep being the hat on the table. It makes you wonder if kids just know, I'll just get involved with Kentucky and drag them along. But maybe you do that because they know Kentucky's not organized in this.

That's what I mean. And they'll drive up the cost because they don't really know what's going on. You know, a lot of times people are going into broadcasting and asked me, should I get an agent? And my answer used to be no. Like, I'm a lawyer. I don't need other people to do it. This is a true story.

I was about to sign to do Hey, Kentucky with WLEX. And I was like, I'll do my own negotiation. I don't need you. I can read the contract. I got offered an amount of money. My agent called me up and said, let me do that contract for you. I was like, man, I don't need you to do it. I'm good.

He's like, let me do it. Two days later, he called me and goes, I got a deal for you. And it was twice as much money if I'd signed myself. Why? Because he knew the market rate, and I did not. I was coming in blind and just thinking about what I would do, and he knew what this job was worth. I kind of wonder, does Mark Pope have somebody that knows what these players are worth? Because we're not getting it right. We'll take a break. I'll be right back. Kentucky Sports Radio. T.J. Smith, personal injury attorney. Call T.J., he'll make them pay.

Now, more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones. This was great intro music for Shane O'Mac. That's right. Don't you think? This was a really good song. That's right. And come out skipping. Yeah.

Dude, you know, I always talk about how sons screw up their dad's thing. Shane O'Mac may be a little bit of an exception, because he surprisingly was a good wrestler. You know what I mean? Like, he produced entertaining matches even though you wouldn't have thought so. And now his son-in-law is pretty much running. Yeah. WWE Triple H.

And he seems like both of them might have been better. people than their dad was in hindsight. Maybe. I think it's more than maybe. I don't think it's, I think it's probably true. One person says, Matt, it's rich for you to say you didn't have anything to do with the story. You own the KSR brand and everything it does. I do not own the website.

I don't own the website on three does. I do, they pay me a little bit to be a consultant. And so I do give them my opinion on some. of this stuff, but ultimately they get to do what they want. And so I didn't know this was coming, but I intentionally said, like, I want, you guys are going to have to deal with the ramifications, meaning on three, so like you all should put it out. So I, I knew it was coming. They asked me a couple of questions about, like, advice and how it should be put out, but I actually did not read it. And that's why I was kind of surprised about the Pope thing, because I didn't know that

was going to be in there. I thought it was going to be mostly based around the JMI contract thing. The Pope thing, Drew, I didn't know until I read it. Yeah, I sat by Jacob Tuesday night for a little bit at the game, and he showed me a few paragraphs where he was working on it. But the overall story, I was like everyone else when it dropped. Heck, we were in the middle of cover zero when it dropped. Yeah, I was probably late to read it. That's right.

Yeah, a lot of that was new to me. I have one more question before you move on. Yeah. About Pope. You kind of hit on it right before the break there right there, that he doesn't know the market for his players. They both overpays and underpays. How can you be so analytical and so.

in tune with today's college basketball and not know the market of the players you're recruiting. It's a good question. I mean, some people, like, I'm not good with money. Like, I don't, it doesn't, hubby's always getting on me. He's like, you do, you don't, I don't spend it, but I just like, I'm not good with, like, I don't, it's just not my strength. Maybe that's Mark. Maybe Mark's strength is basketball.

but his strength is not contract negotiation, which are two completely different sets of skills. Andy, we knew this coming in. He's never had to recruit talent at this level. That's true. That's another thing. At BYU, I mean, it was a completely different kind of recruitment. So even leave aside NIL, just recruiting top talent is brand new.

I think that's a great point. He's never had to recruit these kind of guys. You know, at BYU, if you grow up Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints, maybe playing at BYU is the dream in a way that it's not. not for, you know, and maybe it's the dream for Jasper Johnson and Mike and Malacow Marino because they're from here. But like when you get out of that, can you close one of these? And he still hasn't.

He's still not yet closed any top recruit that's not from here. He still hasn't. And even the transfer portal stuff, he's gotten really good guys. But he's still not gotten a dude yet in the top 10 in the transfer. fur portal. The highest one he got was Jackson Robinson, but he already had him from BYU, right? He already had that connection.

So he still hasn't gotten one of the main, main guys. I think they could squash a little of the fire if he got one of these recruits to commit like this week. And maybe that's what they do. Maybe they like give us all a deep breath and sign one of these top guys. Maybe some of them should have already been signed. Some of them were ready to sign and that just the complication. with all this push him away.

Caleb Wilson was a big miss in the last cycle, but it still lives in my head. Like the day before his recruitment, they said, what's your dream five in college basketball? He's like, I'd love to play with Jasper Johnson, Valacomarino, a Caden Lewis, and, like, Otega O'Oway, next to a horse park, if you could find a place for that. And then he picked UNC like four hours later because that's just how it works, that the biggest offer is going to win out. 859-28027. One person writes, Matt, why do you always say tie goes to the runner? That's not a rule. Stop saying that.

Is that not a rule? I always have heard that in baseball. Is that not a rule? That's how I've always heard it. Shannon, is that not a rule? It's always been, well, I mean, it's at least been a myth. I don't know if it's always true. So is it a myth, though?

Is it not real? Does Todd not go to the runner? I thought my whole life, if it's a tie at first base, runner gets to be safe. But it might not. But this person saying it's not true. Okay, let's Google it here. Yeah, let's Google it. It says, no, the popular phrase, tie goes to the runner is a baseball myth.

Are you kidding me? I've been saying that all these years, And Ty doesn't go to the runner? No official rule saying so in reality. Unbelievable. Wow. Tye doesn't go to the run. If the runner and ball arrive at the same exact time, the runner is out.

Oh, so tie actually goes to the fielder. That's right. So the myth is completely not only not true, it's 100% false. According to Google, you know more than the internet. I do know more than the internet, though. We've heard that. Wow. That's surprising to me.

I've always heard that, and I guess it's 100% false. Tide does not go to the runner, and Don Colion gets shot 30 minutes in the movie. My whole day is just blown away. I have just shot. Spoiler alert. Well, I didn't know that. I didn't either. Jay Bateman is the new defensive coordinator at Kentucky.

He was the defensive coordinator last year at Texas A&M, and now he comes to Kentucky. At Texas A&M, apparently he was a defensive coordinator, but Mike Elko, the coach, was kind of, of in charge, you know, it was one of those situations probably like Will Stein will be with our offensive coordinator here where, because he's an offensive guy, he was the main guy, Elko was the main defensive guy, even though Bateman was a defensive coordinator. I have to think, Drew, he's leaving a playoff team to come to Kentucky so that he can do his

own thing since he probably wasn't able to do that at A&M. I know nothing about the guy except A&M's in the playoff. Their fans seem to not love him, but at the same time, they're in the play. so I'm not going to complain. What do you think about the hire? You know, I'm with you. I don't know everything about every coordinator, but I love that so far, you know, hey, we've hired Will Stein from Oregon who's in the playoff. Your defensive coordinators have come from a playoff team. Even though LSU didn't have a good year, your offensive coordinator is LSU. I mean, you're taking guys from some big time operations, and I think that's a big benefit. And Bateman, he was at Army a long time. I think he did a little dipped in his toe into Florida for a couple years. Luckett's been, if it's not out yet, he's doing a deep dive on him. Seems like he's kind of an aggressive play caller. Yeah, that's the thing that you read about him. He's very aggressive.

He likes to get at the quarterback, believes in causing a lot of turnovers. Seems like we're continuing to do the opposite of what we did last time. Brad White was very much a bend don't break, so now they're bringing in a guy who's going to go after people. Like I said, I don't know nothing about this guy. I know people are a little concerned that he had not already hired a defensive coordinator thinking that maybe he's such a an offensive guy, they're going to try to win games 42 to 40 or something like that. But now we're bringing a defensive guy that is legit. And I think you hit on it.

I think he wants to call his own plays, be his own guy, not a coach under the shadow of somebody. Yeah. We're just coming from winning cultures where you're used to winning games and a loss sucks because you don't do it often. Like they're going to come in here with expectations that Kentucky needs to win. We have some breaking news. Running on nah! The lawsuit between NASCAR and Michael Jordan has been settled. with just a day left in the trial.

That tells me NASCAR thought they were going to lose. So they went ahead and settled it. And that was an antitrust case. That may completely change the way NASCAR does its entire thing. And I bet it will because the court would not let them settle it unless they did that. So I think NASCAR was about to lose. And so now they'll probably make it.

You know, the way NASCAR's done it is they only have so many teams that they give out. I bet now there'll be a freeze for all. And if you want to enter the race, you can. Let's do it. KS car. KS car? Let's do it. All right.

So is that Bobby Cope guy still drive? We can put him on our team. Derek. Derek Cope. He's probably in his 60s now. I don't know if we want to put him. I don't know if we want to put him out there. Who's up first, Shannon?

Denny. Denny. Go ahead, Denny. Yeah, good morning. Good morning. Can I go back over to the GM, I think, for just a moment. Yes, of course. There was an article written on a sea of blue approximately two weeks ago.

The title was something along the lines of the rot within the UK athletics and they pointed out specifically and I think this may have been brought up in the pre-show that the person doing the negotiations was married to the person on jama who's doing negotiations yeah I don't think that's a hundred percent I don't think that's a hundred percent accurate it's well it's a little accurate so there is a person that works at UK that is in the administration relatively high up who is married to someone that works at JMI who is basically a salesperson, one of the kind of primary salespeople. I think that's an issue that probably should UK should address and just talk about because I understand why people think that's a thing. I don't think it's

fair to say it's the head of negotiation for UK or the head of negotiation for JMI. The woman at UK, I think, is relatively high up. I don't think that's necessarily true about the person at JMI. So I think the way it was characterizing that article is the head negotiator for UK and the head negotiator for JMA. That's not how it would characterize. With that said, if you have two people working at these companies, working in these business things who are married, understandably, people are going to have that question, and I do think

UK should address it, and I'm surprised they haven't, to be honest, and that's part of their sort of not talking about this stuff that is a little bit frustrating. But does that answer your question? Yeah, it does, but I just have a brief follow-up. Okay. In that article also, they implied that this lady that we're discussing was probably going to be the heir apparent to Mitch Barnhart. Yeah, I don't think that's true.

I don't think that's true either. I think that's unlike. I remember a few years ago, you were advocate for a TV being his replacement. Yeah, I don't think that's likely. But I will say, and I appreciate the call, it is perfectly legitimate to see those two people and say, hey, someone needs to explain this, but I also think if you're going to be fair,

I wouldn't characterize the person that works at JMI is one of the head and the go, I don't think that's true. So that's the best way I can put that. Do you agree with that sentiment? Yeah, and there's an easy way to put it into this. It's just... Yeah.

That's the case on a lot of that. Mitch doesn't have to answer for anything. As a matter of fact, it's more likely to me that neither of those people were involved in the negotiations than they both were. But UK should address it, just like UK should address all of this stuff.

The fact that they have kept silent on this, and they haven't explained to people how it works, and they've never done anything except yell at people when they've asked, is part of the reason we're in this situation of people not knowing. And as I've said a million times, people will fill the void with noise. They will. So if UK and JMI wonder why people have brought up this marriage, it's because you haven't said anything about it.

Just say it. Yeah, I'm glad you cleared it up because that's getting a lot of traction right now. That little issue seems to be on a lot of people's minds concerning this contract. You wouldn't want to wait until tip off to buy tickets, so why wait until January to plan your remodel? Estate renovations is already filling up spots for January and February. The earlier you get into a design agreement, the earlier you'll be enjoying your brand new kitchen. your bathroom or your whole home makeover. Planning now means you don't get stuck in the back of the line.

Check them out at estaterrinos.com. That's estate renos.com slash KSR. Estate Renovations. Beat the rush and enjoy the win at Estate Renovations. We'll take a break. Be right back. It's KSR. Last night, a blown call changed the game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode we're cutting through the noise. breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions,

the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to 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 rapidly. up in the chase, that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing, and we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about.

How healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, fam, it's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game.

His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin. and Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall.

And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He run up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball like,

after you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th.

And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom. I want you to wave at her. What?

Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, Brett, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back. It is Kentucky Sports Radio 859-280-2287.

We're opening here in 10 minutes for lunch. Join us. We're going to now be here tomorrow as well. We were supposed to be in Somerset, but they are predicting snow, so we are postponing the trip to Somerset. So we will be here tomorrow as well if you would like to come on Friday? A lot of people always ask, will you ever be at the bar on Friday? We're not usually, but we will be this week. A rare Friday during the season show here at KS. Bar tomorrow. That's exactly right. So you can do that. 859-280-2287. Let me read you a couple questions. One person writes, Matt, ultimately, I want to know if you think you guys help Kentucky sports. Kentucky sports media and the fans on here make things 10 times worse than they are. Do you want to help UK or win or not? Well, first of all, yes, this job is a lot easier when UK wins than it is when it loses. When UK wins, everyone's happy.

We have a ton of fun. More people come to eat at the restaurant. More people are happy. More people do everything. So yes, of course we want them to win. Same time, I don't work for the University of Kentucky, right? So I, in my opinion, I work for the fans. And I think sometimes people miss the response with the Piper's call.

When we started criticizing Cal, it wasn't because we didn't like Cal, it was because we were losing. Right? And when we started losing in the COVID year, I didn't play one game, Drew. Did you? No. I felt like I could have a couple times. No, I mean, like, I had nothing to do with that. Same thing with stoops and the same thing with this.

So what I would say to you about the article yesterday from Jacob and Jack is, if you saw that every major program in the country has gotten a top commit in high school, and Kentucky hasn't, and you weren't curious, then good for you. But most people were curious. And most people wondered why it was. And I would argue you're a lot better off. knowing than not knowing. And now you know. And then the

second question of do you think you're helping? In my opinion, this is just my opinion, I could be wrong, there's a better chance UK changes this stuff now than they did yesterday. Because now there will be pressure for it to change.

Now there's going to be people go, hey, is this really how we're doing this? Is this really? And maybe UK says they're wrong. We don't need to do it. And I would say, all right, then go sign your guys, and there won't be anything to worry about.

So, you know, I mean, this platform is loud. I grant you that. But do you all think we're the only people wondering what's going on? The only difference between us and these other shows is more people listen. But like they say the same stuff. It's just they get mad, Ryan, at us because it's louder. There is a problem. There's an issue right now.

We're discussing it, analyze it, analyzing it, trying to figure out how to make it better. So yes, we want this to work because it benefits all of us, our whole fan base, not just our business prospect, but as a fan base. We want to break it down and analyze it and trying to find a solution to make it better. Let's talk for just a second, Drew, the volleyball games today at 3.30. Yeah.

They play Cal Poly. Remember my scouting report? What was it? I gave it to you. First of all, you realize. Well, no, that's actually not true. Never mind. I thought you were wearing Cal Poly colors.

They're good at blocking. Oh, yeah, you're breaking down the analysis of Cal Poly volleyball. They're the lowest-ranked team still in the tournament. 12-seat. Those are the ones you've got to look out for. You've got to watch out for them. With the second high seed, it's at 3.30. It's on ESPN2.

We'll have it on here at the bar, or you can go to the game. Do you feel confident today to get to the Elite 8? Which, by the way, is Saturday, not Friday. I got that wrong. I do, but we're at the stage. overlooking anybody. I sure they might not have a little number next to them on the bracket but they already took out what the second and third-seated teams in the region they did one team at a time survive in advance yes I feel good but we have to

respect Cal Poly and go in with our best stuff every time where is Cal Poly in California that's true I know there's not a state called Polly but where I couldn't top of my head let's look at it what does the Polly stand for Polly Technic California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. I was going to say that before I looked it up. What does something mean to be polytechnical? I know what technical means.

Like, what? Multiple technical? You may be right about that. It is the oldest of the three polytechnic universities in California. So there are other colleges. So is this Cal Poly San Obispo? and they just go by Cal Poly? Because I feel like there used to be a school that had Santa Beespo in it.

I'm doing this on the flop, but I think you're onto something. Did it used to be called Cal Poly, Santa Beaspo? Their actual Wikipedia page says California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. That's like the title of the university. So maybe you've heard it shouldn't. I think one year, I could be crazy about this. But I think they made the NCAA tournament and basketball. And I think their name was like Cal Poly San Luis

It was like C.P. Slow. And then people were like, we can't keep calling at that. And maybe they just went with Cal Poly. Because I know I've heard of San Luis Obispo. I hadn't until you started talking about it. And that does kind of ring a bell. Because there's no way I would know the city San Luis Obispo. If they had not been in the tournament or something.

Yeah. I think this school used to be called C.P. slow. I can't argue against it. I don't think there had to be another school there. They're going to be slow today. They're going to lose. But they got to watch. They block. Watch the blocks. Watch the blocks. Are you going to watch the blocks?

I am going to watch the blocks. We'll take a break. Come back. Hour number two. Take your calls. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help

make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and headwriter Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where 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 Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.

This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office, Blue, 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Why are we all so obsessed with romance. On the Radio 831 podcast, join us, Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall, as we unpack all the trending tropes, fuzzy adaptations, book talk drama, and celebrity love stories with hot takes and sharp guests. Each episode digs into what these stories reveal about desire,

fantasy, identity, and how we love now. Listen to the Radio 831 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.