KSR - 2026-01-07- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

Matt, Ryan, and Shannon talk Kentucky vs. Missouri, college football transfer portal news, and your calls.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Now, here's Matt Jones. Welcome, everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio Wednesday. January the 7th. I am Matt Jones here at the KS Bar and Grill where it is Wings Day and it is also game day, dollar wings all day and night, but also a big game tonight as Kentucky plays Missouri. Got some folks here from Franklin County, Casey County, and you can give you a shout on the Clark's Puppet Shop phone line 859-280-2287. AVision auto glass text machine is 772-77524 in this edition sponsored by the T.J. Smith Law Office, if you call T.J. he'll make them pay.

Ryan, it was nice. You came in this morning. You brought me some sissy cakes from Louisville. They sent you two orange juice cakes and two chocolate chip cakes, and they wanted you to try them. Okay, first of all, stop. Stop right there. Shannon, he's already lying. I gave him a chance to tell the truth.

Yeah. He's already lying. I didn't lie. There's two orange juice cakes and there's two chocolate chip cakes. So they gave us eight cakes to try, Shannon. Including they have the orange juice cake, which I just ate about four bites of and is excellent. It's unbelievable. Like when people talk about that this orange juice cake, sissy cakes, this is Will Stein's mom.

Yes. It is really like orange juice. Like, it's the juice. juiciest cake I've ever had in my life. So, like, sissy cake, Willstein's mom's name is what again? Deborah. Deborah. Debra.

Debbie. Debbie. We do have Debbie. That's right. Stephen Wilson was wrong. She's over 40, though. She is over 40, though, probably. But anyway, great cake.

You said they still have orders backed up. They had boxes on the table of people who ordered after hearing her on the show and all the media exposure they got when Will Stein was hired. They've not caught up yet with all the, orders people sent in. So very nice for Debbie Stein, and the cakes are good and I'm going to eat these. Now, Shannon, Ryan is lying because she sent two boxes.

Okay, one box was the famous orange juice cake. Yeah. But they've created another box, Shannon, a new kind of cake, a big blueberry cake for the University of Kentucky, right? Big blueberry. Yeah, yeah. So they give one box of the big blueberry

cakes. So that's really cool because then, like, he could bring them in. You could try them? I could eat one orange juice, one blueberry. He could have one of each. Mario could have one of each. Right, that's the idea. When he comes in here,

the orange juice cakes, there are four, which is how big the box is. But he brings in the blueberry cake, Shannon, and they've already eaten all the blueberry cakes. He and his family. He and his family ate all of them.

But he did bring in the box to taunt me to show me where there were Blueberry cake. Two pieces. No, no, no. Okay, now stop. This is what he left. There are four cakes.

He put his grubby, dirty paws and ate three and a half of them while leaving, Shannon. I should send you this. Yeah, I want to see the picture. Two bites of one cake, and it's not even been cut. It generally looks like he just took his hands and stuck them in. You know, Ryan didn't wash his hands either. Don't tell him what those hands have been. And he also, the way these cakes work, like, there's a topping.

He gives me the bottom half. It's like the muffin without the top. Are you surprised, first of all? I'm not. Remember that Seinfeld episode where they only wanted to sell the tops of mutts? Yeah, the muffins. He just is selling the bottom of muffins. That's the worst part.

That's the worst part. So, first of all, thank you to Debbie Stein and Sissy. I'm Blakey. Our hope is to maybe have these in the bar by the end of the month. People can come here and get when they eat. If Ryan doesn't eat them all before they get there. But that's the thing. I don't know if we can order.

Ryan will just bring his family and Josiah's girlfriend and like seven goober friends and give them all the food. How do you not save me one? There were eight slices in that box. Eight there were eight of them, Shannon. And his family ate all of them. You got two left. We saved you two slices. Those are not.

They're little slices. It's not a slice when you've eaten half of it. I don't know where your hands have been. Nobody touched those slices. They're still good for you to eat. Let me tell you something. You want to eat it. Do you think the orange juice cake is good?

I wanted to eat it when it was clean. This go big blueberry bread is really good. Really good. Well, I did eat some of the orange juice cake. You liked it, too, didn't you? It was very good. It was very good. All right, well.

I'll take your word for it because I didn't get any either. Yeah, we're not going to know. We're not going to know. If you don't eat those, I'm going to eat them for sure. Yeah, well, that's clear you've already eaten them. How's the weight loss go going this year? I've lost the weight. Yeah, I'm doing good so far.

I'm going to stay with it. Resolutions off to a great start. Is that going well? Going well. I may blow it today and some of the Go Big blueberry bread. All right, so the pregame show today will start at 4.30. We're going to do it here from the show for Kentucky, Missouri. Come on by and see us on your way to the game.

Should be a fun night. Ryan, a couple things before we get to the basketball game tonight. I went ahead and I posted one of the two ESPN pictures. I saw that. And people are having a lot of fun with that picture, putting it through AI. Well, but people think it's A. It's not AI. The original you posted.

That's me. That's the real photo, the ESPN photographer. Which goes to show you that if you don't dress up every day, when you do, people think you must be computer generating. Oh, yeah. You set the bar so low. There's no way you actually have like a nice sweater on. There's no way Matt has a sweater that doesn't have a logo. That couldn't happen.

No hoodie. But I can attest that's the original photo you showed us yesterday, the one you posted. Yes. And the one that we voted for. We liked that one the best. Well, because you'd think the other one... Now, I showed the other one to people, and they say it looks great. They're like, they were mad at you for telling me not to post that.

No, they're lying to you. You probably showed it to some women. I actually did show it to women. They liked it. That's a good picture of you. Isn't that the point? I'm not trying to win you. You're trying to win listeners to your radio show.

Okay, well, that may be true. Yeah. I agree with you maybe that. I'm not sure either of these are. perfect for a sports website. Yeah, which is kind of the goal, the ESPN wants. But I think they're going to use the one with the hat and the sweater. It's a good picture.

At some point, I may have to do a shoot with Myron so that the two of us are in it together. And we said we like the one where you're standing, you know, the quote-unquote action shots where you're standing. That's not really action. I didn't post that one. It's action. Did you like how people were taking their own liberties and putting stuff along there? Well, it was funny. Did you see Shannon, a kid has already recreated the puzzle?

Yeah, a middle school kid. A middle school kid. Apparently, according to his mother, the middle school kid looked at the picture, and I guess thought it was funny again because he thinks I don't dress like that. Yeah. And he recreated the picture, and it's actually, that's, to be fair, really funny. And he's dressed how you normally dress. He's dressed like I would normally, except he's wearing pajama bottoms.

Maybe that's what he thinks I wear, too. The Kentucky hat and everything. So, well, anyway, so we did that. And then, I want to give you one. One, because I like to give shouts out to places, Shannon. I want to give a shout out to a place in Louisville. Okay? I, you know, I walked, I told you I walked to El Nepal the other day.

I walked downtown and I ate it a Vietnamese restaurant last night. Okay. Called, Shannon, I believe it's called Moondog. I'm not to look that up. Which doesn't seem like a Vietnamese term, but I think they call it moon dog. All right. And I'm sure there are people who already know about it. I didn't know about it.

I literally was just walking and hit the thing that said, show me a restaurant close to here, and there it was. Maybe the best, certainly the best Vietnamese food I've had in Kentucky, but one of the better meals I've had. Really? They have these, like, noodles that they make themselves with the sauce. And I think I just discovered a gym. It's like about a two-and-a-half-mile walk from my house,

so it's like a good walk there and back. Butchertown, is that it? Yeah, it's in Butchertown. Yeah. It's called Moondog. Small. Small. And there was a lot of people there, so it's not like I'm the only person that, I mean, clearly people know that place exists.

But I would highly recommend it. You like to find those little small mom-and-pop type restaurants. This one looks like it's kind of hipstery. But I would just say to you, to just come upon a place, I was very impressed. Very cool. A little expensive, but like it's worth it. If the food's good. If the food is good.

All right. UK and Missouri tonight. game down here at Rupp Arena. I have a couple thoughts about it. First of all, somebody asked me yesterday, where would you rank this Kentucky team in terms of how good you think they are vis-a-vis, let's say, every team since Cal got here?

And my initial reaction is, well, we're better than the COVID team. And I think we're probably better than the Nirlins-Nueli. team when Nerlins was hurt. When he wasn't hurt, I think that Nerlins team was better. But when Nerlands was hurt, towards the

end of that year, we're probably better than them. But then I was like, okay, well, what are the next worst teams? And you know, you probably would take maybe, I don't know, what are the next worst teams? Because we had a lot of good ones for a long time, even though they were disappointing

in the tournament. I guess the team that lost to Kansas State in the second round, you the second Oscar team. Yeah. I don't know. The year after COVID, right? The year, what were we talking about?

You know, the next season. Was that Oscar's first year? But we were like a two seed that year, even though we, I mean, like, we shouldn't lost to St. Peters. We forget about the fact that we lost to St. Peters. You know, and then I was like, I don't know, maybe all the other teams, including last year's teams, are better than this one. But one of the things that defined a lot of those teams,

they would lose games on the road, but you always won at home. Right, you win at home. If you're going to be a team that goes to the tournament and has any chance of doing anything, you win at home, losing that Alabama, I think I told you, a national championship team could lose into Alabama. Easy. Now, not the way we did, but you could lose that game.

But you went at home. And specifically, you went at home against a team like Missouri. Now, a lot of people focused on Missouri beat Florida. That's very true. But let's go look at a couple of their other results. They went on the road, Illinois, who on paper should be about like us. And they lost by 45 points. Missouri lost by 45 points at Illinois.

They haven't won a true road game all year. Right. So if you're going to be anything, you've got to win this game. We are now a 13-and-a-half-point favorite. That strikes me as high Things a lot really high I'm surprised at that That strikes me as high

But at least the people who build those big casinos in Vegas We opened at 12 and a half, right? So the money's actually gone to us We should win tonight I don't really care if we win by 13 a half But we should win What do you think? I did my show prep listening to Leetraport this morning

And he had the play-by-play guy on from Missouri who said they were a lot like Kentucky, whereas at the Florida game, they got one of their starters back for the first time. Oh, they did? For the first time against Florida. Okay, I didn't know that. And a second starter just came back like three games ago. So you're saying the team that lost Illinois by 45, not the same time?

That's what he was saying. He said, this is a totally different team. They're finally at full strength. I said, well, that kind of sounds familiar. Well, that sounds like a reason to bet to get the 13 and a half, Shannon. I already have. Already have. Oh, wait, you're betting Missouri?

Well, with the 13 and a half, I'm not, yeah, I'm not betting them to win, but I'll take the 13 and a half points. What a traitor. You've done the same thing. Don't act like you don't. I don't even know. You probably already have that too. I thought about it. I didn't, but I thought about it.

So to me, you know, Mo Diabate had some quotes yesterday, and I think I'm going to talk about this in the next segment. I'm not sure whether to interpret, like they can be read one of two ways. and people are kind of reading them one of two ways. But whichever way you want to read it, he clearly said, we did not do prepare for this game the way we should have. Depending on how you read it, you could read it as an indictment of the players or the coaches depending on how you want to read it.

I tend to think he was talking about the players, but there are people who read it like he was talking about the coaches. I think that's wrong, but I can see how they read it that way. But either way, he acknowledged we were not ready for this game. we better be ready for this one than I took it as the players also you know I took it as the play I did too you know you had two people online took it as the coaches you had two weeks to get ready for a team and you know exactly what they do then you know exactly how they play and that's his old team how could he not lead a group of guys get ready to play alabama him I probably kind of

blame him he's allegedly one of their leaders you're going back to your old stopping grounds how can you not get your team ready and prepare the way you're supposed to play your old team maybe his teammates wouldn't listen to him maybe that comes down to the team chemistry I mean, he's the one that points it out. Why are you blaming him? I kind of point the finger at him. That's the Mo Diabate game. Well, it's interesting.

So you blame Diabate. I do. I kind of read it as blaming the rest of the team. And then there are people out there who read it as him blame the coaches. So I don't know. But either way, this game tonight is, I don't want to say make or break, but kind of make or break. LSU was down at 1.40 or something last night at home, I think. We play them in a week.

Play Mississippi State Saturday, who might be the first. the worst team in the conference. You better win these next three games. I don't care if they get down again by 20 in the first half. I don't care if they win by one point, as long as they win this game tonight. I do care if they get down by 20. We can't keep getting down by 20. But we do need to win.

I think this is a very, very big game tonight. And I thought this was a gimmie three weeks ago. Not anymore. And I do think it is a huge game. 859-28027. We'll take a break. We'll talk about the Diabote quotes. There's also been a lot of football commitments.

and we will go over some of what has happened in that regard. That's next year, our KISO. 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.

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Mag it is Kentucky Sports Radio 859-2-80-2287. Text machine 772-7-7-4-5-2524. One person writes, Matt, you say we're elite teams don't lose at home. We've already lost at home to North Carolina, which was a bad loss. I think that's our worst loss of the season. North Carolina, however, though, is a tournament team, is good. you still shouldn't lose it. We didn't have all our players.

Jalen Lowe didn't play that game, I don't think. Still shouldn't lost. But that's a little different to me than if you lose this one. Because this one, this is the middle of the pack SEC team. You can't lose to middle of the pack SEC teams at home. Yeah, and the way this season is designed where a lot of your tough games are on the road, you need to win all your home games. Yeah.

All right, so here's what Diabate said. I feel like the game could have. have been a lot better if we'd made more of an emphasis on the scout. The way they played, I was kind of expecting that in a way because I played for Oates at Alabama. I was expecting a lot of threes, a lot of flare screens going into the game. I feel like we could have emphasized that more being on the catch, knowing they're an isolation team being in the gaps early to build out. The most frustrating part was seeing that we could have done a better, could have done better at the scouting report. It feels like they were doing the same things over and over. Just thinking we could

have done a lot better on the defensive side with the attention to detail on the personnel we should have taken it more seriously. Now I think people have been hyping on that we could have done better on the scouting report but then he ends it by saying we could have taken it more

seriously which I read is saying he didn't think the players took the scouting report seriously not that the scouting report itself was bad. That's how I read it. That's exactly how I read it. Same way. More on the players. Some people think that the line, I feel like we could have done better,

emphasized that a lot more in the scout, maybe suggests he thinks the scouting report should have been. So I can see how you do it the other way, but I tend to think he was talking about the player. He did, however, though, it's clear he wasn't, it's clear he didn't mind critiquing his coaches because he did say he thought low and Quentin should start. Yes, he did. Which you don't usually see players do that. that, he did say, I kind of hope they start low in Quintons. He's a guy that's not afraid to speak his mind. He's from New York.

He's going to tell you what he thinks. And I think he's kind of a little bit of a leader. And if he's saying that, he's not the only one that feels that. I'm telling you in that locker room. So I don't think he was throwing the coaches in the bus. I do think, though, by saying I think Lowell and Quentin should start, it's clear, like, it's clear the players don't think we're doing, at least one player, doesn't think we're doing stuff the right way.

agree with that? I do. And like I said, don't you think there's other people in that locker room that feel the same way he does? Well, that's how all the fans think. Yeah. I mean, all of, I mean, I think all of the fans think that exact thing. So, you know, which gets me to the conversation we had yesterday about day about sort of the Tony Robbins quotes. By the way, who is Mel Robbins? That's a woman, like, she does that? Does she do the same kind of stuff? Is there something about being named Robbins that you just start giving people advice? I guess so. Because Mel Robbins, I see everybody.

She's on my TikTok all the time. Doing self-improvement things. It's like atomic habits or tell people, give me good. Tell yourself each morning things are going well. Okay. You should do that. I should do that. I listen to Marty Robbins.

El Paso? Yeah. Okay. That's what I listen to. Not Amy Robbins. Also, no. Mel. Mel.

Who's Amy? I don't know. It's Mel. Amy Robbins is the one he gave my cakes to. All right, so I do think the combination, a couple people said to me yesterday when I was walking around Louisville and I would talk to Kentucky fans, a couple people said to me, Matt, if you guys who are middle-aged guys,

and I didn't like, by the way, sir, that they called me middle-aged guys. I don't think that's, that may be objectively true, but you don't need to be saying that to people. But he said, if you, as middle-aged guys don't understand what Mark Pope is talking about, what do you think the 18 to 22-year-old kids think? Yoga Girl said the same thing last night. If he's talking to them, the way he's talking on the radio and to Tom Leach, that's not relating. You cannot relate to these 18, 20, 21-year-old guys giving these Tony Robbins quotes.

It is a good point, though. Yeah, it is. Like, if we don't get it, Shannon, how in the world would they get it? I mean, they have to just be like, come on, man. I can't imagine being that age and playing for a coach that's talking in like Shakespeare quotes. Yeah. You know what I mean? I was watching last night Texas A&M in Auburn.

We'll talk about that game in a minute. But Texas A&M's coach is named Bucky. Is that right? I don't know who they're new coach. I think his name's Bucky. Bucky McMillan or something. And I was listening to him and he was being interviewed. And then he put a video out on the plane.

And I just remember thinking this dude sounds so plain spoken. but like you could just tell the players we're eating it up listening to Bucky. And on a personal level, it's just a personal level, I hate self-help. No, I really do. Like, I really hate self-help gurus and self-help. Like, I just, I find it cringy, so cringy. And I love Mark Pope. And I don't want to find Mark.

Pope to be cringy, but it's a little cringy. That stuff, do you know what I mean? Yes. Do you think it's a little, I mean, it's a little cringy, isn't it? And if we take him in his word, he was talking this way where they're breaking down game film. You're supposed to be talking about basketball X and O's, and you're giving these self-help tips during your film breakdown. I mean, if we're all being honest, because this is, we're trying to be honest. We're not just trying to be fake and say we love everything because it's our guy.

Shannon, yeah, let's be real. I bet you hate cringy as much as anything. Oh, yeah, yes, yes. Do you feel that some of those words in that show were cringy? Definitely. And all the beautiful stuff, I mean, that rubbed me the wrong way, too. Everything's beautiful. Everything's delightful.

That's not the real world, man. Remember when we've talked about how, I think part of the way that you communicate nowadays is being real. that just doesn't seem real to me. It seems like, well, maybe the best way I can say it is cringing. And look at your audience. These are some alpha males sitting there in your locker room. I don't know if they can relate. Do you think they're all alpha males?

You think the guy, Jaden Quaints, who plays chess, is an alpha male? I think he's an alpha male. Okay. No, but you're right. I mean, it's a very, like, masculine sport. I don't know. I don't know either, man. I don't know.

Now, of course, we could win tonight. Yes. Win three or four. I mean, the good thing is this schedule is set up. We can go on a little run here. That's right. But we have to win. Have to win the home games.

And I hope the crowd, like, this is a big one. All right, we'll take your calls. Talk a little football. 859-28027. This is KSR. T.J. Smith, personal injury attorney. Call T. He'll make them pay.

Now, more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones. Welcome back, Tucky Sports Radio. Mel Robbins is the let them theory. What is that? I don't know. Something about let them. Huh.

Fascinating. I'm sure it's good. I just, I don't know what it is. I see the book in the bookstore. It's always like when I'm at a bookstore and they'll go top ten books. It's always in the top ten. I think it's just called Let Them.

It's always in the top ten. So, you know, if you're someone on the outside looking in, are there any other coaches that has this approach in the college basketball locker room that you know of? that's a good question have there been really successful college coaches that sound like gurus well cal had a little bit of that but i still think he did it in sort of a plain spoken way but there was a little bit of that like

be your brother's keeper yeah and that stuff not as much as pope though i i can't i mean maybe i don't know was John Wooden like that? Was he kind of like, yeah. I mean, that's before my time. He was pretty successful. No, he's very successful. But I don't know if he like gave. In today's age, I can't come up with one that maybe.

I can't either. But that doesn't mean they're not out there. Maybe somebody can think of one. Who's kind of a, you know, motivational quote guy? I used to work with a guy on the D.C. circuit who every morning, who once a month would cut out. 30 inspirational quotes from a book, and he would then tape them one to his mirror every morning. And I like this guy, but I thought that was the cheesiest thing I'd ever heard.

So he'd come in, and I'd like give him a hard time. I'd be like, so what is it today? And he was like, Vince Lombardi says, look in the mirror, and you see your best weapon. And I'm like, all right, man. Well, we just got to write this opinion today. So let's Mike Leach took an interesting approach to football sometime, but I don't think it was like inspiration

He was more funny. More funny, yeah. All right, well, who's up first, Shannon? Babbo. Babbo. Go ahead, Babbo. Hey, good morning, fellows. Hey, I want to thank especially Ryan and Shannon. I don't believe Matt that you hit on the issue too much,

but for Christmas, the Christmas suggestions, I went out and got Mimi a pair of their mama pavia boots. and you think you already threw a Seinfeld quote out there, yada, yada, yada, tomorrow I'm having a heart procedure. That's all I've got. All righty then. There you go. Quite a phone call.

Didn't see that one. Didn't see that one coming. Yeah, they talked a lot more about Diego Pavi's mom than I did. You guys, I think, covered that territory pretty well. We're in her fan club. There's no doubt. Yeah. I'm a member.

Well, I'll tell you if somebody's successful. successful that's a little bit like that, though, is the quarterback at Indiana. Yeah. He's kind of, he's got a little bit of the Pope. That's a great call. He talks a lot like that. A lot of the interviews he's getting out because he just won the Heisman. And he stares right into the camera when he talks.

I kind of am like, hey man, stop looking at me like that. Like he stares. I've never seen a guy. Have you ever seen a guy do an interview stare directly into the camera more than him? Somebody's told him that's the way to relate to everybody. He doesn't look at the person talking. He looked, but when you're on television, they teach you to look at the person talking. They don't want you to look in the camera.

But he looks in the camera. Who's next? Ed. Ed. Go ahead, Ed. Hey, good morning, guys. What's up? Hey.

Get off your Bluetooth. Now, remember, that's Rule 1 of calling. No Bluetooth. Okay. I'm direct into the, I'm direct now. Thank you. You brought up an interesting point, but that wasn't the point I was going to make. So let me try to make two quick points.

because I was thinking the exact same thing because I've been following UK since Adolf Ruff. And no, there ain't no, there ain't no Mr. Nice Guy coaches. When the battle, when it comes down to life and death, which is what it comes down to on these basketball games, ain't no Mr. Nice guy is winning this stuff. You got to get right up in their grill.

What's your second? My second point is more interest to me is not that we did. a terrible job defending the three. It's what Nate Oats said after the game. When they stay out of Kentucky, he said, look, their assists are fools goals. When Kentucky plays good teams, we hardly have any assists because we don't have a big deal. Yeah, I appreciate the call.

That's a big deal. But here's what I would say. This team's not good enough shooting that if we give up 90, we're not going to beat anybody. No. Last year's team, you could give up 90 and you actually could still win because we could score so much. If we give up 9, this team is not going to win 94 to 93 against somebody good. No. So while I do think Nate Oates was right, we don't pass enough, we don't have enough assists,

if we give up 90, none of that's going to matter. No. Because we can't score 90. I don't think this group, at least regularly, can score 90. That may be the most shocking thing in this team so far is how poor we are defensively. We talked about the preseason and how we thought it was going to be maybe an elite defensive team. and they look good, you know, the second half against St. John's when Waitens came back.

But there are so many issues on defense that I don't know, I don't know how they're going to fix them. All right, so Kentucky football real quick, has signed or has gotten a lot of guys. Yeah, a bunch. They have, well, actually, they just got another one. So how about some breaking news? Running on, nah. Florida starter Jordan Castle is committed to Kentucky. He is a three-year starter for Florida in the secondary.

He was an ESPN freshman All-American, SEC freshman All-American, and he is the second former Florida defensive back to transfer to Kentucky. Man, you know, we're getting these guys from Florida, from Alabama, from Tennessee, other guys that have played, have played the LSU defensive tackle. These guys played in the SEC. So two Florida defensive backs, an offensive lineman from Alabama, A defensive tackle from LSU. They got a running back from Oklahoma.

We're basically just to stop piling the SEC players. Yeah, I know it. They now, I think, have, so they have three offensive linemen, and the offensive linemen for Tennessee, Max Anderson. They right now have the number six class in the portal. Now, it won't finish like that because some of these teams, like in the playoff and stuff, haven't gotten their teams yet. So we're probably projected just looking at it to finish 12th to 15th in the portal.

That's still really good for a team that went five and seven last year and four and eight the year before. One of the things I want to say to fans is sometimes we'll get a commitment. Like the kid from Tennessee, he was ranked as like the number 19 or something interior offensive line. And I saw fans going, 19. What I want to say is, yeah. When was last time we've been the 19th best team?

I'll take him. I mean, we were like one of the worst power five teams in the country last year. What are you talking about 19? We should be dancing for number 19. Absolutely. Right? I mean, that's, we have the number six class in the portal. We have the number one interior offensive linemen in a mayor.

committed here. The number 10 quarterback in America. Again, I would ask you, when's the last time besides Will Levis, we've had one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the country? Jared? Maybe. So if you, let's just, now, granted, I know there's people that return and he might not be talking about, of the quarterbacks available to Will Stein,

if you assume the rankings are right, he got the 10th best one. Yeah. And by the way, Leavitt is now, going to Tennessee as well, which means he wasn't going to decide this week. Couldn't wait that long. Which means we couldn't wait. No. I totally get that, don't you?

I totally get it. I like the fact that these guys have SEC experience. These aren't guys from New Mexico State, Illinois State. These guys are played in the SEC. I didn't want to mention one more guy. Nose tackle, chops from Frederick Douglas High School, Jamarion Harkless, transferring from Purdue. He's a starter for two years at Nose Guard for Purdue.

So he's coming in. So he's from Lexington. He went to Frederick Douglas. Is he good? Yeah, Chops. Vince Merrill tried to get him heavy when he was in high school. Why are you calling him Chops? That's his nickname.

Everybody calls him Chops. I haven't heard anybody call him Chops. Yeah, he's Chops. So that's what I should call him? You should definitely call him Chops. All right, so, chop. Chops. Also, you may have read when I wrote on KS Board,

and I talked a little bit about this yesterday, about Will Stein's philosophy when it comes to the portal, how they will pay for studs, and then with everybody else, they're kind of not going to get bled for money. They're going to like, if you don't want to go, I'll get a guy that's 95% good as you that cost me $300,000 less.

Yeah. Right? There's a, Cam Miller just entered the port. I saw that. So Cam Miller was our wide receiver that at times last year gave some good things. He did. I think they wanted Cam Miller to come back.

But he's an example. Well, I think the other Miller is coming back. J.T. Is that right? DJ. DJ. No. What else was it? I think I, was it J.D.?

J.D. Okay. Miller. But with Cam Miller, that's an example of, I think they wanted him, but I think he, his folks thought, needed more, deserved more money than they could give him. And that's how that separates. And that's going to happen. That they take the philosophy of, we are Kentucky,

we got to balance this budget. Yeah. Whereas I think Mark Stub's philosophy was, if I've got a guy in the program, I really need to keep him. And if that means I overpay him, I'm going to keep him because he's in the program. I just don't think Will Stein's going to do it that way. And we'll see how, I mean, we'll see if it works or not, but that's how I think their view is.

I think that's exactly what it's happened with Miller and Cutter Bowley. They were going to have to overpay in their mind and their budget to keep those guys here. They, with every player, and this is, by the way, I mean, some people may think this is not what college sports should be, but you know what? This is what college sports is. Yep. They are essentially looking at every player and assigning a value. this is what we think this player is worth in today's world.

And if they don't want to sign for close to this value, then we can't do it. They just move on. And they just have to move on. Whereas I think Stub's philosophy was, I like this player. What do we got to do to keep you? And they overpaid a lot of guys. And they overpay,

like paying $1.8 million for an offensive lineman. This philosophy is, you are a $200,000 player. Okay, maybe I'll get to 225, but I ain't paying your 300. And that's just kind of how it is. And I think that's the way they're going to do it. So court physical therapy. Don't let aches and pains fall you into the new year. Start 2026 strong.

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It's Wingsday here. at KS Bar, we open in 15 minutes, and we will take a break and be right back. Kentucky Sports Radio. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo.

Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to 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. SportsClyce brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to SportsClyce on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast. Learn the hard way 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.

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Is that what you said or I said? I said it. The Miller boys. All right. Well, he's the one stay. I think they, like you said, I think they wanted to keep both of them. They both, as freshmen, ended up kind of impressing some people. And there's a couple guys on the team that they had already been agreed.

to for a second So in November Mark Stoop's staff got some guys to agree to not enter the portal and promised him a certain amount of money. Uh-huh, right. In UK, I think, decided the new staff that they couldn't honor

those commitments. They felt like it was too much. So Dante Dowdell was one of those. Maybe was promised an overpay of money in their mine so he ends up entering the portal. I think this Cam Miller kid might be one of those as well.

So, because they had actually reached deals with some of those kids. But again, all these deals are contingent on like signing and they hadn't signed yet. I think I wonder how they're approaching Willie Rodriguez, a guy. I think they would assume they, I mean, he hasn't entered the portal yet. That's right. You know other schools are coming after him. Apparently Andy Staples was on TV today or excuse me on part of my take and said the two teams that he has stuck out to is doing the best in the portal so far by far are Indiana and Kentucky.

It's pretty good considering Indiana's the best team in the country right now, right? And like we said, you know, if Indiana can do it, why can't Kentucky do it? Why not? Why not? That's right. Why not us? Nick Mingeon is someone who definitely has the guru, like, and that's worked. So maybe we look at Nick Mingeon, but I will say this about Nick Mingeon.

Nick Mingeon and talk to people around the baseball program, they'll say this. he had a couple years where he had guys on the team that just didn't buy into that. And basically they cleaned house afterwards. You know what I'm talking about? That he needs a certain kind of guy that buys into that. And I think he would tell you that. He had a year there where they were really bad. And the people around the program will tell you,

the kids just didn't buy into what Mingione did. So they went and got kids in the transfer portal that... He found kids that were personality, that were sort of, and then that has obviously worked very well. I miss his motivational Mondays when he would come on this show. That's true. So he is an example of somebody that's worked. Did you see the Auburn, Texas A&M game?

I did see that. We just have to talk about the sequence at the end. Okay. An unbelievable sequence. Auburn, A&M is up six, right? Or no, five. I can't remember what it was. No, it was six.

They're up six. Auburn hits a three, cuts it to three. A&M gets fouled, right? They come down, I think they hit two, so it's five. Okay. Auburn hits another three, cuts it to two. So now A&M, they imbound at 2.6 seconds. If they make both free throws, they win.

It's over. Guy misses the first free throw. So now there's 2.4 seconds, but Auburn doesn't have a time out, right? So A&M's philosophy there is miss it on purpose. And then they'll just have to throw it down the court. Roll long rebound, throw it down the court. The guy bangs it against the backboard. I think he hit the rim.

But it's not clear that it's not clear at all. I think he did, but it's not clear. he hits it, the clock starts, and then the Auburn people are going crazy saying it didn't hit the rim. So for some reason, the clock operator just stops the clock at 0.6 seconds, which is some home cooking, if I've ever seen it. It's right. The ref did not call that it didn't hit the rim. The clock operator just on his own stops the clock, right? So then all of a sudden the clock has stopped and the referees and I still don't understand why they made this decision said inadvertent clock error, Auburn, you get the ball with point six seconds to go.

Is that based on a possession arrow? How do they determine Auburn's ball? I don't know. And they got it at mid court. Yeah. So that was a better situation for them than anything. Uh-huh. Right?

Auburn gets it, inbounds it to their center who throws up. a one-handed heave at the buzzer, and it goes in. It goes in. And Auburn looks like they've won by one. Then they, Auburn celebrates. Yes. The refs go to the monitor. The Auburn bench gets a video.

Did you see this? They get an iPad, and they look, and they determine that it went in before the buzzer, and they celebrate for a second time. And everyone is celebrating. But the refs are still looking at the monitor. And the refs come back and go, didn't get it off. Waved it off.

It was very close. I don't know if he got it off or not. Do you? I thought he got it off. See, I kind of thought he didn't. But I think it's, the camera angle wasn't very good. Yeah.

So you couldn't really tell for sure. Here's my theory. The refs know that inadvertent clock stoppage was a mistake. Sure. They know the game should have ended. I think they erred towards saying it didn't get off. Because they didn't think he should have gotten a chance to do that shot anyway.

So they were covering their rear end from an earlier mistake. Because it was the Auburn clock operator that gave Auburn a chance. You know, now the best part, Shannon, was the post-game interview. They tried to interview Bucky on the court. I don't know why they stood him in front of the student section. But the student section is yelling at him so loud, Bucky can't even hear the interview. They are screaming you, they're screaming,

Yes, they are. Extremely loudly. And Bucky just has to go, yeah, I got to go, guys. You got to read the room. You can't do that interview right there in front of the student section. In front of the student section. The referees get run out of there. Yeah, they should have.

I've never seen anything quite like that. I thought he got it off. Well, there's one good, like shot that's floating around on Twitter where he didn't get it off. You can see. We did. Zero. It looks like, here's what I think happened. You got to remember that the, the, the, the, the,

Light on the glass is correct. And sometimes the clock you see on the screen is a little bit off. And I think the clock on the screen said 0.1, but the glass had already lit up. Bucky gets on the plane afterwards. Did you see what he does? No, I don't. He looks in the camera and he stands up and he goes, all right, we play Oklahoma, Saturday, 2.30. Students get there.

We know if you show up a millisecond too late, it's too late. It's too late. Kind of a trash talking video. That's a good move. We'll see. Be right back. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

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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. Rockroom stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. 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.

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I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on. A Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know.

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