KSR - 2026-01-12- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: January 12, 2026

Matt, Ryan, Drew, and Shannon talk Kentucky's win over Mississippi State and take your calls.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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

And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.

Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capabilities, that does not mean that you need to. Listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Comedy of Broadway in Lexington, welcomes Edomay, the queen of southern SaaS, January 15th through the 17th.

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It is Kentucky Sports Radio Monday. It is January the 12th. I'm Matt Jones here live in the Lexington studio. Drew Franklin is back from vacation. Hi. Ryan is here. Mario has a new Audi. Where are you getting that kind of money, Mark?

It's sharp, too. I mean, who knew, Shannon? Who did you know Mario made that kind of cheddar? No, I need a raise like Mario got one. Mario, walking around. Well, not in driving around now. He ain't walking anywhere. An Audi. I pulled in here with my 11-year-old Toyota.

Look at Mr. Audi here. This is what happens when you start making films. You can give Sean Clark's Pump and Shop phone line 899-2-80-22-87. the A Vision auto glass text machine is 772-744-5254 And this edition is sponsored by the T.J. Smith Law Office, you call T.J. I'll make them pay. You know, I mean, to be Mario, they'll be like, you know, 20, mid-20s, you know, famous. You're getting your Instagram name dropped on basketball games. Yeah, I mean, your quotes. I mean, like, what a life.

I mean, when I was in my mid-twile, I was clerking for Judge Caldwell writing memos in this guy. I had Velcro shoes when I started cancel. I took the bus. That was until like four years ago. So. Well, just remember, Matt, the lessons you learn and the growth that you experience is never spontaneous. That's exactly right. This is never, this isn't spontaneous. You should know this by now. I should have, I should have known it.

Yeah. We, we're getting excited about the Super Bowl. We now know the parties. Nice. And, yeah, we're getting ready. We're going to be leaving the Tuesday before the Super Bowl and then coming back during the game. I need to meet you guys, get ready to go? Well, you're not going. Oh, I'm not going.

Well, you're not part of the podcast. I thought it'd be long to help just carry stuff. No, you're not going. We don't go on your realtor events. Yeah. We each get our own room. I don't know if I'm going to us. We each get our own room, Drew.

That's exciting. I will say, in defense of Ryan here and Shannon, who I can't see, but in your part, Mario and Billy, unlike their second road trip, getting their own rooms. I know, right? He is all in fair. I mean, I feel for the guys. When we go to the SEC tournament and the NCAA tournament, you will not get your own room. Just so you know, just so we won't forget.

Now, for people who want to call the show, Shannon, what is the problem today? Well, they can call, but like you and I cannot communicate off the air, which is fine because you and I don't talk off the air anyway. Like in real life, you and I never talk. That's perfectly, I don't see a problem here. It's like normal. No, we talk every day off the year. So we can't do that. So when people call, I would have to hear you talk to them.

In theory. All right. Well, 859-2-80-22-8-7. They may have fixed that part. Still call. Shannon will put you on. And we got a lot of stuff to talk about. Will Stein has been killing it in the portal.

Kentucky women get another win. Big KSR announcement this morning. But I think we start with the basketball game. Ended late into the night on Saturday. And Kentucky gets a much-needed victory. Pulls away at the end, ends up winning by 24. But more importantly, just wins. It looks bad.

Started down 12. Jaylen Lowe gets hurt. Jaden Quaidens doesn't play. Ryan's grumpy during the pregame show. Next thing you know, you think, uh-oh, gloom, despair, seasons over. And then they start sharing the basketball and they look like really a heck of a team in the second half

playing the way we'd hope and win by big margin. Yeah, after the Missouri loss that I watched on vacation, and then that first half against Mississippi State, I consider just hiding forever from you all. The temperature of the fan base when I would check in online being a week. It was not good at all. And then to fall down like they did at home

after laying the egg the Wednesday before, I thought we were about to hit rock bottom. But luckily, that second half was awesome. They pulled away to win big time. Seemed to me, Ryan, the big difference is they started sharing the basketball. They really passed well. They switched the lineup.

Diabate to the bench for the most part, putting in guys who could shoot at the four. Yellovich got minutes. Moreno played excellent. A lot of good stuff happened. And then all of a sudden they looked like the team that was close to what people wanted it to be. I'm as guilty as probably as anybody when they got down 12 and Lowe left the game and the boo birds came out. I thought, oh, no, this is going to be a disaster.

What did you think about the booing? I've always, I've always, you can get it right to boo if you want. I've always just thought it's a bad look, especially at home and you're booing the way they were. early in the game. It was middle of the first half. Premature booing. You should never boo your team first five minutes in the game. There's a lot that can happen.

Okay. So premature boojaculation. Yes. That's a great way to put it. That's the last five minutes. Fair enough. But not the first five. Yeah.

It was a little bit of premature boojaculation. It was a little early to boot. I thought so too. I mean, and it, you know, for some reason I said this on the post game, it almost bothered me more to boo it rupt than it did down in that. I totally agree with you. I don't know why it was. Maybe it's because Rupp's Runtz were there. And it was, I will say, I was there. It was louder than I thought it was. Like, sometimes the booze sound worse on TV than they are in person because it's not as many people. It was quite a few people, Drew. I mean, it was, it was more than I would have thought at that stage.

I wondered that, because I'm usually at home games. I miss maybe one a year. And that's one I was watching on TV. And I thought, I wish I could be there in this instance specifically to just know if this is a microphone thing or how loud the crowd was. Well, I mean, still, it's not even half the people. But, like, normally, if you hear booze, maybe it's like 10% or 8%. This was probably more like 15 to 20. I mean, it just felt like there were more people booing than I would have thought in a rup home game.

And I don't like booing. But at the same time, I do agree with Shannon. Even if you do, it felt a little early. Way too early. But they did turn it around. after the booing. And the crowd was very big and turning,

you can hear them kind of willing them to get it back together. It was a good crowd there. It was a good crowd. They put Will Stein on the, on the big screen. That was like 28, 22

when they put him on the big screen and next thing you know, it was 30 to 29. I mean, like they... He turned it around. I think Will Stein being on there. I think Will Stein was partially doing it because he had huge recruits there

that the booing maybe didn't look great. I was very worried about the booing with the football recruits there them thinking, do these fans hate their own team? but then when Will Stein got that pop, that showed those players. All right, football's big here too. By the way, I like, I already like it, one of the UK things that they're doing.

Did you see they're sitting now recruits directly behind the announcers on TV camera? That's Seneca Driver. Yeah. Put him right behind the TV announcers so that he would be on screen, Shannon. Do you like that? Oh, yeah, of course. Anything you can do to make these guys feel a little extra special? I think you do it.

It's smart. Yeah. You know, Vince used to march them up at the end. to the first TV time. Uh-huh. Like, prayed them the long way. They prayed them or wrong. Will was kind of taking them and just walking, like, meandering by the student section with them.

Like, ooh, look. And then, like, you know, I think the students would figure out, oh, that's a player. And they'd start yelling, come here, come here. I don't think they knew which one it was, but they would say that. Well, when Cal was bringing in the top dogs, the student section was very good about knowing them, yelling at them, making them feel welcome. We've seen that with football a little bit. too was stoned in that group. The student section's big and letting these guys know how bad

they're wanted. So then second half sharing the ball. O-Way plays great. Surprised how well they did without a point guard. You know, had Jasper in for a few minutes. He played well. But even like Aberdeen and Chandler looked better. They played well too. Everybody looked comfortable. I think though the big thing to say is Diabate didn't play. Looked a little sour in the post-game interview, what do you think? You're right, they got contributions from everybody that played, but Diabate. But they played better with Cam Wains was at the four, at the four. They just played better.

Diabate only played 12 minutes. Yeah, they were better with him on the bench. And with Cam at the four, they were just better for that games, especially. But you know what was crazy? We said in the pregame show, this is why you bring Diabate to Kentucky for a game against Mississippi State, a rough, tumble. Didn't happen, didn't need him. I do wonder if they're going to be. be better with him on the bench because they just shoot better.

Diapate crowds the paint. When you play two bigs, I don't know if it works. I like how tough and physical he was earlier in the year when they needed it. But the back of my mind was like, this isn't working because they need a shooter. I think that's been the biggest part of the problems with the offense is that four just doesn't have a threat of a shooter. So I agree, you got to go on another. As good as he is at rebounding, that other stuff that you need, I think it really handcuffs everyone with him out there where he can't help spread the floor.

I mean, by the end, they were basically playing Cam Williams at the four with Yelovich as the backup. Yeah. And then Moreno and Garrison at the five. Maybe that's what you just have to do. And then they had Marino and Garrison together a couple times, which can also work because Garrison has a threat of a three. So does Moreno. I just wonder if like Diabate just doesn't fit with what Pope does. I think Pope thought he could be Amari Williams,

but that hasn't really worked out. And he does not look happy. No, he didn't look happy. The team looks to be having fun again, but there are multiple examples of him, not just this last game, like the last three or four games, yelling at an assistant or a teammate when they cut to the bench. He seems to be jawing with someone at least once a game.

We get a little glimpse of that. No, I think that's, that had been whispered behind the scenes. You don't even have to be behind the scenes. to see it now. You can see that issue. Now, Lowe do you think he just shuts it down? I won't be shocked if he does. I wouldn't blame him. I wouldn't either.

That's three times. Third time he's gone down. And when he came out this time, and it was in a sling underneath his warm-up, you know, you could tell, okay, didn't even put his arm through that. He put his arm through his hoodie. So I won't be shocked. I mean, we're going to miss him for sure. But they played pretty well without him offensively. He gave me one game, though. I still think long-term, that's going to be hard.

Sure. But at the same time, I wouldn't blame you. I wouldn't either. I mean, you know, he ran, like, he literally ran directly to the locker room even before the play was over. Like, he knew. It's got to be painful, Drew. You know, it'll hurt us.

But I would understand if he decided not to do it. This is the second time in, what, four or five games where minutes into it, he runs to the locker room. And, like, if you watch, very innocuous. looking plays. Swiping. Yeah. I'm also watching, on Mondays, the players usually do the press conference.

It's been that way all year. Two players, early week, Pope at the back end of the week. Pope's doing today's, which just, you know, got some antennas up. Like, why is Pope doing Monday? Does he have news to share that he doesn't want, you know, Cam Williams or Brandon Garrison to have to sit up there and talk about? So I wonder if there is going to be an update during the Monday press conference since Pope's doing it. You may be right.

Now, Quaintance didn't play. You were grumpy in the pre-givers. game show. I've heard rumors of that. What happened in the pregame? I keep hearing whispers of this. What was going on? No one heard it except like because Mario was out flirting with the people at the restaurant and Shannon and Billy were not on it. So it's just, well, Billy was doing the thing, but it was really just me and you and you, you were, you were being grumpy. You were, you were yelling and it was, it was not, like people were very upset. I was trying to calm you down. I would just, we had conversation and I was taking the conspiracy theory side of the, of the

discussion. It was just a discussion. You were also like, like, the people were checking wellness checks with you. Like, are you, so what was happening? Nothing. I was just taking the sideboard discussion. You were like thinking Quaintiffs wasn't going to play anymore. I, that's the conspiracy theory. But I think you created it. No, no, it's out there. I didn't create. I just brought it up for a discuss it.

Where is it? You know, you just go to jaden Quaintiffs.com. It's all over the place out there. I know, I haven't been to Jaden Quaintens.com. Yeah, it's there. How would you spell Quentin's? Well, you can Google it. But if you were to tell me. Q.

Okay. Then what? You. All right. A. All right. I. Okay.

Okay. T. All right. E-N-C. Oh, he's so close. Oh, you know. Almost. Dang it.

So close. A. A and C. That's going to get you to a broken web page if you type that in. It takes you to go daddy.com. But that's the problem. That's the conspiracy theory. That is.

He went to Jaden Quaint Tense. Yeah. And that was the problem. Now, that guy, it might not be planned. I don't know, Jay, Quaitense. But Quaitance, I'm hoping, still plays a little more. So, Drew, what I brought up was the fact that he's announced he's not going to play days after his dad was very vocal on social media about being upset. Mark Pope was very clear.

Mark Pope was very clear. Just swelling. Yep. So unless Pope doesn't know. But I just thought you were very concerned. And then you were like ranting about his press conference. And like, it was just, it was just a weird first segment. Then you calm down.

I got you a tater keg. things were better. Discussions, I think, that needed to happen on the pregame show. Was it? Yeah. Okay. I thought I missed it. Well, he was worked up. 859-2-80-2287. All right, now Shannon can answer the phones. Text machine, 772-7-7-4. Do you have more optimism after this game? Are you certain we're going to make the tournament? That's my next question. We returns. 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 SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and 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

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Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. Life throws hurdles big and small.

The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness. professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WMBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain.

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showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. and grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back.

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The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in this Kentucky Sports Radio. 0.89-280-2287. Text machine, 772-7-745-254. What person writes, Matt, people now give

immediate feedback. That's just what happens. Sometimes the team needs to hear that we do not approve of their play. All right, slow down. I mean, you can do it. I don't think that, like, the team needs it. I don't think the team is like, you know what, I'd be interested in what the fans think about how we're playing right now. But, I mean, I don't, that's a different question than whether you're allowed to express it. I'm not going to, I think you're, I'm not going to say, you know what the team needs is to hear me, but I don't know that that's the case. Yeah, and if you're just booing when you're unhappy, you could find a stretch of just about

every game where you're disappointed in how they're playing for a few minutes. I think Saturday that was mostly lingering from the Missouri loss. The way that ended, a lot of that was still pent up. They wanted to let that out on Saturday and let them know after that rough start. Well, versus right, Matt, one of my favorite moments of the post-game show ever happened on Saturday night when Moreno's mom called. Yeah, I heard that. That was great.

That was cool. Very end of the show. Uh-huh. Like, very into the show, a caller had called and said, it's Malachi Marino, stop saying Moreno. And I did not think that could be true because it's M-O-R-E-N-O. So where's the re? It's Ray. Plus, that just seemed to me how, from like a Spanish-Hispanic perspective, you would say.

So we kept debating it. And then his mom called in. And she was like very, she was full of joy. She was. She had already, Shannon, kind of got mad at me earlier. Of course. Because she said when he was a junior in high school, I said, I didn't know if he was good enough to play here, which I did. Mama's listening.

I was two years ago. And I didn't mean it. But then I said, look, I was an idiot. And she laughed. So then she called the post game show. And she was delightful. And she said Moreno. And I still had people, this goes to show,

I still had people write the text machine arguing. I'm like, I think she would know. So she cleared it up. She says Moray. Now, apparently at the UK games, they say Marie, but it is Moray. So the UK announcer is actually incorrect. It's Moreno.

But the UK official guide says Marino. That's what I'm pulling up right now. They always have the pronunciations. So they have it wrong. I've heard it both ways his whole life. But I mean, can we all agree his mother is the final definitive? Sure. It's her name. Mama dictates what we go with.

So we say, Marais. If UK has Marie, they're just wrong. I'm looking at it right now. They do have Marie in the official program. Well, UK is wrong. Mom says, Shannon, it's Morena. Do you have to roll the R? I'm being told that she said you're supposed to row your R.

But when I tried to do it, she said I sounded Italian. Well, try it. Meleno. It's kind of Italian Marino Marino Marino Did you do it?

Brino Wow Those are both good Those are both very good Can you do? Merleino Marrano Rheno

Any time you need anybody To say the name Just have Ryan or I do it But I can't roll the R I just have to make it Italian It always held me back in Spanish one It does sound like Italian I tell you what

That dude came to play Those Saturday nights A good thing he came Because it came to play Because they needed He played great Yeah he did I think whatever his stat line was, it was like 17, six rebounds, four assists, four steals.

Only two players in UK history had ever gotten it. She Gilgis Alexander and Ray John Rondo. Eight rebounds. He was, you know, he's still a little way to go to get a triple double, but those are, I can get a triple double numbers. It's not too far off that he could get in that conversation. All right, so we're going to make the tournament. I'm, jury is still out in my book. Specify which tournament, NIT or NCAA.

NCAA. NCAA. Because here's why I'm saying that. if Jalen Lowe is out for the year and acquaintance needs going to bother him like this I'm still, the jury's out. I'm not going to decide. I said before the game we need to go 8 and 8th

the rest of the year to make the tournament. We got one win. So we need to find seven wins. Okay. Can you find them? Somebody pull up the schedule. Let's pick the seven wins. All right.

Just give me the games. Well, we have LSU and Tennessee this week. Both road games. LSU win, Tennessee loss. So I've got one win. Then two home games. Texas, Ole Miss. win, win. There's three.

Then back on the road, two games. Vandy Arkansas. Loss, loss. Fandy's so good. Back home for two games. A lot of two game swings. Oklahoma and Tennessee. Tennessee is going to be a swing game. We got to win one of the two Tennessee games.

That'll get us to five. Valentine's Day at Florida. Loss. Then you come back to host Georgia. Win. Six. At Auburn. Could win. I'm going to say between at Tennessee and

at Auburn, or between Tennessee at home and at Auburn, we get one. So I'll stay at six. South Carolina away. Seven. That's our seven. That gets us in the tournament. We get in the tournament at South Carolina. Then what? In a tough three great game stretch. Vandy at home. I'm going to say win because the crowd's going to be into it. A&M away. That's a loss. Florida at home. Senior day. I think we win. I'm going to say we go nine and nine in conference, get in the tournament. We're like a 7-8-9 seed and that's that. 99 gets them in for sure, I think.

Ken Palm predicts all the games. Ken Palm has them losing nine the rest of the way, including LSU tomorrow or Wednesday. Losu's a big one. That's another one we got to win. I mean, we didn't give our, I thought LSU was a game we could drop, but that was what I assumed we would beat Missouri.

So now to make up for the Missouri game, we've got to win. Mario has in the history of his time at KSR only picked Kentucky to lose twice. ever against Indiana and then Saturday. And we won them both. So he's now 0 and 2 picking against Kentucky, Shannon. Keep doing it, Mario. Maybe he should keep doing it. Keep being negative.

Keep being negative. He's so negative. He's so negative. You're inspirational, but you're negative inspirational. With all of his inspiration, he's almost like his own booing in the crowd. He's been worried most of the year. Even in Buffalo, we were playing a pool there. You know, he's being negative. That was even before we took on more losses. Let me ask you a question. you kind of know the team. Like you're our connection to the team.

Get on the microphone here. I want you to give us. Give us the Mo Diabate. Give us the tea. The tea? The motie. It's kind of clear to me that they don't get along. I'm just, I basically see what you're seeing.

No, no, no. You see more. You go to the clubs and you're at the barbershop. You drive the same thing. You drive the out of the outies. Like, like what? Do you tell me for real? All of the teams, I don't see this, this team out as much.

Usually teams, you see them out, you know, going out. But I don't see this. Do you think they get along? I don't know. No, that's not what I asked you. Do you think they're asking you my opinion? Yes. As far as what I see on TV and then, like, in person, not really.

Okay. That's just my opinion, though. He knows more. He knows more. Mario knows everything. Mario's got that there's like some sort of, There's some sort of like code that occurs with like a handful of the Lexington population where they just look at each other and they communicate.

Mario's part of that. I'll see him give a nod when we walk down the street to someone and he'll walk away and be like, yeah, he's transferred. I'm like, all he did was nod. And he goes, yeah, but you could just tell. And then he leaves. I noticed like at the bar, like Darius Miller, Willie, that's my era. those are my friends.

They walk right past me to do their secret handshake with Mario. Like, how do you even know them, Mario? You weren't around back then. I'm with you. Like, Jonathan Davis comes up and they're doing it. Like, you don't even know each other. He knows everybody. He knows everybody. So I do think we're going to make the tournament.

In your scenario, we made it. But I'm not, we don't have a lot of leeway to make the tournament. We'll take your calls after this. 8-9-28027's KSR. T.J. Smith, Personal Injury Attorney. Call T.J. He'll make them pay. Now, more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage.

Here's Matt Jones. Welcome back, Kentucky Sports Radio. What did you think, Mr. Journalist, about the woman in Jacksonville? That's the wrong time and place for that thing to happen. I don't know who that woman was. I don't know who she worked for. But that's after a game to give a little pep talk. Did you see it, Shannon?

Yeah, so we played it on the pre-show. I didn't have that much of a problem with it. I had no problem with it. I think Ryan's just a curmudgeonly old, big. J journalist. I just don't think that's the time and place for that. She's being sweet. She's an older lady. Yeah, it sounds like your grandmother talking to you. Keep your head up, young man. You keep

your head up. What's wrong with that? Can you not have somebody keep their head up? He should keep his head up. Keep your head up. What's you going to say? How's the what do you think of your cornerbacks? Who cares? She's a nice woman. Like she makes casseroles. What's she doing back there? Who's she working for? She works for a newspaper. Jacksonville

Free Press. She works for the Jacksonville free press for 28 years. You keep your head up, young man. You did a good job. Duval. But see, you say that, but I could see you doing that. Not in a news conference setting. You don't think you wouldn't tell a player, if Dane, let me ask you a question. Yeah. If Dane was back there and he had dropped the catch to win the game and you had a job of reporting, you don't think you'd say keep your head up. You think you'd pepper him with questions. Privately, of course I would. But what about publicly? No. You wouldn't look at Dane Key and go keep your head up.

That's just not the time and place for it. No. I don't know about that. But I'm fine with it. She's a nice old lady. Why everybody got to yell? In this time of hatred, everybody hates each other.

No one has any empathy. Everybody like just takes sides and roots for what they happen. We have all this turmoil. This lady looked at Liam Cohen and just said, hey, keep your head up. And people get mad at that. Of all the things to get mad at. And everyone complaining about it,

what's your favorite question from a press conference. You don't know any because you don't normally pay attention. You saw one moment and decide to get on the internet and hate on this woman who has the sweetest voice. It probably makes the best pies. I bet she's, I don't know that she's a grandmother. Maybe she's an aunt. I bet she'll be.

I bet there are children and her family that absolutely adore her and it was just a brief moment. We have players bring their kids up there. Yeah, because he was getting a nice, positive, inspiring message. See, this is the problem. These Ryan Limins out there causing all this turmoil in the world. Yeah, I was kind of surprised that Ryan's take.

I didn't think that Ryan would be so against this woman's questions or comments. Because he's Mr. I'm a journalist. I went to journalism. Whereas I'm like, So when Pope is a human interaction of humans being human. And we're not talking about the invasion of Venezuela. We're talking about a football game. So when Pope has another loss and he's got his head down and he's moping and he's not,

he's not being very talking of. Tom Leach needs to say, hey, keep your head up, young man. I didn't say, Tom Leach, actually, I wouldn't bother me if Tom Leach did. I think you need a mix. Okay, if everybody's like that, then I actually think that's not good. But if there's one lady like that. Does it make a difference as a female? For me, in fact, it's a little old lady does, I'm not about it. It's not that old. But the fact that it's a lady that makes it a different thing to me, I just don't think you need to be so harsh. You are why society. is fraying at the ends. I'm a reporter at its core, damn it. Well, I'm a human at my core.

Also, a lot of press conferences, the football questions are stupid. Like a lot of times, these questions are wasting time anyway. I will say this, Liam Cohen handled it great. He was very appreciative, very thankful, you know.

I just think you look at the kind of media that people, you need to be able to ask the hard questions when it's right. But I also think it's okay to be a human being. Like if we brought Mark Pope in here for an interview, let's say after the Missouri laws. Okay. And he were to start, like, crying.

Are you going to yell at him? I'm not going to yell at him. Are you going to tell him to keep his head up? When we go to commercial break, I'm sure I'll tell him, man, he keeps your head up. It's all right. I'm going to tell him keep your head up. She was also the associate editor for her job. She knows what she's doing.

She's not a really reporter. Go ahead, Steve. See, this is that. He acts like he's a nuclear sign. Is this the pregame show version of him you got? This is what I missed. Maybe he should have taken the vacation. Steve, go ahead, Steve.

Hey, guys. What's up? Can you hear me? Yes, go ahead. Hello? Hey, the first question I got is for Matt. It's a legal question. The NIL contracts with the players, is that public record?

No. Now, it's an open question whether or not the rev share will be. As of this moment, I think part of the reason they went to a private company is to not have to share the rev share numbers. Someone's going to challenge that in court, and I'm not sure they're going to be able to hold it up. I'm not sure they're going to be able to say we're spending state money on these players and not say what it is. But as of this moment, they do not. And then NIL deals are not public record at all.

Well, that's interesting. It'd be fun to see what these got, what those contracts look like. Yeah. And second of all, people want to know, but that's how it is right now. I think it's going to be hard for them to, for the University of Kentucky to pay $19 or $20 million to people and not have to say what it is. But we'll see. Some court one day will decide that. Right.

And the other thing, the two most important guys to be on the floor are Oway and Malachi. I don't think Malachi gets enough credit for what he's done as a big freshman. There's no way JQ should be starting in front of Malachi where you think about that. I agree with that. I agree with the second part of that.

I don't think he's the second most important. I mean, I appreciate the call. I do think if he was healthy, Lowe would be the most important. If he is not healthy, then I agree with you. O.A. is the most important. I mean, I could see a case for Moreno.

I think Cam Williams to me is second because I think he just spreads the floor and allows the shooting. He's been playing some good defense, too. He really has all year when he gets opportunities. If Moreno plays anything like he did on Saturday, then yeah, he can be in that conversation. I think he only had maybe one turnover and eight for ten from the field. And he was great. And he was great the Missouri game except for those last couple minutes.

Yeah. So. I think like I said, they got good contributions from just about everybody. Everybody at Diabate and well, Trent came in for like a minute. What happened to him? Looks like he got hurt on that play. I don't know. I've never heard anybody say yet.

What has happened? He came in for like one minute. Next thing you know, he's out limping off the court. Todd, go ahead, Todd. Hey, good morning, man. Hey, how's your dad doing? He's doing okay. Thank you.

Okay. Hey, I want to shout out to Mario. I came up to a game. I'm from Florida. My mom's in Berea. She's celebrated on a birthday right before Thanksgiving. He took time to take a picture with me and give my mom a happy birthday shout out. But what I'm calling about.

Hey, I think. I'll say he was glad to do it. He's not on the mic, but he was glad to do it. Yeah, we were sat up there close to where the press box. in the nosebleed section, and he was right close to me. Okay, got to. And we ended up at the end of the game. We got to get a pitch with Pope.

That put icing on the cake for my mom's birthday, so to speak. But anyway, I called you last year. We got the same problem, I believe, the substitution pattern. I know a lot of things have been negative for the last bit. I think we could have a decent season if Pope would get this substitution pattern right. And if you notice, let me go through it. We were cutting the lead at Alabama down to 10 between the 13 and 12-minute mark to go second half.

He changed the lineup. Against Missouri, we were leading, and he changed the lineup. And he brings in two or three players. He took O-Way out the night after he hit a three. Yeah, the O-WA was bad. We gave up like five points a moment we took him out. I agree with you, by the way. And I appreciate the call.

I like the – I don't like the fact that he brings – brings in three guys at once. I will say he seems to be doing it less. There seems to be letting the top guys play more and more as this season's gone on. He's shorting the rotations, but going back to his first game here, there's been times where you'll see a guy get a hot hand and it's straight to the bench. And you're thinking, what in the world? The guy just now got locked in.

He went on that run. They immediately took him out and then immediately it was a 5-0 run by the other team. That's not new to this season. I remember him doing that a couple times last year, too. He just, he gets his script in his mind and sticks to it. It seems like in the second half, though, the guys are playing the best, he's been rolling with them. He has, which is, which confirms my point, Shannon,

that the analytics of we need to take them out or roll. Because they play them the whole second half. Yeah, yeah, right. If, if, if, you got to take a break after three minutes, well, they don't do that in the second half. No, they don't. They don't. Sometimes common sense is better.

I mean, just play. Yeah. We looked up the rups runs, and I'm not one of these people to be like, oh, back in the day. but the five starters played every minute. Yeah. Like the bench did not get in. And they didn't have problems like, you know, running out of breath. Yeah, I mean, part of it was basketball didn't have shot clock and it's a different thing back then.

I grant it. But still, you know, I'm with the caller on that. Hey, don't let aches and pains falling into the new year. Start 2026 strong court physical therapy can help get you back to what you love. Whether you want to get back in the gym, pick up a new sport, or get around a physical. therapist from court can help you do so over 70 locations there's one near you go check them out it's court.com it's k-or-t dot com we got some news about uk football they just keep getting players a ton of them yesterday we'll be right back to katea sports radio last night a blown call

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I loved when I was driving this weekend and I heard this because it was like when all these commitments were coming. Kentucky got a ton of players. Let's just go through them. They got the number two offensive tackle in the portal, kid from Tennessee. They got the number four linebacker in the portal. Obviously, they already had the number one interior offensive lineman. They had the number 10 quarterback.

They've now added another top offensive lineman. There's a ton of players coming through. But I think getting that number, they've now got their left tackle, they've got their center, they've got their quarterback, they've got their linebacker. they've still got a couple other guys they're probably going to add right now they have the number four ranked class in the portal pretty exciting stuff for Kentucky sure is he has been absolutely killing it so far got a lot of it done already was still five days to go I know they're targeting a couple more just one that stands out to me I know he's been out the last year and a half but getting CJ Baxter from Texas to help out of that's a huge name they didn't think they were going to get him he went to Indiana they assumed he was going to go to Indiana and then he was at his Indiana visit and called and said, I think I want to come to Kentucky.

And they were kind of surprised, I think. After Indiana just murdered another team in the playoffs. If Indiana is playing the national championship, now you get the running back from Texas. So you got your running back. A guy that was the number one running back coming out of high school, five star, goes to Texas. Well, let's talk. They got a commitment from a linebacker that was the number one player in America coming out of high school.

Yes. And then a running back, it was the number one running back coming out of high school. Now, neither of them have done that yet in college, but that's pretty good talent to give a shot off of, right? Yeah, Baxter at Texas had a great freshman year that injuries hurt him early in a sophomore year than he missed all of last season. If he can get back to full health and his recovery and plays anything like he did as a freshman and builds on that, I think they have a great shot. He's just been so limited, but he just said a high recruiters he said coming in with talent, he just hadn't had the chance to show it yet. All right, Shannon, I got to tell you story about your guy, Mario, in my house. Oh, okay.

Yeah. So while I was gone, while I was in last week, I said, all right, Mario, I want you, one of my, my new year's work resolution. I have my new year's personal resolution about contacting people. That's going great. Have had lunch with people I haven't seen in a while, hung out with pairing Friday night. Oh, Pear Bear. How's Pear Bear doing?

How's Pear Bear doing? That was good. Well, my work resolution is I got to start doing these TikTok videos. I only have like five or six. So I said to Mario, do me a favor. We need to set up a place in my house, like a little place. So the lighting's good. You know, because lighting's all, it's everything, right?

He got one of those little ring lights. I was like, all right, while I'm gone, just go to my house and find a place to set up. Now, you're probably thinking and Shannon in that regard, he'll find a place in my house and he'll set up there, right? Yeah. That's what I would expect. I didn't think. Mario is going to rearrange my entire house. Oh, no.

In order to have a video place. I walk into my house Saturday night. He has moved everything I own into a different place. Extreme old makeover. He has taken a chair, a chair, like a cushion chair, and put it in the middle of the kitchen. There is one of my living room chairs is in the kitchen. Okay. When's the last time you're in your kitchen?

It's in the kitchen. He's got a camera set up in the middle of the kitchen with a chair, like a lazy boy chair in the middle of the kitchen. My rug is in shambles. He's got one of my couches pushed up against the wall. He has taken my books and just decided to throw them all over the building. And then he's just left. He's just left. And so the camera is set up with the light, but my chair is in the kitchen.

And I can't even move around the house. And then there, where is the couch and chair are? It's just a big blank thing of floor in the middle of the living room. Now, my question for you, Mario, it looked good. But do you expect me to live like that? Do you expect me to live with my main chair in the middle of the kitchen? The priority was to make the lighting look good. But this needed to be.

Did you like it, though? It did look good. But this needs to be a solution that I can have all the time. I could have figured out to just put all my stuff in like different. I need something that I can set up. I can't have my chair in the kitchen. You need a little corner where it's just set up ready to go at all times. Yes, where I can just turn on a light and it's on.

You like the lights? Okay, that all was great. But you, I can't have my living room with stacks of books in the center and nowhere to sit. It did look kind of awkward. I know you left it like that. What was the backdrop in the kitchen? Like your fridge? No, he set, he moved my bookshelf.

Move the fridge outside. Unplugged the fridge. The fridge is in the living room now. He's in the fridge is now in the living room. At least the lighting's good. But the lighting looks great, Shannon, these videos. That's what you asked for. So we're going to have to find, you understand what I'm getting it.

Yeah. Okay. So no more. I mean, you. It was a start. Well, it was a finish because I had to put it all back. Did you put it all back? I'm not leaving my chair in the kitchen.

Just sit there and read a book, stare at your sink. I wanted to watch the game. I had to lay on the floor. Yeah, bring the TV into the kitchen. Danny, go ahead, Danny. Hey, man. talk to you guys again. Good to talk to you.

I just want to say, I think Jake, you, I think you can't blame him if he does want to sit out the rest of the season because this team is not really that good with him or without him. Are you talking about lower quaintiffs? Are you talking about low or quaintence?

Yeah, see, I think quaintance needs to play. I mean, assuming, now granted, I don't know, assuming, because whatever his goals are, I think playing is going to help them. If he doesn't play, I don't think he will be a top 10 pick if he's only gotten three games of college experience. A couple of games, he hasn't done really all that, so it could be hurting his stock.

Well, it could, but I don't know. I mean, this is a great draft. I just think it would be hard for him to move in the top 10 if he doesn't play. But what was your second point? Well, I just think Lowe should go ahead and get his surgery and be ready for next year. I don't want to see the kid go through a lot more pain. And that's all I got. I agree with that.

I do agree with that. I appreciate the call. I kind of think it's likely the case Lowe should have the surgery. Now, granted, I'm not a doctor. And if he wants to play, I'll be cheering him on. He's a tough kid, but I could see why it would be tough. He's shown his toughness, man. I mean, most guys probably would have checked out early on.

And he's fought back, tried to fight through it, come back and play. And he's a guy that does have another year of eligibility. So he could come back for another year. year. Mike, go ahead, Mike. Hey, guys. So I have, uh, I have some concerns, I guess. And the only thing is, uh, so with, um, Reno and with Jasper Johnson, you know, these guys to me, um, kind of are, um, I think they're very important to UK.

And the, the thing is is with, with Jasper especially, Jasper is a, you know, a McDonald's All-American. This kid has such talent and energy, and I think he can do so much, you know, for this team, given the fact, given the opportunity to really contribute and play. But the fact is that he's not been getting the opportunity, I think really concerns me as the fact is that this is a kid that we might lose next year. Yeah, no, that's a fair question. And I don't want to lose him.

Yeah, I agree. I have to cut you off because we've got to go to break. Are you concerned at Jasper? I mean, played a little bit this week. You think those minutes go up? I think so. And I was yelling at my TV. Let's put Jasper in the game, see what he can do. You know, he missed some shots. Defense can improve. I think he needs more run to get him a chance. If Lo's out, he's playing more. Without Lowe, he has to play more. If Lowe ends up not being, I think they'll have no choice but to play him more and hopefully he'll get a chance to showcase what he can do. We'll take a break. 859-2-2-287. Hour 2. KSR.

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