KSR - 2026-02-23- KSR - Hour 1
Episode Date: February 23, 2026Matt, Ryan, Drew, and Shannon talk Kentucky's loss to Auburn and take your calls.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Transcript
Discussion (0)
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 headlines.
And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories,
their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear.
Listen to Sports Slice on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your
And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.
What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Clivert Show,
I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.
We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes,
Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?
Time out.
Quarterback on office blue 42.
Hey, ref, my mama wants you to wave at her.
What?
Where's he at?
Hey, Miss Parker.
Listen to the Clifford Show on the Iheart radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
What's up, fam?
It's Isaiah Thomas.
And I'm C.J. Toledano.
It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs.
We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season.
And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments.
If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed.
You just understood.
That's how personal it got.
Wow.
Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming till.
He's like, you know, I love you, dog.
You know, it's all love.
This was just playoffs.
This was just basketball.
So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
From Netflix and Hulu, Comedy of Broadway and Lexington, welcomes Ashley Gavin, February 27th and 28th.
Then from TV and the movies, he's one of the Kings of Comedy.
Catch D.L. Hughley, March 6 through the 8th.
And from the Nateland podcast and the Grand Ole Offrey, don't.
Miss Aaron Weber. March 12th through the 14th, four tickets to all Comedy Off Broadway shows.
Call 859271 joke or visit Comedy OffBroadway.com.
This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones.
Welcome, everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio Monday, February the 23rd. I'm Matt Jones here.
We are in Louisville, Kentucky. Full House in Louisville. Rare, but we are doing it. What do you
want me to do, Shannon? Turn your mic down. Well, you're the one that put it here.
859-280-2287 on the Clark's Pubbit Shop phone line. A Vision Auto Glass text machine is 7-7-2-7-4-5-25-4.
And this edition is sponsored by the T.J. Smith law office, if you call T.J., he'll make them pay.
Guys, good to see you this morning. Rare, we're all in Louisville. Did I hear it snowing in
Lexington? It's snowed like almost all day yesterday. It snowed again this morning.
Really? Is it like, are you all shut down again?
No, this is good.
It's snow globes, no.
It's, yeah, like my grass is kind of covered, but that's it.
Nothing on the streets or anything.
Okay, good.
It didn't snow here.
I noticed that we pulled in.
Yeah, so we're good.
Text machine, 772-745-25-4.
You know, I mean, so like in a day like today, like today, you can go one or two ways.
You can say, well, this stinks, and we can just go on and on about how it stinks.
or we could talk about positive things.
The hockey game yesterday was fun.
Did you watch it?
I'm sure Drew did.
Did you watch it?
I didn't know it until you sent the text.
You sent us all in a group text.
It's three on three for the goals.
That's when I turned it on.
Three on three is so fun.
I didn't like it, though, that that's how they ended it.
Yeah.
Like, do hockey purists not like it?
Yeah, I think three on three is a good compromise
between, you know, I hate soccer penalty kicks for big things.
feels like at least three on three is actually hockey, right?
Yeah, it is.
So I enjoy it.
What do you think?
Quick score.
Quick score.
But it also makes it to where it's like one-on-one playmaking.
You beat one guy.
You've got a chance to...
Well, I heard in the pregame that Canada, their top talent is better.
So they were like, if it goes to a three-on-three, Canada will have an advantage because their top guys are a little better than the USA's depth.
On our goal, we scored, it came down to, I think,
they poked at it and we got it
and if it'd gone the other way they would have had a two on zero
and they probably would have scored.
I didn't realize that.
There's a couple good looks before the game winner
all in that first two minutes.
So this is the United States first goal since the miracle on ice
in 1980, right?
That's amazing.
Yeah.
Well, the NHL guys didn't play the last two Olympics.
So when they play the younger guys, we don't have a chance.
Gotcha.
But when you get to the NHL guys,
sometimes we do.
So anyway, we'll talk about that later
because it was fun.
And then, but we got to talk about U.K.
Auburn, 859-280-2287.
You know, I talked extensively about the game on the post-game show.
You can listen to it on podcast.
Let's talk about the two things that, to me,
are the biggest story coming out of the game.
First of all, Chandler, foul call.
Fair or foul, literally.
You want me to go first?
Yeah.
I can't argue that it wasn't a foul,
but I also can't argue the dude wasn't holding him before the foul.
My problem is the guy who called the foul was the farthest away from the...
It was one official, like right in front of the scores table, perfect view of the play.
And there's a official handing the ball to the guy out of bounds.
He still has a pretty good view.
But yet it's the guy the farthest away who's back, you know, kind of almost blocked by the call.
He's the one I made the call.
That's what I had the problem with.
That guy making that call at that time.
So do you think it was a foul?
Yeah.
Okay. So you think he can't be that bad.
But I don't know if you call it in that situation.
Okay.
Because I think it was definitely a flop. The guy flopped as well, but he did.
But you're covering all your bases.
I know. That's why I think it was such a tough call to make.
Yeah. You've literally said everything involved.
Because he extended his arm.
So should it have been a foul?
At that time of the game, I'd say no.
Okay. Drew.
I say no. I don't like to reward flopping and grabbing anyway.
So the moment it's clear that that guy's leaning back and has a whole Chandler, I think
give Chandler a little bit of grace.
And he does have to extend his arm a little bit at that point when the guy's got a
hold of him.
I wouldn't have called it, especially in that moment.
Don't think it should have been called, especially from the guy on the other side of the
court.
Shannon.
I mean, we can cry about foul is all we want.
A foul is a foul.
I think you call it there, whether there's 19 minutes left in the game.
Such a contrarian.
I knew that was going to be.
I knew that was going to be a foul.
If it's a foul, then it's a foul.
I knew you're going to say that.
I know Shannon well enough to know.
He's taking the contrarian.
Don't be in that situation to begin with.
Put yourself in that situation.
No, I agree with that part.
To me, it's an egregious call.
It is, I can't like say we got cheated, although someone did.
Yes, he did.
I can't say that because he did extend the arm.
Yeah.
I think he was being grabbed.
So here's what I would say.
Every time you have one of those plays, someone grabs the guy.
Sure.
Every time.
And almost every time someone pushes off.
So those are two things that happen.
almost every time you have this scenario.
I think it's, I don't think you call either one unless it's egregious.
And I don't think what the Auburn guy did was egregious,
but I don't think what Chandler did was egregious.
So I think you let it go.
The best in your scenario is a no call?
I think it's a no call unless you're really holding them or you're really pushing them.
Like there was a play somebody put online of Keon Brooks a couple years ago.
We had this same situation at Arkansas and he pushed off.
And I went back and look, he really pushed off.
I don't think Chandler really pushed off.
So I don't like the call.
I think people can say, oh, if it's a foul, it's foul, it's in timing.
To me, you do have to consider the time, right?
Yeah.
You do have to consider the situation.
So I think it was a mistake.
Now, Shannon's right.
We shouldn't have been in that situation.
Should not have.
We should have gotten a rebound at the end.
Crazy.
Right?
I mean, so those things also bother me.
But it was a bad call in my opinion.
Now, I don't think we got cheated, which gets to part two, which is Pope after the game.
The Pope after the game stuff, you know, I had to go on the post game show while that stuff was happening,
and I was still kind of processing what the next day I watched it all again.
I'm kind of like, what was going on there?
I mean, he said that the ref, let's just think about what he said, put aside all the
passive aggressiveness. Let's just think about what came out of his mouth. He said the
ref had something personal against him. Yes, he did. He called them mother blankers.
And he said that we got cheated. Those are three amazingly strong statements. Are you,
I mean, are you surprised? Like, if any other coach in America does that,
like we're mocking them and going are you dude soar loser and a coach calling like well i guess he's
not calling the refs he's calling the SEC i guess mother blankers i mean that's a kind of crazy thing to do
right yeah i know he's i think he was trying to work the system and not get a yeah i don't think that
I think you're going to find.
I think you should expect to find.
Just saying it through the door on the other side of the wall,
loud where everyone can hear you, I think still counts.
But I was shocked that he was acting that way.
I was too.
Have we ever had a coach in a post game do something like that?
I was trying to think about that.
We've seen coaches mad.
We've seen coaches do silly stuff in post games.
But have we ever had a coach say we got cheated?
No.
We ever had a coach say that the ref was,
Cal probably a couple times said he thought refereeing was personal,
probably with Higgins,
because he did think that.
I can't remember anybody else flat out saying they think we got cheated,
not even in football coaches, basketball coaches, women's coaches, nothing.
I got to admit, though, kind of made me giggle.
I saw that video of him running out in the hallway,
had been yelling that out.
Do you think he didn't know?
Oh, he knew.
He knew exactly what he was doing.
He was a smart guy.
Okay, so if he was intentional,
then he's going to get fine.
Yeah, that's going.
He'll get fine.
I don't understand why he said I don't want to do it because I don't want to get fine and then did it to go get fine.
He's going to get fine.
He's trying to loophole it a little bit.
He wouldn't say.
He knew what he was doing.
I wasn't there, but the video and people that were in the room, as loud as he said, it sounded intentional.
I've been in that room.
It's tiny.
Uh-huh.
So, of course, he was going to get hurt.
Maybe he thought nobody still had their tape rolling.
Microphones were turned off.
No, I mean, he thought.
Of course he did.
He wanted to be hurt.
But you know, when he was.
he was on the podium. He said, like you said, personally said, like four or five different things.
Well, it's on the podium comment was bizarrely passive aggressive. It was.
You know, I'm not saying, look, I love my wife. I wouldn't say anything bad about her,
even if she nags me and does it, like, like, that's the kind of thing. Yeah. That's sort of what he was,
what he was doing there. You know, we've seen some, uh, some bizarre behavior from him after loss of this season.
You think? And it's gone completely like from being.
and just mopey baby butt to like angry baby butt after the Arkansas game.
Listen, I feel like I have to say this all the time because people will.
I like Pope.
I do too.
His behavior after games has been bizarre this year.
Yeah, it has.
And I spent all yesterday, because the game was so late at night, I think a lot of people,
yesterday, everyone I know literally in the national media was that I'm friends with was like,
what was that?
Like objectively, if you're not one of us, Shannon,
it looks like bizarre behavior.
Yeah, yeah, whining.
I mean, going out in the hallway and saying, Mitch,
I mean, yeah, we would make fun of that if there were anybody else.
Of course we would.
That would be like, I want you to go back to Louisville years
and think if Rick walked out of the hall and said,
Tom, you can't say anything,
but we got cheated by those mother blankers.
we'd be like
That's why it made me giggle
When I first saw it like
Oh come on really
You did this
I was just shocked about it
And now
I do think that call was wrong
I would not say
We got cheated
No they didn't lose the game
Because of that call
They didn't call
Any fouls that whole game
They could have fouled both those teams out twice
Yeah
Those teams were beating the crap out of each other
and they basically were letting it go,
which I thought was at least consistent,
but then that last call didn't fit that style of officiating, you know?
Yeah.
And I'm in the camp that thinks it's a bad call,
but it's very clear a Pope's message and his belief
so that we got cheated.
And, you know, with Otego posting it and some comments.
Well, now the whole team is going to feel emboldened to say we got that.
Yeah, but I don't like that.
Like, yeah, it was a bad call, but did you have that same energy?
Gene when you went to locker room and said,
Brandon Garrison, did you have quicksand on your feet on that last play?
Like, they had plenty of problems that weren't that call.
And I hope he addresses those two and just cry on the whole way home because of one call.
Like, UK had a lot of second half issues that I hope he is not just excusing and forgetting about on the way home because of that one call.
I hope he is equally upset that they went 11 minutes with two field goals.
And I always think this.
Like, do you think the officials are going to change, like, be more sympathetic to us after he went in the press conference and said they got cheated?
No.
And that they were mother, you know, Fers.
And like, I can't think that's going to make things better.
No, it won't at all.
Especially we get that guy again, which will probably have him again.
Oh, certainly get him again.
He does a lot of SEC games.
I don't get the personal thing.
Like, maybe you hate a bad call.
Like, do you all have history we don't know about?
Courtney Green has done a ton of UK games.
The next time I see him, I'm going to go, dude, why did you call that?
I know him well enough to say that.
But, like,
Why did Pope say it was personal?
Yeah.
Well, what could it be?
It's a pretty big allegation there.
If you think that you two have something between you and he brought that to the game.
What would the personal thing be?
I don't know.
Like, what could they be mad about, Shannon?
Those are two perfectly pleasant people.
Yeah, I don't feel like they hang out, though, outside of basketball.
You think they had like a bad game of checkers?
Chess.
Chess.
Chess, not checkers.
Come on.
Maybe Courtney wanted to play checkers.
Yeah.
And Pope was like, I can beat you.
in chess they played checkers court and he won and now he's back maybe he's like i'm going to get you
in that all been going to push up double jumped at the end to lose he did yeah like what a way to go
king me yeah i just feel like if you're a really good team and you should have won and this is just
one loss and hurts you okay maybe you got cheek kentucky's very flawed they have plenty of problems
they should be focusing on other than a push up we all had two players really play yeah i mean
aberdeen and oh way how about aberdeen dude i i'm gonna just tell you i'm i'm mr aber
Yep.
He, and O.A.
The two of them carried us on their back.
Yeah, they did.
And they deserve, I wish we had won, because I wish we'd won, but I also wish they both should get the, like, Aberdeen, especially once we found out he was sick after the game.
He played 38 minutes.
And didn't practice for a couple of days.
And I wish that last inbound had gone to hit.
So let's get back to that.
There was really no inbound's play.
Well, let's, we'll talk the specifics of all.
Okay.
Let's take a break.
859-280-22.
It's Matt Jones and these two mothers sitting here with me.
We'll be right back.
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.
Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.
Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
And for more, follow Timbo SlicLife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.
Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist,
Kear Games.
And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience
in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.
I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark.
Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we
don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.
And we're still chasing it.
And we don't know when we've done enough.
Because people scoreboard watch.
Life becomes about wins and losses.
Steve Burns, Dustin Ross,
because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth?
Are you a good person because you're afraid?
Because that's two different intentions, bro.
Absolutely.
And that's two different levels of trust.
I want you to just really be a good person.
Join me, Kear Gaines,
as we have real conversations about healing,
growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose
on my new podcast, learn the hard way.
Open your free, our heart radio app,
Search learn the hard way and listen now.
What's up, fam?
It's Isaiah Thomas.
And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.
Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.
And finding ways to win no matter what.
He's the smartest player to ever play the game.
His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.
And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game.
We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.
I think Joker's going to be exhausted.
this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like
Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on
the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some
playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get to flyin. He run up the court
licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah,
you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the
court and you're going to get the ball.
So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio
app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. There are times
when the mind becomes a difficult
place to live. This is
David Eagleman with the Inner Cosmos podcast
and for Mental Health Awareness
Month, we're dedicating a series to
understanding the mind when it
struggles. I'm joined by
doctors, researchers, and those
with lived experience. We'll talk
with singer-songwriter Jewel
about anxiety. I started living
in my car and then my car got stolen.
I was shoplifting, I was having panic attacks, I was agoraphobic.
And making it through hardship.
To be present is a learned skill, and it's hard to be present.
We'll talk with John Nelson about clinical depression and the brain implant that saved his life.
What I learned is that procedure made me happy because I'm disease-free.
And we'll talk with leading experts like Judd Brewer about anxiety, and John Hirschfield
about obsessive compulsive disorder
and the science of how the brain can change.
This is a month of deeply personal and honest conversations
about what happens when the brain goes off course
and what we can do about it.
Listen to Inner Cosmos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
What about that way of saying,
Shannon, mother blank?
Yeah, I didn't think that Mark Pope even said those.
words. Well, he only said mother.
Mother's okay, right?
Yeah, but didn't he say the...
No, I think he said mother and then he said F and then the...
He left out three letters.
Oh, okay. Well...
Is that all right?
I guess. I don't know. I mean, he censored himself.
Yeah.
I don't think Mitch would appreciate it if he said the other three letters.
I don't know who took that picture, but the look from the side where you see Rockaw
Oliver and then Mitt, and the look on Mitch's face is so Mitch Barnhart.
Like he just bit into a sour lemon.
That's exactly what it looked like.
And he was just like,
Wimbers writes, Matt, we did have Cal once say we cheated,
or got cheated at Texas A&M, the Isaac Humphrey's game.
He said it in the locker room after the game.
Well, yeah, that, I think that's the one game in history.
I think we've been cheated in two games.
That's the most blatant cheat.
Because they definitely didn't need to call that.
Correct.
And then I do think we got cheated in the 2017 North Carolina game.
But that wasn't to the media, though.
I mean, that was to his team.
I bet it happens a lot to the team.
It seems like our fan base is split.
Half the fan base things that's why we lost the game was that call.
The other half are like, well, you messed up.
many times leading up to that. But both those things can be true. We don't lose that game probably
without that call. But we also shouldn't have been in that situation. Like that's, that's,
I think Drew, both those things can be true. Absolutely. I'm mad about the call. I'm mad at the
ref. I think they would have one if they hadn't called it. But I'm also mad that you're up nine
and blow it. And I'm mad that a certain person is in the game and can't finish a basic tip in or
leave his feet to try to get a game winning rebound. Those things stick out to me just as much as the call.
Jonathan says, hey Matt and Drew, y'all act like Pope is hurting us against the
rafts. Let's be real. It hasn't been the same since y'all's fiasco with a certain wrath,
and that's a fact. Yeah. It's certainly our fault. Anything that's not right,
it's probably KSR Matt and Drew's fault, probably. Like, it's not when we don't recruit.
We ran Cal off. It wasn't losing to St. Peters in Oakland. It was a radio show.
The fact we have no recruits, it's not the fault of like the coaching or the administration.
It's Ryan.
Ryan's playing a big role in the recruiting, right?
And when we didn't box out and get the final rebound, like you could go, oh, why wasn't Garrison in position?
What was Chandler looking at?
Actually, it's Shannon.
Shannon was the one that did it.
Should have gotten that rebound.
I'll remind you before, if you think it changed with officials in 2017, do you
remember why Drew and I were complaining about the officials?
Because we had just gotten a game stolen from us.
Was that our fault too?
Like, just come on.
This is a powerful radio show, but we don't move mountains.
I don't think Courtney Green listens to this show.
I think they were in a huddle.
The refs.
Courtney Green likes me.
Courtney Green is literally the only ref.
He should listen.
That, like, speaks to me.
I kind of know him.
And I'm going to say next time I saw him,
What the world were you doing, Courtney Green?
Careful.
No, I'm not.
Go read Higgins versus KSR and read what the judge said.
He said we didn't do anything wrong.
He said maybe we didn't have the most tact,
but he said we didn't do anything wrong.
And he noted that all the bad things that had happened to somebody
happened before Drew and I even went on the air.
Okay, enough of that.
Jonathan.
Jonathan. Just go by John.
I apologize for my role in the Lost Island. Whatever I did.
You should be ashamed. Big Blue Nation. I even bet on us to win. I was confident. I lost money on that game. So whatever I did on the court, my apologies.
All right. So let's talk about on the court. Oway was great. I thought Oway was excellent.
Very few mistakes. I mean, missed maybe one layup, but in general hit some tough ones.
Yeah, he did. You know, he missed that free throw. That's something.
But that's nitpicking.
He was great.
Denzel Aberdeen, I thought, even though he missed shots early,
hit some big shots down the stretch,
those two threes kept us in the game.
Made those free throws on the play before that put us up three.
I thought he was great.
And I thought Diabate gave us some energy,
although he gets the ball sometimes,
and it's like, this is going up, hell or high water.
and when you say go up
he's throwing it up
oh it's
bang
just throwing as hard as he can
against the backboard
some
I don't know what
nobody else
I don't know what to say
about Brandon Garrison
he's the most
frustrating player
in my 20 years of doing this
I'm
you know
I hate to say that
but it's just true
he is
I was thinking
has there been a player
since I've been, when I was a kid, first as a youngster, Rob Locke drove me crazy.
Yeah.
Rob Locke, I can remember my grandfather going, Rob Block.
And Mike Sutton.
Yeah.
Mike Sutton drove my grandfather crazy.
The mantle got picked up for me with Jared Prickett missing layups.
My grandfather, I can still remember him sitting there with lung cancer going,
Doggett!
at Jared Prickett
Then over the years
It always seems like it's a big guy
Yeah my grandfather had Nazir Muhammad
He didn't like that R and didn't like Nazir
He was good though at the year
Young, you loved him by the end
I think we even had a frame picture of him in the living room
But when he was still fat
It's usually big guys because they have to play
Like guards usually don't play if they're not very good
But a big guy might still play
Even if he's struggling, right?
Just not quite ready
He's in there because he's big
And so
So then we actually actually
said a long period where I didn't really have one.
You know, some people didn't like Jamel Martinez.
I liked his mustache.
Jamel Martinez, by the way, a lot of people don't know.
Top 10 all time in UK and free throw percentage.
And moustaches.
But free throw percent, you wouldn't think that for a big.
I didn't realize that.
Then I guess maybe I used to get frustrated at Scow.
Scow was a frustrating.
That was like a sympathetic, frustrated.
It was, but it was frustration.
Shouldn't have been number one in that class.
But Brandon Garrison.
frustrates me a lot.
And Poe's playing him in like crucial time. All you got to do is read our group chat.
Yeah, group chat's really funny.
It's become my favorite thing during the game.
Yeah, we're not reading. We're not reading Matt's.
What are Matt's thoughts on Garrison this game?
I mean, that's the most text you've sent in a game, I think.
You're up pre-empted that one.
It's like a stream of consciousness of just you just.
And that's just, I'm filtering what I send to you.
I think what hurts Garrison, too, is there have been games where we've seen him do it.
Yeah.
Like he's had games.
We're like, oh, that's your ceiling.
Well, that looks pretty good.
And then you have games like at Auburn where it's like, why are you even in right now?
And if you go watch that last play, he does not move at any point.
He doesn't move on the block.
He does it.
They get two rebounds.
He does not move.
And he is not next to the rim.
That last, the last shot was over Chandler because Chandler was having to try to box his man out.
Where was he?
And what? I mean, well, all right.
We'll take the calls when we come back.
859-280-2287. 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, Techies Sports Radio.
People are giving their players over the years that had the frustration.
A lot of votes for Ashton Higgins.
I was pro-Aston Hagan.
Yeah.
It's funny. Most of your guys you're frustrated with are big guys.
Most of mine are like little point guards.
Who's yours been?
Severe Wheeler, for sure.
It was the top of my list.
Yeah.
Ryan Harrow.
You didn't like him.
No.
I felt bad for Ryan Harrow because I think there was more like other stuff going on with him.
Yeah.
Severe was frustrating.
Very frustrating.
I always liked Ashton Hagen's.
I didn't have that same.
His career didn't end very well here, but up to that point he was pretty successful.
Yeah, there weren't a lot of cow guys.
I mean, there were cow guys I didn't think were good.
But I didn't get frustrated at him.
I usually would end up feeling sorry for him.
I think part of what's frustrating about Garrison is he struggles so much,
and he's so loud,
like,
and confident.
So the question is why is he?
What happened?
Colin Chandler was awful, too,
in the second.
And that was his worst half of the year.
Five turnovers and a half.
And couldn't hit a bucket,
couldn't hit anything.
Yeah.
He had the big steel that got the go-head leave.
If not for that,
that was a terrible.
And his forced entry passes to Malachi that got stolen.
it got stolen back to back.
It's kind of what fueled Auburns around.
I will say there at the end when Malachi got his hand on the ball again
before he babbled it on that 1.7.
I was like, oh, God, is Malachi going to get a second look?
That would have been amazing.
He got his hands on it.
Just couldn't hold on to it.
Oh, Garrison also missed that little layup at the end.
That was so bad.
That was so bad.
That was just waiting on the rim for anyone to come tap that in.
Our equipment manager could have gone and finish that.
Indiana has hired Indiana, NBA executive
Ryan Carr, a highly respected MBA executive to run,
be the general manager of their basketball team.
By the way, there are people in college basketball would tell you the last two schools
to really understand what they need to do from a GM perspective where Kentucky and Indiana
and now Indiana has it.
So we have no more excuses.
And the fact they're doing it right now says, hey, they know it's almost time because
we have to go do this.
They went and hired an MBA professional guy.
We have to do it.
And if people's ego at UK, whether it's the coaching staff or the athletics department,
prevents it, that is egregious.
It's so confusing for me.
We're so up to date on modern basketball.
Why are we not jumping on this opportunity to do?
Because I think it's because, like, when you're very smart,
this is the downside of being smart.
And I can, I've done this.
You have to know what you don't know.
Or you have to know how to delegate.
And that's a hard thing for people who are control freaks to do.
Caliperi didn't want to do it.
And Pope in his own way, I think is the same way.
It's like, I got this, man.
I got it.
Now you're the last one standing that doesn't have one.
That doesn't have it.
And like you have to look and go, okay, I guess I don't have it.
Yes.
So let's go to Saul.
Sawyer. Go ahead, Sawyer.
Hey, Matt, first time calling.
Who are?
Just wanted to get y'all's thoughts on something that's been bothering me over the course of this season.
I think it really goes back to this time at BYU.
It just seems like Mark Pope's teams have a really bad habit of playing to the level of their opponents.
Yeah, oh, for sure.
Like, you know, we go on the road to Florida and it's a single-digit game and then lose the next two to some of the worst teams in the
conference and it just feels like the root of that inconsistency is that we sometimes play down
to the level of our opponents and just wanted to kind of get y'all's thoughts on that.
I think that's certainly the case and it's been the case. I appreciate the call. I mean,
it's been the case forever. That's what happens. We don't win blowouts unless we're playing
really bad teams. And the way our schedule played out, these were two games where you had a chance
to help yourself before you go on the road at
and HOST Vandy and Florida coming up.
I remember the worst team in the conference right now is Mississippi State.
And we played them at home and were down double digits at one point.
South Carolina just beat them Saturday.
South Carolina got out of their seven-game losing street,
heating up just in time for us.
Well, they have 97 points.
They did.
Their whole starting five was pretty balanced.
It was like 16 points.
We can't lose Tuesday.
We'll spend a lot of time tomorrow on time, but we cannot lose Tuesday.
No.
Cannot.
Jay and Lending, go ahead.
Hey, Matt, I'm really conflicted on Pope.
Last year, I thought every press conference he was the smartest guy in the room.
This year, at times he's been not confident, honestly said some bizarre things.
And I guess what I'm asking you, the landscape has changed so much, and I don't mean just NIL.
I looked at this this weekend, because I'm a nerd.
The AP top 25, at the end of the rare season, Cal's first seven years, only five times there was one other SEC team in the top 25.
besides us. In two of those years, it was two. Last year, there were eight teams from the
SEC in the top. Yeah, the SEC's much better, much better. We were ranked. But my point is,
Mike Trangesey in the house. I'm not saying that do I accept losing, but do I just accept it's
going to be tougher? Well, okay. It's tougher, but here's my, here's my counter to that.
Somebody's winning. Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee are winning most years. Why can't we?
End of story, right?
It is harder, and yes, the winning team is going to have more losses.
But last year, we were the seven seed in the SEC tournament.
We're progressing right now to be the non-seed in the SEC tournament.
Is it too much for me to ask that we'd be in the top four?
No, but what was our complaint with Cal?
His non-conference schedule was watered down in week.
I mean, should Pope have that as good?
Do we need a weaker non-conference based on how good the SEC?
Now, that's a fair question.
I appreciate the call.
I don't know the answer to that.
I like them playing those games because here's the thing about playing those games.
The reason we're projected today in Bracketology is a seven-seat is because we played all those good games.
One thing I give the NCAA tournament credit for is unlike the college football playoffs sometimes, Drew,
they actually give you credit for playing good teams.
So we are 17 and 10, which some years in the past, being 17 and 10, you wouldn't even be projected in the tournament.
But we are because we played such a good non-conference and because the SEC is so good.
So I think the way they do the schedule now, losing the bad team, losing the good teams doesn't hurt you.
What hurt you is losing to bad teams, which is why we can't lose to South Carolina Tuesday.
Yeah, and on the SEC argument, there's no one saying SEC's not better off than they were.
better conference. But
Florida has two losses right now.
Florida won the national championship. Auburn had
three losses last year. I think Alabama
the year before that, maybe three. Like someone's still winning
the conference and only losing a couple games.
It's just not us. And part of the reason is why
these teams are winning the conference now.
Kentucky's gone down and those are wins they're getting
that they weren't used to having on their resume.
That's a perfect explanation.
Joseph, go ahead, Joseph.
Hey, Matt, bad loss again.
Matt, we were up nine points. I
know the rest had made a lot of bad calls, but it should have been up a lot more.
Chandler was awful in the second half with his five turnovers.
Not much hope for this season.
We just got hope for football that it's better.
Well, I appreciate the call.
What do you think happened with Chandler there at the end?
First of all, would you have inbounded the ball to him?
Well, he's a good free-throw shooter.
You want to get him or Aberdeen were set up to try to get it.
They didn't run a play.
They didn't run them off a screen or something.
I mean, just holding your hand out.
Remember, we've had this problem all year on those.
You know, obviously we ran the great play that got Malachi the shot against LSU.
But if you remember, there were a lot of games earlier in the year where we would have trouble getting the ball in balance on a full court thing.
Like, that's happened.
And it's because I can't believe it's the same thing that Cal used to do.
They just hold an arm up in the air.
Why?
I don't know.
If it didn't work earlier, why is that the play?
Why a sudden was going to try to work this time?
You're posting up a guy 80.
feet away from the basket.
Yeah, I don't understand.
I mean, think about how many times now when we end bound the ball under our basket,
we just throw it to the other end of the court.
Yeah.
Heave it.
I don't understand.
When I saw that we were going to have to inbound at full court,
I thought to myself, run something.
Yes.
And they had Chandler on one side with his left hand up and Aberdeen on the other side
with his right hand up.
And because of the way that, you know, the base, the goal is throwing it
Aberdeen is kind of a tricky pass, so he ends up having to throw it to Chandler.
And look, I mean, Chandler's a good free throw shooter.
I hope he would have made him.
But I think Aberdeen had just made two.
I probably would have gone to him.
You know?
I trust really either one of those guys.
I just hated how they got on the ball.
And also in that spot, when the other team's desperate, that flop is like kind of one of the only things they can do
when the clock's ticking and you're just trading free throws and foul in there.
So you also have to have your guard up on your man is probably going to
attempt that flop because it's really one of the only things they can do.
859-280-2287. Did you sit in the edge?
I did. Yeah.
All right. Well, give me one to do real quick because I don't have it in front of.
Cornbread hemp?
Cornbread hemp. Cornbread hemp. If you need to rest and relax, how about cornbread hemp?
They have the seltzers, the gummies, the topical oils, help you get good sleep.
I used it all weekend, was able to snooze with the late game. I'd already asked off Sunday on
ESPN because I thought I'd be doing something. Then I wasn't doing it. So you know what I did?
I just rested.
Good.
Thanks to cornbread hemp.
It's National Sleep Month.
Oh, my favorite month.
In March, sorry.
So be ready.
It's in March.
Go to it's National Sleep Month.
I'll be sleeping a lot in March then.
No, you're going to be on the road during basketball games.
Hopefully all month.
Probably not.
Treat 25 is the code.
Help you get organic, gummies, oil, and a lot more.
It's treat 25 for 25% off.
Cornbread hemp, this is the good life.
We was just talking with our boss about.
about what of the NCAA sites we would go to.
Basically agreeing we're going to,
if we're in the first round in six of the eight cities we're going,
the two on the West Coast,
it'll depend on the draw if we genuinely think we could get through.
So,
just so you know for your travel plans.
I mean,
I was a,
there was a point.
Well, San Diego and Spokane are long trips.
Those are very long trips.
Yeah.
We'll take a break.
Barry back.
KS.
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,
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 Sports Slice 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,
Kier 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 much.
many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the
pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession
of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people
scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find
it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're
afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.
And that's two different levels of trust.
I want you to just really be a good person.
Join me, Keer Gaines,
as we have real conversations about healing,
growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose
on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way.
Open your free iHeartRadio app.
Search Learn the Hardway and listen now.
What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.
And I'm C.J. Toledano,
and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.
Like LeBron heading into the playoffs
without Luca and Austin Reed.
And finding ways to win no matter what.
He's the smartest player to ever play the game.
His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.
And he knows.
Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game.
We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.
I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series
because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,
he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.
He has to guard Julius Randall.
And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense.
And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson,
we dive into some playoff history too.
Steve Nash will get that thing.
That man, hell get the flying.
He running up the court, licking his fingers
why he got the ball, like,
after you go through a training camp with that, I said,
you figure it out real quick.
Get your ass up and down the court,
and you're going to get the ball.
So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey, everyone, it's Ryder Strong,
and Will Ferdell from PodMeets World.
And now the Pod Meets Twirled podcast.
We're two men who were completely clueless to reality TV,
who now have covered Dancing with the Stars, traitors,
and we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor.
So yeah, now we're experts.
I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners
by our severe lack of survivor knowledge.
That is the point of the show.
I'm just going to remind you.
I have watched some Survivor.
I obviously haven't watched enough.
Did people not like it?
Like what was just because we?
Yeah.
We'll be recapping the big conclusion
of the 50th season from the final
attempts at gameplay to the desperate
pleas of finalists to a bunch of
again we are experts
so make sure to tune into Pod Meets Twirled
for all our Survivor 50
takes listen to PodMeets Twirled
on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts
or wherever you get your podcasts
Add it too hard and down
Welcome back
Tucky Sports Radio
Just sing it if you want it's fun
I like this song
59-2-80-22-87.
Text machine is 7-7-2-7-4-5-25-4.
People still doing the players that were frustrated.
And one person goes, Matt, there's no way you can look at me in the eye and say you didn't get frustrated from Isaiah Briscoe.
I remember your shows then.
Good call.
Yeah.
He's on my list.
I forgot about him.
The baseline stepping.
He was, Isaiah Briscoe, if I'm going Calera on, Isaiah Briscoe's a good one for me.
Hip-hop, Shire, Thomas.
in the tubby era was frustrating.
At the time, people got so frustrated with Archie.
Didn't bother me as much because I felt like he was doing what he had to do.
Had to do it.
People were very hard on Julius Mays, even though he was in Andrew Harrison.
But those weren't mine.
For me, I think if you look, there are two sets of players that frustrate Matt Jones.
Big guys who won't dunk and miss layups.
That drives me crazy.
and then people who aren't as good as they think they are
and need to be like the third or fourth option
and make themselves the first option.
Yeah.
That drives me nuts.
And Briscoe was on a team with Monk, Fox, and Bam,
and he would call his own number.
And I'd be like, dude.
Still has one of three triple doubles in UK history.
Which is an amazing stack.
Yeah, because he called his number so many times.
I like to covering Isaiah Briscoe,
because we would go in the locker room,
we would be two feet from him,
about to interview him,
and he would turn to UK and be like,
I don't want to talk to these people right in our faces.
And it would be like, great, this is going to be a fun conversation.
Yeah.
So those would be the one for me.
I'm also upset we lost because I thought
Tom Hart came up with a great name for Colin Chandler,
Hopi Chandler.
Yeah.
And it may not stick because we lost.
But that's a great name, Hopi Chandler.
You know, Tom didn't hide his feelings too
in that last play, that foul play.
Like, how can you call that at that time?
He was, you know.
You shouldn't have called it.
He shouldn't have called it.
But we shouldn't have been in that position.
No.
And when you get in position, you should try to jump to get a rebound.
Your feet should leave the floor to potentially win the game with a rebound.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, you don't just want to just stand there and watch it?
No.
I thought he played okay, but Malachi's got to get stronger in the offseason,
grabbing the ball.
Yeah.
He gets the ball taken from him way too much.
So does he ever.
Yes. They're both soft when it comes to. They get the ball taken from them a lot, both those guys.
You couldn't play Yelovich in this game. That's why they got to. But I want him to play because he can shoot. So he gives us an option, but he's not physical enough. And against the SEC, I don't care who the team is. Every team in the SEC has a couple guards that can beat you off the dribble and a physical big. They all have it. And that's what we have to have. We have to have those guys. We have to have those.
guys. Because every other
team, even if they're not talented, they have
that. That's why Popeye out and got
Diabate. And he does okay,
but he can't score. Right.
Who's up next?
Your choice there. Who you want?
Who you want? Who you got?
Sorry, I'm losing my, I lost
stupid hits. Go ahead. Yeah, Scott.
There we go. Hey, fellas.
I'm just, I have some
mind-boggled, like, I'm just so mind-boggled
by these Mark Pope's stats I look at
over the last two years. There's good,
bad if I can read some of them all real quick.
Quickly, yes.
Like Mark Pope's, yeah, Mark Pope's started three and over
his top 10 teams with a team he built in a month.
He still has the record.
He's tied for the record for most top 15 wins last year, eight.
We're four in one versus Tennessee our biggest rivalry in two years.
He's got three ranked wins this year versus top 25 teams.
All good stats, right?
Two on the road.
And then there's some crazy bad ones.
Like, we've been down 20 plus eight times.
since he's been our coach. We lost to Georgia twice. That hasn't happened in over a hundred years since
1921, 22. He has the same record as Billy G, 33 and 17 in his first 50 games. We have zero recruits
next year. One more quick one. We've been down 80% of the games, down 10 plus with teams that
were considered competitive, you know, those good division teams. And we've come back in one, five of those.
Yeah, no, I mean, it is weird. It's feast or famine with him. I mean, he has, you're right, that's a great point.
I appreciate the call.
He has some amazing stats historically and some awful ones.
And you go, well, how do you produce both of those?
And I don't know the answer to that.
They were leading that halftime at Auburn on Saturday.
You know, I think we were shocked that they did that.
Then they go up by nine in the second half against Auburn.
Let me ask you a question.
If I were to poll the fan base, do you think, Shannon, the fan base would be pro or con
Mark's Pope's post-game
Antics after the game
Con, I think for the most part
People don't like it
What do you think?
Very con
I think people would like it better
If he would have just set at the podium
It's like the juvenile
Like I'm going to say it
But not say it
Kind of like playing a little immature game there
I think if he'd just set down into the microphone
Like we got cheated
People would have gotten behind it a little more
What do you think?
Definitely con
Like I said it made me laugh
See there was more pro sentiment online
than I would have thought.
So let's do this.
The easiest way.
I've said the best sample of this fan base is the text machine.
Yeah.
So let me just,
all I want you to write is if you thought what Mark Pope did after the game was good,
you cheered it on, pro if you didn't con.
Okay.
And let's just look during the break, 7-7-2-7-4.
We'll compare what they say.
I think most of it comes off of, you know, the fact that it's a loss.
Yes, well, clearly.
But there are fans out there who think,
we got cheated and so
Mario's shaking his head
Mario you're pro or con
no no pro or con the way
what Mark said after
so he was pro
so that's four
con one pro
let's see what it is with fans
I think you're gonna
I think there's gonna be more pro than people think
although I probably leans con
but I think it's gonna be more than you think
I think there were people that liked it
I'm with Drew though
if you want to say cheated say it
as they would say say it with your chest
commit to it
commit to the bit.
You know, you want to call them mothers?
Just like I always say.
Say it to, you know, say it to my face.
You don't need to type it.
Say it.
So say it, Mark.
I don't think anybody was going to hear him
when he's just stepped outside in the hallway.
You don't think anybody heard it?
No, yeah.
By the way, you looked up, Courtney Green,
who he said it was personal.
Yeah.
Every game he'd ever done of Kentucky's in the Pope era,
we'd won? Yeah, Big Blue History
has the referee page. He did both Oklahoma games last year. We enjoyed
those and the Tennessee game last year. Those were his three with Pope and UK
before this season. And they won all three.
Where's the personal part come in? Did something happen earlier in the game we don't know about?
I don't know. It is odd. Oh, excuse me. He also did the Duke game. So four and no.
Four pretty big wins all that. He did Duke, Tennessee and the two Oklahoma games last year?
Yeah, according to Big Blue History, we only have pretty good history with it.
Sounds like to me they were buddies.
Maybe they're getting a good whistle and then maybe something happened.
I think we have five straight wins with him until Saturday, according to Big Blue History.
Shout out Big Blue History.
Yeah, that's weird.
It is interesting though.
Personal, you don't hear that a lot.
No.
I know Cal used to think Mr. Plaintiff was a, it was personal.
But you don't hear that a lot.
All right.
We'll take a break.
Be back.
Hour two.
We'll talk a little hockey win.
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 podcasts.
Last night, a blown call changed a game.
This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.
That's where SportsSlice comes in.
I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments
in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline.
And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories,
their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear.
Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcast.
And for more,
follow Timbo Slic Life 12
and the TikTok podcast network
on TikTok.
What's up, guys?
This is Clivert Taylor the 4th.
And on my podcast,
The Cliverts show,
I'm bringing you conversations
about all kinds of stuff.
Like being an internet
famous referee.
We're in the middle of a game.
This linebacker,
this linebacker walks up to me,
he goes,
Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.
What?
Time out.
Quarterback on office blue
42.
Hey, ref, my mom,
I'm going to want you to weigh better.
What?
Hey, Miss Parker.
Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app,
Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
What's up, fam?
It's Isaiah Thomas.
And I'm C.J. Toledano.
It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs.
We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season.
And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments.
If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry.
You just understood.
That's how personal it got.
Wow.
Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to, he's like, you know, I love you, dog.
You know, it's all love.
This was just playoffs.
This was just basketball.
So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
