KSR - 2026-03-24- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

Matt, Ryan, Drew, and Shannon talk Mark Pope's comments from his radio show, fake basketball news on Facebook, and your calls.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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.

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This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now, here's Matt Jones. Welcome, everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio here. Tuesday, March the 24th on what might be one of the busier days in KS. saw our recent history. I was thinking about this. There are probably four things that we could talk about that would lead and drive entire shows. And if you just look at Mark Pope's comments, there were probably four or five different things in that that could have led. I mean, there's probably seven or eight things that could have led a show here today.

But we can't do it. We will do them all, but we can't do them as long. But you can give us down the Clark's Pubap Shop phone line 859-2-80-2287. A vision auto glass text machine, 772-745-25-4. And this edition, sponsored by the T.J. Smith Law Office called T.J. He'll make them pay. There are, I would say, four main things, like I said, you could drive a show. One is Pope's press conference. Chances are that'll be the focus of a lot of what we say. Well, I say press conferences, more of his, he did a radio show. Right. And said a ton of stuff. I mean, I think I tweeted for an hour straight just on the stuff he said.

The UK women, while that was going on, won an insane game against West Virginia, which they really dominated throughout and then nearly lost at the end. And Kenny Brooks, who I love Kenny Brooks, like the best dude and I think a great coach, had maybe the worst second of basketball I've ever seen a coach. We escaped it. We did. But we got to talk about these time management in that last second. But they won, and now they're going to Sweet 16.

For the first time since 2016, I had not realized it had been 10 years since the women have gone to the Sweet 16. I hadn't realized it's been that long either. That's a long drop. That's a long time. You know, that's awesome because I did not realize it had been that long. It doesn't feel that long. Yeah, they said it on the broadcast as soon as the game ended, and I went to type a tweet, and I stopped.

I was like, did I hear him correctly? Ten years. To be sure. That was amazing. Then prominent UK donor, Brett Setser both did an interview and ended up in a herald leader article with Linda Blackford and our own Drew Franklin scooped the letter that he sent to you. UK demanding the reversal of the Mitch Barnhart $950,000 a year contract. Drew doing some investigatory.

Me, you and Linda Blackford. Really, you and Linda Blackford more than anybody. You two knuckleheads just really going after this story. I had a knucklehead phone call today. Us knuckleheads got to stick together from time to time. Yeah, look at this. We got like a real journalist here. There's a lot of knuckleheads out there, by the way.

Cousins goes on TV yesterday and breaks my heart on television taking a shot at me out of nowhere. Yeah, what was that all about? On television. Yeah, I don't know. That bummed me out. I mean, I guess we'll just start with that real quick. That bummed me out. Yeah, no, you don't have to take that. I don't know. I'm not trying to get into. DeMarcus, if you're just saying to me, Matt Jones, who are like your three favorite players of all time at UK? I mean, there's a lot. But if you're just talking about on the court, I put John and DeMarcus together, the John Wall, DeMarcus cousins.

For me, it's like Tashon Prince, John Wall Demarcus cousins, and I don't know. I thought you'd say Jamal McGlore. Yeah, and probably Jamal McGlore. So that was a bummer. He goes on TV and says, you know, we got to stop listening to Matt Jones talk about basketball. I mean, he's not wrong. I don't know anything. But that stuck, and it made me sad.

I was confused because his other comments seem to be what you've been saying. Everything he said is what I've said. He said, you know, we've got to start realizing these players don't know what the jersey means. Come to Kentucky. He literally was almost if he heard the post game show and then said exactly what I said. You know, I mean, DeMarcus is very close to Cal. He and Cal have a great relationship. Cowell was great to him.

DeMarcus was mad when Cal left at me. and that stinks. But I haven't talked to him since then. You know, we were, when he was here, you know, he was the best, and we had a really good relationship. It always had it after that. I mean, you went out to Sacramento at one point and stayed at his house. I've been to the All-Star game parties with him.

So, I mean, you know, but he's... This is the Marcus Cous. I mean, this is Mr. President. This is DeMarcus cousin. So I'm not going to lie and not say it made me sad. Like, it did. You know, when I saw that I was with, had a friend in town who hasn't been here in like six months.

I was excited to see her and we were eating lunch. And I just was like, oh, man, that stinks. But, you know, I think people were like, go to me trying to say, are you going to say something? I'm not. I love that good. Like, he's earned his right. Guys who played here, they've earned her right.

They can say, whatever. Next time I see him, I'm sure I'll run into him sometime. I hope he'll put me in a headlock. It'll be like the Carl conversation again. I hope he does because I'm not, I'll tell you one thing. I'm not going to do. I'm not fighting with Demarcus cousins, whether physically or metaphorically, because I love that dude. And so, you know. When I first saw it, what you just said, I felt like he was just sharing the narrative

he got from Coach Cow. Well, I don't want to say that because that makes it sound like he can't come up with his own opinions, which he can't. But he's very loyal to Coach Cow. Yes, he is. I mean, we'll use it like this, right? So if I, let's say me and you, somebody out there was being really critical of you. And even if I like that person. So like, if Dan Orlovsky was like, Ryan Lemon is terrible as

a, as a radio host. I could see me going, we got to stop listening to Dan Orlovsky about radio. Right? Because for you, my loyalty is going to be more to you than to Dan Orlovsky, even though I like Dan Oloffsky.

That's how I look at it. So, I mean, his loyalty is more to count. And it should be. Like he's had a great life and Cal was a big part of that. So I get it. Yeah. And he, maybe one of the closest to Cal from that old era.

Cal did a lot and just getting him on the right track and helping him with his. Maybe the closest. Is that by me? I'm not, but you know what? We move on. Everybody who really knows me like was checking him. Hey, dude.

You all right? Even my mom from Wheaton College was, she called like three times. It was like, you're okay, right? Checking on her baby boy. I need to go on Michelle Beatle. Well, she knows how I.

Yeah. Michelle Beatle was about. I heard her. are laughing in the background. I don't even know Michelle Beatle. How does Michelle Beatle even know even though? We need the longer clip. Maybe we'll dig that. She probably does. She's probably just laughing along like ha ha ha, you know, like if somebody says something, you just going to be a part of it. I saw the longer clip. Literally, it was as random as it looked. He just kind of out of nowhere. I love that. Clearly he's got the cow connection, but he still says I'm Kentucky through and through.

He still said, that was important. He did say, I love cow, but Kentucky is my place. I was glad to hear him say that. That's what we want to hear these guys say. Yeah. Right. So, all right. So now, that's. That's. That's. That's. All right. So now. That's was one of the things. I think the more important thing is the Pope press conference. So, you know, Pope does this, this call-in show. And I would say for most of the year, the Pope calling show has been really unhelpful and boring. I thought last night was Pope at his most open and honest about how he actually feels. I actually think Mark Pope was Mark Pope was Mark Pope last night. We've seen this other thing, I think, a lot of the year. This was Mark Pope,

and I thought there were a lot of interesting things. Before we say anything, I want to be clear. I'm glad he talked like that last night. Do more of that, right? Just be who you are. Be proud of who you self, as Ryan Lemon used to say, Shannon. Like, be who you are. And he did that for better or worse. And he said a lot of things. And I want to go over a couple things he said and just get people's reaction to them. I think the most important one will be the one that I say last. So Pope said a lot,

he made a big deal about the fact that they haven't gotten to play with the full roster. He said 56 power five games, we've only played in two years with our full roster in five games. That was very important to him to say. I understand that. That is correct.

It also, though, is a weird thing to say when we just played Iowa State whose best player got hurt right before the game. It's really working against his argument right now. That game is not a great argument because they lost their best player

moments before, like a day before the game and destroyed this. But I also understand he's not wrong about that. He then said, and I found this interesting, I'm going to say, odd, but still very interesting. He said that they created

their entire offense around having a left-handed point guard, Jalen Lowe. And that when he got hurt, they then had to change the entire way they played. He went so far as to say, you might say, why does a left-handed point guard matter? Well, with a bunch of things. One, it actually suits a right-handed big extremely well, because point guards and bigs, if you have a point guard that comes off the ball screen to his left, you get the big man that's rolling to the rice, it's way more effective than you have.

When you have a right-handed point guard and a left-handed big it works, but a right-handed point guard and a right-handed big can be awkward. Now, that may very well be true. I've never heard that before in my life. I also don't know how many times have we seen left-handed bigs? Like I was sitting there thinking, most point guards are right-handed, right-handed, right? So he's saying they play better with a left-handed big. Who's the last left-handed big you can remember that played in the post?

Amari. Yeah. Terrence Jones But I You know EJ Montgomery There ain't many of them You know

Do you buy the idea That when you have a left-handed point guard And then he gets hurt Everything has to change And it screws the team up No I mean I buy that you can run an offense Around the left-handed point guard

And I think that's You know What he was saying is true From a basketball standpoint But that doesn't just derail your whole season. And I don't think, I don't even know that I would have said that out loud if I'm not. I don't think I would have been either.

He's thinking, oh, we have this advantage with the left-handed pork guard will play that way. But that injury happened in the blue-white game in October. I mean. And shouldn't they be able to go both ways? Yeah. Yeah. If you're right-handed, you could still feed with your left hand, even if you're right-handed. I mean, you've got to be able to go both ways, right?

We can't be a team that relies on one dominant, one player's dominant hand. like the whole season can't ride on one player's dominant hand. And we had a backup that was left-handed and we lost him to Villanova. A Caden Lewis was left-handed. He brought that up a few times. And Travis Perry got brought up a lot too. It did. Yeah.

But I mean, okay, fair enough. A Caden Lewis and Travis Perry left. But like, that's on you. And that's just the world. I mean, that's not going to change. Ultimately, it's your responsibility to get these players to come. That's college basketball now. That's just the way it is.

You can sit there and cry over spilled milk all day. guys, there's going to be guys leave this team that you probably would like to keep. But, you know, that's what it is, right? In this day and age of college basketball, man, their left hand, right hand, they're so good at both hands. They don't think it matters anymore. Well, it seemed to matter, at least in what he said, the way they do it. But the big thing he said, and I think this is the thing that everyone is focused on the

most. The big thing he said is he compared his two years to Cal's last four. four years. And he did, I posted the clip, it is four minutes long. He did four minutes with numbers that Shannon, he didn't just get off the top of his head. Oh, no, he did some show prep. He did show prep. He did something Ryan Lemmon's never done one time. He did show prep. He had the numbers. He was like, when in Cal's last four years, he did this, we did this, this was the schedule. Now, this is the schedule. These are the top 40 teams we beat. That's the top 40 teams they beat.

This is how many times they won in the SEC tournament. This is how many times we want. And the overall theme was, our last two years were better than Cal's last four. And it was four minutes long. And I posted that clip, and it's gone mega viral. I posted actually another UK account,

posted Big Blue Bud, and then I put it on mine, so I want to give him credit for putting it up there. But what did you think of that? I was writing on the board in real time it was happening. I was like, I am shocked that he is comparing himself to Cal. Me too. I mean, maybe I wouldn't directly call it a jab, but it's not not a jab.

I mean, he's saying I'm doing better than cow. Better than cow. He's right. Okay, so let me be clear. I don't think he's wrong. His facts are not optional. They are correct. And if you've listened to this show, you and I drew have made these same facts.

Yes. But Ryan, it was odd to hear him. do it. Yeah. Because it's the first time I've ever heard him compare himself to Cal in a way that downgrades Cal. And it also is, I think, selective fact choice. Okay.

Is he wrong? No. His last two years, objectively, are probably better than Cowell's last four. But two major, major caveats. One, COVID's doing a lot of work. Take that COVID team out. those numbers aren't the same. But more importantly,

is the right comparison him versus cow's last four years or him versus cow's first two years? Pins on who you ask. True. Right? Pins on who you ask. So once you get into the Compare Me to Cal game,

be careful. You got to be careful. Yep. And I'll say one more thing. The Cal Kentucky breakup. Cal's taking some shots at Mitch, but he really hasn't taken a ton of shots in Kentucky. That will change. Oh, yeah.

Cal will respond to this. Cal's been pretty gracious. I know this. Cal's been pretty gracious. He's responding to this. Now, will he respond to it in a good way, bad way? I don't know. But he's not going to let that go.

I'm surprised he did it. I'm not, and I looked at the responses online, they were wildly varied. There are fans that are like, yes, Mark, take up for yourself. And I get that. I'm actually, I don't mind a guy taking up for himself. But then there's people going,

dude, we wanted Cal gone because that wasn't acceptable. Yes. And now you're saying it's a little better than that? That was my exact take. Is that your take? Why would you choose to compare yourself to the four years that basically had fans

wanting Calipari gone? I mean, that's the same thing. And he said it's better. And I think Pope's words were, barely better. Barely. Yeah, that's a weird thing. Barely better, but we all agree was unacceptable those last four years of cow.

But he was like, it's barely better and we're moving in the right direction. So that's progress in his mind. He said it's exactly what he said. He said it's progress. Barely. But if you're on the cow end, you could be like, you played in the first game of the SEC tournament. Well, okay, so I am on, in general,

I'm on Pope's side of the argument. But, you know, I'm a dork when it comes to law and like, well, you say this. But, you know, how many times have you heard me be a contrarian on here? When he mentions the SEC tournament and he goes, well, we've won three games and he only won one. Yeah, but that's because we were playing in the Wednesday games. Cow never played in the Wednesday.

Against the 16th. Our three wins have been in games Cal never played in because he always got to Friday. Right? Yeah. So, you know, it all depends on how you look at it. Right. And I'm just surprised that he voluntarily got into the Cal versus me. And had all that show prep, all the documents, the numbers. And it wasn't random. He came in saying, I'm going to do this.

Yes. That was his point. Cherry picking numbers, though. Here's what I would say. Remember how I've talked about how this should be a well-oiled machine. For Kentucky to roll, we need coaches, media, boosters. fans, administration on the same team. When you got stuff going and when you got everybody on the same team, you don't make that argument if you're Pope. You let other people make it for you. Right, you let me and Drew make it for you.

Or you let Kyle Tucker make it for you. Or you let Mitch Barnhart make it for you. When you make it for yourself, I'm not sure that's the greatest look at it. I don't either. So maybe I just kept hearing a lot of yeah buts yeah butts And he ended by saying this is not an excuse fast What do you what do you call what you're trying to do then But Shannon you could see how some people would look at it as an excuse

Sounds like a whole lot of excuses to me Well we had injuries but we're comparing it to the last four years of cow But this, but this it's too many butts And that left-handed point guard thing was terrible And for Shannon to say there's too many butts I mean Shannon is the Shannon only is a fan of butt If I could say one thing that I did like about Pope's show, even though I didn't...

Appreciate you laughing at that, Shane. These two just stared at me when I said that, but I'm glad at least you laughed. Go ahead. Some of the stats I rolled my eyes with, but I turned that show on expecting to get sad, mopey, depressed Pope. He was much better. I loved his energy. Maybe every point he made I didn't completely love, but I like that it wasn't, oh, poor

me, because we've heard a lot that this year. He at least spoke with some confidence, even if I didn't agree with everything he said. I did love the tone much more than I have the rest of the years. We're going to see more of that. We're going to open up the phones in a few minutes because I actually, we got a lot of positive feedback that they like the, let's just hear from people. We're going to talk in a second about the other thing that's sort of come,

the point in fingers. And I want to be able to allow fans to just have some time to, so it's not just Matt, Ryan, Drew, and Shannon. Like, how does the actual fan base feel? We'll do that a little bit in the second hour. But we'll take a break. We'll talk some more about it.

We need to talk about Brett Setser's letter that he wrote. And we need to talk about the women's team going to the Sweet 16 to play Texas. That's next here on 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,

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 Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast. podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer 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. iHeartRadio app search learn the hard way and listen now what's up guys this is clivert Taylor the fourth and on my podcast the Cleverts 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 quarterback on office blue 42 a rep my mama want you to wave at her what Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford Show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet.

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Cream a chicken suit. This is help from a hypocrite, the worst advice from the double as people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back, Techie Sports Radio. We're sitting here trying to think on the left-handed, big man. I came up with David Robinson. That's a good one. He's a great land of left-handed big man. What else is on that list? I found a list. It's mostly guards, not many bigs. There aren't many bigs. Chris Bosch. Chris Bosch, okay, good call. Yeah. Bill Russell. How about that

one. Bill Russell was left-handed? According to this list. I didn't know he was left-handed. He was pretty good. I don't think I've ever seen one video of Bill Russell playing basketball. Have you? Well, yeah.

Where? Like the old school NBA. You watch a lot of 50s basketball? Oh, yeah. I love it. Okay. I honestly don't think I've seen one clip. I'm sure.

I know they exist. I'm sure, but I don't think I've ever seen one. I didn't realize he was left-handed. One person on text machine writes, Matt, what you call an excuse could also be a reason. Have you ever thought of that? Yeah. It depends on how you look at it.

Excuses can be reasons. Yeah, I get it. It's interesting. The reaction to people of that clip was very different. There are people who really think that that was the way to do it. And I'm trying to think if I was in Mark's situation, I might want to do that too. And then there's people who think the opposite. It had varied reaction.

Just go look at my clip of it and look at the comments and look at the quote tweets and you'll see very widely different reactions to it, which is just kind of interesting to me. When person writes, man, I have to tell you, I'm not saying he's wrong, but I've never in my life heard a coach talk about left-handed point guard changing the way they have to play. Ever. Never, ever. Have I heard that? I haven't either. But I don't, you know, but I'm not a coach. I don't know. But I'd never heard that. I mean, if he said it in November as the season was starting, like, we've got to adjust. That's one thing. But I mean, that injury was a long time ago. It was in October. And that's part of being a coach. Jasper Johnson left-handed? Jasper's left-handed.

Was there our backup point guard? Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I haven't really heard. Now, he also ended that by saying doing the thing he did at the press conference before. Well, a couple things. First of all, actually, let me do that next segment. He answered the question and said they did not offer Yaxel Landenberg,

$7 to $9 million. Wish he had just said that the first time he was asked. Should you just said that. But I'm glad to hear him say that because I don't think they did. Yeah. I think Yaxel was either. exaggerating or, depending on how you want to look at it, lying. I do not think Kentucky offered him $7 to $9 million.

And Mark was very explicit and said, let me be clear, we did not offer $7 to $9 million. I like that. I did too. I like that. That's one that only is an excuse. That's correcting the record. And I think we all believed that at the time, but having Pope actually say it. I mean, just in itself, 7 to $9 million is not an offer.

That's not an offer. That's a range. That's a $9 million offer for a $7. No one offers $7 to $9 million. I'm going to buy this house. I will offer you $400 to $700,000. Well, you know what? I'll take $700.

So he did do that. All right. So we went along the first segment. So let's take this break. And then we'll talk about some of the other stuff he's at right after this. 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. Shannon's so good. Because this isn't even the name of this song, right? No, this is Hockie Talk, but docky-dunk. How did you remember that it started left, left, left, right, left? That was perfect, but how did you remember that? Well, the music video was a good way to remember that.

If you've seen the music video for this song. Oh, I don't think I've seen it. Now I'm going to have to look it up. There's something that goes left, left, left, right, left. You can imagine, yes. Okay. But, I mean, that is really, like, I don't think you get, you don't get nearly enough credit for how well. And especially with the podcast now and people not hearing the music,

The podcast listeners don't realize how well you time that together. That's a live listener gets that. But I appreciate it. Well, I wish you could tell that to our bosses so they would appreciate it. And I will also say ESPN, you have an impact on ESPN. Oh, really? I've watched this on ESPN now. So we started on ESPN bringing, it all starts with Tony Cornizer, who used to do this.

Yes. Then I brought the concept of the music connects. to a word or phrase we said before. Shannon started doing it, and we've like, our minds have melted. I brought that to ESPN, and over the last few years,

they've started doing it on my show, and now they started doing it on the other show. Oh, they have. And one of the producers on one of their show says, I kind of took this from my days working on your show. So, like, literally, that progression has kind of made, when you listen to ESPN and you hear them do this,

I think it kind of, It really started with Kortheiser many years ago, but I kind of stole it from him and then went on from that. It is kind of an underappreciated thing that Shannon does for this show. It really adds a lot to it. I agree. All right. So some other things Pope said. Pope said in recruiting this year they're looking for creators.

He was like, we didn't have enough creators the last two years where basically he means guys who can just go get their own shot. I was sitting in my house and I went, hallelujah, praise the Lord, because I've been saying that for two. years. We haven't had those guys. And I think you've got to have at least like three of them. And this year we had one, maybe two, depending on what you think of Aberdeen. He says we need to get a team full of creators, Drew. I love that. Good stuff. That was my favorite part of the show. They really lacked that. I mean, how many times do we see them get jammed up in the half court? And even Oway, who can get to the rim and finish. He can't if there's not spacing. You need a guy that can just go out there. When all else fails, he can go get you a bucket. And Jalen Lowe was that. That was part of

why I thought losing him was so big. He was the only guy we had that I really felt like was really good at that. Yeah, you got to say it and they got to go out and do it. You got to go out and get somebody. You got to go out and get him, but I'm glad he says that they could get him. Then he said that we have, I think he was addressing Jack Givens's comments after the game. He said we have all the resources we need. Now, he did say to get the players we want, which that's quite a caveat. Because that could mean there are players he want that just doesn't cost a lot. So we'll see. but nevertheless he didn't act like resources would be an issue. And that's what we want to hear.

And he even said, I forgot the exact word, but he insinuated, be patient, there's some good news on the way in recruiting, and he felt good where they are. So that's better than the alternative where when you look at a sheet of paper and there's zero recruits, he's at least trying to inject some, inject some hope in the fan base. He then went off kind of again on the Facebook memes and all that. I don't know what it is about that. Well, actually, I have a theory, which I'll say in just a second. But then he ended this by going, here's the thing we can get confused sometimes.

There's a super, super vocal like 1%, 0.1% very vocal, trying to get hits and listeners. And then there's the 99% of BBN that is true believers cheering their guts out. Everywhere I go and everyone we meet, a lot of people around town, everybody says they love PBN and they're praying for us to be successful and they're cheering us on. That's different when I talk to people and they're just trying to put out something negative. I don't understand why he needs to do this. I don't know who he was talking about. Could be us. Could be whatever.

I don't know why he needs to do this. The moment, you know, this is the same guy who I met with two years ago who looked at me and said, when I deserve criticizing, I want you to blast me. If you don't do that, then that's not what BBM is. I guess that's easy to say when you think you're going to win every game. But I love Mark Pope. I'm cheering you on. we are not like we want we want you to win i don't even he may not have even talking about us he may

have been talking about somebody else i don't know i talked to somebody who knows mark really well yesterday there aren't a lot of those people here but i do i know one and they said to me look here's the thing you have to understand about mark when he goes online he only goes to two places it's a little scoop he goes to espn and he's on facebook And he was like, you need to understand that Mark's coverage of UK athletics. What he sees is Facebook. Oh, no. That's the worst place to go.

I had never heard this before. And I was like, oh, okay. But then that makes sense. That's why he's talking about these memes about his wife in an airplane and Colin Chandler giving all the money to homeless. It's like that's what he sees. Right? So if you think about it, for the, I don't go on Facebook really at all.

But many of you listeners do. Think about the coverage of UK sports you see on Facebook. That's what Mark is seeing, which is interesting. So that also made me think maybe he wasn't talking about us because we're not really, I'm not even on Facebook. But that means he's seeing KSR, the website. But that also means he's seen like these fan sites that write stuff. like blue nation

yeah like Pope's cats in your face or like you know come get some blue in Mark Pope's world he sees that as the media which I think is really interesting to know remember how we used to talk about the only

people Mitch Barnhart talked to were via email and so it was like what kind of person emails well that's who Mitch Barnhart's listening to now I kind of know, at least according to this person, that the media Mark Pope is consuming is what pops up on his Facebook. So I want you to think about your fan sites on Facebook. It's not people really in the media, right? So now those comments make sense to me. When he gets up there and goes, you know, what is really media nowadays?

Is it a guy in his basement? It's because he's seeing these fan groups on Facebook. So where you and I that are online or if you're on Twitter and you see writers and you see headlines, he's seen Pope's fans in your ears pose. And Shannon, now it makes sense to me. Yeah. There's a ton of fake headlines. I saw it go over yesterday that said that Jaden Quaintens was about to work out for the Knicks today at full strength.

And people lost their minds in the comment section because they believed it to be true. But it's not true. So that's what he's seeing. But, you know, half of his week is spent with local media. But I don't think he sees it. He sees, I don't know, what are the biggest Facebook fan groups? I don't look at them. I don't get on Facebook.

They have wild names. But like, I'd be interesting, those people that are, now we know that. And so my, when I, when I heard that, I was like, okay, somebody needs to tell him that's not really the media. Yeah. The people you meet with, two or the media. three times a week. That's the media. So it also made me sort of interestingly think, you know,

yesterday continued the tradition that happens a little bit where there's a group of people go, Matt John is ruining UK athletics and you ran John Cal Perry out of town. You're going to ruin well Cal didn't even get on the internet.

And Pope is on the internet on Facebook, a site I don't even use. So who are those? people. The funny thing is, we don't even know who those people are. I don't even have faces or names. They don't even have faces or names. So are those the people that are powerful?

Are those the people that Mark is thinking of when he thinks of media? If so, a little note to all the fan sites out there. Those of you that are in, whatever the group is, you're kind of like, you guys actually have some power now over these things. Maybe we should be careful. Maybe it's all fun in games when you all post these memes, but maybe they're actually having an effect. That was the most fascinating thing to me. Because I have sat there and wondered, what is Mark talking about when he says all this stuff? Now imagine you're a fan that only sees Facebook. That's what he's talking about. Well, watching the, I wasn't there, but I was watching the live stream in St. Louis. When he mentioned

the Leanne thing, I thought, did he just? reference one of those random AI Facebook thing? Surely he's not looking at those. He's a smart guy. No one should look close. Hard to understand a smart guy who can't figure it out. Well, I'm not saying he's falling for those. I don't think that's true, but I think he

thinks that is what media is now. He thinks that's how somebody reported that. He thinks all of our fans are reading that and thinking it's true. Most of our fans are rolling their eyes at that and saying, Grandma, stop reading that and reposting it and coming on it. But what Grandma is reading, it's

sounds like Shannon is what Mark is reading. Yeah. That's social media. That's not the actual media. And you can't believe anything you see on Facebook. So now it might, but the one thing is now it makes sense. Now I know why he's saying all that. And now we do have to think about when these groups post this stuff. Pope's reading it.

You wonder who's reading it? Mark, Pope's reading it. Some of them are so crazy. I don't know how anyone would talk about it. common sense could believe them. I don't want to tell this story. I'm not going to tell. I do. No, I just do worry that like,

you know, this is part of like getting our media relations and stuff up to date. You know, one of the, just someone tell Mark that like 98% of people are rolling their eyes. Colin Chandler donated his whole

NIL to Turning Point USA. Does he think we all believe that? I hope not. It's very clear he doesn't believe it because he said every day I see something that's fake, but I hope he doesn't think that just the whole fan base is walking around talking about stuff like that. I worry that he does think that. Most of them laugh it off. And let me just say when he says everyone that comes up to me says something nice. Well, of course. I mean, everyone that comes up to me says something nice. I don't have 100% approval writing. People are not, people don't come up to you and just say, you suck. Not to your face. Yeah. A lot better if they

I don't think it would, Channing, because it wouldn't happen to you. It would happen to me. Well, we get it on social media. But they do it on social media, but like he's like, well, nobody comes up to me and says they're not, don't think I'm going to Jake. Well, no one's going to do that. Of course not. No one's going to come up to the coach and go, you're not doing a good job.

Yeah. I know. I don't think he has the Twitter app if he thinks he's 99%. Well, now I'm going to have to, I guess I'm going to have to get on Facebook and see what people say. Because I didn't know. You're going to join Kentucky. I'm not joining any of those.

I did try to join one of those. groups. It was called like Pope's boys or Pope's dogs or something. There's one Pope's something. It's the craziest. And I tried to join it and they refused to let me in and they were like, no. And I was like, it was like

and I think you're right. That's a big one. It's like Pope's Paps. I'm not even going to say the other team, but there was one on there. It had an AI image. It was like Team X's starting player died on the court. And I'm like, what do you post? Who post that? But I guess now, apparently Hope's pups, that one is the one that our coach reads.

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You finish strong coverage on certified pre-owned makes and models at Don Franklin Auto. It's Don Franklin Auto, driven by family. This morning I got up, by the way, Three of the top 15 episodes of sports podcasts in America were KSR episode. Hour one, hour two, and the post game show were three of the top 15. And the other were all Barstool or Bill Simmons or like, so obviously one thing that people say is, well, we can't have apathy in BBM. We don't have apathy.

At least not in this world. We'll take a break. Be right back. 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 Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 many incredible guests. I'm talking.

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What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of the first. the game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

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You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, Help on the internet. Help! Somebody! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives,

helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike! I'm a comedian! I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious. advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary.

Oh, cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrat, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from a Hypocrite as part of the MyCultura Podcast Network available on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. You were saying during the break, Ryan, that you're saying, your parents fall for Facebook stuff? That's what I think, and I don't mean just be mean,

but like the older fan are the ones that kind of fall for these stories, and then they retreat them, you know, repost them. They'll get more clicks for it, and that's why they keep doing it. One person writes, Matt, a lot of people know the group that I'm talking about. I guess it's called Pope's Cats. And this person says, it's the worst thing on Facebook. Lots of fake stuff on there. If you only saw that, it would be,

to know what was true about UK sports. So I always go to KSR and see if it's on there. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I can see that. You should do. They wouldn't let me in there. How was I not able to get in? Sounds like Pope's in there.

That means one of the people in there is a burn. writes, Matt, this is kind of funny. Do you think he's on Bond That Bridge and Ladies of KSR? Well, we have to approve. Well, I don't run Bond That Bridge, but there's a few people that do. And I do see that they have to approve people to get in. so I think we would know if he was on. Ladies of KSR, they have a no-men policy.

I wonder if that includes Mark Pope. That's right. You cannot get in. It's strict. Very strict. No, no, no. Aren't you getting it though? But they did let me in.

No men. I honestly don't think they like that I'm in. I'll say this, though. They are the most active and loyal KSR supporters. The ladies of KSR group is posting constantly, and they are the, they are the most. active and they come up when I meet them and they're like, I read the ladies of KSR group.

They sent a huge group mailer to Larry, to my dad. So like they're the best. The nursery at home is full of stuff that the ladies of KSR. Is that right? Including handmade quilts. And they got together and they would like, someone would do half of it. Then they'd ship and someone else would finish it because they all had different talent. Yeah.

And then they came to Paul Miller. And I mean, we had like a little ladies of KSR shower after the show. They gave us so many things. Our bookshelf was full of books from the ladies of KSR. How nice is that? Very cool. Very nice. So maybe it's so very good things on Facebook.

You know, he does live in a house full of women that probably can get in those groups and kind of maybe keep him posted. But the ladies of KSR are not saying negative things. They're the most positive people on one person writes, Matt, 90% of Kentucky fans on Facebook is a guy with sunglasses holding a fish in the air. Fair. Very fair. I will say this. When someone calls me some name that is like liberal beta, 85% chance. A, it's a sunglasses selfie.

And probably 35% chance there is a fish involved somewhere. And they're saying about you, you can't even bet a hook, like that country song. I can't bait a hook. I can't even beat a hook. He can't even beat a hook. That song is so stupid. I can't. Oh, God.

But there you go. So I do feel like, overall, I'm glad he did that show last night. Let's do odds. Does Cal reference this sometime this weekend? This Cal reference Pope's comparison. I forgot there's Cal speaking engagement starting. Kyle will have a press conference tomorrow. Will he reference Pope's reference comparison to him?

will he find a sly way to slip it in? I'm going to say 70% chance yet. If I know Cal, that's the kind of thing. Let me tell you how Cal gets his news. We were talking about Facebook. This is what it was here. I assume it's the same. He has them print out all the stories from the internet that they think he should read.

He used to print out every KSR, Herald Leader, career journal and then he had other things he was interested in like basketball times which i don't even know if that still exists and they would print them out and sometimes he would call me and he would read from he'd be like do you see what jim jenkins said in the basketball times i was like how i don't even know what that is what is that so i don't know someone is going to print out for him a story about what pope said will he reference it aline yes it'll be subtle but it'll be in there someone during the show last night showing him over yet they said said, oh, this is going to get back to Cal. I said, no, this is already back to Cal. The moment

it came out of post-mouthed, someone sent it to Cal. It's already there. So, do you think he will? I feel like he'll do it. If they win the game, he'll do it in the post-game, when he's feeling good and confident-d-and-till. Yeah. That's a good call. Yeah. That's a good call. If they were to beat Arizona, that's a really good guy. I think he'll do it before. He's already farther in the tournament and just won the SEC championship. Shannon, you think he does it? I'm kind of with Ryan. If he wins, he definitely will. I don't know that he will yet. I mean, he's in the Sweet 16. trying to get to the elite eight so I don't know that he's going to say that. You're right. That's a post-game press conference cow.

Do you see what I did? See what I did there? Would you like to compare wins between other schools and that's what he'll do? My first two years in Arkansas, somebody's first two years in another school? When do we play that team? Oh. Yeah, when do we play that team? Where are they now?

Go Arizona, please. All right, here's what I want to do. I want to open up the phones, get your take. on the season, Pope, his comments. Not just me talking. We're going to do another rim-sh, not rim-shot. Wow, that's a different show. Let's not do that today.

KSR after dark. Yeah, 859-8-0-2287. 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,

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This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source

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in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up guys? This is Cliverts Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being in internet. that 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 want you to wave at her. What?

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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 hiring. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come until he's like, you know I love you, dog.

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