KSR - KSR Postgame UK MBB at Florida 2/14/26

Episode Date: February 15, 2026

Matt and Billy recap the Cats' 92-83 loss at Florida.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It is the local Toyota dealers, KSR postgame show. The Cats play a hard-fought game in Gainesville, but lose 92 to 83 to the Florida Gators who are probably playing as well as anybody in the country. and took a huge lead against Kentucky early and was able to hold throughout the rest of the game. You gave us a shout on this Valentine's night. Some of you may be on your way to dinner to all of you couples out there enjoy your meal.

Billy is cooking for his lady after this, but first we've got to talk about the game. And it was, unfortunately, the beginning was kind of what we've been used to in these games. has now played 25 games this season, and they have been down at least 12 points in the first half in 12 of the 25 games. That's really, really bad. Essentially, one out of every two games, they've been down by 12 points, and if you throw out the games against teams that stink, you've basically been down by 12 points in the

first half in two out of every three games against Power Conference teams. That's really not good, and it happened again today. Kentucky got down 15 in the first half, and it looked to me like they were about to get blown off the floor. I mean, it was 32-17, I think, and I thought they were maybe one or two more baskets from, you know, just being destroyed. But then they came out, got a 9-0 run, and for most of the rest of the game, it kind of fluctuated between about 5 and 12 throughout the game. I never really felt like Kentucky was in a position to come back and win, but they also were not only competitive, I thought for a lot of the last 25 to 27 minutes,

I thought Kentucky was better in a lot of those sequences. They did a lot of things right, but ultimately I think they lost for three reasons. I'm going to say the first two first because I think they're more important than the third. a lot of self-inflicted errors by Kentucky. And specifically for me, the most frustrating one is miss layups. This team missed 15 layups tonight. And this has been an issue all year.

We got guys who, we have two problems. We got guys who get to the basket and miss layups. By my count, Oway, miss four of those 15. But that, I could be, it might have been more, but I know it was four. And so that's the first problem. And I don't really understand why. Some of it is because Florida is very good at rim protection on defense.

And I think one of those four he missed because of good rim protection. But then he missed three that he was there. He just didn't finish. And it feels like that has happened all year. He does not finish well from the left side of the basket. And I think he prefers driving that way. he goes left more than he goes right and he misses him. And then our bigs, Billy, sometimes I think when our bigs get an offensive rebound,

their strategy is just to throw it as hard against the glass as possible and hope it goes in. Like literally, I think they get an offensive rebound and they just like, just launch it at the goal. No touch. I mean, we had at least two, maybe three offensive rebounds, where they're, the putback hit just backboard. No rim, just backboard. So 15 layups will get you. I mean, if you hit,

if you hit five of the 15, you know, it's a one point, it's, you know, we win. Now, I don't think that's how the game plays out, but you're right there. So you can't miss all those layups. The second thing was, I thought for stretches of the game, Kentucky was very poor,

defensive rebounding, and closing out on threes, which are probably the two things that are, one of them is the most important thing you have to do against Florida, which is a defense, which is rebound. And we did a pretty good job for a lot of the game, but then we had that stretch where I think they got nine shots

in four possessions, and I think they scored in all of those possessions, and none of which were on the first shot, that kills us. You know, early in the game, we actually did a pretty good job, them off the glass, but you saw their toughness kind of show through in the second half. Moreno had 11 rebounds, so he actually, I thought, played pretty well.

But Yellovich and Garrison, and Moreno to some extent, they get the ball taken from them. You know, they'll actually get the hand on the rebound, but then Florida's guys would just kind of out-tuff them to get the ball. And I think you saw that, it wasn't an issue the whole game, but it was an issue in key points. They out-rebound us by eight. which is a lot, but at the same time, you know, that's the second best rebounding margin ability any teams had against Florida all year, and it was eight behind.

That's how much they control the glass. So I thought they did okay on that most of the game, but it heard them in key positions. And then early, the deficit in large part came because they were hot early. You know, they hit, what was it, 113? for the game, and they were 350th in the country. They were 350th in the country coming into the game in three-pointers made. And Lee and the kid off the bench, number seven, hit eight between the two of them. And Lee especially, he's played well in the last few games, but that's not how he's played all year.

And that hurt us. Now, with that said, Mark Pope said after the game, I think he's right. He said he didn't feel like he put the right defenders on them, and I think that's correct. Chandler really struggled with Lee early. Couldn't fight through the screens, and Lee got open looks, and you just can't allow a guy coming off the bench to hit five threes against you. That crushed them. So you give Florida 10-3s, you give them those offensive rebounds, and you miss those layups,

and really that's the difference in the game in a lot of ways. You know, I also thought the officiating was terrible. We didn't lose because the officiating, but it was terrible. in the second half. There was just a discrepancy. There was. I mean, it's not why we lost, but there was there. And anybody that says there wasn't, you didn't see the same game I did.

I thought in the first half it was fine, but second half, I think there was a discrepancy. So, nevertheless, I'm generally pretty encouraged by the game, which has led to some people online going, oh, you know, you're starting to moral victories. No, I mean. Florida is good. They're the defending national champion. And they're playing as well as anybody in the country. And we're going to their arena.

I did not expect to win. We were a 13.5 point underdog. And not only did I not expect to win, when we were down 15 in the first half, I would have bet most of my money we were going to lose by 30. And then I think we played really well. And I think we showed that while I do think they're better, They're not on a level that we cannot win. We can win in Rupp.

I don't know if we will, but we can't. And we made a lot of mistakes and still played and still had a chance. Chandler obviously hits a bunch of threes. That's big. I thought Moreno played well. Aberdeen was great. Aberdeen going back to where he played, got to give him a lot of credit. And he had that run where he got us back in the game almost single-handedly.

Aberdeen, I thought, was really, really good. I thought Diabate had really good minutes as well. O.A. was not good. And so he was, what, four for... Four for 14. I talked about those misleups. I don't think he played particularly well in stretches on defense. O'A's defense often coincides with his offense.

When his offense is going well, I think he becomes a lot down defender. When it's not, it can ebb and flow, and there was some of that. So the reason I'm a little encouraged is if we don't start making layups better, and if we don't start closing out on three-point shooters, and if O. He doesn't play well, then we're not going to win. I think that's objective. I think that's clear. But if those things happen, we just played one of the best teams in the country on their floor,

and with those things not happening, we still had a shot to win the game. Well, not a shot to win the game. We stayed to where we were in fighting distance. That gives me encouragement. It's not a moral victory. Part of the reason we don't have, part of the reason they're a lot better than us is we did not bring in the right players. We don't always play smart, et cetera, et cetera. But this is not like a lost cause the way it looked four weeks ago.

They're 17 and 8. They have six games left. They got Georgia coming in Tuesday night. Georgia's just lost by 16 at Oklahoma. You've got to win that game. You're going to have Vandy and Florida come to you. You can, you know, I think you can win both those. You need to win one for sure.

And then you go to Auburn, you go to an A&M team that's kind of reeling, an Auburn team that's been way inconsistent. and a South Carolina team you can beat. If you were to finish that stretch, four and two, which is imminently doable, you could be 12 and 6th in the SEC. I think you'll end up with like a 6-seat or a 7-seat in the tournament,

and, you know, it's all about the draw you get. Now, is that what we wanted at the start of the year? No. But considering what we were, where we were a few weeks ago, I think it's a lot better than we would have thought. So I was encouraged by today. A lot of guys, especially Aberdeen, Chandler, Moreno, and Diabate, I thought all really stepped up.

I thought Yelovich had some positive moments. He also really struggled on defense and rebound, but he had some positive moments for us too. But overall, generally pretty encouraged. And I think we have a shot in that final game in Rupp. If we get the atmosphere that I want to have there, we got a shot to maybe steal one. 859-28027. We will take your calls.

It's Valentine's Day night. Billy, I don't know if people, if they call, if that means they don't have Valentine's Day plans, or they're either on their way. But either way, this is almost like an appetizer for Valentine's Day. Oh, appetizer before the fancy dinner tonight. It's a V-Day appetizer. And we will do it next. Here on the local Toyota dealers, KSR post game show.

Welcome back. Local Toyota dealers, KSR post game show. Text machine 772-745254. One person writes, shout out to Billy's woman for sharing him with us on Valentine's Day. Yeah, shout out to her. I don't know why doesn't who, I mean, I could in theory, you know, be with someone. I mean, I'm not. But I could.

Right, Billy? Yes. Thank you to that person for allowing Matt to share his. But I just don't. I just, I just. I, yeah, exactly. Thank you to that theoretical person. Yeah, whoever that is.

Yeah. I just feel like both could have. You got plans tonight? You're going out doing anything? You know, we don't, we, there's no reason to talk about things, really. Oh, okay. This is a, we don't, this is a UK basketball show. The appetizer for Valentine's Day.

That's exactly right. All right. Who's up first? Let's start with Bryce. Bryce, go ahead. Hey, Matt, what's up? How you doing? Doing great.

First of all, I want to give a shout out to my good buddy Jackson, Keaton. It's his birthday today. So shout out. Happy birthday. So I think overall the team showed a lot of heart tonight, a good fight. I think Florida is a better team overall. Just a quick question for you guys, though. do we think Malachi Marino stays after this year?

I saw something today. He's projected 22nd pick overall in the first round. I'd like to get your guys' thoughts on that. You know, I have no idea. I don't know. I mean, he has risen in the mock drafts. I think, I think, look, if he ends up being projecting the top 20, generally speaking, I say if a guy's going to the top 20, he's going to go to the draft.

I don't know where Malachi ends up. I could see him going through the process and then deciding. The difference nowadays, though, is if let's say he's at the end of the first round, he can probably make that much money coming back, but his NBA years don't start. So it just depends. I would say if I had to guess, I think he comes back. I think he, and he could come back and be like all I see next year. His improvement has been unbelievable.

And I thought he played really well. He had one mistake that I thought was pretty big on that one. He got the ball in a like a little break, and he went up with his right hand when if he had gone with his left hand or just passed it to Diabate, who no one was on. It would have been easy two points, and he ended up getting his shot blocked, and that was kind of a big play. But in general, I thought he played well,

and his foul trouble is ultimately one of things that killed us, because we took a dip every time he went out. But he came back in with four, played with four for a lot of games, and I thought played pretty well. One person writes Matt, you didn't mention two guys, Garrison and Jasper, why not? Well, Jasper hit a couple threes. That was important. Both those threes.

He hit one in the first half when we were down like 14 or maybe 15, and then he hit a big one in the second half. The problem with Jets for Jasper is he adds some stuff offensively, but he's a real liability on defense. I mean, he gets, if you watch him, he gets lost a lot on defense, and that hurts. And that's why he doesn't play more minutes. His offensive ability could really help this team, but he just, I don't think Pope can play him long stretches because of the defensive errors. And he just has a lot of them. As far as Brandon and Garrison, I thought he was not good today. He had one good pass, back door to OA, but in general, really not a good Garrison game, in my opinion.

A lot of errors on both sides. Bill, you don't want to see the KSR group techs for me. You're a little frustrated today. It's frustrating, man. He's a feaster famine guy. When it's a famine, like, it can be bad. I thought today was really, really bad, especially early. Who's up next?

Matt. Matt, go ahead, Matt. Hey, I just want to praise Malachi Marino for the time he got off the bench out of foul trouble. He played a heck of a game, and he stood up against those bigs of Florida. Yeah, I agree totally. Jasper Johnson, it seems like he's one step behind. It looked like when he was guarding from the side a lot of times when they were driving. He does, and he looks and like he, what?

But he does struggle with that where he really struggles is off the ball. His man, he loses his man by ball watching all the time, and it creates defensive problems that then end up usually in good shots for the other team. I agree with that. And I also agree with you when you say you're encouraged overall by the game. I think if that game's in rough, we win that game. Maybe, yeah. I think the rematch will.

I think it will. I think it will be a great environment. I mean, remember, we started SEC play last year with them and we're up and we'll finish it this year. I appreciate the call. Look, I'm under no delusions that we're really good. Okay? I mean, I'm not. They're better than us.

For me right now, with six games left, the season is all about can you get in a tournament? Can you avoid like an eight-nine seed where you have to play a one in the second round? And then can you be good enough that if when you play it, If you make the second round and you get that two or three seed, are you good enough that you got a chance to pull it off? Four weeks ago, I didn't even know if we were going to make the tournament. Now I look at it and I say, okay, Florida is a two or three seed. We won't draw them because they don't put SEC teams next to each other.

But if we play like this, we would have a shot in a game against them. So that means if we get Iowa State or Nebraska or, Michigan State or whoever it is that is a two or three, I now think we can get in a game, and if they're a little off, and we play our best, we have a shot. That's where I am. Also, though, if we're a six seed, we could play an 11 and lose in the first game. We've clearly shown we can do that. So, but I am more encouraged than I was a few weeks ago. And today was an example of you're playing a two or three seed on their home floor, and you had a, you, you, You do a couple things right, and you had a shot at the game.

Who's next? James. James. James, go ahead, James. Two quick things. I think Nick Roush needed to be on every post-game show. And Matt, you think Chris and. He's not going to be on every one of them.

He's not going to be on every one of them, but we will. He did get, he got, he liked Nick Roush. He got mostly good reviews and then some very angry reviews, which is kind of what you like. So he will be on, we will have him on more. I don't know if he'll get one this year just because there's not much more left. But yes, he will certainly, we will use him more because I thought he did a great job. I got you. Last thing, you seem pretty convinced that this team had to have Jalen Lowe to make a run or be good.

How far do they have to go where you would say you were wrong? That's it. Thank you. Well, I mean, if they make the tournament, then I was clearly wrong. I still think this team would have been better if he had played all year. and Pope had designed this offense for them. But I will say this, now that Aberdeen's playing really well, the drop-off is not nearly as much.

So maybe it doesn't matter. I did not foresee Aberdeen being this good. If you think about the Aberdeen we saw in non-conference play, if that was the Aberdeen we were getting here, then I would have been completely correct. But we're getting a much better Aberdeen. So you get this Aberdeen, yeah, we might not need that. Now, with that said, it would be nice to have a point guard, another one.

We're still a player short in a back court. But no, Aberdeen has been, in my opinion, the unsung hero of this team's turnaround is Denzel Aberdeen. Because he's gone from somebody that I thought was really bad in the first half of the year to he was our leading score tonight. I thought he was great. Yeah, and let's give DA our Johnny Rock. personal injury attorney moneymaker of the game. Injured, get small town compassion with big city results when you call the rocker at 270321-4429. 19 points.

He had four assists in 34 minutes when everybody was calling him a traitor throughout the game. Denzel Aberdeen on his homecoming night is our moneymaker of the game. He seemed a little amped up at the beginning, right? He was like one of four to start, took one or two bad shots, and then Pope took him out. And then I thought when he came back the second time, from then on, Billy, I thought he was really good. Yeah, and you mentioned his stretch was at the beginning of the second half where he had maybe five in a row, six, and that was come back. We had, we immediately when the half started, we got it down to, I think two, didn't we? I think we did.

And then they went on a 7-0 run, which got it back to 9. And again, I thought, uh-oh. And then he scored five straight, which put it to four and kept it in that guy. gap that we kept for a while until we kind of collapsed a little bit towards the middle of the half. Who's next? Jacob. Jacob. Go ahead, Jacob.

Hey, Matt, man, you covered the game perfectly. I will add, you know, we really seen why Jasper Johnson doesn't get more minutes. He gave up that he was running up the court with the ball and Boogie, and he was looking at Mark Pope instead of looking at the man in front of him watching a defensive player and buggy stole the ball. And I thought that was big. I thought DA was going to start doing his man-on-man ball just because they boot him every time.

But like you said, he got took him out. I wanted to follow up on that. That was perfect call. I think we were a few defensive breakdowns from winning that game. I'm impressed. I mean, I'm not impressed, but I'm not tore up about the loss. You know, I was mad, but I think we'll beat him at home. I think there was a couple of stretches.

shot better than they have all year. Yeah, there was a couple of stretches there where I do think if, so like there were a couple stretches where, oh, like one time, oh, he missed a layup. And I was like, oh, that would have cut it to three. That would have big, big, and he missed it. And then one time, we were kind of on a roll, and we did, and then we gave up like two straight offensive rebounds, and they scored both times. And, you know, you're right.

There were just these moments where I felt like if we could just make one or, and then we would make a mistake, or Florida would make. a big play, and you're right. I mean, they cut it to two once, but it felt like every time we got to four, five, or six, when we had a chance to get it to two or three or whatever, then they would score, make it eight or nine. We just couldn't quite get that threshold down. One more thing.

If we do get Cam Williams back in the postseason, which I don't think so, but it's, I mean, it's a possibility. I think that adds to our team. I know he hasn't been able to practice, but hopefully that ramps up our defense a little bit more than we can take down a Florida. Very helpful. You know, Purdue or somebody. You'd be very helpful.

I think where, yeah, appreciate the call. I'm not sure. I mean, I think, you know, it'd been nice to have him this game. I think where you, they got so many bigs, but Cam could have played, like, he's long. He could play the three on defense, like, but he could also be a stretch four. So, yeah, he would be huge. I don't know if he'll come back. Even if he comes back, it's going to be like spot minutes.

But again, since he's gotten hurt, Chandler's really stepped up. So I'm not saying we don't need him, but I've been surprised. I mean, Chandler made five threes today. I really hope next year. For me, it's all like bring Chandler back and bring Moreno back. that's, you know, that's huge. And then if you could also bring Cam Williams back, I think that's the core,

and then you get two stars out of the portal, and now you've got a team. You bring those three, you get two stars in the portal. You get a point guard and a big, and then like a really good scoring six-man, and then build around that, you got a team that can be good next year. But, you know, I think I saw somebody online,

a college basketball reporter, say the biggest thing for mark pope in the offseason is bringing moreno back and i would agree with that especially i mean if he goes the NBA goes to NBA but you can't have him go to another college you just can't and so he might billy just get the name his prize because we can't have him going to another college yeah i got to keep him because he's going to be he's going to be a star in college if he comes back next year he's going to be a star in college now if he goes to NBA he's probably going to be playing in the g league and you know that is what it is but if he if he comes back he's He's going to be a starring cop.

What about Lowe? I mean, I can see. Whatever happens with Lowe, to me, is fine. I mean, I'd like to, I actually would like to have him back. But if Pope decides there's a point guard out there that's a better fit, I'm good with it. I don't think he's crucial. Those three guys I mentioned are both pretty crucial to me. I don't know that I think Lowe is crucial.

Although I'd be fine with him. I think it's going to be harder than people think to find a point guard better than him in the portal. there ain't going to be many. I mean, what was he, the fourth ranked point guard last year? That means there was only three better than the portal last year. Yeah, but you're going to have to have somebody. I don't think Jasper stays. So you're going to have to get somebody.

Yeah, well, we'll see. Who's up next? Dave. Dave, go ahead, Dave. Apparently they're telling me, you're an outfit early on. Hang on just one second. Hang on just a second. Billies, people are telling me Dave Ramsey took over the post, WHA.

We cannot allow that to happen. Let me go. Let me go talk to Dave. Go ahead. I'm not Dave Ramsey I know but anyway you're your analysis about

the blown layups and the poor perimeter defense was spot on it drives it'll absolutely drive you crazy but here's the thing here's the encouraging part for me you listen to the analyst and they almost they're almost guaranteed that Florida

is a perennial final four team the only difference between those teams to me and us is we have a less margin for error. I agree with that. We can't have games when you're best player. I mean, to be, we almost have to have 35 a night between Otega and Denzel. Well, let me put it a different way on that point.

Let me read you the numbers, because we talked about this on the show. I totally agree with you. That's a great way to articulate it. Our margin of error is smaller. I think we said on the pregame, or we said, yes, on yesterday, show that we needed Chandler, O'A, and Aberdeen to get between 55

and 60, right? That's kind of what we thought they needed to get. And they got 50. They got 50. Now O'A had come into the game averaging, I think, 20 or 21 in conference play. He had 13. If he gets his 21, that's eight more points

and it's a one-point game. You know what I mean? So, like, that's the margin of error. is that O-A was not quite what you needed today. Absolutely, 100% agree. And the last thing, Brandon Garrison, is one of the most frustrating players for me to watch because he is constantly out of position on defense.

I mean, I couldn't tell you how many times he actually has his back to the offensive player. When rebounds go up, his back will be to the basket. They just volleyball, the ball over top of his head, It just seems like he's never in the proper position. He's very talented. They attack him. He's a great passer.

He can be a good passer, although I think he sometimes makes bad decisions. But you're right, he can be a good passer. But they attack him constantly for the reason you're talking about. And it is clear, I don't know where he got taught that the way to rebound is to face the guy that you're boxing out and then hit him with your. They could call. I mean, I was complaining about the refs. They could call twice as many.

fouls on Garrison as they do. He fouls on every rebound. And the thing is, he fouls and then often doesn't get the ball. So he, he, I'm with you. I like his, his excitement. I like his verb. I like his energy. But he is a very frustrating player for me to watch. Totally agree. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. 8.59-2-80-22-87. All right. We're going to take a break. See if Billy can get Dave Ramsey to shut up and put us back on 840 and we'll take a break and be right back it's the local toy dealers ks excuse me ksr post game show welcome back it is the local toy dealers ksr post game show fun fact here billy my mom today uh at a at a funeral met alan cutler how about that the cut

man they had they had a long conversation and both of them wrote me to praise the other one so so uh allan wrote me to say my mom was like the nicest person in the world and my mom wrote me to say how nice alan was to her so how about that cut man and and karen you'd had a funeral sounds like a mad libs but i'm glad the interaction went well was your ears ringing at all today no i didn't i just all of a sudden you know you look and it's like hey there's my mom's text Oh, there's Alan Cutler's text. Like all the big stars are coming out. So I'm glad they liked each other.

859. It could be bad if they didn't. Could have been bad. Yeah, because I'd been on my mom's side on that one. I hope Cutler knows that. Who's up next? Catman is next. Catman.

Go ahead, Catman. Hey, Matt, I tell you, I was really excited and I was pleased the way the cats played today. I know we lost, but we really showed a lot of grit. And this team has a little bit more upset. I think more people realize. I'm going to go back to something I've told you personally that we need to stop the three and make teams make the hard two. I agree with you.

I mean, this team, this team, Well, I assume Pope looked at this team, because if you read the scouting report, you'd say, let Florida shoot threes. That's their weakness. I mean, there were 350th in the country. But then they came out and made them. So, I mean, you could make an argument that when Florida makes 10-3s, they're not going to lose. But in general, I'm with you on that.

I mean, I'm with you in, Pope said, and I believe he is correct, because if he says this, he knows, Pope said, and I found this interesting, he said in college basketball, basketball in the last three years. The number one correlation between winning and a stat is rim protection. That basically the people who protect the rim the best win. And I think to me, arranging our defense around put a hand on the three and protect the rim. I think is how you win.

Go ahead. I totally agree. I don't mean to interrupt you, but, you know, we did well on the boards tonight overall. I know we kind of slacked off in the second half, but this team has a lot more upside than I think people realized. I just want to, I'm going to pump a little sunshine. I agree with you. I do think, I mean, I don't appreciate the call. I think they have upside in a one-and-out tournament.

In a one-and-out tournament, if they get the right draw, you know, we, we, we, we will get the bracket out. And if we're a six or seven seat, Billy, we could go to the sweet six team or we could lose in the first round. And neither result would really surprise. Honestly, if we're six or seven, I could see us going to the elite eight

or losing in the first round. Yeah. I really could because I think the differential, our worst is barely a tournament team. but our best, I think we saw tonight, is a team that can beat a two or three seat. I don't know if we can beat Duke or Michigan or Arizona, but I think we can beat these other teams

if we're playing well. So, you know, but we also could lose to an 11th seat. Like I saw UCLA's in 11. They could beat us. You just never know. Yeah, especially if Otega has a night like tonight in the tournament. I mean, then you're going to get bounced. But see, I'm almost encouraged by Otega didn't play well, and we still had a chance.

Yeah, those Colin Chandler's threes cover up a lot. Well, that was big. You're not going to get five threes from Colin Chandler every game. That's fair. Who's next? Nate. Nate, go ahead, Nate. Yes, sir.

How are you all doing tonight? Doing great. Good, good, good. So I want to touch on this here. Brandon Garrison, come off the bench. Zero points. One assist. four fouls. That's not going to do it and never will do it.

Let me go with his stat line for just a second. Let me go with his stat line second. 17 minutes, zero points, three rebounds, one assist, two turnovers, five fouls. You can't do that, especially in a game where their bigs are as good as they are. My next point was just giving a shout out to the whole team, especially Colin Chandler, Captain Clutch. I did use GPT for the first time tonight. And I do want to say one thing. It brings up something about Chandler's efficiency versus consistency could be debated. I don't really make sense of that. Maybe you could shed light on that.

I'll hang up. I don't think, I think Chat, GPT, I mean, I appreciate the call. I recognize it has value, but I am Billy holding out until the last possible moment to never use it. Why? Are you threatened by it, or do you think it's not intelligent enough? No, I mean, I think we have a career that it doesn't really affect. I mean, I don't think there's going to be a chat GPT postgame show better than ours. But I just, I read an article on the plane yesterday in the Atlantic about what it's going to potentially do to the economy.

And I just, it's going to be one of these things that's going to have some positive value, but I think the negative is going to far outweigh the positive. Like I read that it's going to help, like, it's helping diseases that don't usually get a negative. enough money to get studies, like it's helping with them. That's good. Right. But what it's going to do to the job market and how much slop it puts out and how it's going to make it to where we never, like that question he asked. Like people will just take that as fact.

What does that even mean? You know? Yeah, I think it's definitely making a dumber. The amount of people who send me incorrect chat GPT facts and go see, this proves my point. It's like, ugh. Anyway, different topic. It's Valentine's Day. Let's stay paused.

Who's next? E. E! Go ahead, E! Hi. First time, long time. Who are? Who are? So I feel like it's a love-hate relationship tonight for a Kentucky game on Valentine's Day.

But my question is, I know it's Valentine's Day. You guys may have some dates coming up. What are your worst and best Valentine's dates, thus far. Oh, wow. Appreciate the call. Billy, I'll let you go first because I've got to think. I mean, the best, you know, we don't need to get into that.

The worst, the worst would be more interesting. Yeah, mine was two years ago with my current fiancé, and I make the same meal every Valentine's Day. So it's filet mignon, baked potato, asparagus, and shrimp. So you never take her out? Like, this is your way of saving money? Yes, yeah. Okay.

All right, that's a scam going out on Valentine's stuff. Okay. But I overcooked the steak and we, I was really hyping it up. It was Noce Linda Farms, overcooked the filet mignon. She cried at the dinner table. She cried? Yeah. She cried.

Oh, she's not going to like that she said that. Well, that's okay. You must have really overcooked it for her to cry. Yeah, yeah. And then Noce Linda gave me step-by-step instructions on how to cook the filet the next year. Oh, they did. which was last year, and it went great. And you're doing it again tonight, right?

Again, yeah. I lost the instructions. I have a history of, like, having horrible holidays, like horrible New Year's Eve's, horrible, horrible Fourth of July. I can't think of anything horrible that's happened on Valentine's Day. I did one time, was dating a woman and forgot to make a reservation anywhere. Oh, no. And there was, like, nowhere.

I think it was in Louisville and there was nowhere that she would have wanted to go that we could get in and we ended up going to like a takeout tie place and that was kind of a symbol I think at the time of me

not being thoughtful which probably was not it was you know because it's during the season Billy we got stuff going on and I probably didn't it was probably a fair criticism to be honest. Yeah, a lot going on.

I do remember that. I do remember driving around like Frankfurt Avenue hoping there was some restaurant that wasn't full. Did you show up with out a reservation or you just didn't go, you didn't have one?

No, I realized like in the morning that I hadn't done it and I was like, but there's still time. But there wasn't time. There was no. Yeah, there was not time. One more and we'll take a break. Who's next? Okay, Ben.

Ben, go ahead. Yeah, Matt. Talking about Aberdeenia, he had a great game. But one thing I noticed, too many times today, he would drive into the lane, draw the defense, and then we'd have guys open. Colin, Jelvic, you know, we'd have guys open, and he would force something up or try to lobby at the rim.

When Florida's main strength is at the rim like you were talking about, is there is did coach pope want to do that or do you you have an answer for why i don't know i i think it back out to open sure especially as good as our shooters were shooting today yeah i don't know i mean but but i when i sit there and think of the layups our perimeter guys missed for the most part i think they should have made them right i mean oh yeah yes you know so i don't they contested but i feel like we still should have made them i mean oh way is an elite. He is a really, really good

driver of the basketball. So he just has to be better finishing. He just has to. I think of a guy like Keith Boggins. You remember Keith Boggins. Keith Boggins was the king, to me, the king of drawing contact and finishing. Joe Crawford was really good at that too.

He could take your hit and finish and get the AN one. Oh, what, there's no reason. Oh, wait. There's no reason. Always not as good as Shooter as Bogan's and maybe as Crawford. But when it comes to that talent, there's no reason he shouldn't be as good as those guys. And he just misses it. And sometimes not even when he's hit.

And so I wish he was better at that. But go ahead. Yeah. And one more thing, though, is when things like today, and I know we've talked about the refs, and I hate to even mention that, but it was bad, a lot of times Aberdeen especially was getting pummel. and no call. One time he got up and looked at the rep, like, come on, man. I was saying, come on, man.

No, in the second half, I thought they went through a period of the rest from about the 15-minute mark of the second half to about the five-minute mark where I thought they were awful down the stretch. I just thought during that, and that was a period where Florida went on a run. I appreciate the call. I thought they were really, really bad. And I think there was some rebounding and then a couple of those. drives twice I can think of where Aberdeen showed drawn a foul and he did.

And Diabate gets, Diabate's like Shaq in the sense that he gets fouled twice as many times, Billy as they call it. Diabate gets fouled a lot. Whereas I think Garrison probably gets fouls people more than they call it. Diabate does not get a good whistle. For whatever reason, the refs seem to have it out for him. We'll take a break. 859-280-2287.

It is the local Toyota dealers, KSR, post-game show. Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers, KSR postgame show. A couple people tell me, Billy, it sounds like you or I are chewing gum. Are we, too, I'm not chewing gum. Are you chewing gum? I don't have any gum. I would never do that on the radio.

A couple people say, they say it's when people are calling. It sounds like one of us is chewing gum. I don't know. I don't think I was chewing gum. I might be, you know what, it might be, I take a, a drink of this Coke zero. Can't wait to drink your Coke during the brakes. Well, the mic may be too close to my mouth.

Here, I'll move it back. Or I will stop drinking during the... I was going to blame you, but now that I think about it... Not this time. Not this time. Let's do five more, and then let's all have a Valentine's Day to remember while Billy cooks his filet mignon. Who's next?

Cody, go ahead, Cody. Hey, Matt. Hey, Billy. How we doing? Doing good. Good. I had two points. I just wanted to say, I know you've already talked about this, but the refs, I think there

was two or three maybe travels by the Florida big guys. And I just, I don't know. I mean, it's rough, but. Oh, yeah, that one guy, he would get the ball and shuffle his feet on nearly every post up, Condon. There were at least two. You're exactly right. They were.

I mean, they're kind of hard to see, but they would. without question happen. For sure. And then the second point is, if all of our players, like Brandon Garrison, if he gets to double-double, Malachi Marino plays great, how deep do you think we can get into the NCAA tournament? Well, again, it's all about matchups. I mean, this team, if everything connected and they played their best, I think they could

get to the elite day. I also think they can lose in the first round. So, you know, if you've listened to this show and I appreciate the call, I've been saying for 15 years, that you can't only judge a team by what happens in the tournament, because there is randomness in the tournament. You can judge a coach in a team about what happens over a period of years, but, you know, we almost lost to Princeton in 2011 in the first round, and we went to the final four. And, you know, if we lose to Saint, if we beat St. Peters, who knows? Maybe we go to the elite eight. You just, you never know. So I think that's

why you have to judge over a period of, uh, of years. Who's next? Cole. Cole, go ahead, Cole. Hey, Matt, uh, first time calling. Who on? I, uh, one thing I did like about Pope tonight is he did show that he had a little bit of emotion on the sidelines, which we haven't seen a lot this year. And another question that I had, if Pope does land elite talent, whether that be out of the portal or from the high school ranks, how good can Kentucky be? I mean, this year we have good players, but it's not like that we have a bunch of just elite players like Arizona, Duke, et cetera. So I just wanted to get your thoughts on that. You know, I don't know because I don't know how he will do with elite players. You know, there are guys like his mentor, Rick Petino,

when he was at Louisville, he did better with guys that weren't elite. When he got elite guys, it didn't always work out. Think about like Samardo Samuels. So maybe Pope's a guy, but we still need elite guys because there's an athletic advantage that sometimes we just don't have. So I hope when he gets a good guy, and I appreciate the call. First of all, I hope he gets one of those guys. And then if he does, I hope it works out.

We need it. we do not have, we have not had elite talent since Pope's been here. We've had really good college players, and I'm good with that, but you need at least one guy who's a stud. You may not need five of them like we sometimes had during the Cal years, but you need at least one, and we really haven't had one of those guys. Even if he's not your leading score, it's just you can have an athlete, that just other guys can't, other teams can't match up with. Who's next?

Tori. Tori, go ahead, Tori. Matt, bro, this sucks. Everyone is calling. And in a roundabout way, they're all asking you, like, hey, in the off chance that this is better, can you make me feel better? Everyone's asking the same question. And the standard is just lower.

It's just a lower standard. and everyone's trying as humans do to make to make themselves feel better. What do you mean by that? Let's have this conversation for a second. I see people. Oh, I can't wait. Let's go. Okay, you need to come down a notch and we'll have the conversation. I understand that people say Kentucky basketball shouldn't be X.

I don't disagree. You know, we have not been elite since before. With that said, last year they went to the Sweet 16. This year, you have a chance to go to the Sweet 16 again. If he were to do that, while I would be disappointed in the regular seasons, back-to-back Sweet 16s, there might be seven programs, six programs in the country that will have done that. Does that mean we're Indiana, who barely makes the tournament? No, it means we're not where we want to be.

We want to see Pope be like Duke has been in the last few years, and we're not that. But that also doesn't mean we're collapsing and that we're somehow not relevant. I don't think that's true either. And I don't understand why there can't be moderation, why people have to go, our standards are lowering. I don't know who you want to get on the roster right now. This is the team we have. And considering this is the team we have,

I wasn't particularly mad about today's performance. Yeah, right. I know. I think we're a middling top half SEC team. We're not a middling top half. Hang on just a second. We're not a middling top half SEC team. Okay.

How many programs in the last six or seven years have been better? Just take, these are our worst. five or six years in the last 30. How many programs have been better than us? Alabama, Florida, Auburn. Duke, Florida, Auburn. But Duke's not in our conference. So you said, you said middling, top, middling conference.

St. John's, Kansas. Also not in our conference. Also not in our conference. And St. Johns, by the way. Well, I'm just, yeah, but like, how is St. John's, hang on, sir. How has St. John's been, hang on. explain to me how i want you to make the case why st johns has been a better program than us

in what the last six years yeah tell me why st johns has been a better program well you're trying to make me argue a point that i wasn't trying to make you brought up you brought up saint johns so tell me how st johns has been a better program absolutely okay but i'm not arguing st johns i'm not that's not my original actually you did the tangent point that i made in the last 15 seconds it's a tangent i went on. It's not my original point. Okay. So what is your original point? Can I make my original point? Yeah, absolutely. No, so no, no, the point is that I was trying to make it. Folks keep calling in, and everything, all of our success has to be explained and broken down in a way that makes it palatable.

And I would like to say this. I think Kyle should have been fired his last four years. He was kind of a bum, and it was his time to go. Not kind of. And then we were. I mean, we were awful. No, he was his time to go. Yeah. We were awful the last four years. We lost in the first round of St. Peters and Oakland. We should have fired it.

I don't think we found the replacement that's going to take it to the next level or continue the success that he had prior to his fall off. So now it's a point to where we're probably a perennily a 10 lost team every year. And we have to now frame every little bit of success he has and have these conversations to where you have to argue about whether or not you're actually happy about it. And that is the standard now. I think you're making, and I appreciate the call.

I appreciate the call. You're making, you're conflating two things. You're conflating the bigger picture conversation about whether or not Pope is going to be successful at Kentucky, which is a conversation I think you have in the off season once we know how they finish the year. with the end-season conversation with what are we going to do this season. This roster was a terrible job by Pope.

But it is the roster. So sitting here all year and saying, these guys stink really doesn't do us any good. The question is, we're six games from the NCAA tournament. How are we going to do? And the reason I brought up the St. John's thing is, in making the case that you don't think Pope is going to be a great coach, which, by the way, you're allowed to make that case.

A lot of people think that. You say St. John's because you just want to pile up on Pope. St. John's has not been to the second weekend of the tournament in 15 years. We went last year. And we beat them this year, Billy. Didn't we play? Yes. So, you know, the best point you made is, is Pope going to get to the standard of

Cal before COVID, it's a hard standard. Cal was really, really good before COVID. And if you don't think he will, that's not an unreasonable point. But we'll have to, I'm going to wait and see. Two more. Who's next? Martin. Martin, go ahead, Martin.

Hey, Matt, how's it going? Good. Can you hear me, Matt? Yeah. Yes, go ahead. So two points. The first one is a little bit negative, kind of to the, previous callers point on big picture.

I'm as pessimistic as some people come. And so my main gripe is just recruiting. Mitch Barnhart, at the end of the day, has to have a press conference and give fans a blunt answer as to why we won't get any 2026 recruits. Because right now it's just an insult in the slap in the face of the fan base who pays money to go to these games. I think that is a very reasonable point.

my biggest concern about Mark Pope going forward is recruiting. We have no players for next year, and I'm worried about it. I'm very worried about the roster next year. Very. So that point to me is a completely reasonable one. What's your next one? Right. And we just need an answer, you know, just a blunt answer.

What's going on? What's going on with JMI, all that stuff? And then my second point, more to do with the game, I'm actually extremely optimistic going forward. One, because the team showed progress. Before this game, I was saying to myself, just don't get blown out, don't get blown out, don't get blown out. Because what has happened in the past two seasons

is we seem to go on these runs of games where we went two or three in a row, and then you go to a big game and get blown out by 30. And you go, well, what the heck? And what is there to be optimistic about if we can't even fight these big games? But tonight, you know, I was optimistic. because it didn't seem like it took a step back in terms of mentality.

And so now you say, Mark Pope can look at his team and go, okay, I know the mentality's right. I know I don't have to worry about that, so now we can work on the other thing. So I'm extremely optimistic. I mean, Florida hit, what, 10 plus 3s, the rest were terrible. We missed 1,000 layups, and we only lost by 9. And again, we were favored to lose by double digits. So I'm optimistic going forward, and I think we can, I'm always looking for us to win title number nine. I say why not.

I appreciate the call. I actually agree with almost everything you said there. Let's do one more and we'll call it a night. Who's next? Ollie. Ali. Ollie, Ollie, go ahead. What up, boys. What's up? What up boys? All right. What's up, Ollie?

Hey, can you hear me now? Ollie. Hello? What? Appreciate the call. Ollie. We can't end on Ollie. I got another one. Ollie's trying to be funny, and it never works.

Who's next? Jerry. Jerry. Thank you, man. Let me. I'm glad you let the guy hang himself on the St. John's thing. Go ahead. All right.

Thank you, Matt. But anyway, I've got two quick things, buddy, and I'll get off here. I think Colin Chandler needs to stay in the game. I don't know what he needs to come out of the game if he asked to come out of the game. Because of a lot of our team when he's on the floor. and I've got one more. How in the world did you go over and look at the moniker and not see that that guy grabbed Abate's jersey and held it, man, and they come back and say a common foul on Kentucky.

Thanks for taking my call, brother. I think the answer to that question is because they called a foul on Kentucky first, and I don't think they're allowed to flip it. I think that's the rule. I think that's a stupid rule. Once you go to the monitor, the whole point of going to the monitors to get it right, how are you going to look at it, see it's wrong, and then go, well, we can't do that.

That's dumb. I've always thought they should change that rule, and you saw it tonight. Thank you, folks very much. Billy, good luck on your fillet. Thank you. What time is that going to be ready? Well, she doesn't get off work until nine, so we got plenty of time. Okay, so you got some time.

Well, you make it happen, Billy. You guys enjoy your evening. Happy Valentine's Day. We are off Monday for President's Day because it's a holiday, so we will see you on Tuesday. This has been the local tour. Toyota Dealers, KSR, Postgame Show. 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.

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You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to you. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs.

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