KSR - KSR Postgame UK MBB at LSU 02/22/24

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

Matt and Billy recap the Cats' 75-74 loss at LSU.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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That's a brutal loss, one that is going to hurt Kentucky come the seed line. Not so much because of tonight, but because you've now lost a number of these kind of games over the course of the season. And our dreams of Kevin having a top four seed are probably, if not gone, they're on live support. And, you know, it looks more and more like Kentucky's back to not having a double by, the SEC tournament and maybe but it's more frustratingly back to losing. You know,

I watched the game at KS Bar with Ryan and Drew. We had a packed house. This fan base wants this team to be good so bad. This fan base loves this team so much and wants them to be good

so bad. And that's why it is so frustrating to watch them lose these games. games. You know, you had two really special performances, honestly. Antonio Reeves had 25 points in like, you know, 24 minutes and was great. Scored his 1,000th point at Kentucky. And then the last 10 minutes for Rob Dillingham, he had 21 and was just absolutely special. I mean, he was amazing in the last 10 minutes. So you have these two singularly really great performances. And, you yet you still lose. And I feel like that's sort of been emblematic of this season,

which is you got these players that everybody likes, and you got this talent that is like otherworldly talent in some ways, and yet you go lose to a 500 team that probably missed six layups and what, six, seven free throws? Like, they could have beaten us by more. I mean, I was very disappointed when we lost, but in some ways we would have stolen it if we had won because we were so bad in the second half defensively

that we kind of didn't deserve to win gave up 48 points in the second half to a team that's not even good and it's frustrating I'm not going to lie I mean I you know look on social media there's a lot of chatter about various stuff the three or four things that I think matter most first of all the end it'll get lost in the shuffle,

but Dillingham was amazing in those last few minutes. I mean, the way he got to the basket, the A and one is one of the craziest shots I've ever seen. The final shot he hit was awesome. I mean, to be really good, you've got to have a dude that can do that, and he can do it. I mean, I wanted him to take that final shot,

and he made it. I saw some stuff online that people said he went too early. I vehemently disagree with that. I mean, we were losing. Okay, if the game is tied, then you don't go for it until there's about five or six seconds left. So you either win or the game's over. But when you're losing, you have to go for it earlier because if you miss, then you still have another chance because you can foul them and, you know, LSU had missed a lot of free throws. But even if they make them, you have the ball up three and you're still in the game.

If you wait until five seconds left and you miss, the game's over. So you got to go. Now, he made it. But then they did everything. I mean, the LSU shots luck. I mean, that's luck. Now, it's bad luck, but it's luck.

Like, a do block the shot. The guy made a great play if you watch the replay. He gets his shot block, catches it, and while he's falling out of bounds, passes it back in. you know, I'm not sure there was much U.K. could do about that. But I think the decision to go for it early was the right when Dillingham made it. It just didn't work out. But you lost the game because you had a 15-point lead in the second half

and you gave it up in like five minutes of game action. That's why you lost. You gave it up in five minutes of game. We went from up 15 to down two from like the 18-minute mark in the second half to like the 12-minute mark. so six minutes. That's why you lost. And, you know, Kentucky is too good to be doing this stuff. We've lost eight games this year. We have led in the second half in seven of those eight games.

This is Kentucky. You can't keep losing like this. And, you know, in a lot of these other games, I've had specific disagreements with something Cal did or whatever. Tonight, my disagreement is just more big picture. Like, we can't keep losing these games. We just can't. I mean, it is, they got too many good dudes to not be more successful. And Dillingham and Reeves had this, had great offensive games. A dude played pretty well defensively, but we got too many guys out there who, I mean,

just can't do anything during these games. And then they play big minutes. I mean, I, I'm, I like DJ Wagner. I think he's going to, he's had a lot of games. good games. I think he'll have more good games, but he played too much tonight. He was not good, and they just kept putting him out there. And, you know, he played 21 minutes. He was 0 for 5, 0 for 2 from 3. He got beat defensively. Just too many minutes, right? I mean, Ugo played 32 minutes, and he had two points. You're the taught, like they have nobody your height, and you play 32

minutes and you have two points. You know, we're just, it's just disappointing. It's disappointing to watch LSU's one of the worst teams in the country, giving up threes. We shoot 40%, but we only take 20. Reeves only takes one or two shots in the last 12 minutes of the game.

There's just, we just make bad decisions. And then when it's over, Cal says, well, we lost because of 50-50 balls. I mean, no, we lost because we gave up a 15-point lead on the road to a team that's not very good. And there was a sequence when I was sitting there.

You all may remember this. I think we were up 11, and LSU shot an air ball. And one of our guys, I'm not sure which one, caught it, and then dropped it. LSU got it, kicked it out, hit a three, and it was eight. And I said to Ryan, I was like, that was a key play in the game. That kept them in this game. And then I think they scored six or seven. points in about a minute, and it was close.

So, you know, I'm like a lot of you all, I'm just tired of losing these games. I mean, it's, it's, it is unfortunate. We're now very likely to be the fifth or sixth seed in the SEC tournament, and I'm just kind of tired of watching the team lose these games. And then when it's over, this isn't the biggest deal in the world, but it is a deal. You know, Cal takes two questions and leaves. with, according to the reporters, there, multiple hands up. He's a sore loser now, unfortunately.

And he didn't used to be like that. He did not used to be like that. But, you know, when they won Saturday, he came in, talked a lot of trash. He came in, said, say I'm the worst coach in the world, he came in, talked about all the All-Stars, et cetera. Well, I was okay with it. I'm all right with that. I like that.

That's what we like about it. But you can't do that and then lose and say, hey, I can just take a couple questions. We got an early game Saturday. The game is at 4 p.m. And to saving those 10 minutes, you think that's going to really show itself against Alabama Saturday? That is just not facing the music when things don't go your way.

And he's better than that. He is better than that. He didn't used to do that. And that's why, and I've said this multiple times, you'll probably hear me say it again. This whole thing comes down to March. This team can beat anybody. They just beat Auburn, one of the best teams in the country, on their floor and dominated from start to finish. And we just lost to a mediocre LSU team that will host someone in the NIT and losing the first round at home to, like, you know, Richmond.

and we just lost. That's this season. So it's going to come down to March, and it's going to come down to these games that are going to be coin flips against teams that we should be a lot better than. You may have heard me on the show say, right now in the tournament we play Seton Hall.

Let's say we played Seton Hall. We are going to be infinitely better than Seton Hall, and we might beat them by 20, and we might lose by 10, and we have no idea. And this team is too good for that. And then if they beat Seton Hall, we might play Duke,

and we could lose by 20 or win by 15. And we're too good for that. We are too good for the situation we're in. And I think that is ultimately, it's what frustrates me, and I'm sure it's what frustrates a lot of you. 859-28027. It's late at night. Billy and I were just saying,

when Dilling him hit that shot, I had like 10 seconds where I thought, I mean, the bar was like jumping up and down, and I thought this is going to be a fun post game show. And then the opposite. So we'll take your calls. Hopefully we'll make as much fun of it as we can. It's 859-28027. It's the local toy dealers, KSR post-game show.

Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers, KSR post-game show. Cats lose again. And they are now 6 and 6 in their last 12 games. And almost certainly now going to end another season where they don't win the SEC. This will be what, what was last time we won the SEC? Regular season.

It's been, I think we've won it once since 2017, which is really disappointed. I'm going to be honest with you. The gold standard is not been the gold standard. And tonight's another example. In the abstract, this one loss is not the worst thing in the world. but it's on top of all the others that makes it frustrating. All right, Billy, who's up first?

Thomas. Thomas. Thomas. You know, I'm at a loss for words. Is the lineup, should we limit this lineup to five, seven players? I mean, those birds are. It's hard because you never know who it's going to be, right? Like, I mean, I know I want Reeves in at all times.

Between Shepard and Dillingham, I got to have. have one of them. Most time I'd want to have both of them. But we've had games that Wagner played well. He played pretty well against Auburn. We've had games Hugo played well. Edwards has been better. I don't know Cal's fascination with getting Burke's minutes right now, but I think part of the problem, William, it's not ever clear in any game who's going to play well. Yeah, Dillingham gets a lot of points, and then he didn't play much in the first half. but he also made a ton of mistakes in the first half i mean if that's true too yeah he he had turnovers and he got me like but the thing is i think you just got to live that live with that

with him because he can score 21 points in 10 minutes at the end of the day for me this is just me i almost wish cow had less options and he would just let guys succeed or fail it's like we have too many options sometimes, and I don't, I'm not sure that helps in this scenario. Give me three shooters and then two bigs. I'm done. Just seven, eight players. I'd like to see, and I appreciate the call. I'm to the point now where I'd like to see Reeve Shepard and Dillingham all the time.

Just let them go. They're going to have some bad games, but let them go. Wagner or Edwards at the four, depending on who's playing well, and give me Thierro or Ugo at the five. And let's just roll. And I know that's a small lineup of The Aero's at the five. I mean, if Trey Mitchell's healthy, I want him to be maybe Theero or Mitchell at the five.

But like, what does playing these seven-footers do? Like when we give up offensive rebounds, what does it do for us? I mean, Ugo has, Hugo had a couple of very good games. I thought he played well against Auburn, so it's not like I don't want him to ever play. But like tonight, he was almost unplayable, but yet we played him 32 minutes.

You know, we had six straight offensive possessions from the eight and a half minute mark to the five and a half minute mark where we didn't score. During that time, Reves is on the bench, and we have Bradshaw and Hugo in. Like, how do people think, how does Cal think that's going to work? I know Reeves had three,

fouls but dude like there's eight minutes left what are we saving him for and we did not score during that period of time and we went from tide to down five you know i don't understand it i don't why do we want to play these bigs who cannot score and and we should never play two of them together who's next let's go to brett brett what's up brett hey how's it going so i just wanted to see i didn't know if anyone i haven't seen anybody talk about it but the very first play that had the shot clock violation as soon as we inbounded the vault. I don't understand.

You're talking about why it was 20 seconds? I don't really know. Yeah, it went straight to 20 seconds and so I vote that we play the rest of the season under protest. I don't know what that was. Unless it's a rule I don't understand. I tried to look it up. I didn't, I couldn't find any rule of it. It would either

be, if it was less than 20, it goes back up to 20, but it was just what it was just, yeah, it just went out of from the tip. So I don't know why we would have gotten 20 seconds unless, because they got the tip and then like lost it out of bounds, right? Yeah, and it showed 30. And then as soon as we imbounded it, like it jumped from 30 to 20. I didn't understand that either. I'm not sure what that was. And then, of course,

they make another terrible golden call. You know, at least they get it right and take away the bucket, but it costs us a fast break. And I hate when referees are all. not in position. That dude is on the far side of the court. There's a referee under the basket who doesn't call it, and he thinks he's smart enough to run all the way to the other side and call it. It's like there's a guy right there. He didn't call it maybe because it shouldn't have been a call.

But that's these referees, that's one of the things that's different about the NBA. The NBA, the referees have such respect for each other. They almost never call out of position unless they know it. In college, the refs that are arrogant think they know everything wherever they are, and it drives me insane. Yeah. And then you and Thomas talked on a little bit, but I agree that with this game especially, like, Reed and Dillingham, neither one of them started. And that led to like almost seven minutes, I think, of uninterrupted play where they didn't even get to play at the beginning of the first half, which the first half wasn't the issue with this game. But it just seems odd.

I feel like you would rather want to live. die with those two stars. Yeah, although I mean, Dilliann't have struggled in that first half. I mean, the first half, the reason we had the lead, I appreciate the call, as Antonio Reeves, was great. So I don't know. I mean, I don't think we lost this game because of lineups, but I also don't understand. I just, I think what frustrates me about the lineups is it feels like there's no rhyme

or reason at any point to who's in the game. You know what I mean, Billy? it feels like it's just the whims of Cal in that moment. I completely agree, especially when Big Z comes in for 30 seconds at a time. Yeah, but why? I mean, why? Now, look, Big Z, we go on a run, but it wasn't because he was in there, right? Like, I don't understand.

Like, what? At one point, our lineup was Shepard, Edwards, Wagner, Berks, and Hugo. What is that lineup supposed to accomplish? Like, really? I think that's him still putting everybody out there in the first half and to see who's going to play well. But I mean, that was in the second half. But like there is no rhyme or reason to the lockups. That's what I don't get.

I don't understand. Like, if you want to give guys action, put them in a position where they can succeed. Right. So you want to get Bradshaw some minutes. Put him out there with four shooters. So all he has to do is worry about rebound or worry about attack. or worry about attacking the basket. It's just we just randomly just throw people in at the whims,

and I don't get it. I really don't. I wonder sometimes these lineups that play, how often could they even practice together? Because there's so many different combinations. There's no way these guys practice together. I just, I don't get it. Who's next?

Brad. Brad. What's up, Brad? Hey, how are you going, Matt? Doing all right. How about you? I'm okay. You know, they say the hallmark of a successful person, somebody that can, you know, self-evaluate.

I'm going to flip this onto the Kentucky fan base. Are we willing to, at this point, look at ourselves in the mirror and say that we quite possibly are no longer a blue blood program. What does that mean? I mean, when you say we're not a blue blood program, I mean, have we in the last four or five years not done as well as we should? Yes.

But it would be absurd to say we aren't a blue blood program. When literally, if you extend the time frame from five to 15, we've been amazing. and when we will when cow leaves we will get our choice of you know all but three coaches in the country would want to come here so yes we are still a blue blood program just as north carolina duke kansas yukont they are as well well i mean i would i would disagree with you there i mean because there's what do you define blue blood program as. Well, I mean, I agree with your first assertion, but like your second in terms of like when he leaves.

I mean, we've all heard at nauseam that, you know, we've heard about the contract in terms of the money's not there. He's not going to leave. The money isn't there to pay. That's a different point, though. That's a different point as to whether or not he will go. That's a different point. And that's a different discussion.

but whenever he goes, however he goes, Kentucky will be able to hire all but a handful of people. They wouldn't be able to hire Bill Self. I don't think they'd probably be able to hire Danny Hurley. But pretty much anybody else they'd want, they could go and get. But it still doesn't guarantee success. It doesn't, but that's true of every school. That's true of every school.

There's no school that is guaranteed when they, hire a coach it will be successful. Exactly. And the point that I'm trying, I'm ultimately kind of going to get to, is like, I mean, look at our biggest rival, Tennessee.

I mean, it just pains me. I mean, I'm 38, so, you know, you and I are close in the age. Like, we live through this golden era of Kentucky basketball.

Like, you know, it's quite possible that we can end up being what Kentucky, what Tennessee, is in football where we think we are something that we're not. But why would you say that? Tennessee hasn't won anything.

It pains me. But Tennessee hasn't won anything in football in 25 years. Kentucky has won a lot in the last 10 years. We're getting there when we're losing games on the road at LSU like this, when we're losing a home at South Carolina when we're setting records for losing at Kentucky.

We're still, Tennessee's never been to a final four. Okay, we're, I mean, like, in Tennessee football, well, I mean, I'm talking football. Tennessee football hasn't even been to, he's been to one SEC championship in 25 years. It's not the same thing. It's not.

I know. Do I think it's acceptable? We're not anywhere close to them. We're not. I mean, listen, I'm negative. sometimes about the last couple years, but let's be real here.

If you were to even look at the last 10 years, and we haven't even been to a final four in the last 10 years, we still have been one of the seven to eight best programs in the last 10 years. Now, in the last five, that's different. And in the last five, that's frustrating. But if Cal- That's what I'm saying. But if Cal leaves, if Cal leaves, why can't we?

But if Cal leaves, why can't we be right back? back there. I mean, when Billy left, we... Who do we do? There are a zillion guys out there. All the coaches of the programs that are doing better than us. Name me too. Scott Drew will be the next head coach at Kentucky.

Scott Drew's won a national championship. I mean, that was a one-off, man. They went to... What are you talking about? They've been good every year he's been there. You think the Kentucky fan base is going to go crazy if we get a Scott Drew? I don't think they'll go crazy, but I think they'll be fine. Scott Drews won a title.

How many current coaches, sir, have won a title? Tell me how many current active coaches have won a title. I mean, I grant you that. You don't win a national title on axis. So he's not lucky. Now, listen, is he the sexiest hire in the world? No. But he went to a program that's not good at basketball, historically, has never been good.

And he did something that almost no one does. no one takes a program that is not have a history and wins a title tell me another one who's ever done it in the last 30 years give me another coach that's taken a non to use your term blue blood program and won a title since 1991 you can't find Arkansas Arkansas though was good in the in the 80s in the 70s and that was in 19 and they were they were good for a number of years. So if Scott Drew is as good as known Richardson, you would want him to be the coach at Kentucky.

I would take the guy from Arizona before I would take him. Who's won nothing? Ever. He's just younger. If he's not won anything, but he's not won a thing. And so, I mean, I appreciate the call.

So I'm just saying, I'm not, listen, I'm not, first of all, I'm not saying Cal's going to be gone. And I'm certainly not saying that Scott Drew is a slam dunk like he'll crush it if he were the coach here. But while I'm frustrated, like Kentucky basketball will survive, whatever happens. There are people out there, and I know you're not doing this, sir, because you're being critical of Cal. But there are people who are Cal supporters who act like there's no chance will be good if he's not the coach.

That's not true. Now, for years, what I would say is you better be careful if you wish for somebody other than Cal. How many people are better? And four years ago or five years ago, I firmly believe that. But I'm going to be honest with you. If we don't have a good march and then we were going on four tournaments with one combined NCAA win and one SEC win since 2017, there's a lot of coaches that can do that.

There's not another coach in the country that can probably do what he did from 2010 to 2017. But from 2018 to 2024, well, there's a lot of people who can do that. Who's next? Woo, let's go to Cody. Am I wrong about any of that? No, you're not.

It just took a while to get there. Well, I mean, I wanted to give the guy a chance. Listen, we don't have, it's late at night. I've got to make sure we still get people. I got a plane to catch, so we better hurry this up. Go ahead, Cody. Hey, Matt, first time, long time. Who are?

I'm heading home from the game, man. Look, let me tell you, that game was not sold out like we're used to for us Kentucky fans that live in Louisiana. That game was not even crazy. We had that game. I know. I just felt like he took Reeves out the game way too early. once he took Reeves out the game, we lost the lead.

I just felt like you've got to stop going to that floppy action and start drawing up some real offense. Like, call on John Wells, see what he's got. I'm just tired of seeing that floppy action late in games with Reeves because that stuff doesn't work. Let's do something that's more modern. Let's do something that stretches them out a little bit. Reeves is a bucket.

Dilley's a bucket. We shouldn't lose games when we're up 15 a half. That's all I got to say. I agree with it. I appreciate everything you guys got to say. Thank you, man. I think all that makes sense. And it is, that is a good point.

Like, it wasn't like that place was wild. It wasn't like you couldn't hear. It wasn't like that atmosphere was crazy. It was like 70% full. So, all right. Well, let's take a break. 859-280-2287. It's weird.

I'm in a weird position where, like, I'm critical of the job Cal's done the last couple years. But I still am very adamant that this is Kentucky basketball. Like we are not some... We're not Indiana. Tennessee football is Indiana basketball. We're not there yet. What's happened has been unacceptable,

but I mean, Indiana is going to miss the tournament again. So we're not there. We'll take a break. Be right back. It's a local toy dealers, KSR post game show. Welcome back. This is a local Toyota dealer's KSR post game show. I didn't realize this show would become like a Scott Drew conversation.

that what this is now? Well, the text machine is just like all people pro and cons got Drew. But one of the things to remember about him, by the way, is he took over a program, if you remember, Pilly, where the players were accused of, like, trying to kill each other. And they were basically on the death penalty.

Yeah, it wasn't great over there. It was awful. Like, I think they were down to, like, four scholarships for his first year or two. And when he took over the job in 2003, they had only made the NCAA tournament once in their history. In their entire history, they'd been there one time. And he ends up building that program to where he's national coach of the year twice,

and they won an NCAA tournament. That's pretty good. Now, I'm not saying that he's necessarily the right guy. I do think that's who Mitch would hire. But, like, I just don't accept the premise that, like, no one can win. winning. Everyone that's coached here except Billy Gillespie has been a good coach. Everyone. Everyone that's coached here is a college basketball hall of famer except Billy Gillespie.

So like, we'll be able to find a coach. The question is, what are we going to do this march with this coach? Who's next? Gabe is next. Gabe, go ahead, Gabe. Hey, Matt. Hey, listen, you are exactly. five months to the day

older than me. So we've been through a lot in the Kentucky basketball era and especially this Calipare here. But unfortunately, I'm not sweeping any of the losses under the rug. This season was about one thing and one thing only. It was that tournament in March.

And unfortunately, we've shot ourselves in the foot. We're going to have to, just like 2014, we're going to have to play a high seed like Wichita State. We're going to have to beat him. We take over their seed in the tournament. And, you know, we can become a one, two, or three seed by beating that team.

Unfortunately, that's our only, that's the reality. No, you're exactly right. You are 100% correct. And I've said this all year. None of, because of the circumstances of the last three or four years and this year, none of this really matters until March. And the goal all year was going to be March because of the past. And I'd hoped we would get a one, two, or three seed or have this success, and that hasn't happened.

So you're right. It's all going to come down to we're going to have a first round game against somebody we're better than but can beat us. And then we're going to go have to beat somebody that had a better year than we did in the second round in order for this to be what you and I hope it would be. And we both know this team can do it. I know they can. But I also know, here's what I hate. I know this team can do it, but the frustrating thing for me is part of the joy of Kentucky basketball

is that we care about it all the time, right? Like anybody can care about it in March. Everyone in the world cares about it March. We care about it in November. And I'm just tired of finishing 18 and 8 and 19 and 9. And like that's the stuff that drives me crazy. But you're right. Like 2014, that season, if you remember, was unbelievably frustrating.

but nobody cares because we went on a run so they can do that here you're exactly right all right thanks matt appreciate i mean that 2014 team we now remember it for all those shots during the year we lost every way imaginable and we looked really frustrated but then they went on the run so maybe this one can do it too they certainly have the talent to do it who's next derrick Derek go ahead Derek uh yeah Hey, Matt, Gabe kind of still my first point. I got a quick comment and then a question. So, yeah, we have Reed there who's literally the leading three-point shooter in the SEC

and he took one three-pointed night. I just feel like he's got to be a little more aggressive. I agree, although he didn't play well. He made some bad errors. But you're right. I still wish he would shoot more. Yeah, my comment, more optimistic note, is that we've always said, you know, March is kind of a guard-dominated tournament.

And I think we have a couple of the best cars of the country. So if there's any reason for optimism, I think that's the one of me of Reeves. Edwards playing better. Dillingham is insane. So that's kind of what I'm holding my head on at this point. I agree with all that. I still think the best version of this team, like you said, can beat anybody. But sure would be a lot easier, don't you think?

we're a one or a two than being a six or a seven. He's gone. And that's what that's unfortunate. But it is what it is. You know, right now we're trending towards Billy what would be the worst schedule we could get, which was a six seed. You know what time they play at the SEC's tournament if they're 16? What time?

9.30 on Thursday and Friday. Oh. I don't know if we can do that. I don't know if I can do that. If we're a six seed, that's what will be. And remember, we don't have the tiebreaker against South Carolina, because we lost it. Who's next?

Po. Ho. Po. What's up? Hey, Matt. I agree with you. We're still blue blood. And any coach, we, you know, any coach would die to come to Kentucky

and could recruit at Kentucky. I'm just so tired of the same old summer. and dance. We have all these. And this team is unbelievable. But we just don't have a coach that can coach the X's. And those, when we get up 15 in the second half, that shouldn't be a time to put in different perks and people like that.

And that's the time you step on people's necks. Yeah. When you're up 15, the game should be over. When you're up 15 in the second half, the game should be over. Should be over. But not only was it not over, they came back in five minutes, you know? Yeah, yeah. And, you know, last year I was like, you know, the year before I was like,

and the year before I was like, I was like, I was lost it. I mean, he can't, once he does build up these freshman classes, I mean, they're just not, he seated high enough or there's some flaw. or some of them don't work out. And when we go up against better coaches, we get out-coached, especially in these big-time critical situations at the end of games. Well, I don't know that he got, I don't know that I think he got out-coached.

I think we actually played the end of the game pretty well. I mean, that last play was fluky, man. I mean, it was. That was a fluky ending, you know. But. Yeah. But, well. and we get caught ball watching a lot.

We did get caught. We get caught ball watching a lot. And that, there were a couple of those plays that were really bad. Reed had one where he was ball watching, and then Hugo was kind of ball watching on that three at the end. Yeah, and Reed had one when he turned it over in the lane. Yeah.

Well, he ball watched and then turned it over, right, back-to-back plays. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, but the rest of the team was ball-watching when he had it and rain, somebody could just cut, you know, but they were just all of them. I'm not putting that on other people. He dribbled into three people and dribbled it off his leg. That's on him.

He did. He did. That's on him. We can't just excuse whatever he does. I mean, he, he, he, you're right. When you dribble in the lane and there's three people and you dribbled off your leg, that's on you. That's not on anybody else.

Okay. But my, my thing is, it was last year, a gown, needs to go, but they had this great class and I love this team better than any team that I've liked in a long time and and they love well hopefully they'll be able to do it this time I hope I hope so I appreciate the call you here are the here are the coaches Billy that are currently coaching that have a title all right Rick Patino don't think we're going to bring him an enjoyable experience yeah Tom iso don't think we're going to bring him here Tony Bennett who I would rather pick my nails with like have them taken off my finger than watch him coach no offense to him he's a good coach but

bill self and danny hurley who aren't leaving and scott drew and then john kelpig and that's it that's all they're the only active coaches with a title so just keep that in mind who's next uh let's go to chris chris what's up chris hey man uh i want to say i appreciate you man how did you just you are throughout all this. You know, you just mentioned the coaches that are coaching that have a title, but Cal didn't have a title before he came here.

Rick didn't. But Cal had been to the championship. First of all, Rick had been to the Final Four with Providence and had coached the Knicks. Cal had been to the Final Four with UMass, had been to the championship game and should have won with Memphis.

I want you to show me the coaches out there that have resumes like that. I mean, they exist. There's a couple, but there ain't many. So, like, there ain't many. You're right. You're right. Look, man, that's not my point. And my point is to kind of agree with you on Kentucky can bring the recruits in.

We need a coach who the king coach. Man, I'll be honest, man. I'm almost 50 years old. I saw Rick do his thing. I'm aware of our prowess as UK, as the Blue Blood. I don't hate Cal. I love him for who he is a person. In a lot of ways, he's done a lot for our state.

I just don't think he's the coach. Man, I'm all over the map because I just have so many. No, listen, a lot of us, I think I'm, I mean, I think if you go listen to my, first segment comments. I'm all over the map because it's frustrating. I think a lot of the frustration is people, myself included, just they think we should be better. We should not be 18 and 8.

We should be like 21 and 5 and sitting there going, you think we can get a one seed? Like that's what we should be doing. Instead, we're like, oh, we're 18 and 8 and we still have to play Alabama. and we still have to play Tennessee and we still have to go to Mississippi State. Like that's where we are, unfortunately. Can I ask you one question? Yeah.

I've been going back and looking at the recruiting classes of the Final Force. Most of them aren't as high as are. And I love that we're having those recruits. Yeah, but I wonder, you know, it would be interesting to see, and I appreciate the call, in the era of the transfer portal in NIL, is it different with these recruiting classes now? You know, I don't know if you saw Billy.

In college football, this is the fewest underclassmen to declare for the NFL draft since like 2009. Really? And like, I want to say it is half of what it was in like 2015. And the reason is NIL, right? Like guys have some incentive to stay now. college basketball, there's some chatter that they're going to be the most older people, meaning like juniors are older to be picked in the first round in a long time in like the last decade. So I do on some point wonder if this is getting older and how does that work?

Right. We'll see. But we should be better than 18 and 8. 8.59-280. 2287. Let's take a break and we will come back to the final segment. This is the local toy dealers, KSR post game show. Welcome back, final segment. Local toy dealers, KSR post game show. I have to tell you, Billy, as I see the various people who write me again, I cannot believe Scott Drew became a big part of this conversation. I will say this. For everyone that thinks there should be a coaching change.

It's going to be, there ain't going to be anybody that's going to make everybody happy. Because, like I said, if that dude's resume is not enough for you, then I don't know who you think you're going to get. Yeah, there's no perfect match out there.

I mean, I just told you there's only seven dudes that won a title. You know, like you're not going to hire. I mean, I can give you three or four names that they would never hire because of like

sort of character stuff. Nate Oates. Yeah, they would never hire Nate Oats. They would never hire at Musselman. They'll never hire Chris Beard. So like, forget that. I don't think he would ever hire Bruce Perth. So all those SEC names, forget it.

And then also, none of those dudes have ever won anything. Like, that's another thing. None of them ever won anything. Musselman's probably had the most success, and they're terrible this year. So, you know, I... well hopefully we who knows if we'll get to that point hopefully we have a good march

and these conversations are unnecessary who's next Todd is next Todd go ahead Todd hello Matt after our win against Auburn the other day excuse me

I was afraid that that might have been fools gold I was nervous about tonight's game two. And when we had that 15-point lead, I thought, well, all's well, you know, we're going to win this. And then it wound up being Fool's Gold from Saturday.

I don't know that I agree. It's Fool's Gold. I just think they're inconsistent. I mean, you know, they have now beaten some really good teams. I mean, they've beaten an Auburn team that's really good. a North Carolina team that's really good. So they are not fools gold. It's not like they're not, you know, he got lucky.

But I think they also can lose to anybody. So that's, I don't think, I disagree with you a little bit about fools gold. But like, I don't think there's any game that you can go, well, we're definitely going to win this one. Well, I've just expected us to continue our excellent defense like we was doing against Auburn and everything. and another thing I'd like to say. Well, we did for a half. We did for a half. Yeah, right.

But in the second half, it was different. But go ahead. Is Hugo and Big Z. And I gotta throw Bradshaw in there too. They just seem uncoordinated. Like they, you know, I mean, Hugo can block shots, no doubt about it. But, you know, when he, it's hard, though, for a guy, Hugo's size. I'm surprised at how.

coordinated sometimes Bradshaw looks. Hugo's a big dude. It's hard for big dude. Like, they ain't too many big dudes that size that are really coordinated. There's some, but there ain't many. Z is just lost. Z's just lost. I mean, I, like, when he's out, he's lost.

Bradshaw surprised me. I mean, Bradshaw, you know, you got to remember there was a time where Bradshaw was the number one ranked player in the class. He didn't finish like that, but he was at one. point and I've been kind of shocked at how ineffective he's been. Exactly. And I'll tell you another thing, if everybody on the team played with as much energy as the air roll does, we would be dangerous.

Well, that's true. I mean, he's been great. I think he is the most, he don't score a lot, but I mean, he gives it all he's got when he's. You do watch sometimes, I have to say, and if you think about. about it and you look at the guys and you say okay who on this team is getting the most out of their talent you would almost certainly pick out three people Thierro Reeves and Mitchell and it's probably not a coincidence that there are oldest players you know what I mean

yeah so yeah he he's gonna he's gonna be uh he'll be back oh I hope he is I hope he is I think I said I appreciate the call. I said that earlier today that he could be the leader of the team. He gets more out of his. I assumed he'd be the dude that didn't play this year. And you got to put him out there because he plays so hard. Billy, let's do three more and we'll go to Ben. Who's next?

Okay. Let's go to Brandon and Vegas. Brandon. How are you, Brandon? I'm good, Matt. How are you? Good. I haven't talked to you since that Dibar and Boise in 2018.

Oh, wow, that was a long time ago. Well, that was a fun, fun tournament run, especially that Boise trip. Hopefully we'll have another one. Yeah, well, it's looking like we're heading west to some Noworsville City to... Well, we might not now because we lost. We might end up moving down and actually being closer to home, oddly. Yeah, well, I mean, I, you know, you and I adamantly disagree politically, but for your game... Which has nothing to do.

do with this, yes. Totally. I can't disagree with what you said in your opening monologue. I took a lot of heat for my call after the Gonzaga loss. A little disappointed in that, but I mean, here we are again, you know, okay, we won two games. You know, you're supposed to win at home, and it was a good win at Auburn, and really tonight was a fluke. And if tonight was like our third or fourth loss, no big deal. but you lost three at home and now you do this again.

So I'm with you on Tennessee. We'll beat them. But I don't know. Do we beat Alabama Saturday or, you know, that's the hard part is Alabama. They need to win. But Alabama nearly lost at home tonight to Florida. So they're definitely beatable, you know. We just got to, listen, I feel like I'm repeating myself,

but we can beat anybody and we can lose to anybody. And that's just how the rest of this year is going to be. I mean, I don't think we'll lose to Vandy at home, but besides that, we can beat anybody left, and we can lose to anybody left. And that's just how it's going to be, I think. Well, that's the frustrating part. I mean, you know, we'll see how this goes post-Sabon area in Alabama football, but why is Alabama basketball, even in the discussion with Kentucky basketball? Because they're better than us. I mean, we love Cal.

I love every player on this team. I don't know what we're doing with lineups, but I can't stand the way that this has gone since 2018. I mean, 18 was a fluke. Nate Oaks about how to beat with Buffalo. Well, look, I appreciate the call. Flukes, you know, I mean, Auburn, we beat them three times lost the fourth in 2019. I mean, flukes can go anyway.

I mean, they go both ways. We've had some fluke good runs. We've had some unfortunate flukees losses. you judge a coach and you judge a program by the whole and the whole in the last five years has been disappointed that's kind of where I am right now two more who's you think they're going to give Reeves first team all-American probably not but like

I think he'll make first second or third I don't think he'll probably make first so they have him if we were better he would so they got him yeah and then two lottery picks potentially with Rob and Reed and you're and if you lost Jay Wagner was a top five player coming out of high school. And you've lost six games to unranked teams this year. Yeah.

No, it's, it's, it's hugely disappointing, hugely disappointed, no doubt. Who's next? Let's go to Jay. Jay, what's up, Jay? What we're watching Kentucky basketball and just to talk home the point, the game tonight was played in the Pete Marevich Assembly Center. Pete Marevich, one of the first of all times of good to have an arena in the name after me. You know, his record is...

His record is... Yeah, I'm sorry. Your phone keeps breaking up. I'm sorry, I can't hear what you... I'd like to hear what you had to say, but I can't hear you. I appreciate the call. We'll have to do two more if you've got them on there.

Yeah, I got them. You were breaking up. Speaking of the Pete Marevitz thing, Jay Williams, man, and I like Jay Williams, but what the hell was he talking about tonight? I'm so glad I didn't get to hear any of it. What was he saying? He's still arguing about Caitlin Clark.

Like, dude, stop. I mean, basically, if you don't have a title, you can be great in college basketball. Like, come on, man. There's, you know, not everybody goes to Yukon in women's basketball. I don't know. I don't get his whole thing about this Caitlin. You talk about a weird hill to die on. But he's clearly going to do it.

They talked about it for five minutes in the game. It happened to be the five minutes we were playing bad, too. Who's next? You can't help himself. Let's go to Derek. Derek, go ahead, Derek. Hey, Matt. I wanted to make two comments if I could.

I'm frustrated with the way they played, but what about, you know, Bradshaw never crashes the board whatsoever when we're shooting the ball. As soon as somebody shoots it from Kentucky, he runs, you know, he runs back instead of crashing the board. And I also wanted to say, what about the unfair fouling calls of the game? I mean, it was even the commentators were saying that. we didn't get a bunch of fouls go our way, and then we got a bunch of tic-y-tack fouls on us,

and I feel like they took us out of the game a lot and slowed the game down. I thought there were some bad calls, but I didn't think that's why we, I mean, I, you know, I, they, we had 19 fouls called on us. They had 13. I don't think that's a crazy difference,

to be honest, because they were attacking the basket, and we were shooting from outside. So, I mean, they missed calls. there was one drive where I thought Reeves got fouled. He shot that air ball, and they didn't call it. There's no way he shoots an airball there unless. But at the same time, there was a play they got towards the end,

that baseline move the guy made where we fouled him, and it should have been an and one they didn't call. I mean, like, you could do that all game. I did not think that's why we lost. It's certainly why we gave up a 15-point lead, you know? I feel like that's the one reason. Let's stop the 15-point lead because they changed the pace of the game so much with all the fouls. They hit three.

They scored 13 points in about three minutes of game action. So I don't know. And three of those were three. So I just can't, I can't blame that on, you know. I mean, I appreciate the call. 19 fouls is not a ridiculous number of fouls for a game. You know, that's, again, they messed up calls. That happened, but like, you know, they didn't mess up enough calls for us to give up a 15-point lead in three minutes.

Who's next? Wade. Wade, what's up, Wade? Hey, Matt, how's it going? I've got a, I think the biggest problem with this program is the disconnect between the administration and the basketball team. I feel like Cal has been kind of set out on an island by Mitch and, you know, disaster facilities or whatever, and it's just been told no.

He said, I'm not, I know. He's put himself out on that island. Listen, I'm very harsh and critical of Mitch at times. The problems between the administration and Cal are mostly on Cal. I'm just going to be real with you. It's not, you know, let me ask you quite. Again, let's be real. Does any other program on campus have a problem with the athletic director?

No. Exactly. But if there's 20 coaches who get along and one doesn't, you're going to blame the athletic director? Listen, Mitch drives me crazy about some things. He can be a puritan on stuff. I think he tries to put his own moral beliefs over what the majority wants often. And there's a lot of things I can be critical with him about.

But I just ask you to think about this. In like the last four years, Cal's relationship with the administration, with the media, and with donors have all gone away in the last three or four years. Is that everybody else's fault or is that his fault? Well, you know, when was the last time Kentucky basketball had a on-cap, on-cap facility built for them? It was built Billy Gillespie. But they got to have somebody to pay for it. And you know why I can't get anybody to pay for it?

Because the donors don't want to give it to him. Somebody's got to pay for this stuff. This stuff doesn't come out of... Cal has offered to raise money for it. He has, but, you know, okay, but again, he's offered to raise them. portion of, hang on just a second. Do you want answers? Do you want the actual facts or do you just want, all right, I appreciate the call.

I've tried. The donor facility, he raised, he got pledges for some amount, but there's still another 70% to raise. And the reality is there's a handful of people who can write those checks and Cal doesn't have relationships with them and they don't want to write them. So, you know, again. Winning will solve a lot of these problems. But let me ask you this.

Do you think that LSU team that just beat us has better facilities than we do and has better administrative support? No. I mean, no, stop. Did UNC Wilmington? Did St. Peter's? No. We are losing.

And it is no one's fault, but the people who run the program. If we went in March and we make a run and Cal wants a practice facility or whatever, he'll have a lot easier time getting it. But when you lose to St. Peter's, and you go 9 and 16, and then you lose to St. Peter's,

and then the next year you lose in the second round after being disappointing. And then you look and go, build me a practice facility, what are people's incentives at that point? So no two-way street that's negative is all one person's fault. I'm not saying everything is Cal's fault. But a lot of relationships have broken down in the last few years. And there's one common denominator.

Cal used to have a great relationship with Mitch Barnhart, with the donors, with the media, with the other programs on campus. and now they have none of those. Why? Well, everybody can make their own decision as to why that is. Disappointing loss. Hopefully, against Alabama on Saturday, which should be a great atmosphere in Rupp Arena.

Hopefully we can get a marquee home win. Thanks to Billy for staying up. Thanks to all of you for listening. We'll be back in the morning. Right back at this here in about eight and a half hours. This has been the local Toyota dealers, KSR, Postgame Show. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends.

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