KSR - KSR Postgame UK MBB at Texas A&M 3/03/26

Episode Date: March 4, 2026

Matt and Billy recap the Cats' 96-85 loss at Texas A&M.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Fall to Texas A&M 96 to 85 in a game that, you know, really is frustrating and included maybe the worst stretch of basketball Kentucky has played since the Gonzaga game. 859-280, 2287. I, you know, I said on the pregame show that you could really have any result in this game and it wouldn't shock me, whether it was Kentucky winning by 10 or losing by 15, I think is what I said. And we got the latter of those. We got an 11-point loss. But at one point, Kentucky was up by 10. So you could have had a different result. But this game came down to essentially a

nine-minute stretch. If you take the first 11 minutes, I thought Kentucky looked excellent, offensively, crisp, getting to the basket, probably more dunks than they've had all year. I think they had like five early on. Open looks from three, sharing the ball, beating the press. I thought they were excellent. And then just completely collapsed in the last nine minutes. And Texas A&M, you've heard the notion, we've heard the phrase Bucky Ball. If you were to look up what Bucky Ball is at its most successful moment,

you would see those last nine minutes of the first half. Kentucky let themselves get rattled. and Mark Pope with an inexplicable set of substitutions that I still don't know what he was thinking. Basically did the one thing that has consistent, if there's one thing that has consistently not worked all season, it's putting in four subs at once and for a stretch of about 73 seconds, I counted Billy. He had O.A. and Aberdeem both on the bench, and he had the lineup of Johnson, Chandler, Noah, Yelovich, and Garrison in. And it was an 8-0 run, and Kentucky went from up five to down three, and then, or excuse me, up, yeah, up five to down three. And then they just took off. And even when starters were brought back in, didn't really step up and you got the result you have.

It was funny. Kentucky had a shot. It was 30 to 18, and Kentucky got a steal and had a wide open NOAA 3 that if he hits would have put it us up 15. He misses. They get the rebound, come down, hit an open 3, and it just, the game got out of control. And we only scored three more points the rest of the half and ended up taking the loss. So, you know, I mean, a couple of bright spots, I guess Diabate played pretty well, what, 18 points. 19. Ramadan Mo is a thing, right? It's great, you know, he ate on the bench for the first time. That was interesting. It was how they pointed that out. It would be something to watch in the SEC tournament, et cetera, like when, if you can't drink water, if Kentucky plays during the day. but he played well and you know it was good to see i guess in the second half trin noah hit a couple shots since he hadn't in a long time but otherwise you know you look colin chandler only has five attempts you're not going to win if colin chanler only has five attempts i i think the part of that is on him for aggressive you play 34 minutes if you're colin chanler you

only take five shots it's got to be better than that they were five threes he only made one not going in like that. You're just not. And got completely obliterated by their bench. Their bench had, it looks to me, Billy, 57 points. And our bench had 39, which is actually quite a bit for us, but 57. Yeah, that's a lot. That's a lot.

And we shot 48, both teams shot 48%. But the difference is they hit 13. threes and we hit eight. And so on the one hand, you can look at it and just say, well, they hit five more threes. They hit shots we didn't. And I guess there's something to that, but I also think the reality is in that nine-minute stretch we were outplayed. And I was frustrated during that stretch about the effort.

I was frustrated about the substitution pattern. And I just, this team makes no sense to me. You don't know when they're going to be good. you don't know when they're going to be bad. And then you have games like today, first half like today, where they're both. For 11 minutes you see Kentucky at their best, and for nine minutes you see them at their absolute worst. And I think ultimately what's going to hold Kentucky back if they're not able to make a March run is this. Kentucky at its best is a pretty good team.

but unfortunately what we've seen this year is this Kentucky team at its worst is abysmal. Our best might be like, when we're playing our best, we might be like eighth to tenth best team in the country. But when we're at our worst, we're not even like a tournament team. And I'm not sure I've ever seen a Kentucky team who's high and low. The variance is greater than this one. I can't think of one. The Reed and Rob team was kind of like that,

but this one is even more so. And I'll just give you a stat. Kentucky has now lost to Georgia. Who are the teams we lost where everybody had lost all those games coming in? Georgia, well, I should, Auburn. Georgia, Auburn, and now tonight against A&M. And if you look at those three games, going into the game, those three teams, Billy, were three and 16 coming into our games in their last six to seven games.

Three and sixteen coming into the Kentucky games. And all of them beat us. And yet, we won at Arkansas, beat Tennessee twice, and be vending. And, you know, how do you explain that? Our good is very good, but it's not great. But our bad is awful. And the problem is, at least tonight,

the bad was so much worse than the good was good than we take the loss. 859-280-2287. There's actually been a ton of news today. Obviously, Mitch Barnhart announced his resignation, and there's a lot that has even happened since our show about that. I'm going to say let's put Mitch Barnhart and all that on hold until tomorrow as much as possible.

And let's talk about this game and all the stuff with Mitch we'll deal with in more detail tomorrow. By the way, also, SEC tournament. Missouri lost tonight. Had Kentucky won? they had a legitimate shot at the three-seed in the SEC tournament. But now that they've lost, there's a chance, Billy. They're playing on Wednesday.

No, Wednesday's still in play? Yeah. There's now a better chance I think that they play on Wednesday than they don't. As crazy as that is, had they won, they had a shot at being the three-seat in the SEC tournament. And now they could drop all the first. way to temp because everything that happened tonight fell about as bad as it could have for Kentucky. We need, if Arkansas beats Texas tomorrow, then we're guaranteed to not be temp. But we still can play on Wednesday.

As a matter of fact, I think playing on Wednesday, if you look at the scenarios, might be the most likely scenario at this point in the first game of the term. That's back on the table. 859-280-2287. We will take a break and take your calls. This is the local toy dealers, KSR postgame show. Welcome back, local toy dealers, KSR post game show. 859-280-2287.

Right now, let's see, you've got Vandy and Old Miss. Vandy leads 6968. We probably need Old Miss, or we would help us if Old Miss were to win this game. So I think you should be, if you're at home and you want to have something happen positive for Kentucky. I think you want Old Miss to win this game against Vandy. But we will see. Right now, Vandy leads by one with two minutes and 45 seconds to go.

In a thing that I won't talk about except just to say this, I have like literally only Billy one politician in America I like right now, and he won tonight, James Talley. Oh, he's going to win, huh? It's looking like he's going to win. And if I disappear to Texas for a couple weeks this summer, you'll know why. Now we know why you're going to Austin all those years.

I didn't know him, man, but nevertheless. All right, who's up first? Jay. Jay, go ahead, Jay. Hi, Matt. I think the point that I was trying to make, and without saying a million stats, is that it just seems to me,

without talking about firing Mark Pope or any of that, I'm sure you're tired of talking about that. It does seem to me, though, like we've seen enough where it seems like the chance that Mark Pope is going to be able to uphold the standard of Kentucky basketball as the number one program, those chances are looking increasingly slim to me. And I guess the most concise way I could put it would be to say that right here in the SEC, we've got Nate Oates and Todd Golden.

And Mark Pope does not seem to be in that league. And those guys are both younger than him and have better track records. So I guess do you agree with me? I think that's it. Yeah. Great question. I don't, if you were to sort of articulate my worries about Pope, I think that would be the best way to say it. I think when people say Pope can't coach, I do not think that's true.

I think Pope is very bright. I think he does things that don't make sense to me, and he is probably too wedded to the numbers and to his predisposition as to what he needs to do in games. At the same time, though, I think he does some really intelligent stuff, but you just hit it the best way to put it, which is he can be really good, but can he be great? That's ultimately the question, because I can see greatness in John Shire. I can see greatness in Nate Oates, I can see greatness in Todd Golden, I can see greatness in Danny Hurley.

But take someone like Hubert Davis. Can Hubert Davis put a winning team on the floor? Yes. But do you think Hubert Davis can be great? And I think the answer... Say what? He coached in the championship game. But that's a run.

He went on a run, right? Mike Davis coached. in the championship game. You know? I mean, Mike Davis went to the championship, and then he got fired at UAB 10 years later. So you can make,

Kevin Ollie won a national championship. So like, you can make a run. The question is, do you trust Hubert Davis to be consistently great every year? And my answer is probably not. I worry about that with Mark Pope is can he be great?

I don't think he's bad. And I think he is actually good. But can he be great? And I worry about it because we just lose by massive amounts too much. You know what I mean? Like we get down. Yeah. We get down by 20, like, all the time.

And that just seems to me to be something a coach at Kentucky shouldn't do. Matt, I think you'd live my last thing. I think you just even more sort of highlighted the week. of Mark Pope's track record. Because I think when Pope left BYU, it was like, well, that's the small-time program. BYU got a top 10 player in the country today for next year. They have one of the best players in the country for this year. They haven't missed a beat.

And Mark Pope didn't, if you look at that record coming into Kentucky, you know, you're saying these guys, they weren't that good. They went on a run. Mark Pope never went on a run. That's true. But he wasn't there very long, to be fair. I mean, he was only there. He wasn't there very long.

I appreciate the call. So I'm not saying it's impossible that he can be great, but I do sort of look for the things to convince me he will be great. And there are some great wins, but I don't know, man. Losing by the amounts that the amount of times this team gets down 20 is just, I mean, you don't, that doesn't happen. But, you know, Bill Self, they've lost a couple times this year by big margins, and it's been like, whoa, that's happening to Bill Self? Well, it's happening to us all the time.

This year and last year, if we're honest, we lost games by crazy amounts last year, too. This wasn't, it didn't end up being crazy, but we were down 20 at one point tonight. Who's next? Well, a great coach would call a timeout when the other team's on a 27 to 3 run. So 27 to 3 run. during the 13-0 run, he'd ever call the timeout. And what's insane about that to me is you lose a timeout at the end of the first half. So he didn't even call the time out that you lose.

They use it or lose it. It's a use it or lose it timeout. And until the very end of the first half, he was content on just losing it. That's wild to me. I mean, you can't take it. You know, they say about when you die, you can't take your money with you. Well, you can't take your timeouts with you either. And I don't know.

I don't know how you put. Billy, I am not a coach. I don't know how you watch this team play and think you can have Aberdeen and O'way both on the bitch. Well, Aberdeen had two fouls early. I don't care. What good does it do for him to not get a third foul if we're down 14 at halftime? Well, like earlier this year, they could have advanced a lead farther and probably put the game away and said they let the team back in. It's just not falling down 13.

When you were up 12. When you were up 12. Aberdeen, you cannot have Aberdeen on the bench for more than a couple minutes. Not because he's the best player, but just because we are lost without him on offense. And you saw it tonight. Who's next? Tyler. Tyler, go ahead, Tyler.

Matt, you know, I don't know if I'm crazy for saying this, but for me, I'm like, why don't we play the AOC Trio? until they either foul out or they literally can't breathe anymore. That's what I would do. We got to have subs. Well, you know, the first time, though, he did round of subs. Okay, so the first set of subs he put in, I thought he did it the right way. He would bring in, he had like Jasper in with Chandler out. Then when he brought Chandler back in, he took Jasper out, put Noah in.

He was doing like one at a time, and I think that works. And then all of a sudden he just decided to do this mass sub, and I don't get that. Oh, and I agree with you there. I have so many times this year I've gone, why is Jasper in now? And then when the first round of subs came, I was like, okay, we actually played well. And I have. But you know what I've noticed with Jasper? Jasper plays his best when he's in with Aberdeen.

That's actually when he plays the best. When he came in tonight, we were up one. and then when he went out the first time we were up nine, and it was because he played with Aberdeen that whole time. And then when Aberdeen went out and they brought Jasper in, that's when we started to struggle. I think it would actually do Jasper some good to play with Aberdeen because I just think it takes some of the stress off of him.

But go ahead. Oh, I completely agree with you. So I know earlier on the show this morning and then on the pregame show, you all brought up, quote, Bucky Ball. And I was like, I don't even know what that is. And then I realized what it was watching the game, and I was like, I feel like this is a recipe for a blowout. And then watching the guys play, I was like, man, we've responded. Like, we've kind of grown up because I feel like earlier in the year, we would have gotten run off the floor.

And we eventually did, but we were playing really good when it started. But then I'm like, okay, out of nowhere, obviously then when the second round of subs came, it went all to nothing. And I was like, then I came to my big point. I was like, and kind of what you said at the beginning, I'm like, This team just, and for March, for the whole fan base, I feel like this is some advice. This team just is what it is. We could lose by 20. It is what it is.

It is what it is. You know, anything. And that is so frustrating for us as a fan base to go, we could lose by 20, we could win by 20. We could win a close game. We could lose a close game. But I guess at the same time, though, you're like, okay, well, I guess March could be the We have a shot in any game. I appreciate the call.

We can lose any game. Here's what Bucky Ball is. Bucky Ball is what you do when you have a team that is not as talented as the teams you're playing. You try to disrupt them. And when you play really good teams, you're going to get destroyed. And we looked like a really good team in the first 10 minutes. But then we fell into their trap, which is you get sped up, you start to hurry. Then you start to play like them, and they're better at it than you.

and then when they hit some shots. But part of the frustration, too, is that, you know, there was nobody even at that game. It wasn't like their crowd was crazy. It wasn't like the place was rocking. There was nobody there. And we still lost. Who's next?

Sosa. Sosa. Go ahead, Sosa. Go ahead. Yeah, thank you guys. Yeah. One second, Matt. I would like Billy's perspective on the game

because, honestly of God, I feel like, I'm not sure about you, Matt. I love you. But you talk crap one way and then cover up crap the other way. I don't know what that means. Did you think tonight went well? Absolutely not. Okay. So, but just yesterday, you were.

saying yeah, yeah, yeah, or actually what I'd like to get at, honestly, and I'd like Billy's But wait a minute, but I let Billy do his thing, but what are you talking about? We did play well. Yesterday I spoke well of how they played. We played well for nine minutes. No, yesterday. We beat Vandy. We destroyed Vandy in Saturday.

Yesterday we meet Vandy. No, we beat them Saturday, and I talked about it yesterday. Okay, then let's. Okay, I appreciate the call. I'll, Billy, I'll let you describe the game. game. But I mean, yes, I did say different things about the team yesterday because Saturday we beat Vandy by a lot and played excellent. Today, we did not play well. If I came on here and said, we're still great after today, you would think I had lost my mind. The reason I go back

and forth is because this team goes back and forth. Now, Billy, give your take on the game. I just, I'm tired of hearing that other teams were more desperate than Kentucky or that they wanted it more. What's it going to take to motivate this Kentucky team? I mean, at times, I mean, they didn't even care about possessions that they had. And you have to care about every single possession, Matt. So like, motivation just varies on this team so much.

Brandon Garrison said after the game that they relaxed as a team and then they never responded. Well, I'd argue this is a team that should never relax. I mean, you have blown some bad leads, and I don't think that they should relax at all. So it's frustrating. It really is. It is very frustrating. I agree. I don't really know what's happening in this Vandy Ole Miss game. You probably don't have it on because it's on the computer. But what's happening? Well, it looks like I thought Ole Miss was going to the line with the game tied. And it looks like they're reviewing a play that occurred like 30 seconds before to see if there was a hook and hold, but they had already went ahead and played the next play, which I didn't think you

could do that, but they did. And if they call it, then Vandy's going to end up getting like technical free throws. Uh-oh. When it's just 25 seconds to go. What a bizarre. I've never seen that before, where they could go back in time and say, you know that play a little while ago we should have called something else on that i've seen it for goaltending but never something else after review it says play at 54 seconds has been upgraded to a

flagrant one so they are going back in time and calling a flagrant one on a play that occurred earlier in the game you're opening up a pandora's box never never seen that before in my in my years of watching basketball. I mean, I can see why they called it because he did grab the guy's leg, but like once the play's gone on, I can't believe you could go back. All right, who's next?

Alex. Alex, go ahead, Alex. Hey, Matt, I'm pretty close to the same age, if not the same age as Drew, and he talks about the 96, all that 98. I can't watch the 96, 98, and 2012 one shining moment videos on YouTube without tearing up. I just can't.

I agree with you. I'm that way too. I'm that way too. I mean, I'm serious. Like, I don't, this time of year I'll put them on and like I get so misty-eyed, just remembering what we used to be. And now it's like we're a glorified AAU team. That's why it feels like to see us play.

We don't hustle on defense. We don't do the stuff that we are. known for doing it. It's not that the players are different. It's just we just don't walk into the building like we're the champ anymore. And it absolutely kills me. I understand. I mean, I get it. I'm like you with the 96 and 98. Every year, usually before the tournament, I'll put on the ones we win and then other ones where I know we had a good run where we're in the video. And yeah, it stinks. I mean, the reality is the last. The last really good NCAA tournament moment that we had is, I mean, we beat Illinois last year,

but I don't know that there's a moment that came out of that game. So probably the last big-time March Madness moment we had was when Tyler Hero hit that shot against Houston. And what year is that? Is that 2019? So, I mean, it's been seven years. So I know how you feel. and what it feels like to me watching the version of our team now, the players,

the way that we're looked at, it's like, and I know you're a professional wrestling fan, it's like somebody that maybe was in the main event of like Survivor Series 93 or the World Rumble, and now they're touring, doing like high school gyms. Like it's still the same person,

but it doesn't have the attraction that it did before. I understand. I appreciate the call. We, you know, I've been around a lot of that one in wrestling. And, you know, sometimes people come in and it doesn't remind you what it used to be. I don't feel like we're that yet. This is not Mickey Rourke and the wrestler. But I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know what, something you have to think about what the wrestling analogy is. But I, but it's, you're not terribly far off. All right. Let's do, let's do one more and then we'll take a break. Who's next? Caleb, go ahead, Caleb. First time, long time.

Who are? What's up? So I was at the game tonight. I'm on the way home, and I'm glad you noticed it because I was wondering how it would show on TV, but that arena was like half empty. I was kind of shocked at how disappointed a turnout was for Texas A&M. I went to the Texas game last year, and they turned up. They kind of scared me a little bit. They were really into it. But at the middle of the game, BBN was in it.

We were all up. you know, going crazy. And then on that sub switch, they kind of just made us sit down and shut up for the rest of the game. And it is like one of the worst people in the world to be at an away game and see the other team going crazy. And I'm just sitting there watching a crime happen in front of my face. It's just like, I don't know, man. I get it. You're right.

And it is kind of, you know, and I appreciate the call. This is two straight games where Kentucky is not only lost, or well, Kentucky is, they won at South Carolina. But this is two straight road games where we went and, like, the other team's fans didn't show up, which means we're not quite the draw that we have always been, which is a little disconcerting. I mean, I was at the A&M game four years ago.

Now, granted, A&M was really good that year, but it was packed and it was wild. and there was almost nobody there tonight. 859-280-2-807. Did you get to say everything you wouldn't say about the game? Well, besides the Johnny Rocker, personal injury attorney moneymaker of the game, Matt, injured, get small-town compassion with big city results when you call the rocker at 2703-2-9. Kind of tough to pick one tonight, but Mo Diabate, I thought, showed a lot of heart.

Especially during Ramadan, 8 for 9 from the field, 19 points in 22 minutes. He also had seven rebounds. He was plus 3 in the plus minus. is are Johnny Rocker personal injury attorney moneymaker of the game. I agree. Speaking to wrestling, by the way, Shannon the dude, Cash Daniel, Friday night. They're going at each other? Wow. How is Shannon going to cheat? Cash Daniel is like three Shannon. Exactly. Chan's going to have to throw something in his eyes or? Yeah, exactly. We'll take a break. They're going to overtime in Van the O'Miss.

So we'll see what happens. We'll take a break. We'll be right back. It is the local toy dealers, KSR post game show. Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers, KSR post game show. All right, so people are giving wrestling analogies, Billy. Yeah, let's hear. One person says, for me, we used to be the rock, and now we're Rocky Malavia.

That's good. Although Rocky Malvea was Rocky was rock before the rock. So you need somebody who was the rock and then kind of became Rocky Malvea. trying to think of a wrestler that was a huge star like the best in the business and then got to a point in their career where sometimes they would win and then sometimes they would lose to terrible people. I'm trying to think. Al Snow.

I like Al Snow, obviously. I don't think he was ever the Kentucky of wrestling. Okay. You know, the Kentucky of wrestling is going to have to be like your Steve Austin's or your Rick Flares or, you know, Flair got sad at the end. I don't think that's more, Rick players more like Indiana. Well, I mean,

Rick, I don't know. Rick, Rick, Rick went a long time. I'm trying to think. Maybe AJ Stiles. He was the champ.

And then towards the end, they just had him losing everybody. I don't know. It's a tough one. Okay, so we have some plays we need to talk about. First of all, Trent Noah,

finally gets hot, and then he turns his ankle on Mark Pope. Yeah. What terrible luck. Do we know if he's okay? Did they say? I haven't seen an update, but I mean, he was standing up shortly after that.

What bad luck, though. You finally start making shots and then you turn your ankle on your own coach. Yeah, that was bizarre. That was weird. And then Brandon Garrison just threw a ball off a guy's face. Hard. The Brandon Garrison experience is all over the place. He had a great first few minutes.

He had like six points in a row. He had a six points in a row. Great pass. And then, you know, he's throwing balls off people's faces. And, like, Franon Garrison is one for the books. And then I read that we had a woman get ejected from the game and flip off the crowd on her way out. And I tweeted out, mom, question mark.

My mom didn't find that as funny as I did. Well, Karen wouldn't do that. She wouldn't. She would not get kicked out or flip anyone off. but I need to know who this woman was. She might be listening. Matter of fact, I bet she is listening. Good luck getting through to that.

If you got kicked out from this game and flip somebody off, I feel like you're the kind of person that listened to this show. I would love to hear from you. Either tonight or in the morning. If you were the woman that got kicked out and flipped off the crowd on the way out

because they were right behind the bench, I heard. So I need to know who that was. I don't know. who's next? Todd is next. Todd, go ahead, Todd. Hey, Matt, Billy. The rest are saying, first thing come to mind was Sting.

How many times can you come out as the crow? But Sting wouldn't lose, Sting wouldn't lose, though, to these. Like, they didn't have Sting job at the end. Yeah, that's true. That's true. A couple points. You asked a question yesterday,

or maybe someone called in about, Ryan being a sunshine pumper and Drew like I don't know and I think the majority of us are kind of that I don't know because Pope is still making the same mistakes on year two sub patterns

not calling timeouts I mean you're you're up 12 and they go on a little run and I mean even before it's 13 0 call it when it's a 6-0 run burn a second timeout you know and you're right I mean these issues

these issues these issues issues we're talking about were the exact same issues we were talking about last year, right? I mean, if you remember the two things that used to frustrate us the most is he would go to the, he would go to the subs, because last year there was a huge drop off between our top six and the next guys, right? And he would go to those guys. And we would, we would loot. They'd go on a run. And then I think the other thing that used to bother us was the timeouts.

So, and we also last year would lose, like we'd fall down 20. to teams. And we didn't come back as much last year. But so, yeah, you're right. There were, there are some similar stuff. The relevancy point, I know you said on the show the other day, something about that someone said we're irrelevant and that we're not irrelevant because we're on a lot of prime time spots and, you know,

we still bring big ratings. But relevancy is we're not, we're nowhere near where you con. Houston, for God sake, not even close to Duke, like around that top 10 around like, okay, this is a 1-2 seat. We're not. We're not right now. And when are we going to be there? I mean, we're 10-level losses this year.

We have nobody for next year. How do we replace O-A? I mean, that kid is unreal for us, and that's a big chunk we're going to miss next year as well. No, I think that's a very fair question. I appreciate the call. Very fair question. And you're right.

We aren't in that. group. I kind of feel like we're sort of in the with North Carolina group where although North Carolina didn't make a championship game but that was a luck run. But they still got it. So I mean you can't take it away from. I like this. We're Chris Jericho. That's a good call. Jericho's my favorite wrestler but he was you know the main the main guy and then by the end he was just

you know or Hulk Hogan and TNA. How about Sina? See, Billy can't laugh at these because he doesn't know what all this means. Whoever wrote we're Hulk Hogan and TNA, that's a good call. What were you going to say? Sina. C-Fit that? No, but Sina never jobs.

Like, he doesn't lose to randoms. The problem is we're losing the, you know, we're losing to Georgia. We're losing to, yeah, that's, we've lost, what, three in a row to Georgia, two in a row. Georgia beat Alabama tonight? They did, yeah. And that game hurt us. That's what put Wednesday back on the table. for us.

Georgia beating Alabama hurt us. So, and with Fandy wins and it's looking like they're probably going to, then, yeah, Wednesday is definitely on the table. We're going to need good results. I thought we were out of having to play Wednesday, but tonight went about as bad as it could have for us. Who's next? Mike.

Mike, go ahead, Mike. Oh, what's up, man. I'll tell you, I've been watching Kentucky since the 80s. I don't think I can ever remember a 36 to 4 run in my entire life. And that just seems like we kind of got rid of Calgary, which I think it's time and got the poor man's version of Calgary. He's just as stubborn in a different way. Well, he is stubborn. You're right.

He is stubborn. I think that's a really good point. He's stubborn in a different way than Cal. You know, Cal was kind of stubborn in the old school. This is how I do it. And you modern kids with your rock and roll, you're not going to change me. And Pope is almost the, sir, the computer, he's almost the chat GPT version. Like, chat GPT says this is what it is.

And you're like, but wait a minute. Chat GPT is saying that one of our players is a grapefruit. And you're like, that can't be right. But this is what chat GPT says. So you're right, they're stubborn in different ways. Let me ask you another question that I've kind of noticed this year. Let's see if you agree with this. All of your best teams in the country are going away from this,

I guess you would call it Steph Curry type basketball. It seems like they're back to the offensive rebounding and the big guys. Like we're headed back towards where we used to be, it seems to me. And I just don't. I want it to work so bad with Pope, but man, I'm telling you. Well, I've always thought, so we've talked about this on the air before.

I always think that whatever happens in the NBA, sir, give it two or three years and it'll happen in college basketball, right? And so I was listening to, I think I was talking about how I was listening this podcast earlier in the year, and they said in the NBA now, you're right, it used to be get little, shoot threes, etc.

And now they still, put a priority on shooting. But now it's like get shooters but get offensive rebounds because the most efficient offense is getting it off the glass and scoring. And that's probably where we're ahead with college basketball. And you're right, these teams that are good like Michigan and Arizona does this, they get guys who can crash the glass and do that. Florida is the best example.

Yeah, Florida's like that too. get guys who can shoot you need two types of players guys that can shoot and guys that can go hit the glass and we got a team this year that got a lot of guys that try to create one-on-one and that just doesn't really work a lot in college basketball so I appreciate the call I mean OA is the best version of that kind of player he really is but you know he goes through time where he struggles to score and you know I love Moreno, and I think he's going to be good, but he's soft right now. Like, he's got to get, he's got to get stronger in the offseason because he just, he gets bullied. And think about these guys that have given us trouble, Cyril at Georgia,

and the guy tonight for A&M, they just go through him. And that's, that hurt. Yelovich has the same problem. Who's next? Martin. Martin, go ahead, Martin. Hey man just two quick points

and my my first point has to do with Pope and his inability to keep his players engaged mentally throughout the game and this has been consistent since last year and this year and the losses to Ohio State and Ole Miss

last year and then this year getting blown out by Kamsaga it just seems like he has an inability to keep his team engaged when they go down. And so that's big for me in terms of like whether or not he can be great as a coach going forward. And the second point is sort of a big point or a big picture point with Ms. Barnhart going.

I think going forward, if we're going to get an AD that is going to take this seriously in an athletic department for that matter, we need an athletic department that has its finger on the pulse of the fan base because they seem out of touch with the rebur. with what's going on in the home court advantage. The rebranding, that Wildcat they came out with. I can't remember what it was if it goes a few years ago, but no one buys that merchandise. And so they really need to sort of be, you know, take a look at themselves on how to get in touch with the fan base.

I agree totally with you. I totally agree with you about the, I think you will hear me talk a lot more about this as we go through the spring because according to, to Eli Capulieu and you okay today. They're not hiring someone soon, like quickly. So I agree with you. I think they,

I think, I think the athletics department has been, has been disconnected from the fans since COVID. And it's got to get better. I think it has gotten a little better on the football side, but there's still a ways to go. And I think on the basketball side, Mark's done some really good,

good things in that regard, but they're still way. The Atlantic Department has no, they have no idea what the average fan is like. They really don't. If I may, I would say they just need to stop catering to the older generation. I don't want to, I'm 31 years old and I got four brothers and they're the biggest UK fans you can meet, I've died for any of them. We talk about every UK game while we're watching it, and we say that, the same things. You feel like it's shouting at the moon.

And unfortunately, you and KSR kind of face a brunt of fans' frustrations. And you feel like you're on at the moon and you see these things and you're feeling it in your gut. Something's missing. And like I said, I mean, they don't realize it. They don't realize it. I mean, here's the, and this is a much bigger conversation than tonight. But here's the problem. This is what happened when Cal was here and it's what happens now. KSR reflects the fans Okay, we, when you hear us,

you're hearing people like you. You're here, we reflect the fans. But to UK's administration, they think we move the fans, right? So they think they think the reason fans are upset about in-game experiences is because KSR tells them to be. They don't understand that every single day, me, Ryan, Drew, Billy, Shannon, Mario, we are hearing from fans who are saying this, and we are reflecting what they're saying.

UK, because they are so disconnected from the average fans, just blames us. And that's what Cal did. And to some extent in the latter years, that's what Mitch has done, and I'm with you. I hope the next group, and I appreciate the call. I don't think that's what Will Stein has done. I don't even really think that's what Mark Pope has done. I hope the new leadership of UK athletics realizes there is a lot. There's a missing piece to the connection with the fans.

And they've got to find it. And one of the things that would help is winning basketball games. 859-280-2287. Old Miss has a free throw to tie here, Billy, after it looked like they might be done, and they miss it. Come on, Old Miss. Oh, goodness. All right.

We'll take a break. We'll be right back. It's the local toy to dealers, KSR Postgame Show. Welcome back. It is the local toy of the dealers KSR post game show. You know, Billy, I'm a little bit of a nerd when it comes to political stuff, at least elections. I don't like how politics is done in America now, but I do like elections. And I just saw something I didn't know.

Do you remember former baseball player Mark Tashara? Yes. Yeah, first baseball. He won the Republican primary for Congress in a district. in Texas. And it looks like a district that's pretty strong Republican. So he will probably now be a congressman, Mark Tashira. Here's what I thought when I saw this.

You know, they have that Democrat Republican baseball game every year. That's right. Yeah. Should the Democrats just forfeit from now on? They've got a Yankee. Yeah, that's. That doesn't seem unfair. Yeah, he's going to be taking those old parts.

They can't allow him to play, can they? I think, well, that would be cruel to make. to make him say that. I mean, if LeBron James were to run for Congress, you can't let him play in the congressional basketball game. If he were a member of Congress, it would be... So you think he should get to play? If he was a member of Congress,

well, the game's over. Yeah. You put Aaron Judge in the middle of the... Well, you just give him the Barry Bonds treatment. You just walk him. Oh, you walk him every time? Yeah, you can walk him. You can picture. I know, I will say I think it would be really funny if he struck out. Oh, yeah.

Would that be really... That would be really That would be really embarrassing if like AOC strikes you out. Oh, yeah, it'd be a Democrat. And you'd be like. Bernie brings a heat. Bernie. I bet Bernie's got quite the curveball. I'm sorry.

Look, we got to laugh at something. We got beat tonight. And it wasn't good. All right. Who's up next? Jacob is next. Jacob. Go ahead, Jacob.

Hey, Matt. Thanks for taking my call. Of course. So going back to, uh, the Cal era towards the end when you talked about the fans having this apathy towards Cal. Obviously, we're not there yet with Pope, but it feels like we're getting there pretty soon. What are your thoughts on that?

How do you think? I mean, it's all going to be about next year. Like, it's going to be next year. I mean, for better or worse, Mark Pope's success at Kentucky will come down to how next year goes. That's just going to be, Mark's story wrote that about a week ago. go and he's exactly right. This year, I think no matter, I mean, he did enough in terms of getting this team to play better and get to the tournament. He'll have the job next year. And Mitch is now going to be gone, which also adds a different legacy to this conversation.

But nevertheless, in terms of the fan base, it'll all be based on next year. I think things need to go well next year and and you know there are reasons to be nervous about it but i i i think fans will go in the next season excited but if we have a year where a lot of the same issues showcase then you will start to hear major major grumblins thanks matt appreciate the call uh let's do let's do five more and we'll call it a night rusty rusty how are you rusty hey matt um please correct me if i'm wrong but I feel like tonight's game was the replay of the Oakland game. They went on a 27-3 run at the end of the first half and said, we'll adjust it.

We'll see what they're doing in the first half and we'll make adjustments. But when they came out of the second half, they did the same thing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there was no adjustment. You're right. You're exactly right. And then we also, here's the problem.

problem. When you let a team go on those runs, then if they have moments where they get hot, you're just kind of, you're just kind of screwed. And that's what happened. In the second half, in the second half, we actually played okay. But then they hit a couple big threes, and we weren't able to, we couldn't get it closer than 9, 10, 11 because of the gap we gave them in the first half. You're right. But, you know, you're, Yelovich come down and he hit a, three right off the back. I'm like, okay. But then his man that he was guarding,

two times down the court, they hit two three in his face. And it's like, you know, it's great. You scored three, but you can't give up six for three. Yeah, and we were, and Jimmy Dykes frustrates people, but he does good analysis, and he was noting our guys were like, we continue to play off of these three-point shooters,

and I don't understand why. You know, make them beat you at the glass. If they do shake their hand. But we got a lot of tall dudes. Make them beat us at the rim, and we give them these open looks, and you got to do the Spanish guy who sent six threes, and we didn't even have her hand in his face, five of them. Yes.

And let me say this about Jimmy Dykes. He did say something that was hilarious earlier. They mentioned the fact that Noah didn't score a point in February, and Jimmy Dyke goes, well, there's only. 28 days. I thought that was funny. Yeah, I appreciate the call. Yeah, February's over, Billy.

So now it's now it's time. Yeah, Trent Noah didn't hit a single shot in the month of February. So glad he finally saw him go in. You know what? To be fair, neither did I. You're not playing. I mean, don't throw stones if you live in a glass house. I didn't make one either. Neither did you for that matter.

Well, that's a false equivalency here. I'm not playing for Kentucky. Not making millions in NIL money. Please. Whatever excuses you want. Who's next? Kurt. Kurt.

Go ahead, Kurt. Hey, Matt. Appreciate you taking a call. I got a quick comment and a question. So the, I think that, first of all, the positive note, I think that a loss like this to Texas A&M in the way is going to be a catalyst for us to go and beat Florida by a bunch at home. So I think that's a positive. Not just win, but a bunch, yes. No, I think eight points, man.

And then on the other side, I do have a question for you. When I heard you talk today about Jaden Quentin's possibly entering the lineup again, I wasn't so concerned about Jaden Quentin being a good player for the team or a participant like everybody was talking about. I was concerned about the substitution pattern that's going to come as a result of that just because of kind of what we've seen with Trit Noah and some of the other players. I think what would end up happening is just one of the top of it. the bigs that's playing right now just probably wouldn't get to play first of all i don't even know

that he's going to play if he does play i don't know that he'll play much if he got to the point though that they felt like he could play 15 20 minutes probably what happens is either is probably garrison just doesn't play that's probably what i if you were going to make me guess that's probably what would happen that's fair i mean if that's if that's the case then i guess i would be a little us worried uh it just it concerns me a little bit with just substitution pattern that maybe he would play over with Moreno or something like that. Yeah, I appreciate the call. By the way, here's another little thing.

You know, Billy, I like little tidbits of information. Do you remember the sham wail? Yes. Okay. Yes. So in another Republican primary, the guy who did the sham wow, all right? Yeah. His name is Offer Shlomi.

That's the guy who did the sham while. And he wanted to run. And, you know, if I say offer Slomie, you don't know who that is, right? Correct. So he wanted to be on the ballot as Shamwows Slom. Good idea, honestly. Well, think about it. If you're like Ryan Lemon, you don't know anything and you see Shamwows Slomie on the ballot,

you'd be like, oh, I remember the sham wail. Some good yard signs. Well, the Board of Elections did not let Shamwale be shamwale. That's a shame. Because his name is not Shamwell. And so he, without having his name Shamwell on there, he came in sixth. Well, it sounds like he only got a thousand votes. He could have changed his name to Shamwau.

Maybe the middle name, Shamwow. It sounds like he just stopped short. You should be able, if he had illegally changed it, then you think it would be okay to do it? Yes. So if I was wanting to run for office, you know, there's a movie called Distinguished Gentleman, where there's a guy name, I think, Thomas Jefferson, and the congressman named Thomas Jefferson dies, and he changes his name Eddie Murphy to Thomas Jefferson,

so people think they're voting for the dead guy. And his campaign slogan is, vote the name you know. And he wins. And then he goes to Congress. It's a great movie if you've never seen it. I like the idea. Maybe an asterisk next to him if he's trying to calm the system. You could run for office and just change your name.

If you get it legally changed, yeah. It should be on the ballot. You should run. You should have run as Mitch McConnell for the person. Who's next? Run it back. Glenna. Glena, go ahead, Glena.

Hey, good evening. I have a name for our team, but it's not wrestling name. Okay. It's like we've been Garth Brooks and now we're going to Chris Gaines. Oh, no. I mean, I can't argue with you. That's not a bad one. We've been Garth Brooks and now are Chris Gaines.

Well, we're not Chris Gaines yet, but we're like in the transformation, too, if we don't. Glenn, I don't think I can top that one. That's a pretty good one. Oh, thank you. Appreciate it. That's depressing. Do you remember, are you old enough to remember when Garth Brooks became Chris Gaines? I'm not.

I've heard the story, but I've, don't remember he just decided he was another person and what and he hosted saturday night live and he was the host and chris gains was the musical guest see that's that's too much that's alter egos are worse than you need to look this is something that'll entertain you before to go to bed when garth brooks hosted chris gains musical guest tracy morgan comes up to they'd have a skit where he comes up to garth brooks in the hall and tells him he needs to watch out for chris gains like acting like he doesn't know they're the same person? You should look that one out.

I will. It's a good skit. Two more. Who's next? Will. Will. Go ahead, Will. Hey, man.

I got a couple things to say real quick, and I'll be real quick. Pope just must think he's got a platoon system because every time he brings these guys in, we just are lost, and then we lose, and then I was saying the game's over. And one more thing. They talked to him after the game, and he said that we said that we, were fatigued. After 12 minutes, our guys are fatigued, we need to talk to the athletic trainer, and I'll let you comment. Yeah, I mean, I feel like we said this a lot. I feel like they don't get as tired as, but the thing is, if they're not tired and we're down 15, I'm not sure how that

helps us either. I think they lost the game, in my opinion, when they made that mass up. But to be fair, when they put the start back in, they weren't good either. So, you know. is what it is. One more, and we'll call it a night, and then get ready for tomorrow. What's next? David. David. Go ahead, David. Hey, Matt. I know you like to finish on a positive, so you might want to get another call. That's okay. We lost. We don't have to finish on a positive. We lost. Okay, I know you'd like to. Okay, here we go. Is this any better than the last two years of Cal? This year particularly, or the two years that Pope has been the...

The two years was Pope. Well, let's see. The next to last year with Cal, we got to the second round, lost to Kansas State. Honestly, that was a very similar year to last year in the sense that, although last year was probably a little better than that year. Then the next year, Kentucky was pretty... good that year but then lost to Oakland. So let's see what we do in the tournament. I mean, we went one round farther in Pope's first year than we did Cal two years ago.

Let's see what we do in the tournament. But, I mean, even if it's a little better, I think your point is it's not exponentially different one way or the other. And I think last year would have been, we would have felt better if it had been for Cal in Arkansas going to the Sweet 16 also and seeing what they're doing. doing what would have been our players if it would have stayed here. Yeah, I understand that, although I think if Cal had had those players here, we might have been awful.

Because they were, people forget, they were not, they barely made the tournament last year. You know, we're going to play Wednesday, we're going to play Wednesday at 1 o'clock, maybe in the SEC tournament. I'm going to remind you last year, the Wednesday at 1 o'clock game was Arkansas, and at one point they were down in the second half, and if they had lost that game, They might not have even made the NCAA tournament. Now, of course, they ended up in the Sweet 16, but their fortunes changed,

and, you know, there's still time in theory that could happen with us, too. True, true. So I appreciate the call. I mean, Cal, look, Alcansan last year beat Kansas, and then they beat Rick Patina. Those are two great wins. But they almost didn't make the tournament. You remember, I think, Billy, they started SEC last year, like one and six.

Yeah, and then they turned their season around, playing us. Yes. Yeah. That's when they turn their season round. Well, disappointing loss, and we play Saturday, and who knows, maybe we win, because with this team, you just never know. Tomorrow will be a busy day on the show.

We're going to have to talk about Mitch's retirement, the news that came out about his new role with the university, and then this, SEC tournament scenarios will be at the bar. A lot going on tomorrow, so we will see you then. Cats lose, unfortunately, 9685. This has been the local toilet 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.

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