KSR - KSR Postgame UK MBB vs Alabama SECT 03/15/25

Episode Date: March 15, 2025

Matt and Billy recap the Cats' 99-70 loss vs Alabama in the SEC Tournament.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist, and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after? me listen to kingdom of fraud on the iHeart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts welcome everyone it is the local toy dealers ksr postgame show uh it's a late night again but this time

not as much fun as the last one the cats go down 99 to 70 in the quarterfinals of the cc tournament a fairly terrible performance by the cats that leads to a disappointing 29 point defeat, the largest defeat for Kentucky in their SEC tournament history. You can give us a shout. Look, it's late at night. I'm going to go ahead and tell you anybody that calls tonight, I'm going to go ahead and say you're my friend because even when I was listening to postgame shows before I did them, I would stay up pretty late.

This would be the kind of game that you probably wouldn't often. So if you do, I'm going to be happy with you, 859-280-2287. and because I'm going to air a grievance at the end of this segment, if you call, I'll let you air a grievance. It's late at night. If you got something that annoys you, now is the time to say it. The performance tonight by Kentucky was, you know, first half okay, especially when you consider that you didn't have Lamont Butler

and O.A was out for most of the first half because of the shot he took to the face and basically missed nearly all. the first half after the first few minutes. It was a great start for Kentucky. He scored 14 points in six minutes, but in the last 34, only get 56. And defensively, you know, the cats just could not. They haven't been able to stop Alabama all year, even when they had their closest to a full team.

And then tonight, it got really out of hand. I was very disappointed with the play in the second half, not because we lost. I thought we were down seven and a half time, but had actually played pretty admirable for a lot of it. But second half, just really, really terrible. I mean, not able to handle the pressure, poor decision making, and bad shots, wrong people taking shots. You know, it was just, it was a bad performance. And it's tough because you'd like to just throw it out. I think we will collectively as a fan base kind of throw it out.

We're not going to, I don't think Kentucky fans are going to rewatch this game. But the tournament is next week, and you only get one shot. And you can't have a game like this then. Now, we did get some good news tonight. It looks like Lamont Butler will play in the NCAA tournament. So that's good. I think you can't help but have more confidence there. It gives Kentucky a lot more options.

He's obviously our best defender. So all that's good news. But, you know, we'll probably just put this to the side, but that was a really disappointing second half. And I think you can hear it Mark Pope's voice in the postgame show. I'm not sure I've ever heard him sound that, I don't know what you would call it, defeated in some ways. I mean, I don't think he was, it was very short sort of terse answers to Tom Leach.

I don't think he was rude to him, but he was, it wasn't the Mark Pope that we're used to hearing. And he said, I think Leach asked him some kind of, of question about not having Butler, not having O.A. And he said, we got to play better with the guys that are in regardless. And it didn't happen in the second half. You know, they had a lot of moments where they were playing all three freshmen. That's something I bet you he did not think was going to happen at any time this year. And it was happening in the SEC tournament. We had no one, including O'way, who could stop Sears off the dribble, who could stop the

other card file on. We just had no chance. None. And, in the second half they started hitting threes, which they didn't hit in the first half, which made it really ugly. So rather than sit and dwell on it, where do we go from here? You get Lamont Butler back. You still have O'Way, you have Brea, Carr, and Williams. I still think that is an elite eight level starting five. Maybe even, you know, I don't know if we can beat these four or five best teams in the country, but I think that is an elite eight level starting five. I think our bench is not elite eight level. So those top five guys are going to have to play great. None of them can have bad games and they're probably going to have to play a lot of minutes.

The young guys can maybe have spot moments, but they are not ready for this level. And so you're going to have five guys against the world. The bracket's going to come out. I think there's a good chance we're a three seed. Wouldn't shot me if we drop to a four. but I think we'll probably be a three, especially now that the tournament committee will know that Butler is going to be playing. And we'll open with a 14. It'll be somebody like Montana or Utah Valley

or someone like that. And then we'll get a six seed that will be probably a difficult game. And we've got to come out and we're going to have to play in that second game, assuming we win the first one. and then if we get to the Sweet 16, I don't know about you all, but I will take it as all gravy after that. But we've played well enough this year and in the tournament

that we're going to play two teams that are seated below us to get to the Sweet 16. That makes it a doable proposition, and now I hope they can go and do it. I think with the roster they have, with Butler Healthy, It can be done, but they can't have performances like tonight. And they honestly can't have players who don't play well. I didn't think this was the greatest tournament for, you know,

Mari Williams made a lot of free throws, but I was a little disappointed with his effort tonight. I was, you know, O.A. didn't play well, but he did have the injury. You know, the freshmen just aren't good enough at this point. But all that puts the side. you got five guys you go play in the NCAA tournament and we'll see what happens 859-28027 uh billy i'm going to allow people since this is a frustrating night and we don't want to just say over and over how bad we played i'm going to allow people to they can make their comment on the game and then they can talk about something that they really don't like

oh that's what i'm gonna like like my a pet pete not something serious like i don't want to hear what you think about like the economy or i'm talking about like you know, not serious things you don't like. And here's mine. Okay. Do you have YouTube TV, Bill? I do, yeah. I don't like, I've decided I don't like the moments of Zend.

Or at least I don't like some of the moments of Zend. Oh, really? I kind of like it. I don't. Because I find the moments of Zen, A, I don't know if this happens to you, they're louder than the rest of the shows. That's true. That's true.

That's not very sin-like. the fact that it's louder than the actual broadcast. The boat one with the water in the background. The water is so loud. Yeah. The water is so loud when I'm going through Venice there on my little gondola, right? Again, for people who don't have YouTube TV, they don't know what we're talking about, but that's okay. I don't like the otter that looks like it's dead floating in the water.

Now, people are telling me that that's like an otter and it's baby and they're like nursing. First of all, that's more intimate than I need on my YouTube TV, but I can't tell one otter from the other on my screen, and it looks like a dead floating otter in the water. It doesn't soothe and relax you when you see it. And then last night, they just kept showing a view from the top of Paris, right? Like, how many times can I look at that Eiffel Tower? You know, I get it.

That's Paris. I get it. I'm on a gondola with really loud water, and I get that this beaver otter is sitting. they're dead in the water, but I don't find it very zen-like, Billy. I'm going to be honest with you. Would you rather watch a commercial because that's what it's replacing? If it'll at least be the same volume as the broadcast, that would be better.

So I like the idea of moments of Zen. Like they used to show like a jungle, right? And it was like you'd hear birds. But I don't, you know, watching a dead beaver float in the water just to me is not very zen-like. Well, we'll get them to turn it down a little bit, and maybe you'll get back on. Yeah, at least work on the volume, okay, if nothing else. Can I hear an grievance while we're out? Sure, why not?

Why not? Okay. I hate auto-flush toilets. Do you know what I'm talking about? Oh, really? Like where you just get up and then it... Yeah, yeah, because I'm doing my business and then I get up... I don't need to know that.

To, you know, get some toilet paper and to wipe, and it starts flushing the toilet. And all those germs go right up. my butt. All right. That's too graphic. You didn't need to give me that level. I mean, they got to fix it so it goes off when I'm done using the bathroom. That's enough.

859-280-2-807. I thought you were going to be a little better than that. If you didn't see the games tonight besides ours, the lane violation in the North Carolina game, should they have called that, you think? Would you have called that, Billy? They may miss the NCAA tournament because of an unemployment. you know, a non-important lane violation. Would you have called it?

Yeah, yeah. It's in the rule book. You can't dictate the last minute of the game different than the other part of the game. I don't know if I would have let that be the call that separated the game. But they did, and I feel bad for that kid. That's going to be really hard for him. Also, Creighton beats Yukon. So it'll be Creighton and St. John's in the Big East final.

There was also nearly a fight at the end of it as well. You'll have Louisville gets a win, unfortunately. So it is Duke and Louisville. Louis has never made the ACC championship game, and they make it this year, and they'll play a Duke team without Cooper flag. So they have a real decent chance of winning that game. And in the Big 12, it's what, Arizona and Texas Tech, is that who I think it is in the finals? So there you go. As far as the SEC, two great games tomorrow with Tennessee and Auburn and Alabama and Florida.

Unfortunately, none of them involve us. 859-28027. We'll take your calls and get through this night together and then go to bed and get ready for the bracket show. This is the local toy dealers, KSR, postgame show. This is the local toy dealers, KSR postgame show, 859-2802287. Text machine is 772-745254. One person writes, Matt, how could you go through the first segment and not even mention the officiating? It was some of the worst that I've seen.

I mean, it was bad, but, you know, we lost by 30. And as I said, after the old miss game, I'm not going to, when you lose by 30, say that any of it has to do with officiating. I mean, the non-call on the O way shot to the face didn't make any sense. The continuation thing that they didn't give Amari didn't make sense. I mean, we, you know, there's a lot of things that didn't make sense. but we lost by 30. And a lot of the times, even in the first half, when it was a seven-point game at halftime,

I felt like we were kind of hanging on the whole time. So, yeah, the officiating was bad. I think I even tweeted during the game that the officiating was bad. But that's not why we lost. And even though it is bad, and I thought tonight was maybe even particularly bad, we just got our tails kicked, and that's what happened. So, all right, who's up first?

Josh. Josh, go ahead, Josh. Hey, Matt, what's up, man? No, I think the fish ain't had nothing to do with it. We were just, Alabama's got, you know, five, six NBA players. We have none. But it's crazy. We have, you know, Butler and Jackson out.

And then we got O.A. going to the locker room with his lip in half. and then we got car on the bike with his brace on. But I'm just going to be happy when we get to the NCAA tournament and we don't have to play in the SEC team. Maybe we get the first and second round without having to play a football game on the court. But that was crazy. We got blood on the court. Yeah.

No, you're right. I mean, it is, this has been as physical, and I appreciate the call it. It's physical league as we've ever seen. It's been as talented a league as we've ever seen. It's a very athletic league. And we also have had an insane amount of injuries. I mean, basically, you know, you lose Robinson for the year.

We've had Butler take it out a number of different times. Carr, you know, has the back issue throughout. Oway gets, you know, knocked in the face. I mean, it's just one thing after another, after another, after another. and it's been really, really, really, really bad luck for Kentucky. But when it comes time for the tournament, we will have the closest team we can have to a full roster. We're basically going to have everyone but Jackson Robinson.

And so we'll see what happens. I mean, I'm not ready to give up on it, even though today is disheartening. He didn't give us a grievance there. So you still can do that. By the way, I have on the CBS Sports Network because Colorado State's playing Utah State, and they have a literal giant on the screen, Billy. They just went off. I think that's Roy Hibbert, and he looks to be on that set nine feet tall.

The former Indiana Pacer, Roy Hibbert. Yeah, I think that's him. I don't know, but I can tell you next to John Rothstein and Jerry Palm. He looks very, very tall. Who's next? Keith is next. Keith, go ahead, Keith. All right, well, first the important part, YouTube TV.

oh my God, I have teenagers and my wife. We're watching the game. And we have to put it on mute. And I don't know what it is. Do they not have commercial advertisers? I don't understand why. Like, I don't get how that works either. Do they just, I mean, presumably people buy commercials during the games.

Do they just not show them? Or is YouTube, which I would assume is a multi-nashire? national billion plus dollar corporation. Can they not sell ads? And can we at least rotate it to where I don't have to see that stupid koala look behind his back anymore? Like, just get new ones. I don't know.

It does the opposite of Zen for me. I'm going to be honest with you. That is exactly what I'm selling my family. I thought the honor was dead. I thought I don't believe. I don't believe. I looked at multiple times because they said it was a nursing and a baby. I don't see two otters there.

I see a dead floating otter. I don't care what they say. Trusay. To the game, I actually thought, I thought Travis Perry was solid. He had a couple turnovers. Guess what? Lamont Butler has many turnovers. O'Wea has many turnovers.

We just, we couldn't hit anything. And then we were only close in the first half because they didn't hit anything. In the second half, they actually hit stuff. So that was the difference. Let's rest and get Butler back and see what happens. That's all I got to say. I agree with you. I appreciate the call.

I mean, we were in it the first game, first half because they didn't hit. And, you know, we shot 23% again from three. I mean, we continue to not shoot well from three, which is so odd because they were so good early in the year shooting from outside. You know, I hesitate to criticize like the young guys because they shouldn't have to play as much as they're playing. But, you know, Travis Perry just, I mean, he's not going to be able to guard any of those dudes. And then when he is in a position where he has to create offense, which when you consider who we had on the floor, I guess he did, he's just not, he's not good enough right now for that. And so it's a men against boys thing. I mean, Colin Chandler, who's had some good games, this was not one of them.

I thought Noah was okay. But, like, again, I mean, there was a play where he had the guy boxed out completely, and the other dude's just more athletic and just jumps over and gets it. I mean, you know, you can play one of those guys or maybe even two, but you can't play three because you just, it's like you're, you know, they're just not good enough. I mean, at the end of the day, they're just not good enough. and when you're playing a team like Alabama, you can't have that. So it is what it is.

There's just a huge talent discrepancy, and then I don't think we played well. So if there's a huge talent discrepancy and you don't play well, you get a result like this was just like the Ole Miss game. I mean, these were very similar results. It's just Ole Miss was a very good defensive team and this was a very good offensive team. So who's up next? Ethan. Ethan.

How are you, Ethan? Hey, man, how's it going? So I have a statement and then something that's rantworthy. So my statement is, as hard as it is tonight, I'm going to stay pretty positive of all the teams in college. I think that's the number two team that we probably don't want to see this time of year, Auburn being first. I actually think it might be number one. I think it might be number one. I think Auburn's better than they are, but I just think we just, I do not know how we could score enough points to beat these guys.

I mean, they scored over 90 against us three times. Just so you know, that's the first time in the history of college basketball. We've allowed any team to score over 90 against us three times in a year. Right. And then, like I said, before the season even started, you know, we were saying hope was going to have or consider it a successful season if we even made it to the tournament. And we're at worst case scenario, four seed.

Yeah, I agree. I mean, listen, again, overall, and I'm with you, Overall, I'm happy with this year, assuming we win a game in the NCAA. We can't lose to another double-digit seed in the first game. What was your rant? So, and this goes across every sport that's ever existed, but we've got to stop these in-game coach interviews, whether it's half-times or timeouts. Yeah, it's like, stupid.

Hey, what happened in the first half? Oh, they scored more points than that. Yeah, they're stupid. Especially the ones. The ones in the half make no sense to me. I don't even know why they do those. The coaches clearly hate it. The reporter doesn't even really know what to ask.

I agree with you. Who's asking for that? There's no reason to do that. Right. I appreciate. Thanks. Appreciate the call. 859, 280, 2287.

I don't even know. Why did they start doing them, Billy, during the half? Like the half-time ones sometimes aren't bad, but why do they do them? during the half. Yeah, I'm not sure. It just seems like the coaches hate doing it, though. We're sitting there waiting on an update on O-A,

and they interrupt the update to have her ask Pope, like, how's the game going? I just, it doesn't really seem, I don't really know what that accomplishes. Who's up next? You know, Myron does a lot of that, doesn't he? Sideline reporting at college basketball. Yeah, yeah, but I mean, he's not the one. I mean, they've clearly made a conscious decision to set up those interviews. And I don't really know why they do that.

But go ahead. Lance. Lance, go ahead, Lance. Yeah, I have a statement and then a pet peeve. The statement is, I'm not disappointed in losing at all. I mean, going into the game without Butler, I didn't expect to win. But it just seemed like they quit early in the second half, and that was kind of disheartening to see, to be honest with you.

Yeah, I agree. And pet peeve is, I cannot stand when people incorrectly use. use the forms of the word your and two in sentences. Oh, you mean when they spell it wrong like Y-O-U? Yeah, when they spell it wrong in like a text or an email or anything. Yeah. Well, I mean, if there's one thing that is consistent, I would say 40% of all the tweets that tell me I am a, you know, stupid liberal or whatever, use your incorrectly.

They will say, why, oh, you are a stupid, liberal. That happens all the time. So you're exactly right. Two being T-O or T-O-O. That one you don't see as much, but I agree with you. That's a pretty egregious error too. Yep. That's all I got. I appreciate it. I agree. I like those. I think those are very good. You know how many times I've gotten the phrase in the last 20 years, Billy, you're stupid while you are stupid. I mean, literally, right? The amount of time, and it's from all different forms, it can be political, it can be Tennessee fans, it can be Arkansas fans, Louisville fans, but the you're stupid while you are, or you're an idiot or you're a snowflake or whatever.

And they, the amount of times that is then as why you are is pretty astounding. Who's next? Billy. Billy, go ahead, Billy. I met. Oh, my goodness, Bill. Yes, go ahead. What's that mean?

It was just loud. I'm just loud. Oh, I got a big voice and shit. Okay, I understand. But I'm just saying, they act like they're beating the high school team. What I would do, if I was a coach pole, recognize that score that you just got tonight, got your, you know, beat up with, and give it back to them. Yeah.

think we have the ability to beat them by 30. Now, I'm just saying this couple years from now. Yeah. So it's right back to him. All right. I appreciate the call. That's two cuss words in one call. You can't cuss twice in one one call.

I'm surprised Billy you even let him do it once. Is it just because it's late at night? I mean, yeah, I got the first one. I think I got the second one. So whoever... I hope you got the second one. Whoever is next, please don't cuss. Yeah, no cussing.

859-2-8-2-8-2-2-287. I mean, I didn't feel like they did anything wrong. I didn't feel like Alabama, you know, I didn't really, maybe they left the starters in a minute longer than I would have, but, you know, I say this a lot. If you don't want that to happen, stop them. But we just didn't have it. So, you know, they got a great team.

When they lose Sears, they're going to be different. I mean, you know, we've been a little unfortunate in that our, rivals, Auburn with Broome, Alabama with Sears, and then Tennessee last year with Connect and Chas Lanier, although we beat them both times. But both, those teams have gotten kind of really unusually good transfers. And in the case of Broome and Sears, they've stayed multiple years. You know, that's, that's hurt us because you get a good transfer and then have him a couple years like we might, with O-Way, you really got something special. Who's next? Skyler.

Skyler. Skyler. Skyler, Dean Davis. Hey, I want to shout out my Cal Poly Mustangs from San Luis Obisville, California. They made it to the Big West semi-final, guys. I was actually watching, I was watching your Cal Poly Mustangs

just a little while ago. Hey, the farthest they've ever gotten, I think, in a long time. It was a good story. They were like, they came in the tournament like 11 and 18, and made it to the semifinals, and they're going to end up losing. But you're going to get UC Irvin and UC San Diego playing for a tournament bid. And both those teams are.

It's Irvine, Matt. It's Irvine, not Irvine. All right. Listen, you California people don't have to act like you know everything. But UC Irvine and UC San Diego, those are both very good teams. And the winner will probably be like a 13 seed that is very dangerous in the tournament. It's going to be good. I got an unpopular opinion.

Okay, yes. I actually appreciate the YouTube TV shorts. And you can come to San Luis Obispo and you can see those otters in Morrow Bay. I invite you. Come on out. Do they look dead? They do. No, they're great.

No, great. Hey, couple things. Yeah, but I actually appreciate it more than the drug commercials and feel as a few. Well, there is. I will say, I had a woman I know write me and say she doesn't watch a ton of UK games. And she wrote me and said, is it just me or is there an insane amount of ED commercials? And I agree with you. It does feel like we're on an insane run of ED commercials during these games.

Yeah, you watch the commercials and you're like, do I need this? You know, it convinces you do. Well, that's interesting. All right, I appreciate the call. Good, congrats to your Cal Poly Slow performance this year. 859-28027. Let's take a break. It's late at night.

We got our tails whipped, but the NCAA tournament bracket comes out Sunday, and I still feel hope. We'll be right back. It's the Local Toy Dealers, KSR Post-Game Show. Welcome back. It is the Local Toy Dealers, KSR Post-Game Show. I'm glad to see a lot of people seems to agree with me. on the YouTube TV Zen commercials.

They, it seems like I'm not the only one that's not a fan. Nathan says, I hate the AI voices in commercials. Okay, so Nathan, I want to say something to you. I didn't expect, by the way, during the SEC tournament doing me an airing of grievances show, but we lost that bad.

I do have to say to you, Nathan, here's what I don't understand about the AI voice. All right, in theory, AI, Billy, right, shouldn't it have like all information? Is it that the whole point of it? Right. All encompassing. Why is there only one voice?

Why is every AI commercial the same voice? In theory, shouldn't AI have access to like every voice? Why is it that same voice? All of you know it. You've heard it on a million commercials. Why is that the only AI voice? Why is there only one tone of voice? I can get on ways and get like nine different accents telling me what road to go to.

And yet AI, it's all that same voice. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe they want you to know it's AI, and that's why they do it that voice. But why would you want, I mean, shouldn't you not want people to know it's AI? Like the goal is people I don't think want to be read commercials by computers. Right. So in theory, shouldn't it not, shouldn't the AI be so good, it doesn't sound like AI? And why would you have the same voice?

There's only one AI voice. And we all, you, all of you listening can hear it in your head. I'm sure we'll play a commercial. before the show ends with that voice. Why do they do that? Yeah, I don't know. It's a good question. All right.

I did find the YouTube TV Zen channel, though, which I have on now. There's not a whole channel. There's a whole channel. There's not a whole channel. It is. It's 24-7 YouTube TV Zen. Does it flip back and forth? It does.

I was on a delightful gondola ride, and now I'm looking at a koala bear. See, it's the same, like, why don't they put that stupid koala on the gondola, then run into the otter in the water. That would be much easier and do it in Paris. All right. I'll shut up. Who's next? Eric.

Eric, go ahead, Eric. Hey, Matt. Unpopular opinion. How do you get the pregame show to host that? I know you do the before, but is there any more unsufferable to listen to Cameron, two-shot? meals no I mean I

listen they those guys you know Cameron's a legend at UK and Dave's been doing a long time I do think they fight too much if I'm going to be honest with you I feel like I'm listening to two old women bicker at the grocery

sometimes but you know I like those guys I love me some Gus Baker I mean literally from the time I was a kid I just for some reason I just thought he was super cool but Lord Cameron he said he's

He thinks he's Chapman reincarnate, goose givens, but I wish that you or Ryan or anybody would take over that. They got rid of me if you remember when I did Hey, Kentucky. He wouldn't let me be on it anymore. So that's okay. How are you able to do that before? And I got one quick question too. This is totally off subject. When you do like you, I'm a big fan, when you take a hard break.

Who dictates that? Like, in the morning shows? Like, what does that mean? So there are, because we're on network, right? Correct. Because we're on the network, that there are breaks that are local breaks and there are breaks that are network breaks.

And in order so that all 40 stations don't have to have a person there hitting the button for every break, you take a hard one at the 30 and at the end so that the networks can go to their break at the same time. So that's why, and you can't,

there's nothing you can do about it. It fires automatically. And Billy or Shannon or whoever's in the studio will tell me 30 seconds, 10 seconds, and then that's what happens. Okay. I was always, I mean, I can only ask you this at two in the morning,

but I'm just curiously. If there was ever going to be a night to ask it, it's when we lose by 30 in the SEC tournament, so I'm fine with it. All right, buddy. Thanks. Appreciate the call. By the way, if you listen to last night's post-game show,

there were two of my friends who were up with me. They are both Billy passed out asleep on the couch. Couldn't hang tonight. Neither one of have made it to the next night. Now I have all of my friends walking in this room, including Tall, who has on a shirt that says, ladies and gentlemen, it's Mr. Conway Twitty with a picture of him in his hair. Who's up next?

Spencer. Spencer. Go ahead, Spencer. Hello there, Mario. How are you doing? Go ahead, Spencer. Hey, Matt. First time, long time.

Ooh, uh. So, um, my only really call for tonight is, um, I think a freshman are kind of just a step behind, but I really have confidence in what they're going to do in the future. That goes to, uh, all three of them, especially the Kentucky boys. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I have some confidence. I think they all have abilities.

Here's what I think about when I watch. watching this tonight with all three of them in at the same time. We've got to have better athletes. We can't have all three of those guys. Hey, hey, difficult being here. You've got to bring it down on. We can't have all three of those guys in at the same time. There's just not athletic enough.

Oh, my goodness, Billy. They just broke the couch. They broke the couch? I appreciate the couch. I appreciate the couch. They literally, four of them sat on a couch together, and they just broke this Airbnb couch. Oh my gosh.

And I don't, they didn't do anything. They just, they are too big for the couch. Mario fell off the couch. I can hear them back there. You can hear them laughing like children cackling. This is not going to go in the best of our couch. You all broke that couch. You have ruined hubby's Airbnb rating.

My goodness. All right. Well, I guess we'll deal with that in the morning. Who's next? Blake. Blake, what's up, Blake? How did you do that? Go ahead, Blake.

What's going on? Can you hear me? Yes. Hello? Yeah, go ahead. All right. So, uh, big fan, man. I just started listening, you know, about three years ago and big fan.

Uh, shout to the CED. Thank you very much. You got a bunch of people that are, uh, you know, listeners. Oh, thank you. I'm not too, I'm not too mad about this season, uh, considering with what's happened, uh, last two years. What I expected was one SEC tournament win, and I will be completely happy if we get a NCAA tournament win. Yeah, I mean, I think you got to win one. I think you got to win one, but I'm with you. As long as you win one, I'm okay with it. Just when you consider what,

when you consider what's happened with injuries and all that? Absolutely, man. You know, I was born in 92, about two weeks before the Crystal Langer shot. My, you know, my birthday was the day of Mark Pope was hired. So that's good. Well, listen, it's been a weird year, right? I appreciate the call. We've gotten some great, great, you know, we've gotten some great wins.

And we've also had a ton of injuries. and we'll just see what happens next week. I'm still very excited about the tournament. I think positive things can happen. And I think you four look ridiculous sitting on that broken couch right now. Like you look ridiculous. Mario, what did you do? I mean, Billy, they said it, have you ever seen a couch collapse?

No, especially. From weight. Get that pocket. And they're not even that big a guy. Yeah, I was going to say Mario. Four people on a three-person couch just completely covered. collapsed it in the middle of this Airbnb in Nashville. So by the way, if you rented an Airbnb in Nashville, you might need a new couch,

thanks to my group. Who's next? David. David. David. Matt, there's troubling and unmistakable evidence that Mark Pope has no idea how to coach defense in this league. Well, who do we have that?

Who do we have that's a good defender? Like, who do we have that's a good defender? I'm asking you a question. Who's a good defender? That's exactly my point, Matt. He built this roster with a bunch of guys that had no idea how to play defense. But that was a smart. That was a smart.

Okay, who would you like? Hang on. Hey, unless you want me to hang up on you. I'm going to give you a chance, turn him down for a second. I will give you a chance to have a conversation. But if you just try to talk over me, I have a dump button and you'll go away. So my question, if you want to answer you. the question. Who did he go after getting that he didn't get that you think he should have

that would have been a really good defensive player? Okay, Matt, that's one question. Another question is, I did, but you didn't answer it. I appreciate the call. I appreciate the call. I asked you a question. It's easy to complain about something, but then you have to offer a solution. All right? Mark Pope made a decision that he thought the best way to build this team was to get a bunch of guys who could score, and he got two defensive players of the year in Butler and Williams. Williams, to me, I don't totally understand how he was defensive player of the year, but it's a pretty good defender. Butler is hurt. So I don't know really what you're supposed to do. As far as the other guys, they're not good to defendants. I don't care what he coaches. Kobe Bray

is not going to be able to guard guys on the perimeter. Neither is Travis Perry, neither is Anzley Almanor. You could say, well, he could have gone and gotten other guys, but we needed points. We had no players and he had four weeks. Now, if you want to make that decision next year, if he brings a team here next year and no one can guard, then I think it's a legitimate criticism. But he's got big-time athletes coming in here next year. I don't know how good Jasper Johnson, Malachi Moreno, and those guys will be, Caden Lewis, Caden Lewis will be next year, but they're all good athletes and they'll be able to defend. I don't know what else he was supposed to do this year. He, if you go look in the portal, you don't get a lot of great defenders.

You get a lot of scores. And he's got scores. They just can't guard people. And one of the two dudes that we had that was a good defender is hurt. What are you supposed to do? And probably our third best defender, which is Jackson Robinson, is also hurt. 859-28027. We're going to take a break.

I'm going to look and see what they can do about this couch. And it is the local. You're ready to pay for that. Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers KSR post game show. Matt Jones here in his Airbnb and Wendy Nashville. Everybody be careful in Nashville. And four of my friends sitting on one broken couch,

I noted Billy one side of the couch has my friend tall who weighs about 280. The other side of the couch has Mario that weighs 140. And it is Mario's side of the couch that broke, which I'm fascinated as to how that worked just from a weight perspective, but it was Mario's side of the couch that broke. It's not about the number. It's about how you use it. It's, well, that's apparently what it is.

One person writes, Matt, I am concerned about Pope's defense as well, but I think it's hard to judge him on this year because of the players that they have. I agree with that. I mean, if you look historically with Pope, they haven't been great defensively. I think long term, that's not a ridiculous thing to worry about. I just think it's hard to do it with this team. You have three or four weeks. I do wonder sometimes if the fact that I think we overachieved part of the year.

First of all, this year, we overachieved in some ways. We also underachieved in some ways. We overachieved in beating Duke and Florida and those teams. We also underachieved in losing to Vandy and Texas and that kind of thing. So it's hard to know. And that's what Pope was at BYU. at BYU, Pope could beat anybody and they would lose to anybody. And we've had a little bit of that with Kentucky this year.

Who's next? Sean. Sean, go ahead, Sean. Hey, man, I was just wanting to say, first of all, we have YouTube TV, and I would say like the worst commercial or the worst-as-in moment is like the, actually I would say the koala. You really don't like the koala? because the quala, can I say something about the quala since we have it on?

The koala gets a little too intimate with itself during that thing too. I just want that. I just want to, for those of you that have it, the koala gets a little intimate and then stares into your eye while he doesn't, just when you're watching it. Billy, I'm just the next time you're watching it, just note that that happens. All right, go ahead. And then I was going to say second of all, since the game ended, people have been blowing me up with like the not sure Mark Pope was the right. And I keep saying like, just wait until we get the recruits next year.

And because this team is done great with his coaching and all that stuff. I don't understand why people would say that. I mean, again, I would ask you, name the NBA player on this team. Like, who is the NBA player on this team? We don't have one. Maybe. Yeah. And that's what I keep, like, wait until we get Johnson, Marino, everybody else plus OA, Perry.

Next year's team's going to be, like, solid. I hope so. I think a lot of it's going to be about what transfers he's able to get in the portal this year. And we'll see what happens. Yeah, but I'm keeping high hopes up. It was a little down. It was a letdown tonight, but, I mean, that's going to happen with this team. him like without the injuries and everything it's going to have it i agree appreciate the call man and

by the way just watch when uh watch when he in you know when that koala looks at you just look where his hands are uh when he does it it's not good they'll do four more who's next he's just trying to have his own moment of zen no it's not but it's weird because the guy's right he's stint the koala stares in your eye while he's doing it too who's next michael michael go ahead michael Hey Matt, how are you doing? Colin from Little Rock, Arkansas, while we're dodging tornadoes. I think I'd rather have a tornado than watch the Zin. By the way, everybody should be safe, especially where you are.

But even here in Nashville, they're actually telling people that are going to games tomorrow to plan on getting there early. I think they want to get people in the arena because they're expecting the storm to hit right during that time. But go ahead. Yeah, my pet peeve, can we just stop the 10-minute reviews on the, on something that they end up saying is a common foul. I mean, that just, it's a big pet peeve of mine. I know they made a couple comments, but one of them was the sideline reporter talked about

how Pope was just really mad in the huddle, telling his team that they had just completely just quit on defense. I think they did. I think they did. I think he should be mad. He should be mad. They did quit in that second half. And I thought they quit against Ole Miss, too.

And that is a little disheartening. You know, hopefully we, you know, they didn't quit last night, but I do think they quit a little bit tonight. Right. And the last thing I want to say is I'd really like for one time that if anybody goes off of a pick, that they don't get held or they don't get like a hip check like they're in hockey or whatever. Because, I mean, coming off a pick, that's like just barely, it's like fighting through a war zone. And I mean, it's in the whole SEC. I mean, that happened a lot tonight. Jay Williams had an interesting point tonight,

and I appreciate the call. Jay Williams said he thinks this league has been as physical as any league in the last 25 years, and he said, I wonder if it'll hurt the teams in the SEC and the NCAA tournament when they start calling that stuff fouls. It would be interesting to see. It might help us because we may be the least physical team

of the physical teams, but they do allow especially off motion. But like, you know, what I would say to Mark Pope is, got to match it. If they're going to be allowed to hold, then we need to hold. Because we lay off on those picks and we end up giving up threes. And so, I don't know. You know, I'll be interested to see what happens in the tournament because I do think they, the league has gotten insanely physical this year and the refs have kind of let it happen.

Who's next? Todd is next. Todd, go ahead, Todd. Hello, Matt. We got taken out behind the woodshed tonight, didn't we? Yes, we did. That second half was embarrassing. It was weird. It didn't feel like a March game. You know, in March games, I'm usually up, like, pacing, and it just felt like I was watching like a scrimmage, because it was almost like I didn't care because I thought we're about to get destroyed, and then we did.

Yeah. And I agree with you and what other people have said, too, that, you know, Pope had very little time to get this team together, and for what he was able to do has been pretty do-dogan. good, but, you know, we are bad on defense. And hopefully that can be fixed because Pope, when he played, you know, they were a tenacious defense. Yes, they were.

But they were also insanely athletic. And this team at its core, this team is not athletic. Like, this team is probably the least athletic Kentucky team since, like, Petino's first team. You know, I mean, really. A lot of our guys can barely dunk. I mean, let's be real. A lot of them can barely dunk. Always pretty good athlete.

Amari and Garrison for bigs are decent athletes. But like, Kobe, I mean, a lot of our guys are not good athletes. And so to be, you know, I think a big part of being good defensively is being athletic. And we just, and we're used to under Cal having crazy good athletes. And that's just not what this team is. also i wanted to speak on the merino guy coming in uh you know he's a big guy and everything and but you got to look at it you know he's he's a freshman he's playing against high school teams if he comes in and he's able to do that against experienced s c players

then say we got something but you know he we're going to have He's going to be a backup next year. I mean, I think Moreno has a huge upside for the future, but he's not your starting five next year. We'll have to see whether they think Garrison is. I think they got to get another big in the portal. Jasper Johnson is a starter next year. The other two guys are not, in my opinion.

I don't think they're starters. I think we come in the next season with two starters I feel really good about. Oway and Jasper. Maybe Garrison gets there, but they're going to have to go get two or three starters in the portal. They need to get a shooter. And then either Chandler, Noah, and Perry, they're going to have to step up and play a lot better. But, I mean, this is a big portal for Pope. He's going to have to go get, like, three really good guys.

I was talking to a guy at the game tonight, who's a reporter, who said he wouldn't tell me who it is, but he was like, I think they're going to get, there's one stud they already have. And that's good. I was glad to hear it, but I don't know who it is. And Chandler, you've got to remember, too. You know, he hasn't played for one. That's true. But he's athletic.

We were talking about athletes. Right. I forgot about him. He is athletic, even though he's, you know, is still a freshman. And, you know, get the rust out of him. And, you know, he may be an entirely different player next year, you know. Yeah, I think you're right. I appreciate the call.

We'll do two more, and we'll call it tonight. weekend who's next chris chris go ahead chris hey matt a couple quick questions and then a pet peeve first question is do you think a coach's job is to put his players in the best position to succeed i do yes so if we don't have the athletes on defense why are we not switching up our defense keep the other team's offense i think that's i think that's a fair question question, I think what my answer would be is, you know, you play these teams that shoot threes well and you play zone, they're going to kill you. It's probably what he would say. Like you play zone against Alabama, Florida, teams like that, they're going to score 130 points is probably what he would say.

They played zone a couple of plays tonight, and it seemed to help a little bit, and then they hit a couple threes and they got out of it. And so, you know, I know what you're saying. But you still, to be a good zone team, you still need to be athletic. And we're just not athletic. I agree. I'm not saying to do it one time or going one way or all the other. Just mix it up, right? Keep them on their toes.

And my pet peeve is, stupid people don't know they're stupid. Biggerence is bliss. Go cat. Well, that's the truth. I appreciate the call. I mean, that's a whole other thing. The most confident people are usually the dumbest. But, you know, think about,

think tall pointed to himself think about when Cal we had good teams under Cal and we might draw like Davidson in the first round of tournament or Wofford and we go

uh-oh what's going to happen this week and that team would be full of unathletic guys who could execute and then what happened when athletic dudes who were playing well played against them we'd beat them by 25 points because they just couldn't guard us right it's not that extreme but our athletes aren't

nearly as good athletes as these teams were playing right now, and I think that'll be better starting next year. Let me just use example of Anzley Almanor. I love Anzley Almanor. I love that he hits corner threes. I love, I think he seems like a great kid, and he's made some big shots for us. If Anzley Almanor had not come here,

do you know where he was going to play basketball next year? No, where. This year, it was going to be at Sienna. Okay. He was going to be at Sienna if he didn't come here. So, you know, you got to put perspective on. This was a guy who played at Fairleigh Dickinson, who's going to go to Siena, who now, because of the injuries, has to be like our seventh mate.

That's the way it goes. One more. Who's next? Greg. Greg. Greg. Greg. Greg.

Hey, Matt. How are you? What's going on? Well, I've got a fear and a grievance. I'll start with a fear. Have you watched any High Point University basketball this year? I have not, although I've seen that they can be very dangerous, and they are projected kind of in that 13-14 range.

Yep. Yeah, I've got that fear. And actually, a couple weeks ago in one of Lenardi's bracket versions, he had us matched up with them. And they just remind me of kind of a Mississippi light with a lot of slashers, a lot of athletes, not a lot of size. They do have some good athletes. You know they're going to want to put that in there.

But the key is the size part. If we do have size on them, and so that would be our advantage in that game. Plus, I think, you know, they slash a lot, but we do, we do shoot. I think they'd have a hard time scoring with us if we play like we should in a game like that. I definitely think, I agree with you. I think we'd be the favorite, but I do see it as the type of style that could give us some fits. Yeah. If we're off.

Yeah. I think that's here. My grievance, all right, my grievance potholes. And here's my thought. In the year of our Lord 2025, how is it that as you're rolling from winter into spring, you have a crew come out and fix potholes on a Monday, and they're all broken up by Wednesday or Thursday? I don't know.

You know, I did hear. When we talked about potholes a couple years ago, I appreciate the call. Somebody told us that we have. more potholes in Kentucky than anywhere else because of the weather stuff. I might as well believe them on that. I don't know, but it's a good way to end it because who knows what the answer is. Hey, Billy, thank you very much for being around this weekend.

I know you've been up as much as I have. Thank you all for listening, especially if you're listening now. If anyone can get by Fred the Turkey Hunter to keep his volume down or to come fix this couch, that would be nice. You all enjoy the rest of your night. stay safe in the wind and we will see you on Monday. If you're around, I'm doing the ESPN Brackett Show 5 to 8 o'clock Sunday for ESPN Radio with Meyer Metcalf. It's one of the coolest things I get to do.

We'd love you to have you turn in and find out the brackets from me. Mark Pope is scheduled to be on the show with us and maybe Billy Rick Petino as well. What? Working on that right now. And I'll have to interview the NCAA selection committee chair. So maybe I'll just yell at me. We will see you all. Later, this has been the local toy dealers, KSR, Postgame show.

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