KSR - KSR Postgame UK MBB vs Florida 3/07/26

Episode Date: March 8, 2026

Matt and Billy recap the Cats' 84-77 loss vs Florida.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host Keir Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome, everyone. It is the local toy dealers, KSR postgame show. Kentucky loses on senior night at home, 8477 to the Florida Gators, finish the season 19 and 12.

And now, depending on what happens in the Oklahoma, Texas game tonight, will either be the nine or ten seed in the SEC tournament playing on Wednesday for what I believe is the first time in the history of Kentucky basketball. I don't think we've ever played on Wednesday before. Of course, more teams play on Wednesday now because the conference is expanded, but nevertheless. 859-28027. Kentucky really never had a shot in this game, and part of what is disappointing is they have now played 80 minutes of basketball. ball against Florida this year, and they have not led for one second of those 80 minutes. Florida is better, and as my friend Aaron Fleener said in a tweet, Florida is what Kentucky

used to be at various points in our history and certainly in the last 35 years. Kentucky just, you know, failed down 11-0, fought back, made it 11-9. and then at 1.20 to 19, but then gave up another 130 run and ended up with being down 3319, and then really never was over. As a matter of fact, the closest they got was at the end of the game, when really it was just about whether or not they would cover the spread. I was there for the beginning. I love Senior Day. I'm a sucker for everybody's families being there, and I'm a sucker from my old Kentucky home. And it was a great Kentucky pregame atmosphere.

I will say, once again, you know, we have had some really, really exciting. I've gone to three of the home games before just to experience the atmosphere in Tennessee, Vandy, and Kentucky. And they all have, excuse me, Tennessee, Vandy, and Florida, and they've all been amazing. I mean, the fans showed up, fans showed up 45 minutes before the game. I mean, the place was full. It was electric in there. and then just completely deflated at the beginning. I told Billy, you know, it's hard enough for me to watch in the games in the arena.

I just don't, especially at Rupp because we're not allowed to sit close, so we're way up. And I ended up leaving right after that 11-0 run. It was like, I'll just watch it at home. And it was bad. You know, you can give Kentucky credit for fighting back, but I'm sort of tired about, I'm tired of being down huge in the first half. This has been a problem under Mark's Pope for two years.

To their credit, they fought back and won some of these games, but they have gotten down double digits in the first half. I had kept the stat for a while, and then I stopped. But I mean, literally, I think it's like 15 times in two years. It's a crazy amount. And it's ridiculous for Kentucky to do that. And it's ridiculous. they ended up not getting blown out on the score.

But if you watch the game, you know we were blown out. And it's ridiculous to get blown out at home. Kentucky should not get blown out at home by anyone. You know, occasionally you might get blown out on the road, but you should never, ever, ever get blown out at home. And while we only lost by seven, that's not how the game played. The team way too often takes essentially breaks. A perfect example to me was the play, I believe,

Mohammed Diabate hit a three, that I want to say cut it to 11 to 9. I think that was the 3. Well, no, he cut it to 11 to 9. And then they got the rebound. And Kentucky was celebrating, and they got the rebound and pushed it down and shot a 3 within seconds.

And it was 14.9. Am I right about that? that? Is that the sequence? I think so. I'm not. I think I'm right about that. I think it was 11-9. And rather than getting back, Florida, who's, Florida is so well-coached, gets the ball out of the net, comes down and hits a three within three seconds, and it's 14-9. And the excitement you got from a Diabate three, which is rare, and the crowd is just gone, immediately, gone. And the key sequence in the game, obviously the start is bad, but they did come back from that.

The key sequence in the game is that 20 to 19 to 33 to 19. And they get, Florida went on a 13-0 run in two minutes and 20 seconds. Two minutes and 20 seconds. That is a Kentucky team not paying patiently, not getting back. Florida killed them in transition. Just killed them. And a couple times, maybe three times. It was literally just because we didn't run back on defense.

It wasn't turnovers. We only had nine turnovers for the game. It was just not getting back. It's the first time all year. We've lost when we had fewer than 11 turnovers. Just did not get back on defense. And then Florida's really good. Don't get me wrong.

Florida's really good. But you did it to yourself to get that gap. So for me, this is where we are. It's like you finish is 19 and 12 in the regular season. I judge, we've talked a lot about this on KSR. I judge a team on three things. The non-conference, I want you to be, play good teams, win games that matter, and be competitive. But ultimately, it doesn't really matter as long as you play good.

I want to beat Duke, I want to be Louisville, you know, Kansas, North Carolina, etc. But it doesn't really matter. But if you look at the non-conference, we went two and four. against good teams. Beat St. John's, beat Indiana. Indiana is not that great, but beat St. John's, who won the Big East, but got blown out by Michigan State, blown out by Gonzaga, lost at home to North Carolina,

and didn't really get blown out by Louisville, but it was a game very similar to this one, where we really weren't in it, and then made a little bit of run at the end. So two and four. Then you get to conference play. And in conference play, it's the second straight year we finished 10 and 8.

Last year we were the 8 seed, or excuse me, the 7 seed. And now this year the 10 seat. Mark Pope at Kentucky has been 20 and 16 in the SEC. That's not what you do at Kentucky. You don't go 20 and 16. You don't. So the SEC to me is not only a disappointment. I would say the regular season this year is at best like a C minor.

this D plus. I'm not going to say it's an F, but it's barely passing. And the only reason I even give it a passing grade is you did lose your point guard at the beginning, and you did lose like your six man. I've said to you, I don't put anything on Jayne Quain's. I never expected him to play. You sign a guy with a torn ACL, you have to understand there's a possibility he won't play. So not having J.L. Lowe and Cam Williams matters, but that still doesn't excuse the record.

We got more talent than teams that are going to finish ahead of us in the SEC. We have enough talent to beat Georgia at home. We have enough talent to beat Missouri at home, right? So I just, I don't accept that it's a factor, but it's still a bad regular season. C minus D plus. Now the next thing is, yes, he tournament. And it matters more to me than it has to our coaches over the year. I was glad to hear Mark Pope say we're going down there to win.

You know, I'm glad we have a coach that cares about it. I care about it. But we haven't been good in this tournament. We haven't been to the weekends since 2019. And we are going to have to win three games to get to the weekend this time. We'll see what happens. If Texas beats Oklahoma tonight, you might avoid Florida. You're kind of looking at a path.

I think I don't know where it fits out, but it looks like maybe LSU or South Carolina or Ole Miss in game one. I don't know who that would be. Then probably, you know, I don't know where the tiebreakers get. It'll be Tennessee, Vandy, Georgia, somebody like that in round two. And then Alabama in round three. Not exactly an easy path just to get to the weekend. That's just to get to the weekend. And then you get the NCAA tournament.

I would say, unless Kentucky wins multiple games in the SEC tournament, you're probably looking at a seven. Maybe if you win two games in the SEC, maybe you get to a six. But that means you're going to have a hard first round game in the NCAA. You're going to play somebody good. So there is a chance to change the narrative on the season. But there are no more room. There's no more room for mistakes. Kentucky finishes the year disappointing.

19 and 12 is not acceptable. And I'll give you a stat that's sobering. In two seasons, Mark Pope's regular season record is now only two games better than Billy Gillespie's was. Two games. So, SEC's better than it was then, but still, two games. that's frustrating and it should be frustrating to all fans and now we see over the but things can change in March the 2014 team is an example but then a lot of times March just backs up what you saw all season we'll see what happens this year 859 2807 want to hear what you think about this

you know what was your take on the game if you were there I thought Otego way by the way went out playing the way he's played all year. Gave it is all. Aberdeen started slow, played well in the second half. But we've learned when they shut down Colin Chandler, this offense drags. Happened tonight, and this happened a lot of the year. We'll take your calls.

859-28027. A very disappointing loss and a disappointing regular season for Kentucky. We'll be right back. This is the local toilet dealers, KSR post-game show. Welcome back. It is the local Twitter. Dealer's KSR post-game show. 859-280-2287.

Some good questions on the text machine. One person writes, Matt, I hadn't realized we were only two games better than Billy Gillespie. Billy Gillespie didn't come back. Do you think Mark Pope should come back? Well, should is a complicated conversation. I don't think he shouldn't. I think he, I think you just, you do it for a variety of reasons, including the fact that, you know, there are a lot of reasons.

One is the contract. One is the NIL situation across, one is our athletic department budget. One is, you know, he went here and we want it to work. But I do think next year is the year. I mean, I do think next year is the year. And he has no players. So it's understandable to be pessimistic. I think Billy would have been here a third year, if not for the off-the-court stuff.

but Billy would have been in the same situation where it would have been, okay, we'll see what happens in year three. I would actually go so far as to say if Billy didn't have his meltdown at the end of that season where you may remember he said, I'm not a ambassador for the school, and he had all kinds of, he said crazy stuff.

I think he probably would have been back for a third year then. So, yes, he will be back for third year. I support him being back for third year. But the third year will decide it, at least for me, going forward. One person writes, Matt, let's say all those guys were healthy. What would our record be? All those guys were healthy could be better.

I'm not counting, like I said, I'm not counting quaintance. Because when you recruit that guy, you can't, like when you recruit a guy that has that injury, you're taking a chance and you know it. If you had Lowe and Williams, maybe you win one or two more games. I don't think you look we I mean we lost four before that right we got blown out to Louisville with Lowen Williams maybe you win one or two maybe you don't lose to Georgia at home maybe you don't lose to Missouri at home but you weren't beating Florida

probably either way it was just not a it was not a well-constructed roster so maybe you go 21 and 10 which is better but not what we want All right, who's up first? Brennan. Brennan. Go ahead, Brennan. Hey, Matt, what's going on, man? What's up?

Hey, just, so I'm having trouble watching these games. I need you to kind of pick me up here. They feel so cumbersome when we're sitting here watching them. Well, they are cumbersome. It's hard not to feel cumbersome when you get down so much. I mean, you know, just think about the last two games. We've been down so much, so early in these games that, it is cumbersome. And even, remember, even in games we've won, we've been down. I mean,

we've just, I don't know what the minutes, I'd like to see, maybe somebody will do this. How many minutes have we led in the SEC versus how many have we been behind? I think it's probably the case we've been behind significantly more than we've been ahead. And I think that's probably why it feels so cumbersome. Sure. And one more thing, just hypothetical, I'm on board with Pope. He can get it going. I'm fully behind him, but what would you say right now, Todd Golden or Bruce Pearl after year three of Pope? Yeah, you know, I appreciate the call.

I mean, both those guys, both those guys have issues. I mean, I think the fan base with Todd Golden has a lot of issues, including is clearly a jerk. It is funny how the two best coaches in college basketball right now are tremendous. Jerks. Well, maybe you don't need to be in this guy. I mean, Todd Gold was screaming at everybody at the game. I had a friend sitting behind that said he yelled at the clock people. He yelled at fans in the front row.

Like, he's just a jerk. Now, he's an amazing coach. Like, shockingly amazing to me how well prepared his teams are. And he could win a second title this year. So, you know, we'll see. I would have always said Mitch Barnhart will never hire Todd Golden. but Mitch Barnhart will not be the AD whenever a new coach comes up. Who's next?

Skyler. Skyler. Go ahead, Skyler. Hey, Matt. How's it going? My thought the whole season has been Mark Pope isn't the guy. And I don't want to turn this into a show about that. But I think, you know, the difference you just mentioned, Tom Golden and Bruce Pearl or whoever, there's like a dog to him.

And you sit there and you watch Mark Pope on the sidelines coaching. we're getting run off the court for the first half and he's there with his arms crossed he's standing there's nothing on his face that's why we've seen these I would say performative overdramatic grasping for who he is kind of post games did I see that

he only spoke for four and a half minutes after the game today or is that just a YouTube thing that I saw I don't know how long he spoke after the game I mean he normally does three segments on the post game he only did two he's not listen he is he's a kind of a poor loser at least in terms of the media part of it i don't think he's a poor loser and like in like it seems like he's fine to the other coaches and all that but i think when it comes

the media part he's been a point he's been really bad after games this year like really bad all year and and i don't know why because it doesn't seem to fit what i know of his personality but I will remind you when he left BYU, I've told this a couple times. That was when we were trying to figure out about Mark Pope, and I talked to a couple of people who knew him well at BYU, and they said, look, great guy, awesome person, fan baseball loving, blah, blah, blah,

loses very poorly, takes it personally, loses very poorly. And I think we've seen that to be true. But you're right, it doesn't show that during the game, which is interesting. But think about John Shire at Duke. He doesn't either, and he has success. But I coach a sixth grade girls basketball team,

and if we're starting to get run and I can fill the momentum swing, you call a time up, you switch something up, you look at the girls in the eye, and you say, hey, let's lock it in right here. And you're not down 20. These are like D1 basketball players that we've spent a lot of money on. You can motivate them a little better, and I think it takes a dog, and I'm not sure marks a dog.

I mean, I appreciate the call. I mean, I understand what you're saying. I think there's multiple ways to do it, right? I think there is the, it seems like right now, the coaches that are excelling for the most part are these relatively younger guys who have this passion who have embraced this whole NIL era and who are fiery. But it hasn't always been like that. And I also think, you know, I just to me,

the best coaches in the country right now are Danny Hurley, Todd Golden, John Shire, and Dusty May at Michigan. I don't know as much about the guy at Arizona because I don't watch them as much because they're late at night. But those just seem like the guys who are, it's just rolling and they're getting the players for next year. And I, you know, I want to see Mark in that group. He should be in that group.

They're his age bracket. They're at programs like he is. He should be in that group. But he hasn't been. Who's next? Curtis. Curtis. Curtis.

Hey, Matt. Was that the game today? I've been at most of every home game this year. And I've been all on board trying to support Pope for the last two years, spent tons of games, tried to give him every benefit of the doubt. But I think today and this week in general has been the breaking point. I know what you said earlier that next year is going to be the tipping point. And we all know for a lot of reasons he's going to get year three.

could lose the next two games, still going to get year three. But I have to ask you this. What gives you any hope that this guy can do it? I mean, today and this week just broke me. The absolute number of things for first time things happening for the University of Kentucky basketball program, giving up 27 to 3 run, going down 11-0 at home in Florida, just knowing you're going to lose, his excuses about being everybody's tired, and then his players going on to say, I don't know if you saw it, but Yellovich's quote,

saying, no, that's not the problem. All these kids are used to play in 35 minutes a game. You look across the country they're doing it. Pope just seems like he's clueless and lost and in over his head here. And this whole week has just been the absolute breaking point for me. And I don't know how anybody else could actually believe that this guy is the right man for Kentucky basketball. I would love to hear your thoughts, but I just can't see it. And I've tried to give him time, and I've tried to give him a chance.

I just can't see it. Well, first of all, I think you articulate all that very well. I understand what you're saying. And I, let me be clear, I'm not saying I believe he is, okay? Okay, good. I'm not saying that. I mean, I probably thought that, let me put it like this. I certainly thought that going into the year.

This year has very much disappointed me in really every way, possible. It's disappointed me in roster management. It's disappointed me in performance. It's disappointed me in off-the-court media, just things that the way you kind of run a program like this. And early in the year, although this is, I haven't heard as much of this recently, early in the year, it kind of disappointed me in what I was hearing behind the scenes with the team. That seems to have gotten better. But so, no, I'm not confident. I would, look at it and say in year one, in year one, I considered it a success. In year two, I consider it unless there's a big change, I would consider it a failure. So that then leads to me to

year three breaks the tie. Does that make sense? That's probably where I, it's not, no, that's well put. That's, that's well put. I think we're both kind of on the same level, but I'm glad to hear you say that because, you know, I follow you on Twitter. I get emotional and stuff during games and whatnot, but I kind of feel like, and tell me if I'm wrong, or you can just kind of plead the fifth, but I feel like you have even said this even with Cal, you've got to be careful about calling for somebody's job in your position, and I get it, but I've kind of got the hint from you and even Drew and whatnot, and I see that you guys have kind of said a lot of things that.

I mean, Drew's much more negative about it than I am. If there's a scale, I would say Drew is maybe not. where you are but close, Ryan still believes, and I'm kind of in the middle because I see a lot of troubling concerns, but I can't overlook that I actually think he did a really good job last year. So, you know,

so I appreciate to call. That's a good conversation. In terms of calling for somebody's job, I wouldn't, I'm not going to, I wouldn't call for a job either way this year. But I will know, like, it is different when I talk, I can't just go online,

but, you know, any criticism that we at KSR, but I specifically do, it resonates and it's not, like, it's one of those things you can't take the genie out of the bottle. I don't have the, you know, so I try to consider that. That's what makes me so frustrated

when coaches or the age, the, you know, say, oh, there's a couple people doing this, their knuckleheads. What makes me frustrated is, I bite my tongue. I mean, ask Billy in our group text. I bite my tongue. And like, they get mad at the smallest criticisms. At the small, just going, hey, where's this money coming from for $950,000 leads to in his goodbye press conference calling people knuckleheads. That's what we've dealt with since COVID.

Our coaches, starting with Cal, stoop's in the last year or so. He wasn't like that before. Mitch, like, everybody gets, they are also on edge about everything that I try to be responsible. and like not say it until you can't not say it. And even then you see the result. But I'm still going to do the same thing. I'm going to be responsible. And then when I say it, like I eventually did with Mark Stoops, and like I eventually did with John Caliperi,

and like I did with Mitch. I mean it at that point. And I think when I've said it, like 70% of the fan base has agreed. At that, now on this, I think it's a lot closer. and I think people are all over the place. Who's next? Ryan is next. Ryan, go ahead.

Hey, Matthew Harper-Jones. I was just calling to see what kind of success do you need to see from Coach Mark Pope in order to be excited for season three. We got recruiting. It's a giant issue. Talent is an issue. We're outmatched in every game we play. Can I be honest with you on that question?

There will be almost nothing that can happen in the NCAA tournament that will change my mind. And let me say why. I think the tournament, there's a lot of randomness. So let's say we make a run to the elite eight. Do I still think this roster was well put together? No, I don't. Do I still not have problems with his coaching? I do.

So what would make me feel better going into next year? Them going out and getting a good roster and not striking out with every recruit and striking out with all of their top portal attempts. That's what's happened last year. They lost their top three guys in the portal, and they got probably their second choice on, like, three different guys. And they've got no recruits.

So you want me to have excitement? Let's see what you do. You know, if we make the Final Four, I'll be excited. We make the Elite Eight, I'll probably be excited. But my view is probably not going to change much based on what happens in the next few weeks. The big issue I'm seeing is our guy is getting out coached every game. It doesn't matter if we're on the road. Not every game, but a lot of games.

It doesn't matter if we're in Rupp Arena. A lot of games, he's getting out coached. He looks out match. It looks like he can't coach out of a paper bag to me at times. We are not Vanderbilt. We are not Ole Miss. To quote Marcus Teague, we is Kentucky. And right now, it feels like we are Mississippi State.

Appreciate the call. I don't disagree with you. A couple things here before. we take a break. Morehead States playing for a tournament birth tonight. The OBC Championship is here relatively soon. Who do they play? Do you know who they play? I don't. Let me just look it up right now. They play tonight for the first official bid. And there actually is one bid that's already been decided. Long Island plays Mercyhurst tomorrow in the Northeast Conference. And Mercyhurst is not eligible for the tournament this year because they're still transitioning from

Division 2. So Long Island automatically has the bid. And do you know who coaches Long Island, Billy? No, who? That would be Rod Strickland, former UK assistant coach, who has built that team from his first year. They won three games to this year. They won, I think, 23, and they're going to the NCAA tournament.

Tennessee State is who Moorhead State plays. Yeah, I think Tennessee State may be the one and Moorhead the two or something. So good luck to Moorhead tonight. We'll take a break and be right back. This is the local toy dealers, KSR postgame show. Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers, KSR postgame show. One person writes, Matt, you really need to hear Yellovich postgame answers.

They were very telling. What did they say? I haven't heard these. Do you know what they said? I haven't been able to hear it. And he said they said that they were not tired. By the way, I've never bought the tired. I wish Mark Pope.

He said that at the game tonight. He was like, you know, we start making turnovers when we're tired. Ridiculous. Ridiculous statements. It continues the, I don't know what he thinks when he says stuff. I mean, he may actually believe that, but I mean, we were down 11-0-0 to start the game. Were we tired? The game was just starting.

And then we were, the 13-0 run that changed the game was with it 20 to 19. Were we tired? We were still 10 minutes into the game. If we aren't so tired all the time, I don't believe we're tired, by the way. I watch it. I do not. I sometimes see the bigs get tired, but the guards never look tired to me. Chandler looked a little tired one of those games.

I can't remember which one. I have yet to see O.A. and Aberdeen look tired. But the tired is ridiculous. But if they are tired, then that's on your conditioning. Yes. If they really are tired, then that's on you. Because these are, crows. crazy good athletes.

Almost every player on this team is at least a good athlete, and some of them are great athletes. So don't give me the tired. It's just, I'm tired of the tired, Billy. I'll be honest with you. Yeah, tonight was demoralizing for me. I will say that 11-0 run to start the game, the game wasn't even on TV yet.

I know. I couldn't even watch it, and by the time it came on, they were down double digits. I got to see it up close. It was like watching chill. I thought we were going to lose by 4. 40 after watching the first few minutes because it looked like we were pathetic but you know he did fight fight back on it one person writes mad it looks if you say

drew is the one that is most negative it's looked like he's the only one that understands what kentucky uh basketball is no i mean i understand this has not been kentucky basketball it's not like it's this has been but it's not been kentucky basketball really for six years. I mean, if we're really honest with herself, we've had one good season in six years in the regular season. And in that year, we lost to St. Peter's in the first round of tournament. So think about it. Kentucky basketball has not been Kentucky basketball since COVID. So the question is, when's it going to change? But we have to, but I also accept the realities of, There are people who want to just fire people all the time and think that's going to help.

I think what's got to help is a complete change of mentality at the university. That's what has to start. The university, well, I mean, that's a conversation. We'll save it for the offseason. But no, this isn't Kentucky basketball. It has not been Kentucky basketball since they shut down that SEC tournament in Nashville. It really hasn't. Who's next?

Mike. Mike. Mike. Go ahead, Mike. That's just Mike. E-Town. What's going on? A couple of points.

The Billy Gillespie comparison to Mark Pope, college basketball is in a different landscape now. Well, okay, but I don't disagree with that, but so what? So what? You've got to adjust, right? I mean, yes, it is different. The SEC's better. NIL exists.

you are exactly right it's different but you know who's you know who i'm watching play right now duke they're number one in the country they're 28 and two it's they're winning by 20 against north carolina and they don't even have the coach that built the program so guess what they did they adjusted no yeah but that's just true you know who else has been good the last six years kansas you know who else has been good the last six years you can't you know who made a national championship in the last six years, a national championship game, North Carolina. They adjusted, so why can't we? All right.

So another point is. But I'm going to answer that question because I'm not trying to like go with you. But when I hear that conversation quite a bit, college basketball is different. Okay. But why have all the other powers adjusted and we haven't? Why is Florida going for a back-to-back title with a completely different roster? Well, you definitely have to get out there and find some good talent, but we also have the do it. But what's the excuse?

There's no excuse. That's right. There is no excuse. If college back, if, like, if I was looking at the top 25 in college basketball and the top five teams were Minnesota, LSU, like, just complete random teams, then I might agree with you. but they're the same teams that have been good all time. It's just we're not there. Correct. Now, my last point, and then I'll hang up.

Pope is soft when it comes to the officials. You see John Shire, you see Hurley. Well, you even see Ford's coach tonight. They whine all the time. Todd Golden ever said. And they get, and they get, and they, yeah, Todd Golden, and they get all the costs. And so why couldn't we get a review tonight?

That's what I want to know. Well, we were out of timeouts, and we had used our, so like, that's why. When you take your last time out, then the only way you can get a review is if the ref initiates himself. And he has the ability to do it in the last two minutes. So I think it's fair to criticize that they didn't do it. No. But at the same time, yes.

But at the same time, if you watch college basketball, basketball for the most part on things like out of bounds they almost never initiate it unless a coach challenges it well but you got duke's coach jukems coach and florist coach putting pressure on the referees well that's true look at it and they get it and they get it well i appreciate to call i mean that's uh that's true i don't i don't disagree with that he's he yells at refs He just does it a different way. I don't know what the right strategy is with the refs, but I will say this.

Todd Golden does not shut up during the game. Who's next? Neither did Cal. No, he didn't. Neither did Mark Sto. Sometimes we thought Cal hurt himself by doing that. So who knows. You know, who knows what works?

Who's next? Another Mike. Mike, go ahead, Mike. Hey, I'll tell you, man, has nobody who's been a bigger Pope supporter than me, but he's about to lose me. I hear all these people talking about our talent. And, yeah, it's not the most talented,

but I do believe it's talented at us to compete in the SEC. And I think his management of the roster is worse than the actual roster. I agree with that. I agree with the second point. And I actually agree with the first point. He may not have the talent to be as good as Florida. But we have just as much talent as probably everybody in the league except Florida, Arkansas, and Alabama.

And guess what we'd be? You have more talent than Georgia. Oh, without question. More talent than Georgia, Missouri, Texas, all these teams we've lost to. We beat Texas. But A&M, like, we have more talent than all those teams. You're exactly right.

And shout out to Oscar Combs for calling for some of these upper guys to step aside. I thought that was a bold take, but also the correct pick. Appreciate the call. Who's next? Andrew is next. Andrew, go ahead, Andrew. I called you after the Louisville Kentucky football game, and I kind of have the same question again.

Like, what's like the sales point if you're the AD? Obviously, it won't be Mitch. But, you know, if you have season tickets to football, as I do in basketball booth, what's like the sales point for me to renew again? They got it with football because they fired soups or whatever. Well, basketball, my sales point would be, we're going to be good at basketball again,

and we're going to be really good. Now, is it going to be a Pope? I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, we will. This school, there's too much. There's only... Next year we will?

No, no, no, no, no. Oh, well, I mean, the reason you would renew is, if you lose your season tickets, next year you're going to be sitting up in the rafters, unless you already sit in the rafters, and then maybe you don't renew. I don't know. But I'm just saying, like, the reason,

it's the same reason I renewed for the rest of, when I knew they were going to be terrible because I wanted to keep my seats for if they got good. That's the reason. But again, before when you say, would you renew next year, let's see what the roster is. Like, we don't know one person that's going to be on the team next year for sure. Yeah, but we'll probably have to renew before that. Before that's known. You'll know.

We're going to know pretty quick. We're going to know by probably May 1st, most of the roster. Should we? Okay. Okay. so maybe the roster will be fine. I guess I just feel you can't really feel optimistic about it.

I do. I want pro just succeed more than anyone. I just don't think how you can feel optimistic about like the direction of the program, right? I understand. Same as football. And it changed, it changed after I talked to you in that game.

So I kind of think what can basketball do to change the direction? And I don't want it to be a coach change like it was for football. I want there to be something. Well, that's not going to happen. And I appreciate the call. That's not going to happen. So you'll have to decide if you're positive enough without that.

Who's next? Let's give our Johnny Rocker personal injury attorney moneymaker of the game next, Matt. Injured, get small town compassion with big city results when you call the Rocker at 270321429. And tonight, it goes to Otega Oway. 28 points was 4 of 8 from deep, 8 of 8 from the free throw line. In 38 minutes, he had only one turnover. And to add to the stat that you shared on the pregame show, O-A has now scored double digits in 63 of the 67 games that he's played with at Kentucky.

He is our moneymaker of the game tonight. All right. Sounds good. 859-280-2287. By the way, well, let's do one more call real quick. Who's next? Okay. Chris is next. Chris, go ahead, Chris. Hey, Matt, I kind of like where the conversation's going because I got program concerns.

two years ago. We made a reach hire, but I was one of 24,000 people at Rupp to welcome Pope with open arms. We flash forward these two years. The record is what the record is. We have no recruits. We have no site of hiring a general manager to run this thing.

We have JMI, who just canned Baker, who I love. we have Mitch who's stepping aside, but he's in another role, but he's not going to be VAD. Okay, great. Like, where is my hope for this program coming from? Well, I mean, I can't determine your optimism or not. But everything you just questioned, I have the same questions. Mark's story wrote in the Herald Leader just a week ago,

these next two months are Mark Pope's career. I completely agree with that. I'll go further. These next six months are massive for the future of Kentucky basketball. Not just Mark Pope. I would make an argument that if Kentucky doesn't get its act together in the next four to six months and does not make the right decision, then that will become a three or four. four-year process that's hard to get out.

The AD hire is going to be crucial. There are many things happening behind the scenes that are not, you know, part of the issue is I can't just talk about them because me talking about them will change everything. We'll change things, not change things, but we'll make it completely different. But they're happening. Quick follow up, Matt. Well, I mean, I just can't, you know, I can't. But Mark Pope, you've got, whether he's going to.

to succeed? What kind of roster are we going to have? Are we going to hire a GM? Is it going to be the right hire? I would argue that when we get to, that the decisions that will be made from today until August 31st of next year, or I'll even say July 1st, because we'll have to have an AD then. The decisions from March 7th to July 1st are going to determine the next five years of Kentucky basketball. And so I'm nervous about it, but I'm not giving up, but I'm I am nervous about it. Are you hopeful there are folks in the room that can bring some... I'll be honest with you.

I don't know who's making decisions. Eli Capoludo is 1008 years old. Eli Capiluto is not... Eli Capiluto, no offense to him, because I like Eli Capuluto. I think he's done a good job. I don't even know if he's making decisions. I doubt, I kind of don't think he'll be the president next year. That's just my guess.

That's not inside information. It's just a guess. I mean, so, you know, Eli Capiluilu spends a lot of his time in Alabama. I don't know. So I honestly don't know who's making the decision. So when you ask me, are the people in the room, I don't even really know who's in the room. I mean, I was shocked today to see WKYT say the board of trustees of the university did not know about the Mitch contract. What?

Like, Eli did that on his own? But did Eli do it? Did somebody else tell him? I don't know. So to answer your question, I don't know who's making the decision. So it's hard for me to know. Well, Matt, thanks for being a voice piece. I appreciate you.

I appreciate what you do. Just we need some hope, man. I appreciate the call. And I have hope because I'm an optimistic person, but, you know, I'll be real with you on July 1st. I'll tell you how positive I feel. And that doesn't mean I'll be right. Like, you know, my initial reaction. to the Pope hire was negativity, and then I switched.

Maybe my initial reaction was right. Maybe my switching will have been right. Who knows? But we'll see. We'll take a break. Come back. Final segment. Local Toyota dealers, KSR Post-Games show.

Welcome back. Local toy dealers, KSR Post-Game show. Did you say LSU and A&M's in triple overtime? 8785, triple overtime, three minutes left, yeah. I don't know. Low scoring. I don't know what. the, what, what, what that game impacts who we, who we would play first.

All right, I'm sitting here looking at the SEC standings. LSU is three and 14. LSU looks like they, well, so if they win, then they would get into a tie with South Carolina and Old Miss. So I think we can say with confidence that we are either going to play South Carolina, old miss, or LSU in the first round. Do you have a preference as to which of those you would play? not old miss because i know

Travis Perry scored 20 in that game so yeah i think LSU is the best of those teams yeah oh they're the best i think south carolina is awful but so i mean we should beat all of those teams but LSU is probably the best of that group so one at south carolina already and it looks like we're going to be either the nine or the 10

um so that will be us or it would look to me like if we are the nine, we would play Missouri in the next round. And if we were the 10, I think we would play Georgia in the next round. I would like, so, so it looks like we're going to get a chance to avenge one of those home losses. We'll see, though.

I can't. The tiebreakers are so weird. So, you, Arkansas or Alabama, who won when Arkansas played Alabama this year? That's who the two would be. I don't know. I'm guessing Alabama, but let me check. Let's see. Alabama beat Arkansas. So that means Alabama will be the two-seat, assuming they beat Auburn tonight, which would make Alabama our team we would play on Friday. So it looks like we will play either South Carolina, Mississippi, or LSU. then in the next round, either Missouri or Georgia, and in the next round, either Florida or Alabama.

That looks like the path. Yeah, yeah. But that's what happens when you go 10 and 8. Who's up next? Stub. Stub. Go ahead, Stub. Colin Chandler is way too easy to take out of a game.

He is, unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah, it's unfortunate. Well, that's two straight games, and that is worrisome for the postseason. He's been essentially taken out of both of those games. Yeah, he's just, bless his heart, he's just soft. But what frustrates me, Matt, is these teams, like you ask the average Florida fan, they would trade in a heartbeat.

If you said, hey, if we would trade your. three basketball national championships to even make the football playoffs, they would trade it without even batting or not. Same thing with Alabama. I agree with you. I totally agree with you. I totally agree with that. That's so frustrating. And you're

right. I thought that today. I was looking at the Florida fans there, and they had so few fans there. And I was sitting there thinking, man, they don't even care and they're good. And we would give anything to be good and we're not. And same thing with Alabama fans. Would

whatever success they've had in Alabama football. I don't know. No, that is without question. I completely agree with you. I completely agree with you. I appreciate the call. That is that I thought about that tonight. It's frustrating.

Who's next? Jeremy. Jeremy. Hey, what's up, Matt? What's going on? So two things. Not much, man. Rough night.

I think I'm going to hit on a couple things that some other callers have already hit on, and they've been good calls. But I think what we're talking about is uncertainty. There's a ton of uncertainty surrounding the state of the basketball program with a new AD coming in, you know, poke to some level on the ropes, game to game, I think it's fair to say. There have been times that this program has faced uncertainty, but I don't think they've ever faced it in the types of times that we're in where you've got

NIL, you're paying players, but we don't have a recruit, man. We don't have like a top 20, 25 kid out of high school coming in next year, and that is, that's uncharted territory. Well, part of the uncertainty for me is the fact that the entire system is changing. And if you look throughout history, when the systems change, okay, so when college sports has undergone massive institutional change. The teams that figure it out the best are not only good immediately, they tend to become the teams that are good for the next 10 to 15 years, right?

And they write the rules, basically. And they do write the rules. And so think about when the one and done era started, we took advantage of it first, and we kind of owned the sport for a few years and for a decade. You know, this next iteration of college basketball, it feels like Yukon and Florida and Duke and Houston have kind of figured it out. And they're kind of being good every year no matter who they have. And I worry we're getting left behind. Now, there's another change coming, which is whatever college sports looks like after Congress passes, whatever legislation they pass.

and so that is the next thing. But I'm with you. Part of the uncertainty is it feels like it's a crucial time to be good and we're not good. That's right. And the only other thing was, and this just literally gets back to fundamental coaching. And even Jimmy Dykes pointed out today, you know, there was a couple of different instances where, you know, Todd Golden calls plays, right? Like they set up three dudes on the right side of the court. It's a smokescreen.

That dude said a simple pick, handed the ball to Halk, and he nailed a three. I mean, that's it's fundamental basketball, right? It's coaching. And I think there's a level, like, I think Mark Pope may be too smart. I think he gets locked into the mental battles in his own head, man. Yeah, he doesn't know what to do. I think he gets free. I've been around those.

Yeah, I appreciate the call. I was around a lot of those people. when I was in law school, people who were really, really smart, and they almost were so smart that when they got in front of a courtroom, they couldn't do it because they couldn't make oral arguments because they were almost too bookish. I'm not saying Mark Pope is like that, but that does exist in some form.

Who's next? Cletus. Cletus. Go ahead, Cletus. Cletus. No, Cletus. Who's next? I have a feeling that was probably a fake caller. Just a guess. Who's next?

Jen May. Jen May, how are you? Hey there. I'm doing okay, really sad about the loss. I listened to the show yesterday and was really excited when I heard Jasper Johnson and Moreno talk about the game, and they were really pumped up about it, and I really thought that we were coming. I thought it would be really close. I didn't think they'd stump us like we did.

But I give a shout out to OA. He's been carrying us, and he did a fantastic job tonight. Yeah, I agree with you. Jack Gibbons apparently said in the postgame show that he didn't think Kentucky believed it could win. I hope that's – I didn't hear him say that, but I hope that's not true. Right. I know, right? I thought they would.

I also thought that Jasper's Johnson, like when he came out, there was like a momentum change. He kind of was a little bit selfish there. Well, you know, his plus minus was interestingly not that bad. I mean, Billy was telling me the plus minus. You said only one player had a positive plus minus, and I appreciate the call. Billy, tell everybody who the one player that had a positive plus minus. Brandon Garrison in 14 minutes was plus five.

Only person in the plus for that stat. That's interesting. Sometimes you never know. Who's next? Bob and Jamestown. Bob, go ahead. Matt, we could have. I mean, the way that game played out, that clock business,

we could win a very good chance. I'm not blaming the clock or the refth. We were completely outplayed. There were a couple of bad calls down the stretch. The clock thing was an issue. But you know what? I kind of feel like this game the way I did. I'm trying to think, was it Auburn?

One of those games where we had no business winning, and if we had won, it would have been lucky. Oh, it would have been a stunner. I mean, like I said it would have been. It was lucky. We got completely outplayed the entire game. Oh, yeah, I agree. But, I mean, look, the last minute to the game. Well, how about those Miami Red Hawks?

Now, I got my fingers crossed. I appreciate the call. I'm not worried about your Miami Red Hawks. It's a UK Post game show. I think that was the only reason he wanted to call was to say. You know we're seeing them in the tournament, right? The thing is, I want to root for Miami, but then it's Bob. Right?

So you have to, so that makes it hard. Who's next? We're getting matched up with them. How many more? We'll beat them. Let's do, let's just do one more. Who's next? Okay.

Dirk, go ahead, Dirk. Hey, man, I got a couple of thoughts, and I'll try to be brief before I hang up and listen. You know, to the point at the very beginning of the show about getting in these deficits and then coming back for a lot of games this year, you know, as my buddy Nick from Paris said, we're in a bit of a rinse and repeat cycle with this team. And unfortunately, the way the game's changed, I don't think you can draw any positive lessons from coming back the way you could 10 years ago. You say you got a second year coach, rebuild or, you know, building back the program.

But now you've got to forget all the lessons year to year because you've got total roster turnover. Every team is a new team. You're exactly right. And the coaches that will adapt are the coaches that can take a new group and go. I don't think there's any doubt about that. And the games themselves, I think, are playing out more like, and this is not bad, this can be fun to watch.

They're playing out a lot more like NBA games where you have wild lead changes. Everybody's shooting 25 to 33s a game. So it's not uncommon to just turn a game on and see a team up 17 in the first half. And then you look back at the TV and it's a tie game, just like in the NBA. And so unfortunately, I mean, of course you'd like to see a team fight back when they're down 20 and they lose by 7 instead of giving up and losing by 40. But I'm just not sure what kind of lessons you can draw. So I'll hang up with.

Yeah, I agree with all that. And I also would say, you know, if you fall down 20 every game, yeah, you come back and steal a couple. But what about the other six? You know, how about we, how many games this year have we gotten up a lot at the end of the first half? Not many, but we've been down a whole lot. So Kentucky will either play at, they will either play at one o'clock or actually noon or seven. It will all come down to the Oklahoma Texas game tonight, and they are in the first half, and I'm going to give us a score before we get out of here.

12-7, Oklahoma. Yeah, so really not much to say yet. Oklahoma wins. We play at noon. If Texas wins, we will play at 7. Thank you, folks, very much for listening. We appreciate it. Tough end of the regular season.

Cats go down. We will see you on Monday morning. This has been the local toy dealers, KSR. post-game 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

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