KSR - KSR Postgame UK MBB vs Gonzaga 02/10/24

Episode Date: February 11, 2024

Matt and Billy recap the Cats' 89-85 loss to Gonzaga.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We will open up the phones here in just when I'm done with this segment. It's a good way to kind of make it random. Who can get in? I'm going to do something kind of similar to what I did last time, which is at the end of this segment kind of let people talk because I think the frustration that people have is completely valid and can be articulated. I was very, very confident going into this game. If you heard the radio show yesterday, I sort of thought, you know, Gonzaga is not good. And they're not.

This is not a normal Gonzaga team. The Gonzaga talent is not anywhere close to what it was. There are no Jalen Suggs, Chet Holmgrens. There are none of those guys on this team. This is a, no one Hickman's decent, but remember, you know, he was going to come here, and he's now in his junior year. It's not the same team. So I thought, you know, you're at home.

You get that atmosphere. Kentucky fans, this is a chance to kind of turn it around. They beat Vandy. And that's not only not what happened. They once again got embarrassed. And I think got embarrassed. and I think got embarrassed in probably the most damning way yet on Calgary. That was almost coaching malpractice out there to watch the way that it played out.

You know, it was Mark Vue completely decimated this Kentucky team, and I'll go over a few of the things that stuck out to me. But this is now the seventh loss in the season on a team that has really, an unbelievable amount of talent. And they've lost seven. And they still have their two hardest road games, two loseable road games, and a game against the first place team in the SEC at home yet to come.

They have seven road games, and they haven't even really gotten to the hardest part of their schedule yet. It's a terrible loss. And you're going to see it on Tuesday. They play Ole Miss at 9 o'clock in Rupp, and I think there's going to be a lot of empty seats. I mean, I don't think it's going to be empty. I think there's going to be a lot of empty C.

I think there's going to be a lot of people who don't go to that late game after this. And, you know, we talked about this on the pregame show, but this is the third loss in a row at home only the second time in school history. It's only the second time in school history. That's embarrassing. So I'll do what I did last time. Let's talk about the micro and the game and then sort of a bigger picture about the season. First of all, you know, CalPerry said when it was over,

they lost that game in the first half. I don't know if I totally agree with that. We were up six in the second half. I mean, we did come back after being down at half by 10 and had a six-point lead. But let me just take that at face value and say you lost it in the first half. Well, if you believe we lost it in the first half, we lost it because I have no idea how John Cald Perry was coaching that team in the first half. I want you to go back, if you will.

Actually, don't go back and watch it. But he probably in the first 10 minutes played... nine, ten different lineups, the shuttling back and forth of guys was unbelievable, including some lineups that literally have no chance of scoring. I mean, at one point he had, I think Dillingham, Wagner, Birx, Theero, and Hugo. I mean, that's just not a lineup that's going to score a points.

It's just not. And you had sitting on your bench, I counted. Reves and Shepherd played a total combined the two of them of 19 minutes in the first half out of 40. You can't do that. Reeves Dillingham and Shepherd. You could argue Reeves Dillingham and Shepherd are maybe three of the best shooters we've ever had. I would argue they're the best three, you know, threesome of shooting on one team that Kentucky's ever had. I don't think they've ever had three guys on the team at the same time who could shoot.

shoot three is better. You want how many minutes they played together tonight? A minute and a half. A minute and a half. Three of the best shooters ever, one of which could be an All-American, one of which had 21 points in the second half, and one of which will be a top five to seven pick.

The coach did not play them together for more than a minute and a half. That's crazy to me. That's insanity to me. When you have that level of shooting, to not play them. answer is, well, they can't guard because Gonzag was too big. Did it look like our bigs could guard? Did it look like our bigs could stop them? No. So I don't understand. If you think we lost it in the

first half, we lost it probably because Cal said earlier this week, I'm going to play everybody in the first half and then play the best people in the second half. Well, how about we try a game where we play the best people, Billy, the whole game? How about we do that? Because you play 11 guys. in the first half. Like, it's not going to work. Guys just going in and out, nobody can get in a rhythm, and not surprisingly, we couldn't make shots, and we still couldn't defend.

We gave up the same amount of points, essentially, in the first half as the second half. I mean, they got some, I guess they got a little bit more at the end. So it was 42 and 47. But the difference is we scored 32 in the first half, and that is you just can get no rhythm. And then, the last 10 minutes were an embarrassment.

Mark Few did the same thing every single time down the court. We had no answer. If Hugo was in, they put him in a pick and roll. He could not guard it. Big Z is in, pick and roll, can't guard it. Bradshaw's in, seal him down low, score over it. We never adjusted. I mean, forget about zoned.

Just nothing else. No thought about even. going small. Nothing. Let's just let them do it over and over and over. And they did. I don't know how many possessions they scored in a row, but I think it was like nine.

They scored in a row. Now, thankfully, because Shepard and Reeves scored 36 points combined in the second half, we are able to stay in it. But, you know, you got to get at least one. Which brings us to the final play. you know, I have no idea what that play was. This is probably the worst Kentucky team throwing lobs of the Cal era. Would you agree with that, Billy?

Worst team throwing lobs we've had? There's been a lot of bad ones, that's for sure, this year. I mean, this one, they've been terrible. And you run a lob? A lob to the arrow. Look, I do play great. I'm not downing the arrow. But you have, again, on your team, an All-American,

a top seven pick and a dude who has 21 points in the second half. And the first option is a lob, which we're not even good at, to a guy who's like our fifth or six offensive option. How is that a play? And then if you're going to run that play, go back and watch it. It's on social media. Hugo, why is he in? Why is he in?

I guess he's in for the tap end. but it's his man that stops the lob. Ogo is standing on top of where the lob is supposed to be. It's his man that stops it because he's in the way. You cannot set up a play like that. Cal after the game said, I wanted it to be a lob, and if that wasn't there, Reves 3. I will live or die with Reeves or Shepherd taking the shop and sometimes dealing in.

Or when Wagner's healthy a drive. I do not want a team that can't lob throwing a lob to a dude. That's a terrible final play. When Gonzaga got the ball in the need of basket, what did they do? The thing that works. Get the big guy down low, isolate score. We never adjust it. And when we get the ball, we're doing stuff.

I don't think we've run that play all year that I can remember, certainly not in a key situation. So you lose. You also, they end up fouling. up three and win. We didn't foul up three and lost. So the malpractice of the decision against Florida plays itself out in reverse this time. You know, when the game was over, Cald Perry said, blame me, don't blame the players.

Put it on me. Don't put it on the players. I give him credit for saying that. He's right. But it is on him. This year's on him. This team should be good. And by the way, I kind of am tired of.

him saying, don't blame the players. This fan base hasn't blamed the players this year. This fan base loves these players. They do. This is the most, Oscar was an extremely likable player. But I think you could make an argument that the fan base likes this team as much as any they've liked since, you know, Fox, Monk, and Bam. They love them. Shepherds from Kentucky, the way we shoot, the way we get up now. They love them. The complaints are towards Cal. And they have been all year. and he continues to say put it on me but then he gets defensive when it is put on him and it's becoming toxic and it's not becoming toxic because of me it's not becoming toxic because of ksr it's not becoming toxic really because of the fans it's becoming toxic because

the amount of underachieving is now historic and you know history historical perspective matters. People can say the games changed, and it has to some extent, but North Carolina went to Miami and won today. Kansas is going to take care of business and win against Baylor at home today. Like these other teams, when it comes down to it, are making the plays, and we're not. The Kansas game, four minutes to go, we're up, we lose. Florida game, four minutes to go, up, lose. A&M, three minutes to go, up, lose. Tonight, tied four minutes to go, lose. It's the same thing over and over and over. I don't mean to say this every time, but we do need to put it in context. In the last four years, we've had the worst, the worst regular

season in the history of the program. The worst, we've had the worst tournament loss in the history of the program. And we now have lost three straight home games for only the second time in the history of the program and the first time in 55 years. Throw in, we have three home losses to unranked teams. I don't know the stats, but that can't have happened more than once or twice in history. and Cala Perry who set records that were historic on the good side early in his career is now setting records on the bad side on the back end of his career.

We can't act like that's not happening. And I can't anymore. You know, it doesn't do any good to like talk about. a change today. They're going to play through the end of March, and this team, I still think, has the talent to do something, you know, crazy in March. I become less and less confident every day that will happen, but they do have the talent.

But I said after the Tennessee game, it's basically now to the point that March has to go well. Well, you know, now I'm to the point if it doesn't go well, you know, I just don't know how you can keep doing this. I mean, the fan base has had it. There were booze tonight. There was a time nobody ever booed at Rupp Arena. There was loud boos. You can hear it.

You can hear it on the television. You know, it's sad because this fan base cares more than anybody. They care this year more than they do, I think, in the average year. And they just continually get let down. And the path now, becomes extremely difficult. Not making the tournament is in play. It's in play.

With the schedule that's left, not making the tournament's in play. But even if you make the tournament, we're now looking like 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 seed. Well, now you're going to have to pull off an upset, maybe even in your first game, certainly one or two in the first weekend. And considering this talent on this team, and considering what they will do, some of them at the next level,

and considering what this fan base continues to bring night in and nine out, it's an embarrassment. And if we don't have a good march, I don't think it can continue. I just don't. This fan base does not deserve the last four years. Don't get me wrong. Cali Perry from 2010,

to 2017 is one of the best runs, in my opinion, in college basketball history. They did have, you know, it had been nice if they could win one more. But if you just look at the whole overarching, it was amazing. 18 and 19, not amazing, but still really good. 20, season gets canceled. And Cal and other people like to say, well, we had a shot. We did have a shot, but we were a four seed that year. All right.

I think revisionist history has us as a one seed that year. We were a four seed going into that tournament. With all that said, I'll start at COVID. This has not been Kentucky basketball. It's not. And we have to universally agree to that and universally say we got eight regular season games and a postseason to turn it around. Or we're probably going to have to do something else.

859-280 2287 we'll open up the phones and take a break This is the local toilet dealers KSR post-game show Welcome back It is the local toy dealers KSR post-game show

First of all Is there anything more consistent Than as soon as I make like an impassioned Intro Then they play buckle up, put your phone Right into buckle up put your phone down That's now happened two straight weeks So I think that's going to continue to happen

I just retweeted a video that Billy just told me about. It is Tyler Ulyss's reaction during the final play drawup, and he's just shaking his head. You know, we don't know what's in his head, but it looks like, hey, are we really doing this? But I don't know if that's what he means. You know, only he would know that. And so you got to be careful, but it is. I just retweeted it. Yeah, I don't know what that last play was.

But here's what, but I kind of, I sort of agree with Cal that we lost it in the first half, but like that's also not an excuse. You said yourself that you were going to play everybody in the first half and then play the best people in the second half. Just pick a lineup. And that lineup should always, always, always, always have Shepard and Reeves in it. And it probably ought to have Dillingham more often than not. I don't hate it that he only played four minutes in the second half because we scored 52 points. But in those last couple plays, I'd have.

have him in way before I'd throw a lop. So, you know, you can't have it both ways. I used to say about Cal, he can't tell us the regular season doesn't matter, and then when we lose in March go, but we had a good regular season. Well, you can't have it both ways. You can't say we're going to use the first half to experiment, and then when we lose, say we lost it in the first half. You've got to, like, have a consistent standard,

and that standard can't be just continually losing to mediocre teams at home. Who's up first? Jason. Jason. What's up, Jason? Hey, good evening, Matt. Coming at you from Bethlehem, PA out of the 606. I got to admit, sir, I'm a little ticked off at how everything played out tonight.

Like, you know, there was a sequence where we were on a run. We were up six, and then we come out of the timeouts, and Bradshaw and a dude were subbed out, and all of a sudden you see Hugo and Justin Edwards in the game. and then we ended up falling back behind. No, that was a key sequence. That was a key sequence. We were up six.

They send Edwards who'd been playing great and a dude to the bench. Then a minute later, I think they sent Reeves. We put in Jordan Berks and I can't remember who the other person is in. And we go from up six to down one. I thought that was a key sequence in the game. Absolutely. And on top of that, at the end of the game, it was the, like you mentioned, mentioned at the beginning of the show.

We are the worst lobbying team known to man at this moment in time. Why not, instead of having Hugo in the gate, why not throw Z or somebody in there, at least with the threats of him being able to shoot a three-pointer and pull everybody out and let somebody drive it to the hole and maybe kick it out for a three, like you mentioned. Like, I'm just, I'm out on cow. Like, I'm always looking for a silver lining with Cal, but I got to admit it, homie, I'm out. I'm out on Cal. Something needs to happen.

It needs to happen, my friend. I love you guys. Love the show. I'll talk to you soon. Appreciate the call. Yeah, I don't know why. I mean, Ogo's in there. I'm sure to get a tip in.

But like, he's in the way right there. Wouldn't you have rather had Dillingham? I mean, I don't know how in that last possession. You don't have Dillingham, Shepard, and Reeves in. And just clear out your whole career. you've cleared people out and gone to the basket. Now you have a team full of guys to do it, and we're running a lob. Maybe the worst lob team we've ever had.

I don't get it. Who's next? Rob, four minutes in the second half. I mean, okay, let me just, I don't think that's terrible because we scored 52 points. But I don't understand why it wasn't it at the very end. You know, I don't. I don't get it. I also don't understand why we kept throwing bigs out there to just get sealed

up one-on-one for eight straight minutes. Who's next? Alex. Alex. Go ahead, Alex. Hey, Matt. So, first off, The arrow was amazing tonight. Reed redeemed himself completely in the second half. Hugo should not be on the court in the last five minutes. If you were in the section 27, where I was,

you could hear me screaming at Cal about Hugo the whole game, how he should have taken him out after the first three minutes when he was playing terrible. He literally creates no offense. It's coaching malpractice to play a slow seven-footer who can't shoot and gets beat on every pick and roll. We just have to play small. And then I'm just really disappointed the way this season has gone. And I think Cal is the most arrogant, stubborn person I've ever seen. And someone needs to tell him that to his face because it just, he has no humility, none, and it drives me nuts. And then my last thing, Matt, is everyone who is hate listening to this

right now needs to hear this, that it makes me so mad when people act like you're the reason we are all mad at Cal and we are down on the program. It's not you. You, I know. I know. that you would love to eat your words and for this season to turn around like in 2014, but people just hate the truth, I guess, and I don't understand why. So that's really all I've got. Gonzagher's got 22% from three, and they had one more turnover than us. So thanks. Appreciate the call.

See, that's the 22% from three. Why don't we, you know, normally I don't love double teaming the guys down low and giving up open threes, but they were shooting 22% from three. Maybe throw a double team. occasionally because our dudes were getting destroyed. As far as the blaming me, it stinks. It does. But I also know, like, I don't have anything to do with this.

I'm just expressing my opinion, which is a lot of people agree. And if people disagree, that's fine. I'm not going to say it doesn't suck. It does when people come at you like you talked about their mother. But that's not why we're losing. And I said this at the Tennessee guys. game. Here's the fact. These players will all come and go. The coaches will all come and go. The only thing that remains are the fans. And when they go at each other, that's such a waste.

Like, we all want the same thing, which is to win. Who's next? Randy. Randy, what's up, Randy? I don't understand part of the fan base. I mean, here's what I saw. You tell me if I'm wrong, man. I saw for seven minutes Bradshaw getting destroyed in the center. Destroyed. And I'm yelling put Uganda back in. We don't need

him for offense. But we need him for deep, some defense. I mean, he doesn't have to block every shot. But, I mean, Bradshaw, at one time, he got spun around. He was backwards, guarding the guy two feet from the goal.

I mean, it was awful. Also, the thing about Hugo is that they were putting him in a high pick and roll, and his man was just scored. Absolutely. Did it twice. Yeah, so I don't, you know, that's why you probably need to,

that's why you probably need to play zone, which Cal will never do, or just go Uber small. I'm yelling at that too. Go Uber small. I mean, there was a part of me that wanted to say, you know, go Uber small. Play three guards, Edwards, and Theero,

and I'll take my chances, because the bigs are certainly not working. But when they say, look, they're a big guy, I had four fouls on him from seven minutes on. As soon as they put you go back in the game, he got his fifth foul. It wasn't a great tall. But he got his fifth foul. But also, they weren't able to just shoot it from two feet as soon as they put him back in.

And my deal was don't chase that. Let them shoot the three. They're not shooting. Well, don't chase it with your big guy. Guard the rim. But Bratshaw doesn't help you at the rim. He doesn't help you in the office. I mean, for seven minutes, they scored, I think it was 18 points with Bradshaw in the game.

And we, now, granted, we matched them to stay in the game. But, my God, that you can't win that way. You can't win like that. No, you're right. You're right. You're right. I appreciate the call. We did.

I mean, Reeves and Shepherd scored 36 points combined in the second half, or we lose that game by 15. Let's be real. They both played. Reed played amazing in the second half. I also don't understand why those guys. I mean, in the first half, he played nine minutes. Reeves played 11 minutes. I just, when you watch great teams, their best guys are in the game.

Watch Kansas. Hunter Dickinson's in the game. Always. Right? Our dudes, you have no idea who's going to play. In any given moment, you have no idea. It's crazy. Who's next?

Brian. Brian, what's up, Brian? Matt, first. time, long time. Who? Just want to, hey, man, I want to know who your first three calls is when we finally run him out of there as coach. Well, I mean, if they, if he were to leave or be or let go, Scott Drew will be the next coach here. You think so?

I would bet a lot on it. I mean, but then again, I bet bet a lot on Kentucky tonight. We lost. So, I mean, I'm not saying, you know, I can be wrong. But I think I would bet a substantial amount of money, Scott Drew would be the higher. So you don't think that's Cal Auburn at all? No. Mitch Barnard will never hire Bruce Pearl.

He'll never hire Nate Oates. He'll never hire Eric Mussel. He'll never hire Chris Beard. Now, I mean, you know, people say, well, he would have never hired Cal, but that was different because there were other factors at play there that maybe we can talk about some other time. Awesome. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah. No, I mean, here's one of the things about, you know, Cal's kind of his persona, which at times has been awesome here, is there is definitely Cal fatigue around UK athletics. There just is. Like, I think people are kind of tired of having a dude who won't listen to anybody in the athletics department. So they're not going to hire another person like that, in my opinion.

Maybe I'll be proven wrong, but I would be very, very surprised. Who's next? Darren in Texas. Darren, go ahead, Darren. Hey Matt, what's up, man? A long time and a very long time. Just shaking my head in disappointment like everybody. You know, I always just go back to the lifetime contracts.

It's just there's nobody in the world, whether you're in sports, whether you're in business, where you can underachieve like this and still have a job. You know what I mean? it's just it's mind-blowing to me that and and I wanted to ask you a question if you had one word to describe the Cal era and you can't use the underachieve or disappointing or something like that what word would you use I know know about one word you know first of all let me give two caveats one is season's not over right if they make a run to the final four this will all look different but And I appreciate the call. I think you are a hater if you don't applaud what his first decade was like here. You're a hater.

I think you are unrealistic and a dreamer if you don't say the last four years have been a disaster. Who's up next? Let's go to Jim. Jim. What's up, Jim? Hello, Matt. How are you? I'm good.

I'm good. I remember Rick's first year, we never lost a home game. We went 14 and 14, but never lost a home game. Yeah. And now we've lost three in a row. Let me tell you a staff that I did. Corey Price just sent me this step from OVW's pay-per-view going on right now. We have lost three games.

We have lost three games at home to unranked teams. three of the last four seasons. I know I hate that. To unranked teams three of the last four years. It's only happened seven times in history, and it's happened three times in the last four years. I know. I hate it.

But I'm going to be on the side of I'm not ready for a new coach at UK. Okay. I understand. Well, listen, thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Who's up next? Let's go to Brett. Brett, what's up, Brett?

Hey, Matt, how are you? Doing good. You know, the one, you know, we talk about in-game adjustments, different things like that, and we know he's not going to change in game. You know, my question is, does he even have a game plan going in? You know, how many times before we even get to under 16 or down 10 or 12 points? It's just, it's sad to watch. You know, he's taking a program that, you know, I've loved since I was four and five years old,

would take naps to stay up. up at 11 o'clock and watched the replays. He just made a mockery of it, and he's made it where I don't even enjoy watching anymore. But is that true? Like, you've enjoyed this team, right? Like, I actually think this team has been really, really fun. Like, now, listen, these last few games have been awful. But haven't you enjoyed the group as a whole?

Yeah, definitely. They actually have got me, they got me off the ledge over the past couple years what I've watched. But I know under four minutes. it's if we're if we're up less than four points we're losing and and that's and that's what and that's what bothers me and you know it's just it's hard to watch someone that makes that much money um not be able to make any sort of adjustments and have done it as long as he's done it to not have any sort of game plan he ran that little back door lob that he put in his back pocket because it worked once in Vandy. So he put in his back pocket to use again. You know, it's just sad to watch. And, you know,

we always talk about and we get made fun of by Cardinal fans that Kenny won those games. Why I sit here and go, maybe John Robic won those games. And if I was Calgary after the year. The X&O certainly suffered when he left. I, you know, I don't, I don't think there's any doubt about that. You know, I, whether or not, and I appreciate the call, guys, since then, like, I just don't know. I mean, I was around a lot more during the Roebuck years. So it's hard for me to say, okay, this is different now than then because I'm not around right now.

But in those first 10 years, I was around a lot, and Robic was the X and O game. Robic literally presented the game plan to the team before the game most of the time. And I, you know, Robic is a prickly fellow, but I always was amazed the couple times I got to hear it. I mean, I didn't get to hear it every game, but I heard it two or three times over the course the tenure. It was always amazing, like, how the detail he knew, and he had a really good ability to take hours of game prep and distill it into five minutes for the guys, because that's all they're going to listen to. And, yeah, I do think we suffered since then. Who's next? Josh. Josh, what's up, Josh? Hey, what's up, Matt? Look, I was with you, like, all these past couple

years being like, you know, don't fire cow, whatever. And I'm kind of here now. I'm kind of like, look, Like, this is it for me. Like, I've watched too many games at home get lost, like three games around those. It really is. And I'm sitting here. I'm sitting outside. I'm from Alabama. And basketball is a wasteland around here.

And I'm just, I'm tired of us. They've been better than us for the last few years. No, I agree. I agree with you. It's insufferable because I live in Alabama and I have to hear all these Alabama fans, you know, talk about, you know, how good they are at football. and then talk about how good they are at basketball. I was like, yeah, you're right.

And y'all don't even care, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. They don't care. They don't care too. Yeah. It drives me as a wall. And I agree with your stuff on Twitter. You said earlier about all, uh, Cal, like, he just constantly, like,

it switched up the lineups. Like, he doesn't, he doesn't let anyone get hot or do anything. Like, they're just going on. Well, I mean, they're just guys who have a, they're guys who have a shorter leash. I mean, let's just face it. And I appreciate the call. you were to go back and watch the first half, and I don't encourage it.

I watched him because I would watch the sideline. Reeves and Reed did not play great, but they would make a mistake, and they were out immediately. Reeves and Reed, you're two, I think you could argue your two best shooters, along with Dillingham, two of your three best players, out. Some of the big guys and some of the other dudes could sit there and mess up time after time still play. I don't get it. You've got to let shooters cook. You know, in the start of the second half, both Reeves and Reed, Shepherd, made a bad play.

He kept them in, and then they went off. You got to let dudes like that cook, and I don't get it. It was 75, 75 with four minutes to go. And I remember thinking, two stops will win. We got one. Then we lost. We'll take a break. 2287.

We'll come back. It's the local Toyota dealers, KSR, postgame show. Welcome back. It's the local toy dealers, KSR post game show. We took 17 threes tonight. I think if you go back and you look at these games we've lost, one of the consistent common themes is that we always only take like 15 to 17 threes.

But then when we win, we take like 25. Reeves and Shepherd combined to take five. You know, I think they're two of the best shooters we'll have. Dillingham took three. So we took eight between those three. I think that number probably needs to be 11 or 12. But I will say, Gensaga did exactly what they wanted. Five guys in double figures and just pounded us.

And they really only played... See, Gaggonsag only played five guys most of the game. When the big guy, E.K. or whatever it got in foul trouble, they brought in Huff. But besides that, they basically played the same. same five pretty much the whole game. We played 10 guys, and it was, you never knew who was going to be in. And did it look like at the end we wore them down, Billy? I don't think so.

So I don't know what playing all those guys did for us. Kentucky's got three big guys, but they all three have their flaws. You know what I mean? Huge flaws. Now, if we had had Mitchell, maybe you go small with Mitchell, but I don't even think Cal would have done that. I mean, that was how we played this entire year. And then all of a sudden when the seven footers got here,

we just completely went away from everything we did. We almost beat Kansas playing like that. Should have beat him. And we've just gone away from it. You never see that lineup. You never see Mitchell at the five. So is what it is. Who's next?

DJ. DJ, what's up? Hey, Matt. Hey, Billy. God bless you guys. First of all, I'd like to say that. Thank you. Yes, sir. You already mentioned about the rhythm thing, so I'm not going to get into all that.

And if you start from the COVID year, we've had all this awesome talent in the NBA. It's like he's not developing – Coach Dow is not developing our players to their full potential. And it's just frustrating. And I know I don't have enough time to say everything I want to say, but that's my main thing. What is your opinion on that? And we've got to do better on defense. I know we can score better than anybody in the whole country, but if we can't play a little bit of defense, It's not going to amount to anything.

Thank you so much. We're going to be able to play much better. But I appreciate the call. Part of what's frustrating me about this team is you and I both know Rob Dillingham. Bill, he's going to be an all-star one day. Wait and see. He will. He's going to end up being one of the most popular players in the league.

I don't know if he's going to be one of the best because he can't guard anybody. But he's going to be one of the most popular players in the league. He's going to be an all-star. And we're all going to go, Cal played him four minutes in the Gonzaga game. second half. I mean, we are. He's going to be great. Reeves is going to have an NBA career.

I don't know how good it'll be, but he'll have it. Shepard will have one. You know, I don't know about Bradshaw. Wagner will have one. You know, Bradshaw at one point was the number one prospect in the class. I don't say this very much, Billy, about guys, because sometimes, you know, things just don't. I don't see it with him.

I mean, I see him. He can, I think, be a much better player than he is. but like I see why scouts like Justin Edwards and I think he's going to he's played better in the last couple games Billy I don't see it with Bradshaw do you I mean I like his energy but like he's he's got to beef up a little bit don't you think maybe a little too skinny gets beaten in the post but he can't handle the ball he gets bullied on the post and he can shoot I mean he hit that shot against

Florida that three took tonight was not good I don't know. I mean, I hope, but I, normally, even if a dude is, like, take scow. He was not good, but I could see how, like, there was potential for him to be good. I mean, I think Bradshaw can be good, but the idea that he's like, I just don't see the sort of Uber talent, but maybe it'll come. I don't know. I hope it does. We need it to. Who's next? He also picked up two fouls in a matter of six seconds in the first half. I mean, he fouls so quick. Yeah. Michael's next. Michael, go ahead, Michael.

Hey, Matt, you hit the nail on the head. You know, the thing was Shepard, he can make a bad pass, but that kid will come back. What do you got? A block, got the block back, drove down, lay up, foul, three-point play. He made a bad pass when that happened. So that right there can tell you that if you just stick with him, he's going to make plays for you and i have never seen cow even in his massachusetts years have a last second lob play like that that is just i was i was rolling in on the floor and why can't they just drive like

they were doing the whole second half reed was driving the ball every single time if he misses it guess what the arrow was doing dunking it on the other side of it so if you want to love Let them come off the backboard to get it. When they were driving, when Shepard and Reeves were driving to the basket, I actually thought what they did where they both missed layups, but they did what Cal I always used to see teach in practice, which is just don't get your shot blocked, right? Because I'll have people on the other side to rebound.

And they did that on back-to-back layups, where both Shepard and Reeves missed it, but there was a guy on the back end because dudes doubled off them. That's probably why we ought to penetrate a little bit more, because you're right. You can get those backside rebounds. Did Reed not score like 10 layups, like 10 points in layups? I mean, well, he had 21.

He had 21 points. One of them was a jumper. He had, he was 8 for 14 from the field. I'd say six or seven of them were probably layups. I mean, so if you've been doing that for like the last six, seven minutes of the game, why get away from it? But I don't get it. But you know what?

Here's the last point I have. He has always said, I don't really care about the SEC tournament. I really care about the SEC tournament. Well, you better care because that might be the only thing that gets you in the tournament. Well, I mean, that would be amazing if, like, it all came down to Nashville. I appreciate the call. I mean, I can tell you, if you go look at the Nashville tournament prices and all that, like they were expected a good Kentucky team to come down there.

We'll see how it ends up. But, you know, I thought if you heard the pregame show, Drew said that Stephen Peek, who does a lot of our video stuff for KSR, had something that I thought was a good, standard. At Kentucky, you have to do one of three things. You either have to win the regular season in the SEC, win the SEC tournament, or get to an elite eight. Okay?

Since COVID, we've done none of those. One of them's pretty much already out the regular season this year. So we'll see what happens with the SEC tournament in the elite age. But we haven't done any of those things in the last four years. And to go further, since 2018, we've only done it twice. We won the SEC tournament once, and we've made the Elite 8 once. So in, what, six seasons, one, or two times out of 18 possibilities. Who's next?

Brent. Brent. What's up, Brent? Hey, guys. Good to be on again. Hey, I just want to, maybe I'll make a positive point really quick. Reed Shepard was incredible. A doo, man, it was so good to see him come out of his show and play really, really, really hard and well.

You know, here's what kind of bothers me. The role of a coach is to set up the kids that you have in the best situations. And we continue to not do that. We continue to say, like, we're going to stick with man. Maybe we should go to, if we're beat off the pick and roll, maybe you go to his own. Maybe you play something different, and then we sit up at the podium, and we're like, you know what? We're trying to teach him. Why don't you do what makes sense for the team?

We have four guards who can take anybody in the country off the jibble. And we got the ball with, like, what was it, 12 seconds left, and we're throwing a lob into traffic. It is ridiculous. And, you know, maybe we should have watched the tape of the Santa Clara Broncos who beat Gonzaga. Or maybe we should have called Keon and Severe when Washington beat Gonzaga and kind of said, hey, how should we play these guys? Because we're not doing the work. I forgot they lost to Santa Clara. Yeah, I watched it.

I think they lost by double digits, didn't they in that game? I think they did. Yeah. I appreciate the call. It is so frustrating because this team, I mean, Gonzaga is not good this year. They will probably not make the tournament, folks, unless they win their conference tournament. Even with this win, they'll probably not make the tournament. And yet, we lost.

And by the way, when the next Bracketology comes out, we're probably a seven. and we still got to go to Auburn next week and have Old Miss at home. I mean, Old Miss at home should be a gimmy, but hard to feel that way right now. We'll see. Let's do one more and we'll take a break. Who's next? Po. Po.

How are you, Po? I'm good. I'm good. First time caller. Who are? Where are you from, Po? London representing Reed's country. That can always.

I can always hear the 606. Go ahead. Replayed awesome in the second half. I think when he's in, it's the only time our team has control of tempo, either running or especially in the half court. We really missed Trey tonight. I think Gonzaga is better than the record is. I disagree with you about that.

they will make the tournament. It is going to go. By the way, I didn't say, just for the record, I didn't say they weren't going to make the tournament. I think they will. But I think it's possible they don't make the tournament. That's now on the table. Definitely, definitely.

But I just don't understand. I think Cal, the last few years, I've said it's time for Cal to go, man. I mean, he recruits. We got a JV team at the first of the year every year. Yeah, pretty much. And I'm just going to leave it with that.

Well, I appreciate it. I hope everything's good in London, 13th region. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. I'm going to read you as opposed from Rob Doster. That's the guy I filled of 68.

He was in Lexington last week. Text I got from a coach about Kentucky's final possession. When you see Kentucky run that set, you know it's a lot. If you see a box, you know lob. It's the most predictable thing they do. There you go. Shades of the archaic offense that we've had over the last couple years. Yeah, well, chances are that Gonzaga may have known that because they certainly were right there to take it.

No doubt. We'll take a break. 859-280-2287. This is the local toy dealers, KSR Post-Game Show. Welcome back. It is the local tour of the dealer. There's KSR post-game show. 859-28027.

It does feel like, I mean, we haven't really gotten one, I don't know, positive call yet, have we? I mean, I, you know, you kind of can get a sense of fan base over the course of a show. Because here's the thing. If you get on social media, it's amazing to me how different every side is and how different every social media side is in positivity and negativity. I actually have found that the best reflection of the fan base is, in some ways, the callers to this show, because they care. But then I also get a sense, Billy, at the bar, because the bar, like, gets hardcores and casuals, right?

Like people who are coming in for out of town for the game, you know what I mean? I was amazed how there was a ton of people there. They were excited about the game, but how negative today people were about Cal, just in talking to them. And I think that's how a lot of people feel now. I think it is, you know, we're going to call a second ago say that he thought Cal was arrogant. Cal is surely arrogant. I mean, most people that are successful are, though, let's be real. But I just want you to when you listen to him talk in wins or losses, listen to how much of his commentary is aimed at critics.

Now, he never says who they are, but sometimes he acts like it's fans, sometimes he acts. the XXX the media. But how much of it is, you know, they'll say to you. I mean, Billy, how much of what he says is aimed at criticisms? All the time. 75%. It's a lot. I mean, it'll be that way tomorrow night or whenever he'll do his coaches show, Monday night.

He did it today. He did it after Vandy. Like, for a person who says he doesn't listen to the clutter, he refers to criticism of him all the time. and that's partially why I think it is getting to kind of a toxic point because, you know, it's just like the two parties just don't seem to love each other as much as they used to. And I think that makes it hard. Who's next? Jacob.

Jacob. Go ahead, Jacob. Hey, Matt. First time, long time. Who up? So I've never been one to say we need to fire. or cow or do anything like that. I even came into this year kind of thinking, let's see what happens in March because I thought he had his guys. But I honestly look at tonight and the little

things that we could do whenever it comes to winning and losing basketball games. And the play that stood out to me the most wasn't even made by us. It was when Gonzaga's point guard fouled us up three with five seconds to go. And I thought to myself, we had that same exact situation two weeks ago against Florida. We didn't do it. And it resulted in a loss. And I just don't know how to gain confidence with the little things and we don't seem to do them well at all. 75-75, 4 minutes to go, tie game. Did you think we were going to win?

To be completely honest with you, I thought at the five-minute mark we were going to lose the game just because our defense started to break down like it always does. Yeah, I did. And that, to me, I appreciate the call. When they, it was 75-75, and they had the ball, four minutes to go, when you are a great program and you are at home, you should win that game. I know when I watch Kansas play at home, if they're down four with four minutes to go,

I think they're winning. I was like that with Duke for many, many years, less so now, but I was. Four minutes to go, they're going to win this game. For the first time with four minutes to go, it was tied, and I thought, we're not going to be able to stop them. We're going to lose. I never felt that way. Even the bad Kentucky teams over the years, I thought they'd win at home.

But I don't feel that way anymore at home. And that's a shame. Who's next? Pride more. Pride more. How are you? Doing well, Matt. Was that the game tonight?

Real quick on the last play, I think when Gonzaga stole the ball away from us, it kind of took the air out of the building. It was electric in there. And then, you know, we just kind of knew. at that point it was over and fans started to kind of go out and I think the fan base just kind of tired you know we we always say well who we were replaced Cal with and my my answer to that is you know there's a short list of people we can all think of but look at South Carolina you have UT Chattanooga's old coach and he's about to take them to maybe a three seed two seed somewhere in

there I just I think it's time to move on and I think the excuse of about run out. And last point, you think there's any chance Mitch Barnhart could catch Jay Wright before he leaves Lexington? I'll hang up and listen to thanks. No, I don't, I don't think that'll happen. But, you know, I appreciate the call. I do, I mean, listen, it's, it's all coming down to March. I don't, I do not think this is savable unless you have a good March. I really don't. and I think today's loss more than any of the others is on the coach. I do. Just the way they were absolutely picked apart and the play at the end of the game,

the lob, all of it. The fact that we didn't foul or we didn't foul up three, they did, all of it. This is the most cal-centric loss certainly of the year. Like this is him. You know, it is. And if people disagree with that, that's fine. But this one's here. Let's do three more, Billy.

Buffalo. Buffalo. How are you, Buffalo? Hey, Matt, first time, long time. Who are? Shout out to Billy for letting me on the Billy and Matt post-game show. Appreciate you, Bell. No problem, Buffalo.

Hey, you know, I've always been a cow defender, and I was ready to give cow credit for his explanation of Zonan the out of bounds under the basket, mentioning that, hey, if our, if our roster's not going to be able to get what we're teaching, we'll adjust. But like, if you're going to take that attitude, how do you not adjust to a zone

or a press or half-port track? Did you hear what he said tonight, Buffalo? Did you hear what he said tonight on the post-game show? He goes, well, you saw we didn't let anybody score off the inbound. We're not supposed to. I mean, he almost wanted applause for not giving up wide-open layups

on the inbound. I was like, dude, you are one of the best coaches of all time. You're really bragging about not giving up layups on the imbound. Completely agree. And, you know, you've touched on fouling up three. You've touched on the Gonzaga, concert pick and roll. But I'll leave you with one positive.

At least he showed up to the post game interview with Leach tonight. So I'll give him that much. But again, he's supposed to. I appreciate the call. He's supposed to. You're like Chris Rock. You're supposed to. who's next

Justin Justin what's up Justin no much Matt first time long time who are a lot of first timers I can tell that means folks are frustrated go ahead

yes sir I'm I mean I'm just had a loss for words man I have been a Cal supporter his entire tenure but I'm just

just add a loss for words as far as their lineup. The bigs are just totally ineffective. And I don't know what to do. I don't know. Well, I always do it can do, but be frustrated. Exactly. You know, that's it. I feel like that's just like,

Maybe the majority of the BBN. It's just like, what is going on, dude? With this talent and this team, how are we not better? The simple things. I mean, elementary school, fifth, sixth grade basketball blocking out. Yeah, I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say either. I appreciate the call.

I think you speak for a lot of people. He didn't know what to say, Billy. Hello, is my mic working? Yeah, anytime you were, yeah. Sorry, equipment issue over there. Yeah. I'm sorry. All right, let's do one more.

And we, this may be it. Although, if I'm feeling spicy, we might do one more. Who's next? Let's try Tyler. Tyler, go ahead, Tyler. Hey, Matt, what's going on, brother? Doing well, I'm all right. Yeah, me too.

A couple things for you. One, I was at the bar before the game. Naches are incredible. So, yeah, hey, when it comes of defense, I want to blame it on Cal, do you think it's maybe just the players in the effort? Because when you have that, I don't think it's the effort. I've never really felt like the guys don't try. I mean, I don't, so I don't necessarily think it's the effort. But I also don't think these dudes are good defenders.

But at the same time, Cal's not, this isn't the first team of coaches ever had where they weren't good defenders. You got to adjust, right? Right. I mean, you know, think about this. Think about this. Think about the St. Peter's game. You think those dudes were better defenders than our guys? No.

But they found a way to adjust and win. You got to find a way. I don't care what it is to not let a team run the same play for eight straight minutes and score every single time. You have to. What are you being paid for? I could go out there and let them score every time. You have to find a way to make an adjustment. Sure.

I also think, though, I mean, you eat a horse of water. Can't force them to drink, though, right? I know, but look, it's not like we're Everts playing against, you know, St. X. All right? I mean, our guys are more talented than their guys. Their guys are older, but so what? I mean, it's, you know, I appreciate the call.

As I was watching them score play after play, it made me think of if you were watching like a mismatch high school game, where it doesn't matter what the people do, they just simply can't stop them. That's what we look like, but we have multiple five stars. And we just get bullied by dudes from the West Coast Conference that lost by 13 to Santa Clara. So, look, it's a tough spot. not to overreact. You know, I am because there's a point at which, you know, in some of this stuff, if you go too far, like there's no coming back, you know,

which is why you won't hear me say yet. Well, it's over at Kentucky. I got to get through March. But this is unacceptable. And I don't get the sense our fan base is accepting it anymore. But, you know, you cannot at Kentucky have. have the last four years we've had, and specifically like the last four weeks we've had.

You've got to be better than that. Thank you all for staying up and listening. Well, I guess it's not that late. But thank you for listening tomorrow. Enjoy the Super Bowl. I think I'm on ESPN Billy for like six weeks tomorrow. They keep having 30 minutes of the show every night. So tune in at some point if you get bored.

And then we will see you Monday. This has been a disappointing night and the local Toyota dealers, KSR, post-KK. game show. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk

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