KSR - KSR Postgame UK MBB vs Gonzaga 12/05/25

Episode Date: December 6, 2025

Billy and Ryan recap the Cats' 94-59 loss vs Gonzaga.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome everyone to the local Toyota dealers, KSR postgame show. A tough one tonight as the cats lose to Gonzaga, 94 to 59 in Nashville at Bridgestone Arena. It was ugly, and we'll talk about it tonight. We want to hear from you. Routledge, normally the producer of this show, hosting without Matt. I brought Ryan Lemon into the studio just to toss some things off of.

Good evening, Ryan. How are you? Yeah, we couldn't let you do this show by yourself because, you know, usually these post-game shows, even after bad loss, we try to have a little fun, try to make it a little lighthearted. Can't do that tonight. That was awful. Oh, I was prepared to go solo tonight, but I appreciate you coming in from the bullpen. We are in place of Matt tonight, if you have not heard. he posted on Facebook earlier tonight.

He got a diagnosis of his dad, Larry, that is not good. So he is just not in the right headspace right now. We want to send our thoughts and prayers to Matt and his family going through these tough times right now. Yeah. I mean, Matt really apologized for not being here. And they wanted to let people to know that. But he's doing the right thing. He's with his family right now, where he should be, you know?

So Larry, he said he had a medical issue come up, his dad, so he's going to be there for his mom. them so we completely understand and prayers for larry yeah our heart is with you matt we're thinking about you and your family now ryan you are the one that normally gets stuck with these crappy post game shows so i'm going to host this one are you okay with that i've had i've had many many it's your turn but i said like i can't even joke about it i'm such in a bad mood about what i just saw that was awful i mean as bad as the louisville game was as bad as the michigan State game was, as bad as the North Carolina game was, tonight was worse. It was just a beatdown of epic proportions tonight. Kentucky shoots 27% from the field, 16% in the first half. And Ryan,

I swear I was in a fever dream for that first half. I mean, Kentucky had not scored a point by the first TV timeout. Yeah, they had one point, one free throw at the first TV timeout. One point, five minutes into the game. And at the second TV timeout, they only had two points, two Two free throws. Tretto Noah passes up a wide open three and they go down 19 to two at the second TV timeout. I'm losing my mind. I'm pulling my hair out. You know, Tom and Jack are doing their best to stay positive, man, but I couldn't help.

But hit the panic button, Ryan. I've hit it. To put in perspective, Kentucky missed 42 of their first 47 shots. Is that right? Yes. And to go along with the end of the last game where they went two of 16. to end the game. You're right. Ryan, that could have been the two worst losses I've ever experienced

working here on the UK Sports Network. Since we've been a part of this, we've had some bad losses. You know, St. Peters and Oakland, obviously, we're back there in the tournament. But this was such a beat down on both ends of the floor. Could not make a stop. K. could have scored 100 points tonight if he wanted to. Huff could have had it 100 if he wanted to. We could not make a stop.

And then on the offensive end, could not make a bucket. Could not score. You mentioned E.K., this one comes from Corey Price. He had more two-point baskets than the entire Kentucky basketball team tonight. I don't doubt it. Seriously, I don't doubt that. It's pathetic. It's inexcusable.

I mean, I know we'll get to it, but there was a lot of booze in the stadium. I can't, I don't think I would ever boo, but, you know, those people spend a lot of money. Bought tickets, hotel rooms, food, spent a lot of time and effort to watch that pathetic performance. I can understand why they were upset. But regardless of what you feel about the booing, that was a total bad look all the way around. But it was justified. I mean, the product on the court is embarrassing.

Awful. Embarrassing. And they deserve the criticism that they're going to get. Now, this is something that, you know, you mentioned the booing. I look at these guys in the body language just jumps off the screen. Yeah.

No confidence is something that Jack was talking about. This team has no confidence right now. What's their identity? They don't have one. I mean, if you could point to one thing, that this Kentucky basketball team does well, what is it? Just one. Tell me.

Because I don't think there is one thing that this Kentucky basketball team does well. This offense was historically bad. And now we have to pick up the pieces and try to re-evaluate what this season looks like. Because they have final four expectations. Not just because it's Kentucky and it's always final four expectations. But a $22 million roster that we've talked about, These guys were supposed to come in second year of Mark Pope and do great things. But Mark Pope has completely misjudged his roster.

Yeah. He has recruited the wrong guys. I thought we had shooters, guys, Cam Williams, Trent Noah, they can't buy a bucket most of the time. And to be honest, Billy, they're getting worse. This is their worst performance. They played worse tonight than any against North Carolina. At least in North Carolina, they held the Tar Hill to 67 points. It was a close game.

Yeah, it was a close game. This is, they're, they're getting worse. You know, when Mark Pope was hired, we all watched a YouTube video about Mark Pope's offense at BYU. Do you remember this? It was like video game shooting numbers and like analytical approach. And I think we all bought in. We got behind the nostalgia.

And, you know, this could be somebody that brings Kentucky back to a promised land where the jersey means more than the name on the back, whatever. Where's that office? I mean, this could be... Didn't see it tonight. He's below 500 against power four teams. Yeah, now he's 14 and 16, right? I think he's against power 14.

There's no fire. There's no energy. There's no leadership. Now, I will give credit to Pope. He was much better in the post game. You know, he's usually very down. I thought he gave some better answers tonight. But when I say leadership, I also mean on the court.

I mean, you went all in on two experienced guys and gave him some big NIL dollars this year. Takeda O'A and Brandon Garrison. And you could argue those are the two biggest disappointments of the year. Definitely Brandon Garrison. And then your two top transfer portal guys, Aberdeen's not living up to his potential. Diabate hasn't played in a month. Like I said, they're getting worse,

but at the same time, I don't know what the answer is. And I don't know if you heard the post game show, but Jack Given said he could tell during pregame warmups, the energy just wasn't there. Like they were not even focused. On the other hand, then Gonzaga, you could tell they are ready to play a big-time game,

and Kentucky was not, they just weren't ready. I mean, they lost, how many points to Michigan? 30, 40? And then beat Kentucky by 35 tonight? Yes. I saw the stat at the end of the game. First, in the modern era, a team lose by 30,

and then turn around and win by 30 against two ranked teams. Then you have DeMarcus cousins tweeting after the game. Did you see what he said, Ryan? Yeah, that's, well, Pope was asked about it in the postgame news conference. Jack Pilgrim asked him about it. DeMarcus cousins, can't lie, this UK team has no heart. This is hard to watch. Shake my head.

It is hard to watch. It was really hard to watch. As bad as it was against Michigan State the other night, I mean against North Carolina the other night, this was worse. Couldn't score, and then you couldn't stop anybody. I'm glad you brought up the fans in Nashville because I feel bad for them. They spend a lot of money to go to these marquee games. Yep.

And in the marquee games this year, Kentucky's 0 and 4. And now you really have to question, will they win a non-conference game outside of North Carolina Central on Tuesday? When Indiana comes into Rupp Arena, are they going to make a three? Like, these are the questions we have to start asking ourselves. Now, I am not going to call myself a basketball, Benny. I'm not going to break down the screens. I'm not going to break down the play calling that was happened in the game.

So this show is for you. 859-280-2287. We want to hear your thoughts tonight like we always do. Ryan, I thought I was flying solo tonight, so I booked a guest. Well, that's a good guest. Matt Norlander, the National College Basketball writer, will be joining us for the first call of the next segment. I want to get a national perspective of what he thinks about this team. Absolutely, somebody from the outside looking in.

You know, we're all crushed because we're fans. Okay. Let's hear what he has to say. He's a basketball Benny. He's a basketball expert. Let's hear what he has to say because I am almost at a loss for words right now. just trying to think of what to say going on this postgame show without completely burning bridges, right? I mean, I work with the UK network, right? So I stay positive. I want Kentucky to succeed.

But we're human, and we see what people are saying. Pope is over his head. Pope's on the hot seat. Pope's this big job too big for him. I mean, it's starting to get out there. And now, Billy, I mean, it's not crazy. They're in danger of not making the. NCAA tournament. They're not an NCAA tournament team right now. No way. I don't know how you look at this team and think that they're going to have any success against physical teams in the SEC. Now, Jaden Quaitens could come back. Jalen Lowe came back and had some energy tonight. Yeah. But does this roster have the puzzle pieces to make a sweet 16 or elite eight?

I just, I've run out of patience. I've just, my doubts have overcome. So give us a call tonight, 859-280-2287. You're on the local Toyota dealers, KSR postgame. show. When we come back, we'll speak with Matt and Orlando, and then we'll hand it off to you. We want to hear what you think about tonight, and I'm sure there's going to be some calls. Hey, volleyball team one. Volleyball team one. Volleyball school. We are a volleyball school, no doubt. That's right. It's Ryan Lemon and Billy Rutledge. Filling in for Matt tonight, we're thinking about him, but we'll hear from you next.

You're on the local Toyota dealers, KSR postgame show. Welcome back. This is the local Toyota dealers KSR postgame show, picking up the pieces after Kentucky's 94 to 59 lost to Gonzaga down in Nashville. It's Billy Rutledge and Ryan Lemon. I thought I was flying solo tonight, so I wanted a national perspective. Before we get to the phones, Matt Norlander of CBS Sports has a great job covering college basketball. He joined Matt on his interrupted with Matt Jones podcast a couple of months ago, where we talked a little bit about Kentucky.

And Matt now joins us live here on the post game show. Matt, thank you for taking some time. But I need some help, man. You got to help me talk through this Kentucky basketball team. What is going on with Kentucky right now? Well, the actual answer is that can only be brought forth by the coaching staff and the players because they're the ones that have been living through this for the past month plus and know what really is the temperature, what really is the environment, what really is the vibe

in the practices, in the film sessions, on the bus, on the planes, all of it, right? Pre-game, in huddles, post-game, halftime, they only truly know the answer to that. This Kentucky team sits at 5 and 4. It does not have a win against a team that ranks better than 195th at Ken Palm. It has had four losses to four teams that are well on their way to what seems to be quality against AA tournament seeds. The best loss of the group just happened earlier this week at home against UNC, which was a miserable offensive performance on Kentucky's behalf. and then you come back a few days later and are on the receiving end of history.

And the history is that Gonzaga, which I saw in person, get vaporized by Michigan by 40 points. Mark Few took the worst loss in his coaching career all of nine days ago. Gonzaga is now the only team to ever, ever, lose to a ranked opponent by 30 or more points and turn around in its next game win by 30 or more points

against a ranked opponent. So we can dive into Kentucky, but right off the top here, I know you asked me about the Wildcats. I do want to at least acknowledge this. Gonzaga does rate, with the exception of the mission game, as one of the three or four best teams in college basketball. It is probably going to wind up with a one, two, or at worst, a three next to its name when selection Sunday rolls around. Keep in mind at least the competition on display in Nashville. Now, having said that, it's 94-59. It's completely unacceptable, obviously, for every single Kentucky fan.

I did tweet it earlier tonight. I tweeted it because I meant it. Kentucky is the most overpaid, overrated, and disappointing team in college basketball through the first five weeks of the season. It doesn't have to go this way. We don't have to get to February and that is still the case, but that is still, it's very much the case right now. Injuries, has that played a part of it? Sure. You get Jalen Lowe back tonight. Great. He only gets one point off the bench, 14 minutes, going to need some more time to ease back in. But at least he's on the floor. I know there was a fraction of Kentucky fans who were cynical about the idea that he would ever play in a Kentucky uniform again. They lack real aggressiveness.

They lack real heart. I know the DeMarcus Cousins tweet is Ari going to gain traction. And for all I know, maybe he's the only former player that tweeted about him. But if we get to midday Saturday and find out there's actually a few more than just than cousins, I won't be surprised whatsoever. They don't have a collective identity. And feel free to follow up. want. But I tell you what, the thing that is sitting with me in the heaviest manner right now on a Friday night is I was at the Garden when Kentucky lost to Michigan State. 836. It took Mark

Pope about 50 minutes to get from the end of that game into the postgame media press conference. And although I don't know this, I just suspected that in that post game locker room, he probably went harder at them than maybe he's ever gone at any of his teams or certainly any after any Kentucky game. Part of that was informed by the fact that his voice just felt like it was coming off horse. Like he was someone who was not just coaching a game for two hours, but maybe a little more after that. Well, I don't know if he did or didn't do that. But if you did it against Michigan State and it still hasn't worked, then I don't know where we go from here. Because when I talked to Pope amid that New York City trip, he told me that the next two weeks,

not even like week and a half, we're going to be crucial, not just because they played bi-game opponents, but there was some good time off, and it was good. going to determine what kind of team they really were going to be this season. Well, we've seen since then, yeah, okay, they wiped the floor with Loyal and Merritt and Tennessee Tech, whatever. Those are Ken Palm 300 teams. They didn't win at home against the UNC team that looks to be solid. That should have been Kentucky's game for the taking. And then the utter, like, epic no-show here. It is, it is vexing to say the least. And Pope will own it. I don't doubt that. Like, I don't doubt his ability to say this is all on me. I get all that. That can only last you

so long. And this is now turning to be an uglier situation than basically anyone would have thought possible in the first 25% of the second season in Lexington. Unacceptable is the right word. And this is a fan base that doesn't have a ton of patience, but I think the criticism is very valid. You're somebody that's reported that it was a $22 million roster that Kentucky used with NIL dollars, but just something seems broken right now. I don't know if it was the pregame before the Louisville nonsense or if Mark Pope just takes these losses too hard. What are your thoughts on Pope? You mentioned Gonzaga. Mark Fuse is doing it again, right? He's, I mean, it's been one of the most consistent programs over the last two decades. Do you have confidence that Mark Pope can do

something like that eventually? Or are there some real question marks now? There could be. One quick fact check here. I never actually reported the $22 million figure. My reporting has always in Kentucky was the most expensive roster in college basketball, and I was of the belief that it was encroaching upon the $20 million. Whatever, it doesn't matter. $15,000, $18,000, $20,000, $272 million. $272 million. It doesn't matter.

The entire roster is proving to be overpaid at this point vastly, like just dramatically. But just a quick fact check on that point there, because I know that 20. This is what happens, though. You get the number that gets reported. This becomes the biggest thing. I wrote this two weeks ago after the Michigan State game. You get a number, you become the team that pays the most for your roster in college basketball, and if you do not show up and perform as a top 10 team in the country,

that's the thing that gets attached to you. It just does. That comes with the territory. Pope and his staff knew it. At a certain point, when you're going to recruit and you're going to recruit players that are really expensive, and other schools are going to lose out to you. Word is just going to get around in the sport. There's no avoiding it.

They didn't even necessarily run from it, but now this can really boomerang back on you in a negative way, and they've got to figure out how to hand it. all of this stuff. Everything that comes with losing and everything that comes with losing with this price tag attached to it. This is a new dynamic in college sports. It's really only been around for about two or three years truly. And so for coaching staffs, particularly at the high major level, dealing with it when it goes wrong, it will have to be an acquired skill. There's no doubt about it. Does Pope have the ability as a coach to wrangle this and turn it around? I do think that he does. And the reason why I say that is there's going to be a lot of Kentucky

cynics, skeptics, doubters. There's probably, you know, Kentucky fans that are emotional in the moment, are like, I'm already done with Pope. Like, let's get a move on. That's not going to happen. However, yeah, yeah. And that's fans, that's reactionary stuff. It may have all, it could eventually prove to be true, sure, but he's not on the hot seat.

He's not going to lose his job this year. And frankly, they would have to be catastrophically awful in order for him to lose his job anytime before year four on that. So, you know, plenty of time for him to turn around. He has got such a. a devotion and earnest dedication to this job that I do give him a chance to figure it out. If and when Quaintiffs, and I say if, I mean, it really should be a when Quaintance can get on the floor, and that might not be for another month. We'll have to wait and see on that.

He will truly be a game-changing kind of player if Lowe can get healthier. Ortega Oway's stats kind of feel quasi-empty this season. They've got to figure out some stuff there, but hopes connection with this team. I do think it's a real thing. I say that having seen it firsthand already, you know, kind of in private scenes from the season, he can do it. Will he become, it remains a huge, huge question. Knowing Pope the Wids and I know him and knowing that staff, like, they're not going to rest.

Like, they know what the charge is here. Like five and four, don't deserve to be ranked, won't be ranked next week. They get a buy game next week. And then they host Indiana. And then they've got St. John's in the CBS Sports Classic. And there's a chance that game could actually be between the two. But most disappointing teams in the country, we'll see if St. John's can do what it should do tomorrow when it hosts Mississippi at Madison Square Garden. So, yes, there are still things that need to be determined in terms of lineups, rotations.

Pope wants to go 10 deep. I don't know if you can do that. Also did not shoot enough, excuse me, did not recruit enough good shooters. Kentucky ranks outside the top 203 point accuracy as is. and I'm not yet subscribing to the idea that Kentucky had a lot of good things about its offense a season ago, but it might have lacked the defensive aggression and overall profile to be a true national championship contender. And so as a result, they totally overcorrected and now are paying the price for that. I'm not sure if that's actually the case, but there are certain players on this roster that are getting a certain amount of minutes

that probably should not be getting as many as they are to this point. and figuring out who's it going to be is going to be a big issue. Because keep in mind, when you spend that amount of money on a roster, there's a lot of expectations. I'm a player-by-player basis in that locker room that come with it, and balancing all that is not easy. And so here we have Kentucky, five and four, with two more high-profile games left on the non-conslate,

and then the SEC is not as good this season as it was last season. Kentucky is now contributing to that even more so, but it will be tough, and it doesn't get off with an easy way. A month from now, they'll open league play on the road against an Alabama team that quite possibly could be ranked in the top ten by the time we get to that game.

So I'm sure Kentucky fans are highly emotional and just searching for answers. I know I'm going along here a little bit on you, but I do want to at least give you my perspective on a lot of this stuff. I think that there is still a chance that Pope can figure out a way to level this and get Kentucky to be an NCAA tournament team.

That is a drastic change in perspective from what Kentucky was in the preseason, whereas pre-season ranking was. But that's all out the window. Now you have to figure out who are the players you can rely upon. What are you doing that is not working? Eliminate that and determine how you can win against viable competition. Because to this point, they've come up short. And with the exception of the home North Carolina,

the other three losses, they were just no doubt about it. Kentucky was not, wasn't prepped enough, didn't have enough aggression. They weren't together on the floor, and Friday was a combination of that, and the fact that, oh, by the way, Gonzaga very well could be on the short list of national championship contenders, and they were really ticked off after Michigan pulled their pants down in Vegas more than a week ago. Matt Norlander covers college basketball for CBS Sports. You can follow them on Twitter at Matt Norlander. Matt, we've only talked one time before this. Thank you for taking some time to join me tonight. This has been great perspective. And if they get beat by 35 again, we may have to have you back on. Would that be all right? Well, I guess that's a deal, depending on the day. And then I'll leave you with this and for you to Kentucky fans listening.

The only silver lining is it is a loaded, loaded, loaded, loaded week in college basketball and sports. There is so much happening on Saturday and on Sunday that this, in the moment right now, this feels like the biggest thing. By the time we get to Monday morning, Kentucky losing the way it did outside the city of Lexington and outside the state's borders will not even rank as a top 10 result overall. I wouldn't think. But that being said, I'll do a quick plug. I on college basketball podcast, me and my co-host, Gary Parrish, this game will get. I'm going to repeat a lot of what I said tonight on that show on Sunday. But I appreciate you having me on, and good luck, and we'll talk on down the way.

Yeah, thank you very much, Matt. We appreciate it. Have a great night. It's kind of interesting to hear somebody from the outside in. You know, we're all in panic mode. I'm just looking at social media. Everybody's just, you know, poppops on the hop seat. We're a 500 team at best, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But it's good to hear somebody from the outside. that perspective. Like, hey, he can still turn it around. You know, they've still got good players. He is. He's still a good coach. He also mentioned the emotional Kentucky fan. We may hear from some tonight.

I'll guarantee they're loaded up on hold right now. And that's what this show is for. So I appreciate everybody listening to Matt Norlander and us Yap for 20 minutes, but it's time to take some calls. 859-2802-287. Blandin is our first caller tonight. What's up, Blanton? Hey, Billy and Ryan, how are you on?

You guys must be getting hazardous. pay tonight. I wish. I wish. But we are here for you, Blaine. What did you think of the game? Yeah, guys, I want to ask you guys a couple simple questions that I don't understand in watching this team.

Tonight, to me, their shot selection was absolutely putrid. I've never in my life seeing the team continue to take bad shots like this one does. They're outside shooting. First of all, they don't have any good shooters outside at all. and they will continue one sequence. They come down the floor, and one young man pulls up and shoots a 25-footer, and there's literally four players from Gunzaga

that had it sealed off, and there was not a Kentucky player within that four-man circle. And I don't understand the shot selections there on offense. And it's like their offense to me looks like you're trying to shove a square object in a round hole. It's just they're trying to force these shots, and they're not, the chemistry is terrible, body language is terrible. He has got to make, I mean, they just don't have an elite point guard to sure you guys.

And to me, in college basketball now, you must have an elite point guards that can score the basketball and can facilitate, handle the ball, and set up stuff. And they, to me, look like giant, around objects trying to fit in square holes. I just don't understand the offense, period. Okay, Blanin, thank you for the call. Appreciate it. Well, not only did we take bad shots, we take them without running any offense execution at all.

It's like some of our basketball IQ is not very smart. Well, they're just standing around. Yeah, there was a time, one time we had three guys on the wing just standing there. And I will say this too, that we showed some effort in the second half, and Pope left those guys out there. A second time he's left the guys out there in the second half. It was Jasper, Colin, Otega,

Malachi and Yelovich, I think, for most of that stretch there. He just left them go, let them go. They were getting their brains beat in, but least they were given some effort, and he left them out there. Yeah, effort is another big thing. I come on these shows and I say I don't ever want to question these guys' effort because they want to win, right? No, it wasn't there the first half.

But the motivation level of college athletes has changed. Yeah. You have to think about NIL. Shannon the dude, my co-hosts on the pre-show. He is the most money-motivated person I've ever met in my life. You tell him if you give him a couple bucks, he will do it. Fair. He will not do it until you give him those couple bucks.

Is there any chance that these guys are letting money impact the way that they treat each other? I mean, I don't think that's far-fetched. I don't think it's far-fetched either. I think there's just, there's some issues going on and it may go back to NAL money, may go back to, I got to get mine, I got to get, you know, improve my NBA status. I don't know. Right now, though, Mark Pope has to show some leadership. He has to show he's not just a former player that gets down when his team loses. He needs to show that he can bring this team back.

Well, Tom Leach was trying to talk to him on the postgame show, and Mark said one word. He did, but that was near the end. He did much better than he did in games past. I think maybe somebody got to him and said, you've got to talk a little more. That one, he said something about the effort, and he said, we were paralyzed. That was a great word. I kind of felt like that's kind of how we seemed like we wore tonight. We were paralyzed.

Todd is up next. What's up, Todd? Ryan and Billy. You know, I haven't seen an ass kicking like this, probably since we got beat by Vanderbilt back during the Billy Gillespie days. I was there. I was at that game. And this NIL money,

I don't know if it's possible or not, but they need to take this money and say, say, you're going to have to earn this money. You know, well, Todd, they can't do that. They can't do that. No, they can't do that because the other schools are going to give it to them up front. And that way we wouldn't get anybody here.

And that already happened to a degree. I mean, Michigan paid more money for the Yaxel guy than Kentucky did. And that's where he went. North Carolina paid more money to Caleb Wilson than Kentucky did. That's where he went. Their priorities were to keep guys that were returning. We can't say we'll pay you more if you get a. double double. I know. I know. It's, it's, uh, everybody would have to do it. And I'm sure that

could never be pulled off. But I mean, I believe it would work if they could get it, uh, get it the past, you know, where, you know, like anybody else in their job, you know, they don't get paid unless they do the work. And, um, I don't know. I, I'm just frustrated. it seems like we struggle so hard to get anybody open for a shot. And on defense, it's like we let them push us under the basket, and then we're going to try to block a shot, but we can't do it because they're already under the basket and they lay it in. It's just really frustrating.

I had no idea this was going to be the kind of year it has. But anyway, that's my rant. I'm sticking by it. We're with you, Todd, and we appreciate you calling in. Thanks for joining us tonight. You know, here's the thing that eats me up, Ryan. Gonzaga didn't even play good. I mean, that first half, they weren't shooting the ball well.

No, the first TV time that was about five to one. They were missing bunnies in the first 10 minutes of the game. They're big guys. Yeah. Before your Jay went off. You heard Jimmy Dike say, man, they hit these shots. I'm shocked. They're missing these shots. Yeah, they weren't even playing well.

And Kentucky just could not take advantage of the moment. You mentioned Mark Pope saying the word paralyzed in the post game. I mean, do you think that this moment was too big? Do you think these guys are coming in scared? Well, you heard Jack Given say they were not ready to play. They weren't focused. There was no energy during pregame warmups. And poor Malachi Marino, he got bullied all night long by those two big guys, you know.

He sure did. Malachi's played so well all year long, but tonight was not his night. Well, I mean, you have a freshman starting at center because you prioritized Brandon Garrison. who is not ready for the moment. He's not performing. Performing. So the roster construction, Matt Norlander mentioned it, I think, is going to be under a microscope. Yep.

Dynasty is up next. Yes, guys. Just thank you guys for filling in for Matt and praise for Matt's father. Absolutely. Guys, I think we're seeing why no one is excited about this higher. I think Barnhart and everybody got us excited about it, but unfortunately, I really don't think this guy's for us. He has not won any big games this year,

and it's going to be a rough year. What do you guys think about if we don't make the tournament this year? What's going to happen then? Well, Dynasty, let me ask you before I let you go. Did you not buy in with the revival at Rupp, the Sweet 16 with Tennessee? Were you not on board? with Pope before the season started?

Oh, yes, for sure, for sure. And that's what I'm saying. Yeah, they bought us all of us, I think, in on this. And I think it was a little bit of full's code, honestly. No, that's fair. I mean, that's a fair opinion to have. You know, this was a coach that had not won an NCAA tournament game before he came to Kentucky.

You could argue that is not a good enough resume to come to Kentucky. You could have hired Mark Pope at any time. He was a former player that would have loved the job. So I don't know. I mean, some of that comes back to Mitch. And Dynasty, do you have anything else for? We let you go? Yeah, I just think it's, if we don't make the tournament this year,

I think it's time to move on before we end up like UCLA. And I think that should be it, man. All right, Dynasty, thank you for the call. I don't think that happens. I think they could lose every game the rest of the year, and Mark Pope wouldn't get fired. I think that's just a Mitch Barnhart thing right now. He went to the Sweet 16 last year.

You can have a bad year. This isn't acceptable. It's definitely not acceptable. And like we said, they're in danger of not making the NCAA tournament. And that is unacceptable. But we've lived through it before. We saw John Cali Perry not make the NCAA tournament one year. Came back, had some good season.

So I agree with you. I mean, even if they fall in their face this year, I don't think he would lose his job. I just don't. But look at how much fun everybody's having in the non-conference right now, Ryan. Like these great games. Awesome games. Good matchups. And Kentucky just can't beat a team that doesn't have a direction in it.

wouldn't four in our big non-conference games. It's been very disappointing. gotten worse in each one of them. That's what's scary. Yeah, you're right. The Louisville loss is the best we played in a loss. Jalen Lowe actually looked pretty decent. Yeah, he did stretch in that game.

Jalen Lowe did return tonight. How did he look to you? I mean, they seemed to have a little energy when he came in, but then once they got out of control, he just Pope did the smart thing and not put him back out there. No risk any, don't risk any additional injury when you're getting beat by 30. so he kind of shut him down. But at least I think, you know, I saw what a little spark when he came in at that moment.

Yeah, I guess. Dylan is up next. We'll take a couple more. Then we'll take a break. 859-280-2287. Dylan, what's up? Hey, how y'all doing today? We're hanging in there, man.

What about you? Oh, man, it's a tough one. I don't know about everybody else, but I'm a real big Pope advocate. He's just such a nice guy. But it comes to the point where I feel like he's just, just like this locker room it's done like i just don't get a good vibe about anybody getting along i think this year's just like a lost cause and uh like they just don't vibe together they don't i don't know i don't know how to explain it but um i was just wanting to kind of touch base with

y'all and see what y'all thought about the whole like um like how they're playing and stuff like I mean, it seems like a lost cause for this year. Like, when I was at the Carolina game, and we hit one three in front of Tashon Prince, Rajon Rondo, and it's just like, man, it was embarrassing. Yeah, and then the guy that hit a three tonight was Brandon Garrison again. He hit the first one. Yeah, I know. That's what I'm. Let B.G. Cook, man.

I mean, that just summarizes it all, doesn't it? Yeah, absolutely. I know I wasn't the only one that's like, as soon as he went and put up at three, I was like, no. go Garrison and then he hit it and I'm like yes Garrison let's go baby yeah well I mean that's all I had in thinking about Matt and his dad and hope everything gets to going better yeah us too Dylan thank you for calling in and saying that yeah I mean they're playing bad I mean there's no other way to say it and there there are no shooters on this team right now no sure nobody I mean the guys were supposed to be our shooters Colin Chandler Trent Noah cam Williams jasper Johnson

nobody's shooting the ball will Denzel Aberdeen's going to get his shots up though no matter what Well, golly, he's going to make sure he gets going to get his shots in. He drove the lane one time and forced up a shot, and Otega was wide open in the corner. I mean, there was nobody within 15 feet of him, and he forced up something down in the lane. I mean, it was 11 minutes before Kentucky got a basket in this game, Ryan, and it was Aberdeen. They were on pace to score eight points, one every five minutes there for a while. That's unbelievable. For a coach that has the innovative offense, right?

One more and we'll take a break. Ryan is up next. What's up, Ryan? Hey, guys. I'm not going to do the thing everybody does and ask how y'all are doing because I already know. Just wanted to say I was at the game and give a little perspective of what it was like and really what a wasted opportunity it was. Because that place was primed. you know, you guys have said before that the games in Nashville,

it's just a different version of the fan base, you know, the ones that maybe don't get to go to Rupp all the time. You know, before the game was just electric, the chance in line to get into the arena. Just walking to the arena, you could hear Katz chance coming out of the open doors of the bars. It was just, you know, it was kind of like an NBA arena, experience and the two loudest cheers, I would say that, because there were some really

loud boos, the loudest cheers were 11 minutes into the game when we scored our first basket. And then sometime in the second half, I believe we cut it to 25. And everybody got excited. I mean, how sad is that? but you know it the fans wanted they wanted it had had Kentucky been able to just even keep it to I'd say 10 if they would have been able to keep it within 15 that crowd would have stayed in and they would have gotten loud on the defensive possessions and you know tried it's just there was nothing to cheer for just just nothing um and and yeah I don't know how it came across on the TV broadcast, but the booze were loud.

They boot them into the locker room at halftime. That was loud. And you stayed for the whole game, Ryan? I wish I could say I did. I stayed longer. I left right about the five-minute mark left in the game. And, you know, and that's another thing. I mean, I'm sitting there thinking about traffic over these $200 a piece.

tickets that I'm you know the seats that I'm sitting in because there was just nothing there you know and I'm a huge fan man and and I will say I live in Nashville so I didn't have to pay for a hotel I didn't have to go out you know and eat dinner beforehand I can't imagine what what some of these people paid I'm just paying for the tickets but a lot of people left before I did and you know just the overall take for me is I could sit here and complain about what insane or lack of offense were running, nothing. But just the missed opportunity for all of those people that were there tonight that, you know, you hear about a bunch of fan base booing their coach.

Appreciate it. Thank you, man. We got to go ahead. Appreciate it. He's right. That fan base down there is a different fan base. The ones that go to the SEC tournament, the ones that go on the road. That's why I understand why they were up.

set? I mean, like I said, I couldn't do it. And it was a bad look, but those booze were definitely loud, came through the TV, especially at halftime. And then ESPN isolated on some of our fans booing our team as they walked off the court. That was rough. That was a bad look. I mean, there's no other way to put it. Kentucky is the story of college basketball tonight. There's not a ton of games going on right now. On a Friday night. And they just got whooped by Gonzaga. You got Tulane and North Texas playing in football in Kentucky playing in Gonzaga and a high profile game in Nashville, and we stunk it up. And we got Tulane up 31 to 7 against North Texas.

Looks like Summerall might be making that playoff game. Crazy. Crazy. Tulane could be in the playoffs. Coaching for two schools right now. That's crazy, too. 859-2802-287. We need to take a break.

We will be right back here on the local Toyota Dealer's KSR post-game show. Welcome back to the local Toyota dealers KSR post-game show, Billy Rutledge, and Ryan Lemon filling in for Matt Jones tonight. And again, we want to say Matt apologizes for not being here. If you've heard him talk about it this week on KSR and he's posted it on Facebook, his dad is having a medical issue going on right now. So Matt is with his family, as he should be tonight. So all prayers for Larry tonight.

And, you know, we're happy to fill in, too, even though it was a bad loss for the cats. Where'd you watch the game tonight? I was at Yoga Girls' House in Georgetown. Okay. It's a popular spot for you. I'm glad you came into the station, though. You could have easily done it. at Yoga Girls' house. So thanks for coming in to see my preface. Well, we couldn't let you do the show by

yourself tonight because we knew this was going to be fans got stuff they want to say. And it's kind of good to have an extra voice while you're having a monumental loss like this. So while I'm not only hosting right now, I'm also answering the phones. So if you're on hold and I haven't talked to you yet, just keep holding on. We'll get to you. But we need to take some more calls. 859-280-2287. Timmy Tucker's wife is on the phone, Ryan. Who's Timmy Tucker? I don't know. Hello. Timmy Tucker's life. Well, hello. First of all, I want to say prayers to Matt and his family, and we all understand why he can't be there. Absolutely. Second of all, I want to say, Ryan, I saw you at Sulphur Creek Marina, and I told you that I would take you a ride on my boat next summer when you all came down.

Oh, I remember this. Yeah, I'll be glad to get on somebody's boat down at Sulphur Creek Marina. We're coming back. We'll have to do that. Yeah, absolutely. But for perspective, I'm 41 years old. old and I'm a season ticket holder and I spend a lot of money and so had my friends and I'm used to Patino and tubby in the early years of Cal other than Gillespie I'm used to winning and Kentucky basketball is the standard and we are not living up to the standard right now and I don't share the same sentiment as everyone else because I rode hard for Cal for a long time up until the last year or two and I'm tired of being patient. I'm not going to ride for a pope like that.

I am done. D-U-N. done. And Mitch Barnhart, he's going to go out with a blaze of glory, and he needs to decide which way that's going to go. And I got one question. My insurance agent told me, I don't know if this is true or not, but I want you all to ask Matt,

is the assistant AD married to someone in management at JMI? Because if so, that needs to be addressed. And that's all I have to say. Thank you. Well, thank you, Timmy Tucker's wife. You know, I'm not sure on the fact check of the assistant AD and JMI, but, you know, I think she has the same frustrations as a lot of fans right now, Ryan. And she is legit and everything she says.

These fans spend a lot of money. I got to text from one of my friends. Well, Jeff Brewer from the Commonwealth band, he said, I bought two burgers, two fries, two large drinks for $73. Kat scored 59 points. Oh, geez. He spent more money on burgers. and fries and he did the cat scored points. Yeah, well, it can kind of get away from you if you buy a ton of concessions like that.

But are you D-U-N with Pope? I'm not. I know a lot of people are, and they're, you know, in this microwave society, we're quick to pull the trigger on things. So I still am willing, I said this before. I give coaches a longer lease probably being a lot of people because my dad was a coach. So I'm not D-U-N with him yet. Are you?

No. No, I'm not. But like... Now they lose Indiana. The honeymoon is definitely done. The honeymoon is over. And all that stuff. It's long over.

Yeah, no doubt. I'll tell you, the thing, like I said, the thing it's most frustrating for me is that they've gotten worse each of these four losses. I mean, the first two were, they got run, but they made good comebacks and kind of cut it in the second half. North Carolina, they played great defense, just couldn't score. It was a close game at the end. It was.

Tonight they couldn't score, and they couldn't play good defense. And I don't know about you. I mean, I'm running the game. and I didn't pay attention to the second half. Like I was just checked out. Like I wasn't going to watch any more of that product. I was more watching my draft king's under bit. Are you betting punt?

I bet over under. I bet over under. The pun equivalent in college basketball. Yeah. Let's take another call. 859-280-2287. Nick is on the line. What's up, Nick?

Hey, I have we go. Here's my thing. You know, the days when UK was dominant in the SEC, we would go to Alabama. and then the Mississippi, whatever, they would play extremely physical. Hacking, you know, they would get in foul trouble, et cetera, this and that. I just don't see us being able to score. My philosophy is, are we just going to have to resort to just, you know, we had two fouls at, what, a certain point in the second half,

when we should have probably had four or five. Like, I think fouls represent a hustle, and I just didn't see it, you know. Does that make sense to you all? Are we going to have to resort to hacking and just being physical? Can this team do it? That's a second time I've heard that. I saw it on social media. This one guy said,

how did EK only have shoot like four free throws and huff shot like five free throws? Like, why weren't we more physical with those two guys down the pain? Because you're not the aggressor. I mean, Jack Givens talks about this on the radio broadcast all the time. When you are the one being the aggressor, you force the refs to have to start making calls. If you're going to play passive and just stand around and wait for the ball to come to you, then you're not going to get these calls. But if you're aggressive and you make the ref make these calls, then yeah, more are going to go your way.

So I think it's got to be like a mindset thing. Like it has to be a whole overhaul with this team. And I think it starts from, you know, the leaders on your team. Probably player led right now. And we need a mom. I mean, let's commit. Sorry, let's start committing foul. Let's start, you know, do it on purpose.

You know, we got to do something. Yeah, appreciate. Thank you, Nick. You know, we need an Amari Williams so bad on this team. Yes. Big, physical, strong. You're not going to push him around at the same time. Good leader.

Remember how mad he would get when things weren't going well, and he'd get the snarl face there on the little huddle? We need an Amari Williams. Well, he was soft-smoking, so when he did speak, you listened. Amen. And you knew something was wrong. But the bigger problem is you don't have a big that can initiate any offense. I mean, Brandon Garrison is not that guy.

No. He couldn't make a shot tonight. He couldn't even hit the rim tonight. And apparently he's got the green light because he was shooting, no doubt. I mean, Jaden Quaitens is going to have to change a lot about this team's identity for them to think that they're going to even sniff the NCAA tournament this year. Am I wrong? No, you're two, you're right. You're two big physical guys are sitting on the bench, Jaden Quatens and Diabate.

Those are your two physical, strong guys that can maybe push people around and not let us get pushed around. And they're both on the bench and sweats. And then you have to start hitting shots. Like, I'm sorry. What were they from three point land today? Today, seven of 34. Seven of 34. I don't even want to know what the total is between the last two games.

So they were one of 13. Yeah. So they're eight of 47. Figure that percentage out. I said I didn't want to know, but you told me. And it hurts just as much as I thought it would. Cameron is up next. Cameron, what's up?

First time, long time. Whoa? Yeah, so this was the 43rd game of the Pope era. And in 13 of those games, they've already been down 13 points. I mean, Kenny Payne could have done better than that. Well, I'll give you a stat. Somebody tweeted this at me. I don't know if it's true or not, but he said,

Kenny Payne's worst loss at Louisville was 32 points. And unfortunately, Pope beat that. And he just lost by 35. Yep, exactly. Bring Kenny back. Cameron, appreciate the call, man. So 8 of 47 in three point land. So what that means is they've missed 39 three-pointers in the last two games.

Missed 39 three-pointers. They couldn't hit the broadside of the barn. But yet we can't miss it during this summer. we're lighting it up. We're hitting a hundred in a row. So what's the disconnect? I mean, how come Trent Noah can't hit a shot anymore? I don't know.

I don't know. He was playing good until he got hurt and he just hasn't been the same kid since he came back from that injury. Cam Williams didn't have a point. He played 15 minutes, zero points. And he's your shooter. He's your best shooter on the team, they said,

and he can't buy one. In the pregame, you guys talked about a college writer that did four reasons why Kentucky basketball has not been successful this year. That's right. Point guard play was one of them. I wrote it down somewhere, Ryan, because I wanted to talk about it again. You doubled up on skill sets. You have two of everything, but no dominant player at any position.

Right. You have only one guy that's shooting an open three that you feel good about right now in Colin Chandler. That's it. And then finally, you have no shooter at the four. Nope. Cam Williams, I guess, isn't going to be that guy if he can't make a shot. Yelovich is not that guy. You had a shooter at the four last year.

Made a big difference, didn't it? Andrew Carr. He had two shooters and Angley Aminor. It made a world of difference. So I just, you know, and Norlander touched on this. Pope just went completely opposite of what happened last year. He saw his deficiencies in the SEC. He went and got Mo Diavate.

He went and got more physical, but relied on returning players maybe a little too much. 85928027. Let's see who we got here. Is it Bub? Bub is on the line. Bob, what's up? Bob. Is this me?

Yeah, that's you. Is that now your name? Oh, my God. Guys, I'm so mad. This is crazy. You caught me in the middle of the light of ice cream. But this analytics, full crap,

who cares? We're Kentucky. We go and dominate. Who cares what the analytics says? That happens for a long range of teams. Let's go beat these teams. Let's go win. Why can't we, this, I don't, I don't understand what is happening.

I'm sorry. And prayers for Matt family, Matt family. This is, yeah, once again, you caught me off guard. But guys, oh, my God. Thanks, Bob. Now, Bob, we appreciate you. We appreciate you calling in and enjoy that ice cream. Don't apologize.

You did, you did fine. You know, I can't remember who it was. I don't remember it was Jack Givens or Sean Woods or one of these guys I heard, you know. The guys that he went out. and got were like the fifth person on the on the scouting report like denzil abidine may have been the sixth or seventh guy on the florida scouting report diabate was like the fifth or sixth guy on the alabama scouting report you know he didn't go out and get guys that were the number one player on the scouting report last year oa was probably the third or fourth guy on the scouting report behind

uh... coby brea and so you know somebody's other guy as lamont butler and even amari yeah so you got a bunch of six men out there yes Do you think that plays into it? Yeah, I do. And then when you're the guy, it's very different than being the spark plug off the bench. Yeah. When you can't get a basket for eight minutes and everybody's looking around. We hit two free throws.

Well, thank God. I mean, a goose egg would have been even worse when it comes to the perception nationally of this team. When it was 19 to 2, we all knew it was over. It was over. There was no fight in that team at all the night. it was they could have walked off the floor right then it was they were done mad is a big proponent of analytics yeah as is mark pope yeah and i am generally too i mean numbers are numbers right you want to follow trends and patterns but numbers can't tell you if somebody broke up with

their girlfriend that morning yeah numbers can't tell you if somebody's got a stomachache that's true you know there has to be a balance and maybe there is such an emphasis on the numbers that maybe they've been blinded to what sometimes does matter in sports, and that's the human element of it. But you might be right. And if that's, if you are right, it's got to change. I mean, it has to change. Period. Exclamation point. Dot, dot, dot. Who knows what will happen next. Let's take one more and then we'll, we'll take our final break here. I believe it's Christian on the line. Christian, what's up? Hey, guys, what's going on? First time, long time.

who are well there's an old thing that hungry dogs run faster and right now we got a bunch of fat cats sitting around I've never seen the lack of effort

lack of intensity I mean it's 19 to 2 on national television on a Friday night but you know what it's okay because those game checks come through we're fine. Yeah, but everybody's getting paid, right? I mean, Kentucky's not the only

person paying their players. So, I mean, you can have success while you're paying your players like this. You absolutely can. But there is a disconnect with what Mark Pope is preaching with Kentucky this and Kentucky that, and I love Mark Pope. And I wish he

would do well here, but it's hard to preach Kentucky first when those game checks are coming through. And I don't know. I just feel sorry for the fans that drove hours and hours down there and spent hundreds of dollars on the tickets to go and set through that travesty of a basketball game for what? Like this program, Big Blue Nation, has, this decade, no fan base has given more and gotten less in return than the BBN. I mean, when you put it like that, Christian, I mean, I appreciate the call. Thank you for joining us tonight.

I mean, it has been some tough times. We've had some angry postgame shows for the football season this year, Ryan. I did not expect the anger to come up this quickly within the basketball season. Especially we were riding so high after last season. You know, he kind of exceeded our expectations, got to the Sweet 16, you know, Lamont Butler's injury and Jackson Robinson's injury kind of didn't slow us down as much of these injuries seem to have flowed us down this year. It just seems like just going backwards right now. We're just getting worse.

They beat eight top 15. AP teams last year. I think it was a record, or at least tied the record. How are they doing against top ranked teams this year? Now, they're under 500 against power four opponents in Mark Pope's time here at Kentucky. I don't know what changed. I mean, it was Cooper Flagg spinning in the corner, strip it.

It's coming. It was obviously Annabelle. You and Shannon figured it out on the KSR pre-show. It was obviously Annabelle and then Matt making fun of Annabelle. Well, that was part of it. Yeah. And then the sage and the water. Well, that happened up in Seattle.

I know. you guys didn't finish it. We beat Gonzaga after that happened. Shannon forgets that part of the story. Well, you didn't, but the KSR curse still lives on. Well, they'll beat North Carolina Central on Tuesday. Will they? They will, though.

I mean, this is what will inflate their Kenpom numbers, and that's why they're still a top 15 team right now when you look at the numbers. But Ryan, as we've just discussed, sometimes you have to look past just numbers. 859-280-2-287. We need to take a break. When we come back, we'll hit six more callers, and we'll wrap things up here on the local Toyota dealers KSR Postgame Show. Welcome back.

It's our final segment here on a Friday night. Billy Rutledge and Ryan Lemon talking about Kentucky Gonzaga. Before we get back to the phones, Ryan there have been some state championships at Kroger Field. I got the scores. You got the scores. Tell me him. In Class A, Kentucky Country Day beat Raceland 20 to 16. The poor Raceland Rams have been in the state finals like four of the last five years and have yet to win one.

Oh, it's like the bills back in the day. Yes. They could never win the Super Bowl. In 2A, the fighting battle of the Christians versus the Catholics. Lexington Christian Academy beat Owensboro Catholic 3328. And then tonight, Boyle County won its 13th state title. Oh, they won? 34 to nothing over Franklin County.

34 to nothing. Yes. And Franklin County's had a great run here the last several years, but every time they get to the state finals, they have to play Boyle County. Happy for LCA. Happy for LCA. I've enjoyed watching them from afar after we went to Cote. Bullies announcement and we got the radio equipment to work somehow that day.

There are only election in school made it to the state finals, so we were kind of pulling for them. So tomorrow is Murray versus I got Cal. Cal, Christian Academy of Louisville. Owensboro plays Pulaski County in 5A and then Trinity plays South Warren in 6A. That's right. Trinity South Warren too. Bowling Green people.

Who do they lose to? I don't know, but they don't like South Warren. All the good players go to South Warren now. No, that's kind of my neck of the woods. Yes, it is. I called South Warren Games for a while. Oh, you did? And Warren East.

Yeah. And there was no love loss. But the UK volleyball team won tonight. There's one positive thing. They're going to the Sweet 16 next weekend. There we go. Let's go. Go to give the flowers.

Yeah, all right. Yes. Craig Skinner on top of the big blue building. All right. We got six people on the line. All right. Let's run through them, Ryan. Let's go.

Let's do it. Peyton is up next. What's up, Peyton? Hey, guys. First of all, prayers for Matt and his family. I'm one of those people. that the caller earlier alluded to. I live in Hopkinsville,

so Nashville is just a little over an hour for me. I don't always get to go to Rob. And going in, the crowd was great, but it was just so disappointing and deflating for me to pay all that money. I have a seven-week-old kid at home, and I'm at the point to where I'm almost scared to watch games with him so he doesn't become a Louisville fan.

It's just, it's really bad and deflating as a fan to pay this money and go watch and just get that performance. And to top it all off, here's how much of a clown show we were. Dindel Aberdeen was shooting free throws. And on the Jumbotron, it's the number one, Lamont Butler. Oh, wow. Like, what are we doing? How does that happen?

It's just a disaster right now as a program. Thanks for taking my call. Have a great night, guys. Yeah, thank you, Peyton. Well, this is why we pay millions of dollars to sports coaches, because they have to figure it out. They got to figure it out. This is their job.

And you've got to figure it out quick, son. Yeah, so sorry if I don't have a ton of sympathy for these millionaires. But they'll figure. I hope they'll figure out. Three of their next five games. Indiana, St. John's, Alabama. They got North Carolina Central and Bellarmine, but then they play Indiana, St. John's, and Alabama at their next five games.

And how do you think they do? Oh, and three. Two and three. They're at Rupp for the Indiana game, though. I have zero confidence in this team. right now. Zero. Can't shoot, can't score. I'm almost DUN now that I think about it.

They better beat Indiana at Rupertina. You're right. I'll give them that one. You got to beat Indiana at Rupertina. Fighting Scotty Davenports of Bellarmine who was whatever he finally retired over there. What was the guy's name that you guaranteed was coming to Kentucky and then? Lamar Wilkerson. They could really use a Lamar.

Lamar? They could really use a Wilkerson. Yeah, no doubt. team right now. They need a shooter. He's been shooting well. Ryan is up next. Hey, Ryan. Ryan, you there? Yeah, yeah. Sorry, guys. We got you.

So I wasn't going to call into the show, but I just couldn't stand here and listen to the blast me that's been spoke about our head coach. Yes, the team's struggling right now. I think a lot of it just goes back to poor roster construction, which again falls on Pope, but we know what he can do with guys that fit his system. Look at last year. If it wasn't for injuries, that team very well could have been playing in the national championship. I do have one question, though, why aren't we seeing the center at the top of the key like last year running the offense? And I'll leave it at that. Thanks, guys. Yeah, thank you, Ryan. Yeah, I mean, Mark Pope is a good college basketball coach. He didn't get the job for no reason.

But he also needs to be held responsible for the players that he brought in. If you're going to get the praise if you win, you've got to get the blame if you lose. Why the center isn't at the top of the key? Probably because you don't have a center that can distribute the ball. That's it. We don't have an Amari Williams like what Omari could do last year, kind of initiate the offense. I don't think Malachi or Brandon Garrison can do that. And so that's why you don't see it.

That's why you don't see it. But in return, you're not seeing much of anything. Like, what is the offense right now? You asked the question running the show, what is their offensive identity? Yeah. What is it? Is it to wait until Otega Owe wakes up somewhere or midway through the game? Is it to hope Colin Chandler hits a three that's five feet past the three point line?

Like, what is the identity? Hope Denzel Aberdeen jacks up another three or Yellovich shoots another airball? I mean, I don't know what the identity is right now. Look at North Texas coming back. 31, 21. seven minutes left here. Andrew is up next. How you doing, Andrew?

I'm doing good guys. Thanks for taking my call. To start, it's hard enough being a UK fan when I live in Dallas, you know, because you've got Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, TCU,

who all have decently good football and basketball programs. But, and it's a lot easier when we're winning. And I stick with UK because, I grew up in eastern Kentucky in Pike County and in a coal mining family and UK is near and near to my heart and part of who I am. But that's why it hurts to my core to hear Matt Norlander say that UK is the most overrated and overpaid team and agree with it.

And, you know, basketball is what I had to look forward to after the season that the football. team had. But now, you know, it's not like I can go watch the Mavericks and have a winning team to, like, to get behind or the Cowboys. So, I mean, I don't know, things better turn around in the next few weeks before we start playing, you know, Indiana, St. John's, and Alabama. But I'll leave you guys with a question. Do you think if this was Mark Pope's first year and not last year, Do you think emotions would be the same or lower than they are now? That's a good question, Andrew. Thank you for calling in tonight.

I think it'd be lower. Yeah, I think it'd be lower too. Yeah. Because it'd be like no point of reference to say that there could be any success in the future. At least you've shown that with the correct guys in his system, he made a sweet 16. Man, I got to admit, I'm as guilty as everybody who thought this roster made. makeup was, oh, we're built for a big run. We are too deep at every position.

We got shooters. We got good inside guys. We got a good point guard. We are set. We got Otega Owee come back to lead us to the promised land. I'm as guilty as anybody of buying into that. But the roster has definitely got some issues. I do feel for Andrew, though, because, I mean, UK sports is what brings us together.

Yeah. We're all up this late because we care about the cats. And it's amazing because you could go anywhere in this world and you'll find Kentucky fans. You can connect to people of different cultures. just because they like the same team. And Ryan, has there been a worst six-year stretch for Kentucky basketball ever than the last six years that we had? That's fair.

Really? You know, if we go back to the St. Peter's loss, the Oakland loss, what happened right now this season? This past, what, three weeks, Louisville loss, Michigan State lost, North Carolina loss, Gonzagin loss. This has been one of the worst stretches of U.K. basketball. That is not the standard. time. That is not the standard and you should hold people accountable when they don't

live up to the standard. I believe we are the gold standard. But I'm not done with popia. I'm not either. I'm not doing. I mean, we should criticize what happened tonight. I wish, you know, we can only just guess all we want. But I wish he would have just laid it out what exactly happened before that Louisville game because they have not been the same since. He had just told us from beginning, suspend some guys if it need to be suspended. don't do this beating around the bush and tell us he's going to throw us little nuggets once in a while and whatever else he said that night just tell us because they they've gone downhill since then i agree and since the annabel doll and since matt mocked the annabelle doll uh jerry is up next what's up jerry jerry you go to the bathroom in there the biggest problem i got with it he's the only one that can hit a three right now and another thing is and nothing personal gets jett's very long And I'm more worried about this team.

I got one more thing. I'll let you guys say, I'm wrong. Yeah. But right now, I'm just scared of death. All right, Jerry. Thank you, Gary. Got to stop you there. You know, it was in this game last year that Kirk Creeza got hurt.

It was. The Gonzaga game last year. Heard his foot, and you know what he did? Ran down the other end of the floor, trying to make a stop. And jumped and contested that shot. It was one of the more crazier things I've ever seen on a basketball court for a guy to get that hurt with a foot injury. and still get back on the court.

That is a team that cared for each other. Yep. That was a team that represented the name on the front to be cliche. I don't see that effort with this team. I don't see that energy, that want to, that pride. That's why I think he left those five guys out there for a while in the second half when they were getting down by 30 because they were at least trying to give some effort a little bit. It was, Chandler, Otega, Jasper, Malachi, and Yelovich.

Those five guys. And Pope has talked about the players not grasping exactly what the coaching staff is trying to do with them right now. So maybe there is a disconnect. And maybe that's why you're seeing everybody just kind of look at each other at times during the game. Two more. We have Sean up next. What's up, Sean? Hey, guys.

Appreciate the call. I think I have a theory of why this is happening. These guys, I don't think they believe. And that's why you see the body language and the poor. shooting and just a horrible performance. And I think it all goes back to the roster construction. And I think these guys have played enough basketball. I think of all the dribbles, the plays, the coaches, the years they put into it.

And they know when something works and when it doesn't, and they just don't see it working. So then when they get on the floor, they don't have a lot of confidence on what's going to happen. Just all starting with the strategy around how the roster was constructed. What do you guys think? Well, thank you for the call and joining us tonight, Sean. You know, here's the thing. When you prepare, you're not nervous. You're confident.

Yeah. You know, I got much better at the morning show that I do because I cared about it and prepared. I didn't just write some notes down right before the show started, right? Like I do. Maybe. Sometimes. You know, I'd go and research things and form opinions and write things down. And it showed.

And then when I get to the. show I'm not nervous. I'm prepared. You're ready to go. I've got everything that I want to talk about already. But, you know, if you do the opposite, you're going to get nervous. You're going to feel pressure. You're going to start pressing. And I think those are all three things that we've seen from this Kentucky team. What if, what if? Throw me a what if. What if the coaches do do do a good job preparing them. They do have a good scouting report. They do have a good execution. All possible. And the players are just bad. Bad?

Teammates. Bad teammates. Selfish. Well, it's possible. You know, money could impact that. Money. Girlfriends could impact that. Girlfriends.

Playing time can impact that. Jealousy. What if it's just a bad mix of dudes? We've had that before. Absolutely. We've had it before. The last six years, if you want to talk about it. The Oscar Severe Wheeler, we've talked about on KSR, that team.

That team. divide. The team turmoil in 2004. It does, but it goes back to Cal. It goes back to the coach, Pope. This is the roster construction that they've put together, so they need to put the puzzle pieces together. It does. It goes back on him.

You're right. And what was our first caller? And what did he say? He said that trying to put a round object into a square hole. Yeah. And maybe that's what this roster is the metaphor for. Dwayne is our last caller, if it's a good one. What's up, Dwayne?

Hey, this calls to Eli Capiludo. because he's he's the president he's the one to run the whole operation and i think Mitch barnhart the last two coaching hires he's easy coaching hires like who wouldn't hire mark pope because he was there and who wouldn't hire will stein because he's a hometown boy So I think there's some accountability to be held there. And I think there's some accountability to me to hire with Mark Pope. And I think he needs to meet him at the airport. And I think he needs to hand Barnhart and Pope their resignation letters.

And we need to start fresh on Monday with some new, with something else going on because this ain't working today. Everybody has seen what Pope was going to do after the first feud game, after last year, and after last year, everything that, I mean, it's just total failure. Got you, Wayne. It's just been a total failure. Yeah, thank you, buddy.

Appreciate it. It's not Eli Caputo's fault. it's not his fault it's not Mitch's fault it's that locker room with that coach and those players that's where the issue is I don't know what the issue is but there's an issue with this team and they're getting worse and playing worse losing more confidence each time out got nothing to do with Mitch Barnhart or Eli Cap Pluto that's my opinion you always say that you're a son of a coach yeah your dad was a coach dad was a coach so I want to put you in the locker room before we leave here all right

Our final thing we're going to do here on the local Toyota dealers, KSR post game show, besides the Johnny Rocker, personal injury attorney, moneymaker of the game, Ryan. Oh, who is it? Injured, get small town compassion with big city results. When you call the Rocker at 270321-4429, uh, not easy to pick one tonight. No, it's not. The fans that went down to Nashville to watch the cats tonight.

You deserve better. You spent a lot of money to go see the cats. You are why Big Blue Nation is the best fan base in the country. Amen. You did not get to see what you pay. for or what you should have saw at least a competitive game that was embarrassing so our johnny rocker money maker of the game is all the fans that spent money to watch that game even our own drew franklin was down there with his wife abby and their new baby oh yeah i forgot about that he was they were there at the

game i think he had good seats too okay so let me put you in the locker room before we leave you are the son of a coach okay i'm going to put you in the mark pop seat yeah what are you saying to your locker room after a game like that. And what are you doing moving forward? I think you got to have you got to sit down. First of all, I know people don't like players only meeting. There's got, I don't think there's a leader. If there's a leader on this team, they need to have a players only meeting. Maybe they had it tonight. That's not a good sign. That means the season's done. Players only meetings. And somebody's got to step up and take control. I don't know, maybe it is Jaylon Lowe. But if I'm Mark Pope, I'm coming in there and looking them all in the eye and said,

look, guys, it's time to grow up. You're going to be a man. Time to be. Time to be. be a man. You want to do this? Let's get on the same team. We're brothers here. We share the locker room. You share the living card. Your brothers. Help your brother out. Do the right thing. That's what I'm telling him. I was getting ready to say something else, but I've been going to no, I liked it. Well, here's what Pope, didn't, I'm trying to think exactly, what did Pope say to Tom Leach tonight? Tom Leach asked him about his identity. And Pope said, we're going to have a product that everybody's going to be proud of. That's, yeah. What is, what is? is your the goal for an offensive identity.

Isn't that what he said? When you are clicking. Yeah, I believe that was the framing of the question. And he said something that we're all proud of. Yes, a product that we're all proud of. Well, you heard it here from Ryan Lemon. It's time to be a man. Time to be a man.

Shut up and do your job for your brother. It's time to break a whiteboard. It is. Or something. Stop whining and crying and do the right thing. Because this team showed no fight tonight. A big thank you to Matt Norlander who joined us today. Big thank you to Ryan Lemon who came in late notice.

We couldn't let you do this by yourself. You did a good job. You did a good job tonight going hosting the show tonight. Well, thank you. Happy to always fill in on the Billy R Sports Postgame show with Matt Jones. But that's going to do it for us for the local Toyota dealers, KSR postgame show. For Ryan Lemon, for Matt Norlander, for everybody that called in. I'm Billy Rutledge.

We appreciate you listening. And I guess we'll talk to you on Monday for KSR. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

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