KSR - KSR Postgame UK MBB vs Illinois NCAAT 03/23/25

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

Matt and the guys recap the Cats' 84-75 win vs Illinois in the NCAA Tournament 2nd Round.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Welcome, everyone. It is the local Toyota Dealers KSR postgame show. The Cats for the first time since 2019 are back in the Sweet 16 with a huge win here in Milwaukee over Illinois, 84 to 75. We are here just kind of hanging out in a lobby of one of the hotels. They've asked us not to say where it is. because they actually don't want people to come. So they were nice enough to let us be in here. We decided to stick around.

We're going to leave right after the show. What an amazing win. I wanted to stay because I wanted to go inside and feel the experience of a victory again. It's been a while since we've had it in March and we got it. And now the cats move to the Sweet 16 where they will play Tennessee of all teams in Indianapolis and what will be, I think, one of the hardest tickets that you will see in basketball, Kentucky, Tennessee, Purdue, all in the same region in Indianapolis. It's going to be a heck of a Friday night.

You can give us a shout. Billy will open up the phones at the end of this segment. Is that all right? I'm going to have Ryan and Shannon are actually getting us food so that we can leave right after. Drew will be here. They'll all be on before this show ends. But what an amazing victory. I mean, Kentucky really controlled the game from start to finish.

It was about as good as you could hope for a performance. They came out early, made buckets, and then kind of got a lead that they kept five to eight points throughout the first half. And then after a great run to start the second half, kept essentially an eight to 12 to 14 point lead throughout the second half. A bunch of stories, but I think the biggest one is Kobe Bray, at 23 points, including three in a row shots that, I don't know. I think that gets Kobe into kind of the legend status. When you're thinking about the sort of moments from the season, I think always lay up at Oklahoma and is won in the SEC tournament. And then I think you're going to think of this little Kobe Brea montage of the three shots back to back to back.

Huge performance by him. Lamont Butler, an absolute beast. I mean, for me, as great as Kobe shot, Lamont Butler's kind of the MVP. To come out there, have 14 points, five assists, play the defense that. he played, you know, I mean, he's playing with one arm, essentially. And, you know, listening to Mark Pope talk about him in the post-game press conference where he said basically, somebody asked him about Lamont Butler, and he had a great quote. He said, courage is real, but love is too. And he said he is playing for the love of his teammates. And I will tell you, I've talked to a lot

of people around the program. They all say that. Some of them say he probably shouldn't be playing with his injury, but he wants to play. And how can you not, how can you not only appreciate that but love that for his teammates, for the program, for Mark Pope? I mean, just a warrior. These dudes, these dudes are a special group of guys. They become the first team, the first team in the history of the NCAA tournament to get to the Sweet 16, having returned zero, zero points from the year before. Think about that. Zero. And this is the first team to ever do it. Maybe it'll happen more often in the transfer portal era. Probably will, but this is the first one. And to see this group of guys, dudes from Drexel, dudes from Dayton, you know, guys who came off the bench at

Oklahoma, Wake Forest, San Diego State, Fairley Dickinson, you know, a kid from a two-year Mormon mission, two kids who one year ago today were playing in the finals of the Kentucky high school state tournament. Yeah, that was one year ago today. It's just an awesome story. And what a cool thing to be a part of. And in that arena tonight, Kentucky fans were probably outnumbered three to one in that arena. Yet the Illinois fans could just never really get into it because of the way Kentucky played. And even though they only won by nine, I actually think, you know, if they make some layups, I mean, this was this was a double-digit game, in my opinion. They did exactly what they needed to do. They limited Illinois star players. Let's see.

Casperis was sick, was six for 13, but he had a hard time getting shots off. Five for 13, excuse me, especially early in the game. You know, their best player was Little Z, Billy, who had five threes. I was, I was like, can we get, first of all, he looks like, he looks like Dwight Shrewt's cousin from the office. Do you know what I'm talking about? What's his name? The Moes? The dude, Moes, don't you think with that little beard, he looked like Moes? Yeah, I can see it now. I think he looked like Moes with that little beard. I couldn't help it.

I kept thinking, well, you know, what's his beat farmer doing out here hitting all these threes? He really kept them in the game, to be honest with you, without those threes, it gets a lot worse. They hold Will Riley to one for seven. I mean, if you tell me before the game, we take two guys who may both be first round picks, Casparis and Will Riley, they combined only for 18 points, and they made two threes combined. went two for 12 from three point land. That's a heck of a job. And this team, we've talked all year that they really weren't that good defensively. I didn't know how much better they could get. They've gotten a lot better. They were 113th or whatever in Kim Palman defense. They're up to

45th. And I thought they played really good defense today. Didn't give Illinois a lot easy, and they get an 84-75 win. And big picture, this is massive for. the program. It's massive for Mark Pope. It's also massive for the fans. I mean, there was a lot of people that I was around today, Kentucky fans who, you know, just kept saying, we really need this. We want this, especially, honestly, even though I said it shouldn't matter, it does matter to some people that Cal won yesterday, and then we get to the Sweet 16. I do think it's worth noting. Four new coaches in Division I have made it to Sweet 16 in their first year with their first Cal Perry, Dusty May, Mark Pope, and the guy at BYU.

I don't know that that's happened very often. But for Kentucky fans specifically, you know, we're used to winning here. And there's been a lot of, there's been a lot of losing. There's been a lot of disappointment since COVID. And to get that joy back, I hope people all over Lexington were going crazy. I hope if somebody was at KS. Bar for the game, I hope you'll send me a video. I finally got my phone working again. so now I can actually get them.

But, you know, nights like this, we've had a lot of them in the last 20 years, but we haven't had a lot of them in the last five. And to get back to it is really, really exciting. Ansley Almanor, five points. Trent Noah, a big set of free throws before halftime. Just one thing after another, positive stuff, one thing after another is a really, really cool thing. Ryan Lemons just walked up. Ryan put on a headset there and join me for just a second.

He's eating rather than come on the show, he's eating food. I went and got our food. Thank you very much for that. What did you think of the win? You were sitting there. I watched it at the St. Kate Arts mode. Of course you did. I went back to the St. Cates.

Once Brandon Garrison got that and one at the end, I walked back, and I literally walked on the court as the game was finishing. What did you think? Well, really, you're 2 in that hotel. You know, when they play in Indianapolis, maybe I should just come up here and go to the St. Kate Arts Hotel. It was one of the few times all season. I think Kentucky won the game based on their defense. I do too.

I think Lamont Butler, obviously, Kobe Bray is shooting and then their defense. No doubt about it. They came out and really stuck it to Illinois. Kind of really rattled him. The Jasperis guy was really rattled. I don't know that we've ever gotten his name right. Both of them did the show Friday, the pregame show today, maybe not even now. But he's going to be a good player, but he, especially early, was rattled.

He really was routed. I think Lamont Butler deserves all the credit. Otega goes to the bench and foul trouble. How about that? I mean, we didn't even mention that. He only played five minutes in the first half. Yes. You tell me Otega only plays five minutes in the first half,

and we're leading at halftime by five, I wouldn't necessarily believe that. I think it's because Kobe Brea stepped up and was doing Kobe Brea things. I mean, Robbie O'Brien. Colin Chandler. Roby of Braynor. Colin Chandler, two threes, 18 minutes.

And one was deep. I mean, like, in no hesitation, he just pulled up and yank. Yeah, and I think the second one especially was kind of at a big moment. It was. They were making a little bit of a run. There were two or three times that they started to make a run and then we made a play. I thought the Chandler three was one. The Butler Steel may have been the biggest player.

Yes. That the arena was starting to get worked up and the steel to Garrison with the N-1. That's when I decided to walk. I have just, for the record, walked in torrential rain four different times. I walked from the pregame show to the game to the arena and got drenched. I walked from the game to the St. Cade Arts Hotel got drenched. St. Cate's Art Hotel back to the game, drenched, and then game to here, drenched. Four different times I've gotten drenched.

I smell like a wet cat. Even though it's a cold, wet rain, it doesn't matter right now. We're going back to the Sweet 16, so I think, you know, it is kind of to dry off. We'll dry out. Our socks are a little soggy right now, but who cares? Let me also just talk for a second about the scene after. the game. I think sometimes they don't get to show as much of this as you would like, but I think fans love it. Like I said, decent Kentucky crowd, not what it is normally, but the fans, a big chunk

of the fans are right behind the Kentucky bench. When it's over, that Mark Pope and I believe Kobe Bray had do an interview with CBS. I think Otega Owe is maybe with Jack and then maybe Mari or somebody's, like so three different guys are doing interviews. the players that are not those three come greet the fans head to the back when the three guys that are getting their interviews i think it was butler braya and otega so it's butler bray and otega it's those three as they're walking off mark pope grabs the three of them and the four of them do a huddle i tried to get a picture i don't know if i got it i'll have to look here and see if i got it i don't i don't think i don't think i did i got it after the huddle but i didn't get the huddle

but it was a really cool moment. It is clear he, like, hugged them. And with the crowd going crazy, the four of them had their heads together. I don't know what he was saying to him. But you could tell it was like a really kind of special moment between the four of those guys. Then he walks off, they walk off. The players, you know, say hi to the fans. Pope, you got to remember there's another game starting.

Ole State are coming. And the people are running on the court. And it's clear Pope does not want to leave. So Pope is standing at the bench. He's waving at the players. He's waving at the fans. He wants to go up there, but like the old Miss staff is coming to replace him. And you can tell Mark's like, I don't want to leave.

I don't want to leave. Then he walks off, and I just found myself standing there. And he gave me, I actually just wanted to shake his hand and say congrats. And he gave me a hug. And I have to tell you, Ryan, I'm still, you know, Piper Goober face from Illinois can shut up. I don't care if I'm a media member. I'm still a fan at heart. And that was a neat moment.

I want to thank Dylan Bauer, who got a picture of it. Mario got video. I'll cherish that for all time. You know, I think not only did we need this as a fan base, Mark Pope needed this, because look on the other side of the bracket. There's BYU, his old school. There's John Caliperi, our old coach. And I think Mark Pope needed this.

And I think he realizes the moment that he's just got going to the Sweet 16 in his first year's coach. Well, he's going to the Sweet 16 for his first year as a coach. He doubled Seth Greenberg's total career NCAA tournament win. There you go. Eat it, Seth had one. Mark Pope now has two. And yes, Mark Pope can hug people in the stands and win.

That's right. And that's what he can do. And just a cool moment. Just an absolutely cool moment. You know, Tennessee is going to be tough. I think it's going to be hard to win that game for a third time in the season. It's going to be a great crowd in Indianapolis. Probably going to be wild.

I was just saying Purdue's there too. So think about what that ticket's going to be like. Oh, that's the other bracket. You're going to have Kentucky, Tennessee, Purdue. and Houston, so you're going to have Kentucky, and Houston travels better than you think, but Kentucky, Tennessee, and Purdue in the same regional, in a day's drive from all those places. Purdue's like an hour away. Purdue's an hour away.

I mean, that's going to be a heck of a ticket. But everyone should definitely take a moment tonight. Amen. A couple things to look at if you haven't seen it yet. Watch the CBS video of the team. I think this is a cool tradition they've started where they smack the board and move their team on. I love watching it when other teams do. They really started that during COVID.

I don't know if you remember. They were trying to get something when they didn't have fans at the games. So they started that tradition. And it's kind of become a big thing. I love watching it from other teams. We haven't gotten to do it very much. So it was nice to get to watch it. And you need to see it all the players tried to hold.

All right, hey, Mario, you two, go out to bring the volume down just a little bit. If you all are going to sit right there. They have to, you know, the two of them, all the players each tried to hold it while they did it. Oh, that's cool. So they all circle around and they all smash. Because it's a team effort. Everybody, like, you went through their, everybody had their moment tonight. It seemed like it was a complete team effort to pull this off.

It really was a team effort. It really was. What about Trent Noah's play at the end of the first half? It was huge. It really was. I mean, again, Illinois making a run. He gets the fake and gets the foul. That's going to be a veteran play.

He's going to make people mad during his time at UK. But I love it. Colorado State, by the way, just hit a three to go up one against Maryland. They were down two, four seconds to go, and they hit a, massive three to take the list. You know, that's the KSR bump. We went to the Colorado State bookstore. I didn't even think about that. We went to the bookstore. I bought a hoodie. I bought a hoodie. You bought a hoodie. That was probably a big part of it. All right, open up the lines. 859-280-2287. It is 812. Central time, probably 9-12. Probably.

It is 9-12 Eastern. I'll commit to do it about 50 minutes because we do have to get on the road here and head down the road, but I also want to enjoy this. We'll take your calls. 859-28027. I got my phone to work, so I don't have to try to page ride on his 1940s Android. And we'll be right back. This is the local toy dealers, KSR post-game show. Welcome back.

It is the local toy dealers KSR post-game show. We have our first NCAA tournament buzzer beater. Derek Queen of Maryland hits a shot at the buzzer to beat Colorado State. Drew wins his bet. He bet on one buzzer beater, and he wins it. That was a heck of a play. Derek Queen, who I saw a play earlier this year, and I thought was a little bit disappointing to me. Well, now I see the hype.

A bank runner. He's going to be a first-round pick, maybe even a top-10 pick, Ryan. What a shot. That was a tough shot. Obviously, they ran the ball play to him, put the ball on his hands. Go to win the game for us, Bigfellow, and he did. Yeah. The Crabb 5 is through to the Sweet 16.

The Crabb 5, that's right. It's a good name. Not a tournament for the little guy, by the way. With that win, all the mid-majors are out. That's the last surviving one. SEC, by the way, now has six teams in the Sweet 16. If Old Miss were to beat Iowa State... Old Miss was ahead last time I looked.

If Old Miss were to beat Iowa State, we would break the record for most teams in the Sweet 16 ever from one conference. The record is six, and we've already tied it. Old Miss is up 11 at the half. At the half. Yeah. Didn't see that one coming. Well, you know, hottie-toddy, blah, blah, blah.

Dooboee-Boo. 8-2-280-2-87. Drew and Shannon will join us here in a little bit. Billy, you weren't at the game, but it was an awesome sitting in your little booth there in Lexington? It was. You know, Tom and Jack getting into it late in the second half, too, was my favorite part. Kobe's 10-0 run was just incredible. Can you, I mean, I don't want to give you work, but is there a way for you to just play those three Kobe shots kind of at some point before the show's over?

Can you do that? It's already ready to go. If you want to hear it, I just got to pull it up. Yeah, let's do it. Let's play. This is all three of them in a row? This, yes, it is. This is all three Kobe Bray.

shots in a row. Perfect. Thanks. I'm not ready yet. Hold on. I got to get it. I thought you just said you were ready. All right. Let's take a call. We'll do it in a minute. Go ahead. Who's the next? That was great. Classic Billy. I got it. No, I don't have it. All right. Eli, go ahead. Who's up first? Eli, go ahead. Eli.

Hello? Can you hear me? Yes. Man, I just need like 30 seconds of your time. I just want to say this team has so much grit and I love it so much. Mark Pope had two months to make this team without a single player returning, and we're going to the second weekend, baby. Well, I mean, they do have a lot of grit. I appreciate the call, especially now that Jackson Robinson is out.

I mean, this really is a team where the hole is greater than some of the parts. I'll say this again. I don't think any of these team guys are going to play in the NBA. Maybe O way, if he comes back next year and has a huge year, maybe he finds a way into the league. Kobe Bray is not playing in the NBA. I don't think of Mark. he's playing in the NBA. I don't think Lamont's playing the NBA. I think they're going to play

professional basketball what they want for as long as they want to do it. I don't think they'll play in the NBA. I hope they do, but I think it's unlikely. But nevertheless, all of these guys, he takes them to another level. And, like, Kobe Bray is out there shooting. I mean, you've got Kevin Harlan calling Kobe Braya lightened up. How awesome is that? I was sitting in front of some Ole Miss, like, student managers. And they were, like, at one point, like, this is unbelievable. That guy's from Dayton. That guy's from Drexel. That guy's from Fairley Dickinson.

You know, he's doing, he put these guys together. They were, like, shocked that these mid-major guys are now playing at such a high level. And that's partially what I love about it is, you know, none of these dudes thought they'd play here. Yeah. You know, Lamont had success at San Diego State going to the championship game. I'm sure that was something he never could have imagined. But he didn't think he was going to be playing in Kentucky. He was never even recruited to Kentucky.

And then a dude like Ansley-Almanor. I mean, Anzley-Lamonore is built like me, right? And he's out there, I'm serious, he's out there scoring points in the NCAA tournament. You get Kobe Brea, he's at Dayton, right? You get Andrew Cars at Wake Forest. None of these dudes. Amari Williams is from Nottingham, England. I mean, the idea that that group of people found a way to Kentucky and then found a way to do this,

it's just an incredible story. It's kind of like the 92 team, but if you didn't have Jamal Mashper. Yeah, a superstar. Like you didn't have a Jamal Mashburn. And that's kind of what this is like. And our best player gets hurt and is not even eligible for this run. Just makes anything even more special what these guys have done and continue to do. And we're going to continue to get guys like this.

Like I think throughout the Pope area, you're going to have dudes that play at these random schools. But here's what I don't think we'll ever have. I don't think we'll ever have again a team that that's all there is. Because I think we're going to have great recruits coming to. Like even next year, we're going to have these guys, but we're also going to. have Jasper Johnson, right? Who's going to be an NBA player? We're going to have, you know, these youngs, uber talented friends. We'll never have a group here like this again. I agree. And I think that actually does make it kind of special. But I think this may be his

most important recruiting class of his entire career. No doubt. He had to show he could do it at this level. Yep. And he has. Yep. And now you can keep going on. Who's up next? Well, I got the Brea sound. Let me play that here. Okay. Let's do one more call and then I'll set up the Brea sound. John, go ahead, John. Hey, guys. It's been a while since I've called in the show, you know, growing up in life. And I love these players because, and I have nothing but love for Coach Cow. He did a lot for our state, and I'm nothing but, you know, proud of what he accomplished with our program.

But it got to a point, like, when I was a kid, like, even if we didn't win that next year, it was the next year. Oh, they're coming back and da-da-da-da. And I know we might not get these guys again the same. way because of the portal and everything, but there's just a heart that comes with, you know, these guys that are just working. They're working to play basketball. They're working to, you know, to get degrees and things like that, that it's just, I miss from being a child, you know. And that's why I'm so proud of Coach Pope in his first year. And no matter what happens, it's a success because he brought a heart back that wasn't here, but it's just, you kind of,

you kind of get disassociated when the next year, it's just a whole. whole new batch, you know. And so I'm just really happy. I'm really excited. And I look forward to to game three against the team that we've done well against. And so I'm excited. I think the future's bright. Yeah, this is, I appreciate the call. This is a kind of blue collar mentality. 100%. That's, you know, look, I want to, we're Kentucky. I want to win national championships. I think to win national championships, I don't know if you got to have elite freshmen, but you got to have elite dudes. I mean, you look at the teams that probably have the best chance of winning the national championship. You got Cooper Flagg. You got Broome. You got Walter Clayton Jr. Right. I mean,

you got the Houston guys. There's a bunch of them, but they're old dudes. We're going to need guys like that. But having a group like this for a year, I do think really has brought the heartbeat and the energy of Big Blue Nation back. They love this team. They're so endearing. They just love what these guys have been able to do their one year here. They know they're just here for one year, but to sacrifice and now get them to this level where they're back in the sweet 16 for the first time in six years is pretty incredible. Yeah, and they're one and done's, but it's a different kind of one and done. It is a different kind of one and done. And listen, I love the freshman one and done's. We had a ton of dudes here and I think those guys respected the uniform. I think

a lot of times when people are like, oh, they don't care. I don't think that was fair to a lot of those kids. There was probably less than five guys that were here that I what didn't really enjoy being around. I love that group of players. But for a lot of big blue nation, this is the kind of team they fell in love with. Yep. You know what I mean? Yep. And it's nice to see what, see what. Not necessarily the McDonald's, all-American, just guys go out and just bust their ass when every practice, every game. And this is going to be a special group. This is going to be one. I don't care, even if we lose to Tennessee's next week, this is going to be a team that fans are going to love for a long time. And they deserve it. I think tonight, I think it was going to happen anyway.

way, but tonight solidified that, I think for real. All right. So here's the Kobe Brea run that was really kind of the final, you know, differentiation in the game. Bounce feed to Garrison, just outside the left elbow. Garrison hands it back to Brea. Braya backs out, shoots a three, got it. Brea curls into the circle, runs into Garrison, so he backs out, slides left, gets into the left elbow with a jumper that bounces around and drops in the soft shooter's roll for Kobe Brea. He's got 18. Here's Braya straight away between the circles, guarded by Yacuchunas. Goes left, gets screened off.

Here's a three. Bingo! Brea, closely guarded by Boswell, puts it behind his back, comes off the screen, gets open at the high post. Got it. That was, I mean, that last one was a huge one, but, you know, you can hear, you can hear by that call, the crowd wasn't on our side. Oh, no. Not at all. And you were sitting over there with the Illinois people.

There were twice as many or if not more Illinois fans than Kentucky fans. And then when the Iowa State fans came in, they all started cheering. There were fewer Iowa State fans than I thought there were. I thought there was going to be a lot of Iowa State fans. It was Illinois. I mean, I would say 50 to 60 percent of the arena was in Illinois. We might have had more than Iowa State. I expected Iowa State to have a lot more than they had.

Apparently Friday night, I didn't go to the Iowa State game. They said there were tons of Iowa State games here for that game. They must have all gone home because there wasn't as many. at this one for whatever reason. I want to say one more thing about Brea. He did things tonight. He wasn't doing earlier than the year. Creating his own shot, kind of, you know, finding a way to get free,

to give him some space to get that shot off. He wasn't able to do that earlier this year. Probably part of that is just having to do it with Jackson Robinson out. Yeah. Like, I mean, we need him to do what Jackson Robinson was doing, and so he's just getting more of an opportunity to do it. And you may remember when Colin Chandler had his first good game, I said, Colin Chandler is not Jackson Robinson,

but if we could get to where he's 60 to 70% of Jackson Robinson, remember that would be great. Yeah, I forgot about that. He's getting there. He is getting there for sure. He's getting there. I mean, he's like getting into that little zone that we're talking about, which is not Jackson Robinson, but maybe 60 to 70% of Jackson Robinson.

And he's not hurting you when he's running the point? Not at all. Not at all. Not at all. Who's next? DW. DW. What's up?

D. Hey, you guys, what a win. Like, hey, Matt, I saw you getting dapped up by Mark Pope after the game. What was that like? It was awesome. That was awesome. I mean, I'm not. Like you were a little starstruck.

I didn't expect why I was starstruck. I do. I know him a little bit. But I just, in that moment, I just wanted to, you know, I just happened to be there. I just wanted to shake his hand. And then he gave me a hug after giving me a hard time the other day. And, you know, just on a personal level, man, it's been, that's a big difference of where we were one year ago.

And that's for somebody that's as big a fan as I am, that's a cool moment. And y'all have already said it, but this team has Cajones. Like, they're not going away easy. Like, they're going to stick around. We're going to make a finals for four run. Don't worry. Hey, listen, I appreciate the call. The bracket, to me, I've said this a lot.

I think there's four teams Kentucky's going to have a real hard time beaten. Okay, I think they'd have a real hard time beating Duke. I think they'd have a real hard time beating Florida. I think they'd have a real hard. Again, we've beaten them before, but I still think we would have a hard time. I think we would have a hard time with Alabama. I think we'd have a hard time with, maybe that's it. Duke, Florida, Alabama.

Auburn, excuse me, Auburn. So four. But none of them are in our region. That's true. So when the bracket came out, I did think, all right, they put us in a region of teams we can beat. Now, I don't think we'll be favored against Tennessee. Probably shouldn't be. I don't think we would be favored against Houston.

I think we might be favored if we played Purdue. But all those teams are teams we can beat. Yeah. So I'm not expecting us to make the Final Four, but it's there for the taking if you play well. If you knock off Tennessee, I feel pretty good about either Purdue or Houston. I think Houston's tough. They're good. But I think Purdue could be used.

Purdue's going to have a massive home court advantage in that game. I didn't realize they were in that with us. Yeah. By the way, we'll know the time. late tonight. We'll know what, but we play Friday nights. The game is Friday, but whether it's first or second game, if I, you know, if I had to get, what's the other regional billy that's that night? Is Duke that night or not? I'm not sure I'll have to look that up right now. Okay. Well, because that, my, if Duke is that night, then I think we'll be playing at seven. If Duke is not that night,

then I think we'll be playing at nine. The reason being, if Duke's that night, Duke will be on CBS, will be on TBS. If we're on CBS, they'll put us as the light game. If we're on TBS, they'll put us as the early game. It's just my guess. So I don't know, I don't know which, which it's going to be because I don't know what. I'm not sure either. Who's up next? Craig and Guam. Craig and Guam. How are you? I'm good. Last time, Kentucky made the Sweet 16, I was still Craig in Alaska. But I guess Little Z took a big L tonight and also feel bad for the women's team. That was a, that It's a great game.

But if Georgia Moore was a brutal loss. Georgia Amor had a four-footer. I hate that for her. She's so good. But if she's going to stay around in the States, my tender profile is at Craig and Guam. So, you know, she can look me up. I will make sure to pass on the message. A matchmaker here for a minute.

I appreciate the call. I'm sure we'll get George on again before she takes off. She's going to be great. Oh, I hated they lost that game. They were playing that on the big screen. arena before and the Kentucky fans that were there we were oh they got they had like four looks at it at the end and just couldn't make any of them perfect out of bounds play what a great game and go she had a wide open look a little floater on the baseline just didn't drop for right drop well but she had

what an amazing career yeah she's going to be it's going to be fun watching her she's getting wmba this year oh yeah she's going to be a top 10 pick in the wmbaa so uh I'm looking forward to that for her and it sounded like the crowd was awesome there you know in moral call see them I think our local fans really got behind them. So Duke is Thursday night. So because Duke's Thursday night, I would assume, this is just a guess. I would assume we will be on CBS. And if we're on CBS, then I think they'll put us as the late game at 930.

That's just my guess. But if I were to guess, if we're on CBS, they'll put the best game second. If Duke had been Friday, they might have put us on TBS, but now we'll be on. So I'm going to guess Friday 930 on CBS. That's my guess. Well, you're usually pretty close, so. called this one today, didn't we? Yeah. So, Cheney's got food now. That looks good.

Who's up next? We'll take a break so I can eat. Who's next? Jacob. Jacob. Go ahead, Jacob. Hey, Matt. Just a couple things. I think that if there's any doubts left by any of the fan base that

Mark Pope was the right hire, that Mitch Martin Hart made a great pick with Mark Pope, then that needs to be put to bed. He's done an incredible job. fully 100% behind him. I think this team is that we need to really appreciate.

And part of that is because they've really bought into, you know, the Mark Polk system. They've bought into the, like you said, the sum is greater than any one of them. So I think we really need to appreciate them. And then also, I think that Ed, I think that we are about as favorable of a position as we could hope for. I think that going into Indianapolis, I think we are, I mean, I like our odds. I like our chances. And I agree with everything you just said.

And I appreciate the call. I think we do. You know, I remember I said in 2010, Ryan, that there was no. person who could have rebuilt Kentucky as quickly as Cal did because the way, you know, pre-transfer portal, you got to get one and like, let's, because you know, they consider Tom Izzo. I think Tom iso would have won here. It would have taken a couple years, though. He would have had to build a program. John Calipari was the only guy you could get at that point who could rebuild it immediately. And he did. He rebuilt it immediately. He was the perfect hire at that time to get

Kentucky basketball. Now fast forward to here. When you. consider the emotion of the fan base, when you consider where we were just mentally, kind of where we were after the last few years, and when you consider the sort of realities of a portal era now, where you're getting a different kind of player and you're doing an older kind of thing, Mark Pope was the perfect guy for this at that time. John Caliperi was the perfect guy in 2010, at that time under those rules for this job. And I think in 2025, Mark Pope was the perfect guy at this time for this job under these rules. I wouldn't want anybody else.

I mean, you know, we were all a little all erie when it came out that night, but I wouldn't want anybody else to be my coach right now. Nobody. If I told you, okay, I remember when I got the phone call on that Thursday night at like 1030 that it was going to be Mark Pope, if you had told me at that moment that we'd be standing here in March in Milwaukee, about to go to a Sweet 16, I don't know if I had believed it. I don't know if I would have believed it either.

I should have because he's done an amazing job and he deserves all the credit. Yes, he does. There's just something, you know, there's something really sweet. It was sweet yesterday when Ellen and Megan were crying after that win against at Arkansas. It was, you know? That was a powerful shot. Whatever your thoughts are on John and recently, that was sweet.

Well, I'll tell you what else was sweet, watching Leanne and the daughters and Mark after the game tonight. It's just like, it's just a college sports are amazing. As you used to say what? Sports is awesome. Sports is awesome. But the emotion of the NCAA tournament. Because think about Pope.

You know, from BYU had never tasted success in the NCAA tournament. Never won. Never won a game. And now it's doubled Seth Greenberg's total. 859-2802287. We're going to take a break and be right back. It's the local Toyota dealers. KSR post-game show.

O.A. wants the screen, takes it going down the left side, hesitates, crosses over, comes back to his right hand, banks it up. and it rims out. No good. And Butler comes up with a steel. Over to Garrison. Layup. Good and a foul. And one. Lamont Butler picked the pocket of Yakototototanus as he was heading back up the floor.

He fed Garrison for the layup and Garrison got foul. Lamont Butler. Got to love that. Love that energy from Tom and Jack. The big play. I think that was one of a couple of very, very big plays in the game, maybe the biggest at the moment. 59-2-80-22-87.

People are sending me that the game is already at 10 o'clock. They're pointing to Draft Kings. I don't think that's official yet. I think it may end up at that time, but I don't think that's official yet. I think that's probably their guess. Does Draft Kings already have the Tennessee spread? That's a good question.

Yes, Kentucky's a dog, four-and-a-half point dog. Four and a half? Seems about right to me, honestly. Tennessee four-and-a-half. I think that makes sense. I wish I had been guessed before. before you said it. I don't know if I would have guessed. Yeah, that's about that's about right. I mean, we were, we were a two and a half point dog tonight when we tipped off.

So, you know, what are you going to do? We, we, we can be a dog. I'm telling you, Illinois, they should out 25% I think for three point land. They had some open looks from three. What do you think about the SEC? We did hit them. Got six. All miss wins. All miss to be seven. We'll set the record. Do you think, you know, everybody sang the, you know, sang a funeral song for the SEC after they only went eight and six in the first round. But my point was our 12th place team is playing these other conference, the second best team. If you put seven teams in the sweet 16, and I would argue all seven are good teams. I mean, the only team that has lost for the SEC that I think is a good team.

Well, who lost in this? A&M. A&M. And A&M and they could have won that game. That game came right down to the end against Michigan. So I think A&M, I think we had seven really good teams in the SEC. By the time the season was over, Arkansas was good. They weren't good most of the year, but I think they were by the end.

And now, of those eight, you might see seven of them in the Sweet 16. It's pretty good. Who's up next? Brent. Brent. Go ahead, Brett. Hey, Matt. Call from Oklahoma.

I just want to say, this celebratory call, I'm so excited. I've been in a bar all night. cheering, raising heck with everybody. I'm so happy to get this team back from what we used to be in the dark ages. So I just wanted to call in and say that. I'm so happy. Go catch. Well, thank you very much.

Appreciate the call. I'm happy too. Like I said, not just Mark Pope need this. Our fan base needed this. We needed at least to get to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, I think. Shannon put the headset on just a second. I know that chicken's good, but it'll still be there. You're interrupting dinner.

I know. Well, it'll still be there. He's going to be all right. I want to hear what he thought he was sitting. I looked up and you were sitting on the second row. How did you pull off those seats? Did a trip to referee. Just act like you belong there.

That's the main thing, right? You were sitting like with the Illinois administration. I was, yeah. Fist bumped a couple of times. I don't think they realized I was a Kentucky fan sitting there next to them. But overall, you know, just a great team effort. I thought Kobe Brea shot exactly the amount of times that I want. wanted them to. I took 16 shots and I'm good with that.

Have you been, how many NCAA tournament games have you, have you been to? I know. Quite a few, actually. Okay. I was trying to think when was the last time you went to one? Because you didn't go to Pittsburgh. No. You didn't go to Indianapolis.

I was in Atlanta. Went to Greensboro. You went to Greensboro. That's right. Yep. Yep. The Kansas State game in Atlanta. We can forget about that when I was there.

But yeah, I was just really happy with the way they played tonight. And, you know, I have given them a really good chance against Tennessee. I think they've got a great chance. I think they got a great chance. We'll have a lot of time to talk about it about this week. Kentucky Sweet 16 is this week as well. So it's going to be very exciting. Now, where did you watch the game?

Did you go back to the St. Kate Art's Hotel? So would you like to know, would you like to know my setup at the St. Kate Arts Hotel? This is so ridiculous. The St. Kate Arts Hotel also has like, it's like connected to like a bank or a, it's like a big, I think they're like their Milwaukee theater is in there. It's like, you know, it's a big office building or something. them. And in that office building lobby is a television. So I found that the last game. And so I went

back there and I was watching on the television. And there was no one there but me. And then one man whose whole job, it seemed to be, was to tell people that the bathroom was locked and they couldn't come use it. So he got you. So he saw me. There's no sound on the TV, right? So he saw me just like rocking, rocking, back and forth in front of the television. And I just kept looking at him, and he looked at me like, who are you? And why are you standing in this building? Yeah. And he came and he tapped me on the shoulder at one point and goes, just so you know, you can't use his restroom.

And I was like, I don't care about the restroom. I'm here watching this game in silence. I rocked back and forth for two hours straight. When you're swaying back and forth in a bank, it probably makes you look really suspicious. Like something's about to go down. But I want to know how you get a job, the whole point of which is to stand in an empty lobby. and tell people they can't use the restaurant. That's a great job.

And he would also say the door's locked, you can't use it. And I wanted to be like, well, I feel like if it's locked, they don't even need you. Yeah, he's the one guy with the key, right? Just locked you, you're not going to be able to get in. I just want to understand you. Like, we drove all the way from Kentucky to Milwaukee. Yes, we did. The arena's right here.

It's right there. You don't go to the game. You go to a hotel. St. Kate Arts Hotel Bank building. Now, wait a minute. He goes to the game, but when it tips off, then he leaves. Like, he's in the arena. And then it comes back.

when it's over. And then leaves. I leave with like 10 minutes on the clock so I can get to the hotel in time to watch the beginning of the game. Whatever works for you. I mean, we're 2 and O here, so maybe you should come back next weekend. You know, we talked about it's the waiting. I don't like the waiting. And then when you add the fact that the crowd was all Illinois. It was very Illinois. It was like I, you know, I don't. Plus, I need to be able to walk away if I get frustrated. Yeah. You know, I need to be able to take a laugh and come back. Kentucky did a great job of any time the Illinois fans tried to get into it and try to take over. The loudest they got all night was when they cut it down to three. And at that point, Kentucky came back, hit a shot, and they never really were in the game.

I mean, they didn't get it closer than six the entire second half. By the way, they scored on the first ten possessions of the second half, Kentucky. And Illinois scored a handful of times, too, but Kentucky scored on the first ten possessions of the first half. And it seems like Otega probably got most of them. You know, he didn't play the first half. He comes into the second half. He comes out of the second half-time. You come out of halftime scoring ten straight possessions.

That's pretty good to coaching. Pretty good. All right, go back and eat you with. Okay. All right. You're fine. All right. Who's next?

Jay Witt. Jay Witt. How are you, Jay Witt? What's up, Matt Jones? That Diet Coke is tasting a lot sweeter tonight. Cats are back in the Sweet 16. Cats are back in a sweet 16. That's an awesome picture of you and Polk.

Tennessee fans, they keep talking that crap. We've done schooled them twice this year. What's one more butt-wop-in? Let's do it. Let's do what we do our butt-wop-it. Kobe Brea stepped up in a big way, and the growth of Garrison and Chandler in the last five games. That needs to be talked about more than it has been.

Been an unbelievable job. Let's talk about that play Garrison made at the end. I appreciate the call. You got the end one, which obviously was great. But what about that defensive play? I thought he was about to foul that dude on a three and I was going to go absolutely in stance. Instead, he moves his body, misses him, and then with his hand knocks it off his leg. I don't know how he did it. I have a question because

well, well, you were there. Billy, you may not know either. I didn't get to hear the game broadcast. What was the controversy? Like, why were they, I mean, it was, it seemed to me it was clearly off the Illinois guy. Why was the Illinois coach arguing? What were they, what were they, what was the controversy? I'm not sure. I didn't, I didn't hear any of the game broadcast, so I didn't pick that. tell. It seemed like the coach was very angry. It didn't, I mean, I don't think he fouled him. It looked like they were arguing that they thought it went out on him, you know, just seeing it live action from that angle. Okay, but when they did the slow motion, I thought it hit him twice.

I thought he didn't even the arm and the leg. No, the Illinois guy. Yeah. Oh, because, wait a minute, you all were at the game. You didn't get to see the, correct. So he flies through, I guess none of you all saw it. He touches the ball. The ball kind of, it. It, It looked to me like it grazed off his arm and then grazed off his leg. But I will say it wasn't like definitive. So I didn't know if I thought they might not overturn it, but then they did. But if you watch the trajectory of the ball, it had to have hit him. You know how balls like go in a different direction?

There's no way it would have gone where it went if it hadn't hit off. But it was an amazing play. I don't know if you could tell what an amazing play. He moved his body to keep from hitting him and then put his arm and hit. It was for a dude seven feet tall. a heck of a play. Seeing it live, I don't know how he did it. I don't know how he got up there and got the

I thought he was going to fail him. I thought he was going to fail. And I don't think he did foul him. Even on the replay, I don't think he touched him. Okay. I think it was a pretty great play. Who's next? Hunter.

Hunter. Hunter, go ahead, Hunter. How are we doing? Go for it, man. All right. Hey, man. How about Colin Chandler, baby? That was crazy.

Are you on his, are you on the train now that we got to keep him for the offseason? He's going to be starting point guard. Come on, man. We're going to keep him. I think he, I think they, I think there'll be five guys from this team that are on the team next year. Yeah, and I think he's back. I mean, his wife just posted something on Instagram about how they were getting married and she was moving to Lexington to start her life. I don't think that's going to be for like a month.

So, so I assume that means that they're back. I highly doubt it. Just a great win overall, and I am so excited to go against Tennessee. Let's go beat them. Let's go send Rick Barnes in a retirement. Let's go, baby. Yeah, yeah. That's true.

That's the word. I mean, there's a lot of chatter that he may hang it up. We could kind of end that career maybe. And I like Rick Barnes. I think he seems like a good guy. I have no animosity towards Rick. He kind of seemed to own Caliperi. For whatever reason, he kind of beat Caliperi here several times.

But, yeah, here Pope and his first years beat the guy twice. a team that was number one in the country for a while there. Yeah, 859-280-2287. Who's next? Robert. Robert. Go ahead, Robert. Hey, guys.

I love Mark Pope's excitement post game. I really think he felt like he was in that 96 jersey again. And I'm really glad that you all got to embrace post-game after that. I have one question I'll hang up. You know, Tennessee's going to have a chip on their shoulder coming in this game Friday. What do you think are keys to success in this third matchup are? and also shot to my friend Mr. Hogan. Thanks, guys.

We have been very blessed in both of the games against Tennessee that they have shot terribly in both games. I mean, I don't know what the number is, but they have just thrown brick after brick up. If it wasn't for ego or I don't know that they would have made a three in any of those games. Obviously, we've got to hope that happens again. I don't think you can plan for them to shoot as badly as they have shot

because they have shot awful both times against us. I think you just keep, I mean, I think the game plan will be very, similar. Shoot it. Good luck. Yeah. You know, I mean, I think we try to limit both games. We tried to limit their scoring inside, and we've given them the outside shot, and they haven't made it. And I think probably if it ain't broke, you do it again, right?

Syckeye Ziegler, I think, was one of ten at Rupp Arena from three. He is, again, knock on all the wood. But as good as he is, he's really never played well against us. Knock on wood again, you know? I know, the first game down in Knoxville, We didn't even have Lamont Butler, and he still was rattled.

Still didn't play very well. I mean, the only reason they were even in that game in Knoxville was that Ganey kid. Yeah, it's right. And Igor, but both Lanier and played better in Ruff. In Rupp, he did. But in Knoxville, they both played bad. And the Gany Kid played well in Nashville. We had nobody in that game.

Remember the game in Knoxville? We had like six players. That's right. That's one of our first game, I think, without Jackson and Lamont both. It seems to me like with that game. Yeah, I watched that game on my phone at the New York Rangers hockey game. So I forgot that. Yeah.

We'll do one more and we'll take her final break. Who's next? Josh. Josh. Josh, go ahead, Josh. Hey, Matt, what's up? I thought it was funny that video that Mario put out that Mark Pope actually made you look like smaller than you actually are because you're not small. If you just see the still frame picture, we look like we're the same size, watch the video.

You want to sense of how tall he is? Like I'm like six, three and a half and he towers over. Now, he is on a platform. He's on the court and I'm under the court, but still, you get a sense of out to all he is. Oh, yeah, that's what I'd say to. It's fine. But, no, hey, my kids want to say one thing. Go catch!

Hey, man, go big blue. I'm not shamed by height. I'm plenty tall, but that dude is another level at all. I'm so happy for him. I mean, he needed this. Like I said, he's looking at the bracket, and he sees Arkansas and BYU and the Sweet 16. Pope needed this to get his second team in there. And, you know, that's a good point.

BYU makes a sweet 16. Cal makes a sweet 16. Mark says, all right, I'll see it, and I'll call it. I call you. And then he keeps going. 859, 280, 2287. We will take a break and come back. Final segment, eating wings in a random hotel bar.

I'm not to get a moment. This is Mario's first NCAA tournament. Come here, Mario, real quick. Stop chowing for a second and come here. Put this on. Come on, hurry up. We don't have time for your lollygagging. All right.

So this is your first ever NCAA tournament. What did you think of it tonight? It was incredible, man. I don't have much words to say. It's just a whole lot of excitement that I experienced, man. You caused another ruckus again. I did? What did I do? That dude took a picture of you.

Yeah, that was weird. A random dude. This dude was trying to take a picture of Tom Crean. I don't know why he wanted a picture of Tom Crean, but he did. But instead he just took a picture of Mario. He just walked up and took a picture of Mario. And again, I don't know. For some reason, I act like I'm your dad or something, because I'm always like,

What are you doing? Why are you taking a picture of Mario? And he was like, I'm taking the picture of Tom Crean. And I go, you could have got closer to Tom Cream. Yeah, I mean, why are you getting more Mario in the picture than Tom Crean? You barely could see Tom Crean in that picture. But you keep getting me in fights. But what was that you had a big smile on your face when it was over?

Man, I just can't believe we're here, Matt. If you told me this back in June when he got hired or April, whatever he got hired, I would not believe that we would make it to the sweet 16. And the crazy thing is we're doing this without Jackson Robinson, our best player, arguably our best player, and we're still doing this. And what if I told you 16 months ago that you would be here? I mean, you were working in an enterprise. I wouldn't believe it. I'd probably be cleaning cars right about now, to be honest.

But, you know, dude, you deserve it. Thank you, man. I appreciate the opportunity, man. Ryan can tell you, he's the most famous person here. I'm definitely not. But nobody even wants to take it. People like, Matt, will you hold my phone so I can take a picture with Mario? That's where we are.

That's where we are. We'll take a break and be right back. It's the local toy dealers, KSR, Post-Games Show. Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers, KSR post-game show. Ole Miss is up 20 on Iowa State. 20. So the SEC is going to get seven teams in the Sweet 16, almost half.

If A&M had just held on against seven and one in the second round, they will be there. I think the Big Ten, we'll see what happens with Michigan State here in the Oregon, Arizona, as to how many they get in. But seven teams, only one from the ACC, seven from the SEC. You know, and the Big Ten were banging their chest there earlier. They were the Big Ten and O. They won their first ten games. I think they've lost at least two today.

Or they lost, yeah, so we'll see. Maryland did win. So the Big Ten, I mean, you could end up a situation where like 13 of the – or 12 of the 16 teams or Big Ten or SEC. You know, that's pretty good. But seven teams. I mean, who would have ever thought there were years? where we were the only team in the Sweet 16 from the SEC.

There were years where Kentucky was like the only for sure fire SEC, I mean, potential NCAA tournament team, like maybe three. Now to get seven in the Sweet 16 is pretty amazing. Yeah. I thought Iowa State was good, but I thought they were real good. Ole Miss just destroying them in that same arena right down the street. 859-28027. We have six people.

We'll do it, and then we'll call tonight and do this again in the morning. Who's next? Isaac. Isaac. Isaac. Hey, guys. I just wanted to share a quick story about BBN. I thought it was cool.

So I work at a local Kroger in Kentucky. And unfortunately, I had to work tonight. So I, like, had it on my phone. And so I would just stalk while I was watching the game and put my phone on the cart. At one point, I turned around and there was, like, a group of people to shop in. But they were, like, huddled around my phone, just checking the score. I thought that was so crazy. So I just let them check it out.

And then we all kind of celebrated because we were up by all. I mean, we were all huddled around. I appreciate the call. I was a huddled around Mark Story's phone watching the women's game for a little while tonight. That's what we do, right? That's how you watch the end of the women's game? Well, until I realized it was on in the arena. I was like, I was Jeff Drummond and Mark Story and I were huddled around the little cell phone.

Then somebody goes, you know it's playing out on the arena floor. I was like, oh, okay. Might be a little better way to watch it. There's a little bigger screen out there than it was. I hate that for the women. That way they lost the game at home, but winning tonight sure makes it feel. a little better. Yes. By the way, Rick Petino's wearing a scarf, Billy, right now. Why is he wearing a scarf? Him and Shannon the dude. He's indoors in the arena. He's at his son's game. Oh, okay. He's wearing a scarf.

Yeah. Why is he wearing a scarf? All right, five more. Who's next? Moffitt. Moffitt. How are you Moffat? I'm good, Matt. It's hard to complain after a win like that. Normally, I try to get my two little girls on here to say, go big blue, but they fell asleep tonight. Oh, listen to this tomorrow. Scarlett Lucy, I love you. I haven't heard anybody talk about Andrew Carr yet. I love Andrew Carr. Whenever he's got the ball, I feel like I can take a deep breath. That's about all I've got to contribute to this tonight.

Go Cats, go Big Blue. Let's get a three Pete on Tennessee. Appreciate it. I completely agree with you. Andrew Carr has really stepped up and been awesome. And I agree. I feel some confidence when he gets the ball, Ryan. Like, you know, we're in good shape.

and he makes big plays. He's become a battler down in the paint. I mean, he finishes. You know, Marie, again, had trouble finishing at time tonight. Why don't you just dunk it, you know, instead of me trying to lay it in. But Andrew Carr has really... First half, he had a couple of them. Yes, he did.

Andrew Carr's become a battler down in the paint. Drew Franklin has now just appeared here, Drew. That was awesome, wasn't it? You and I've been to a lot of these. This law wasn't awesome. I'm absolutely soaking out of breath. That was the worst 10-minute walk of my life. Yeah, it is poor.

All right, anyway, we're going to beat the hell out of Tennessee. But listen, you and I were sitting there next to each other in Pittsburgh when things kind of fell apart last year against Oakland. Kind of. Cool to see back where it needs to be. Absolutely. Kentucky's right where God intended them to be moving on the NCAA tournament. Indies got a little bit of a curse, but this is a new era, a new team, a new attitude, and new and excited fan base. And we're going to break that curse and take down the balls.

You know, we've had two very painful losses there with the Wisconsin and St. Peters, but we also have two amazing wins, that Louisville win and the Michigan win, the Aaron Harrison shots were in Indianapolis, too. They were. They were before the recent curse. You know, the 2015 is when everything went south. I'm ready to go exercise these demons. I don't know if Ryan kept that sage that we picked up in Denver, but we might want to take that

with us. But I just thrilled about the win tonight. That was an absolute whooping. Led for 37 and a half minutes. Anytime they'd try to come back, Kentucky always had a good answer. I mean, that was all Kentucky all night. You were in the post-game press conference. I heard some of it.

Anything stuck out to you? They're really funny and loose. And I think it's easy to be funny and loose when you just won a game. But I kind of feel like they were like that all night. It's interesting. They kind of seemed like they were cutting up a little bit. So I had someone tell me, I won't call them out. But somebody tell me that they were a little worried in the first game,

that they saw Mark Pope before the game. And they were like, he's tenser than he normally is. And then they said, tonight, he looks. look like the Mark Pope that we've seen most of the season. He just had a looser feel to him. I'd be interested. I almost asked him that. And then I was like, well, I don't want him to know who told me this, so I'll leave. But I wonder what that was. Because he did seem very loose before the game. And without really being among them and close to him, you don't really know what they're going through. But it did seem like they were out there to have a lot more fun. It didn't feel a lot of pressure

like some teams do. And I think that's why it was what it was. Illinois led what five to four. And then it was it was it. So Amari Williams told us. they told this story that apparently he, you know, he's British and he eat, what's, what's the name of the thing? Weedabix. Weedibis. So I guess he eats something called weed abics when he was growing up. It looked to me like it was like shredded wheat, you know, the cereal shredded wheat, but it's called

wheat of bicks. And I guess he had toast before the first game, and he buys it in Lexington, wheat of bicks, at some international grocery store. But when he was up here, they didn't have weed abics. And they thought Amari had not given as much effort in the first game because he didn't have his wheatobics. So they sent a manager to go get whatever weed abics is. It's like a British shredded wheat cereal. And I guess they found it at some store here in Milwaukee.

They brought him weedabix. He apparently, it's cereal. He apparently eats the cereal with hot milk. So not cold milk. He was like, you Americans use cold milk on cereal. We use warm milk. So they got the hotel, St. Kate Arts Hotel, shout out, you've been good to us this trip. They got them to make warm milk.

And Mark Pope and Brandon Garrison and Amari Williams, I guess they decided in unison to eat Wheatabix. And to get Amari to tell the story, Mark Pope was like, I want to get you an NIL deal. Tell the story. And I will bet you between now and Friday, something Wheatabix and Amari Williams is going to happen. Definitely. I like someone asked how it tastes, and Mari's like, it doesn't taste that good, and Pope went, no. Say that again. Say that again. Actually, it's outstanding looking right at the camera. So, like I said, that was part of them being fun and goofy.

I felt good. I talked to English breakfast with Amari last summer, so I'm glad breakfast is a big part of his routine. What do you think about cereal and warm milk? I think it sounds absolutely disgusting. I'll tell you what, if somebody in Lexington wants to bring some weed abics to the bar, Tuesday at the show, I would love to. some warm wheat-a-bick cereal on Tuesday. And it's not like the cereal rod eats that's in a box and it's got a little word search on the back. It's like a brick that you actually have to break up into pieces. It's like shredded wheat.

I think shredded wheat's awful. Well, first of all. It's not fruit loops. You'll have to branch out. Where in Lexington they sell? We don't have a British grocery store. I don't think he gets it in Lexington. I don't think he's had it in like a long time.

That's why I've surprised him with it. Yeah. So he hasn't had it. Yeah, I don't think he's had it a long time. And they found it somewhere around here. So Milwaukee got him the Wheathe's. of Bix and the warm milk. But on Amari, another coast-to-coast dunk.

I mean, I know he was missing every layup in the beginning of the game. We were ripping our hair out, but that was fun to watch it when he turned it on. It was. By the way, I just had our friend Jamie Shambari just said she just ordered Wheat of Bix from Amazon. I wonder if they're going to see like this huge surge in sales in Kentucky and be like, what is going on in Kentucky right now? Well, now that I know, I'll probably order something too.

Wheat-A-B-E-E-E-T-A-B-I-X. Well, before the game at Indy, he better have plenty of healthies of it. We'll just line it up. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Let him eat it. All right. I got four more. Just let me give you a quick schedule.

Tomorrow we're going to be wherever we stop on the interstate tonight, probably somewhere in, maybe somewhere between Chicago and Indianapolis. I don't know where we're going to end up stopping. Tuesday, we will be at KS-Barr. Wednesday, we will be at the Sweets and. Thursday, we will be at KS Bar, not sure what we're doing yet Friday. Because I'm going to opening day Thursday after the show as well. Red's opening day.

I'm hoping they're playing. If I get up there and it's two more teams, I'm going to be very disappointed if that happens. Four more. Who's next? Danny. Danny, go ahead, Danny. Yeah, I was thinking about Amari Williams. Why does he miss so many shots down low?

He acts like he's a guard. He should don't. some of those. Think about how the point spread could have been with him, you know, making better decisions. You know we won, though. I do. I do. And we lost games throughout the year because.

All right. Well, you seem like a bundle of joy. I appreciate the call. The cats are in the sweet 16. I mean, it was a slow start on layups. They figured it out. They're only six for ten at halftime. it felt worse, but it was six of ten.

Yeah, look, he missed layups, and he does need to do better at that. I thought he played a great second half. I thought he actually had a really poor first half, but I actually thought he played a great second half. He had a pass where he saw it, and Kobe Brea should have cut to the basket because Amari laid it in there just perfect. Braya, though, didn't make the cut. I mean, to have that vision like he's a point guard was pretty amazing to watch that.

He still hit Bray on one later in the game, though. He did. Our friend Tall wanted me to tell you, Drew, we are 3-0 when he wears a his Snoopy Kentucky shirt. All right. Wade and Snoopy shirt. He has a shirt that is Kentucky. It is a Kentucky shirt with Snoopy, which I feel like it's one of the many ridiculous

shirts he wears, but we're three and oh with that shirt on. Keep the Snoopy going. He didn't wear it for the Friday SEC tournament game and we lost. So we're three and oh in the postseason with the Snoopy shirt. You're telling me we could have won the SEC tournament. We could have won the SEC tournament. Tall. I expect the Snoopy shirt on Friday.

Who's next? Matt. Matt. Go ahead, Matt. How you doing? Mr. Jones. I just want to say, Go Big Blue. It feels great to be back in the Sweet 16th.

Been a few years since we made it. I just thought we make some noise. Coach Pope, welcome home. Team, stay tough. Keep playing hard. Appreciate the call. Now, do we get a huge crowd in there in Indy? Absolutely.

I think it'll be a massive crowd. But I think Tennessee and Purdue will also have massive crowds. I wonder what the price is right now to get in. Because that's a big arena, too. It is a big arena. has a lot of tickets. What do we think it's going to be? Someone said they're doing it at the football stadium. I wouldn't think that'd be the case. Is that accurate?

They don't usually do the final four at the football stadium. I'd be surprised. I heard that. I could have been lied to. But it'll still be a tough ticket. You know, Tennessee, they're excited. They probably don't love seeing Kentucky in the way because we love to remind them that they don't have a final four and we can knock them out before they get a chance to play for that. But I think they'll travel well. Purdue being right down the street. As of right now, the get-in price, it looks like it is at It's at Lucas Oil. Yeah, that'll help.

It is at the football stadium. So even though it is at the, okay, but they're not using the whole stadium. Yeah, right. So they're only using like, actually, they're using like a third of it. So it's probably 25,000 maybe. Probably, somewhere like that. The get-in price right now, though, is $249 to sit in Section 628. I suspect Section 628 up in the noseble.

Cheapest seat is in the lower level? Yeah. $656. You got that on you? Ryan. Our buzzer-beater cast, we can use that. You did. You won the buzzer beater.

Finally in the tournament. What? Three more? Two more. Two more. Two more. Two more. Who's next?

Dwayne. Dwayne. Go ahead, Dwayne. Yeah. Thanks for taking the call. Damn, I forgot what I was going to ask you. Come on, Dwayne. We just made the Sweet 16.

I know you can remember what you were going to ask. Let me see if I can help. Basketball, we beat Illinois. We'd have been. Oh, I know. Yeah. See, I knew I get it. The Wheatibix is what did it.

Go ahead. No, it wasn't a, it was, the guy that called in said, can you hear me? And you, there was such disdain in your voice when you're like, yes, I can hear you. No disdain. I'm very happy. There was. And then the next thing is, you hate shout-outs, but I want to give a shout-out to my, my buddy, Bar-Green, who is a huge mass of Kentucky fan

and then I want to talk to Ron Lemon because he's on the phone. Yes. I know a lot of people in Indianapolis and I'm going to have them go to all the tobacco stores and buy up all the chewing tobacco so when the Tennessee women come to Indianapolis,

they can't find no chewing tobacco. That made me. laugh. I'm not going to lie to you. Well done, Dwayne. I appreciate. Dwayne, with the call of the night, he's going to buy up all the chew tobacco. How many times are you going to talk about Tennessee women and chewing tobacco this week? Every day this week, every day, because it's a fact. It happened. It's not, it didn't make it up. The Tennessee women chew tobacco and they spit it on your shoes when you're at the football games. They spit on your shoes? Yes. You have to be careful. You said, but you've had Tennessee women

spit tobacco on your shoes, yes. I kind of feel like you haven't had that happen. Where is Shannon? always wondering off where did he go we did lose Shannon Shannon by the way what did not walk into this is like an elegant ballroom with chandeliers I didn't think you all'd be up here yeah I don't think that woman goes you all are staying here aren't you and I went no well I'm a Hilton rewards member I'm a bronze Hilton member you think the Hilton rewards members all they came up okay one we weren't supposed to say where we were we're good we're finishing so it doesn't matter one more CJ CJ CJ

How are you, CJ? I'm good, guys. Dan, that's a tough shoes to follow for Dwayne. But I've got a couple of things. One, I'm trying to figure out a way to explain to my girlfriend why it's justified for me to be up and pacing and shouting and waving my arms around like a crazy person when I watch these UK games. and then the other thing is, is when, can you all remember a time? Let me speak to your girlfriend on that. Okay, ask your second question, and then I'll finish the show by speaking to your girlfriend.

Go ahead. All right, all right, all right. My other question for you guys is, can you all remember a time where there's a possibility of there being the all four Final Four teams being SEC teams? There's a road for that. happening has that ever happened before yeah i mean the big east had three in 85 i don't i appreciate the call i'm not sure that i'm not sure that another conference has ever had three the acc may have had three one time but it does not happen very often rarely happens with two that happens a decent amount but now

you have a chance to get three as far as the final thing to your girlfriend who's like why do asking her boyfriend why are you pacing around acting like a lunatic you know i thought about this while I was standing in the bank lobby with the guy telling people not to go to the bathroom on a Sunday night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. You know, as we, as society moves on, we get more and more like in our own worlds. These phones put us like in our own individual life where we can choose to focus on things and the person that lives next to us has no idea what we do. We don't watch the same TV shows.

We don't, you know, we don't listen to the same music. We don't see the same movie. a lot of the community aspect of life that was there, like even when I was a kid, just didn't there as that much as anymore. We all kind of live in our own spaces. But I think that does make it to when there's something collective that it's even more beautiful. When there's something that binds people together that is greater than them, it becomes even more beautiful.

And the best thing about Kentucky basketball to me, it's not winning, even though it's great to win, it's not the talent, it's not any of this. it is a community. What has been difficult the last few years is everybody knows that the community part of this just hasn't felt the same in the last few years. It just hasn't. The community aspect of Big Blue Nation, it just hasn't felt quite as coherent. And along comes Mark Pope, who understands the community part of it better than any coach we've ever had. It remains to be seen if he'll be as good a winner as these other people will. I think he can be. We'll see. But when it comes to the community aspect of what it means to be a Kentucky fan, what it leads me to sit and rock in a bank

building, you to go crazy in your house and have your girlfriend think you're insane. These people to come sit here on a Sunday night and sit with us drinking beer in a hotel lobby, what brings that all together is this idea of Big Blue Nation as a community. That's what made KSR. That's what makes Tom Leach, K. Wood Ledford, Ralph Hacker, Jack Givens, Mike Pratt. What's what makes them feel like they're a part of our lives? And tonight was another example of that community at its best. I personally, I've said this to Mark, I said it to him a few weeks ago. I think Mark Pope for bringing that back because that's what makes Kentucky basketball special.

It's what makes us act the way we do, and it's why you guys are listening and why we're staying up in the middle of the night. and it's why we're going to go beat Tennessee next Friday in Indianapolis. Thank you folks very much for listening. We appreciate it. All right. I thank you very much. It's been an awesome night. Awesome weekend here in Milwaukee.

Let's go walk to our car and get drenched and get on the road. And we'll see you later. This has been the local Toyota dealers, KSR, Post-Gammer show. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Oden, to David Letterman help make you funnier.

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