KSR - KSR Postgame UK MBB vs Kentucky Wesleyan 10/23/24

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

Matt and Billy recap the Cats' 123 to 52 win vs KY Wesleyan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome everyone to the first local Toyota dealers, KSR post game show. I am Matt Jones here after an absolutely perfect Kentucky debut under Mark Stoops. beating Kentucky Wesleyan, 123 to 52 in one of the more fun games to watch, certainly an exhibition fun game, in a long, long time.

You can give a shout. I'd love to hear from you. What'd you think? Now, for a lot of you, that was the first time you got to see them play. 859-280-2287. We opened it up 859-280-2287. All right, so this is my take on

on all this. I'm shocked how good they looked. I know it's what Kentucky Wesleyan, I get it. I don't really want to hear that because I'm going to compare this game to how these games normally go. I was going back and looking and I was looking at the UK basketball teams over the years that have been really good. And you know, you can't tell what, you know, you can't tell the how good a team is going to be based on the exhibitions. But I will say that sometimes the exhibition games do give you a sense of what kind of team you have if you go back and look at some of what happened in the past. So let's just take, first of all, this Kentucky Wesleyan team.

This Kentucky Wesleyan team beat Louisville last year. They beat Louisville. Now, I know Louisville only won six games, but they beat Louisville last year. beat them by three. We played them four years ago, and we beat them by 20. So this team has everybody back but one player, and this is not a group that has been, like, they're not awful. This is a team that's decent, and you beat them by 71 points.

That is pretty amazing. It really is. pretty amazing. So you go back and look in 2015. You remember when we played Morehouse and we beat them by a hundred? You may remember in 2010 we played a couple exhibition games where we beat them by a ton. The national championship team beat Transylvania by like 65. But 71 point wins don't happen a lot. And it was a 71 point win with everyone playing, with a lot of people playing with a lot of people getting big minutes and a lot of people playing well.

I am very happy about this. And if you don't want to believe me, go to two years ago. Do you remember who we played in an exhibition game two years ago, Billy? Do you remember that? I was running the broadcast, but I can't remember.

Who was it? It was like something like Midwestern Missouri State. No, I'm serious. It was something like that. I don't know what it was, but it was like, Midwestern Missouri State. And if you go back and look at that game, I'm going to pull it up.

I think this was the 20, 22, 23 season. So this is the Oscar Shibway Senior Year team. Missouri Western State, would you like to know what the final score of that game was? Please. What is it? 56 to 40. Yeah. Missouri Western State, 56 to 40.

Tucky Wesley and went 24 and 8 last year, and you beat them by 71. But beyond that, I just want to talk about how they played. How much fun was that to watch? Constant movement, constant passing. They pass, I mean, they don't dribble. They pass and pass and pass. They keep going until they have an open shot. Guys, give up open shots for more open shots.

They run up and down the floor nonstop. They're going to be some games. year where they're not hitting like they did tonight, but they just wear teams out. It was funny. I heard Jack Given say on the post game that our, what was it, our stamina wasn't what it needed to be? Well, if that's now, what's it going to be later? Because if you could score 123 and your stamina is not very good, what's going to happen

when it actually is good? I was so impressed with a lot of the players. but I want you to think about the stat of we had 31 assists and five turnovers. As Mark Pope said in his postgame, how many games you think have been played on that court where one player had more assist, Lamont Butler had six, or excuse me, one player had more steals, Lamont Butler had six, than the whole team had turnovers. That's probably never happened. I'd be shocked if it happens.

Five turnovers. And five turnovers when you pass the ball like that, do. And so presumably you would lose the ball a lot. I really, I was not surprised that Jackson Robinson looked like the best player on the court. I don't think we got the best of Andrew Carr. I think we will. But what about Otega Owe comes out playing great? Ansley-Almanor hits a bunch of threes. Trent Noah, Harlan County comes out and hits four threes. Every single player that played, basically 11 guys got significant minutes. All of them. All of them. All of them, you know, of them had something really positive happen. Lamont Butler is going to be a great defender.

He's going to be a perimeter locked down defender, which we did not have the last few years. We haven't had a perimeter lockdown defender since Ashton Higgins. And now you've got one. You've got a perimeter locked down guy. That's awesome to see. We've got good interior presence. We've obviously got shooting. The one thing that I still don't know if we have are guys who can beat you one-on-one in key possessions, we're going to have to wait and see. This game didn't give a lot of scenarios where that could happen. But overall, for me, and I'll be interested to hear what you think, this game is less about, is this a Final Four team, is this a lead eight game?

You know, in years past, a lot of times we don't even do pregame shows for, or post-game shows for the exhibition games. But usually in the first game or two, it's a conversation of, well, how good can we be? At least for me tonight, that's really not the thought. thought process. The thought process is this is fun. Because reality is, in the last three or four years, if we're honest, these games have been grinds. These games really haven't been that much fun to watch. It's been fun to be a Kentucky fan, but it hasn't really been a lot of fun to watch a lot of these games. Look at Missouri Western State 5640 in an exhibition game. This is fun.

This is a lot of fun. We had 60. points at half time, right? We shot 42-3s and Pope said sometimes I think we'll shoot more. And you know what? They're not bricking them. They're all

pure. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch this team. And the energy of the fan base was great. Crowd, you know, some people online were complaining about the crowd. If you compare it to exhibition games, it actually was a good crowd. You'll really see the energy, though,

the first real game. But just the happiness, how about the post game show? Not only does Mark Pope come out and take questions, takes questions from the audience. I don't remember that ever happening. That's a cool thing. I hope they keep doing that all year. A lot of people have talked about all summer that it feels like with Mark Pope, you kind of have your program back.

Well, I will, to whatever extent that's true, here's what I know is true. however good this team is whether they're a team that can contend for a final four or a team that's a first weekend NCAA tournament team every game's going to be fun to watch you're not going to get bored watching this group and you can see what pope's building you can see how smart they play and i'll also note i love seeing these players have gratitude for being here i think every player that's been in kentucky or at least the vast majority of players in the Cal era. They loved their time here. But there was a sense that it was a mutually beneficial relationship in which they were giving us their talents. They got the platform to go to the

NBA. And that worked most of the time, especially when we had really good players. This feels like more guys who said, this is the top of what I've wanted to do. That's a cool feeling. It's cool to feel wanted and it feels like these players all really want to be a part of this. So, awesome start to the season. Almost as, as Goose said, a surprisingly good start. I thought we'd win. I thought we'd win comfortably. I did not think we would win by 71 points.

Awesome beginning. And I look forward to hearing what you guys think. 859-280-2287. Real quick, I'm going to pull up, Billy. how the teams did in these games in our really good Cal teams okay because I'm not saying this team's going to be really good we'll see but I think it's interesting go back to the john wall team our exhibition games 117 to 52 74 to 36 that was a pretty good team let's go to 2012 the national championship team look at their exhibition games they had

Transylvania, 9753, Morehouse, 125 to 40. Pretty similar so far. Pretty similar, right? 2014, 2015. They played in the exhibition games, Pikeville, 11668, Georgetown, 121.52. Almost dead on there. Very similar.

And then in 2017, Clarion 108-51, Asbury, 136, 63. A common denominator is when these teams here have been really good. And I think those are the four best cow teams. Guess what's happened? In the exhibition games, we've run teams off the court. Now, let me just in comparison give you some teams that struggled. The team that missed the tournament, Georgetown 80 to 63.

Kentucky State, 83 to 61. How about the team that lost to St. Peter's? Team that lost to St. Peter's, 9572, 80, 71 to Miles College. We only won by nine in that game. And then last year in the exhibition games, we played Georgetown 9270, and then we beat Kentucky State 99.50. I'm not saying that this means anything. If you go look at history, our really good teams,

blew people out of the water. Our teams that struggled didn't do that. At least a good sign. 859-28027. We'll take a break. Be right back. It's a local toy dealer's KSR post-game show. Welcome back.

It is the local toy dealers, KSR post-game show. Just a little update about the cats. The UK guys had to have their opening nights. Of course, Dillingham last night, did not get in in the Minnesota Lakers game, which is a little bit of a surprise to me. Antonio Reeves, his team starts tonight. He made the team, but he has not played yet either. Reed Shepherd has played 16 minutes for the Rockets.

He came off the bench. The game is tied right now with four minutes to go, and he's not in. But he played 16 minutes, four points, two of five shooting. He did, however, have three steals. So that's your Reed Shepherd opening night update. All right, Billy. 859-2-80-2287 let's get started who's up first how about zane zane how are you zane i'm good how you doing matt doing good hey so uh i'm long-time listener first-time caller

uh who on i've been a fan you know oh thank you sir i've been a fan pretty much you know my entire life you know starting in the tubby years and you know the cow years were great but you know tonight man it just felt like something different you know i this is i kind of expected this but you know i don't know man it just feels really good you know just feels like something good you know brun on the horizon for sure i know this is going to be the you know the first year and there's obviously going to be some aches and pains but overall you know i'm really happy really excited and i'm ready to run through a wall for this team so that's all i got my friend yeah i'm with you i think it is going to be very interesting you know there's an excitement i appreciate to call there's

excitement about any new anything so obviously there's excitement about a new coach but um there should be a case study done on Mark Popin, like, psychology of people. Because the way that the fan base changed that opening weekend, but also the way, I feel like he always says the right things. Like he rarely mess up. And even when, at least in Ryan's view, he did mess up, Billy, when he blamed his wife for the car thing, he took it back tonight. Did you hear that?

Yeah. It's my responsibility. Tom was like, very smart man. Very smart. He was listening to Ryan, I guess, when Ryan said he shouldn't have said that. But even that's charming, like running out of gas downtown. He feels like a part of the community, and I think that's something people really like.

Who's next? Christian. Christian. Go ahead, Christian. Hey, Matt. Thank you for taking my call. I just got a couple of comments. First of all, just kind of seeing like the post game comments from KSR and other, like,

Twitter accounts, where, you know, Jackson Robinson had his great game. He's the highest score, but he might have sort of like this Antonio Reeves curse where, like, he scores really good. He's an league shooter, but no one really talked about him. I think there's a good chance about that. I think the fact that there's kids from Kentucky, the fact that they're, like, his points kind of, you're right, that's a good example.

He may be a little Antonio Reeves-like that'll have these huge games and everybody doesn't mention him first. Yeah, and kind of on the same point where, like, you know, I'm invested into this game. I know we're up by, like, 40, 50, 60 points. and most of the second half, and I'm just glued to the TV. Like, everybody's contributing. Like, there were, like, eight guys in double digits,

and, like, the ball was moving, the defense was moving. It was just, like, so engaging to watch. I agree. I agree. Like, there was no, I didn't feel like there was a downtime. Generally speaking, in the last few years, my view was like, I didn't even really want to watch the first eight minutes of a game because I was like, it's going to be 15, 14, 14, after eight minutes, right?

this was fun for a moment one, you know? Yeah, exactly. And like I said, even in the second half, there's some loals. And it's like, yeah, we're like, it's some lulls, but like we're still up by like 40 early in the second half. But like everyone's engaged, everyone's passing the ball, no one's selfish. And everyone's like taking shots. And it was awesome to watch. Appreciate the, appreciate the call.

And look, they spread the minutes out. I mean, you mentioned there were eight guys in double figures. there were 10 guys who played double-digit minutes. You know, I mean, that's not going to happen probably a lot of games, but 10 guys played double-digit minutes. So, I mean, this is kind of an amazing thing. Just reading the points. Robinson 19, 08, Almanor, 15.

If you had told me he would score 15, I wouldn't believe it. Brea 13, Noah 12, Butler 11, Carr 10, Williams 12. The only ones who didn't get in double figures were Travis Perry and Colin Chandler. That's pretty unbelievable, actually, when you think about it. You know, all those guys, 10 dudes played a lot of minutes, and eight of them did. Kentucky had 21 threes. If this were a regular season game, that would have tied the school record, Billy. Wow, the school record.

Okay. That would have tied the school record for most threes in the game. They did 21, and guess what? Petino's first year against North Carolina. They had 21. they would have tied that if this was a regular season game. Let me read you. I always like to hear what the opposing coach says,

especially in the early games, because to just get perspective, remember Kentucky Wesleyan last year played Louisville, St. Louis and Western Kentucky. And they beat Louis. They lost to St. Louis by like four, and then they lost to Western by 25. Who knew, Billy, you all were that good last year.

Who knew? Kentucky Wesleyan coach, here's what he said. Kentucky looked like a well-oiled machine tonight. I apologize to Mark Pope for not giving the cat's more of a test, I thought we'd play a lot better than that. Kentucky's got good basketball players who've bought into a system. They are very high IQ players and they create opportunities for their teammates, which is going to make them very difficult.

32 assist and five turnovers shows a team that has no agenda except executing their offense. Those are high praise remarks from a Wesleyan coach who coaches against good teams, every year. Who's next? Mr. D. Mr. D, what's up? Hey, Matt. I was interested to hear in your opening monologue a comment about the crowd, maybe not being as hype. I wasn't in attendance. I was watching the game on the computer. And as I watched it,

I didn't say as many people. I didn't say as many people as people might. I think people thought it'd be a full house. Oh, okay. But no, I got you. It's hard to, let me just say, It's hard to judge hype at Rupp on TV because I don't like the way ESPN and SEC Network puts their microphones. I don't think you can always hear as loud as it actually is. But go ahead. Right. What I was going to say was, what it lacked in hype, it seemed to make up for in happiness.

Because what I noticed is that every time a crowd shot would be caught, like when the camera would pan, I just saw a lot of folks sitting back and just smiling. Like, there just seemed to be a joy on their face of what they were watching. And I can even tell it in your voice, the giddiness of just what's to come this year with this basketball team. A welcome respite after this football season to have just a joy in the basketball program. And I had one question for you. Well, let me speak to that before you asked a question. Let me speak to that before you ask a question.

There is. On a personal level, I'm going to be honest with you, I used to dread these postgame shows because I just didn't feel like the last couple years I used to dread them. I didn't feel like there was anything I could say. If we won, it was like, see, eat it, Matt, if we lost, if I was critical, see Matt, you're blah, blah, blah. There was, for me personally, I'm speaking only for Matt Jones. This is the most joy I've had watching the Kentucky basketball team. I really loved Antonio Reeves, Reed Shepard, and Rob Dealingham.

I loved watching those guys. I didn't like what the year was like, but I love watching those guys. But now, before that, you're probably talking for me about the Quigley team being the last team that I enjoyed watching as much as I've enjoyed watching this one so far. Yeah, and I think as Kentucky fans, we deserve it, and I think you personally deserve it as well. My question is, in regards to the exhibition season, I know it's really early, our big test, of course, in a few weeks, how, I mean, what do you foresee? I know we played a lot of guys tonight. What do you see the lineup being against Duke?

Is it similar to what we saw tonight, or do you think it's going to be a little more response? No, no, I think they go. Yeah, I appreciate the call. I think, again, this is very early. But I talked to somebody who has followed Pope's career at Utah Valley State and BYU. And I said, look, how many guys does he usually play? And he says he'll have 10 guys who are kind of on any given day can play a lot.

But most games, he'll have six to eight who play the vast majority of minutes. All right, so let's say that. If that's the case, I think the same. six are the starting five and Brea. That's your top six. And I think those six are your kind of core six. And then I think Kerr didn't play tonight, which I think is important to remember. You know, between everyone else, Perry, Kerr, Creasea, Garrison, Almanor. Chandler. Chandler. I think, Guys will have to earn their minutes.

I think those six dudes I mentioned, they're playing. So just assume those six are playing every game significant minutes. The other six guys, because Noah played well enough, I think you got to put him in there. He didn't get as many minutes as the other guys, but he played. I think the other six guys are playing to be in those next two or three spots. And I think it could go on and off all year. I think there'll be some games where a couple of those guys don't play. And then I think there'll be a game where that same guy comes out and plays 20 minutes and scores double digits.

So that's just my prediction. We'll see. Who's next? You know, I forgot about Kirkrysa. The energy that guy's going to bring to? I mean, that's a whole other dimension of it. Yeah, I think he's, I think where you're going to see him is, is, yeah, energy and nights where the offense is struggling. I think you'll see.

He's probably going to be the weak link defensively, but he'll also be like one of those people that is in your face being. a brat, which is what you need those sometimes. Who's next? Nathan. Nathan. Lance Ware would do that as a big one sometimes, you know? Nathan, go ahead. Hey, Matt.

Yeah, to your point about Kirk Creasa, I also don't know if our fans know this exactly, but he graded out as a 98th percentile and catch and shoot three-pointers last year. Oh, wow. Even with sort of despite his up and down. Yeah, so just catch and shoot, he was 98th percentile. And then also I just want to say that. that, you know, when the Pope hire was announced, I wasn't particularly happy. I wasn't on board with it.

I thought it was kind of lazy. And then everything he's done since I've just completely turned me around on it. This team was so fun. He's just, come to your point, does all the right things, says all the right things. And that's just fully on board to train now. And I know a lot of people there like that, too. Yes, I totally get that. I mean, assuming we win, I don't know that you could do anything else better so far, right?

And the thing is, I don't see him. Like, just think about. some of the evolution that frustrated us about the last one. Do you see Mark Pope ever doing a day where he's like, I'm skipping the post-game preface conference to go watch Alaskan fish hunters or whatever it was that he would watch? I mean, I can't see it ever get to a point where he turns against a fan base. Yeah, I could never see a game where he's like, yeah, we lost to Tennessee,

but at least I get to go see my dog. Like, I just can't imagine that. And I think that's what's really, it's neat to have a guy who seems to care all the time as much as we do. I like that. Appreciate the call. Let's do two more. We'll take a break. Who's next?

Russell. Russell. How are you, Russell? Good. How are you? Good. Okay. So I've been listening to this show since I live in Cornelia, Cornelia, North Carolina.

Thanks to David to North Carolina. Where is that in North Carolina? Cornelius? Cornelius. Where is that? Train ride away from Davidson. When Steph Cary played there. Gotcha.

When you first started your website. That was 2005, yes. Okay. So I just got one personal question for you because I've been through a lot of stuff. How did it feel when you got that recognition in Roperina? after taking a break after possibly leaving. We all love you. Are you talking about the Pope?

You're talking about the Pope press conference, you mean? Yes, sir. Yeah, I mean, that's nice of you to ask. I appreciate the call. That was a really, really gratifying moment. I'm not going to lie to you. Didn't expect it. Didn't even think about it.

I hadn't been to a press conference in five years, probably. That was neat. I'm not going to lie. I mean, from a professional standpoint, it was one of my, like, most special things that's happened, just in a professional life. So that was, listen, that was like a revival for Kentucky fans. It just was. You know, I walked from my house to Rup. There were people the entire way, and the energy was insane.

And then in the gym, it was just a different kind of thing. it was like the SEC tournament used to be in like 08 to 13 before it got so expensive. Like it was that kind of fan-based thing and it was just a really cool thing. And it was nice to see the on-the-court play keep that momentum going and hopefully that continues. One more. Who's next? Grant. Grant. Go ahead, Grant. Hey, man. First-time caller, long-time listener though.

Who are? I was just going to share last year. I was at the Tennessee game at home, and they beat us at Rupp. And the feeling after that game was like so bad. And just from where we came from then to now, it's just absolutely insane. Yeah. No, you're right. You're right.

I mean, it was the, there were a couple of moments last year. The Tennessee one, that's a good one. I mean, I was in Pittsburgh when we lost Oakland. And I remember I intentionally sort of thought about those last. 10 and 15 minutes, and as the game ended, and then, you know, as we walked off the court, it is amazing to sort of see at least the excitement level that we are now. Now, talk to me again after we play Duke. People might feel differently, but for right now, it can't be much better.

Yep, and actually, I was in the pre-sale to go down to the Champions Classic, so I will be down there. I'm super excited. Good, good for you. I think we have a shot to beat them. I think it's going to be fun. I do. I think they may beat us.

but I think it's going to be, we're going to be very competitive with them, and I think we'll get a real test. Okay, here's where we are. Because I think that Duke team has got a potential to be great, but they're very young. They're going to be kind of like Kentucky was many of Cal's years, right? So it'll be interesting. Yeah, like that we always were in Kansas.

Yeah, no, I mean, they're going to be a lot like we always were, which is all the talent in the world, but they're very young. And we're going to kind of be like Michigan State is, you know, over the years in that. And so we'll see what that ends up being. I appreciate the call. 859-280-2287. We're going to take a break. We'll be right back.

We'll take more of your calls. It's the local toilet dealers KSR Post-Game Show. Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers' KSR post-game show. Here's what you could watch tonight right now on television. Which one of these are you watching? You're watching the end of Middle Tennessee State, Jacksonville State football. Oh, okay.

You got the end of Bucks, 76. basketball. You've got the Kamala Harris presidential town hall analysis. No. Gutfeld. Or do you know what that is? No, I don't even know what that is. Yeah, I guess that's a Fox show. Or you could watch Family Guy. Which one of those are you watching? Well, it's been a while for me and Family Guy. So I think I'm going MTSU Jacksonville State. You're going MTSU Jacksonville State. Okay. Sicko for a little late college football. All right, good. By the way, to the point, The guys mentioned we were talking about the Champions Classic. You know, Kentucky is going to be a little different in the Champions Classic, but I will say over the years, again, you kind of do get a sense of what the Kentucky team is based on the Champions Classic.

So Cal was like 5 and 1 in the Champions Classic in its first six years. I don't think they played it maybe his first two years. And that included some annihilating wins. Anthony Davis against Kansas, the 2015 team again. Kansas, Fox and Monk. I think we're against maybe Michigan State. We were one in six in the last seven years. And do you remember the only team that won during those seven games, Billy?

Was it Maxi? Maxi quickly, Nick Richards, which was probably the best of the teams those seven years. Right? That was the team where COVID, we didn't get to have the tournament. And probably if you're looking back at it, since Fox Monk, that might have been the best team. It was either them or the hero, Kelton Johnson team. So, you know, the Champions Classic sometimes does kind of give you a good sense of what kind of team you have. There are a couple of exceptions.

I think the 2014 team ended up losing pretty bad, I think, to Michigan State, but then made the championship game. But usually you get a sense of where you are. Who's next? Justin. Justin. Go ahead, Justin. Hey, Matt. Can you hear me?

Yes. All right. First time, father, by the way. Who are? I just want to say a couple things. First of all, I'm going to have to disagree with you on the Ashton Hagan. I'm going to have to say Case and Wallace was the most recent. I don't know that he was locked down, though.

He was the best defender on that team, but like, Casey Wallace wasn't getting six steals. You know, that's something Haygens could do. And I think Lamont can. But Kaysen was the best defender on that team, and when he didn't play, that was a big difference. Okay. And then second thing, I just wanted to mention the fan interaction today. I was at the arena. It was really good compared to most games that I go to. I feel like everybody got involved, you know, with like the Jumbotron and all of that. Yep, I totally agree. And I heard that it felt good in the arena. I'm glad to hear that. Let me just let me just send me in the base. Yeah, go ahead.

I just wanted to say one more thing. Back in May, you gave me your red tickets for my birthday. I just wanted to say thank you. Well, no problem. Did you, that was, I guess, when I was in Europe. What game did you go to? I cannot remember, but it was in May. Okay.

But it was in May. So it was before. Okay, gotcha. Well, I'm glad to do it. I hope you had a good time. Thank you very much. All right. So let me, somebody just sent me the biggest margins of victory, Billy,

in a UK exhibition game ever. Ever, okay. All right, ever. Now, three of these, I'm not going to count, because they were against China, Japan, and Chile. They played countries. Okay. They played countries in, they played countries in 1972, 78, and 82.

So let's just take American teams. First, we beat Asbury by 93. That was, though, Fox Monarch. We beat Morehouse by 85. That was the Anthony Davis team. Tonight is our third biggest victory of all time. Wow. Georgetown, 69.

That was the 2015, 38 and one team. Dillard, we beat by 68. That was the Brandon Knight Final 14. And then Clarion, we beat by 65. That was the Wall Cousins team. I'm just saying the other teams at exhibition games that we've beaten like this, those have ended up being pretty good teams. Who's next?

Todd. Todd, go ahead, Todd. Hello, Matt. I'm as giddy as a kid at Christmas. All right. No, I really enjoyed watching that game tonight. And just to see watching, watching, Mark Pope on the sidelines and fish bumping his players when they would come off and not get mad.

And it looked like the players were playing relaxed and not tense. Like if they screwed up, they was coming out, even though we, you know, we made a few mistakes. But, you know, there was none of that that Cal used to do, you know, that the players seemed tense and stuff like that. Yeah, there were a few times they would make a mistake, and I would look over, and you could tell he was correcting him, but he didn't pull him out, right? Right, right. And another thing, the three-point shooting is just marvelous. And like you said, too, and Jack Given said on the post-game show, you know, we're probably not going to shoot 50 percent. No, we're not.

Correct. But, you know, it's nice having where if this guy. can't hit it and maybe this other guy's struggling. You've got three other people. That's a really good point. So like last year we had three amazing shooters, but the rest of the guys couldn't do it, right? And this team has probably eight guys that could come in and make a three.

Exactly, exactly. And it seems like the movement was so much better, so much better than Cal's teams, you know. And I appreciate Cal. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate him and everything, but I'm really excited now. That ball is moving and things are looking good. Appreciate it.

I agree. I think that's totally fair. It really is amazing in these top 10, Billy. All those teams ended up being really good. And even the ones that, if you even go through the top 20, another Fox Monks team, the 2022 team, which was the, that was the team that lost to St. Peters that actually had a really good year until St. Peters. You know, there's some pretty good wins. Pretty good teams.

All right. Who's next? Lance. Lance. Go ahead, Lance. Hey, Matt. Thanks for taking my call. Probably just added on to what everybody else is saying about how much fun watching this game was.

It was just so refreshing to see, you know, it's moving the ball. all around shooting threes at a nice clip. And I saw this tweet from Maggie Davis. She was doing her best Cory Price impersonation tonight. But she said that we hit 17 three-pointers against Stonehill last year. Reed had seven of those threes. And it was the first time Kentucky had made 16 or more threes in the game since 96. And tonight we hit 21 threes.

Yeah. Yeah, crazy. tonight we hit 23 or sorry 21 three-pointers seven different players hit one no individual player hit more than five I know we said it's an exhibition game and Pope was saying tonight that it would be hard for us probably to get you know up 43 the game put up but I'm just thinking that you know if we're hitting 10 to 15 3s and not we're going to be tough to beat oh there's no doubt. I mean, I appreciate the call. If you look, at least in the last five years, most season, I would say, I mean, I don't have these stats, but I would say, except for last year where

we did make a lot of threes. I think those teams the last few years, we probably, the other team probably hit more threes than us, 75% of the games. They're going to be too many games this year where teams make more threes in us. I mean, maybe Alabama does it, you know, there maybe a couple. They ain't going to be many. I think we're probably going to 80% of the games this year make more threes than the other team does. Who's next? Cat Daddy. Cat Daddy. What's up? Hey, thank you for taking a call. I just want to share with you the highlight of my night tonight. When Coach Cow first came, I always knew after the first TV timeout that we were going to throw the ball to the left wing, John Wall, and he was going to come off a double-stall.

stair screen and we would from and bletsoe would throw him the lob for the duck. And that amazed me that nobody else noticed that. Tonight, after the first TV timeout, we came down, we threw the ball to the left wing. We, we did a wing flare screen, threw it across, got a three point shot. I just, it feels really good to know that we're going to coach after timeouts. we're going to coach after situational basketball so that we can get those six or seven possessions a game that make a difference. No, that's a great point.

I used to – I used – so early in Cal's tenure, I heard him say, look, I don't spend a lot of time on like inbound's plays because – and basically his justification was, look, it's five or six a game, much more important. to talk about bigger picture stuff. And, you know, I don't think that's incorrect necessarily when you have John Wall, when you have Anthony Davis, when you have seven, eight pros. Where I think that becomes a weakness is when you don't, right? And when you need to game plan success and you can't just take a guy and be athletically

dominant. I think you're right. I don't know how good this team is, sir, but I think Mark is going to get the best out of whatever they are for the reasons you're talking about. Well, we didn't have a trip tonight that we looked disorganized. We didn't have a trip that we came down and didn't know what we were going to do. And that is a refreshing. And I loved Cal for seven years.

And I don't know what happened at that point. But after COVID, he was a different coach. And I'm so happy to see that we can be intellectual. how we play the game and still play hard. Appreciate. Appreciate the call. I remember one of my producers at ESPN saying to me about, I won't say who, Billy, we'll just keep this with us.

Okay. Yeah. One of my producers of ESPN, we were talking about their radio. It was somebody who was on radio while I was on. And they said, you know, early on in their career. they were so hungry that like every show they did a level prep and a level effort right but the person was so talented that over time they would do C level prep and could still get a B level effort because they were so talented right but that he believed as a as a producer he'd rather have a B level talent that does a level prep right

that it would actually produce a better show than a star who's kind of coasted. That makes sense. I think that makes sense. I think with Mark Pope, right now we might have B-level talent, but we're going to get A-level prep. And then one of these days he's going to have A-level talent, too. And I don't even know that this is B-level talent. It might be B-plus or A-Mine.

But things like that caller just said, coming out of a timeout and saying, let's not waste this play, That's how you got B-level talent to an A-level performance. And I think that's awesome. Let's do one more, and then we'll take it. So the last few Cal years, it was A-level talent. Well, I don't know if it was A-level talent, but I wonder if maybe you were getting C-level prep

and you were having... Last year we had A-level talent. But I think some of those other years, we didn't. Right? I think last year we had A-level talent. That's why it's so frustrating. But I don't know if the COVID year and the Oscar years, I don't know if that was A-level talent.

So I think we were getting... C-level prep and B-level talent. Yeah, not a lot of prep for the other teams those last couple years. And you can do that when you have John Wall, Anthony Davis, Deere, Fox, you know, etc. You can't do it when you have severe and those guys. Who's next? Brian. Brian. Go ahead, Brian.

Oh, hey, Matt. Just wanted to say first time, long time. Who is? Appreciate that. And I'm incredibly privileged to be calling into the Billy Rutledge, Matt Jen. Don't make it. This is such good vibes tonight. Don't, don't start.

I wanted to say that. Great call, Brian. I wanted to say, sorry. I wanted to say that, you know, it was really refreshing getting to see this team just right off the bad. I'm down at the game with my dad. They're up. And, you know, I turned to him. I say, wow, we drew first blood.

That's pretty cool. Because last year it was tough. I mean, it seemed like we wouldn't get the first points. It's like you said, you know, we'd start out being down 15-8 or something like that. And then, I mean, it was cool that we got the tip. It seemed like that was tough last year. And then, you know, right there, offensive rebound. I mean, it was just one right after the other, right after the other.

Yeah, we never tried on. I don't think any time. No, I mean, I guess I fall in line with the other callers. I know it's starting to sound a little bit like an end. echo, but, man, I'm just, I'm excited for this year and, you know, can't wait to spend, spend every game down there at Rupp. So, appreciate, thanks for having me on. I appreciate you.

Thank you very much. I'm excited, too. I think you're going to see, especially as the year goes on, appreciate the call, you're going to see that need to be in attendance, continue to grow. I mean, again, I often judge hype and excitement by what's the easiest for me to judge, which is the bar before the games, probably the best, the most people we've had there for a preseason game before the game, maybe since the first year or two we were open.

So a lot of good vibes. We'll take a break. Come back. Final segment, this is the local toy dealers, KSR postgame show. Welcome back. Final segment, it's Local Toy Dealer's KSR Postgame Show, 859-280-2287. I'll be at KSpar tomorrow with the guys.

And then Friday, what is it, 46 Solutions? Yeah, at Lexington Green. Lexington Green, 46 Solutions. and I'll be given tickets away to the game on Tuesday night, where we play Minnesota State Montenegro, right? Yes, Myron Medcaf's alumni, I think. I don't think it's Montenegro. That's a country.

What's the name of the Minnesota State Moncacito? Mancato. Mankato. Mankato. That is where my ESPN co-host, Myron Metcalf, went to college, played college football at Minnesota State Moncato. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, he was, he'll tell you about it if you spend much time with him.

He loves to talk about his glory days. But how random is that that we're playing Mired Metcalf's College? Very random. Apparently they're pretty good, though. Apparently they're like in their division or whatever it is. They're a pretty good thing. All right, who's up next. David, who I believe was on the Kentucky Wesleyan broadcast tonight.

Oh, hi, David. How are you? What's up, Matt? I hope everything's going good, man. Just wanted to call in. kind of give you guys a little perspective from the visiting team's point of view. And, you know, to be quite honest, man, I think, you know, a lot of Kentucky Wesleyan people really felt like, you know, it'd be competitive maybe for the first half.

Kentucky would pull away to the second half when, you know, 20 to 30 points, something like that. And to see, you know, what happened tonight, you said it earlier, Matt. This is a Kentucky Wesleyan team that brought back pretty much everybody but Beezie, one guy, their main guy. And this is a very season team in the NCAA tournament. at the Division 2 level team, and Kentucky beat them by 71 points. Now, from the Wesleyan standpoint, people are going to be looking at Meyer and Metcalf school next week because they're not to believe they're defending the V2 champions.

So Kentucky Wesleyan fans are going to be wondering how they stock up. But for you, Matt, you know, we're pretty much kind of the same age, right? You know, we were all gung-hoed during the Patino era. I feel like what we saw tonight from Kentucky was a modified version of that philosophy. Oh, no doubt. Down the floor. They're moving the ball, the back screens and all the cutting that they're doing, the communication.

But you just didn't see that full court press. Yeah, because people don't do that anymore. Yeah, they don't do that anymore, really. Because it's because, you know, now people have figured out how to beat that and guys are in better shape. There's a lot of reasons they don't. But you're exactly right. I mean, I think from if you were to take the way that Petino played and you,

Patino plays a different style now. But if you were to take the way he played and, make it modern, modernize it, you would get exactly what Pope is doing here. Yeah, I completely agree with that. And, you know, to watch Kentucky, you know, to see it up close and personal, I got to be kind of in the Wesleyan huddle and doing reports during the game, got to be right there on the floor to see what Kentucky, their communication, the way, the way that the ball never sticks, right?

We've been seeing, right, especially the past five to six years, pretty much since 2017, we have been seeing unorganized basketball, lackluster efforts, just, you know, just a simple, like running a play, Matt, running a play. We haven't been able to run a freaking play since John Robic left. And to see Kentucky out there executing stuff that was higher level concepts tonight, I don't even know. I can't even put words on that, man. It was so refreshing to see it, Matt.

I feel like, you know, not that I, it's not that I was always against Calipari, I almost feel like we sold our soul a little bit when we got them right, but we were winning, so it was cool. Yeah, no, I know what you mean. But I do think, and I appreciate the call. Thanks for your perspective. And it is important to remember, like, you know, that the Wesleyan team is a tournament team in their division. Yeah, I do think that the organization, look, this team does not have a lot of NBA picks may have no NBA picks. so they have to play a different way.

At one point, Billy, I looked up and you had Chandler, Perry, Noah, Carr, and I think Oway on the floor. And you know what I said? I went, that looks like a team that would beat us in the first round of the tournaments. You're not wrong. And in some ways it did. But it was good to watch them play well. Let's do four more. We'll call it.

I do want to bring up one thing. Amari Williams' passing ability? Very good. Very good. You know, it's interesting. Okay, I'm glad you brought that up. When they got an offensive rebound, he and Garrison were the main ones. I don't know if Pope teaches this, but I did hear one time a guy on an NBA podcast talk about this.

In the NBA, at least the sort of high better shooting teams, their big men are taught. When you get an offensive rebound, unless you have an open layup, you're better to kick out to a an open three point shooter than shoot a contested two. Okay. Okay. So like the natural inclination of a big is you get a rebound, you immediately try to put it back up. But if that shot's contested, that's not a gimmie by any means.

And their point was analytically, yes, if you have an open layup, take it. But you'd be better off kick into a three than shooting a contested shot from five feet. They, especially Amari Williams, but Garrison did too, catch. And if they don't have a shot, they're kicking it to a three. And I like that a lot. I think that's a really small. We got like three threes off offensive rebounds. I think you're going to see that a lot this year. Who's next? Houston. Houston. Go ahead, Houston.

Hey, Matt, first time caller, long time listener. Who are? Hey, listen. Hey, I love John Collipari, but I just felt like there was so much apathy in the fan base. And after, he was listening to Mark Cope, obviously during the summer, and especially after the press conference. that you alluded to earlier, you know, answering questions. You know, listening to Mark Cope talk is a breath of fat and fresh air. It's like eating an entire jar of cornbread hemp gummies, you know? It's just so much better than what it was.

I agree. I agree. It's, well, cornbread hemp brings you down a notch, which is good. This got me amped up a little bit. Absolutely. And I got one comment on the game, too, with the players. Okay. So, like, just watching the game tonight.

It just seems like we got multiple guys. Some of them, you know, they might be able to have multiple wives. So this team has the ultimate Kentucky vibe. Go catch, baby. All right. Appreciate it. Guy, he liked puns, didn't he, Billy? That was a pun.

You think he wrote that one down? That's okay. Listen, sometimes you got to write it down. Today, my Georgetown college class, you know, they had to do their first moot court, like their first, like, mock court. Okay, yeah. And, you know, some of, I had to be reminded. Like they all wrote it down.

They felt more comfortable doing it. So some people, you've got to write stuff down. I was proud of my Georgetown class today. That's a hard assignment for people who've never done it before, and they did a really good job. So shout out to those young men and women are in my class. Who's next? Yeah, we ought to do a mock KSR trial and see how that would go.

I know who would win, and it wouldn't be, well, no comment. Who's next? Joshua. Josh, go ahead, Joshua. Hey, thanks for taking my call. We all know clearly Ryan will win that mock trial. Probably so. I just thought I got to wake up at 5.30 in the morning, but I'm just on cloud nine watching that game.

You know, I called you back in April, and when Mark Pope got announced to the coach, I said he wasn't the sexy choice. He was the correct choice. Yeah. Man, oh, man. I'm just so happy. I mean, he's on cloud nine. And when he constructed this roster together, you know, he got seven guys with one year of eligibility left.

I was like, okay, we're going to do his seven. eight-man rotation. But, I mean, they got 11 guys out there that looked amazing. And Kirk Chrysler wasn't even there. So they got 12 guys. And I truly believe that Polk can utilize all 12. And, yeah, I'm just so happy, Matt. And thanks for taking my call.

And I know the last two post-games shows you had, the drunk dresser plan two years ago and the Oakland team walking through the lobby. So it's just good to have a good time. That's true. That was, those were, I appreciate the call. That is a good point. The last two, the last two basketball postgame shows were the Oakland show and the show where we lost in the SEC tournament.

Did we lose to Vandy last year? Is that who we lost two in the instant? A&M. A&M. A&M. And that A&M game was depressing. Yes, so those were my last two post game shows. So this one is much more jovial.

Two more. Who's next? Luke is next. Luke, go ahead, Luke. Hello. So I am a transplant from Texas who graduated from Texas Tech. I just wanted to declare this team has got all the marks of a Sweet 16 team based on the 2021, Texas Tech team made in Sweet 16 with all mid-major transplant, superstars for mid-majors.

and they unfortunately ran to Duke and Coach K. No, I think if you're just looking at, I think if you're just looking at talent, just sheer talent, I think that's right. And here's what can happen with a team like that. A team with kind of sweet 16 talent. They can be upset in the second round because let's say you're a four-seed, you play a five-seed, who knows.

But you also can get an upset and be like San Diego State in the championship game, right? So teams like that, I think if you were to ask me, what does the talent on this team have? I think I would agree with you, Sweet 16 talent. But the good thing about being a Sweet 16 level talent team

is when you're a four seed, yeah, you've got to be careful in that first game, although we were a two and three seed and needed to be careful two of the last three years. But you also can play a one seed and you feel like you can beat them, I think that's how this team, if I were to guess, that's what they're going to be.

Appreciate the call. You know, there are, there are, there's not a lot of times that a four seed wins the national championship, but there are a lot of four seeds or three seeds that make the final four. And I think this team can do that. Also, four seeds can get beat in the first round. But I, you know, that's one of things about having a very veteran team. I don't, I feel like I feel pretty good about us against teams that are less.

talented than us. One more. Who's next? Jared. Jared. Go ahead, Jared. Hey, Matt and Billy, thanks for taking my call. I know it's just one exhibition game, but over the last few years, Matt, you've always said that, you know, there's one or two guys that when they shoot a three, you just believe it's always going in. And I feel like that's the whole team this year. I mean, it's like every person you feel that way. Yeah, I mean, I felt like last year. I felt like last if Antonio Reeves or Reed Shepherd shot, I was like, it's going in. You know, it didn't always go in, but that's what I felt like. When Dillingham was hot, I felt that way.

With everyone else, I was holding my breath, right? Like, I didn't mean they wouldn't make it, but I didn't feel confident when they would shoot it. So let's take this team. When O.A. shoots it, I feel confident. When Robinson shoots it, I feel confident. When Brayette shoots it, I feel confident. When Perry shoots it, I feel confident. Noah.

Almanor's shot isn't pretty, but it went in a bunch tonight, right? Andrew Carr didn't even shoot many. The only guy on the team, I think, when he shoots, I'm not going to feel confident is Garrison from three. But I do agree with you. Everybody else, why don't you feel like it might go in? So, appreciate the call. Garrison took two in like three possessions.

That was the first one where I was like, all right, I was like, Billy, that's good. You know? That's enough. That's plenty. but everybody else, you know, you got to love it. Did we see Amari's jump shot? I'm sorry to interrupt. Yeah, he's not going to shoot threes, I don't think.

I will say if Amari shoots a three, although he made his jumper tonight too, you know. So, yeah, I don't know that I'll feel confident if Amari or Garrison does. Pretty much everybody else on the team. We haven't seen Kirk Creasy yet. So, yeah, this is going to be, you know, I think the best overall shooting three team we've had since the Cal era, top the bottom was probably the maxi quickly, all those guys, because they were like five or six guys who could hit three.

Last year's team is the best three-point shooting team we've had in terms of the top dudes. But this might be the best since a Patino team having so many different guys who could make a three. I mean, you, I don't know, man. Maybe you have to go back to, you know, the 96 team to find that. So very exciting stuff. Thank you all very much for staying up and listening to us. And tomorrow we'll be back in the morning. Cats play next Tuesday against the Division II national champion, Minnesota State Manquito.

Thanks to Billy for staying up. We will see you later. This has been the local Toyota dealers, KSR, post-game show. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

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