KSR - KSR Postgame UK MBB vs Missouri 01/07/26

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

Matt and Billy recap the Cats' 73-68 loss to Missouri.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, everyone. It is the local toy dealers, KSR postgame show. Kentucky loses an extremely bad home loss, 7368. Missouri finishes on a 15-2 run to beat the cats in Rupp. And Kentucky starts 0-2 in the SEC for the first time. is what I'm reading. That's hard for me to believe, but apparently it is true.

First time 0-2, Kentucky in the SEC. You can give a shout, 859, 280, 2287. You know, this was bad, and it was bad in a couple different ways. First, the first half, the offense was just so atrocious that it was hard to watch. And Kentucky couldn't do much of anything. I thought Mark Pope was honest at the end of the game when he said in the half court, this team's offensive, he used the phrase pacing,

but I think it also could just apply to the offense in general. It's just brutal. It's just terrible. They have almost nothing they can do to get good shots in the half court, really beyond low running around until something comes open and either shoots or passes. Beyond that, if they don't get some sort of transition game to get the defense thrown off, they just can't score.

I mean, it's running in mud, hoping you get fouled. In the second half, they got in transition some. They were able to get some pace, get some open threes, and things were better. But, I mean, this game ultimately, the story is the last four minutes and 15 seconds. Kentucky's up by eight. Oway hits a three to put. Kentucky up eight. And when you're at home, up eight with four minutes and 15 seconds left, I don't care

who you're playing. You can be playing any team in the country. You need to win that game. And Kentucky not only didn't win it, they went from up eight to losing in three minutes. And the last minute was just a comedy of errors. The turnovers, you know, I heard Mark say in the post game that he thought the decision making was actually very good, but the execution poor. Man, I don't know.

I mean, I understand in theory why Garrison and Moreno were in. They had actually played pretty well up until that point, but I don't really understand how when you need buckets down the stretch, you want to put their hands on the ball to make the decision as to where the ball goes. neither of them have necessarily been proven to be very capable passers, and they had back-to-back turnovers on back cuts. I mean, Pope said we got exactly what we wanted. I don't know.

I mean, a back cut with two, with four hands in between you and the guy getting the ball, I don't know. It's not crazy to think that might not work out, and it doesn't. Otega misses a wide open layup. He's actually missed a lot of layups this year, usually long, usually coming from the left and he did it again and then they don't box out on a free throw Malachi Moreno if you want to be really sick go watch that box out he he touches the guy he's boxing out and then just leaves him and the ball goes over his head Oway almost lost it on him

and I kind of understand it was really a horrible attempt in a box out they make the free throws and then I don't know what that shot was at the end. I mean, you know, Jalen, I guess he had to take it because there wasn't, but I mean, I don't understand what the play is that with nine seconds left, you call time out, and you have maybe your two-beddits three-point shooters on the floor, Aberdeen and Williams, standing next to each other. Go look at that. They're standing next to each other, which suggests to me that either of their defenders

could double the other one. I guess the play was for Lowe to drive to the basket and then draw defense and kick out. But if you're Missouri, why would you even stop the – I mean, Pope said we wanted him to drive and then kick it out to Williams. But if you're Missouri, why do you even stop the drive? It's a three-point lead with five seconds left. You'd just let him have that layup probably. So I don't know.

This has been a baffling – bafflingly terrible job by Mark Pope this year. awful, awful, just an awful coaching job. And I say that in part because I don't think you can just say the man can't coach. He's had success. I thought what he did with last year's team was very impressive. But this is a disaster. I mean, this is awful. It's a disaster.

I thought Mark finally sounded like himself in the post game today. He didn't, it was the first time I've heard him after one of these losses not be either rude or insanely sad. He actually sounded like himself for the first time. and I appreciate him explaining what happened, but I don't know how we got here. I mean, you go look at his quotes at the beginning of the year. He's got a Ferrari. He can't wait to unleash it.

I mean, this team is, offensively, is almost worse. Defensively, I think they've improved as the years gone on. I actually thought they played pretty good defense tonight for most of the game. I mean, they held Missouri to 73. You got to win when they do, I mean, you got to win. 68 points. It's a team that, you know, we don't have to talk about how much it costs, but it cost a lot, and you can't get more than 68 points at home.

Even though we led in the second half, I kind of felt like we were outplayed most of the game, but we still should have won. Up eight with four minutes and 15 seconds left, you should win. And now the specter of not making the tournament is real. You know, they are 9 and 6. They have lots of loseable games to come and not a lot of certainly win games to come. You could argue that in theory, easiest game is coming Saturday night,

and I don't know how confident any of us feel about it. So I'm pretty down about the team. It's hard for me to see. You know, last year we lost a bunch of games in the SEC. but I could see how that team could be good if things, you know, they obviously needed Butler to be healthy and they needed to make shots and et cetera. But there was a way you could see them beating almost any team in the country except Alabama. It's kind of hard for me to see us beating anybody good right now because we cannot score. And I don't know how that gets better.

and I don't know how if in the last four minutes of the game, he still doesn't know who he's playing. I mean, that's part of the thing, Billy. They have no. I mean, I thought the play Colin Chandler made at the end, that was a great play. But he hasn't played the whole game. Five total minutes tonight.

And then you put him in for the decisive play. Now, he made a good play, but that was odd to me. Garrison and Moreno, I mean, Jaden Quentin's the best rebounder. Quaeton and Diabate didn't play great, but when you have to rebound that free throw, how are they not in? Especially after you don't get the first rebound.

And then he goes offense for defense at the end, puts in Aberdeen for defense. When we come down, he doesn't put low in. I don't understand that. I just, I don't understand. Here's where I think it really is. I don't think it's that he can't coach. I don't think that he's, you know, I don't know if he's overmatched for the job yet. I'm not ready to say he is.

But here's what I think has happened. This thing is spiraled out of control. And they don't know what to do to stop it. And they are tense. And they are panicked. And the players feel it. And the players, who many of whom are cast in roles that don't showcase their strengths are tense and panes.

And they get tight and they don't particularly like each other. And it leads to what you had tonight. Diabate, I think, essentially got benched for playing for poor performance, but also fighting with his teammates. I mean, by arguing, not like physically fighting, but like being kind of, you know, you saw the plays. You saw it happen a couple times. You know, he had that thing, Dame Bradshaw pointed out the two-man game where he doesn't pass Moreno the ball and then he yells at Moreno, even though it was his fault. And I think all of this has added up to a team that just, it's just not connected. And the coaching staff doesn't know what to do.

And then they got some bad breaks tonight, but you know what? You earn your breaks, and they've earned the bad breaks so far this year. So it's a bad performance. And I don't know if they're going to make the tournament. I really don't. I thought this game, this game for me was the swing game of, okay, if we win this, I don't know what our seating will be, et cetera, but we'll make the tournament.

I don't know. I mean, I'll just sit here and look at some of these games. We have six losses already, okay? Six losses. You're not going to get into the tournament. We have a pretty good strength of schedule, but you're not going to get into the tournament with more than 12 in the regular season.

And we still have left at Tennessee, at Arkansas, at Auburn, at A&M, at undefeated Vanderbilt, at Florida, Florida at home, Vanderbilt at home, Tennessee at home. I don't know, man. There's a lot of losses in that group. So I'm officially consulate. that for only the third time

since probation, we could be staring at missing the tournament. Only the second time in a non-COVID year. And I would even go further as to say the other time, our best player got hurt. This could be a pretty disastrous

season if they don't turn it around. 859-28027. We'll take your calls. I want to hear what you all think. I'm pretty frustrated. You all can tell me if you are. I get a sense, at least online, that most of you are. We'll take a break and be right back. It's the local toy dealers, KSR post-game show.

Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers KSR post-game show. It is 859-280-2287. The, Bill, you were just saying you looked at the schedule. It doesn't look great. It kind of looks like it could be a long year. It could be. if they don't improve quickly, this was one they almost had to have, and they didn't get it.

And, you know, you can always make that up. Like you could go win in Knoxville or you could go win, you know, one of these games that we don't think it will. But you look at the back half of that schedule in February. Like read, Billy, start with at Tennessee and just read the games coming up. At Tennessee is January 17th. And then it's home versus Texas, home versus Ole Miss, at Vandy, at Arkansas. versus Oklahoma versus Tennessee at Florida versus Georgia at Auburn at South Carolina versus Vandy at A&M versus Florida. Yeah, I mean, that's a, that's a tough, that's a tough sled.

And you just, you just couldn't lose this one. But you did. So we'll see what happens. Who's up first? Mike is up first. Mike, go ahead and Mike. What's up, man? I know, you know, I know, God, this is crazy.

but, you know, we gave Cal Perry crap down the end, and it took me a while to get on board with him deserving it, but come on now. This guy, I know that you take a lot of heat, and you took a lot of heat for giving cow crap, but this guy has got to go. He has no clue. I already watched the Alabama game before this,

just kind of, because, you know, I'm like a film oneter, and it seemed like the game plan was to help off shooters. That's what Alabama's trying to do, is kill you with three. three-point shots. I mean, I love Mark Pope as a player. He's great here. But, man, he's not the coach.

He's just not. It's obvious at this point. Well, I don't know what, I mean, I think the second part of your statement is perfectly valid. I don't know what that has to do with the first. I mean, what does it have to do with Cal? Oh, I wasn't saying. I'm just saying, like, it took me a while to get on board

because Cal kind of had like, I think he had like, I think he had like some forgiveness for all the things. No, I think he certainly did. No, no, no, no, for sure, for sure. He did. I mean, I think you, you know, if you look at the last four or five years of Cal, it wouldn't have been acceptable except for the years before, right? And Pope doesn't have that.

Exactly. That's what I was getting right on that. Now, I will say this. And again, I made this point earlier today, it's much less strong after this game than it was before. He went to Sweet 16 last year. This season is not over. He did.

How hell that happened? I don't know. Well, I know how. I mean, I think he did a good job with that team last year. I really do. I mean, I think he did a good job. I think we lost a couple games in the SEC. We shouldn't have lost.

But I do think that he did a pretty good job with that team. But I think this has been a total failure. Do you not think that he just seems completely. freaking lost this year? Yes, yes, this year without question. Without question. Without question. It is lost. He's lost. God. He's lost this year. I appreciate the call. I don't think, I'm not ready to say he's lost because he can't coach. He did a good job at every job he's been at. He did a good job last year. This is a disaster. This is terrible management of the roster that this was a, this was a terribly constructed roster that the weaknesses, while they're much worse than I thought they'd be,

you could see it. I said it all summer to a lot of people get mad. I never thought they had enough shooting. With that said, they shouldn't be as bad as they are. And you as a coach have to adjust. You have to adjust, and they don't adjust. I mean, I don't know what, offensively, I do not know what they're running. I really don't.

I don't know what the game. If Jalen Lowe went out, Billy, just think about this. What if Jalen Lowe did stop playing? Would they score 50? How many games would we win in the SEC? No, I'm being, I'm not even kidding. Let's say tomorrow Jalen Lowe announced that he had to have surgery and he couldn't play. What would your over-under of SEC wins be?

Out of 18 games. Oh, God. like three, two or three. I mean, I'm serious. Like, that's how poorly constructed this team is. That you are, and I think Jalen Lowe's very good, but he didn't have a great game tonight. I thought his shot that he took where he got blocked when we were up six was a huge, huge, huge bad play. But without him, we might be like historically bad for the conference.

And that's just poor roster management when you had the resources. you had to get to this point. Who's next? Yeah, Missouri's first one ever at Rupp Arena. Yeah, I mean, that's an interesting stat, but they've only been in the SEC. I mean, we only played them seven times, right? Yeah. So, I mean, it's not like you played 50 times.

But anyway, go ahead. Michael is next. Michael, go ahead, Michael. Well, first, thanks for taking my call. I just wanted to say within the last couple weeks, my grandfather, who has been a long time Kentucky fan, died at the year of 102 years old. His name is Audi Rich. And he was a World War II veteran.

And I just want to thank the Lord for what he did. And he actually taught me to be a Kentucky fan. I'm sad for what the team's doing right now. but, you know, at the same time, we're thankful for the history. What was your grandfather's name? You said, Audie? Audie Rich. He's from, Audie Ridge.

He was from, yeah, Derek County. God bless him. And World War II, Deer County, 102 years old. Well, I was taught to be a Kentucky fan by my grandfather, who was also a World War II vet. So I appreciate you saying that. Absolutely. And the second thing, you know, love Mark Pope and everything so far. What I remember from last year was just the sense of enthusiasm that he had coming in to the job.

And it seems a very quick turnaround to now where I don't feel like the enthusiasm is there any longer. Well, I felt like he was, I felt like he was more normal tonight in the post game. honestly. I mean, he, I thought he talked basketball. I thought he actually thought, I mean, he got a technical during the game, so he was certainly into it. But, but I have wondered about him this year, but I did think tonight was more at least what seemed like Mark is like. But, but yeah, well, God bless you and your grandfather. I appreciate, appreciate the call. He did say in the post-game, Billy, that they had simplified the offense about as much as they could, which, you know, I'm trying to interpret what that means.

I mean, these are not young players. Yeah, I mean, I mean, these are juniors and seniors. So, like, are you saying your team doesn't understand your offense? Like, these are not young guys. we have one freshman that plays Malachi Marina. Like everybody else has been around. Why can't they understand? It's either, when you say that,

that means you are either saying my team is not very smart or I can't communicate to them. And neither of those, I mean, are a very good sign. By the way, if you want to be depressed, watch Vanderbilt, Alabama. It looks like they're playing a different sport. I got it on now. play. I mean, they really are. It looks like

they're playing a different sport than we play, because both these teams look pretty good. I can't believe how good Vanderbilt is. Who's next? Matt. Matt. Go ahead, Matt. Hey, Matt. Quick question. Towards the end of the Mark Stoops era, you guys talked about this a lot

where he was kind of giving word sort of scrambles about like head down, work hard, do this, do that. I feel like we're getting the same kind of answers from Mark Pope a little bit. Well, there's some of that.

He did some of that tonight. But he also, again, to be fair to him, I do think at the post-game show with Tom, he did talk about some specific things. I mean, he broke down the final plays and how he felt they went wrong. And I certainly had felt that way up until tonight. I can't really fault him for tonight's, at least post-game performance. I can fault him for the game performance. I agree with you on that, yes. Finally, for once this year, we get some answers to, you know, to Tom Leach.

And shout out Billy for doing a great job. He always kills that. Listen, the pregame every day. Sorry, pre-show, I mean, yeah. But, yeah, thank you very much. Well, thank you, Matt. Appreciate the call. How nice is that?

Yeah, he. I don't know. It was interesting listening to Mark tonight, Billy, because it also made how he's been the last few weeks so much more bizarre. Because, like, he sounded like himself tonight. It would be fascinating to go back and listen to the post-game show in Alabama versus the post-game show tonight. And honestly, it would sound like you're listening to two completely different people.

Night and day. But one of those things he keeps saying is you're going to be proud of this team. I hope so. I mean, I hope so. he sure has said that a lot and I mean he you know after the Michigan State game he said we will not fail tonight he said we will

not break you know I hope so I don't want to I mean Aaron Harrison one day said this will be a great story and I kind of laughed at that we ended up in the championship game so I hope so I hope that's what happens I also think

if you keep doubling down people are going to start saying hey man what's going on Who's next? Elliot. Elliot. Go ahead, Elliot.

Hey, Matt. Just crazy to think about the turnaround from a month ago after we had lost to Vandy and Louisville in football, just the depression in the football side, to the excitement in the basketball side, and now it's seen off. Flip. After Will Stein has, you know, got us pretty excited for this upcoming season. And Will Stein's been in Lexington, I think, a grand total of three days. Literally.

Like, literally, he's not been in Lexington. He was here like two or three days when he got hired in one day for the portal, and that's it. And yet, we're, you know, everybody's excited about football and this basketball. I mean, this is, I'm not going to say this is the most down. I don't think that's true. But it certainly the most down we've been in the Pope era, and it's not good. That's right. Yeah, thanks for taking my call.

Appreciate it. I'm trying to think what flips this around for the fans. I mean, these next two games, you're playing two of the worst teams in the conference. You better not lose. And then I guess, you know, I guess when you play Tennessee maybe, that's the next. But it's at Tennessee. That game on Saturday to 17th at Tennessee at noon. That'll be a big one.

But I can't say we're certainly going to win these games leading. up to it because you could lose to anybody if you play like you did tonight. Let's do one more, and we'll take a break. Who's next? Pathew. Okay. How are you going to let somebody say their name is Pathew? I mean, I double-checked.

I don't believe this person's name. Go ahead. Pathew. Matt, you say it every time I call. It's Pathieu of the P-My guy. Anyway. Does he call before Billy? Hang on.

Before I let him go, has he called before? He has. Okay. I forget. Sometimes I'm forgetful. All right, go ahead, Matthew. That's right. I still love you, buddy.

Listen, man, I've seen 80-year-old women show more emotion than Walgreens about coupons, and these kids show on the court. You know, Pope came in as this offensive guru, but instead we show up more brand than Greek yogurt. Something is significantly wrong with, you know, UK basketball right now, $20-some-on million, and this is the product we get. Even hearing Goose talk to Malachi after the game, Goose tried to baby him when Malachi took responsibility.

Well, no, I want these kids to take some accountability. You know, they're making more money than I am this year. So, you know, it's a job. I want them to be accountable. You know, earlier today, you said this was a make-or-break game, and right now we're broken. We're not going to make the tournament, and we need to reevaluate our head coach position at the end of the year.

From when I understand, Pope has a worst record than Billy Clyde through this point in this Kentucky career, and we're not the gold standard right now with the laughing stock. I appreciate the call. I think those are all reasonable points. And I'm with you on a secondary note about Greek yogurt. I've never understood Billy why people like it. I think it has no taste at all.

Why do people like it? Well, there's protein. I like yogurt a lot. But I've never understood the Greek yogurt thing. But to your point about having not a lot of emotion, I feel like they have emotion, but it seems more anger than it does, you know, than it does excitement.

And I have to say, I mean, I don't want to put too much on O-Way because I actually think O'A played pretty well most of the night. I think he played really well most tonight. He can't miss that layup, though. I mean, you're here to be the guy, and you get a wide open layup. He has missed. I would be fascinated.

Somebody who does advance stats, I feel like, anecdotally, he has missed six or seven wide-open layups on the left-hand side this year on drives. Maybe somebody can look that up. I don't know if there is a way to. But that shot he missed, I feel like I've seen him miss it. that way multiple times this year. Not going on the right, but on the left, and he did it there again. 859-2-80-2287. Let's take a break.

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. Vandy leads Alabama 69-61. Vandy is 14-0. That is amazing. Now, they haven't played the hardest schedule, but if you beat Alabama,

that's impressive. and we have to play them twice, so I'm excited. There's nine minutes left in that game, surpassing Kentucky's point total from tonight already. That's true. Good point. All right, let's 859-280-2287. One person writes, Matt, do you think that Pope is playing the right guys?

I don't understand why Quatance wasn't end at the end. Well, I don't think Quatantz played great tonight, but I also agree with you he should have been in at the end. I also think he has no idea who to play. I mean, I think he knows he needs low and away. But I think besides that, he really has no idea who he wants on the court in these situations. And that's why you end up with a situation where against Alabama, in the key moments of the game, he was literally playing three different guys than he was in this game.

Right? So against Alabama, in the key points, the game, he was playing Aberdeen, Quaintance, and Diabate. And then in this game, it was Cam Williams, Moreno, and Garrison.

I don't think he knows, I don't think he has any idea who to play. Yovitch doesn't even see the floor. Noah doesn't see the floor. Jasper Johnson doesn't see the floor. So I think it would be interesting to see how much money did we spend on those three guys, Billy, that don't even get in?

Well, Jasper specifically, right? Any of them. I mean, all three of those guys, I mean, that's certainly a few million dollars. You know, we, and I say we, because I did, too, praise the depth on this team. I have for years had the opinion that depth is overrated. I don't know. I think the injuries last year let me talk myself out of that, and it probably talked

to Pope out of it, too. You don't need 12 guys because we have three of them not playing. But the thing is, I think what's more important is that Pope doesn't even know what five guys he wants to play. Really, he doesn't know who he wants to play outside of two guys. And that's kind of a problem. Who's next? We got another Michael on the line.

Michael, go ahead, Michael. Hello? Yes. Hey, sorry. So I'm going to be on more of the hopeful side and say, I don't think hope needs to leave. I think he learned a lot from last season, got us to the Sweet 16. This season, he's just, he's running through some. some rough edges, he'll figure it out, and hopefully we'll get somewhere we need to be towards

the end of the season. I do think something's going on with our point guard situation when Lowe's only got two assists. Aberdeen should have been sitting down a long time ago within the first five minutes of the game. I was there with my buddy Brock. I'm like, Aberdeen should be sitting. He should not be out on the floor at all. and then also as far as like they're you know lifting them up

pull up some remember the Titans or coach Carter like what about those movies these kids weren't born when those movies came out well I'm just saying this might be a time for to remember these movies they got to understand you got to have a little bit of uh you know mojo out there there's got to be a

it's not just like a motion I mean you got people just standing in court not moving. Like you said earlier, we had a few minutes of where they were screening, setting up plays where they're going down and passing out. But a few minutes when you're playing horrible, the first half, can't get us back. And then, like you said, again, four and a half minutes,

we shouldn't have lost the game. I mean, I watched it. It's just silly. Otega missed that layup. And then I also, hey, just for Shigles, I looked up on Chad GPT, Otega is shooting roughly around 72% making his shots for the season.

That's what Chad GPT says. Now, you know, the best research. I bet that's not true. Yeah, I appreciate the call. Chat GPT is wrong. He's not shooting 72% in the field. That would be a record. They'd have a better record if he was shooting that too.

If he was shooting seven, all right, I'm looking right now. First of all, you don't need to do chat GPT. You can just go to, ESPN or UK Athletics. He's shooting 46% from the field. Not close. Not 72%. He said he was going to be optimistic.

Yeah. I think when people say the sentence, I looked at chat GBT, I should just just right there. That's the end for me. Of listening what they say. What's next? V is up. V. Go ahead.

V. Hi, Matt. Thanks for taking my call. I'm not to be honest. I'm just sitting here frustrated after watching that product that was just put on television here. I'm just sitting here wondering, how much money do we have to pay to have someone box out on a free throw or give a little bit of heart? I mean, finally. The box out there. I mean, it was Moreno.

I mean, I actually think Moreno played pretty well most of the game, but Moreno had a couple of really costly errors there at the end. I mean, he had two turnovers down the stretch, and I consider. the miss free throw boxout three. I think that's three turnovers in four and a half minutes. And he played really well up until that point, but that was a really bad four minutes and 15 seconds for him. Yeah, and we had Garrison on the floor,

and he was at least giving some effort compared to the rest of the team. But I thought it was at least good to see that Mark Pope at least showed some little bit of fire and started yelling at the refs. Maybe we need to have Pope have a legacy game and get cancer. picked out. Maybe that'll get the team, you know, fire lit up on their... Well, I mean, it looked like that half-court shot could have been the game that, I mean, that's, or half-court, it was three-fourths of a court,

that that shot could have been the thing that turned it around and then it didn't. You know, it's interesting, and I appreciate the call. I think about these last two nights. If you go back and look at the Kansas TCU game and the Yukon Providence game tonight, those are two legacy programs with Hall of Fame head coaches that both were dead to the water, had no chance of winning the game they were playing. I think Kansas was like, what, up down eight with 70 seconds left, and then Yukon was down 11 with three minutes left on the road, and they both found a way to come back and win.

And we, as a legacy program, are up eight with four minutes to go at home and lose. and it's just striking to me. You know, sometimes when I watch, I feel like Kansas when they're at home, Duke, I just feel like even Billy when they're down with a few minutes to go, I'm like they're going to find a way to win this game, right? I just always feel that way. I don't feel that way about us right now.

And maybe that's part of what we've lost here is this idea of, when Kansas is in Lawrence, they are winning. I almost don't care what the score is. They're going to win. And I don't feel that way about us anymore at home. And that's disappointing. Who's next? Jordan.

Jordan. Jordan. Hey, Matt. You know, tonight, it's been weird because I feel like, you know, the first year of Mark Pope, we, you know, everybody was totally willing to give them grace. And we actually had a good season. It's like anybody who's reasonable thought that everybody liked that team. But now you look at this and it feels like a comedy of errors and nobody's really laughing anymore. And it's tough because it feels like we're not about to get to our biggest recruits that we're supposed to get this next season.

And I don't really know what to feel anymore. Well, I think that is something too. I think that's something that is part of it. is, you know, is that feeling you're having, which is that, well, we're not even, you know, we're not even going to get the recruits next year, too. I think that's part of it, right? Yeah, it's, you know, it's, you know, being down already and then not feeling like it's going to get better. You know, there's, yeah, you know what, bad things happen, players get hurt.

It's, you know, you have a tough season or whatever it is. And but, you know, there's a short lease here. And it's, I don't know, it's tough. Yeah. No, I agree. Getting hard to watch, but you guys have a good night. Appreciate it. I'm sitting here looking, Billy.

And, I mean, it's a little thing, okay, and I don't want to read too much into it. What? But I do think it's worth noting. You know, fans, it's. It's 11.10 at night. We got thousands of people listening to this. Pete, fans who care. I get it.

Somebody just sent me one of the players' stories. I'm not even going to say which one it was, but one of the players' stories on Instagram. They're just reposting their highlights from the game. Like all the good stuff they did. Like three different, three straight, like, highlight clips of good. After a bad loss, like that? After a bad loss, yeah.

And I, you know, I don't know, man. We just lost two hours ago. And, you know, you're posting highlights of your good plays. Like, yeah, I don't, you know, I understand, like, these dudes have lives, et cetera. But I, it's just, you know, does it matter to you or not? if it did you wouldn't be reacting like that if it did i don't think you'd be doing that i mean i let's just say like what i mean there's not an equivalent but you know if i was if uh well there's no equivalent in what i do but if you lose especially if you lose in a disappointing way

i don't think right after it's over you talk about how good you did right and so um yeah that's frustrating one more we'll take a break who's next will be interesting to see if this room holds together throughout the year. I mean, that's a real question. Tim is up next. Tim, go ahead, Tim. What's up, fellas? Happy New Year to you both. Happy New Year to you, Mr. Matt, and just straight up prayers and smiles for your father, dude. He's got this. Thank you. And Billy, you were the best in the business, dude. Shannon, the dude, needs to watch it because you're coming. Let's go. But hey, hey, I want to ask you a question. Mr. Matt. How many recruits we got signed for next year?

At this moment, we have zero. All right, okay. That's what I thought. I just wanted to double check. All right, so coaching. So recruiting, not good. Okay, we're going to put check mark not in. All right, coaching.

So he puts Chandler in at the end of the last five minutes to play defense. And then the last play of the game, we need a three. And he's on the bench. So that's true. And then also you got to, you guys. He did put him in for defense and not to shoot. Yeah, that is true. Yes, that happens.

That happened. He made a good play, though. got that. So we're going to put, we're going to, oh, he did make a great place. Shout out to my man. Hey, and Mormon's forever. Hey, but he put a check mark, you know, from the coaching, we're not doing so good over there either. All right, so let's go with management here. We gave him $22 million said, hey, dude, here's the Lamborghini. You go find the fastest speed way you can. And he put us on a Kentucky Owensboro, Kentucky mountain top. That's where he put us. And you're like, okay, so you don't really know how to drive a Lamborghini. All right. Okay. So you're not good at that. So that's,

all things. He's a rising star is what I'm getting at, right? But this is Kentucky. Okay. How much... Well, I don't know how rising. I mean, let's be real. He's he's five years he's in his 50s. So like, I mean, there's only so much rising that you can do. You know, this is his, in his career, like he's in prime time. This is his prime time. When you look at college coaches, 45 to 60, that's like the prime time and he's in it. And he's in it. And, And so, yeah, I think your point, I appreciate the call, is completely valid. This is a failure so far. It's not over, but this is a failure of a performance.

The GM part of the job, he didn't hire a GM, so he gets blamed for it. He should have one because he clearly is not doing well at it. The roster management, poor. Game prep, poor. Game execution. poor offensive execution poor defense okay that's it i mean that what else can you say i mean there are multiple parts of this job motivation poor you know keeping the team focused you know he said after the game literally think about this billy during the exact moments

that Mark was, I bet if you look at the minute, it's almost the exact minute. During the exact minutes that Mark is on with Tom Leach saying this team will not be broken, this team is resilient, we will not break, one of the players is posting his highlights of the game. To the minute. Almost to the minute. Well, that makes me wonder, do you even have that locker room? I think it's a fair, it's a fair question. We'll take a break.

859-280-2-807. It's a local Toyota dealers, KSR, Post-Game Show. Welcome back. It is the... I can't believe this. You okay? Well, I just... Somebody sent me this, and I didn't think it was right,

and then I just looked at it. So I just said we had one player posting highlights. We have another player. We got more. A different player than that one. on their Instagram story right now trying to sell hats. Okay.

I'm serious. Moved on to the next thing. Wow. I mean, that's unbelievable. So we have two players, both of whom get minutes, one of whom after the game is posting his highlights,

and the other one is trying to sell hats. Yeah, I mean, I don't... I mean, if that doesn't tell you, they're checked out. You know, I don't know what to say about that. well I do know what to say about it but I will give myself to the little tomorrow morning to say something besides that who's up next some positivity though Matt we got to give out a Johnny

rocker personal injury attorney moneymaker of the game tonight I'm interested to see who you big yeah injured get small town compassion with big city results when you call the rocker at 270 321 42429 and this player led the team in points rebounds assists and steals tonight that's Otega Owe who scored 20 points and 30 35 minutes. He is our Johnny Rocker, personal injury attorney, moneymaker of the game. Yeah. That's who I would have picked, too. All right. Who's next?

Tyler is up. Tyler, go ahead, Tyler. What up, Matt? What up? Billy. What's going on? Man, I'm out in California, and I just want to speak for everybody whenever I say I'm upset. I don't like this hat sale stuff. I don't like any of that. These cats have to do what they have to do to keep the,

just keep the company alive. To keep the what alive, the company? Just keep the cat, the catany alive, all of it. Everybody's upset. I'm out in California. Yeah. We're upset, man. We hate it.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I hate it too. I appreciate the call. They do need to keep it on the tracks. I mean, they could, they, I mean, this could get bad. I think if you don't want it to get bad, you do have a couple games to get it back. I mean, you're, you know, you're not playing, you're playing Mississippi State at home Saturday night. At night, that's a game you can easily win, but you got to go and do it. Yeah, I can't, I can't get over there. people now are sending me i can't get over this like i you know i'm not i'm somebody who is

completely embraced the new the new uh the new world of college basketball i get it it's not going to change i think it's a lot more like it should be than it probably was before in terms of people getting their worth with that said like the caller said earlier you are now a professional you are going to be treated as a professional and i want you to imagine if after you know in the NBA playoffs, a guy loses a game in the NBA if they immediately, during the post-game interview, were selling hats. Like, people would criticize them for that, right?

You know, there's a level of, I believe these dudes deserve what they get. At the same time, with that comes some of the excuses I've given for people over the years. Well, they're kids. True, but now you've got to grow up quicker. right you know

when you were kids and you were playing for free I give you a lot more grace than when you're making you know it's just it's part of it it's part of responsibility and I cannot get over

that that was done after a home loss the way it was let's do we'll do four more and call it a night who's next Kwood

Kwood Kew would go ahead Kewood Kwood all right who's next all right Jen May

Jen May, hello. Hey, hello. What's going on? Hey, I'm going to keep this call positive. It was a bad game. I don't know. It was a great game, but like I thought OA should have shot probably four points and three. Is that not another line when they go past the three points?

Are you asking if there are four-pointers? Yeah. No, there are no four-pointers. If there was, that would probably count. But, you know, in the old MTV Rockin' Jock games, there would have been 10-pointers, so maybe we could have used that. Also, I feel like Shannon the dude sounds a lot like the commentator tonight. The Bradshaw.

Oh, Bradshaw, people have said that before. I appreciate the call. People have said that, that they do sound like. that they do send like i can see it actually uh who's up next Jared Jared go ahead Jared vanderbilt up nine with four minutes to go Jared go ahead hey man um so i'm kind of just in the same mindset of a lot of the collars that you've had tonight with just i don't see hope for mark pope to turn this around you know because the lines he keeps giving us on his radio show is well this team will be good eventually they

just haven't yet. You know, we're going to make you proud. We just haven't done it yet, but we will. Yeah, they better. I don't love that answer, but that's what he's saying. But, you know, it reminds me of Cal used to always say, he said a couple years like, wait till March. And you might remember then we would lose in March, and he'd say, well, we had a great

regular season. And I said, you can't both tell us it will be great March and then also tell us about the regular, like, something's got. got a matter. You know what I mean? So if you're going to say we're going to be better at the end of the year, well, we better be better at the end of the year. And I agree. And so with that, if this does end with the disaster that it is right now and we, you know, don't have any recruits right now, how likely is it that we go for someone like Tommy Lloyd or Nate Oates by the end of the season? Yeah. I mean, we're not going to, I mean, that's not likely. I appreciate the call. I mean,

Look, it's not as bad as his other ones, but I think, Billy, just for knowledge sake, Mark Pope has like a $25 million or something, or 23 or 20. I mean, it's a lot. It's not what some of these other ones have been, but it's not nothing. Yeah. Especially when you're still, when you're going to be playing Mark Stoopses. So, but, yeah, you know, he said, well, three more. Who's next?

Michael is up next. Michael, go ahead, Michael. I think I'm now the third, Michael, but this is the one that is in Little Rock, and I just watched, you know, Ole Miss almost come back, and they're now nine and six with us, and I think we would have been beat by 20 if we played Ole Miss. I felt like I was watching my son's freshman basketball game tonight. Their intelligence, basketball intelligence is not there.

We had a very intelligent team last year. We just had an athletic, you know, people last year. I agree. How do you think you feel in the rest of family-based feels? Because we're on that same path as the 9 and 16 season. We are. I know we only played 25 games that year, but we're going to be playing more than that. But a percentage-wise, we're going to probably be at that or worse, like 56%.

We won 56%. You know? No, when we were 9 and 16, we were 9 and 16, we won less than 50. 50%. I'm with you, Matt, though. Here's the thing. When they weren't getting paid, their kids,

they're young, I get it. This is something that they want to do for the rest of their life. They want to go to the NBA. They want to make money. So here's the thing. Put the pants on, grow up, and play the game like you know how you are supposed to play the game and accept

criticism because your job is to play basketball and do well at it. And if you can't listen and execute, then you don't need to be playing in the NBA. I agree. Appreciate the call. Appreciate the call. Let me give you an amazing staff. Okay. I just thought of this while he was talking. I want you to think about this, Billy. I'm going to count the amount of players that I am 100% sure are making an amount of money that's going to surprise you. Okay. Okay. I'm just in my mind. One,

two, three, four, five. At least five, potentially seven, but I'm certain of five guys on the team. But it might be as high as seven, are making more money this year than Ellie De La Cruz. That's crazy. Really? I'm dead serious. in the 20, 25, 26 basketball season, there are five, maybe up to seven players on the Kentucky basketball team

making more money than Ellie Daley-Dala Cruz. Now, why do I say that? Do I say that because that means they shouldn't get the money? Ellie's vastly underpaid. That's the way baseball works. But the reason I say that is the young excuse and all that, like it kind of doesn't work when you're making that kind of money. You know, there's a guy, I think,

The number one pick in the draft a year or two ago was his name, Risa Shea or something like that, plays for Atlanta. I was listening to Bill Simmons talking about him, and they were talking about how, yeah, he's 20 years old, but, and then they just were criticizing him.

We got three or four guys, Billy, on the five guys on the team older than Risha Shea. Right? So, you know, this is part of it. This is part of what it is now. You got seven guys making more than Ellie, and we got probably five guys on the team that are, older than the number one draft pick two years ago,

this is what comes with it. Two more. Who's next? Is the guy selling hats, the one of them making more than Ellie? I'm not, people are going to have to find that on their own. I'm not getting involved. Who's next?

I can't find it. Well, maybe out there are not that many players. Go ahead. It might have gotten taken down, hopefully. But go ahead. Thomas is up next. Thomas, go ahead, Thomas. So my wife says, look, if I have to watch this crap,

where you watch every SEC lost with against a Hallmark movie loss. Oh, no. Oh, that's brutal. That's brutal. I know. That's brutal.

But you know what? She doesn't. I mean, I think that's a fair trade by her because it's not like we're just lost. So you're saying for every time Kentucky loses, you have to watch a Hallmark movie. I'm not sure.

I would have, at the beginning of the year, I said yes. but now it's like tell your wife i think she has to enforce that and that's going to make you rude extra hard because those movies are bad a lot of them are filmed however in lagrange kentucky but nevertheless they are bad oh gosh well good luck sir i'm sorry i do like that deal by i'm toast i am toast see if you can get her to watch traitors billy i appreciate the call the new season i think starts what tomorrow and people tell me that's a great show that's my new it's like a It's like a reality show.

Have you heard about it? I've heard about it. I've never watched it. People say I would love it. And I think season three starts. I'm going to go start with season one, but I think season three starts tomorrow or something. Who's next?

Our final caller, Kevin. Kevin, go ahead, Kevin. Hey, Matt. Everybody's bashing Pope tonight. My thought, we know Pope, is that a success everywhere he's been. We know what he did last year. He's got a tremendous support staff.

of coaches, Mark Fox, Alvin Brooks, Cody Figer, you can't tell me those guys are not coaching them well, that they're missing things, that they're saying they've tried everything. I mean, they've got a super experience. I mean, I don't disagree with anything you said, but what would you say then if I am to agree with you, which I generally do, that Mark's a very good coach, he does have a great staff, he had every resource in building this team and it's Kentucky. How do you explain it then? It's got to be team dynamics, attitude issues, chemistry.

All that's on him, though. You don't know. Here's the thing. You don't get the credit. Hang on. You don't get. I do not do this with coaches. Like when Cal would win, people would go, well, it's the players.

And then when they'd lose it would be his fault. And I'm like, that's not fair. It's either the coaches or the players or it's both. He does not get the credit for last year being good if he also doesn't get the blame for this year being bad. You know what I mean? Like, why can't we just say, well, last year, Jackson, Lamont, Kobe Brea, those dudes were special? Why does he, Mark, get the credit for last year, but not the blame this year? I just think there's some groups of guys that mesh last year did, and this guy, this year obviously doesn't.

But he picked them. Yeah. I mean, they didn't grow on trains. How do you know if they're going to match? Well, I mean, that's part of what you have to do. I mean, here's what I would say to you. Let's look at Natoats. Okay.

Nate Oates has got a completely different team than he had last year. Last year's team went to the Final Four. And even though they're losing right now to Vandy, he's still got this team really good. Like, don't you think great coaches in the portal era have to make teams mesh? That's part of what they have to do? They do.

But great coaches also have years where teams don't match over the years. So anyway, that's my thought. I appreciate the call. I still got hope for this year. Sometimes that's true, but. Well, let's see what happens this year. I don't want to make too many huge pronouncements until we see how it happens. We are 9 and 6, 15 games into the season.

We are literally at half time of the game Saturday will be halfway through the season. And it's certainly not been the season that we had hoped so far. Hopefully it will be better. Alabama trying to come back, it's 9185. If you could listen to this on podcast, you'll know whether they did. Billy, thank you very much for staying up with us. Sorry to the guy who has to watch a Hallmark movie after the loss tonight. And I think I'm going to go buy a hat, Billy, because I just felt like this is the right time.

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