April 24, 2025 • 18 mins
Welcome to episode fourteen of Behind Kentucky Basketball presented by UK Federal Credit Union! Collin Chandler sits down with Michelle Knezovic to discuss his journey to Kentucky, his identity as a player, and how this years team chemistry has blossomed, and how he is preparing for the Sweet 16. Tune in as we dive into these topics and more on this episode of Behind Kentucky Basketball.
Presented by: UK Federal Credit Union
Presented by: UK Federal Credit Union
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So this team, this Kentucky team is full of not
only gamers on the court, but you guys, love yourself
a game anyway to be competitive.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yes, So Andrew one of his many hobbies outside of
basketball is hobby is creating.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Trivia powerpoints. Okay, I think he used to do with
his friends back at home. But he has like like.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Thirty slide trivia's of NBA history. He's got, like, I
think he's got some from like the nineties to the
early two thousands. I think as a team, we've gotten
together as a team a few times and played.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
We played I think likely like to late.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Two thousands to through the twenty tens and up until present.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
And so we'll, yeah, we're testing everyone's alge.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Is there any Mark Pope NBA trivia questions in there?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I don't know if we've we've gotten that deep.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I'm sure in Andrew's trivia files he's got some Marked
Pope questions, but.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I don't know if we got to any of those.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Welcome into another episode of Behind Kentucky Basketball, presented by
UK Federal Credit Union. Fresh off a trip to Milwaukee,
Colin Chandler, thanks for coming in our little makeshift podcast.
Studio today, a busy weekend. How are you feeling after
two wins in your first NCAA tournament.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, well, we're feeling great. We're feeling.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Confident and excited to go into this weekend. A lot
of us this is our first dance, so we're all
just loving the energy and eating every moment of it.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
So we were talking a little bit before we started
the podcast that this is Kentucky and Tennessee's first time
meeting each other in the NCAA tournament. Having a team
that you guys have already played twice this season, having
two fan bases who are very, very passionate about basketball,
is there maybe a sense of familiarity you guys have
played them twice this year and heading into this game,
(02:17):
whereas for Illinois you had you had never played them.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, definitely. I mean we we scouted these guys twice now,
and plus I mean they're in our conference, so we're
watching them when we can, watching the big games, and
so I feel like we know their players very well.
But I'm sure they're gonna come with probably a different
scheme because we've got them twice, They're probably gonna try
(02:40):
to come with something different and but yeah, they're I mean,
we're playing against guys that we know, and so we're
excited to compete with them again. We're I think we're
confident and excited to get them in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Is it hard to maybe switch the mentality? Right, You're
so excited after advancing to this set sixteen, but then
once you get right back into Lexington, it's back to
work to get ready for Friday.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, well, I think, well, it's nice to have a
few days to I think we got to all digest
the wins over this weekend. But like it's always been,
you can't get too high and too low. So we're
I think, yeah, we're back to what we do. We
have a few days prepared, so I think we're going
(03:26):
to do kind of what we've done. We're sticking to
our we talk about like the same world, boring habits
as a team all the time.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Is that's how we're not going to be rattled.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And how we're going to stay confident is we're doing
the same thing that we've always done this. We're going
to prepare the same way we've always prepared, and so
that's our focus for the next few days.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
I remembered I think this was after you guys advanced
the Sweet sixteen. I asked a couple of guys, a
couple of the older guys in the locker room for
the Duke game. I think all three of you freshmen
combined for maybe two minutes. Yeah, and now to see
the significant impact that you, Trent Travis have had on
this team. What has that been like for you, Colin
(04:07):
to see yourself be a significant piece now in these
wins and being able to step up with guys like
Jackson and Lamon and and even Andrew going down this year.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, Well, we talk all about I mean, as a team,
we talk about God's plan a lot, and I don't
and we don't know exactly why things happen and when
they happen, and we're we're we're feeling for Jackson Kurr
right now, who aren't able to be out there with us.
(04:40):
But leading up to the tournaments, the freshmen were asked
to step up into playing a role on this team,
a real role, as those guys were injured. And I
think that time leading up to the tournament helped us
to gain experience and confidence being out there on the floor.
(05:00):
And I think the trust of our teammates as well,
And so I think that has all played into where
we are now in being asked to step up into
a role as we've we've gained experience, as we've had
to step up as the injuries have happened. So I
(05:20):
think that's put us in a position now of confidence
and where we're playing as freshmen our best basketball.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Has there been anybody like a player on your team
who's helped you gain the confidence, right, maybe if something
goes wrong in a game, to just tell you to
focus on the next play, the next play, and then
maybe a three will happen.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Right, Yeah, Yeah, Well it's not even it's not even
just recently. It's been ever since we got here, is
I mean, it's been. It's been tough for me because
I didn't know what to expect and and how all
this was going to work, and and what my abilities
were even at coming here.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
And so I've always I've had all the.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Game eyes that have helped me and and verbally told
me they believe in me and know what I'm capable
of and helping me to and that helps. That's helped
with my patients is trusting that these guys know what
I'm capable of and with time will come and so
they've they've all been super gracious towards me in.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
My progress.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
In Milwaukee, you came off, you came off the bench,
and you hit two quick threes in both games. I mean,
one of them in the second game was about a
logo three column. I mean, how much is that a
confidence builder when you get in the game and you
have shots falling so quickly.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah, well, I think.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I think right now, I'm shooting the ball very confidently.
It was, I mean, that was one of the learning
curves of coming back was I mean, first was in practice,
was shooting with nobody guarding you, and then moving to
somebody guarding you in practice was completely It felt like
I was.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Doing something that I had never.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Done before, which is super weird, and then getting used
to it in practice, and then getting into a game
with all the nerves and the speed of the game,
it felt like I was doing something that I'd never
done before again. And so it's taken a little bit
of time, but I now feel like I have that
comfort in the game, and I've now gained the confidence
(07:24):
and they've got the feel for what it's like, and
I guess I could explain it as like being dialed
in is what I feel like now, and so to
see to see them go down as the confidence builder.
And I think in both the games of I've had
one go down right when like my first shot going in,
and it's always nice to see the first one going
(07:46):
you have you feel really free shoot the next ones.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
So I want to go back to maybe your your
first interaction with Coach Pope, which was a couple of
years ago now maybe six years now. What I immediately
stood out, I don't. I don't know if BBN realizes that,
you know, you just mentioned six years that maybe the
first time you met Coach Pope and maybe the journey
into you actually stepping foot here at Kentucky because he
(08:11):
wasn't BYU before. So if you can remember maybe that
first interaction and then how you knew that you wanted
to play for Coach Pope.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I do remember my first so, yeah, I remember my
first FaceTime call.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
With FaceTime, everybody says the.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Face, well, that's something we I think what a lot
of us love about Coach Pope is he's very personable,
and I think that's something that recruits. What makes him
different is, yeah, every time he calls you, it's going
to be a FaceTime and it kind of throws you
off guard, makes you nervous. You're like, oh, like, first
(08:46):
of all, calling a coach calling you when you're fifteen
years old, sixteen years old is is nerve wracking. And
then when they want to FaceTime, it's like should there?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
But I mean yeah, but you just you have a
feeling of you know, when he's he's genuine.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
And so since then.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
We've talked a lot, and he was at all my
AAU games and so I think I felt like I
felt that belief from day one that he believed in me,
and that was the feeling that I had and what
I think set him apart from from the other schools
that I was thinking about.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
All right, listen, everybody, we need to take a brief
moment to thank our podcast sponsor UK Federal Credit Union,
as the official credit union of the University of Kentucky.
UKFCU understands that students and support and that's why they've
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(09:49):
By one of their seven local branches to open an
account today federally insured by NCUI. I want to go
to a story that you kind of told me before
we started, about how your dad played volleyball at Utah
you were going to buy U. Of course, there's a
lot of a lot of rivalry there. Yeah, but when
(10:10):
you're going to Kentucky, they got they got the big blue,
big blue gear ready.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yes so?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
And yeah, so I grew up going to all the
Utah football games, like being a huge University Utah fan,
and so when I was being recruited and I was
leaning more towards playing for coach Pulp at BUYU, it
was a huge adjustment for my family, and I'm super
grateful for them. I Mean, I'm sure BBN can understand
(10:37):
if if you grew up a big BBN fan your
son decided to go to Louisville, you might know that'd
be tough. Yes so, but they were so gracious and
supportive and in doing what they could to support me.
But yeah, once once it was UK, everything in the
house was UK.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
So like we actually love the color blow.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Yes, yeah, they had no problem switching to this blue.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
So you meant, you know, growing up, I said that
your dad played volleyball, you were number five because he
wore number five. A competitive household game nights. I want
to I want to talk about how these game nights
came to be and how you've maybe brought a little
bit of that here to Kentucky with your teammates.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah. I mean growing up, I've always been a gamer.
I've loved just competing at anything possible, and so growing
up in my family and also my my friends and
everybody around me, we'd play games like Mafia, whereas you're
(11:35):
trying to some people are trying to lie and sieve,
some people are and you're some people are playing the
detective of trying to figure out what's going on and
reading people. That's always fun. Another game in my family
we play a lot is Settlers of Catan, Okay, and
so that's a huge game. We play multiple times a week.
We call it Settlers Sunday. Sometimes I love it. We'll
(11:58):
play multiple times on Sunday of snacks and everything, and
so it's just been something I've always grown up with
and so coming here, we have some gamers on the
team as well.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Andrew's a big gamer.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Lamont is a huge gamer. Trent and Travis will play,
and so we'll have guys filtering in and out of
the games that will play. Will play. But we've played
a lot of games like Werewolf, Rummy Cube, some some
golf cards, golf and so all those I think is
(12:31):
kind of led into our culture here now.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So Lamont's game that he brought over from San Diego State,
Where Wolf, Where Wolfe tell BVI in a little bit
about what Werewolf is, and then we'll get into Andrews trivia.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, where Wolf is similar to Mafia, which is probably
more widely known as a game that's played, but Werewolf
is there's a few people. It's it's one night Werewolf.
So there's just one round of everyone close their eyes,
and there's different things that happen in the night. There's
different like abilities that of the card that you get,
and so everyone has a role in the The roles
(13:08):
of the were wolves are to try to convince everybody
else that they were innocent, that they were a civilian
that did nothing, that did nothing overnight. And then the
rest of the characters are trying to figure out who
the were wolves are. And so it's a big game
that you're trying to figure out what happened. There's a
(13:30):
lot of heated arguments and discussions. But and then you
all vote for who you think is guilty.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Oh interesting, Okay, who would you say is the best?
You can't choose yourself.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
The best player of the game has.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Got a poker face. You never know which way they're going.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Yeah, they're all going to be everyone's going to be
mad whoever I say, because everyone thinks it's them. The
thing is is I'll probably say Trent, and I think
everyone else would probably say Trent as well, because not
because he has a good poker phase, but because he
like lies all the time for no reason, Like if
(14:09):
he's a civilian, he'll lie to make himself look like
the werewolf for no reason. First, he's very Yeah, he's
very unpredictable in that way that it's it's hard to
believe him either way. So that makes him a dangerous player.
I would say he's I wouldn't say he's. Oh, I'll
give him the title of the most dangerous player, and
not the not the best, but the most dangerous.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Okay, I love that. And then you told me that
Andrew Carr has brought trivia. So this team, this Kentucky
team is full of not only gamers on the court,
but you guys, love yourself a game anyway to be competitive.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yes, So Andrew one of his many hobbies outside of
basketball is is creating.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Trivia power points. I think he used to do with
his friends back at home.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
But he has like like thirty slide trivia's of NBA history.
He's got, like, I think he's got some from like
the nineties to the early two thousands. I think as
a team, we've gotten together as a team a few
times and played we played I think like early like
too late two thousands to through the twenty tens and
(15:23):
up until present. And so we'll Yeah, we're testing everyone's knowledge.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Is there any Mark Pope NBA trivia questions in there?
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yeah, I don't know if we've we've gotten that deep.
I'm sure in Andrew's trivia.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Files he's got some Mark Pope questions, but I don't
know if we got to any of those.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Well, I was thinking, you're first two, so Milwaukee and
now you're going to Indianapolis. Coach Pope played for the
Bucks and he played for the Pacers. Yeah, so that's
like two familiar cities for him, as you guys are
going to an Indian Indianapolis only three hours for Kentucky
fans to come up and travel and watch you guys.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yeah, we need Bbing out there because I'm sure there's
gonna be a lot of Orange trying to get there
as well. We yes, we need, we need Big Blue
to show up. But yeah, it is interesting. We went
to New York earlier in the year.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
He played for the next.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Played for the next So we're just maybe he's doing
it on purpose. Maybe he's pulling the strings behind the
behind everyone's back and we're just traveling on us. He's
playing traveling Don memory Lane with him playing chess.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah, and he actually does play chess.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
He's playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
There you go. Okay, there's one more thing we have
to do before we end this podcast. Calm. There was
something that went a little crazy after Mary Williams press conference.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
We to bex.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Colin has tried we to bix before, because you lived
in London for two years.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yes, I think I think I tried it once. I
bought it at the store because it looks good like
if you look.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
At the front of the box. It looks good. You're like, oh,
that looks really good.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Maybe there's gonna be blueberries in it, because look at
the front, it's got blueberries on it there.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
I think that's what I thought was it was gonna
come like blueberries.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
I thought fresh fruit was going to be in the series.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
I thought wrong. There was no blueberries.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
So I think for everybody's entertainment, for a Mari's entertainment,
I think we need to we need to try it,
and we're not doing it the correct way. I'm just
gonna say it. We're not doing it the correct way
right coin we we don't have the warm milk like
a Mari recommend that milk. You you just spoon the
first you take the first one out of there. It's
also separated into two bags.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Goodness, just how dry it is by the way that
it crumbled.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Okay, you need to wait. We're gonna we're gonna take
a bite and this is going to be cheersing to
the Sweet sixteen cut right yep, and many more and
many more games. Look you ready cheers to weed a
becks to a Mari Williams. This is for you ready one, two, three?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Oh you know what.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
It tastes healthy. It tastes healthy. Right, it takes it
tastes healthy. We got some fiber. Yeah, I took a
little bite. Listen a great podcast episode. We will go
get milk for these weed a Bix Whole Grain cereals.
Shout out to Mary Williams. Another episode of Behind Kentucky
Basketball Colin Chandler, Happy Chandler. We love it.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yep, thanks guys.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
M
So this team, this Kentucky team is full of not
only gamers on the court, but you guys, love yourself
a game anyway to be competitive.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yes, So Andrew one of his many hobbies outside of
basketball is hobby is creating.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Trivia powerpoints. Okay, I think he used to do with
his friends back at home. But he has like like.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Thirty slide trivia's of NBA history. He's got, like, I
think he's got some from like the nineties to the
early two thousands. I think as a team, we've gotten
together as a team a few times and played.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
We played I think likely like to late.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Two thousands to through the twenty tens and up until present.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
And so we'll, yeah, we're testing everyone's alge.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Is there any Mark Pope NBA trivia questions in there?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I don't know if we've we've gotten that deep.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I'm sure in Andrew's trivia files he's got some Marked
Pope questions, but.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I don't know if we got to any of those.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Welcome into another episode of Behind Kentucky Basketball, presented by
UK Federal Credit Union. Fresh off a trip to Milwaukee,
Colin Chandler, thanks for coming in our little makeshift podcast.
Studio today, a busy weekend. How are you feeling after
two wins in your first NCAA tournament.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, well, we're feeling great. We're feeling.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Confident and excited to go into this weekend. A lot
of us this is our first dance, so we're all
just loving the energy and eating every moment of it.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
So we were talking a little bit before we started
the podcast that this is Kentucky and Tennessee's first time
meeting each other in the NCAA tournament. Having a team
that you guys have already played twice this season, having
two fan bases who are very, very passionate about basketball,
is there maybe a sense of familiarity you guys have
played them twice this year and heading into this game,
(02:17):
whereas for Illinois you had you had never played them.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, definitely. I mean we we scouted these guys twice now,
and plus I mean they're in our conference, so we're
watching them when we can, watching the big games, and
so I feel like we know their players very well.
But I'm sure they're gonna come with probably a different
scheme because we've got them twice, They're probably gonna try
(02:40):
to come with something different and but yeah, they're I mean,
we're playing against guys that we know, and so we're
excited to compete with them again. We're I think we're
confident and excited to get them in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Is it hard to maybe switch the mentality? Right, You're
so excited after advancing to this set sixteen, but then
once you get right back into Lexington, it's back to
work to get ready for Friday.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, well, I think, well, it's nice to have a
few days to I think we got to all digest
the wins over this weekend. But like it's always been,
you can't get too high and too low. So we're
I think, yeah, we're back to what we do. We
have a few days prepared, so I think we're going
(03:26):
to do kind of what we've done. We're sticking to
our we talk about like the same world, boring habits
as a team all the time.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Is that's how we're not going to be rattled.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And how we're going to stay confident is we're doing
the same thing that we've always done this. We're going
to prepare the same way we've always prepared, and so
that's our focus for the next few days.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
I remembered I think this was after you guys advanced
the Sweet sixteen. I asked a couple of guys, a
couple of the older guys in the locker room for
the Duke game. I think all three of you freshmen
combined for maybe two minutes. Yeah, and now to see
the significant impact that you, Trent Travis have had on
this team. What has that been like for you, Colin
(04:07):
to see yourself be a significant piece now in these
wins and being able to step up with guys like
Jackson and Lamon and and even Andrew going down this year.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, Well, we talk all about I mean, as a team,
we talk about God's plan a lot, and I don't
and we don't know exactly why things happen and when
they happen, and we're we're we're feeling for Jackson Kurr
right now, who aren't able to be out there with us.
(04:40):
But leading up to the tournaments, the freshmen were asked
to step up into playing a role on this team,
a real role, as those guys were injured. And I
think that time leading up to the tournament helped us
to gain experience and confidence being out there on the floor.
(05:00):
And I think the trust of our teammates as well,
And so I think that has all played into where
we are now in being asked to step up into
a role as we've we've gained experience, as we've had
to step up as the injuries have happened. So I
(05:20):
think that's put us in a position now of confidence
and where we're playing as freshmen our best basketball.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Has there been anybody like a player on your team
who's helped you gain the confidence, right, maybe if something
goes wrong in a game, to just tell you to
focus on the next play, the next play, and then
maybe a three will happen.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Right, Yeah, Yeah, Well it's not even it's not even
just recently. It's been ever since we got here, is
I mean, it's been. It's been tough for me because
I didn't know what to expect and and how all
this was going to work, and and what my abilities
were even at coming here.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
And so I've always I've had all the.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Game eyes that have helped me and and verbally told
me they believe in me and know what I'm capable
of and helping me to and that helps. That's helped
with my patients is trusting that these guys know what
I'm capable of and with time will come and so
they've they've all been super gracious towards me in.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
My progress.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
In Milwaukee, you came off, you came off the bench,
and you hit two quick threes in both games. I mean,
one of them in the second game was about a
logo three column. I mean, how much is that a
confidence builder when you get in the game and you
have shots falling so quickly.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah, well, I think.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I think right now, I'm shooting the ball very confidently.
It was, I mean, that was one of the learning
curves of coming back was I mean, first was in practice,
was shooting with nobody guarding you, and then moving to
somebody guarding you in practice was completely It felt like
I was.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Doing something that I had never.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Done before, which is super weird, and then getting used
to it in practice, and then getting into a game
with all the nerves and the speed of the game,
it felt like I was doing something that I'd never
done before again. And so it's taken a little bit
of time, but I now feel like I have that
comfort in the game, and I've now gained the confidence
(07:24):
and they've got the feel for what it's like, and
I guess I could explain it as like being dialed
in is what I feel like now, and so to
see to see them go down as the confidence builder.
And I think in both the games of I've had
one go down right when like my first shot going in,
and it's always nice to see the first one going
(07:46):
you have you feel really free shoot the next ones.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
So I want to go back to maybe your your
first interaction with Coach Pope, which was a couple of
years ago now maybe six years now. What I immediately
stood out, I don't. I don't know if BBN realizes that,
you know, you just mentioned six years that maybe the
first time you met Coach Pope and maybe the journey
into you actually stepping foot here at Kentucky because he
(08:11):
wasn't BYU before. So if you can remember maybe that
first interaction and then how you knew that you wanted
to play for Coach Pope.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I do remember my first so, yeah, I remember my
first FaceTime call.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
With FaceTime, everybody says the.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Face, well, that's something we I think what a lot
of us love about Coach Pope is he's very personable,
and I think that's something that recruits. What makes him
different is, yeah, every time he calls you, it's going
to be a FaceTime and it kind of throws you
off guard, makes you nervous. You're like, oh, like, first
(08:46):
of all, calling a coach calling you when you're fifteen
years old, sixteen years old is is nerve wracking. And
then when they want to FaceTime, it's like should there?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
But I mean yeah, but you just you have a
feeling of you know, when he's he's genuine.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
And so since then.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
We've talked a lot, and he was at all my
AAU games and so I think I felt like I
felt that belief from day one that he believed in me,
and that was the feeling that I had and what
I think set him apart from from the other schools
that I was thinking about.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
All right, listen, everybody, we need to take a brief
moment to thank our podcast sponsor UK Federal Credit Union,
as the official credit union of the University of Kentucky.
UKFCU understands that students and support and that's why they've
created the Student Rewards Account, which offers them five percent
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thirteenth or twenty five visit UKFCU dot org for stop
(09:49):
By one of their seven local branches to open an
account today federally insured by NCUI. I want to go
to a story that you kind of told me before
we started, about how your dad played volleyball at Utah
you were going to buy U. Of course, there's a
lot of a lot of rivalry there. Yeah, but when
(10:10):
you're going to Kentucky, they got they got the big blue,
big blue gear ready.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yes so?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
And yeah, so I grew up going to all the
Utah football games, like being a huge University Utah fan,
and so when I was being recruited and I was
leaning more towards playing for coach Pulp at BUYU, it
was a huge adjustment for my family, and I'm super
grateful for them. I Mean, I'm sure BBN can understand
(10:37):
if if you grew up a big BBN fan your
son decided to go to Louisville, you might know that'd
be tough. Yes so, but they were so gracious and
supportive and in doing what they could to support me.
But yeah, once once it was UK, everything in the
house was UK.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
So like we actually love the color blow.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Yes, yeah, they had no problem switching to this blue.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
So you meant, you know, growing up, I said that
your dad played volleyball, you were number five because he
wore number five. A competitive household game nights. I want
to I want to talk about how these game nights
came to be and how you've maybe brought a little
bit of that here to Kentucky with your teammates.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah. I mean growing up, I've always been a gamer.
I've loved just competing at anything possible, and so growing
up in my family and also my my friends and
everybody around me, we'd play games like Mafia, whereas you're
(11:35):
trying to some people are trying to lie and sieve,
some people are and you're some people are playing the
detective of trying to figure out what's going on and
reading people. That's always fun. Another game in my family
we play a lot is Settlers of Catan, Okay, and
so that's a huge game. We play multiple times a week.
We call it Settlers Sunday. Sometimes I love it. We'll
(11:58):
play multiple times on Sunday of snacks and everything, and
so it's just been something I've always grown up with
and so coming here, we have some gamers on the
team as well.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Andrew's a big gamer.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Lamont is a huge gamer. Trent and Travis will play,
and so we'll have guys filtering in and out of
the games that will play. Will play. But we've played
a lot of games like Werewolf, Rummy Cube, some some
golf cards, golf and so all those I think is
(12:31):
kind of led into our culture here now.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So Lamont's game that he brought over from San Diego State,
Where Wolf, Where Wolfe tell BVI in a little bit
about what Werewolf is, and then we'll get into Andrews trivia.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, where Wolf is similar to Mafia, which is probably
more widely known as a game that's played, but Werewolf
is there's a few people. It's it's one night Werewolf.
So there's just one round of everyone close their eyes,
and there's different things that happen in the night. There's
different like abilities that of the card that you get,
and so everyone has a role in the The roles
(13:08):
of the were wolves are to try to convince everybody
else that they were innocent, that they were a civilian
that did nothing, that did nothing overnight. And then the
rest of the characters are trying to figure out who
the were wolves are. And so it's a big game
that you're trying to figure out what happened. There's a
(13:30):
lot of heated arguments and discussions. But and then you
all vote for who you think is guilty.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Oh interesting, Okay, who would you say is the best?
You can't choose yourself.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
The best player of the game has.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Got a poker face. You never know which way they're going.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Yeah, they're all going to be everyone's going to be
mad whoever I say, because everyone thinks it's them. The
thing is is I'll probably say Trent, and I think
everyone else would probably say Trent as well, because not
because he has a good poker phase, but because he
like lies all the time for no reason, Like if
(14:09):
he's a civilian, he'll lie to make himself look like
the werewolf for no reason. First, he's very Yeah, he's
very unpredictable in that way that it's it's hard to
believe him either way. So that makes him a dangerous player.
I would say he's I wouldn't say he's. Oh, I'll
give him the title of the most dangerous player, and
not the not the best, but the most dangerous.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Okay, I love that. And then you told me that
Andrew Carr has brought trivia. So this team, this Kentucky
team is full of not only gamers on the court,
but you guys, love yourself a game anyway to be competitive.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yes, So Andrew one of his many hobbies outside of
basketball is is creating.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Trivia power points. I think he used to do with
his friends back at home.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
But he has like like thirty slide trivia's of NBA history.
He's got, like, I think he's got some from like
the nineties to the early two thousands. I think as
a team, we've gotten together as a team a few
times and played we played I think like early like
too late two thousands to through the twenty tens and
(15:23):
up until present. And so we'll Yeah, we're testing everyone's knowledge.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Is there any Mark Pope NBA trivia questions in there?
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yeah, I don't know if we've we've gotten that deep.
I'm sure in Andrew's trivia.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Files he's got some Mark Pope questions, but I don't
know if we got to any of those.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Well, I was thinking, you're first two, so Milwaukee and
now you're going to Indianapolis. Coach Pope played for the
Bucks and he played for the Pacers. Yeah, so that's
like two familiar cities for him, as you guys are
going to an Indian Indianapolis only three hours for Kentucky
fans to come up and travel and watch you guys.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yeah, we need Bbing out there because I'm sure there's
gonna be a lot of Orange trying to get there
as well. We yes, we need, we need Big Blue
to show up. But yeah, it is interesting. We went
to New York earlier in the year.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
He played for the next.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Played for the next So we're just maybe he's doing
it on purpose. Maybe he's pulling the strings behind the
behind everyone's back and we're just traveling on us. He's
playing traveling Don memory Lane with him playing chess.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah, and he actually does play chess.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
He's playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
There you go. Okay, there's one more thing we have
to do before we end this podcast. Calm. There was
something that went a little crazy after Mary Williams press conference.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
We to bex.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Colin has tried we to bix before, because you lived
in London for two years.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yes, I think I think I tried it once. I
bought it at the store because it looks good like
if you look.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
At the front of the box. It looks good. You're like, oh,
that looks really good.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Maybe there's gonna be blueberries in it, because look at
the front, it's got blueberries on it there.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
I think that's what I thought was it was gonna
come like blueberries.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
I thought fresh fruit was going to be in the series.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
I thought wrong. There was no blueberries.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
So I think for everybody's entertainment, for a Mari's entertainment,
I think we need to we need to try it,
and we're not doing it the correct way. I'm just
gonna say it. We're not doing it the correct way
right coin we we don't have the warm milk like
a Mari recommend that milk. You you just spoon the
first you take the first one out of there. It's
also separated into two bags.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Goodness, just how dry it is by the way that
it crumbled.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Okay, you need to wait. We're gonna we're gonna take
a bite and this is going to be cheersing to
the Sweet sixteen cut right yep, and many more and
many more games. Look you ready cheers to weed a
becks to a Mari Williams. This is for you ready one, two, three?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Oh you know what.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
It tastes healthy. It tastes healthy. Right, it takes it
tastes healthy. We got some fiber. Yeah, I took a
little bite. Listen a great podcast episode. We will go
get milk for these weed a Bix Whole Grain cereals.
Shout out to Mary Williams. Another episode of Behind Kentucky
Basketball Colin Chandler, Happy Chandler. We love it.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yep, thanks guys.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
M
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