2024-04-29- KSR - Hour 1

Matt, Ryan, Drew, and Shannon talk UK Basketball commitments and all the news from the weekend.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Comedy Off Broadway in Lexington. Welcome's Back film and MTV
star Tom Green April nineteenth and twenty eight didn't catch
international comedy sensation Grandy felt face on his first Lexington
visit April twenty fifth through the twenty seventh. Then it's
the return of the Funniest Man in America James Gregory
May second through the fourth. For tickets to all shows

(00:21):
called A five nine two seven one joke or visit
Comedy Off Broadway dot com Off by Way.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Now here's Matt Jones.

Speaker 4 (00:35):
Welcome everyone, Kentucky Sports Radio, Monday, April to twenty ninth,
on an absolutely beautiful day here in Lexington, Kentucky at
the KS Bar and Grill, where it should be a
wonderful day for you to come out have lunch, see me,
Ryan and Drew. We have the Clarks Pumping Shop phone

(00:55):
lines eight five to nine two eight oh twenty two
eighty seven. A Vision Auto glass text machine is seven
seven two seven seven four five two five four in
this edition sponsored by TJ Smith Office called TJ Will
Make Them Pay. Today will be the debut of the
new coach Mark Pope will come on here at eleven o'clock.
First time here, that's right, Tell him about it, Rachel,

(01:16):
first time here on the show after a big recruiting weekend.
It's you know they I always say to you, Ryan,
the most important days are your first day at work
and your last day. This is our first impression for
Mark Pope. We have to we have to make sure
we come off well. Are you excited to have the
new coach?

Speaker 5 (01:37):
I am super excited. I was hoping he was gonna
be on for like the whole two hours so we
could fill it up talking to him. Not everything's been
going on to teach.

Speaker 4 (01:43):
So the goal is before I leave. For before I leave,
we're gonna try to have him on for a longer segment.
Today he can only do twenty minutes because he's got
recruits in test still. Yeah, so, but hopefully we can
do a long one before I leave. If not, we'll
do it when we get back. But I'm hoping to
be able to do it before we leave. We're working
with him on that, Drew. Are you excited to have

(02:05):
Coach Pope on? Very excited, also, very grateful he's doing this.
He's so busy right now. So he was at the
airport late last night. Looked like he was by himself.
He looked like he was by himself. We can't have
him at the airport. Somebody needs to ride with him.
It looked like he was just standing there by himself.
Maybe everyone else around him is too tired. He's letting
all of them naps so he can play catch up.

(02:26):
But I mean, the man has not stopped. Had a
huge weekend that we'll talk about, and it's right back
to it today with more of the same. Well, I
want to talk about all that, but Shannon, first, I
have something more than that. Here's my question for you.
This is going to be our debate before we start. Okay,
will Mark Pope remember Ryan Limit?

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Absolutely he will.

Speaker 4 (02:44):
Okay, So will he remember Ryan Limmit? Is that a
yes or no? So he worked with Ryan Lemon in
nineteen ninety seven during the tournament run. Have you spoken
to him since then?

Speaker 5 (02:55):
I've not, and I don't know if he will remember
because I was only with him at the final four
in Indianapolis.

Speaker 4 (03:01):
So you were with him one weekend, yes, twenty seven
years ago?

Speaker 5 (03:05):
Yes, So I say the chances are slim he's going.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
To say he remembers even if he doesn't.

Speaker 4 (03:10):
No, I think you would too. But I'm going to
judge whether or not he actually remembers you, because I
I think we'll be able to know Drew if he's
faking it or not. Do you think he remembers Ryan
because he clearly remembered Alan Cutler. Yes, he recalled Alan Cutler,
he recalled working with him. Does he remember Ryan?

Speaker 6 (03:29):
I think the setting we're in is working against Ryan
because there won't be a face to face. So just
over the radio with name recognition, I leen no. Now,
if Pope walked in and saw Ryan, they'd probably take
their shirts off in chest bump.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
But I think just over the air, I'm leaning no,
So you're no, Shannon. Do you think he remembers right?

Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yeah, I think he does. I think he'll remember him.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
But you, I say, no, you will Big Weekend.

Speaker 5 (03:53):
Huh.

Speaker 4 (03:53):
But you were supposed to be our connection to the
new coach. You worked with him, you were supposed to
be our inn.

Speaker 5 (04:00):
Well like that. That first round they were in Salt
Lake City, I didn't go. Then they went out to California.
I didn't go. So I didn't hook up with him
until he went to Indianapolis.

Speaker 4 (04:08):
So when you went to Indianapolis, did you all hang
out you and Pope? We did.

Speaker 5 (04:11):
We did some shows, did some specials, you know, but.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
They were like hang out in your free time.

Speaker 5 (04:15):
I don't remember. We all went to shawn Woods mom's
house for dinner one night.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
Really, yeah, that's a pretty big deal. Yeah, so you
were at dinner with me.

Speaker 5 (04:23):
Yeah, she fixed dinner for all of us. It was
awesome where Sewan grew up and he's childhood home. So yeah,
I'm still gonna go, no, Matthew, I'm thinking no, Well,
I'm excited.

Speaker 4 (04:32):
I'm gonna set you up for your one question, and
then I'm gonna say this is this is Ryan Lemon.
You worked with him in nineteen ninety seven.

Speaker 5 (04:40):
He'll go, I'm really.

Speaker 4 (04:41):
Excited to see what his uh, what his reaction will be.

Speaker 6 (04:45):
Do you think he'll remember me from nineteen ninety five
when I was at camp with him?

Speaker 4 (04:50):
I think that's unlike it. I think that, you know,
I was thinking I thought I had I met him
at like an AAU event when he was at Utah Valley.
He certainly wouldn't, but I don't. We were in school
at the same well, no, he graduated a year before
I started college, so I never met him that way.
I'm not sure that actually one on one I said

(05:10):
hello to him, but it was like a bunch of
people were saying hello to him. So I don't know
that I've actually ever officially met him before.

Speaker 5 (05:16):
A lot of guys on that team, you know, I've
seen since then, But for Mark, I've not really seen
him since he was playing here, you know, since that
ninety seven tournament run. So well, big fat no.

Speaker 4 (05:27):
Well, all right, well we will see.

Speaker 5 (05:29):
I don't remember a lot of the crew. His camera
guy was Bama.

Speaker 4 (05:33):
They're not on the show. Yeah, you're the one that's
on the show. I mean, no offense. Even if he
remembers Bama, I'm not really I don't care about Bama.

Speaker 5 (05:42):
Bama was his personal photographer.

Speaker 4 (05:43):
Well good, but they're not on the show.

Speaker 5 (05:46):
So I really was not his personal photographer. I was
just there doing some shows with him in my UK tie.

Speaker 4 (05:51):
All right, well we'll see twenty two eighty seven, A right,
let's go over the weekend. Massive weekend since the last
time we were on the show on Friday, I said,
this is the biggest weekend for Mark pope he'll have
in his first year of recruiting. He needs to have
a big weekend, and he did. He got three players
in three days, each of which I think is huge

(06:14):
for what Kentucky wants to do. Let's do the first one,
which I think is the best story, which is Lamont
Butler from San Diego State. People who don't remember him
or know him. He played for San Diego State, hit
the shot that took him to the championship game. He
was defensive player of the Year in his conference multiple times.
He's probably the best lockdown perimeter defender in the country.

(06:35):
He was in the portal. Here's kind of the story
behind the story. He was not like I don't think
a lot of people knew Kentucky was recruiting him, but
I think they believed they had it okay, but they
were trying to get him on campus for a visit,
trying to figure out when it's gonna happen. Then from
this is a sources tell KSR word starts to leak

(06:56):
out that Duke is interested. On Thursday, Remember they're supposed
to come on the show Friday. They're like, you know what,
we can't wait. Let's get on a plane to Vegas
and they get on a plane the next morning and
go to lock him up before Duke can go scene,
and it works the exact opposite of what I think
may have happened to us on a different player where

(07:17):
we had interest and then Baylor came and said, no,
we did to Duke with this kid and they locked
him up. And honestly, he didn't really get associated with
Kentucky in the public until about thirty minutes before it
got announced, and I think it was done then. I
think Kentucky found a way Drew to keep that quiet,

(07:37):
which was their goal. I mentioned that on Friday and
it ended up working out. Yeah. I love the addition.
I love how it played out.

Speaker 6 (07:44):
Like you said, we can talk a lot of offense
with Pope and what he did at BYU doesn't have
a lot of great record with the defense, so I
like that He's adding got a different defensive player of
Year from two different conferences right now with Butler and
then Williams inside and then really there's been some people
cheeking Butler, can he do this?

Speaker 4 (08:01):
Can he do that?

Speaker 6 (08:02):
When the man hit a buzzer beater in the final four,
That's all I need to know. He hit a buzzer
beater in the final. We haven't been to a final
four in a while. He's already won what five NCAA
tournament games in one tournament. I'll take that experience.

Speaker 4 (08:14):
And I think everybody cut when that came out. And
again it's a small group, but the people that were
like you, no, no, if he's good, like shut up.
I mean, that's the that's the dumbest thing in the world.
The guy's won seven NCAA tournament games the last two years.
You know, the only two teams he's lost to to
in the NCAA tournament you con twice who won the
national championship both times. You know how many more NCAA

(08:37):
tournament wins he has than us in those years? Six? Yeah,
and now I know he averaged nine point eight points
a game, but some of the dudes that have been
the most important to us over the years for titles
have averaged less. DeAndre Liggins remember how big a big
of that was. Think about how much our fans wanted
to keep Adu. How many points a game did it do?
Average five? Six? I mean, you know, I'm not saying

(09:01):
this is a beggars, can't be choosers. But this is
the kind of guy you have in modern college basketball
Ryan to win games. He can't be your best player,
but he certainly can be your most very important player.

Speaker 5 (09:15):
A leader, you know, a veteran lockdown defending on the
perimeter of something the Kentucky hasn't had in years.

Speaker 4 (09:21):
When's last time we had a lock down perimeter defender
like lockdown? It might be Hashton Hagen's thank you Mario.
I probably Ashton Hayen. That's the last time.

Speaker 5 (09:31):
Yeah, and before him, you go up mag go back
to Liggins. I mean they we just don't get that
lot during the cal era. But I love the story.
You just told the fact that he was supposed to
come on the show Friday morning, and I will walk
to Jeffersonville to catch a private flight to go to
Las Vegas to lock this guy down.

Speaker 4 (09:46):
I woke up at eight am to a message that
he wasn't coming on, and at first I was frustrated,
but then I understood once I understood what was happening.
And I think, by the way, what I've learned about
this staff is this staff knows how to play the game.
Right there on social media, you have one of our

(10:07):
coaches saying boom when we get commitments. Yeah. Again, I
don't mean to compare to the previous staff, but you
have to to talk about the changes. The previous staff
didn't do that. There was no did any of them
have a social media presence?

Speaker 5 (10:20):
No?

Speaker 4 (10:21):
I don't think any of them did. Chin didn't, really,
Orlando didn't, Welch didn't. When's the last time we've had
a coach with a social media presence? And I mean, like,
like the day to day? What the day to day
do it?

Speaker 5 (10:36):
Like?

Speaker 4 (10:36):
Can you think of one? And now we have two
because Alvin Brooks is like that too, and I like
our booms. We got the Yatzi on the football. We
got there. So then on Saturday they get a commitment
from the kid from Oklahoma. I don't know how to
pronounce his name. I'm gonna rely on you, Drew. How
do you pronounce his name? Last name is definitely oh wah.

Speaker 6 (10:53):
I don't know if it's Otiga or Otaga is the
first name, Otagaway.

Speaker 4 (10:57):
His birther plays for the Baltimore Ravens. Uh from Oklahoma
plays for the Sooners, but his brother's on the on
the Ravens. We had him and then yesterday they had
Andrew Carr from Wake Forest, who is a big who
can shoot. It's a stretch four, which you know, I
love those guys who can shoot threes from out there.

(11:17):
So I like where we are. Kentucky now has six players,
all right. I think they are in good with another
three and then there's one. I don't know who it is,
but I think they have another one out there that
they feel really good about. And then you know, he'll
probably fill in some pieces there at the end. We'll

(11:38):
ask him about that when we come in, like how
many players do you do you play? On having? But
on Friday there definitely was a sense of people of
who know what's gonna happen? And then three days later, Ryan,
I don't feel like it's like that.

Speaker 5 (11:52):
Yeah, we will at our show on Friday, he said,
ask me on Tuesday, That's what did I not? Yeah,
he said on Tuesday.

Speaker 4 (11:59):
And you know there's still a chance something happens today.
I think, so, I mean or tomorrow. I don't. I know.
I get the I get what we are as a
fan base, that we're nervous. That's part of what makes
us good. But the panic was ridiculous. That's why I said,
ask me on Tuesday. We're up to six, might be

(12:21):
seven by Tuesday, and then it becomes I still think Drew,
they've got to get one like dude, and I think Jackson, right, really,
I think we have a chance that two dudes great
Osibor and Jackson Robinson. Those are dudes. You get two
of those guys and combine them with what we have,

(12:41):
and then they're still going after a couple other dudes.
I think we could, I mean, can I say this.
I think we could end up with a really good team, like,
not just a team that's decent, like a really good one.
I love what he has right now. Now you need more.

Speaker 6 (12:53):
This isn't a contender yet, but certainly a great foundation
with the task he had in front of him. I
was pretty annoyed last week with some of our fan
base acting like the sky was falling when Alvin Brooks
had just gotten here. I mean, Pope had to get
coaches before he could get players, and they had just
gotten the staff last Tuesday, and we had fans acting
like the season was already ending. I even heart a
little bit of everyone calmed down on Friday, and then

(13:14):
here we are with three commitments since the last time
we were on the air, and I'm still believing Scoop
over here with great Auscinbor, So I'm just kind of
waiting for that one to pop too.

Speaker 4 (13:22):
I think the amount of people that know everything this
staff is doing, it's probably like eight. I'm being serious, Yeah,
it's probably like eight. And I talked to one of
those eight and I was like, and they look there,

(13:42):
I'm being honest, I don't know all the names, and
I think that's intentional. I don't think those eight people
want anybody to know all the things. But I just
said this, are we good? And they just said, yeah,
we're good. Well that's all I need to hear, right,
And then at some level you just have to trust
just because you and hear it on a Twitter space
does not mean it's not happening. And if you don't

(14:05):
believe that, look at Lamont Butler. Who I think it
it's we had They had said we'd contacted him, but
no one had going here until he was.

Speaker 5 (14:12):
Here, right, yeah, right? I love the picture. Well, first
of the first picture I saw of Andrew Carr and Pope,
and this guy's taller than Pope.

Speaker 4 (14:20):
And then we know Pope six ' ten because we
keep seeing dudes taller than him.

Speaker 5 (14:24):
He was and Andrew Cars definitely taller than Pope.

Speaker 4 (14:27):
So how old's how tall is Pope?

Speaker 5 (14:29):
Maybe he shrunk an we shrink when we get older.

Speaker 4 (14:32):
You bend over a little bit, that back starts hurting. Yeah, yeah,
I just because I've seen a couple of pictures with
guys who are supposed to be the same height and
they tower over him with him.

Speaker 5 (14:41):
But then that second picture where they're flexing. Man, I giggled.

Speaker 4 (14:43):
I thought that I want to talk about that picture
because I think that picture is very too. But we
will take a break. We are here at Chos Bar
and grill. You can give us a shout. Mark Pope
joins us at eleven o'clock. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. Yes,
we could play this three times. We can't because we
got three and we want one's enough. I know Shandon

(15:05):
doesn't love it, but Lee Rhimes singing three of them?
Were it out to six? I think I'm telling you
we need the way I look at it is. We've
got pieces three, four, five, six, eight nine, something like that.
We need a one, maybe a two. I think that's

(15:27):
Robinson and Osibor. But then there's a Kobe Brea is
now visiting today, which is a little bit of a surprise.
I don't think they locked that down TLL this weekend.
That's the kid from Dayton. He would be a heck
of again. I kind of had given up on him,
UK did not, and now he's visiting. And like I said,
I think there is a person. I don't know who

(15:48):
it is. People keep asking me, and if I ask you,
if the thing is, if I tell people what something is,
even if I knew, it's not a surprise anymore. Right,
it's gonna be different. In the col Era, stuff got
out rarely, but we were dealing with such big time
people that it really wasn't surprises, right because the national

(16:09):
media were always interviewing them as well. There are staffs
out there that want everything out. I think there's gonna
be a staff that wants to play the game, wants
people to know. But Drew, they only want you to
know what they want you to know, and does that
make sense? So I think you're gonna see things like
happen with Lamont Butler. I think that's gonna keep happening.
And I don't think that's a bad thing. But I

(16:30):
would also say that means like if I say something
and that's all I say, then that's all I can say.
And there will be other people. I'm not the only
one person that's gonna know this stuff. There'll be other
people that do too, I think.

Speaker 6 (16:41):
I think the staff is still gonna have a little
period here where they're figuring out how stuff gets out,
how much it gets out. Like Brooks posting the tail
number of the plane at Bay probably does that all
the time and there's nothing of it. You do it
here and everyone is quickly running too the flight tracker
to figure out where you're going.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
Yeah, the Jeremy Roach thing I think was a lesson
for him, Right, it was a lesson. They wanted to
go like try to get involved in that, and then
it got out they were in and people used it
against them. We have more media and fans that want
to know than these other schools did, right, these other
schools and National. Here's another thing. National people follow us.

(17:20):
They don't follow the random beat reporter at these other schools.
I mean, this is just a reality they have to
deal with. I have three hundred and ten thousand people
following me. Kyle Tucker has eighty five thousand, what do
you have? Drew one one sixty, So like no other
school has that the biggest reporter, Like I've looked at

(17:42):
all these Arkansas Dude, it's the biggest report of Arkansas's
got like fifteen you know what I mean. So because
of that, like we can't hide stuff. That's something Cale
used to say. That's true, you can't hide stuff here.
And so I do think they have to be careful
and maybe Ryan, they're trying to figure out how to navigate.

Speaker 5 (17:58):
Yeah, well, like you said, when the McDonald's all Americans,
these highly reded freshmen, they would they would announce a
list of ten, announce a list of eight, then they
would cut it to five, then they would cut it
the three. So we always kind of knew the guys
Kentucky was in on these transferred guys. They're not doing that.

Speaker 4 (18:14):
Yeah, well, the national media is not calling Great Ossibor
every day and go and giving me an interview. Yeah,
they did that with John wall right, So it was
it was a different it's a it's a different circumstance.
All right, let's talk about the picture. H Andrew Carr
and Pope do a Shannon flexing picture. They both flex

(18:34):
in the locker room. I love it because I'm a
goofball Ryan, I know would do something like that. You're
mister cool guys, Shannon. Did you like the flexing picture?

Speaker 3 (18:44):
I like it.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
It's quite a change of pace from where we were
the last fifteen years or so. Is there another coach
that you could have seen in Kentucky's history posing in
a picture like that?

Speaker 3 (18:54):
Like, would if Tubby have done that? Would a Rick
have done that?

Speaker 4 (18:57):
No?

Speaker 3 (18:57):
Billy Gillespie, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (18:59):
Billy might have had less clothes on now.

Speaker 7 (19:05):
No rough, No, Okay, I might be able to see
Mark Stoop's doing it kind of as a goofy thing,
but nobody would do it like Pope.

Speaker 4 (19:15):
I mean Pope's doing Here's a little secret. People come
up to me sometimes and they want a selfie, and like,
if it's a woman or an older couple, I do
just like a normal smile. But then sometimes when it's
like a young dude, I feel weird like posing with them,
so I just like open my mouth really wide. You've

(19:37):
seen me do this right, and go like that because
it feels like that's the best thing I can do
in that circumstance. I feel like that's what Mark Pope's
doing right, Like he's like, this is the goofy pose,
and it seems I loved it.

Speaker 6 (19:50):
Yeah, I like it too. It's such a different approach
from before. I mean, we had our players first. This
is a different players first where almost wants to just
be their buddy and hang out with them the whole
time they're here. It's really fun to watch. I saw
Pope downtown on the sidewalk Saturday night taking other pictures.
That man is getting swarmed for selfies everywhere he goes,
and he's been so gracious to play along when I
know he's so busy.

Speaker 4 (20:09):
Rick now and by the way, I think he's going
to announce today something that will be great for fans
who want to get their own selfie. We'll talk about that. Well,
I'll let him talk about it when he gets on,
but I think he's probably gonna announce that today. But
but you know, I love I loved cool Cow when

(20:33):
he was swaggy cool like I'm, you know, wearing versace
and like Drake's at the house. I did love that too.
I think that changed over the years a little bit.
But when that was Roland. I loved it. But this
is a completely different thing. This is like goofy, fun
guy you can approach Pope. It's a completely different style.

(20:54):
But Ryan I like it as well.

Speaker 5 (20:56):
I love it. I mean, keep in mind we're just
a couple of months removed from him. A plastic shit
and a hard hat picture with some recruits.

Speaker 4 (21:02):
I nearly posted those pictures back to back, but I
didn't want to. Like that is a but. But do
you you like the goofy? I love it.

Speaker 5 (21:11):
It shows me he's as excited as we are. He's
as excited as the recruits are, you know, and I
think we're gonna see a lot more of that. I
just like the fact that he's picking him up at
the airport. I know it seems like it's trivial, but
that means a lot. I think to a family and
a kid, to know your coach is that invested in
you that he's doing that for you.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
And shaneon I would also say, Mark Pope, the way
he's doing this is kind of how we are as
fan Like, let's let's be real, like we're not cool,
We're dorks. So I mean, no, you're not cool either,
You're forty now, like you're like, you just need you're
cool on stage at the band, but you're a dork too. Like,

(21:52):
but I also just mean our fan base. Our fan base.
We're not the This is not the Miami Heat fan base, right,
This is Kentucky. And I think Mark Pope Shannon is
kind of like that, isn't it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
I mean he's very personal with the fans, and you know,
I think fans are fine with the goofiness off the court,
but you know, he's gonna be all business on the court.
So as long as long as we get the success
and we win, that's all it's gonna matter at the
end of the day.

Speaker 4 (22:18):
Anyway, Drew for a fan base that wants to engulf
every piece of info possible, it feels like this coaching
staff wants to give them stuff like that. Does that
make sense?

Speaker 6 (22:31):
Yeah, he understands that we're absolutely obsessed with this stuff.
It consumes us. We have nothing but time and can
do this every day following this team. We don't have
pro teams, we don't have other stuff going on. It's
Kentucky basketball, and I think it's a twenty four to
seven that we're one news and they're doing a little
bit to keep us informed.

Speaker 4 (22:48):
Well, the flex was great, it was great, It was great.
We may need him in OVW now. Flexing like that.
I will take your calls right for this KSR TJ.
Smith personal injury attorney called TJ. He'll make them pay now.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
More of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage.

Speaker 4 (23:04):
Here's Matt Jones, Welcome back Tucky Sports Radio. Got some
folks here from Oldham County who said he try to
figure out where Billy went to school. Yeah, it's a mystery.
Nobody knows. Uh included you got a guy here from Winchester.
We got Rachel and Casey all a lot of folks
here for the Mark Pope Day. Got a question for
the text machine seven seven two seven seven four five

(23:26):
two five for this will be my Kentucky branded text
of the day. Go to Kentucky brand dot com for
UK gear and KSR gear one. Birst rights Matt rank
the seasons next year and how good they'll be Kentucky,
Arkansas and Louisville. Three teams building a new roster. Let
me put aside the postseason because in the postseason, who

(23:48):
knows like it can be random. Let's just do regular
season Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisville.

Speaker 5 (23:55):
Ryan, you go first, I'm gonna take him exactly what
you just said, Kentucky Arkansas, and then Louisville because I'm mistaken.
Arkansas still doesn't have much of a roster either. At
this point, there's not a lot of guys out there.
I think Kentucky wind upstill with a great season because
these guys are coming in are veterans that are tough
minded type players. That's gonna not gonna will you do
a lot of wins.

Speaker 4 (24:14):
I wouldn't have said this Friday because I still didn't
know fully what the roster would be. But today I'm
going Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisville as well. I think that's I
think Louisville has a lot of players, but they really
don't have a difference maker yet. And you know, Arkansas
doesn't mean I don't know. I will say see how

(24:36):
their roster finishes out. But I'm gonna go Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisville.
They got a lot of work to do too. I'm
also going Kentucky Arkansas, Louisville. I know I'm a homer
and I would say that anyway, but I genuinely really
like what Pope has already locked in, hoping there's still
a few more big pieces to wrap it up. I
love the pieces that he already has. And I'll put
Arkansas above Louisville just because I know Louisville's pumping their

(24:57):
chest and they have a roster, but it has been
so long since they mattered, I can't just certainly think
they're gonna be good next year. And now in the
portal rankings right now, we are eighth without what I
think will be our two best portal gets even here yet,
and Louisville is tenth with twice as many players as
we have. So that's how I would compare them. What

(25:20):
would you say, Shannon, Kentucky Arkansas over.

Speaker 3 (25:23):
Level's gonna be last, so we'll start there.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
Then it comes down to Kentucky Arkansas, And I just
think that if we're going regular season record only Arkansas
and what they're willing to pay for their recruits, I
think Arkansas is probably gonna have the better overall record
in the regular season. Kentucky second level third.

Speaker 4 (25:40):
He's always got to be are I believe that?

Speaker 3 (25:42):
I believe that.

Speaker 5 (25:43):
I mean, they don't have a they don't.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
I mean, but they will will There ain't that many.

Speaker 4 (25:47):
They will left. I mean, now, now let's see what
what the final portal is. But if you're looking at
Difference Maker Superstars right now, there's only about six in
the portal. Now there may get more, but I you know,
you got it. He can't manifest players out of Korea.

(26:08):
And you know he only got half of his recruiting
class too. You know, Somto's going to Georgia, Acquaintance is
going somewhere else. And then Perry stayed here. He lost
his best recruits and in my opinion, lost his best coaches.
By the way he lost. This is the thing that
he lost two of the top two recruits. The two
guys he lost were the two highest rated boys. Now

(26:30):
they also were probably the two youngest, but they were
the two highest rated.

Speaker 5 (26:34):
And he needs to get DJ Wagner's like that.

Speaker 4 (26:36):
If I were him, you can't let Dj Wagon go.

Speaker 5 (26:39):
To USC But the girlfriends.

Speaker 4 (26:40):
I think DJ Wagner is gonna be really good. I do.
I I still put me in the buying DJ Wagner's stock.
I think he's gonna be really good next year. It
will make me happy to see him go to USC
because I think he's gonna be really good. I think
by the end of the year, I think he was
playing pretty good and he missed that time, and then

(27:02):
Reid rob and Reeves he was kind of the odd
man out put me in buying DJ Wagner's dock. I
think he's gonna be good next year. For instance, if
you put him on this team next year, I'm like,
bring it on too.

Speaker 6 (27:15):
I think his ankle was holding him back and he
had that shooting slump that really weighed where they were
sagging off of him, which takes away his driving. I
think if he adds a shot and he's completely healthy
next year, he's just who's next?

Speaker 4 (27:26):
Devin, Devin, how are you? Devin?

Speaker 8 (27:29):
Hey, I'm doing good, guys. I just had a quick question.
I don't know how how likely these were these were
to come about, But if Hunter Dickinson or or Oscarbwey
were on the team last year, do you all think
that we'd be in the position we're in right now?

Speaker 4 (27:48):
I'll hang up, Ah, I appreciate the call. I don't know.
There's no doubt that Hunter Dickens are Oscar Shewey last
year would have added things we didn't have. But the
question is, Ryan, would they have taken away things we
did well? Right? I mean, do you run a different
off Let's if we had Oscar Sheebway, they'd have pounded

(28:10):
the ball inside to him the whole game, and I
don't think we would have had the same team. Hunter
Dickinson's a little different, but he didn't have the year
everybody thought he would. And then some people think there's
a little bit like he's kind of a tough teammate.
So I don't know, you said it.

Speaker 5 (28:24):
We saw the offense the two years Oscar was here,
and if Oscar was back last year, it would have
been a lot of the same. I feel like, pounded inside.
Of course, you know he's a College Player of the Year.
You're going to feed in the basketball. But I think
you're right too about Hunter Dickinson. He just doesn't seem
like maybe that jailed very well on paper.

Speaker 4 (28:39):
If you take a guy like Hunter Dickinson and put
him on that Kentucky team last year, he'd have been good.
But some didn't connect with that guy. That Kansas team
just yeah, it just didn't say so. I don't know, Yeah,
he's coming back for another year. I was all right
with them having him. If you had had Oscar, it's
not even so much the offense. I still think the
defense would have been bad. I mean, we were bad

(29:00):
defensively with Oscar in the pick and roll, so I'd
worry about the defense. Yeah, who's next?

Speaker 3 (29:05):
Justin?

Speaker 4 (29:06):
Justin? Go ahead, Justin.

Speaker 9 (29:09):
Hey, matt Ah. I love the show and I've been
trying to get into you guys. You are hard to.

Speaker 5 (29:15):
Get into since Coach Pope came to Kentucky.

Speaker 4 (29:17):
Yeah, well, I have a couple.

Speaker 9 (29:19):
I have a couple of things, and I want to
hang up and let you guys react.

Speaker 4 (29:22):
Uh.

Speaker 9 (29:22):
The first thing is, doesn't this feel like the start
of something great? I mean like it didn't feel this
way when Gilespie came Like it didn't feel like there
wasn't this magical feeling, right. And and when Pope's up
on the podium and he's i mean he's giving it
to us and he's talking exciting, it feels authentic. And

(29:43):
I think it's because it is these other coaches pals
A prime example Kisewsky Patino is Oh. A lot of
these coaches that have been doing this for years and years.
I feel like they tell you the things you want
to hear, and I know those are the things we
want to hear. We want to win banners, we want
to go to the you know, to the tournament, and
when we want to go to SEC and win.

Speaker 4 (30:03):
But it just still But I will say though, I mean,
I do think we need to remember it was pretty
dagone exciting when Gal first got here too. I mean
like it was it was it was we just I
wasn't on the radio then, so I didn't feel it
like this. I think the better way to put it is,
I've had people texting me about UK basketball who haven't

(30:25):
texted me about basketball in ten years. Okay, I mean
I think there is an injection of there's just ye
I think you're the same way, right, guys, like they're
just people just are into it. I got people texting
me who who kind of felt disconnected from basketball for
whatever reason that are kind of ryan now back yet

(30:48):
in my.

Speaker 5 (30:48):
Opinion, and I think a lot of it are the
guys that are kind of our age, that remember what
it was in the nineties and we probably I was
here in those championship runs and they felt maybe a
little disconnected with the program last sever years. Now we
all feel like we're back. It's our program again.

Speaker 4 (31:02):
What I want to know, I think for people Drew's
age and older, this hire is like, let's go right
because we remember him, We remember that time. I mean,
everybody likes to remember their youth. Yea right, like Mark
Pope is our youth. In some ways, what I've been
encouraged to see are the people Mario's age buying in

(31:25):
because I remember the text I got from Mario that
night where he was like, you can be honest, we'll
go back and look. You were like, ugh, who's that?
But like watching him and people his age buying in
is exciting to me because that was my worry, like

(31:46):
I was in after sixteen hours. Now the question is, well,
the people who their whole connection to our fan base
was John Caliperi. I have a producer at ESPN Okay,
he's twenty seven. I think I worked with him on
the NFL draft stuff. I don't work with him regularly,

(32:06):
but I work with him sometimes. What's interesting is he
became a Kentucky fan because of cal He has no
connection to Kentucky. He just started cheering for Kentucky because
as a kid he liked John Wall and he started
cheering for Kentucky when he left. When Cal left, I
asked him Thursday night, so he's still gonna be a
Kentucky fan or you can cheer for Arkansas And he

(32:28):
was like, no, Kentucky, man, it's a lot more fun
to be a Kentucky fan. I was glad to hear that. Yeah,
that's the kind of guy who's not connected to the state,
who still wanted to be a part of it. But quickly,
justin I just got like thirty seconds.

Speaker 9 (32:42):
No, you're a good boss. Hey, listen. They always talk
about Cal being a player's coach, right, but I think
coach Cal's always looking out for the future of those kids.
And that's great. But doesn't it seem that Mark Pope
will be a relatable players coach now today and also
in the future Because he played in the NBA, he had.

Speaker 4 (32:59):
A different I think when it comes to relating to players,
and I appreciate the call. When it comes to relating
to players and getting players, Cal was still great. We
can't act like he wasn't. Pope may just be great
Drew in a different way, right, It's not about better
or worse. He's just different. He's a different kind of guy.
It's like different between doing being the the cool dude

(33:19):
that run that walks into your room and like Col's
in my living room and the guy who goes outside
and shoots basketball with you and your little brother. It's
just a different kind of thing, right, Yeah.

Speaker 6 (33:28):
And I think both are good ways to approach it.
Cal's obviously very successful, he's one of one in recruiting,
but Pope's is completely different. I think it's just a
refreshing way to approach it now, doing a new uh,
doing a different direction.

Speaker 4 (33:40):
I think it'll still work. All Right, everybody, it's time
to get ready. We do have the Derby this weekend.
It is Derby week, so DraftKings we all, I'm gonna
do this tonight. Ryan, you're gonna do it tonight. Okay,
you're gonna tonight because you get seven days to do
the bonus bets for DK Horse, So today's to do
it day to do it if you want to do
it for the Derby, so download the DK horse app.

(34:03):
There's no reason you're getting two hundred and fifty dollars
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bonus bets. Why wouldn't you do that? If you're like me,
I used other apps. Well, now they're giving you two
hundred and fifty three dollars in bonus bets, so why
wouldn't you use it? You use it if you're gonna
bet on the Derby. Go to DK Horse download the app.

(34:25):
The promo code is KSR Horse KSR Horse. Now I
know a couple of people told me that promo didn't work.
Use it again. They tell me it's fixed. There, okay,
KSR Horse DK Sports App. We're gonna be talking about
the Derby, especially towards the end of the week, but
you'll download it tonight.

Speaker 5 (34:43):
Already got it downloaded.

Speaker 4 (34:44):
Did you put in the promo code?

Speaker 5 (34:45):
Well, we downloaded it when we talked about a months ago.
So am I not eligible?

Speaker 4 (34:49):
Now you did you put in the code?

Speaker 5 (34:51):
Not when we did it like a year ago.

Speaker 4 (34:54):
All right, well, then you can do it. It doesn't
do it by download, it's when you put in.

Speaker 5 (34:57):
The Okay, good, I was gonna ask you this, So put.

Speaker 4 (34:59):
In information and the amount you put in up to
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Speaker 2 (35:19):
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Speaker 4 (35:23):
You gotta read fast, all right? Ready, go starting with gambling.

Speaker 10 (35:27):
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(35:50):
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Speaker 4 (35:51):
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Speaker 4 (36:07):
Yes, well done, Mario, We'll be right back perfect. Yeah,
look about tell you sports radio A five nine two
eight oh twenty two eighty seven, text machine seven seven
two seven seven four five two five four one person
rights I bet Ryan does get uh does get knowledge
from Mark popis to who he is. Ryan's the kind

(36:29):
of guy you can't forget.

Speaker 5 (36:31):
Yeah, but I had a lot of hair back.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
Then, and he's in a city of today, so he's
not gonna true your voice.

Speaker 4 (36:38):
Yeah yeah, Ryan Lemon, come on, how are you gonna
forget that? Anything wild on that trip? Anything stick out? Uh?

Speaker 5 (36:45):
No, he was doing all the crazy stuff like they
were on those I think I told you on the
ski slopes in Salt Lake City he took his shirt
off his running around in the snow up there.

Speaker 4 (36:53):
But you weren't there.

Speaker 5 (36:53):
I wasn't there. I saw it, like.

Speaker 4 (36:57):
Yeah, Drew, I'm kind of with you. No, No, though,
it's just for he'll say he remembers. He's not gonna
be rude. He'll say, yes, I remember you, Ryan, but
it'll be one of those like you know what I mean, Shannon, Like,
he'll say yes, but I don't know if his heart

(37:18):
will be in it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
We can ask him a question just to verify that.

Speaker 4 (37:23):
What's a question we could ask that he would know
about you? Uh. I don't know. If he's not gonna
go you know what, it's all right, you got to meet.
He doesn't know us either. So yeah, have you been
called by any of the coaches to help him buy house? No?

Speaker 5 (37:40):
Remember I was on the Scott Drew Relter.

Speaker 4 (37:45):
You're gonna tell yourself that from now. Yeah, yeah, that's
gonna be. That's gonna be like you're gonna be going.

Speaker 5 (37:55):
That was the day you know that. Guess the rumor
about coach Cow's house being sold? Maybe no true? Did
you see that Miss Cow posted something that they haven't
sold their house yet? So maybe those are How about
you for that? We go he Miss Ellen, I.

Speaker 4 (38:10):
Don't think you're getting that one. Who's next, Aaron? Go ahead?

Speaker 5 (38:13):
Erin Okay, I have a couple points.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
Let's go one point because we only got a commended
or to pick your best one.

Speaker 5 (38:21):
Okay, okay, if we if we get two or three
more big transfer names, we'll have a really really good team.
And lamm Butler was a complete surprise. I did not
expect that at all.

Speaker 4 (38:37):
All Right, there you go. I appreciate the call. I
agree with both of those comments.

Speaker 5 (38:41):
Well, even Friday we were doing the show, it didn't
even out came out yet who they were going for.

Speaker 4 (38:45):
I didn't get in Las Vegas well, and the news
leaked and people thought it was one person and it wasn't,
and I think they were okay with that. I think
like there was everybody thought it was a kid from
Washington State, and I think everybody was all right. I
think the staff was alright with it because it kept
everybody off their train.

Speaker 5 (39:01):
And the guy from Oklahoma is the Otega Tron is
his nickname, Otega Tron.

Speaker 4 (39:06):
Do you know that?

Speaker 5 (39:07):
I saw it posted, so it's gotta be true. Yeah,
where did you see it posted social media? It's on
his social Okay, so it is o Tega Tron is
what they call him.

Speaker 4 (39:15):
I got you, did you see? Quickly? The Charlotte Panthers
football owner, the Carolina So, the Carolina Panthers football owners
walking down the street. He's just doing his thing between
day right before day one of the draft.

Speaker 5 (39:30):
Okay, it's the.

Speaker 4 (39:30):
Day of the draft. He walks in, he walks. He
sees a sign on a sports bar that says, dear,
whatever his name is, please please let the coach and
GM draft this year. Not you so kind of a
shot at the owner. He walks into the restaurant. The
guy at the front is wearing a hat of a

(39:52):
different team. I don't know what team it is, but
he's wearing the hat of a different team. He is
complaining about the sign, and he takes the guy's hat
off and sets it on the ground. So not only
is he complaining about the sign, he takes the man's
hat off his head and and and sets it down.
So here's my question for you. First of all, how

(40:14):
do you have such thin skin that you're gonna walk
into a restaurant to complain about it sign? But secondly,
how do you take another man's hat off? This is
also the same guy he throw a drink on someone,
drink on a fan. Yeah, the taking the hat off,
I retaliate right there. I'm not saying I punch, but
to quote Denzel, I'm leaving with something and I probably

(40:37):
well I think he has glasses. I'm ripping your glasses
right off. If you want my hat. What are you
gonna do if somebody, if some man say you're filling
in working as a hostess here at ksbar, some man
walks in complains about the fact that we do X,
Y or Z and takes your hat off.

Speaker 5 (40:51):
Well, and in that capacity you got to be a
professional and just escort him. Ount. But if it's out
on the street. Oh, that's game on, it's it's come on.
The guy's obviously a powerful, wealthy man. Dude, I thin
like you've been there before. Man, don't have such thin
skin when you're gonna.

Speaker 4 (41:06):
Get what are you doing? What are you doing? Shannon?
If a man takes.

Speaker 3 (41:09):
Your hat, I'm taking that hat.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
I'm putting it on his head and I'm pulling it
down so far where you can't see over his eyes
and just give him a little noogie.

Speaker 4 (41:17):
You know. See, sometimes really rich people just think they
can like they think they're the boss of the entire world.
They think like, oh, I'm a boss at my place,
I'll be a boss here too, And that's not really
how the world works.

Speaker 6 (41:32):
And that sounds not even that bad. He made a
horrible pick last year that's been criticized for a year.
I mean, he knows there's jokes out there about him.
How you gonna just walk in and take a man's
hat off. I mean, if you say a few words whatever,
you shouldn't do that. But to actually take that dude's
hat off, That's why I'm saying, you gotta do something back.

Speaker 4 (41:48):
I don't think it's as disrespectful as a slap or
the worst will be like spitting in a person, but
taking their hat off is a pretty disrespectful.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
What's weird to me is that he shook hands with
the guy when he left.

Speaker 4 (42:03):
Because he was trying to be well, maybe the guy
trying not to cause because he knows he's big in
the community or something. But he's lucky. That could have
gone a lot worse for him.

Speaker 5 (42:12):
You could have got it and a picture took a
picture of him.

Speaker 4 (42:14):
That's right, we will have. Mark Pope makes his CHSR
debut here at Kentucky Sports Radio right after this. This
is KSR