2024-04-8- KSR - Hour 3

The most important things that led to Cal leaving, how this will affect recruiting, Cal's last four seasons, and more callers.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 2 (01:00):
Back Tucky Sports Radio all right, I want to give
a little bit of advice to fans. By the way,
we're here at the KS bar. We got a lot
of stuff going on. I'll talk more about it a
little later in the show, but some advice to fans.
Stop falling for Twitter accounts that are not real people.
I know Elon has screwed up that platform that it's
hard to see who's real or not. But before you
retweet a tweet that tells people something's happening with Kentucky basketball,

(01:25):
look and see if the person is real, so people
can stop sending me this s Charles NFL Twitter account
that says that Mitch is making an offer to Danny
Hurley can't refuse. Look at his bio it says esteem
Patriots writer and journalism and female anatomy major. Do you

(01:45):
really think that's a real journalist?

Speaker 3 (01:47):
I missed that part in the bio.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Just have like it's always the people who tell me, Matt,
you rely on the mainstream media. And then I look
and they're retweeting account of Frogs, Like seriously, Like that's
not a real account. If it was a real account,
they would not put that. So like, read the accounts
before you send them to see if they're true. There's

(02:11):
a Tennessee account that's like RGW news that fools our
fans all of the time because it's not a real account,
and everybody just falls for it. So just take the
time to make sure the thing is real, Ryan before
you do.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
I was that way last night with a lot of
early reports, but then when Bob Holt reported it, Yeah,
that's he is their version of Jerry Tips.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
And there's already people who are taking my profile picture
and putting it on their account and just saying stuff.
Ky Sports Radio is my account. The rest of them
are not so like just you know, unfortunately there was
a time that like that was fixable. Elon screwed that up.
But that's the way it is. Yeah, So now let's

(02:54):
just just be extra be extra careful. We got callers
on the line A five nine two eight zero twenty
two eighty seven. One person writes, Matt, I am getting
really mad about the interview with Mitch and Cal. I
actually don't blame Mitch. I think he got fooled. Do
you think he got fooled? I don't know a fool's

(03:16):
the word, but he, I mean, Cal pulled another sales
job money. I mean like Cal literally looked at it.
This is why, at the end of the day, you
should never believe any of these people. Cal looked in
the camera and looked at us and said, I want
to be here, to be the coach here next year.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
I took it at his word.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Why he's been here fourteen years, you know. I mean
he was our salesman. But he was a salesman. You
knew that, like you knew that. You know, when I
was listening to his radio interview and when I was
watching his television interview, Drew and I were texting each

(03:59):
other the same thing. It's the same cow stuff, Like
you knew that. How do how do we continue to
let ourselves get play like we knew this? Why did
you think it was gonna be different?

Speaker 1 (04:12):
That's why you and I agree, we talked about it.
I think I honestly believe Mitch has every right to
be upset because Mitch Ducky's neck out for cow and
then Col went and rain the other way.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
I have to say this about Mitch. Mitch took up
for Col in a way. I mean, I don't know
many people that would do it. Yeah, even let me
be real, even when stuff was good. Cow has always
treated treated Mitch as a second class, like it's not

(04:45):
his boss, and put Mitch in some very hard places
because what's Mitch supposed to do? Cow's winning. If you're winning,
you can't upset that guy. The fans will turn on you.
So what's he supposed to do? And then finally the
fans kind of turn on Cal, and Mitch is the
one who gives him a lifeboat, right, sticks his neck out,

(05:05):
jumps on the lifeboat with him in some ways. And
then Cal jumps off and goes, I'm gonna take on
I'm gonna go on this shift over here.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
And he's been flirting with Ohio State since February.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
I mean, I mean, that's an amazing That was an
amazing report that he can sit the Ohio State job
in February. While he's telling us.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
We're built from March. Very damning.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
I think maybe he was building for a March move.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
To me, Well, you remember Mitch's press conference after the
basketball football school thing. He went on for like forty
five minutes talking about it.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah, but you know why he did is I think
Mitch was on Stoop's side. Yeah, he was, you know
why because Stoop's treats him as a passship. Cal didn't.
I do think there'll be some talk about what were
the most important steps in this ending. I'll rank you

(06:03):
my five, all right. The number one most important thing
that happened was when Dwayne Peevee left, because it made
it to where Cal lost his disconnect from the administration.
Dwayne Pevee was the guy between Mitch and Cal. When
Dwayne Pevey left, it was never the same. Ever. Number
Two John Robick. When John Robick left, the John Robick

(06:29):
was a basketball is a basketball savant and when that
didn't work, and I don't totally blame Cal for why
that didn't work, but it didn't work. He never replaced that.
Number three is Kenny Payne for the reasons we talked about.
Number four was the basketball football school thing. Whoever you
want to blame for that is up to you. We've

(06:50):
talked about it as nauseam, but the bad blood from
that never stopped. Ever, it never got better, and sides
were drawn. Boosters chose sides, fans chose sides. We have
a segment of our fan base that Cal could never
do well again. We have a segment of our fan

(07:10):
base that hates Stoops. Because of that, that was the
work that ended up being a bigger deal, Ryd than
I thought it was gonna, didn't you. I'd like up
to this week it did still been a deal, and
the football staff never forgave Cal yep and I don't
think Cal ever forgave the football staff. I think it
didn't help that he was in the Bahamas, so you
couldn't get everybody together. But that was a massive, massive deal.

(07:35):
And then I think the last thing was the nine
and sixteen season and how Cal looked at media members
of which I was certainly one but I was not
the only one, and thought, why weren't you all loyal
to me during this? And he just went lights off

(07:59):
against everybody, if I were to point to the And
then of course losing Saint Peter's I mean, I mean losing,
but losing Trump's all that. But if you're talking about
off the court stuff, Ryan, those are the things that
I think were most important.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
What about you, I think you've nailed it. I think
you got the good list there. And like Billy said,
you add that to the fact that no success in
March for the last four years, it all just kind
of steamrolled and the crowd, the fans, we want success,
you know, those people who said that we want cal
to fail. That so makes me so upset when I
hear that we want this team to succeed.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Billy, you you have to do a lot through all
this with your job. Why do you think it went wrong?

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Well, I think it's about how do you treat the
people around you? And I think you can read between
the lines when I say something like that, But I
think that's a trickle down effect from your ad from
your coaching staff to the TJ. Bisner's of the world.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Old.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
Yeah, I feel honestly, And you asked me how is
I gonna be optimistic for next season last week? And
my answer was a complete change in philosophy, the way
that he talks to people, the way that he treats people,
and the way that he recruits in a game that's
evolved to older players. And I don't think we were
gonna get that. So that's why ultimately I come out
of this optimistic that five six years down the road, Kentucky,

(09:24):
this would be better thing for Kentucky than if he
were the coach in the next year.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, And if I don't communicate any other message. Tell
the people that are the age of these dudes right
here who clearly agree with me, or they wouldn't be here,
I don't think, or at least, but tell them like,
we're gonna survive this, this idea that people of a
certain age have that like, oh no, Like, we've had

(09:50):
a bunch of coaches and we've won with nearly every
single one of them. We're gonna be fine. And you
know what, if they hire this coach it doesn't work,
you know what'll happen. He'll be gone and we'll get enough.
You know, listen Tuppy Smith when he left, you know
what didn't happen. It didn't work immediately, No it didn't.

(10:11):
But you know what happened over for two years you
got cat Yep, we'll be fine. Who's next, Chester Chester?
Go ahead, Chester Man.

Speaker 4 (10:21):
I was sitting there watching the Wrestlemaniam last night and
all this stuff started going down, and the one thing
I could just think about was that wrestling belt sitting
there behind him in that interview, and I felt like
that all this today is like a twilight zone I'm
living in, because it reminded me of the feeling when
Hogan went INWO, and I remember feeling that way that
I did not like it. It just didn't feel right.

(10:43):
And I think what's gonna happen is it's gonna be
similar because Cali Perry to Arkansas. He's gonna look back
on this and regret it. When when Hogan shows up,
he ain't. He ain't wearing nWo. He's wearing whole Comania.
And I mean, it's a silly comparison, I know, but
I just thought about it and I wanted to share
that with you, and I think that come come later on,
later on, Kal is going to regret it. He's going

(11:04):
to regret it.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
I bet he does. I bet he does too. No,
I agree with you on that.

Speaker 4 (11:10):
I'm conflicted.

Speaker 5 (11:11):
I'm conflicted about it.

Speaker 4 (11:12):
I'm just conflicted about it.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
And I agree with you. He will look back one day.
I think cal and wish he'd done some stuff differently
and wish he had finished here. I do believe that.
I do. By the way, I can't believe this. Someone
just sent me this. On Saturday, the John Calipari Podcast
released a new episode called What's Next On Saturday. On Saturday,

(11:39):
John Caliperi talks about what's next for him and his team,
and how he's approaching recruitment and the roster construction in
the New World. It's fourteen minutes long. It's not a
very long podcast, but now you gotta listen to that, right,
so that would excuse me. It came out on Friday,
which means he reported it on Thursday, the day before

(12:02):
he left for Arkansas.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Wow, look how much everything has changed.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
As he recorded that, his last words is Kentucky's head coach. Yeah,
in a fourteen minute podcast.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
We gotta see what that is. I mean, I gotta listen.
I know what I'm listening to this afternoon.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
But I think we all agree it was gonna be
Next year is gonna be a lot of the same.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
But that at that moment, he had to know that
he was considering it. Do you think so when he
said though, like he had to at least have thought
about it if he ended up landing in Fayetteville, Arkansas,
on Friday, you don't think you think he just decided
that morning to come.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
I don't know when the Tyson Chicken people called him,
but obviously he was thinking about it since February. Wow,
before the season was over.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
That's By the way, who's next, Doug, Doug, Go ahead, Doug.

Speaker 6 (12:48):
Yeah, man, I've gotta tell you how I feel about
what's going on, and then I have a question for you,
all right, quickly, Okay. As far as Cayle's leaving, I
got mixed emotions. I'm sad, but kind of sad because
I remember how things used to be and the excitement
over the season, the excitement over recruiting, the excitement over

(13:09):
the postseason, and on the flip side, I'm tired of
being resigned to how things are now. You still look
forward to the recruiting, but you in the postseason, but
you resigned to the fact there's a good chance you're
going to get knocked.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Out over you were. Yes, unfortunately, what's your question?

Speaker 6 (13:29):
Okay? Since out Cal opted out of his contract, does
he have a buyout?

Speaker 2 (13:36):
No? So the way this was the way Cal's contract was,
and it was probably one of the best coach friendly
contracts ever. If Cal were to have been fired, we
owed him thirty three million dollars. If cow were to
leave on his own, no one owes us anything, So
Arkansas will not have to pay us anything. We don't

(13:58):
have to pay him the life time part of the
deal is gone, meaning there is no more uh ambassadorship
or all that stuff. But there was no buy out,
so Arkansas owes us no money. He has to be
the only con coach that I know that has a
contract like that.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
I mean the lifetime deal.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
I mean, for instance, Nat Oates buy out his ten
million dollars, cal had a buyout of zero dollars.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
That's interesting that. Yeah, that ambassadorship that he was in
the his deal is now off the table.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
Also then yeah, no, that's gone. What's next, Alex, Alex,
go ahead, Alex.

Speaker 7 (14:41):
Hey guys, longtime listener, love you show uh listen, my family,
my grandmother, everyvice to Alabama. So a football season come around.
I didn't say nothing years ago when Bill Curry sounds
U chaos, beat my chest, you know those great my
uncle says, you can have it, Arkansas, you can have
can If the CEO of a company was making eight

(15:01):
point five million a year.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
And you were into you know, negative for how many years?
How long would he last?

Speaker 2 (15:07):
Not very long?

Speaker 7 (15:08):
This is Kentucky, this is the gold standard.

Speaker 6 (15:13):
And every year it was.

Speaker 7 (15:14):
Hyped up, We're gonna do this, do that. But then
you know there was an old saying, how do you
know it's a springtime in Indiana, your home playing Flyers.
Kentucky's still playing basketball. We're playing Flyers now we need
to play.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
Jay Wright will be a great one. I like Mark Few.
I don't know about Oats, I don't.

Speaker 7 (15:35):
I mean he's got to have a proven I don't.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
Want to to a file four this year. Yeah, I
mean at least.

Speaker 7 (15:41):
Watching record though.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
You know.

Speaker 7 (15:47):
Oh, I just I want a proven winner.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
You know, well, listen, I got to take a break.
I appreciate the call. Tell me about Stocktor Mortgage.

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(16:16):
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Speaker 2 (16:29):
We will take a break and be right back. This
is Kentucky Sports Radio working back. It is Entucky Sports Radio.
Some breaking news. You got the button, John, do you
know how to hit the breaking? All right? Aaron Bradshaw
has entered the transfer port I mean, this is just
this is gonna be everybody. Yep. Here's what's interesting to me.

(16:51):
Let's see if he goes to Arkansas. Because if he doesn't, well,
I think that's its. Let's see if he goes to Arkansas.
If he does, you know, I don't know if he
will or not, but I think that'll be interesting to see.
I think he was gonna be in the transfer portal
regardless of whether cal Perry came back or not. I

(17:12):
think he was likely gone, which means Ryan I would
think he doesn't go to Arkansas, but we'll see.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
I think that's probably the other you read the tea leaves.
I think he definitely was probably gonna be leaving the program.
Like you know, Billy kind of joked, but he said
at least he's not going to the n NBA draft.
I think there are a lot of people who thought
he was still gonna maybe go to the end, try
to put his name in the draft, at least test
the test the process.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
One person writes, Matt, do you think Travis Perry comes
back or comes to school here still? Yeah? I do, Yeah,
I do too, I do too. I think he'll be here.
That might be our only freshman. I mean, I mean,
you know we're gonna be a We're gonna be an
old team next year because we don't have a choice.
I mean, we're gonna be We're gonna be really, we'll

(17:55):
be one of those teams when the tournament comes in
they go everybody in this turn of team is twenty two,
twenty three years old. I think that's what we're about
to be.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
Well good. I mean, we've been hearing that we're built
for March, and then it's blamed on freshmen in their
inexperience when they don't produce.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
Well, you're not gonna have to worry about that this year.
This is gonna be an old By the way, just
so you know, National Championships night, you know there's a
lot going on. We can't talk about. Women's National Championship
was last yesterday. It was awesome. WrestleMania was last night.
The Eclipse is going on, the Men's National Championship is
going on, and we can't talk about any of it
because we got all this other stuff. But I'll tell
you something about the National Championship tonight. Connecticut and Purdue

(18:32):
are two great teams. Connecticut has a chance to go
down as one of the all time teams, but produce
great too. Guess how many five star recruits are starting tonight? Zero? Zero,
not one. So just remember that as we're building these rosters,
it's gonna be different than what we're used to. It's
gonna it's not gonna be like elite talents lining up

(18:55):
and committing one after the other. But go look at
how many elite n C state you know, how many
five stars they had? Zero Alabama? How many five stars
they have? Zero? Wow?

Speaker 1 (19:09):
None in the final four.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
None in the final four. So you know it's gonna
be different, but it might actually be what you have
to do nowadays to uh, to have success. Who's next, Vinnie, Vinnie,
what's up? Vinnie?

Speaker 1 (19:25):
Hey, Matt, first time, long time?

Speaker 4 (19:27):
Wow, just touched more on on Hurley.

Speaker 8 (19:30):
You know I was looking.

Speaker 4 (19:32):
I know it's everybody's been saying it's a long shot,
but I'm looking at his contract.

Speaker 8 (19:36):
He's only making four and a half million a year.

Speaker 4 (19:39):
Got well, in my mind, make it work as wild.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
No, No, I mean if you you at least have
to make Yukon, You at least have to make Yukon
paying what he's worth. Because he's making four and a
half million a year. We can pay ten million dollars
a year, So you at least got to go make
Yukon pay that, don't you.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yes, it's a win win for her.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Oh, Hurley's agents dancing in the streets today. I mean,
Hurley's agent is like, this is the best day of
our lives.

Speaker 1 (20:07):
If they win the championship tonight, he can write his
own check perdue. We need to win him.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
Losing would be would be our best opportunity. It'd be
hard to walk away from back to back titles.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
You can't can you be hard?

Speaker 3 (20:26):
Make an offer he can't refuse. Madison might say, well.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
We'll see, but I've all for the first time in
my life, I'm rooting for Purdue.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
Come on, Edie, I can't stand Purdue. I can't believe
they're still alive.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
You have to root for him, though, don't you. You
have to.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
You know, we all talk about that Zach Eddie, but
Connecticut's big guy has been the star. He has been great.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
How about the fact that this is the two tallest
players to ever start at center in a championship game?

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Is it really?

Speaker 2 (20:54):
It's only twice in the history of college basketball two
seven footers have started. The other time was Patrick hut
In a chemologa one Wow. And tonight is Zach Edy
and Doven Clean.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
And you can still gonna win by double digits.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
I think I think it's close, said, I think you
come wins, but I think it's caled. That's your Draft
Kings segment. You go to Draft Kings promo code ks
are bet five win one hundred and fifty dollars. You
can do that today for the championship game. It's DraftKings.
Please gamble responsibly and the crown is yours. What's next?
Read Reid, go ahead, read.

Speaker 9 (21:30):
Yes, guys, this is an excellent day for Kentucky basketball.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
I'm so elated about this.

Speaker 9 (21:36):
Been wanting cow gone a long time and finally come
to fruition.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Why did you want him gone for a long time?
Real quick? Well, just all the past.

Speaker 9 (21:46):
He can't get he don't get very far in the tournament.
He had won a championship. It's just this. They're just like,
what for instance's last attorney. I mean, Dick Gum, you
can't even be to Oakland.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
Come on, I mean, there you go, dad Gum. You
can't even beat Oakland. What else you say? I appreciate
the call, dad Gum, you can't even beat Oakland. Let
me say this because I don't want to get lost
in all this UK baseball another sweep. They are now
eleven and one in the SEC, tied for first place.
They're ranked tenth in the country. They're killing it.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
They're breaking records right now, school program records.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
It's insane, best best start in SEC history for UK.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
Unbelievable. We'll take a break and be right back. It's KSR.
Welcome back. Take you sports Radio. Got a couple of
students here from UK. How what are the students? Are
they bummed out? You're not well? Some of them may be.
What do you think, bittersweet? I understand what I mean
For you guys, you grew up like that was a coach,

(22:50):
you know, so I can understand that. Hey, a thing
to remember about next year's team. Let's just say you
got Scott Drew or Nat Oates. I'm gonna read you
the recruiting rankings for next year. Duke is one, Kentucky
is two. Guess who's number three Baylor. Guess who's number four? Alabama? Okay,

(23:11):
so like, let's not act like you're dropping off the
face of the planet if you get one of those two.
I mean, they're literally the number three and four recruits
in the country. So if you still want dudes who
can play, those dudes can still play.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
Just like we saw with Kenny Brooks, the women's coach,
the girls he had recruited to Virginia Tech learning them
over here to Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
Let me also note this on three Guesses Nil, I
just want to sort of give you a sense of
where Nil was with UK basketball. The average nil per
player according to on three. Now, this is this is
the them saying that Duke three hundred and fifty six thousand,
Baylor two twenty three, North Carolina two eighty six, Kansas

(23:58):
won seventy seven. Uh, let's see Texas two twenty one
Rutgers six point thirty. That's crazy. Uh, Miami two sixty three,
Kentucky won fifty seven.

Speaker 1 (24:13):
Oh, this is basketball.

Speaker 2 (24:15):
That's basketball.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
It was a lot lower than I thought it would
me too.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
It's because folks again been telling you this, they've been
having problems with this stuff. Might as well just say
it now when it comes to nil. For the last
two years, they promised money that guys didn't get. That's

(24:40):
just a fact, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
Yeah, And now though, like you said, that those people
that have that money will be more willing to step
up to the plate with the new coach.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
There were there were guys. There were there were guys
who came here and thought one thing was gonna happen,
and they didn't. And I don't think it's possible that
that can't affect and someone. Sure, it was a huge
thing two years ago. Huge. You want to know why
that team didn't succeed. There's a lot of reasons, but

(25:12):
that was part of it.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Was it a sense of they could do it without
nil money or was it just a lack.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
Of It's a sense of when when people think they're
going I think UK was recruiting. This is just my
take I think they were recruiting saying, hey, guys, you
come here, it's Kentucky. If you're getting that there, imagine
what you're gonna get here. Yeah, and then it just
doesn't happen, you know, And then and then it just

(25:38):
doesn't happen. And it doesn't matter so much for Rob Dillingham,
Re Shepherd I think did well with in Ile. But
it doesn't really matter for DJ Wagner those guys, because
they're not coming here for NIL. They're coming here to
get to the draft. But if you're a kid that's
coming here for NIL and it doesn't happen, it's an issue.

(26:01):
Who's up next? Chris, Chris? Go ahead, Chris, I.

Speaker 5 (26:06):
Just wanted to say that I'm kind of right with
you whenever you said that the first like nine years
probably overshadowed what's happened the last four. But you know,
we're supposed to be to go to standard basketball and
we just haven't been. And now it's kind of hoped,

(26:26):
you know, since they didn't get the opportunity for the
COVID tournament. He hasn't been the same.

Speaker 2 (26:34):
I'm not listen. I got to just say this about
the COVID excuse, First of all, with that tournament, yes
we could have won it, we also were going to
be a three seed, so let's not put us cutting
down the nets yet. Okay, we had a shot to
be good. But but but secondly, I'll be honest with you,
I'm tired of people using COVID as an excuse. COVID

(26:57):
was not only in the Bluegrass State. There are forty
nine other states. Everyone dealt with the same thing, and
in the three years since, everyone's dealt with the same thing.
So this thing about like, well everything changed during COVID.
You have to adapt, right, you have to adapt. So, yeah,

(27:18):
nine and sixteen was terrible, and COVID was part of it.
But we weren't the only people dealing with COVID. The
entire country dealt with it and they did better than us. Like,
that's not an excuse.

Speaker 10 (27:33):
You know, I'm not giving him an excuse. I'm just
saying the year prior, with Maxi and that team, I
felt like that team was the best chance since you
know probably a hero and you know cat, but those
were probably the last three teams that even had a shot.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yeah, I think you're right, and listen, I think that
twenty twenty team was playing well. But let's remember something.
I appreciate the call. Everybody goes twenty twenty team, including
cown says we could have won a title. In theory, Ryan, sure,
but let's also remember the year. The day before the

(28:11):
final game, Ashton Hagen's got suspended from the team. He
didn't play in the last game. Did you play in
the last game? And we were a three seed projected?
So the idea that it's certain that we were gonna
go and win the tournament, I think is a little
bit of Ryan revisionist history.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
I always say that too. You that that team was
playing as good as any team in the country, but
there was a little turmoil right there before March maddness
started going into this. He's eternally anything.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
That Ashton Hagen's was suspended for his final game at UK.
Would he have played in the postseason, I don't know,
but we don't know for sure he would have.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
And since COVID, you've had a National Player of the
Year that returned for a season, and you also had
the number one three point shooting team in the country.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, yeah, exactly right. I mean you've had the talent.
Let's just look at these four years. In the abstract
Isaiah Jackson first round pick. We forget him, but he
was the sixteenth pick in the draft and he plays
in Indiana. Yep, everybody forgets him. But he was on

(29:18):
that team. BJ Boston is playing for the Clippers. So
we had two dudes in the NBA on that team.
Rest in peace, Terrence Clark, but he probably would have
played in the NBA two. So that's at least three
Olivia Sar Olivia Sar four. Yeah, we went nine and

(29:38):
sixteen with four NBA players. Okay, then the next year,
ty Ty Washington. I don't know what's gonna happen with
him in the NBA, but dude scores like forty a
game in the in the G League and he was
pretty good. Kellen Grady. When I do trivia, do you
all realize Kellen Grady had like the fifth most threes
in a season ever at Kentucky. Well, I'll forget that.

(30:02):
Oscar Sheebweys on that team right then, and he's National
Player of the Year. We lost to Saint Peter's with
the National Player of the Year, one of the three
best three point shooters we've had at Kentucky and a
dude who was picked in the NBA draft. Next year,

(30:24):
we have a end of lottery pick in Cason Wallace
who's playing real minutes for a team that can win
the title with the Thunder, we return the National Player
of the Year and we lose in the second round.
And then this year, we have the top two freshmen
in the country and they're coming off the bench, and

(30:48):
we have an All American and we have three of
our six best three shooting percentage players in the history
of Kentucky basketball. Think of all all the dudes who
could shoot. We had three of the six best on
the team this year and we lost to Jack Gulk.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
It hurt all over again.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
So before we act like we're losing something that's irreplaceable,
just think about that for a minute. Just in these
four years alone, Let's count the NBA players, Okay, Isaiah Jackson,
BJ Boston. I think Terrence Clark would have played in

(31:32):
the league. Rest in peace, Olivier saw Oscar Sheebwey has
played and will play in the league. Five Tye tie
probably six, Cason Wallace, seven, Reed Shepherd eight, Rob Dillingham nine,
Antonio Reeves ten maybe.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
More, yeah, maybe more.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
Ten dudes in four years.

Speaker 3 (31:57):
One NCAA tournament win coaching mailpractice.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
It is coaching mailpractice. How can you not have more
wins with that kind of talent?

Speaker 3 (32:06):
A damn accountant had what ten threes against you, and
then you couldn't play against his own.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Ten NBA players in four years. One NCAA tournament win.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
That hurts one SEC tournament win all that's even worse.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
So I'm not trying to crush the guy. I could
do the same thing from twenty ten to twenty nineteen,
and the stats are unbelievably good, but these last four
years have not been.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
These last four years matter than they after.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Hey, you want something to cheer you up. How about
the KSR Bowling. Hey, let's do it KSR Bowling dot com.
I got a lot of good guests that are gonna come.
It starts April twenty fourth. Go to KSR Bowling dot com.
You can sign up. They added some new teams so
you can go do it. It's twelve week season throughout
the spring. If you have to miss one, it's okay.

(33:01):
It's KSR Bowling dot com. It's on Wednesday nights, right nights.
We're moving trivia to Thursday nights because bowling is Wednesday night.
It's KSR Bowling dot Com. Check it out, bring out
a team. You'll meet a lot of people over the
course of the next twelve weeks. We'll take a break
and be right back to Kentucky Sports Radio. Work it back.
By the way, I said ten, it's actually eleven. Jacob

(33:24):
Tooppins in the NBA too, Hey, I nine two eight
oh twenty two eighty seven.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
I thought another one actually for you to change subjects. Yeah,
I think Keon Brooks has put himself in position where
he's gonna get drafted. He had like his monster year.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
I'd be surprised if he gets ripped. But maybe, yeah,
it's possible. I'd be surprised. I mean, DJ Wagner may
end up in the league at some point. Ugo maybe,
who knows, Shandon Sharp, Chris Livingston, there's another one in
the NBA. Good grief, this keeps getting worse, without even
counting Shade and Sharp. That's twelve dudes in four years.

(34:03):
One tournament win. To me, That's that's it, right, that's it.
Twelve twelve NBA.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
Guys, it's unacceptable.

Speaker 1 (34:18):
You lose to Saint Peter's in Oakland and.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
See Wow, all right, who's up next? Greg? Greg? Go ahead, Greg.

Speaker 11 (34:30):
Hey, Matt, long time, first time. I've been listening to
you since well since the pregame was down in.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
The basement of Rup. Oh, thank you, ma'am won the
same age as you.

Speaker 11 (34:43):
I've both my grandmothers were fans. I've got my my
little brother's namesake is after Kyle Macy. I've got one
of my children's named Cal. I was also a Cal
Ripkin fan. But anyway, there's a chance that we're not
giving uh Barnhart enough credit. I think in that that.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
Interview could have been all for show.

Speaker 11 (35:06):
In other words, this I think Barnhart realized kind of
what y'all have been talking about, that the thing that
made Cal really successful as a recruiter doesn't make him
so much of a great organized leader.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
Yeah. I don't believe. Let me just say this about Mitch.
I do not believe Mitch Barnhart would have gotten on
television and intentionally lied to the fans. I do not
believe that that's not the kind of person he is.
Mitch Barnhart would not have gotten on television and said
John cal Perry's going to be the coach next year
unless he believed it. I just I do not think

(35:39):
he would do that.

Speaker 11 (35:41):
But in the back of his mind he knew cal
could have been looking.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
I mean, I mean that I don't know what he
knew and what he didn't, but there is You will
not convince me that Mitch Barnhart got up and said
something that he didn't believe to be true. It's just
not something he would do.

Speaker 11 (35:58):
Can I convince you of this that he went into
that meeting with Calipari that there is these this is
the list of ultimatums and can you agree with this?
That Calipari would have had a real hard time agreeing
to all those.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
I mean, I don't know all the details. I appreciate
the call, so I can't say, but and listen, I
don't know. I don't know what Mitch is thinking today.
He might secretly think this worked out well in the end,
but I just I just don't believe he would have.
I just don't believe that. Do you know.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
Mitch is not that kind of guy.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
He's just not. He is. Mitch is like honest to
a fault. Yeah you know what I mean, Like he
just is.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
So I say what you want to about him, he
is a straightforward, honest, respectful man.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
Let me say about to all of you here, and
this goes on tonight, Tomorrow and Wednesday. If you come
to ks Bar, you go up to the front, pick
somebody to win the Masters. There's a list of them
on your table. If they win the Masters, you will
split two thousand dollars with everybody that picked that person.
It's our Master's contest if you eat here tonight, Tuesday, today, Tuesday,

(37:07):
or Wednesday, So pick a person. We will be giving
away two thousand dollars thanks to Country Boy Brewing, who's
gonna have huge beer specials here throughout the week as
part of the Master's giveaway. But it's a pretty amazing thing.
And you got all the lists there of who you're
gonna pick.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
And it's really cool to watch the Masters in here.
There's something about seeing that on all the screens and
you're all kind of hanging on every shot. So yeah,
it's kind of kind of fun. Come on down and
check it out.

Speaker 2 (37:34):
What's next, Derek, Derek, Go ahead, Derek, Hey, Matt.

Speaker 8 (37:38):
Just got a couple of things I'd like saying.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
The two questions.

Speaker 8 (37:41):
I'll hang up and listen to all your thoughts. So
I think this worked out exactly how Cal wanted it.
Because he's ego driven. We know that. I don't think
he wanted fired, let go whatever on his.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
Resume, right, I agree? I agree with that.

Speaker 8 (37:54):
Yes he was looking and in hindsight now this has
worked out best case for mich Hard we were saving
thirty three million dollars. My two questions are this, I
think we all have the same top four, right, we
want Hurley Oates, we would do Jay Ryd and Billy Donovan.
How realistic in a percentage? Do you think that's possible?
And then how awkward is this TBT team now going

(38:17):
to be in the summer.

Speaker 2 (38:19):
I didn't even think about that. You know, it's going
to be interesting with the former players, and I appreciate
the call. There will be former players whose relationships with
Kentucky maybe won't be as strong. I think that's fair.
But at the end of the day, they went here, right,
they'll be back here. Will they also help col out

(38:41):
at Arkansas? Probably, if we're being honest. Probably, But you
remember how everybody said that when Kenny Payne went to Louisville,
we'd lose all our guys to Louisville. That didn't really happen.
You know, you go to the college, you go to.
So I still think these Kentucky players over the years
will still come back well.

Speaker 3 (39:00):
Enjoyed Boogie in Rondo's conversation a couple of weeks ago.
I mean, Rondo was as big of a Kentucky supporter
as anybody, and maybe that will be all of these
cow players five ten years down the line.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
I think that's right.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
I asked you, you're in the break. That's a guy
I mentioned, said you think Boogie and Wall still have
that connect with UK or do they start?

Speaker 2 (39:16):
He still loves his place, they still love him cal
You know, do I think some of those guys visit Faetteville, Arkansas? Yeah? Sure,
But do I think that means they don't come here? No?
Do you? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (39:30):
There were UK players that went to Louisville to visit
Patino when he was the coach there. So they'll go
to Arkansas and visit their coach, but they're still Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
I think. So that's what I would think. Who's next,
Edward go Ahead, Edward hey Man.

Speaker 12 (39:45):
So I know some of the fan base is really
disappointed and bummed out today about cal Eman. But you know,
for me, I kind of compare it to how I
felt in ninety seven when Patino left. I mean, I
was devastated when Patino left, and that's a different feeling. Today,
I'm not this is different. Yes, stated I don't feel
a little excited, but in ninety seven it was just
a different feeling. So I think we're in the right

(40:06):
direction and I'm excited about the future.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
I agree, it's different. I mean, I appreciate the call.
Even the people that are the most bummed about it.
What if this had happened six years.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
Ago, we'd all we would all be doing we'd be.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
Apocalyptic, you know, And it's not like that.

Speaker 1 (40:23):
No, it's not. The timing was just.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
I think the timing was good. Yeah, honestly, I think
the timing was good. And at the end of the day,
we just have to remember, like Kentucky's been through this
before more than any program in college basketball. We have
succeeded through multiple coaches. No program in college basketball has
won with more different people than Kentucky has, and that

(40:50):
I think will continue. And also helping you win as court.
Physical therapy, oh, no company has helped people with their
physical therapy needs more than Court. It's KRT dot com.
There's no reason to be in pain. Call Court. They'll
help you work it out. You don't need a doctor's referral.
It's all there for you. It is court dot com,
It's kort dot com. Go to court dot com for

(41:13):
your physical therapy needs with Court. Last thoughts, Billy.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
It hurts, But like you said, the program will go
on and I'm excited optimistic about who they'll get in
the next week or so.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
Yeah, that's where we're all gonna shift over the next days.
What do you thought.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
I think we give ourselves to, you know, a day
to kind of hang our head a little bit, but
then get excited about the new coach in a new era,
getting ready to start here.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
It's gonna be a wild week. We'll keep you up
to date as things happen. Watch online. I'm gonna post
on KSR later today and then we'll be back here
tomorrow at the bar. I was gonna do other stuff
this week, but I'm just gonna stay here in Lexington, Billy,
come back tomorrow, all right. Yeah, you can do the
pre show though, I'll let you do that today. We'll
see you later. This has been in Kentucky, sports radio