KSR Postgame UK MBB vs Duke 11/13/24

Matt, Billy and Mark Pope recap the Cats' 77-72 win vs Duke in the Champions Classic.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everyone.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
It is the local Toyota Dealers KSR postgame show. How
about that one. We're gonna approach record numbers tonight as
Kentucky beats Duke for the first time since twenty fifteen,
seventy eight, seventy four in the Champions Classic in Atlanta.
And it is and it is an absolutely awesome night.

(00:23):
I've been sitting here watching sort of online and getting
messages and it's like it's the best of BBN tonight.
This fan base that is so excited and so refreshed
and so into it comes out and gets the win
that it deserves with a massive victory in Atlanta. We're
gonna get you ready. We're gonna open up the phones

(00:44):
here in just a minute. But I just want to
take a second just to think about what we saw
in Atlanta. A huge win against a very, very talented
Duke team. They are that is an excellent young team
of guys that play, that have unlimited potential. But this
Kentucky team that we've been waiting all year to go, Okay, we.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Know they're good, but how good are they? Well?

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Tonight you saw them beat as talented a team as
there is in the country.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Now we've got a special guest on the line.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Well, I'll just go right in.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
For the first time ever on the KSR postgame show,
we are joined by Mark Pope. Mark is on the
team bus on the way to the plane.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Mark. How excited are you right now?

Speaker 4 (01:28):
Oh, guys, man, we're excited. We're just enjoying this process
of growing together as a team. And there's a great
venue and VbN showed out in massive ways. It made
it feel like a home game and so especial night
for us. Let's keep going.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
I've always believed that the best of Big Blue Nation
is when you actually get out on the road, especially
in like Nashville and Atlanta where it's close enough that
people can drive.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Did you feel that tonight?

Speaker 4 (01:57):
Yeah, you guys, I have. I mean, I know I'm
talking about thirty years ago, but I have such incredible
memories of games and the George Dome, and I mean,
just as Catlanta to me, like it's always been Catlanta,
it just it just is and it certainly felt that
way again tonight. And it's really special city. I think
our I think BBN has such a beautiful presence here,
not just traveling but also living here, and it's a

(02:20):
special city. It's very much a second home for all
of all BBN.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
You listen, you're one of us. You know what this means.
You know what I mean. You know what Duke is
to this group, going back all the way to ninety two.
Hadn't beaten him in ten years. Also, just they've had
a lot of games like this, we've lost in the
last however many years. What do you feel for the
fan base in getting this victory?

Speaker 4 (02:48):
Well, I love it, you guys know, I'm such a
I just love this place so much. I love the
history of Kentucky. And so actually we you know, on
Sunday night, we met as a team to kind of
do our first break down. No, I'm sorry, it was
early Sunday morning. I guess we meant to do our
first breakdown of this game after after the buttnail game,

(03:08):
and we started with a little bit of a hype
video and just gave our guys context. So the beginning
of the video is actually a bunch of Jack Gibbons
highlights about his national championship against Dukes, and then we
kind of went through you know, uh, you know, of
course the specteri of Mont Christian Lanner and then and
then uh the comeback Cats Massa champions in ninety eight,

(03:29):
and and and just gave our guys a sense of
the context that they were walking into in this game.
So our guys were very, very aware of what this means.
And this is how fun this this matchup is, and
it's special. It's just a special for Kentucky. Man, we
all feel the same way. And I'm hoping that everybody

(03:51):
in BBN and going to bed with a smile on
our face tonight.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Well, I would I.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Want to say something to you about that, because you know,
sometimes you you're there and you're with the fans there.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
But I was in Lexington Mark.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
I saw more blue today than I've seen in a
decade for regular season games. My restaurant was full to
the max on a Tuesday night of people there. I
don't know if you've heard they're doing the street parties
on State Street tonight and this is a November game.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
But like, I know, you're kind of happy that we're
this happy.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
Well, and that there's actually uh, that's actually the best
part of the whole thing, right, It's the best part
just just walking around the arena afterwards and just getting
that kind of way that everybody that was there and
just knowing that everybody in our you know this, this beautiful,
big blue naked is feeling great. That's the whole point, right,

(04:45):
Hopefully everybody's got a little memory they can put in
their pocket now, just like you know, that was a
you know, third game, it's only a third game in
the season, but it's a it's a it's a great win,
and it's a terrific team and in a in a
huge setting, and it's our job and the guys, the
guys are guys were terrific tonight.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Give me one quick basketball point. You know, we watched
in the first half. You're having trouble guarding the ball screen.
There was some stagnant parts of the offense. You came
out in second half, it looked to me like guarded
the ball screens differently. You saw you had guys like
car and always step up and Garrison. What tell me,
just from a basketball standpoint, what you thought changed?

Speaker 4 (05:25):
Yeah, So for me, I probably should have I probably
should have gotten a little more aggressive in the first half.
That you're just collecting data, right, You get kind of
a couple of data points and you're not sure if
if adjustments are needed, or if it's just anomalist. But
you know, we just got pullarising in transition ailation and
ball screens, where both of those were you are close
to a worse than a one point five for points

(05:47):
for possession defensively and as time. And so we just
knew we had to take shots at being more aggressive.
So we tried to busch stuff. We tried to you know,
kind of tandem ego, which is a zone that we
play trying to a high ball, screaming. We tried to blitz.
We were in a blitz a few times and surprised
me it didn't hurt us. Uh, you know, we're were

(06:08):
we were concerned about it because they're so good once
they get into a power play and their stay shot
the ball so well. But we blitched four or five
times throughout the course of the time. It was good.
And then we switched a lot more. We started switching
one to five and even down week switches. So we
kind of kind of went to a bunch of things
in our bag and and and maybe you know, it
was maybe it was a good fortune, Maybe it was

(06:30):
the changes, Maybe it's the tea. Uh you know, maybe
there's our guys getting used to matchups. But clearly we
have way more success guarding than in the second half
and in the first half. We were really disappointed with
our defense leader in the first half, and the guys
came and.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Responded, really well, I'll leave you with this.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
You know we probably have I'm sitting here looking we
may have more people listening to this post game show
at one o'clock in the morning than we've had for
a regular season game, maybe since I've been doing it.
I mean, you have to go to March to get
to see numbers like this. What's your message to this
fan base that's all staying up in the middle of
the night to hear you?

Speaker 4 (07:03):
Man, listen to every single person V then I just
hope everybody feels how much we love them and how
much we feel like there's a community deal.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
This is us.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
This is us. It's not about me, it's not about
our players. It's about Kentucky. That will never change as
long as I'm here, as long as you catch on,
this team are here because we feel it, and so man,
be safe, celebrate like crazy. The best thing I had
I got on the bus today. Thank you, guys. I'm
gonna throw Kirk Chris under the bus. So we got
out of the bus tonight and all of a sudden,

(07:32):
Kirk Chris are yelled at the back. He's like, I'm
going to class tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
Class person.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
Great interviews after he had some great interviews after it
was over to Mark, I'm happy for you, but I'm
also happy for this fan base. I hope your team
is enjoying it as much as we are, and we
will talk to you soon.

Speaker 4 (07:51):
I appreciate you all.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
There you go, Mark Pope, thanks thanks to him for
calling in and uh and coming on. That's a night
it is. And you heard him say. I can't tell
you how much I loved hearing him say. I did
not know that they showed the nineteen seventy eight, nineteen
ninety two, and nineteen ninety eight tape so that you
could the players could get an understanding of what this means.

(08:16):
And I'm gonna give you my summary of the game.
But to me, it's almost more than actually winning the
game and breaking it down. It's just the feeling in
the fan base. But for me, I would summarize it
like this, this is the last seven or eight years
of the Champions Classic. But reversed right. They were the
young team that we were the last seven or eight.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
Years, really talented guys making plays, maybe even getting an
early lead, and we were the team that the last
few years has beating us, more veterans, kind of making
it out, coaching down the stretch, making plays, making decisions,
and then being tougher at the end. It's like the
reverse of what the last few years.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
We talked about that going into the game that in
some this Kentucky team is like the Kansas and Duke
teams we've played some in the last few years, and
this Duke team was like us the last six or
seven and the results were similar.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
I have to tell you, watching even early when.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
We got the lead, I kind of thought, I don't
know if we're gonna win this game. I mean, it
felt like our baskets. When we scored it was hard.
When they scored it was easy.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
They were really having their way with our defense. You know,
we hit our we went five for five from three
to start. I kind of thought, well, they're not gonna
be able to keep that up the whole time. And
I don't know that we ever got easy baskets the
entire game. But that's almost what makes it more gratifying.
We don't really have a player on this team who

(09:45):
can just clear a guy out, at least an elite defender,
because I think Duke is a really really good defensive team.
We don't have guys who can just clear people out
and take it to the basket and get an easy basket.
We really don't have that, which means if basket has
to really be earned, and it was, and you got
guys like Andrew Carr taking it the huge and one

(10:08):
down the stretch that gave us the lead. You got
guys like o Way Butler getting the steel. I thought
Garrison was huge and when he hit that and I
think he ended up a tube.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
I thought it was a three when he took it.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
Also he got an in, he got a cut to
the basket and the pass and a layup. I mean,
Kerr Chreasa hits a big three at a time we
needed it. I thought Duke had a number of times
in the game that they had shot that. If they
had hit, I think we might have not been able
to win.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
But they missed.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
We got some big rebounds after early on, I thought
we struggled a little bit on the glass.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
We got some big boards down the stretch.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Little guys Kobe Brea, who is not necessarily known as
a rebounder, got a big rebound. How about the pass
on the inbounds play, I assumed it was a set play,
Pope said, it's a Reid. Well, that's a gutsy pass
by Braya to make on a read and he throws
it like my home was right right in Butler's hands
away with the rebound on the free throw, I mean

(11:06):
pretty much every guy on the team had a massive
play at some point. The only guy that really didn't
play well was Jackson Robinson. And while I do hope
we get to because I think he's got to be
the guy who gets you buckets at the end of
the game. So I mean, you know, there's a little concern,
like I want to see him have that happen in

(11:27):
a game. But at the same time, it's very encouraging
that on paper, your best player has one point and
you beat the number six team in the country in Duke.
That's unbelievably encouraging. I I'm just happy for this fan base.
You know, the last few years, really post COVID, I

(11:50):
think have been really hard on this fan base. It's
been divided, it's been split, it's been you know, it's
just been stress. The games weren't as fun. It just
didn't feel like it felt here for so many years.
You know, I've been a fan of my entire life.

(12:10):
But I've been doing this the way I've been doing
it now since like five And even during the negative years,
it always felt like the Big Blue Nation was rowing
down the same path. And it didn't really feel like
that the last couple of years. But it feels like
it tonight. I mean I said that to Mark the town.

(12:34):
Today in Lexington there was blue everywhere. On a Tuesday,
I had more people come up to me. I always
joke that, like when I go out, people only ask
me how I think Kentucky's gonna do. And sometimes I'm like, well,
can you ask me anything else? But today I loved
it everywhere I went. And because I was around a
lot today, Everybody's like, are we gonna win? We're gonna win,
excited about the game, Excited about the game.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
The bar was.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Full and rowdy in a way that it really hasn't
been for basketball since we opened. It was tonight Ryan
Lemon Billy took his shirt off tonight. That's what you're
talking about.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
And in the arena in Atlanta looked awesome.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
I'm sure some of you that cal will have been
there and could talk about it.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
It looked awesome.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
I think the fans that go to the SEC tournament
and in Atlanta that's the best of Big Blue Nation.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
They were loud.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
Playing Duke brings it out. You know, we're irrational about Duke.
Tennessee and Louisville are arrivals, but we have like this
irrational thing about Duke thanks to Christian Latner, and we
got to win only the fourth time we've beaten them
in sixty years.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
Wow, sixty years.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
This is the fourth time we've beaten them, and two
of them were seventy eight to ninety eight title years,
so this joins Jamal Murray as the only time we've
beaten them in the regular season since the sixties. We also,
by the way, we're up twelve to eleven all time
going intonight.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
If we lost, they would have even the series, but
we stay up thirteen and eleven, so we stay up
all time on Dude.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
But more importantly to me, we get this win. We
came in thinking this Kentucky team was good, but.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
We didn't really know.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
We didn't know these guys they really we had no
basis to compare. There's no stars next to their name,
we didn't really watch most of these guys play in
at their other schools.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
Well tonight we know this team is good. Big Blue
Nation is back. This is going to be a fun season.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
And no matter what happens over these next few weeks,
next few games, the non conference, this is a signature
win that will look huge on our resume. And let's
be real, this is a game we've lost for a decade.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
Now we've won it. And I couldn't be more happy
for Mark. He gets it. He is smart, but he
also cares about this place.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
And there's no saying like, oh, don't get too excited,
oh don't be to whatever he said. I'm happiest because
of how happy this makes everybody else. That is what
you want to hear, and that's what makes me happy.
If I say how giddy, I am giddy. I was excited.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
I was nervous about this game. Billy.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
I was pacing. I haven't paced in a game that
wasn't an NCAA tournament game since.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
I don't know. Maybe Fox monk, what'd you do?

Speaker 3 (15:36):
So you left the bar?

Speaker 5 (15:37):
Just couldn't take it?

Speaker 1 (15:38):
Well, I left the bar.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
I left it halftime and I went home, and I
was like, well, you know, because I didn't really I
didn't think we were gonna win.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
Went home.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
I was like, I'll get ready. I kind of wish
i'd stay, but you know what, then it's one of
those things. They start coming back and you're like, well,
maybe I was bad luck, you know. So I watched
the second half here, just pacing back and forth in
my house. You know, I have a hurt risks and
I was clapping so hard. I think I didn't help
my wrist healing, but I don't care.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Worth it. It was worth it, all right.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
We'll open up the phones eight five, nine two, eight
oh twenty two eighty seven. I'm sure many of you
are as happy as I am. Will take as many
calls as we can. I know this is what tomorrow
will be like on the morning show as well. We'll
take a break. Thanks to Mark for coming on. This
is the Local Toyo Dealers KSR Postgame Show.

Speaker 1 (16:23):
Welcome back. It is the Local toy Dealers KSR Postgame Show.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
Nice to have U. Nice to have Mark call in
so exciting. All right, I've talked a lot. I'll have
a lot of time to talk tomorrow. Let's get to
you guys phone lines. It's one am.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
There are tens of thousands of people listening to this,
so let's just go who's up first.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
Let's start with Edward.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
Edward, what's up? Edward? Hey? Matt, how are you brother? Doing? Great?

Speaker 6 (16:54):
Good?

Speaker 7 (16:55):
Good to hear?

Speaker 8 (16:55):
Hey, listen, I had no idea when you guys were
going to open up the phones. I dialed two hundred
into ten times worth every single dive. Wow, love, Matt,
I got I got two quick things I want other
people to get on. I'm sitting here with my UK
pujama pants on, with my UK pillow pet. If you
remember those, I'm twenty three years old, steeling like I'm

(17:18):
ten again. This is what we've been waiting for.

Speaker 9 (17:20):
I am ecstatic.

Speaker 8 (17:22):
Two keys to the game that we don't win without
Otega and Andrew. Just whether it was big plays and consistency,
they held it down. They delivered every single time we
needed them in the stretch, even when stuff got tight.
Props to them and the other guys as well. Second thing,
which was extra sweep. I think Pope saw at halftime
that they were that Duke was really leaning on their freshmen.

(17:44):
I don't really know the one shooter kids name, so
I called a nipple. I didn't really know how to
say the whole name. Yeah, well, there's like something before that.
And then he leaned on Cooper Flags who you know,
as advertised. But it turned the ball over and that
is something we would have seen on the opposite end
from the Kentucky team going back leaning on freshman against experience.

(18:06):
But we came out on top this time.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
We did.

Speaker 8 (18:09):
Caleb Wilson gets your bags packed, buddy, you're.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
Coming up like you seem pretty happy, he said. I
appreciate the call. Good stuff. He seemed pretty happy on
his social media post. I think you hit the two guys.
I mean Car and no Way are the huge parts
to me. You know, we knew there was more from
Car offensively than we had seen in the two exhibitions
in the early games, and he had it.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
He didn't look scared.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
He made I thought his hand one plays the biggest
play of the game. And then o Way of course
getting his hand in there and getting the steal on
the first of the two flag turnovers. You know, Carr,
they picked on Car a lot at the beginning of
the game, those first four or five minutes, he kind
of got isolated a lot on defense, uh, but he
kept fighting, played better in the second half. I mean,

(18:54):
he wasn't able to stop Flag, but he made him
work for it. And he stayed in front of him
on the on that last play where Oway reached his
hand in that was you know, Car stayed in front
of him, which allowed Oway to come over and get
the steal. So I thought, excellent. Those to me are
the two stars of the game. Also, you know Brandon
Garrison with that little run. But just overall, you win.

(19:17):
You won this game in my opinion, because of those
two guys. But really, and I'm not trying to pick
on Jackson Robinson on this because you know he's gonna
have games where he's huge, But they the other eight
guys all made key contributions. You don't win without any
of the other eight guys because they all did something

(19:38):
that was key to win in that game. And Pope
even said there were things we didn't see that Jackson
did too, and I trust his judgment over mine.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
Who's up next. Yeah, you mentioned it.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
Cooper Flagg had two turnovers in the final thirty seconds.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
Boy was that sweet. Yeah?

Speaker 2 (19:52):
And and look, I mean, I'm I'm, you know, a
Duke fans a hard time, but that he's awesome.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
I mean, he's awesome. He's seventeen years old, you know.
I mean, he's seventeen years old. He's awesome.

Speaker 2 (20:03):
Now, I think Duke's to starting five. He's really talented.
I don't think they have much of a bench, which
may be a problem for him during the year. But
they're starting five.

Speaker 1 (20:12):
Is good.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
You know, their big guys stayed cramped a lot in
the second half, so he wasn't in there a lot.
But they're starting five. That's a good team.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Who's next, Alex, Alex, go ahead, Alex.

Speaker 10 (20:23):
Hey man, I want to tell you why I'm so
excited about this team. I mean, not only did we
beat the most talented Duke team since two thousand and one,
according to Jay Williams on the halftime show, but we well, By.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
The way, I don't think that's crazy. I don't think
that's a crazy statement. By the way, if you're just
talking raw talent, they've got four first round picks and
maybe three top ten picks, So like everybody's making fun
of him for that. I don't think he was saying
this team is as good, but they are talent and
they are good defensively.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
I mean, I'm not a Duke. I'm not trying to
sing Duke's praises. But I don't think Jay was crazy
with that statement.

Speaker 10 (20:58):
But go ahead, Yeah, no, I was just gonna say
I honestly, I thought, you know, we won in a
style of play that I did not imagine going into
the game, you know, would be very effective for us.
I think Duke essentially took away the three point shot
from us in the second half. We only made I
think one to three in the last twelve and a
half minutes of the game. We were down three exactly.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
We only made one three in the last twelve minutes. Well,
I didn't realize that.

Speaker 10 (21:22):
You know, we want to It was just a grind
it out inside the art game and you know, arguably
our best player, as you mentioned, was a non factor.
So I just I couldn't be more impressed with how
the team popped back tonight. And hey, we we actually
closed it out at the end, so.

Speaker 6 (21:35):
We got to love that.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
I mean, I appreciate, I appreciate the call. It did
feel like we've lost a version of.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
This game a lot over the years, and we and
we won this one.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
And I don't think we had more than a handful
of easy baskets. I feel like they worked and clawed
for every single one of those points. Just that right
now on the ESPN, they're showing the end. You know,
the shot flag flag hit the and one to go
up seventy sixty nine was a great shot. But then

(22:11):
to come back car gets his and one that that's
just a huge play. You just had the number one
pick in the draft come take you and get an
inn one to take the lead, and then you come back.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
And do it back to him. That's just that's a
gutsy play.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
Andrew carr Man, you know, he'd been the one guy
that people were like, I don't know, Well, he showed
tonight why he's so important and effective.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
Who's next? Lee?

Speaker 7 (22:39):
Lee?

Speaker 1 (22:39):
Go ahead?

Speaker 11 (22:39):
Lee?

Speaker 5 (22:41):
Hey man, I'm like you. I was pacing the floor
and I was even sneaking turning the radio on to
get the look a quicker updates than what was happening
on the TV.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
Last that's funny you didn't want you wanted to have
a head start.

Speaker 5 (22:56):
There you go, and that kick. That first call is
twenty three. I'm sixty nine right now. And when I
was twenty three years old, I was sitting on a
second row in the National Championship game against Duke, and
I saw cal Macy thow a past the givings that
was just like that pass that was thrown in the
last seconds of the game tonight, and man, it just

(23:18):
I just sit there and said, it's good to have
a game coach again at the University of Kentucky, you know,
play out there doing this stuff.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
A couple Okay, before you owe me on that point,
let me just say, if you go back and listen
to what Mark said about adjustments to Tom and then
even what he said to me, You're exactly right. This
is a smart dude who makes in game adjustments and
it is fun to see it.

Speaker 5 (23:46):
It's no coincidence and a couple of things that I'm
gonna hang up, and I just I'm just glad to
be up. We got great big Valentines on this team,
and that's gonna go.

Speaker 12 (23:54):
A long way.

Speaker 5 (23:55):
They play hard, and they got a good hearts and
the Duke teams seemed really exhausted that last time.

Speaker 1 (24:01):
I'm glad you said that. I'm glad you said that.
I do think we warmed down.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
I think we warmed out our depth because you know,
they really only played six guys and one of them
was hurt a lot and is heard, you know, cramped.
In the second half, our depth really showed itself because
I agree with you.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
I think they were tired at the.

Speaker 5 (24:20):
End, and we didn't miss much when we put in
our second five is don't man, And we outscored him
forty to twenty six in that second half. And you
could just see their legs, the Duke's legs gone that
last ten minutes five minutes of the game. But I
tell you what that that car is a stud. He
is a stud and we're lucky.

Speaker 12 (24:41):
To have him.

Speaker 5 (24:42):
And yeah, nobody's overlooking this team anymore. Go Cats, and
uh Pope is our hope and he proved the nation tonight.
What kind of team we got in?

Speaker 4 (24:52):
Man?

Speaker 5 (24:53):
Is that unbelievable with not having a player on that
team last year?

Speaker 7 (24:56):
What what he's all?

Speaker 1 (24:58):
No, it's amazing.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
Bring a team, Yeah, to bring a team who could
win that game. I appreciate the call. I mean literally, look,
this is.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Dude Scott three top ten picks and we have no
first round picks. I think that's fair to say. And
but we want and that's it's just it's just fun,
and it's it's what Kentucky fans want. It's it is
what they want.

Speaker 2 (25:23):
There's such happiness around this this group, and and felt
like they had to earn it by the way we
bench points. We we outscored in bench points? Do twenty
is it twenty nine to six?

Speaker 1 (25:38):
Twenty five? Twenty five? Why you gotta correct me? Can
we just say you just want to get it right
for all the thousand? Okay, well twenty nine, Skyler, Skyler,
go ahead, Skyler.

Speaker 13 (25:55):
Hey, this is Brent.

Speaker 11 (25:56):
I'm calling in shout out to Skyler.

Speaker 12 (25:58):
Dean Davis.

Speaker 11 (25:58):
Hey, this call is for all you basketball Bennies out
there who have been berated and belittled for so many years.
This is what it looks like to believe in a
group of young men, pull them together, unify them, to
give them a shot to wear a jersey that they
never thought they could wear, and to see what they
could do together. I was so happy for Mark Pope

(26:21):
and all Mark Pope did on the postgame interviews is
deflect to what a blessing it was to be a
part of the BBN, and what a blessing it was
to coach those guys. I have sat with my two
sons for the past eight years and tried to talk
to them about team while listening to some of the
rhetoric of our coach over the past couple of years,

(26:43):
trying to get behind him. And it is so refreshing
to see a humble man who leads well, who believes
in his kids. And we're sitting out here in California
right now, shout out to everybody who knows who this is,
and we are just we are elated at watching teams
basketball again. And Matt I just want to Billy shout

(27:03):
out to you man. You're great, and I just appreciate
you guys doing this. We're staying up late out here too,
listening to you.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate, appreciate the call.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, you know, it was charming at first, the basketball
BENI stuff, but there was a part of it that
was like, you know a little bit like don't question us, Well,
this is what this fan base likes. Being talked to
where Mark explains everything right like where he explains what's
going on and we see it. This group, you know,

(27:35):
we'll see this is a long year. Who knows what
it'll be like at the end, but this group has
the potential to be special for UK fans in the
way that first group with Rick was, because there is
a sense of this team's more talented than Rick's first team,
but there is a sense of, like what Mark said,

(27:57):
none of these guys thought ever dreamed they could be here,
and that's probably true. I don't think there's one person
on this roster except maybe Garrison just because of where
he was recruited, who probably at any point in their
high school or college career thought they would play here
amongst the guys that are playing, and there's something kind

(28:21):
of cool about getting to see them do it and
have success, because in the future we're gonna have guys
of a different high school pedigree so that they did
think it, but this one they didn't, and it makes
it kind of extra special watching them get to do it.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
Who's next, Pat? Pat? What's up? Pat?

Speaker 7 (28:48):
Pat?

Speaker 4 (28:50):
He's still there?

Speaker 1 (28:51):
Did you meet your phone? Pat? All right? Put Pat
on hole. We'll give him another chance. Who's next, Joe's next? Joe,
go ahead, Joe.

Speaker 7 (29:00):
Thanks for loting Matt. I did Mark Pope a lot
of credit. Jackson Robinson was having an off game, Matt,
but that score was tied and he threw that ball.
Our team did to Jackson and I and I thought
that ball was going in. God loved the young man
he had. At least he had guts to take the
shot that did not go in, but that cold I'm.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
Glad he took that shot. He was, he was open.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
He needed to take it. It would have given us
the lead. He missed it, but he needed to take
that shot. He missed it, but he at least did
because I was worried in the first half Joe. He
looked nervous and scared to me, and I was glad
to see him take that shot, even if he missed it,
because if he passed it up, that wouldn't have been
a great sign.

Speaker 7 (29:42):
And hopefully the recruiting will pick up. Lord knows, Matt,
we're gonna need a few players. I know we'd go
to the transfer portal, but if we could get to
Wilson Kidd, that would help a whole lot. And my
last thing I'll get off. We got a big game
for the ladies on Friday. That well, I can't. I
was getting ready to say something bad against a little bit.
I'm not going to do it.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
Well, well, yes we do. We'll talk about the Louisville game.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
We got plenty of time that because that Louisville women's
games Friday, and I think that's we need to make
that a special atmosphere as well.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
I appreciate it. Joe, Who's next? A nine eighty seven? Moose? Moose,
go ahead, moose, Hey Matt.

Speaker 12 (30:21):
My dad's been gone to the local sports show since
I was a kid, so I figured i'd be the
first time long time.

Speaker 7 (30:29):
The thing about tonight was when Jacks kept the fouling.

Speaker 12 (30:33):
Of three and he went wonder three at the line
and then.

Speaker 7 (30:37):
Down the court. A couple plays later we found him
a three. He went three for three. I was like, oh, no,
here we go again. Yeah. Players were resilient.

Speaker 12 (30:46):
We went into halftime and I knew the coaching was
going to be all about Pope because I thought Shier
was a player, then coach, but Pope was a player,
then coach, coach and then had a head coach opportunity.

Speaker 7 (31:02):
And I text him my dad.

Speaker 12 (31:03):
He said, these players are fighting, and I was like,
I think these guys are gonna pull it off.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Yeah, well, I will say I did.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
I didn't really know that we ever would, but you know,
I think I think we were down what six maybe
with seven minutes to go, and they had a couple
they had three open looks to go up eight or nine,
including two back to back open threes. They kept getting
offensive rebounds and they missed them all and then we

(31:33):
came down, got back to back buckets and cut it
to two, and then we were right there. So you know,
I'm impressed. I appreciate the call with the halftime adjustments,
especially defensively, I mean, they were just you heard him.
I mean he said, I probably should have probably should
have adjusted quicker in the in the first half. Well

(31:54):
he adjusted in the second half because they started coming
out on the ball screens, they started pressuring up top.
They didn't in the first half. They were kind of
sagging off, going under seth Greenberg pointed that out at halftime.
You can't do that against guys that are this talented.
If you if you go under on on uber talented
guys you're you're you're cooked, especially somebody like Flag and

(32:17):
and and Ca Nipple. But in the second half they
played it differently, didn't adjust. Duke was not able to
adjust to our adjustments, and uh uh you you know,
they were able to have the success. Who's up next?

Speaker 1 (32:31):
Let's give Pat one more? Try Pat? What's up? Pat?

Speaker 7 (32:35):
Are you there?

Speaker 1 (32:36):
Yes? Go ahead?

Speaker 14 (32:38):
Can here?

Speaker 4 (32:38):
All right?

Speaker 14 (32:39):
Here you go?

Speaker 7 (32:40):
Awesome win.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Uh.

Speaker 14 (32:42):
They got a lot of versatility.

Speaker 11 (32:44):
I call it HDG hard to guard.

Speaker 14 (32:49):
I was in a bar and a guy told me,
what do you think I've said, he'll make adjustments at halftime,
they'll be fine. Tack of a job. And the thing
about it is we want we beat them, and our
best player had one point.

Speaker 1 (33:04):
So yeah, that's what I'm saying. I mean, that's you know,
if we.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Had lost, it was gonna go I was gonna say,
oh no, you know, another close loss. But we should
be positive because we didn't get anything out of Jackson Robbinson.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
We won and didn't get anything out of it, you know.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
And we shot well, and we shot well from three.
We shot well from three, but we just didn't shoot crazy.
We shot forty percent from three, We hit ten threes.
That's probably low. I would have thought we needed to
hit thirteen or fourteen. We got out rebounded only by four,
but at one point Duke's rebound advantage was twelve, So
I mean, I think there's still a lot of Now,

(33:40):
granted they shot four for twenty three from three, They're
not gonna do that a lot.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
But we took advantage of our opportunity and won.

Speaker 14 (33:50):
Yeah, very seldom are you gonna hold him under ten?

Speaker 2 (33:54):
No, No, I agree with that. I appreciate the call.
He was off and he was he was kind of timid.
I was, I mean, only took four shots Jackson Robinson.
But you know, we want and hopefully it'll be a
good uh learning adjustment for him going forward. I will say, Billy,
the only thing I saw tonight that I'm I'm okay

(34:16):
with us doing less of is having Tomari Williams.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
Initiate the offense at the top. Yeah, like there was
there was too much.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
Like I get that they're gonna have him out there
and then he does handoffs and he's a good passer,
but there was too much of him just like clearing
out and dribbling.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
That's you know.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
He Now, he did have ten points and eight boards,
and I thought actually had a couple of big bat buckets,
but there was also too much go into the basket.
And then and then Garrison came in and provided a
spark in relief. Well, let's take a break A five
nine twenty two eighty seven. Cats get a big win.
We'll take your calls. We'll go to uh at least two.

(34:54):
Billy always kicks me off at too, because what happens
at two like something happens.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
Our day changes in the logs, and it yeah, stupid
STUFFID days and logs. We'll take a break of right
back KISR looking back. It is a local toy dealers
KSR postgame show eight five nine two eight oh twenty
two eighty seven. Since Billy's kicking us off at too,
I don't want to waste time. Who's up next? All right,
let's go to Jake Jake. How are you Jake? Jake?

Speaker 3 (35:25):
All right, we'll try him later.

Speaker 13 (35:27):
A Brad, Brad, go ahead, Brad, Hey, I'm I'm partying
down here in Allen County. I just gotta say, Cooper Flag,
if you're listening, I hope you poop your pants the
whole way home. Back to North Carolina and Jay billis
I hope you never get another ice cream conant Rapperena,
And I'm just so proud to be a cat fan,
and I'm gonna I'm gonna stay up all night and party,

(35:49):
maybe have a bmfire.

Speaker 1 (35:50):
See here you go.

Speaker 7 (35:51):
I like it. You know what.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
I said this, uh this morning, and then actually Drew
said it this morning. Then I said it on social
media after. We're gonna be so obnoxious Billy the BBN
over the next over the next few weeks, like we are.
But you know that's us at our best. I have
hanging in my house in Louisville. An article that The

(36:14):
New York Times did in twenty fifteen at the Final Four,
or maybe it's twenty twelve. It was one of those
two years, and it said the headline is something like
true to itself, BBN toots its own horn or something
like that. And it really means a lot to me
because it quotes Oscar Combs and me talking about Big

(36:35):
Blue Nation. But the point of the article is we're
the loudest fan base in college basketball and it's not
even close. Well that's true, but it's been kind of
difficult in the last few years. It ain't gonna be difficult,
right now, who's next, Leslie, Leslie?

Speaker 1 (36:52):
Go ahead, Leslie?

Speaker 15 (36:54):
Hey, Hey, were you laughing at how subdued Mark seemed
to be on the call for mister Hyde when he
called in.

Speaker 16 (37:02):
He seems so subdued.

Speaker 15 (37:04):
I was a little surprised by that.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
Well, it's weird.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
He's like half subdued and half cerebral. Excuse me, half
like crazy excited kid and half cerebral, you know what
I mean. And I think we saw the cerebral si
suicide tonight.

Speaker 15 (37:18):
Well, I will say that he is the master. I
will call him the doctor. I know, Doctor j wasn't
really a doctor, yet he was called the doctor, So
I'm calling it was close to a doctor, Pope because
for three years after he was close years at Columbia,

(37:39):
and then he dissected Duke's defense and he stitched together
the perfect remedy. So he is literally so perfect. Yeah,
that's what I'm saying. But the one thing I'm looking
forward to is I can't wait to see the video
of the lady from Cynthiana running naked.

Speaker 16 (37:55):
In a hollered.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
Oh yeah, we got we got some videos coming, that's right.
And I gotta tell you, I'm gonna say this tomorrow.
I appreciate to call the woman in Cynthiana who said
she was gonna go nicke it in the holler. You know,
you gotta send it to us in a way that
I can use it. I can't put my want the video. Okay,
well yeah, I mean.

Speaker 1 (38:15):
It does, like I don't. We don't have to see
things like you can do, you know, Billy like you,
you do tastefully nude sometimes. Oh yes, that's kind of
what we're talking here. But like if you're gonna be
nicked in the holler, you gotta be nicked in the hall. Yeah,
I don't.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
I don't send out my tasteful nude times.

Speaker 1 (38:33):
What I've heard? Who's next? Bt BT? Hello?

Speaker 3 (38:36):
BT Hey man, what's going on man?

Speaker 1 (38:40):
How you doing doing? Good?

Speaker 7 (38:44):
Man?

Speaker 3 (38:44):
I'm doing great as well. I got a couple quick
points for you, man. So just to sum it up,
you know, I'm twenty four, so this is probably what
the second time in my lifetime I've seen us be duke.
It is an amazing feeling. Man, It's absolutely awesome.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
Yeah, that it's true.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
You've only seen it twice, that's right, because you weren't
alive for ninety eight, so but you also don't have
the pain of the ninety two game.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
So it's kind of a it's a watch.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
Oh don't worry, Matt.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
I've seen it.

Speaker 3 (39:11):
My dad had it on VHS and I watched it
when I.

Speaker 1 (39:14):
Was like five years old. I know all the pain, man,
I get it. Whatever.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
I got another point too, dude, Yes, yeah, So yeah,
I'm a big WW fan. And I'm looking on Twitter
and I'm looking on Instagram. People are saying all the
Pope era begins, but I think this is also the
attitude era of Kentucky basketball. There were plenty of times
in this game where we could have given up, and
I think other teams in the past that would have

(39:41):
given up. But we fought hard, and we were strong,
and we were physical, and we did not give them anything.
I mean, I think it shows so much about our
team and about our coaching that, you know, while it
looks down and you know, we gave them the entire
paint in the first half. Now, they got some great
players on team, but we did not give up. And

(40:02):
I think it means so much to just where we
are right now as a team.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
I totally agree with you.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
I think they give I didn't expect this team would
give up, but I think there were a bunch of times.
I appreciate the call that there were moments that I
thought it was gonna get away from us.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
You know, the lead, I don't think it ever got
to ten. It may have once, but it was mostly
hovered at nine.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
And I think we got to nine three different times,
where then we hit a three to cut it to six,
and that was a big difference, and you know, we
won ugly. We've talked so much about how Mark Pope
basketball is fun to watch him pretty. This wasn't really pretty.
This was gutsy and the caller's right. I think at

(40:48):
one point Duke was up like twenty eight to six
in points in the paint. But in the second half,
I don't know what it ended up, but we made
that a lot closer because we started getting easier baskets
and getting to the rim ourselves.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Who's next, Wade, Wade? How are you, Wade?

Speaker 17 (41:05):
I'm good?

Speaker 1 (41:05):
Are you good?

Speaker 18 (41:09):
I've got two things for you real quick. I want
to touch on one thing you said in the first segment.
You talked about how hard it's been the last few
years for Kentucky fans, just with how basketball's gone. And
I really resonated with that because in the twenty twenties
when I married my wife, and I've been trying to
show her the joy of Kentucky basketball, but all she's
been able to have is heartbreak and frustration and disappointment.

(41:33):
And I've just been trying so hard to give her
something to hold on to. And I know that this
game is only the third game of the season, but
it just feels so much.

Speaker 14 (41:42):
More than that.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
I totally agree with that.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
I like that word joy because there hasn't been a
lot of joy in the last few years. You know,
there have been moments that were good, you know, I
think of the win at Kansas that one year, the
win at Tennessee, a couple of times I think we
won there in games we didn't think we would, but it.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
Just there has there just hasn't been a lot of joy.
This is like joy, you know, this is a joy.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
This is the fun part of being a fan, and uh,
you know, it has it has been a while since
we've had that, and it's been honestly a long time
since we've had it in the regular season. We just
we just have not won these, especially non conference games,
a lot that have been like this, and it's awesome.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
To get one. Yeah, it is.

Speaker 18 (42:34):
It's it's huge, and I've been able to celebrate with
my wife and my daughter. My The other thing is
I just in the last few years, I've always gotten
this feeling when we're on the verge of a loss,
just this gut feeling. I feel like I had that
in the first half. And I don't know if that's
just me conditioned to feel like, oh, we are outclassed.
We're not going to be able to win this game

(42:55):
if we're not as talented, and I guess I just
have to recondition myself to we.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Do have to recondition ourselves, yes, because we we're not
as talented as them. I mean, we're not like they're
they've got more talent than us. If I'm a Duke fan,
I'm still optimistic about the year that they're they're good.
And I had that same feeling of well, we're just
not as good these guys, and and in the last

(43:21):
few years when I didn't think we were as good,
I just assumed we were getting beat I don't think
we can assume that this year. I appreciate the call.
I think we're like the teams like it's again, it's
like a reversal. We're like a team. I don't know
what the example of a of an example of an
SEC team that's given us problems. Well, I mean Tennessee

(43:42):
in the last couple of year has been really talented.
But the first six five to seven years of the
of the Barnes era, we worked more talented than them
every year and they usually beat us at least once.
And I think there was a sense probably of Tennessee
fans that yeah, you all may have better players, but
we're gonna beat you.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
I think that's not something we're used to at Kentucky
is that feeling?

Speaker 2 (44:07):
But we may have that some this year where yeah, okay,
y'all have more talent, but we have you know, eight
gritty seniors and Mark Pope. That's that's just that's not
something we've had in a long long time. I mean
you probably have to go back to like the Tubby
era to find times that it has felt like that.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
Uh, and it does right now. Maybe you know three
four oh five era of Kentucky. Who's next, Cat Daddy,
Cat Daddy? How are you.

Speaker 6 (44:39):
Hey, I'm great, It's a wonderful night. I just want
to call it in and say I'm really excited about
our Unita.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
Roster.

Speaker 6 (44:49):
And when I say that, we have a roster of
kids who have been told you could be in the
in the NBA except you need a jump shot. You
could be in the NBA, except you need to be
more physical. You can be in the NBA, except you
need to be able to handle the ball better. And
Coach Pope has went out and got a roster of

(45:10):
kids that says, you need to prove you can do this.
And I think that they went out tonight and took
the first step and proven that I can do those things.
And you need to watch us for the rest of
the year because we're going to try and do those things.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
I like it, appreciate the call. Nobody on this team
is like perfect.

Speaker 2 (45:36):
Every player on the team has, like what's interesting, They
all kind of have a glaring weakness, but Pope is
able to scheme around it and make it work. And
that's what coaches do, right, Like all these guys have
things you can exploit or things that they're not great at,

(45:56):
but like they work around it and play to their
players strength.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
You know, Uh, that's that's what you're supposed to do.
And I don't know. I think it's funny.

Speaker 2 (46:09):
There's never been a Kentucky team where the fans knew
less about him before this started than this one. But
I just have a feeling this is gonna be a
team that, like people look back on really really fondly,
because you know we're going we know them now.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
I can tell you this.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
After tonight, everybody knows who those guys are. I hope
those guys were us. When they get back to Lexton,
they're a lot more famous than when they left.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Oh yeah, who's next? Hunter? Hunter? What's up? Hunter?

Speaker 9 (46:37):
I'm grateful, Matt. This is I'm gonna be completely honest.
I turned the game off at halftime because I thought,
you know, our offense is getting shut down. We weren't
gonna be able to do anything. I wouldn't go play
church basketball. I came back to check the score and
I'm I said some prophetic words in the Lord's house.
I got summer penttant to do on Sunday, that's one

(46:57):
hundred percent sure, But just that's I had the cow
PTSD and I feel like a lot of the fans
have had it. It's like, when we couldn't score an
offense in that beginning half, I was like, we're not
gonna be able to change because that's what we've been
conditioned to do last four or five years. And it's
so relieving to look back and watch that second half
and watch that adjustment and watch us crawl back when

(47:19):
most people counted us out. And I am just so grateful.
I am bought in as ever in the last six
years of being a fan, and I'm so excited for
what this season holds.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
Go Cats. Love you guys, appreciate the call, totally agree
with all that. You know, we we didn't win games
like this in the last decade. We just did. I
mean we just did. We did. We would have lost
this game by.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
Well, we wouldn't have won if this would if this
had been a different year, But we adjusted.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
And I don't even ness I think we played particularly
well well.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
We beat the number six team in the country with
three of the top eight picks, and I don't even
know that we played all that great. That's also pretty positive.
A five, nine, two eighty seven. Let's take a break.
We'll take our final segment. Billy so the computer doesn't explode.
Let's go to commercial. We'll take your calls. Be right back.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
It's a Local Toy Dealers KSR postgame Show.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
Welcome Back, final segment, Local Toy Dealers KSBAR postgame Show.
Great night in Lexington, Great night in Atlanta.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
Uh if we have? Have we heard from somebody yet?
Who is at the game? Oh?

Speaker 2 (48:33):
The other one person said they were at the game
A five nine eight zho twenty two eighty seven. We'll
be back in the bar tomorrow. I got some good.

Speaker 1 (48:40):
News, Billy. Oh, what's that? Guess who's going to be
in the bar with us on Thursday? Who? Deron Lamb
and Marcus t Oh Yes, well, happy for Drew. Better
have the dumb button on. But Doron Lamb and Marcus
Tige in not in studio at KSPAR Thursday morning, for

(49:02):
the for the for the KSR show.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
That should be a lot of fun with those two guys.
I know Drew especially will be very excited. Who's up next?

Speaker 1 (49:11):
Brody, Brody? How are you? Brody?

Speaker 9 (49:16):
Hey?

Speaker 1 (49:16):
What's up?

Speaker 12 (49:16):
Man?

Speaker 17 (49:16):
I appreciate you taking my call.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
What's going on?

Speaker 17 (49:21):
I was thinking that I feel like over the past
ten years I've been conditioned to think that a basketball
team that will win comes off of, you know, extreme athleticism,
a team that will just overwhelm you with talent, and
my goodness, tonight, it's fun to see a team that

(49:43):
is a bit deprived of those things, that will fight
and win off of just execution and making a jump shot.
It's a refreshed a breath of fresh air, for sure.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
I agree with you.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
I mean, in MO years, when if you go back
and you look, if we found out in the early
games that the team wasn't as talented as we hoped,
it was kind of a bad sign for the year,
you know what I mean, It wasn't It never felt
like we were gonna overcome our talent level. I don't
feel like that this year. I don't think this team

(50:20):
is super talented, but I do think they are super
like smart and play hard and fit well together.

Speaker 1 (50:28):
And that is it, and that's exciting.

Speaker 17 (50:31):
And those and to see those things with the Cal
teams were that was extremely exciting too. I mean I've
gotten behind the yeah, oh for sure, I'm a cow believer,
cow believer, but it's it's super exciting to see this
from this team at this point and shout out to
coach Pope and Coach Figer, like those guys are killing

(50:52):
it right now.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
Yeah, you're exactly right. It was I appreciate the case.
It was exciting in a different way. It was like, Oh,
what's gonna happen nowt what are they gonna do?

Speaker 7 (51:01):
You know?

Speaker 1 (51:02):
This is this is just different.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
It reminds me. It actually reminds me of the Tubby
teams in the sense of when Tubby was at his best,
it felt like the whole was greater than the sum
of the parts. And I kind of feel like that's
what this is like as well.

Speaker 1 (51:18):
Who's next, Greg, Greg? Go ahead? Greg?

Speaker 11 (51:22):
Eh, Matt.

Speaker 19 (51:23):
I just want to say, man, I am so grateful.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
I was.

Speaker 19 (51:28):
A senior in college when Kentucky won in twenty twelve,
and that's not even what I'm calling about. I just
want to say. This is a shout out to my
dad who's in the Cardiac unit, because he's the one
who adopted me and took me to Kentucky in nineteen
ninety eight, made me a Kentucky fan, and he told

(51:49):
me tonight, cats are gonna win. Cats are going all
the way. Love you guys, Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (51:56):
Thank you prayers for your dad.

Speaker 2 (51:58):
If you're like, if you're in the CARDIACU listening now
or on podcasts, We're thinking about you and got this
win for you.

Speaker 1 (52:07):
Let's see, I would do time. What time we have
to be out? It's one fifty one, we had be out?
What time? Fifty eight?

Speaker 5 (52:14):
Seven?

Speaker 1 (52:15):
Fifty seven fifty eight? All right, let's just go until
fifty seven eight. Who's next? Dave, Dave, go ahead, Dave,
Hi Matt.

Speaker 16 (52:24):
I live in California. I grew up in Lexington. I
had to sell Cox to get into the game. My
dad was an husher and at seventeen we moved to California.
But I've been a Kentucky fan, very very serious Kentucky
fan my whole life. My retirement dream was to get
to go back to Kentucky and during basketball season, and

(52:47):
the last two years we've gone back for a month
and it's been like being in heaven. I mean, I
love loved the feeling. I had hope. Every year I
had hope and I I got to got to see
Oscar Seaway play. I got to see last year's fabulous
team played. My bubble was burst. But you know, the

(53:09):
journey is what it's all about for me. And I
want to remind you in nineteen sixty six, everybody remembers
the Kentucky Texas Western game.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
Yeah in the semifinals.

Speaker 16 (53:22):
Yeah, that that was the big game Kentucky Duke. And
ever since watching that in black and white on my
TV set, every Kentucky Duke game is huge and I
just absolutely loved it tonight. It's a real treat. My
wife and I do a bourbon and coke toast after

(53:43):
every game to salute the best play.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
Let me ask you two questions. Let me ask you
two great questions. Number one, are you going to get
to come for a month this year?

Speaker 16 (53:51):
I definitely am. We're going to go to a van
down there.

Speaker 2 (53:55):
And number two, how many How many cokes did you
have to say to get into a Kentucky game?

Speaker 16 (54:03):
Well, you just you had to sell cokes for the
first half and then if you if you had sold
enough racks, you could go sit down.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
Is that right?

Speaker 2 (54:14):
So you would sell hang on, you would sell them
like where in the stands or outside in the in.

Speaker 16 (54:20):
The stands, I was going up and down the stairs
selling cokes. If I had enough racks, I could go
sit down and I'd go sit on the behind the
behind the standard, sit on the standard until the Kentucky
State policeman would run me off, and my dad would
watch me march down to the other end and sit
at that stand until you.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
Got kicked out. The man from my heart. Well, listen,
that's very cool. Thank you very much for calling, and
come see us when you're here.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
For the Vandy Gate I will.

Speaker 16 (54:51):
I love your shows, Matt, thank you.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
Thank you, sir. All right, that's a neat story. Who's
up next?

Speaker 5 (54:56):
Nathan?

Speaker 1 (54:56):
Nathan? Go ahead? And Nathan.

Speaker 7 (55:00):
Hear me, yes, go ahead.

Speaker 20 (55:04):
I'm how you guys doing.

Speaker 7 (55:05):
First of all, great, first time, long time as well?

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Who are.

Speaker 7 (55:12):
Yeah?

Speaker 20 (55:12):
Who are just giving you guys some more insight from
actually being at the game. It was absolutely amazing at
our atmosphere, it was just crazy. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (55:24):
What of the crowd the whole work. What percentage of
the crowd do you think we're Kentucky fans?

Speaker 20 (55:30):
Honestly, I would say it was probably like sixty forty Kentucky.

Speaker 6 (55:34):
Maybe.

Speaker 20 (55:35):
I was at the UNC Kentucky game last year and
it was probably like seventy five twenty five UNC like
it was. It was way different than than this one.
And there it was a whole There was a whole
row of Duke fans in front of me and a
ton of Kentucky fans all around me. We were all
just going crazy, chanting.

Speaker 7 (55:56):
We were up in the two twenty.

Speaker 20 (55:58):
It was just absolutely amazing atmosphere.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
Well awesome.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
Well, I'm glad you had a great time, and this
will be one you remember. I appreciate the call. Let's
do one more real quick, Billy.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
All right, let's go to Ron Ron real quick.

Speaker 7 (56:12):
Got about a minute, Matt.

Speaker 21 (56:15):
When Mitch Barnhart was interviewed about his coaching process, he said,
you had Hurley and then Drew and if he was honest,
and he said Mark Pope was his third choice. My gosh,
the balls on this guy to make that higher.

Speaker 6 (56:30):
Give me five.

Speaker 21 (56:31):
Coaches right now currently that are better than him in
college of basketball. He's the top three coach in my
opinion right now in college basketball. The man is on fire, gocats,
the future is bright.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
I love it. Well, you're right.

Speaker 2 (56:43):
I mean another person Mitch Barnhart should take about because
a lot of people, including the person you're listening to,
questioned it at first, but he would he had conviction
on it.

Speaker 1 (56:54):
You heard it on my show that morning, and what
an amazing start. Folks. These are great nights like this.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
We haven't had a lot of them in the regular
season or in the postseason honestly for a number of years,
but we had them tonight.

Speaker 1 (57:08):
Enjoy.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
This is the feeling that makes you excited to be
a Kentucky fan. Two o'clock in the morning, up happy.
I know I might have a hard time falling asleep,
but we got too because we got to go do
this again in the morning. It's so nice to get
a victory like this, and it's especially nice to do
it with a guy who bleeds it as much as

(57:29):
we do. Congrats to Mark Pope. Congrats to the players
who all played great. Congrats to all the administration, all
the people around the program, and congrats to this fan base.
It's so nice to hear all of you happy. I'm excited,
you're excited. We're in for a fun year. Thank you,
folks very much for listening. I'll see you at ten
o'clock tomorrow from Ksbar.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
This has been the Local Toy Dealers KSR postgame show.