05-03-24 LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This bingie beef Jerkey podcast of theLeach Report is also presented by Boons Butcher
Shop, one hundred old Bloomfield Pikein Barnestown, fresh meat cut on location
daily and they're family owned and operatedhave been since nineteen forty six. Good
day, everybody, Welcome in tothe Leach Report for Kentucky Oaks and Derby

(00:20):
Weekend. We are presented by BobcatEnterprises. Busy, Busy show today.
Was able to catch up with CoachPope yesterday and tape an interview in between
travels for him staying busy obviously puttinghis first team together. So we taped

(00:41):
an interview yesterday. Some really goodstuff there. It's gonna have about fifteen
minutes or so with him, soI didn't get deep into player by player
things, but there's some really interestingstuff in there in terms of some of
the things he does with analytics andwhat their at. So that's gonna be
coming up in kind of the middlepart of the show. Today. We're

(01:03):
going to lead off with Dick Girardiwho always joins us around Triple Crown time
to he'll talk about the Oaks andthe Derby Today, Dick Gabriel a little
later, we'll check in. He'llbe working the Kentucky Arkansas series for SEC
Network Plus this weekend and so Gabewill help preview that. You'll be able
to hear the radio call with DarrenHedrick. Also, it's a battle of

(01:27):
top ten teams in Kentucky needs toget back on track and should have great
crowds. I would think out ofKentucky Proud Park. What a weekend on
the Kentucky campus. You've got thatbig series for baseball, You've got men's
tennis hosting first and second round actionin the NCAA tournament. Kentucky men's tennis
team seated fifth. So it isa busy, busy weekend on the UK

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campus and graduation going on as well. To add to the mix, our
Triple Crown coverage this spring, presentedby Clayborne Farm again doing the usual unusually
well for more than one hundred years. Rain likely for most of the day
in Louisville from what I've seen,but they sing maybe it goes under fifty
percent. By leading up to theKentucky Oaks, all of the stakes races

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today will stay on the turf.That's the word from Churchill Downs. They're
taking an allowance race off the turfearly in the card, but the stakes
races will all be on the turfcourse. The TV coverage today will be
on the USA Network Tomorrow. It'llstart on USA Network at noon, go
to two thirty and then it'll switchover to NBC. So all of our
Triple Crown coverage in Oaks and Derbythis week, presented by Clayburne farm.

(02:38):
I hopefully we'll have a little timeto work in and interview short one with
Kenny McPeak later in the program,Lexington native who has a big shot in
the Oaks and pretty good shot inthe Derby as well, So we'll hopefully
hear from Kenny a little bit lateron Kudos by the way to Mike Battaglia,

(03:00):
line maker for Churchill Downs, doinghis fiftieth morning line this year.
He said it last Saturday when theydrew the post positions for the Oaks and
Derby. Mike is a good friendfor a long time and it's quite an
achievement, fifty morning lines for theKentucky Derby. Kentucky women's Basketball's picked up
another recruit, Jordan ob from PennAverage fifteen and eight last season to assist

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per game. She is going tobe joining Coach Brooks at Kentucky. Links
to the stories we talk about eachday, you can find them on the
bud Light Leach Report page at TomLeechky dot com. We will head to
a break and our opening segment alwayspresented by Giuseppes of Lexington. They you
need to go there to Sheppes Lexingtondot com to make a reservation or go

(03:44):
through open table to celebrate the nextspecial occasion in your life. No better
place to do that than at Giuseppes. We'll be right back and talk Oaks
and Derby with Dick Girardi. Friday, Kentucky Oaks Day edition of the Leach
Report. We're coming to you fromthe Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return,
Refresh and refuel at Clark's. Joinednow by Dick. You're already longtime turf
rider from Philadelphia has been with abuyer speed figures team for years and he

(04:09):
comes to his courtesy of betonline dotag, which we'll talk about in a
minute. But some interesting prop betsfor this weekend. But Dick, let's
first jump into Derby one fifty andhow how do you see it in terms
of I don't know if you wereseeding an NCAA tournament. I think the

(04:30):
one seeds are Fierceness and in SierraLeone. Are there any others? I
think those are the one cg Onlytwo made the final tainty in this group,
but I think they're a clear cutfavorite. Sierra Leon for his consistency
and where he won the best preprace, the Risen Star, where the
Wood Memorial winner came out the LouisianaDerby winner came out of that. Obviously,

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the Blue Griss winner is sierral Loonehimself, and Fiercenss is just he's
the one of one. When heruns his good race, which he's done
three times, there's nobody in therace that could be if he runs that
race, the Florida Derby, theFreer's Cup, even if Maiden with they're
all running per second. The questionabout him, of course, is you

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know what was up with the tworaces where he was no good at all.
But if you get one of thegood ones, he's going to be
hard to be your buyer speed figureguys I said, and he Fierceness has
the highest two buyers with a oneoh five and a one to ten.
He's had the clunkers that you mentioned. As a buyer guy, is it
as simple as betting the highest buyerfor you or are you? Do you
have a trust factor with fierceness.That's part of it, Tom, is

(05:36):
that yes, I'm interested in thehighest buyer figures. But I got it
in my mind. I had todecide was he going to get the kind
of trip in this race that's goingto give him the chance to run one
of those big numbers. And myanswer is yes, I don't think there's
a tremendous amount of early speed.I see him in the top flight when
they hit the first turn. Inan ideal world, he'd be in front

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like he wasn't the Florida Derby.But if he's in the top three,
I think he'll run his good race, and his good race is going to
win. But yeah, the concernis he broke poor lead to the two
races where he ran badly and hejust didn't run all So you just don't
don't need a poor break on Saturdayin the Derby. So if you like
the favorite he'll be if he winsthis, he'll be a higher price that
he probably ever will be again,but still it's the favorite. How could

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folks go about improving the payoff offierceness through exactas or tries or something like
that. Yeah, I got acouple of bombs I like in this race.
Look, the seventeen to two SierraLeone is the most logical, exactly.
It's also the two favorites. Butthe good news is because the twenty
horse race, it's still going topay good. It's not like having the

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two favorites and a six horse raceon a Tuesday afternoon. It's very different
because of the twenty numbers out there. But said that, I like Honor
Marie the seven twenty to one.I think as a real chance to be
hit the board second or third,and I think waiting for you. Look,
I'm Kenny Peek as a friend,and I'm hoping he has a Derby

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with his name on it. ButI'm thinking his horse here that it was
so good in the Southwest time,I think has a real chance if he
can run back to that race.I'm not sure what happened in the Arkansas
Derby. Wasn't like he was bad, he just wasn't nearly as good as
he was in the previous race.I think he's another horse, a long
shot with a possible chance, youknow, a'timistic day and the three or

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only other triple digit buyer in thefield belongs to him. Yep, exactly.
What about the Oaks I'm a waysand Means fan. I saw her
run at Sarato the last summer asone of those as you don't forget.
I thought she was super impressive.But Tom, this is a tough Oaks
field. I think you could makea case for half the field and not

(07:48):
feel like you were you were wrong. It's very complex, but yeah,
I'm gonna go with Ways and Meansthe eleven, but there's probably a half.
It doesn't result that that happens.I'm not gonna be frust tyld Dick
Girardi comes to his courtesy of betonline dot ag, where there are some
really interesting prop bets and Dick,which are the ones that interest you?

(08:09):
The one that most intrigues me thistime is an even money bet what will
be the margin of victory for thewinner? And it's a strict over under
even money bet over a length anda half. I love the over first.
I like fierceness, and Tom asyou know, when he wins,
he doesn't just barely win. He'swon a three races. If I combined

(08:31):
thirty lengths, it's an average often. So I like that bet.
I'd like Fierceness to win, soI like the plus over one and a
half lengths. And the cool thingabout the bet is the Fierceness doesn't run.
You have the other nineteen horses.If any one of them wins by
a length and a half, youstill win the bet. I'm always an
over under time fan. Two ohtwo is the number at the moment where
we go under two o two inthe Derby for the mile and a quarter.

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Now, I typically don't make thatbet until I watch the races on
Saturday. Man, the track hasbeen really fast since they've come back.
Some of the times are super fast, so I'm thinking that's probably going to
be an under. But I wouldhope I would tell people all off a
little while on that one. Andof course he always very popular to finish
the last, Grand Mo the first. I think as a dance to be

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Grandmo the last, as you getseven to one. If he finishes last,
I think Catalytic, who chased thefiercest home and that Florida Derby is
a real chance to be last.Also right around seven to one does Let's
bet online dot ag and so ifyou think you just have no luck at
all you place, you can goto bet on who you think will finish
last, Dick anybody you like onthe undercard on Friday or Saturday. It's

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a fascinating under cards, especially onSaturday. I mean it's the horse I
mean, mind Frame who's in thethird race, Tom. He might be
faster than he might be the fastestthreel in the country. Now he's going
along and he doesn't have a greatpost. The horse that can really intrigue
me. Sure to get the riskrace Race four. I really like the

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seven Kapoona. I think it absolutelysets up for his running style. He's
listed at six and it's Brett Calhounand Merle who I really like is a
jockey that's probably my just given theodds. I really like the seventh Kapoona
in the next go the fourth racefour on Saturday. All right, there's
one to maybe make some money within in the race or in multi races.

(10:28):
Thank you sir for doing this.You got it, Tom, Thank
you tur rider Dick Girardi coming tous courtesy of bet online dot ag.
It is the lead's report for KentuckyOaks Day. We're presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
We'll be right back, welcome backinto the lead's report for this Friday,
and we are pleased to have CoachMark Pope on the line to talk

(10:48):
about, uh what what a whata crazy un it has been for you.
You know you at some point areyou are you wondering if you're going
to have a minute to catch yourbreath? Well, well, I hope
not. I mean, that's thebeauty of this job. Hopefully we'll be
blessed enough to have a long tenurehere and not breathe one second the whole

(11:09):
time. That's what makes Kentucky basketballand this job in particular is so beautiful.
When you jumped into this, itwas a little later than I'm sure
you would have liked to be inthe position of trying to have to put
together a whole roster, and primarilyvia the transfer portal. I know that
you know, we'll change as theyears pass and you get a chance to

(11:31):
develop more relationships, longer term relationships, et cetera. But for this particular
first season. How much of aplan did you kind of have in your
head and how close were you ableto stay with it or was it more
of let's just see who we canget and make it work after that?
So how did you kind of approachthat, especially since you didn't even have

(11:52):
much of a staff at the beginning. Yeah, So it's you know,
I've been to this situation a coupleof times where you've take a new job
and the office is really low.Uh, you know, you're in there
kind of hammered away until late atnight and early in the morning, empty
offices. So I was really blessed. Uh Mitch uh lent me his his

(12:16):
EA, Shelley, and so shewas with me, uh twenty four to
seven, kind of steering me throughthings, and and uh Mark Hill,
uh Deputy A. D was unbelievable, So he came and and moved his
office down. In my mind tothe support staff has been incredible, Will
Barton and and Brett rye Back hasbeen just awesome. And so we just

(12:37):
kind of peeked together the best wecan. It's actually really exciting. He's
a laying time and then it's assistancerolled in. We you know, we
especially the last week, the lastfew days, the last week had our
first chance to be together with amultifoliday group. And it's awesome. You
know, you're you're just in thistresch and kind of going as fast as

(12:58):
you can and in triage mode allday, every day, trying to think
they're the very most important things.Yeah, because you know, normally you
have, you know, and foryour next team and beyond, you'll be
able to you have time to cultivaterelationships with with players, and you had
to you know, get as muchintel I'm sure as you could in a

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very short window. Guys that youknew that you wanted to know I'm sure
would be a good fit for yourteam, right. Yeah, So putting
it together after is I think it'sjust a I love it. I love
like the study of teams, right, chemology, you know, I just
I just think it's one of themost fascinating things, just seeing how human

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beings function together in a group.Taking that to kind of the highest level
of interaction, where you did itunder the stress and the duress two different
things. Stress and dress of uhand the chasing dreams part of putting together
a team that's competing at the highestlevel. I love the dynamics. I

(14:05):
love kind of incorporating skill sets witheach other. I love kind of figuring
out personalities and how they work figuredout like goals and agendas and how they
can kind of augment each other whenyou put people in the group. And
so you know, clearly, uh, we have a style of play that
we value. We think it's it'ssuper effective and that we love to coach.

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We actually love to teach guys toplay this way. I think it's
really really engaging for fans. Ithink that Big Blue Nation is going to
absolute We trying to post this gameand we're trying to get better at it,
and so you kind of have thatoverarching view and then it's like,
hey, how can I put thepieces in place in a really really short

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window time where it's going to beyou know, one things we considers there's
going to be all new pieces puttogether, so there's zero continuity and how
some and that's something that we aretaking in account to every piece. How
can we kind of short cut thislearning curve so that we can put together
the best problems we can on thefloor and do it as close together.

(15:09):
I mean, you have all thesedynamics and so and then as each piece.
What's interesting, it's not static,right, It's like any living organis
and the team is. And soevery piece that we add it changes the
picture of the group as small orbig as it feels like, what it
feels like, and what it needs, and how it interacts, how guys

(15:31):
will probably interact with each other,and it just is. It's really dynamic
and it's beautiful. As we recordthis, your number is sitting at nine
at this point. I know Iheard a little bit of your chat with
the guys on ks Are the otherday. You talked about a pause yet
to where you want to wait alittle bit before filling it out or where

(15:52):
are you on that process. Well, we'll still going full seam ahead.
There are some players that are thatyou know, it could take a little
bit longer because they're just fully fullyengaged in uh NBA workouts and they're trying
to consider, you know, whatroad is going to be best for them

(16:14):
every weeks. So these last fewpieces will probably be a little bit more
maticulous with and and you know mightnot come kind of at the toward case
that the that the group did.But but you know still it'll be you
know, twenty four seven effort andwork in trying to not only you know,

(16:37):
we're not just working on adding thepiece that we have, but we're
already on t building right, We'realready on trying to get the guys interacting
with each other and consolidating with oneanother from it. Like I said,
from a distance, nobody's in thesame location and won't be actually in the
same location until the second week ofJune, so you know, all that

(17:00):
stuff is going on right now.Coach Mark Pope, and we will get
back to part two of the interviewthat we taped yesterday afternoon here in just
a bit. Uh. This isthe Leach Report. We're presented by Bobcat
Enterprises, and we're coming to youfrom the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return,
refresh and refuel at Clark's. Ifyou're looking for work, go to

(17:22):
Mike Clark's PNS Pump and Shop,Mike CLARKSPNS dot com and nation there Part
two with Mark Pope when we comeright back a little later. Dick Gabrielle
previewing the Big Baseball Series this weekendat UK on The Leach Report Friday,
presented by Bobcat Enterprises. One weekfrom today is the grand opening for their

(17:45):
newest kits, Bobcat Enterprises off Iseventy five up in Walton, Kentucky.
Make plans to go by and visitthe team, see the state of the
art operation they have there. Ifyou need to rent or purchase heavy equipment,
Bobcats Excavators, get your loaders,et cetera. You need a new
zero turn more for your home,they'll have it. You can look at
it that day at the open house. They'll make you a great deal and

(18:07):
they'll give you a fantastic service afterthe sale at Bobcat Enterprise. Around Kentucky
is google Bobcat Enterprises to find theone that is closest to you. But
again, the grand openings next Fridayfor the Bobcat location in Walton. All
right, let's get back to parttwo of the interview that we taped yesterday
with coach Mark Pope. From ananalytics perspective, is there a number or

(18:27):
a couple of numbers that you lookat across the board for players and when
you first start to look at aguy or is it truly just vary from
from individual to individual. Well,No, we have some overarching things like
we we I like, I lovecoaching guys in the super Bowl. It

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just is, you know, somuch of what we do is determined by
how how much how much of thefloor that we can force teams to govern
to. You know, we're alwaysconsidering how guys shoot the ball. We're
considering guys' ability to to guard theiryard. It's really really important for us.

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Can guys guard their yard? Cantake a one on one match up?
And what is their switch switch potential? You know, do I have
five? You can switch one throughfive? Do I have fours? If
you switch one through fours, doI have one to twos and threes?
You can switch on to a fourand five and be stubborn enough to get
on entries or be physical enough evenmore importantly, you know when shots taken,

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can they can they be physical enoughto move a body? Aggressive enough
to go move a body? Uhthat's that's you know, one hundred and
twenty pounds more than them and andgo protect the defensive glass. You know,
we think a lot about you know, on back to the offensive end,
we think a ton about guys energy, Like what energy do they bring
to the offensive band? Like somuch as the NBA right now, like

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cutters get paid in the NBA,they get paid, and cutters in college
win. You know, when youthink about shooting is a great way to
force teams to guard space, butcutting is a great way to shrink the
space between you and its center andactually shrink the space whether they come because

(20:18):
their attention is taken away and they'removing now with a lot of times in
the wrong direction to be in perfecthealth position. And so we're looking for
guys that have the energy and theIQ to be great cutters. And then
there's i Q teams on the offensiveend. We need guys that can make
reads. We need guys that canpass the ball. The game in general,
the game in college, and thegame especially in the NBA has moved

(20:41):
on to this really skilled Once everybodycan make reads and process information really quickly,
everybody has to be able to cutand move and relocate in a new
space. And then, you know, so much a basketball now is becoming
the ability to shoot the ball.And then if you start on the defensive
end with the ability to kind ofguards here you are and switch ability,

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you got a lot to work with. There's a ton of work. So
so under that umbrella, we're tryingto find out, you know, fit
the different pieces, where we bringtogether a collective group that covers every single
base and is really adaptable to differentstyles of play. And we think we're
seeing a lot of that with thisgroup that we've brought and so forth so

(21:26):
far, certainly with the ambition ofadding a couple more key key pieces.
Is that how multiple big guys Imean, you've got several guys, you
know, fives and fours. Thatis that how multiple big guys can play
together in the way you do it? Yeah? Absolutely. You know.
One of the things that we haveis we have you know, we have

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three bigs right now that are elitelevel passes. I'm talking about great passors.
I'm talking about some of the bestpassers in the country on the front
line and on the offense end.That allows you to put guys together.
And clearly, Angine Cars one ofthe elite level three point shooters in the
country. He's already already proven that. And and so those three guys are
gonna work really really well together.You know, we'll probably trying to add,

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uh, you know, one morereally really shot driven piece on that
front line, maybe somebody that's gonnafeel like a force. Fore we'll see,
we're trying to we're trying to fillthat space. We're all right,
have we? All three of thoseguys have some things in common and are
really really important to our to ourteam and and uh, and then they

(22:34):
have some individual skillets that are goingto be really vital in terms of dealing
with matchups and different schemes that we'regoing in a couple more. For you
guys and girls that are math oriented, I think kind of see an order
after where the rest of the worlddoesn't see order, they can see it.

(22:55):
Uh, kind of like the uh, the guy Russell Crowe played in
A Beautiful Mind? Was it theorderliness of math that kind of drew you
to analytics? Has that kind ofcame in vogue in the game or was
it something else? Well? Ilove it because I love to push the
game. I love to push ourstudy of the game, right. I

(23:15):
love to push this as far aswe can, and so I love that
aspect of it. I also knowthat as a coach, we spend more
time with with questions rather than answers, and if we're really honest, we're
always like you know, it's veryvery rarely is you know, is I
think a great coach, you know, spend a lot of time in one

(23:41):
hundred percent certain decisions may make especiallyas fast as we have to make decisions,
and so you always spend a lotof time going with your best guests,
with your intuition, with with kindof what the game is showing you
right now. But you try itas much you can to verify and project
out. And so one of thethings I love about the numbers is they
challenge conventional wisdom. I actually lovethe numbers when they tell me something that's

(24:06):
opposite of what I'm feeling. That'swhen I'm like, Okay, this is
interesting. Let's dig in and letme either learn why the algorithm is off,
why it's missing some component, orlet me learn what I'm not seeing.
You know, as as human beings, we walk around with these biases.
So Kegan Brown, my director ofstrategy and Analytics at BYU when I

(24:30):
was there, he approach would bean overrun by your biases. So he
gave me a list of twenty oneof the most common biases that we walk
around with, like recency biases forexample. And and so you know I'm
always trying to check myself because Idon't want to. I don't want to.

(24:51):
I don't want my decision making tobe governed by just the biases I
have. I want to actually confirmthem with the numbers. And where's that
where we dig in and find outthe reason why. And I love the
process. I love everything about it, and I think it helps us be
better. I also think it helpsus grow our guys. You know,
it's it's issuing when we jumping intoanalyst. You could see things as simple

(25:12):
as like you know, asking aguy, hey, are you more effective
driving right or driving left? Andthey say driving left and you show them
they say driving lesson you show themthe numbers and they're like a point six
to two drive and left and thereare week drive and right, and it's
it's a realization to that and thenthe question is why and and for them
to potter, for them to lookat the film and it could get way

(25:32):
more complicated than that. But oneof our goals as a is and we
tell every recruit this, by thetime you leave Kentucky, you will be
the world expert on your game everything. One of the guys that we recruit
we tell them things about their gamethat they don't and that's not the way
they should operate there. They are, you know, this is their own

(25:53):
product. And so they should beeducated enough based on the numbers and the
film and the contact and the otherplayers uh in the country, they should
be the world's experts on their game. And and when they do that,
your confidence really rises. And soall of the all that stuff that I'm
talking about is is the draw andthe usefulness event seeing a way to look

(26:17):
at I appreciate you going into thedepth. Last thing for you, uh,
this this, this will tee itup and an easy This is the
lobb to the rim you can duguh. Yesterday or day before yesterday,
the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame announcedthe new class of inductees. Two guys
that you're big fans of, TonyDelk and Oscar Combe. So give me

(26:37):
your thoughts on that honor for them. Well, I'll start with Oscar,
you know. So I think allof us have our Mount Rushmore of of
Kentucky faithful, right and you know, uh, of course on on mine.
For me personally, Rick Patino willalways be on there just because he
was my coach understand that. Andon there also will be Bill Kitely,

(27:03):
because Bill Kitely, I think formost of them, he's just like,
I mean, I don't know ifif anybody's heart has been more blue in
the history of the world. Thathits right. And he was also such
a great friend to me and myteammates and so many generations and Cobelly players
and of course legendary Kayo Ledford,like you know, you just think of

(27:26):
these guys on the Mount Rushmore.And then for me in my experience,
I think Austin Holmes goes right upthere in terms of the media and and
and just the longevity of the waythat he served and was a storyteller.
And I go on on this allthe time, but there's so much power
and storytellers. The way that hehas served Big Blue Nation and been a

(27:48):
storyteller for each of these teams andtheir journeys of the season and each of
these players and coaches is they've youknow, got to share this experience with
with the BBA. I just I'lllove him forever, and so you know,
it's it's so appropriate that he's inthe in the Hall of Fame.
And then Tony delk I mean,you know, I don't know what else
to say, Like, you know, there's so much of my life that

(28:11):
never gets to happen if Tony doesdoesn't doesn't become the player he is and
and kind of lead our team,and if he doesn't bang all those threes
in the Master Championship game against Syracuseand and do all the other things and
above and bend that he's been agreat friend. And he's he's you know,
he's he's he's been a you know, we had the chance to beat
competitors against each other every single dayand practice as we do with our whole

(28:37):
team, and we got to groweach other and then we got to celebrate
with each other as we as youknow, as we went on to have
an epic season, and uh,you know, I got so much love
in my heart for him, andI had talked to him yesterday. I
called him yesterday. I'm just like, Hey, it's of course it's a
foregone conclusion, but it's an it'san honor that's completely deserved, and I
couldn't be happier for him. Yeah, I can't think it two more deserve

(29:00):
and guys and TD and and Oscarmark I appreciate the time. I know
you're very busy. Uh, safetravels and we'll talk soon. Don You're
awesome, man, I appreciate you. Brother. Be good. So that's
Mark Pope the one line. Ireally tell the recruits things about their games
that the recruits didn't even know throughwhat they do with analytics. So I

(29:21):
think that's going to be a reallyinteresting part of this. He seems very
comfortable talking about it. So onyou know, coaches shows and things.
Maybe you'll be able to give youa little you know, after a particular
performance or a guy comes into theprogram. You can get some really deep
analysis from an analytics standpoint. AndI just think a lot of Kentucky fans

(29:45):
love getting down in the weeds andtalking basketball in great detail, and he
seems to be a good match forthat. All right, get to a
break big baseball series this weekend ata Kentucky Proud Park, and we'll talk
about it with Dick Gabriel when wecome right back. Lad Report's presented by
Bob kat Enterprises day before the topof the hour to Gabriel joins us from

(30:18):
Big Blue Insider at Big Blue Insiderone on X and Twitter. Big Blue
Insider dot com and you'll hear him. You're working the SEC network plus coverage
this weekend, I assume right withDoug. Yes, sir, yes,
good weather permitted. Yeah, we'llkeep our fingers crossed. Yeah, I
know it's uh supposed to be subsidingin Louisville in the afternoon, so hopefully
a detours around Lexington and get theseries started tonight. Give me a preview.

(30:42):
Arkansas two in the country, hKentucky struggling a bit. What's the
matchup? Like, I guess mainlyon the mound start there for Kentucky and
Arkansas. Well, I think Arkansashas got consistently good pitching and has pretty
much all year. This is justa classic matchup of the top team in
the East, top team in theWest. But you got to wonder Tom

(31:03):
about Kentucky's starting pitching top to bottombecause well, actually not really poohs her
on Friday. He's been he's beenreally strong. But I don't understand what's
going on with nyman As. Iunderstand it. Both he and Mason more
are healthy, but Domas struggled probablythree of the last four times he started

(31:25):
on Saturday and was pitching like theAll American. Yeah, he has been
for for so long. So butaccording to Nick minjee O on this week,
both he and Mason, it's justbeen a matter of execution. And
one of the things they did withMason was they've showed him video of the
way he pitched last year in theregional when he was one of the best
teams in the best pitchers in theNCAA tournament. So if he can find

(31:48):
find that form again, they've gota big chance. Yeah, it kind
of sounds like it's it's maybe moremental. Uh well, I guess maybe
maybe some you can you know,clean up some technical things, but maybe
just confidence. I don't know.For those two guys. Yeah, you
know, and I think that playsinto pitchers, probably more position players.
But you know, I have aguy go over four, no wonder when

(32:09):
he gets his next hit again.So you probably are seeing the same thing
with pitchers because there's so many movingparts. But Dan Roselle is one of
the best pitching coaches in the countryand you always know where you stand with
him. It doesn't mince words,so if there's a chance to get things
straightened out, he'll take care ofit. A lot of home runs for
Tennessee and South Carolina in these lasttwo series. What about Arkansas offensively,

(32:35):
Well, Arkansas is the same way. They can go out of the yard
anywhere, anytime, and Dave VanHorns has done a great job building that
culture in Arkansas. Fortunately for theWildcats the series is here. Two years
ago, I filled in for DarrenHedrick on radio and covered the SEC season
opening series in Arkansas, and Tom, You've not seen anything like it when

(32:57):
it comes to college baseball. You'veseen some similar programs, but it was
unbelievable the way they jammed that stadiumand then everybody in the state of Arkansas
was into Arkansas baseball. What they'retrying to build here at Kentucky. But
it's not been the same, quitethe same Arkansas team we've seen in the
past, but it's rounding in toone of the best teams in the country.

(33:21):
Gabe, running short on time.I appreciate the scouting report and have
a great set of calls this weekend. Have a good Derby. Yeah,
who do you like? By theway, the Derby ear lyone. I'll
take the Bluegrass States winner. Thereyou go, Thank you, Gabe.
He and Doug Flynn will have thecall and coverage on the SEC Network plus
on television, Darren Hedrick on theUK Radio Network. First pitch tonight is

(33:45):
six point thirty again, weather permitting. It's The Lads Report, presented by
Bobcat Enterprises. And we'll be rightback with our final segment on this Kentucky
Oaks Derby Weekend, Kentucky Oaks Today, Tucky Derby Tomorrow. Let's hear from
Lexington's Kenny mcgeek, who is oneof the top choices in the Oaks Today

(34:07):
Torpedo Anna, This Philly is prettyspecial. I mean, I've taken some
good ones over there for the Oaksand I've been second three times, frustratingly
enough. I would like to sayRicky Bobby on all that. But she's
the real deal and I have prettyconfident going into it. I mean,
if she, if she runs herrace and doesn't have a troubled trip,
I think she's gonna be tough tobeat. I've been quoted and I'll say

(34:29):
it again. They better bring abear because I'm bringing a grizzly Last question
about the Derby and Mystic Dan,how confident are you he'll be able to
bounce back to the form from theprevious race. Very confident. I mean,
this is a really, really nicehourse. I think it's probably as
good as Derby Chance as I've everhad. I've run well in the race.
I've had some horses that were onthe fringes of it all. We

(34:49):
made a decision to conscious decision toskip the Rebel earlier in the winter.
We didn't want to chase points tocompromise him. I thought he needed more
time physically to fill out, whichhe's done. There was seven weeks in
between his win at Oaklawn in theSlot and the Arkansas Derby. And in
the Arkansas Derby, if you lookat the trip, you got turned sideways
in the first turn. So Ithink he was a little bit better than

(35:13):
he actually ran, and it wasit was a solid effort. But he's
a horse that he's got an oldsoul. This horse, I mean,
he's got a great mind. Andthat's the kind of need to go over
there. I mean, nothing phaseshim. He's smart as a whip and
he's fast and and I think we'recoming into that. I mean we all
dream and win in Oaks Derby doubleright, yeah, yeah, I'm dreaming
it right now. Best of luckto Kenny, Best of luck to all

(35:38):
the connections this weekend for safe tripsin the Oaks and Derby, all the
big races over at Churchill Downs,hopefully some improving weather. Birthdays tomorrow,
Anthony Epps and DJ Wagner. OurWildcat history notes courtesy of Kentucky road Show,
sports cards and memorabilia. Enjoy thegreat sports weekend here in Kentucky.

(35:58):
We'll see a Monday on The LeechReport, presented by Bobcat Enterprise. You
it's a show. You can catchthe Mingy Peep Tricky podcast. Find them
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the show, email Leach Reports atgmail dot com. We'll see you next
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