05-10-24 LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Good day, everybody. Welcome intothe lead t Report. We are presented
by Bobcat Enterprises as we head intoa big sports weekend for the University of
Kentucky Big Baseball Series at Florida startinglater today. And then you've got the
men's tennis team trying to advance inthe NCAA tournament, hosting a Sweet sixteen

(00:24):
matchup this week and that'll be tomorrowover at the Boon Tennis Center. So
lots to focus on this weekend forthe BBN as we roll into our Wildcat
News of the Day, always presentedby Juseppes of Lexington. And we've got
a couple of legends UK greats joiningus today. Keith Madison, former Kentucky

(00:46):
baseball coach. We'll talk to himabout what's been a tremendous season for Kentucky
Baseball's they try to play their wayto a second SEC championship. And then
Oscar Cobs will be with us inthe second half. Oscar last week week
was announced as one of the newestmembers to the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame.
He'll be enshrined this September and we'lltalk with Oscar about that honor and

(01:11):
just about his amazing career, talkabout a little more about Mark Pope coming
on to the scene as the UKmen's basketball coach and how that's going.
So lots to get to today hereon the show, so let's get right
to it. UK Baseball at Floridatoday. They have moved up the starting

(01:33):
time for the game today because thereis some stormy weather rolling into Florida.
I was watching the Today Show andas it was airing, the Panhandle of
Florida was getting hit with some potentiallytornadic type weather and that's obviously a little

(01:56):
ways north of Gainesville, but stillthat systems moving through, so hopefully they
can get this game in today.It's slated now for a one o'clock first
pitch on SEC network, plus DarrenHedrick will have the call on the UK
Radio network. Pregame will be twelveforty five Eastern for Darren, and then
Tomorrow and Sunday the games will beon the SEC main network, and of

(02:22):
course Darren will still be there forthe call on both of those as well,
So you can turn down the TVand turn up and sync up the
UK radio network for Darren's call.Kentucky Florida six SEC games left for Kentucky
to try to not only secure anSEC championship, but maybe potentially be the

(02:43):
number one overall seed for the NCAATournament. Certainly they would be in a
great spot for a top eight nationalseed just by taking care of business against
the Gators this weekend and Vandy athome next weekend. Mark Pope was on
the field of sixty eight last nightand talked about how the pieces of his

(03:04):
first Kentucky team are such a goodfit for his system that brilliantly fits what
we're trying to do, and hesaid, this is a team that does
a little more defensive oriented. Hesaid acknowledged he's more of an offensive minded
coach, but that the guys thatthey have, they have some really good

(03:27):
defensive players. Single that Lamont Butlerin particular as a defender, and you
remember the phrase he used when hewas on with us last Friday, guard
your yard. It's something it soundslike we'll be hearing more often from him
in terms of what they expect defensively, and they want to be able to
switch a lot. Think about youknow, Willie Cauley, Stein, DeAndre

(03:52):
Liggins, guys like that that couldswitch in one through four or one through
five, and it sounds like hewants that kind of verse Untaldy defensively on
his roster and feels that's what hehas been able to put together through the
transfer portal here to start. Healso talked about how this quote feels like
home at Kentucky being out and speakingto groups and maybe he'll see a former

(04:14):
player in the crowd, or seea teacher from his time at UK when
he's speaking to campus groups, andhe said, it just feels like home,
and I think that really resonates withKentucky fans. Coach Cal was on
social media yesterday tweeting about being backin Lexington visiting friends who were part of
the success that he had here atUK. He singled out Joe and Kelly

(04:36):
Kraft. He also repeated his lineabout the need for a new voice for
Kentucky basketball. He said he likesand respects Mark Pope. I remember Coach
Pope talking about running into Cal andTubby Smith at the Final Four, which
was actually Mark didn't know it atthe time. It was already in motion

(04:58):
for the Kentucky job to be comingopen. CBS Adentnis Dodd also went to
Fayetteville to do a story on Cal. You can read that at cbassports dot
com. Cal said the way itended sucks and I think everybody would certainly
agree on that point. Kentucky Men'stennis taking on Harvard tomorrow at a Sweet
sixteen matchup at the Boon Tennis Center. Kentucky one four to two over the

(05:21):
Crimson in February. Hopefully they geta great turnout to cheer on Kentucky men's
tennis. They are in quite arun these days and trying to get that
national championship that just eluded them acouple of years ago. Links to the
stories that we talk about, youcan find them on the bud Light Leech

(05:41):
Report page at Tom leechky dot com. Our opening segment always presented by Giuseppes
of Lexington. A lot of youmay be planning a Mother's Day visit to
Giuseppes. There's no better place fora big event like that than going to
Giuseppes to celebrate. You get afantastic meal, Pasta's homemade, the fresh
food that's brought in, handcut steaks, and you get a fantastic ambiance with

(06:05):
Dave Hall's Live Jay. As ifyou sit in the bar area which has
been expanded, so there's more ofan opportunity to do that. They expanded
it because it is so popular.So get to Giuseppes Lexington dot com or
open Table and make your reservation forthe next special experience dining experience at Giuseppes.
We'll be right back with Coach KeithMadison. It is the Leach Report

(06:26):
presented by Bobcat Enterprises. Sixteen pastthe top of the hour. It is
the Leach Report. We are presentedby Bobcat Enterprises and today's their big day
for the Walton location. They're havingthe grand opening in their location in Walton
for Bobcat Enterprises, the newest one. It's just off I seventy five.

(06:46):
You see it from the Interstate theone three three five Oho service Road.
If you're in the area between tenand two today, stop by visit with
the team. Check out all thegreat deals there on heavy equipment or new
more for your home. Enjoy thefood. Sign up to have a chance
to win surprizes, and thank themfor their support of the show bringing it

(07:09):
to you each day. That's today, the grand location, the grand opening
for the location of Bobcat Enterprises inWalton, Kentucky. So let them know
that you are a big fan.All right, we're efforting coach Keith Madison,
hopefully land him here in a moment. Let me catch you up in

(07:29):
a couple of other things. TripleCown coverage presented by Clayburne Farm again this
spring doing the usual, unusually wellfor more than one hundred years. A
couple of notes with the breakness field, Tuscan Gold was entered to run in
the Peter Pan Stakes tomorrow and inNew York instead. Trander Chad Brown is
re routing Tuscan Gold to the Preakness. Tuscan Gold's lightly raced horse, but

(07:53):
ran third in the Louisiana Derby behindCatching Freedom and Honor Marie. And he's
going to take a shot in thePreakness now. As Brown City looked at
how the field was shaping up andthought Tuscan Gold fit Catching Freedom the winner
the Luisiana Derby, he's listed onthe possible runners now for the Preakness.

(08:13):
Still a chance that Mystic Dan willbe there. Kenny McPeak was on a
national teleconference I think yesterday. Hetalked about they won't make a decision before
this weekend. But things have gonewell so far from all reports. I
saw an interview with Robbie Albarado,the former jockey who was a board Mystic
Dan for his return to the track, and Robbie was just gushing with how

(08:35):
well the gallop went for Mystic Dan. So hopefully we'll see the Derby winner
at the Preakness as well, andthis will all start to shape up over
the weekend because entries will be takenon Monday in Baltimore for the Preakness,
which is a week from tomorrow.And then Joel Rosario has been named to
replace Keith Aspison as the writer aboardJust Steele, who was a little too

(08:58):
close to the hot pace in theDerby and faded, but previously was second
in the Arkansas Derby, finishing aheadof Mystic Dan that day. So Just
Steele is gonna have a new rider, Joel Rosario for the Preakness stakes.
So that's the news coming out ofthe second leg of the Triple Crown,
and we'll get a little more intoall of that next week. But appreciate

(09:20):
Clayborne Farm for bringing us the TripleCrown coverage this spring. Coming up on
nineteen past the top of the hourand we're gonna gonna take a quick break
and we'll come right back. Itis the Leach Report Radio Network presented by
Bobcat Enterprises. Leitch Report presented byBob Cat Enterprises. We go to the

(09:41):
Club Blue Ediel Hotline and bring oncoach Keith Madison, longtime baseball coach at
the University Kentucky. You hear himnow from time to time working with Darren
Hendrick on the UK Radio Network.Coach has been quite a special season for
Nick Mangeon. I know you guyshave gotten to be good friends, and
give me your ti take on whathe's done in the last couple of seasons

(10:01):
to get this program headed in thedirection that it's headed. Yeah, Tom
here, you're right. He's donean incredible job. And one thing that
he's done for sure is he hashe has taken full advantage of the transfer
portal and he's done it in away that's pretty special in that he he

(10:24):
brings these guys together from all thesedifferent schools, graduate transfers, all kinds
of guys from Texas and New Mexicoand California, and they come together as
one. They seem to really enjoyplaying with each other. They really compete
hard with one another, and it'sit's a tribute to Nick and his staff

(10:48):
to be able to bring all thesedifferent personalities that are very mature and they
come together and they win. Youknow, I know a lot of major
league general managers would like to havea manager that could do that with with
players. But yeah, Dick benJones been outstanding and and as you know,

(11:09):
being around the game a long time, defense and pitching wins and the
guys that he's brought in have playedincredible defense. Uh. You know,
Emilian Petre had second base only twoerrors and Grant Smith at short's top only
three errors for the entire season.That's phenomenal. So these guys can really

(11:30):
play a little like they're a littlelike the Saint Louis Cardinals of the Whitey
Hersal era, right, Uh,they had all those qualities. Yeah,
yeah, the great defense. Uh. And also they're a little bit like
the uh now you're too young toremember this, but they're they're they're also
like the Walton Austin Dodgers back inthe Sandy Kofax era, where you know,

(11:52):
they have really good pitching, greatdefense, and they put a lot
of pressure on the defense with theirbase run. This team, this walkhead
team, they will take every advantageof a ball in the dirt that the
catcher doesn't catch cleanly, you know, if the pictures, if he's lollly

(12:15):
gagging, they're going to take thebase. I mean, they're fun to
watch. I really enjoy watching thisteam because they they run the bases with
reckless abandons. And that's something Iwould think from a coach's perspective. You
have to be committed to because everybody'sall for that until it doesn't work and
you get you know, thrown outor you get you run yourself out of

(12:37):
an inning. But you have tobe committed to it through the good times
and the bad. Right, youare exactly right. You know. You
can hear people moan when they getpicked off or thrown out in the base,
but if you look at the overallpicture, they've created a lot of
havoc on the basis and they've createderrors from the other team just them being

(13:01):
aggressive on the bases. I mean, they they take chances. They you
know the you know, Nick's gotthe he's got the arm wave and at
third base they're going to try toscore. If you love baseball, You're
gonna love watching this team play.One thing that was really encouraging to me
just as a fan last weekend inthe Arkansas series was how the two guys

(13:24):
on Saturday and Sunday, Ninemen andMore got their games back on track because
they gotten roughed up the previous twoweekends and you didn't want to see that
be a trend, and I thoughtit was good for their confidence. I
assume to have solid outings. Absolutely, you hit the nail on the head.
Not only that, Tom Johnny Hummel, who's been their closer, got

(13:46):
really roughed up at South Carolina.It was a tough weekend for pitching down
there, and Johnny Humbill bounced backas a closer against Arkansas. So it
was after that series I think thepeople that really follow Kentucky baseball felt much
better about the team because it lookedlike they were kind of drifting into a

(14:07):
slump. And then they play thenumber one team in the league, the
number two team in the nation,and they scored a lot of runs against
them and pitched well against them.Do with Keith Madison, former Kentucky baseball
coach, and you hear him nowand with Darren Headrick working on our UK

(14:28):
network broadcast Kentucky's down at Florida thisweekend. What do you know about the
Gators? Well, the Gators havestruggled. They started off the season in
the top five in the nation andthey were predicted to win the East Division.
Well, Kentucky Tennessee. A lotof teams are ahead of Kentucky Tennessee,
South Carolina, Georgia all ahead ofFlorida. Florida. They have some

(14:52):
great players, they always have greatplayers, but their pitching has been a
little subpart of this spring and theyjust aren't clicking. Uh they're not They're
not the same Florida team that we'veseen in the past. And you've probably
mentioned this, or if not,you know about it. But the team
actually were supposed to be at sixthirty dece evening, Yeah, move to
one o'clock this afternoon, so that'llbe an interesting thing as well. Uh

(15:16):
but uh yeah, I feel goodabout the Waldcats going to Gainesville, and
there haven't been many times since I'vebeen in Lexington where I felt really really
good about the Waldcats going to Gainsville. So, uh yeah, I expect
a good series from the Waldcats downthere. Let me go back to something
you were talking about at the topof the interview with bringing all the guys

(15:37):
together from various places through the portal. That has been a key piece of
what Nick Minngeon has done here.Uh. Mark Pope's having to do that
now in his first season where youcome in and there's the ross, the
cover's empty, the roster's emptied out, so you have to go to the
portal. And Mark was on apodcast last night talking about how well he

(16:00):
felt like the pieces fit together.And that's such a big part of it
because you know, you want thenumber one you got to get bodies to
be able to feel the team,but you want to be able to do
it and such. You want tobe able to move fast enough to to
collect the bodies, but also smartenough to make sure that they can work
well together. And that's quite achallenge. It's it's a real challenge.
I mean, you need Dick Tracyor somebody to vet all these players that

(16:23):
are coming in so quickly. Butyeah, I mean it's it's it's one
thing to get talented players in.Uh. You know, a team like
Kentucky can do that because of thereputation. But another challenge is get the
players in that are going to fitin, that are going to go to
class, that are going to bea good teammate, uh, and all

(16:45):
those things that are so important withina program. Uh. If you get
a group of guys in here thatare terrible teammates, uh, then it's
just going to be disaster. Sothat's a lot of work. It's you
have to do a lot. Youhave to ask a lot of questions.
You have talked to a lot ofpeople and I'm sure Mark Pope has done
that, and I know Nick Minjonhas done it and Mark steps has done

(17:07):
it. So it's becoming an artand those who do it well are going
to succeed. Yeah, that isone hundred percent true. Coach. I
appreciate the time as always, andwe will get you back on to talks
board baseball, maybe ahead of theSEC tournament here in a couple of weeks.
That'd be tremendous. Tom. Thankyou a lot. That is Keith
Madison and I always enjoy when heends up in the booth with Darren because

(17:30):
they are really good together and Keithis excellent on the radio. And obviously
it's a tremendous feel for the gameand that comes through over the year.
We're halfway home Oscar Cobs when wecome back. It's fully true report for
a Friday presented by Bob Kent Enterprises. I want to remind you guys about

(17:56):
the Committee of one oh one lookingfor new depth for the team. Those
are the men and women in theBlue Coats that you see at Rupp Arena
and at Kroger Field and other UKevents helping out as ushers or whatever is
needed. They're always there to answerthe call and they are looking to add
some new members and you can bea part of it. It's a great

(18:18):
organization. Go to their website,the Committee of one o one dot org.
I mean they go back to likethe mid sixties with this group got
started through a bunch of UK fansat IBM at the time that wrote some
letters of support to Coach Rup andthat's how it evolved into the quote unquote

(18:38):
Blue Coats. You can also emailand get an membership application UK one oh
one membership at gmail dot com.Really fun organization to be a part of.
Great folks and you'll be with nothingbut wildcatfans when they get together.
So you are so inclined reach outto the Committee of one oh one.

(18:59):
We are working to land Oscar Combs, the founder of the Cat's Pause,
who was announced last week as oneof the four newest members of the Kentucky
Sports Hall of Fame. Tony Dalk, who we heard from earlier this week.
We'll be going in with this classin September at Freedom Hall along with
Oscar, Roy Pickerel, a longtime sid at Kentucky Wesleyan, and in

(19:21):
Teddy Bridgewater, a great quarterback fromU of L. And it'll be such
a fun night to hear all oftheir stories. So happy for Oscar getting
that well deserved recognition. And hemight be at at Wheelers having breakfast,
so we'll have to catch him herein just a moment. Tell you what,

(19:42):
Let's knock out a break and thenwe'll see if we can land Oscar.
If we don't, I've got aninterview. I think I told you
guys, trying to round up interviewswith various people who have covered the players
who are coming in as transfers,and whether it's a radio guy, a

(20:02):
beat writer, or whatever, togive us a little more insight into the
games of these players. So Idid tape an interview with Larry Hanskin from
Dayton about Kobe Brea, so we'lleither roll that or we'll have Oscar will
be come right back. It isthe Lates Report, and we are presented
by Bobcat Enterprises from the Clark's Pumpand Shop studio Return Refresh and Refuel at

(20:23):
Clark's. Late's Report is presented byBobcat Enterprises. And one thing we're doing
here in the off season is tryingto catch up to people who have covered
the transfers that are coming in forKentucky men's basketball, get a little more

(20:45):
insight into their games. Joining us. Next in the club Blue nil Hotline
is Larry Hanskin. He covered KobeBrea the last few seasons in his role
as the radio voice the Dayton Flyers. And Larry, it's a job you've
had for a little while, right, Yeah, this is I just finished
my forty first season, so yeah, I've seen a little bit of an

(21:07):
Eton basketball through the years. Wewere talking off the air before we got
started that. Mike Pratt, mylongtime broadcast partner, was a great fan
of the Flyers and coach Donaher recruitedhim hard coming out of high school there
in Dayton, back in the day. So it's nice to know that Mike
is still a legendary figure there inDayton. Oh absolutely, I mean,

(21:30):
yeah, we're folks disappointed that hewent away. Yeah, but he was
still beloved and came back. Itcame back a lot speak on many occasions
in the Dayton area. Was Imean, this is he never forgot where
he came from. Let's put itthat way. Very true. Well,
let's talk about a young man thatis coming into the Kentucky program. Now
that you had the pleasure of callinghis games, Kobe Brea, tell me

(21:53):
about his game and what the mostimpressive aspects of it are. Well,
I mean the thing that of atyou right away. He is an elite
shooter. I mean really an eliteshooter. If you wanted to teach someone
how to shoot the basketball, youyou know, you put up a tape
of Kobe and uh, you know, his his the lift, he gets

(22:17):
on the ball, his his strokehas followed through a quick release. It's
all there. And you know he'she has been a great shooter since he
got here. But you know,this is the first fully healthy year he's
had. This past season because abouta year ago at this time, he

(22:38):
was in a wheelchair. He hadhad he had had you know, steel
rods implanted in both both of hisships because of you know, to support
the tibia. He was dealing withstress fractures in both his tibia, which
really led to a very painful seasonin it would be twenty two twenty three,

(23:06):
and as a consequence, his numbersdropped off that and he was sick
and he actually missed a game inwhich he would have played against Coach Pope
in the in the Bahamas, andwhen Coach Pope was a BYU, but
he was home sick, and sophysically he was, you know, he
was playing catch up all year.And that was coming off a year in

(23:29):
which he was the sixth Man ofthe Year of the Atlantic ten. Well,
lo and behold, he comes backthis year and just had his best
year so far, six Man inthe Year again in the league. And
it's just he was the elite threepoint shooter in college basketball. And I've
always been a fan of Anthony Grantsback from his days when he was in
Alabama. So I was telling ourlisteners here that a guy like this that's

(23:49):
played for coach Grant, he's goingto know how to play the game and
do more than just shoot. Yeah, he don't know how to play the
game. And beyond that, youknow, beyond that time know how to
conduct himself. You know, he'sgoing to know how to be the type
of person who's going to represent himself, his family, his school, his

(24:10):
institution, and his community. Well, big spotlight here at the University of
Kentucky when you play for the Wildcats. Is he a young man that's comfortable
in that kind of situation, Well, you know what, I would think
that, you know, arguably,you could say he had his three finest
games this year. One was abit of a spotlight game against you see

(24:32):
at a so called neutral siety inCincinnati, when he went off and really
shot the ball well on that game. And then in the NCAA tournament,
he was a huge part in thatamazing seventeen point comeback in the final seven
and a half minutes against Nevada.And then you know, Dayton was on
the brink of collapsing but did notmade a game against Arizona in round two

(24:55):
and then guir again he was thebig reason why. So he did not
shine on the big stage, andin fact that the uh well, the
Arizona guards at one point in timesaid to him, run down the court.
He goes, well, you gotsome shot. Was he a primarily
a catch and shoot guy? Couldhe create his own shots? Some?

(25:15):
What about that part of it?Catch and shoot? Obviously? I don't
know a three point a really goodthree point shooter who cannot be a good
catch and shoot shooter. But hewas a good at the pump fake,
let the guy fall past him,pump fake, step back a little bit

(25:36):
off the dribble. I would notsay he's great at creating his own shot,
but you know he did not haveto. He did not need a
screen to get open. He couldcreate space either with a dribble or a
you know, just a side stepsomething like that. And you know he's
he's got good size. He's sixsix maybe almost six wow, so he's

(26:00):
able to shoot over top of peopleas well. Looking forward to seeing him
play. We appreciate the scouting yourport, Larry, Well, you know
what, even more than Washington playtime. He's gonna enjoy being around it.
Great. Can't get enough of thosekind of guys, No, you never
can. You can never have ateam with too many good people on it.

(26:22):
Amen to that, Larry, thankyou for the time. Oh My
Place, Tom. It's Larry HanskinRadio, long time radio voice of the
Dayton Flyers, and we appreciate hisinsight into Kobe Braya's game. Yesterday,
around this time, Justin Rowland waswith us talking about Kentucky might be trying
to pursue another defensive lineman in theportal well. The name popped out yesterday.

(26:48):
It's a young man from Grand ValleyState who would have two years of
eligibility remaining, six three two andeighty two pound Flint, Michigan native JVR
Suggs, and he announced a topsix yesterday which includes Kentucky, Arkansas,
Southern Calm, Michigan, Florida Statein Wisconsin. So there are some serious
folks after him, including Mark Stoops, Vince Maryland Company. And that's the

(27:12):
name to keep an eye on overthe next couple of weeks to see if
Kentucky can land Jvr sucks. Thatwill get us to a break, we
will come right back. And Idon't think we're gonna be able to land
Oscar today, so we'll try toget him back next week. Keith Farmer's
gonna join us whill we return.It is the Leech Report Radio Network.

(27:32):
We are presented by Bobcat Enterprises,and we will be right back back to
the club Blue Nil Hotline and KeithFarmer joins us from BBN tonight. And
Keith, we appreciate you jumping grabbinga bat, jumping up to pinch hit
and covering to the rescue. Talka little uk P. Yeah, you're

(27:55):
usually the only place you want me, just being there on the bench ready
to go shake that. Uh,let's let's talk a little bit about your
Kentucky Derby experience. You guys doa great job with the coverage. And
I didn't wasn't working for anybody toenter this weekend this past weekend, so
I had a chance to watch allthe l e X eighteen coverage and the
NBC coverage and enjoyed all of it. And uh, you know, you've

(28:18):
been around it for a long time, being in louis in the Louisville market
for a while. Uh, whatwas the what were the storylines that kind
of that most connected with you inthis year's Oaks Derby weekend? You know,
one of the things that you know, first off, I just love
being a part of the Derby experiencewith you know, l e x eighteen.

(28:38):
It's one of those things we startpreparing for. I saw the rundowns
started populating, like when we werestill in March and we were dealing with
basketball, and I was getting alittle stressed out. But at the same
time, it's the most fun timeto be able to talk about the horses
and to see even some of ournewer people get the chance to go experience
in the Derby and uh and theirslant on the stories that they see.

(29:02):
And so I think it's for me. I like sitting there watching it just
like everybody else does before it comestime for me to talk about a horse
or something. But certainly, youknow Kenny McPeek being the Lexington native going
to Tates Creek, I think itwas just incredible. I mean, you
know, we brought up the factthat he could be the first since Ben
Jones in nineteen fifty two to winthe double. I think we kind of

(29:22):
do that every year, but youjust think I also think it hadn't happened
in so long. Once he hadthe oaks, she think, well,
that's it. You know, he'snot winning the Derby and then obviously there's
another one of those long standing droughtsthat you know goes by the wayside,
and he does it. So phenomenalto see him have the chance to win

(29:44):
both for the first time. ItIt was about this time in the show
last Friday that I played a clipof an interview I did with Kenny from
out at Keenland. We're talking aboutone of his horses for a steak at
Keenland, and then I went onto ask him about Torpedo and and how
she was coming up to the Oaks, and he was gushing about her,
and then I said what about misticDan and he then, you know,

(30:07):
he praise on how well misstic Danwas doing, and unsolicited he said,
yea, we all dream about thatOaks Derby double. I'm dreaming it,
and so he kind of called hisshot. So it was a little little
Muhammad Ali esque and yet just tothe other end of the spectrum, the
picture of humility once it all playedout. So I think he was a

(30:27):
guy that everybody found easy to rootfor. And that's the thing is,
like he was so confident and youcould tell that in both of them,
and yet he wasn't like pushing itout there, and maybe because not a
lot of people were going by thereto check him out and see them what
they thought about him. But andby the way, if you know the

(30:48):
backside of Churchill downs, a lotof the barns for the derby horses are
like in thirties forties range. He'sdown in number four, so it's way
down away from the others. Maybethat's why people just didn't go down and
make the trip to his barn.I think you're probably right about that,
exactly right. That's how it happenssometimes that the horse had had a little

(31:11):
bit of traffic trouble in the ArkansasDerby that contributed to you know, a
so so finish and that helped peoplemaybe write off his chances as well,
those of us who were in thatboat, regretting the chance to have cashed
in on a nice playoff. Bigweekend, Yeah, big weekend for UK

(31:32):
sports with men's tennis, and Iknow you guys on BBN tonight cover everything
and so tell us a little bitabout the job that they've done. I
mean, they're on quite a run, played for the championship, national championship.
A couple of years ago and puttingthemselves in a position to maybe be
there again. So yeah, it'sit really is an exciting sport to go
watch. I really try and tellpeople you got to do it. I

(31:53):
had the chance to go up toIllinois when they were in the National Championship
against Virginia, and it starts outwith three doubles just all going at the
same time, and whenever the firstmatch ends, that's it, and that
team gets the doubles point, andthen after that you got your six singles
that go out and whoever wins themost out of that is who takes the
match. And it's just so fun, so fast. I mean, it's

(32:15):
not a drawn out kind of thinglike you think of Wimbledon or you know,
French Open or something like that.It's very quick and it's really exciting
to watch all the matches take placeat the same time. They went undefeated
in the SEC this year. They'vedefinitely earned everything they've gotten. They did
knock off Harvard, who they've playedit at two o'clock and earlier this year,

(32:38):
and at the time it was anupset. So this is a very
good match up with Harvard, andluckily they're doing it on the court and
not with the books. But youknow, I think we've got some pretty
smart guys too, So we'll see. But it is a lot of fun
if you can make it out thereat two o'clock. Yeah, it's tomorrow
at the Boone Tennis Center and rtomorrow. Yes, yeah, hopefully they'll

(32:59):
have a it off a couple ofdays. And I'm growing off. So
I understand you've been, as theysay, burning the candle at both ends.
I'm sure through basketball and leading upto Derby stuff. Uh well,
man, that's where I was goingto go next. Uh. You know
he is did the Field of sixtyeight podcast last night. I mean he's

(33:21):
hitting all the media obligations. Wehad him last Friday. He is uh
uh you know, rounding up playersand uh probably trying to find a place
to live and uh a lot goingon in his world. Uh. Trent
Noah was a great pick up.I think once uh Pope came on board,

(33:42):
there was a you know, alittle buzz boy. Wouldn't it be
great if you know after the statepeople, what people saw at the state
tournament they had Perry. Now ifthey could land Noah as well and it
play it happens. And heard alittle bit of trent On ks R yesterday
and just you know, he madethe comment that something effective Pope understands the
Kentucky way. And I think that'sthe thing with Mark at this point,

(34:07):
He's has said to people, hesaid all the right things, but yes,
it's one thing to say them andanother thing to be one hundred percent
authentic, uh, you know,taken as one hundred percent authentic when you
say them. And I think thatis what has happened. You know.
The thing is maybe the talent hasfallen off a little bit in the state

(34:30):
since you and I were growing up, but I think we still definitely have
talent that knows how to play atthat high level in the SEC, in
the NCAA Division One. And there'snothing like a Kentucky kid playing for Kentucky.
We've seen that through the years.That's the one thing that hasn't changed.
Even if the talent's dropped a littlebit, you still have those kids

(34:50):
that want to play and will succeedat the University of Kentucky. And so
I am super thrilled to see twoguys ranked, you know, scoring top
five and the state all time intheir careers, having the chance to play
there and to show out for theKentucky fans. And it's kind of like,
you know that that blee blue thingthat Mark Pope had, and he's
not even from here. You're goingto get that out of these two kids.

(35:13):
Keith, thank you much. Youbet good talking to you. You
too, Keith Farmer on the ClubBlue nil hotline, make sure that you
sign up by May fifteenth to bea part of the Club Blue team and
if you do, you'll be eligiblefor the June fifteenth meet and greet with
Coach Pope and the members of theteam. It's exclusive to Club Blue subscribers.

(35:34):
Go to Club BLUEINIL dot com clickjoin Club Blue for your chance to
be a part of the new erain Kentucky basketball Club Blue nil dot com.
Mark Pope has talked about how importantthe effort is to get BBN involved
with the ownership of the program throughINIL. It's a great way to do
it. Club BLUEINIL dot com.Have a great weekend. Everybody will see

(35:54):
on Monday. Tom Leachkwhy dot comor on the iHeartRadio app. Interested in
advert tising on the show, emailLeach Report at gmail dot com. We'll
see you next time on the LeachReport.