05-23-24 LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This bingie beef Jerky podcast of TheLeach Report is also presented by Boone's Butcher
Shop, one hundred Old Bloomfield Pikein Barnestown, fresh meat cut on location
daily and they're family owned and operated, have been since nineteen forty six.
Welcome into the Thursday edition of theLeach Report, coming to you from the
Clark's Pumping Shop studio, and weare today gonna touch a little basketball,

(00:27):
a little basketball, and then geta touch a lot of bases with Mark's
story. Who'll join us for electivea late substitution as Mark's able to jump
on with us as Justin Rowlands outfor today, we'll talk to the goose
Jack Gibbons and we'll lead off withBrian Jefferies, who's the radio play by

(00:48):
play voice for Arizona. Have beengoing to I've been trying to catch up
to either a radio guy, beatwriter, somebody who's covered the various players
who are again the Pope's first men'sbasketball roster at UK and Brian did Kirk
Creas's games at Arizona for three seasons, so he'll join us to talk about

(01:11):
Kirk Criso what he will bring tothe Wildcats. So that's the guest lineup
today. Our show always presented byBobcat Enterprises. We'll lead off a little
Kentucky baseball Wildcat news of the day, a service of Jiuseppes of Lexingcats were
run ruled yesterday by LSU. Theywere hanging in going into the seventh down
just to nothing unless you got alead off homer than scratched in another run.

(01:36):
But Kentucky never could get the batsgoing yesterday, but still in the
game there in the seventh and theneverything blew up. They ended up giving
up two Grand Slams as the latebullpen work was very shaky and LSU wins
at eleven. Nothing. Strange daydown in Hoover, Alabama at the SEC
Tournament as the top four seeds alllost Kentucky, then Arkansas, then Tennessee

(02:01):
and finally Texas A and M.So the top four seeds are in the
losers bracket today and that means Kentuckyand Arkansas playing the first game of the
day at ten thirty each. Strictwill be on the call on the UK
Radio Network ten to fifteen pregame,and Kentucky took two of three from Arkansas

(02:23):
in the regular season series. Ithink that was Derby weekend here in Lexington.
The game will be televised on theSEC Network. And have not seen
yet who Kentucky is planning to gowith as a starting pitcher. They brought
actually their Saturday starting nineman out ofthe bullpen yesterday, but we'll see who
they go with today. Again,as we've said, Kentucky is in the

(02:46):
enviable position of knowing it's safe forthe NCAA tournament not only to get to
host a regional, but most likelyjust safe to be a top eight national
seed as well, which would againgive them the chance to host a subregional
if they can get that far.But first order of business at the SEC
tournament today trying to stay alive ifthey and they would play tomorrow afternoon in

(03:10):
their next game. Let's go toa story that Chris Fisher, who was
on with us yesterday, has postedover at catzpause dot com about Jackson Robinson.
He according to a report from aDesert News reporter Sarah Todd, who
covers the Utah Jazz and the NBA, and she reports it's expected to be

(03:32):
a wildcat if he withdraws from thedraft. Story says, quote multiple sources
close to the situation. If Robinsonwithdraws, they fully expect him to be
playing for Kentucky next season. There'sbeen some speculation of late that Kansas was
trying to make a push there inthe report that out of the Desert News,

(03:53):
Todd says Robinson has maintained regular MarkPope and you read this over at
catzpause dot com Fisher's story latest ESPNmock draft. Always tell you to take
those for what they're worth. Butyou know, dear friend Mike Pratt didn't
put much of any stock in them. I think they're a little more valid

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when you get close to the draftas we are now. Anyway, latest
ESPN mock draft still has Reed Shepherd, rob Billingham in the top five,
justin Edwards late first round and nomention nowhere are Jackson, Robinson or Antonio
Reeves in this latest mock draft,so they don't have them even going in

(04:38):
the second round. Robinson had shownup in projections somewhere mid to late second
round, shown up much of anywherein terms of the projections, but I
would think he'd have great shot toland with somebody as a free agent,
and the other item of business hereis that the NCAA's Board of Governors has
voted to accept the settlement in thecase that could change the financial structure of

(05:02):
college sports. It's not finalized yet. There's still a few more things to
fall in line for settlement to getapproved that would avoid the case going to
court and expose the NCAA to potentialgreater financial impact. But this is something
that could lead to a revenue sharingmodel perhaps with college athletes. All right,

(05:27):
Brian Jefferies will join us when wecome back. Interview that we taped
with him about Kerkkrisa, then theGoose Jack and then Mark story from the
Herald Leader. We'll wrap it up. That's our guest lineup on this Thursday
here on the lead Tripoard opening segmentpresented by j Seppies of Lexington and they
have live music every night in whatis now the expanded bar area, and

(05:50):
it's expanded because it's so popular whereyou get to enjoy a fantastic meal while
listening to Dave Hall's great book.Check that out at Giuseppes Lexington dot com
or open table to make your reservationfor your next special night out of Guseppes
We'll be right back late. Reportcomes to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop

(06:11):
studio each day. Return, refreshand refuel. We go to the club
Blue Nil Hotline. Bring on.Brian Jefferies. He is the radio play
by play voice for the Arizona Wildcats, and so he worked Kirk Creas's games,
work games in volley Kirk Greaser forthree seasons when he was there before
the of course he's coming to Kentucky. So, Brian, how did you

(06:33):
see kerk grow his game over threeseasons that you called his games? Well,
you know, it was an interestingstory Tom, because he arrived from
Lithuania as a very young freshman andthen couldn't play for most of his first
season. There was some question abouthis eligibility. He played some semi pro
games back in Europe, and sohe wasn't allowed to play freshman season.

(06:56):
And we watched him in practice ofcourse a lot, and knew that he
had a chance to be an impactplayer. And then sure enough, as
soon as he hit the court inFebruary. He played I think only about
eight games, and you could seeright away what the talent was and so
there was a lot of excitement thenabout the future there. The following year
he kind of blossomed, but ofcourse Sean Miller was, you know,

(07:24):
fired, his hit coach of Arizona. Tommy Lloyd came in and you know,
Kerr thought about leaving. Tommy kindof talked him into sticking around,
and it turned out to be agood move because you know, he had
two really fantastic seasons at Arizona's.He's a free spirit, There's no doubt
about that. The guy has ayou know, he wears his emotions on
his sleeve. I think his teammateslove. Opposing players didn't like him because

(07:48):
he was not afraid to express himselfon the court. So, you know,
kind of a fun guy in thatarea. And you know, I
know that. You know, whenhe left Arizona, he had some did
some good things at West Virginia.So he's a talented kid. And I
shouldn't say kid anymore because you know, he's been around for a while.
So I think his maturity has reallyhelped him. Is he what somebody would

(08:09):
call a pure point guard or more? Howd he describe him as far as
that element of his game? Yeah, I think really a pure point guard.
I mean that's what the impression Igot early on, and he's not
afraid to take shots. But atthe same time, he's he's a pass
first kind of guy. He hadvery good court vision. You know,
he had his share of turnovers,there's no doubt about that. But again,

(08:31):
you know, we have to goback to the fact that when we
saw him at Arizona, it wasfairly early in his career, and so
you know, like I said,he's matured a lot in that area.
But he's a guy that, youknow, he wants to get his teammates
involved. He likes to push theball, really likes a faster pace offense.
That's something that you know, whenhe came back to Arizona after considering

(08:52):
leaving after Sean Miller was dismissed.The first thing that in fact, I
remember talking to him before his hisfirst game under Tommy Lloyd and I just
said, Kerr liked about Tommy,and he just looked at me and he
said euroball. That was his explanation. It took me a minute to realize
that that was the style of playthat he worked under when he was in

(09:16):
Lithuania. I mean, just kindof a wide open type of offense and
that's what Tommy Lloyd had done becausethat's what he had learned under Mark Hewitt
Gonzaga, and so Kerr really latchedonto that, that's something that he loved
the other and pushed the ball upthe court, find his teammates and go
from there. Got it. Ithink Mark Popas said he tried to recruit
his previous two coaching stops, sohe's been familiar with him for a long

(09:41):
time. And that's probably good thatthere's that familiarity for a player that you
described. I think what is afree spirit? Yeah, he just is.
I mean I remember one game distinctly, and this happened several times.
We were playing up at Oregon Stateand Wayne Tinkles, the head coach at
Oregon State, and his two daughterswould always sit in the front row there

(10:01):
at gil Colosseum when the Beavers hada home game, and and Kerr loved
to kind of get under the skinof the opposing players, and he made
a shot after one time down thebasket and ran right in front of Wayne
Tinkle's daughters and blew him a kiss, and they didn't They didn't like.
So it became an ongoing thing throughoutthe game kind of this battle between the

(10:24):
three of them and that's got thatwas Kerr. He didn't mind that.
I mean, that's the way thathe played. He he wasn't afraid to,
uh, you know, let peopleknow that when something good happened,
he was part of it. AndI think that, like I said,
the opposing fan bases didn't like himtoo much, the Arizona fan bases loved
him because of the spirit that heplayed. But he assume he kind of

(10:46):
feeds off of that that when otherpeople don't like him. Yeah. Yeah,
if if you're on the road anduh and and if he's not afraid
to get you know, get thethe opposing fans going. No, he
loves that. I mean, he'snot afraid of that stuff. I mean
some guys you know, don't wantto don't want to get involved in that.
I think that he enjoyed it.That was just part of it.

(11:07):
That's part of his personality. Andyou know, I think that. I
don't know if he still does it, but I know it. Arizona wore
the headband and it was just away of him to be expressive and being
a little different than everybody else andenjoy doing that and there's nothing. I
think everybody around the Arizona basketball programenjoyed it because he was just a different

(11:28):
kind of of guy in a goodsense that that he would, you know,
put it all on the floor forhis team, let the opposition know
that. Uh, you know,he was ready to take him on no
matter you know what the circumstances mightbe. Brian, thank you for the
time and the insight. All right, Tom anytime, Thank you, Brian
Jeffries. He's the radio voice ofthe Arizona Wildcats, giving us a little

(11:52):
bit of scouting report on Kerkkrisa ashe becomes a Wildcat on Mark Pope's first
team. Our show's presented by Bobcatenter Locations in Kentucky for Bobcat Enterprises,
and from the moment they've started,they were all about fantastic service. So
whatever you need to rent or buyin the way of heavy equipment, just

(12:13):
know that when you deal with BobcatEnterprises, it doesn't stop after the rental
agreement signed or the sale is made. Fantastic service after the sale. In
whatever you need in renting or buyingheavy equipment, Bobcat Enterprising and we are
going to get to a break comeback with a Goose Jack Gibbons. It's
the Leach Report Radio Network before comingto you from the Clark's Pumping Shop Studio.

(12:35):
Return, Refresh and refuel and downloadtheir app to get the monthly specials
to do. Set of specials comingup soon for June. Joined now by
the Goose Jack Gibbons on the ClubBlue Nil Hotline and Goose Let's start with
the NBA Playoffs. Last night,Dallas won Game one in Minnesota to gain

(12:56):
the upper hand there and PJ.Washington had big three from the corner just
under two minutes left. It wasreally kind of the Dallas, But Karl
Anthony Towns was really good down thestretch as well for Minnesota. So both
of those guys off to a goodstart. Yeah, And I felt bad

(13:16):
for Karl Anthony man that dunk putback dunk that he had last night late
in the game. That was soclose, I mean, and it was
really hard to tell the way,and they looked at it, reviewed it
two or three, four, fivetimes. I mean, I'm sure they
looked at it a lot. Whatit was right there and that could have

(13:39):
pushed them over the edge. Butyou know, I feel bad for them,
but they they I think they willbe all right in that series.
Say I'm playing well, and thenyou look at what PG what he's doing
down there at Dallas. Man.I mean, he has for me the
biggest surprise of the playoffs because ofhow he's been core in the role he

(14:01):
has with that team. I haven'twatched a whole lot of NBA this year.
Used to watch every every day,every game when I was playing,
and broad when I was broadcasting.I watch them all. But they've had
some great series, some really goodseries, fun to watch. The Celtics
still felt bad for Indy too.Yeah, and now you could have had

(14:24):
both road teams getting the game onewin Indianapolis, Indiana should have had that
one. Yeah, it's it's asyou look at PJ as as just one
example. Emmanuel Quickly is another guysthat did stay at a second year,
and how much he had benefited.There were a few other guys would have

(14:46):
been really nice to see them hangaround for a second or even a third
year in a couple of cases.But PJ. I didn't really see him
making this move forward when he wentto from Charlotte to Dallas. But really
happy for him. Yeah, hekind of looked lost and out of place

(15:09):
at times, Charlotte, and Ithought it was just growing pains for him
and just trying to figure things outand finding a role and getting comfortable.
Man, I can't tell I cantell you from experience how important that is
because it didn't happen for me onthe NBA level when it came to getting

(15:31):
with the right club. But youcan see what happens when you find he
heads right now and his role andhe understands his role and he's worked hard.
You can't can't leave that out.Boy, he's really become a shooter.
So you got to give him alot of credit for that, but
a lot of it in the NBA, and and you see it all the

(15:52):
time. Depends a lot on theteam you're with, and he's with the
right team right now. Yeah,we'll s prep on a hard break here
at the bottom of the ay,so we'll come back to this topic when
we return. I want to talkabout that with regard to Antonio Reeves and
the great season he's coming off ofat Kentucky and how he can best parlay

(16:14):
that into the next level at theNBA. As we chat with a goose
Jack Gibbons at Goose Givens on xor Twitter, and you can follow in
their and all social media platforms wherehe's doing book signings for They call me
Goose his book with Doug Brunk.As we head to the break, Goose
is coming to us on the ClubBlue NIL hotline, and you can sign

(16:36):
up for as little as twenty fivedollars to be a Club Blue member and
be a part of the NIL effortfor your Kentucky Wildcats. Subscribers can pick
the sport they want to support onehundred percent of your member fees supporting the
NI chosen sport Again. Membership packagesstart as low as twenty five dollars a
month. Get all the details andhow you can get entered for monthly Club

(16:59):
Blue giveaways at Club blue nil dotcom. And of course about chatting with
a Goose Jack Givens about UK sports. Let's talk about we're talking about NBA
in the playoffs. Let's get tothe draft and Antonio Reeves not listed as
a UH name to be heard inthe latest mock draft from ESPN. Would

(17:23):
love to see him get picked UHsomewhere. Get that that honor, Goose.
But if he doesn't get drafted.He's a prime candidate to succeed as
a free agent, right, Oh, he would, he'll be. He'll
be signed with the team within thefirst week after the draft if he does
not get drafted, And sometimes Ithink that is so much better for players

(17:48):
who are UH mid to late secondround. Yeah, it's nice to hear
your name, good to be UHbe with a team, But a lot
of times teams that those picks,they just pick a guy because he's there.
What you do if you don't getdrafted, now you go and talk
to the teams that have a needfor you. It could be a much

(18:11):
better fit. So if he's notgone by the mid second round, I'm
kind of hoping he won't get draftedand orchestrate a deal with a team that
is better suited for him. Sowe'll see what happens. I can't believe
he's not being mentioned, especially ifyou look at how much he improved from

(18:33):
last year through this year. Andyou don't make those improvements unless you really
work hard at it, and hedid work hard. It was very obvious,
and he'll continue to work. I'mnot sure why, but I think
he's gonna be just fine. Yeah, the guys that small handful of players
that are the elite ones, Teamsare gonna have more patience with them,

(18:57):
more leeway, et cetera. Butthe rest of the league. Basically,
you were talking about this with PJearlier. It's about finding a fit playing
your role. And you know,from what we saw of Antonio here in
the way that he worked on hisgame, I have to believe that,

(19:19):
you know, send some good messagesto the NBA folks about how he'll be
as a teammate. Yeah, yeah, I think so. I mean,
sometimes I wish with Antonio he wasa little more in your face with guys
because that kind of stuff, althoughI don't necessarily, it gets you attention

(19:41):
and it gets people talking about youknow, he was so good as his
role, and when he had tofly below the radar because of these young
guys who got all the national attention, he was fine with that. He
just went about doing his business andgot you twenty points a night. Sometimes
guys who who you know, makepeople notice them a little bit more with

(20:06):
their antics and all of that stuff. Sometimes, you know, that's a
good thing. I mean, I'mglad Antonio wasn't that kind of guy,
but sometimes I wish he was becausethat now they might be talking about him.
Early second round, dougle with agoose, Jack Gibvens, He and
Doug Runk have their book out.They called me. You doing some signings

(20:27):
and I saw you did one downin Hazzard at I think it's the spotted
new bookstore there, great little spot. And while you were in Hazard,
you got to visit with another UKlegend and Hall of Famer, Johnny Cox.
That was pretty cool to see thosepictures. Yeah, I figured since
I was there, I better gosay how did Johnny. I had a

(20:47):
couple buddies with me and we wentover in so hour or so and had
a great visit with Johnny's doing prettygood. You know, he's getting up
there in age. So we hadto talk about some stuff and remind him
of this and that. But thenonce he got it in his mind,
boll we were off to the races. We had a great conversation up there

(21:10):
was a good visit, a lotof fine people in Hazard, Kentucky.
Tom and we at leashed a lotof people turned out. We sold out
of books again, good deal.You know, I've done about every stop,
so that's a good problem to have. But yeah, I've got a
number of signings coming up here overthe next couple of months. Gonna be

(21:33):
a busy, busy summer signing.But I'm looking forward to getting out sending
more and more people as we movein and very very blessed and happy with
the way the sales have gone.So follow a Goosegivens on x Twitter and
you'll love be able to see whereJack's headed to do book signings. And

(21:56):
Johnny coxmember of the nineteen fifty eightFiddland five national championship team at a Hazard
and uh, you know a lotof great players coming from that part of
the state. You know, areal strong Kentucky flavor, uh on this
upcoming team with Trent Noah from Harlanand Travis Perry from Lyon County at Reed

(22:18):
Shepherd last year. You have acouple of other, uh, popular prospects
in the pipeline. So I meanyou you've kind of played in the seventies
in the some of the glory daysfor the high school talent in this state
and how many you know, bigtime prospects were producing. Kind of it's
cycling back up again. Yeah,another another thing I like about what Mark

(22:40):
is doing is that he's gonna uhmake the state and the players who are
produced here, going to make thata property. And he is going after
guys. And we get this kidover in uh Woodford County if we can,
if we can get him, he'sa he's a good young player.
It's it's gonna be interesting here inGeorgetown. We have a seven footer who

(23:04):
I would love to see in thein the Kentucky uniform. So I'm just
happy he's going to be making thosekind of guys a priority. He's going
to be going after him and goingafter him strong and uh for everybody I
talked to about Trent Noah who tosee him play, everyone in that southeastern

(23:26):
part of the state where he's from, uh Man, they just I mean,
they are so thrilled to have himas part of the Wildcats. And
but of course that's the way itis here in the state of Kentucky.
Man, these kids still grow upwanting to be a part of the big
Blue and when they get that opportunity, it's great not just for the kid
and the family, but for thewhole people where that kid, young man

(23:49):
comes from. Jack, thank youfor the time. As always all right,
Tom. By the way, Istopped in at Bobcat up here in
Walton. Man. Yeah, myoffice is right there in Walton. Bowling
Group, the company I work for, we're right there in Walton. So
I go buy it three or fourtimes a week when I go up to

(24:11):
my office. So I said,Man, I'm going to stop in there
and don't need a new zero turn. I didn't look at him. Man,
I've got one already that I use. But they do have everything I
needed as far as man line formy weed eater. I mean, I'm
not oil from my lawnmower and allof my tools. So it was good

(24:32):
to stop in because I can justgo there on my way to or from
work man and pick up everything Ineed. But beautiful, beautiful, We'll
just take that and pull that outand make that the spot from moving forward.
Well, thank you, Tom.We are heading to a break.
Mark's story in the on Deck Circlefrom the Lexingdon Hair Leader. He'll join

(24:52):
us next on The Leach Report fromthe Clark's Pumping Shop Studio. Return refresh
and review Thursday edition of the LeachReport. Go to the Club Blue Nil
dot com hotline. Bring on Mark'sstory from the Lexington Heraldly Kentucky sports dot
Com a belated happy birthday to you. Well, thanks Tom, I heard
you wish me happy birthday on mybirthday. That was that was nice.

(25:14):
Well, I thought we since weactually had you on the show, it
was worth a worth a second mention, So thank you for joining us.
Let's start with the story, andit's a complex story, certainly about this
settlement in a case that the NCAABoard of Governors voted to accept yesterday.
But there's still some other elements thathave to fall into place for the settlement

(25:37):
to be finalized. But it wouldseem to we seem to be headed toward
a major restructuring of what college sportsfinancially is going to look like. Right,
Yeah, that certainly seems to bethe case. Here's that were the
schools themselves are going to start directlypaying players for their name, image,

(26:00):
likeness, right, And that isgoing to be a very very big change.
And I'm not sure you know isgenerally when there are is a fundamental
change this big, there are someunintended consequences that's sort of shake things up
that nobody's talking about right now.And I suspect that will be the case

(26:21):
here. You know, I wasliterally reading a story just about this settlement
when you when you when when Mattthe producer called me, and you know,
one of the things that I havethought we needed to kind of drive
to is to try to come withsome format where the players in the sports
who are making money, the sportsthat you know, create the revenue that

(26:45):
sort of drive this whole thing couldbe compensated. But we come out in
a way that we don't lose opportunitiesfor other athletes, and we're able to
maintain kind of what they have nowwith the very wide based athletic departments,
which I think, you know thatthat part of the current system is good,

(27:06):
and you know, I'm not surewhether that that's where we're landing.
I'm a little bit worried about allthe talk of bringing private equity money in
to have to sort of bridge thegap as they start these payments, just
because I don't think the private equitycrowd. I think they're you know,
they're trying to make money. They'renot really into this to sustain broad based
sports programs and the scholarship opportunities thatcome with that broad base of programs.

(27:33):
And you know, this is aa tumultuous time, certainly, and you
know, the loss of sports ispossible. What about do you think the
facilities arms race slows down to oursalaries? Do salaries of coaches get affected,
you know, in a downward cycleor not? TV money keep seems

(27:56):
to keep growing and growing because livesports is one of the few things that
people don't record and fast forward throughthe commercials. Yeah, I'm not sure.
I have a hard time imagining salariescoming down, at least for the
coaches, just because supplying demand.There's just so few coaches who you know,
win at the highest level, andthe demand for those coaches is just

(28:18):
you know, off the charts.So I have a hard time seeing that.
But in some of the other areas, yeah, I think that.
I think even under the current situation, I think there's reason to think the
facilities arm race was going to needto slow down because I think you're gonna
you're gonna need your booster money inyour NIL programs more so than the facilities

(28:41):
arms race. And if you lookat a lot of these major college you
know, football and mostly football,but also some men's basketball programs, their
facilities are far nicer than what yousee in the pros, because in the
pros what matters is you know,being able to pay your players. Well,
I think that there's a chance that'swhat's going to come to college too.
That you know, you're if you'rea recruit, you're not going to

(29:02):
care, you know, if there'sa waterfall in the football training center.
You just want to you know,get your fair share out of the ni
L. And the the nil partof this is there's always the call for
guard rails or whatever term people usethat it sounds like it almost kind of
moves toward something like a salary cap. But the thing about all this we

(29:23):
talk about a lot of this forcollege sports like we talk about professional sports,
but it is much different structurally becauseyou have you know, public and
private institutions. You know, theseare you know, private companies that are
the pro teams and they you knowwork to collectively within a you know,
one league. You've got different leagues, different types of institutions U Title nine.

(29:48):
So this is a really complex thingto sort through to get some more
order or structure to it. Right, Oh, there's no question and you
and it's easy to you know,second guests and sort of shoot backwards so
to speak. But I can't helpbut think if there'd been better leadership at
the top of college sports, moreproactive leadership that could have gotten disparate constituencies

(30:15):
to sort of, you know,work together and sort of see the future,
that this could have been handled ina much better way that maybe wasn't
nearly as traumatic as it's turned outto be. Yes, I was reading
a story recently about the college footballplayoff schedule and how it's you know,
working around the NFL, and thestory I was reading was saying that they
actually got together some of the powersin the college game and the pro game

(30:41):
to try to have some kind oftype of cooperative effort. I mean,
ultimately, each has to look outfor its, you know, primary best
interest, but the NFL gave alittle ground in terms of when it scheduled
some things, so that wouldn't detractfrom the college playoffs because I think ultimately
it helps them both, and Ithink there needs to be more of that
between the college game and the andthe professionals. Well, I don't think

(31:04):
there's any question that would especially bethe case in basketball, where there's been
almost none of that, and theyin fact seem to almost work against each
other. Yeah, this, this, this space could use a whole lot
more collegiality and cooperation. What doyou think about the first roster Mark Pope
has put together to this point,and does he need to make a significant

(31:30):
one more significant addition to it.Yeah, I'm probably falling the camp that
what most people seem to be thatI do think they need kind of a
wing score, somebody that you know, can go get you a basket when
things break down. Otherwise, Ilike the roster, you know, and
given the circumstance he was in wherehe comes in basically has to build a

(31:52):
whole new team on the fly.I think it at least looks to me
like there's been some thought into howthis thing came together. And on paper,
it was to me like these parts, these these guys ought to fit
well, pretty well together, thatyou know, there's been some thought into
sort of building building an actual team. So with the caveat that, I

(32:13):
am with most what seems to bethe prevailing opinion that they do need kind
of a guy who can go getyou a basket. I like this roster.
You had a column about the COVIDrule, the extra year the players
got for Covid how it's able tohelp Kentucky now in this coaching transition.
And it was a rule that JohnCaliperry lamited frequently when when he was here.

(32:37):
You know, you think about hadcal say left, you know,
after that run in fifteen when thecavaliers were after him, how you know
what it would have been like ifa mass excidents had happened then versus the
mass exodus that happened now, Andhow Bark Pope had the had the vehicle

(32:58):
to rebuild bild a roster quickly.Oh, there's no question Kentucky was,
you know, any just based onthe way the John cali Perry built his
rosters here. Any whenever he left, under whatever circumstance, it was gonna
you were going to be stuck withno players, and had that happened earlier
in his tenure, before the freetransfers, you know the portal. And

(33:22):
then you mentioned the Covid rule,which has been huge for Kentucky in this
rebuild because they brought in you know, multiple key pieces that are Fifthier players.
So yeah, Kentucky was extremely fortunatereally on two fronts. I think
this coaching change that needed to happenit was able to happen without the buyout.

(33:42):
And then you know just the factthat the timing of this allows them
to rebuild a roster quickly. Youknow, if this had happened before the
more permissive transfer rules, you couldhave been running a bunch of walk ons
out there next year. Indeed,Mark Story, thank you much, Thanks
Tom at Mark c Story on xand you can go to Kentucky sports dot

(34:04):
com read the column we're talking aboutthere as far as the COVID rule players,
but all of Mark's work there atKentucky Sports dot com and in the
pages of the Lexington Herold Leader.We need to get to a break.
We'll come back with our final segmenton this Thursday edition of the Leach Report.
Our Triple Crown coverage this spring ispresented by Clayburne Farm doing the usual

(34:27):
unusually well for more than one hundredyears. Add Batton down to the list
of likely starters for the Belmont Stakescoming up on the second weekend in June.
That word from trader Bill Mott yesterdayof horse was an impressive winner of
a maiden race derby week at amile and a quarter at Churchill Downs and

(34:47):
bill Mont thinks the mile and aquarter distance is the key for this horse,
so they're going to likely take ashot at the Belmont Stakes with Batton
down, so we'll get a littlebit more clearer focus to the Belmont here
probably in about ten days. AllNBA team includes three wildcatch Heay Giljis Alexander
on the first team, Anthony Davison the second, Devin Booker on the

(35:10):
third, and add Andrew Harrison tothe La Familia team for the Basketball Attorney.
So Andrew will be suiting up alongsidethe likes of Marcus T. Greed,
Travis, Willie, Coley Stein,Daniel Ordon, Eric blitz So,
Kellen Grady and de Ron Lamb forthat event. They'll be playing games in
Rupp Arena. That will do itfor The Leach Report, presented by Bobcat

(35:30):
Enterprises on this Thursday. We'll seeyou tomorrow. You can catch the Mingy
Beef Tricky podcast find them at TomLeachky dot com or on the iHeartRadio app.
Interested in advertising on the show,email Leach Reports at gmail dot com.
We'll see you next time on TheLeech Report