11-07-24 LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Bingie beef Jerkey podcast of the Leach Report is
also presented by Boons Butcher Shop, one hundred old Bloomfield
Pike in Barnestown, fresh meat cut on location daily and
they're family owned and operated, have been since nineteen forty six.
Good day, everybody, welcome In Thursday edition of the Leach
Report presented by Bob Kat Enterprises and coming up today,

(00:23):
we will hear from Jimmy Dikes from ESPN and the
SEC Network. He worked the game on Monday with Tom Hart,
so we'll get Jimmy's thoughts on the opening game for
the Wildcats. Of course, he saw them in practice earlier,
did a visit to Lexington for a day to spend
with Kentucky Basketball, so he has seen a lot of

(00:45):
the Cats evolution from the start of practices back in
the summer to now, so we'll get his take. The
goose Jack Givings will join us as the Cats get
set to return to the court on Saturday against buck
Nell and Justin Rowland Cats Illustrate. That's the lineup. Wildcat
News of the Day presented by Giuseppes of Lexington. Busy
Media day for Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops yesterday. No

(01:08):
game this week, it's an open date on the schedule.
They'll play Murray a week from Saturday. But Stoops did
the SEC teleconference that happens every Wednesday. He did a
media session with reporters after practice yesterday, and then the
radio show was last night because there was a basketball
game Monday and Election night on Tuesday. Big news I
think came out of the radio show. Maxwell Harston expected

(01:31):
to return for the Murray game. And for Kentucky defense
that has been hit hard by injuries in recent weeks,
that would be excellent news. Kentucky was down to I
think two scholarship corners by the end of the Tennessee game,
so they get their best one back is a big plus.
And given that DJ Waller was close to playing in

(01:54):
the Tennessee game, you would hope that maybe he'd be back,
so that would give him a four man rotation at
the corner position, So would certainly change the outlook there significantly.
They've still got some other guys that'll likely be out,
but getting Maxwell back would be significant. Don't know yet
about Brock, Vandergriffin, Barry, and Brown. Stoops didn't share a

(02:17):
lot of information about their injuries. It's a head injury
of some type for Brock. He just said that they're
seeing how it goes day to day. Obviously, have a
little extra time here to get them back. Cutter Bowley
could be an option for some snaps if Brock would

(02:38):
not be able to go. Stoops said he would like
to at some point have a chance to see Cutter
get some extended game reps and then on the radio show.
So there's some other guys that you know, would he'd
like to see them do that, But ultimately their first
mission is to win the games that they have. Remaining
interesting exchange with one of the callers and as that

(03:02):
guy just called for for years to all the shows.
Dennis and he asked Stoops about going for the touchdown
on the opening drive when it was fourth and two
at the five instead of taking the field goal, and
he said the old coach Stoopes Dennis's point was would
have taken the field the points there, and Stoops agreed

(03:22):
actually and said that's a fair argument. He said, he
went he relied on analytics in that situation. Didn't work
out that that particular time. Then Dennis also asked him
about it. He said was worried that he was paying
too much attention to fan and media critics on important decisions,
and he cited the changing offensive coordinators when it happened
with Dye Grand leaving that role, and Stoops said, actually,

(03:47):
that was entirely between him and Eddie, and at that
then the outside influence was a factor at all. And
he went on to talk about how much he loves
UK and that the only feedback that he pays attention
to is what comes from his players and what he's
hearing from them. Just a really thoughtful exchange both ways

(04:10):
and respectful, and it was I gave you a little
insight into where Mark is, excuse me, in his thinking
on that. And the other thing that is going on
now is they're trying to find out exactly what the
number is for the roster size for next season, and

(04:32):
step said they're starting to get close to a final
decision on that because that is such an big impact
on what they're going to do in recruiting. Seems like
the roster limits are going to increase, but they don't
yet know, or at least he didn't share last night
what that number is. A Couple of other things Men's

(04:54):
basketball two future UK opponents hooked up last night and
John Calipari in Arkansas beat Lipscomb seventy six to sixty.
Lipscomb comes in here later this month, and of course
Arkansas on Fairway the first no surprises among the games
in the top twenty five. Everybody was expected to win.

(05:16):
Did links to the stories that we talk about each day.
You can find those on the bud Light Leach Report
page at Tom leachky dot com. Our opening segment's always
presented by Giuseppes of Lexington. You can go to open
Table and make your reservation. We're going out with family
on Saturday after the game. It's a great place to

(05:36):
go with family and friends to celebrate a special occasion
or get together after or before a game, or around
Ketland when that's going on. Giuseppes out off Nicholasville Road.
Fantastic food and a wonderful atmosphere. Sitting in the bar area.
Listen to Dave Hall's live jazz music. Nothing like it
At Juseeppes of Lexington. We'll be right back with Jimmy Diykes.

(05:59):
Mit your pork comes to you from the Clarks. Jump
and turn, refresh and refuel at Clark's joining us on
the Club Blue andil dot com hot line. Jimmy Dikes
from ESPN and the SEC Network. He worked the Kentucky
opener against Wright State on Monday night with Tom Hart. Jimmy,
what were your takeaways from game one of the Mark
Pope era?

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Man, they looked good, did they not? You know, I
mean on boatmens of four. But I'll just start offensively,
how they fall assist that they racked up you know,
right State's not a juggernaut defensively, but still the execution
of Kentucky's offense, the purpose of it, the spacing of it,
you know, the versatility and their scoring was very impressive.

(06:39):
And then defensively, you've got you can guard the opposing
team's point guard with a former defense Mont Butler was
in his league, and then defend the rim with a
former defensive player of the Year like and Mario Williams
was out of his league. That's two good starting spots.
So I think Mark folks gotta be really really pleased.
I'm sure Big Blue Nation was very pleased with what

(06:59):
they saw last night.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
There's been so much talk about his offensive system and
all the threes they want to shoot et cetera. Not
a whole lot of discussion about defensive only. But do
you think it's possible that that could be an area
where they're stronger than people thought they might be.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yes, I mean I wasn't sure, and I don't think
Mark was either early when we think I first watched
him for the first time back in September, and I
think they had some questions of the staff defensively where
they'd be. But now they're going to be tested obviously
going forward by more talent and quicker athletes. But I
thought they guard the ball really well. They're alert, they
communicated well, they're all on the same page taking away

(07:36):
what Right State was trying to do, so you know,
take it away and Lamont Butler are key guys. They're
going to set the tone guard that ball up top,
and then the just the lens of Williams and Carr.
That's big wings with Brea and Jackson Robinson. There's enough
there to be an above average defensive team for sure,

(07:57):
the Rugged League like the SEC, so everybody's got to
get better. I'm sure they're right back at it again
today breaking down film talk about areas that they got
to improve, But it was it was a good start,
and you know, Kentucky's Kentucky's got a lot of pieces.
I've seen Kanda's already in person this year. I've seen Arkansas,
I've seen Tennessee, different teams out there that are nationally ranked.

(08:18):
In Kentucky, he's got a chance to have a really
good year in a really deep places.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
I think one of the storylines you hear about Kentucky
is that they have a lot of talent and depth.
There's not one superstar, you know, surefire first round draft
pick kind of guy. Do you is that what you see?
And is that a concern?

Speaker 2 (08:39):
No, it's it's it's not. I mean it's gonna it's
gonna evolve in time in terms of who's their go
to guy or their go to because he's got you know,
ten good college basketball players that have all proven themselves
at good levels. So I think it could be a
different guy every night. But you know, the shooting ability

(09:00):
of Jackson Robinson and the car kid can shoot it.
Otega's shooting a pretty good percentage. I think it's going
to be a Kentucky team that is. I think they're
going to have great balance all year, and that's okay
to not have a score that you rely on every night.
I think it keeps the defense honest to begin with
and makes sometimes even more difficult to game plan because

(09:23):
you're not just solely locked in on taking away one
strength of an individual. And now you've got an honest
guard Kentucky at all five spots.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
I think Kentucky fans maybe are perhaps most surprised by
how good Otega fan because they heard a lot about
Jackson and Brea had all the three point numbers but
always been very impressive.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, tell I like him a lot. I mean, you see,
he's a he's a physical kid, and and that in
that sec and some of the non conference games Kentucky has,
you're going to go up against really strong, physical, fast
guards and will take a o ways just he's wired
the right way. Those paint touches the butler, Kirk KRISI

(10:04):
could get in there a little bit. That's so important
because if not, you're gonna come up against a team
that can just completely smother you're on the perimeter and
take away threes. If he can't go by and do
something off the bounds and make the defense respond to
the ball, then you could be in for a tough night.
So that's the importance of physical guards like otega Oway
and I think Mark did as good as anybody in

(10:26):
the country together with no returners. Identifying guys that play
in his system well and Oways certainly one of them.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
What are your concerns, again through just one real game,
but still what could be the question marks or issues
for this group?

Speaker 2 (10:45):
Well, I think I want to see them in a
physical game, you know right right State had no physical
resistance against them at all. So when they get an
athletes and now they're gonna have to really work hard
to get open, They're gonna have to fight way harder
defensively for rebound and blowing up dribble a handoffs and
ball screaming situations. That's probably the next step for this team.

(11:06):
Are they physical enough to hang in a game becomes
of a fistfight. We see that they can they can run,
they can shoot, they can execute their very skilled team. Uh.
To me, the next test for them will be when
they knocked down type of game. Are they are they
strong enough physically to hang in a game like that
and still like they want to execute.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
Any thoughts on the duke matchup, we can look ahead
players coaches don't.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, absolutely, well you got you know, two of the
greatest college basketball university is going out a head to
head on a major stage. And it's interesting. You know,
new guys, completely rebuilt roster that will be on a major,
major stage, most of them for the first time. And

(11:50):
you know, well which which team stays together. The talent
that Duke has in that freshman class with Cooper Flag
and con Kinneppel, those are two special talent kids, but
they're freshmen. And like we mentioned, the first time in
at least fifteen years, Kentucky didn't have a freshman in
the starting launch team, and I think that's going to

(12:12):
bode well for them in a big game like that
early in the year.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
Jimmydke's ESPN SEC Network because next gig is coming up Saturday.
You can watch them on the call of Arkansas and
Baylor from Dallas.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Jimmy, thank you, Okay, Tom, anytime money.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Jimmy Dike's joining us on the Club Blue nil dot
com Hotbine Club Blues, the official collective partner of UK
Athletics in Isles. The name of the game, I have
it to compete and if you would like to help out,
you can do that by signing up for a Club
blue Inile dot com membership. Whatever your budget allows memberships
to start as low as twenty five dollars a month,

(12:48):
and in addition to helping your team acquire new talent,
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Club blue nil dot com. It's the lad Report and
we'll be right back before it comes to you from

(13:10):
the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return, Refresh and refuel at
Clark's dot com hotline.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
Is the Goose.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
Jack Gibbons works alongside on the UK radio broadcasts and
we'll be back court side Saturday afternoon for Kentucky and Buck. Now, Goose,
what were your takeaways from the opening win against Wright State?

Speaker 4 (13:32):
Well, again, Tom, I thought Kentucky played in a way
that really happy with what you saw, and I don't
know that they could have could have done anything differently
or better that than what they did. And you know,

(13:54):
I say that simply because it was the very first
real game. A lot of questions had to be answered.
How would they approach this game, will they be focused
and come out aggressively? And I think they did all
of that. I didn't see a lot of nerves, which
is what you normally see from some of the young

(14:15):
teams we've had, So I was really really pleased. And
you also, Tom walked away saying, well, this team can
get better. There are ways they can get better, and
that's probably the thing Mark want as much as anything.
Where are we going to be weak? Where do we
need to work more? And all of that stuff they

(14:37):
got from that game.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
I think if I asked most Kentucky fans what player
has most exceeded what they expected from him to this point,
they probably, I'm guessing it, would say, oh, tega Oway,
is that who it is for you to that question?

Speaker 4 (14:54):
Yes, I agree with that, Tom, I mean I and frankly,
I didn't know what to expect it. Tell you the truth,
I had not seen him play. I didn't know for
sure what all he could do. So and then he
came in a little bit on unless Harold than some
of the other players, so you really didn't know. I mean,

(15:16):
but even back in the summer when these guys first
started working out, that is what he was, how strong
he was, and I said back then, it's going to
be tough to keep him off the floor. And it's
proven to be that.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
He only made twenty one threes in his two seasons
at Oklahoma. He made three the other night, and he's
really shot the ball well. Doesn't shoot a lot of them,
but shoots it well to this point. So we'll see
if those you know, that percentage holds up over time.
But you know, if that's something he can had he had,
that makes him a much more dangerous player.

Speaker 4 (15:50):
Yeah, you know, he doesn't have that convention that that
really fundamentally sound form on his shot. So I think
one of the reasons why he hasn't shot a lot
is that it takes him a little time in a
little space. With the way he shoots the basketball. The

(16:10):
forum on the ships him a little space a little
time to get that shot off. What's really been neat
is that he has just been patient. He's allowed the
game to kind of come to him, the shots to
come to him. Yeah, he's great at going to the baskets,
but he's been very selective on those perimeter shots he's taken.

(16:30):
And he's taken a couple of seventeen footers that have
gone down as well dribbled in, so he's made some
of those two. But all of that seems to me
to be very calculated with him. I said during the
game the other night, Tom, how efficient he has played.
He doesn't get with outside of himself. He stays with

(16:54):
what he does and I just have liked what I've
seen from him, and again he couldn't get better, So
really anxious.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
About that's the ghost Jack Gibbins. We'll continue our chat
with him when we come back for the start of
the second half of our show presented by Bob Cat
Enterprises for locally owned locations around the state. So when
you need to buy or rent heavy equipment, no place
better to go. Fantastic service after the sale as well
from the good folks at Bob Cat Enterprises. We'll be

(17:23):
right back the second half of our Leaks Report show
for a Thursday, presented by Bob Cat Enterprises. We're chatting
with the goose of Jack Gibbons. We're telling you're telling
about the otega's shooting form and you know you had
a pretty shot. You know, the balls up on the fingertips,
nice follow through ball rotates front to back. You and

(17:46):
I have talked about this. Kellen Grady h when his
time here and a great shooter and score. His shot
was not picture perfect. It kind of rotated a little
more side to side than front to back, and yet
it worked for him. But have you found over your
time playing coaching Goose that you know that kind of

(18:08):
thing is more of an outlier and it's the guys
who have the best form that are the best shooters. Time.

Speaker 4 (18:14):
I learned. I learned when I was broadcasting NBA games
and the Magic went in and played Indiana played the Pacers,
and Reggie Miller was on that team, and I thought, man,
there's no way this SHOT's gonna go in the basket.

(18:35):
The first couple of times I saw him shoot it,
and he totally changed my mind. That it has nothing
to do with form sometimes interesting it's how you I mean,
it's just what works for the player. And you know,
I mean, Reggie Miller didn't have a conventional, beautiful form

(18:57):
on that jump shot like some of the real big
time shooters. But you and I both know how many
shots he made from way outside, but you on the
three point line, and uh so I don't I don't
put that much stock in it. As as I used to,
because I've seen guys over the years, man, that just
figure it out how to work with what they what

(19:19):
they have, and how they get good at it. And Uh.
The other thing is, you know, you used to always
see coaches try to change a kid's shot, try to
change a player's shot when they didn't have that ball
up in their hands. And uh, the followed the rotation
on the ball and the follow through and all the

(19:39):
stuff we used to think you had to have in
order to shoot. The basketball coaches would change you, man,
they would bring you in and say here's how to
do it. But nowadays they let them. I don't want
to say, do what they want. They corrected a little bit,
but you know, it's up to that player. If it's
going in and it's not broke, don't even try to fix.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
It in more, you play a lot of golf. I
got like Jim Furick has been successful for years on
the PGA Tour with a really odd looking swing compared
to the guys that have the most perfect swings. I
had a good friend of mine that I would play
golf with. He played collegiately, and he said, the thing
with a golf swing is like you just have to
be able to repeat it every time whatever it is.

(20:22):
So maybe it's.

Speaker 4 (20:23):
Yeah, that's exactly right, man. The problem is I do
it the same way every time, and I hit it
badly every time. So that's that's my story with golf. Actually,
I do like playing tom and I've gotten better my
buddy Wally Langley, who I get my lessons from. He
and Doug Livingston. Both of those guys helped me out.

(20:44):
So I'm just trying to continue to get better.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
So you're coachable.

Speaker 4 (20:50):
I am coachable, and I'm one of those guys. You
know a lot of times in basketball and on the
golf course, a lot of guys don't want you kind
of giving him pointers as they go along. Well, in basketball,
every pointer Coach Hall and some of the guys could
give me I take. And then golf, every pointer I get,

(21:10):
I try to work on it.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
Talking with a goose Jack Givens here on the club
blueennisle dot com hotline, let me talk about rotations a
little bit, because I think it was a question you
asked Mark. He'll come over after shoot around, talk to
the TV guys who are doing the game, and and
uh we'll listen in on that, and I think it
may be been a question you asked about rotations, and

(21:34):
he talked about how they look at it from an
analytics standpoint. It's really interesting. And he talked about, you know,
some guys, you know, they can see when their production
starts to drop off. Is it, you know, four minutes
or five minutes, and does it drop a little bit
from four to five or and then a lot from
five to six, whatever, and that'll tell him, you know,
when to make a substitution. The other thing that was

(21:55):
interesting he talked about both of his point guards there
guys were I'll be more guys start fast and then
tail off. That those two point guards both get better
over the course of several minutes. Eventually they hit a
point where the production starts to decline, but they actually
build up. It's the opposite for most of the players.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
Yeah, I mean, I found that just unbelievably interesting to
me because I hadn't I had never thought about it
that much, you know, and it's interesting. Andrew Carr, he said,
was that way as well. He kind of got better
as the game went on kind of thing. And I

(22:36):
know there's subs at four minutes and some can stay
a little bit longer, some shorter, but he I mean,
they look at that. Tom. And the other part of
the question, I asked, because all of these guys are
new for him except Jackson Robinson. I said, how do
you know you don't know these guys well enough yet?

(22:59):
He said, well, I even today even looked Tom at
these guys' numbers from last year, which which and how
production kind of tails off after a certain amount of time.
He talked about a couple of players. He said, They're
good for two minutes, then I have to get them out,

(23:23):
and then the next time I put them in, now
they can go for four minutes. Now they can go
a little bit longer stretch of time. All of that
was just really really interesting. Tom, and I also said
to Mark, I said, Mark, listen, I know this is
not the only time I'm going to say this to
you this year, because you think about it a lot

(23:44):
differently than a lot of other people. But I said,
this is the first time I've heard this much emphasis
on this particular aspect of the game. And Tom, I
think They're gonna be other times when I say to Mark, Mark,
I've never even really thought of that as much as
I've been around basketball, because that's how they think, and

(24:05):
that's how they try to affect the game and affect
the player and try to max out on each guy
as to what they can get, when they can get it,
and how best to use the guys. So all of
that time was just amazing to me. And as the
season goes on, I'll talk to him a lot more
about that. He did say with these guys, he'd like

(24:28):
after twenty games with these guys, they should have that
rotation perfected and be able to know the guys a
whole lot better at that time.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
Yeah, that's the thing is he'll tell you that he
is working on limited data. So you know, after Tuesday night,
for example, they'll play the best team they've played. I'm
sure they'll look at, Okay, how do these numbers? How
they different from you know, the first two games and
when the level of competition stepped up significantly more so
all those kind of you know, data points. We'll just

(25:02):
tell the story over time. But it's just really interesting.
So it's a you know, in this format you and
are chatting here and we got more time to talk
about it. I think it's just kind of interesting thing
to get into because it takes a little more time
to discuss, but it's a very very interesting Goose. Thank
you for the time as always.

Speaker 4 (25:19):
Thanks so much, Tom, I appreciate it. Man.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
It's the Goose, Jack Gibbins, and Christmas is not too
far away now, So remember They Call Me Goose, the
book that Jack did with Doug Brunk. It is available
and if you are looking for a fantastic Christmas gift
for a Wildcat fan, get the book. Get Jack to
sign up before the season starts. Follow at Goose Givens
on x or Twitter and he'll let you know when

(25:43):
he's doing signings. I'm sure they'll be doing quite a
few leading up to the Christmas season. And pick up
your copy of They Call Me Goose if you haven't
done so already. Heading to a break about eighteen away
from the top of the hour. Here on the Leach Report,
we come to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio.
Return and refresh and refuel at Clark's. Justin Rowland joins
the program when we come back, but report comes to

(26:06):
you there's the service of Bobcat Enterprises, and Justin Rowland
joins us from Katzillustrated dot Com. On the club blueinil
dot com hotline. We'll start with a little football justin
Kentucky goes in after this open date to the home
stretch of the season, the final three games, they're still

(26:26):
mathematically alive to continue to extend the Bowl streak. I
don't think there's a lot of confidence among the BBN
that that's going to happen. But given how they played
against the best teams on yours on their schedule, I
don't think you can completely rule it out. So from
that standpoint, how does excuse me, how does Mark Stoops

(26:50):
do you think approach the final three games with an
eye on next season somewhat and also staying in the
moment in this season?

Speaker 5 (27:00):
I think maybe things like the red shirt rule, or
maybe even overall program momentum down the stretch looking ahead
to the next season, frankly aren't as important as they
used to be, because every year is kind of its
own thing. It's all about so much of the changes
that you're gonna be making in the off season. But
so maybe instead it could be you're you're looking at

(27:21):
what guys can we put out there. Maybe we've been
on the fence of giving this guy more playing time.
Let's put him out there and see what he's got.
He's gonna he's gonna be happy to get the playing time.
Make it more likely to keep him around, and we'll
have a better idea of what core pieces we're going
to have in place for next year and maybe where
we don't have to be as aggressive in the transfer portal.
But you know, I think I think we'll see more

(27:42):
of the quarterback jockeying. I think we'll see more of
the young guys getting out there. They will have to
make some red shirt decisions, but but yeah, I mean,
other than that, I would still expect it to be
giving yourself.

Speaker 3 (27:53):
The best chance to win every week.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
You did a comparison of numbers and analytics on Brock
vander Griff and Gavin Wimsite at the quarterback position. Both
conceivably could be back next season. You also have a
highly recruited freshman that would be more likely to have

(28:16):
a shot to be in the mix with a year
under his belt. So you've got to, I would assume,
you know, decide, and some of it is the input
you get back from those players. Are they still all
going to be here? And if they are, what direction
are you going to go because you know, Brock has
had some some moments where he is flashed some big

(28:37):
time potential and I think back to you know, Andre
Woodson was talking about this with Van Hiles earlier this week.
Andre was after the five season. I think his second
year far from a consensus that he was the guy,
but he became the guy and became one of Kentucky's
all time best in his final two years. So that
can happen, yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
One hundred percent.

Speaker 5 (28:58):
I think what's interesting to me of the quarterbacks moving
forward is how much are they going to stay invested
in vandergriff as the quarterback because he hasn't been the
singular solution this year. But I also never saw him
as a heat like the main part of the problem
if you break down the throws, the intermediate throws, he's
hitting on the right in terms of the short passes,

(29:22):
not as successful in the deep game, and not what
you expected with his legs for most of the season.
But some of that's because they have how they've used whimsat.
I mean, it'll be interesting to see how much they
still think of him as potentially.

Speaker 3 (29:33):
The guy for next year.

Speaker 5 (29:34):
The turnovers have really hurt, like that what PFF calls
turnover worthy plays like that really hurts him, and uh,
that's why they've given.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
Wimsat a chance.

Speaker 5 (29:43):
But the other thing is like how attractive a situation
is it going to be for a quarterback at Kentucky
next year?

Speaker 3 (29:49):
Realistic? What kind of quarterback are you going to.

Speaker 5 (29:51):
Bring into this situation when it's not going to be
that sexy situation that that you're looking at Will Levice
and you brought Devin Leary in and you're probably losing
some receivers, you're probably having to get some new offensive
line starters, and what.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
Kind of confidence do you have after this year?

Speaker 5 (30:08):
So it's going to be a blend of convincing somebody
that you like they need to be in this situation,
but then also kind of setting them up to succeed.

Speaker 1 (30:16):
Yeah, I mean it's Kentucky is an interesting case study
in these times because you know, what if all the
quarterbacks were back, like you know, in the old days,
all the quarterbacks would likely return, and Key and Brown
would return, and a lot of these you know guys
that still have you know, eligibility would return. But if
you're Mark Stoops, you've got to find out Okay, who
who is actually going to be here, because that impacts

(30:38):
who you need to recruit, not only freshmen, but in
the portal.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
Right, I mean you think about Barryon. I mean, Barrion has.

Speaker 5 (30:46):
Been a key to how they've built this team for
two years in a row, and understandably so because of
the talent. But I mean I heard from the start
that it's unlikely that he'll be back next year. Dame
Key is going to be coveted by not only the NFL,
but by some of the top program in college football.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
And I've already heard rum once about that.

Speaker 5 (31:02):
And Jamary Macklin came in and he hasn't been targeted
or showcased nearly on the level that he was at
North Texas, much less the level he expected to be
at Kentucky. And so there's just there's any number of
directions they could take next year's offense, but they have
to be very decisive and deliberate about it because it

(31:23):
might require moving a lot of pieces, because that the
quarterback that you choose is going to is going to
need a certain kind of receiving corp, is going to
need a certain kind of running back, is going to
need a certain kind of offensive line, and they're going
to have to be decisive and deliberate, and that process
of evaluating, especially lower level talent that's going to be
coming into the program is going to have to be

(31:43):
better than it's been so far.

Speaker 1 (31:44):
Well ty with Justin rowlerd from cats Illustrated, and you
can go there and find this QB comparison article that
we've been talking about, and all the coverage from David
Sisko's with us yesterday. The rest of the team there.
It's at Catzillustrated dot com, at Roland row on Twitter,
mess Shift gears to basketball And as I said with
Jimmy Diykes earlier, we can look ahead while coaches and

(32:06):
players can't. So before you and I talk again, Kentucky
and Duke will be playing on Tuesday night in the
Champions Classic. When that game rolls around, what are you
going to be looking for?

Speaker 5 (32:17):
I mean, I think it's clear at this point that
in terms of his vision for how he wanted to
build a team, given given what he was up against,
Mark Pope did a pretty dang good job of finding
all the right prototypes, guys who check the boxes that
you want for a team that can can make a
deep run. That looks like they have those guys, But
how how do you adjust for competition when you face

(32:40):
a big man that can swatch your shots? How do
you adjust for competition when you face a guard that
can break you down off the dribble and that you're
not going to get to the room against it will.
That's the kind of adjustment that we have not seen
through three games, and it's why you can you can't.
You can't tell too much through this action so far.
I mean, how do they stack up against some of
the best athletes in college basketball when it's not a

(33:01):
John Calipery team. I think that's the fascinating thing, turning
the page to where you're just a different kind of program.
You're not leaning so much on just having an obscene
length and athleticism advantage almost every night, you know, and.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
Like we're struggle with Jack Gibbings that for a guy
like Pope that relies so heavily on analytics, that's going
to be a meaningful bit of data together together because
you're going to be tested in such a different way.

Speaker 5 (33:29):
Yeah, and you know a lot of guys are going
to play for this team, But how quickly does Pope
start to tighten the rotations, how much does he lean
on guys who are maybe not quite as far along
or not quite as experience that the rotations will be interesting?
And I expect him to defend at an elite level,
and I expect him to shoot the ball at any level,
But as far as the handling, as far as everything else,

(33:53):
I'm interested in the adjustment for talent on the other side.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
For sure. You can read all of Justin's work and
his teams at Catzillustrated dot com and it's at Roland
rivals on x or Twitter and hear him here on Thursdays.
Thank you, Justin, Thanks Tom, It's Justin Rowland. Take a
second to talk about cornbread hemp. It is the number
one CBD brand in Kentucky. My son's dealing a little

(34:17):
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It's high quality, safe and effective natural relief that you
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(34:39):
growing CBD company in a country and right now you
can get thirty percent off your first order when you
go to cornbreadhimp dot com. Just put the code Tom
in at check out. You get thirty percent off your
first order of gummies or sleep gummies or oils topicals,
whatever product you want. You can find out all of
them at cornbreadhamp dot com. We'll be right back with
our final segment of the Leech Report for this Thursday.

(35:02):
Stay Wow Can History is a service of Kentucky road
Show sports cards and memorabilia. They're on Romedy Road here
in Lexington and at roadshowcards dot com. Nineteen ninety eight
Kentucky outlass Mississippi State thirty seven thirty five. That clinched
a ball bit. It turned out to be the Outback
Bowl in the first New Year's Day Bowl game in

(35:24):
a half century for Kentucky football. So that was on
this day. Tim Couch and Company pulled out a close
one against Mississippi State. Happy Birthdays Formier Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie,
former Kentucky player Cason Wallace, and Johnny David all celebrating
birthdays today. Kentucky women's basketball number twenty two in the country.

(35:45):
Looking to go to two and o tonight when they
take on NKU and Historic Memorial Conliseum. Six o'clock Eastern
is the start time and it is Space Jam night
for the fans, and Darren Headrick will be on the call.
Don't know if he'll be in costume or not, but
he'll be on the call starting a little before six

(36:06):
with the pregame show on the UK Sports Network. Tennessee
Titans are looking to sign Mike Edwards to a free
agent deal. Mike is leaving Buffalo. That's courtesy of ESPN.
Josh Pascal is reading a story about Josh yesterday. The
former Wildcat star expected back for the Lions this Sunday.

(36:26):
He had missed a little time because of the discovery
of a non cancerous mass in his shoulder. So it's benign.
That's great news. And of course Josh is a cancer
survivor and wish him certainly well, but glad to hear
that it was benign for Josh. Bengals Ravens tonight Thursday

(36:49):
Night Football. If you're a Bengals fan, Bengals need that
one desperately. That's going to do it for this edition
of The Leach Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises. We'll be
back tomorrow and get into a little discussion of Kentucky
basketball and buck Nell. Chris Norch will join us from
the Blue Ribbon Yearbook, So join us here tomorrow here
on the Leach Report. Have a great day, everybody for Report.

Speaker 6 (37:11):
Anytime you miss a show, you can catch the Mingy
Beep Tricky Podcast. Find them at Tom Leachky 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 the Leech Report.