2025-01-16 LEACH REPORT

Tom talks with Jack Givens, Justin Rowland, and more.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Leech Report Radio Network is on the air with
the voice of the Wildcats, Tom Leech. It's the daily
gathering spot for the Big Blue Nation to hear the
latest news and views on the Cats. If you have
a question for Tom, email Leech Report at gmail dot
com or send a tweet to add Tom leech Ky.

(00:22):
Now here's Tom.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Good damn everybody. Welcome in to the Leech Reports. Coming
to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio here at Lexington.
And it is a big game coming up on Saturday
for the Cats against number four Alabama and Alabama team
that is coming off an upset home court loss to
Ole Miss, so they will be a little angry. And

(00:47):
any of the guys that were on the team last season,
and there are several key ones. We'll remember how they
got thumped at Rapperita by the Wildcats. That was the
day that Justin Edwards had his career game at Kentucky.
So they will come in with plenty of additional motivation
beyond just winning a game in the SEC. And we'll
talk about all of that today as we go through

(01:09):
the program. We're presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises and
Michael Epps will join us from Fox fifty six here
in Lexington, the goose Jack Gibbons for whose regular Thursday visit,
and justin Rowland from Cats Illustrated wild Cat News of
the Day, presented by Giuseppes of Lexington. I'll start with
a little football note on three Sports as a report

(01:31):
from one of their recruiting writers that Hias Pete from
New Mexico State may be leaning to Kentucky over Michigan
and Nebraska or a return to New Mexico State. Now,
if you look at sites that cover the Wolverines and
the Huskers, they painted as a battle between Michigan and Nebraska,
with Kentucky maybe a distant third in there. So we'll see,

(01:55):
because I think that at least at UK, the deadline
for enrolling in classes is tomorrow for the spring semester.
This player heat is six eighty three twenty I think
so in players left tackle, and that's the one remaining
big piece literally and figuratively that Kentucky is looking to

(02:17):
fill with his transfer class. So keep an eye on
that one. Maybe they'll get the left tackle that they
are looking for for the upcoming season, and at that
point they'd be in really good shape for rebuilding the
roster all comes down to, you know, have they done
a good job of evaluating these guys and picking guys

(02:40):
that will fit together and all of that. But if
you just look on paper at matching needs and with
the players that they landed, they have really done a
nice job of rebuilding and rebooting the roster whatever you
want to call it. SEC scoreboard. Last night there was

(03:01):
one ranked n ranked matchup and it was down in
Knoxville and Tennessee put it on Georgia seventy four to
fifty six. Valls looking like the number one team that
they previously had been in this performance last night. They
were way up early and didn't Leverla Georgia get any
confidence in this one. Texas went into Oklahoma and beat

(03:22):
the Sooners seventy seven seventy three. Oklahoma still winless in
the SEC. And Vandy at home defeats South Carolina last
night by a score of sixty six sixty three. And
there was one matchup of top ten teams last night
and that was in ames, Iowa and the Cyclones number

(03:44):
two in the country now beat number nine Kansas convincingly
seventy four to fifty six. One thing that's interesting too,
And we've got several situations where scores have been double
digit margins when teams are getting knocked off or even

(04:04):
in some Top ten showdowns like that one last night,
a seventeen point margin Kentucky's head losses of twenty and thirteen.
That's you know for the Wildcats. You know, you're disappointed
as a fan that it's not closer, but you look
around the country and you're seeing a good number of
these lopsided scores when matchups are occurring for really good teams.

(04:27):
So it's got to be a crazy run up to March, especially,
you know, with the conference tournaments and selection Sunday and
then when we get into the NCAA tournament. So we
were talking yesterday with Brandon Ramsey and we'll get in
maybe a little bit with this with Mike to CORSEI tomorrow,
just what it might look like in March that you

(04:48):
get to the sweet sixteen and you could have almost everybody,
if not all sixteen teams with a realistic shot at
winning the title. Don't know if it's rarely that deep
of pool for true title contenders. So we'll see, you know,
maybe a team like Auburn is you know, maybe it's
Iowa State. A couple of those teams are a little

(05:10):
bit there's a little bit of separation. I don't think so,
but we'll see. Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno both named
the US team for the Nike Hoop Summit, so congrats
to them. That believe usually plays out in April. Links
to the stories that we talk about each day, you
can find those on the bud Light Leach Report page
that's at Tom Leechky dot com. Well, head to a break.

(05:33):
Michael EPs from Fox fifty six here in Lexington will
join us when we come right back. Leachure Port opening
segment of Wildcat News each day is presented by Just
Seppies of Lexington. Get to open table today and make
a reservation for your next special night out at Ji Sepes,
maybe around a UK game or around a trip to Keenland.
Go ahead and start planning that out. It won't be

(05:54):
too long before it's here and all the snow's god
and you can enjoy a great day at the races
and then cap it off off with a fantastic dinner
at Just Sepes Open Tables where you go and go
to Seppes Lexington dot com. You can check out the
menu as well. We'll be right back with Michael Epps.
It is the Lead Tree Report, and I want to

(06:14):
remind you about the message from the Kentucky Blood Center
this week because of a lot of people canceling last
week with the bad weather. They are really at a
important stage, crisis stage maybe for boosting the blood supply
for surgeries and all the regular needs. And it is

(06:34):
a good thing you can do for your neighbors, and
it's actually healthy for yourself. You get health benefits for yourself.
So go to your Kentucky Blood Center location that's closest
to you. You can do it in less than an hour,
and try to get signed up to give blood if
you can, because it is especially needed. Right now, let's
go to the Club BLUEINIL dot com online. Michael Apps

(06:56):
will join us from Fox fifty six here in Lexington
and Michael, things are rolling along pretty well for the
Wildcats after wins over two more Top fifteen opponents sandwiched
and they're three eight to actually top fen wins worked
into a sandwich there with a loss at Georgia. What
is your take on the upcoming matchup? Between the Cats

(07:19):
and the Crimson Tide on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, well, this time a week ago, you were still
a little concerned about not winning a true road game,
and coming off that big Florida win, it was kind
of like, all right, well, maybe this Kentucky team is
just going to be really tough to beat at home,
but maybe going to struggle on the road and compile

(07:43):
a good amount of losses. And then they broke that
by winning at Misissippi State, and then that game against
Texas A and M looked like it could have gone
either way for a little while when those shots weren't
falling in the first half at home, where shots trust
was post the ball. So that makes you a little,
you know, interesting, like, Okay, you can hit sixteen threes

(08:05):
on the road at Mississippi State, but you can kind
of struggle in the first half. And they are not
going to be able to struggle in the first half
against Bama, especially with Obama coming off against the loss
Mark Sears. Those guys are going to put up points,
so they're going to have to come out strong. They
can't have another one of these slow starts on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
When you look back at Kentucky seas you go all
the way back to the Duke when that first kind
of got Kentucky and a lot of people's radar is
maybe better than being better than expected. They played well
defensively against a very young Duke team, held them to
right around forty percent shooting, Rebounding was about even. I

(08:47):
think it was maybe plus one for Duke. But then
in the losses to Clemson, to Ohio State and Georgia,
there was a theme there against more experienced teams that
had older they were very you know, if they're physical
with Kentucky, you know, Ohio State, Georgia, Clemson. Rebounding was

(09:09):
an issue in all of those games, and the theme
seemed to be that, Okay, if you can you know,
rough up Kentucky a little bit, they won't shoot it
as well and you can beat them. And then that's
to me, what was encouraging in particular about this matchup
is that Texas A and M plays that way, great
rebounding team, very physical defensively, and Kentucky wins the battle

(09:33):
of the boards by ten, actually out rebounded A and
M in terms of offensive rebounds. And then the Cats
didn't shoot it especially well from the three point line
and were still able to win by twelve. It wasn't
home but and those other games were not, so that helps.
But it certainly seemed like a step in the right

(09:54):
direction in terms of handling that kind of approach from
the opponent.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
Yeah, for sure. Kind of funny how you know the
players in sports and coaches and sports will all say like, oh,
we don't listen to the noise. You know, we don't
listen to outside noise. We don't hear what the media
says there, what the fans say, and like the players
were open with us, like Travis Perry and Ansley Aminoor

(10:19):
on Monday were like, yeah, we heard the narrative about
us being soft, Like we heard people calling us soft.
And Coach Pope acknowledged it before the game at Mississippi
State and he told us in the locker room like, hey,
there's a narrative of you guys being sawt and there's

(10:40):
only way to change only one way to change it,
which to do it out on the court. And they
were a different team in that ball game, and they
were a different team against A and M than they
were against Georgia. You could just see the physicality wasn't there.
But it turned in the soft which is, you know,
the fans way of putting it, and they didn't think

(11:01):
themselves they were saft, but they wanted to prove, okay,
like you guys need to chill out with this nonsense
to call in a sauce. And they're gonna have to
play with that aggressiveness in that aspect of the game
in basically every game, because all these teams have good
bigs in the SEC, and all of them are going
to be able to score points even in Rapperino, so

(11:22):
they're gonna have to be ready for that.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
I thought Amari Williams, in terms of what we're talking
about here was the guy who led the charge, if
you will, the way he attacked the glass and the
way he challenged shots. You know, he got into defoul
trouble down at Georgia, so he don't play thirteen minutes
in that game. But in this game against A and M,

(11:45):
he played let me find it here. He played about
twenty two to twenty three minutes, twenty three minutes, and
he had twelve rebounds and they only credit him with
one block shot. But I thought he had more than that,
and I certainly thought he affected shots in that game.
And that's the kind of play I think they certainly
need from Amari.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, he's been huge, and the guards have said, you know,
it's up to them too to crash the glass and
get a body on somebody. And I thought it was
huge after A and M only got like one offensive
rebound for a good chunk of that first half, then
they got more. They got on that run and got
a bunch and then it was like, okay, oh, and

(12:25):
then they go up maybe four or six in the
first half, and then Jackson got a big one kind
of on that baseline, kind of in front of his bench,
just kind of crashed in there and kind of stole
an offensive rebound from a guy, and it was like, Okay,
that's huge. You know, they need that. The guards have

(12:47):
to chip in, and I think it resulted in a
bucket on the other end, and so they've understood it's
going to be up to them too. And Amari is
going to be able to do a lot, but Andrew
car is probably not gonna be able to do a
ton and Garrison you hope that he could just play
like he did at Mississippi State, you know, and Georgia

(13:12):
all the time. I mean, he he had a couple
of solid games there on the road and you thought, Okay,
maybe this is the flash of potential that we've been
hearing about. And you know, then he kind of has
a bad game against an m You know, he's turning
the ball over, but he'll figure it out. It's good
that Amari has been great, but you got to be
ready for another backup plan in case he gets in

(13:34):
foul trouble like that Georgia game. And he almost got
in foul trouble in that A and N game. I mean,
he he had the two in the first half and
he picks up a third in the second half, kind
of early in the second half, I think, but he
did a good job of not getting that fourth because
that could have been a disaster.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
If you follow on X it's at Michael EPP's TV
and you can see him on Fox fifty six here
in Lexington. Michael, Thank you much, absolutely, thank you.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Tom.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
Get to a break is twenty three past the top
of the hour. It's the Leech Report and we are
presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises. They have four locations
around Kentucky that can serve your needs for buying or
just renting a piece of heavy equipment for a job site.
That's loaders and excavators and tractors, et cetera. And when

(14:24):
you make the deal to get the equipment you need,
you'll get fantastic service after the sale as well from
Bobcat Enterprises. Go to Club Blue nil dot com, go
to the giveaways tab and click on that to get
a chance to enter a drawing for two lower arena
sideline seats for the Arkansas game on Ferry First, and

(14:44):
that you can sign up through the end of the
month and go to Club Blue or through January thirtieth.
I should say Club BLUEINIL dot com the official collective
partner of UK Athletics. They work with all sports on
campus and pretty exciting contest here because these tickets are
hot commodities right now. For Kentucky basketball, we go to

(15:05):
the Club Blue andile dot com hotline Bring on the Goose, Jack,
Evans and Goose. It is great to see and just
feel all the excitement that is in the rapp Arena.
It seems like every time Kentucky has taken the court
right now.

Speaker 4 (15:21):
That building has been really alive this year. I mean
right from the very first game and it just seems
like getting more and more exciting. Great to have that
kind of atmosphere and reperena again.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
Well, do you played the first game that was staged there?
Not the first event? I think that was. I think
that was a Lawrence Well concert. But I think you
guys played who Wisconsin? I think, wasn't it.

Speaker 4 (15:51):
Yes, yes, I didn't make the Lawrence Well concert.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah, a young man at his college in the seventies
probably was not heading to Lawrence Walk. I can understand that.
But with the game, can you remember what it was
like that first game in rap Arena?

Speaker 4 (16:13):
Yeah, you know, it was kind of strange, Tom, because
it's kind of like when you when you move into
a new home. Uh, the excitement of being in the
new home. It was there, no question about that, But
for not just the players, but for the fans as well,
you still have to kind of learn your way around

(16:33):
a little bit. So, uh, you're not going full out
because you used to know where the coffee maker was,
and you know all the stuff you used to in
your old house. You know what what board in the
floor is going to creak, and you had all of
that stuff. And then you get into your new house
and you're just excited to be there. But we didn't

(16:58):
play great as I remember, you know, back in those
early days when they were making the adjustments in rep.
Aerna and trying to get it to where everything was good.
The lighting was so much different than what was at
Memorial Coliseum, and especially for me because I liked and

(17:18):
I did shoot a lot of shots from the side,
whether it's the corners or and they had lighting that
shine the lights right down on the court from that angle,
so sometimes I'd go up to shoot it. And we
really hadn't had a lot of opportunity to even shoot
in that building, let alone hold a lot of practices.

(17:40):
But I know I complained for the first three or
four games that when I shot the ball from the corner,
I was looking right into the lights. And they had
to make those kind of adjustments early on to where
we got more comfortable there. And it actually took a
while before it's starting to started to fit like home

(18:01):
because it was that new. But it was great being
in the building, the hugeness of it, but it took
some time to get adjusted for sure.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
Interesting we're halfway home on this Thursday edition of the
Leach Report, when we come back, we'll continue our chat
with Goose get into the matchup with Alabama coming up
on Saturday. It is the Leach Report Radio Network. It
is the Leach Report, and we are visiting with the Goose.
Jack Givings, my broadcast partner of the UK Radio Network,

(18:32):
and he and Doug Brook did the book. They call
me Goose, and you can find that at all the
local booksellers and any book signing events coming.

Speaker 4 (18:41):
Up, well not as of right now. We don't have
anything scheduled tom just tough time of the year with
the weather. We had a couple of schedule but the
weather has thrown a little kink into that. So I've
got a couple of private events that are coming up
one Friday, as a matter of fact, tomorrow at the

(19:08):
UK Alumni Association. So I have some of those kind
of events, but but no public signing scheduled at this time.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
I'm sure you'll be doing something at the SEC Tournament,
if not before so.

Speaker 4 (19:22):
Well, and we'll be we'll we'll and we'll do one
in Austin when we go down there for the game
against Texas. So uh, we we have a pretty large one.
There's two or three associations alumni associations down there that
I want to do something. So we'll have an event
uh when we're in Austin, and I'm really looking forward

(19:44):
to that. Folks that we don't get to see very often,
don't get to see Kentucky play in person very often,
will be there. So that should be fun.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Let's talk about this matchup on Saturday, Kentucky at number
four Alabama and the Crimson Tide come and off a loss.
It's the fewest points that Alabama has scored with seventy
four to sixty four. They lost at home to Ole Miss.
And to find the last time they only scored sixty

(20:14):
four points in a game, you have to go back
to the game where San Diego State beat them at
the Young Center in the twenty three NCAA Sweet sixteen.
So that's a pretty long gap between games where somebody
held Alabama down to that degree. What's Kentucky going to

(20:35):
have to do to hold Bama and check enough to
get the win.

Speaker 4 (20:41):
So much of Kentucky's success rotates around the rebound in
the basketball on both ends of floor. You know, I
think Kentucky is a pretty good defensive team when it
comes to making people miss shots, covering the three point
on some stuff that they're pretty good at, but it

(21:05):
gets a whole lot tougher when you are giving up
second opportunities and teams score score baskets off the offensive glass.
And we saw that the other night in that A
and M game. Kentucky rebounds the ball well, they limit
A and M's second and third chance opportunities and it

(21:31):
not only helps in that category, but it also helps
Kentucky to get some transition baskets and we finally started
to see that. So you know, I think it's going
to come down again to how well Kentucky rebounds the basketball.
And the thing I really liked about the rebounding in
the game the other night, other than we won that

(21:53):
category by ten rebounds, but the guards were so much
more focused on getting back in there and helping out.
I mean, Alway had eight, I think, and he's capable
of doing that in addition to all the other great
things he does. So it's going to take all five
guys rebound in the basketball because you know Alabama's going

(22:14):
to come in here and want to make a statement.
Who knows, they might have been thinking ahead just a
little bit to this game and that lost to Ole
miss you know, so I don't know that that's the case,
but Kentucky's going to be ready and Alabama's going to
come in here and try to get straight and back out.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
You had a chance to visit with Travis Perry in
the postgame player interview on the UK Network on Tuesday night,
and I think you noted it was the first time
you had had him out for one of those conversations,
and he it's it's been exciting to see him seize
this opportunity. You know, I didn't think he ever lacked

(22:55):
confidence early on, but he probably lacked, you know, come effort.
He wouldn't get these you know, when you're the you know,
you're not in the top ten group, you don't get
as much run in the scrimmage sessions in practice. Once
Kerr got out, Travis moved up to where he was
going to get against Lamont Butler every time they were scrimmaging,
and it just seemed inevitable that was going to make

(23:18):
him better and it has.

Speaker 4 (23:21):
Yeah, let me say first about Travis Man, I had
not had an opportunity to interview him after a game,
but I have talked to him a bunch as we
travel together, sit around watching practice, that kind of stuff.
We've talked a lot. And the first thing I'll say
about that man is this young man has really matured.

(23:44):
I mean, I hope people could tell I thought that
was a really really well done interview as far as
him responding to my questions with a lot of comfort.
I mean, but a good young man. I mean I
can say that about all of them, but just just
a fye guy that gun and I the only thing

(24:08):
else I want to do is get out on the
golf course with him, because he's a scratch golfer. His
usual handicap. I see, so I'm good. I told him
I'm ready for some lessons. But uh tell him if
you if you'll think back to that Alibima to the
A and M game and he turned the ball over

(24:29):
soon after he came into the game, he committed a turnover,
and I said, in my mind, man, I'm so glad
to see him turn the ball over once. And a
lot of people hear that and they probably think, what
are you talking about? Why would you want him to
turn it over? The reason I wanted him to turn
the ball over is because he was playing so much

(24:55):
not to turn the ball over, and I wanted I
was glad he saw, well, the roof is not a
Reperena is not going to cave in because I committed
the turnover, and when you go through that, you can
now relax. Coach left him in the game, which was great,
and I knew in my mind if a shot presented

(25:15):
itself to him, he was going to make it, because
now he understands that it's my job to play basketball.
Turnovers are part of basketball, but so is making shots.
And I thought that turnover, as crazy as it might sound,
was I don't want to say the best thing that
could happen. The best thing is he knocks down seven

(25:35):
or eight straight shots and plays twelve thirteen minutes in
a row. But I thought that was a good thing
for the advancement of his game to know that that's
a part of it. Also, so don't play to not
make mistakes. Play like you're capable of playing. He's a
confident young man, and I'm glad to see that.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
I think that's a perfectly understandable point. Like a quarterback
that a guy that throws you know, no or one interceptions,
maybe he's not as good a quarterback as a guy
that might throw seven or eight but also throws thirty touchdowns,
that you don't want to be afraid to make a mistake,
that it paralyzes you from making the bigger play.

Speaker 4 (26:16):
You're absolutely right, Tom, If you're playing not to make
a mistake, then you're not playing all out basketball, because
we we all who played made mistakes. And the thing
that really frees us up is when we just say, Okay,
that's part of it, and let's go down and make

(26:37):
up for it. And he did that, so that was
really good.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
Well, the last thing I'll close with is all these
guys really respect you and what you accomplished here, and
but Travis in particular because he's a Kentucky guy. So
I really think you could milk that for one or
two extra shots aside when you do get on the
golf course.

Speaker 4 (26:56):
Listen, I'm gonna one of two extra shots.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
Well, you gotta get some anyway. If he's a scratch golfer,
I'm just saying, get a cut, one or.

Speaker 4 (27:04):
Two more with it. I'm milking him for three or
four five shots, you know, and then we can go
from there.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Goose, Thank you much, see Saturday.

Speaker 4 (27:14):
Thanks Tom.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
That's the ghost Jack Givans UK Hall of Famer joining
us here on Thursdays on the Leach Report on the
Club Blue Nil dot com hotline. We'll get to a
quick break and we will come back with Justin Rowland
on the Leach Reports. Travis Perry talking with Goose in
that interview on the UK Network after the game about
the mentoring that he's getting from Lamont Butler and from

(27:36):
Kirk Crisa, his fellow point guards. And we welcome in
Justin Rowland from Katz Illustrated dot Com on the Club
BLUEINIL dot com hotline. And Justin Perry's an example of
a player who's growing. But I thought the other night
it went over Texas A and M was an example
just overall of a team that is showed some signs

(27:57):
of growth in terms of playing through the contact from
an opponent who was physical, being able to be able
to win the battle of the boards against a really
good rebounding team. The real test will be taking that
back out on the road again, but it was certainly
it looked like a step forward, right.

Speaker 5 (28:16):
Yeah, Yeah, no doubt they've shown them they can win
different kinds of ways. They they've shown them that they've
learned from from lessons in the past and games that
they've lost. I think their maturity comes through. When you
see them start a game slow or cold, it doesn't
mean that's how they're going to end the game. And
just in general, I expected a one in two or

(28:38):
two and one over this three game stretch and they're
already sitting at two and oh, so they're in a
great spot. And like Travis Berry, I mean, the thing
that stands out about him is just how comfortable he
is on the court, Like he's not thinking like a freshman,
he's just reacting.

Speaker 1 (28:52):
He's playing.

Speaker 5 (28:53):
And that freedom that he has I think he to
and being able to get out there.

Speaker 4 (28:58):
But yeah, they're looking good.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
Yeah, his meaning his minutes have been meaningful because of
not having Creasa. And you know, when Butler goes out,
you need to be able to give Butler a rest.
And you know, I was saying yesterday, the first thing
for Gallic Perry is to just you know, limit you know,
turnovers and not have any negative consequences from your time

(29:21):
on the floor. But you want to be able to
then take it a step further and make significant contributions
while you're out there. And he's making shots now, and
he's not only making nobody first, he's just very confidently
taking them. And he's a very good shooter, obviously taking
good care of the basketball. Had to steal the other night,
so that's a step forward. Also, Albanor has given him

(29:43):
some really good minutes in the last couple of games
off the bench, really important minutes with the big shots
he hit down at State. But I thought the other
night when he came into the first half, Kentucky was
really struggling to score, and he got fouled on a
three and made them all and then made a three
pointer and those six points along well Jackson Robinson did
Or a big part of why Kentucky was able to

(30:03):
get to the halftime with the lead.

Speaker 5 (30:06):
Yeah, yeah, that's right, And they had great execution on
that play before halftime. They kind of passed it into
the pain and back out for the three, and then
the momentum carried over to the second half. You knew
the shooting splits were not likely to continue. I think
A and Ms seven for seventeen from three in the
first half and then just ice cold in the second,
so it more than balanced out. But again they just Jackson,

(30:28):
it was maybe less balance scoring in the first half
and more just one guy gutting it out and banging
his head against the wall until he finally had the
breakthrough and that's where he was. You just see the
maturity of this team in so many ways. I think
guys willing to accept greater or lesser roles night in
night out, if they're feeling it, if they're not, if
the matchup calls for this, if it doesn't, and I

(30:51):
mean I would imagine it'd be a pretty maybe not
the process of putting the team together in one month,
but it would be a rewarding experience to coach such
a such an old, mature team that's capable of taking
instruction like they did.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yeah, I think you're exactly right about that. And this
is a you know, we're roughly about halfway through what
has been a tremendously fun season for all of the
Kentucky fans, and if it continues on that path and
they do some great things in March, you know, this
is a team that will have a real special place

(31:28):
in the hearts of Kentucky fans, like some ones of
the past. You know, Cal's first team after some down years.
You know that certainly the unforgettables after the years when
they they came off probation and got back into the
NCAA tournament. And it's a group that uh and those
those two teams were obviously dramatically different, and this one

(31:49):
is is much different just the way it was constructed
and the fact that, uh, you know, it's all you
know guys like you know, and we've heard them talk
about it in sound bites. They you know, maybe watched
Kentucky growing up, but never really through their recruitment port
recruited by Kentucky and never really expected that they were
going to be in this program and playing before that

(32:11):
many fans and getting all the all the attention and
all the positives that come with being a Kentucky basketball
player when it's going well and they're safe, Like.

Speaker 5 (32:21):
We're right, it feels like we're watching games on Jefferson
Pilot this year, like they're playing, they're playing, they're playing.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
All the hits.

Speaker 5 (32:28):
We got, we got old guys, we got Kentucky kids,
we got the three point shot. Emphasize. It's like that's
what this season is going to be remember for, right,
Like the Calipari era had so many good memories, but
it was a distinctive era in Kentucky football. It was
its own standalone thing. And I think what the first
year of Pope has underscored is that even in the
era of portal and one and done and post Caliperry

(32:51):
and what has happened to the identity of Kentucky basketball,
it's still possible to have a great nostalgic college basketball
experience like we had thirty four years ago watching growing Up.

Speaker 4 (33:01):
That's kind of what it's been.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
I like that analogy, playing the hits, Uh, yep, Mark,
Mark Pope, the dj uh and in all the yeah
that's with the really old saying the platters that matter
and all that. Yeah, it's uh. And clearly, you know,
fans are savoring it in the same way that the
players are in terms of I mean the crowds after

(33:26):
every game. I told Mark the other night when he
sat down, I said, there are teams that don't draw
as well as your radio show does.

Speaker 5 (33:33):
There you go, Yeah, he's a popular man right now
and he's but he's not exploiting it. I feel like
he's been authentic through it. He's not forced or pressed.
I feel like he has he was prepared for this moment,
and that shows in how he handles it day to day.
He's not out there flailing or reaching or making comments

(33:54):
that you kind of wonder about. He's somebody who was
ready for this and he's his own man and was like,
he's in it for the long haul, and you gotta
have a lot of confidence about how he's going to
work the portal next offseason if he had to do
as much work as he did in the time period
that he had last offseason. He just exudes competence. To me,
he exudes competent somebody who has a plan and he's
going to be committed to the plan and he's not

(34:15):
going to get hung up on day to day excess
is one way or the other. And he's just ready
for this moment.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
Yeah, and that's that's a good point, and they should
reap the benefits of this when they go into the
next round of recruiting in the transfer portal. Let me
shift gears to football for a second and talk about
the transfer portal. The reports that the big left tackle
from New Mexico State Kentucky may be well positioned for

(34:43):
Curious as to what you're hearing, because if you read
the Michigan and Nebraska sites. Within the last day. They're
all saying it's, you know, one of those two Big
ten schools. But there are also reports out there that
Pete is leaning towards Kentucky.

Speaker 5 (34:55):
Now, well, I heard three or four days ago that
Kentucky was in the best shape out of the schools
that were recruiting Peet. And then you saw reports elsewhere
that it was between Michigan and Nebraska and some other
school And I ran that by people I talked to
and they kind of cocked an eyebrow and said, I
don't know how anybody would know this with confidence because

(35:16):
he hasn't even been communicating with his agent about the
details of his recruitment in a really consistent, detailed way.
So I think even from people close to Shias Pete,
there's been a lot of speculation going on, But Kentucky
has been really strong down the stretch. I think they're
going to land him. That's what my prediction would be.
He's a long guy, and if he gets his hands

(35:37):
on you, it's over. But you know, in terms of
his movement, in terms of his fundamentals and technique, he's
not elite, but he's much better potentially than you could
have it left tack. You don' want to go into
that second portal wave not knowing if you're going to
even have somebody who can play left tackle in the SEC.
And he would definitely be serviceable. He's been coveted by

(35:58):
Power Conference schools. You would round out the total overhaul
the big blue walls. Five new guys coming in, all
of them expected to be top seven or eight rotation players.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
Justin Rowlandcats Illustrated dot Com at Roland Rivals on x
or Twitter. Thank you much.

Speaker 3 (36:14):
Thanks what lot Tom.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
It is the Leads Report and we're presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
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Corn Bred Hemp. This is the good life, thanks to
one of our listeners who gave you the heads up.
Georgia actually leading Tennessee by one and halftime last night.
I did not watch the game clearly, but I was
tracking the scores while I was watching something else, and

(37:24):
I saw Tennessee way up right early in the second half,
and they outscored Georgia in that first ten minutes of
the second half twenty six to thirteen. So it was
early second half when the balls broke it open. They
only limited Georgia to twelve free throws. Georgia shot seventy
five free throws in their two home games Glue Georgia

(37:46):
or Kentucky in Oklahoma, and then in the two road
games at Tennessee and at Ole Miss, they've shot combined
twenty nine free throw so quite a big difference home
and away in the whistle that the dogs have gotten
so far. We're gonna get to the end of the
show here you could tell we're see it, going to
see you tomorrow and talk more about Kentucky and Alabama
here on the Leach Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises