2025-04-04 LEACH REPORT

Tom talks with Mike DeCourcy, Chris Fisher, and more.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good day, everybody. Welcome into Yes, you guessed it, another
rainy edition of the Leach Report, presented by Bob Gat Enterprises.
And this is just an awful stretch of weather that
is playing havoc with events that should be able to
go off as scheduled and that's not happening. With the

(00:22):
start of the Keeland Meat and the UK Baseball series
against number nine Ole Miss that's been impacted. So we'll
talk about UK sports and more over the course of
this hour here on the Leech Report, with Chris Fisher
from The Cat's Pause and Mike Decursi from the Sporting News,

(00:42):
probably at the Final four by this point, I would imagine,
So we'll chat with Mike about the final four. You're
one from Mark Pope at Kentucky, et cetera. And we
will lead off with christ Marilla from out at Keenland
to talk about their weather impacted star to the Spring Meet,
which isn't gonna happen today as originally scheduled, but will

(01:04):
happen on Sunday, and then they'll have two big racing
days on Monday and Tuesday, so that might be kind
of fun, hurt worker productivity, but hey, it's that time
of year with you all the n CAA tournament and
then moving into a couple of big racing days at
Keenland on a Monday or Tuesday. So probably be a

(01:26):
few folks playing hooky on one or both of those days,
especially since it's even though it'll be cooler, it's supposed
to be sunny by those two days according to the forecast.
So wild Cat News of the Day presented by Giuseppes
of Lexington. Final fours get started this weekend with the
women tonight in Tampa and the men tomorrow in San Antonio.

(01:48):
Seven to one seeds and a number two between the
two tournaments. Yukon's the only number two on the women's
side that isn't a one seed in these final fours,
so very chalky on both sides. Each has a semi
final with an SEC versus SEC matchup tonight. In the
women's tournament it's Texas and South Carolina tomorrow and the

(02:11):
men's it's Auburn and Florida, so we're gonna have an
SEC team in the championship game for each side. We
do know that Georgia Amore one of ten players named
the Wooden Award All America Team and also one of
ten named the Coaches All America Team yesterday. She had
personal bests in five categories in her one season with

(02:33):
the Wildcats. I mentioned the Baseball Kentucky hosting number nine
Ole Miss was supposed to start last night, and now
they had to call that one off and they have
rescheduled today for a double header that'll start at three,
and I think there's a chance that they could get
lucky here with a break. Is supposed to be a

(02:55):
gap in the rain is supposed to come back in
another wave really into Saturday, but they may be able
to get these in today, I hope. So it's three
o'clock today for a doubleheader, and if you had tickets
for the Thursday game for last night's game, they're going
to be valid for today. And then the wrap up

(03:15):
of the series is slated for Saturday at two. I
would doubt that would happen because of what the forecast is. However,
I think there's a chance that it may start to
dry out or least stop rating by Sunday, so maybe
they could play the wrap up on Sunday. All of
the games I have now been switched to the SEC

(03:37):
Network Plus as far as the TV coverage, of course,
Darreon Hedrick will have the call on the UK radio network.
Three o'clock today is the first pitch for Kentucky and
ole Miss. Of course, Kentucky's coming off winning a series
in the SEC for the first time this season, winning
two of three at Texas A and M so a
big opportunity for the Wildcats to polish up their resume

(03:58):
for a potential return trip to the NCAA tournament with
a good showing here against Ole Miss. UK Gymnastics has
advanced to the regional finals for the sixth year in
a row. This is at Penn State, which is hosting
the regional there and there's two groups of four teams
and the top two in each advanced to the regional

(04:19):
final that's going to start tomorrow, and so Kentucky and
Michigan State advanced out of their pool and Kentucky number
nine nationally in terms of the seating, will now have
a chance to play its way into the NCAA Championships.
And two Kentucky gymnasts had highest scores in the session,
Isabella Manelli on the beam and cresln Brose on the floor,

(04:42):
so they'll have a chance to build on those scores
in the regional final. So congrats to UK Gymnastics doing
well in the Pennsylvania regional and hopefully that can continue
for them. Links to the stories that we talk about
each day you can find them on the bud Light
Lead Report page at Tom Leachky dot com. We'll talk

(05:03):
a little bit about Keelan when we come right back
with Christa Morella and our opening segment of Wildcat News
always presented by Giuseppes of Lexington. If you head to Giuseppes,
you're gonna have a really special experience as a diner.
Sit in the lounge area, which I always recommend because
you get the live jazz music from Dave Hall to
accompany or meal that is just so special. The food's fantastic,

(05:24):
a lot of locally sourced items on the menu, full
wine and bourbon selections there, and Scott the bartender makes
a fantastic espresso martini as well. Check it all out
at Giuseppes Lexington dot com and go make your reservation
at Open Table. We'll be right back on the Leach
Report presented by Bob Kat Enterprises. It's the Late Report

(05:45):
coming to you for the Clarks Pumping Shop, studio, return,
refresh and refuel at Clark's and they have a new
loyalty rewards program, so make sure you get signed up
for that. As we go to the club Blueenisle dot
com online and bring on Christa Morilla, chief marketing officer
out at Keenland to talk about a little curveball from
Mother Nature. Christa, So opening day should have been today,

(06:07):
but it's going to be on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
That's right, Tom. I think the last time we chatted,
I don't think either of us would have predicted this,
but in life gives the lemons. Let's make some lemonade
out of it, right.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
Exactly right, And so Sunday, if you had tickets for
Sunday or reservations in some one of the dining rooms,
et cetera, that's all as scheduled, right.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yes, tickets for Sunday, those transfer or there's no changes there,
So business as usual on Sunday. Also Kids Club Family
Day that goes on on now our opening Sunday, so
families are excited about that. We're making a few adjustments
with the rain, but normal schedule there. We have cancelled

(06:52):
tail getting on the Hill understandably, it's pretty soggy up there,
so no tailgating this weekend.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
But I just got an email about tickets for Monday
and Tuesday, So it's kind of, if I'm understand this correctly,
kind of starting over for those Monday and Tuesday cards,
that would have been Friday and Saturday, right, that's.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Right, So we shifted Friday. Opening Friday's races are now
going to be taking place on Monday, and then Bluegrass
Saturday is now going to be on Tuesday. So just
to make it fair for everyone everyone's schedules and to
make it easy, we refunded all of those dining and

(07:33):
feeding tickets. Folks who had general admission tickets, those tickets
are now automatically available and able to use any day
of the race meeting, even on the days where we
are sold out. And then for folks who maybe didn't
have tickets on Opening Friday or Saturday, those are sold
out days, you can come on Monday and Tuesday, and

(07:54):
that's going to be a historic moment to be able
to come out and watch the Central Bank Ashland on
Monday and the Toyota blue Grass Stakes on Tuesday. And
we're offering three general admission. There's a lot of people
who maybe didn't get out of town for spring break,
and we want to make sure that this is something
that the community can enjoy and our employees are ready.

(08:17):
It's going to have all the things that you're expecting
and for a great day at racing on Monday and Tuesday.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
I looked at my weather app and I was pleased
to see a nice picture of something yellow there that
seems to be glowing for Monday and Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
That's all right, that's right, and that we're looking forward
to seeing the sunshine again. And I know our horsemen
are excited about it, and it's truly it's going to
be a great couple of days of racing. And like
you said, we have ticket packages available. I was just
looking online. Their seats available in the Lexington, Kentucky Room
on I believe on Tuesday, so you can come watch

(08:55):
the blue Grass from a beautiful view trackside questrian and
then of course grand stands seats. So encourage people to
come out and watch these superstars. This is our big
Oaks Prep race. Fourteen winners of the Central Bank to
Ashland have gone on to win the Kentucky Oaks and

(09:15):
then of course, the Toyota blue Grass Stakes are big
derby prep Race. I mean, these are absolute superstars that
are going to be here, and we want the Bluegrass
Central Kentucky, all these horse fans to come out and
be able to experience.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
It beyond this suggusted schedule and then it'll be a
business as normal starting Wednesday, so it'll be like eight
straight days of racing and if the weather situation is good,
the hill opens back up ideally I guess next weekend.
But whenever it does get back open, I did see
you guys have a new seating option. I guess up

(09:53):
there at the hill where you could get a little
it's a little bit more of a premium price, but
you get a premium set up up there, right.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
That's right. Well, we are excited to launch Race Day
Social on the hill. Tailgating is such a huge part
of the Queenland experience and a tradition that our fans love,
and we're making it really easy for fans to you
don't want to pack a tailgate, or you've got a
group that's coming in and you don't hassle with having
to pack everything out. Race Day Social is the perfect

(10:24):
opportunity to just purchase a ticket on Queenland dot com
and everything that you need for a tailgate is right
there waiting for you, and they've got a great menu,
a buffet for you, full bar, our betologists will be
up there. You can watch and wager on the races,
and then of course all the amenities that are on
the hill that people can experience. Every Friday, Saturday and

(10:47):
Sunday we'll have live music, food trucks. It's just a
terrific experience. But we're excited to continue to enhance something
that our fans truly love, which is tailgating.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
Chris to thank you for the time, and we'll see
it Keeenland on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Thanks.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
Tom just retweeted something from Keenland on my feed at
Tom leech k y about what we were talking about
with a rescheduled racing for Monday and Tuesday and the
ticket plan et cetera. So if you follow me on
on x or Twitter, you'll see that there we're gonna
get to break. Chris Fisher will join us from the
Cat's Pause. We come right back, all right, we go

(11:25):
back to the Clublanil dot com Hodline bring on Chris
Fisher from katspaws dot com. Uh, he has an article
up there that you could find. The headline is first
time in a long time, better days are ahead for
Kentucky men's basketball. And Chris Frahm's following some of your
posts on x or Twitter. Since you're getting a little
frustrated with portal panic.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
Could you tell uh No, I've I've been listed and
I'm serving on the front lines.

Speaker 4 (11:54):
I am Mark Pope's online champion.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
Uh it is. I guess they got they got a
commitment last friday. We could go today when they were
getting ready to play Tennessee from Cam Williams of Tulane.
So they got out of the great gate fast, and
in this following week they have yet to completely fill
out the roster. And uh, and you know, I understand
there's like part of it is there's so much information

(12:22):
that's flying around and with agents involved now and all
of this, there's you know, the school or the coach
can't always control the flow of information to the degree
that they might like. And you know things and you know,
imagine an agent throwing something out there that might be
you know, a negotiating tactic somewhere else. So those kind
of things that are happening, right.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
Yeah, I mean I think in this world of nil,
I think there's more misinformation than ever. But yeah, you
talked about Cam Williams. I mean, he's a top twenty
five transfer, a potential NBA prospect, who was only a
freshman at Tulane, and for some odd reason, you never
hear anybody.

Speaker 4 (13:02):
Talk about him.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
It's almost like Kentucky never even got that commitment. But
you know, I think a lot of things are going
into it. I thought Mark Pope and his staff would
get the benefit of the doubt just based on how
they handled last offseason and how you know, those nine
transfers performed. Clearly I was wrong about that, But you
know there are some factors. I mean, Louisville starting, you know,

(13:26):
really hot out of the gate. I think as part
of it, the fact that Kentucky doesn't have nearly as
many spots to fill on this roster as they did
a year ago is probably part of it as well.
But you know, Cam Williams was was a really good
start I think for for Mark Pope and and this offseason.

Speaker 4 (13:48):
And there's a couple more holes to fill now.

Speaker 3 (13:51):
Also, it's it's clear that I think the average fan
probably doesn't understand the type of money that these top
transfers are commanding. And I think Kentucky, you know, they
have a healthy war chest, but it's not monopoly money
and it's not an endless supply, and so I think
Mark Pope and his staff have been diligent about how

(14:13):
they go about spending that money to this point.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
And for Kentucky, because you know a couple of guys
I'm thinking about, in particular Oway and Garrison that came
in and had much better years than they had had previously,
you spend part of the budget on getting guys not
to transfer.

Speaker 4 (14:34):
Exactly.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
I mean the year before Kentucky didn't retain a single
scholarship player from the roster. And so yes, none of
that money was being spent in that way. And yeah,
you have to bring back Colin Chandler and Travis Perry,
Trent Noah, takea Oway, Brandon Garrison, and that eats into
it a little bit. And so I mean you look

(14:55):
at a guy like Otakea Oway. I think he was
ranked in the thirties last year. Twenty four to seven
Sports did a final re rank of last year's portal class,
and he was ranked in the top ten. Three Kentucky
players were ranked in the top twenty, Lamont Butler and
Amari Williams in there with him also, And so I mean,

(15:15):
you look at you know, you look at the evaluation
that Mark Pope did in such an expedited timeline last offseason,
and so many of those guys had career years in
terms of efficiency if you look at their per forty
minute numbers. And so it's not just about the portal rankings.

(15:38):
Those are extremely subjective. They're you know, nearly two thousand
players in the portal. That's really really hard to rank
those guys. But every single transfer that Kentucky brought in,
even Ansley Almanor, who was ranked in the three hundreds
and was probably going to Sienna if he didn't sign
with Kentucky, made meaningful contribute to last year's roster.

Speaker 4 (16:01):
And for that, I think.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
Mark Pope gets the benefit of the doubt, even though
he probably won't get it.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
Your article back to that. What's the source of all
of your confidence that better days are ahead?

Speaker 3 (16:15):
Yeah, I just I just think Mark Pope has has
united the fan base in a way that really only
he could. And you know, I think about his relentless positivity,
and I think for the most part it's rubbed off
on the fans. And the fan base was fractured there
for for so long, and there was a lot of infighting,
and uh, I just looked at the fan reaction after

(16:39):
the loss to Tennessee, a bitter rival, mind you, in
Kentucky's longest standing rival in the SEC. But there was
a sense of hope with the fan base going forward
and it wasn't just bitterness and resentment and you know,
we lost.

Speaker 4 (16:54):
Again and that type of thing. And so.

Speaker 3 (16:57):
I look at you know, what Mark Pope was able
to accomplish with twenty four wins, with eight you know,
top fifteen wins, which was a school record, beating Duke,
beating Ford A, beating Louisville, beating Tennessee twice, beating Gonzaga
for the first time since that series was renewed a
couple of years ago, and then playing seven games at

(17:20):
full strength, having two season ending injuries. What he was
able to do with you know, kind of this ragtag
group of guys and to make it to the Sweet sixteen,
and you know, while playing the number three strength of
schedule and the toughest you know, conference in NCAA history.
I just think, you know, with a full off season

(17:42):
to work with, you know, a couple of tweaks being made,
I just think the future is really really bright and
pretends massive, massive success for Mark Popek, Kentucky.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
You can read that at catspaus dot com and follow
Chris on X for Twitter at Chris Fisher two four
to seven.

Speaker 5 (18:00):
Thank you much, all right.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
Thanks back with Mike de Coursey on the Leach Report
second half of the Friday Show, and Commonwealth Causes is
back with their April Bourbon Raffle. It's the ultimate Bourbon
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(18:23):
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Causes dot org and part of the Club Blue INIL
dot com family, and we go to the Club Blue
INIL dot com Hobline to bring on Mike de Coursi

(18:45):
for a regular Friday visit here. Mike's with the Sportingnews
dot Com at TSN MIC on X and see him
on the Big Ten Network as well, and during the
season does the brackets for Fox Sports college basketball coverage?
Are you already in San Antonio?

Speaker 5 (18:57):
Mike, Yes, I am ill. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (19:01):
Arrived here late Wednesday, and yesterday we had availability in
the various locker rooms and the coaches in the press conferences.
The practices were closed yesterday so the teams could hit
a feel for that and today they'll have the four
open sessions in the afternoon so fans can come in
and get a little glimpse of the four teams that

(19:22):
will compete Saturday night.

Speaker 1 (19:25):
The river Walk is the famous part of Dan Hunt
San Antonio, beautiful city. And got to give I say
that because I must give great credit to my buddy
Iron Eagle of CBS when the last game finished up
with Auburn winning the final spot in the Final four
on Sunday and said it's all chalk on the river Walk,

(19:46):
four number one seeds for the second time ever in
the tournament. I thought that was a great line and
it is all chalk down there. We got an All
SEC final on one side and then a rematch of
a game from last season on the the other. Who
do you think emerges to Monday Night?

Speaker 6 (20:04):
Well, I originally picked Duke and Florida, and so I'm
not gonna go away from that and then feel like
an idiot for abandoning one or the other. If I
were to abandon one, it would be Florida. I have
not been delighted by their play in this tournament, and
I think that it's partly because of the injury to

(20:26):
Alex Condon. He's quite clearly or has been quite clearly
not himself to this point in the tournament. And the
other aspect of it is, I think you're seeing as
they get through into better competition, bigger competition, more concentrated competition,
you're seeing the weaknesses in their offense, especially on the wings.

(20:48):
They rely so much on Walter Clayton to generate offense.
And Elijah Martin's a really fine college basketball player. Here
he is in a second Final four with a different program,
but he's not an elite offensive creator. He can make
an open shot, but he's not exceptional at getting making
things happen. And it's true of Will Richard on the

(21:09):
other wing. They're both really good defensively. You'd certainly want
them on their team on your team, but when things
get difficult offensively, they don't have a ton of answers there.
And so as things have gotten difficult in the Yukon
game and especially in the Texas Tech game, I think

(21:30):
Clayton has been a little bit reluctant to say, Okay,
this isn't working. I've got to do this, and if
they want to play Monday, he's got to. If those
situations develop, and I'm sure they probably will because Bruce
is going to have Auburn ready, he's got to take
over earlier. And that doesn't necessarily mean just shooting more.

(21:52):
It means when he was double teamed against Texas Tech,
he didn't try to punish the double teams at all,
just to say, Okay, you do this. They're taking me out.
You do this, and that's not going to work at
this level.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Just looking back, they only played once during the season,
Florida and Auburn. The Gators won at Auburn ninety to
eighty one. Clayton had four threes. Florida outscored Auburn on
threes thirteen to seven, which was certainly significant in that game.
So they were they always saw each other once during
the regular season. We've got a situation where one team

(22:31):
duke is freshman dominated, but the others. I saw the
numbers of returning the percent of returning minutes on the roster,
and in Houston's number was the highest, but Florida and Auburn,
I think all of them were in the high sixty
percentile or above, or maybe all seventy percent and above.
You also have the talk about is you know Cinderella

(22:53):
dead based off of what we've seen unfold in this tournament.
What's your take on you knowing together a roster to
get to a final four in this current environment and
is Cinderella dead?

Speaker 6 (23:08):
Well, first of all, I don't think that you can
make any judgments based on one circumstance, one situation.

Speaker 5 (23:16):
We just don't have enough data.

Speaker 6 (23:17):
I mean, remember two years ago, I mean we were
relatively new into the transfer portal thing, but it did exist,
and there were significant player.

Speaker 5 (23:26):
Changes back then.

Speaker 6 (23:27):
I mean, everybody remembers Nigel Pack going from Kansas State
to Miami and that team wound up in the Final
four coming out of believe a five or a four seed,
I can't remember which they were.

Speaker 5 (23:37):
That Indiana was.

Speaker 6 (23:38):
The four or they were the four, and they played
each other in a second round and Miami goes on
to make the Final four. And then of course you
had a Florida Atlanta come out of an eight nine game.
So I don't know that we can make that decision yet.
And some others have said, well, wait a second. I mean,
Cinderella could be Jani Broome, because jenn I Broom started

(24:01):
his career at Morehead State and now here he is
one of.

Speaker 5 (24:05):
The two best players in the country.

Speaker 6 (24:07):
Or it could be Walter Clayton, who started his career
at IONA and now is one of the four.

Speaker 5 (24:11):
Best players in the country.

Speaker 6 (24:13):
And so it's not just about whether or not we
get a surprise team in the Sweet sixteen or.

Speaker 5 (24:21):
The Final four.

Speaker 6 (24:22):
I mean, there was a time when you never got
surprise teams in the Final four. Until George Mason in
two thousand and six. That didn't exist, and we had
many more subsequent to that. But I think it was
more the weakening of the top than it was the
strengthening of the middle. It was that we didn't have
the Christian latners in Grant Hills and players like that

(24:46):
staying four years or even Jamal Mashburn staying three years.
Through the course of the two thousands and twenty tens,
one of the main reasons we saw the strengthening of
Quote Cinderella in the Final four was the best teams
weren't as profoundly good. I don't think there's anything wrong

(25:07):
with the best teams getting really good again. I think
that's I think that's certainly something that is not a
negative for the tournament. And the other question about building
a roster. I actually have an article coming out today
about this, and it's about the idea that you have
to dominate your team with the transfer portal. It's only

(25:29):
basically that's the way to get here, and the reality
is that nobody's won this thing yet with a portal team.
I mean, you have to have guys that if you
need if you need a if you have a need
for a shooting guard, or you hadn't have a need
for a big guy or whatever, you have to be
flexible and willing enough to go find them wherever. And
that includes the transfer portal. But the teams that have

(25:52):
won this deal still have been primarily homegrown teams. I
think it was around fifty nine percent of the regulars.
The rotation players in this final four are our homegrown players.
There still are some very important transfers, as I mentioned
Jeni and Walder and those guys are all important players.

Speaker 5 (26:15):
But building from within is important. And I talked to.

Speaker 6 (26:20):
Mark Pope about this a couple of weeks ago, or
actually last week, and I think it's pretty obvious that
that's the direction Kentucky is going to go, but it
was not the direction available to him because of when
he got the Kentucky job and what profound needs there
were relative to the roster.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
Jane, Now you mentioned Jani Broom just looking his very
first college game. He had eleven points and five rebounds,
but his team lost eighty one to forty five two
the University of Kentucky at Rapperina. It was the year
after COVID had hit, when one of unfortunately a small

(27:02):
number of wins for the Wildcats that season. But yeah, Jane,
I Broom's first game was in Reperena. We're gonna take
a quick break here and come back and want to
talk a little bit about Mark Pope's first year at
Kentucky and moving forward there and Mike's thoughts on that,
a couple of other things too. It is the Leach Report,
and we are presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises, four

(27:23):
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and then fantastic service after the sale from our friends
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the hour here on the Leach Report. Coming to here
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Mike de Coursy with us on the Club BLUEINIL dot

(27:45):
com hotline. You can read his coverage of the Final
Four at Sportingnews dot com and follow an x at TSN. Mike,
You're one in the books for Mark Pope at the
University of Kentucky made it to the Sweet sixteen. And
what's your take on what you saw in year one
from Mark Pope and what you think is ahead moving

(28:06):
forward for the Wildcats.

Speaker 6 (28:08):
Well, I think it was a tremendous success and he
was aided in the circumstance that he entered by the
fact that the portal now exists. What he entered was
what I call an empty gym. And I've sort of
watched this happen in a few programs over the years.
That Cincinnati in two thousand and six, when Mick Cronin

(28:31):
took over, there basically had one senior player and no
other recruited players left in their program because of some
circumstances relative to the protracted departure of Bob Huggins and
how he was treated by the administration there. Or Indiana
after Calvin Samson was removed and Tom Crean came in

(28:55):
in two thousand and eight, again basically left at that
point one one recruited, one walk on who had become
a more or less scholarship player, and nothing else. And
how do you build after that? And for them it
was about you have to you have to create a standard.
This is the line. You do not go below this line.

(29:16):
We may lose games, but you don't go below this line.
Effort intention to detail all those sorts of things.

Speaker 5 (29:23):
And they and they.

Speaker 6 (29:24):
Succeeded in both places because they enforced that standard.

Speaker 5 (29:28):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (29:28):
And when Mark came in, he could get better players
because of the portal, but the line was still established
for those players who came in and were going to
be short term players. They're still a line and if
you don't enforce that line, you're not building a program.
And Marke did a brilliant job of making sure that
everyone involved met that standard that there was that that

(29:53):
that standard was not going to be compromised. And we
have seen programs not far from where you are that
did put that standard in place and failed as a result.
And so that's an even more important than making the
Sweet sixteen, which was wonderful, or winning the big games
that they did. The most important thing that he did.

Speaker 5 (30:12):
Was say this is how we're going to play.

Speaker 6 (30:14):
This is how hard we're going to play, this is
how together we're going to be, this is how we're
going to represent Kentucky. And I think he succeeded in
all of those things. And because he was able to
bring in a number of really talented players through the portal,
he was also able to win a bunch of important games.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
And you had just about everybody who came in maybe
it was everybody as a transfer produced at some level
better numbers than they had previously. Otega Oway leading that charge.
I think there were thirteen different categories you could find
where he had a personal best above his previous two
years at Oklahoma. So no fans get frustrated that they

(30:56):
the transfer portal isn't moving as fastly for as rapidly
for Kentucky yet as they want. But he seemingly laid
out a pretty good sales pitch there with the way
guys improved when they came to Kentucky, and you would
have to think they will be fine moving forward. Is
just you know, you got to manage the money and

(31:19):
all of those things these days, in addition to you know,
selling playing time and development, et cetera.

Speaker 6 (31:24):
Yeah, I mean, think about it a year ago at
this time on this day. Not only did Kentucky not
have any of the players that had this great year,
but Mark was still BYU's coach.

Speaker 5 (31:36):
And cow was still Kentucky's coach.

Speaker 6 (31:38):
So the war it's the portal is not a race
of all of all the elements of this. Are there
players that maybe have gone off the board that Kentucky
would have liked?

Speaker 5 (31:47):
I would imagine.

Speaker 6 (31:49):
That's the case, but I mean I'm not I'm not
sure that Kentucky will be involved.

Speaker 5 (31:54):
But a young man from Princeton, I believe it.

Speaker 6 (31:58):
I think his name is Xavier Lee, a point guard,
very talented, just went.

Speaker 5 (32:03):
In the portal today. I mean, so you don't know who's.

Speaker 6 (32:06):
Going to be in there by the end of By
the end of April or mid April, there still are
players that can do that, and there may be players
from off the rosters here or are from off the
Elite eight rosters that still haven't made their final decisions.
So I don't I don't think Kentucky fans need to
worry when you look at what Mark and his staff

(32:29):
have done. Honestly, I suspect that they'll be successful. But
I think the most important things is and I don't
I haven't heard anything obviously, you guys would. I haven't
heard anything about Otega yet, what his future is, what
Brandon's future is, even what kurs future is.

Speaker 5 (32:46):
What do they all plan to be back? I retention is.

Speaker 6 (32:49):
A very important component of this now, and I don't
know that any final decisions have been made on that.
But if you know, that would be my first priority
if I were in charge of Kentucky is making sure
that I made the right decisions with those players.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
Kerr has entered the portal, but nothing from the other two.
I think the expectation is Otego will maybe Brandon too,
go through the NBA evaluation process, but I think the
expectation is that both will be back at Kentucky next season.
A couple of minutes left here, let me ask you
about something you wrote about at sporting news dot com,
which is the fiftieth anniversary of John Wooden winning his

(33:26):
final game as the legendary coach at UCLA at the
expense of Kentucky in the nineteen seventy five National Title Game,
and you have a long story about it at sportingnews
dot com. It includes quotes from a couple of ex
Wildcats that played in that game, Goose Givens and Kevin.

Speaker 6 (33:43):
Drevy, a couple of pretty memorable Wildcats, and they were
both delightful to speak with. It was an honor to
talk with Kevin and Goose, and they both gave me
some really interesting insights. I love the conversation that I
had with Kevin and what he's said about how frustrated
he was by the defeat, how Wooden's sudden retirement, and

(34:08):
what people may not remember or be aware of from
fifty years ago is that he made his announcement about
his retirement being that Monday game against the Wildcats on
after the Saturday semi final. No one knew publicly that
he was going to do that, and then he told
his team, and then it started to get out and

(34:30):
the Kentucky players found out, and Kevin said that they
were not the same team after that, he said he
didn't know if it was that it had knocked the
Wildcats back or elevated the Bruins, but it wasn't the same,
and he said he helped to crudge of sorts against
Wooden for years after that. That was somewhat assuaged when

(34:52):
his team with the Washington Bullets then won the NBA
title in seventy eight, the same year the Wildcats sort
of got their mojo back Mike Phillipson, Rick Roby and
Goose with Goose's forty one points, you know, got the
title back that they left on the table three years earlier.
But I love that, Kevin said, you know, in the end,

(35:13):
that was part of his journey. If they had won
that game, maybe he does. He gets drafted a spot
or two earlier than the Washington Bullets, taking him I
think eighteen overall, and he met his wife in Washington.
He's worked there for years, partly as an NBA scout
and doing some announcing and things. He's got three kids,

(35:36):
I think two grand kids, and all that might not
happened if the Wildcats had won.

Speaker 5 (35:40):
So he's, like he said, it's part of his journey.

Speaker 6 (35:42):
You don't want to change history because he's very happy
with how things turned out.

Speaker 5 (35:47):
I know he'd still love to have that ring from
that nineteen seventy five.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yeah, those guys, Kevin unfortunately had had an injury, didn't
get to come in for the fiftieth reunion for those
guys during this past season. But you know, Jimmy dan Connor,
Mike Flynn, Brick Robio, all those guys and more it was.
They still have a very tight, tight connection from that season. Mike,

(36:13):
appreciate the time. Folks can go to Sporting News dot
com and see that article and we will talk to
you next Friday when we will know who the national
champion is for men's college basketball. Thank you, Tom, Mike Ncarsi,
Sportingnews dot Com at TSN, Mike on X. We'll be
right back with our final segment of The Leach Report,
presented by Bob Kat enterprises Stay a wild Cat History,

(36:35):
a service of Kentucky Roadshow sports cards and memorabilia there
in Romney Road in Lexington at at roadshowcards dot Com.
Don't have a historical note today or a birthday, but
we do have a passing to tell you about. Dean
Wells lost his battle with cancer at the age of
fifty four. Played for the Cats from nineteen eighty nine
through ninety two, then went on to a long NFL career.

(36:58):
Still holds the single game wrecord for sacks. He had
five sacks in one game against Indiana in nineteen ninety two.
Played his high school football at Holy Cross in Louisville.
So condolences to the family and many friends of Dean Wells. Keenland,
of course, is not starting today as scheduled. They're going
to start on Sunday, and then the two big days

(37:20):
that would have been today and tomorrow with the Ashland
Steaks and the Bluegrass Steaks. Those will happen on Monday
and Tuesday. But there are a couple of big Derby
preps tomorrow. Looking ahead to the run for the Roses.
The Wood Memorial in New York and the Santa Anita
Derby out in California. And if journalism wins that, then
he is likely going to be your Derby favorite. I

(37:41):
would think it's gonna do it. For this edition of
The Leech Report, I want to remind you about our
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That's Cornbreadhamp dot com. We'll see them Monday on The
Leach Report.