2025-04-21 LEACH REPORT

Tom talks with Mark Story and Brandon Ramsey.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good day, Welcome into our show for this Monday, we
are as always presented by Bobcat Enterprises and coming up
on the show today we are going to chat with
Mark Story from the Lexington Herald Leader Kentucky sports dot
Com and in the second half Brandon Ramsey from on

(00:23):
three Sports KSR and get his take on the roster
Mark Pope is putting together for his second season at Kentucky.
Wildcat News up the day always the service of Giuseppees
of Lexington, and we'll start with a little football news.
Wildcats have added some depth to the running back room

(00:43):
seth McGowan, who played at New Mexico State last season,
is going to be a Wildcat. Six one two twenty.
Played the at New Mexico State was Hias Pete. The
new left tackle for Kentucky and mcgallan ran for eight
hundred and twenty three yards, averaged five point four per carry,

(01:04):
can catch passes. The reports sare that he brings explosiveness,
so would be a change of pace guy for Kentucky
with dal l that they got from Nebraska. He started
at Oklahoma as a four star recruit. The coach who
recruited him to OU is Jay Boulware now in who's
going to be his position coach at UK There was

(01:27):
an off the field issue at OU, charges including robbery,
that led to Mcallan's dismissal from the team. Was out
of football for a year, worked his way back through
the JUCO ranks and then New Mexico State. He has
one year remaining to play college football for Kentucky. They
were looking for one more running back. I think they'd

(01:50):
love to find one more receiver. I think there's at
least one offer out there to young man from Byus
in the portal. I think there was an offer to
a tight end. So they're looking for Like the thing is,
they're not looking for any starters anywhere, but they are
looking to add some depth, probably a little bit in
the offensive and defensive line as well, if it can

(02:13):
be found. Big weekend for Nick Minjeon and the Kentucky
baseball team as they took the series from Number four
Tennessee in Knoxville with an eight to two win yesterday.
I watched most of this one and it was nip
and tuck until the last two innings when Kentucky exploded
for five runs and broke it open. After Tennessee had

(02:37):
looked like it had captured the momentum in the game.
Ben Cleaver was great on the mound. The left hander
bitch seven innings, allowed only two runs and struck out seven.
But Tennessee got back into the game scored a couple
of runs. Kentucky had jumped out to an early four
to think lead, but then Tennessee was coming back, and

(02:59):
that's when Tucky broke it open in the top of
the eighth to improve to eight and ten in league play,
twenty two and fifteen overall. So we've been saying this
for the last couple of weekends. The teams that Kentucky
was playing gave them a chance to really make a
big statement with their NCAA tournament resume, and they were
able to do that this weekend in Knoxville by winning

(03:21):
the series. They lost the game on Friday night, so
they'd take the final two, and now they get another
chance to polish up that resume tomorrow with a game
against Louisville. We'll get into that in more detail tomorrow,
and then they'll be back home this weekend for SEC play.
A couple of notes from around college basketball. Nate Ament
picked Tennessee. Kentucky was among his final five, but hadn't

(03:44):
really been considered a real threat to land him for
some time. There was I think a time when Louisville
thought it had a lead, probably when Duke thought it
had a lead. But he ends up going to Tennessee
to play for Rick Barnes and companies. So the balls
will be loaded again next season after making it to
Final eight's the last two years. There was some speculation,

(04:08):
of course, that Rick Barnes might step down after this
past season didn't happen. I think I'm sure he would
love to take Tennessee to his first Final four and
then probably would maybe step aside at that point. So
he's gonna have the kind of roster that could certainly
do that next season. And Alvarl forgaris the transfer big

(04:30):
man from Robert Morris that had been mentioned frequently with
Kentucky not so much since Kentucky got the commitment from
the big man from Croatia, so he has now ended
up at Iowa for next season. Links to the stories
that we talk about each day, you can find those
on the Bud Light Leech Report page at Tom leachky

(04:51):
dot com. Our opening segment of Wildcat News always presented
by j Seppies of Lexington, and they are tucked away
off Nicholasville Road here in Lexington, just out past Mantle
War easy find. You get fantastic food, the Pasta's homemade seafood,
chipped in, fresh steaks handcut there on site, a lot

(05:13):
of locally sourced ingredients for the sides and for the beef.
And then the ambiance is just off the charts. It's
a really special night out at Giuseppe. So make plans
through open table to get there yourself. We'll we'll be
right back with Mark's story from the Herald Leader. It
is the Leech Report Radio network. Leitch Repork comes to
you each day from the Clark's Pumpin' Shop studio. Return,

(05:34):
refresh and refuel at Clark's and make sure you sign
up for their new Loyalty Rewards program. You get discounts
and fuel and items in the stores as well. Mark's
story joins us now from the Lexington Herald Leader in
Kentucky sports dot Com on the Club Blue Nile dot
com hotline and Mark, We'll start with a little basketball

(05:55):
and Mark Pope putting together his second roster what do
you think of what he's assembled to this point.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
I think it's really interesting. You know, last year I
was very bullish on Kentucky. I just felt like the
roster that had men put together the parts fits and
I thought the su would exceed the parts. And I
think when that team was healthy, I think that proved
to be true. You know, this year, I'm not as
familiar with most of the players as I was the
ones from last year, just because I had watched a

(06:25):
lot of Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr and Jackson Robinson
at their previous schools. You know, I'm a big fan
of Mo Diabaatee, as I suspect most people are, because
i just think he's a winning basketball player, and I'm
anxious to see what he does with extended minutes. I'm
excited if he's healthy, to see Jaydon Acquaintance actually in

(06:46):
Kentucky blue, and I think, you know, he has a
high upside, you know, to me, I'm not sure. I
think the physical ceiling of this this second portal group
is probably greater than last year's portal hall, but I
don't know that the floor is high. I think there's
a greater I think there's a greater variance possible in
the outcomes.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Because of the I guess basketball just the well you're
more familiar, as you said with the other group, and
just the guys that maybe don't have didn't have quite
as much as lessism as the second team will have
but had we're just really good basketball players.

Speaker 3 (07:24):
Is that why?

Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah? I thought I thought the skill level of the
first group, you know, I thought they're they're older, you know,
a lot, you had a lot of super seniors. I
just was more sure of what you were getting. I think,
I you know, I think what they've got now, I
think the upside is high. Just the players aren't quite
as old, and I'm not sure. I just think there's

(07:47):
a greater variance in the possible outcomes. I think they
could clearly. I think just on physical upside that could
be better. But I don't. But I think there's more risk,
a little more risk than there was last year, just
in terms of maybe the parts don't fit as well
and that kind of thing.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
It feels like now, assembling a roster is a lot
like watching if you have a favorite pro team assemble
a roster.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Is that.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
There are you've got to fit the pieces together within
the construct of your salary cap, so to speak. And
you look at Kentucky fans hit the panic meter pretty quickly,
even when the dent kid went to UCLA right out
of the box.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
He'd been mentioned with Kentucky.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
But there are certain points where like, Okay, we love
to have this young man, but only at this price point.
If it gets up higher, then that means we have
to go back and pay way more for example or whatever,
or other players that we're recruiting. And so all of
a sudden, you know, it's not like you just it's

(08:53):
not monopoly money where you just spend as much as
you want. You do have to kind of fit those
financial pieces together as well as the town on pieces.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
Right.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, I think that's a very good point. And you know,
the panic button got pushed real real quick. And and
and I didn't really understand why, because I think the
point of this is to is to build a team.
And you know, sometimes you know, a guy that is
a good addition at say X amount of dollars is

(09:23):
not a good audition at X amount of dollars plus
five hundred thousand more. And you know, I thought, you know,
as I said, I thought last year, Kentucky did a
really good job of putting pieces together that fits. So
I think they deserved benefit of the doubt on on
that this year. And you know, I was pretty confident
that they would come out of this with good players

(09:44):
because from what I hear, they had money and it's
still Kentucky, so I you know, that's that part. I
was never especially concerned when some guys that they were
after didn't come because at the end of the day,
what matters is who you get. It doesn't matter who
you tried to get it don't get.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah, And I think with freshmen and when it was
all about getting the best players through the freshman ranks,
then I think rankings to me, see if you agree
with this, were more important if you're in terms of,
you know, the guys that are doing the rankings pretty
much get it right more often than not. And who

(10:21):
you know, so you're getting, you know, NBA lottery type talent.
If you're getting some of the top guys when you're
talking about the poral rankings and understand they're they're interesting,
I don't know that they're as valuable as the ranking
of the top freshmen because and just look at point
guards Kentucky. We mentioned Dent Kentucky. He was one of
the higher rated players, rated higher than Jalen Lowe. But

(10:45):
to me, you know, the position, any of these positions.
But we'll talk about point guard here. There's not just
one guy that is the you know, the lottery pick guy.
There's five, ten whatever guys that could be just fine.
So it's getting one of those that you can afford
within your budget.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
Right right.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
It's getting the right fit at the right price is
essentially what it comes down to.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Yeah, and that's what you try to do as you
go through this. They've looks like they're trying to add
I guess at least one more. Does it need to
be a shooter? Does it need to be a backup
point guard? What are your thoughts on what kind of
player they need.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yeah, I'm probably a little more ambivalent about that than
a lot of people seem to be. You know, I
would say probably a shooter if they're going to add.
You know, it was interesting, you know, I was studying
the final four teams, and Duke obviously is an anomaly
because they're still sort of in the full one and

(11:45):
done mode. But the other three teams of the fifteen
starters in the final four, eleven of them had been
in the program for more than a year. So I
think player retention is sort of being overlooked and I
think is really huge. And there's a part of me
that Kentucky would be well served to just sort of
go with what it has at this point and let
some guys have a chance to sort of grow into

(12:06):
that role. But you know, I understand it's hard to
do that if you can get a guy that you
think is a sure thing, that you know, fills a
niche you don't have. But I think it's important in
the long term to be a program where guys, if
they are you know, come and can develop and stay
because I think player retention is really important.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, I think you're exactly right. Because of you know,
I think it was like, other than Duke, the other
three teams at the Final four, didn't They all have
about seventy percent or better minutes returning from the previous season.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
Now, I said, of the fifteen starters non Duke starters
in the final four, eleven of those players have been
in their program for more than one year. It was
at least their second season on their team.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
And I've said before, I really liked how Florida's team
was constructed with the four bigs that were complimentary at
complimentary skill sets that Kentucky may have something like that season.
And then you know, the three guards that Florida had
that were outstanding had started at Belmont, Florida, Atlantic, and
Iona to begin their college careers.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah, I you know, it's funny. I decided late January
early February that Florida was the best team or was
the SEC's best bet to win the national championship. And
I thought I was on to something. And by the
time it came time to pick, everybody had picked Florida.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
You were just leading a pack. Everybody was following your lead.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Mark Stories with us from the Lexingdont Harold Leader Kentucky
Sports dot Com.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
We'll take a quick break, come right back.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
He's joining us on the Club Blue andil dot com hotline.
Here on the Lead Report twenty five past the top
of the aver Chat with Mark Story from the Harold
Leader in Kentucky Sports dot Com And Mark, you had
a recent column about five games that could provide a
path to Bowl eligibility for the Kentucky football team this
coming season off of four and eight year Toledo, Ole,

(13:58):
miss South Carolina, Auburn, and Vandy. So three of those
five are in the first four games of the season.
September will be pretty important.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, that first month is huge, and you know it's
it's interesting Kentucky, which what has now lost what twenty
nine players off last year's roster that went into the portal,
So you've had a just a humongous roster revamp. And
then you go into the season where I just think
it's so important to get off to a good start.

(14:27):
If you can do that, then you know, I think
you can. I think you have a chance to do something.
I think it would just sort of revitalize just kind
of the atmosphere around the program and and just you know,
could change everything. But if you get off to a
bad start, and there's so much negativity already, you just
if you risk it getting away from you at the start,

(14:47):
so that those first four games are just humongous.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
I'll see if you agree with this.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
I've said that with the quay the schedule is and
as you write in your column, it is brutal. You think,
compare it to what Missouri was given for these these
two seasons as the SEC's transitioning into whatever whatever it's
going to end up with. But at least for Kentucky,
the three games in which they would be viewed as

(15:14):
having the least likely chance to win are all grouped
together in October. Uh So I thought that was actually
favorable for a team, because if you can get off
to the good start in September and you know, you
survive October and don't get you loose too many of
your key guys, then you have a chance to play

(15:35):
the final five games against teams where you know, on
paper right now, you don't figure to be a huge
underdog in any of them.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
Right I think you would feel like you have a
chance if you have played well enough early in the season,
have built some confidence, you know, and get to those
games and well the good health. You know.

Speaker 3 (15:55):
The point about.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
Kentucky schedule versus Missouri. You know, back last year when
the college when the college football playoff field was said,
I went and looked at the schedules and in these
gigantic conferences where you're not teams aren't playing the same schedules.
The variants and who plays who is just humongous and
in the case of You know, I looked at Kentucky
and Missouri. You know there are three SEC teams in

(16:18):
the playoff last year. Well, Kentucky will play all three
of them, Missouri plays nine. I think there were five
SEC teams that won double digit wins. Kentucky will play
four of them, Missouri will play nine. And then there
were four SEC teams that had overall losing records. Kentucky
plays none of those and Missouri will play three. So yeah,
you know that right there, just the schedule. You know,

(16:41):
obviously the perception is Missouri's on the rise and they've
played well and deserved that, and Kentucky's just coming off
a really bad year. But schedule is part of that.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
I wonder if they would ever go to you know,
league like the SEC is about a half step away
from the NFL, so something like where you know, if
you have a bad season, you get a more favorable
schedule the next year.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see. Usually in college
they schedule farther out than that. But yeah, this thing,
Kentucky has done no favors by running the schedule back.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
Not at all. Mark, Thank you much for the time.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
Thanks Tom.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
That is Mark's story from the Lexington Herald Leader Kentucky
Sports dot Com joining us of the Club Blueenile dot
com hotline. Bourbon lovers, listen up. Commonwealth Causes is back
with their April Bourbon Raffle Circle April twenty fourth on
your calendar and get to Commonwealth Causes dot org to
get your tickets now. They're gonna have the legendary Pappy
Vanwinkle six bottle set as part of this raffle, also

(17:40):
the Weller six bottle set and the complete Blanton set.
Check it out at Commonwealth Causes dot org. We are
back on the Leads reports presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises.
Four locations for Bobcat around the States. So when you
need to buy or rent a piece of heavy equipment,
make sure you google Bobcat Enterprises. They'll have what you
need extra excavators, tractors, worklifts, et cetera, zero turn motors

(18:05):
for your home lawn, and they'll give you fantastic service
after the sale as well at Bobcat Enterprises. Joined now
by Brandon Ramsey from on three Sports KSR Theclubluenil dot
com hotline to talk about the roster Mark Pope is
putting together for his second season at Kentucky, and what
do you like most about what he's done to this point, Brandon, I.

Speaker 4 (18:28):
Think the most exciting part about what coach Pope and
the staff in Kentucky have added so far to the
twenty twenty five twenty six roster is just that, in
my opinion, they've addressed a lot of some of the
concerns or weaknesses from last season. I think that they've
certainly upgraded in terms of defensive ability across the board,

(18:50):
and I think probably more than anything else, they're just
going to be positionally a little bit bigger and then
certainly more athletic and more physical. And I think that
those were, you know, some things that Kentucky ran into
at times where whether they could match the fiscality of
a couple of teams, or whether the in this overall
athleticism of some of the other teams, especially in the
Southeastern Conference, got to them at times. I think you've

(19:13):
seen the roster, essentially person to person kind of get
upgraded in some of those areas, while hopefully still holding
some of the skill level and shooting relatively constant, but
it's being able to upgrade in some of those areas.
I think that's what's been most exciting about the off
season additions so far to the Kentucky roster.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Best case scenario, what would they what would you like
to see them add? Because they're mentioned in connection with
some transfers, and also I think there's a freshman that
dcommitted from Duke that's Kentucky's reportedly getting involved with trying to.

Speaker 4 (19:50):
Anyway, I think best case scenario, you would get a
guy who's probably a little bit more of a combo
guard that can also really really shoot the basketball. Just
in terms of who it seems like they're targeting, I
think it's probably leaning more towards kind of quote unquote
just a pure shooter. You know, somebody like a Ryland

(20:11):
Griffin who's going to be visiting tomorrow. I believe that
you transfer from what he started out at Alabama and
then was at Kansas last season. That's a guy that
made seventy one threes on a final four teams a
sophomore at at Alabama, So that that would kind of
be in the mold of the Kobe Brea type replacement.
And I think if you can add a shooter like that,

(20:31):
that's obviously what they were looking for in the Lebar
Wilkerson kid that ended up in Indiana as well. If
you can add a shooter like that, and then you
know what with what with everything I was just talking
about with you know, improving the defense, athleticism all that,
I think, if you can add one more shooter to
the mix, then you're in a position where you've you've
kind of checked the boxes in terms of what you
really needed to fill the outgoing spots.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
Sure fans get frustrated by a lot of this, and
they some well also panic the coaches. I don't think
the panic, but I'm sure they get equally frustrated. The
Wilkerson kid you mentioned a prime example where it looks
like you, uh, put yourself in position to land the
guy you're looking forward to to finish it off, and

(21:17):
then the cost of doing business goes up and you
have to decide, Okay, we liked him at this price point,
but do we want to spend you know, do we
want to try to match what another school is doing
to try to keep him and then have to readjust
what we're doing with our finances elsewhere?

Speaker 4 (21:34):
Exactly? Yeah, I mean it really is, you know, just
such a totally different ball game and this sort of
speed dating era of transfer recruiting where where you have
to you know, not only are you trying to build
some symbol of the relationship with with with these people,
but obviously there's so much of it comes down to that,
you know, il price point, and obviously that can change

(21:57):
in the mach you know, you're just in you know,
the seconds or minutes of a phone call. And then
you also introduce the value piece, which you kind of
started to touch on there as well, where it's like, it's.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
Not only about you know, give me.

Speaker 4 (22:10):
All of the most talented players there is. You know,
all these teams only have so much money to go around,
and if you spend it in one place, you can't
spend it in the next. So you know, you start
to say, okay, well, you know, I was willing to
give this guy a million dollars, but at a million five,
I think I'd rather, you know, maybe split that out
across two different people in a different position or whatever
it may be. So, yeah, it has to be frustrating

(22:33):
when you're you know, when you're coaching and you know,
and some of these guys can kind of be pulled
out from nig in a hurry. But obviously, you know,
especially when you're in Kentucky. You know, I think you
have the ability to do that to some other people
as well, so you know, it probably works both ways,
especially at the highest levels.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
And for players sometimes.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
I think a player like im Alieva, the quarterback at Tennessee,
you know, if you have true NFL ability and what
level his is is is for debate, but there's certainly
some there. Then you know, the short term money doesn't
need to be your main concern because you know, you

(23:17):
could disrupt your career and you know, and take a
set back not only financially but developmentally. Whereas a guy
like a Wilkerson maybe who doesn't have really an NBA future,
it's more important maybe for him and his family to
maximize the college compensation.

Speaker 4 (23:34):
Absolutely, and I think you even see that, you know,
with some of the guys that are you know certainly
that work Kentucky last year, but even going into this year,
like you know, guys like Jaden Quaintance, who is you know,
potentially going to be an NBA lottery pick almost matter
what he does next season, you know what he's getting
out of the nil this season has a very different

(23:54):
level of importance, you know, compared to you know what
like a fourth or fifth year answer, like a Lamar wilkersoner,
even like a Ryland Griffin would get Because some of
these guys, the most money they're ever going to make
playing basketball is going to be their senior year of college,
as weird as that sounds. Whereas you know, Jade Plant
is probably going to be the least amount of money
he makes over the next fifteen years playing basketball. So

(24:16):
you know, they do have different things to kind of
factor into the equation just based on what you're you know,
the next decade or so of your basketball life is.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
Protected to be. We're chat with Brandon Ramsey.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
It's at b ramsey KSR on x or Twitter, and
we're talking about Mark Pope's second roster at Kentucky. Let's
talk a little bit about the point guard position because
I like everything I've read and heard about Jalen Lowe
and watched some highlights. I think he could be a
really great fit for this team with his ability to,

(24:50):
as the coaches like to say, get two feet in
the paint and he's not going to be asked to
do as much from an offensive scoring load. I don't
think was the case at PI. So even though he
wasn't as highly rated as the Dent kid that Kentucky
was in with early at the point guard spot, he
could be a perfect fit for what they do.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
What are your thoughts.

Speaker 4 (25:15):
There's a lot to like about Jalen Lowe, and I
think first and foremost, and you hope that people can
poke some fun at what the ACC was this past year,
and that's all fine, But you know, he was still
an All ACC contributor last season, and I think that
matters when you're talking about a guy that has sophomore
is now proven, you know, to be a difference maker
at the high major level. I think that matters coming

(25:37):
into Kentucky. But also he's a guy that has a
different level of explosiveness an athleticism than really anybody we
saw on Kentucky's roster last season. You mentioned getting two
feet in the pain. He's gonna be able to do that,
you know, more easily and at a higher level than
anybody Kentucky had In terms of playmaking last season. Yes,
the shooting numbers are a little bit concerning when you

(25:59):
look at him on the surface, but but as you
mentioned as well. I mean his usage was kind of
through the roof at Pittsburgh's because he was relied on
to essentially be the offense as opposed to as being
a part of the offense. And I think you'll see him,
you know, get a lot more open shots. And I mean,
maybe let's remember Lamont Butler came into Kentucky last season
as a guy who was labeled as, you know, not

(26:20):
a very good shooter and really not even much of
a scorer, and then he came in and had an
excellent senior season shooting. You know, you're shooting a pretty
high percentage for three and having career scoring numbers, and
you know, I think that Jalen Lows that got It's
going to benefit in similar ways. But then even kind
of have an extra year compared to what a guy
even like Lamont Butler had in terms of playmaking.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
We're chatting with Brandon Ramsey and will continue on this
course when we come right back right now, heading to
a break as we do. If you didn't catch the
Sunday morning sports talk show here in Lexington yesterday, trying
to find the podcast for that, because they chatted with
Ale and Loo's dad Marlon Lowe, and it was a

(27:03):
really good interview and had some interesting things to say
about former Wildcats that from the Texas area where the
Loads are from that he talked with about sending his son.

Speaker 3 (27:13):
To play for UK.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
We'll be right back with Brandon Ramsey here on the
Leech Report, presented by Bob kat Enterprises.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
Or Tin Away. From the top of the hour.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
We're talking with Brandon Ramsey from on three Sports and
KSR about Kentucky imna's basketball and the roster for year two.
We're coming to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio
return refreshed and refuel at Clark's. We're talking about the
starting point guard. As far as a backup. Kentucky doesn't
have one yet with the Caden Lewis d Committee, so

(27:46):
they could find they could certainly get one out of
the portal perhaps or maybe it could get a combo
guard quote unquote that could play some point if not
one of those things happened. Let's say they land just
a true shooter like Ryan and Griffin out of the portal,
what would be the options they would look at for
the eight to ten minutes a game they need somebody

(28:07):
to spell low or as could we saw this season
a potential injury situation.

Speaker 4 (28:14):
Yeah, I think as of today, if Kentucky had to
play a basketball game tomorrow, I think you would see
it be sort of by committee in terms of that
backup point guard position, whether that's Jasper Johnson probably as
he's probably as much of a true combo as anybody
else on Kentucky's roster right now, so you can maybe
see Jasper Johnson take on some of those primary ball

(28:36):
handling duties. I mean, I think we saw some real
growth from Colin Chandler later in the season. Obviously, you know,
hopefully to take it away will be a part of
the equation and they'll be back and probably even more
improved as a ball handler and playmaker as well. And
I think the other thing to keep in mind looking
back to last season, and I know that you know
that there's plenty of us among big blue nations that

(28:59):
are probably you know, a little concerned about it, just
because we saw what things could look like when Lama
Butler goes down. Obviously, you play us, you know, more
or less the entire season without Kirk Grisa, your backup
point yard. But you know, heck, half the time it
was at Mary Williams, the five man bringing the ball
across half court. So I think that in Kentucky's offense,
with what coach wants to do, like having that kind

(29:22):
of true back up point guard, it's not the most
important position on the roster, I don't think. I mean, again,
think back to last season. I know that we all
stressed about it some, but because like you still had
a pretty good deal of success while even playing without
any point yards at some point, you know, at different
points in the season. So I think that you're gonna
be able to piece together some of those minutes well enough,

(29:45):
you know, to to certainly keep things to float in.
And let's face it, you know, like if your starting
point yard goes down, then that kind of changes all
expectations anyway, even if you had a quality back up
point yard, if you lose your starting point yard, while
your season is probably gon look different. So like, I
don't really, you know, think that's the greatest example to
use when when kind of worrying about the position. But

(30:06):
I think Kentucky has enough ball handling to go around.

Speaker 3 (30:09):
I like what he's done with the bigs.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
They've got the group of guys that kind of like
that Florida group that I have complimentary skill sets, and
then you have a player like the Abate that I
would think could play three or four and guard probably
everything but a five.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (30:29):
Yeah, I think that's the other thing to look at
as well as what with some of the versatility and
skill in the front court. I mean we saw last season,
you know, with different levels of success. He saw Brandon
Garrison kind of come in and run the show behind
Amar Williams at times. You know, I certainly think the Yellowvick,
the the Croatian, you know, international addition, I think he

(30:50):
has the skill level to play out on the perimeter
and if she's some offense. Diabat he's excellent with the
ball in his hands, especially in transition, some of the
things he can do. Daden Koenans is, you know, certainly
comfortable with the ball to some extent as well. So
I think you'll see all those guys, you know, not
necessarily you know, he'll breaking down their man in one
on one situations. I mean, see about it. I probably
can do that some, but I think you're still going

(31:11):
to see offense get initiated through those guys in a
similar way as it was La Mauri Williams last season
quite a bit.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
The two of the guys that I think Pope talked
a lot about things he thought they had to add
to their game. That'll be interesting to see how much
of it they do incorporate our O way. He more
than once thought this expressed the thought that he thought
he had some really big time skills as a playmaker

(31:40):
that he could still tap into. And the other one
was Garrison, and he talked about him more many times
in terms of how good a shooter he thought he
could be. You know that one in particular, If that happens,
that's that's a guy that could then suddenly probably play
four or five. I think back to the game in
Oklahoma where he was switching off on Fears some and

(32:03):
you know, if you if you could expand on that
particular you know skill set we saw that night and
then get him to be a little more reliable shooter
and a little more even keeled temperamentally, then there could be.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
A big growth, a big piece of growth there.

Speaker 4 (32:22):
Absolutely, I think coach Coach is exactly right that those
are two of the things you're looking for this season.
And I think that's why, you know, retention of your
transfers is so important. We see it year after year
where a lot of times these second year transfers, which
obviously will take it away and Brandon Garrison will be like,
those are the guys that become you know that that
they make a jump from being a good player to

(32:42):
an NFCC player or maybe even an LFCC player like
will take an oh way to an All American. And
I think that for those guys that play making piece
for take away being able to use as athleticism to
get two feet in the paint, just like we were
talking all the Jaylen Mow for him to go from
kind of just being a score to being a facilitator
and playmaker to some extent as well. And then Brandon

(33:02):
Garrison is having the confidence to shoot those open catch
and shoot threes. I think we saw him start to
make enough of them that that that I certainly won't
go in the next season have a having a problem
with him shooting the ones that are open. And if
he can start to make those at a pretty good clip,
you know, with some of the other skills that he
has both offensively and defensively, that'll just make him that

(33:24):
much more of a dangerous player.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
And then one guy that we think everybody hit his
tends to doesn't talk a lot about is Cam Williams
because I think maybe because his commitment came in when
Kentucky was still involved in the tournament. But you're talking
about a guy shot forty percent in his one season
at Tulane from three, also sixty two from two, seventy
four percent at the line. What do you like best

(33:48):
about what he could bring to the mix.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
Yeah, he's a guy that right off the bat, you
know some of those things I was talking about early
on in the segment with you know, adding athleticism, adding side,
adding some defensive ability while holding the shooting constant. He's
the one that checked all those boxes right away. If
he's a six seven, six foot you know, six foot
eight inch wing that made over sixty threes as a freshman,
that shot over forty percent from three, but then brings

(34:12):
some some pretty high level defensive instincts, some switchability certainly,
some athleticism, and I think that some of the things
you saw him do with too Land as a freshmen,
those are the things that can be really projectable as
you get older. And I think that you know, this
season and you know, hopefully a second year of Cam
Williams at Kentucky could be really exciting. I think you're
absolutely right. Just the fact that he committed on that

(34:34):
sweet sixteen Friday. I think that you know, a lot
of us kind of almost forget because it's been a
while now that he's a part of this poll. But
he's one I think Kentucky fans should be really excited
about because he certainly brings some of that shooting that
Kentucky you know, desperately needed to replace with, you know,
Bray and Robinson and those guys going out the door.

Speaker 1 (34:51):
At Bay at b Ramsey, KSR on x and on
three Sports, and KSR for his coverage of the Cats.
Thank you, Brandon yep, any time, Tom, thank you, it's
the Lakes Report. We'll be right back for our final segment.
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Speaker 3 (35:59):
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Speaker 1 (36:00):
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longer exists, past the resolution directing the AD to start.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
A series with U of L. This was after the Dream.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
Game down in Knoxville and a belated Happy Birthday to
Travis Perry who celebrated on Easter Sunday. Wildcatstory. It's presented
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Speaker 3 (36:58):
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