2025-05-13 LEACH REPORT

Tom talks with Larry Vaught, Darren Headrick, and Marland Lowe.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good day, everybody. Welcome into the Leech Report, presented by
Bobcat Enterprises for this Tuesday. Coming up today, we're gonna
visit with Jalen Lowe's dad, Marlon Lowe, down in Texas.
He was last month on the Sunday Morning sports talk
show here in Lexington, and we'll talk to him a

(00:21):
little bit about some of the things that came out
of that interview, but also wanted to wait and catch
up to him after Jalen had done his visit to
UK and he did that a few weeks back, a
couple of weeks back, and so we will talk about
that and more with Marlon Lowe on the show today.

(00:42):
Larry Vaught will be here for his regular Tuesday slot
back in the comfortable position, and then Darren Hedrick will
finish up as the Wildcats play their final home game
of the season tonight against NKU and that leads us
into our Wildcat News of the day. It is a
serve of Giuseppes of Lexington. Dallas won the NBA Draft

(01:04):
lottery last night, so they have the right to take
Cooper flag from Duke unless they would trade it. I
think ESPN's Brian Windhorse did float that out at the
end of that segment where he said that Dallas has
coveted Jiannisty Ancident Kupo for a long time, and there's
finally a little talk that he might be willing to

(01:26):
consider a trade. So who knows, but most likely Cooper
Flag will be a Dallas maverick and matched up with
former Wildcat Anthony Davis. There. ESPN put out a mock
draft after the lottery. No otega Oway listed in the
first or second round. The only Wildcat listed was at
number fifty four Kobe Brea. Now ESPN after the slots

(01:50):
for the draft were all projected, they had a list
of best available players from that point forward, and the
first Wildcat to show up was Amario Williams at fifty nine,
Otaga Away at seventy two, Jackson Robinson at seventy six.
So I will be surprised if otega Oway does anything

(02:12):
but return to Kentucky as expected for next season. I
know he said he was all in on the draft.
That's what you should say if you're going through that
process because you want to go to the NBA, that
is the ultimate goal. You know, he's yes, he's looking
to get feedback same as Jalen Lowe. But if somebody
says they'll draft you in the first round, well great,

(02:36):
go for that. So you want to be all in.
I think people panicked a little bit when they saw
that phrase. That's what you should say. You should be
all in on giving it your best and you know,
being committed to staying there if they like you. That's
what the future employers want to hear. But I don't
think he or Jalen they're going to hear what they

(02:56):
want to hear to stay and so I think they'll
be back, and I think otego Away could make a
big jump in year two. In Mark Pope's system, Baseball
tonight Kentucky hosting NKU at six thirty, and I think
probably a lot of us were kind of lulled into
thinking what was the last home game of the weekend

(03:16):
because they had seen Your Day and it was the
last SEC home series. But this is the there is
one more game and it's tonight. It's six thirty Eastern time.
UK Radio network will have the coverage SEC Network Plus,
so it's Darren Hendrick on the radio side to k
RO Doug Flynn on the TV side. Almost certainly the
final home game. You know, there's always a you know
they could host in the postseason, but I don't think

(03:39):
nobody's projecting that to happen. So this is almost certainly
the final home game of the season, and then Kentucky
will head down to Vanderbilt to start a series on
Thursday night. Be Thursday, Friday, and then Saturday afternoon. The
new D one Baseball projections I think will come out today.
Kentucky was on their last four in last week. I

(04:01):
would think they would be off that. Now they are
off that last four. Enlist on the on three sports projections.
Theirs came out last night and they have Kentucky pegged
as a three seed in the Oregon State Regional and
Oregon State is the one. Links to the stories that
we talk about on the bud Light Leach Report page
at Tom Leachky dot com. All head to a break,

(04:21):
come back and visit with Jalen Lowe's dad here on
the Leech Report opening segment of Wildcad News, a service
of Jiuseeppes of Lexington. Go to open table right now,
make a reservation for a special night out of Gusepe
sit in the lounge area. Enjoyed Dave Hall's live jazz
music to accompany your meal. It is really a special,
special experience at Juseppes. We'll be right back toosday edition

(04:44):
of The Leech Report, coming to you from the Clark's
Pumpin' Shop studio. Return refreshed and refuel at Clark's. Download
the app and sign up for the new loyalty rewards
program too at Clark's. Joining us now in the club
bluinnil dot com hotline is Marlon Low. His son Jalen
is coming to play at Kentucky next season most likely.
I guess he's still in the NBA process, which makes sense,

(05:08):
just like it did for O. Take it to go
get evaluated.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Right, mister Low, That's correct, Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Nothing, nothing but a positive there as you find out
what the guys at the next level want you to
work on, and if they happened to want to throw
a whole bunch of money at you, that's good too.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Not a bast situation to be in.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
No, it's not. I know you were recently on the
Sunday morning sports talk show here at Lexington and some
of our listeners I'm sure heard that show. But since
that happened, your son came in for an official visit
as he made the commitment without having done that. And
so give me what his feedback was to you guys

(05:47):
about his time that he spent in Lexington.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Oh, he really enjoyed it, really enjoyed it. I actually
came up there with him and just to kind of
see what it was for the first time myself. But
he enjoyed the man. Tell you, when he got off
the play Ain't and walked down, got in and the
first thing he did was he had a chance to
ride by Keenland. So it was a great experience for
him in itself. And then when he pulled up on
campus and went straight to the to the training facility,

(06:13):
workout facility, and it was, uh, it was phenomenal.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
Man.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
He really liked it. He loved the interaction they walked.
He walked to campus and went into the I think
there's like a student union or in the cafeterias, and uh,
everything that he thought of thought it would be. And so, uh,
you know, he's he's a basketball guy, so he loves
basketball and he's everything that they were showing, even as
far as the tradition, the history of the of the program,

(06:37):
it was it was really it was really exciting to him.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
In some of these interviews with players or their families
since Park Pope has been here, one thing that usually
comes back is that Park has a very detailed plan
that he lays out for how a particular player will
fit into their system and what kind of upside you
can tap into as much as you care to share
with this. What was that like for his presentation to

(07:03):
Jalen then the family.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
It was it was interesting, you know, it wasn't It
was not too detailed. It was basically telling him, like listen,
they showed him the things that they really like about
about his game, the way that he's got court vision,
the way he's able to run a team, the way
he's able to get to his spots really well. Actually
showed him some corrections on some of the things that

(07:25):
you know, they like for him to continue to prove
on and how they can help as far as percentages
of shooting, when to shoot, and you know, and how
just the type of shots that he shot when he
made majority of him and the type of shots he
shot when he missed majority of them. So it was
all it was. It was a learning experience overall for
him and it was very good for him. He really

(07:48):
enjoyed just the conversation as far as learning and being
being taught how he can keep improving and so that
was you know that alone by himself, was probably worth
every minute of it.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
Having played for you and you're grown up under a
guy who has coached the game. A player like that
usually just eats, breathes, and sleeps basketball. I'm assuming that's that.
It's that way for for Jalen, right correct.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
Hell, yeah, he's he's watching everything. He pays attention to
all types of basketball across the country, and it's it's
it's something that just is always interested in him, so
he constantly stays on top of it.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
What was it about the pitch for Kentucky, because obviously
was far from his only suit, or what was it
about the pitch you think that pushed him this way?

Speaker 2 (08:38):
Outside the staff, it just happened to be about just
the history of the program, a winning, winning tradition. Wanted
to play with for a high level coach with a
high level team with a traditional team, excuse me, a
school of tradition, and it just it was just he
felt like it was a good fit with pieces that

(09:00):
coach Pope and staff were putting around them, were building,
so it was like almost like a no brainer. But
you know, he just wanted to take his time and
get a chance to meet the guys and get a
feel for everything. And so it wasn't really very hard because,
like I said, he committed before he came up there,
So it was about just the communication with them, how

(09:20):
they made him feel comfortable about.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
It, and being there in Texas. You've had the opportunity
and know to get a little feedback and input from
a couple of former Kentucky players who are from Texas
that maybe helped give Jalen a little feel for, you know,
what it might be like if that someday was an
opportunity for him.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Right right, absolutely, absolutely. A lot of guys man that
have been played at Kentucky I've met myself personally. I've
known many of them since they were before they were teenagers,
and then Jalen has watched them all the way through,
whether it's Julius Randall, the Harrison Twins, Daron Fox and

(10:03):
things of that nature. So he's been he's been knowing
these guys for a long time and watching them. So
when he you know, they've mentioned certain things about Kentucky
about just the tradition of it, the history, the winning program,
and how you know it continues to challenge you to
bring the best out of you at all time. So
it's something that he wanted, so it was easy for
him to kind of it helped to make a decision

(10:25):
a lot easier.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
You know, maybe it's the competitor in guys that take
on this challenge, like you know Dearon and Harrison twins.
But you know when anytime any place you go, there
are gonna be good days and bad days, and you
know the fans can get on you when you hit
those bad days. And yet the players always seem to
leave here with a very positive experience of what playing

(10:47):
for the BBN is like and being in that spotlight right.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
Right right right right, no question. And it's another thing
that came up. Even Jerry Vanderbilt up somebody told me
that they saw him during the minute. So the term
event when they played up and the Lakers played in Minneapolis,
and he cheered found out that Jalen was up their training.
He mentioned to him, tell him, please tell him hello, man,
he made a great choice. So it's just something about

(11:13):
it just overall. Man. You know, it's like the guys.
You know, sometimes you think a guy is going to
when they leave that they low they kind of fall out,
but they didn't. You know, these guys are all one
hundred percent part of the program still and they just
they reached out. They said it was great, great, They
were happy for him, and you know that just made
everything a lot better. But he was comfortable with just

(11:34):
going in and being a part of coach post program.

Speaker 1 (11:37):
Anyway, we talk with Marlon Lowe. He's the father of
Jalen Lowe, will be most likely coming to play for
the Wildcats next season after spending the last two years
at Pitt. Before we talk about his first couple of
years of college basketball, one other Kentucky angle wanted to
get you to talk a little bit about, and that's that.
I'm told you were the point guard for Jeff Brasso's

(11:58):
high school team, right, yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
I was. I was. We were pretty good back then.
It was I think we're top seven in the country,
top five seven in the country back then and number
one one in state of Texas. It was really good.
But I love playing with Brasso. Man to really play man.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
The Kentucky fans have the great memory of him tipping
in that shot out in Maui. I think it was
Arizona that they beat, and I want to say the
ninety ninety three to ninety four season, but yeah, Jeff,
I was gonna say Jeff remains a popular former Wildcat,
but heck, they all are popular former Wildcats, as Jalen
will find out. Yeah, I heard you on that Sunday

(12:38):
morning sports talk show make the point too, when folks
look at some of Jalen's numbers and shooting percentages lower
than I'm sure you believe are what his true number
should be, that it has maybe a little bit to
do with an injury that he was playing with right.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
Right, correct, He had really dislocated and really bad about
a week before the season started last year, and uh
he had to run up, you know, had to do
several things to it, and it really they said it
wasn't gonna be really healthy until January of twenty twenty
five and when it's pretty much when he took this
leave off, but it was still yeah, there wasn't totally

(13:16):
what it's what it was at the time. But you know,
he's he's pretty he's fine now, but you know, he
played through it. You know, it's one of the things
we do. We don't complain about anything. And if you're
gonna step on the floor, you gotta be ready to
take whatever comes with it. And that's what he did.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Good and bad is does he remind you of anybody
you've played with or watched just in terms of no,
he's not the next whoever, but he has you know,
if you know this guy's game, then it looks like
Jalen's game.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
That's a good question. And it's it's hard to say
because there's so many different people, but none in particular.
But you know, you get a lot of different you know,
different people throw different names out any even darn Fox
was one of them. But he's got a lot of
different things to his game. He's got a Maxie to him.
He loves watching Tyres, Maxie loves watching Fox. He loves

(14:08):
Chris Paul, the old Region Rondo. He used to watch
Rondo all the time. So these are different. And even Curry,
you know, so these are guys that he really really
watches and likes a whole lot, and he just kind
of models this game a little bit after them, along
with even Trey Young. So it's just nobody in particular.
He just kind of watches and takes takes a little

(14:29):
bit of this, takes a little bit of ingredious from
everybody's game, kind of adds it to his own.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
Interesting you mentioned, because I remember one time after he
torched U of L, when coach Patino was there, somebody
asked Rick after the game, you think you know, uh
Rajan doesn't have, you know, a great outside shot. Do
you do you think you can make an NBA? He said,
he'll be great because you can't keep him from getting
where he wants to go. And I know jalen shooting

(14:56):
numbers are or better what Rajon's was were at his
time of Kentucky. But is there some of that to
to Jalen's game in terms of being able to get
wherever he wants to go no matter what the defense
might try to do against him.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
Yeah, it's a lot to it. He's That's one of
the one of the things that people definitely like to
him is that he's able to get to his spots.
He's got a really quick, a really good burst to him,
a first, quick first step and he's got a good
burst and along with that, he's got super soft touch
and has a feel for where his teammates are, so
he's able to try to get them the ball went
in where they needed at the right spot. So, uh,

(15:32):
he's definitely and he's a he's a high Q guy.
So you know one thing about Rondo, he's over the years,
we see how smart and intelligent he is, and so
Jalen's in that type of that same mold. He loves
to hear people talk about basketball and to break it down. Uh,
and so those are the type of things that he does,
and he just enjoys enjoys.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
Being around well as I'm sure you guys probably already know.
He's coming to the best place for that kind of mindset.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
Hey, that's what we hear. So you know he's ready
for it, he's looking forward to it. It's gonna be
a great experience for him and the rest of the
guys collectively overall. So everybody's excited about it. We're all
excited about it.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
I appreciate the time very much. Thank you, miss.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
Flow, No problem. Take care.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
Guests on the lead report company you via the Club
blueil dot com hotline and if you go there now
to that site, you can find out all about the
new Club Blue Kids program. Club Blues the official NIL
fundraising partner for UK and they're trying to build new
Wildcat fans and grow them with this program. Youngsters that

(16:38):
get signed up will get athlete experiences, meet and greets,
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lanyard and a T shirt and more. Got some fun
things that are in the pipeline right now. So get
your young cat fans signed up. Click the Kids tab
at Club blueenil dot com and you can get signed

(16:58):
up with four Club Blue Kids, where future Wildcats rep
the Blue with pride. And we'll be right back on
the Lead Report Radio Network. It's the Lead Report coming
to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return, Refresh
and refuel at Clark's. Got a short segment here before
the bottom of the hour break, so we'll bring on
Larry after that. Our Triple Crown coverage again this spring

(17:23):
is presented by Clayburne Farm and doing the usual unusually
well field of nine drawn yesterday for the Preakness which
is coming up on Saturday in Baltimore and Journalism the
Derby runner up installed as the eight to five favorite.
He'll break from post position number two and trainer Mark
Cassi of Sandman yesterday announced that he had lined up
John Alaskaz to ride the Arkansas Derby Winter who was

(17:45):
off the board in the run for the Roses ose
r Tes rode in the Derby, but he had been
committed to clever again when it looked like Sandman wasn't
going to run in the Preakness. So Johnny v not
a bad pickup for Sandman. And we'll get deeper into
the Preakness on Friday when Dick Girardi will join us.
It's the Leech Report, and coming up we will visit

(18:07):
with Larry Vatt little later Darren Headrick with the UK
Baseball segment on this Tuesday edition of The Leacher Report,
presented by bobcat Enterprises Guess on the Leach Report Company
on the Club Blueenil dot com hotline, and we're headed
there to bring on Larry Vott from your sports edge
dot com and vaunts views and Larry, couple of stories

(18:30):
that you have up at the site we'll talk about.
One is with the Harrison Twins. They had a media
session to talk about the basketball tournament that's coming back
to the Bluegrass this summer, and they also had some
nice things to say about Then you write about how
Mark Pope connected with them to make sure that they

(18:52):
know they're still very much part of the family even
though they played for a different coach.

Speaker 4 (18:57):
Yeah, it's kind of what we all thought we solid
under stood last year. But it's kind of nice to
hear two guys who had the success that they had
at Kentucky now a year later talk about what that experience.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
Meant to them.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
And they didn't say that's exactly why they decided to
come back for the TBT, but they certainly made it
pretty evident that that was a huge factor, and then
both deciding to come back and play again in the
event this summer, And I think that's a good thing
for Kentucky. And I'm just really glad to see because
the Harrison's did have such great success, but at times

(19:31):
I kind of felt like they were a little maybe
underappreciated and over criticized by some UK fans. So it's
nice to see them be able to come back now
ten years later and get a lot of love. Look,
it is last summer. I'm sure they're going to again
this summer.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
I'm sure all those guys really found that a very
positive experience to just you know, feel the love of
the BBN again. And it is a perfectly positioned event
on the sports calendar for this part of the world.

Speaker 4 (19:58):
Yeah, you talk about the I mean, it couldn't be
any better year. Before football gets going, You've got all
basketball recruiting and NBA Draft and everything out of the way,
and you're kind of just there in a little bit
of a lull.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
When you can bring that in and play.

Speaker 4 (20:12):
Some UK basketball and have a chance to set up
that rematch with the team from Louisville again, that kind
of gets to juices plumbing again for everybody in the
month of July.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, it does. And I still hold out hope that
some sports organization pro or college is going to follow
that same path and seize on that part of the
calendar to do something. You know, cal used to have
that idea of playing you know games in August or
you can even play them in July. You know, Kentucky
is playing an exhibition against Purdue this year, which will

(20:43):
be very popular. You know when I do that in
July or August, when the sports calendar is so empty,
not just here but nationally and you know, the NBA
playoffs are over if football hadn't started, and I just
think there's a big opportunity there for somebody to seize
triple crown. Maybe I don't know, to occupy that space
a little bit better.

Speaker 4 (21:05):
Absolutely, and say what you want about John Caliperry, but
in a lot of ways he was still ahead of
his times with his thinking, and I thought that was
one of the things he.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
Was absolutely right about.

Speaker 4 (21:15):
Because you have these guys all on campus at that
time of year. Anyway, if you're going to play an
exhibition game or two, you let them go sometimes on
overseas trips. Whyle, I just do something where you could
cap make make a lot of money and create a
lot of interest with a couple of those exhibition games
or whatever in the month of July, I think would
be ideal.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
That first point you made might really be the driver
of the busy.

Speaker 4 (21:39):
Money seems to drive everything, and the way schools are
supposedly going to be scrambling for more money, they're going
to have to find a way that generate it somehow,
and I'd rather see them do that than put a
big ticket price increase on fans and all like that.
So I would think we're probably especially in basketball coming
and then real near future where they're going to add

(22:01):
games anyway, So why not do it at a time
of year where you can maybe generate even more money.

Speaker 1 (22:06):
Yeah, and you know, you could still do the international
you know thing once every four years if you want
to restrict that, but just you know, play within your
region where they even travel calls aren't that much the
other three years, but still get to play three or
four games, whatever you want to do. And there's also
been some talk I've seen as they work through an

(22:28):
likely expansion that's coming in the college football playoff and
putting that into the calendar somewhere where it doesn't get
so swallowed up at times, even as big as it is.
I mean, it's still not the NFL. And I know
I was reading a story the other day I can't
remember where where they were making the case to push

(22:49):
the start of the college football season back a little
earlier so you could finish everything up around New Years,
you know, before the NFL playoffs or even starting, and
they that that sounds appealing to me just as a
sports fan. Now you've got some issues with heat, and
you know in August, but you know, if you back

(23:09):
all that stuff up, you'd be backing kind of the
things like SEC media days back to earlier in July.
And again it's just that occupying that space on the calendar,
I think is a lot of people are missing out
on doing something that time of year.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
Yeah, and with the heat issue, the high schools usually
start about two weeks earlier than what the colleges do. Now,
they managed to cope with the heat and find a
way to do it, so you would think that college
is with a lot more resources, I'll be able to
figure it out too.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
That's what they decided they want to do.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
Yeah, I think that would be wise just in terms
of you know, getting maximum exposure and you know, interest
in the in the game, in the playoff. The college
playoff is to you know, if you could you know,
own a little bit more that December leading up to it,
and then you know, because the NFL is coming down
to the end, it's always going to be, you know,

(23:59):
the the big dog to go up against in terms
of the National Football League. But still it's a little
different than going up against their playoffs and trying to
you know, fit into their calendar as well and try
to find an ideal place to put your college games.
Let's talk about another story you wrote at your sports
edge dot com about Malachimarno and the headline says has

(24:21):
the tools to be the right fit for UK. Certainly
so some video over the other day. You know, it's
great footwork. It looks like there's a ton of upside
for that young man, and that's usually the case for
big guys they develop a little later.

Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yeah, and he's got two pretty big fans. And Dennis
Johnson now, who was not a Jasper Johnson's father, but
was a pretty prolific high school basketball player himself, and
I had a lot of chances he could have gone
to college as a big time basketball player instead of
going as a big time football player like he did
at Kentucky. And obviously Dennis has watched Malacha a lot,

(24:54):
as him and Jasper in the same class, watching him
growing up and playing. And we got a big fan
than Cameron Mills, a big fan of Malachi. Liked what
he saw from him in the state tournament. I really
like the way that sometimes it's small things that impress
a player a former player, and it was like that.
Cameron was really impressed at right, very early in his

(25:16):
first game, he got open for three and he just
took it, no hesitation. Cameras, it didn't matter if he
made it or not, just the fact he didn't even
have any hesitation about taking that shot. He said, that's
what he's got to do to be able to play
for Mark Pope. And he said, I love that you
talked about. He loves seeing that. So there are just
a lot of things about Alaka and he's done very
well in the All Star Games that he's played out.
I think he's got a great demeanor about him, and

(25:38):
I've got a feeling he may be a little bit
more of a contributor next year to what some people
are right now thinking he might be.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
Talk with Larry Vaught from your sports Edge dot com
on the Club Blueennile dot com hotline, and we'll continue
here in just a moment as we are coming to
you with the Leads Report presented by Bob Kat Enterprises,
and they have four locations around the state. Now, if
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We'll be right back. It's the Lead Report Radio Network,
and we were chatting with Larry Vott from your sports
Edge dot com and Boughtsues dot com and a March

(26:31):
story on yesterday and then later talk about his column
on the uku of l rivalry. First, let me ask
you about that, Larry, what do you think about the
early start for the men's basketball game this year on
November the eleventh.

Speaker 4 (26:45):
Not a huge fan, Tom, but again with the way
college athletics is changing, I mean, I wasn't a huge
fan when they moved to UK Louisville football game from
the first game of the season's to the last game,
and that's worked out pretty well, so trying to be
open minded about it, but I think I still would
like to see him playing a little bit later in

(27:06):
the season when both teams have played a little bit
more at all, but I can't. Maybe starting out early
he'll generate even more excitement and turn out to be
a great thing, but it just seems like a Tuesday
night in November is not the ideal time for that game.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
Mark wrote later in the day a column about Kentucky
football and what it would take for Kentucky to outperform expectations,
and he focuses on being more disciplined in areas like
you know, turnovers and penalties, and I think that is

(27:41):
spot on. I've said that, I think any scenario that
you come up with for Kentucky to be better than
people think, at the end of the year, you're going
to look back and see they were at a positive
turnover margin and we're among the leaders in infuwous penalties,
those kinds of things. He points it's out that Iowa

(28:01):
States coach, after five straight losing seasons, dipped to four
and eight and twenty twenty two, and then came back
with two really strong seasons, including an eleven win season
last year. He points to NC State, their coach had
five straight winning seasons, dropped to four and eight and
then has come back and gone forty and twenty three
in the following five seasons and went to a bowl

(28:24):
every one of those years. So you know that those
are examples that it can be done. And to me
at point back, you'll remember this year, that ninety nine season,
after Couch Yeast and all those great stars left, Kentucky
ended up going to a Bowl game when I don't
think it was certainly projected, and they did it because
I think Dusty only threw ten interceptions that year, and

(28:45):
five of those came in the Tennessee Game of all things,
so he rarely threw it to the other team. They
had a big turnover you know margin they had and
Gerrit Kelly is a lockdown corner, so Anthony Wajda was
an all SEC safety and with I want to say
six interceptions. Anyway, they were positive in the turnover margin.
Those are the kinds of things that would take, I

(29:06):
think for this team to outperform expectations.

Speaker 4 (29:10):
Yeah, I think cutting down on the penalties and the
mental mistakes would be a or is that just a necessity.
It's not a huge thing. It's just going to be
a necessity to do that. Turnovers sometimes are a little
bit harder to dictate. I mean, yeah, you luck and back, Yeah,
just don't want it straight to the other team. Sometimes
tip balls that you your receivers should have called, or

(29:32):
a tip ball that your defensive back should have called
and didn't catch, and sometimes a fumbles calls, but it's
a great play on the defense more so than a
bad play on a running back or something. But certainly
a positive turnover margin would help it. And even last
year attack he had a lot of chances to get
turnovers and just didn't quite grasp the ball when they

(29:52):
had a chance on the defensive side. And that's something
that Brett White's team, it's used to have been really
good at doing. So, yeah, cutting down on this useless, silly,
careless penalties is the biggest thing to me that they
that they've got to got to do. That's just got
to be number one on the list. And hopefully they
do that, everything else will fall in place behind that.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
And a guy from over your Way was a part
of that ninety nine script I did. I'm still looking
to find those turnover stats from that year, but I
did find the punting stats. Kentucky was number one in
the SEC and fourth in the nation in net punting
with Andy Smith, and they were number one in the
SEC and number nine in the nation in punt returns.
That goes under those hidden yards that Jef Pikoro always

(30:35):
talks about and that's part of how you you know,
flip a script when people don't think you can.

Speaker 4 (30:43):
Yeah, And I think that kind of remains to be
seen how that'll all play out this year going in
who's going to be the returners and how's the kicking
game going to be? But yeah, Kentucky, I think is
always if they're going to have a change to have
any kind of special season, they're going to have to
have great special teams. And that's something going into this season.
I think it's just kind of, at least for me anyway, it's.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
A wait and see this.

Speaker 4 (31:06):
I think got a lot of people that could be
really good on special teams. But looking like it and
doing it are always the same thing.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
So true. Larry Vott, Thank you much. Talk to you
next week.

Speaker 3 (31:16):
All right, Tom.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
That is Larry Vott from your sports edge dot com.
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Tom when you check out at cornbreadhamp dot com. This
is the Good Life. Back to the club blueenil dot
com hotline, We go and bring on Darren Hendrick. He'll

(31:59):
be on the call tonight out of Kentucky Proud Park
for the final home game of the regular season against
the NKU Norse six thirty. First pitch, It'll be video
the television coverage on the SEC Network Plus channel and Darren.
Quite a weekend for the Wildcats with a sweep of

(32:21):
a top twenty ranked Oklahoma team. What stood out to
you about what Kentucky did do we have, Darren, Darren.

Speaker 5 (32:36):
Their men was pitching from the starters from the bullpen.
The relievers were lights out this weekend. Offensively, we saw
what Kentucky does best that they executed with the hit
and run and they stole bases. They bonded, They hit
some big time home runs, and they did not committed
error defensively. They just played solid. They made the pines

(32:58):
that were available they made and they didn't play sloppy.
So just really a special weekend executing in all phases,
honoring the seniors. The Mother's Day first pitch was special
with both teams moms getting to throw out first pitches.
So just a really neat weekend overall, and coming away
with three wins was critical.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
Coach Benjio talked about that Friday night game in particular
where they went against Oklahoma's best pitcher and they forged
a lead and they were able to hold onto it
and survive a scare there in the ninth and that
they did some things that they hadn't done in some
other close games. And I made the point yesterday that

(33:41):
you know, they were a team with their back against
the wall as far as the NCAA situation after Mississippi State,
and you know in that situation, you sometimes you hear
people say, well they've got to play like you want
it the next time you go out there, like you
want that bit, Well everybody wants it. As what I
said is you got to execute like you wanted, and
they went out and did that.

Speaker 5 (34:03):
Yeah, you're exactly right. And to see the way this
team bounced back, I mean, coming home from Mississippi State,
a lot of people kind of had Kentucky live for
dead after getting swept on the road by the Bulldogs.
But the way Mississippi State executed against Kentucky last week,
it's how the Wildcats rose up against Oklahoma this past week.

(34:24):
And you know, Oklahoma's got a tremendous pitching staff and offensively,
they play a very similar style to Kentucky. But the
Wildcats just played, you know, like the old clicheses, like
they've wanted it more. I don't know, but Kentucky went
out there and handled business and they were impressive this weekend.
And if they continue playing like that, they're going to
have a shot against Vanderbilt this weekend, and I think

(34:47):
they're going to be a very dangerous team in a regional.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
What's the significance of getting get back at third base.

Speaker 5 (34:55):
I think it just helps them nail it down. You know,
they were down to their fourth and fifth string third
basement against Mississippi State. But Kias is an athlete, He's
used to that position at this point, and so he
just he's able to nail it down. He made some
terrific plays this weekend. And while Patrick Carrera is trying

(35:15):
to get back to being fully healthy to play third base,
Kias has done a tremendous job of just holding down
that spot while he's been healthy too.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
Give us a little scouting report on Vandy that Kentucky
will face this weekend.

Speaker 5 (35:30):
Tim Cortman's teams are always solid, Tom They've got great pitching.
They could be elite from that standpoint. Their offense is
going to do a little bit of everything like Kentucky.
They've got power, they've got speed, they steal bases, they
put pressure on you. They just execute well in all phases.
And Kentucky is going to have to be on their
a game again this weekend if they want to come

(35:51):
out of Nashville with one or two wins.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
And it's a Thursday, Friday Saturday series, so two night
games and then a Saturday afternoon affair down there in
Music City. So I have a good call tonight and
this weekend, Darren, thank you for joining.

Speaker 5 (36:06):
Us to have no problems. Thank you so much. We'll
see everybody at KPP tonight.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
Six point thirty is the first pitch out at Kentucky
Proud Park for Kentucky and NKU. Michael Jordan's going to
be a special contributor for NBC when their NBA package
tips off next fall. They're bringing back that iconic music.
They've gotten the rights to that for their NBA coverage.

(36:33):
The gentleman who did the voiceovers has passed, but they're going.
They've good permission for the family to have his voice
via AI and Michael Jordan will be part of the coverage.
So that's quite a twist for NBC to stay a
wild Cat History. Nineteen eighty eight was the day Rex
Chapman announced he was leaving Kentucky after two seasons for

(36:54):
the NBA. Was the top ten draft pick of the
expansion Charlotte Hornets. Happy Birthday Marion Haskins, Kentucky basketball from
the seventies and former Kentucky football coach Guy Morrise Guy
MO was born on this day. Wildcat History Notes presented
by Kentucky Roadshow Sports Cards and Memorabilia at roadshowcards dot
Com and on Romney Road here in Lexington. Have a

(37:17):
great day. Everybody will see tomorrow