Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, everybody, Welcome in. It is another week of Leech
Report shows presented by Bobcat Enterprises and Belmont Stakes week
coming up, so we'll be talking a little bit about
that as we get toward Saturday and the big race day.
If you're a horse racing fan, it's a fun week
up at Sarah Toogo with a lot of outstanding racing. Unfortunately,
(00:23):
if you're a UK baseball fan, the season came to
an end last night. We'll talk a little bit about
that with John Hale, who's covering baseball for the Lexington
Herald Leader, and then we'll shift over into some football
conversation with John, and then in the second half of
the show, we'll get the UK basketball men's basketball beat
writer for the Herald Leader, Ben Roberts, to join a program.
(00:46):
And Ben was at the Combine and got some interesting
stories out of there with his conversation with otega Oway
and his conversation with some former teammates of Mohammed di
Abatee and Denzel Aberdeen what talking about what they could
look like at Kentucky. So we'll get into all of
that with Ben in the second half of the show.
(01:08):
Wildcat News of the Day always a service of Giuseppes
of Lexington, and just a really frustrating performance for the
Kentucky baseball team last night against West Virginia. They had
a tremendous performance earlier in the day eliminating the number
eleven overall seed Clemson on its home field and did
(01:31):
it authoritatively. I think it was what sixteen to three
I believe the final was. And Kentucky had lost on
Friday afternoon in a game it really should have won.
It got itself in trouble with errors, which had not
been a big problem for the season, but some errors
(01:55):
allowed West Virginia to tie the game when Cleaver was
pitching really well on Friday, and then West Virginia walked
it off with a win in the bottom of the ninth.
So Kentucky really should have won the game on Friday,
but got into the loser's bracket, came out beat se
Upstate on Saturday, beat Clemson yesterday, and that put him
in a game last night against West Virginia, and they
(02:17):
should be playing tonight. Kentucky should be playing tonight for
a chance to go on to a super regional. But
West Virginia twice rallied from five run deficits, including scoring
five times with two outs in the bottom of the
eighth inning last night in a game that lasted about
five hours. So Kentucky season comes to an end in
(02:39):
the Clemson Regional and West Virginia scored to go ahead
thirteen to twelve in the bottom of the eighth and
then Kentucky got one hit in the ninth, but couldn't
really mount any kind of a serious threat. So it
was a season that in some ways was triumphant in
(02:59):
terms of all the losses that they took and still
winning thirty games for the fourth year in a row
and getting back to a regional for the third year
in a row. But on the other hand, the guys
that are returning should be motivated by the fact that
they had a great chance to continue their season and
(03:20):
they came up short in doing that. So we'll get
into all of that with John Hale when he joins
us here in just a bit. CBS is Matt Norlander
had a story out this over the weekend, talking about
some sources that told him that the quote the call
wound up being a close one for otaga Oway with
what he was hearing as he went through the workouts
(03:42):
for the NBA folks, and Norlanders says that Otega quote
almost certainly would have been drafted, likely would have been
in the second round. I think if he'd been had
a shot to be in the first round, he probably
would have stayed in. But that to me is and
we'll get into this with Ben, a positive because sometimes
(04:06):
guys go through this process and they don't hear what
they want to hear, and it's disappointing because they're ready
to go. I think for Otega, he probably went into
this as kind of a from a fact finding standpoint.
I mean, he and the people around him could see
what all the projections were at. He wasn't projected anywhere
in the draft. And yet as he went through the
process and worked out for people and talked with people,
(04:29):
that apparently he built some momentum toward again, according to Norland,
are potentially being drafted and that should serve as some
really strong motivation for coming back to have a great
year and parleying that into a surefire higher draft position
a year from now. So we'll get into that with
(04:51):
Ben Roberts when he joins us later in the program.
Thanks to the stories we talk about each day, you
can find those on the bud Light Leach Report page
at Tom leachky dot com. I ahead to a break,
Come back and chat with John Hale about the Little
UK Baseball and some UK football and our opening segment
presented by Giuseppes of Lexington. Get to Giuseppes soon if
(05:11):
you haven't already done so. Father's Days just around the
corner so that you can get a reservation to take
Dad out to a really special meal. Sit in the
lounge area, enjoy the jazz music that Dave Hall provides
to make for a really special dining experience at Giuseppes.
The steaks are handcut, the pasta's homemade fresh seafood shipped
(05:32):
in a lot of locally sourced ingredients. It's all at
Giuseppes on Nicholasville Road, just past man O War here
in Lexington. We'll be right back with John Hall. Pat
your part coming to you from the Clark's Pump and
Chop Studio. Return, refresh and refuel at Clark's and make
sure you sign up for their Loyalty Rewards program. It's
going great guns gives you a chance to get some
discounts on fuel and items in their stores. John Hale
(05:55):
joins us on the club Blue nil dot com hotline
and in addition to being the b writer for UK football,
he's covering UK baseball this time of year. And what
a frustrating game for Kentucky fans and I'm sure for
players and coaches too to be involved in last night,
going almost five hours against West Virginia and letting two
five run leads get away.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, it was kind of a microcosm of the whole season,
and they've struggled to keep big leads in games all
season long. I mean, we heard that stat so many
times going into the tournament about how they had led
in like twenty eight of thirty one SEC games and
so many of their games by one or two losses.
And it gave you hope in many ways because it
(06:36):
was show clear that could compete with just about anybody
in the country. But of course the other side of
that is that means you've probably had some issues on
your pitching staff, especially late games on those leverage situations,
and then you get into regional where you lose the
first game and you have to go through the loser's
bracket of a double relation tournament.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Basically no college.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Baseball team can withstand getting the game four or five
and still have pitchers out of the mound that you
are normally counting onto those situations. So that's what happened
after the second one for sure. I think all five
of the or the last five pitchers in the game,
none of them had pitched more than like eighteen hitting
all season, and that's what happens. Sometimes they just ran
(07:15):
out of arms, which is always a risk when you
go in the loser side of the bracket.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
And certainly what happened yesterday, and that's that's why you
take advantage of opportunities to get that first win on Friday,
and they were their own worst enemy with some errors.
They should have really beaten West Virginia on Friday, and
they were up three to nothing early.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Yeah, that was definitely.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
That was probably when the refilm was lost in all honesty,
just because I mean clearly they made.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
A valiant effort to claw back.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, beat Upstate, beat Clemson, and they deserve credit for that,
certainly in the grand scheme of where this program has
sat in the sec taking order historically, it's it's still
a successful season, for sure, but there is that sense
of frustration because you were so close in game one
to putting yourself and the driver's seat, and especially no
point how the pitching played out those next two games,
(08:02):
you could really see a scenario where you're like, Okay,
if they had been in a winner's bracket last night,
they would have been in the spot where they still
had some really good arms on the man mounted in
a position to maybe take control of that game.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yeah, that's it is a situation where, you know, four
consecutive seasons with thirty or more wins, three straight NCAA
tournament appearances, things that hadn't been done by the program.
So you can look at that and be, you know,
rightfully proud of of what you accomplished. On the other hand,
for the guys that are coming back, I would think
(08:36):
they would be strongly motivated by knowing that they had chance,
a chance to be in a you know, accomplish a
whole lot more.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah, absolutely, and so many down the stretch, especially you know,
when they felt like they finally found a lineup to
build around.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
It was young guys. I mean, they had transfers who.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Were impact players, but you know, many of those transfers
to another your eligibility but guys like Tyler Bell, who's
played the most talented player of the team, the shortstop
who was a second round pick last year and decided
to come to college, and Ryan Schwartz, the outfielder was
a freshman, and Hudson Brown, who had played really well
in the regionalanding a red shirt freshman. Like young guys
who this experience playing big, big moments and postseason play.
(09:19):
If you get them back, that's a really important nucleus
and experience they can build on.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Now. Of course, in this era of college sports.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I don't know that anybody can assume roster continuity, and
especially baseball seems like maybe the most interesting sport to
watch moving forward, this revenue sharing, expanded scholarship stuff, because
some SEC's goals it's really really important, and they're going
to spend a lot of money on baseball, and we
don't really know where Kentucky's investment point is going to
be at.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
So that's going to be fascinating to see if.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
They can keep all these young guys who are so
important to them as well.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Well.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Let's shift gears now to Kentucky football, which you cover
for the Lexington Harrold Leader. Kentucky sports dot Com because
it seems to me there are some crossover points in
the discussion that we're having about baseball Kentucky football does.
If you look at the roster, it's doesn't have the
(10:12):
number of projected NFL players that the best Kentucky teams
have had, and the expectations are low. I mean, in Vegas,
what has the over under at four and a half
wins a lot of places in Vegas. So what would
the script look like for Kentucky to overachieve? You talked about,
you know, best and worst case scenarios at a recent
(10:34):
story you did for the Herald Leader, and it seems
to me that if you look at baseball you and
then look, you know, kind of transition that over to football.
You if you want to overachieve, you've got to have
been very good on your transfer evaluations. You can't have
a lot of misses. You've got to not beat yourself.
(10:58):
So that means you're you should end the season with
a plus turnover margin and the higher number the better
you should not have you should have a low number
of penalties, and you know, if you can get some
good luck with injuries that helps too. But those things
basically have just start with not beating yourself and when
(11:20):
you get a chance to close out an opponent, do it.
If you can do that, that's how you would overachieve.
In football.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, absolutely, it's definitely a similar story. I mean, there
are two programs who are not considered traditional powers in
their sport, especially in probably the best conference in the league,
and both are in the country, and both of those
those sports that are going to have some real things
working against them, and the number one way you deal
with that is you make sure that your fundamentally sound first,
(11:48):
and that In baseball, it's so interesting because they have
developed such a clear identity under nickman g Out, especially
the last three years with the small ball and I
own Nick has even said like they want to be
more diverse and be able to hit more home runs,
and they did some of that last year, certainly on
the way the college world seriously weren't not as power
or into this year. And if you could find that balance,
that would be the best case scenario. But in the
(12:10):
absence of that, they found the way to build that
idea and win. Now in football, we need to see
can they re establish the identity that they had in
that run from twenty sixteen to twenty twenty one, where
they were you know, physical and fundamentally.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Sound and ran the ball really well.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Like I think there are some pieces that would make
that really interesting in this fall. I mean if the
offensive line transfers they got panned out, as you mentioned, your.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Transfers have to work.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
If Zach Calzada turns out to be like at you know,
the four as a very competent game manager, and these
running backs they have are really interesting. So like that's
a way to re establish that I didn'ty. Now they
have to go out and do it, but that's I
think step one to over achieving.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
We'll talk more about that when we come back. We're
visiting with John Hale from the Lexington Herald Leader on
the Club Blue nil dot com hotline, make sure you
sign up your youngster for Club Blue Kids. Go to
Club Blue inil dot com, click on the kids and
you can sign up the young person in your home
for a chance to be part of Club Blue Kids
and take advantage of a lot of special perks that
(13:08):
come along with that. Club blueenil dot com. They're the
official NIL fundraising partner of UK and they're proud to
announce the Club Blue Kids initiative Club Blue Kids, where
future Cats rep the Blue with pride. We'll be right
back twenty five past the top of the hour of
visiting with John Hale. It's the Leach Report, presented by
Bobcat Enterprises. And if you go to Kentucky Sports dot
(13:30):
com you can see John's recent story about Kentucky football
and the case for and against exceeding expectations. And on
the plus side, you cited to a couple of things, John,
the culture that Mark Stoops is essentially aiming to return to.
And then the quarterback position, which you touched on a
(13:52):
moment ago, is those too. You know, if they score
well in both of those areas, that's the way they
could overachieve.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, with the culture stuff, it it felt like at
times that that was as important as anything they were
doing in spring practice on the field. I mean, obviously
they with so many new players, they need to learn
the scheme and they need to figure out, you know,
what they can do well and all of those things
with the x's and o's, But it starts with you know,
they have been so upfront and open players and coaches
since the end of last season that the culture just
wasn't there, and you know there was there were accountability
(14:22):
issues where players were talking about that in the locker room,
where guys weren't holding each other accountab they didn't feel
like they were being held accountable from above, marktoops is
acknowledged that was something they need to do and for
so from day one this off season, it was about
like establishing what the standard is and then making sure
they all knew it and going from there. And so
it's easy to talk about that in the winter and
(14:42):
in the spring and in the summer when you're not
playing games, and we'll see what happens when you're you know,
in a if you're in a tight game against Toledo
in week one, how does that hold? But you know,
establishing that is the bare minimum of what they needed
to do. So if it worked, if they got back
to that, if so many of these transfers who were
from smaller schools and theoretically have something to prove, can
build into that culture, that could be a really nice
(15:04):
recipe for them to have, you know, one of those
twenty sixteen twenty seventeen kind of teams. And then Calzata,
like he was a guy who has as much experience
as any quarterback in the country, so that should be
an issue.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
He's played in this league, he's been.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
The quarterback for an upset of the number one team
in the country. Like, I don't think anybody should reasonably
expect him to put up the same numbers he did
at Incarnate Ward the last two years and an FCS
level and the spread offense. But if he can be
you know, Stephen Johnson, are a little bit better than
that what he was for those teams in sixteen and seventeen, Like,
that's that's a nice starting point as well, and I
think that they could that's a real, you know, kind
(15:39):
of blueprint exceeding expectations.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah, I think about Steven. He threw a really nice
deep ball, so they were able to get some big
hits playing off play action from how well they were
running the ball, which kind of goes back to what
you were talking about earlier with the offensive line and
then the other thing that didn't show up at any
box score. But Steve it was just a tremendous leader,
(16:02):
and I think, you know, he was one of those
guys where team, you know, his teammates played harder for him.
You think about you know what he did in that
Tennessee game when he come out, comes out of the
locker room when it looked like he was done for
the night and ends up diving in the end zone
on his sore shoulder to win the game. You play
harder for a guy like that.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like Stephen was the smallest guy
on the field at times that he never played like it.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
And Calzata is not that small. I mean he's physically,
you know, kind of well put together and looks imposing,
kind of like you know, he's not well Levius, but
that same kind of.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Body type out there.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
But he has that mentality from everything we've heard, and
you watch him play at his previous stops, and like,
I think that's the kind of thing that will be
easy for players to rally around and if he's out
there performing, and he also from reviews this spring has
a really strong arm as well. Like the accuracy is
something they've got to work on, and the connection with
his new receivers building that chemistry, but that seems like
(16:53):
something that you.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Know, theoretically would be a weapon for them if they
if they can find some guys to throw it too
down the field.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
I've heard that he's exhibited some strong leadership skills too.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, and like he's like you would hope that for
a seventh year college player, but certainly that seems to
be the case. I mean, like he's a guy who's
been at so many and been through so much, and
he started off as a fairly highly tide of recruit.
Obviously had the big win because I think a sophomore
at A and M, and then transferred because the guy
who he was who was hurt, the original starter, was
coming back, so he had to go somewhere else. Then
(17:24):
he went through a shoulder injury at Auburn, didn't play there.
You know from what he said in some interviews when
he was in Carney wordors, he thought maybe his career
was over, and that was kind of like his last
chance to go back and play there and play so
well and kind of like rediscover his love for the
game after the injury. At a smaller level, if you
watch his last press conference and incarnate word after they
(17:45):
lost in the playoffs last year, is very emotionally stopped
everybody before they could walk out of the room and say,
like how important that program is toing Like that showed
you what he could do if.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
He's that guy.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
John Hales with us will hold over for one more segment.
There's one another topic I want to touch it. We'll
get to that. We come right back. Talk a little
Kentucky football on a Monday on the Leech Report, present
it by bobcat Enterprises. This is the week for the
Woodford Legends Invitational Golf Tournament. That's the one where legends
of the LPGA Tour like Laurd Davies and Julie Yankster
and Tris Johnson Pat Bradley are coming to play inverse
(18:17):
sales this Saturday and Sunday. You can get tickets at
Woodford Clubfoundation dot org for just fifteen dollars a day.
Kids seventeen and under get in free. Proceeds benefit KVC Kentucky.
The Woodford Legends Invitational Golf Tournament at the Woodford Club
this Saturday and Sunday. John Hale's with us for one
more segment from the Lexington Herald Leader Kentucky sports dot com,
(18:40):
where he covers Kentucky football. The Eric Wolford contract extension
and one hundred thousand dollars a year raise has generated
some negative pr for coach stops because the offensive line
didn't perform well last season. And when you are in
(19:01):
a position where you make this move, I think you
have to understand that there's going to be that kind
of pushback from fans. But if you think it's the
right move, you have to make it as a coach,
if somebody's trying to hire him away, or if you
want to make sure you lock him up for the
you know, to an extra year at least. So that's
kind of just comes with a territory, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yeah, the Rays in itself, I don't think people should
really be focused on that at all. And that's just
how these contracts work. Basically, when you keep multiple years,
the salary goes up by a certain increment every time.
It will be interesting to hear from Mark the next
time we talk to him what exactly precipitated it. I
assume that somebody was trying to hire because if you
look at their staff contracts right now, I think they've
(19:45):
got five coaches who are not signed past next season,
which is not usual for this time of the year.
It's why extend him and not the other ones?
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Right now? As far as we know that to me,
says somebody's trying to hire. His buyout to leave was
like five hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
He saw nebrass Guardy pay that for Dochiel Schwartz earlier
in the off season, so it's not a number that
was prohibitive from him leaving. And so if you believe
in what he built in the off season in terms
of the transfers and how they brought in those guys
to re build the line, and you think he's the
guy to do that moving forward and build some continuity there,
regardless of last season's results, you've got to step up
(20:20):
to keep them. Like whether that turns out to be
the right decision, we won't know. And certainly they made
a bad contract decision before him, because they extended Zach
Ginzer for a year.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Like a month before they fired him to hire Eric
Woolford and ended up having to pay a buy out
they wouldn't have otherwise.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
So like their contract decisions aren't great in history there.
But if you believe he's the guy, and he believed
the moves he made in the off season to bring
in these transfers are the right moves, then if somebody
was trying to come get him, you got to do
what you can to keep him, and that's what it takes.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And I would think that that's pretty much all you
need to say is that you could say if somebody
was trying to hire him, if you want to say that,
or you can just say, we, you know, believe in
the group he's put together. We're confident that they're going
to be better. And there are other people, you know,
if you don't make these kinds of moves, you could
lose guys that you believe are important to your staff
(21:13):
for recruiting and development. And I made the decision I made,
and we'll see how it turns out on the field.
But which is the reality. You know, at the end
of November, people might feel differently about the decision if
the offensive line performs the way they hope it does.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Yeah, absolutely, and you know it's certainly it's not a
move obviously that Mark made in a silo himself. I mean,
he would have to have approval from Mitch Barnhart in
the administration, so like then you have to go make
that argument to him because they're obviously as into the
pr stuff as anybody right now, and that would be
the first question they asked the sentence really like, are
we willing to take the hit on this? And then
you all come to a decision and that you are.
(21:48):
And so it's, you know, something for people to talk
about at the end of May the beginning of June.
But certainly they'll be able to either go out and
prove it.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
This fall or not. In fans, if the offensive line
is not very good, there's gonna be a lot of questions.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Absolutely, yeah, not just about the offensive line, but the fans.
Excuse me, if you're invested in a team, we're hurts
the right word. But when coach Wolford left for Alabama
on short notice and the way that that all played out,
and I get that that that you know, as a fan,
I understand that feeling, and that's always kind of gonna
(22:22):
gonna be there at play. You can knock it down
if the offensive line performs really well. But in fairness
to coach Wolford, I've heard people say he wasn't good
the first time he was here. The first time he
was here was the second Centrist Bowl win, so they
were really good and his reputation is a strong one.
(22:43):
So again it kind of comes back to you make
decision when you're the head guy. You have to make
decisions and sometimes you can't always defend them until the
games start, and that's kind of where they are.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, I mean his first that was interesting because the
little line was so good.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
He obviously inherited both those most of those.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Guys, but that was the year they moved Partner from
a kind of average guard to an NFL center like
that was a guy who was like a development under him,
like we did. He did not stick around long enough,
frankly to see if that recruiting prowess that we have
heard so much about paid off. He was the lead
recruiter on Dean Walker, so that's that's a point in
his favor as well, did some work in Nashville. So
(23:19):
it's really this is the first time we see him
around long enough to say, like what's his identity and
getting like highst cloth its alignment and how they're going
to develop those guys like and the turnover at that
position has just been so you know, frequent that it's
been hard for them to build that continuity there, and
you know, I don't think making another move there was
gonna help, regardless of what happened last year, and if
(23:39):
for whatever reason they were worried about him leaving again
or somebody coming to get him, Like, you got to
do what you can to build some continuity there, or.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
You're just going to stay in the cycle forever.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
John Hale LEXI did Harold Leader Kentucky Sports dot Com
And by the way, Corey Price outed you yesterday, so
belated happy birthday, Thanks for John Hale, Thank you much,
thanks for having me. If you follow Corey Price on
x you can see a picture of a young John Hale.
Corey always does a good job of finding those pictures
from the wayback Machine. Quick Break, Ben Roberts talk at
(24:10):
Kentucky basketball. When we come right back seventeen away from
the top of the hours, the lead report presented by
Bobcat Enterprises, and we go to the club Blueinisle dot
com hotline. Bring on Ben Roberts, who covers Kentucky men's
basketball for the Lexington Herald Leader at Kentucky Sports dot Com.
I'll start with Otega Oway. The big news came down
last week that lifted the spirits of Wildcat fans that
(24:34):
Otega is coming back for a second year. And when
you covered the combine, the NBA combine, Ben you had
a chance to spend a little time with Otega and
talk about what year two could look like for him
and what his motivation would be.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Right, Yes, I did, And yeah, one of the takeaways
from that conversation was, you know, one he said, if
he did come back, which I think everybody kind of
assumed at that point that he was gonna leave no
doubt in the in the minds of NBA draft decision
makers for next year that he was a first round pick,
he basically said he was going to redouble his efforts
(25:08):
and he knew there were some clear points to his
game that he could improve on that would that would
obviously both put Kentucky in a better position to make
a deeper run this coming season and and also put
himself in a better position to be drafted higher than
he was projected for next year. So you know, he
(25:28):
you know, I know he took this, he took this
process seriously.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
I think a lot of it was, you know, kind of.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
Just getting that information, uh, seeing what he needs to
work on, kind of like Antonio Reeves a couple of
years ago, and then and then trying to actually show
that out on the court over the next year or so.
And put himself in a position. But you know, I
think I still think he's got the upside to be
a first round draft pick if if he can, uh,
if he can tick off some of these boxes in
his game.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
There was there were a lot of ories that said
he probably wouldn't be drafted if he stayed in the draft,
and that he was just a fringe second round guy.
I did see. Matt in Orlander from CBS had some
sources he talked about in a story over the weekend
that said Otega almost certainly would have been drafted and
(26:18):
I'm sure in the second round, and that the call
ended up being a close one, which if if that's accurate,
I have no reason to doubt that that speaks well
for what Otega did in those workouts for NBA teams
and should be a strong motivator to kind of finish
it off with a strong second season at Kentucky.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
And yeah, I get the sense he would have been
drafted too, But I don't, you know, it's.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
He was in that area where it's not a lock.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
And that's another thing he said at the combine was
that he wanted it to be a lock, like he
you know, he said it's fine.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
If you if you go to the NBA via the.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
The undrafted free agent Rowle, but that's not the way
he wanted to go. He was basically without saying so
he made it clear that he doesn't he doesn't want
to even be drafted.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
He wants to be an NBA player for for a
long time. That's his goal.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
So to put it, he wanted to do whatever he
needed to do to put himself in the best position
to do that. And yeah, I think he did. From
what I heard, he did impress uh people throughout that process.
I mean, you spend a lot of time around him,
you know how impressive he can be in those you know,
those one on one situations. Obviously, people who saw his
(27:33):
game and how much he improved and some of the
some of the stuff he worked on from from second
year at Oklahoma to this past season at Kentucky. I mean,
I think that that gives you the foundation, the track
record right there that you know, he can pinpoint these
parts of his game, work on them, make them a
lot better, and then move on to the next thing.
And and I think this next year, so it will
(27:54):
be two or three of those next things.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Most times in life, if you want a behavior, you
need to incentivize it. When your kids are young, maybe
you can do it without incentivizing it, maybe you can
do it in other ways. But for most aspects of life,
if you incentivize the behavior, that's your best chance of
getting it. And that leads me to the point of
(28:17):
there's a lot of guys that didn't make the right
decision over the years in terms of the best for
their NBA long term prospects, and they could have benefited
from additional development in a college program and didn't take
advantage of it because they couldn't make any money in college.
Now they can, and so guys like Otega are able
(28:40):
to maybe feel like they're able to more readily make
that decision that is I think ultimately the right one
for most of them.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Yeah, I mean Alex Condon to Haid Pettiford, the SEC,
Bugie Flan, the SEC is going to be filled with
those type of players this coming season and was this
past season.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
You know, Jenni Broom told me straight up at the
combine that that if.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Not for Nil, he would have left two years ago,
almost certainly, even when when he was kind of in
the same situation as Otega, where he he wasn't really
projected by anybody after that first year at Auburn as a.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Certainly not a sure fire draft pick.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
I don't think he would have been drafted that year,
but he said he would have gone just because that's
kind of the you know what you did if you
were in that spot. And now it seems like more
and more guys are realizing that what you do is
what Otega did. I mean, Walter Clayton's a great example.
He might be a first round pick. Chas Lanier worked
(29:36):
himself into the draft. Gen I is going to be
at least a second round pick.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
So yes, you the the.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
N I l.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
The more freedom and opportunities these guys are getting is
obviously you know, and I know people don't like the
constant roster movement and roster turnover that that Kentucky fans
should be used to now, but now everybody's getting used
to in college basketball.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
But as far as keeping very, very talented players in
the game, you can't argue that that it's it's not
a good thing here.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Then at the combat, I gave you a chance to
talk to some teammates, former teammates of two Wildcat transfers
start with Mohammed Diabat from Alabama. I think one of
his teammates was It Sears talked about him being a
kind of a version of a Dennis Rodman like player.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Yeah, he's a Dennis Rodman with skill, is what Mark
told me, which I mean, that's pretty you know, put
a little extra skill on the greatest rebounder in basketball history.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
You might have something there.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
But yeah, that's something that I think Grant Nelson actually
first brought it up to me that basically Modiabat was
really just not in a spot and Grant was part
of the reason for that, that to show a lot
of the skill he had at Alabama. You know, he
had kind of a different role. But all all three
of those guys, uh Le Baron, Mark Sears and and
(30:58):
and Grant Nelson all talked about out the kind of
skill that the diabaatee flashed in those Alabama practices and
they said that that toughness, that grit that I know
Mark Pope really really wanted more of for next season's team.
They said that that's natural that's gonna come no matter
what role he's playing in, but that they expect him
to show a lot more skill at Kentucky next season.
(31:20):
I think the expectation is obviously he gets a larger role.
But you know, if you look at his numbers on
a permanent basis, they're, you know, they're they're pretty impressive.
And if you watched him play, which Kentucky fans obviously
did last season, there's a lot to his game and
in a lot of ways he can help out. This
can be team. And yeah, talking to those guys just
(31:42):
you know, a high ceiling that that has not been
close to being reached yet.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Would you hear back from Florida teammates of Denzel Aberty.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
Yeah, kind of kind of similar stuff. I mean, obviously
a very different player, but they talked about a guy
who just works harder than everybody who just comes and
plays his role. Uh. And you know, obviously Walter Clayton
and Elijah Martin were both on the way out, so
they could talk in a little different way than than
Alex Condon did. But you know, Alex, uh, he wished
(32:13):
the best for Denzel and everything, but but he kind
of made it clear he was very sad to see
him leave, that he thought he was going to come
in and be the starting point guard at Florida next season.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
He was really looking forward.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
He had made his decision public at that point, but
I think everybody assumed he was coming back, or a
lot of people did. So he was looking forward to
playing with him another season and thought they obviously they
still do have a great shot at back to back titles.
But was was sad to see him go, just because.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
He knows the kind of caliber of player he can be.
So yeah, all three of those guys.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Were were raving about him, and and just kind of
the leadership and and also a lead.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
By example type guy that that they think old will
be a good culture fit for Kentucky.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
I know with Jalen Lowe, Kentucky has its projected point guard.
I know some have said they don't have a clear backup,
but isn't Aberdeen the most likely number two option there
at point guard?
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (33:08):
Absolutely, And you know, depending on how Pope wants to
work that starting lineup, I mean you could easily go
low Aberdeen away and start three guard types there.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
But whatever he.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
Does, I expect Denzel one to play a ton and
and two to play pretty much all those backup point
guard minutes or or could be a two point guard set.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Like I said, with with Jalen, both those guys on
the floor quite a bit.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
But yeah, obviously that everybody knows was a big problem
my last season's team. You can't you can't really plan
for injuries, especially with guys who have never really had
a track record of being injured, but the point guard
situation hurts them toward the end of the season, and
I know he wanted to shore up that as best
as possible.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
And you're talking.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
About an all acc type guy and low and a
guy who, like I said, Alex Condon thought was gonna
be the starting point guard on the sitting national champions
this season. So if you got both those guys, you're
probably doing pretty well.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
You can read Ben roberts coverage of Kentucky men's basketball
at Kentucky sports dot com and in the pages of
the Lexington Harold Leader.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Thank you, Ben, yep, thanks a lot of Tom.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
It's the lead Triporte presented by Bob Kat Enterprises, and
we'll be back with our final segment in just a moment. Well,
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is the Good Life. Derby and Triple Crown coverage. This
spring's been presented once again by Clayborne Farm doing the
usual unusually well. They had a nice looking winner over
(35:24):
the weekend and at Churchill Down Source demed excite worth
keeping an eye on that three year old. A field
of eight is expected when the Belmont Steaks field is
announced later today. Crudo from the Todd Pletcher Stable, the
latest addition to the field, brings a little more speed
into the mix, which is interesting for a horse like
sovereignty the Derby Winter in particular that could benefit from
(35:46):
a fast pace. Crude one of the Sir Barton Steaks
on Preakness weekend at Pimlico, and also was a very
impressive allowance winner here at Keenland in the April Meet
and Mystic Dan last year's Derby Winter. He won the
Blame Stakes at Churchill Down over the weekend. Nice to
see him making his way back to the Winter circle
for the first time since he won the Roses in
May of twenty twenty four. The Stan wild Cat History
(36:09):
presented by Kentucky road Show Sports Cards a Memorabilia. They're
on Romney Road in Lexington and at roadshowcards dot Com.
Nineteen eighty nine. This day, Rick Patino won the introductory
news conference, probably the best new coach performance at a
news conference until Mark Pope came along. Tino said quote,
we will win, and we will win right away, and
he talked about hanging onto those season tickets because they
(36:30):
were going to be the most valuable thing in life.
And turned out he was right. And Marvin Stone young man,
we lost a former Kentucky basketball player and then went
to UFL that we lost much too early in his life.
He was born on this day. I want to talk
about shuffle Beeing coffee is the official coffee of rapp
Arena and the KFCM Center, and you can make it
(36:53):
the official coffee of your home. Pick some up at
Central Kentucky Meyer stores, get it through Amazon, or go
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and you could order some of the product there. Coffee
in a variety of forms, the whole being the already
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(37:15):
the very best of coffee beans. So put some hustle
in your shuffle with shuffle being coffee. One time Wildcat
Jordan Anthony, who's now at Arkansas, ran the ninth fastest
time ever in the one hundred meter quarterfinals at the
NCAA Track and Field Championships. Nine point seven five for
the former Wildcat that is flying, that's going to do
(37:37):
it for us. We'll be back with you tomorrow. Larry
Vatt always with us on Tuesdays, and we'll see who
else we can line up. Also, the folks at state
Line Co. Back last month, they announced a fundraiser for
the Tornado victims down in London. It involves these London
Strong T shirts, So look up state Line Co online
and you can find a way to order your T shirt.
(37:59):
Follow at state Line Co on social media. One hundred
percent of the proceeds go to the recovery efforts the
London Strong T shirts. Get one for yourself and you
can help out the folks down in London. They received
over ten thousand dollars in donations just in May, so
thanks to state Line Co for doing what they can
to help out. We'll see you tomorrow on the Leads
Report presented by bob Ted Enterprises
Hello, everybody, Welcome in. It is another week of Leech
Report shows presented by Bobcat Enterprises and Belmont Stakes week
coming up, so we'll be talking a little bit about
that as we get toward Saturday and the big race day.
If you're a horse racing fan, it's a fun week
up at Sarah Toogo with a lot of outstanding racing. Unfortunately,
(00:23):
if you're a UK baseball fan, the season came to
an end last night. We'll talk a little bit about
that with John Hale, who's covering baseball for the Lexington
Herald Leader, and then we'll shift over into some football
conversation with John, and then in the second half of
the show, we'll get the UK basketball men's basketball beat
writer for the Herald Leader, Ben Roberts, to join a program.
(00:46):
And Ben was at the Combine and got some interesting
stories out of there with his conversation with otega Oway
and his conversation with some former teammates of Mohammed di
Abatee and Denzel Aberdeen what talking about what they could
look like at Kentucky. So we'll get into all of
that with Ben in the second half of the show.
(01:08):
Wildcat News of the Day always a service of Giuseppes
of Lexington, and just a really frustrating performance for the
Kentucky baseball team last night against West Virginia. They had
a tremendous performance earlier in the day eliminating the number
eleven overall seed Clemson on its home field and did
(01:31):
it authoritatively. I think it was what sixteen to three
I believe the final was. And Kentucky had lost on
Friday afternoon in a game it really should have won.
It got itself in trouble with errors, which had not
been a big problem for the season, but some errors
(01:55):
allowed West Virginia to tie the game when Cleaver was
pitching really well on Friday, and then West Virginia walked
it off with a win in the bottom of the ninth.
So Kentucky really should have won the game on Friday,
but got into the loser's bracket, came out beat se
Upstate on Saturday, beat Clemson yesterday, and that put him
in a game last night against West Virginia, and they
(02:17):
should be playing tonight. Kentucky should be playing tonight for
a chance to go on to a super regional. But
West Virginia twice rallied from five run deficits, including scoring
five times with two outs in the bottom of the
eighth inning last night in a game that lasted about
five hours. So Kentucky season comes to an end in
(02:39):
the Clemson Regional and West Virginia scored to go ahead
thirteen to twelve in the bottom of the eighth and
then Kentucky got one hit in the ninth, but couldn't
really mount any kind of a serious threat. So it
was a season that in some ways was triumphant in
(02:59):
terms of all the losses that they took and still
winning thirty games for the fourth year in a row
and getting back to a regional for the third year
in a row. But on the other hand, the guys
that are returning should be motivated by the fact that
they had a great chance to continue their season and
(03:20):
they came up short in doing that. So we'll get
into all of that with John Hale when he joins
us here in just a bit. CBS is Matt Norlander
had a story out this over the weekend, talking about
some sources that told him that the quote the call
wound up being a close one for otaga Oway with
what he was hearing as he went through the workouts
(03:42):
for the NBA folks, and Norlanders says that Otega quote
almost certainly would have been drafted, likely would have been
in the second round. I think if he'd been had
a shot to be in the first round, he probably
would have stayed in. But that to me is and
we'll get into this with Ben, a positive because sometimes
(04:06):
guys go through this process and they don't hear what
they want to hear, and it's disappointing because they're ready
to go. I think for Otega, he probably went into
this as kind of a from a fact finding standpoint.
I mean, he and the people around him could see
what all the projections were at. He wasn't projected anywhere
in the draft. And yet as he went through the
process and worked out for people and talked with people,
(04:29):
that apparently he built some momentum toward again, according to Norland,
are potentially being drafted and that should serve as some
really strong motivation for coming back to have a great
year and parleying that into a surefire higher draft position
a year from now. So we'll get into that with
(04:51):
Ben Roberts when he joins us later in the program.
Thanks to the stories we talk about each day, you
can find those on the bud Light Leach Report page
at Tom leachky dot com. I ahead to a break,
Come back and chat with John Hale about the Little
UK Baseball and some UK football and our opening segment
presented by Giuseppes of Lexington. Get to Giuseppes soon if
(05:11):
you haven't already done so. Father's Days just around the
corner so that you can get a reservation to take
Dad out to a really special meal. Sit in the
lounge area, enjoy the jazz music that Dave Hall provides
to make for a really special dining experience at Giuseppes.
The steaks are handcut, the pasta's homemade fresh seafood shipped
(05:32):
in a lot of locally sourced ingredients. It's all at
Giuseppes on Nicholasville Road, just past man O War here
in Lexington. We'll be right back with John Hall. Pat
your part coming to you from the Clark's Pump and
Chop Studio. Return, refresh and refuel at Clark's and make
sure you sign up for their Loyalty Rewards program. It's
going great guns gives you a chance to get some
discounts on fuel and items in their stores. John Hale
(05:55):
joins us on the club Blue nil dot com hotline
and in addition to being the b writer for UK football,
he's covering UK baseball this time of year. And what
a frustrating game for Kentucky fans and I'm sure for
players and coaches too to be involved in last night,
going almost five hours against West Virginia and letting two
five run leads get away.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, it was kind of a microcosm of the whole season,
and they've struggled to keep big leads in games all
season long. I mean, we heard that stat so many
times going into the tournament about how they had led
in like twenty eight of thirty one SEC games and
so many of their games by one or two losses.
And it gave you hope in many ways because it
(06:36):
was show clear that could compete with just about anybody
in the country. But of course the other side of
that is that means you've probably had some issues on
your pitching staff, especially late games on those leverage situations,
and then you get into regional where you lose the
first game and you have to go through the loser's
bracket of a double relation tournament.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Basically no college.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Baseball team can withstand getting the game four or five
and still have pitchers out of the mound that you
are normally counting onto those situations. So that's what happened
after the second one for sure. I think all five
of the or the last five pitchers in the game,
none of them had pitched more than like eighteen hitting
all season, and that's what happens. Sometimes they just ran
(07:15):
out of arms, which is always a risk when you
go in the loser side of the bracket.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
And certainly what happened yesterday, and that's that's why you
take advantage of opportunities to get that first win on Friday,
and they were their own worst enemy with some errors.
They should have really beaten West Virginia on Friday, and
they were up three to nothing early.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Yeah, that was definitely.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
That was probably when the refilm was lost in all honesty,
just because I mean clearly they made.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
A valiant effort to claw back.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, beat Upstate, beat Clemson, and they deserve credit for that,
certainly in the grand scheme of where this program has
sat in the sec taking order historically, it's it's still
a successful season, for sure, but there is that sense
of frustration because you were so close in game one
to putting yourself and the driver's seat, and especially no
point how the pitching played out those next two games,
(08:02):
you could really see a scenario where you're like, Okay,
if they had been in a winner's bracket last night,
they would have been in the spot where they still
had some really good arms on the man mounted in
a position to maybe take control of that game.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yeah, that's it is a situation where, you know, four
consecutive seasons with thirty or more wins, three straight NCAA
tournament appearances, things that hadn't been done by the program.
So you can look at that and be, you know,
rightfully proud of of what you accomplished. On the other hand,
for the guys that are coming back, I would think
(08:36):
they would be strongly motivated by knowing that they had chance,
a chance to be in a you know, accomplish a
whole lot more.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah, absolutely, and so many down the stretch, especially you know,
when they felt like they finally found a lineup to
build around.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
It was young guys. I mean, they had transfers who.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Were impact players, but you know, many of those transfers
to another your eligibility but guys like Tyler Bell, who's
played the most talented player of the team, the shortstop
who was a second round pick last year and decided
to come to college, and Ryan Schwartz, the outfielder was
a freshman, and Hudson Brown, who had played really well
in the regionalanding a red shirt freshman. Like young guys
who this experience playing big, big moments and postseason play.
(09:19):
If you get them back, that's a really important nucleus
and experience they can build on.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Now. Of course, in this era of college sports.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I don't know that anybody can assume roster continuity, and
especially baseball seems like maybe the most interesting sport to
watch moving forward, this revenue sharing, expanded scholarship stuff, because
some SEC's goals it's really really important, and they're going
to spend a lot of money on baseball, and we
don't really know where Kentucky's investment point is going to
be at.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
So that's going to be fascinating to see if.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
They can keep all these young guys who are so
important to them as well.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Well.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Let's shift gears now to Kentucky football, which you cover
for the Lexington Harrold Leader. Kentucky sports dot Com because
it seems to me there are some crossover points in
the discussion that we're having about baseball Kentucky football does.
If you look at the roster, it's doesn't have the
(10:12):
number of projected NFL players that the best Kentucky teams
have had, and the expectations are low. I mean, in Vegas,
what has the over under at four and a half
wins a lot of places in Vegas. So what would
the script look like for Kentucky to overachieve? You talked about,
you know, best and worst case scenarios at a recent
(10:34):
story you did for the Herald Leader, and it seems
to me that if you look at baseball you and
then look, you know, kind of transition that over to football.
You if you want to overachieve, you've got to have
been very good on your transfer evaluations. You can't have
a lot of misses. You've got to not beat yourself.
(10:58):
So that means you're you should end the season with
a plus turnover margin and the higher number the better
you should not have you should have a low number
of penalties, and you know, if you can get some
good luck with injuries that helps too. But those things
basically have just start with not beating yourself and when
(11:20):
you get a chance to close out an opponent, do it.
If you can do that, that's how you would overachieve.
In football.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, absolutely, it's definitely a similar story. I mean, there
are two programs who are not considered traditional powers in
their sport, especially in probably the best conference in the league,
and both are in the country, and both of those
those sports that are going to have some real things
working against them, and the number one way you deal
with that is you make sure that your fundamentally sound first,
(11:48):
and that In baseball, it's so interesting because they have
developed such a clear identity under nickman g Out, especially
the last three years with the small ball and I
own Nick has even said like they want to be
more diverse and be able to hit more home runs,
and they did some of that last year, certainly on
the way the college world seriously weren't not as power
or into this year. And if you could find that balance,
that would be the best case scenario. But in the
(12:10):
absence of that, they found the way to build that
idea and win. Now in football, we need to see
can they re establish the identity that they had in
that run from twenty sixteen to twenty twenty one, where
they were you know, physical and fundamentally.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Sound and ran the ball really well.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Like I think there are some pieces that would make
that really interesting in this fall. I mean if the
offensive line transfers they got panned out, as you mentioned, your.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Transfers have to work.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
If Zach Calzada turns out to be like at you know,
the four as a very competent game manager, and these
running backs they have are really interesting. So like that's
a way to re establish that I didn'ty. Now they
have to go out and do it, but that's I
think step one to over achieving.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
We'll talk more about that when we come back. We're
visiting with John Hale from the Lexington Herald Leader on
the Club Blue nil dot com hotline, make sure you
sign up your youngster for Club Blue Kids. Go to
Club Blue inil dot com, click on the kids and
you can sign up the young person in your home
for a chance to be part of Club Blue Kids
and take advantage of a lot of special perks that
(13:08):
come along with that. Club blueenil dot com. They're the
official NIL fundraising partner of UK and they're proud to
announce the Club Blue Kids initiative Club Blue Kids, where
future Cats rep the Blue with pride. We'll be right
back twenty five past the top of the hour of
visiting with John Hale. It's the Leach Report, presented by
Bobcat Enterprises. And if you go to Kentucky Sports dot
(13:30):
com you can see John's recent story about Kentucky football
and the case for and against exceeding expectations. And on
the plus side, you cited to a couple of things, John,
the culture that Mark Stoops is essentially aiming to return to.
And then the quarterback position, which you touched on a
(13:52):
moment ago, is those too. You know, if they score
well in both of those areas, that's the way they
could overachieve.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, with the culture stuff, it it felt like at
times that that was as important as anything they were
doing in spring practice on the field. I mean, obviously
they with so many new players, they need to learn
the scheme and they need to figure out, you know,
what they can do well and all of those things
with the x's and o's, But it starts with you know,
they have been so upfront and open players and coaches
since the end of last season that the culture just
wasn't there, and you know there was there were accountability
(14:22):
issues where players were talking about that in the locker room,
where guys weren't holding each other accountab they didn't feel
like they were being held accountable from above, marktoops is
acknowledged that was something they need to do and for
so from day one this off season, it was about
like establishing what the standard is and then making sure
they all knew it and going from there. And so
it's easy to talk about that in the winter and
(14:42):
in the spring and in the summer when you're not
playing games, and we'll see what happens when you're you know,
in a if you're in a tight game against Toledo
in week one, how does that hold? But you know,
establishing that is the bare minimum of what they needed
to do. So if it worked, if they got back
to that, if so many of these transfers who were
from smaller schools and theoretically have something to prove, can
build into that culture, that could be a really nice
(15:04):
recipe for them to have, you know, one of those
twenty sixteen twenty seventeen kind of teams. And then Calzata,
like he was a guy who has as much experience
as any quarterback in the country, so that should be
an issue.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
He's played in this league, he's been.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
The quarterback for an upset of the number one team
in the country. Like, I don't think anybody should reasonably
expect him to put up the same numbers he did
at Incarnate Ward the last two years and an FCS
level and the spread offense. But if he can be
you know, Stephen Johnson, are a little bit better than
that what he was for those teams in sixteen and seventeen, Like,
that's that's a nice starting point as well, and I
think that they could that's a real, you know, kind
(15:39):
of blueprint exceeding expectations.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah, I think about Steven. He threw a really nice
deep ball, so they were able to get some big
hits playing off play action from how well they were
running the ball, which kind of goes back to what
you were talking about earlier with the offensive line and
then the other thing that didn't show up at any
box score. But Steve it was just a tremendous leader,
(16:02):
and I think, you know, he was one of those
guys where team, you know, his teammates played harder for him.
You think about you know what he did in that
Tennessee game when he come out, comes out of the
locker room when it looked like he was done for
the night and ends up diving in the end zone
on his sore shoulder to win the game. You play
harder for a guy like that.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like Stephen was the smallest guy
on the field at times that he never played like it.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
And Calzata is not that small. I mean he's physically,
you know, kind of well put together and looks imposing,
kind of like you know, he's not well Levius, but
that same kind of.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Body type out there.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
But he has that mentality from everything we've heard, and
you watch him play at his previous stops, and like,
I think that's the kind of thing that will be
easy for players to rally around and if he's out
there performing, and he also from reviews this spring has
a really strong arm as well. Like the accuracy is
something they've got to work on, and the connection with
his new receivers building that chemistry, but that seems like
(16:53):
something that you.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Know, theoretically would be a weapon for them if they
if they can find some guys to throw it too
down the field.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
I've heard that he's exhibited some strong leadership skills too.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, and like he's like you would hope that for
a seventh year college player, but certainly that seems to
be the case. I mean, like he's a guy who's
been at so many and been through so much, and
he started off as a fairly highly tide of recruit.
Obviously had the big win because I think a sophomore
at A and M, and then transferred because the guy
who he was who was hurt, the original starter, was
coming back, so he had to go somewhere else. Then
(17:24):
he went through a shoulder injury at Auburn, didn't play there.
You know from what he said in some interviews when
he was in Carney wordors, he thought maybe his career
was over, and that was kind of like his last
chance to go back and play there and play so
well and kind of like rediscover his love for the
game after the injury. At a smaller level, if you
watch his last press conference and incarnate word after they
(17:45):
lost in the playoffs last year, is very emotionally stopped
everybody before they could walk out of the room and say,
like how important that program is toing Like that showed
you what he could do if.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
He's that guy.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
John Hales with us will hold over for one more segment.
There's one another topic I want to touch it. We'll
get to that. We come right back. Talk a little
Kentucky football on a Monday on the Leech Report, present
it by bobcat Enterprises. This is the week for the
Woodford Legends Invitational Golf Tournament. That's the one where legends
of the LPGA Tour like Laurd Davies and Julie Yankster
and Tris Johnson Pat Bradley are coming to play inverse
(18:17):
sales this Saturday and Sunday. You can get tickets at
Woodford Clubfoundation dot org for just fifteen dollars a day.
Kids seventeen and under get in free. Proceeds benefit KVC Kentucky.
The Woodford Legends Invitational Golf Tournament at the Woodford Club
this Saturday and Sunday. John Hale's with us for one
more segment from the Lexington Herald Leader Kentucky sports dot com,
(18:40):
where he covers Kentucky football. The Eric Wolford contract extension
and one hundred thousand dollars a year raise has generated
some negative pr for coach stops because the offensive line
didn't perform well last season. And when you are in
(19:01):
a position where you make this move, I think you
have to understand that there's going to be that kind
of pushback from fans. But if you think it's the
right move, you have to make it as a coach,
if somebody's trying to hire him away, or if you
want to make sure you lock him up for the
you know, to an extra year at least. So that's
kind of just comes with a territory, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yeah, the Rays in itself, I don't think people should
really be focused on that at all. And that's just
how these contracts work. Basically, when you keep multiple years,
the salary goes up by a certain increment every time.
It will be interesting to hear from Mark the next
time we talk to him what exactly precipitated it. I
assume that somebody was trying to hire because if you
look at their staff contracts right now, I think they've
(19:45):
got five coaches who are not signed past next season,
which is not usual for this time of the year.
It's why extend him and not the other ones?
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Right now? As far as we know that to me,
says somebody's trying to hire. His buyout to leave was
like five hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
He saw nebrass Guardy pay that for Dochiel Schwartz earlier
in the off season, so it's not a number that
was prohibitive from him leaving. And so if you believe
in what he built in the off season in terms
of the transfers and how they brought in those guys
to re build the line, and you think he's the
guy to do that moving forward and build some continuity there,
regardless of last season's results, you've got to step up
(20:20):
to keep them. Like whether that turns out to be
the right decision, we won't know. And certainly they made
a bad contract decision before him, because they extended Zach
Ginzer for a year.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Like a month before they fired him to hire Eric
Woolford and ended up having to pay a buy out
they wouldn't have otherwise.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
So like their contract decisions aren't great in history there.
But if you believe he's the guy, and he believed
the moves he made in the off season to bring
in these transfers are the right moves, then if somebody
was trying to come get him, you got to do
what you can to keep him, and that's what it takes.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And I would think that that's pretty much all you
need to say is that you could say if somebody
was trying to hire him, if you want to say that,
or you can just say, we, you know, believe in
the group he's put together. We're confident that they're going
to be better. And there are other people, you know,
if you don't make these kinds of moves, you could
lose guys that you believe are important to your staff
(21:13):
for recruiting and development. And I made the decision I made,
and we'll see how it turns out on the field.
But which is the reality. You know, at the end
of November, people might feel differently about the decision if
the offensive line performs the way they hope it does.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Yeah, absolutely, and you know it's certainly it's not a
move obviously that Mark made in a silo himself. I mean,
he would have to have approval from Mitch Barnhart in
the administration, so like then you have to go make
that argument to him because they're obviously as into the
pr stuff as anybody right now, and that would be
the first question they asked the sentence really like, are
we willing to take the hit on this? And then
you all come to a decision and that you are.
(21:48):
And so it's, you know, something for people to talk
about at the end of May the beginning of June.
But certainly they'll be able to either go out and
prove it.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
This fall or not. In fans, if the offensive line
is not very good, there's gonna be a lot of questions.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Absolutely, yeah, not just about the offensive line, but the fans.
Excuse me, if you're invested in a team, we're hurts
the right word. But when coach Wolford left for Alabama
on short notice and the way that that all played out,
and I get that that that you know, as a fan,
I understand that feeling, and that's always kind of gonna
(22:22):
gonna be there at play. You can knock it down
if the offensive line performs really well. But in fairness
to coach Wolford, I've heard people say he wasn't good
the first time he was here. The first time he
was here was the second Centrist Bowl win, so they
were really good and his reputation is a strong one.
(22:43):
So again it kind of comes back to you make
decision when you're the head guy. You have to make
decisions and sometimes you can't always defend them until the
games start, and that's kind of where they are.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, I mean his first that was interesting because the
little line was so good.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
He obviously inherited both those most of those.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Guys, but that was the year they moved Partner from
a kind of average guard to an NFL center like
that was a guy who was like a development under him,
like we did. He did not stick around long enough,
frankly to see if that recruiting prowess that we have
heard so much about paid off. He was the lead
recruiter on Dean Walker, so that's that's a point in
his favor as well, did some work in Nashville. So
(23:19):
it's really this is the first time we see him
around long enough to say, like what's his identity and
getting like highst cloth its alignment and how they're going
to develop those guys like and the turnover at that
position has just been so you know, frequent that it's
been hard for them to build that continuity there, and
you know, I don't think making another move there was
gonna help, regardless of what happened last year, and if
(23:39):
for whatever reason they were worried about him leaving again
or somebody coming to get him, Like, you got to
do what you can to build some continuity there, or.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
You're just going to stay in the cycle forever.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
John Hale LEXI did Harold Leader Kentucky Sports dot Com
And by the way, Corey Price outed you yesterday, so
belated happy birthday, Thanks for John Hale, Thank you much,
thanks for having me. If you follow Corey Price on
x you can see a picture of a young John Hale.
Corey always does a good job of finding those pictures
from the wayback Machine. Quick Break, Ben Roberts talk at
(24:10):
Kentucky basketball. When we come right back seventeen away from
the top of the hours, the lead report presented by
Bobcat Enterprises, and we go to the club Blueinisle dot
com hotline. Bring on Ben Roberts, who covers Kentucky men's
basketball for the Lexington Herald Leader at Kentucky Sports dot Com.
I'll start with Otega Oway. The big news came down
last week that lifted the spirits of Wildcat fans that
(24:34):
Otega is coming back for a second year. And when
you covered the combine, the NBA combine, Ben you had
a chance to spend a little time with Otega and
talk about what year two could look like for him
and what his motivation would be.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Right, Yes, I did, And yeah, one of the takeaways
from that conversation was, you know, one he said, if
he did come back, which I think everybody kind of
assumed at that point that he was gonna leave no
doubt in the in the minds of NBA draft decision
makers for next year that he was a first round pick,
he basically said he was going to redouble his efforts
(25:08):
and he knew there were some clear points to his
game that he could improve on that would that would
obviously both put Kentucky in a better position to make
a deeper run this coming season and and also put
himself in a better position to be drafted higher than
he was projected for next year. So you know, he
(25:28):
you know, I know he took this, he took this
process seriously.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
I think a lot of it was, you know, kind of.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
Just getting that information, uh, seeing what he needs to
work on, kind of like Antonio Reeves a couple of
years ago, and then and then trying to actually show
that out on the court over the next year or so.
And put himself in a position. But you know, I
think I still think he's got the upside to be
a first round draft pick if if he can, uh,
if he can tick off some of these boxes in
his game.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
There was there were a lot of ories that said
he probably wouldn't be drafted if he stayed in the draft,
and that he was just a fringe second round guy.
I did see. Matt in Orlander from CBS had some
sources he talked about in a story over the weekend
that said Otega almost certainly would have been drafted and
(26:18):
I'm sure in the second round, and that the call
ended up being a close one, which if if that's accurate,
I have no reason to doubt that that speaks well
for what Otega did in those workouts for NBA teams
and should be a strong motivator to kind of finish
it off with a strong second season at Kentucky.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
And yeah, I get the sense he would have been
drafted too, But I don't, you know, it's.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
He was in that area where it's not a lock.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
And that's another thing he said at the combine was
that he wanted it to be a lock, like he
you know, he said it's fine.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
If you if you go to the NBA via the.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
The undrafted free agent Rowle, but that's not the way
he wanted to go. He was basically without saying so
he made it clear that he doesn't he doesn't want
to even be drafted.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
He wants to be an NBA player for for a
long time. That's his goal.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
So to put it, he wanted to do whatever he
needed to do to put himself in the best position
to do that. And yeah, I think he did. From
what I heard, he did impress uh people throughout that process.
I mean, you spend a lot of time around him,
you know how impressive he can be in those you know,
those one on one situations. Obviously, people who saw his
(27:33):
game and how much he improved and some of the
some of the stuff he worked on from from second
year at Oklahoma to this past season at Kentucky. I mean,
I think that that gives you the foundation, the track
record right there that you know, he can pinpoint these
parts of his game, work on them, make them a
lot better, and then move on to the next thing.
And and I think this next year, so it will
(27:54):
be two or three of those next things.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Most times in life, if you want a behavior, you
need to incentivize it. When your kids are young, maybe
you can do it without incentivizing it, maybe you can
do it in other ways. But for most aspects of life,
if you incentivize the behavior, that's your best chance of
getting it. And that leads me to the point of
(28:17):
there's a lot of guys that didn't make the right
decision over the years in terms of the best for
their NBA long term prospects, and they could have benefited
from additional development in a college program and didn't take
advantage of it because they couldn't make any money in college.
Now they can, and so guys like Otega are able
(28:40):
to maybe feel like they're able to more readily make
that decision that is I think ultimately the right one
for most of them.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Yeah, I mean Alex Condon to Haid Pettiford, the SEC,
Bugie Flan, the SEC is going to be filled with
those type of players this coming season and was this
past season.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
You know, Jenni Broom told me straight up at the
combine that that if.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Not for Nil, he would have left two years ago,
almost certainly, even when when he was kind of in
the same situation as Otega, where he he wasn't really
projected by anybody after that first year at Auburn as a.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Certainly not a sure fire draft pick.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
I don't think he would have been drafted that year,
but he said he would have gone just because that's
kind of the you know what you did if you
were in that spot. And now it seems like more
and more guys are realizing that what you do is
what Otega did. I mean, Walter Clayton's a great example.
He might be a first round pick. Chas Lanier worked
(29:36):
himself into the draft. Gen I is going to be
at least a second round pick.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
So yes, you the the.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
N I l.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
The more freedom and opportunities these guys are getting is
obviously you know, and I know people don't like the
constant roster movement and roster turnover that that Kentucky fans
should be used to now, but now everybody's getting used
to in college basketball.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
But as far as keeping very, very talented players in
the game, you can't argue that that it's it's not
a good thing here.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Then at the combat, I gave you a chance to
talk to some teammates, former teammates of two Wildcat transfers
start with Mohammed Diabat from Alabama. I think one of
his teammates was It Sears talked about him being a
kind of a version of a Dennis Rodman like player.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Yeah, he's a Dennis Rodman with skill, is what Mark
told me, which I mean, that's pretty you know, put
a little extra skill on the greatest rebounder in basketball history.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
You might have something there.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
But yeah, that's something that I think Grant Nelson actually
first brought it up to me that basically Modiabat was
really just not in a spot and Grant was part
of the reason for that, that to show a lot
of the skill he had at Alabama. You know, he
had kind of a different role. But all all three
of those guys, uh Le Baron, Mark Sears and and
(30:58):
and Grant Nelson all talked about out the kind of
skill that the diabaatee flashed in those Alabama practices and
they said that that toughness, that grit that I know
Mark Pope really really wanted more of for next season's team.
They said that that's natural that's gonna come no matter
what role he's playing in, but that they expect him
to show a lot more skill at Kentucky next season.
(31:20):
I think the expectation is obviously he gets a larger role.
But you know, if you look at his numbers on
a permanent basis, they're, you know, they're they're pretty impressive.
And if you watched him play, which Kentucky fans obviously
did last season, there's a lot to his game and
in a lot of ways he can help out. This
can be team. And yeah, talking to those guys just
(31:42):
you know, a high ceiling that that has not been
close to being reached yet.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Would you hear back from Florida teammates of Denzel Aberty.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
Yeah, kind of kind of similar stuff. I mean, obviously
a very different player, but they talked about a guy
who just works harder than everybody who just comes and
plays his role. Uh. And you know, obviously Walter Clayton
and Elijah Martin were both on the way out, so
they could talk in a little different way than than
Alex Condon did. But you know, Alex, uh, he wished
(32:13):
the best for Denzel and everything, but but he kind
of made it clear he was very sad to see
him leave, that he thought he was going to come
in and be the starting point guard at Florida next season.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
He was really looking forward.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
He had made his decision public at that point, but
I think everybody assumed he was coming back, or a
lot of people did. So he was looking forward to
playing with him another season and thought they obviously they
still do have a great shot at back to back titles.
But was was sad to see him go, just because.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
He knows the kind of caliber of player he can be.
So yeah, all three of those guys.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Were were raving about him, and and just kind of
the leadership and and also a lead.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
By example type guy that that they think old will
be a good culture fit for Kentucky.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
I know with Jalen Lowe, Kentucky has its projected point guard.
I know some have said they don't have a clear backup,
but isn't Aberdeen the most likely number two option there
at point guard?
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (33:08):
Absolutely, And you know, depending on how Pope wants to
work that starting lineup, I mean you could easily go
low Aberdeen away and start three guard types there.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
But whatever he.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
Does, I expect Denzel one to play a ton and
and two to play pretty much all those backup point
guard minutes or or could be a two point guard set.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Like I said, with with Jalen, both those guys on
the floor quite a bit.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
But yeah, obviously that everybody knows was a big problem
my last season's team. You can't you can't really plan
for injuries, especially with guys who have never really had
a track record of being injured, but the point guard
situation hurts them toward the end of the season, and
I know he wanted to shore up that as best
as possible.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
And you're talking.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
About an all acc type guy and low and a
guy who, like I said, Alex Condon thought was gonna
be the starting point guard on the sitting national champions
this season. So if you got both those guys, you're
probably doing pretty well.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
You can read Ben roberts coverage of Kentucky men's basketball
at Kentucky sports dot com and in the pages of
the Lexington Harold Leader.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Thank you, Ben, yep, thanks a lot of Tom.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
It's the lead Triporte presented by Bob Kat Enterprises, and
we'll be back with our final segment in just a moment. Well,
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is the Good Life. Derby and Triple Crown coverage. This
spring's been presented once again by Clayborne Farm doing the
usual unusually well. They had a nice looking winner over
(35:24):
the weekend and at Churchill Down Source demed excite worth
keeping an eye on that three year old. A field
of eight is expected when the Belmont Steaks field is
announced later today. Crudo from the Todd Pletcher Stable, the
latest addition to the field, brings a little more speed
into the mix, which is interesting for a horse like
sovereignty the Derby Winter in particular that could benefit from
(35:46):
a fast pace. Crude one of the Sir Barton Steaks
on Preakness weekend at Pimlico, and also was a very
impressive allowance winner here at Keenland in the April Meet
and Mystic Dan last year's Derby Winter. He won the
Blame Stakes at Churchill Down over the weekend. Nice to
see him making his way back to the Winter circle
for the first time since he won the Roses in
May of twenty twenty four. The Stan wild Cat History
(36:09):
presented by Kentucky road Show Sports Cards a Memorabilia. They're
on Romney Road in Lexington and at roadshowcards dot Com.
Nineteen eighty nine. This day, Rick Patino won the introductory
news conference, probably the best new coach performance at a
news conference until Mark Pope came along. Tino said quote,
we will win, and we will win right away, and
he talked about hanging onto those season tickets because they
(36:30):
were going to be the most valuable thing in life.
And turned out he was right. And Marvin Stone young man,
we lost a former Kentucky basketball player and then went
to UFL that we lost much too early in his life.
He was born on this day. I want to talk
about shuffle Beeing coffee is the official coffee of rapp
Arena and the KFCM Center, and you can make it
(36:53):
the official coffee of your home. Pick some up at
Central Kentucky Meyer stores, get it through Amazon, or go
to the company's website which is show Ufflebean dot us
and you could order some of the product there. Coffee
in a variety of forms, the whole being the already
ground the curried capsules. But you can also read about
the company, which was started by Kentuckians more than a
decade ago with a commitment to excellence that starts with
(37:15):
the very best of coffee beans. So put some hustle
in your shuffle with shuffle being coffee. One time Wildcat
Jordan Anthony, who's now at Arkansas, ran the ninth fastest
time ever in the one hundred meter quarterfinals at the
NCAA Track and Field Championships. Nine point seven five for
the former Wildcat that is flying, that's going to do
(37:37):
it for us. We'll be back with you tomorrow. Larry
Vatt always with us on Tuesdays, and we'll see who
else we can line up. Also, the folks at state
Line Co. Back last month, they announced a fundraiser for
the Tornado victims down in London. It involves these London
Strong T shirts, So look up state Line Co online
and you can find a way to order your T shirt.
(37:59):
Follow at state Line Co on social media. One hundred
percent of the proceeds go to the recovery efforts the
London Strong T shirts. Get one for yourself and you
can help out the folks down in London. They received
over ten thousand dollars in donations just in May, so
thanks to state Line Co for doing what they can
to help out. We'll see you tomorrow on the Leads
Report presented by bob Ted Enterprises
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.