2025-06-18 LEACH REPORT

Tom talks with Chris Fisher, Ansley Almonor, and Mike DeCourcy.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good day, everybody, Welcome in. It's the Leach Report presented
by Bobcat Enterprises. Coming up today, Mike de Coursi will
join us per usual on Wednesday's here in the off
season from Sporting News. Chris Fisher back from vacation. He'll
join us for the Cat's Pause, and we'll lead off
with Ansley Almanor interview I taped yesterday about his plans

(00:24):
to join the La Familia team for the basketball tournament
coming up next month. They'll play games in that tournament
at Historic Memorial Coliseum, so one more chance for Ansley
to play in front of the BBN. So we'll talk
with him about that coming up here in just a bit.
Wildcat News of the Day presented by Giuseppies of Lexington.

(00:47):
Not a whole lot going on today, it's mostly just
some recruiting tidbits. We'll start with a little football. Our
friend Adam Luckett from on three Sports KSR has put
out a pretty diction for a selection by quarterback Matt
Pantowski of Cincinnati Moler for Kentucky for Star QB. That

(01:08):
would be quite a pick up in the twenty sixth
class for the Wildcats if it indeed happens Ponatowski's at
the Elite eleven camp this week, but there were various
reports that he did take a last minute a visit
to UK at the start of this week. Meanwhile, quarterback
has already committed to Kentucky in the following class twenty seven.

(01:31):
DJ Hunter reports say that he now has an offer
from Ole Miss And you know, that's how it works,
especially in college football. The commitments don't mean much in
terms of other people recruiting the guys that have committed,
so Kentucky will have to continue to fend off challenges
for the services of Hunter. The Cats did pick up

(01:53):
a football commitment yesterday, Max Mooring, a linebacker from Pennsylvania
six three two fifty team unranked prospect, but a player
that Brad White reportedly took a liking to. And since
that happened in earlier in the spring and Kentucky was
showing interest, Central Florida had extended an offer to Mooring

(02:19):
a six three two fifteen As I said, I just
remember there was a guy like that named Josh Allen
that had one other offer from Monmouth when Kentucky made
him a late addition to its signing class and that
one turned out pretty well. They all don't turn out
that well, but that is how it works sometimes with

(02:42):
especially in football, I think more so than other sports,
and was certainly and more so the college basketball and
then one college basketball recruiting. You know, Take Kenny has
reportedly scheduled an official visit to UK next week. He
was out in Colorado Springs doing the tryouts for the
U nineteen team Mark Pope. Of course there is one
of the co so got to spend them. Sure they

(03:02):
could spend a little time together and so anyway, Take
Kenny is going to make an official visit to UK
next week. He is the former Newport High school star
who's now I think at overtime elite Louisville hot after
him as well. And one other note, CBS Sports has
ranked the acc SEC Challenge matchups for this season. They

(03:24):
have Florida at Duke number one. Can't really argue with
that with the defending national champs going to Cameron. They've
got Louisville, Arkansas number two. In North Carolina Kentucky number three.
I think you know, those those two, those three were
I think clearly the choices for the top three and

(03:45):
among those matchups, and I can't really quibble with Florida
at Duke as number one, NC State at Auburn number four,
Missouri at Notre Dame number five on the list. It
will be fun to see Carolina and Kentucky in ropp
Arena again. Couple of the all time loudest moments, actually
probably three of them if you rank the top ten,

(04:07):
have been in Kentucky Carolina games. The Tayshawn Prince game
where he started the game with five straight threes, the
John Walls freshman year against Carolina kind of a breakout
game for him and really for the UK program. And
then the moment Anthony Davis block John Henson shot in
that December twenty eleven game twenty twelve season. So we'll

(04:30):
reminisus a little more about those as we get a
little closer to that game. For now, we're going to
get to a break and come back and here from
Ansley Almanor. It's the Leech Report opening segment presented by
Giuseppes of Lexington. They're just off Nicholasville Road outpass Man
of War. You can go to Giuseppes Lexington dot com
see the menu. Fantastic selection of dishes there with homemade

(04:51):
pastas and fresh sheafood that shipped in each day, a
lot of locally sourced ingredients, to one hundred and thirty
seven different wines and bourbons to choose from well at Giuseppe's.
So go to open table today and make your reservation.
Lates Report Radio Network presented by Bob Cat Enterprises. We'll
be right back Thursday edition of The Lah Report and
we'll jump into it with Ansley Almanor from this past

(05:15):
season's Kentucky men's basketball team. He has a new gig
coming up. He's going to be part of the La
Familia team for the basketball tournament next month with games
at Historic Memorial Coliseum. Ansley, tell me about the decision
to hook up with the Lat Familia team for the
basketball tournament. What was appealing about that to you?

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (05:35):
No, Twyne reached out to me and you know, they
said that they were about to have me on the
team and they invited me, you know, and I was
as I was just like, you know, thinking about how
much support b men showed me, how much I love
playing in front of them, you know, did I want
to turn out another opportunity to put on a jersey
and represent them. So I just feel like there's a

(05:55):
good opportunity for me to go out there, showcase month
skills and represent Vienna, represent the universe to Kentucky while
I was at it. Just like especially right now in
my career where I'm just trying to you know, make
a need for myself and bills I could, you know,
open up more opportunities for me as they continue to
play the game basketball. This is a right right step
and a step in the right direction for me.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
So continuing to play the game for a while longer
is on your agenda. What things are you considering after
this one?

Speaker 3 (06:25):
I mean after I mean to be honest, I don't know,
Like only God knows that I take my stuff day
by day. So hopefully it's you know, TBD can open
up some new opportunities, new doors for me as I
pursue my professional basketball career, but it definitely planned on
playing for much much longer. Just do nowhere.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, what stood out to you about your one year
at at Kentucky and what will you take away from
that in terms of your memories.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
I'm just the support and the people that I've met,
you know, there's just so many people. I think you
would love the basketball program at the University Tucky. You know,
some people loved us, you know, on and off the court.
Just the amount of support and love we got from
everybody's just something you couldn't see anywhere else. So I
just definitely will definitely sit out For me, I'll never
forget it, you know, I'm gonna definitely try to come

(07:13):
back to Black as much as I can, just you know,
interact with those type of people again.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
You guys on that team, Coach Pope's first team, I
think down the road will be looked at as a
group that you know, laid the foundation for some really
good times here for Kentucky basketball. I'm guessing that's something
as especially as time goes by or maybe even now
you you all collectively can take a lot of ride
in Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
No, definitely, definitely. We definitely did a lot of pride
in that. You know, you always love doctor just appreciate
the opportunity to coach polpe galas whatever at University of
Kentucky and uh, you know, he took, he took, he
took the officertainity meet the most of it. So definitely
definitely appreciate that we cerity for sure.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
What was playing here like in reality compared to what
you imagined it was going to.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
Be, Like, you don't just exceed on my decisions. There
was just a crazy experience, just the fans and the
atmosphere and just all in love we got you know,
obviously you see on TV, but there's nothing that could
really replicate with how it fields in real life and
how fields and your mobtivity.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
As you look back on your season here, is there
any one moment, just individually that you kind of take
as the one that's most special in your memories? I
know one of your best games was down in Starkville
when you came in at a key point and hit
some big shots. But maybe it's that one, maybe it's
another one. Is there anyone that stands out for you?

Speaker 3 (08:45):
Well, be in Tennessee at home when we acrout the
season sweep on none. It was it was a you know,
great feeling, you know, being on rival sleeping val in
the regular season in front of the home crowd. You know,
Rubley is very loud that day, and you know it
was just a great viob and a great atmosphere and
just of being to win that game and just for
the fans. And you know we also have a pretty
good game that game too. It was just a great

(09:06):
was that was part of.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
My favorite Yeah, your role was to be a three
point specialist. But if if memory serves that Tennessee game
at Rup, you uh took one, took a pass over
the left corner and showed a little more to your game.
I think I think was that and I know you
made the bucket? Was it an and one? Also? Yeah,
it was? It was one for sure.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
It was a big play that right then and there,
and it was a big play and it was on
it was It was a great moment.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Well, hopefully, uh, we appreciate you joining us. Hopefully it'll
u rally a few more folks to go out and
buy tickets for the event playing the Kill see them
as I appreciate the time very much. Good luck, Andy
Almanar joining us here on the Leech Report. Let me
take a second and talk to you about corn bread
hemp your front porch passed to relaxation this summer. Corn

(09:54):
Bread hemp has what you need to make the most
of summer from oils and topicals to believe some minky
joy points or just help you bounce back to those
infused gummies that help you relax and need to try
their new infused seltzers too, perfect for unwinding this summer.
Chrisp Refreshing packed with a five milligram infusion that is
perfect for a light lift without that next day hangover.

(10:16):
And if you're a new customer, put in the code
Tom at checkout you'll get twenty percent off your first
purchase at Cornbradhemp dot com. We'll be right back on
the Leach Report Radio Network. It is the Leach Report
and we welcome to the program, Chris Fisher. You read
them at caatspause dot com at Chris Fisher. Two four
seven is the follow on X and basketball practices are

(10:40):
underway as they go as they are permitted to the
level at which they're permitted to the summer a lot
of conditioning, as Mark Pope has tweeted about for his guys.
But we are getting to here on a regular basis
from a couple of the guys each week. It was
Away and Garrison last week, Chandler and Noah this week.
And I'm sure they'll work their way through the right

(11:00):
But Chris, anythink you've heard from those guys or anyone
else that has been particularly noteworthy to you about the
upcoming basketball season.

Speaker 4 (11:09):
Yeah, I think both Colin Chandler and Trent Noah sounded
very focused going into year two at Kentucky. Both of
those guys looking to make a big jump from year one,
and it's going to be a free for all, you know,
for those minutes.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
It's going to be.

Speaker 4 (11:26):
Interesting to see how Mark Pope's rotation shakes out. Obviously,
you know you have a big talent upgrade. I think
from top to bottom from year one to year two
for Mark Pope, and those guys are going to be
in the mix for playing time. I think both of
them showed flashes as freshmen. I think, you know, Colin Chandler,
especially toward the end of the year, really came on strong.

(11:49):
I think Kentucky will need his perimeter shooting.

Speaker 1 (11:52):
And then Trent.

Speaker 4 (11:53):
Noah, I mean, I think, you know, his nose for
the ball was as good for a freshman as any
that I I've seen in some time. He just, especially
for a Kentucky team that struggled to rebound at times,
struggle to come up with loose balls. He had a
knack for coming up with with the ball, and I
think Kentucky's gonna need both of those guys, even with

(12:15):
all the talent coming in this season, I think Kentucky's
gonna need both of those guys to play well in
order to be successful.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, it was a little uncanny at times as far
as Trent, and you know, you think back as in
terms of you know, how things play out and something
that you wonder about it at the time. I remember the
game down in Vandy. It was somewhere in the latter
part of January, I think, and I think the the
injuries were starting to impact Kentucky probably more than fans

(12:43):
or maybe media even realized at that juncture. And so
with that in mind, Mark Poper remember played Trent late
in that game, and people were wondering a little bit,
you know, why is he he hadn't played much at
all once He's in this key stretch in the vander
Built game on the road. But uh, I don't know,
I haven't heard. I can't remember if Mark ever actually

(13:06):
said it this way, But you wonder if he was
kind of, Okay, let's let's see what we've got here
in this guy. Can he help us in this kind
of situation? And he was a guy that was able
to give them some valuable minutes, as you said, just
kind of for something that was hard to to maybe
quantify statistically other than just you know, I guess the
number of rebounds he comes up with, but even just

(13:27):
deflections to let somebody else get the rebound. He was
just very active.

Speaker 4 (13:32):
Yeah, and when you hear him talk, you can tell
how much playing for Kentucky means to him. And you
know that's that's not nothing when it comes to you know,
chasing down those loose balls or diving on the floor
or you know, grabbing a contested rebound or a fifty
to fifty ball. And he looks to be in much
better shape this season. You know, I think he's trimmed

(13:57):
some of that baby fat, he's toned up a little bit,
and he's a guy that with his perimeter shooting, with
his toughness, I think he has a physicality about him.
You know, he's six y five or six six, and
he's a strong, physical guy that's not afraid to, uh
to mix it up. And so you know, Mark Pope

(14:17):
has been very effusive in his praise of Trenton No
even going back to to last season, and I think
those those instances as a freshman will will only help him.
I think going going forward as a sophomore the season.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
That mindset that you referenced, got four guys jerseys hanging
into rafters oft reparena. Uh the Unforgettables Mm hmm, yes,
go ahead, go ahead. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
I mean, I just I think you know, you can't
put a price on on guys from Kentucky wearing that jersey.
I just think it means a little bit something extra
to those guys, and obviously, judging by the Unforgettables it
means something to the to the fans as well.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
Uh. Take Kenny as announced he's coming in for an
official visit next week. Do you think it comes down
to Kentucky Louisville battle for him?

Speaker 4 (15:10):
I would say most likely. I think I've heard Indiana
and Texas mentioned as two other schools that could, you know,
kind of remain in the mix. He'll take an official
visit to Oregon in September, so I'm assuming they're kind
of in contention as well. He's looking to cut his
list down to six or seven schools here coming up

(15:32):
pretty soon, and I would expect all of those schools
to make the cut. But I think Kentucky's right there.
I think Louisville's right there. It's interesting he plays on
the Adidas three SSB travel circuit. He's signed kind of
a sponsorship deal with Adidas. It'll be interesting to see if, if,
and how that affects his recruitment with Louisville being an

(15:55):
Adida school, Kentucky being in Nike school. But you know,
we've seen some of those those things, you know, I
think Justin Edwards was with New Balance, I think when
he was at Kentucky, and so you know, maybe those
things maybe with Nil, those things don't really matter as
much anymore. But he hosted Mark Popen the Kentucky Saffron

(16:16):
in home visit last month. He'll take an official visit
to Kentucky next week. And he worked with Mark Pope
at the USA Under nineteen training camp in Colorado Springs
this week. And so obviously those two have a relationship,
They're familiar with each other, And like I said, I
think it probably comes down to Kentucky and Louisville. And
I probably wouldn't trade spots if I were Kentucky at

(16:39):
this point.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
And it's been a nice little run here for kids
from the state of Kentucky. In terms of the talent,
there was a stretch where he didn't seem to be
that many guys that were Kentucky level, but there's one.
It seemed like there's more of them in these last
few years.

Speaker 4 (16:58):
Yeah, there was a I saw a picture from the
from the USA Under nineteen training camp that had Jasper Johnson,
Malachi Moreno, Tay Kenney, and Tyrone Stokes. All those guys
from the state of Kentucky. Some of them ended up,
you know, transferring out, which is is pretty common in
this day and age. But all four of those guys

(17:20):
being from from Kentucky is is pretty impressive.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
Chris fishercatzpaus dot com at Chris Fishers twenty four to seven.
Thank you for the time. All right, thanks, And it's
in fairness to mention there's a guy or two along
the way that were Kentucky level players that just didn't
end up getting recruited. Here, Shelvon Max Always when it
comes to mind, it was a great player up at

(17:44):
Butler halfway Home. On this edition of the Leads Reports
presented by Bobcat Enterprises for locations for Bobcat around the state.
So google them when you need to buy a rent
heavy equipment and they will have what you need and
they really take great care of you during and after
the sale and rental agreement. We'll be right back with
Mike of COURSI. It is the Leach Report for a Wednesday.

(18:08):
We're presented by Bobcat Enterprises and we are joined by
Mike de Corsi from Sportingnews dot Com at TSN. Mike
on X, let me start with something that you what
do you do? You re exit, you retweet, you're reposted.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
I'm still speaking the language of Twitter twenty fifteen.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yes, you and me both you retweeted, reposted a comment
from Seth Davis about a Stewart Mandel article to kind
of move down the chainer. But it had to do
with nil and just how it is. Uh, you know,
for all the consternation about it, it has done something
that fans always wanted and it's keeping college players in
college sports longer. And I think Mandel's article also referenced

(18:58):
that it was at least in one instance, a boost
for a women's sport of softball because of a Texas
Tech pitcher that drew some big ratings in the College
World Series, and I'll just let you kind of expound
on that a little bit. And also I wonder is
for for coaches, is nil their bigger issue or has

(19:23):
it been the transfer portal?

Speaker 3 (19:25):
Well?

Speaker 2 (19:25):
I think it's it's been the portal because that the
ability to transfer once and play immediately is is a
challenge for a coach. But the ability to transfer pretty
much every year and play immediately has been really calamitous
for the for the coaches because it's given them no

(19:46):
roster stability at all. Now.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
It's been an.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
Absolute asset to coaches like Mark Pope year ago in
that he walked in he was going to have have
almost no, you know, no holdovers, and so he was
able to put together a very capable roster that had
a very nice season that would have been impossible twenty

(20:12):
years ago, fifteen years ago. And we saw it happen
places like Cincinnati and Indiana where they had to work
for multiple years to get back to the NCAA tournament
after their rosters were wiped out for various reasons in
two thousand and six, in two thousand and eight, and
they brought in new coaches those years. Kentucky didn't have
to worry about that, but in most instances for coaches

(20:36):
who are in place, it's really a challenge to always
have to keep aware of that. And I think they've
they've created some of their own problems to tom. I
think there has been an atmosphere in a lot of
programs of a player is on your team, has a role,
and then is offered significantly more money through one channel

(20:59):
or another by another the school and comes and says, hey,
you know, I'm making like five hundred here and they're
offering me a million. And instead of saying, well, we
could probably get close to that, and here's all the
reasons why leaving would be bad, and why all the
reasons why staying would be good for you, and what
our plan is and all of that, they get mad
and they and they say, if you think you could

(21:20):
do better elsewhere, go do it. And that's happened way
too often, and retention has been one of the things
that coaches generally, not everyone, but coaches generally have not
done well. And I think there has been a shift
in the last year or so for programs to do
a better job with this. And I do think that

(21:41):
the new revenue share environment will make it easier for
them to do that for at least as long as
this current arrangement that will go into place, not for
twenty five twenty six because the House settlement came so late,
but in twenty six twenty seven, when when the nil

(22:05):
market changes. Then at that point I think retention and
will be easier and the transfer portal will be calmer
at least for the until somebody sues that over that
and changes everything again.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
Is there a provision in this whereby as a school
then has the ability to compensate an athlete, they can
make it a I don't know if if contracts the
right term or not, but just some an agreement that
where okay, you get this X amount of money, but
it's for two years and not one.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yes, yes, it is possible to do that. The revenue
share arrangements can be made for multiple years. But what
happens generally though, and this is this was true back
when the one year renewable scholarship was considered by by
those on the athlete side to be relatively unfair. There

(23:02):
was a push for four year scholarships multi year scholarship
scholarships to be approved, and it was approved and almost
no one either asked for it or granted it. In
large part, the schools weren't eager to say, hey, let's
do this because they've feared making a mistake, either because
the athlete turned out to be not as good as
they hoped they would be, or because the fit wasn't

(23:25):
what they wanted it to be, so they wanted to
retain That's the funny thing. They wanted to retain their
own flexibility, but they don't love the players having it.
And it's a lot of what the discourse around all
of this. Oh, we can pay our football coach thirteen
million dollars a year, but we can't afford to pay
you anything. I mean, that's been why it koreemed so

(23:45):
hard back in the opposite direction when finally athletes were
allowed to be compensated.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
Market value is going to be a term that we'll
hear a lot more of as this new settlement plays
out from everything I read, Because schools can compensate their athletes,
but the athletes then can still get seek and and
get deals for name, image, and likeness outside of the

(24:16):
compensation they get from the school, but it does have
to be approved by this accounting firm. Deloitte. That's part
of the procedure. Now for for market value, the thing is,
and again a lot of this is we just we
don't know. We're asking questions to kind of how this
is going to play out. You know, market value in

(24:37):
college sports, you know market the New York market is
bigger than the Lexington, Kentucky market. But the value of
a college a star college athlete in Lexington, Kentucky may
well be greater than the value of a star college
athlete in New York or Los Angeles.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
Right, it is very complicated, but I think what really
there are two kinds of an eye and I classify
it this way. There's Cooper flag nil and then there's PJ.
Haggarty nil. And what I mean by that, like Cooper
flag nil is okay. He was a big name, big star.

(25:15):
He did national television as at and T for Gatorade,
for New Balance, all of those we saw during the
NCAA tournament, and he was compensated. I think someone said
he made like twenty one million dollars in outside income,
and I think that was exclusive of any of the
other kind of NL, which I call PJ. Haggarty nil.

(25:35):
Because he left Memphis looking for a guarantee of four million.
He did not get it, But the money that was
paid to him was through collectives. It was not a
function of his value to a brand so much as
it was of value to the basketball programs that were
recruiting him. And so that's the part of it that

(25:58):
looks like it's going to go away under the Deloitte system.
And that's where I think there will be legal challenges
because the next iteration of athletes, the twenty six twenty
seven athletes, will have access to the revenue share money,
but less to this collective nil apparently. And if you
go from making the multiple millions that PJ will make

(26:23):
reportedly to making some segment of the twenty million dollars
that's available through the revenue share, and there's gosh, there's
going to be one hundred and fifty athletes or so
depending on the school looking at trying to get into that.
I think that pay cut will lead us back into

(26:44):
court fairly quickly.

Speaker 1 (26:46):
And then that always introduces a big old element of uncertainty.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Exactly, and I think there will be people seeking injunctions
to try to make it happen quickly. And I've read
a lot of my competitors talking about money going under
the table instead of the court concept. I think the
court thing will happen fast enough that they may never

(27:14):
need to go back under the table to pay athletes.
And I certainly I mean, I think this arrangement has
been much better than that was back in the day
when you had people getting arrested over it and FBI
investigations and all of that. That was not good for
college sports in any way. This has been a much

(27:35):
better environment for the college sport and the college athlete.
I know the complaints have been rampant, but it's certainly
a better environment than what we faced in twenty seventeen
or back in the days when the Alabama was recruiting
the Memphis defensive tackle and all that happened. This is
a much better environment for everyone. Even though it's less

(27:57):
restricted and a bit more disruptive, it's certainly better than
all of that.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
We're talking with Mike de Corsi from Sportingnews dot Com
at TSN Mike on X or Twitter if you prefer,
and you see him during basketball season on the Big
Ten Network as well and Fox Sports. We will continue
here in just a moment. It's the lead report. We're
presented by Bob Kat Enterprises. It's the Lead's Report for
a Wednesday, and we are chatting with Mike de Coursy

(28:25):
from Sporting Neews dot com each week these days, Mike,
we're hearing from a couple of the players on Mark
Pope's second team. This week of Colin Chandler and trendonah
To talk to the media, and Chandler was asked about
Mohammed Diabat and his impressions of him through the early workouts.
Here's what Chandler said, most awesome. He is a.

Speaker 5 (28:50):
He's kind of a jack of all trades, I would
say to describe him. He's obviously very physical. He's very
physically gifted, and so that that comes in handy on defense,
but also he can force his will on offense. And
he's also a very good shooter. He shot a very

(29:10):
good percent I don't think he shot a big volume
of shows last year, but he's a very good shooter actually,
which makes him very dangerous and he's gonna make him
a big asset to our team.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
So Kylin Channer talking there about the Alabama transfer Muhammad
Diabate and Mike, you've got him, You've got Aberdeen and
the from the national champs, and uh, Jayalen Low from
up in your area in Pittsburgh, and Jaydoncquaintans and more. Uh.
Who do you think will be the most impactful transfer

(29:43):
for this Kentucky team?

Speaker 2 (29:45):
Well, I think one way or the other it will
be Jalen Low. I know that's their first choice, of
their likely first choice to be the point guard. And
he's very skilled and very capable. He has continue to
grow as an offensive player, and this season did not
quite go at pitt in terms of the team performance

(30:07):
the way they had intended it to. But he has
had some very impressive moments. And what will have to
happen for him for him to be the player Kentucky
needs him to be is he will have to find
a way to be relevant on defense. And look, there's
a lot of ways you can do that. I mean,
you watch the Pacers and the Thunder right now, and

(30:29):
you see the tyrees. Halliburton is not a significant defender,
and that's an issue for him. But at times, and
in some of the Pacers better games, he's been extremely disruptive.
I think it was Game three where he was just
absolutely destructive defensively, even though he's not a great technical defender,
he was able to read passing lanes and get in

(30:51):
and deflect balls and steal passes and did a lot
of good things. And those are the kinds of things
that Jalen is capable of doing, even if physically he's
not super powerful and he's not necessarily built to be
a wall defensively. He's got to be relevant defensively and
then offensively efficient, dynamic, and I think he's capable of

(31:13):
those things. He's already shown that he is. He's done
that in the biggest moments in some of the earliest
games of his college career, went into Duke when he
had not played a ton through injury and other reasons
as a freshman, and absolutely lit up Cameron in the
twenty four season. And so he's capable of being that player.

(31:34):
And of course they have options if it doesn't work
quite the way they wanted to, But I think if
Kentucky's to be its best version of itself with this roster,
he's got to be the guy.

Speaker 1 (31:44):
Yeah. I think that's the best way to put it
right there, what you finished with. For them to be
what they believe they could be, it's hard to imagine
that happening without him playing a significant role being the
point guard. Last season's team that was the point guard
that was think that was certainly the most impactful guy,

(32:05):
and we saw that when he got injured. Butler, and
as I pointed out, more than once he was you
had him on your second team All America team at
mid season. He had played so well to that point
until the injury started to impact him. I do like
a guy like Diabateo. Two of Kentucky's final four teams

(32:27):
in that road in that run, actually three, I guess eleven, fourteen,
and fifteen had those versatile defenders and maybe do a
certain extent twelve with MKG. But I'm thinking of Willie
cauley Stein on fourteen and especially fifteen who could guard
more than one position, and most especially Liggins in twenty

(32:49):
eleven kind of a surprising final four team. And I
just love guys that have length and the speed and
the basketball IQ be able to understand the angles and
what it takes to defend a point guard as well
as you know, maybe a four man, and you know
a guy like Ligans that maybe also hit a three,

(33:10):
And that's kind of what it sounds like the abote
can bring.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah, I think that that that that element of positional
versatility is so enormous in the game as it's played today,
the ability to defend multiple positions to switch because so
many teams are running crosses or screens, dribble handoffs, and
it does put the defense immediately in okay, how do
I want to guard this? And you see if you're

(33:36):
able to be switchable, how much it can disrupt that.
A lot of teams will run those so that they
can get switches to to defenders that they prefer. But
when you have a lot of different guys out there
that are that are able to switch, it takes away
a lot of the offense's options. And one of the

(33:58):
things that I've admired about Mark hopes work in the
transfer portal is how much he has valued that and
how much he's valued rim protection. We saw that last
year they had multiple shot blockers that they brought in.
Bringing in acquaintance gives them another one to add the
Brandon garrison. So I like what Mark has done in

(34:19):
that sense. A lot of teams brought in transfers that
will help them get bigger and stronger and more powerful
and maybe even more skilled at the five or at
the four spot, but not necessarily better defensively or more
disruptive defensively. And he's now put two iterations of Kentucky

(34:39):
together and has made sure that that's not an issue
for them.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
And you know, back to that point guard spot, if
that's you know, it's not the calling card for low
l likego was for Butler to defend. He's more of
an offensive point guard. But if you have a stretch
in a game, maybe you go turn to a guy
like Aberdeen to could also play the point, would be
a better defender exactly.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
And that's what I when I talked about them having
multiple options. Aberdeen can play three positions and he can
play the point, and he did it a lot in
a championship setting for Florida. But I think that if
you look at it that with low skill set, with
his with his terrific handle and his ability to shoot

(35:21):
from the perimeter and good solid vision, that he's he's
a more he's a more complete point guard than Aberdeen is.
So you'd much rather have Aberdeen able to help you
at the multiple positions and get twenty five to twenty
six minutes playing all three of the perimeter spots rather
than him running your offense.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
Mike, of course he always pleasure.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
Thank you much, Thanks Tom.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
Read him at Sporting News dot com at Tsnmike on
X will be right back. All the Leads report presented
by Bob Kat Enterprises. SEC has announced the home and
away games for women's basketball teams this coming season. Kentucky
home and away opponent. The team they'll play both is Vanderbilt.
Home games, the Kentucky women will host Florida, Georgia, Ole,

(36:08):
miss Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, A and M and Oklahoma.
Their road games other than the vandywind will be Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU,
Mississippi State, Tennessee and Texas. This Day a Wildcat History
presented by Kentucky road Show, Sports Cards and Memorabilia. They're
on Romney Road in Lexington at Roadshow cards dot Com.
Two thousand and eight. On this day, Tayshawn Prince named

(36:30):
the US Olympic team and he ended up being a
gold medal winner for the US. And one of these
days Shay gilgis Alexander maybe in that company as well.
Shufflebean Coffee is the official coffee of Rop Arena and
the KFC Young Center and a lot of the restaurants
here in the Lexington area. Make it the official coffee

(36:51):
for your home because it is a Kentucky based company
and that's a great reason to support him. But they
also have a great product, and that's the best reason
to support him. It tastes great, the Aroma's fantastic. Give
it a try by picking some up today at a
Central Kentucky Myers. Order through Amazon, or go to the
company's website Shufflebean dot us and you can read more

(37:13):
about it and get some product there and put some
hustle in your shuffle today. You can add Archie Goodwin
and Khalil Whitney to the Law of Amelia roster as
well for that tournament coming up next month. And congrats
to Gabriel Deallo, former Wildcat tennis star, got his first
atp Win last week. That all look for the edition
of the Least Report we'll see tomorrow.