2025-07-02 LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everybody, Welcome into the Leach Report, presented by Bob
Kat Enterprises. It's kind of our Friday because Tomorrow and
Friday our company holidays. So Tomorrow will be a pre
recorded show. It'll be original content. Got an interview taped
with Cody Fieger from the UK basketball staff, and we'll

(00:22):
hear from him. And then the first half of the show,
we're gonna hear from our buddy Doug Flynn and talk
about the fiftieth anniversary of the Big Red Machine. So
that'll be on tap for tomorrow, and then Friday will
be a best of show here on the Leech Report.
Wildcat News of the Day I was the service of
Giseppes of Lexington. Chris Fisher will lead us off today

(00:45):
and then Mike Decursi in the second half of the show.
The Wildcat football team picked up another recruiting win yesterday,
this one a flip of a recruit who had committed
to Auburn four star wide receiver to Darius Gray becomes
the highest rated player in this next Kentucky class six
one one seventy from Hollywood, Florida, same high school that

(01:06):
sent josh Ali and others to the University of Kentucky.
Over the years he had in addition to Auburn, Ole
Miss was recruiting him a n C state in Washington,
but he picked Auburn but now has flipped to Kentucky.
Jackson Robinson has finally signed his NBA deal. We knew

(01:27):
that was going to happen. It is an Exhibit ten contract,
meaning it's not guaranteed, and for Jackson, it's just going
to come down to how he how close he is
to one hundred percent. I hope that we'll get to
see him in the NBA Summer League. Haven't heard anything
about that as far as you know his comeback from

(01:49):
his injury. But the summer League starts up here soon
and gives us we have something to watch this summer
at least, and hopefully he's a to participate in that.
But I mean, Cleveland's one of the top teams in
the East, and with injuries suffered by key players in
Boston and Indiana, the Cavs figured to be a maybe

(02:13):
the team to beat next season. Nixed with a new coach.
With Jackson, you know, he's in a situation where he's
kind of playing from behind, but he should easily be
able to make it up. It's just a matter of
what the timeline will be to do that. I think
the guy that we saw said this time and again,
the guy that we saw from that Mississippi State game

(02:35):
on would have been drafted had he been healthy. And
I think that is a guy that looked like an
NBA player. Jasper Johnson certainly looks like a future NBA player.
In his best game yet for Team USA at the
U nineteen event in Switzerland, eleven points in eleven minutes,
got his left hand dinged up in the second half

(02:56):
on a foul. Was seen wearing an ice bag on
that hand after the game, but no reports of anything
serious there. And I saw some highlights. He had a
nice steal, drove down, hit a three right before the
halftime buzzer. So best game yet for Jasper Johnson and

(03:18):
one of the note three Wildcats named to the Athlon
Magazine All SEC Teams. Josh Bron named third team. Josh
is getting a lot of recognition on these preseason teams.
Second time he's been made named to a All SEC
third team. The transfer from Arkansas fourth team Alex Safari

(03:38):
and JQ hardaway from the defensive side for the Wildcats
also sawers. Phil Steele had Kentucky pegged fifteenth in the
SEC standings. I would say it'll be something similar to
that coming out of SEC media days here in a
couple of weeks, and it's just that's what it's going
to be because Kentucky comes off a disappointing season, a

(04:03):
four win season, and comes off a complete roster overhaul.
So if you believe that the newcomers are going to
be the answer that you can be optimistic, but you
can certainly understand where people who are covering this are
going to look at returning players and other teams and

(04:26):
look at how new Kentucky is and not have anything
to go on, so they're going to pick them down
near the bottom. It's only an opinion. As I've said before,
the same people who were wrong in the other direction
last year could be wrong in this direction this year.
They get to prove it on the field come the
end of August. Links to the stories that we talk

(04:46):
about each day, you can find those on the bud
Light Leach Report page at Tom leachky dot com. Chris
Rascher will join us when we come right back. It
is the Leach Report and our opening segment each day.
Here on the show's a service of Giuseppes of Lexington,
and you can go to Giuseppes Lexington dot com and
see all the fantastic menu items, kind of plot your

(05:10):
strategy for your next trip, and then go to open
Table and make a reservation. Sit in the expanded lounge area,
enjoy the live jazz music from Dave Hall every night
of the week at Giuseppes. We'll be right back each

(05:38):
reports presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises. They have four
locations around the state, so just google Bobcat Enterprises when
you have a need to buy or rent some heavy
equipment for job excavators, Bobcats, skid steerloaders, forklips, et cetera.
And zero turn moowers for your lawn. And all the

(05:58):
rain we've had that the lawn has been needing a
lot of attention on a regular basis. So maybe your
zero turn more is or whatever kindable where you have
is wearing out. They'll have you a new one for
yet Bobcat Enterprises. Joining us now is Chris Fisher from Katz.
Pause before we bring Chris on the when we play
a SoundBite from Jalen Lowe's media session on Monday, he

(06:20):
was really good. We talked about this yesterday with Larry Vaught,
and one of the things he talked about was now
being a teammate of Denzel Aberdeen after playing against Denzel
when Denzel was at Florida.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
So I didn't like Zell at first. Actually I hate
a Zell because I played on my freshman year at Florida.
That really was my wake up call to college basketball.
I went out there and I tried to give him
a little bump. He came into the game, he did
not move at all, and I went backwards. So and
then they beat us. I think ended up he's like thirty.
But Zell, I mean since that day, I mean I

(06:55):
knew Zell was a strong guard who could do everything.
I mean, he's just got to have the platform to
allow that. He's he's got more than enough tools to
do everything that's required.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
He can shoot the ball.

Speaker 4 (07:07):
At a very high level.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
He can make plays, he's his defense is amazing. So
I mean he's got all the tools as needed.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Jalen low talking about is now teammate Denzel Aberdeen. I
thought that was a fun story, Chris, and that's kind
of how the world is in college sports now. Guy
you're playing against one year, you're playing with the next.

Speaker 5 (07:29):
Yeah. Absolutely, And I think Denzel Aberdeen is just going
to be an invaluable addition to this Kentucky team. We
talked about, you know, Lamont Butler in the championship experience
that he added to Kentucky and how you know, just
felt like Kentucky was a completely different team when he
was on the floor. I think Denzel Aberdeen is going
to have a similar effect. I mean, you know, this

(07:51):
is a guy that scored Florida's last point in the
championship game versus Houston. He was on the floor a
lot late in that game, and it shows how valuable
he was to their team. And you look at, you know,
guys that might be poised to make a big jump
from last season to this season. I think he's a
prime candidate because if you look at the games that

(08:12):
he started at Florida when Walter Clayton Junior and Elijah
Martin were out with injuries, he did make that jump.
I think he was over fourteen points per game, shot
over forty from three, and so I think he's a
big time breakout candidate for Kentucky next season.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
And it serves to underscore the quality of depth that
Mark Pope has assembled for his second team. When you
think back to last year, I think there was a
pretty clear line between you guys accepted their roles of
you know, Ansley alman Or could have gone somewhere else
and started, but chose to come here and play in

(08:50):
a more limited role. And he seemed to enjoy it
demnsally and he was very good in it. But you know,
he I don't think was ever expected to be a
starter until he was pressed into that role for some
games because of injury. You know, I even think back
to kerk Crisa early on in one of the media
sessions this time of year ago, he said he was

(09:12):
even clear to him that Lamont Butler was the number
one point guard. Yeah, I think it's clear who the
point guard is. It's low for this group. It's clear that,
you know, Otega always going to be in that starting lineup.
But after that, you could just see so many different
combinations that they could use, and you could, you know,
argue your case I think, passionately in a lot of

(09:35):
different directions.

Speaker 5 (09:38):
Yeah, it's going to be very fun and interesting to
see how that rotation plays out. And I do think
Mark Pope is going to want to play a lot
of guys next season. I think he's gonna want to
get up and down with this group. And we saw,
you know, the substitution patterns. Fans weren't you know, super
happy about guys, even the starters, hovering around that twenty

(09:59):
twenty one minute per game mark. But you know, Mark
Pope was adham in all season long that if they
want to play fast that you know, guys can't really
play many more minutes than that, And so that's going
to be a fun process to watch play out. Andrea
Yelovich is another guy who you know, by all accounts
is is going to be, you know, one of the

(10:20):
biggest impact newcomers among the international players in college basketball
next season. He's another guy that could break into that
starting lineup. I think moda bat you know, based on
the early kind of conversations and the media availability that
these guys have had, it sounds like he's taken on
kind of a leadership role with this team. So I
could see him in the starting lineup as well. And

(10:43):
then you have a guy like Jayden Quainton's who may
be you know, Kentucky's top prospect overall in terms of talent.
He's projected as a top ten pick in next year's draft.
But how quickly he's able to come back and kind
of reacclimate himself is a big question mark. But you
have to think if he's healthy, he'll be pencil into
that starting lineup as well.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
Brandon Garrison, though, I mean, there's a yeah that they're
expecting a big jump out of in his second year.
And then I was talking about this on the show yesterday,
the first mock draft that ESPN put out. The only
other guy besides Quaintance is Cam Williams, and he's not
getting talked about nearly as much as you know, guys
like Aberdeen and Diabatte.

Speaker 5 (11:23):
Yeah, it seems like there's going to be very, very
healthy competition at every one of these spots to see
minutes on the floor. And you know, a guy like
Colin Chandler as well, I think you know, you you
look at the type of basketball that he was playing
with playing at the end of the season, and the
level of confidence that he was playing with was just
a complete one eighty from what we saw from him

(11:46):
early in the season. And so I think him and
Trento are both boys to take a massive leap forward
and it's just going to be a dog fight for
for all of those minutes.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
But that leads it to, you know, elevating the team
when you have that kind of competition four minutes. And
also a coach who's you know, cal didn't like to
play that many guys, you know, Thibodeau and at the
NBA level with the Knicks, didn't want to play a
lot of guys. Other guys, you know, Carlisle was comfortable

(12:16):
going deeper. You know, Mark Pope's a guy that is
comfortable playing you know a lot of guys a few
minutes less. And everybody, I think, if if you're winning,
then I think you've got a much better chance of
keeping people happy in that situation. And I think they'll
be winning.

Speaker 5 (12:38):
Yeah, And you never know what can happen. I mean,
you know, you look at the point guard situation last
season with all you know, the injuries piling up, and
you know, Travis Perry coming in and seeing you know,
minutes at kind of emergency point guard, and you never
know what's going to happen. And so you know, those
game reps you know, especially early in the season, some
of those non conference games are extremely valuable because if

(12:59):
you're forced into action, you're a little bit further down
the road, you know, had you had you not been
if you weren't playing some of you know, getting some
of those game reps early in the season.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
Talk with Chris Fisher katzpaus dot com at Chris Fisher
two four seven on X We'll be right back here
on the Leech Report Radio Network twenty five past the

(13:33):
top of the hour. We're coming to you from the
Clark's Pumping Shop studio Return Refresh and Refuel at Clark's
and we're chatting with Chris Fisher from Katzpause dot com.
And the top story there is about Jackson Robinson signing
with Cleveland. That's one of yours, Chris. It's he's an
undrafted free agent, so no guarantee here. But that's not surprising,

(13:55):
I would think given his situation coming off an injury.
Have you heard will he be able to play in
the summer league.

Speaker 5 (14:04):
I believe he's been cleared to return to action, if
I'm not mistaken, so I would think so.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, I saw her he was cleared to start working
out I just wouldn't sure if he was going to
be able to take on summer League. So hopefully that
will be the case. I think he eventually makes a
roster and has a nice run in the league. I
just don't know when, you know how long it may
it might take it, you know, an extra year because
of the injury he's coming back from.

Speaker 5 (14:33):
Yeah, and it's you know, I look back to last
season and it's even as someone who followed the team
very closely, it's kind of easy to forget about Kentucky
losing Jackson Robinson the second leading score just because of
how important Lamont Butler was and he was kind of
in and out of the lineup, and then you know
Jackson Robinson suffering and all of a sudden he's just

(14:54):
out for the Yeah, out for the for the season.
But you know, that injury really cost him. You know,
the the showcase in the NCAA Tournament, the showcase at
the NBA Draft Combine. He was there a year ago,
had experience kind of in that event, and we saw
several guys attend the NBA Draft Combine and kind of
play their way into the second round, into the first round.

(15:17):
And I do think his ability as a score.

Speaker 3 (15:20):
His ability to put.

Speaker 5 (15:21):
The ball in the basket, shoot it from deep, his
ability to to kind of get to the rim. I
think he's He's has a very very encouraging offensive profile
in terms of today's NBA, and so once he gets healthy,
I think he's gonna he's gonna show very very well
for himself, whether it's in in summer league or you know,

(15:41):
in the G league and kind of playing himself up
into the NBA next season. I just think he has
a really really great shot, like you mentioned, of making
a roster.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
It's tough a little football. Three Wildcats picked preseason by
Athlon Sports. I think there were four Phil Steele's lists.
I think he may go a little deeper in teams,
but both in both situations, the Kentucky players were all
within the first four teams. Josh braun is I think
third team in both instances. He's a guy that the

(16:12):
transfer from Arkansas that obviously the expectations are high for him.
I think I would think he's in NFL prospect. Same
with Pete massive left tackle, so at least two potential
NFL type players if they play to that level. That's

(16:34):
what it takes to get this line back to where
it used to be.

Speaker 5 (16:39):
Yeah, I just think if Kentucky's going to have any
type of success this season, it's going to start on
that rebuilt offensive line. And you know, you have some
guys that Kentucky fans might not be all that familiar with,
but you know, are are really really good players as
evidenced by the preseason all sec accolades, Josh Braun being
one of those guys, really really dependable, consistent offensive lineman

(17:04):
at Arkansas, and you have Pete coming in, who you
know has a really really high ceiling, and I just think,
you know, to have any type of success offensively, Kentucky's
going to need to a run the ball much better
than they did a season ago and be protect Zach
Calzada much much better than they did last season with
Brock Vandergrip. I think that's kind of where it all starts.

(17:26):
And you know, getting back to that mentality. You know,
the offensive line has been a cornerstone for Mark Soup's
success at Kentucky, and I think if they're going to
recapture that, it's got to start on the offensive line.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
Chris fishercatzpause dot Com at Chris Fisher twenty four to
seven on X Thanks having good Holiday all right YouTube.
That is Chris Fisher joining us here on The Leach Reports.
Is we are presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises. When
we come back, Mike de Corsi will join the program

(17:58):
and kind a couple more or soundbites that will play.
Get Mike's reaction to as we talk about this next
edition of the Kentucky basketball team. A lot of content
from the basketball side, so it gives us something to
discuss here in these summer months. It is The Leach
Report Radio Network. We'll be right back second half of

(18:40):
our show for this Wednesday, and as I mentioned earlier,
tomorrow will be a pre recorded show, but it'll be
original content and part of that will be an interview
I did with Cody Fieger last week that will play
for you tomorrow. And one of the things he talked
about is what year two could look like in terms
of style play.

Speaker 4 (19:01):
One thing we're gonna do is we're gonna able to
score the ball Becau.

Speaker 6 (19:03):
We're gonna play fast and free, but we got Jalen
Low who can really pass the ball, really good decision maker.
We're going to play very similar to last year, but
hopefully get more threes and more possessions. We want to
even play more in transition, like we want to be
a top ten transition team. We want to push this
pace every single time.

Speaker 4 (19:24):
One thing we're going to do way better job of
this year. And I can promise you as offensive rebound.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
As Cody Fieger from the UK basketball staff. And we're
joined now by Mike Decursi from Sportingnews dot Com and
the Big Ten Network. And to do that, to play
as fast as they want to play Mike, takes a
lot of bodies, and it takes not only bodies, but
the quality of depth that you'll trust to make some

(19:50):
of that just interchangeable. And it seems like that's what
Mark Pope has assembled.

Speaker 7 (19:55):
Yeah, and it's something that they sort of got to
start on last year and and only injuries got in
the way of having that level of depth. Remember, I
mean when if when when Kerr was with the team
for those first nine games, you were looking at a
solid nine ten guys that could play and not have
to and you not have to worry about it. And

(20:17):
that was before we knew what Travis Perry and Trent
Noah could do. That was just the guys that everybody
expected to be successful.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
So it it. It's a plan that was kind of
in place a year.

Speaker 7 (20:31):
Ago, and they're accelerating it more now.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
I get it.

Speaker 7 (20:37):
I do think you have to understand that the pace
thing when you get deep is hard to control slower
teams if that's what they.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
Want to be.

Speaker 7 (20:47):
Let's use Houston as the example. Houston doesn't want to
play ninety four feet very much.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
It's not they want to. They want to.

Speaker 7 (20:53):
They want to have you in those fifteen feet in
the lane. That's where they win. So you get into
those deeper games and it's hard to speed up a
team that wants to play slow.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
That's something you have to recognize and.

Speaker 7 (21:06):
You have to be ready to call the audible and
be ready to play their way because, as they said,
very rare that you can speed up a team that
wants to play slow in Virginia being Tony Bennett, Virginia
being the prime example of that.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, the al lexim has always been it's harder to
slow a team down than the or it's easier to
slow a team down than to speed them up.

Speaker 7 (21:31):
Yes, So I think it's a great idea and one
that they can implement, and there is value to that
depth that even if you don't get them to play
at your pace, you maybe can get them to play
a little above their pace and you get into that
those final ten minutes and you're a little fresher that
can help.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
Mark Pope in his messaging always sounds like a classic
college guy. I mean, he loved his time here, and
he makes that clear and talking about playing for the
you know, the front of the jersey and hanging banners,
and the thing is he truly believes all of the
things he says as well. But on the other hand,

(22:13):
he is a guy that loves the NBA game and
that runs a style of play that I think is
very NBA friendly. And I saw a quote from The
Sun's GM talking about, you know, Kobe Brea and his
season at Kentucky showed that he was more than just
a catch and shoot guy. That he was put into
what they call in hear the term, a lot of

(22:34):
NBA actions where he could, you know, create a shot,
or take a dribble handoff, or come off a screen
and do all these other things that make him more valuable.
Clearly is the way he moved up in the draft
to NBA teams.

Speaker 3 (22:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (22:49):
Absolutely, And that's something that you can sell to players
in the future. I mean, you take that quote and
show it to a player that is deciding among a
variety of elite college basketball programs and say, here's what
we do. And those guys up there where you want
to go, they like it. They like what we do.

(23:11):
They think what we do works at their level, at
least to an extent, and it'll help develop you to
be ready for them. And they'll see you here and
they'll say, Okay, we know that guy can translate. Those
are all things that they can sell and they've got
some backing on that now. And you saw Kobe was
drafted pretty high.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
Amari was drafted pretty high.

Speaker 7 (23:36):
And I think Otega coming back with a smart move
because if he has another successful year like he did
this year, I think he's a guy that could be
a first round player.

Speaker 3 (23:47):
Obviously, Kentucky's guys.

Speaker 7 (23:49):
You can't turn guys who aren't first round guys into
first round guys in one year, but you can elevate
them from what people thought of them to something better.
And I don't think Mari was going to be a
second round pick out of Drexel. Kobe maybe shooting the
numbers he did might have gotten into the second round
as a late pick, but he wouldn't have been as

(24:12):
prominent as he was.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
Was detour from the Cats for a few minutes and
talk about the change that has arrived in college sports
as of the first of July with what we heard
so frequently referred to as the House settlement. So now
the compensation plan for athletes is different. What's your feeling

(24:37):
on how this will work.

Speaker 7 (24:39):
I'll be honest with you, Tom, I'm still waiting as
much really for next July as I am for what
we're seeing now because of the fact that just about
every player that will be on a roster in football,
men's basketball, and women's basketball next year already has old

(25:01):
style nil collective nil deals.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
Everybody rushed.

Speaker 7 (25:06):
People thought they were going to have to get them
done by April, because that's when the judge had a
hearing set for right after the Final four, and everybody thought, Okay,
we got to get these done now if we want
to get them more money and get them here, and
so a lot of people rushed, and then she didn't.
Judge Wilkin didn't make an initial ruling, So that left
a little more time to and ultimately a lot more

(25:27):
time to get those deals done. So just about everybody
will be not only on a revenue share deal, but
on a collective nil deal as well. What will be
interesting to me because remember there's we're talking about twenty
point five million dollars split among what one hundred and
forty one hundred and fifty athletes, depending on how people

(25:48):
do it, maybe even a little more depending on like
if you want to fund your wrestling team or whatever,
or your baseball team in certain in certain areas. That's
that's a lot lot of money to people, but it's
not a lot of money compared to what a lot
of these athletes have been getting with.

Speaker 3 (26:05):
The collective on IL deals.

Speaker 7 (26:07):
And I don't know what happens to those, uh, the
the the indication has been that they will that that
they're only going to look at market value. What what
what you know, what your value would be, and what
these deals are, how these deals are structured. And let's
be honest, I mean you had to do some stuff

(26:27):
to get the money that was away from the basketball
floor or the football field, but it was basically based
on how good a player you were, or how good
a player they thought you would be, and that I
don't see that how that can be the case under
the under this rule, under these rules, and if players
are taking multimillion dollar pay cuts, I don't see how

(26:50):
that stands up.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
So I don't I think this year is a.

Speaker 7 (26:53):
Great year for the athletes because they're going to make
more money than they ever have or ever will. But
next year or when that door closes, do we wind
up back in court and all of this gets gets
adjusted again.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
I suppose this.

Speaker 7 (27:09):
Year will be somewhat stable, and next year might be
because the rules won't have been successfully challenged yet, we
might not have as much transfer portal activity in twenty
twenty six as we did this year or the previous
couple of years. But I think after that, I just
can't see how athletes are going to take million dollar

(27:30):
pay cuts and stand for it.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
We're chatting with Mike Decursisportingnews dot Com at TSN. Mike
on X will continue the conversation here just a moment.
I'm the lead Triport Radio Network Wednesday of The Lady Reports.

(28:02):
Mike de Coursey with us, we've taken a detour onto
college sports business detour one more time and then we'll
get back on course. It's kind of like, you know,
you see something driving down the highway, like, oh, I
want to go see that, like in vacation or something.
I saw a note where it's the thirtieth anniversary of

(28:22):
the passing of Wolfman Jack Old School DJ disc jockey.
We're using terms that may be a little unfamiliar to
our younger listeners. But he was had a great role
in a fantastic movie, American Graffiti. And then there was
a song that the guests who did clap for the

(28:44):
wolf Man and American Graffiti gave us. Was it? Richard Dreyfuss,
Harrison Ford both came out of that George Lucas's first
big hit right right.

Speaker 7 (28:58):
Ron Howard was in that probably learned a thing or
two from Georgia because he became a great movie director himself.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
It was. It was a phenomenal movie. It's just just
wonderful and such.

Speaker 7 (29:12):
A you know, curiously structured movie to be so good
when really all the events just happened in the course
of one night.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
Amazing stuff and segues into it is you know, the
summer movie season, and we you know, kind of Memorial
Day is a big marker for the summer movies, but
also the fourth of July. So anything that's coming that
you're particularly excited about, well.

Speaker 7 (29:34):
I will tell you that I went to see the
F One movie with Brad Pitt and I really enjoyed it, really,
very very well done. The gentleman who directed, I believe,
was the guy who directed Top Gun Maverick, and he
has a real gift for making what you kind of

(29:54):
sort of know might be coming feel fresh and invigorating,
and he has a great vision for putting on screen
things that you've seen before, but you have an experience
like this. The shots in the jet in Top Gun
were amazing. And in this there have been many many

(30:16):
racing films.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
My partner Bill.

Speaker 7 (30:19):
Bender did a piece ranking the racing films, all the
films that going back to Winning with Paul Newman and
those sorts of films, and even put in cars because
he had a kid who watched a million times. And
I'll tell you that this makes you feel like you're

(30:40):
in the car more than any movie ever has. And
they had obvious cooperation from the Formula one circuit, and
so it makes you feel not only that you're in
the car, but also that you're within the competition in
ways that you don't usually get out of sport sports movies.
It was really well done.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
You mentioned Top Gun Maverick there for the director. I
think Godfather Too is universally regarded as the best sequel
of all times. Top Gun Maverick next.

Speaker 7 (31:12):
Yeah, you know a lot of people would put Empire
Strikes Back in there, but I always dock Empire Strikes
Back a bit because it doesn't have an ending, and
I think that endings are important in movies and hard
to execute.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
That's probably among the hardest things to do is come
up with an ending that's satisfactory. And that one didn't
even try. They're just like, no, we've got another one coming.
You'll get an ending there.

Speaker 7 (31:35):
And so I agree that Maverick is a sequel that
it's superseded all my expectations.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
As a matter of fact, it's way better than the original.

Speaker 7 (31:46):
I agree a Maverick movie, Oh yeah, it's The original
was very good, but a little bit to cliched and stilted,
and this one was again that guy just an amazing
direct actor, able to put so many things on screen
that that are in ways that you've never seen them before.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
Let me get back now to what we're talking about
with the business of college sports. I just you know,
with the Kentucky in the certainly the time Mitch Barnhardt's
been the ad.

Speaker 7 (32:17):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
I've seen great growth in the sports outside of basketball
and football. Gabriel Diolo just got his first ever win
at Wimbledon. Former Wildcat Kentucky made it to the College
World Series and baseball last year. Uh. You know Olympic
stars Messiah Russell, Sidney McLaughlin and and oh yeah, Camacho,
Jasmin Camacho, Quinn and others in track and field. I

(32:41):
wonder moving forward, if it's what is the model going
to be more Baseball like where you know, in some
sports there's a great disparity, like you know between the
Yankees and my Reds Or is it uh and I
know they took too three, but we're talking about a

(33:01):
whole season and then the other thing. Or is it
going to be more NFL like where everybody's kind of
on a somewhat similar playing field and it's more about
not so much how much you have in your bank account,
but how good you aren't making decisions.

Speaker 7 (33:16):
I know that's what they want in college athletics. That's
why the twenty point five million dollar figure is the
same for everyone. If you can spend it, if you
can raise it, or you can spend it, then But I.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
Don't think that's where we're headed. I think you.

Speaker 7 (33:32):
Mentioned all those great Olympic athletes, and there is concern
about whether those sports will continue to be supported. And
my position on that has been that nothing has really
changed in that regard other than the need for money
to fund them. It's been maybe a little bit tighter
now because you're sharing money with athletes.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
But they always found a way to spend the.

Speaker 7 (33:55):
Money in the past, building buildings, of raising, increasing staff,
and all of that sort of stuff so that they
could put the money somewhere. Now the money has to
go in the athlete's pockets, at least some of it
has to. So I still think that those sports that
are cut are sports that schools wanted to cut and
are going to use this opportunity as a chance to

(34:19):
cut them and sort of as cover for cutting them,
as the University of Cincinnati I believe did when they
got rid of their men's soccer program during the pandemic.
I thought that it wasn't really about the pandemic. It
was about we just nobody's really interested in our soccer team.
We have one, it's not really doing that well, so

(34:39):
we can get rid of it. So I think from
that standpoint, I think they're going to be okay. But
I don't believe that all of a sudden that let's say,
Arizona is going to catch Ohio State in football, because
everybody's supposedly spending the same money. Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan,
Penn State, Florida. Those schools are still going to have

(35:04):
the same advantages they always had. It's just a question of,
at least for now, whether or not the teams execute well.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
Mike's Coursey always pleasure and have yourself a great holiday
and we'll talk next week.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
You have a great holiday as well, Tom.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
Mike of Coursey Sportingnews dot Com at TSN Mike on
X it is the Leach Report Radio Network, presented each
day by Bobcat Enterprises. We'll be right back. Cornbread Hemp

(35:49):
has a great deal for you on this holiday weekend.
You go to Cornbreadhemp dot com use the code USA
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(36:35):
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no nonsense, just a better way to relax, So check
it out at Cornbread Hemp dot com. Shay gilgis Alexander
yesterday signed the richest contract in NBA history four years,

(36:57):
two hundred and eighty five million dollars. So congrats to
Shae and as has been chronicled since he arrived pretty
much on campus at the University of Kentucky, he is
an incredibly diligent worker. That was the storyline here. Those
early morning workouts that he did with the assistant coach

(37:18):
Joel Justice back in the day that helped make him
the player he turned into in his one season at Kentucky.
Nobody was expecting what he turned out to be. He's
outperformed expectations in the NBA as well, and the great
secret is that it did a lot of hard work.
So congrats to Shae. This day in Wildcat history, it's birthdays.

(37:40):
Roger Byrd, UK football legend was born on this day.
Blaton Collier, great coach. It didn't work out at Kentucky,
but it sure did in the NFL where he won
a championship with the Cleveland Browns. Blaton Collier was born
on this day. And our dear friend Ralph Hacker, who
was the legendary voice of the Wildcats for many years

(38:00):
Haywood's partner for many years before that, would have been
in a tremendous baseball broadcaster as well because he is
such a great storyteller. So happy birthday to Ralph. Wellk
at history Notes presented by Kentucky Roadshow, Sports Cards and Memorabilia.
They're on Romedey Road here in Lexington and at roadshowcards
dot Com and I want to talk one last time

(38:22):
here about a great partner on our show that is
Shufflebeing Coffee. They're the official coffee of UPP Arena and
the KFC Young Center, and they can be the official
coffee of your home if you pick up some Shufflebeing
cooffee today at a Myers store here in central Kentucky,
or you go online and order it from Amazon or
through the company's website at Shufflebean dot us, where you
can read about the backstory of a Kentucky based company

(38:44):
that is doing great work Shufflebeing dot us. Put some
hustle in your shuffle. Have a great holiday weekend. Everybody
pre recorded show tomorrow, Best of on Friday, back here
live on Monday or seven ninety Louisville dot com, and
anytime you're out of range of the stations, catch the
show via the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 7 (39:05):
If you have any questions for Tom, email Leach Report
at gmail dot com and check out his website at
Tom Leach KWY dot com.