2025-07-16 - LEACH REPORT

Maggie Davis talks with Chris Fisher and Mike DeCourcy.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, the Voice of the Wildcats is on a beach somewhere,
hopefully relaxing, soaking up the sun, maybe swimming some laps
in the ocean. I don't know what he's doing, but
I hope he's not working. In fact, I know he's
not working because I'm Maggie Davis and I'm filling in
today on the Leads Report presented by Bob kat Enterprises.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
So excited to be with you again today.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
As like I said, the Voice of the Wildcats enjoys
a couple of well earned days off.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
You can normally hear.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Me weeknights at seven thirty on BBN. Tonight we are
on Lax eighteen talking all things UK athletics all the time,
which is a blast and a blessing, and that's exactly
what we will be doing again today as well. We
have a great lineup set for you as well other
guests who are able to do just that. How about
Chris Fisher with the Cats Pause, Mike de COURSEI you

(00:47):
with the Sporting News.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
And then a new name for.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
You, BBN, get to know Noah sears In, our newest
sports anchor and reporter at WLXTV here in Town. One
of my new teammates, and I can't wait to introduce
you to y him. He is heading down to Atlanta
for US today to cover Mark Stoops talking at SEC
Media Days and the rest of all of that excitement
happening right now as talking season has officially gotten underway,

(01:12):
and of course for me, talking season is really a
year long affair, but it really kicks off at least
in regard to football starting this week at these SEC
Media Days, So we'll talk a lot about that throughout
the show as well, and of course plenty of hoops
news to get to, especially once Chris Fisher and Mike
Decorsi join us here in the next couple minutes. So
thanks for joining us here on the Leach Report. As

(01:33):
I said, happy to be filling in. Let's get into
the wildcat news of the day that's presented by Joseppi's
of Lexington and as always, you can find more on
all these stories on the bud Light Leach Report page
at Tom leach ky dot com. Let's get back to
SEC Media they talk for a minute, because I want
to get to the schedule for today. Four coaches expected
to be in the spotlight. That would be Alabama, Mississippi, State,

(01:55):
Florida and Oklahoma. So you look at that list for
pretty good teams and yet only one of them is
going to be on Kentucky schedule. The Gators are the
only Kentucky opponent we expect to hear from today. Billy
Napier will be on the main podium at one o'clock
Eastern time. You should be able to watch that on
the SEC network. He has this quarterback DJ Lagway as

(02:16):
one of the three players with him down in Atlanta.
You know he's gonna get some good questions this afternoon
once he takes to the podium.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
And hey, friendly reminder, Kentucky gets to play.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Florida Lexington in November for the first time since nineteen ninety.
We get the Gators on what could hopefully be a
cold night here in the Bluegrass.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
That'll be on November the eighth.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
As I said, that is the only team that we
will hear from today in Atlanta that is expected to
play Kentucky this year. That's because we've already heard from
the other seven SEC teams on Kentucky's schedule.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
It's gonna front heavy week.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Shane Biemer opened it up on Monday. He talked a
lot about La Heisman aka his quarterback for the year,
Leonora Sellers and embracing expectations. Clark also spoken already down
in Vanderbilt, and he brought a quarterback with him who
is absolutely not shy at all.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Diego Pavia showed up.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
I don't know if it was a tux or a
black boat's eye. I'm not well versed in the male
fashion sense enough to be able to tell you the difference,
but he was looking really snazzy. And talk about embracing expectations,
I mean, this guy is rucking to rock and roll
in Nashville, which is going to be quite a scene.
Of course, he's coming off a sensational year last year
with the Commodores and has somehow scrounged up another year

(03:29):
of eligibility, so he's already spoken this week, as well
as has Hugh Freeze, the Auburn coach who's getting ready
to start his third year on the planes, and it's
kind of a desperate year for the Tigers.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
No golf talk for Hughes.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Freeze so far at least, but plenty of questions with
his team having lost seven games now in each of
the past four seasons. It's the first time that's happened
since the nineteen twenties. The host Kentucky on November the first,
So again, just some headlines from Kentucky's opponents so far
this week. We've also already heard from Tennessee, Texas, Georgia,
and Ole, miss. We've been doing opponent previews every single

(04:05):
night on our show BBN Tonight, like I said, week
nights at seven thirty on LAX eighteen. We're also syndicated
all across the state, So if you've missed those, check
them out on our website and we will continue to
bring those to you throughout the week. Let's get to
some hoops news real quick, because there's not a lot
going on typically in the summer. There's also not a
lot to watch on TV, like so many of our
favorite shows take a break in the summer, so many

(04:27):
sports are in the offseason. But if you just need
a good basketball fix, well, the g League is here
for you, and pretty much every game has a former
Wildcat in it, and a lot of them had good
games last night. Let's start with Antonio Reeves, leading scorer
for the Pelicans and the leading former Wildcat last night.
He had eighteen points in that game, five of eleven
from the floor with no three pointers, zero for four

(04:50):
from deep and still had eighteen And then in that
same game Keon Brooks, also suiting up for New Orleans
this summer, had sixteen points.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
That was against the Trailblazers.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
Andrew Carr playing for Shortland this summer, he had three
points in thirteen minutes. The seventy six ers beat the
Wizards and they were led by Justin Edwards. About seventeen
points for Edwards with only three pointers, so the opposite
of Antonio Reefs. He had only three pointers last night,
five of fourteen from the floor. How about five of
ten from beyond the arc.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
And then Rob.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
Dillingham sixteen points for the Timberwolves, four assists as well
in a win. He talked earlier this week after one
of their previous games just about what Minnesota is asking
him to do and show right now, thought that was
really interesting. Everybody who watched Dilly Dilly play for Kentucky
or elsewhere throughout his career knows he can score. He
can just be electric to watch, he can distribute, he

(05:41):
is fast, but they really want him to be more
involved on the defensive end of the court. So that's
been the big adjustment for him this summer, trying to
show that he can't add that element.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
To his game.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
It's a role, he said, he has never had before,
certainly not what he did at Kentucky or in his
prep career, in his high school days. So a new
skill Rob Dillingham is looking to at this summer. How
about a little throwback for you too. Scalabissier also suiting
up for the summer League. He had ten points last
night in an Orlando win. Excuse me, in Orlando loss,
so sorry about that. So that's your big headlines last

(06:12):
night from the G League. And again this has been
your Wildcat News of the Day, presented by Jiuseppi's.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
We have three great guests lined up for you.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
I hope I sound okay right now or having some
technical issues here in the iHeart Studio a little behind
baseball talk for you, So we're gonna hit a break here,
see if we can figure that out. Everybody likes the
Cats pods as well. That's why we love our next guest,
Chris Fisher. You can find him on x at Chris
Fisher two for seven.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
Chris thinks so much for.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Joining us covering all things football and basketball forcatspods dot Com.
I want to get your take on a lot of
basketball talk today. We had a lot of sec media.
They talked just from me in that first segment, and
I want to hear from you about this basketball team.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
Let me know if you disagree. Here's what I'm thinking.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
We got two segments together, which I'm excited about. How
about segment one we talk current team with one caveat
which I'll tell you in a minute, and then the
next segment, I'd love to get your take on some
potentially future Wildcats looking ahead a little bit.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
Does that work for you, Chris? That sounds good, right, Let's.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Do it, okay, Segment one, Like I said, let me
start with the caveat here because I said I wanted
to talk about the present, but I do want to
go to the past because I just read a great
article you had on the catspods dot com and the
headline is an incredible and unlikely first year for Mark
Pope and I liked how you put that, and specifically
in the article talking about two draft picks UK extending
that streak now having at least one pick in.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
The draft for eighteen straight drafts.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Multiple selections now for sixteen, and of course we've talked
about what Kobe Brea and Amari Williams and all those
guys from his first year have meant.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
Not only did this fan base but to this program.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
Right, that quote lay the foundation that Pope has stressed
so much when you think about not what they did
only in terms of the season, but now that he's
actually gotten those two guys from the portal to buy
in and now be draft picks and to hopefully find
success in the league. How do you see all of
that sort of wrapping up into one for Mark Pope's
first season in Lexington and what it can do for

(08:03):
his future recruiting.

Speaker 4 (08:06):
Yeah, I think it's huge. I think I think you
use the word it puts a bow on everything that
Mark Pope accomplished in his first year at Kentucky and
taking two guys that were in their fifth seasons of
college basketball. You don't see a lot of those guys
get drafted number one because of the age component and
number two because at that point you kind of are

(08:28):
what you are. You know, you're kind of done growing
as a collegiate player. And so for Mark Pope to
bring those two guys into his system and in one
year turned them into NBA draft picks. I think says
a lot about the pro style system that Mark Pope
runs and the success that those guys had at Kentucky.

(08:49):
And so, you know, he had six weeks more or
less to put together an entire roster and an entire
coaching staff and to get those guys to buy in
and to fit together and to compliment each other and
turn it into two NBA draft picks to keep that
streak alive. I think it's just incredibly impressive, and I
think it bodes well for Kentucky in the transfer portal

(09:11):
as well. Guys understand that, hey, just because I've been
in college a while doesn't mean that you know, I'm
done growing as a player, I'm done developing. I can
go to Kentucky and Mark Pope is going to make
me a better player, and his system is going to
allow me to shine as a player. And so I
think that's going to help Kentucky attract guys and stay

(09:34):
and attractive option in the transfer portal in the years
to come.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Well.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
I think we certainly saw that this off season. The
class has five top sixty five portal prospects for twenty
four to seven.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
I want to get maybe some superlative from you.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
You think about that class, not just the five top
sixty five, but the class as a whole, the transfer,
portal guys, the freshman whatever. I have a couple things
for you to think about here, Okay, first question, out
of all the new guys or the returners, who can
throw the whole team in there, who, in your mind
is biggest luck if you had to put all your
money behind them right now? I know it's the summer.
I know we don't know so much.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
Who do you think is the biggest luck on this
year's team?

Speaker 4 (10:10):
I mean you have to go otega Oway if we're
including the returners.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
He was.

Speaker 4 (10:16):
His consistency last season was unbelievable. I think he scored
in double figures in thirty three of Kentucky's thirty six games.
You know, was just night in and night out. I
think what you you knew what you were going to
get from otega Oway, And I think him testing the
NBA draft process and coming back to Kentucky, I think
that was a wise decision. And I think he's going

(10:39):
to be a leader for this team. You know, Mark
Pope's always talks about that that year two jump that
his guys make because they've kind of got the decision
making part down and now they can just go play basketball.
And so even as good as he was last season
All SEC performer.

Speaker 5 (10:56):
I think otega Oway still has a lot.

Speaker 4 (10:58):
Of room to grow going into into year two for
Mark Pope, even with all the incoming talent coming in
from the transfer portal.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
And along those lines you said it room to grow.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
If you had to pick a guy on.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
This roster with the most upside, who would.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
That be.

Speaker 4 (11:16):
The most upside? I am tempted to go Braden Hawthorne,
just because he's so raw and when you see him
run the court, he almost looks like a baby deer,
like just just he's so young and gangly, and I
do think he has a tremendously high ceiling. But I'm
gonna go Colin Chandler. I think I think he's another

(11:37):
one of those guys that is poised to make a
huge jump in year two under Mark Pope. I think
if you look at the way he was playing in
the last month of the season, you saw his confidence
grow and grow and grow, and it seemed like he
got better and better every time he stepped on the court.
I'm very, very excited to see what a year or

(11:57):
two of Colin Chandler looks like.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
Tuck more logo threes maybe in his future.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
And how about for number three, let me get your
take on the best fit and we can interpret that
as best fit within the Mark Pope system. Of course
we know now really what he's looking to run here
at Kentucky, but also in terms of just this is
a unique place to play basketball, This is a unique
fan base. For all of it's good and sometimes it's
extra pressure and stress and all of that.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
That this much attention caused.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
Who do you think is the best fit for everything
this program brings to the table.

Speaker 4 (12:31):
So I've gone with the returners so far. This time
I'll go with a newcomer. I'll go with Jasper Johnson.
I think number one him being a Kentucky kid, being
from right down the road in for sales. Number two,
him being a Kentucky legacy, his father one of the
all time greats for Kentucky football, his grandfather was a
long time administrator at the school. And then you get

(12:52):
into his actual fit on the court. Jasper Johnson is
just wired to score. He knows how to put the
ball in the backasket. He can do so from deep,
he can do so from the mid range, he can
get to the rim. He's athletic enough to finish. And
I just think in a Mark Pope system that likes
to get up and down the floor, shoot a lot
of transition threes, I think he's an absolutely perfect fit

(13:16):
for that system. And Taylor made to play for Mark Pope.

Speaker 6 (13:19):
In Kentucky, we're.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
Talking with Chris Fisher of Catspause dot Com at Chris
Fisher two four seven on X. Happy to get to
a quick break here, Chris, but stay with us, you
and everybody who's listening from home. So we're talking about
the future of the Wildcats next here on The Leach Report.
Welcome back into a Wednesday morning edition of The Leech Report.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
Tom Leach Off. Today I am filling in in the
big chair. My name is Maggie Davis.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Thinks so much for listening. You can find me on
X at Maggie Davis TV and you can find our
guests at Chris Fisher twenty four to seven.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
Chris, I want to talk a little bit about the.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
Future with you.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
Now. You cover a lot of recruiting for cats paws.
I don't know how you do it, especially in this
age of collegiate athletics. It literally never stopped before, and
now there's also the transfer portal at all of this craziness,
I know Nike euybl has been going on. Give us
the rundown of where you see Kentucky's recruiting being right
now for next year's class.

Speaker 4 (14:19):
Yeah, I think they're still kind of casting a net.
I think they're you know, they're in very very solidly
with a number of top ten, top fifteen, top twenty guys.
I think you're going to see a lot start to
shake out here over the next several weeks. You have
guys starting to cut their lists down, and I would

(14:41):
expect Kentucky to stay in the hunt with several of
those top guys. And then as those guys start to
pare things down and schedule official visits and start, you know,
making their decisions as we get into the fall, you
might see them start to shift their focus elsewhere. I
think one position right now that I'm even a close
eye on is the point guard you obviously have. Newport

(15:03):
native Taylor Kenney started his career at Newport high school
took them to the Sweet sixteen. Transfer to overtime elite.
Mark Pope has had a really really close eye on him.
It sounds like it's Kentucky, it's Louisville, it's maybe Xavier,
and he's scheduled I think six official visits now, But again,

(15:28):
I think it kind of comes down to Kentucky and Louisville.
There's some people that think he's kind of leaning towards
Louisville right now, and if that is the case, We've
seen Kentucky start to turn up the heat on fellow
five star point guard Darren Rippy Jr. He's been one
of the hottest names on the recruiting circuit this summer,
has played a lot of good basketball on the Adidas
three SSB circuit. He was one of the standout performers

(15:52):
at the night at the NBA Top one hundred camp.
We saw Kentucky offer him a scholarship, and he's scheduled
his first official visit to Kentucky for the first part
of August. So I think at least early on in
the process, I'm looking at that point guard position to
see which direction Kentucky goes.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
Well, I'm glad that's the direction you went, because I
wanted to ask you about this because my understanding is
Jalen Lowe has two years of eligibility left. Do you
see them looking into these really highly touted incoming freshman
point guards as an insurance policy in case Slow does
make it big this year and head off to professional
basketball or are they just always looking to make sure

(16:30):
the best talent is interested in coming to Kentucky, whether
or not that'll be behind a senior point guard or
someone who can step into that spotlight.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
Yeah, I think you always have to have options, and
your options have to have options, and I think that's
kind of what Mark Pope is doing in this instance.
There's a couple guys that Kentucky has really great relationships with,
and we'll have a pretty good chance of landing in
the case of Jalen Lowe not being at Kentucky for
year two. And yeah, he's a guy that tested the

(17:00):
NBA draft process and he's been in college for a
while now. And sometimes those guys, you know, even if
they're if they're draft prospects, aren't the best, they're just
ready to move on. And so you know, we could
see that with potentially with Jalen Low and he'll have
a decision to make at the end of next season.
But you know, Kentucky wants to have those options available

(17:22):
to them, and I do think it's a situation where
these recruits and these point guards are also looking to
see whether Jalen Blow will be on the roster for
a year two.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
Chris Fisher with Chatspas dot com. Appreciate the insight as always,
Thanks for joining us here on the Leach Report.

Speaker 4 (17:38):
All right, thank you.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
We'll be back with more right after this.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
Mike de Corsi joining us next. We are halfway home.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
On the Leach Report that's presented by Bob kat Enterprises
for locations all across Kentucky. When you need to rent
or buy heavy equipment, just google them to find the
closest location near you. I'm Maggie Davis Hill in for
the Voice of the Wildcats and so excited right now
to be joined by the one and only Mike de
Course that you can find him at PS and Mike

(18:08):
on X. You can find his work at Sportingnews dot com.
And I know that it's the summer because the course
he's been working on some great stories. Some of them
have been very summer specific. I love this debate. I
feel like we have it every year. But the column
you've just been working on about the NBA's goat debate,
it's finally been done, right, Okay, So of course he's

(18:28):
been working on this. Lebron James over Michael Jordan. I
know some people out there are going to disagree with you. Mike,
make your case for us. What's the elevator pitch?

Speaker 7 (18:37):
Well, good morning, Maggie, And by the way, congratulations on
your award.

Speaker 5 (18:40):
Tremendous work. That's really cool.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
You're very welcome you.

Speaker 7 (18:44):
And I did not bestow that upon you, but I
did vote for Lebron in our goat debate.

Speaker 5 (18:52):
Bill Bender are terrific college football writer had the other side.

Speaker 7 (18:57):
He and I have had this argument in private, well
not really that private, because it's usually in some staff
meeting online, and we've gone back and forth about this
for probably a decade. I wrote my first Lebron has
ascended the Mountaintop column ten years ago, in twenty fifteen,
when he made what was then I think it's fifth

(19:18):
consecutive NBA finals, on the way to eight consecutive and
ten total, and.

Speaker 5 (19:24):
I saw Lebron from the start of his career.

Speaker 7 (19:27):
A lot of people who are in this debate have
attached a lot of nostalgia to it, and I'm not,
you know, for me, like I have nostalgia about sports,
but not but not when I'm doing something like this.
I Roberto Clemente was my first hero. I'm not going
to tell you he was the greatest baseball player of
all time. He was a phenomenal player and one of

(19:49):
the greats, but he wasn't the greatest just because he
was my hero when I was a kid.

Speaker 5 (19:54):
I think there's a lot of that on the Michael side.

Speaker 7 (19:57):
There's a lot of overlooking the competition, which during his
run was not was not is probably the weakest era
of NBA in history, because you had the great Lakers
and Celtics dynasties in the eighties and they had basically
cleared out. Larry and Magic were both done, Kareem was done,

(20:20):
Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish on the Celtics side, and
then the NBA expanded at that point by six teams
in seven years, and so the mountain that that Michael
climbed six times was not as tall as it is now,
or it had been prior to him, there was less

(20:41):
talent in the league then that in the nineties than
in any point in the league's history because of that
sudden expansion and the absence of a talent pool to
fill it.

Speaker 5 (20:52):
Now you have thirty.

Speaker 7 (20:54):
Five percent international players and phenomenal players like Nikolay Jokich
and Jannis and Shay of course, and all these players
that have come into the game from out of the
country over the course of the last few decades. Michael
obviously with the Dream Team, had a lot to do
with that lighting the candle, so to speak, for all

(21:14):
of for all the world.

Speaker 5 (21:17):
To fall in love with basketball.

Speaker 7 (21:19):
But now Lebron has to cope with it and to
make ten finals, to win four championships, to make eight
in a row, to do it so often with players
who were to do so much with players who were deficient.
He won sixty six games I think it was twenty
two thousand and eight. Won sixty six games in a
regular season with the number two scorer on his team

(21:40):
being Moe Williams, a fine guard from Alabama, but not
not anybody's idea of a star. And yet they won
sixty six games because they had Lebron and then he
leaves and they go down to like nineteen wins. I mean,
that's that's how it works with Lebron. He comes to
your team, you win a whole lot more, he leaves.

Speaker 5 (22:02):
And you fall apart.

Speaker 7 (22:03):
And that's to me, the mark of someone that we've
never seen before.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
Do you have comments, questions, concerns about this, You can
feel free to send the mix away at TSN Mike
on X.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
Leave me out of it.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
Although I do like everything you said because you make
some excellent points, and I know something else that is
a great summer topic and a debate we've been having.
I heard you have the same conversation with Tom last Wednesday.
Is this expansion of the NCAA tournament. Now, we heard
from Greg Sinki earlier this week at SEC Media Days
on day one Monday morning, stands up there. Of course,
we're at Football Media Days and he's talking about the

(22:38):
NCUBA tournament potentially maybe down the road eventually whatever you
want to say, adding more teams to it. Now that
you've heard his comments, what do you make of where
the Commissioner of the SEC stands on this debate right now?

Speaker 7 (22:52):
Well, I think he's starting to see that the market
doesn't want it. I think he can see that, and
so he's starting to say, Okay, we wanted it, but
maybe we didn't want.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
It that bad.

Speaker 7 (23:02):
It will be okay if it's not. And I think
that what you're seeing is the public doesn't want it.
The networks that would have to fund it don't want it.

Speaker 6 (23:09):
There was a.

Speaker 7 (23:10):
Fascinating story in the Wall Street Journal by Rachel Bachman,
who does a phenomenal job.

Speaker 5 (23:15):
You can find her on Twitter.

Speaker 7 (23:17):
I think she calls it her Twitter account box score
bac bac h s c o r E box score
I think is her Twitter handle. She does a great job.
And she pointed out that like the networks are saying,
we don't want this. We don't want to write another
check for a bunch of games on Tuesday and Wednesday
that will be watched by two million or fewer people.

(23:39):
When we get our we sell the ads for Thursday
and Friday, when all the games are being watched by five, six, seven, eight,
et cetera million people. That's what we want and we
don't want to water that down. And so they know
that there's no public hunger for this, and so the
the what the is sort of being done behind the scenes,

(24:02):
according to Rachel's article, is they're trying to bring in
alcohol advertising that they're not allowed to do now, and
the NCAA can't do it, so they have to sort
of do it through this side door apparatus to try
to bring that in alcohol advertising and sponsorships, to try
to make it palatable from a financial standpoint, to make

(24:23):
this happen so they can get the extra money that
would fund the extra teams in the field. I mean,
if you have to be that desperate about this, just
give it up.

Speaker 5 (24:34):
It's I mean, I.

Speaker 7 (24:36):
Don't mind that like various arenas cell beer during college games,
I don't have a problem with that. But if you
have this prohibition that you've had forever, and if a
lot of the athletes that are competing can't partake of
a particular product, why would you then go and run
and run around that to install something in your postseason

(25:00):
that literally I mean every online poll live scene.

Speaker 5 (25:03):
I did one myself. It was ninety one percent against.

Speaker 7 (25:07):
Rob Doster from Fuel sixty eight did one and his
was like ninety four percent against. You can't find support
for this except among college coaches who think.

Speaker 5 (25:17):
It'll help them save their jobs. And by the way,
you can't.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
Find very much across the country that ninety plus percent
of us agree.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
They tells you a little bit where all of our.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
Headspace is on this talk with Mick de Corsi of
Let's Raise a glass to the cast.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
Club Blue, the official NIL fundraising partner of the University
of Kentucky, is thrilled to announce a special bourbon bottle
sign with La f Amelia, the Kentucky alumni basketball team,
at the Spoken Experience in Gray Line Station Thursday to
seventeenth at six pm, that is tomorrow at six o'clock.
All four Club Blue Bourbon releases will be available for purchase.

(25:56):
That includes the brand new Ultra Premium Black label with
an engraved wooden box, twenty four to twenty five limited
edition basketball bottle, and of course their originals, the White
label and the Blue label bourbons. The players will only
be signing these bottles of Club Blue Bourbon, and each
purchase will include signatures from the entire Las Familia team
that is there. Every bottle purchased will support UK's NIL efforts.

(26:18):
Don't miss out on your chance to meet the team
and take home assigned Club Blue collectible. Now the Leite
Report come into You Live from the Clark's Pumpin' Shop studio.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
We have Mike Decorsi back on the line with.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
Us, and Mike while we're talking about Lost Amelia TBT
all this stuff.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
I think it's interesting this year.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
It's the first time we're seeing John Calipari players and
even one Mark Pope player come together and be.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
On this team at the same time.

Speaker 3 (26:42):
And of course we're getting a lot of.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Feedback from these Cal guys, specifically about how year one
of the Pope era went, and some of the quotes
that came out of their media day this week have
been I think just incredible. I mean, you have DeAndre
Liggins talking about the deja vu of Coach Cal with
his garbage canalities like I remember when this reporter did
that in front of Billy Gillespie.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
You know that goes way back.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
And then you had Archie Goodwin, a guy who I
think is trying to get back in the good graces
a little bit of Big Blue Nation, saying Pope did.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
An amazing job this year.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
It's so hard to follow a guy like Coach Cal
even brought up what happened to Memphis when Kyle left,
so I mean, these guys are paying attention, and what
do you think of all of the mingling that's happening,
and then what it means for the state of Kentucky
as a program. To have all these guys now from
all these different eras back in the Bluegrass and talking
about the new coach.

Speaker 7 (27:30):
You kind of have to be a different cat, so
to speak. A pun intended totally to not remain engaged
with Kentucky basketball once you've played for the Wildcats. It's
part of the point of becoming a Kentucky player is
to go through have success.

Speaker 5 (27:50):
And be an ex Kentucky player. There's a lot of.

Speaker 7 (27:52):
Value in that both in some cases economically. We've seen
lots of former Cats build businesses around the area, do media,
all those sorts of things, and we've seen just that
lingering popularity and what it can do for one self
esteem and all of that. It's the experience of being

(28:14):
an ex Cat or here where I live an ex
Steeler is you know, it's something worth embracing, and so
I'm not at all surprised for the ron Lamb or
Archie or whoever to be engaged to follow it closely.
Some of them, are you know having professional pursuits, and

(28:34):
some of those professional pursuits are international, but I can
tell you that a lot of in a lot of cases,
the athletes who play in Europe or in Asia will
still be looking on the internet to find games of
their team. When when San Diego State made the Final
Four in twenty twenty three.

Speaker 5 (28:55):
I talked to some of their former stars who were.

Speaker 7 (28:56):
Playing in Australia and they were getting up for some
of the bigger games, like the Elite eight game and
that sort of thing at three am or whatever so
they could watch their guys. So I'm not surprised that, yeah,
it is.

Speaker 5 (29:08):
It was a great story.

Speaker 7 (29:09):
I was really it was really fun to do, and
so I see that with these guys and their enthusiasm
for Mark, I don't think it's manufactured.

Speaker 5 (29:18):
I think they see what we all saw that as.

Speaker 6 (29:22):
Much as you.

Speaker 7 (29:24):
There are lots of people who didn't like cal at
the end or didn't want him at the end. I
was never a believer that he had to move that.
I still believe he's a great coach, and I think
he proved that in his first year at Arkansas.

Speaker 5 (29:36):
But once they moved on, he moved on.

Speaker 7 (29:40):
I don't think that Kentucky could have done a better
job in replacing him.

Speaker 5 (29:44):
And I think that Mark has been the perfect person
for the.

Speaker 7 (29:47):
Moment because he was able to manage all of the
emotional stuff, so to speak, in part because of his
status as a player on the greatest college basketball team
of the last forty years, and in part because of
his personality.

Speaker 5 (30:04):
So it's all worked out really well.

Speaker 7 (30:06):
And now the trick is just to continue that ascent
from an amazingly high platform his first time around. And
he's obviously there are bigger targets out there for all
Kentucky fans and for Mark himself and for the players
he's brought in, and I think that the assault on
those targets begins this year.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
Well, this has all worked out really well for us today. Mike,
thanks so much for joining us on the Leach Report.
Everybody at home, follow him at TSN, Mike on X,
read his work on Sportingnews dot Com.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
Thanks so much, Mike, have a great rest.

Speaker 5 (30:36):
Of your Wednesday, you too, Maggie.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
All right, everybody, stay with us because we are introducing
you to a new member of our team, Big Blue
Nation covering the Cats.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
And he is Atlanta bounds me.

Speaker 3 (30:48):
No, it's here's the next right here on the Leach Report.

Speaker 1 (30:51):
It's the final segment of the Lead Report. Here on
a Wednesday, we are presented by Bobcat Enterprises. Thanks for
being with us all day long here on the Lead Report,
and so happy to be joined now by the newest
member of our team over at l e X eighteen
MVV and tonight it's Noahs. Years in by way of Minneapolis,
vin Syracuse, then Vermont.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
Now we got him down here in sec country and
joining the South a little bit at least, we hope.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
Noah, what can you tell us about yourself?

Speaker 2 (31:17):
Introduce yourself to Big Blue Nation.

Speaker 6 (31:20):
Yeah, I appreciate for having me on, Maggie. You kind
of outline my travels right there, all surrounding sports broadcasting
and my love for sports that kind of grew at
a young age and has taken me to so many
cool places out to Syracuse. You know. One of the
I guess highlights was being able to follow kind of
the tail end of Jim Beaheim's career there albeit not

(31:41):
some fantastic Syracuse teams.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
And then these.

Speaker 6 (31:44):
Last three years prior to coming to Lexington was at
the NBC affiliate in Burlington, Vermont, but absolutely stoked to
be in Lexington, and my travels are not stopping there
about the Hitsit Road to Atlanta as well.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
Exactly if you thought it's been hot in Lexington, We're
about to send you to Georgia. So I'm excited to
hear what you think about Atlanta. What do you expect
out of your first SEC football media days?

Speaker 6 (32:10):
You know, I think it's going to be exciting, even
you know from watching the television broadcast earlier in this
weekend kind of following along, there's certain buzz that comes
around football is really a year round talking point, but
this week feels like the official start of the time
where people are getting excited about their teams and kind
of want to dig into the nitty gritty of what

(32:32):
depth charts will look like, what the kind of teams
will be comprised of, and who might be the contenders
not only in the various conferences but for a national championship.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Well, all of this has already been going on this week.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
Mark stops and the Wildcats talk tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
He's taken Alex Afari, Jordan love It, and Josh tattis
with him. Stoops talking on Thursday at the main podium
at ten fifty a m. Eastern time. Noah, do you
need anything from Big Blue Nation? Do you need any
record mandations?

Speaker 6 (33:02):
So I need any recommendation. I mean, if people have
places to eat in Atlanta, I'm told there's some good
food there, so I'd love to check that out. But
other than that, I don't know that I need any
other recommendations. Although, like I said, I am about to
hit the road, and I think whenever you're about to
go on a road trip, you got to be thinking
about the road trip snacks. So if anybody has like

(33:23):
maybe some like hidden gem back of the grocery stores
sort of snacks or gas station around it that I
should be looking out for that that would be maybe
a very useful tip.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
Well, mine is cheddar Ruffles.

Speaker 6 (33:36):
Do you have a go to Oh, I'm kind of
a trail mixed guy. I don't know if that's boring,
specifically trail mix with M and m's in them I have.
I won't even call it minor. I have a major
eminem addiction. I eat M and m's essentially every single
day of my life, and they they are probably the
thing that keeps me going every single day, so I

(34:00):
would say trail mix specifically with some sort of whether
it's Peanut or regular eminem.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
Zoe Noah Searson on the trail to football season fueled
by eminems. You can follow him at in Searson on
x on social media and of course keep up with
him this week while he is down in Atlanta.

Speaker 3 (34:16):
He'll be on our show.

Speaker 1 (34:17):
BBN tonight and then of course all across the Lax
eighteen news segments throughout the next couple of days. Also
getting the chance to look at the College Football.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
Hall of Fame, which is in the same place as where.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
All this media day fun is happening, so keep an
eye out for that.

Speaker 3 (34:30):
Noah, thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
This morning, and safe travels the rest of the day.

Speaker 6 (34:35):
Appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
Mege all right, that is Noah Searson again BBN. Give
him a big warm welcome to the South. Like we said,
he's down here for the first time.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
He's been up where it's been.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
Cold his whole entire life, and now he's down here
in Lexington working for us.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
So excited to have him.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
Meanwhile, I've been so excited to talk with you today
and very appreciative for you all hanging out with us,
especially with some technical difficulties. I know this is not
sounded the best today, but hopefully we so.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Got some great content your way.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
And of course big thank you to Chris Fisher, Mike
de Courci, and Noah Searson for joining us right here
on the Leeched Report throughout the day today. We do
expect to hear from a couple more guys down at
SEC Football Media Days as I set up.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
Top the Florida Gators.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
Billy Napier is the only Kentucky opponent we will hear from,
and then, of course, as the week goes on, more
and more TBT talk lo f Amelia's first game Friday night,
nine pm, a late night tip off, Get ready for
it inside historic Memorial Coliseum. We'll be doing all that
on our show BB and tonight, as well as breaking
down the latest from media Days and continuing to.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
Help you meet the Cats.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
That's the series we've been doing with this year's men's
basketball team.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
Had the chance to sit down.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
With Jasper Johnson earlier this week.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
I know you guys already.

Speaker 1 (35:47):
Know him, so it's not really an introduction, but he
is back from a big road trip overseas to Switzerland.
You'll get the latest on that later this week on
our show as well in the meantime between time, have
a great rest of your day. Again, thanks for joining
us hanging out.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
I appreciate everybody.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
At iHeart and here with the Leach Report helping me
fill in for our guy, the Voice of the Wildcats,
Tom Leach The Kiss.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
Our pre show is up next. You know we love.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
Those guys, so follow along with them and hang out
right here on your favorite stage for now. I'm Maggie Davis.
You can find me at Maggie Davis Eve. So long
for now, have a great day, everybody,