Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Goodday, everybody. Welcome into the Leach Reports, presented by Bobcat
Enterprises on this Wednesday and talk some college basketball and
maybe a little Major League baseball with Mike Decursi at
a take on the talk about a salary cap or
at least the idea of being knocked around a little
(00:21):
bit in Major League Baseball, So we'll get into that
with Mike, and then Chris Fisher from The Cat's Paws
will be with us at the first half of the
show talking some UK football and basketball wild Cat news
of the day. That is a service of Giuseppes of Lexington. Yesterday,
quarterback Zach Calzada the Kentucky football team was a guest
(00:44):
on the SEC Now show on the SEC Network hosted
by Peter Burns, and they had a nice interview. Zach
handled himself well. He is QB one for now. Mark
Stoops said at his media session on Monday that if
they were playing today, Calzada would be number one, but
that the competition with Cutter Bowley will continue throughout the
(01:09):
rest of their training camp that is gearing up next week.
Calzada was asked about returning to the SEC played at
Texas A and m he was there three seasons, played
two and then he was at Auburn, but it was
an injury plagued season, so he didn't actually get on
the field for the Tigers. But he was at Auburn
(01:31):
for a season. So he's back with his third different
SEC team as he prepares to lead the charge for Kentucky.
And he talked about being back in arguably the best
league in college football, so really.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Just the high level of competition in the atmosphere, and
you know, I love the same pressures of privilege, and
just being back in front of a lot of eyes
and playing at a high level of football is really exciting.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
You know, the word is motivation right now, Tubes, how
have you seen him take the ground running this upcoming season?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Right?
Speaker 5 (02:04):
I really like his approach.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
He leaves a lot of room for it to be
a player led team, and I think with the guys
that we have, that's going to be our strength.
Speaker 5 (02:12):
You know, a lot of guys are focused.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I think motivated might not be the best word for
our players, but I think it's discipline and urgency. You know,
as a team. That's that's been a big motto for us.
Is you know, I wasn't here last year. A lot
of these guys weren't here last year, but you know,
we can see him feel the pressure that's with this
upcoming season, and I think just coming every day and
putting our best foot forward from January to now and
(02:35):
as we roll in the camp is important for us.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Zach.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
It's tough to get into any sec roster, but then
to jump in as a transfer and be that leader
that they want you to be. What did you learn
over an incarnate word about that transition that you're going
to carry over now to Kentucky to be QB one, Right?
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I mean, I think it starts with being somebody that
you know, people want to emulate, people want to follow,
and you know, just my thing coming in with I
wanted that was going to be who I am and
you know, be a guy that comes in early, gets
the extra work. And you know, as time has progressed
and you know, this off season has moved forward, it's
it's allowed me the opportunity to have more conversations with
(03:14):
these guys and lead these guys in a in a
sense of you know, establishing what our standard is going
to be going into the season.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
So that was Zach Calzada with Peter Burns and the
SEC Now Show yesterday, a couple of thoughts on that.
For me, it's funny how motivated has become a thing.
It was something that probably some media folks and fans
maybe online we're talking about with Mark Stoops and using
(03:47):
it as a way to sometimes tease, sometimes take shots. Anyway,
it was at SEC bed Days where that word came
up with the coach Stoops and he went another direction,
and it was just interesting how Thatch calls outa did
to referring or directing it more toward discipline and urgency,
(04:09):
which is actually I would think the the right words,
or two of them. Anyway, as I've said before, if
you're talking to I can see why you bristle a
little bit as a coach or a player. Especially the
coach about you know, being motivated kind of implies that
you weren't motivated before, when I would guarantee you that
(04:30):
was not the case. They didn't perform well, but it
wasn't for a lack of motivation. Now, what I think
you can talk about is you know, refocus, sharpening, focus,
you know, any of that. But discipline and urgency are
actually two good words because they've got to be more
disciplined in terms of taking care of the football, penalties,
(04:52):
et cetera. And then there is most definitely a sense
of urgency after you go four and eight. Also, like
what Calsida said about leading things like showing up early,
putting in the extra work. Will Levice when he came in,
that was a bit of a you know, question, how
(05:12):
could they thought? I think he was their best quarterback,
but they didn't name him the starter initially. I think
they wanted him to earn that. And part of that
earning it was the leadership. And I think that's some
of what how Will approached it, to be the guy
setting the right tone with your actions before you do
(05:36):
it with your words. And I've heard some good things
about Calzada from a leadership standpoint. Also did a little
reading about him yesterday. I was preparing for the upcoming season,
and there are some interesting stats through the four seasons
he has played in college football. This will be his
seventh season, but he didn't play at all dur in
(05:57):
the year because of injury, didn't play the COVID year
in twenty twenty at eight, so he started thirty two
games over the four seasons that he's played, he won
twenty three of them. It's a winning percentage of zero
point seven one eight seventy three touchdown passes to twenty
eight interceptions, so almost three to one there. And I
(06:17):
think I heard a quote from Jabory Macklin earlier this
season in an interview where he talked about how Calzada
would throw them open, could throw receivers open. And we
know he's got a strong arm. If he can combine
that with accuracy, that's how Sorry, I'm having a little
(06:40):
coughing fit having to pause there a couple times. Calzada,
if he can combine accuracy with that arm strength, you know,
that's how he has a season much better than maybe
anybody's talking about at this point. So that's one of
the top storylines we'll watch as the season approaches for
(07:00):
Kentucky football. Links to the stories that we talk about
each day you can find them on the Bud Light
Leach Report page at Tom leachkwhy dot com. Come back
chat with Chris Fisher of the cast's pause Mike Coursi
A little later, opening segment of wild Cat News presented
by Giuseppes of Lexington. They're located off Nicholasville Road, just
out past Manor War And if you haven't been lately,
(07:21):
go to open Table right now, make a reservation, make
plans to get to Giuseppes with your family or your friends,
or just a really special night out. It's a great
place to celebrate a special occasion like a birthday or
at anniversary, or just to have a fantastic meal. Sit
in the lounge area. They've expanded it. It's more of
an opportunity to sit there and have Dave Hall's live
(07:42):
jazz music as the soundtrack to a fantastic meal at Giuseppes.
We'll be right back on The Leach Report Radio Network.
Welcome back into the show on this Wednesday edition of
The Leach Report presented by Bob Cat Enterprises. For locations
around Kentucky for Bobcat, so google them when you need
to buy or rent piece of heavy equipment. They can
(08:05):
help you with either direction you want to go. A
lot of folks that have been with them for a
long time, so you get great service after the deal
is executed.
Speaker 6 (08:15):
If you need.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Parts something like that, they'll have what you need at
Bobcat Enterprises. So google them to find the location that's
closest to you, Chris Fisher joining us now from catspause
dot com. Start a little bit on the basketball side, Chris,
you have some stories up at catzpause dot com about
recruiting offers and things for Mark Pope. I see where
(08:37):
there is. This is actually from the two four to
seven Sports national basketball analyst Travis Branham. I saw his
report and some others about a seven footer internet at
the top international prospect in the twenty twenty seven class
by twenty four to seven Sports, and I have no
idea if I'm pronouncing their name right, Cion Kata. Is
(09:00):
it in Kentucky today, right?
Speaker 7 (09:04):
Yeah, He's a guy that has kind of burst onto
the scene. You know, we're seeing a huge influx of
international prospects into the college game, and he's making a
tour of the blue bloods in college basketball Kentucky, Kansas,
North Carolina, Duke, Yukon and it's kind of a whirlwind
(09:26):
visit tour. I think he's going to be at each
school just for one day. And considered one of the
top international bigs in the world and is obviously entertaining
the idea of playing college basketball in the United States,
and he's a guy that is currently in the twenty
twenty seven class but is a potential reclass candidate to.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
Twenty twenty six.
Speaker 7 (09:51):
And it seems like, if you're kind of reading the
tea leaves Kentucky continuing to extend scholarship offers to big
men in the twenty twenty sixth class. Josh Irving, a
four star center from California two days ago, and then
Ethan Taylor of Composite five stars, seven footer out of
Kansas last night. So it looks like Kentucky's continuing to
(10:14):
keep its options open there in the front court.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
He's seventeen now I'm not sure when he turns eighteen,
but if he did reclassify, he'd be one of the
younger players in college basketball. That is, slate of recruiting
USUESS is kind of like speed dating. I mean it's
literally Kansas Monday, Indiana Tuesday, from whatever in Kentucky today,
Duke tomorrow, Carolina Friday, and Yukon on Saturday.
Speaker 7 (10:40):
Yeah, he's he's taken a very businesslike approach to this thing,
and you know, it may be just a situation where
he's just in the United States for a very short
period of to kind of get these things knocked out,
But definitely an interesting late summer development for Kentucky on
the on the recruiting front, particularly if he's a guy
(11:02):
that is seriously considering a jump to twenty twenty six,
and you know, we saw it. You know, with some
guys that reclassify, it doesn't work out particularly well. But
I think when you see the guys that are at
the top of the top, a guy like Cooper Flag,
you know he didn't have any trouble adjusting to the
college game a year early, obviously had an unbelievable year
(11:24):
at Duke and went on to be the number one
pick in the draft.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
And you talked about the pursuit of Biggs in the
next class for Kentucky, and again at the moment, this
young man's in the twenty seven class. But if you're
Mark Pope, I think you probably go into the season
figuring whether acquaintance is ready to go at the start
or a little after. He's projected as a lottery pick,
so you figure he'll be gone after one season. And
(11:49):
I would imagine they would anticipate Brandon Garrison being gone
after you know, what would be his second season at Kentucky.
So that would leave you with just Morino as fives, right.
Speaker 7 (12:00):
Yeah, And the twenty four to seven director of scouting,
Adam Finkelstein, brought up a really good point about how,
you know, the twenty twenty six class is kind of down,
definitely doesn't have the star power at the top, and
so college coaches maybe looking to nab some of these
guys that might you know, maybe a little bit lower
(12:21):
in the rankings in hopes that they get multiple years
out of them, and so you kind of have some
of that roster continuity that is missing so much from
the age of the transfer portal.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
And I always thought, you.
Speaker 7 (12:34):
Know, Kentucky under John Caliperry was getting these you know,
top ten, top fifteen, one and done guys, and you know,
in a way he kind of became a victim of
his own success because guys that weren't even particularly ready
to leave after one year were still following, you know,
the other guys. And so I always thought, you know,
schools like North Carolina, Villanova, Kansas kind of were able
(12:57):
to hit that sweet spot. And you saw that out
in how much you know success they had over you know,
five or six years where they're recruiting the top twenty five,
the top fifty guys that have the talent but aren't
quite ready to take that leap after one year, and
so they get that blend of talent and experience, guys
that stick around for multiple years, and it paid big
(13:20):
dividends for you know, Kansas, North Carolina, Villanova there for
a couple of years and had huge success at the
highest level of college basketball.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
I guess the other recruiting news for Kentucky men's basketball
is Durn Rippy, five star point guard in the twenty
sixth class, is doing an official visit on Friday, and
he's only narrated down to twelve schools at this point,
so it's I guess early in the process for him.
Speaker 7 (13:43):
I assume, right, Yeah, I think Kentucky I think the
point guard position is probably one to watch. There's been
a lot of talk that Taylor Kenny, the Newport native,
might be leaning toward Louisville a little bit. He's already
taken several official visits. I think he's got a couple
more on the docket. But if that is indeed the case,
(14:04):
Kentucky's kind of started to take a look around at
the point guard position. Darren Rippy is certainly one of
those guys. He's had an unbelievable summer and I think
considered by many to be, you know, maybe the best
two way guard in the twenty twenty six class. Extremely athletic,
played really really well when he went up head to
head with Taylor Kenny on the Adidas three SSB circuit
(14:26):
a couple of weeks ago, and certainly a guy that
Kentucky has their eye on.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Chris Fishers with us from Katspause dot com at Chris
Fisher twenty four to seven on X We'll be right
back talk Loo Kentucky football here on the Leaks Report
for a Wednesday atchri Park comes to each day from
the Clark's Pumping Shop studio, Return, refresh and refuel at Clark's.
Chris Fisher's with us from Katzpause dot Com. Excuse to
(14:50):
a little Kentucky football as the training camp based gets
ready to ramp up next week after Media Day Friday,
Fan Day Saturday. So the season is about a month away.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Chris.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Have you is anything you've heard changed your level of
optimism or pessimism in any way?
Speaker 7 (15:13):
Uh No, I don't think so. I do think you
know Bush Hampden's common about the offensive line and you know,
being as good as any of you know, the great
Kentucky offense was certainly an eye opener. And I think
that's kind of where it starts and ends for this
Kentucky football team this season. I mean, if they you know,
if they can't play, if they can't protect Zach Calzata
(15:35):
any better than they protected Brock Vandergriff, I just think
it's going to be a long season and Kentucky's gonna
need to be able to run the football and control
the clock and kind of get back to that old
school kind of blue collar, smash mouth kind of Mark
Stoop's brand of football. I think that's kind of the
pathway to success this season. But it certainly starts on
(15:57):
the offensive line, and it sounds like they, you know,
feel like they have.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
A good group of guys.
Speaker 7 (16:02):
I think having some of that quality depth that they've
been missing in recent years could go a long way.
It felt like, once you know, one of the starters
went out, there was a big drop off to kind
of the next tier of guys, and so being able
to shuttle those guys in and out I think would
be advantageous for Kentucky. But you know, it kind of
(16:24):
feels like now that fall camp is starting, the talking
is finished. And you know, Mark Stoops was kind of
in a in between a rock and a hard place
this offseason. If he said anything, it was met with
scoring and skepticism and you know, will talk to me
in September or whatever. And then if he didn't say anything, as.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
Well, you know, why are you being so quiet?
Speaker 7 (16:42):
And so I think, you know, to his point, he's
kind of been the same Mark Stoops he's been every
off season.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
And now the.
Speaker 7 (16:50):
Talking ins fall camp starts, and we won't have to
wait long to see what this Kentucky football team has
made of Toledo as a heck of a program, one
of the best in the MAC year in and year out,
and we'll see what it looks like on August thirtieth.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Chris, thank you much for the time. All right, Thanks
Chris fishercatspaus dot com. Here's what Mark Stoop said at
his media session on Monday in terms of embracing that
challenge that his team faces trying to come back from
four to eight.
Speaker 8 (17:19):
You know, we had had a rough year that I
wasn't very proud of and I've just taken the approach like,
let's just embrace this challenge that we have and build
this football team. Because as you build, you've heard me
talk for years about building a program, building the culture,
building a program. That is still true, but it's also
(17:44):
very true that you have to just build a team.
Like year to year, you have to build a team.
And that's where we're at.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
And he said he really likes the team that he
has built for this season. So about a month away
from seeing them in action, Stely Triport presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
We'll be right back Stalely Triport presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
And we go to phone to bring on Mike de
Coursi from Sportingnews dot Com at TSN Mike on X.
(18:16):
Let's start with a little Kentucky basketball. Mike at Jay
Billison several weeks ago and we were talking about the
Mark Pope's second Kentucky team, and he said that Mohammed
Diabate was the transfer that he would be most excited
about for Kentucky. Goose Gibvens is with us on Thursdays.
He's seen a few practices, he said. The guy that's
(18:38):
really caught his eye is Denzel Aberdeen. A lot of
people talk about Jalen Lowe and how he's looked and
how important he is, so there's clearly no consensus there
on maybe who the most important transfer is. And after
watching them practice last week, the thing that that came
away with, lets see if you would agree even though
you haven't seen him practice, is that if you ask
(19:02):
ten people like yourself to watch a practice and rank
the top ten players in order, you might get consensus
on otega Oway at number one, but I don't know
that you have much consensus after that.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
I think that's fair, and that's part of what It's
part of what makes Kentucky under Mark Pope a really
compelling team and program, because that's kind of the way
it was a year ago too. You might have gotten
consensus on Butler being the most important player, if not
the best player a year ago, but then everything else
behind it was was somewhat of a mystery, and sometimes
(19:38):
it changed from game to game. Because they are a team,
or have been a team. I assume that this will continue,
that it values the moment that it is Josh Passner
who said the go to guy is the open guy
at least that's the first person I ever heard say that,
and I think that's kind of the way Kentucky op
(20:00):
opted last year, and it looks like that might be
the case this year.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
But if I'm asked that question about the most important.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Player without having watched the practice, the one who needs
to be the most important player is again, for the
same reason as Lamont was a year ago, it's Jalen Low,
because that's your presumed starter at point guard. Now if
he's not, then Denzel becomes more important because now you
have to fill in and change things up. But you
want Jalen Low to be your most important player because
(20:30):
you want your point guard to be able to carry
twenty eight to thirty minutes so that you have a
consistency to how your offense works.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
You.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
He talked at his media session last week about the
options that he has at point guard after Jalen more
than certainly in terms of experience, more than he had
last season. Aberdeen could do it. He mentioned o way
that I think Pope has always thought could be more
of a playmaking element to his game, and you know
(21:03):
other guys that they could take a look at in
that role. But you still he's the guy that you
want to be the starting quarterback. If you will, you
have other quarterbacks in the room, and you can figure
something out if you have to, but you don't want
to have to.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Right And honestly, having watched Jalen play for two years,
including multiple times in person, he has the ability to
be that player. Defensively, he still has to prove himself
and improve himself. He wasn't good enough a year ago,
and I think some of that comes with maturity and understanding,
(21:41):
and I think it'll also come with having teammates around
him who are prime defenders. I mean, Otega's terrific. You
want Quaintance to be an elite shot blocker. So I
think there'll be a better defensive team around him than
he's had in the past, and that will improve his defense.
Offensive he's exceptional at getting himself opportunities, really one of
(22:06):
the better point guards in college basketball at getting himself opportunities,
and again, everybody else he's not been poor. He's been
fine at creating for others. But I think that again
will be elevated by having more consistent players around him.
He had some good players with him a year ago,
but after Damian Dunn got hurt.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
It sort of fell off a little bit.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
They didn't have quite enough to replace him at pitt
and it's sort of trailed off a little bit.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
I think having the amount of assets around him.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
Will really be helpful and elevate him on the offensive
end as well.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
They've talked a lot about the defensive end. Cody Figer
on the show earlier this month, and he said one
of the points of emphasis a stat they have to
be better in his defensive field goal percentage. Pope said
that to Cody also talked about, you know that he
was confident the offensive rebounding would be better, but their
defensive field goal percentage overall and especially inside the arc
(23:12):
was was pretty low last season. So you know, you
make some significant improvement in that, and then if you
rebound it, well, you're going to get more possessions, right.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
And that's that's really important that they do that. And
that's a lot of where Brandon his elevation, his improvement,
and Jaden the two of those guys, I mean, it's
not very many teams that have two guys that can
be aggressive shot blockers. And it's also where it's really
important that Jayden improved. Excuse me, that that Jalen improved
(23:46):
because you got to keep the ball in order to
keep the defensive field goal percentage lower. You've got to
keep the ball out of the lane. That's that's a
huge part of it. Keeping the ball where you want
it to be, not where the opposition wants it to be,
and that starts at the point of it attack, making
sure you're stronger there. I think that if Lamont had
been healthy the full year, that number wouldn't have been.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
As quite as poor as it was.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
They ended up fifty first in Ken Palm defense and
defensive efficiency. You can't win a championship from there, so
you have to improve that up into the twenties, and
I think you have the components on the perimeter on
the inside to be better in that area, to be
significantly better in that area.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
On the other end, there's been so much talk about defense,
and Popeyvind acknowledge this that you know, he's a guy
who's most captivated, I think on the offensive end, but
he knows they had to be better defensively, and they're
spending a lot of time working on that and emphasizing
it in practice. They got it. They brought in some
really good defenders with a lot of upside on that
(24:54):
end of the court. But let's talk about the offensive end,
and he wants to get close to that thirty five
three point attempts per game again, and it'll take more
possessions to do that. So that's kind of where you know,
that other end of the court that we're talking about
comes into play. But you know, they're not going to
have anybody I don't think that shoots it as well
as Kobe Brea did. And you know, Jackson Robinson was
(25:16):
at thirty eight percent. Lamont on a much smaller number
of attempts was thirty nine percent. Almanor on ninety two
attempts was forty three percent. I'm wondering if they could actually,
while not having anybody to Breya's level, could they have
more guys that are at say thirty seven percent and above.
(25:36):
If Oway wouldn't take much for Oway to get there,
I got to do it on more attempts. Aberdeen was
thirty five percent last season. Freshman Jasper Johnson Cam William's
already there with his numbers. If Yellovich is a part
of it, he's a guy's supposed to be able to
shoot the three well Colin Chandler shot thirty five ought
to be better. Trent Noah's everybody's talking about how well
(25:57):
he's shooting it. If Jalen Lowe approved, I don't know
if he could get to thirty seven percent, but he
could certainly improve. The point is they got several guys
I would think they could get to, say, thirty seven
percent above on threes.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
Am I right, oh absolutely, As you ticked off those numbers,
I mean, they have a lot of guys who have
done it, and I think that in a lot of
the cases that that they've done it. I mean, as
I mentioned with low At, a lot of his percentage
issues were because some of his teammates weren't able to
(26:32):
help the offense at the level necessary, so he winds
up having to take more tough shots.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
I think he'll take far fewer difficult shots this year.
I mean that I can't imagine that he would take.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
Half as many tough shots this year as he did
a year ago. That often becomes the point guard's lot.
The ball winds up back in his hands and then
he has to take the shot because you got to
beat the shot clock, and so that miss goes on
his percentage but he's really capable in an offense that's
(27:06):
flowing and functional to do better than the number that
he shot a year ago at Aberdeen.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
I think.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
Will be interesting because he's a presumed starter at this point.
So if he's a starter, I mean a year ago
he was playing eighteen nineteen twenty minutes a game on
a team where when he was on the floor he.
Speaker 5 (27:26):
Was usually the fourth or fifth option.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
So if he's a starter at shooting guard now, that
increases the importance of him as a perimeter shooter and
he's got to shoot it well, so that I think he,
as much as anybody, a lot of it's going to
ride on him. I don't have any doubt, and I
don't think many people do that Otega is going to
make a step toward certainly toward all sec if not beyond.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
That, he'll be He.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Should have a phenomenal year, and I think with his
ambition being what it is, I would imagine that he
has spent an awful lot of time working on making
himself an even better three point shooter. He was fine
a year ago, but fine isn't necessarily going to get
you the NBA looks that you want, so you've got
(28:18):
to improve that to at least good with his defensive
ability and all the rest. Good will get him a job,
but he's got to get to good. And so I
would imagine that he has spent a ton of time
trying to improve himself in that department and that will
only make the Wildcats better.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
You know, with Otake, I don't know if he would
acknowledge this or even felt it, but it sure looked
from watching him at times where if he got into
a stretch and again for the season, he's got thirty
six percent up from threes, not a huge number of attempts,
but still a solid number. But there were stretches where
he'd go through he was in a stretch where he
(28:58):
wasn't making them and it was clear he didn't want
to take them at that time.
Speaker 5 (29:03):
And you know, the.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Guys like a broadcast partner, Goose and others, if they
missed ten in a row, well they're going to take
ten more because they're confident they're gonna shoot fifty percent
on twenty. You know, that's kind of the mindset, and
that's I think, you know through you know, maybe it
comes from just getting so many shots up and getting
so comfortable at it that if you miss ten, then
(29:25):
you know you want to shoot twenty because you're going
to get to fifty percent.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
Right, And I think a lot of it also comes
from your prominence in the team. When when you have
Jackson Robinson at let's assume we're talking about the earlier
part of last year, in Kobe and Lamont and so
many terrific players around you, you're it can be tempting
to say, well, I'm not hitting now.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
So let's get them the ball, because those guys are great.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
And what Otega comes back to now is a lot
of excellent players around him, but he's the guy, and
that Kentucky's most important element this year he passed, even
more than how well Jalen plays, is how well does
Otega embrace the role of primary option. I could say star,
(30:14):
but that entails lots of other options, you know. But
but being the guy is an acquired skill. It's something
you have to work at and it's and it's something
that it's really difficult for a team to succeed at
the highest level in college basketball without somebody willing to
do that. Somebody or a couple of somebodies that are
(30:36):
willing to say.
Speaker 6 (30:37):
That I can do this, I can get this done today,
I can get this done in this moment, whatever it
might whatever the challenge might be, you have to have
those players.
Speaker 5 (30:48):
And I mean you think back to.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Even to ninety six when they had so many guys.
Tony Delk had to have a big game against Syracuse for.
Speaker 9 (30:58):
Them to get past what was a sing defensive scheme
for them. You have to have those guys that are
willing to take that on. And Tony was of all
the guys that year, and they were tremendous.
Speaker 5 (31:10):
Tony was the senior. He was the guy who came
in as a five star and McDonald's and all that,
and he was an All League and All America player,
and so he took it on in that moment.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
And that's what that's Otaga has to be able to
do that as much as he has to be able
to stand out there and make.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Three's talking with Mike Decursisportingnews dot Com and we'll continue
here in just a moment on the Leach Report Radio Network.
We're presented by Bob Kat Enterprises. We are back with
Mike Decursi from Sportingnews dot Com and you see him
on the big ten network and does the brackets for
Fox Sports. Once we get into college basketball season. A
(31:49):
couple of interesting stories. Did you see the item out
of Gamesville, Mike, where seven foot nine inch Florida center
Olivier Rue I'm pronouncing that correct actually worked out with
a football team. They were thinking maybe he could block kicks.
He had an eleven inch vertical, so it didn't work.
(32:11):
But I will give coach Nape your credit. He is
creative in the middle of that defense or special teams.
He had a four hundred and twenty five pound nose guard.
Now he's considering a seven foot nine inch center who
looks like he weighs about one to seventy five.
Speaker 5 (32:28):
I did see that story.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
I was surprised that someone would think of him as
a football player because we're still working on him as
a basketball player.
Speaker 5 (32:38):
Yes, but Olivia did.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
He did play a significant role for Canada in the
U nineteen World Cup.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
He played a lot of minutes and Canada did okay.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
Canada ended up giving the US their most difficult game
in what was basically a steam roll to the World
Cup title. An age division where the US often struggles,
and Olivier was.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
Bothersome there are still issues, but he did impact the game.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
I'll be very curious to see whether or not with
what they have, I kind of doubt it because they've
got such great big guys in Florida's rotation. I don't
know that they need necessarily to go to him and
change up so much you have to change to accommodate him.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
They've got such great big guys.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
Of all the teams to be in, that's probably the
one that's the toughest position for him right now because
they just are loaded with size and with excellent bigs.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
With the Florida Gators.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
You're a big soccer fan. If he wants to try
another sport, they should send him over put him in
a goal for the soccer team.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
Well, the goal is twenty feet and he covers about
half of that, and I think the other half would.
Speaker 5 (33:54):
Be pretty open. That would be my theory.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
If he dives, though it's horizontal.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
I think that e limited vertical. It becomes an eleven
inch horizontal.
Speaker 5 (34:06):
It's still too much room.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Yeah, I think I think you're probably right. Uh, we'll
get into this next week. I wanted to talk to
you about something you think wrote about at Sportingnews Dot
com on the Uh, we'll running between Bryce Harper and
the Baseball commissioner and uh, the what you argue would
be the value of a salary cap for the Major
League Baseball Players Association. So maybe we'll talk about that
(34:30):
next week. It's an interesting topic. No, it's not. I
don't think so. Thank you, Mike. Mike of course, Sportingnews
dot Com joining us here in the summers on Wednesdays
on the Leach Report and the Friday. As we get
into basketball season, we are headed to a break and
back with our final segment of the Leach Report from
(34:52):
the Clarks Pumping Shop studio. Return, Refresh and refuel at
Clark's Stay. A wild Cat History the service of Kentucky
road Show Sports Cards and Memorabilia. They're on Rondy Road
here in Lexington and at Roadshowcards dot Com. Nineteen forty eight,
on this date, US Olympic team, with five Kentucky Wildcats
on it, began play in London with an eighty six
(35:15):
twenty one win over Switzerland. Date off Rup was the
assistant coach for that team. A couple of interesting notes
out of SEC football schools. First from Florida quarterback DJ Lagway,
Will not be on the field when practices ramp up
next week. It's a calf strain, according to coach Napier.
Now we's been seen in a boot a miss spring
(35:38):
with a shoulder injury, so he's battling some physical issues.
He has said that media days are at the SEC
Media Days, that the shoulder injury was fine and he
was over that. Down at Tennessee, one of their best
defensive players, Boo Carter, missed some mandatory team activities and
(36:00):
he is basically in the doghouse. It looks like coach
Josh Hipel has talked They said he'll talk about this
at the Tennessee media Days. Hypel has said that Carter
is still with the team, but there are some things
to accomplish to get back on the field. I don't
know if this is something that's you know, nil or
something else, but Florida having some injury issues there, Tennessee
(36:24):
having some other kind of issues off the field issues.
So just the kind of underscores the point of when
you're looking at trying to project what's going to happen
in a season in July or August, that a lot
of things can still change between the time that Kentucky
(36:45):
is starting a season and is actually going to line
up and play against a particular opponent. And for the
Wildcats to this point, it's been pretty much a news
free summer and spring in terms of, you know, injuries
or discipline or any anything. And so it's been a
smooth ride so far. So if you're a Kentucky fan,
(37:07):
cross your fingers and hope that continues. Corn Bread Hemp
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is the good life. We'll see tomorrow
Goodday, everybody. Welcome into the Leach Reports, presented by Bobcat
Enterprises on this Wednesday and talk some college basketball and
maybe a little Major League baseball with Mike Decursi at
a take on the talk about a salary cap or
at least the idea of being knocked around a little
(00:21):
bit in Major League Baseball, So we'll get into that
with Mike, and then Chris Fisher from The Cat's Paws
will be with us at the first half of the
show talking some UK football and basketball wild Cat news
of the day. That is a service of Giuseppes of Lexington. Yesterday,
quarterback Zach Calzada the Kentucky football team was a guest
(00:44):
on the SEC Now show on the SEC Network hosted
by Peter Burns, and they had a nice interview. Zach
handled himself well. He is QB one for now. Mark
Stoops said at his media session on Monday that if
they were playing today, Calzada would be number one, but
that the competition with Cutter Bowley will continue throughout the
(01:09):
rest of their training camp that is gearing up next week.
Calzada was asked about returning to the SEC played at
Texas A and m he was there three seasons, played
two and then he was at Auburn, but it was
an injury plagued season, so he didn't actually get on
the field for the Tigers. But he was at Auburn
(01:31):
for a season. So he's back with his third different
SEC team as he prepares to lead the charge for Kentucky.
And he talked about being back in arguably the best
league in college football, so really.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Just the high level of competition in the atmosphere, and
you know, I love the same pressures of privilege, and
just being back in front of a lot of eyes
and playing at a high level of football is really exciting.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
You know, the word is motivation right now, Tubes, how
have you seen him take the ground running this upcoming season?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Right?
Speaker 5 (02:04):
I really like his approach.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
He leaves a lot of room for it to be
a player led team, and I think with the guys
that we have, that's going to be our strength.
Speaker 5 (02:12):
You know, a lot of guys are focused.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I think motivated might not be the best word for
our players, but I think it's discipline and urgency. You know,
as a team. That's that's been a big motto for us.
Is you know, I wasn't here last year. A lot
of these guys weren't here last year, but you know,
we can see him feel the pressure that's with this
upcoming season, and I think just coming every day and
putting our best foot forward from January to now and
(02:35):
as we roll in the camp is important for us.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Zach.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
It's tough to get into any sec roster, but then
to jump in as a transfer and be that leader
that they want you to be. What did you learn
over an incarnate word about that transition that you're going
to carry over now to Kentucky to be QB one, Right?
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I mean, I think it starts with being somebody that
you know, people want to emulate, people want to follow,
and you know, just my thing coming in with I
wanted that was going to be who I am and
you know, be a guy that comes in early, gets
the extra work. And you know, as time has progressed
and you know, this off season has moved forward, it's
it's allowed me the opportunity to have more conversations with
(03:14):
these guys and lead these guys in a in a
sense of you know, establishing what our standard is going
to be going into the season.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
So that was Zach Calzada with Peter Burns and the
SEC Now Show yesterday, a couple of thoughts on that.
For me, it's funny how motivated has become a thing.
It was something that probably some media folks and fans
maybe online we're talking about with Mark Stoops and using
(03:47):
it as a way to sometimes tease, sometimes take shots. Anyway,
it was at SEC bed Days where that word came
up with the coach Stoops and he went another direction,
and it was just interesting how Thatch calls outa did
to referring or directing it more toward discipline and urgency,
(04:09):
which is actually I would think the the right words,
or two of them. Anyway, as I've said before, if
you're talking to I can see why you bristle a
little bit as a coach or a player. Especially the
coach about you know, being motivated kind of implies that
you weren't motivated before, when I would guarantee you that
(04:30):
was not the case. They didn't perform well, but it
wasn't for a lack of motivation. Now, what I think
you can talk about is you know, refocus, sharpening, focus,
you know, any of that. But discipline and urgency are
actually two good words because they've got to be more
disciplined in terms of taking care of the football, penalties,
(04:52):
et cetera. And then there is most definitely a sense
of urgency after you go four and eight. Also, like
what Calsida said about leading things like showing up early,
putting in the extra work. Will Levice when he came in,
that was a bit of a you know, question, how
(05:12):
could they thought? I think he was their best quarterback,
but they didn't name him the starter initially. I think
they wanted him to earn that. And part of that
earning it was the leadership. And I think that's some
of what how Will approached it, to be the guy
setting the right tone with your actions before you do
(05:36):
it with your words. And I've heard some good things
about Calzada from a leadership standpoint. Also did a little
reading about him yesterday. I was preparing for the upcoming season,
and there are some interesting stats through the four seasons
he has played in college football. This will be his
seventh season, but he didn't play at all dur in
(05:57):
the year because of injury, didn't play the COVID year
in twenty twenty at eight, so he started thirty two
games over the four seasons that he's played, he won
twenty three of them. It's a winning percentage of zero
point seven one eight seventy three touchdown passes to twenty
eight interceptions, so almost three to one there. And I
(06:17):
think I heard a quote from Jabory Macklin earlier this
season in an interview where he talked about how Calzada
would throw them open, could throw receivers open. And we
know he's got a strong arm. If he can combine
that with accuracy, that's how Sorry, I'm having a little
(06:40):
coughing fit having to pause there a couple times. Calzada,
if he can combine accuracy with that arm strength, you know,
that's how he has a season much better than maybe
anybody's talking about at this point. So that's one of
the top storylines we'll watch as the season approaches for
(07:00):
Kentucky football. Links to the stories that we talk about
each day you can find them on the Bud Light
Leach Report page at Tom leachkwhy dot com. Come back
chat with Chris Fisher of the cast's pause Mike Coursi
A little later, opening segment of wild Cat News presented
by Giuseppes of Lexington. They're located off Nicholasville Road, just
out past Manor War And if you haven't been lately,
(07:21):
go to open Table right now, make a reservation, make
plans to get to Giuseppes with your family or your friends,
or just a really special night out. It's a great
place to celebrate a special occasion like a birthday or
at anniversary, or just to have a fantastic meal. Sit
in the lounge area. They've expanded it. It's more of
an opportunity to sit there and have Dave Hall's live
(07:42):
jazz music as the soundtrack to a fantastic meal at Giuseppes.
We'll be right back on The Leach Report Radio Network.
Welcome back into the show on this Wednesday edition of
The Leach Report presented by Bob Cat Enterprises. For locations
around Kentucky for Bobcat, so google them when you need
to buy or rent piece of heavy equipment. They can
(08:05):
help you with either direction you want to go. A
lot of folks that have been with them for a
long time, so you get great service after the deal
is executed.
Speaker 6 (08:15):
If you need.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Parts something like that, they'll have what you need at
Bobcat Enterprises. So google them to find the location that's
closest to you, Chris Fisher joining us now from catspause
dot com. Start a little bit on the basketball side, Chris,
you have some stories up at catzpause dot com about
recruiting offers and things for Mark Pope. I see where
(08:37):
there is. This is actually from the two four to
seven Sports national basketball analyst Travis Branham. I saw his
report and some others about a seven footer internet at
the top international prospect in the twenty twenty seven class
by twenty four to seven Sports, and I have no
idea if I'm pronouncing their name right, Cion Kata. Is
(09:00):
it in Kentucky today, right?
Speaker 7 (09:04):
Yeah, He's a guy that has kind of burst onto
the scene. You know, we're seeing a huge influx of
international prospects into the college game, and he's making a
tour of the blue bloods in college basketball Kentucky, Kansas,
North Carolina, Duke, Yukon and it's kind of a whirlwind
(09:26):
visit tour. I think he's going to be at each
school just for one day. And considered one of the
top international bigs in the world and is obviously entertaining
the idea of playing college basketball in the United States,
and he's a guy that is currently in the twenty
twenty seven class but is a potential reclass candidate to.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
Twenty twenty six.
Speaker 7 (09:51):
And it seems like, if you're kind of reading the
tea leaves Kentucky continuing to extend scholarship offers to big
men in the twenty twenty sixth class. Josh Irving, a
four star center from California two days ago, and then
Ethan Taylor of Composite five stars, seven footer out of
Kansas last night. So it looks like Kentucky's continuing to
(10:14):
keep its options open there in the front court.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
He's seventeen now I'm not sure when he turns eighteen,
but if he did reclassify, he'd be one of the
younger players in college basketball. That is, slate of recruiting
USUESS is kind of like speed dating. I mean it's
literally Kansas Monday, Indiana Tuesday, from whatever in Kentucky today,
Duke tomorrow, Carolina Friday, and Yukon on Saturday.
Speaker 7 (10:40):
Yeah, he's he's taken a very businesslike approach to this thing,
and you know, it may be just a situation where
he's just in the United States for a very short
period of to kind of get these things knocked out,
But definitely an interesting late summer development for Kentucky on
the on the recruiting front, particularly if he's a guy
(11:02):
that is seriously considering a jump to twenty twenty six,
and you know, we saw it. You know, with some
guys that reclassify, it doesn't work out particularly well. But
I think when you see the guys that are at
the top of the top, a guy like Cooper Flag,
you know he didn't have any trouble adjusting to the
college game a year early, obviously had an unbelievable year
(11:24):
at Duke and went on to be the number one
pick in the draft.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
And you talked about the pursuit of Biggs in the
next class for Kentucky, and again at the moment, this
young man's in the twenty seven class. But if you're
Mark Pope, I think you probably go into the season
figuring whether acquaintance is ready to go at the start
or a little after. He's projected as a lottery pick,
so you figure he'll be gone after one season. And
(11:49):
I would imagine they would anticipate Brandon Garrison being gone
after you know, what would be his second season at Kentucky.
So that would leave you with just Morino as fives, right.
Speaker 7 (12:00):
Yeah, And the twenty four to seven director of scouting,
Adam Finkelstein, brought up a really good point about how,
you know, the twenty twenty six class is kind of down,
definitely doesn't have the star power at the top, and
so college coaches maybe looking to nab some of these
guys that might you know, maybe a little bit lower
(12:21):
in the rankings in hopes that they get multiple years
out of them, and so you kind of have some
of that roster continuity that is missing so much from
the age of the transfer portal.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
And I always thought, you.
Speaker 7 (12:34):
Know, Kentucky under John Caliperry was getting these you know,
top ten, top fifteen, one and done guys, and you know,
in a way he kind of became a victim of
his own success because guys that weren't even particularly ready
to leave after one year were still following, you know,
the other guys. And so I always thought, you know,
schools like North Carolina, Villanova, Kansas kind of were able
(12:57):
to hit that sweet spot. And you saw that out
in how much you know success they had over you know,
five or six years where they're recruiting the top twenty five,
the top fifty guys that have the talent but aren't
quite ready to take that leap after one year, and
so they get that blend of talent and experience, guys
that stick around for multiple years, and it paid big
(13:20):
dividends for you know, Kansas, North Carolina, Villanova there for
a couple of years and had huge success at the
highest level of college basketball.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
I guess the other recruiting news for Kentucky men's basketball
is Durn Rippy, five star point guard in the twenty
sixth class, is doing an official visit on Friday, and
he's only narrated down to twelve schools at this point,
so it's I guess early in the process for him.
Speaker 7 (13:43):
I assume, right, Yeah, I think Kentucky I think the
point guard position is probably one to watch. There's been
a lot of talk that Taylor Kenny, the Newport native,
might be leaning toward Louisville a little bit. He's already
taken several official visits. I think he's got a couple
more on the docket. But if that is indeed the case,
(14:04):
Kentucky's kind of started to take a look around at
the point guard position. Darren Rippy is certainly one of
those guys. He's had an unbelievable summer and I think
considered by many to be, you know, maybe the best
two way guard in the twenty twenty six class. Extremely athletic,
played really really well when he went up head to
head with Taylor Kenny on the Adidas three SSB circuit
(14:26):
a couple of weeks ago, and certainly a guy that
Kentucky has their eye on.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Chris Fishers with us from Katspause dot com at Chris
Fisher twenty four to seven on X We'll be right
back talk Loo Kentucky football here on the Leaks Report
for a Wednesday atchri Park comes to each day from
the Clark's Pumping Shop studio, Return, refresh and refuel at Clark's.
Chris Fisher's with us from Katzpause dot Com. Excuse to
(14:50):
a little Kentucky football as the training camp based gets
ready to ramp up next week after Media Day Friday,
Fan Day Saturday. So the season is about a month away.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Chris.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Have you is anything you've heard changed your level of
optimism or pessimism in any way?
Speaker 7 (15:13):
Uh No, I don't think so. I do think you
know Bush Hampden's common about the offensive line and you know,
being as good as any of you know, the great
Kentucky offense was certainly an eye opener. And I think
that's kind of where it starts and ends for this
Kentucky football team this season. I mean, if they you know,
if they can't play, if they can't protect Zach Calzata
(15:35):
any better than they protected Brock Vandergriff, I just think
it's going to be a long season and Kentucky's gonna
need to be able to run the football and control
the clock and kind of get back to that old
school kind of blue collar, smash mouth kind of Mark
Stoop's brand of football. I think that's kind of the
pathway to success this season. But it certainly starts on
(15:57):
the offensive line, and it sounds like they, you know,
feel like they have.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
A good group of guys.
Speaker 7 (16:02):
I think having some of that quality depth that they've
been missing in recent years could go a long way.
It felt like, once you know, one of the starters
went out, there was a big drop off to kind
of the next tier of guys, and so being able
to shuttle those guys in and out I think would
be advantageous for Kentucky. But you know, it kind of
(16:24):
feels like now that fall camp is starting, the talking
is finished. And you know, Mark Stoops was kind of
in a in between a rock and a hard place
this offseason. If he said anything, it was met with
scoring and skepticism and you know, will talk to me
in September or whatever. And then if he didn't say anything, as.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
Well, you know, why are you being so quiet?
Speaker 7 (16:42):
And so I think, you know, to his point, he's
kind of been the same Mark Stoops he's been every
off season.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
And now the.
Speaker 7 (16:50):
Talking ins fall camp starts, and we won't have to
wait long to see what this Kentucky football team has
made of Toledo as a heck of a program, one
of the best in the MAC year in and year out,
and we'll see what it looks like on August thirtieth.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Chris, thank you much for the time. All right, Thanks
Chris fishercatspaus dot com. Here's what Mark Stoop said at
his media session on Monday in terms of embracing that
challenge that his team faces trying to come back from
four to eight.
Speaker 8 (17:19):
You know, we had had a rough year that I
wasn't very proud of and I've just taken the approach like,
let's just embrace this challenge that we have and build
this football team. Because as you build, you've heard me
talk for years about building a program, building the culture,
building a program. That is still true, but it's also
(17:44):
very true that you have to just build a team.
Like year to year, you have to build a team.
And that's where we're at.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
And he said he really likes the team that he
has built for this season. So about a month away
from seeing them in action, Stely Triport presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
We'll be right back Stalely Triport presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
And we go to phone to bring on Mike de
Coursi from Sportingnews dot Com at TSN Mike on X.
(18:16):
Let's start with a little Kentucky basketball. Mike at Jay
Billison several weeks ago and we were talking about the
Mark Pope's second Kentucky team, and he said that Mohammed
Diabate was the transfer that he would be most excited
about for Kentucky. Goose Gibvens is with us on Thursdays.
He's seen a few practices, he said. The guy that's
(18:38):
really caught his eye is Denzel Aberdeen. A lot of
people talk about Jalen Lowe and how he's looked and
how important he is, so there's clearly no consensus there
on maybe who the most important transfer is. And after
watching them practice last week, the thing that that came
away with, lets see if you would agree even though
you haven't seen him practice, is that if you ask
(19:02):
ten people like yourself to watch a practice and rank
the top ten players in order, you might get consensus
on otega Oway at number one, but I don't know
that you have much consensus after that.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
I think that's fair, and that's part of what It's
part of what makes Kentucky under Mark Pope a really
compelling team and program, because that's kind of the way
it was a year ago too. You might have gotten
consensus on Butler being the most important player, if not
the best player a year ago, but then everything else
behind it was was somewhat of a mystery, and sometimes
(19:38):
it changed from game to game. Because they are a team,
or have been a team. I assume that this will continue,
that it values the moment that it is Josh Passner
who said the go to guy is the open guy
at least that's the first person I ever heard say that,
and I think that's kind of the way Kentucky op
(20:00):
opted last year, and it looks like that might be
the case this year.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
But if I'm asked that question about the most important.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Player without having watched the practice, the one who needs
to be the most important player is again, for the
same reason as Lamont was a year ago, it's Jalen Low,
because that's your presumed starter at point guard. Now if
he's not, then Denzel becomes more important because now you
have to fill in and change things up. But you
want Jalen Low to be your most important player because
(20:30):
you want your point guard to be able to carry
twenty eight to thirty minutes so that you have a
consistency to how your offense works.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
You.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
He talked at his media session last week about the
options that he has at point guard after Jalen more
than certainly in terms of experience, more than he had
last season. Aberdeen could do it. He mentioned o way
that I think Pope has always thought could be more
of a playmaking element to his game, and you know
(21:03):
other guys that they could take a look at in
that role. But you still he's the guy that you
want to be the starting quarterback. If you will, you
have other quarterbacks in the room, and you can figure
something out if you have to, but you don't want
to have to.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Right And honestly, having watched Jalen play for two years,
including multiple times in person, he has the ability to
be that player. Defensively, he still has to prove himself
and improve himself. He wasn't good enough a year ago,
and I think some of that comes with maturity and understanding,
(21:41):
and I think it'll also come with having teammates around
him who are prime defenders. I mean, Otega's terrific. You
want Quaintance to be an elite shot blocker. So I
think there'll be a better defensive team around him than
he's had in the past, and that will improve his defense.
Offensive he's exceptional at getting himself opportunities, really one of
(22:06):
the better point guards in college basketball at getting himself opportunities,
and again, everybody else he's not been poor. He's been
fine at creating for others. But I think that again
will be elevated by having more consistent players around him.
He had some good players with him a year ago,
but after Damian Dunn got hurt.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
It sort of fell off a little bit.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
They didn't have quite enough to replace him at pitt
and it's sort of trailed off a little bit.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
I think having the amount of assets around him.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
Will really be helpful and elevate him on the offensive
end as well.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
They've talked a lot about the defensive end. Cody Figer
on the show earlier this month, and he said one
of the points of emphasis a stat they have to
be better in his defensive field goal percentage. Pope said
that to Cody also talked about, you know that he
was confident the offensive rebounding would be better, but their
defensive field goal percentage overall and especially inside the arc
(23:12):
was was pretty low last season. So you know, you
make some significant improvement in that, and then if you
rebound it, well, you're going to get more possessions, right.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
And that's that's really important that they do that. And
that's a lot of where Brandon his elevation, his improvement,
and Jaden the two of those guys, I mean, it's
not very many teams that have two guys that can
be aggressive shot blockers. And it's also where it's really
important that Jayden improved. Excuse me, that that Jalen improved
(23:46):
because you got to keep the ball in order to
keep the defensive field goal percentage lower. You've got to
keep the ball out of the lane. That's that's a
huge part of it. Keeping the ball where you want
it to be, not where the opposition wants it to be,
and that starts at the point of it attack, making
sure you're stronger there. I think that if Lamont had
been healthy the full year, that number wouldn't have been.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
As quite as poor as it was.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
They ended up fifty first in Ken Palm defense and
defensive efficiency. You can't win a championship from there, so
you have to improve that up into the twenties, and
I think you have the components on the perimeter on
the inside to be better in that area, to be
significantly better in that area.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
On the other end, there's been so much talk about defense,
and Popeyvind acknowledge this that you know, he's a guy
who's most captivated, I think on the offensive end, but
he knows they had to be better defensively, and they're
spending a lot of time working on that and emphasizing
it in practice. They got it. They brought in some
really good defenders with a lot of upside on that
(24:54):
end of the court. But let's talk about the offensive end,
and he wants to get close to that thirty five
three point attempts per game again, and it'll take more
possessions to do that. So that's kind of where you know,
that other end of the court that we're talking about
comes into play. But you know, they're not going to
have anybody I don't think that shoots it as well
as Kobe Brea did. And you know, Jackson Robinson was
(25:16):
at thirty eight percent. Lamont on a much smaller number
of attempts was thirty nine percent. Almanor on ninety two
attempts was forty three percent. I'm wondering if they could actually,
while not having anybody to Breya's level, could they have
more guys that are at say thirty seven percent and above.
(25:36):
If Oway wouldn't take much for Oway to get there,
I got to do it on more attempts. Aberdeen was
thirty five percent last season. Freshman Jasper Johnson Cam William's
already there with his numbers. If Yellovich is a part
of it, he's a guy's supposed to be able to
shoot the three well Colin Chandler shot thirty five ought
to be better. Trent Noah's everybody's talking about how well
(25:57):
he's shooting it. If Jalen Lowe approved, I don't know
if he could get to thirty seven percent, but he
could certainly improve. The point is they got several guys
I would think they could get to, say, thirty seven
percent above on threes.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
Am I right, oh absolutely, As you ticked off those numbers,
I mean, they have a lot of guys who have
done it, and I think that in a lot of
the cases that that they've done it. I mean, as
I mentioned with low At, a lot of his percentage
issues were because some of his teammates weren't able to
(26:32):
help the offense at the level necessary, so he winds
up having to take more tough shots.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
I think he'll take far fewer difficult shots this year.
I mean that I can't imagine that he would take.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
Half as many tough shots this year as he did
a year ago. That often becomes the point guard's lot.
The ball winds up back in his hands and then
he has to take the shot because you got to
beat the shot clock, and so that miss goes on
his percentage but he's really capable in an offense that's
(27:06):
flowing and functional to do better than the number that
he shot a year ago at Aberdeen.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
I think.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
Will be interesting because he's a presumed starter at this point.
So if he's a starter, I mean a year ago
he was playing eighteen nineteen twenty minutes a game on
a team where when he was on the floor he.
Speaker 5 (27:26):
Was usually the fourth or fifth option.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
So if he's a starter at shooting guard now, that
increases the importance of him as a perimeter shooter and
he's got to shoot it well, so that I think he,
as much as anybody, a lot of it's going to
ride on him. I don't have any doubt, and I
don't think many people do that Otega is going to
make a step toward certainly toward all sec if not beyond.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
That, he'll be He.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Should have a phenomenal year, and I think with his
ambition being what it is, I would imagine that he
has spent an awful lot of time working on making
himself an even better three point shooter. He was fine
a year ago, but fine isn't necessarily going to get
you the NBA looks that you want, so you've got
(28:18):
to improve that to at least good with his defensive
ability and all the rest. Good will get him a job,
but he's got to get to good. And so I
would imagine that he has spent a ton of time
trying to improve himself in that department and that will
only make the Wildcats better.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
You know, with Otake, I don't know if he would
acknowledge this or even felt it, but it sure looked
from watching him at times where if he got into
a stretch and again for the season, he's got thirty
six percent up from threes, not a huge number of attempts,
but still a solid number. But there were stretches where
he'd go through he was in a stretch where he
(28:58):
wasn't making them and it was clear he didn't want
to take them at that time.
Speaker 5 (29:03):
And you know, the.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Guys like a broadcast partner, Goose and others, if they
missed ten in a row, well they're going to take
ten more because they're confident they're gonna shoot fifty percent
on twenty. You know, that's kind of the mindset, and
that's I think, you know through you know, maybe it
comes from just getting so many shots up and getting
so comfortable at it that if you miss ten, then
(29:25):
you know you want to shoot twenty because you're going
to get to fifty percent.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
Right, And I think a lot of it also comes
from your prominence in the team. When when you have
Jackson Robinson at let's assume we're talking about the earlier
part of last year, in Kobe and Lamont and so
many terrific players around you, you're it can be tempting
to say, well, I'm not hitting now.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
So let's get them the ball, because those guys are great.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
And what Otega comes back to now is a lot
of excellent players around him, but he's the guy, and
that Kentucky's most important element this year he passed, even
more than how well Jalen plays, is how well does
Otega embrace the role of primary option. I could say star,
(30:14):
but that entails lots of other options, you know. But
but being the guy is an acquired skill. It's something
you have to work at and it's and it's something
that it's really difficult for a team to succeed at
the highest level in college basketball without somebody willing to
do that. Somebody or a couple of somebodies that are
(30:36):
willing to say.
Speaker 6 (30:37):
That I can do this, I can get this done today,
I can get this done in this moment, whatever it
might whatever the challenge might be, you have to have
those players.
Speaker 5 (30:48):
And I mean you think back to.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Even to ninety six when they had so many guys.
Tony Delk had to have a big game against Syracuse for.
Speaker 9 (30:58):
Them to get past what was a sing defensive scheme
for them. You have to have those guys that are
willing to take that on. And Tony was of all
the guys that year, and they were tremendous.
Speaker 5 (31:10):
Tony was the senior. He was the guy who came
in as a five star and McDonald's and all that,
and he was an All League and All America player,
and so he took it on in that moment.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
And that's what that's Otaga has to be able to
do that as much as he has to be able
to stand out there and make.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Three's talking with Mike Decursisportingnews dot Com and we'll continue
here in just a moment on the Leach Report Radio Network.
We're presented by Bob Kat Enterprises. We are back with
Mike Decursi from Sportingnews dot Com and you see him
on the big ten network and does the brackets for
Fox Sports. Once we get into college basketball season. A
(31:49):
couple of interesting stories. Did you see the item out
of Gamesville, Mike, where seven foot nine inch Florida center
Olivier Rue I'm pronouncing that correct actually worked out with
a football team. They were thinking maybe he could block kicks.
He had an eleven inch vertical, so it didn't work.
(32:11):
But I will give coach Nape your credit. He is
creative in the middle of that defense or special teams.
He had a four hundred and twenty five pound nose guard.
Now he's considering a seven foot nine inch center who
looks like he weighs about one to seventy five.
Speaker 5 (32:28):
I did see that story.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
I was surprised that someone would think of him as
a football player because we're still working on him as
a basketball player.
Speaker 5 (32:38):
Yes, but Olivia did.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
He did play a significant role for Canada in the
U nineteen World Cup.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
He played a lot of minutes and Canada did okay.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
Canada ended up giving the US their most difficult game
in what was basically a steam roll to the World
Cup title. An age division where the US often struggles,
and Olivier was.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
Bothersome there are still issues, but he did impact the game.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
I'll be very curious to see whether or not with
what they have, I kind of doubt it because they've
got such great big guys in Florida's rotation. I don't
know that they need necessarily to go to him and
change up so much you have to change to accommodate him.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
They've got such great big guys.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
Of all the teams to be in, that's probably the
one that's the toughest position for him right now because
they just are loaded with size and with excellent bigs.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
With the Florida Gators.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
You're a big soccer fan. If he wants to try
another sport, they should send him over put him in
a goal for the soccer team.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
Well, the goal is twenty feet and he covers about
half of that, and I think the other half would.
Speaker 5 (33:54):
Be pretty open. That would be my theory.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
If he dives, though it's horizontal.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
I think that e limited vertical. It becomes an eleven
inch horizontal.
Speaker 5 (34:06):
It's still too much room.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Yeah, I think I think you're probably right. Uh, we'll
get into this next week. I wanted to talk to
you about something you think wrote about at Sportingnews Dot
com on the Uh, we'll running between Bryce Harper and
the Baseball commissioner and uh, the what you argue would
be the value of a salary cap for the Major
League Baseball Players Association. So maybe we'll talk about that
(34:30):
next week. It's an interesting topic. No, it's not. I
don't think so. Thank you, Mike. Mike of course, Sportingnews
dot Com joining us here in the summers on Wednesdays
on the Leach Report and the Friday. As we get
into basketball season, we are headed to a break and
back with our final segment of the Leach Report from
(34:52):
the Clarks Pumping Shop studio. Return, Refresh and refuel at
Clark's Stay. A wild Cat History the service of Kentucky
road Show Sports Cards and Memorabilia. They're on Rondy Road
here in Lexington and at Roadshowcards dot Com. Nineteen forty eight,
on this date, US Olympic team, with five Kentucky Wildcats
on it, began play in London with an eighty six
(35:15):
twenty one win over Switzerland. Date off Rup was the
assistant coach for that team. A couple of interesting notes
out of SEC football schools. First from Florida quarterback DJ Lagway,
Will not be on the field when practices ramp up
next week. It's a calf strain, according to coach Napier.
Now we's been seen in a boot a miss spring
(35:38):
with a shoulder injury, so he's battling some physical issues.
He has said that media days are at the SEC
Media Days, that the shoulder injury was fine and he
was over that. Down at Tennessee, one of their best
defensive players, Boo Carter, missed some mandatory team activities and
(36:00):
he is basically in the doghouse. It looks like coach
Josh Hipel has talked They said he'll talk about this
at the Tennessee media Days. Hypel has said that Carter
is still with the team, but there are some things
to accomplish to get back on the field. I don't
know if this is something that's you know, nil or
something else, but Florida having some injury issues there, Tennessee
(36:24):
having some other kind of issues off the field issues.
So just the kind of underscores the point of when
you're looking at trying to project what's going to happen
in a season in July or August, that a lot
of things can still change between the time that Kentucky
(36:45):
is starting a season and is actually going to line
up and play against a particular opponent. And for the
Wildcats to this point, it's been pretty much a news
free summer and spring in terms of, you know, injuries
or discipline or any anything. And so it's been a
smooth ride so far. So if you're a Kentucky fan,
(37:07):
cross your fingers and hope that continues. Corn Bread Hemp
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