2025-08-01 - LEACH REPORT

Tom talks with Chris Dortch, Travis Branham, and Stan Key.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good day, everybody, and welcome into the Friday edition of
The Leech Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises. How about this weather. Wow,
what a treat today and this weekend. I'm playing in
a golf event today, fundraiser connected to a high school

(00:24):
friend who had passed away a few years ago, and
it's always a fun event to see a bunch of
old friends and play golf. But it's usually really hot,
and today it's going to be perfect, like eighty degrees
and tremendously less humidity. So enjoy this while we have it.

(00:46):
For the weekend. It gets a little more august like
next week, but not too bad, so in a nice
little run. It's for sure. The football players at the
University of Kentucky like it is. They're getting into practice
and it won't be quite as oppressive as it might
normally be around this time of year. Today is media

(01:08):
Day for Kentucky football, and that means a lot of
the folks that we'd be talking to about Kentucky football
are over at Kroger Field getting ready to listen to
I think first Mitch Barnhardt and then the coordinators, and
then they'll get to talk to the players. So We're
going to hit several college basketball topics today. Chris Dortsch

(01:30):
will join us from the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook,
and we'll just talk about the overall state of things
in college hoops and a specifically about Kentucky. Travis Branham,
national basketball analyst for twenty four to seven Sports, and
we'll get his take on players Kentucky's pursuing, among other things.

(01:51):
And then stan Key will join us to talk a
little bit about the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of
Fame's next class of inductees and the event to put
those folks into the Hall of Fame will come on
the first Saturday in September. So that is the Wildcat
that gets us to the Wildcat News of the Day,
a service of Ju Sepees of Lexington, and it is

(02:13):
football media Day, as we said for the Wildcats. Tomorrow
will be fan Day, so you can go to UK
Athletics dot com and get the details on your opportunity
to see the Wildcats tomorrow. I think the practice is
open to the media today, so you'll see some footage

(02:35):
of football practice on the local sports casts tonight around
the state. But then tomorrow you can get a chance
to see them for yourself and the open practice and
the fan day, and then next week things really start
to ramp up as far as practice goes for the Wildcats,
because it will get into putting the pads on and

(02:58):
really ramping up they call the training camp phase of
the preparation for the season. John Hale, who will hopefully
have on next week, is the football beat writer for
the Lexington Herold Leader, and he did a one on
one with Seth McGowan, the running back transfer from New
Mexico State, that you can find at Kentucky sports dot com.
Nice in depth story with McGowan, who's getting a lot

(03:22):
of positive buzz. Mark Stoops talked him up at his
media session earlier this week. We know that Kentucky invested
heavily and beefing up the offensive line. The reviews on
that effort have gone have been very positive and so
that the beneficiary of that could certainly be running backs.
And McGowan started his career at Oklahoma, got into some

(03:45):
legal trouble at a felony conviction and ended up on
a journey that took him several places before he ended
up here at the University of Kentucky and It's a
really well done story, McGowan. It tells you, I think
a lot of what they think at UK about how

(04:07):
Seth has handled himself, that they had him do this
one on one and he I think the quotes from
the article paint a very positive picture of a guy
who realizes he made a serious mistake and wants to
make it better and make up for it. So you

(04:28):
can read that at Kentucky sports dot com. Josh Cantis
is on the watch list for the All State warfol Trophy.
It's named for the former Florida quarterback Danny Warfle who
was such a strong proponent of causes off the field
as well as an outstanding quarterback on the field, and
so that's the combination of skills and traits that they're

(04:50):
looking for in that award. So congrats to Josh for
that recognition. Big horse racing day tomorrow up at Saratoga
with a few grade ones, including the Whitney, You've got Fierceness,
mind Frame, Sierra Leone, White of Mario all showing up
in the same race. Will be a lot of funk.
The weather's supposed to be better today in that area,

(05:12):
so it should be a fast track tomorrow for that race,
so it's a nice car Tomorrow at Saratoga Ellis Park
has a Kentucky Downs Preview weekend card, so it's really
good racing around the country this weekend. Of course, del
Mar is going on as well. Links to the stories
that we talk about each day you can find those
on the bud Light Leech Report page at Tom Leechky

(05:34):
dot com. We'll come back chat with Chris Steorch from
the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook here on the Leech Report.
Our opening segment of Wildcat News always presented by Just
Sepees of Lexington. They're located out off Nicholasville Road, just
past Mana War Boulevard, and you need to get to
open table and make a reservation. If you haven't been
out to Setpiece lately, you know that it is one

(05:56):
of our favorites. It's a great place to celebrate a
special occasion. If there's an anniversary, or a birthday, or
maybe a promotion, whatever it might be. You can get
a group together head out to Duseppes, have a fantastic
meal and a really special atmosphere. Sit in the lounge area,
enjoyed the live jazz music to a company of your
meal at j Sepe'es. We'll be right back here on
the Leads Report. Just he past the top of the hour.

(06:19):
We are happy to be joined by Chris Storch from
the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook here on the Friday
edition of our show, always presented by Bobcat Enterprises. Chris
is the found of the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook,
so I know is busy working on that project for
the upcoming season, and we'll talk about that in a minute,

(06:40):
But just first, Chris, give me your thoughts on year
one of the Mark Pope era at Kentucky and what
you maybe expected versus what you saw.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Well, you know, I remember on Twitter exchange I had
with someone I usually don't engage in those, and in
fact I'm not on Twitter anymore, but somebody said, well,
I guess we'll never get five star players again. And
I wrote back and I said, why don't you give

(07:14):
him a chance to operate with the players he thought
he could get and fit into what he does. And
sure enough, I mean with the transfers he put together,
some from mid major levels, some from power conferences. They
blended played great and I thought it was an excellent

(07:34):
debut season for Mark Pope.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, I saw something I guess on SETH Davis's site,
hoops HQ. They had a writer do the ranking of
the transfer classes for this upcoming season by conference, and yeah,
Kentucky was ranked third, and my thought was in the SEC,
and I thought was, well, I don't think his first
class would have been ranked that high. And they set

(07:58):
a record for school record for wins over top fifteen
teams made it to the sweet sixteen with a group
that didn't have any first round draft picks, but most
likely we'll have any second season. So I would think
that if you saw that in that context for year one,

(08:19):
you have to be very bullish on year two.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
I quite agree. And the thing about Mark Hope is
that he's a player's coach and he's a guy that
you know. I don't know him as well as I
know some of the other coaches in the league because
obviously it's only been there a year, But to me,
he just seems pretty cool, calm and collected. He seems

(08:44):
confident in what he does and the system he runs,
and I think his players want to exert energy for him.
So really that's that's ninety percent of the battle. If
you can get players to do your bidding and come together,
there is a unit. And you know, if you if
you look at who he's recruited again, I mean to

(09:05):
look at the backcourt. They've got Jalen Lowe from pitt
He's an assistant machine, just looking for scores to throw
it to. I don't think he was surrounded by the
best of talent where he was. People would look at
a shooting percentages and say, well, not too impressive. But
he played with a broken finger on a shooting hand
for two months. So I think he'll I think he'll

(09:29):
be an excellent edition at the point. Denzel Aberdeen. Uh,
you know I talked to DoD Todd Golden because I
wrote the Florida story for Blue Ribbon. They were disappointed
to lose him. He was about to ascend from fourth
guard up to you know, number one guard, and you
know he left. And I think he'll fit in great

(09:51):
with Kentucky. He's got great positional size. Uh that's the thing.
This backcourt's big. I mean, even low at six one
ninety is a good sized point guard. And then of
course Otega oh Way. He he's on Blue Ribbon's first
team All Conference. He's just I was watching a tape

(10:12):
of him before your show, kind of in preparation, and
a highlight tape, and you know, that guy is just fearless,
hits to the rim, makes great defensive plays. He's just
a baller. I was talking to Darren Horne, who I know,
you remember yesterday he's at Northern Kentucky or Wednesday. I

(10:33):
had a conversation with him and he calls guys like
Oway hoopers and that's just what he is. You know,
you can't place a classification on him or a position. Really,
he's just a hooper or a.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Ballerup Chris Steorch from the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook,
and what's the timeline on this year's yearbooks?

Speaker 2 (11:00):
Oh funny, you ass I was counting up. We have
thirty three percent of the book in the can, but
in the next month we have to do the the
other sixty six percent. And that's always the grind that
it is. It's become even worse now in the transfer

(11:21):
unlimited transfer nil era, because believe it or not, a
lot of teams are still trying to scramble to put
together a roster, and you know, primarily mid to lower
Major D one teams. But uh yeah, it's it's it's

(11:41):
become more difficult for us. But we found ways to adjust,
and we've added more pages to include all the incoming schools.
And you know, you got to be nimble, you got
to be on your feet. I mean, Grand Canyon just
moved to the Mountain West starting in July. So when

(12:02):
we started preparing for the book, they were in the whack.
You know, find out the other day the American Athletic
Conference now wants to be called the American Conference. So
I had to go in and change every story that
had been filed already h and get out all reference
to AAC or American Athletic So it's just an ever

(12:24):
changing world. I forget who it was I was talking to.
I talked to three coaches Wednesday, and you know, they
were like, hey, how are you doing? And I said, well,
I get a little taste of your job, because basketball
for me has become now a year round pursuits.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
Hebody done the Kentucky story yet.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Larry Vot's working on it. And Larry likes to file
his story in pieces and that's just the way he operates.
And you know, just looking at what he's written so far.
I mean to get guys like people don't understand about
Muhammed Dibante. He's a monster, and you know he's an

(13:14):
offensive reboundary. He sticks his nose in there defensively. Uh,
He's going to be a huge addition. And guys like
Jaden Quaints. I know he's probably been held out of
contact because of ACL but he's a he was a
five star player. So you know, in addition to starting

(13:35):
to get the freshman that that guy I engaged with
on Twitter worried about, they've just been able to manage
that portal about as well as any power conference. And again,
it's not signing people who are in these ratings. I
think by the way, rating transfer classes or transfers one

(13:57):
through one hundred is sort of a fool Aaron, because
you really don't know how they're going to fit in
their new surroundings. And that's what I think Coach Popen
his staff have done. However, they do it whatever their
evaluation process is, whether it's you know, analytics or our
site test or character test or whatever. Are you know,

(14:22):
an individual skill like Kobe Brea had last year, just
a knockdown shooter they've managed to figure out how to
put teams together. And you know, I think Kentucky fans
should be really happy that he's at the controls because,
like I said, part of the job is getting players

(14:43):
and getting them to do your bidding, and he is
good at both of those.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
Chris Storage with us from the Blue Riven College Basketball Yearbook,
will take a break and come right back. We're coming
to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return refresh
and refuel at Clark's and make sure you get signed
up with their Loyalty rewards program so you'll get discounts
on refuels and also items in their store. Oh or
segment here with Chris Steorts from the Blue Ribbon College

(15:07):
Basketball Yearbook. You mentioned Diabate. I had Jay Billis on
the show earlier this summer and he was the transfer
that is most intriguing to him in this class for Kentucky.
And then he also talked about watching Mark Pope's practices
and just how he liked how positive the approach was

(15:27):
while also holding guys accountable. And I think that's probably
a little of a trend. You do a lot of
work in the NBA circles Chris and certainly had. The
coaching part of the NBA world has moved in that direction.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
Right, Yeah, there's no question. I mean it's especially true
there where players make you know, ten times the seller
their coaches do, and players you know, like Lebron have
pretty much assistant general managers where they have say so
and and probably should have say so. They make so

(16:05):
much money and they've won so many games and championships.
But yeah, Mark Pope, But like I said earlier, I
think he's a guy that just seems really cool and
collected out there, and like a I think you have
to be if a player. Not that players have gotten soft,
I don't believe that, but I think a player will

(16:28):
accept hard coaching, as my buddy Kermit Davis calls it. Uh,
he used to be as as mean as anybody. But
I think players will accept hard coaching if they know
you have their backs and then you care about them.
I mean, Rick Barnes, he's pretty cool. He's funny, storyteller,

(16:49):
just a good old Southern boy. But you get him
on that practice court and he's rough. But the players
that play for him all say that you've got to
listen to what he says. Not how he says. And
they've built a culture there, a culture of hard work
and it's called h They've got an acronym for it.

(17:11):
It's not about me. Uh so, uh. You know Mark
Pope has done the same thing. And he's smart enough
to realize that if you can get inside a kid's
head and you know, make him understand sometimes that he's
better than he even thinks he is, and that you've

(17:31):
got his back no matter what. And it's a team game.
There are no individuals out there, at least there shouldn't be.
It's not a formula for success in this league. You
know that as well as I do. You've got to
play together. And Mark just to me, you know, I
watched him early.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
And it's about ten seconds here, Chris, I got to
wrap up unfortunately on the heart break.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
No, No, you're good. I'm I'm good.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
We'll get back to you obviously when we get closer
to basketball season. Appreciate the time. Blue rimanyearbook dot com
is that?

Speaker 3 (18:05):
What is.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
Blue ribandyearbook dot com?

Speaker 1 (18:10):
Thank you. ITAs Report's presented by Bobcat Enterprises with four
locations around Kentucky. When you need to buy a rent
heavy equipment, excavators, get steerloaders, forklifts, et cetera. Need a
zero turn more for your home law Bobcat Enterprises will
have it. Google them you'll find the location that's closest
to you of those four they have here in Kentucky.

(18:32):
Travis Bradam joins the program National Basketball Analysts for twenty
four to seven Sports. Let's talk about before we get
into some of the pursuit of players for future Kentucky
basketball teams. Travis, let's talk about the group that Mark
Pope has assembled for his second season as Kentucky's coach.
What do you like about this group? What are the

(18:54):
who are the players that are most intriguing to you?

Speaker 3 (18:57):
Yeah, I think they did a great up with this roster.
Looking at the thing that jumps out to me more
than anything, it's just how deep they are. I can't
imagine just looking around the country. I believe that they
are the deepest team in the country going into next season.
I think he upgraded and elevated their talent level across
the board. The guy who really jumps out to me

(19:20):
and intrigues me the most is Jalen Lowe. Here, really skilled,
crafty guard that a lot of people a bit nitpicked
with his play at Pittsburgh. Now, his efficiencies weren't great,
but if you've watched him, you see how savvy and
smart he is out on the court, and a guy
where you have a variety of weapons around him like

(19:41):
he's gonna have here at Kentucky. I think his his
play is only going to really take a big jump board.
So I think they did a great job evaluating and
targeting him and getting him on board. And then other
than that, like a guy who I'm going to be
watching very very closely is Cam Williams, a six foot eight,
six foot nine, really long athletic forward that has a

(20:04):
ton of talent. It's just a matter of him gaining
that confidence and continue to polish his jump shot, and
I think as the season goes on, we could see
him make sizeable jumps in his development as well.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
It seems that one of the most important skills now
for a coach in college basketball is being able to
look at a guy in one program and see how
he would fit into your program, whether he's being asked
to do more than his best for him at someplace

(20:36):
maybe like Low was, or didn't have enough talent around him.
To fully show what he was capable of, or you know,
a diabate who had a more limited role in Alabama,
what could he do in a more expanded role in
your program. You know, we saw some of that with
the Pope's first team and some of the work they
did with Lamont Butler. He was on his track to
he was like second team All America in the mid

(20:56):
season team Mike of course he put together for the
Sporting News, but then he started dealing with the injury issues.
But that seems to be a skill. At the early
reviews on Pope seemed to be that he has that
tool in his bag, right.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, for sure, he showed that last year and obviously
something that he's been from day one coming in and
talking about. It's just how analytically based they are, and
there's a wealth of tools now out there in the
industry to really help you in those evaluations. Like you
just said, when you're looking at a guy like Jaylen
Lowe in what he was dealing with at Pittsburgh, Yeah,

(21:34):
he had to do a lot for that team, and
so it's not always going to be suitable to what
he's actually capable of. So the numbers and everything may
not really jump out at you, but as you really
dive into the weeds and see what he can do
in ball screens and in certain situations, the numbers really
start to jump out more and more. And that's going

(21:55):
to be more along the lines of what he's going
to be doing here at Kentucky. So with those tools
and with how Mark Pope is wired with that analytical mind,
just to really deep dive into where these kids are
most equipped to be successful in certain circumstances. I think
he's proven he's done a great job, and I think

(22:16):
with this roster in particular, I think they're similarly. I
think it's really going to show on the court this season.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
Let's talk about the three freshmen on this team, since
that's a world that you live in. With Malachi Moreno
and Jasper Johnson and then Brydon Hawthorne coming into the program,
what do you see as the potential impact for those

(22:48):
guys in their first year.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
Yeah, So Jasper Johnson, I think he's going to bring
instant offense to the Kentucky program. Throughout his entire high
school career, he was one of the best scores in
this twenty twenty five class he's long, he's fluid, and
as a dynamic shot maker, but he also can create
and score off the bounce, and I think he really
improved in that area throughout the course of his senior season.

(23:14):
And there's also some playmaking potential. Early on in his
high school career, you saw that he could see the
floor and make plays for other people, but he so
score first. I think that that's going to be an
area for him to develop and mature. But coming off,
I think he's a guy that could come off the
bench for Kentucky and be a microwave scorer. You're going
to see him get off fifteen to twenty points on
some nights, just with how talented of a scorer he is.

(23:37):
A malacot Moreno, he's one of those guys that his
name continues to come up in conversations this summer and
just how impressive he has been since being on campus,
but also at USA Basketball. Between NBA scouts and the
other coaches that were there, and also other evaluators like
Adam Finkelstein on our team was out there, everybody was
extremely impressed with what Malik had did a USA Basketball.

(24:00):
He didn't make the team, but many believed he should
have made that team, and he sounds to be coming
along really well in his development and it's going to
give Kentucky some valuable minutes in the front court this season.
And Braden Hawthorne, the guy I was really really high
on coming out of high school. We ranked him top
thirty five in the country, and all that's missing with

(24:21):
him is literally just getting stronger and adding weight to
his frame. And again, talking around the program, he is
one that really he continues to come up in conversations
as well as moreno just how impressive he's been, how
first build and tough he is. He's going to give
some again, he may need more time to physically develop,

(24:42):
but he's going to be giving some people some second
thoughts on whether he can play this year or not.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
Talk with Travis Branham. It's at Travis Branham on x
you can read him at twenty four to seven Sports
cats Paul's site being part of that network. And as
far as the next as of recruits, Tyron Stokes is
a name that is a popular one for Kentucky fans
to think about, dream about whatever, what do you see

(25:10):
with where his recruitment is now and where do you
see it going.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
Yeah, this one's going to take some time to play out.
Based on my conversations, he is going to take his
time and continue to take visits. He has more that
he's expected to take. He's already been in Kentucky and
Louisville in those two programs, obviously have headlined the conversation
being a louis native, been on visits to both campuses,
and there's been a little bit of movement. I think

(25:36):
there's still a lot of potential for movement in this recruitment.
Arkansas John cal Perry is another team that is involved,
so going to be monitoring that one. But as it
stands right now, I actually like Kentucky's position in this one.
Moving forward, I think they're going to be in a
good place to be among the top leaders throughout this

(25:56):
recruitment and potentially even Landham at the end of the day.
But by no means is this thing done for Kentucky.
I'm still obviously Louisville is gonna be one to keep
a very very close eye on. Being from Louisville, he
was back in his hometown this week, and so Pat
Kelsey in that program. They've obviously proven that they can

(26:17):
have they can recruit some of this top talent and
with bringing in a guy like Michel Brown this year,
so gonna be keeping a very close eye on them.
But again, I like where Kentucky stands as of right now.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
Well, can you tell us about the international prospect that
Kentucky hosted on Wednesday? And that's making the said earlier
this week is kind of like speed dating of top
college basketball programs. This week, he's in the States. See
seven feet tall, say on Kataff. I'm pronouncing that correctly.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yeah, absolutely love saying Akita. He's currently in the class
of twenty twenty seven, but there's a real possibility that
he could end up in this twenty twenty sixth class.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
Like you said, seventh feet.

Speaker 3 (26:57):
But probably has like a seven five seven foot wingspan.
He is extremely long, and what he does better than
anybody in all of high school basketball right now is
his ability to defend and anchor a defense. He's a
freak defender, a guy that moves his feet extremely well,
uses his size and length to cover a ton of ground,
can switch onto the perimeter, elite rent protector, alters and

(27:20):
blocks anything in his vicinity. Just a guy that anytime
somebody's thinking about going lane. You see him in there,
you're pulling up or you're giving that ball off. He's
just that hard to score on. But offensively, he's also
show him some flashes and he of real potential in
that area.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
He has a nice right hook.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
He shows some ability with his feet on the block
to maneuver and go make a move and make and
get a bucket. Just similarly, he's gonna have to get
stronger and continue to pass that skill set. But with
the year still to go, potentially before he ends up
on college campus, I think he has a ton of potential.
And looking again at that seven and twenty six class,

(28:01):
having watched him a few times now in person, I
think he's the number one big man prospect in both classes.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
And then the other player that Kentucky's hosting this weekend's
point guard in the twenty sixth class, Darren Rippy Junior.
What's what's the SCOUTI report on his game and his recruitment.

Speaker 3 (28:20):
Yeah, he is an explosive guard. He's tough, he's a
good on ball defender, a guy that is very difficult
to contain off the bounce. He's just a gamer every
time the ball is in his hands. He's always drawing
a lot of attention. He can score off the bounce,
great for himself and others. He has to continue to
improve as a shooter, but he has done that.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
Again.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
Just explosive, dynamic guard that can fill it up, create
for others. So he's one that currently ranks as our
number two overall point guard and I think he's one
that Kentucky's going to be making a hard push on
moving forward.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
Travis Brandham at National Basketball Analyst twenty four to seven
Sports SAT. Travis Branham on thank you for the time,
touching a lot of bases. Appreciate it anytime, Tom, Thank you.
It is about a quarter before the top of the
hour here on this Friday edition of The Leach Report.
Coming to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return,
refresh and refuel at Clark's. We'll be right back. Talk

(29:18):
with former Wildcat stan Key on the Leach Report. It's
the Leach Report presented by Bobcat Enterprises, and we welcome
former Wildcat to the program. Stan Key played for coach
Rupp in seventy seventy one seventy two on the varsity
at a Callaway County callwai Keunny High School, right, Stan.

(29:42):
That's right, Tom, appreciate you joining us, you longtime fixtion
with the UK Alumni Association as well. And one of
your jobs you have also now is being on the
board of the Kentucky High School Basketball's Hall of Fame,
and the next class of inductees into that Hall of
Fame will be honored next month, I guess six five

(30:05):
weeks from tomorrow down at the Historic State Theater in Etown,
and we'll talk about the class here at a moment,
but just tell folks about the high school basketball Hall
of Fame of which you were inducted into last year.

Speaker 4 (30:20):
That's right. The Hall of Fame started with an idea
back in about two thousand and nine through the Kentucky
Association of Basketball Coaches, and then they branched out from
there and have their own board now and started the
inductions in twenty twelve, and since twenty twelve there have

(30:45):
been about one hundred and ninety seven coaches and players
inducted into the Hall of Fame. And you know, the
main purpose, you know, for the Hall of Fame is
to you know, try to inform the public about all
the heritage and rich tradition of high school basketball in Kentucky,

(31:06):
and of course to recognize, you know, those players and
coaches who contributed so significantly to what high school basketball is.
And you know, it's it's a job in a way,
but we're a totally volunteer organization and it's it's led
by you know, people like Ken Trivett who was a

(31:30):
high school and college coach, player and coach. Kenny Davis,
you know, I'm sure you know, played at Georgetown College
and on the Olympic team, and and Upchurch who is
the wife of Jack Upchurch, who was a you know,
a high school and college player and coach. You know,
So that that's what our organization is.

Speaker 1 (31:53):
In this latest class of adductees, there are a couple
of other former Cats, like yourself, dear friend. Odie Smith's
going to be in the class. He's from played in
Graves County at Farmington High School, went on to be
a star at UK with the Fidland five and fifty
eight long NBA career alongside Oscar Robertson, was on the

(32:13):
sixty Olympic team that's in the Hall of Fame. Odie's
going into the high school Basketball Hall of Fame. Also
Cookie Grommire, wildcat great who also started DuPont Manual High
School in Louisville.

Speaker 4 (32:28):
Correct, And you know, I have a special interest or
connection to Odie. You know he Farmington where he played
is only about fifteen miles from Murray where I played
in Calloway County. So well he was, you know, playing
in the nineteen fifty eight UK and you know I

(32:49):
was born in nineteen fifty so it was an eight
year old. You know, we didn't have the media coverage
that we have today. So being down in Calloway County,
which is a long way from Lexington, you know, we
didn't hear a lot about the UK teams, but I
always knew about Odi and uh and another player from

(33:09):
the first region, Howard Critton, who was on the Cuba
Cubs they termed a chance in the early fifties, and
so uh he was my high school coach for one
year and principal of my high school. So so I
was always close to them. And then I've always heard
of Cookie, you know, and him playing at I think
DuPont Manuel High School and and then his contributions at UK.

(33:35):
So uh, yeah, there have been a lot of great players,
you know, inducted over the years, and I felt very
fortunate last year to be included with those and and
and the organization did such an outstanding job with the
process and that induction ceremony in Eliza, the town Uh

(33:55):
that I let him know, you know, and and told him,
you know, I was so rest with that if they
ever needed additional members on the board, I would certainly
be interested in being considered. And so that's what led
to my invobment.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
Today, you can go to KHSBHF dot com Kentucky High
School Basketball Hall of Fame at KHSBF k HSBHF dot
com and see the full list of inductees, find out
how to get tickets, et cetera. You talked about educating
folks on the history of college basketball or a high

(34:31):
school basketball in Kentucky. There's some more recent names, guys
like Anthony Hickey from Christian County and Greg Buckner from
University Heights and Brett Burrow from North Harden in the eighties,
but Julius Berry from Dunbar High School in nineteen fifty
nine played for coach st Roach, is a good example
of somebody that if you're a basketball fan in Kentucky.

(34:55):
You need to know more about some of these guys
that maybe go farther back and played in different eras.
Stan It's always a great event. I appreciate you joining
us to talk a little bit about it, and we'll
keep reminding folks about the event coming up on September sixth.

Speaker 4 (35:13):
And thanks for having me on, Tom and also Nolan Barker. Yeah, Kentucky.
Any people will remember Nolan from his coaching days at
Tates Creek High School, So so thanks a good again.
I've enjoyed talking with you and I hope we get
to talked again sometimes.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
Sounds good. That is Stan Key from the Kentucky High
School Basketball Hall of Fames Board of Directors and their
big event coming up, the induction ceremony in the next
class of inductees on Saturday, September sixth in Etown. We'll
be right back to close out this edition of the
Leach Report in just about a few moments. One of
our great partners here on the Leach Report is the
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(36:38):
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order at corn Bread Hemp. This is the Good Life.
Tomorrow a Wildcat birthday and it's former Kentucky football coach
and player Jerry Klayburn was born on the second of Augus,

(37:00):
so that will mark coach Clavern's birthday tomorrow. That's one
of our Wildcat history notes for this day, presented by
Kentucky Sports Roadshow Sports Cards, at Memorabilia They're on Romney
Road in Lexington and at roadshowcards dot Com. That will
do it for this edition of the Leads Report. A
lot of football we'll get into next week with Media
Day today, Fan Day tomorrow and then First Day in

(37:22):
Pads on Monday, so we'll bring a lot of football
content next week leading up to the opener on August thirtieth.
Have a great weekend everybody, enjoy the nice weather. It's
the Lead Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises.