2025-10-29 - LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast of the Leech Report is presented by Boone's
Butcher Shop in Barnstown at one hundred Old Bloomfield Pike,
Family owned and operated since nineteen forty six, with fresh
meat cut on site daily. Boons Butcher Shop. It's the
Late Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hope you're doing.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Well on this rainy Wednesday here in the Bluegrass. Coming
up on the show today, Mike de Coursey will join
us and it'll be fun to get his take on
what he saw from Kentucky and that exhibition win against
number one Perdue last Friday night. And then we'll talk
with Chris Fisher from The Cat's Pause and Charles Walker,
the former Wildcat Wide Out. Wildcat News of the Day,

(00:43):
presented by Giuseppes of Lexington. Yesterday was a media day
for women's basketball at UK and coach Kenny Brooks talked
about how much fun it has been in this preseason
to watch this group come together ahead of their opener
against Morehead State next week. He also talked about at
length about the size. He talked at length about the

(01:04):
length and the size of this year's Kentucky team and
how that size can help them counteract the athleticism of
some of the top rivals in the SEC, and he
also talked about the versatility that the bigs on his
team have. He cited examples of Claria Strack and Keanny

(01:25):
Key bringing the ball up the floor in recent scrimmages
and thinks there can be more of that. They're not
going to be Stracks, not going to be a player
just parked down on the block. So this is probably
I think Kentucky's tallest team ever and he expects them
to once again contend for an honor they had last

(01:45):
season of blocking the most shots of anybody in the country,
so it should be a exciting second year for coach
Brooks and Kentucky women's basketball. For the men, I saw
an article from CJ. Moore at The Athletic and he's
one of their college bassketball riders, and he has made
a change on his AP ballot, he said after watching

(02:07):
Kentucky play against Purdue in that exhibition game. He now
is putting the Wildcats in the number two slot on
his AP ballot. Michigan is number one. I don't know
when the next AP poll is coming out, but it
will be interesting to see how it changes for the Wildcats. Again,

(02:27):
it was only an exhibition game, but a lot of
people got to see it, and we're duly impressed. CBS
Sports has ranked the top one hundred plus one players
in college basketball. They have Otegaway at nine, Jalen Low
thirty five, Jaden Quaintons fifty two. ESPN's similar rankings to
the top one Hundredway twelve, JQ twenty eight, and Low

(02:47):
forty two. So same three guys, different order for those
two services. And yesterday, offensive coordinator Bush Hampton and some
of the guys on the offensive side of the ball
talked to the media after practice. I've talked at length
about the development of Cutter Bully and the work that
Bully has put in to make it happen. This was
Bush Hamden after practice yesterday.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
I think when you've battled with a guy like Cutter
for sixteen months and poured a lot and seeing his growth,
for him to go out there and just play, in
my opinion, older than maybe his age, yeah, it feels good,
you know what I'm saying. At some there's small wins
and you've just got to keep building on it. I
think he's done some things that probably haven't been done

(03:31):
and in twenty years and he's steady and he's going
right back to work and continue to improve. And I
think the message to him is just there will be
a time where you'll look back on this experience and
understand the struggle you went through, and you know, you'll
look back on this experience and go, this is maybe
where it started. And so I think that there's certainly
a lot there.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
He also talked about how they're adding to their game
plan each week, tracking along with Bully's development and developing
an identity with their offense, stress the need to get
Kendrick Law involved in even more ways because of because
of the dynamic ability that Law brings to the field.

(04:12):
So we'll see what that looks like on Saturday against
a very very good Auburn defense on the road. Thanks
to the stories that we talk about each day, you
can find them on the bud Light Leech Report page
at Tom leachky dot com. Our opening segment's presented by
just Sepies of Lexington and they have their very own
bullet barrel pick that's on the way to the restaurant.

(04:33):
Customers can buy a bottle take it home, and they're
also in the process of creating their new Russell Reserve
barrel pick. So just a couple of things to check out.
The next time you're at Jusepes, get to open table
and make that reservation now for a fantastic meal. Sit
in the lounge area, enjoy the live jazz music to
accompany your meal. It's a fantastic dining experience. I won't

(04:56):
find the food to be any better anyplace else in town.
Ji Seppies off Nicholasfield Road, just past Man of War
here in Lexington. We'll be right back with Chris Fisher,
the Cat's paws here on the Leech Report. We're presented
each day by Bobcat Enterprises. Leech Report comes to you
each day from the Clarks Pumping Shop studio, Return Refresh
Refuel at Clark's. And we were joined by Chris Fisher

(05:19):
from Katzpause dot Com at Chris Fisher twenty four to
seven on x And since we last talked, Wildcat basketball
team AND's basketball team had a pretty impressive opening night,
even though it doesn't count as an official win. Chris,
what impressed you most and what you saw?

Speaker 4 (05:39):
Yeah, I mean hard not to be impressed just by
the overall performance. I mean, leading the preseason number one
team pretty much wired to wire in the game that
you know, it wasn't like Purdue was out there, you know,
playing their walk on and trying to get everybody minutes
and those types of things. They were trying to win
the game. And so the way that Kentucky really handled

(06:03):
them from start to finish I thought was really impressive.
I thought Purdue looked like they were having a little
bit of trouble with Kentucky's size and athleticism, the way
they were able to transition defense to offense and really
had a lot of trouble keeping up with them. I
think that kind of showed up in spots for Purdue

(06:24):
last season and was an issue again Friday night. And
so Kentucky obviously has a lot of weapons to throw
at you. It looked like, just based on what we've
seen from Mark Pope in one season, they were playing
Mark Pope basketball. They were moving it, they were sharing it,
they were scoring points, and so really really I think

(06:47):
optimistic I think for Kentucky fans going forward, even though.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
It was just an exhibition, what or who was better
than you thought they would be.

Speaker 4 (06:58):
Jasper Johnson, I think again, in malachimra I think those
probably the two that you have to start with. I thought,
you know, the kind of the size and physicality of
kind of adjusting to college basketball would give Jasper Johnson
some problems.

Speaker 5 (07:14):
But I've said it so many times. He's just wired
to score.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
He just knows how to put the ball in basket,
and that was on a full display. And then Malachim Reno,
He's just a kid that, as I've said numerous times,
also just gets better and better and better every.

Speaker 5 (07:30):
Time you see him.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
And that's been the case for the last eighteen months,
whether it was at the high school level, whether it
was in travel basketball on the Adidas circuit, whether it
was at in USA basketball, since he's been at Kentucky.
No matter where he's been, he's proved it. And he
just gets better and better every time he steps on

(07:52):
the floor. And for a big man like that to
run the floor and have the hands that he has,
we saw him steal that inbound pass and take it
coast to coast and had everything but the finish but
still impressive nonetheless, and I just think Kentucky has something,
has something special with those two Kentucky kids.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yeah, I read somewhere. I think it was maybe in
the C. J. Moore article I referenced earlier in The Athletic.
He was talking about Marino and he said, the thing
that that debut makes you feel like you have the
luxury of is not feeling like you have to worry
about rushing Jaden Quainton's back to to the team. You

(08:34):
can make sure that he's uh, you know developed, you know,
coming back at the right pace because you have two
quality bigs there.

Speaker 5 (08:44):
Yeah, there's a lot of depth in that front.

Speaker 4 (08:46):
Cord and Mountain Mourno can certainly steal some minutes. Andrey
Yelovich I thought did some good things. Brandon Garrison did
some Brandon Garrison things where you know, sometimes it's kind
of a mixed bag with him, but and then you know,
Mo Diabate is a guy that you can slide over
at the five and kind of play some some small ball,

(09:06):
and I think he's going to be a fan favorite
in Lexington. He does all of the little things I
think that not only fans enjoy, but helped teams win
games and so a lot of different ways. I think
Mark Pope can go on the front court until Jane
quaints gets back.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, I think you're right about Diabate in terms of
the fans, and he's not a guy that's you know,
I think he's uh, he'll get a chance to show
his shooting ability more than he did at Alabama, but
it's not like he's going to be you know, Jody
Meek shooting the ball or you know, this tremendous you
know guy that you're you know, playing point guard for

(09:43):
you or something. He's just it's just I think fans
feed off the passion and hustle that he plays with.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Is that it?

Speaker 4 (09:50):
Yeah, I think that's that's absolutely it. He Uh, he
has a tremendous motor. I think he's kind of the
team's enforcer. And I think, like I think fan and
enjoy guys that kind of look after their teammates and
you know, has a lot of hustle plays and and
it's kind of just a little bit of a matchup problem.

Speaker 5 (10:10):
I think for other teams.

Speaker 4 (10:12):
He's so big and physical that he can hold his
own against taller players, but he's also so athletic and
play so hard that obviously smaller defenders are going to
have trouble containing him.

Speaker 5 (10:24):
And so I think he's a guy.

Speaker 4 (10:26):
It's it's gonna be hard, I think to keep him
off the floor, especially when you consider his pedigree coming
from from Alabama, being part of the you know, two
of the most successful teams they've ever had at that school.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
Talk about Chris Fisher from katspaus dot com. Well, see
them against Georgetown tomorrow night, and another started prep for
the game, and Georgetown it's you know, they don't have
the preseason player of the year like Braden Smith, but
they have a very good backcourt and two guys that
are potential all Big East guards.

Speaker 5 (10:58):
Yeah, it'll be it'll be a fun match.

Speaker 4 (11:00):
At Cooley, teams are always rugged and physical and usually
have pretty good guard play, and so you know, I
think for Kentucky, you're kind of just wanting to see,
you know, more of the same of what you saw
on Friday and the execution of the offense. And you know,
Kentucky didn't really even shoot it particularly well nine of

(11:21):
twenty nine from three. I would expect that number to
be a little bit better on an average night, and
you know, the ability to kind of get up and
down the floor. But I just you know, watching that
first game, Kentucky was just so markedly better defensively, more athletic,
more physical, tougher. It just a complete one eighty I

(11:43):
think from from last season. And you know, you still
have the offense, which I think is just so hard
to defend when you have guys spacing the floor and
the ability to shoot and cut and play smart basketball.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
Sift gears to football, and the Wildcats are on the
road to Auburn. They finally get out of the stretch
of playing ranked opponents, but still it is on the
road an Auburn team that is a few breaks away
from maybe being ranked. What chance do you give the
Wildcats to break the losing streak?

Speaker 5 (12:18):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's kind of hard to say.

Speaker 4 (12:21):
I think, you know, I think in one sense, Tennessee
is just a really difficult matchup for Kentucky, especially kind
of juxtaposed to Texas the week before. But it kind
of just depends on the players, I guess mentality. You know,
I think there's so much kind of noise around the

(12:42):
program right now and kind of mired in a little
bit of a losing streak, and you know, how do
they handle that, especially going on the road, And you know,
we've seen Cutter Bowley play really really well.

Speaker 5 (12:53):
The last two weeks at home. How does he play
on the.

Speaker 4 (12:56):
Road and what does that look like in kind of
a hostel environment. I think there's just a lot of
X factors I think beyond just the x's and o's
that go into Saturday's game in the.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
Result, Chris fishercatspaus dot Com at Chris Fisher two four
seven on X Thank you all right, thanks twenty two
past the top of the hour. Leach Report coming to
you from our courtesy of Bobcat Enterprises. They let you
buy or rent heavy equipment for a job. Or if
you know of somebody that is looking for that kind

(13:29):
of product, send them to Bobcat Enterprises. Google them. You'll
find the locations's closest to you. You'll find somebody that's
going to give have what you need and give you
fantastic service after the deal is locked in, whether it's
a sale or a rental. Bobcat Enterprises right back with
Charles Walker on the Leach Report. Charles Walker joins the program,

(13:51):
former Wildcat wide out number eighty eight and the guy
from CBI Insurance. Charles The Wildcats played ball against Texas
but came up short. Then they get pummeled in I
guess an opponent rival that they had trouble matching up
with their receivers, so they've lost several in a row.

(14:14):
As a player, how do you fight through that? When
you see some signs of positivity, especially in the play
of your quarterback.

Speaker 6 (14:24):
You know you need that what fight of that lights?
You need that mojo you come in day in and
day out. And we've talked about it, Tom that the
twenty four hour role. You watch the film, you've got
twenty four hours to take it in and then you're
onto the next because guess what you're playing in the
SEC and you're headed to Auburn this weekend to play
a good Auburn Tigers team.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
When you were playing wide out, you have things, you scrambled, drills,
you do. They talked a little bit about this yesterday,
how much they worked on that in the preseason, how
it paid off the other day where But it's all
about being in tune with the quarterback and knowing how
to move as he moves to find an open space.
And also you have if the quarterback is kind of

(15:11):
in a in a groove you're as a receiver, I
have to think maybe you know, it's not like you
you weren't trying before, but you're you're giving everything you
have because you know you may get a chance at
a big play that you didn't think you were going
to get a chance at before.

Speaker 6 (15:29):
Right, you know, Tom, when when it's clicking, it's clicking,
and we've seen it with you know, the Kendrick law,
catching a little fate, not a fade, right, a little
swinger out and taking it, you know, seventy yards for
a touchdown when it's clicking. It's clicking, And obviously completions
are typically better than incompletions. You practice how you play.
Those are the small things where you know, every week

(15:51):
we practice two minute trill, four minute trill, you practice
the scramble drill, you practice goal line plays. I think
the offense had had a great game and you know
sadly that the defense you just can't give up four
hundred and almost five hundred all purpose yards and cause
no turnovers against a highly explosive team. But letting someone
score fifty six points or fifty four points in an

(16:14):
SEC games not gonna lead to a victory.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
No, it's uh. You know we saw that in the
air raid are where they could put up tremendous amounts
of points, but against the best teams, they they couldn't
score with them.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
This is an Auburn defense. It's it's very good.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
This I think is more on the spectrum of matchups,
more closer to maybe Texas, and that Auburn's not a
team that's scoring a ton of points.

Speaker 6 (16:37):
So go ahead, I was gonna say, and that you
know that that matchup is better for us, And similar
to what you said, obviously we we had a better
chance of beating Texas and Tennessee. At the same time,
you know, you've got to rely on your players to
make plays and the coaches to call plays, to put
the put the players in good positions. And it just
seemed like every time we had Tennessee on their heels,

(16:59):
which wasn't often, they'd connect on a third and fifteen
or heck, even a sixty sixty yard bomb for a touchdown,
which is just deflating to a defense that seemed to
just be getting cut up all night.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah, Tennessee just played attacked in the way you're talking
about with such confidence. They just knew they I think
they just clearly knew their guys could win those matchups.

Speaker 6 (17:24):
And that's the confidence we need. And Tom, to your
point earlier, it's sometimes it's hard when you're looking at
a two and five seasons so far, and you know
you can say, well, we've been close, and we have
been close. You're one play away against Texas, You're one
play away against Ole Miss a couple of times. So
I think that's what stupis is preaching in the locker
room is guys, I know it looks like we're not
far away. You know, everyone in this building is together.

(17:46):
Don't listen to the outside noise. Go out beat a
decent Auburn team and let's get this right on the track.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, it's there's nothing like a win to make a
big change in things. And they do seem like they're
still together.

Speaker 6 (18:02):
And here's what I'll say, Tom, it's good that cutter
Bowlie is the leader of our offense and he is seeming,
you know, to get hot. We're putting up points, we're
running good scramble drills, and we're just making plays, which
is a good thing.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
Charles Walker, thank you so much. Thanks at CP underscore
Walker sixteen.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
On X It's the Leach Report.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
From the Clarks Pomping Shop Studio, Return, Refresh, Refuel, It's
the Leach Report. We welcome in Mike de Coursi to
the program Sportingnews dot Com at TSN MIC on X
and you see him on the Big Ten Network covering
college hoops and doing the brackets for Fox Sports. That'll
crank up one of the brackets. Crank up Mike. After
the first of the year.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Actually, I got an.

Speaker 7 (18:50):
Email last week from one of the people at Fox
instead and I saw it and it was like, right away,
I was thinking, oh, please, don't ask me to do
a preseason.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
Get it was. There was some sort of hint that
that was what it was about.

Speaker 7 (19:05):
But then I found out they want me to do
one one month in and I'm like totally cool with that.
So we'll have one more or less directly after the
Thanksgiving tournaments early December, and then we will start the
regular ones at the end of December.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
I think December thirtieth is our first, so.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
He'll be the other three one seats besides Kentucky after
Less Run.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yes, yes, we will see at Michigan.

Speaker 7 (19:31):
I guess we're gonna see them on the on the
exhibition performances and and UCLA went on the road and won.
But it was it was quite an impressive show by
the Wildcats on Friday night, no doubt.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
What was it that was most impressive to you as
you watched, Well.

Speaker 7 (19:50):
I think that the fact that they remember you remember
a week ago. You asked me some of the things
that I thought they could get out of it, and
the first thing I mentioned, I believe, if not in
chron a lot of chronological order, certainly in order of importance,
was the opportunity to defend an elite post player that
might come in handy when they played another down the road,

(20:12):
and right away first half, you're seeing every time Trey
Kaufman Wran catches the ball, he's getting doubled every opportunity,
even some that were mid post or stretched out. They
did not want Trey getting deep and getting efficient, and they.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
Were very effective with that.

Speaker 7 (20:31):
He still scored nineteen points, but he had to work
really hard to do it, and he was not effective
early in the game when Kentucky was establishing its lead,
and those post doubles they.

Speaker 2 (20:43):
Were not at the level of the ninety six Kentucky watdcints,
but they were very effective.

Speaker 7 (20:48):
They were quick, they were assertive, they accomplished what they
wanted to do. They got the ball out of Trey's hands.
That was the first thing that really stood out to
me was that, even for an exhibition game, they wanted
to show that they could do that rather than just say, Okay,
let's just play straight up on him.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
And see how it goes and then we'll adjust from there.

Speaker 7 (21:08):
I was impressed that they did a little bit of
game planning for it.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
Yeah, as you were saying that immediately flashed to the
ninety six Midwest Region Final up in Minneapolis. Yes, and
that's Tim Duncan and just one of the most suffocating
defensive performances against a great player that you'll ever see.
And yeah, that was a team coach Pope was a

(21:31):
part of as a player that was blessed with an
abundance of NBA talent, but that committed to play in
a way defensively that was like a team that didn't
have that level of talent.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
If that makes sense right, Yeah, it does.

Speaker 7 (21:48):
And I think that you could see signs of what
Mark had remembered from It's not that they'd never post
double on or anything, but there was but you could
you could tell that he understood what the value of
that could be if executed properly, and it has to
be executed properly because if you do it poorly.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
A very effective passer out of the post.

Speaker 7 (22:09):
Like Trey is going to find because he's played that
way his whole life.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
He's gotten good at it.

Speaker 7 (22:14):
He's going to find teammates and they have very capable teammates.
He had zero assists in that game because the traps
that did come were very effective and limited his options.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
I'll ask you what I asked. I guess to the
first half of the show. What was what or who
was better than you thought it might be? Going in
for Kentucky.

Speaker 7 (22:34):
Oh gosh, that's an easy answer, and that's Malachi Moreno.
I had very little expectation of him, mostly because the
position is so is expected to be so well covered by.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
Jaden Quaintance and Brandon Garrison.

Speaker 7 (22:51):
But with Jaden not available, Malachi was fantastic, really impressive
and creates something of a challenge for coach Pope now
because Malachi showed and this was not okay. He goes
in against Eastern Kentucky and plays like that. This is
him going in against the team. Whether or not you

(23:11):
buy the preseason ranking, you know, they're really good, and
he goes in against that group and was terrific. I mean,
there's very little criticism you could offer of Malachi's performance,
and so now what do you do. I mean, well,
it's a great luxury to have another in case someone

(23:32):
gets dinged or someone gets in foul trouble. But do
you have to find some minutes for somebody who showed
his capable of doing what he did.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
There's one play where they got the ball to him
about ten feet out on the right side of the
basket and he's waived everybody off. And he was going
up against cloth to South Dakota State transfer right two
or fifty five pound, big, big kid both you know,
wide and tall, and I mean, you know what a

(24:01):
fifth year guy, I guess fourth.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
Or fifth year and I believe it's fair.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
He just perfectly executed what he how he wanted to
set him up and then score with a little left
hand move. I was really impressed by that just one play.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
Yeah, he was.

Speaker 7 (24:18):
He was fantastic in that moment, and I think he
understood he had a matchup.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
He liked that.

Speaker 7 (24:24):
I think a kluff is going to have to do
a lot of work to be effective in the big ten.
It's an adjustment going from playing against mid majors regularly
to playing a steady diet of high major talent, and
he's going to have to adjust. And Malachi, I think
knew that from having gone earlier and gone up against

(24:44):
him and recognized an opportunity.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
And that just adds to how impressive he was in
so many ways.

Speaker 7 (24:51):
His numbers across the board were terrific, and like I said,
it's it's a great luxury now for the Wildcats. It's
one more player that that they have that made from
the outside. We didn't anticipate making a big contribution, who
now showed he's capable of doing that.

Speaker 1 (25:07):
To Mike, of Courseusportingnews dot Com will take a quick break,
come back and continue the discussion here on the Leech Report,
presented by bobcat Enterprises talking college hopes with Mike Decursi
from Sportingnews dot Com. We'll get back to more of
Kentucky here in a minute, Mike, But there's a lot
We've been treated to a lot of outstanding matchups in

(25:28):
these exhibition games, and I'm sure you've watched a lot
more of them than most of us have. So who
else has caught your eye?

Speaker 7 (25:37):
Well, I think that Michigan being able to go into
the Garden and play with Saint John's not shocking that
they would perform well, but on the road against a
team that is widely considered to be top ten, top twelve,
Michigan was able to get out of there with a victory.

(26:00):
I mentioned UCLA before they played against UC Irvine last night,
which doesn't sound like much, but Irvine was really good
last year and UCLA blew them out of Polly by thirty.
Ucla is trying to be a better offensive team. They
brought Donovan dent In as a transfer from New Mexico,
a point guard.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
A lot of schools wanted. He wanted to go home to.

Speaker 7 (26:23):
California, to Southern California, and he's really added a lot
to their attack. I think those are some of the
ones that stood out Duke, even though Duke lost their
first exhibition. Cameron Boozer showing what he's capable of. Darren
Peterson for Kansas. I think one of the things that's

(26:43):
really stood out this and Jasper fits into this, is
how impressive in first looks against high major competition this
group has been from Cameron Boozer I mentioned, and Darren
Peterson mckel brown over at Louisville had a great night
last night, although his night was not against as a

(27:06):
significant an opponent, and of course Jasper playing so well
against Purdue.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
This is a really, really good freshman group.

Speaker 7 (27:15):
It's no accident that the US was able to win
in the U nineteen World Cup at an event where
they often struggle because they occasionally will have trouble getting
players to participate. There are a lot of second year
collegians who are available for that and a lot of
them don't play.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
So in this case, they took a lot.

Speaker 7 (27:37):
Of those guys like aj De Bonsa I mentioned, Michael Brown.
They were both sensational and Jasper was a huge part
of that as well, one of the really important players
in the Canada victory that got them over a difficult
hurdle and on toward the later rounds of the tournament.
So this is a really impressive freshman group. One of

(27:57):
the best we've seen in a while.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
Was that anticipated.

Speaker 7 (28:03):
Yeah, I mean I think that I think that we
knew that it was a good group and then and
I thought that that World Cup triumph was really important
to establishing that because they did I don't think. I'm
pretty sure Cameron Boozer wasn't in that. I know Darren
Peterson wasn't in that. But they did have de Bonsa,
and they did have Jasper, and they did have Michael
Brown and some other really good freshmen uh. And the

(28:24):
fact that they won that was a really significant statement
because they were going up a lot of against a
lot of slightly older teams, certainly more experienced guys who
played pro in Europe, uh in in the in the
club leagues in Europe, and for them to win that
tournament was really impressive. And then you add in Boozer, uh,

(28:45):
and you add in Darren Peterson guys like that, and
it's it's a I don't I don't know that we're
going all like as deep as some years, but that
the very top, it's a really good group. And and
I think think that those teams that are at the
top of this draft, I mean, there may not be
an individual quite as great as Cooper Flag, but I

(29:08):
think there there are more really good players in this group.
If you're fifth or sixth or seventh in the draft,
I think you're going to be pleased with what you get.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
With the changes in college basketball, with you guys staying
longer because of nil and going to different places with
the transfer portal, Is it changing at all how the
NBA is looking at who they want and win.

Speaker 7 (29:34):
Well, I think that they still they still want the
very best talents, and and you'll find teams at the
later ends of the draft, teams that know they're going
to be drafting twenty five, twenty eight to thirty still
want the deepest pool possible of talented guys, and they'll
and they figure out that they figure that they'll that
even if a guy's not established and doesn't have it

(29:55):
figured out yet, that they'll still go after that talent
and and work it out once they get the player
in their system. But I think what you're seeing is
that they don't have as much sway in that now
that guys like a Tega, for instance, who maybe could
have been a late first round pick, but it wasn't

(30:16):
to guarantee, it wasn't sured. So why risk the opportunity
to grow and develop as a player that he'll get
this year and the money he'll make as a collegian.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Why risk that so that you maybe.

Speaker 7 (30:32):
Can be a first round pick, and if you're not,
that means you're going in the second round and you're
not getting all the advantages that first rounders get.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
So I think you're seeing more players think about that
and return to college basketball.

Speaker 7 (30:45):
And it's why we have such a deep collection of
teams that are.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
That are veteran. Florida's got the entire front.

Speaker 7 (30:55):
Court basically back from their championship team. We obviously has
a lot of the guys that went to the Sweet
sixteen last year, and Houston has three starters back from
the team that played in the final. It's not as
the game is not as turned over as it was
seven or eight years ago. And I think that's great

(31:16):
for college basketball, and I also think it's great for
the game in general.

Speaker 1 (31:20):
We're telling Mike of Coursi from Sportingnews dot Com at
TSN Mike on X. We were talking with an earlier
guest about Muhammad Diabate developing into perhaps a fan favorite
here just because of how he plays the game, and
he has a variety of things that he can can
do well, and I think he also believes there are

(31:42):
things that he can do well that he hadn't had
the chance to showcase. Yet what kind of season do
you anticipate for him?

Speaker 7 (31:50):
Well, I think that he's somebody that's going to have
to find his niche as he goes along, because, as
I mentioned before, or one imagines Otaga will be the
primary option and then you've got big guys who can
do various things, and you certainly want to stretch the
floor with the best shooters that you have, and Jasper

(32:13):
made a real statement in that regard that he's going
to have to be in that mix. Cam Williams did
not have a great shooting night in the Friday's exhibition,
but he wasn't poor, and so all of that says.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
Okay, what is your role, Mohammed?

Speaker 7 (32:30):
And I think he's got to find he's got to
force his way into that. And by forcing his way
into that, I don't mean that you take shots as
you shouldn't.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
Take or anything like that.

Speaker 7 (32:41):
I mean that you examine what's happening around you and
you say, Okay, this is how I can best help
this team. And I think that's part of why you
mentioned the fan favorite concept. The first thing you do
in that circumstances you play hard, because when you play
hard and place there's always a reason to put you

(33:03):
in the game and to keep you on the floor.
And I think that's one of the reasons why Friday
he gets nine rebounds, he gets two steals, he gets
two blocks. He's involved in every aspect of it. And
he did end up getting seven shots and eight points.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
So he wasn't.

Speaker 7 (33:21):
Inconsequential on offense, but he made himself matter by how
hard he played and how fiercely he competed. And that
will always be an advantage for a player in trying
to get on the floor on such a deep talented team.

Speaker 1 (33:37):
Back in the seventies, Coach Hall had a guy named
James Lee who was a fierce rebounder and also had
the ability to bring the ball up the floor. And
you know, not many forwards and certainly centers were doing
that then, right, and Joe allowed him to do that.
And I could see a few flashes of a little
lighter version of James in Diabate. And also I think

(34:00):
about Joe and you know how he let Sam Bouie
kind of expand what is normally the five man because
Sam was such a great passer and could play, you know,
away from the basket. That just kind of occurs to
me as I'm saying that Joe in many ways in
which Joe didn't get enough credit for what he did

(34:21):
as a coach, and just kind of how he was
a little bit of more of a vision for how
the game might change. Maybe then we gave him credit
for at the time.

Speaker 7 (34:32):
One of the beautiful things about Joe though, is that,
as difficult as it might have been at the time
to follow someone like an Adolf Rup to have that
team in seventy eight that had to win it, so
to speak, is one in retirement he revealed himself to
be one of the loveliest human beings you could ever meet.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yeah, and two.

Speaker 7 (34:52):
Over the years it started to eat and thankfully while
he lived very long, so he had a lot of opportunity,
but it started to develop.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
Yeah, this guy really was a coach.

Speaker 7 (35:03):
He was really good at this, and he was able
to be appreciated within his lifetime for how really gifted
he was at the time.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
I'm not I don't think during.

Speaker 7 (35:13):
His career that got appreciated as much or enough, but
it was beautiful to see over the course of the
remainder of his lifetime that he was acknowledged And I
think coach cow had a lot to do with those
final years and making sure that everybody understood what a
gift Joe had been to Kentucky when he coached, and

(35:36):
and and just as much, if not more so, what
an absolutely wonderful ambassador he was for the program when
he finished.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
ESPN missed a great chance for one of those thirty
four thirties and Joe, b and Dennis.

Speaker 7 (35:47):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, that's a great point that would
have been.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
That would have been a wonderful program.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
Mike, Thank you much, Talk next week. Thanks Tom Mind.
Decourseisportingnews dot com. It is the Leach Report, presented by
Bob kat Enterprises. We'll be right back. One of our listeners, Klay,
send a note in on X I'm sorry I missed this.
He's want to me to ask Mike Decursi about the
new seven step NBA non walking rule. If you haven't

(36:13):
seen that, it was ridiculous. It's insulting to the game
of basketball. What they let Jannis do in a game
last nine Bucks against the Knicks. He puts the ball
on the floor once and then you know, covers about
half a football field with that ever dribbling again. So
you can find it online somewhere. I'm sure corn Bradamp

(36:35):
is helping folks settle into the season with a little
extra feel good. This is a deal that's going on
through Friday. You'll get a free jar of their full
spectrum CBD gummies added to your order when you spend
seventy five dollars or more at cornbreadhamp dot com. Or
if you spend one hundred and seventy or one hundred and
twenty five dollars excuse me, one hundred and twenty five

(36:56):
dollars or more, you'll get a limited edition corn Bradhamp Total.
You can get both of those right now at cornbreadhamp
dot com. Great time to stock up on those must
haves in the Cornbreadhamp lineup, and you can get all
of their products at cornbreadamp dot com. They're all made
with Kentucky grown hemp, and if you're a first time customer,
put in the code Tom at check out you'll get

(37:17):
an extra twenty percent off at cornbreadhamp dot com. This
is the Good Life Sovereignty status for the Breeders' Cup
Classic in Limbo Derby and Belmont Stakes winner. As to
develop or did develop a fever yesterday morning, trainer Bill
Moont said that the horse was still eating good, looked
doing well, so maybe we'll get an update today on

(37:38):
if Sovereignty is going to be able to stay in
the Breeders Cup Classic. Happy Birthday, Keenan Burton. It's our
Wildcat History ote precented by Kentucky Road Show, sports cards
and memorabilia. See it tomorrow on the Lead Report