2025-11-07 - LEACH REPORT

Tom talks with Dick Gabriel, Jon Hale, and Brandon Haskins. . 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good day, everybody. Welcome into the Leach Report, presented each
day by Bobcat Enterprises. As we have made it to
football Friday and Basketball Friday, Game two for the Kentucky
Men coming up tonight, so we'll talk about all of
that on the show today. We'll lead off with John
Hale from the Lexington Herald Leader, Kendrick Haskins from Wave

(00:22):
three in Louisville, and Dick Gabriel on the Big Blue
Insiders Show and our UK Sports Network team. I want
to talk to Gabe about the Colin Chandler dunk and
how it might stack up in UK history. I'd like
to see about a lineup of all the best dunks.

(00:43):
But it will get into all of that with Gabe
a little bit later on, along with some other things.
Wildcat News of the Day presented by Just Seppies of Lexington.
Seven o'clock tip tonight at rough for Kentucky and Valparaiso.
The Valpo has lost more than it's one in the
last two years, but a lot of good tradition from

(01:03):
the Homer Drew era and his sons there, going back
especially to nineteen ninety eight the famous Bryce Drew shot
in the final seconds to upset Old Miss. They ended
up making it to the Sweet sixteen that season. Played
Kentucky once in the NCAA Tournament in two thousand and
two out in Saint Louis, so Mark Pope talked to

(01:25):
the media yesterday ahead of the game. He said he
hopes we'll see Jaylen Lowe. He kind of sounded like
it was pretty likely, but it would depend on how
practice went yesterday and the news conference was obviously before practice.
He said it's a toss up about whether or not
Trentonoah will play. Look like he rolled an ankle Tuesday night,
Pope sounded like he'd take the more cautious approach on Noah.

(01:48):
He was also asked about Jaden Quaintance and how he's doing,
and said the recovery from the knee surgeries still ahead
of the benchmarks, but they have an important strength test
it'll come up in about three weeks. But that quaint
is getting to do more and more. He's been cleared
to go into five on O drills, meaning you know
when they're working against air out on the court or

(02:10):
doing full court drills. So all of that sounds good
for JQ. Hopefully he'll be back sooner rather than later.
The UK women rolled to a one four forty six
win over Monmouth last night. Amelia Hassett seventeen points seven boards,
pacing Kentucky with the point total. Geordan nob had the

(02:32):
most rebounds with eight. Kentucky shot fifty eight percent from
the field seventeen of thirty six at the three point line,
including a couple by coach Brook's daughter Gabby late in
the game. Volleyball number three, Kentucky wins at Missouri yesterday
three to one, so twelve and oero in the SEC
and the pack the house game coming up Sunday where

(02:54):
you're blue to Historic Memorial Coliseum for Kentucky and Tennessee
and if you have you Tube TV then you better
be there in person or tune it in on the
UK radio network unless they get the worked out. At football,
availability report number two came out last night for Florida
wide receiver ver Neill. Brown is off the list so

(03:16):
he had been listed as questionable. He should be good
to go. He is their leading pass catcher, but a
couple of the explosive young guys were listed as out
earlier this week, so they're thin at wide receiver. A
backup Myzelle's off the list. He had been questionable as well,
and as a reserve running back that is off the

(03:38):
questionable list and good to go. So it looks a
little better for the Gators than it did on the
first one on Wednesday. Links to the stories that we
talk about each day, you can find those on the
bud Light Leach Report page at Tom leachky dot com.
Arobertic segment's presented by just Sepees of Lexington and they
have gift cards for the upcoming holiday season and they

(04:01):
look fantastic, really sharp. You they'll get them ready for you,
put them in an ice envelope and you can order
your gift cards and they will mail them out to you.
Make it easy, peasy, or you're swing by the restaurant
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(04:24):
outing at Giuseppes for a fantastic meal with a just
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So check it all out at Joseepes Lexington dot Com.
It's the Leech Report, and when we come back, we'll
talk Kentucky football with John Hale. It's the Leach Report

(04:47):
coming to you from the Clark's pumpin Shop studio. Return,
Refresh and refuel. And we needed a drop here from
the studio and we don't have it in the system.
I need to get this Peyton Manning saying omaha, omaha
for the audible because we had to call an audible
here and John Hales hung up at the moment, so

(05:09):
he'll join us a little bit later. On. Kendrick Haskins
got open off the line of scrimmage against the Blitz.
He's our hot red. We hit him and he's here.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Thank you just gave me a quick slant.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
I make the cat. That's right, that's right. You still
got the moves.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
I like to thank though.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yes, yes, well let's let's start with basketball. Since there
is a game tonight for Kentucky. There was one last
night for Louisville, and the two of them will converge
on Tuesday down at the Young Center. I did see
where a Louisville player demonstrated his eagerness for the matchup
right after the game in the postgame news conference.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Right, yeah, Case and prior who he tours acl last
I think it was in December. It was when they
was in the Bahamas, so that last night was his
first game back. Didn't play the exhibition season at all,
so his first game back had a pretty good showing
six points, three rebounds. But yeah, he was a little
bit excited walking off the podium last night. He's he's

(06:14):
kind of an excitable guy. He used to he says
he's gonna bring his blond hair back. If it was
blonde last year and now it was back to being brown.
And he had kind of had that reputation coming into
louisvill when he's coming from South Florida. So I wasn't
surprised that he's the one to do that. But yeah,
he's a little bit excited for the game.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
On jus this.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
I'm just looking at it here at the rankings. This
could be the first of the first time they'll both
be ranked this high, assuming Balpo doesn't upset Kentucky tonight.
Since twenty sixteen, they were both in the top ten,
and I think what Kentucky's nine, Louis was eleven right now,
so this is Yeah, last year, we didn't know a

(07:00):
whole lot about either team coming into the matchup. We
just knew it was different. But now the expectations bar
has been set higher for both of them, So changes
the dynamic a little bit, doesn't it?

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Just a little bit. And the funny thing is we
know even less about these teams coming into this year.
This year's came to it so early. I mean, and
Louisill played, you know, to two ten cans in their
first two games, and you know Kentucky's gonna win by
blowout most likely the night too. Valfarazo has a little
bit more history than Jackson State and South Carolina State,

(07:32):
but we're not going to really know that much about
either team. We know Louis was gonna shoot a lot
of three and you look, Kentucky's going to shoot a
lot of three. So at least we know that coming
into the game.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
As far as the early date for this game, was
there some unique circumstance that you're aware of that that
led to this And it'll be back in a it's
more normal spot somewhere in December or very early January
or May it State or for a few years.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
I've heard so many different things. I don't know what's true.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
I've heard that.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Louisville kind of messed up with their schedule, and then
I also heard it it was more of an ESPN
thing than it was anything else. And so I don't know,
because one of the thing is it's a thing where
we knew both teams were going to be ranked coming
into the season before they made the schedule, so you
would think the game would be later in the season.
But it is a primetime game, I guess since it's

(08:27):
an eight o'clock tip. But eight o'clock on a Tuesday
just does not seem right for this.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Rival, especially on the eleventh of November.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yes, right, it was before the football game. I didn't
even realize until I started making up the schedule for
the month of the women's basketball game is before the
football game too, Yes, right.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
And three times the Cats and the Cards are going
to do battle in these different different teams. And I
think they're all in Louisville, aren't they.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, they all in Little I think that started happening
a few years ago, Like one year they're all in
Kentucky and Electington the next year. I guess it's cool,
but definitely different.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Uh, let's shift over to football, and Kentucky has Florida
tomorrow and a big opportunity. They had one last week
and they took advantage of it. And you know, they're
in a position where they've got a chance to recapture
a little momentum that seemed to be gone. If they
can beat the Gators. What chance do you give them

(09:29):
to do that?

Speaker 2 (09:31):
I give them a real shot. I mean, it's the
Florida team that's, you know, playing with an interim head coach.
Kentucky has made improvements every week. Cutter Bowley has played
better every week, and so I've been one of those
one of the few that's like you may want to
pump the brakes on fire and mark students because the
team is getting better.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
You can see.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Incremental improvements every week. Now, if we can get the
defense and the offense to play well in the same game,
then you really have something going. Seems like either the
offense so you play as well in the defense trugg
of a vice versa. But there is improvements with that team.
And they've got a schedule that looked early in the
season like it was going to be impossible to an
end of the season has really become manageable.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Yeah, and they're probably not for most people, maybe about
one game off what the expectation was, what the record
would be at this point. Now, I think back at
the start of the year, there was a hope that
if you're Kentucky fan, you looked at the last five
games and you didn't think, you know, Louisville and Vandy
were going to be the toughest of the five. And

(10:36):
that is certainly the case now Cards have Cols tomorrow night, right.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Tomorrow night at seven o'clock.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah. Uh, and then Vandy's got it rolling as well,
even though they're coming off a loss. But uh, Bully,
there is nothing like a especially if it's a Kentucky quarterback,
you know, Kentucky kid, homegrown quarterback, but nothing like a
quarterback for any football team to lift kind of the
spirits all around the team, I mean, the receivers. That

(11:10):
the outlook on that room has certainly changed a good
bit in the time that Bully's been the QB.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
And I was before the seat when they went out
and got cause that I was surprised because I'm like,
Bully played pretty well at the end.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
Of the year.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Last year, yeah, he struggled as the bubis game, but
it's still what his second to third game, and so
I was would have spent that money elsewhere. But he's improved.
I'm so happy to see him improved. And I remember
covering his older sister when she was basketball at Kentucky
because she was at Etown High School. They are a

(11:45):
great family. I interviewed the parents back then, and so yeah,
I'm just really proud to see cut her bully doing well.

Speaker 1 (11:52):
His coach's coach Hamdon especially works with him day in
and day out there on the offensive side. Has talked
about how nothing seems to bother him. You know, he
had the rough outing against South Carolina and he was,
you know, in the the offices the next day, kind
of looking at tape, getting it fixed, moving on, you know,
through that interception at at the end of the first

(12:13):
half last week, comes back complete to eleven straight to
start the second half. I would think maybe that the family,
you know, coming from a family of athletes, from his
parents on down, maybe helps him have that mindset, would
you think.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, I think so, because he doesn't get too high,
it doesn't get too low. I think even though he's
struggling in that South Carolina game. That really what impress
me about that game because it was just one back quarter.
It's the second quarter to the counsel apart, but the
rest of the game they played pret even and for
you have a red shirt freshman quarterback to settle down
and you know, don't let a snowball on him. After that,

(12:49):
I think it was very impressive.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
Sometimes you find out more about a player in that
kind of situation. I've told this story before where Rich
Brooks was it convinced Andre Woodson was his guy to
build around, even though he had won the quarterback competition
going into six. But in the game they were blown
out down in Louisville, he was He saw how Woodson

(13:14):
just kept getting back up after he got knocked down
and make big plays to at least keep it somewhat interesting.
That convinced him, and that lopsided loss that okay, this
is my guy.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
And he was right.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, he was right. And like you look back and
Lamar Jackson his freshman year at Louisville, good point, his
very first pass was intercepted and then he think his
first start, I want to.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
Say it was his first start. They played Houston's.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
Beer and he had like two or three funnels. I mean,
he really really struggled, and then he broke out at
the end of the season. And it's one of those
things where these kids they learned from adversity. When adversity hits,
do they learn from it or do they regress? And
these are three examples of guys who learned from it
and bounce back from it.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
Quarterbacks, I think need a little bit of swagger, even
if they don't always express it, but they to show it.
But and the best, one of the better examples of
that in this rivalry was I think it was the
seventeen game. Lamar had had to fumble the year before
and they had been upset by Kentucky. And I was
watching his news conference of the game before they played Kentucky,

(14:22):
and he started talking about the game against Kentucky and
what had happened the year before. And my only thought
watching that was to tell the folks on the Kentucky side,
you're going to need a bigger boat.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
And they did.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
That. Kind of competitiveness and fire is something teammates feet
off from a quarterback.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
Oh yeah, especially with him because he was so likable anyway,
and so they was going to follow his lead no
matter what he did. And so yeah, they came in
fired up for that game.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
And there's some of that in young Cutter Bowley as well.
Kendrick appreciate the time and the flexibility.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
See it, no problem, no pee you.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
On Tuesday, it's Kedri Kasks for Way three in Louisville.
We are coming up a break twenty five past the
top of the hour, coming to you from the Clark's
Pumping Shop studio. Return, refresh and refuel at Clark's. We'll
be right back with John Hale. It's the Lach Report,
presented by Bobcat Enterprises, and we welcome in John Hale

(15:24):
from the Lexington Herold Leader Kentucky Sports dot com, where
he covers Kentucky football and Wildcats wide receiver Room. The
assessment there has changed quite a bit. You have a
story up about Kendrick Law and what he's doing now.
As you've noted, the story was kind of predicted by
Bush Hampden at the kickoff luncheon back in the summer,

(15:46):
but Laws become the player and the way they've revamped
the offense that was hoped he would be coming in
from Alabama.

Speaker 4 (15:55):
Right.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
Yeah, It's it's interesting because I think when he got here,
he was kind of assumed to have this role, and
then he got hurt in camp and he missed both
scrimmages and didn't play very much, and so there was
more questions coming out, and that whole last week of camp,
all the talk was like, do you have a true
number one receiver? And they were really upfront, but they didn't.
And Law is not a number one guy in terms

(16:17):
of like you're going to target him down the field
five or six times a game, but they've clearly found
a way to get him the ball in space. The
way that Kendrick described it to us last week is
it's kind of his role is to blend the run
game in the pass game together, because I mean, some
of these short passes are throwing him are technically runs
because they're you know, going backwards. But even his big
games like the seventy one yard touchdown means Tennessee, it's

(16:39):
like a short pass that he's making a couple of
guys miss and taking it for an explosive play. And
that's what they kind of have to do right now.
And he's been such a perfect piece for the offense
in that way. It's fascinating to think about, like how
he could have been if he had been here last year,
how much better the offense would be as kind of
that second or third guy. But he's making the most
of his opportunity after three years to Alabama where he

(17:00):
was kind of a bet player.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
And Van Hiles mentioned this in one of his cutups.
There's a player it was last week where Bully pulls
the ball and makes a nice run and you could
coaches are not usually real wild about players kind of
freelancing things, but there's a play there where Kendrick has
run his route and he's kind of parked over the sideline.
His Bully's coming that way. If Kendrick takes about one

(17:25):
step to the left, Bully could have pitched it to him.
I don't know if they if they have the clearance
to do stuff like that, but that's the kind of
thing you could do with a player like him.

Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yeah, he can do a little to everything. I mean,
we've seen him line up in the backfield a few times.
It's mostly to put him in motion and move in
different ways, but like in the same way that you
know we saw in the NFL with guys like Deebo
Samuel and I remember when rich Kingerello was here. He
did it with Tavian Robinson quite a bit that year
where they lied to receive rup the back. I wouldn't
be shocked if some of that is coming to just
to just because that's that's what his role is. And

(17:56):
if he's an NFL player, he's going to do a
lot of that too, and he's going to get running
back snaps, I would imagine. So he's been a great
piece for this offense as these other receivers have emerged
as more like downfill threats to DJ Bellers and you
know JJ Hester at at high scheam a couple of
weeks ago and hardly go more in front ferrier. Obviously,
you know we'll big catches last week. It just makes
law all the more dangerous.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Got to jump to a break. We'll be right back
with John Hale j Bars presented by Bobcat Enterprises, four
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(18:38):
For excavators, skid steer loaders, forklifts, whatever it might be
in zero turn mowers for your home lawn. Talking with
John Hale from the Lexington Herald Leader Kentucky sports dot
Com as the Kentucky football team returns to the field
tomorrow night looking for the first SEC home win since

(18:58):
the last time the Gators were here, right.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
John, Yeah, that's right two years ago. It's been a
long time.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
I think that's something the players are thinking about this week.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, it was interesting. Mark got asked about it in
the press conference on Monday and kind of downplay it,
which I assume is what you would expect from a
coach when the storyline like that has kind of percolated
as much as it has over the last year especially.
But I'm sure that it has to be on their minds.
I mean, they have one home games, but obviously it's
been against a group of five teams and FCS teams,

(19:31):
and they want to go out there improve it. And
they know that that fan base and everybody who pays
and show up every week, it's a big investment and
it's part of the reason that, you know, the negativity
swirls like it does when You're spending all that money
to come watch them at home, and you never get
to see him win any of these big games. It
piles up. Mark downplayed it and said it wasn't even
anything he would address with the team, But I'm sure

(19:51):
there are conversations amongst the players and staff in the
locker room about it.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
Gators appear to be very shorthanded at the wide receiver position,
and it's a Kentucky defense that's coming off sort of
its best game. They played really well against Texas, but
I think the one at Auburn was even better, right.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
Yeah, I mean, it's certainly a situation where I think
that matchup is so important for this team right now.
I mean, as Mark seven, the game like Tennessee is
a bad matchup for Kentucky in the way they play offense.
Texas and Auburn and probably Florida, who has even struggled
to kind of put up points before the receivers got decimated,
has struggled to put up a lot of points. That's
a much better matchup for Kentucky right now, and it

(20:32):
feels like they're getting them in a good time, and
certainly the defense is confident, but it's a New Test too,
because of the way that they played so well against
Texas then came out played so poorly gets Tennessee the
next week. I'm sure that's on their mind this week too.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
You wrote about Sam Green, who had his best game
down at Auburn, had the key sack on the next
to last play of the game. And there are a
lot of guys that are contributing or certainly did in
that game. Lorenzo cowns the name that was it even
on the depth chart that comes in against part of

(21:04):
a sack. But they're using a lot of people and
they're getting a return on the decision.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yeah, I think so, and it's important. I think that
some of those guys are younger. Austin Ramsey, another guy,
the nose guard who came in former converted offensive lineman
I think got a sack in that game. Like depth
on defense was such a question for the team, and
I think got exposed, to be honest, pretty early to
see some younger guys do that. Sam's a guy that
they added as a transfer, and I wasn't expecting him
to come in start. I thought he was probably the

(21:32):
second most type guy even at that position they added
in the portal they started every game, he's been really solid,
has his best performance, and he's got two years ago
was ability left. Like, if you can keep those guys around,
that's one way to build some roster continuity in this
era where we see constant turnover. Not every transfer has
to be a one and done grad transfer kind of guy. Like,
if you can get somebody like that who could start

(21:53):
and contribute for multiple years, that's a huge deal. Lorenzo
Callen will be another example of that as he develops too.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
I don't know if you listen to Tony Kornheiser's podcast,
but near the end of the segment they always have
mister Tony's mail bag, and you have mister John's mail
bag each week that do you open up and invite
the fans to interact with you? So and you share
that with everybody, So what's the Did you get a
sense that it changed many hearts and minds with the

(22:22):
performance at Auburn four March s Tuke's.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
I don't, And I think that was a lot because
of the way they won the game. I mean, I
think most fans are still happy that they won. Although
I'm sure you get some of this too. I interact
with the fairmoun of fans who are rooting for them
to lose to kind of necessity a decision. That's not
a fun way to live. So I think if you're
in that camp, maybe just take a break for a
while and check back in and see how it plays out.
But even the people who are happy to win, I

(22:46):
don't know that it changed a lot of hearts because
of you know, it was that prototypical, ugly, not very
exciting kind of Mark Stewice victory, which you will take.
But then Auburn fires their coach the next day and
they're still kind of the bigger questions about the program
in the future. And you know, if they would against
Florida this week and then take care of business hissy Tech,
you're you know, only need one of the last two
to get to a Bowl game. I'd be interested to

(23:07):
see if that changes anyone's minds. But I don't think
one victory the way it played out did much.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
Would a different stylistic game, uh maybe alter that a
little bit. Let's say they you know, it becomes more
of a shootout against Florida.

Speaker 3 (23:22):
Yeah, I think so, because like even before they beat Auburn,
the reason for hope was the way the offense and
Cutter Bowley appeared to be growing, and then to win
a game, it felt like, you know, they kind to
a step back in that area. So if you want
to shootout and you prove you could do that and
Cutter looked great and the receiver stepped up, then I
think you have something where you're saying, like, Okay, we're
not just winning the same way that you know that
we have for the last three or four years when

(23:44):
things have not been great. That I do think would
would go a long way to getting people more excited
and more willing to buy into this idea that maybe
maybe they're not as far from being like a good
team as it looked for the first half.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
Ironically, it kind of feels like if you agree that
they're moving in the direction of the offense they've been
searching for for quite a while with yeah, that's big time,
you know, a big time talent at quarterback who also
happens to be homegrown that you could marry with the
physical running game.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
Absolutely, it's exactly kind of what the recipe should be
for Kentucky. It's it's just coming, you know, Is it
too little, too late? And then then the other part
of it is, in this era of free transfers, every
good cutter Bowlie game comes with the fear of can
you keep him? And every every time Dj Miller, Cam Miller,
you know, makes a big, big play, you think, well,
can you keep these young guys. And they've done a

(24:39):
really good job for the most part of keeping the
players that they needed and they were counting on. I mean,
I did a story this week about like looking at
the guys they lost last year in the portal and
you could make the argument that really, Dane, he's the
only guy that they really really miss. I mean, because
even Barry on Brown Kinder Clause essentially replaced his production
Keechan Silver, a guy who was a starter like David
Goose has been one of the best players of other defense. Like,

(25:00):
they've done a good job of filling those holes. It's just,
you know, the fear is always there in this era
that you're not going to be able to keep these guys.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
Yeah, it would be interesting to see what the phone
look like for a six foot three inch freshman wide
receiver like DJ Miller after two TD catches against Tennessee,
or a six foot five inch two or fifty pound
outside linebacker like CJ. Works after he made that big
tackle against Arch Banning.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
Yeah. Absolutely. And that's the thing is because Mark Stoops
has this reputation for the offense is being fairly boring,
like these other coaches are going to use that against them,
even even if they do have a good game or two,
they're going to say, you really, you really confident that that's
going to carry over next year, And so they have
to sell a vision that this is getting better. And
so that's why I think you're right, Like if they
stylistically want to shoot out and Cutter looked great and

(25:50):
the offense thrived that way, then I think you have
some real concrete evidence that like, okay, we're not just
putting up points like Tennessee score five touchdowns, but the
game was basically over midway through the second quarter, and
so I think that would go a long way.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
Still a few games left, certainly, But I think one
of the things that the fair number of people have
been impressed with is how much the players have stayed
in the fight with the coaching staff that fans some
percentage of fans are down.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
Yeah. Absolutely, I think it's really impressive and that's I
think it can be overstated. And you know, I know
that the perception was the kind of they kind of
quit last year. I don't even know that they quit
last year as much as just the injuries, especially on defense,
piled up to a point that that it just wasn't
manageable anymore. Obviously, they went out on such a shower
note against Louiswell. That will change people's perception, but you
cannot accuse this team of doing that. Even the game

(26:38):
like Kinnessee where they got blown out, it clearly wasn't
an effort issue or a buy in issue. It was
just a you know, a really bad matchup that they're
not they're not equipped to handle right now. And you
can criticize the roster building and the strategy for that,
but it's not an effort issue. And so the fact
that these players are so engaged and still have a
lot to play for, I mean, like a Bowl is
totally within grasp for them if they can continue the

(27:01):
East ride. I think it says a lot about Mark
Stoops and his staff and what they've been able to do.
And because the negativity has been impossible to ignore, I'm
sure in that locker room.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
At John Hale Underscore HL on X Kentucky Sports dot
Com and in the pages of the Lexington Herald Leaders
where you can find his work.

Speaker 3 (27:16):
Thank you, John, thanks for having me tom.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
Eighteen away from the top of the hour, it's the
Leech Report from the Clarks Pumping Shop Studio. Return Refresh
reviewl right back with Dick Gabriel. Quarter before the top
of the hour. It is the Leach Report, and we
welcome in Dick Gabriel from Big Blue Insider at Big
Blue Insider one on X and of course you hear

(27:39):
with us on the UK Football Radio Network and we'll
be at Krogerfield for Kentucky Florida tomorrow night. We're going
to talk about that in the minute game. But want
to start with something you posted on X yesterday and
it was a clip when you were at KYT and
an interview I think you and Steve Moss did with
Dirk Minifield because the Colin Chandler dunk uh. That was

(28:03):
a viral sensation the other night and I immediately thought, Okay,
where does this rank, say, in the all time top
ten of UK For me, the Dirk one remains at
the top. But what say you.

Speaker 4 (28:18):
Yeah, I agree. It's just was a matter of right place,
right time.

Speaker 5 (28:24):
Somebody stepped in tried to challenge Dirk, and you know
I basically put his foot in his chest and elevated twice.

Speaker 4 (28:32):
It's going to be I don't.

Speaker 5 (28:33):
Know if well Tom will ever see anything that tops that,
but I love I love to see Colin Chandler try.

Speaker 4 (28:38):
You could probably do it.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
There was one that I haven't seen that mentioned. There
was a Darius Miller one at rub I think against
Saint John's that was incredible. But there was one. I've
got to find this one that Derrick Anderson did. I
think it was maybe against Indiana on the baseline and
a Freedom Hall, and it was one of a little

(29:00):
like Chandlers where he had the thing cocked back behind
his head. Uh, it's it must be really cool to
be able to do that.

Speaker 4 (29:10):
I was. I was sitting on the baseline for that.
Derek Anderson dunk.

Speaker 5 (29:14):
I couldn't believe that it was either in the Inner
or Louisville, but you're right it was.

Speaker 4 (29:17):
It was at Freedom Hall. Darius Miller. I don't remember
Saint John's.

Speaker 5 (29:21):
I remember the one the old Miss Dunk and and
because we had a photographer working for we had a
website at the time, and he took the you know,
the series of four or five photos and I remember
Tom that came out of a time out and then
Kentucky needed a bucket and I'm told that Darius said
get me the ball, and they did and he did

(29:44):
his thing. But there's one other that I loved, and
there was a there was a Ron Mercer dunk where
he was going in for an alley up and whoever
threw the ball threw it actually off target behind him,
and Ron reached back and caught the ball behind his
head with one hand and in one motion threw it
down and then he did the same thing t or
three later years later in the NBA.

Speaker 4 (30:06):
So yeah, it's just it's just amazing what those guys
can do.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
You know, the one you described with Mercer, I think
there when't there didn't Ad have one like that against
Louisville to Final four.

Speaker 5 (30:14):
Two, probably because that guy was underrated as a dunker.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah, and then uh Bowie had uh see like one
or two alley lobs from Dirk back in the back
in the early eighties time that we were incredible. It's yeah,
it's it's nice when you have so many different ones
to talk about. Yeah, for the fans, and that's part of,
you know, the fun of being a Kentucky fan. I

(30:42):
think Mark Pope talked about this, just kind of putting
things in historical context and you know, remembering, you know,
who you were with when it happened, or where you
were or whatever.

Speaker 5 (30:52):
Imagine what's gonna happen. And next time Chandler and it'll
happen gets loose on a breakaway. What the crowd's going
to do, you know, and anticipation. That's gonna be fun.
Indeed it will. Let's talk a little Kentucky volleyball.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
They beat Miszoo last night now twelve and zero in
the SEC and it's the pack the House game on
Sunday on the UK Radio network. So you do a
lot of volleyball coverage. Tell me about this matchup.

Speaker 5 (31:21):
Well, first of all, last night I thought I might
have been a trap game, and sure enough, you know,
I'm following while I'm at the women's basketball game, and
they dropped a set.

Speaker 4 (31:29):
To MISSOI credit to Missouri.

Speaker 5 (31:31):
But yeah, now they can go into this Tennessee game
fully concentrating on the balls and Tennessee sneaky good. You know,
they're not going to win the conference, but they've won
some big matches. But it's a Kentucky team that knows
how to focus and when to focus. And it's got
a good mix of veterans, of young players, of transfers,

(31:56):
especially you know Eva Hudson and Lizzie Carr.

Speaker 4 (32:00):
It's a great combination of talent. Just like the team
that won.

Speaker 5 (32:04):
The national championship, it's got a real shot tom going
deep into this tournament, if not all the way.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
Well that's where it was going next. You cover that
team too, So how does this team stack up against
that one?

Speaker 5 (32:17):
Well, that team was so hard to beat because you
had you know, Ali Stummler over here, you had a
Johnny teelor, but you had Maddie Skinner, you know, so
you had so many people who could attack the net.
And as Craig Skinner talked about it at his great
news conference the head today when he jumped up on
the desk, that was fantastic.

Speaker 4 (32:36):
But he talked about the fact that.

Speaker 5 (32:38):
You know, they could attack from the left side, the
right side, in the middle, and so what that means is,
you know, the defense has to honor every bit of
that of that Kentucky offense, and so Kentucky could attack
him anywhere and then from the back row with Brooklyn delay,
it might be the best in the.

Speaker 4 (32:56):
Country at doing that. So you know, how do you
guard again his team? So you know, you minimize errors,
play a clean game. Like any sport, you got a
chance of winning. Every night.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
You'll be down on the sidelines tomorrow for Kentucky and Florida.
Our UK radio network coverage we'll get going at five
from out of Kroger Field. And not to suggest something
that could make your life more difficult, but it would
have been nice to have had the cold weather come
in just a day earlier for the Gators.

Speaker 5 (33:28):
Yeah, anytime Florida comes to town, you got to hope
the weather's kind of nasty, you know, And I know
that I think you you found out that the Florida
a d many many years ago, had that game that
series flipped because it used to be a November game.
But it wasn't fair to the Gators to come up
here and play in the cold. You know, it's not
fair for Kentucky to go down and play a ninety

(33:49):
degree weather down in Gainesville. Yeah, but anyhow, you know,
all that's just again, play a clean game, contain the quarterback,
you know, do what you did against Auburn if possible,
then he got a chance.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
What chance do you give them against the Gators tomorrow night?

Speaker 5 (34:09):
Well, I think, like I said, if you can keep
Lagway from extending plays and extending drives, and then you know,
cutter Bully do your thing, you know, the short passes,
using all your receivers.

Speaker 4 (34:22):
You know, he wasn't great against Auburn, but he's sure.

Speaker 5 (34:25):
Was sharp against Texas and in Tennessee. Play back to
that form and he got a chance. But keep that
Florida offense on the sideline by keeping your offense on
the on the field for extended drives. They weren't able
to do that against Auburn, but the defense came through.
I don't think Florida's O line is as bad as
Auburn's was, so it's.

Speaker 4 (34:44):
Going to be a tougher test.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
Sometimes you need to get a little lucky with things
like injuries and leto's like Kentucky's maybe trending the right way.
Waller maybe back. It looks like to give him a
little out of depth at the corner and then McGowan
I thought looked better than he'd looked in a couple
of weeks. And his legs seem to have a little
more energy in them, so they're gonna need to be

(35:07):
as close to full strength as they can.

Speaker 5 (35:10):
Yeah, and you know the Luck team through against Darburne
with the pass it was picked off and then ultimately
they pulmbled the ball right back to Kentucky.

Speaker 4 (35:18):
It always helps to have a break like that.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
Doesn't Yes, it does. Gabe appreciate it, Thank you much.
All right, buddy, that's Dick Gabriel. You hear him on
the Big Blue Insider Show at Big lew Insider one
on X It is the Leitch Report. And our folks
at Cornbread Hemp have opened a brand new retail store
and it's inside their production facility in Louisville. So you

(35:40):
can go there and see how the CBD gummies and
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the people behind the scenes. And you know, it's a
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So if you're not close enough to the facility to
take that tour. You can go online to cornbreadthamp dot com,

(36:04):
find a retailer near you where you can find the products,
or just order it online. And if you're a first
time customer, put in the code Tom and check out
and you'll get an extra twenty percent off your first order.
And they have a special Black Friday deal going on
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(36:25):
That's at cornbreadthamp dot com. We'll be right back to
close it out. Say a wow. Cat history. Nineteen ninety eight,
Kentucky beat Mississippi State thirty seventh thirty five six to win,
clinched a Bowl bid and that was the season that
Kentucky would go on to play in the Outback Bowl,
first New Year's Day Bowl game in half century. Happy birthday,
Case and Wallace, Happy birthday, Johnny David, and happy birthday

(36:48):
former Kentucky coach Billy Gillespie. Kentucky and Valpo Tonight seven
Eastern time, tip and we will have call on the
UK Radio network starting with the pre game at five
point thirty and Jalen Low may make his debut. It
sounded like Mark Pope was leaning that way after the

(37:09):
game on Tuesday and again at his news conference yesterday.
Here's what Jalen had to say back in the summer
when he did a media session about being a point guard.

Speaker 6 (37:20):
See a lot of people got him mixed up that
at Jalen Lowe just loves to shoot the ball and
jack stuff up. No, I love passing the ball. I've
always told people I get more joy in an assist
than scoring a basket. Out of my whole life, I've
been a point guard. That's what I am. I mean,
I know how to score the ball at a really
high level still, so people don't get that twisted. But
I love I love passing the ball, and that's that's

(37:41):
always been natural for me. So being able to do
that here would just I feel like make everything open.

Speaker 1 (37:46):
Up Jalen low and hopefully we'll get to see him
do his thing tonight. I appreciate one of our listener's,
Brad telling us the Derrick catorson dunk was any game
against Louisville. So Dick abral was right about that one.
I just founded on video and it kind of confirmed
what I was thinking. Stylistically, it was like the Colin

(38:08):
Chandler dunk I did come along the baseline for DA
as opposed to Colin's down the middle of the lane.
But DA had that thing cocked back behind his head
too and threw it down viciously, just like Chandler did.
So you can look that one up on YouTube and
see if you agrees that stylistically it's a pretty good

(38:29):
match for what Colin Chandler did. Mark Pope, by the way,
said yesterday they're looking to red shirt Rhys Potter and
may do the same with Hawthorne as well. And Jay
Bellis's preseason top sixty eight. He has Kentucky at number
eight in his rankings. See him. My name is Van
Hiles on the Leach Report. Have a great weekend, everybody,