2025-11-12 - LEACH REPORT

Dick Gabriel fills in and talks with Chris Fisher, Charles Walker, and Mike DeCourcy.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good morning everybody. Dick Gabrielle sitting in for the Voice on.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
This Wednesday, The Leach Report, presented by bobcat Enterprises.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Coming up tonight. We're going to talk or this afternoon.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
I should say it's actually this morning, my show heras
at night, so I get a little confused. Recruiting analyst
Chris Fisher will join us, as well as former football
Wildcat Charles Walker and Mike Decorsi, the great basketball writer
from the Sporting News, and of course lots of basketball
to talk about. Wildcat News of the Day presented by

(00:30):
Giuseppes of Lexington, and you know, we start with what happened.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Last night in Louisville as the Wildcats fell to u
of L.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
When it was a close game down the stretch, but
as you know, the Cats fell behind by twenty, fought back,
got at the four, but fell ninety six to eighty
eight at the Young Center. Despite a career high twenty
six points from Denzel Aberdeen and a career high seven rebounds,
Turnovers basically were the story. Mark Pope pointed this out

(01:00):
in postgame. Kentucky had fourteen mistakes that led to nineteen
Louisville points. Cardinals turned it over only six times, Kentucky
turned them into ten points, and it was bizarre the
fact that I think it was seventeen minutes into the
game before the Cardinals registered their first turnover. It was

(01:22):
strange to see that zero sitting there in the turnover column.
Even more strange seeing the Wildcats fall behind by twenty
thanks in large part to a thirteen oh run that
UFL made in the first half. Kentucky just went stone
cold at one point, missing six consecutive shots and it
looked as though the Cardinals weren't going to miss and

(01:45):
took a comfortable lead, but it all but disappeared down
the stretch of the Wildcasts with about three and a
half to play, got it down to four, but made
some bad choices on shots, made some mistakes, and the
Wildcats fall to the Cardinals and Corey Price our Man
on the UK network statistician Extraordinary points out that Mark

(02:06):
Pope and Pat Kelsey's teams have played each other twice,
total points for each team one hundred and eighty one.
That's just bizarre. So Wildcats back in action on Friday night.
They play host to Eastern Illinois inside Roper Arena. Tip
off set for seven pm, and you can hear it
right here on most of these same UK Network stations,

(02:28):
with coverage beginning at five point thirty on the network.
It was, Yeah, just a game that Kentucky fans aren't
gonna want to remember, but their team now Lee still
leads the series by a margin of forty to eighteen.
Last night's loss ending a three game UK win streak.

(02:50):
Elsewhere around conference, it's a big night. The soccer Wildcats
play host to Central Florida in the Sun Belt Conference
Tournament tonight at the Bell. It's a rematch they've played
each other to open the regular season. This is the
semi finals of the tournament. Coastal Carolina. Wildcats beat Coastal

(03:11):
Carolina to get there, nothing nothing, tie and in in
a penalty kick shootout. Wildcats won that six to five.
So six thirty tonight at the Bell for Kentucky men's soccer.
At the same time, across campus at Historic Memorial Coliseum,
UK women are back in action, ranked either twenty third

(03:31):
or number twenty, depending on the poll that you favor.
Kenny Brooks's team takes on USC Upstate, and again you
can hear that game right here on most of these
same stations, Darren Hedrick as the pregame six point fifteen
airtime six thirty tip off. It's the program's annual salute
the servicemen and women. Game men and women who have

(03:52):
served or are currently serving our nation will be recognized
and honored. For more information on veteran tickets, you can
go to UK Athletics dot com. Fans can also salute
their hero at the game by submitting a photo through
UK Athletics dot com. One other note, there's an event
going on tonight in Louisville. An evening with Nate Northington

(04:17):
and friends. Five point thirty receptions, six pm panel discussion,
a seven pm book signing. This is all going on
at four hundred West Market in Louisville. Former UK player
Nate Northington, first African American player ever in the SEC,
Wilbur Hackett, who is of course is one of the

(04:37):
four players immortalized by the statues outside the UK Football
field House. And Jim Green, a great track and field
athlete who at one point while he was a UK
was the fastest man on earth. Not enough people know that,
but Jim was a terrific track athlete and also was
the first African American student athlete to graduate from the university.

(05:00):
If you want more information, call this number eight five
nine two five seven three eighth one two five seven
three eight oh one for an.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
Evening with Nate Northington and friends.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
Up next, we'll talk with recruiting analyst Chris Fisher. Reminder
more on these stories on bud Light Leach Report page
at Tom Leachky dot com. Stay with us on the
Leach Report. Welcome back to the Leach Report. Dick Gabrielle
sitting in for the Voice, joined by a recruiting expert,
Chris Fisher, who has covered UK sports for a.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Long time in a variety of ways. Good morning, Chris,
Good morning sir.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
What were your thoughts as that game unfolded last night? Uh?

Speaker 3 (05:45):
Number one, I think a wildly entertaining game.

Speaker 4 (05:48):
I think, you know, one of the most the more
well played Kentucky Louisville games.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
I think that we've seen in a.

Speaker 4 (05:53):
While a weird game in a sense that it felt
like Louisville out played Kentucky for laar stretches of that game.
And you know, I think in a couple of different
scenarios could have easily won by fifteen or twenty points,
but there were multiple times in the game, especially at
the end.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Where Kentucky had a chance to steal it.

Speaker 4 (06:13):
I would have loved to have seen Jalen Lowe hit
those two free throws to cut it to two and
put some real game pressure on Louisville and kind of
see how they responded. But you know, as much credit
as you have to give Kentucky for fighting to kind
of get back in that thing, and Mark Pope kind
of went to that zone press that I think really

(06:34):
slowed Louisville down there in the second half.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
The execution down the stretch was not great.

Speaker 4 (06:40):
The misfree throws, the poor shot selection, the turnovers over
the last four minutes were.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
Just absolutely brutal.

Speaker 4 (06:49):
And so it's only three games, and so you know,
I'm kind of in a situation where you know, you
worry about every thing, but panic about nothing. And so
you know, there's definitely some things for Kentucky to work on.
The defense was substandard, but you still have the premiere

(07:11):
rim protector in all of college basketball coming back in
three to six weeks, and so I don't think that's
going to be a long term problem for Kentucky. Going forward,
but especially down the stretch. I just think you got
to get a little bit.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
More out of otega Away and Jalen low Well, I
was gonna ask you about that first, because you did
tweet about the fact that you've got a great rim
protector coming back.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
You got to hope no more than a month and
a half.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
But you also made an interesting point about otega Oway
on Twitter. Share that with our listeners if you will.

Speaker 4 (07:43):
Yeah, I mean it just at least through the first
you know, three games, and I mean even counting the exhibitions,
I just don't think we've seen quite the same otega
Oway that we saw last season. I don't think he's
playing with quite the same edge that he did a
year ago. I think his shot selection is completely different.
I'm not sure, if you know, kind of the the

(08:05):
NBA scouts maybe got in his head.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
A little bit, and you know, he's trying to prove
that he's an improved outside shooter.

Speaker 4 (08:12):
But you know, last night, six three point attempts is
just not what you want to see from otega Oway.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
You want to see him driving the ball.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
Getting downhill, getting to the rim, drawing contact and was
just settling for way too many outside jumpers, and I
think part of what made him so good last year
was he had the shooters around him to kind of
open up the floor and open up those driving lanes
for him to get to the rim. I don't think
he has that on quite the same level this season.

(08:40):
And so if if Mark Pope is relying on otega
Oway to stand in the corner and space the floor,
I just think that's that's not really a recipe for success.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
Yeah, and I thought he'd drifted a little bit early.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
He had those five turnovers which contributed in part to
Kentucky falling behind early, didn't it.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (08:58):
And you know which, which is odd because he was
so good in that game in the win over Louisville
last season. But you know, a team worst minus sixteen
and the plus minus a team high five turnovers, did
not shoot the ball well, had some dumb fouls that
kind of got him in foul trouble and took him
off the floor for stretches, and so again, just not

(09:21):
what you want to see from your star player and
your preseason SEC player of the year.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
People worry about the fact that Kobe Brea is not
here anymore, and why not. I mean he was probably
the pre eminent three point shooter in America last year.
Maybe not statistically, but sure seemed like at a time.
But Colin Chandler, you got to hand it to him,
especially down the stretch last night, when it comes to
his three point shooting, don't you Yeah.

Speaker 4 (09:47):
I think that's a very significant development for Kentucky. Will
they have the volume of three point shooting that they
did a season ago, Probably not, but they may have
more guys that can shoot it on this year's team.
And I think if Colin Chandler can can make a
step forward like he's done. He's hit four threes in

(10:08):
all three of their games to this point, shooting fifty
seven percent from beyond the arc, If he can kind
of become that knockdown shooter that Kobe Braa was a
year ago, I think it's going to do wonders for
this Kentucky offense. But you know, I said this last spring,
Colin Chandler just looked like he was getting better and
more confident every single time he stepped on the floor.

(10:30):
And you know, when you don't play basketball for two years,
you know that'll that will happen. But it looks like
he's taking another step forward. He's playing with a ton
of confidence. He's shooting the ball with a ton of confidence.
And if he can grow into that knockdown shooter, like
I said, that's going to space the four and really
give Kentucky a big lift.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
Speaking of shooters, one of the reasons Cam Williams is
at Kentucky it was his three point shooting at two Lane.
Got off to a rough start, but finally hit one,
and not only hit one, Chris, but hit one one
They needed it the most. What did you make of
the fact that Mark Pope turned to him late in
the game.

Speaker 4 (11:06):
Yeah, I mean, kudos to him for coming in and
you know, a guy that has not played well to
this point in the season and hasn't been able to
find his shot, and you know, making threes at Kentucky
is a little.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
Bit different than making them at Tulane.

Speaker 4 (11:22):
And for him to come in as much as he
had struggled and come up big and those big moments,
and for Mark Pope to trust him, you know, playing
those crunch time minutes down the stretch, I think speaks
a lot about Mark Pope and his feeling and his
confidence in Cam Williams. But he's another guy that you know,

(11:42):
Mark Pope. They're so deep and they have so many parts,
but in some ways they have guys that are better
defensively that aren't as good offensively, and the guys that
are good offensively aren't quite as good defensively, and so
you kind of have to find a little bit of
a balance there. But he's another guy that Kentucky could
really use to step up and make some perimeter shots.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
He is Chris Fisher.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Follow him on Twitter at Chris Fisher two four eight.
Thank you, sir, Talk to you again soon.

Speaker 5 (12:11):
All right, thanks Bud.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
When we come back, Charles Walker, we'll talk Kentucky football
here on the Leech Report. Welcome back, Dick Gabriel sitting
in for Tom Leach on The Leach Report. Coming to
you from the Clark's Pumping Shops Studio. Remember sign up
for their new loyalty rewards program. We welcome in Chris,
or rather a Charles Walker on the show The Former
Football Woldkay, Good morning.

Speaker 5 (12:31):
Charles, Good morning Dick.

Speaker 6 (12:34):
How you doing.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
I'm well, sir. How are you feeling about your football Wildcats?

Speaker 1 (12:38):
These days? A little bit different now A couple of weeks.

Speaker 6 (12:41):
I think stoops hasn't motivated, and they played a pretty
dang good football game on Saturday night, and I think
the whole fan base like watching that beat down.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Oh yeah, what are you seeing now from the team
in general that maybe was lacking a couple three weeks ago,
You know.

Speaker 6 (12:59):
Dick, I'm seeing meshing. And all I mean by that
is the players are playing together. The offense is clicking,
We're making those third and sixes, and we're hitting chunk plays.
And that's what, you know, we've been waiting for all
season long. We need those explosive plays, and we've found
some young receivers that can give it to us. I

(13:21):
just think, you know what, that the team's coming together
and they're playing together, which is something that the fan
base loves to see.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
As a guy who was a receiver, you gotta like
the way I would think that Cutter Bowley is exhibiting
a great deal of democracy, spreading the ball around, using
everybody at his disposal right now, which makes of course
everybody and everything more dangerous, right.

Speaker 5 (13:44):
You know, And Tom and I have talked about this.

Speaker 6 (13:46):
It's not only Cutter finding some confidence, but I think
Bush Hampden is learning the plays that Cutter likes to run,
making the.

Speaker 5 (13:55):
Reads easier, and of course our guys.

Speaker 6 (13:57):
Are getting open, and when they're getting open, they're making
plays after catching the ball, which is something that earlier
in the season was not happening. So I think again,
it's it's Tom and I used the golfer and the
caddy way earlier in the season. I think we've got
a PGA Tour golfer and we've got a PGA Tour
caddy with us.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Is this a trap game coming up? Do you believe
in trap games?

Speaker 6 (14:20):
You know Stoops never believed in him. And when I
say that, you know he puts he puts the film up.
You know, you look at the teams are playing, the
athletes you're playing against, and you know they happen everywhere.
All I can say is this is trap games are tough.
When you're rolling okay, and I think this team has
come together. You got you can't look ahead, but you

(14:41):
got to play the game, play at home, come back
to the fan base, and that's what we got to do.

Speaker 5 (14:45):
We got to be there.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
Well, we've seen FCS teams come in, particularly Eku through
the years and give Kentucky trouble. I guess you're only human.
These are youngsters, Charles, You and I get older every
year and these kids remain eighteen nineteen years old. But
you think back to when you played. Is it possible
to mentally get yourself as ready as a player for

(15:07):
a team like this coming in? And this is a
good Tennessee Tech team, But it's not Georgia. You know,
it's not Alabama, right, correct?

Speaker 6 (15:15):
And here's what I'd say the best part about it is,
I think we're kicking it right at one thirty. If
it's a night game, you kind of have all day
to think about it, to watch other team. But because
it's a one thirty, you wake up, you do your routine,
you be a man, you go out, and you win
the football game. So I think that's what we're going
to see from the Cats this weekend.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, let's talk a little defense. I know you're an offensive.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
Guy, but you got to hand it to Brad White
and his ball club, especially the last two weeks. I
know you and Tom talked about the Auburn win, but
defense came through again against Florida, which was dangerous.

Speaker 5 (15:47):
You know, dangerous, and Florida has the athletes.

Speaker 6 (15:49):
Obviously everyone knows that, but you know, our open field
tackling was something that we had not seen really throughout
the year, and we did a great job of that
as well as caressing you know, the play. You know
there was there was never just one UK football player
tackling one of those guys last weekend, which is what
you need out of the defense. You play hungry, you
get to the ball, you cause turnovers. You know that

(16:12):
that's what we're gonna need to not well maybe maybe
not to win this weekend, but to beat Vanny, to
beat Louisville, you got to win that turnover battle.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
Well yeah, but it would certainly help this week. And
it's also going to help if and when the backups
can stand in because you hate losing obviously, anybody two
defensive starters maybe down Alex Safari as well this week.
But I Charles, I just love the way the backups
have played, you know, the young guys getting a chance
to play, you know, and.

Speaker 6 (16:38):
That you know Stoops his mentality even when I was
there was next man up, and yeah, you can't lose
a beat when when something goes wrong you get. Getting
these young guys in and getting them experience is going
to be crucial for player development. And everyone knows this
about Stoops. He can recruit, he can develop, so it's
fun to watch.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
But he'll also take a young walk gone like you
and give him an opportunity to play if they earn it.
And so we're seeing that if guys can produce, they'll
find the field, won't they.

Speaker 5 (17:09):
You know, we talked about it yesterday at a work conference.

Speaker 6 (17:13):
But he's a player's coach, and to your point right
there is he's going to play the man that deserves
to play, whether he's the best man or the hardest
working guy.

Speaker 5 (17:21):
That's something that's stupid.

Speaker 6 (17:22):
So I'll always stand by. So he's got a special
place in my heart.

Speaker 5 (17:26):
I love that.

Speaker 6 (17:26):
I love that we're back rolling again because it was
it was tough earlier in the season, but right now
I think everyone can agree that we got the right
guy at the helm.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
You must talk a lot of football when you're not
on the air, when people find out who you are
and what you did and things like that.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
But I know you love it, don't you.

Speaker 6 (17:43):
I love it, And you know I bleed blue Dick.
We went to the basketball game last night and you know,
my buddy's drasking me, you're not wearing red. I'm like, no,
I grew up a bit huge U of L fan,
But oh yeah, I grew up a huge U of
L fan. Now I bleed blue and it's uh yeah,
it's just a it's it's a great university and a
great program.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
Charles, have a great weekend. Good talking to you. Thanks,
Dickye coming up, Mike.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
The course he had the Sporting News here on the
Leach Report. Welcome back, Dick. Abrielle sitting in for the
Leach Report, presented by bobcat enterprises four locations in Kentucky.
When you need a rent or buy heavy equipment, google
them to find the closest location to you. My great
good fortune as I sit in for Tom to welcome
Mike the Corsi, a regular here on the Leech Report,

(18:28):
the pre eminent college basketball writer, a columnist for The
Sporting News, works for the Big Ten Network as a
studio analyst, creates NCA brackets for Fox Sports, covers.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
The NFL soccer. He does it all. Good morning, Mike,
Good morning, Dick.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
How are you.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
I'm well, sir.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
What are we to make of last night's Kentucky Louisville matchup?

Speaker 7 (18:49):
Well, I think that the fact that was played when
it did when it was certainly had an impact on
how it played out.

Speaker 5 (18:57):
We hadn't gotten a chance to see either team.

Speaker 7 (19:00):
Play a lot of basketball, so for each team, the
film room, so to speak, was a bit limited, and
that I think it disadvantaged both teams to an extent.
But I think in this case it probably had an
impact on Kentucky because there was so little book on
some of their guys, and they had played the one

(19:24):
exhibition game, the strong exhibition game against Kansas, and Kansas
had played very well and Mikel Brown didn't play well
at all, so it was hard to.

Speaker 5 (19:36):
Get a read on how good he would be.

Speaker 7 (19:39):
Obviously, they knew going in he's a very talented player
and has a great future, but exactly what he might
be capable of was probably a bit of an unknown
for Kentucky, and I thought that all in all, I
thought Kentucky maybe allowed the game to get going a
little fast for them in that matchup, with Kentucky being

(20:05):
still somewhat limited by injury.

Speaker 5 (20:07):
Jalen Low didn't start the game.

Speaker 7 (20:10):
I don't think I think you want to play your system,
but I don't know that you want to play it
quite that devotedly when Denzel Aberdeen is your point guard,
because he's still fairly inexperienced as a point.

Speaker 5 (20:25):
He's played, he's played there.

Speaker 7 (20:27):
Look, he played there in some of the biggest games
that you could play, but he's not but it's not
something he's done a ton at this level. And so
I didn't think that they were very proficient in that case.
And I thought Jalen Load did some really nice things
early and then whether it was fatigue, obviously Louisville played

(20:47):
a role in it, but I thought he made a
lot of mental errors in crucial situations. I mean, he
only had three turnovers in thirty minutes. That's not an
awful number at that pace, ye, but the ones he
had were really costly.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
Oh yeah, and down the stretch. You know, it looked
like he tried to sort of be a leader on
the one hand take over the game on the other,
and they got away from what got him back into
that game.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
Did I write that right?

Speaker 5 (21:15):
Yes, yes, absolutely, one hundred percent.

Speaker 7 (21:19):
I think that they I think that there was a
little bit more and I think some of this is
again the function of when you played and all of
that sort of stuff, But I think there was there
was a lot of Okay, I'm going to fix this,
or alternatively, another explanation would be, hey, coach said to
shoot when I'm open.

Speaker 5 (21:38):
That's what we're supposed to be doing. Well. I mean
there's open and there's open. They're different.

Speaker 7 (21:44):
And you know, I talked to someone going into the
game about Louisville playing pressure, and they didn't really do
that much. It wasn't it wasn't that they played much
full court defense, but they did promote a quick pace,
and I thought it didn't always help Kentucky to take
those transition shots that they took. I mean, if you're

(22:07):
at the rim or you're getting one of those kickout
threes that went when the point guard goes deep and kicks.

Speaker 5 (22:12):
It out to you.

Speaker 7 (22:14):
But when you're bringing the ball up and you're stopping
either to shoot either from three or or from the
file line, those aren't easy plays to make.

Speaker 5 (22:23):
I mean, pros have trouble making those plays.

Speaker 7 (22:26):
And I thought Kentucky on occasion got caught up in
doing that.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
Yeah, but you talk about learning experience, I mean teaching
moments playing before a hostile crowd. This game will pay
dividends all year long. I gotta think, don't you.

Speaker 7 (22:43):
Oh absolutely, I think you look you want to win
a rivalry game like this because it's you know, they're
they're you know, they're the team that you're instructed to
not like. And in a lot of cases, you have
to be instructed to not like them because you came
from wherever. You came from Florida in the case of Denzel,
or you came from Pittsburgh in the case of Jalen

(23:05):
spent two years here and so he probably didn't like
Louisville much because he played against him in the league.

Speaker 5 (23:11):
But now he's got to really not like him, and
that's all.

Speaker 7 (23:13):
That's not an easy thing to come up with quickly,
and it's even more difficult when you are so fresh
in your season to manufacture that level of enmity that
ordinarily goes into a rivalry. I don't know exactly why
this game ended up at this stage of the schedule.

(23:34):
I'm glad they still played it, don't get me wrong,
But I still think it's a better position game closer
to conference season, after everybody's played a little hoops and
knows what they want to be.

Speaker 2 (23:45):
I don't know the role TV played in the scheduling
but through the years, I mean especially back to when
these were two top ten, even top five programs. This
was one of the jewels on the CBA schedule or
in the ESPN schedule, and I remember Mike the year
and you and I go back. But horror of horrors,

(24:07):
this game ended up on ESPN two and everybody heard
what was wrong.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
So that may have had something to do with that.
I don't know, what do you?

Speaker 2 (24:14):
You know?

Speaker 1 (24:15):
Is that the cynic in me?

Speaker 5 (24:17):
No?

Speaker 7 (24:17):
No, I mean I think that it probably played some
role in it. But I think that I think sometimes schedules,
especially now with the expanded conference schedules, that that you
might get a little bit of dip into late December
with that. I haven't checked the ACC schedule, but I
know that they've played at times in that final week.

(24:39):
I know the Big Ten, obviously working at BTN, has
at times pushed into the latter part of December. They
always play in the Big Ten now always plays a
couple of games in early December, but sometimes the leagues
will push up into that, into that window between Christmas
and New Year's Now.

Speaker 5 (24:59):
I don't know if that was what.

Speaker 7 (25:00):
It was, but I do really think that it's hard
on this rivalry to an extent. I know there won't
be any Louisville fans complaining based on the victory, but
I think it's hard on the rivalry to play it
so early that it really doesn't get quite the build
up for either side that it could and that it deserves.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
Talking to Mike de Corsi of The Sporting News and
the Big Ten Network, we'll come back and talk more
with Mike here on the Leech Report. Welcome back, Dick Gabriel,
sitting in for Tom Leach here on the Leech Report.
Company you from m Clark's pumpin Shop studio. We are
speaking with Mike de Corsi of the Sporting News the
Big Ten Network. Covers a little bit of everything, if
you will, and Mike, before I shift you over to football,

(25:46):
I do.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
Want to ask you.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
You retweeted a story about Danny Hurley and his contentious
relationship with one of his own players.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
What did you make of that?

Speaker 7 (25:56):
Well, Dan Is is an interesting individual who is one
of the really fascinating interview subjects and a tremendous conversationalists.
He has it's such a difficult sideline demeanor at times
that fans can get the impression that he's tough for

(26:19):
difficult to speak with or whatever. And I'm telling you,
of all the coaches in college basketball, he's one of
the most cooperative, most open people. Just there's something about
when he gets near that rectangle that just he becomes
a slightly different person. And I think he was just
being very open about that relationship.

Speaker 5 (26:42):
So I think it was important for him to communicate.

Speaker 7 (26:44):
That something somewhat similar to what Matt Painter once did
in around twenty fourteen or so, and what Jay Wright
did more or.

Speaker 5 (26:56):
Less around the same time. No, actually his Yeah, this
was around the same time, maybe a little bit earlier,
that they.

Speaker 7 (27:03):
Made conscious decisions after working with a particular player or
a group of players, Like I'm not following the recruiting
rankings anymore. I'm trusting my own eyes and more so,
I'm trusting my own judgment slash heart. I'm going after
guys who I know I can coach, who I know
want to be here, who I know want to play together,

(27:25):
want to play for the team, And I'll get them.
And if I get those guys, I'll get them to
where they can go. I mean, Zach Edie, a lot
of people thought he I think he was ranked in
the four hundreds, thought he would ever be anything. He
was a top ten pick in the NBA draft. Jay
Wright won two national championships with his guys and made
Mikale bridges from the eighty fifth player in his class

(27:47):
to I think a top ten pick as well. So
those are the kinds of thing decisions that they made,
and I think Dan made that decision as well, although
in his case, I think I think you know, he
did it after he had some success. He happened to
get a couple of groups that he really liked and

(28:08):
really clicked with, and then subsequent to that, found out
that you know, you could, even after that success, or
maybe trying to continue to chase that degree of success,
you can make those kinds of mistakes.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
Each week on my show on the Big blon Slider,
and you have been a guest on that show several times.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
I speak with Sean Woods, and we.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
All know Sean played a Kentucky hit the shot right
before Ladner shot all that, went on to a career
as a college coach and had some success. Now he's
coaching a high profile high school team here in central Kentucky,
and we've talked a lot Mike about the fact that
he believes you cannot coach kids.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
And I'm not talking about the high school level.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
I'm talking about the college level, the way he was
coached by Rick Patino. And I don't know if it's
fair to compare Hurley style to Patino's style, but it's
not you know, warm and fuzzy, rub your the back
of your neck kind of style of coaching.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
Do you believe that?

Speaker 2 (29:05):
Do you believe kids cannot be coached, as Sean puts it,
coached hard anymore?

Speaker 5 (29:11):
I think you still can. I think I still see it.

Speaker 7 (29:14):
I think that that one of the things that first
of all, if you're going to do it, you better
be Tom Izzo or you better be Rick Ptino.

Speaker 5 (29:23):
It's hard for you to do that.

Speaker 7 (29:25):
When you don't have that weight of accomplishment behind you. Yeah,
and I think Dan with two championships, can do that
when he wants. But the one thing that Rick said
in an interview he did a couple of weeks ago
that I thought that sort of addresses this point, is
it tends to be more private when you really get

(29:46):
on against.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
That.

Speaker 7 (29:50):
He said that kids get embarrassed in front of their peers.
And and take that differently now than they did twenty
years ago. I think there were always who would players
who would take it badly if you did that in
front of people. But I think he thinks it's more
collective now, more or universal, and.

Speaker 5 (30:10):
So I do think that.

Speaker 7 (30:11):
I mean I still see on occasion tom Izzo when
somebody does something that he finds particularly bothersome during the
course of a game, if it's really something that maybe
they've stressed a lot in practice or gone over a
bunch of times, I think you'll still see him, uh,
you know, give give a tough grade, so to speak

(30:31):
to a guy right there in front of everybody at
the Breslin Center.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
Yeah, but he's tom Izzo, like you said, Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 5 (30:39):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
But one of my favorite you have to be that
one of my favorite moments I was happened to be
with Sean. This was several years ago when Patino was
at Louisville and they had won a big game in
the NCA Tournament in rupp Arena, and Sewn had not
seen Rick in quite a while, and then so he
and I both went in the locker room. You know,
media were allowed in there, as you know, and he

(31:01):
was in there when one of the Louisville players they
had won hollered across the locker room to Patino, Hey, coach,
what time does the bus leave?

Speaker 1 (31:10):
And Sean said, he physically winced.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
He almost ducked, knowing that what was about to be
unleashed on this kid for not knowing when the bus
was leaving, And he said, and then Patino said, oh,
you know, fifteen minutes, and Sean thought, wow, things have changed,
so you know, coaches mature, they changed with the times.
Just a couple of minutes left with Mike de Corsi,

(31:33):
I got to ask you about your beloved Pittsburgh Steelers.
I mean the last time you and I spoke, I
think it was on this show about Aaron Rodgers what
to expect and all that. I got, buddies, who are
Steeler fans?

Speaker 1 (31:43):
How are you doing right now?

Speaker 5 (31:46):
You know?

Speaker 7 (31:46):
I was obviously very disappointed in how he played. In particular,
I didn't like some of the play calls that they
made for him.

Speaker 5 (31:54):
But I really was bothered by his performance.

Speaker 7 (31:57):
But it was the first time Dick In since he
walked onto the practice field, the mini campfield back in
I think it was early June and ever since then
until Sunday night, from a performance standpoint, he'd been more
or less pristine, and from a standpoint of being a Steeler.

Speaker 5 (32:18):
He'd done everything you could have won it.

Speaker 7 (32:19):
He avoided all the nonsense that came to define his
public persona in the earlier part of this decade.

Speaker 5 (32:26):
He hasn't done any of that. It's all been about
winning football games.

Speaker 7 (32:31):
He just played really badly, and they could have won
that game with a performance that was the equivalent of
whatever his weakest and performance in the previous eight games.
They could have won just with that. On Sunday night,
they were right there, but he was way below that line.
And probably I think you can make the case he's

(32:53):
never played that poorly as a professional.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
Yeah, yeah, And I know people are unhappy with the
defense as well, and it doesn't really look like a
Steelers defense.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
I got about thirty seconds. But how frustrating has that
been for you?

Speaker 7 (33:07):
I think that it hasn't been. But they weren't poor
on Sunday Night. It was a winning performance with a
adequate offensive performance. I think people want to slap on
the earlier part of the season, when they were horrendous.
They weren't awful on Sunday night, and I think if
they put a similar performance on the field on Sunday

(33:27):
against the Bengals, I think they'll be fine again, but
they have to be much much better on offense.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
Steelers Bengals always interesting in Mike de COURSI, we'll be
watching it closely, of course. Sporting News College Hoops columnist,
Big ten Network studio analyst Mike. Always a pleasure, have
a great weekend, sir.

Speaker 5 (33:45):
You too, Dick. Always great to talk to you.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
More to come on The Leach Report. Thanks again to
my guest today Mike.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
Decorsi, Charles Walker, and Chris Fisher. The usual Wednesday line
up here on the Leach Report. Tom will be back
tomorrow morning, and of course you will hear Tom along
with Jeff Picoro and yours truly as the Wildcats take
on Tennessee Tech Saturday afternoon at one thirty. That means
our pregame coverage with Christy Thomas, Logan Stenberg and Ricky

(34:12):
Lumpkin beginning at eleven thirty AM. As the Wildcats look
to make it three straight. You hear the game right
here on most of these same stations. Our final thoughts
in This Day and UK History presented by a Kentucky
road Show Sports Cards and Memorabilia in Lexington.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
Learn more about them.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
At roadshowcards dot com and on this Day. In nineteen
fifty I'm sorry. Nineteen sixty six, Dicky Lyons Senior set
a record for the longest punt return. It still stands
and probably always will. He took one back ninety seven
yards against Houston. Dickey Lyons was my first college football hero.

(34:50):
I had the same first name as I have, and
I went by Dicky when I was younger, and I
just thought this guy was the coolest thing ever. He
was such a great player on really bad Kentucky teams.
He played a stretch at Kentucky Football, some of the
worst football teams consistently in UK football history. They just
never really seemed to have a chance. But if they did,

(35:13):
it was probably because of something Dickie Lyons did. He
was like a poor man's Paul Horning. He wasn't that poor,
quite frankly, and went on to the NFL played for
the New Orleans Saints, but blew his knee his second year,
and that was back before they could repair knees the
way they do now. Dickey Lyons Sr. Became a private investigator,
believe it or not, but also went on to become

(35:35):
a father of more than one kid. But Richard Junior signed,
of course with Kentucky, and the backstory there was Joker
Phillips recruited him, and Joker, knowing the history of UK football,
of course immediately said no, you're going to be Dicky Junior.
And he still goes today by Richard. But at Kentucky

(35:55):
he went by Dickie and became a great, great player
on one of the greatest team. Ironically enough, his father
was one of the greatest players on bad teams. Dicky
Lions Junior became one of the best players on some
of the best UK offenses in history. In fact, the
best offensive team in UK history came about in twenty
oh seven and he was a big part of that

(36:16):
team that, along with Andre Woodson, Keenan Burton and the rest,
did some great things. But it started, of course with
Dickey Senior. And I remember having a conversation with the Gen.
D Philippo, the former athletics director assistant ad at Kentucky
back then sort of oversaw you know the ring of
honor if you will, and I said, man, this guy
you got to have in there, and it's Dicky Lyon Senior.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
And he said, who's that.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
And of course Gene had been coaching in other places
and working in other places. And I explained to him
what this guy did you know? And the next thing
I know, it wasn't entirely because of what I said,
but I'd like to think that maybe I put, you know,
the thought in his head that we got to look
into this guy, Dicky Lion Senior.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
He once told me Dicky did.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
About setting that punt return record, said, I think they
were being beaten, and so he's sitting, you know, inside
the ten. You're supposed to let it go, and he thought, oh,
what the hell.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
And he pulled it out of the air and took
off with it. Ninety seven yards later he had a touchdown.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
So a great moment in UK history on this day
back in nineteen sixty six, set by Dicky Lyons Senior,
who settled right outside of New Orleans, raised a family,
including Dicky Junior.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
That'll do it. Thanks everybody, have a great day.