December 9, 2025 • 38 mins
Tom talks with Larry Vaught, Ben Roberts, and more.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
God Day. Everybody welcome in. It is the Leech Report.
We are presented by Bob Kat Enterprises. Thanks to Maggie
Davis for filling in yesterday and to do a talk
to a group from it's the US Sports Congress, the
groups of individuals from all over the country that are
(00:22):
involved with organizations that do youth sports and events like
I don't know, like something like the not quite on
the scale of the world or custering games but I
don't know, things like that. All of those all over
the country and their meeting in Lexington this week. So
(00:42):
it's good fun to talk to that group and hopefully
they'll enjoy their time in Lexington coming up today they
might be going to some of them to the game
tonight as Kentucky will play UNC Central down at ropp Arena,
and we will talk Kentucky basketball. We'll spend a whole
lot of time breaking down that matchup, but we will
talk Kentucky basketball, Tuckey football, and more. Larry Vaught will
join us, and then Ben Roberts from the Lexington Herald
(01:06):
Leader Kentucky sports dot Com as well. Then we may
had one more we'll see how it plays out. Waiting
to hear back on a text today. So Wildcat News
of the Day presented by just Sepies of Lexington. North
Carolina Central's three and eight. So Kentucky's obviously a huge
favorite to get a win, But nothing that happens tonight's
(01:29):
going to convince anybody that anything's different from what they
saw last week in the losses to Carolina and Gonzaga.
So the big one is Saturday when Indiana rolls into town.
But still you would hope to see Kentucky show some
of the things they didn't show against Gonzaga, even though
it's against much lesser competition, Mainly just you know, play
(01:51):
it hard, having after loose balls, going after rebounds, all
those kinds of things. The players yesterday talked about some
of that. Couple of them did the media session. It
was Denzel Aberdeen and Jasper Johnson. We'll talk about some
of this when when Ben joins us. But Denzel said
he can understand the booze that they heard from their
(02:14):
own fans down at the arena in Nashville, because, as
he said, people pay money to see us, They support
us each and every game, whether it's home or away,
and they are thankful for the fans, he said, and
it's quite understandable. And here's what he went on.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
To say, things just showing it on the floor, showing
that we care each and every time we step on
the floor. Like I said, we got to win games.
So I think it's just winning games. Well, thanks out
the noise and all that.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
I was probably you didn't find us as shooting struggles.
You guys had the team this year.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Certainly again all season you coach, other people are like, oh,
team shoots are great.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Practice, but they haven't really showed up in games.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I mean, to me, I'll just say keep shooting, like
eventually he got to go in at some point, but
we just got to take the right shots at that. So,
like I said, just creating playing off too, creating players
for teammates, and just getting when we get the chance
to shooting, why don't catch shoot shots or attack the basket?
Who's got to make him?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So it was Denzel Aberdeen yesterday, and Kentucky has a
lot of guys shooting below the standard they normally shoot.
Think about a guy that Cam Williams was a forty
percent shooter on threes last year and I don't know
his numbers from earlier in his career, but I would
suspect they were quite impressive as well, and they're not
there now that's just one guy. But what usually is
happening when when that's the case is I mean, you
(03:30):
could have stretch where some guy's just in a in
a funk, but if it's more than one guy, which
it is here, I'm just using Cam because he's such
a good shooter on numbers, but you know, there's a
lot of guys that are not shooting it as well
as they are capable of. And I think a lot
of times that's related to one or both things. It's
(03:52):
make him, you know, playing together as a team better
and getting better shots. And there were a few possessions
in the Gonzaga game where you saw that happen with
Jalen Lowe and he kicked it out. The shots were
unfortunately missed, but they were the kinds of shots you
want to get. And if you keep getting good shots,
(04:12):
good shooters will start to make them. And that's what
Kentucky has to get more good shots and make plays
for teammates, make harder cuts, present opportunities for a teammate
to get you the ball in an open spot. The
teammate then doms to deliver the ball. So those things
(04:35):
need to happen to help a team get out of
a shooting funk. And then sometimes it can also be
some fundamental things. Denzel was talking about playing off two feet,
some of those fundamental things that can slip when you
get into a slump. So that's the challenge for those
guys to both show fans that what it does mean
(04:57):
to them to play not only here, but just be
able to play the sport of college basketball that they
love and to let that show in the way that
they play, and then second la to play better together.
So we'll see if we see some signs of that
tonight in the game. Mark Pope and the radio show
last night, and a couple of interesting things. One he
(05:18):
said Otega away on Saturday had the best practice he's
had in the two seasons he's been with Mark Pope.
That's what Coach Pope said last night. And Otega caught
a lot of heat even though he was actually the
leading score, rebounder, and assist guy I think in the
Gonzaga game, but clearly did not play well. It's an
(05:40):
example of its more of the numbers. If you watched
the game. Nobody played well, obviously, but if you look
at the numbers, you could think it was better than
it was. And so I'm sure Otega heard that, and anyway,
Mark saying that was encouraging if we see it transferred
(06:01):
onto the court tonight and beyond. But that Otega again
had his best practice he's had in the two seasons
he's been with Mark Pope. So one would think that
some of what some of the criticism maybe was hurt
and he's out to prove some things and if he
plays with a little chip on his shoulder, more power
to him. And then Coach Bope had some updates on
(06:23):
health moda bat He said continues making a little bit
of progress and his kind of day to day. So
I think folks are taking that as a more optimistic
outlook than last week. It's when you're talking about a
high ankle sprain, it's gonna take a little while. Usually
they're varying degrees of hyinkel Sprain's too, and I got
(06:44):
a good education of heinekel Sprain's Jim Madelino, the longtime
trainer for Kentucky football. I would watch a lot of
practices Jim, and I came in at the same time.
And if you're talking to the trainer and nobody gets
hurt during practice, then the trainer has more time to
talk and so get edge a little bit on some
of the aspects of you know what the injuries are
like and what you're dealing with. And I know that
(07:07):
high ankle sprains vary from individual to individual in terms
of the severity. Pope said, Jayden and Quainton's making tremendous progress,
but quote still a ways away from playing in games.
There was a KSR on three Sports Report yesterday that
said JQ was doing some full contact work in practice
yesterday and then Jalen Lowe making continued improvement. According to
(07:31):
coach Pope. Links to the stories that we talk about.
You can find them on the bud Light Leach Report
page at Tom Leachky dot com. When come right back,
Larry Vott will join the program. We'll get his take
on Kentucky basketball football. It is the Leach Report Radio
Network and we are presented this opening segment each day
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(07:52):
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It is the Leech Report Radio network. It's the Leach Report.
We're presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises with four locations
(08:14):
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Vaut from your sports Edge dot com. You also hear
them on the Sunday Morning Sports talk show each week
with Anthony White and Jack Pilgrim and Bo Robinson and Larry.
I grew up in a small town. You live over
and Dan, We'll have all your life. And in Paris,
(08:57):
Jerry's was the gathering spot wherebody got together and solved
all the world's problems, usually starting with the Kentucky Wildcats.
I don't know where it is in Danville, but I
imagine they're talking still about the Kentucky Wildcats and mainly
men's basketball.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Right.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
They are. And there's several spots that you do that.
Now things have changed a little, as you know, there's
more places where all that gets done. But a lot
of this people don't quite understand what is going on,
don't know whether to give up, hold on wish for better.
I think it's just perplexing for everyone right now, just
(09:35):
how poorly they have looked in games. And I know
the lineup that we all thought Kentucky was going to
have we've still not seen play this year. And that's
one thing I think you have to remember. But I
don't know if we'll ever see that lineup all play
together or not. But as somebody who used to be
in Kentucky once said, you don't have to win them all,
(09:57):
but just can't lose them all. And right now Kentucky's
on the wrong trend.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, it hit the bottom Friday night in Nashville. I mean,
you can look back and you can individually say, well,
you know, losing it on the road to Louisville. They're
really good, and it was a game you had a
chance to win at the last media timeout. So not
a bad loss. Okay, you get spanked by Michigan State,
but they started seven and zero and took Duke to
(10:22):
the wire on Saturday. Then you got Carolina, all right,
that's that's that's the worst one of the three because
you had it and you let it get away, and
that was one that you should have had. You were
you were better than them, I think, especially on your
home floor. And then Friday night, as I said, just
hit bottom. So you know, you could pick out anyone
(10:45):
individually and talk about it until you get to Gonzaga,
but you put them all together and obviously something has
to change. So how does that happen?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
I don't know. I think it's pretty hard when you
hit bottled like what you did against Gonzaga to just
flip a switch and get it back. It's going to
take some time, I think, But I think Mark's just
going to have to get a little tougher and little
rougher on those guys. I think he's a terrific person
and he's a kind of naturally just a nice, mild
(11:18):
mannered guy. I think he's going to have to kick
a chair, throw a table, do something. He's going to
have to get through those guys and what they've done
is just not acceptable. I know Denzel Aberdeen talked about yesterday. Yeah,
they know that they all love each other. Now they
know they got to play with more energy and more effort.
And now that sounds good, But I don't have would
(11:39):
take it to almost mid December to figure out you've
got to play with more energy and more effort. That
just doesn't quite resonate. I don't think in Kentucky with
fans to hear that in mid December, the yeah, we've
got that figured out now. And maybe Mark's just got
to cut that plane rotation, something I know he doesn't
want to do, and that would make some guys that
are not happy. But if you're not playing and producing,
(12:02):
maybe you just need to sit over there with him
for a while. Then maybe in the Eattern exchange you
will play and produce, and then I think the last
thing Tom and I heard you mentioned is the other
day they just makes shots to help more than anything does.
We make shots things kind of can that our bad
could hit it a little bit better if you yeah,
you take a bad shot, but if you make it,
(12:22):
it's okay.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
And I all like that.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
But right now, I just never thought we'd ever see
this team. I think it'd be a great shooting team,
but I never thought it'd be this pour of a
shooting team.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Well, and it shouldn't be. I mean, there's there's guys
that are shooting well below what they we know they're
capable of. I mean, I can't I don't have the
numbers in front of you, but if you put like
Cam and Trent Noah, those two in particular together, you
know what their number is in those big games quote
unquote is nowhere near what they're capable of. And as
(12:57):
I heard Aberdeen say in the media session yesterday, I've
just got to keep working out there eventually going to
go in. That's not the best strategy because and and
and I guarantee you the coaches are not you know,
counting on that as the way to come out of this,
that it's eventually going to go in. If they're not
going in, there's probably a reason you maybe haven't just
(13:18):
figured figured it out or accepted it yet. But I
think you know, setting up making things easier for somebody else. Uh.
If you're struggling, make something easier for somebody else. Uh.
If you, as I said at one point turing the
broadcast with Andrea, when when it got too for six
at some point on a given night, maybe you just
(13:38):
need to drive the ball, uh, and and figure out
why the jumpers aren't going in later and just find
find something different. Things like that. Fundamentally, you know they
Denzel talking about playing off two feet more, all those
kinds of things. Yeah, you know, if things aren't going well,
study that tape, clean up everything you can clean up.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Yeah, and they've got a lot they can clean up.
I think that it is. I'll let Jack come talk
to him, because I don't want to say it was
fun listening to him on Friday night, because that would
be the right way to describe it. But you could
certainly hear his frustrations more and more. It's a game
in a very professional way, but you could tell he
(14:19):
dis was totally frustrated with what he saw and it
was just hard to comprehend. I know myself. I started
out just watching a little bit of the volleyball one
of the what's some of the volleyball game and just kind
of see how that started out. And I flipped and
I flipped over to see the basketball game, and it
was already nineteen to two. Yeah, And so then I
(14:41):
flipped on the listening to you guys too and just
went back to watching the volleyball for a while, and
listening to Jack's explanations or lack of export of understanding
of what was going on was just pretty.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Badly absolutely right. Larry VODs with us, We'll take a
quick break, come back with one more segment. We'll talk
a little Kentucky volleyball when we come right back. That
is the Leads Report coming to you from the Clark's
Pumping Shop studio. Return, Refresh and refuel at Clark's Back
with Larry Vatt. You can read Larry's work at your
sports edge dot com, and if you go there, you'll
(15:13):
see a story about some comments from Darius Miller that
joined you guys on the Sunday Morning sports talk show
here this past weekend. What was Darius's take.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Well, Darius is I'm here to kind of promote the
toy drive that got coming up out of the Alumni Center,
but also had to change stacy of what kind of
advice you would have for Mark Pope or for UK
fans right now, the biggest thing was with fans. He
said not to bail on the team because what it
needs to support more than any is right now. And
(15:46):
then he still thinks it's not too late, you don't
need to abandon the ship, but that right now it's
more important than ever to support the team because players,
when they hear the booze and the different things, it
just kind of takes away what little confidence they might have.
It takes away even more. Of course, Darius went through
them ups and downs at Kentucky playing for Billy Gilestrie
(16:08):
than being on John Calipari's national championship team, and he
tried to talk, tried to preach patients more than anything,
so just kind of different to get a little bit
of his perspective on what was going on.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Some of that, and guessing you would agrees on players too,
to play with the fire that will get fans to
rally around you.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Absolutely, I think that's something they've got to take into
consideration and figure out. And surely when they look at
the film or video whatever you call it, now, they
can see that, Yeah, there's a lot of spots they
were lacking, and they certainly need to do better starting tonight,
which I'm assuming they will tonight, but then Saturdays I
think to change. So they've got to redeem themselves with fans.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, right there, the home arena. Good point. Quick thought
on volleyball, Larry, what did you think about how they
played last week? Get into a advanced to the sweet sixteen.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Just did the same things they've been doing. The biggest
todd on volleyball is the fact that when they play
Thursday afternoon, now you should be able to park at
Memorial Coliseum, because I didn't realize yesterday the classes would
be out Thursday and Friday because of the read day
it's called to get ready for final exams. So I
was worried about how anybody's going to find a spot
(17:24):
to park around the World Coliseum and on a Thursday afternoon.
But now the lots should be kind of empty like
what they are, so if you're planning on going, it
should be a lot easier to get there. If you
hadn't thought about going, I would certainly encourage you to
do so now because being able to find a spot
to parks will be a lot lot easier than I
think I was expecting.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Well, that's good to hear, and it's a team very
much deserving of all the support they could get.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yeah, I think on the way to the Final four,
they just have the depth. They got the star players,
they've got the unsung heroes. Their defense is really good,
their heating power is really good. They and they're really
just exciting and fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Larry Vatt. You can read them at your sports edge
dot com and hear them on the Sunday morning sports
talk show each weekend. Larry, thank you much. All right,
Tom halfway home on this edition of The Leach Report.
Ben Roberts with us when we return. It's The Leach
Report presented by Bob Kat Enterprises. As we welcome Ben
Roberts into the program from the Lexington Herald Leader and
(18:24):
Kentucky Sports dot Com. So, Ben, let's talk a little
bit to start about things that you heard in the
last I don't know twenty four to forty eight hours.
You had the Mark Pope radio show last night, you
had the media opportunity with a couple of players. Yesterday.
You wrote in the Herald Leader about an interview Dan
(18:47):
Issel did on a station in Louisville and some of
his comments. So we'll start with the players yesterday, and
what did you take away from what you heard from
Denzel and Jasper?
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Yeah, I stuck with Denzel yesterday, and you know, it's
it's obvious that these guys, you know, they're not playing well.
I mean, that should be appearance of anybody who lived
through Friday night, you know. It just it doesn't sound
like there are a lot of answers.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
You know, as Denzel said, winning fixes it. Winning will
x X out all the all the rest of the
noise and and all of that. But they know there's
you know, there's there's a long way to go to
to get to where they need to be there. You know,
I don't know, I it's you come off a loss
like Friday night. You you just got to start stacking
(19:45):
days and stacking wins. And obviously, nothing that happens tonight
is going to change anybody's mind about this team. So
they need to build some positive momentum going into Saturday.
And obviously that wouldn't be a ranked win, but a
win over anybody with a name that people recognize at
this point, it would be a step in the would
be a step in the positive direction.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
We'll come back to some of the player comments. But
what about coach Pope, you on the radio show last night,
anything you heard there that caught your ear other than
you know, injury updates.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Yeah, injury updates. I mean, and I think that's a
big part of it, you know, I think you do
have to give some benefit of the doubt with this team.
And I know he's getting blasted for roster construction and
obviously with the results going this way, you know rightfully so,
but and you can't, you know, you can't factor Jaden
Quaintan's into this conversation because they knew they wouldn't have
(20:38):
them for this stretch of the season and had to
have known that there was a chance that they wouldn't
have them at all this season. So, but you're you're
missing your your point guard. I know he played Friday night,
but he's not anywhere close to at least if he's
filling one hundred percent, he's not anywhere close to being
in one hundred percent game shape. So that's kind of
a non factor when you're down seven to nothing, when
(21:00):
you when you even bring them into the game, So
you're missing your top point guard. You're missing Modia Bate,
a guy who who is obviously you're you're starting power forward,
and a guy you thought would be a major piece
of this team. They haven't really been healthy the whole season,
and with Jalen in and out of the lineup, it's
really thrown a curveball for how they want to play.
(21:21):
So I think until you get those two guys back,
and get them back for a little while and play
against good teams, you can't completely right off this team
or Pope's vision or what he was thinking when he
put it all together. Now, you know, if Jalen gets
knocked out of the lineup again, or if Mo takes
(21:43):
a little longer to come back, you know, you do
have to factor in for injuries, and folks should know
that as well as anybody after last season. Uh, but
you know, there's still obviously some reasons to hope for
this team, and I think that's one of the big ones.
You know, you're talking to Denzel yesterday, and he was
a guy who, at least from a positional standpoint, benefit
of the most from Jalen being out because he got
(22:04):
to run the one that's something that he thought he
felt comfortable doing, but even he acknowledged that he's a
much better player when Jalen's.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
In the lineup.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
They are a much better team when Jalen's in the lineup.
So you know, I if they can get keep him
healthy through the Indiana game, see what they.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Look like there.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
You know, maybe they show a little bit something different
on the court.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
I think the fans would counter with in the interim
between now and getting as healthy as they are going
to get hopefully to full strength. It's the passion that
you put on the court, and it's the way that
you played together as a team to maybe improve the offense.
(22:47):
Those kinds of things can be put out there no
matter who's on the floor, right, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
They can, And that is a that is a completely
fair counselor you know, it's hard to it's in most cases,
it's hard to judge effort and heart. You know, I
think some of that gets overblown when you get beat
as much as they got to beat Friday, and when
you're playing as poorly as they have. But you watch
some of those plays kind of in a vacuum, and
(23:17):
I mean you see the frustration there manifesting a way
manifesting itself in a lot of different ways. And to
Dan Issel's point with his interview yesterday, and I exchanged
some text messages with him later in the day, the
you know, his main point was that Pope needs to
shorten this lineup, and I think that's another fair assessment.
(23:41):
You know, it's hard to get in a rhythm when
not only so many guys are playing so many minutes,
but also so few minutes. You know, you don't have
anybody averaging more than twenty five minutes per game. It's
hard to get in that rhythm. And and then you
know he's bringing guys in and out of the lineup
at every you know, it seems like somebody's over at
(24:02):
the scorer's table just about every moment of the game.
They they've got to find some sort of rhythm, as
Dan said, they've got to find guys who clearly are
playing with passion, are playing with a lot of effort.
You know, it's hard to judge guys not playing with effort.
It's it's pretty easy to see when guys do play
with effort at heart. And he's got to find six
(24:24):
or seven guys who will do that and play cohesively
and play those guys and probably frankly not play the
other ones, you know, or at least play them in
very spot minutes and and very very spot scenarios. So, uh,
you know, I don't know who that is at this point,
but you know, he's the coach, and he's in practice
(24:46):
every day and he's watching those games from the sideline,
so that's something he's got to figure out.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Part of it. Some of it changes from game to game. Yeah,
I think about Andrea, who I thought played really well
against Carolina way guarded Caleb and then then really struggled
against against Zagat of part of it. Probably he's not
in some cases, he's not sure what he's going to
get from night to night and some points, and that's
(25:13):
on guys to change. You can at least the one
thing that can you know, the consistent effort of just
you know, fighting for whether it's for rebounds or whatever,
and looking for ways to you know, make harder cuts,
make better passes to your teammates, make sure you look
for your teammates. Those are the kinds of ways I
would think that you chip away at getting better offensively
(25:34):
at least.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
Yeah, absolutely, and to do that stuff when things aren't
going well and I think that's that's pretty clear to
everybody what happened Friday night is they got down in
that hole and even before you know that nineteen to
nineteen to two run was finished, guys had seemingly almost
given up on the game. And that was pretty apparent
(25:57):
to see that just the frustrations is mounting them out
thing amounting. And that's another thing that I think is
pretty visible with this team, is there, you know, and
this hurts with Jalen again being out of the lineup
for a few weeks, but it's a pretty rudderless team,
you know.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
There.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
There doesn't seem to be that guy who kind of
steps in when things are going bad and rallies everybody around,
you know. I know Pope. I've asked Pope about this
and and he said, there doesn't need to be one
overwhelming voice. It's it's fine if you have a lot
of voices that are stepping up in those leadership roles.
But it's really hard to see anybody doing that.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
And you need some voices.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
If it's not one, yeah yeah, If you don't have one,
one huge one, you got to have a lot of them.
And I don't know that they really have any in
those when it when things get toughest right now, and
that's something that especially a team. You know, I think
people are so used to Cow's teams and so many freshmen.
This is a pretty pretty young team too, and a
(26:55):
pretty inexperienced team to a lot of underclassmen, a lot
of guys looking to others really readership, especially when times
get tough. You know, it's easy for those to say
I'm a lead by example guy when things are going
really well and you're a top ten team in the country.
But you can't be a lead by example guy when
you're only four against the against quality competition. And if
(27:17):
that's how you're going to do it, then it's probably
not going to go in a very good direction.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Good chat with Ben Roberts from The Harold Leader Kentucky
sports dot Com. Will continue that visit when we come
right back. It's the Leach Report from the Clark's Pumping
Shop studio. Return Refresh and refuel at Clark's fourteen away
from the top of the hour. It is the Leach Report,
and we're chatting with Ben Roberts. He covers Kentucky men's
basketball for the Lexington Harold Leader, Kentucky sports dot Com.
(27:44):
One of the questions for coach Pope last night of
the radio show Ben was about his demeanor and is
he wanted to see him get more tease and be
more demonstrative on the sidelines. Number one, I don't think
that's who he is. But number two, do you think
there's more of some of that fire that maybe is
(28:05):
there in practice than fans may appreciate.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Yeah, I mean, I know you've been in there and
and I know he gets into gets into guys there,
you know, more so than he's going to show in
front of everybody and games, and you know to that,
I know that's that's kind of been a talking point
over the last few weeks here, and you know, people
upset that he's standing over there with his arms crossed
(28:30):
when they're missing thirteen straight shots against North Carolina. And
I mean my counter to that would be if they
missed thirteen straight shots and John Calla Perry's the head
coach and he's jumping up and down like a maniac
and screaming nonsensical things at him, I don't know how
much that helps either. You know, at some point, the
guy's got to make some shots. And when you get
(28:51):
out in a game situation. I mean, we've seen he
can coach from really day one. I mean you go
back to the video and the timeout before. They always
still on Cooper flag in the Duke game, which is
the first big game he coached in.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
You know, I.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
Maybe that would make fans feel better for a few
seconds after it happened. I don't know that it makes
you feel better when you're down twenty and your coach
gets it technical, I don't. I don't think that's going
to be like the fire of these guys. I think
at some point they've just they got to compete and
they got to get results. And I don't think that
changes whether folks jumping up and down or whether he's
(29:30):
sitting on a stool over there.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
I think the worst thing you can do as a
coach to when you're struggling is to be something you're not. Whatever.
Yeah that is, and.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
He wasn't struggling, But I think I mean, we could
do a four hour show, but I think that might
be a symptom of of the roster construction this season
is you know, I think they got into they had
they had a really great product, a really great brand
of basketball. They got into SEC play the to this
conference in the history of college basketball last season and
(30:03):
realized they didn't quite have the linked and athleticism to
keep up with some of those teams. And I think
they overcorrected in the portal and listened to a lot
of fans and frankly listened to a lot of media,
and you know, I was probably right in some of
the same stuff that you know, they were kind of
getting bullied around. You know, needed more strength, length, athleticism.
They went out and got it, but at least so far,
(30:26):
it looks like they sacrificed a lot of what made
that first team and what made some of his later
BYU teams really good. And I don't know if if
that kind of style is findable within this roster. And
I know he did he wasn't exactly trying to exactly
run it back the way he did last season, But
you know, you look at the SEC right now, I know,
(30:49):
for what it's worth. In December, the latest bracketology came
out and only eight teams were projected. So you're you're
gonna get eight games against the teams that aren't projected
to make the tournament. It's a little differ schedule you know,
would be interesting to see what that that brand of
basketball they played last season might might look like against
some of these teams they've already played and that they're
(31:10):
going to play this later this season.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
That seems to be a very fair criticism until they
show that it isn't.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
Yes, yeah, absolutely, I mean absolutely. I think, uh, there's
a lot of unfair criticism of Mark pub going on
right now, which is which is understandable and to be
accepted when you're to be expected when you're the Kentucky
basketball coach and you're playing this poorly. Uh, but there's there,
definitely is some some fair criticism to be had, and
I think it starts with, uh, you know, you're the
(31:40):
guy in charge of the roster. You had a you
had a an il war chest at your disposal, and
I think people are stepping back and looking at it
and saying, this, this is what you put together. Now again,
they they haven't had j Low, they haven't had Diabante
for some of these big games.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
But I mean it's pretty clear that even with those guys,
it's not going to look quite like it did last season.
And you know, fans love to complain even when things
are going well. So, you know, but I think fans
would would love to have to have a team similar
to the one that played last season, especially at this point,
even if you're sacrificing a little LinkedIn athleticism against some
(32:21):
of the bigger teams in the SEC.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
One of the things that he said on the radio
show last night that didn't get much attention that I've
seen anywhere yet was he said the day after, uh,
the Gonzaga game, Otaga had the best practice I'm paraphrasing
Mark here, but the best practice he's had for me
in two years he's been we've been together. Yeah, and
(32:45):
that potentially, I mean, if you're a fan, you can say, well,
he's just you know, saying that to pump up Otega
or I mean, he didn't have to say, I didn't
have to you know, mention it. What I what hope
that it means is that Otega saw what was on
tape Friday night or what people were saying, and wants
(33:09):
to be determined to show that's not who he is
and who his team is, and and to be able
you know, some of it. He can't control everything when
he's on the court. There's other guys out there with
him that they all have to play together and set
up each other. But there are things individually that you
can control about, you know, what you put on tape.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
Yeah, absolutely, and it absolutely starts with him with this team.
You know, whether he likes that or not, And I
know he's at least if he hasn't accepted it already,
it sounds like he's starting to. But yeah, if this
team turns it around, it starts with Otega. And that's
I mean, that's the position you're in when you're the
(33:50):
quote unquote star player on the team, you're the FC
preseason Player of the Year. It's not you know, he
was we joked about in the preseason. He was like
the kid on last year the team with all those seniors.
He could do. He could do some stuff and get
away with it. You know, he really benefited from having
that lineup around him. And now he's in a situation
(34:11):
where if the fortunes of this team are going to change,
he's going to be the catalyst for that and he's
going to be the one that needs to set that
in motion. You know, I had people texting me, people
that that I think are smart basketball people that he
should just be out of the lineup completely after Gonzaga
that they they didn't see the effort. They they thought
(34:33):
he they thought he quit on the team. You know,
I don't. I'm not going to judge those but I
think it's ludicrous to think that he shouldn't be in
the lineup. I mean, if this team is going to
get anywhere close to its ceiling, it's going to have
a lot to do with Otega away on both sides
of the ball. So yeah, I mean, Mark didn't have
to say that last night. I do think to your
(34:54):
earlier point, we're at the stage of the season where
fans are going to say, you know, prove it. Yeah,
it's it's one thing to say it. We got to
see it, and and and we don't. We don't want
to see it against North Carolina Central. They want to
see against Indiana and Saint John's and Alabama and so on.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
And here's and it's just an example of how the
you know, the numbers can't always tell you the whole story.
You could say, yes, Kentucky lost big to Gonzaga, but
Otega let him in points and a rebounds and assists,
and he did. But if you watch the game, you
would not you would feel differently. So uh, and he's
you know, he's a smart guy. And the thing is, uh,
(35:34):
last point, we're brunning short on time. I would just say, uh,
for Otega, he could make himself a lot more money
in moving forward in basketball by being viewed as the
catalyst for a reversal of this team season. Then he
could make no matter how many three pointers he.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Hits, and and and like you, like you just said,
he he is a very very smart young man. And
he I mean, he gets it, he knows it. I
don't you know. He's not a natural leader, and he's
the first to tell you that. But this is the
type of situation where you can step up and he can.
It's a team game. There's four other guys out there.
(36:13):
He can't really control what those four other guys do
other than trying to lead them. But he can. He
can give one hundred percent effort on both sides of
the floor and help defense and get into people. And
like Mark told me last week, with him, it starts
with defense. And I think if this turnaround is going
to happen, a lot of it's going to start with
Otago Away being absolutely locked in on defense, no matter
(36:37):
who they're playing for as long as he's out on
the court.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Any defense is the way to you know, not just him,
but everybody when you're struggling on offense to get some
easy points. Ben, thank you much appreciate the time. Yep,
thanks au rapp aarena tonight for Kentucky n C Central. Well,
take a quick break, come back to close out this
edition of the Leacher Report. We're presented by Bob Kat.
Enterprises have a few more days to take advance of
(37:00):
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(37:41):
get the great deal at CORNBREADTHEMP dot Com one of
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Pick them up today at Central Kentucky myerstores, order it
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(38:04):
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UK Legend Cliffhagen and Wildcat Birthdays and history notes presented
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great day. Everybody will see you tomorrow. On The Leech Report.
God Day. Everybody welcome in. It is the Leech Report.
We are presented by Bob Kat Enterprises. Thanks to Maggie
Davis for filling in yesterday and to do a talk
to a group from it's the US Sports Congress, the
groups of individuals from all over the country that are
(00:22):
involved with organizations that do youth sports and events like
I don't know, like something like the not quite on
the scale of the world or custering games but I
don't know, things like that. All of those all over
the country and their meeting in Lexington this week. So
(00:42):
it's good fun to talk to that group and hopefully
they'll enjoy their time in Lexington coming up today they
might be going to some of them to the game
tonight as Kentucky will play UNC Central down at ropp Arena,
and we will talk Kentucky basketball. We'll spend a whole
lot of time breaking down that matchup, but we will
talk Kentucky basketball, Tuckey football, and more. Larry Vaught will
join us, and then Ben Roberts from the Lexington Herald
(01:06):
Leader Kentucky sports dot Com as well. Then we may
had one more we'll see how it plays out. Waiting
to hear back on a text today. So Wildcat News
of the Day presented by just Sepies of Lexington. North
Carolina Central's three and eight. So Kentucky's obviously a huge
favorite to get a win, But nothing that happens tonight's
(01:29):
going to convince anybody that anything's different from what they
saw last week in the losses to Carolina and Gonzaga.
So the big one is Saturday when Indiana rolls into town.
But still you would hope to see Kentucky show some
of the things they didn't show against Gonzaga, even though
it's against much lesser competition, Mainly just you know, play
(01:51):
it hard, having after loose balls, going after rebounds, all
those kinds of things. The players yesterday talked about some
of that. Couple of them did the media session. It
was Denzel Aberdeen and Jasper Johnson. We'll talk about some
of this when when Ben joins us. But Denzel said
he can understand the booze that they heard from their
(02:14):
own fans down at the arena in Nashville, because, as
he said, people pay money to see us, They support
us each and every game, whether it's home or away,
and they are thankful for the fans, he said, and
it's quite understandable. And here's what he went on.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
To say, things just showing it on the floor, showing
that we care each and every time we step on
the floor. Like I said, we got to win games.
So I think it's just winning games. Well, thanks out
the noise and all that.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
I was probably you didn't find us as shooting struggles.
You guys had the team this year.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Certainly again all season you coach, other people are like, oh,
team shoots are great.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Practice, but they haven't really showed up in games.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I mean, to me, I'll just say keep shooting, like
eventually he got to go in at some point, but
we just got to take the right shots at that. So,
like I said, just creating playing off too, creating players
for teammates, and just getting when we get the chance
to shooting, why don't catch shoot shots or attack the basket?
Who's got to make him?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So it was Denzel Aberdeen yesterday, and Kentucky has a
lot of guys shooting below the standard they normally shoot.
Think about a guy that Cam Williams was a forty
percent shooter on threes last year and I don't know
his numbers from earlier in his career, but I would
suspect they were quite impressive as well, and they're not
there now that's just one guy. But what usually is
happening when when that's the case is I mean, you
(03:30):
could have stretch where some guy's just in a in
a funk, but if it's more than one guy, which
it is here, I'm just using Cam because he's such
a good shooter on numbers, but you know, there's a
lot of guys that are not shooting it as well
as they are capable of. And I think a lot
of times that's related to one or both things. It's
(03:52):
make him, you know, playing together as a team better
and getting better shots. And there were a few possessions
in the Gonzaga game where you saw that happen with
Jalen Lowe and he kicked it out. The shots were
unfortunately missed, but they were the kinds of shots you
want to get. And if you keep getting good shots,
(04:12):
good shooters will start to make them. And that's what
Kentucky has to get more good shots and make plays
for teammates, make harder cuts, present opportunities for a teammate
to get you the ball in an open spot. The
teammate then doms to deliver the ball. So those things
(04:35):
need to happen to help a team get out of
a shooting funk. And then sometimes it can also be
some fundamental things. Denzel was talking about playing off two feet,
some of those fundamental things that can slip when you
get into a slump. So that's the challenge for those
guys to both show fans that what it does mean
(04:57):
to them to play not only here, but just be
able to play the sport of college basketball that they
love and to let that show in the way that
they play, and then second la to play better together.
So we'll see if we see some signs of that
tonight in the game. Mark Pope and the radio show
last night, and a couple of interesting things. One he
(05:18):
said Otega away on Saturday had the best practice he's
had in the two seasons he's been with Mark Pope.
That's what Coach Pope said last night. And Otega caught
a lot of heat even though he was actually the
leading score, rebounder, and assist guy I think in the
Gonzaga game, but clearly did not play well. It's an
(05:40):
example of its more of the numbers. If you watched
the game. Nobody played well, obviously, but if you look
at the numbers, you could think it was better than
it was. And so I'm sure Otega heard that, and anyway,
Mark saying that was encouraging if we see it transferred
(06:01):
onto the court tonight and beyond. But that Otega again
had his best practice he's had in the two seasons
he's been with Mark Pope. So one would think that
some of what some of the criticism maybe was hurt
and he's out to prove some things and if he
plays with a little chip on his shoulder, more power
to him. And then Coach Bope had some updates on
(06:23):
health moda bat He said continues making a little bit
of progress and his kind of day to day. So
I think folks are taking that as a more optimistic
outlook than last week. It's when you're talking about a
high ankle sprain, it's gonna take a little while. Usually
they're varying degrees of hyinkel Sprain's too, and I got
(06:44):
a good education of heinekel Sprain's Jim Madelino, the longtime
trainer for Kentucky football. I would watch a lot of
practices Jim, and I came in at the same time.
And if you're talking to the trainer and nobody gets
hurt during practice, then the trainer has more time to
talk and so get edge a little bit on some
of the aspects of you know what the injuries are
like and what you're dealing with. And I know that
(07:07):
high ankle sprains vary from individual to individual in terms
of the severity. Pope said, Jayden and Quainton's making tremendous progress,
but quote still a ways away from playing in games.
There was a KSR on three Sports Report yesterday that
said JQ was doing some full contact work in practice
yesterday and then Jalen Lowe making continued improvement. According to
(07:31):
coach Pope. Links to the stories that we talk about.
You can find them on the bud Light Leach Report
page at Tom Leachky dot com. When come right back,
Larry Vott will join the program. We'll get his take
on Kentucky basketball football. It is the Leach Report Radio
Network and we are presented this opening segment each day
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(07:52):
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We're presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises with four locations
(08:14):
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(08:36):
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with Anthony White and Jack Pilgrim and Bo Robinson and Larry.
I grew up in a small town. You live over
and Dan, We'll have all your life. And in Paris,
(08:57):
Jerry's was the gathering spot wherebody got together and solved
all the world's problems, usually starting with the Kentucky Wildcats.
I don't know where it is in Danville, but I
imagine they're talking still about the Kentucky Wildcats and mainly
men's basketball.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Right.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
They are. And there's several spots that you do that.
Now things have changed a little, as you know, there's
more places where all that gets done. But a lot
of this people don't quite understand what is going on,
don't know whether to give up, hold on wish for better.
I think it's just perplexing for everyone right now, just
(09:35):
how poorly they have looked in games. And I know
the lineup that we all thought Kentucky was going to
have we've still not seen play this year. And that's
one thing I think you have to remember. But I
don't know if we'll ever see that lineup all play
together or not. But as somebody who used to be
in Kentucky once said, you don't have to win them all,
(09:57):
but just can't lose them all. And right now Kentucky's
on the wrong trend.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, it hit the bottom Friday night in Nashville. I mean,
you can look back and you can individually say, well,
you know, losing it on the road to Louisville. They're
really good, and it was a game you had a
chance to win at the last media timeout. So not
a bad loss. Okay, you get spanked by Michigan State,
but they started seven and zero and took Duke to
(10:22):
the wire on Saturday. Then you got Carolina, all right,
that's that's that's the worst one of the three because
you had it and you let it get away, and
that was one that you should have had. You were
you were better than them, I think, especially on your
home floor. And then Friday night, as I said, just
hit bottom. So you know, you could pick out anyone
(10:45):
individually and talk about it until you get to Gonzaga,
but you put them all together and obviously something has
to change. So how does that happen?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
I don't know. I think it's pretty hard when you
hit bottled like what you did against Gonzaga to just
flip a switch and get it back. It's going to
take some time, I think, But I think Mark's just
going to have to get a little tougher and little
rougher on those guys. I think he's a terrific person
and he's a kind of naturally just a nice, mild
(11:18):
mannered guy. I think he's going to have to kick
a chair, throw a table, do something. He's going to
have to get through those guys and what they've done
is just not acceptable. I know Denzel Aberdeen talked about yesterday. Yeah,
they know that they all love each other. Now they
know they got to play with more energy and more effort.
And now that sounds good, But I don't have would
(11:39):
take it to almost mid December to figure out you've
got to play with more energy and more effort. That
just doesn't quite resonate. I don't think in Kentucky with
fans to hear that in mid December, the yeah, we've
got that figured out now. And maybe Mark's just got
to cut that plane rotation, something I know he doesn't
want to do, and that would make some guys that
are not happy. But if you're not playing and producing,
(12:02):
maybe you just need to sit over there with him
for a while. Then maybe in the Eattern exchange you
will play and produce, and then I think the last
thing Tom and I heard you mentioned is the other
day they just makes shots to help more than anything does.
We make shots things kind of can that our bad
could hit it a little bit better if you yeah,
you take a bad shot, but if you make it,
(12:22):
it's okay.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
And I all like that.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
But right now, I just never thought we'd ever see
this team. I think it'd be a great shooting team,
but I never thought it'd be this pour of a
shooting team.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Well, and it shouldn't be. I mean, there's there's guys
that are shooting well below what they we know they're
capable of. I mean, I can't I don't have the
numbers in front of you, but if you put like
Cam and Trent Noah, those two in particular together, you
know what their number is in those big games quote
unquote is nowhere near what they're capable of. And as
(12:57):
I heard Aberdeen say in the media session yesterday, I've
just got to keep working out there eventually going to
go in. That's not the best strategy because and and
and I guarantee you the coaches are not you know,
counting on that as the way to come out of this,
that it's eventually going to go in. If they're not
going in, there's probably a reason you maybe haven't just
(13:18):
figured figured it out or accepted it yet. But I
think you know, setting up making things easier for somebody else. Uh.
If you're struggling, make something easier for somebody else. Uh.
If you, as I said at one point turing the
broadcast with Andrea, when when it got too for six
at some point on a given night, maybe you just
(13:38):
need to drive the ball, uh, and and figure out
why the jumpers aren't going in later and just find
find something different. Things like that. Fundamentally, you know they
Denzel talking about playing off two feet more, all those
kinds of things. Yeah, you know, if things aren't going well,
study that tape, clean up everything you can clean up.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Yeah, and they've got a lot they can clean up.
I think that it is. I'll let Jack come talk
to him, because I don't want to say it was
fun listening to him on Friday night, because that would
be the right way to describe it. But you could
certainly hear his frustrations more and more. It's a game
in a very professional way, but you could tell he
(14:19):
dis was totally frustrated with what he saw and it
was just hard to comprehend. I know myself. I started
out just watching a little bit of the volleyball one
of the what's some of the volleyball game and just kind
of see how that started out. And I flipped and
I flipped over to see the basketball game, and it
was already nineteen to two. Yeah, And so then I
(14:41):
flipped on the listening to you guys too and just
went back to watching the volleyball for a while, and
listening to Jack's explanations or lack of export of understanding
of what was going on was just pretty.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Badly absolutely right. Larry VODs with us, We'll take a
quick break, come back with one more segment. We'll talk
a little Kentucky volleyball when we come right back. That
is the Leads Report coming to you from the Clark's
Pumping Shop studio. Return, Refresh and refuel at Clark's Back
with Larry Vatt. You can read Larry's work at your
sports edge dot com, and if you go there, you'll
(15:13):
see a story about some comments from Darius Miller that
joined you guys on the Sunday Morning sports talk show
here this past weekend. What was Darius's take.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Well, Darius is I'm here to kind of promote the
toy drive that got coming up out of the Alumni Center,
but also had to change stacy of what kind of
advice you would have for Mark Pope or for UK
fans right now, the biggest thing was with fans. He
said not to bail on the team because what it
needs to support more than any is right now. And
(15:46):
then he still thinks it's not too late, you don't
need to abandon the ship, but that right now it's
more important than ever to support the team because players,
when they hear the booze and the different things, it
just kind of takes away what little confidence they might have.
It takes away even more. Of course, Darius went through
them ups and downs at Kentucky playing for Billy Gilestrie
(16:08):
than being on John Calipari's national championship team, and he
tried to talk, tried to preach patients more than anything,
so just kind of different to get a little bit
of his perspective on what was going on.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Some of that, and guessing you would agrees on players too,
to play with the fire that will get fans to
rally around you.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Absolutely, I think that's something they've got to take into
consideration and figure out. And surely when they look at
the film or video whatever you call it, now, they
can see that, Yeah, there's a lot of spots they
were lacking, and they certainly need to do better starting tonight,
which I'm assuming they will tonight, but then Saturdays I
think to change. So they've got to redeem themselves with fans.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, right there, the home arena. Good point. Quick thought
on volleyball, Larry, what did you think about how they
played last week? Get into a advanced to the sweet sixteen.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Just did the same things they've been doing. The biggest
todd on volleyball is the fact that when they play
Thursday afternoon, now you should be able to park at
Memorial Coliseum, because I didn't realize yesterday the classes would
be out Thursday and Friday because of the read day
it's called to get ready for final exams. So I
was worried about how anybody's going to find a spot
(17:24):
to park around the World Coliseum and on a Thursday afternoon.
But now the lots should be kind of empty like
what they are, so if you're planning on going, it
should be a lot easier to get there. If you
hadn't thought about going, I would certainly encourage you to
do so now because being able to find a spot
to parks will be a lot lot easier than I
think I was expecting.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Well, that's good to hear, and it's a team very
much deserving of all the support they could get.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yeah, I think on the way to the Final four,
they just have the depth. They got the star players,
they've got the unsung heroes. Their defense is really good,
their heating power is really good. They and they're really
just exciting and fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Larry Vatt. You can read them at your sports edge
dot com and hear them on the Sunday morning sports
talk show each weekend. Larry, thank you much. All right,
Tom halfway home on this edition of The Leach Report.
Ben Roberts with us when we return. It's The Leach
Report presented by Bob Kat Enterprises. As we welcome Ben
Roberts into the program from the Lexington Herald Leader and
(18:24):
Kentucky Sports dot Com. So, Ben, let's talk a little
bit to start about things that you heard in the
last I don't know twenty four to forty eight hours.
You had the Mark Pope radio show last night, you
had the media opportunity with a couple of players. Yesterday.
You wrote in the Herald Leader about an interview Dan
(18:47):
Issel did on a station in Louisville and some of
his comments. So we'll start with the players yesterday, and
what did you take away from what you heard from
Denzel and Jasper?
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Yeah, I stuck with Denzel yesterday, and you know, it's
it's obvious that these guys, you know, they're not playing well.
I mean, that should be appearance of anybody who lived
through Friday night, you know. It just it doesn't sound
like there are a lot of answers.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
You know, as Denzel said, winning fixes it. Winning will
x X out all the all the rest of the
noise and and all of that. But they know there's
you know, there's there's a long way to go to
to get to where they need to be there. You know,
I don't know, I it's you come off a loss
like Friday night. You you just got to start stacking
(19:45):
days and stacking wins. And obviously, nothing that happens tonight
is going to change anybody's mind about this team. So
they need to build some positive momentum going into Saturday.
And obviously that wouldn't be a ranked win, but a
win over anybody with a name that people recognize at
this point, it would be a step in the would
be a step in the positive direction.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
We'll come back to some of the player comments. But
what about coach Pope, you on the radio show last night,
anything you heard there that caught your ear other than
you know, injury updates.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Yeah, injury updates. I mean, and I think that's a
big part of it, you know, I think you do
have to give some benefit of the doubt with this team.
And I know he's getting blasted for roster construction and
obviously with the results going this way, you know rightfully so,
but and you can't, you know, you can't factor Jaden
Quaintan's into this conversation because they knew they wouldn't have
(20:38):
them for this stretch of the season and had to
have known that there was a chance that they wouldn't
have them at all this season. So, but you're you're
missing your your point guard. I know he played Friday night,
but he's not anywhere close to at least if he's
filling one hundred percent, he's not anywhere close to being
in one hundred percent game shape. So that's kind of
a non factor when you're down seven to nothing, when
(21:00):
you when you even bring them into the game, So
you're missing your top point guard. You're missing Modia Bate,
a guy who who is obviously you're you're starting power forward,
and a guy you thought would be a major piece
of this team. They haven't really been healthy the whole season,
and with Jalen in and out of the lineup, it's
really thrown a curveball for how they want to play.
(21:21):
So I think until you get those two guys back,
and get them back for a little while and play
against good teams, you can't completely right off this team
or Pope's vision or what he was thinking when he
put it all together. Now, you know, if Jalen gets
knocked out of the lineup again, or if Mo takes
(21:43):
a little longer to come back, you know, you do
have to factor in for injuries, and folks should know
that as well as anybody after last season. Uh, but
you know, there's still obviously some reasons to hope for
this team, and I think that's one of the big ones.
You know, you're talking to Denzel yesterday, and he was
a guy who, at least from a positional standpoint, benefit
of the most from Jalen being out because he got
(22:04):
to run the one that's something that he thought he
felt comfortable doing, but even he acknowledged that he's a
much better player when Jalen's.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
In the lineup.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
They are a much better team when Jalen's in the lineup.
So you know, I if they can get keep him
healthy through the Indiana game, see what they.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Look like there.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
You know, maybe they show a little bit something different
on the court.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
I think the fans would counter with in the interim
between now and getting as healthy as they are going
to get hopefully to full strength. It's the passion that
you put on the court, and it's the way that
you played together as a team to maybe improve the offense.
(22:47):
Those kinds of things can be put out there no
matter who's on the floor, right, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
They can, And that is a that is a completely
fair counselor you know, it's hard to it's in most cases,
it's hard to judge effort and heart. You know, I
think some of that gets overblown when you get beat
as much as they got to beat Friday, and when
you're playing as poorly as they have. But you watch
some of those plays kind of in a vacuum, and
(23:17):
I mean you see the frustration there manifesting a way
manifesting itself in a lot of different ways. And to
Dan Issel's point with his interview yesterday, and I exchanged
some text messages with him later in the day, the
you know, his main point was that Pope needs to
shorten this lineup, and I think that's another fair assessment.
(23:41):
You know, it's hard to get in a rhythm when
not only so many guys are playing so many minutes,
but also so few minutes. You know, you don't have
anybody averaging more than twenty five minutes per game. It's
hard to get in that rhythm. And and then you
know he's bringing guys in and out of the lineup
at every you know, it seems like somebody's over at
(24:02):
the scorer's table just about every moment of the game.
They they've got to find some sort of rhythm, as
Dan said, they've got to find guys who clearly are
playing with passion, are playing with a lot of effort.
You know, it's hard to judge guys not playing with effort.
It's it's pretty easy to see when guys do play
with effort at heart. And he's got to find six
(24:24):
or seven guys who will do that and play cohesively
and play those guys and probably frankly not play the
other ones, you know, or at least play them in
very spot minutes and and very very spot scenarios. So, uh,
you know, I don't know who that is at this point,
but you know, he's the coach, and he's in practice
(24:46):
every day and he's watching those games from the sideline,
so that's something he's got to figure out.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Part of it. Some of it changes from game to game. Yeah,
I think about Andrea, who I thought played really well
against Carolina way guarded Caleb and then then really struggled
against against Zagat of part of it. Probably he's not
in some cases, he's not sure what he's going to
get from night to night and some points, and that's
(25:13):
on guys to change. You can at least the one
thing that can you know, the consistent effort of just
you know, fighting for whether it's for rebounds or whatever,
and looking for ways to you know, make harder cuts,
make better passes to your teammates, make sure you look
for your teammates. Those are the kinds of ways I
would think that you chip away at getting better offensively
(25:34):
at least.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
Yeah, absolutely, and to do that stuff when things aren't
going well and I think that's that's pretty clear to
everybody what happened Friday night is they got down in
that hole and even before you know that nineteen to
nineteen to two run was finished, guys had seemingly almost
given up on the game. And that was pretty apparent
(25:57):
to see that just the frustrations is mounting them out
thing amounting. And that's another thing that I think is
pretty visible with this team, is there, you know, and
this hurts with Jalen again being out of the lineup
for a few weeks, but it's a pretty rudderless team,
you know.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
There.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
There doesn't seem to be that guy who kind of
steps in when things are going bad and rallies everybody around,
you know. I know Pope. I've asked Pope about this
and and he said, there doesn't need to be one
overwhelming voice. It's it's fine if you have a lot
of voices that are stepping up in those leadership roles.
But it's really hard to see anybody doing that.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
And you need some voices.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
If it's not one, yeah yeah, If you don't have one,
one huge one, you got to have a lot of them.
And I don't know that they really have any in
those when it when things get toughest right now, and
that's something that especially a team. You know, I think
people are so used to Cow's teams and so many freshmen.
This is a pretty pretty young team too, and a
(26:55):
pretty inexperienced team to a lot of underclassmen, a lot
of guys looking to others really readership, especially when times
get tough. You know, it's easy for those to say
I'm a lead by example guy when things are going
really well and you're a top ten team in the country.
But you can't be a lead by example guy when
you're only four against the against quality competition. And if
(27:17):
that's how you're going to do it, then it's probably
not going to go in a very good direction.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Good chat with Ben Roberts from The Harold Leader Kentucky
sports dot Com. Will continue that visit when we come
right back. It's the Leach Report from the Clark's Pumping
Shop studio. Return Refresh and refuel at Clark's fourteen away
from the top of the hour. It is the Leach Report,
and we're chatting with Ben Roberts. He covers Kentucky men's
basketball for the Lexington Harold Leader, Kentucky sports dot Com.
(27:44):
One of the questions for coach Pope last night of
the radio show Ben was about his demeanor and is
he wanted to see him get more tease and be
more demonstrative on the sidelines. Number one, I don't think
that's who he is. But number two, do you think
there's more of some of that fire that maybe is
(28:05):
there in practice than fans may appreciate.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Yeah, I mean, I know you've been in there and
and I know he gets into gets into guys there,
you know, more so than he's going to show in
front of everybody and games, and you know to that,
I know that's that's kind of been a talking point
over the last few weeks here, and you know, people
upset that he's standing over there with his arms crossed
(28:30):
when they're missing thirteen straight shots against North Carolina. And
I mean my counter to that would be if they
missed thirteen straight shots and John Calla Perry's the head
coach and he's jumping up and down like a maniac
and screaming nonsensical things at him, I don't know how
much that helps either. You know, at some point, the
guy's got to make some shots. And when you get
(28:51):
out in a game situation. I mean, we've seen he
can coach from really day one. I mean you go
back to the video and the timeout before. They always
still on Cooper flag in the Duke game, which is
the first big game he coached in.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
You know, I.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
Maybe that would make fans feel better for a few
seconds after it happened. I don't know that it makes
you feel better when you're down twenty and your coach
gets it technical, I don't. I don't think that's going
to be like the fire of these guys. I think
at some point they've just they got to compete and
they got to get results. And I don't think that
changes whether folks jumping up and down or whether he's
(29:30):
sitting on a stool over there.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
I think the worst thing you can do as a
coach to when you're struggling is to be something you're not. Whatever.
Yeah that is, and.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
He wasn't struggling, But I think I mean, we could
do a four hour show, but I think that might
be a symptom of of the roster construction this season
is you know, I think they got into they had
they had a really great product, a really great brand
of basketball. They got into SEC play the to this
conference in the history of college basketball last season and
(30:03):
realized they didn't quite have the linked and athleticism to
keep up with some of those teams. And I think
they overcorrected in the portal and listened to a lot
of fans and frankly listened to a lot of media,
and you know, I was probably right in some of
the same stuff that you know, they were kind of
getting bullied around. You know, needed more strength, length, athleticism.
They went out and got it, but at least so far,
(30:26):
it looks like they sacrificed a lot of what made
that first team and what made some of his later
BYU teams really good. And I don't know if if
that kind of style is findable within this roster. And
I know he did he wasn't exactly trying to exactly
run it back the way he did last season, But
you know, you look at the SEC right now, I know,
(30:49):
for what it's worth. In December, the latest bracketology came
out and only eight teams were projected. So you're you're
gonna get eight games against the teams that aren't projected
to make the tournament. It's a little differ schedule you know,
would be interesting to see what that that brand of
basketball they played last season might might look like against
some of these teams they've already played and that they're
(31:10):
going to play this later this season.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
That seems to be a very fair criticism until they
show that it isn't.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
Yes, yeah, absolutely, I mean absolutely. I think, uh, there's
a lot of unfair criticism of Mark pub going on
right now, which is which is understandable and to be
accepted when you're to be expected when you're the Kentucky
basketball coach and you're playing this poorly. Uh, but there's there,
definitely is some some fair criticism to be had, and
I think it starts with, uh, you know, you're the
(31:40):
guy in charge of the roster. You had a you
had a an il war chest at your disposal, and
I think people are stepping back and looking at it
and saying, this, this is what you put together. Now again,
they they haven't had j Low, they haven't had Diabante
for some of these big games.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
But I mean it's pretty clear that even with those guys,
it's not going to look quite like it did last season.
And you know, fans love to complain even when things
are going well. So, you know, but I think fans
would would love to have to have a team similar
to the one that played last season, especially at this point,
even if you're sacrificing a little LinkedIn athleticism against some
(32:21):
of the bigger teams in the SEC.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
One of the things that he said on the radio
show last night that didn't get much attention that I've
seen anywhere yet was he said the day after, uh,
the Gonzaga game, Otaga had the best practice I'm paraphrasing
Mark here, but the best practice he's had for me
in two years he's been we've been together. Yeah, and
(32:45):
that potentially, I mean, if you're a fan, you can say, well,
he's just you know, saying that to pump up Otega
or I mean, he didn't have to say, I didn't
have to you know, mention it. What I what hope
that it means is that Otega saw what was on
tape Friday night or what people were saying, and wants
(33:09):
to be determined to show that's not who he is
and who his team is, and and to be able
you know, some of it. He can't control everything when
he's on the court. There's other guys out there with
him that they all have to play together and set
up each other. But there are things individually that you
can control about, you know, what you put on tape.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
Yeah, absolutely, and it absolutely starts with him with this team.
You know, whether he likes that or not, And I
know he's at least if he hasn't accepted it already,
it sounds like he's starting to. But yeah, if this
team turns it around, it starts with Otega. And that's
I mean, that's the position you're in when you're the
(33:50):
quote unquote star player on the team, you're the FC
preseason Player of the Year. It's not you know, he
was we joked about in the preseason. He was like
the kid on last year the team with all those seniors.
He could do. He could do some stuff and get
away with it. You know, he really benefited from having
that lineup around him. And now he's in a situation
(34:11):
where if the fortunes of this team are going to change,
he's going to be the catalyst for that and he's
going to be the one that needs to set that
in motion. You know, I had people texting me, people
that that I think are smart basketball people that he
should just be out of the lineup completely after Gonzaga
that they they didn't see the effort. They they thought
(34:33):
he they thought he quit on the team. You know,
I don't. I'm not going to judge those but I
think it's ludicrous to think that he shouldn't be in
the lineup. I mean, if this team is going to
get anywhere close to its ceiling, it's going to have
a lot to do with Otega away on both sides
of the ball. So yeah, I mean, Mark didn't have
to say that last night. I do think to your
(34:54):
earlier point, we're at the stage of the season where
fans are going to say, you know, prove it. Yeah,
it's it's one thing to say it. We got to
see it, and and and we don't. We don't want
to see it against North Carolina Central. They want to
see against Indiana and Saint John's and Alabama and so on.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
And here's and it's just an example of how the
you know, the numbers can't always tell you the whole story.
You could say, yes, Kentucky lost big to Gonzaga, but
Otega let him in points and a rebounds and assists,
and he did. But if you watch the game, you
would not you would feel differently. So uh, and he's
you know, he's a smart guy. And the thing is, uh,
(35:34):
last point, we're brunning short on time. I would just say, uh,
for Otega, he could make himself a lot more money
in moving forward in basketball by being viewed as the
catalyst for a reversal of this team season. Then he
could make no matter how many three pointers he.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Hits, and and and like you, like you just said,
he he is a very very smart young man. And
he I mean, he gets it, he knows it. I
don't you know. He's not a natural leader, and he's
the first to tell you that. But this is the
type of situation where you can step up and he can.
It's a team game. There's four other guys out there.
(36:13):
He can't really control what those four other guys do
other than trying to lead them. But he can. He
can give one hundred percent effort on both sides of
the floor and help defense and get into people. And
like Mark told me last week, with him, it starts
with defense. And I think if this turnaround is going
to happen, a lot of it's going to start with
Otago Away being absolutely locked in on defense, no matter
(36:37):
who they're playing for as long as he's out on
the court.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Any defense is the way to you know, not just him,
but everybody when you're struggling on offense to get some
easy points. Ben, thank you much appreciate the time. Yep,
thanks au rapp aarena tonight for Kentucky n C Central. Well,
take a quick break, come back to close out this
edition of the Leacher Report. We're presented by Bob Kat.
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