2025-12-26- LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:22):
And hopefully it was a.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Very merry Christmas for everyone. Hopefully, as my dad used
to say, Old Sandy Claus was good to you. Coming
up on the show today, we will do a little
football and a little basketball. Adam Luckett from on three
Sports of KSR. We'll check in to talk about new
coach will Stein putting together his staff and building his

(00:47):
first roster to leave the Wildcats while he's also coaching
in the college football playoffs as the OC for Oregon,
which we'll play on New Year's Day. Play the first
of three see if the playoff games on New Year's
Day next week, and then Mike Corsi in the second
half of the show, we talk to him about how

(01:10):
things are looking with the Wildcats heading into conference play
a week from tomorrow, so long gap between games for
the Wildcats, and we'll get right into our Wildcat News
of the Day, presented by Joseppes of Lexington, and I
would assume they'll get back to work later today, if
not then tomorrow. Don't know exactly what their schedule is,

(01:30):
but I know the guys were going to get two
or three days off to be with their families if possible,
for Christmas, and then back to work to face the
Alabama Crimson Tide a week from tomorrow, and it'll be
a road opener in Tuscaloosa for Kentucky it'll be And
then they did change the time on this if you

(01:51):
didn't catch that, it's going to be twelve noon tip
time on ESPN. Bama actually does have a game between
now and then. They will play Yale on Monday. Bama's
at nine and three at the moment, and their losses
have been to perdugan Zaga and Arizona, so nothing to
be ashamed of their number three offense in Kentucky or

(02:12):
in the nation right now. According to Ken pom So,
we'll get more into that matchup next week, but it
is a tough spot to start conference play After that, though,
Kentucky will have three four of the first or four
of the next six in rapp Arena, So that would
be a chance to get off to a good start
in league play if the Cats can protect home court

(02:35):
in the SEC. We'll talk about the Cats and more
with micro Coursi when he joins US. But Christmas buzz
came yesterday with a post on social media suggesting the
denim uniforms will return for Mark Pope in comedy and
the date is February seventh against Tennessee. Todof they'll do

(02:58):
the Denham road unis or not at some point, might
be fun for the SEC tournament, but it is going
to home denim uniforms February seventh. Circle that one on
the calendar. Always good to circle the Tennessee game anyway,
And I remember, I'm gonna make a note to bring

(03:19):
Dick Gabriel on the show that week and talk about
the fact that he and I were doing a postgame
call in show on the UK network At that point,
the call in show was on the network and then
and they were crushing everybody. It was in the ninety
six season and they were just crushing everybody. So it
got to the point where there wasn't always a lot

(03:40):
of talk about the game. And that day when they
debuted those denim uniforms. I think against Arkansas. I have
to look that up. Anyway, it was a convincing win
for Kentucky and rather than talk basketball, fans were mad.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
They hated the den uniforms and.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Complain every single call, complained about them for a solid
hour in that show after the game. And now thirty
years later, fans can't wait to see Kentucky in the
denim unis. So time can always change opinions and attitudes,
so that will be fun when the denim uniforms come back.

(04:18):
Craig Skinner, Kentucky Volleyball picked up a transfer. I'm not
sure the pronunciation of her last name, and I didn't
want to bother anybody on Christmas, but Morgan Gerte, we'll
say from Notre Dame First Team All acc six or
five outside hitter, Honorable Mention All America. I assume she's
penciled in for the spot in the lineup that Eva

(04:41):
Hudson played opposite Brooklyn Delay and has two years left
in her eligibility. Of course, these days we never know
how long anybody has left, which is a story we'll
talk about with Mike Decursi and the player that Baylor
has just picked up. Here at the break, Brooke Baltima
is leaving Kentucky volleyball, and one might think with so
many players coming back that there might be another transfer

(05:04):
or too for Craig Skinner, just as a very deep
roster and everybody can't get as many minutes on the
floor as they would like. ESPN ranked the top thirty
coaching hires for college football for the new next season,
and will Stein and Kentucky come in at number ten
on that list. Coming up, we will get to the

(05:26):
break and then Adam Luckett will join us to talk
some Kentucky football. Our opening segments always presented by Giuseppes
of Lexington. They have a bullet barrel pick that you
can buy and take home and they're working on the
new Russell reserve barrel pick at Giuseppes. If you haven't
made New Year's Eve plans, I'm doubting you could get

(05:48):
into Giuseppes at this point, but put it on your
list for twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
If you haven't been to Giuseppes.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Lately, if you haven't ever been, make sure you get
there because once you go, you'll be going back frequently
and go to Jueppes Lexington dot com. You can check
out the menu. You can also get to open table
and make a reservation for your next special dining experience.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
And that's what it is at Jiseppies.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
We'll be right back and talk some Kentucky football with
Adam Luett on the Leech Report presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
Quarter past the top of the hour. Leech Report coming
to you from the Clarks Pumpin' Shop Studio. Return, Refresh
and refuel at Clark's all across the Commonwealth, and a
lot of you may be traveling today for maybe a

(06:34):
late family Christmas celebration something like that. Adam Luckett is
traveling today and we're working on connecting with him. So
we're gonna switch up the batting order Mike. The course
he was available to move up into the leadoff slot
means you got to show your speed, Mike, get on base,
steal a base.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
Maybe can you do that.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
I've never been known for my speed.

Speaker 4 (06:59):
Not even.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
I can go fast, but I make a lot of mistakes.

Speaker 4 (07:05):
That's why I like.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
When I was younger and I started to do this,
I said to myself, I could never even try piano
or something, because I would just constantly make mistakes. So
so although I had some ambition to at least try it,
I realized my limitations.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
Well that's that's always important. I appreciate you jumping in
a little early for us here. You can always follow
Mike at Sportingnews dot com, at tsn MIC on X
Big Ten Network and then does the brackets for Fox
College Sports coverage for the college basketball when's the first
or when's the I guess you've done the first one already.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
When's the next one coming out?

Speaker 4 (07:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (07:45):
It will come out next week. I believe on Tuesday
will be our first one subsequent to the holiday, and
we'll have two a week every week from then until
selection week and that at that point and I go
every day starting Wednesdays.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
So follow at TS and Mike right now if you
aren't already doing it on X and that's a good
way to keep up with the updates. And we'll talk
a little bit about where maybe Kentucky fits into the
mix here to a minute. But I want to start
with the story that is creating all the buzz in
college basketball right now, and it's the addition to the
Baylor men's basketball team. In the form of a seven

(08:24):
footer who was the number thirty one pick in the
twenty twenty three NBA draft. I'm not a phrase that
we would expect to have said at any point until now.
I'm not sure on the pronunciation of his last name.
Is it James Nanji?

Speaker 3 (08:39):
I would be honest with you, I'm not sure either.
I've seen players with a similar pronouncing that just went
by Nase, I mean, with similar spelling. Excuse me, that
went by Nase. But you know, I know there's a
lot of consternation about this, and I don't really understand it.
I mean, I understand the concern about the mid year thing.

(09:02):
I get that it's kind of ridiculous, but it's no
more ridiculous than the hustle that coaches been pulled pulling,
for gosh, basically almost my entire time at the Sporting News,
when they would tell a kid, yeah, transfer to midyear,
You'll only miss a few games and then you can
start up in December you and you can get going
with us. And what it would end up happening is

(09:23):
that a player would go from the possibility of playing
one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty games
to most likely playing eighty five or ninety games in
his or her career. And I always was offended by
that because I know, you know, players get frustrated they're
seasons not starting the way they want. They want to
move on to a new thing sooner, and then the
coaches would convince them that it was a good thing

(09:44):
to do that, and it was an awful thing. And
so now we're seeing this, which is just sort of
the cousin to that, the mid season thing. But in
terms of the draft thing, if the young player has
not played in the NBA, I don't understand why it's problematic.
I mean, there literally are dozens of these players who

(10:05):
do the exact same thing in baseball and hockey every year,
every year, and that's been going on for I think,
my like, for as long as there's been a draft
in baseball, we've had this.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
It's true, yeah, because you go, it's always a tough
thing for baseball coaches because you think, you know, you
hope you have your roster set, and all of a
sudden you lose a key guy.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, And so I you know, I don't understand why
people are bothered by that. Is it reasonable to bring
in players who haven't been in college and have them
join the basketball team immediately, and for all we know,
that may be the only time they spend in college
a single semester. I'm not crazy about it at all.

Speaker 4 (10:50):
But as I said, I was.

Speaker 3 (10:52):
Like a lone voice for years about the other thing.
I got very little support for that position that I
talked about all the time. It was such a I
thought it was an awful thing for a young person's
career to do that, because the number of games you
play in college is precious. As we are seeing now

(11:13):
that athletes are literally suing to play more years of college.
And yet in those days went before we had all
nil and all that, athletes were willingly or perhaps not
knowingly giving up twenty five to thirty games of their
career so that they could just basically for expedients. And

(11:34):
I know they were talked into it by coaches at
the incoming colleges.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
I was reading a piece somewhere in the last this
week about it was about college football, but it was
talking about how the attendance numbers are up, TV ratings
are fantastic. I think there was a site, a stat
sited from the SEC where the average margin of victory

(12:03):
was less than it's been in like twenty years.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
Team like Vanderbilt out.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Of the SECS, just missed on the playoffs, had a
great season, the Indiana's number one team in the country.
These are not traditional names to still be, you know,
around this time of the year in big games. Even
the Vanderbilt's not in the playoffs, they're still in a
big game. So it seems like the point the writer

(12:28):
was making is why And I can't remember who it is,
or I would would say, but there's a dichotomy here
between fan reaction maybe to the sport and they were
getting just talking about college football. We're talking also about
college basketball versus what the coach administration perspective is on this.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
We should all die such a horrible death, right Tom,
I mean, think about it. I keep being told that
college sports is dying, and then I look at the
television ratings or I look in the stands when I
turn on a game basketball or football or goodness, gracious,
I mean volleyball.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
What you saw you.

Speaker 4 (13:06):
Got, you know?

Speaker 3 (13:06):
I mean, I live in Pittsburgh. They made the Final
four UK also in the Final four National championship game.
They're drawing sold out crowds, wrestling in a lot of places.
Is flourishing women's basketball, women's basket, yes, absolutely with you know,
the Caitlin Clark revolution went through college basketball before she
hit the WNBA, and everybody keeps telling me this stuff

(13:28):
is dying, but I'm not seeing any evidence of that.
I'm seeing complaints from college administrators. I'm seeing complaints from
college coaches. And the irony of that to me is,
you know, I will tell you Tom, it was two
thousand and nine, I think that and I we were
operating differently at the Sporting News and my job was

(13:50):
different then, so I never wrote this, but I remember
where I was when I looked at I don't even
remember what I must probably looked at one of the
new sites, the ESPN, CBS, whoever it was, because we
don't think I was on Twitter to see this. But
Mac Brown's coaching contract was I think he'd been making

(14:12):
about three million a year to coach Texas and for
no you know, there wasn't any hint that he was
going anywhere.

Speaker 4 (14:20):
It was in Texas.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
He was winning championships and all that, and just out
of nowhere, they bumped them to five million. And I'm
like it's never going back. It's never going to be
the same from now. If you can pay a coach
five million, things are going to really start to change.
And it took a little bit of time, but things
really started to change. We started to see the contagion

(14:41):
of conference expansion, and then we started to see the
even more broader expansion, and then and then the nil
thing started to percolate in the late teens and really
got over the final hurdles in the earlier part of
this decade. And through all of that, coach schools always

(15:03):
seem to have enough money to fire a coach, even
if it costs seventy five million dollars. They can find
the money. But when they're told that they have to
pay twenty million dollars to the players, now all of
a sudden, it's it's a calamity. I just I just
can't buy that.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Tom and Mike DECURSI got to get a quick break in.
We'll continue the discussion here just a moment. It is
the Leads report were presented by Bob kN Enterprises. Fact Mike,
the course you were talking about the seventh foot of
James Nugis are not transferring. But I guess transferring to
Baylor but not from another school. Was coming back from
the NBA where he was drafted in twenty twenty three,
been playing thinking just in the G League, Mike, this

(15:45):
is this class of players was signed in the transition
into the the new rules that came out of the
House Settlement that was so often discussed. So next year
they that is more in effect. So will we see
more of this kind of thing happening, do you think?

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Or less?

Speaker 3 (16:09):
Well? I think at in the interim we might see
less because when right now the vast majority of highly
coveted athletes were signed under a hybrid of the House
Settlement and booster type nil that that part of it

(16:31):
was basically supposed to be shut down as of the
beginning of the House Settlement, and so a lot of
schools scrambled to try to get it done in advance
of April, and a lot of schools were successful in
doing that, and then the House thing didn't get settled
until later in the summer. That gave them a greater window.

(16:52):
So the vast majority are in that category where they're
getting some of both. And if indeed there is a
a enforcement of the rules as the House settlement sets
them out, which is basically, you can get Cooper flag
style nil if you can get a new Balance commercial

(17:12):
and a Gatorade commercial and all that kind of stuff,
or even your local car dealers, but Cooper, so I
use him as an example because he was so visible
a year ago. If you can get that, you can
get that. But you're supposed to basically be getting your
house money and the house settlement money and then only
that type of NIL. I'm not sure whether we're going

(17:32):
to go all the way there based on what we've
been seeing. But if indeed we do that, that would
mean a lot of pay cuts for a lot of athletes.
And if we get pay cuts, we're going to get lawsuits.
And that's part of why I think that Congress, excuse me,
why schools, the NCAA in whatever amalgamations have tried to

(17:53):
get Congress to act on this in the interim, and
I don't think they're going to be successful.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah, look like Mike Hall that thought for a second.
We'll pick up on when we come back. We're coming
up with the heartbreak at the bottom of the hour.
It's the Leach Report, presented by Bob kat Enterprises for
locations around Kentucky. So that's who you need to call
when you need to buy or rent heavy equipment. Be
some bad weather with snow and stuff coming our way soon,
so be ready. It's the Lates Report and Mike to course,

(18:20):
he's with us from Sportingnews dot Com at TSN MIC
on X and we're finishing up the discussion about the
NBA draft pick James Dondey, who's headed down to play
for Baylor in the second half of this current season.
And Mike, you were talking about how about roster construction

(18:42):
with respect to the house settlement deal and then what
was kind of the free for all before that, and
this year being a hybrid and the fact that might
be headed for lawsuits unless Congress helps out the college administrators,
and you don't think that's going to happen.

Speaker 3 (18:59):
No, don't think they're going to make it under the wire,
especially since the score Act kind of got knocked down
within the last few weeks. And so I think the
colleges are going to have to basically embrace where they
stand and figure it out because otherwise they lose more lawsuits,

(19:20):
they lose more money that they can't afford to lose,
and That's another part of it is that they keep
saying they don't have money, but they always seem to
come up with money to lose in lawsuits that are
defending elements of their competition that aren't clearly aren't impacting
their competition or the appeal of their competition. I should

(19:44):
say people want to still come to games, and these
various changes haven't affected that.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Let's shift to Kentucky and since we last talked, we
saw the de view of Jaden Quaintons in Kentucky's come
from behind against Saint John's first Just what were your
impressions of what you saw from the big fellow?

Speaker 3 (20:06):
Really impressed he was beating very good college players to
the edge of four as an outstanding college players, was
really good in the Big East last year when Saint
John's won it and was expected to make a step
forward toward All America level. And when Jayden was in
the game, he owned that space around the rim on

(20:28):
both ends of the floor. Really impressive with how impressed,
excuse me, with how physical he was able to be,
how comfortable he seemed. It's obvious that Mark and the
staff and the medical staff were you know, took the
right amount of time with Jaden to make sure that
he was ready to go. And I think that that

(20:50):
element of all of this needs to be appreciated now
that Jaden's out there and playing, is that they didn't
rush him back just so that they could avoid losing
a few early season games. It was important for his
future and for UK this season that he'd be healthy
for January February, in a little month called March.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
Absolutely, and sometimes we see guys coming saw it with
Big z Here a couple of years ago with a
smashing debut. But then, you know, teams get to get
a little bit of a book on you know, they
had some tape to look at from Quaintans. But that
to me is an offensive thing where teams can find out,
you know better how to play you once they get

(21:31):
a little bit of a tape on you. His primary
impact certainly can be initially on the defensive end, and
I don't know that there's any way to kind of
figure out. Certainly, I would think you'd get a big
amen from Zubi Edgia four who tried to drive on
him and go around him and shoot over him and

(21:52):
finally just said, what the heck will price will post
up Bryce Hopkins and I'll just feed him from the
high post, and Quaintin's broke down and he was so
long with his arms that EDG four threw it out
of bounds trying to throw it around him, so he
couldn't throw it over him. I couldn't throw it around him.
I got really frustrated, which was understandable, and that to
me is something that will be their game in, or

(22:13):
can be their game in and game out.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
Yeah, it's hard to take away a player's defensive ability,
especially if he's as versatile as Jaden is with his
dominance around the goal. Certain teams and I'm not thinking
of any particular SEC team at the moment. I mean,
if big Z had still been at Arkansas, they would
have tried to try to get him in that matchup

(22:38):
and try to get him away from the rim and
all that sort of stuff. But you can change that
just by changing the matchup. I think maybe Arkansas is
a good example because they have bigs that do like
to play away from the goal. I'm not saying Jayden
can't play away from the goal, it just takes some
of his rim protection away. I mean, as you mentioned

(22:58):
on that play that you you know, that's a perfect
drop down to make it to make it difficult for
whether it's the whether it's the big man in that
case edge you four, or whether it's a guard. When
you do that, when you cover that role man, you
need to keep the ball from coming to him. And
he did a beautiful job on that. He understands defense.

(23:21):
As well as being extremely physically powerful and extremely dynamic,
he understands how to play defense. And that's why, even
though he's not shown himself to be a great shooter
or anything like that, the NBA still covets him because
that ability to play in various coverages with the pick
and roll is and it's a very valued skill at

(23:45):
the NBA level.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
Listen to Let's listen to something Mark Pope said after
the Bellerman win on Tuesday about Kentucky now moving forward
into conference play and having all the pieces out there
and finding a way to fit them all together.

Speaker 5 (24:02):
I do think our trend line is I think we're
learning a lot about how to play with two bigs
on the floor, about how to play, you know, with
a little more physical, confrontational game, you know, finding a
way to have our presence really felt, you know, on
the glass in big time games, and so those are
areas where we've made some growth. I think, you know,

(24:23):
guys are guys are defining their own roles, which is
really fun.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
So that was Mark Pope after the game on Tuesday.
Cam Williams had a big shooting game, So perhaps he
can continue to build on that, not to the tune
of eight per game, but to be a consistent knockdown
shooter for them. And yeah, some things that make him
effective defensively. But it seems, you know, the phrase two

(24:48):
bigs is not something that people were talking about for
the Mark Pope system when he arrived at Kentucky. But
you do have to adjust sometimes to what you have, right.

Speaker 3 (24:58):
Oh, absolutely, that is That's part of being a great coach.
It's not just having a system, especially at the college level.
It's adapting to the talent that's available to you. You
may go out and try to build your team to
what you want, but even in Kentucky's situation, with plenty

(25:21):
of resources and tremendous brand appeal, you don't win every
recruiting battle, and sometimes you wind up with a different
player than perhaps the one that was the exact target
that fit your system. Exactly the way you wanted it
to and you have to adjust to that. You have
to be and this is a yearly thing now. It
certainly at least was a quadrennial thing ten years ago,

(25:43):
fifteen years ago, but now it's an annual thing that
you have to be able to adjust to your personnel,
and Mark has shown that capability. Now we are starting
to see that it's not just well, he's got to
have three shooters, five shooters, whatever, or he can't run
his stuff. We're seeing that that's not the case. I

(26:04):
think we also are seeing it really helps to have
a point guard to be able to run your stuff.
But he's not just limited to playing a free flowing,
perimeter based three point attack.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
And his best defensive lineup. And that was a big
emphasis in putting this team together, was to get better
defensively with say Quaintance and Diabate out there together for
long stretches of games. That's not a great three point
shooting team, right and not a you know, five out
kind of approach. So how do you play in that environment?

(26:39):
Certainly Jalen knows a big piece of that to be
more of a attack off the pick and roll, get
in the middle of the defense, that kind of thing,
more so than they did last year.

Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah, that's where the pick and roll becomes huge, because
then you have two dynamic bigs that can get to
the rim and Jayden comes off the screen and it
all depends on how the defense comes so that the
defense attacks him, he throws it over the top or
he bounced. You know, he can bounce that pocket pass.
He's very good at that. He can throw it over

(27:10):
the top. Two guys that I mean a year ago,
he had one or two players on his offense. By
the time they got really going at Pitt and some
guys got hurt and that sort of thing, he had
one or two players that could really finish plays and
still average five assists. Now he'll play with a lot
more guys that can finish plays, and I think his

(27:32):
assist numbers at least I don't know exactly how minutes,
how many minutes will ultimately play, but he'll play the
important minutes, and his assist numbers relative to minutes played
will be extraordinary.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
And trying to find somebody to play the other minutes.
Denzel Aberdeen that he's not that kind of guy in
his career to this point. Jasper Johnson got some praise
for Mark Pope for what he did in the Bellerman
game getting down the hill, and it would seem to
me that he could be a he's not at the

(28:09):
moment at again against high level competition, like he's had
one assists in all those quote unquote big games. So
he's got to find his way better there. But he
has the skill set, more size even the Jalen, the
ability to get by his man, uh, and he can
pass the ball effectively and score it. And so he
has the skill set to be an effective backup there.

(28:31):
It would seem would you.

Speaker 3 (28:32):
Agree, Yeah, absolutely, and and and for his future it's
going to be essential for him to learn how to
do those things. Even he could carve out a job
in the NBA without it, uh, if he if he
gets the shot right and and that that would seem
to be what would happen with his skill set. I mean,
he's always been a great shooter. Just the minutes thing

(28:54):
is affecting him now, the amount of time he's not
on the floor, it's not it's not something he accustomed to.
So he's got to get used to that. And I
think he's starting to get better at that. But if
he can find a way to use his quickness and
his ball skills to be able to be effective. It's

(29:14):
not something that that's going to be easy. But again,
he doesn't have to be Jalen Lowe right from the jump.
He just has to be able to do two or
three things well off that ball screen, whatever they might be.
He has to be able to do two or and
one of them can be you know, using the screen
to get a little space for your own jump shot
and then really putting into the defense's mind. Wait, he

(29:37):
might go backward and then then and then getting them
off balance. That that can really impact the defense as well.
So that's another that's that's something that he can do
at a really high level if he gets comfortable with it,
and that can cause further problems for any defense that
Kentucky faces.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
Mike, of course, he thank you much for the extended
and early visit and happy New Year. We'll talk to
you on the eve of the start conference.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
Play for the SEC sounds.

Speaker 3 (30:06):
Wonderful, Tom, have a happy new year.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
Thank you you too, Mike de Coursey Sporting News dot
Com at TSN Mike on X, we'll take a quick
break I haven't been able to catch up to Adam Luckets.
We'll get him booked to talk football next week. But
Darren Headrick is going to step into the batter's box
and joined us to talk about Kentucky women's basketball when
we return. They have game coming up before league play starts,
and it'll be on Sunday at the Coddiseum. We'll get

(30:29):
into that and more with Darren when we return on
The Leech Report, presented by Bob Kat enterprises Leach Report
from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio, Return, Refresh, Refuel at Clark's.
We welcome Darren Headrick into the program. You'll hear him
on the call on Sunday afternoon at to easton Eastern
from Historic Memorial Colisseum, when the Kentucky women's basketball team,

(30:50):
now number eleven in the country, plays its final non
conference game. Hofstra, right, Darren.

Speaker 4 (30:56):
Tom, That's right, yeah, the Hofstra Pride out of the
now Coastal Athletic Association used to be the Colonial I think.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
Oh yeah, did not know that? Did not know about
that change. What's Coach Brooks feeling in terms of how
they what they've gotten accomplished, What boxes he got checked?

Speaker 2 (31:16):
That he needed to before league play started.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
You know what, I think he's, uh, well, you got
to be happy with the team sitting there at twelve
and one. But I think they like the way this
lineup has come together. You know, it's a it's a
stable starting five. They've gotten through non conference play relatively healthy.
And o tianni Key didn't play in the game against
Wright State. She's still day to day. We'll see if

(31:40):
she goes Sunday against Hofstra with LSU looming on New
Year's Day. But you know, I think the things you
like most about this team, Tom is the way they
play defense. They lead the nation in blox shots. They've
got a plus eleven rebounding margin for the season. But
more than that, they just forced teams in into tough shots.

(32:01):
They're one of the best in the nation in scoring
defense and field goal percentage defense. And it just seems
like they're connected. The communication continues to get better. That's
something that he's focused on and continues to harp on
and practice. Then, offensively, they're just really efficient. They can
shoot the three, they can go inside, and when you

(32:23):
average over eighty points a game, you've got something rolling.
So I think he likes where this team is as
they head towards league play.

Speaker 1 (32:30):
With those numbers offensively being what they are. Do you
since watching them game in a game out that they
have kind of settled into their post Georgia Amore identity
because she was such a dominant force with the ball
last year.

Speaker 4 (32:45):
Yeah, I do. I think in a lot of ways
they're more balanced this year. They've got several players that
can go frontline and their versatility. Obviously Clara Strack and
Sianni Kee get a lot of attention on that front line,
but Amelia Acid and Jordan Obie can both work the
ball inside. Jordan is a very physical guard. She was

(33:07):
a post player when she was at Penn and so
she's used to going inside and banging around. So and
then you've got Amelia Hasse who can step outside and
hit those big threes. But the big key has been
Tony Morgan, and I think she has struck a great
balance right now. Tom of knowing when to drive the
ball and score it or when to facilitate her teammates

(33:28):
scoring leading the nation or towards the top of the
nation and assists so very experienced point guard. She is
getting more comfortable in the system, and that's made a
huge difference down the stretch here.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
Kentucky will start league play a week from last night,
on New Year's Night, down in Baton Rouge, So you'll
be rigging in the new year in Baton Rouge. You
can slide on down to New Orleans. I'm sure it'll
be you know, just quiet down there if you want.
But tell me about just the SEC. We know what

(34:03):
it is year in and year out, but anything that
it's different from usual as in how Kentucky fits into that.

Speaker 4 (34:10):
You know, it's it's a it's a physical league on
both you know, men's and women's.

Speaker 5 (34:15):
UH.

Speaker 4 (34:15):
This year, I think it's Texas. Texas has already beaten
South Carolina in a non conference matchup in one of
those mtes out in Las Vegas, and so you're looking
at Texas and South Carolina LSU. I think they've only
had two games this year where they didn't score one
hundred points offensively, so they're a juggernaut as usual under
Kim Maulk. That's an extremely tough matchup to start conference

(34:39):
play with. But Oklahoma Reagan Beers is going to be
a challenge this year. Old Miss is physical and should
be in the top you know, five or six teams
in the league. So there's a lot of new coaches
this year. Some programs have hit the reset button. But
it's going to be another grinded out SEC season and

(35:00):
it's the team that can stay healthy and stay together
that's going to come out on top of this thing.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
Yeah, Kentucky. I just look at the tcher mintion. They
get South Carolina and Lexington, Texas is in Austin, but
they get Ole Miss. Where is that one? Ole Miss
is in Lexington? They get Oklahoma in Lexington, and then
they do have to go to LSU. The LSU thing
ought to be interesting in terms of strength versus strength
with that offense against the defensive numbers you were citing

(35:29):
for Kentucky.

Speaker 4 (35:31):
Yeah, that's the matchup. I'm looking forward to watching the South.
Kentucky's able to slow down their attack. They've got some
you know, outstanding players and flage A Johnson and Williams.
The guard who hit the big shot to beat Kentucky
and Lexington last year, Mikaela Williams, and so they've got
a ton of talent there in Baton Rouge again, It's

(35:53):
gonna be an interesting season. There's one stretch in there,
and I'm sure that the Kentucky men have something similar.
But the women play in Texas on a Monday night,
turn around and play Texas A and M at home
on Thursday, and then have that tough Old Miss team
on the Sunday after that. So three of the most
physical teams in the league are right there in a

(36:13):
seven day window, and it's it's just I'm sure every
team goes through a stretch like that, but it's just
amazing how many really good teams you play in a
short span once you get into conference play, and.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
Then I'm just looking at that in the next week
they have two acts, which means obviously you have to
go out of the road to Vandy in Auburn after
a week like that, and I'm not sure what their
teams are, but still, it's just, you know, you'd prefer
to have a little bit of a of a home
stretch after those kind of physical games, but it is
what it is. Everybody has to deal with their own

(36:45):
challenges in a league like this.

Speaker 4 (36:49):
Darren, Yeah, you're exactly right.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
Appreciate your time and jumping on helping us out today,
and have a very happy New Year. With Kentucky women's basketball.

Speaker 4 (37:00):
Thank you very much Tom anytime, happy to come on
here and chat with you, so appreciate it. And happy
New Year to you as well.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
Same to you.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
We'll be chatting with Darren frequently during this course of
the season as the Cats move into league play. Now
again rank number eleven in the country, so high hopes
for what Kentucky can accomplish this season. Quick break and
back to close out this edition of the Leach Report.
Corn Bread Hemp can help you stock up for the
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(37:49):
these retiring products that are available still at the moment
at cornbreadhamp dot com. So put in that code ky
cheer when you go to cornbreadhamp dot com. Take advantage
of those deals this day. In nineteen fifty one, Kentucky
and UCLA played for the first time Adolf rue versus
John Wooden at Memorial Cottilseum. Kentucky routed the Bruins eighty
four fifty three. Cliffagen went for thirty four UK history

(38:12):
nots presented by Kentucky Roadshows, Sports Cards in Memorabilia on
Romney Road in Lexington and at roadshowcards dot Com.

Speaker 2 (38:19):
Have a great weekend.

Speaker 1 (38:20):
Everybody will see you on Monday for the Leach Report.