Episode Transcript
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Hello and welcome inside the debut episodeof the UK Sports Network Today podcast,
presented by the Big Blue Brew Newsletter. Today's episode, we're going to visit
with Jack Gibbons of the UK SportsNetwork basketball play by play broadcast. Of
course, Jack a national champion himself, so we'll take a look back at
the season that was of the regularseason and look ahead to the SEC tournament
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as well as a little peak atthe NCAA's what a wonderful time of year
it is. But this is justthe launching point for this podcast. You're
next going to hear us after thegame on Friday. We'll have a postgame
pod that will wrap up the quarterfinalgame Kentucky's yet to be determined opponent at
the time of taping, and we'llalso recap the day in UK athletics.
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But this is going to be awonderful, wonderful avenue of this UK Sports
Network Today podcast because we're going toget to do some really cool things that
be football postgame recaps, men's basketballpostgame recaps, but we're also going to
do features on every single UK athleticsports. We're going to have athletes,
coaches, administrators on and of courseyour favorite UK Sports Network personalities like today
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with Jack, a national champion andKentucky native. Really good convo with Jack.
I can't wait, honestly to haveJack on over the summer to kind
of do a deeper dive into hisexperience as a UK student athlete. But
just a little tease for you,we do get into that and kind of
compare with Reed Shepherd of course beinga Kentucky native and Jack being a Kentucky
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native and a man that won achampionship in the Blue and White in the
Kentucky Jersey as a Kentucky native.So talking about the kind of the similarities
there and if Jack has talked toread about that as he embarks on his
own postseason journey here in his freshmanseason. UK Sports Network Today is brought
to you by the Big Blue Brewnewsletter. It's the official news letter of
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UK Athletics. You can sign uptoday at Ukathletics dot com slash Big Blue
Brew. The Big Blue Brew iscompletely free and it hits inboxes every weekday
morning. Once again, that's Ukathleticsdot Com slash Big Blue Brew. Without
further ado, let's get to ourinterview Jack. Of course, you would
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be hard pressed to find someone morequalified to talk about March Madness than Jackie's,
a former Final four Most Outstanding Player, a nineteen seventy eight National champion,
and of course, a UK AthleticsHall of Famer. Here's Jack previewing
the SEC tournament, Jack Gibbons.Jack, I know you're a busy guy
there in Nashville, so thank youso much for making some time for us.
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Glad to do it. Andrew,I tell you, man, you
for your first show, you hadto have been able to find someone better
than me. Hey, I wasworried that your agent wasn't going to text
me back, so I'm just gladthat he did. But let's talk.
I mean, we're finally here,right, you're building up to this postseason
format and you're finally here. Butlet's look back, just for a brief
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moment. Of course, we hadthe Tennessee game, which was so thrilling.
Just it was a great game,especially if you're a neutral fan.
Maybe a little bit nerve wracking ifyou're a Kentucky fan obviously, but looking
at this team's growth, man,it just seems like they're peaking it right
the right time. It does seemthat way Andrew, and you know,
that's what you want when you starta season. You want to make sure
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you plan your best basketball at thistime of the year, and that's what
Kentucky's doing. I mean, there'sbeen a lot of hot hype about this
team all the way back to thattrip to Toronto and how well the Cats
played there, and the anticipation hasbeen tremendous and it's built up over the
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course of the year. Of courseit's been a little up, a little
down, but still this is ateam that, above everything else, is
fun to watch. They love toplay with each other. They passed the
ball well, they shoot the ballwell, and now that they're defending just
a little bit better, you know, it's a team that could make some
noise. You know, I wentback and rewatched the game that the television
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broadcast of the Tennessee game, andwhat's not apparent when we're in studio kind
of not technically hearing everything or seeingeverything. Just seemed like we were defending
with an intensity that maybe we haven'tseen this season against Tennessee. If that
shows up in Nashville and then whereverwe go beyond that for the NCAA tournament,
you got to feel pretty good abouta run being made in both of
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these tournaments. Yeah, and thething that's really impressive about it is they
did it. It seems for theentire forty minutes. I mean, they've
had flashes, they've had halves whenthey have defended well, and all of
a sudden, it's like, man, did they forget what they did in
the first half. You know,we've had games like that, but and
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a couple of games down the stretchwhere we had to defend well enough to
get some stops just to get backin a game or to push pull away
from a team. They've done that. But against Tennessee it seemed they put
it all together. Really a learningexperience game for Kentucky because you can show
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video and you can say here's whatwe did. There's still room to improve,
don't get me wrong, and thatis a good thing. But if
they play defense like they like theydid in that Tennessee game, could be
really really special run for this team. There's so many possible answers to this,
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so I'm not going to pin youdown to just one guy. But
but what's been really fun for meis you see this team that was the
seventh youngest team in the country,the youngest among the Power Conference teams.
Just the growth that they've had offensively, defensively overall. And you're in practices,
so you're seeing this kind of happenin real time, whereas the rest
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of us are just kind of seeingit by chunk and games. Who for
you has had the biggest growth fromthat Toronto trip in Canada to here we
are now the day before the SECtournament. Yeah, that's an interesting question,
Andrew, because all the guys Ithink have him right. But I
think the guy who has improved maybethe most and who has made a huge
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difference the last month of this seasonis Ugana and Yenso. And he's probably
a name that a lot of peoplewon't think about when you talk about Shepherd
and Dillingham and everybody else on thisteam. But I think Kentucky's improvement needed
to come on the defensive end ofthe floor. I mean, this team's
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been scoring well since back in Toronto. They've been points, you know,
but they had to improve defensively.And I think when Ugana got inserted into
the start lineup, immediately almost Kentuckystarted to handle the high pick and roll
much better. And with his abilityto defend that and to block shots and
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to do it as teams thought theyhad to get physical with Kentucky to beat
them. For him to be ableto perform in all of those circumstances,
I think has been I don't wantto say the single most but one of
the most important things for this teamdown the stretch. And you know that
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game when he got ten blocks,and that was kind of a coming out
party. It told everybody, I'mhere, No, I'm going to be
in here. And now you seeguards looking over their shoulder if they do
get around the screen and roll,they look around to see where he is.
And that little hesitation has been enoughto make the biggest difference for this
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team and the prove improvements we've seenover the last month or so. You
made a great point on a postgameshow after a game and I can't it
might have been that ten block game, but but kind of seeing it regularly
now has been has been jarring withYouugana. Is that how they avoid them
and you kind of just spoke tothat, but he just kind of seals
off the paint that sometimes we're ifyou can take that big chunk of the
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court away because of one guy.It makes the job of the other four
I don't want to say easy,but a little bit easier to defend.
Yeah, yeah, because we havea team that sometimes takes chances anyway.
On defense. You know, someof our guards will shoot the gap when
the gap doesn't need it to beshot that need to be shot, if
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you know what I mean. Theyso it helps them to say, okay,
man, I can try this.If I mess up, I've got
a guy back there now who's gonnablock shots, who's gonna clog up the
lane. They give me chance,give me time to recover to my man.
All of that kind of stuff makesit, you're right, easier for
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Kentucky on defense, and it reallydoesn't. It takes away how critical it
is when Kentucky would make a mistakeon defense, because that always led to
layup. Not so much anymore.Speaking of growth, you know a guy
that I know a lot of peopledon't pay attention to those NBA mock drafts,
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and you know, who knows what'sgoing to happen in the future.
But reed Shepherd to go from aguy that going into Toronto, not many
folks knew how much he would playthis year to being a guy that it's
not just one, it's not justtwo, and it's not just some random
website. These are major publications thathave enlisted as a potential number one overall
pick in the NBA draft. Imean, you talk about an explosion onto
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the stage that I think even someof the coaching staff maybe said, we
didn't know this guy was that gooduntil he got here. Hey, hey,
listen, and if I tell youI knew this and I predicted it,
and I knew he was gonna bea number one, number one pick.
Would you believe me Andrew if Isaid that, don't because I'm like
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everyone else in that I did notsee this coming. As a matter of
fact, I didn't see it comingafter three or four years. Really for
Reed, I knew he was agood player, knew was solid, I
knew he fundamentally was sound, allof that kind of stuff, but I
didn't know how well that was goingto translate over to the game on this
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level. But he has just excelledin so many different categories. He's shooting
the ball so much better than everyoneeven ever thought from both the two and
the three, makes his free throws. So you like having the ball in
his hands, down the stretch.Everything that people like on the next level,
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the NBA scouts and the teams,everything they like is kind of packaged
in Read Shepherd. Big surprise toeveryone in college basketball. But it's really
a pleasant surprise because, if fornothing else, he's just a good kid
man and you feel good for himbecause he takes it in stride. He's
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the same read now that he wasthe first interview I did with him back
in Toronto. Same guy, alwaysaccommodating and eager to spend a few minutes
with you. So all the stuffteams like Read Shepherd is that he's unbelievable
and what a great story he hasbeen this college basketball season. You and
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him have a lot in common inthat you know your Kentucky guys, your
Kentucky kids, right, And Ithink there's a little bit of a pressure
that comes with that because you knowthe expectation, you know the history going
into a time of year like this, I cannot wait to have you on
to talk about your whole career.So I'm sorry, just a pigeonhole to
one thing, But is that somethingyou guys have spoken about, just your
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experience in that same forum as him. Yeah, and it's even more magnified
with read because of what his momand dad did at the University of Kentucky.
Not just the fact that he's fromKentucky. He's been here and he
played his high school basketball here,but man, that the family tradition is
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there, and that has to putsome pressure on him because everybody from the
time he could even think about dribblingin basketball. Are you as good as
your dad? Are you going tobe better than me? You know?
So he's had to deal with that. But it is very special, very
special to be able to stay athome, if you will stay at home
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and play, even more so forme because I'm from Lexington. But it
was really really good to be ableto do that. People know who you
are in the state of Kentucky.They followed you your whole career, so
all of that adds to it.Yeah, Reid and I have talked about
that at times, and he likedme, is very grateful and thankful for
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the opportunity in front of us.I cannot wait to talk to you about
your career this summer when we haveyou back on. But let's look at
at Friday night, we're recording thison a Thursday, so we don't quite
know the opponent yet, but onething's for sure. You're either going to
get a team on the bubble thatcan possibly put themselves in with a win
over you, or you're going toget a team that needs to beat you
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to get to the tournament. Soeither way, you're fighting a team that's
basically already in the NCAA tournament ina sense. Yeah, and that's why
this time of the year, youdon't want to have to think a whole
lot about who your opponent's going tobe. You want the other team to
worry about you more than you worryabout them. That's not to say that
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you're not going to have a gameplan and that you're not going to know
everything about that player that you're goingto be matched up against. In that
team you're going to be matched upagainst, you, you're going to know
everything there is to know about themby game time, but you want to
make sure that now, for instance, Kentucky is a good defense better defensive
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team. I don't want to Idon't want to necessarily go say a good
defensive rate, but much better.So what that means is now you have
to talk about Ugana uh and whathe brings in the middle. Now you
have to talk about justin Edwards andwhere you all you said was you attack
him. Now you have to say, well, you don't want to attack
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him on this side. You wantto maybe attack you know, you throw
all of this other stuff at thatopposing team. Obviously, what Kentucky does
on offense, teams are gonna haveto be really concerned about that. So
I think Kentucky's in a great positionin that I don't care who they play.
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That other team is going to havemore to worry about playing Kentucky than
Kentucky might have to worry about playwhoever that team is. So this time
of the year, you want tobe in that position where hey man,
we're executing, we do what wehave to do on both days. It's
good position to be in when theother team has to worry more about you
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than you have to worry about them. So Jack, Kentucky peaking at the
right time. Looking at the tournamentas a whole, there's a lot of
good teams in the SEC tournament.I mean, this is probably the best
league. I know. There's acouple others that have staked that claim,
like the Big twelve, but Ithink at least at the top there's just
there's three four teams that can reallyrealistically make a run. There's probably seven
or eight they're going to get in. So in terms of talent, I
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know everybody's looking forward to next Thursdayfor the first round, but this is
a little mini NCAA tournament as itis as a whole. Yeah, the
atmosphere, even opening night atmosphere forthe games here at the SEC tournament was
unbelievable. I sat through and watchedsome of it, and boy, the
crowd was just into it. Apacked house, you know, every seat
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almost was taken. And that's onWednesday night, you know. So the
excitement is here Nashville is unbelievable.And I think the reason is because there's
so many teams here who can notjust do damage here in this tournament,
but do damage in the Big Dancewhen it starts next week. So,
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man, you just don't know fromnight to night. That's why he's gonna
have to be on top of thegame, man, and ready to play.
I'm not asking you to fill outan SEC Tournament bracket, but I
just the folks I've talked to atthe national level media wise, everybody's kind
of rooting for a Kentucky Tennessee rematch. I think everybody wants to see that
on Sunday, you know. Iknow coach Callus said it doesn't really have
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any bearing and seating because it's playedso late, right before, you know,
as the committee is making their choices, So it's almost an exhibition game
at that point. But there's alot on the line with a trophy and
some nets as well in Nashville.How fun would that be to get a
third crack at Tennessee. A bitof a rubber match, if you will,
with the rival. Yeah, Iwould love to see that, There's
no question about it. I mean, Tennessee is a really really good basketball
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team. A lot of weapons onthat team. You don't need me to
tell you that. Kentucky is alot the same way a good team,
good players. I would and Kentuckyneeds to get back to the final game.
I don't know what would happen,but Kentucky needs to get back to
that. It's been that kind ofyear for this team and they are peaking
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at just the right time. SoI'm hoping we'll see that. Andrew,
it would be fine, it wouldhave all the eyes of the nation watching
that game. That's for sure.You're a man packed with commitments here in
the SEC tournament. So let meget you your last question before we let
you go. Jack, as aformer player, how can you use this
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week to prepare yourself for next week? I know that's a quick turnaround,
so it's kind of silly to ask, but it almost mimics, you know,
a little bit of a mini firstRound through Sweet sixteen atmosphere, albeit
in a much more compacted schedule.Well, any loss this time of the
year is in a lot of waysa step back. Now, if it's
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in the final game, as youjust talked about, in Kentucky's playing Tennessee,
I wouldn't expect I wouldn't look atthat as a step back. I
mean, because it's a great accomplishment. But what you want to do is
you want to you want to winthis time of the year, and that
should be your number one focus,doing the stuff that it takes for you
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to win the game. And Ijust think, you know, if Kentucky
is really serious about and are wherewe think they are, anything less than
being in that final game is goingto be just a little bit of a
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disappointment because it just here's what itis. Man, you gotta be on
an upswing going into the big dance, and losing any sooner than that final
game might take a little away fromthe momentum Kentucky has built, you know,
the last two to three weeks.It's been a fun ride with that
momentum. Hopefully it continues there inNashville and obviously next week wherever wherever we
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get sent for the first and secondrounds of the NCAA Tournament. Jack,
thank you so much for being theinaugural guest on the UK Sports Network Today
podcast. Really appreciate it. Lookforward to talking to you down the stretch
here during the tournament. Thank you, Andrew really enjoyed it, man,
and good luck with appreciate it.We need all the luck we can get.
I'm technically sometimes not savvy, soI'm glad we were able to at
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least get on the screen. That'sa big step in the right direction.
A big thank you to Jack Gibbonsfor joining us in this inaugural episode.
Certainly not the last time we'll behearing from Jack. In fact, we
just may be hearing him over thenext week or two on UK Sports Network
Today, presented by Big Blue Brew, but we will definitely be hearing him
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on Friday night seven pm the tipoff against a yet to be determined opponent
that'll be decided on Thursday evening afterthe taping of this show. But the
Cats excited to get their SEC Tournamentjourney started, their postseason in general,
journey started. Tip Off is atseven Eastern time, six o'clock local if
you are in Nashville for the SECTournament, and I know a lot of
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Big Blue Nation is on site,which we certainly love to see at Bridgestone
Arena and in and around Nashville,but that seven pm tip means our Don
Franklin Countdown to tip Off show.We'll start at five thirty yours truly.
We'll have postgame coverage afterward, andour next UK Sports Network Today podcast will
be a special postgame podcast. We'lllook back on the game from Friday and
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hopefully have a preview of Saturday aswell. Thank you so much for joining
us on the debut episode of theUK Sports Network Today Podcast. Really really
look forward to what we have instore for you as we highlight UK athletics
both in season and off season aswell, and also a huge thanks to
Jack Gibbons for spending some time withus on what is a really busy day
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in Nashville for him, the daybefore Kentucky gets going. So for Curtis
Birch and everybody at the UK SportsNetwork, I'm er kafus saying see you
next time on UK Sports Network today