March 18, 2024 • 17 mins
Hear from Coach Calipari after the Cats find out where they will be playing in the NCAA Tournament.
Plus Tom Leach and Jack Givens break down the bracket.
Hosted by Andrew Kappes.
Presented by the Big Blue Brew, subscribe now: UKAthletics.com/BigBlueBrew
Plus Tom Leach and Jack Givens break down the bracket.
Hosted by Andrew Kappes.
Presented by the Big Blue Brew, subscribe now: UKAthletics.com/BigBlueBrew
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome inside UK Sports Network today,presented by the Big Blue Brew Newsletter.
Andrew kap is here with you,and we have a bracket. Kentucky a
record sixty first NCAA tournament appearance.That wasn't the drama, it was just
the who and the where here thistime in Kentucky, a three seed in
the South Region and they will takeon the champions of the Horizon League,
(00:28):
the Oakland Golden Grizzlies out of theGreater Detroit area Rochester Hills, Michigan to
be exact. They will be theopponent on Thursday night, and the Cats
do avoid that West coast trip outto Spokane. Not the best case scenario
obviously. The Cats wanted to getup to Indianapolis, but they would have
had to move up to a twoline to do that. But Pittsburgh not
(00:49):
a bad drive for most of BigBlue Nation, and there should be a
lot of blue there and very muchlooking forward to that. Coach Caliperry very
familiar with Oakland, good friends withcoach Campy there. He's done a great
job for Oakland time in and timeout, as they have been a long
storied program, especially since joining theHorizon. But here are coach Cow's thoughts
(01:10):
on his opponent on Thursday night.Yeah, no, Greg. Greg Campy
and I are really good friends.We go way back. He's not a
good coach, he's a great coach. He'd been doing it there for a
long time. It's funny. Iwatched their championship game because it was Greg
Campy, and I watched the secondhalf and they won, and I was
(01:32):
cheering, and I told him heand I have already gone back and forth,
and I go, look, I'mhappy. I watched half that game,
and I said, but I'm notgoing to cheer the way I cheered
that day. But he does agood job. He's got good players.
He put in the dribble drive afterI put it in and had us get
(01:53):
together because he wanted to use it, and then they ran it better than
we ran it. So he's goodat what he does. He could be
coaching anywhere. I mean, thereare all these jobs open right now.
I don't know why someone wouldn't say, let's go get great Campy. So
he's good. You mentioned you guysget way back. Can you kind of
talk a little bit about where thatunless it's from it he's we asked each
(02:15):
other to do things. I've donea golf outing form in different things,
and he came in when we've donesome of our stuff when I was in
Memphis Goes back then, so it'sbeen I've known him for a long long
time. Oakland earning their way intothe NCAA Tournament by courtesy of three wins
in the Horizon League tournament. Allbegan on campus back on March the seventh,
(02:38):
when they took down Perdue Fort Waynein a quarter final contest seventy five
sixty five. Then it got alittle topsy turvy in the Horizon League and
they faced the seventh seed Cleveland Statein the semi finals in Indianapolis, seventy
four to seventy one, the finalover the Vikings for Oakland there to get
to the finals, where they faceda sixth seed, the Milwaukee Panthers beat
(02:59):
them a seventy six in Indy tosecure their Horizon League championship in that automatic
berth into the NCAA Tournament. Sothe Cats in that three fourteen matchup,
and here is Tom and Jack whowill be courtside in Pittsburgh calling all the
action with their thoughts not just onthis opening round but the draw for the
Cats as well. Oh here JohnCaliperry's house where he and the team just
(03:22):
watched the selection show. Goose,would you think about the bracket? Well,
I like the brack for Kentucky.Frankly, I think I'm just glad
we're not going to spokecast like that. But you know, for a lot
of guys, it's going home.For Coach cow it's going home, So
I think it's going to be prettynice there. Yeah, and they face
a team out of the Horizon League, and Darren Horn competes against that school
(03:47):
and his son Walker's on the team, so gettle extra scouting help there.
Yeah, if it's Texas Tech thatthey should run into, if they should
advance and then face Texas Tech,I think Vandy played against Texas techduring the
season, so a couple little anglesthere. Ultimately, it just comes down
to Kentucky plays the way Kentucky canplay a great chance to move on to
(04:10):
Dallas exactly, And that's what youwant to do this time of the year.
Tom, I say it all thetime, and I just draw back
on the days when I played.We tried to be more focused on what
we wanted to do. Now weunderstand there's gonna be challenges. We understand
there's a lot of great teams outthere and a lot of nice talent.
But if we're on top of ourgame, if Kentucky's on top of our
(04:31):
game their game, I think theywill cause more issues for the other team
than that team does for us.We have to wearry about one thing,
and that is defending. It's obviousif we don't defend, it's going to
be tough. Everything else Kentucky doespretty well. You and I have been
watching this team practice since July whenthey were preparing for Toronto, and you
(04:53):
could see that there was a reallygood chemistry that developed early on. So
they I think these really enjoy playingtogether and want to keep this thing going
for a while. I would haveto think they have a little bit of
a chip on their shoulder after theway they played in Nashville, and that's
not a bad way to go tothis tournament. Yep. Yeah, you
certainly hope they are a little disappointedin their performance there. I know everybody
(05:17):
else is. I know Kentucky understandsthey are better than the product they put
on the floor down in Nashville,and that always should make you feel better.
I think it was the team wasa little bit nervous. So now
that the nerves have been taking tournamentnerves have been dealt with. I don't
think you'll see Kentucky whar about that, but yeah, they should have a
(05:39):
chip on their shoulder. They shouldbe ready to prove a lot of folks,
not just here in the Big BlueNation, but a lot of folks
around the country that they're better thanwhat they showed down there. Should get
a lot of Kentucky fans being ohyeah, yeah, it's driveable definitely.
So we hope to see many ofyou up in Pittsburgh and hopefully the Cats
can take care of business twice andmove on to Dallas. Yes, a
(06:01):
homecoming for coach cal and a coupleof the Cats when they embark off to
Pittsburgh for the first and second rounds, and Jack had a chance to catch
up with Adu Thierro to talk aboutnot just that homecoming, but what comes
next for the Cats as they preparein the next couple of days to leave
for Pittsburgh, take on Oakland inthat first round, and hopefully last a
few days there before heading off tothe regional semis and beyond Well, the
(06:27):
Cats know where they're going now,they are going, well home kind of
home for you. That's going tobe nice. Yeah, that's going to
be nice to get you back there. Your initial thoughts on the draw that
Kentucky got, I know you weredown. You guys had a little bit
of conversation about that. But what'syour initial thought about going home or just
(06:49):
like our position, your position andwhat you kind of expect going there.
No, kind of just want togo one game at a time, focus
on the team that we're playing andnot who's around, you know, just
get what we gotta get done.Got a Thursday game, so not a
lot of time for practice between nowand then. But give us a little
(07:11):
bit of thought of what you thinkthe next couple of days will be like
before you take off to Pittsburgh.I think it's gonna be a lot of
mental things, like a lot ofmental notes, getting a lot of reps
in defensively, just knowing what wegotta do. I think that's what it's
gonna be mostly. Yeah, Ithink defensively this team needs to improve just
(07:33):
a little bit. But the talentsthere, we've shown it enough. How
focused are you all going to beon that. I think the emphasis is
gonna be it's either winn or gohome. So I think everybody's gonna come
in pretty focus, a little chipon your shoulder, maybe from what happened
down in Nashville. Yes, sir, you know going aware of what we
gotta do going home. Man,how many ticket requests you think you're gonna
(07:56):
get? I know your phone's beenblowing up since we were standing here.
What about that? Yeah, Well, whenever they said we were going to
Pittsburgh, a couple of people startedtexting me. I know, I text
my family, but yeah, alot of people are gonna be asking good.
Ready, you got to make sureyou stay away from the hoop everything
that goes along with and stay focusedon the game, Sir, Laser focused?
(08:18):
Is coach Cal getting his team ready. We'll have a couple of days
before Kentucky makes the actual trip upto Pittsburgh. Then obviously we'll practice on
site before their game on Thursday night, and Coach Cal already keeping in mind
what may change, whether it belittle or big, in advance of that
game and what we might see thatnight. We may have a couple of
tweaks. I got some things Ithink I'm gonna have to try to do.
(08:41):
So I got a couple of tweaksin mind. If a team has
guards that just break us down,what else can we do? How about
if I put both seven footers in, It may take away a little offense,
but now you've got two seven footersa little harder score at the rim.
(09:01):
So there's some different things we cando. Golden Grizzlies had won five
of six going into their Horizon Leaguetournament run, so when you add it
all up together, eight of theirlast nine, including those three Horizon League
Tournament victories, and as far astheir non conference schedule goes, they've played
a couple of teams in the NCAATournament, most notably Michigan State in East
(09:22):
Lansing. That was back in December, though, but a seventy nine to
sixty two defeat to Michigan State,and then just a couple of days later
they took on Dayton, which gotan at large bid as a seven seed,
and lost ninety one sixty seven atUDA, which will be the site
of course, of the first fourgames on Tuesday and Wednesday, and looking
at their best victory of the season, and that would belong to their win
(09:45):
over Xavier, one of their twentythree victories. That was back on November
the twenty seventh in Cincinnati at theSintas Center seventy eight seventy six, right
before they kickstarted Horizon League play.The Horizon League starts in the late November
Piero and then some non conference gamesmixed in there in December before full blown
league play in January. So finaltale the tape for Oakland twenty three and
(10:07):
eleven overall, fifteen to five theirconference record, and they have picked up
an impress of nine victories away fromhome, most notably that one in Cincinnati
against Xavier. Then, of coursethose three neutral site victories are two neutral
site victories in Indianapolis to cut downthe nets of the Horizon League, take
home the championship and that automatic bid. Tip off time for Thursday just announced
(10:30):
as we tape on Sunday night,It'll be a seven to ten tip off
on Thursday for Kentucky in that openinground game against Oakland from Pittsburgh. That
means our Don Franklinado Countown to tipoff show will begin right around five thirty.
We'll break it down for you leadingoff to the start of the ballgame
when we hand it over to Tomand Jack who will be courtside in Pittsburgh
(10:52):
to call all the action. Hopefullyat Kentucky win this Thursday night. Making
the transition now to the spring sportportion of the program, We'll start with
softball, who hosted the John CropClassic this weekend in Lexington. Not as
many weather challenges as were feared,thankfully, although they did start the event
a little earlier. We told youabout that in our last episode, Kentucky
(11:13):
beating South Dakota State eight nothing,run ruling them in five innings. Speaking
of run ruling, that's what theydid to Columbia to kickstart there Saturday,
twelve to three in just five innings. Then in the nightcap for the Cats,
they took on Ohio seat got thevictory there as well, nine to
four, to improve to eighteen andseven overall on the year. Aaron Koffle
(11:33):
won for two a couple of runsbatted in, including her ninth home run
of the year, she continues toextend her own record for school history and
home runs, and Carissa Hamilton providingher sixth home run of the year.
She went two for four as Hamiltonhas been a very good, powerful bat
in the middle of that order forcoach Lawson and company. Kentucky went pitching
by committee inside the circle, asyou often have to do in these tournaments
(11:56):
tournament type formats. Jaden Vickers gotit started, went two and a third
innings, then she gave way toSydney Langdon three innings of scoreless softball for
her, just a couple of hitsallowed and six strikeouts, and then Stephanie
Schoonover came in and finished it off, hitless in those one and two thirds
innings with four punch outs as theCats got it done and dropped Ohio State
(12:18):
to a fifteen and eight record.That's a very good OSU team that they
faced. Cats improved to eighteen andseven. They would make it nineteen and
seven on Sunday afternoon run ruling Columbiaagain ten to nothing before Ohio State took
the finale of the John Crop Classic, winning twelve to six. But overall,
a very good weekend for the Castsas they improve their overall record to
(12:41):
nineteen and eight. Should be stillinside that top twenty five pole. One
would think they came in at twentythree this week. Next up for softball,
They'll have a midweek game in Lexingtonat John Crop Stadium six o'clock on
Wednesday, that's against Marshall, andthen they will head out for SEC play
on the road for the first time. They had the SEC opening series against
LSU already at home, but thiswill be their first road journey in the
(13:05):
Southeastern Conference. They'll head to Gainesvilleon Friday, six o'clock start on Friday,
three o'clock start on Saturday, andthen noon on Sunday, and the
Friday game nationally televised on SEC Networkand the Sunday game nationally televised as well
on ESPN two there from Gainesville,but we'll also have a recap there up
(13:26):
for you at some point this weekendof what's going on in that Florida series.
Speaking of SEC on the Diamond,baseball did phenomenal against Georgia, a
top twenty five pponent coming into Kentuckyprow Park and head coach Nanji On for
the third time is Kentucky tenure sweepingin SEC opening series, and the Cats
did it in style. All startedon Friday night over those Bulldogs in what
(13:48):
was a wild contest sixteen to ten. We recapped it a little bit on
our last episode, but the Cat'sable to rally from an early deficit win
a wild one sixteen to ten.It was much more subdued in the final
couple of games. Cats winnings onSaturday nine to three behind a three hit
day from James McCoy and Ryan WaldschmidtDominic Nyman six and two thirds innings three
(14:13):
runs, did no earned runs,so was Era dropping to two point seven
to eight as the Cats got itdone to improve to sixteen and three and
two the SEC but they would makeit seventeen and three and they saved the
best for last. On Sunday afternoontwelve two winners over Georgia were the Cats.
Three RBIs from Petra as he bumpedhis batting average up to three point
(14:33):
fifty nine. Ryan Nicholson he continuesto be a force in the middle of
the order. He was in thesixth spot on Sunday two for three,
three runs knocked in for him,including a couple of home runs. Petrie
also had a home run, hissecond of the year Nicholson that was his
second and third as a Mason Moorespun a gem on Sunday six innings,
two runs allowed two walks and eightstrikeouts. A lot of talk postgame about
(14:58):
the culture of Kentucky and how thathas contributed to their success, and boy,
it contributed both offensively, defensively andwith pitching as well this weekend as
a million p trade discusses postgame,h I think obviously it's a it's a
big message that we just show toeveryone, but we don't really look at
those kind of stuff just because wedon't let anything outside outside the culture we
(15:24):
have impact what we have here.So we believe in ourselves and we're gonna
keep believing. So what wasn't aboutthat call through the hearing you guys this
weekend? We believe. Like Isaid, Minch coach talked about that last
weekend, we didn't feel like wewere believing those first two games when we
were down, and I feel likenow everyone's just believing that the Cats can
(15:46):
do it. With softball on ESPNtwo on Sunday, baseball is on SEC
network on Sunday afternoon as well,so you'll certainly have your choice of Kentucky
on the dine with no possibility ofbasketball conflict, with of course basketball being
on a Thursday Saturday schedule as faras that first and second round in Pittsburgh,
(16:10):
so great weekend ahead for Kentucky.We have a lot of content coming
your way this week as we kindof dive into this first round matchup with
Oakland. We'll have a preview episodeof the ballgame there ahead of Thursday,
and of course we'll have a postgamerecap on Thursday night and hopefully some preview
content for you ahead of what wouldbe a Saturday game if Kentucky makes it
(16:33):
through Oakland on Thursday and into thesecond round. As always, UK Sports
Network Today presented by the Big BlueBrew newsletter. You can sign up today
at ukathletics dot com slash Big BlueBrew. Big Blue Brew is completely free
and it hits in boxes every weekdaymorning, the official newsletter of UK Athletics.
Once again, that's Ukathletics dot comslash Big Blue Brew. Big thanks
(16:57):
to everyone at the UK Sports Networkfor getting all this audio assembled for us
to bring to you this week.A couple of corners of UK Athletics to
summarize here on this very busy selectionSunday, and we'll have a lot more
content coming your way this week inadvance of that game against the Oakland Golden
(17:18):
Grizzlies in the opening round of theNCAA tournament on Thursday. So for everyone
at the UK Sports Network and UKSports Network today, I'm or japis saying
talk to you next time.
Welcome inside UK Sports Network today,presented by the Big Blue Brew Newsletter.
Andrew kap is here with you,and we have a bracket. Kentucky a
record sixty first NCAA tournament appearance.That wasn't the drama, it was just
the who and the where here thistime in Kentucky, a three seed in
the South Region and they will takeon the champions of the Horizon League,
(00:28):
the Oakland Golden Grizzlies out of theGreater Detroit area Rochester Hills, Michigan to
be exact. They will be theopponent on Thursday night, and the Cats
do avoid that West coast trip outto Spokane. Not the best case scenario
obviously. The Cats wanted to getup to Indianapolis, but they would have
had to move up to a twoline to do that. But Pittsburgh not
(00:49):
a bad drive for most of BigBlue Nation, and there should be a
lot of blue there and very muchlooking forward to that. Coach Caliperry very
familiar with Oakland, good friends withcoach Campy there. He's done a great
job for Oakland time in and timeout, as they have been a long
storied program, especially since joining theHorizon. But here are coach Cow's thoughts
(01:10):
on his opponent on Thursday night.Yeah, no, Greg. Greg Campy
and I are really good friends.We go way back. He's not a
good coach, he's a great coach. He'd been doing it there for a
long time. It's funny. Iwatched their championship game because it was Greg
Campy, and I watched the secondhalf and they won, and I was
(01:32):
cheering, and I told him heand I have already gone back and forth,
and I go, look, I'mhappy. I watched half that game,
and I said, but I'm notgoing to cheer the way I cheered
that day. But he does agood job. He's got good players.
He put in the dribble drive afterI put it in and had us get
(01:53):
together because he wanted to use it, and then they ran it better than
we ran it. So he's goodat what he does. He could be
coaching anywhere. I mean, thereare all these jobs open right now.
I don't know why someone wouldn't say, let's go get great Campy. So
he's good. You mentioned you guysget way back. Can you kind of
talk a little bit about where thatunless it's from it he's we asked each
(02:15):
other to do things. I've donea golf outing form in different things,
and he came in when we've donesome of our stuff when I was in
Memphis Goes back then, so it'sbeen I've known him for a long long
time. Oakland earning their way intothe NCAA Tournament by courtesy of three wins
in the Horizon League tournament. Allbegan on campus back on March the seventh,
(02:38):
when they took down Perdue Fort Waynein a quarter final contest seventy five
sixty five. Then it got alittle topsy turvy in the Horizon League and
they faced the seventh seed Cleveland Statein the semi finals in Indianapolis, seventy
four to seventy one, the finalover the Vikings for Oakland there to get
to the finals, where they faceda sixth seed, the Milwaukee Panthers beat
(02:59):
them a seventy six in Indy tosecure their Horizon League championship in that automatic
berth into the NCAA Tournament. Sothe Cats in that three fourteen matchup,
and here is Tom and Jack whowill be courtside in Pittsburgh calling all the
action with their thoughts not just onthis opening round but the draw for the
Cats as well. Oh here JohnCaliperry's house where he and the team just
(03:22):
watched the selection show. Goose,would you think about the bracket? Well,
I like the brack for Kentucky.Frankly, I think I'm just glad
we're not going to spokecast like that. But you know, for a lot
of guys, it's going home.For Coach cow it's going home, So
I think it's going to be prettynice there. Yeah, and they face
a team out of the Horizon League, and Darren Horn competes against that school
(03:47):
and his son Walker's on the team, so gettle extra scouting help there.
Yeah, if it's Texas Tech thatthey should run into, if they should
advance and then face Texas Tech,I think Vandy played against Texas techduring the
season, so a couple little anglesthere. Ultimately, it just comes down
to Kentucky plays the way Kentucky canplay a great chance to move on to
(04:10):
Dallas exactly, And that's what youwant to do this time of the year.
Tom, I say it all thetime, and I just draw back
on the days when I played.We tried to be more focused on what
we wanted to do. Now weunderstand there's gonna be challenges. We understand
there's a lot of great teams outthere and a lot of nice talent.
But if we're on top of ourgame, if Kentucky's on top of our
(04:31):
game their game, I think theywill cause more issues for the other team
than that team does for us.We have to wearry about one thing,
and that is defending. It's obviousif we don't defend, it's going to
be tough. Everything else Kentucky doespretty well. You and I have been
watching this team practice since July whenthey were preparing for Toronto, and you
(04:53):
could see that there was a reallygood chemistry that developed early on. So
they I think these really enjoy playingtogether and want to keep this thing going
for a while. I would haveto think they have a little bit of
a chip on their shoulder after theway they played in Nashville, and that's
not a bad way to go tothis tournament. Yep. Yeah, you
certainly hope they are a little disappointedin their performance there. I know everybody
(05:17):
else is. I know Kentucky understandsthey are better than the product they put
on the floor down in Nashville,and that always should make you feel better.
I think it was the team wasa little bit nervous. So now
that the nerves have been taking tournamentnerves have been dealt with. I don't
think you'll see Kentucky whar about that, but yeah, they should have a
(05:39):
chip on their shoulder. They shouldbe ready to prove a lot of folks,
not just here in the Big BlueNation, but a lot of folks
around the country that they're better thanwhat they showed down there. Should get
a lot of Kentucky fans being ohyeah, yeah, it's driveable definitely.
So we hope to see many ofyou up in Pittsburgh and hopefully the Cats
can take care of business twice andmove on to Dallas. Yes, a
(06:01):
homecoming for coach cal and a coupleof the Cats when they embark off to
Pittsburgh for the first and second rounds, and Jack had a chance to catch
up with Adu Thierro to talk aboutnot just that homecoming, but what comes
next for the Cats as they preparein the next couple of days to leave
for Pittsburgh, take on Oakland inthat first round, and hopefully last a
few days there before heading off tothe regional semis and beyond Well, the
(06:27):
Cats know where they're going now,they are going, well home kind of
home for you. That's going tobe nice. Yeah, that's going to
be nice to get you back there. Your initial thoughts on the draw that
Kentucky got, I know you weredown. You guys had a little bit
of conversation about that. But what'syour initial thought about going home or just
(06:49):
like our position, your position andwhat you kind of expect going there.
No, kind of just want togo one game at a time, focus
on the team that we're playing andnot who's around, you know, just
get what we gotta get done.Got a Thursday game, so not a
lot of time for practice between nowand then. But give us a little
(07:11):
bit of thought of what you thinkthe next couple of days will be like
before you take off to Pittsburgh.I think it's gonna be a lot of
mental things, like a lot ofmental notes, getting a lot of reps
in defensively, just knowing what wegotta do. I think that's what it's
gonna be mostly. Yeah, Ithink defensively this team needs to improve just
(07:33):
a little bit. But the talentsthere, we've shown it enough. How
focused are you all going to beon that. I think the emphasis is
gonna be it's either winn or gohome. So I think everybody's gonna come
in pretty focus, a little chipon your shoulder, maybe from what happened
down in Nashville. Yes, sir, you know going aware of what we
gotta do going home. Man,how many ticket requests you think you're gonna
(07:56):
get? I know your phone's beenblowing up since we were standing here.
What about that? Yeah, Well, whenever they said we were going to
Pittsburgh, a couple of people startedtexting me. I know, I text
my family, but yeah, alot of people are gonna be asking good.
Ready, you got to make sureyou stay away from the hoop everything
that goes along with and stay focusedon the game, Sir, Laser focused?
(08:18):
Is coach Cal getting his team ready. We'll have a couple of days
before Kentucky makes the actual trip upto Pittsburgh. Then obviously we'll practice on
site before their game on Thursday night, and Coach Cal already keeping in mind
what may change, whether it belittle or big, in advance of that
game and what we might see thatnight. We may have a couple of
tweaks. I got some things Ithink I'm gonna have to try to do.
(08:41):
So I got a couple of tweaksin mind. If a team has
guards that just break us down,what else can we do? How about
if I put both seven footers in, It may take away a little offense,
but now you've got two seven footersa little harder score at the rim.
(09:01):
So there's some different things we cando. Golden Grizzlies had won five
of six going into their Horizon Leaguetournament run, so when you add it
all up together, eight of theirlast nine, including those three Horizon League
Tournament victories, and as far astheir non conference schedule goes, they've played
a couple of teams in the NCAATournament, most notably Michigan State in East
(09:22):
Lansing. That was back in December, though, but a seventy nine to
sixty two defeat to Michigan State,and then just a couple of days later
they took on Dayton, which gotan at large bid as a seven seed,
and lost ninety one sixty seven atUDA, which will be the site
of course, of the first fourgames on Tuesday and Wednesday, and looking
at their best victory of the season, and that would belong to their win
(09:45):
over Xavier, one of their twentythree victories. That was back on November
the twenty seventh in Cincinnati at theSintas Center seventy eight seventy six, right
before they kickstarted Horizon League play.The Horizon League starts in the late November
Piero and then some non conference gamesmixed in there in December before full blown
league play in January. So finaltale the tape for Oakland twenty three and
(10:07):
eleven overall, fifteen to five theirconference record, and they have picked up
an impress of nine victories away fromhome, most notably that one in Cincinnati
against Xavier. Then, of coursethose three neutral site victories are two neutral
site victories in Indianapolis to cut downthe nets of the Horizon League, take
home the championship and that automatic bid. Tip off time for Thursday just announced
(10:30):
as we tape on Sunday night,It'll be a seven to ten tip off
on Thursday for Kentucky in that openinground game against Oakland from Pittsburgh. That
means our Don Franklinado Countown to tipoff show will begin right around five thirty.
We'll break it down for you leadingoff to the start of the ballgame
when we hand it over to Tomand Jack who will be courtside in Pittsburgh
(10:52):
to call all the action. Hopefullyat Kentucky win this Thursday night. Making
the transition now to the spring sportportion of the program, We'll start with
softball, who hosted the John CropClassic this weekend in Lexington. Not as
many weather challenges as were feared,thankfully, although they did start the event
a little earlier. We told youabout that in our last episode, Kentucky
(11:13):
beating South Dakota State eight nothing,run ruling them in five innings. Speaking
of run ruling, that's what theydid to Columbia to kickstart there Saturday,
twelve to three in just five innings. Then in the nightcap for the Cats,
they took on Ohio seat got thevictory there as well, nine to
four, to improve to eighteen andseven overall on the year. Aaron Koffle
(11:33):
won for two a couple of runsbatted in, including her ninth home run
of the year, she continues toextend her own record for school history and
home runs, and Carissa Hamilton providingher sixth home run of the year.
She went two for four as Hamiltonhas been a very good, powerful bat
in the middle of that order forcoach Lawson and company. Kentucky went pitching
by committee inside the circle, asyou often have to do in these tournaments
(11:56):
tournament type formats. Jaden Vickers gotit started, went two and a third
innings, then she gave way toSydney Langdon three innings of scoreless softball for
her, just a couple of hitsallowed and six strikeouts, and then Stephanie
Schoonover came in and finished it off, hitless in those one and two thirds
innings with four punch outs as theCats got it done and dropped Ohio State
(12:18):
to a fifteen and eight record.That's a very good OSU team that they
faced. Cats improved to eighteen andseven. They would make it nineteen and
seven on Sunday afternoon run ruling Columbiaagain ten to nothing before Ohio State took
the finale of the John Crop Classic, winning twelve to six. But overall,
a very good weekend for the Castsas they improve their overall record to
(12:41):
nineteen and eight. Should be stillinside that top twenty five pole. One
would think they came in at twentythree this week. Next up for softball,
They'll have a midweek game in Lexingtonat John Crop Stadium six o'clock on
Wednesday, that's against Marshall, andthen they will head out for SEC play
on the road for the first time. They had the SEC opening series against
LSU already at home, but thiswill be their first road journey in the
(13:05):
Southeastern Conference. They'll head to Gainesvilleon Friday, six o'clock start on Friday,
three o'clock start on Saturday, andthen noon on Sunday, and the
Friday game nationally televised on SEC Networkand the Sunday game nationally televised as well
on ESPN two there from Gainesville,but we'll also have a recap there up
(13:26):
for you at some point this weekendof what's going on in that Florida series.
Speaking of SEC on the Diamond,baseball did phenomenal against Georgia, a
top twenty five pponent coming into Kentuckyprow Park and head coach Nanji On for
the third time is Kentucky tenure sweepingin SEC opening series, and the Cats
did it in style. All startedon Friday night over those Bulldogs in what
(13:48):
was a wild contest sixteen to ten. We recapped it a little bit on
our last episode, but the Cat'sable to rally from an early deficit win
a wild one sixteen to ten.It was much more subdued in the final
couple of games. Cats winnings onSaturday nine to three behind a three hit
day from James McCoy and Ryan WaldschmidtDominic Nyman six and two thirds innings three
(14:13):
runs, did no earned runs,so was Era dropping to two point seven
to eight as the Cats got itdone to improve to sixteen and three and
two the SEC but they would makeit seventeen and three and they saved the
best for last. On Sunday afternoontwelve two winners over Georgia were the Cats.
Three RBIs from Petra as he bumpedhis batting average up to three point
(14:33):
fifty nine. Ryan Nicholson he continuesto be a force in the middle of
the order. He was in thesixth spot on Sunday two for three,
three runs knocked in for him,including a couple of home runs. Petrie
also had a home run, hissecond of the year Nicholson that was his
second and third as a Mason Moorespun a gem on Sunday six innings,
two runs allowed two walks and eightstrikeouts. A lot of talk postgame about
(14:58):
the culture of Kentucky and how thathas contributed to their success, and boy,
it contributed both offensively, defensively andwith pitching as well this weekend as
a million p trade discusses postgame,h I think obviously it's a it's a
big message that we just show toeveryone, but we don't really look at
those kind of stuff just because wedon't let anything outside outside the culture we
(15:24):
have impact what we have here.So we believe in ourselves and we're gonna
keep believing. So what wasn't aboutthat call through the hearing you guys this
weekend? We believe. Like Isaid, Minch coach talked about that last
weekend, we didn't feel like wewere believing those first two games when we
were down, and I feel likenow everyone's just believing that the Cats can
(15:46):
do it. With softball on ESPNtwo on Sunday, baseball is on SEC
network on Sunday afternoon as well,so you'll certainly have your choice of Kentucky
on the dine with no possibility ofbasketball conflict, with of course basketball being
on a Thursday Saturday schedule as faras that first and second round in Pittsburgh,
(16:10):
so great weekend ahead for Kentucky.We have a lot of content coming
your way this week as we kindof dive into this first round matchup with
Oakland. We'll have a preview episodeof the ballgame there ahead of Thursday,
and of course we'll have a postgamerecap on Thursday night and hopefully some preview
content for you ahead of what wouldbe a Saturday game if Kentucky makes it
(16:33):
through Oakland on Thursday and into thesecond round. As always, UK Sports
Network Today presented by the Big BlueBrew newsletter. You can sign up today
at ukathletics dot com slash Big BlueBrew. Big Blue Brew is completely free
and it hits in boxes every weekdaymorning, the official newsletter of UK Athletics.
Once again, that's Ukathletics dot comslash Big Blue Brew. Big thanks
(16:57):
to everyone at the UK Sports Networkfor getting all this audio assembled for us
to bring to you this week.A couple of corners of UK Athletics to
summarize here on this very busy selectionSunday, and we'll have a lot more
content coming your way this week inadvance of that game against the Oakland Golden
(17:18):
Grizzlies in the opening round of theNCAA tournament on Thursday. So for everyone
at the UK Sports Network and UKSports Network today, I'm or japis saying
talk to you next time.
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