2025-05-27 - BBI

Baseball Wildcats react to their NCAA Tournament bid; (18:00) Dallas Mavericks radio voice Chuck Cooperstein; (39:00) UK baseball radio voice Darren Headrick; (59:00) SEC commish Greg Sankey flexes for the league (1:08:00) sobering stats or college football players entering the portal with hopes of improving their draft status and Hobson is impressed with Arthur's friend...

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Abriel with you
on a Tuesday edition of our program, and tonight we're
going to talk college baseball, football, basketball as usual, also
some NBA. I know not many of you out there
are big NBA fans, but my guest, I'm very excited.
One of my guests tonight is the radio voice of
the Dallas Mavericks and we had Chuck Cooperstein on the show. Gosh,

(00:24):
it's been at least at least three or four years,
and this is before I was doing the show in
the garage. But I've known Chuck since the early eighties
when he worked with us on the old Southwest Conference
radio network. He was a sportscaster on KRLD Radio in Dallas,
an all news talk station which back then was the

(00:45):
radio voice of the Dallas Cowboys. The rights have since changed,
I think a couple of times, but that's what KRLD
was best known for. And Coop came down from Sportsphone
in New York City. He's a New York native, and man,
he's got a great voice, but could talk a mile
a minute. And some of you may remember this back

(01:08):
pre internet. Now, if you wanted to get all the scores.
You could call a number, a nine hundred number, and
it costs you. And these guys would get on the
phone and rattle off these scores primarily for betters for gamblers.
I mean you could barely understand them. They were talking

(01:28):
so fast, and if you missed your score, you had
to keep listening for them to go through them all
over again, costing you more money. Well, Coop was one
of those guys and landed a job at KLD, and
we you know, you always need more people. I needed
studio hosts, and because we broadcast all the games for

(01:48):
all the teams, so we had to have guys doing halftime,
in pregame, scoreboard drop ins and things like that all
the time. And I had a couple of guys, but
I needed one more. So I reached out to the
new guy at the radio station and Coop came over,
and long story short, he went to work for us,

(02:09):
and we've been buddies ever since. Don't talk a whole lot.
We keep up on Facebook and things like that. But
he eventually, gosh, it took almost twenty years of him
and he did ball games. He did college football. After
I left, he was doing Southwest Conference football Westwood One Radio.
He had worked games in rupp Arena, Kentucky games for

(02:31):
Westwood I was a stats guy and you know, just
hung in there and did a lot of great, solid work,
and the next thing you know, the job was open,
and he landed the Dallas Mavericks radio job in twenty
oh five and he's been their voice ever since. Won
an NBA Championship ring calling the Mavericks games. But we're
gonna talk today about the Luca Donsige trade for Anthony Davis,

(02:54):
one of the greatest players in UK history. But we'll
also talk sec ball in basketball, but Chuck because he
is a proud Florida Gator, So that's coming up at
the bottom of this hour. We will also naturally talk
college baseball with Darren Headrick, the radio voice of the Wildcats,
because they're going and I have to admit I was

(03:15):
convinced when I turned that show on the Selections Show
yesterday that they were not going to get in. And
I have a hard time remembering a basketball season that
was similar. I think you may have to go back
to Joe Bees last year when the Wildcats kind of
struggled and they were surprise to get in to the

(03:40):
NCA Tournament and then pulled off a couple of upsets
beat a good UNLV team, not one of the great teams,
but a good one, and a really good University of
Washington team that had two future NBA players on it,
including Debtliff Shrimp. So the baseball Cats through strength to schedule,
thank you see and RPI and all that, it's all

(04:03):
tied together. They get in and we got a couple
of comments from Nick Menzioni and his players. Coming up
in our next segment, wild Cats take on West Virginia
on Friday at noon. You'll see the game on ESPNU,
but of course you'll hear it right here on six
thirty WLAP with Darren Hendrick. Pregame eleven forty five, first pitch,

(04:28):
probably a minute or two after high noon as the
Cats take on West Virginia, a team that was here
two years ago in the regional, not last year, but
the year before, and a team that plays a very
similar style to Kentucky. So we hear from the Cats
coming up shortly now, speaking of West Virginia, saw this

(04:50):
cross the wire Mary lou Retton, who is a native
of Fairmont, West Virginia, which happens to be my late
father's hometown. It's about ten miles south of Morgantown, which
is where WVU is located. I knew Mary lou Rehtton
was from Fairmont, and I hate to say this, but

(05:11):
it's one of those decaying cities where people just keep
moving away, and when you go there, it really has
that feel. When my brother and my buddies and I
go to Saratoga, we drive and a couple of times
we've taken a really slight detour off the interstate I
think it's seventy nine and gone into Fairmont. And the

(05:35):
last time we drove to my grandmother's house and looked
at it and that thing's falling apart. But anyway, Mary
lou Retton apparently lives there now and was arrested and
jailed on a misdemeanor charge of DUI. She was arrested
in Fairmont back on May seventeenth. The report came out

(05:56):
a person in a Porsche driving erratically, spelled of alcohol,
slurred her words, failed to field sobriety test, refused a
roadside breath test and blood test, and paid a fifteen
hundred dollars personal recognizance bond. No comment from her attorney.
She was sixteen years old when she became the first

(06:19):
American female gymnast to win the all around gold at
the eighty four LA Olympics. Also won two silvers and
two bronze medals and really made gymnastics something big in
the US. But remember this. Back in twenty twenty three,
her family disclosed that Retin was recuperating from a rare

(06:42):
form of pneumonia and she was in intensive care. Doctors
found her oxygen levels dangerously low. They were thinking about
putting her on a ventilator. She was getting worse, but
went on some kind of oxygen treatment. She was in
a hospital for a weeks, but she improved well enough

(07:03):
to be sent home. Well, she's in a little bit
of trouble now, but I was rooted for her, being
from Fairmount, West Virginia, where I spent parts of several
summers visiting the grandparents. College Basketball Michigan got some good news.
I guess it's Yaksel lendeborg As withdrawn from the NBA draft.

(07:24):
Otaga Away has not done this yet, but this kid has.
He's going to play for Dusty May and the Wolverines
next year. That's what he told on three dot com.
He was ranked a number one player in the transfer portal.
Remember this is a kid who had a great year
last year at Alabama Birmingham Defensive Player of the Year

(07:47):
average nearly eighteen points, eleven and a half rebounds, four assists,
almost two blocks, and almost two steals per game. That's
why he was the number one player in the portal.
The most recent NBA mock draft said he would be
he would go with the twenty sixth pick, But now

(08:09):
he's heading for ann Arbor. You gotta think that with
a kid who transferred in from UCLA, they got one
from Illinois, they got one from North Carolina. They're gonna
be probably top five preseason. They also got a couple
of big time incoming freshmen. Michigan won the Big Ten
last year beating Wisconsin. Remember that got to the sweet

(08:32):
sixteen before they lost to Auburn. And they're gonna be really,
really good if it all falls into place and everybody
stays healthy this coming year. By the way, I mentioned
Anthony Davis. Remember the trade for Luka Doncic Well, Donsich

(08:53):
evidently showed up in a photograph from a soccer match
overseas and I saw the picture and I, you know,
I don't pay a lot of attention to his physical appearance,
but even I can tell this guy's in much better shape.
You know. That was that was the criticism about his fitness. Wait,

(09:15):
will he stay in shape? Get in shape and stay
in shape? Will he work with Lebron? Well, he's doing
something right because his physical condition played a role in
the MAVs willingness to trade him. But now he's playing
alongside Lebron and apparently more serious about getting leaner, getting healthier.

(09:40):
And they're calling it his revenge body. But he was
at a real Madrid match and somebody wrote, slim Luca
will have this league shook. If that boy gets in shape,
the league is in trouble. When we come back to baseball,
Wildcats about it the hour, Chuck Cooperstein, Dallas Mavericks radio voice,

(10:03):
around six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.
Coming up at the bottom of the hour just a
few minutes, Chuck Cooperstein, radio voice of the Dallas Mavericks,
whose roster now includes Anthony Davis, the center point literally
of Kentucky's twenty twelve INTAA title team Top of the Hour,
darreon Hedrick Radio, voice of the baseball Wildcats. They opened

(10:26):
play in the nca Tournament on Friday against West Virginia,
a game you will hear right here. Nick Benziona the
players talked earlier today and Nick reiterated everything Kentucky had
lost from last year's team, everything but the starting catcher
and at part time starting right fielder. Everybody else went pro.

(10:47):
And then from the pitching staff they lost their entire
starting rotation and top two relievers. Everybody went pro or graduated.
And from the position players, the center field and Nolan
McCarthy went through the portal, but everybody was gone except
for two regulars, so they had to rebuild thirty one

(11:08):
I think it is brand new players and Benjione talked
about the fact that they kind of had to start
over and accomplish what they could in a year immediately
after a trip to the College World Series.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
So you're sitting there going, well, who did we have back?
We literally had Devin and James back, and every other
spot was wide open, and there was a lot of
people that never gave this team a chance to even
make the postseason. So these guys coming in had a
decision to make. Am I gonna just do whatever I
can to win that spot in that role or are

(11:46):
we going to be a team. And I'm super proud
of them because look what's happened.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
They've become a team.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
And even to the last day and the last minute,
there was still some people that did not know or
believe if we were even worthy or going to make
the postseason.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Yep, that's right, and I'm guilty as charged. I didn't know.
I had my doubts, no doubt about it. I have
seen Kentucky teams with more wins not get into the tournament,
including one coach by Nick Benjeone I think three years ago,
and Minjione has lived through stuff like this before. But
strength to schedule being a part of that brutal sec

(12:27):
got the Wildcats through it.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
People asked all the time, like, hey, what's what's Oklahoma
Texas like in baseball? Like I said, well, let's let's
review that Texas has been to Omaha more than any
college baseball program in the entire country. And Oklahoma just
played for the Baseball National Championship in twenty twenty two.
So yeah, a league just got better. So I would

(12:51):
tell you that I love our slogan on the wall
out there. It just means more. And that's what the
league has done, is like we've continued to get better
and had more teams. And the thing that I'm appreciative
about is the rest of the country knows and they understand,
maybe now at a higher level. And when you just
look at our non conference winning percentage, it was over

(13:14):
eight forty. I think it was eight forty this year,
up from a year ago.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
So when you just.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
Look at what our league has been able to do,
not only against each other, I mean it is a dogfight.
And I would tell you I think in our league,
correct if I'm wrong, but I think an SEC team
has played for a national championship fifteen of the sixteen years.

Speaker 3 (13:30):
Let that sink in.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
That basically says like who's it going to be this year?

Speaker 1 (13:34):
The fact that Kentucky is going down for the third
consecutive year and this year, like the first couple, you
had a great foundation when they went through a regional,
hosted a regional two years ago. Most of that team
came back. That was the core of the team that
went to the College World Series. One of those guys
as Nicks, that were gone, but now they're going a
third straight time.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
I've been in this situation before as a head coach,
and when we lost that many people, we finished dead
last in the SEC, dead last. And I'm just proud
of this group of guys in the staff because we
are now five wins away from going back to the
College World Series.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
I do remember that team. Oh that was a tough
season to cover a lot of young guys that just
didn't know how to win, didn't know what they were doing.
There were some young guys on this team, but some
veterans as well, including Patrick Herrera who transferred in from
Northwestern at the end of GOT the twenty three season

(14:34):
twenty two season, and he said, to what happened in
Nashville when they were swept by Vandy and then losing
to Oklahoma, they just had to put that behind him.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
It is what it is. You gotta look past to
move on. So we just have gone one hundred percent
in these practices. You know, would rather err on the
side of giving it or all and not making it
than worrying about what's going to happen and you know,
going half hearted. So just giving it all in practice
and just ain't out with coaches Cumans just bouncing back
like that.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Veteran lefty reliever Evan Byers has been a part of
all three of these nca tournament teams. Uh And he
said yeah, he admitted that seeing that name flashed on
the TV screen was a bit of a relief.

Speaker 5 (15:15):
Yeah, definitely a relief, a lot of excitement in the room.
You know, in nearest past, we knew we were going
to be in the tournament. We knew we're gonna be
a top you know, eight seed last year, hosting a
regional of the year before that. So the uncertainty in
the room kind of calls for more excitements.

Speaker 3 (15:29):
That was cool to see.

Speaker 5 (15:29):
Go back to see the video and everybody's reactions. It
was a lot of fun and it was funny to
watch them guys, you know react.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
So, not only are the Wildcats in there are a
three seed taken on West Virginia a couple of weeks ago,
more than a couple of weeks ago. They were projected
to be a three seed, didn't They sweep Oklahoma bumped
up to a potential two seed. Fortunately they're not going
to Oregon, which was a projection a while back. They
will go to Clemson and it begins on Friday one

(15:58):
of the UK note a big paid a for Kentucky
offensive line coach Eric Wolford. UK has given him a
contract extension plus a one hundred thousand dollars rays for
twenty twenty five, So now his contract is worth nine
hundred thousand dollars. That's the going rate for veteran coaches. However,

(16:21):
this is a guy the coaches a position that's been
under a lot of fire, a lot of scrutiny, and
will have to come through this year. If Kentucky's going
to do anything to bounce back from a disappointing season
last year, that offensive line has got to get better.
Chuck Cooperstein next in six thirty WLAP welcome back to

(16:45):
the Big Blue and Cider and joining us now in
our celebrity highline is a guy I met when he
walked through our studio doors in Dallas at the Southwest
Conference Network GOSH back in the early eighties, and since then,
Chuck Cooperstein has done an awful lot, but more than anything,
he is own as the radio voice of the Dallas
Mavericks and a buddy since like I said, Gosh, just coop.

(17:07):
It just seems like it was yesterday, doesn't it.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
Nineteen eighty four, November November of nineteen eighty four. I
got the call.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, amazing.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
Can we tell Can we tell more about the first
the first day though?

Speaker 1 (17:21):
Sure ahead.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
So the first you called me earlier in the week
and said, no, come on in. It happened to be
a really big weekend, like TCU was playing Texas and
that was the one year. That was the year that
Whacker had the team really going, and you know that
one was number ten, one was number twelve, and you
wanted me to do the studio shows for all the
you know, for all the for all the games that day.
They're like three or four games that day and we

(17:45):
get to or at least I thought I was training.
Let's put it this way. I thought I was training you.
You said, at about ten fifty you ready to go.
I didn't. I didn't know the format, I didn't know anything.
So so Dick, so Dick Gabriel unnamed, unnamed went in

(18:08):
and did the pregame show that day. Until I can
pick her out what was actually going on?

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Oh man, uh yeah, but it all worked out.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
It all worked out somehow. I survived well.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
And what people need to understand is back then that
league was the only league that owned the rights to
all the games, all the networks, and so we talked
to all nine networks, sometimes as many as six at once.
It was really exciting. But uh, you had come down
from New York to work for the great Carol d
Radio and since then you called TCU Texas, SMU Basketball

(18:44):
Football Westwood One. Uh, what a great career. But now
the MAVs, you've got an NBA championship ring.

Speaker 3 (18:53):
I do, but long time, long time ago, but I
got one.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
It was yeah, and uh, I still think you should
have had another one, but let's not talk about that.
I know, but man, being part of a franchise this
year has been at really the epicenter of two huge stories.
Trading away to the superstar and then snagging, against visually
all odds, the number one draft pick in a lottery.

(19:20):
What has that been like, Coop, To be a part
of an operation.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
Like that, It's been the wildest roller coaster you could
ever imagine. Look, nobody has ever experienced this, Oh, because
no twenty five year old superstar, five time first team
All NBA player has ever been traded in his prime.

(19:44):
So the backlash you know from the fan base was
just vociferous. Whatever you might think was a really bad
day after Kentucky basketball loss, multiply that by about five million.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
And that's and that's what you have here, and really
what you've had here on a pretty much pretty much
daily basis since February second, when the trade went down.
You know, Cooper Flagg being you know, the resumptive number one.
And again there were a bunch of people who are
still convinced, you know, or won't believe it until Adam

(20:21):
Silver walks in that microphone and announces that Cooper Flag
is going to play for the Mavericks on June twenty fifth.
I mean that only it only partially assuages the issue,
you know, because this team was you know, the franchise
as we know it was built on dirt, nabiski and

(20:42):
twenty one years and never leaving, you know, his statue
with what loyalty never fades. And then Luca was you know,
the heir apparent at the one cross over year before
he took over and did things then no Mavericks player
had ever done. And that was ripped away from the
fan base and fortunately now they have the chance to

(21:03):
fall in love with another player. Sure, but at the
same time, you know, given how everything is played out
in the NBA playoffs this year, you know, the Mavericks
believe going into the season that they had a team
that was capable of winning the championship, that they just
needed to make some tweaks around the edges. And they
did that. And you know, until Luca got hurt on Christmas.

(21:23):
They were nineteen and ten, they were just fine. And
then he got hurt, and then he got traded, and
then everybody got hurt. It all fell apart down.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
Yeah, but hurt. And here in the Big Boo Nation,
Anthony Davis comes over. And by the way, Chuck, we're
going to get to this a little later. Chuck is
a proud, proud Florida Gator, and he has worked several
games in Rupp Arena for Westwood One Radio, so he
knows college sports as well. But I think people here
were a little stunned, not just at the trade, Chuck,

(21:54):
but that people who follow the NBA were like, only
for Anthony Davis know there was more than that, but around.

Speaker 3 (22:01):
Here there wasn't. It wasn't much. It wasn't much more
than that.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
But around here that name has so much cachet, and
yet they probably didn't understand what the MAVs were giving up.
And plus Ad has been hurt a lot. But I
guess you can understand why people around here are still
protective of Anthony.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
Davis absolutely the way that Mavericks fans are protective of
Luca exactly. It really runs the way it Listen, Anthony
Davis top seventy five all time players going to the
Hall of Fame. I mean, they didn't get nothing for him,
but did they get but did they get the best
player in the trade? That can that can be argued,
That can be argued, you know, and especially you know,

(22:43):
the biggest issue that people have with Davis is that
he's never healthy. Now granted, you know the last couple
of years he was more healthy, but he's never really
been a particularly healthy player. And he's, uh, you know
what he's going to be what thirty three next year?
You know, he played what fifty eight games this year?
I mean, he has a hard time playing sixty games.

(23:05):
And if you know, if he's not going to be around,
I mean, even Luca, who generally misses somewhere between twelve
to fifteen games a year prior to this year. He's
playing more games, he's more he's been more impactful now again.
You know, Nico Harrison will tell you if you watch
that game we played against the Rockets back in mid February,
the first game after the trade, Anthony Davis was unbelievable.

(23:27):
That's one of the greatest has of basketball I've ever seen.
I mean, seriously, it was. It was unbelievable. But he
got hurt. He got hurt in the third quarter and
missed the next twenty games, you know, and then he
came back and he had some really good games after that,
but he was hurt. I mean, he understands the pressure
that comes with this trade that he's got to be

(23:49):
able to perform. But the interesting part about the whole trade,
Dick was, you know, the Mavericks team this year was
built around Luca. They got played. They got Klay Thompson,
specifically because against Boston in the finals last year, the
Haafricks couldn't score one hundred points in any of those games.
They needed they needed more shooting. Klay Thompson would give

(24:10):
them shooting. And on the other side, the Lakers were
built around Anthony Davis and so so now they these
guys switched teams and they're in really bad situations because
they're not in situations that enhance what they do. So
in a lot of ways, it was a lose lose,
although in fairness, now you know Luca when he got

(24:31):
there and you know, finally got healthy. I mean, the
Lakers did finish third in the West, and the West
is really good, so and they just did not play
well in the Minnesota Series and wound up in a
really bad matchup for them, which the playoffs always exposed.
You know, if they if they had Anthony Davis in
that series trying to match up with Gobaron Randall and

(24:52):
those guys, maybe they're maybe they're better off. Maybe they're
better off doing it that way. I mean, who knows.
But that that's the interesting thing about it is that
now both of them have so much to prove going
into next season to be able to justify the trade.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Talking to Chuck Cooperstein radio voice of the Dallas Mavericks,
and as I mentioned earlier, has done a lot of
college sports as well. We'll get to that in just
a moment. Despite like I said, almost I think the
odds are like one point eight percent that the MAVs
get the number one draft pick. And again, when I
lived in Dallas, I was a Maverick season ticket older,
still a fan, but couldn't believe in myself and immediately

(25:29):
and talking heads have to fill airwaves and the internet's
bottomless pit that we have to fill. So now comes
to the speculation that the MAVs trade to pick and
there's only one guy you would even think about, I
think trading for. And that's the honest But that's been
put to rest. Right, it's going to be Cooper Flag.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
Right as far as I know, that's what That's what
I keep hearing, and I believe it has to be.
I mean, you know it's going to be. It's going
to be an interesting experiment because, let's face it. You
know Nico Harrison when he made the trade and immediately said, look,
you know our window is three to four years. Well,
you know, Kyrie Irving got hurt a month after the

(26:07):
trade and he won't be back probably until late January
or February, you know, so you know what are and
then he really won't be at his best until the
following years. So you've already lost the year there, but
they're still there. And a but at the same time,
you now have this this uber talent who's not even

(26:29):
nineteen years old yet, which is just absolutely astonishing, and
you're you're working on these parallel paths. Now, how do
you how do you build your team? Do you build
it for the future and do you build it around
Cooper Flag or are you doing it to try to
win in the short term? And especially when the general
manager has said that he doesn't figure that he's necessarily

(26:49):
long you know for the Mavericks, wants his contract expirers.
So it's it's a really fascinating conundrum that they find
themselves in, you know, from a team building standpoint, and
then from a coaching standpoint, how Jason Kidd and his
staff you know, work Flag into the mix where they're
a little top heavy at the four and certainly at
the moment anyway, not nearly strong enough at the point

(27:10):
guard spot.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Chuck Cooperstein, my Guess radio voice of the Dallas Mavericks
and a Florida Gator. We'll talk college sports on the
other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP
Welcome back. We're talking with Chuck Cooperstein, longtime friend and
the radio voice of the Dallas Mavericks and an extraordinarily
proud Florida Gator, a New Yorker who made his way
to Gainesville. We've talked about that in the past, Chuck.

(27:33):
But how happy were you? I mean, were you over
the moon you had to be when your Gators jumped
up and won the NCAA title.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
I was in the arena, man, it was the greatest good.
It was. It was absolutely phenomenal. I missed the semi
finals because the Mavericks were in Los Angeles playing the
Clippers that night, but was but was watching, you know,
in the in the dining room, you know, before we
go down and do all the pre games. The time
difference made it all work. Although that the end of

(28:02):
the game took so freaking long. I was wondering, you know,
I really going to be able to see this. But
it was. It was great. It was you know, they
were you could tell early in the season they were
really good. But once they got into conference play and
even though they lost to Kentucky, you know, to begin
conference play in what was you know, certainly one of
the top two or three games in the SEC the

(28:23):
entire year. I mean, it was just an amazing game.

Speaker 6 (28:25):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
That team was really good. H and Todd Golden had
that thing figured out, you know, pretty quickly about who
who could and who couldn't, and he wrote it. And
you know, as we always see in the NCAAs, you know,
there's always someone who breaks out and someone who really
you know, makes that name for himself. And Walter Clayton
clearly did that. Uh. I mean he was incredible looks

(28:48):
even in the even in the title game where he
had nothing going for the first thirty minutes of that game,
he found a way to get it going when they
when they needed him and obviously made the biggest defensive
play of all Oh man, he what.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
A play and at one point played for Patino at Iona.
What a great.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
Backstory, you know, fantastic and you know, and really was
a was a high quality football prospect, that's right, much
much more so even than a basketball prospect. And the
only reason that he didn't follow Patino to Saint John's
was that he has family in Florida and he in
fact that his girlfriend that believe was was pregnant at

(29:27):
the time, and I think they've had the child since then,
and he wanted to be near his family. That's the
old thing. He didn't go to Saint John's excellent.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
That's a great backstory.

Speaker 7 (29:35):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
And fortunately for you as well as the hiring, I didn't.
I've to admit I didn't know much about him when
Florida hired him. But some of the heads that I follow,
uh were impressed by him. Did you know much about
him from afar or maybe you've got networking contacts.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
No, I didn't know much about him. I remember watching
them play Notre Dame in the NCAA's and and being
what a what a terrific game that was? And you know,
San Francisco didn't win that game, but you could you
could see there was an there was an NBA influence
to what he does and how he plays. And uh

(30:14):
and I think kids, you know, kids want to play
in the NBA, right, They want the best chance to
play in the NBA, So you might as well go
play an NBA style. Uh. And And in fact, in
many ways you know he's he was ahead of the
curve as far as you know, not just shooting a
whole bunch of threes and whatever. You know, the three
true outcomes of basketball. But he loves side. He I mean,

(30:37):
you mean look at I mean, look at that team.
I mean you look at you know, Thomas Hawk and
look at content and look at the hand hand glotting,
and that they got the seven nine Canadian kids. You
know who sat out last year, you know Olivier Leo.
You know who's who I guess is going to be,
you know, attempting to play this year and get himself
into the rotation. And and size was so important to

(30:58):
Florida's success. Had a really hard time matching up with
them because they would just they would just dominate the
boards and you know, get offensive rebounds, get extra opportunities, kickouts,
three pointers, that kind of thing. But it seemed like
in a lot of ways he was ahead of the
curve as far as you know, that type of recruiting.
But at the same time also knowing that you know,
you've got to be able, you know, to shoot a

(31:20):
certain number of threes. Now, last year he had a
team that was a terrible three point shooting team, and
they you know, sometimes you wonder and this is not
just with him, but this is with everybody. Like on
nights when you don't have it on nights, when you're
not making threes. I mean, I understand the shooter mentalities
that the next one's going to go in, but at
times like the coach has got to say, fellas, we've
got to find a different way to score. And I

(31:42):
think Todd last year probably did not do that enough
with his team. And I think this year, and especially
with Clayton and his ability not just to shoot, but
he's you know, able to drive it, get into the
paint and make things happen, they were much much more
balanced in that way. And I don't think he's, uh,
you know, he's he did a really really good job

(32:04):
with that team, and obviously that team believed in him
because I mean, how many times did they have to
play from behind, especially in the NCAA tournament, how many
times they had to play from behind against really good
teams and they were able to rally to win. Now,
you know, he's he's lost a couple of coaches to
head coaching jobs, has to replace some staff and we'll
see how that goes going forward.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
Chuck Cooperstein, I guess radio voice of the Dallas Mavericks
and a Florida Gator. Your team also lost a kid
at the University of Kentucky and Mark Pope.

Speaker 4 (32:32):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
You know, we could talk about the portal all night.
But on the other hand, you got a talented kid,
I find an interesting job. You got a kid who
came in from Princeton and another kid from was it Ohio?

Speaker 3 (32:42):
You yes? Sometime?

Speaker 1 (32:45):
Yeah, I mean, you know, not not plucking kids from
you know, the so called college powerhouses, but kids who
clearly fit his style. I think that's fast.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
But he well he did get Boogie Flann too. That helps.
But but but I think I think you see that throughout, uh,
throughout the portal and throughout you know, the the early spring.
It's not necessarily you know poaching, uh poaching you know,
big to big, you know, power forward to power forward.

(33:16):
I mean, look at look at the kid, the Landenborg. Uh,
you know, from U A. B. To Michigan. You know
a lot of people thought was gonna go into the draft,
and he just declared that, you know, he's gonna he's
gonna go to Michigan and play next year, which makes
them really good because because Dusty, because Dusty May has
really used the portal well, uh to to keep that
team up. Uh. So I mean, well, I think what
it goes to show is that, you know, there are

(33:38):
a lot of really good players. But at the same time,
it's it's kind of a shame that the you know,
the mid majors are are sort of being used as
a as a proving ground for the for the hie
majors to see, you know, do we want to bring
this guy in or not? Because as I think, you know,
Mark Pope's done it. Uh, I think, uh, you know,
Golden's done. I think generally speaking, the philosophy in college

(34:00):
basketball now, with very few exceptions, is to get old
and staled.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
Yeah, exactly, Well, it pays off in so many ways,
and uh, you know it's paying off. It paid off
for the Gators with the national title, National basketball title
a few minutes left with Chuck Cooperstein let us talk football.
Billy Napier, by all accounts, was a good hire. But
I know Gator fans are still a little bit restless.
How do you feel right now because back when you

(34:27):
were in school, losing to Kentucky wasn't even a consideration,
was it?

Speaker 3 (34:32):
And now they before well, it actually was. Because my
freshman year was the Kentucky ten and ten and one
season seventy seven when when when Art's still and Derrek
Ramsey was there that old I am that all, yeah,
that was that was my freshman year. Now we played
pretty good that day. We lost fourteen to seven. But

(34:54):
of course Florida, the Florida that year had ten players
drafted into the NFL Draft, more than any other school.
They went six to four and one, and really that's
why Doug Dickey got fired the following year, even though
he did a better job coaching a four and seventeen
than he did a sixty four and one team. But
after that, yes, it took a long time for Kentucky

(35:15):
to beat Florida. But you know, I think Kentucky is
Kentucky's kind of over the last years anyway, has really
figured some things that they've been far more physical. I mean,
and even there were, you know, several games that they
lost where it's like, at the end of the day,
how did they lose that game? Had it or how
did Florida win that game? I think it was more
of how Kentucky lost the game. I mean, so it

(35:36):
had been because because Mark Stewkes does coach a really
physical style football. But I think Billy Billy was just
about done. I was in Gains both for the A
and M game last September, and that was just disastrous.
You know, on the heels of the of the Miami game.
It was the Miami game all over again, except A
and M wasn't nearly as talented and the game was

(35:58):
basically over at halftime. And uh, you know, to his credit, uh,
you know, and again to their players credit, Uh, they
they hung they hung in there. They played a really
good game against UCF, won that game, played a really
good game against Tennessee. They should have won that game,
absolutely should have won that game, wound up losing it overtime.
And then listen, they had Georgia on the ropes. If

(36:22):
if DJ Lagway doesn't get hurt, they're gonna be Georgia
that day, because Georgia was not interested in playing. And
and you know, now, as it turned out, Georgia had
a lot of games this year where they they probably
were not interested in playing for whatever reason. Yes, yes,
in fact, that was that was the day of the
A and M game in games Goal, so I watched
most of that game. And yes, Rock Bander, if Rock

(36:42):
Vandergrift could have completed a pass, maybe maybe Kentucky wants
up winning the game. But but you know, the November
was really good. It was a really good finish to
the year. Uh, the Lagway didn't do much in the
spring because of his shoulder, but he's gonna be fine. Uh,
you know, he really from again. All indications is recruited well,

(37:03):
he's done well in the portal, so you know, the
expectations are high. But at the same time, the schedule
was really hard. It's you know, pretty much the reverse
of what they had last year. But you know that
means you're you know, you're still having to play. You know,
at least you get Tennessee at home, you get Texas
at home, and hopefully that that makes a difference.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
You know, I actually covered a couple of Kentucky wins
in games but which I didn't know would be possible
as a sidelines reporter. But I can also tell you, brother,
I spent some of the longest days of my career
working games down there in the heat with Florida just
absolutely trashing Kentucky, mostly with Spurrier there. So you know
how it goes up and down in the SEC. But

(37:49):
next time we talk, we'll talk about the changes in
the conference and in college ball, but we're out of time.
I do appreciate talking with you. I'd love listening to
you on serious XM radio, and I'm rooting for the MAVs,
my brother.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
I appreciate it. Thanks, Dick, have a good one you too, man.

Speaker 1 (38:06):
That takes me back to those early days in Dallas,
and I do remember that now that he mentions it
that I had to jump in. I was the executive producer,
but I jumped in and did a segment there in
the studio, just until we could get Chuck settled. But
I got to tell you, you know, it was great.
I got to hear in Montcarel. Dianna thought Hey, that's
a guy I could use, and gave him a call.

(38:28):
He came over and next thing you know, he was
one of our studio anchors. And not long after I
left Dallas, he really began to make his climbing and
five became the radio voice of the Dallas Mavericks. Did
a lot of other stuff, but that's how he's best
known now. I re Number two is up next with
Darren Hedrick, and we'll talk about the SEC Commissioner taking

(38:49):
up again for SEC football, which you would expect him
to do and how Kentucky figured in to a little
bit of a controversy last year when it came to
the college football playoff. That's next. You're on six thirty
of a do you like to welcome back to the

(40:55):
Big Blue and Sider joining us now on the Celebrity Hotline.
He was in the garage last week with the rest
of the Chain gang, but Darren Headrick, the radio voice
of the baseball Wildcats, is with us. And I gotta admit, Darren,
that as optimistic as we tried to be when you
and the other guys were in the garage as the
selection show unfolded, brother, I thought, well, that's it, you know.

(41:18):
And they were down to like the last two possible
regionals and they got in. And I talked to Patrick
Herrera before the press conference earlier this morning. He said, yeah, man,
they made it tough on us. We had to wait.
But you were as optimistic as anybody. And of course
you see every game virtually, and so you were right
in the middle of that sec action. Is that what

(41:40):
kept you positive? Seeing how tough that league is day
in and day out.

Speaker 6 (41:44):
To be honest, it really was just knowing how good
the league is And you know, one of the points
that I don't think people have talked about enough with
this dick is Kentucky saw Oklahoma and Texas added to
the league this year, which did not do any favorite
for anybody. It just made the league deeper and it
made it better. And Kentucky faced both and went four

(42:06):
and two in the regular season against them. And Kentucky
did not get the benefit of playing Missouri when they
had one of their worst seasons ever, So you know,
I felt like that helped Kentucky ass. I think going
on the road and beating Tennessee and Knoxville wait a
lot towards helping their resume. I think having a win
over Louisville and Texas as well. And the biggest thing

(42:30):
for me though, is Kentucky passes the eye test. They
compete so hard and they play so close with these teams,
and it's like coach Menngiona has talked about, they can
beat anybody on any given day, but with the margin
of era, they can also lose some of those games.
And we saw that plenty of one run defeeds should

(42:51):
have won the series at Vanderbilt. But you credit the
number one overall seed for hitting the walk off home
runs to earn the sweep. So no, I think this
team deserved it. And even though the trends were going
the wrong way Sunday night, from a lot of the
experts and publications, I thought Kentucky deserved being in.

Speaker 1 (43:09):
Yeah, yeah, you know that. You make a good case
for that. And again, having seen all the home games
and most of the road games, I agree with you.
I just wondered, as you did, and well, the text
chain was popping when those underdogs kept jumping up and
winning their conference tournaments. Bubble teams kept moving in, and
you thought they might elbow Kentucky to the sideline. But

(43:30):
I was as surprised as anything, Darren, And I know
you probably, well maybe not that they were not one
of the last four teams end that shock. You were surprised.

Speaker 6 (43:41):
A little bit, Yeah, just because you know, really, all
you have to go on is what a lot of
the publications like D one Baseball and Baseball America are saying.
And those guys know what they are talking about. Now.
Are they educated guesses, Yes, but they're educated guesses, and
so yeah, from those standpoints, it kind of felt like, Okay,

(44:01):
these are it's getting pretty tight. And Arizona State is
a team that was way behind Kentucky and the rpiously
finished fourth in the Big Twelve, and the Big Twelve
was the number three RPI conference this year. Obviously, by
the way the brackets unfolded, the ACC was not highly regarded.

(44:22):
The ACC regular season champion is not hosting, and their
tournament champion wasn't even a top five seed. I don't
think are a top four, So clearly the committee did
not care for the ACC as much as they did
the Big Twelve.

Speaker 3 (44:35):
And the SEC.

Speaker 6 (44:37):
And I know there was some borderline Big East teams
that didn't make it in. I thought the committee did
an overall about as well done of a job as
they could, because nobody's you're never going to make everybody happy.
But I thought they'd made some really defensible choices, let's
put it that way, and I thought Kentucky being inn

(44:57):
certainly was one of them.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
You know, you mentioned Vandy in that series. I mean
you talk about just making your stomach grind. I can't
imagine what it was like. I was listening to you,
but just to be down there and Kentucky scored what
eighteen runs over three games against a Vandy team that
the following weekend wins the SEC Tournament and Darren gives

(45:20):
up only three runs to Oklahoma, Tennessee and Ole Miss.
That's phenomenal. And I felt like Kentucky at least that
weekend was the better team than Vandy, which is now
the overall number one seed. It was amazing.

Speaker 6 (45:34):
Yeah, they certainly played like they were and you know,
offensively they were in sinc They laid down butts, they
stole bases, they hit home runs, and they executed in
big spots to score those runs. And I'm like you,
I thought they outplayed Vandy. It's just unfortunately you're two
pitches away from being two and one at worst. Yes,

(45:56):
in that series, if you don't give up a leadoff
walk in the seat spending on that last day, then
maybe you know you're three to zero. But I thought overall,
Kentucky did a great job in that series, and the
way Vandy's playing now, we'll see. I for one, think
this tournament's wide open, just like I think this regional
and Clemson is going to be wide open this weekend.

Speaker 1 (46:19):
Really, I really do.

Speaker 6 (46:22):
I think you've got a number of teams that can
jump up there and win it. I think Georgia Tech
can make the College World Series from that two seed
in Oxford. I think they're good enough to beat Old
Miss in Oxford. I think they're good enough to beat
Georgia in a super regional.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
Well.

Speaker 6 (46:37):
Time will tell, though. You know, they had one of
the weaker regular season schedules in the ACC. That's not
Georgia Tech's fault. That's their conference. That's the way they
did it with their computer generated schedule. But I think
Georgia Tech's good enough to make Omaha. I think Texas
can win it all. I think Vanderbilt has the pitching
to do it. And then you look at the regional

(46:58):
this weekend that Kentucky's in West Virginia Big twelve champions
stumbled down the stretch and got swept at Kansas. Clemson
is really good at home, but they're mortal as all
teams are, and so I think this thing could be
wide open in the postseason. This is going to be
a fun postseason baseball experience.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
It really will be. Darren Hedricks our guest. He is
a radio voice of the baseball Wildcats. He'll be there
at Clemson when the Wildcats open up on noon Friday
at noon on Friday you mentioned Georgia Tech. The ESPN
did a nice job with their head coach, hall of
famer who is retiring. So there's an emotional edge, I

(47:36):
think for Georgia Tech. But that can help a team
like the Wildcats. I think emotions because here they have
survived that bet you four straight losses Vandy and then
the SEC tournament. But you know, getting in when a
lot of people didn't think you would. That can lift
a team, can it?

Speaker 6 (47:56):
It really can? And you can circle the wagons and
play as a team and go for it all. And
I also think that playing in the SEC as fun
and electric as an environment and as hostile as it
will be at Clemson this weekend, if and when the
Wildcats do play the Tigers, I think Kentucky's ready for that.

(48:18):
They've played in Nashville against Vanderbilt. They've played at Tennessee.
If you can win a series at Tennessee with as
hostile of an environment as that can be, you're all right.
They've been to Georgia. There's players on this team that
have been to the box at LSU, and they've even
talked about that. So you know this, this is not
anything this weekend they have not already seen and they
should be ready for it.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
You were at the news conference earlier today when Nick
ben joined, a couple of the players spoke, and we've
been dropping those interviews in here tonight on the show.
But he mentioned injuries, and you know, and you talk
about it on the air as well. You just kind
of remind fans, but you don't harp on it, and
you know, he might discuss it with you singularly in

(49:02):
the pregame show whatever, But as he said, he has
made a point of not talking about it because you know,
he's right. Nobody else cares. I mean that the team cares.
You care, I care, but you know, everybody deals with injuries.
But they were so fortunate each of the last two
years just to be healthy at this time completely, and
now it's frustrating to talk about the guys who aren't available,

(49:27):
and yet, hey, everybody's got to deal with that, right.

Speaker 6 (49:31):
That's right. Everybody's dealing with it, especially this time of year.
And I'm sure there's a you know, look at Texas.
Their Friday night starter's been out for over a month
now and they've had to retool their rotation. So everybody's
going through it, but you know, for me, I do
bring it up occasionally, not to harp on it, but
just to remind people it is a part of the
story of this year that you lose your center fielder

(49:54):
Ethan Hendle was playing terrific in SEC play before the
foot injury sideline him for the year. And then they
have some pieces on this pitching staff that haven't appearing
on the mound and all this spring due to injuries
that were expected to be major contributors. So it's you know,
and then there are times they've had to patchwork the lineup.
Against Mississippi State, they were down to their fourth and

(50:17):
fifth options at third base. It's just a part of
going through a thirty game SEC schedule and they're fortunately,
I think they're coming out on the other end of
it now and starting to get guys back and healthy
for this run in the postseason.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
We're talking to Darren Hedrick, the radio boys of the
Baseball Wildcats. He'll call the action when Kentucky opens NCAA
tournament play against West Virginia coming up on Friday. We'll
talk more with Darren on the other side of the
break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome Back my guest
Darren Hedrick of the UK Baseball Network. He is the
playbook play voice of the Wildcats who open up NCAA
tournament played this Friday at noon Eastern against those West

(50:55):
Virginia Mountaineers. And by the way, you need to pull
up the Inside Kentucky base Ball podcast with the two Darrens,
mister Hedrick and mister Williams, the former Kentucky pitcher. They
he'll prep you for the upcoming tournament. And Kentucky did
not play West Virginia this year or a last, but
we all got a chance to watch the Mountaineers play

(51:16):
in the tournament two years ago in a Lexington similar
style as Kentucky. They try to create chaos on the
base pass.

Speaker 3 (51:25):
Now.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
Two years ago they had a guy who was one
of the best in America doing that. I don't know
much about him right now, do you.

Speaker 6 (51:32):
I've looked at him a little bit, not enough that
I could sit here and spout a bunch of individuals
and their stats. I can tell you they're pretty balanced.
Like you were talking about, they'll steal, they've got some power.
They defend well. You don't win the Big twelve by accident.
They're pitching staff as solid. They've got two really strong
starters on the weekend Friday and Saturday, not little one

(51:55):
two punch. We'll see how they decide to pitch. I'm
assuming we're going to get their best on Friday to
try to get off to a good start in the regional.
If that's the case, then it's likely kern Ki r N.
He's got ninety two strikeouts on the season and an
ERA in the mid threes. So they do have some
good pitching on that respect, but just a solid team.

(52:19):
I will be curious to see how the styles clash
because the Big Twelve, it's a different style they've got. Well,
their geography stretches from West Virginia to Arizona, so you're
talking about different climates for the ball. Why is a
lot different. So you go down to Baylor or Arizona
or Texas Tech, and the ball flies a lot different
than it does in West Virginia. So we'll see how

(52:42):
these styles clash on Friday. It should be a really
interesting matchup.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
Yeah, but we don't know who's pitching yet for Kentucky,
and it's got to be tempting for Minjeon and Dan
Roselle to flip the rotation and start Ben Cleaver, get
off to that good start in the regional and go
with the Sunday guy. But they're still Mulley that over,
aren't they.

Speaker 3 (53:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (53:03):
I don't think they're ready to announce a starter for
Friday just yet, but you're.

Speaker 3 (53:07):
Right about that.

Speaker 6 (53:08):
To me, to win a regional, winning that first game
is so critical. And we've seen why Kentucky is three
for three and making Super Regionals under Nick Menjeon when
they are interregional because they do start one to oh. Now,
they've had to come from the loser's bracket a couple
of times, but that was you know, they still started

(53:28):
one to oh in all those regionals. So get off
to a one and oh start and then see what
happens on that Saturday, and hopefully by Sunday you're playing
with house money, and like coach Manda says, you're three
wins away from a Super and five wins away from Omaha.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
So let let's go back. And speaking of getting off
the good starts, let's go back to the SEC tournament. Kentucky.
It looked like there was so much traffic against Oklahoma
in the first three innings, and you know, they bounced
into a double play of the bases loaded. I mean,
they just couldn't get anything going and it looked like
all the steam just left them and they flattened out

(54:04):
and lost that one to a team they had just
swept five to one. And we all know how hard
it is just to sweep, much less win four straight
against a top ten team. But I don't anticipate that
kind of effort or lack of same. Not that it
was a lack of effort, they just they just kind of,
as I said, just kind of flattened out at the
plate laid against Oklahoma. But I don't think we'll see

(54:27):
that on Friday.

Speaker 6 (54:28):
To you, I think you're going to see a lot
of energy. I think you're going to see a highly
motivated team in this regional A lot of people didn't
think they would make it and here they are, so
they might have a little chip on their shoulder with
something to prove. And I think we're going to see
their best effort against West Virginia and whomever they might
play on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (54:48):
After that.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
Yeah, well, you know this is an sec that, as
you mentioned, ads Oklahoma and Texas, and hey, they're both
on Kentucky's schedule. How about that, although thankfully for the
Wildcats both in Lexington and you know, people forget that
they took one off of Texas and the Game three
of that series was a one run game, right, and

(55:09):
then nobody, I don't think nationally expected Kentucky to sweep Oklahoma,
but that series Texas Tennessee kind of signaled to the
rest of the country that, oh, wait a minute, Kentucky's
kind of waking up, you know what I mean?

Speaker 6 (55:24):
I agree, and you know what, I still throw in
the series win down in College Station against Texas.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
Yeah, you're right.

Speaker 6 (55:31):
I know A and M did not have the season
they wanted and they did not make the tournament, first
time ever that the preseason number one ranked team did
not make a regional. So I know their season did
not go as they planned. But part of the reason
for that is because Kentucky went down there and won
two out of three, and I thought that was a
huge series for this team and part of the reason

(55:51):
why the entire way through the SEC they were one
or two wins away from being five hundred in the league.
And I always like to remind people, you know, people
kind of scoff oh, thirteen league wins. Well, thirteen gets
you in the tournament, as we know, fourteen you're solidly
in the field, and fifteen you're in the conversation to
host a regionals. So you get one or two of

(56:12):
those one run losses to go the other way, and
we might be playing at home this weekend.

Speaker 1 (56:17):
Well, and Nick talked earlier today about something I saw
him discuss with Finebaum, and you and Doug and Keith
and I have talked about this, just the you know,
one pitch, one play is the difference so often and
Nick has parsed the numbers of the five thousand plus

(56:38):
pitches that have been involved in Kentucky baseball games. Nine
plays separated Kentucky from another at least a share of
the SEC championship. But that's baseball, isn't it. I mean,
you know what, A lot of a lot of teams
can say that, But so what, it's still true, right, yeah?

Speaker 6 (56:56):
I mean you go back and I know the plays
he's talking about. I may even know so, but he
really wasn't referring to, you know, don't drop a pop
up against Auburn and you win that series. The Tigers
were down to their final out and losing that game.
And you know Kentucky doesn't make the catch of a
rootine pop up, they score two tiet and go on

(57:16):
to win it. I think it was old myth. Devid
Birch drilled a ninety to one hundred mile an hour
line drive, but it was right at the short stop,
five feet to the left or right. It's a game winner.
You look at the Vanderbilt series, there's two the two
walk offs, there's two right there. So you know there's
four wins right there. Just if the you make the

(57:38):
pitch or make the defensive play, or make or get
the hit, then you're sitting there looking at seventeen league
wins instead of thirteen. So it is that close. That's
the margin, and that's what he keeps referring to. And
a lot of those close plays went their way the
last two years and this year not not as much.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
I'll let you go with this. You mentioned the last
couple of years, and really last year's Omaha team began
to take route clearly the year prior, when they host
the regionals, they had to go down to LSU to
play the eventual national champion. I don't think anybody really
expected them, although they played well down there, but they
carried that experience into the following year and played well

(58:23):
enough to host as they won the conference, host a
super and we've talked about that so much as they
could just host a Super and not go to Louisville
or not go to LSU and it all paid off.
This year's team had to kind of condense all of
that into one season, didn't it. Thirty one new faces,
guys who had played at other places and had some

(58:44):
individuals success but not so much as a team. Some
had had some had been to the NCAA tournament, But
they had to squeeze it all into one year and
develop as a potential, you know, winning ball club. That
ain't easy, is it?

Speaker 3 (59:00):
Oh? It's not.

Speaker 6 (59:00):
And while they are going to lose some key pieces
off this year's team to graduation and who knows, maybe
some pro ball, but they're going to have a lot
of faces back next year. And so I feel like
this year's team kind of has a similar path as
that twenty twenty three club in that you're going to
return a lot of guys. It was twenty twenty three

(59:21):
stretching to twenty twenty four. Now it's twenty twenty five,
stretching into twenty twenty six, you're going to get Tyler
Bell and Luke Lawrence and Ryan Schwartz and Hudson Brown
and all these guys are going to be back for you,
Kayas Gargett Ethan Hindle and so you get those guys
and then an outstanding freshman class in the future is

(59:41):
looking really bright. And like you mentioned earlier today in
the press conference, you've made three straight regionals and now
for a lot of the guys coming up in high school,
Kentucky is a brand that a lot of players are
going to want.

Speaker 3 (59:52):
To play for.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
Yeah, it's a style, it's a brand, it's a chance
to play in the SEC. It's a viable alternative. Not
everybody can sign with LSU, right, not everybody can sign
with Texas come play in the SEC. Yeah, it's the
northernmost you know. But it's also one of the nicest
facilities in all the college baseball. So it's all coming together,

(01:00:15):
isn't it.

Speaker 6 (01:00:16):
That's right. And I apologize for the sirens behind me.
They're coming to take me away, haha.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
So it's okay. When you need a ride, brother, you
need a ride, that's fine, that's right. Darren Heddrick will
call the action as the Wildcats take on those West
Virginia Mountaineers, and also tune in pull up the podcast
Inside Kentucky Baseball. You learn a lot from the two
Darren's mister Hedrick and mister Williams. Thanks so much, brother,
have a safe trip and we'll talk to you soon.

Speaker 6 (01:00:42):
You got it, Dick, thanks so much for having me
my friend. We'll see you down the road.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
Up next, we'll talk college football to playoffs and Greg
Sankey is ruffling some feathers at the spring meetings, which
is to be expected the SEC Commissioner. And we'll hear
more from the baseball Wildcats on the other side of
the break here on the Big six thirty WLAP. Welcome
back to the Big Blue Insider, Dick Gabriel with you
coming up tomorrow night. It's going to be the best

(01:01:08):
of the Big Blue Insider. Why jury duty, that's right,
I got the slipping the mail and once again, and
I'm one of those lucky people. I don't know why,
but my name keeps coming up. It's come up probably
half a dozen times. And I talk to people all
the time who have never been called I don't know
why that is. I don't mind it. It's just, you know,

(01:01:28):
it's part of being an American citizen. That's all well
and good, but you got to rearrange some things in
your life now. I am semi retired. I am not
currently involved in calling games because my job with the
UK Baseball games, the streaming telecast that's behind me for
a couple of weeks now and college football. I assume
I'll be back with a network. Can't really say for sure.

(01:01:50):
You never know until you get the contract in the mail.
But if I am, I don't have to worry about
that until late August. So just doing this little radio
show out of my garage is it keeps me busy.
But if I'm tied up much of the day down
at the courthouse, well, I've just got to present the
best of and then you wait and see if you're selected.
You have to call a number every day for five

(01:02:12):
straight days to see if your during number, duror number
is mentioned. And then when you go to report, you
see if you're one of the people selected. And I'll
be honest, I've never been selected for one reason or another,
but you still have to go down there, go through
the process. That's all well and good, that's fine, that's
all part of it. But as I said, you just

(01:02:33):
got to make arrangements, and I'll be making arrangements for
the best of the Big Blue Insider tomorrow. And I
do have vacation coming up as well, so we'll replace
some of those classic bbis coming up this summer. Anyhow,
it's not going to be long before we're talking about
the college football openers. And as I mentioned in the
very first part of the show, first or second, lots

(01:02:55):
of chatter about the college football Playoff and whether it
will be. It will not be this year. But as
I mentioned the other night, they're changing the seeding, which
means that the supposedly weakest of the teams that get
in will not receive buys as they did this past year.
But Greg Sankey was rattling some cages down at the

(01:03:19):
SEC spring meetings and it caught the attention of a
columnist for cbsports dot Com, Tom Fornelli, and he took
note of comments that Sankie made down in Florida. Sankie
doing his job, and he does it well. I remember

(01:03:39):
when he was named the commissioner, we weren't sure who
was going to be the next one. But he quickly
showed that he was dealing from a position of strength,
wasn't afraid to do so. And he has done a
great job because look at what the SEC is doing
now everywhere, not just football, how good basketball is now.

(01:04:00):
And throughout the nca tournament there was a lot said
and written about why the NCAA or I'm sorry, why
the SEC has become so much better at basketball. The
entrants money, it's always money, but how have they spent it?
They have hired good coaches and good assistant coaches, and

(01:04:24):
that's a reflection of the head coaches they hire. Schools
of plowed money into facilities, and let's face it, the
SEC network has provided so much money, but it wasn't
all dumped into football. It went to basketball, went to
women's basketball, went to baseball, went to everything. SEC is
good in everything. They're spreading the money out and now

(01:04:48):
it makes it tougher on the people who are trying
to come up with the college football playoff recipe. And
Sankee was still complaining essentially indirectly but directly about two
teams that did not get into playoffs, even though it
be Georgia, and he said this, it's clear that not

(01:05:11):
losing becomes in many ways more important than beating the
University of Georgia, which two of our teams that were
left out did. All right, he's referring, of course, to Alabama,
Ole Miss, South Carolina. They were three loss SEC teams

(01:05:32):
left out because Indiana and SMU had better records. Okay,
Alabama and ole Miss, as Fornelli points out, did beat Georgia.
But in many of you knew this from last year,
it's what else happened to those teams? Yeah, Alabama beat Georgia,

(01:05:52):
huge game, big win. Then what happened? They lose to Vandy.
All due respect to Andy year six and six. That's
great for Vandy beat Alabama, huge win, but you know
it is Vandy a team you hang your a win
that you hang your hat on. No, and if you

(01:06:15):
lose to Vandy, my gosh. So Alabama loses to Vandy
and Oklahoma, which wasn't any good and in SEC games alone,
those two teams combined for a three and eleven record
in games not against Alabama. All right, now, you're gonna
you're gonna like this one. Kentucky fans Ole Miss jumps

(01:06:37):
up and beats Georgia, Lane Kiffin beats Georgia. What happened next, Well,
they lose to Florida. Not bad, do you respect to
my friend mister Cooperstein. Florida did finish eight and five,
went three and four in SEC games, not against Ole Miss.
But what killed Ole Miss? Losing to Kentucky at home?

(01:07:00):
Remember that heck of a game, twenty to seventeen. The
Wildcats win it, and it was the only SEC win
of the year for the Wildcats, and it very likely
kept oh Miss. I would say it definitely kept Ole
Miss out of the playoff. It's other seven games all

(01:07:21):
losses by an average of fourteen and a half points. So, yeah,
you beat Georgia. Is that the golden ticket? Not this year? No,
And Kentucky got to play spoiler. And you know, you
look back on that game. I keep saying this, what
happened to that team? Where did that team go? They fought,

(01:07:45):
they clawed, they scrapped, they did not everything right, but
they overcame whatever mistakes they made and out played the rebels.
And this was a great day for a college football game,
great crowd, weather cooperated, and Kentucky made some really big plays,

(01:08:05):
so did ole Miss and the Wildcats win it and
spoiled their party. Now, South Carolina played the toughest non
conference game of those three and beat Clemson on the road.
No bad losses for the game Cocks, but did lose

(01:08:27):
to Alabama and ole Miss. So if you don't put
them in the playoff, you don't put South Carolina in
the playoff. But keep in mind is for Nelly pointed out,
then an at large spot disappeared when Clemson won the
ACC and qualified for the College Football Playoff because otherwise

(01:08:50):
it was not going to go. So, yeah, Sankee's doing
his job when he talks about how not losing is
more important in some areas than beating a team like Georgia.
But man, if you're on that committee that's looking at
the big picture, you gotta look at the overall body

(01:09:15):
of work. However, keep in mind Indiana went eleven and one,
but still finished behind Tennessee which was ten and two
and four other two loss teams, and that's why Indiana
had to play Notre Dame on the road in the
first round. Strength to schedule it matters, So keep an
eye on his College Football Playoff, but understand, keep an

(01:09:37):
ear on Greg sank. He will never stop and nor
should he pushing for the sec but you got to
look beyond a glittery win over a tough team like Georgia.
We'll come back and again talk more Kentucky baseball on
the other side of the break, hering the Big Moon
Sider six point thirty Wlap Welcome back to the Big

(01:09:59):
Blue in Side. Eric. A couple of other baseball notes
for you. Then we want to talk about the transfer
portal in football. Buddy of mine who's from Lexington who
now lives in Reno Nevade moved from Los Angeles to
Reno retirement home. Right. Well, he's a big NBA but fan,
and he's always bugging his wife when he's watching NBA games,
pointing out the UK guys. You know, there's so many

(01:10:22):
of them now in the league and must get tiring
for her. So anyhow, for whatever reason, he's not a
big baseball fan, but he just moved to the Reno
area and he dragged his wife to this minor league game,
Reno Aces versus Albuquerque Isotopes. So he said, we left
early because this guy from Albuquerque kept hitting home runs

(01:10:45):
and I guess it became a route I emailed him.
He told me the story and I emailed him back
and said, hey, that's a UK guy. It was Ryan Ritter.
You may have seen this or heard about this. But
Ryan Ritter, former Gold Globe I think I mentioned this,
former Gold Glove winning shortstop for the Wildcats, promoted to
Triple A. Hit three home runs in one game for

(01:11:10):
Albuquerque for the Topes when he was at Kentucky. Of course,
his glove was phenomenal, but he was working on his
offense and he's finding his stroke now, at least in
the minor leagues. They ended up winning fourteen nothing. That's
why my buddy left early. But Ritters are now twenty
four years old and Reno. I'm sorry. Albuquerque is the

(01:11:32):
Triple A team for the Colorado Rockies book, could they
use some help. You might see him in the biggs
before this season is over. And that three home run
game took him to eleven straight games a hitting streak
with a franchise record ten straight games with an extra
base hit. So huge day for Ryan Ritter in front

(01:11:57):
of I don't know how big the crowd was in Reno,
but one person there was a UK grad. No idea
that Ritter had been a wildcat one. Another note from
the miners, Jack Cagleone's also getting it done. He was
a two way player for Florida, not a great picture
of what a hitter, and now playing for the Omaha

(01:12:22):
Storm Chasers in Salt Lake where I guess the thin
air may have had something to do with this. Hit
home runs at went one hundred and thirteen point six
miles per hour four hundred and ten feet. The next
night one hundred and eleven miles per hour exit velocity
four hundred and forty one feet. On Saturday, hit one

(01:12:42):
that was out of here at one hundred and seven
miles an hour. They didn't have the distance. And on
Sunday one hundred and eight miles an hour, four hundred
and fifty nine feet. That was in the first inning.
Then in the tenth inning hit one out one hundred
and seven miles an hour. Kind of cool because Doug
Flinn and I when we did minor league baseball for

(01:13:02):
a couple of summers, we did games both in Omaha
and in Salt Lake City, two great ballparks, and boy,
Salt Lake City, the backdrop phenomenal, just great scenery as
you might expect, and we also saw the Albuquerque Isotopes,
not in Alberka, No, yeah, we did. We did do

(01:13:23):
a game in Albuquerque, and if you're a Simpsons fan,
you know that's the Springfield team, the Springfield Isotopes. Homer
works at a nuclear plant and the ballpark has statues
of the Simpsons all over in Albuquerque. We couldn't show
them on TV because we were working for CBS Sports Network,

(01:13:45):
and of course the rights to the Simpson owned by Fox,
but we could talk about it and we did. Now
about the portal, there's a study that was published by
cbssports dot com. This may effect, This may slow the
traffic when it comes to football players jumping into portal.

(01:14:06):
Elite recruits are having trouble being drafted after going through
the portal. Seven years of data. They've been studying and
they have watched as former highly coveted high school recruits
enter the transfer portal and they have more and more

(01:14:27):
trouble being drafted. They looked at the classes four seasons
from the twenty eighteen class and beyond three hundred seven
players drafted. Of those three to zero seven, only sixty
one of them were transfers. That's a rate of eleven

(01:14:48):
point four percent. Non transfers from the same top two
four to seven classes drafted fifty three point six percent
of the time. So again, the odds are if you
ended a portal, your odds of being drafted are much
lower than if you stick around. As you might expect.

(01:15:12):
Quarterbacks transfer far more often sixty nine point eight percent
of the time in those four years twenty eighteen to
twenty twenty one. Sixty four percent of the transfers wide receivers,
fifty nine and a half percent running backs, and so
on and so on. Go to cbsports dot com if

(01:15:33):
you want to read the whole story, and click on
the NCAA football But what I find interesting and a
little surprising was that interior offensive alignment transfer thirty seven
point three percent of the time, defensive tackles thirty six
percent of the time. You would think they would command

(01:15:53):
top nil dollar, but apparently they all stay put and
they broke it down to offensive tackles. Only thirty two
point five percent of those classes from twenty eighteen to
twenty twenty one were offensive tackles. No surprise about quarterbacks, right,

(01:16:15):
But interestingly, only two of the one they were looking
at the multi time transfers. Guys you transferred more than once,
Only two have been drafted so far from twenty eighteen
to twenty twenty two. Actually only two multiple transfers, and

(01:16:36):
one of them you saw beat the Wildcats. Tyler Shuck
U of L started off at Oregon, then went to
Texas Tech and then U of L and that's where
he really blossomed. But in all fairness, he stayed healthy there,
so much of his off the field movement was a
result of injuries, and then the other guys took his job.

(01:17:01):
Tyler Baron, who had a nice season at Miami, technically
transferred twice, but he did so in the same off season.
Remember he went from Tennessee to Louisville to Miami in
just five months. There's a lot of reasons to transfer.

(01:17:21):
Some guys transfer up, and you can look at cam Ward,
who is of course a big timer now quarterback started
off at Incarnate Word, then Washington State and then Miami.
In Carnate Words. One double a FCS Josh Simmons transferred

(01:17:42):
from San Diego State to Ohio State, basically moving up.
But these are the numbers, including especially i'd say, the
draft stuff that you gotta think every coach in America
is arming himself these numbers. When guys come in and say,

(01:18:03):
I'm going to hit the portal a quarterback. That's kind
of different. Only one guy can play quarterback, but some
of these other positions. Even if you are a quarterback,
they can pull out this research and these are like
elite players. The top players is rated by two four

(01:18:23):
to seven sports, and they can show the numbers. These
are the guys who are drafted, and these are the
guys who are not. Those are some sobering figures. If
you ask me finally, well, this isn't exactly the same thing,
but it's about a player who's going to be on
the move. Perhaps Aaron Rodgers has still not said anything,

(01:18:48):
at least as I record this, about where he's going.
Everybody believes it'll be Pittsburgh. Somebody asked him, would you
ever join the Bears Bears rivals of course of my
beloved Packers. He said no. What he said, I believe
there's a team that might play in Chicago this year

(01:19:08):
on a road trip. I don't know, not sure. Got
to check it out. Well, the Steelers Jeff Drummond and
Keith Farmer play the Bears Seek twelve on November twenty three.
Seven other teams do as well, but he's just making
Pittsburgh weight, making him want it, and we're all getting

(01:19:31):
tired of it. Thanks to Chuck Cooperstein, thanks to Darren Heddrick.
That's it, good night for the garage and Lexington.

Speaker 7 (01:19:38):
It's thrilling to meet you, Gloria. Hi. Yes, you obviously
have a wonderful economy with words, Gloria, I look forward
to your next syllable with Greek eagerness.

Speaker 8 (01:20:00):
Such tact sing can think anything, then Sat thinks them

(01:21:18):
back to.

Speaker 6 (01:21:25):
Them.

Speaker 8 (01:21:26):
Don't