2025-05-28 - BBI

Best of the BBI (jury duty, don't you know) with Mark Pope, (19:00) new Wildcat Reece Potter, (39:00) Kenny Rice of NBC Sports and (59:00) Keith Farmer of BBN Tonight and WLEX

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Abriel with you
on a Wednesday edition of our program. I have jury duty,
so tonight it is the best of the Big Blue Insider.
We're going to talk about the return of the basketball
Tournament La Famiya, the team comprised primarily of Kentucky players
playing for that million dollar prize. We'll also hear from

(00:20):
Mark Pope, and in our number one, we'll go back
to the night that I had a chance to chat
with one of, if not the newest Wildcat, Reese Potter,
the transfer from Miami of Ohio, Lexinglon Kid, who's coming
home to play for the Wildcats. This is the best
of the Big Blue Insider. There is no UK Baseball

(00:41):
on Tuesday, no midweek game. You'd think this team could
use a midweek game to kind of lift its spirits
a little bit after dropping the entire series over the
weekend at Mississippi State. But the Wildcats nock and rest
and heal because there have been some injuries, significant injuries,
and get ready for this weekend series with Oklahoma, the

(01:03):
Sooners coming to town for the first time as members
of the Southeastern Conference. And we'll have it for you
right here on six thirty WLAP. It's a six thirty
start on Friday night. Darren's pregame comes up at six
point fifteen. We'll have them for you over on SEC
Plus as well. Doug Flinn and I we'll have the telecast.
But it's a huge weekend for the baseball Wildcats and

(01:24):
they have got the hang on to home Turf. Got
to win at least two man, if they can sweep,
that would like put last week firmly in the rearview mirror.
But Kentucky, I don't know if it's on the bubble
right now, but it's not going to host a regional
and being a two seed or maybe even a three
seed maybe out the window right now. So big weekend

(01:45):
to baseball coming up, but a lot to talk about
before that, including the remnants of the Kentucky Derby. We'll
talk with Kenny Rice to look ahead of the Preakness
that comes up in our number two, and Keith Farmer's
also going to join us. He covered the derby, and
we'll also talk basketball with Kman because we have a
new Kentucky Wildcat to talk about. He is Reese Potter,

(02:09):
and we thought that the roster news would end, at
least for the time being with a yellich the kid
from Croatia. But a day or two later comes word
that Potter is entertaining an offer to come through the
portal and transfer from Miami where he signed after playing
at Electiondon Catholic and become a Kentucky Wildcat. Sure enough,

(02:32):
the word leaked out on Sunday and it kind of
made the rounds on social media yesterday. So I had
a chance to touch base with Reese and he will
join us at the bottom of the hour. So coming
up at the bottom of the hour. Former Lexington Catholic Knight,
former Miami of Ohio Redhawk, and now a brand new

(02:53):
Kentucky Wildcat, Reese Potter. He is listed at seven point
one two fifteen two fifteen. I mean that's slender, but
you know, if he plays as much out on the
floor as he does under the bucket, he'll be okay.
And he played well at Miami of Ohio, played about
not eighteen twenty minutes a game, averaged six or seven points,

(03:17):
averaging nearly four rebounds a game in less than a
half of basketball. So he will help this Kentucky team
with depth and he will get better, of course playing
against the likes in practice of Yelich and Garrison and
Malaka Moreno and all these guys. But we'll meet Rhys Potter.

(03:37):
I've never interviewed the guy. We'll talk to him at
the bottom of the hour while we're on UK basketball.
If you followed, and many of you did, last year
the basketball tournament TBT La Familia, the Kentucky team is
pulling itself together again. And the word came out over
the last twenty four to forty eight hours that Andrew

(03:58):
and Aaron Harrison would be playing once again for La Familla.
And if you recall that Kentucky team last year did
really well, did not win it lost to the team
that eventually won it called Carmen's Crew. This was the
team that was the team primarily made up of Ohio

(04:24):
State players former Ohio State players, and in fact, the
MVP for the tournament, the basketball tournament for the second
time this past year, was Jared Sullinger. And he might
recall he's the guy who bumped into Josh Harrelson a
few times in a NCA tournament game against the Wildcats,

(04:48):
and Harrelson hurled the ball at him and it was
part of a Kentucky upset that included a huge three
pointer by DeAndre Leak who will play for TBT or
in TBT for the Wildcats. But the biggest news game

(05:09):
with the Harrison's coming back. And remember now this is
a tournament where the games can be decided at a
certain point. They might not go to the conclusion if
it reaches a certain points spread at a certain time.
Game over and against Louisville the Ville last year in
the quarterfinals, it was Aaron Harrison who hit a huge

(05:32):
shot that ended the game. And then you might recall
it was almost predictable. It was so chippy that there
was I don't know what you want to call it,
pushing and shoving, you know, all that kind of silliness
that can go on. And it indeed happened last year
between Laville and La Familla, but that was in the

(05:55):
quarters and up in Philly, I believe it was. And
then the wild Cats, primarily the La Famia team lost
in the next round of Carmen's Crew, which after that
beat a team made up primarily of players from Houston
Forever Koogs. So the Harrison brothers are back. And if

(06:21):
you go to YouTube, you can watch a couple of
montages of the huge NC Tournament games won by huge
shots from Aaron Harrison. Here's a little bit of the audio.
Harris Autel Ram Priminal Blacks feeds the corn Harris.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Light the space Saturday after Harrison underna bounced to the
Carmy shots back outside.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
This is the point where he always upset. A kind
of fun to relive those I had forgotten that on
the Wisconsin shot, his brother fed him the ball and

(07:29):
Andrew got the assists. If you know you follow such things.
On that shot, and then against Michigan, you might recall this.
It was a step back. It was a little jab step.
I don't know if he was planning on trying to
drive or just setting up his defender, but he used
a jab step and then stepped back and drained it.

(07:50):
And those moments were just phenomenal. And you got to
remember those plays when you think back to how frustrated
you were, and everybody will. And the loss to Wisconsin
in twenty fifteen, and I know that there was some
sentiment leading into that game that cali Peri wasn't subbing enough,

(08:12):
because in the middle of a news conference at one
point Calipari was talking about the Harrisons and he stopped
himself and he looked up and he said, you know
they're carrying us right now, don't you, to the media.
And in fact, to a degree, they were. But I'll
never forget neither were you that lost to Wisconsin in
twenty fifteen and they could not even with the Harrisons

(08:34):
in the game, couldn't get off a shot for three
straight possessions. And over on the bench, say hello to
Devin Booker. I know, not the same Devin Booker he
is now, but back then he could get off a shot.
And you know who might have been better at doing that,
Tyler Eulis, who could have left somebody in the dust
and gotten the ball up in the rim at least.

(08:55):
And yes, I know there would have been challenges defensively.
I'm not saying put them both in. You put one
or the other end. Wisconsin with bigger guards, what had
a field day at the other end, although Uless was
a hell of a defensive player. But you know what
you sub them. I mean, I still, oh man, I'm
sure it bothers you as well. But any other Harrisons

(09:17):
are back and the TVT was a lot of fun
last year in Kentucky's kids played hard, they played well,
they took it seriously, they practiced well, and it's a
great event. Makes some money. Speaking of money, ESPN is
reporting a big dollars thanks to college sports ad revenue.

(09:39):
It's not actually technically ESPN reporting it. It's Sports Business Journal.
There's a story out right now that says the network
has increased its AD revenue generated from college sports by
are you ready forty two percent year over year. Now,
this coincides with the expansion of the college football Playoff,

(10:02):
with those eight additional huge games for ESPN to sell
to advertisers. And by the way, two of those games
are on TNT. ESPN kept the ad money. There you go.
But it's not just football. Add inventory on college sports
such as basketball, baseball, softball, those sports the non revenue

(10:25):
quote unquote sports have combined for an eleven percent year
over year increase in AD revenue. You know what else,
volleyball is making money now for ESPN. And yeah, disclosure,
I work for SEC plus, owned by ESPN. I don't
know what kind of money they make. I know they
don't spend a lot on SEC plus because for one thing,

(10:50):
a lot of those broadcasts are primarily manned by students.
Doug Flynn and I we are not. We were students
of life, students of the game. But what I'm telling
you is they are modestly crewed. We have a great crew,
we really do, and modestly but properly equipped on the

(11:11):
SEC level. So I'd love to know how much money
comes from SEC plus. Probably not a whole lot since
it's streaming, but it's all part of one big package.
And thank you College sports, And if you're ESPN, you're
saying thank you to the Southeastern Conference. Yeah, the Big
Ten Network makes a lot of money. ESPN does not

(11:33):
own the Big Ten Network. It owns the SEC Network
and the ACC Network, among others, and those are the
big money makers. So anytime you hear about a decision
being made that will favor not just college football but
SEC football, if ESPN is anywhere lurking, you got to
think they're involved, or at least they're trying to influence

(11:55):
the situation because that's what's paying their bills right now,
and it shouldn't be a surprise. Coming up to the
bottom of the hour. Reheese Potter, the newest Wildcat, you're
listening to the Best of the Big Blue Insider. You're
on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.
Dick Abriel with you, and again this is the Best

(12:17):
of the Big Blue Insider. Because I do have jury duty,
I should be back tomorrow. We don't start reporting until
next Monday. If indeed we are selected, if you've been
through the process, you know what I'm talking about. But
we will keep you up to date on that. And
if indeed I'm chosen, well we'll just have to pull
out some more classic Big Blue Insiders for you. A reminder,

(12:38):
coming up on Friday at noon, it's UK Baseball as
the Wildcats take on the West Virginia Mountaineers in the
opening round of the NCAA Tournament. We hear more from
the baseball Wildcats, Nick Benjeon and as players coming up
tomorrow night. Right now, we're going to take you back
to today that we had a chance to share with
Mark Pope about his brand new roster. We met with

(13:00):
him a couple of weeks ago. Here is the UK
basketball coach on Tonight's edition of the Best of the
Big Blue Insider. Today it was about basketball. Earlier today
because Mark Pope spoke to the media for the first
time in a long time. Some people have gotten piecemeal interviews,
and we've gotten comments and quotes and things like that

(13:22):
throughout the off season, but this was the first chance
we all had as the crew that covers the beat
to sit down and talk to Mark Pope, and we
got to talk to him for gosh, almost forty minutes.
What this means is, if you're a Kentucky basketball fan,
you've got all kinds of material out there, all kinds

(13:44):
of outlets that will use everything he said, every comment
he made, every quote, every SoundBite. You're going to hear
them or read them, or some combination of all. If
you haven't seen them all today and tomorrow, you will
over the next probably so especially on the TV stations
that have, you know, a very limited amount of airtime

(14:05):
sadly on their newscast. Don't get me started on that,
but they'll squeeze every drop out of that news conference
that they can, and you know what, so will I.
Now I've only got a few minutes right now to
share with you. I'll have much more tomorrow on Pope
and throughout the week. But some of the things he

(14:25):
said that have jumped out. You've probably already seen his
comment about Travis Perry leaving. He said I thought Travis
Perry would be a legend, and he went on at
length about Travis. I'm gonna play that for you tomorrow,
but what I wanted to play for you today are
a couple of comments. The first one just basically talking
about his group now his team, the guys in his roster,

(14:49):
and how much he likes this collection he's put together.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
I think the guys that have chosen to be here
are guys that are just starving to come test themselves
every single day in practice to come get better. I
got hungry, hungry, hungry guys. I got guys that have
really unique, distinguishable skill sets that fit us really well.

(15:18):
And so so I'm man, I'm excited about this crew.
This is going to be a really special crew.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
Pope alluded to guys who want to be here and
play at Kentucky, and I asked him a specific question
about that, about when you're looking at guys either recruits
or more specifically guys coming through the portal, the fact
that they want to be a part of UK basketball
for everything that means. I asked him I said, is

(15:46):
that the top of your list or is it the
icing on the big blue cake at at the very
end of the process.

Speaker 4 (15:53):
I think it's both.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
Actually, I think it's the beginning and the end because
it matters. This is there's nowhere like this. And if
you come in here not understanding or appreciating that, I
actually think your chances of success are.

Speaker 5 (16:09):
Not very high to some level.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
I mean, nobody can really understand this until you live it, right,
But the guys that are really successful here come in
with a healthy respect for what this is. And because
it requires more, actually it requires more ability to be
you know, non distracted. It requires more of a giving heart.

(16:37):
It requires more of an idea that there's something bigger
than yourself. It requires more of an ability to sacrifice
a little bit and understand that by sacrificing a little
bit of yourself it actually elevates you.

Speaker 4 (16:50):
Right.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
That's what's great about this beautiful team sport of basketball
that we have when you learn that concept of like,
if I give a little bit, you know, if I
just give a little bit of myself, it actually elevates myself.

Speaker 4 (17:04):
Right.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
There is much more, But he really went in depth there.
I'll share some more of that with you later in
the week. At the end, they were basically ready to
dismiss us, and Pope said, I can't believe nobody asked
about the Saint John's game. Oddly, nobody did about the
fact that Saint John's has stepped in for UCLA in

(17:26):
the CBS Sports Classic coming up down into Atlanta, and
so somebody kind of I think it was Lee K.
Howard from WKYT, said hey, what about going against coach Patino.

Speaker 3 (17:37):
That's awesome.

Speaker 4 (17:38):
I'm so hyped.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
I'll be honest with you, just if I'm putting this
out there so Coach p can hear it. I am
bringing the suit game. I already started planning, and coach
just be ready, Okay, bring it, and the game's gonna
be elite.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
I'm not going white. I can't listen.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
I'm not I'm not trying to be the dawn like
that's how that position I have been taking. But I'm
bringing the thunder. So I don't know what coach has prepared,
but he better get with his tailor because it's on
right now.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
That's gonna be fun. That's gonna be funny. And I
can't wait. And I was a little surprised. I thought
somebody else would ask, otherwise I would have. But yeah,
that's gonna be a lot of fun. The time leading
up to that game is gonna be really entertaining. Otaga
always name naturally came up early and he talked about
the fact that you know, Otaga's got a lot of

(18:32):
skills on offense and defense. Didn't make any predictions about
what would happen with the NBA. But of course, the
big story today in the NBA is about what happened
last night, and that's the Dallas Mavericks winning the lottery.
With a chance of one point eight percent. The Mavericks
win the overall number one pick and likely will take

(18:55):
Cooper Flag And this, of course is the franchise that
one guy traded away Luka Donsich. Maybe Cooper Flagg saves
his butt when it comes to the fans, but of course,
the Mavericks winning that pick when they desperately needed it
gives rise to the notion if you like conspiracies, which

(19:19):
I do, that the lottery at times has been fixed
throughout the years. I love a good conspiracy. I kind
of like this one. And I'm going to tell you
more about that coming up tomorrow night, because there just
seems to be too many coincidences where teams, especially one

(19:40):
year in particular, where teams needed a specific player, not
just a type of player, but a specific player and
they got him. Up next, my conversation from earlier this
month with Rhys Potter the transfer from Miami of Ohio.
You're listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider.
Welcome back. You're listening to the best of the Big

(20:02):
Blue Insider joining us now from right now is his
dorm room at the Miami Ohio is Rhyes Potter of
the newest Wildcat. Congratulations and I appreciate you.

Speaker 4 (20:14):
It's been a lifelong dream of mind. So this is
so real for me.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
I had a feeling you're going to say that. So
let's let's start with when you were growing up always
a Wildcat fan. What are your earliest memories.

Speaker 6 (20:26):
You know, growing up as a Wildcats fan and liked it.
I mean I was always the thing. You're either a
Kentucky fan or a Lobal fan, so I think elected it.
I was definitely a Kentucky fan, so I grew to
love the program, and you know, it was kind of
all everybody knows is to be a Kentucky fan. Everybody
knows that when a Kentucky basketball game is, when a
Kentucky football game is.

Speaker 4 (20:42):
So it's the big deal around here.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
And I guess was Tubby coaching when you were growing up?

Speaker 4 (20:49):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (20:49):
With him and mostly cal Yeah, mostly the years I
remember of the cal Era.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
Yeah, what do you remember any specific players that really
excited you.

Speaker 6 (21:00):
I would probably say John Wall. I mean that was
always a big thing. John Wall dance when I was younger,
So you know, that was always the player everybody was
most excited about. Every every little kid used to do
his little dance. So you know, I was probably, you know,
the best and earliest memory.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
I had, Although your game is a little bit different
from his.

Speaker 6 (21:15):
Right, Yeah, I mean I wish I could say I
was astass as him and you know, as good as him,
But yeah, it's a little it's a little different.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
You're you're a pretty tall guy. Were you tall growing up?
I mean, was it always basketball for you?

Speaker 4 (21:30):
It wasn't always basketball for me.

Speaker 6 (21:32):
I was always kind of I was always taller, but
I was never really you know, not much taller than everybody.
But I just kept steadily growing and so everybody kind
of peaked, and I just I just kept steadily growing,
you know, a couple of inches every year.

Speaker 4 (21:43):
So I kind of kind of what happened to me well, and.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
That happens to most kids that way as well. And
then when you got a chance to play college ball,
what I mean again, Miami is a great school, the
best option for you at the time, though, right.

Speaker 4 (22:00):
It was.

Speaker 6 (22:00):
I mean it was probably not the most highly rated
school for sure, but you know, I believe in Coach Steel,
I believe in the staff. So that's kind of the
place that I knew kind of was going to.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
Be home originally.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
And you guys are coming off a great year. You
drop a heartbreaker in the MAC title game, but next
thing you know, you're in the portal. What led to
your decision to see you at? What else is out there?

Speaker 4 (22:21):
Just kind of just combined of a couple of things.
You know.

Speaker 6 (22:24):
I love my time at Miami. I had no complaints.
You know, Coach Steel, Coach Smith, and you know, Coach
Home and Coach Risburg and were great for me. You know,
they they kind of helped me get where it's where
I am today, and I have nothing but the thanks
and gratitudes towards them, So you know, I kind of
wanted to, you know, move on to a little little,
bigger things.

Speaker 4 (22:40):
You know, I wanted to compete for national championships.

Speaker 6 (22:42):
You know, that's kind of the thing I've always you know,
growing up in high school and stuff. You know, the
big deal wasn't you weren't gonna win your You weren't
supposed to win your city or your region. The goal
with the win the state title. So that've kind of
kind of always been in my mindset. You got to
win the big thing. So that's kind of the big
difference between Miami and here. You know, Miami, you always
kind of like the underdog and you're always trying to
compete for mac championships. But you know, Kentucky, you're competing

(23:04):
for banners, you're competing for you know, national championships. So
that's kind of something I'm looking forward to.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
When you entered the portal, did you know Mark Pope
was looking for one more person?

Speaker 6 (23:14):
I know, so, I mean they were still constructing the
rest of their roster recruiting some other people.

Speaker 4 (23:18):
So they started recruiting me a month ago, and.

Speaker 6 (23:20):
Then kind of knew all along that that's kind of
where I wanted to go once they reached out to me,
you know, but you know I wanted to take my time,
you know, see some other things. But you know, growing
up as a electning kid, I always knew, you know,
if you if I ever had the chance, I can
it say now. So like I always knew, you know,
after they reached out to me, that's where I wanted
to go. You know, Kentucky kind of recruits itself, you know.

(23:41):
You know, anybody who turned down the blue and white
and the Kentucky on the front of those jersey, I
think it's honestly crazy. That's being growing up, being a
electing kid. So you know, it's a little different for
me than you know, maybe some other people.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
Talking to Reese Potter, who is the newest Kentucky Wildcats,
stepped into the portal and emerged a wildcat. So tell
me about that first phone call. How did that happen?
What was your reaction?

Speaker 6 (24:03):
That's so interesting to get reached out to me. You know,
he texted me, and I didn't believe it at first time.
You honest, I was actuam lessing him. So I thought
one of my friends to find a joke on here
or Frank. You know, I never really thought that that
was the opportunity that would come. And as soon as
he reached out to me and I told him, you know,
that's that's something I'm definitely interested in. And then Coach
Ppe you know, facetimed me. Actually he was in the
middle of the you know, La airport and he took

(24:24):
the time as the day, you know, call and talk
to me. And you know, it was just a surreal moment.
You know, growing up watching coach Hope, you know, he
was able to you know, win a banner here and
he just you know, kind of talked about how much
everybody likes him, loves him, and how much they like
wrapped their arms around him and welcome him home.

Speaker 4 (24:39):
You know.

Speaker 6 (24:39):
It's like, you know, that definitely interested me and something
that I like, you know, I look forward to being
able to do.

Speaker 1 (24:44):
I've been able to sit across from Mark as a
as a coach and a player that that energy is infectious.
What is it like as a recruit when it's coming
through that computer screen and he's talking to you about
maybe joining his team?

Speaker 6 (24:58):
Oh man, It's crazy, you know how much energy he has.
He's just a very passionate person for this game, and
you know the game has been really good for him.
So you know, sometimes on training you might think he's
you know, he's taking it or something like that, but
like I can say with the Harveston, you know, he's
not taking it. He's just a very positive guy and
very confident guy. He's feel confident in his players, and
so that's the way you know, he wants his players

(25:19):
to play. You know, he's he's a very happy individual
for sure.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
That's a good way to describe him. He's happy and
the people around him are and it makes it easier,
I guess for them to work for him and play
for him. You mentioned that you wanted to take your
time though. How difficult was that, Reef, Because again election
and kid, you'd always wanted to be a wildcat. The
knee jerk reaction would have been, yeah, I'm coming yesterday,
but you did the mature thing and took your time.

(25:45):
Tell me about that.

Speaker 4 (25:47):
Yeah, So, I mean it was really it was really hard.

Speaker 6 (25:49):
You know, as soon as they contacted me right away,
I wanted to be like, yeah, that's where I'm coming.
But like I mean, all along enough kind of where
my mindset was but I said, wanted to take my
time makes or see all my other options that you know, my.

Speaker 4 (26:02):
Mind never changed.

Speaker 6 (26:03):
Always knew that's where I wanted to kind of as
soon as they contacted me.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
Well, now you know, there's a there's a pretty good
looking roster right now with some size. Obviously you're gonna
learn a lot in practice and then uh, you know,
go up against some good players. Tell me about fighting
for minutes. You're gonna have to do that probably anywhere
you went though, right.

Speaker 6 (26:22):
Yes, there, So I'm really looking forward to it, you know,
ready to get everybody better for them to make me better.
So I'm really looking forward to it. You know, you know,
everybody on this roster, the NBA prospect those huge. I mean,
the team is you know, very well constructed, and you
know it's gonna be really fun competing with these guys
and getting to know these guys.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
What did Mark Pope tell you about his offensive system?
Because it's a little different, isn't it.

Speaker 4 (26:46):
Yeah, it's a little different.

Speaker 6 (26:47):
So it's more of an NBA style offense, you know,
which is kind of kind of becoming a thing in
college now, but not completely you know, the more fought out,
you know, fast, flawing offense, you know, kind of running gun.
It's kind of kind of the offense in my opinion.
So that's kind of something that you know, the NBA does,
and that's kind of the dream is to get there,
so you know, they do it and then they're able
to get their players to it.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
So we saw Amari Williams shoot threes, we saw Brandon
Garrison shoot threes. How's your three point game?

Speaker 4 (27:15):
Yeah, it's pretty good.

Speaker 6 (27:16):
So I feel like my career three point percent is
pretty solid in my opinion, So you know, I'm just
looking to improve that a little bit and keep keep
keep that going.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
Yeah, I'm looking at your numbers. As a freshman, you
had forty five percent of your triples thirty seven percent
as a sophomore. Did the offense at Miami allow for
that kind of freedom?

Speaker 6 (27:37):
Yeah, So, I mean it was kind of a little
similar but a little different to the Kentucky offense. So
it's definitely something that I'm going to have to get
to know, but it's definitely something that's in my game
to be able to, you know, pull it from deep
and face the floor for get everybody else you know involved.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
You average seventeen minutes a game and nearly four rebounds
a game. I got to think you take a lot
of pride in that part of your game, am I right?

Speaker 4 (28:00):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (28:00):
I mean that's you know, when you're out there, you're
the big man, so you got to you got to
make sure to clean everything up. So that's definitely playing.
I look to improve and just keep going.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
How's your defense.

Speaker 4 (28:10):
Pretty good?

Speaker 6 (28:10):
So last year my team, you know, we took pride
in our defense and being able to you know, switch
one through five. So that's definitely playing out. It was
really fun to me to be able to challenge myself
to go again smaller, more quicker guards. So it's definitely
playing that I look forward to improving and just keep
doing because I feel like I do it at a
pretty good level right now.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Is that something that you particularly like doing? Block shots?
I know a lot of big guys really they make
it an art form.

Speaker 4 (28:37):
Yes, for sure.

Speaker 6 (28:37):
I mean it's definitely fun to go over there and
block something that's kind of I mean, that's like kind
of our our two points, you know, kind of being
able to clean everything up, you know, make an offer
a mistakes. It's definitely definitely fun to block a shot.
You know, get Get gets the crowd going for sure.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
Do you know any of the guys on the roster
right now?

Speaker 6 (28:55):
I know a few people. So I grew up with
Malachi and Jasper and then kind of I played against
her in a couple of times, so so I know
a couple of the guys pretty well. So I'm looking
forward to, you know, learning about everybody else.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
How did you cross pass with Malachi and Jasper?

Speaker 4 (29:10):
Uh? So, Jasper actually lives like five minutes from my house.

Speaker 6 (29:13):
I've always played on like similar teams with him and
always so he went to Woodford County originally, and so
he went to Carter g in middle school, so playing
against him in middle school and then we played on
the similar age team, so I always kind of kept
close with him, and you know, he was always a
similar tournament, so I was able to you know, watch
him because he was in a younger age. And then
Malachi obviously was at great crossing for his whole career,

(29:34):
so I was able to play against him a couple
of times and just you know, grow a friendship from
that being able to battle it out on the court
and then you know kind of you know, the friends off.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
The court Hey, I was going to say, how did
you do against him?

Speaker 4 (29:46):
I feel like I did pretty good.

Speaker 6 (29:47):
I know he'd probably say it'd probably say otherwise. But
I feel like he's got a got a pretty bad
record against me, is what I'm gonna say.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
Ah, Okay, yeah, but now he's got a state championship.

Speaker 6 (29:58):
Yeah, he's got to stay jams. But you know, i'd
like to say my senior year he was going to
against me. That's that's where what I get him with.
But you know, he does have the state championship. I mean,
obviously he's a great player. I mean, he's on draft
boards for a reason. He's a great, great, great individual,
and he's gonna do great things next year. People are
going to look forward to Washington play.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
Talking to Reese Potter, he is the newest Wildcat, came
through the transfer portal and we'll play for the Wildcats
this coming season. And you've had to make now two
major decisions in your life. What's that been like because
that first time you signed a scholarship, you know, I
know your parents are there to help you, but that's
something that you got to decide and you had to

(30:39):
do it again. Is it an enjoyable process.

Speaker 6 (30:44):
I wouldn't say it was probably the most enjoyable process,
but when you know, schools like Kentucky reach out to you,
and it definitely definitely brings the brings the life back
into the bathro and make the fun being able to
you know, come back home and play for the premiere
program and you know, playing in front.

Speaker 4 (30:57):
Of you know, a bunch of crazy fans in the
Blue Nation.

Speaker 6 (31:00):
So wasn't that hard of a decision the second time around?
You know, the first time around, it was a little tougher,
you know, but you know, second time around, I kind
of knew what I was looking for, knew what I
liked to play, and you know, I mean, it's impossible
to turn down.

Speaker 5 (31:13):
You know.

Speaker 4 (31:13):
Coach Pot's offer is.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
Reese Potter, the newest Kentucky Wildcat, transferring in from Miami
of Ohio. We'll talk more UK hoops with Reese on
the other side of the break here on six point
thirty WLP. Welcome back to the Best of the Big
Blue Insider. We're chatting with Reese Potter, formerly of Lexington
Catholic High School, attended Miami of Ohio, but just over
the weekend stepped into the transfer portal and came out

(31:37):
a Kentucky Wildcat. As I understand it, it happened fairly
quickly once you decided to make this move. Tell me
that happened. It happened over the weekend, Am I right?

Speaker 6 (31:49):
So I texted Coach Poe or Coach Pope and Chris
Stieger last night letting them know that this is what
I want to do. So I don't really know exactly
how it got out leaked, but you know, these fans
are and I'm looking forward to playing from in front
of them and you know, making them proud hopefully, because
you know, Kentucky's the you know the school, and you know,
I look forward to playing.

Speaker 4 (32:09):
In front of these fans.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
Well, I was about to ask you, what do you
think it's gonna be like now? Because you're a hometown kid,
And I remember Joe B. Hall telling me that he
he kind of was very cautious about signing local kids
because there's so much more pressure from fans and family
and you know, your minister and your mailman. You know
about what are you gonna do when you're gonna play
more minute stuff like that. Uh, you're a little older now,

(32:33):
you're more mature do you feel like you're better equipped
to handle that.

Speaker 6 (32:37):
Yeah, I definitely feel like i'd be better. Bet I'm
more equipped for it now. You know, I played two
years of college basketball clock, so.

Speaker 4 (32:42):
I kind of know what it's like, you know.

Speaker 6 (32:45):
But you know, I never really realized how crazy it
would be. You know, as a likening kid, always knew
how how crazy these fans are and how much they
love their program, but I didn't realize it was it
was this much.

Speaker 4 (32:54):
So it's definitely something I didn't realize, but I kind
of did. So I have no idea.

Speaker 6 (32:59):
I don't have any idea how it is going to
be able to put on that jersey for the first
time and walk out in front of these fans. It's
gonna it's gonna be a surreal moment for sure, and
it's definitely gonna be something on the cherish for the
rest of my life.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
You've played in reperena though, haven't you.

Speaker 6 (33:11):
I haven't, so yeah, yeah, I feel like I've had
I don't even know I only had two. I had
two to three losses every year in high school, but
I lost in Norwegian championship one.

Speaker 4 (33:26):
Yeah it was rough, you know.

Speaker 6 (33:28):
Every year I felt like I was ranked, We were
ranked like the Catholic was ranked number one for the
whole year, and then we always always fell short of
the goal. But you know something, you to be a
blessing to finally be on that court. It's definitely feeling,
you know, I wanted to do in high school, but
you know, now I'm gonna do it.

Speaker 4 (33:41):
So it's gonna be great.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
And now that you have signed, you say you have
a better idea how crazy these fans are.

Speaker 6 (33:49):
I feel like I have a better idea, but definitely
I don't think any of us kind of know how how.

Speaker 4 (33:54):
Crazy it's going to be.

Speaker 6 (33:55):
You know, some of these some of the players that
have played before me, you know, read mister Shepherd, coach Pope,
and you know, Trent and Travis have told me how
how crazy it is, and like you'll never really expect
it or realize it until you actually do it. So
looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
What's your phone been like since the word got out, Man, it's.

Speaker 4 (34:13):
Been blowing up.

Speaker 6 (34:14):
You know, I'm just extremely grateful for all these all
these fans taking me in and welcomed me home. So
you know, it's been a it's been a real blessing.
So yeah, it's it's it's been a lot a lot
of buzz and a lot of people reaching out to me,
which is which which is all love?

Speaker 4 (34:27):
And so I really really appreciate them all.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
What about your folks, What about your family? What's their reaction?

Speaker 6 (34:33):
You know, my parents love it when I When I
was when they originally reached out to me, you know,
that was my My parents both went to Kentucky, so
or my dad went Kentucky and my mom grew up there,
so you know, they always kind of they always kind
of knew how crazy this this place was and this
program is and how much they love their players. So
they were able to kind of tell me how it
was to be able to go to Kentucky and live
around these people and like them in all their lives. So,

(34:55):
you know, they're super proud of me, and then they're
they're really grateful for this opportunity.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
No doubt. I mean, it's one thing to land to
scolly take that off to your parents' shoulders you're paying
for school or having your school pay But now to
be able to come home and play, that's something else.
And like you said, you've got a pretty good idea
of what Kentucky fans are like, but just to hear
that noise in Repperena, I assume you went to games

(35:22):
growing up in Reperina.

Speaker 6 (35:23):
Right, Yes, sir, I went to a few games that noise. Definitely,
when when stuff happens, it's different. There's no place, there's
no place in the country like it.

Speaker 4 (35:30):
For sure.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
Did you see the Mark Pope interview with John Rostein
last week on YouTube?

Speaker 6 (35:36):
Or I've seen a couple of his interviews, but I
don't know hock seen. I'm not sure if seen that one?

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Well, you know, you know, man, So get on YouTube
and just type in Mark Pope and I guarantee you
that's the first thing that will come up. Because Rostein
has him. He's with cbssports dot com. He breaks down
the roster, uh, new guys, guys coming back and all that.
And you think Mark Pope's excited, listen to him describe.
And this is before you had made your decision. You

(36:05):
know what he's got coming in and how this team
is coming together. When when you looked at that roster,
how excited did you get?

Speaker 4 (36:14):
Yeah, I'm very excited.

Speaker 6 (36:15):
Before even I committed, I knew like how great this
team is going to be. Next year, and how well
this team is gonna glue together and they're gonna you know,
this team's really got a chance to you know, do
something special, something that not a lot of groups are gonna,
you know, be able to say, you know, even before
the season starts, you know, this group has a has
a real chance of winning it all. So that's just
something that I look forward to doing, you know, competing

(36:36):
every day.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
I know you were busy with your career at Miami
and school and all that. Did you ever have a
chance to watch Kentucky play during the season.

Speaker 4 (36:45):
Yeah, so I was able to. I was able to
watch them. You know, a couple of times.

Speaker 6 (36:48):
I felt like most of the time we always played
at the same time, so it's a little bit of
a struggle, but yeah, I was able to see, you know,
some last year. You know, the team had a great,
great run last year, and so that's something that we
look to improve on and you know, keep going.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
When you were watching that Mark Pope offense, did you
have any thoughts like what are they doing or or
you said it was similar to Miami, So did it
just look familiar to you?

Speaker 6 (37:12):
It looked a little familiar, you know, when I was
watching last year, I was watching more of as a fan.
I'm more more of a fan than like more you know, judgmental,
you know, studying it really so you know, I kind
of know kind of similar, know what it's similar like,
but I don't completely know for sure, but I'm looking
forward to learning it.

Speaker 1 (37:28):
Well, I'll tell you, I'm happy for you, happy for
your family, and I appreciate your time. I know you've
got finals coming up. You're gonna be able to concentrate race,
You're gonna be able to zero in on the books,
because without letting your mind wander back to election then yes, sir.

Speaker 4 (37:44):
So, I mean, my mind's nothing going to wonder.

Speaker 6 (37:46):
I don't know if there's anything being able to control that,
but yeah, definitely definitely got to finish up here and
then and then you know, get down to electioning. Then
you know, enjoy enjoying my time there for the next
couple of years.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
And I'll let you go with this. What are you
doing this summer? Are you playing going to play much ball?
Do you even know yet?

Speaker 6 (38:02):
I definitely gonna play a lot of ball, so you know,
have to as files a wrap up, I'm definitely to
start getting to work and you know, get down to
the Craft Center and start start growing myself and start
to start to develop the profits.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
Just pick up games with your new teammates.

Speaker 4 (38:14):
Right.

Speaker 6 (38:16):
Oh, suddenly, I'm looking forward to it. I think a
lot of us are looking forward to it, you know,
to some great.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
Games for sure, I would imagine. Hey Man, thank you
so much, congratulations, best of luck. Looking forward to meeting
you in person when you get here.

Speaker 4 (38:29):
Yes, sir, I appreciate you reaching out.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
All right, thanks and great job on the interview and
they'll let you know what it airs.

Speaker 4 (38:35):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
End up next to No. Number two, we'll talk with
Kenny Rice of NBC Sports about UK basketball and of
course the Kentucky Derby. Also Keith Farmer from w l
e X Channel eighteen and BBN Tonight also covered the Derby.
Also covered Rhys Potter in high school. So we'll talk
Kentucky hoops with Team Man as well. That's on the

(38:57):
other side of the news break. You're on six thirty Lately, SA,

(40:51):
welcome back to Gabriel with you. I have jury duty,
so you're listening to the best of the Big Blue
Insider joining us now is a longtime friend and a
guy you see during, among other things, Triple Crown coverage
of Thurbo Racing. Mister Kenny Rice, longtime sports director WTVQ.
Are you dry it out yet? From from Derby one
fifty one.

Speaker 2 (41:13):
Dick, my great friend. I'm doing better.

Speaker 4 (41:15):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
My feet are still a little wet, but you know,
usually takes about five six days and they'll be good.

Speaker 4 (41:21):
I'll be.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
You know, it's not I'd really work in a cooler climate,
honestly than than a hotter But we could do without
the rain. But I've worked in I've worked in worse conditions.

Speaker 4 (41:32):
As you know.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
You have two at the Derby's. We've seen some really
nasty ones. This wasn't too bad.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
I remember the year it seemed like it was snowing,
you know, I mean just a little yeah. You know,
we joke about the rain, Kenny. But you, being the
veteran that you are, you know where to hide, you
know where to just step in, and you're welcome in
any barn. So if the rain starts coming down, you
can you can pretty much hide from it. But there
are times you just got to step out into it,

(41:57):
don't you.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
Yeah, And because you know, there are advantages to longevity,
because you do build up some friendships, at least some relationships,
and yeah, you can always slide under a shed row
or you know, pop in a stall when we're back
over the paddock. So you know, we kind of we
kind of try to work around that as much as possible. Then, yeah,
you got to pop out someday. You know, you can't
hide forever, so you try to you try to time it,

(42:22):
but of course you're on a time schedule, as you know,
like they're coming to me at four twenty. They don't
care if it's a downpour or a sprinkle. I got
to be in this perceipt. I gotta be in front
of like Baffort's barn at four twenty. So yeah, I've
had I've had worse days. My hair, Dick, you know,
that's the most important thing to me.

Speaker 1 (42:37):
Absolutely it was. But you had a team of specialists
right there though, Right.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
Yeah, I'm peeling, peeling, peeling grapes and massaging my neck.
You know, it's embarrassed, embarrassing the treatment.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
Well, let's talk about the race. As I recall, I
mean I parked myself in front of the TV. You uh,
you picked journalism, I believe, as did I. Yes, and
he ran a heck of a race. And I believe,
if memory serves your colleague Donna Barton Brothers, picked sovereignty
and stuck with it. Do I remember that right?

Speaker 2 (43:09):
She picked sovereignty. She told a sovereignty I think on Thursday,
one of her early meetings, and yes, she's stuck with it.
And I said, and she gets the double. I had
good cheer. She had good cheer and sovereignty.

Speaker 4 (43:20):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
I don't know if she bet it. I asked her.
She never commented if she bet it. I said, I
hope you did. Eddie Ochek certainly was MVS as were me.
I said, yeah, I wish we hadn't know that well,
Soalerty wasn't like I was surprised at what he went
off at. I mean, I didn't think that was the
craziest pick, sovereignty. I thought it was a solid pick.
But I just thought journalism was the best horse. If
I picked again, I'd pick journalism first. And I think

(43:43):
as they separated coming down the stretch of the best
two horses were sovereignty and journalists, yep, yep.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
And I thought Basa was one of the top three.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
And he was there so yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:53):
So yeah, and by the way, I also had the
double but full disclosure, I took the favorite and the
Oaks Good Cheer and then use that all button. So
once once Good Cheer got home in the ilkuse, I'm like,
I'm a winner. But you know, it didn't it didn't
even cover my initial bet. Uh yeah, here's the thing
that I'm kicking myself. And I had sovereignty in my

(44:15):
second tier in my exotics, but I kind of kenny.
I threw out the fact that sovereignty had already won
over the racetrack because it was an off track. And
that's a good lesson to learn, because you know that
even when it's when it's wet like that, that's a
really good racetrack. So if a horse likes the track,
he's gonna like the track, right, that's it.

Speaker 4 (44:36):
That's it. You know. I did the same thing.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
I kept coming back. I kept coming back to Sandman too.
I thought, well, you know, maybe it's gonna make a
good run. I saw him win an Arkansas and uh
but yeah, but you know, and there, you know, Bill Mott,
you got to be happy for the gall It was
funny on the on the post race, he corrected me.
I don't know if you heard it, because I remember
I said, you know, it's a very similar, you know,
kind of a dark, kind of drizzly day in nineteen

(45:02):
when we waited twenty two minutes for to find out
that you won the derby with Country. He said, it
was twenty three minutes. Everybody in the truck. I can
hear him laughing in my ear.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
It's awesome, you know.

Speaker 4 (45:11):
And when we came back.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
Out, I think Randy and Jerry and Avid commented it
said that twenty three twenty two. You know, we're not
going to debate a minute with the man that just
wasn't the derby, but guy as you know that they
did seem like eternity man.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
Yeah, yeah, and you're right Bill Mott who is from
South Dakota. But yeah, you know, basically as coud Louisville
as home base for the last forty odd years and
just a classy part of the business, isn't he.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
Yeah, you know, when you talk about horsemen, you know,
there's a lot of trainers out there, but you know,
he's one of not a few, but there you know,
it's about a fifty to fifty split on trainers and horsemen.
I think. And he's a true horseman, you know, like
people says he going to the pre I said, honestly,
Bill Mott is one guy that will truly do what's
good for the horse. Not that all the others wouldn't,

(45:58):
but sometimes it's auto maximum. I gotta go to the Freakness.
Yeall won the Derby, which would make sense, but or
the horse is not ready to run, and it just
stands out so much that you know they're not gonna
try to run the Freakness. But but Bill will make
the right decision. I don't know what that'll be, you know,
Like I say, he really does care and uh, and
it's just everything works out well for him this year,

(46:19):
the last couple of years, you know, going back to
the Cody's wish and all that. Yeah, and you know
a guy like that, you know, you're happy for guys
like that that's you know, stayed the course and and uh,
you know getting I won't say getting what they deserve
because they worked hard to earn what they're getting.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
Yeah, you know, and he's been in a game. He's
seventy one, which as we know, is not old.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
But no, that's the kid.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
That's kid many many years ahead of him. But yeah,
he's just he's done everything right, you know, without controversy
and things like that. And either he or the owner
after the race, when they talked about what what lies ahead,
you know, whether it's the Preakness or not, one of
them said, sovereigns he will tell us, which is clear

(47:00):
early the way to go. And you and I have
seen horse people wedge some of these horses into the
Triple Crown race and never have had any business being there.
But I think that's the proper way to go. But
the trouble is, Kenny, and you and I have talked
about this for years, is getting the fans interested. And
as you know, and there's a triple Crown on the line,
you've been at Belmont Park whinners, you know thirty thousand,

(47:22):
You've been there when there's one hundred and thirty thousand.
Because it's all about the Triple Crown.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
It is, I mean the Belmont. Now for the horse people,
I know this is different and that includes out most
of the people listing your legs do get that. But
the Belmont is just another big race. If a triple
Crown that is on the line for the rest of
the world Okay, for the rest of the country. It's like, hey, yeah,
there's a big horse race in New York today that
I don't know if somebody want the Derby somebody I

(47:48):
don't even know, and it shows in the ratings. I mean,
the race can go. I think we had like twenty
one million to watch the race itself, at about seventeen
million leading up to it, that number would drop off
to like four megan of the Belmont if there's not
if there's not a Triple Crown, maybe if you had,
you know, two competitive horses. Let's say hypathetically that that

(48:08):
you know that the next race is won by journalism,
so you got a little bit of a rival. You
might get it up to six million, but that's it.
You know, it's not going to come close to the
numbers that the Derby is going to get. And that's
really why NBC lost it is because they didn't want
to pay New York Racing wanted pretty close to the
equal amount that the Derby gets, and Fox is paying

(48:30):
them a lot of money.

Speaker 4 (48:32):
You know, I don't know. I mean they got the.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
Money to spend I guess, And that's how that's how
we lost the Triple crown, you know, as we call
it now, we just call it the double crowd now,
you know.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
Well, speaking of NBC, your ratings and congratulations were the
highest since nineteen eighty nine when one of my all
time favorites won its Sunday silence. Yeah, do you guys
even talk about ratings? Do they talk about it with you?
With talent?

Speaker 2 (48:58):
You know what they do is they send it out.
We found out Sunday night about it. They send out
a memo to all of us how it was, and
you know, naturally congratulated us. And actually got a call
from my boss yesterday, which you know the phone range.
He goes, My goodness, I'd like to have done the preteness,
but no, it was a good call. They said, yeah,
good job, good job. Everybody did a good job. And
the ratings popped up big. And why they popped up,

(49:20):
I don't know, other than I guess I'm gonna say
some of the Bob Baffert factor in there, because it
wasn't like we wouldn't like we had super horses, you know,
where everybody said, hey boy, this justify You know what
about this too? You didn't race last year? And about
this American pharaoh, I don't know if there was such
a buzz about journalism or anybody else in the field

(49:41):
other than the horse community, but for some reason, you know,
it just clicked, and you know, thank goodness, that means
we'll keep doing it. Actually, I think we got it
for about another six years or something with Churchill. So yeah,
that's nice, excellent.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
We're talking to Kenny Rice of NBC Sports and we'll
come back and talk a little bit more about the
Derby and about influence, and we'll talk about the basketball
cats as well. You're listening to the Best of the
Big Blue Insider. Welcome back to the Best of the
Big Blue Insider. Kenny Rice is my guest. He is
for the longest time covered the Triple Crown and other
races for ESPN and an NBC and if you got

(50:16):
a race, he'll cover it for you. But I think
you're just exclusively exclusively NBC anymore, right, That is correct,
That is correct.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
You don't cut down on the W two's. The accountant
likes that, so yes, yeah, just staying with them. This
my twenty sixty year I believe that.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
Nice.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
Yeah, I can't you know, Jack was just a little
boy when I left Channel thirty six.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
That's true, that's very sure.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
I remember when he was a kid. You know, I
hate to be that guy, you know, because I don't
when I used to go back home and say, I
remember when you little boys, I'm thirty years old. Now,
he goes, You'll always be that little eight year old
kid to me, and I fell. And see that's the
way I kind of catch myself these days. You know,
I remember your kids when they were little kids.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
You know, my son used to get in trouble in
middle school now and then, you know, just just mischievous stuff.
And a few years ago I bumped into his middle
school principal. Whatever became of that boy of yours, I said,
remember that kid who was always in trouble, he's a cop.
So you know, it comes full circle. Before we went
on the air that we were talking about, uh, there

(51:18):
was a there's a TikTok influencer involved in ownership. He's
got twenty million viewers. Jason Worth, the baseball player back
on center stage. He's already won a triple Crown race.
I'm wondering, Kenny, do you feel like this might lead
to more of new Blood? I guess they say, when
it comes to ownership and involvement.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
You know, I think it might because I tell you
they're both very active in trying to drum up support.
I think what Jason walked around, I think on Oaks Day,
and he was looking for people that had mullets, I guess,
and if you had one, you you know, a flying
mohawk and the rare, rare chance that he won, he
was going to invite them to come down to the
winner circle selected too. He selected two or three people

(52:02):
that had the best mullets that he ran into Oak Stay,
you know, and some of the old guard may go
hur on Perra, you know, but let's say it some
goofy stuff like that. It doesn't hurt anybody, and I
think it makes it interesting. And uh, you know, racing
has to take a look at MMA and some of
these other sports out there that continue to attract young

(52:23):
people and realize, you know, they've got to maybe change
the system up. I know it sounds sacrilegious. Maybe have
less time between races, you know, keep the action going.
Kids seem to like that. Work out something with apps, Dick.
I'm not going to say too much and I don't
want you to either. Until the NPR gives us a deal,
like they pay these guys from New York to always
come down tell them the same stuff they've been doing

(52:44):
for twenty years. I want them to tell I want
you know, if they cut me and you in on
a deal, Dick will gladly sit down with them at
the Jockey Club and everybody else that'll lay out something
for it. They don't want to hear from anybody in
the business. They want to hear from consultants that you know,
you know, they know about racing. But it's the same thing.
Let's print up some T shirts. Hey, that's great, that'll
get a kid. I don't want what twenty one year

(53:05):
old college kids don't want a T shirt and a cap,
you know, they want to they want to know what's
going on. You know. I think they kind of can
start getting human versus human you know, you know, do
you do you like this guy versus that guy?

Speaker 4 (53:16):
You know?

Speaker 2 (53:17):
Have about Junior Albarez is going to win a cat
you know something that during the radio. But yeah, having
the influence in there is huge. Nice guy too, met
him for the first time. He's very friendly. West Point.
They're very you know different. Uh, you know, I don't
want a stereoy. Growing up in eastern Katucky, I hate stereotypes, right,
so I sure didn't want to do this, but you
know this was a very articulate young guy, well, you know,

(53:39):
well dressed, mannered and and yeah, I mean people like him.
I don't know what an influencer is. You're my influencer,
I said, want to Gabriel doing the show. But aside
from that, I don't pay attention to it. You know,
I don't need somebody. I don't need to look to,
say Brittany or I love to work for Britney. Brittany said,
do you ever talk about going on and building up
your audience by by like a series of showing which
time what tie should I work for the Derby today?

(54:02):
Because she does that like with her outfit. That's right,
really really, you know, you know I said, forget everybody else.
You know, you know about five or six of my friends.
What the answer would be if I said, which TI
guys should I wear it today?

Speaker 1 (54:16):
You know, let me know ahead of time if you're
ever going to do that. I need to be parked
in front of the TV for that. You know, one
thing about that kid, the influencer I cannot recall his name,
but I saw an interview with him both before and
after the race. He's not just along for the ride either.
He's really into the sport, which I think really helps.

(54:37):
And when while we're talking about online presence, I really
it's part of it is because kind of on a whim,
I jumped into my race horse venue and I owned
a piece of authentic and so now I've got to
now I own some of the breeding rights. I mean,
I get a couple of bucks, but I can say
I own a tiny piece of a Derby winner, and

(54:58):
I bought a couple more shares of other hornse verses
trained by Bob Bafford. By the way, but I think
that I I think if that can really take hold
and catch on, I think that's going to be big
for younger people. Not that I'm one of them, but
four younger people who might want to get involved.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
Yeah, I agree. And Griffin Johnson, I just now thought
of his name, and I just met him for the
first time. I told him, I said, Griffin Johnson.

Speaker 4 (55:23):
He said yes.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
I said, I just want to say your name out loud,
making sure I got it right. We're going to be
on it in about fifteen seconds that we were and
Terry Felly I've known for like twenty five years.

Speaker 4 (55:33):
But anyway, so he.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
Yeah, and he and he actually knows it, like you said,
that was the key. He's not just some guy said,
you know, I've got some money because I've got a
you know, I think he's got like twelve or fifteen
million followers.

Speaker 4 (55:46):
Yeah, maybe more than that. I know, hard to believe.

Speaker 2 (55:49):
I'm not on TikTok.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
I know, I'm amazed.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
You know, you know me the social maven that I am. Anyway,
he yeah, you know, he but but like I said,
he he's on these little videos. I watched some of
the videos after where he's talking about you that tough luck.
But he's staying with racing and explain why. And I mean,
I got to be honest, he's more articulate than some
of these people. Has been doing this for thirty years,
some of these owners and trainers, and I agree I

(56:13):
think that way that that's exactly what racing needs. What
I hope they do is really, you know, stay with
it and not get too carried away and think everybody's
going to be an influencer. You know, you've got to
have guys that really want to do the business, not
just pop up. And I think he's a guy that
really wants to do the business. And obviously worth is
he got. He got Barry the executive for the for

(56:34):
the San Francisco Giants involved, you know, so he's really
like he's reaching out to get people. I mean he was.
I saw him up there. You couldn't miss him by
the way. You see that, and you know, but he
always comes by and he's really happy guy and he
gives you a big hug. And I always asking me
about John Shelby because he played for the you know,

(56:55):
when he's with Shelby with the Dodgers, you know, and
Shelby said, I walked over with here in Shelby sitting
me at tex said, hey, say, I had adjacent work,
and I didn't put it all together, you know at
the moment. Yeah, because I think mostly Phillies and Nationals. Yeah,
but yeah, yeah, he has has tea doing. I say,
I guess he's doing good. Who was up at the
Derby by the way, And I didn't get a chance
to catch up with him because, as you know, the

(57:17):
Derby's not a good day to be social, at least
if you're working, it's not a good day.

Speaker 1 (57:20):
Especially if you're stuck in one place as you are.
I got a couple of minutes left. But earlier on
the show, I had a young man from Lexington who
transferring down from Miami to UK, and I was talking
to him about the fact that Joe B.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
Hall.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
You might recall this, Joe B used to catch a
lot of flak and when you were covering sports in
lectioningon in high school basketball was much more front and center.
It took I think, really a national spotlight. But Joe
B would hesitate to recruit a local kid because he
knew the pressure that a local was going to be under.
You know, why aren't you playing more? Mom and dad

(57:57):
and family and neighbors and all that. But I kind
of flashed back on that that Joe Hall era. But
it's good to have election and kid back on the team,
isn't it?

Speaker 5 (58:06):
You know it is?

Speaker 2 (58:07):
I mean, I'd love to having these local kids. I
think there's just a rooting interest. I don't know him.
I don't Malaka Moreno personally. His mom plays at Bria
Christian Cherseph Giano where we go. He plays piano, and
I remember Jasper Johnson when he's a kid, because you know,
like you, you know, I've known the whole family, So yeah,
I root for that. I hope this guy does well.
I tell you what he's got. This guy has got

(58:28):
a lot of guts. And I say that at all
respect to step in. You know, there's a pretty good
guys in there that hope's already lined up and he
feels that he can step in there and bang with him.
I say good for him, because you know, if you
shy away from that, you don't want the guys Reluctantly,
I think I might play apparently. You know, he's got
a good attitude and got the confidence, and I don't
think you can have you know, with and reason enough

(58:50):
Kentuckians on the team. I think that really helps everyone
bond a little more, you know, rooting interesting things.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
Yeah, well, I know you as an Eastern Kentucky and
you're rooting for Trent Noah, you hated to see Travis
Perry leave, but uh, he's got to do him and
he landed in a pretty good spot at Ole Miss.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
But yeah, I think it was a good move for him.
You know, the guy can shoot, and I think it'll
work I think it'll work out better. And he was
recruited by Beard in the first place, right, well, so
it wasn't like they were unknown to each other. So
I think it was a good move for him. And uh,
you know, look, he's down in the western part of
the States. Like our good friend Rodney Woods was almost
a ten a z years ago, you know when he

(59:28):
played for the ball. So I wish him well. And uh,
and no, I think he's pretty good. You know, he's
got good size on him. He's got a little hype.
He's got the size that you know, Perry didn't have.
I think that gives him a little lug too.

Speaker 1 (59:40):
Yeah. Yeah, and he's got that Eastern Kentucky grit like you.

Speaker 2 (59:43):
So uh, I's gritty. I'm getting grittier every year.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
Anny Rice of NBC Sports, thank you, brother. We'll watch
for you on the Preakness. Hope to see you soon.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
Hey, it's always a pleasure. Yeah, we'll definitely catch you
up again. So thanks Dick.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
Then he goes back to believe it or not, the
days that channel thirty six WTVQ, where his former co
worker Jeff Pecorro is now sports director. Some of you,
some of you may remember this that channel thirty six
here in Lectioningon and they don't really want people to
use the numbers anymore. They want to call letters because
that's what shows up in the ratings books. Anyway, Channel

(01:00:20):
thirty six used to be channel sixty two. When I
first got the lectionon back in the early seventies, it
was channel sixty two, and in June of nineteen eighty
they switched from sixty two. You know, you get a
better reception. The other channels are closer in numbers, so
if people are spinning the dial, it's easier to find.

(01:00:43):
They moved from channel sixty two to channel thirty six,
and I think it probably helped them at that point.
But they've still been playing for a lot of years
catch up to the other TV stations. But they've had
some good people and still do in that place in Kenny.
Rice was one of them, speaking of the other stations.
Up next from wl EX channel eighteen, Keith Farmer on

(01:01:06):
the Best of the Big Blue Insider. This is the
Best of the Big Blue Insider. Joining us now is
a longtime friend of the show, friend of mine, and
he is Keith Farmer, sports anchor at wl EX channel eighteen,
and you see him each night, not just on the
news but on BBN tonight and came in. I want
to talk to you about the derby and about Kentucky basketball,

(01:01:26):
but I need to talk to you about a story
that you and Alex Barber worked on. I guess it
was yesterday with Jack Gibbons an election and Traditional Magnet School.
And of course Jack has written a book finally, and
I've talked to Jack about the boys at once, but
everybody I know who's read it really he's loved it.
And now these kids get a shot at it.

Speaker 4 (01:01:47):
Right.

Speaker 5 (01:01:48):
Yeah, Well, here's the thing.

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
This couple.

Speaker 5 (01:01:51):
The lady Peggy Henderson, was a principal in the school system,
and she read it and she went to a book signing.
She was so touched by what she read and said
that every kid in Lexington should.

Speaker 4 (01:02:02):
Read this book.

Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
And so what they did.

Speaker 5 (01:02:05):
They went out and they talked to Goose and said,
we'd love to buy this for a school, and they
kind of got together and they decided to go to
his old school, which is Lectington. Traditional Magnet School used
to be I think Lexington Junior High or something like that.
And so they purchased books for every sixth seventh eighth grader.

(01:02:26):
I think the eighth graders got them first, and they
already were doing a book report on it, and they
even wrote him letters about what they learned from it,
which is really neat. But this couple, the Henderson's, just
bought the books for the whole school. So yesterday Goose
got to go back to his old school talk to
the students, motivate them, and then they all got the books.

(01:02:48):
And I just think it's such a great story. In
the Henderson's are obviously hoping that somebody else will pick
up from that and maybe do the same for another school.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
You and I have done, both of us a zillion
UK sports lated sidebars through our respective careers, such as
they are, and this is one of the greatest stories
I can remember. He just, you know, a former player.
I think you know, they kind of had to twist
Jack's arm just a little bit to get to do
the book. He was like, I'm not sure, you know,

(01:03:17):
he'd been a part of other ones, but this one's
all about him and the response to it, and I
mean nationwide. He was signing books at an alumni event
in San Diego, but now four hundred books for kids.

Speaker 5 (01:03:31):
Is just fantastic, I mean, just incredible to see where
he came from. He tells the story of you know,
how it used to be in like and then there
was a chain link fence that went down one street
and only whites were on one side, only blacks were
on the other and you didn't cross, and you know,
especially at certain times, and it.

Speaker 4 (01:03:51):
Was just the way he grew up.

Speaker 5 (01:03:53):
You know, it wasn't a chance for him to go
to the University of Kentucky for the longest time till
somebody broke the color barrier and gave him that chance.
And so it could have been such a different story,
right if things hadn't progressed in our nation. And so
it's just it's wonderful for these kids to hear his
story and what he had to overcome and the motivation

(01:04:17):
he had to have, you know, to make his career
that he did.

Speaker 1 (01:04:22):
Yeah, because when you look at Jack and you hear
him on the radio, you see him on television, and
it's weird and there's a better word for it. But
when he was a kid, and he references that, he
says this to the kids, when he was a child,
the sec was segregated. UK was not UK desegregated in

(01:04:44):
nineteen forty eight, but there was a quote unquote gentleman's
agreement to not write black players in the South Eastern Conference.
So a kid like Jack Gibbons, what did his dreams involved? Well,
maybe I can go out of state or to Kentucky
state or whatever. That that's really sobering. So but it's
also uplifting, you know, where things are now right.

Speaker 5 (01:05:06):
Right, And I think that's part of it. With him
having this talk with the kids yesterday, some of them
probably can't comprehend, you know, sixth seventh eighth graders can't
comprehend some of the stuff that used to happen, you know,
unless they've.

Speaker 4 (01:05:16):
Heard it from relatives and such.

Speaker 5 (01:05:18):
But but yeah, you know, for for them to hear
it from a guy and yeah, and to be quite honest,
they never saw him play, you know. So even one
of them was like, I'm a little confused, did you
play or you're a broadcaster? And he said, I'm all
the above. He's like, you know, so they really you know,
that's the great thing about it. You know, if they
read this book, they're going to learn that he was

(01:05:41):
a UK player, and then that's gonna you know, they
know that, right, They know that part of it, so
it's going to make them really interested in reading the
rest of it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
What this should be required for every UK basketball player.

Speaker 5 (01:05:56):
That's not a bad idea.

Speaker 1 (01:05:57):
But what was interesting too is these kids you transferred
in through the portal last year sound like Kelly Perry,
these kids, but I think you probably picked up and
talking to them. They knew, they knew who Jack Gibbons was,
and if they didn't know when they got here, they
found out very quickly because they all showed him enormous respect,
which I really I really like. But these guys are

(01:06:19):
all students of the game anyway, you'd think they're going
to know it. And Jack has been. Jack's been where
they want to be, you know, He's been, you know,
an ncay and an NBA player, So I did.

Speaker 5 (01:06:28):
You know you would expect that, I guess, but I
do even remember, like when we were in Toronto and
Jack would sit down and talk with those guys one
on one. He wouldn't say, you know, he wouldn't even
say I played at Kentucky. He was just a broadcaster Jack,
and I had to be like, yeah, he played a
little bit too, you know, and I was telling them
these guys and I remember doing him and Cameron Fletcher.

Speaker 4 (01:06:49):
And some of those guys.

Speaker 5 (01:06:50):
Oh really okay, and then I can't remember who it was.
I think, oh gosh, who was it? Somebody saw I said, yeah,
he's like, yeah, I want to ring here, and they
showed and goes, oh, I want one of those, you know,
and so yeah, but that's Jack. He humbled Jack, and
he's not going to bring that up.

Speaker 4 (01:07:05):
To those guys. You're gonna let it figure it out
in their own time.

Speaker 1 (01:07:08):
That's exactly right. You know, you might if you talk
to him long enough, you'll pick up on the fact
that yeah, he played somewhere and you know, but you
won't even realize that he did. Okay, So anyhow, Yeah,
but if you want to see this story, it's at
uh it's on the website at the lax eighteen dot com. Okay, man,
as I mentioned, you covered the Kentucky Derby. Uh, I

(01:07:29):
guess you're probably dried out by now. As much as
I miscovering the Derby over the last few years, I
didn't miss it this year because of the weather. And
I've done my shas you know, my share much through
the mud, but uh uh huh it it didn't literally
dampen anybody's in two. They had one hundred and forty

(01:07:49):
seven thousand people there, so they just did it feel
like it had a derby.

Speaker 4 (01:07:54):
It was amazing.

Speaker 5 (01:07:55):
It was just because right before the race last year,
I didn't actually stand on the track like we do
to watch it because I wanted to make sure I
was over at my broadcast area, which is on the
back of the first turn, and so so this year,
I was like, I got to go watch this one.
So I got out there in the mud and I
looked around and you just see everybody come from those

(01:08:18):
two big yachts that are on the sides of the
twin spires to the edge of the you know, railing,
and it was just I've got some incredible shots of
them ready for the race, and I mean they're on
they're everywhere you can be. They're on staircases looking out
and it's just amazing to see, uh, and to hear
it's always fun to hear them as they make the

(01:08:39):
first pass and then obviously as they come for home
and everybody yelling out their number or their name that
they're wanting to win, and it did not dampen it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:47):
The rain did not, and it was a great race.
There were no incidents or you know, none to speak of.
Nobody was just qualified. Nobody got really badly jumped or
flipped or or whatever. Right, and now we've got another
thrilling come from behind in the last furlong.

Speaker 5 (01:09:06):
Yeah, and it kind of looked like journalism. I mean
maybe maybe for the Bellmont, maybe journalism wins that one
with the extra length. But you know, Sovereignty was the
one that I had my eye on. Anyway, I don't always,
I don't always pick it, but this year I did.
And I just liked the way he was running. If
he didn't finish first in his prep races, he was

(01:09:27):
usually coming on pretty strong. So I felt like that
extra length at the Derby was going to give him,
you know, some help, and it obviously did. And you know,
it comes down to, as always, the good trip which
he got. And I saw that there was someone else,
maybe Burnham Square or somebody that got just pinched off
on the rail towards the last turn. So you know,

(01:09:48):
it's one of those things where he got a favorable
trip and he did what I thought he could do.

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
Yeah, you got to have the trip, you know, or
at least you got to have something not happened to you,
especially correct first turn. So well, congrat that's on the
coverage to you and your entire team. How many people
from your station? I saw the group photo?

Speaker 5 (01:10:06):
Yeah, but that here's the thing. They decided let's go
take that group photo now, and it was pouring the
rain at the time, So there was probably about eighteen
of us that didn't go out and do the picture.
So if you add that on to what you see
in the picture, that's your number. So I would say
we had probably close to, you know, fifty fifty people there.

Speaker 4 (01:10:24):
Probably good, yeah and all.

Speaker 1 (01:10:26):
Yeah, yeah, worked out well. Keith Farmer, my guest sports
anchor WLA X BBN tonight. We'll talk Kentucky basketball new
faces on the roster when we come back here on
six thirty WLAP. You're listening to the best of the
Big Blue Insider, my guest Keith Farmer of WLA X
eighteen and BBN tonight and came in, as I said
before the break, mark Pope's roster. Now since you and

(01:10:48):
I last saw each other with two new players, so
apparently he's done now he's got to be done. He's
out a roster spot. Let's talk first of all about
the newest Rheese Potter. You spoke to him, what was
it last night, I guess, or Sunday, the one or
the two. Do you remember much about him when he
was at Leggy and Catholic?

Speaker 4 (01:11:07):
I do, I do.

Speaker 5 (01:11:08):
I mean he was, you know, I don't think I
would call him physically imposing as far as like he's strong,
but he's not overly like just you know, he's not
a shock. But he's got good strength in his legs.
Like Patino used to always talk about that, right, Like
he wanted guys to have, like like Mashburn wanted him
to have strong legs. And I feel like that's what

(01:11:29):
Reees had.

Speaker 4 (01:11:30):
He may not have had. Maybe that's what it is.

Speaker 5 (01:11:31):
He didn't have the upper body strength yet, which he
probably does now after being in a program for two years,
but he had that lower body strength. He had the
ability to block shots.

Speaker 4 (01:11:41):
Even in high school.

Speaker 5 (01:11:42):
He had the ability to go out and hit three pointers,
and so I think that's something that makes it real
dangerous at seven to two. And he's also a pretty
good passer, So I think that's maybe something that fit
into what Pope likes, running that offense through his bigs,
and so I think it'll be interesting. We were pulling

(01:12:02):
some video to put up for him yesterday and we
came across one of my guys. I said, here, try these,
you know, and they were pulling the video and he said, yeah,
I found that one you had with great crossing and
baby Malachi because obviously Reese is two years older.

Speaker 4 (01:12:18):
So they've gone.

Speaker 5 (01:12:18):
Against each other before and now here they are going
to be teammates.

Speaker 1 (01:12:22):
Yeah. I had him on earlier and he talked about Malicky.
He admitted that, yeah, he's got the ring, he said,
but we've played a couple of times, and he basically
indicated he did fairly well against Malachi because can you
imagine what the what the just to pick up games alone.

Speaker 5 (01:12:36):
Are going to be like, oh my goodness, I mean
you know, then you're throwing Brandon Garrison right, Oh, who's
going to be the guy to teach them the offense?
And yeah, that's you know, and how tall I can't
remember how tall Yellowvich is. But you know there is
some light on this team. It's going to be fun.

Speaker 1 (01:12:53):
Yeah, but not just bigs athletic bigs.

Speaker 4 (01:12:57):
Right, right, right exactly.

Speaker 5 (01:12:58):
I mean when you're talking about, you know, a ree stick,
and obviously we saw Brandon, you know, do both go
down low that you know, go out and shoot a three,
and we believe Reese can do that, and we'll see
if Malachi can hit the three. He was trying to
broaden his game a little bit this year. I'm not
so sure he had the chance to do that while
he was, you know, also trying to win a state championship.

(01:13:20):
So I'm looking forward to seeing how they all gel
together and how Brandon becomes that Amari leader on this
next team. And certainly I think another thing is that
we've seen the team that Pope has put together is
maybe not so much like last year's because you know,
last year he talked about nothing but shooting threes. I
think he realized the SEC is physical, and I've got

(01:13:43):
to go find some physical players that also fit what.

Speaker 4 (01:13:46):
I want to do.

Speaker 5 (01:13:47):
So I don't know that that changes up his scheme
or makes it any less. Let's not take threes, but
I also think he needed people that were going to
be a little tougher down low.

Speaker 1 (01:13:56):
Well, you mentioned Yellovich coming in from the European style
that's a big guy shooting threes. He by the way,
is listed at six eleven, so whatever he is, he's yeah, yeah,
but I think we're going to see that at least
that young man. And then talking to Reese, he said
he can hit the occasional three, said he's not going
to be looking to step out and then working to

(01:14:16):
sweet sixteen this year. While you were at NCAA's I'm
talking to Great Crossings people. They said, Malachai can shoots
the three, shoot the three, likes to shoot the three,
but we don't need him shooting there. We exactly exactly,
you know, So none of that's going to surprise me,
you know, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:14:36):
Oh exactly. And you know, Reese, I think it's an
interesting thing with him having.

Speaker 4 (01:14:44):
Spent two years.

Speaker 5 (01:14:44):
He was like, I think forty shooting in it from
three point range in his first season. Yes only he
only took thirty three, but he was forty five percent
and kind of twelve off a little bit in his
second season. But I like the fact that those guys
have the confidence to step out there and take it
because they obviously have tons of time to work on
the shot and to have the confidence to take it

(01:15:07):
and hit it. So, you know, it's just so fun
to watch Hope put together a team with all the
analytics and things that he wants to do in his system,
and it's just gonna be fun to see how this
one compares to last.

Speaker 1 (01:15:21):
Yeah, it really is. And like you said, it's going
to be a bit of a different looking team. But
he's got the point guard he wanted. Apparently it's gonna
be a big deal. Though came in. I believe, Oh
take a away's decision, and you know, I quit trying
to predut such things. Maybe a team. What all it
takes is, you know, is one team to fall in

(01:15:41):
love for or at least fall inlike with him. But
fortunately a G League contract is not the bait.

Speaker 4 (01:15:50):
That it used to be, you know, not at all.

Speaker 5 (01:15:53):
I mean, there are so many people that are staying
in college now. I can't remember the number, but I
saw somebody put up something about the number of players
that opted to go pro this year was so much
lower than it has been in recent years. And it's
because you can make more money in the college game
right now, then you can betting on yourself to make

(01:16:16):
an NBA contract or get tossed down to the G League.
So you know, I think a lot of people are like,
if I don't know for sure now that I'm going,
then I'm just going to go back to college and
make some money and improve my game and it'll be
there next year for me.

Speaker 1 (01:16:32):
Yeah, yeah, definitely. If you minutes up with Keith Farmer
of LAX eighteen and BBN tonight, you guys cover the
baseball Wildcats. They have what has become a crucial series now.
Looked like they were all set if they just kept
going the way they were going, but they took a
major step backwards last weekend and now, yeah, Oklahoma comes
to town for the first time, and this is a

(01:16:53):
must have series, isn't it.

Speaker 4 (01:16:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:16:56):
I mean, let's see, you've got what ten wins now
in the sea and every time we have we've in
the last couple of weeks had Darren Hedrick, Darren Williams
on both of them continue to say thirteen wins is
like that magic number that you need to get to,
maybe even fourteen if that's the case. Kentucky's got three

(01:17:16):
against Oklahoma, three at Vanderbilt. You're going to have to
get three to four of those six in order to
feel good about yourselves making it, or make a really
long run in the SEC tournament one or the other
to really have that feeling that you're going to make
an NCAA tournament.

Speaker 1 (01:17:34):
Yeah, and I guess it was inevitable that fans would,
of course look for more of the same from this
year's team compared to last year's team. I'm trying to
remind myself that Kentucky, if nothing else, had a left
fielder who was putting together a first round draft pick
kind of season that went a long way, you know,
and play Yeah, and Nick's you know, not making I've

(01:17:56):
never heard him even talk about this, but man, the
injuries on this team to the worst people at the
worst time have really been something, haven't they.

Speaker 5 (01:18:07):
Yeah, yeah, they've had him for sure. And as a
matter of fact, I was sitting down with Mitch Barnhardt
a couple of weeks ago and it really hadn't hit
me till he even said He's like, man, injury bug
just hit us all across the board this year. And
he's right. I mean, think about even women's basketball had
two players they expected to play this year they didn't
even play.

Speaker 4 (01:18:26):
Uh, you know, at.

Speaker 5 (01:18:27):
Football, everything you can go down the line and almost
every sport had some key, like even softball with Brump,
she was expected to be a big she was a
big get out of the portal. She ends up injured
and now look, you know they're they're struggling a little bit,
and she's such a good player, and so it's like
those missing pieces, you know that people may not know

(01:18:47):
about it, especially with baseball unless you you've definitely followed it.
It just has been tough for Nickman Jones to make
it happen. So yeah, tough year all around.

Speaker 1 (01:18:57):
Well, speaking of Barnardy and his fellow ads, are going
to have that house settlement. By the next time you
and I speak. We hope everything will be settled, so
we'll have something else chat about, but we're out of time.
Came in Thanks so much Keith Farmer from w l
e X and again go to the website to see
the story about Jack Gibbon's book and the kids at
the lex Inner Traditional Magnet School and follow came in

(01:19:20):
at Keith Farmer eighteen on Twitter. Thank you brother, see
you soon.

Speaker 5 (01:19:23):
Appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (01:19:24):
Take care that's going to do it. Thanks so much
of my guests Keith Farmer, Kenny Rice and of course
the newest wildcat reevee Potter that said good night for
the garage and Lexington, Charlie.

Speaker 4 (01:19:35):
He kindors the deuce.

Speaker 5 (01:19:37):
And when you speak of me, speak well.

Speaker 4 (01:19:47):
Total. I was gott to throw into this right yep,
I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:19:50):
Iball, get out of here in a hurry.

Speaker 4 (01:19:53):
You know, anything travels that far.

Speaker 1 (01:19:54):
Aud to have a damn stewardess on it.

Speaker 4 (01:19:56):
Don't you think.

Speaker 7 (01:20:00):
Anything any tact, tact, anything can anything doing? Then sat down, don.

Speaker 6 (01:21:38):
Don don

Speaker 7 (01:21:45):
Donos