2025-06-11 - BBI - Big Blue Insider with Dick Gabriel

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, oh, guess what day it is? Guess what day
it is? Huh?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Anybody, It's hump Day.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Yes, it is hump Day. Welcome to the Big Blue Sider.
Dick Gabriel with you on a Wednesday, and it is
one day closer of course the college football Thanks to
Corey Price and his account on Twitter, we know we
are eighty days away. I'm glad Corey is doing that,
and he's not the only one. There are countdowns out there.
I will take credit for being one of the first

(00:33):
to start this several years ago when I was working
at KYT and we had the website up for the
Big Blue in Sider. We don't anymore, reason being Curtis
Birch actually was so instrumental in our website and we
never were able to find another Curtis after Curtis became
a full timer. So anyhow, there are plenty of websites

(00:55):
out there, but on the KYT website, on the Big
Blon Sider website, we counted down actually from fifty days,
and on that particular day, we would provide you with
a corresponding group of nuggets, Like if there were the
fifty a day, we would have all kinds of things
pertaining to the number fifty and UK football. There's a

(01:17):
lot of fun to put it together, was labor intensive.
I'll share some of that information with you as we
get closer to kickoff, but our thanks to Corey for
getting that work done. And coincidentally enough, and of course
he uses a photo online of a corresponding number from
a player and I'm not sure which tight end it is,

(01:40):
but today's number, number eighty was a Kentucky tight end
scoring a touchdown. And again quite the coincidence, given the
fact that Vince Merrow has really been taking up a
lot of space on social media if you follow such
a thing, you've seen the comments from Kentucky fans responding
to him. He has come out a couple of times

(02:02):
said well, we'll you know, say something you know pretty soon,
words to that effect, and man, the bitter Kentucky fans
to follow in and I don't blame him, you know,
going to U of L Are you kidding me? A
month before camp begins. The tone, the least of which
was don't bother. The worst of it was you know

(02:23):
you've been terrible here, which is not true, and that's
what got me. Somebody tried to zing him about bringing
in inferior running backs, and come on, he brought in
two of the all time greats, two guys who carried
this program, help carry this program to a lot of wins,
and that's Benny Snell and Chris Rodriguez. There were other players,

(02:45):
but if you're going to go after him on a
specific position, I would lay off running back. I mean,
both of those guys went to the NFL, and Rodriguez
is still there, and Benny, of course set new records
and took this team to one of its health takes
his team to one of its greatest wins down at
the Citrus Bowl. So yeah, be mad at Vince Merrill,

(03:06):
no problem, but be accurate. I mean, there's a lot
of stuff you can use if you're looking to sling
accusations and whatever, but I wouldn't go with running backs.
We're gonna talk basketball, yeah, I know, and football fans
get on me because you know it's not even basketball
season or coming up in football whatever. But there's so

(03:29):
much happening right now. Number one, Number two, they gave
us access to a couple of basketball players, and we'll
come back to that in just a moment. We'll take
it away yesterday, Brandon Garrison today. But the biggest story
that came out from the NCAAA was the fact that
the NCAA is approved again. This is the member institutions.

(03:49):
These are committees comprised of people from the member institutions,
not the guys wearing the suits up in Indianapolis. But
the NCAA approving multiple major rule changes in men's college basketball,
and the greatest goal, or one of them, was to
improve the flow of the game. Now, some of it

(04:11):
involves reviews, replays, challenges, things like that. And there are
plenty of stories out there on the web right now
about the NCAA Playing Rules Oversite Panel. If you want
to look for it, just google that NCAAA Playing Rules
Oversight Panel. And they released information late yesterday afternoon on

(04:34):
things like the coaches challenge you like in college football.
The teams have to have a time out to request
an instant replay review, and if it's successful, you can
be granted an additional review challenge for the remainder of
the game, including overtime. If unsuccessful, you lose the ability

(04:54):
to challenge any other calls in the game. Now, challenges
will not impact an official use of instant replay for
timing mistakes, scoring errors, shot clock violations, two point versus
three point field goal tries, flagrant fouls, things like that.
But officials can initiate video reviews on basketball interference in goaltending.

(05:18):
That's the Kentucky rule. Remember three or four years ago,
Wildcats lost a game in rup to LSU on a
bucket by the Tigers. It was clearly basket interference. There's
no such thing as offensive goaltending, and I heard a
network commentator use that term, but basketball interference, But the

(05:41):
officials could not review it. Everybody's screaming and yelling and
they were like, hey, nothing we can do. It's not
in the rules. They can also initiate video reviews and
restricted arc plays in the final two minutes of regulation
and overtime. There's a lot to it, and they've studied
the data about game interruptions and game flow and things

(06:05):
like that. NSA refs still are not allowed to conduct
video review on out of bounds calls unless first prompted
by a coaches challenge. Those are the ones that seem
like they take forever. So again, just type in if
you want to read the whole thing. NSA playing rules
Oversight Panel, and you'll get more information on that. The

(06:27):
other basketball related news out there, of course, is about
the brand new, essentially salary cap. J Billis has sounded
off as you might expect. The ESPN commentator and longtime
advocate for paying players and one of the loudest critics,
maybe the loudest of the NCAA. He has said that

(06:50):
this new deal will allow players. Not everybody's going to
get money, by the way, that's up to the schools
who gets what. But he says the new deal will
allow players to get their money and will allow schools
to lock them down. How do you like that? I
know you do. Twenty point five million dollars per school,

(07:12):
the amount likely rising each year as revenues increase. But
it is a salary cap. Schools don't have to spend
that much, but they can. Players still can earn quote
unquote fair market additional money from endorsements and other endeavors.
But Billi says buyout clauses probably will lock them down.

(07:37):
So when you sign a player to a multi year contract,
this annual amount that's going to keep going up because
revenues keep going up in the negotiations, but you can
put buyouts in those contracts, and when you do, those
players aren't going anywhere. And he says other streams for

(07:58):
players will be police. He said, you put your contract,
your name, image and likeness in the marketplace, subject to
review by an accounting an auditing firm for fair market value.
And he gave an example. Suppose there's a local car
dealership that wants to pay your third string quarterback four
million a year to do commercials for a dealership that

(08:22):
grosses only a million dollars a year, and the firm
is likely as ay, nope, that is not fair market value.
So a lot is changing right now. And Billius, of
course weighing in. I don't blame him. Everybody else is
That's what I'm doing right now, all right. We mentioned
Brandon Garrison. He spoke to the media yesterday and I

(08:44):
asked him about the fact that Mark Pope can't wait.
He's excited about seeing where players go and his system
because they've always done fairly well, apparently from year one
to year two.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Learning things that he teaches us that he did as
a player, all the knowledge he knows, pouring it into us,
taking a bentice of it, and uh actually doing it.
And just stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
What sort of things is he shared as a guy
who was a big in the NBA, that can help you.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, just doing things right all the time, being the
hardest worker, being the leader, because you know, he led
that team to championship, so that's his biggest thing, just
being the leader, being a great teammate, and things like that.

Speaker 3 (09:27):
Garrison was asked about defense, basically team defense, which was
a point of inconsistency last year, got much better down
the stretch, but he did allow us how I believes
that'll be a point of emphasis.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Hitting on that, like the summer leading into the season. Uh,
you know, just telling the guys that that that really
means something to us, and just you know, applying that
into games, not just talking about it.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Is that tough for a freshman to come in and
say I.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Didn't have to play defense?

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, as much, I mean, conder, but not really just
because like you got lotes, Like you're not a high
school no more. You move into the Big boy League,
you know, so you got to sit down and play defense,
and you're going to play.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
So yeah, playing in the big boy League, and you
got to think Dad really hit home with Brandon Garrison
as well. He played, you know, for a D one
team prior to getting here, but the SEC that's a
different issue, as you well know. Coming up at the
bottom of the hour, we'll talk with Aaron Gershan and
the Cats balls and it being Wednesday, Shawn Woods, the
Unforgettable Guard will join us as now our number two,

(10:27):
as will our Western Bureau chief Gary Moore. That's all
I had on the Big boon Sider here on six
thirty wlap. Welcome back to the Big Bluon Sider. Coming
up to the bottom of the rara and ger Sean
to the Cat's pause. We'll talk with him about the
Vince Merrow situation and the impact it may have or
already have had on Kentucky football. We'll also talk of
course UK basketball and about these NSA rule changes coming

(10:50):
up and of the house settlement. Naturally our number two,
Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard, now the head coach at
Scott Kenny. I will talk to him as well about
the these rule changes because Sewn worked and coached and
played at the D one level as well, and then
West End Bureau chief Gary Moore joined us in our
number two as well. NBA playoffs resumed tomorrow night and

(11:13):
Shay Gilgess Alexander had a huge game in Game number two,
had a big game in Game one, but shot it
way too many times and his team blew it. His
team let a huge lead get away and lost to
Indiana in Oklahoma City, and then they came back blew
them out in game two. So tomorrow night it moved
to Indianapolis and SGA with a chance to lead his

(11:35):
team to its first NBA championship really since the franchise
was the Seattle SuperSonics, that goes back to nineteen seventy
nine when that team beat the defending champ. Chance the
defending champion the Washington Bullets led by Wes Unseled and
Kevin Greevy. Back in the day, the Bullets were favored

(11:57):
to win the championship, but the Sonics jumped up and
won it. But then many years later moved to Oklahoma City.
This is their second trip to the NBA Finals and
their best chance to win a title, and that's primarily
not the only reason. Because of Shay Gilders Alexander l
league's MVP, and he had a couple of big games

(12:18):
and a chance to become the playoffs MVP if indeed
he can lead his team to a championship. If he doesn't,
my guess, of course easy it would be Halliburton. But
they got to keep the Pacers from coming back, and
other teams have had an extremely difficult time doing that.

(12:39):
Here just in this year's playoffs, they came back. They
were down nine with two minutes and fifty two seconds left.
They were down double digits most of the game in
Game one, and Halliburton hits a shot to win it.
They led forer point three seconds. But in the conference
quarterfinals they were down seven against the Bucks with thirty

(13:02):
nine seconds left. They come back and win. At Game
two of the conference semifinals, Indiana had a four percent
chance of winning the game, down seven with fifty seven
seconds to go against the Cavaliers, and they win it.
Then they come from as many as fourteen down with
a little less than three minutes to play in the

(13:24):
conference finals and beat the Knicks in overtime. Karl Anthony
Towns missed a key free throw and open that door.
So NBC News essentially NBC Sports, did a survey, did
some research, crunched the numbers, and went back to try
to figure out what were the odds of the Pacers

(13:47):
winning all four of those close playoff games. And you
know you can crunch numbers and get them to say
this and that, but it's just for fun. But according
to the NBC Sports research, there's a one in ten
million chance of the Pacers winning those four close playoff games.

(14:10):
Other rare events are more likely. For instance, the odds
of you pitching a perfect game in the major leagues
are point zero zero zero ninety eight three e to
like one to one thousands of a point. Your odds
of competing in the summer Olympics basically two to one
thousands of a point being dealt a Royal flush and

(14:35):
poker just a little bit better than your odds of
competing in the Olympics. Okay, now, being hit by lightning
this year zero point four zeros eight to two. So
your odds of being hit by lightning, relatively speaking, are
greater than the Pacers winning those games. But wait, there's more.

(15:01):
The odds of you being attacked by a bear. And
you hear about these grizzly attacks this time of year, right,
but the odds of you being attacked by a bear
are point zero zero zero zero four zeros four to eight,
less than one half of one thousandth of a percent. Okay,

(15:22):
as for the Pacers, five zeros zero point and then
five zeros nine percent, so that's what like less than
ten a tenth of a ten thousand percent. I think
of the Pacers winning all four of those games, and

(15:42):
yet they do it. They do it. They come back,
they grind, they hit three pointers, they steal the ball,
and if the and if OKC goes on to lose
this series by a game, they will forever and they
should and the fans will remember Game one when Indiana

(16:07):
came out, turned it over twenty five times, shot poorly,
and got to hang around because OKC began to play
with an eye on the clock. And that to me
is truly playing not to lose. I get tired of
people saying this team came out and mostly in football,
the way they call plays, they play not to lose. Well,
in football, you can play not to lose by not

(16:29):
throwing the ball down the field all the time and
putting it up for interception or pitchouts. They could end
up in fumbles and things like that. But in a
game where there's a shot clock, and we've seen Kentucky
do this. That was one of the complaints I had
about Calipari and you did too. They tried to sock
games away with nine minutes to go and start to
play more deliberately and run that stupid weave out front

(16:52):
and now at eight seconds ago, look for a shot.
It was terrible and you can see that in the NBA.
I cannot let Indiana work back into that. So yeah,
I'm rooting for OKAC. I can't. I can't root for
the Pacers. Gary Moore is coming up. He's a big
Pacers fan. His wife's from Indiana. Can't do it. They
beat the Colonels too much. When I was a kid,

(17:15):
that was my number one enemy team. That was the villain.
If you're a Colonels fan, the Pacers, well, Roger Brown,
Bob Nettlelickey, Oh no, I couldn't. I couldn't take him.
George McGinnis. No, So yeah, I'm rooting for OKC. I'm
rooted for Oklahoma City. Wellever it happens or not, I
don't know, but they can't let him stick around and

(17:38):
come back. ABC Chaneral thirty six tomorrow night starts at
eight thirty. Another honor for Tyler Bell, the Kentucky shortstop
now named the first team Freshman All American by the
Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Perfect Game had him second team.
He is the first freshman to get that honor since
John Rose was named co Freshman of the Year in

(18:02):
the COVID year in twenty twenty. Rose is still part
of the Orioles chain. Tyler Bell was the only UK
player to hit better than three hundred in conference play
wow at three eighteen, and led the team in doubles, homers, RBI,
and slugging percentage in those games. So you go back

(18:22):
to the Rhodes at the outfielder in twenty twenty. Prior to that,
Zach Thompson, left handed pitcher with a freshman All American.
He's on the injured list with the Cardinals right now.
By the way, the year before, Sean Jelly, another pitcher
developed by Gary Henderson, and Justin Lewis two right handed pitchers,
both freshman All Americans in twenty sixteen, and you go

(18:45):
back to twenty twelve oft aj Reid, who is the
College Player of the Year. Austin Kuzeno, currently in Kentucky
coach a freshman All American in twenty twelve and Chris
Wade shortstop back in twenty year eight. All right, we're
gonna step out, come back and talk with Aaron Gershan
on the Cat's Balls here on six point thirty WLAP
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Joining us as

(19:07):
he does each week on our Celebrity Highline is Aaron
Gershan of the Cat's Balls, covers baseball, football, basketball, anything
on the UK Beat and boy the headline this week
and it was a stunner, Aaron. Although there were some
rumblings a while back about merriw and Ul and then
apparently within the last week or so people had heard rumors.

(19:28):
How surprised were you?

Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (19:31):
I was very surprised to happen now. If you were
to tell me it was going to happen in December
or shortly even late November, shortly after the Governor's Cup,
even January, I wouldn't have been that surprised. But the
fact that happened now June, which is prime high school
recruiting season, like tons of official visits, the camp visitors

(19:54):
like it is both busy off the fields, not even
off the field camp. It's just the busiest high school
recruiting month on the calendar, and your recruiting coordinator who's
been you know, the childhood best friend of your head coach,
and then you know they come together and build this

(20:14):
thing up, and you know it's obviously taken some steps
down the last three years, but leads for the arch
rival right in the middle of that, just a few
you know, six weeks or so before fall camp and
a month away from SEC media days when you're gonna
just get absolutely torched with questions about it. Just just brutal,
there's no way around it. It's a massive hit for

(20:37):
Kentucky pr wise, it's a massive hit on the recruiting show,
you would think. And it's also just another tough look
for you know, Mark Stoops. And again there's probably a
lot more to the story, but this is just what
the public reception is going to be. It's a tough
look for Mark Stoops because this program is taking three
steps back. He hasn't. It's kind of similar to toward the

(20:58):
end of cows Time, where he has been very visible
this summer and I get you know it doesn't talk
that much in the summer, but you didn't see him,
you know, invested on the Paul Fine Mom Show, which
is something he does sometimes. You know, he hasn't done
I think he did one or two press conferences during
the spring, which is normal, and then one after the showcase.
But you know, no local radio interview, not just haven't

(21:19):
heard much from him and then this happens. It's just
it's been a rough offseason. It's been a rough couple
of years. And gets adds to it.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
He did do an interview with the SEC this morning,
which they replayed I think over there yesterday. But yeah,
you're right, not nearly as much as he's done in
the past. And there's so much to unpack, as you
kids like to say, with the mirror move. Yes, losing
the recruiting coordinator, the guy who brought in so much
talent from Ohio, and then at Stoops's behest lockdown Kentucky,

(21:53):
oh when they were getting beat a few times. You
cannot diminish what happened there. Well, he will not be
the recording coordinator at Louisville. He'll be there. Quote to
woe GM. I'm curious to see. Maybe it's halready been
reported Aaron if he will be cleared to recruit off
campus Number one, but even if he's not. I mean

(22:14):
you they can only an x amount of as you know,
only an X amount of assistant coaches and head coaches
can be clear to recruit off campus. Otherwise you've got
fifty thousand recruiters out there. But you know as well
as I do, he's got some charm to him. And
if they can get a kid on campus and they
sit down and talk, here's our GM, Vince Merrill, to

(22:35):
tell you about our nil program. That's going to go
a long way, isn't it.

Speaker 4 (22:39):
Yeah, he's going to have that. And basically my understanding
of it is he's kind of going to run point
on where everyone else is recruiting and who the players
they're focusing on, the areas they're focusing on. And again
I'm not exactly sure how if he's the one who
can go make phone calls to kids, if he can
go visit them, or if it's something where, like you said,
you can't talk to him till on Vel's campus. But yeah,

(23:03):
he's gonna make it, make your impact if he's the
Vince Marrow that Kentucky has had for most of his
tenure here. And you know, I'm not gonna put anything
out there I just it's interesting when you see Louisville
already starting to clean up in the state of Kentucky
before this move, and I don't I know, Vince Marrow
was still recruiting in my half of Kentucky as of
last weekend. It's just like, did they say, hey, we're

(23:25):
trying to make this happen and try to get like more.
I mean, they got the top kid at the North
Pard and that hasn't happened in quite some time, so
it's already getting interesting.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
They've had more.

Speaker 4 (23:34):
Success in Ohio this cycle than ever before, where Kentucky
has hardly been recruiting Ohio. So yeah, I think I
think Marrow, if he's again, if he's the same Vince
Merriw and that motivation is still there, which you know
we haven't, we have no reason not to believe. I
think he's going to clean up. I just think Kentucky,
from what I understood, was doing things a little differently

(23:55):
where Marrow the in years past and most of his
tenure here, basically he didn't even have to ask permissions
to take a commitment. He obviously went in and dominated
in state. He dominated in Ohio, and you know the
last couple of years they've kind of taken a different
direction both high school wise, as who's seen you know,
the numbers just it's part of it's the portal and

(24:18):
you have to have more portal kids. But you know,
you look at what they're doing in this twenty six cycle,
even before Marrow departed, and you know, one kid from
Kentucky only three overall, but the kids they're recruiting, a
lot of them are from Texas and Louisiana in Florida.
It's not it's a little different. And it makes me wonder,
was Vince Marrow kind of script of some of that

(24:40):
power and some of that handed to the other assistance
on staff and Eddie Grant who's serving as the GM.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
Basically we're talking, Aaron Gershin, of the Cat's Pause, and
of course we're talking about the move by Vince Marrow
to take the job over at u of L. And
I do wonder that myself, Aaron, because it looks like,
in like every school in America, Kentucky's had to change
the way it does business. Yes, when it comes to
building its roster more from the portal than and Stoops

(25:09):
has made no bones about the fact that he wants
the mix of the young guys, the true freshman coming
in and the transfers. But that really, I'm guessing change
the parameters of Merrow's job here, you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (25:26):
Yeah, I would think it has. And it's interesting because
Louisville has been a very much a transfer portal program
the last two years. But maybe that you could attribute
some of that to just having a new head coach
and having to rebuild things. As you see again, they're
cleaning up on the high school trail of this cycle.
And I think they're not just in state and in Ohio.
I think they're like tenth overall in the country right now.

(25:48):
So you know, they're obviously maybe now that Bram has
laid some roots and it's kind of established himself, that's
going to change a little bit. But it's interesting to
see how they continue doing business as far as you know,
the portal and high school and the balance there. But yeah,
it's just a different sport than it was even three
years ago, let alone last year, and let alone five, six,

(26:09):
seven years ago. In the heart of when Merrow was
getting the big names from Kentucky. I mean, you had
the one high school class whereas Cash Daniel Land and
Young and Drake Jackson, and he's got all of them.
Like those days are just not those that being a
massive win. Those days are unfortunately over. And I'm sure
that's been tough for Mary to accept because that is

(26:31):
what makes him special as a recruiter. But at the
same time, you know, Kentucky has fallen behind for whatever reason,
and you know, you have to just wonder where Meryll
plays into it and maybe where they could have utilized
him more if he feels like he needed to make
this type of statement move. I mean, this is a
statement that he's making. It's not to do this in

(26:53):
June and to go to the Art Trival. And I understand,
you know he played with Jeff Brown and Brown in
the XFL and he has a good relationship with him
and Brian Brahm, But like, make this move to the
Art rival in the middle of June during that high
school recruiting period. He's making a statement here, and it's
gonna be really interesting. We know he's going to go
on radio at some point. It's gonna be really interesting

(27:15):
to see what he has to say.

Speaker 3 (27:16):
Well, I wonder will there be a news conference where
he basically you would say talking to one radio reporter
talks to everybody you know that's gonna.

Speaker 4 (27:24):
Be fast, might talk to you all, yeah it will
be fascinating, and yeah it will be And you know
he'd love to get Mark Stoops.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
I know.

Speaker 4 (27:33):
I think he's on vacation this week, is what I heard.
So I'd love to hear what he has to say
when he gets back, because you know, there needs to
We'll hear from Mary, we know that, but I think
there definitely needs to be something from UK side eventually.
I know this hasn't been official yet, so I'm not
getting on them for not doing anything yet, but there
just needs to be answered. There's there's too much speculation

(27:55):
out there for Kentucky to let it go unanswered.

Speaker 3 (27:57):
One think about that within the last two years, he
gets he gets a Stoops gets a surprise call from
Liam Cohen. Hey, I know I just got here, but
I'm leaving again.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
I can't imagine this was as much of a shock
the Stoops as close as he has been, you know,
with Vince Marrill, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (28:20):
I don't know we heard on I'll say, because we're
already out there, but I know someone else put it
out different outlet, but you know, Kentucky really didn't hear
about it till the Pete Tamil treat. Wow, like that
is the word that's out there, and that was out there.

Speaker 3 (28:37):
Imagine that. I'm imagine that's you're the final the final word.
But I mean the vibe, you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 4 (28:44):
Yeah, yeah, probably, yeah, yeah, you could definitely sense the vibe.
There's no question and clearly there had to have been
a drift there. But again like Vince Merrill as a
Sunday was recruiting for Kentucky. Yeah, our site learned. And
then also, uh, Kentucky posted picture from I think it
was either Friday or Saturday of some little you know,
team get together thing they did, you know, team bonding

(29:06):
drills and whatnot, and Vince Barrow was there shooting basketball.
So it's like, what the heck happened?

Speaker 1 (29:14):
He must have just the.

Speaker 4 (29:15):
Bombs, must have just pushed it across the finish line.
You know, it's it's going to be fascinating once the
full truth comes out. There's just too much to speculate over.
But no matter how you slice it, it's just the
brutal pr look for Kentucky.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
Was the Tennessee quarterback that was at the team QB
bonding event one night and at UCLA and x so
he is Aaron the Cat's Paws. We'll come back and
talk basketball with Aaron on the other side of the
break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking
with Aaron Gershawan on the Cat's Pause. He covers baseball, football,

(29:50):
basketball for the Cat's Paws. And you had a chance
to talk with a couple of the basketball cats this week.
Brandon Garrison will take away not a lot of shocking,
not a lot of revelations coming out of that. But
what did you take away first of all from your
conversation with Oway that you enjoyed maybe more than anything else.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
A lot less drama there. Yeah, he was.

Speaker 4 (30:13):
Yeah, it was really interesting to hear. He didn't really
want to, which I thought was interesting go into too
much detail about exactly what the scouts kind of laid
out for him to work on. A lot of the times,
you know, you ask these players that and they'll kind
of give you the rundown of what the scouts told them.
But he kind of seemed to want to. He didn't
not give an non answer, but he kind of danced
around it. So it was interesting that you know, maybe

(30:35):
he wants to keep that close to the vest. Maybe
he doesn't want to let h you know, put that
on on video and then have the opponents kind of
key in on what they what he's working on. Obviously
that will you know, tab will be out there eventually.
But I thought that was interesting. But you know, he
said he just said all the right things that you know,
he sounded like a mar Pope player. You know, he
talked about how you know, yes, I could have definitely

(30:56):
gone to the draft, and you know, all the all
the word out there was he had a really good
workout and he had a good combine and you know,
probably still wouldn't have been a first round pick, but
maybe worked in my worked his way into early second conversation,
maybe mid second to where it would have been a
little more interesting. But he said it just came down
to wanting to win a national championship.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
And be the leader of this crew.

Speaker 4 (31:17):
And that I mean that's just you know music to fansiers.
There was no yeah, yeah, he mentioned like I could
come back and improve my stock, but the fact that
was like the fourth thing he mentioned, you know a
lot of the times the players innocently, he'll be like, yeah,
you know, I'm.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
Not there yet.

Speaker 4 (31:32):
I want to boost my stock. I want to come back. No,
he said, I want to come back, be the leader,
win a national championship. And he brought up the stock
later on. So I thought that was really interesting and probably,
like I said, music to Sans Eers.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
You know what was interesting as well to me was
that when when somebody asked him specifically about his game,
he mentioned three point shooting and I thought, exactly not
not accuracy. He said, they like, they liked the way
I shoot it, but they want to see more. And
I thought, well, okay, you know that you're in the
right place, right.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
Yeah, that's for sure.

Speaker 4 (32:08):
And he brought it up too that Kentucky did not
take as many threes as they wanted to last year.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
The goal is thirty five a game.

Speaker 4 (32:15):
They were at twenty five a game, even Dyu. You
look at his mark post last year at YU they
finished second in the country in three attempts at thirty
two a game, So you're seven off from what they did.
So they didn't Obviously, the injuries and the roster, the
lineup shuffling with the injuries, had something to say about it,
but still they didn't want to shoot as many threties.

(32:38):
And you know take away, Yeah, I mean he did.
He's not wrong. I mean he shot thirty five point
five on ninety three attemts. That's not at all a
bad average. He shot, you know, thirty seven percent on
around sixty issue attempts at Oklahoma the year before, also
not a bad average. So yeah, you can definitely see
why they want to see the volume increase a little
bit because he's making them. And at the end of
the day, if you're making them, that's all the matters.

(32:59):
The hitch should look off and we could, we could
analyze it and criticize it all we want. If the
SHOT's going to go down, who cares. The NBA won't
care as long as he's making it.

Speaker 3 (33:09):
The question I have and I will perpetually have, is
why do you seek thirty to thirty five threes? I
know the numbers, I know the arithmetic, I know the math.
But everybody knows this, including the other team. And you
saw teams, Aaron, you covered these games. Yeah, down the
stretch last year working their tails off on running Kentucky

(33:33):
off at one point. How does that work? You know
what I mean?

Speaker 4 (33:37):
Yeah, I think there's some chest to it, Like I
don't think it. You saw Kentucky, you know, get creative
when they had to and get in the paint. Obviously
it's say, oh, it was really good in the paint.
Mary Williams was dominant that they're in the paint at
times last year. I mean I go back to that
game ahead against the Inner Belt where he was I
think six or six from the field and five for
five from the line and just dominating in the paint.

(33:58):
They could not slow them down all So, you know
they have they had different ways they could beat you
last year. But you know, they make it no secret
that they hope they can just the threes they hope.
I think a lot of that comes from, yeah, you
can if you have a slower possession, you can definitely
lock down the three point line. But Kentucky wants to
fly up and down the court, and they did not

(34:19):
go as fast as they wanted to last year with
Lamont Butler in and out of the lineup, with Jackson
Robinson being the guy who was most comfortable with it
out for the last month of the season, with Andrew
Carr's back injury, like they just could not go as
fast as they wanted to. They had to reinvent the
wheel a little bit. So I think their thought is, hey,
if we're at our best, you know, if we run

(34:40):
a gun, Yeah they can. They can stop the they
could hawk the three point line if we have a
slower possession, but they can if we get up and
down the court at warp speed. And that's kind of
what Alabama does right where. They were number one in
the country in temple last year, and I'm sure I
think they're I want to say it was the SEC
in three point attempts, but no one could catch up
to them to slow down.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
The three point attempts.

Speaker 4 (35:01):
So you know, if that if Kentucky runs at the
taste they want, I think that's the line of.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
Thinking, man.

Speaker 3 (35:06):
And what's fascinating though, is Florida wins the championship and
leans so much and maybe not primarily on size and
depth of the bigs, so more than one way to
get the job done.

Speaker 4 (35:19):
Yeah, they had that Florida team. I think Kentucky, really,
if you've got Mark Mark, buff's never going to stay
out loud. But I think if you got and maybe
he would.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (35:27):
He kind of says what's on his mind. But I
think if you were to ask him, Okay, what was
kind of a model. If there's a team you were
modeling your offseason playing after, who was it? I think
he would say Florida, because Florida just had depth everywhere. Yes,
in the front court, they had the five five capable
guys in the front court and they bring four of
them back this year, by the way. And then in

(35:48):
the back court they had four to five guys as well.
You know, obviously they had you know, the trio with Martin,
Clayton and Richard that got the headlines and Aberdeen as
the four man in that spot, but just loaded that
whole roster and Kentucky that's kind of how this roster feels.
I'm not saying they're gonna be as good or have

(36:08):
the same season Florida had, but I think that's exactly
what they wanted to model. If you go look at
their front court, they have several capable players. You look
at the fourth spot, several capable players, the three spot,
you know with Cam Williams, there a backup, you know
to Otega. Maybe if Otega's not playing the two. I mean,
they just they have so many different ways they can

(36:29):
beat you. And I really think he looked at what
Florida did and it's like, well that that seemed to
work pretty well. Let's try to replicate that.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
Speaking of bigs, we've only got a couple of minutes slept.
And I know you also talked, as we all did,
to Brandon Garrison, who seems excited to get the year
number two, carry a bigger load what he learned from
Amari Williams, and he's comfortable with being a leader, or
at least the thought of being a leader this year.
Did you get that?

Speaker 4 (36:55):
Yeah, for sure, I mean, and it was interesting. He
definitely was more of You could hear it just from
being near the court during the postseason, and you know,
he was definitely more vocal by those by the end
of last year, like he was starting to take that
leadership role on with all the injuries they had. He
was very, very emotional in Norman against Oklahoma. And you

(37:16):
know Mark Tope saw that story afraid it was right
after the gam Wars and Express conference, how he wanted
to break the team down and kind of be the
leader that day and he took that. So, you know,
I think building on that and bringing that into this
year will be big. And you know, I asked him
about you know, obviously the Amari Williams relationship was kind
of like a big brother little brother thing last year
and he has a chance. It's so the strike the

(37:39):
similarities between you know, Quainton's obviously this guy is going
to have an NBA career Between the two, but the
similarities between the two are kind of startling. Where they
both come from the Big twelve, their year removed from
being McDonald's all Americans, they probably felt like, well, Quainton's
couldn't be.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
But both of them.

Speaker 4 (37:57):
Probably like we're one and done talent, like we're going
into our second year of college.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
What's next?

Speaker 4 (38:02):
And you know, it's very interesting how similar their backgrounds are.
And Brandon gets to use what he learned from Amari
Williams to kind of be that same big brother figure
to Gaben Quaintons, and you know, he gave a pretty
good answer on that as well. So I think it's
a really interesting dynamic that you know, his experiences from
Rocky should kind of step.

Speaker 1 (38:22):
Into that Amari role.

Speaker 4 (38:23):
I don't know if he's gonna be as good as
a Marii, but he could definitely bring some of that
leadership stuff.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
He is Aaron Gershawan. He is the beat writer for
the cast. Bass covers baseball, football, and basketball. We talk
with him every week. Thank you, sir anytime, and you
can follow him on Twitter or x if you like.
At A gershawn g E R s h O N
ninety nine A Gershan ninety nine. Coming up in hour
number two is the Unforgettable Guard Sean Woods. We'll talk

(38:50):
about rule changes in college basketball. He played and coached
college b ball and Western Beer chief Gary Moore here
on six thirty w LAP.

Speaker 5 (39:00):
Then any such such tact taping.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
The show.

Speaker 5 (39:53):
Can anything, then.

Speaker 3 (40:53):
Welcome back to the Big One. Sader joining us as
he does each and every Wednesday, is the Unforgettable Guard.
Shawn Woods is Jersey and the Rafters of RUP. It
was a wildcat back late eighties early nineties. Much has
changed coach since and and by the way, he is
the head coach now at Scott County High So much
has changed since you played. You might look like a youngster,

(41:13):
but you know the years have gone by. The NA
Playing Rules Oversight Panel I talked about it earlier in
the show. They are proposing changes expected to enhance the
flow of men's college basketball, including coaches challenges to review
out abound calls and goaltending or basketing interference and things

(41:34):
like that, rules on the continuous motion on shot attempt
stuff like that. As a guy who has coached at
the D one level, I got to think you welcome that,
am I right?

Speaker 1 (41:47):
I welcome it, Dick. But you know, just like everybody
else we're looking to we're trying to manufacture the game
of basketball on too much anymore. You know, we're trying
to control it and create the pace instead of just
letting everything be natural, you know what I mean. I

(42:09):
think we're putting too much emphasis with referees to where
they're controlling the game too much. It's almost like, you know,
you have human talent and it's it's governed and refereed
by humans, right, so you can't you know, so you
got to let humans make human decisions instead of you know,

(42:31):
overseeing everything going to a monitor or changing the way
referees rep the game. You know, when they've been referend
this a certain way for so many for so long,
and now you're allowing more mistakes to come into play
because this is not a natural reaction or natural thing

(42:53):
that they've been doing their whole refereeing career. So now
now there's going to be mistakes there, Coaches gonna try
to gonna be mad because you know, referees aren't used
to this, so that you're allowing more mistakes. Okay, Now
everything's going to a monitor where you might as well
just throw the referees out of the game, take them

(43:14):
to throw them out, and just feel and and and
call your own foules. Then if you call a wrong
foul and the other team challenges that go to the monitor.
You know that that that's what we're going to now,
you know what I mean? And you know we we
we always saying you know that they're trying to take
great defense and physicality out of the game. Would flow

(43:35):
and freedom of movement? Well look at the NBA. Now
you know you and and and and you can't you
get punished for hustle toughness. You know that that that's
not even you know, legal anymore. You know, you know,
stopping a guy from from from getting to a spot, well,

(43:55):
that's the strategic part of playing defense. Not letting the
guy go to where he wants to go so they
can't score. You know, So when is it going to end?
You know, Uh, you're gonna give like now, you're gonna
give oas you know what I mean by that. Just
open up and let guys go and not form a
sense of wall to not let them go and and

(44:17):
and and be and do wherever and whenever they want
to go. I mean, that's that's not basketball. That's not competitiveness.
That's just you know, and you're thinking that's helping the game.
You're thinking that's you know, creating more awareness and and
and and attendiveness to the game of basketball. No, the
reason why the game of basketball, especially in the NBA,

(44:39):
is going down is because there there's no more passing.
One guy is drilling the air out of the ball.
You know, you can't be physical, you can't play defense.
You know that that that's the reason why the game
is changing and people don't want to watch anymore. But
don't kill the purity of high school and college basketball

(45:00):
by doing all this, because you know, the game is
good where it is. The only problem with the game
now is the transfer potal and how much money is involved.
And guys trying to get to it from the NBA,
but not the rules. You know, every year you want
to change the rules and reinvent the will no, let
the game of basketball be what it always has been,

(45:22):
you know, and stop trying to be so idealistic and
changing every year of how we do this and how
we do that, thinking it's making the game better. Fans
aren't complaining about the game, you know, coaches really not
complaining about the game. But you're you're trying to put
so much in it, so now you're confusing referees and

(45:44):
now they don't know how to ref and govern the game,
which allows more mistakes to happen.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
You know, it's funny, that's the same complain about the
NFL now, is they let so much go because they
can go back and fix it on review, which by
default slow down the flow of the game, no doubt
about it.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
I mean, look at the last five minutes of a
college basketball game. It takes an hour. Yeah, yeah, because
every every play is got to go to the monitor
to make sure you get it right, and then it
takes what three to four minutes at least to figure
that out.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
So you know, the problem is the problem is, coach,
the toothpaste is out of the tube. They've already gone
to the video review. There have been mistakes that can
be rectified by that. Losses turn into wins, wins turn
into losses. So how do you move away from that?
How do you you know, can you do less of that?
Because anytime there's a mistake that's not reviewable, people are

(46:44):
going to be screaming. They ought to be looking at that.
They've got the technology, you know, why not you review this?
Why don't you review that? I feel like it's too late.

Speaker 1 (46:51):
You know, it is too late, you know, And like
I said before, you know, referees have been you know,
blow a car here there since the beginning of the time,
you know what I'm saying, and you know, to try
to get everything right, slowing the thing down, making sure.
I mean, I know it's a lot of money, and
you know, guys are losing jobs because of winning, losses

(47:13):
and and everything. And you know, because here's the one
thing I can say now, referees got the best gig
in the business because at the end of every game,
no matter who wins or loses, they gonna drink their
beer after the game. They're gonna get on their plane.
They're gonna go to the next one and make that one.
While that's that coach Winna lose is gonna be sitting

(47:35):
there watching take miserable because he didn't do this and
do that. So that's that they get off too easy.
But then again, you're you're you're you're confusing them too.
You know, when they're going to these camps and doing
these clinics, doing these AU tournaments. You know, there's not
too many monitors there. They just got to get it right.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
Well, I'll push back a little on behalf of well
from one thing my brother who's a referee. But uh,
and I've done it a little bit. Not at the
college level, of course, but those guys are held accountable
and women are held accountable by supervisors and they're fired
at the end of the year. It's not public, it's
not a headline press conference thing. But many of them

(48:19):
simply are not invited back. Uh, you know, so there.
I think there should be more accountability. Uh, there should be.
If there's a questionable call at the end of a game,
they should be forced to talk to a media representative
and not just give well that's the call we made.
And that's that. No, that's nonsense.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
But yeah, they're paid pretty good money to these days, too,
aren't they.

Speaker 1 (48:40):
Yes, they are. I mean, you got referees making three
or four thousand dollars a game. Yeah, you know what
I mean they're doing. You know that, that's the sick
Most referees at that level are hot, six figure guys.
And they got other jobs besides that. Most of them
are attorneys or whatever. You know. But yeah, they get
to go home and and and no worries, you know

(49:01):
what I mean, from no scrutiny, you know, if they
make it back call. Yeah, yeah, they scrutiny from there.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
Yeah, but not like you do. Yeah no, well, actually
that's not true. They get holy hell from fans.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
Uh but yeah, that's.

Speaker 3 (49:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
But then a coach, But then a coach gets reprimand
to make a comment about a referee, right, you know,
come on.

Speaker 3 (49:28):
Yeah, I got you, all right. There is also more
going on, of course, with the House settlement. I talked
earlier about some comments by Jay Billis and the NAL.
Sean and I have spent a lot of time talking
about that, and we will talk about that on the
other side of the break here on six thirty w
l A. P. Welcome back to the Big bluon Sider.
We're talking to Sean Woods, the unforgettable guard. His jersey

(49:49):
hangs in the rafters of rupp. He is the head
coach at Scott County High School, but also a veteran
of D one basketball. And since you and I chatted last,
the news was breaking about the house settlement and now
the new salary cap. Jay Billis has weighed in as
he often does, and he believes that the nil will

(50:09):
bring about, you know, the money that goes to the
athletes in a regular basis. Most athletes, they're not all
going to get it, but there will be essentially contracts
in place, and he believes that will severely limit the
amount of movement by these players. I know all these
rules are so new right now, Sean, but does that

(50:31):
give you cost for optimism?

Speaker 1 (50:33):
It does, because now you're starting to put rules and
regulations and stipulations into these situations. Now. I mean, first
of all, it was just straight money, no contractual situations,
so nothing that's right now. Since now since we it's
not amateur anymore, it's professionalism. Whenever you start to get paid,

(50:57):
it's got to be some type of contractual. You know,
there's got to be some some things in there to
protect the school and to protect the student athlete too,
you know what I mean. And it's got to be
something in it when you when you're under a contract,
now everything is guaranteed. So these things hadn't been guaranteed.
That's why a lot of kids it's not been said,

(51:18):
but there's a lot of kids around the country who
are going to schools thinking that they're getting their nil
money and a lot of them aren't getting it at
the end of the day. So now it's holding the schools,
the institutions accountable, and also it's holding the kid accountable
because now you got to be you know, if you
miss class, you know what I'm saying, you need to
be docked. If you know it can to be. Can

(51:42):
you make it a situation where it's got to be
a two year deal and the only way you can
break it there's.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
A buyout, yes exactly.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
You know. Yeah, so you know what if you know,
because the thing is coaches like, well, what if we
don't want the kid to come back? Well, here's the hill.
There was a runoff. There's always been a runoff rule.
In n C two A. Now it's not it's skill
in the bylaws, but nobody's nobody's talking about it anymore.

Speaker 3 (52:10):
What do you mean?

Speaker 1 (52:10):
What what rule a runoff rule to where you can't
just can't just cut a kid anymore. You remember how
it used to be you had to have calls, You
had to have calls to not renew a kids scholarshipmore. Yes, yes,
you know. So you know from that standpoint, you got

(52:34):
to do it with the kid too, you know what
I mean. You know, if that kid leaves, you know
there's a buyout, you know, if you want to transfer
and you want to get more money. Just like a
coach got buyout in his contract. Kids got to have
buyouts in their contract. Yeah, you know. Kids got to
have rules and regulations on you know, going to class,
being laid, having a great attitude, being docked, just like

(52:56):
a pro. If you're we're paying these guys like pros.
Put in their contract there's stipulation that you got a
vibe by and if you don't a vibe by him,
either you getting dot a certain amount, okay, or that
contract can be voided. So all that's got to be
in your verbiage when you put these contracts together, and
if I'm back coaching, I'm putting everything in there, not

(53:17):
only to protect me, but to protect my institutions too.
So now it's going to be more control. And it
makes more sense because the last two three years has
been like the wild wild West.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
Yes, and all of this player movement goes toward trying
to maintain and build culture. What some people say is
an overuse word now, but it's a good word within
college athletic programs. And you sent me a tweet from
barstool with the John Gruden Chucky who's staying in the
public eye while he tries to get another their head

(53:53):
coaching job. But his concern, and it's a good one,
and he's talking specifically about football, Sean, but you can
appay to any sport is how do you build culture
within your program? And I can't imagine what it would
be like for any coach at any level, high school, college, pro,
with so much traffic, Now, how do you instill that

(54:15):
in your players? And I know that's a main concern
of yours.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
Oh, not trying to bring up a can of worms.
You know what's open up a can of worms? Our
football coach, our football coach is dealing with that right now,
and I'm looking I'm just looking at.

Speaker 3 (54:29):
It from a far doubt.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
He's being realistic and nobody else is being realistic. Okay,
if you ain't got the funds. Okay, First of all,
Kentucky has always been seventh or eighth as far as recruiting.
You're not gonna out You're not going to out recruit Alabama.
You're not going to out recruit Florida. You're not going
to out recruit some of these schools in the SEC.
You're not We've never had, right. Okay, Now, you throw

(54:54):
money into the situation. Okay, now it sets them that
far back. Now you throw Texas in here, Oklahoma in here.
You know what I'm saying. Now, that sets you back
because Kentucky has never been that on a regular basis
as far as football is concerned. Okay, So he's just
being realistic on how we can overcome this. I'm sure
Mark Steups did not want Oklahoma and Texas to come

(55:16):
into the SEC. If I'm a coach, I don't want
all those teams. That's just like when I was in
the OBC. They brought Belmont and a couple of others
in the OBC, and that was that wasn't cool, you
know what I'm saying. And it's set more head back
a little bit. But same in football, same in athletics period,
you know what I mean. So how can you create

(55:38):
culture when these kids are up and running every other year?
It's impossible, exactly. You know, Florida has always been a
main stand in SEC. Florida took a back seat the
last years, you know what I mean. So this thing
is is affecting all schools. It's affecting every coach.

Speaker 3 (55:59):
Walked the way of all people. Nick Shaven walked away.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
LSU. I was down there, I lived down there five years.
How can that be a consistent situation when you got
guys coming in and leaving all because of the almighty dollar.
No one is going to on a consistent base. Connecticut
had a run okay in basketball for two years now evenmore.
You don't think that runs over? Really, that run is

(56:24):
over the way that from a dominating standpoint of owning
the Big East and get to get to the NCAA
tournament every single year. Now, how can you because the
force of his will, well, he's gonna give you everything
he's got but guess what, his job is getting more complicated,

(56:45):
just like everybody else is too because of the way
things are. You know, you can't, you can't. You know,
Mark Pope is are we better this year? We don't know.
We know he's got more some more players, you know
what I'm saying. Everybody's getting more players. But they're all different,
they're all new. Everybody's going through the same thing again.

Speaker 3 (57:06):
And you worked, you worked in South Texas for a while. Uh.
And one of the great examples of just this, this
whole situation going nuts and going bust, it's Texas A
and M. You know, they went out and bought that
huge recruiting class and boy Saban raised a red flag
and everybody gave him hell for and he backed away
from But uh, you know, Jim Bow's gone, and A

(57:27):
and M went eight and five last year.

Speaker 1 (57:29):
A and M.

Speaker 3 (57:30):
You know what kind of money those Texas schools have.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
But and M may be the richest school in all
of college sports, maybe, And they can't get over the
Hull being a national powels. When's last time and M
played for a national championship in any sport?

Speaker 3 (57:47):
It's been a while.

Speaker 1 (57:47):
They may have the richest. They may they may be
they may have the richest athletic program for one of
the richest schools in America, or at least potentially.

Speaker 3 (57:57):
But here's the other thing that's crazy. Alabama last year
spent two hundred and sixty two point eight million dollars
on football alone and lost twenty eight million dollars. Now
a lot of that was some of that was tied
into the savings buyout, but that just tells you where
the money is so insane.

Speaker 1 (58:16):
You know, it's about money now, it's not the purity
of the game anymore. And that's what's becomes. That's what's sad, Dick,
is Win's enough enough? When is it about purity of
amateur athletics in college basketball or football or whatever? You know, Like,
I've never watched softball. I watched almost every every every

(58:40):
softball game in the NCAA tournament. Did you really yes?

Speaker 3 (58:44):
Wow?

Speaker 1 (58:46):
And because I'm looking at women who are just playing
for the pure passion of being a softball player. Although
I'm not saying any although they are getting paid, but
just the mentality. Yeah, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (59:01):
But you did have a you'd have a picture of
Texas Tech make a million dollars, But no doubt, that's uh,
that's rare. That's that's the only picture who's made a
million dollars in softball. But now I'm with you on that,
and I'm glad baseball is finally going to get what
it deserves. But for years, those of us who covered

(59:23):
the sport were involved with it in any way, it
was infuriating Sean that you had kids on the field
at the college World Series who had to pay more
to be there, or their parents had to pay for
them to go to school. They've paid more than the
people sitting in the stands who had to buy tickets.

(59:44):
It costs the kid more to be at the World
Series the than the fans. Yeah, at least some of
that straining out of hope.

Speaker 1 (59:51):
Right, yes, yes, you have no doubt about it. It's
just you know, I hope this works. I think it will.
I think it's handing in the right direction. Uh that
what came down the pipe. Just control it, Just control it. Yeah,
you know, it's got to be some type of control.
You know, you got eighteen nineteen year old kids who

(01:00:11):
are becoming you know, who are generating generational wealth right
out of high school. Yeah, you know, and it's it's
and you got guys that won't would never make the NBA,
never make the NBA, but are getting millions of dollars

(01:00:31):
you know to play college athletics.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
Crazy coach as always a pleasure. We could go on
all night, but I thank you for your time and
we will chat again soon.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
All right, Dick, take care about it up next.

Speaker 3 (01:00:43):
West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore here on the Big
Moon Sider six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big
Moon Sider. Joining us down. Our celebrity hotline is none
other than our Western Chief Gary Moore. That's right, celebrity highline.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:00:56):
He joins us every week from LA the Louisville area,
after joining us for several years from Los Angeles. And again,
the rule is why you're on the celebrity highline. You
are a celebrity, so make the most of it. And
you always do.

Speaker 6 (01:01:09):
Two guys in a six pack for what it's worth, Dick,
here we go.

Speaker 7 (01:01:13):
You know, there is no guarantee.

Speaker 6 (01:01:15):
There was no guarantee when I was a bad boy
at many Murray State games that one day I'd be
on with the best sports host in America. You and
say these words, Murray State is in the College World.

Speaker 7 (01:01:28):
Series, but you never know, you never know.

Speaker 6 (01:01:31):
And in the words of ex Laker Shaquille O'Neil, that
still echo in my brain from that day when I was.

Speaker 7 (01:01:36):
Out there in LA.

Speaker 6 (01:01:38):
Can you dig it so I can hear the thinking
already with some people in the sports world alleged know
it all and maybe even a few cynical fans back home. Well,
you know they won the conference, but you know they
can't be Georgia Tech or especially Old Miss at Old
Miss wrong then it was well, they surprised everybody, but

(01:02:00):
you know, the magic's probably over. At Duke it was
a nice wrong. Now they got to go beat UCLA,
very doable. Then the winner if that happens, and I
think it will, the winner of Arkansas and LSU, the
two lone SEC teams remaining with the two best betting
odds by the way to win it all. Murray and
Louisville have the worst odds. But you know what, if

(01:02:23):
I was a betting man putting money down, I would
not bet against the racers. Not after this past week.
Murray and UCLA Saturday, two pm ESPN, What say you you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:32):
Know I give Murray a chance in every game, and
not just because Murray bea Kentucky earlier this year. But
I was thinking about the Murray after they won, and
I was remembering the ballgame, right, But what I remember
the most, believe it or not. And you can try
to call BS on me, but you can ask my
broadcast partner. I said prior to us going on the

(01:02:55):
air on SEC Plus, I said, you know what, they
warmed up really well. And that might sound like something
goofy to say, but coaches talk a lot about, not publicly,
but you know, play the way you warm up. I've
seen coaches stop warm ups at various levels. Good point
and say, guys, get your mind on your business. I'm

(01:03:15):
watching Murray warm up, and I mean, it's crisp, it's sharp,
it's very professional. There were no wasted movements. They weren't slacking.
They were working hard at their craft. And then they
played that way and they kept playing that way the
rest of the year. So nothing would not just because
of that, Gary, because I watched them beat you, nothing

(01:03:38):
would surprise me. They got popping their bats, yep, and
they got some live arms.

Speaker 6 (01:03:42):
What you just said is sort of a relative to
you play the way you practice, exactly just what I
think John Wood and said many many times. Yeah, second
swig and a six pack. Now, besides saying words, I
never thought I would ever utter Murray States in the
College World Series.

Speaker 7 (01:03:58):
Here's here's thirteen more.

Speaker 6 (01:04:00):
I never thought I would say Murray State and Louisville
could potentially meet for the World Series Championship games.

Speaker 7 (01:04:06):
What are the odds of that?

Speaker 1 (01:04:07):
Ah?

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
Cool?

Speaker 6 (01:04:08):
Well, what were the odds of Louisville even getting to Omaha?
After A they lost their last three conference series, B
finished tenth tenth in the ACC, and C they went
one and done in the ACC tournament. Oh, then there's
D they had to play the number one overall seed
on their home field in Nashville. Eric Crawford over here
at WDRBTV has an absolutely terrific piece you gotta read

(01:04:31):
if you haven't seen it already about how Cards coach
Dan McDonald turned to the good Book the Bible, how
scripture helped him deal with not making the postseason the
last two years in a row, and all the chatter
and criticism that went with that. Which probably explains that
look is in that Dan had on his face every
time the camera was on him in the Miami Games.

Speaker 7 (01:04:51):
I don't if you remember that.

Speaker 6 (01:04:53):
But it was like every time was on him, he
had this look on his face like he knew, he
knew what was gonna happen. And we'll see that same
look come Friday evening in Omaha seven o'clock, Louisville and
Oregon State on ESPN.

Speaker 3 (01:05:07):
You know, it's funny because we talked to Dougs, Lynn
and I before our baseball broadcast. We try to talk
to the opposing coaches. Practically every one of them welcomes
us into their dugout and then we chat, learn about
the team and just you know, have a couple of laughs.
Doug and Dan go way back, and it's because of
SCA connections and just Doug talking to his team. Doug

(01:05:29):
will go over and talk to the u of L
team on Dan's best. He's a good guy. He's one
of the good guys in baseball, and he doesn't beat
you up with his Bible, but he does lean on it.
And yeah, it was a big part of their success
this year. It was just him because you had to
wonder what's going on over there after all that success

(01:05:49):
and whatever it was that was going on. He just
kept us sitting now, he complained, not loudly, but enough
to where you could notice about some things that were
going on and not going on at U of L.
But just kept grinding, and here they are.

Speaker 6 (01:06:05):
The third swig relates to that dick with the look
with going back and looking at that what you were
just talking about, and ufl back to the college World
Series for the half dozen time. I would imagine that
the better resources that Dan has been asking for are
going to start to materialize a little bit more. And
obviously high timed or an elite program, without question, But
I ask you what about Murray What can reaching the

(01:06:27):
highest of heights for college baseball program mean for all
the seasons that follow? Is it more nil money, stadium improvements,
more local sponsorships? Now UK went obviously its first World
Series last year. You can tell me what ripple effects,
if any, have you seen for the Cats so far
this year?

Speaker 3 (01:06:46):
Well, I think fan interest number one and it starts there. Now.
Will that benefit Murray State? Sure? But unfortunately, and there
are a lot of the Murray State of lums out there,
But there are people like you who don't live in
Murray anymore. You know, Ken they pull crowds to that
tiny ballpark. Will they get a new stadium because it
is probably not, but upgrades improvements?

Speaker 1 (01:07:08):
Sure?

Speaker 3 (01:07:08):
Will they get someone to mow the field and so
the coach won't have to do it? I would hope so.
But you got to mobilize racer fans and it can
be done. You just got to sustain it. That's the key.
But if you know, you got to strike while it's hot,
and it's never been hotter obviously or Kentucky Baseball for
Murray Baseball, and it is now. We saw good crowds

(01:07:31):
in election because last year we always talked about how
many people are here at Kentucky prop Park for the
first time and then having a good time watching the game.
I hope that's happening over at Murray.

Speaker 6 (01:07:45):
Fourth sway, I get a six pack. Speaking of resources,
since our last visit a week ago, Dick, that judge
finally approved the multi billion dollar settlement YEP, the three
anti trust cases against the NCAA and the power conferences.
You've been talking about it. On July, the first d
one schools can start paying players from a twenty and
a half million per school pool of dough only. Now

(01:08:09):
this very agreement has opened up the chance for even
more litigation. Why well, because as of today June the eleventh,
an NIL clearinghouse run by accounting firm Deloitte, which is
called nil Go, will serve as what the Athletic calls
a restrictor plate on NIL collectives and pay for play

(01:08:29):
red flagging deals worth at least six hundred bucks that
don't fall within a reasonable range of compensation. According to
the Athletic, well what's reasonable? Are we about to have
a salary cap here? What's going on with this? Let's
see that argument hold up in court. The Athletic Stewart
Mandel said that every legal expert he's spoken to thinks

(01:08:51):
there's a little chance this clearinghouse deal will survive a
legal challenge. And earlier this year the Athletics spoke to
Cal Stein, a sports law lawyer, and he said it
in an interview. The house settlement started with the goal
of the NCAA putting an end to the losses it's
taken in these litigations over the country. But the great
irony is it's really just going to lead to more
lawsuits if you think about it. They've still got to

(01:09:13):
deal with Title nine They've still got to deal with
all the other things that are going on with that,
in terms of employment of athletes, the conflicting state rules
and laws about all of this stuff.

Speaker 7 (01:09:27):
I'm asking you, has.

Speaker 6 (01:09:28):
The wild wild West in college sports suddenly got even wilder?

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
It could be. I talked about this earlier though, and
Jay billis, of all people, he likes the thought of Deloitte,
the accounting firm what do they call it, accounting and
affirmation looking into these things. I think it's going to
depend on whatever papers that they essentially contract that the

(01:09:53):
athletes signed with the university. Now, the revenue that comes in,
that's one thing, and still, as you said, exists outside.
But he gave the example of you know, let's say
a kid signs a four million dollar contract with the
local auto dealership that only makes a million dollars a year.
That's bogus. You know, they can't afford to pay that kid.

(01:10:15):
So I think it just depends on how it's structured
legally going in. But you and I also talked about
the fact that there are attorneys out there right now drooling,
just waiting for a chance to get at this. So yeah,
it's not going to lock anything down. In fact, it
may just open the gates a little.

Speaker 7 (01:10:33):
More Fitthswig and the six Pack.

Speaker 6 (01:10:36):
Last night in Atlanta, the Atlanta or the Indiana Fever
played their fifth game in a row without Caitlin Clark,
and they lost to the Dreams seventy seven to fifty
eight Indies now two and three in those five games
without her. But she slated to return Saturday at home
against the nine to zero Liberty on ABC TV, and
sure return not wearing her own signature shoe from Nike,

(01:10:57):
which is still not ready after almost a year and
a half after signing her, which has resulted in former
marketing director for the Swoosh, Jordan Rodgers to post that
Nike's blowing it, leaving millions on the table while their
stock price has plummeted sixty percent since twenty twenty one. Meanwhile,
Nike's rolled out signature shoe after shoe for a bunch

(01:11:18):
of NBA players who don't move the needle nearly as
much as Clark. For example, how many new Jahn Morant
shoes have we seen in the past year. I don't
know anybody, how to decide, of Memphis or Murray that
would want one of those as Rogers said, quote, you
have the unicorn, the chosen one, the one everyone wants
to hear from, and you're just sitting around unquote. Hasn't
been a problem for Gatoraders State Farm. They've been marketing

(01:11:39):
her really well. So I'm wondering, is it me or
is it Nike's lack of product for built in fan
base ready to spend bucks, plus their disastrous MLB uniforms
last year and these awful City Connect costumes that are
still polluting the demands? Has Nike lost its mojo?

Speaker 1 (01:11:55):
Dick?

Speaker 3 (01:11:55):
I also wonder has Caitlin Clark been so many said Nope,
I don't like that one. Nope, I don't like that one. Yeah.
But it is curious, isn't it? Because man Nike literally
wrote the book on this stuff.

Speaker 6 (01:12:07):
You thought that would have been out last year, especially
in times of the All Star Game when she was
really trending high. We'll see finally, Dick, sixth Wig Game
three tonight of the NBA Game three really up to
the third one at this rate, if there's gonna be
a Game seven, they'll have like about a week off
and then start the twenty five to twenty sixth season.
But it resumes to night up at I sixty five

(01:12:27):
at Indy, all tied up at a game a piece
and the Pacers and the Thunders can thank former Pacer
and Thunder player Paul George, now with the Sixers, who's
by the way, yet to play in the finals on
his own, for helping land the two biggest stars. Because
let's go back to twenty seventeen, George was traded from
Indy to Oklahoma City for two players, one of which

(01:12:49):
would later be part of a package to Sacramento for
the draft rights to Tada Tyrese Haliburton. Then in twenty nineteen,
the Thunder traded George to the LA Clippers for UK
star SGA, this year's NBA MVP. And in the words
of a famous TV dad, Dope, I've got Indy winning tonight, Dick.

Speaker 3 (01:13:10):
Yeah, And you know, this is such a great story
because not only did they get SGA, but they also
got a whole bunch of draft picks.

Speaker 1 (01:13:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:13:18):
But I've read a couple of stories. This is so fascinating,
and I'm glad you brought it up. But that was
the pivotal point, was Paul George, And of course the
SGA trade now being called one of the worst trades
in the history of the NBA, the second only to
the one between the MAVs and the Lakers. But really,
if you want to connect the dots, and it was
a great story out there, I think it's on the
athletic This actually goes back to seven when moves began

(01:13:43):
to be made and different people were hired for front offices,
and the first move he made was this and that.
It's quite the spider web of great stories. And it
may come to fruition tomorrow night, really, but through the
next couple of weeks, golly, probably for the next month
as the's these playoffs move on. But it is fascinating,

(01:14:03):
isn't it.

Speaker 7 (01:14:04):
I remember a pulse thinking I was watching this stuff.

Speaker 6 (01:14:07):
Am I gonna get traded from the Sixers now for?

Speaker 3 (01:14:09):
Because that's where it was. You got to open at
some point, and by now I'm sure it hasn't. He's thinking, Hey,
maybe it's me.

Speaker 7 (01:14:18):
Am I ever going to get that damn ring?

Speaker 3 (01:14:19):
Come on, man at a pawn shop. Maybe we'll step
out and come back and talk more with Gary Reid,
with coach, We'll step out and throw a couple of
hot reads at Gary Moore in just a minute. He
is our Western bureau chief here on the Big Moonsider
six thirty WLAP Welcome back, We're talking with Gary Moore
is our West End bureau chief. Now a couple of

(01:14:39):
hot reads, Hey headlines, extra extra Aaron Rodgers got married Gary.
We all we know about her is her name is
Brittany with an I. Of course, I don't think she's
a Hollywood actress, because we would know about this. He
has dated high profile women in the past.

Speaker 6 (01:14:56):
Well, he said things like being in Pittsburgh is good
for his soul. Yeah, not so much for the career
or the pocketbook. Although he's not going to be eating
spam unless he wants to with what thirteen million to
sign or.

Speaker 7 (01:15:08):
Something in that neighborhood.

Speaker 6 (01:15:09):
But I hope he does well. I'm not a Steelers fan.
I'm not Aaron Rodgers fan per se, but I hope
the holy matrimony thing works out.

Speaker 7 (01:15:17):
He's going to be wearing.

Speaker 6 (01:15:17):
Number eight like he was well, first of all at
cal Berkeley and then with the Jets, following in the
great footsteps who also wore that famous number eight at Pittsburgh,
Tommy Maddox and Kenny Pickett.

Speaker 7 (01:15:29):
So it's a legacy there, right, get.

Speaker 3 (01:15:33):
Your jersey now. And of course he couldn't wear twelve
in Pittsburgh because Terry Bradshaw wore that. Unless you think
Bradshaw has any thought of working, he's the guy who
said they shouldn't even be talking to Rogers and he
needs to go back to California and eat bark. He
may have already done that. Maybe my biggest question about

(01:15:55):
is is and again, congrats to him. I appreciate the
Super Bowl championship in Green Bay. My question about his
new bride is will she enjoy the hallucinis? Is the
way he does? You know, maybe they were doing that
when they got married. Our second high read for Gary
involves more than nuts and bolts of the NFL. The
Bengals and Trey Hendrickson cannot seem to get together. Gary.

(01:16:19):
Here's a guy who has led the league in sacks
over each to the last two years. When is the
last time the Bengals had a guy like that? They
backed up the Brinks truck to the bank for the
wide receivers. How in the world, in this day and age,
can you not do everything you can to come to
terms with a guy like that? This could be your

(01:16:40):
Reggie White. And I know it's a different time, but
Reggie White settles in with the Packers, more defenders followed.
They built a championship team.

Speaker 6 (01:16:49):
How can you not do this, especially after last season
when Joe Burrow had to score, you know, had to
lead the offense to score at least forty points, yes,
to at least meet a chance yet have a chance
in those games. They don't have any defensive ends right now,
apparently signed because their number one draft choice from Texas
A and M Shamar Stewart still hasn't signed this rookie.

(01:17:10):
And he's a rookie that's slot money too. Yeah, and
Burrow has already said this is a distraction. Your number
one guys is saying on all this is a distraction.
So they got to sign this guy. I predict they'll
probably sign him. He came in to talk the other day.
I guess what was a Monday.

Speaker 3 (01:17:27):
To Zach.

Speaker 6 (01:17:28):
But I don't They got to get this done. There's
no way you can go through this season and then
not even think about trading this guy. You have to
have him in their period exclamation point.

Speaker 3 (01:17:36):
Now, because when you think about what happens if they
lose him. He's in his last year. You know they're
going to be two dozen teams lining up.

Speaker 7 (01:17:46):
Yep, pay him money. Watch The other thing too.

Speaker 3 (01:17:48):
Though, is he's thirty years old, not exactly a doddering
old gentleman in the NFL, but his windows closing and
plays an extremely physical, demanding position. So you got to
tell you, I'm not seeing lock him up for eight years,
but you got to take steps and then they can
write contracts, as you all know, front end them things

(01:18:10):
like that, front low, backload whatever. But when do the
Cincinnati Bengals have the opportunity to lock up a guy.
I'm not saying he's Aaron Donald, but they lost to
a team that had Aaron Donald in the Super Bowl
and Aaron Donald was a difference maker in that game specifically, wasn't.

Speaker 1 (01:18:28):
He he was?

Speaker 6 (01:18:29):
And the Lions lost their star defensive end last year too,
and look what happened to them. Uh, you need to
get this guy in there that make it a priority.
If you don't want to own a pro football team
or professional team and pay your players, then get out
of the business, is the way I look at it.

Speaker 7 (01:18:45):
Pay him.

Speaker 3 (01:18:46):
He is Gary Moore, He is our West End bureau chief.
We traveled him each and every week and if you
want more of more you go to Twitter or x
and search him at.

Speaker 6 (01:18:55):
At nine to five five Gary, that same fab with
this joint.

Speaker 7 (01:18:58):
You're founder.

Speaker 3 (01:18:59):
I'm a big inside one. Thank you, brother. Have a
great week, go racers, go cards.

Speaker 7 (01:19:04):
Happy Father's Day after everybody.

Speaker 3 (01:19:06):
That's it. Good night from the garage in Lexington.

Speaker 1 (01:19:09):
But I'm disturbed, I'm depressed.

Speaker 7 (01:19:12):
I'm inadequate.

Speaker 5 (01:19:14):
I got it all. Don't singing snatch pacing, don't have

(01:20:42):
to back them from Tatton School, Colon Fumton School, Conco

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