2025-06-4 - BBI

060425 Wednesday New York media bashing ex-Cat Karl Anthony Towns; (11:00) lots of familiar faces on this year's college football HOF ballot; (19:00) Aaron Gershon of The Cats' Pause; (39:00) Unforgettable guard Sean Woods; (59:00) West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore and be alert for flying foul balls -- even if you're on the air...

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
Oh, guess what day it is.

Speaker 3 (00:03):
Guess what day it is?

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Huh anybody, It's hump Day.

Speaker 4 (00:11):
Yes, it is hump Day. Welcome to the Big Boone Sider.
Dick Gabri was he on a Wednesday edition of our program.
Coming up tonight baseball, football, basketball, a little bit of
horse racing. At the bottom of the hour, Aaron Gershan
of the Cats Balls will join us talk about the Wildcats,
a little bit of NBA with Aaron as well, and
in our number two. As usual on Wednesdays, we visit

(00:32):
with our head coach of the Scott County Cardinals and
unforgettable guard Sean Woods. Also, our West End Bureau chief
Gary Moore joined us in our number two. I wanted
to talk a little bit first about UK basketball, the
NBA and the media because for many, many years being

(00:54):
a member of the media, I've heard people criticize us,
those of us in the media about being negative or whatever.
And that's the case. You're always going to hear that
if somebody says or writes anything that doesn't agree with
what they think, and isn't you know, if you're not
with us, you're against this kind of stuff. But if
you think it's bad here, and I've heard people talk

(01:16):
about how terrible it is. No trust me, it's not.
And I will start by saying, I remember many many
years ago hearing Rick Patino talking to somebody about the
media in Kentucky compared to the media in New York.
Because remember he had come from coaching the Knicks. You
talk about a lightning rod. Now he had won a

(01:38):
bunch of games up there, they had won a divisional title,
they had packed Madison Square Garden. But he was still
criticized because if you're a pro coach anywhere, you're going
to be criticized, especially in New York. And of course
Tom Tibodeau just fired by the Knicks. All he did
was win fifty games get him to the Eastern Conference Final.
We will come back to that. But I heard Patino

(02:00):
explain to somebody comparing media in Kentucky to the media
in New York. And when he talked about us, he said,
they're like candy compared to New York. I always got
to kick out of that, They're like candy compared to
the media in New York. And that's true, you know,
because New York is the most competitive media market in

(02:21):
the world, and those men and women up there are
battling for ratings, for eyeballs, for readers, still for clicks.
So what's the best way to get those Well, not
by saying everything's great. No, by attacking. And you know,
if the team is winning and winning big, yeah, it's fine.

(02:44):
But if it's not, they attack, And that has happened now,
of course with the Knick's coach who's now fired and
it's kind of divided the media. Should he have been fired?
Should he not? But of course one of the biggest
targets right now, literally and figuratively is Karl Anthony Towns
came over in the trade from Minnesota for Julius Randalls,

(03:08):
so two Wildcats being swapped, and Towns was supposed to
be the final piece of that puzzle. And you heard
Mike Sephaznik talk about this on the show. Are New
York based superfan UK superfan the other day. I got
some tweets and texts from you guys and joined that interview.
I'm glad you did. But as Mike pointed out, Towns

(03:30):
is built like the proverbial aircraft carrier, as Al McGuire
used to call, but he is not the classic and
I don't know how many of these guys exist anymore,
low post bigs who set up shop in the bottom
of the paint and do all their work there. No,
he's out on the floor, he's shooting threes, but he does.
Every big man does that now in the NBA. DeMarcus

(03:54):
Cousins was doing that in the NBA before he got hurt.
So now he's the big he's the big target, he's
the big paycheck, and he's the biggest target for criticism
and Mike, not long after we taped our interview, he
sent me a link to a SoundBite from WFN Radio

(04:19):
knocking Boy, not just knocking destroying Carl Anthony Towns.

Speaker 5 (04:23):
Here, it is the biggest issue that the Knicks have
going forward to get to the next level is the
fact that they waited and waited and waited to go
all in on a couple of guys, and the biggest
one being Karl Anthony Towns, and they went and they
traded for him, and he's making fifty million dollars a
year and at the core, he's a loser. That is

(04:44):
their biggest problem. The guy is a loser, He's a
losing player. He complains, he is soft. He shows you
flashes where he's the best player on the court, not enough,
he doesn't play enough defense. He bitches and moans. He is,
up until this point in his career, a loser who
is making fifty million dollars, who is going to be

(05:04):
a logjam. As far as them trying to get to
the next level.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
His shot selection on Saturday night was insane.

Speaker 5 (05:11):
I mean, it's it's he is getting to the point
now as one of the most frustrating players I have
ever watched in the uniform of a team that I
root for because I know how good he can be,
and it's just so damn annoying watching him not realize
his full potential. And I don't know if it'll ever happen.
I really don't know, but that that is their biggest issue,

(05:34):
is the fact that they thought this Town's thing was
going to work better than it did and it hasn't.

Speaker 4 (05:39):
That is Greg Giannati of WFN Radio up in New York,
And as I said, very competitive. You gotta go after somebody,
So he's going to go after Towns. Right. What happens
next year, whoever's coaching, If the Knicks win the title,
this guy's going to be all over Karl Anthony towns
in a good way. Towns will be a here, They'll

(06:01):
have a ticker tape parade, and all will be forgiven
and forgotten. But that's just the nature of the media
up in New York. But please keep that in mind
when you complain about us. And I'm not saying we're
above reproach. You complain about us all we all you want.
People have complained about me since I began my career,
such as it is. But I just think it's interesting

(06:24):
when I hear people complain about lexing and media and
talk about us, And of course it's all relative. I know,
if you grew up in this area and you grew
up reading and listening and watching media people, you know
what you like and you know what you don't like.
But trust me, it's nothing, nothing like it is in

(06:46):
the bigger markets. For that reason, what if Mark Pope
it was expected now to make a run for the
national title? Legitimate run, as Cameron Mills pointed out yesterday,
that's always the mission. What nobody expected that? And I
wonder how many people expected a Sweet sixteen run based
on a reaction by the Wildcat faithful. Probably not many.

(07:09):
They were so happy with that team last year. Well
what about this coming year? And we'll talk about the
preseason Top twenty five here in a minute. So what
if Pope doesn't accomplish that, What if he doesn't get
it done in the next three to five years, I
guarantee you he won't be trashed away. Karl Anthony Towns

(07:29):
has been trashed in New York preseason rankings right now
they all two early preseason rankings are out there. And
you may have noticed if you listened last night with
camer Mills. I didn't bring this up because he loses
his mind whenever you talk about polls. This is the
blind spot for him. He refuses to accept the fact

(07:51):
it's for fun, for us that the consumer, and for
the people doing the polls. It's a way to fill
space and time. I always say, the internet's a bottomless
pitt and we have to fill it right cbssports dot
com as they're all too soon. Top twenty five preseason

(08:11):
and number one is Saint John's talk about high expectations.
Thirty one and five. Last year, upset in the nca
Tournament by Arkansas, but they get a bunch of transfers
a guy from North Carolina, Bryce Hopkins from Providence, got
a kid from Arizona State from Cincinnati, Stanford, Idaho State

(08:33):
crying out loud an Naia player transferring in. They're bringing
in a kid from overseas and a four star high
school kid. Patino said he was going to ignore high
school kids. He did sign one, and CBS Sports has
them number one preseason. I will save you the time.
Kentucky is number twelve, and this is after well Tago

(08:55):
Away made his announcement, but of course they cite him.
Brandon Garret Garrison, all the transfers coming in and the
four star freshman class Jasper Johnson, Malachai Moreno, and Brayden Hawthorne.
So now you're wondering, well, who could be better than Kentucky?
In between uk and Saint John's Well Houston three at

(09:19):
the top seven scorers are back from a team that
played for a national title last year. Brigham Young is third.
How about that they've got freshmen, They've got transfers. Perdue
is fourth, Yukon fifth. Florida defending champion is six, but
five of its top ten scorers back. Texas Tech is seventh,

(09:44):
then Michigan Duke, Ucla, and Arizona, following Kentucky, Iowa State, Alabama,
and Louisville at number fifteen. I've seen Louisville in the
top ten in one of these way too soon surveys.
So again, it's just for fun, and I doubt if

(10:04):
this changes much now between the beginning of the season
and today, unless somebody gets hurt. But it's just for fun.
Nobody's saying that Saint John's is a lot. But it's
going to be fun to see what Patino does for
an encore, just as it's going to be fun to

(10:25):
see what Mark Pope does for an encore. And remember
they play each other down in Atlanta. We'll talk about
this in more, but Aaron Gershawn when we come back
up next the College Football Hall of Fame ballot. I
mentioned the other night Randall Cobb is on the ballot.
He'll get my vote, But as for who else I'm
going to vote for, this is one of the toughest

(10:47):
years I can remember, and so many of the players
you and I have seen them play against Kentucky or
we've seen them play in high profile games. That's all
ahead here on the big Blue side. Six thirty Wlap
Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider. Coming up at
the bottom of the hour, Aaron Gershawn of the catch Pause,

(11:07):
and then in hour number two, Sean Woods, the unforgettable Guard,
and West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore. We speak to
each of those guys scheduling permitting on Wednesdays. I talked
a little bit yesterday about the fact that Randall Cobb,
the maybe best all around player in the history of
Kentucky football, is now on the College Football Hall of
Fame ballot the class of twenty twenty six, and he

(11:32):
is up against some serious, serious competition. But think about
this now, Remember now, Tim kouch went in what was
it last year, they put out these numbers, five point
seven eight million players in college football since the first
game Princeton versus Rutgers in eighteen sixty nine. No, I

(11:53):
didn't cover it, but since then, only a total of
one thousand, one hundred and eleven players eleven to eleven
have earned induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.
That is point zero two percent, less than two to
one hundredth of a percent of anybody who played the

(12:15):
game in the last one hundred and fifty five seasons.
And from the coaching ranks. Only two hundred and thirty
seven individuals have been named to the College Football Hall
of Fame. So amazing, amazing those numbers, which is why
it's so tough to get in. I do have a

(12:36):
vote as a member of the College Football Writers Association,
and going through the ballot, yeah, I will vote for
Randall Cobb. And I know it's terribly parochial, maybe a
little biased, but that's why there are people like me
across the country with votes with ballots. So but as
I said, I went through the names, and you know,

(12:58):
they just conjured so many memories. But so many of
these players played against Kentucky or we had seen them
play somehow. In some of these names, you're gonna know regardless.
Morton Anderson, the great kicker from Michigan State. Eric b
Enemy to Colorada running back nineteen ninety third in the
Heighspan Trophy balloting. Courtney Brown, a great defensive end of

(13:22):
Penn State, played against the Wildcats in the nineteen ninety
eight outback Well actually played it on January one, nineteen
ninety nine. But he was an incredibly good player, unanimous
first team All American and Penn State's all time career
leader in TFLs and sacks and played against Tim Couch
in Kentucky. How Mummy's team back then another Penn State

(13:43):
player Kase Johnnick Carter. If you're a Bengals fan, you
saw him play. Injuries meant he did not have a
great pro career, but he unanimous first team All American
and a Heisman runner up In nineteen ninety four. Brad
culpeper Florida defensive tackle Wildcats had to play against Aaron Donald.
Kentucky never played against him. He played at pitt and
then of course went on to a great NFL career.

(14:06):
Super Bowl champion Elvis Doomerville, UFL defensive end, unanimous first
team All American and twenty oh five winner of the
Negerski Trophy. Led the nation in sacks that year with
twenty and was ranked fourth in TFLs with twenty two.
What may have won him that Nigersky Award was his
performance against Kentucky that year. Cardinals won that game thirty

(14:30):
one to twenty four. Good game and he was a
difference maker six sacks in one game that broke the
NCAA single game sack record. Later on, he broke the
NSA record for forced fumbles that season. Von Dunbar, running
back for Indiana, played against the Wildcats. Robert Griffin third

(14:51):
RG three from Baylor, consensus first team All American, blew
his knee. He killed his NFL career, but a great
player in college. Percy Harvin two, I'm first team All
American for Florida. Remember watching him play against Kentucky. Kentucky
had no answers for that guy. Nobody had answers for
that guy. Also, Garrison Hurst, running back nineteen ninety two

(15:12):
from Georgia, was so great watching him play against the Wildcats.
His senior year. He ran for one hundred and seventy
one yards in a touchdown against Kentucky beat the Wildcats
forty to seven, mark Ingram Alabama running back Believe it
or not, Alabama's first ever Heisman Trophy winner, and he

(15:32):
graduated in twenty oh nine. Up until that point, Bama
had never had a Heisman Trophy winner, but he was
sec offensive player of the year, led the league in
rushing and touchdowns. You know who else is on the ballot?
Riot Leaf, Washington State first team All American quarterback, third
in the Heisman Trophy voting. Remember the NFL draft that

(15:53):
year came down to Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf. Colts
made the right decision. Leif had terrible problems with his
personal discipline, shall we say when he got out. But
a great college player, Marshawn Lynch Cal running back is
on the ballot. You know who else is on the ballot?
Kellen Moore from Boise State quarterback twenty ten first Team

(16:14):
All American, finished his career as the winningest starting quarterback
in college football history, still Boise States all time leading passer.
Really part of that Boise team that put that program
on the map. I'll tell you another guy who's got
to go in first ballot. I gotta think Cam Newton
of Auburn and since his first team All American Heightsman

(16:36):
Trophy winner in twenty ten led the Tigers to a
national title. But the toughest game that year for Auburn
go look it up. Prior to the championship game, Kentucky
in lection It Wildcats had a chance just barely missed
upsetting Auburn, which needed a game winning drive led by
Newton in a closing seconds and a field goal to

(17:00):
beat the Wildcats. And until the championship game. That was
their toughest game. I know they fell behind it to
come back against Alabama, but they won easily over Alabama
compared to the win over Kentucky. Ken Norton, Junior UCLA
linebacker is on the ballot. His son He is the
son of the boxer. Ken Norton Junior's son. At one point,

(17:23):
he's a sports catch. At one point worked at WLKY
and Louisville. How about that Antwine Randall l Indiana First
Team All America quarterback in twenty one as a senior.
His team had a losing record. What was the first
team All American and his last game of his college
career was a win over the Wildcats. They were supposed

(17:45):
to play Kentucky second weekend of September, then nine to
eleven happened. That game was moved to the end of
the year and Randall LL had a big game. His
team carried him off the field. After winning over Kentucky,
he became the first player in FBS history to throw
for six thousand yards and rush for three thousand yards.

(18:08):
Ran for more yards in any quarterback in FBS history
at that point. At the conclusion of his career, switched
to wide receiver, had a nice pro career. Larry Severs
Tennessee wide receiver, first team All American consensus nineteen seventy
five at seventy six, but his last game as a
collegiate a lost to Kentucky in Knoxville, sixth to nothing.

(18:32):
Kentucky went on to the Peach Bowl. Tennessee did not
get a bid and their coach was fired. But Larry
Sivers great player. Also in the ballot and Dominican Sue
the great Nebraska defensive tackle Mantit Tew Notre Dame linebacker,
unanimous first team All American. Unfortunately was best known because
he got catfished. Also in the ballot Peter Warwick, great

(18:54):
wide receiver from Florida State. Five years with the Bengals.
If you're a Bengals fan, you watched him. So that's
what I'm saying. This is an incredibly talented ballad. Not
sure who I'm going to vote for, but I will
vote for Randall Copp Back in the minute with Aaron
Gershean on six thirty wlap welcome back to the Big
Blue and sider joining us now as he does each week.

(19:15):
Aaron Gershan of the Cats pause, and before we talk
about the current Wildcats, Aaron, I got to ask you
about a former Wildcat. You covered Karl Anthony Towns when
he was here, or at least, let's see, were you
in Indiana by then?

Speaker 2 (19:29):
Not yet? No, this was before I was actually still
up in New York. Okay, all right, that's right, Yeah, yeah,
two years ahead.

Speaker 4 (19:36):
Of me, that's right. But as I mentioned in a
previous segment, growing up in the New York area, being
as sportsman as you are, you're used to hearing, seeing
reading the media coverage that we played earlier with the
SoundBite of a radio host destroying Carl Anthony Towns. I mean,

(19:56):
is that just business as usual up there?

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Business as usual up there? I mean, it gives me
some pleasure right now. But go listen to the Jan
Soto rants. With how he's performing so far with the Mets,
you'd act like he's in the fourteenth year of that
contract and it's all over and he's a bus So
that's just how it is in New York. Everything's under
a very sick microscope and you got to perform and

(20:21):
look that clip. I actually I agree with the fact
he could be frustrating and the shot selection sometimes is
way off, and he's such a good player, and he
is inconsistent, and I think those are all good takes.
But to say he's what's holding them back, to tell
them back this year is crazy to me, based on
the fact they went further this year. And I know

(20:42):
the same team beat him. I get that, but and
you know everyone's going to make the argument, oh, if
Jason Tatum to get hurt, well in Game five, when
Jason Tatum unfortunately did arraus achilles, the Knicks had all
the momentum before that injury occurred. They were in the lead,
and they were probably still going to win the game,
and they would have been up three to one, and
then they still lost the game with Tatum backs without

(21:06):
with Tatum out, so you know, and then they were
able to finish off that series and dominate Game six,
and you know, so to me, they actually took the
next step this year, even if you want to call
it a little lucky that you know, a superstar went down.
To me, the Knicks had bigger issues. It was their
offense really, And you know, I don't necessarily agree with

(21:29):
firing Tom said though, with given what he's done with
this franchise that has been just awful until he arrived
and they made the playoffs his first year, and they've
been the playoffs all but one year he was there.
But you know, their offensive times kind of similar to
what we saw toward the end of the cal era,
a little bit outdated, a little bit slow, and then

(21:50):
the short rotations, and you could demply tell fatigue got
the guys like Kat and Jalen Brompton and Josh Hart
by the end of the year because they play such
a darn large low during the regular season. And that's
not to say they need to be I'm not a
load management fan, so it's not the fact like, yes,
he can play his eighty two games, but playing forty
minutes in seventy of eighty two games, yeah, I don't

(22:13):
know if that's the best strategy. You've got to have
a bench, and you've got to have depth. In Indiana
had it in the next.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
Day, Yeah, And which to me points the finger at
the front office. Basically, you know, give him if you're
going to play short rotation, there's a reason if you
give him a reason to play deeper in the bench. Yeah,
I mean, he's not going to be Mark Pope playing everybody.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
But you know exactly.

Speaker 4 (22:33):
Yeah, So I just thought that was interesting. And as
I said earlier, I always kind of have to smile
when I hear people ripping on us, the media. I mean,
that's all part of it. We you know, we take criticism.
But you know, if you really want to know what
it's like to hear media trashing the team they cover.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Yeah, New York and Philadelphia for you.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
Yeah, I would think Boston Philadelphia, I would think, yeah,
which I call the abreast city in America. So anyway, yeah,
so I did want to touch on that with you.
But now, speaking of Mark Pope, in the all too
premature polls and surveys and rankings and all Kentucky's up there,
CBS Sports has him twelfth preseason right now, it's all

(23:15):
in good fun. But on your website, Isaac Trotter of
two four to seven Sports as Kentucky seventh, not twelve,
and gives Kentucky a huge shot at winning a national title.
But that's what people expect. So that's Is it a
big deal or no?

Speaker 2 (23:36):
I mean, look, it is in a sense that last
year it was a little different. You know, you're coming
in with a ton of unknown with guys that had
never played together before, with a coach who you didn't
know how he was going to perform here because he
had really only been a head coach in the city.
You saw obviously played here, but it's different. And they
came into the season a people ranked twenty three that

(23:56):
was almost like it almost felt like name brand, you're
going to get in. So they come in twenty third
and then they start the year red hot, and they
go all the way up to number four, you know
before they lost to Clemson. So you know, there's a
lot of unknown last year, and I think it is
a big deal that already in year two where last
year they're really the expectation was just makes the tournament

(24:17):
and let's see what we've got. This year, it's final
four busts in a lot of people's eyes. And when
you build a roster this talented and with this much death,
you have a guy in oteke Away who was all
the second team all SEC last year, was your leading scorer,
was in double figures in all but two or three games,
coming back to lead the team. Like, yeah, it's going

(24:38):
to come with expectations, especially you know, again, I think
we touched on it. Last week Auburn and Alabama got
saved by the bell too on NBA Day, NBA deadline Day,
getting file On back to Bama and then Pettiford back
to Auburn. So you know, those two teams probably were
fringe top twenty five. Now they're looking, you know, top
fifteen to top twenty, but still they're not. I don't

(25:00):
think they're gonna be as dominant as they were last year.
Florida should be really, really good again. They've reloaded Arkansas,
you think is gonna be better. I still am skeptical
about the shooting on that roster, so you know, the
SEC is not going to take a drastic step back.
But I think it's almost impossible for to be as
elite as it was last year. I mean, I could
be wrong, and I hope I'm wrong, because it was

(25:21):
a heck of a lot of fun watching all these
battles last year. But yeah, I see they I think
they are on paper a top ten teams. But you
got to now it's about managing those expectations and going
out and performing. We haven't really, we haven't really seen
a Mark Pope led team have these high expectations and
see how he handles, you know, keeping those rankings out

(25:44):
of eyesight, out of earshot. We haven't seen that yet. So,
you know, last year they were kind of like the underdogs.
Even though they did get up into the top four
and they beat some really good teams, no one was
really no one really took them all that seriously. And
you know, they went to the Sweet sixteen with a
pang groups. So it's gonna be different this here, coming
in with high expectations, and if they.

Speaker 4 (26:04):
Had stayed healthy, I think the expectations pre season last
year would have been adjusted on the fly by us
in the media about your fans, because, as you said,
they got off to that great start, they piled up
good big win after big win. But the injuries, the
puzzling losses, Yeah, the fact that they didn't play very

(26:24):
good defense until after that Old Miss loss. Everybody kind
of had to tap the brakes a little bit, didn't they.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
Yeah, there's no question about it. They absolutely had to
tap the breaks and see uh, it was just waiting
and see mode. You never kind of knew which Kentucky
team was going to come out for a little bit
there with their defensive issues, and you know, that's one
thing on Mark Tube's resume that has been concerning, and
you hope you know this year now, when he has
the best, by far the best rosters ever put together

(26:53):
on paper, is these puzzling, weird losses to teams they
have no business losing to. I mean, you just go
back to his last year there at BYU. They lost
the Brandon Garrison in Oklahoma State, who finished dead last
in the Big twelve. They loft Oklahoma and won't take
away That team wasn't any good. So you know there
are some puzzling losses that happened that year, and go

(27:16):
through his track record, I don't have them all in
front of me. And then last year, of course, you
know losing you know, Georgia ended up being a tournament team,
but a team he should be able to handle. You
lose on the road to Texas when Texas was paying
up as well and you had the game in control,
and you know, I'm missing some of the other weird
ones off the top of my head, but just just games.
You feel like you should have had Vanderbilt on the

(27:37):
road again, another tournament team, but you know you're down big,
then you take an eight point lead. You should be
able to finish them off. So you know, that is
one thing you look at going to next year, you
look at how you know, maybe I don't know if
it's hype. I don't know if it's what the messaging.
Who knows. Maybe it was just off days from these
particular teams and it's just all, you know, just not

(28:00):
a trend we should be worried about. But yeah, that's
definitely something.

Speaker 4 (28:04):
Will monger when you look at preseason polls, as you said,
business as usual for Kentucky and even dating back to
the Caliparia are his last two teams preseason twenty two
to twenty three. Around of twenty three twenty four, Kentucky
was ranked sixteenth. Wi's low for the Wildcats. Of course,

(28:24):
the year before Kentucky preseason was number four Ashley, you know.
And by the way, in that poll, Yukon was nowhere
to be seen, jumped up and won it.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
So yeah, what was I would love to know? And
I was very high on Florida. I just want to
say Darryl Bert actually last year look at our cat
pause Yeah, if you go look at our Cat's pause
SEC rankings, I think he moved to Kentucky fifth and
put Florida four. Actually it's Florida up at number three,
but Darrell adjusted it. That's okay. But I wonder if
they were ranked going into the year. I bet they

(28:56):
were top twenty five, but I don't think they were
that high up in there. It just it all all
has to play out of the floor. There's always going
to be teams that I mean, no one had any
expectations for Louisville last year and how could you. And
you know, they ended up having a very nice year.
I know the ACC was down, but you know they
lost seven or eight games. That's a really really good
year no matter how you slice it. So you know,

(29:18):
there's always going to be a team that's overlooked. But
you know, Kentucky this year, you know last year was
kind of in that boat. This year they're going to
come in you know, was it on their chest and
they're going to have to They're gonna have to perform.
It's the first again, it's the first time we've really
seen this with Pope, and it's going to be really interesting.
And like you said, some cow Perry teams handled it
really well and others, you know, not so all.

Speaker 4 (29:39):
Yeah, and others were disappointing. Uh, the AP preseason basketball
poll for last year did not did not have Florida anywhere.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
You even have Florida, how about that didn't.

Speaker 4 (29:52):
Even have them and they had them twenty first and Kentucky,
as you said, was twenty third. But people who covered
the se see they were talking Florida early in the year.
So yeah, it just depends.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know how people really missed it.
The two guys coming back with Clayton and Richard and
then Elijah Martin was an absolute stud and winter at you.
But that's all right.

Speaker 4 (30:19):
He is Aaron Gershaan as the Cat's Balls. We'll come
back and talk more with Aaron on the other side
of the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back.
We're talking with Aaron Gershaan of the Cat's Pause and
he's been working, of course on Kentucky basketball, football, baseball.
By the way, James McCoy anders the portal, you've got
a story on the website. A little bit of a

(30:40):
surprise maybe.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
Not what do you think A little bit and a
little bit not like yeah, it's kind of it's kind
of like, you know, this year was a little weird
for him where he had his best season statistically lies
and again every time they you know, not coming what
happened against West Virginia, but everyone melted down in that one.
Actually picked pretty darn well in those little relief appearances.
He had hit a two eight five era you know,

(31:03):
only I think twelve or thirteen innings, but still pretty
solid there, and you know, had hit two eighty six
by far his best on the ear. But it was
kind of weird where he was on the bench for
a while and then he comes back into play first
base when they kind of gave up on Dylan Koon's
and you know, maybe they should have played Hudson Brent.
It was kind of a kind of a weird year
with him where you know, he boo chins and he's

(31:26):
still being counted on at a relief at some points
and probably you know, going into his last year, going
somewhere where he has a more established, clear cut role,
and you know it's going to be this this is
the first off seasons where it's going to be so
interesting to see what happens in the sense that Kentucky
has so much talents coming back. But now we're really

(31:47):
you know, two years ago, you could have said the
same going into the twenty twenty four year, and yes,
the portal was active, but now it's now you're seeing
the warcats come out and teams with no rules coming
in and throwing all these dollars out. And you know,
you can't tell me that the LSUS the Mississippi States
of the world are not going to be coming after
Tyler Bell and coming after you know, Ryan Schwartz and

(32:10):
Hudson Brown and Ben Cleaver like they Kentucky has some
really darn good players that are half the return next year,
and you know it's gonna be really interesting and hopefully
they can keep all of them. Because if they keep
all of them, and even if they keep the vast
majority of them, I think Minion what he said in
his press conference is not far off. Like if they
do the if they make the moves they have to

(32:32):
make in the portal to you know, they're gonna need catching.
They have no castres on next year's roster. They're gonna
need to address the bullten issues that kill them this year.
They're gonna need probably one more starting picture. But if
they do all that and then bring back what they have,
like it's a top ten roster. It really is. I mean,
just based on the returning talent and how they performed

(32:52):
this last year. But it's gonna be really hard to
keep the Tyler Bells, the Hudson Browns and Ryan Schwartz
Ben Clee. Like, this is going to be the first
kind of test for Kentucky baseball in their NIL situation.
And I think all fans and media like are curious
to see how this thing goes.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
So you anticipate a bidding war.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
I mean, how could he not. I mean Tyler Bensley,
guy that was the sixty sixth pick in the draft,
you know, just last year, and he performed. I mean,
he was a three hundred hitter, he was all SEC
freshman team, you know, unfortunately had the knee injury, but
and take away that one, he had his you know,
learning curves as short but overall really darn good there
as well. And you know he's a guy who's just

(33:33):
gonna get better and better. He's probably on his way
to becoming a first round pick one day. And yeah,
you can't tell me that the lss of the world
are not And I'm not just I'm just saying all
too because I know what the type of baseball war
chests they have. But even like Arizona State, they have
a ton of money they pour into baseball. Mississippi State
now with a new head coach, starting a new era
like Texas, I mean what they were able to do

(33:55):
this year. I know they did disappointing end there in
the tournament. A lot of teams in the SEC did,
But yeah, I would expect it's going to be uncomfortable
for Mgione and this staff.

Speaker 4 (34:05):
There are a lot of teams would see what they
can do.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
Yeah, oh of course, yeah, you're already seeing it. I mean,
you know, Western Kentucky just had an outstanding there and
their best, best handful players already hit the portal. And
and I'm sure Murray State did you see there's a
screenshot going around how Murray State's roster if you go
on their website, the website during the old miss game
crashed really like all right, how many coaches are on

(34:29):
there going through the roster tampering here. So that's just
that's what happens. But you know Kentucky, yes they're in
the SEC, and yes they've made the tournament three years
in a row, gone to a College World Series. They
just still don't have the work chefs that some of
these other schools do. That some of these other schools do,
and that's what's going to make it really tough to
obtain all these really really good players they have to

(34:52):
come back.

Speaker 4 (34:52):
Yeah, but with a rule change. Is one big plus
for Kentucky is full scholarships now, I mean.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
Been a huge show.

Speaker 4 (35:00):
Eleven point seven scholarships. Yeah, done. Ridiculous rule that they
held a lot of programs back for many years and
now that's not the case anymore. So even kids, even
kids who might leave for a third of a scholarship
or you know, room aboard or book money or whatever,
now they can stick around because mom and dad don't

(35:20):
have to write that big check.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
That's right. And that's why you're seeing all these mid
majors or you know, not even necessarily mid majors, but
team like three seeds and two seeds and these regionals
win because those playing fields are so level between that
and the portal, I mean, and these teams are so old.
So yeah, I mean, like I almost I think college
baseball is growing and that makes me really happy, but

(35:44):
like I don't feel like it's being talked enough. Like
what Murray State what And I know Louisville won the
reasionable right state knocking out Vanderbilt UTSA beating Texas like that. Yeah,
like all those things, like they're not being talked about enough,
because it's an amazing story to show you how much
this field has been leveled like this. You could never

(36:05):
have thought any of this would happen five years ago.
But now you're sitting here going in to Supers and
the number one and two teams in the country are
gone towards you. The seven overall seat is gone, like
some power power programs with a lot of money being
knocked off by teams with not nearly as much money,
but they're able to put their full team on scholarship
and clean up in the portal when all the big

(36:25):
big names are help.

Speaker 4 (36:26):
And you know what, Nil rolled around. A lot of
people looked at Coastal Carolina, which won the World Series
within the last decade, So that'll never happen again. Now
you know, you can't really say that, can you?

Speaker 1 (36:39):
No?

Speaker 2 (36:39):
And look at Coastal they hosted and now they're in
the Supers. Yeah, like I mean, perfect example. Yeah, it
is happening, and I mean you have again Utsa, Murray
State's and the Super It's it's great, it's great for
the sport, but it's just not being talked about enough.
Just that scholarship change is huge. I think that's part
of the reason Kentucky has gotten things back on track

(37:00):
a bit. And it will help them, you know, in
these in these transfer portal battles. But at the end
of the day, man, it's gonna be it's gonna be
a big test. I genuinely like, I don't really have
a good feel of what these baseball kids are able
to pay. These guys, I just I'm sure just don't
have a good feel. I think this will be a
good learning curve for all of us to see what

(37:23):
help they need. It will be a good message for everybody.

Speaker 4 (37:25):
Well whatever happens Aaron Gershaw and his pals that the
cast Balls will be covering it. And you can follow
Aaron on Twitter at a gersha in ninety nine. Thank
you sir, and we'll talk to you next week anytime.
And Aaron brings up a great point about the bidding
war coming up. Yeah it's tampering, sure it is, but

(37:46):
unless a coach calls a player, technically it's not tampering.
But again we bring up to the eleven point seven.
If you didn't know, you've got basketball teams with what
thirteen skollies, women's basketball gets, fifteen, football eighty five whatever
it is. Baseball forever has said eleven point seven scholarships. Now,

(38:09):
if your school has programs involving grants where you can
go out and get a kid with certain types of
grant money, then you can. You could in the past,
you know, add that to your recruiting budget. Basically, not
every school can do that, and now and Kentucky did
it somewhat, but not nearly as much as others. They

(38:30):
weren't able to. But now you don't have to worry
about that because the rules are changing the total number
of scholaries. Baseball can be fully funded in terms of schollies.
You got to cut down and do away with walk ons,
but you've also got the nil dollars figuring in. So
I know athletic administrators don't like to call it the

(38:50):
wild West, but give me a better term and I'll
use it. Our number two is Sean Woods and Gary
Moore next done six thirty WLP.

Speaker 6 (39:03):
In any type set such statute anything.

Speaker 4 (39:56):
On welcome back to the Big Blue and Sider. Each Wednesday,

(40:54):
we chavel our unforgettable guard Sean Woods. His jersey hangs
in the rafters of rup And before we talk about
high school and collegeball coach, we need to talk about
the NBA. Your beloved Indiana Pacers will play for a championship,
but one of the victims of their success is a
fellow coach, Tibbs, the head coach Tom Thibodeau for the Knicks.

(41:19):
He gets fired after coaching his team to fifty wins
in their first appearance in the Eastern Conference Final in
more than two decades. I know you're a Pacers fan,
but as a professional coach man, you got a feel
for that guy, don't you.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
I sure do. That's the nature of our business, especially
in the NBA. I mean, you know, it's just I
don't know, you know, these gms, and sometimes players can
get tired of, you know, because I can see Tibbs,
you know, who's a real stickler for defense and playing
tough and things like that. You know, coaches nowadays, you know,
saying they wear on guys like that, you know, especially

(41:57):
at that level. I don't know if that's it or
of the management things that he took him as far
as he could take them, you know. I mean, look
what they did at Dwayne Casey years ago at at Toronto,
you know, coach of the year, and he got fired,
you know, and Tim is one of the best coaches
in the NBA.

Speaker 4 (42:17):
Yeah, yeah, you know, I do remember reading though, when
he coached the Bulls, and he, to your point, he
kind of wore on the players, and you know, he
can't fire all the players, so they fired the coach.
But they weren't winning. I guess that's what's surprising. Generally,
when you're winning, everybody's happy, of course, but when he
got fired and I tweeted this, you know, and I've

(42:40):
said this before, you're basically punishing somebody. Everybody's mad, and
you got to punish somebody. And they're not going to
punish the players because they all have contracts, so it's
easier to punish the coach. Is that too simple?

Speaker 1 (42:55):
That's the that's the easiest way to go.

Speaker 4 (42:57):
Yeah, But like you said, there's oftentimes more that goes
on behind the scenes. But I think a lot of
it too was they people complained, media fans, he didn't
play enough people, meaning you know, his roster wasn't what
it might have been, and that's front office stuff. So
bringing it to your level college and high school, you know,

(43:18):
you can't just rely on five or six guys. That's
pretty obvious, right, right, So what do you do? What
do you do as a coach. I mean, he's got
to depend on a GM to go out and hire guys.
But at your level high school, in college, how do
you avoid that?

Speaker 1 (43:36):
I mean you got to develop that roster, right, I
mean in high school it's nothing but development because you know,
you're not supposed to recruit things like that, so you
you're really just coaching what's coming in your hallways year
and year out without any choice. And you got to
you know, hopefully you get a good crop in, you know,
and the stays that even flow. But that's not that's

(43:59):
not or or or. You know, it'd be the same
teams winning the state championship and.

Speaker 2 (44:04):
So on and so forth every year.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
So that's what that's the beauty of high school basketball.
But then college you are in control for for for
the most part, of who you bring in. You know,
you're the guy who went out recruit, but you got
to you know, it's so competitive. You got to beat
other guys out for talent and hopefully you brought in
more talent than they did, and then you can be

(44:25):
able to do it. You know, that fits what you
do as a coach, That allows you to be better
than the other team even though they did recruit more
talent or better talent than you. So it's kind of different.
But as an NBA guy, you're stuck unless you the
GM and the coach or you got a lot of
school and and and decision making. You know, you you

(44:48):
doing what you know. Sometimes a player show up and
you don't even know that there was a trade man
done until the player gets there. So you know that's
that's a heck of a feeling right there, you know
what I mean? Special got things going, yeah, and you know, yeah,
it's tough.

Speaker 4 (45:05):
Speaking of roster development, you and I talked about this
right after you got the job at Scott County High School.
Your crosstown rival wins the state great crossing with the
core of players, Sean, as you pointed out, who have
been together since middle school, which anymore, it seemed like
that used to be the case. Kids grew up, same neighborhood,

(45:25):
same middle school, same AAU team all the way through
high school. It seems like anymore that's not even possible,
or they're just doing things differently. You've got so much
movement now, and you covered high school basketball all year
on TV side, and you saw teams that have, well
this kid was at this school last year and the
year before somewhere else. Uh do you think we'll ever

(45:48):
get back to routinely seeing teams with the core of talent,
of kids who have played together for most of their
careers or has that gone forever?

Speaker 1 (46:00):
Eight things are right now, it's gonna be tough. I mean,
look at Florida, who had you know, just come off
a run final full run and you know their guy
who probably is gonna be starting this year, who's a
six man last year, left to come to Kentucky. Yeah,
you know, I mean social media, you know, high dollar

(46:25):
you know, it's it's changed the game, and you know,
I don't know when it's gonna stop. You know what
I'm saying. I mean, because these kids have so much
leverage and so much freedom to either demand money or
go search for it, and then they can leave with
no nothing.

Speaker 4 (46:44):
And it's not quite the same in the high school ranks.
But indirectly it is because well, if I can leave
this team go to that team, I got a shout
at the scholarship, you know, with nil benefits that maybe
I don't get over here or is that too? Is
that all simplifying or is that what's happening?

Speaker 1 (47:03):
Say it again now.

Speaker 4 (47:03):
They it seems like on the high school level you
don't have nil directly. But what I'm thinking, what it
looks like is kids might be thinking, well, I'm going
to transfer even though I've been with this group for
so long, because if I go to this school over here,
maybe I get a scholarship and I can cash in,
you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (47:24):
Yeah, and I mean most of these kids now look
at the state of Kentucky. People are running the prep
schools now because prep schools are playing money. And then
you get hooked up with an agent. I mean you
got high school kids that have agents.

Speaker 4 (47:37):
Now, are you serious?

Speaker 1 (47:41):
Uh huh oh? Man, Like you know what I'm saying,
that's going to prep school and things like that to
have agent.

Speaker 4 (47:47):
Wow, I mean an agent, agent, not just a friend
of the family or something like that.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
No agent, agent. They're going down to the high school ranks.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
You know what I mean, yes, how do you deal
with that man?

Speaker 4 (48:00):
As a head coach?

Speaker 1 (48:02):
How do you deal with it?

Speaker 4 (48:03):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (48:04):
I mean that's the land of land, you know what
I mean, all these coaches got to deal with it.
And what these college coaches are doing are hiring people
to deal with this so they don't have to.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
Deal with it.

Speaker 4 (48:14):
Yeah. I think back to when Cali Perry first got
here and brought in John Wall DeMarcus Cousins, and the
word was that, at least for Wall, Roy sweet ol'
roy over North Carolina didn't want to deal with John
Wall's people, and apparently Cali Perry was pretty good at that.

(48:35):
You know, I mean is that happening everywhere now?

Speaker 1 (48:40):
Yes? Yes, because there's so many people involved with these kids,
and everybody's got their hand out and demands. You know,
these people are telling coaches how they want them to
play their kid. You know what I'm saying, Like he
you know, he's a pro, so he's got to get
this many shots. You know, he's got to start, he's
got to play these many minutes. You know, you got
to make sure if he's a guard and you putting
him in pick a roll situation so he can show

(49:01):
the pros what he needs to do. You know, I'm
sure like old way, you know, he went to the
Combines and you know, got an evaluation of what he
needs to work on us and improve his draft status.
So what do you think he's gonna do when he
comes back to Kentucky he wants to take you know,
he's I'm sure his people told Mark this is what
they're looking for, this is what he needs to be

(49:21):
doing the show that he's worthy to build the NBA.
You know what I'm saying, mid first round of late
first round draft pick. So how is his mentality going
to change when he comes back? You see what I'm saying.
I gonna be the same old way, all bought in
humble or is he gonna come in with a chip
on the shoulder saying, you know, as a prima donna
like you need me. You know, I played this good

(49:43):
at the end of the year, So now I got
to show these guys that I can do this and that.
And it may be against what Mark is doing well.

Speaker 4 (49:50):
And as a guy, I'm sure And you've talked. You
and I have talked at length about parents, not just
after you got the head coaching job at Scott County.
But you may have already heard from people, but I'm
sure you probably will as a as a head coach
at the high school level from parents who mean well.
They all mean well, but you know they want their

(50:13):
kid to be used the best possible way to show
off their talents. How do you deal with that?

Speaker 1 (50:21):
I just tell them, Look, you know, with my experience,
you know, being a college basketball coach, coming down to
high school, I was the guy who was recruiting them,
so I know what they're looking for.

Speaker 4 (50:31):
One.

Speaker 1 (50:32):
Two, you know my relationships with everybody in college basketball.
You know, I can help you get to where you
need to get to between on what level you are.
And then three, we're going to work like a college
you know, So you're going to be You're going to
know what college basketball is all about from a from
a working standpoint, you know what I mean. So that's
what I bring to the table. And then you know,

(50:54):
I've got you know, over twenty some guys playing professional
basketball too, played in the NBA, So I think I
know what I'm doing a little bit, and that gives
me a little more credibility than most because I've been
where they're trying to go.

Speaker 4 (51:07):
Is Shawn Woods. He is the unforgettable guard whose Jersey
hangs and the raptors of RUP and the head coach
at Scott County High School. We'll come back and talk
more basketball in just a minute on the Big Blue
Insider here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking
with Sean Woods, former Wildcat guard is Jersey hangs in
the raptors of Rup, and of course he is the
head coach at Scott County High School. We've been talking

(51:29):
about roster development coaches being hired and fired and dealing
with agents and parents and things like that, and you know,
the fact that you've got that experience is so key.
And I also wonder Sean, you and I have talked
before about the fact that you are a terrific point
guard in college, one of the better point guards in
America really when you look at what Kentucky accomplished while

(51:53):
you were there, and but as you pointed out, you
were not a point guard in high school. You did
what your team needed you to do to win. Will
you share that or how much will you share that
with kids? Because that I think that's a great parable.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
You know what I mean, Well, I much I'll share
it every day, you know, and the style of play
that I play, it's it allows everyone on my team
to show that they can dribble, pass and shoot. Everybody's
got to be a you know, be able to dribble,
pass and shoot with me. So that's what we work
on in individual workouts, you know, and player development because
I don't have a seven footer, so everybody's a guard

(52:31):
for the most part. So it's actually good for me
because yeah, we may have a six two six y
three center, but he's going to have guard tendencies to
be able to you know, dribble pass and shoot, which
allows my team to be more effective and more dangerous
from a matchup situation because I can play five out
and and everybody's a threat. So you know, that's why

(52:54):
it's you know, it's so fun to play for me
and watch our style of play because we play so
fast and everybody will be able to dribble, pass and shoot,
which allows us to play faster, more entertaining, and everybody's
having a good time instead of going down there and
one guy only can do this and one guy can
only do that. I've never liked to coach that way,
so you know, if you were a shooter, good, but

(53:17):
most shooters don't play defense very much or they're not
great ball hounds. Well, that's where the school of Rick
Patino comes in to play the Billy Donovans and things
like that. The individual workouts to improve your skill level.
So that's when I'm big on and that's what I'm
going to be doing while I'm high school coaching at
Scott count of High School.

Speaker 4 (53:33):
Do you have the time to do the individual workouts?
Because I know what it was like for you guys
in college. Sometimes you had to report at six am
and then go to class and come back to practice
things like that. But what about at the high school
of it, because you're right, individual workouts were so key
for you guys.

Speaker 1 (53:51):
Well, yeah, we're doing it right now. We try to
get up before school, get our workout in, and then
come back after school. So I try to, you know,
put in place as close as I can, simularize as
close as I can what the college level is. And
you know, we do our waits in the morning sometimes
or wait till the afternoon, but we try to go

(54:12):
at least before and after just to maximize, you know,
because when they go to college, they're gonna have to
do that, you know what I'm saying. You know, you
got you got your individual workouts and waits before before
you go to class, and then you know, you get out,
you know, practice at three thirty four o'clock and you
got practice, you know, and you know that's what that's
that's what we're doing, you know right now, And I'm

(54:33):
sure a lot of high school coaches are doing that.
You know, that's the only way you can do it
because from from eight fifty to three fifty, you know,
they're in school unless you have them in a study
hall or gym class or something like that that most
of your players are in that you can get some
stuff done that way too. So you know, there's ways
of skin. There's plenty of ways of skin a cat.
You just got to be creative.

Speaker 4 (54:54):
You played a system that people know that was just
wall to wall defensive pressure. People don't realize that you
guys probably pressed more than most of the teams that
followed at Kentucky. In fact, Bettino's championship team did not
press nearly as much as you guys because he didn't

(55:16):
have to add so much talent there. You guys did
it just to kind of cover for the fact that
you didn't have a super deep, talented roster, but it worked.
Will we see that? Will we see that at Scott
County High School?

Speaker 6 (55:30):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (55:30):
You will, Yes, yes you will.

Speaker 4 (55:34):
Now, how are you getting them? You guys had to
sell out, man, I mean, I know how hard it
was on you. I don't know for sure. I didn't
do it, but I heard stories. You know, how do
you sell that to high school kids?

Speaker 1 (55:47):
Well, we're doing it right now, Dick. And it's hard.
They're uncomfortable right now. God bless them. But when they
when they get it, they're gonna understand. You know, you
got it. In order to get somewhere you never been,
you got to do things you've never done. And right now,
that's that's where we are as a program. The program
was so down when I took it over. You know,
they only won six games last year. I'm around down.

(56:08):
You know, the confidence is down. So right now, all
I'm doing is building confidence, building a toughness from a
mental standpoint, and and and really demanding them to play
at a higher level than they've ever played before. And
they're uncomfortable right now. They're struggling a little bit. But
some of them are starting to get it and start

(56:30):
to feel that they're getting better, and which that's what
it's all about, you know what I mean. You know,
you know, right now I'm the bad guy because you know,
they I'm putting them in a situation they're not used to.
But they'll see it in the long run, how how
it's paid, how it's going to pay off, because they're
you know, everybody's uncomfortable, you know what I mean. And
the talent level is not where I want it to

(56:52):
be right now, but it will be in a short
amount of time. But you know, you just got to
roll with what you got to roll with, and no
matter who it is, Like I got that from Coach Patino,
you got to figure out a way to maximize what
you got. And we're not talented enough right now to
just go head to head with somebody. We got to
create pace, We got to create our whole deal to

(57:13):
offset some of our deficiencies. And that's just to you know,
speed the game up, money the game, pressure the basketball
to create more more more possessions, uh, until we get
some size in athleticism. So that's yeah, we're gonna play
almost exactly the way. And you know, as well as
I do. It's gonna be fun, it's gonna be nation.

Speaker 4 (57:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:31):
Uh, you know, with with with the talent rosters that
we have, we're still gonna create, you know, keep teams uncomfortable.
And that's all I can, you know, all we can do.

Speaker 4 (57:40):
Right now, I'll be making some trips to Georgetown to
see that. I'll let you go with this. Uh, in
terms of trying to convince, you know, coaching teaching these kids, uh,
today's kids, as we all know, they're all about screen time,
their phones, their iPads, their computers. Will you or have
you already pulled up perhaps some Kentucky basketball from back

(58:00):
in the shawn Woods era to show them, Look, we
beat Shaquille and Eland l s U playing this way.
You know.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
Well, I told the kid, I got a little point guard.
He's gonna be a sophomore, and you know he's trying
to find his way and he don't know how to
take me yet. And sometimes you got to be sarcastic
with these kids and tie them on the butt and
things like that. So I called him Scott Skoules. He
had no clue who Scott skous is.

Speaker 4 (58:26):
Oh well I could see that, and I.

Speaker 1 (58:30):
Said, well, go look him up. I said, go look
him up, and then we'll talk about it tomorrow we'll.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
Come back to practice.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
So I'm looking forward to seeing him today a little
bit of what he thought about Scott Skoules, and he's
gonna be you know, I said, it's a compliment. It's not.
It's I'm not you know, it's a compliment. And Scott
Scouts was an Indiana guy, played at Plymouth High School.
Beat Gary Roosevelt, who's you know, a big time athletic
team out of Gary, Indiana. Uh, he beat him. They

(58:58):
went on to Michigan State and did a thing in
Michigan State and not Tey. He was to kill O'Neills
for first point go out. When he got to orlandos right,
played in pros.

Speaker 4 (59:06):
Yeah, and then became a coach. So I want to
hear the rest of that story next week. All right, Okay,
all right, thanks coach, talk to you later.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
All right.

Speaker 4 (59:15):
Dick Sean Woods is our unforgettable guard. We talked to
him each and every Wednesday scheduling permitted. And now, of
course as the head coach at Scott County High School,
so we'll keep an eye on those Cardinals. Western Bureau
Chief Gary Moore is up next here on six thirty
WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider. It
is Wednesday, and that means we look to the west,

(59:36):
to our Westen Bureau Chief Gary Moore was on the
West coast for many, many years, too many KLOS Radio,
too many, and now he's back in LA, the Louisville
area and he checks in every week.

Speaker 7 (59:47):
Two guys in a six pack, you and me and
six things to talk about, six swigs as they were,
and a first dick.

Speaker 4 (59:53):
I will tell you that.

Speaker 7 (59:54):
Somewhere up there, Johnny Reagan is still smiling, smiling about
what I Our hometown Murray State Racers capped off Monday
night in Oxford.

Speaker 4 (01:00:04):
For the unfamiliar.

Speaker 7 (01:00:05):
Johnny Reagan was a head baseball coach at Murray State
for thirty six years. He won eleven OVC Championships. He
was chairman of the NCAA Baseball Committee, and is in
the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, among many
other halls. Full disclosure, though, my connection to the Racers
runs deeper than just that geography. Coach Reagan's family and

(01:00:25):
mine went to the same church and as an elementary
and middle school punk. I rode my Stingray bike to
many a Murray State game was bat boy for many
a visiting team like let's see Purdue, Vandy, Brown, North
Dakota and so on. The Racers were called then the Thoroughbreds. Yeah,
in baseball, you remember that as long as coach Reagan

(01:00:46):
was there. And for this year's Murray State team to
reach its first ever Super Regional and to beat the
likes of old miss in Georgia Tech to accomplish it, Dick,
it feels like all those fields of dreams. I spent
many an afternoon upon finally coming Game one Racers Duke
Saturday afternoon in Durham one pm on ESPN U.

Speaker 4 (01:01:07):
First time I ever went to the College World Series
was in nineteen eighty four. I was working down in Dallas,
and I did not know anything about Johnny Reagan. I
knew who he was, but I didn't know he was
a wheel in college baseball. And he was sitting right
there in the Primo seas he might have been the
Baseball Committee chairman at the time, surrounded by all these

(01:01:29):
people paying homage to him. I've talked to Keith Madison
about Johnny Reagan many times, and yeah, he was the
man for so long at Murray State. And I remember
the first time I did at Murray State baseball game
and I'm like, they made a mistake here. It's just Thoroughbreds.
But yeah, for some reason he wanted him to be

(01:01:51):
called the Thoroughbreds and not the racers. And yeah, I
mean somewhere he's smiling, and Buddy, I've covered baseball at
Ole Miss. To win a game there, oh, to win
a regional there is mean football is first at Ole Miss,
but baseball second, not basketball. It's tough. And they did it.

Speaker 7 (01:02:11):
And get this, Murray scored forty two runs in those
four games in Oxford. They're just the tenth number four
seed to ever reach a super regional. Pretty cool stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:02:21):
And beat UK earlier this year. Yeah, they did. Second,
Swig and Dick.

Speaker 7 (01:02:25):
If you would have told me last week that Louisville
would be hosting a super regional this weekend, you know,
I don't think I would have been that surprised. I mean,
we talked about it last week. They're pitching and left
a lot to be desired going under the Vandy Regional.
But you know, the Cards had already beaten Vandy, and
I wasn't that worried about Wright State or East Tennessee.
We knew they could hit. But check out the pitching
stats from last weekend. Twenty seven innings from the starters

(01:02:46):
or all the pitchers, and they just had ten hits, allowed,
only four earned runs, forty three k's with a three
to zero record. That's a kind of performance you definitely
want this time of year. So starting Friday three o'clock
ESPN two, it sold out Patterson Stadium, the Cards host
of Miami and acc foe they did not play this year.
The Canes are thirty four and twenty five overall, Cards

(01:03:09):
are thirty eight and twenty one, but Louisville's twenty seven
and seven at home, So give me the car Ds
to reach their sixth trip to Omaha. Who do you
like in this one?

Speaker 4 (01:03:19):
Well, yeah, if they're pitching is up to snuff now.
But here's the thing again. They played Kentucky twice. You know,
I got a chance to eyeball them twice and Kentucky loses.
Stop me if you've heard this one. A one run game,
a walk off in the tent of Louisville. But that
game is played in like sub thirty degree weather. When

(01:03:40):
they played again, Kentucky beat Louisville seventeen to five, run
ruled them, and I thought, what has happened to Louisville's pitching?
And again you never can't quite tell with the midweek,
But as you know, in the postseason, it's about everybody,
not just the starters, it's the entire staff because comes
down to pitching depth. And evidently Louisville got healthy, and

(01:04:04):
I give him a real chance like you do. Third Swig.

Speaker 7 (01:04:07):
Then, of course, as you just mentioned, we've got your
alma mater u ofk and mine Wku. Dick has been
three days now, and that sting of blowing not one
but two five run leads against West Virginia Sunday, it
still hasn't really worn off for me. You score twelve runs,
you gotta wine Murray prove that the next night. But
you know, it's like you said, the same story you

(01:04:28):
saw and you called all seasonally, this time losing the
leads in the most heart wrenching form ever. Stats guru
Corey Price tweeted Sunday night was UK's twelfth lost this
season by just one skinny Measley run but you know,
Nick had to replace practically every key member of last
year's World Series team. So hats off for me anyway

(01:04:50):
for even getting to the regional to begin with. So
I ask you, now, what our priorities one, two, and three?

Speaker 4 (01:04:57):
Pitching?

Speaker 7 (01:04:58):
Pitching and more pitching, especially on the back end.

Speaker 4 (01:05:02):
Yeah, it's got to be. But the good news is
that the best players for the most part on this
team are the young guys. You know, your Tyler Bells,
your Ryan Schwartzez, your Hudson Brown's, people like that. You know,
I mentioned this earlier, but they're losing James McCoy, a veteran.
He's in the portal, you know, which is not that surprising,

(01:05:23):
but you know, he had his best year this year.
So yeah, you got to have arms, there's no question
about that, especially in the SEC. But when the house
settlement comes down, you know, and then the scholarships are
a little more spread out, Kentucky needs to get aggressive,
and I think it will. But that's one thing minji
On has done lately really well, is use the portal

(01:05:47):
and build with parts and elements that he believes need
to be landed for his style of play, you know,
And you can argue and I go crazy when they
make the third out of third base and that kind
of stuff. But since he really changed the way he
does business, they've known nothing but success forth Swig.

Speaker 7 (01:06:09):
You know, I've had a lot of people either email
me or text or call, Hey, what happened to your toppers?
Thought they were supposed to be so great?

Speaker 4 (01:06:16):
Hey?

Speaker 7 (01:06:17):
Look paraphrase coach John Wooden. Their pitching needed to be
at its best when its best was needed, and it
just was not. And that especially hurt considering Western was
third the nation in ERA coming into Oxford. Their two
best pitchers that gave up four and three runs in
the first two innings respectively against Georgia Tech and Old
Miss ended up losing nine to two and eight to six.

(01:06:39):
It's hard to get in a hole that early in
some of these games unless your Murray State just hit
your way out of it. You know, they had no
home runs in that game on Monday night when he
scored twelve runs.

Speaker 4 (01:06:48):
Wow, that's a side note.

Speaker 7 (01:06:51):
In the Conference USA Tournament, Western gave up nineteen runs
in four games. I was well above their three point
three five ERA, so some cracks were already appearing before
they got to Oxford. But hey, hell of a season
in BG right forty six wins, second most in school history.
That they got their first ever Conference USA title, first
trip back to the regionals since two thousand and nine,
and the highest national ranking ever WKU baseball history. They

(01:07:14):
were number seventeen the week of April twenty second. So
the standard has been the set. But as you know,
and Nick and the Batcats know all too well, it's
hard to repeat these banner years back to back.

Speaker 4 (01:07:26):
Yeah, especially now with a portal being in place. And
I got to think that there are gonna be some
toppers who look around. There's inn al money out there.
There's gonna be more scholar money, which will help Western
Kentucky as much as anybody. But yeah, maybe baseball more
than any sport, although that's hard to quantify. Feels the

(01:07:46):
movement of these players, and yeah, that does break. It
has brought some parody, but it has made the rich
get richer at the expense of schools like Western Kentucky.
But it's always fun when a school jumps up and
as a like that.

Speaker 7 (01:08:01):
Fifth swig when more baseball note dick over the weekend
in Los Angeles, the twenty twenty four World Series rematch happened,
the Yankees and the Dodgers LA winning two out of three.
And I can tell you from all the years covering
the Boys in Blue out there, that Yankees ticket is
always the hottest ticket any year for Dodger fans. So
you'd think that that was the case again last weekend, right,
Not so fast, my friend down the five Freeway in Anaheim,

(01:08:25):
the Savannah Bananas sold out two nights at the Big
A lowest ticket price on StubHub for a pair of
tickets for the Bananas two hundred and nine dollars fifty
two cents. How about a pair of Dodgers Yankees tickets
lowest price won seventy one. Seventy two bananas were also
given the Royal Disneyland treatment, marching down Main Street with
Mickey Goofy and Donald Duck not the other done. In

(01:08:50):
a great La Times story by Anthony Leon. Over the weekend,
Banana's owner and ringmaster Jesse Cole, talked about going to
Disney World when he was a kid and what that
emotional experience did for him. He said, quote, our success
is not judged by revenue. It's not judged by sales.
It's judged by the moments we create. How do we
make someone feel something unquote selling out stadiums that their

(01:09:13):
regular tenants can't even sell out. Heals a lot of
magic memories to me. And they got some sellout dates
coming up here in Louisville in I think a few weeks.

Speaker 4 (01:09:21):
I just read a story about I think this was
back in the sixties maybe or the late fifties when
Phil Wrigley, who of course you know Wrigley Field, Rigley,
Dumb and all that, but based in California, realized that
within one hundred mile radiance of LA nine thousand softball teams,

(01:09:42):
and a thousand of them were women's teams, and they
incorporated those teams. They allowed them to use the old
Wrigley Field out in LA back in the day and
sold tickets and made a lot of money. I mean, yeah,
I mean, I think southern California is the perfect venue
or situations like that. You lived out there, you know

(01:10:03):
what I'm saying. Sure, but you know the banana ball
you can see on ESPN Plus now they got their
own streaming network. It's incredibly entertaining. And I think I
may have told you this before, but Kentucky had a
picture on his staff. A guy from New Jersey, good dude,
Alex Degan. He was a six foot eight, well it

(01:10:23):
is six foot eight. Wanted to be an Air Force
pilot too tall, so transferred to Kentucky from Air Force.
And when he got out, or at least one summer,
he played for the Bananas and he told me he
enjoyed it. He said they want me back. I said,
he going to go. He goes. I'm not much of
a dancer, so you've really got to have all the

(01:10:45):
skills set to be a banana.

Speaker 7 (01:10:46):
You know who came back, John Lackey, who is a
two thousand and two World Series hero for the Angels,
and he had a banana er he got, He pitched
and got a guy out, but they gave him a
huge ovation.

Speaker 4 (01:10:57):
Done nice.

Speaker 7 (01:10:59):
Let's see here a sixth and final swig. Okay, you
can quote me on this. Anybody listening, make sure he
gets this message.

Speaker 4 (01:11:05):
Message.

Speaker 7 (01:11:05):
Pat McAfee's a woos and a scaredy cat and a
guy who just doesn't get it. Hard to believe McAfee
took enough hits to the hit while he's on special
teams in the NFL to affect his sanity for dissing
who's your musical legend numero Uno, John Mellencamp.

Speaker 4 (01:11:21):
But it happened first.

Speaker 7 (01:11:23):
McAfee gets on the PA during that game four of
the Pacers Nicks game in Indy, uses all this profane
language to be rate the New York celebrities court side,
causing all the fans to boo the visitors. Then Mellencamp
took to social media to apologize quote on behalf of
most Hoosiers for the poor behavior, calling it poor poor sportsmanship,
not hoo's your hospitality, to which McAfee, who, by the way,

(01:11:46):
John did not name as a culprit, but we all
knew who it was. McAfee said on his Teen Boys
show tell he told John to shut the f up
and quote suck it, buddy, unquote. McAfee was invited to
New York and Madison Square Garden for the series game
five by Ben Stiller, who's one of the celebrities booed
there at game four, but McAfee chickened out. Madison Square Garden,

(01:12:10):
of course, is where many a snowflake like McAfee milks.

Speaker 4 (01:12:15):
Yeah, But when you jump into a situation like this,
especially with the Knicks, and New York fans, you're all
the way in, whether you like it or not. And
you would think that by now because McAfee the moment
they put him on the air on ESPN, moved him
from podcast to on air, and again it's cable, you know,

(01:12:36):
immediately caught flak and you know they run that disclaimer
on his TV show and things like that. So it's
not like he doesn't know, not like he's not aware
of things like this every now and then. You've got
to think before you speak.

Speaker 7 (01:12:51):
Well, I guarantee you you know how conservative a state
Indiana is. They're gonna side. You put McAfee and Mellencamp together,
they're gonna side with Mellencamp.

Speaker 4 (01:12:59):
Oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah. And the thing is Melencamp,
as you know, is not a guy who's somewhere out
there and says, oh yeah, I'm from Indiana. Oh. He
lives it. He does know. He's seen at Indiana games
all the time. He's always on it. Yeah, Kentucky Indiana
football games a long time ago. So yeah, you know,

(01:13:20):
I'm a fan of a lot more than just his music.
He's a tough guy.

Speaker 7 (01:13:24):
I don't know if Mackie knows what he's getting the
ring with. But Mac John's a tough dude.

Speaker 4 (01:13:27):
Yeah, beware. That is Gary Moore. He is our Western
bureau chief. We'll come back with a couple of hot
reads in just a minute here on the Big Boon
Sider six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big bon Sider.
We're chatting with our Western Bureau chief, Gary Moore. We
have heard two guys in the six back time for
a couple of hot reds and Gary, a fun farewell

(01:13:47):
to in rest in peace to Jim Marshall, who was
a great, great NFL player back in the sixties and
seventies yep, and was known for essentially two things, being
an NFL iron Man yep. And going the wrong way
with a fumble and returning his sixty six yards into

(01:14:07):
his own end zone for a safety. You know he
got the wrong way tag. NFL films ranked him in
the two thousands as the second best player not in
the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but Gary. When Brett
farre broke the iron Man record for consecutive regular season games,
he broke Jim Marshall's record. Not a QB, not a

(01:14:28):
wide receiver, but a defensive Lineman two hundred and seventy
consecutive regular season games, and you gotta wonder, will we
ever see a guy like that again, a defender like that.

Speaker 7 (01:14:42):
Not playing that long, that's for sure. Think about that
did not miss a game from nineteen sixty one to
seventy nine. And you know that's when guys were really
they're a lot dirtier, I think than they are now,
getting away with lots more stuff. And like Richard Pryor
said when we were talking about Jim Brown, you know
Jim Brown never missed a game either, he said. Nowadays
you got guys getting hurt in practice and.

Speaker 4 (01:15:06):
The purple people eaters.

Speaker 7 (01:15:07):
Do you remember Jim Marshall, Carl Eller, Alan Page, and
then you had Gary Larson for a few years, and
then Doug Sutherland came in after I think seventy four
or something like that.

Speaker 4 (01:15:17):
But I love those guys.

Speaker 7 (01:15:18):
I loved watching That's amazing stat You'll never see that again.

Speaker 4 (01:15:22):
By the way, Marshall wasn't the original wrong Way guy.
There was actually a player named Roy Regals, and he
you know, became known as wrong Way Regals. In college,
he played for the Cal Golden Bears. He returned a
fumble into his own end zone, and after Marshall made
his mistake, he sent Marshall a note that said, welcome

(01:15:42):
to the club, but he needs to be remembered for
a lot more than just that. Yeah, our second high rate.
I mentioned this earlier. I went through the list of
guys who were in the College Football Hall of Fame ballot,
including Randall Cobb, who will get my vote. But well,
you talk of had a tough, tough list from which

(01:16:03):
to choose. However, I didn't know if it'll be this
year or whenever, but I think it's got to be
a no brainer for Mike Leach. Oh yeah, they waive
the rule used to be a certain winning percentage for
a coach. And of course he died suddenly, way too young.
But here's a guy who thanks a lot to how
Mummy revolutionized college football. Yeah, and you know, I don't

(01:16:26):
care about wins and losses. That guy belonged to the
Hall of Fame, no question.

Speaker 7 (01:16:30):
Look at his coaching tree, look at and I can't
help but think about the success that Jaden Daniels has
had at Washington because of Cliff Kingsbury, who was a
Mike Leach player and part of that whole coaching tree.
Mike Leach's teams that unranked teams beat eighteen ranked teams
over the course of his year. I mean that besides

(01:16:50):
all this stuff, and you covered him, you were there
when he was doing great things with hal and you
got to talk to the pirate. I mean, he's quite
he's a fun individual as well. I think the percentage
was six hundred and they lowered it down to five
ninety five winning percentage, but he should have been in
any way regardless of that. That's a crazy rule.

Speaker 4 (01:17:07):
Well, I don't know, I kind of get it. But
on the other hand, you know, you look at a
guy like Rich Brooks. University of Oregon football is what
it is because of Rich Brooks, right, you know, he
stayed there and they gave him the time to build
that program. They play on Rich Brooks field for crying
out loud. But his one lost percentage isn't great because
it took a while to build that program. And now

(01:17:30):
if Oregon is not preseason top fifteen, there's something wrong.
And that's because Rich Brooks did the groundwork, the dirty work,
and they're all standing on his shoulders and a lot
of people are standing on Mike Leach's shoulders right now.
And when he died, I got Neil Price on the
phone and I swapped stories with him. Now the Mississippi

(01:17:50):
State playbo play voice, and he adored talking to Mike
Leach is because they would talk about everything but football,
both on and off the air. And we only got
to know Mike a little bit when he was here.
But I give how Mummy credit because he gave Leach
the title offensive coordinator. Mike Leach never called a play

(01:18:11):
that can help build a game plan, coach the quarterbacks,
but how Mummy called the plays. But Mummy knew that
the rest of the country media born would look at
Mike Leach and sure enough, Gary, you might remember this.
When Kentucky was on TV, cameras would always find Mike
Leach in a press box like they do with all coordinators,
right right, and you know there he is the offensive

(01:18:33):
coordinator for this you know, air raid offense and all that.
Now it was Mummy, but it helped Mike Leach move along.
And when Oklahoma needed an OC, who did they hire Mike?
I know? And what happened? They won a national title.
Look at the body of work.

Speaker 7 (01:18:48):
Look how you just pointed it out with the hurry up, yeah,
huddle kind of stuff. Yeah, go and get the defense
back on their heels. A lot of people didn't want
to change to that until they did. I see Nick Saban,
see others that never liked that kind of stuff, you know.
And then Chip Kelly you know, maxed it out as
well with Oregon.

Speaker 4 (01:19:09):
Yeah, so yeah, he belongs. He is Gary Moore. He
is our west hamd BUA chief. We meet every week
for a dose of six from Gary, and you can
find him at.

Speaker 7 (01:19:19):
At nine five five Gary, same fabulous internet joint you're at.

Speaker 4 (01:19:24):
I'm at Big Blue Insider One. I got people paging me.
I'm gonna have to let you go.

Speaker 7 (01:19:29):
I see it, erasers go, card see.

Speaker 4 (01:19:31):
It and I'll do it for now. Thanks to my
guest Gary Moore, Aaron Gershawn Sean Woods that said good
night from the garage in Lexington.

Speaker 1 (01:19:39):
Now the three two swung huh a pop Fowl's back here.

Speaker 6 (01:19:43):
How ow wow.

Speaker 4 (01:19:48):
It really hit me. I didn't know it was coming
back that.

Speaker 3 (01:19:50):
Far stact tact the.

Speaker 6 (01:20:38):
Ship anything Canning letting down to Tim, don't do