2025-07-07 - BBI

UK lands a high-profile football/basell recruit and he talks about his decision to be a Wildcat; (12:00) ex-Cat Koby Brea is part of a record NBA trade; (18:00) legendary journalist Oscar Combs; (39:00) Cameron Drummond of the HL talks recruiting; (59:00) NBA/ABA legend Rick Barry rips the way the pro game is being played now; (1:01:00) Johnny Bench on meeting the Mick and a caddy gets no money from the Dali Lama but doesn't leave empty-handed...

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Abriel with you
on a Monday edition of our program, and we hope
you enjoyed the best of the Big Blue Insider last week.
Was it the very best? Well, who's to say, But
I had a journalism professor way back in the day
tell me that very in his mind, and I kind
of agree with him, was the most overused adjective in

(00:22):
the English language. He said, it's generally become an empty word.
He said, it should be replaced if you'll forgive me,
by damned. In other words, not a very good show,
a damn good show. But anyhow, we hope it was
a very good week for you. I hope you had
a great weekend as well. Great week for UK recruiters

(00:43):
for the Big Blue Nation. And ordinarily we would lead
off a day like this talking about Kentucky's latest basketball
gold medal winner, and that's Jasper Johnson incoming freshmen, but
recruiting news over the weekend, breaking news. It was all
over the internet. It was really interesting because when a

(01:04):
kid like this announces, it's just splattered all over every
social media site, especially in this neighborhood. Because Matt Ponitowski
of Cincinnati. Mohler is actually from Sycamore Township, which is
forty minutes from Molar. He he goes forty minutes a

(01:25):
day to get to high school, but he committed to
play both football and baseball at UK. They had a
little or actually a big event at the family home
last night. Lots of media coverage and why not. This
guy is the reigning Mister Ohio Football, Gatorade Ohio Football

(01:48):
High School Player of the Year quarterback on the Molar
football team. It's almost like something at of Central Casting.
He was also the Gatorade Ohio High School Baseball Player
of the Year as a shortstop and a pitcher. He
considered Alabama, Arkansas, Oregon, and Kentucky as his finalists. Had

(02:10):
more than obviously thirty or forty more than that offers,
but those were his last four. The final four Alabama, Arkansas, Oregon,
and Kentucky, and he chose the Wildcats primarily. I don't
know if it's primarily, but it was a big deal
for him that it's close to home and his family

(02:32):
could come see him play.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Kind of a surreal moment because my family's been a
big part of it for a really long time now.
And I don't know where I'd be without him, And
that was a big reason why Kentucky was the place
for me because they can come watch me pretty much
any saturdayday they want to. You know, the other places
they were really good places, and that's why I was

(02:53):
really considering, and this is why it took a pretty
long time to make a decision. But Kentucky's the right
place for It's about the people for me, and they
had phenomenal people and.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
As he mentioned more than once, family really important to
him and obviously wants to play in the SEC, but
also wants to be able to play close enough. Imagine
if he go on to Oregon, and I love Oregon.
My cousins live in Portland. It's a great place, but
a long way from home. Mom and dad would have
had a tough time. Well, now all they got to
do is drop down to election it and they probably

(03:27):
will be doing that a lot of course on football saturdays,
but also depending on if he's a position player or
a pitcher or both coming down to see him play baseball.
And he talked about why he wants to juggle to
sports in college as he is right now in high school.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
I need to compete for more than one season out
of the years. So if I can do it in
the fall, I need to. There's too much time in between,
you know, fall to fall, so I need something in
the spring to do. So baseball comes and you know,
I'm ready to compete in the spring. So I think
people think it might be you know too much, but
it's what I signed up for and I'm ready to go.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
I like that. And you know, football players are busy
in the off season, but they're busy training, working out,
studying their playbook as well as their school books. But
he talked about being a competitor, and so he wants
to challenge himself with competition in the offseason. Not many

(04:23):
UK players have been able to do this successfully. He's
going to give it a shot, not just playing both sports,
but competing in the SEC in both football and now baseball.
And it is the toughest conference in America.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
To be honest with you, I think I'm built for it.
I've been doing it my whole life. And when I
think of myself as a player, I think I'm a
competitor and I love to compete. So I need to
compete for more than one season out of the year.
So if I can do it in the fall, I
need to. There's too much time in between, you know,
fall to fall, so I need something in the spring

(04:58):
to do. So baseball comes and you know, I'm ready
to compete in the spring. So I think people think
it might be you know, too much, but it's what
I signed up for and I'm ready to go, and
you know I'm going to put one hundred and ten
percent into it every day.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Matt Ponatowski, who has one more year of high school ball,
but he'll be a Wildcat, he says, coming up. Just
turned seventeen in March and is able to balance two
sports at an incredibly high level at a really good school.
They played good football and baseball obviously up in the

(05:34):
Cincinnati area. But this guy competed in the Elite eleven
finals out in California last week Manhattan Beach, California. Turned
a lot of heads. But he did that play in
high school football through four four thousand, two hundred plus
yards in twenty twenty four fifty seven touchdowns at Molner,

(05:56):
two hundred and eighty one to four hundred and five
in passing attempts, and led Moler to the d one
State Finals. They lost the game, but a fourteen to
two record overall state runners up. Not all he did
in baseball was hit four point forty as a shortstop,
four homer, seven doubles, thirty eight runs batted in in

(06:18):
the Greater Catholic League, stole twelve bags on base percentage
of five thirty eight, and his team was a regional finalist.
He was the sixteenth best player in his class according
to Baseball America. Well he is right now, and Prep
Baseball ranks him. Baseball Ohio ranks him number one in

(06:42):
the state. So if you want to keep an eye
on him, Moller opens up pretty soon coming right at
US August twenty third against Princeton in West Claremont. And
keep in mind that this is part of kind of
a spur in recruiting success for Kentucky. Could be coincidental,

(07:06):
could be. I don't know if it was by design
or what, but so much success since and this is
not a knock on him. Ben Smarrow left for Louisville.
I have no idea why. Again, could just be a coincidence.
But this was a great get for the Wildcats, both
football and basketball, and our football and baseball coming up

(07:28):
in our next hour, we're going to hear this young
man talk about the reaction and the response by Bush
Hampden and Nick Menjeon. He talked of both after he
made his decision, and you can imagine how happy there were.
But he talked about the fact that, at least in
terms of baseball, they've been on this kid for two

(07:49):
or three years. So determination just dogged determination by the
Wildcats to land a big time, big name recruit. And
now look ahead, could this be a quarterback who wins
the starting job and keeps it for two or three

(08:09):
years or more. They it just hasn't happened at Kentucky.
Maybe Boldie will do that at some point. Maybe this
guy will be the heir apparent. And if you worry
so many people when it comes to recruiting, they worry
about quarterbacks. They want their team to sign quarterbacks. And
I'm talking about UK fan. That's all I know, really,

(08:32):
But for decades that I've covered this program, people worry
about the quarterbacks. I don't care who gets the starting job.
They immediately worry about the backup. Maybe he's gonna work,
maybe he's gonna transfer. And in this day and age,
that's a legitimate worry. It's not been that much of
a warrior. It has been in the past because guys

(08:53):
have come in and transferred out, but now with a portal,
the guy didn't win the quarterback job. He's gone a
lot of times. I don't think that happens to this kid,
but maybe because of baseball more than anything. But it's
funny how people do worry about the backup quarterbacks. You
can only play one. You need to have as many

(09:16):
as four on your roster for development, for depth in
case of injuries, but only one is gonna get the
majority of the snaps, the reps, the attention set up
in the front of the classroom in the football building.
So maybe it'll be this guy in a few years.
But a good get for the Wildcats. All right, we'll

(09:37):
talk about Jasper Johnson and Moore and the next segment
coming up at the bottom of the hour, Oscar comes
the great one he created the Cats Paws. We'll talk
about UK sports, our number two, Cam Drummond. We'll talk
with us about recruiting and more. He of course with
a row leader back in a minute six thirty wlap
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider coming up in

(09:58):
just a couple of minutes, Oscar Combs of Cat's Paws
fame will join us. Oscar built The Cat's Pause back
in nineteen seventy six. It was the most popular probably
still is fan magazine of its kind, but of course,
with the hard copies basically going away, they still print it.

(10:18):
But you know, back in the day it was like
a newspaper tabloid, and it was the most widely circulated
fan magazine of its kind, and so many different magazines
took over basically or tried to match the Cats Paws,
you know, fan magazines essentially for Division I schools. They

(10:40):
looked at the success of Oscar Combs in The Cat's
Paws and started printing their own and they became very
popular all over the country. But the Cat's Paws was
the role model. And at one point The Cat's Paws
had a subscriber in Russia that was so great. I

(11:01):
mean many overseas UK fans who had relocated. But I
remember when I read or heard that there was a
fan in Russia that got the Cat's Pause, and you know,
it got there a week or two late, but they
didn't care. And you know, we talked about recruiting the
kid who signed out of Cincinnati Moler in our first segment.
That's basically one of the great ways that The Cat's

(11:24):
Pause made its bones was recruiting news. They went heavily
on the recruiting news, and people were under the misimpression
that that's a word, the mistaken impression. I should say
that it had something to do officially directly with UK Sports.
It did not. Oscar had a good relationship with UK

(11:46):
wasn't perfect. I mean, he clashed with him now then.
But if it's a UK based publication, they're not allowed
to go with recruiting news, the inside info. And I
will tell you that at one point back in the
I guess it had to be in the nineties, there
was a guy who decided he would create a magazine

(12:08):
to compete with The Catch Pause. I spoke to the
guy and he really thought that there was room for
competition with the Cats Paws. But his idea was he
had some friends on the inside at UK Athletics and
they would be tied to UK. And I said, well,
that's the end of that. And I had to explain

(12:30):
to him. I had to explain to this guy, you're
not going to get it done because you're not going
to be able to report as well on recruiting. You're
gonna have to wait until UK officially announces. So UK
can't officially announce anything about this kid from Cincinnati till
he signs. That's what I told this guy back in

(12:51):
the day. I said, you cannot compete with the Cat
Pause without really good, strong recruiting info, and the idea
for that magazine never took hold. So it's always been
the Cats Paws up until you know, several years ago
when the Internet took hold, and now there's tons of
websites with recruiting info, but the Cats Paws set the standard.

(13:14):
And we'll talk with Oscar about UK football and basketball
coming up. But as I mentioned earlier, it ordinarily would
be the headline of Jasper Johnson, a new Wildcat, winning
a gold medal with Team USA in Switzerland the FOEBA
Under nineteen Men's World Cup beat Germany one oh nine

(13:36):
seventy six, finished the tournament seven to zero, and Team
USA winning its ninth gold medal at the FOEBA Under
nineteen World Cup. Jasper averaged eight points, one and a
half assists one and a half rebounds. And the key
here is he's a wing. Of course, shot forty six

(13:58):
percent from the field forty from three point range at
three pointers in four out of seven contests. And I
bring that up because one of the questions on this
guy has been, yes, he can get to the hoop
with terrific athletic ability, but can he shoot. That's something

(14:22):
that this team's upcoming team for Mark Pope, really needs.
There's not going to be a Kobe Brea type shooter
on this team. There just isn't. Because Kobe Brea, I
don't know if he was a once in a generation
kind of shooting shooter, but he's a guy who is
as good as a guy in the college basketball And

(14:47):
how many times did he come up with a huge
three for the Wildcats. He was insane And they do
not have somebody like that, and it's probably not fair.
It's definitely not fair to expect anybody to shoot that way.
But they've got to find shooters on this team, and

(15:08):
you've got to wonder if he's one of them. Is
Jasper Johnson one of the guys who can shoot the
basketball well enough to take the pressure off the front
line guys for the Wildcats, so at least he showed
against you know, it's not SEC competition, but it's quality competition.

(15:29):
He can play at that level. And I really was
curious about about whether or not Malechi Marino. I thought
he would make the team, but I really wondered what
it would be like if Malachi Marino were also on
the team. He supposedly was doing extremely well before he

(15:53):
got hurt, and still no word yet on what that
injury was. Speaking to Kobe Brea and I mentioned last
week when there was a seven team trade potentially I
always checked to see for ex Wildcats, and yup, Kobe
BRA's part of that seven teams in that record setting

(16:14):
deal over the weekend, involving primarily Kevin Durant now with
the Houston Rockets. But it wasn't quite that simple, was it.
Kevin Durant leaves Phoenix, goes to Houston. Six other teams involved,
and one of them Phoenix picks up Kobe Brea. He

(16:36):
had been with the Warriors, was the forty first team
player taken in the NBA Draft, but Golden State has
traded his draft rights to Phoenix, so now he plays
alongside Devin Booker. If he can make the squad and
guess what, there's another ex Wildcat involved a du the

(16:58):
Arro who is listed as a guard, but his draft
rights went from the Nets to the Lakers. The arrow
was taken ahead of Kobe Brea, thirty six player taken overall.
Lakers could use some help, So it's weird. Phoenix, Houston,
Golden State, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Lakers, and Minnesota. You know, draft rights, money,

(17:26):
future draft picks. But the key was Kevin Durant. Phoenix
picked up two players plus draft rights to another guy
and another draft pick draft picks from Golden State Minnesota.
Actually another player from Atlanta. Phoenix made the most moves,

(17:50):
but in trading Kevin Durant to Houston picked up Kobe
Brea's rights. So I'll keep an eye. We'll keep an
eye on that for you know, a lot of you
don't really care about the NBA, but I like to
keep an eye on the X Wildcats. Up next, Oscar
Combs And if you watch the Wimbledon coverage over the weekend,

(18:11):
you might have heard this sound bite. Listen for the
champagne cork pop and then the warning from the announcer.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
Thank you ladies, and judgment.

Speaker 4 (18:21):
If you could avoid opening bosses of champagne when the
players are about to serve. Come on, I love that swarm.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
It's the most Wimbledon warning you've ever heard.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
They got it right. That has got to be the
most Wimbledon thing that could happen. A champagne cork and
I enhance the audio pops and they get a stern warning.
The Big O is up next year on the Big
Blue Sider six point thirty WLAP welcome back to the
Big bluon Sider joining us now is a longtime friend
of the show, though Oscar combs in terms of being

(18:51):
on the air, it's been a minute, you know. You
and I had lunch with a bunch of guys the
other day. People might have seen this on Twitter or Facebook.
We were posting pictures. We had a great kind of
a reunion of a lot of guys who worked in
this market, with the Ralph Hacker and Jim Host and
John Clay and Tom Leach. That was a good time
in lunch the other day, wasn't it.

Speaker 5 (19:11):
It certainly was. Nick. I got to look at the
picture the next thing that kind of you know, that's
one of those pictures you never know if you'll be
able to make it again or not.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (19:22):
Yeah, I was looking around the table and you know,
there were several of us in our eighties, but the
ones that weren't in their eighties were definitely in their
sixties and up. So, but it's a great crew. It
is really great to see Tom Divine. I had to
see him in four or five years. That's real old
school there.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
Tom Devine, for you folks, was our UK radio network
engineer for years and years and was the chief engineer
at WVLK Radio and is retired now. But you know,
Ralph Hacker stays in touch with him, and so his
daughter drives him into town every once in a while
and we have a chance to sit down and just

(20:01):
tell stories. And I got to think an oscar like
you know, it's looking at that picture, I thought, you know,
think about the ball games and the players and the
coaches that everybody at that table witnessed. Kyle Macy was there,
Tom Leach because people forget they shouldn't. Kyle was part
of our radio network for you know, seven or eight years.
So just you know, thinking about the moments that we've

(20:23):
all witnessed throughout the history of not just UK sports,
but Kentucky sports dating back, you know, to the fifties.
Pretty amazing.

Speaker 5 (20:34):
I think that Crew Holvey Gavis could publish a book,
each one writing one long chapter. Yeah, yeah, you could
get a lot of things. Even Joe Terry. You know,
now most people don't know who Joe Terry is, but
even sort right in the mix of that because he
was always involved with Raup and Jim House putting things together.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
Financial attorney, Yeah yeah, and uh and like a lot
of attorneys basically you know, could tell a lot of
stories but really can't.

Speaker 5 (21:04):
But uh, well, but you know, when you're entire you
can do what you want.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
Well, that's true, that's true. Uh. And I bring that
up really because, uh, you you tweet a lot. You know,
you're you're able to stay right in the middle of things.
But you had a really good one the other day
and you wrote about the fact you tweeted about the
fact that if you look at where UK fans were,
the big Boon nation was maybe three or four years

(21:29):
ago with regard to where Kentucky football was and where
Kentucky basketball was, and now it's been a complete one eighty,
which you know speaks to the cycles of sports. But
I think with UK it's it's even more interesting because
of the long time struggles of UK football and you've
been witnessed to that. Uh, But it wasn't that long

(21:50):
ago that Mark Stoops was the toast of the town
and the UK basketball coach was was under fire. Interesting
how quickly it turns around as.

Speaker 5 (22:00):
It it doesn't take long, Dick. And it's a matter
of perception of fans, like they perceive you to be
this bad or they proceed you to be going to
be this good. And we got a lot of that
going into this season right here. And you know, no
one expected Stupents to have a last two years that
he had, but he had them. Man, you know, has

(22:23):
had good a really good run here. And but I
think you also have to give it a lot of
the credit to Bitch Barnhart because he has done a
terrific scheduling over the last ten fifteen years in football.
And you got to when you're playing eight SEC teams
a year out of twelve, and then your one non

(22:44):
conference game that's loigal, which is you know, SEC caliber too,
and so you've got to navigate some of those things
to catch people down a little bit at the right time,
and it's not easy in Kentucky football now.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
And then you go back bit longer than I do
with Kentucky football, and I get a sense that some
of the younger fans tire of people like you and
me when they hear us say, well, it wasn't that
long ago, and it really it kind of was, but
it wasn't that long ago that six or seven wins
was something to celebrate, and now people are unhappy about that,

(23:21):
you know. But as I said, people seem to be
tiring of that. I don't know if that's fair or not,
because I don't know about you, but I don't think
he seces been as tough as it is now. This
is the toughest has ever been. You know.

Speaker 5 (23:35):
Well, you know, we go back there day and we're
talking about a ten team league. Yeah, you know, and
back then we played five league games and eventually sixth
fleet games. But it was I think it was around
Jerry Clayburn's last year, which would have been around eighty
eight or eighty nine, and they went to six fleet games.

(23:56):
So you could schedule a little bit better. But it's
just the way that you know, follow the trail of
the dollar and you'll get it, and they add a game,
and you know now they're talking about adding a thirteenth game. Well,
you know, with TV coming in and athletes getting money,
there's one group of people don't want to get shut
out of this, and none of the administrators coaches want

(24:17):
to take any of their money out of it. So
if they go in and say we got to play
a thirteenth game and just say, okay, where them win?

Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah? Yeah? Are you in favor of adding an SEC game?

Speaker 5 (24:33):
It depends on which hand I'm wearing today. I had
a Kentucky fan, Absolutely not. But you know it could
get to the fore Phercey say okay, we're going to
add another teach another game Kentucky or Vandervelt, or you
don't want to play it, find FIGN you another conference,
and we know that can't happen. So I think it's

(24:56):
going to happen where I want it to or not.
I think it makes can Tucky's challenged to both qualify
even tougher because you get to thirteen games, you know
you're gonna have to win at least seven, and I
think that number is going to go Updick, because I
think that the Bowl's going to start falling by the wayside,

(25:16):
and then you're not going to worry about six and
six teams getting into a boat.

Speaker 6 (25:21):
Well.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
See, I wonder about that because ESPN owns so many
of those bull games and they need the programming, you know,
which is why you're seeing teams with losing records in
ball games. Now.

Speaker 5 (25:33):
Yeah, I mean that's the short term of looking at
it and exact. But the same time, they got to
make some money out of it, you know, And I'm
not I mean, sooner or later, I think ESPN then
the Disney is going to self destruction on trying to
gobble up the universe, which they basically have. And it

(25:54):
gets the point now that maybe ninety percent of all
the live television is only esp IN or Diffney, and
I don't think that's good. I really wish that a
couple of other networks were able to get a piece
of a pie, but it doesn't seem to be that way.
I think CBS is getting a little bit on the
Sports network starting this coming.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
Year, yeah, which is great, and I having a little
bit of an affinity I've I've done some work for them,
but I do wonder, yeah, like you about ESPN, uh,
you know, and they've they've had those massive rounds of
layoffs because they've overspent on this and that. But uh,
doing away with ball games I think would be major.
But you know, I think as long as the ratings

(26:35):
are there, but it's embarrassing to watch a ball game
and see a wide shot of the stadium and nobody's there,
you know.

Speaker 5 (26:43):
Yeah, I mean, and I think the fans eventually get
cat and hey, you and I have said you're ten
years ago, which going to say Kentuck's going to go
to eight consecutive bows and about a seventh when they're
going to be tired of We think people have got
tired of it.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
Yeah. I was talking to somebody over the weekend about,
you know, what would constitute success for Kentucky, and you know,
we started talking about the Music City Bowl and I remember,
you know, and you do too. When they first went
to the Music City Bowl, it was great, you know,
on they won and or actually the first one they
went to they lost with Dusty Bonner and all them

(27:21):
and when Whalen got hurt. But when rich Brooks's team
went and then they went again and people were like
really again the Music City Bowl. People complained about going
to a ball game, and you and I covered that
game in nineteen seventy six when Kentucky beat Tennessee and
earned the Peach Bowl. You'd never think about it like that,
would you.

Speaker 5 (27:40):
Well, I'm glad you brought that up, because you know,
as long as you'll be been in, you've got to
go back to Bear Bryant and he's next to life
season in Kentucky, which was nineteen fifty two. From fifty
two to twenty five, I think you're cap Prolitian theory
is over a higher and yet, well, we're still yet

(28:03):
to see anything remotely stember seventy six and seventy seven.
And I mean it's not heavy ten three years that
Stoops had, but there was a lot of niggling their notes.
So you were playing twelve games to get there. Yeah,
And you can't compare you on those two ten wins

(28:23):
seasons with a one in seventy seven.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
Nope, Nope. And you can't compare any with all due respect,
any of those teams to that seventy seven team, which
put so many guys in the NFL, and that was
it's still amazing that they lost one game. Talking Oscar Combs,
a great one he built the Cat's Pause. You can
still follow him on Twitter. Back in a minute on
six thirty WLAP, Welcome back, we're talking to the big

(28:45):
old Oscar Combs and Oscar. Before the break, you mentioned
Bear Bryant, and I think you and I have talked
about this on the radio before, but I did one
to refresh people's memories. You called this to my attention.
I wrote about it on the website. I have shared
this information with other journalists. But when people wonder why
Kentucky football when the fortunes sagged after Bear Bryant left,

(29:10):
it wasn't just a lack of coaching. It wasn't just
a lack of facilities of a blend. Collier was a
great coach and they still fired him, as you know,
but Bear Bryant set in place a recruiting policy that
damaged Kentucky football for years to come. I mean damaged.

(29:31):
You pointed this out to me. Could you give people
a quick synopsis to that? And well, how did you
stumble across that?

Speaker 5 (29:40):
I'd hurried for years, but I couldn't put my finger
on anything. Definity and then an old timer and I
can't remember who it was. I'm ashamed of say, because
he needs to be given credit for it. Tell me, Oscar,
I was working in Harald Laser at the time, And
don't you go back and check the nineteen stick to

(30:01):
Kentucky Media. Turned the page three and read it. And
this was next to the last year that Bright was here.
Not his life, but next to last. And he announced
that there was so much cheating going in at college
football recruiting that he was going to slight up the light.

(30:22):
He was only going to recruit kids from Kentucky. He
would not recruit anyone from any other state unleaded they
were a relative of a Kentucky And it only lasted
two years, the first year in Black and Callie, but
the damage had been done and they never recover from that.

(30:43):
A lot of people say that was his way of
torturing the program going out. I don't believe that. I
think he was sincere that he did it. But I
did not realize that there was that much cheating among
coaches going on in the early fifties.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
Well, I had heard the bear Bryan wasn't the peer either, hadn't.

Speaker 5 (31:04):
You, Well, you know pop called Kettle Black.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yeah, yeah, so, but yeah, you know, I was stunned
when you showed that to me, I still got the
copy of it, and I thought it lasted more.

Speaker 5 (31:17):
Than I've got a couple of copies myself, because even
when I tell it anybody, they don't believe it, and
they have to see the physical evidence.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
Yeah, and I thought it lasted more than a couple
of years. But the ripple effect lasted a long time,
didn't it.

Speaker 5 (31:33):
Yeah, yeah, Blakan only had to see h the year
that come in. It was the second year, and they
got it, but it didn't get the traction, you know that.
It was just there something there that is really hurting out.
What Brian did most of these great players, the honest
He went up to the Atlantic Ocean and got players

(31:55):
come across the water from World War two.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
Oh yeah, the late forty Yeah, yeah, well you.

Speaker 5 (32:02):
Know, I won't say a charity one of the mature,
but a great number of those players come out of Pennsylvania.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
Yeah, you know, you know this. You may have turned
me onto this, but there was a young recruit whose
brother was at the University of Kentucky, and they went
after and had a shot at Joe Namath, which I
thought I was fascinating.

Speaker 5 (32:26):
Yeah, I'd heard a little bit about that. I don't
know the whole story, but yeah, you're right.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Yeah, I did a satellite interview with him. He was
made available by one of the networks and I said,
by the way, he said, yeah, yeah, I looked at Kentucky.
My brother Frank was there. Blah blah blah. You know,
but that would have been really interesting. We're talking to
Oscar Combs, who created the catch pause and has been
a fixture in UK sports many years, a long time
with the UK radio network and seen a lot in

(32:53):
his days, and as we mentioned earlier, tweeted about the
fact that the shoes have kind of switched now to
the other feet, with the Kentucky basketball coach again being
celebrated and the Kentucky football coach being under a bit
of fire. Oscar, I think it's interesting that Mark Stoop's
going to UK media, They're going to SEC media days.

(33:14):
It's kind of back to where he started. You know,
we're going to have to ask him about fighting his
way up and you know, being on the hot now.
Actually when he first got here, there were no questions
about being on the hot seat. He may have to answer,
probably will have to answer a question or two about
that what do you think is going to happen with
them next week at SEC Media Days.

Speaker 5 (33:34):
Well, you know, I've thought a lot about that, and
and twelve thirteen years he's going on right now. But
would we have ever dreamed that first time he was
at the podium and the STT Media Days that he
would be the fourth height paid coach in the ATC
after ten years making almost nine million dollars a year,

(34:00):
and then two years later he's on the hot seat.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
H I.

Speaker 5 (34:06):
You know, he's got a challenge this year. I don't
think he's ever had of this nature, and it is
you're looking at schedule where, in my opinion, if he
wins six games, he would be my coach of the
year unless another coach went under the seat. I look
at it right now, and he's got to be three

(34:28):
and one after these first four games. Now, can he
beat O Mins or can he beat South Carolina? If
he loses those two and they're two and two, you
know they're going to go on about six game losing
streak and then that one win on a game down
in the schedule, and that's not a sure thing. If
you're on a six game losing streak and the water

(34:50):
will come out early if they don't get off on
the right foot. And you know, I don't think anyone
questions that, you know, they don't have the depth or
the talent that they had have had the fight five
or six years. So you know, then you then you
circle around the things that have happened in the coaches room. Uh,

(35:13):
coaches changes and you've heard all the Jossneph Brown and everything.
It's just yeah, he's in s fox Hall almost made himself.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
Do you recall when you first started covering UK football
on a regular basis. Was it in the mid seventies
when you created the cast pause seventy six so that
was a glorious time to be covering Kentucky football.

Speaker 5 (35:41):
Yeah, instead, in not just football. In seventy six, Kentucky
goes n I shouldn't have even been there and wanted right,
Kentucky football goes to the Peach Brow and Wednesday in
seventy seven they go ten and one in football and
the basketball team wins the national Championships. That's my first year.

(36:01):
I wish God had retired right then.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yeah, it doesn't get much better back then. But how
much I ask you as I'm wondering We talked about
the great great players on that seventy seventeen, but in general,
especially when Clayburn took over and they kind of backed
up towards mediocrity. How much better is SEC football in
general compared to that period in the seventies.

Speaker 5 (36:29):
Well, the numbers is the first thing that pops out
of it. Sixteen stead of ten. And when you had ten,
particularly once integration took over in the late sixties, Herybang
and late Thought. There were poor games Kentucky, this Cippy,

(36:51):
this city State.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
And Vanderbin's right.

Speaker 5 (36:54):
So you had the other six, and usually one or
two of them were, you know, a little up and down. Alabama,
l s. U. Auburn was always going to be up there,
and then right behind them, I guess you would say
Georgia and Florida, But Florida wasn't very good for a
long long time. Spurriyer brought them out of it, So

(37:15):
it wasn't it wasn't you know, murders Row back then.
But now you've got all these into it, and the
money attracted all of them. I'm sure Oklahoma would rather
be in the Big twelve, uh, if they could be
there with the other big boys. But yeah, take Oklahoma.

(37:37):
How would you feel you're an Oklahoma fan having all
the say they had in the sixty seventies and eighties,
I mean Nebraska and Oklahoma and texts and first early
on it was just Nebraska and Oklahoma because you had
the Big Eight and then the Southwest Conference.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
Can know a whole lot about Nebraska. Oh yeah, and
Oklahoma played in the greatest game ever.

Speaker 5 (38:03):
You know that was a conference A member the kid
I remember as the kids, that's the one game that
ABC would curry every year.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 5 (38:12):
And man, I mean it was you know, it was Kentucky.

Speaker 1 (38:15):
Loyal, yep, yep. But on a national scale, so great.
But yeah, you know, things have changed for better and worse,
and as they change. Oscar Combs is there to document things.
You can follow him on Twitter or ex at Wildcat News. Oscar,
thank you so much. We'll talk again soon, I.

Speaker 5 (38:33):
Hope, pleasure, Dick, you have a good day.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
Up next to NUR number two, Cam Drummond of The
Hero Leader, we'll hear him talk a little bit of
recruiting and other things. Also, Johnny Bench tells the story
of when he first met Mickey Mantle, which is a
great one. And Rick Barry Hall of Fame basketball player
talking about what if he played today? Really interesting answer

(38:56):
that had more coming up on six point thirty. Wlapattattention,

(39:32):
Pat Donatu, Welcome back to the Big One. Insider joining

(40:47):
us now Cameron Drummond of The Hero Leader. Kind of
a renaissance man. I like to say it covers UK basketball,
horse racing, soccer, much much more, uh for Kentucky dot
com and the newspaper. And why don't we start Cameron?
You you're right about recruiting as well. Talk about this
off the top of the show. But the kid up
in Cincinnati Punitawski signs with Kentucky could be a first

(41:11):
round pick in baseball and a quarterback that always sets
the tongues a wagon. How surprised should we be by this?

Speaker 4 (41:21):
Well, I think there's some positive momentums here and obviously
I know folks may not be having the most optimistic
got to look at the Kentucky football program at the moment,
and obviously a lot of what they do during this
upcoming twenty twenty five season will be kind of what
reinvigorates the fan base or potentially gives fans something to
look forward to for the future. But you mentioned getting

(41:42):
a commitment from a two sport athlete like Puntinoski. I
think that's gonna be a name that all Kentucky fans.
You may have the rehears a couple of times before
they talk about it, but I mean, he's a true
four star prep quarterback out of Ohio. Obviously, Kentucky has
not had the best success in the Mark Stoops air
when it comes to having starting quarterbacks that were initially

(42:03):
signed as high school recruits to the Wildcats. Obviously, a
lot of transfer portal activity has made up the bulk
of the recent players under center for the Wildcats. But
this guy, punt has really impressed. He was at the
Elite eleven camp for some of the best prep quarterbacks
in the country just a few weeks ago. Seemed to
show really well in that, not only with his arm

(42:24):
speed I think he hits ninety seven ninety eight on
the gun as a baseball pitcher, but just being able
to fit in some balls into tight windows and taking
some risks from behind center. So I think you know
that gives you some positive momentum. Just getting a commitment
in this kind of early in the cycle. And having
that quarterback piece to build everything else around him, whether
that's offensive line, running back, wide receiver, just the kind

(42:46):
of style of play that you can envision potentially playing
around a guy like Pantanoski. I think that's a very
good thing. And I think that in a time where
Kentucky football needs all the kind of wins that can
get both on the field and in the media and
in perception and all that stuff, it'll never hurt to
get a really talented quarterback nice and early in the cycle.

Speaker 1 (43:05):
Yeah, no question about that. And you know, I've talked
a lot of lately about Drew Barker because you know,
when you look at the Kentucky quarterback situation and a
Wildcats have had some really good luck with transfers, not
just Will Levis, but Stephen Johnson and Terry Wilson, but
going you know, when's the last time they signed a
quarterback local or otherwise who stuck around for them to

(43:27):
develop and become, you know, a two or three year
starter as somebody off the recruiting trail. And you know,
Barker was supposed to be the answer. His injury set
that that portal door if you will transfer a situation spinning,
and you know, you wonder, is Cutter Bully the guy
who can break that cycle? And you know, yeah, I'll

(43:49):
get his name right at some point Pona Toski could
figure into that as well. But it makes a huge difference,
doesn't it.

Speaker 4 (43:58):
Yeah, well, I mean you mentioned Drew Barkers there. I
believe he was the last quarterback that Kentucky signed as
a high school recruit who started you know, opening day,
the first Saturday in the fall, and that's all the
way back in twenty sixteen. So we're going back on
a decade of that now and again, you know, plenty
to be seen both in Ponatowski's development and just you
know what kind of QB room, what kind of situation

(44:21):
he walks into by the time he, I guess, hopefully
for Wildcat fans, arrives in Kentucky, you know, assuming that
the the MLB Draft doesn't appeal to him and that
doesn't come calling. But still right now, he's I believe
number twenty one in the country in the twenty twenty
sixth class. From the two four seven Sports composite. You
mentioned Cutter Bowley, you know, he you know, we'll see
what his development looks like as well, he's probably not

(44:41):
starting game one this year, obviously having Ponatowski in the
same room as him ahead of the twenty twenty sixth
season in iron Sharpen's iron kind of mentality. But then
all of a sudden, you might be looking out of
Kentucky quarterback room that might be majority filled with talented,
true high school recruits rather than transfer portal guy, and
that certainly would be a change of pace from what

(45:02):
we've become accustomed to here in Lexington.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
Not to mention Nick Benjiones got to be smiling because
this kid wants to play two sports? Why not?

Speaker 5 (45:10):
Oh? Absolutely?

Speaker 4 (45:11):
I mean anytime you can see someone who's going to
be potentially entering your program. I believe he hit four
sixty two last season in twenty seven games up at
Archbishop Mueller and Cincinnati. Yeah, that'll play pretty well in
the SEC.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
Figure yeah, you gotta figure that. And just keeping with
football for not a minute or two. But we're learning
about these kids who have come in a huge transfer
portal class, which is obviously something they needed. But it's
been interesting, Cameron. I think the momentum Kentucky has suddenly
picked up in recruits for twenty twenty six, and I

(45:45):
don't know, do you think it's a coincidence that all
of this kind of happened right after the big Dog left?

Speaker 4 (45:51):
Well, I think it's interesting, and I think it's obviously
something that Kentucky certainly needed, because I think you talked
to a lot of fans. Kentucky football backers are not
and they would probably assume that the sky was falling
and Lexington based on the fallout from Vince Merrow shifting
allegiances from Blue to red. But I think specifically in
the wide receiver's room, I think with Damien Washington deserves
a lot of credit. I think you've seen a lot

(46:13):
of nice recruits picked up in the wide receiver Obviously
the kid who flipped from Auburn kind of leaving the
way there, and you know, maybe just some fresh blood
in that offensive recruiting room in particular have helped things
out for the Wildcats. And look, I mean it's no
secret that last year was such a disappointment, both in
the locker room, on the field, fan perception, you know,
just all of those things that Kentucky need you to

(46:35):
kick some things in gear. And obviously you don't win games,
you know, you don't make bowls or do anything like
that just by picking up recruiting winds. But having that
kind of positive momentum here in the summer months, especially
after the reaction and the blowback to Marrow leaving and
you know, fans just kind of thinking that maybe this
program was mired in a bit of quick saying that
they're going to struggle to get out from that's nothing

(46:55):
but a positive for Kentucky. And obviously the proof will
be in the pudding later this year. But I think
particularly Damien Washington needs a shout out for some of
the wide receiver talent he seems to be bringing in
the Lexington and especially if these guys can work in
concert with the likes of a Cutter Bowlie, the likes
of a Matt Kwinnatowski. You know, obviously you see what
Zach Calzada looks like for his final college season upcoming

(47:16):
this year. But there's a little bit more talent coming
into the Kentucky football ranks, and I think people maybe
would have expected given the Marrow news not too long ago.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
Speaking of wide receivers, I've been looking at Obviously, everybody
knows the old line needs to really get a lot
better in a hurry, and they've they've signed a lot
of kids to that end. I'm really curious now, Cameron
about that wide receiver room, given the fact that Barrion
Brown's gone, Dan Key is gone, and they were both
terrific players, but you know, there just seemed to be

(47:47):
something a little off about that situation. And now you know,
you've got the new position coach, You've got a new
cast of characters in there that piques my interest as
much as any you know on this football team.

Speaker 4 (48:00):
I mean, I think you know number one in this
regard has to be Jamory Macklin as well, because we
know the town he has. We know what he was
able to do both in the SEC at Missouri and
specifically at North Texas before his arrival in Kentucky. And
last year was just such a confusing year for him
because we knew the town he had, We knew the
way that Kentucky wanted to feature him as a consistent
big play threat, yet we didn't see that until very

(48:22):
late in the season, more or less after the season
was kind of already decided. You know, the dice was
already cast for Kentucky, so getting him involved nice and early,
you know, making him such a featured part of the offense,
and you think about maybe some of the other returners
as well. Freed Ferrier was another guy who popped a
little bit, and you know, you figure we'll have some
opportunities this year. Obviously hardly Gilmore coming back after you know,

(48:44):
breaking up to Nebraska for a little bit. You know,
this is a really interesting room. And you know, I
mentioned La'damian Washington, who I feel like has done a
really good job on the recruiting trail in a pretty
short amount of time. He was only hired what three,
four or five months ago before coming to Kentucky and
really you know, get boots on the ground in Lexington.
But yeah, I agree with you. I think a wide
receiver kind of immediately pops off the page as one

(49:06):
of the more interesting rooms, interesting player groups for this
Kentucky team for next season, especially since you figured they'll
have to do a little bit of work to pick
up for an offense that will need some big plays,
some skills, and some breakout moments to really get them
in scoring position.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
One other football question, what do you think it's going
to be like next week when Marx Tubes goes down
to SEC media days because he's kind of run the
gauntlet as a head coach when he was a new guy,
you know what. You know, he got the perfunctory what's
it lug being a football coach at a basketball school,
you know, and then he starts winning and they start
asking him for a secret to success, and then he

(49:42):
gets to start talking about guys like Josh Allen and
Benny Snell and Will Levis and now the pendulum swung
the other way. What do you think that's going to be?

Speaker 6 (49:50):
Like?

Speaker 4 (49:52):
Well, media days is always interesting because so many people
identify that as a time to, you know, build a
hope within your fan base. And you mentioned he's kind
of gone through the cycle of all right, new guy
at the basketball school. Then he has success, and he's
kind of, you know the talk of media days or
a guy that people are looking forward to listening to,
and now all of a sudden he's gonna have to
kind of build things up a little bit. So, you know,
I think Kentucky fans honestly would like to see a

(50:14):
lot of energy, you know, some just really positive enthusiasm.
You know, maybe some of the old cliches have kind
of worn stain a little bit over the years, So
I think it'll be interesting to see what he does.
I believe it's down in Is it Atlanta this year?

Speaker 5 (50:26):
For me today is Atlanta?

Speaker 4 (50:27):
Yeah, And obviously there's there's plenty of personality to go
around in the SEC.

Speaker 6 (50:31):
You know.

Speaker 4 (50:32):
I don't think you'll have to ask to probing of
a question to get a good quote from the likes
of to Freeze or Laye Kiffin or anyone like that,
so or Brian Kelly, you know. So I'll be interested
to see kind of what Stoops does down there, and
especially just the way that he's gonna try and frame
what's honestly been a bit of a trying off season
for his program and get folks, you know, fans donors
all that kind of rally the troops and get him

(50:53):
back on the side. Here ahead of the twenty five season, talking.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
To Cameron Drummond of The Hero Leader. We'll come back
and talk basketball and golf on the other side of
the break here on six point thirty WLAP Welcome back.
We're talking with Cameron Drummedy covers Kentucky Sports UK Sports.
It is horse racing, soccer, golf for the Hero leader.
And you've been following and writing about Jasper Johnson. Boy,
what an off season? Easy, Well, there is no off season.

(51:18):
But now he's a gold medalist that bowes well for
the Wildcats. I gotta think, yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:23):
Second gold medal actually as well. He picked up one
last summer at a lesser competition. So Jasper Johnson the
income in Kentucky guard obviously originally from Versailles, son of
Dennis Johnson. All that stuff's been well catalog. He won
a gold medal last summer with USA Basketball taking part
in the FOBA America Cup, which is more of a
localized event with Central America, South America, the Caribbean, North America,

(51:45):
that kind of stuff. But now we'll be coming Alexington
to begin this freshman season with a gold medal from
the big event, the FOEBA U nineteen World Cup. Of
the US absolutely dominated the event when a perfect seven
to zero closest game was a real hard thought went
over Canada and the quarter finals, but they caused off
Germany by more than thirty points in Sunday's gold medal

(52:05):
championship game. Jasper Johnson was a very solid role player
contributor for this US team that featured a ton of
top incoming freshmen into college basketball, the likes of CoA
Pete aj Debantsa, the top ranked recruit, as well as
several class of twenty twenty six players, including four guys
that have Kentucky scholarship offers. Tyron Stokes, the Louisville native

(52:26):
most notable among that group. But Jasper was very solid
in the event. Averaged eight points, a lot less than
two assists, a little bit more than one rebound in
about fifteen minutes per game. Obviously, he's a guy who
USA Basketball really liked for his shooting ability, it's floor
spaving ability, a lot of the same qualities that Mark
Pope and the Wildcats will be expecting him to translate

(52:47):
to the college level next season. And this event was
also notable because Mark Pope served as one of the
court coaches during the USA training camp. When they selected
the twelve players for this under nineteen team, there was
a group of I believe thirty two we were thirty
three that began the out process, which also included incoming
Wildcat Malati Moreno and Pope, along with several other top

(53:07):
college coaches Hubert Davis, NATO's Tommy Lloyd of Arizona, who
was actually the head coach for the World Cup team,
all met up in Colorado Springs last month to help
identify players, put them through drills and stuff like that.
Not only did I give Mark Pope a little bit
of extra time with Jasper and Malati in a different
setting with USA Basketball, it also gave him a chance

(53:27):
to coach and tuteligit mentor some of these other recruits
who are in the twenty sixth class, even the twenty
seven class who Kentucky have scholarship offers out to the
likes that I mentioned, Kyron Stokes, Caleb Holt, even Kay Kenney,
the Northern Kentucky native who previously played at Newport. So
a lot of good exposure and experience both for coach

(53:48):
and player when it comes to this USA Basketball event
for the Kentucky Wildcats. And yet Jasper will be coming
home with his second gold medal, so I'm sure he'll
be able to flex from his teammates a little bit
with it.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
You know, when Pope was hired, the first question was, well,
he's never won on a postseason You knew that that
was I thought that was an anomaly, and you knew
he had a great shot when you were in Kentucky
of winning at least one game in a postseason. But
I heard people say, well, Kenny recruit at this level.
And my response to that was, are you kidding me?
You know, with his kind of energy and the UK

(54:20):
brand behind him, none of this surprises me. I got
to think it hasn't surprised you the success he's had
on a recruiting trail.

Speaker 4 (54:28):
Well, I think the energy is kind of the optimal
word there. And you know, you talk to a lot
of these kids and you know, sometimes it's just lip
service and they're saying nice things about schools, but when
you ask them about Kentucky and about Mark Pope in particular,
their eyes really do let up, and they do specifically
talk about the energy that he has both when conducting
in home visits and meeting with them and their parents,
but also when he gets them in those no film sessions,

(54:50):
both himself and some of his assistant coaches Jason hart
Tody Seeger, Alvin Brooks. You know, these guys love diving
into film with players, and Mark Pope always seems to
really exude such positive energy, positive reinforcement, and that seems
to really be something that recruits latch onto. Obviously, he's
got a pair of five stars coming in this current
class with Malachi and Jasper. Don't have any twenty twenty

(55:12):
sixth commitments yet, but one could come as soon as
July eighteenth, which is when Jason Crow Junior, one of
the top guards in the twenty and twenty sixth class,
is said to announce his college commitment. Him and his
family have a very close relationship with the aforementioned Jason
Hart from Jason Hart's time just growing up playing basketball
and being around that scene in southern California. So Kentucky

(55:33):
could have a twenty twenty sixth commitment in just a
few weeks here. But yeah, to your point, Post's pitch
seems to really be resonating with five star prospects. I
will say that the last thing that Post kind of
has to do, the last box he needs to check
in this regard, would be getting in that kind of
big five star, one and done NBA draft talent from
a national perspective. Obviously, Moreno and Jasper had those Kentucky ties,

(55:56):
but he does have one of those this year already,
with Jayden quayins that he acquired via the transfer right.
So either way, it seems like Kentucky's pretty destined to
have some strong recruited success under Pope and also have
that first round draft pick for the first time under
Pope just as soon as next season. With jayde Quainton talking.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
To Cameron Drumming of the Hero Leader a few minutes
left with Cam as I mentioned, he also covers golf
and he'll be covering the twenty to twenty five ISCO Championship.
Used to be the Barbasol event. It has moved from
Keene Trace over to Louisville, but not Valhalla right.

Speaker 4 (56:27):
Nope, It'll be at Hurstborn Country Club in Louisville, so
a slightly longer drive for all of us from Lexington.
You know, I'm kind of envious of the fact. I
don't know if I appreciated the short twenty minute drive
to Nicholasville as much as I should have during the
Barbersol in last year when it rebranded as THEISCO.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
It's gonna be interesting to see how the Hurstbourne course plays.
What do you know about it?

Speaker 4 (56:50):
Yeah, so private member owned club built in the nineteen sixties.
I believe Chick Adams was the original Designer takes up
two hundred and forty three acres. It's gonna be playing
playing as a par seventy this week. Just taking a
look at some of the initial pin placements and course
you know layouts, looks like it's going to be interesting
from a scoring perspective because at teen trace the Barbersol

(57:12):
Splash Isco was known as an absolute birdy fest. I
believe last year it's set the record for the lowest
cut ever in like a true thirty six hole PGA
Tour stroke player event. I think the cut was minus
eight last year. So this year at Hersborne, playing as
a par seventy, only two par five's on the entire course,
I believe. That's whole seven in a whole ten, I think,

(57:33):
but a lot of par three's, a lot of par fours.
And this will be the first time that Herstborn is
ever featured on the PGA Tour as well, So you know,
obviously Keen Trades was not exactly the most stern examination
from a scoring perspective, but still coming down the stretch
on a Sunday, and especially the way at the Isco
works as a dual field event with DP World Tour
players because it occurs at the same time as the

(57:55):
Scottish Open ahead of next week British Open. Just simply
you get a lot of guys down the stretch usually
haven't won a PGA Tour event before, haven't won a
DP World To event before, and they got real nervous
playing sixteen seventeen and eighteen eighteen Trace. You know, I
think I've covered it three straight years, and two of
the three years it went to a playoff, and the
one year that it didn't have required like a twenty

(58:18):
eight foot par or Birdie put on eighteen to.

Speaker 5 (58:20):
Win the event.

Speaker 4 (58:21):
So I'll be curious to see how Hersborn plays in
general obviously, but in particular on Sunday. You know, will
you still get that kind of nerves coming down the stretch.
I'm sure they'll be there, but will the course be
able to punish you in a way that eighteenth and
eighteen Trace was able to do.

Speaker 5 (58:36):
But one hundred and fifty.

Speaker 4 (58:37):
Six players field like usual, some really interesting names obviously,
a ton of guys with Kentucky connections. I think JB.
Holmes will be the guy that jumps off the pace
for a lot of people. The Campbellsville native former Ryder Cupper,
five time winner on tour. He's in on a sponsors exemption,
hasn't played a tour event, that's right. Yeah, you know
stand Out or Taylor County and then Kentucky hasn't played

(58:57):
a tour event since last October. So I think he'll
have a really strong reporting section gallery and I'll be
fascinated to kind of catch up with him a little
bit in some of the media settings and figure out
what he's been up to and just where he's at
with his game and in his life right now.

Speaker 1 (59:11):
I don't know where his game is, but where it was.
He was one of the longest hitters on the tour
and it was amazing watching him t off. But you know,
born and raised as I was in Louisville, I remember
when Hurstbourne grew up as a subdivision. So that course
is kind of tucked into that area, you know, with
all the homes around. It remind me a little bit

(59:32):
of Andover. Maybe not quite a snug, but that's going
to be interesting. You know a lot of people watch
him from the back porch.

Speaker 4 (59:39):
Yeah, i'st say you think about any of these PGA
Tour events that happened, and of course that's of the
style of Hurstborn, tucked into a subdivision surrounded by houses
and keing Trace had a little bit of this as
well in Nicholasville, but yeah, that is most walking down. Yeah,
not quite as much, but you know he's walking down
the Ferryway and you see him. You know, people having
little gatherings in their yard, or if you're lucky enough

(59:59):
to have, like you know, a second or third story
balcony that's positioned just right, you know you'll be able
to just walk outside your window and watch some championship
level golf and small indications, it seems like ticket sales
have been registering really well for this year's disco, especially
in comparison some of the previous years in Nicholasville. Hospitality packages,
corporate packages, all that kind of stuff. Something they'll have

(01:00:20):
a lot of activations with sponsors, whether that's in the
in the Bourbon Tequila line of things, or just cool
things for the family to do and hang out on
the course properties. So it's never a bad thing when
the PJA tour stops in the town, and Kentucky continues
to have an annual stop on the tour as well,
and based on conversations I've had with j Monahan, the
outgore going commissioner of the tour, and some other senior leadership.

(01:00:42):
It seems like Kentucky is here to stay on the
PGA Tour in terms of having a consistent year of
a year event and hersborn should be getting it for
the next few years.

Speaker 1 (01:00:51):
He is Cameron Drummond Seed Drummond ninety seven on Twitter
or ex Thank you, sir, and we'll talk to you
down the road.

Speaker 5 (01:00:58):
It sounds great, Dick, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
Up next to guy who is a true superstar in
both the ABA and the NBA. Talks about what if
he were playing today in today's NBA. Somebody asked him
how he might fare well. Hear about Rick Berry in
just a minute, All the Big Blue and Siders six
thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue and Sider.

(01:01:21):
Earlier you heard from Matt Panatowski and by the way,
this was a courtesy of WLWTTV up in Cincinnati talking
about his decision, his family's reaction to him choosing Kentucky.
This is the four star kid who was a great quarterback,
great baseball player, is going to try to play both
and somebody from one of the TV stations up there.

(01:01:44):
Asked him about the reaction of the Kentucky coaches because
he informed both the football staff and the baseball staff
that he would become a wildcat, you know, and you
forget about that. These kids have to tell the other
schools no thank you, which is always tough. I've interviewed
a lot of kids you have talked about how difficult
that is because they build these relationships over multiple years

(01:02:09):
and maybe they changed their minds at one point. So
the tough thing is calling and saying no thank you.
But then they get to call the happy coaches. And
he talked about what it was like when he made
the phone call coach Hampden.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
I don't know what he did on the other side
of the phone, but it sounded super fun and I
wanted to be a part of it. He was super excited,
and he texted me and my family after and it
was kind of special for me because he told me
it was one of the better days in his football
career so far, So it was special for me to,
you know, have that moment with him and Coach Minch

(01:02:45):
was he was also super excited, and Coach Mench kind
of just let me have the football, have the football
kind of take over and let the baseball kind of
play out. I think, you know, he did his part
early in January, back when I took my official visit,
and you know, he put on a phenomenal official vision
and I think he trusted that what he did there
was going to carry over. And you know, once football,

(01:03:07):
you know, kind of took my recruiting by storm. Like
I think he was confident in it. So I don't
think he was too surprised. He was super excited at
also not as excited as Coach Hamden, but he was
super excited. You know, I left. How he runs coach
man Drudge's program, you know, is through Christ. And you know,
my family is big on you know, everything happens for
a reason, Everything happens through God. So coach Manja and

(01:03:32):
Coach Hamden and coach Stoops who have all Coach Couzy,
who's helped helped me through my recruitment. Uh, you know,
it's it's where I want to be. It's it's where
I feel where I feel this family. I feel it
in Lexington with that staff. So I can't thank them enough.
They've been on me for you know, almost two and
a half three years now, and you know it's been

(01:03:53):
loved since since the beginning, so you know, showing love
back and we'll make it to Lexington next year.

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
So Bush Hampden gets the call initially for football. I
got to think he talked to Mark Stoops as well.
But Hampden the OC, the quarterbacks coach, and yeah, much
happiness there. And then Nick Benji owned and Austin Kuzeno.
What a pickup for Nick benji Own's staff when he
had an opening. And Kuzeno, of course the best defensive
center fielder in the history of UK baseball, and they

(01:04:23):
have had some really good ones, but Austin won two
Gold Gloves, so you can't top that, and played pro
ball till injuries curtailed his career. Then he became a
scout for the Arrays and then the Tigers one, you know,
or vice versa. But he'd been in lexingon a lot
and kept in touch with a program. So when Nick

(01:04:43):
had an opening, he jumped, and so did Kuzeno, and
so he was one of the guys to recruit this
young man. So yeah, I got to think he's smiling
a lot right now. But I talked to Austin during
the season about the fact that you know, it is
so relentless scouting players as a college coach and recruiting,

(01:05:06):
and he told us he said, during the College World
Series in Omaha, you know, when there were some downtime,
they're calling recruits from Omaha. That's a good thing. Hey,
we're at the College World Series. We think you can
help us get back here. But still you can't slow down.
So they landed a great one potentially. And Matt Ponitowski

(01:05:28):
also talked about the fact that once he decided what
he wanted to do, he said his family was more
nervous than he was.

Speaker 2 (01:05:36):
He was fine, No, I think my family probably a
little more nervous because they kind of set this whole,
you know, this great event up. But for me, it
kind of just came to me.

Speaker 7 (01:05:47):
One day.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
I made the decision about last week, you know, made
twenty eighth fish State, and you know, I called him
and I knew I was going to make the decision
when it just came to me. And that day it
was like, Kentucky's the place to go. Kentucky's where my
heart is. And after that it was kind of relief.
It wasn't you know, pressure like, oh, did I make

(01:06:08):
the right decision?

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
It was relief, and.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
You know that's how I, you know, could tell myself
it was the right decision.

Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
And now Matt Tonatowski can go about enjoying his senior year,
try to get back to another high school football championship
game with Cincinnati Mohler, and get his baseball team beyond
the regional tournament in Cincinnati. So yeah, that was that
was a good get for the Wildcats, no question about that.
Mentioned earlier that Rick Barry is a guy who was

(01:06:38):
quite outspoken, a great player in both the ABA and
the NBA. Played his college ball at Miami and he
did bounce back and forth between the two pro leagues
back in the day. And by the way, he's the
only player to lead the NCAAA, the ABA, in the

(01:07:00):
NBA in scoring during a particular season. He is the
all time ABA scoring leader in a regular season averaged
thirty and a half points per game, and he averaged
thirty three and a half points per game in postseason.
And he played in the NBA Finals for the Golden

(01:07:21):
State Warriors in nineteen seventy five and averaged thirty six
and a half points per game. That's a record in
NBA history, but might be best known for shooting free
throws underhand, and nobody wants to do that anymore. Shot
eighty eight percent in the ABA, ranks number one all time,
ninety percent in the NBA. That was best at his time,

(01:07:44):
at his moment of retirement, nineteen eighty one of the
top fifty players all time. And somebody asked him recently,
what if you were playing today? You know, he played
back then for the Warriors, for the Oak and Oaks,
the ABA, the New York Nets in the ABA, the Rockets,

(01:08:05):
the Warriors, and he is quite outspoken. He's not a
pleasant individual. I met him, but that's part of his
competitive nature. And he talked about what it might be
like if he were playing today. I really loved his answer, Right, Rick,
you guys.

Speaker 8 (01:08:25):
Could play today, I said, yeah, you're mind.

Speaker 9 (01:08:27):
I stually must be on drugs, I Saidteal, much better
I would.

Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
Be if I was playing today.

Speaker 8 (01:08:31):
Seriously, if I had no weightlifting lifting, if we had
no strength coach, no agility coach, we had.

Speaker 9 (01:08:36):
No Dietsu, if we did everything we did nothing to
help us, I'd be faster, stronger, There Moreendoran's jumpire, I'd
be so much better basketball player today than I was
back when I played. The officials to call it by
the rule book.

Speaker 8 (01:08:48):
We stopped the traveling, stopped the carrying the ball, stop
the moving screens, called the damn beam according to the
rule book, because players will adjust. If you're going to
allow him to get away with it, tell well, of
course I'll keep doing it.

Speaker 9 (01:09:00):
Call the game according to the rule.

Speaker 8 (01:09:02):
But it's such an advantage.

Speaker 9 (01:09:03):
Let a guy carry the basketball or take an extra step.

Speaker 8 (01:09:06):
That's ridiculous, you know, or a guy to move on offense.
I mean, what are you giving all this adventasty guys
and they're breaking the rules. Called the game according to
the rule, But I shorted the game a few years
ago Chicago, Atlanta, fifty nine moving screens weren't called fifty nine.

Speaker 1 (01:09:23):
That's insane.

Speaker 8 (01:09:25):
I can't even tell you how many times they carried
the ball, how many times they traveled with the ball.

Speaker 3 (01:09:29):
It's pathetic.

Speaker 8 (01:09:30):
I mean, for me to watch this scheme, the way
I was taught how to play the game, and to
watch this and what they allow to let go, it's
an embarrassment.

Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
I love that answer. It's an absolute embarrassment. He's not
wrong and You see clips every now and then on
Instagram or wherever of NBA athletes taking four steps five
steps to get to the rim, never called, and it's
just ridiculous. Think about how much better he's right, the

(01:10:01):
NBA game would be if they called the game by
the rules. And I'm not just talking about how they
beat each other up, but yeah, carrying the ball, traveling
with the basketball, if they called the game by the rules,
it would be incumbent upon these great athletes than they
are to be even better now if you listen closely

(01:10:25):
to what Barry's saying. It allows them to be sloppy
and to just basically do whatever they want and not
hone their own skills. This guy was so good and
he would beat my Kentucky Colonels oftentimes or I'll play
them even if they're in a losing effort, and it

(01:10:46):
just made me so mad because he was so good.
I got mad the same way about Roger Brown or
the Indiana Pacers. It's almost like he was too good.
It wasn't fair, but that is so cool that he
led and nobody will ever again. Of course, he led
the NCAA, the ABA, and the NBA in scoring at

(01:11:08):
different times, and he married a former UK assistant coach
named Lynn Nornberg, much younger than he, but she was
I think she might have been a GA here at
Kentucky and uh we played racquetball at each other. She's

(01:11:28):
to kick my butt regularly. But she went on to
play for to work for USA Basketball in Colorado. That's
where he lives. I believe they're still married and they
had a son or he may still be at the
University of Florida, named Canyon. Of course, he had other

(01:11:50):
sons who played in the NBA by his first wife,
Brent Barry, John Berry, Drew Berry, Scooter Berry, Scooter ever played,
but he and Lynn had a son named Canyon. And
Lynn played William and Mary by the way, and was
the first female athlete to have her jersey number retired.

(01:12:11):
And while she was working at Colorado Springs met Rick Berry.
They got married and I believe they were still hitched up. Next,
we'll go back to the moment that Mark Pope was
drafted and Rick Pattino was front and center in the
coverage for TNT. I'd forgotten about that. Also a memory
from Johnny Bench involving Mickey Mannel. It's a great story.

(01:12:35):
We're back in a minute here on six thirty WLAP.
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Scrolling through social
media as one does, I came across this clip. Some
of you may have seen or heard it recently, but
somebody dug it out. It was from TNT's coverage of
the nineteen ninety six NBA draft and on the anchored

(01:13:00):
with Ernie Johnson, well ahead of course of the Shaquille O'Neal,
Charles Barkley, Kenny Johnson Show or Kenny Smiths Show way
back in the day. Gosh, that was a long time ago.
Man nineteen ninety six anyhow, was Rick Patino, which was
a great get because he was at his height at Kentucky,

(01:13:21):
had just won a national title and had a team
full of guys. It seemed they were going to be drafted,
and they were Antoine Walker, Tony Delk, Walter McCarty. A
man named Mark Pope was drafted as well off that
Kentucky team, the kid who transferred in from Washington. The
coach out there got fired, Lynn Nance, so Mark looked

(01:13:41):
at another school that it was one of his finalists
was Kentucky. He had actually said no thank you to
Rick Patino signed with you Dub, which at the time
was coached by a former UK Joe Hall assistant, and
Lynn Nance. Lynn Nance was the former FBI agent who
jumped off the bench in Bloomington and wanted to fight
Bobby Knight when Night cuff Joe b in the back

(01:14:04):
of the head. But he didn't get it done at
you Dobby had been in Iowa as well for Iowa State.
So Mark transfers sits out a year at Kentucky you know,
practices with the team. Was on the ninety five team
the lost to NC North Carolina rather in the Elite eight,
and then part of the championship team. And his name

(01:14:25):
pops up on draft night Ernie Johnson, Rick Patino, and
Hubie Brown. And Rick had work for Hubie Brown once
upon a time. Hube of course, he coached the Kentucky
Colonels to their only championship. So here's what it sounded
like back in nineteen ninety six on TNT.

Speaker 10 (01:14:43):
Well, let's go now to rod Thorne, Indiana. With a
pick fifty second pick in the second.

Speaker 11 (01:14:47):
Round, number fifty two, the Indiana Pacers select Mark Pogey
University of Kentucky.

Speaker 10 (01:14:59):
Speaking of doing car there goes Rick Patino. Thank you.

Speaker 6 (01:15:02):
My rosary beads were out of press. Thank you, thank you.
INDI end do I owe you a big favorite because
we're speaking about probably the hottest worker I've ever coached.
I used to say that Billy Donovan.

Speaker 2 (01:15:13):
Was the hottest worker I've ever coach.

Speaker 6 (01:15:15):
That told Mark Pope and is a young man who
if he's going to be eleventh or twelfth man and
make a coach proud.

Speaker 10 (01:15:20):
This is that young man I saw where you were
quoted as saying if he goes to camp, if he
really puts his nose down and really plays the way
he knows he can with confidence, he can make an
enviable well.

Speaker 6 (01:15:30):
He shoots it well at six'. Nine he also runs very.
Well he rases mccaudy in all those runs and finishes
maybe a second behind. Him he's got good low post,
moves and he's just a terrific young man who will
give every ounce of perspiration he. Has i'm very very
happy for Mak.

Speaker 11 (01:15:46):
No i'm happy for, him and also that's a good
pick For Larry.

Speaker 6 (01:15:49):
Brown once, again.

Speaker 1 (01:15:50):
You're getting a perimeter.

Speaker 11 (01:15:51):
Guy when you have a Rich smith's in the hall
and you're coming with second line.

Speaker 1 (01:15:55):
Guys you need people who can shoot the perimeter.

Speaker 6 (01:15:58):
Shot And Mark pope WILL i think may. Do, dude
The Indiana pace is very proud because no one will
outwork this young.

Speaker 9 (01:16:04):
Man.

Speaker 10 (01:16:04):
Sometimes can it be even more satisfying for you as a?
Coach you know some of these guys are going to.
Go you know That ducks and the McCarty's gonna, go
And Antoine walker to See Mark pope.

Speaker 6 (01:16:13):
Go for the last ten, texts my insights was turning
beyond BECAUSE i kept saying to, you beca pope goes
next because his a roode skullar candidate who was a
big part of a championship and deserves legitimate H.

Speaker 8 (01:16:26):
I don't if he doesn't make it with The, paces.

Speaker 6 (01:16:28):
He'll go To europe and be an Outstanding that's Maybe,
greece that's where they're all coming.

Speaker 1 (01:16:31):
From and how pression was that Maybe greece kind of
a throwaway. Line But Rick patino ends up coaching In
greece and in a way resurrected his career coaching. OVERSEAS
i just thought that was pretty. Cool BUT i love hearing.
That and by the, Way Mark pope did not make
the team straight up coming out OF uk ended up

(01:16:53):
playing In turkey his first year of pro, ball but
spent the next two seasons after that playing for The.
Pacers then he went to a minor. League then he
went back overseas and played back In. Turkey what came
back played for The, bucks play for The nuggets for
the last four or five years of his. Career but

(01:17:16):
he did spend the first couple of seasons of his
pro career with The Indiana, Pacers SO i thought that
was pretty. COOL i mentioned before the Break Johnny bench
on The Dan Patrick. Show he told a story about
when he first met the guy who was my first baseball,
Hero Mickey.

Speaker 10 (01:17:34):
Mantle and when did you Meet?

Speaker 7 (01:17:36):
Mantle at a spring training game in nineteen sixty. SIX
i went over and got his autography because you're both From. Oklahoma,
yeah and he was you, know he was. It he
Was Mickey. Mantle that's what inspired me WHEN i was
three years old to Hear Mickey mantle, batting AND i,
said you can be From oklahoma and play in the major.
LEAGUES i was asking my, dad and that's HOW i did.
It and then he came to MY i had a

(01:17:56):
golf term at The heart's The Heart fund, invitation and
he came to the tournament AND i have pictures on
my wall of him pitching pennies with my dad outside
of The Ramada. Inn and that Night mickey comes up to.
Me i'm over, there and he, Said, Hey, john let's
go have a. Drink mickey's asking me to go have
a drink because right across the street is The marriott.

Speaker 8 (01:18:18):
And at a.

Speaker 7 (01:18:18):
Disco you, know we got those back in those days
as disco they got the glass balls and everything. ELSE
i said, Sure so we walked across the street to
The marriott and we walk up to the door of
the disco and the big bouncers there and, Says, john
you can come, in but we've already kicked out making.

Speaker 2 (01:18:32):
Drinks he was using.

Speaker 1 (01:18:37):
YOU i love that story, because LIKE i, said most
of us back in the day Were Mickey mantle. Fans
And Doug flynn has told a story about Asking mickey
for his autograph on a baseball at an Old timers
game And mickey, said, sure let's go on the dugout

(01:18:58):
and they went in and at the, TIME i think
he was suffering from UH i Guess parkinson's and his
hands were trembling a, bit and you, know he didn't
want people to see that out on the. Field so
in the dugout he said To, doug And, doug you
might notice my hands are, trembling shaken a little. Bit he,
said it's Because i'm. Nervous i've always wanted to meet.
You What Hot too was one of the greatest STORIES

(01:19:20):
i have ever heard from a guy in a situation
like that that said good night from the garage And
alexi Dud so.

Speaker 6 (01:19:27):
He finished eighteen and he's gonna stiff me AND i, say, hey, damma,
Hey i'm about a little, something you, know for the,
effort you. Know and he, says oh, uh this won't
be any, money but when you, die on your death
back you will receive total conscious.

Speaker 3 (01:19:47):
Fish SO i got that. Point any.

Speaker 12 (01:20:07):
Such such tact stating anything, back change, tack.

Speaker 1 (01:21:14):
AND i think.

Speaker 4 (01:21:19):
The back.

Speaker 12 (01:21:23):
Don't tap in the don't do