2025-07-10 - BBI

Mark Pope on incoming Ky natives Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno; (13:00) a KC radio personality calls Patrick Mahomes "fat?" (19:00) Justin Rowland of Cats Illustrated; (39:00) Darren Headrick of the UK Sports Network; (58:00) what are the most hostile football stadiums in the SEC? (1:05:00) UK volleyball coach Craig Skinner and... it's okay to let someone else be a hero.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider Dick Gabriel with you.
Thursday edition of our program One day Closer to College
Football thanks to Corey Price, who tells us via Twitter
that it's fifty one days away and the player he
chose to signify that the jersey number. Johnny Williams a
linebacker who signed with Kentucky coming out of high school.

(00:21):
His freshman year was twenty four, so he signs with
Kentucky and rich Brooks at a time when it wasn't
a popular thing to do. Kentucky had been drilled by
the NCAAA for some recruiting violations, and Williams was a
speed linebacker from Neptune Beach, Florida. Rich Brooks couldn't quit

(00:43):
talking about him when they signed him. When they brought
him in, I remember more than once he would talk
about this Johnny Williams. Now, you guys got to watch
for him, and he was good. I had a good
Kentucky career. He played in three bowl games, played from
four to eight, played in the two Music City Bowl
and the Liberty Bowl, and his senior year didn't get

(01:04):
to the NFL. But his senior year he had five
sacks as a linebacker and two forced fumbles, eight tackles
for loss in the three seasons leading up to that.
Actually played from five to eight. In the three seasons
leading up to that, he had a total of five

(01:24):
tackles for loss and no sacks. So they used him
differently obviously in twenty eight and it paid off for
the Wildcats. So Johnny Williams and what I remember as
much about him as anything is we talked all the
time about football weather. It's football weather. And one day
after practice and it was one of those gray, gnarly

(01:47):
cold days, probably in late October, early November, and we
were talking to Johnny at the Florida guy and we
said something like, yeah, you know, they say this is
football weather. Johnny said, who decides that? So you know
you can understand why a Florida guy never got too comfortable,
but you know who else didn't get comfortable with the cold.

(02:08):
Rich Brooks, even though he played and coached for the
longest time in Oregon, whether weather gets a little raw
and grizzly, he hated cold weather. Never shied away from
bundling up. And if we were waiting to talk to
him and players after practice on a cold day, Oftentimes

(02:29):
coaches would say, now, go get the players first. I'll wait. No,
Rich Brooks like, let's do this now, guys, so you
could get inside so and I don't blame him for
that at all, especially the older I get. So I
really enjoyed covering rich Brooks's teams. I'm gonna talk a
little bit of football in basketball tonight with Justin Rowland

(02:49):
of Cats Illustrated. Also, we'll talk hoops and baseball with
Darren Headrick radio voice of the UK Women and the
UK Baseball Wildcats. And we've also got a conversation coming
up with Craig Skinner, Kentucky volleyball coach. He has been
named once again the preseason Coach of the Year. His
team picked to win the SEC Volleyball Championship, not Texas,

(03:11):
which was picked last year. But Kentucky won another and
eighth straight SEC championship. But the Wildcats have been picked
definitively to win the SEC title once again. So we'll
talk to Craig Skinner coming up. That'll be an hour
number two. He and Darren in our number two Justin
Rowland coming up at the bottom of the hour. Interesting

(03:34):
video clip out there and circulated by Kentucky men's basketball
on Twitter or x if you will. They scrimmage just
about every day. Every time they practice five on five,
they do a lot of five on fives. And the
Blue team yesterday beat the White team fifteen to twelve

(03:55):
on the strength of a three pointer that's right by
Malachi Moreno. But it wasn't square up beyond the arc
three point shot, which Malachi and every Wildcat will be
expected to take and make this year. No, this was
a heave from about three quarters court from about the
free throw line at the other end of the floor,

(04:16):
just before the buzzer, Malachai Moreno throws one in and
gives the Blue team the victory. Moreno, Denzel Aberdeen, O
take a away Trent Noah, Brydon Hawthorn against the White
team Jalen Lowe, Colin Chandler, Cam Williams, Mohammad di Abe,
and Brandon Garrison. They were playing for a pair of

(04:39):
Kobe eight venice beach shoes. These are these multi colored
Kobe eight shoes. Each guy each on the winning team
would get a pair. Right well, the heave survived the review.
It was obviously not a video review, but somebody on
the sideline I don't know it was Pope or an
assistant ruled the shot was good. So the Blue team

(05:00):
at fifteen to twelve. You can go to Twitter and
find it under Kentucky Men's basketball and you'll also see
the players getting their shoes and you'll hear a message
from the precosis freshman Malachi Moreno on camera.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Blue seam here.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
We got to end today, so we got the early
at the beach Kobe Gates and yeah, this is little
winners get, so be a winner.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
W that's Malchi Moreno from Great Crossing High School. The
state were defending state champion and now a Kentucky Wildcat
wearing number twenty four if you're interested, and he is
going to be I think just really special this year.
I hope he plays more than one year, but at
that size, you never know if this will be his

(05:45):
one and only college year. But Mark Pope, in his
pre summer workout comments on each player, of course, had
great things to say about the seven footer.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
Is Malachi Moreno. I'm telling you what man like. It
seems like every day college evaluators and NBA evaluators fall
more and more in love with him. He is He
just is he is like he's you know, he's just
he just keeps getting better, and he is getting better

(06:19):
every day. We're really excited to have him on here.
And you know, as much as I say about those
two kids in their basketball skill, I think they're great
young people man, and the fact that they get to
come here and represent everything that Kentucky is. I mean,
I still have all my ky till I die.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Gear.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
I love that so much, you know, by Jasper Johnson
and and both those guys feel that way, and they're
going to be really special.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
And Pope referred to Jasper Johnson because he had just
spoken about Johnson. I think the question initially put to
him was about Jasper Johnson and expectations for Jasper, and
then he just kind of slid right into the comment
about the other true freshman from Kentucky and Malachi Moreno.
Here's what he said about Jasper Johnson, the guy who

(07:04):
is expected to be one of Kentucky He's better shooters
and scorers, the product of a young man from Woodford County.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
For sales, listen, I think Jasper Johnson is a superstar.
I expect him to come in here and be great
and for every for every freshman. There is a learning
curve in terms of the physicality and intensity of the game,
the relentless physicality intensity of the game. But Jasper Johnson
has got a really, really incredible skill set. He's one

(07:34):
of those guys. There are very few players to just
go get a shot whenever.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
They want it.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
He can do it.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
He's got ability to get skinny and kind of do
things defensively that are gonna be surprising. I think he's
got an incredible upside on the defensive side of the ball. Also,
I think he's got a he's got a crafty, slippery
nature when you can get downhill, He's got a poise
about him. He's a little bit unflappable. He's he He's

(07:59):
able to kind of metabolize a lot of input and
kind of keep himself even keeled. I think he's a
big shot maker. I expect him to be to be great,
Like he needs to come here and be great.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
I have to tell you I was at that press conference.
I've been in a lot of them and been around
for a while. I can never recall a Kentucky coach
of any sport, male, female, whatever the sport being as
blunt in an assessment of an incoming freshman about expectations

(08:36):
for the upcoming season, and again, he may be here
just one year. But when Pope said that about Jasper
Johnson being a superstar and what they expect of him,
I thought, well, again, this is a different way to
do business, because you know, and you've heard it, what
coaches will say about players. They don't want to set

(08:58):
the bar too high or you know, make the kids
head spin or whatever. Generally it's he has a chance
or she has a chance to be a really good player,
and then they go on to talk about skill sets
and things like that. But at a program such as Kentucky,
which has been rife with superstars and a roster that

(09:23):
is as deep and talented as this Kentucky roster is
to be, that blunt I think is interesting on more
than one level. As I said, because you just don't
hear that from coaches. But again, Mark Pope, you talk
about march into a different drummer man. I'd love to
know about the drummer in his head. But I don't

(09:46):
believe that was just an emotional response that he blurted out.
I think that that was something that Pope meant to
say and obviously believes it and believes that that's the
right thing, of course, to say about Jasper Johnson. At
this point, I don't know exactly why he put it

(10:10):
that strongly and that bluntly, but I find that singularly
fascinating that he would put that at the feet of
an incoming freshman. And he's probably not wrong from everything
I hear about Jasper Johnson. And again if you missed it,
a couple of weeks ago, we had his middle school
coach on the show, DJ Mobley, who is the girls

(10:35):
coach now at Frederick Douglas, but he coached Jasper in
middle school and as a sixth grader. He said, this
kid was so good that DJ told Dennis Johnson, another DJ,
Jasper's dad, the former UK defensive and who played in

(10:55):
the NFL and wanted his son at that point to
be a football player because he was playing both at
the time. But DJ told DJ said, this is an
NBA player in the sixth grade. And I talk with
the coach about this prior to the Girls Sweet sixteen
off the air, and I said, you know, this is

(11:17):
not something you say every day about this player and
that player. He said no, but he recognized that skill
or that ability, that potential in Jasper Johnson. So yeah,
there's a lot to like about this Kentucky basketball team,
and no football fans were not skipping over that. But
football right now is kind of in radio silence leading

(11:37):
up to SEC media days. But there's a lot to
talk about with basketball, and more than anything, I'm looking
forward to seeing these two freshmen. There are some really
fascinating transfers who came in through the portal and we
got a chance to talk to them this week, Cam Williams,
Jayden Quainton's But I want to see these freshmen and

(12:01):
with Moreno, of course, I got to see him in
the sweet sixteen each to the last two years. And
my daughter used to teach at Great Crossing and encountered
Malachi quite a bit, loved him. So those two players
to me are as interesting as any on the roster.
So it should be a fun year up next. Would

(12:23):
a radio personality in Kansas City go as far as
calling Patrick Mahomes got to be the most popular athlete
in that town in that state of Missouri. Would a
radio personality go as far as calling the Super Bowl
winning quarterback fat You better believe it that's on the

(12:47):
other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP
Welcome back to the Big Balloon Sider. Coming up in
a few minutes justin Rowland of Katz Illustrated, we will
preview SEC media days for Mark Stoops in the football
Cats talk a little basketball as well. I renumber two
Darren Headrick, radio voice of the baseball and women's basketball Wildcats,

(13:09):
and also Craig Skinner preseason volleyball SEC Coach of the Year.
I mentioned going into the break, Patrick Mahomes. There's a
radio personality in Kansas City. Don't know the guy. I
never heard of the guy. But you know, in markets
like that, you try to make well. Really in every market,
we're all competing right for listeners, for attention. Uh, but

(13:31):
how would it be in a market like Kansas City
where the love for the Chiefs, of course is off
the charts thanks to Super Bowl wins thanks to Patrick Mahomes.
A guy named Kevin Keatsman or Kitzman, is a radio
personality who apparently saw a picture of Mahomes in an

(13:55):
off during an offseason workout in a practice jersey helmet
and it looks like there's a little bit of a
paunch on Patrick Mahomes, and this guy was alarmed basically
and tweeted this. He called Mahomes and I'm quoting an
embarrassment unquote, but he also said this quote, your belly

(14:18):
would be fat at my pool hanging out with us
sixty year olds. Wow. To take on the multiple Super
Bowl winning champion quarterback, not the current champ of courts,
that's the Eagles, but to take on in that market,
Patrick Mahomes, and not just for the way he plays,

(14:40):
but the way he looks. I mean, you're talking about
a world class athlete calling him fat. The immediate response
came from the trainer to Kansas City chiefs QB. Patrick Mahomes,
a guy named Bobby Stroop. This isn't the team trainer,
this is mahomes trainer. And if you saw the Netflix

(15:02):
series on Quarterbacks with Mahomes, you saw him working with
this guy. Stroop tweeted this out put it on exit.
Since been deleted, but TMZ saved it. Send me your location.
You obviously need attention. If you want to see what
shape what in shape is, go make it through a
practice at their practice facility or run hurry up offense

(15:25):
scrambling back to back to back plays. You don't have
a clue what it takes. It's not a look, it's performance. Now,
to his credit, the radio guy did not back down,
and he tweeted this. He said, here's a fair and
accurate assessment of my commentary. I don't want Patrick Mahomes
to become Ben Roethlisberger, who won big as a young

(15:45):
player and then just got big. I want him to
lock in like Tom Brady in his thirties and chase
him down. Interesting back and forth they go in Kansas
City over Patrick mahone. And by the way, I wondered,
when I first saw that photo of Mahomes, is that

(16:07):
not the protective device that quarterbacks? What's causing the look?
And I'm not saying he doesn't have a little paunch.
I don't know, but quarterbacks, where are those vest type garments?
You know, kind of a protective layer under their jerseys,
so they always look kind of bulky. So I don't know.

(16:29):
We'll keep an eye on that, but I just thought
it was an incredible move for a guy in that
market to call Patrick Mahomes fat. Switching to the NBA
and just in time, it's going to be on NBC.
We know this, and they're calling their coverage NBA on
Prime and there's a Blake Griffin commercial out there. This

(16:50):
guy's killing it. This guy was a really good player
in college and in the pros. But he is one
of the best, if not the best, former athlete who
is now endorsing this, that, and the other and does
a great job. And he's been in TV shows. He's
a natural. And there's an NBA on Prime spot that's

(17:11):
plugging the Emirates Cup that comes up, you know, that
early season tournament where he is facetiming with Chet Holmgren
of the NBA champion newly crowned Oklahoma City Thunder And
it starts off with Griffin saying we, Hey, we did it.
He's drinking champagne. Homer's like, what are you talking about?
You weren't on the team, and Griffin points out that

(17:33):
he was born in Oklahoma City. Since whoever? Since I retired?
It's we But then the plugging begins right after that.

Speaker 4 (17:40):
But hey, the real reason I'm going hold on, let
me channel my inner mamba. Job finished, Yeah, Blake, job's finished.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
We won the title.

Speaker 4 (17:49):
Job not finished?

Speaker 2 (17:51):
What are you talking about? Man?

Speaker 4 (17:53):
My close friend Tom Brady, no big deal. Once said,
you know what, my favorite championship is the next one.
And that's what I need you guys to be focused
on all off season.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
That's a whole year away.

Speaker 4 (18:05):
Let me just enjoy this for a second. What No,
the next one. I'm talking about the Emirates NBA Cup
starting in October, knockout rounds on Prime in December.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
Oh and did I mention vegas Way?

Speaker 4 (18:16):
I thought your ground running. This is how dynasties are built.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
Man.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
Come on, that's Blake Griffin courtesy NBC. And again, this
guy is just a natural and it's a funny spot.
It runs two minutes. It's on the Internet, but you're
going to be seeing a lot more. I guarantee you
of Blake Griffin. One more note about the NBA back
to the Wildcats. Devin Booker got paid. That was a

(18:40):
headline late last night on Sports Center. The Suns and
Booker reportedly agreeing to a one hundred and forty five
million dollar max contract extension two years keeps him in
Phoenix through the twenty nine to thirty season. It is
the highest annual extension salary in the history of the league. Yes,

(19:05):
he played at Kentucky. But who do you think is
going to take credit or at least point out the
recruits that my players get paid. That's right. The head
coach at Arkansas, John Calipari, will add that, I'm sure
to his recruiting pitch as if he needs to. Kids
know they know trust me. Before Calipari even approaches a guy,

(19:27):
he'll know the Calipari coach, Devin Booker, and he'll know
what Devin Booker's making all right. Up next, Justin Rowland
of Cat's Illustrated here on six point thirty Wlap welcome
back to the Big bluon Sider, joining us now as
a longtime friend of the show from Cat's Illustrated Justin Rowland.
And while many of us get a chance to put
their feet up a little bit in the summertime, and
Justin's had a little bit of that, but just in

(19:50):
summertime and the talking seasons right on top of us,
it's always a big recruiting time for you and your publication.
But just ahead of SEC media days, talking to a
lot of people about this, what do you think it's
going to be?

Speaker 2 (20:03):
Like?

Speaker 1 (20:03):
Remarks toos, how do you think he'll handle it? Because
he will get the hot seat questions that I don't
know that he's ever gotten down there, you know.

Speaker 5 (20:13):
Yeah, I mean I think he they've kind of handled
the off season by just laying low. You know. I
think they realize that it's not about winning the press
conference at this point. The only thing that matters is
winning real games. But I'm sure he will show some
of the excitement that he has for this year's team.
I'm sure he'll talk about how motivated and locked in

(20:34):
is to get this thing right. And I think it's probably.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
Going to be true.

Speaker 5 (20:38):
I think I expect to see the motivation, to hear
the motivation from Mark Steets, because you know, he's eager
to get last year that taste out of his mouth.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
Yeah, and he has become better and better at at
least trying to control the narrative, not in a combative
way like some coaches do. But and you know, he's
also a little parent of you're not going to get
me to say this. Someone's going to turn that into
a headline. But uh, you know, he knows what's what.
And as I said, I think he's really grown into
that part of his job, don't you.

Speaker 5 (21:09):
Yeah, Yeah, I think so I think he has a
pretty good feel for where the fan base is at.
I think there were a couple of moments in recent
years where where there is some friction and there was
some uh maybe maybe ill timed this or that, but
he understands where the fan base is. I think, yeah,
he's gotten more comfortable at these media day days events

(21:32):
you can see just as present. I mean, he's one
of the deans of the league now and that comes
with certain clout. You know, his accomplishments at Kentucky, the
recent downswing aside speak for themselves, and so he's he
probably is more comfortable in it's skin up there.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
It's really interesting too, how if you look at the
evolution of Stoops in terms of how he's been perceived
at SEC media Day specifically, you know, he's the new guy.
He's the foot fall coach at the basketball school. He's
a guy who finally breaks through, gets his programmed to a
ball game. Then they start winning ball games. Now they're

(22:07):
winning ten games. But the pendulum has kind of swung
back in the other directions. So you know, I don't
think he'll be intimidated at all to you.

Speaker 5 (22:17):
No, No, I don't think so. Either he's got some things.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
To get you excited.

Speaker 5 (22:24):
The defense has carried pretty much through the Stuts era
since he started getting him in the right direction in
twenty eighteen, and we don't know. There's maybe more unpredictability
on the defensive side this year because of all the
moving parts, But I think the guys they brought in
are very interesting pieces, and you got to believe that

(22:45):
if you're optimistic about this season. I think it's got
to be about trusting Brad White. Yes, it's got to
be about trusting that his player evaluations, his portal evaluations,
his defensive staff continuity. That's going to give them a
chance most week. I think that's the best path to
them having good season. And then on the offensive side,

(23:05):
the line is improved, and you lean into that with
just more of a methodical, steady, ground and pound approach
and set kel that up with a better group of
a better situation in the receivero. Maybe not more talented
receiver room, but a but a healthier dynamic in the
receiver room. Maybe they simplify what they're doing and just
get back to the basics. So he has a path
is a path, but we'll see how they execute it.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
You mentioned Brad White and then took the words out
of my mouth. I mean, as long as Brad White
is there, you can count on at least some level
of quality. I mean he's you know, his work speaks
for himself. But what do you make of the fact
and this was with Brad White's blessing and he has
promoted Chris Collins as someone who can talk as openly
as he does about the defense. He is now the

(23:49):
co defensive coordinator and the d backs coach. What did
you make of that that they that they gave him
that title.

Speaker 5 (23:57):
Yeah, I mean he's they they've been bringing him up
through the rank, and they liked him a few years
ago and they brought him on staff and he got
a lot of guys on campus. He was clearly an energetic,
invested recruiter. I think he buys into to the culture
of the program and he fits well with the culture
in the program. And then you throw in they're putting

(24:19):
defensive backs into the NFL and it probably reflects the
role that Colins has in defensive staff meetings and in
game planning sessions and in scheam talk. And he's probably
just demonstrated a requisite level of knowledge and experience to
become more of a strategic part of just what they're

(24:39):
going to do week by week and what they're going
to do to build a unit over the course of
the season. And they like developing guys inside the program,
bringing him up through the ranks, and you can kind
of mold them the way that you want. I think
that's what Collins has become.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
Well, while we're talking coaching staff, I kind of buried
the lead here maybe, But what was your reaction. I
don't think we talk since Vince Merrill left, but since then,
and we'll talk about the kid from Cincinnati here in
a minute, since then, they've had a run on commitments
for twenty twenty six. But were you knocked out of
your shoes or did you feel like it was inevitable

(25:16):
that he would leave at some point maybe I go
to Louisville, but that he would leave.

Speaker 5 (25:21):
I mean, I thought that it was possible that he
would leave, but only if he judged the timing to
be right. And I think it was a combination of
maybe some relationships at Kentucky becoming strained for various reasons.
I don't want to exaggerate that, but maybe not maybe
over time, maybe just a change is better for everybody.

(25:43):
Some of that creeping in. I think they were going
to get that run on commitments no matter what. You know,
they still had to get a bunch of guys and
they were recruiting behind the scenes leading up to that.
But you know, for Events to go to Louisville, you
knew it had to be a somewhat bad behind the scenes.
And then because he does care about his reputation, you

(26:04):
fan can tell just to public facing he is and
the coach, but he probably judged that he didn't think
that things would play out well for Steeps over the
next couple of years, and he did kind of as
a life raft for his career. So that's the calculation
that he had to make. Other people have made other decisions.
Brad White has had other opportunities in recent years and

(26:26):
he has stuck with Suits, which says he still buys
into what seats he is doing, whereas you know, Events
was maybe in a different place.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, we're talking to Justin Rowland of Cats Illustrated about
the football Wildcats. We'll talk a little basketball coming up
in a few minutes. But of course has he's media
days are coming up and we'll learn a lot more
about what Mark Soups has to say. But as as
Justin pointed out earlier, they have just kind of kept
quiet going into media days, going into the talking season,

(26:55):
but things really kick off after that. As we all know.
I alluded to the Punatowski kid up in Cincinnati. The
quarterback also a pitcher, which was a great Yet you
guys covered that store everybody did. When this kid committed.
He wants mom and dad to be able to see
him play, you know, which is a great reason to

(27:16):
recruit the heck out of the Cincinnati area. Were you
surprised that he chose Kentucky or did it seem like
the natural pick.

Speaker 5 (27:24):
I heard after the spring that he visited in the spring,
and the talk was they had a really legitimate shot
at this guy. Maybe if they had even pushed harder
at the time, then maybe they could have gotten him
before Alabama and Oregon even jumped into the mix. So
that just means he was interested in Kentucky for a
long time, and I think that speaks to the appeal

(27:44):
of the two sport pitch at Kentucky. I think the
baseball staff at UK did a great job of making
that not just a well, are they maybe gonna let
me do this? Are they open to me doing both sports?
But really energetically encourage that as strongly as he wants
it for himself. And I think that did a lot

(28:05):
to win him over. I think the faith in the
baseball program did a lot to win him over their
approach and their their emphasis on relationships to people and whatnot.
I mean, Alabama got a they flipped the quarterback, and
they I think they were going to get another. Oregon
got a quarterback, and that really left Kentucky in Arkansas,
and you know which Kentucky with Archbishop Muller being there

(28:25):
right right in Ohio and how many Ohio guys they
brought in in that context is not a surprise. But
he is a very very talented kid.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
Oh absolutely. But I'm thinking back, just off the top
of my head, You've got Pooky Jones and Brian Adams.
There was one other kid whose name escapes me, but
tried to play both way and did play both sports,
But none of those guys. I guess you could make
the case for Pooky as the starting quarterback, but he

(28:54):
was not a regular baseball player in terms of in
that lineup, each and every day. Keith told me he
said he would love to have had Pooky NonStop from
day one. He said he had one of the greatest
skill sets he ever coached. But I'm really curious to
see if he can juggle to two sports because it
ain't the same as high school.

Speaker 5 (29:13):
We know that, right, That's right, yeah, And eventually it's
going to get to a point where you're you're gonna
have to pick.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (29:20):
But I think he's in a unique situation where he
loves football and he could be an NFL quarterback one day.
He's got that kind of pedigree. On three he's got
him as a top ten national quarterback. And just in
terms of his growing ability hitting all the spots on
the field, his footwork, his advanced mechanics, his production in

(29:41):
a very college like high school program, either sport could
work out for him. But I do think, you know,
he would be more sought after on the baseball side,
And so we'll just see. You have to play it
one year at a time with him.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
Justin Rowland is my guest from Catch Illustrated. We'll talk
more with Justin on the other side of the break
here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with
Justin Rowland from Cats Illustrated and if you are not
a subscriber, you need to be. It's now part of
the on three dot com network. Online just go to
a Cats Illustrated dot com it'll take you to where
you need to be. If you would like to sign

(30:17):
up one dollar for your first week, pretty good deals
in place. I want to ask you a little bit
about basketball. Mark Pope his team being made available of
a couple of players. It seems every week Jeff Drummond
talk with Cam Williams and Jaden Quaintan's but there's a
clip online. I talked about it earlier in the show,

(30:39):
Malachimarto hitting from three quarters court to wrap up and
inter squad scrimmage. But you go back to the comments
that Pope made, of course glowing about Malachi. But back
in May he talked about Jasper Johnson and basically said,
you know, this guy will be or needs to be

(30:59):
a superstar here. And as I mentioned Justin, and you've
covered a lot of press conferences, I don't ever remember
a Kentucky coach really, any coach, and I'm sure it's happened,
but any coach anywhere saying this kid needs to be
or will be a superstar, putting neck on a label
on an incoming freshman. What did you make of that?

Speaker 5 (31:18):
That says a lot about what he thinks that Jasper
can handle. Yeah, those expectations as a local kid going
to play basketball at the University of Kentucky. Ordinarily it's
like you downplay expectations a little bit, you know, you
maybe give him a soft landing, a little bit of
grace if he struggles the first half of his freshman season.
Both speaks to how he thinks he can handle it.

(31:39):
And the skill doesn't leave a lot.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
To the imagination.

Speaker 5 (31:43):
I mean, you know that he has the skill ability,
there are other things that he's got to work on,
like physicality and whatnot. The Pope thinks he can handle it,
and also wasn't a foregone conclusion that he's going to
pack Kentucky, and so telling him that he thinks that's
in the cards for him has probably been an important
part of the fit.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
And I'm also curious to see Malechai Moreno after watching
him playing the Sweet Sixteen the last couple of years.
Incoming freshmen and everything I hear is about his defense.
You know, and of course it's super early and it's
inner squad and all that stuff, but everybody's talking defense
right now. Every player they brought out to us has volunteered,

(32:19):
and it's not like they've been coached, I don't think,
but they've all said, you know, man, we could be
really good defensively. Justin we weren't hearing this last year
at this time, were we.

Speaker 5 (32:28):
That's right, Quaintance was fan talking that about their size
and about their length and if you're long and if
you're big, that gives you a good start. And certainly
they've got some defensive pieces, like to be fair, like
last year. I mean, they had some defensive pieces last
year that made you think, okay, at Maury Williams, Okay,
Lamont Butler, Okay, maybe you take a oway, but there

(32:50):
were maybe some holes and some areas when people were
injured that just really affected the defensive performance. I think
I've got even more of those really good, individual, individually
capable defenders. And it'll be interesting to see how Pope
molds that team when it should be a strength from
the very beginning of the season, how much emphasis he
places on defense as opposed to offense. Early in the season,

(33:12):
how his substitution patterns as really an offensive minded coach
reflect that and how much offense he gives up for defense.
But yeah, defense could be a special part of this
year's team.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
Well, And as we know, the defense struggled last year
until after that old miss embarrassing loss, right, and then
they really cranked it up and over the last part
of the season, as you know, it became one of
the better defensive teams in the country. I think it's
interesting it seems that Pope is changing the way he's
approaching the year with regard to work on defense early.

Speaker 5 (33:42):
Yeah, Yeah, I think there's always a bit of a pendule,
you know. You see, coaches are always reassessing what they're doing.
Where have I run into a ceiling? Where am I
banging my head against the wall? Where do I need
to tweak something without maybe losing my identity? And the
lesson he took from last season was you got to

(34:03):
be more athletic and you got to be longer in
the SEC as it's currently constituted. Now, you see how
what it looked like when we played against Auburn, what
it looked like when we played against Alabama. We need
more guys like that, and so not surprising. They went
I got a guy from Florida, they got a guy
from Alabama, And yeah, I think those guys Aberdeen and

(34:24):
mod like you maybe put a little bit more on
their plate, but you want them to have basically the
same role that they had at those other schools, because
those are the kind of teams you want to have
next year. That's the kind of you want to put
too much on their plate. They were very good role
players for those schools. I think they'll play probably twenty
minutes a game at Kentucky as well.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
I agree. And those were guys who gave Kentucky fits
last year among other teams, right, And that's one of
the reasons Pope jumped on those guys when he had
the opportunity. A couple of minutes left with Justin Rowland
of Cats illustrated and we're talking a little bit of
Kentucky basketball right now. It's going to to be an
interesting season. The schedule is going to be fun. Uh

(35:05):
and learning these news new guys has been a lot
of fun as well, especially Quainton's. I can't get over
how young he is, can you?

Speaker 5 (35:12):
Yeah, Yeah, that's crazy. You got that big and that
advanced defensively, and then he's been in college for a year. Yeah,
it's easy to forget how young he is. That is crazy.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
Yeah, and I know you remember, well he was coming here,
wasn't he. Uh No, Calipari left, so when he said
it's great to be back, it took me a second.
I like what you know. But yeah, this kind of
makes him unique, doesn't it.

Speaker 5 (35:32):
It's been a long journey. But there's a lot of
guys in that situation now bouncing around in the portal
as much as they do. You mentioned Moreno. I'm interested
in how Pope develops the big man from the jump, Like,
how much does he place on him. We've seen he
can put a lot on big men in offense, the
way he runs his offense. I mentioned when Moreno is
in the game, how much how much does he put
on him and how much does he allow him to

(35:53):
do offensively?

Speaker 1 (35:54):
Yeah, he is just in Roland of Cats Illustrated. Tell
everybody how to follow you on Twitter or x We.

Speaker 5 (35:59):
Get Roland Rivals on X or Cats Illustrated on three.
You can google that and we will get it and
we'd love to have you over the community.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
Excellent, Thanks brother, have a great summer. Thanks a lot.
Diick I mentioned Jeff Drummond from Katz Illustrated. Jay Drumm
has stories up on the site right now about both
Cam Williams and Jaden Quintin's and Justin as a story
up where he is tracking former Kentucky prospects at other
Division one schools, so always interesting. There a couple of

(36:30):
other notes before we hit the break we mentioned and
you've seen this, Shay gilgis Alexander on the cover of
the EA Sports NBA two K or NBA whatever the
game is coming up next year. Angel Reese will be
on the cover for the women's game. She of course,
the LSU Superstar, started off at Maryland but finished up
and now of course making waves on one way or

(36:51):
the other in the WNBA. I mentioned a couple of
nights ago, polling way too soon pre season Top twenty
five one vsports dot Com with the writer. It's actually
a panel of writers who took a new account players
who left for the draft and the portal and things
like that, and they adjusted their preseason Top twenty five. Well,

(37:13):
the Athletic has done the same. And I bring this
up simply because it is a little bit different when
it comes to UK and U of L. CJ. Moore
actually did the poll. He's got Purdue number one, CBS
Sports at Houston. This guy's got Houston number two, Yukon third,
Michigan fourth, let's see Florida number five, same as CBS Sports.

(37:36):
He's got Louisville sixth because of roster additions both through
recruiting and the portal BYU seventh, with Aj Debanza coming
in of course, a highly tattled recruit Duke number eight.
Then he's got Kentucky number nine, and he said it
doesn't have the shooting of Mark Pope's first Kentucky team.

(37:57):
Get used to hearing that because that's not obviously to
Kobe Brea, but others as well. But he said it
should be better defensively and have more playmaking on the perimeter.
He said Pope showed in year one he can microwave chemistry,
but also gives himself a ton of lineup options. Not

(38:20):
only will there be position battles for starting jobs, but
Kentucky will have some talented players who struggle to even
make the rotation.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
Well.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Remember now, Mark Pope's rotation is much broader than maybe
anybody else in college basketball. He's not afraid to play
a lot of guys, and that bothers people because they
get upset when he makes a sub with a group
that's having a good run. But he has always said
he wants guys to play as hard as they can.

(38:48):
This is what they did when he was playing. I'm atino,
go like crazy, like a hockey shift, and we will
sub for you with as many guys as we need.
I remember too his next six thirty wlap.

Speaker 6 (39:02):
Anything, any such stacting the doing can anything to anything.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider, joined down our
celebrity outline by our good friend and colleague. Hear him
with the chain gang right here in the garage. But
Darren Hedrick is the radio voice, of course of UK baseball,
UK women's basketball, truly a renaissance man. Also anchors our
scoreboard on our radio football coverage of Kentucky and now

(41:14):
an then fills in for Tom Leach on men's basketball
in the radio. And at times I think you did
an sec plus men's basketball game, didn't you on TV?

Speaker 2 (41:25):
That's right, that's right. We wear many hats.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Yes, yes, that's good. That's good. Well, let's talk football.
At first, because Darren's a guy. When you listen to
our radio broadcast, he'll drop in with scores from around
the league and around the country. Darren, I don't know
about you. I'm sure you do. I love those days.
And every year there's one or two Saturdays where strange
things happen and upsets happen all over the country. That's

(41:52):
sort of cool, isn't it. It's very cool.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
Yeah, it really is. That's one of my favorite things
about what I do to help out on football Saturdays
is just sitting in a room and channel surfing all
these different games throughout the morning and afternoon and evening,
and you're right on any given Saturday, it can just
be absolute chaos and you're trying to keep up with

(42:18):
all these different scores, and every once in a while
you get the Appalachian State upsetting the Michigan Wolverines or
something like that. So it's a lot of fun and
that's what makes college football one of the best sports ever. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
I've been talking a lot about the Kentucky win over
Ole Miss because trying to evaluate what's going to be
coming up from the Wildcats this year, and of course
it's going to be a totally new look offense at least,
and a lot on defense as well. I kept going
back to that Ole Miss game and asking myself what
happened to that Kentucky team, And I rewatched the game

(42:54):
on Kentucky replay down the SEC network, and they made
a lot of mistakes but made a lot of good play,
et cetera. And I remember that day for several hours.
That was the upset of the day. And then another
I can't remember for the life of me what other
game there was an upset later in the day. Might
have been on the West Coast somewhere. They kind of

(43:16):
knocked Kentucky from the top of the list of upsets.
But still, that was such a huge headline making day
that it was so much fun, wasn't it.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
It really was. And Lane Kiffins Old Miss team was
loaded for bear last year. They had gotten a lot
of tremendous talent that had transferred in and was a
team a lot of folks thought would contend for an
SEC crown or maybe making the playoffs or whatever. And

(43:46):
Kentucky went down there with other ideas and played their
best game of the season. I thought, and you're right,
it was a thrilling finish and the way they were
able to contain Lane Kiffin's offense throughout the day. Yeah,
it's just one of their their better defensive performances. And
I thought, you know, that was one thing about Kentucky

(44:08):
last year was against some more high powered offenses or
upper teams in the SEC, they performed well. You know,
you think about the heartbreaking loss to Georgia. I thought
they competed well in Knoxville against Tennessee and that offense,
and and you know, Texas they held their own there
for a while. So but but Old Miss definitely that

(44:29):
that's one that was definitely one of the best highlights
from last year on and going down there, and hopefully
they can repeat that performance against.

Speaker 1 (44:39):
Playing this year and we forget what Kentucky almost did
or what it did do to Georgia, played Georgia to
at one point, yeah, to the point where there was
controversy about, you know, a decision that Mark Stoops made
about what did a punt or not the punt. So
it was just such a weird, weird season, you know.
And and now it's like I said, it's going to

(45:01):
be a totally new look kind of team. And I
don't know if surely Mark Stoops is on a hot seat.
I don't know that he's on the hot seat. I
gotta think he's banked some good will with all the
work he's done here, don't you.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
Well, sure you know you think about what he's done
for this Kentucky football program and the two ten win
seasons and everything, and you're going to have a hiccup
when you're at a school long enough, you're just going
to have a season where things don't quite go the
way you expected him to. And now you look forward

(45:40):
to this year and try to bounce back. But it's
like everybody talks about. You can bounce back and compete
as hard as you can, but man, that schedule stuff.
But that's what you sign up for, you know, when
you come to the SEC. This is the stuff you
sign up for. And so we're looking forward to seeing

(46:02):
what or how Kentucky can bounce back this year.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
Yeah, and again I don't I don't put it all
on the old line, but it starts there, brother, and
without the line. But you have every reason, I think,
to believe it's going to be better. I don't know
if it'll be as good as the old big blue wall.
But it's going to be better, I gotta think, don't you.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, with that big blue wall. You you
want to see it going back to where it used
to be. And and coach Stout's has talked about getting
back to that blue collar mentality and grind it out
and just beat teams up physically, and that was the
mo that or really that's what he'd become known for.
And so you want to see him get back to that.

(46:46):
And they've gone out and got some really nice pieces
in the skilled positions. You know, I'm interested to see
how Zach Calzana does in another tour through the SEC.
And but you're right, it all starts with that offensive
line and the defense line, and as long as those
can anchor this team, we'll see him compete this year. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
Talking to Darren Hedrick, he anchors our scoreboard on the
radio side of UK football coverage, but Darren also the
radio voice of the women's basketball program and UK Baseball.
I know you're keeping an eye because well we have
the chain gang, the text chain, and we swap texts
all the time. You meet Keith Madison, Doug Flynn, jepikorl

(47:28):
keeping an eye on Tyler Bell. What a summer he's
had after being named Freshman All American. I mean, this
kid is special, isn't he?

Speaker 2 (47:38):
He really is, and just his makeup mentally, his work ethic,
his desire to get better. Stuff loss in the regional
to West Virginia when they had the five run lead
twice and weren't able to hang on to it. Tyler
did not have a particularly good day against West Virginia

(48:01):
that evening and he was one of the guys as
soon as they got back to Lexington, he went right
back to work focusing on next season. And he got
to go up to the Cape and experience that for
a little while. Fantastic summer league. If folks have never
had a chance to go up and watch Cape Codd
League baseball, you need to do yourself a favor because

(48:24):
that is where you get to see a lot of
the elite college talent all in one spot. But he
got to experience that, and like you said, now he's
getting an incredible experience with Team USA and he's over
in Japan right now with that group getting to play
for his country. He made the roster and just a

(48:47):
fantastic honor and it's only going to make him better
this offseason, because that young man is driven to win.
And you know the thing about him is somebody his
talent dick. You think he's out here trying to get
better and get ready for the second to go around
in the MLB Draft, But he cares a lot about Kentucky.
It's his dream school, and all he talks about is

(49:09):
getting back to Ovahall And so he's an incredibly driven
young man and he's going to be surrounded by a
lot of talent next year. I've been really impressed with
what this coaching staff has done trying to completely retool
the bullpen and the pitching staff and also fell in
spots where they need to around the field defensively and

(49:31):
in the lineup for next year.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
What do you think of the way that Minjiona and
staff have rebuilt this roster both with recruiting and well,
the portal is a form of recruiting, but the way
they've restructured.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
Well, you first of all have to be extremely impressed
with another outstanding portal class. Last I checked, they were
a top ten, top six portal class. With what they're
bringing in now, one thing that coaches always cautioned about
is we got to get through the MLB draft. And

(50:07):
so before I really get folks excited about next year's
baseball team, let's see how Kentucky does in the MLB draft.
There are certain guys they've got to keep. You know,
you want to see him get to campus. And if
you can get those guys to campus, then all of
a sudden, all right, Kentucky could legitimately be a top

(50:28):
ten baseball team going into twenty twenty six next year.
They've got some outstanding freshman catchers coming in. One of
them is Owen Jenkins, the young man that's local, but
he's catching a lot of eyes in the MLBA draft
and we wish him well, but obviously everybody hops he

(50:50):
gets to campus. So but there's other guys too, Serney
that the transfer coming in I believe from NC State.
I'm sorry, Indiana Surney from Indiana. He's a young man
that's got to get to the draft. That there's several
of them, and I don't mean to leave anybody out.
I shouldn't have started naming names, but there's several of
them that are going to have opportunities in the draft,

(51:11):
and Kentucky's got to just kind of cross your fingers
and hope you can get them to campus, and if
you do, you're going to be a top ten team
going in the next year.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
You know, I remember when coach Madison was really at
the sort of the height of his teams and going
into one year he had really stepped up his recruiting
to take advantage of a quality season and signed a
really good recruiting class of like eight people. Six of

(51:42):
them went pro late summer, which just really as you
can imagine, had a terrible impact on the upcoming season
and the one after that because of how they recruit
so many years out, so that has an absolute and
can't have a devastating effect on programs. We're talking to
Darren Hedrick of the UK Radio Network. More to come

(52:02):
on the Big Bluin Sider here on six thirty WLAP.
Welcome back. We're talking with Darren Hedrick, radio voice of
UK baseball and women's basketball. Let me shift you over
to women's hoops. We've had a chance to talk to
not just some of the men, but the women this
summer and Kenny Brooks and one of the things you've
brought up a couple of times, you couldn't beat this

(52:23):
one to death. Last year when you were talking about
the women's basketball team, but as well as Kenny Brooks's
first team played, that ball club was missing two key elements,
two really good players front liners who were injured pre season.
Well now they're healthy, and Kenny Brooks and two of
his players. We're talking about these kids, Darren, what kind

(52:46):
of impact do you think they should have. Georgia Amore
is not there, but the only key is back. Clari
Strack is back. What do we see from this year's
team with these kids coming off injuries.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
I think that's the biggest And I hate to use
the term biggest because I actually think Kentucky's going to
be bigger this year. Across the board. I think you're
going to see a team that lines up with just
about anybody in the country at every position. And yeah,
Georgia Amore is a big loss and a lot like
Brian Howard, you don't just replace her, you can, but

(53:23):
he's gone to the portal. Coach Brooks has and brought
in some outstanding talent. He brought in the point guard
from Georgia Tech, Tony. She's super talented, explosive, can score
the basketball. I think she's going to fit perfectly in
what coach Brooks likes to do. And you mentioned we've
got key in strap down low, but Kentucky's also bringing

(53:47):
back two players off injury that to me are bigger
additions than anything you could find in the portal, and
that's Jordan Oby and Don Perova. Their experienced guards. They
can score and they're going to provide had a height
advantage for Kentucky on the wings, they're going to be
hard to guard, and then you factor in the other

(54:08):
ones that he's brought in. The depth is better this
year for Kentucky across the board. So I think they're
going to be bigger. I think they're going to be faster.
I think they'll be stronger, and the depth overall for
this team is going to be superior to last year.
So I think they're built to contend in a league.
As Coach Brooks said, then SEC went out last after

(54:30):
last year and got better, and I think Kentucky's right
up there amongst them. I think they'll compete this year
just as they did last season.

Speaker 1 (54:39):
When he said the SEC got better the entire league.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
I mean, you know, people.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
Working the heck out of the portal aren't they.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
Yeah, they really are is South Carolina lost some players
to graduation. They lost the Malaysia full Wiley their their
big time score, but coach Staley went out and added
some in his talent. South Carolina is going to be
a team to reckon with again this year. Texas is
going to be Texas under Vig Schaeffer. Well Wiley went

(55:09):
to LSU, so you know, coach Malkey is going to
have a team that's up there contending. Tennessee's got a
really outstanding freshman class coming in and they made some
nice portal additions. So coach Fuldwell's got a lot of
talent coming into Knoxville for the Lady Balls. But I

(55:29):
think again Kentucky is going to be a team that
stays right there with them. I think Oklahoma is going
to be strong again this year, and so it's going
to be a fun league a lot like the men's side.
I think the women's side is going to be a
lot of fun this year, a lot of competitive games.
It's going to be a tight race. Ole miss is

(55:50):
another program that shed a lot of bench players and
role players and went out and added a ton of
talent in return. So you saw a lot of players
leave some of these programs, but most of them have
have done a nice job of filling those needs. And

(56:14):
so but again, I think Kentucky's going to be right
there amongst them. And it's going to be a fun
schedule leading up to the SEC too.

Speaker 1 (56:20):
And you talk about fun that NCAA tournament bracket in
lexingon last year, the crowds that drew. Unfortunately they lose
that game to Kansas State, but you know, were the
crowds that showed up. You've got to hope that they
can pick up where they left off, you know at
the beginning of the year. That would be so great
for that program because it has known success. You know,

(56:43):
before you got here and why you've been here, there's
been success. But you know, to have that plays rocking
every night, especially now since they did such a good
job of renovating the coliseum, Yes, that would be such
a plus, wouldn't it.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
It would? And I think we'll see some tremendous crowds
at Memorial Coliseum this year. I think this is a
fun product that coach Brooks puts on the court. You
obviously it helps when you win and you've got a
player like Georgia Amore. But it's the style of basketball
he plays is so much fun to watch for me

(57:21):
personally to announce because it's just basketball. You just go
out there and play. Now he runs plays and draws
up sets and all that stuff, but it's just basketball.
And you know, George is gone. But Clara Strack is
going to be one of the best bigs in the
league this year. She's just getting better and better. I

(57:42):
think you're going to see Tiani find another gear this
year because we saw her improve over the course of
last year. I think she's going to get better. And
like we say, there's a couple of players that nobody
in Lexington's got to see, but I'm telling you they're
going to be worth the price of it Mission Jordan
and Dob. So this is going to be a fun

(58:03):
team to come watch and it'll be a fun schedule
for folks to come and watch them compete.

Speaker 1 (58:09):
Different from last year, but still a lot of fun.
And I'm glad you mentioned Key because to me, she's
the James Worthy of that team. She she really is.
I mean, I've always said, you know you got when
when Magic and Kareem had had great games, didn't necessarily
mean the Lakers would win, but when Worthy also had
a great game, you could you could bet the Lakers

(58:29):
would win just a couple of minutes left. But Darren
Hedrick can't let you go before I ask you about
the men. You'll probably be working at two or three
games this coming season. But again, a new look team
that the men and the women. It's so great really
for all of basketball fans. You came men UK women
really U of L's men's program, all in that same

(58:50):
kind of path. They'll parallel one another, new coaches, new rosters,
and now they're reloading for this year. It should be
that should be a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
Yeah, I think so. You look at the talent that
coach Pope has brought in. This is going to be
another exciting year and I can't wait to see his
team compete against schedule that he's constructed. You talk about
every night taking the court pretty much. It's a marquee
event for Coach Pope and his team, and that's what

(59:23):
he wanted, that's what he came here to Kentucky to do,
to compete against the best and win championships. And so
I'm looking forward to this season for both teams. I
think it's going to be exciting, the women going to
Puerto Rico and the men, you know, playing in Daiga
and Saint John's and all these other teams. There's so

(59:44):
many storylines. It's going to be a lot of fun.
And oh, by the way, both teams are extremely talented,
So it's fun when basketball is like this in the
Bluegrass State, Dick, there's nothing better when you get this
kind of excite.

Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
But for basketball, Oh, I'll let you go with this.
I'm glad you brought up Puerto Rico. I almost forgot,
but you tweeted as soon as the team announced it.
You were on top of that. Yeah, you get to go.
But people forget now. You know, that's a work trip,
you know, and You've made some really nice trips, and
I've been fortunate enough to do that with baseball, but

(01:00:20):
not to the Caribbean. But is there much downtime for
you in a situation like that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
But it's a trip like the Virgin Islands where they
play three games in three days. I don't get to
enjoy myself as nearly as much as I would like to,
except for the fact that the games are usually played
early in the day. Okay, so I have the evenings,
but I'm looking forward to Puerto Rico because they're playing
two games. Obviously the highlights playing a great Maryland program

(01:00:50):
that should be a very competitive and exciting game. But
there is a day off in between. In fact, I
think they have Thanksgiving Day off, so I'm looking forward
to to getting around the resorts and San Juan down there.
I've always been told you've got to go to Puerto Rico.
My friends in baseball that are from Puerto Rico have

(01:01:10):
talked about it, so I'm looking forward to it and
going down there to the home of Roberto Clemente.

Speaker 1 (01:01:16):
So yeah, well we'll hear about it, I'm sure via
the Chain game. So he is Darren Headrick. He is
a radio voice of UK women's basketball and baseball, and
of course anchors are football covers, the scoreboard on the
UK Football Network and every now and then pops up
and coverage of UK men's basketball. Thank you, sir, I
know you're having a good summer. Keep it going.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
You got it man. Thank you so much, Dick, appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:42):
And up next to UK volleyball coach Craig Skinner once again,
the pre season sec Coach of the Year say with
us here on the Big Blue Sider six thirty WLAP.
Welcome back to the Big Blue and Sider, thanks again
to Darren Headrick and coming up in just a few
minutes Craig Skinner, the head coach of the UK Volleyball
which has been picked to win it all once again

(01:02:02):
in the SEC and making nine straight. Something interesting out there.
I noticed this because Peter Burns of the SEC Network
tweeted about his opinion the most hostile places to play
because of crowd noise in a big game, and his
top five are LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas A
and M. And I've been, like Peter Burns, I've been

(01:02:26):
to every place in the league for UK road games.
Now Peter Burns went to LSU. I'm a bashed LSU fan,
makes no bones about it. And I have said more
than once that while I've been lucky enough to cover
UK football for many years, and I've been at LSU
several times, I've never covered a UK LSU game that

(01:02:46):
had really strong repercussions, if you will. When it came
to the SEC race and national championship things like that.
That's when those games are of course their biggest and
their best. I've seen Kentucky win down there, I've seen
Kentucky get blown out down there. But the crowds, of course,

(01:03:07):
are not the same as the ones you see on
TV when LSU is hosting Alabama or you know, somebody
with the SEC championship on the line. So it's hard
for me to judge when it comes to hostile environments Auburn.
I've seen Kentucky win down there and lose down there,
but not the same as, of course when Alabama is there.

(01:03:30):
Tennessee is different. I've seen some Tennessee environments down there.
No matter what there is at stake, it's just bragging rights.
And I've seen some really hostile Tennessee crowds. South Carolina
it's hostile because it's so loud. That's the thing about
South Coline. No matter who's playing against the game Cocks,
it just gets really loud. And if Carolina is in

(01:03:53):
the game, yeah, now, if you've got to lead on
South Carolina, that's a crowd that likes to party. They
leave early, believe it or not. If you can get
a lead, send them home. They leave early. Texas A
and M I've covered once and it was huge, and
it was a big game. I think Kentucky was still
undefeated in the league. That was back when Terry Wilson
was playing. That is a huge football stadium and they

(01:04:16):
take great pride in making a hostile So yeah, I
put that one up there. But USA today, one of
their writers put up his list, Blake Toppenmeyer, and he's
been all over the league as well. He says Number
one is Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida, the Swamp.
He talks about the noise, the humidity, and he quoted

(01:04:39):
Steve Spurrier saying, only Gators get out alive from the swamp.
I will cast a vote for Florida. I don't know
if that's the most hostile, but I can tell you
of all the stadiums I've covered, and I've seen Kentucky
win down there and get blown out down there the swamp.
And he's right about the humidity, but it is so tight.
There is virtually no oh space between the teams and

(01:05:03):
the fans on the sidelines and the end zones, so
they are right on top of you. But here's the thing.
Peter Burns left that off his top five so maybe
he didn't see LSU play a big game at the Swamp.
USA today has Tiger Stadium. Second, of course Death Valley.

(01:05:24):
They've got Nayland Stadium in Tennessee third. USA today has
Alabama's Bryant Denny Stadium fourth, whereas Peter Burns didn't have
that in his top five. USA Today says. Sandford Stadium
at Georgia is fifth. That's my favorite place to visit.
I love that stadium. It's just so great, so traditional,
and the last time Kentucky played there a couple of

(01:05:46):
years ago, and Kentucky was relevant at the time and
Georgia needed to win, it was the best crowd I've
ever seen at Georgia. It was a night game, crowd
was jacked up, and they had that brand new light
show happened, which they have now at Kentucky. He also
had a few years ago at Tennessee, so that can
be a tough place to play as well as the

(01:06:08):
home for a really good college football program. I have
not yet been to Oklahoma for a ballgame. Been to
Texas of course last year, but Kentucky was suffering, so
it was not a huge hostile crowd anyway, It's a
good way to try to fill the internet here on
these warm summer days. Check it out yourself USA today

(01:06:29):
and also Peter Burns on Twitter. Up next Craig Skinner
of UK Volleyball on six point thirty WLAP Welcome back
to the Big Blue Cider, joining us now as promised,
the head coach of the defending SC's Champs Again Volleyball
champion Kentucky Wildcats, Craig Skinner, whose team has been picked
to win it all again. Craig is the preseason coach

(01:06:52):
of the Year. No pressure, Craig, how's that feel?

Speaker 7 (01:06:57):
I don't know they designated something like that three, but no,
it's I mean, you know, like I would say, would
certainly rather be in that position than you know, at
the bottom of the conference obviously, but you know, until
get matches are played and all of those things, you
never know. But you know, to sign of respect and
and you know, certainly not any different pressure than we've

(01:07:18):
tried to feel and put on ourselves each and every year.
But tall order as usual, and even I think tougher
this year. I think there's a chance we get eight
to ten you know teams in the league in the tournament.
NCAA tournament post first SEC championship tournament in about twenty years.
But yeah, it's an exciting you know, beginning of the league.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
Well let's start with that tournament. I'm excited about that,
but I'm wondering how do you coaches feel about that?

Speaker 7 (01:07:47):
You know, to be honest, I don't really know because
I haven't played in one, and you know since the
first year I was at Kentucky. But the one thing
that it gives each league is it actually has to
crown a conference champion and being dictated by play on
the court. You know a lot of times it's it's
determined by the schedule. And even now that we aren't

(01:08:08):
able to play a double round robin, you know, we
can only play each team once and we'll alternate years
of where it's been played. We do get a true
regular season champion because you can play each once, but
then the home road thing, and you know, but it
determines it on the field, are on the on the court,
and you know, our issue is you're going to have
to play. If you get a double buy on a
top four seed, you still have to play three matches

(01:08:30):
in three days to determine that champion. So it remains
to be seen that you know, our league decided that,
you know, be a spectacle for our sport and for
our league and our sport and be on TV. And
you know, I think it's an interesting time.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
So we'll find out. I'll let you know in December.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
Okay, that sounds good. As always, I remind people that
we always look ahead to the of course, the beginning
of the football season, but volleyball cranks up earlier than that.
And of course you have the exhibition with Ohio State
coming up. Of course you have Blue White Day on
August sixteenth, a week later Ohio State exhibition. But you
typically brutal schedule going into the sec of course with

(01:09:09):
the you don't overlook Lipscombe, you're opener, but Nebraska, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Louisville.
I mean, but you like it that way or I
don't know if like it's their way word Craig, But
you need it that way, don't you.

Speaker 7 (01:09:22):
I you know, I probably wouldn't have it any other way.
You know, a couple of those matches, this in particular
this year, weren't really necessarily in my control. I mean,
the league has partnered with the ACC to do an
acc SEC Challenge. So we're playing Pittsburgh on a Wednesday
down in Texas as part of that, and then the
Nebraska match the you know, the first weekend of the

(01:09:44):
year is at Bridgestone in Nashville, and you know, an
event that the Big ten SEC is putting on. So
we're always going to say yes to situations like that
and play against elite teams. So maybe a little tougher
than what we would probably by design, but you know,
I always say you can't beat unless you play them,
and you know, I want to find out where we
are and how we need to improve, you know, before

(01:10:06):
the end of the season and before it's too late.

Speaker 2 (01:10:08):
You know.

Speaker 7 (01:10:09):
So it's those teams will definitely expose the things that
we're good at, first of all, but also the things
that we need to improve on.

Speaker 1 (01:10:16):
Absolutely, And it is a proven method, isn't it. Even
though your record might not, you know, be as glistening
or or gaudy as some others, but uh, this has
worked for you in the past.

Speaker 7 (01:10:29):
Well yeah, I mean I don't think I've ever been
into coaching to see what I can get my winning
percentage at or our teams winning percentage. I mean that
you know, ultimately that doesn't matter. I mean what matters
is how you perform and how you improve throughout the
year and what you can do at the end of
the season. And so you know it has worked because
of those specific things, and we've found out early what
our what our rotation looks like, who's playing better and

(01:10:52):
what position, what chemistry looks like between certain people, and
what you know, what we're able to execute at high
level and what we should continue to work on, and
then the things that we should junk because they're not
going to work for us, and you don't want to
find that out the second weekend of the NSAA tournaments, like,
oh man, we shouldn't have.

Speaker 2 (01:11:07):
Done that this year. You know you got to find
that out now.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
Yeah, no question about that. Well, speaking of changes last year,
Molly Tuzzo really came on mid season and now she's
a preseason All Conference pick along with Brooke Baltimore and
Brooklyn Delayonneva Hudson. But tell me first about making that
change with Molly and what that did, because we you
and I have talked for years about how if a

(01:11:32):
kid's playing well in practice, performing well in practice, she
will be rewarded come game time. And I'm assuming that's
exactly what happened.

Speaker 2 (01:11:43):
She did.

Speaker 7 (01:11:44):
I mean, she obviously performed really well her freshman year
and then going into the spring our freshman year, and
then preseason of her sophomore year, she was an incredible player.
And we had to We were lucky to have two
incredible liberos on the same team, you know, Elinor Bevan
and Molly, and we made the decision to go with Molly,
and and you know, it works and our team worked

(01:12:06):
because of that, and Eleanor played great too. But you know,
she's an elite athlete, exceptional player, still.

Speaker 2 (01:12:13):
Improving each and every day.

Speaker 7 (01:12:14):
I mean, she's been asked to play with the USA
U twenty one team this summer in the pan Am
Cup and and so she's being recognized. And but you know,
those are all the decisions that are really tough when
you're a coach and coaching staff and you know, what
are the right decisions, what are the right buttons to push.

Speaker 2 (01:12:33):
To help you, you know, reach your potential.

Speaker 7 (01:12:35):
And that was one of them we had to make
last year, and it was an extremely difficult decision.

Speaker 2 (01:12:39):
But you know, Molly performed well, and you know.

Speaker 7 (01:12:43):
We're certainly you know, happy that the way it turned
out and quite make the final four, but had a
lot of great wins prior to that.

Speaker 1 (01:12:50):
Can you afford as a coach to allow yourself to
worry about how a move like that might affect your
team off the floor as well as on the floor.

Speaker 7 (01:13:03):
Well, I mean, I think you have to make decisions
and move on. You can't second guess your decision because,
especially if you put a lot of thought and energy
into why, it may work for a lot of different reasons.
But you certainly have to address you know, the team
and chemistry and all of those things and talk about
I mean, if you don't talk about it, it's the
elephant in the room that everyone knows is there, and

(01:13:27):
you just have to communicate and be transparent. The more
I coach, the more I realize you have to be authentic.
You have to be transparent, but you also have to
be persistent in what you do and continue on because
you know, not there's not only one decision that works.
You can make two or three different decisions and they
both and they all work, but you have to press
on and keep trying to you know, fine tune those things.

(01:13:50):
Once you make those decisions, you kind of.

Speaker 1 (01:13:51):
Remind me of Rich Brooks in that regard. For whatever
that's worth to you, he was really successful with that approach.
We're talking with Craig Skinner, Kentucky volleyball coach. The Wildcats
open up against Lipscomb on August the thirtieth, and they
will feature, of course, the returning the reigning SEC Player
of the Year in Brooklyn Delay. It's nice to build

(01:14:13):
around that part, isn't it.

Speaker 7 (01:14:16):
Well, yeah, I mean she's in the special she's a
special player for Steamal America. And you know, was a
finalist for National Player of the Year last year, and
she in our opinion, you know, National Player the Year
officer too. I mean, she's just an amazing person and
credible worker and very giving and very selfless. You know,
so when you're that good on the floor and also

(01:14:37):
off the floor want other people to succeed, you have
the whole package. And I think we have a few
of those this year, and now we just got to
figure out the right way to piece them all together
to give us us the best chance to compete for championships.

Speaker 1 (01:14:49):
And she got some help on that front line from
brook Baltimore of course, had to sit out her entire
freshman year with an injury. But man, what a great
addition last year and again season All Conference. So that's
another huge plus for you, isn't it.

Speaker 7 (01:15:05):
Yeah, Brooke is you know, probably one of the hardest
workers that's ever been in this program. She never finds
a moment to take it off. I mean she she's
there's always a moment she can improve on something. And
you know, currently she's going to be playing with the
USA team this summer and she's watching USA video to
get familiar with their systems and how they how they
do things in her position, and you know, she's We're satisfied.

(01:15:26):
And you know another kid that you know is equally
as happy for someone on our team doing something well
as it is herself.

Speaker 2 (01:15:32):
And you know, just a pleasure to coach each and
every day.

Speaker 1 (01:15:35):
You've got somebody who came through the portal. Also preseason
All Conference in Ava Hudson, and you have lost through
the portal, but you've gained through the portal through the years.
She was a freshman of the Year a couple of
years ago at Produce. You know, that is literally a
huge addition for you, isn't it.

Speaker 7 (01:15:53):
Well, he was a very dynamic attacker, you know, one
of the best attackers in the country. And you know,
our fans are certainly going to get their money's worth
with the fireworks that you know, her and Brooklyn and
those guys can put on the floor to see. And
it's an amazing competitor. And you know, small world. But
you know, came from the same club program I got.

(01:16:13):
My coaching started in Montansla Volleyball and East Central Indiana,
so a cool connection. She has come from a volleyball family.
Her mom played at Purdue also, and uh, but you know,
she's just been an awesome kid to coach as well.
And her teammate Lizzie Carr, who our Cat fans are
familiar with their brother Andrew Carr, you know, really came
into the program and just been awesome to our team

(01:16:36):
and really, you know, even taking their game to another level.
So it's gonna be exciting to see them on the
floor too.

Speaker 1 (01:16:41):
Probably should have asked you this earlier, but what have
you seen in practices so far or do you like
what you see? Where do you need to work?

Speaker 7 (01:16:50):
Well, the spring we had, you know, five weeks of practice.
In the summer, they're just training and together we don't
have access to our players this summer yet, which I
think we should and I think some wolays exploring those options.
But you know, they're in camp doing some demos and
doing some great things. And we got to smooth out
our offense and smooth our connections. And you know, we're
having a new setter on the floor with Emmigrom graduating

(01:17:12):
after four years with Starter and all American and but
we're physical, athletic, you know, dynamic probably need to be
a little bit more efficient and decrease some errors, but
you know it's certainly a great place to start.

Speaker 1 (01:17:26):
Well, what about setter, what do you see? I know,
you've got Avis arofa back, you've got Cassie O'Brien's a freshman.
What do you know about that spot right now?

Speaker 2 (01:17:35):
Well, they had a very competitive spring.

Speaker 7 (01:17:36):
They both got you know, probably split about fifty split
about fifty percent of the time and matches and practice
and and very curious to kind of see how they're
attacking the summer and how they're competing getting after it.
It's it's open right now, and you know, just waiting
for someone to take charge of that position. But both
are have great strengths in different areas, and and uh

(01:17:57):
and now that now they chance to prove themselves is
right around the corner.

Speaker 2 (01:18:00):
So it's going to be exciting battle to be to witness.

Speaker 1 (01:18:03):
Well, I'll let you go with this. The renovated Historic
Memorial Coliseum I thought was a hit with fans for
both volleyball and women's basketball. I got to think your
kids love we talking to them preseason, they couldn't wait
to get at it. For another reason, the air conditioning.
You'll be interested to hear that my sometime broadcast partner
Leah Edmund, she liked the fact that there was no

(01:18:26):
air conditioning. She felt like that contributed to home court advantage,
which I guess it doesn't surprise you to hear a
Leah Edmund say something like that. But otherwise, I thought
the Coliseum was a big hit last year.

Speaker 7 (01:18:39):
It's just an amazing venue to watch a sporting event.
I mean, you're you're right on top of the action
on the end zones, and you know, the seating, the
comfort of the site lines, the video and audio effects
in there. I mean, it's just I don't see another
venue in the country that's better. And you know it's

(01:18:59):
there blue for the big Blue Nation to be a
part of. And you know, you know our campers who
we have camp going on right now, they're very excited.
There's ac in there now too. Because this time of
year it was glittering on doubt, we had to take
a little bit more breaks than we normally do.

Speaker 1 (01:19:15):
Come on, kids, it's not that hot. Suck it up. Yeah,
easier for us to say. Greg Skinner is the head
coach of the volleyball Cats. I tease him about prem
preseason Coach of the Year because his team has been
picked to win it. But yeah, it's it's gonna be
another fun year for Kentucky volleyball. Looking forward to it. Coach,
Thanks for your time, appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:19:34):
Thanks, have a great week and I'll do it for now.

Speaker 1 (01:19:36):
Thanks so much to Craig Skinner, Justin Roland and Darren Headrick.
That's it. Good night from the garage and Lexington White Master.

Speaker 6 (01:19:45):
It might be dangerous.

Speaker 3 (01:19:48):
You got rested.

Speaker 6 (01:20:01):
Such contacts batting the back tat too often.

Speaker 2 (01:21:25):
And it don't

Speaker 6 (01:21:30):
Don't to