2025-07-23 - BBI - Big Blue Insider with Dick Gabriel

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, oh, guess what day it is.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Guess what day it is?

Speaker 3 (00:05):
Huh?

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

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Yes, it is hump Day. Welcome to the Big Blue
Insider Dick Gabriel Wednesday edition of our program, One day
closer to College Football, and we will be talking a
little bit of football, a lot of basketball tonight because TBT,
the basketball tournament is over for La Famille. You probably
know by now they lost last night on a last

(00:34):
second shot the Eberline Drive. It was a real heartbreaker
because you know, they played the elam rule, which is
with four minutes left, they stopped the game. Whatever team
is leading, they put eight points onto that total, and
whatever team gets to that number first, that's the team
that wins the game. When they did that last night,

(00:55):
Kentucky had a lead but couldn't hang on to it
and had opportunities to win the game, had the game
on the rim literally twice, couldn't win it. Eber Line
Drive throws in a three pointer, despite the fact that
that's the only way they could have won it. So
the Kentucky players La Fameia, just as they did against

(01:17):
the Auburn team a couple nights ago, they just gave
up the lane. Everybody was on the three point arc,
and they did a great job of covering the arc,
except the other guys kept getting the rebound. They would
miss a three and get the rebound and try again,
try again, try again, and they finally hit a three
and won the game. Kentucky had a great opportunity. Archie Goodwin,

(01:39):
who had a nightmare at the free throw line two
games back, missed a couple early and Willie caley Stein
went in for what would have been the game winning
layup or dunk. They undercut him. He goes down, should
have been an intentional foul, it wasn't, and he's hurt,
hurt his ankle, so he had to leave the game,

(01:59):
which meant the other team could choose the free throw shooter,
and they chose Archie wisely because he had been missing well.
All they needed were two free throws to win the game.
Goodwin nails the first one, and again he had missed
earlier in the game. He had missed last game like
seven straight drains. The first one, I mean never touched

(02:20):
the rim swish, and I thought he's got it. He
worked out his problems, but then he shorted the other one.
The other guy's got the rebound, they try, they don't score.
Kentucky comes down again, Goodwin breaks for the basket, goes in, layup,
rolls off the rim. He tapped it up, missed. The
other guys get the rebound, they go down and they score,

(02:41):
and now it's Ebra line drive moving on to try
to win that million dollars and the season's over for
La FA mea heartbreaker, And we didn't get a chance
to talk to any of the players. They were so
beside themselves, of course, after the game, but the head coach,
Sean Woods came into the media room he would and

(03:01):
he talked to us about the fact, among other things,
that it is so disappointing because of the way the
fans turned out to support this team, which was either
former UK players or guys who were essentially adopted by
the BBN.

Speaker 4 (03:17):
That's what hurts more than anything. You know, It's not
you know, yeah, we're playing for a million dollars, but
to play in front of these fans and to have
these fans show up like they do, man, it's it's
it's it's a soreal experience, and these guys really appreciate
it and they're they're in there that right now, like

(03:38):
they lost the game in the NCAA Tournament, you know,
I mean, it hurts them just like they do when
they played. So nothing changes with Kentucky basketball. Nothing changes
with Big Blue Nation. If we were playing Jacks and

(03:58):
it's us against somebody else and it's a familiar faces,
Big Blue Nation is gonna show up unlike any other
place in the world. And that's what we're proud of.
That's why we are who we are, and that's why
Kentucky is who Kentucky is because of things like this.
I'll tell you who's hurting even more.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
It's TDT.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
Because they're not gonna get ay another crowd like this.
They're not gonna get this type of action. They're not
gonna get this type of coverage.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
Sean talked a lot through this process, from media Day
on throughout the TBT about the guys coming back to play,
the guys who were only here briefly. You know, Archie
Goodwin was here a year, Khalil Whitney was here for
eighteen games, and what it meant to them to come back.

(04:46):
He had some really poigned comments and well, we'll share
more of them. We're gonna talk to Sean at the
bottom of the hour. This is Wednesday, so we ordinarily
talk to Sean every Wednesday, and we'll pick it up
from there. But we're gonna pick that up through the
rest of the week as well. We'll hear from him
and Mark Pope a little bit just about being a
Kentucky basketball player. But some of the tweets. Man Archie

(05:07):
Goodwin tweeted, no excuses, that's on me. I'll get better.
Khalil Whitney tweeted, wiping these tears away. I just want
to say thank you BBN. Y'all will always have a
special place in my heart. If you watch them play
in person or on TV, you saw Khalil Whitney, And

(05:31):
of course he's bigger, older, stronger, more mature than he
was here. But and Sean alluded to this, didn't talk
directly about Khalil Whitney, but he said he had. Whitney
told him he had so much going on in his
personal life when he was here and was getting pressure
from his dad. That's what I added in and ultimately

(05:51):
left and didn't quite have the college career that he
might have had if he had stuck it out here
At Kentucky. So it was a disappointing loss, a real heartbreaker,
but it was fun. The game was super physical, way
too physical. The officials tried to let him play and
kind of lost control of the game quite frankly. But

(06:14):
TBT has caught on. It's popular. Fans turned out at
historic Memorial Coliseum and I hope they leave it there.
Quite frankly. It was a crowd of about five or
six thousand. It would have been okay, and Rupperena Lower
Bowl holds ten. But I just really like seeing games
at the coliseum, and you know, I know when I

(06:36):
got to college, that's where the varsity team played, so
I kind of like that. But I just think it's
a more intimate atmosphere. But again, we'll have more from
Seawn coming up. We're going to talk to Cole Park.
He's the new sports writer, the beat writer for the
Cat's Pause, taken over for my Man Aaron Gershawn, And
a little bit later on Jordan Adams from Fox fifty six.

(06:56):
He covered TBT the basketball tournament here in lectioningon, so
we'll get his thoughts as well. Quick reminder about UK
season basketball tickets early renewal incentives available through August the first.
The renewal deadline is August the twenty second, and it's
going to be an entertaining season in rupp Arena for

(07:17):
Mark Pope and his Wildcats. Say with us here on
the Big Blue and Siders six thirty WLAP Welcome back
to the Big Blue and Sider. Dick Gabriel with you
Wednesday edition of our show, and coming up in a
few minutes more with Sean Woods, the coach of TBT Entry,
Laugh of Me, which suffered that painful, painful loss last night,
had the game right there, made a great comeback, but

(07:39):
just couldn't close things out. We talked to Sean every Wednesday,
and of course a guy who's already back at work
coaching at Scott County High School, so he moved from
the pros back to the high school kids. But it's
got to be tough. So we'll talk to Sean here
in just a few minutes. There is a lot going
on around the country right now, not just a football

(08:00):
NFL camps happening, but we'll talk a little bit about that.
I do want to talk about age right now. I
am a certain age. I will tell you I'm gonna
turn seventy in September and still enjoying what I'm doing,
Thank you very much. But some things caught my eye
as I was sifting through websites in the wire earlier today,
including the fact that Venus Williams won a tournament last

(08:26):
night at age forty five. That's right, she won a
tournament in Washington, d C. The DC opened in straight sets.
She beat Peyton Sterns, twenty two years her junior. Venus
at one point was on top of the world and
then gave way to her sister Serena and admitted, Serena's
better than I am, she told people coming up and

(08:48):
then had a lot of health issues, illness and injury,
things like that, but she kept working. She came back
and now the only woman older than Venus to win
a tour level singles match was Martina navtill Over one
Wimbledon at age forty seven back in twenty oh four.

(09:10):
So Venus, who had not played an official singles match
since March of twenty four in Miami, comes all the
way back. She had won a singles title since August
of twenty twenty three up in Cincinnati, and had been
listed by the WTA tour as inactive. So good on you,

(09:30):
Venus Williams at age forty five, she wins. I did
not know this, but the Honey Badger is retiring. Yep.
Tron Matthew, who made a name for himself, of course
at LSU, was a bit of a problem child in college,
but tremendous pro and one of the great nicknames. A

(09:52):
honey Badger never shook it. In fact, he embraced it.
A consensus All American at LSU won but Neeric Award
as the best defensive player in college football. Remember Josh
Allen won that award. He was a finalist for the
Heisman Trophy. Got kicked out of school at LSU after
a violation of team rules, but after he spent a

(10:15):
year out of football. In twenty twelve, chosen by the
Arizona Cardinals, lasted til the third round, and there he
played with his former college teammate Patrick Peterson. Made All Rookie,
made All Pro, played for the Texans. The Chiefs, won
a Super Bowl in Kansas City and finished up in
New Orleans. Fittingly enough, so the Honey Badger is retiring

(10:40):
at age thirty three, but he's played twelve years a
pro football, still aged thirty three, and there's still guys
going strong in the NFL. Speaking of going strong, Rich
Hill pitched last night for the Kansas City Royals, who see, well,
he's baseball's oldest active player. He's forty five years old.

(11:02):
They brought him up from the Miners. Gave up three
runs six hits over five innings. First major league appearance
since last September with Boston. Through ninety pitches fifty five
or strikes, walked to struck out one and gave way
with his team trailing three to nothing. Forty five years

(11:22):
old and he's out there pitching in the bigs. How
about that tip of the captain? Rich Hill, like Venus
forty five years old. So many other stuff going on
in this broke yesterday, but attorneys with the House Settlement,
the plaint of Attorneys, have settled their disagreement over the

(11:46):
NIL collective situation basically with the College Sports Commission. They
sued College Sports Commission stepped in, you might recall, and
basically tried to provide more regulation when it came to
the dollar that went from NIL deals to the athletes.
They wanted it to go more directly through the schools

(12:06):
and almost immediately it was predictable. Attorneys for the various
collectors jumped up and said, all right, we'll see about that,
and they sued. So now the collectives are basically back
in business the way they want to be. So I
really believe this is a step back. But it just
seems like any time there's a lawsuit now the school

(12:28):
side of things or the NCAA, if you will, they
either back off or they lose. So I don't know
if they just need better lawyers or they're already in
an unwinnable situation. But they asked the house plaint of attorneys,
asked them to retract the guidance that they had set up.
And that's exactly what's going on. So it's still a

(12:49):
bit of the wild West. I think you're seeing things
come around a little bit more, but it's just a
crazy time. And to that end, at the ACC kickoff luncheon,
the Commissioner, Jim Phillips got up and talked for nearly
an hour, and part of his message was about the
fact that Clemson and Florida State have settled there they're

(13:13):
no longer suing to leave the league, but there is
new language within the ACC agreements that could make it
easier for teams to leave the conference. According to one story,
the legal settlement significantly decreased the league's exit fees by

(13:35):
tens of millions, and they used to having what was
called an ironclad grant of rights media deal. Apparently that's
been dissolved, and now the feeling is the team that's
gonna want to bolt is North Carolina. And if that happens,
you know you and I both know where North Carolina's
gonna land. Say hello to the Southeastern Conference. And again,

(13:59):
this could be another situation where it's good for the
SEC bad for college sports. If the ACC falls apart,
and right now, that's too big eighteen teams Now in
football there's seventeen minus Notre Dame, and it's coast to coast.
It's ridiculous, but that's where we are. But if this
thing falls apart, how is that good for college sports?

(14:22):
They're trying to bring the PAC twelve back to give
the West Coast more identity. It's not an identity issue
when you're talking about the East Coast. But if these
schools start falling to the wayside from the ACC the SEC,
can you imagine what that's going to be like, so

(14:42):
keep an eye on that. But I personally would hate
to see North Carolina in the SEC. I don't know why.
It just didn't seem right. Just didn't seem right to me.
A couple other football stories that are out there. You
might recall that Scott Frost made hea lines at Central
Florida UCF his second turn down there. He's the guy

(15:04):
who coached uc after that undefeated season, went to Nebraska.
They fired him after two years. He just had a
terrible time. And this is a guy who was a
quarterback for Nebraska's national championship team back in the nineties,
and at UCF they asked him, what did you learn?
And he said, basically, it was the wrong job for him,

(15:26):
and people ripped him, media people, fans, which I didn't understand.
And maybe it's because you and I saw a situation
here at Kentucky where a guy took a job that
was not right for him. It was a bad fit.
And obviously I'm talking about Billy Gillespie. Billy never should
have taken this job based on his personality, his track record,

(15:49):
the way he treats people. He didn't want to be
you know, the quote unquote ambassador just wanted to coach basketball,
and you can debate how well he did that here Kentucky,
but in terms of being the coach, it was a
terrible fit. They had to hire him in a hurry
because recruiting deadlines were coming up. And after he took

(16:11):
the job, he tried to leave, tried to go back
to A and M. A and M said now we're
good and it just wasn't a good fit. Well, Scott Frost,
even though that was his alma mater, it wasn't a
good fit. And you know who took up for him.
Matt Ruhle, the new coach at Nebraska, had big ten
media days. He said, I have a ton of respect
for Scott. He said, I've been very empathetic for what

(16:33):
he went through because he said, because this was his home.
Rule said, if you guys fire me tomorrow, I'm just
going to go back to Cape Man and sit on
the beach, go back to where I'm from. But he
said this was his home. So Frost said he learned
from his experience not to take the wrong job, and
in hindsight said it wasn't a good move. And Rule said,

(16:54):
I understand, He said, I agree with him. He said,
I know what it felt like to get run out
of Carolina. He was the head coach with the Panthers
for two plus seasons in the NFL, and now he says,
I don't think I took the right job for me.
It wasn't the right fit. Doesn't mean it's a bad job.
I think that's what a lot of people were jumping

(17:15):
on with Scott Frost. People, you know, the knee jerk
reaction right away. What do you mean, Nebraska, that's a
great job. Well, you know, it's all about fit. Kentucky's
a great job. Not everybody can do it. So let's
all learn from that, shall we. And while we're learning,
let's all learn from Mike Vrabel. He's the new head
coach of the New England Patriots. Did a great job

(17:38):
in Tennessee. They fired him anyway. But your reporters out there,
especially the guys who cover the Patriots, they learned yesterday
that you got to pay attention if you're sitting there
covering a news conference, because apparently a reporter asked a
question of the head coach, and Mike Vrabel allowed us

(18:00):
out that was pretty much what another guy had already
asked and yeah, he scolded the reporter who apparently hadn't
been paying attention.

Speaker 5 (18:10):
I mean, whether you were in a coma when I
answered Tom's question or typing on your phone or tweeting.
I don't know, but I spent five minutes answering that question.
And I can go back through it, but I'd rather not.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
I don't know what they were talking about. I don't
know what the question was, but clearly Mike vrabel and
then he went on to kind of give an answer,
and he didn't rip into him, but he did scold
him a little bit. So folks gotta pay attention. We're
gonna pay attention to Sean Woods when we come back
here on six point thirty WLAP Welcome back to the
Big Blue and sider joining us now as a guy

(18:46):
who is one hurting cowboy today, and that is Sean Woods.
He's the unforgettable guard that joins us each and every Wednesday.
He is the head coach at Scott County High School,
but also is coaching the TBT entry Laft for me,
as we all know, suffered a brutally tough loss last
night in the tournament. Eliminated coach. I got to tell
you that in the media room, we were all wondering,

(19:08):
you know, is anybody even going to come in here?
And I said, Sean Woods will come in here. I
guarantee you that. But that couldn't have been easy. That's
part of the job, though, isn't it. What was that
like for you?

Speaker 3 (19:18):
I mean, it's part of a job. I've been a
coach for twenty five years. Dack. You know, you got
to meet the press, win, lose a draw. So that
was that was nothing. You know, that has to be done.
And you know you can't be a sole loser. You know,
you gave it your best and just then we just
didn't finish it. And uh, but it was a great
experience and those guys gave me everything, you know, that

(19:39):
I asked for, and you know what I'm saying that
that's what it's all about. And it gave us an
opportunity as former Kentucky Wildcats to get together again.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
I got to tell you, I have to admit that
somewhere in the third quarter, it just didn't seem like
it was going to happen. I don't know if it well,
I know it didn't seem that way to you. You
don't think that way. But I turned to the guy
next to me and said, I don't think they can
this game because you weren't getting consistent stops. But then
suddenly you did and you went on that sixteen to
nothing run. Let's start with the defense. You mentioned the

(20:09):
offense last night. Let's start with the defense. What change there, Sean,
when you guys took command of that game, and I
mean absolute control of that game.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
Well, we started doing we're supposed to do on the switches,
and then we made an adjustment to not switch with
Billy or one of the bigs. We kept the bigs
at home because what they were doing was they were
taking advantage of our switching and then throwing it to
the big guy going against one of our guards. I
got you, And normally our guards are strong enough and
tough enough to the people's bigs, but last night we

(20:41):
just didn't have it. And those bigs are pretty good.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Oh yeah, they were big, they were strong, they were physical.
They had you in size. But part of that too
was your bench got a little short, didn't it.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Yeah? I did, and you know we lost lamb You know,
I mean, well have some key guys, uh so, but
you know what I mean, we still made a run
and we you know, still gave our chances, you know,
so we took the lead. We went up with eight
or something like that.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yeah, yeah, and well talk about that, talk about that,
because you answered this last night as well. But your
offense started to become more efficient on that run. I
know you you created buckets out of your defense, but
your half court offense suddenly looked more.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
Well, we started to pay attention and do what was
right and just start using ball screens and getting the
ball moved side to side to get them moving a
little bit, which gave us gave us better and looser
and softwer driving lanks to attack.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
Yeah, you were going a little more one on one
early in the game, weren't. You were taking guys off
the dribble. But they adjusted, didn't they?

Speaker 3 (21:47):
Yeah, they did. They started, you know, filling the gaps
a little bit because we weren't making any shots. You know,
we only made three. We went three for fifteen to
sixteen from the three and that's normally not us. And
because we couldn't make shots, we had to make that
we drove and then we got to the final line
and we just didn't capitalized on the foul line, and
not just Archer but everybody, you know what I mean,

(22:07):
that was a tough situation to follow right there, that
you guys a free throws.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
Yeah, you had multiple guys missing free throws and the
other team did as well. I don't know if that
that's legs or what, but I know it had to
be frustrating. But I know you also paid tribute to
the crowd and you made a great point. This is
a lot like when Kentucky loses early in the SEC
tournament down in Nashville or even in Atlanta. You know,

(22:33):
the people are the tournament, oh no.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
And you know what, everybody was starting to get engaged
and it became the UK season of the summer and
it was good. And you know how people are into
common with man, they you know, they can watch UK
basketball year round, and this gave him something to to
really pump their you know, pump their fists and hands
about just didn't finish it, man, And you know what
I'm saying that that's that that hurts, and you know

(22:59):
it's no nobody's fault. It is just just didn't happen,
you know, And and uh not only did I hate
it for UK, fans. But man, you know, these guys
were so professional with me, you know, doing the right things,
doing what I asked, showing up, you know, fam preparing,
so on and so forth. You know, I could ask

(23:20):
for a better response from these guys who are pros,
and uh, you know that's what was refreshing to me
to be around those guys.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
U K.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
Season of the summer, I think you hit on a tag.
I think that's great. I'm already looking ahead the next year.
And they played a Memorial Coliseum, as we all know,
and I know the guys were a little disappointed, weren't
gonna being rough, But in hindsight, I thought the coliseum
really worked out. Well what did you think?

Speaker 3 (23:50):
Oh, I was perfect? You know, it's it's it's it's
small enough, and it's it's you know, it's more intimate
because everybody's right there. And uh, you know, six thousand
fans doesn't seem like much in repereena, but six thousand
fans in more coliseum is a big time.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
Oh yeah, yeah, it is more intimate to be and listen,
you know, you know I'm an old guy and the
first varsity Kentucky basketball I want I know you practiced there.
But the first varsity games I felt were in the coliseum.
Now it held eleven thousand back then.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
But.

Speaker 1 (24:21):
There were opposing players, he said, we felt like fans
were going to reach out and touch us, you know,
And that's how that's how it was. And uh, I
think that this thing. I don't remember when this tournament
started in terms of crowds and things like that, but
I think it's really.

Speaker 3 (24:38):
We've broken record. We've broken records as far as TV
two crowds and the vision coverage, so on and so forth,
and uh, you know that's why they want to you know,
like I said before, TVT is just as is disappointed
Kentucky fans because you know, it's revenue is exposure and
you can't get it no better place than Kentucky.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
Yeah, and now Louisville teams out as well, you know,
and they.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
Were down well so not West Virginia. Who wants to
go watch a TVT basketball game in West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
Well, I remember watching this tournament thinking, oh, that's nice,
you know, a million bucks, that's interesting. But people now,
I think the players are more serious about it, and
it's a great idea, and I've got to think Sean
that with this growth, I bet you're gonna have like
Archie Goodwin, y'all couldn't get together last year. I know

(25:31):
you were not part of that process, but he definitely
wanted to come back. I'm really curious to see what
happens next year. I know I'm getting ahead of myself,
but I got to think more and more players are
going to look forward to being a part of this,
don't you.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
Oh no doubt about it. I mean, you can't. You
can't make this up. You know what I'm saying as
a former player, and these guys are still playing, you know, professionally,
but to come back and to receive the love that
they got. Like I've told you before, some of these
guys don't understand really what Kentucky basket balls about even
though they played here. Yeah, because they weren't here long
enough to really understand the magnitude of who they are

(26:06):
and what this is all about. And now they do.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
You've touched on this on more than one occasion when
you were talking to the media about the fact that
they get to be Kentucky basketball players again. And we
would all love to go back and relive a part
of our lives I don't know about you. I don't
know that i'd want to be a teenager again, but
there are situations where I know I would love to
have the opportunity to relive moments or you know, an

(26:33):
act bad at a baseball game or something like that,
and to be given that opportunity as these players, and
I think they fully embraced that. And I think that
was hammered home by what you talked about last night
to the media that none of the players spoke to us,
which is understandable, but you talked about the fact they
were devastated. Whereas some people might think, wow, they'll go

(26:54):
back to you know, their pro league overseas or go
back to their lives. No, they took it hard.

Speaker 3 (27:01):
Yeah, it is. I mean there was that locker room
was very solemn and uh, you know, because you know,
they do have pride. You know, this is a unique
place and everybody doesn't get a chance to be a
UK basketball player. You know, and look at DJ Burns.
You know how significant of a row he played in
the enthusiasm you know, the Kentucky people, you know, not

(27:23):
only showed him, but what he gave us. You know,
it was like he was a former player, his pride
got into came in to play like he was a
former Kentucky basketball player.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Yeah, yeah, he was a guy. He left the bench
area and was in the aisles leading cheers. So yeah,
he was contagious as well, and I know his teammates
loved it. We're talking with Shawn Woods, head coach of
la FA Media, but also the head coach of Scott
County High School. We'll talk about that on the other
side of the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back.

(27:53):
Seawan Woods is with us, the unforgettable guard, head coach
of Scott County High School. Now that the TBT season
is over a little too soon, he's back to work
coaching the Cardinals. And uh, you mentioned to me last
night that you all are lifting, and of course the
most teams are right now. Did you guys lift much
in high school back.

Speaker 3 (28:11):
In the day, we did. We did, we lived, you know,
especially pre season. We did. Our school's traditionally know of sports,
Cathedral High School in Indianapolis. Yeah, so you know that
that was big. Football is big, wrestling's big. So the
weight room was very very important and I you know,

(28:32):
I knew that, you know, as.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
A yolster, I asked, because when I was coming up, Uh,
that was back in the time when coaches were afraid
of guys if they weren't a football player mura wrestler.
I guess you get quote unquote muscle bound. And I'm
sure that was a possibility back then because different sports
need different types of weightlifting, if I'm not mistaken, And

(28:57):
there's so much more information out there. There's so much
more research and trial and error about it. And of
course you had a great program at Kentucky that you
went through. But I know one of the things that
it does beyond just obviously making you bigger and stronger,
was it helps you grind out the season, doesn't it.
I mean, you know, if you stay strong, you don't

(29:20):
get as tired, right.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
Right, And guess what, I just left the weight room
with Cot County High School. We just we had weight today.
So now we work out now so it doesn't stop,
you know what I mean? Oh yeah, you know last
an last night. Now I'm back up at it with
my guys in Sky County. So you know, we just
left the weight room at at eight and get it
in and that's the important part of our process and
now we're going to get after that.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
Speaking of getting after it, do you have to chase
the guy?

Speaker 2 (29:46):
What?

Speaker 1 (29:46):
They got to be there? But I mean, what's the
attitude in the weight room. Did these kids embrace it?

Speaker 3 (29:50):
Oh? They embrace it? Really they embrace it. Yeah, they
embrace it. My guys do. Anyway, Yeah, they know the
importance of it.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
Okay. I asked because I was talking to h some
of the UK football players and current and past about
the weight room. You know, they they put out videos
on social media with guys that are you know, reaching
their their new personal best. And you know there's such
camaraderie in the weight room, screaming and yelling. You know.
Uh do you see that at the high school.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
Level that that brings team team team bonding? Yeah, that's
that's part of because you go to a struggle in
the weight room, you know, yeah, and everybody needs everybody
and that's where you know, team bonding does come play
a part and that's huge for us. You know, when
you're trying to build a culture, you know, that's that's
you know, every every place that you can, you know,
from a from a team standpoint, you want to be

(30:38):
put your guys in their position to bring togetherness, you know,
and that's part of it.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
Speaking of culture, I was going to ask you this
about Scott Connie, which kind of fell on hard times
the last couple of years. And meanwhile, great crossing down
the roads winning a state title. But there is great
tradition thanks to Billy Hicks and a lot of great
players at Scott County High School. You played in a
college program and of course might be steeped in the
greatest culture of all in terms of college basketball. How

(31:07):
does that relate or how does that compare on the
high school level. I know it's not the same, but
if you grow up in Scott County, you know about
high school basketball, whether you play it or not. How
do your kids react and respond to that kind of thing?
I mean, I know they're awfully young, but I know
they know about Scott County basketball. What's that like at

(31:27):
that level?

Speaker 3 (31:29):
Well? They you know, these kids, you know, they want
to win. You know, it's all about leadership, you know
what I mean, It's all about culture. It's all about
you know. And I tell people all the time sometimes
you know, when you have a guy who's the head
coach and he's had major to success the reason why
he had major success because he did things that nobody
else wanted to do and he was a trendsetter. And

(31:50):
sometimes your assistant coaches, you know, that's their job to
do and and and really help him establish his game
plan to do things. And sometimes it may stem are comfortable.
They don't like some of the things, so when they
get their opportunity to coach, they don't. They kind of
shortcut things because, Okay, if I become a coach and
we're not gonna do all this if I'm not if

(32:10):
I'm the head coach, now when I get my chance,
I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do it. Well,
when you start cutting corners from what got you there
because it's your turn now, you know what I mean,
you get those type of results, shortcut results, and I
think that's you know, that goes a long way when
guys precede somebody else that came from that same staff. Now,
sometimes the traditions uphold from the head coaches, you know

(32:34):
what I'm saying, standards and it stays the same, like
the North Carolina's the Dukes and things like that. But
a lot of times when a guy gets his opportunity
to be the assistant coach. From assistant coach to head coach,
you know, he don't do the same things, and so
you get you know, those results start to become marginal
and then it starts to look like what happens here
as Scott County for the last five years.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
What was it like for you when you moved from
being an assistant to you a head coach.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
I was already trying to outwork the head coach when
I was there. I mean I was his main guy
and make you know, the things that he didn't want
to do. I did, you know, because I came from
that type of situation. You know, I was always hungry
to be the best because you know, I played for
some of the best coaches in the world. I played
for with Patino, I played for Eddie Sutton, I played
for Billy Donovan, I played for Ralph Willard, I played
for you know what I'm saying her sin Day, you know,

(33:25):
Tubby Smith. So from that standpoint, I know that the
aller that is supposed to be, I know what needs
to happen, and I couldn't wait to give my get
my opportunity to show young men, you know what it's
really like to work like a champion. When you work
like a champion, champion, you become a champion.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Those names you just rattled up, man, there's a lot
of championship rings in that.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
Group, right in Hall of Famers and future Hummers for
Hall of Famers. So I've been blessed in my basketball
life to be coached and even my high school career.
You know, you you know, growing up in Indiana. You know,
those high school coaches some of the best coaches in
the world, and they coached like college coaches. You know,
they're organized, they're very precise in what they're trying to do,

(34:10):
and they're big on fundamentals.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
You were so excited to get this job. And I
remember you, I don't know if you recall this, but
when you were talking to me last year because you
were doing TV on high school games and the high
school bug kind of bit you while you were doing that,
and you told me at one point, maybe I'd like
to get involved with this. And now you really are
one of the great programs in the state of Kentucky.

(34:34):
But it's a different level of ball, I know, yeah,
you know, tell me about coaching high school kids versus
college kids in terms of, you know, I don't know
what your daily regimen's like, but in terms of, you know,
the tone you take and the relationships you build with players,
it's got to be a little bit different, right.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
Well, it is because it's more teaching at high school level. Yeah,
it's more teaching. It's more. It's more teaching at the
high school level more so than and even at the
college level. But you at the ground, the ground roots
of teaching fundamentals of how you do little things. Because
as a college basketball coach, I should be so mad
at my players high school coaches, because there are some

(35:14):
things that they never knew. Even though they're talented, they
don't know just the little things like how to throw
the ball into the post, you know, how to jump
to the ball, things that you most coaches supposed to teach,
and you're in the seventeenth grade. Most of these guys
don't even teach anymore. And as you see now there's
a lot of these AAU guys are getting high school
jobs and they're coaching just like AAU instead of really

(35:36):
teaching kids how to play basketball. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Yeah, it's more like a fantasy league team. I would
think at.

Speaker 3 (35:41):
The AU exactly, and then all you're doing is patronizing
these kids instead of really holding them accountable to do
things right.

Speaker 1 (35:47):
Yeah, what about middle school basketball? I mean, have you
been able to get around and talk to some of
those coaches, because I know some of the more successful
high school football programs work with the middle schools to
maybe run us similar system so they become feeders to
the high schools.

Speaker 3 (36:04):
Well, we're trying to do that here too. You know
what I'm saying, because you know, the difficult in this
situation is it's two high schools in this town now,
and you know, you got theater systems, you got districts
and things like that. I came in just trying to
work with every middle school just you know what I'm
saying from a fundamental standpoint of creating culture, you know,

(36:26):
no matter if it's for us or again. But you know,
hopefully it didn't go very well to this year for
whatever reason that I'm not going to go into. But
you know, I'm looking forward to next year really establishing
basketball again in Georgetown in Stock County.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
I would think that you can't sleep fast enough right now,
and I know school hasn't even started yet, but you
guys are already practicing. It's going to be on top
of you before you know it, and the season will
be starting. Uh do you feel like you're getting things
done the way you would hoped?

Speaker 3 (36:57):
We're making major progress that I don't know no other way,
you know what I mean. I've never gone backwards. Uh,
it's just my m my DNA or high. I'm i'm,
I'm I'm built. So No, we're making major strides over here,
and we're gonna be much better than what people think.
And it's not gonna look ever looking like what it
what it looked like, you know the last four or

(37:17):
five years. I mean, you know, even in the summer,
we've made major progress. And with that, you know, you'll
try you'll start attracting much more, more better players and
things like that, in which we're already doing. But you know,
it's just fun. I'm back on my element again. I
was out, didn't think I even wanted to coach anymore,
and uh, she God blessed me to coach two teams
at one time, and I would coach my you know,

(37:38):
I come do weights and work out and practice with
my Scott Canning team in the morning, and then in
the afternoon. I was going, you know, working out with
pros and managing pros instead of you know, teaching pros.
So it was the best of both worlds and I
enjoyed it. Am I tired a little bit, Yeah, but
am I you know, could have gone a little another
week or so, sure could, But you know, but I

(38:00):
back with Scott County right now. And you know we
lose last night and nothing stops for Sean Woods. You know,
now it's time to get Scott Candy back, which I
never missed a beat anyway because I was both at
the same time. But you know, it's just so refreshing
to be in the gym making kids better.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
Well coach, great job with the lot of me. I
know you wish you were still working double time, but
there's a lot to look forward to and we will
chat again next week.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
Talk to you so Dick, appreciate you man.

Speaker 6 (38:30):
You know that up next hour number two we'll talk
more about TBT and lat of me on the other
side of the break on six thirty WLAPA.

Speaker 7 (39:26):
Showing anything, do anything.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
To take that.

Speaker 7 (39:54):
Anything, I think.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
Welcome back to the Big bluon Sider joining us now
always a guy who will be taking over has taken
over at the catch pause two four seven for Aaron Gershan,
who joined us each week here on the big blon
sider that is Cole Park. Welcome to the show. Congratulations
on landing the job.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
Thanks for having me, and thank you for congratulations. I'm
very excited to get sort of test claws.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
You've been covering the Wildcats though, for the school paper,
the Kentucky Colonel. Right, so it's kind of seamless, am
I Right?

Speaker 2 (41:00):
Yeah? I started as a freshman and working out pretty quickly,
so I was already covering men's basketball by the time
I finished my freshman year. Wow, so about four years
on the on the beat for the Kentucky Colonel and
now where I catch bose.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
Well, I had a similar path. I worked the Colonel
while I was in school, but I didn't get to
cover my first game to like the last one of
the last home games of my freshman year, because the
team wasn't any good and the sports editor was tired
of looking at him, so he sent me and the
game I cover turned out to be the worst loss
in the history Memorial Coliseum. So uh, I know your

(41:37):
path was a little bit a little bit better than that.
But uh, let's talk about Mark Pope and his conversation
with the media earlier this week, and uh, I was
really interested to hear Cole that he's kind of flip
flopping the way he's doing business now. He started off
last year preseason really concentrating on that that complicated offense

(41:58):
of his Now he's going harder a defense this season.
What was your reaction to that.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
Yeah, you know, I thought it was pretty positive. I
thought it showed that Mark Pope is a guy who
can take criticism. He's a guy who can constantly learn.
I thought last year's team, especially, you know, they were
super super exciting to watch. Offensively, you know, they could
they could shoot the three like few teams, but there
were times the defense is a bit you know, concerning,

(42:27):
and that's not to say the whole season. You know,
there were some games they really looked really really good defensively,
but for the most part, I think it was the consensus.
So that was a team that was very good offensively
and so so defensively, and that led to you know,
I think I might have put out a story about
it last year as well. You know, when you look

(42:48):
at the last however, many national champions. It's very uncommon
for a team that is so so defensively to win
an ASTHMA title. I oppose really good offensively, So I
think it's promising, you know, with how much talent they
have on the Losster coming in, you know, the transfers.
The freshman's pretty excited about to see that they're they're

(43:11):
going really hard on defense, and I think that is
just another reason why Kentucky could be a really, really
dangerous team next year.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
Well, we've been talking to the players they've made available
to us throughout the summer, and I've been really interested
Cole in the fact that they've all brought up defense,
and many times, unprompted by a question, they just offer
it up. How good this team could be defensively. Now.
I asked Pope for his reaction to that. He just
kind of blew it off by saying, we're a million

(43:39):
miles away. But we didn't hear those comments last year,
did we? About defense? They were all talked about how
glad they were to be a Kentucky. But this has
been a real switch, hasn't it.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
Certainly? Yeah, I mean I think that you just kind
of look at where we're at and this Pope project.
I think last year was really about rebuilding the cold
sure at Kentucky. Actress kind of got in a bad
place after, you know, a few years of struggling there.
But I think last year was about a bunch of
players who were kind of a ragtag group that came
together and we're really proud to be playing for Kentucky.

(44:13):
To this year, it seems very apparent that, you know,
we want to, we love Kentucky, we want to we
want to feel good about things. But we're on a mission,
you know, not that last year's team wasn't on a mission,
that they didn't have that goal, but this year's team
seems very very driven. You know, we talk about how
they talk about defense a lot, and I agree they
have talked about defense all they have offered up a lot.
And I think another thing I've heard a lot from

(44:34):
almost every player is, you know that that elusive number nine.
Almost every single player, whether they're Trent Noah from Kentucky,
whether they're Ji and JQ coming over here from Arizona State,
I mean, they're all talking about number nine and how
that seems to genuinely be the goal for this team.
And I think that you know, that's a really special

(44:56):
thing and they understand that. You know, the teams that
are the best defensively are the ones that want to
be the best defensively, are the ones that take it
the most seriously. And if they want that number nine,
they're gonna have to take it seriously. So I think
it's really good to hear talking.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
To Cole Park the Cats, Paws and two four to
seven Sports. He is the new UK beat writer for
the Cats. Pause. You wrote about Mark Pope's comments regarding
the incoming freshmen, and he hasn't wavered at all from them.
He gave us an update on Yellovich and there are
a couple of steps closer to getting him ready to
join the team in practice. But some of the comments

(45:34):
he made, well, he has been real proponent for Jasper Johnson.
I mean using the word superstar. Maybe not in this
press conference, but the last one at Malachai Moreno, I
just can't wait to see those guys. I saw Malachai
in high school. Didn't get to see Jasper. But people
forget what all the portal players coming through. Kentucky has

(45:56):
one of the best freshman classes in America, doesn't it.

Speaker 2 (46:02):
Yeah, I mean, I think that this team is just
stacked from top to bottom. And you know, you looked
at all the additions you had Mode you bought it
coming in from Alabama, you had Ben svenzol Aborten coming
in from Florida. You have all these guys who are like, Okay, yeah,
they're gonna play. They're going to play, They're going to play.
And it was easy to kind of overlook some of
the freshmen. But you hear the way Pope talks about

(46:24):
some of these guys. I mean, it's it's really impressive
to see. I mean, you talked about what he said
about Jasper, how he how excited he is about Malach.
I mean he said in that press commers on Monday,
he said, we're going to see moments where he looks
like where it looks like he should be in the
NBA right now. This is an incoming freshman, you know,
And I, like you said, I saw him in high
school too, at Great Crossing. I was up there in

(46:46):
Georgetown when he committed, so I thought that was really
special to hear. And then Braden Hawthorne too, I mean,
he he went on this kind of long little thing
about how he was with Tayshaun Prince for quite a
while and said, quote, there's a whole bunch of Tayshawn
Prince and this kid.

Speaker 3 (47:02):
I know, there was a big words say.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
Shawn Prince, one of the best players ever play here,
had an incredible NBA career, also a championship, but that
he really thinks that Braden Hawthorne could be in that
same conversation and you talk about Andrea and you know,
talk about husband playing against grown men over there and
you're playing against you know, whole adults in Croatia, so

(47:27):
that he could really kind of come and make an
impact here one. And when you look at that, there's
very few players on this roster that you look at
and you're just like, yeah, they're probably not going to
play a whole lot this year.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
That was really I don't want to say surprise, but
interested in the fact that when he brought up Hawthorne,
it wasn't that that he compared him to Tayshawn Prince,
but that he didn't hesitate to compare him to a
player like that. You know, I just for many years
it seems like coaches are really conservative and like that

(48:00):
when I mentioned he said superstar with Jasper Johnson Malchai
Moreno might make you think about that he belongs in
the NBA now and then and then he mentions Tayshawn
in relation to Branden Hawthorne. We're learning a lot more
about Mark Pope and his personality. He's not afraid to
heap that kind of praise.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
Is he.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
No, None at all? And I think he I think
so much of that is just who he is as
a person. I mean, nineteen ninety six national champion, played
for Ritzetino, played in the NBA. I mean, he's he's
one of those guys and I think that you know,
stands out there. They can really see it in his interviews.
They can they can see it when the way he
talks that you know, everyone has those players, those coaches

(48:43):
that when you're talking to them behind the scenes, you know,
sometimes they show them one of their real personality. With
the Mark Pope you get is Mark Pope. You know,
talking to him, whether it's in a press conference, whether
it's one on one, whether it's you know, on TV.
I mean, he's a guy who's not afraid of a challenge,
He's not afraid of adversity, the guy who kind of
sets the finish line and doesn't is not willing to

(49:03):
finish short of it. So I think that it just
says a lot about you know, the expectations he places
not just upon his players but himself as well, and
the level that he wants his entire team to reach.
And I think that is a very special thing about him.
You know, he's a competitor through and through, and he's
a great basketball player in his own right during his

(49:25):
career and going into year two here in Kentucky, I
think that he has the making to be a really
special basketball coach as well.

Speaker 3 (49:33):
Well.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
He laid that baseline, didn't it. He created it the
day he was introduced by saying, we understand the assignment.
And he also, what I appreciated, talked about winning the SEC,
winning the SEC tournament because the guy had replaced had
kind of blown that off as being important. And I
think he misread the room from day one, Cali Perry,

(49:55):
because it was so that that's important to Kentucky fans.
It might not have been important to Cali Perry. I
know it's all about seeding, but the tradition of Kentucky
basketball is one of dominants in the SEC. As you know,
and it it just kind of fell flat, was Calip Perry.
I think Mark Pope picked up that that standard and

(50:15):
hoisted it back up there along with winning number nine.
So he you know, he's not afraid of that, is he?

Speaker 2 (50:21):
No, not at all. And you know, I kind of
agree with what you said there about who who Pope replaced.
You know, I think a lot of that. You know,
some of this is personality and that comes from Memphis
or UMass or you know, when you're at some of
those schools, maybe you can say, all right, this doesn't
really matter that much to me, as long as we
get it done at the end of the day. But
at Kentucky, you know, Kentucky is the the pinnacle of

(50:45):
college basketball. Like Kentucky fans expect to win everything. They
want to win every game they play. They want to
win the SEC, they want to win the SEC Tournament,
and they want to win a national title. You know,
it's it's not really enough at Kentucky to say, well,
you know, as long as we get it done. Fans
a year the fun and you know, it doesn't help
that they weren't getting it done at the end of
the year either. But I wrote a column back when

(51:06):
I was still with the Colonel after posts in it,
after a press conference, and you know, I went into
it like a lot of people, you know, really to
listen to what he said, but a bit skeptical about
the hire, and you know, unsure that he was. You know,
he was pretty unproven at the time, hadn't won an
NCAA tournament game and been at BUYU before that Utah Valley.
But I wrote that column after his press conference that

(51:30):
I just said, it was a breath of fresh air.
You know, every single concern I'd had about the basketball program,
you know, every single worry I'd had about the way
Kentucky was going want Pope addressed that and you talked
about you know, he said he wants to win SEC tournaments.
He said he wants to get back into some of
those big, you know, early season multi team tournaments like
Maui and stuff like that. He spoke about, you know,

(51:51):
having pride in the name on the front of the
jersey as well as the name on the back, and
I think that it's just it's really it's really special
that now we're going into year two and it wasn't
all fluff.

Speaker 3 (52:04):
You know.

Speaker 2 (52:04):
It seems that after one year. You know, small sample size,
but it seems like after one year at least everything
he came out onto that stage and spoke about he
meant it, and he's trying to live up to that
and trying to follow through all of that. So, like
I said, I wrote that column that it was it
was exactly what Kentucky needed to hear, and if it's
able to come true, then it's exactly what Kentucky needed

(52:27):
after a long time of kind of I felt like
losing its identity a little bit.

Speaker 1 (52:31):
And ultimately he said, we failed, and you don't hear
coaches say that very much, but that again is a
nod toward number nine. And in case people are wondering
about the players mentioning that there is a daily reminder.
They have got a huge sign up in the craft
center near all the banners from the previous titles and

(52:55):
they've got number nine the assignment or something like that.
So that is a huge daily reminder of what they're
trying to do. We're talking with Cole Park of the
catch polls. We'll come back and talk more with Cole
in just a minute. On the Big boone Sider six
thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Cole Park. He
is the new beat writer for the Catch Pause, stepping
in for Aaron Gershawan, who was a weekly guest, and

(53:15):
Cole has agreed he'll be joining us as well in
the state wide show on Monday nights. Let me get
quickly a little background from you, because, as you said,
you were right off the Kentucky Colonel four years of
covering basketball for the UK paper. Where are you from
and did you grow up a Kentucky fan?

Speaker 2 (53:34):
Yeah? I grew up in Richmond, Kentucky. All right, so
little pardon me will always say will Kern Joey Ku.
But I grew up, you know, in a Kentucky crazy family.
My dad is a huge Kentucky fan. I mean so
like a lot of kids around the state can relate
to this. But growing up, you know, we had a
room in our house that was dedicated to Kentucky. He's
got little mini banners of all the national titles, like

(53:56):
this is a hardwood that was from some of the
some of the arena court stuff like that. I remember
I was sitting in my grandma's kitchen watching the National
title in twenty twelve. I mean, we went through upp
Arena into prover Field at the time, CommonWell City, monestly.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
But.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
Growing up, you know, yeah, Kentucky was always a very
big part of my life, and it was always a
big part of my family's life. And you know, I'm
I'm a pretty young guy at this stage in my career,
and I remember cal Perry getting highed to my dad,
like pulling me into his office and being like, you know,
can you say, Calip Perry, that's going to be our
new parents trying to really teach me all of that. So, yeah,

(54:35):
I grew up in just about depends on how you
drive it, but give or take about fifteen twenty minutes
from Washington right down there in Richmond at that, depending.

Speaker 1 (54:47):
On my life, depending on traffics. Long seventy five, were
you a Madison Central guy?

Speaker 2 (54:54):
Yes, sir, I played football for three years at Madison Central.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
Wow, you got Keith Barmer and Jeff Drummond. We got
more more Madison Central guys now on the beat.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
Yeah, And I can say that I was a part
of the first ever regional title in football history at
the school. So I don't think I personally contributed that much, but.

Speaker 1 (55:16):
You were there. Yeah, I was just a couple of
minutes up. Well, I was going to ask you about football.
Mark Stoops has been made a twenty to one. The
odds are twenty to one according to Vegas that he
doesn't survive this season. I don't know about that, but
I do know that he has had literally ups and

(55:37):
downs in the SEC. He's facing a really tough situation
just in general with his team at a time Cole
when the SEC couldn't be tougher. I mean, you talk
about a tough assigmon, right.

Speaker 2 (55:50):
Oh, I mean absolutely, and I think and there's nothing
that is sure to make make the leg shake a
little bit more than going into a year where you know,
you feel like the odds are so stacked against you,
and then you look at that schedule and you've got
a top ten hardest schedule in this sport. It's it's
unreal the way the situation that the football programs in.

(56:11):
I mean, you look at that that three games stretch
against at Georgia, against Texas, against Tennessee. You know there's
a standwich by South at South Carolina and Auburn. I mean,
theoretically you would hope that they could win a couple
of those. Usually the Suckton or Auburn at least one
of those, but it's entirely possible that all five of those,

(56:31):
based on last year, could be losses. You've got an
angry old miss coming into lecting week two. You've got
you know, Louisville and Vanderbilt who have proven these last
few years, especially last year, that they're not willing to
be pushed over. So you look at it and it's
another year where there's genuine uncertainty about what games they
can win. You know, I want to I want to

(56:52):
try to give the benefit of the down that they're
going to be, you know, better than they were last year,
that they understand the problems last year. And when you
talk to Stoops and you talk to the players, you know,
reading about them, what they were saying in media days,
it seems like they do. It seems like they're really
internalized a lot of what happened last year and understand
where they failed in that regard. But you know, it's

(57:14):
a new team with a bunch of transfers, and you
know a lot of guys who could be very very good,
but a lot of guys who don't necessarily have that
resume that makes people get super excited before they start playing,
and you give that team and you're going in on
a year where it feels like wins are a must,
you know, it feels like it feels like a lot

(57:36):
of the team's kind of playing for their lives. And
then you look at that schedule and you look at
just the way it's set up, and it's it's an
uphill battle. That's that's absolute sick.

Speaker 1 (57:47):
I keep reminding myself that his best teams. Josh Allen
was overlooked on the recruiting trail, even though he's an
all state player in Alabama. Because he moved to Jersey,
people kind of forgot about him. Ben Snow was ranked
twenty sixth in the state of Ohio, not the country
in Ohio. Coming out of high school, will Levis was

(58:07):
a question mark. This guy couldn't start at Penn State,
can't he win in Kentucky. But it all came together,
you know. But there were a lot more guys around them,
and we have, like you said, it's a mystery this
roster because of all the transfers, the guys who left,
the guys who came in. But it's gonna be fun,
it's gonna be interesting. And Cole Park will be there
to cover it for the Cats Balls. Tell everybody how

(58:29):
they can follow you on Twitter.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
Yeah, my Twitter is cole Park Underscore WSC. That's p
A r K E yep from my last name. I
post every single story I write, both VIP and for
you to read on there. I'll have game updates during
the games. I'm also very active on catspols dot com.
I'll be on the message board. They'll be on posting

(58:53):
my stories on there. So pretty active on social media.
If anyone needs to reach out to me, I respond
to tweets, on to the message board comments. So anyone
wants to find me, that's where you can find me
on that Twitter, Cole Park Underscore, WSC, or on the
Catch Falls message board.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
Thank you, Sarah, We'll see you down the road.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Sounds good, look forward to it up next.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
Another new guest to us here at the Big Blue Insider,
Jordan Adams of Fox fifty six here and Lexington on
six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider,
joining us down our celebrity hotline as a guy who's
not new to this TV market, but new to the
Big Blue Insider. We welcome Jordan Adams to the show
for the first time from Fox fifty six an anchor reporter.

(59:33):
How are you doing, Jordan, good Dick.

Speaker 8 (59:35):
I appreciate you having me on this morning, appreciate you
a couple of times, and I thank you giving me
the time.

Speaker 1 (59:42):
Thank you, appreciate you listening, and I appreciate the fact
that you covered the TBT event over the last several days.
You were there last night when that game got away.
I'm going to come back to you personally and get
your background, but I got to ask you what were
your thoughts? And I know you it's different when you're
shooting a game and you're watching through a viewfinder is different,

(01:00:04):
but still you could see that thing unfolding. What were
you thinking as that game came and went?

Speaker 3 (01:00:10):
Well?

Speaker 8 (01:00:10):
First, I got to say it was a very entertaining game,
as these TBT games tend to be based mostly off
the structure of it, how it ends.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
But yeah, that.

Speaker 8 (01:00:22):
First quarter was was rough. Really that first half everline drive.
Hats off to them. They probably most likely were the
best team on the day. I think if you were
to play the game a couple more times, probably Lest
Familiar would probably win. The majority of it, but they
were a better team on the day and it showed.

(01:00:43):
That fourth quarter was was really magical. That run Khalil Whitney,
Willie colly Stein running down the court and dunking. It
was some great stuff from the team. Despite you know,
some tough shooting. They were able to you know, all
their way back to sixteen oh run. When was the
last time you've seen something like that? But yeah, coming

(01:01:06):
down to free throws, they tried to get the you know,
the right shooter to shoot them, able to make the
first one. But that's why you end practices doing free throws.
That's why you run during practice and shoot them because
it's so important, and especially with the type of elam

(01:01:27):
endings and things like that, every point certainly counts.

Speaker 1 (01:01:30):
Yeah, and let's go back to that sixteen oh rally,
which it took me a second to realize that that's
how long that rally was. I mean, they rang up
an eight point lead and with that elam ending, you know,
they had the eight points. As you know, for the
folks who don't follow at four minutes to go in
the game, it's a it's a twist on regular basketball.

(01:01:52):
But you stop the game, whatever team is ahead. No
matter how much they're ahead by, you add eight points.
That's the target number and it's a race to see
who can get there first. And Kentucky had an advantage.
And but that sixteen oh run. Man, Yeah, I felt
like there was a run like that coming. But it
was interesting that that the aberline team was able to

(01:02:16):
hold it off for so long, you know what I mean?

Speaker 8 (01:02:19):
Yeah, because because it was it was late. Yeah, we're talking,
I think it was. I think it was. The fourth
was a nine minute quarter. Yeah, we're talking six minutes,
five minutes, four minutes less than the fourth quarter. They
were able to hold off the team full of you know,
NBA veterans and former pros and current pros from all

(01:02:41):
over the world. It was credit to them, you know,
they were able to do some great things. It did
help that, uh they were tend to make we're making threes,
well a lot familiar was making twos. But yeah, you're right,
being able to hold on for that long, but then
even more impressive, honestly holding on for that long, losing

(01:03:03):
it and then getting it back with something I haven't
seen in a while.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
Yeah, you're right, But that's just the nature I think
of pro ball. You know, people watch the NBA. If
they did just watch it casually, they might even see
that no lead is safe, it seems in an NBA game,
And it seemed like that was the case last night,
wasn't it.

Speaker 8 (01:03:24):
Yes, certainly the energy coach Woods talked about it after
after the game. Obviously, offensive wise, wasn't the best night
for Lot Familiar. The ball was sticking to a couple
of people's hands, wasn't really moving a lot weren't able
to make too many shots, only made three threes the
entire game. But yeah, when you got that crowd behind you,

(01:03:46):
give those guys some extra juice. As you mentioned, no
lead is safe in basketball. It takes us a few possessions.
And you saw it on display last night.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
Yeah. Sean mentioned it after the game last night and
an earlier tonight on my show that the offensive run late,
the offense looked a lot better. To your point, there
was less clear out one on one and that was
working at times. But the Aimberline team had the advantage
in size, I think, and in muscle, and so the

(01:04:17):
Kentucky guards couldn't post up quite as well as they
had been in his tournament when when they started running
their scripted offense. Late, it began to work a lot better.
It was a lot of fun. The two man game
and things like that worked a lot better.

Speaker 8 (01:04:33):
Yeah, I gotta say, I don't know if it was
coach Woods. With Willie out on the floor, it does
make sense to switch one through five. He's able to
guard a lot of guards and do some crazy things
out there. Just how special and unique battaliony is. But
when they were switching, at least in the first half,

(01:04:54):
for my idea, Watson is a big boy six eight
six nine, two hundred something. He's bigger and stronger than Willie.
But when you switch everything to Ron Lamb Andrew Harrison
were having to guard him and it was just too
easy for him in the first half, and I thought
that was something that they probably should have got out of.

(01:05:15):
But then on the offensive side of the ball, good
Win Andrew Harrison great individual players, great getting downhill, but
the ball tends to stick in their hands a lot
don't really pass it too often. And the one on
one stuff is cool, it works every now and then,
But if you ever follow basketball, if you've ever played

(01:05:36):
for any amount of time, the ball always moves quicker
when you pass it, then when you dribble, you've got
to get other people involved. You've got to get other
people shots, because there's just an energy in it, and
that's just the right way to play it. You know,
there's a reason why that the Golden State Warriors a
few years back forever when win so many games because

(01:05:58):
you got to pass it, you got to be able
to shoot.

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
And other teams began to do the same thing. They
took a queue from Golden State and that extra pass
began to come. The thing in the NBA. We're talking
to Jordan Adams of Fox fifty six. He's been covering,
among other things, the Basketball Tournament TBT in Left for Me,
which lost last night, But you cover a lot more
than that. You've been here, You're coming up on two

(01:06:20):
years now this fall in Lexington, and you got to
see kind of an unusual situation with the Big Blue
Nation in the summertime. And as Shawn earlier tonight called
it the UK season of the summer, this this TBT event,
but go Big Blue, you know in Memorial Coliseum. What

(01:06:42):
was your take on that? What was that like for
you as a guy who's been around here for a
couple of years.

Speaker 3 (01:06:47):
I think it was great.

Speaker 8 (01:06:48):
Obviously, the atmosphere is a little different than it was
last year at Rough you know, much smaller gym, closer quarters,
better view for the people who are able to chip
in and take some time out of the day to
come see the guys. But I think it's great. I
think the things that Lot Familia and even the bill,
even though UK fans probably won't like me saying that

(01:07:10):
I have been able to do with TVC are fantastic.
It's only year two for Lot Familia, but you know,
them selling tickets and being one of the highest grossing teams,
highest viewership teams in the tournament. I think there'll be
a mainstay. So I know the last two years that
hasn't ended the way UK fans and Big Blue Nation

(01:07:34):
have wanted it to. But I think Lot Familia will
be here for a very long time and they'll have
plenty of shots. Just like Everline Drive, a team who
has been around since the very beginning of VC over
a decade now. I think Lot Familia is on that
track and we'll have years and years of opportunities to
potentially win the championship.

Speaker 1 (01:07:54):
I don't know how much you've paid attention to this event.
But I firmly believe these teams are getting better and better.
I think more players you know, who are are on
the outside looking in thinking, you know, I might like
to be a part of that. And most of these guys,
well really all of them either are still playing pro
ball overseas or have NBA experience or both. So I

(01:08:17):
think the level of play is really becoming impressive. Is
that what you've seen?

Speaker 8 (01:08:22):
Yeah, I think you've hit the nail on the head there, Dick. Obviously,
the tournament started off a couple of years back, not
a lot of pros. As you mentioned, it was mostly
just overseas guys, some D three D two guys, guys
who never really made it right. But with the likes
of Kentucky, with the likes of Louisville coming in and

(01:08:43):
the prestigious players that those schools have been able to
churn out seems like Kansas as well. Yeah, throughout the years,
the more eyeballs, the more followers, the more engagement that
these tournament has had been able to you know, reach
out ever so slowly too, those guys like Eric bloodso
guys like Willie colly Stidde who probably would have never

(01:09:05):
played in this thing five six, seven years ago, but
the way the things are going, I wouldn't be shocked
to see a John Wall, a Boogiey cousin's playing.

Speaker 3 (01:09:14):
Something like this.

Speaker 1 (01:09:15):
That would be awesome.

Speaker 8 (01:09:16):
Yeah, it sounds like a far stretch and something that
would certainly never have happened years back. But I think
as things continue to.

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
Grow in a ball and.

Speaker 8 (01:09:27):
That that crowd and the fan bases continue to cry
out for these type of guys, I think we could
see players of that out make it.

Speaker 1 (01:09:36):
It's funny you said that because last night at the game,
I was kind of daydreaming, and I'm thinking, wouldn't we
ever see a John Wall in an event like this?
And here's a guy who you know, hit the lottery
when it came to an NBA contract. But you also
think about and you've covered Kentucky basketball now for a
couple of years, but hearing what Sean Woods was saying

(01:09:56):
a former Wildcat himself, about the chance for these guys
to be come a Wildcat again, you know, I just
thought that was really kind of poignant, and you know,
maybe Boogie, maybe John Wall might like to experience that
again because they did enjoy their time here.

Speaker 8 (01:10:12):
Yeah, and a big thing with it. Obviously a big
shout out to Coach Cow the more recent players who
are kind of in that age frame that are still playing,
you know, the NBA talent he's put out of historic
and those guys are starting to come to that that
age those first couple of teams. These guys are Jaron Land,
these guys Wiggans and other people. You know, they're they're

(01:10:36):
kind of getting up there no offense, so it makes
sense for them to come back, and especially the way
things kind of works under Coach Cow. These guys a
lot of won and done. They're honestly here, Dick in
school for maybe eight months, right, maybe even or less.
Guys like Kylo Whitney was even less than that. He
barely made it through half a season, so for various

(01:10:58):
different reasons. So I think that will be a huge
reason why players will come back to feel that love,
to get that experience. You've heard guys like Cousins Wall
the Harrison speak on different podcasts with different people in
the NBA and they talk about the love, the love

(01:11:20):
and support that they get from Big Blue Nation. It's
something you don't get once you get into the NBA.
They got great fans, but the experience is just a
little bit different, a little bit more saturated. But that
college experience, football, basketball, all different sports is unique. So
I think that will play a part, no doubt, and
hopefully seeing some even bigger stars in the NBA and

(01:11:44):
in the pro level come back and just run it
back for one one summer here in Lexington.

Speaker 1 (01:11:49):
Talking to Jordan Adams, anchor reporter from Fox fifty six Sports.
We'll come back and talk more with Jordan in a
minute here on the Big Blue Sider six thirty WLAP
Welcome back for talking. Jordan Adams is a sports reporter
anchor at Fox fifty six w DKY here in Lexington
and Jordan, you are Are you from Virginia or did
you come here from Virginia.

Speaker 8 (01:12:11):
I'm originally from Virginia, Dick. I went to Virginia Commonwealth University.
They had a TV team back in the day before
it blew up. I didn't even care about it, and
thank what I was in school. Yes, but my first
two years out of college after graduating in college station Texas,
so similar to what I'm doing now, worked at a

(01:12:32):
TV station just covering Texas, A and m and said, So,
I've been in the SEC for four years now and
I've been enjoying every bit of it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:40):
Well, having lived in Dallas for a couple of years,
I can relate that is a different part of the world.
It is a different kind of state Texas versus Kentucky.
And I'm not just talking weather as you know, but
you talk about a fan base down there. Now it's
more gear too football, as you well know. But the man,

(01:13:00):
they take it seriously, don't they.

Speaker 8 (01:13:03):
Yeah, no doubt. My coworkers get on me for still
kind of rooting for them whenever they're not playing Kentucky.
It's just it was. It was a great experience.

Speaker 3 (01:13:14):
I was.

Speaker 8 (01:13:14):
I was fairly young, you know, just fresh out of college. Yeah,
it was almost like a grad year for me. I
go to the games. Just seeing you know, one hundred
thousand people in a coliseum almost watching, you know, these
guys go to go to war every Saturday, really left
an impression on me. And everyone's down there treating me

(01:13:36):
really nice, very kind people. So, yeah, it was a
great experience and hopefully I can be able to go
back and maybe catch a game or two.

Speaker 1 (01:13:45):
When I worked in Dallas, I was a studio guy.
I was the exec producer of the radio networked down there,
so I only saw two games in person all the
while I was down there. One was in Japan, one
was in Tokyo, yeah, and the other one was in
Las Vegas. So I never got to see a game
in the state of Texas. But I covered that Kentucky
A and M game a few years ago down there.

(01:14:07):
You're right, that atmosphere was unbelievable, one hundred thousand plus
for a college football game. It's hard to describe or
put your finger on it. But that's all, of course,
because A and M leaves one conference for another, and
then Texas comes aboard the SEC. What were your thoughts
when the Longhorns joined up because you got the witness

(01:14:29):
at rivalry firsthand.

Speaker 8 (01:14:32):
Yeah, huge news, I remember, you know, every time something
would break that week, it was top of the show,
whether it's news or sports.

Speaker 3 (01:14:40):
Really, Yeah, it was huge news.

Speaker 8 (01:14:43):
Obviously, Oklahoma big in that region of the country as well. Yeah,
that rivalry one of the best in all of sports, honestly,
but mostly football. But yeah, being on pause for so
long twelve or so years, everyone before then had you know,
Texas fans always let A and M fans know that,

(01:15:05):
Oh yeah, Justin Tucker made that kick in that last game,
and now he's had a whole NFL career, So that
tells you how long ago that was. But the hatred
I would say, I guess between Texas, A and M
and Texas is very similar to UK and Louisville and
had not being able to play the game really had

(01:15:26):
just a toll, I would say on the fan base. Imagine,
you know, Louisville and Kentucky fans trying to jab at
each other online or in person, but not being able
to back it up with a game. Kentucky fans, you know,
Lamont Butler, these guys gave Louisville the business last year.
Rob Dillingham reached EPERD did the same thing the year before,
but those games weren't played, you know, did the debate

(01:15:49):
is endless? It just goes on forever. There's nothing to
really talk about. So the jabs and the jokes were
just flying all the time. But when they had that
news broke, it was on and people were excited and
they've been waiting because the news broke two years before
Texas even I know you even moved so once it happened,

(01:16:11):
and then everyone's eyes shifted to, Okay, where's the game?
What's going to happen? Is it going to be on
Thanksgiving like it used to be? Is it going to
be on a Friday? So the talk was endless and
it was front page news, no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:21):
Got a few minutes left with Jordan Adams of Fox
fifty six w DK Why. One of the stories you've
covered within the last couple of weeks was Matt Ponatowski
committing to Kentucky. He's the kid up in Cincinnati. He
is a dual sport player, and that was some welcome
news for a Kentucky football program that could use a
shot in the arm. Right about now, you're preparing for

(01:16:42):
the upcoming season, what do you see from Mark Stoops?
You know, I didn't think in Atlanta he got as
many hot seat questions as I thought he might. But
this could be a pivotal year. I think everybody agrees.

Speaker 8 (01:16:56):
Right, Yeah, I think everyone agrees around the program and
around the media probably some great people almost certainly think
that this could be the end of the road for
coach Stoops. Obviously the longest ten year coach here in

(01:17:16):
the SEC. Going into year thirteen, I would say six wins,
making getting back to a Bowl game probably maybe keeps them,
keeps them safe, I think, But obviously as you each
year goes on, that that buyout gets a little bit lower.
I know UK fans would love to bring in John
summerw you know, for more wildcat himself doing some decent

(01:17:39):
things over at Troy and Tulane. But yeah, it's gonna
be tough. The Cats schedule isn't easy, as we saw
last year. Got some gome games against some good teams,
but that those first I think we talked about it
in our show the other day, those first five games
are going to be key. Able to beat the old

(01:18:00):
miss last year, maybe you can do it again this year.
I've taken on teams like South Carolina, but the Toledos,
Eastern Michigan, got to get those out of the way,
get some wins. My probably record prediction, I would say,
is honestly about five wins. I just think it's going
to be tough. The rest of the SEC looks very good,

(01:18:22):
and I just don't know honestly what to expect on
the field. Last year, they had more NFL talent, more
guys that will you know, could win you a game.
But they also had a lot of dysfunction on the team,
whether it new penalties and things like that. So it'd
be interesting to see how those new guys settle in
and how much of the i don't know, bad energy,

(01:18:45):
maybe bad mojo from some of those guys leave with
some of those players who have found new homes.

Speaker 1 (01:18:51):
Yeah, more than half the roster has turned over, so
you know, it could be a new culture, a new day.
Whatever happens. Jordan Adams will cover it for Box fifty
six w dk Y. Follow Jordan on Twitter at Jordan
Underscore Adams four. Thank you, sir, we'll see you down
the road.

Speaker 8 (01:19:09):
Their problem, Dick, I appreciate it and that'll.

Speaker 1 (01:19:11):
Do for now. Thanks to Jordan, Thanks to Sean Woods.
That's a good night from the garage in Lexington. Everything
that happens now is happening now.

Speaker 3 (01:19:19):
What happened to?

Speaker 1 (01:19:20):
Then?

Speaker 2 (01:19:21):
We just now?

Speaker 1 (01:19:22):
We're it now now go back to then?

Speaker 2 (01:19:24):
What?

Speaker 1 (01:19:25):
No? Now, no, I can't why we missed it?

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
Wait?

Speaker 3 (01:19:27):
Just now.

Speaker 7 (01:20:01):
Tacking showing anything back pack it down attotor of donating

(01:21:13):
storybo

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